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You Can Create A $timulus Plan

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We are now going through some tough economic times as a nation.  A good number of people are  fearful about the economy, their jobs, mortgages, gas prices, foreclosures and a thousand other things. You can thrive even in the midst of bank failures, a deepening recession, and any other disturbing economic news. Regardless of how things may seem, you can create your own economic stimulus package. You may ask, how?

One of the ways you can succeed against the odds is to learn about conquering economic hardship from those who, in spite of adverse circumstances facing them, surmounted the greatest obstacles to become successful. If they did it, you too can do it.  As I write now, I can recall a conversation Chris Gardner, a homeless man turned millionaire, had with a guy and spoke a little in a way that other thousands of folks, to get laid off from Citigroup,  on the same train could hear him.  

"You 've lost your job but you have not lost your skills, talents, or expertise," said Gardner. "Skills, talents, and expertise are transferable. So even if you are not going to find a job let's try and find an opportunity where you can transfer your skills. Knowledge is portable. Everything you learned on your job, when you walk out the door you take with you. The need for external validation is what has become a major problem. We've allowed what we do to define who we are. You fought for that title. You needed that title, now you got laid off and have to look yourself in the mirror and ask, "Who am I?"  How you get over that is to accept that what you do does not define who you are. You have to separate your net worth  from your self-worth. Your net worth is going to fluctuate-as it should. That's what net worth does, but your self -worth should only appreciate. That's where a lot of us got mixed up big time."

GARDNER'S LESSONS FOR SUCCESS AND HAPPYNESS:

1.       Start by letting go of excuses that block your road, and begin to recognize your safety net of capacities and your trust fund of assets that are distinctly yours.

2.       If not now, when? If not you, who?

3.       The three truths the past teaches you: (1) You were meant to be here in this life, to learn, to  love, and be loved.(2) You are the hero of a meaningful story that is yours alone. (3) Everything and everyone is in your life for a reason.

4.       Money ain't  the cavalry you've been waiting on to cure your problems-it's only one resource.

5.       The most empowering, transformational lesson you can learn about growth is the one you learn next.

During the Great Depression, one Company posted a sign on its business saying:  We've heard the rumor that there is depression going on but we have refused to participate. Such a positive attitude can lead to the creation of goods or services that will benefit many people during a time like this. I encourage to sit down in a quiet place where you would not be disturbed. Take an inventory of your strengths, job skills, your ability to help others in need, and so on. Believe in yourself and in the ability to achieve what you can conceive. Be bold about high performance. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.  Taking inventory and believing you can do whatever you conceive can produce miracles you never dreamt about.  One particular man did it. Inside of him, he grew more and more dissatisfied with living a mediocre life, seeing how he was failing his good wife and children, he really hurt inside. Listen to him here in his own words:

"But today things are different. We have a beautiful new home on a two-acre lot and a year-round cabin a couple of hundreds miles north of here. There is no more worry about whether we can send the kids to good  college and my wife no longer has to feel guilty every time she spends money for some new clothes. Next summer the whole family is flying to Europe to spend a month's holiday. We're really living."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     "How did this all happen?"                                                                                                                                                                                                  "It all happened," he continued, "when to use the phrase, 'I harnessed the power of belief.' ..."After dinner, I sat down in my hotel room and for some reason, I got really disgusted with myself. 'Why,' I asked myself, 'am I just a middle class failure? Why am I trying to get a job that represents such a small step forward?'                                                                                                                                                                                                                "I don't know to this day what prompted me to do it, but I took a sheet of hotel stationery and wrote down the names of five people I know well for several years who had far surpassed me in earning power and job responsibility... "                                                                                                                                                                                                                                "Next-again I don't know what made me to do this-I asked myself what do my five friends have, besides better jobs. I compared myself with them on intelligence, but I honestly couldn't see that they excelled in the brains department. Nor could I truthfully say they had me beat on education, integrity, or personal habits.

"Finally, I got down to another success quality one hears a lot about. Initiative. Here I hated to admit it, but I had to. On this point my record showed I was far below that of my successful friends.

"It was about 3:00A.M., but my mind was astonishingly clear. I was seeing my weak point for the first time. I discovered that I had held back. I had always carried a little stick. I dug into myself deeper and deeper and found the reason I lacked initiative was because I didn't believe inside that I was worth very much.

"I sat there the rest of the night just reviewing how lack of faith in myself had dominated me ever since I could remember, how I had used my mind to work  against myself. I found that I had been preaching to myself why I couldn't get ahead instead of why I could. I had been selling myself short. I found this streak of self-depreciation showed through in everything I did. Then it dawned on me that no one else was going to believe in me until I believed in myself.

"Right then I decided, 'I'm through feeling second-class. From here on in I'm not going to sell myself short.'                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             "Next morning I still had that confidence. During the job interview I gave my new found confidence its first test. Before I came for the interview I'd hoped I would have courage to ask for $750 or maybe even $1000 more than my present job was paying. But now, after realizing I was a valuable man, I upped it to $3,500. And I got it. I sold myself because after that one long night of self-analysis I found things in myself that made me more saleable.                                                                                                                                                                                                     "Within two years after I took that job I had established a reputation as the fellow who can get business. Then we went into a recession.  This made me still more valuable because I was one of the best business-getters in the industry. The company was reorganized and I was given a substantial amount of stock plus a lot more pay."

Wow! What a lesson. In fact, you can learn many lessons from this real life story.  Well, it was Napoleon Hill who said that whatever you can conceive and believe, you can achieve. And this is a great news.                         

What could possibly hold you back? Whatever barriers or obstacles you could face, you can overcome them once you determine to meet them head on. There are many angels out there to help you once you decide. Obstacles may turn out to be your stepping stones.  Wishing you Good luck and God's speed.

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