Monday, August 4, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Plug In America - Electric Cars
Last weekend I visited the local Issaquah Farmer's Market and was excited to see a small array of electric cars on display with the owners of each one talking about their experience.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
It's All About Attitude
Excerpt from www.successmagazine.com, Written by Paul J. Meyer
As a young man, I knew in my heart that I would not do manual labor for the rest of my life. On the inside I knew I was different than those around me, and over time, that belief became my reality. It’s been my experience that your outward existence will inevitably match what the heart and mind have already decided to do or be. Each of us has an overall pattern of thinking that is either positive or negative. The pattern you choose affects every aspect of your life. First of all, your basic attitude affects your belief in your potential for success. A negative attitude causes you to doubt your ability to achieve, while belief in your potential makes you willing to take the necessary action for success.
A positive attitude will also allow you to view challenges as opportunities rather than threats. People with negative attitudes think, “I can’t…” or “I doubt…” In contrast, each time you act from a positive attitude, your self-confidence is enhanced, your ability to achieve is proven, and you know you can succeed. Finally, people who have a negative attitude have buried the ability to see opportunity. A positive attitude opens your eyes to so many opportunities that your challenge becomes which opportunity to choose.
Who You Are
Attitude gives us the power to become who we want to become, and determines who others think we are. Who you are is not determined by how you look, where you live, or who your parents were. Who you are is a function of specific choices that you have made. You are where you are and what you are because of the dominating thoughts in your mind. After all, as a man “thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). We are what we think we are—not what we appear to be on the outside. An absolutely essential ingredient for success is a positive selfimage. The world operates on the basis of the law of attraction: what you are and what you think will attract corresponding conditions. If you have a negative self-image, you attract negative results. If your selfimage is positive, you attract positive results. This may appear simplistic, but it is absolutely true.
Your mental picture of yourself determines the measure of confidence you bring to using your potential and working toward your goals. Psychologists estimate we use less than a third of our actual potential. By increasing your potential even slightly, you can make a sizable improvement in your effectiveness.
The Hidden Good
Regardless of external circumstances, beginning at an early age everyone is insulted, left out, taken advantage of, and discounted by others. And to add to the burden, uncontrollable, negative events naturally happen in life as well. However, when you make the decision to view your world with an attitude of gratitude, you are training yourself to focus on the good in life. Of the 100 companies I’ve started since the age of 19, 65 percent have not survived. They could be called “failures,” but with my positive attitude, I’ve never considered that I’ve failed at anything. These “failures” were only temporary setbacks and I learned to be grateful for each one because they all taught me something invaluable about myself. I know that in every adversity there is a seed of equivalent or greater benefit if I believe it, look for it, and work for it.
Goal-Oriented Attitude
Setting goals is vital to successfully achieving your improvement and personal development plans. It is the key to all fulfillment and achievement. Confidence, determination and innate personality traits contribute to success; but they all come into focus through goal-setting.
Probably 75 percent of my personal success has come through setting goals. (The other 25 percent is a combination of focus, desire, preparation and hard work.) If I’m not making the progress I would like to make and am capable of making, it is simply because my goals are not clearly defined.
There is something almost mystical about setting a resolute goal after you have developed a plan and set a deadline for its attainment. Such a goal produces a burning desire, the necessary self-confidence and the determination to follow through. Having a wild imagination is one thing, but being very disciplined and organized makes you different from the rest. It is common to dream, but rare to follow through and see dreams realized. Goal-setting is simply writing down your dreams, crystallizing your thinking and then developing a plan with a deadline for its attainment.
Along the way, you will face obstacles, but overcoming adversities and temporary defeats will make you stronger. When you reach your goal you will have accomplished much more than you set out to do. When I first started in the insurance business, my goal was to write a million dollars worth of business, but I only made one sale out of 14 initial presentations. My highest monthly income during the first nine months was $87. But I believed in my goal and never wavered from it.
Eventually I hit the million dollar mark and the year after that, sold almost four million!
A Worry-Free Attitude
More damage is created by worrying than the actual manifestation of whatever it is you’re worried about. This is because more than 90 percent of all worries never come to pass.
As a young man, I knew in my heart that I would not do manual labor for the rest of my life. On the inside I knew I was different than those around me, and over time, that belief became my reality. It’s been my experience that your outward existence will inevitably match what the heart and mind have already decided to do or be. Each of us has an overall pattern of thinking that is either positive or negative. The pattern you choose affects every aspect of your life. First of all, your basic attitude affects your belief in your potential for success. A negative attitude causes you to doubt your ability to achieve, while belief in your potential makes you willing to take the necessary action for success.
A positive attitude will also allow you to view challenges as opportunities rather than threats. People with negative attitudes think, “I can’t…” or “I doubt…” In contrast, each time you act from a positive attitude, your self-confidence is enhanced, your ability to achieve is proven, and you know you can succeed. Finally, people who have a negative attitude have buried the ability to see opportunity. A positive attitude opens your eyes to so many opportunities that your challenge becomes which opportunity to choose.
Who You Are
Attitude gives us the power to become who we want to become, and determines who others think we are. Who you are is not determined by how you look, where you live, or who your parents were. Who you are is a function of specific choices that you have made. You are where you are and what you are because of the dominating thoughts in your mind. After all, as a man “thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). We are what we think we are—not what we appear to be on the outside. An absolutely essential ingredient for success is a positive selfimage. The world operates on the basis of the law of attraction: what you are and what you think will attract corresponding conditions. If you have a negative self-image, you attract negative results. If your selfimage is positive, you attract positive results. This may appear simplistic, but it is absolutely true.
Your mental picture of yourself determines the measure of confidence you bring to using your potential and working toward your goals. Psychologists estimate we use less than a third of our actual potential. By increasing your potential even slightly, you can make a sizable improvement in your effectiveness.
The Hidden Good
Regardless of external circumstances, beginning at an early age everyone is insulted, left out, taken advantage of, and discounted by others. And to add to the burden, uncontrollable, negative events naturally happen in life as well. However, when you make the decision to view your world with an attitude of gratitude, you are training yourself to focus on the good in life. Of the 100 companies I’ve started since the age of 19, 65 percent have not survived. They could be called “failures,” but with my positive attitude, I’ve never considered that I’ve failed at anything. These “failures” were only temporary setbacks and I learned to be grateful for each one because they all taught me something invaluable about myself. I know that in every adversity there is a seed of equivalent or greater benefit if I believe it, look for it, and work for it.
Goal-Oriented Attitude
Setting goals is vital to successfully achieving your improvement and personal development plans. It is the key to all fulfillment and achievement. Confidence, determination and innate personality traits contribute to success; but they all come into focus through goal-setting.
Probably 75 percent of my personal success has come through setting goals. (The other 25 percent is a combination of focus, desire, preparation and hard work.) If I’m not making the progress I would like to make and am capable of making, it is simply because my goals are not clearly defined.
There is something almost mystical about setting a resolute goal after you have developed a plan and set a deadline for its attainment. Such a goal produces a burning desire, the necessary self-confidence and the determination to follow through. Having a wild imagination is one thing, but being very disciplined and organized makes you different from the rest. It is common to dream, but rare to follow through and see dreams realized. Goal-setting is simply writing down your dreams, crystallizing your thinking and then developing a plan with a deadline for its attainment.
Along the way, you will face obstacles, but overcoming adversities and temporary defeats will make you stronger. When you reach your goal you will have accomplished much more than you set out to do. When I first started in the insurance business, my goal was to write a million dollars worth of business, but I only made one sale out of 14 initial presentations. My highest monthly income during the first nine months was $87. But I believed in my goal and never wavered from it.
Eventually I hit the million dollar mark and the year after that, sold almost four million!
A Worry-Free Attitude
More damage is created by worrying than the actual manifestation of whatever it is you’re worried about. This is because more than 90 percent of all worries never come to pass.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
George Carlin's Views on Aging
Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions. "How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key. You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16!
And then the greatest day of your life .. . You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!! But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed? You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone. But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!
So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92." Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!" May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!
HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay "them."
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, and hobbies. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
And then the greatest day of your life .. . You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!! But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed? You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone. But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!
So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92." Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!" May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!
HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay "them."
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, and hobbies. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
New Credit Card Offsets Carbon Footprint!
I just discovered a wonderful website (http://brighterplanet.com/act) that offers a credit card with the sole purpose of funding renewable energy projects. Here is another link (http://brighterplanet.com/impact_estimator) to a page on their site that will show you how much your monthly spending will reduce carbon emissions. In addition, Bank of America is matching 50% until December 2008.
Bright Planet was founded by Andy Rossmeissl and Jake Whitcomb, two college students who created a credit card company that funds renewable energy projects and carbon offsets with every purchase. Inspired by a forward-thinking "Environmental Economics" professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, Jake Whitcomb and Andy Rossmeissl turned a class project into a growing business. Together, they created the Brighter Planet Visa, a rewards-based credit card that provides the opportunity for consumers in the United States to contribute to renewable energy projects and fight global warming with every purchase. Over the next five years, the Brighter Planet Visa credit card will offset the effects of several million tons of carbon dioxide. We all use plastic to buy groceries, gas, cloths, and when traveling. Why not use The Brighter Planet Visa Card and begin making a difference. The greatest impact a human can have is participating in the small grass roots efforts that end up changing the world!
Save the earth, spread the word! http://brighterplanet.com/act
Bright Planet was founded by Andy Rossmeissl and Jake Whitcomb, two college students who created a credit card company that funds renewable energy projects and carbon offsets with every purchase. Inspired by a forward-thinking "Environmental Economics" professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, Jake Whitcomb and Andy Rossmeissl turned a class project into a growing business. Together, they created the Brighter Planet Visa, a rewards-based credit card that provides the opportunity for consumers in the United States to contribute to renewable energy projects and fight global warming with every purchase. Over the next five years, the Brighter Planet Visa credit card will offset the effects of several million tons of carbon dioxide. We all use plastic to buy groceries, gas, cloths, and when traveling. Why not use The Brighter Planet Visa Card and begin making a difference. The greatest impact a human can have is participating in the small grass roots efforts that end up changing the world!
Save the earth, spread the word! http://brighterplanet.com/act
Thursday, June 5, 2008
The Government's Website for Financial Education
Do you want to learn how to save, invest, and manage your money better?
http://www.mymoney.gov/
MyMoney.gov can help you.
MyMoney.gov is the U.S. government's website dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics about financial education. Whether you are planning to buy a home, balancing your checkbook, or investing in your 401k, the resources on MyMoney.gov can help you do it better. Throughout the site, you will find important information from 20 federal agencies government widehttp://www.mymoney.gov/
118 Ways to Save Money in College
Here is a website with invaluable information with over 118 ways to save money for help you or those you know in college .
With college tuitions increasing at record rates, frugality is no longer an option. As discussed in the book, The Millionaire Next Door, the average millionaire in the United States is frugal in his spending on cloths, cars, and other common expenses. How do you think they became millionaires in the first place?
There are only two ways to have more money at the end of the day: Spend less, save more or a combination thereof. Which one are you going to focus on?
http://www.collegescholarships.org/student-living/save-money.htm
With college tuitions increasing at record rates, frugality is no longer an option. As discussed in the book, The Millionaire Next Door, the average millionaire in the United States is frugal in his spending on cloths, cars, and other common expenses. How do you think they became millionaires in the first place?
There are only two ways to have more money at the end of the day: Spend less, save more or a combination thereof. Which one are you going to focus on?
http://www.collegescholarships.org/student-living/save-money.htm
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