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Philip E. Humbert - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
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Philip E. Humbert Email Alerts
- 4 Steps to Successful Goal-Setting
[Self-Improvement:Coaching] Successful people have always had clear, focused goals that guide them to greatness. It took Thomas Edison thousands of attempts and thousands of failures over many years to invent the electric ligh...
- 25 Super-Practical Steps to Build Your Business!
[Business:Management] For the past several weeks, we have focused on some wonderful but (to my way of thinking) rather fancy ideas about life. I wrote about motivation (I don't believe in it). I wrote about sorting out priorities (I do believe in that!). And I wrote about the 4 traits of highly successful people. I love that stuff! But I believe most of you subscribe to TIP's for help in actually running your office from day to day. Most of you have told me you're professionals in private practice, or owners of small businesses, or a manager. And that means you must attract clients or customers, serve them very well, and earn their return business - and do it every single day.
- 12 Things That Make Life Worthwhile!
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] Happy New Year! Around the world, this is a time of renewal, celebration of new opportunities, and great optimism. Please accept our best wishes for a year of peace, joy, and success.
- Top 5 Areas to Create A Super-Reserve!
[Self-Improvement:Attraction] Last week, I had the privilege of leading a 4-day teleclass about creating reserves that will meet our needs and support our lives, forever! The goal was to create systems that automatically respond to everything that distracts, worries or confuses us, for the rest of our lives! (How's that for thinking big?) When we are secure and our needs are met once and for all, we are free to live large, pursue our dreams and challenge life on our own terms.
- 5 Days to A Simpler Life!
[Self-Improvement:Time-Management] Of all the Attraction Principles, the most popular class I teach is "Simplify Your Life - Yes, You CAN!" Based on class attendance, articles in the press, and requests from clients, it's clear there is tremendous desire to live more simply, be more productive, and have greater peace of mind. While the details are different for each of us, the central theme is: "I want less stress, more time and more integrity, and I haven't been able to get it!"
- The Four Key Traits of Highly Successful People
[Self-Improvement:Success] Recently, I was asked to write a Top 10 list about the secrets of success, and I spent time thinking about the most successful people I've known. There have been a thousand books and tape sets written about the "Secrets of Success", so the challenge was to see if I could add something new. I think I have at least found a new way of thinking about successful people.
- Super Achievers Have: Talent, Skill, Patience, and Lady Luck!
[Self-Improvement:Success] As a golfer and coach, I've been thrilled to watch the U.S. Open golf championship this week. I love the game, and have been privileged to coach some great players, so this tournament holds a special attraction for me. As many of you know, this is one of the few world championships that is literally open to all comers. If you can play golf, you can enter. Entering, however, does not guarantee victory!
At the start of a new century, more and more of us are functioning like professional golfers. Very few of us will spend our careers as a "team player" for a large corporation. More and more of us will be "free agents", competing from one contest to another, or contracting our services for the length of a project, to solve a problem, or for a limited period of time.
- 4 Steps To Having the Life You REALLY Want!
[Self-Improvement:Attraction] Over time, the TIP's Letters that receive the most response have dealt with creating and living the life you really want. Many of us are incredibly frustrated at not being able to reach our dreams and have the life we want. I believe there are 4 simple (not easy, but simple) techniques for getting there. You really can achieve your goals and live your dreams!
- The Top Ten Secrets For Great Sex!
[Relationships:Sexuality] Clearly there are no rules, only what lovers have known since Antony and Cleopatra: "Pay attention, be kind, and be loving". But the following Top Ten List might be a useful reminder! Enjoy!
- Top 10 Things That Make Life Worthwhile
[Self-Improvement:Inspirational] Below are some of the things that, over the years, my clients have taught me about making life a wonderful adventure. You will, hopefully, have additions that uniquely enrich your life, and I hope you'll add them to this list and pass them along to others. In the meantime, I share this list with the hope that it will challenge you, and make your day more rewarding!
- Top 10 Secrets for Being HAPPY!
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] One of my favorite songs is Bobby McFerrin’s refrain, "Don’t Worry, Be Happy". I recently had the opportunity to observe people’s reactions when a highway was closed because of an accident ahead. As we waited, I watched as some listened to radios, a few began tossing a Frisbee, other’s seemed to be working or reading, and some opted for a quick nap. But, there were also a handful who were clearly agitated and angry. Pacing about, swearing, and upset, they decided that the best response to this event, which none of us could control, was to be very unhappy. I was reminded of Abraham Lincoln’s comment that, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." The following are my Top 10 Tips to increase happiness in your life:
- The Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Goals
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] Human beings are goal-seeking creatures. We are impatient and try, and fall, and try again until we learn to walk. We babble and coo and struggle until we learn to talk. Skinned knees mean nothing in the quest to ride a bicycle. Recently, the world has watched Olympic athletes over-come incredible obstacles in the quest for a medal. When a client tells me they have had a goal, but in the past 6 months they have made little or no progress towards achieving it, I encourage them to ask themselves the following 10 questions:
- The Top 10 Requirements for Your Business to Become and Remain Profitable
[Business:Management] We live in a relentlessly competitive world. The daily pressure to work "better, cheaper and faster" can make even talented business owners and entrepreneurs lose site of first principles. As you cope with the decisions and details of running your business, focus on the fundamentals! Regardless of the type of business or the products or services you sell, here are my suggestions for the Top 10 Basics that will make your fortune:
- The Top 10 Ways to Market your Business or Professional Practice Without Advertising
[Business:Marketing] Every business and professional practice MUST be in the public eye. You need customers! Folks need your goods and services -- it's a mutual alliance for mutual benefit! But if potential clients and customers don't know you exist, or can't find you, you will go bankrupt! They won't benefit from your services, and you won't make any money. So, marketing is a necessity. Advertising is one form of marketing, but it's terribly expensive. Here are the Top 10 alternatives:
- The Top 10 Ways to Add "Extra" Value
[Business:Sales] Everyone wants the best possible value in every transaction, but each of us defines "value" in different ways. Some customers want the lowest price, while others will place a higher value on reliability, convenience or things like color, popularity (think Pokeman cards!) or durability. The challenge for business is to provide extra value for every customer, at the lowest possible cost of doing business. The following "Top 10" suggestions are particularly suited to service businesses such as coaching or consulting, but can easily be adapted to other environments.
- The Top 10 Steps to Extraordinary Personal Wealth
[Finance:Wealth-Building] I recently came across startling figures about the average American’s finances. Only 4% of us have significant savings when we hit age 65, and a majority of Americans have less than $1000 in savings. Perhaps even more troubling, nearly one-fifth of us have a negative net worth, meaning that we owe more in debt than the total value of our combined assets. In a land of wealth and opportunity, and in an age of unlimited freedom, attaining wealth is primarily a matter of choice and determination. The following are my suggestions for rapidly increasing your personal income and wealth.
- Top 10 Strategies Of Highly Successful Professionals
[Self-Improvement:Success] Last Thursday evening, I was the guest of a group of therapists who interviewed me about how I’ve built my businesses over the years – both my therapy offices and my coaching business. Their probing, and very pointed, questions dramatically helped me clarify exactly what strategies have worked for me and my clients over the years. I hope you enjoy it. It is as solid and tight a summary of what has worked for me over the years as anything I’ve ever written. I’m quite proud of it, at least as an accurate reflection of what has worked for me.
- The Top 10 Life Lessons from Golf
[Recreation-and-Sports:Golf] Golf is an amazing mirror of life. Yes, other sports provide life lessons as well, but golf happens to be my favorite sport and the one I understand the best. It is an addiction, a mystical experience, a test of character, an escape, a source of rare joy and excruciating pain. No psychological test will tell you as much about a person's character as a round of golf. With the arrival of spring, here are some of my observations about golf and the game of life:
- Top 10 Traits of Highly Successful People - That You Can Learn!
[Self-Improvement:Success] We have all read about people who are successful briefly. They win a gold medal, make a fortune, or star in one great movie…and then disappear. Or, there are those like Marilyn Monroe and Howard Hughes who achieve extraordinary success, at the cost of their own lives. These examples do not inspire me!
- Top 10 Keys to Attracting More Clients!
[Self-Improvement:Attraction] It’s always easier to attract the things we want in life than to chase them down and catch them. My grandmother used to say, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." I’ve never understood why I’d want a collection of flies, but there are many other things I do want.
- Top 10 Items For A 21st Century Toolbox!
[Business:Top7-or-10-Tips] Skilled workers of every age have prized their tools. I recently visited a Museum of Natural History and was amazed at the craftsmanship and precision of the sextants and chronometers that allowed explorers to map our world in the 18th and 19th centuries. Such tools must have cost many years' wages for the average person! I was reminded of how my Grandfather prized and cared for the tools he used on his farm. I vividly remember his showing me how to work a haybaler or oil the harness for his team of horses, tools from an age that is long-gone. But it brings up the question: What are the tools for our age, and what are the skills we will need to keep them "sharp" and useful? I suggest the following tools for your 21st Century Toolbox:
- Top 10 Items to Review & Build Your Business Now!
[Business:Top7-or-10-Tips] While focused, strategic networking is usually the most efficient way to build your professional practice, there are many other ways to market your business. Personal networking may not be appropriate in some areas, or for certain types of services, and some people simply don't like to do it. The following are the Top 10 methods my clients have used to increase sales and grow their practices without networking:
- The Top 10 Ways to Market your Business or Professional Practice Without Networking
[Business:Marketing] While focused, strategic networking is usually the most efficient way to build your professional practice, there are many other ways to market your business. Personal networking may not be appropriate in some areas, or for certain types of services, and some people simply don't like to do it. The following are the Top 10 methods my clients have used to increase sales and grow their practices without networking:
- Top 10 Distinctions Between Building a Business and Creating Your Own Job
[Home-Based-Business] Many professionals and Small Office/Home Office owners don’t understand the distinction between building a business verses creating a job for themselves. While either route can be satisfying and fulfilling, it is important to choose the path you prefer. The "rules" and priorities are very different for each, as are the long-term results down the road. Many professionals believe they are creating one type of enterprise, but are actually creating the other. This can result in frustration and unexpected (and unpleasant) surprises when planning for retirement or other significant events.
- Top 10 Tips for More Fun and Better Health
[Health-and-Fitness] Professionals and small business/home office workers have tremendous freedom to schedule their days, arrange the furniture, choose the music and take care of themselves at work. Unfortunately, they also have all the responsibilities, make all the decisions, and carry all the burdens. The result is too often we forget to take care of ourselves. Use the advantages you have! The following tips can make the day go easier and help you work smarter, better and healthier.
- The Top 10 Ways to Reduce Violence
[News-and-Society] I happen to live near the one of the tragic "school shootings" of the recent past, and I've seen how the grief, anger, heartache and turmoil have impacted our community. It has brought home that a general abhorrence of violence is not enough. While I'm sure others will have different, and perhaps wiser, suggestions about how to reduce violence, here are my Top 10 Ways to Reduce Violence. If you can improve them, I welcome your feedback, but I suspect it may be more important and more useful if you write a letter to your local newspaper or school board. Together, we can reduce and perhaps eliminate violence.
- My Top 10 Quotes for Living Well!
[Self-Improvement:Success] Over the years many people have offered their models of the "Good Life", and some have left quotes that nicely summarize important truths. The following are ten of my personal favorites.
- Top 10 Tips To Market & Build Your Professional Practice
[Business:Marketing] In building and running a professional practice (or any small business or a home-based business), there are many items that must be monitored closely. As a small operation, you can't afford to find out too late that a critical aspect of your business has gotten off-track! This list looks at 10 items to emphasize at the start of a new year, or any time you want to rapidly grow your business in a short period of time.
- Top 10 Do's and Don'ts for an Effective Business Referral Network!
[Business:Marketing] Every business - particularly small, entrepreneurial or professional businesses - must have a powerful referral network. It is very unlikely (and terribly expensive) to "advertise your way to success". Without tons of capital, it can't be done. It is far more effective, and more fun, to create an effective network that sends you clients, supports your business, and makes you money. Unfortunately, most professionals confuse effective networking with passing out business cards and schmoozing. They are NOT the same. Here are my Top 10 Tips for a network that will help you build your business.
- Top 10 Tips to Make Your Web Site A Hit!
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Site-Promotion] Professionals in tend to under-estimate the power of the web to bring them business, and to bring them precisely the kinds of clients they want! And, a few, invest in a great web site, but then don't market it effectively! There are some wonderful sites that are virtually "hidden" out there on the web. Web marketing has one thing in common with other advertising: no matter how good the ad, it won't build your business unless lots of people see it.
- Top 10 Tips to Create A Business Plan! (For People Who Hate Business Plans)
[Business:Strategic-Planning] One of the key challenges for any business is to remain focused and invest resources for maximum pay-off. It's said that 80% of a business's activity accounts for only 20% of total profits. In plain language, most of the work we do is unfocused, poorly designed and ineffective. In today's competitive world, no business, whether it's an individual professional or a large manufacturing operation, can survive with that much lost time and wasted effort. A business plan can help, but most small business owners (and some managers/supervisors) hate doing them! In the spirit that any map is better than no map, here are my top ten keys to creating your own map to success:
- Top 10 Miraculous Benefits of Keeping a Personal Journal
[Self-Improvement:Success] In earlier generations it was common to keep a diary or personal journal. Today few people do it, and very few recognize the value and astonishing power of keeping a journal. If you can read and write, you have access to the most amazing source of personal power and magic! Try it for 30 days and watch it transform your life! Clients periodically tell me they couldn't possibly find the time. I ask them to try it for 30 days. Then clients often tell me they couldn't possibly live without the power of their journals. The following are my list of the top 10 reasons to keep a journal.
- Top 10 Tips For The Best Year of Your Life!
[Self-Improvement:Motivation] We typically think of New Year’s as the time to make annual resolutions and start fresh. Unfortunately, we all know that most resolutions are quickly forgotten. The good new is that "now" is always the best time to take charge of your future and create the life you want. Real success is about choosing your priorities, and then following a plan that emphasizes the things that are most important to you. With that in mind, here are 10 suggestions for creating a wonderful, productive and rewarding year for yourself (and your practice)!
- Top 10 Tools to Reach Your Goals Quickly
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] We all have dreams and goals. Some of them are simply "wishes", like winning the lottery or sailing to Tahiti. But we also have goals that are vital to our futures and the well-being of our families. And yet many of us make little or no progress toward achieving our most important goals. We wait and hope, but get no closer to our dreams. It doesn't have to be that way! We all know people who soar from one project to another, achieving their goals and living the life they want. How do they do it?
- Top 10 Things Every Business Should Provide for Every Worker - Including the Boss!
[Business:Management] Doing business and meeting the needs of workers is increasingly complex. Employees and managers often prefer a cafeteria-list of fringe benefits (a "flexible spending account") so they can choose increased health care, child care or more time off as their individual preferences dictate. But underneath these specifics, there are central needs that most of us want from our work. Money can not buy happiness, and by itself it will rarely purchase a loyal, highly motivated staff (even in a one-person professional office or small family business).
- The Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Diet, Your Health & Your Life!
[Health-and-Fitness:Nutrition] Because I believe diet and exercise are so important, I'm often frustrated with the recommendations I receive. Nutrition and natural health ideas are often so negative (don't eat this, watch out for that) or so rigorous (be sure to eat some raw, natural, organically grown vegetable I've never heard of) or so complicated, I end up ignoring them. And yet, I know diet is critical to my health and well-being, so I made up my own rules. My objective was simplicity, so all of you with greater will-power and more discipline, cut me some slack, OK? For the rest of us, I hope you find them useful.
- The Top 10 Tools for Effective Listening
[Self-Improvement] Whether it's our spouse, our children, or with a sales prospect or our boss, one of life's great challenges is to listen well. Often, we are tempted to think about our response rather than listen. Or, we believe we already know what the other person is going to say, so we simply interrupt or wait impatiently for our turn. Listening, really listening, with our whole being, is a skill and one of the most important compliments we can give another human being. The following 10 "rules" can help.
- Top 10 Ways to Create and Manage Opportunity
[Business:Marketing] Most of us are used to the concepts of risk management or time management. Many of the same principles can be applied to creating and responding to opportunities. Instead of thinking of opportunities as just "coming along", you can actually increase the number of opportunities available to you, and there are specific principles you can use to assess whether a "possibility" has real "probability" and "profitability" for you. In times of rapid change, increasing the number of options you have available, and a system for prioritizing and responding to possibilities are critical business functions.
- Top 10 Steps to Build Your Professional Practice Now!
[Business:Top7-or-10-Tips] 1. Examine everything in your office from the view of a new client! If necessary, spruce it up. Does it need new plants, better music or an aquarium? Make it as warm, comfortable and inviting as possible.
- The Top 10 Ways to Keep Passion in Your Relationship
[Relationships] All long-term relationships go through a variety of phases. There is the initial dating and courtship and infatuation period. If the relationship continues, it settles into a more stable time of building a history as a couple. If children enter the picture, that is a new phase. Later, there is another phase of being together as a mature couple with the wisdom of experience.
- Top 10 Ways to Use Attraction To Build Your Business
[Self-Improvement:Attraction] Most business people would rather have customers seek us out based on a strong personal referral from a satisfied customer, than go to the expense of mass advertising. It's called marketing through attraction. It's about offering phenomenal value. It's about being liked, about being respected, about having potential customers wanting to do business with us! It's very efficient, and it's very cool! The problem is that for most business leaders the specifics are often vague or confusing. Here are ten practical steps:
- Top 10 Tools for a Strong Personal Foundation
[Self-Improvement:Success] Coaching is about living great lives. It’s about living lives based on our values, our priorities and our choices. And, as in building a great building, it takes a very strong foundation. In fact, the more spectacular the visible parts of the building are going to be, the more time and precision has to go into preparing the supporting structures and systems underneath. But one of the most difficult things in life is spending the necessary time on the foundations.
- The Top 10 Secrets to Achieving Any Goal
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] We all have goals that are important to us. They range from quitting smoking, to creating our own businesses, to raising great kids. Unfortunately, most of us also have the experience of being unable to reach our goals, of having them always seem just out of reach. We can see them. We want to complete them, but we never quite cross that finish line. Here are 10 steps that are almost like magic! They will help you reach your goals, every time!
- The Top 10 Steps to Becoming a Millionaire
[Finance:Wealth-Building] There is perhaps no more important decision than to take charge of your own financial future. We live in a world of opportunity, and yet most Americans are buried in credit card and other debt. We are surrounded by people who are getting rich, but most of us are running in place. If you can read this, you are literate, have a computer, you are part of the "wired generation". You can become as financially independent as you wish to be. Here are the Top 10 keys to your financial success:
- The Top 10 BEST Things About Having a Coach
[Self-Improvement:Coaching] Obviously, there are many wonderful things about having a personal coach to support and encourage you. Everyone develops their own working relationship with their coach, and each situation is unique.
- Top 10 Secrets of Getting Rich!
[Finance:Wealth-Building] As many people have observed, "Success leaves clues." If you want to achieve extraordinary success in the coming year, study the experts, do what they do, and modify their techniques to suit your particular situation. It's easy!
- Top 10 Tips to Give Your Newsletter Impact!
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Ezine-Publishing] There are thousands of email newsletters or "ezines" produced every week, and most of them have great material and are written by passionate people who want to share valuable information. Unfortunately, very few of them have many subscribers.
- The Solutions to Life's 10 Biggest Problems!
[Self-Improvement:Motivation] Every day clients tell me about their problems, often in great detail, and I've noticed patterns that show up over and over. For many people, life’s problems are viewed as "not enough money" or "not enough time". For couples, the problems are often around "communication" or "parenting" or sex. They think if they only had more money or more time or better sex or a better job, things would be wonderful.
- Top 10 Ways to Coach Yourself to Total Success!
[Self-Improvement:Coaching] Coaching is about being your best. It’s about performance, about “staying the course” and, in the end, about creating and living the life you really want. Many people use coaches to make more money, win the gold prize or do something dramatic. That’s fun, and when it’s right, it’s wonderful!
- Top 10 Principles for Positive Business Ethics
[Business:Ethics] This morning, I read about a company using on-line auctions to defraud customers. Last week, I consulted on an ethics complaint where a business coach betrayed a client’s confidentiality. And, recently a Physician was convicted of insider trading based on information from a patient, a violation of both business ethics and her professional ethics.
- The Top 10 Reasons to Invest in Mutual Funds
[Investing:Mutual-Funds] Everyone who follows the financial news has heard of mutual funds and knows the stock market has generally risen (with various ups-and-downs) for over 200 years. In fact, by most measures, the stock market has made more money for more people, and done it more reliably, than any other investment over the past 100 years! If you want to accumulate substantial wealth, you must include stocks in your investments!
- Top 10 Stumbling Blocks that Limit Business Growth
[Business:Top7-or-10-Tips] Never in history have more entrepreneurs launched more new businesses! In America, thousands of business open their doors every single day! Unfortunately, most of them (over 90% of them) also close their doors within two years. Businesses are started with high hopes and glorious dreams. It is easy to start a business. It is much more difficult to build it, to make it succeed, to avoid the traps and pitfalls and frustrations, and enjoy the fruits of success over the years. In working with hundreds (probably two to three THOUSAND) entrepreneurs over 25 years, here are the mistakes I see most often. Avoid them!
- The Top 10 Steps to Set and Achieve Your Goals - Every Time!
[Self-Improvement:Goal-Setting] It’s been said that everyone has goals, whether we know it or not. We have goals to keep our current job, or to get a different one. We have goals to save for the future, or to travel, take a vacation, or purchase the things we need and want to make our lives more enjoyable. An important distinction, however, is that top achievers are very intentional and focused on their goals, while many of the rest of us are not.
Top achievers know that the wording, structure, timing and format of a goal can make it’s achievement much easier – or far more difficult. Top achievers understand the basic skills for setting and reaching their goals, every time! They know how to design goals that create success. Here are the 10 most important steps to set and achieve your goals:
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