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.

And that means we have to be at the top of our game all the time! That has never been necessary before. In the past, most people either worked on the farm or worked for a corporation where it was possible to have a bad month, or even a slow year, and still get by. Today, almost none of us have that luxury.

For more and more of us, the challenge is to hone our skills and show up, play a practice round, and then we get two days to show our stuff. If we aren’t one of the best by Friday afternoon, we go home. No paycheck, no win, no glory! It’s a wonderfully free, individualistic and exciting world, but it can also be brutally honest and ruthlessly humbling.

Fortunately, golfers have taught me a few tricks to increase the chances of being around for the weekend, getting that paycheck and the glory, on Sunday afternoon!

First, follow your talents! There has never been a time when it’s been easier, or more important, to do what you love and what you are designed to do! My grandfather was a wonderful, remarkable man, who spent most of his working years as a laborer in a lumber yard. In many ways, I like to think those years of humbling, difficult work added to his greatness. But most of us no longer have to do work we are not suited for. Some golfers are born with incredible talent, while others earn their game with extraordinary dedication and hard work. And some should consider doing something else.

I am absolutely convinced that the road to greatness, wealth, and personal satisfaction lies in taking the path of least resistance. Follow your talents! Do what brings you joy! If you won the lottery, what would you do for fun? What are you passionate about? Do that.

Secondly, do it very, very well! And, that brings us back to hard work. Great golfers work incredibly hard. There’s an ad on TV that talks about Steve Elkington getting up before sunrise every single morning to hit 100 balls from the tee, 100 from the fairway, 100 from the sand, and 100 putts, before he goes to work “playing” golf! If the first rule for greatness is “follow your talents”, the second is, “become incredibly skilled”.

There is no substitute for skill. In any profession, and in almost any situation, the top 20% will do well. If you know what you’re doing, if you show up, if you get the job done, (and if you have a great coach!), sooner or later you’ll win. If you don’t love what you do enough to practice and develop your skills, ask yourself, “What’s wrong?”

The third component is patience. During this U.S. Open competition, two people have caught the imagination of the crowds, Payne Stewart and Matt Kuchar. Payne has been around the PGA Tour for years. He won the Open and started strong a few years ago, but has had 7 dry years of traveling the world, practicing and waiting for his time to come again. And, he’s done it all with a smile, a balance of cockiness and humility, and with patience. Now, “out of nowhere”, he leads the Open! Think about those years in motel rooms, of missing cuts, of catching airplanes and eating restaurant food. Whether he wins or not, Payne has made an extraordinary statement these past several years that has been punctuated with a huge exclamation point this week!

The other name the crowds are chanting is, “Kuch!” for Matt Kuchar, the 20 year old amateur with the great smile. This kid has talent, skill, and while he’s too young to really know about patience, he has the wisdom to know about humility. He’s “just glad to be here!” Under the pressure, he missed some putts, but he’s learning and he keeps on smiling. Talent, skill, and the patience to learn. This kid will do well!

Finally, super achievement involves the mystery we call “luck”. I think it’s important to say that out loud! Many motivational speakers focus only on their “secrets of success”, claiming they have the “law” of money or the “law” of success on their side. Well. This week, Payne Stewart has had talent, skill, patience, and tons of incredible luck! His ball goes in the rough, but sits up! He hits a wild shot into a tree, and it bounces into the fairway! At the same time, Colin Montgomery, who many rank as the best player in the world, hits a great shot that lands in the worst divot on the fairway. Go figure.

By definition, you can’t count on luck to make up for lack of talent or lack of preparation. And, there’s no use blaming “bad luck” for poor choices or stubbornness or bad judgment. Success comes from acknowledging luck, then going about your business the best way you know how. Many people have been credited with the following quote, although I believe it was actually Ben Hogan who said it first: “Funny thing, the more I practice, the luckier I get!”

To achieve remarkable things, follow your talents and passions, work extremely hard at something you love so much you just can’t help yourself, be patient, and perserver. Lady luck shines most on those who work the hardest at what they do best!

© Copyright 2003 by Philip E. Humbert. All Rights Reserved. This article may be copied and used in your own newsletter or on your website as long as you include the following information: “Written by Dr. Philip E. Humbert, writer, speaker and success coach. Dr. Humbert has over 300 free articles, tools and resources for your success, including a great newsletter! It’s all on his website at: http://www.philiphumbert.com

My acquaintance Alex contacts me on the telephone to inform me that he has discovered some on-line gambling websites that I simply have to check. I’ve never really been big into gambling, but I figured okay, I may give it a go. And So I tested out some black jack and poker, but honestly, they just are not my cup of tea. Then I see these on-line lotto websites and I figure that all over cyberspace I can play all other lotteries around the Earth. Now to me this looks a heap more delight, thus I imagine I will give it a try. To begin with I tried out my luck at euro lottery, you know a European lottery. I picked my lotto winning numbers and anticipated and hoped that I would win the jackpot. I didn’t on that occasion only when the euro millions numbers came in; I was extremely surprised to realise that I had actually come very near to the winning lottery numbers. I sought out a few other lotteries, but I felt that I had come so close the first time on the euromillions, that I honestly had to give it another go. So far, I haven’t won millions of pounds, but all the same, I have scooped some money, and so I carry on playing the euro millions and picking lottery winning numbers, hoping to get my big win. I am one of those souls who like to think in the possibility of winning it big, because it is hard to imagine getting that kind of money any other way.

As for my friend, he still goes on with his love of online gambling and finds himself at the on-line casino for at least an hour at a time. He too has won some money, but it is up and down and the difference is, when you lose at gambling you usually lose a heap but when you lose at the e-lottery, it doesn’t cost you very much. I think that the lotto is the only way for me to go and the thought of hitting the jackpot and on top of that, it’s only costing me simply a few bucks “makes it all more appealing”.

poker online players always run into losing streaks at the casino, and can get steamed about it. This in turn leads to muddled thinking about poker and how to counteract the bad luck. There is really nothing you can do about bad luck except tigthen up your game and strive to improve. Don’t fall into the trap of excuses, such as these: * Superstition – after missing a flush several times, you believe the next time your four to a flush has to complete on the river because the odds are in your favor based on the past misses. Wrong! The cards are always random, and past hands have no influence on what cards will materialize.

* Online sites are rigged. Not true – poker sites make lots of money from players, and don’t want to scare them away. They constantly strive to improve their software to improve the experience. In the rare instances, when cheating has been flagged by the players, the site management has identified the perpetrators (like at Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker in 2008) and made restitution to the cheated players. The customers at poker online sites are savvy, and they monitor the action themselves for signs of collusion and other forms of cheating.

*Changing to a different web site will change your luck – wishful thinking. Sure, it might give you a fresh perspective and you’ll be up against different players. But a cold card streak is just that. It will turn around eventually. Be patient and play your best tight game.

To achieve success it can be important to keep going even if no one seems to be appreciating or even noticing what you are doing. Some people are not appreciated until after they have passed on into the next life. Hopefully, it won’t take that long for the rest of us.

“A Night To Remember” is a 1958 film which tells the story of the sinking of the Titanic in a powerful and moving way. It stars Kenneth More as the dedicated officer who does his duty in putting women and children only into the life boats as the Titanic starts to sink and then manages to save a group of men who were amongst the last survivors.

As the boat is sinking, a legendary act of heroism takes place. The musicians keep playing on deck rather than taking care of their own survival.

One of them says “What’s the use? No one is listening.” Another comments “Well, no one is listening when we play at meals.”

Even the Beatles must have thought no one was listening. In 1962, four years after the Titanic film was made, Decca recording turned them down:

“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”

Obviously in both stories someone was listening. Both the musicians on the Titanic and the Beatles became legends. Many people go through times when they feel no one is listening and they are wasting their time. However, if they keep going, they may just become legends too.

Any kind of performance usually involves the homework and the boring practice sessions when no one is watching or listening.

Those who can keep motivated during these practice sessions will usually get their reward when the audience finally arrive and they put in an astonishing performance.

As the film “A Night To Remember” nears its end, the lead violinist tells the musicians:

“It’s the end, boys, we’ve done our duty. We can go now.”

The musicians start to leave but the lead violinist starts playing on his own: “Nearer my God to thee.”

The others rejoin him and one of them starts singing the hymn. The sound reaches the survivors in the life boats.

Whether things happened the way the film shows does not really matter.The lesson is the same. Keep taking action; keep praying or visualizing a great future.

The universe is quite probably taking note of your efforts and thoughts and will respond in its own good time. What you are doing will make some kind of a difference. Someone is noticing. Someone is listening.

John Watson is an award winning teacher and martial arts instructor. He has recently written two books about achieving your goals and dreams.

They can both be found on his website www.motivationtoday.com along with a daily motivational message.

The title of the first book is “36 Laws To Ignite Your Inner Power And Realize Your Dreams Now! – Acronyms, Stories, And Pictures…Easy To Remember And Use Everyday To Grab Your Life And Soar With The Eagles”

The book can be found at this URL

www.motivationtoday.com/36_laws.php

The book uses acronyms, stories and pictures to help readers remember 36 laws that can gradually transform your life if you apply them.

Ezine editors / Site owners.

Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your ezine or on your site as long as you leave all links in place, do not modify the content and include my resource box as listed above.

This is a common concern in our society for single people of any age; how to make contact with someone that we like on a soft matter without being forward. The truth of the matter is that we have the opportunity to meet that special person everyday; at the bus station, at the grocery store, at church, at a class, at the gym, at the coffe shop, at the library.

1. Eye contact

There has to be a little game of eye contact. He looks at you. You look at him. You look away. You look again. He looks at you again. You smile. He smiles back. And so on…

And Men, you keep your eyes on her until she looks back…. and maybe, smiles. Then, approach her and introduce conversation. The easiest way is to say :” Hi! My name is _______. What is yours?” And say something nice about her. Something about her hair, something about the color that she is wearing, or the make up. Whatever you find nice and femine about her appearance.

Later on, VERY IMPORTANT, say something nice about HER personality. Not on a physical level, but on a mental level. Is she intelligent? Did you notice that she is sweet? Did you notice that she how strong her values are? Do like that? Well then, go ahead and say it. The impact is worth the effort

2. Smile. It’s the most simple way to have eye contact softly.

Not many people do this and this transforms that way we are perceived. I saw once on t.v. a report on some kind of monkey in the african jungle; two males were fighting to get a female and to stop the fight, one had to show his teeth to the other one. For us human, smiling can have an emotional impact that could lead to dramatic effects on our lives.

Exercice: Smile to at least 5 strangers everyday, even if the person is not attractive to you. Be careful not to look as if you were “simple of mind”. Just like a glance, a brief smile by looking in the eye and let go.

Try to get the habit, you will be surprise of the impact that you will have on other. Smiling is inviting and soon enough, it will become a reflex that could let you go far. I know one co-worker got a promotion because the upper management tought he was a candidate with the skills to do the job but also because he seemed like someone with whom it is easy to get along with.

3. Introduce conversation. The easiest way to introduce a conversation is to ask a question. Then, follow it with a short amusing story about the situation. For example, if you are at the grocery store and you see that cute girl near the peas section, excuse yourself and ask her what she would recommend. After she has answered, follow by a joke you have seen on TV or something that happenned to you about peas when you were younger. Laughing or make a person laugh is a quality that you have to develop.

One important thing; don’t think of the rejection; it will paralyze you. If they decline, say to yourself that there must be a good reason – they are already in a relationship or not ready to get involved yet, etc..- Move on to the next one. Very important. Don’t let one or two declines prevent you from meeting that special person. If you don’t take charge of your love life, who will?

4. Then you can pass on to the next step: You give your phone number or ask for it. Simply.

That is the lowest pressure invitation because it leaves the decision to the other person to call you. Or not. That way, no one is getting hurt. You can meet tons of people that way and be a “hot commodity”. The more you will have dates, chances are that you will feel better about yourself and you will become more attractive to the eyes of the others.

Say something like ” You seem like a fun person and I would like to see you again for coffee. I don’t have much time right now so I am leaving you my phone number and call me next week and we will arrange for meeting. It was nice meeting you”

You can invite that person early in the conversation and let that person decide if they will call you. No pressure for anyone. Imagine if you do that to 3 people per week, chances are that you will have a busy dating life. You will make all of your unhappy married friends envious.

Those are just basic instructions to meet people. However, be creative. Try new method. At worst, somebody will say “no”. At best, you may meet the person of your dreams…

Isn’t it worth the effort?

Who is Caroline? She is a growing expert on love, relationship, romance because she is reading extensively on the subject. She is gladly sharing her knowledge and experience. To continue receiving tips on how to get the love life that you want, you can subscribe free to her newsletter at http://www.everydaybetterliving.com
info@everydaybetterliving.com

Brave designs, stunning colours, the anticipation of London’s Spring and Summer fashion collections are happily now nearly here at last. Girls and Boys, it is the ultimate time to begin purchasing your spring and summer designer pieces and there is no greater place online to acquire from than Matches Fashion. It is critical not to fret if you don’t know what is going to be fashionable and what’s certainly not this coming season. Matches Fashion will be on hand to lead its existing clients every single step of the journey in the same valuable way they constantly do with all their clothes from beachwear & gorgeous summer skirts to stilettos and accessories.

From the beginning of February clients can have one further perk to aid them get into the first-class fashion and this is the beginning of London Fashion Week. This event might often assist anybody who wants a push in the correct direction. From the 20th-24th February the most famous event in fashion is to start and last practically one solitary week. This great event allows any of the “designers” or “houses” as many of them like to be called, to display their freshest designer collection on the walkway and for buyers to have a peak at the newest trends. This terrific event is great for all the buyers as it offers them to have a quick glance of what’s “in” and what’s “not” for the coming fashion season. So shoppers should be able to completely trust that Matches Fashion will be there taking observations of what they will have to purchase in order to keep the clientele wearing this season’s elegant style. The year’s key fashion occasions are normally situated in one or two cities like that of Milan, Paris, London and also New York City.

The important pieces this year are assumed to be by the fantastic designers like that of Marc Jacobs, Christian Louboutin & Stella McCartney, all of whom customers should acknowledge as being influential in the fashion world. These particular designers persistently turn out one collection after another collection of spectacular clothing for any given event. However because of this, clothes created by these designers will most likely not come with a bargain price tag. However garments bought from them are most definitely going to be placed in the chest of drawers for several years to come. Buy the latest Stella McCartney Clothes from Matches Fashion online or in store.

Many natural supplements sold to boost male libido, simply don’t work and are sold without any medical substantiation whatsoever.

The good news however is, that some do, you just need to pick the right ones and here we are going to give you the best one of all, which has been medically proven to increase male libido.

Male Libido first things first

Male libido does not work in isolation from the rest of your body. A whole host of inputs are present that go into making you feel in the mood.

Your moods and your diet all affect your libido. Big passion killers include:

Tiredness, stress, depression, a poor diet, alcohol, smoking and drugs.

If you suffer from any of the above then you need to make sure that you improve your diet, get some exercise (a great stress booster) and cut down on drugs cigarettes and alcohol.

What is L- Arginine?

L-Arginine is a non essential amino acid and is necessary for normal functioning of the pituitary gland.

The production of L-Arginine decreases with age and many experts believe this is responsible for many degenerative processes that are related to aging.

Research shows it plays role in maintaining wellbeing and particularly male sexual health.

Why it is so important

In 1988 researchers discovered that L-arginine’s wide-ranging health benefits were due primarily to its role as a precursor to nitric oxide.

L-arginine stimulates the release of nitric oxide from the walls of blood vessels, improving circulation.

L-arginine is a particularly important amino acid for overall circulatory health and is sold as natural supplement for sexual health.

L-arginine has been proven to help increase blood flow to the penis, much like Viagra does, and the difference is it does it naturally.

How an erection occurs.

Nitric oxide is produced in response to messages from the brain; which triggers the release of nitric acid, which causes the smooth muscles of the spongy tissues inside the penis to relax, the tissue then fills with blood and an erection occurs.

L-arginine is so effective because it helps with the release of nitric oxide. Low levels of L-Arginine can lead therefore to decreased libido.

Medical proof

A study published in 1994 showed an 80% improvement in the erectile function of men given 2.8 grams of argentine a day after a two weeks period

Combining L-Argentine with other herbs has also shown impressive results.

Combining L-Argentine with the tree bark Pycnogenol has seen over a 90% increase in male libido in recent studies.

Other great products for male libido

There are other natural supplements that can be taken to increase male libido and two that are very popular are Ginseng and Gingko Bilbao

Ginseng

Korean Ginseng has been used in China as a sexual tonic for over 7000 years.

Korean ginseng in particular is taken for its ability to boost energy and sex drive. It also helps you adapt to physical or emotional stress and fatigue and helps improve blood flow

Gingko Bilbao

Is used to improve blood flow around the body including to the genitals and also functions as an anti-oxidant in the body.

Ginkgo has long been thought to heal male impotence, and is a standard herbal remedy prescribed in China and is now popular worldwide.

A combination of the above four natural supplements will help increase male libido

As we have said already, healthy sex drive depends on all round well being, as well as the realize of nitric oxide to create an erection.

The above four supplements all help with blood circulation and the realize of nitric oxide and this is why they are the best natural supplements for increasing male sex drive.

For more information on sexual health or on increasing male libido, general sexual health, and getting more from sex visit ==>http://www.net-planet.org/sexhealth.html

Have a therapeutic meltdown

It’s crunch time: you’re two days behind and the deadline’s looming, your dog just ate your last clean hard copy of that oh-so-vital data and the helpful people at your computer company’s customer service seem to have left the building – while you’re stuck on hold looking at the “blue screen of death.” Time to lose it – constructively.

Get up and stomp and rant. Make it good, using up all those swear words you swore you’d save for a real emergency. Throw a few choice breakables (NOT the Ming vase – keep a box of rummage-sale crockery on hand for just such emergencies). Once you’ve gotten the hateful-nasties out, huddle up on the couch with a blanket and a beer or a cup of tea, depending on your tastes, and concoct a fantasy nightmare of increasingly worse case scenarios until the stakes and consequences are so high you can’t help but giggle. That’s your cue that it’s working.

Once you’ve gotten to that stage, rank your scenarios according to their likely existence in the real world, design a few really solid plans for dealing with the most nightmarish projections, and then go to bed (no one will turn you in if you take a medicinal glass of wine with you). You’ll wake up the next day rested, detoxified of all those negative energies that had been building up over the past few days, and totally prepared for the worst that can possibly happen. Anything less will be a breeze.

(c) Soni Pitts

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Soni Pitts is the Chief Visionary Butt-Kicker of SoniPitts.Com. She specializes in helping others reclaim “soul proprietorship” in their lives and to begin living the life their Creator always intended for them.

She is the author of the free e-book “50 Ways To Reach Your Goals” and over 100 self-help and inspirational articles, as well as other products and resources designed to facilitate this process of personal growth and spiritual development.

There are so many ways to lose precious data stored on your hard disk – power loss or power surge, overheating, electrostatic discharge, virus attack, software failure, etc. Are you still thinking your data is safe? Don’t! Backup! Backup early, backup frequently.

WinBackup 2.0 Standard

Awarded Best Backup Software by Computer Shopper and termed “exceptionally simple to use” by PC World, WinBackup 2.0 Standard is now the obvious choice for home and small office users. Being one of the most efficient and reliable backup solutions available WinBackup 2.0 Standard will help you save both time and money.

WinBackup 2.0 Standard, the fastest backup and recovery software on the market, allows you to secure all your valuable data within minutes. Featuring a Windows-familiar and intuitive graphical user interface, WinBackup 2.0 Standard makes it extremely easy to set up and run regular backups in your existing environment. With shortcuts to over a 100 of the most popular applications, WinBackup 2.0 Standard makes it possible to easily and quickly backup emails, address books, bookmarks, digital images, financial documents and other records at the click of a button. Home and small office users can rely completely on WinBackup 2.0 Standard for full data consistency and integrity without compromising superior performance.

CompuApps Renaissance 2006 SE

Renaissance is a simple yet powerful Backup application that provides user the peace of mind by its ease of use, comfort and security, with optional verification. Renaissance enables selection of data with a quick and easy to use wizards. Comprehensive scheduling options allow the user to do backups at idle time, thus making the backup a painless and interference free process.

Protects servers, business-critical applications, desktops, and notebooks
Easy to set up and manage
Fast, reliable, secure backups
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Backup to hard disks and removable disks
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Major Functions
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Acronis True Image

The complete disk imaging, system disk backup, and bare metal restore for workstations and home PCs

Acronis True Image allows to create an exact disk backup image for complete system backup and disk cloning providing the most comprehensive data protection.

The disk backup file contains the exact copy of a hard disk, including all the computer data, operating system, and programs.

After a system crash you can restore the entire system or simply replace lost files and folders from your disk backup.

Based on the exclusive Acronis Drive Snapshot disk imaging technology, Acronis True Image allows to create an online system disk backup without reboot to keep the system productive. The product provides the fastest bare metal restore dramatically reducing a downtime and your IT costs.

For the complete server disk imaging, system disk backup, and bare metal restore see Acronis True Image Server

Key features:

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• Acronis Secure Zone and Acronis Startup Recovery Manager

For More Information:

WinBackup 2.0 Standard: http://www.lightsparkle.com/product_page.php?product_id=12

CompuApps Renaissance 2006 SE: http://www.lightsparkle.com/product_page.php?product_id=593

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Joe Light values his data and backups frequently, because he knows the cost for recovering lost data. He shares his experience with backup software at http://www.lightsparkle.com.

Graduation Hat

There are conflicting historical accounts of the origin of the graduation hat otherwise known as trencher hat. One theory holds that it was designed by early academicians to look like a book, thus, giving a scholarly appearance. Other accounts hold that the cap was designed in the shape of oxford University Campus. The true origin has not yet been established, however, the graduation hat has become a standard feature of graduation ceremonies worldwide. The cap was initially designed to be worn horizontally and parallel to the ground, however, today many individuals especially women who are graduating, slightly tilt the cap backwards which is not forbidden.
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Initially the caps were only to be worn outdoors, and only high ranking faculty professors were allowed to wear them while indoors. It is due to these earlier conflicting regulations that some universities have done away with the graduation cap all together. Some universities are said to have given up the idea of the graduation hat upon admission of women. However the graduation hat has become a symbol that represents academic excellence and is worn with official academic gowns. For faculty members a different type of hat known as a tam is worn in place of the ordinary mortar board graduation hat.
GraduationSource, a leader in graduation regalia products since 1960.