March 2008

You are educated when you have the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or self-confidence. - Robert Frost

According to Everyday Health, certain foods can help you reduce your blood pressure.  For those seeking to control it with as little medication as possible, that’s very welcome news.  The foods you should be eating are:

Foods that are High in Potassium  Bananas, citrus fruits, salmon, tuna, flounder, melons, green/leafy vegetables, poultry, raisins, whole-grains cereals, potato skins, yogurt, tomatoes 

Foods that are High in Calcium  Broccoli, canned sardines, salmon (with bones), milk, tofu, yogurt, cheese, kale

Foods that are High in Fiber  Corn, apples, barley, brown rice, legumes, nuts, yams, whole-grain cereals, whole-grain bread

Foods that are High in Magnesium  Fish, green/leafy vegetables, legumes, meats, nuts, whole grains, poultry

I’ve always been a firm believer in following healthy dietary guidelines - even if you don’t have the problem they’re geared toward.  After all, if eating the above foods are beneficial to people who have problems with their blood pressure, surely eating them will help those of us who are lucky stay lucky.

 

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a book so appropriately named in my life.  I’m sure I’ve never seen one embrace its subject with so much passion and conviction.  The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude: How to Find, Build and Keep a YES! Attitude for a Lifetime of SUCCESS (Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Books) is a colorul, positive, infectious, uplifting, enjoyable, motivating, delightful little book.

Did I like it?  I loved it.  I loved everything about it.

I had finished reading the stack of books on my desk - some were for reviewing on blogs, others were novels by favorite fiction authors (Dean Koontz, Agatha Christie).  Since I always, always, always have to be in the middle of at least one book to feel content, I headed to my husband’s bookshelf, knowing he had gotten a few books lately.  Even though his books are mostly about golfing, business, and sales (not the kind of sales I’m interested in), every now and then he’ll have one that matters to me.  This gold little book caught my eye right off the bat, as did the tile on the side, “Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude.”   It was love at first sight. Colorful?  Check.  Bold?  Check. Stand out in the crowd?  Check. Motivationally positive?  Check. Check.

I plucked the book out from amongst books that were either in business suits or golf shoes and headed to the couch with my notebook and pen (taken from the husband’s desk…just call me Sticky Fingers).  The little gold book and I got along famously and the pen got a real workout.

The book is full of adorable cartoon illustrations that’ll slap a smile on your face, and varying sizes and colors of text that make the entire reading process nothing short of delightful. 

Jeffrey Gitomer makes it clear early in the book that we are responsible for our own attitudes.  The kind of attitude we have is a choice we make, so if we want a YES! attitude, we have to make the choice to go out there and get it!  He then spends the rest of the book telling the reader exactly how to do just that.

It’s your thoughts behind the words you speak that create your attitude. - Jeffrey Gitomer

There’s a fascinating “Attitude Self Test” that I wish everyone in the world could take.  Without even looking at the results, the reader could have about 10, “A ha!” moments where they gain a little insight about themselves and their attitude.  After the test, you can find out where, on the scale, your attitude rates - you’ll either be in the positive attitude group with the rest of us Jiminey Crickets, in the group that’ll have to work extra hard, or somewhere in between.  Wherever you find yourself, you’ll be able to use the rest of the book to move higher and stay higher.

On page 47, the author pointed out something really interesting, “It takes twice as much energy to be negative than to be positive.  That’s why, at the end of the argument, you may be tired.”  He then went on to say, “Understand that negative energy and negative thoughts BLOCK positive thoughts and creative thoughts from occurring.”

Priceless!  How priceless?  Worth saying again priceless:

“Understand that negative energy and negative thoughts BLOCK positive thoughts and creative thoughts from occurring.”

Another especially effective part of the book (you know, in addition to the part between the first page and the last page) is a section where he lists the “Real World Attitude Busters.”  From The flu (which I happened to be enjoying when I read the book) to losing something, the list hits home for everyone.  He points out that Attitude Busters have two elements:  Things and People.  These elements will, as the book points out, either “…bust you or build you based on the way you react to them.”

Page 76 is one of the most powerful pages of the entire book, as it gives a list of “Positive things and YES! things that BUST attitude busters.”  At first I was aghast that Starbucks and shopping weren’t listed, until I saw, “Something that you do with passion” and ”Anything inspirational” - yeah, that’s them.  It’s a great list of things that can turn your attitude, mood, day and life around - which, if you ask me, makes it a list worth making copies of and placing randomly throughout your house.  One on the refrigerator, one on your desk (definitely one on your desk!), etc.

The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude: How to Find, Build and Keep a YES! Attitude for a Lifetime of SUCCESS (Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Books) will also show you why it’s important to:

• Put things into writing
• Drain your brain at the end of each day
• Use your environment to your benefit
• Be careful how you view the local news
• Be on guard how you let others affect your attitude
• Be aware of the senses that can affect your attitude
• Use your attitude to improve your business
• Use your attitude to improve your relationships and life
• Realize that a positive attitude is attractive
• Realize that a positive attitude is contagious
• Buy the book!
• Read the book!
• Re-read the book!

“The main reason people rain on my parade is because they have no parade of their own.” - Jeffrey Gitomer

The title of this site is Self Help Daily, right?  The goal of this blogger is to help others help themselves.  I literally devote each day looking for information, tips, advice, quotes, etc that I can add to the web site that will help others build the life that will bring them the most happiness.  My husband says I’m out to save the world.  My response?  Damn right!  One person, one animal, and one tree at a time.  I’m a proud hugger of each.  Having said all of that, at this moment the number one thing I wish I could do for every human being (Polar Bears and Oaks simply don’t read well enough) is to lock them in a room with this book, one of my husband’s cool pens and a notebook.  When I unlocked the door a few hours later, each would emerge a changed person.  For the better.

The door wouldn’t be the only thing unlocked.  The book would brilliantly, and forever, unlock their….

• Potential
• Self Restraint
• Inner Power
• Chains of negativity
• YES! Attitude

Head over to buy Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude: How to Find, Build and Keep a YES! Attitude for a Lifetime of SUCCESS (Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Books) at Amazon.  It’s where you’ll find the best deal on this amazing book.  Besides, Amazon always has these incredible deals where you can buy two books and save mucho dinero.  I believe the book they’re offering as a “package deal” with this little gold powerhouse is “Never Eat Alone:  And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time.”  Sounds like a winner - but if you’re already hooked up with great relationships, you can always just go for the Gold!

Other books by Jeffrey Gitomer:

Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness 

Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships 

Little Green Book of Getting Your Way: How to Speak, Write, Present, Persuade, Influence, and Sell Your Point of View to Others (Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Books) 

Little Red Book of Sales Answers: 99.5 Real World Answers That Make Sense, Make Sales, and Make Money (Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Books) 

Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching: 32.5 Strategies to Ring Your Own (Cash) Register in Business and Personal Success (Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Books) 

You may also be interested in:

Gitomer.com (If you’re into sales, I’m willing to bet his free e-zine is something to BANK on)

What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity?  Our attitude toward it.  Every opportunity has a difficulty and every difficulty has an opportunity. - J. Sidlow Baxter, Awake, My Heart: Daily Devotional Studies for the Year

Free Rice.com is a pretty cool site, so I thought you might like to know about it - after all, you’re too cool for school, too!

The web site presents you with a word, such as stationary - you’re given 4 different words to choose from, you choose the one that best describes or defines your word.  When you’re right, Free Rice actually donates rice to the United Nations World Food Program.  The more you play…and the better you play…the more rice is donated.  There’s even a place on the web site to see rice being distributed.

“And all things whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” - Matthew 21:22

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Pray and let God worry.” - Martin Luther

“Courage is fear that has said its prayers.” - Dorothy Bernard

“Most people do not pray, they only beg.” - George Bernard Shaw

“Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.”  - Mahatma Ghandi

“Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.” - Mahatma Ghandi

I’ve been reading a lot about attitude lately.  I’ve been multi-tasking, actually - researching for a couple of articles while rounding up more quotes about attitude for the Motivational Quotes section.  A few of my favorite quotes, so far, have been the ones below:

“A butterfly is a caterpillar with a positive attitude.” - Randy Glasbergen, Cartoonist 

“Attitude is the reflection of a person and our world mirrors our attitude.” - Earl Nightingale

Each of these quotes, in its own way, points out one huge truth:  Attitude makes all the difference in the world!  The right attitude can take a person with mediocre skills and make them a millionaire.  The wrong attitude can take a person with superhuman skills and make them a pauper.

Think for a minute.  Think about some people you’ve known in your life who, in your estimation, had remarkable potential.  They were smart, talented, had a great personality - they had so much going on for them that you wondered what kept them from making it big.  Now think about some of the people you’ve known in your life who did, in fact, make it big.  The thing is, you have NO IDEA how they got there!  Maybe you even marvel that they find their way back to their own bed at night.  They don’t strike you as particularly intelligent, yet there are their degrees on the wall.  Personality?  You’ve never seen signs of one, yet they’re one of the most successful people you know.  In spite of yourself, you find yourself wondering how’d they make it here?

ATTITUDE.  Possibly the simple answer to both inner questions. If you could get inside of the first person’s mind and tinker with their attitude, you’d change their life for the better.  By the same token, if you tinkered with the second one’s attitude, they might wander around all night looking for that bed.

Arnold Palmer once talked about his father and his role in his own success.  He said that his dad told him, “Remember, whatever game you play, 90 percent of success is from the shoulders up.” You have to think you’re a winner before you’ll be a winner. Only I would be daft enough to mention my own name in a paragraph with Arnold Palmer’s, but I also had parents who taught me to believe in myself. It didn’t hurt matters that I was an only child and my mom and dad pretty much thought I could do anything, and do it better than the rest.   I’m not a cocky person by nature, but if I were to be honest, I’d have to admit that whatever sport (softball, tennis) or activity (gymnastics, tap, ballet) I participated in when growing up, I was consistently one of the very best.  It wasn’t talent or brain power, it was simply an inner voice that said, “You can do this.”

I was one of the lucky ones, I had parents, grandparents, uncles, and an aunt who I adore - all around me waiting for me to wax brilliant.  I felt their belief in me even when they were miles away. I still do even though some of them are now in Heaven. They helped me to develop a very positive attitude. They believed in me, so I believed in me.

I marvel at the people in the world who develop their own positive attitude.  The ones who had to tell themselves, “You can do this!” or “You’re as good as anyone!”  If you’re one of these people, my hat’s off to you.

If you don’t have a positive attitude today, that doesn’t mean you can’t have one tomorrow.  Just start working on it!  When your inner doubts rise to the surface, use them as motivators.  Take on the attitude of “I’ll show you.”  Then keep on keeping on until you do just that.  Harvard psychologist William James said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.”

Attitude is a choice.  You either choose to believe in yourself or you choose not to.  I think that a lot of people find a positive attitude to be too risky.  After all, they reason, if you don’t believe in yourself - you’ll never set yourself up for a fall.  There’s truth in that - but there’s also truth in the fact that if you never get out of bed, you’ll never run into anything.  But who wants to stay in bed all their life?!

Start today.  Keep telling yourself that you can do anything you want to do.  Remind yourself of your past successes - even seemingly small things that you did and did well. 

Work on your attitude, then watch your attitude work in your life!