Right Attitudes » Ideas for Impact
» by Nagesh Belludi

The essense of a warrior is to build an indomitable spirit
and an iron will; to believe you cannot fail in doing anything.
* Miyamoto Musashi

The problem is not that there are problems.
The problem is in expecting otherwise and
thinking that having problems is a problem.
* Theodore Rubin

Life is a pure flame, and
we live by an invisible sun within us.
* Thomas Browne

The more you think of yourself as shining immortal spirit,
the more eager you will be to be absolutely free of matter,
body, and senses. This is the intense desire to be free.
* Swami Vivekananda

The worst bankrupt is the man who has lost his enthusiasm.
Let a man lose everything in the world but
his enthusiasm and will come through again to success.
* H. W. Arnold

Leadership usually gravitates to person who can say what he thinks.
* Anonymous

If everything seems under control,
you’re just not going fast enough.
* Mario Gabriele Andretti

The place to improve the world is first
in one’s own heart and head and hands.
* Robert M. Pirsig

Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.
* Martin Farquhar Tupper

Carry on, no matter what happens.
Hide your sorrows under a smile and carry on.
* Anonymous

Visit www.Inspiration.RightAttitudes.com for my compilation of inspirational quotations by author and topic. You may also subscribe to the weekly newsletter of inspirational quotations by sending a blank email to iqml-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

*Keyword(s): Inspiration, Quotations

Contemplate thy powers, contemplate thy wants and thy
connections; so shalt thou discover the duties of life,
and be directed in all thy ways.
* Akhenaton

As the kindled fire consumes the fuel, so in the flame of
wisdom the embers of action are burnt to ashes.
* Bhagavadgita

If we are to progress we must go forwards,
not backwards. We can look backwards,
we can learn from backwards, but we must not go backwards.
* Unknown

If there is anything that a man can do well,
I say let him do it. Give him a chance.
* Abraham Lincoln

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.
* Cynthia Ozick

Enthusiasm is the leaping lightning, not to be measured by the horse-
power of the understanding.
* Ralph Waldo Emerson

We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed.
We came to rule; we are being ruled.
We came to work; we are being worked.
All the time, we find that.
And this comes into every detail of our life.
* Swami Vivekananda

Don’t carry a grudge. While you’re carrying the grudge the other guy’s out dancing.
* Buddy Hackett

A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
* Walter Bagehot

The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
* Flora Whittemore

Visit www.Inspiration.RightAttitudes.com for my compilation of inspirational quotations by author and topic. You may also subscribe to the weekly newsletter of inspirational quotations by sending a blank email to iqml-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

*Keyword(s): Inspiration, Quotations

I’ve learned one thing during my time on the soccer fields:
It’s amazing how fast you can run
And the things you can do when you have a goal in mind.
It applies to the rest of my life, too.
* Jeremy Monnin

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
* Napoleon Bonaparte

Nothing in life is more exciting and rewarding than
the sudden flash of insight that leaves you
a changed person not only changed, but for the better.
* Arthur Gordon

We come to love not by finding a perfect person,
but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.
* Sam Keen Christine

The price of the democratic way of life is
a growing appreciation of people’s differences,
not merely as tolerable, but as
the essence of a rich and rewarding human experience.
* Jerome Nathanson

The soul never thinks without a mental picture.
* Aristotle

I recommend you to take care of the minutes, for the hours will take
care of themselves.
* Lord Chesterfield

There’s no limit to what a man can achieve,
if he doesn’t care who gets the credit.
* J. Laing Burns, Jr.

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
* Edmund Hillary

One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous
breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.
* Bertrand Russell

Visit www.Inspiration.RightAttitudes.com for my compilation of inspirational quotations by author and topic. You may also subscribe to the weekly newsletter of inspirational quotations by sending a blank email to iqml-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

*Keyword(s): Inspiration, Quotations

Whatever the mind can conceive and believe,
the mind can achieve.
* Napoleon Hill

Freedom from the desire for an answer
is essential to the understanding of a problem.
* Jiddu Krishnamurti

Through zeal knowledge is gotten, through lack of zeal
knowledge is lost; let a man who knows this double path of
gain and loss thus place himself that knowledge may grow.
* Gouthama Buddha

Wealth consists not in having great possessions,
but in having few wants
* Epicurus

A good intention clothes itself with power.
* Ralph Waldo Emerson

To know a truth well,
one must have fought it out.
* Novalis

Many a man’s reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.
* Elbert Hubbard

Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,
These three alone lead life to sovereign power.
* Alfred Tennyson

What ought one to say then as each hardship comes?
I was practicing for this, I was training for this.
* Epictetus

The wise learn from the experience of others,
and the creative know how to make a crumb of experience go a long way.
* Eric Hoffer

Visit www.Inspiration.RightAttitudes.com for my compilation of inspirational quotations by author and topic. You may also subscribe to the weekly newsletter of inspirational quotations by sending a blank email to iqml-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

*Keyword(s): Inspiration, Quotations

“Walton Ten-Foot Rule”

Sam Walton, Wal-Mart’s iconic founder and perhaps the most successful entrepreneur of his generation, showed considerable charisma, ambition, and drive from a very young age.

Sam was a committed student leader when he attended the University of Missouri, Columbia. One of the secrets to his reputation at college was that he would greet and speak to everybody he came across on the campus. And, he would address them by their name if he knew them. In a short time, he set off to make many friends and became well-liked. Small wonder, then, that Sam triumphed in nearly all the student elections he contested.

When Wal-Mart became sizeable enough, Sam realized that Wal-Mart could not just yet offer its customers lower prices than the other retail giants could. As part of his customer service strategy, he institutionalized the very trait that had helped him become popular when he was a student. He insisted on the “Walton Ten-Foot Rule.” According to the rule, when Wal-Mart associates (as Wal-Mart calls its employees) came within ten feet of customers, they were to smile, make eye contact, greet the customer, and offer assistance. As Wal-Mart grew, Sam added greeters who would greet customers at the door (and control ’shrinkage’/shoplifting.) Even today, the Ten-Foot Rule continues to be part of the Wal-Mart culture.

Likeability — A Predictor to Success

Likeability is an important predictor to success in life. Some people seem naturally endowed with appealing personalities. They tend to complement their aptitudes by being personable and graceful, by presenting themselves well, and by possessing the social skills for every occasion. They tend to win others over effortlessly. At school and college, they are their teachers’ favorites and get chosen by their peers to represent their classes. They get invited to the right kind of parties and gatherings, and live the life of these parties. At work, they are persuasive; they get noticed and quickly climb the corporate ladder.

From my observations of the traits of the talented and successful, I offer you a few reminders to help you become more personable, develop rapport, and thus maximize your chance of success.

• Look people in their eyes. Smile. Greet them by their names.
• Listen. Speak with a pleasant tone of voice. Speak in a positive manner. Show respect. Indeed, even your adversaries have some admirable characteristics.
• Show genuine interest in others. Try to build a rapport by sharing something about yourself with them.
• Say “Please,” “Sorry,” and “Thank you.” Offer a kind word. Compliment them. Do not flatter.
• Consider the other’s perspectives and perceive his/her circumstances before disagreeing.
• Practice compassion. Make a sincere effort to help others.
• Do not overdo any of the above. Try your best. Do not please others at the expense of your own sanity — stay true to your values, principles, and happiness.

Recommended Reading

• What the deaf can teach us about listening
• How to overcome shyness in initiating conversations
• Keeping good eye contact
• Overcoming the temptation to please
• The power of genuine interest in others

***See other articles related to customer service, likeability, charisma, popularity, personality development, self-confidence, inter-personal relationships

A great part of life consists in contemplating what we cannot cure.
* Robert Louis Stevenson

The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.
* Theodore Roosevelt

It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
* J. K. Rowling

The way of devotion is not different from
the way of knowledge, or Jnana. When intelligence matures and
lodges securely in the mind it becomes wisdom. When wisdom is
integrated with life and becomes action it becomes Bhakti.
Knowledge when it becomes fully mature is Bhakti.
To believe that Jnana and Bhakti, knowledge and
devotion, are different from each other is ignorance.
* Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari

Great work requires great and persistent effort for a long time.
Character has to be established through a thousand stumbles.
* Swami Vivekananda

People are okay,
it is their behavior that’s a problem sometimes.
* Ken Blanchard

Time is really the only capital that any human being has,
and the only thing he can’t afford to lose.
* Thomas Alva Edison

I criticize by creation – not by finding fault.
* Cicero

The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people,
but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already.
* John Buchan

A person in danger should not try to escape at one stroke.
He should first calmly hold his own, then be satisfied
with small gains, which will come by creative adaptations.
* I Ching

Visit www.Inspiration.RightAttitudes.com for my compilation of inspirational quotations by author and topic. You may also subscribe to the weekly newsletter of inspirational quotations by sending a blank email to iqml-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

*Keyword(s): Inspiration, Quotations

The turn of the year brings about a plethora of advice on the ritual of New Year’s resolutions. Articles in magazines and websites and features in the media might interest most of us in pursuing this advice. However, change is rarely as effortless as we assume it will be. Only those of us who are committed and consistent enough to maintain our regimens do actually stick to our resolutions.

I would like to reiterate one particular aspect of healthy eating and dieting. Many discussions on New Year’s resolutions tend to overlook this important consequence.

Deprivation, Guilt and Indulgence

An all too common mistake that people commit when dieting, especially in the first few weeks, is that they tend to be overambitious and force themselves to do everything right from the get go. At once, they drive themselves to cut out everything unhealthy, take up green vegetables, flaxseeds, and other wholesome foods they hitherto resisted and exercise aggressively.

Alas, their optimism subsides quickly. They relax and begin to compromise on their goals. They make excuses, revert to their former habits, crave for their guilty pleasures, and tend to overindulge on impulse. They lose sight of their New Year’s resolutions. Consequently, they feel sorry for themselves, renounce their goals, and assume they could never embrace lasting change.

Here are three suggestions for dieting success.

• Cut back, do not cut out. Food is one of the basic pleasures of life. Cutting out some guilty pleasure does not mean depriving yourself of something you like. Treat yourself on occasion, but limit yourself to smaller servings. This will help you resist the urge to splurge.
• Target small, incremental goals that can lead you to lasting change. Realizing your New Year’s resolutions is part of your long-term commitments. Therefore, in goal setting, less can be adequate. Be realistic in what you can expect of yourself. Adjust your expectations and try not to overwhelm yourself. Pace yourself for success over the long term.
• Do not feel guilty if you fall off your plan. Guilt is counterproductive to health and well-being. Get over your lapses and simply begin pursuing your goals again. Ask yourself, “What can I do differently? How can I improve?”

Personal Story

Over the years, chocolate milk had become an obsession of mine, thanks to ads of chocolate drinks featuring my favorite cricket sportsmen in India and a seemingly limitless supply of milk and Hershey’s chocolate syrup at my dorm during graduate school.

One of my goals for year 2009 was to cut down on chocolate and chocolate milk. During the course of the year, I have to admit, I often caught myself overindulging in Hershey’s Miniatures chocolate bars and such from candy jars at work.

Recommended Reading

• How to work exercise into a busy day
• Health and fitness for the sedentary professional
• How to renewing physical energy
• How Mahatma Gandhi kicked the habit of eating a lot of sugar (A fable)
• Meal manners: pace yourself to others

***See other articles related to dieting, eating healthy, health and well-being, food habits, wellness, fitness, goals