Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba Story

Shadow Boxing – Your Way to Success!

TAKE the TEST! True OR False?

Is it TRUE that the mind can’t tell the difference between REAL experiences and IMAGINED experiences? Does it react the same way to both Real & Imaginary events?

YES! It’s true.

You can use this principle to your advantage. The theory has been tested in the past. The power of imagining was tested by pitting 3 different groups of students against each other, shooting Basketball Hoops.

A large number of students were tested for their skill at shooting baskets, while standing at the free throw line. From a large group of students, 3 smaller groups of kids, equal size and similar skills were formed. ALL 3 groups shot roughly the same percentage of baskets at the start of the test.

The first group was the Control Group, so for the next few weeks they did NOT practice at all. They were NOT allowed to go into the gym. Group Number 2, entered the gym and practiced doing free throws for 20 minutes EACH day.

The third Group also practiced for 20 minutes everyday, but they NEVER touched a basketball! Each student was told to practice only “in their heads”. They had to IMAGINE shooting free throws for 20 minutes. They NEVER touched a basketball!

At the end of the TESTING period, the First Group, which had NOT practiced, showed NO improvement. When re-tested their scores were the same as their earlier ones.

The Second Group, that had practiced WITH basketballs, shooting REAL free throws, tested 20% HIGHER than their earlier scores.

CHECK THIS OUT!

The Big Shock was Group number 3, which tested 19% BETTER! They NEVER touched a basketball. This proved that we can actually learn a skill by practicing it in our heads.

Is there something that you’re not good at, but you would like to Improve?

If your answer is YES, then just play it over and over again in your mind. IMAGINE and SEE yourself doing this NEW activity, successfully. It works.

BOXERS are very successful using this technique.They IMAGINE fighting their opponents over and over for hours before all important Boxing matches. This has been called “Shadow Boxing.”

Salesmen and Athletes DO IT! This can be a way to build familiarity with any New situation. It builds up confidence.

Mental Imaginary WORKS!

If it’s good enough to help SET Olympic World Records AND BUILD fortunes… what could it possibly do for you?

TRY Shadow Boxing with yourself……

Is there something that you’ve felt too INADEQUATE to attempt? Need a raise? Want to start a New Business? Have desires to write an eBook?

Just IMAGINE yourself doing this thing. Maybe it’s telling your wife that your bother-in-law can’t come to your house this weekend. Maybe it could be going to see your bank about a loan. Whatever it is, IMAGINE it mentally OVER and OVER, again.

ALWAYS remember – your MIND cannot really tell the difference between something you “imagine” and something “real”. YOUR objective is to REPEAT the situation so MANY times that it’s comfortable by the time you actually DO the thing for real. Once you practice enough, it’s nothing new to you.

Add this important new skill to your Emotional Toolbox. Do one repetition at a time and SHADOW BOX your way TO THE TOP!

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Tired of going back to the word GO? Bill Vannot teaches the rules for a Winning Game Plan. Visit Bill today for your business strategy at  http://www.BillVannot.com

Live Life Fully! 10 Things That Can Keep You From It

Have you ever noticed that when you start a new hobby or sport that you have always wanted to start, you feel especially energized and excited about it? You probably notice a similar feeling when you get out of your regular routine, whether it is for a special event or for a vacation. Even if it is something very simple, these can be times when you are living life fully and it is energizing!

As I was thinking about this phenomenon, I recognized that the opposite happens when you are not living life fully. It’s draining to resist living life fully. Your energy becomes lower and you tend to lack excitement. There are many things that can pull us into this fatigued state of going through the motions.

1. Fear

Fear is probably the biggest reason many of us do not always live our lives fully. Especially if you are doing something new, it can be intimidating and scary. If you allow the fear to stop you from doing something you know you really want to do, you are allowing that fear to keep you from living your life fully. When you overcome that fear, you feel energized and excited.

2. Television

That might seem silly to some. However, I contend that watching others either pretend to live or watching them actually live (in the case of reality TV) is NOT living your life fully. I have never in my life heard people discussing television shows as much as I hear them now. I believe it is the ultimate distraction from living. So, limiting your TV time will give you more time to actually live.

3. Clutter

Being overwhelmed by too much stuff in your physical environment can make you feel overwhelmed in general. Every item in your space is something you need to take care of in some way. It can take away from time you would otherwise have to enjoy life. Of course, there are some things you have that you do enjoy. These are not things I would consider clutter. It is the things in your space that you don’t enjoy, that simply take up space and energy that you don’t want to spend on them. Getting rid of excess clutter can help free you to enjoy the things that really matter.

4. Resentment

Holding on to feelings of resentment toward people you feel have wronged you can distract you from living life fully. You may feel and even be totally justified with your feelings for things others have done that hurt you. However, if you hold on to those feelings, you are only harming yourself further. If you find you are having difficulty letting those types of feelings go, one thing you can do is write a letter to get them out, then burn it, flush it or mail it to Santa Claus. Whatever works for you to feel what you feel, then just let it go.

5. Judgment

Spending your time and energy in judgment of others can keep you from living your life fully. You will never have a complete understanding of another person’s motivations because you are not in their shoes. If you find yourself thinking or saying that another person “should” or “should not” do something or do it a certain way, you are judging them. They are not necessarily wrong for doing things differently and you are wasting yourself by attempting to force your ways upon them. Again, this ultimately only hurts you. Let go of your judgments of others and accept them for who they are. This will free you to live your life more fully.

6. Wallowing in Lethargy

When you feel low in energy and unmotivated, the worst thing you can do is give into it for an extended period of time. the longer you stay inactive, the less motivated you will be to become more active. Activity energizes you. If you are feeling unmotivated to do anything, get out and do something!

7. Chaos

When your life is too hectic and chaotic, it can keep you from living life fully. No matter what your circumstances are, be sure to always take time out for you. Whenever you are able to, simplify your life. Get creative with this if you need to. You might be able to simplify more than you think. Regardless of how difficult it is for you to simplify, always take at least a few minutes for yourself every day. Otherwise, what is the point of it all?

8. Drama

Do I even need to elaborate? It’s pointless and petty. I don’t do drama. I’ll leave it at that.

9. Guilt

Guilt is essentially resentment toward yourself for things you have done to “wrong” others. The reasons this keeps you from living life fully are basically the same as for resentment. If you really feel you have wronged someone and want to make up for it somehow, do what you can to do so if you believe it will truly make the situation better. If there is no way to do that directly or doing so will make things worse, write a letter to get it all out & get rid of the letter in a way that helps you let it go.

10. Feeling You Don’t Deserve It

If you find yourself in constant patterns of not living life fully, it could be that you have a subconscious (or conscious) belief that you don’t deserve to life life fully. We all deserve it. Focus on the reasons you deserve it. Write them down. Look at them daily.

There may be many more things that keep us from living life fully. These are my current thoughts on the matter. If you can relate to even one of them and do something to change it, maybe you can get a little more out of life than you were before. Just writing this has helped me realize how I still have many things I can shift in my own life to live it more fully. I always have lots of room for improvement!

Life is a journey and I repeatedly remind myself to enjoy that journey!

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by Jen Kunkel
Connect For Success at http://www.jenkunkel.com
Daily Blog: http://jenkunkel.com/extraordinarylives4ordinarypeople/

Gratitude is a Key to Happiness

Have you ever said thanks to god for anything? How was the feeling?

We feel much fulfilled while we say thank you because this makes us feel that we got something we needed. It also makes opposite person feel that what he or she gave to us is valuable.

God gave us this wonderful life and we should be thankful for the same. We pray to god for the things we want but we never say thanks for what we already have. Even if we say thanks it would be only once or twice. God gave us many gifts which we enjoy every day so we should be thankful every day.

“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” – Cynthia Ozick

Think this way how will you feel when in a train you give your birth to someone standing and that person without saying thanks sits on your place. You will definitely feel bad that you gave your valuable place to someone who didn’t value it. I am not saying god will feel bad if you won’t say thanks but I am saying that you will feel good if you say thanks.

If you want to be happy then you have to release all your negative thinking by replacing it with positive thinking. Gratitude will remove all negative energy from your mind because you will start focusing on things you have instead of what you don’t have.

“Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude.” - Joseph Wood Krutch

All the self help author suggest you to practice gratitude daily and I am no exception to that. Gratitude is the first thing I do in the morning. I say thanks to god for my life, health, my wife, my parents, my friends, knowledge, strength, opportunities and many more things. I feel fulfilled while practicing Gratitude. I feel like I am the luckiest guy in the world that I have many reasons to celebrate every day of my life. Gratitude also helps me to focus on my goals. It makes me realize that if I can achieve what I have then I can definitely achieve my other goals. It gives me amazing confidence. Gratitude actually prepares you to fight against all the odds and makes you happy.

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

You can prepare your gratitude journal where you can write things for which you are thankful. Every day you can add your list. It is not that we should be thankful for big things or events in our life. Small things or events also give you immense happiness. I say thank you even when I get a place in a bus or train. I also write everyday in my gratitude journal. I have also kept reminders in my mobile which rings at every three hours and I start thinking of events or things or people I am thankful for. Promise yourself that you will think of five things you feel gratitude for and I guarantee that you will find ten things.

Start Gratitude today, say thanks to god, to universe and even to your parents. In search of things we don’t have with us we forget to enjoy things we have with us.

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust

At the end I want to dedicate a poem from an unknown author.

Be Thankful

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire,
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge
Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary
Because it means you’ve made a difference.

It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are
also thankful for the setbacks.

GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles
and they can become your blessings.

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by Samir Kunvaria
For more articles on self improvement please visit http://www.samirworld.com

The Lost Secret of Think and Grow Rich

One of the most powerful principles hidden in the goldmine of knowledge called Think and Grow Rich is what I’ve named “The Pyramid Principle.” Now, I’m not talking about some mystical kind of pyramid power. And I’m not suggesting you go sleep in a pyramid or put a bunch of pyramids around your house or anything like that. No, this is a pyramid of some principles that will create incredible power.

The first chapter in Think and Grow Rich after the introduction contains the very first principle, and it’s the principle that Napoleon Hill calls “Desire.”

Hill taught that, “Desire is the beginning of all achievement.” In countless references throughout the book he describes it as a “white hot desire.” White hot!

That’s a term we don’t often see. But when he introduced the book in 1937 many people in the world were employed in these large factories where big kilns and big fires burned. A hot fire, the hottest fires-had a whitish color. Thus white hot!

So what he was trying to communicate in words of the day was that you needed to have the hottest desire that you could possibly create. That’s the first fundamental principle in whatever it is that you want to achieve.

The second principle of the pyramid also has a chapter named after it – Faith. Or, as some people might understand that term: Belief. Belief and Faith are first cousins. They basically mean the same thing.

Napoleon says Faith is the most powerful force on earth and you find references to that throughout all of the ancient wisdom. If you read the Christian Bible there is a passage in there about faith. It says that faith the size of a mustard seed is enough to move mountains. Since a mustard seed is a very small seed, the message is it doesn’t take much faith to do some amazing things.

He goes on to say that these first two principles, desire and faith, must be present to have any type of success at all. You’re not likely to move forward without both of those.

So you start with those two principles and then you add just one more. The principle of “Action” or what Hill calls “Decision.” With that the pyramid is complete and virtually anything you can imagine can be achieved by using its power.

Here’s how:

First, you use the principles in the order presented here:

(1) Desire (2) Faith (3) Action.

If you start trying to take action before desire, before faith is present, then you’re not going to act very long. In fact, your actions will be very weak because you won’t have a full commitment.

Now imagine a pyramid for a moment. On the bottom right hand of the base place the principle Desire. On the bottom left hand of the base place the principle Faith. And at the top of the pyramid place the principle Action.

Begin with Desire and once you’ve identified what it is, move to the left and begin working on your Faith in achieving that Desire. Now move to the top and take some Action — any kind of positive action toward your Desire.

And here’s why taking any kind of action is so important. After studying 25,000 failures he determined at the top of the list of their reasons for failure was the lack of decision, a lack of action.

But I’m sure you’ve also experienced as I have at times the feeling of inertia. So here’s a little secret for taking action. It’s based on Newton’s Law of Motion that you might remember from Science class. Newton found that a body at rest tends to remain at rest, while a body in motion tends to remain in motion. As long as you have inertia, you’re likely to continue with that inertia. But if you can create any kind of motion, any kind of action at all, you’re likely to continue in action.

So find some small action you can take toward your desire. Any kind of action counts. Maybe it’s just making an exploratory phone call or doing some web research.

That Action will produce some additional Desire (you move to the bottom right of the pyramid again) and you re-start the cycle. Each time you complete the cycle both your Faith and your Desire will grow. That’s why the Pyramid Principle is so powerful — it rapidly creates a “white hot desire.”

Once you get the Pyramid Principle started it takes on a life of it’s own. Each additional action feeds more desire. More desire feeds more belief. More belief feeds more action. And on and on.

That’s why it’s so powerful and that’s why this may be the most important “secret” to be discovered in Think and Grow Rich.

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You can see a free video of best-selling author Vic Johnson teaching on Think and Grow Rich at YouTube. For details on how to claim a free copy of Think and Grow Rich go to http://www.AsAManThinketh.net/think.htm.

Do Your Thoughts Sabotage Your Success?

Whether you believe it or not, positive attitude is not just a “soft skill” – it is a significant factor in achievement. Most dysfunction in business and personal achievement can be traced back to a root cause: ineffective thinking habits! That does not have to be the case for you, though. You can learn to manage your habits of thought and directly affect your level of performance and achievement.

Are you ready?

The first step in harnessing ineffective thinking habits and moving toward growth is becoming aware; for with an enhanced level of awareness, you can make choices that promote positive attitudes. It sounds so simple, but effective change always begins with awareness. People will choose to change when they are aware that the change will serve their best interest!

What is attitude?

An attitude can best be defined as a habit of thought. You naturally develop certain patterns of thinking about the people and world around you. These thinking habits can be conditioned and patterned by parents, friends, culture, environment, experiences, and circumstances.

If you do not assume personal responsibility for developing your own effective, positive attitudes, the world around you will shape your attitudes with average thinking, which is usually negative and unproductive. As a result, you become a victim of your own ineffective thinking patterns.

Every thought you entertain during the day is either positive or negative. There is no in-between or neutral thought. Every moment of your thinking pattern during the day either serves your growth or serves your stagnation.

Most people describe their attitude as neutral – neither positive nor negative. But everything in nature is either growing or decaying, and the same is true in business. There can be no neutral positions. You and your thoughts are alive and dynamic. The thinking patterns that determine your attitudes either work to bring about your growth or work to bring about your decline. It truly is that simple!

Fear is the enemy of positive thoughts

Everyone is challenged by the emotion of fear. Fear is a natural, human emotion that instinctively causes us to respond with a defensive reflex to any perceived threat. If left unmanaged, your attitudes will be controlled by the emotion of fear.

For example, if you set a goal that requires you to do new things, these new activities will seem uncomfortable at first. That is normal, but you may instinctively respond with fearful feelings because the new activities are uncomfortable. This leads you to psychologically interpret those fearful feelings as “risks” or “dangers,” while in fact these new activities may not be dangerous at all.

We all have a basic fear of risks and the unknown. This response is natural, yet absolutely counterproductive to achievement. All achievement requires you to grow beyond your current status or position. You cannot possibly expect to grow and not confront new activities, skills, and responsibilities. If you allow your natural responses of fear to direct your thinking, you personally sabotage your opportunities for achievement by choosing to quit or not to act.

In fact, most of the people who fail to achieve did not fail at all. They simply allowed fear to control their thinking and decided to quit. The fear of risk and the unknown were stronger than their desire to achieve.

How do I conquer the fear?

The best way to get over this natural inclination to fear the unknown is to plan for it. Have a game plan that you can depend on to start fostering a positive attitude. It will start off feeling forced, but over time it will become a habit. Positive habits inevitably lead to positive outcomes!

To get you started, practice the following five steps that will help you develop the mental toughness needed to face the challenge of your natural instinct of fear… and to win!

Step #1 – Maintain positive expectancy

You must keep the vision of your desired, future achievement in the forefront of your mental focus. Achievement is 80% mental! You will first accomplish your dreams in your mind before you ever realize them materially. Build a vision of your future that is stronger than your fears, and fill your thinking patterns with positive expectancy, which actually attracts the circumstances that you will need to realize your achievement.

Step #2 – Manage your daily choices according to your goals, not your feelings

Managing consistent, positive expectancy is difficult because you never feel the same, physically or emotionally, every single day of the week. If you only work on your goals when you feel good, your actions will be too inconsistent to produce results.

My long-time friend and mentor, Paul J. Meyer, would say, “Follow through with your daily plans regardless of circumstances or what other people say, think, or do.” In other words, your dreams for the future must be strong enough to keep you following through with those plans on a daily basis, no matter how you feel.

Step #3 – Aggressively manage your positive relationships

Your associations with others will either promote your growth or deter it. The thinking habits of those with whom you associate affect your thinking. You must, therefore, foster relationships with people who inspire and influence your growth. In the same vein, aggressively avoid those who impose their negative beliefs or attitudes on you. You cannot engage in negative relationships without being negatively affected, so you must manage your personal relationships aggressively!

Step #4 – Live in the moment!

Life comes to each of us one day at a time. You cannot live in the future any more than you can change the past. The past is gone and tomorrow does not exist. Many people never succeed in their life plans because they are always saying, “I’ll start tomorrow.” Tomorrow turns into next week, next month, and next year. Some call it procrastination, but in reality, it is nothing more than a comfort zone.

You procrastinate on your personal growth because it is simply more comfortable to wait. Learn to live right now! Change your thinking about waiting and develop the attitude of urgency in applying effective actions daily.

Step #5 – Believe

Faith – being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see – is a spiritual term. It makes no sense intellectually and can be understood only from a spiritual perspective. Regardless of your religious or non-religious position, belief is vital in your growth and achievement, and you cannot understand belief without an understanding of faith.

There will be times in your achievement journey when quitting or giving up will seem like the only alternatives. At these times, it will take the strength of your faith to prevail. You must believe that you can achieve, for it is the spark that sustains you.

Putting it all together

Armed with a new level of awareness of how and why negative attitudes are instinctive, you now understand why a positive attitude development program is vital to your growth, success, and achievement.

You must develop a positive, productive attitude. It will never happen naturally, but just because it is not natural does NOT mean you cannot do it! Manage you thoughts and attitudes everyday, conquer the fear, and get ready to ACHIEVE!

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Inspiring genuine growth and achievement in leaders, David Byrd has 30 years of experience working with top business executives and their organizations. He is a master of effective leadership and works closely with leaders worldwide to maximize their leadership potential. For more information about The Next-Level Achievement System® or David’s book, Achievement – A Proven System For Next Level Growth, visit http://www.authorsup.com/David-Byrd.

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