Personal Excellence by Tanbir Rahman

Concepts
Basic Facts About Your Life Daily Ritual of Champions: a Philosophy of Life Designing Your Day Be Anxious to Get Up in the Morning Formula for a Good Life Rules for the Game of Life Make a Wish for the Rest of Your Life Learning About Life From a Dog Advice on Life to College Graduates Univ. of Toronto Quality of Life Model

5 Powers of a Champion
Principles for a Successful Life Five Questions for Champions

Health and vitality

Importance of Physical Health in Life Importance of Emotional Health in Life Importance of Spiritual Health in Life

Knowledge and skill

Importance of Intellect in Life Importance of a Good Vocation in Life

Value
Importance of Relationships in Life

Character and attitudes

Importance of Positive Attitudes in Life

Success concepts
Graded Test on Success in Life 8 Success Secrets from Motivational Experts

Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

Personal Excellence by Tanbir Rahman

CONCEPTS
BASIC FACTS ABOUT YOUR LIFE
There are three basic facts about your life that cannot be disputed. First of all when you were born, you were given a body and mind with unique capabilities. You were also placed into certain circumstances, which can change as you grow. Finally, you are on this Earth for a limited time. These facts hold true for all living beings and are the starting point to a philosophy toward life. Questions you may have about this include: What do my capabilities mean? How am I in certain circumstances? What does a limited time for life imply? This lesson will answer those questions.

Born with capabilities

It is a fact that at birth you have been given a body and mind with unique capabilities. Some are given strong bodies, while others may be sickly, weak or disabled. Likewise, some may have talents or potential of learning, while others may even be mentally challenged. Your body and mind is the starting point in life. You naturally seek to grow physically and mentally. Unfortunately some people may not stretch themselves or take care of their bodies and minds. Take care of your body and mind.

Placed in certain circumstances

It is also a fact that you are born in certain circumstances, which includes your location in the world, local politics and the people around you. These circumstances influence how you grow and live and initially determine your path in life. Some people are born in poverty-stricken regions, while others are in prosperous areas. Some live in areas of political strife, while others live in free societies. Some people are surrounded by a loving, supportive family and friends, while others are surrounded by people who are harmful to them. You can't determine the circumstances in which you were born. Part of the challenge of life is to improve your circumstances until you are able to reach your potential. You can improve your circumstances by improving your the skills you have and applying them to bettering yourself.

Here for a limited time

It is a fact that you are here for a limited time. The amount of time depends on your physical and mental conditions, as well as your circumstances. Some may succumb to disease or accident that shortens their lives. Others may be healthy and live in circumstances that allow for a long life. You want to take advantage of the opportunities you have and your time here on Earth to reach your potential to live a long and enjoyable life.

Summary
The basic facts about your life is that you were born with a body and mind with unique capabilities, you were placed into certain circumstances and you are on this Earth for a limited time. By taking advantage of the opportunities you have been given, you can improve your body, mind and circumstances, as well as to enjoy the time you have on this Earth.

DAILY RITUAL OF CHAMPIONS: A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE

To achieve your purpose and get the most out of your life, perform the following steps as a daily ritual: 1. Why should you count your blessings and be thankful for what you have? 2. How do you live your life as a Champion? 3. How can you enjoy the adventure of life and help others enjoy theirs? This lesson will answer those questions.

1. Be thankful
No matter what problems you have or how bad things may seem, there is always something to be thankful about. Don't dwell on the negative. Think of the good things you have, and the problems and challenges will soon diminish or even disappear.

Examples
People who have lost all their belongings in a natural disaster often will say, "At least we have our lives and none of us was seriously hurt." That is something for them to be thankful of, despite their material losses. Then there is the story about the man who was unhappy because he didn't have any shoes. Then he saw a handicapped person with no feet. He realized how lucky he was.

You know whom to thank

Be thankful. And you know whom to thank every day, according to your beliefs.

2. Live as a Champion
This doesn't mean you must be the world champion. Instead, you are a person who acts and feels like one who can achieve anything. You may also champion a worthy cause to help other people. In order to be a champion in anything you do, you must fulfill the five basic areas in life. We call them the 5 Powers of a Champion.

Be healthy
Take care of yourself. Strive to be physically, mentally and spiritually healthy. You feel good when you're healthy.

Be knowledgeable
Always seek to learn, so that you'll be skilled in what you want to do. You feel sure when you're knowledgeable.

Be excellent
Strive to achieve your goals, do a good job and have confidence and self-esteem. You walk tall, when you know you are worthy. Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

Personal Excellence by Tanbir Rahman Be valuable

Seek to be important and valuable to others. This is the crux of good relationships, as well as business. Value in relationships includes listening and caring about the other person. A good friend is a valuable commodity. People reciprocate your actions by providing something valuable to you.

Be honorable
Try to always be honest, courageous and reliable. try to be a person of good character. Others will respect you for your integrity.

3. Enjoy life and help others enjoy theirs

Seek to enjoy the adventure of life. Celebrate your achievements. Use your set-backs as challenges to overcome. If you are in a competition, congratulate the winner. A major part of enjoying your life is to help others enjoy their lives. Help people succeed. That is what it is all about. That is your purpose. Help to improve society and improve the world.

Summary
Follow this way of thinking every day to make yourself a Champion, as well as others.

DESIGNING YOUR DAY

Since you live your life one day at a time, it is a good practice to design your day such that it will be enjoyable and productive. You really do this the night before by making plans for the next day. Then you get up in the morning with a positive attitude, complete your tasks and celebrate your successes. Finally, you start the process all over for the next day. Questions you may have include: How do you start your day the night before? What do you do the next day? What are the final results of this method? This lesson will answer those questions.

Start the night before

You start in designing your day the night before.

List goals
Make a list of three major goals you want to achieve tomorrow. If you have a task that will take more than one day, break it into smaller pieces and get a goal to achieve one or more of those pieces tomorrow. Although you often see To-Do lists that can be a page long, we want you to only list three major items so that you can be sure of completing them. You can have a separate list of items to do, but these major achievements will make your day a success. Listing these goals will put them in your subconscious mind, such that you will start to work on them while you sleep. You will also be anxious to get to them in the morning.

Give thanks
Then before you go to sleep, give thanks for the blessings you have had throughout the day and in your life.

Tomorrow
Get up in the morning with enthusiasm, achieve your three goals, and then celebrate the outcome.

Wake up
When you wake up in the morning, do so with enthusiasm. Tell yourself, "It is a great day to be alive!" Some people take a while to really wake up and get going, so you may have to adjust your enthusiasm until your "motor is running."

Achieve goals
Then work to achieve your three goals. You may do one at a time or jump from one to another. The main thing is that you finish these three before you move on the less important items.

Celebrate
After completing each goal, celebrate and congratulate and praise yourself for the job well-done. This is important, because it bolsters your confidence and feeling of self-worth, so you can be effective in future tasks. If someone else praises you for the good job you have done, that is like frosting on the cake.

Results
You will benefit from following this routine of designing your days in that you will be more effective and efficient. You will get more out of the day without the stress of having to multitask and have an endless list of things to do. You also will give yourself some much-needed positive feedback, which will give you a stronger sense of self-confidence and esteem. You will feel like a champion each day.

Summary
It is a good practice to design your day, such that it will be enjoyable and productive. You start the night before by making plans for the next day. Then you get up in the morning with a positive attitude, complete your tasks and celebrate your successes. The result is that you will do more and have greater confidence and esteem.

BE ANXIOUS TO GET UP IN THE MORNING

A good question to ask yourself is, "Why do I get up in the morning?" This relates to your attitude and your purpose in life. Some people anticipate getting out of bed in the morning, because they have activities that the enjoy to do. Others simply hate to get out of bed in the morning, because they do not look forward to the tasks they have to do. Finally, there are those who seem to have nothing to do, and their next day is just another day of boredom. You should try to find enjoyable activities to make you anxious to get up in the morning. Questions you may have about this include: Why are some people anxious to get out of bed? Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

Personal Excellence by Tanbir Rahman

Why do some people hate to get out of bed? Why are some people bored? This lesson will answer those questions.

Be anxious to get up
If there is some activity that you truly enjoy doing, you are typically anxious to get out of bed and get involved in that activity. For some, they are a lucky enough to have a job that they enjoy and even love doing. Others may be looking toward the time after work when they can get involved in a hobby or other enjoyable activity. People on vacation are often anxious to get up in the morning to engage in another adventure. Having an activity that you truly enjoy allows you to the anxious to get out of bed. It is worthwhile to acknowledge things that you really love, so that you can get this great feeling.

When you hate to get up

Some people just take to get up in the morning. If you have a job that you really don't care for, but you do it simply for the money, you may not be anxious to get up and go to work. There may be some difficult tasks or even unpleasant relationships that you hate to face in the upcoming day, thus you hate to get out of bed. There is a saying, All work and no play makes John a dull boy. In other words, you need to have some fun activities besides your work. Obviously, it is nice to have a job you love, but if you don't have such a job, you still need to have some enjoyable things to do after work. Part of this has to do with attitude and emphasis. Some people emphasize the bad and do not acknowledge the possible enjoyable activities that they have. They need to think positively and find some things they truly enjoy doing.

Being bored
Some people don't look forward to getting up, because there really isn't anything interesting to do. Some teenage students get this feeling during summer vacation. They say there's nothing to do and that they are bored. Elderly people also may become bored because there really isn't anything interesting life anymore. A person who hates certain activities also has the emotions to be able to love other activities. A person who is bored they find it difficult to get interested in anything. You need to do some soulsearching to find the things that interest you.

Summary
Ask yourself why you get up in the morning to expose your attitude and your purpose in life. Some people anticipate getting out of bed in the morning because they have activities the enjoy to do. Others hate to get out of bed because they would like to avoid the tasks that they have to do. Some are just bored because they seem to have nothing to do. You should try to find enjoyable activities to make you anxious to get up in the morning.

FORMULA FOR A GOOD LIFE

There are basic facts concerning your life, such as the fact that you are on this Earth for a limited time, you have been given a certain body and mind, and you have been placed in certain circumstances. From these facts, we can establish principles or a formula for a good life, which is always seek things to appreciate, meet your challenges, and enjoy the adventure. Questions you may have include: What are the basic facts of life? What principles can be derived from those facts? What are the benefits of following this formula? This lesson will answer those questions.

Basic facts
The basic facts about life determine your starting point. That starting point can be right now.

Limited time
You have been placed on this Earth for a limited time.
Won't live forever

Young people feel that they will live forever. The fact that we all are on this Earth for only a limited time usually doesn't sink in until a person reaches middle or even old age.
Realize and take advantage

Realizing that your time is limited should point you toward taking advantage of this opportunity of life.

Body and mind

You have been given a certain body and mind.
Not a perfect body

You are given a body that is less than perfect. Some people are even handicapped or may have ailments that may shorten their lives.
Not a perfect mind

You also have a mind with certain capabilities. Part of this includes your personality and the various characteristics that you may have.
Accept and overcome

Accepting what you are given and trying to overcome the obstacles, handicaps and challenges your body and mind provides you gives you meaning in life.

Circumstances
You are placed in certain circumstances.

Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

Personal Excellence by Tanbir Rahman

Affects opportunities

The circumstances you are born in can affect your health, ideas and opportunity to grow. Some are born into a wealthy, loving family. Some are born in poverty or in a war-torn country.
Struggle to improve

Rising above your circumstances is an important, but difficult, task. It is part of the struggle to survive and a motivating factor in life.

Principles for a better life

By considering the basic facts that apply to every person on this planet, a belief system to get the most out of your life can be established. The principles promoted by the School for Champions for getting the most out of the opportunity of life are that you should:
1. 2. 3. Appreciate what you have Meet your challenges Enjoy the adventure of life

1. Appreciate what you have

No matter how long your life on Earth is, what type of body and mind you have and what your environment or situation is, you should appreciate what you have. You should not expect more, although you can hope for more. Look at what you have and be grateful. Count your blessings. It is like the saying: "I was unhappy, because I had no shoes... until I saw a person with no feet." Appreciate what you have. To whom should you be grateful? Follow your own spiritual or religious beliefs.

2. Meet your challenges

Life is full of challenges. Having a goal to overcome a challenge is what makes life worthwhile. Look at your problems as challenges to overcome.
Physical challenges

A person may be physically handicapped. You can overcome the challenge if you try or at least make the best of the situation. In the 1920s, two college-educated men in New York were crippled by polio, unable to walk and doomed to life in a wheelchair. In 1932, one of those men sat in his wheelchair on a New York City street corner, begging for dimes. In 1932, the other man was elected President of the United States. He was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Circumstantial challenges

You can be living in poverty or in a dysfunctional family. These are challenges to overcome. Many a successful person started in poverty, only to rise to a position of prominence. Try to improve your circumstances.

3. Enjoy the adventure

Life is a journey. It is a series of experiences. It can be an adventure. Accept the good with the bad and enjoy the whole adventure. Take care of yourself and enjoy good health. Be fascinated and enjoy learning as much as you can about this world and life. Be knowledgeable about things. Have fun doing things, do them well and be proud of it. Help others get what they want, and you will get what you want. Be valuable to them. Be known as an honest, forthright person and reap the rewards. Always celebrate your achievements and congratulate the winner. Be a Champion!

Benefits
When you appreciate things, your eyes open up to possibilities and opportunities. You also can enjoy what you have and make the most of it. Then as you see problems and negative situations that may harm you or hold you back, you can look at them as challenges to meet and overcome. Having the right attitude will help bring success. Celebrate and enjoy every success and achievement you have. Enjoy the people around you. Savor life and the adventures you experience.

Summary
We are here for a limited time, so we should take advantage of the experience. The way to a good life is to: seek things to appreciate, meet your challenges, and enjoy the adventure. Following this formula will give you more joy and meaning in life.

RULES FOR THE GAME OF LIFE

If you want to be a champion in what you do a winner, a leader, a successyou really should have a good perspective on life and what it is all about. Nothing is sadder than the successful person who has no meaning in his or her life. The book If Life is a Game, These are the Rules by Cherie Carter-Scott provides a truly interesting philosophy toward life that is worth examining. Questions you may have include: Where do I get an idea of what life is about? What types of rules or principles are there to follow? Will this give me a new perspective?

10 principles
The concept of the book is that there are 10 basic principles in life. Within these principles are rules that define a philosophy toward living a full life, achieving goals and overcoming obstaclesall essential in becoming a champion. These principles for life are: 1. You will receive a body 2. You will be presented with lessons 3. There are no mistakes, only lessons Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

Personal Excellence by Tanbir Rahman

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. A lesson is repeated until learned Learning does not end "There" is no better than "here" Others are only mirrors of you What you make of your life is up to you All your answers lie inside of you You will forget all of this at birth

What the principles mean

The following is a summary of these 10 principles:

1. You will receive a body

When you are born, you get a specific body. It isn't perfect, but it is the only body you've got. Some people aren't happy about their looks, their weight, or physical imperfections. Others abuse their bodies with drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Dont be ashamed of your body, take care of it, and enjoy it.

2. You will be presented with lessons

Anything that happens to yougood or badhappens as a lesson for you to learn. Don't be a victim of circumstances. Rather, take the choice of learning from things.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons

Even when you make a mistake or do something wrong, you should think of it as a lesson to learn. Don't criticize yourself or others for mistakes. Use them to learn.

4. A lesson is repeated until learned

If you continue to make the same mistake, you will continue to be challenged by problems from which you must learn a lesson. This will happen until you finally catch on.

5. Learning does not end

Since life is a journey, there are things for you to learn until the end. You are a perpetual student of life. That is what makes it so interesting and so much fun to be alive.

6. "There" is no better than "here"

Dont think that by achieving your goals, you will be any happier. You should be grateful for what you have and enjoy each day. The grass is not necessarily greener on the other side of the fence.

7. Others are only mirrors of you

The faults and traits you see in other people are often what you see in yourself. Thus, you should be tolerant of other people and supportive toward them.

8. What you make of your life is up to you

Life is what you make it. Othersincluding the governmentmay try to influence your life, but you are ultimately in control of how you respond to them. Take responsibility for what you do and what happens to you. Make life an adventure. Enjoy and appreciate what you have.

9. Your answers lie inside of you

You possess the internal wisdom to answer all the answers you seek. You should trust yourself and your intuition. Achieving wisdom is the basis of life.

10. You will forget all of this at birth

Are we born again to live another life? Perhaps. Unfortunately, we forget everything we learned (at least consciously) and must start again with new lessons.

Summary
Feeling good about yourself, looking at life as a lesson, and taking responsibility are some of the 10 "rules" that explain what life is about. At the very least, they can give you a special perspective on your life.

MAKE A WISH FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE

Have you ever thought about what you would like to do for the rest of your life? Do you have a purpose or direction in life? This is important for young people to define a goal or purpose in their lives. But this is also important for people nearing retirement, because it is never too late to do worthwhile things in your life, as well as to do what you really want to do. Questions you may have include: Why is it so hard to define goals? What is a program to emulate? What are some possible wishes? This lesson will answer those questions.

Problem in defining goals

The problem is that it is really difficult for many people to define what they really want in life. Sure, you are supposed to set goals and all that stuff, but how can you set goals is you dont know what you want? Being able to define a specific goal gets you half the way toward achieving that goal. What you want cannot be something vague, but for some reason as you get older you tend to get vaguer in your desires. Perhaps looking at what children do will help solve this problem.

Look at Make-a-Wish
Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

Personal Excellence by Tanbir Rahman

One solution to this problem is to look at the Make-a-Wish Foundation. This is an organization that tries to satisfy the last big wish of terminally ill children. They may get a chance to go to Disney World, meet their favorite actor, or fly in a jet fighter. Although it is not a pleasant idea, put yourself in a situation where you only have a short while to live. And suppose the Make-aWish Foundation would satisfy your final wish. What would that wish be?

What are your wishes?

Would you want to travel somewhere to see some man-made or natural marvel? How about going around the world, or visiting the Grand Canyon, or seeing the Pyramids?

Be famous?
Would you want to have a chance to be famous for 15 minutes? How about being on stage, singing with the Rolling Stones? Or performing in Carnegie Hall? Or how about being featured in a movie?

Do activity?
Is there some activity you would love to be able to do? Would you like to play in a professional football game?

Meet someone famous?

Is there someone you would like to meet and talk to? Who would you like to talk to? The President? Some famous movie star?

Achieve the difficult?

Is there some challenge you would like to overcome or great achievement to make? How about sky diving? Climb Mt. Everest?

Solve global problem?

What about solving some major world problem? Remember you can do anything you wish in this scenario. Discover a cure for AIDS. Stop racial discrimination. Provide a method to reduce world poverty.

Summary
Think in terms of what you would ask for in Make-a-Wish. It might help in defining your own dreams. Also, if you support the Make-a-Wish Foundation, you might help a terminally ill youngster, as well as feel you made a difference. See www.wish.org for more information about that organization.

LEARNING ABOUT LIFE FROM A DOG

Dogs have a natural, inborn philosophy toward the life they live. It doesn't matter where they are or who they are living with. You can learn some good attitudes to follow by observing what a dog does and enjoys. Questions you may have include: What can I learn from such an animal? Can this be applied to business? How does that relate to my life? This lesson will answer those questions.

18 things to do
Observing what dogs do can teaches us how we can lead a better life. The following list of 18 things dogs do--written by an unknown author--points toward attitudes to follow: 1. Never pass the opportunity to go for a joy ride 2. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy. 3. When loved ones come home, always run to greet them. 4. When it is in your best interest, practice obedience. 5. Let others know when they have invaded your territory. 6. Take naps and then stretch before rising. 7. Run, romp and play daily. 8. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. 9. Be loyal. 10. If what you find lies buried, dig until you finally get it. 11. Never pretend to be something you're not. 12. When someone else is having a bad day, be silent, sit close and nuzzle gently. 13. Thrive on attention and let people touch you. 14. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do. 15. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shade tree. 16. When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body. 17. Delight in the simple joy of a long walk. 18. No matter how often you are scolded, don't buy into the guilt and start to pout. Rather, run right back and make friends.

Summary
We would all lead happier lives if we followed these 18 principles, taken from observing the way dogs act.

ADVICE ON LIFE TO COLLEGE GRADUATES

When students graduate from college and go out into life, they may need some helpful tips or advice on how to make it in the "real world." This advice can also apply to just about everyone.

Advice on Life
This advice can apply to everyone, in most situations. Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

Personal Excellence by Tanbir Rahman

Trust your gut. It will very rarely steer you wrong. No matter what you believe today, most of your friends will fall away over time. Those who remain for the long haul are precious. Honesty is still the best policy especially if it's delivered respectfully and gently. Having a few regrets isn't such a bad thing; they serve as reminders to do things differently next time. Sleep enough. Then, when you figure out how, tell me. Apologize. Enough said. If you still don't know what you want to be when you grow up, don't sweat it. You can decide later and change your mind often after that. Listen. Listen some more. There's just no substitute for taking the high road, having insurance, or speaking kindly. Live simply. Less truly is more. Think long and hard before welcoming dogs or small children into your life. Then, if you do, learn good parenting skills and love them wholly and unconditionally. The Golden Rule is a classic. It has been true across all cultures, through all of time. Another classic is the one that says, "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Duct tape is overrated, but it will hold up a fallen hem. When the big, bad world gets you down, know that there are many good, decent people out there, too. Life will always be about balance. I've heard this attributed to Prince Charles, but no matter: Never miss an opportunity to sit down or go to the bathroom. When it's hard to wake up, recall that it's proof that you're alive. Pondering the alternative will open your eyes the rest of the way. Create bonding rituals with those you love; the strength you gain may be your only sustenance in difficult times. Visit a cemetery. It's a powerful reminder of your significance- or lack thereof. People seldom change. If you can't accept them as they are, spare yourself an ulcer and move on. When consoling someone, a simple, genuine "I'm sorry" carries tremendous weight. Work isn't everything. Neither is sex or winning. But holding hands comes close. If you achieve just one major goal each year, you'll have accomplished a great deal by the end of your life. Deep down, people just want to feel capable and lovable. If you can make them feel that way, you'll have them eating out of your hands. Four words: luggage with huge wheels. Learn to accept a compliment gracefully. A smile and simple "thank you" will do. Some people do act like jerks, but it's probably healthier for you to feel sorry for them than angry at them. Go easy on yourself. Some days, you're the only one who will. Cook something the first time according to the recipe. After that, wing it. Respect your elders. They really have "been there, done that," and they'd be thrilled to tell you about it, if only you'd ask. Respect cultures, ideologies, and viewpoints that are different from your own. They have a lot to offer. Nothing replaces good health. Nothing. Not everyone likes you (or me either), but that's okay. No one's opinion of you matters more than your own. Take care of the earth and those who need your help. Cultivate an interest in the arts. Their grace endures. Good cooking, polished manners, passable golf, and excellent typing skills will still get you pretty far. Be who you are. Who else could you be? Be present. Be grateful. Be awed. Thanks for listening

Summary
These are good pointers or tips for all of us to follow to succeed in life.

UNIV. OF TORONTO QUALITY OF LIFE MODEL

The research model used by the Quality of Life Research Unit at the University of Toronto and the 5 Powers of a Champion model of the School for Champions have been found to be somewhat similar. Each was established independently. This is an indication that they both can be effective models for improving the quality of life. Questions you may have include: What is the University of Toronto's Quality of Life model? How does it compare with the 5 Powers model? How can their model be used by the School for Champions? This lesson will answer those questions.

Toronto Quality of Life model

The Quality of Life study at the University of Toronto is an examination of factors that contribute to the goodness and meaning of life, as well as people's happiness. The model used for quality of life research divides life into Being, Belonging and Becoming categories. Each of those has three sub-categories. They have used their model in a study of the local community, seniors, adolescents, families and people with disabilities to see how they may be helped. Their model is based on the World Health Organization's Quality of Life model.

Being
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Personal Excellence by Tanbir Rahman

Being relates to who one is. This category is divided into Physical, Psychological and Spiritual Being.
Physical Being

Physical Being concerns such things as physical health, personal hygiene, nutrition, exercise, grooming and clothing, and general physical appearance.
Psychological Being

Psychological Being concerns such things as psychological health and adjustment, cognition, feelings, self-esteem, self-concept and self-control.
Spiritual Being

Spiritual Being concerns such things as personal values, personal standards of conduct, and spiritual beliefs.

Belonging
Belonging relates to connections with one's environments. This category is divided into Physical, Social and Community Belonging.
Physical Belonging

Physical Belonging concerns such places as in the home, workplace, school, neighborhood and community.
Social Belonging

Social Belonging concerns relationships with intimate others, family, friends, co-workers, neighborhood and community.
Community Belonging

Community Belonging concerns having an adequate income, health and social services, employment, educational programs, recreational programs, community events and activities.

Becoming
Becoming relates to achieving personal goals, hopes and aspirations. This category is divided into Practical, Leisure and Growth areas.
Practical Becoming

Practical Becoming concerns domestic activities, paid work, school or volunteer activities, seeing to health or social needs.
Leisure Becoming

Leisure Becoming concerns activities that promote relaxation and stress reduction.
Growth Becoming

Growth Becoming concerns activities that promote the maintenance or improvement of knowledge and skills, as well as adapting to change.

Champions' 5 Powers
The School for Champions has a 5 Powers of a Champion model that relates to areas that are important for a person to achieve a happy, satisfying life. These items are Health, Knowledge, Excellence, Value and Character. 5 Powers of a Champion are considered important in leading a happy, successful and productive life.

Health
Health consists of physical, mental and spiritual health. It is functioning as we were intended to function.

Knowledge
Knowledge relates to formal and informal education and the resulting skills from applying the knowledge gained.

Excellence
Excellence concerns how well the person applies his or her skills in achieving a goal. In business or work activities, it relates to quality.

Value
Value concerns personal and business relationships. It is what a person provides to others in these relationships. In business or work, it can be the return on investment.

Character
Character is the type of person one is. Major areas of character are honesty, courage and determination.

Comparison
The model established at the University of Toronto's Quality of Life Research Unit is quite parallel to the 5 Powers of a Champion employed by the School for Champions.

Being = Healthy
The University of Toronto's physical, psychological and spiritual Being relates to health in those areas and is equivalent to the School for Champion's physical, mental and spiritual health.

Belonging = Valuable
The Quality of Life Research Unit physical, social and community Belonging concerns relationships with others and feeling part of a family, organization or community. In the School for Champions, the value or importance of a person to each other determines how well people fit in or belong and establishes their relationships.

Becoming = Knowledgeable and Excellent

The University of Toronto's practical, leisure and growth Becoming relates to achieving personal goals, entertainment, and activities that promote the improvement of knowledge and skills. The School for Champions emphasizes gaining knowledge and skills and doing excellent work. Entertainment and leisure activities also require knowledge and quality to be fully enjoyed.

Character factor

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Toronto's Quality of Life Research does not seem to take into the factor of having good character in their studies. It may fit into their other areas. The School for Champions believes that having an outstanding character--being honorable, reliable and courageous--is important in leading a good life, as well as being respected and admired by others.

Purpose comparison
The study by the University of Toronto Quality of Life Research Unit focuses on the issues involving the quality of life. The School for Champions focuses on ways to improve a person's quality of life. The School for Champions provides a roadmap to lead to a good life, as well as helping to provide a means. The results of the studies by the University of Toronto on the importance of the issues stated in their model can also be applied to the 5 Powers of a Champion model.

Summary
The University of Toronto Quality of Life research model and the 5 Powers of a Champion model of the School for Champions have similar concepts. They are both effective instruments for improving the quality of life.

5 POWERS OF A CHAMPION
PRINCIPLES FOR A SUCCESSFUL LIFE
A successful life is a satisfying life. It is one where you are healthy, happy and fulfilled in your existence. Most people would like to lead such a life, but many think it is not easy to do. In fact, it is not that difficult. Much of what happens to you in your life is a result of your philosophy or way of thinking and the principles you follow, as well as your attitude toward things. Questions you may have include: What type of philosophy do I need to have? How do attitude, health and wealth fit in? What do I need to do to get started? This lesson will answer those questions.

Have a positive philosophy

In order to lead a good, well or satisfying life, you need a positive philosophy toward the major components in your life. These components are your: Attitude Health: Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Communications: Sensing the world and Social interactions Knowledge Activities: Vocation and Leisure

Be good in each
You can be good and attain satisfaction in each of these items, leading to a happy and healthy life.

Attitude
Your attitude can make your life satisfying, if you: Enjoy life Be accountable for your own well being Think in terms of taking care of your whole personyour body, mind and spirit

Health
The following are ways to attain wellness in the different types of health.
Physical health

Good physical health can make your life satisfying, if you: Are physically active Eat frugally Minimize medical invasiveness
Emotional health

Good emotional health can make your life satisfying, if you: Handle stress well Are aware of your feelings Appreciate the talents you have
Spiritual health

Good spiritual health can make your life satisfying, if you: Are forgiving Are grateful Are at peace

Communication
The following are ways to attain wellness in the areas of communication.
Sensing the world

Effective sensing of the world around you can make your life more satisfying, if you: Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

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Are observant Are curious Use all your senses Social interactions

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Good social interactions can make your life satisfying, if you: Have respect for other people Try to have everyone win Live for today

Intellect
Good intellect can make your life satisfying, if you: Think mindfully Are creative Continually grow

Vocation
A good vocation can make your life satisfying, if you: Have a purpose Help others Are concerned about future generations

Summary
By taking care of your attitude, physical health, emotional health, spiritual health, social interactions, intellect, and vocation, you should lead a good life.

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR CHAMPIONS

The School for Champions philosophy divides Life into five major areas: Character, Knowledge, Excellence, Value and Health. To have a fulfilled life, you must succeed in all of these areas. By asking yourself five simple questions each day, you will be move toward a happy, fulfilled and successful life. Questions you may have include: What are these five questions? How can answering them help me? Does this really work?

Five questions
Ask yourself the following questions every day: 1. What am I thankful for today? 2. What did I learn today? 3. Where did I do a good job? 4. Who was I valuable to today? 5. How did I take care of myself today?

What am I thankful for?

Character includes being honest, honorable, and appreciative. It is giving fair return for what you receive and not taking what isn't yours. I've moved thanks to a different area, just as I've moved helping people. Appreciating what you have and receive enlightens your spirit and shows your character. A person who is thankful is often a person who is good. You can be thankful for such little things as: I'm thankful that had a good breakfast this morning I'm thankful that my leg doesn't hurt any more I'm thankful that I have some good friends Ask yourself: "What am I thankful for today?"

What did I learn?

You should be able to learn something every day, no matter how old you are. Observe and be curious. There is so much to learn in life. There are many things you learn: I learned a better way to use the Internet browser I learned where I can buy clothes on sale I learned a new skill at work Ask yourself: "What did I learn today?"

Where did I do a good job?

Doing high quality work in what you do is important to you and to others. This includes improving the way you do things. Look at good areas and where you can improve: I did a good job on my homework I did my best in painting the fence, but I could improve I was very thorough in cleaning out the garage Ask yourself: "Where did I do a good job today?" Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

Personal Excellence by Tanbir Rahman Who was I valuable to?

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Helping others get what they want makes you valuable. This includes taking an interest in what someone has to say, being friendly, and being considerate. There are many situations in which you have been valuable to others: I was valuable at work by helping the company make a profit I was valuable to my little daughter by playing with her I was valuable to the checkout clerk by being friendly to her Ask yourself: "Who was I valuable to today?"

How did I take care of myself?

Taking care of yourself means that you made an effort to be healthy. You may have eaten healthy foods, exercised, or avoided abusing your body with bad substances. Check on how well you have taken care of yourself: I took care of myself by avoiding eating those greasybut temptingbacon strips I took care of myself by doing some moderate exercise today I took care of myself by washing my hands before eating Ask yourself: "How did I take care of myself today?"

Answering questions
You don't really have to formally answer these questions to feel good. Just asking them sets your subconscious mind in motion. You can't help it, but you will give yourself an answer to each question. Writing down the answers is probably more effective in the short run, but human nature dictates that most people would soon stop writing things down after a while. The most important thing is to ask the five questions. Try to do it every day, perhaps at the end of the day. They are reminders to keep you on the right path.

It works
These five questions summarize what life is about. By asking yourself the questions and subconsciously answering them or being reminded of the way to be, you will improve your life. They are reminders. They're a form of affirmation. They let you realize that you doing well and feeling better about yourself.

Summary
Ask yourself the five champion questions and answer them if you can. Try to do this every day, if you can. Your perspective on life will change, s you move toward more fulfillment.

HEALTH AND VITALITY IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL HEALTH IN LIFE

A major part of your life is your physical health. Good physical health can contribute to leading a satisfying and successful life. Factors involved in having satisfying physical health are that you should be physically active, be nutritional frugal, and minimize medical invasiveness. Questions you may have include: What is the value of activity? Why worry about what I eat? What does "medical invasiveness" mean? This lesson will answer those questions.

Be physically active
The expression goes "use it or lose it." If you do not use your muscles, lungs and heart as much as they were intended to be used, they will atrophy. Exercise can provide many benefits such as keeping your system working properly, keeping your weight at a healthy level, giving you more energy and endurance, allowing you to bounce back quicker from injury or disease, and generally maintaining your health. Your activity must be regular. You cannot expect to make up for a weeks of inactivity with a spurt of exercise on one Saturday.

Be nutritional frugal
Excess of anything is not healthy. You should be frugal in what you eat. Studies show that animals and people who eat less live longer. But of course, that does not mean eating so little that you become anorexic. Also try to only eat healthy foods. Eating junk foods or those high in animal fat is not a nutritional sound diet. Remember what Benjamin Franklin wrote in his Poor Richard's Almanac: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." That is good advice that can be extended to other nutritional foods.

Minimize medical invasiveness

Be careful when you see a doctor. Remember that medicine is a business and sometimes doctors prescribe what is convenient to them instead of the patient. Avoid drugs and operations unless absolutely necessary. Often they can do more harm than good. In general, use caution when being medically treated.

Summary
Three principles to follow that will improve your chances for a healthy life are to be physically active, be nutritional frugal, and minimize medical invasiveness.

IMPORTANCE OF SPIRITUAL HEALTH IN LIFE

Most people believe that besides having a body, mind and emotions, we have a spiritual nature. I like to think that we are spirits having human experiences. Other people may have different beliefs on the matter, but in general we agree on having a spiritual nature of sorts. A major part of your life is your spiritual beliefs and health or contentment in that area. Fulfillment in your Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

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spiritual health can contribute to leading a satisfying and successful life. Factors involved in having a satisfying spiritual health are that you should be forgiving, be grateful, and be at peace with yourself. Questions you may have include: What does forgiving do for me? What is there to be grateful for? How can you be at peace with yourself?

Be forgiving
You must forgive others and forgive yourself. Forgiveness frees you from hate, forces you to examine your motives and demands that you give up the need to be always right. When you hold back forgiveness, you let things eat away in your heart. This cannot only affect your spiritual health, but it can also be detrimental to your physical and emotional well-being. When you forgive someone who has harmed you or done you wrong, you not only free yourself of the burden, but you actually gain power over the situation. Anger or revenge only escalates the problem within your spirit. But forgiveness does not mean you must continue to deal with the person. Some good expressions to remember are; "Forgive and forget" and "to forgive is divine." Forgiveness is an important step in maintaining your spiritual well-being.

Be grateful
You should be grateful and thankful for the blessings you receive. Every time you have a negative thought, countered with a thought of gratitude the more you contemplate your blessings, the more you feel the changes in your emotional and spiritual outlook. The worst habit is ingratitude. If you feel gratitude, you will be amazed at the changes in yourself, your health, your relationships, your careeryour entire life.

Be at peace with yourself

You need a personal peace that will disconnect you from the disquieting or threatening thoughts. Personal peace is the knowledge that all is well and understanding that God has everything under control. It comes becomes a reality when we shift our focus from problems we cannot solve to a higher vision of hopefulness.

Summary
In order to feel spiritually satisfied, you should be forgiving, be grateful, and be at peace with yourself.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL IMPORTANCE OF INTELLECT IN LIFE

Intellect is the ability to learn and reason, as well as the capacity for knowledge and understanding. It is intelligence and using your mind creatively. A major part of your life is your intellect. Fulfillment in your education and intellect can contribute to leading a satisfying and successful life. Factors involved in having a good intellect are that you think mindfully, are mentally creative, and continually grow. Questions you may have include: What is thinking mindfully? What if I'm not the creative type? What if I'm too old to grow anymore?

Think mindfully
Thinking mindfully means you are truly present with life and allow it to unfold without judging your life. In other words, do nt worry about things. Instead, you should focus on positive thoughts.

Focus on the journey

Focus on the journey and not the destination. In this way, you enhance your intellect without getting bogged down on the unnecessary.

Be observant
Being observant and using your mind to gain knowledge of the world around you increases your intellect in a positive manner. There is so much to learn and so little time to learn it that you don't want to be bogged down on nonsense.

Look to the positive

Understand the difference between reasons and results. Dont mindlessly waste time and energy rationalizing on why you can t get what you want, but go out and pursue other ways to get it. Choose where you focus, and focus on thoughts that nurture.

Be creative
There is a saying that imagination is the eye of the soul. Everything is created twice first mentally, then physically. A plan or an idea comes before action or implementation. You can be creative in anything you do. Sometimes it is just doing something different than you've always done it before. Trying out new things can lead to creative discoveries. Possibility thinking comes before the action and vision precedes reality. You think of the possibilities of what could happen or the rewards you may get from an action. Being creative as possible improves your intellect.

Continually grow
We all have the capacity to change, learn, evolve, and grow. This is not only true physically, but also mentally. In fact, our capacity for metal growth is almost limitless. They say that we only use 10% of out mental capabilities. It that is true, there is tremendous room for growth.

Continually study and learn

Pursue your talents throughout life and continually study and learn. you are never too old to learn something. Some people seem to give up on learning after they leave school. they do things at home, at work and even at play in the same old way. You can gain so much satisfaction and enjoyment in life by learning to use new talents and skills. Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

Personal Excellence by Tanbir Rahman Pursue new interests

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Try to pursue new interests daily. Observe, try something new and then grow in your knowledge. Do this all the time and you will grow intellectually and as a person.

Summary
To have a good intellect, think mindfully, be mentally creative and continually grow. This will help you lead a satisfying life.

IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD VOCATION IN LIFE

A major part of your life is your vocation. This is your career or even your business. Fulfillment in your vocation can contribute to leading a satisfying and successful life. Factors involved in having a satisfying vocation are that you should have a purpose, help others and be concerned about future generations. Questions you may have include: How do you get a purpose in life? How does helping others affect your career? Why worry about future generations?

Have a purpose in life

If you have a purpose in life, you have everything. Everyone has a unique life mission. The dream of what might be is more important than the record of what has been. The way to get your purpose is to focus on what you want to be, consider what you want to do and considered the values and principles upon which your character and contributions are based. If you enjoy doing some activity, if you are good at something, if you are concerned about solving some problem, or if you have a dream about reaching some heights, you are on your way to establishing your purpose in life.

Achieve your purpose through service

Instead of trying to become a person of status, try to become a person of value. And the way to do that is by helping others. Mission comes alive only to servicethe idea of caring for others. The whole concept of good business is based on providing the customer with products or services that will help that customer achieve his or her goals. Successful businesses go the extra mile to help out their customers. Likewise, in your job, if you have the attitude of working to help your company get what it wants or needs, you will succeed in your career. The only way we can fulfill all our potential is from service to others, and we should make a habit of helping. When we help another, we help ourselves, we find meaning, and our satisfaction soars.

Benefit future generations

This principle states that if you want happiness for a lifetime, you should try to help the next generation. People of this planet are interdependent with all things. The law of stewardship requires us to pass the planet on to future generations in a better condition than we found it in. We should do things with proper and high regard for of the people and the next generation. You work in your vocation, job or business to benefit your family especially your children. But also, your work should not be such that it destroys the environment or the lives of others just for the sake of personal gain. A person who does that may have greater material wealth but is never satisfied with his or her life.

Summary
To have a satisfying vocation, you should have a purpose, help others, and be concerned about future generations. This will help you lead a good, healthy life.

VALUE
IMPORTANCE OF RELATIONSHIPS IN LIFE
A major part of your life concerns your relationship and dealing with other people. Fulfillment in your social interactions can contribute to leading a satisfying and successful life. Factors involved in having satisfying relationships are that you should have respect for other people, seek to have everyone win, and enjoy others today. Questions you may have include: How can you respect everyone? If others win, don't you lose? What if you are too busy to enjoy others today? This lesson will answer those questions.

Have respect for other people

Everyone deserves some respect. Dont stereotype or categorize others, such that you automatically show disrespect. Also, don't be a cynic who puts everyone else down. If you don't have respect for others, your attitude shows through in your relationships with that person. How can you get along with a person if you secretly think little of him or her? Disrespect can harm business dealings, as well as personal relationships. Always, think well of a person, even if you disagree or dislike things he or she does. You will find that people ride to your expectations of them. And remember that the Bible said,"God created man in His own image."

Seek to have everyone win

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In any dealings with another person, you should seek a solution in which you both win something. This is called a "win-win" situation, where you both reach a mutually beneficial transaction. Don't try to beat the other person into the ground and win everything. You won't have repeat business and will have few friends with that attitude. The Golden Rule states that you should "Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you." When you deal with other people, you should allow them to also win.

Enjoy others today

Live for today and enjoy the people around you while you can. Don't be waiting for someone else tomorrow. Like the old song says, "If you can't be with the one you love, then love the one you're with." Dont drag the past into the present or live a life based on an undefined future. Some people are always looking for somethin g or someone better. That may not happen.

Summary
To have satisfying social relations, you should have respect for other people, seek to have everyone win, and enjoy others today instead of some other time.

CHARACTER AND ATTITUDES IMPORTANCE OF POSITIVE ATTITUDES IN LIFE

A major part of your life concerns your attitudes toward yourself and others and how you feel as a result of those attitudes. Fulfillment in your attitudes can contribute to leading a satisfying and successful life. Factors involved in having satisfying attitudes are that you should enjoy life, be accountable for your own well being, and think in terms of taking care of your whole person. Questions you may have include: How can I enjoy life when I have all these problems? Why should I be accountable when it is someone else's fault? Why look at the whole person?

Enjoy life
You should live your life with joy. It is also true that the joy you feel is life. Your attitude toward what you wish and expect governs the response you get. When things go bad, you can try to appreciate the blessings you have and what is good about your life. Have fun. It is not all that bad. Having a positive outlook on what happens will help you realize the job in your life. It may be fun to complain or look to the dark side of things, but that also can only make you unhappy. Why not be happy? Also, when others feel your negative outlook, they tend to deal with you in a negative manner. You should recognize that joy in life, and not the length of life, is the most important thing.

Be accountable
You are responsible for your own well being. You can't depend on other people to make you happy, satisfied, successful or such. You have to look out after yourself. As Rev. Robert H. Schuller often says, "If its going to be, its up to me." Many people these days blame others for their own mistakes or problems. When you take responsibility, you gain self-respect. When you are accountable, you can then correct any problems, so you can move on. Behaviors and choices contribute to your state of being. Emotional and spiritual responses to behaviors can lead to physical changes. We have the ability to choose both our behaviors and responses.

Work on the whole person

The part cant be well unless the whole is well. You must remember that we are made up of body, mind, and spirit. We cannot separate these three parts. They all work together in whatever you do. Your attitude toward everything you do must take into account the whole person. it is difficult to enjoy life, if your body or spirit is unhealthy. And you need to earn a living to get by in life. They are all part of the whole picture, and this must be part of your attitude toward life.

Summary
To have a satisfying life, you should have the attitudes that you enjoy life, are accountable for your own well being, and you think in terms of taking care of your whole person.

SUCCESS CONCEPTS
8 Success Secrets from Motivational Experts
The views on success of many of the nation's top motivational speakers and authors can be summarized into 8 success secrets. These ideas were taken from interviews with 15 of the nation's top motivational speakers and authors, including motivational speaker Brian Tracy, authors Les Brown and Dr. Wayne Dyer, sales motivator Mike Ferry, seminar leader Patricia Fripp, and "Chicken Soup" authors Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. This is an effort to study how successful people think and uncover what drives them. If you truly understand their belief systems, levels of commitment and positive attitudes toward life-and integrate these ways of thinking into your own belief system--you should be able to succeed at anything you put your mind to. These 8 "secrets" are: 1. Take 100 percent responsibility for your life 2. Live your life "on purpose" 3. Be willing to pay the price for your dreams 4. Stay focused Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

Personal Excellence by Tanbir Rahman

5. Become an expert in your field 6. Write out a plan for achieving your goals 7. Never give up 8. Don't delay This lesson will answer those questions.

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1. Take 100 percent responsibility for your life

In a society where people blame everything from their parents to the government for their failure to get ahead in life, these men and women refused to buy into the mentality that says "I could succeed if only it weren't for _____." They realized that when you say someone or something outside of yourself is preventing you from succeeding, you're giving away your power to that someone or something. You're saying, "You have more control over my life than I do!" Successful people don't buy into this victim thinking. Rather, their personal credo is "If it's to be, it's up to me!"

Example of Les Brown

Consider Les Brown. Abandoned by his parents at birth and labeled "educable mentally retarded" by his schoolteachers, he had every reason for giving up on himself and his dreams. But when a high school teacher told him "Someone else's opinion of you does not have to become your reality," Brown realized in that moment that his future lay in his own hands. He went on to become a state legislator and author, and today earns $20,000 per hour as one of America's top motivational speakers. What Brown understood was that there are certain things in life you can't control, such as nature, the past and other people. But there are things you absolutely can control, such as your thoughts and your actions. Taking 100 percent responsibility for your life is one of the most empowering things you can do for yourself.

2. Live your life "on purpose"

Perhaps what separates these motivational superstars from others more than anything else is that they live their lives "on purpose." That is, they are doing what they believe they were put here to do.

Dyer has purpose

Professional public speakers will tell you that the time they feel most alive is when they are on stage, connecting with an audience. Says Wayne Dyer, "Having a sense of purpose in your life is the most important element of becoming a fully functioning person!" The difference between living your life on purpose and not living it on purpose is like night and day. The latter consists of simply getting through the week with the least amount of problems while expending just enough effort to get by.

Do the job now

But, when you live your life on purpose, your main concern is doing the job right. You love what you do--and it shows. Your conviction is as evident as it is persuasive. And you will find that people want to do business with you because they sense your commitment to giving your all.

Mike Ferry found purpose

How do you live your life on purpose? By finding a cause you believe in and creating a business around it. For example, Mike Ferry, who was once a top salesperson selling audiotape programs, believed realtors needed help developing sales skills. So he started The Mike Ferry Organization, a seminar and training company for the real estate industry. Today, he earns more than $10 million a year from seminar and product sales. Like Ferry, once you get your life on purpose and focus on providing value for others, the money will take care of itself.

3. Be willing to pay the price for your dreams

Wanting a big house, a luxury car or a million dollars in the bank is all very nice, but the problem is that practically everyone wants these things. The question then is, "Are you willing to pay the price to get them?" This is one of the major differences between the successful and the unsuccessful. Successful men and women find out what it's going to cost to make their dream come true. Then they find a way to make it happen. Most importantly, they don't complain about the work it takes to achieve their dreams. Les Brown says he has a callus on his left ear. Why? "When I decided to get into speaking, I had no credentials, no reputation, no credibility and no experience. So I had to call a lot of people," Brown explains. "I called over a hundred people a day, day in and day out, to ask for an opportunity to speak to their group. This callus is worth several million dollars!" You can get practically anything you want in life--if you are willing to pay the price.

4. Stay focused
Every day, we are bombarded with hundreds of tasks, messages and people all competing for our time. This is why the ability to focus on your goal is so critical to achieving it. Focusing requires giving up some things in the present because you know the time invested will pay off big-time down the road.

Chicken Soup efforts

When Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen compiled their first Chicken Soup for the Soul book, they were turned down by 30 publishers. But instead of giving up, they stayed focused on their goal. "We did three to four radio or newspaper or magazine interviews a day, five days a week, for a whole year," Canfield recalls. In every interview, they talked about why the country needed this book now more than ever. Eventually, a small publisher called Health Communications Inc. decided to take a chance and publish the book. It not only became a number-one bestseller but also hatched an entire series of Chicken Soup books that have sold more than 10 million copies! That's the power staying focused on your goal can give you.

Focus on dreams
Spend as much of your day as you can focusing on achieving your goals and dreams. Every day, ask yourself, "Is what I'm doing right now bringing me closer to my goal?" If it's not, do something that will. Focusing is like any habit: the more you do it, the easier it gets.

5. Become an expert in your field

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One striking factor about all 15 motivational speakers I interviewed is how seriously they take their profession. Their drive to be the best at what they do is phenomenal. They'll do almost anything if they think it will help improve their speaking skills.

Fripp took classes

For example, Patricia Fripp, who speaks to Fortune 500 executives on how to become more successful, took a comedy workshop and hired a private speech coach because she wanted to improve her speaking ability. Fripp did this after she had already been named "One of the Ten Most Electrifying Speakers in North America" by Meetings & Conventions magazine. To Fripp, being one of the best simply wasn't good enough; she wanted to be the best she could be.

What do you do?

If someone followed you around at your business all day with a video camera to make a how-to tape for people who want to do what you do, would it be a tape you'd be proud of? Or embarrassed about? If the latter, make the decision today to work toward being the best in your field. How? By studying the experts. The quickest way to become successful is to find out what the best are doing, then do what they do.

6. Write out a plan for achieving your goals

Taking the time to write out an action plan, or map, for how you're going to achieve your goals is one of the best ways to get there faster.

Brian Tracy set goals

Brian Tracy, one of America's most successful business sales trainers and speakers, points out, "Goals that are not in writing are not goals at all. They are merely wishes or fantasies."

Need a map
Most people try to reach their goals without taking the time to write out an action plan. This is like trying to drive from Los Angeles to Denver without a map. Forget the fact that your odds of reaching your destination are extremely slim. The frustration and wasted time, energy and money will probably cause you to give up long before you get to the Rockies. With a map in hand, however, you'll not only enjoy the trip much more, but you're also virtually assured of arriving at your destination in the shortest time possible.

7. Never give up
It may sound simple, even obvious, but when you're truly committed to achieving your goal, giving up isn't even an option. You must be willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Dyer never gave up

In the mid-1970s, Wayne Dyer quit his job as a professor at Wayne State University to promote his new book, Your Erroneous Zones. However, no major talk show would book the then unknown Dyer. Did he give up? Not on your life. He loaded his car from floor to roof with hundreds of copies of his book, and then spent a year on the road traveling from small town to small town and appearing on any radio or TV talk show that would have him. Once on the air, Dyer would give out the number of the local bookstore and say that his book was available there. After the interview, he'd quickly drive over to that bookstore, where the manager would say, "Oh, you're Wayne Dyer? We've been getting lots of calls for your book!" Dyer would reply, "Well, I have a case in the car--would you like some?" "Oh, yes! And would you sign some while you're here?" By the end of the year, The Tonight Show was calling him. And by the end of the 1970s, Your Erroneous Zones had become the number-one best-selling nonfiction book of the entire decade. This is what the power of perseverance can do for you.

8. Don't delay
In his book Live Your Dreams, Les Brown recalls talking on the phone one day with a friend named Marion. The very next day, Marion's husband called to tell Brown she had died. A few days later, Les was helping the husband clean out Marion's office when he came across some notes for a play she had been working on. Unfortunately, the play would never be published. Marion was the only one who knew how it was supposed to end, and now she was gone. The lesson here is that Marion didn't know how much time she had left to accomplish her dreams, and neither do you or I. We must remember that we don't have forever. The clock is ticking, there are no time-outs, and sooner or later your number is going to be called. Top achievers know this, but rather than seeing it as something negative or depressing, they use it to spur them on to go after what they want as energetically and as passionately as possible.

Summary
Follow the 8 "secrets" from motivational experts and take 100 percent responsibility for your life, live your life on purpose, be willing to pay the price for your dreams, stay focused, become an expert in your field, and write out a plan for achieving your goals, never give up, and don't delay.

KNOWLEDGE CONTENTS
Philosophy of knowledge
Philosophy of Being Knowledgeable Epistemology: The Philosophy of Knowledge

Skills for improving knowledge

Gaining Knowledge by Reading Gaining Knowledge through Observation

Gaining Knowledge by Listening

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Personal Excellence by Tanbir Rahman PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE PHILOSOPHY OF BEING KNOWLEDGEABLE

It is important to have a philosophy, attitude, or way of thinking concerning being knowledgeable or skilled.

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Ideas to follow
The following is a list of items that can summarize a way of thinking toward knowledge: Be observant Be curious Take interest in many subjects Be well-rounded Try to apply your knowledge Learn to think logically Read rapidly Have a good memory Create analogies Use graphical outlines Be creative Think "outside the box"

Summary
Consider ways to gather knowledge.

EPISTEMOLOGY: THE PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE

Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that is dedicated to the study of knowledge, and its sources, varieties and limits. There are several schools of thought on how that knowledge is gathered. They include empiricism, logical positivism, and apriorism. Questions you may have include: What is epistemology about? How is knowledge attained? What should be believed? This lesson will answer those questions.

Epistemology
Epistemology is the theory of human knowledge. It is concerned with the origin, structure, methods and validity of human knowledge. It deals such mental phenomena as thinking, perceiving, knowing and understanding. A major assumption in epistemology that would seem obvious--but is still important--is that the logical structure of the human mind is unchanging.

Gathering knowledge
There are several schools of thought or theories on how knowledge is gathered or attained in humans. To a degree, they should also apply to the knowledge in animals.

Empiricism
Empiricism is the theory that the only source of human knowledge is experience. Empiricism proclaims that experiments and observation are the main instruments for the acquisition of knowledge. Experience includes inner experience-reflection upon the mind and its operations-as well as sense perception. Knowledge of the physical world is considered a generalization from particular instances and can never reach more than a high degree of probability. Empiricism accepts that there is some innate or a priori knowledge based on mathematical or logic rules.

Positivism
Positivism--or logical positivism--is an extension of empiricism, in that that knowledge is derived from experience, but it also believes that nothing is innate and that only that which can be measured is worth worrying about. Logical positivism is also known as scientific empiricism. It is a school of philosophy that uses the methodology and precision of mathematics and the natural sciences in the field of philosophy. It considers philosophy an analytical, rather than a speculative, inquiry. Followers of this school try to clarify the language of science by showing that the content of scientific theories could be reduced to truths of logic and mathematics coupled with propositions referring to sense experience. Positivism believes that metaphysical speculation is nonsensical, propositions of logic and mathematics tautological, and moral or value statements merely emotive. They believe that verification is essential and that a proposition has meaning only if some senseexperience would determine its truth.

Apriorism
Apriorism is a school of thought that believes that knowledge is innate. This philosophy believes that humans can acquire knowledge of a special sort, called "a priori knowledge" via non-inductive means. They differ, however, in their accounts of where such knowledge comes from. Two broad families of apriorist views can be distinguished in this regard. The impositionist view holds that a priori knowledge reflects the logical structures of the mind. On the other hand, the reflectionist view holds that we can have a priori knowledge of what exists as a result that the knowing subject and the objects of knowledge are in some sense and to some degree pre-tuned to each other.

Compromise
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The schools of thought on how knowledge is gathered seem to go to the extremes of the spectrum in saying it is all one way or nothing at all. A more likely explanation is a compromise between the extremes. It is certainly obvious that babies and young animals have certain knowledge and skills that seems to be "hard-wired" into their systems. This is analogous to the computer that has part of its operating system built into the computer chips and hardware, before any software is installed. As a person experiences life, he or she then gains knowledge empirically. This is also true for animals. The learning process is not quite trial and error, since the built in logical circuits of the brain allow for the basis of reasoning and problem solving. Still, experience can certainly enhance the reasoning skills.

Summary
Epistemology is the philosophy of knowledge, its sources, varieties and limits. There are several schools of thought on how that knowledge is gathered. They include empiricism, logical positivism, and apriorism. In general, a compromise on the schools of thought is the best way to go.

SKILLS FOR IMPROVING KNOWLEDGE GAINING KNOWLEDGE BY READING

One of the most important ways that modern humans can gain knowledge is by reading. You can witness the experiences and thoughts that people have documented throughout the ages. Questions you may have include: What should I read? Where can I get reading material? What are some problems concerning reading? This lesson will answer those questions.

What to read
Reading can include the newspapers, magazines, work- or school-related books, fiction, and books on subjects of interest. Reading fiction cannot only get you involved in the story, but is also a source of useful facts and representations of how people act and think. Books and magazine articles can teach, as well as give opinions of the authors. You should not only read about things you are interested, but also be curious enough to look into new material and different subjects.

Where to get material

You can get books from the library or bookstore. You can access articles, essays and lessons over the Internet.

Problems
Problems concerning reading are separating the wheat from the chafe. Among the useful information exists a large quantity of useless or even incorrect information. Even within a useful text, there may be extraneous information on which you just don't need to spend the time. Speed-reading and skim reading are useful skills to help decide what you should bother with.

Summary
Reading is an important way to gain knowledge.

GAINING KNOWLEDGE THROUGH OBSERVATION

Children--especially--learn by observation. Watching what others do is an important way to gain knowledge. Adults also need to use this technique. Questions you may have include: What do children observe? What problems are there with observations by children? What should adults do? This lesson will answer those questions.

Children observe
Children learn from watching and imitating their parents and other adults. The same is true for young animals. Observation is a strong force in gaining knowledge.

Use care with children

Parents will often tell their children, "Do what I say. Don't do what I do." The problem is that children learn much of what they do and what they believe by watching others. Often, it isn't the obvious. A man told me how he taught his son how to drive. But then the boy failed the driving test, because he rolled through a stop sign. His father told him, "How could you do that? You knew that was illegal." The son replied, "But you always do that." He learned from watching his dad. Parents should be careful about what their children observe. This includes TV shows and movies.

Adults should observe

The power of observation should not stop when you become an adult. You can gain a tremendous amount of knowledge by observing what other people do.

Summary
Observation is a powerful way to gain knowledge. It is also very subtle, as you pick things up you may not even think about.

GAINING KNOWLEDGE BY LISTENING

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An important way to gain knowledge is by listening to what other people say. Listening to teachers or professors lecture is a good example of this. Children especially learn by observation. Watching what others do is an important way to gain knowledge. Adults also need to use this technique. Questions you may have include: What do children observe? What problems are there with observations by children? What should adults do? This lesson will answer those questions.

In conversation
In a conversation, many people don't really listen to what the other person is saying. Instead, they are thinking of what they want to say next. Listening is an important skill and a way you can gain information. When you were a child, you may have listened to stories or things your parents explained. Later, in conversations with friends, you gained knowledge from what they told you. As an adult, there are many times that listening is a source of knowledge. People that prefer to talk and don't care to listen will often lose out on important information and knowledge.

In school or work
Listening carefully in school or work environments is important in that the information or knowledge gained can be intense. Besides reading, listening to a teacher or professor lecture on a subject is a major source of knowledge for students. Another source comes from discussions on the subject with other students. This can also be true at work, where a superior or talented person may provide useful information or instructions.

Radio or TV
We also gain a fair amount of knowledge by listening to people talk on the radio or TV. At the very least, you can get the news. Unfortunately, much of the information gained in comedy shows is either useless or even promotes negative behavior.

Summary
Listening is a powerful way to gain knowledge. You can learn through conversations, in school or work, and through the radio and TV.

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EXCELLENCE CONTENTS
Attitude
How to Gain Confidence Interactive lesson on Confidence Increase Your Comfort Zone Increase Your Self-Esteem Improving Performance with The Platinum Rule Learning from the Attitudes of Dogs and Cats Overcoming Unnecessary Fears I Walked on Fire (and lived to tell about it) Maxims, Proverbs and Quotes

Overcoming Challenges
Dealing with Problems Three Areas for Being a Champion Questions and Answers on Becoming a Champion C-Formula for Champions Value of Concentration U.S. Marines' Philosophy on Becoming a Champion One Time I Was a Champion

Winning Competitions
Winning an Athletic Contest

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ATTITUDE
HOW TO GAIN CONFIDENCE
Confidence is the feeling that you are sure you can complete a difficult or even dangerous task. You ask yourself, "Can I do it?" and then answer, "I sure can." Feeling confident means you are sure of your skills and ability to succeed in a task. It is an internal determination or judgment of how sure you are of your skills. Lack of confidence means you aren't sure that you can complete an activity successfully. Your confidence in being able to do something is based on your track record of succeeding in various similar tasks. The feeling of self-confidence is learned and can be passed from one task to another. Questions you may have include: Why aren't people more confident? How do you get self-confidence? What are some examples? This lesson will answer those questions.

Why people aren't confident

A person gets confidence by successfully doing something or completing a task and acknowledging that achievement. The internal acknowledgment is recorded in the mind as, "I can do this again."

Don't acknowledge success

One reason people aren't confident after successfully completing a task or achieving difficult goal is because they often don't acknowledge their achievement and may even demean what they have done. They put their achievement down by saying something like, "Oh, I was just lucky" or "It wasn't all that good."

Too large a task

Another reason some people aren't confident is because they look at a task or a goal as a large entity. Success or failure is determined by the outcome, which may come after days or months of toiling.

Too difficult a task

Some people purposely take on tasks that are way over their head, such that they are assured of failure. They do this to re-enforce their perceived lack of self-confidence. There is some strange psychology involved in this situation.

How to gain confidence

The way to gain confidence is to: 1. Break tasks into smaller units, 2. Acknowledge your success for each step, and 3. Learn from your mistakes to re-enforce your confidence.

1. Break task into smaller steps

Before you set out to perform a task or try to achieve a goal, you must realize that the activity is really a series of smaller steps. This is a basic concept in any type of project planning. Thus, instead of waiting until the end to determine if you are successful, you have a series of successes, leading up to the finish.

2. Acknowledge success for each step

For each one of these steps or mini-tasks, you must acknowledge your success. Congratulate yourself each time you succeed. If you don't do well, correct your error. Take care about admonishing yourself, except in extreme cases.

3. Re-enforce overall confidence

This self-talk will re-enforce your acknowledgment of your abilities and increase your confidence as you go along on achieving the greater goal.

Examples of gaining confidence

The better illustrate how to apply the 3 steps in gaining confidence, consider the examples of playing a game of tennis, managing a program at work, and experiments with a mouse.

Playing tennis
For example, your goal may be to win a tennis match. Each time you hit the ball, you are performing a mini-task or small step necessary to complete your final goal of winning the game. Each time you hit the ball solidly, say to yourself, "Good shot." Each time you miss, note what to correct. Perhaps say, "Follow through next time." Throughout the game, your confidence will build, such that even if you lose the match to a better player, you will feel sure of your overall ability to play well.

Managing a program
In another example, a project manager can celebrate small milestones in a major program with his workers in order to build their confidence to effectively achieve this greater goal.

The mouse that couldn't lose

In an experiment on animal behavior at the University of Wisconsin about 20 years ago, the scientist would put a mouse with its front feet tied together into the cage of another mouse. The mouse whose area was being trespassed would then easily beat up the poor mouse with the feet tied together.

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After a number of victories, the scientist started to put mice in the cage without their feet tied. But our mouse was so confident that he would take on and defeat mice even larger than himself. Normally he would have run away from these larger mice, but he felt he just couldn't lose. And he didn't.

Summary
You can build your confidence by acknowledging your successes for each step along the way to trying to achieve a goal. The selfcongratulations will build and re-enforce your confidence along the way to feeling like a champion.

INCREASE YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Your comfort zone is the area and level at which you picture yourself. It may not even be reality, but it is where you feel comfortable. For example, you picture yourself has having a certain level of intelligence, social standing and physical appearance. There are also other levels of judgment, such as cleanliness or honesty. If you get in a situation above or below your comfort zone, you start to feel uncomfortable. You can slowly change your comfort level to fit into the new situation. Questions you may have include: What is a comfort zone? What happens when you feel uncomfortable? How can you improve your comfort zone? This lesson will answer those questions.

Comfort zones
Your comfort zone has much to do with your self-image and the picture of how things should be. You have a picture of yourself and your characteristics. You also have a picture of your surroundings and how you feel they should look. Some examples include how clean your home is, what you do at work and how good looking your spouse is.

Home and cleanliness

You usually feel comfortable in your home. It is messy or neat according to what is comfortable to you and your image of what a home should be like. If your house is what you consider dirty, you feel uncomfortable and clean it. But there is a limit to how thorough you clean the house. Some may do a quick one-two, while others will almost sanitize every surface. It depends on the person's comfort zone with respect to cleanliness.

Job
You have a picture or image of what your status and importance is at your job. If you are given a task at work that you feel is below your status or you consider demeaning, you will usually object. You won't feel good having to do such a task. On the other hand, if you are suddenly thrust in a high position of authority, you may not feel good giving directions to those you consider actually higher in knowledge or skill than you.

Looks and spouse

You tend to pick a partner according to your own self-image. If you feel you are good looking, you may feel comfortable with someone who you feel is in the same classification. Likewise, if someone is better looking or worse looking with your self-image, you feel uncomfortable picking that person as a partner.

Feeling uncomfortable
When you are in a situation that doesn't fit your image of how things should be, you can become quite uncomfortable. In such a situation, you may be motivated to do things that will get you back into your comfort zone. This may be either a positive or a negative action.

When below your zone

When you get in a situation where you don't feel you belong because you know you are better than that, you can become uncomfortable and motivated to do things to rectify the situation. For example, suppose your new car gets a dent in the fender. The picture in your mind of the car is one that is new and perfect, so you feel uncomfortable with the dent. You are motivated to get the fender fixed, as soon as possible. Note that if you don't get it fixed right away, you will soon become comfortable with that dent, such that you might not even notice it anymore. This is a situation where your comfort zone has been lowered to fit the situation. I experienced the power of feeling below my comfort zone: When I was in the 7th grade, the teacher timed all the boys in a foot race. I was the third slowest runner, only ahead of two very overweight boys. I said to myself, I'm better than that. I was placed in a zone that I felt was below what I envisioned myself. So, I was motivated to improve. I went out for track in high school, but didn't make the varsity team because I was too slow. But my vision was still as a good runner. Finally, in college I went out for track again. I made the team, won several medals and received a letter sweater. I was in my comfort zone.

When above your zone

When you get in a situation where you don't feel you belong because you aren't good enough, you can get uncomfortable and may do things to get more comfortable.
Fellow loses everything

There are situations where people are placed in situations that is higher than they feel they deserve or should be. They say, "I really don't belong here."

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A tragic example is a fellow I met while speaking at the Los Angeles County Prison Farm. This inmate told me how he had a good job, a wife and two children and a new house. Everything seemed to be great, but for some reason he didn't feel like he deserved all this good fortune. He didn't picture himself at this level. So then he started drinking, getting in fights, skipping work and even stealing. He lost his job, he lost his home and he lost his wife. Now he was in jail. The funny thing, he told me, is that this was not the first time he had good things and purposely screwed up to lose them. Although he didn't like being in jail, he was comfortable there.
Playing tennis

A woman I know was an average tennis player. Once she got into a doubles match against a couple who acted like they were much better tennis playersalthough their skill level wasn't that much higher. This couple was also somewhat wealthy. Instead of trying harder to rise to their level of game, the woman started making worse shots and started to act sillylike she had never played the game before. This was an effort to save face, but it was also an indication that she couldn't picture herself at the same level. She was in a situation that was above her comfort zone, so she was going to screw it up and get back down to earth.

Improving your zone

When you are below your comfort zone, you usually are motivated to improve your situation. The biggest problem is that some people have too low of a picture of themselves, such that they will accept a lower comfort zone.

Improve the picture

If you want to improve your position at work, your social status, your skills or your environment, you must improve your image or picture of what is acceptable to you. But this must be done a little at a time, in order not to get unrealistic. First of all, look at your present situation, in which you are comfortable. Then move the bar up a little. Visualize yourself in that situation until you feel comfortable there. Then do something to get into that new comfort zone.
Picture at work

Look at your situation at work. Do you think you could be comfortable sitting in your supervisor's seat? Can you envision yourself doing work that would deserve such a promotion? If you can visualize yourself in such a position, it may be possible. But if you try to picture yourself as the company president, but you know in your heart that you don't have the skills for such a job, you may be just having wishful thinking, and you can't make that your new comfort zone.

Motivated to fulfill the image

If you can picture yourself in a higher position or you can picture things being better than before like picturing the house with a new coat of paintthen you become unconsciously motivated to improve the situation. You start to make an effort to get into your new visualization of how things should be. I had a personal experience with the success of how picturing yourself in a situation can help it come true: Harry, a fellow I worked with, wanted to get a yellow Mazda Miata sports car. But his wife wanted him to get a practical white Dodge minivan. His wife was winning the argument. So we got a poster of a Miata from a Mazda dealer and pinned it on the wall in Harry's office, where he could see it every day. We were even thinking of sticking a picture of Harry behind the wheel. We couldn't get a poster of a yellow car, so we settled for a poster of a brown Miata . A month later Harry bought a new cara brown Mazda Miata. His new comfort zone said that he had to have that car. I think he is still married.

Summary
How you visualize yourself and your surroundings determines your comfort zone. When you go above or below this comfort zone, you can become uncomfortable and motivated to change things. By visualizing yourself in a slightly higher situation, you can start to achieve that position as your new comfort zone.

INCREASE YOUR SELF-ESTEEM

Your self-esteem is the regard or respect you have for yourself. It is your favorable opinion, judgment or appraisal of your talents, skills, personality and the like. Having a healthy self-esteem feels good and is important is being a champion in life. You form your judgments by your expectations and comparing yourself with others. It is important to your esteem that these expectations and comparisons are realistic in order to maintain a healthy esteem. Questions you may have include: Why is esteem important in life? How do expectations and comparisons affect my esteem? What can I do to keep my self-esteem? This lesson will answer those questions.

Esteem feels good

When you feel that you are talented, do a good job in what you do, are well-liked, and have things going well for you, your selfesteem is high. You like yourself. This is a judgment you make about yourself, just as you would make about another person. Just as it feels good when others like you, it also feels good when you like yourself. Of course, this should not be overdone, such that you only think of yourself and are not considerate of others and their feelings. But it is being proud of what you do and being pleased with your achievements.

Expectations and comparisons

Everyone has expectations of how well they should perform. The problem occurs when the expectations are too high or unrealistic. I remember a schoolmate who felt he should get 100 on every test. If he got a 98, he did not live up to his expectations. Needless to say, he had a low self-esteem, because he was not as good as he expected. Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

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Comparing with others can give you a more realistic view of the world and your abilities. If the student with high expectations was the only one in class that got over a 90 on the test, his pride and self-esteem should be increased. Unrealistic comparisons again can be destructive to your self-esteem. The person who tries to compare his or her looks and talent with a famous star is being unrealistic and ends up having lowered esteem. Comparisons should be with the rest of the people, as well as with your past performance.

Maintaining your self-esteem

The best thing to do to bolster your self-esteem is to compare yourself with the masses, as well as with your past performance. This is how you normally appraise your talents and attributes.

Compare with the masses

If you want to judge your talent, looks, personality or other characteristic, in order to determine your self-esteem, compare yourself with the masses. Are you better than average? Is there a group that you are better than? If so, then you should feel good about yourself.

At least someone likes you

But what about the people how are on the low end of the totem pole? How can someone who is ugly, stupid and with a irritating personality have any self-esteem? Well, just like when you drive on the freeway: there are always people ahead of you and behind you. In other words, even such a person can always find someone with whom he or she is better. Also, everyone has someone who likes them, resulting in having self-esteem.

Compare with your past

Whether you are at the top or near the bottom, an important aspect of gaining and maintaining self-esteem is to compare with what you used to be. Most people are better today than they were yesterday. Realizing that can improve your self-esteem. For those who have slipped and fell back into bad habits or a bad environment, your self-esteem has also slipped. Such people need to get back into daily improvement to get their lives on track and to keep up their self-esteem.

Summary
Having a good opinion of yourself and liking yourself is your self-esteem and makes life happier. Unrealistic expectations and comparisons can lower your esteem. Compare yourself with the masses and with your past performance to bolster your selfesteem.

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE WITH THE PLATINUM RULE

Behavior differences are our boon and our bane. They're what make life so rich and fascinating--but often so frustrating, too. Most of us never figure people out. We just ricochet through life, getting along great with some people, refusing to deal with others, and having as little to do as possible with still others because they're so--well, different--from us. Over the centuries, many attempts have been made to understand people by dividing personalities into categories. Today there are dozens of such models, most of which group behavior into four behavioral styles. Each of us signals our basic type by how we shake hands or organize our office, whether we're chatty or curt on the phone, the way we approach tasks, how we embrace or resist change, the speed and rhythm of our speech, and many other ways. Questions you may have include: What are these behavior styles? What are the pluses and minuses of these styles? How can you put it into practice? This lesson will answer those questions.

Four styles
Along with behavioral scientist Dr. Michael J. O'Connor, I wrote a book The Platinum Rule, which goes deeply into the four behavior styles.

1. Directors
These are forceful, take-charge people: direct, decisive, determined, and often domineering. They're born leaders who are neither shy nor subtle. Driven by an inner need to get results, they're firm in their relationships with others and more concerned with outcomes than egos. Often in a hurry, always working toward a goal, frequently opinionated, the highly competitive DIRECTORS stir up dust and create energy wherever they go.

2. Socializers
The friendly, enthusiastic SOCIALIZERS want to be in the middle of the action, whatever and wherever it is. While also fastpaced, they most value admiration, acknowledgement, and applause. Flashy and popular, they're trend setters who sport the latest fashions, spout the hippest lingo, and toss around the newest ideas. They're much more people-oriented than task-oriented, but sometimes have the attention span of a flashcube.

3. Relaters
The teddy bears of the human zoo, RELATERS make you feel good just by being around. They're the most people-oriented of the four styles. So having close, friendly relationships is one of their highest priorities. Easy-going and slow-paced, RELATERS believe in self-control and tend to follow the rules. But they dislike conflict so much that they sometimes can be unassertive, overly sensitive, and easily bullied.

4. Thinkers
Like the DIRECTOR, the THINKER is a results-oriented problem-solver--but in a quieter, more low-key way that's less likely to ruffle feathers. Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

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THINKERS are analytical, persistent, independent, and well organized. Not wanting to call attention to themselves, they prefer to work quietly alone, emphasizing accuracy and "correctness", so much so that they're sometimes seen as aloof, picky, and critical.

Pluses and minuses

You can see that all four styles have pluses and minuses. None are better than others, though some styles may work better in certain situations. DIRECTORS are great leaders who get results but can be ham-handed when it comes to dealing with others; SOCIALIZERS, though warm and energizing, often are disastrous with detail. RELATERS are calm and kind but can easily get stuck in a rut. THINKERS are precise, dependable analysts but often are about as warm and fuzzy as an I.R.S. auditor. The more familiar you become with other people's styles, the better you'll be able to "speak their language." For instance, you probably wouldn't ask a DIRECTOR to meet over a long, slow lunch; a quick "power" breakfast at 7:15 a.m. would work better. And you wouldn't open a business conversation with a RELATER by reciting your 13-point plan and supporting data; a RELATER would rather get to know you first.

Putting this into practice

So how can this help you with your employees, customers or clients? Well, the old and honorable sentiment of The Golden Rule says, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." That's good as far as it goes, but applied verbatim, it can actually cause personality conflicts. That's because treating people the way you'd want to be treated implies that we're all alike.

Platinum Rule, new outlook

But The Platinum Rule--a kind of newer, more sensitive version of the ancient axiom--suggests: "Do unto others as they'd like done unto them." That is, learn to really understand others--and then handle them in a way that's best for them, not just for you. You need to adapt so that, while retaining your own identity, you can lead others in the way they like to follow, speak to them the way they are comfortable listening, and sell to them the way they prefer to buy.

Understand your own style

When you understand your own style and how it differs from the styles of others, you can adapt your approach to get on the same wavelength with them. Your ideas don't change, but you can change the way you present those ideas. This is called "adaptability." Adaptable people realize there is a difference between their self (who they are) and their behavior (how they choose to act). Adaptability is simply changing your behavior, not your personality. Adaptable people consciously decide whether and how to respond to a person, a situation, or an event. Less adaptable people, on the other hand, respond in a more habitual manner, regardless of whether the response is likely to be appropriate or effective.

Getting in sync
Highly adaptable people are good at getting in sync with others because they use their head in determining what behavior works best with whom. Thus, a highly adaptive DIRECTOR would not merely be controlling but, if the situation required, would be more fun loving like a SOCIALIZER, or sensitive like a RELATER, or cautious like a THINKER. Likewise, highly adaptive SOCIALIZERS, RELATERS, and THINKERS see when they need to escape their comfort zones and adapt in the interest of getting the job done. The antidote to most personality conflicts is just that obvious. Cultivate a style that's adaptable. Give your full attention to the other person and seek to cooperate, not confront.

Summary
Some of us adapt easily, naturally; others must work at it because life-long habits of competition and conflict are not altered overnight. But it's doable if you're committed to understanding people's inner needs and then working to meet them. Do so, and you'll find--surprise!--that your needs also will be met.

LEARNING FROM THE ATTITUDES OF DOGS AND CATS

Dogs and cats may have different attitudes toward life and their relationship with people. You might learn something from the following story of a conversation between a dog and a cat. Questions you may have include: What did the dog say? What did the cat say? What are lessons from their conversation? This lesson will answer those questions.

Animal conversation
A dog and a cat were having a conversation about their homes and the comforts of their lives.

Dog:
The dog said, "You know, I've really got it made here. I have a master who feeds me, cleans up my litter, and provides me with a nice comfortable home. My master must be a god."

Cat:
The cat replied, "I've got it pretty good myself. I have a master who feeds me, cleans up my litter and provides me with a nice comfortable home. You know, I must be a god!"

Interpretation
It appears that the dog really appreciates the good things received from its master. On the other hand, this cat feels self-important and expects royal treatment. Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

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Lessons learned
You can learn some lessons from this conversation: Different types of animals, as well as people have varied attitudes toward their roles in life. This relates to their confidence, esteem and self-image. It is good to appreciate what you have. Your pets may be talking behind your back. Have a positive attitude toward things.

OVERCOMING UNNECESSARY FEARS

Fear is a natural reaction to danger or the threat of injury. If suddenly confronted with a huge dangerous animal, most everyone will turn and run. Likewise, if you are given a choice of doing something you perceive as harmful, you will usually avoid the danger. The problem occurs when the danger is not real or the fears are not rational. You can overcome irrational fears by confronting them in a safe--but yet scary--environment. Small successes over danger can build up your confidence and bravery. Sometimes you can also do this by following the example of others. Questions you may have include: What type of fears are there? How can you overcome fears? What is the result of overcoming fears? This lesson will answer those questions.

Fears
There are two major types of fear in humans. One is the fear of physical harm. The other is the fear of looking foolish in the eyes of your peers and being ridiculed because of it.

Fear of injury
There are many situations in which you can actually get hurt. Humans, as well as animals, have a built in fear reflex to react to physical danger. The problem occurs is when the danger is not all that bad, but yet the person enlarges it, such that he or she will not do certain activities. Often these are called phobias.
Phobias

Some examples of such fears of injury are the fear of insects, fear of height, and fear of water. They are usually exaggerated beyond the actual threat or danger. In some cases, those phobias can be corrected by slowly building up your confidence by having small successes in dealing with the threat. But, in general, it is very difficult to overcome any irrational fears.
Normal fears

There are many fears of injury people have that are completely normal and rational. You may fear stepping on hot coals, because you know they will burn you. You may fear jumping out of an airplane with a parachute, because the consequence of failure is death. In these cases, you can learn to overcome the natural fear, provided someone shows you that there is nothing to fear in the specific situation.

Fear of being ridiculed

Certainly if you fail in front of other people, there is the possibility of being ridiculed. This is probably the greatest fear people have. It can cause you to lose confidence and esteem, as well as to be looked upon as not valuable or desirable, no important and certainly not powerful. There are many cases where people hesitate from doing something they want to do, because they fear of consequences of failure or some impending disaster. A young man may not ask a girl out for a date, because he fears rejection. A manager may avoid giving a presentation at work, because she is afraid of speaking to a group. She fears the possibility of looking
foolish and being ridiculed by her peers.

Such fears are great and very real to the person.

Overcoming fears
You can overcome fears by gaining confidence in your ability to do such a task. That is usually done by doing something difficult or dangerous and seeing that the consequences of failure are not so bad or that the chances of failure are not so great.

Overcoming fear of injury

There are many activities that are truly dangerous. There are some that seem dangerous, but really are safe. For those activities, you must be brave enough to give it a try. The rewards are great.
Walking on fire

Walking on red-hot coals seems very dangerous, but if properly done, it is relatively safe. By being assured it is safe and seeing others do it in a controlled environment, you can overcome your natural fears to literally walk on fire. An example of such an experience is in I Walked on Fire (and lived to tell about it).
Sky diving

The consequence of failure in jumping out of an airplane with a parachute is death. Even when properly trained, the fear can be great. The percentage of ski-divers that actually get killed is small, but it still is quite a risk. The thrill-seekers that do it, get a tremendous rush of confidence.

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Swimming

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A person who is afraid of drowning can be very fearful if required to swim--even if he or she has been properly taught and can easily swim in shallow water. Taking a jump into deep water and actually swimming, despite the perceived threat of drowning, can be a brave move. That person will be confident to do it again, and that confidence can reflect in other activities.

Overcoming fear of being ridiculed

Most people can overcome the fear of ridicule by getting a track record of successes in the specific activity. The most common activity where people fear being ridiculed is in speaking to a group. The fear of public speaking can paralyze even a person who has been brave under extreme physical danger. The champion attitude about this is to make sure the ridicule never happens--or at the very least, to minimize the potential for ridicule. This does not mean to avoid the activity that has the potential consequence of ridicule if you fail. For example, in giving a speech or presentation in front of a group, you should prepare well enough that you are sure of doing a good job. You should also have some safety net in case your mind goes blank and you forget what you were going to say. And finally, have a demeanor that will not accept ridicule from others. For example, see Overcoming the Fear of Speaking to Groups.

Benefits of overcoming fear

Certainly, when you complete what you perceive as a dangerous task, you feel great about your achievement and about yourself. You have the confidence to be able to do activity again. You can sky-dive again or speak to the assembly again. you still may have some anxiety, but you are sure you will be able to succeed again. Your confidence from overcoming your fears can rub off in other--unrelated--areas. Being confident from jumping out of an airplane may rub off in being confident about cold-calling a potential customer.

Summary
People fear physical harm or ridicule. Sometimes the danger is not as bad as it seems. Taking a little step in overcoming the fear can go a long way in increasing your confidence and erasing other fears.

I WALKED ON FIRE (AND LIVED TO TELL ABOUT IT)

Motivational speaker Tony Robbins gained his fame in the mid 1990s through his "Fire Walking Seminar" that showed people how they could overcome their fears, and then demonstrated that fact by getting them to walk barefooted across a bed of red-hot coals. I went to one of his seminars, walked on fire, and lived through the experience. Questions you may have include: What does fire-walking have to do with fears? How is it possible to walk on hot coals without getting hurt? What lessons can be learned concerning overcoming fears? This lesson will answer those questions.

How I learned about fire walk

A number of years ago, when I was living in Los Angeles but visiting my parents in Milwaukee, I saw a report on the NBC Evening News about people walking on fire. Tom Brokaw started the report with, "Only in California..." He went on to show people at a seminar walking on hot coals in their bare feet. I thought, "Boy, isn't that nuts?"

Met some fire walkers

On my flight back home to Los Angeles, I met a couple who were going to Hawaii to go sky diving. They said they had recently walked on fire, and now they wanted to try something else more challenging. When I told them I had seen something about the fire walk on television, they said I should try it myself. "Try it. You'll like it," they encouraged. Then they gave me the telephone number of a fellow named Tony Robbins, who was running these Fire Walk Seminars.

Things fell into place

When I got home, I called the number. A woman told me that they would be having their last fire walk that Friday, before going on the road. It would be in Santa Monica, just a few miles from where I lived. If I wasn't satisfied (or too severely burned) I could get my money back. Isn't it amazing how some things just fall into place, like they were meant to happen? That is what they call synchronicity. (Carl Jung coined the term synchronicity to describe meaningful coincidences that conventional notions of chance cannot explain. A good book on the subject is Synchronicity by Combs and Holland, Paragon House, 1990.) So, I signed up.

The Fire Walk Seminar

The Fire Walk Seminar consisted of the Friday night fire walk and then two days of material on the neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) method of personal improvement. NLP is a set of tools for modeling human excellence, with special emphasis on patterns of communication. It was created by Richard Bandler in the 1970s. A classic text on NLP is Influencing with Integrity by Genie Laborde, Syntony Publishing, 1984. The seminar leader, Tony Robbins, emphasized that the seminar was not about walking on fire. Rather, it was a metaphor for overcoming your fears and for improving yourself.

Could see them preparing hot coals

While Robbins was running us through various confidence-building exercises, his crew was building a huge bonfire within our view outside. I started to have second thoughts.

Had to sign form with lawyer

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At midnight, after signing release forms with his lawyer, in case we became seriously burned (how's that for a confidence builder?), we lined up outside. There was a path 6 feet wide and 20 feet long of glowing, red-hot embers.

I'm not that foolish

No way was I going to be so foolish to walk across those babies! But somehow I found myself in the line, and soon it was my turn. Robbins told me to concentrate on something cool. He told me to chant "Cool moss" over and over. "And don't look down!"

I felt like a champion

So I started walking across those hot embers. I barely felt a cinder. Then as I got to the end, I yelled out in celebration. That was part of the ceremony. And I felt like a champion. I had overcome a scary challenge and achieved a difficult goal. Hey, I was a champion!

How is it possible?
There were many scientific studies about how people can walk on glowing cinders without getting their feet burned. The answer finally came out that it wasn't mind-over-matter as Robbins and others had claimed. It also wasn't that fear caused the soles of your feet to sweat, thus protecting you, as the newspapers reported. Rather, the answer could be explained by simple physics. The wood used had a very low rate of heat exchange, such that the embers were red hot on the inside but relatively cool on the surface. As you walked across the coals, you were never on a cinder long enough for the heat to burn your feet. If a material that had a higher rate of heat exchange, such as coal or aluminum, you would be severely burned.

Lessons from this story

Fire walking is one of many ways people can overcome fears. There are seminars and camps where people skydive, climb mountains, and walk among snakes. What is important is the message presented along with the challenge. Some things seem to be meant to happen, according to the chain of events. Overcoming a fear can make you feel like a champion. A big build-up can make something safe seem dangerous. There are scientific explanations for many mysterious phenomena, and you must separate them from the mystical explanations that people like to hear.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
DEALING WITH PROBLEMS
There are many ways to solve personal and work problems that have been written by great thinkers of the past and best-selling authors of today. Often words written two thousand years ago are more effective than words written today, perhaps because they have withstood the test of time. This lesson will provide some ideas concerning overcoming problems and challenges.

Tips and thoughts

Problems or difficulties can cause worrying.

Difficulties
Ancient Roman writer Lucius Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD) wrote, "Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body."

Cut down worrying

To cut down on worrying about making a decision, analyze the situation, determine what must be done and carry it out. In writing or on your PC: Get all the facts. Describe the problem in detail. List all the possible solutions. List the advantages and disadvantages of each. Detail what you will do. Follow through.

Consider all viewpoints

With personal and work problems, consider all viewpoints, even those you initially do not want to consider. Take step one and move slowly to complete the first task, after which the next steps will become easier. Doesnt mountain climb over molehills.

Have a goal
"Our plans miscarry if they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind." Lucius Seneca

After decision is made

Often we will still worry after the decision is made, which of course is of no help at all. "When once a decision is made and execution is the order of the day, dismiss absolutely all responsibility and care about the outcome." William James (1842-1910)

Rejection
Rejection can be an unpleasant experience, but it just lets us know that we are imperfect human beings, and it is a chance to learn something. We have to let it go by as easily as we can and confidently carry on.

Summary
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"What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing." Aristotle

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THREE AREAS FOR BEING A CHAMPION

The overall goal of striving for personal excellence is to become a champion in life. There are three major areas that you can become a champion. The most obvious is by winning a competition. However, you can also be considered a champion by achieving a difficult goal and by being a champion to others through a worthy cause. Questions you may have include: How dpes winning make you feel like a champion? How does achieving a goal make you feel like a champion? How can you be a champion to others?

Winning a competition
When you win a competition, you are considered "the champion" in that contest. This has more value if it is a larger competition, such that you could be even considered "the world's champion." It is showing that you are the best in that type of contest whether it is a sporting competition, business competition, or contest for the best test score at school. Winning a competition means that you are not only trying to show that you are better than the other person, but in many cases, you are actually trying to prevent the other person from succeeding, according to the rules of the game.

Competitions
Some examples of trying to win include proving you can run faster than the others in a track meet, beating the other person in a tennis game, getting the top grade in a chemistry test, beating the competition in getting a date with a popular girl, getting a job over the other applicant, and overcoming the competition in establishing your business.

The champion
Winning is a difficult task to achieve. Winning gives you the feeling of being superior. You are the champion, the best--or at least better than your competitors.

Achieving goals or tasks

There are times that you have a difficult or even dangerous task that you want or need to complete. After achieving such a task, you usually feel like a champion.

Examples of activities
Examples of difficult goals may be to graduate from college, to speak before a group of important businessmen, or even to complete painting your house. Dangerous activities may be to skydive or to ski down a hazardous slope.

Achieving your objective

Setting a specific goal with a deadline, planning out your activities, and then being persistent enough to complete the project successfully is the way you can achieve your objective. There is usually some motivation for you to perform this task, whether it is a requirement of your job, to get something you want, or simply as a challenge to see if you can do it.

Feel great from achievement

Upon reaching your objective and completing this difficult task, most people really feel great about their accomplishment. There is the elation and celebration of completion. There is also the feeling of confidence that you could do something similar again. You feel good about yourself. You feel sure. You feel like a champion.

Getting rewards from others

When you perform a task or do some work for someone else, and the person gives you a reward, it can make you feel like a champion. Money is nice, but getting recognition and praise is what will make you feel great. The thing is that you can make all the money in the world, but it will not make you a champion or let you feel like one--although it can help. The whole idea here is that you want to be acknowledged and feel important. That is what makes you feel like a champion. That is what gives you more confidence and esteem when dealing with others. The problem is that praise is never guaranteed. You can do the best job in the world and never get praise or recognition. The best thing is to accept praise or recognition or applause from others as something extra. Also, appreciate it when you get it.

Summary
You can feel like a champion by completing a difficult task, by being important or valuable to others, or by proving yourself superior to others. The first two achievements can be lasting, while the last--winning or defeating an opponent--can be fleeting.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON BECOMING A CHAMPION

People have had questions about the philosophy of being a champion in their various endeavors. This document will try to answer these frequently asked questions. Questions you may have include: What is a champion? What are some examples of champions? What are the steps to become a champion? This lesson will answer those questions.

What is a champion?
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a winner someone who does his best a person who is proud of his accomplishments someone who gets recognition a success But we will use a slightly different definition of the word: A champion is a person, a team, or an organization that succeeds in gaining or achieving a difficult goal and is proud of that achievement.

How can a business or company be a champion?

Any business or organization can promote a philosophy that results in achieving goals and having its members feel part of that achievement and good about it.

Do you always have to be first to be a champion?

No. If a person exceeds his expectations in a competition such that he feels proud of his performance and accomplishment, then he will feel like a champion, even though he may not have won the competition.

Do you have to compete to be a champion?

Not necessarily. To become the champion, you must win an organized competition, but to be a champion, you simply have to feel proud of your achievement.

Who determines if you are a champion?

You alone determine that you are a champion.

What about other people's opinions?

If others acknowledge that you are a champion, you feel ever better yet.

Who are some examples of champions?

We've seen many who have overcome obstacles to reach their goals. Athletics is one area that is in the spotlight for examples. But quite often people who feel like champions are unsung heroes, because they may not necessary get the spotlight from winning.

Are there some bad examples of champions?

There are many examples of winners who taunt those they defeated. There are also world champions who are disgruntled in their victory because of one thing or another. Such a person may be the champion or the winner, but he is not a champion because of his attitude. Much of this attitude is learned from the negative philosophy that states, "Win at all costs."

What are some bad attitudes that people who don't succeed have?
1. 2. 3. Lack of work ethic; no commitment No self-reliance; don't have control of life or of situation Negative thinking; low esteem and confidence

Does America need champions?

Yes. America needs you to become a champion. And you can become a champion today.

What are the steps to become a champion?

1. 2. Set a goal that will make you a champion. Make sure you achieve your goal: o Make preparations for achieving the goal, o Establish the proper attitudes to implement your plans, o Implement your plans. Then congratulate yourself on the outcome. Having a challenging goal, Overcoming difficulties and achieving that goal, and Being proud of the achievement.

3. 1. 2. 3. 1.

What are important factors in becoming a champion?

What is a procedure to set a championship goal?

Pick an area in which to succeed o sports o business o personal 2. Consider some specific activity in which you would like to be real good at, the best, or number one. Write that down. 3. Select some specific achievement related to that activity that would make you feel great to accomplish. Upon achieving that goal, you will feel like a champion.

How do you make sure you achieve your goal?

1. 2. 3. Make preparations for achieving your goal. Establish the proper attitudes for achieving the goal. Implement your plans. Put together a plan of action Make a schedule or timetable for your actions Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

What sort of preparation would you make?

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1. 2. 3. 1. Commit to fulfilling the requirements Use tools and methods that will help you excel and succeed Feel committed to achieve your goal. Feel in control of the situation. Feel confident in your ability to achieve the goal. Visualize rewards for: o desire o enthusiasm o motivation. Prioritize actions for focus. Dedicate to: o work hard o give out extra effort o do your best Seeing yourself enjoying the outcome will motivate you to make the commitment required. You feel determined and enthusiastic. You're ready to work hard to get what you want. You get focused. Love what you're doing. Physical conditioning helps vitality. Putting God in your life gives you enthusiasm. Study the conditions and requirements. Make plans and steps to take. Break the task into smaller units. Learn to use any tools and methods that will help you succeed. Get the attitude of self-reliance. Recall the times when you have succeeded in something similar. Practice succeeding on smaller tasks, building toward the major. Acknowledge your abilities. Be a champion at smaller levels. Have positive expectancy. Move with sureness and momentum.

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What are the proper attitudes required for success?

How do you become committed to achieve your goal?

2. 3.

What does visualizing yourself reaping the fruits result in?

1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

How do you get enthusiasm in general?

How do you get control of the situation?

How do you get confidence in your ability to achieve the goal?

How do you implement your plans?

Do it one step at a time until you reach your goal.

How do you congratulate yourself on becoming a champion?

Acknowledge the achievement. Pat yourself on the back. Say to yourself, "Good job."

When should you congratulate yourself?

All the time. Congratulate yourself on your: past successes little achievements major accomplishments

Why should you congratulate yourself?

1. 2. 3. 4. This is where you get to feel like a champion. By patting yourself on the back, you confirm you are proud of your accomplishment. By acknowledging your success, victory, or achievement, you feel good about yourself and the situation. By congratulating yourself, you feel elated at your success.

What are common situations where people don't acknowledge success?

Too often we've been champions but haven't realized it. We've done things to be proud of, but we haven't acknowledged it. People have praised us, but we didn't appreciate it. How often has somebody given you praise, and you said, "Oh, it was nothing." Why do people do that? Why not accept the praise and feel good about it?

Summary
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These questions and their answers should help you understand the philosophy behind the School for Champions and should guide you in becoming a champion yourself.

C-FORMULA FOR CHAMPIONS

Overcoming tough obstacles and achieving a difficult goal can make you feel great--like a champion. One of the strategies to organize your efforts and overcome obstacles in reaching success consists of several distinct steps, which include defining the goal, concentrating, and completing the objective. Since so many of the steps start in the letter "C", we've called this the CFormula. Questions you may have include: What is the C-Formula? What are the specifics of each step? What is most important in this? This lesson will answer those questions.

The C-Formula
There are some distinct steps a person can take in order to achieve a difficult goal and become a champion. Some of these steps are actions and some are attitudes to maintain. The C-Formula to become a Champion consists of:
1. 2. 3. Define a CHALLENGE, Make a COMMITMENT, CONTROL the situation, a. COMPLETE a part, b. CONGRATULATE yourself, c. Gain CONFIDENCE, CONCENTRATE on completion, and CELEBRATE achievement to feel like a CHAMPION.

4. 5.

Details of steps
Although the C-Formula is relatively easy to remember, you should know what each step means..

1. Define a Challenge
First of all, you should set a challenging goal that you want to achieve. Just setting a goal isn't good enough. It must be welldefined. Also, if it is challenging, you will be stretched. It must be a goal that you will feel great when you achieve it. Write down some challenging goals you have that would make you feel great to achieve. Setting a challenge is the first action you must take to become a champion. It gives you the motivation to proceed.

2. Make a Commitment
The next step, which is the first attitude you must have, is to be committed to achieving your goal. Commitment is required to really achieve anything. A great source of this commitment comes from your motivation. Visualize reaping the rewards of your achievement and the great feeling you will have. This should excite you and move you to be more resolved in going after your goal. You should be getting enthusiastic about it.

3. Control the Situation

Next, you must get control of the situation. This is done by planning and making preparations. You want to study what is required to achieve your goal. You want to get your plan of action together, as well as a schedule or time-table. Any type of difficult task can be made simpler by breaking it into smaller steps. This is another way to get control of the situation.
a. Complete a Part

In controlling the situation, you have broken the task into small parts. Make sure you complete each part that you have started.
b. Congratulate Yourself

Upon completing a part, congratulate yourself on your achievement, no matter how small. This is a very important part of this process. Little congratulations and acknowledgment of completing a task builds your confidence and enthusiasm. Tell yourself, "Nice job," "Good work," "That's the way to go," or such.
c. Gain Confidence

Then you want to have the feeling of confidence in your ability to achieve the goal. One way to get confidence is to recall similar achievements you have had. You also get confident by practicing. Another way is to succeed in smaller goals, working your way up to the bigger ones. Then you become sure of your ability. You know that you're good in what you do. You have self worth. A third way to feel confident is simply to act like a confident person. By simply acting confident, you become confident to a degree.

4. Concentrate on Completion
Throughout your effort, you should concentrate on achieving your goal. Think of what you want to achieve upon completion. Continue on to the next step and repeat the process, as necessary until completion.

5. Celebrate Achievement
After completing each step, you should celebrate, even if just mentally. Say "Hooray! I did it!" Give yourself a little reward. Then congratulate yourself on the good job you did. Pat yourself on the back. "Good job, Ron." Then you feel like a champion. You are a champion!

Most Important Steps

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The most important steps in the C-Formula are Celebrating and Congratulating each minor achievement. By doing this, you reenforce your feelings of Commitment and Confidence. This feedback loop continues to re-enforce those attitudes with each step, such that you build up a momentum toward achieving your goal.

Summary
Remember to follow the C-Formula to become a Champion to yourself. Or if you're in a competition, you can become the Champion to others. Now, celebrate finishing this lesson.

VALUE OF CONCENTRATION
An important factor in being able to complete any task relates to your ability to concentrate on that task. A problem many people have is that they become easily distracted such that they do not focus at the task at hand. They do not finish what they want to do. They do not succeed in achieving their goal and do not become champions. Questions you may have include: What is concentration? Can you learn concentration? Who needs concentration? This lesson will answer those questions.

Focus
Concentration is a focus on what you are doing, such that you don't get side-tracked or distracted by things that are not important.

Michael Jordan
Basketball star Michael Jordan is a prime example of the power of concentration and focus. Obviously, he has tremendous talent, but it is his focus on winning the game that gives him his true greatness. He is tenacious--like a bulldog--in his pursuit of excellence.

In any activity
Such an attitude and skill can apply--not only in sports--but in any activity you pursue. One important area of concentration is seen when students study for an important test. Some will not allow themselves to be distracted. They are motivated to study in preparation for the test.

Requires skill and discipline

Concentration is a skill and a discipline. It is not easy to be able to concentrate on doing something when they may be all sorts of distractions and temptations going on around you. A good television show to watch or some friends that want to have you join them can tempt a weak person to lose his or her concentration on completing what is important.

Many need to concentrate

Who Needs to Concentrate? Just about everyone who wants to succeed. Students: Students need to concentrate and focus on completing a homework assignment, a project, or review for a test in order to excel in school, learn the subject, and get good grades. Athletes: Athletes need to concentrate on performance, execution, and strategy in order to do their best and overcome their opponent. Entrepreneurs: Entrepreneurs need to concentrate on all the factors involved in starting a new business and promoting their product or service. They need to do this in order to get their idea off the ground and make their enterprise into a profitable entity. Business leaders: Business leaders need to concentrate on their company mission, vision, and strategies, as well as the work at hand, in order to stay ahead of their competitors. Workers: Workers need to concentrate on their jobs and fulfilling their supervisor's goals, in order to complete projects and advance in their careers.

Summary
An important step in achieving difficult tasks, in overcoming obstacles, and in becoming a champion is to concentrate on what you are doing. Don't let distractions take you away from your goal and the rewards you seek.

U.S. MARINES' PHILOSOPHY ON BECOMING A CHAMPION

The Marines set some absolute standards for their people to follow: Tell the truth. Don't give up. Don't whine or make excuses. Do your best, no matter how trivial the task. Choose a difficult right over the easy wrong. Look out for the group before you look out for yourself. Judge others by their actions, not their words or their race. Following these standards make a person better and proud of him- or herself.

ONE TIME I WAS A CHAMPION

Lessons
You don't have to win to feel like a champion. It's the sense of achievement that makes you feel good. Collected & Edited By: Tanbir Rahman, Mobile: 0167-5464743, Email: [email protected]

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If you love something, don't let others discourage you. Keep trying. Study the successes of others to become inspired and to learn how to improve.

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