Your 12 Point Plan for Personal Success in 2006

by Stephan Iscoe

No one becomes successful by accident.
Success requires making a plan and sticking to it. It is simple, but does require commitment; it is not hard to do, but does require hard work. The good news is that once you begin, the results start coming almost instantly. The miracle of successful living is that the smallest step towards success attracts more success! Here is a very brief outline of the key points that will help you achieve the highest levels of success.

1. Look into the nearest mirror - the person staring back at you is the only person responsible for your success. Smile! No one else is the cause of your success or to blame for your short comings. Successful people take full responsibility for their actions.

2. Smile back at your reflection. Successful people are cheerful, optimistic, and forward thinking. If you think you don't have anything to smile about, smile anyway. Positive thoughts drive out negative thoughts. It's hard to have a negative thought while you are smiling!

3. Positive self-esteem is the foundation for success. Feel good about yourself and your abilities, achievements and potential. Don't dwell on your mistakes. Remind and praise yourself on your past accomplishments. Congratulate yourself for taking positive steps toward a more successful future.

4. Believe in yourself. You are here for a purpose. God doesn't make extras just to fill in the scenery. Find your mission and begin working to fulfill it.

5. Desire to be a success. Decide right now that you will be successful. Commit to being successful.

6. Associate with successful people. Do what they do. When faced with choices, make the choice a successful person would make.
Blow your bonus check on a gambling trip or invest it?

7. Avoid unsuccessful people. Do not under any circumstances associate with negative people. Negative people are toxic; they destroy, they do not build. They are vampires that can live only by draining the life from others. The odds are greater that they will pull you down faster than you can lift them up. You can choose to stay away from all the negative people in your life. Avoid all the whiners, complainers, blamers and thumbsuckers.

8. Do what you are best at and what you get the most satisfaction from. There is no reason to stay stuck doing things that are frustrating, boring, unhealthy, unproductive, demeaning or unfulfilling.

9. Write down a vision of how you want to live your life. Be specific. Where you want to live, what kind of carpet, who your friends are, the pony's name, what the new church rec hall you donated looks like, etc. Make a Future Scrapbook; paste in pictures, drawings, essays, clippings. Make up news headlines about your achievements. Every day visualize yourself as you would like to be - and then act that way!

10. Write down your biggest goal, the one you most want to fulfill. Write it in the present tense, "I am...", "I have...", "I contribute...". Success is the result of a personal decision, so start your goal with "I". Read your goal aloud every morning and night. Tell people your goal. Make a plan to achieve your goal and stick to it.

11. Study the science of success. Read books, listen to tapes, watch videos and positive TV programming. Talk to successful people and ask them how they became successful. Fill your mind with positive thoughts and give yourself positive self-affirmations.

12. Every day do something that brings you closer to your goal. Never give up. You can only fail if you quit trying. Keep on keeping on and you will succeed. Achieving success requires following a system. Begin today by putting these 12 points into daily practice.

Everybody experiences fear of failure, uncertainty, insecurity, low self-esteem, indecision, depression, nervousness and embarrassment. Successful people master these temporary conditions by taking positive action, by sticking to their plan, by maintaining their vision of the future, by learning from setbacks and by rededicating themselves to the pursuit of their mission. By following these simple steps you will become successful and achieve all that you desire.

Best of Success in the New Year!
Stephan

(c) Copyright Stephan Iscoe


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Lazy Way to Success - Free Report: Six Lazy Way Secrets
How to Do Nothing and Accomplish Everything

How to Get What You Really Want in 4 Easy Steps

Copyright © 2005 Vicki Wright

Do you think it is your fate to simply “get by” in life instead of living the lifestyle you probably think is out of reach?

So many people believe that they could never have a better lifestyle because “I come from the wrong side of town”, or “you have to be born into money” or other such negative beliefs.

The way to live the life you could only imagine is shockingly simpler than you think.

Success really is simple. It is possible to go from being broke in various senses (financially, emotionally, physically) to abundant in all these areas. And all without having to win the lottery! A lot of things in life really are simple but people don’t apply them because they get caught up in the everyday things like “I have to pay the bills”, “I have to work hard”. So more often than not, many of us just go through our lives “making a living” instead of “designing a life”.

Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. ~Life's Little Instruction Book, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

The shocking truth about why this happens is:

PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY WANT.

That’s it – simple.

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. ~Les Brown


In order to get anything, you need to know what you want. In order to receive anything, you need to ask for it. And in order to ask for something, you firstly need to know what it is you want!


Plain and simple.

People don’t live their lives to their fullest potential because they don’t get clear about what they want. They do not get themselves to take action on a consistent basis to develop the decision-making muscle in their body.


4 Easy Steps to Getting What you Want in Life


Step 1 - Know what you want

In any situation you need to know what you want out of it. The clearer you are with this, the more you assist your conscious and subconscious minds to come up with answers to guide you to its successful conclusion.

If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. ~Lawrence J. Peter

You need to become absolutely focussed on what you want. Whether it be financially, emotionally, socially, spiritually or whatever, you need to have something to be the driving force behind your behaviour.

Every successful person has started by becoming clear on exactly what they wanted.

Set some exciting, realistic goals with a clearly defined timeframe and start to look forward to an amazing life.

Write down the outcome you desire in one area of your life now:


Step 2 - Take action by deciding to do so

You need to take action and move towards the achievement of your goals. A lot of people have no idea of what they want, but worse still, there are people who know what they want, but don’t do anything about it! They say things like, “someday I’ll do …”. Someday is today.

Make the decision right now that you’re not willing to settle for anything less than you can be. Demand more from yourself and push yourself to the next level.

Decide what action you can take immediately, even if it is as simple as looking up a telephone number for a course you wish to take.

Write this down now and DO IT!


Step 3 - Assess the results of your actions

Once you decide what you want and you take action to get there, you need to look at what you’re doing and assess whether it is working. Most people fail far more often than they succeed. In fact, most successful people are successful because they’ve failed more than anybody else.

Most people don’t try anything because of their fear of failure. This in itself is the ultimate failure. You need to take action and follow through. Then you need to notice whether its working or not.

Look at the actions you are taking and ask yourself “Am I getting any closer to my goal or further away?” Be honest with yourself. If something isn’t getting you closer to your goal, try something else.


Look at the actions you are taking and answer honestly whether they are working towards the achievement of your goal:


Step 4 - Be flexible. If it isn’t working, change your approach

If what you are doing is not working to get you closer to your goals, don’t feel like a failure and give up. Try something else. If that “something else” doesn’t work, try something different again. Keep doing this until you succeed!

Success is 10% inspiration, 90% last-minute changes. ~From a billboard advertisement

You need to be flexible. Look at somebody who has achieved similar to results to those which you aspire to. Look at their actions and behaviour and copy it. Remember, success always leaves clues. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Somebody has already invented it!

If the actions you are taking aren’t working, what can you do differently to get closer to your goal?

Now the final key:

Once you are successful at something – DON’T CHANGE IT! Remember “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

If people succeed in life, it is because they do certain things over and over and over again. If we do the same kinds of things we are going to reap the same results. Therefore if you are taking action which is not getting closer to your goals and you keep doing the same things (ie: bad habits), guess what you’ll get. That’s right, further away from your goal.

However, if you find something that works, keep working with it and you can absolutely expect the right outcome.

Remember:

If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. ~Author Unknown

For your free subscription to You Deserve It - the ezine devoted to giving yourself the life you deserve, simply send a blank email to: youdeserveit@aweber.com

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Lazy Way to Success - Free Report: Six Lazy Way Secrets
How to Do Nothing and Accomplish Everything

Why Most Goal Setting Programs Are Doomed to Failure

by Stuart A Lichtman

Have you ever read a book or seen a movie that featured the
medieval punishment where the offender had each of their arms
and legs roped to a horse and then the horses were whipped to a
frenzy, pulling in opposite directions until the offender was
ripped into pieces?

Not nice.

But that's pretty much what we do to ourselves when we use a
traditional goal setting program.

Of course the results aren't quite as bloody but they are as
grisly: failure, stress, let down, headaches, insomnia, etc.

Instead of four horses pulling frantically in four different
directions, we usually have four major parts of our brains doing
the same thing.

Those four parts are:

- the left brain - the right brain - the midbrain - the
brainstem.

And each of these parts controls a major aspect of us.

The left brain is responsible for our conscious awareness and
our thoughts.

The right brain is responsible for our creativity, all sorts of
rhythmic behavior, putting together memory into useable chunks,
etc. And it does what it's always done in a particular situation.

The midbrain is responsible for our emotional energy - the
energy that powers us in getting things done and in creating
memories. And it does what it's always done in a particular
situation.

The brainstem is responsible for physical stimulus-response, for
jerking our hand away from a hot stove, for hitting the tennis
ball, for jerking our car away from an intruding other driver.
And it does what it's always done in a particular situation.

When these four parts aren't in agreement on an objective and
how to achieve it, failure is almost certain.

And that's the case with traditional goal setting systems
because they deal with only one of those parts, the conscious
mind.

It's something like asking someone who speaks only English,
another only French, another only Japanese and another only
Russian to perform a job that requires a high level of
coordination among the four of them to be successful.

The result is chaos, something like the old silent movies.

Or like a football team where each player is running a different
play.

Well, that's the case with traditional goal setting systems
because only the left brain understands words. The right brain
understands visualization and pattern, the midbrain understands
real or imagined emotions and the brainstem understands real or
imagined physical behavior.

That's why failure is so common.

But there is an alternative.

It's this: translate your objective into the different languages
each part of the brain can understand.

Once you have translated your written objective and modified it
so that all four parts of the brain are in agreement, then you
have made major progress toward successfully achieving your goal.

The second step you need to take to successfully achieve an
objective revolves around the fact that essentially no one can
maintain a conscious focus on anything for more than 5 seconds.

Yet most traditional goal setting systems tell you to keep
focused on what you want to achieve. That can't happen.
Conscious long-term focus is an impossibility.

But when the unconscious mind is focused on something - such as
keeping your heart beating and blood pumping, your body weight
reasonably constant or breathing - that something happens.
Otherwise, we'd all be dead.

Well, that kind of unconscious focus is required to consistently
achieve challenging objectives, too.

The third step to successfully achieve your objective is to
level out the unconscious road blocks that, otherwise, make
accomplishing things impossible. Since these roadblocks operate
without our conscious awareness -- like asthma, headaches, and
maintaining a constant body weight when you consciously want to
lose weight -- no level of conscious will power can overcome
them.

But when properly instructed by the conscious mind, the
unconscious will instantly change its programming from opposing
a result that you want to support its achievement.

If you accomplish all three of these steps - translation, focus,
and removal of road blocks - then you have almost a 100 percent
chance of consistently achieving your seemingly impossible
objectives.

About the author:
Stuart Lichtman is the best-selling author of "How to Get Lots
of Money For Anything Fast." Click Here to Discover How!

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Lazy Way to Success - Free Report: Six Lazy Way Secrets
How to Do Nothing and Accomplish Everything

Marketing, Selling and Serving the Older Adult, Senior Citizens, Family Caregivers

Barbara Mascio

Are your clients pleased by the fine quality service that you provide? Validating your clients’ endorsement of you through Certification as a Senior Approved Service will increase your client base. Senior Approved Certification leads a family towards a service like yours side stepping the possibility of connecting with a less than desirable service.If you serve the older adult, the disabled or those with chronic illnesses you may qualify for an independent consumer-driven survey process leading to certification as a Senior Approved Service. You will not pay for clients, leads or referrals. You will not violate HIPAA or the Anti-kickback rulings. You will not pay for membership or advertising space.

Certifications are offered for medical, non-medical, alternative healing practices, housing, elder-law, and financial planners – virtually any type of business that reaches this population. “We are building the ultimate one-call solution," states , founder. “Seniors are need of many kinds of service, including lawn care, handyman services and so on. We save the headache of shopping around and completely remove the guess work.”Confident business owners recognize the benefits of being part of an exclusive network of Certified Senior Approved Services. See http://www.qualityeldercare.com/senior-services.html Jean F.

Wales, President of Wales Consulting LLC and Author of "Do It Now! An Organizing Handbook for Families and Senior Citizens writes Becoming a Senior Approved Service instantly raised the credibility of my book "Do It Now! An Organizing Handbook for Families and Senior Citizens. http://www.seniorsapprove.com/organizing.htmlEster Whitney, owner of Sweet Adeline's Home writes I feel I have been given a great opportunity to be the first Residential Home Care Provider to be approved by Senior Approved Services in the Dallas Area … everyone has been impressed … http://www.sweetadelineshomes.comTony Latina and Peggy Schmidt, co-owners of Advanced Laser Solutions writes We have had nothing but positive feedback from the referrals from Senior Approved Services. They have been excellent to work with and we strongly recommend them. http://www.seniorsapprove.com/stop_smoking.htmlPaul Stone, owner of Occasional Help for Seniors a general cleaning and handyman service writes We are so proud to be Certified as a Senior Approved Service. Putting this on our brochures, business cards and other advertisement pieces has clearly, without a doubt, increased our client base.

Barbara is right; seniors need services but are afraid or confused about which one to call. http://www.seniorsapprove.com/occasional-help.htmlSee http://www.qualityeldercare.com/providers for details. Mention Savings Code 0630 when you apply for certification.

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Those Mountains in the Back - Identifying Your Old Family Photos

Joe Bott

I read an article recently about the quantity of family photos we accumulate in our lifetime. I think it said somewhere around 1,200 in any given household, the majority of which are unmarked. I can believe that—the unmarked part especially. I'm horrible when it comes to jotting a note on the back of my photos. "My photos" refer to the ones that were taken by me or a living member of my family.

I even have photos undeveloped from the 1980s, but I intend to get them developed "sometime real soon—as soon I get a chance."It's the same story with my hobby photo collection, which contains tens of thousands of photos. Most of the photos are of note-less, name-less faces. If it weren't for the photographers' marks, they would be of nameless, placeless faces. I refer to these nameless, placeless photos as "incredibly lost."I wonder why many of our ancestors didn't put names on their photos. Was it laziness? I originally blamed sloth, but then I changed my mind.

If you look on the back of c1900 onward vacation snapshots, you can find notes like: "This is Uncle John next to Harvey Johnson's Boat," "Those mountains behind me are the High Sierras" and "That's an Esso station were we stopped to fill'er up on our way to Lake Henry." It takes a lot more time to jot down "where" and "what" notes than it does to jot down a "John Hancock," and most vacation photos have something written on them. Yes, I've concluded that it was not laziness.After thinking for a while, it hit me. Why would we even bother to write our names on the back? We all know who we are, so there's no need to jot down a name when we already know what that name is. Besides, if people we don't know look at the photo, why would they even care to know who's in the photo? Unless, of course, they're curious about that gas station, in which case they could turn the photo over to find out that it was somewhere on the road to Lake Henry.So here they sit: all these photos from the 1800s and early 1900s with no clues as to who most of these people are. Personally, I want to know who they are, as I'm sure many of you do, too.

Unfortunately, some people discard their nameless photos. Fortunately, some people find them.Even more fortunately, the Internet has opened a big, big door. Now we can scan those found unknown "genealogy orphans" onto our computers, post them onto DeadFred.com and increase the chances that someone will help fill in the blanks. It happens every day now. Who would have thought?Anyway, I'm going to get those 1980s undeveloped film rolls developed real soon and share them with you.

I might need some help identifying a few of the people in them.

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Fresh, Fun Music for the Whole Family

Lisa M. Hendey

Fresh, Fun Music for the Whole FamilyMusic Spotlight Interview with Chip RichterBy The gift of music is a wonderful thing to share with our children and musician Chip Richter makes it even better. I was so happy to discover Chip’s music, which I’ve been sharing lately with my own family. Chip Richter and his family live in Ohio, and for the past ten years he’s spent his summers at a family resort called Lakeside, creating and sharing the type of music you’d be pleased to share with your children. A far cry from Barney or even those Disney sing-along type things you may have at home, Chip’s music is great in that it appeals to both kids and grown ups! Recently, Chip has been at work recording his new CD, Lost in Lakeside. Additionally, this summer he will be promoting literacy and music with several library tours, as well as an appearance at the Annual Conference of the California Reading Association.I had a chance to catch up with Chip and am pleased to share his comments on his music and sharing music with our families.Q: Chip, could you please start off by telling our readers a bit about yourself and your music?A: Well, I’m a husband and father of three… I’ve always said that being a dad is the best thing I’ll ever do.

I’m also a singer-songwriter and musician. I was born and raised in Ohio, lived a few years in New York and then southern California and now I’m back in Ohio where we’re raising our family. I started playing guitar when I was 13 years old and started writing songs in college. Q: How did you get started in music and how have you headed towards a focus on recording "family" music?A: My music career really begins as a church musician and worship leader. I really never have played the clubs and bars like you read about others doing.

As a teenager I became a committed Christian and began leading others in worship and playing special music in church. I never started out thinking I would be writing and performing music for kids and families. When I released my first album, People of Destiny, an album I recorded for adults… I started hearing from parents telling me how much their kids enjoyed some of the songs, which surprised me but I was glad to hear it. At about the same time I was offered a summer gig at a Christian family resort singing and playing music for a weekly kids program. Out of necessity I needed to write some songs for that first summer and I discovered a brand new audience.

I’m still just writing what’s in my heart to write but I have to confess kids and families have captured my heart and I love sharing my music with them. Q: How has your own faith journey impacted on your music? A: I continue to grow in my faith and in my musicianship and songwriting almost simultaneously… for me the two have always been intertwined. I’m not really interested in being labeled as a “Christian artist” but it’s pretty hard to separate my faith from my music so I don’t try. I write about stuff that moves me and inspires me. I can’t think of anything or anyone who moves and inspires me more than God… the creator of all things! I believe God is sovereign and over all things so I see Him in all of my songs and in every aspect of life, especially family life.

Q: Can you give us some suggestions on how parents can share the gift of music with their children while helping them to make appropriate listening decisions. A: One of the things I would encouraged parents to do is listen to music “with” their children. Introduce your kids to the classics as well as lots of different styles of music including some of the music that you like… it doesn’t have to be Barney and Romper Room for kids to enjoy it and get something from it. I think we sell kids short sometimes. I’ve discovered children to have a depth and capacity that has surprised me.

Here’s a real life example. Over the Christmas holiday my son and I were in the car with the radio on. Karen Carpenter was singing White Christmas and my son Austin commented that he really liked her voice… “Me too,” I said. So I looked around and found a “Best of the Carpenters” album and gave it to him for Christmas… he’s eleven and he’s becoming a Carpenters fan… go figure!I think the most important thing for parents is to not just assume that because the music is being marketed to children that it’s really good for your kids. I’ve seen and heard some pretty awful stuff made for kids.

Some of it’s awful because of the production values and some of it’s awful because of the message in the music! So that means parents need to listen for themselves, which can be a harrowing experience at times. I know there’s some pretty cheesy, shallow stuff out there that passes for kids’ music that most parents would want to toss out the car window after just one listening, but there’s also some great stuff out there too. One of my goals has been to write and produce music that parents will enjoy as much as their kids. I’m trying to write songs that will encourage, build up and reinforce those values and dynamics that are important to families. I’m not the only one writing music with that goal in mind.

There’s so much out there that parents can take advantage of when it comes to music for their kids but it requires some looking. Several artists and bands that I would recommend (both Christian and secular) Zak Morgan, Alan Root, Mary Rice Hopkins, Dan Zanes, Trout Fishing in America, Dean-O and the Dynamos, Tom Chapin and Glenn Colton. You may not find our music in the record stores or Christian bookstores because we are considered such a small niche but the internet has made it possible for us to distribute our music all over the world and that’s been very exciting for all of us. You’ll find all of these artists online. Q: I loved watching the DVD and listening to the CD of "Live at Lakeside" with my boys.

How did this project come about? Tell us about your family concerts. A: Lakeside is the “family resort” I mentioned that first invited me to play for kids during the summer. That was ten years ago and I’ve played there every summer since… it’s been a great place to do what I do. The DVD was shot when I did a family concert with my band The Munks… (Chip and The Munks, get it?) Anyway… we had this concert booked and thought let’s capture it on DVD and record a “live” album as well. So did that and it really all came together so well.

In addition to the concert we also included some special features on the DVD like a tour of Lakeside and a look at what goes on at a sound check before a concert as well as some music videos.We think our family concerts are truly unique because it's not a "kids show" and it's not an "adult show"... it's exactly what it's billed to be... an all age event... FAMILY CONCERT! I include songs that have been described as “rollicking, fun, bash around tunes, to songs that are very spiritual, but not at all preachy”. I try to keep everyone involved from toddlers to teens to senior citizens with lots of audience participation.

Lately I’ve been covering Harry Chapin’s song “Cat’s in the Cradle” and James Taylor’s song “Shower the People”. These are for sure not kids songs but they are for sure songs for the family and fit well in my concert. Q: Who are some of your favorite musicians and musical influences? Who do you recommend to friends and family? A: I’ve always been drawn to acoustic music and singer-songwriters like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell. I think my music has also been influenced by bands like The Beatles, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, The Eagles and America. Phil Keaggy has played a huge part in shaping and influencing me too.

Phil and his wife Bernadette are actually old family friends; they’re both Ohio natives as well. Over the years Phil has given me some good advice as well as played and sang on some of my albums. Other artists and bands I listen to and would recommend are David Wilcox, Michael Card, Fernando Ortega, John Michael Talbot, Nickel Creek, Shawn Colvin, Michael Hedges, Chris Rice, Allison Krauss and Union Station and Wes King. All of those artists are making acoustic music and most are wonderful finger style guitar players and songwriters which is what I tend to gravitate to. Q: Are any of your songs particular favorites? Why? A: That’s a hard question for me to answer because I like different things about all of my songs.

But a couple songs stand out for me because of what they remind me of at the time I wrote them. Ladybugs Living Room is one of those… a song about pretending that was inspired by a time of pretending with my daughter Megan. Designed to Shine is a favorite because it came from a time of me playing my guitar while my son Austin, then about three years old, danced around room laughing and singing while I played. Wonderful Thing is a song all about hugs that my daughter Brittany inspired… she’s the “hugger” in our family, you know the person in your family who loves to give and get hugs. There are others… every song has story behind it but those are just a few.

Q: Tell us a bit about your "Roots and Wings" workshops.A: That’s a workshop that really had it’s beginnings in another song I wrote called My Dad’s Coat. I had a memory of being a little boy and finding my dad’s overcoat and walking around with it on. That’s something that is funny and even appropriate for a child to do… but as I grew up it was important for me to wear my own coat, find my own way. It occurred to me that my faith as a child was a lot like wearing my dad’s coat. Children naturally and appropriately come under the covering of their parents’ faith… but as kids grow up it’s important that they make this faith their own.

My parents helped me to do that… they passed their heritage, faith and values to me and helped me assimilate them into my life. Now I’m doing the same thing with my kids. The “Roots and Wings” workshop is designed to give parents some very practical was to pass their faith on to their kids and help them make it their own... passing on the roots and helping them find their wings. Q: Do you have plans for any upcoming projects? Are there any closing thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? A: Yes, I have a couple things I’m working on… one album of songs for summertime… another project that’s going to be more for parents than kids… love songs and mushy stuff like that… ugh! I appreciate the chance to share my music with your readers.

Parenting is a difficult job but so important… I hope that my music will not only be entertaining for kids and families but also encouraging for parents and their kids. That’s my heart… too see kids built up, parents encouraged and families strengthened… making it all “more fun than a kid should be allowed to have”!For more information about the music of Chip Richter visit www.chiprichter.com is webmaster of www.CatholicMom.com , a wife and mother of two and a family music fan and supporter. Visit her at www.LisaHendey.com for more information.

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Finding affordable family health care insurance

Rolf Rasmusson

Affordable family health care insuranceSearching for affordable family health insurance can be a long drawn out affair. Most agents normally represent a few of their most popular companies and market their products. Where that of course falls short is in truly getting a fair shake at finding the best buy for the money you're going to spend. Affordable family health care insurance requires some serious getting after on your part.Shopping for coverage has been simplified and made more effective due to data bases to shop from online. Many services with the know how make their money in providing free quotes to the shopping public and are paid a fee when someone buys a product.

The money paid to these helpers is far less than commissions paid to individual agents and it reflects itself normally in the ultimate rates. The other advantage in buying online is the carriers are able to keep their acquisition and marketing costs down thereby keeping rate increase to an absolute minimum. Most rate increases are due to the ongoing increased costs of the health benefits provided which are not controlled by the insurance companies. Whether a policy is affordable is in the eyes of the beholder as each person sets priorities in their lives differently. What may be ok to one person may be outrageous to another.

Tailoring coverage's to reflect your priorities is the best way to extract the best value to you and your family. Placing emphasis on your major concerns and minimizing others may be the best way to do that. When you're finishing you have a sense of well being in that the primary focus is that of your most urgent concerns rendering the best value and policy for you. Today you can access all sorts of coverage's, costs and companies. Finding affordable family health care insurance is much easier today because you can go online and use enormous resources developed for your use.

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Parents returning to work: how to balance work and family life

Scott Brown

While we usually focus on the actual act of job searching and career advancement in these articles, there are some other issues that can have a big impact on your career and are worth investigating. One such issue is balancing family obligations with those of your career. Raising children is a big job- a full time job in itself. If you have children or are about to, read on for some helpful tips. If your family is taken care of, you’ll be able to focus on your career without worrying about what’s going at home.

Where to leave your children after schoolDuring the day, you know your kids are taken care of at least until 3:00 PM. But after school ends, you’re going to need some kind of daycare that will keep your little ones busy until you get off of work. Here are some ideas to help you jumpstart your back to work plan:*There are people who can help. If you’re new to a town or community or just don’t know where to go, start with your child’s school. Many public schools offer after school programs for students that will not only keep them busy, but help them with their homework and enrich their overall social and academic skills.*Network with other parents.

Chances are, a lot of your child’s friends and classmates have parents in the same boat as you. Contact them for ideas or try and set up an exchange where the two of you take turns with the children when your schedule allows. Don’t just network with working parents, network with stay-at-home parents as well. Try to work something out with them too because they have even more time than your colleagues who work a 9-5.Do your homeworkIf you’re worried that the after school programs won’t keep your child after the designated time, check out all of your possible resources. Parents these days work one, sometimes two jobs and need the support of their community.

You might be surprised to know that while most after school programs run until 5:30 or 6:00 PM, several programs offer an extended after school program that lasts until 9:00 or 10:00 PM. Most days you’re probably not going to be anywhere near that late. However, it would be nice to know that if you have a late night at work, your child will be taken care of. Do it for your childrenWhether you’ve got a large family or you’re a single parent with one or two children, holding down a successful career is a great example for your child(ren). The last thing you want to do is the send the message that you can’t have a family if you want to have a career.

Even if you’re a single parent who’s been out of work for a substantial amount of time, you can still make a comeback in your professional life. Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t balance a great job with a great family. It may take some getting used to, but you can have the life you want.

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Using the internet to manage your family’s finance

Rachel Lane

The effectiveness of managing family finances has never been more significant, as parents struggle to find a balance between work and family life. A recent study by Mother and Baby magazine has found that new parents are getting less sleep than previous generations, with new mums struggling to manage their exhaustion.Whilst there is no technological solution to sleepless nights as yet, it is possible to assign many tasks which were once only possible through physical movement, to the internet, such as shopping and banking. No longer do you have to worry about co-ordinating the demands of screaming children with your weekly shopping list or about missing the bank at 5:01pm. Whatever issues you may face with your child, there are plenty of websites collating advice from parents around the world, such as http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/ and http://www.babycentre.co.uk/. There are websites such as http://www.parentspenniespounds.co.uk/ offering financial advice and support, and financial comparison sites such as http://www.moneynet.co.uk/index.shtml, which ensure that parents can always find the best deal for their finances, including credit cards, loans, mortgage, life insurance, house insurance, car insurance and the children’s savings accounts.

Many personal finance sites including moneynet also offer “account aggregation” tools, which allow parents (and non parents!) to manage all of their finances online, including current accounts, savings accounts, loans and credit cards. If you think your household bills are too high, uSwitch.com can provide you with a comparison of providers for gas & electricity, water and household communications.And if that all seems a little too practical, take some time out for a little light relief with http://www.learnthenet.com/english/features/tenthings.htm. This website offers a wealth of information about how to extract useful information from the internet, as well as providing more random suggestions such as the science of online games, “design a structure of copper coins” and even the world’s most calorific sandwich.

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Treasure Map Your Next Success in 2006

By Ana Tampanna

Treasure-mapping is simply the process of visualizing exactly what you want. The clearer you can see it as a reality, the sooner it manifests. The magical part about treasure-mapping is that you don’t have to know where the desired object or opportunity will come from. Gifts, contest prizes, sudden opportunities are typical outcomes.

The actual process is simple: tear out color pictures in magazines or catalogs and rubber cement them to half a sheet of poster board.

Currently I use a sketch book that I constantly add to page after page. Sometimes I am not even sure what I am searching for, but in the process of looking, I get clearer when an image seems to call to me.

Here are some of the things I have successfully treasure-mapped:

New house (complete with gazebo)

New job, change in career, and career opportunities

Vacations (including white-water rafting and a

hot air balloon ride

Clients and audiences

Lifestyle, romance, jewelry and clothes

Art, dishes, collectibles, cars, etc. (This is

the easy stuff)

My husband!

Family relationships

Variations, tips, and ideas:

1) Each New Year, treasure-map what you want the year to look like. Focus on opportunities, desired lifestyle changes, etc.

This is a tradition for our whole family. I do the half page treasure-map at this time. I might add that children end up cutting out pictures of cute animals; they have a hard time with future goal setting. More on that later.

2) Relationships: To treasure map a spouse or special companion, concentrate on finding pictures that represent what you want the relationship to look like: how you want to be treated, what you will do together, what values you would share, etc. Avoid treasure-mapping a specific physical body (after all, they are just models in the pictures and they spend incredible amounts of time in the gym.)

3) Physical changes: If you want to treasure-map an ideal body for yourself, concentrate on the active, healthy lifestyle that your body would need to have. I’ve even pasted my own face on the body of a woman doing aerobics. It was so believable to me that it melted the resistance I was feeling at the time.

4) Words: Include your own name, cut out of type, and a phrase or two also in type, that motivate you. Beware of too many words, however, as it is the visual image that your mind finds so powerful.

5) When the treasure map is finished, bless it. Some people like to add a picture that represents God as their source for everything. I write a little prayer on the back: “Thanks you, God, for this or something better for my highest good.”

6) Invite friends to bring their scissors, glue, and magazines for a treasure map party! Treasure-map with your spouse, and your children.

Children age 10 and up can treasure-map their short term goals. You can make suggestions, such as cutting out pictures of Scout badges they would like to earn, or a place for a family vacation that summer, or a pet they would like to take care of, or a specific item for Christmas. (Caution: a kid with a toy catalog goes beserk!)

Challenge a teenager to treasure map his or her in life in ten years. That gives them a grounded sense of thinking strategies toward preparation (what courses to take, etc.)

© Ana Tampanna

Ana Tampanna, "The Alligator Queen," is author or the "The Womanly Art of Alligator Wrestling." To learn more about her books in addition to her speaking and coaching services, visit her site at http://www.alligatorcoach.com/index.html.

NOTE You're welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to ana@alligatorqueen.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ana_Tampanna

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Lazy Way to Success - Free Report: Six Lazy Way Secrets
How to Do Nothing and Accomplish Everything

Hawaii Vacations and Hawaii Family Vacations

Christian

Hawaii vacations can be exciting, but sometimes it’s necessary to get Hawaii family vacation tips to help vacationers get the most for their money for their Hawaii vacation time. Getting the most for your money can make a Hawaii vacation a vacation to remember. Even cheap Hawaii vacations can be compared to Hawaii luxury vacations when you take the time to plan ahead. Consider these tips when planning your Hawaii family vacations. Hawaii has four large or major islands worthy of a visit during Hawaii family vacations.

Each island is unique with interesting tourist attractions of its own. To visit all four islands within a two week period can leave a tourists tired with enjoyment passing them by. A good plan for your Hawaii vacation is to choose two or three islands to visit initially. The island of Oahu is the largest tourist attraction with museums, tourist activities, and shopping. Hawaii, or the big Island is great for site seeing and nature drives during Hawaii vacations.

Maui is a slower pace with leisurely activities and Kauai is the quietest of the four islands.Once you have decided which islands to visit during your Hawaii family vacation, you can also plan to visit the other island or islands for just a day. Inter-island flights allow you to enjoy a day's stay on an island without having to squeeze a hotel check in and stay into your itinerary. A great Hawaii vacation tip is to book your rental car at the same time that you book your flights. This can save you time and money, when looking for cheap Hawaii vacations.There are free activities to be enjoyed on Hawaii family vacations. Hiking, Hawaiian performances, and other attractions can be cost free.

Because of the tropical climate, these activities are available year-round. Perhaps the most memorable Hawaii family vacation attraction is the Arizona Memorial. Tickets are not available in advance, so it is advised that you arrive early to the Memorial and secure tickets. There are shuttles and taxi cabs that can take you to the Arizona Memorial.The most important Hawaii family vacation tip is to plan in advance. Take time to discover where you will be staying and what your family will be interested in doing during your Hawaii vacation.

Planning activities at the last minute or when you arrive wastes energy and limits your vacation time. You will want your Hawaii family vacation to be special, so the time spent planning ahead will be well worth it. Our God created the Heavens and the earth for His pleasure, and a Hawaii family vacation will thrill you with God's creative handiwork on tropical display. Revelations 4: 11 - "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."To find out even more about Hawaii family vacations, visit: http://www.christianet.com/vacations/hawaiivacations.htm Read Full Article

FamilyFriendlyPodcasts.com Provides Safe-Haven for Podcast Listeners

According to an April 2005 study by Pew Internet & American Life Project , “More than 22 million American adults own iPods or MP3 players and 29% of them have downloaded podcasts from the Web so that they could listen to audio files at a time of their choosing. That amounts to more than 6 million adults who have tried this new feature that allows internet “broadcasts” to be downloaded onto their portable listening device.” That’s the good news. The bad news is that many podcasters, in their enthusiasm to exercise their freedom of speech (and freedom from FCC regulations), have chosen to create programs with adult content and language. That is why 1st Podcast Publishing, the first Family-Friendly Podcasting Station, has created FamilyFriendlyPodcasts.com their newest service - a no-cost, ‘safe for the whole family’ Podcast Directory in podcast format, which will allow listeners to sample previewed podcasts prior to subscribing. Podcasting is still in its infancy.

Podcasts are like internet radio shows that people can download and listen to on portable players, like iPods and MP3 players. People utilize podcasting as an excellent tool in combination with blogging (web logging) to help increase search engine ranking. For example, when 1st Podcast Publishing’s Comedy Clip of the Week was converted from an audio blog into a podcast, hits went from less than 100 to 2000 in 2 weeks.“One podcaster listed in our Directory made an interesting observation”, says Penny Haynes, President of 1st Podcast Publishing. “He stated that podcasts seemed to be divided into two groups: “R” and “X” rated podcasts, and religious podcasts, with very little in between. FamilyFriendlyPodcasts.com wants to fill that gap by providing an oasis of safe programming.

The podcasts listed in FamilyFriendlyPodcasts.com will be free of foul language, sexual situations, and positive drug promotion. Both listeners and podcasters who are concerned about the usage of ‘adult language and situations’ in podcast programs will have a place to post and review shows.” Listeners can search through the alphabetical directory at http://www.FamilyFriendlyPodcasts.com, or they can subscribe to the “Latest Listing” podcast version at http://www.FamilyFriendlyPodcast.com.

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Figure Skating Can Be a Family Affair

When the skaters take to the ice for the 8th Annual Skater’s Cup, quite a few families will be among the competitors. The event is sponsored by the Sharper Edge Skating School. The Skater’s Cup will take place on May 21, 2005 at the Valley Sports Ice Arena in West Concord. The competition will include 174 skaters, ranging in age from 5 to 63, and at all ability levels.At Sharper Edge, skating has often become a family affair. In many cases the kids got involved with skating as an after school activity.

Parents sometimes find themselves spending hours at the rink each week for practices, year round. In some cases, parents have decided they want to get involved in the action instead of just watching from the sides. Sharper Edge has quite a number of such families. There is a Learn to Skate program geared towards adults, so even the very beginner adult can satisfy that need to glide around on ice.The Ryan family of Concord has five skating members. Mom, Nancy Ryan, and all four daughters skate for Shaper Edge.

Ryan took a Learn to Skate program after her oldest daughter Victoria started skating. “I wanted to be able to take her to public skating sessions. But then I loved it. It is fun, and satisfying to see the progress.”    Dave Dunn of Acton had never skated in his life until two years ago, at the age of 49. He thought it looked like fun after seeing his two daughters skate on Saturday mornings.

His wife encouraged him to take some classes and now he has found a new hobby. “I used to ski, but this is more fun. I can do more on skates than I can on skis. And I can do this year round.” The Weaver -Vilain family of Carlisle is also regularly on the ice. Mom Suzie Weaver has fulfilled a life long interest by taking up skating as an adult.

She, and daughters Chloe and Camilla skate several days per week. There are at least three other families with skaters of different generations at Sharper Edge Skating School. The Sharper Edge Skating School is a member of International Skating Institute or ISI, which is dedicated to the education and promotion of recreational skating. While there are competitions available for skaters to compete in on a local, regional or even national level, the focus is on skating as a recreational activity. Clubs train individuals for solo and team events.

The local competition will feature competitions in stroking, compulsory maneuvers, individual badge competition, artistic and spotlight events, as well as team compulsory and team formation events. These team events promote cooperation and teamwork for the skaters and give them opportunities to learn new skills. Sharper Edge skaters come from Acton, Bedford, Belmont, Billerica, Boxborough, Carlisle, Concord, Groton, Hudson, Lexington, Lincoln, Littleton, Lowell, Maynard, Millis, N. Billerica, Reading, Sudbury, Tewksbury, Watertown, Wayland, Westford, and Weston.The public is welcome to attend the Skater’s Cup. Skaters will be on the ice from early morning till early evening.

There is no charge for admission, and events will be happening in both rinks at Valley Sports Ice Arena on Route 62, in West Concord, near the Maynard and Acton town lines.

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Family "Does it ebay" a Second Time to Raise Funds for Disabled Daughter

G'Nelle is still "in da shell." Mike Johnson's first bumper sticker auction, "Help G'Nelle Break Outta Da Shell," garnered a high bid of only $17.50, an amount that was less than the cost to list the auction on ebay. Determined to get G'Nelle 'outta da shell,' which represents the family's upstairs apartment, Johnson has listed the auction on ebay a second time, with a few modifications. "Help G'Nelle Break Outta Da Shell: Chapter 2," the nickname for the second auction, offers bidders the opportunity to purchase up to 1,000 bumper stickers featuring their slogan at a cost of $4.00 each. The previous auction afforded bidders an opportunity to bid on just one sticker. Johnson hopes that the new format will help him and wife Sherronda Ross-Johnson raise the necessary funds to move his disabled stepdaughter, G'Nelle Ross, 11, into a first-floor apartment or house.

"Some potential bidders may have thought that $17.50 (the high bid) was an exorbitant price for a bumper sticker," Johnson said. Ross has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and mild-to-moderate mental retardation. She is unable to walk. Both parents have difficulty carrying G'Nelle, who weighs approximately 100 pounds, up and down a flight of over 20 steps. Living in a first floor apartment or house will enable G'Nelle to go outside, go to school, and interact with other children.

Currently, G'Nelle is the house almost all the time. Johnson's auctions are based on a successful ebay auction created by another Virginia woman. In January, Tiffini Dingman-Grover placed her "Frank Must Die" auction on ebay to help raise funds for her son David's cancer surgery. "Frank" was the name David gave the tumor. Receiving nationwide press coverage, the auction closed with a high bid of $10,700 for a single bumper sticker bearing their slogan.

David, 9, has since had the surgery, and is doing well. It is important to note that even though thousands of people "hit" Dingman-Grover's auction site, only 73 bids were placed. "We only received 340 hits on our auction site, and 13 bids," Johnson said. "We have to do a better job of getting the word out to people." Johnson hopes that once more people know about the auction, sales will improve. By the auction's close on May 10, he hopes to have raised at least $2,000.

"I am determined to help get G'Nelle what she needs, and just as important, bring attention to the fact that in many cases there is not a lot of public assistance available for disabled children and their parents," Johnson said. "There are probably thousands of families like ours who feel that they have nowhere to turn. The children are in shells that limit their true potential. It's time to break those shells." Starting with G'Nelle's.

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Immigration Policy Separates Nuclear Family

Unitefamilies.org, an organized group of legal residents (website: www.unitefamilies.org), is urging congressional representatives to support HR 1823 proposed by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) and Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ). This bill will amend provisions of the V-visa – a temporary, non-immigrant visa type - and help unite spouses and minor children of legal immigrants.Many legal permanent residents (green card holders) are currently living in the United States, separated from their spouses and infant children. They are waiting for their I-130 petitions (petition for relative) to be approved.

Statutory numerical limitations on available visas, coupled with immigration backlogs, causes waiting times of 5 years or more. Legal immigrants feel that it is unfair and cruel to break up nuclear families. During this long wait, the foreign resident spouse and young children are not allowed to enter the United States, even for a brief visit. The permanent residents, on the other hand, must reside predominantly in the United States and thus the web of US immigration laws ruthlessly separates married couples from each other and from young children. Unitefamilies.org is supporting HR1823, which will amend the current restrictions on V-visa and make it usable by foreign resident spouses and minor children of legal immigrants to enter the US temporarily while their I-130 petitions are pending with the Immigration department.

Removing the current restrictions on V-visa will allow legal residents to unite with their immediate families and thereby end years of family separation. Acting on this bill will fulfill President Bush’s promise that he made during his 2000 campaign: “If we are a nation that believes in family values, we need to help husbands and wives and children of permanent residents be allowed to visit while the INS is handling their paperwork.” Unitefamilies.org urges its members and concerned citizens to write and call their congressional representatives to act on the proposed bill. Keeping husbands and wives separated from each other and from young children is sending wrong messages about American family values.Group members point out the contradiction that is in the current political atmosphere: the claims to promote family and moral values, yet having polices that break up families – immediate families of law abiding, taxpaying legal immigrants. “Our Immigration laws and procedures are very complicated and they even appear tough. However, divided families and forcefully separated couples talk of the ugly and inhumane side of our Immigration Laws.We seldom hear or think of the Legal Immigrants -those who became immigrants through legal procedures, those who never broke any law.

Recent debates on the hill are intended to help illegal immigrants only. Congress ignores the suffering of taxpaying, law-abiding legal immigrants”, the group says.The nucleus of Legal Permanent Residents’ families is shattered due to separation from spouses and minor children – thanks to contradictions in the current immigration law.All types of temporary guest workers and even students are allowed to bring their spouses, children and even parents to the US without any delay. However, the same immigration law forces a taxpaying, legal immigrant to wait for a minimum of 5 years to be united with his/her foreign resident spouse and infant child.“It is appalling that such contradictions within the law have so far escaped notice. It is time Washington lawmakers took a good look at the heartbreaking stories coming out from legal immigrants of this country”, says Unitefamilies.org. Amending provisions of existing non-immigrant, temporary V-visa will provide relief to separated families and at the same time will ensure ample time for the Congress to evaluate and reform nation’s immigration laws.A similar and parallel solution (K-visa) exists for U.S.

citizens to help them bring foreign resident spouses and children to the US.It is unfortunate that our immigration laws unfairly discriminate against legal immigrants. What is more ironical is the fact that our immigration laws are more hostile to taxpaying legal immigrants than to temporary workers and students-group says.Unitefamilies.org is a volunteer group and growing strongly. New members, mostly victims of family separation caused by unfair immigration laws, are joining this group every day. Group’s website can be found at www.unitefamilies.org Read Full Article