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Ambition Overcomes Adversity

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Ambition Is Not Just About Being Successful
And Getting Things Done.

 

ambition-1Ambition is about being determined enough to overcome adversity. Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 things that did not work.” Truer words were never spoken, particularly when you think of all that Edison did manage to accomplish! However, he noted that for every success he had hundreds of failures. The lesson here is that we must keep trying with determination in order overcome adversity, and that starts with attitude. If you do not think attitude is important, remember what Edison said. He could have listed 10,000 failures but instead he chose to look at them as trials leading up to the eventual breakthrough that brought us the light bulb, the phonograph and hundreds of other successful inventions.

Your attitude determines everything that happens within your world, from your greatest triumphs to your darkest defeats. How we meet with adversity and the attitude we bring to the table will determine the final outcome, regardless of outside circumstances. There are people with cancer who simply refuse to give up and fight with every breath to stay alive. There are also people who succeed in difficult careers, even when they encounter resistance and prejudice, just because they refuse to stop. However, for every winner there are dozens of quitters. When things get hard, it is easy to give up! Fortunately, Ambitious Women know that if you simply keep moving forward, something good is bound to happen!

Keeping on in spite of adversity is tough. Sometimes you do not know where the strength is coming from to carry forward. This is when you rely on your friends and loved ones who care about you and that network you have built of like-minded people who will support you even when you are facing adversity. Never underestimate the power of a good friend’s encouragement when you are facing a tough road ahead!

When you just keep trying and refuse to stop, your ambition and determination can literally overcome adversity and change the outcome of your career, your relationships and your life!

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Be Inspired If You Want To Change

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How Do You Change?

One of the easiest ways is to become inspired. When you are inspired, you change. You grow. You become more than who or what you previously were. Inspiration is the spark that often sets off positive change in your life. As Bo Bennett said, “Those who improve with age embrace the power of personal growth and personal achievement and begin to replace youth with wisdom, innocence with understanding, and lack of purpose with self-activation.” The best way to do this is to become inspired by those people and things you see around you.

Why do we need inspiration so much? Because change is hard. It is so hard, in fact, that most of us will fight it when it appears in our lives. Have you ever resisted change? If you have, you are not alone. Most people would rather maintain the known and comfortable status quo than embrace change. This is not surprising, because in most cases change is hard work! However, nothing ever grows or becomes better without change. Therefore, we know we need to change, but we may not feel that the effort is worth the reward. Inspiration changes that.

When we are inspired, we see that others do things better, faster or more effectively than we do. We watch someone do something that we know is not easy, even if it appears that way. As we watch, we say to ourselves, “I want that for myself. I want to be able to do that.” This is the beginning of true change.

Ask anyone who has ever accomplished a big goal how she did it and you will most likely find the answer lies in some type of inspiration. You will probably hear a story of some type that focuses on a moment when that person saw something that made her decide she wanted to do that for herself. When she did, inspiration motivated her to make the changes she wanted and she found the strength to continue the hard work necessary to do so.

Remember, you can never rely solely on the things you know and do well. Be inspired by the people around you and you will find that you are ready to take on any challenge!

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Don’t Let Setbacks Set You Back

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I Know How Easy It Is To Let Setbacks Take Control And Discourage You As You Move Forward In Life.

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After all, there is a reason they are called “setbacks”! However, dealing with disappointment is one of the hallmarks of being an adult and being mentally healthy. In fact, the way we deal with disappointment says a lot about our level of maturity and our overall success.

“Discipline my disappointments” is my mantra. The word “discipline” means to teach. In other words, I must make every disappointment a learning experience. If I can do that, I am on my way to success. Richard Branson said, “A setback is never a bad experience, just another one of life’s lesson.” If you can harness the power of that kind of teaching, you cannot help but grow as a person, as a woman, as a business woman and as an adult.

That is not to stay that this type of learning is easy! Growth is always hard. If you have ever watched a tiny plant struggle from seedling to glorious bloom, you realize that there is a tremendous amount of energy that is expended in that growth. The same holds true with us as humans; times of growth require tremendous energy and work.

Growth may also involve pain. I never learned anything at all from the things I did right the first time; instead, my mistakes and setbacks are when I learned the most about my own level of strength and my own ability to overcome. During the times I was afraid, confused or angry, the most powerful lessons of all were right before me. Had I turned away, I would never have benefitted from that growth opportunity. Instead, I have made it a habit when setbacks occur to examine them closely and ask myself, “What am I supposed to learn here? What lesson is this setback teaching me?” Sometimes the answer is not pleasant, but it is always informative!

Be sure to learn from setbacks and disappointment, and then move on. Do not stay mired in a setback, even if it is educational. Instead, learn what there is to be learned, then keep moving forward with your goals. You will be amazed how much growth you can achieve!

Can-Do!

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Walt Disney once said “If you can dream it, you can do it.” Now there is a man who had a can-do attitude!

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Those who accomplish great things have a can-do attitude.

When we look at our dreams, many of us say we can’t do this or that because of time or money or some other frivolous excuse. The fact is that you CAN do what it takes to make your dreams come true and reach your goals if you believe you can.

Have you ever herd the saying “dreams don’t work unless you do”? This is absolutely true. We must be willing to work for our dreams, do whatever it takes to reach them. If you plan to be successful in all that you do, you must never say can’t. Where there is a will there is a way and you must be more willful than the obstacles that intend to make you quit.

Stop playing by others’ rules, and stop comparing yourself to others. Stop thinking in negatively about why you can’t do something and instead start thinking positively about how you can make things work on your own terms, using your skills and abilities.

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Keep The Sizzle During Summer: Tip #3

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Well it’s still summer, and less than 30 days away from the last holiday of the summer: Labor Day.

People are still vacationing and trying to get kids ready for school, or going away to school, so it’s still a

busy time. What are you to do to keep your business going through summer? Don’t wait until

everything “calms down,” that’s for sure! So, tip no. 3:

3. Catch up on your past networking.

I’m sure there are some people you’ve lost touch with. Use this down time to reconnect. Review past

lists or business cards you’ve accumulated that are just sitting on your desk. Email them or even better,

give them a call. Meet someone near you for coffee or lunch. Chances are you are one of the few people

thinking about business right now, so you’ll stand a good chance at getting on that ONE person’s

calendar.

I know it’s tough when business slows down and you’ve done nothing different than you normally do.

But, this is NOT the time to throw in the towel or panic. Just keep marketing and networking like you did

before. Things WILL turn around and improve. Just like recessions do. We get them every so many years,

and then we bounce back and have so many good years.

Things will certainly not get better if you stop marketing and networking altogether. If you continue, you

will have filled your pipeline by the time people are ready to get involved. And they will! There is

someone out there waiting for you to talk to them, even during the summer. You just have to stay

diligent and that ONE person will become persons!

Keep Summer Sizzlin’……………..Christmas is just around the corner!

Keep The Sizzle During Summer: Tip #2

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Last time I talked about the importance of keeping up with your marketing so that you don’t fall into the Summer Slump.

To expand on that, here is tip number two:

Use this time to do some personal development.

Since your business may not be as busy in the summer, now is an excellent time to invest in YOURSELF!

Is there a certain seminar or class you have been wanting to take? Have you been wanting to get some personal coaching done? This is a good time to “just do it!”

Also, spend timing reading. If you are flying or driving to a vacation spot, lying on the beach, relaxing in a hotel room or at grandma’s house, take this time to read.

I suggest reading or listening to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People® by Stephen Covey. There is also a version of the book called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Ambit Energy Consultants. It is one of my favorite materials on personal growth. Read or listen to one chapter a week for seven weeks in the summer. You will see that your business will never be the same after that summer.

Another one of my favorite books to read and be inspired with, is Beach Money by Jordan Adler. You can order online at www.beachmoney.com. It might be my favorite because I love the beach and it inspires me to keep earning that BEACH MONEY.

Stay focused this summer and take advantage of your down time.

Hope to see you at the Beach!

Keep The Sizzle During Summer

Posted on by estherspina

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Summer slump….it’s something that happens every year in your business. As the temperature goes up, motivation can go down. Especially, if you work for yourself in a home-based business!

It’s tempting to say “forget about it” or “it can wait” and just sit by the pool waiting to work your business when summer is over. But why not capitalize on the hot temperatures and use the “Summer Sizzle” to your advantage?

I have three tips for you that have kept my business booming, even during the summer slump.

Here’s the first tip: Continue reading →

#Truth

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Honesty Is The Best Policy.

honestyWe hear this time after time growing up, from our parents and teachers and adults in our lives. I believe that the more we grow, the more we realize that they were all right. Living truthfully is an important step to being a successful human being, as the truth is so important to our lives. It impacts the way we are viewed by others as well as the way in which we present ourselves.

Ambitious people desire truth and are willing to embrace it at all opportunities. When someone always tells the truth, others recognize this and respect him or her for it. People are able to place their complete trust more easily in someone who is always truthful, allowing him or her access to great resources and confidences that they otherwise would not have found available to them.

Being truthful also makes life much easier. So often when we tell one small lie we find that lie quickly growing out of hand. We have to continuously lie in order to keep up the illusion that we have attempted to create, and it can be easy to forget and become confused with everything that has been made up. It takes so much effort to sustain a lie.

Instead of attempting this, people could simply tell the truth and find themselves saved a great deal of hassle in so many ways. There is an African proverb that says, “A lie has many variations, the truth none.” The truth is always easier and helps everyone who commits to embracing it, as well as those who hear it. Your life becomes filled with a great sense of clarity once you commit to being truthful in all things.

Those who embrace the truth find that they can more easily become successful. They are respected by those around them and are able to be completely be themselves in all that they do. It is so freeing to be truthful to yourself, and I encourage everyone to fully commit to the truth.

You Must Believe You Can Do Anything!

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One of the biggest lies of our time, in my opinion, is the idea that in order to be an Ambitious Woman you must be a career woman, working mom, wife and all-around role juggler. Actually, you can be an Ambitious woman in almost any role. Barbara Walters, a great role model who recently retired after 50 years in the entertainment and news business, says, “A woman can do anything. She can be traditionally feminine and that’s all right; she can work, she can stay at home; she can be aggressive; she can be passive; she can be any way she wants with a man. But whenever there are the kinds of choices there are today, unless you have some solid base, life can be frightening.” However, without the belief that you can do anything, you may never achieve the goals you have set for yourself.

Actions always follow decisions. You must convince yourself first in your mind that you should do something, and then the action itself will follow. Until you decide it in head and heart, however, the actuality of the event will never occur. This is why it is so important to build passion, because from passion comes motivation.

You must convince yourself first in your mind that you should do something, and then the action itself will follow.

One of the greatest enemies of passion is people pleasing. It will cause you to be divided within yourself. Remember that others may not have the same goals for you that you do! When you try to please everyone, you are necessarily taking away from your own dreams and passions to pursue what someone else wants.

This is not to say that you should focus only on yourself. However, you should be aware of how much time you have to devote to others and keep yourself within that limit. You must also set your own goals and set aside time to pursue them vigorously, even if the people around you do not support your actions.

An Ambitious Woman always believes she can do anything she sets her mind to do. Barbara Walters is a wonderful example of the Ambitious Woman who is able to achieve what she wants because she has the flexibility to allow others to pursue their own dreams. Try to surround yourself with people like her; besides being a mentor and a great role model, these Ambitious Women are able to help you achieve your own goals through their support!

Risky Business: Building A Dream

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Esther Spina, The Ambitious Woman, Ambitious Women, Spina, Esther Spina

Have you ever heard the story of Diana Nyad? On September 2, 2013, she swam 110 miles from Cuba to Florida. That may not seem like a unique accomplishment; after all, other people have done it before. However, there was a difference between Diana’s trip and those of other people.

For one thing, it was her fifth attempt to cross the dangerous ocean between these locations; four other times had ended in failure. For another, she was 64 years old! Even more incredibly, Diana was the first person to make the swim without a shark cage. What this should teach us all is to never give up and find a way to pursue your dreams. The more we stay in our comfort zones, the less inspiration and growth we experience.

The more we stay in our comfort zones, the less inspiration and growth we experience.

I am sure it cannot have been easy for Diana Nyad to pursue that dream. It was not easy for me when I spent two years, along with my husband, remodeling our home to sell it. I kept thinking, throughout the hard work, of the victory we would achieve if we could sell the house at a high price. Just thinking about it made the work easier! However, plans changed.

Suddenly, we found the dream home we wanted. What about our old house? We were not ready to sell. However, we were blessed to be able to pass the house to our son’s family. By taking the chance and putting in the hard work, we were able to not only achieve our dream but also to bless someone else.

The fact is that until you dare to swim without the shark cage, you will probably never realize your true dreams. Stepping outside of comfort zones is difficult, but if you never give up, seek inspiration and find a way to pursue your dream, you will realize the full potential of what you are capable of doing. In my book, The Ambitious Woman, you will find many examples of how I might never have achieved my goals without being willing to “swim with the sharks,” even without a cage!