FAMOUS QUOTAIONS

1. The government of the people, by the people for the people shall never perish from the earth,                         
   

   -ABRAHAM LINCOLN
   

   
    

2. Education is the creation of a sound mind in a body.
   

               -ARISTOTLE
   

3. Some books are to be tested, others to be swallowed some few to be chewed and
   

digested.         –BACON

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1. Devoid of education, we are all beasts.         –BHARTRI HARI
   
2. Make your books your friends,
   

   And study them unto noblest ends;
   

   Searching for knowledge, and to keep your mind
   

   The same it was inspired rich and refined.         -BEN JOHNSON
   

3. From the unreal lead me to the real.
   

   From darkness lead me to light.
   

   From death lead me to immortality.             –BRIHADARNAYAKA UPANISHAD.
   

4. Today is yesterday's pupil             --BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
   
5. A long life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough
   

   -BENJOMIN FRANKLIN
   

6. He, who gives up all desires, and moves free form attachment, egoism and thirst for enjoyment, attains peace
   

                    -BHAGWAT GITA
   

7. Literature is the thought of the thinking souls         -CARLYLE
   

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8. O solitude! Where are the charms
   

   That sages have seen in they race?              -COWPE
   

9. There is a bridge between time and eternity this bridge is atman, the spirit in man, neither
   

   day nor night cross the bridge, not old age, nor death nor sorrow
   

                -CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD
   

10. Our greatest glory is not in never falling but it rising every time we fall
    

    –CONFUCIUS
    

11. What is this life if full of care?
    

    We have no time to stand and stare.         –DAVIS
    

12. A world whose schools and other educational institutions are
    

    unreformed is an unreformed world.
    

                                     –H.G.WELLS
    

13. The fool cannot be mended by flogging and he who flogs is the greatest fool.
    

             -HOBBES
    

    17. The one problem of the whole problem of education may be comprised in a simple concept                                                         -HERBERT
    

    18. The great hope of society is individual character.         –LORD BUDDHA
    
    
    

    
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    19. Life is real; life is earnest;
    

    And the grave is not its goal;
    

    Dust thou art, to dust retunes,
    

    Was not spoken of the soul.         –LONG FELLOW
    

    20. Lead others, not by violence, but by law and equity.         –LORD BUDDHA
    

    21. 'To wipe every tear from every eye' should be the motto of our life.
    

         –MAHATAMA GANDHI
    

    22. Honor and shame from no condition rise;
    

    Act they part well; there all the honor lies         -POPE
    

    23. God's in his heaven!
    

    All's right with the world!          - ROBERT BROWNING
    

    24. I ask not for his lineage
    

    I ask not for his name;
    

    If manliness be in his heart,
    

    He noble birth may claim.          –ROBERT NICOLL
    

    
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    25. When I walk, I feel it is india walking;
    

    When I speak, I feel it is india speaking.
    

    When I breathe, I feel it is india breathing.              –SWAMI RAM TIRTHA
    

    26. A teacher can never teach unless he is still learning himself.      –TAGORE
    

    27. self-control leads us unto heaven, but uncontrolled passion is the
    

    
    royal road to endless darkness.         –TIRUVALLUVAR
    

    28. Battle of waterloo wos in the playgrounds of eton              -WELLINGTON
    

    
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    29. The meanest flower that blow can give
    

    Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.         –WORDSWORTH
    

    30. what is this life if full of care,
    

    We have no time to stand and stare?         -W.H.DAVIS
    

    
     

    31. In the examinations, the foolish may ask questions that the wise cannot answer
    

        —OSCAR WILDE
    

    32. Cowards die many times before their deaths.
    

    The valiant never taste of death but once         -SHAKESPEARE
    

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DESIGN OF LIGHTING SCHEME

DESIGN OF LIGHTING SCHEME
The lighting arrangement should be such as to provide sufficient illumination, uniform distribution of light, and avoid glare and shadow for designing the lighting scheme, the following factors should be taken into consideration.

1. ILLUMINATION LEVEL:-

This is the most vital factor because, sufficient illumination is the basic means by which we are able to see our surroundings. It is the task of illumination to give objects a distributed brightness with minimum fatigue depends upon.

i) The size of the object to be seen and its distance from the observer, the greater the distance of the object from observer, smaller the size of objects.

ii) Contrast between the object and its background.

Greater the contrast between the colour of the object and its background, greater will be the illumination required to distinguish the object properly. Objects which are seen for longer duration of time require more than those of casual work. Similarly moving objects require more illumination than those of stationary objects.

2. SPACE HEIGHT RATIO:-

It is defined as the ratio of horizontal distance between lamps and the mounting height of lamps

Space height ratio=( Horizontal distance between lamps/ Mounting height of lamps)

In order to have uniform illumination, it is necessary that the value of this should be properly chosen and this may vary between 1 and 2.

3. UTILIZAION FACTOR:-

The total light flux radiated out by the source is not utilized on the working planes and utilization factor is given as,

Utilization factor= ( Illumination under normal working conditions/ Total lumens radiated by lamp)

The value of this coefficient depends upon the following conditions,

a) The area to be illuminated.

b) Height at which lamps are fitted.

c) The colour of surrounding walls, ceiling, fittings etc.

d) The type of lighting i.e, direct or indirect.

The value for direct light varies from 0.25-0.5 while the value for indirect light varies from 0.1-0.3.

Higher the value of utilization factor, more lumens will reach the working plane for given lumens output of the lamps.

4. WASTE LIGHT FACTOR:-

A surface when illuminated by number of lamps, there is vertain amount of wastage due to overlapping of light waves. Its value for rectangular and irregular areas are 1.2 and 1.5 respectively.

speech by swami vivekananda

CONCLUDING ADDRESS - Chicago, Sept 27, 1893The World's Parliament of Religions has become an accomplished fact, and the merciful Father has helped those who labored to bring it into existence, and crowned with success their most unselfish labor.
My thanks to those noble souls whose large hearts and love of truth first dreamed this wonderful dream and then realized it. My thanks to the shower of liberal sentiments that has overflowed this platform. My thanks to this enlightened audience for their uniform kindness to me and for their appreciation of every thought that tends to smooth the friction of religions. A few jarring notes were heard from time to time in this harmony. My special thanks to them, for they have, by their striking contrast, made general harmony the sweeter.
Much has been said of the common ground of religious unity. I am not going just now to venture my own theory. But if any one here hopes that this unity will come by the triumph of any one of the religions and the destruction of the others, to him I say, "Brother, yours is an impossible hope." Do I wish that the Christian would become Hindu? God forbid. Do I wish that the Hindu or Buddhist would become Christian? God forbid.

The seed is put in the ground, and earth and air and water are placed around it. Does the seed become the earth, or the air, or the water? No. It becomes a plant. It develops after the law of its own growth, assimilates the air, the earth, and the water, converts them into plant substance, and grows into a plant.

Similar is the case with religion. The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.

If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world, it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in spite of resistance: "Help and not fight," "Assimilation and not Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension."

WELCOME ADDRESS - Chicago, Sept 11, 1893

Sisters and Brothers of America,

It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.

My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."

The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.

Website Artwork

The website artwork is an acknowledgement to the great artists throughout history whose work I have enjoyed and found enriching.

As I suggested in The Arts and Personal Development , art is a universal language that transcends time and space. It can transport us to altered states of consciousness just by our looking at it and allowing our imaginations to take over.

Enjoy and be inspired!

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian scientist, mathematician, engineer, architect, artist.

Exemplifies the blend of art and science and Leonardo's attempts to relate man to nature. It also shows his interest in proportion. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Leonardo believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy for the universe. Some believe that the square symbolizes material existence and that the circle symbolizes spiritual existence, thus the depiction by Leonardo of the correlation between the two.
Brilliant! I chose this work of Da Vinci's because I love what it symbolizes and represents.

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The Thinker by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
the French artist whose sculpture emphasized texture and the emotional state of the subject.
Rodin's bronze statue of a man in sober contemplation is one of his most famous works and sometimes used to represent Philosophy.

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The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)
a Dutch post Impressionist artist who suffered from bouts of mental illness throughout his life. During his stay in a mental hospital he produced some works which were characterized by swirls. In 1971 after reading about Van Gogh's life, Don McLean wrote the song Vincent (Starry Starry Night). In the 70s the Van Gogh museum played the song daily and recently Josh Groban made it popular again on his best selling CD.

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Icarus by Henri Matisse (1869-1954) a French artist influenced by the post Impressionist artists.
He was known for his colorful, fluid and beautiful style.
In Greek mythology Icarus plunged to his death by falling into the sea after flying too close to the sun (against his father's advice) which melted the wax holding his artificial wings together.

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The next six pieces of artwork are all by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), a Spanish painter and sculptor whose work has been categorized in many periods including his Blue, Rose, African and Cuban influenced periods.
He produced works in a variety of styles in his lifetime including in neoclassical and surrealist styles.

Fleurs et Mains	Head and Hands	Dance of Youth

Drawing	Tête d'une Femme Lisant	Lovers

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Apparition of The Face of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty.

Galatea of the Spheres - Galatea was a sea nymph in Greek mythology.

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was a Spanish artist and one of the most important painters of the 20th century. His work was influenced by the Renaissance masters, but he was known for his most unusual yet beautiful work in the surrealist style. Dali said of his own work "...just because I don't know the meaning of my art, does not mean it has no meaning..."

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These four fun pieces are by Alfred Gockel (1952- present) a German artist who has toured Europe and North America and is well known for his bright, colorful, abstract and avante garde compositions. His work, in which he strives for perfection, is mesmerizing and inspiring.

Jazz On The Square	Perfectly Balanced	Fun In The Sun	Star Dance

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These three beautiful pieces are by Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), a Russian painter, printmaker and theorist credited with painting the first modern abstract works. He taught at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture in Germany from 1922 until 1933 when the Nazis closed it down.

In The Black Circle	Upwards	Beruhigt

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Keys to Making A Good Decision

There are important steps and keys to making a good decision.

Good or sound decision-making is necessary for living life productively and efficiently.

All of us are confronted with various decisions to make on a daily basis. Some are small and of minor consequence, while others are huge and potentially life changing. Some are simple and obvious choices; others are more difficult and painstaking.

For those that are complex and difficult to make, there is a process we can follow to help us come up with a good solution.

The Keys To Making a Good Decision Identify the decision to be made as well as the objectives or outcome you want to achieve. Do your homework. Gather as many facts and as much information you can to assess your options. Brainstorm and come up with several possible choices. Determine if the options are compatible with your values, interests and abilities. Weigh the probabilities or possible outcomes. In other words, what's the worst that can happen? What will happen if I do A, B or C and can I live with the consequences? Make a list of the pros and cons. Prioritize which considerations are very important to you, and which are less so. Sometimes when you match the pros against the cons you may find them dramatically lopsided. Solicit opinions and obtain feedback from those you trust or have had a similar situation to contend with. There may be some points you haven't considered. Make the decision and monitor your results. Make sure you obtain the desired outcome.

Points To Consider

✓ There are no guarantees. Certainly you can never know in advance whether a decision will be correct, therefore, you must be prepared to take risks.

✓ Look for the opportunities. If you make a mistake, view it as an opportunity to learn what didn't work and why. Many times decisions are reversible and you can change your mind.

✓ Hindsight is 20/20. On occasion, you might discover in hindsight situations that may have affected your decision had you known about them earlier. This is normal and typical but should not stall your decision-making process.

✓ Do not get stuck and do nothing. If you've done everything you can to make a good decision and still can't make up your mind, do not delay making an important decision for fear that you don't know enough or will make the wrong choice.

✓ Don't let fear stop you. Sometimes people become so paralyzed with the fear of making a wrong decision that they panic and lose sight of what they're trying to accomplish. This hinders making any decision.

✓ Don't second-guess yourself. In the end it too undermines what you're trying to accomplish. Once you've made the decision, let the chips fall where they may. At the very least, you will have learned important lessons.

When all is said and done, all you can do is the best with what you have to work with. Incidentally, do not underestimate the power of intuition, or your gut feeling. After all the facts are weighed and evaluated, it can be the final determinant. Quite often it may be all you have to go by.

Patience & Tips On How to Develop It

Patience is the ability to tolerate waiting, delay, or frustration without becoming agitated or upset. It's the ability to be able to control your emotions or impulses and proceed calmly when faced with difficulties. It comes from the Latin word pati which means to suffer, to endure, to bear.

Needless to say, patience does not come easily to most of us and it's probably harder now to be patient than historically it has ever been.

In today's world of 'instant everything', technological advancements and readily available credit have allowed us to obtain, experience, and consume practically anything we want - almost immediately.

Do we even need to be patient anymore?

Well, if we want to reach our goals, have successful relationships and achieve personal peace, the answer is a resounding yes!

Anything worthwhile and of importance cannot take place right away. It takes time, dedication and effort to achieve; so even in this day and age, patience is a virtue.

The Benefits of Developing Patience

1. Reduces stress levels and makes you a happier, healthier person.
When you learn and practice patience you don't get as angry, stressed or overwhelmed. You are more in control of your emotions and in a better position to deal with difficult situations with ease and poise.
This promotes longevity and makes you a happier, healthier person.


2. Results in better decision-making.
When you're patient you take the time to assess the situation, see the big picture, and weigh any pros and cons. The chances of making a big mistake lessen because you avoid making it in haste. Taking the time to problem solve requires patience and deliberation.
3. Helps develop understanding, empathy and compassion.
You are automatically more understanding and compassionate with others when you yourself are patient. Patient people take the time to process what they go through and are able to determine what it takes to overcome obstacles so they are more understanding of others. This results in better, more fulfilling relationships with spouses, friends, children and bosses.
4. Helps you understand and appreciate the process of growth.
As mentioned earlier anything worthwhile takes time and effort to achieve. As the old saying goes "Rome wasn't built in a day." Planning, growth, evaluation and measurement all take time, and taking time takes patience.

Tips on How to Develop Patience

• Take a day where you make patience your goal for the entire day.
Make a concerted effort to take your time and think about everything you do, be mindful and live in the moment. At the end of the day, observe all the ways in which you've made smarter decisions, got along better with others and actually understood what took place. Learn to do it on a daily basis. Developing patience is much like physical exercise because it requires persistence and effort.
• Slow down.

If you have the tendency to rush around and try to hurry things up, want things done immediately and can't wait for things to take their natural course, STOP. Take several deep breaths before you act or make a move. For example, if you're in a long lineup at the grocery store or in heavy traffic, make the decision to pause and not get worked up. Do some isometrics, listen to the radio, or just enjoy the view. Getting impatient won't make things move along any faster, so why get worked up for nothing?

• Practice delaying gratification.
When you want to reach for that dessert, second drink or buying your tenth pair of red shoes, stop and think about it first. Maybe you don't need or want any of them that badly after all. You can save yourself some money or added calories.
• Practice thinking before you speak.
At times we blurt out the first thought that comes into our head without considering the consequences. If we're patient, pause and go over what we want to say, we can avoid hurting or offending others.

Situations for which patience is a must: Reaching most goals Losing weight Having a baby Bodybuilding Becoming a professional career person such as a doctor, lawyer, engineer Becoming a top athlete Becoming a virtuoso in any musical field The healing of any wounds or illnesses Getting over loss or tragedy

Patience is definitely a valuable character trait to develop. It may appear to be passive, however it is an active, purposeful and necessary form of self-discipline. Without patience many of our actions would be counter-productive and ultimately much time and energy would be wasted spinning our wheels. Surely, patience is a time-tested virtue.

Self Confidence Action Plan How To Start One

While it is wonderful and absolutely necessary to possess personal confidence or self-confidence, is it possible to have too much?

Believe it or not, yes!

Even as most people lack enough confidence or possess a positive self-image, there are those who overestimate their capabilities, are over optimistic, take on too much risk and end up crashing and burning.

So why am I even bringing this up?

The answer is, because in order to build true/genuine self-confidence, your self-image must be founded in reality. You must know who you are. You must have a realistic evaluation of your abilities and you must commit to continued self-improvement. Add to that learning to maintain focus, motivation and persistence, and you're on your way!

A good way to build and maintain your self-confidence and stay focused is to set up a program or action plan for yourself. Here is an outline of how you can go about it. You can customize it to your own needs or you can follow the steps as I've presented them.

Self-Confidence Action Plan

Become aware.
Know who you are and what you want. As has been said so many times - "If you don't know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?" Take the time to figure out what your strengths, aptitudes and capabilities are and how you can to best use them to achieve personal satisfaction and fulfillment. Draw up a chart or excel spreadsheet outlining your strengths, what you enjoy doing, and how you can establish goals. List the things you'd like to do and what you have to do to accomplish them.

For example:

Strengths	Personal Abilities	Physical Abilities	Interests
reliable	good memory	coordinated	basketball
loyal	artistic	good stamina	play guitar
friendly	musical	quick reflexes	writing
trustworthy	good writer	good writer	computers

Some possible goals based on the above set of talents and capabilities might be:

• To stay physically fit by joining a local basketball league

• Teach guitar lessons at the local YMCA/YWCA

• Start a blog on any one of interests to improve writing skills

• Join Toastmasters network and develop speaking skills

If you don't take action or set goals, but just flail about aimlessly without purpose or focus, it won't take long before you become disillusioned and hopeless. Those who are self-confident know what they want and they work at getting it.

Motivate Yourself.
Self-confidence comes also from the ability to motivate yourself to achieve your goals. Of course, it's easier to just procrastinate and find excuses for not putting in the effort to accomplish something. Unfortunately, this too leads to inertia, disillusionment and falling into a rut. One way you can stay on track and stay motivated is to set up a chart of must-do activities that include:

• 30-40 minutes of exercise/jogging daily
• practice guitar for 30 minutes, 3 times a week
• write one article a week for blog
• read articles and newspapers for ideas and to sharpen language skills

Take care of yourself.
Even though relying on your physical appearance and good looks as a basis for self-confidence is not a good idea, it is important to look and feel your best. This means staying healthy and fit, maintaining good grooming habits and making the most of what you have. Do some research on the best styles and colors for your body type. If you need help, there are many men's and women's fashion magazines that can give you some great ideas. The Internet is also a helpful resource for finding the latest trends and styles. Pay attention too, to your attitude. How you walk, talk, and conduct yourself significantly reflects how you feel about yourself. A good personality, a neat and stylish appearance and a smile on your face can take you a long way towards success in career, relationships and personal accomplishment.

Develop Your Mind.
And then keep developing it! Not only will people find you interesting and someone who contributes to their own knowledge and awareness, you will keep your brain sharp and active.

People who get mentally lazy and don't continue to challenge themselves throughout life are more prone to develop dementia, Alzheimer's and other degenerative brain diseases as they age. Self-confidence will plummet!

Make it a point to do such things as:

• reading
• brain puzzles
• playing games such as chess
• staying informed of current events
• learning about global issues
• journaling
• memorize people's names
• improve your vocabulary

Stay on Top of Things and Reinforce.
Continue to assess and evaluate yourself. Self-confidence can rise and fall depending on what you're doing with yourself. If you happen to slack off and choose not to keep improving, you will begin to feel uninspired and less confident. Even the most successful people in the world cannot, and do not, rest on their laurels because personal growth is a continuing process. Make sure, however that you do not to go overboard and put pressure on yourself to achieve. Learn to gauge yourself and balance striving to reach your goals with fun and recreation.

As you can see, self-confidence is not only an achievable goal if you set it up as a workable Action Plan, it can also be fun and extremely rewarding. Take the time to draw up your own self-confidence action plan and tailor it to your particular needs and goals where necessary. Decide which characteristics you want to develop, work on, or accentuate. Make a game of it. The process alone will stimulate your creativity and who knows what great things can happen! Enjoy the ride as you become a more confident individual who is willing to take control of his/her own destiny.

Take Control of Your Life or Personal Leadership

Each day you have the ability to make the choice to take control of your life, or to let it control you. You can either be proactive, or you can let circumstances call the shots.

To take control of your life or exercise personal leadership is to take responsibility for yourself and for every area of your life. It means being connected with your values, your vision and to set meaningful goals for yourself. When you do, you become more productive, more optimistic, able to solve problems more easily and ultimately have less stress in your life.

No doubt, with all the chaos and uncertainty that is going in the world these days it may be difficult to feel like you are in charge of your life, and while there are some things you have no control over, there is much that you do. Understand that you are the principal architect and creator of your life and that you are where you are at, because of the choices and decisions you have made thus far.

An interesting concept that I came across in my readings recently, and as it relates to personal leadership, is to see yourself as the CEO of your own life. If you were to apply it to yourself, how would run your life? What kind of strategic planning would you do and how would you envision your future? I would guess that in seeing yourself as the CEO of your life, you would be inspired to think in a more effective, results oriented manner.

As your own CEO, here are some ways in which you can take control of your life and exercise personal leadership:

Determine your values and what's important to you. As I wrote in Have A Personal Value System, knowing what your values are gives you structure and purpose, which in turn directs you on how to focus your time and efforts. It would be similar to the 'mission statement' a company would hold. As you probably know, a mission statement typically spells out the overall goals and drives the actions of an organization. It likewise provides a roadmap and guides the decision-making processes for management.

In your life your mission statement could be something like: "My purpose is to live life to the fullest by taking the care of my health, relationships, finances and overall happiness to the best of my abilities."

When you state your objective so succinctly, you can't help but be focused and take the right actions for where you need to be. This also helps keep you from being aimless and scattered, not to mention avoiding hit and miss situations.

Plan, be organized and set goals. Think of the big picture of what you want in your life and then break it down to manageable parts. For everything that you want to accomplish, you need a strategy or action plan. One way is to set goals appropriate to your mission statement and then devise a plan on how to go about achieving them. Nothing happens by itself; so taking charge of your life entails taking the bull by the horns. Rather than daydreaming about what you want or engaging in wishful thinking, you set the wheels in motion for success. In fact, the planning stages can actually be fun and challenging! Not only will you achieve your objectives, you will sharpen your critical thinking and problem solving skills in the process. The most successful CEOs in the world are those who set realistic, achievable goals for their companies, plan the best strategies and then execute them accordingly. They also set their priorities, organize their tasks and duties and make sure all the different departments are running smoothly and efficiently. There is a famous quote that states, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

Maintain a positive attitude. Sometimes one of the hardest things to do is remain positive when your best efforts to take control of your life don't go according to plan. As any CEO will tell you, there are always obstacles and roadblocks that get in the way of any launch or rollout. In another similar example, ask any athlete, inventor or composer. Would you think that everything comes together for them smoothly and without any glitches? Definitely not!
The quality or character trait that separates those who succeed and those that do not, is a positive attitude and an unshakable belief in themselves. They do not let negative thoughts or obstacles get in the way of ultimate achievement. Of course, that does not mean that it is easy; it means that persistence and focus are necessary. Those who cannot maintain control of their lives quite often want to give up at first sign of trouble or difficulty. When that happens, all else seems to unravel as well, and they mistakenly feel they have no control of anything at all in their lives. This type of mindset is both counterproductive and detrimental to progress. Maintaining a positive attitude is absolutely essential for taking control of your life.

Have fun. While taking control of your life involves a lot of planning, strategy and executing, it could weigh you down if you forget to take time to have some fun. Living a full, productive life requires maintaining balance between work, relaxation and recreation. Too much structure makes Jack or Jill a dull person.

To take control of your life try an experiment by envisioning yourself as the CEO of your personal company - your own life. The concept alone will make you feel more in control. Then make the types of plans, choices and decisions that you would expect a successful CEO would make and you will be surprised at how much more in control of your life you will feel. It may take some practice and role playing, but the outcome will be - YOU in control of your life.

Visualization A Key To Achieving Your Goals

Visualization is an important personal development tool. Just as affirmations can help you motivate yourself and focus better to achieve your goals so can using visualization or mental imagery.

Although it has only become really popular as a personal development technique since the late seventies and early eighties, we as humans have been using it since the beginning of time.

Whenever we have an idea or notion to do something we visualize it first. For instance, if we're hungry and want to eat we picture different food possibilities; whether we want to cook a meal or go out to eat, and whether or not we want company at our meal. When we have a function to attend we picture what type of outfit to wear and where we might shop for it.

What is Visualization?

It is the use of the imagination through pictures or mental imagery to create visions of what we want in our lives and how to make them happen. Along with focus and emotion it becomes a powerful, creative tool that helps us achieve what we want in life.

Used correctly it can bring about self-improvement, maintain good health, help you perform well in sports, and accomplish your goals in life.

In sports, mental imagery is often used by athletes to improve their skills by picturing the achievement of a specific feat, such as hitting or shooting a ball, skiing a hill, swimming or running a race, among other things.

Using it as a technique invariably results in a much better performance and outcome. This also holds true in business, or in life, such as in delivering a speech, asking for a raise, or any other situation that requires preparedness and forethought.

How does it work?

Visualization or mental imagery works because when you imagine yourself performing perfectly and doing exactly what you want, you physiologically create neural patterns in your brain, just as if you had physically performed the action. The thought can stimulate the nervous system in the same way as the actual event does.

Performing or rehearsing an event in the mind trains it and creates the neural patterns to teach our muscles to do exactly what we want them to do.

In the case of competitive sports, not only are exceptional physical skills required, but so is a strong mental game. Most coaches preach that sports are 90% mental and only 10% physical. That's why so many athletes train in visualization or mental imagery along with their physical routines.

To be effective, like any skill, mental imagery needs to be practiced regularly. The four elements to mental imagery are relaxation, realism, regularity and reinforcement.

When To Use Visualization

Success. See yourself performing skills at a high level, achieving your goals, being who you want to be and living the life you want.

To motivate. Envision yourself achieving your goals vividly to remind yourself of your objective and what you need to do to reach it. Many athletes, actors, and singers "see" and "feel" themselves performing a routine, program, or play several times perfectly in their minds before they actually do it.

To familiarize or set the stage for a performance/event. Mental imagery can be used effectively to familiarize yourself with the surroundings before an event, such as a competition site, a racetrack, a stage or a difficult play or routine prior to a competition.

To do a run-through. Athletes and performers often do a complete mental run through of the key elements of their routines. This helps them to focus and eliminate some pre-performance jitters, thus making them more comfortable when the time comes to compete or perform. It also serves as a warm-up or mini rehearsal.

Visualization is a wonderful tool for preparing for anything, and everything. It invariably results in a higher level of performance.

How to Visualize What you want: Go somewhere quiet and private where you won't be disturbed. Close your eyes and think of the goal, mood, new behavior or skill, you want to acquire. Take several deep breaths and relax. Visualize the object or situation you desire in your mind as clearly and with as much detail as you can. Add emotion, feeling, and your senses to your vision. Practice it at least twice a day for about 10 minutes each time. Persevere until you succeed. Maintain positive thoughts and a good attitude throughout.

The Benefits of Visualization

• Helps you focus better in order to achieve your goals
• Inspires and motivates you.
• Helps you improve in a sport or skill.
• Can be used to rehearse and then acquire new, positive behaviors.
• Can boost your mood by using positive, pleasant imagery to alter negative emotions.
• Helps build self-confidence.

The Four Stages of Learning a Skill

According to a classic psychological model of individual learning, before we acquire any skill there are four stages of learning or competence that we go through.

It's probably no surprise to anyone that personal development, like anything else, entails becoming skilled at various positive behaviors. How could it not?

Everything we do requires awareness first, then learning and application and then practice. Merely reading about a healthy self-concept, developing humor, resilience or positive thinking isn't going to get us there.

We must first figure out what skills we require and then proceed to incorporate them into our thinking and behavior. Easier said than done - right?

If we understand that there is, indeed, a process and that it takes place in stages, we can be more patient with ourselves and realize that nothing happens overnight. By understanding the four stages of learning a skill, we can concentrate on the learning process itself and not feel bad about where we're at and why we don't know everything already.

Here are the four stages of learning any skill, and then as it relates to personal development:

1. Unconscious Incompetence
   At this stage you don't know what your problems are or how to identify them. You may or may not know that something is not working, but you have no idea what it is or how to go about fixing it. In other words you don't know what you don't know.

You are going through life feeling that something is missing; you're plodding along but not really paying attention - you just stumble along.


2. Conscious Incompetence
   With conscious incompetence you are aware of a lot of your problems, but you don't know how to correct them. You may understand what is needed, but have no knowledge or confidence in how to get it. You may feel overwhelmed by how much you need to learn.

Soon you begin to realize that you are unhappy with yourself, your relationships, your career and you're stuck in a rut. You know you have to do something but have no idea what or how to go about it. You start reading about personal development but feel overwhelmed with how much there is to learn.


3. Conscious Competence
   In this stage you know how to correct your problems but it will take time and practice. You know what you know, and can apply it as long as you are concentrating and focusing on it. You have to think your way through the process and it feels unnatural and foreign. It is outside of your comfort zone.
   
   

You have realized that there is no other way to improve, but to apply yourself read and do what is needed. It's time to put to practice what you have read and discovered. It is difficult, yet fun because you are stretching yourself, growing and your life is becoming more meaningful and productive.



4. Unconscious Competence
   You know what you know and you no longer have to think about it. You have become so skilled at it that it's automatic and comes naturally. In fact, you do it unconsciously because you no longer have to think about it. Speaking your native language is an example of unconscious competence.

So here you are on the path of personal development. You know it's an ongoing process, but because you've incorporated many positive habits, positive thinking and positive behaviors, your life is less of a struggle and more of a progressive journey. You don't think in terms of obstacles; you think in terms of opportunities and ways in which you can improve yourself.

As I've mentioned the four stages of learning pertain to how we learn anything in life. Until we know better, most things seem easy. For example, take riding a bicycle. Before you knew how to ride one, it probably looked easy until you got on and tried to ride it. Then you realized how incompetent you were at it.

The same with roller or ice-skating. First you had to learn how get up and keep your balance. Not so easy! Then you'd fall a few times and maybe even get a little bruised (ouch!). In order to get better, you had to keep practicing until you got really good at it. After a while, low and behold, you no longer had to think about what you were doing and it became smooth sailing.

So it is with any skill. Keep improving and working on yourself until it becomes second nature. Not only will you get the most from life, you will live it to your full potential.