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June 30, 2006
Concentration Finds The Way
Lesson 1 from "The Power Of Concentration" by Theron Dumont
Everyone has two natures. One wants us to advance and the other wants to pull us back. The one that we cultivate and concentrate on decides what we are at the end. Both natures are trying to gain control. The will alone decides the issue. A man by one supreme effort of the will may change his whole career and almost accomplish miracles. You may be that man. You can be if you Will to be, for Will can find a way or make one.
Habit is a matter of acquirement. You hear people say: "He comes by this or that naturally, a chip off the old block," meaning that he is only doing what his parents did. This is quite often the case, but there is no reason for it, for a person can break a habit just the moment he masters the "I will." A man may have been a "good-for-nothing" all his life up to this very minute, but from this time on he begins to amount to something. Even old men have suddenly changed and accomplished wonders. "I lost my opportunity," says one. That may be true, but by sheer force of will, we can find a way to bring us another opportunity.
There is no truth in the saying that opportunity knocks at our door but once in a lifetime. The fact is, opportunity never seeks us; we must seek it. What usually turns out to be one man's opportunity, was another man's loss. In this day one man's brain is matched against another's. It is often the quickness of brain action that determines the result.
One man thinks "I will do it," but while he procrastinates the other goes ahead and does the work. They both have the same opportunity. The one will complain of his lost chance. But it should teach him a lesson, and it will, if he is seeking the path that leads to success.
Many persons read good books, but say they do not get much good out of them. They do not realize that all any book or any lesson course can do is to awaken them to their possibilities; to stimulate them to use their will power. You may teach a person from now until doom's day, but that person will only know what he learns himself. "You can lead him to the fountain, but you can't make him drink."
One of the most beneficial practices I know of is that of looking for the good in everyone and everything, for there is good in all things. We encourage a person by seeing his good qualities and we also help ourselves by looking for them. We gain their good wishes, a most valuable asset sometimes. We get back what we give out.
The time comes when most all of us need encouragement; need buoying up. So form the habit of encouraging others, and you will find it a wonderful tonic for both those encouraged and yourself, for you will get back encouraging and uplifting thoughts.
Life furnishes us the opportunity to improve. But whether we do it or not depends upon how near we live up to what is expected of us. The first of each month, a person should sit down and examine the progress he has made. If he has not come up to "expectations" he should discover the reason, and by extra exertion measure up to what is demanded next time.
Every time that we fall behind what we planned to do, we lose just so much for that time is gone forever. We may find a reason for doing it, but most excuses are poor substitutes for action. Most things are possible. Ours may be a hard task, but the harder the task, the greater the reward.
It is the difficult things that really develop us, anything that requires only a small effort, utilizes very few of our faculties, and yields a scanty harvest of achievement. So do not shrink from a hard task, for to accomplish one of these will often bring us more good than a dozen lesser triumphs.
I know that every man that is willing to pay the price can be a success. The price is not in money, but in effort. The first essential quality for success is the desire to do -- to be something. The next thing is to learn how to do it; the next to carry it into execution.
The man that is the best able to accomplish anything is the one with a broad mind; the man that has acquired knowledge, that may, it is true, be foreign to this particular case, but is, nevertheless, of some value in all cases. So the man that wants to be successful must be liberal; he must acquire all the knowledge that he can; he must be well posted not only in one branch of his business but in every part of it. Such a man achieves success.
The secret of success is to try always to improve yourself no matter where you are or what your position. Learn all you can. Don't see how little you can do, but how much you can do. Such a man will always be in demand, for he establishes the reputation of being a hustler. There is always room for him because progressive firms never let a hustler leave their employment if they can help it.
The man that reaches the top is the gritty, plucky, hard worker and never the timid, uncertain, slow worker. An untried man is seldom put in a position of responsibility and power. The man selected is one that has done something, achieved results in some line, or taken the lead in his department. He is placed there because of his reputation of putting vigor and virility into his efforts, and because he has previously shown that he has pluck and determination.
The man that is chosen at the crucial time is not usually a genius; he does not possess any more talent than others, but he has learned that results can only be produced by untiring concentrated effort. That "miracles," in business do not just "happen." He knows that the only way they will happen is by sticking to a proposition and seeing it through. That is the only secret of why some succeed and others fail. The successful man gets used to seeing things accomplished and always feels sure of success. The man that is a failure gets used to seeing failure, expects it and attracts it to him.
It is my opinion that with the right kind of training every man could be a success. It is really a shame that so many men and women, rich in ability and talent, are allowed to go to waste, so to speak. Some day I hope to see a millionaire philanthropist start a school for the training of failures. I am sure he could not put his money to a better use. In a year's time the science of practical psychology could do wonders for him. He could have agencies on the lookout for men that had lost their grip on themselves; that had through indisposition weakened their will; that through some sorrow or misfortune had become discouraged.
At first all they need is a little help to get them back on their feet, but usually they get a knock downwards instead. The result is that their latent powers never develop and both they and the world are the losers. I trust that in the near future, someone will heed the opportunity of using some of his millions in arousing men that have begun to falter. All they need to be shown is that there is within them an omnipotent source that is ready to aid them, providing they will make use of it. Their minds only have to be turned from despair to hope to make them regain their hold.
When a man loses his grip today, he must win his redemption by his own will. He will get little encouragement or advice of an inspiring nature. He must usually regain the right road alone. He must stop dissipating his energies and turn his attention to building a useful career. Today we must conquer our weakening tendencies alone. Don't expect anyone to help you. Just take one big brace, make firm resolutions, and resolve to conquer your weaknesses and vices. Really none can do this for you. They can encourage you; that is all.
I can think of nothing, but lack of health, that should interfere with one becoming successful. There is no other handicap that you should not be able to overcome. To overcome a handicap, all that it is necessary to do is to use more determination and grit and will.
The man with grit and will, may be poor today and wealthy in a few years; will power is a better asset than money; Will will carry you over chasms of failure, if you but give it the chance.
The men that have risen to the highest positions have usually had to gain their victories against big odds. Think of the hardships many of our inventors have gone through before they became a success. Usually they have been very much misunderstood by relatives and friends. Very often they did not have the bare necessities of life, yet, by sheer determination and resolute courage, they managed to exist somehow until they perfected their inventions, which afterwards greatly helped in bettering the condition of others.
Everyone really wants to do something, but there are few that will put forward the needed effort to make the necessary sacrifice to secure it. There is only one way to accomplish anything and that is to go ahead and do it. A man may accomplish almost anything today,
if he just sets his heart on doing it and lets nothing interfere with his progress. Obstacles are quickly overcome by the man that sets out to accomplish his heart's desire. The "bigger" the man, the smaller the obstacle appears. The "smaller" the man the greater the obstacle appears. Always look at the advantage you gain by overcoming obstacles, and it will give you the needed courage for their conquest.
Do not expect that you will always have easy sailing. Parts of your journey are likely to be rough. Don't let the rough places put you out of commission. Keep on with the journey. Just the way you weather the storm shows what material you are made of. Never sit down and complain of the rough places, but think how nice the pleasant stretches were. View with delight the smooth plains that are in front of you.
Do not let a setback stop you. Think of it as a mere incident that has to be overcome before you can reach your goal.
Posted by billenross at 05:44 PM | Comments (0)
June 29, 2006
The Power Of Concentration
For the next 21 blog entries you're going to be able to read the complete book, "The Power Of Concentration" written by Theron Dumont in 1918. Don't let the age of this work fool you; if you apply half of what you read, your life will never be the same again. This book is in the public domain now, so enjoy!
Here's the Introduction...
Do not become discouraged, if you are unable to hold your thought on the subject very long at first. There are very few that can. It seems a peculiar fact that it is easier to concentrate on something that is not good for us, than on something that is beneficial. This tendency is overcome when we learn to concentrate consciously.
If you will just practice a few concentration exercises each day you will find you will soon develop this wonderful power.
Success is assured when you are able to concentrate for you are then able to utilize for your good all constructive thoughts and shut out all the destructive ones. It is of the greatest value to be able to think only that which will be beneficial.
Did you ever stop to think what an important part your thoughts, concentrated thoughts, play in your life? This book shows their far-reaching and all-abiding effects.
These lessons you will find very practical. The exercises I have thoroughly tested. They are arranged so that you will notice an improvement from the very start, and this will give you encouragement. They point out ways in which you can help yourself.
Man is a wonderful creature, but he must be trained and developed to be useful. A great work can be accomplished by every man if he can be awakened to do his very best. But the greatest man would not accomplish much if he lacked concentration and effort. Dwarfs can often do the work of giants when they are transformed by the almost magic power of great mental concentration. But giants will only do the work of dwarfs when they lack this power.
We accomplish more by concentration than by fitness; the man that is apparently best suited for a place does not always fill it best. It is the man that concentrates on its every possibility that makes an art of both his work and his life. All your real advancement must come from your individual effort.
This course of lessons will stimulate and inspire you to achieve success; it will bring you into perfect harmony with the laws of success. It will give you a firmer hold on your duties and responsibilities.
The methods of thought concentration given in this work if put into practice will open up interior avenues that will connect you with the everlasting laws of Being and their exhaustless foundation of unchangeable truth.
As most people are very different it is impossible to give instructions that will be of the same value to all. The author has endeavored in these lessons to awaken that within the soul which perhaps the book does not express. So study these lessons as a means of awakening and training that which is within yourself. Let all your acts and thoughts have the intensity and power of concentration.
How To Create Wealth
To really get the full benefit of these lessons you should read a page, then close the book and thoughtfully recall its ideas. If you will do this you will soon cultivate a concentrated mental habit, which will enable you to read with ordinary rapidity and remember all that you read.
Posted by billenross at 05:32 PM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2006
404 Error Message
A 404 error message is a type of Internet web server error message. Many times this web service error can be frustrating as generally there is not an error with your computer but rather an error with the Web server. A 404 error message means that your server is not able to find the file that you requested. The file you are looking for may be moved or deleted altogether and if either of these is the case than a 404 error message appears on your computer screen.
Many times people type in the file quickly and it is misspelled. If this is the case a 404 error message will appear. Try spelling it the correct way and if the file is still not found it means it has probably been moved or deleted. You can also try to backtrack by deleting information in the URL between each backlash. You can do this until you get the correct page and no error message comes up on your screen. By correcting these things you might be able to find what Web page you are trying to locate.
When using Microsoft Outlook Web Access there are several different types of 404 error messages which can appear. The error can say file not found, not found, object not found, page cannot be found, and the page cannot be found.
Whatever the problem is there is a solution to finding the page if in fact it does exist. A 404 message error is just telling you that there is a problem directing the server to that page.
Posted by billenross at 11:42 PM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2006
Internet Marketing Course
It's not often that I am surprised by something I see online. And it's even more rare that I stumble upon a book or resource that causes me to literally stop what I am doing and write a letter to everyone I know.
But I just discovered that Howard L Moreland -- probably one of the best-known and most well-respected experts on the subject of web-building and Internet marketing -- has just released all the details & secret source tools that allow him to make as much as $500,000 a year from a single website -- "automatically" -- and how he's able to create such sites starting from scratch, and all within just a few short hours!
>> *Often building 10 to 15 such sites in just weeks – making Howard $*millions*$!
The truth is, I still can't figure out exactly WHY Howard has made this information available, since it gives everyone -- including his competitors -- the chance to steal the secrets he's spent the last several years perfecting -- particularly the last 2 most of all!
He shows you everything from growing a super-profitable web-empire as quickly as possible, to generating the highest possible revenue from having several sites working for you "automatically" at once, to how to explode your business virtually overnight -- all with mostly free (yet very effective) tools and resources -- and even FREE ads, both online and off! ...
He also provides you over 200 million places to advertise profitably for FREE, and for any site you create!! -- All instantly accessible to you with instant online links which makes placing all your ads for free "easy & fun"...
His years of testing are going to completely eliminate all of YOUR guesswork!
The thing is, the Internet industry HAS changed dramatically over the past few years. And while company after company has gone out of business just trying to keep up with all these changes, Howard has continued to generate over $3.7 million every year with what he's just giving away to you now for next to nothing!
And this book and super-resource shows you step-by-step what Howard has already done and continues to do, and precisely how he does it so you can take his strategies and model them to create your own super-online success.
Plus, with over 200 million places to promote your site, and an additional 15,000+ instant links, I was especially impressed by the way Howard's book is unlike any other as you can use it to start making money off the Internet literally within just 5 short minutes of having opened it up -- and tested -- all the resources and links for your very own instant use, and your own business.
I still think that Howard's going to regret giving all this information away, so I would advise you to grab this book while you can! It really does provide you everything you need to do in order to grow your business successfully and explosively with the Internet – plus over 200 million free ads instantly.
Find out how to make money online here!
All the best...
Bill Enross
Posted by billenross at 12:08 AM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2006
Getting Started with Photoshop, A Beginners Guide
Adobe™ Photoshop is arguably the finest image management software available anywhere, and the price reflects its value. When you begin using Photoshop, you will doubtless find the many options overwhelming in their number and scope. You may be tempted to 'x' right out of the program and go grab a frosty beverage, but wait. There's a lot of fun and power at your fingertips, and you'll want to go through each option and tool one at a time, to learn exactly how you can manage, modify and create images you'd never have believed possible.
Well, let's begin by opening the application. Once you have Photoshop open and running, you'll notice that on the left is a tall, skinny toolbox with many icons which represent graphically the function(s) they perform. That's right; many of the tools have multiple functions (just to make things more interesting.)
On the Right hand side of the window you'll see a 'stack' of palettes which allow you to control the characteristics of the TOOL you've selected in the Toolbox.
Click on 'FILE' and select 'NEW' from the drop down menu. When you do, another option box appears with the word 'NEW' in the title bar. Below that, you'll find option boxes where you can enter the parameters that define your new image workspace.
Place your mouse cursor in the NAME space and create a filename of your choice. "TESTPIC" might be a good choice, but that's up to you.
Next, TAB into the WIDTH option box and type 5, tab to the width UNITS option and click the "DOWN" arrow. A drop-down option box appears with several unit options available. Select 'INCHES'.
Tab to the HEIGHT option box and type 7, tab over and be sure 'INCHES' is selected there as well.
Accept the default RESOLUTION (which should read 72 pixels per inch), and leave the MODE and CONTENTS defaults at RGB and WHITE (background).
Click on OK and an empty, WHITE rectangle will appear in the workspace. It represents a 5x7 inch picture. So let's create a basic picture in the space. At the same time, you'll see that a horizontal panel has opened up in each of TWO of the palettes at the RIGHT side of your screen. One is the HISTORY TAB. It has a small rectangle with the title you gave your work.
Below that is a BLUE bar with the word NEW. The HISTORY palette records EVERYTHING you do to your picture. Really handy if you want to change something immediately or dump a whole BUNCH of changes all at once.
We're going to make a new LAYER to do our work on. What we've created so far is just a White rectangle which is the background for our picture. The LAYER is where we're going to do our work, and incidentally the LAYERS in Photoshop are the things that really give your Photoshop images their flexibility and power.
It's best to start out by de-mystifying the idea of LAYERS right up front, so here's the straight information. Imagine each LAYER as a clear piece of acetate that you can draw on and a collection of LAYERS as a stack of acetate sheets each with a different part of the picture drawn on it.
Beneath the HISTORY palette is the LAYERS/CHANNELS/PATHS palette. The LAYERS palette has a blue horizontal rectangle titled 'BACKGROUND'. That's your empty picture frame.
At the bottom of the palette are three symbols. A square with a circle in it, a page like icon with the bottom left corner folded up, and a TRASH can icon. (You can guess what it's for). The page like icon is the 'NEW LAYER' icon. Allow the mouse pointer to hover over the icon and its function will 'pop up' in a little information window. Click the icon and a NEW layer called 'LAYER 1' appears above the 'Background' layer. It is BLUE because it is the ACTIVE layer. The one you'll be working on. There's a checkerboard pattern in the page area because nothing is on that new layer yet.
The BRUSH symbol means that the layer is ready to receive data, and the eyeball symbol simply means that the layer is VISIBLE.
That's right. You can have invisible layers. Why? You'll see in just a few minutes, but you've probably already guessed.
You're ready to start using TOOLS.
In the TOOL palette (at the left side of the workspace) there are 2 columns of 10 icons, a pair of overlapping squares which represent the foreground and background colors, two screen mode icons, of which the left one is 'depressed' or 'selected' by default, three 'screen mode' selection buttons and at the very bottom is a 'jump to external application' button, which you'll only use infrequently, if at all.
Select the TOP LEFT TOOL with your mouse. Left Click and HOLD the button down. A 'FLYOUT' menu appears which offers several options. That particular tool is called the 'SELECTION TOOL' and it has several modes. Let's use the RECTANGULAR selection mode first. Click the tool, be sure the rectangular dotted line icon is visible on the button after you release the mouse button, and then click and DRAG from the upper left to the lower right in your picture area, starting about 1 inch from the top and 1 inch from the left side, ending up about 1 inch from the bottom and 1 inch from the right side.
NOW. Click the little black and white squares below the backqround/foreground colors palette (near the bottom of the tool box) and you'll see the two squares change color. The top left square is BLACK and the bottom right square is WHITE. These are the DEFAULT colors for the foreground (top left square since it's on top) and background (bottom right square, since it's on the bottom).
Right above the color display is a hand icon, and just above THAT is a PAINTBUCKET icon.
Click the paint bucket icon to select it. It's also called the FILL TOOL.
Move your mouse cursor into the area bounded by the rectangular selection you made a minute ago. Click the mouse anywhere inside the selected area. It immediately fills with the foreground color (in this case, BLACK).
Now you will learn why layers can become invisible. Click the little 'eyeball' icon beside the image of your picture in the 'LAYER' palette.
Your black rectangle disappears (becomes invisible) revealing the contents of the layer beneath it (in this case, the original white background).
That's what this series of articles will assist you in doing. There will be another article ready to release soon, so check back often, as the steps build on one another, and you don't want to miss anything. Keep Photoshop warm. It's a great application and you'll enjoy it immensely.
Posted by billenross at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2006
Autoresponders - Your Number One Marketing Tool
One of the key tools for anyone wanting to do business on the World Wide Web is an autoresponder. It also is one of the most misunderstood tools among those new to the effort – and sometimes even for those who have been online for many years.
In its simplest form, autoresponders allow you to create a fixed message that will go back to anyone who e-mails a specific address. The most common use for this is the “I’m away from my office until 29 May and will not be checking my e-mail until I return” type of message. Messages of this type can be created within the control panel of most ISP e-mail servers.
Third party autoresponders provide the kind of control needed for a marketing or sales application. The good news is there are a number of excellent autoresponders that can be used at no charge. Those that do have a fee – whether a one-time purchase fee for a system you set up on your own server or a monthly/yearly fee for one you access online – typically are well within the budgets of nearly anyone trying to do business online.
Perhaps even better news is that autoresponders are not difficult to set up, even those that offer several levels of capability across a broad range of possible applications. The largest and most popular autoresponders often come with tutorials – some of them video – that walk you through the set-up process step-by-step. Many also have user forums or support systems that will help you if you get stuck.
The possible uses for an autoresponder at this level are legion. For example, you can set one up to send out a newsletter to your mailing list on a regular basis, another to send e-mails advising your list of special sales, upgrades, new releases or other such information. Still another autoresponder can deliver your digital product, along with future patches or upgrades.
These different tasks actually can be set up using a single autoresponder, even a single account, depending on the capabilities of the system you have selected. Many of the free autoresponders allow you to upgrade to a fee-based version, with far more capabilities, without losing anything you already have created.
Posted by billenross at 04:18 PM | Comments (0)
