Make Money Easy For You

Three Simple Steps to Having a Great Day!

Many times I close an email or an article by saying, “Decide to have a great day!” Most of the time, I end my Blog by saying, “Decide to have a great day!” I really mean it! Decide to have a great day. You should make that decision as soon as possible every morning.

I’m sure you’ve heard expressions like, “Well, let’s see what the day brings.” Is that to say we have no control over whatever happens today, good, or bad? Are we just supposed to watch and see what kind of day comes toward us?

Does, “whatever the day brings,” mean that if you have a bad day, it was just meant to be, because that’s what the day brought? I say, “No.”

I believe that you and I have a choice. I believe that we have that choice every single day.

The first step is to decide. Yes, I said, “decide!” Make a conscious decision the first thing in the morning to have a great day. Regardless of the challenges and obstacles, decide to have a great day.

Step one: Decide to have a great day.

The second step is to anticipate and expect to have a great day today. Keep in mind that this could very well be the greatest day of your life so far!

Now think logically for a minute. We are either in control of our lives or, our lives are being controlled. Why not look for, and expect great things to happen today? Why shouldn’t this new day be a great day? As a matter of fact, this day could very well be the greatest day of your life so far!

You might think that to even consider that today could be the greatest day of your life so far, is really a stretch. Consider this. Suppose you knew ahead of time that today was indeed going to be the greatest day of your life so far. Would you call it off? Would you cancel the day? Absolutely not!

The question is, when are you going to have the greatest day of your life so far? It might as well be today!

Step two: Anticipate and expect to have a great day.

The third step in having a great day is to handle whatever comes your way with the attitude of someone who is having a great day. (You do have a choice.) For most people, if good things happen, then it’s a good day. If something bad happens, then it’s a lousy day.

Why let the challenges and obstacles that come up determine what kind of day you will have? You can decide to have a great day and then expect a great day. Remember, any challenges are just minor interruptions to your great day! How you decide to handle the daily challenges and obstacles will make a major difference in the kind of day that you will have.

Starting out the day by deciding and expecting to have a great day will put you in the right frame of mind to handle those challenges and obstacles. Instead of wondering what’s going to go wrong next, you will be focused on, looking for and expecting great things to happen.

You are setting your own course for the day, instead of just being another boxcar on the train tracks. You’ve decided to travel on the exciting road of life instead of running in place on the “let’s see what happens” tread mill.

Read more: Three Simple Steps to Having a Great Day!

How to stay happy always

Almost everyone have heard the hit single ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ by Bobby McFerrin. The song has a very catchy way of conveying its message of being happy to everyone. Bobby Mcferiin’s simple message surely made a lot of people by telling them not to worry.

Living a happy, resilient and optimistic life is wonderful, and is also good for your health. Being happy actually protects you from the stresses of life. Stress is linked to top causes of death such as heart disease, cancer and stroke.

One of the better things ever said is – ‘The only thing in life that will always remain the same is change’, and in our life we have the power to make the necessary changes if we want to. Even if we find ourselves in an unbearable situation we can always find solace in the knowledge that it too would change.

Social networks or relationships are essential to happiness. People are different, accept people for who or what they are, avoid clashes, constant arguments, and let go of all kinds of resentments. If arguments seem unavoidable still try and make an effort to understand the situation and you might just get along with well with

Happiness is actually found in everyone, increasing it is a way to make a life more wonderful and also more healthy.

To be happy is relatively easy, just decide to be a happy person. Abraham Lincoln observed that most people for most of the time can choose how happy or stressed, how relaxed or troubled, how bright or dull their outlook to be. The choice is simple really, choose to be happy.

There are several ways by which you can do this. Being grateful is a great attitude. We have so much to be thankful for. Thank the taxi driver for bringing you home safely, thank the cook for a wonderful dinner and thank the guy who cleans your windows. Also thank the mailman for bringing you your mails, thank the policeman for making your place safe and thank God for being alive.

News is stressful. Get less of it. Some people just can’t start their day without their daily dose of news. Try and think about it, 99% of the news we hear or read is bad news. Starting the day with bad news does not seem to be a sensible thing to do.

A religious connection is also recommended. Being part of a religious group with its singing, sacraments, chanting, prayers and meditations foster inner peace.

Manage your time. Time is invaluable and too important to waste. Time management can be viewed as a list of rules that involves scheduling, setting goals, planning, creating lists of things to do and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be understood to develop an efficient personal time management skill. These basic skills can be fine tuned further to include the finer points of each skill that can give you that extra reserve to make the results you desire.

Laugh and laugh heartily everyday. Heard a good joke? Tell your friends or family about it. As they also say -’Laughter is the best medicine’. Express your feelings, affections, friendship and passion to people around you. They will most likely reciprocate your actions. Try not to keep pent up anger of frustrations, this is bad for your health. Instead find ways of expressing them in a way that will not cause more injury or hurt to anyone. Working hard brings tremendous personal satisfaction. It gives a feeling of being competent in finishing our tasks. Accomplishments are necessary for all of us, they give us a sense of value. Work on things that you feel worthy of your time.

Learning is a joyful exercise. Try and learn something new everyday. Learning also makes us expand and broaden our horizons. And could also give us more opportunities in the future.

Run, jog, walk and do other things that your body was made for. Feel alive.

Avoid exposure to negative elements like loud noises, toxins and hazardous places.

These are the few simple things you can do everyday to be happy.

And always remember the quote from Abraham Lincoln, he says that, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

Read more: How to stay happy always

How to Achieve Your Goals with a Positive Mental Attitude

Happiness is something we all want. Good times with friends, and close relationships are the things that make us feel complete as people. But in these present times there are many distractions that leave us feeling overwhelmed and that we don’t have full control in our life’s situation. It seems that we always have to trade one priority for another to accomplish our daily tasks.

In the meantime, our relationships with the ones we love may suffer. Oddly enough, the solution to bringing more happiness into our lives may begin with how we deal with our own perception of ourselves.

To put this in its proper perspective, a positive mental attitude begins with the things that we tell ourselves on a subconscious level. In other words, how a man thinketh is how he will become.

There are many things that will distract us from being successful and happy with ourselves. Sometimes we think in our minds that we are somehow lacking in a certain capacity, or that a task is virtually impossible to complete because of circumstances beyond our control.

This is only a preformed attitude that we have developed by negative self talk. We have almost “programmed ourselves” into believing the worst possible outcome. It is this defeatist attitude that will perpetuate the cycle of failure every time we attempt to accomplish our goals.

To change the outcome of our situation we must “reprogram” our minds at the subconscious level with thoughts of a positive nature. Then when distractions and negative input comes along from other people, you have to learn to immediately discard them.

Simply let the “garbage in” and then “throw the garbage back out” of your mind. This will let you focus on the positive thoughts that you have placed in your subconscious mind. The result is a clearer perspective of your opportunities for success and the attainment of your goals. The trick here is to keep feeding your mind positive thoughts.

Here are 5 ways to promote your positive mental attitude:

1. Visualize yourself doing exactly what you want to accomplish in your own mind. Practice makes perfect. This is true of mental visualization of the accomplishment of your goal too. Imagine yourself doing what you want to accomplish and walk yourself through the steps necessary to achieve it in your mind.

2. Repeat this mental exercise over and over until it becomes a reality in your mind. Then the actual accomplishment of this goal will be easy to make happen in your life.

3. Write down your goals on paper. This way you will not forget them. And by reading your goals back to yourself every night before retiring, your subconscious mind will work overnight to bring about positive change for the next day.

4. Your subconscious mind can only react to the thoughts that you give it. To bring yourself success, you have to keep feeding your subconscious mind with positive instructions about what you want it to do for you. This technique will put your success on autopilot!

Read more: How to Achieve Your Goals with a Positive Mental Attitude

What’s Your GNH?

We all have heard about the GNP – gross national product – the widely used measure of economic well-being. We also know that many studies have shown that the citizens of wealthier countries are not necessarily happier than those in less wealthy countries. Our own experience shows us that income does not necessarily correlate with happiness.

Along these lines, I came across a fascinating story recently about the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan, which uses GNH – gross national happiness – as a cornerstone of its country’s development and success. While the philosophy is not without its detractors, there is widespread enthusiasm for it among the general population. What an amazing concept!

Although there have been times in my life when I earned more than I do now, I am very happy with what I do every day. In my coaching business, I meet many wonderful people, both clients and professional colleagues, who interest me, challenge me and whom I truly enjoy. I am also able to be home with my family more and not be a road warrior 50% of the time.

And I have grown as a person in many ways that I deeply appreciate. A healthy income is very useful, and… it’s not all about the money. Business should be both serious and fun, and happiness is an important part of a truly successful business or career.

Since ancient times, happiness has been held in high regard. Aristotle said, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”

So as you consider your plans for the new year along with your financial goals, I encourage you to consider your personal GNH and where you’d like it to be in the coming year. Ask yourself, what truly makes you happy?

• Daily breaks in nature?
• Listening to music that warms your heart or inspires your soul?
• Regular times with those you love?
• Writing a snail mail letter to your mom or dad?
• A great bubble bath?
• A party at the office for no reason except your gratitude to be able to work with such a great team?
• Helping others (including employees and colleagues) to be happy? As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.”

What will you commit to doing or being in the coming year that will increase your GNH and that of those with whom you come in contact?

Read more: What’s Your GNH?

How To Find Inner Peace

The path to inner peace is not simple or short. You cannot just wake up one day and decide you are going to have inner peace from that point forward. It is a process, a journey that needs to be appreciated every step of the way. You need to be willing to let go and accept your full spectrum of emotions. You need to be ready to step outside the box you have allowed yourself to be put into and start from scratch, getting to know yourself all over again and be willing to make mistakes. And most importantly, you have to realize that only you have control over your emotional responses and reactions and they can be changed for the better.

No one article or even one book is going to give you the answers to achieving inner peace. What they can do is assist you in initiating change within yourself by bringing light to something you were not previously aware of. Once you become aware of ways you can improve how you live your life, you can begin true transformations. These transformations are paradigm shifts or evolutions of the mind, spirit and soul. Once you really change your ways to be in alignment with your true self, you will never go back, just like a tadpole to a frog or a caterpillar to a butterfly.

Often, people live within a false sense of inner peace. The saying “A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what a ship is for!” is an example of this. If you live your life in “the harbor” and never go out of your comfort zones, then you will be misleading yourself into believing you have harmony within. You need to be willing to experience a full range of emotions and face some challenges on the path to getting to know yourself through others and your experiences.

Offloading Your Emotional Baggage

Everyone has a certain amount of emotional baggage they carry with them everywhere. The idea of finding inner peace is to offload this baggage so you can feel light, healthy, vibrant, free and maybe one day even enlightened. What is emotional baggage? It comes in many forms and some examples could be shame for past deeds, judgments towards others, being victimized, being abused, guilt for past mistakes, distorted beliefs about yourself and others, insecurities and body image problems. Every person is unique in their genetics and socialization. Add to that unique experiences through life and we get complex individuals who bounce of each other every which way they turn, sometimes positive, sometimes negative.

The secret to clearing your issues is to take your ship out of the harbor and interact with others. This is a vital part of learning about yourself. If you have ever heard one important thing to remember in your life on this earth, remember this: Anything you see in others, you have in yourself also and any judgment you make towards another, is really about you. This applies to both “good” and “bad” things you recognize.

An example of what this means is if you react in anger towards someone who is crying, having no compassion for their situation, it could be you are angry with yourself when you get sad, seeing it as week and don’t ever allow yourself to cry. When you refuse to accept something in yourself, you also will not accept it in others.

Read more: How To Find Inner Peace

Motivation for Internet Marketers – Donald Trump’s Persistence

I was at Border’s bookstore and I was reading Donald Trump’s new book, “We Want You To Be Rich.” And as I was reading it, Donald Trump’s father told him a great story which gave him the persistence to become a multi-billionaire. And luckily, it also inspired me to write this article for you.

It was a great story and I think it will help you have the right mindset if you want to make a living with internet marketing. I don’t have the book in front of me right now (I didn’t buy it yet) but I’m going to tell it to you from memory. I don’t know if this is a true story or not, but the underlying principle is there. Okay, here it goes.

About a century ago there was a man who loved soda. He drank that stuff like there was no tomorrow. He had it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When he was dying of thirst, he would choose soda over water.

Sodaman would hear of nothing else when it comes to drinking a beverage. So one day Sodaman thought to himself, “Wow I love this stuff so much, maybe I can make some money creating and selling a brand of my own.”

He worked for three years saving up all his money and within this period he spent it only on food and soda so that he can survive. During those three years at his job, he had saved enough to make his dream come true.

He created his great tasting soda. And since his favorite number is four, he named his soda FOUR-UP. Unfortunately for Sodaman, the market didn’t like his soda and he ended up being the only one drinking his soda.

But luckily for him, he had some cash stashed away under his pillow. So he fired his current marketing team, and hired a brand new one. The team suggested FIVE-UP as the new catchy name for his soda.

So they went to the streets and evangelized FIVE-UP as if it were some wonder tonic that will enlarge men’s penises and improve a woman’s hourglass figure. Unfortunately the market wasn’t ready for that and the business failed miserably.

Sodaman threw in the towel…for a few years, only to return again because of his true passion for soda. This time, he truly gave all his effort pushing his new soda SIX-UP, working twelve hours a day and on weekends to make this damn thing work – even if it killed him! Unfortunately, the business flopped again. And this time Sodaman completely abandoned all hope and started working at his miserable job.

Interestingly, Sodaman’s former business partner (which he fired from FIVE-UP) got a shot of inspiration to start the soda business again. This time he called it 7-UP and the rest we know is history!

You’ve all had obstacle that have temporarily prevented you from achieving your goals with internet marketing. Being human we will make mistakes. And I think what Donald Trump wanted to communicate is that even though you are set back temporarily by whatever factors you may have in your life; you need to persevere with your internet business because your success may just be around the corner!

Read more: Motivation for Internet Marketers – Donald Trump’s Persistence

Who Should Be the Beneficiary of Your IRA?

You have a number of choices when it comes to selecting a beneficiary (or beneficiaries) for your IRA. Some are appropriate. Some are mistakes and can lead to delays and expenses in getting the funds to your desired recipients. Some may even exclude some of your desired beneficiaries. In addition, some elections are for estate planning purposes. Let’s take a look at your options.

No Beneficiary

Not recommended. This mandates your IRA be distributed according to your will, if you have one. If you don’t, each state has “intestate” rules that divide your estate up in ways you wouldn’t ever want.

An IRA with no beneficiary must be distributed within five years. By contrast, a named beneficiary can spread the distribution out over the balance of their life expectancy.

Your Estate

Naming your estate as the beneficiary is the same as not naming one. The rules require a “named” beneficiary. Now your IRA goes through the probate process. This costs money, takes time and subjects your IRA to your creditors.

Why should you pay money to be represented by an attorney and have a judge in some probate court decide whom your beneficiary will be? Why should your beneficiaries have to wait around for your estate to be closed? What if your will is challenged? What if you have a big estate with estate taxes due and the IRS is questioning the valuation of your business? I have seen estates open for as long as ten years as the debate goes back and forth between your attorney and the IRS. The worst case I can think of is your IRA completely eaten up by legal fees inasmuch it may be the only liquid asset.

Your Spouse

This is the most common designation and makes the most sense for a number of reasons.

If the spouse is the sole beneficiary, he or she can elect to treat the IRA as his or her own. This opens up the possibility of delaying the start of the required minimum distributions (RMDs). This could be the spouse’s age 70 1/2, or for a Roth IRA, all the way to the death of the spouse. It also allows further “stretching” of the IRA as the spouse can spread the RMDs over their lifetime plus the lifetime of a beneficiary.

If the spouse is more than 10 years younger than a non-Roth IRA owner, their life expectancy can be used. Beneficiaries other than the spouse, who are more than ten years younger than the IRA owner, are treated as being no more than ten years younger for RMD purposes. This is another “stretching” advantage for naming the spouse as beneficiary.

Children

If children are beneficiaries, they can take the RMDs over their life expectancy. Since the RMDs are very low at the younger ages, the account can grow substantially over the years. For example, a $100,000 IRA could distribute literally millions of dollars over the lifetime of a young beneficiary.

If there is more than one child named, the youngest age is used for RMD purposes. However, if the children are beneficiaries of a trust, the oldest age is used.

Read more: Who Should Be the Beneficiary of Your IRA?