LTM - 7. Strengthen Your Personal Initiative

7. Strengthen Your Personal Initiative

Your personal initiative is the spark that initiates your productive actions.

Without personal initiative, you cannot be successful.

Napoleon Hill talked about personal initiative at length in his 9th Principle

of Success. He said, ―Success is something you must achieve without

someone telling you what to do or why you should do it.‖

Success comes to those who are proactive. Instead of drifting through life

doing only what is required, successful people do the extra things that

give direction to their goals and bring more meaning to their lives. No

one told Fred Smith to start FedEx; he started it using his own personal

initiative. No one told Sergey Brin and Larry Page why they should start

Google; they did it using their own personal initiative. No one pushed me

every day to do the things that were required of me to achieve my goals;

it was the consistent use of my personal initiative that allowed me to

achieve them.

No matter what your goal is—becoming a remarkable parent, one of your

company’s most valued employees, an outstanding athlete, a topproducing

salesperson, or the owner of your own business—if you are

going to be successful, you must use your personal initiative to do the

LITTLE THINGS required of you to succeed. It won’t happen any other

way.

Personal initiative is more than a fundamental requirement to achieving

your goals; it’s about taking time to do the LITTLE THINGS that make your

life and the lives of others, both at work and at home, more enjoyable.

It’s doing the simple things like picking up your dirty clothes, washing

the windows, or emptying the overflowing trashcan. It’s taking three

minutes to clean the coffee mugs in the sink at the office. It’s taking time

to express your genuine gratitude to someone who did something for you.

It’s offering to help a friend in need.

In a sense, your personal initiative is noticing and being aware of the

things that need to be done without being asked.

I firmly believe that the only way you will have personal initiative to do

big things is to strengthen it by first doing the LITTLE THINGS. Every big

success is made up a great number of little successes, each requiring

personal initiative. Many are so insignificant that you will be the only

person who notices. But, in the end, isn’t that what matters? After all, it

is you who has the deep yearning in your heart to achieve a goal; you’re

the one responsible for taking action and making decisions; and, you’re

the one who can change course if required.

The use of personal initiative has more benefits than meet the eye.

 Become respected. People who use their personal initiative are

well regarded and have greater influence.

 Build self-esteem. No other method for building self-esteem is

more effective than using your personal initiative to do the LITTLE

THINGS you know you should do.

 Advance your career. People who consistently use their

personal initiative to advance their careers are those who are at

the top of the pay scale in their profession.

 

LTM Challenge

This is your opportunity to step up your game and distinguish yourself

from the growing number of apathetic people. This is your chance to use

your unique talents and skills to achieve the things that are important to

you. Don’t let the lethargic environment around you keep you from

stretching yourself to be your very best.

Start by doing the things that require personal initiative. As you build

your confidence in doing these LITTLE Things, stretch yourself to do the

bigger things. Continue this process and allow each success to build

upon the prior one.

Now is the time to put your life in gear

and go conquer your dreams.

 

Thrifty Decor Chick

Thrifty Decor Chick - Pretty awesome looking tile floor (faux).

Steve Jobs

So very very sad......he was so young.

Steve Jobs, Apple Founder, Dies


Steve Jobs, the visionary in the black turtleneck who co-founded Apple in a 
Silicon Valley garage, built it into the world's leading tech company and led a 
mobile-computing revolution with wildly popular devices such as the iPhone, 
died Wednesday. He was 56. 

 

 

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"All of your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them." -  ºoº Walt Disney ºoº  

 

Apple Unveils Updated iPod Nano, Touch

• By Chloe Albanesius
• October 4, 2011 01:59pm EST

 

Apple on Tuesday announced two updates to its iPod line, including a nano with swipe features and a revamped iPod touch.

The new iPod touch will incorporate iOS 5, which Apple's Phil Schiller said is a "tremendous upgrade" for the device. That includes access to iMessage, Apple's version of BlackBerry Messenger.

Apple's iMessage "brings the functionality of iPhone messaging to your iPod touch, so you can easily send text messages, photos, videos and contact information to an individual or group on other iOS 5 devices," Apple said.

The new iPod touch also works with iCloud, which will be released on October 12 along with iOS 5. When content changes on one device, all your other devices are updated automatically and wirelessly.

The new iPod touch is available now in black and white. The 8GB will sell for $199, the 32GB will retail for $299, and you can buy the 64GB for $399.

The new nano includes a redesigned interface with larger icons and multi-touch capabilities. There are also 16 new digital clock faces, and Schiller promised updated fitness features. "Right out of the box, you can go for a run and upload all of the data about your run into Nike Plus Web site," he said. "With the new iPod nano we have updated some watch faces so that people can use them with the new wave of watch band cases."

The 8GB nano will be $129, while the 16GB will retail for $149. Both are available today in seven colors, including silver, graphite, blue, green, orange, pink, and (PRODUCT) RED.

Cook said today that the iPod now has 78 percent market share and has revolutionized the industry. Apple has sold 300 million iPods in the last decade, and 45 million from July 2010 to June 2011, he said. Apple's iTunes now has 20 million songs, and users have downloaded 16 billion.

Today's announcements come on the eve of the iPod's 10th birthday, and Apple held today's event in the Town Hall room on its campus, where the music player made its original debut. In recent weeks, there have been various news stories predicting the death of the iPod, particularly the the iPod Classic, in favor of a solely touch-based iPod lineup.

But Apple said today that its holiday lineup will still include the iPod shuffle for $49 and a 160GB iPod classic for $249.

Back when it made its debut in 2001, PCMag said it was the "world's coolest—and dare we say best—MP3 player." Since that first iPod, Apple has unveiled the Mini, the shuffle, the nano, and iPod touch, also rolling the music player into its iPhone smartphone when that device debuted in 2007.

According to recent analysis by Fortune magazine, iPod sales hit their peak during the 2008 holiday season—from around 22.7 million iPods sold at the end of that year to an expected 8.39 million iPods sold within the third quarter of 2011. But given Apple's shift to the iPhone and iPad, both of which bundle the iPod software and been selling steadily, the dip is not that shocking.

For more from today's Apple event, see the slideshow below.

For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.

 

 

"All of your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them." -  ºoº Walt Disney ºoº  

 

iPods

Are the iPods Apple's Forgotten Children?

Now that Apple has become the company of the iPhone and iPad, has it forgotten about the product line that started it all?

• By Will Greenwald
• October 4, 2011 04:26pm EST
• 

The biggest news to come out of Apple today was the iPhone 4S, but that doesn't mean it was the only news. Apple announced the new iPod touch and iPod nano as well, and like the iPhone 4S, the new fifth-generation iPod touch and seventh-generation iPod nano look very similar to the previous versions.

Let's be blunt: unlike the processing power upgrade of the iPhone 4S, the new iPod touch and iPod nano are nearly identical to the older versions. Same capacities, same features, same OS (the new iPod touch ships with iOS 5, while the old iPod touch will get iOS 5 in a free update available October 12), same chassis, nearly same prices. If it wasn't for the white version of the iPod touch, it would be easy to say that Apple wasn't offering upgrades, but discounts. The iPhone 4S gets a shiny new processor and lots of new graphical power, but the iPod touch and iPod nano are getting little more than new color schemes, fitness features, and clock faces.

That brings us to the iPod itself. The first device series. The iPod classic. While the iPod nano is arguably going into its seventh generation, the iPod classic is still in its sixth. While Apple refreshes its other iPod and iOS devices roughly once a year, the iPod classic is the same device it was when it came out in 2008. Physical hard drive, 160GB of space, click wheel, color screen, $250 price tag.

It's clear the iPod classic is still selling, otherwise Apple would have stopped supporting it. However, it's gone nearly untouched. It's clear Apple has no plans to refresh the iPod classic, make it solid state, or give it any new features. It's also becoming uncomfortably clear that Apple is learning towards treating the iPod touch and iPod nano the same way.

The iPhone does everything the iPod classic, iPod touch, and iPod nano does, and more. The smartphone functionality makes it a better device than the others in every way, and its success as the top smartphone proves that. Similarly, the iPad does much more than Apple's iPods and offers apps and functions even the iPhone can't match. Apple's iOS propelled Apple to dominance in the smartphone and tablet mobile device fields, and with solid state memory so inexpensive now, the iPhone and iPad have simply muscled out much need for the iPod classic. Even the iPod touch and nano are becoming also-rans, with Apple's repeated attempts to retool the nano and half-hearted attempts to pitch the iPod touch as an iPhone without a phone part clearly demonstrating that.

Even if you don't have an iPhone, odds are your cell phone will do everything an iPod classic can. Android smartphones are capable of playing movies and music and browsing the Web, and even most feature phones can play MP3s and movies. Yes, the iPod classic offers the most storage, but hard drives are much less hardy than flash memory, and nearly all smartphones are smaller and lighter than the iPod classic. The lower storage capacity is a more than fair trade off.

Apple will keep selling iPods, but it seems unlikely that it will work on them anymore. Apple iPods have become legacy devices, still available for people who haven't moved on to tablets and smartphones but not offering anything new. They're a technological dead end, and unless Apple comes out with an amazing new feature for a small, non-cell-phone-network device to have that makes it compelling, it doesn't look like the iPod classic, iPod touch, or iPod nano are going to go anywhere. The iPods were great, but it's the age of the iPhone and iPad.

For more, see Why the Zune Couldn't Touch the iPod Touch. For more from today's Apple event, see the slideshow below.

 

 

"All of your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them." -  ºoº Walt Disney ºoº  

 

Caramel Apple Muffins

Photograph by Ed Judice 

Inspired by a fall favorite, this fool-the-eye treat makes clever use of an apple muffin and cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients

• your favorite apple muffins*
• 8 ounces softened cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• orange and brown paste food coloring
• chopped nuts
• craft stick

Instructions

1. Bake a batch of your favorite apple muffins* in reusable or paper liners and let them cool.

2. Use an electric mixer to blend 8 ounces softened cream cheese, 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon maple syrup, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth. Add paste food coloring: 1 small dollop of orange and 2 small dollops of brown. Blend until evenly incorporated. If needed, add more color until the desired shade of caramel is reached.

3. Frost each muffin and coat or edge it with chopped nuts. Slide a craft stick into the center of each. Makes 12 muffins.

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Pumpkin Praline Muffins

 

Sweetened with molasses and spiced like pie, these full-bodied muffins are topped with a light butter crumb. For a real treat, serve them spread with whipped cream cheese

Ingredients

• PRALINE TOPPING
• 3 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
• MUFFIN BATTER
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Combine all the topping ingredients in a small bowl and use your fingers to rub them into a crumbly topping. Set it aside. Heat the oven to 400° F and grease the bottoms only of 12 standard muffin cups.

2. Next, make the batter: In a large bowl, whisk together both flours and the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, molasses, oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Stir the pumpkin mixture into the dry ingredients just until the batter is blended.

3. Divide the batter among the muffin cups and sprinkle on the praline topping. Then bake the muffins for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes before removing them. Makes 1 dozen.

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LTM - #6 Choose Your Friends Wisely

6. Choose Your Friends Wisely

When I was a kid growing up, my mom gave me all sorts of advice.

Today I can still hear her saying, “Todd, choose your friends carefully.

Don’t get mixed up with the wrong group.” Mom knew children were

easily influenced by their peers and that if I ran with the wrong crowd

they’d have a negative influence on my life.

Mom’s lesson holds true for children, teens, college students, and adults.

It is well documented that our fundamental beliefs and attitudes are

greatly influenced by the people we allow into our lives. If we associate

with people who gossip, we are likely to gossip. If we are around people

who swear and use inappropriate language, we’re likely to exhibit the

same behavior.

After 25 years of research, Dr. David McClelland of Harvard University

concluded that the choice of a negative ―reference group‖ was in itself

enough to condemn a person to failure and underachievement in life.

Your associations are some of the most powerful factors in determining

who you become and what you accomplish in your life. As an example, if

you hang out with pessimistic people who are critical of you, their

negative comments will likely impact how you view your abilities and

your self-image.

Almost 20 years ago I heard Jim Rohn say, “You will become the

combined average of the five people you hang around the most. You will

have their combined attitude, health, and income.”

At first I questioned whether this could be true. Today, I know it is

undeniably accurate. Recognizing this truth, how do we use it to our

advantage? It’s simple. If we want to advance our lives personally and

professionally, we must associate with people who will have a positive

influence on our lives.

Do you play sports? How about board and card games? Do you notice

how you step up your game when you play with better players? When we

associate with others who have a greater skill set or have achieved more,

we are challenged. It brings out the best in us and inspires us to do better.

Observing and modeling someone’s positive example will help us reach

new heights.

We’re not just talking sports and games here. This applies to everything

we do. Surrounding ourselves with optimistic and uplifting people has a

direct effect on our demeanor, confidence level, and performance.

LTM Challenge

Take ten minutes right now to think about the people who you spend time

with on a regular basis-—at home, in the workplace, and in a social

context. Who are they? Which ones radiate a positive influence? Which

ones transmit a negative influence?

 If some of your friends exert a negative influence, begin to slowly

reduce the amount of time you spend in those relationships.

 If your family members say negative and discouraging things to

you, schedule time to have a conversation. Help them understand

how their statements are damaging, and ask them to focus on

encouraging you rather than tearing you down.

 If your workplace is filled with negative people, find a new place

to work. Life is too short to spend it in a negative environment.

Whether you are consciously aware of it or not,

everyone you associate with on a regular basis

is influencing your life.

The question is whether they are a good or bad influence.

LTM - Lesson 5 - Listen to and Control Your Self-Talk

5. Listen to and Control Your Self-Talk

Guess who’s the Number 1 person you communicate with on a daily

basis? It’s you! Our minds are in a constant state of self-talk. These

internal conversations characterize how we view the world and influence

every part of our lives: relationships, achievements, attitude and,

ultimately, our degree of happiness.

If this internal dialogue is negative—focusing on faults, mistakes,

weaknesses, insecurities, or fears—it will be virtually impossible to feel

good about yourself and advance your life forward.

Furthermore, sustained negative thinking can have a detrimental effect on

your health and overall quality of life. If, on the other hand, your self-talk

is positive—concentrating on your strengths, blessings, successes, and

opportunities—your self-image will be strong and vibrant. Your obstacles

won’t seem insurmountable and, as a whole, your life will become more

enjoyable and gratifying.

The great news is that you can control what you think. You can replace

any negative thought with a more positive and productive affirmation.

You’ll soon find that the process gets easier with sustained practice.

The first step toward improving your thoughts is to become aware of your

internal conversations and really listen to your inner voice.

 Are your thoughts positive or negative?

 Do they lift you up or do they bring you down?

 Do they inspire or do they impede?

Be aware of this internal dialogue and its content; make sure it stays

positive. When it becomes negative, take a few minutes to analyze the

underlying reasons for your pessimistic thinking.

If you catch yourself thinking negatively, you can stop your thought

process mid-stream by literally saying to yourself, “Stop!” Saying this

aloud has power; you’re bound to notice the frequency and circumstances

of these destructive internal conversations.

Every time I catch myself thinking about one of my failures, faults or

mistakes, I have a firm conversation with myself. Then using my selfcontrol,

I change the subject. I confess that I may have to repeat this selftalk

technique 20 times before I finally stop thinking about a major

mistake or failure. But, as with every challenge I have faced thus far in

my life, I have not allowed it to negatively impact my overall outlook.

LTM Challenge

Let me encourage you to start being aware of your self-talk. Determine

which conversations are helpful and which ones are harmful. Be mindful

that your internal conversations not only affect how you view yourself,

but also how you react and respond to others.

Remember, we all make mistakes. We all have setbacks. We all

experience failures. The key is to learn from every experience and use our

self-control to stop thinking about them. It is only then that we can take

positive steps to achieve our personal and professional best.

You can’t control your life

if you don’t control your thoughts.

LTM Lesson 4: Become the Best at What You Do

4. Become the Best at What You Do

Imagine if you were the best at what you do: the best salesperson, the best

student, the best dad, the best mom, the best cashier, the best company

president, the best insurance agent. THE BEST. How would your life

change? How would you feel about yourself? What effects would you

being the best have on those around you?

You can be the best at whatever you do as long as becoming the best is

truly important to you. This doesn’t mean thinking, ―Yeah, I think it

would be cool if I were the best at what I do.” Or, “Of course, I’d like to

be the best. Who wouldn’t?” While most people might say they would

like to be the best at what they do, very few people (less than 1 percent)

are willing to do what is required to be the best. The best of the best are

the best for a reason.

First, you must identify the LITTLE THINGS that, if done correctly, will

allow you to perform at the highest level. The next step is to strive for

excellence and master those LITTLE THINGS, measuring and refining what

you do along the way.

After deciding to become a Realtor, I strived for excellence to master the

LITTLE THINGS required to be a success. Day after day, week after week,

and year after year, I continued to refine everything—from the scripts

used, to the hours I made cold calls. I focused on every detail—from the

paper used for my presentations to remembering the name of my client’s

dog.

After four years of making daily refinements, I perfected my craft

reaching the top 1 percent of 1 percent of all the Realtors in the nation. I

applied this same way of thinking to my sales and training career over the

last 20 years and once again became one of the best at what I do.

Just as Olympic athletes master the fundamentals of their sports, so does

anyone who wants to be the best of the best. They are the ones who work

the hardest at mastering the littlest of things. As Napoleon Hill so aptly

advised,

Have a well-developed sense of observation regarding the

small details and know your craft from the smallest detail

to the greatest.

As you begin to implement the things you learn, stretch yourself every

day to do your very best. Push yourself harder than you have ever pushed

before. Regardless of your age, education or background, if you strive for

excellence to be the very best at what you do, you will make great strides

in becoming the person you need to be to get what you want.

 

LTM Challenge

What is really important to you? If you want to be a great parent, discover

the LITTLE THINGS that great parents do; then work on those things each

day. If you want to reach the top of your career, then identify the LITTLE

THINGS that the top performers in your field do and then strive to master

them.

As you strive for excellence to do your best, make sure you measure your

progress. You will never be the best of the best if you are not measuring

and refining your progress. As you see yourself making measurable

progress, be sure to recognize yourself for even the smallest

accomplishment.

Get excited and consider the possibilities of becoming the best at what

you do!

To be the best at what you do, you must push and

stretch yourself to do what others are unwilling to do.

The best of the best are the best for a reason.

Star Wars Cuties

From Technabob blog:

Star Wars Characters Get Needle-Felted, Everyone Now as Cute as an Ewok

Posted: 01 Oct 2011 07:08 PM PDT

I'm going to go out on a limb and bet you these are the cutest, fuzziest Star Wars characters you'll see today. These little needle-felted guys come to us from a galaxy far, far away, where even Darth Vader and the Stormtroopers aren't imposing in the least.

All of these cute little Star Wars characters were handmade by Etsy artist Liberty Kraftz, and the collection includes everyone from Luke, Leia and Han, to R2 and Yoda. Each one measures between about 2 inches and 4 inches tall, and are made from fuzzy wool. Those are all sweet, but the gooey (and now hairy) Jabba the Hutt has to be my personal fave…

Han is tiny Bantha fodder for sure. Or at least he'll be frozen in carbonWoolite. You can find all of these guys over at Liberty Kraftz Etsy shop now, where you can grab them up for $18 each.

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Freakin' lemons