Ten Lies You’ll Hear Before Pursuing Your Dream

                    Unfortunately, just before you take your first step on the righteous journey to pursue your dreams, people around you, even the ones who deeply care for you, will give you awful advice. It’s not because they have evil intentions. It’s because they don’t understand the big picture—what your dreams, passions, and life goals mean to you. They don’t understand that, to you, the reward is worth the risk.
So they try to protect you by shielding you from the possibility of failure, which, in effect, also shields you from the possibility of making your dreams a reality.
As our friend Steve Jobs says:
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Here are ten ill-advised tips (lies) people will likely tell you when you decide to pursue your dreams and the reasons why they are dreadfully mistaken:

1. You can follow your dreams someday, but right now you need to buckle down and be responsible.
Someday? When is ”someday”? “Someday” is not a day at all. It’s a foggy generalization of a time that will likely never come. Today is the only day guaranteed to you. Today is the only day you can begin to make a difference in your life. And pursuing your dreams is what life is all about. So don’t be irresponsible. Don’t wait until “someday.” Make today the first day of the rest of your new life.

2. You’re totally screwed if it doesn’t work out.
Wrong! This is a giant, lame load of BS. You’re not even close to being screwed. In fact, the worst case scenario is that things don’t work out and you have to go back to doing exactly what you are doing right now.

3. It’s safer to stay at your day job.
Sure, I suppose. But you know what’s even safer than that? Going home, locking yourself in your bedroom, and never, ever coming out. And just like that, you will have flushed your entire life and your dreams down the toilet. Remember, safer doesn’t always mean better.

4. That’s impossible!
It’s only impossible if you never do anything about it. The reason certain things seem impossible is simply because nobody has achieved them yet. But this doesn’t mean that with your help these things won’t become possible in the future. If you truly dedicate yourself to an end result, almost anything is possible. You just have to want it bad enough.

Quick Tips To Raise Your Low Self Confidence

Learning to Believe in Yourself
Of all the attributes you need in order to succeed, which do you think is the most important? Skills? Of course you need to learn those. Hard work? Definitely a help on the road to success. Luck? While it certainly can play a role, that's really not something you can control. How about connections? Again, certainly helpful but not the most important factor.
Actually, it's none of those.
It's self confidence. As Henry Ford once said, "If you think you can, you're right and if you think you can't, you're right."
What is confidence? It is the belief that we are able to do certain things and do them well. If we believe we can "fit in" in a social situation, we are more likely to do just that. If we believe we can succeed in our work, there's a good chance we will. If we believe that we are a worthy person with good ideas and strong skills, soon we'll inspire others to think the same.
Being confident is not something we're born with; well at least not most of us. It's something we must learn, then practice every day of our lives. We must understand how to gauge our levels of self confidence so we can tell if it is helping or hindering our success. Too little confidence and we fail; too much and we become arrogant.
The first step is to assess your inner feelings. If you feel as though you're constantly being walked on and taken advantage of, or incapable of accomplishing more than you have in life, it's time to learn how to improve your confidence in yourself. Follow these self help tips and you'll be off to good start...
Begin with your appearance. Those who look confident and act confident are perceived as being confident. Dress comfortably, but neatly, and with some style. If you're a jeans and t-shirt person, step up to pressed khakis and polo shirts (or at least invest in better quality jeans and tees). Stand up straight; good posture makes you look positive. Get a haircut, either in a new style or an update of the one you have. Walk with your head up and take longer strides, Avoid looking down; it makes you appear as if you are fearful.
Now you're ready to tackle interactions. Stop mumbling, instead speak clearly and look into the eyes of the person you're talking to. (Hint: if you have trouble maintaining eye contact, look at the bridge of the other person's nose; they'll never know the difference.) Switch from making negative comments to making positive ones, especially when speaking about yourself. Rather than saying "I don't think I can do this" try "This will be a challenge, but I'm ready for it!"
Once you've tried these ways to increase your confidence fast, keep it up. Every morning, look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that once again today you will stand tall, dress well, speak up, and insert positive thinking into every conversation. If you do that, you'll become happy with your life and your purpose - before you know it. That's really what self confidence is all about.

Self Defense Techniques - The 3 Key Secrets

Self defense tactics are essential for survival against the daily threat of violence. Don't be the next crime statistic. In this article I share the 3 essential secrets you need to know.
I have studied and trained in martial arts for over ten years but to teach someone ways to survive on the street I rarely go into specific moves such as how to punch or kick. The key points you need to be aware of are as follows -
1) Self Awareness. Martial arts masters like Bruce Lee stressed the importance of self awareness to their students and followers. Firstly, you must understand how you personally will react in violent situations. The adrenalin rush affects us all but some people are able to deal with it and remain calm better than others. Even a highly skilled martial artist trained in an art such as aikido or karate may fall apart under the stress of a real assault. Knowing how you will react is essential.
Secondly, you must have awareness of your surroundings and those around you. I call this common sense - it's natural to me - but some may call it a sixth sense! I have been in situations in a bar or club when I can see or hear an argument or confrontation developing or a person simply looking for trouble. In this situation the first option is to get out of the way or be ready to have to respond.
2) Avoid Confrontation. This can take several forms and I will start with avoiding places or situations when you know there is greater chance of violence. The obvious idea is to avoid parts of town, bars, parks, alleyways and other such places where there is a history of violence or where characters likely to be involved in fights and attacks hang out.
For women in particular, I advise constant caution in the situations you put yourself. For example, if you meet a new guy and arrange a date think abut a safe place to meet, somewhere you know and are familiar with. This isn't about living in fear it's about common sense and being realistic about the situations which sadly may occur.
For men, the hardest part can be to walk away from an encounter. Egos have put many men in hospital! The best self defense tactic us usually walking away but of course most situations develop into a fight. Even though I have years of martial arts training I never look for a fight - in fact I go out of my way to avoid them.
3) If a fight is the only way out, fight hard. Sadly it isn't always possible to talk or reason your way out of a situation. If alcohol or other drugs are involved this is particularly true. If faced with a gang or group there simply may be no way out other than to fight. In these situations we must be prepared to go in hard with any street fighting or self defense moves we know. Weak and vulnerable areas of the body such as the eyes, nose and groin are obvious target points. In the eyes of the lay there is of course the need to use 'reasonable force' but I take the stance that this is something to worry about afterwards. If faced with someone intent to injure you there is only one way to fight.
Once you have understood and accepted these points you can consider actual self defense techniques to learn. It isn't always necessary to attend formal martial arts classes and the best techniques are usually the most simple to learn and execute.