First Chapter Review: Lifetime of Achievement by Jordan Maylea Ramirez

Today I'm reviewing the first chapter of Lifetime of Achievement by Jordan Maylea Ramirez. She is currently on tour with Pump Up Your Book.

BLURB:  There are too many people going through life content with mediocrity. People going to jobs they hate, to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like. People who are dreading Monday, looking forward to hump day and praying for Friday; and let’s not even talk about those two weeks of paid vacation… those are gold!

How long have we been this way? Is this really what life is all about? I don’t believe we were created to be content with a mediocre lifestyle we never wanted in the first place. What happened to being a rock star, an astronaut, or an actor? What happened to the hopes and dreams we each had as children? Perhaps, over time, our dreams have changed… but our propensity for dreaming is still inside us.

Lifetime of Achievement outlines seven goal-setting strategies to help get you from where you are to where you want to be. In its chapters you will find knowledge from some of the worlds most popular personal development masterpieces, taken down to a level that is easy to read and simple to understand.

Learn the steps to discovering who you truly are, creating goals in perfect alignment with that discovery and implementing an action plan that, when followed, has been proven to produce results. Learn how to conquer fear, to activate the powers of the human mind and discover two of the most important factors shared by virtually every successful individual throughout history.

This book takes proven strategies and puts them into an easy-to-read, easy-to-implement format that can be read in as little as a few hours. Discover the steps, put them to work, and become prepared for a Lifetime of Achievement!

COVER: This cover has me totally confused. Why the off-centered bird on the water? How is this supposed to motivate me to set life-changing goals? Perhaps I'm thinking about it too much. Perhaps it's the symbolism of a bird spreading his wings about to fly that is supposed to grab my attention and make me think if I follow these strategies I'll be that flying bird spreading my wings and achieving my dreams; but then why not a bird in flight over a mountain top instead? I'm sorry, but I simply don't get the cover choice at all.

FIRST CHAPTER: This book opens with the topic of clarifying your goals. It covers the relationship between your core values and goals you set, in addition to the need to understand the root issue of goal setting. There is a short exercise to help you identify your top five core values and a discussion on attitude versus philosophy.

KEEP READING: What I think the author does well in the first chapter is start off in the right place. The opening chapter helps readers understand how they are going to get from Point A (setting goals) to Point B (working toward obtaining those goals). Ramirez has an open, conversational style that draws readers in. She provides examples from her life to illustrate her meaning and let the reader know she understands some of the issues they struggle with.

Lifetime of Achievement is definitely a book I would like to read more of to see how the author moves readers from the writing of their goals down on paper to achieving them.

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE

Jordan lives with her husband Robert in Lubbock, Texas with their 3 dogs and two horses. Because both her parents have always been self-employed, she had an entrepreneurial spirit from an early age and began her first business at the age of 17. It was at that time that she first became fascinated with the subject of personal development and the impact a personal education can have on a person’s life. She grew up riding horses and competing in Dressage shows all across Texas and New Mexico. The sport continues to be one of the primary passions in her life and if she is not working or spending time with her family you can usually find her at the barn. Jordan has two younger siblings, Clayton and Paige, whom she is very close to, and she greatly enjoys spending time with her family. She and Robert enjoy entertaining friends at their home (especially during football season – Go Red Raiders!) and they love to travel the world and experience new countries and cultures together.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK

I received the first chapter of this book from the author through Pump Up Your Book. This review contains my honest opinions, for which I have not been compensated in any way.

Interview with Louis Koster, Author of A New Language for Life: Happy No Matter What! (Giveaway)

Dr. Louis Koster is a distinguished humanitarian who served for over ten years as a medical doctor for Doctors Without Borders. He worked in the war zones of Bosnia, the Sudan, Angola, Liberia and with Afghan refugees in Pakistan, and Cuban refugees in Guantanamo Bay. For his humanitarian efforts, Dr. Koster has received numerous awards and has appeared on radio and TV. For the past decade, he has practiced medicine in Australia.

Visit the author online at www.louiskoster.com/book

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I was blessed with a speech impediment when I was seven years old that ultimately brought me on a path of higher awareness. The design of stuttering is that of a silent entrapment. Speech is very complex. When you get entangled in something our natural response is to resist, which only reinforces the entrapment. For me this exemplifies the way people live their lives. My speech became an issue, when I took on what other people said of me, and I sentenced myself to being a stutterer. Now my life became about not being a stutterer. My life became about avoiding situations, where I could be “exposed” as a stutterer. The solutions I brought to the stuttering did not set me free from it, but actually aggravated the problem. Not only did my solutions aggravate the problem, it removed me further from the true sense of who I was. I believe that when we define ourselves inside of an “I am”, that this is at the expense of our sense of presence—we forget who we really are. We then lose our reference to life. When you are consumed by your issues, you lose your presence, and you now have lost your reference to know what makes you happy. This is where we believe that happiness lives outside of ourselves, and we live a life of ambition, never really being fulfilled. We get lost in the busyness of life, and at some point we wake up, wondering what has happened to us.

I believe that a commitment to being happy, no matter what brings us back home again to being, since happiness and joy are our true nature. This commitment reminds you of who you are, and aligns you to your true nature. Making this commitment tells you what you need to discover about yourself to be present again to the joy of life.

What made you first decide to become a writer?

I had a series of experiences that grabbed me, and when I made the choice to be happy, no matter what, I started to keep a journal to record my experiences. I started to notice a pattern, which I came to distinguish as the Pearls of Wisdom, which I describe in the book. I don’t identify myself so much as being a writer. I started writing at a young age, as another way of expressing myself, since my speech was a problem at that time.

Writing comes to me naturally as an exploration of life. It is a way of capturing something that lives for me, that is germinating, and wants to come to awareness, ready to be expressed. Writing for me is coming to clarity, and reaching another level of expanding myself inside of life, a new understanding. This expanded awareness and new level of clarity is what I love about writing and lights me up.

Tell us about A New Language For Life: Happy No Matter What!

A New Language for Life: Happy No Matter What! is an inspirational guide to personal freedom and long-lasting happiness.

Using A New Language for Life as a guide will help you defeat depression, stress, unhappiness, and even ordinary daily moods. A New Language for Life is for anyone who wants more peace and joy from life.

What inspired you to write it?

I was humbled by my experiences. There is no other way of saying it. I felt entrapped by the circumstances of my life at some point in my life, and I realized that there was nowhere else to go in the world, and that something in the way I viewed the world that had to change. This was my defining moment. I realized that if I considered life as fundamentally good, I may as well trust what was occurring in my life as fundamentally good, rather than condemning it. I made then and there a commitment to be happy and content, no matter what the circumstances of my life were. This commitment became a passage of awakening and higher awareness that allowed me to transcend the circumstances of my life and reclaim my capacity to manifest my life. I then became willingly compelled to share this message of awakening and inner peace with others.

What are the three stages of awakening and what do they mean?

The first stage of awakening is getting a taste of being. This is where you distinguish being as the true sense of who you are versus the things that you identify with.

The second stage of awakening is where you transform you current reality by bringing this new awareness of being to your current experiences of life. Life no longer occurs in a language that is accusatory, but in a language of allowing.

The third stage of awakening is where you transcend your current reality, and duality of existence no longer lives as a condition in which we live, but as a mode from which we think. This is the stage, where we truly awaken to the oneness of life.

Is it difficult for those who have dealt with a great deal of hurt to trust that life is fundamentally good?

I know exactly what you are referring to when you ask me this question. I recognize the pain, the confusion, the hurt when something happens that is totally unexpected, and is a serious interruption of our lives as we know it. When you take on the premise that life is fundamentally good, and trust life, it gives you the permission, the courage, and the strength to be open to the experience, although that experience is not necessarily what you wanted in your life. Contentment in this context may just mean a willingness to experience something fully.

This also opens up the question: “If I trust life, and say that life is fundamentally good, then “why me?” “Why did this happen to me?” Speaking to this question, I do not have the answer. But it opens up for me a more fundamental question, or inquiry into the mystery of life. If I am willing to relate to this question as an open question, if I can be at peace with not knowing the answer, then this may just open up another dimension to me.

The other aspect of this question is: There is something about the design of life that when you somehow come at peace with your circumstances, we then bring ourselves to a place, where we are not only more effective, but we regain our sense of presence, which embodies the true sense of who we are. This is what ultimately makes all the difference. There is no power in accusatory language, i.e. a language of fault-finding, complaining, shoulds, or musts. In reclaiming our sense of presence, we reclaim the power of our language, and our ability to manifest our lives as we are, i.e. as our true intentions.

I believe that a lot of human suffering, in particular the persistence of it—when our primary needs are met—is due to how we relate to our changing circumstances, and how as a consequence we view ourselves.

How does being a guardian of the planet Earth impact happiness?

I assume you speak to the wisdom of the indigenous people that I mentioned in the book. I hold them as the guardians of an ancient wisdom that teaches us about the oneness of life.

Happiness occurs as a natural phenomenon when we have the experience of connectedness with all human beings and the whole of nature in its beauty.

Happiness occurs in the space of being one with life.

I believe that happiness is neither found within, or without, i.e. neither inside nor outside of us. Happiness occurs when we have left behind us the state of division and separateness that we bring to our experience of life; when we have transcended the duality of existence—which includes the illusion of the “I”—and we recognize that our true nature is found in the awareness of oneness of being and oneness of life.

The indigenous people of the world are the carriers of this wisdom.

What is one thing you hope readers will take away from this book?

The book gives the reader a foundation that they can trust themselves, and can trust life. This may give the reader a new perspective; one that allows for more peace in their lives, and that they are the agents of their own destiny.

Where can readers purchase a copy of your book?

Readers can purchase the book in every book store. It is available everywhere. You can also order it online with Amazon, B&N, and other online bookstores.

What is up next for you?

A New Language for Life basically is a series with a potential endless list of titles. A New Language for Life is an ever-evolving conversation, since life is evolving continuously, and there is always more to say.
I finished recently the draft of three manuscripts with the titles, A New Language for Life and Relationships, A New Language for Life and the Way of Oneness, and A New Language for Life and Manifesting. Currently I am working on a draft with the title A New Language for Life and The Art of Living, which is a practical guide that teaches people life skills in how to experience enduring happiness and peace in the face of life’s daily challenges. I think this book will be very contributing to a lot of people who are searching for a practical, common sense guide to managing their life from the perspective of a higher awareness.

Is there anything you would like to add?

I found the questions you asked me very contributing. It gave me the opportunity to discover some new aspects of the book, the writing process, and life itself that I did not notice before. Thank you!

www.louiskoster.com
www.anewlanguageforlife.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DrLouisKoster
Twitter @drlouiskoster
Pinterest.com/louiskoster

WIN A COPY OF A NEW LANGUAGE FOR LIFE: HAPPY NO MATTER WHAT!

The author is graciously giving away a paperback copy to one lucky winner. Please use the Rafflecopter form to enter for your chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

2012 Virtual Tour Itinerary

for

A New Language For Life:  Happy No Matter What!

by

Louis Koster

www.louiskoster.com/virtualtour

October 13

Tour Itinerary at Stephanie Barko, Literary Publicist Blog

Tour Itinerary at Literature & Fiction Blog

Review by Irene Roth at Blogcritics

October 14

Review by Irene Roth at Roth’s Book Reviews

October 15

Review by Laura Strathman Hulka at Readerwoman Blog

October 16

Review by Dr. Grady Harp at Powell’s

Interview and excerpt at Book Promo Central

October 16 - October 29

Three international ebook giveaways at Library Thing

October 17

Podcast with Big Blend Radio

October 18

US paperback giveaway at Curled Up With A Good Book

Interview at Curled Up With A Good Book

Review by Barbara Bamberger Scott at Curled Up With A Good Book

October 19

Review by Viviane Crystal at Crystal Book Reviews and at The Best Reviews

October 22

Interview at Alpha Chick

Highlighted Title Listing at Independent Publisher

October 23

Review, video & excerpt at Spiritual Lounge

October 24

Excerpt at Your Awakened Self Blog

October 25

Review by Helen Gallagher at New York Journal of Books and at Open Salon

October 26

Author essay, excerpt & giveaways at One Story At A Time

October 28

Podcast with Where Am I Going Radio

October 29

Interview at Literature & Fiction Blog

October 30 – November 12

Three US paperback giveaways at GoodReads

October 31

Review by Christine Zibas at Digital Journal and at Bookpleasures

November 1

Review by Irene Conlan at The Self Improvement Blog and at Ezine Articles

November 2

Review by Gloria Oren at Gloria’s Corner Blog

November 5

Excerpt at Night Owl Reviews Blog

November 6

Interview by April Pohren at Blogcritics

November 7

Interview by Cheryl Malandrinos and giveaway at The Book Connection

November 8

Podcast with Conversations Live Radio

November 9

Videos at Preview The Book, Flickr, Photobucket, & Daily Motion

November 12

Review by Darin Godby at Luxury Reading and at Book Blogs Ning

Book Review: The Barefoot Executive by Carrie Wilkerson

If you've ever dreamed of being your own boss, creating your own schedule, and achieving financial freedom, The Barefoot Executive by Carrie Wilkerson is the book for you. Filled with inspirational stories and no-nonsense advice Wilkerson shows you how to determine your motivation for wanting to work for yourself, what mistakes to avoid, and what you need to be successful.

The Barefoot Executive isn't a how-to book that takes you step-by-step through how to start your own business. Instead, it is a book that motivates and encourages your dreams. You'll discover how to take skills you already have, determine what business model you're interested in, and how to be successful in the marketplace. Even in crowded markets you can be successful because you are unique and offer your own unique perspective. You can provide the answers to the questions people are asking.

Wilkerson doesn't sugar-coat anything. She doesn't tell you it's going to be easy or that it will happen overnight. She does, however, inspire with her success and the success of others whose stories you'll find featured in the numerous case studies throughout the book. She has an engaging conversational style that makes readers move swiftly through the book. She asks questions that demand answers and gets you thinking about what skills you have that can create an income stream. She speaks of the importance of mentors and mastermind groups, because surrounding yourself with the right kind of people can make a difference.

As a wife and mother, Wilkerson had a decision to make about her future. She opted to live life on her terms. The Barefoot Executive can help you do the same.


Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (August 23, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 159555369X
ISBN-13: 978-1595553690
SRP: $24.99
Also available in electronic and audio formats.

I received a free e-Copy of this book from the author's representative in exchange for my honest opinions. I received no monetary compensation of any kind for this review.

This is the twenty-seventh book I've read for the following challenge:

It is the seventh book I've read for the following challenge:

Interview with Scott Fox, Author of Click Millionaires

SCOTT FOX is an Internet lifestyle business entrepreneur, an in-demand strategy consultant, and a popular speaker on e-business startup and marketing strategies. He has built multi-million dollar e-businesses ranging from to web sites for celebrities like Bill O’Reilly and Larry King to online divisions of major corporations to his own business success coaching community, ClickMillionaires.com. He hosts the popular Click Millionaires Radio podcast and is a weekly contributor to Business Talk Radio’s nationally syndicated Big Biz Show. He is also the author of three books: Internet Riches (AMACOM 2006); e-Riches 2.0: Next Generation Online Marketing Strategies (AMACOM 2009); and CLICK MILLIONAIRES: Work Less, Live More with an Internet Business You Love (AMACOM; June 5, 2012; $22.00 Hardcover).


Scott Fox has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, SUCCESS, Smart Money, and the LA Business Journal, among many publications, as well as in a numerous business blogs and on radio programs around the world. He has served as a mentor to students at Harvard Business School, an instructor at the Learning Annex, and a popular guest speaker at universities from UCLA to NYU. He runs the ClickMillionaires.com lifestyle entrepreneur coaching forum and hosts the popular Click Millionaires Radio podcast from his home in Southern California. Fox also donates all his book profits to charity.


Learn more at www.ClickMillionaires.com.

What is this book about?

Click Millionaires is about helping people who don’t live in Silicon Valley to get their share of the Internet business revolution that is going on all around us. 

I wrote the book to share my personal experiences making money online and to help others recognize their own potential for building profitable niche businesses on the Internet, too.  Reading Click Millionaires can help readers learn to grow new income streams that free them from dependence on jobs they don't like.

And, the book is not just me talking.  It's full of practical examples, exercises that can help readers develop their own lifestyle redesign plans, and interviews with dozens of successful Internet entrepreneurs who share their own secrets for success as lifestyle entrepreneurs on the Internet.

How did you discover the Click Millionaire strategy and lifestyle?

It's taken me a long time but I wrote the book to help other people catch on more quickly. 

I have been building websites since the commercial Internet got started.  I gradually realized that I like "doing my own thing" a whole lot better than working for others, even when I had big, important jobs that paid really well.  I chose to prioritize my own lifestyle over the corporate grind and it turns out that today that can be not only very profitable, but it’s also a lot more fun than working for someone else.

When should someone consider becoming a Click Millionaire?

"Real jobs" work fine for most people.  But there are many of us who go to work each day feeling like a square page in a round hole. 

Building your own lifestyle business online is not a get rich quick strategy, but over time it can help people who would prefer to be self-employed build the income streams they need to quit those jobs they don’t like. 

I would recommend this Click Millionaires strategy to anyone who is unhappy in their current job or career path.  The world has really changed in the last few years, and you just don't need to limit your career to making your boss richer anymore.

The point of my book, Click Millionaires, is that everybody has personal interests, skills, expertise, and perspective that can be drawn upon to help create new, niche businesses on the Internet.  These niche “lifestyle businesses” can allow them more flexibility, creativity, and independence, even if they don't get filthy rich doing it.


How is it similar to other books in its genre? How is it different?

Click Millionaires is most often compared to The 4 Hour Work Week.  That was a fantastic book but it was written way back in 2006.  It also focused on opportunities for reinventing yourself that were most applicable to young, single guys. 

Click Millionaires is updated for today's Internet marketplace and its "Lifestyle Business Design Success Principles" can be used by anyone to turn their own interests into a niche business online.

It might sound like a "get-rich-quick" book but it’s not.  Click Millionaires are not money focused, they are lifestyle focused.  Money needs to be made to support their lifestyle priorities, but the book is much more about finding your own way in the business world to create new opportunities for yourself around work that you were born to do, rather than simply trying to start the next billion-dollar software company.  Most people are not qualified to start the next Facebook or Google anyway, nor do they need $1,000,000,000. 

Click Millionaires gives them a roadmap for making a reasonable amount of money with a reasonable amount of hard work and creativity over time instead.

What are some quick and easy ways to find out if being a Click Millionaire is right for you? 

Just about the only prerequisite for being a Click Millionaire is that you have to enjoy spending time on the Internet.   

After that, as long as you know how to read and type a little bit, Click Millionaires will point you in the directions you need to go to turn your own life experience into potentially profitable Internet businesses. 

I know that sounds too easy but the book is full of examples of people who have done exactly that.  From freelancers making money part time from home, to a flight attendant who started her own podcast, to a guy who has become one of YouTube’ biggest stars by posting videos about his remote control airplanes, Click Millionaires are being made today in all kinds of little niches that can inspire you, too.


What advice do you have for someone who wants to take plunge, but doesn’t know where to start?

There’s plenty of free advice on my blog and in my Click Millionaires podcasts, but really the best first step is to buy the new book. 

For less than $15 on Amazon.com, you'll get the benefit of my 15+ years of Internet business success, and the examples and guidance of the many success stories included in the book, too. 

Plus, the book offers unprecedented follow-up and support:   each reader gets a free membership in Click Millionaires.com, my private online coaching forum that I built specifically for newbie Internet entrepreneurs. 

This ClickMillionaires.com community has a reputation already as "the friendliest lifestyle business coaching community online" and the combination of the book and membership there are great places for anyone to start learning about Internet business, building websites, Internet marketing, or any related topic.  Plus, the forum is full of friendly people (including me) from all over the world, 24/7.

Where can readers purchase a copy?

Like my two previous books, Click Millionaires is published by The American Management Association (AMACOM).  That means it's in bookstores nationwide, and, of course, available on Amazon.com, and BN.com, including in all available e-book formats.

What is up next for you?

I’m looking forward to seeing Click Millionaires sell like crazy to help people worldwide get working on their lifestyle goals. 

I'm excited about sharing the message of personal empowerment, financial achievement, and creative independence that living a "Click Millionaire" lifestyle can help people achieve, just like I have.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Thanks very much for inviting me today.  I appreciate you sharing my work with your audience.  I invite both you and your readers to follow up by coming to join us at http://www.ClickMillionaires.com.  It's a fun, friendly community that can help you turn your lifestyle goals into long term assets.

How to be Happy and Successful in Everything You Do! by Terry Drake, Author of Live Happily Ever After...Now!

Today's guest blogger is Terry Drake, author of the self-help book, Live Happily, Ever After... Now!.

Live Happily, Ever After… Now! uses age old, time tested secrets (found in NLP, Law of Attraction, Positive Psychology, and Hypnosis) to teach you how to create the life you want! Ask yourself: Are you in control of what you think, act and feel? Are you living the life you want? Would you like to be happy and successful in everything you do? The key is learning how much control you have over your life, your beliefs and attitudes about yourself, others and the world you live in. Once you understand that you are in control (and you will), then you can use the 9 simple steps to begin living the life you want.

How to be Happy and Successful in Everything You Do! by Terry Drake

What do all successful and happy people have in common?

They believe in themselves and their ability to accomplish whatever they want. Not everyone shares this belief about themselves and the world they live in. Several people actually believe the exact opposite about themselves, even though they experience success and happiness, they are unable to fully enjoy it, because they don’t believe they deserve it or that it won’t last or that they got lucky. Your beliefs can prevent you from doing the things that you want and enjoying the things you want, yet even though they are this powerful, they are completely under your control.

Yes, you are in full control of what you believe about yourself and the world you live in! The problem is you don’t fully understand this or how your beliefs were developed, so you don’t challenge or replace them and live as if they were true. In order to be happy and successful in everything you do, you have to first believe it’s possible and to do that you need to understand more about your belief system.

Your Belief System

The most interesting fact about your belief systems are that they developed during your childhood. Before you even entered adolescence and adulthood, your fears, concerns, and thoughts about yourself and others were already formed. You developed these by your interactions with the adults and peers who were involved in your life.

An example of how an un-useful belief is formed is as follows: A three-year-old child wants attention from his father, so the child jumps on his father’s lap and interrupts him. The father’s response is, “Hey, what are you doing?” followed by “Not now I am busy. Go bother your mom!” The child of three then internalizes this experience and tells himself that he is not good enough for dad. Then between the ages of 3 and 6 this message is reinforced by the father and other adults. The message then becomes, I am not good enough and should keep quiet. The boy begins to believe this and live as if it were true, maybe forever, or until he learns differently. This, most likely, wasn’t the message that the father wanted to pass onto his son. However, you must remember it was a young child who was processing the information. The messages you received throughout childhood affected who you are today. These messages were interpreted by you to mean something and that meaning was solely based on the self, because early in life it was all about you; how you felt about a message, then how it related to you, and finally how you fit into the world because of the message. Whether the message had a positive intention or was an act by an unhealthy adult taking advantage of a child, the child’s perception was internalized, processed, and the message shaped how the child thought about himself and others.

Once you have your beliefs, they will shape the choices you make and the chances you take. These beliefs become quick messages that automatically play in your mind when you think about making changes or trying new things. When the messages are un-useful they result in your being unsuccessful and unhappy. So to summarize it up, you are currently limiting yourself, based on thinking that was developed as a child and reinforced by the same thinking, resulting in your current attitude about yourself and the world you live in.

The ease in changing this

Your beliefs and the way you approach life has become habitual. Think about it, most likely you approach your various day-to-day activities with an already pre-programmed belief and attitude. Take Monday’s for example, how many of you dread Monday’s? Why? Have you ever thought about it? What has Monday ever done to you? Nothing, it is just a word that is used to label a day of the week and is most often recognized as the start to a new work week, the same as Friday, except Friday is the label for the last day of the traditional work week and most of you view Friday’s in a much different manner.

You have full control over how you think and feel about Mondays, but you first have to realize this and once you do you can pay attention to the reason you feel that way. Once you understand the reason, then you can challenge and replace it, finally practicing your new found belief about Mondays and this will lead to a new attitude about Mondays. In order to break a habit, you have to become consciously aware of it, understand it and then replace the behavior and practice the changes until it becomes permanent. Healthy and positive beliefs plugged into any scenario will result in different results. Beliefs will affect your thinking, attitude, and actions determining how feedback is perceived. Most importantly is the simple fact that you have control over all of these aspects, especially your beliefs, once you understand them.

Live Happily, Ever After… Now! Helps you understand how much control you have over your beliefs and gives you simple, yet concrete methods to change them. The reason you can do this with ease, is that you already use the same methods to get your current results, you just don’t fully understand how the process works. Once you understand the whole process and how much control you have over it, then it is just a matter of implementing the changes and practicing them, which the book also teaches you how to do.



Terry M. Drake is a Licensed Social Worker, National Board Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, Certified Trainer of Ericksonian Hypnosis and NLP. He has spent the last 15 years learning about himself and others, through his academic studies resulting in his MSW and his professional studies, as a family therapist, clinical supervisor and vast training and research into hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, the law of attraction and positive psychology. Terry is currently a Director of mental and behavioral health programs and a Life Coach, Hypnotherapist in private practice. He is also ready to put his skills to use as an author, speaker, consultant and coach. Terry lives in Wellsboro, Pa with his wife and children. You can learn more about the power of your mind and how to be happy and successful in everything you do, by visiting www.livehappilyeverafter-now.com and buying his new book, Live Happily, Ever After… Now! 9 Simple Steps to create the life YOU want!

Dr. Ronald J. Frederick on Living Like You Mean It

I'm very excited to have Dr. Ronald J. Frederick as today's guest blogger. His book, Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want shares with you his proven four-step approach to overcoming fear and connecting more deeply with yourself and others.

Writers deal with self-doubt and fear often. Not only do we doubt our abilities, but we can be afraid of failing, afraid of succeeding, and afraid that no matter what we do it can't possibly be good enough.

With Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want you'll learn to:

* Break through old patterns and get unstuck,

* Open up to the energy and resources inside you and feel motivated,

* Get in touch with your personal truth and put an end to confusion and indecisiveness,

* Experience a profound sense of meaning, purpose, and belonging,

* Deepen and enrich your relationships and feel closer to those you love,

* Realize your true potential and experience greater fulfillment and happiness,

* ….and live your life like you mean it!

Today Dr. Frederick will discuss the power of fear and how it keeps us from achieving what we want.

The ability to live like you mean it hinges on being able to be emotionally present in our lives—really being there for the happy times and coming through the difficult times a much better person. It’s our feelings that make us feel alive and vital, energize us to meet and deal with life’s challenges, and point us in the best direction to get what we really want. Our feelings are what bridge the gap between ourselves and others, enliven our relationships, and help us feel close. Our personal identity—the core of who we are—is largely formed by what we feel and how we react. Our likes and dislikes, what makes us happy, what makes us sad, what excites us, what brings us pleasure, what annoys or frustrates us—all say so much about who we are. It’s in our feelings that we find our true authentic self.

Unfortunately, many of us are uncomfortable with our feelings. We have what I call a “feelings phobia.” We get close to our feelings, start to feel anxious, and avoid them. We do all these things to steer clear of our feelings—behaviours we’re not even aware we’re doing. When we avoid or deny our feelings, when we suppress them, we are in a way denying who we are, squelching our creativity and individuality, and sacrificing our true potential and power. It’s impossible to go the distance, to really live like you mean it, unless we can be fully present with our feelings.

But, as I discuss in my new book Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want, change is possible. We can loosen the grip of fear on our experience and unleash our inner wisdom and power. It all begins with opening our eyes and waking up to what’s going on inside of us. We need to find a way to put the brakes on, slow down, and tune in to our internal experience. In short, we need to develop what I call emotional mindfulness. Emotional mindfulness is about purposely paying attention to our physically felt emotional experience as it happens with the aim of helping us be more consciously aware of our feelings and, ultimately, more fully present with them.

How do you do this? You start by slowing down, going inward and just noticing. At any time you want to, stop and ask yourself, What am I feeling? and then tune in to what’s happening inside you right in that moment. Not what you think should be happening, not what you wish were happening, but what is happening. Consciously direct your attention to your felt experience. Watch and observe.

Each time you repeat this behaviour, each time you bring your focus back to your body sensations, you’re developing a new habit. You’re training your mind to be aware of and pay attention to your emotional experience. You’re opening up to a richer experience of yourself. You’re making room for your creative juices to flow. And, you’re beginning to transform your life.

To find out more about living like you mean it, please visit: www.livinglikeyoumeanit.com.

Ron Frederick is a licensed psychologist and life coach and author of the bestselling book Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want (Jossey-Bass, 2009). A long-time proponent of the power of therapy to transform lives, he co-founded the Center for Courageous Living which offers innovative therapy, coaching, and consulting.

Noted for his warmth, humor, and engaging presentation style, Dr. Ron travels throughout North America as a speaker and trainer, receiving consistent acclaim for his expertise and inviting teaching style. His work has been featured in the APA Monitor on Psychology, Clinical Psychiatry News: The Leading Independent Newspaper for the Psychiatrist, and Lavender Magazine. An invited contributor to several professional books, he has also been quoted on CNN.com.

Dr. Ron is a Senior Faculty Member of the Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Institute as well as the supervising psychologist of Abbott Northwestern Hospital’s Park House Day Treatment Program.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Dr. Ron now lives in Minneapolis, MN.

Two-Minute Book-Signing Pitch for The Flow of Time and Money by Lloyd Watts

Joining us today is businessman and author, Lloyd Watts. LLoyd's personal/business finance book, The Flow of Time and Money: How to create a full and prosperous life, is a groundbreaking new book that will help you master the relationship between your time and money. Using simple, proven techniques and easy-to-understand diagrams, Dr. Lloyd Watts shows you how to take control of your income, expenses and time commitments in order to achieve wealth and personal fulfillment.

You can find out more about Lloyd and The Flow of Time and Money by visiting www.flowoftimeandmoney.com.

I posed this question to Lloyd: I meet you at a book-signing and I give you maximum 2 minutes to sell me his book. What do you say?

Lloyd's Turn:

If you look at the problems in most people’s lives, you will see that they center around money, or more specifically, a lack of money. People work at jobs they don’t enjoy, making less money than they feel they are worth, without feeling fulfilled or creating a great future for themselves. And these financial problems often have direct effects in other parts of their lives – lack of confidence, staying in bad relationships because they can’t afford to split up, etc. For many people, these financial problems have been magnified with the current downturn in the economy.

The Flow of Time and Money shows you how to solve these problems, and create a life of wealth and fulfillment. It shows you how Time and Money really work – how we use them, spend them, waste them, and invest them. It shows you how to stop wasting your time and money, and how to invest your time and your money into things that grow and create real value. It gives you a roadmap to financial independence, with four stages (Youth/Education, Accumulating Capital, Small Deals, and Big Deals) so you know where you are on the path and what you can be doing now to advance safely to the next stage. And it shows you how to avoid the most common traps (Save and Spend, and Borrow and Spend) that can lead anyone into trouble.

The Flow of Time and Money is a quick read, with helpful diagrams to make it easy to understand how time and money really work, and how to build the life of your dreams. Buy this book, and put it into practice – and create the life of wealth and fulfillment you always wanted.


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Lloyd Watts is the Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of Audience, Inc., an award-winning technology business that he founded in 2000. Lloyd’s book, The Flow of Time and Money: How to create a full and prosperous life, is available at Amazon.com and at www.flowoftimeandmoney.com .

Let Lloyd Watts Help You Master The Flow of Time and Money

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Join author Lloyd Watts as he travels the blogosphere in April 2009 with Pump Up Your Book Promotion Public Relations on his first virtual book tour to discuss the simple, proven techniques found in his self-help/personal finance book, The Flow of Time and Money.

The Flow of Time and Money is a groundbreaking new book that will help you master the relationship between your time and money. Using simple, proven techniques and easy-to-understand diagrams, Dr. Lloyd Watts shows you how to take control of your income, expenses and time commitments in order to achieve wealth and personal fulfillment.

Praise for The Flow of Time and Money…

Lloyd Watts will help you make a plan to achieve financial independence and have a fulfilling life… this is a must read if you are interested in beating the rat race and want to have a fuller and more prosperous life. — Sidarta Tanu

Practical, concrete advice on taking control of your financial future. Don't miss out on this one! — Susan Minahan

Lloyd Watts was born in London, England. He earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, studying with Silicon Valley pioneer Carver Mead. In 2000, he founded Audience, Inc., a venture-capital funded startup that builds advanced noise reduction chips for cell-phones. Dr. Watts is the author of 5 patents and many technical papers. He is an accomplished photographer, painter, musician, former hang glider pilot, and proud father of two lovely daughters. He lives in Mountain View, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley.

You can find Dr. Watts online at http://flowoftimeandmoney.com/.

“Dr. Watts has written a timely book,” says Cheryl Malandrinos, Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book Promotion Public Relations. “I can see his book being helpful to many people.”

If you would like to follow Dr. Watts on his virtual book tour, visit the official Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tour site at http://virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/.

Dr. Watts’s virtual book tour is brought to you by Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours, a virtual book tour agency for authors who want quality service for an affordable price. More information can be found on their website at www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com.