This week I interviewed John Chow, the internet mogul that makes $30-40,000 per month blogging at JohnChow.com, and 7 figures with his media empire The Tech Zone.

I’ve previously interviewed John Chow in the Happiness Project, and got to know a bit about what happiness looks like for a person who is successful and financially independent. In this podcast interview I asked him about what success means to him, and what he does day to day to achieve it.

One advantageous edge that John Chow has over the competition is that he was born in communist China, and then brought to Canada, a free capitalist country. Living in a slum community in his early years taught him a that if he ever wanted to make something of himself he will have to shape his environment as opposed to letting his environment him. You can also hear about what influence his father had over him growing up.

Being at the helm of two super profitable companies would insinuate that John is a pretty busy guy, but this just isn’t the case. He wakes up late, checks his e-mail, twitter, and blog comments, followed by playing with his wife and daughter, and then participating in top secret ‘dot com mogul’ activities, the hardest of which is figuring out what to have for lunch.

One of the most evil things about John Chow is that he enjoys having his readers salivate over the savory restaurant reviews that he posts over on his blog. He goes to top-end restaurants, videos, reviews, and writes them off as tax deductible expense.

In order to put his skills to the test, John Chow coached a ‘no-name’ blogger into making a good income online, and he gives a little spoiler as to who that might be in the Podcast.

I found John’s views of success very interesting, and I liked what he said about his various philanthropic ventures. One would even say that he has a very Bill Gates state of mind.

One of my favorite parts of the interview is when John Chow shares his secret to building a successful and profitable online investment. You can hear this for yourself in the interview.

John Chow’s rules for happiness?

Something to hope for, the ability to give and receive love, and something to do.

His final message?

The worth of a man is not how much he makes, but how much he gives.

Enjoying the Podcasts? Make sure you click the image above and subscribe to this podcast via iTunes. This ensures that you get the full repertoire of interviews in an easy to listen to format.

Attention: Don’t forget to download my free ebook, How to Get a Girlfriend!!

Productive Magazine is created by Michael Sliwinski, the CEO and Founder of Nozbe - Simply Get Things Done productivity application. Although I haven’t used Nozbe myself, I see that it’s rated among the most popular web apps on the internet.

Productive Magazine Contents:

1. Oliver Starr - GTD is really about gaining control and gaining perspective, Interview with David Allen
2. Leo Babauta - Zen To Done (ZTD): The Ultimate Simple Productivity System
3. Alexander Kjerulf - Top 10 reasons why happiness at work is the ultimate productivity booster
4. Nick Cernis - Happiness and the End of the Working Week
5. Gretchen Rubin - Seven Tips for making yourself happier in the next hour
6. James Mallinson - Having One of Those Days? Here’s How to Deal With It
7. Steven Aitchison - The GOYA method for Personal Development
8. Mark W. Shead - 17 Things you Should Stop Doing
9. Marc C - How to Work Less and Still Impress
10. Stephen Smith - 3 Essential Tools for Productivity
11. Glen Stansberry - 7 Idea Dumping Tips
12. Chanpory Rith - 10 tips for keeping your desk clean and tidy
13. Brett Kelly - 14 Numbers Your Cell Phone Can’t Live Without
14. Alex Shalman - Seven Questions That Will Change Your Life
15. Michael Ramm - Getting Things Done Primer: Chapter 1
16. John Kendrik - The Five W’s of a Weekly GTD Review
17. Michael Sliwinski - Learn Productivity Tips and Tricks in 2 Minutes!

You can get the full magazine, in color, as a free download (no e-mails necessary), by clicking here.

Future Interviews

The Practical Personal Development Podcast is already taking off. You can already see some of the interviews that I have done up on the blog. Besides what you see I’ve already finished enough interviews to last every Monday of next month, and I’m happy to announce that Michael Sliwinski already confirmed to be a part of the show.

Feel free to 1-click subscribe on iTunes, so you don’t miss a thing when I load up the great interviews.

Attention: Don’t forget to download my free ebook, How to Get a Girlfriend!!

Feel free to visit my YouTube profile to see the rest of my videos, subscribe, and rate them 5-star!

Attention: Don’t forget to download my free ebook, How to Get a Girlfriend!!

Simplicity is the key ingredient in productivity, and living a great life should be the main motivator for being productive. After all, if you can accomplish the same amount of work in less time, then you’re free to explore more of what interests you.

In order to make the idea of living a great life your motivator, it’s important for you to define what exactly you will be spending your free time on. For this reason, setting big goals, such as 5-10-20 year plans is absolutely critical.

Once you’re excited about the idea that anything is possible in your life, you can proceed to learn about the…

4 Simple Laws of Productivity

1. Outsource - I’m not focusing strictly on outsourcing tasks to virtual assistants, although that has the potential to be a very useful system. In essence, you want to delegate your work to someone that can either do it cheaper, more efficiently, or in a shorter amount of time. You can choose a virtual assistant like I mentioned, or simply use the resources you already have such as co-workers, family members, and friends, who are in a better position to come up with a solution to your problems.
2. Automatize - With the technology we have today, it’s very feasible to get things done without anyone actually doing them. This is shown through electronic bill reminders that are set on recurrent monthly payments, as well as monthly deliveries of essential supplies, without the trouble of having to reorder. The more things you can automatize, the more time you free up for other activities.
3. Withdraw - Not all tasks were created equally, and some aren’t even necessary. Your job is to define what’s necessary in your life. This might lead to you denying your services to your family, friends, or employers in order to concentrate on the actions that are more important to your personal goals. There is never a good excuse for not going for your most important goals. You can also trim back, instead of completely withdrawing from certain projects, so that you’re still connected, but not overwhelmed.
4. Focus - We previously defined simplicity as the key ingredient in productivity, which makes multitasking the antithesis of productivity. In order to get things done, and make serious progress on projects and tasks, it’s essential to stick to one project at a time and one task at a time. This is accomplished by tuning out all distractions and blocking off periods of time to work without phone/e-mail interruptions.

Starting last week I began to use a very effective, and simultaneously simple, productivity system known as Todoodlist. It combines some of the concepts above, along with with a paper based productivity system, which allowed me to back away from my technology and get some real work done (even though half the work had to do with writing, videos, and podcasts).

Here are some of the things I’ve been able to bang out just this weekend using the Toododlist productivity system.

1. Edited and reviewed half a dozen podcast interviews
2. Setup, scheduled, and prepared for dental school interview
3. Organized my e-mail, gmail filters/labels and contact groups
4. Cleared my desk, car, laundry, bookshelf, garbage and vacuumed my entire workspace
5. Wrote 4 articles, brainstormed a dozen others, made a video, and updated the resources section of the blog
6. Creatively planned Thanksgiving, 1 year anniversary, and New Years ideas.

This was done alongside working, interning, spending time with Marina, and doing yard work(raking leaves) around the house. The simple fact is that the more I put on my plate, the more I was able to get done, and the more free time I had to enjoy myself.

The best part is that even my free time became more fun because a) I felt like I deserved the free time for all the hard work I put in and b) because I was in such a great mindset for planning, I was able to make the best of the leisure time that I had.

Remember what I said, you don’t need to buy a system in order to be more productive, you merely need to know the fundamentals. When you have the fundamentals, you can take the time to create your own system. In my case, I decided to outsource the making of my system to the Todoodlist program, which enabled me to have one of the most productive weekends ever.

What are you waiting for? Go get your Todoodlist.

Attention: Don’t forget to download my free ebook, How to Get a Girlfriend!!

This week I interviewed Steve Pavlina, author of Personal Development for Smart People. Not only is he a published author, but he also has one of the most popular self-improvement blogs on the internet with over 2,000,000 monthly visitors.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Steve. You can read an interview I did with him as part of the Happiness Project. The podcast starts with Steve describing what he does on the career level. He then talks about his goal of aligning people with Truth, Love, and Power, which are the key three principles of his book.

Steve makes a distinction between setting ’smart goals’ and living in the present. Did you know that Steve doesn’t keep track of his finances, let alone set any financial goals? He just doesn’t feel inspired by taking such action, and despite of this he’s very successful financially.

I asked Steve how he comes up with his wacky experiments such as the Polyphasic Sleep, Raw Food Diet, and the most recent Juice ‘Feast’ diet. He also answers how he got started on the path of personal growth.

Did you know that Steve Pavlina was once homeless? Listen to what he has to say about that and about his failed business venture. It just so happened to be an excellent platform for learning.

I asked Steve a big question. What advice does he have for people that are considering suicide? You can find his answer around 19:00 and on in the Podcast. This Podcast offers much more essential advice from Steve on how to be happier and more successful.

Enjoy the podcast and feel free to leave feedback in the comment box below, as well as who you would like to see on future shows.. Next week I have an interview all set to go with John Chow; subscribe so you don’t miss it.

P.S. I’ve just been published in Productive Magazine, which featured David Allen of Getting Things Done on the cover.

“If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.”
~Jim Rohn

You can see the rest of my videos, and subscribe to receive updates on my YouTube profile. Hope you enjoy!

Don’t forget to download my free ebook, How to Get a Girlfriend.

Desperately seeking technical support!

I’m currently running the latest version of Girlfriend 5.0 and having some problems. I’ve been running the same version of DrinkingBuddies 1.0 for years as my primary application, and all the Girlfriend releases have always conflicted with it. I hear that DrinkingBuddies won’t crash if you minimize Girlfriend with the sound off, but since I can’t find the switch to turn it off, I just run them separately and it works OK.

Girlfriend also seems to have a problem coexisting with Golfware, often trying to abort my Golf program with some sort of timing incompatibility. I probably should have stayed with Girlfriend 1.0, but I thought I might see better performance with Girlfriend 2.0.

After months of conflicts, I consulted a friend who has experience with Girlfriend 2.0. He said I probably didn’t have enough cache to run Girlfriend 2.0 and eventually it would require a Token Ring upgrade to run properly. He was right. As soon as I purged my cache, Girlfriend 2.0 uninstalled itself.

Shortly after that, I installed a Girlfriend 3.0 beta. All the bugs were supposed to be gone, but the first time I used it, it gave me a virus. After a hard drive clean up and thorough virus scan I very cautiously upgraded to Girlfriend 4.0. This time using a SCSI probe and virus protection. It worked OK for a while until I discovered Girlfriend 1.0 wasn’t completely uninstalled!

I tried to run Girlfriend 1.0 again with Girlfriend 4.0 still installed, but Girlfriend 4.0 has an unadvertised feature that automatically senses the presence of Girlfriend 1.0 and communicates with it in some way, resulting in the immediate removal of both versions!

The version I have now works pretty well, but, like all versions, there are still some problems. The Girlfriend package is written in some obscure language that I can’t understand, much less reprogram. And I’ve never liked how Girlfriend is totally ‘object-oriented.’

A year ago, a friend upgraded his version to GirlfriendPlus 1.0, which is a Terminate-and-Stay resident version. He discovered GirlfriendPlus 1.0 expires within a year if you don’t upgrade to Fiance9e 1.0. So he did. But soon after that, you have to upgrade to Wife 1.0, which he describes as a ‘huge resource hog.’ It has taken up all his space, so he can’t load anything else. One of the primary reasons that he upgraded to Wife is because it came bundled with FreeSex 1.0. Well, it turns out that the resource allocation module of Wife 1.0 sometimes prohibits access to FreeSex (particularly the new Plug and Play items he wanted to try). On top of that, Wife 1.0 must be running on a well warmed-up system before he can do anything. And, although he did not ask for it, Wife 1.0 came with MotherInLaw 1.0, which has an automatic popup feature he can’t turn off.

I told him to install Mistress 1.0, but he said that he heard that if you try to run it without first uninstalling Wife, that Wife 1.0 will delete MSMoney files before uninstalling itself. Then Mistress 1.0 won’t install anyway, due to insufficient resources. If anybody out there is able to offer technical advice…

If after reading this article you’re still considering dating, feel free to download my free ebook ‘How To Get A Girlfriend.‘

If you enjoy this article, please give it a thumbs up on StumbleUpon.

As far as I know, this joke is in the public domain. If you know otherwise, please contact me.

Don’t forget to download my free ebook, How to Get a Girlfriend.

In this interview Dan and Jennifer from www.AskDanAndJennifer.com tell us how they started their online relationship media empire. They tell us how they’ve managed a safe and comfortable place for people from all over the world to ask and get answers for their most personal sex-love-relationship related questions.

Our friends also discuss their unorthodox relationship that is 9.5 years difference in age between the two of them with Jennifer being the older of the two. They also go into quite some detail about safe sex, to the point where I accuse Dan of working for Trojan/Lifestyles!

The dating-duo discuss the tipping point of their site taking off, as well as their amazing success on YouTube with their dating question and answer sessions. I then ask them the tough question of what will happen to AskDanAndJennifer if Dan and Jennifer break up!

If you’re currently dating, or interested in improving your already existing relationship, check out my free ebook, How To Get A Girlfriend.

Enjoy the podcast and feel free to leave feedback in the comment box below. I’d like to know if there is anyone you would like me to interview for future podcasts.

Don’t forget to download my free ebook, How to Get a Girlfriend.

Here is the very first AlexShalman.com “Practical Personal Development” podcast. This is an interview I did live on SIRIUS Satellite Radio, and edited for length and with commentary. The program I was on is called Game On, and is a dating advice show sponsored by Maxim Magazine.

The two co-hosts during this show were Joshua Pellicer and Kelly Kellam. Also, thanks to the other regular host, Jordan Harbinger, for setting up the interview.

I cut off the first 30 minutes of the radio show mainly because I wasn’t in it, and it would have made this podcast too big. The guys were talking about the concept of Holding Court in dating, which basically means walking up to a crowd of strangers and getting the positive attention of the females in the group.

If you’re currently dating, or interested in improving your relationship, check out my free ebook, How To Get A Girlfriend.

Enjoy the podcast…

Don’t forget to download my free ebook, How to Get a Girlfriend.

Back in the day, and you know a story is good when it starts with ‘back in the day‘, I started to read a lot of books on picking up women. It was the thing to do, all the cool kids were doing it. Anyway, I quickly realized that much of what was written in these books was geared for guys to improve themselves inside out.

There’s also the whole other side to ‘pick up‘, which involves silly carnival tricks, gimmicks, and pick up lines. That’s not the side that got me on the path of personal development, and it’s not the side that holds my interest today.

What makes this book different is that it’s not a guide for how to get a one night stand, or sleep with as many women as your ‘heart’ desires. It’s a look into the concepts and mentality of dating with the ultimate goal of marriage in mind.

Table of Contents

1. Preliminary Introspection
2. Building Confidence
3. Approaching
4. Communicating Powerfully
5. Asking Her Out
6. Dating Essentials
7. Recommended Resources

This book is both a 47 page compilation of some of my best relationship articles, as well as some original content written specifically for this ebook. The overall content has something for everybody.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that this guide is for guys only. It’s not. While I do take the tone of speaking as a guy, to other guys, the actual book has a lot to offer to both species… ahem, genders.

Since this book speaks about interpersonal interactions, it can just as easily be applied to cultivating business relationships, not just personal ones.

Get Your Free Copy

This book is free of charge. No donations necessary. The only thing I’m going to ask is that you subscribe to my free newsletter, or subscribe to my RSS feed via feedreader or e-mail.

The reason I don’t put the download link right on this page is two fold. One is that I want to control download rate, and the other is that I want to increase the subscriber base of the site. You get free book, I get to provide you with free content in the future. Sounds like a good deal to me.

When you subscribe to my newsletter, you will receive an initial e-mail with a download link. If you’re already a subscriber, I will send out a broadcast e-mail with a link for you. When you subscribe through RSS, feedreader or e-mail, you’ll be able to find a download link at the bottom of the article.

You can sign up to the newsletter by clicking this link, or by entering your name and e-mail in the right hand side of the sidebar. You can sign up for RSS by clicking this link.

Acknowledgement

Big thanks goes to Joshua Denney, who has been my slave for the past 24 hours, working non-stop to get this ebook packaged to meet the deadline. You can e-mail him at Think Web Strategy for design inquiries.

There are more very special acknowledgments at the end of the book, but you’ll just have to download to see. Thank you very much to everyone who did help, and a big thank you to those who inspired me.

Huge thanks goes out to my readers. You give my life purpose each and every day, and I appreciate you tremendously.

Don’t forget to download my free ebook, How to Get a Girlfriend.

We were originally supposed to do something closer to the end of November, but moved it up to tomorrow. That’s Friday, November 7, at 2pm on SIRIUS Satellite Radio Channel #108. If you visit their site you can get a free online trial.

I’m hoping to have some of my readers listening in, and maybe even call in. It’s going to be a lot of fun!

I’m also working on a special something that I will be unveiling late tonight, or early tomorrow morning. Since we’ll be talking about relationships on the air, I’ll have something on the site to complement this event.

Just a heads up, this is the perfect time to sign up to the free personal development newsletter that you see in the sidebar, because it’s about to get very very interesting.

Sponsor

www.freedomatlast.net - Life changing personal development system + opportunity for financial independence. 888-354-4191

One of the worst things in the world is regret. You feel bad you pushed that old lady out of the way to catch that cab in the rain, don’t you? Well then don’t do it. Easier said than done. Sometimes people act in a way that they think is best at the time, but upon further reflection they really wish they could take it back. Here is a simple list of ways you can avoid the dreaded regret and have a clear conscience.

1. Think Before You Act

You need to know yourself pretty well before this tip can become effective. Look at a situation and the possible outcomes before you take action. If you do option #1, this will be the likely result and you will feel a certain way. If you do option #2, there will be a different result and you will correspondingly feel different.

It is hard to predict exactly what the result will be when you act in a certain way. However, in most situations, people can make an educated guess about their action will impact others and themselves. For example, you are paying for your items and the cashier give you change for a $20, even though you only paid with a $10. What do you do? A lot of people would just walk out of the store and count themselves lucky for the extra $10. They reason that it is a big store with plenty of money, they will never miss $10, and I spend enough money in there anyway. Well did you think about the cashier getting paid some paltry hourly wage that may get fired because his/her drawer was $10 off? I’ll bet that job is much more important to that person than $10 is to you. Besides, don’t make bogus excuses to make yourself feel better for knowingly pocketing money that did not belong to you. You will regret it later.

I have personally been on both sides of this scenario and I will tell you that I always regretted walking out with the money, even if it was a few dollars. I do not do it anymore and I feel a whole lot better. I even go back to the store to return the money if I do not realize it until later. It is a small price to pay for a clear conscience.

2. Do What You Love

How many people are out there going to a job they hate, staying in a relationship in which they are unhappy, or doing things for some reason other than because that is what they want to be doing. Most people do this to some degree because we cannot ALWAYS do what we love. This is more of a general recommendation. If love to write, you should start a blog or a journal. If you love to snow board, volunteer at a ski lift in exchange for a pass. Money is no excuse for not doing what you love. There are ways to do what you love and feel fulfilled, you just have to summon the motivation.

If you spend your time doing things you do not like, you will look back after some time and realize you are unhappy and regret that you did not do more of the things you loved.

3. Spend Time With Important People

I have never heard of someone declaring on their death bed “I wish I spent more time at work.” People who look back on their lives with regret, usually wish they spent more time with their families. It sounds corny, but life really is about spending as much time with your loved ones as possible. If it makes you happy to spend time with your friends, carve out some time to do that often enough so that you do not lose those ties that bind.

I work at a job that some people let overtake their lives. I do not. I have always looked at work as a means to and end. It allows me to buy things so that my family and I can live, but I only do enough of it so that we can be comfortable and I can spend as much time with them as possible. I also have two best friends for about the last 15 years that I am very close with. I try to carve out some time with them every so often between work and family responsibilities because I want to maintain those friendships and because spending time with them makes me happy.

Don’t blow off your friend’s birthday or a family cook out to do work that can wait. Go be with the people that are priorities in your life. This is almost an instant regret. You will probably regret not spending time with these important people even while you are somewhere else doing something non-essential. You won’t even have to wait and look back on this one.

The bottom line is that you need to fulfill your need for personal relationships. Don’t regret the time you missed out on with YOUR important people.

4. Be Genuine

The worst people when it comes to social interaction are those that are fake, or insincere. Don’t be one of those people that says something to someone’s face and then turns around and says negative things about the same person to someone else. Why would you do that? Are you afraid of telling the person how you really feel. That is understandable. Maybe you don’t want to actively hurt their feeling and you probably don’t like confrontation. Or maybe you just enjoy degrading people to puff yourself up. Either way, that is a short sighted solution to a long term problem. The shortness is that you make yourself feel better by bringing others down or avoid an uncomfortable confrontation, but the long term problem is that your insecurity is causing you to degrade others. You need to stop being fake and just act the way you really feel.

I am not saying to confront every person who gets on your nerves. You probably hate the person who leaves a tiny bit of coffee in the pot at work and does not just pour the rest out and rinse the pot. You might even know who that person is. Don’t throw the rest of the coffee on them the next time they do it! But if it really bothers you, say something.

I used to be the kind of person that would not say anything when something bothered me and I would stew about it for days and maybe weeks, even years later I would think about it. I should have done this, or said that. Now, when I feel something bothers me, I address it in the most appropriate way I know how. Does this create some confrontation and uncomfortable situations? You better belief it. But it feels so good not regretting that I did not say or do something when that thing was bothering me.

By standing back and doing nothing when something bothers you, you are not being genuine. Act and talk based on how you really feel and you will have much fewer regrets than if you had said or done something less than genuine.

5. Do Things For Yourself, Not Others

There are so many people out if the world you just do things out of a sense of duty, or loyalty or obligation. Of course there is a place for that in all of our lives. You may not want to go to your parents’ house to help clean out the basement, but you do it because you feel obligated. That’s fair, but don’t let it overtake your life. I know people who do virtually everything because that is that they think others expect or want them to do. That is no way to go through life.

I do not advocate complete selfishness by any means, but altruism has it’s limits. You need to think about what you like to do and do it. At the end of the day, you need to look at yourself if the mirror and be at peace with what you have done and said. You don’t want to resent the people you think you are pleasing because you feel they are somehow preventing you from doing things you would like to do. This happens a lot with child/parent relationships. How many people out there resent their parents because they did what they thought would make their parents happy only to find that it did not make them happy?

I started writing posts because it makes me happy. I find it fun and cathartic to write things I believe in and am passionate about. There is something inherently selfish about that, but that’s okay. Some selfishness is required to feel fulfilled and avoid regret.

When you call it a life and look back on your time, the last thing you want to have is regret. Follow these simple tips to help avoid it.

BIO:

Mike Salara writes personal development articles for intellectual thinkers at his site mikesalara.com.

Sponsor

www.freedomatlast.net - Life changing personal development system + opportunity for financial independence. 888-354-4191

A little over 4 years ago I was introduced to a life changing art form. I had just graduated film school in NY, and had been training boxing and Muay Thai for a few summers while I worked at my parent’s Day Camp in NJ. I was in a serious relationship on my way to getting engaged and in need of some financial stability.

The film thing looked like it was going to take a long time, and I could not exactly leave my future wife to try and hack it out in L.A. So instead, I jumped into the hot mortgage game chasing the almighty dollar. I got married, bought a house,and went to work each day dreaming to make enough money to live out my dream of film making.

Looking back on this, I realize why they say you grow wiser with age. Back then, I was chasing the dollar to live up to the lifestyle of my peers. I was trying to do ‘what I thought I was supposed to‘. However, by doing so, I was slowly digging a hole inside of me. For instance, I used to run into family or old friends and cringe when they asked what I was doing.

“Mortgages.”

“What happened to the movies?”

“Oh, I’m still doing that a little on the side. I’m writing a script.”

Truth was, I had been writing this script (or actually 3 different ones) for a long time. Something was missing in them though. They were intelligent, well thought out, and skillfully written. However, they just were not great and great was what they had to be.

This was the whirlwind of events going on in my life when I first really got into the life changing martial art called Gracie Jiu Jitsu. I had started soon after graduating film school and am still training & teaching today. I have learned so much about life, that if not for this experience, I’m not sure who I would be today.

The best thing Jiu Jitsu taught me, besides how to choke people :), is you must put in the work in order to be successful. Success is not something born within you. Success is a mind set that you must attain.

In Jiu Jitsu, just like life, the key to success is persistence. Whether you get tapped out in 2 seconds, or submitted 20 times, the only people not advancing are the ones who are not there training. Everyone there is gaining experience, learning lessons, and progressing at their own pace. The only way to fail at Jiu Jitsu is to give up & stop coming.

That’s why it had such a big effect on my life. Jiu Jitsu allowed me to see the keys to success and the path to failure. It allowed me to believe that with enough persistence, you truly can achieve anything you want to. The lessons were not just for the mat, but for my entire life as well. All of a sudden I realized, if I wanted to do creative things like film & video, then I had to actually be DOING those things.

Dreaming of them, talking about them, or even procrastinating by researching all about them, did nothing for me. If I had a goal, I had to be working a little towards it each day.

This may seem simple, and actually it quite is, however, many people including the younger ‘me’, think that luck, connections, or money is going to get them where they want to be. This may work for some, but it is so rare, that to count on it would be foolish. Instead, just like in Jiu Jitsu, you must learn to count on the one thing you know you can…

Your Passion.

Be persistent towards your goals. Make them a priority. Since Jiu Jitsu, I have quit the mortgage industry altogether, started a creative web/video business called Reimagine, started my blog, and have made 4 commercials for TV. I’m involved with multiple videos on the web, for promotion, and for personal stuff.

Each day I am still struggling to make ends meet. Yet each day, I am smiling bigger than I ever have. My reward is not tangible. It is hidden deep within my soul. It is a strength I have that I am doing what I want to do. I am hacking out my own path, because that is what I want my life to be. It may be very hard right now, but in the end, it will all be worth it.

Just like when I got my purple belt in Jiu Jitsu, someday I will look back at all of the sweat and tears with great admiration. I will tell people proudly about my life because it is my life. I did not take what was given to me. I went out and got what I wanted by adding to other people’s lives through living out my personal passion.

If not for Jiu Jitsu, I’m not sure this realization would have come to me. I’m not sure I would have understood just how important persistence is. Whatever your dreams are, it is important to your own mental & physical health that you do what you can to chase them. I feel a 1,000x times stronger since I gave up doing mortgages. It’s not that there was anything wrong with it, it’s just that it was not for me. Mentally, it was taxing on my brain. It weighed me down, whether I knew it then or not.

However, when I started to chase my dreams again, it was like an energy source erupted within me. I was motivated, excited, and working harder than ever before. Just like in Jiu Jitsu, I realize that as long as I keep on trying, it does not matter if I fail or succeed. It only matters that I keep on trying.

Now that I have shared my story, it is time to hear from you. What is your dream, and what are you going to do TODAY to help make it real?

I’ll go first. My dream is to make a movie. Today, I am going to learn a little more about editing by cutting together my first National TV Commercial.

Your turn :)….

Author’s Bio: This article gives you a good taste of what Peter Normandia is all about. Visit his self-improvement blog, Yin Vs Yang for more excellent articles.

Image Credit: ReimageIt

Sponsor

www.freedomatlast.net - Life changing personal development system + opportunity for financial independence. 888-354-4191

First, I’ll tell you one of the reasons that prompted me to go on this little health kick. I started reading Steve Pavlina’s book, Personal Development for Smart People, and the very first chapter came with a self-assessment exercise. After taking the self-assessment, I ranked my health a 1 out of 10. Judging by such a low rank you would think I’m completely immobile or bed ridden with some horrible disease.

I’m 23, and grateful to be pretty healthy. However, the reason I ranked myself so low was based on the path that I was on, instead of ranking myself based on how healthy I am at this exact moment. After traveling a lot this summer, and eating a lot of carbs on the run, I gained a lot of extra weight from empty calories. I was 195 lbs at 5′8′. This is way overweight if you look at any height/weight charts, although I looked at least 15 lbs less than I weighed.

Since the path was leading me in a bad direction, I rated my health very low. On top of that, the exercise says that if you aren’t at an 8, 9, or 10, then you must automatically bring your score down to a 1, because you aren’t where you want to be and you’re just diluting yourself. As any good reader would, I followed the advice, and slammed my score down to a 1. Looking at the 1 was reason enough to make a plan for how I was going to lose some of those extra pounds.

My approach was geared less at dieting than at leading a healthy lifestyle. This included incorporating the 11 principles you see below:

1. Drink 1 Gallon of Water Daily.
2. One Cup of Water Before Snacking.
3. Sunday Fasting
4. No Sweets
5. 3 hours before bed, meal cut off
6. Last meal salad only
7. Fruit snacks
8. 30 chews per bite
9. Daily 30 (Walking)
10. Daily Cardio
11. Eat only when hungry, except breakfast

For a more detailed look at these principles, you can visit the article I wrote about these habits.

The fundamental principle that I like to base this website on is that the advice I give is practical, thus ‘Practical Personal Development.’ It turns out that starting 11 new habits all at the same time is not exactly practical, and can in fact become a bit overwhelming. When you overwhelm yourself with too many new habits, you become very susceptible to quiting all together

For the past week, I haven’t exercised. During last Sunday’s race, I ran 5 miles, and by Monday night I realized that I had hurt my foot. I limped around all week, and wasn’t quite sure how serious it was. Friday I went to a Podiatrist just to be on the safe side, and he told me it’s a strain. He also mentioned that my foot rolls when I walk, so I should get special soles for my shoes to counteract that.

Besides the foot thing, the changing weather in New Jersey has got me feeling sick. I used this week to get plenty of rest, and take it easy, so that I can get well and have a really productive week next week, because I have a lot lined up.

As far as following all 11 principles, it’s pretty much as hard as it appears. Drinking 1 gallon of water is super hard, even if I’m sitting at home, pretty close to a bathroom. On days when I’m working or interning, it’s even more inconvenient, because I don’t want to be taking bathroom breaks every 20 minutes when I’m with patients.

I found that I had to readjust my fasting to Saturday on two occasions, because I decided to do races Sundays, and racing plus fasting are not compatible. Everything else is not too difficult at all, and is based solely on willpower. Sure there is some inconvenience involved, but if you prioritize and set your mind to it, it becomes quite doable.

Ultimately, I set out to lose 20 lbs and I lost 14 lbs. There’s different ways to look at these numbers. I could say that I’m disappointed that I didn’t meet my goal, and that would be a legitimate viewpoint. Conversely, I take a viewpoint which dictates that I made a positive incremental improvement. This loss of excess weight was done in a healthy manner, and at a pace that was not too extreme for my body. Also, I thoroughly enjoyed the full experience.

Future Outlook

I doubt I’ll be concentrated so much on weight loss in the coming months. I’m going to shift my physical goals to training for certain athletic events. I would like to decrease the amount of time it takes me to run 1 mile, by doing various forms of speed exercise. I’m also interested in improving my swimming form, something I’ve never worked on before, so that I can complete a triathlon in the future.

I now rate myself an 8 out of 10 in the health category. I’ll stick to the healthy lifestyle, toy around with different eating habits, and implement new healthy food recipes. Now it’s time to tackle a new challenge, and improve more areas of my life!

Drop by the comment section below:

1. Tell us what challenge you’re inspired and motivated to take on.
2. Tell us what accomplishment you’re proud of, we’d like to know.
   

Have you ever found a book that you like so much that you read it, highlighted it, wrote in the margins, put flags on your favorite passages, and reread it over and over? Well, that’s how I feel about Steve Pavlina’s new book Personal Development for Smart People.

It’s been over a month since I’ve received my copy of this book, and to tell you the truth I haven’t been able to put it down. Half way through the book I promised myself that I would reread the whole thing every 3-6 months, but I already lost track of how many times I’ve read it.

The book itself is much different from the hundreds of personal development books that I’ve read to date. What makes it unique, and worth taking a look at, is that it doesn’t try to force feed you the author’s idea on how you should be living your life.

Personal Development for Smart People gently guides you on a path to your own core, by making three very brilliant distinctions on Truth, Love, and Power. These three values prove to be fundamental in living the most fulfilling life that is most suited for you.

I feel like a lot of other self-help books give you fish. They give you a specific idea, or specific tool, that can help you solve one specific problem. This book is different, because it doesn’t just give you tools, but it teaches you how to make tools — it trains your mind for problem solving, and that’s a skill you could take anywhere in life.

Honesty With Yourself

In the very first chapter of this book, there is a small self-assessment that asks the reader to honestly evaluate the area of their life. This evaluation isn’t based on where you currently stand, but on the path that you’re heading on.

After doing the evaluation, I decided that I needed to jump start my personal health and fitness goals. I’m 23, and I’m pretty healthy, but looking at my path I was just gaining weight by under exercising and overeating on empty calories. I ended up with a 1 rating for my health, and began to take action. Only three weeks into this month and I’ve already lost 13 pounds, noticeably improved my diet, and ran two official races with New York Road Runners.

I read personal development books all the time, and I write about it on my site, and despite of this I’m just as capable of getting into a slump as the next guy. Steve Pavlina’s book not only motivated me, but refreshed what I already know about commitment to goals, progressive improvement, and persistence.

While going through this past month, with the knowledge of Steve Pavlina’s book stirring inside my mind and my soul, I’ve noticed several synchronicities. The first thing I’ve already mentioned is the marked improvement to my overall health. The second thing I noticed is more income opportunities that I’m able to cash in on, such as getting extra work, making more from internet marketing, and disabling certain money spending habits that were not constructive.

Lastly, I noticed a huge markup in my networking opportunities. I’ve met several people that are going to be invaluable in my career, and others that will be very instrumental for my friends and inner circle. I’ve also connected with really interesting people, both online and off, that are going to make tremendous contributions to the flourishing future of this website.

Free Preview

Steve Pavlina and the team at Hay House publishing are nice enough to offer a preview of Personal Development for Smart People. They sent me a copy of the Introduction and Chapter 1 (Truth) that I can distribute. I know chapter 1 in and out, and I know that after reading it you’re going to want to go out and buy the book.

One thing I particularly enjoyed about the first chapter, after it describes all of the components of truth in detail, are the examples of every day blocks to truth that we face.

The Core Message of the Book

Seek truth with open eyes. Courageously accept your discoveries and their consequences. Rid your life of falsehood, denial, and fear of what is. Make truth your ally, not your enemy. This isn’t easy, but it is correct.

Share your love openly. Connect with yourself and others by tuning in to the connection that already exists. The risk of rejection is overshadowed by the rewards of loving connections. Whenever you feel disconnected, reach out and connect with another human being. Remember that you’re always loved.

~Steve Pavlina

Order Now

The book is in stores, and on Amazon.com. All that’s left for you to do is take advantage of this opportunity and get your very own copy.

Sponsor

www.freedomatlast.net - Life changing personal development system + opportunity for financial independence. 888-354-4191

One of the most effective tools that I teach my students about how to analyze a business situation is to do a SWOT analysis.  SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.  This analysis allows a business to thoroughly think through their situation and make wise decisions for their future.  A SWOT analysis does not need to be left only for businesses, but can also be done by individuals.  Doing a SWOT analysis of your life can give you a clear picture of who you are and the opportunities you have for your life and business.

Step #1 - Set up a grid.

Take out a blank sheet of paper and divide it into four quarters to form a grid.  Setting up the analysis in a grid format helps you see the connection between each element of the analysis.  The top two quadrants of the grid are title Strengths and Weaknesses; the bottom quadrants are title Opportunities and Threats.

1. Strengths
2. Weaknesses
3. Opportunities
4. Threats

Step #2 - Understand the connections on the grid.

The grid is made up of several sets of connections.  The first set is the internal/external connections.  In the analysis, strengths and weaknesses are the internal factors.  These represent internal characteristics, abilities and skills that you have (or don’t have).  Likewise, the opportunities and threats are external issues.

Secondly, there is a vertical connection.  The left side of the grid (strengths and opportunities) contains the helpful quadrants that help you reach your goals.  The right side of the grid (weaknesses and threats) includes the harmful quadrants that work against you achieving your goals.

Later when you start filling in the grid you will want to use the connections to help think of more things to put in each quadrant.  For example, most strengths will have a corresponding weakness (and vice-versa); similarly most strengths can lead to opportunities and most weaknesses may lead to threats.  Finally threats can also lead to opportunities.

Step #3 - Take your emotions out; become an outsider.

One of the reasons that businesses hire outside consultants is because they don’t have an emotional connection to the decision making process.  People within the business are emotionally connected and therefore may find it harder to truly see all of their weaknesses and threats.  They also may miss obvious strengths because they feel that it is normal.  Finally, insiders often are so connected to the current strategy that they may miss opportunities that are clear to outsiders.

The same is true for you as an individual.  For example, many of your strengths are likely things that you think are natural to everyone. Maybe you are a great encouragement to others.  You may not realize that the way you encourage others is not normal and is really a significant strength. Because of these trends you must work hard to remove emotions from the situation and try to look at yourself from an outsider’s perspective.  You may also want to get people who are close to you to share their perspective, especially on your strengths and weaknesses.

Step #4 - Spend time analyzing your strengths and weaknesses.

Now is finally the time to start filling in your grid.  Start by thinking through the internal side of the grid by looking at your strengths and weaknesses.  During this step your focus is on the top quadrants, but if an opportunity or threat comes to mind go ahead and write that down.  Be sure to take the time to go through every area of your life.  This includes both your professional life but your personal life.  You will likely use different strengths and experience different weaknesses in your work and business life than you do when you are spending time with your family, caring for your home, and in how you treat your body.

Step #5 - Use your strengths and weaknesses to consider opportunities and threats.

Once you have your strengths and weaknesses recorded you can use them to consider opportunities and threats.  Remember that strengths tend to lead to opportunities and weaknesses tend to lead to threats.  For example, if one of your strengths is that you are able to speak well in public, an opportunity might be the ability to speak at the local Chamber of Commerce or Rotary in order to increase your reputation and network.  Likewise, if a weakness that you have is that your skills and education are limited to one particular trade or field, the threat might be that if your industry suffers in the economy, you may lose your job.  Even if you think this is an unlikely scenario you should record it as a threat.

Step #6 - Apply the findings

After you have developed a thorough list and filled your grid you need to look for ways to apply your findings.  You can start the process applying your findings by asking questions about each quadrant.  For example you may ask: How can you use your strengths effectively? How can you work on your areas of weakness? How can you exploit each opportunity? How can you protect yourself from threats?  The answers to these questions will help you set new goals and strategies for achieving those goals.

Continuing with our previous example, if you see the threat of a job loss because of the weak economy then you need to consider how you can protect yourself from that possibility.  Perhaps you want to start a part-time business to generate extra funds, or increase your emergency fund of cash.  Here you will also want to look at your strengths and opportunities as sources for your answer.  Maybe the opportunity to start speaking at Rotary and Chamber meetings can be part of a strategy to increase your network with other employers in your field.  Examples like this can go on and on.

Coming out of this process you should have a much clearer idea about who you are, where you are headed, and what opportunities you need to pursue.  Use this to set goals for the future, to clarify your existing goals, and to increase your levels of abilities and preparedness.  Doing this will help you move your business and life towards your dreams.

Written by:
The Success Professor - Danny Gamache
Visit Danny’s blog, The Success Professor, for success principles about life and business.
(http://www.successprofessor.ca)

If you would like to submit a guest post to Alex Shalman, please see this link.

Picture from skyfaller

Attention: Don’t forget to download my free ebook, How to Get a Girlfriend!!

This past Sunday I participated in my second race, which was an 8 kilometer (5 mile) race in Central Park, NY. This event was hosted by New York Road Runners and Poland Spring (my favorite water company). There were a total of 6472 participants running, so this created a lot of energy and buzz before, during, and after the race.

I woke up at 4:15 AM, showered, ate some oatmeal, hung out with Marina for a few minutes and headed over to meet the group. Our meeting spot was the LA Fitness parking lot in North Brunswick, NJ, where we got together at 5:30 AM to drive into the city.

It’s always more fun when you go in a group, especially when everyone with me was a much more experienced runner. I got to ask my running questions, get direct answers, and it happened to be that everyone in the group is awesome and has a huge personality.

When we got there the sun was barely peaking over the horizon (as if we could see a Horizon in the middle of NYC). Not many people were there yet, and we could see the staff setting up the stage for the performers and announcers, as well as the line of people signing up to be volunteers. I immediately signed up for the race, handed over my thirty-five bucks, and scrambled to get my free Poland Spring T-shirt and shoelaces, which I will cherish as a memory of this milestone.

After about an hour of hanging out with Nora