Here is something Dale Carnegie forgot to mention when he wrote “How To Win Friends and Influence People.”  Write letters of compliment. 

There are people who give us their support and even do a little extra for us.  This might be the lady at the checkout in the supermarket, the postal carrier, the teacher, the neighbor, or the customer service representative.    Maybe it is the bank clerk who always brightens your day with a smile or it might be the store clerk who is always willing to answer your questions. 

Write a letter about this super person and make several copies.  One for his or her boss and one of him or her.

I love microwave popcorn, but don’t have a microwave. I ask the workers at the deli at my grocery store if they would pop it for me. Most of the workers there say no. It is not their job. But one woman always says yes. She is even glad to do it. I learned her name and wrote a letter of praise to her manager. I also sent her flowers. 

Too many people will say, it’s not my job and they don’t do any more than the minimum.  When someone gives a little extra, that person should be rewarded. 

Compliments are wonderful.  They will get you extra super service in the future.  Even the worker who just does the minimum may start going out of his way to please you, once he gets the compliment.

If enough of us wrote letters of praise, no one would have to ask for a letter of recommendation.  We would have all those letters saved.  They are more precious than love letters.

Here is another way to help the people who work to help you. Go to websites and praise your professionals.  College professors have ratemyprofessors.com and many other fields have similar sites. Even if you have been out of school for many years, go back and rate your best professors.  It is anonymous, but the professor who helped you so long ago will read your kind words and it will make his or her day. 

Our brains are very capable of handling difficult problems. We can memorize  information, process it and manipulate it in ways that some would think only a genius or a computer could do.

Often we do not perform better with our brains because we just do not know what they are capable of doing. We also pay more attention to limitations than we do to challenges.

One simple way of helping your brain and you perform better every day is just to send it and yourself kind messages.

Affirmations e are positive sayings that we  repeat like prayers in my mind.  Affirmations are said in the first person (I) and the present tense (now). For instance, here are some affirmations.  

I keep my weight at a healthy 125 pounds. 

I feel great about myself. I excel.   

Even if the affirmation does not seem true. Perhaps you weigh 495 pounds. Despite this, tell yourself that you are at your goal weight now.  Your subconscious will believe you and start to make your goal weight a reality. 

I have cured my insomnia with affirmations.  I just kept telling myself that I fall asleep easily and I wake up feeling refreshed.  It worked.

Sometimes I need an emotional pick up  and I need my self esteem boosted. Then  I  sing the lyrics to the “Mary Tyler Moor Show” with a few changes in the lyrics.  This is how I sing the words.  

I can turn the world on with a smile. 

I can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile.  

I am a great one and I know it.  

With each glance and every little movement,  I show it. 

These lyrics really help me get through the day.  Note that I changed them to first person and present tense.  That is very important. If you need help writing affirmations, please contact me. (elfaygo@comcast.net)  Also  let me know what affirmations work for you. 

Super Learning which has  helped  many people learn faster and easier, includes the use of affirmations and these will help you with training and retraining. The Super Learning  books and tapes ask that you repeat:

I think clearly and concentrate easily. Learning and remembering are easy for me. 

Go ahead and say it again and again.  Repetition is important. Say affirmations when you wake up in the morning, while exercising and while eating. Say them before you go to bed each night. 

Your assignment is to find some affirmations that work for you.  Write them down and repeat them over and over until they become reality.  When you have mastered on belief and made it a reality work on new affirmations.

They are the prayers, your subconscious answers.

 

There are lots of guides that will tell you what future fields will be hot. Don’t believe them.  Often they are wrong because managers tend to overestimate future needs. Schools want to attract students so they often exaggerate the demand for the professions they teach. Besides that,  no one can predict the future or the impact of technology. 

The best thing you can do is pick a field that you have a passion for working in.  People are spending more and more time on the job, so doesn’t it make sense that you should be doing something fun?

Surprisingly many of us don’t know where our passion lies.  Also our interests can change from decade to decade and even from year to year.  Here is some help.

What are your hobbies?  List them.

Name five things that you would do, if you had the next year to do whatever you wanted.  People are not made to sleep in the sun. Those  who do it are castaways without a choice, or they are on vacation. If you had unlimited time, you would stay busy. What would you do?  Rebuild cars? Walk dogs at the animal shelter?  Play guitar in a bar? No answer is too ridiculous. 

I  love swinging and daydreaming and I make my living being creative.  That means sometimes I walk to the park, sit on one of the swings and daydream for awhile.  It releases my creative energy and I walk home full of ideas. 

What did you like to do as a child?  Remember that swing I just told you about.  I had one as a child and I never grew out of it.

I also liked playing school. Today I teach.  I loved school writing assignments and guess what my master’s degree is in- English, writing tract.

Look for people who have unusual jobs.  John Keene bills himself as Sherlock Bones and he has made a career out of finding lost pets.  Others become food critics, ice cream tasters or video game testers.  

Check out newspapers and magazines for articles about people who are doing jobs that you think you might like, Clip the articles, Contact the people in these jobs if they live near you.

I found one article about a woman with a knack for decorating rooms. She lacked the credentials to become an interior decorator, so she started decorating garages.  She makes them look good enough for a home and garden magazine. 

Other individuals write mystery scripts for murder weekends, become disc jockeys, bridal consultants, mystery shoppers  or clowns.  People who love second-hand treasures might be able to earn a living on e-Bay or with a resale  shop. 

One man became a pizza farmer.  With just a small parcel of land, he planted  a slice of his property in  tomatoes, green peppers and onions. He raises chickens and pigs and shows them off to visitors.  The animals don’t even have to be killed.  He makes his money by charging visitors or a tour of the pizza farm.  

A woman gives business seminars in manners – no, not Miss Manners.  A 71 year old woman became a runway model. A woman who had no place to teach her exercise class arranged for sessions at a tavern.  An entrepreneur started a web site that recommends local restaurants, gives hours, menus and ratings. 

Just reading about people like that fills me with hope and with ideas.

Start thinking about your likes and your talents.  Put together a list of things you would like to do.