Self Improvement: Coaching

What Are the Qualities of a Good Mentor? December 23, 2008 at 5:18 pm There are many mentors out there but few good ones. A good mentor has many distinct qualities. One needs to become familiar with them while searching for a mentor in order to be able to recognize a good one. What's the Hype About Coaching? December 23, 2008 at 2:19 pm You may have heard about Life Coaches and Business Coaches but they are for other people aren't they? Find out what your own personal coach can do for you! Earning Residual Income With the Help of a Coach December 23, 2008 at 12:35 pm If you are really serious about learning how to earn passive and residual income online or offline then you really need to think about how you are going to make that happen. Often when we're starting out in this world of business and opportunities we really have no direction and feel confused. Ebenezer Scrooge Had a Life Coach? December 23, 2008 at 12:32 pm When Charles Dickens provided Ebenezer Scrooge with the ghost of Christmas future, he created what may have been the first literary description of a life coaching experience. When Ebenezer's poltergeist showed the old fellow a view of the future, he was... The Big Dreams December 23, 2008 at 9:50 am I would like to talk a little about your dreams, the big dreams, the dreams you had when you were 15 years old, 18 years old, or 20 years old. Do you know what I see? I see people give up on their dreams, the big dreams, and it seems the older we get, the more we give up on our dreams. 5 Key Things to Having Fashion Sense and Transforming Your Wardrobe For the New Year! December 23, 2008 at 9:44 am Their are key 5 key pieces that can make a wardrobe and pull it together. At times it can be a dress or a blazer. However, you should always have key pieces that can take an outfit form drab to fab. What is your fashion resume? Do you have a signature style? Is it classic?, flirty?, relaxed? or artsy? Always keep in mind you look through your closet and do some spring cleaning. Figure out what you want, what you don't want and start making a list of pieces that are key to make it easier for you to pull an outfit together.

Making the Most of Yourself

Time to Celebrate! Wooooohoooooo!!! December 22, 2008 at 10:06 am Hello, dear friends and wonderful readers! The holidays are a time to celebrate; to celebrate family, a new year, traditions both family and religious. No matter what your celebrations include it is my wish that they include one very special celebration,...

12/23 So Baby Boomer: Life Tips

Managing Retirement Savings December 22, 2008 at 8:27 am With stock market values battered and the economic outlook grim, older investors can draw on a number of different strategies to keep their nest eggs from being wiped out. Boomers going from peak earning years to retirement should consider creating a withdrawal plan. As you begin to rely on your investments to meet living expenses, remember that your biggest enemy may be inflation--losing purchasing power. You can dial back the risk and adjust your portfolio to generate more income. Reduce exposure to small and microcap stocks and such volatile areas as emerging markets. But don't shift predominantly to fixed income if that means cashing out of stocks that could recover over the next few years. Retirees often make the mistake of raiding their tax-deferred retirement accounts first. That generates higher taxes that can kick off a vicious cycle: Paying those taxes further erodes the value of a portfolio. Bottom line: Most affluent investors should wait to withdraw from traditional IRAs and other retirement accounts until the government requires it--after they reach the age of 70.5 years old. And because it is the most valuable of retirement gems--for retirees and for their heirs, who will not have to pay taxes on the money--leave raiding any Roth IRA for last, if at all. The market's wreckage has created an opening for retirees to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, which switches a portfolio from tax-deferred savings to tax-free savings. When you convert, you pay taxes based on your tax bracket. With retirement account values down, it's a good time to make the move. Individuals or couples whose adjusted gross income does not exceed $100,000 can do a Roth conversion. After they do that, future withdrawals are tax-free--and there's no need to bother with those vexing required mimimum distributions. Investment advisers prefer total-return portfolios designed for growth--portfolios of stocks and bonds that provide income but that also offer the opportunity for capital appreciation on stock holdings over time. A retiree skims off the dividends and interest, as well as capital gains, and repeats the exercise each year. Obeying those marching orders, however, can be nerve-wracking. For one thing, steadily selling stocks to reap those gains requires a lot of discipline. Maintaining a two-year cash reserve in a total-return portfolion can help give retirees the courage to keep a respectable amount of their portfolio in stocks. And since many financial advisers have, over the years, been raising the recommended amount that older investors should hold in stocks, that staying power is crucial. Source: BUSINESSWEEK, January 5, 2009

Self Improvement: Coaching

Finding the Gift in Adversity December 22, 2008 at 2:31 pm The past several months have been filled with huge upheavals in the world. The stock market and resulting economic impacts on savings accounts and jobs, talks of recession and depression, the rash of terrorism in the East with headlines about what may be in store for the future. Yet other headlines herald political change at the national level that offers new hope. True Inspiration Vs Ego Flash and Burn - How to Know When Your Brilliant Idea is the Real Deal December 22, 2008 at 1:03 pm You are struck by a brilliant flash of intuition (an innovative book idea, creative business venture, fabulous investment...) and you think, "Yes! Eureka this is it!" But this "next big thing" excitement is shortly followed by a hesitation, as previous intuitive hits begin to re-surface... The ones that in the light of the next day you asked, "What was I thinking?" The ones that did the slow fizzle to oblivion. And the ones that never got off the ground. So is this just the caffeine buzz from this morning's latte or is this an actual divine inspiration? Being a Mentor December 22, 2008 at 12:32 pm Being a mentor is an extremely responsible role to take on, but it can also be very rewarding. It provides a way to put your own knowledge and experience to good use in helping other people to make improvements in their own lives; personal or professional. Mentoring has been a very popular role in society in general and is a form of leadership that is certainly beneficial within business circles. One of the most important items to remember is that a mentor does not have to be a senior member of staff helping a more junior member. While employees aren't likely to mentor senior staff members it is true that people on the same level as each other can be of assistance in this way if both parties are agreeable. Everything That's Beautiful is Cracked, That's How the Light Gets In December 22, 2008 at 12:19 pm Leonard Cohen is credited with the above statement. I believe that he has captured the essence of beauty. Beauty is in the nature of our flaws. It is in our reflective self-awareness and acceptance of our imperfections that we discover our true beauty. It's Exhausting Running From the Past December 22, 2008 at 12:10 pm It is said that we are pretty much formed very early in our lives by our "first family" experiences. The way we are socialized; that is simply, how we are taught to see and behave in the world by our parents in relationship to them, our siblings and the community in general, plays the most significant role in our formation leading into adulthood. Yes, we have to acknowledge genetics to some extent playing a role here, so I will do that. But this is not an argument about one or the other. I want to write here about dealing with our pasts. For the Want of a Nail December 22, 2008 at 11:40 am Remember this great old rhyme? For the want of a nail the shoe was lost. For the want of a shoe the horse was lost. Life is Too Short to Be Living Someone Else's Dream December 22, 2008 at 11:30 am Are you working for someone else's dream when you have one of your own? For years I did and didn't like it. In fact it made me crazy sometimes, I even thought myself a coward for not acting! What is Your Life's Purpose? December 22, 2008 at 11:09 am You climb out of bed every morning; take a shower, brush your teeth, get dressed, have some coffee, toast or cereal, pat the dog, hug the kids, kiss the wife (husband), not necessarily in that order and head out the door to where and to what? No it is not a destination that I am talking about, it is a PURPOSE. Does your life have one? Trying to Stay Alive Just One More Day December 22, 2008 at 11:08 am As some know and I do not often talk about it, I have had my own share of challenges over the last several years. In the fall of 2001, after being diagnosed with a lung infection that doctors were not able to eradicate with antibiotics because of an underlying chronic condition, I spent the better part of the next two years, my health slowly deteriorating as I gradually lost lung function. I was told early on that my only hope was a double lung transplant and without it, I would die! Life is Difficult - This is a Great Truth December 22, 2008 at 11:07 am In Scott Peck's remarkable book; "The Road Less Traveled," first published in 1978, he opens with the now famous line; "Life is difficult." He then goes on to say; "this is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult --- once we truly understand and accept it --- then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters." The Value of a Personal Mission Statement December 22, 2008 at 11:06 am I am sure that all of you who work in a corporate environment are familiar with your corporate mission statement? It is the one that typically hangs in the front reception area or perhaps on the wall in the boardroom. But do you have a personal mission statement and/or understand in a meaningful way what your purpose for living actually is?