Category Personal Growth
Create Your Personal Strategic Plan
By Brian Tracy
Your success in life is determined, to a large extent by your ability to think, plan, decide, and take action. The stronger your skills are in each of these areas, the faster you will achieve your goals and the happier you will be with your life and career. Personal strategic planning is the tool that takes you from wherever you are to wherever you want to go.
Difference between Train and Plane
The difference between people who use strategic planning to organize and direct their lives and those who do not is like the difference between taking a train and taking a plane. Both will get you from point A to point B, but the plane—personal strategic planning—will get you there much faster and without frequent stops.
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Posted by Tom Polanski in Personal Growth on December 27th, 2009
The Four Agreements Necessary for Personal Freedom
By Don Miguel Ruiz
1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
3. Don’t Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Personal Growth on December 16th, 2009
Three powerful principles for success
By Brian Tracy
There are many similarities between business and war. In both cases, the victor is the one who uses superior strategy against his or her competition.
There are three principles of military strategy you can apply to your work every single day. The first idea from the military is called the Principle of Maneuver.
The principle of maneuver says that you should be clear about the goal, but be flexible about the process of ach ieving it. According to the Menninger Institute, this quality of flexibility is the most important single quality that you will require for success in times of rapid change.
Be Open to Continuous Feedback
A key peak performance quality for you is to “accept feedback and self-correct.” Peak performers are those who can take information from their environment and even if the information is contrary to all of their planning, they can accept the information, modify their plans, and continue moving forward. They are always open to new ideas and insights.
Learn What You Need to Know
The second military principle you can use is the Principle of Intelligence. This principle of intelligence means simply, “get the facts!”
Posted by Tom Polanski in Personal Growth on May 12th, 2009
There wouldn’t be counterfeit gold if there wasn’t real gold somewhere
By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive
Change you’re thinking change your life. It’s that simple really. Did you know that the original meaning of the word, “wealth” was “well-being”? The original meaning of the word “prosperity” was to “walk hopefully into the future”. Finally, the word “affluence”, meant, “to be open to the flow of ideas, talent, and intuition”. By those definitions, if you have your health, hope, and talent, then you’re wealthy, prosperous, and affluent, even in a down economy. Don’t be seduced by the material world. Tough times have empowered me to discover, and learn to use, resources and capacities, within, that I didn’t even know I had.
An example of the power of intuition; Albert Einstein upon winning the Nobel Prize gave credit, not to his immense intelligence, or his work ethic, but to his intuition. True story. Do you trust your intuition? Are you in touch with it?
Brian Tracy maintains that The Parable of the Talents is the primary reason for wealth or poverty throughout history.
Reasons for Rich or Poor
Why do some people retire rich and most people retire poor? This subject has fascinated philosophers, thinkers, mystics and teachers throughout the ages. There have been so many cases of hundreds or thousands and even millions of men and women who have started with nothing and become financially independent that people are naturally curious to know why it happened and what are the common rules or principles that others can apply to become wealthy as well.
Why People Become Rich
One illustration of this key principle is called the parable of the talents. In the Bible, it says, “To him that hath, shall more be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away.”
Posted by Tom Polanski in Personal Growth on March 31st, 2009
Accept yourself unconditionally
By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive
There are few events as devastating as the loss of employment. The damage done to a persons self-esteem, especially if the length of time without a job is extended, can be crippling. Try to remember that your future isn’t in a job; your future is within you.
I think that self-honesty is of critical importance. Once we’re able to divorce ourselves from the various illusions and obsessions that affect our decision making, we’re free to make choices that are based in reality. Until then we’re held hostage.
I’ll give you an example, when I was a young actor in New York I had to make a living between jobs. Actors in New York become waiters, right? That’s the archetype. Waiting on tables gives an actor an income, and scheduling flexibility. I decided I would get a job waiting on tables. Within a few days I found a job at a prestigious restaurant in Gramercy Park. By my third evening shift I was fired. I couldn’t believe it.
So I went out and found another job as a waiter. The same result. I was fired. I was a terrible waiter primarily because I didn’t really enjoy it. However I couldn’t accept that. I became obsessed with proving to myself that I could excel in the restaurant industry. I found another job, and again, the same result; I was fired.
I was fired from twenty restaurant jobs in ninety days before I was finally bludgeoned into accepting that I just wasn’t a good fit for the restaurant industry and that the restaurant industry would never be a good fit for a klutz like me.
Sometimes rejection is God’s protection. I found a career in acting which was not only a way of life but a way to life. In additon, the skills I learned as an actor prepared me for a career in sales. Do a self-inventory including asking yourself what you really want from life. I’ve found most people can tell me what they don’t want but fare able to define what they want.
We’re all inundated by messages from our family, friends, peers, and the media. It can get to be a little confusing.
Here are a few thoughts offered by Brian Tracy that may help to guide you towards clarity of mind and purpose. The journey begins with acceptance, and in particular, self-acceptance.
Remember, dire circumstances have the potential to reveal who you really are. The bad times in my life forced me to discover capacities, talents, and resources I didn’t know I had.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Personal Growth on March 19th, 2009