Today I want to share nine inspiring quotes that changed my life.  I’ve listed them below along with supplementary lessons I’ve learned about each one over the years.  I hope they inspire you just as they have inspired me.

1.  Intuition

“At times you have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.  What you’ll discover will be wonderful.  What you’ll discover is yourself.”  -Alan Alda

Your intuition is a gift.  It is your third eye – a way of seeing with your soul.  Pay attention to what it shows you.  More often than you realize, you have the answers you seek already inside you.  Your unconscious mind is the greatest source of your genius; you just have to pay attention.

Trusting your intuition is trusting your true self, and the more you trust your true self, the more control you have of making your goals and dreams come true.  Read 1,000 Little Things.

2.  Responsibility

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves.  The process never ends until we die.  And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”  -Eleanor Roosevelt

Don’t blame your parents, your friends, your teachers, your boss, or anyone else.  Blame yourself and then do something about it.  If something isn’t right and needs to change in your life, you’re the only one who can make that change.

The trajectory of your life is directly proportional to the strength of your choices.  To say you have no choice is to relieve yourself of all the responsibility and control you have over your life, which is another way of saying, “I don’t care.  I give up.”

3.  Expectation

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.”  -Alexander Pope

As you get older you will find that life isn’t necessarily any easier or harder than you thought it was going to be; it’s just that the easy and the hard aren’t exactly the way you had anticipated, and don’t always occur when you expect them to.  This isn’t a bad thing; it makes life interesting.  With a positive attitude you will always be pleasantly surprised.

When you stop expecting things to be a certain way, you can appreciate them for what they are.  Ultimately you will realize that life’s greatest gifts are rarely wrapped the way you expected.  Read The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.

4.  Small Steps

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”  -Desmond Tutu

All the skills and understanding necessary for achievement will not be fully available to you when you first start a new endeavor.  But once you start, you will build the necessary skills and understanding as you need them.

Do not overwhelm yourself by thinking about the entire project.  Instead, focus on the one particular action step you can take right now.  Give your best to the task at hand.  Build what you can with what you have, and as you acquire additional resources, build upon what you have already built.  Read How to Get What You Want.

5.  Questions vs. Answers

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”  -Voltaire

Life is filled with unanswered questions, but it is the courage to ask enough of the right ones that ultimately leads you to an understanding of yourself and your purpose.

You can spend your life wallowing in sorrow by asking negative questions like, “Why me?”  Or you can be grateful that you survived – that you’re still strong enough to breathe, walk and think for yourself – and then ask, “Where do I want to go next?”

6.  Focus

“Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want.  No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.”  -Paulo Coelho

Raindrops falling gently over a wide, sprawling area will always yield to the obstructions present in the landscape.  Yet when these raindrops are concentrated into the mighty force of a river, they have the power to cut through nearly any obstruction imaginable.

In the same way, when your thoughts, feelings and actions are concentrated on a clear and consistent purpose, nothing can hold you back.  The roadblocks standing in your way are no match for your focused, unwavering purpose.  Give your life a decided advantage over all the obstacles you encounter by living each moment in the service of a meaningful purpose.

7.  Relationships

“Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.”  -J.K. Rowling

When it comes to relationships, be careful not to continuously doubt the positives and ignore the negatives.  You likely do this more often than you think.  For instance, you will say to your partner dozens of times:  Do you really love me?  Are you sure?  And ask similar questions that doubt the existence of their love.  But you will rarely ask:  Does this upset you?  Are you sure?  And similar questions that have the potential to resolve conflict before it starts.

This imbalance creates tension on both sides of the equation.  The positive things become more burdensome while the negatives fester in the background, unresolved.  Bottom line:  Have faith in the positives as you work on turning the negatives around.  Read The 5 Love Languages.

8.  Humility

“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.”  -Michel de Montaigne

If you become impressed with your own importance, you will cease to be impressive regardless of how successful you are.  Anyone who must announce that they are great rarely is.

True greatness and admiration is earned when you spend your time listening and learning rather than boasting and preening.  Let go of the need to be better than anyone else.  Humility is a virtue that will carry you far.  When you free yourself from the crushing demands of your ego, you free yourself to be your very best.

9.  Life Experience

“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.”  -Rita Mae Brown

Experience is what you get when your plans don’t go as planned, and experience is the most valuable commodity you own – it builds your strength.

You have the power to turn your wounds and worries into wisdom; you just have to do something about them.  You have to accept what has happened and use what you’ve learned to step forward.  Everything you’ve experienced has given you the upper hand for dealing with everything you have yet to experience.  Realize this and set yourself free.

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These questions have no right or wrong answers.

Because sometimes asking the right questions is the answer.

1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?
3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
11. You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire.  They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend.  The criticism is distasteful and unjustified.  What do you do?
12. If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
13. Would you break the law to save a loved one?
14. Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
15. What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
16. How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
17. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do?  What’s holding you back?
18. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
19. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?
20. Do you push the elevator button more than once?  Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
21. Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
22. Why are you, you?
23. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
24. Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?
25. What are you most grateful for?
26. Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
27. Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
28. Has your greatest fear ever come true?
29. Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset?  Does it really matter now?
30. What is your happiest childhood memory?  What makes it so special?
31. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?
32. If not now, then when?
33. If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?
34. Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?
35. Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?
36. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
37. If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
38. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
39. Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
40. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
41. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
43. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
46. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
47. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
48. What do you love?  Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
49. In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday?  What about the day before that?  Or the day before that?
50. Decisions are being made right now.  The question is:  Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?

Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

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We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
- Aristotle

Scientists have suggested that, with a little willpower, it takes roughly 30 days for a person to form a new habit.  As with mastering anything new, the act of starting and getting beyond the preliminary stage where everything feels awkward is 80% of the battle.  This is precisely why it’s important to make small, positive changes every day over the course of at least a 30 day period.

It’s like the old saying:  “How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.”  The same philosophy holds true for making changes in your life.  Trying to bite off more than you can chew will only make you choke.  But taking smaller, manageable bites, one at a time – eating a little healthier, exercising a little, creating some simple productive habits, for example – is an amazing way to make positive changes and get excited about life.

And when you start small like this, you won’t need a lot of motivation either.  The simple act of getting started and doing something will give you the momentum you need, and soon you’ll find yourself in a positive spiral of changes – one building on the other.  When I started doing this in my life, I was so excited about it that I started this blog to share it with the world.

Below you will find 30 challenges to be accomplished over the course of 30 days.  If carried out diligently each of them has the potential to create a new positive habit in your life.  Yes, there is some slight overlap between a few of them.  And no, you don’t have to attempt all at once.  Pick 2 to 5 and commit the next 30 days, wholeheartedly, to successfully completing the challenge.  Then once you feel comfortable with these habits, challenge yourself with a few more the following month.

1. Use words that encourage happiness. – Typically, when I ask someone “How are you?” they reply, “I’m fine” or “I’m okay.”  But one lazy Monday afternoon last month a new colleague of mine replied, “Oh, I am fabulous!”  It made me smile, so I asked him what was making him feel so fabulous and he said, “I’m healthy, my family is healthy, and we live in a free country.  So I don’t have any reason not to be happy.”  The difference was simply his attitude and his choice of words.  He wasn’t necessarily any better off than anyone else, but he seemed twenty times happier.  Spend the next 30 days using words that encourage a smile.
2. Try one new thing every day. – Variety truly is the spice of life.  You can see or do something a million times, but you can only see or do it for the first time once.  As a result, first time experiences often leave reflective marks in our minds for the rest of our lives.  Make an effort to try something new every day for the next 30 days.  It can be a whole new activity or just a small experience, such as talking to a stranger.  Once you get the ball rolling many of these new experiences will open doors to life changing opportunities.
3. Perform one selfless act every day. – In life, you get what you put in.  When you make a positive impact in someone else’s life, you also make a positive impact in your own life.  Do something that’s greater than you, something that helps someone else be happy or suffer less.  I promise, it will be an extremely rewarding experience.  One you’ll likely remember forever.  Obviously your options here are limitless, but if you’re looking to assist an ordinary person in need without leaving your chair, check out GoFundMe.
4. Learn and practice one new skill every day. – Self-reliance is a vital key to living a healthy, productive life.  To be self-reliant one must master a basic set of skills, more or less making them a jack of all trades.  Contrary to what you may have learned in school, a jack of all trades is far more equipped to deal with life than a specialized master of only one.  And besides, learning new skills is fun.  Check out this article, this article, and this book.
5. Teach someone something new every day. – We all have natural strengths and talents that can dramatically help those around us.  What comes easy for you is no doubt challenging for others.  We tend to take these gifts for granted, often hardly noticing what we have to offer, and thus we rarely share them with others.  Inner happiness and zeal come from using these inherent gifts on a routine basis.  What do people thank you for?  What do people routinely ask for your help with?  Most people’s passions and talents help others in one way or another.  Perhaps for you it’s painting, teaching math, cooking a good meal or leading an exercise class.  For the next 30 days devote some time each day to sharing your talents and expertise.
6. Dedicate an hour a day to something you’re passionate about. – Take part in something you passionately believe in.  This could be anything.  Some people take an active role in their city council, some find refuge in religious faith, some join social clubs supporting causes they believe in and others find passion in their hobbies.  In each case the psychological outcome is the same.  They engage themselves in something they strongly believe in.  This engagement brings happiness and meaning into their lives.  Read Stumbling on Happiness.
7. Treat everyone nicely, even those who are rude to you. – Being nice to someone you dislike doesn’t mean you’re fake.  It means you’re mature enough to control your emotions.  Treat everyone with kindness and respect, even those who are rude to you – not because they’re nice, but because you are.  Do this for 30 days and I guarantee you’ll see the rudeness around you dissipate.
8. Concentrate on being positive at all times. – The real winners in life cultivate optimism.  They have the ability to manufacture their own happiness and drive.  No matter what the situation, the successful diva is the chick who will always find a way to put an optimistic spin on it.  She knows failure only as an opportunity to grow and learn a new lesson from life.  People who think optimistically see the world as a place packed with endless opportunities, especially in trying times.  Try to spend the next 30 days looking at the bright side of things.
9. Address and acknowledge the lesson in inconvenient situations. – It’s important to remember that everything is a life lesson.  Everyone you meet, everything you encounter, etc.  They’re all part of the learning experience we call ‘life.’  Never forget to acknowledge the lesson, especially when things don’t go your way.  If you don’t get a job you wanted or a relationship doesn’t work, it only means something better is out there waiting.  And the lesson you just learned is the first step toward it.  Over the next 30 days keep a written log of all the lessons life taught you.
10. Pay attention and enjoy your life as it happens. – When I watched the Academy Awards a few months ago I realized that most of the speeches actors and actresses make when they accept an award go something like this:  “This means so much so me.  My whole life has been leading up to this moment.”  But the truth is, our whole lives have been leading up to every moment.  Think about that for a second.  Every single thing you’ve gone through in life, every high, every low and everything in between, it has led you to this moment right now.  Ask yourself this:  How much of life are you actually living?  If you’re like most people, the answer is likely:  “Not enough.”  The key is to concentrate on a little less on doing and a little more on being.  Remember, right now is the only moment guaranteed to you.  Right now is life.  Spend the next 30 days living in the now, for real.
11. Get rid of one thing a day for 30 days. – We have so much clutter surrounding us at any given moment (at the office, in our cars, in our homes) and we’ve become so accustomed to it that we no longer notice how it affects us.  If you start cleaning up some of this external clutter, a lot of internal clutter will disappear as well.  Choose one needless item each and every day and get rid of it.  It’s that simple.  It might be difficult at first, so expect some resistance.  But after some time you will begin to learn to let go of your packrat tendencies, and your mind will thank you for your efforts.
12. Create something brand new in 30 days or less. – Creation is a process like none other.  Putting to use your innovative faculties and constructing something with your own two hands will leave you with an indescribable sense of wholeness.  There is no substitute for it.  The only caveat is that it must be related to something you actually care about.  If you are creating financial plans for clients all day and you hate it, that doesn’t really count.  But if you can find something you love, and create something related to it, it will make all the difference in your life.  If you haven’t created something in a while just for the sake of creating, do so.  Take the next 30 days and let your creativity run wild.
13. Don’t tell a single lie for 30 days. – With all the seemingly innocent, white lies that trickle out of us, this is way harder than it sounds.  But you can do it.  Stop deceiving yourself and others, speak from the heart, speak the whole truth.
14. Wake up 30 minutes early every morning. – Get up 30 minutes earlier than usual so you don’t have to rush around like a mad man.  That 30 minutes will help you avoid speeding tickets, tardiness and other unnecessary headaches.  Give it a legitimate try for 30 days straight and see how it impacts your life.
15. Ditch 3 bad habits for 30 days. – Do you eat too much fast food?  Do you play too many video games?  Do you argue with your siblings?  You know some of your bad habits.  Pick 3 and quit doing them for 30 days.  Period.
16. Watch less than 30 minutes of TV every day. – Entertain yourself with real-world experiences.  Great memories are the product of interesting life experiences.  So turn off the television (or the computer if that’s how you watch your TV programs) and get outdoors.  Interact with the world, appreciate nature, take notice of the simple pleasures life has to offer, and just watch as life unfolds in front of you.
17. Define one long-term goal and work on it for an hour every day. – Break your goal down into bite-sized pieces and focus on achieving each one piece at a time.  It really is all about taking baby steps, and taking the first step is often the hardest.  Spend an hour every day for the next 30 days working toward something you’ve always wanted to accomplish.  Take a small dream and make it a reality.  Read Getting Things Done.
18. Read one chapter of a good book every day. – With the Web’s endless stream of informative, easy-to-skim textual snippets and collaborative written works, people are spending more and more time reading online.  Nevertheless, the Web cannot replace the authoritative wisdom from certain classic books that have delivered (or will deliver) profound ideas around the globe for generations.  Books open doors, in your mind and in your life.  Read an online book list and find a good book to grab at the library today.  Then spend the next 30 days reading at least one chapter a day until you reach the end.  Here’s another book list.  And another.  And another.
19. Every morning, watch or read something that inspires you. – Sometimes all you need is a little pep talk.  For the next 30 days, before you eat breakfast, or leave the house, watch a motivational video or read something (quotation, blog post, short story, etc.) that inspires you.
20. Do something every day after lunch that makes you laugh. – Watch a funny video clip on YouTube, read your favorite comic strip, or find a good joke online.  A good chuckle stimulates the mind and can give you a renewed level on energy.  The best time for this laugh is during the lull in the mid-afternoon, when you need it most.
21. Go alcohol and drug free for 30 days. – This challenge depends on your individual circumstance.  If you are a heavy user of alcohol or a particular drug it is not recommended that you quit cold turkey.  You need to see a physician and ease off of the substance slowly.  But if you are a casual user, quit right now for 30 days.  If you’re looking for a natural energy boosting alternative to a substance, check out 50 Natural Ways To Boost Your Energy.
22. Exercise for 30 minutes every day for 30 days. – Your health is your life.  Don’t let it go.  Eat right, exercise and get an annual physical check-up.  The 4-Hour Body is an insightful and entertaining read on this topic.
23. Get uncomfortable and face a fear every day. – With a strategy of continuous small steps into uncomfortable territory we are often able to sidestep the biggest barrier to positive change:  Fear.  Sometimes we’re afraid we’ll fail.  Sometimes we’re subconsciously afraid we’ll succeed and then we’d have to deal with all the disruption (growth) and change that follows success.  And other times it’s our fear of rejection or simply our fear of looking like a fool.  The best way to defeat fear is to stare it down.  Connect to your fear, feel it in your body, realize it and steadily address it. Greet it by name if you have to: “Welcome, fear.”  Fear can be a guiding friend if you learn how to swallow it, and listen to it only when it serves its true purpose of warning you when you are in danger.  Spend an hour every day for the next 30 day’s addressing a fear that is holding you back.
24. Cook one brand new, healthy recipe every day. – Cooking is fun, challenges your mind, and if done correctly, provides vital nutrients to your body.  Win-Win-Win.  How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman is great tool for this challenge.  Packed with 900 pages of simple instructions on how to cook everything you could ever dream of eating, it’s pretty much the greatest cookbook ever written.  Prepare one new, healthy recipe every day for the next 30 days.
25. Spend 10 minutes every evening reflecting on what went well. – For the next 30 days spend 10 minutes every evening pondering the small successes that occurred during the course of the day.  This process of positive reflection will remind you of all the tiny blessings in your life, and help you to celebrate your personal growth.
26. Have a conversation every day with someone you rarely speak to. – People are interesting creatures, and no two people are exactly alike.  Interacting with different people will open your mind to fascinating ideas and perspectives.  So for the next 30 days strike up a conversation daily with someone you rarely speak to, or someone you’ve never met before.  Find out what makes them tick.
27. Pay down debt and don’t create any new debt for 30 days. – Live well below your means.  Don’t buy stuff you don’t need.  Sleep on big purchases.  Create a budget and savings plan and stick to them.  For the next 30 days pay for things in cash and micro-manage every cent you make and spend.  Read I Will Teach You To Be Rich.
28. Let go of one relationship that constantly hurts you. – Keep people in your life who truly love you, motivate you, encourage you, enhance you, and make you happy.  If you know people who do none of these things, let them go and make room for new positive relationships.  Over the next 30 days, if relevant to your situation, gradually let go of one person in your life who has been continuously hurting you and holding you back.
29. Publicly forgive someone who deserves another chance. – Sometimes good relationships end abruptly because of big egos and arguments based on isolated incidents.  If there’s someone in your life who truly deserves another chance, give it to them.  If you need to apologize too, do it.  Over the next 30 days give your story together a new chapter.
30. Document every day with one photograph and one paragraph. – For 30 days bring a camera with you wherever you go.  Do your best to take one photograph that represents a standout experience from each day.  Then, before you go to bed each night, write one paragraph in a notebook or journal that highlights your day.  If you do it all digitally you can unite your daily photograph and paragraph in one digital space (like a personal blog), which can be easily reviewed in the future.  Many moons from now these old photos and journal entries will ignite your recollection of interesting memories you would have otherwise forgotten.

As you progress through these challenges remember, personal growth is a slow, steady process.  It can’t be rushed.  You need to work on it gradually every day.  There is ample time for you to be who you want to be in life.  Don’t settle for less than what you think you deserve, or less than you know you can be.  Despite the struggles you’ll face along the way, never give up on yourself.  You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and twice as capable as you have ever imagined.

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There are a lot of skills you don’t need.  You can be happy and successful without knowing how to rebuild a car’s engine, program a web application, or replace drywall.  Sure, these are useful skills to have, but they aren’t absolutely necessary.

There are other skills, however, that can’t be avoided – skills that tie into various aspects of everyday life, that are not only useful, but totally indispensable.  For instance, you can’t get far in today’s world without being able to read or write.  And today the ability use a computer proficiently is simply assumed.

In this article we’re going to skip the super basic skills like reading, driving, and using a computer, and discuss twelve slightly more advanced skills that are woefully under-taught, and universally applicable.  Let’s take a look…

1.  Prioritizing and time management. – If success depends on effective action, effective action depends on the ability to focus your attention where it is needed most, when it is needed most.  This is the ability to separate the important from the unimportant, which is a much needed skill in all walks of life, especially where there are ever increasing opportunities and distractions.

    10 Time Management Tips that Work
    Time management and prioritization lessons from MindTools
    12 Things Highly Productive People Do Differently
    Book:  Getting Things Done

2.  Keeping a clean, organized space. – Successful people have systems in place to help them find what they need when they need it – they can quickly locate the information required to support their activities.  When you’re disorganized, that extra time spent looking for a phone number, email address or a certain file forces you to drop your focus.  Once it’s gone, it takes a while to get it back – and that’s where the real time is wasted.  Keeping both your living and working spaces organized is crucial.

    Decluttering Articles by Unclutterer
    Top 12 Organizing Tips and Resources
    Four Daily Routines: How I keep my house “clean enough”
    Book:  The Joy of Less

3.  Critical thinking and information analysis. – We are living in the information age where, on a daily basis, we are constantly exposed to an ever growing and rapidly changing pool of information.  Being able to evaluate this information, sort the valuable from the trivial, analyze its relevance and meaning, and relate it to other information is a priceless skill with universal applicability.

    Ten Takeaway Tips for Teaching Critical Thinking
    A Simple Guide to Critical Thinking
    10 Critical Thinking Traps and Tips
    Book:  Thinking, Fast and Slow

4.  Logical, informed decision making. – Decision making is simply knowing what to do based on the information available.  Being able to respond quickly and effectively with the information you have in your head is essential to accomplishing anything.

    Don’t Overthink It: 5 Tips for Daily Decision-Making
    13 Ways to Quickly Improve Your Decision-Making
    Geek to Live: Four ways to make a big decision
    Book:  Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions

5.  Using Google proficiently for online research. – You don’t have to know everything, but you should be able to quickly and painlessly find out what you need to know.  Google is a gateway to nearly infinite knowledge; it has indexed websites containing information on just about everything and everyone.  If you’re having trouble finding something using Google, it’s time to learn a few new tricks.

    Google Guide
    Google Advanced Search Operators
    Google Web Search Features
    Book:  Google Hacks

6. Basic accounting and money management. – It’s a simple fact that our modern society is governed by the constant exchange of money.  Money allows you to maintain a roof over your head and put food on the table each night.  Knowing how to properly manage your money – tracking and recording your expenses and income, saving and investing – is not only an important skill for thriving, it’s an important skill that helps you survive.

    10 Steps to Making a Financial Budget
    How To Make a Budget that Works
    Quick MBA - Financial Accounting 101
    Book:  The Total Money Makeover

7. Effective communication and negotiating. – Give the people in your life the information they need rather than expecting them to know the unknowable.  Don’t try to read other people’s minds, and don’t make other people try to read yours.  Most problems, big and small, within a family, friendship, or business relationship, start with bad communication.  Speak honestly, and then give others a voice and show them that their words matter.  And remember that compromise and effective negotiating are vital parts of effective communication.

    9 Steps to Better Communication Today
    Win-Win Negotiation - Finding a fair compromise.
    Active Listening - Hear what people are really saying.
    Book: People Skills

8. Relaxation. – Stress leads to poor health, poor decision-making, poor thinking, and poor socialization.  So be attentive to your stress level and take short breaks when you need to.  Slow down.  Breathe.  Give yourself permission to pause, regroup and move forward with clarity and purpose.  When you’re at your busiest, a brief recess can rejuvenate your mind and increase your productivity.  These short breaks will help you regain your sanity, and allow you to reflect on your recent actions so you can be sure they’re in line with your goals.

    10 Relaxation Techniques To Reduce Stress On-the-Spot
    Finding the Relaxation Exercises that Work for You
    37 Stress Management Tips
    Book: Wherever You Go, There You Are

9.  Proficient writing and note-taking. – The written word isn’t going away; it is used in every walk of life.  Learning to write proficiently so that others can understand you is critical.  Also, using your writing skills to take useful notes is one of the most productive things you can do, regardless of the task at hand.  Writing things down – taking notes – helps us remember what we hear, see, or read when we’re learning something new, or trying to remember something specific.

    34 Writing Tips That Will Make You a Better Writer
    English Grammar 101
    Top 5 Note-Taking Tips
    Book: On Writing Well

10. Relationship networking. – In a world dominated by constant innovation and information exchange, relationship networking creates the channel through which ideas and information flow, and in which new ideas are shared, discussed and perfected.  A large relationship network, carefully cultivated, can be leveraged to meet the right people, find jobs, build businesses, learn about new trends, spread ideas, etc.

    How to Network: 12 Tips for Shy People
    Steps to Easy Relationship Building
    Networking: Start Building Real Relationships
    Book: How to Win Friends and Influence People

11. Positivity. – Research shows that although we think that we act because of the way we feel, in fact, we often feel because of the way we act.  A great attitude always leads to great experiences.  People who think optimistically see the world as a place packed with endless opportunities, especially in trying times.  Be positive, smile, and make it count.  Pretend today is going to be great.  Do so, and it will be.

    How to Be Optimistic - Focus on the Positive
    10 Ways Happy People Choose Happiness
    Seven Simple Ways to Be More Positive
    Book: The How of Happiness

12. Self-discipline. – Self-discipline is a skill.  It is the ability to focus and overcome distractions.  It involves acting according to what you think instead of how you feel in the moment.  It often requires sacrificing the pleasure and thrill for what matters most in life.  Therefore it is self-discipline that drives you to succeed in the long-term.

    How to Build Self-Discipline
    Self-Discipline Explained and Explored
    12 Things Successful People Do Differently
    Book: Unleash the Warrior Within

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