I am subscribed to John Maxwell's Leadership Wired. This is a regular e-newsletter that comes with good business ideas. I can relate to the Maxwell Moment shown below, and thought you might appreciate it, too. My take-away thought: "Keep a Positive Attitude, and Don't Quit!"
---Cheryl.
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The "Big 5" Challenges in Life
By Dr. John C. Maxwell

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Successful people do not have less challenging lives than those who do not succeed. In fact, they may go through even greater challenges. What causes the separation? Successful people respond to difficulties differently.

It’s easy to have a great attitude when things are going our way. Attitude doesn’t become the difference maker until challenges arise. In this edition of Leadership Wired, we’ll look at “The Big 5,” a list of the top challenges experienced by leaders, and we’ll discuss steps to develop an appropriate attitude toward each challenge.

THE BIG 5

1. Discouragement
   Over the course of my life, I’ve discovered that every leader gets discouraged. Plans fail, dreams drift out of range, or goals suffer setbacks. However, not every leader responds to discouragement the same way. Attitude dictates whether a discouraged leader will give up or get up.
   
   Dealing Effectively With Discouragement
   
   (1) Get the Right Perspective.
   Seldom are circumstances as bad as they feel in the darkest moments. Try to put hard times in the proper perspective by distancing from them emotionally.
   
   (2) See the Right People.
   Relationships either build us up or tear us down. Leaders surround themselves with encouragers who lend support and lift the load.
   
   (3) Say the Right Words.
   Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, says this in his excellent work, Spiritual Depression, Its Cause and Cure: “Most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself rather than talking to yourself.” Thoughts stream into our minds beyond our control. Instead of succumbing to whichever thoughts happen to pop into our heads, we can purposefully fix our minds on the positive.
   
2. Problems
   Just as every leader gets discouraged, so every leader runs into problems. When facing problems, adjusting your attitude can be a precursor to adjusting your situation. Remember: change on the outside always follows the change on the inside.
   
   Principles for Handling Problems
   
   (1) Define What A Problem Is
   A problem is something I can do something about. If I cannot do something about a situation, it is a fact of life, not a problem.
   
   (2) Anticipate Problems
   A problem anticipated may be an opportunity, but a problem not anticipated is a simply a problem.
   
   (3) Embrace Each Problem as a Potential Opportunity.Problems are wake-up calls for creativity. They sharpen us by testing our reasoning and drawing out our creative juices.
   
3. Change
   Change is an unavoidable and often unwelcome part of life. Change pushes us away from comfort by refusing to let us settle. By constantly forcing us to adapt, change sparks growth in our lives.
   
   Coming to Terms with Change
   
   (1) Determine that Change Will Be an Ongoing Part of Life.Years ago, Alfred P. Sloan made the statement that the key to success in management does not lie in your ability to adjust to change; it lies in your ability to anticipate change. When we see change coming we can move along with it rather than being blindsided by it.
   (2) Make a Commitment to Pay the Price for Change.Along the journey, a leader must make sacrifices to stay abreast of change. If change doesn’t cost you, it’s not real change.
   (3) Decide What You Are Not Willing to Change.Leaders have a general openness to change, but they refuse to be swayed in their convictions such as faith, values, and family.
   
4. Fear
   Fear has the ability to exaggerate itself and spread throughout our life. When fear grips us, we are frozen and incapable of action. Worrisome thoughts fill our mind with distractions, and we are powerless to be productive.
   
   How to “Fix” Your Fears
   
   (1) Discover the Foundation of Fear.
   Fears are more often based on feelings than facts. To control fear, search for its underlying emotion. More often than not, you’ll find fear has no rational root.
   (2) Accept Fear as the Price of Progress.
   Whenever we venture into new territory, we are met with the fear of the unknown. We must be willing to step outside of our comfort zone and face the fear of the unfamiliar.
   (3) Feed the Right Emotion, Starve the Wrong One.
   Many times we cannot hope to avoid the emotion of fear. Despite our best efforts to have courage, fear settles into the pit of our stomach like a rock. We may never eliminate fear, but we can refuse to let it dominate. If we act according to hope and optimism, eventually our action will transform our emotions.
   
5. Failure
   I have seen many leaders with self-sabotaging traits stemming from an unhealthy perspective toward failure.
   
   Some leaders live with a nagging sense of impending failure. They don’t believe they are good enough to succeed, and sooner or later they fulfill their self-expectations of failure.
   Other leaders refuse to take risks. By sticking to safe paths, they assure themselves of failing to have significant impact.
   
   Still other leaders allow failures to derail them. They see failure as a personal indictment rather than a step in the ongoing process of their growth as a leader.
   
   How to Profit From Failure
   
   (1) Change Your Vocabulary.
   Every good leader I’ve ever met has had the amazing ability to turn a setback into a springboard for greater effectiveness. In his book, Leaders on Leadership: Interviews with Top Executives, Warren Bennis interviewed 70 of our nation’s top performers in numerous fields. None of them used the word “failure” to describe their mistakes. Instead they referred to “learning experiences,” “tuition paid,” “detours” or “opportunities for growth.”
   
   (2) Keep a Sense of Humor.
   Give yourself margin to make mistakes. Laugh at your failures rather than languishing in them.
   
   (3) Make Failure a Learning Experience
   We should never walk away from failure empty-handed. Each failure comes with lessons attached, and we can learn invaluable principles from them.

The Big 5 Recap:
(1) Everybody Gets Discouraged
(2) Everybody Has Problems
(3) Everybody Resists Change
(4) Everybody Feels Fear
(5) Everybody Experiences Failure

Attitude, the difference maker, is the one thing that enables a leader to rise above these challenges.

Goodbye to one of Michigan's Finest
I just wanted to state my sorrow about the passing of former President Gerald Ford. Sure, he was 93 years old and lived a good, long life. And yes, I expect that he is in heaven. Those are very positive things. He was such a role model. He never embarrassed his family or himself. He honored God, family and country. He was the Baby Boomer's dream-- living to a ripe old age of 93! He will be missed.

The Optimist Creed
I just discovered this creed through a website set up to support kids-- optimist.org. What a great creed for each of us everyday!

The Optimist Creed
Promise Yourself-
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

The older I get, the more I feel the days rush past to a point where the years start rushing past. It must be a conscientious effort to slow down and "smell the roses." The essay below is another example of not letting events control your life. Enjoy. ~Optimist.

Winner's Circle Network with Lou Tice - 7/14/06 - "Control of Your Life"

Do you ever feel like events in your life have gotten out of control?

No matter how diligently you set goals, visualize results, and affirm a positive outcome, every once in a while your life is going to feel as if it's gone a little crazy. Carefully laid plans go up in smoke - sometimes quite literally. People you counted on, bail out on you. A health or family crisis strikes. An earthquake, hurricane or tornado puts you back to square one. Suddenly you feel as if you're completely off course, out of control, and lost at sea.

At times like this, there are a few things it may help you to remember. First of all, no one can control every aspect of his or her life, and adversity comes to all of us, no matter how moral we are, and no matter how good our attitude is. Bad things happen to good people all the time.

Second, it's important to realize that there is one, and only one, thing in life that is completely within your power to control, and that is your response to what happens to you. When you find yourself overcome with feelings of fear, helplessness, doom and gloom, you can put the brakes on these feelings by gently but firmly choosing to shift the focus of the thoughts that are running through your mind.

Your feelings are a direct result of the thoughts you think, and setting aside some time every morning and evening for positive visualization, affirmation, or guided meditation is a highly effective way of getting these thoughts back under your control again.Try it. I think you'll be surprised at just how well it works.

Lou Tice
The Pacific Institute
www.thepacificinstitute.com
"TPI teaches people how to manage change, set and achieve goals, lead more effectively, and think in ways that create success."

Four Essentials for Happiness
By: Brian Tracy

You may have a thousand different goals over the course of your lifetime, but they all will fall into one of four basic categories. Everything you do is an attempt to enhance the quality of your life in one or more of these areas.

The Key to Happiness
The first category is your desire for happy relationships. You want to love and be loved by others. You want to have a happy, harmonious home life. You want to get along well with the people around you, and you want to earn the respect of the people you respect. Your involvement in social and community affairs results from your desire to have happy interactions with others and to make a contribution to the society you live in.

Enjoy Your Work
The second category is your desire for interesting and challenging work. You want to make a good living, of course, but more than that, you want to really enjoy your occupation or profession. The very best times of your life are when you are completely absorbed in your work.

Become Financially Independent
The third category is your desire for financial independence. You want to be free from worries about money. You want to have enough money in the bank so that you can make decisions without counting your pennies. You want to achieve a certain financial state so that you can retire in comfort and never have to be concerned about whether or not you have enough money to support your lifestyle. Financial independence frees you from poverty and a need to depend upon others for your livelihood. If you save and invest regularly throughout your working life, you will eventually reach the point where you will never have to work again.

Enjoy Excellent Health
The fourth and final category is your desire for good health, to be free of pain and illness and to have a continuous flow of energy and feelings of well-being. In fact, your health is so central to your life that you take it for granted until something happens to disrupt it.

Peace of Mind is the Key
Peace of mind is essential for every one of these. The greater your peace of mind, the more relaxed and positive you are, the less stress you suffer, the better is your overall health. The more peace of mind you have, the better are your relationships, the more optimistic, friendly and confident you are with everyone in your life. When you feel good about yourself on the inside, you do your work better and take more pride in it. You are a better boss and coworker. And the greater your overall peace of mind, the more likely you are to earn a good living, save regularly for the future and ultimately achieve financial independence.

Control Your Attention
Life is very much a study of attention. Whatever you dwell upon and think about grows and expands in your life. The more you pay attention to your relationships, the quality and quantity of your work, your finances and your health, the better they will become and the happier you will be.

Action Exercises
Here are three things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action. First, take time on a regular basis to think about what would make you really happy in each of the four areas. Second, set specific, measurable goals for improvement in your relationships, your health, your work and your finances and write them down. Third, resolve to do something every day to increase the quality of some area of your life - and then keep your resolution.

Are You a Risk Taker?

Consider...

How much do you pay for insurance on your home? How are you insuring your health so you can live in your home?

[I am sure this blog will evolve as I become more familiar with the whole blogging process. So forgive me for plagiarizing from Nancy at MyHealthy Bytes for this very first post. ~Optimist.]

Thanks Lorri for forwarding this from Hank & Ann L. As Dr. Shaklee said, Shaklee products don't 'cure' anything - it's the body that heals itself when it has the materials it needs to build health. Our body is a temple - honor it before you have a serious health challenge. ~Nancy

HEART ATTACK
Labor Day, 1979, I was taken to the hospital having suffered a massive heart attack. For the first eight days, I was not even allowed to turn over on my own. In the next few days I was told I was improving, but I felt I was having strange reactions from some of the medications. I asked my doctor if he could cut back on the amounts of medication. The doctor said no as he couldn't do that. I told him I did not like what it was doing to my mind.

Four days later I left the hospital. On the second night after I came home, I had an experience that I’ll never forget. It was like I was on a trip on L.S.D. The next morning, when I found out that I was still alive, I picked up all the medications I was taking and placed them all in a wastebasket. I then called my friend, who had tried so hard to get me to take Shaklee before I had my heart attack, and told him to bring anything he thought might help me.

He brought Instant Protein (now Energizing Soy), Vita-Lea, Vita-E, Vita-C, Alfalfa and Lecithin. If it didn't help and I died, okay. But, no way could I take a chance on losing my mind. For the next three to four months, I felt better. Even my arthritis was no longer bothering me.

I have not taken any drugs in the last 12 years and at age 83, I feel better and know I am healthier than I was at 60. I take all the Shaklee products. When the Science Department at Shaklee produces another one, I just add it to my diet. I also take Lecithin 5-6 per day in order to keep my mind alert.

~Robert F

Shaklee Products Used: Vita-Lea, Instant Protein (now Energizing Soy), Vita-E, Vita-C SR, Lecithin and all the others.

For Product Information: Go Here

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NOTE: This information is not intended to replace medical care and is not a substitute for appropriate medical care and consultation. It is not intended as prescriptive. This is the experience of this person.