300

    Well today hits a few goals for a lot of people.  It is the end of 2019.  That means the end of a decade.  Many people will begin to “consider” what types of changes they will be making for 2020.  Many businesses will also be doing the same.  There may be several who have the sentiments that were expressed by Charles Dickens in the book, A Tale of Two Cities:  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”  

     But I have a bit of a different reason.  As I am making the last post of this year (and decade) it just occurred to me that this is my 300^th post since I began this blog site!  I’ve talked about a lot of different business subjects and many other posts on a more personal note.  I’ve had some high points and some that were probably a bit silly to some folks.  But throughout these few years of posting there is one thing I don’t think I have spoken about directly:  That being how thankful I am that I have been able to write!

     There can be no greater joy in life than to be able to do the things we really enjoy.  This is regardless of whether we are getting paid to do it or not.  And I find that being able to put thoughts into words and apply them to the “page” is truly enjoyable.  This can be done if I am in my home office or on the road or visiting a distant location.  The words can flow no matter where you may be located or whatever you may be doing otherwise!

     Now with 300 blog posts behind me I feel that I have been able to share some very powerful thoughts.  But one that I never want to forget to help people see is regardless of how hard we try in any endeavor of our lives, we are still only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEMS

"Mama used to say: 'If you have nothing good to say,

then don't say anything at all.'

I think more people should listen to Mama!"

Banner Advertising

    For years now, internet banner advertising has captured the World Wide Web for it has become a large help in saving a huge amount of money for many individuals while reaching beyond territories of most businesses.  Banner advertising played a major part in market trafficking all over the internet and many individuals and companies have bought themselves these cheap internet banner advertising. Some made use of it financially; others have no idea on what to do with it.

     With your cheap internet banner advertisement, would you just sit in front of your computer and wait for people to notice you? Would you let your company get trampled by other company’s marketing strategies?  Which strategy do you think would be the best for you to pursue?

     Okay, so you admit you bought internet banner advertising, but does that mean you won’t do anything about it because it costs cheap?  In the larger scheme of things isn’t that WHY you purchased the banner advertising in the first place:  To avail yourself of its lower costs?

     The following steps will help you get up on your feet and make your cheap internet banner advertising priceless. With these simple instructions, you will always have traffic on your website.

     First, to be able to capture the attention of your target audience, your title and topic should be thought through with great concern.  You have to make the people believe that your cheap internet banner advertising is worthy of their time. The advertisement has to meet the audience’s expectations and their needs.

     For the people to pay attention to your internet banner advertising, you should be able to raise their curiosity and convince them you have something that they need.  You should be able to deliver your products or services with strong words that should lead the target audience at deciding to make a purchase.

     You should be able to construct words on your advertisements that could lead the target audience that you are directly talking to them to give a sense of familiarity with your products or services.

     As you persuade the people by calling for them and directing them to buy or anticipate your services, they give importance to your business proposal.  Your cheap internet-based banner advertising will become one of the sought for ads there are.

     Make sure to present your ads to the global community repeatedly to get them familiar with you and your services.   Keep your message before them as often as possible.

     Always remember that having a website doesn’t mean it can sell products/services by itself.  You must be sure to accompany it with marketing strategies. By buying banner advertising, you or your company would save time and money while achieving market sales.  These internet banners advertising may come cheap, but it could lead you or your company to riches. 

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Sometimes you will get more attention by whispering

instead of shouting!"

Giving

    This is the time when many people exclaim that it is the “season for giving!”  However, it seems more likely that they are concerned about what they will be GETTING.  Many people will spend the entire year in hopes of finding that ideal gift for that SPECIAL person.  And others will wait until the very last minute to see if they are able to get a great discount on the item(s) they want to purchase.

     Unfortunately which ever category you find yourself in you’ll probably be like many people and spend the entire following year trying to get the purchases paid off so you can repeat the cycle all over again.  Along with this vicious cycle of buy – spend – pay --- then buy again comes the headaches of all that is involved and the regrets when your purchase does not bring the anticipated response that you were expecting.

     In reality more people should be, not so concerned with a “season for giving” but become involved with “a time of forgiving!”  

     Some people will almost become involved in what we used to call in my day, a knockdown, drag out fight, to make sure they are in stores at a certain time to be the FIRST to take advantage of the marked down prices.  They don’t care if they actually injure someone in the process.  They are only concerned with their own advantage in the purchasing process.

     We wouldn’t have to look far:  Within the nations of the world, within the countries, within the states or providences, within the cities, or even within our own families, to be able to find situations which will call for a forgiving attitude.  However, we may want to think within ourselves that we have the “spirit of the season” when in actuality we have the spirit of this world!

     This is a spirit which drives us to be competitive, to be aggressive, and to take advantage of every possible circumstance where we can see ourselves coming out on top of the situation.  Sadly this is becoming even more prolific in children and not only adults.  This only goes to show us to be the selfish, self-centered individuals that we truly are, but then again we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Forgiveness helps heal a tormented heart."

Inexpensive Marketing Tools

    To be successful with your online business you need good and effective marketing tools.  Who doesn't want inexpensive internet marketing tools?  In this day and age when advertising your business online is the way to go, it's a must that you avail yourself of internet marketing tools at the lowest cost possible.  How can you avail yourself of what is available?  How can you make the most out of these low cost internet marketing tools to make your business venture a success?

     These low cost internet marketing tools aim to better your website and promote them thoroughly. Read on to know more about a few of them:

1. Software

     There is software that specializes in internet marketing. These programs are affordable internet marketing tools.  They attract traffic, communicate your site to anyone online, harness and trim down your keywords, track your site visitors and create links to other sites among other things.  Of course, the phrase "low cost" emphasizes that you must not spend exorbitantly. Watch out for internet marketing tools that do nothing but suck your budget dry.

2. Website packages

     Take note of low cost internet marketing tools that do the following: hosting and designing your site, getting your domain, offering technical help, configure and upload your files, or campaigning for your traffic. These are available in website packages that you can access practically anytime.  Choose a package which caters to your site's needs.

3. Mailing lists

     Notice that when you visit the Bulk Mail folder of your email, you read nothing but website promotions. That's email marketing? It boosts your business like no other. Don't overly worry about spamming. There's such a thing as "safe lists" that make your mails spam-free. This is so easy to obtain. Look for mailing lists for sale and let the fun of emailing begin.

4. Data Submitters

     This is a money-saving internet marketing tool that works like magic. Have a data submitter of your own and amass tremendously huge hits!

5. E-books

     Integrate an e-book in your site for people to download (at no cost of course). At such a cheap price, you keep people clamoring for more and visiting your site in the process. That's one affordable internet marketing tool for you to take advantage of often.

6. SEO tools

     Internet marketing is not complete without the standard SEO tools. Search engines remain as the major powerhouse in marketing so never leave this part out. Generate traffic through this effective low cost internet marketing tool!

     Here's a reminder: When you see the low cost internet marketing tool banners online, never get persuaded easily. Study the package deals; analyze the contents and benefits before deciding if you want one.  Doing this can help assure you of not making a mistake about your “inexpensive” marketing tools.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Successful marketing is achieved by one contact at a time."

Wonderfully Made

     Think for a moment about your own body.  It is truly marvelous how the different parts function to make the whole the being you are.  From that tiny fertilized egg becomes the human that you are at birth.

     You have your fingers and toes.  It seems that every parent wants to know the count when the baby is born.  Your hair color and eye color are already determined by the combination of your parent’s genes.  The color of your skin, the makeup of your organs, and all the other parts that produce the person you are at birth.

     It is truly amazing how all these parts are “written down” in your DNA code from the moment of your conception.  Each human baby is a marvel of the ability of parents to procreate our species.

     As we grow we begin to learn (hopefully taught by our parents) the difference between right and wrong.  We grow into the creature that has compassion and love for others.  Becoming the man or woman who will continue to affect the lives of themselves and others for the better.  

     We can thereby understand better the scripture stating in Ecclesiastes 7:1 that” the day of one’s death is better than the day of birth.”  Until you have lived all your days who knows what you are going to become or might accomplish?  What type of person are you going to be?  However, on the day of your death, people can look back over your life course and see:  THIS is the person we have now lost.  Look at all that was done during his/her life!

     All these marvelous possibilities lie before us at our birth.  Within us are all the abilities and characteristics to develop so that we can make a meaning contribution to the human society during the many days of our life.  What we do with those possibilities and the choices we make during the days of our living will determining the person that others speak about at our death.

     We are truly wonderfully made!  Let each of us look to future days with the conviction that what we do with OUR life will be beneficial to, not only us, but to all we may come into contact with!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Children are a gift from God.

Take care of them wisely!"

Low Cost Promotion

     Anybody could own a web site. Anybody could up sell their own products and services to their target audience. Anyone could try to promote their web site with a low cost promotion program. But there are not many web sites that have a truly successful web site with traffic all the day through. What these individuals or companies lack is the most essential factor of success – a low cost web site promotion that really works.

     If you have been trying to promote your own web site and you have received traffic every hour, my hands are down for you, and you probably don’t need to read this blog any further.  But, for those people who need assistance, who do not have the patience to promote their own product and services, and/or  lack the knowledge to properly advertise themselves, here are some guidelines to help you achieve success with a low cost web site promotion.

     Search Engine Submission and Ranking are the two basic parts to a low cost web site promotion. Both of the parts have the same effect on the market of the web site – for your products and services presented in your web site catches the people’s attention and that’s what you’re ultimately after anyway.

     The first inexpensive method of web site promotion is the search engine submission. This first part is the act of filing information and submitting your web site to search engines. There are two types of Search engine submission – manual and automatic. For a low cost and effective web site promotion, automatic submission is ideal because after filling up the information, a software program would forward this information to other search engines.  Besides most of us are just plain too lazy to do all this work manually.

     The second money-saving web site promotion is ranking.  This refers to the numerical position in which your web site appears on a search engine, based upon the web site’s criteria. Some search engines rank the order in which your search results appear primarily by how many other web sites link to each page. The leading web sites on this order would eventually fulfill a low cost web site promotion.

     Other types of inexpensive web site promotion you could use to boost up traffic on your web site are banner advertising, classified ads, text links and section sponsorship. Banner advertisements pop up above and below web pages, and sometimes in another window. Text links and section sponsorship may cost more, but these methods helps in promoting to your specified target audience. It wouldn’t harm your web site to try all these methods.

     Always remember that the effects of your not so costly web site promotion hits are increasing significantly each day.  Don’t waste time; find an effective and affordable web site promotion of your choice today.  Plan your work and then work your plan.  With patience you will have success!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"No one sees what they don't know about."

“Kobayashi Maru”

     Have you ever found yourself in a situation where it seems no matter what you do they are going to be some unpleasant consequences?  It might be that you have the possible choice of three different “solutions.”  However, whichever one you choose the outcome is not going to be appreciated by everyone involved?  If you choose solution “A”, then those wanting “B” or “C” are going to be extremely upset.  The same is going to happen to the others if you choose “B” or if you choose “C”.

     So WHAT do you do?  In the old Star Trek serious, I’m talking about the original TV series; Captain Kirk had established himself as the only Star Fleet Captain who had defeated the training scenario known as the “Kobayashi Maru.”  This Starfleet Academy training exercise for cadets had the goal to rescue the civilian vessel Kobayashi Maru in a simulated battle with the Klingons.  It was, however, designed to be a no-win situation to test one’s character or a solution that involves redefining the problem and managing an insurmountable scenario gracefully.

     The point being, regardless of what was done the final solution was not going to a pleasant one.  There are times when we seem to face very similar “tests” within our lives and we must make the decision that we feel is going to provide the greatest benefit with the least amount of problem.  It always seems that in the end “someone” is going to be hurt or, at least, not going to gain any benefit from our decision.

     This may be a matter as simple as making the determination of where to go on the family summer vacation.  Some want to go to the mountains, some want to go the beach, some want to visit relatives, and then there are those who simply want to get away from everything and just relax with no “strings attached” to the venture!  How do you please everyone?  The solution is YOU DON’T!  Now you have to make the tough decision.

     On the reverse side, it may be a necessary decision that will affect the current lives of many people and perhaps change or at least alter their future lives in ways that you can’t presently even imagine.  This may take greater thought.  It may take a longer decision period.  It may involve consulting with several different individuals prior to making the final decision.  However, in the end, not everyone is going to be happy with the outcome.  Unfortunately, we may sooner or later have to face our own “Kobayashi Maru,” our own no-win situation!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"A challenge will never get accomplished

if you never get started."

Let's Talk Goals!

     I think it is something we all have to take into consideration, but at times are not really sure on how we should do it.  But we all do in some fashion or another.  That is the setting of goals.  Setting goals in our lives, our businesses, or any other area that affects our getting things accomplished is a good thing to do.  However, do you ever feel like you’re spinning in circles with too many goals? Are most of them conflicting? The good news is, you’re not the only one who feels that way. It's very common with many people, and you can help solve the problem.

    Here are a few things you can do if you’re overwhelmed with goals.

1.      Look for overlaps.  Sometimes there is a natural and logical relationship between goals. Suppose you want to get healthier and to have more leisure time.  Making time out for active leisure like tennis or running will accomplish both goals at once. 

     Sometimes two goals seem to be in direct opposition to each other, like wanting to travel and having more time at home.  If you find that this is your case, write out both goals and next to each of them write out why you want to do each of them. You might find that what you want is to be away from work.  In this case, your real goal might be to change careers. Or, you might discover that you can satisfy your desire for travel with a short vacation or a long drive with the family.  Get to the essence of the goal, and you’ll find they’ll work themselves out.

2.      Make the time.  We tell ourselves there are "only so many hours in a day," and that we're "too busy" to take on anything else right now. Your time is precisely that – yours.  What you do with it is totally up to you.

     Instead of saying “I don’t have time to learn a language,” try saying, “I’m not making time to learn a new language.” We find the time for the things that matter.  It’s true:  If we WANT to do something we will have the time to do it!

3.      Be flexible.  It’s a good thing to put a timeline together and have definite dates and time-sensitive goals. But remember that life happens, and often it even gets in the way.  There is an ancient Greek saying that goes: “If you want to make the gods laugh, tell them your plans.”  Having milestones and plotting points along the timeline is good, but don’t hold yourself to it so rigidly that you cannot adapt to the occasional curveball.  Remember, you want to get your goals now in writing, but don’t put them into cement!

     If it feels to you like you have too many goals or if the ones you do have are fighting each other, then find the essence of each one.  That will help you determine what’s most important to you right now.  Then work on one goal at a time.  By concentrating on which one means the most to you right now, you’ll put those goals into perspective, until they don’t seem like so much anymore.

     With whatever you do, make sure you are in control of your goals and your life and don’t let them prevent you from enjoying yourself on your way to their conclusion.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"You'll never know where you are going without direction.

You'll never know when you get there without goals."

Organization

     The act or process of organizing or of being organized.  Or the condition or manner of being organized.  These are the definitions given for organization by Merriam-Webster.

     I am sitting at my desk thinking how differently people view this word and how it might apply within their lives.

     Some people might be like me.  I consider myself to be an unorthodox, chaotic, disarrayed type of organized person.  That is:  I have things that would appear to others to be in a “messy” state on my desk, my bookshelves, and other areas within my office.  However, I know where everything is and where to find it when it is needed.  If someone came in and “cleaned up” my work area to appear neater and “more” organized I’d probably in a panic!

     There are others that MUST HAVE things very neat and tidy or they feel that they are not organized.  If you visit them you may receive a surprise when you leave a pen on the table and they almost immediately pick it up and place in their pen holder.  You might think “I was going to use that pen again.  Now, I’ll have to find it in that pen holder instead of merely reaching on the desk where I left it!”  But to them that pen has a place where it must be located and where you left it on the desk WAS NOT the proper place.

    I’m not trying to say that one situation is better than the other, only different.  Each person would have to find what works for them and make sure they can handle whatever it is.  We are strange and funny creatures.  One might appear as unacceptable to some would be the ONLY way to do things to others.  At times we might even have serious debates or ARGUMENTS over these things:  Things that matter very little in the larger scheme of things.  But, then again, we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Organize your time

and you will organize your life."

FREE Site Promotion

  Is ANYTHING really FREE in this time in which we live?  Can you ever avail yourself and/or your business of free website promotion?  Is that even feasible?

     YES, of course it is! Nowadays, your baby website can amass huge traffic in no time thanks to free website promotion.  But there are a few questions that you will need to have answered:

     How does this free website promotion go anyway? What are the things that must be done?

           1.      List your website.

     Look for the hottest Internet directories and then list your site there. This is the easiest and most effective free website promotion tactic. Start with this step and the rest of the good things will follow.  How do you find these directories?  You must use your brains a little bit here people.  You just do a “google” search for “internet directories.”  You can’t make it much simpler than that!

     Just don't forget to prep your website and make it all spruced up for a higher chance to get accepted in your directory of choice.

     2. Know your forums.

     One reason why forums are created is for free website promotion for everyone. Log in, post actively, let them know about your site in every post and you attract instant visitors right there.  You will need to use a little caution here.  No forum wants to become the “want ads” of the internet.  So don’t blatantly advertise your business site, but provide informative posts to the forum and become “the” contact for your niche.

     3. Write a press release.

     Release your writing prowess and start up a press release that advertises your site! This is a free website promotion tactic that you can do anytime. Type a brief paragraph or two and email it to your friends, colleagues, internet e-zines, newspapers and other media and massive traffic will come to you pronto!

     4. Be friendly online.

      Free website promotion means you need to be friendly to other webmasters. Why, you ask? So they can link to you immediately! Establish contacts and never tire of link requests and exchanges.  You must learn to reciprocate to others on the web so they will want to promote you!

     5. Write an article.

     Say, your website is about your travel agency. Write an article about the perks of traveling or the hottest travel spots in the world. On the concluding paragraph, mention your website in passing. This article works as an advertorial and doubles as a free website promotion approach.  You may be completely surprised at the amount of traffic you can receive once you let the cyber-space world know that you are there also!

     6. That’s right:  Just let the world know about your site.

     What is free website promotion without the word of mouth? Insert your website, its URL and features in daily conversations and let the good news spread from one mouth to another!  Make certain that your site has THE information that others would like to read and share with their friends.

     7. Make a banner ad.

     Make a banner ad for your site and ask another webmaster to do the same for his site. Then swap!  You might find that you enjoy doing this project.  There are plenty of available sites that can help you with this issue.  Just do your “google” search and get started.

     8. Take up a free website promotion course online.

     Yes, there are free website promotion tutorials. But don't you know that you can actually take a free website promotion course that can help you out further? Part of the free website promotion program is signing up for newsletters.

     When you make a website, you need not pay anything to promote it. NOBODY will have a greater interest in promoting your site than YOU!  And you can get it all started for NOTHING!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Business without promotion is like a 

childhood imaginary friend - - - 

It doesn't exist!"

Appointments

     Normally an appointment is designed to meeting someone at a specific time and/or location or to get something done by a specific time or date.  This is usually how we view our obligations when we make appointments for ourselves or for others.

     You might want to feel that your time and efforts are just as important as the next person.  But that is not how we always perceive the time of others.  It seems to me however that our general appointments actually fall into two different categories:  One that actually means a specific time and/or date and two, one that means “about” such and such of time on a certain date.

     What do I mean by this statement?  Let’s take a moment and consider some situations that would fall into the first one.

     If you purchase a train, bus, or plane ticket, you know that the departure time stated on your ticket IS your time of departure.  Just image if people decided my plane is leaving at 12 noon, but I can show up about 12:10 or 12:20 and it will be fine!  I don’t think so.  That plane will be GONE!  My wife and I were traveling on one of our trips to Hawaii several years ago.  Our flight out of Dallas was DELAYED TWO HOURS because of a computer glitch.  The flight staff at the counter informed us and the other dozen or so people who had a connection in Los Angeles that LA was holding our connection and that it would be there when we arrived.  After we got to Los Angeles our connecting flight had left on schedule TWO hours earlier and we had a L-O-N-G delay in Los Angeles!  Why does that not surprise me?  You probably have your own stories about such times when you had a specific appointment and the timing was very crucial! 

     Now let’s look at the other situation:  Where people feel that an appointment means “about” a certain time.  When was the last time you invited four or five couples to your home for a diner.  You gave an invitation (either written or oral) and specified that the time was 6:00 PM.  How many of your guests showed up at six?  There were probably some who were still strolling in around six thirty!  Why do people feel that such appointments do not really mean the time that is stated?  Why do some want to make that “fashionably late” entrance?  I don’t know, but it can be very irritating at times.

     Another situation that falls within the scope of this type of appointment is those made by those in the medical profession.  When was the last time that you had a 2:00 PM doctor’s appointment and actually got in to see the doctor at two?  They even stretch out your appointment time by taking you into an “exam” room where you sit quietly (and hopefully patiently) until the doctor finally comes in to see how you are!  You also want to notice at times that there is NO clock within these rooms so you have no concept of how long they are really taking!

     Some even take their “appointment” for their job work as an “about” time.  You probably have those who work with you from 8 to 5, but they don’t usually show up in the morning until about 8:10 or 8:15, or they take that HOUR lunch and return five, ten, (or more) minutes late!  Speaking about that: It is now 12 noon and I’m breaking for lunch before I finish this blog - - - I have just returned:  It is 1: 10!!!!!

     We seem at times to take the setting of appointed times as a casual thing to work around.  That is why we take a casual view of other aspects of our lives as well.  But, then we’re only human!       

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"You might as well steal my money

as steal my time."

FREE Marketing Method

    A person would hardly believe it when they hear that something can be FREE!  But in this case it is true.  It's been years since blogging has come upon the web scene.  But it's fairly recently that it has been considered as one of the addicting fads. Many teenagers have resorted to blogging as an outlet for their emotions, a little online nook where they can blurt out whatever just bugs them or whatever makes them feel elated.  However, savvy marketers have discovered that blogging is one of the best Internet marketing methods that won't cost you a cent.

     What exactly is blogging?  Blog is the widely used term that refers to a web log. Basically, a blog is an online journal. A blog could be set up at no cost at all, and can be used just for the fun of it or for business reasons.

     Blogging for your Internet business is one surefire way to boost the visibility of your products and services. Here are a few ways to boost your internet advertising with the help of a blog:

     1. Make your clients or customers abreast on your website's alterations. Your new products and affiliate websites could also be announced through your blog.  Give them the LATEST news so they feel that they are part of your important team.

     2. Keep track of your business objectives and plans through open writing. Your blog content can be easily stored through archives. What could be better than searchable information that could be easily accessed by anyone browsing the web, right?  Let your customers (and those future customers) see how you have grown over the years.

     3. Air your opinions, advice or reviews on specific services or products that are related to your business. Publishing is a very easy process with blogging. You position yourself as “the source” of information within your niche.

     4. Include links that will fetch back links and subsequently improve your ranking on search engines. This could be better executed through putting well-written articles on your website. Affiliate links could also be included in your blog to earn more extra income.  You could probably think of many additional ways to make this “extra income” situation work better for you.

     5. Collect response through the ability of blogs to fetch comments from your blog readers. You can learn about and improve your products and services through with the feedback from your readers.

     6. Connect easily with other bloggers. When other bloggers notice that you have something good in your blog, they will put you in their favorite lists that will automatically link you to their blogs. This “mutual” association can work to the benefit of both parties.

     So, how do you set up a blog?   This is the really easy part:  Either you load blogging software or you let a blogging hosting service do it for you. Host services such as Blogger.com is one of the most popular in this field. This host will provide you with easy instructions on how to put up your blog.

     Before you know it you can have your business becoming one of the favored sources of contact for information within your particular niche.  People will want to return frequently to see what new and exciting information you have posted.  This will no doubt lead to a greater influx of customers.  Enjoy your new FREE source of marketing your business!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Marketing produces the profits of business.

It is more enjoyable when it can be gotten free."

Stress

     Today there is so much strife and conflict that at times a person doesn’t know how they should respond.  I remember years ago when I was in driver’s training class in high school.  Yes, they actually taught you how to drive and it was part of your class studies!  We were discussing the part of the instructions about what to do if you realized you were about to be in a head-on collision with another vehicle.  They had all the steps laid out that you were supposed to take.  But, I’m thinking “how are you going to follow all these steps in a matter of fractions of seconds?”   I guess the instructor didn’t care about HOW you were actually going to do it, just that you understood the steps so that you could pass the course.

     In actuality, you would probably never have the time to run those steps through your mind if you found yourself in a real head-on situation.  And that’s the problem at times.  We try to analyze every possible situation and then realize that it is almost impossible to “prepare” for the unknown!  And therein lays the stress factor within our lives.

     We often feel that if we do not “conform” to what is expected of us we have in some manner failed.  But reaching compromises or attempting to accomplish things in a different manner doesn’t mean we have failed.  As long as we do not give up there is always the chance of success.  It may not come in the manner in which we expect it to happen, but come it will!

     When under pressure over an extended period of time we may feel that we can no longer resist the stress that we are under.  But remember this:  The flaws that are in a lump of coal can be removed.  The carbon that is in the coal when subjected to a very high temperature (heat of anxiety) and very high pressure (stress) over an extended period of time produces a diamond.

     So perhaps by your fortitude to continue forward regardless of the stress that you have to endure, regardless of the anxieties that you may have to deal with, and not considering the length of time that it may take you to accomplish your goal:  You may be in the process of producing a diamond that is such great value you will not be concerned with the trials along the way of producing it!

     You must find your way of dealing with stress.  Perhaps this can be done on your own.  Perhaps you will need assistance from an outside source.  That doesn’t matter!  The important thing is to know that with your efforts to exist within your present situation you are molding a better person for the future:  YOU!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"It may be feet. It may be inches.

The important thing is to keep moving forward!"