Your Habits Will Determine Your Future (from the "Power of Focus" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Les Hewitt)

The severe asthmatic attack had deteriorated into adult respiratory distress syndrome. To put it simply, his lungs had completely seized, just like a car engine when it finally runs out of oil.

The last thing he remembered that night was the hospital floor rushing up to meet him, then, total blackness. The coma lasted for fifteen days, during which time his weight dropped by forty pounds. When he finally woke, he was unable to speak for anther two weeks. That was good, because for the first time in years it gave him time to think. Why, at only twenty years of age, had his life almost evaporated? The doctors had done a miraculous job keeping him alive, when others thought he had no chance for survival.

Brent reflected deeply. The asthma had been a part of his life since birth. He was well known at the hospital after numerous visits to stabilize his condition. Despite having lots of energy as a child, he was never able to participate in any physical activities like other kids, such as skating or hockey. At age ten, his parents divorced and all of his pent-up frustrations finally boiled over. The next few years were a continuous downward spiral leading to drugs, alcohol abuse and a smoking habit that consumed thirty cigarettes per day.

He didn't finish school and aimlessly drifted from one part-time job to the next. Even though his health was steadily getting worse, he chose to ignore it - until that fateful night when his body said, "no more." With time to reflect, he came to this all-important conclusion: "I brought this on myself through years of making bad choices." His new resolve was, "Never again; I want a life."

Brent gradually became stronger and was eventually released from the hospital. Soon after, he mapped out a positive game plan to improve his life. First he enrolled in a fitness program. One of his initial goals was to win a T-shirt for completing twelve sessions. He did it. Three years later he was teaching aerobics. The momentum was building. Five years after that he competed in the National Aerobics Championships. Along the way he decided to further his education - first, completing his high school diploma and then successfully working his way through university.

Next, he and a friend started their own manufacturing business, Typhoon Sportswear Ltd., specializing in producing apparel for retail chains. Starting with only four employees, the company recently celebrated its fifteenth anniversary.

Today it's a multimillion-dollar enterprise with sixty-six people and an international distribution network supplying high-profile clients such as Nike. By deciding to make better choices and create better habits, Brent Vouri turned his life around - from yesterday's zero to today's hero!


Do You See The Big Picture?

Born in Australia, his parents were third-generation welfare recipients used to being poor. Peter attended elementary school in Adelaide. Because of a learning disability, he found it difficult to understand and assemble words. Consequently he was labeled stupid by teachers who were either too busy or didn't care enough to find out why he struggled. One teacher in particular, Miss Phillips, would make Peter stand in front of the class where she would berate him with, "Peter Daniels, you're a bad boy and you'll never amount to anything."

Of course this did nothing for his self-esteem. As a result, he failed every grade in school. One of his earliest career choices was to become a brick layer. A few years later, married with a young family, he decided to go into business for himself. The first venture failed miserably and he was broke within a year. Undaunted, he saw another opportunity and channeled his energy into making it a success. A similar fate awaited him; he was broke within eighteen months. With steely determination to overcome these setbacks, Peter again launched himself into the competitive world of business, only to end up broke for a third time. He now had the unbelievable track record of going broke three times within five years.

Most people would give up at this point. Not Peter Daniels. His attitude is, "I'm learning and I haven't made the same mistake twice. This is excellent experience." Asking his wife Robena to support him one more time, he decided to sell residential and commercial real estate. One skill Peter had honed over the years was his ability to persuade. He was a naturally good promoter. Much of this came from the necessity to deal with a constant stream of creditors who wanted payment. During the next ten years the name Peter Daniels became synonymous with residential and commercial real estate. Through careful selection and astutue regotiation he accumulated a portfolio worth several million dollars.

Today Peter Daniels is an internationally acclaimed businessman who has created successful ventures in many countries around the world. His friends include royalty, heads of state, and the leading movers and shakers of the commercial world. He is also a philanthropist who is passionate about helping others, and whose generosity has funded many Christian endeavors.

When asked what turned his life from triple indebtedness to unprecedented success, he replied, "I scheduled time to think. In fact, I reserve one day a week on my calendar just to think. All of my greatest ideas, opportunities and money-making ventures started with the days I took off to think. I used to lock myself away in my den with strict instructions to my family that under no circumstances was I to be disturbed." The same strategy worked for Einstein who actually did his pondering in a special thinking chair.

And it transformed the life of Peter Daniels from school failure to multimillionaire. By the way, Peter has now written several bestselling books, one of which was titled Miss Phillips, You Were Wrong!, a reminder to his old teacher not to give up too quickly on her students.

(From the book "RogerMagnet's Sales Adventures" by Roger Konopasek)

Bill was distressed. He had been posted to Asia four months ago to take over as the number two of a major player in the chemical additives field. Coming from a Western background he was not used to the cultural finesse of communicating in Asia. He was used to asking direct questions and getting direct answers.

The first months in the office were an exercise in frustration. Sales were down across the region yet none of his questions was being answered in a way that allowed him to take action. Bill felt as if he was surrounded by a wall of glass, he was stuck inside a glass bubble talking and talking, everyone was looking at him yet it seemed that no one could hear him.

His frustration peaking at the lack of communication, he decided to find out what was truly going on. In a series of sessions involving a third-party mediator, a clear picture began to emerge. The company was suffering from communications breakdown. The staff had been caught in a belief system cycle that dictated them to be quiet when the boss spoke. Coming from a background where speaking up, or speaking back to a superior can be seen as being rude had effectively silenced the staff. The staff had become half hearted executors of the decisions made by management.

Interviewed on a one-to-one basis, staff memebers spoke of frustrations, lack of power and "heart" to do the job. Most of the staff were just hanging in there to pay the bills. Asked why they were not leaving the company to find greener pastures, most staff members interviewed just said that it was not their lot in life to get any farther since all managers were hard to talk to and all their efforts in this as well as in other companies to change things had come to no result. They had pretty much resigned themselves to go to work, do their 8-10 hours, collect the cheque and wait for their vacations and ultimately, retirement.

When confronted with this bleak picture of his staff's frame of mind, Bill was shocked. No way could he go out and win the market with a team running on such low self-esteem!

A strong bond and understanding had to be developed between management and staff. The first thing Bill wanted to know was why the staff thought management was closed and offish and how that could be changed. After a short introduction into the rules of politeness in the region, Bill understood that he had inherited a mantle (the title "Manager") that made it nigh impossible for a large number of his staff to approach him openly and talk to him. He was a "Manager", one of those strange creatures from a different planet that never seem to understand the problems of the rest of humanity. That was the starting point of a vicious cycle running the whole organization. Staff not communicating with managers, managers taking fairly uninformed decisions (not having the full picture due to lack of information), staff seeing faulty decisions made and coming to the conclusion that management was totally useless.

Bill had to break through the cycle at all cost! After much deliberation, the mediator and Bill struck upon a simple idea: Make the Invisible Visible!

A week later every staff member received a small crystal ball with a personal letter reading:

Dear X

There is a myth in the world of business that bosses are mind readers! That they know all. That they are infallible! That is not the truth...managers are human beings and can't read the thoughts of their fellow men. If I was able to do it, I would have a giant crystal ball on my table and would know all there is to know about what is in your heart.

We are all members of one team, we are part of a family and in my family, open doors are the rule. Every time you have a question to ask me and you think I am busy, just come into my office and show the crystal ball, it is your passport to talking to me anytime, anywhere. Try it, you may be amazed what powers this crystal ball holds.

Have a great day
Bill

The letter went out and then...nothing happened. Nothing happened for a whole week. Until one staff member tentatively approached Bill, produced the crystal ball and fielded a few important questions. After 10 minutes, she walked out with the answers she needed. This first example caught on and the rest of the team started following suit.

By now, the crystal balls are a part of the past. Team members communicate fast and efficiently with a smile on their faces...life is great again and full of sunshine.

Moral of the story: Never collide with a paradigm head-on, you will lose against entrenched beliefs. Take a skirting strategy and put a smile on people's faces and you will win.

Mother Teresa, the Little Nun Who Became a Household Name Worldwide

Most people today have probably heard about Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India, who died in 1997 after a lifetime of service to the poor and needy. Who was this diminutive woman who probably didn't weigh 110 pounds ever in her life, and why did she have such an impact on the world? What is it about her which created such love and respect that she appears likely for eventual sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church?

If you put Mother Teresa's talents and skills into the profile of the typical success pattern that modern society seems to look for, she doesn't qualify for the kind of universal acclaim and notoriety that she had. She was born in humble circumstances in Skopje, Macedonia, part of the former Yugoslavia. She wasn't highly educated. She did not have the charisma that often comes with being large in stature. She had very few "marketable skills" of the kind that the world seems to think are essential for influence and success today. What was it about her, then, that promoted her into the white ligths of acclaim on a world stage?

The answer is simple and yet very powerful. It is all wrapped up in a word and concept called service. At the age of eighteen she entered a convent in Ireland, and from that time on she dedicated her life to serving her fellow human beings. In 1929 she arrived in Calcutta and began to teach in a school for girls. The misery and affliction of the masses of people in India greatly touched her, and over the next several years her compassion moved her to try to ease their pain and suffering.

On September 10, 1946, on a long train ride to Darjeeling, India, where she was traveling to recover from suspected tuberculosis, Mother Teresa had a life-changing spiritual experience: "I realized that I had the call to take care of the sick and the dying, the hungry, the naked, the homeless - to be God's love in action to the poorest of the poor. That was the beginning of the Missionaries of Charity."

At this point Mother Teresa took this mission most seriously. She didn't just try to do more to help those in need, she went right to the top of her church and asked permission to leave the religious order to which she belonged and establish a new order of sisters. After receiving that permission from Pope Pius XII, she went to work in Calcutta, long known as having one of the worst concentrations of human misery in the world. She spent the rest of her days trying to ease their physical and spiritual suffering. From the legacy Mother Teresa has left us, we can see the familiar pattern common to many heroes: She knew exactly who she was, what was most important to her, what she was about, and what she wanted to accomplish on this earth.

One of the amazing aspects of Mother Teresa's story is how she stood out in a quest that many have been motivated to do. There are great stories of nurses, missionaries, humanitarians, and others who have done marvelous things in serving those less fortunate. Why was Mother Teresa singled out as an icon of this concept? The answer to that seems quite simple to me as well. It is wrapped up in a word and concept called consistency. Mother Teresa consistently went about living her life in accordance with the mission she had identified for herself. She clearly wasn't in it for the personal accolades that it ultimately brought. She was in it because she wanted to bring hope and peace, and end the suffering of people who were sick and dying in the streets of Calcutta.

I have never been to Calcutta, but I've heard from those who have been there that nowhere else in the world has the poverty, sickness, and filth you'll find there. But this is where Mother Teresa decided she was going to make a difference. The statistics show that over the years more than forty-two thousand people were treated at an abandoned Hindu temple that she was able to acquire and convert into the Kalighat Home for the Dying. The nuns would go out and literally take from the streets of Calcutta those who were sick and dying and bring them to the home, where they received love and kindness. To many it would seem like a hopeless and thankless task. More than nineteen thousand died there, but at least they died in a place where people were caring for and loving them.

Mother Teresa's story gradually became known to the world. People were stunned by this inspiring departure from the usual prevalent attitude of "it's terrible, but I can't do anything about it." People simply couldn't comprehend this little dynamo who had created her own order of sisters to help the sick, dying, and needy. As a result, she had a tremendous impact on the world. Perhaps the reason the world has heard of this woman who labored in a faraway place is that she lived her life with a deep understanding of what mattered most, a commitment to doing something about those things, and a willingness to sacrifice the energy of her life for and on behalf of the people to whom she had dedicated it.

The Law of Cause & Effect (from "The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success" by Brian Tracy

Aristotle asserted that we live in a world governed by law, not chance. He stated that everything happens for a reason, whether or not we know what it is. He said that every effect has a specific cause or causes. Every cause or action has an effect of some kind, whether we can see it and whether we like it or not.

This is the granddaddy law, the "Iron Law" of Western thought, of Western philosophy. The relentless search for truth, for the causal relationships among events, has led to the rise of the West in science, technology, medicine, philosophy, and even warfare of more than 2000 years. Today this focus is driving the technological advances that are changing our world so dramatically.

This law says that achievement, wealth, happiness, prosperity, and business success are all the direct and indirect effects or results of specific causes or actions. This simply means that if you can be clear about the effect or result you want, you can probably achieve it. You can study others who have achieved the same goal, and by doing what they did, you can get the same results.

Success is Not an Accident

Success is not a miracle, nor is it a matter of luck. Everything happens for a reason, good or bad, positive or negative. When you are absolutely clear about what you want, you only need to copy others who have achieved it before you, and you will eventually get the same results that they have.

This is referred to in the Bible as the Law of Sowing and Reaping, which says, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall he reap."

Sir Isaac Newton called it the third principle of motion. He said, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

For you and me, the most important expression of this universal law is "Thoughts are causes and conditions are effects."

Put another way, "Thought is creative." Your thoughts are the primary creative forces in your life. You create your entire world by the way you think. All the people and situations in your life have only the meaning you give them by the way you think about them. And when you change your thinking, you change your life, sometimes in seconds!

The most important principle of personal or business success is simply this: You become what you think about most of the time.

This is the great discovery upon which all religions, philosophies, metaphysics, schools of thought, and theories of psychology are based. This principle is as applicable to individuals as it is to groups of individuals and organisations. Whatever you see or experience is the expression of the thinking of the people behind the phenomenon. Ralph Waldo Emerson recognised this when he wrote, "Every great organisation is merely the lengthened shadow of a single man."

It is not what happens to you but how you think about what happens to you that determines how you feel and react. It is not the world outside you that dictates your circumstances or conditions. It is the world inside you that creates the conditions of your life.

Your Choice, Your Life

You are always free to choose. In the long run, no one forces you to think, feel, or behave the way you do. Rather, you choose your emotions and your behaviors by the way you choose to think about the world around you and about what is happening to you.

Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania calls this way of reacting your "explanatory style." It is the way that you interpret or explain things to yourself. It is the critical determinant of everything you are and everything you become.

The good news is that your explanatory style is learned. This means that it can be unlearned as well. Your way of explaining things to yourself is under your control. You can interpret your experiences in such a way that you feel happy and optimistic rather than angry or frustrated. You can decide to react in such a way that your responses are constructive and effective. You are always free to choose.

Your thoughts and feelings are continually changing. They are quickly affected by the events around you. For example, when you receive a piece of good news, your attitude immediately brightens and you feel more positive toward everyone and everything. If, on the other hand, you unexpectedly receive some bad news, you can immediately become upset, angry, and short-tempered, even if the news is inaccurate or untrue. It is the way you interpret the event to yourself that determines how you react.

How you can apply this law immediately:

1. Examine the most important parts of your life - your family, your health, your work, your financial situation - and observe the cause-effect relationships between what you think, say, feel, and do and the results you are getting. Be honest with yourself.

2. Analyse how you really think about yourself in relationship to the kind of life you are living. Be absolutely honest. Consider how your thoughts in each area are causing, creating, and maintaining the situation around you. What changes could you make in your thinking to improve the quality of some part of your life?

nourish the mind, create a better world

On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City.

If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches. To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and slowly, is an awesome sight.

He walks painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down, slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play.

By now, the audience is used to this ritual. They sit quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair. They remain reverently silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is ready to play.

But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars,one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it snap - it went off like gunfire across the room. There was no mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had to do. We figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage - to either find another violin or else find another string for this one.

But he didn't. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again. The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before.

Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that. You could see him modulating, changing, re-composing the piece in his head.
At one point, it sounded like he was de-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made before.

When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium. We were all on our feet, screaming and cheering, doing everything we could to show how much we appreciated what he had done. He smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to quiet us,
and then he said - not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone - "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."

What a powerful line that is. It has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it. And who knows? Perhaps that is the definition of life - not just for artists but for all of us. Here is a man who has prepared all his life to make music on a violin of four strings, who,
all of a sudden, in the middle of a concert, finds himself with only three strings; so he makes music with three strings, and the music he made that night with just three strings was more beautiful, more sacred, more memorable, than any that he had ever made before, when he had four strings.

So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.

THE RULES FOR BEING HUMAN By Dan Millman

1. YOU WILL RECEIVE A BODY.
You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this
time around.


2. YOU WILL LEARN LESSONS.
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life. Each day in
this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like
the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.


3. THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, ONLY LESSONS.
Growth is a process of trial and error: Experimentation. The "failed"
experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that
ultimately "works."


4. A LESSON IS REPEATED UNTIL LEARNED.
A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned
it. When you have learned it, you can the go on to the next lesson.


5. LEARNING LESSONS DOES NOT END.
There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are
alive, there are lessons to be learned.


6. "THERE" IS NO BETTER THAN "HERE."
When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain another
"there" that will again look better than "here."


7. OTHERS ARE MERELY MIRRORS OF YOU.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects
something you love or hate about yourself.


8. WHAT YOU MAKE OF YOUR LIFE IS UP TO YOU.
You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up
to you. The choice is yours.


9. YOUR ANSWERS LIE INSIDE YOU.
The answers to Life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look,
listen and trust.


10. YOU WILL FORGET ALL THIS...

THERE IS NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT

Mark Twain said, "I have been through some terrible things in my life,
some of which actually happened." These words hold great wisdom; the
wisdom of knowing that there is no sense worrying about the past or
fearing the future. Your past will not change, and your future concerns
may never come.


Many people spend a great deal of time and energy thinking about past
problems and future concerns while the present is passing them by.
Remember the here and now is a gift, which is why they call it the
'present'. Treat it like a present, enjoy it to the fullest and make the
most of it.

rach:dis article really applies to me ...

SUCCESS IS EASY, BUT SO IS NEGLECT by jim rohn

People often ask me how I became successful in that six- year period of
time while many of the people I knew did not. The answer is simple: The
things I found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do. I found
it easy to set the goals that could change my life. They found it easy not
to. I found it easy to read the books that could affect my thinking and my
ideas. They found that easy not to. I found it easy to attend the classes
and the seminars, and to get around other successful people. They said it
probably really wouldn't matter. If I had to sum it up, I would say what I
found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do. Six years later,
I'm a millionaire and they are all still blaming the economy, the
government, and company policies, yet they neglected to do the basic, easy
things.


In fact, the primary reason most people are not doing as well as they
could and should, can be summed up in a single word: neglect.


It is not the lack of money - banks are full of money. It is not the lack
of opportunity - America, and much of the Free World, continues to offer
the most unprecedented and abundant opportunities in the last six thousand
years of recorded history. It is not the lack of books - libraries are
full of books - and they are free! It is not the schools - the classrooms
are full of good teachers. We have plenty of ministers, leaders,
counselors and advisors.


Everything we would ever need to become rich and powerful and
sophisticated is within our reach. The major reason that so few take
advantage of all that we have is, simply, neglect.


Neglect is like an infection. Left unchecked it will spread throughout our
entire system of disciplines and eventually lead to a complete breakdown
of a potentially joy-filled and prosperous human life.


Not doing the things we know we should do causes us to feel guilty and
guilt leads to an erosion of self-confidence. As our self-confidence
diminishes, so does the level of our activity. And as our activity
diminishes, our results inevitably decline. And as our results suffer, our
attitude begins to weaken. And as our attitude begins the slow shift from
positive to negative, our self-confidence diminishes even more...and on
and on it goes.


So my suggestion is that when given the choice of "easy to" and "easy not
to," you do not neglect to do the simple, basic, "easy," but potentially
life-changing activities and disciplines.

hey!!!

gd things muz share wif everybody! dis will be a blog where i will put up some really inspiring emails fr a lady called rena teo! hehe~ let's wk hard for our dreams together!