It was clear from the variety of entries in the What is Success Contest that the word “success” means many things to many people.  After reading the comments, it was clear that everyone that entered put a lot of thought behind what they wrote. To all that entered, I wish YOU success in all that you do.  But I had to pick 3 winners, so here they are……drum roll please!

First Place and winner of an Expect Success Book (filled with positive quotes) is Debbie (#24):

“Success to me is Read More...

If you want to be successful in life or any endeavor, you first have to decide what success looks like in order to know when you have achieved it.

Last month we posted a video on our blog entitled “What is Success”. In the video, everyday people off the street where asked to define the word success. That got me thinking how our clients and readers would answer that question. Which leads me to this month’s contest:

How do you define success?

To enter, type you Read More...

Thank you to all those who contributed to last month’s contest. I really enjoyed reading and learning from the advice given. Time sure allows for great insight and I believe our 18-year-old selves would have been even more amazing to learn from such wisdom.

Here are our winners for the contest:

3rd Place and winner of a Freedom Personal Development Water Bottle is comment #6 from Ginni Hoinacki:

I would tell my 18 your old self to not take yourself so Read More...

Last year I hosted the contest Hindsight is 20/20 and wanted to do similar contest this year, but with a twist.

Imagine you could go back in time and have a conversation with yourself at age 18. Turning 18 is an exciting age – you are finally a legally recognized adult, you can vote and the world is full of possibilities. Knowing what you know now, what would you tell your younger self?

Perhaps you would pass along a few words of wisdom. Maybe there was an opportunity you wish would have taken, or a mistake that you wish Read More...

Wow! Thanks for all the wonderful entries in this month’s contest. I’d like to add a suggestion to the stress management contest–whenever a person is feeling stressed, a great option would be to read all the comments in this post and follow what rings true at that moment. The entries go to show that there isn’t ONE correct answer for everyone, or even one option that works every time for the same person. However, there are LOTS of great ideas.

First place and winner of an Expect Success book is Jeff Johnson Read More...

In our everyday life, we often run into stress events ranging from deadlines at work, traffic jams and dealing with uncooperative people.  Life events such as a new baby, a death of a loved one or moving can add even more pressure.

Unmanaged stress can lead to high blood pressure, ulcers and even heart attacks.  Often times we cannot control the events that lead to stress, but we can control our response to it.

For this month’s contest, we want to know your advice on how to deal with the stressful events – big or small.

To enter, simply type you name, email and your answer Read More...

Man, there were some great entries for this contest - I especially enjoyed the ones where people are quoting me ! This was tough to pick just three out of all the really great ways people start their day, but here goes:

1st Place and winner of an Expect Success Book (filled with positive quotes) is Marty P (#42), for its sheer thoroughness:

First thing I do is my 7 morning questions (got these Read More...

Nido Qubein taught me that there are fundamentally two kinds of people. There are those who wake up and say “Ooooh, good morning God!” Then there are those who say “Oh, good god…morning.” Which are you?

During the day, there are 2 times that your brain is most receptive to “programming”. One of these times is as soon as you wake up (the other is before you go to bed.)

Whether it is conscious or unconscious, the first few thoughts you have when you wake up will set the tone for the rest of your day. Spoken out loud they can be even more powerful.

So, how do you start your day? Do you say something positive (either to yourself or out loud) or are you grumbling about having to get up?

The Read More...

I trust everyone had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends!

Hopefully our November’s contest spurred some interesting conversations over Thanksgiving dinner on what outside of the box people, places and things your loved ones were grateful for.

Thank you to everyone that participated in our Outside the Box Thankfulness Contest.

It was an amazing experience for me to read each comment and it is so evident how gratitude (yours or someone else’s) is incredibly contagious.

To everyone who shared something they were thankful for, I loved Read More...

Happy November! As Thanksgiving is several weeks away, this month’s contest focuses on gratitude.

When it comes to giving thanks and being grateful for the people, places and things in our lives, there are some obvious items that are usually ranked first on most people’s lists. Family, health, food, clothing, housing, job, church/spirituality and good friends regularly top the lists.

For this year’s contest, we want to go past the obvious and explore some the lesser-mentioned items that we are grateful for.

The question to answer this month is:

What 3 “outside of the box” items are you truly thankful for and Read More...