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How to Become More Intelligent – DumbLittleMan

How to Become More Intelligent Posted: 05 Nov 2009 06:00 AM PST Intelligence is your capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding and mastery. It’s your aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts and meanings. Knowing a great deal is not the same as being intelligent; intelligence is not information “alone,” but also judgment, the manner in which information is collected and used. -Dr. Carl Sagan This article will offer you five ways to increase your intelligence by showing you how to enhance your capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding and mastery. 5 Ways to Become More Intelligent Read Often Do you realize that through reading you can learn in a few hours what took someone decades to learn? Reading not only informs, but it also increases your capacity for learning, thereby increasing your intelligence. Although knowledge is not the summation of intelligence, it is the foundation of intelligence, so it’s crucial that we cultivate the joy of reading. It’s an amazing thing, people who become successful write down how they did it, and then sell that information for a few dollars. For a few dollars and a few hours you can literally pick someone’s brain; you can buy a piece of their intelligence. Reading gives you insight into great minds and sharpens your intellect. This allows you the ability to make greater logical connections because reading gives you more pieces of life’s puzzle. By reading from a multiplicity of sources, you gain the wisdom of many. Reading (blogs like this one) is a great way to increase your intelligence. Remember, readers are leaders, and leaders are usually intelligent. Teach Others “Those that understand, teach.”- Aristotle Teaching increases your capacity for reasoning, a critical aspect of intelligence. Anyone who’s ever successfully taught anything realizes that teaching increases your capacity to reason. When you teach, you’re often required to view what you’re teaching from a variety of perspectives. “I’ve always felt that a person’s intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.”-Abigail Adams When you teach, it’s often essential that you question what you believe in order to deal with objections and oppositions that are sure to arise. Teaching is often more beneficial to the teacher than the student. Get Into Action Action increases your capacity to understand a subject. As the old proverb goes, “In all thy getting, get understanding.” You can have information, and you can teach what you know, but you will never fully understand a subject until you put it into practice. If you want to significantly increase your intelligence related to cooking, don’t just watch the Cooking Channel and don’t just tell someone how to cook; you must master cooking yourself by trying, failing, and perfecting the act of cooking. You will always understand things better when you do them yourself. Knowledge gives you the pieces of the puzzle; understanding helps you put the puzzle together. “A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.”-Henry David Thoreau Master One Subject Mastery is a sign of intelligence. Mastery comes from focusing on one subject until you fully understand it. If you can fully understand one subject, it will help you to better understand other subjects. In other words, mastery will increase your aptitude for grasping truths. If you can master playing the piano, you will better understand music in general. Additionally, if you can master any subject, you will understand what it takes to succeed.. Bonus: Watch More Television You probably didn’t see this one coming. By watching more television, you can become more “well-rounded.” Of course I’m not referring to watching more of the The Simpsons, I’m talking about watching television shows that offer an educational message such as political shows or shows on The Discovery Channel or The History Channel. These shows can increase your capacity for learning, reasoning, and understanding as long as you don’t choose educational shows that also stress you out. By putting these principles into practice on a consistent basis, you will begin to take on the characteristics of an intellectual. Your capacity to learn will be stretched, your reasoning skills will be utilized, your understanding will increase, and you will master at least one subject. Written on 11/05/2009 by Mr. Self Development who is a motivational author that offers a practical guide to success and wealth; support him by visiting his blog at mrselfdevelopment.com. .

Why People Fail – The Top 3 Reasons – DumbLittleMan

Posted: 31 Oct 2009 02:37 PM PDT

I constantly ponder success and failure. Why does one person skyrocket to success, while another person is never discovered?

What are the underlying factors; why do some people struggle to succeed their entire lives…only to fail?

How can someone guarantee success?

Today I want to talk about the three reasons people fail, these reasons are:
Ignorance
Little Passion, and
No Faith
Ignorance

“I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance.” -Dalai Lama

Most people want to succeed, they just don’t know how. They’ve tried this, and that, but nothing seems to work. They eventually give up, resigning to live a life of mediocrity.

To be ignorant means you don’t know how to succeed. It means you haven’t discovered the system that guarantees your success.

In other words, you’ve not identified the two or three daily task that guarantee you will succeed. When you’re ignorant, you know where you want to go, you just don’t know how to get there.

Why Don’t You Know How to Succeed

When you don’t know how to succeed, it’s typically a sign that you haven’t yet discovered the right mentors to show you the way.

It’s important that you find mentors who’ve done what you’re trying to do, so you can mimic their success strategies to get where you’re trying to go.

Don’t just follow one mentor; the proverb says, in the multitude of counselors there’s safety.

You need to follow several mentors, and discover the commonalities in their path. Pay attention to what they do (more than to what they say).

Robert Kiyosaki and Jack Canfield are both great authors. If you want to be a great author, find out what they did, what common decisions and daily habits caused their books to sell. Success is duplicative; the challenge is identifying the system that guarantees your success.

Once you discover the right system, it’s just a matter of repeating that system on a daily basis until you arrive at your intended destination. If you wanted to lose 20 pounds, you’d first have to discover the system that allowed you to lose 1 pound a week. Then you could follow that system for 20 weeks to achieve your goal.

If you want to become a bestselling author, discover the system that allows you to sell 10,000 books a week, then repeat that system until you arrive at your goal (you may need to do 3 radio or television interviews a day); the key is to discover the system that guarantees your success.

If you never discover the right system, you will never have clear directions on your journey to success; you will fail.

Ignorance = Undiscovered System for Success

Solution: Study multiple individuals who have succeeded, what are the common denominators associated with these individuals. Duplicate their similarities (e.g. If you want to be a great athlete, and you discover that all great athletes practice everyday, then you should practice everyday, etc.). Determine the “system” that caused their success, and duplicate that system.

You have to develop a system (or plan) that allows you to execute (daily) the critical steps that will take you to your desired destination.

Little Passion

“Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.” -Hebbel

Everyone is capable of greatness, but before that greatness can be unlocked, passion has to be unlocked.

Passion drives you to do the impossible; it drives you to work harder and longer than you thought you could. Passion gives you the inspiration to develop creative ideas and concepts; ideas and concepts that have never been conceived before.

Passion gives you the power to overcome the barriers which appear to block success. Passion is the light that guides you at night; passion births your motivation to succeed.

What we call laziness oftentimes is just a lack of passion. You may look at someone who’s outworking you and consider yourself lazy in comparison. But the truth is, you’re probably not lazy at all, you’re just not inspired. You haven’t yet unlocked the passion that drives you to accomplish your goals, the passion that gives you the consistency and determination to succeed.

The more passion you have, the more power you have to fulfill your desires. Your passion will guide you to the fulfillment of your goals.

Lack of Passion = Undiscovered Purpose

Solution: Study yourself to discover your purpose! What are you good at, what do you love to do, what would you do for free, what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail, what do people compliment you on, what books do you have in your library, what do you love to talk about, what puts a smile on your face, what do you do in your free time; in other words, discover your purpose. Your purpose unlocks your passion; your passion unlocks your desire, discipline, and determination.

No Faith

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. -Jesus

“You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.” -Mary Manin Morrissey

The third reason people fail is a lack of faith. In other words, in their heart of hearts, they don’t believe they will succeed. They are not successful on the inside; they have not yet won the inner game of success.

To have success you must see it, and you must be it, you must be convinced of it. Faith is not wishing, hoping, admiring, loving the idea of; faith is KNOWING that you will succeed! Faith is a knowing, its being fully convinced of something, it’s not hype, it’s not trying to convince others, it’s being convinced yourself!

You have to have success on the inside, before you can have it on the outside; you have to see it and be it; you have to have faith.

One Sign That You Have Faith

People with faith don’t marvel at the success of others. They respect what others have accomplished, but they are not awestruck by their success. People without faith have a grasshopper’s mentality; they see others as bigger than they are.

People with faith recognize successful people as leaders.

People without faith recognize successful people as super heroes. A super hero is someone who is unusually powerful and unique; there ways are beyond duplication.

When you don’t believe you will succeed, you will see successful people as super heroes, as giants.

BUT, when you have faith, you cease to see successful people as gods. You see them for what they are, which is leaders.

And to be frank, there’s nothing special about leaders, leaders don’t glow in the dark, or where a halo. A leader is just a person who’s a little further along on the path that you’re traveling. You respect leaders because they’ve been where you’re trying to get.

Seeing leaders as super heroes is a sign that you have NO FAITH in your ability to achieve the same.

There’s no need to marvel at a leader’s accomplishments, when you can duplicate the same. I’m not talking about “faking like you’re not marveling;” I’m talking about not marveling because you can produce the same results.

If I go outside my home right now, and if I look around, I will see lots of large beautiful homes, but I don’t marvel at these homes, I’m not impressed by them, because I live in one too. We only marvel when we see things as out of our reach, when our mind tells us that it’s unattainable.

But the truth is, nothing is unattainable when you know what you want, understand how to get there, and have the faith to believe that you will arrive at your intended destination.

You have to believe it, you must have faith…many folks have lived with the chickens for so long, they can’t imagine soaring with the eagles. You must have faith in your possibilities!

No Faith = You’re not convinced that you will succeed

Solution: You need to see yourself in your mind’s eye as a “success.”

In your time of daily meditation, visualize yourself succeeding, talk to yourself, encourage yourself; if you’re a Jazz Singer, tell yourself you’re the greatest Jazz Singer of all time; refuse to lose, prophecy to yourself!

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you’re using a “system of selling,” you have to ask yourself WHY? – Jeffrey Gitomer

From an email: Why should one never use a sales system? I’m guessing you think it takes the individuality out of the pitch. David.

Over the years there have been HUNDREDS of selling systems, all designed to increase sales. I don’t use them, I don’t teach them, and I don’t believe in them.

Find the pain. Create the deficit. Create an up-front contract. SPIN the questions. And other sales system crap needs to be eliminated from your selling scenarios.

Does that mean all systems of selling are bad? No. What it means is most systems of selling are confusing, sales-based rather than customer-based, manipulative, and in general cumbersome.

While I acknowledge that there are hundreds of these systems, and it’s obvious I’m not in favor of them, here are a few questions people ask me, and you should ask yourself as you consider adopting a selling style and a selling voice.

Is there one system of selling that works best? No.
Is there one system of selling that stands out over the others? No.
Is there one system of selling that works all the time? No.
Is there one system of selling you have used successfully? No.
Is there one system of selling you recommend? Absolutely no.

NOTE WELL: A system requires tons of study, memorization, and often manipulative techniques about “it.” Wrong concept. These are “selling” concepts.

RULE ONE: People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy.™

NONE of the systems of selling deal with concentrating on the customer’s motive to buy. HUGE mistake. Actually fatal error.

I have asked audiences for years, “How many of you have learned some system of selling?” About 20-30% of the audience raises their hand. “Keep your hand up if you use the system every time you make a sales call.” ZERO hands stay up.

“Why?” I ask. These are the answers I get:
• Doesn’t always fit the situation.
• Too manipulative.
• Too confusing.
• Too complicated.
• Doesn’t work.
• Doesn’t feel right.
• I’m not comfortable with it.

The difference between using a system of selling, and being yourself by creating a buying atmosphere will become apparent at the end of a month or at the end of a year when you look at your productivity, your income, and your relationships.

I have referred to it as authenticity.

What makes you authentic? The consistent positive actions you take that build confidence, belief, and trust in you. These elements also build your personal brand and your reputation. And of course make sales.

NOTE WELL: Authenticity is never a part of someone’s “system of selling.” That’s why I’m against all systems. Systems focus on the “selling” process. Mistake. Big mistake. Authentic people create buying atmospheres with all the OTHER things they do that get them to the sales meeting.

Is that you? It better be, or you will lose to someone who is. The authenticity of the sale is in the salesperson, not the system. If you’re authentic, you don’t have to say it or prove it. It shows and speaks for itself. The most powerful part of authenticity is that, if done properly, it’s unspoken.

PERSONAL NOTE: When I go into a sales call, my authenticity is not my business card, my brochure, my sales jargon, and certainly not my system. My authenticity is my book. Autographed. Which sales educator or sales trainer do you think gets the job – the one who read the book, or the one who wrote the book?

And about now you’re complaining that you don’t have a book. Okay, how about just writing a white paper about how your customers can produce more, profit more, and succeed more? Think that’s more powerful than your system? You bet it is!

If you’re going into an important sales call, do you think it’s more important to be prepared with questions about the other person, with ideas in favor of the other person, and with knowledge about their business and their present situation – or do you think it’s more important to concentrate on your memorized, manipulative system? No need for an answer here.

And I will acknowledge that sometimes a system of selling will actually work. Just not MOST of the time.

Your job, as an engaging person and a value-driven salesperson, is to make your presentation in terms of the customer. How they benefit, how they profit, and how they produce will trump every system of selling ever created.

If you’re looking to make more sales, all you have to do is create more atmospheres where people are willing to buy.

If you would like a little more information on how to create that buying atmosphere, go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time visitor, and enter the words BUYING MOTIVES in the GitBit box.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Little Red Book of Selling and eight other business books on sales, customer loyalty, and personal development. President of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on sales, customer loyalty, and personal development at www.trainone.com. Jeffrey conducts more than 100 personalized, customized seminars and keynotes a year. To find out more, visit www.gitomer.com. Jeffrey can be reached at 704.333.1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com

7 Food Groups That Will Help Boost Your Mood

Posted: 02 Nov 2009 06:05 AM PST

This is the time of year when days begin to feel shorter and shorter. We see the sun much less, and when we do, it’s often fighting a battle of gloominess with an impending cold front.

This gloominess hits us all pretty hard. In fact, if you’ve ever believed that you had a case of the Winter Blues, this is what we’re talking about. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is no laughing matter because these dark-gray-rainy days have a huge impact on your mood and energy level. The good news is that we can all partially escape this mental zapping.

By now it’s common sense to us all that our bodies are fueled by what we put in it. While most of us often think of this as it pertains to our physical traits or appearance, it’s important to know that there is a connection with food when it comes to boosting your mood. If you’ve been feeling blue lately or if you are expecting an annual visit from the Winter Blues, here are 7 food groups that might actually help boost your body and your mind:

Eat your greens and your grains
The University of Kuopio in Finland conducted a study with 2,313 men for more than 10 years and they found that leafy greens and fortified cereals are good for your brain.

Vitamin B 12 should not be ignored
The study of the University of Kuopio also showed that dairy, shellfish and eggs can help your mood.

Increase your intake of folate
The same Finnish study found that increasing your intake of lentils, spinach, berries oranges and avocados will have a positive effect on your mood.

Orange is a great color
Orange vegetables are high in beta carotene and they are not only highly recommended to maintain proper eye sight, but they are excellent for your brain.

Drink tea
Nothing is more soothing that a cup of tea during the colder months of the year. Another study from Finland shows that 2,000 surveyed Finns who drank tea every day reported less incidences of feeling down or depressed compared to Finns who weren’t regular tea drinkers. The study also shows that the theanine naturally found in tea helps calm you down.

Vitamin D
They don’t call it the “sunshine vitamin” for nothing. Most people living in parts of the world that has winter are deficient in vitamin D. In fact, Dr. Mehmet Oz declared that 100 million Americans were deficient in D in a recent episode on his new TV show “Dr. Oz” (think about it, that’s about 1/3 of the American population)!

A 2008 study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry showed there is a direct link between deficiency of vitamin D and depression. Milk and milk products are the obvious source of vitamin D, but if you are lactose intolerant that won’t help you. Some people simply don’t like the taste of milk and milk products and that’s where a daily supplement of vitamin D comes in so handy. If you can afford it, choose a liquid vitamin D which is immediately absorbed into the body!

Fish is good for your mood
If you don’t like fish, don’t worry, omega-3 might become of the best supplements you can take to enhance your mood. The University of Arizona’s scientific review concluded that omega-3 fatty acids eicosapenta-enoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) found in fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines and tuna helped people with major depression and people who suffered from bipolar depression. The study is so compelling that the American Psychiatry Association endorsed the review and now recommends that adults eat fish twice a week and that people with mental health issues consume at least one gram of omega-3 a day to help with their disorder.
If you’re feeling blue and you’re having problem shaking it off, you might want to consult a doctor, nutritionist or naturopathic doctor to find out how to incorporate these mood-enhancing foods.

Written on 11/2/2009 by Krizia. Krizia (aka MissK) is an international author of an acclaimed food guide and she’s also a former self-thought personal chef. Krizia’s approach to healthy eating is about keeping it simple, approachable and REAL! In June 2009, two months after launching Eat Smart Age Smart, Krizia was awarded with the nomination of ‘Top 200 Health Blogger’ in the Healthy Eating category by Well Sphere.

The High Cost of Low Curiosity – by Bill Caskey

Are you, by nature, a curious person? Having worked with thousands of salespeople and hundreds of managers, I honestly believe it is a prerequisite to income success to be curious.

When someone says to you that they have mastered something, or they are experiencing success in a field that you, too, would like to have success, do you sit them down and pepper them (nicely) with questions?

When you’ve learned that someone has figured out a way to get to the CEO, do you stop them in their tracks and invite them to dinner?

When you’re at a sales meeting, and you learn one of your associates has figured out how to find the pain of the customer better, do you handcuff them until they tell you exactly how they did it?

You probably don’t. And I’m not sure why that is. Is it because we’ll feel stupid? Is it because we wouldn’t want to puff up the other person? Is it because we’d rather do it the hard way, learning it on our own, rather than the easy way, learning from someone who’s done it? Is there some kind of guilt that kicks in when we take the shortcut?

So, the next time you hear of someone who has been successful at something, call them up, congratulate them, and invite them to tell you exactly how they did it. It will make you rich.
Bill Caskey is a sales development leader and experimenter. His ideas about selling are convictions about life, money, and meaning. He has coached sales professionals and executives for over 19 years. To learn more, visit his website www.CaskeyTraining.com.