10 Ways to Improve Your Finances by Dawn A. Anderson

About this time every year, millions of Americans start to think
about possible New Year's Resolutions. While some people resolve to
quit smoking or lose weight, others may choose to improve their
finances. Instead of creating a vague, unrealistic goal try
creating a simple plan of attack that can easily be achieved.

The Top 10 Ways to Improve your Finances are:

1. Make a Budget - Create a budget and stick to it. This will
help you break the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. The best
way to do this is to look at how much money comes in and goes out
for a 30 day period. Use a budget calculator to help get
you started.

2. Reduce Expenses - Can't pay your phone bill but you spend
$15-$20 a day between coffee and snacks. Look for ways of reducing
expenses such as brewing your coffee at home, packing a lunch,
switching phone carriers and clipping coupons.

3. Pay off Debt - Do you know how much money you are paying in
interest to your credit card company? By reducing and/or
eliminating your debt you will not only save money paid in interest
you will have the money to save for your future. If you have a
structured settlement, annuity, pending lawsuit or other illiquid
asset it may be beneficial to sell some of the future payments in
order to pay off your debt.

4. Create an Emergency Fund - Do you have 6 months worth of
monthly expenses saved just in case you fall on hard times? If not,
you need to create a fund in order to protect yourself from falling
behind on your obligations if you lose your income. Some people
have created their emergency fund by putting a portion of their
cash lump sum into an interest bearing account.

5. Save Money - Are you going to need a new car soon? Perhaps
you want to take a vacation next year. Maybe you need to make home
repairs. Rather than acquiring more debt, save for your purchases
and pay in cash.

6. Save for Retirement - The earlier you save for retirement,
the better off you will be. If your employer offers 401(k)
matching, be sure to take advantage of this opportunity for free
money.

7. Protect your Assets - Make sure to maintain your home to help
it retain its value. Don't forget to have a will to ensure that you
decide how your assets such as your home, annuity or other assets
are divided not the government.

8. Get Insurance - Your apartment, home, car and other valuables
need to be protected in case of theft, damage or loss. If you are
not properly insured you may not receive enough money to repair or
replace them. If you have children that need to be supported after
you are gone, make sure you have life insurance.

9. Protect your Identity - Identity theft can be costly not to
mention damaging to your credit score. Monitor your credit report.
Check your accounts for unauthorized transactions. Shred documents
instead of throwing them in the trash. Shop online at credible
merchants and use Pay Pal.

10. Manage Credit/Credit Score - Check your credit report every
six months. Make sure you pay your bills on time and avoid using
credit cards whenever possible. Some experts say to freeze your
credit card to avoid making impulse purchases.

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SnapIt Screen Capture

Dear readers,

I would like to share a software that I have found to be very useful.

SnapIt Screen Capture 3.7 is a easy to use screen capture software which allows users to easily capture anything on the screen including windows, menus full screen, rectangular regions, web pages and take shots of moving images.

I have been using it to build my websites with this Screen Capture Software. It is easy to learn and use. Some of its features include supporting hotkeys, auto-saving, clipboard. Automatically copies screenshots to the clipboard. It tracks capture history, auto-saves captured images. It also saves files in BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG and TIFF formats.

Screen Capture Software also crops out sections of vector graphic files such as Fireworks, Adobe Illustrator or Corel without having to flatten the files or open in a new editor.

10 Reasons to Appreciate Difficulties by Stacy C.

Life always finds ways to hand us challenges.

Sometimes the challenges are self inflicted because of poor choices
that we have made. Other times they are inflicted on us because of
poor choices that other people have made that directly or
indirectly influence our lives.

Many times challenges are just part of life.

No matter the cause of the challenge we can choose to face the
challenges in one of two ways.

We can choose to take the challenge head on and make the most of
them, seeing them as opportunities to grow as a person. OR we can
moan and complain about how unfair the world is and continue
finding the same challenges until we choose to take life's lessons
and use them to grow.

That is why we can find at least ten reasons to appreciate
difficulties that life throws our way! Following are ten reasons
that we can appreciate the difficulties in our lives.

10 Reasons to Appreciate Difficulties

1. If life was easy all of the time we would grow lazy and rarely
be motivated to change and grow. How motivated were you to change
and grow the last time that you were laying on a beach under the
sun and beautiful blue sky?

2. Difficulties often force us to change in ways that we never
would otherwise. When we are put in situations that make us
uncomfortable we see the need for a change in our own actions,
attitudes and thinking. (Assuming that we are looking to grow,
otherwise all we see is how other people need to change to make us
comfortable!)

3. You can inspire and encourage others towards personal growth and
development! Others can be inspired by you in many ways, whether
they are watching you from the sidelines or whether you share with
them how you overcame a difficulty when they are going through a
similar trial.

4. After you have come out of the difficulty and look back at how
you grew and overcame challenges you will feel great about yourself!

5. Each difficulty presents a learning opportunity, otherwise it
wouldn't be difficult. Look for the lesson to be learned, look as
hard as you need to because once you find that lesson it is
something that you will be able to carry with you for your whole
life!

6. Look at someone who hates challenges, look at how miserable they
are and how miserable they make people around them. Know that you
won't be like them, being controlled by circumstances rather than
being in control over themselves.

7. Challenges initiate creativity. It is said that difficulty is
the mother of all inventions, when people are in situations that
they don't like the successful people will use their creativity to
find ways to deal with the difficulties. Many inventions were
created this way and also many great works of art were created in
times of the artist's stress.

8. New relationships can be made through challenges. You could meet
people who have gone through the same challenges as you and develop
very strong bonds that will last years. Some challenges bring about
instant bonds. For instance, I'm a cancer survivor and there is an
instant connection when I meet someone else who is one as well.
There are plenty of other types of challenges which bring bonding
between people such as the loss of a loved one or surviving a
tragedy.

9. If you are a spiritual person your challenges present a unique
opportunity to reach out to your creator and also by finding other
ways to grow spiritually.

10. Each time that you successfully overcome a difficulty you will
have more confidence to successfully overcome the next challenge
that life throws your way. You will become stronger each time and
each event of personal growth through these challenges will build
on each other to make you stronger and stronger, more and more
confident!

Inspiring Others By Working On Yourself by Kenneth T.W. Kwan

Dedicating to yourself to your personal development goals is a
great step in the right direction. When I talk about personal
development, it means dedicating time to learn work on your mental
fitness, health, skills and knowledge.

Upon completing these goals, you may notice that you have gained
some sideline spectators as well. In most cases, you are catching
their attention because of the changes you are making. I frequently
think that success breeds more success. This means that when we
have achieved a small level of success with our work, we tend to
have people attracted to what we do. For example, when I started
gaining small successes in the speaking industry, I started to get
more offers to speak in different countries and seminars.

By gaining someone's attention, you are serving as an inspiration
to others. This often happens naturally and is another big
commitment. You have committed to be consistent with your actions
and to serve as a role model for others to follow.

If you want to make the most out of this occurrence and really
impact other people's lives positively, you can use the steps
below. These steps are designed to create an amazing life:

1. Passion and excitement: A person will usually only serve as an
inspiration to others if they are passionate and love what they do.
It is a known fact that the more excited someone is about
something, the more they will excel in their work. What makes you
passionate? Does it excite other people to pursue theirs as well?

2. Goal Setting: Always set goals for what you are looking to
achieve. The use of goals has proven to be very effective and
allows for a greater commitment factor. It is important to make
them detailed so you know when you have actually reached the goal.
You can then celebrate the accomplishment of that goal and move on
to create another. This will not only keep you motivated, but show
others that goals are attainable. In addition, this will get people
to draw their inspiration from you and desire for more out of their
lives.

3. Go big or go home! You need to set goals to push your limits. By
doing so, you will achieve more and really shine to yourself and
others. The important thing to keep in mind is to make sure you are
not creating goals that are unrealistic. There is a distinct line
between goals that are challenging versus those that are just not
plausible (eg. walk on the moon without a breathing apparatus).

Another aspect to keep in mind with very challenging goals is to
make sure you measure them by performance. In other words, the
outcome might not have been the outcome you wanted but you gave
your best performance in achieving it. This means that you might
fail at times, but knowing that you have given your best shot at
it, it is alright to fail. You just need to change completely or
modify your strategy and take massive actions on it. Which leads to
the point 4 below.

4. Consistency and Persistency: To be truly exceptional, you have
to make sure you are reaching goals. Be continuous in your efforts
in reaching challenging goals. The harder you work for the goal,
the more you will appreciate it. Moreover, persistence, as seen
from an outsider, is what really motivates and inspires someone.
This persistency in handling problems is what is termed as
Adversity Quotient (AQ), where you demonstrate resilience in tough
situations. It is not talented people who succeed all the time, but
people who have strengthened their AQ over time and are able to
keep moving forward even when situations seem bleak or rough.

In my life, I do not always have all the answers, but I know that
it is just a matter of time before I find the answers that I seek.
I just need to be consistent and persistent in my quest. In my line
of work, I never knew it was possible for me to be invited to speak
in seminars or even give keynotes because I started out doing small
group training (I first started out with only three people in front
of me and now it has grown to hundreds) The question I feel is
never whether you can or cannot do it, it is always "how can I do
it?". Persistency will pay off if you keep at striving for
different ways to make it work. Will you decide to be relentless?

5. Share what you know: It is important, as an inspiration to
others, that you share knowledge you have. Let people know how you
did it and encourage them just the same. I have personally found
that some people just need you to light the fire in their hearts
and they will start their search for greatness.

It is important to remember that you need to keep a positive
attitude and always look to the future. With doing this, you will
not only enrich your life, but you will do the same for others. No
man is an island, everything we do affects another person.

Make a decision to inspire someone today!

Is Your Life Working the Way You Want it to Be by Jack Canfield

When things happen in the world that seem so far beyond our
individual control, it can feel unsettling.

But don't give up on your goals and dreams just because "the time
isn't good"... you can still make 2010 the year you uncover a whole
new you for the better!

Even in tough times, you get to decide how to respond to certain
conditions, opportunities, and outcomes--both good and bad.

Life will always be a series of choices and YOU get to decide on
what will move you closer to your goals, or farther away from them.
External forces will always be part of the equation, even during
the good times when the world is thriving.

When people ask me about the single most important ingredient to
success, I always share the same response: realizing what's making
you achieve success, and then realizing what is stifling your
success.

Sometimes recognizing the things that are NOT working in your life
can be painful, yet VERY powerful to shaping the life you want.

Don't try to rationalize them, make excuses for them, or hide them.
This is when it's even more critical to take personal inventory and
evict those excuses, rationalizations, and hidden habits that don't
serve you. These things will keep you from the life you want to be
living. Let me give you some examples. Ask yourself if you relate
to any of these questions:

Do you want to be active, fit, and strong? Then you have

to stop making excuses about your weight, diet choices, and lack

of exercise.

Do you want to be in a loving relationship based on

friendship and respect? Then you have to stop rationalizing why

you and your partner are not communicating well.

Do you want to embrace Monday mornings and feel excited
about going to work every day? Then you have to stop hiding your

true passions and go after whatever it is you really want to be doing
day in and day out.

Do you want to lose the debt forever? Then you have to stop
ignoring your spending habits and get real about a creating budget
that will pull you out of debt and allow you to reach financial
freedom.

Do you want to feel more connected to the people in your

life, such as your children, friends, and colleagues? Then you

have to stop complaining about your poor relationships and figure out

why you don't feel as connected as you'd like to be.

These things can be painful to look at because the truth is that
you have to do something about them in order to make it work in
your life.

You'll have to say no to the second helping of dinner and the
dessert to follow and go through the action steps to get into
shape... You'll have to confront your partner about the areas that
need work... You'll have to get past fears about changing your job
or professional path... You'll have to cut back on your spending
and be a bit more frugal... You'll have to take a good hard look at
your personal relationships and perhaps consider your own
shortfalls and weaknesses in communicating your needs and concerns.

Plain and simple, you will have to do something uncomfortable.

Successful people don't waste time in denial (or complain or make
excuses for that matter). They face situations like a warrior. They
look for the warning signs, they find out why things aren't
working, and they go about fixing them- even when fixing requires
problem solving, hard work, risk, and a level of uncertainty.

It's okay to identify a problem even though you haven't a clue
about how to go about solving it right away.

The first step is just recognizing the issue, and then having faith
that you'll figure it out with careful attention to it. That's how
successful people live--in constant focus on goals, on results, on
problem solving, and on the actions that get them to where they
want to be.

Following are three things to do constantly in pursuit of

your goals and dreams, however big or small:

*Awareness: Keep your awareness on the feedback you are
getting from life and decide to address the situations immediately.
Don't bottle up feedback, cast it aside, and avoid it like you
would a pile of dirty laundry or a stack of unopened bills. Life
tells you things every day. Do this. Don't do that. Think about
this. Try me. Forget that. We live in a world that seemingly
encourages us to live on autopilot. Successful people fly manually
every day and so should you. When those feedback signals come in,
listen to them and use them in planning your next step.

* Commitment: Commit to finding out why things aren't working
and learn what will fix them. Once you start the process it will be
much easier to continue. Nothing fruitful stems from inaction.

* Trust: Trust that making changes to the situation will
ultimately bring about the best results. Sure you might go through
a bit of discomfort during the change, and some unlikely or
unwanted outcomes, but in the end you will triumph!

So are you ready to admit the things that just are not working out?

Make a list of the things in your life that are working against
your success and ask how the situation can be improved. Commit to
tackling just one of those issues and be brave!

If you need help organizing those "things" in your life, try using
the following list of categories. I recommend reflecting on each of
the 7 areas and ask yourself, what's not working here in each one
and then brainstorm 3 potential solutions.

1.) Financial Goals, 2) Career/Business Goals, 3.) Free Time/Family
Time, 4.) Health/Appearance Goals, 5.) Relationship Goals, 6.)
Personal Growth 7.) Making a Difference

Remember, by facing what is not working, you can only improve

your life!

Inspirational Stories by Natasha Althoff-Kelley

A Doctor by the name of Judah Folkman kept in his archives an
article printed in the New York Times written by two physics
professors explaining how it would never be possible for airplanes
to fly. Three months later the Wright brothers soared through the
air at Kitty Hawk.

Folkman had proposed in 1970 an idea that conflicted with what
scientists at the time knew. He proposed that tumors generated new
blood vessels to feed themselves and grow. He was ridiculed, and
met with hostility and told that his study was futile science. At a
research convention, when he showed his ideas half the audience
walked out. For two decades he kept going, despite everyone else's
opinions and reactions.

My question is: Would you have kept going?

Today he has helped over 100,000 cancer patients from his research
and he is considered to be a leader in the fight to cure cancer.

Michael Jordon was cut from the varsity basketball team in his
first year at high school.

My question is: Would you have kept going?

Michael did double the practice of every other player on the team
and went on to become the best basketball player of all time.

Colonel Sanders, the father of legendary fast food chain KFC was
broke, with only a small house and an old car to his name. He was
65 years old. He decided to sell his chicken recipe to restaurants
for free in return for a small percentage on the chicken sold. He
was rejected over 1000 times.

My question is: Would you have kept going?

He got 1009 rejections to his proposal before he got his first
'yes'. With that one success Colonel Hartland Sanders changed the
eating habits of the whole world with Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).

Bruce Lee studied and mastered kung fu but all he really wanted was
to be an actor. He obtained some small roles in TV and film but
thought his big break had arrived when he heard there was to be a
new TV series called "Kung Fu" and they were looking for a new
star. He had a successful screen test but in the end the role was
given to David Carradine.

My question is: Would you have kept going?

He was offered and starred in many film roles after that and his
reputation as an actor and his skills in the martial arts made him
a household name.

Fred Smith was a student at Yale studying economics. He wrote a
paper disagreeing with his professor about air-freight through
passenger planes, and instead proposed having separate planes
dedicated to mail and not people. The professor gave him a low
grade.

Fred was not discouraged and went out to tell others of his idea
and to get investors. He was met with disinterest. However his
passion and his courage to his convictions served him well and he
raised $91 million on his untested idea.

FEDEX was born and in the first few years the losses amounted to
millions of dollars. The investors wanted to remove Fred and get
someone else to take over the company.

My question is: Would you have kept going?

Fred did not lose faith, he worked night and day to solve the
operational problems and that resulted in $75 million revenue with
$3.6 million profits. Today FEDEX is a multi-million dollar company.

W. Mitchell was a good looking 28 year old on top of the world! He
had finally saved enough money for his dream motorbike and life was
good. A traffic accident left him with a crushed elbow and pelvis
and burns to 75% of his body. His face was burned beyond
recognition and his fingers and thumbs had been burnt off leaving
him with two stumps where his hands used to be.

My question is: Would you have kept going?

After 6 months of rehabilitation he came across an idea for a stove
company. He thought to himself 'hmmm I know a bit about fire' so he
co-founded Vermont casting Inc which became Vermont's second
largest employer. With the profits he was making he bought himself
a personal aeroplane and despite the physical barrier of having no
hands, he learned to fly.

Mitchell thought he was on top of the world again. Life was good
and he had achieved so much.

However on a routine flight to San Francisco - a flight Mitchell
had made many times before - the plane malfunctioned and crashed.
There were four others in the plane and they all walked out.
Everyone except for Mitchell. He had crushed his twelfth thoracic
vertebrae and he would never be able to use his legs again. He
needed a wheelchair.

My question is: Would you have kept going?

He says about the accidents: 'Before my accidents, there were ten
thousands things I could do. I could spend the rest of my life
dwelling on the one thousands that I had lost, but I instead chose
to focus on the nine thousands I still had left'.

Mitchell is still a director of the board to a number of companies,
and is a successful businessman. He is also a co-founding chairman
of a $65 million company.

What is the point of these stories I am telling you?... well you
tell me... Whatever you take out of these stories is the message
you are ready to hear right now. To me the theme of this article is
persistence. I go. Until. No buts, maybes, excuses, could of, would
of, should of. Just I do. Until. I trust whatever you needed and
wanted to understand and assign meaning to, you did in the most
perfect way for you!