Tag Archives: Life Skills

How The Frog Built His Empire

Once upon a time there was a little frog. This frog was one of the kind that rains down on small villages during freak weather conditions. So far the only evidence of these frog-raining events is second and third hand information. Somebody knows somebody that heard about some report they read on the Internet. As of yet, this kind of thing is still considered one of those things that would be really cool if it were true, but most likely isn’t. Stories like these are best believed after a couple of drinks.

So here this frog was, growing up in the outskirts of a small farming community. Most people don’t know it, but it’s tough being a frog that experienced something that is the stuff of urban legends. At first he tried to use the story of his origins as a way to get girls whenever they had frog social functions, but as I turns out, most people had heard the rumor, and unfortunately, he wasn’t the best at telling it, even though he was the only frog he knew about that actually remembered being rained down on the community.

After a while other frogs that were more eloquent with the lady frogs started to borrow his story. After a while, most girls just assumed he was making it all up for attention. And because he was a poor storyteller, it usually didn’t get him much more than a few moments of time with a young attractive female frog.

So here this frog was. When he was a kid, he dreamed of turning his experience into fame and fortune. But as he grew older, he realized that almost every frog had the same story. Whether it really happened to them was beside the point. They were better at telling it than he was, so it quickly became obvious he’d have to find another way to make a living.

He always supposed he could just hang out and catch flies, but that wasn’t any fun. Most other frogs did that anyway. And once you established your lily pad, you really didn’t have much to look forward to. Catch flies all day, and croak all night in hopes of attracting a lady frog. While it was a decent living, and expected of most frogs, it simply wasn’t appealing to him.

So he decided to go on a journey. He wanted to find out what the world was like outside of the outskirts of his small farming community. So one day he just set off, hopping and hopping. At first he was a bit nervous, not sure what he would find. It was fairly easy along the way. He never really thought about it, but bugs were pretty much everywhere. No matter where he decided to stay for the night, there were plenty of bugs to be had.

And some places had so many bugs, that he allowed himself a couple days of just lazy bug eating before he decided to move on. Other places had different kind of bugs, and he had to learn new bug catching skills. Some he had to sneak up on, some he had to develop new tongue unfurling methods, and others he even had to set elaborate traps.

As he continued to travel, an interesting thing began to happen. Every once in a while he would pass through an area where a few frogs lived. And some younger frogs liked the idea of traveling for a living. They would sit around at night and learn from him. They would learn all about the different bugs that were available, and all the different ways to catch them.

Most of them were surprised to learn that they didn’t have to sit on the same lily pad day after day, catching the same bugs with the same methods. Some of them naturally traveled with him. And over time, his group of traveling frogs grew and grew.

Pretty soon their arrival into small frog communities became expected, and welcomed. People prepared big banquets for the group of traveling frogs. They would demonstrate all different bug-catching techniques to the delight of all who came to see him.

It wasn’t long before he was world famous. More famous than he ever though he’d be by telling his story of who he was. He became famous because he decided to leave his comfortable life, and learn new things. And by sharing all the useful things he learned with others, he gained a popularity and respect rarely achieved by frogs.

“The secret,” he began telling a group of young frogs who had gathered to hear him speak, “is that most people want to be recognized and respected for who you are, or where you came from. But the truth is, that true respect only comes from what you do, and how you can help others, by showing them how they can do the same thing. That is what the world needs. If you can figure out a way to do this, you’ll never be hungry or lonely again.”

Don’t Stop, Go!

Last night I was walking home from the movies. I had to walk through a bunch of rice fields. Because each rice field belongs to a different house, the road kinds of curves around. Not being very familiar with the area, I had to kind of guess where I was going. I knew the general direction I wanted to go, but I wasn’t sure if the path I had chosen would take me directly there, or through some roundabout way.

When came around a turn, I noticed a car that had passed me only a few moments before going the other direction. Hmm. Maybe he forgot something. When I turned the corner. I saw the reason he turned around. There was a big flashing sign saying that the road was under construction. When I approached the sign, sure enough, there was a large piece of road construction equipment parked there, and the asphalt portion of the road ended. On the other side of the fence was a rather ‘in progress’ looking surface. What to do. I checked me watch. The train station I was heading for was perhaps fifty meters in front of me. If I turned back, I would have to walk through the rice fields again, and go all the way around. Which would be about an extra kilometer or two. Which would mean I would miss the next train which was due in about ten minutes, and would have wait for the next one. Which meant that I would miss my connection train at the main station. If was only  an extra kilometer of two of walking, it would be a no brainer, since I love walking through rice fields. But when you factor in all the added delays I would experience, it was also a no brainer.

I jumped over the “Do Not Enter Sign” and negotiated my way over the ‘in progress’ road they were building. I had to hop over a couple holes, but I finally made it to a walkway, and to the station in time.

Sometimes when we go through life, we come up against what we think are stop signs. Many times we see the stop sign, and turn around, go all the way back around and take extra time. But are they really stop signs? The one I saw above was. It was real. But what happens when you come up against a stop sign in your imagination? If you ask out a girl, and she says, “no,” is that really a stop sign, or an invitation to try something different.

If you are working on a project, and you come up to some problems, are they really stop signs? Or just an invitation to use your ingenuity to jump over the imaginary fence and go around?

The car that was ahead of me had no choice, because the road beyond the stop sign wouldn’t support the weight of his car. But because I was walking, I assumed the stop sign was only for cars, not for pedestrians. What happens when you encounter imaginary stop signs, but you assume they are only for other people, and not for you?

Bad economy? No problem. They aren’t talking about you. You can jump over the fence and think of another way. Limited budget at work? Not for you. They mean somebody else. You can think of other ways to get the project done. You have to run thirty minutes a day and eat only oatmeal to lose weight? Nope, that’s for those other guys that are really overweight. You can think of a better, easier way to get in shape.

When you think about it, the only real stop signs that are the ones that are shaped like an octagon and pained red with the word STOP on it. And you know as well as I do that it’s really only a suggestion, anyways. For those other guys.

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BAM! BAM! BAM!

As you read this, sitting in that chair, noticing the sounds in your environment, take a moment and remember something that makes you feel good. Any memory will do. Yesterday, last week, three years ago. Got one? Good. It’s nice to have good memories, isn’t it? Try it again. Choose a different one. Like that one time, when you did that thing that was so, you know. And when you think of that now, you can remember how that made you feel? Ok?

Sometimes though, you’ll be walking down the street, minding your own business, and you’ll see something, and it will remind you of something else, and that will remind you of THAT, and instant blah. Now you’re in a bad mood. Why did you have to think of that? Don’t you hate it when that happens? Well this is your lucky day. How would you like to go in and surgically change the feelings of bad memories? So when you remember it, it makes you feel neutral, or even good? How would that be? Ok?

Ok. Here’s what you need. Think of a semi bad memory (after you learn to do this easily, you can go and destroy bigger and badder memories, pick an easy one for practice.)  Choose one where there is a specific picture you can think of to get that old yucky feeling. Ok, got it? Ok put it aside for now, we’ll mess it up in a little bit.

Now think of a good memory. Something that you can think of where a picture of it will give you a good feeling. Anything will do.

For example, my bad picture is of this kid that used to tease me in grade school. Called me Georgie Porgie…kissed the girls…etc.  And my good picture is of my friends kid, who’s four and always smiling and laughing and full of energy.

Ok, here’s what you do. Take the bad picture, and put it in your left hand (in your imagination) and slowly bring it to your face. When you do this, you should slowly feel the semi bad feeling increase in intensity. When your hand gets about halfway to your face, IMMEDIATELY and powerfully bring the other hand, which contains the other GOOD picture to your face, and REALLY FEEL the good feeling hit you full on in the face.

BOOM!

Ok, shake your hands out, think of something neutral, like the middle name of your second cousin spelled backwards or something. Do it again. Remember, left hand slow to your face, semi bad emotion getting more intense, and then BAM (Just like Emerill) right hand with the good feeling suddenly flooding your surprised brain with good feelings. Remember to see the pictures. If you can’t see the pictures, just pretend. Your brain doesn’t know the difference.  Do this 10 or 15 times. It shouldn’t take more than a couple minutes.

What most people notice, is that after you do this a few times, when you try and think of that old memory that used to give you that old emotion, it doesn’t work any more. You’ve successfully scrambled your own brain. Isn’t that fun? You might have to do this a couple days for it to take, but that’s normal.

So now, when you are walking down the street thinking about lolly pops and puppy dogs and something hijacks your good feelings with a stray memory, you can straighten it right out. BAM!

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Ancient Laws for Instant Success

Achieve incredible results easily and effortlessly. Become known among your friends and others as somebody that they want to be like. Express your desires and have them magically appear. If you’ve read my other articles, you’ll realize that I am always looking for ways to learn new skills and improve results. The following is a quick, short list of ancient secrets you can put to use today to safely and naturally get exactly what you want out of life.

Law Number One:  The only failure is when you ignore the lesson.

If you focus too much on getting exactly the right result, you won’t notice the things that you can learn from any interaction to easily improve yourself.  Anything you can learn will be beneficial in some way. A great example is getting feedback from others. I gave a speech once to a Toastmasters group. I was nervous, and dropped my cue cards, and lost my place a couple of times. After the speech, you usually get feedback from a helpful experienced member. She told me my strong points, and some specific things to try to get better next time. Had I expected to give a perfect speech, I wouldn’t have been open to her kind suggestions.  This naturally leads to the next law:

Law Number Two: Detach from results.

This might be an easy to understand and often repeated concept, but sometimes it can be tough to put this into practice. The easiest way I’ve found is to go into every situation with an open mind. All you need to do is remember to focus on the process, and not the outcome. For example, if you want to start a conversation with an attractive member of the opposite sex, by focusing on the enjoyment of the conversation rather than the outcome, it allows you to be more relaxed.

Law Number Three: Allow yourself to want what you want.

Sounds simple, but how many of us want stuff, but are afraid to ask for it. We feel we need permission and somebody to give it to us without asking. It’s ok to want whatever you want. Did you think Bill Gates or Waren Buffet got where they are by waiting for their desires to be approved of by others? If you are unsure when asking for what you want, any strange reactions are not from the thing that you want, but from your behavior regarding that thing. When you proclaim proudly what you want with expectation, people will give it to you.

Law Number Four: Think big.

That’s right. You have a limited time on this chunk of rock orbiting around the big ball of fire. Don’t waste it on small things that you can get easily. Stretch yourself. Use your imagination. If you can think it, you can get it.

Law Number Five: Say good things to yourself.

We all have those voices in our heads, put there by well meaning parents and teachers. One of your jobs as an adult is to take charge of your own brain. Get rid of those old voices telling you to play it safe, and replace them with voices telling you how wonderful and powerful you are. Brian Tracy recommends that the first thing you do when you wake up every morning is to say “I like myself” over and over. If it sounds strange, do it anyways. Pretty soon, you’ll really believe it. And if you like you, other people will naturally follow your example.

All successful people, whether they know it or not, have applied these simple laws in one way or another to their lives. And the more you start to realize that they can improve your life, the sooner you will be able to do just that. And not only will you notice people around you treating you differently, you will also notice that because you are smart enough to understand these concepts, you will be able to powerfully make them work for you.

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Develop Powers of Instant Deep and Peaceful Sleep Anywhere, Anytime

You roll over, nervously glance at the clock. 2:46. Ugh. You need to wake up in less than 5 hours. Roll back over. Sleep. Sleep. You need to sleep. Focus. The more you worry, the more awake you become. You roll back over, afraid to rest your eyes on the soft glow from clock, taunting you with the ever increasing speed with which it reminds you of your increasingly disappearing night. 2:58. Less tired. More awake. This goes on for the entire night. An eternity of rapidly increasing anxiety fueled thoughts racing around your head. Finally you feel the long awaited sleep which beckons you to blissful unconsciousness. MMmm. Feels wonderful, worries melting away, sleep, soft warm, dreamy escape. Just as you nod off…

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Crap!  What, only two minutes of sleep is all I get? Why does this always happen? You know exactly what I”m talking about, because there is an obvious conspiracy of alarm clocks which somehow magically keep us awake until just moments before their alarm is set, at which time they maliciously send out some kind of trans-dimensional sleep inducing alarm clock voodoo only to cause us anguish. Who is setting whom?

It doesn’t have to be this way. You can train yourself to fall sleep easily and naturally every night so you can rest peacefully, and enjoy those dreams that you can interpret for your benefit.  You can wake up  and notice that you feel refreshed and rested so that you can overcome any challenge the day can dream up to throw at you, unaware that you now possess super sleep skills.

What exactly is the skill? Easy to learn, and you will receive immediate benefit once you naturally put it into practice. Some call it focused attention, others call it trans-hemispheric dialogue, but you probably know the ancient name of counting sheep. But with a twist.

What it does is allows you to develop a mental conversation between your right and left brains. One side is used to visualizing, imagination, while the other side is used for the creation of speech (among about billion other really fascinating stuff.) The idea is to create enough brain fatigue, so it eventually just gives up and you are consequently out like a light.

Here’s how to do it.

As you lay there, finished with your day. Close your eyes. (Ok, not right now because you need to read this.) Allow whatever you see in your imagination. Describe it, to yourself, in your mind. As you see it. Be careful not to create any images, just follow your imagination with your description of it.  Allow it to go wherever it goes, and describe it, to youself, in your mind, in as much detail as you can imagine. Here is an example:

Ok, I see a field, a green field with some trees off to the left, and now I see a rocking chair,and at the bottom of the rocking chair is an old pair of shoes, and one of the shoes is on the left side, and the other shoe, is, wait, ok, now there are a bunch of chickens, and, wait, there’s my mom, and no, wait, there is that guy I knew in elementary school, and, wait, there’s, no wait, theres..z..z.z.z.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Next thing you know, it’s morning.

You get the idea.

And the more you practice this technique, the more you will be able to fall asleep faster and faster, and pretty soon you will be able to train your body to fall asleep and recharge your mind and body in so many fascinating ways you’ll wonder why you didn’t discover this earlier.

And of course, if you remember to come back often, and read more articles, you can easily begin to realize just how much potential you have inside you, right now, to do those things that you’ve always wanted to do.

And if you want, you can also share this site with others as well, because the more you share, the more there is.  And that’s good for everybody.

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Easily Visualize Success

How would like you dramatically increase your sports skills? How would you like to go into any social situation with ease and behave with such powerful confidence that people who don’t know you wonder if you’re some kind of movie star? What would it feel like to go into an unfamiliar situation, yet behave as though you’ve done it a hundred times before?

There is an often talked about skill whose power is realized by few, and practiced by even fewer. If you take the time to not only read and understand this article, but to put these techniques into practice, you will be light years ahead of anyone else.

The skill I’m talking about is visualization. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. If you haven’t that’s ok. Visualization is when you practice something in your mind before you actually do it, so when it comes time to take care of business, you’ve already pre-built success into your neurology.

One of the frustrations when you do this is that few sources tell you exactly what to do, so it can be tough to learn to visualize properly.

In this article I will tell you the very basics, so you can start to practice right away. When you become proficient, you can check back often, because I will be writing other articles about additional skills, so that when you add them on top of your powerful visualization skills, you will be a potent force in the world.

There are two types of visualization. Associated and disassociated. Associated is when you visualize something as you normally see it. Through your own eyes. Disassociated is when you watch yourself performing a task, as if you were watching yourself on video tape. You will need to develop both of these skills, so that when you learn additional skills you can easily incorporate them together in such a way that  you will be absolutely amazed by how incredibly powerful you can use them to change your life.

Try it and see. Close your eyes, and see something you did recently in an associated perspective. Is it easy? Difficult? If you have trouble, don’t worry. The brain responds quickly when you practice with focus.

Try the other way. Close your eyes, and this time watch a recent memory, but this time watch yourself as if you are somehow floating off to the side.  If this seems a bit more difficult, you can relax because the more you practice, the easier it will get.

After you develop these two powerful skills, you will be amazed in how many different ways you can use them to train your brain for all kinds of new and wonderful automatic behaviors that you might not be able to imagine doing now.

And be sure to check back often because the more new skills you learn, the easier it will be create your life exactly the way you want it.

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