"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
- Herm Albright
When to Use Positive Thinking - and When to Ignore It
By Michael Masterson
When my sons were growing up, I dreaded meeting with their teachers. I was always a tiny bit afraid that somewhere in the middle of the conversation the teacher would lean forward, grab my ear, and chastise me. This may be an irrational fear, but it is deeply seeded. It was planted many years ago at St. Agnes elementary school, and it was nurtured in middle school and high school by just about every teacher who had the misfortune of having me in his or her class.
Despite my less-than-stellar early education, I went on to graduate college magna cum laude. I earned a master's degree, and stopped just short of my dissertation for a Ph.D. I've written and published more than a dozen books - including three best-sellers - won awards for writing, and have used the skills I learned in school to help build several multimillion-dollar businesses.
All that said, because of my deeply seeded irrational fear, I had a negative idea of what I could accomplish early in my business career.
But that didn't stop me.
In The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale says that unless you have a positive attitude about yourself and your abilities, "you cannot be successful or happy."
I believe he is half right.
Yes, you need a positive attitude to be happy. But you can be quite successful by most conventional measurements simply by applying the ETR success formula with persistence:
. Decide exactly what it is you want.
. Make it a primary goal.
. Establish a series of yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily objectives to achieve that goal.
. Resist the urge to give up along the way
My own experience proves that, by doing this, you can achieve almost anything you want in life - even if you don't have much faith in your own abilities. And it has been proven to me dozens of times over by others - people I've known personally, people I've heard about from friends and colleagues, and even people I've read about.
But what if you want happiness? Or what if, in fact, happiness and equanimity are integral to your definition of success? Well, then you need to follow Peale's advice and start thinking positive thoughts about yourself.
Lack of self-confidence, Peale said, "is one of the great problems besetting people today." He makes reference to a survey of college students indicating that for 75 percent of them, confidence was the thing most lacking in their life.
Who could argue with that? If you've ever choked up in an interview, forgotten your lines in a play, blown a free throw, or been verbally stifled by a rude comment, you know too well the effect that a lack of self-confidence has on performance.
"The blows of life, the accumulation of difficulties, the multiplication of problems tend to sap energy and leave you spent and discouraged," Peale says. In such situations, "it is easy to lose track of your abilities and powers" - but by re-appraising your personal assets, you can convince yourself that "you are less defeated than you think you are."
As an example, Peale tells how he counseled a 52-year-old man who came to him "in great despondency." Everything in his life, the man said, had been "swept away" by a recent business setback. "Everything I built up over a lifetime is gone."
Peale recognized that although the man had indeed experienced a serious setback, his chief problem was the way he viewed it. "Suppose we take a piece of paper and write down the values you have left," he suggested. And so they did. Among other things, the list included these personal assets:
. a wonderful wife - and a 30-year marriage
. three devoted children
. admiring friends, happy to help
. good physical health
. integrity
That's not a bad list. And, if you're feeling down, I would hope that focusing on positive personal assets like these could help you overcome the worst feelings you could possibly have about yourself.
Let me tell you a story...
About 20 years ago, I became friendly with a man, about my own age, who had all of the abovementioned assets - plus a very successful printing business, plus a significant personal fortune. He was a very charismatic guy - always good-natured, upbeat, full of good fun, and easy to like. Then, one day, his business collapsed. I don't remember the details but, suddenly, he was bankrupt.
I heard about it soon after it happened. When I called to console him, it was too late. Sobbing, his wife told me that he had killed himself.
I couldn't understand why he did it. He had had so many other things going for him that, in my eyes, his business and the wealth it produced was just gravy. Apparently, he didn't see it that way.
If my friend had read Peale's advice - and had taken it to heart - he'd be alive today and enjoying all the wonderful things he had, including the love of his wife, children, and friends. He'd also, I'm quite sure, have made back all the money he lost, plus plenty more.
______________________________
The Redline for Your Heart Rate
By Craig Ballantyne
If your heart beats too fast at rest, it can be a powerful predictor of death from heart attack. A study of more than 5,700 French men without known cardiovascular disease found that those with a resting heart rate greater than 75 beats per minute had a 3.5 times greater chance of sudden death than those who had a resting heart rate of fewer than 60 beats per minute.
To determine your resting heart rate, measure it first thing in the morning (before you even rise from bed) with either a heart-rate monitor or by placing your index finger against your carotid artery on either side of your neck. Count the beats for 60 seconds (or for 15 seconds, and then multiply by four).
The stronger and more efficient your heart is, the fewer times it must beat to move blood through your system and sustain bodily functions - thus, the lower your resting heart rate.
The best way I know to lower your resting heart rate (and decrease your risk of death due to heart attack) is to engage in intermittent bouts of high-intensity exercise. For a practical strategy to do just that, check out my ETR article "The World's Most Powerful Workout."
[Ed. Note: Craig Ballantyne is an expert consultant for Men's Health magazine.]
______________________________
Quick Marketing Tip: The Odd Thing About Even Numbers
By Bob Bly
For some reason, even numbers are not as effective as odd numbers in sales letters and advertisements.
Example: "The 6 Energy Stocks You Must Own Now" is somehow less appealing than "The 5 Energy Stocks You Must Own Now" - even though it promises an extra stock recommendation.
And you almost never see a book titled "100 Ways to do X." It's always "101 Ways."
Copywriter Gymi Slezinger has a theory about this...
"Even numbers have balance and closure," says Gymi. "They don't need you. Odd numbers have something hanging. There is urgency in them."
Exception: 10 works well in sales copy (e.g., "10 Tips for Better Technical Writing") because, according to Gymi, it is authoritative.
______________________________
It's Good to Know: Wireless Electricity
What if you could charge your cellphone without plugging it into the wall, or throw out all those power cords tangled under your computer desk? The key is safe and reliable wireless electricity transfer. Researchers at MIT have made progress toward this scientific breakthrough, turning on a 60W light bulb from seven feet away with no physical connection between the power source and the bulb.
Methods of transferring power wirelessly - such as with electromagnetic radiation - have been known for centuries. But unlike the work being done by the MIT team, they were too dangerous or impractical for widespread use.
(Source: Physorg.com)
______________________________
Word to the Wise: Improvident
"Improvident" (im-PROV-un-dunt) - from the Latin for "not to see beforehand" - means lacking in foresight or forethought.
Example (as used by Elizabeth Hardwick in Sight-Readings: American Fictions): "Lily is spoiled, pleasure-loving, and has one of those society mothers who are as improvident as a tornado."
Michael Masterson
__________________________________________________
These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2113, 08-06-07], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.
- Herm Albright
When to Use Positive Thinking - and When to Ignore It
By Michael Masterson
When my sons were growing up, I dreaded meeting with their teachers. I was always a tiny bit afraid that somewhere in the middle of the conversation the teacher would lean forward, grab my ear, and chastise me. This may be an irrational fear, but it is deeply seeded. It was planted many years ago at St. Agnes elementary school, and it was nurtured in middle school and high school by just about every teacher who had the misfortune of having me in his or her class.
Despite my less-than-stellar early education, I went on to graduate college magna cum laude. I earned a master's degree, and stopped just short of my dissertation for a Ph.D. I've written and published more than a dozen books - including three best-sellers - won awards for writing, and have used the skills I learned in school to help build several multimillion-dollar businesses.
All that said, because of my deeply seeded irrational fear, I had a negative idea of what I could accomplish early in my business career.
But that didn't stop me.
In The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale says that unless you have a positive attitude about yourself and your abilities, "you cannot be successful or happy."
I believe he is half right.
Yes, you need a positive attitude to be happy. But you can be quite successful by most conventional measurements simply by applying the ETR success formula with persistence:
. Decide exactly what it is you want.
. Make it a primary goal.
. Establish a series of yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily objectives to achieve that goal.
. Resist the urge to give up along the way
My own experience proves that, by doing this, you can achieve almost anything you want in life - even if you don't have much faith in your own abilities. And it has been proven to me dozens of times over by others - people I've known personally, people I've heard about from friends and colleagues, and even people I've read about.
But what if you want happiness? Or what if, in fact, happiness and equanimity are integral to your definition of success? Well, then you need to follow Peale's advice and start thinking positive thoughts about yourself.
Lack of self-confidence, Peale said, "is one of the great problems besetting people today." He makes reference to a survey of college students indicating that for 75 percent of them, confidence was the thing most lacking in their life.
Who could argue with that? If you've ever choked up in an interview, forgotten your lines in a play, blown a free throw, or been verbally stifled by a rude comment, you know too well the effect that a lack of self-confidence has on performance.
"The blows of life, the accumulation of difficulties, the multiplication of problems tend to sap energy and leave you spent and discouraged," Peale says. In such situations, "it is easy to lose track of your abilities and powers" - but by re-appraising your personal assets, you can convince yourself that "you are less defeated than you think you are."
As an example, Peale tells how he counseled a 52-year-old man who came to him "in great despondency." Everything in his life, the man said, had been "swept away" by a recent business setback. "Everything I built up over a lifetime is gone."
Peale recognized that although the man had indeed experienced a serious setback, his chief problem was the way he viewed it. "Suppose we take a piece of paper and write down the values you have left," he suggested. And so they did. Among other things, the list included these personal assets:
. a wonderful wife - and a 30-year marriage
. three devoted children
. admiring friends, happy to help
. good physical health
. integrity
That's not a bad list. And, if you're feeling down, I would hope that focusing on positive personal assets like these could help you overcome the worst feelings you could possibly have about yourself.
Let me tell you a story...
About 20 years ago, I became friendly with a man, about my own age, who had all of the abovementioned assets - plus a very successful printing business, plus a significant personal fortune. He was a very charismatic guy - always good-natured, upbeat, full of good fun, and easy to like. Then, one day, his business collapsed. I don't remember the details but, suddenly, he was bankrupt.
I heard about it soon after it happened. When I called to console him, it was too late. Sobbing, his wife told me that he had killed himself.
I couldn't understand why he did it. He had had so many other things going for him that, in my eyes, his business and the wealth it produced was just gravy. Apparently, he didn't see it that way.
If my friend had read Peale's advice - and had taken it to heart - he'd be alive today and enjoying all the wonderful things he had, including the love of his wife, children, and friends. He'd also, I'm quite sure, have made back all the money he lost, plus plenty more.
______________________________
The Redline for Your Heart Rate
By Craig Ballantyne
If your heart beats too fast at rest, it can be a powerful predictor of death from heart attack. A study of more than 5,700 French men without known cardiovascular disease found that those with a resting heart rate greater than 75 beats per minute had a 3.5 times greater chance of sudden death than those who had a resting heart rate of fewer than 60 beats per minute.
To determine your resting heart rate, measure it first thing in the morning (before you even rise from bed) with either a heart-rate monitor or by placing your index finger against your carotid artery on either side of your neck. Count the beats for 60 seconds (or for 15 seconds, and then multiply by four).
The stronger and more efficient your heart is, the fewer times it must beat to move blood through your system and sustain bodily functions - thus, the lower your resting heart rate.
The best way I know to lower your resting heart rate (and decrease your risk of death due to heart attack) is to engage in intermittent bouts of high-intensity exercise. For a practical strategy to do just that, check out my ETR article "The World's Most Powerful Workout."
[Ed. Note: Craig Ballantyne is an expert consultant for Men's Health magazine.]
______________________________
Quick Marketing Tip: The Odd Thing About Even Numbers
By Bob Bly
For some reason, even numbers are not as effective as odd numbers in sales letters and advertisements.
Example: "The 6 Energy Stocks You Must Own Now" is somehow less appealing than "The 5 Energy Stocks You Must Own Now" - even though it promises an extra stock recommendation.
And you almost never see a book titled "100 Ways to do X." It's always "101 Ways."
Copywriter Gymi Slezinger has a theory about this...
"Even numbers have balance and closure," says Gymi. "They don't need you. Odd numbers have something hanging. There is urgency in them."
Exception: 10 works well in sales copy (e.g., "10 Tips for Better Technical Writing") because, according to Gymi, it is authoritative.
______________________________
It's Good to Know: Wireless Electricity
What if you could charge your cellphone without plugging it into the wall, or throw out all those power cords tangled under your computer desk? The key is safe and reliable wireless electricity transfer. Researchers at MIT have made progress toward this scientific breakthrough, turning on a 60W light bulb from seven feet away with no physical connection between the power source and the bulb.
Methods of transferring power wirelessly - such as with electromagnetic radiation - have been known for centuries. But unlike the work being done by the MIT team, they were too dangerous or impractical for widespread use.
(Source: Physorg.com)
______________________________
Word to the Wise: Improvident
"Improvident" (im-PROV-un-dunt) - from the Latin for "not to see beforehand" - means lacking in foresight or forethought.
Example (as used by Elizabeth Hardwick in Sight-Readings: American Fictions): "Lily is spoiled, pleasure-loving, and has one of those society mothers who are as improvident as a tornado."
Michael Masterson
__________________________________________________
These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2113, 08-06-07], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.
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