Suicide Awareness – WHO gets involved

Help

One person takes their own life every 40 seconds, equating to 803,900 deaths across the world every year, according to the first World Health Organization report on suicide prevention released today. “Preventing Suicide: A Global Imperative” calls for co-ordinated action to reduce suicide worldwide.  Click here to read the full article.

This piece came as a surprise to me, but a welcomed one. Awareness is so critical to start making changes. We can no longer stand on the sidelines ignoring this growing epidemic.  803,000 deaths a year, really? Sure we hear about the celebrities like Robin Williams committing suicide but what about all the others?

I highly encourage you to go to the Stand for the Silent website and check them out. Be sure to click on the “Our Story” link and read some of them. It is simply heartbreaking but at the same time, we must take a stand for love, forgiveness, empathy, and acceptance.

We all can and do make a difference in the world. Awareness is one of the keys but action is what sets things in motion. Take a stand. Stand for the silent. Please.

With gratitude and peace,
Bill

Time to send Fear Packin’!

I found this great quote the other day and put it in an image. I thought it was powerful so I thought I would share.
Enjoy!
With peace and gratitude,
Bill

Fear Emerson

5 Tips for Setting Goals That Stick

I am very big on setting personal goals for both my professional and personal life. I believe they are a way to help me stay focused on the job at hand. Slowly, day-by-day, I inch toward my goals. No matter how slowly they are being achieved, I know that each day I am moving one step closer to a celebration.

It’s easy to set goals but making them stick is quite another. Sure, you can write down five goals you want in your life right now and that would be good. That is the first step. However, we need to find a way to keep us engaged so that we follow through to achieve them.

Here are 5 Tips for Setting Goals that may help you set and achieve them.
1) Create goals in 3 areas of your life – Personal, School/Work, & Giving. Identify at least 3 goals for each one of these. For personal goals, write down goals that would make you FEEL great. For School/Work goals, write down 3 goals that focus on helping you grow in knowledge. For the Giving goals, identify 3 goals that you could attain for helping others. This one is key because I believe it guides the other two.
2) Rank Your Goals – From the list of the goals, rank them 1-9 making sure that there is at least one goal from each of the 3 categories in the top 5.
3) Identify tasks for your top 3 goals – Rather than try to figure out each task for each goal, write down 3 action tasks for the top 3 goals. This helps you focus on the 3 goals at a time.
4) Schedule your tasks – Now that you have the top 3 goals and tasks for each one, on your calendar, schedule 3 tasks to be started on this week.  Then, each week, schedule the next 3 tasks for that week. As you start on your goals to accomplish them, you will notice new things come up all the time. All you have to do is keep adding tasks as you think of them. Continue reflecting on these goals and the actions needed to accomplish them until you succeed in completing them.
5) Celebrate the Achievement – Once you have accomplished your first goal, schedule a celebration. I don’t mean just throw your hand in the air type celebration. Find several people to go out and have a formal celebration. You will find that when you do this, others will be so excited for you that they may even help you with the next goal.

Each time you achieve a goal, be sure to find the next one on the list and start the process over again with #3-5 above. It is important to have 3 goals on your list that you are actively working on. Also, be sure to replenish the goals after you achieve them. Always keep 3 goals in each of the 3 categories. So for example, when you accomplish a personal goal, repeat #1 above by identifying one more goal in that area. You will then go to #2 to re-rank them and then keep repeating.

It doesn’t have to be hard to create goals that stick and make you want to accomplish them. You have to start somewhere but organizing them into 3 categories, picking the top 3, identifying 3 tasks for each one and scheduling smaller chunks will be just the ticket you need to succeed. This builds momentum and as you build more and more momentum, you are certain to achieve success you never thought was even possible.

If you have any questions about setting goals, please comment or send me a message through the website or social media.

With peace and much gratitude,
Bill

Just Don’t Quit

I wanted to take a few minutes to expand upon why I chose today’s Walt Disney’s quote for Daily Positive Points. I realize that a lot of people struggle when they go off on a new quest and end up giving up. That is why today’s quote is so special to me. Here’s the quote again: “The difference in winning and losing is most often… not quitting.”

It was one year ago that I was about ready to call it quits and shut down my work with the site and Daily Positive Points. I had tried unsuccessfully to launch my book, STINKIN’ THINKIN’ STINKS on three previous occasions. It was as if I was pushing a rope trying to get it ready to launch. I felt I was doing all the right things, practicing all the right mental techniques and staying focused on my goals but it wasn’t working.

I woke up and was in a lousy mood. Something happened with my Daily Positive Points email where I believe I had a few un-subscribers. I logged into the database to see there wasn’t a whole lot of positive movement with the list size for the previous 3-4 months. It was also time to start on the next month’s Daily Positive Points messages and I started asking a few very self-defeating questions. They were, “Why am I even doing this?”; “Why can’t I catch a break?”; and “Why me? I’ve given up so much to help others and now this?”

Yea, I know, pity party for sure. Those kinds of questions and thought patterns will get you nowhere and nowhere fast! I then realized that those questions will result in nothing. Asking lousy questions returns lousy answer. I changed my thoughts and I then asked, “What message am I missing?”

The next day I got the answer. I realized what I was missing. It was fear. Yep, my old lost buddy, fear. I was afraid that I would fail in my book launch dooming me to mediocrity. If any of you know me at all, you know that I do not take defeat very well. Whether it was in sports or business. I have always excelled at both but somehow doubt had crept in and was fogging up my mind. Having awareness and accepting that I wasn’t quitting based upon a fear, I then asked, “How may I serve?” and “What can I do to help reach a bigger audience?”

And then, out of nowhere, Tony Robbins retweeted one of my tweets that day! Really? Within an hour, I had picked up about 100 new followers. I got close to 500 retweets and over 300 favorites. This small thing helped me realize that things can change in a single instant. About a few weeks later, Tony retweeted another one of my tweets and I got similar results.

I am now not only a bestselling author, but an international bestselling author. I maintained #1 rankings in 5 categories on Amazon and went all the way to #317 on Barnes and Nobel’s overall book ranking! Just think what would have happened if I quit?

This was a great reminder to never give up. You may need to change strategies but never give up. Ask better questions and you will get better answers.

With gratitude,
Bill

 

Here was today’s Daily Positive Points for reference:

Today’s Message

Sometimes when everything seems to be falling apart, just sticking with it a little longer is the perfect solution. That goal that seems out of reach right now will be tomorrow’s headlines if you just hang in there.

Today’s Quote
“The difference in winning and losing is most often… not quitting.” ~ Walt Disney

ICICIW – The New Mindset

bonus4Last summer after baseball season was over, I was helping my awesome nephew with his baseball skills.  I am a firm believer that baseball, or any sport for that matter, requires as much mental preparation as does physical preparation.  As a result, I created a book for him to write down quotes, set goals, etc.  One of the things I developed during my work with him was “ICICIW” approach to accomplishing tough goals.

It goes something like this when faced with a monumental goal:

  1. First you think, “I can’t.” – (IC)
  2. You then must change that thinking to “I Can.” (IC)  Obviously having an “I Can” attitude is a ton better than “I Can’t” but stating and believing that way is still in future tense.
  3. To accomplish that tough goal, you take the next step, “I WILL.”  (IW)

Isn’t it true that our first thought is that we can’t do something.  Then we start working on it and when things start going well, we think we can do it.  However, taking the leap from “I Can’t” to “I Will” is pretty far to take for most people.  Affirming that “I Will” can actually have a negative impact on meeting your goals when you do not BELIEVE it.

It’s simple to accomplish that goal, (being a starter on the basketball team, making the volleyball team, or being a starting pitcher for the baseball/softball team), start with “I Can” and affirm it until you BELIEVE it.  Then change your affirmations to “I WILL” as soon as you feel a shift that it can be accomplished.

With peace and gratitude,
Bill

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Fight Negative Thinking With Humor

I recently was asked to be a guest blogger for the Fairy God Blogger and was happy to do so.  She is incredible and I was honored to be asked to participate.  Below is the first part of my post and then you can click over to her site to read the full blog!

Guest Blog:

Bill King
writer, parent, stink expert

How do you engage kids and their parents with your book?
Humor.  Next question?  Seriously, I have discovered that kids, and most of us for that matter, tend to be more engaged when the topic is relevant and provides a bit of humor.

Let’s get real, we all suffer from negative thinking, and there’s nothing that can be done to eliminate it completely.  Humor and relevancy are the keys to keeping a book in hands versus garbage cans.  Keeping kids engaged isn’t an easy task when writing non-fiction, that’s for sure. However, when done properly, it can actually be quite transformational for both child and parent.

Click here to checkout the full blog post and a bit of wisdom from the Fairy God Blogger.

With gratitude,
Bill

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STINKIN’ Cool Book Review!

stinkin-thinkin-stinks-bookI have seen a number of book reviews on my latest book, STINKIN’ THINKIN’ STINKS, and have been amazed with the incredible information provided.  I saw this one yesterday and it literally blew me away.  A-MAZ-ING!  It included pictures of her kids reading the book but more importantly how they are using this book.  I wrote the book to provide tips and tools while acting as a resource for parents to work with their kids.  This review absolutely nails that so I thought I would share it with you.  Click here to read this incredible, awesome review by Barb Webb!  Thank you Barb!  You certainly don’t STINK!

With peace and gratitude,
Bill

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What if Negative Thoughts Really STINK?

upset_faceI was working out at the club this morning and while taking a shower, a unbelievable smell filtered into my nice peaceful shower.  And let me tell you, it STUNK!  I was literally gasping for air.  Someone must have taken their shoes off and boy, they must have had them on for days without taking them off.  That was a serious case of STENCH!

It got me to thinking.  What if thoughts really had a smell to them?  How would people react in our presence?  Would we even leave the house?  Just imagine where you are right now and if you knew thoughts smelled.  They could smell SA-WEET or quite badly if you had lots of negative ones.  What would you smell like?  Kind of makes you wonder, huh?  Well, look no further my friend.  You can find out right now if your thoughts are stinky and more importantly, what to do about them.  Click here to determine your current state of thoughts and whether or not they would SMELL.

What do your thoughts SMELL like?  Come back here and post your score and what they smell like.  Or, if they STINK too badly, email me at bill@positract.com so we can help you get your STINK out!

happy_face1Peace and gratitude,
Bill

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Napoleon Hill – 2 Envelopes

I found a Napoleon Hill YouTube video last week when I was searching for Friday’s Daily Positive Points video.  In one of the 7 minute videos he produced there was a reference to a Andrew Carnegie lecture where he discussed 2 envelopes.  These two envelopes are made available to us at birth and we get to choose one of them.  The two envelopes are basically positive things and emotions versus negative outcomes.  What a great way to describe how we choose to determine our destiny and that destinies don’t just choose us.   Some of us may not be aware of our choices but this is a great reminder that somewhere, somehow we are choosing what to live.  You can watch the 7 minute video by clicking here.

The problem is that these techniques require discipline and most of us are too caught up in the daily living to dedicate what is necessary to be successful.  If we can get to a place where we love what we do, what we do will love us back in the form of happiness, abundance, prosperity, joy, and love.  Boy, that sure beats the other options, doesn’t it?

The key is to start now.  Watch that short video and practice what he states.  Before very long at all you will start having “coincidences” show up regularly in your life.  Go ahead, try it now and start living the live you were meant to live.

With gratitude and peace,
Bill

P.S. Or I could end using Napoleon Hill’s gratitude: “I ask not, oh Divine Providence, for more riches but more wisdom with which to accept and use wisely the riches I received at birth in the form of the power to control and direct my mind to whatever ends I desire.”