Just a little bit more....

Today I had a wonderful reminder of the power of "thinking big," courtesy of my 9 year old son, Alex.

Alex approached me about four months ago, asking if he could start jogging with me. I was thrilled that my exercise habits were trickling down to him, so of course I encouraged it.

We have a treadmill in the house, and while they can be very dangerous for children, I felt confident enough with my level of close supervision that he would be OK (plus there's that "key" thing that attaches to his chest that will cut the power if he falls).

He really enjoyed it, starting with "running" at a whopping 2.5 MPH for 12 minutes. Very soon, he worked up to 16 minutes, jogging/walking about a mile. He constantly likes to see if he can run "just a little bit faster" each day - makes my heart leap!

About two weeks ago, he developed a cold that has left behind a nasty cough. He avoided jogging because he felt too sluggish on the machine. I know this feeling, and it certainly is a dis-incentive to run.

We do have a doctor's appointment scheduled, but I wanted to see him at least walking for the 16 minutes. It's really more about keeping up the habit, not trying to "exercise."

Today, he got on again, and I encouraged him to try to slowly jog for just a minute. He did, and then backed it down to a walk. One more time, I told him, "Just see if you can run for another minute." And he did!

I'm thinking, "Now he's on a roll, let's see how far I can push this." So I kept telling him, "Alex, when you think you're going as fast as you can, in reality you can go just a little bit faster."

I could see the change taking place in his brain as if it were written on his forehead. He cranked up the speed to faster than he had ever gone, just for 30 seconds.

When he backed it down for his cool down walk, he said to me, "Mom, you were right. I could go faster than I thought I could."

What's the lesson?

Whereever we are, we can go just a little farther. If we're progressing as fast as we can, the fact is that we can go just a little bit faster.

Even in this economy.

Where are you right now? How can you go just a little bit more? Where can you put just a little bit more?

Those "little bit more's" will add up to some "bigger chunks" in short order.

To your continuing prosperity,
Anita

Feeling Stressed? Take a Breather....

And I do mean "breathing" in the literal sense!

Listening to bad news all day long, or even for just a few minutes in the morning or evening, can really take a toll on you. It is hard to resist getting pulled into the doom and gloom of what is going on in the world.

But the consequence is that you bring that doom and gloom into your own mindset! It influences how you feel, how you think, and maybe how you act.

Do not give up your personal power to outside influences! First of all, turn off the TV. I promise you that if something really important happens (like that plane that landed on the Hudson), you will hear about it.

I have taken this important step myself. I tend to be a news junkie, but I realized that constantly having that drone in the background plummeted my mood.

It then became a distraction. I was so pulled into whatever issue was being discussed that I failed to work on projects that would BENEFIT me. How crazy is that?

And indeed, I did hear about the plane last week, even though I didn't have the news on. I didn't miss anything! When I chose to turn the news on, the reports were so miraculous - I felt uplifted by watching. Trying to figure out the last time that happened........still thinking......

After you turn off the TV, you'll notice you have much more time, attention, and energy to devote to your own personal life and business. Conduct your life as if nothing unusual is happening, and you will see progress.

Take that breather from the TV. You will not be sorry!

To Your Continued Prosperity,

Anita ( www.dr-anita.com )

Staying Calm in the Troubled Economy

It's been a while since I posted to the blog! Please don't think I have abandoned you, my precious readers.



Rather, I just got really busy, with lots of new clients and opportunities presenting themselves. I had speaking engagements and requests for articles. My clients were pushing to get their goals accomplished before the end of 2008, meaning hard core focusing was going on.



All along, I've been networking and connecting with all kinds of people, including more and more work at home mothers.



Through all of this connecting, I experienced something unexpected: many of the WAHMs I spoke to reported an INCREASE in their businesses during the last two quarters of the year.



What? This didn't make any sense to me, although it mirrored my own business trends. Every day on the news, we were bombarded with proof of the economic slow down.



To be sure, major segments of the economy have slowed considerably, there is no denying this. Among my friends and network connections, their husbands have been laid off or their hours have been reduced.



In trying to process this apparent discrepancy between what people on "Main Street" were saying, versus what the talking heads on TV were saying, it dawned on me.



Traditional measures of economic health rely on traditional retail numbers. That means that all the money I make, and all the money that MLM contractors make, are not captured in the overall economic picture.



No one asked me to report the gift certificates I sold for coaching services over the holidays. But those are dollars that were not spent at Macy's or Walmart.



I see individuals struggling in this economy. But I also see people thriving (including myself, at least up to this point).



The take home message - build your businesses! What is happening in traditional settings does not reflect what is going on in the "new economy."



Let's report our own economic news....

To Your Prosperity,
Anita

P.S. And while you're at it, head on over to www.dr-anita.com and sign up for my newsletter!