Be True To You, Seminar Advice

The Take Action Get Profits Seminar by Michele Scism had many great topics and interesting thoughts. It was a great experience to be with so many people who were passionate about what they do and want to make the world a better place. This was both in the speakers and the attendees, all of whom I am very glad I met.

One phrase stood out.

While there was much discussion about a variety of topics, one phrase kept echoing in my mind. The speakers each said this one subject in a variety of ways. This phrase was used in regards to what you should do and be in your business. “Be authentic,” “be true to you” or other variations.

Be True To You

For many people it is a struggle trying to decide. You wonder if you should do what makes money which may not be what you love. You could be authentic to yourself and follow your passion but then you worry about income. This may seem like a valid argument except for one problem, you are not authentic.

While following the money may make sense, it means you are not authentic to your true heart. This lack of authenticity shows itself in multiple ways that actually make you feel worse. Regret, remorse, confusion and lack of focus are parts of feeling inauthentic. You wonder what you should do and this constant internal battle wears on your heart and soul.

What is your business?

You may think you know, but if you do not feel true to yourself then you are not where you need to be. This lack of truth affects not only you but the world as a whole. This may seem extreme, yet by not being your true self you are denying the world your true powers. When you are true to yourself, you can do much more for the world, the world can feel your strength and passion.

What does passion have to do with business?

You may have heard, “follow your passion and the money will follow.” While that is a wonderful and incredible goal, imagine how much more you can help others when your life is full of passion. That passion can light a fire in everyone you are near. This is part of why money comes to you, the other part is people feel drawn to someone who is following their passion.

Be true to you.

Be true to you in what you do, personally and in business.

Be true to you and let the world see your light.

Thank you Michelle and other speakers and attendees.

Live, Laugh, Love,
MJ Schrader

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Open Your Heart to Mean People

It would be nice if everyone was always kind. Let’s face reality, life is not always kind and sometimes people get mad. Some get mad and get over it, some stay in the realm of mad, hurt, anger, and become bitter. Being bitter is not something they keep to themselves unfortunately.

They share.

These angry people share their hurt feelings because they hate being alone in pain. Maybe they are angry because other people are mean and they only see more hatred and anger. Some people like to hurt others because they think it proves who is better.

What can I do?

Try to tell them. Remember to be kind. But in the end what will work is as unique as the two people involved and the time. What works with one person may not work with another or at a different time.

Do you have an example?

I have a “missing friend.” She went missing a few years ago, I did not notice. It was when I noticed, that she physically disappeared. She is nice until you do not do something she wants. She said I could stay in touch with her children. They were like nieces and nephews to me.  She had grown increasingly angry with others and I had not noticed. But she demanded to know what happened to our friendship, rather than start over, without the mean behavior. After demanding an answer, she ended the friendship.

What can you do?

She may continue to say we mutually ended it. She may continue to send me texts on a regular basis to tease me about not having children. She may continue to send multiple mean texts should I respond at all. So what can I do?

I can continue to love her. I can continue to offer friendship. If I hear of a need, I can do as before, which is offer help, send help, or make certain the needs of the children were met. A change for the better is not possible if I react by being mean. While it hurts to not see the children, or even worse for her to compare me to someone who actually threatened to poison my dog, it can not change who I am. I can continue to love the children, love her, even while seeing her for what she is.

Do not close your eyes to problems but open your heart.

Open your heart.  Offer love, in small ways or big ways.  To that person and to others.  Offer love until your own anger at the meanness of other people turns to love.

 

Love Always,  that’s what makes you a rockstar.

MJ Schrader

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Get Up and Dance and You Better Enjoy it

Ok, that’s probably a strange title for becoming a rockstar inside. Yet the truth of the matter is we all need to get up and dance even when we do not want to or even feel like. You especially need to enjoy the dance.

What do you mean enjoy the dance?

When you were young you may have been told to go play with your cousins or sibling. You may have been told to go outside and play. For whatever reason, you did not want to do this, so your mom or dad would tell you “Now GO! Go play and you BETTER enjoy it!” This was supposed to be a moment of encouragement although it probably resulted in you rolling your eyes as soon as the adult couldn’t see your eyes anymore. You may have thought they were crazy, but there was wisdom behind it.

What were they trying to say?

They were actually telling you to enjoy the current moment. While that was not what they said, that was the thought behind it. Even if you may not like what you are doing… when you look for the joy, the bits of happiness in the moment, you may be surprised to find even more joy and happiness. Dancing with your cousin at the wedding may not be on your list of fun things when you are a child. But when you can find the joy in the wedding, in your feet and body moving, in the dance, then you learn. Learn to enjoy the now, whatever it is.



Live, Dance, Enjoy,

MJ Schrader

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Go to Bed Early Rockstar

You probably had heard the saying “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” This piece of wisdom is often credited to Benjamin Franklin, yet it actually an age-old proverb. Despite the fact many people try to disprove this, scientists and doctors have proved the wisdom and truth behind the proverb.

So let’s go through this healthy, wealthy and wise bit and see how it makes your inner rockstar shine.

How to create a healthy rockstar

Your body has an internal clock. When you allow it to sleep during the darkest hours of the day, the 11 pm to 1 am, you are allowing your body and mind to clear and heal. Your liver and your lymph nodes are detoxifying. While staying up late denies these two enough time to detoxify. It also keeps your stress hormones high. It also diminishes your sleep hormone, making it harder to sleep, which in turn increases your stress hormones creating a downward spiral.

How to create a wealthy rockstar

While you may think spending more time awake will help you get more done, it takes longer to do things. Since your stress hormones are staying high, it means you feel more stressed which also makes you less productive. You are also more prone to mistakes and accidents if you are sleep deprived. You do not have to feel tired to be sleep deprived, it can just be you are not getting enough restful sleep.

How to create a wise rockstar

When you are getting restful sleep; that critical sleep between 11 pm and 2 am, you are helping your mind refresh and rejuvenate. With less stress hormones and more sleep hormones, your body and mind are more in flow and better able to handle the challenges of life. The mind will also think clearer which means less mental mistakes. It may not actually make a person wiser, but it does help the brain to function better which helps you make wise decisions and take wise actions. Wise decisions and actions help you become healthier and wealthier, making an early bedtime a good time.

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A Lesson Learned from the Flu

10 days since my last post, which was not intentional.  There is a lesson in this unintentional break.   Lesson being, there is a serenity in resting.

I spent the past week with the flu. A few days of alternating between burning up and freezing under 5 blankets. Severe congestion, irritated throat, 4 days of life on the couch, yet there is wisdom to share.

We need rest. Sometimes we get so obsessed with a goal that we forget doing something other than working is important. Striving for a goal is necessary but if you do not rest you can get lose track of your goal.

You see the flu was a needed break, I had been working like crazy. Reading, studying, writing, note-taking for the long awaited book. Doing the other projects to bring income while I wrote, unfortunately my savings are gone.  So I worked on Blue Lemonade Stand. Creating new designs, copied designs from my old store to the new store, writing blog posts.   The new store had no designs January 1st to over 50. Over 45 days of success posts created for 365 Online Tips. Creating Lens on Squidoo.   Talking to people about how a greeting card company could change their lives, sending out cards.  Learning from Willie Crawford.

In other words… I literally worked myself sick.

What does this have to do with making my inner rockstar shine?

This is a case of learn from my foolishness. You want to succeed. But when you do not allow yourself to rest, things happen. Perhaps you have been sick before and in refusing to allow yourself a day of rest the cold went from a one day cold to 5 day flu.  Or you were running late, so you sped and got a speeding ticket which made you later.

Rest.

Relax.

Enjoy who you are.

A break is sometimes the key to helping you keep on target and reach your goals and dreams. (without losing your main goal and without spending a week sleeping on the couch!


And I will say two wonderful things have happened to help get me back into focus.

1)  A package from Ezine Articles!  It arrived the day I was coughing my head off and congested.  :)

2)  I was select as a top Woman Blogger to watch in 2011 by WE Magazine for Women.


What are my next plans?  Well, with this flu I am doing a reassessment of what is important in my goals of “become a multi-time best-selling author” and helping “make your inner rockstar shine.”


Live, Laugh, Love, REST!!!

MJ Schrader

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Announce Success To Yourself

Announce success to yourself everyday. Announce to the person in the mirror your daily successes and that you have reached your goals. Stare the person in the mirror in the eye until that person believes it with all their heart and soul. You may questioned why make this announcement to yourself, yet this can help you reach your goals and dreams easier.

Does talking to myself help?

You are telling yourself affirmations.  These are simple statements you can repeat over and over again. In simple terms they have the ability to change your mind to view it as reality. A firm declaration of something as true is intended to convince the mind that what it wants to happen is part of your life. You are doing a kind of a sub-conscious programming. This makes your brain believe what you are telling it is part of your life.

What are affirmations?

Affirmations are simple statements you can repeat over and over again. In simple terms they have the ability to change your mind to view it as reality. A firm declaration of something as true is intended to convince the mind that what it wants to happen is part of your life. You are doing a kind of a sub-conscious programming. This makes your brain believe what you are telling it is part of your life.

What does that mean?

This means your mind is more eager to make this a reality. You want your reality to be your affirmation, so you make it present tense and regarding yourself. You want it to be good, so say positive things and make your future easier by programming your brain to help you reach your goals.  YOU ARE A ROCKSTAR!  You can do anything!

Live, Laugh, Love

MJ Schrader

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A Little Monster Called Fear

You can not reach your goals if you do not take action. While it should be simple most people hesitate. You may be afraid. It seems weird to be afraid of your goals and dreams but many people are afraid. Being afraid means they never take action.

Why am I afraid?

There are a combination of reasons why people are afraid. They may be afraid of failure. It may seem like every action ends in failure, but every action is an opportunity for improvement. The only failure is giving up. There are those who are afraid of success. Success may mean more work or not being able to live up to the new standards. It may even be a fear that friends and family will not like the success or come to depend on you.

What can I do if I am afraid?

Unfortunately fear is a monster, fortunately it is not a very brave monster. Stand up to your fears, do not allow them to them to conquer you or prevent you from taking action.   Create a daily action plan can help you reach your goals. The key being that you not only have the plan but commit to doing the daily actions to reach your dreams.

While you may have valid fears there are even greater possibilities when you defeat that little fear monster. When you instead take action you will find the fear moves away and after a while moves off to the side. It may still be there, but it does not step in your way. Defeat the fear monster and take action!

Be Brave, Be Bold, Be You

MJ Schrader

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Prompts to Find Your Inner Rockstar

Today has some great prompts for you.  By answering these questions, it will help you find your inner rockstar, which brings more light and joy to the world.  This is my niche, which answers the first prompt below.

When you are the best you can be you make the world a better place.  It takes work to find who you are and learn how to be the best you that you can be, allowing your inner rockstar to shine.

Now, if you are in the January blog challenge this will give you almost enough entries to finish the month. Break each of these questions into single journal entries. When you use prompts and answer not only the prompt but answer why, you can learn about yourself. It is simple to answer the question and let it go at that. Contemplating your answers will answer far more than the question as it will give you an insight into your own thoughts.

  1. What is your interest or niche? (why?)
  2. What is your objective or goal for your website? (why?)
  3. How did you get interested in this? (why?)
  4. What do you read or research online? (why?)
  5. Would you work for someone who stresses you out even if the money was good?
  6. What did you read that changed your point of view? (why?)
  7. What was the most interesting thing you have learned? (why?)
  8. What are your favorite books? List and explain 5 or 10.
  9. If you could go anywhere, where would go? (why?)
  10. What changes do you wish to make in the next five years? (why?)
  11. If you could have three wishes, what would they be? (why?)
  12. What is the best advice you have ever gotten? (why?)
  13. Who changed your life or impressed you? (why?)
  14. If you could invite anyone to dinner, who would you invite? (why?)
  15. What would do if you knew you could not fail? (why?)


Live, Laugh, Love and Share,

MJ Schrader


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You Learn When You Teach

Over the last 10 days I shared my top lessons of 2010. You may wonder why I shared them and explained each one, there is a power in forcing yourself to explain something. Where a list may seem random, when you start looking at the why or explanations patterns and bigger stories may emerge.

This is what I found, Kate Hollifield tagged me on Facebook, asking for who were your favorite characters on TV, movies, books or whatever and why. In writing this list I was surprised to see a theme, it showed up on almost every character. On the few that it did not show, it was a variation of that theme.

Then on my personal blog I am working my way through 30 Days of Truth. There are prompts to follow rather than random posts. While some prompts may be hard to answer or may not have an answer to air publicly in the search for answers sometimes I am having to search myself. It is forcing me to answer questions, and how to share that information.  This is something that is great for you.

So look back, what are your top lessons from 2010. Share your list in the comments below and spend your next blog posts explaining why these lessons are important to you or how another person can learn from them. As they say, you learn when you teach others. This seems to be quite true.

Tomorrow I will have some prompts you can use in your blog. If you write the list and cover the lessons learned in individual posts and the prompts tomorrow, you will have more than enough material to finish the January blog challenge.

Share your list of of lessons learned in 2010 below.  Then share what you learned from each on your blog. :)

Live, Learn, Love,

MJ Schrader

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The #1 Lesson of 2010 Love Simply

And now the NUMBER 1 Lesson of the Top 10 Life Lessons of 2010 1 ~ Love. Love always. Love forever. Love Simply.

Now before you lecture me and say this was already covered, this is actually a different thought than “Love can surprise you no matter your age.”

Love is the simplest thing we can do, yet we make it the hardest.  There are all these qualifiers and rules that we decide love needs.  Who, how or why we love another person is defined and regulated by others and ourselves.  Again like the other post said, love is not limited to romantic love.

Love is what makes the world work.  Many churches preach “Love your neighbor as yourself” while deeming it a sin to love yourself.  This says “love your neighbor AS YOURSELF.”  Therefore if  you hate, attack, demoralize, martyr and deny yourself then you are doing the world a disservice because then you can not teach the world love.

You must love yourself so you can love your neighbors AS yourself.

Then you notice love your neighbor, that means anyone else.  Not specifically your actual neighbor.  In your family you probably have relatives you do not like, but you love them because they are part of your family.  Why is it okay to love them if they are family, but not if they are someone else.

Accept another person’s flaws.  Accept who they are.  If you do not like what they do, then do not love that aspect.  Perhaps if they are always negative and insulting people, tell them.  If they can not or will not change, let that aspect go.  Love the person, even if it means you must let them go.

Love the moment you are in.  Do not regret the times past, it made you who you are.  Do not constantly look to tomorrow, it is not guaranteed.  Love this moment.  If you are stuck in a traffic jam behind schedule, you can not change that aspect.  You can love that you can practice deep breathing or the music that is playing, or the ability to plan out how to make the traffic jam work for you rather than against.

The story is simple.  Love.  Love now.  Love always.  Love simply.

Love is not a habit, a commitment, or a debt. It isn’t what romantic songs tell us – love simply is. … love is. No definitions. Love and don’t ask too many questions. Just love. Paulo Coelho


Love,

MJ Schrader

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