James Smith’s Info Serv

Author: Rachael Stone

As Thanksgiving day gets closer, the thought of finding ways of saying “thank you” often comes to mind. In life kindness and gratitude open more doors than force ever will. That is why nurturing an attitude of gratitude is essential in all spheres of life. We are relational beings and as such will interact with various people. This can be in our places of work, neighborhoods, fellowships and even whilst running errands and accessing essential services. However, many of us don’t know how to effectively let someone know how much we appreciate them. So, here are some tips on how to express gratitude effectively.

1) Be Polite

Learn to say please and thank you to all and sundry. Be it your teacher in class or your friend when asking for a favor or even that irritating neighbor. This is important because you never know when your toddler or a person who looks up to you might be listening in and copying your style.

2) Give a Small Card or Gift.

You were a down on your luck student whose teacher thought deserved another chance and gave it to you. The teacher took precious personal time out to coach you on the subject that you have been performing poorly. Perhaps they enabled you to achieve a high honor. You would like to show your gratitude but are not sure what would be the best way to do it. There is a very simple way of excelling at it. Just say thank you with a card that says it all or give a memorabilia.

To be the kind of person who attracts the right kind of associations from school to work to home, you need to also learn people. Take time to understand the people you interact with. When showing gratitude by giving a tangible item, you need to show some forethought by getting something that will be liked. It is best when you get the item that is needed most but for some reason the person cannot get hold of it. Alternatively give one that will have sentimental value. This is why understanding someone and taking time to really know them personally will help.
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Author: Successgalore

If you want to learn how to become successful in life the starting point is to first learn what you must never do if you really truly desire success in life. In this write up, I will give you at least five important things you must never do if you want your life to end up as a celebrated success.

Never allow other people to run your life for you:
Manage your life yourself; you are the only one in control, not your dad or mum, not your best friend. The implication of any serious mistake will only be burnt by you, so be wise. Do what you want and desire not what other people expect of you, never surrender to the dictates of second class people. Please remember this that you should never base your decision on what anybody expects of you. Be solidly in control of your life, of your own affairs. In the Bible, King Saul of Israel got into trouble when she listened to people’s opinion about not killing Agag the king of Amalekites, and sparing the good things of the land. God had earlier on commanded him to destroy everything in that city, but he allowed other people’s opinion to destroy his destiny. You should never fall into this trap.

Never blame other people for your bad luck or failure:
You are not a failure until you blame somebody else. When you take responsibility for your failure or mistake, you will be able to think intelligently how to amend the mistake. Never blame anybody when you fail, blame yourself and move ahead with better ideas, even when the other person have persuaded you to do something that has led you to failure, never blame that fellow. Those who take responsibility for what happened in their lives are the true leaders in their generations.
Many people blame their nation, government, parents, family background, wife or husbands, such people cannot go far in life, and they cannot achieve true success. Adam sinned against God and when apprehended began to blame his wife Eve, she also blamed the devil. Stop shifting the blame, start fixing the problems, in other words, don’t blame somebody, and provide solution instead.
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Author: TJ Philpott

When establishing your goals it is important to not set yourself up for failure. In order to achieve goals you have set for yourself they must be realistic and measurable goals. In fact the key to success in achieving goals is to possess the skills required and the ability to monitor your progress. It is therefore critical that any goal planning process takes this into consideration.

Let’s look at 3 important elements that you will need to have in any goals you establish for yourself in order for you to successfully reach them.

Are Goals within Your Capabilities

As the saying goes don’t build your castle in the sky. You need to possess the skills or other necessary resources to achieve goals you have set for yourself. Real goals are those that you have the potential of actually accomplishing.

It is great to have aspirations but be careful distinguishing between what are dreams and actual real goals you have set for yourself. They must be attainable for you to be able to realistically qualify them as goals. To set off in pursuit of any objectives outside the realm of your capabilities is an act of futility. Worse yet this futility may dissuade you from ever setting goals again.
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Author: CoachIyabo

In midlife, many smart and accomplished people find themselves in a new and precarious situation. They realize that life is no longer “life as usual.” For some it shows up as a general dissatisfaction, a general malaise that they cannot quite put their finger on. They are dissatisfied with their jobs and with they have this impending sense of doom, scared to live out the rest of their years in the same manner that they have been living it.

Usually, something pretty major happens that is the big “straw” that breaks the camel’s back. There is a huge loss of some sort, such as:

~End of a marriage or a long term relationship.
~Layoff from a job.
~Loss of your home to foreclosure.
~Bankruptcy.
~Diagnosis of an illness such as cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure or heart problems.
~Empty nest syndrome.
~Failure of a business.
~Caring for aging parents.
~Death of one or both of your parents.
~Death of friends or siblings prematurely.
~Loss of a pet.
~For women, the onset of peri-menopause or menopause.
~Any major life change.
~Realization that you may never have children.
~Any sort of major life change.
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Author: Rich Nicholls

These are all questions that when asking ourselves, we need to be completely honest. If we are not honest, our frustrations will continue and we’ll never be able to move forward. The first step each of us needs to make is to identify what is holding us back from achieving our dreams. Only once they are identified can we work on them. In order to work on them, make a plan and set goals!

If you do the same thing tomorrow that you did today, you will certainly get the same results. If you want your life to head in a different direction, you need to do something different in your routine. The only way you can get out of the rut of an average life, is if YOU do something that will set you apart. It doesn’t matter what it is, start with baby steps. Go to the library and borrow a book on that hobby you have always wanted to learn, enrol in a distance learning course to increase your education, start exercising. The possibilities are endless, you just need to start, and start now! Never wait till tomorrow, because tomorrow never comes.

To give you some perspective, here is an example from my own life. I consider myself an entrepreneur. I have set high goals and standards for myself. Since adapting this new line of thought I have cut out tension relieving activities, and allocated that free time to goal achieving activities. I went from watching at least 15 hours of T.V. to watching no T.V. We recently got rid of our T.V. which was a difficult decision, but I am now reaping the rewards of allocating my time elsewhere. It is up to you to decide what you want to do with your free time, but this is a personal example of what I have done to free up some time. Now I spend that time studying and trying to build business relationships and feel that I am no longer living an average life. I’m living for something bigger.
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