1. Be really vague about it. Do not get specific about what you want to achieve.
2. Keep it a secret. Never tell a soul about your dreams for the future - not even yourself.
3. Hang around people who also aren’t going for their goals. Success is contagious, so stay away from anyone who has clear goals and a plan to achieve them.
4. Never, EVER write down your goals. The mere act of writing down your goals is a giant step toward achieving them, so this is a big no-no.
5. Listen to all your fears and doubts. If you accidently find yourself moving toward a goal, quickly give in to your fears and doubts - after all, fear is stronger than you, right?
6. Give up the instant you are faced with an obstacle. Any obstacle is a sure sign that you should not proceed with your goals.
7. Take the advice of anyone who thinks your goals are ill-advised / impossible / improper / wrong / crazy / unaffordable / naive. Everybody knows that cynicism is more realistic than imagination.
8. Never, EVER take a risk. Stay in your comfort zone, it’s much safer.
9. Do not start anything until you are 100% sure of the outcome. Wait until all conditions are “perfect” and you know exactly how it will turn out.
10. See unexpected results for what they really are: failure. Not all results will be what you wanted and therefore you are a failure and your life is a failure. You may as well give up now.
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Sarah Pond, Life coach believes passionately in success - Yours! She knows that you have a life purpose and that when you tap into it, you will have all the resources you need to create extraordinary success. Sarah loves coaching people to “Build your best life, from the inside out”.
Plants such as fuchsia and geraniums can be pruned back the end of Februray to early March. The long lanky growth of winter’s low sunlight should be pruned back hard. This stringy growth is not strong enough to support the weight of profuse summer blossoms and unless the plant is cut back, this summer the plant will look ugly when it should be a showpiece in your garden. I used to simply whack the geraniums back to six or eight inch stubs from their twelve to eighteen inch stems and allow them to regrow and resprout from their stalks. Remember that the more new growth you have on an annual plant, the more flowers it will produce. Plants that have woody stems such as fuchsia should not be so drastically pruned. Cut back leaving four to five side side shoots to remain on the main stem. Each of the side shoots can similarly be pruned back leaving only four or five leaves on each of the side shoots.
Remember the cardinal rule of pruning. If you make a thinning cut (a cut that takes a shoot off from where it started as a bud) it will clear out and open up the plant. You will have reduced shoots from a thinning cut. If you make a topping cut (a cut anywhere else but where the shoot started as a bud) then you will increase the number of shoots and growth. In annual flowers, we use topping cuts to increase the number of shoots and subsequent flowers.
Do use a sharp knife or garden pruners to make the cuts. Raggedly cuts seem to heal slower and are, well - ugly. Sharp tools are the mark of a good gardener and they are also much easier on your hands. Dull tools are harder to cut with and lessen the pleasure of gardening.
About The Author
Doug Green is an award winning garden author answering gardening questions and writing a free gardening newsletter at www.beginner-gardening.com.
I knew precisely what I wanted. I felt that success was only inches away. The excitement in my body was beginning to feel like electricity surging through my veins. Watching the events, as they unfolded, from the prevailing conditions my spirit was screaming; “Don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.” So, guess what?
I’ll tell you in a bit.
He met the challenge to change with a dogged determination. Change is a part of life. And, a guy named Charlie did it his way for most of his early life-Wrong! Refusing to accept the cycles that come and go and cause change, will undo the best laid plans of mice and men.
He was born in poverty. In elementary school the sold newspapers and shined shoes. After he quit school he got involved with hoboes and derelicts. He gambled, got involved with drug smuggling, was captured and sentenced to prison at twenty one years old.
Why? Charlie, , lived to be 79 years old and died in the mid 1950’s. He said before he died, those early years were a time of rebellion and refusing to change. And that refusal to change brought the problems he encountered.
While in prison, Charlie had a lot of time to think. I guess so. He found out what it was like to cut off his nose to spite his face. Not too much fun. But, I’m sure none of you have ever been that stiff-necked, have you? Yeah, ok, right.
A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet!
Something happened to Charlie one day while in the cesspool of liberation. Oh, yeah, he was a “janitorial engineer”. You know, it’s funny, but some of my most outstanding successes, I have ever made, came while I was in the cesspool of liberation. There’s just something about that place that brings about an amazing willingness to change.
Charlie completely changed the direction of his aggressive personality. He quit hating the Judge that sentenced him, he forgave the federal agents who caught him and brought about all his troubles. He took a very good look at the Charlie of the past and resolved to avoid even the very appearance of evil.
This change in Charlie’s attitude also brought about a remarkable change in his behavior. Isn’t that amazing? Yeah, right. He began to read books that gave him inspiration, guidance and help. He could feel changes taking place inside of him that he couldn’t explain. But, he knew something good was happening.
A Feather In His Cap!
Because of these changes, he began to get the favorable attention of the prison officials. As fate would have it, Charlie got paroled and got a job as? guess what? Yeah, a janitor. Well, I guess it’s better than a slap upside the head with a wet fish. But, anyway, Charlie had a changed attitude, so slopping around in a toilet was not going to chap his rear. No pun intended. :>) hehehe!
Well, as fate would have it, Charlie, with his new attitude, worked for this company for many years before he died and finished as the president of the company. Yeah, an ex-con convicted of drug smuggling. And, you know why? Cause he learned he didn’t have to let the door hit him, where the good Lord split him.
Ants In His Pants!
You remember where I left you in the first paragraph? I do. Hehehe. There was this problem that was crawling all over me like ants. I was doing everything I could to brush them off. Then all of a sudden the cycle turned and it was like coming back from a thirty point deficit in a New York minute.
I began to think about the story of Charlie. And, I knew that door was behind me, I knew what I wanted and was determined to get it. I also knew that the proverbial door back there was just waiting to give me the “big pain in my neck”.
Then one phrase that came to mind was all it took to see the light and cause that door to begin fading away in the horizon. “Blow this, and you’ll repeat the test”. Yep, that’s all it took. I have learned that every time I “blow a test”, by refusing to change, , I get to go through the test again.
Same old test, getting a zero every time. Sometimes it’s hard to let go of an obsession and accept the fact that “something” is changing. But, one of the smartest things you can do for yourself is, not to become your own worst enemy.
Change is a universal law. It’s like gravity. It’s like H20 making water. And, things are going to change even if you refuse. Remember, the cesspool of liberation is always waiting to welcome you if need some friendly persuasion. And, I know from personal experience that it often only takes the willingness to change to turn failure into success.
Change And Conquer!
So, being the humble student of the “test” that I have so often failed, I told myself, not this time. I’m going to see the change, accept the change, not refuse to change, and come out of this on top. And you know; it was really exciting watching the circumstances concede to my desire, and the door not hitting me in the rear, “for a change”.
Some people say, “I have a problem, that’s awful”. I say, “I have a problem, that’s good”. I have learned to anticipate the downward cycle that will inevitably come, and to prepare to go upward and outward to avoid that door. If you will make a decision to accept changing cycles, and you change when the cycle changes, you can then play with the big dogs.
Every living organism, be it people, businesses, nations, nature, whatever, every thing goes through cycles. They grow to a point, sometimes maturity, then levels off and dies.
If you learn to anticipate these, look for them, not be afraid of them, then you can meet the challenge of change with new ideas, new blood, new energy, and a new attitude. An “attitude” that is daring a door to even look at your rear-end like it wants some of it. :>)
Richard Vegas ©
About The Author
Richard Vegas is a popular recording artist and internet marketing professional. He invites you to subscribe to his FREE weekly ezine “Wing-Tips” The Success System That Never Fails at: http://www.1-work-at-home-based-business-opportunities.com/Articles/articles.html You may also hear and follow Richard’s music career at: http://www.richardvegas.com
webmaster@1-work-at-home-based-business-opportunities.com
You are at the grocery store with your daughter and she pulls out her hard-earned fifty cents and begins to buy a candy. Your son is at home with his soon to be step-Dad and fifty cents is jingling in your pocket… so you buy the same candy in a “boy” flavor to prevent any arguments when you get home.
At the Carrington house, we work on the “you earn it… you get it” system. That goes for t.v., play and video game time. We supply the kids with a base $5.00 pay and then they earn extra money for doing other things around the house and helping cook. If they are very good they and make good good grades, they receive a $2.00 bonus.
Cassie and Arthur have their own rooms and their own stuff in their own toy boxes.
So, you hear them arguing upstairs and check out what is going on… One of them is playing a video game and has been for hours, the other is playing in their room and complaining that they never get to watch t.v. Well, you bought the video game system and games so they could play them together, and you put a t.v. in the common family room so they could both watch it.
You solve the problem with a t.v. time, video time chart and they both shake their heads and go outside to ride their bikes together.
Caitlyn Carrington is an accomplished Poetess/Writer who loves Arthurian History, writing about true life and her family.
You look at it every day and wish it would just go away; that little pouch below your belly button that keeps staring back at you. You do crunches, sit ups, the works, and yet there it is just "hanging around." There are all sorts of cute names for it: snack pouch, spare tire, love handles, and the list goes on. All you know is that you want it gone.
The American Council on Exercise calls the bicycle one of the most effective ab exercises out there. This exercise is one of many that should be completed as part of a lifestyle change which includes both diet and exercise. Just doing ab exercises all day will not get rid of the excess fat that you have around your waistline.
The following four areas of diet and exercise will help you gain the toned, flat stomach that you are craving.
1. Fat Intake
How much fat is in your diet? The American Food Pyramid says that a healthy diet is one that "Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products, includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts, and is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars.
Following the food pyramid will help you find the fats you need in good foods like nuts and plant oils as opposed to potato chips and ice cream. You should be taking in less than 30% of your caloric intake from fat so check your labels when you’re purchasing packaged products. Many products now have the trans fats listed as well, so you can see which percentage of fat belongs to which group; saturated, non-saturated, trans, etc.
2. Carbohydrate Intake
Maybe your friends were on lo-carb diets and were amazed at the weight they lost. Maybe you tried one too? Carbohydrates are amazing in that each molecule attracts four water molecules to it and they hang out together inside your muscles. When you start decreasing the amount of carbohydrates you take in, you start to see weight loss in the form of fat loss. Oops, I mean WATER loss. No more carbs means no more four molecules of water hanging on, means lower numbers on the scale. Carbohydrate intake is essential for brain activity as well as muscle function. Our bodies feed off of glucose and glycogen which is supplied directly by carbohydrates. Eating whole wheat and whole grain is the way to go- stay away from white products; rice, pasta, bread, etc. Brown is best. Carbohydrate intake should be no more than 65% of your diet.
3. Cardiovascular Exercise
Running, cycling, swimming, aerobics; they are all using oxygen and so the prime energy source comes from muscle glycogen and fatty acids. The furnace is on and it’s burning fat. You may have heard that cardio is good for burning fat, and that is true. Cardio exercise should be done for a minimum of 20 minutes and hopefully for longer and should be done at least three times per week, hopefully more. According to the American Council of Sport Medicine, "If weight loss is your major goal, participate in your aerobic activity at least 30 minutes, for five days each week."
You can’t melt fat off of one area specifically, but it will come off over the whole body in time. We all lose fat from different places first. Just remember that cardio is a complement to the diet and the floor work that will also do.
4. Floor Work
Abdominal exercises were once believed to be something we could do everyday. We now know that the abdominals are like any other muscle and they need time to recover and rest.
Floor work is an essential component in getting a toned tummy. There are four main abdominal muscles that we can work: the rectus abdominus, which runs from the sternum to the pubic bone, the transverse abdominus which runs horizontal all around the torso connecting near the spine, and there are the obliques- internal and external which run alongside our ribs in opposite directions.
Exercises:
Hip lifts:
Lye on your back with your legs straight up in the air. Keep your back pressing into the floor and think about tightening a belt around your waist. Slowly pull your belly button to the floor and as you do so, feel your hips lifting gently off the floor as your legs are lifted. Do not lift with the legs, but instead with the abdominals. Repeat 10-15 times.
The Plank:
Facing the floor, get on your hands and knees, keeping your shoulders over your hands. Straighten out your body and keep your toes on the floor. You should be straight like a board with your abs pulling in tight. Breathe in and out naturally. Hold for up to one minute. Repeat 4-5 times.
The Bicycle:
Lye on your back with you knees bent. Slowly pull your upper body off the floor and support your head with your hands. Activate your abs by pulling your belly button to the floor and release any pelvic tilt. Take one shoulder and turn your torso to face your opposite knee. Go to the other side. Think of riding a bicycle as you turn slowly from side to side. Repeat for 20 repetitions.
Double Leg Drop:
Lye on your back with your legs straight up in the air. Keep your back pressing into the floor and think about tightening a belt around your waist. Keeping your abs pulled in at all times, slowly drop your legs toward the floor, keeping them pressing together. If you feel your back begin to arch, pull your legs back to the starting point. Inhale on the way down, exhale on the way up. Only go as far as you are comfortable with and go slowly. Repeat 10 times.
Diet and exercise are the only ways to get to your goals and they need to become part of a new lifestyle if you’re going to maintain the body you want. Quick fixes, pills, drinks, diets, etc are only good for short term and could have long term effects that don’t equate to your ultimate goals.
Nicole Palacios BSc, has been an integral part of the fitness industry for the past 11 years, working first as a group fitness instructor, and more recently as a personal trainer. She is certified through ACE and the BCRPA as a personal trainer, and is also a supervisor of fitness leaders. Her passions include fitness writing, weight training, and helping her clients pursue their fitness dreams. She has also started a Stroller Fit walking and toning group for moms in Vancouver, Canada.
Check out her website at http://www.perfectfit.ws, or contact by email at Nicole@perfectfit.ws
Preventing Water Damage in the Attic
by: Terry Allen
Controlling the natural drying of your property must start at the attic as it is located at the top of the house, separating between the roof and the rest of the house.
Ceiling and Floor
Be sure to look both up and down when inspecting the attic. Pay special attention to openings through the roof such as pipes, vents and the chimney. Take a look to confirm that all surfaces are dry and that there is no mold or rot. Also, check the bottom of the roof sheathing and roof rafters. It is recommended to inspect during the morning to make sure that the roof is sealed and that no daylight penetrates through roof cracks. Inspect the floor and make sure it is dry.
Recessed Lights Canisters
The presence of rust and corrosion indicates possible moisture invasion and a potential electrical hazard. Additional indicators for potential water damage are stains above or near the wood, or on the insulation around the canisters. Consider replacing old recessed lights canisters with newer, safer ones that include built in insulation.
Vents
Attic ventilation is important. Commonly, vents are installed along the peak of the roof. Moisture or surface discoloration near vents is a sign, locate the moisture source and fix the problem. When inspecting the roof, remove any bird nests and debris blocking the vents.
Insulation
When damaged by moisture and water, the insulation becomes thin and flat. Check the insulation frequently, especially after the rain season. Touch it. If it feels wet, find the moisture source and fix the problem right away. Remember: wet insulation is useless, but it will continue to hold water for a while and will create high moisture conditions. If the insulation is wet, replace it.
Common Attic Appliances
Periodically, check attic air conditioners, swamp coolers and HVAC systems. Look for wear and tear and loose connections. Inspect around and under these appliances. Remember that appliances failures may cause water damage to everything that lies below.
terrya@restorationsos.com
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