Change How You Feel

Being able to manage and change your feelings is one of the most important things in personal development.

You might have all the logical and rational reasons in the world to do something, but then your emotions can just sweep in and pull everything to a grinding halt. Having your feelings for work you instead of against you can have a massive effect on your life.

There are many ways to change how you feel. Here are 10 ways that don’t include chocolate, pain or alcohol and that actually work.

All of them might not work right away, it’s a bit like learning to ride a bike. You don’t learn it by reading about it and the first times you try you might fall. But remember when you were a kid learning to ride a bike. You just got up of the ground, brushed yourself of and got on that bike again and again and again.

1. Relax
This one is easy but just remembering that you can relax when you feel all tensed up can work wonders. You might realise that much of that tension was something you just built up in your own mind.

In “A guide to the the Huna way – mastering your hidden self” King Serge Kahili writes this about effort and relaxation:

”When people are trying to change a habit of thought or behaviour, they often complain that it takes too much effort. Others may criticize them for not having a strong enough will. What actually happens is that such people are trying to force a habit to change by using their muscles against it, and this is true whether the habit is physical or mental.

This kind of forceful attempt creates tension that locks up the body’s energy and makes people feel worn out. They end up literally fighting themselves, which is rarely effective. All you really have to do is make your decision by your will, relax your muscles, and direct your attention in the way you want to go, until the new habit is established. If you ever feel that using your will is an effort relax and Start over.”

2. Ask different questions
We are always asking ourselves questions, but they might be questions that aren’t really that good. Instead of asking yourself: “why must I do this?”, ask yourself “how can I make this more fun for me?” or “how can this help me?”. Don’t ask yourself “will I be able to do this?”, instead ask “how will I do this?”.

Ask better questions that empowers you.

Questions that presupposes that you have the power over your own life.

Questions that directs your focus to solutions and opens your mind to new possibilities instead of questions that just makes you feel trapped and lousy.

3. Smile
Smiling gives you a boost of happiness. Try forcing yourself to smile for thirty seconds right now. The great feelings that make you smile works in reverse too. By making yourself smile, no matter how you feel, your body will start releasing all those wonderful chemicals that makes you feel happy. Try it right now and feel the difference.

4. Appreciate things
This is one of the most simple and effective ways to just feel so much better. Just look around yourself. Appreciate the good food you’re eating, the hot woman or man walking past you, the kids playing and just having fun in the mud puddles, all the possibilities in your life, all the great things about your friends and your family, the birds singing… Ok, so perhaps it sounds a bit corny.

But it really works. And it’s great to try to change your mindset to one where you appreciate the things in your everyday life instead of taking them for granted.

5. Interrupt your thought pattern
You might be feeling down or you are procrastinating. Maybe nothing is working out for you today. You just want to go home and go to bed. Here’s where you might want to interrupt your thought pattern. And you do that simply by doing something unexpected and totally different from what you are doing now.

Some suggestions; take a glass of water, throw it in own your face. Or jump up and down ten times singing the chorus from “We are the champions” by Queen at the top of you lungs. Or imagine your negative inner voice sounding like Goofy. Do something that totally breaks your thought pattern. Something humours is nice because it’s often the opposite to a depressed or anxious state that you would like to break out of. And laughter and smiles breaks tension too.

When you have done that you might not be able to able to find your way back to that previous train of thought. Much like when you have a conversation, someone comes up to you and asks a question and then when you turn around again back to you friend you can’t remember what the two of you were talking about. You feel confused and your state has changed. Make up five things to do that really breaks your pattern and try them out. You may also want to try and find a couple that you can do among other people too without being labelled as crazy.

6. Use an external stateboost
On one of his audiotapes Tony Robbins mentions that before one of his guest-speakers or coaches goes up on stage they watch videos with Eddie Murphy. It puts them in a great state before performing. As you might have guessed, that tape wasn’t recorded this year or even this century. Eddie’s been in a slump for a while.

This is a great idea and you probably already using it to some degree. Anyways, here are some suggestions. Change and boost your emotional state with some of your favourite music, maybe a couple of YouTube-clips, an episode of the Simpsons (or your favourite sitcom), personal development-cds, -books or –websites. Or perhaps Eddie Murphy’s “Delirious” or “Raw”. That’s some side-splittingly funny stand-up.

7. Eat. But not too much. Or too little
If you feel tired and frustrated maybe you just need to eat to get your energy back and your blood sugar up to a more healthy level. But don’t eat too much or you’ll feel tired and lazy. Don’t eat to little either or pretty soon you’ll feel just as bad as you did before you ate. Also, it you’re sitting most of the day, take it a bit easy on the carbs and the size of your portions. You may have been raised to eat large and healthy meals, but maybe your father and mother had more physical jobs…

8. Create a physical anchor
Ok, this one might take a while but it seems to work for many people. Basically you stand up, close your eyes and imagine an emotional state that you want to able to snap into on command. As an example I imagined a time when I felt really powerful and confident. I stood, I breathed and I moved the way I did that one time. Then while I was back in that state both physically and mentally I snapped the fingers of my right hand. Over and over. Over and over and over again. The theory is that you link up that emotion with the physical act of snapping your fingers.

Did it work? Yeah, actually it kinda does. When I snap my fingers I get an emotional boost and go into that state again. However, the effect is not 100%. It doesn’t feel as good as it did that one time. But it’s my first anchor and by practicing more, I think especially by trying to visualize and feel that state even more intensely, the anchors are likely to become more and more accurate.

Anchoring is based on Ivan Pavlov and his experiments with dogs and bells but has been developed by people in the field of NLP (neurolinguistic programming).

9. Open yourself up to other possibilities that are more beneficial to you
Have some faith that the way you view work, relationships, money, exercise, life and those other things are not the only way to see them. Having the feeling that you are right about something and “know how things work” can feel really good. It’s instant gratification and gives you security and comfort.

But it also limits you by closing your mind to other avenues of thought and personal development. Seek out a couple of experts’ advice in the area that you are having problems with. Use google and amazon, just dive in to the subject for a while to get a basic understanding. Most likely there are things you can do both to remedy the problem and to change you perspective on this trouble area. There are often more solutions than one or two to a problem.

10. Recall your positive experiences and memories
It’s easy to be overcome by negative internal chatter. “I can´t do this, what if they think I´m incompetent, God I´m gonna fail, I´m gonna fail and this why did I take this shirt, it’s so ugly”. And so on.

When preparing for a meeting, a job interview, a presentation, asking someone for a date or anything that makes you really nervous recall your positive memories from similar experiences. Think back to when you were funny and charming in the bar. Remember the times when you were confident and relaxed during previous meetings and interviews. Let a few of your best memories wash over you. Let them drown out your negative thoughts.

This will make you remember the positive and wonderful sides of yourself. The qualities and your inner possibilities that are always there but we often forget about them when we get caught up in a cloud of negative thoughts and feelings. Focusing on these positive experiences instead of those negative ones that always seem to be closer at hand can make a big difference.

Learning to direct you feelings more and more have implications beyond feeling better. By feeling better you will more constantly start to see the world in another way and you will start to see other, more beneficial options. And your feelings will start to work for you instead of stopping you when you want to take action.

And try to use these suggestions from the perspective of yourself when you were a kid trying to learn to ride that bike. If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself of and try again.

Focus Your Marketing

Your home-based business can produce steady income for you and your family if you follow a few simple rules.Focus on people's needs, make it easy for people to make purchases or join your group, answer questions fully, and provide excellent customer service.This, combined with a well thought out Internet marketing plan, will ensure you a successful home business experience.Whether you develop your own specialized plan or follow guidelines created and tested by others (see link below), Internet marketing can be very rewarding if you create a sensible plan and implement it wisely.

What is the most important considerations for you in a home based business opportunity? It's Multiple Streams of Internet Income. Do you want to make money online and become an Internet marketing experts? Then diversification in online home based business is a good thing to consider. Making tons of money in a home based business is not the only reason record numbers of people are starting home based Internet businesses.

Before you begin advertising your Internet marketing business either online or offline, there is a general rule of thumb: identify your target audience.For example, if your home based business is promoting denture creams and related products, your target audience would not be teenagers, nor would the mature audience likely be interested in skateboards.It is important to channel your advertisements to those who will be interested in your products to avoid investing your efforts and/or money needlessly.

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Wake UP to Success -- Claiming Ownership of Your Business and Taking Action II

The real “bottom line” demarcation between success and not success with any entrepreneurial/self reliant type of opportunity is – the level of motivation.

Now this is the interesting part…..motivation is not something you can buy or get from someone else. Motivation is internal and it comes from knowing that your goal is a possibility. Knowing why you want to be successful with your business, the burning desires/reasons.

What I did to take action and ownership of my business, was to first figure out my goal, my WHY and I wrote it down in detail
Getting clear with “a real possibility in my life” translates into motivation and taking the action.

Keep the reward in mind and at hand at all times and you’ll be destin to realize your result and greatness.

Motivate yourself, take the action and realize the result.

Build Buzz With Video

While we're talking e-business trends, let's take a look at video, which has gone through rapid and massive growth this past year. Free hosting by sites like YouTube, plus the availability of digital video recorders on cameras and mobile phones, enable literally anyone to create their own videos.

So far, one of the most successful applications of video-to-internet marketing has been to offer quality educational content for free (with or without an opt-in), and position it as a limited-time offer. Viewers watch the video, such as the first part of a ten-part course, and then pass it on to other potential customers. The more people who see it and recognize the value for their own life or business, the more they’ll take the next step and go to your website to get the next installment.

How-to videos uploaded to video-sharing sites can also draw targeted audiences. I just spotted one recently: “How to Fold a Fitted Sheet.” Don’t you think an online bedding store should’ve done that first?

Secrets of The Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker

Free Audio


"There is a secret psychology to money," says T. Harv Eker, internationally known speaker and author of 11 top-selling books and courses, "Most people don't know about it, that's why most people never reach their financial potential."

Eker explains, "Your outer world is simply a reflection of your inner world! A lack of money is not a problem, it is merely a symptom of what's going on underneath! The fastest and only way to permanently change your financial situation on the outside, is to first change it on the inside." Eker should know, using this strategy he went from zero to millionaire in only 2 1/2 years!

Here's just a portion of what you'll learn!

1.The 5 critical ways rich people think differently than the poor & middle class.
2.The hidden cause of almost all financial problems.
3.How your childhood conditioning is affecting you financially today.
4.Why knowledge & skill do not create wealth.
5.How to attract so-called "luck" with money and success.
6How to train your "mind" to work for you instead of against you.

"Money miracles can occur when we get out of our own way," says Eker. "The problem is, by ourselves, we can never see what's holding us back from reaching our full potential. Einstein said it best, "you can't solve a problem with the same mind that created it." The information in this course is extremely powerful! If you learn the strategies and use them, your financial life will change forever."

10 Marketing Trends to Watch in 2007

By Kim T. Gordon

Throughout 2006, I've been watching and interpreting the marketing stats and studies that impact small businesses to give you tips on staying one step ahead. Now, with 2007 fast approaching, let's look at a roundup of the hottest trends, from changes taking place among consumer audiences through what to watch for in traditional and online marketing. Here's the info you need on the most important trends and how to make the most of them to increase sales and grow your business in the New Year.

Consumer Trends

1. College Grads
If you're searching for the most effective way to reach this desirable prospect group, move your marketing dollars into online media. The internet is now the primary source of media and entertainment among college grads, whose top planned purchases upon graduation are professional clothing, travel/airline tickets, health insurance and furniture according to the “Y2M: eGrad College Graduate Survey”. Nearly 80 percent of respondents are online purchasers, making them ideal candidates for your online campaign

2. Affluent Working Women
The big news is that this group is increasing in size, and the best way to reach them may be online. According to The Media Audit, affluent working women with family incomes of $75,000 or more are growing in number, and 94.3 percent access the internet during an average month. About half are now considered heavy users of the internet, while heavy use of radio, television, newspapers and direct mail has all declined within this group. To increase sales from this expanding audience, alter your media spending to place greater emphasis online.

3. Asian Population Growth
The southern region of the U.S. boasts the fastest Asian population growth rate (31 percent), followed by the Midwest (24 percent), the Northeast (23 percent) and the West (19 percent), according to an analysis of Census Bureau data in the “American Community Survey” by Kang & Lee Advertising. Asians represent a prospect group with higher than average household incomes and education levels. Can you offer a product or service that will appeal to this growing market?

4. Word-Of-Mouth
Want to build buzz? Lucid Marketing's study, "U.S. Adults: Word of Mouth Communications," found that women were more likely than men to share a positive experience with a business or recommend an enjoyable product; full-time employees made substantially more daily contacts than those not in the workforce; and people with household earnings of more than $100,000 were more likely to make recommendations than those earning less. So buzz marketers should direct efforts to these three "chatty" groups.

Trends in Traditional Media

5. Yellow Pages
According to a study from the Kelsey group, marketers targeting younger demographics should transition away from print. Only 28 percent of teens said they would turn to print Yellow Pages first to find a local business, product, or service, while 47 percent said their first choice would be search engines. And just 44 percent of respondents between the ages and 18 and 34 favored print Yellow Pages.

6. Simultaneous Media Usage
There's no longer such a thing as a captive media audience--consumers are frequently participating in more than one form of media at any one time. Seventy percent of web users, for instance, watch TV occasionally to regularly while online, according to BIGresearch’s “Simultaneous Media Survey.” It also found that nearly 65 percent watch TV while they read, and 51 percent of radio listeners read the newspaper while listening. The rise in multitasking among consumers mandates an integrated media approach and an increased emphasis on advertising within the most relevant and engaging content.

7. Newspapers
This past year, many of the websites of major newspapers have become the number-one portals in their geographic markets and are drawing a larger, younger and more affluent readership. The audience that reads a newspaper’s website but not its print version accounts for 2 to 15 percent of the Integrated Newspaper Audience, according to Scarborough Research, and that represents hundreds of thousands of readers for many newspapers in larger markets. They’re successfully attracting 18-to-34-year-olds to their sites, and the online readers are more upscale, which can make them a more desirable audience. If you're an advertiser in the "print" newspaper, you can negotiate for a combo rate to run online as well to reach these additional readers. And if advertising in the print newspaper is too expensive for your business, you may find more affordable rates online by drilling down past the main pages to place ads on content-rich, but less frequently visited web pages.

Hot Online Trends

8. Web Conferencing
As business travel becomes increasingly challenging due to increased security, advance check-in times and transportation delays, online workshops and meetings that require no travel are coming to the forefront. It’s more desirable than ever to demo your new product to a group or make a sales presentation without anyone ever leaving home. Participants can watch your presentation on their computer monitors and hear you live on their computer speakers or by phone. In fact, I'm now transitioning to this technology to deliver webinars, and you can, too.

9. Online Research
Whether you sell exclusively online or primarily through a brick-and-mortar site, online search will have a profound impact on your sales in 2007. When asked how often they researched products online before buying them in person or in a store, 87 percent of nearly 7,500 respondents to a BIGresearch “Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey” said they did so occasionally to regularly. And a comScore research study showed that 63 percent of searchers completed a purchase in offline retail stores following their search activity. So no matter whether you sell online, off-line or both, you need a great website with deep, persuasive content that keeps your prospects and customers shopping on your site or sends them to your store.

10. Local Search
Want to know where to invest your online marketing dollars in 2007? Aim for higher rankings in the top search engines. Sixty-two percent of searchers click on a link within the first page of results, according to a report from iProspect and Jupiter Research. To win higher rankings in natural search results, you can optimize your site by sprinkling the keyword phrases your best prospects will be searching for throughout all the pages of your site, in your page descriptions and in metatags. You should also secure links to your site from other high-ranking websites. But to guarantee you'll turn up in the top search results, invest in a paid search campaign. Local search campaigns are often the most affordable and will bring traffic from your immediate market area in the New Year.

Work From Home Tips

When you are working online, you must create a system and work that system. Why a system?

A system holds you accountable. A system allows you the opportunity to track and test and make adjustments. A system gives you the framework to share your success with others.

So once you have your system, are there a few tricks and tips and techniques that can help you go ‘over the top’? You bet there are!

Here are just a few:

1) Try tracking your sales rather than your opt-in rates. It is really easy to keep track of opt-in rates and use that as a gauge for the success of a traffic source. But if you track each sale back to the source, the sales might tell a different story.

2) Get more organized. Create a new folder on your desktop. ‘Online resources’ In that folder, have a collection of other folders, one for each type of product or tool or email you receive. It is too easy to save free gifts, tools, and quality emails for your swipe file, but when you are looking for them a month down the road, you have no idea how to find what you are looking for. You don’t remember the cryptic name you saved it under (as3rfgh56.xyz). You don’t remember which file your computer so helpfully suggested you place it in.

3) Send your email list a survey. What do they want you to write about? What products are they looking for? How can you better serve them?

4) Change up your signature on your email from time to time. Maybe you have a new web site or a new affiliate program most of those on your daily emailing list have not seen. After awhile, your same old signature becomes boring. Change it up!

5) Go back to the basics. When you hit a plateau, ask yourself what you did when you first started growing. You may think, but that was so amateur! But who cares, if it was creating growth. Do what works, not what everyone else thinks you should be doing.

Helpful Sites for Your Biz

Sitekreatorwww.sitekreator.comSiteKreator provides DIY services to build, publish and host Web 2.0-ready websites for $95 a year. Easy-to-implement features include blogs, web forums, image galleries and mailing lists. Websites are based on templates and are customizable. The business edition starts with storage capacity of 200MB and can be upgraded to 1GB. SiteKreator allows for unlimited pages and enables you to add your logo, slogan and custom text, giving your website the look and feel you want.
Bizfilings.comwww.bizfilings.comThis site is a one-stop shop for small businesses looking to incorporate or form an LLC. The site is full of information, including a helpful comparison of LLCs and corporations. Products and services are also available, such as corporate supplies and amendment filings as well as a free guide to incorporation. More than 150,000 companies have found help at Bizfilings.com, which accommodates businesses in all 50 states. Prices vary from state to state.
PR Mentor Systemwww.pr-mentor.comPR Mentor offers a PR toolkit to help entrepreneurs get their messages heard. The toolkit enables businesses to use the same PR process as large agencies and includes templates, samples, work sheets and more. The $299 PR Mentor System includes the toolkit and offers access to a members-only online forum where you can get PR questions answered and even have your press releases reviewed. The toolkit a la carte is $129.

Daily Quotation

Every being is always receiving that which is a vibrational match to whatever they are offering.

Look At What I Stumbled Upon

Stumbleupon is much more than just a social network tool known from such sites as friendster or orkut. It provides addition with features like - Link Recommendation (which is the main purpose) - Topic Surfing (which makes it a great research tool) - Channel Surfing aka co-browsing (which means leaving your comments on sites, pages and people) - Web and Photoblogging - Recommend to friend via mail - Bookmark collecting - Community forums - Site promotion - And a lot of fun ! All of this adds up on meeting a lot of friendly people, that have the same interests as you have. Privacy issues might worry you: SU leaves you full freedom of entering details about you. The only thing that leaves a trace of your identity is in my view a collection of which sites you prefer and your probably everchanging IP number. You cannot be connected to your surf-preferences if you dont reveal your identity, as your email address is not visible for other users. So privacy is not really an issue as it may be in other networks you might find, and if you don't care building up a data-minable collection of likes and dislikes connected with other peoples likes or dislikes.

Journal to Prosperity - Lifesytle

I’m living proof that I’m in a business with a community of people that allow me to be exactly who I want to be. I get to choose the lifestyle that I choose.

How I did this was by taking personal responsibility for my life.....when I did ~ everything became possible.

I allowed myself to be open and I made the decision to make a significant change in my life.

I asked myself “What do I want?” and I got real specific with what I wanted.
I wrote down exactly what I wanted and had a visual picture of exactly what I wanted.
I knew it was exactly what I wanted, because I felt it emotionally and it had nothing to do with money or anything else, but everything to do with me.

SMART goal:

S – specific, clear, detailed goal
M– measurable
A– attainable
R– relevant
T– timely

PERSIST WITHOUT EXCEPTION!!

7 Great Ways To Finance a Startup

No matter how groundbreaking your idea for a new business, you won't get past the starting gate without funding. While there are many ways to find money, most are generally more appropriate for more established companies. Still, there are some smart tacks for start ups. Here's a look at seven options: read more...

Journal to Prosperity

Question to journal about today:
What would I do today if I knew I could not fail?



Liberty League International is a business opportunity creating powerful leaders.

Unlock your power, join the Liberty League community.

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The Liberty League community is for individuals who choose to live their life outside the box and the directions to get outside the box are written outside the box.

Wake UP to Success -- Claiming Ownership of Your Business and Taking Action

FACT:
Personal development and the law of attraction are on the forefront of the public consciousness.

The business that I’m affiliated with Liberty League International is leading the charge, in terms of showing people how to create their lives on purpose.

The commonalities of people that get consistent results take ownership of their business and take action.

First ask yourself:
What could I do that I haven’t done?
Where is it that I could be more effective?
What decisions can I make that I haven’t made yet?

~ Its one thing to be around the business and yet another to be in the business – to be the business ~

In my case with Liberty League International, I’m in the business of Transformation/Liberation; so when I think about what I can do that I haven’t done….it’s up to me….if I’m a person of integrity and my word….then YES I’m going to accomplish those things……and it’s up to me to take the actions I’ve yet to take.
For example, part of that is going away for the weekend on a whim, because my business is a lifestyle company and that’s what I came here for, so it reveals the lifestyle. Its part of the actions that I must take to reach the goals I set for myself. Which, in fact, are out of my comfort zone, taking a weekend jaunt to a spontaneous place and spending money on hotels and everything else involved. And for you the reader, there are all kinds of things you have to do; and the things we have to do are not mysterious to us because they are the things we aren’t comfortable doing; if we were then we would already have them.

Michael Losier the author of The Law of Attraction says – “if you’re wondering what you’ve been expecting or attracting, just look around, you already have it.”

PEOPLE THAT TAKE THE ACTION GET THE RESULTS

Ask yourself:
What’s the price that I have to pay?

So when I ask myself…..What do I want to do least?....and I know what it is, as I try my hardest to avoid recognizing it, well that’s the one that I do first! I get uncomfortable and it moves me toward the unknown, the next level. I abandon “comfort zone” and I get unreasonable and I take the action.

So ask yourself:
What actions can I take, that I’m seeing others take that are bearing fruit in their lives?

And without questions or hesitation TAKE THOSE ACTIONS!!

Do the thing to succeed, not to try not to fail.

Fear gives away you’re power

Be powerful and go beyond your fears….if you desire to succeed, play full out, no questions, no hesitations, if it moves you in the direction of your goals, take the action immediately, but if you think…what if it doesn’t work for me? POOF you’ve already lost.

BE UNREASONABLE,
BE IMMEDIATE
BE OUTRAGEOUS

I don’t operate my business with an escape path or a plan B. That’s claiming ownership.

Claiming ownership means….I create my life, I create the exact amount of financial success.

T Harv Eker's Millionaire Mind

Your financial blueprint is made up of the "programming" you have received in the past, especially as a young child.
If you have been set in the wrong direction, with negative associations or emotions around money you must reset if you are ever going to get more money. T Harv Eker's Secrets of the Millionaire Mind reveals how to set your blueprint for success.
Your blueprint is like a thermostat. If the temperature in the room is 72°, chances are the thermostat is set for 72°. Is it possible that because the window is open, and it's cold outside, the temperature can drop to 65°? Of course, but what will eventually happen is the thermostat will kick in and bring the temperature back to 72°.
The only way to permanently change the temperature in the room is to reset the thermostat.
Similarly, the only way to change your level of financial success on a "permanent" basis is to reset your financial thermostat, otherwise known as your money blueprint.

Be Productive

These days our lives are busier than ever. We work more than ever. We are more stressed and exhausted than ever before. And yet we get less done and are not as happy.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

The problem is that we are overloaded with information and tasks, and we try to get everything done instead of just the most essential things. Solution: focus on only the essential, eliminate the rest, and allow yourself to get into that beautiful state known as “flow”.

And although it can be hard to give up all the busy-ness that we’ve grown accustomed to, the change will have tremendous benefits on our sanity, our stress levels, our happiness, and yes, our productivity.

Here are 10 simple ways to be more productive with less effort:

Clear your head. It’s impossible to gain perspective, and to know what is truly essential, if we are in the middle of an information stream. Take an hour, or half a day if possible, to shut off the information flow, and to get a larger view of your life and your job. The time you take off will be well worth it. Tell everyone that you are unavailable, shut off all communications, shut yourself in somewhere private, and take some time to think about what is important. What do you want? Where are you going? What will it take to get there? Another good way to clear your head, which is necessary for focus, is to write down everything that you need to do, all your tasks and projects and ideas. Dump the contents of your mind on paper, and then stop thinking about them for a little while.
Focus on the essential tasks. Once you’ve gotten your head cleared, you need to figure out what tasks are most essential. Ask yourself this magic question: “What task can you do that will get you the most return on your time?” Figure out the project that will get you the most recognition, win you awards, or get you the most business. Something that will pay off big. Not something you’ll forget about in a week, but something that others will remember you by. This is an essential task. Make a list of these types of tasks — they’re your most important things to do this week.
Eliminate the rest. Now look at your overall list. What’s on there that’s not essential? Can you just drop them from your schedule? Or delegate them to someone else? If not, put them on a “waiting list”. Then, as you focus on your essential tasks, check back on this waiting list every now and then. Sometimes you’ll realize that the less essential tasks weren’t really necessary at all.
Do essential tasks first. If you’ve got a list of things to do today, and one or two of them are truly essential, do those items first thing in the morning. Don’t wait until later in the day, because they’ll get pushed back as other urgent stuff comes up. Get them out of the way, and your productivity will truly soar.
Eliminate distractions. You can put essential stuff on your list all year long, but if you are constantly interrupted by email notifications, IM, cell phones, your RSS reader, gadgets and widgets, social media, forums and the like, you’ll never be productive. Turn these things off, disconnect yourself from the Internet if possible, clear your desk of all papers, clear your walls and surrounding areas, and allow yourself to truly focus.
Use simple tools. Don’t fidget with a bunch of gadgets or the latest and coolest applications. Find a simple notebook for writing things down, a simple to-do list (no frills) and the simplest application possible for doing your work. Then forget about the tools and think only of the task at hand. If you’re too worried about the tools, you’re not actually doing anything.
Do one thing at a time. Multi-tasking is a waste of time. You can’t get things done with a million things going on at once, pulling for your attention. Focus on the essential task in front of you, to the exclusion of all else, and you are much more likely to get it completed, in less time, with less effort.
Find quiet. In addition to a quiet working environment, you need time every day that you can call your own, where you don’t have to do work. This could be through reading, taking a bath, walking in nature, going swimming at the beach, going jogging, meditating. Not reading your feeds. Get away from the information overload and find that peace that will allow you to truly focus when you do work, and to review your day in your mind, and to get the perspective to see what is essential.
Make the most of your work. It’s one thing to write something great, or to create something fantastic. But it’s entirely another thing to make that great thing explode, to get you attention, to earn the recognition you deserve — which will lead to more business or more opportunities. Once you’ve created the Next Great Thing, promote it, show it to others, find a way to have it carry you as far as it can take you. Don’t just create something and move on to the next thing. Use your energy and talents to their fullest extent.
Simplify some more. Once you’ve simplified down to the essential, and eliminated distractions, you should become productive. But distractions and the unnecessary have a way of creeping back in and accumulating. Every now and then, take a look at what you’re doing, at the information coming into your life, at how you spend your time and the tools you use. Then simplify some more.

Condemned To Google Hell

Beginning in September 2006, Skyfacet no longer showed up on the first few pages of Google's results when users typed in search terms like "diamonds" and "engagement ring." The site's traffic vanished, and Sanar says his sales dropped $500,000 in three months.

What happened? Sanar isn't completely sure. But he does know that his site has been condemned to the supplemental index, a dreaded backwater region of Google search results that goes by another name in online marketing circles: Google Hell.

Google Hell is the worst fear of the untold numbers of companies that depend on search results to keep their business visible online. Getting stuck there means most users will never see the site, or at least many of the site's pages, when they enter certain keywords. And getting out can be next to impossible--because site operators often don't know what they did to get placed there.

Google's programmers appear to have created the supplemental index with the best intentions. It's designed to lighten the workload of Google's "spider," the algorithm that constantly combs and categorizes the Web's pages. Google uses the index as a holding pen for pages it deems to be of low quality or designed to appear artificially high in search results.

Those pages are scanned far less frequently than those in the main index, meaning that once a page is marked for Google Hell, it can languish there for as long as a year before Google even deigns it worthy of a reappraisal. And as Google tries to manage an explosively growing Web, more and more sites are finding themselves thrown into the search engine's digital dungeon.

If that makes the world's leading Web-crawler sound judgmental, consider Google's difficult position. The search juggernaut is faced with the endless task of reading and ranking the ever-expanding Web's billions of pages, the equivalent of putting the Earth's population in order from tallest to shortest every few minutes. Meanwhile there are growing numbers of pages filled only with junk text and advertising, designed solely to fool the engine. It's Google's task to sort out the trash from the worthwhile, and to do it better and faster than competitors like Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ), Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ), or InterActiveCorp's (nasdaq: IACI - news - people ) Ask.com

The Success Formula

Every year, hundreds of thousands of businesses are started. Most will fail, some will muddle along, and a few will thrive. Which ones thrive, and why? The reason some businesses experience spectacular sales and profit growth from the start isn't because they had a lot of money at the beginning. Their fast growth can be attributed to the fact that they were put together the right way.

In every instance, the founders either had or acquired the experience and knowledge they needed to start up and run the business. They recognized what their weak points were, subsequently nurtured alliances, and acquired the skills they needed to start their company off right. They also understood how the various parts of the business fit together to form a total structure and knew that if one part was missing, the total structure would break. For example, they knew that a successful sales plan is directly dependent upon support from the marketing and promotional plans, and that the strategic business plan acts as the glue that holds all the sub plans together so that they work in concert.

DEVELOPING IDEAS
Clever product and service ideas are a dime a dozen. Everybody has one, and most of them never get implemented. The successful entrepreneur starts with a basic idea. This idea is first tested to staying power. Can it be used to grow a customer base, and will it be profitable? The pseudo-entrepreneurial itch often ends before the basic idea gets tested. Studies show that a high percentage of people who open new businesses do so because they are frustrated with their current job. They'll jump into any business venture that comes along without first checking it out. Ninety percent of this group will go out of business in their first year.

Those that make it are smart enough to recognize the symptoms of their emotional state. They are acutely aware that they may be in a vulnerable position. As a result, they may hang on to the security of their current job and start a business on the side. They'll make the move to become a full-time entrepreneur when the time is right for them and after they have thoroughly checked out their business venture ideas. There are three basic concepts to keep in mind as you develop and refine your business start-up ideas.

Be Creative
The opposite of creativity is rigidity. Entrepreneurs are not rigid in their thinking. If you cling to the old ways of doing things because "that's the way we have always done it," you'll never come up with the new solutions that are demanded by today's small businesses. To test your creative ability, practice finding ways to tie together seemingly unrelated ideas.

Resolve Problems
You must have a clear understanding of what it is you are trying to achieve and be able to identify the obstacles that stand in your way. Break each problem down so that you understand it and know what you need to do to eliminate it. For example, the problem may be that you need more space. Why do you need more space, and what are the alternatives? An alternative may pose a new set of problems, but if they reduce the magnitude of the original problem, the alternative may be a more viable option.

Brainstorming
When you come up with a solution to a problem, brainstorm the solution with as many qualified people as you can find to avoid judging your own answer. Accept modifications that make sense, and be prepared to replace the solution with a totally new and better alternative. The key to the brainstorming process is to be objective. Brainstorming is an excellent way to come up with a new set of ideas for new products, services, or improvements that could accelerate the growth of your business.

The Most Expensive Movie Ever Made Spider Man 3

Even before filming began in January 2006, Sam Raimi promised to pull out all the stops for his third Spidey film (likely the last he'll direct in the series). He wasn't kidding. As production dragged on into late summer—it had been scheduled to conclude in June—stories about the project's ballooning budget started popping up all over town. But in the end, even the most hyperbolic of observers may have underestimated the final tab. Industry insiders claim that Sony spent $350 million or more on production alone. With marketing and promotion factored in, the total price tag will approach half a billion dollars—positioning Spider-Man 3 as the most expensive movie of all time.

Get The Word Out On Your Home Business

Are you ready for a year of guerrilla marketing?

Podcasts
Never before has the online community had such an opportunity to reach its audience offline. On top of that, the spammers and hackers haven't yet found a way to infiltrate podcasting. (They probably will, but not like they've done with e-mail.)

Podcasts, like any information you put out, should be of interest and value to your target market. What do they need to help their businesses or their personal lives? What solutions do you have that they would like to hear more about? These are the things people find interesting in podcasts. A once-a-month delivery promoted through all your other marketing channels will give a real synergistic boost to your marketing.
Blogs
There are 100 times more blogs than there were three years ago, according Sifry's Alerts' August post on the State of the Blogosphere. At first, it was only the most tech-savvy businesses that had blogs. Now blogging is on the increase with all types of businesses because it's a cost-effective way to create marketing buzz and communities of support.

Blogging is like having a conversation with your target market. It also provides an interactive forum for your target market to talk back to you. And a blog done in conjunction with your website gives you one more way to reach your prospects.

The best part is, many blog programs allow you to set everything up yourself with little or no technical know-how. If you're not sure you'll be able to support a blog on your own, contribute to someone else's. This'll help you gain exposure and position you as an expert in your field.

Online Advertising
Ad dollars are continuing to shift to the internet and will continue to do so as new opportunities such as video open up. Online ad spending increases have been driven by the growing ability to measure campaigns effectively and a relatively high ROI. As a result, for many businesses, the question isn't whether to advertise online or even where or when, but rather how to stretch every dollar spent.

For the everyday entrepreneur and guerrilla marketer, this translates into a focused pay-per-click campaign on Yahoo! or Google AdWords. You can focus on a particular target market searching particular keywords and test your campaign instantly, all for fewer dollars than the old mass-market banner ads and certainly for a lot less than the cost of print ads.

Expanding to Global Markets
Borders are being removed in the business world because international labor rates and talent levels make location irrelevant on the Internet. No longer is going global just for large corporations; Sally’s e-commerce bead shop that's operating from a home office can now do business in as many countries as have Internet access.

For the aggressive entrepreneur, marketing globally is done mostly online. Using pay-per-click campaigns, a focused opt-in e-mail campaign or other traffic-generation techniques, a local entrepreneur can easily reach a global market.

The Internet has also greatly reduced language barriers. A lot of e-commerce is done in English, so there's not necessarily a huge need to translate. However, translated websites do open up new opportunities.

Expanding to global markets can be done with your e-commerce website or as an affiliate of the many thousands of retail portals available online, like Amazon.com and eBay.

Direct Marketing
No longer are awareness ads or even branding ads generating enough results to justify their use. Today's consumers want to know what’s in it for them. They want a deal, a discount or something special. These all have implications for increased direct marketing. In addition, with all the technology available to us for managing databases, target markets can be more tightly defined, segregated, sorted, compiled and marketed to, providing a higher return to those employing direct marketing.