Kaizen

The Japanese have a word for the concept of never ending improvement, it is kaizen. Translations include "change for the better" and "improvement." This is a powerful concept to incorporate into your daily living. Constantly seek ways to do things in all areas of your life better. Do your best, and constantly seek ways to improve. Do not be content with being average. Go above and beyond by incorporating kaizen to become a better person in everything you do.

Look at your goals and think of ways you can improve in each of these areas. Even if you only improve one percent each month, you have improved more than ten percent in a year. Add up all those ten percents and you will have made significant progress.

Remember kaizen and constantly seek to improve!

Life Pays Us What We Bargain For

There is an old poem that starts:

I bargained with life for a penny
And life would pay no more.

I do not remember the rest of the poem, but what I do know is the beginning is a true statement if you let it. Life pays us what we bargain for. If you play for pennies, that is what will fill your bank account. Our rewards, what life pays us, will be in proportion to our service. Play for keeps! Figure out how to do more, how to serve more, how to help more people solve their problems. You do this and your rewards will be greatly enhanced. Get out and make it happen.

Power, Preparation, and Presentation

Here are some quotes regarding three P's. Power, Preparation, and Presentation. All important to your success. Enjoy - Alain

POWER

"Real power comes by empowering others." - Denis Waitley

"Power consists in one's capacity to link his will with the purpose of others, to lead by reason and a gift of cooperation." - Woodrow Wilson

"Calmness is the cradle of power." - Josiah Gilbert Holland

"The power of one is above all things the power to believe in yourself. Often well beyond any latent ability previously demonstrated. The mind is the athlete, The body is simply the means it uses." - Bryce Courtenay

PREPARATION

"Put a great deal of stock in preparation." - Tony Jeary

"Practice mental rehearsal prior to every sales call. Visualize prior success and imagine that you are about to enjoy it again." - Brian Tracy

"From product knowledge springs the expertise to work with clients in the effective and professional manner that earns high income. Invest ten minutes daily reviewing your product information or using your product so you know it inside and out." - Tom Hopkins

"It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared." - Whitney Young, JR.

PRESENTATION

"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel." - Carl. W. Buechner

"The effectiveness of any presentation depends greatly upon our confidence in the quality and appropriateness of that presentation's content." - Tony Jeary

"Adjust the rhythm and tempo of your presentation to stay in-step with your customer." - Brian Tracy

"Be brief on the logic and reason portion of your presentation. There are probably about a thousand facts about an automobile, but you don't need them all to make a decision. About a half dozen will do." - Jim Rohn

Study Success

One important ingredient for success, and the one common factor of almost any successful person you will find is they are dedicated to studying success. Successful people never tire of studying what others have done to achieve to make themselves better. Do not reinvent the wheel. Find out what others did to succeed and model them. Learn from people in person, read the great biographies, read books and listen to audio programs from those teaching what you need to know to succeed. Do not just study success, you must also apply what you learn. So do it and make things happen.

Vitamins for the Mind - Results

I've been pretty busy with a new company I've started, so I have not posted much in the last week. Jim Rohn's Vitamins for the Mind are always thought provoking and enlightening. Here are a couple regarding results. Enjoy!


At the end of each day, you should play back the tapes of your performance. The results should either applaud you or prod you.

The greatest form of maturity is at harvest time. This is when we must learn how to reap without complaint if the amounts are small and how to reap without apology if the amounts are big.

Life asks us to make measurable progress in reasonable time. That's why they make those fourth grade chairs so small – so you won't fit in them at age twenty-five!

There are some things you don't have to know how it works - only that it works. While some people are studying the roots, others are picking the fruit. It just depends on which end of this you want to get in on.


Check out my main website for more from Jim Rohn!

Top Ten Attributes of a Successful Individual

According to The Everything Success Book by Joseph Nigro & Nicholas Nigro the Top Ten Attributes of a Successful Individual are:

1. Practices the art of self-actualization: converting potential into reality.

2. Utilizes self-awareness to appreciate both possibilities and limitations.

3. Accepts setbacks as part of life and always moves forward.

4. Shares successes and good fortune with others.

5. Scrupulously attends to both physical and spiritual health and wellness.

6. Actively seeks out positive relationships, both personally and professionally.

7. Financially plans for the future, but lives in the present.

8. Views all learning as a never-ending story.

9. Smoothly adapts to change.

10. Maintains positive self-esteem in good times as well as bad times.

Lessons from an Oyster

Lessons from an Oyster
by: Author Unknown, Source Unknown

There once was an oyster
Whose story I tell,
Who found that some sand
Had got into his shell.

It was only a grain,
but it gave him great pain.
For oysters have feelings
Although they're so plain.

Now, did he berate
the harsh workings of fate
That had brought him
To such a deplorable state?

Did he curse at the government,
Cry for election,
And claim that the sea should
Have given him protection?

'No,' he said to himself
As he lay on a shell,
Since I cannot remove it,
I shall try to improve it.

Now the years have rolled around,
As the years always do,
And he came to his ultimate
Destiny ­ stew.

And the small grain of sand
That had bothered him so
Was a beautiful pearl
All richly aglow.

Now the tale has a moral,
for isn't it grand
What an oyster can do
With a morsel of sand?

What couldn't we do
If we'd only begin
With some of the things
That get under our skin.

Do Nothing Which Is Of No Use

I've studied martial arts and Asian culture and philosophies for more than twenty years, including living and training in both Korea and Japan. Obviously this training and study has not only helped me with teaching martial arts and self-defense skills, but influences everything I do. I'm working on several programs right now that teach personal and professional development skills with a focus on warriorship and the lessons I've learned through martial study.

Miyamoto Musashi is one of the most well known Samurais of Japan. His book on swordsmanship and strategy A Book Of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho) is a classic military text that has also been studied for business purposes. In this text Musashi lists nine rules to live by. The ninth is extremely important for making things happen:

Do nothing which is of no use.

Cherokee Wisdom

This story is found in a variety of places and gets passed around in e-mails periodically. It is a great lesson. Enjoy!

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between 2 wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Discipline

Discipline is a key ingredient to making things happen. Enjoy these quotes!

"We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons." - Jim Rohn

"Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself." - Abraham Joshua Heschel

"Positive self-discipline puts you in the driver's seat. When you rehearse the correct moves and internalize them, you will become a high-performance human being." - Denis Waitley

"Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability." - Roy L. Smith

"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it." - General H. Norman Schwarzkopf

"The most important quality in the development of human character is, and always has been, self discipline." - Brian Tracy

"Without discipline, there is no life at all." - Katharine Hepburn

"I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline... I firmly believe that any man's finest hour - this greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear – is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle, victorious." - Vince Lombardi