I have been reading Norman Vincent Peale’s book “The Power of Positive Thinking” and just finished the chapter titled “Relax for Easy Power”.

The chapter explains how learning to relax can allow you to get more out of your hectic, busy, stressful schedule.

It reminds me of another saying “sometimes you have to slow down to speed up”.

At the end of the chapter he shares 10 rules for relaxing in order to get more done and I thought I would share them with you.

1. Don’t get the idea that you are Atlas carrying the world on your shoulders. Don’t take yourself so seriously.

2. Determine to like your work. Then it will become a pleasure, not drudgery. Perhaps you do not need to change your job. Change yourself and your work will seem different.

3. Plan you work – work your plan. Lack of system produces that “I’m swamped” feeling.

4. Don’t try to do everything at once. That is why time is spread out. Heed that wise advise from the Bible, “This one thing I do.”

5. Get a correct mental attitude, remembering that ease or difficulty in your work depends upon how you think about it. Think it’s hard and you make it hard. Think it’s easy and it tends to become easy.

6. Become efficient in your work. “Knowledge is power” (over your job). It is always easier to do a thing right.

7. Practice being relaxed. Easy does it. Don’t press or tug. Take it in your stride.

8. Discipline yourself not to put off to tomorrow what you can do today. Accumulation of undone jobs makes your work harder. Keep your work on schedule.

9. Pray about your work. You will get relaxed efficiency by so doing.

10. Take on the “unseen partner”. It is surprising the load He will take off you. God is as much at home in offices, factories, stories, kitchens, as in churches. He knows more about your job than you do. His help will make your work easy.

Make it a point to try one of these today and see how it works out.

Make it a great day.

Jake

All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible. T.E. Lawrence

Day dreamers. Just staring into the clouds and dreaming…..in the middle of the day.

Who would have thought they were the dangerous men?

There are two elements of this equation.

We must dream with our eyes open. When was the last time you set aside a few minutes to just dream about what your future might look like?

When was the last time you imagined what you will look like after you lose the weight?

When was the last time you imagined that second home somewhere warm?

When was the last time you imagined writing that big check to your favorite charity?

When was the last time you imagined that commission check with two digits before the comma?

But it doesn’t stop at the dreaming. It starts there. Getting that mental picture, making it sharper and then holding on to it.

“For they may act on their dreams with open eyes”. The next part is action. It always boils down to doing things differently.

Use that dream to make the action easier.

It is a lot easier to work out in the morning with a dream of what you are going to look like when you are done.

It is a lot easier to save and invest your money when it is attached to that beautiful home in Florida.

It is a lot easier to work a little harder and save a little more when you imagine the difference you can make.

It is a lot easier to make that extra call or go the extra mile when you can imagine the pay off in the end.

The dreams will pull you through those hard days when you don’t feel like doing anything.

Find some time to dream today….start this process for yourself and see just how far you can go.

Jake

Not all time in life is equal. – Jim Collins

Nat all time in life is equal. Some moments hold greater significance than others. Some moments require greater attention than others.

Today we are all reminded of one of those moments. September 11th was a moment when the course of history changed.

For those that died, those last moments were unequal.

For those that risked their lives to save others, those moments were unequal.

For those that fought battles on foreign soil in order to make sure it doesn’t happen again, those moments were unequal.

For those that hugged their loved ones a little tighter that night, those moments were unequal.

Not all time in life is equal. Some moments require more of us. They require us to dig deep and perform, love, hope, and have more faith than we have ever had before.

In this time we can create something wonderful.

We can create a nation united.

We can create a family filled with love.

We can create a force for good in this world.

We must take advantage of the unequal times in our lives.

Let’s get started today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Faith is a bluebird
You see from afar
It’s for real
And as sure as the first evening star

You can’t touch it
Or buy it or wrap it up tight
But it’s there just the same
Making things turn out right

This little poem came from “The Rescuers”.

Faith is such an important part of our success in life. We believe not only that our goals are possible, but also that they are possible for us.

Make the last line of the poem your thought for today “making things turn out right”.

It will all work out in the end.

Jake

JD – All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible. – T.E. Lawrence

JS – Do your best and forget the rest.

EB – The only place that success comes before work is the dictionary. Mark Twain

KJ – The harder I work the luckier I get. Samuel Goldman

JW – Even if you are on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there. Will Rodgers

JM – Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them more. Oscar Wilde

Everybody have a great weekend.

Jake

http://youtu.be/nU615FaODCg

The dreams theme reminded me of one of my favorite quotes.

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours. – Henry David Thoreau

For some reason that last line is something that pops into my head frequently.

Meet with success unexpected in common hours.

Positive focused action backed by faith and belief will yield those uncommon results.

Let’s make it a great day filled with those actions that bring us close to our dreams.

Jake

You cannot change your life until you change something you do every day. John Maxwell

What a simple but powerful concept.

If you want to change your life you must change something you do every day.

You can’t change your finances until you change how you handle money every day.

You can’t change your weight until you change how you make food and exercise choices every day.

You can’t change your relationships until you change how you interact every day.

You can’t change your attitude until you change how you think every day.

This quote shows the magic of starting small and building from there. Starting with that one little thing and using that success to encourage you to keep going on the next one.

What is the one little thing you can do different that will start (or continue) this process for you?

Tackle the small stuff first.

Make it a great day.

Jake

I recently started reading "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen on my Kindle App (it is a free book on Kindle).

I didn’t get very far because the foreword really stuck with me and I wanted to remember to send it out as a daily attitude email before I forgot about it.

Here are the two paragraphs that James Allen uses as a foreword:

Foreword

This little volume (the result of meditation and experience) is not intended as an exhaustive treatise on the much-written-upon subject of the power of thought. It is suggestive rather than explanatory, its object being to stimulate men and women to the discovery and perception of the truth that—

"They themselves are makers of themselves."

by virtue of the thoughts, which they choose and encourage; that mind is the master-weaver, both of the inner garment of character and the outer garment of circumstance, and that, as they may have hitherto woven in ignorance and pain they may now weave in enlightenment and happiness.

JAMES ALLEN.

I was really struck by the mental picture of the mind as the master weaver of the garments we wear everyday.

When we look in the mirror we see these garments as we have woven them up to this point.

Stop. Take a deep breath and think about that for a minute.

Everything you see in the mirror is a result of your own weaving and creation.

All those worries and problems….woven in your own mind.

All those successes and triumphs….woven in your own mind.

And this brings me to his last sentence.

This is the best part – "they may now weave in enlightenment and happiness."

I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty good to me.

Let’s get started.

Make it a great day.

Jake