In October of ‘08, I wrote a post titled, “Does Correct English Matter?” In it I explained the correct use of three common errors in the use of English, and why I feel it’s important to use correct English in writing. The common errors I explained in that lesson were the use of its and it’s; their, there, and they’re; and here and hear.
Two more tips for correcting common errors are the following:
Lose and Loose.
Lose means to no longer have something or to be unable to find an item. Loose, which has several meanings generally means not held together or to untie or undo something. Notice that the two words are not pronounced exactly alike, although the pronunciation is similar, so if they’re not pronounced carefully, the person hearing may miss the meaning of your sentence.
Examples: Harry will lose his job if he’s late one more time.
The dog was let loose from his dog house.
Affect and Effect
Affect means to act upon, to influence Effect means to bring about a desired result, to accomplish.
Examples: This legislation will affect the entire country.
It will effect several changes in the auto industry.
There are many more common errors, some of which I expect to explain in another post. If you have questions about any questions you might have with common errors, please contact me.
Be sure to check out the new page I’ve added on the subject of health. It’s a page I’m establishing because it’s a subject I’m particularly interested in and have some experiences and knowledge of that I’m happy to share.
I’ll be relating some of my own experiences with healing specific dis – ease of the body and therapies that I use and have found to be successful.
Stay tuned….and check back, or sign the box to the right of this post, and I’ll send you updates. If you have specific questions, I’ll be happy to answer if I have an answer, or suggestion. Remember that I’m not a doctor, nor a trained health care professional. I’m relating only my own experiences and knowledge which comes from my research as well as my own use of various therapies. Always check with your own health care professional before trying any supplement or therapy.
I dislike spam as much as anyone else….maybe more, so I won’t release your email address to anyone!
The Most Valuable Question You Can Ask
by Jack Canfield
As you begin to take action toward the fulfillment of your goals and dreams, you must realize that not every action will be perfect.
Not every action will produce the desired result. Not every action will work.
Making mistakes, getting it almost right, and experimenting to see what happens are all part of the process of eventually getting it right.
Thomas Edison is reported to have tried over 2,000 different experiments that failed before he finally got the light bulb to work. He once told a reporter that, from his perspective, he had never failed at all. Inventing the light bulb was just a 2,000-step process. If you can adopt that attitude, then you can be free to take an action, notice what result you get, and then adjust your next actions based on the feedback you have received.
Ready, Fire, Aim!
Don’t be afraid to just jump in and get started moving toward your goals. As long as you pay attention to the feedback you receive, you will make progress. Just getting into the game and firing allows you to correct and refine your aim.
The Most Valuable Question You May Ever Learn
In the 1980s, a multimillionaire businessman taught me a question that radically changed the quality of my life. So what is this magical question that can improve the quality of every relationship you are in, every product you produce, every service you deliver, every meeting you conduct, every class you teach and every transaction you enter into?
Here it is:
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the quality
of our relationship during the last week?”
Here are a number of variations on the same question that have served me well over the years…
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate…
| · our service? | · my teaching? |
| · our product? | · this class/seminar/workshop? |
| · this meeting? | · our date/vacation? |
| · our performance? | · this meal? |
| · my coaching/managing? | · this book/recording/show? |
| · my parenting/babysitting? |
Any answer less than a 10 always gets this follow-up question:
“What would it take to make it a 10?”
This is where the *really* valuable information comes from. Knowing that a person is dissatisfied is not enough. Knowing in detail what will satisfy them gives you the information you need to do whatever it takes to create a winning product, service or relationship.
There Are Two Kinds of Feedback
There are two kinds of feedback you might encounter – negative and positive. We tend to prefer the positive – that is, results, money, praise, promotion, raise, awards, happiness, inner-peace, etc. It feels betters. It tells us we are on course and doing the right thing.
We tend not to like negative feedback – lack of results, little or no money, criticism, poor evaluations, complaints, unhappiness, inner conflict, pain, etc.
However, there is as much useful data in negative feedback as there is in positive feedback. It tells us that we are off course, headed in the wrong direction, doing the wrong thing. This is priceless information!
In fact, it’s so valuable that one of the most useful projects you could undertake is to change how you respond to negative feedback. I like to refer to negative feedback as information for “improvement opportunities.” Here is a place where I can get better.
Ask Yourself for Feedback
In addition to asking others for feedback, you need to ask yourself for feedback, too. More than any other source of feedback, your body will tell you whether or not you are on course or not. When you are relaxed and happy, your body is telling you that you are on track. When you are constantly exhausted, tense, in pain, unhappy and angry, then you are off track.
Take time to listen to what your body is saying to you. Take time to listen to your physical sensations and your feelings. They are sending you important messages. Are you listening?
Remember, Feedback Is Simply Information
You don’t have to take it personally. Just welcome it and use it.
For more on Using Feedback to Your Advantage, review Principle #19 in The Success Principles. It’s one of the most important principles you can apply.
© 2009 Jack Canfield
Are you “stuck” in this area?
Send Jack your most pressing question about this topic, then join him for the monthly
“Ask Jack Canfield” Tele-Clinic on September 2nd!
www.AskJackCanfield.com
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Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com
Tags: Inspirational, Jack Canfield, Success Coach, success strategies
What does Jack Canfield have to say about Success?
Watch this video from YouTube, in which he talks about his book, Success Principles.
Tags: Chicken Soup for the Soul, creating success, Jack Canfield, Success, Success Coach, Success Principles
Visit Lake County, California, Saturday and Sunday, July 25 & 26th for the fifth annual Wine Adventure, presented by the Lake County Winery Association. Enjoy sampling many of the award-winning Lake County wines, excellent appetizers prepared by local purveyors of fine foods, and barrel tasting and winery tours at some of the twenty-two participating winerys. A commemorative wine glass and eligibility to win several great prizes are included with the purchase of a two-day Adventure Ticket. Tickets may be purchased at participating wineries, and one day tickets are also available.
Contact AnnDrewArt at the Tuscan Village in Lower Lake, for more information, at 707-995-5079 and for activities at the Village.
Tags: anndrewart, art gallery, art supplies, Clear Lake Calif, Lake County wineries, Tuscan Village, Wine Adventure
Blossom Dearie was 84 years old when she died in February of 2009, and her delightful girlish voice can still be heard in the many songs she recorded. I mentioned Blossom Dearie to my daughter recently, and she said, “Who’s Blossom Dearie?” Of course, my daughter grew up in the ‘rock and roll’ age, but her taste in music is eclectic, as it is in art, so I hastened to let her know a little of Blosssom Dearie’s fame as a singer, pianist and songwriter, and suggested she go to the ever-popular website, YouTube, where she could hear some of Blossom’s songs there. One of my favorites is Blossom’s rendition of “I Walk a Little Faster,” but she recorded so many songs of the 1930s through the 1950s that it’s hard to choose a favorite.
Blossom had a career spanning the years from about the early forties, when she graduated from high school and moved to New York City, until 2006, when she was still performing in supper clubs in London and New York City, at age 81.
I’ve been able to post a song of Blossom’s on the right side of my page, directly under Louis Armstrong’s, “What a Wonderful World.” Blossom sings, “Killing Me Softly.”
Tags: Blossom Dearie, Killing Me Softly With His Song, Louis Armstrong, music, What a Wonderful World
Utilizing The Law of Attraction
by Jack Canfield
The law of attraction states that you will attract into your life–whether wanted or unwanted–whatever you give your energy, focus, and attention to.
You are constantly giving off vibrations of energy when you think and feel. These vibrations can be picked up and received by other people. That’s why people say, “he has good vibes,” or “he gives off bad vibes.” You are constantly giving off vibrations — literally!
If you’re feeling excited, enthusiastic, passionate, happy, joyful, loving, appreciative, abundant, prosperous, relaxed and peaceful, you are giving off positive vibrations.
On the other hand, if you’re feeling bored, anxious, worried, confused, sad, lonely, hurt, angry, resentful, guilty, disappointed, frustrated, overwhelmed, stressed out, or depressed, then you are giving off negative vibrations.
The law of attraction states that the universe responds to whatever you are offering — by giving you more of whatever you are vibrating. It doesn’t care whether it is good for you or not; it simply responds to your vibration.
If you saw the film The Secret, you saw this explained in great detail.
The problem is that most of the time, you are not aware of what vibration you are offering. You are simply responding to things outside of you–current events, the news, how people treat you, the stock market, how much money you are making, how your children are doing in school, whether or not your favorite sports team wins–and then having a feeling that is either positive or negative.
When you are simply responding unconsciously to what happens around you, you tend to stay “stuck” in your current condition. This is why most people’s lives never seem to change very much. They get stuck in a repeating cycle of recreating the same reality over and over by the vibration they are sending out.
It works like this… First you observe what you currently have and are currently receiving in your life. You call this your “reality.” You respond to what you observe with a feeling, positive or negative, which then gives off that vibration to the universe. The law of attraction then responds to this vibration and brings you more of what you were vibrating. This keeps the cycle going over and over, until you choose to change it through the exertion of your will. You are a victim of your lack of awareness of the law of attraction.
The Process of Intentional Creation
It is possible to get out of this vicious cycle and create what you want instead of continually recreating what you already have. It is a simple, three-step process that you can begin immediately.
If you’ve been implementing the action steps I coach you through in The KEY to Living the Law of Attraction, you have already begun this process.
Step 1: Identify what you truly desire & eliminate the negative
It is important to focus on what you want rather than what you don’t want. You must state it in the positive and filter out the words don’t, not and no. Remember, your mind works in pictures and if you say I don’t want to be mad, you are creating the picture and thus the vibration of being mad. You must create the opposite of what you don’t want.
Step 2: Raise your vibration level
Your job in stage two is to create a vibrational match for that which you say you want to have. How would you be feeling if you already had those things–the perfect job, the perfect relationship, the amount of money that you want to have?
Your job is to identify what makes you feel good and do more of it, then learn not to tolerate your negative feelings.
Affirmations are an important component in raising your vibrational level to what it is you want. Remember, the law of attraction does not respond to the words you use or the thoughts you think. It simply responds to how you feel about what you say and how you feel about what you think.
For information on how to create even more effective affirmations, review chapter 10 in The Key to Living the Law of Attraction, where you’ll find my guidelines for creating effective visualizations.
Step 3. Release it and allow it.
In this third step, you simply release your affirmation, your vibration, and your feelings to the universe to take care of your “request” or “order” as I call it. But you have to abstain from any doubts. If you doubt you can have it in any way, then you are not allowing it. You are pushing it away and you end up with contradictory messages to the universe.
It is only when the contradictory thoughts, talk, and images are removed that your desired results will manifest. The faster you remove your resistance, the faster your dreams can be realized.
© 2009 Jack Canfield
Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com
Tags: happiness, Health, Jack Canfield, Law of Attraction, Success, success strategies, wealth
When Success is Slow, What Can You Do? 
by Jack Canfield
Pop Quiz: Can success be sped up? Is there an antidote to slow outcomes despite arduous planning and actions taken? What’s the secret for seeing huge results right now?!
I get versions of these questions frequently from people who feel frustrated at sluggish progress in their success journey – despite all the know-how and principles they rigorously employ.
Let’s get one thing straight…
When we admire someone’s success, or even our own, we often focus on the end result and not so much on the effort (and time) that it took to get there. This can cultivate unrealistic expectations, especially the idea that overnight success can happen through careful strategy and an execution of sound advice.
The truth be told, success typically follows a series of little events and achievements that can seem to take an eternity, that include a few disappointments along the way, and that challenge everything about you to the core – your stamina, courage, integrity, and even your willingness to keep going.
If you focus on what’s not working, guess what: You’re likely coming from a place of aggravation as your mind wraps around all that is wrong.
You may even have negative thoughts like “I’m not good enough,” “It will never work,” or “Something must be wrong with me.”
What this mentally does is engender more of these counter-productive feelings. And given what we know about the Law of Attraction, you attract what you are feeling. So negative experiences, people, and results will beget more negative experience, people, and results. There’s not much success in that.
The key, then, is to focus on what IS working. To do so, I recommend two simple practices: journaling and meditation.
Maintaining a journal (I call it an Evidence Log, Results Journal, or Gratitude Journal) is a great way to steer your attention to the positive and continually renew your vision for yourself.
Start each day with reflections on what you are grateful for in your life (list them out!) and end each day with notes on what went right (again, write them down), however small they may seem.
Spend time each day in quiet contemplation, prayer or meditation.
Meditation can be powerful tool for arriving at solutions to problems and shifting your attitude so you can attract success sooner rather than later. The magic of meditation is its ability to essentially shut down the outer layer of your judgmental, highly-critical brain and allow your unconscious mind to take over. This is where you enter a deeper state of inner peace and joy, tapping into a higher level of creativity that will help usher in the results you want. (Don’t know how to meditate? Lots of books and materials are available to guide you this practice. It’s easier than you think. )
Let’s say you’re doing ALL these things, but you still aren’t happy with your results…
I’ll ask you then, are you taking real ACTION?
You may be taking the actions you are used to taking. But if you keep doing what you’ve already done, then you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten. It’s a matter of practicing some new behaviors. Shake things up a bit and see if you can take new actions or modify existing ones.
Remember the Rule of 5.
Every day do five specific things that take you toward your goal. Change up the five actions regularly and be open to feedback so you know when you’re off course.
Lastly, I want to remind you about patience.
It’s natural to underestimate how long a certain goal can take, especially a profound one. When I set a goal to become a millionaire the year was 1983. How long did it take? Eleven years. It took time for Chicken Soup for the Soul to hit the bestseller lists. You could say our tenure on the New York Times list was more than a decade in the making. That’s a lot of patience for someone who initially wanted overnight success.
So, yes, patience is a virtue. But keep at it, and in no time, you’ll be only one week, or one day away from your ultimate success.
Remember… be grateful, reflect on what IS working and continue to take ACTION!
© 2009 Jack Canfield
Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com
Tags: Chicken Soup for the Soul books, creating success, Jack Canfield, Success, Success Coach, Success Principles
Putting Fear in Its Place
by Jack Canfield
As you move forward on your journey from where you are to where you want to be, you are going to have to confront some of your fears. Fear is a just a natural part of living.
Whenever you start a new project, take on a new venture, or put yourself out there, there’s usually some fear involved. Unfortunately, most people let fear stop them from taking the necessary steps to achieve their dreams.
Confronting your fears is a very necessary step in achieving success.
There is simply no other way.
Fear can be a helpful emotion, as it tells you when you need to be extra careful, keenly aware, and cautious. Fear is not an emotion that is telling you to stop. In fact, it’s telling you just the opposite!
Acknowledging your feelings of fear helps you know when you are stepping out of your comfort zone. It points your awareness to areas where you could improve and grow.
Successful people also feel fear. Yet they don’t let it get in the way of anything they want to do–or have to do. They understand that fear is something to be acknowledged, experienced, and taken along for the ride. They have learned, as author Susan Jeffers suggests in her must-read book, to “Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway®.”
Fear is more of a signal that we should stay alert and cautious. We can feel fear, but we can still move forward anyway.
Think of fear as a 2-year-old child who doesn’t want to go grocery shopping with you. Because you must buy groceries, you’ll just have to take the two year old with you. Fear is no different. In other words, acknowledge that fear exists but don’t let it keep you from doing important tasks.
Also realize that so many of our fears are self-created. We might frighten ourselves by fantasizing negative outcomes to any activity we might peruse or experience. Luckily, because we are the ones doing the fantasizing, we are also the ones who can stop the fear and bring ourselves into a state of clarity and peace by facing the actual facts, rather than giving in to our imaginations.
If a fear is too great for you to overcome, try breaking it down into smaller challenges.
Try starting out by doing the parts of the project that don’t scare you so much. You need to give a speech in front of a large group? Try giving your speech in front of a small group of people who care for you. Work your way up until you are able to feel the fear but still move forward. As you do you will build your confidence and eventually you won’t feel fear surrounding those issues because you’ll have done them enough to count it as a skill.
As you move toward your goal, don’t attach yourself so much to the outcomes.
Keep moving toward your dream doing everything you can to create what you want, then let it go and see what shows up. Sometimes the universe will have a better idea in mind for you and present a better opportunity when you were expecting something completely different. Don’t let fear keep you from moving forward. Even if the horrible outcome that you imagined happens, the universe will always provide for you another way to succeed. So be on the look out!
Trust that no matter what occurs, you are smart enough and strong enough to keep looking for, and attracting, opportunities.
If you are willing to try new experiences in spite of your fears, then more new experiences will present themselves for you to try. And the more you try, the more you are likely to succeed!
© 2009 Jack Canfield
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Are you ready to let go of any fears and limiting beliefs
that are keeping you from living the life you want?
I’ll help you erase any misconceptions, fear or beliefs that you may have run your life up until now, and then give you the tools to acquire literally anything you want for yourself when you participate in Breakthrough to Success, August 9-15th!
Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com
Tags: Fears, Inspirational, Jack Canfield, Success Coach, Success Principles
With apologies to Wm Shakespeare…
THE FESTIVAL AT THE LAKE
By Wilbur Tremorpike
Hark these words one and all,
Lord, Damsel, Wench, or Rake
The Heralds’ cry — their beck and call
‘Bout the Festival near the Lake.
Come hither, yon, ‘tis time to see,
A Vintner’s hill of vine
A magical place where one should be
Of feasting, beer and wine.
With games of skill and games of chance,
The likes you’ve ne’er seen
Where actors play and dancers dance
While nobles primp and preen
Where revelers laugh and swordsmen fight
Upon the Village street
Whilst drummers play into the night
The Festival’s hearty beat
So come the weekend or come the day
To miss t’would be a sin
For ‘tis the 23rd of May
That the Festival doth begin!
Tags: Clear Lake Calif, Entertainment, historical reenactment, Renaissance festival
