Friday, January 31, 2014

Can we control our habits?

Dear...

We have and are forming habits every moment of our lives. Most of them are or will form unconsciously. Part of these habits are habits we desire others are habits we don't desire. Some, though not so bad in themselves, are exceedingly bad in their cumulative effects, and cause us at times much loss, much pain and anguish, while their opposites would, on the contrary, bring as much peace and joy, as well as a continually increasing power.
The question her is can we determine at all times what type habits we adopt or is habit-forming a matter of mere chance? I do believe that we can control our habits.

Our mind and thoughts are the underlying power of all. Every conscious act is preceded by a thought and in principle controlled by our mind. It is our thinking that determines our actions. At least that is how it should be. If our thinking is always responsible for our actions and therefore our habits, than it is first necessary that we know how to control our thinking. I have said this repeatedly in my blogs: we are and become what we think, therefore we have to be careful what we think.

Jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD




Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Peak energy for peak performance ...

Dear...

Becoming a successful high achiever is not only a matter of being mentally prepared, setting goals, being motivated and having a good plan. You also need to make sure that your energy always at peak level is. Low energy will make you less persistent, resilience, focussed and less strong to follow through.

There are two ways to boost your energy and to keep it at the highest level. The first one is through your nutrition and the second one through your life style habits.

Nutrition: Be as conscious as what you eat as to what you don't eat. Keep your sugar levels in balance. Stay hydrated and spread your meals out over the day, but don't eat before you go to sleep.  What you basically want to make sure is that you keep on burning fat. Prevent storing fat or starving yourself by not eating. Stay away from processed food, high carbs diets and sugar drinks such as all fruit drinks and sodas. Make sure you have a low carb diet, a lot of greens and eat only low or no trans fat proteins.

Life style habits: Stretch and exercise regularly. Have enough sleep but don't sleep too much. Make sure you have stress reducing activities, like listening to music. Have real interaction with people not only through social media. And last but not least make sure you'll get as much natural day light as you can in other words go outside, preferable into nature.

Managing your energy and maintaining it at highest level will set you up to achieve extraordinaire things or as Benjamin Franklins said it: "Energy and Persistence conquers all things".

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD




Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The positives of positive thinking...

Dear...

Positive thinking is not just a state of mind. It has some real benefits for your wellbeing as well. Positive thinkers or optimists have a different 'inner dialogue' than negative thinkers or pessimists. If you tend to think more negative and be pessimistic then you have to learn how to change your 'inner dialogue'. Use different words and thoughts and learn from more optimistic people.

  • Positive thinkers are in general more productive and more healthy, they are more resilient and persistent. 
  • Positive thinkers have a lower rate of depression, reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases. 
  • Positive thinkers have in general a better physical and mental well being and bottom line they just have an increased life span.

So If you are a negative thinker, your first positive change would be to accept the fact that negative thinking can be unlearned and positive thinking can be learned.
  • Change your attitude from seeing threats to seeing  opportunities. 
  • Instead of thinking: "it will never work";  think: "let me give it a try". 
  • Be someone that embraces changes instead of running away from it. 
  • Surround yourself with positive people. 
  • Stop yourself complaining about things that can't be changed like the weather. 
  • Always think the best can happen and not the worst.
jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD





Monday, January 27, 2014

A persistent person will almost always succeed...

Dear...

To be successful in life you need to master many things. It's helpful if you are talented and it is great if you have a good education but the one thing that stands out for me is persistence. Many educated and talented people have failed in life, but a persistent person will almost always succeed.

A persistent person has the ability to be determined to achieve something regardless the setbacks he or she encounters.

Persistence is something that can be developed:
  1. Set your goal, understand what you want to achieve in life and why it is important for you.
    • Without a clear goal and clear direction very little will be reached in life. 
    • Understand your motivation: why is it important for you to reach your goals?
  2. Create a plan and outline the steps you need to do.
    • Be systematic in what you want to achieve. 
    • Take one step at the time
    • Know what you need to know and learn it
    • Know what you need to be able to do and master it
    • Have always a back up plan
  3. Develop good habits and discipline
    • Without good habits and discipline procrastination is likely to take over and you quickly will lose sight of your goal. 
Make sure you stay in positive and good spirit. You will not succeed immediately and many roadblocks will be on your way, failures are likely to happen but the persistent person succeeds despite failures and adversities.

 jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD








Sunday, January 26, 2014

Excellence will always be rewarded...

Dear...

To become the best of what you can be in the future, you have to be at your best in what you do today, no matter what that is.

If you believe that all things happen for a reason and most things in life aren't random then where you  are and what you do today aren't without reasons either. You might feel you don't have the most important job in the world or you might not have the influence on others you were hoping for, but to become who you want to be tomorrow you have to accept what you are today.


Focus firstly on how to become excellent in what you do today and secondly on where you want to be in the future and change will happen fast and constantly

To become excellent do your current job without judgement, but do it with willingness to grow and learn; do it with commitment, responsibility and integrity; and most of all do your job with creativity and a sense the contribution for others.

Believe that we are all destined to do great things, not only in the future but especially in the every day things of life, do them in the best way you can and trust that excellence always will be rewarded.



jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD

Friday, January 24, 2014

Your dreams and ideas are a beacon to your purpose

Dear...

Ever wondered why dreams and ideas can occupy someone thoughts, even to the extent that it completely takes over a person's life.

Some people pursue a dream or an idea as if they are completely possessed by them. When this person is successful in its pursuit of his/hers dream we tend to all admire  him/her, but when this person is unsuccessful, we often think it was an obsessed madman.

Not wanting to belong to this last group causes many people to no pursue their dreams or ideas, but this is not the point of todays blog.

What I would like you to challenge with is the thought that perhaps these dreams and ideas are not random at all. I want you think about the concept that our ideas and dreams might conceal our purpose in life.

Can it be true that the universe is talking to us through our dreams and ideas, that it challenges and invites us to go after these dreams and ideas in order for us to become who we are destined to be?

Is this concept truly so far fetched? Think about all the people that have changed and shaped the world. Read about them and you will see that they were all pursuers of dreams and chasers of ideas.

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD






Don't sweat the small stuff...

Dear...

Before you look at the big challenges in life, ask yourself what small challenges can you take on daily.

It's your attitude towards small daily challenges that can help you to learn how to take on bigger problems.

How do you react when little misfortunes happen in your life, flat tire, flooded toilet, burned food etcetera? How do you react if you get cut off in traffic or when someone accidentally bumps against you in the mall? How does the weather influence your mood? Ask yourself these kind of questions and answer them honestly.

Do these type of situations have a negative impact on your mood, do you typically get grumpy when these things happens and is your temper getting bad?

If this is the case, then think about if for a second: if these small things already get to you how would you take on the bigger things in life?

So don't sweat the small stuff, take them lighthearted, accept them, put them beside you if you can or just solve them. If you can do this well you are ready for some bigger challenges.

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD




Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The past is the past, remember it, learn from it, but move on...

Dear...

When people say let go of the past they often refer to bad events, but in fact it doesn't matter, holding on the past blocks you from moving forward regardless wether it was good or bad.

Positive experiences can indeed hold you as much in the past as negative experiences do. There is nothing wrong with having good memoires and being proud of past achievements, but you can all imagine people who are constantly talking about their past successes without moving forward.  Those people could have build up as much fear for going after something new as the people who have had bad experiences and are afraid to try anything in general.

Successful people learn from the past, good or bad and use this to do something new. If they had success they know what went well but are also aware that doing exactly the same again might not bring in the same results again. When they had bad results  they know it doesn't always mean their method was wrong, it could be the timing or other circumstances were off.

The point is, what happened in the past is in the past, remember it, learn from it, but in all cases move on.

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD


Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Be instantly happier in 5 steps

Dear...

People who are more thankful and who feel more blessed are in general more happier than other people. This doesn't mean they posses more, but they are more appreciative of what they have no matter how much or how little it is.

1. Don't take everything so serious, don't take life so serious and don't take yourself too serious. Be light hearted. Learn from children around your, learn from their lightheartedness. Make sure you have time to have fun, to celebrate and once in while be lay back and plan a vacation.

2. Learn again to enjoy the simple and basic pleasures of life. We are sometimes so busy that we are not noticing anymore the beautiful things we are surrounded with. A simple way to do that is to use your senses more conscious: Smell the flowers, See the blue skies, Listen to child laughter or silence, Feel a nice breeze, Truly taste what you eat.

3. The Power of now. We are so occupied with what lies ahead or what have been, that we have lost how to live in the moment. The number one and still growing mental symptom in modern world is worrying. Worrying means that your mind is occupied with things that are not even certain to occur.  We should better learn how to live in the moment and focus on the here and now.

4. Be more relaxed. How can you be happy if you are constantly busy, frustrated or even angry? Relaxed doesn't mean do nothing. Being relaxed is an attitude not an activity.

5. Be grateful. Feeling blessed, grateful and appreciative should probably be on top of this list. When you have a stronger sense of love and thankfulness you will have a happier and even healthier life. An attitude of gratitude can be practiced and learned. A good way to do that is to make a little list, each day before you go to bed write down three to five of things you are thankful about of the day passed.

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD

Monday, January 20, 2014

How to reduce stress in 6 steps

Dear...

We all have faced and most likely will face stressful situations. Some people handle stress well where others are more challenged dealing with stress.

Now there are healthy and unhealthy ways to deal with stress. The unhealthy ways might reduce stress on the short term but most likely cause damage on the long run.

Unhealthy ways to reduce stress are: Smoking, Procrastinating,  Worrying, Eating too much or too little, Taking drugs, Taking it out on other people etcetera. All these ways of dealing with stress are in one way or another avoiding the situation instead of dealing with it.

More healthy ways to deal with stress are:

First of all a lot of stressful situations can probably be avoided. E.g. learn how to say no and speak what is on your mind.

Secondly see a situation for what it really is: something that we think is stressful is often blown out of proportions. Seeing a situation for what it really is put things back in perspective.

Thirdly learn to accept what cannot be changed: There are things that can't be changed, learn how to accept them.

Fourthly prepare yourself well: if you prepare yourself well, by looking at the facts, by practicing and  by learning. By preparing yourself well, you reduce hugely the uncertainty of what you are facing.

Fifthly rehearse and visualize: by going through a stressful situation ahead of time in your mind and visualizing  how you will handle the situation successfully, you can reduce the stress enormously.

Lastly some level of stress and tention keeps you allert and is often necessary to do a peak performance. Understand the difference between being too stressed and have a healthy excitement for an unknown situation.

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD







Sunday, January 19, 2014

To make your dreams come true requires a good amount of courage

Dear...

Dreams of doing big things in life; we all have them or at least had them. Only a few us dare to declare what their dreams are, a smaller percentage of people pursue them and an even smaller percentage actually reach them.

It is because of the fact that most people think only a few can make it that they are not pursuing their dreams, but it is because only a few dare to pursue their dreams that only a few make it; not the other way around.

Most of us want to know what the end results are before we try to begin something. If we would be less result driven, more people would go after what they truly want from life.

So when you pursue your dreams you will not get a guarantee that you will reach them, it will be hard work, you need to do things you have never done before, you will encounter roadblocks and have many failures, other people might think you are crazy, but it will be all worth it. You will know that  you have lived to the fullest and that you have lived
with courage.

Steve Jobs says:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.  Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.  Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become.  Everything else is secondary.”

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD




Saturday, January 18, 2014

GIGO: Garbage in garbage out

Dear...

GIGO or Garbage In Garbage Out is a term used in computer science. When input data is of low quality (garbage in) one can only expect low quality output data (garbage out).

If this is true for computers then why would this be less true for our mind and body?

If we expect to have good thoughts and a creative mind we have to make sure that there is quality in the 'mental' things we consume. You might want to moderate watching soap operas, playing computer games and reading gossip magazines.

If we expect to have plenty energy and a healthy body we have to make sure that we eat and drink well and work out regularly. Processed food and being a couch potato might not fit that criteria.

We can set goals and want to perform at peak levels, physically and mentally. But if we don't fill/feed ourselves with good things (garbage in) you can only expect that you won't perform at your true potential (garbage out).

So if you make sure that you eat and drink healthy, exercise well and consume useful information (quality in) you can expect better performance physically and mentally (quality out): QIQO.

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD





Friday, January 17, 2014

Set your goals so high that you are scared of them.

Dear...

When you set your goals, set them high. Don't worry whether you can achieve them or not. In fact, set them so high that you know you can't achieve them. That is to say, the current You can't.

When people set their goals, too many people reason too much from who they are today, the means they posses today and the abilities they have today. It's much better to picture yourself in the future having attained your goals already and then reason back how you got to that point.

To achieve an ambitious goal, you have to change and become the person that can and will achieve it.  Your today You, will not be able to achieve it. But you can change and you have to change to reach what you want. In fact you will change no matter what. The question is, in what will you change?

So, set your goals high, so high that you are scared of them. Then make a plan to acquire the skills and to get the means you need. Finally, push your self outside your comfort zone and pursuit the changes that are necessary.

When you do all this you will see that you turn into that person that can achieve the highest set goals.

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

The beautiful gift of imagination

Dear...

It is more often our own mind that limits what we can achieve than the circumstances we are in or the means we have.

Recently someone asked me: can you achieve anything by just thinking of it? I said: no, but for sure you will not achieve it if you can't think of it.

Too often I hear: you have to be realistic and set only realistic goals otherwise you only will fool yourself and get disappointed. People who say such things in most cases don't dare to dream big and often seem to have lost their ability to imagine as well.

We are all born with an ability to be free in our mind and imagine anything we want, but as we grow older a lot of us lose that beautiful gift of imagination. Some people actually think it is a complete waist of time to dream and imagine.

William Arthur Ward was right when he said: "If you can imagine it you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it."

Don't limit yourself in what you want to achieve or want to become. At least, give yourself the freedom in your mind to do that. And if you discover that you have lost the ability to be free in your mind, go back to when you were young and feel how you used your imagination when you were playing. Discover the limiting beliefs that hold you from being free in your mind. If those limiting beliefs already have a grip of your thinking they for sure have a grip on what you will achieve.


jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD





Monday, January 13, 2014

Can you have too much confidence?

Dear...

I want to share a few additions to yesterday's post about lack of confidence. Some people asked me: when does confidence turns into overconfidence and is that's bad or not.

If you are overconfident you might take too much risks and stretch yourself beyond your abilities. Overconfident people are sometimes so optimistic that they don't follow through to finish something successfully.

So it's all about balance, under-confident people don't undertake enough out fear of failing and being too risk averse; overconfident people take sometimes unnecessary risks or don't think things enough through before they do something which often lead to failure.

But in the end it is in my opinion better to learn from your failures and to take too much risk than to avoid making mistakes and taking no risk at all. After all the biggest mistake you could ever make is being afraid to make one.

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Signs that give your insecurities away

Dear...

What you don't want if you have lack of confidence is that people around you know that too. Unfortunately when you do have lack of confidence you send out clear signs, easy to read by the people around you. I've listed the four areas of 'signs' of insecurity below:

  • Strive of perfection: Insecure people are afraid to do anything unless they are convinced it is perfect, which in most cases is not even achievable or hard to define. Confident people on the other hand are focussed on the goals they are after and less on the 'perfection' of the means to get them. Confident people look for things to do outside their comfort zone instead of being risk averse and wanting to play it safe all the time.
  • Body language: This is another give away of your lack of confidence. Having your head down, not looking someone in the eyes and your arms folded doesn't exhibit a confident body language. 
  • Communication: The way you communicate gives away that you are not very confident as well. Insecure people often feel that a discussion is about them in a negative way and they feel most of the times attacked. A defensive attitude exposes your insecurity. People with a lack of confidence also have a need to explain their actions and are over apologetic when they do something wrong. Confident people on the other hand don't explain their actions and are better in accepting and admitting failures.
  • Behavior: Unlike confident people, insecure people base their behavior often on what other people think instead, of doing what you believe is right. Confident people will wait for appraisal of accomplishments where the ones with lack of confidence tend look for praise of their own achievements as much as possible.
Knowing these signs will not immediately make you confident and they might be even hard for you to accept when you recognize yourself in what's written here, but these signs can help you masking your insecurities and they offer you a good start to change if you want to overcome your insecurities.

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD


Saturday, January 11, 2014

Instead of asking: Why me? We should ask: Why NOT me?

Dear...

Janine Shepherd a cross-country skier hoped for an Olympic medal, until she was hit by a truck during a training bike ride. Leaving the hospital after six months, barely able to use her legs, she quickly fell in a state of depression. After a period of constant pondering on the question "why me ?" she had a life changing epiphany. Instead of asking again "why me?" she asked herself "why NOT me?".

Janine Shepherd's story is as inspirational as it is motivational. Not only did she decide to learn how to fly a plane, but she became a flight instructor within 18 months leaving the hospital and after that she made to a trained aerobatics flying instructor. Despite the fact that her doctors told her that she would never be able to use her legs again, she learned how to walk and she was asked to be a torchbearer for the Paralympics in Sydney 2000.

We all have been in situations of which we felt we can't change; a situation in which we got stuck in asking ourselves why me and why did this happen? The story of Janine teaches us that we can change bad situation by asking ourselves: "why NOT me?" and "how can I turn this in something good for others and perhaps myself?"

Hardships often bring the best out of people, but I always hope that stories like the one I told in today's post motivate us to pursuit a life of excellence and do extraordinary things without having to go through ordeals first.

Watch Janine Shepherd telling her own life story at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX32U_hfri4


jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD

Friday, January 10, 2014

The meaning of everything is the meaning you give it

Dear...

Many spiritual learnings agree with the saying: "You are what you think".

"For as he thinks in his heart, so is he": Proverbs 23:7
"All that we are is a result of all that we thought": Buddha

The way we process information coming through our senses is hugely influenced by our past experiences, our cultural back ground, our upbringing and our sensory preferences (e.g. visual people perceive information differently than auditive people).

Our emotional state is also a big factor of interpreting sensory information, for example: you look entirely different at food when you are hungry or when you have just eaten a copious meal; when you just bought a car of a certain make, it seems that suddenly there are more cars of the same make on the road.

It's a fact that people with more negative emotions tend to see the world around them more  negative, likewise people with more positive emotions see the world more bright, remarkably enough they live in the same world.

It was perhaps not in our hands what life has put us through, but it is entirely up to us how we look at our past experiences and how we let it influence our life today and in the future.

The meaning of a situation is only the meaning we give it, it is in our hands to change this if we want to.

In other words the way we see the world is hugely if not completely depending of our state of being. Change your state of being and you change te world around you.

jeandorff@googlemail.com
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"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD



Monday, January 6, 2014

Success comes in small steps...

Dear...

How do you measure success? Money, First places, Titles, Happiness ...?

When we talk about success or successful people we often look at the end result. We look at how much money someone has, how many first places someone won or how many recognitions and titles someone has. Success is most of  the time a result of a complex combination of variables and factors, but if you analyze how successful people got their successes you'll find that success is seldom a game of chance.

Admire other people's successes, but learn also  from the road they took leading up to their success.
Success always starts somewhere and the beauty of success is that it leave traces. Not only can these traces be followed, like a trail through a forest, they can also be duplicated and used as a plan to your success.

If you study the path successful people took, you will find that there were many roadblocks, failures and setbacks on that path. Successful people keep going and with every step they take they draw closer and closer to the success they are aiming for.

So as long as you take your steps, no matter how small, in the right direction and you won't give up, you will eventually reach your success.

Jeandorff@googlemail.com
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http://www.pinterest.com/jeandorff/inspiration/

"Be inspired and you shall inspire." ~ JD