I get asked this often! Lots of reasons really but the most important one is I’ve always LOVED my ‘WORK’. First I  was a Mom then I started a Job Referral Service (People Power). Next a Montessori Teacher, then a Web Designer and Trainer: Sara Ohara.com and now ALSO a Bike Tour Guide: Scenic Cycle Tours.com. There were times in between but mostly if I wasn’t happy I just moved on. Try it, you’ll love it! And Steve Jobs agrees with me!

Whether or not you realize it turns out that talking to yourself is actually a quality of highly successful people.

In the book “Think and Grow Rich,” Napoleon Hill, who spent 25 years studying the qualities of highly successful people, talks about how having faith in yourself is one of the most powerful of all the major positive emotions a person can develop.

But, the question is, how do you develop faith if you don’t yet have it?

Well, it’s simple. You develop faith through self talk by using affirmations.

Hill says, “Repetition of affirmations to your subconscious mind is the only known method of voluntary development of the emotion of faith.”

Hill goes on to say, “It is a well-known fact that one comes to believe whatever one repeats to one’s self, whether the statement be true or false.”

This is why repeating affirmations to yourself are one of the most effective tools for quickly becoming the person you need to be to achieve everything you want in your life.

It’s no coincidence that successful individuals like Will Smith, Jim Carrey, Suze Orman, Muhammad Ali, Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey, and many more, have all used affirmations as a tool to help them on their journey to success.

Remember, we believe what we tell ourselves. So, if you don’t consciously design your daily affirmations to be more positive, then you will fail to develop the mindset that you need to take any area of your life to the next level.

How you talk to yourself on a daily basis will have a dramatic influence on your level of success in every area of your life, whether it’s happiness, health, finance, love, confidence, etc.

Thanks for your Wisdom Vincent Carlos

Kevin Kruse recently interviewed over 200 ultra-productive people including seven billionaires, 13 Olympians, 20 straight-A students and over 200 successful entrepreneurs. He asked a simple, open-ended question, “What is your number one secret to productivity?” After analyzing all of their responses, he coded their answers into 9 unique ideas. My additions are in RED

1: Energy is everything.
You can’t make more minutes in the day, but you can increase your energy which will increase your attention, focus, decision making, and overall productivity. Highly successful people don’t skip meals, sleep or breaks in the pursuit of more, more, more. Instead, they view food as fuel (remember protein improves your ability to learn and concentrate, reduces brain fog and boosts your energy level), and sleep as recovery.

2: They touch things only once.
If it takes less than 5 or 10 minutes they’ll deal with it right then and there. It reduces stress since it won’t be in the back of their mind, and is more efficient since they won’t have to re-read or evaluate the item again in the future. I’ve been doing this ever since I started my first business. How many times have you opened a piece of regular mail—a bill perhaps—and then put it down only to deal with it again later? How often do you read an email, and then close it and leave it in your inbox to deal with later? Highly successful people try to “touch it once.”

3: They focus only on one thing.
Tom Ziglar, CEO of Ziglar Inc., shared, “Invest the first part of your day working on your number one priority that will help build your business.” What task will have the biggest impact on reaching your goal?

4: They say “no” to almost everything.
Billionaire Warren Buffet once said, “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.” And James Altucher colorfully gave me this tip, “If something is not a “hell, YEAH! Then it’s a “no!” Remember, you only have 1,440 minutes in every day. Don’t give them away easily.

5: They avoid meetings at all costs.
When I asked Mark Cuban to give me his best productivity advice, he quickly responded, “Never take meetings unless someone is writing a check.” Meetings are notorious time killers. They start late, have the wrong people in them, meander in their topics and run long. You should get out of meetings whenever you can, hold fewer of them yourself, and if you do run a meeting, keep it short.

6: They process email only a few times a day.
Ultra-productive people don’t “check” email throughout the day. They don’t respond to each vibration or ding to see who has intruded their inbox. Instead, they schedule time to process their email quickly and efficiently. For some that’s only once a day, for me, it’s morning, noon and night.

7: They don’t use to-do lists.
Throw away your to-do list; instead schedule everything on your calendar. It turns out only 41% of items on to-do lists are ever actually done. Highly productive people put everything on their calendar and then work and live from that calendar. I highly recommend Google Calendar. It will be the same no matter what device you’re using.

8: They use a notebook.
Richard Branson has said on more than one occasion that he wouldn’t have been able to build Virgin without a simple notebook, which he takes with him wherever he goes. Ultra-productive people free their mind by writing everything down.

9: They make it home for dinner.
Andy Grove, “There is always more to be done, more that should be done, always more than can be done.” Highly successful people know what they value in life. Yes, work, but also what else they value. There is no right answer, but for many, values include: family time, exercise, giving back. They consciously allocate their 1,440 minutes a day to each area they value (i.e., they put it on their calendar) and then they stick to the schedule.

Thanks for your Wisdom Kevin Kruse

“After being fired from Apple the only thing that kept me going was I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. Your time is limited so don’t be trapped by living someone else’s life. STAY HUNGRY – STAY FOOLISH”

I sure did make the right decision 10 years ago when I decided to create websites ONLY in WordPress!

By some counts, more than 88 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as they would trust a personal recommendation from a friend or family member. Notes David Levy, COO and director of LNC Productions, “Testimonials open the door and invite your audience into the customer’s life. As a director, I make sure your audience can relate to the problem the person in the testimonial experienced, before using your product or service. If the audience relates to the problem they’ll also connect with the reviewer’s positive experience during and after using your product/service as well, thus effectively communicating your brand’s message.”

Collect reviews and testimonials any way you can, and present them throughout the site. It’s better if you can identify the source, such as by listing a personal reviewer from a major brand or taking video reviews from customers; but any reviews and testimonials can be helpful.

Thanks for your wisdom Jayson DeMers

People who talk for a living know how to walk it.

Muhammad Ali wasn’t just one of the best boxers of all time; he was also one of the best braggers. Bragging worked well for Ali’s career, but for most people it’s a different story. You already know that. And you also already know not to boast around the office.

“When you boast about an accomplishment, you announce it. You simply state what you’ve achieved.”

But that may mean you err too much on the other side and, like many people, fear that sharing your accomplishments amounts to bragging about them. So you keep quiet, even when you shouldn’t—like on job interviews and during performance reviews. Sometimes getting better at talking (tactfully) about yourself in work settings starts by knowing the difference between a few key behaviors you’re afraid of confusing.

Here’s a look at four of them that the best public speakers, tasked with talking about themselves all the time, have mastered.

1. ANNOUNCING VERSUS REVEALING
When you boast about an accomplishment, you announce it. You simply state what you’ve achieved, usually in bright, shining terms. But great speakers know that these displays of brilliance are often a little too bright for an audience—they pull back, shielding themselves.

When you share, on the other hand, you invite your audience to take a closer look. Think of pulling back the curtain and letting people see for themselves. Just as fiction writers are taught to “show, don’t tell,” you need to describe your accomplishments instead of just stating them.

For example, if you met a significant sales goal, bragging about it would sound like this:

I sold more than any other salesperson in the company. We have over 150 salespeople, and I sold the most.

Sharing, on the other hand, might sound like this:

Some people have dreams of being doctors, lawyers, or scientists. My dream has been to be a great salesperson. Today, I realized that dream.

One is approach is declarative, the other narrative. The most effective speakers favor the latter.

2. HIGHLIGHT COMMONALITIES
When you brag, you emphasize the differences between you and your audience. Your goal is to show how special your life is—you’re up here, they’re down there. You were the one who worked harder than everyone else. You were smarter, more cunning. You had more courage. Like shooting a video with a wide-angle lens, you drive your audience toward the margins of the frame.

But when you share, you still talk about your achievements, but you add comments that connect your audience to them. Sharing means you want whoever you’re speaking with to feel included, like they’re a part of your success. Like a zoom lens, you bring your audience closer to you.

For example, if you’re talking about your academic credentials, bragging would sound like this:

I graduated from Harvard Law—top of my class, too!

Sharing, on the other hand, would sound like this:

Like many of you, I’ve had the benefit of receiving a great education. And like you, when the door of opportunity opens, I rush in and push harder. I like to win. I worked hard to graduate from Harvard, and even harder to graduate at the top of my class.

3. OFFER INSIGHT, DON’T JUST SEEK ADMIRATION
When your goal is simply to boast, you’re trying to get others to appreciate what you’ve done. So you center your comments on your feelings and your experience—it’s all about you. This often backfires. But when you share, your goal is to give others a window into an experience that was powerful for you but offers some insight for them, too.

I recently attended an event where I sat with the new CEO of a Fortune 50 company. If I was bragging, I might say something like this:

I sat next to [CEO], and he spent the entire event talking to me! Imagine that—everybody in the room wanted to talk to him, but he chose to talk to me.

Kind of makes your skin crawl, right? But if I was sharing, I’d approach it very differently:

I had the opportunity to sit next to [CEO]. I asked him, “What’s changed now that you’re CEO?” He told me, “Now, every move I make is a big deal. Everything gets scrutinized.” It made me think about how critical self-awareness is for all leaders and the shift in mind-set it takes to maintain it once you’re pushed further into the spotlight.

Now it’s not about me hobnobbing with high-level execs, it’s about a common challenge that lots of people experience, which that interaction illustrates. Great speakers know to connect their personal stories with an idea that others can relate to—even if they haven’t experienced the exact same thing.

4. DON’T BE THE HERO, BE ONE OF MANY HEROES
When you brag, you’re telling the story of how you became Superman or Superwoman. You’re the protagonist, and every detail of the account is meant to make sure your audience understands that.

When you share, on the other hand, you’re still an important part of the story, but you’re not the only hero worth talking about. You’re more like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings—he’s the main character, sure, but you can’t tell his story without Sam and Gandalf and a supporting cast of other key players.

So single-hero bragging might sound like this:

I’m a turnaround expert. I can go into a store and instantly know what’s broken. I see the signs of dysfunction. I know how to pull the levers to fix the problems.

Sharing would sound more like this:

I’m a turnaround expert. When I walk into a store, I focus on listening to the people. Fixing a store is not about turning screws; it’s about understanding what the team has been going through and getting to the root of their ideas.

That doesn’t mean being patronizing—just paying lip service to others—or adopting false modesty. It’s about knowing your place in the bigger story, where others unavoidably factor in already. In order to boast, you’ve got to exclude them from what you say. As the most effective speakers know, being inclusive—connecting with others—is the only real way to deliver a message.

Thanks for your Wisdom Anett Grant

Exercise helps your waistline, but did you know it can also help your financial bottom line?

A new study conducted by researchers from leading universities and hospitals in the United States found that just 30 minutes of moderate exercise, done five times a week, can save you $2500 a year.

The New York Times summarized the study, which was published in the September issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association. Researchers analyzed data from more than 26,000 men and women around the country, looking at time lost from work, insurance claims, health care billings and other costs that the researchers determined were most likely caused by people being sedentary.

It’s important to note that this study focused only on expenses related to cardiovascular disease. The total cost savings from being active could be much higher.

Consider that for a moment. For 30 minutes of moderate exercise, five days a week – 150 minutes total – you can save $2500 or more – in just one year! In other words, you could recoup the one-time investment cost of an ElliptiGO 8C – or two ElliptiGO Arcs. And the bike will help you maintain that fitness, and build your savings, year after year.

Research Demonstrates Efficacy of ElliptiGO Exercise

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) also recommends that adults engage in a minimum of 150 minutes of aerobic activity per week. The ACSM suggests this can be divided into 30-minute bouts of moderate-intensity activity five days per week or 20-minute bouts of vigorous activity on three days of the week.

With those guidelines in mind, a research team affiliated with the American Council on Exercise (ACE) put 16 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 45 through a battery of tests to determine the efficacy of ElliptiGO bikes in achieving the fitness standard. According to the ACE report, ElliptiGO riding aced the tests.

What’s more, the researchers were impressed by how much fun the study participants reported having while riding the ElliptiGO bike.

Exercise Helps Keep Fat From Forming

Exercise does more than just keep you fit and help you to lose weight. According to another recent study, this one published in Medical News Today, the simple act of exercising causes the body to release a natural hormone called irisin that not only helps the body shed fat, but also prevents fat from forming in the first place.

Dr. Li-Jun Yang, director of the research, said, “Exercise produces more irisin, which has many beneficial effects including fat reduction, stronger bones, and better cardiovascular health. Instead of waiting for a miracle drug, you can help yourself by changing your lifestyle.”

The message is simple, and you hear it all the time – exercise helps you get and stay healthy.  If that weren’t enough to convince you to do it, now you have the added incentive of saving big money! If you aren’t already getting at least 150 minutes of good aerobic exercise each week, start now. Your waistline and bottom line will thank you.

Thanks for the Tips Elliptigo – someday I’ll get me one!

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