The 7 Secrets of Success

by: Alex Cleanthous

Have you ever wondered why two people, who have started with all the same advantages and disadvantages, which seem similar in almost every way, can end up in different places?

Have you ever wondered how somebody can start with all the disadvantages in life, yet achieve success that surpasses those who start with all the advantages?

Have you ever wondered how somebody can start with nothing, yet build a multi-million dollar fortune in just a few years?

The main difference between those who achieve greatness in their lives, to those who only achieve mediocrity is the psychology of success.

Here are the 7 traits of a psychology of success.

1. POSITIVE THINKING

You’ve heard the saying that to think positive is to see the glass as half full, and to think negative is to see the glass as half empty? Well, positive thinking is taking the ‘glass half full’ mentality and applying it to every part of your life.

Successful people are optimists. Successful people always find the positive from any situation, problem or issue that lies in their path to success. Successful people always believe that whatever it is that is happening in their life is happening for a purpose.

More importantly, by thinking positive you’re able to learn much, much more from everything that happens to you, good or bad. It’s often said that you learn the most from your problems, temporary failures and issues that you face, not from the successes. But you can only get the learning you need by thinking positive and finding the benefit from the situation, learning what you can do to avoid it in the future, and continuing on your path to success.

2. SOLUTION ORIENTATION

Everybody has problems in their life. Everyone has issues they need to overcome to achieve success. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is how they handle the problems in their life.

Unsuccessful people have the ‘poor me’ mentality. Unsuccessful people believe that things are happening to them, that they have no control over what is happening. Even worse, they complain about the problems in their life: complaining is the single, most obvious sign of an unsuccessful person.

Successful people, on the other hand, have a solution oriented mentality. Successful people believe that there is a solution to the problems that they are currently facing. Successful people believe that there is always another way to overcome any issue.

More importantly, successful people act rather than complain. Successful people never complain, they always look for a solution to overcome the problem that they’re facing, regardless of how dire the situation seems.

3. THINKING BIG

Successful people think big. Unsuccessful people think small. Successful people have a goal for a better life. Unsuccessful people don’t have any goals at all. Successful people know that they are destined for a better life. Unsuccessful people accept their life as it is.

Thinking big is an essential trait of successful people. Thinking big is when you see in your mind’s eye a goal that is bigger than you are. Thinking big is having a dream and working at making that dream come true. Thinking big is when you visualize what your life would be like if it were perfect in every respect, then taking action on making it happen.

The best example I can think of when it comes to thinking big is that of Bill Gates . Before he started Microsoft he had a vision, of what he would like to achieve in his life… that every business and every household should have a computer. He followed his dream and has created a life that, in the beginning, was just a dream.

4. AMBITION

Ambition is a strong desire to succeed. Ambition is when you put in great effort to achieve something important in your life. Ambition is when you are so excited about achieving your goal that moving towards your goal is like been sucked into a tornado.

Successful people are ambitious. Unsuccessful people are not. Successful people are eager to reach their goals. Unsuccessful people have no goals to be eager about. Successful people don’t just sit of the sideline and wait for things to happen to them, they take action every day because they are eager to make things happen. Successful people have such a strong desire to make things happen that nothing can stop them.

5. SENSE OF URGENCY

Time is the most valuable and the most limited resource in the world. Successful people know this, unsuccessful people don’t. Successful people move at a very fast pace. Unsuccessful people don’t. Successful people want to make things happen today. Unsuccessful people keep putting things off until tomorrow… the problem is that tomorrow never comes.

Moving with a sense of urgency means not wasting time on the mundane. Moving with a sense of urgency means trying to squeeze more into a day. Moving with a sense of urgency means moving faster every day. Moving with a sense of urgency means working late into the evening to get stuff done today. Moving with a sense of urgency means getting those tasks that have the greatest impact on your results done today.

Think about it… the steps required to make $1,000,000 are the same whether you take one year or ten. Successful people know this and they want to achieve their goals in the shortest possible time. Another thing to think about is that the chances of you achieving a goal drastically diminish with time. This means that you have a greater chance of earning $1,000,000 in one year, rather than in ten.

6. RESULTS FOCUSED

Successful people are satisfied by pleasing results. Unsuccessful people are satisfied by pleasing actions. Successful people are focused on the result they achieve. Unsuccessful people are focused on how they do the task.

Being results focused means setting goals and objectives, and doing everything in your power to achieve them. Being results focused means only being satisfied with results. Being results focused means not wasting time. Being results focused means taking action on the most important tasks and getting them done.

You’ve heard about the 80/20 rule? This simply means that 20% of your activities are responsible for 80% of your results, and 80% of your activities are responsible for 20% of your results. Being results focused means knowing what the 20% of tasks contribute 80% of the results and working single mindedly on those tasks until they are completed.

7. PERSISTENCE

Persistence is the single most important characteristic of successful people. Persistence is what makes all the other characteristics fall into place.

Successful people never give up. Unsuccessful people quit. Successful people know there will be setbacks and temporary failures but keep moving forward despite of them. Unsuccessful people can’t handle the setbacks and temporary failures and quit.

Persistence is never giving up. Persistence is never quitting. Persistence is when you know your goal, what you want to achieve in life, and deciding to never give up on achieving that goal. Persistence is deciding to either achieve your goal, or die trying.

Persistence in when you keep moving forward on your goal even when things seem their darkest. And with persistence, you will achieve anything you want to achieve in life… within reason.

Source

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The post The 7 Secrets of Success appeared first on Robert JR Graham.

Cultural Perceptions

Cultural Perception – Influence In Future Generations

By Rae Serenity

Our perception of the world around us and our personal relationships with objects, people, and nature, can be highly affected by our culture. Sadly there is a percentage of Americans who believe they have no culture (myself formerly included). On the contrary, we all have a culture, and an identity that defines who we are and the choices we make as human beings. Ones culture can also be intersected with the cultures of race, gender, disability, occupational groups, and social-class. As you can see the word culture is rather complicated, making the average person less likely to recognize its influence.

There are two levels of function when it comes to culture, the explicit, and the implicit. Explicit culture refers to cultural expressions, such as Holidays, food, clothing, artifacts, objects, rituals, music and symbols. While implicit culture refers to the values, philosophies and the underlying meaning of these symbols within the cultural context. Although these levels of culture are set in terms they are not limited or frozen in time, they are actually ever changing and evolving as time goes on. Cultural context is an inherited aspect of our lives, that reminds us of our past and represents a model for us to live by. Yet as times change and societies evolve, it is acceptable to adapt your cultural rituals and values to the everchanging social and economical needs you encounter.

Americans tend to take their culture for granted, as we have with the environment. Looking past the need to create an ecologically sustainable world, and onto the day to day grind of our busy lives, Americans have thrown in the towel for the environment and now rely on convenience. The constant push for globalization has us all stuck like a deer in headlights, waiting for the impact of the next big thing. It is sometimes difficult to decipher where we stand when pulled between the need for environmental changes and technology. Unfortunately, this is the society most of us have survived in thus far, and it is now up to us to return to our cultural beliefs, and begin to create our ecological sustainability as a society. Let’s get back to the natural enjoyment of the seasons and the days, and away from society’s concerns about Microsoft’s newest program for your Laptop. The future of our world relies on our ability to take the environment into perspective.

How does culture influence our future generations? Our choices as Teacher‘s and Parents are affected by the culture in which we exist. Some of these areas that are affected include child-rearing goals such as: discipline technique, level of independence, sleeping patterns, family responsibility, and emotional development. Our expectations for our children stem from the underlying expectations of our culture. As a teacher it is important to consider learning about the different cultural blends in the classroom, yet at the same time it is important not make assumptions based on this knowledge.

What is Cultural and Linguistic Discontinuity? This is when children and their families feel alienated from school, for one reason or another. It could be that they just moved from one school to the next, from one state to another, recently immigrated, or possibly gained a disability that affects their daily routines at school. Leaving a familiar place and starting anew in an unfamiliar place can be overwhelming. Confusion, cultural disconnection, and displacement are common feelings when it comes to Cultural and Linguistic Discontinuity. Not knowing the language you are being taught in, the school routines and regulations, and having separate cultural views than your peers and elders, makes transition very difficult. Children who are suffering from this may be misinterpreted by their peers and educators who don’t identify with their culture, causing further disconnect.

As a child my family moved us all over the place, from state to state, house to house, I was even born in Germany. Thanks to the United States Army and my Fathers will to serve, we moved at least every year. Although it was difficult for me to adjust I would’nt say I suffered from Linguistic Discontinuity but culturally I was a mess. The culture shock set in within a few days no matter where we moved to. The shock of needing to adjust and make new friends again truly began to wear on me. Although I never recognized these differences as cultural, I noticed them none the less. By the time we moved to Santa Rosa when I was 9 yrs old, I was ready to settle down and stay here. I wanted to find a place where we could just be a family, differences or not. Aware of my cultural differences or not I wanted to be accepted and find diversity all in one town. Santa Rosa was my place. Needless to say, I am still here.

Most children are unaware of their own or others’ cultures, due to the obscure descriptions and abstract view. Most cultural differences go unnoticed and are labeled by young children as simple differences, non-cultural, although culture shapes a child’s expectations of the world at a very young age. Children fortunately can adapt to the demands of cultural differences to allow for their ability to grow socially. A child’s perception of culture differs severely from an adults perception of culture. Children often develop healthier play routines with those children from the same cultural norms. All too often children of the same culture will bind together forming a clique, not allowing children of other cultures to play in their clique. This is a coping mechanism for those children whose culture is not the average or majority in the classroom. Although this is an acceptable way to handle the potential alienation caused by being different, it can also hurt other children and pull away the stitching of a diverse and accepting classroom.

Due to the possibility that most children are unaware of their cultural differences, finding out how children learn, think and feel about these differences has proven to be difficult. There are many ways to elicit information from children, one in particular I appreciated was showing photographs of different daily routines performed by people of various cultures. Showing differences in tools, objects, food, clothing, and relationship, yet at the same time helping the children to see that people of other cultures do the same things we do just in different ways. Using this type of hands on curriculum is very important to me, first because I personally learn more efficiently in this manner and secondly, because I also love Photography. Asking questions, posing different thought schemas for children and allowing them to explore these new cultural aspects will help them open up, feeling more attuned and understanding to the differences.

How can we as educators learn more about our children and their reactions to culture? The absolute sure bet way to gain knowledge about their reactions to culture is observation. We can observe their play, their art, their reactions to other children and new experiences. We can ask questions that open up a range of thinking for the child that may not have been available till now. We can set up events, such as dances, musical arrangements or even just an opportunity to dress up and hold some of the objects associated with the culture in question, may help bridge the gap. Just know that keeping our children focused on the cultural influences we have embedded in our own homes and history, can be an enriching subject for young minds to comprehend. It all relies on the approach of Parents and Teacher’s and the persistence of our pursuit to cultural clarity in the classroom and at home.

My son has been attending a Head Start campus since he was two years old. The campus is located in a diverse area of town and nearly all of his class mates are from a different cultural background, and race as my son, Mikey. This has made him a minority in his class, at the same time enabling him to be emerged in the culture and language of the other children. As a result Mikey, who is now four years old and enrolled in a Kindergarten classroom next year, is partially bi-lingual. He loves to play with the children who appear different from him. Exploring new ideas, values and beliefs with these children keeps his mind expanding. I have just recently enrolled him in a school where 50% of the children are English learners and the other half are non English learners. Mikey will no longer be the minority yet he will still be immersed in a variety of cultures. I think this choice was difficult but worth while. Now from reading about culture I can see how important it is that we have influenced Mikey to become intrigued with others who may be different, culturally. I feel as though I need a good pat on the back. Our family has bridged a gap from one culture to another for our son, and we plan to continue this constant pursuit to cultural clarity at our home and in Mikey’s new school as well.

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The post Cultural Perceptions appeared first on Robert JR Graham.

Tired of Viruses and Spyware? Use Linux.

Know Linux

by: Pawan Bangar

Linux essentials:

It’s free for download but you have to pay a tiny bit to mail order it or buy it from a company. If you’re getting Linux for more than 2-3 PCs, you can also get training and support at a small free, if you choose to have it. Else it’s the Linux community on the Net to your rescue.

If you want to get comfortable with Linux, you don’t have to let go of windows. Get Linux installed on a seprate partition and you can switch between Windows and Linux. There are some Linux versions that run off CDs too-xandross and Knoppix.

You don’t have to be a geek to work with Linux. There are Desktop environments that let you work in Linux as you work in Linux as you would in Windows.

Linux hand in decreasing PC prices.

The PCs bundle the operating system. Linux being an open source operating system, means that the code that runs is open for everyone to see, work with, modify and develop their own innovative apps for it. The deal with this experimentation is that you have to share the knowledge you gained and the software you created with the public domain. So the operating system comes to you for free, or if there are some copyrighted application on it, you play up a bit. But this is nothing compared to the fortune people spend on OSs like windows. And a company bundles Linux and applications based on it with a computer, quite a bit of the software cost comes down.

Linux came into being about 11 years ago- it was developed by Linux Tornados of Finland along with a group of programmers from the open source software movement. Linux was mostly something only the geeks worked with. And yes, it was mostly about commands and programming. But over the years with so many Linux enthusiasts (about 50 million of them) working on it and sharing knowledge about it, quite a few versions have come up which are as easy to use as windows. And developers are still free to work with code and enhance it.

Linux is growing steadily year after year. With a passionate community backing it, with big companies Like IBM and HP pledging their support for it, it’s no wonder Linux- the wonder operating system for servers of the past, has also made it to the desktops of today. Not in a sweeping way yet, but in ways that will help you –the user. PC prices are already on their way down. And you get more choice with operating systems and applications. From being an OS only computer professionals had heard about, Linux, in a short time, has made a transition into the lucrative and high profile home PC segment. Most of the decision to switchover sounds very economical. From a measly base of a few thousand users, Linux now boasts of close to 50 million users, cracking the monolith of Microsoft’s monopoly. Companies like IBM, HP and Dell have also taken to Linux in a big way. Microsoft doesn’t agree with the free concept at all-the software is free but the support isn’t Windows code to outsiders so they could build on to it. Very recently though, the company has allowed part of the code to be opened up to some US government are vying with each other to get tech-savvy and help the citizens through e-governance, the opening up of the OS code is important, countries like India need a variety of regional language fonts and content to be created which can’t done without Microsoft’s help, if the choice is Windows. Since this isn’t happening much, they have gone ahead with adopting Linux.

Linux is based on the commercial OS, UNIX. All the OSs tries to pack in command line management of systems. System administrators of companies use command lines all the times as their lifeline, but it’s not really meant for regulars users. But UNIX and Linux are not all about just command line stuff. UNIX has had a graphical user interface for 30 years. In its 11 years Linux has always had always had a GUI too-in fact a choice of GUIs.

Linux Versions:

If there are so many people working on it. There’s likely to be many Linux versions too. Many companies working on Linux have come up with what are called Linux distributions. There are Linux versions that are compiled and packaged and released with various additional software.

The popular distributions or destroys include Red Hat Linux Mandrake Linux, Corel Linux SUSE Linux and Debian . it’s just like having different flavors of ice cream. True to the spirit of open source, if you download the distro from the company’s Website, it is free for use. But the distros are usally quite huge. If you are getting the distorts from the company, be ready to pay up a tiny bit. Companies compile the packages, make installation hassle free, bundle applications, add a manual, and extend any support you need. So they charge a fee for all this.

One note here though: the free in Linux stands for freedom of choice, to redistribute, to install a feature, freedom to modify the source code. That’s the spirit of Linux being free.

Linux better than other OS:

Linux users won’t even bat an eyelid before they say an emphasis comes from a deep dislike of Microsoft’s practice of changing the earth for software. But a lot of it comes from the fact they are ready to swear upon-that Linux is more stable. There are no blue screens and no viruses to speak of. Linux has a better security support for multi-users, lets you set up a stable server, internet gateways etc, and still lets it-self to be used as a desktop workstation. Add to that it being free, and they argue that you don’t lose anything by giving it a try. You get free support on the Net quickly on any query you may have. And you don’t even have to wipe out your Windows. Just get Linux on a different hard disk partition and free to switch between the OSs as you please .

Myths about Linux:

Installation is hard

Linux is hard to install, isn’t it? Not really. Most people haven’t ever installed Windows on their computers either-since it comes preloaded. Linux is as easy-some say easier-to install compared to Windows. You can install it through a graphical user interface like Windows. But what really stumps most people in installing Linux on a second partition on their hard disk, when they want to be able to use both operating systems.

A partition is a way of organizing space on your hard disk by creating virtual sections that are separate from each other. Most computers that are running Windows or MS DOS have one large chunk of space holding the OS. This space is the C drive. If you have a large hard disk, it’s likely that it has been divided up into smaller bits called partitions to help you organize your data better. These partitions are usually called D:\, E:\ etc. you could have Linux on any of these.

Windows 98 creates a file system called FAT32 on the entire hard disk, DOS and Win95 use FAT16. Linux has many file systems-on the most popular is ext3. But you could have Linux installed on Fat32 partitions also.

Linux is geeky and based on text command

Linux has come a long way from being the system of geeks. It has an extremely advanced X Windows systems that has a complete graphical user interface-you know, like Windows. It also has a large number of window manager that let you work with different levels of customization of your desktop.

Linux has a robust character-cell interface where commands need to be typed in. x Windows is a free program that runs with Linux to provide a GUI where the mouse and keyboard can be used extensively. But the X system itself is quite primitive and needs a window manager, or a desktop environment- like GNOME or KDE- to be really usable. Window managers are programs that let you interact with the underlying X system and LinuxOS by relaying commands. The popular window managers are Sawfish, Enlightenment, Black box, after step and Window maker.

As for desktop managers, they have their own window manager and other tools that make you feel that you are working in Window! GNOME and KDE are the most popular of these. GNOME stands for GNU Network Model Environment and KDE for K desktop Environment. They have tools that allow drag and drop, have panels and taskbar- almost like clones of windows.

Hardware compatibility problem and few applications that run on Linux

Well, most new distributions will detect and configure your hardware in a jiffy, unless you have some really old or exotic piece of hardware. Only Win modems (internal modems driven by Window drivers) face problems.

As for software, there’s plenty. And most of it comes free-free for you to use, modify and configure according to your needs. Other packages are commercial and you have to buy the software-but this is mostly for the software and training you need, and not for the support and training you need, and not for the software itself. Sometimes, if you have the Windows version (as a doom) you can download a small program that will allow you to play the game in Linux. Here what’s available?

Office suites: Star Office, Open Office, Applixware, Corel WordPerfect

Graphics: GIMP, Corel Photo paint

Music: XMMS, Free amp, Real Player

Video: MTV, Xine

Games: FreeCiv, Tux racer, Doom, Quake, Heretic, Unreal

And the list is growing.

Linux varieties:

Debian : One of the oldest and still most popular distros is Debian. This Project is a voluntary effort of a team of programmers who developed the GNU system. Debian is not very easy to install, and that has been its problem, Debian also has its own software comes with a. DEB extension. Updating and installing new software is very easy. The applications bundled with Debian are great for even a power user.

RedHat: Probably the most popular and in many ways the leading distro. It’s currently in version 8. The installation and configuration is easy. A blue curve file manager and the default GNOME desktop make it look simply stunning. It comes with a host of tools that allow usage as a server and as a workstation. The Red Hat Package Manger(RPM) format developed by Red Hat has almost become the defector for software distribution in Linux world. Installing new software is a breeze. It also has an advanced and easy font management system that makes fonts in X Windows look cool. But being the leader comes at a price. Red Hat charges a little more than others for its istro.

Mandrake: Mandrake Linux is now in its 9 version. This distro can be installed on a native Windows Partition using the Lin4Win tool, but this may slow the machine down. It also lets you do a traditional Linux install into its own dedicated partition. Mandrake’s configuration and software installation is painless. It follows a slightly modified RPM architecture called mdk.rpm but most Red Hat software can also be used for Mandrake. The outstanding feature in this distro is the collection of window managers-eye-candy freaks will have a great time.

SUSE : From Germany comes the Chameleon Distro, SUSE. Now in its 8.1 avatar, it has one of the most extensive software packages compiled, and getting them installed is easy with yast (Yet another Software Tool) which gives a centralized interface from where you can pick and choose the software to be installed. Among other things, SUSE comes with some stunning 3D games that showcase Linux’s gamming prowess.

Windows applications in Linux

Some applications have been ported over to Linux, other run with a program called WINE (Wine is Not an Emulator). Crossover, commercially available software also lets you use your Windows programs Linux. VMWare is another program that lets you run Windows under Linux.

Bottom Line:

The cool thing about Linux is that most software is free, and you can legitimately use them without worrying about piracy. If you’re worried that Linux won‘t look as pretty as windows can, all you have to do is check out some of the cool Linux interfaces and Window managers. But you don’t find a lot of multimedia titles for Linux. And if you’re into a lot of these, Windows in the way to go. So if you have a PC that runs both, you can easily switch between the two, and get the best of both worlds.

Source

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