This post is my contribution to those of you who are committed to excellence by creating a new career or want to create breakthroughs in their current jobs. There is a conversation that has engulfed the nation lately of depression– a constant barrage of unwelcoming news related to recession, unemployment stats,and lack of opportunities. In my view, the media has had to play a major role in promoting this negative conversation in the name of journalistic creativity and political fear mongering.

I am of the opinion that it is entirely our choice whether we choose to engage and enroll in this kind of fearful and depressing conversations where our self-expression is suppressed. People out of fear of recession and media reported unemployment rate want to ride the downturn and hang on to their jobs, even though every being of their soul probably dislikes it. My recommendation is, it is never too late or too early to be brutally honest at what is it that you want to dedicate your life to, and take necessary steps towards that. You may end up with three different set of options if you are honest with yourself:

1. Excel at your current job
2. Quit and start a new career
3. Plan a strategic approach to a new career

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A few days ago, I had written a post on ‘The Measure of a Man’ and received an amazing response from many of you. Some of you loved it, while some felt compelled to disagree with it. And I am glad to say that my objective was reached, which was to stimulate a discussion and get the intellectual point of views to be presented.

Often times in life, we will encounter conflicting view points, and as long as we keep the honor code of ‘agreeing to disagree respectfully’ we will grant another human the greatest gift – which I believe is to listen without judgment. Take the case that sometimes, all people need is to be heard, to be loved, and to be gotten at the deepest levels.

Today’s post is dedicated to people I have had the privilege of learning from and having had the honor to see firsthand their ideals being put into action. Yes, it is my gratitude fix for today.

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Over the weekend, I took some time to reflect on my life’s achievements and what matters to me in my profession and the obstacles that were in my way to operate at peak performances consistently. Although I have had good clarity on my vision and goals, I wasn’t necessarily enthused with the rate at which they were being realized. Hence, the self-introspection and my hunger to learn new distinctions and grow by attending as many seminars and programs I can make time for.

The breakthroughs below will shed some light on your own blind spots and cause new possibilities for action in your own life:

• Knowing doesn’t make a difference:Yes, it is absolutely beneficial to be aware of possibilities and options that one has to improve on a given situation, but knowing doesn’t really cut it. A case in point: How many of us really know what it takes to lose
  weight? Eat less, work out more… and how is it going?

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It’s Monday, and Welcome to the world of meetings, status updates, project plans, priorities and financial reports. I know some of you are wondering the weekends
seem to be always so short especially if you live in San Diego with its sunny weather, golden beaches, breathtaking vistas and adventurous activities. I won’t promise to slow down time for you, but I will share with you effective ways to shave off years from achieving your goals

What you will get out of this post are breakthrough insights that will transform and double your personal productivity and with some of you might even improve it by a factor of 5? Before you read any further, I’d like for you to take a moment to imagine what would life look like if you raised your personal productivity to another level?

No seriously..imagine what would life look like?
What would be available? Perhaps more leisure time, freedom, family time etc..

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“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.”

~ Samuel Johnson

This post is dedicated to my fellow male species on this planet that could benefit from a tip or two when it comes to making a difference in the world. And thus living a life of fulfillment, without compromise and by relaxing into the truth of his very being, discovering his deepest vision, and giving his gifts to world and to his woman without holding anything back.

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Have you wondered if there was some way to determine the key factors which when controlled could guarantee you a lifetime of happiness?  Guess what, a brilliant study done by Harvard professors over a course of decades called Grant longitudinal studies with sample subjects have done exactly that.

The sample subjects included among many others two prominent senators, a famous journalist and a former US president (JFK if you are wondering). The Grant study concluded that the critical few factors that determine one’s state of happiness over a course of a lifetime are:

1. Emotional maturity: Ability to effectively relate to circumstances and social aptitude
2. Education
3. Moderate Exercise
4. A stable marriage – Relationship with spouse
5. Healthy Weight
6. Non smoking
7. Non abuse of alcohol

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Humans are creatures of habits. And studies have shown that it takes roughly 21 days to nurture a new habit or break a bad habit. One of the key observations of highly effective people who live extraordinary lives is that they were able to quickly incorporate successful habits and let go of the ones that wasn’t in their best long term interest.  The impact of successful habits is that it automatically contributes to small victories and which gains momentum over a period of time and that results in extraordinary living.

Below is my favorite list of highly successful habits. Although, this list is not comprehensive it definitely will get you started.

1. Meditation: Start your day with meditation and end it with meditation. Begin your meditation in a state of gratitude

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This particular post is specifically written in mind for the high achievers who set high goals and achieve them. Persistence is a critical component and an essential pillar for achieving anything worthwhile. However, what fuels persistence is self-discipline which plays a critical role in following through on a commitment made to others or to your own self.

The real challenge that I have noticed with my clients is the ability to bounce back with equal and renewed determination if they did not stick to something they had committed to. For instance, if you took on a goal of losing 20 lbs in6 months, and set a plan to workout everyday for 30 mins. And once you get the momentum going, the law of inertia says that you will continue this process due to positive reinforcement. However, the challenge is when there is an interruption to this process and you don’t keep the commitment or hit a roadblock, in other words when there is a breakdown. Then often times discouragement sets in and people tend to drop the project entirely.

This act of quitting and not seeing the project to fruition impacts one’s self-esteem in ways that are not easily comprehended. More so, the impact on the self-esteem permeates into other areas of life resulting in having a negative impact on the overall quality of life.

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We as human beings are creatures of habits. Recent studies have indicated that it takes roughly 21 days to adopt a new habit with constant repetition. Extraordinary individuals who are living life at optimum levels have worked on themselves to master habits that are useful and effective and eliminating those that are not serving them. Once you have these habits identified and have successfully optimized them, then you go into a cruise control state where things start becoming effortless, where before producing results would have been a struggle.

True masters at their game have two attributes that catches the eye:
1. They enjoy their art so much that it is difficult to conclude if they are at work or at play
2. They have an effortless ease about how they execute their art

A case in point is to watch Roger Federer play Tennis at Wimbledon or Tiger Woods on a Golf Course

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