One of the items in my list is income diversification. Not diversifying my income is something that could make me regret in the future. The risk is clear: I would get financial problems if my primary source of income disappear. There is definitely no fun in seeing your income drops to zero or near zero especially when you have a family to feed. I’m afraid that this is a potential problem for many people, in particular those who work as employees. If for some reasons they lose their jobs, there is a possibility that they will fall into financial problems.

That’s why you need to diversify your income. Diversifying your income gives you a safety net to prevent financial problems. Here are some tips on income diversification:

1. Start early

Building new income streams to the level where they are substantial enough for a living may take long time. So it’s important that you start early. Don’t wait until the financial problems come. While you can get back many things you lose, you won’t get back lost time. Use your time wisely.

2. Explore opportunities through side projects

Exploring new opportunities is a must if you want to diversify your income. Creating side projects is perhaps the best way to do that. It allows you to explore opportunities without sacrificing your primary source of income. A promising side project can then become one of your main projects.

This is what happens to me with this blog. This blog started as a side project for me but now it grows to the point where it becomes one of my main projects.

3. Be persistent

As I stated above, it takes time to build new income streams until they become substantial enough. So not only should you start early, but you should also be persistent. In any endeavor you take you will always go through failure period before you succeed. Don’t lose heart and don’t give up when you are going through such period. Understand that it’s part of your journey to success. Keep doing what it takes even if it doesn’t give you the results you want at the moment.

4. Know when to stop

While you need to be persistent, you should also know when to stop and explore other opportunities. There is a difference between being persistent and being stubborn. When something is clearly hopeless, don’t keep pursuing it. Save your resources and switch to other opportunities.

5. Failure is your friend

While you are exploring opportunities, you will find a lot of opportunities that are unsuccessful. That’s normal and you shouldn’t be discouraged when you fail. Just don’t make the mistake of giving up too early. Perhaps you are just walking through the failure period of a good opportunity.

6. Strengthen the winners

While exploring opportunities, you will find some that are winners. These are where you should put most of your resources. Invest more money. Spend more time. Don’t make the mistake of giving all the opportunities the same amount of resources. Give more resources to the winners so that they can fully develop. This is the reason why you should experiment and explore new opportunities in the first place: to find winners that you can strengthen further.

***

Diversifying your income is important to prevent financial problems, but you should not just pursue money for money’s sake. A better way is to make money with a purpose.

Photo by bradipo

Post from: Life Optimizer

Diversify Your Income to Prevent Financial Problems

• 10 Simple Tips to Become a Grateful Person
• 14 Awfully Simple Things to Be Grateful for in Your Daily Life

Happy Thanksgiving!

Note:
Following the Thanksgiving, Amazon has some Black Friday deals you might want to check.

Post from: Life Optimizer

Happy Thanksgiving

As we go into the holiday phase, I was looking at how we celebrate the holidays. We often throw parties have big feast with plenty of food and drinks. I love to have an occasional glass of wine especially when dining. This led me to look at recent studies about the positive effects of wine on a person’s health.  For those who enjoy a glass or two of wine daily, the news is good.  Dr. Joy Bauer, a contributor to the Today show on NBC TV, says that drinking wine in moderation is beneficial for a person’s health.

Dr. Bauer states that wine, as part of an individual’s overall diet, reduces the risk of heart disease and certain types of cancers.  Additionally, drinking wine in moderation can slow down the debilitating effects of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

The intake of moderate amounts of wine delivers cardiovascular benefits that raise your good cholesterol and thin out your blood.  Wine contains resveratrol that prevents blood clotting and the formation of plaque in our arteries.  It has also been shown in animal studies to reduce tumours in animals.  Red wine contains larger amounts of resveratrol than white wine, and red wine from cool climates has the largest amounts of resveratrol. So, drink moderately and keep your heart healthy and strong.

What Constitutes “Moderate” Wine Consumption

There is some debate as to how much wine constitutes a moderate level of wine consumption.  Dr. Bauer feels that levels of moderation are different between men and women.  For men, a moderation level consists of no more than two 5 ounce glasses of red or white wine; for women, the moderation level maxes at one glass per day.

Weight gain is another reason you should drink in moderation.  One 5 ounce glass of wine contains about 120 calories.  One bottle of wine, or 4 glasses, is the equivalent of drinking 40 ounces of a soft drink, such as Coke or Pepsi.

By consuming too much wine, you risk elevating your triglyceride level, which could induce diabetes and other health-related diseases.  Also, over consumption of wine can cause migraine headaches.

Tips for Wine Selection

The selection of the right wine is really a subjective judgment on your part.   Gary Vaynerchuk, wine connoisseur and spokesman for Wine Library TV, reinforces this point on his video on Wikihow.

Gary states that the information on wine selection is so scattered and unreliable, that the best way to select appropriate wines is to develop a relationship with someone in a wine shop or a restaurant.  You need to tell these people about your eating preferences, and ask that they recommend a dozen different wines, depending upon your food selections.

Here are some general rules that apply when you are selecting wine for consumption:

• Select your wine based on the weight and texture of your meal.  For example, spicy foods go better with white wine.
• Red wine is more suitable for heavier meals, such as meats and heavy sauced entrees, while white wine is more suited for lighter fare, such as chicken and fish.
• Select a dry wine to complement a sweet meal, and a sweeter wine to complement food of a more acidic substance.
• Don’t sweat the small things.  There is no wine that will ruin a meal!
• Variety is the spice of life.  Experiment with a wide range of wines, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the results of the variations of your wine selections.
• Enjoy, enjoy, and enjoy!  Wine is nature’s gift to us, so savour the taste.

Expand Your Knowledge of Wine

Some ways to expand your knowledge of wines are:

• Take a course on wines
• Attend wine tasting parties
• Ask for wine recommendations when ordering in restaurants and bars, and ask why the certain wine recommendation was made.

Now that you know the benefits of drinking wine in moderation, and have some tips on how to select a bottle of wine, I hoist my glass of Napa 2005 cabernet sauvignon in your honour, and wish you the best!! Remember state laws about drinking and driving.

Winston Cole is an avid traveller, wine connoisseur and an advocate of healthy living. Winston believes wine enhances good food and pleasant conversation. Holiday cruise travel is perfect to celebrate the holidays. You can go on cruise ship vacation soon. Visit Winston’s website for help planning a cruise ship vacation.

Photo by jenny downing

Post from: Life Optimizer

Tip for a Healthy Heart – Drink Wine

My laptop’s LCD screen was broken. When I turned on the computer I got the screen on for only about one minute before it went blank. Once it got blank there is nothing I could do to turn it back on. So I switched to my old computer which I bought in 2002. Fortunately, I could transfer my data easily since I always backup my data to an external disk.

This didn’t last long though. My old computer is so slow that it takes a lot of time to get even simple tasks done. I often needed to wait for seconds when I clicked on a menu item before it ran. On other occasions, the computer froze in the middle of a task and I had to wait for minutes before it responded.

After a few days I couldn’t bear it anymore. I decided to switch back to my newer computer by using an external monitor. What a relieve! It felt so fast and responsive. No more waiting and no more frustration. I did feel the difference in my productivity.

From this experience I learned some lessons on work productivity:

1. Appreciate what you have

Sometimes we need to lose something before we appreciate it. In my case, I didn’t appreciate having a good, working LCD screen until I lost it. Other than the screen, there are many things that still go right in my life. I have a good Internet connection, a working computer, and all of my data. I also have loving family and friends, both of my hands, and more. Just imagine if I lost any of them! So appreciate what you have. This appreciation will help you maintain them (see the next point).

2. Maintain your system

To get things work seamlessly around you, there are a lot of components that must work well together. If even one of them failed, it will disturb your entire experience. So pay attention to maintaining your productivity system. Take the preventive measures necessary to minimize the possibility that something goes wrong.

3. Build your capability to recover

Unfortunately, no matter how hard you try there is always possibility that something goes wrong. So you need to prepare for fast recovery when such things happen. That’s the reason why I always backup my data to an external disk. Thanks to the backup, when my computer got problem I could quickly move the data to another computer.

4. The best tools are those which existence you no longer realize

Whenever I use my old computer, I’m constantly aware of the existence of the tool. Why? Because the tool often gets in my way of self expression. I want to do something but I must wait for the computer to respond. I want to get something out of my head but the computer freezes.

On the other hand, when I use my newer computer I barely aware of its existence. My creative self expression occupies my mind and I barely have any part of my mind left to think about the tool. I can express myself fully.

This principle applies to the productivity tools you use. The most important thing is not to have the newest or most sophisticated tools. The most important thing is to have the tools that allow you to express yourself fully. That’s why it’s better to stick with the tools you are already familiar with unless there is radical innovation that can significantly boosts your work productivity. Choose tools that won’t get in your way of creative self expression.

5. Identify and eliminate your productivity bottlenecks

The bottleneck in my case was the performance of my computer. It significantly reduces my work productivity. I was often frustrated when I realized in the middle of the day that I got very few things done compared with what I normally achieve.

But the bottlenecks in work productivity are often not obvious. You might not realize that the bottlenecks exist. Such bottleneck for me is random browsing. When I’m working on a task, sometimes I want to check an unrelated web site. Before long, I’ve been browsing randomly for 30 minutes or more.

My question to you is: what are your bottlenecks in productivity? Identify and eliminate as many of them as possible.

Photo by moriza

Post from: Life Optimizer

Simple Lessons on Work Productivity

Why does it happen? Why don’t people do what is right to do? There are three reasons for that:

1. They don’t know what is right to do.
2. They know what is right to do  but underestimate its importance.
3. They know it’s important but procrastinate doing it.

In this post I will focus on the first and second reasons. For the third reason you can read defeating procrastination habit or my review of The Now Habit.

The first and second reasons have cost me time again and again. One example in blogging is regarding Amazon Associates program. Since the early days of my blogging I often write about the books I read. Some of the posts (like 37 Lessons to Help You Live a Life that Matters and 106 Tips to Become a Master Connector) became popular and attracted a lot of visitors. But I didn’t know that I could earn commissions by referring people to Amazon through those post. Only after blogging for almost one year did I realize that and join Amazon Associates.

Experiences like this teach me that to save time I need to prevent such things from happening again in the future. I must find the right things to do and do them.

Here are some tips to save time by finding the right things to do:

1. Expand your knowledge

The first thing you should do is expanding your knowledge. If you don’t even know that something exists then there is nothing you can do about it. That’s why it’s important that you get as many options as possible on your radar. You can do this by regularly reading books, magazines, and blogs in your field. You can also read materials from other fields - whether they are related or not - so that you can cross-pollinate ideas. Of course, reading is just one way to expand knowledge. There are other ways like watching videos, attending seminars, and joining professional organizations.

2. Write down all potential ideas

While expanding your knowledge, you will find potential ideas along the way. Write down all of them in your idea journal. The act of writing makes the ideas sink deeper into your mind. You should write not only the ideas that incrementally improve your way of doing things but also the ideas that could radically change the way you do things. I often get such ideas from unrelated fields and experiences.

3. Take the ideas seriously

This is where I often make mistakes. It deals with the second reason above: knowing what is right to do but underestimating its importance. To overcome it, whenever you encounter an idea ask yourself: what if the idea is right? What consequences will it have on my way of doing things? Perhaps there is no consequences right now, but what are the potential consequences five or ten years from now?

4. Find the ideas that have the biggest potential regret for you

Since you have only limited resources (whether they are time, money, or energy) and most likely many potential ideas, you should choose only a few of them that are most promising to implement. My favorite way of doing this is by assessing the potential regret I would have if I didn’t implement an idea.

Imagine yourself years from now looking back. What can you potentially regret if you don’t implement the idea? Questioning potential consequences as you do in #3 should help you find the regret level you could have if you don’t implement it.

So here is a key question to choose the few ideas to look deeper into:

Which ideas - assuming the ideas are right - could make you regret the most if you don’t implement them?

5. Investigate the ideas

Now that you have a few promising ideas, you should look deeper into them. Get as much information as possible about them. Ask or learn from people who already apply them. Use the questions what, why, when, where, who, and how to guide your investigation:

• What is the idea?
• Why should I apply the idea? Why is it good?
• When should I apply the idea?
• Where can I apply the idea?
• Who should apply the idea? To whom should the idea be applied?
• How should I apply the idea?

If possible, find multiple viewpoints for the questions so that you get complete view of the idea.

6. Test the most promising ideas

From your investigation you will get one or two most promising ideas. Now what you need to do is testing them in the real world. Apply the ideas. Incorporate them into what you do. Find out by yourself whether or not the ideas work. Some of them will fail but that’s how you improve yourself to save time in the future.

***

These tips will help you save time in the long term. As you’ve seen, the idea is to minimize your potential regret. Minimizing your potential regret has nothing to do with playing safe. Instead, it requires you to take risks here and there.

Photo by Michel Filion

Post from: Life Optimizer

How to Save Time in the Long Term

Abundance is, in large part, an attitude.
Sue Patton Thoele

Living an abundant life is everyone’s dream. We all want to live a prosperous life where we can be happy and fulfilled. While it may seem difficult for some people, in reality we already have what it takes to live an abundant life. As the quote above says, the most important ingredient for abundance is attitude and your attitude is something you can control.

With that in mind, here are nine tips to help you live an abundant life:

1. Have abundance mentality

Abundance mentality says that there is enough for everyone, so someone else’s gain is not your loss. This is the opposite of scarcity mentality which says that there is only a fixed amount of reward so someone else’s gain is your loss.

By having abundance mentality, you won’t feel envy when someone else succeeds. You know that you can have your own success.

2. Be grateful for what you have

More than anything else, being abundant is about how you see life. Some people may have everything but they still feel poor. Some other may have fewer but they feel abundant. You need to look at what you already have and be grateful for them instead of complaining for things you don’t have. Some people need to go through painful loss before they can appreciate what they have. Don’t let that happen to you. Here are some things to be grateful for.

3. Smile

I know it sounds simple, but smiling is an easy way to change the tone of your day. Even if your day doesn’t go as good as expected, you can always choose to respond positively. By smiling you are sending a positive message to yourself and others that you are a winner in life.

4. Start your days right

How you start your days greatly influences how they will be. That’s why you should make sure that you start your days right. While only you can define how to start your days right, here are some ideas:

• Rise early
• Get out of the bed right away
• Meditate or pray
• Exercise

5. Prepare yourself for opportunities

The way you use opportunities that come your way matters a great deal. Those who know how to best use opportunities will advance faster in life than those who don’t.

The first thing you should do is preparing yourself for opportunities so that you are ready when they come. Here are some things you can do to prepare for opportunities:

• Know your strengths
  The opportunities you get could be unexpected, but most likely they’re related to your strengths. So it’s essential that you know what your strengths are. Books like Now, Discover Your Strengths and StrengthsFinder 2.0 have tests that can help you identify your strengths.
• Develop your skills
  After identifying your strengths, you should develop skills that are relevant to them. See 7 Essential Tips for Developing Skills for more on it.
• Be observant
  Open your eyes and your ears. Be on the lookout for opportunities. The best opportunities are those that are overlooked by others.

6. Make the most out of every opportunity

Once you have an opportunity, explore the full extent of it. Don’t let it pass half-used. Is there other ways to use it? Can you combine it with something you already have to create something new? Can it open related opportunities?

7. Build friendships along the way

Relationships give you a lot of joy in life. It’s through relationships that you love and be loved. Furthermore, you can get the help you need from your network of friends. 106 Tips to Become a Master Connector has some tips you might find useful.

8. Build upon what you’ve built

The easiest way to achieve greater things in life is to build upon what you’ve built. Rather than starting again from scratch, leverage what you already have to jump to the next level.

This applies to many aspects of life. For example:

• You can apply for a better job based on the resume you’ve built.
• You can cross promote a new business to the customers of your existing businesses.
• You can find new connections through the network of friends you have.

9. Enjoy your life

Living an abundant life means you should be able to enjoy your life now without waiting for something big in the future. You don’t need certain amount of money or certain level of success to be happy. You can be happy right now with what you have. Read 30 Simple Ways to Enjoy Life for some ideas on how to enjoy life.

Photo by Sir Mervs

Post from: Life Optimizer

9 Tips to Live an Abundant Life

I’ve been thinking about this subject for a while and I’ve come to a perspective that I’m about to share with you. This perspective helps me connect making money to a greater purpose and makes it more fulfilling.

The Goals of Making Money

Why do people make money? What do they try to achieve? I believe there are two levels of goals in making money: a lower one and a higher one.

The lower goal of making money is to meet your needs.

This is the goal that most people has and there is nothing wrong with it. I also have it as a goal since I do have needs that can only be met with money.

But there is a higher goal.

The higher goal of making money is to make yourself useful to a cause you believe in.

While the lower goal of making money sits on level 1 (Physical) or 4 (Esteem) of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the higher goal sits on level 8 (Transcendence). Consequently, the higher goal is more fulfilling. It’s fine to have the lower goal of making money, but I believe that sooner or later we must adopt the higher goal.

Of course, you can be useful to your cause in many ways. Being useful financially is just one of them. You may want to be useful to your cause in non-financial ways and that’s absolutely fine.

In my case though, I want to contribute financially as well as in other ways.

Now I will share with you what I think is the best way to be useful financially to your cause.

Being Useful Financially To Your Cause

There is one thing that makes you useful financially to your cause : the ability to make money.

Notice that I say the ability to make money and not the amount of money you have.

This, I believe, is an essential principle when it comes to making money:

Having the ability to make money is more important than having money.

It’s not how much you have. It’s how much you can make. There are three reasons why the ability to make money is more important than having money:

1. By having the ability to make money, you won’t be obsessed with having a lot of money because you know that you can always earn the money when you need it.
2. By having the ability to make money, you can easily give money away. Again, that’s because you know that you can earn the money when you need it.
3. By having the ability to make money, you can share your knowledge on how to make money rather than just giving the money itself.

This way you can be useful to your cause in three ways:

1. You have the time to do important things for your cause that aren’t related to making money. That’s because you aren’t so obsessed with having money that your time is occupied with work.
2. Your money can directly help the cause because you’re willing to give it away.
3. You can help other people earn more money. They can then be useful financially to the cause and thereby create a multiplier effect.

As you can see, you are useful in many ways if you have the ability to make money. That’s why you should focus on increasing your ability to make money.

In a future post, I will discuss how to do that.

Photo by jenn_jenn

Post from: Life Optimizer

Making Money With a Purpose

I still accept guest posts though. Please see Guest Posting Guidelines for more information about it.

Let’s now look at what happened in October.

Best Posts

There were nine posts published in October. The most visited posts were:

• 7 Winning Character Traits That Create A Lifetime Of Success
• Self Motivation: How to Motivate Yourself

Guest Posts

We have four guest posts last month:

• Networking Can Get You A Job Promotion by Andrew Rondeau of Great Management
• 7 Winning Character Traits That Create A Lifetime Of Success by Shamelle Perera of The Enhance Life
• Hold Your Horses! Developing Patience in a 24/7 World by Sid Savara of SidSavara.com
• Attitude Adjustment: A Good Sense of Humor Will Make You a Winner by Winston Cole of Plan My Cruise Vacation

For Andrew, Shamelle, Sid, and Winston: thanks!

One Year Before

Looking back to October 2007, the most visited posts were:

• 48 Best Classic Books to Read
• 8 Tips to Minimize Stress and Be Content with Your Life

Post from: Life Optimizer

Monthly Roundup of October 2008

I set out to find the common pattern behind all successful growth efforts, to identify a complete set of core principles that would be universally applicable.

The principles must be something that can be applied to your health as well as your relationships, your career as well as your finance.

Does the book succeed? Let’s see.

Inside Personal Development for Smart People

The book begins with an explanation of the universal principles:

It took me almost two and a half years, but I eventually found the solution I was looking for. It consists of just three core principles: truth, love, and power. Four secondary principles are directly derived from the first three: oneness, authority, courage, and intelligence. Oneness is truth plus love. Authority is truth plus power. Courage is love plus power. And intelligence is the total combination of truth, love, and power.

These principles form the foundation for the rest of the book.

The book is divided into two parts with a total of 13 chapters. The first part explains the seven principles one by one, while the second part explains practical applications of those principles in several areas of life.

Part I. Fundamental Principles

1. Truth

Truth is the first core principle of personal growth. If you want to grow, you must first recognize where you are and accept it as it is. Only then can you take action to take your life to a better position.

Some of the things that may block you from truth are media conditioning, false beliefs, and addictions. You can become more truthful through exercises like self assessment, journaling, and media fasting.

2. Love

The essence of love is connecting. To become more loving, you should be willing to connect with others. To connect here means to think about them and to give them your attention.

It’s a simple but nice way to describe love. Just try it yourself. Give someone else your genuine attention and you’ll feel the existence of love there.

3. Power

Power is your ability to create the world around you. It’s your ability to make things happen. Some components of power are responsibility, focus, effort, and self-discipline.

There are a lot of good ideas in this chapter to help you make things happen. For example, the point of goal setting is to improve the quality of your present moment. It’s useless to create goals that doesn’t help you do better in the present.

Also, it’s important to build your self-discipline. You need motivation to start, but self discipline is what you need to finish.

4. Oneness

Oneness is a secondary principle that comes from combining truth and love. Oneness is the awareness that you’re connected with everybody else. While love is about choosing to connect, oneness is about knowing that you’re already connected.

When you look from the point of view of oneness, what is good for others is also good for you and vice versa. Consequently, things like honesty and compassion will naturally flow out of you.

5. Authority

Authority is a secondary principle that comes from combining truth and power. Having authority means having the clarity of how you want your life to be and having the power to make it happen.

To exercise authority, you must take responsibility for your life. You need to do what matters to you and measure the effectiveness of your effort. You can then use the feedback to adjust your actions.

6. Courage

Courage is a secondary principle that comes from combining love and power. To be courageous is to confront fear with the power that comes from your deepest connections.

A major part of being courageous is to follow your heart. Whenever you feel that you’re no longer connected with your heart, stop and  ask yourself: Where is the path with a heart? Then have the courage to follow the path.

7. Intelligence

Intelligence is a secondary principle that comes from combining the three core principles: truth, power, and love. Consequently, the definition of intelligence is alignment with truth, love, and power.

An important of part of being intelligent is to master the art of creative self-expression. You should be able to share what is most important to you (your message) in the right way for you (your medium). The medium here, for instance, could be writing, speaking, or painting.

Part II. Practical Applications

This part applies the seven principles covered in Part I to several areas of your life: habits, career, money, health, relationships, and spirituality. There are plenty of specific techniques in each chapter that I can’t possibly cover here.

Conclusion

Personal Development for Smart People is a thought-provoking book. While the principles in the book are not new, the book arranges and connects the principles in a clear and concise way. I especially like the way the four secondary principles are derived from the three primary ones.

Honestly, there are some views in the book that I disagree. That being said, Personal Development for Smart People contains a lot of ideas that are useful for personal growth. I plan to apply many of them to my life. It also has a creative way of looking at some issues (like goal setting in chapter 3) that makes me rethink my approach on them.

This article is part of October 2008 theme: Winning Attitude

Post from: Life Optimizer

Review: Personal Development for Smart People

A sense of humor can help you overlook the unattractive, tolerate the unpleasant, cope with the unexpected, and smile through the unbeatable
Moshe Waldoks

My sense of humor helped me survive

When I immigrated to the United States in 1992 it was very tough for me. I had left a very lucrative job in my home, left behind my wife and two young children. The US then was going through a recession period similar to what we are experiencing now. I could not find work in my field. I sent out countless job applications without success. I took the advice of a family friend who suggested I look for work in the teaching field. Me teach?

It was Alberta Flanders who said that “Sometimes only a change of view point is needed to convert a tiresome duty into an interesting opportunity.” Instead of thinking about quitting and never to look back, you can look at a difficult and stressful situation and laugh. Ask yourself “Is this an obstacle or an opportunity?” Why not see yourself as one of the crazy few who stay to take a second go at this? Think of Mahatma Gandhi who said “If I had no sense of humor I should long ago have committed suicide.”

With very little attempt I was able to secure a teaching position. I started teaching in a special education school for trouble kids.  These students were very difficult to control. Most new teachers stayed less than a week and quit. Funny how we can get help from strange places. In my case it was the old lady who was a cook in the school. She challenged me by asking me whether I was going to let the kids run me out of the school.  I changed my perspective and saw this as an opportunity and not an obstacle. I started to laugh at myself when the kids call me names and try to make me angry. Soon I was able to win their hearts.

Humor is my sword and my shield, it protects me. You can open a door with humor and drive a truck right through.
Alan Simpson

After a ten year spell in teaching I decided it was time to get back to my engineering career. But first I must get my professional registration. I took the national board examination and failed some sections. I was again ready to give up. My hopes and will power almost died when I received my test scores. Again thanks to a true friend who brought it to my attention that so many people have failed and continue to retake the test. This friend confided in me that he too had to retake the test more than once to obtain his license.

I weighed the situation and burst out laughing. I of all should know better. As a teacher I have seen so many students give up because they failed the first time. Instead of realizing that they failed because they did not put in the time or effort to prepare well, they labeled themselves “no good” and acted the part of a no good fellow. If only we can remember to laugh at our self when we fail, the solution will be easy. Always look for an answer to, “what do I need to do to turn things around from failure to success?”  So I not only registered to take the board exam once more,  but also enrolled in a preparatory class. This class did wonders for my test taking skills.

Success is my best revenge

Look for ways to get back at those who have rejected you in your early attempt. I could recall in my school days a teacher who told me I would never amount to anything good… This alone was a great motivator. To all such folks, I say success is my best revenge. After graduating as an engineer, I came across my teacher who had told me I would never amount to anything good. I helped her complete a building project on her home. This was after she had had so much trouble with construction workers. I did this without charging her a cent. Success was my revenge. If you have a good sense of humor, success can be your best revenge. It can be a driving force to make you want to go on and win big time. When the tough times come, see it as a joke. Keep your eyes on the prize.  The harder the battle the sweeter will be the victory.

How good humor can benefit you?

Studies have shown that laughter and good humor can help us protect our attitude and steer us in the path of happiness. When we introduce good humor and laughter into our dealings with others we are shutting negative thoughts and actions and this helps us lead individuals to making good judgment.

Good humor and laughter benefit us in many ways. Laughter makes us relax and helps us relieve stress. A good sense of humor and the ability to laugh during stressful situation reduces the harmful effect of emotional distress. Instead of intensifying our anxiety, laughter makes us less anxious.

Laughter and humor strengthen our immune systems. Good humor and laughter helps to reduce stress, lowers blood pressure and elevate our temperament. Humor and laughter really assist in getting rid of negative emotions such as anger, depression and anxiety.

Good humor and laughter can make us livelier and increase our energy level. We become more alert, more lively and happy.

Having a good sense of humor will help you bridge the gap between people. Especially if you are dealing with stressful or difficult subject.   Add some good humor by making fun of yourself. You will observe that the recipient will take the message with better spirit. Laughter develops and heals relationships as people who laugh together bond together by sharing a common thread.

How you can develop and acquire good sense of humor?

To develop a sense of humor start to smile a lot.  Smile at every occasion. Look at the bright side of things.

Always seek the good in whatever dire circumstance you find yourself facing.

Avoid negative people as they can drain your energy and suck the positive life out of you.

Do not take yourself seriously. Laugh at your failures and ask your self what can I learn from this?

Avoid sarcastic humor. Put the joke on you not on anyone else. Do not try to laugh at other people’s expense. You will appear insensitive and wicked.

Good sense of humor is a key element to developing a winning attitude. Start by making small adjustment.

I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection.
Thomas Paine

Follow these and you will win

Smile and remember, even the seasons change.  As long as we are alive we will experience this fact. It happens to young or old. It happens in love and war. Things change. The situation or the tide will turn. A weak opponent can develop strength or a good friend can abandon our cause and desert us.  Be prepared for rejections and just believe if you take it long enough things eventually change just like the seasons do. Winter leads to spring then summer and fall.

Smile and remember dreams do come true. Though it is not usually at the first attempt. The seed has to be planted, watered, and nurtured with plenty of sun before it can grow. All of this takes time.

We are always free to make choices but accept that we are not free from our choices.

Never be too old or too big to learn.  We can learn from every one. As a teacher I learned a lot from my young students. As an engineer I learned a lot from the unschooled laborers I get the privilege to work with.

Look for the good in unpleasant situations

Laugh a lot and believe your efforts will not go in vain.  Have faith.  Very few people will persistently work hard and not get rewarded for their effort.

Try to be at peace with every one you encounter. Avoid burning the bridge we have crossed.  Life has a funny way of bringing us back where we started.

It’s not over till its over. Miracle can happen and that may be to you.

Seek and ye shall find. View life as a journey and not as a destination. Try to enjoy every moment. As you go through life remember the words of Dorothy Canfield Fisher who said “Humor…. Like good cheese, mellowed and ripened by age”.

As Amy Alcott said “Keep your sense of humor. There’s enough stress in the rest of your life to let bad shots ruin a game you’re supposed to enjoy.”

Winston Cole is a Civil Engineer and Special Educator. He is an avid traveler and publisher with sites including http://www.planmycruisevacation.com/ and http://www.exquisite-engagement-rings.com/engagement_rings_articles.html. Winston’s love for people is obvious. He bridges the gap between people’s goals and dreams. Winston enjoys playing sports, chess and  traveling on cruises around the world.

This article is part of October 2008 theme: Winning Attitude

Photo by pockeywiley

Post from: Life Optimizer

Attitude Adjustment: A Good Sense of Humor Will Make You a Winner