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I am delighted to welcome Jonathan Figaro to Reach Our Dreams today. Jonathan is the voice behind The Dropout Kid where he writes all about living a life of possibility. You can sign up for his RSS feed and receive his updates or follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

You can only succeed by going through your failures. Your must see failure as an event not a person. What’s the point in crying over spilled milk right? I'd like to share a lesson about failure:

A 7 year old boy had been trying to take a bottle of milk out the refrigerator, when he lost his grip and spilled the entire contents on the kitchen floor. His father, instead of scolding him, said “what an exciting mess you've made!”
“I've rarely sees such a huge puddle of milk. Well, the damage is already done. Would you like to get down and play in the milk before we clean it up?"

Indeed, he did. And, after a few minutes, his father continued, “You know, whenever you make a mess like this, eventually you have to clean it up. So, how would you like to do that? We could use a towel, sponge or mop. Which do you prefer?"

After they were finished cleaning up milk, he said, "What we have here is a failed experiment in how to carry a big bottle of milk with two tiny hands. Let's go out in the back yard, fill the bottle with water and see if you can discover a way to carry it without dropping it." And they did.

A life-time experience paid off in the life of this young man. It allowed him to see failure to be as fun as succeeding itself.

Attitude is Everything

This mentality is essential as you walk through life and away from societal conditioning.

Divide your goals into segments, allow yourself to enjoy failure and conquer your next objective with your head held up high. Do as Caesar did two thousand years ago, “I came, I saw, I conquered”. Conquer every situation with tenacity. Develop the strength to see the unseen, hold the invisible and brush shoulders with happiness.

Your attitude before any given task sets the stage for its completion. A failure needs to be seen as a way to improve somehow. Ask yourself upon failing “What can I learn from this?” Your answer may not come immediately but it will come. Confidently expect to find the answer and you will. Use this insight to fuel you towards trying to hit the bull’s eye once again.

Success Is Not An Overnight Gig

No genie in the sky will provide you with success over a period of 24 hours. I learned the hard way. Not too long ago I invested $5,000 into a Website program hoping to make a quick 6 figure a month. $5,000 at the age of 19 is a lot to invest when you only have half (I put the rest on credit cards). I assumed that after this 6 month program was over I would be rolling in dough. My luck just wasn’t that great. The website was a complete failure with only 4 customers and 2 asking for a refund. Still motivated to create financial freedom for myself, I learnt firsthand (which is the best way) that success takes time. Financial longevity is not an overnight gig but a process.

You must never give up. I haven’t. Have the courage to stick around 5 minutes longer than those who have let go. Never let your failure recent or past hold you back from succeeding. I am not letting failure hold me back so why should it hold you? Your success is determined by the choices you make in life. Choose to be a success and you will be. Choose to be happy and you will dazzled by your brilliance. Choose to learn from your mistakes and you will improve. Choose to let go of the past and built a new future. Choose to create a new chapter in your life.

“I am not defined by my failures; I am defined by what I do with my failures.” TheDropoutKid

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"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." Albert Einstein

I was a vegetarian at University for about three years as well and although I like the taste of meat and fish, on some level eating it has always felt wrong for me. I decided to listen to that feeling and went back to being vegetarian in January 2009. I honestly thought I would miss eating meat and fish but I haven't once missed it in over 18 months ago. There are lots of benefits to eliminating animal products from your diet and I wanted to share some of them with you here.

The more I experiment and learn about vegetarian and vegan diets the more I feel happy with my decision and the more determined I am to eat more consciously. It is a learning curve and I am by no means perfect.

I am not writing this to make anyone feel guilty or wrong – I don’t think that helps anyone or is conducive to change, however knowledge and awareness are. This article is an overview of some of the benefits to eating a vegetarian diet. There are also huge amounts of resources on and offline with which you can inform yourself about your diet and food choices. After all “We are what we eat” so it pays to know what we are putting into our bodies and impact our choices make on us and the world around us.

Save Lives

If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian”. Sir Paul McCartney

This is the main reason I became a vegetarian. The average vegetarian spares the lives of over 50 animals each year. That adds up to thousands during a lifetime. Although I have enjoyed eating meat, as I said deep down I have always felt that it didn’t feel quite right. I can eat well without harming another living creature and have found it remarkably easy to do so. We do make a choice every time we eat and that choice is the difference between life and death for an animal. There is no two ways around that. It is so easy to disassociate ourselves from the meat and fish food production process. Meat and fish food production is not the only way animals are harmed and killed for our food. The dairy and egg industry also have a lot to answer for too. I am in the process of doing more research about this area. When you start to learn how things really work its pretty shocking and upsetting but also helps you to make more informed choices. I encourage you to really think and learn about what you eat and where it comes from. This is what I am doing and the more I learn, the more empowered I feel.

Protect Our Environment

Becoming vegetarian is one of the easiest ways you can help protect the earth. Being vegetarian decreases the strain on the earth’s limited resources, decreases pollution, helps to prevent global warming, and also save countless species from extinction.

There are so many ways that the production of meat and fish for the food industry is damaging to the environment. For example, did you know that rearing cattle for food produces more greenhouse gases than driving cars? This is just one example of how being vegetarian will make a massive differene to the environment.

Reduce Famine

Currently, 72 percent of all grain produced in the United States is fed to animals raised for slaughter. It takes 15 pounds of feed to get one pound of meat. However if the grain were given directly to people, there'd be enough food to feed the whole planet.

Save Money

Being vegetarian will save you a lot of money. If you stop eating red meat, poultry and fish, you will find plant proteins much cheaper than the equivalent amount of animal protein. Replacing meat, chicken and fish with vegetables and fruits is estimated to cut food bills by an average of £2,500 a year.

Better Health

A vegetarian diet offers a range of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein, as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals.

Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than nonvegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.

In America alone, $60 billion to $120 billion is spent annually to treat the heart disease, cancer, obesity, and food poisoning that are byproducts of a diet heavy on animal products.

There is lots of different evidence out there about the pros and cons of eating meat vs vegetarianism and veganism but don’t forget there is a lot of money in the animal product food industry and the associated advertising. Listen to your own gut and see what truly feels right for you.

Lose Weight

An added bonus is that I have dropped nearly a dress size since becoming vegetarian again at the beginning of 2009. All research indicates that on average vegetarians are slimmer than meat eaters. According to a study carried out by Cancer Research UK, people who eat meat and carry on doing so put on more weight over a five year period than people who switch over to vegetarianism. Vegetarians put on less weight than meat eaters, and vegans put on less weight than vegetarians.

Expand Your Tastes

I thought I would miss meat, but I can honestly say I haven’t. I try new things and have learnt lots of new recipes since becoming vegetarian. I used to have the tendency to choose a meat dish if going out for a meal, but since going vegetarian am more likely to try something new. I also find it much easier to get my five a day as I focus much more on eating fruit and vegetables as a staple part of my diet now.

I know this can be an emotive topic but I believe that really educating ourselves about this is vital to improving our relationships with the animals we share the earth with, our own health and the health of the planet that we share.

I would love to hear what you think. What is your diet like and why do you eat what you eat? What improvements would you like to make?

Resources & Interesting Links:

Meat Is More Than Murder

Meat Eaters vs Vegetarians

How To Travel As A Vegan

I also highly recommend "Skinny Bitch" by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. Written to teach people the truth about food, it does that and much much more. A profound and insightful book that pulls no punches!

I encourage you to do some searching of your own on and offline. There are so many resources available to educate yourself on what you eat, vegetarianism and veganism and the animal food industry. Just start at Google if you are unsure where to go.

Today I am delighted to be able to share an interview with my good friend and fellow coach and blogger Christine Livingston. Christine helps professionals navigate career change and can be found at A Different Kind of Work. You can connect with Christine on Twitter @coblyn or if you enjoyed this article why not subscribe to her RSS?

You are the voice behind A Different Kind of Work. Can you tell us more about your site and who you write for?

The site is for smart, gutsy professional people who are daring not to be defined by old career rules, and who are instead trying to create a different kind of relationship with work.

What do I mean by old career rules? Well, I mean all the spoken – and unspoken – assumptions about what work is and how we should orient ourselves in its regard. So many practices have become norms over the years. Often we just accept them as truths and adapt ourselves and our behaviour to fit in.

For example, part of the mythology of work is that it’s a drudge – something we love only to escape from. Yet, we’re supposed to spend more time at work than on anything else in our lives. That sets us up for inner conflict right from the off. Conflict that means we keep some skin in the game.

How might it be if work was allowed to be a major source of identity building and meaning-making for people? A vehicle through which we relate to the world of others and ourselves?

I hope my writing inspires people to find what’s real and true for them around work, and supports them to in achieving it.

What has your own journey been like in the area of work and how did you get into work change coaching?

I did Psychology at university and went into HR after I graduated, ending up as an HR director for American Express. I then did a couple of years with a big consulting company. In the end I found both jobs quite exhausting and soulless. Looking back I think that’s because I over-adapted myself to them and suppressed too much of who I really am.

Still, one of the great things about them was that they allowed me to understand that I had this interest in work and what it meant to people. I was also lucky to get basic coach training from the one and consulting skills training from the other.

So, when I quit corporate life and set up my own coaching and consulting firm, I had services I could sell. I ran this business while behind the scenes beginning what would be a long search for what I should really, really be doing. My search took me into doing a lot of my own coaching and indeed therapy work; both themselves areas in which I did in-depth training.

In tandem, what I noticed happening was that more and more of the clients who came to me for help brought to me the kind of thing I was myself exploring: work; the desire for it to mean something; and the whole struggle to find a way to see it in the context of a broader, happy life.

Then last year, having been a closet writer all of my life, I allowed myself to create my blog, and was just thrilled with the whole experience.

Coaching in work change was then something that emerged as a marrying of various different pieces of me, as opposed to something I would ever have been able to see as a destination ten years or so ago.

What one piece of advice would you give to people who feel stuck in the area of work or unsure what to do next?

It’s counter-intuitive, but I’d say do nothing.

The more you focus on stuckness, or panic about not moving forward, the more you rob your creative processes of the energy to find ways through or out.

Instead, engage some curiosity about feeling stuck. Dialogue with your situation. How come you’re stuck? How come you are stuck now? In what ways are you stuck? If stuckness had a purpose, what is it teaching you? If it was helping you develop some aspect or quality of yourself, what would it be? What is it that stuckness is making you confront about yourself?

Do all of this lightly. Take all the “shoulds” and the judgements off of yourself and see where that takes you.

Often new possibilities will open up for you simply by allowing your stuckness rather than fighting it.

Experiment in little ways with the ideas that emerge. Don’t need them to succeed. Be happy if they do. Learn from your experiences whether they do or don’t. Use every experiment as a piece of data, course-correcting your path.

Is there a typical client you work with?

They tend to be professional. By which I mean they have some form of education beyond school. They have also typically identified some form of career path or other, even if that’s morphed for them along the way. They are often lawyers, bankers, accountants, teachers and educators, architects, nurses, PR folks, journalists, personal assistants, coaches and consultants.

To an extent, though, that’s less typical than a hunger to make work a different deal in their lives. It’s often prompted by something that significantly shifts their status quo. A redundancy, business drying up, failing professional exams, not getting an expected promotion, falling in love, or having a baby and finding that what they once thought about work is no longer true. Or people just getting to the end of something in themselves. The words, “I’ve had enough…” are common in the beginning and give good impetus for real change.

Wanted: Smart Professionals Ready For Better Work Life Balance

Join Christine in London on the 24th of September for The Worklife Makeover Workshop, a serious power day, guaranteed to give more shape, focus and energy to your work and to your life. Christine ran the first Worklife Makeover Workshop in June, which was a great success. You can read feedback from participants and a review of the first workshop here.

Find Out More Here. Note: Early Bird Offers Available Till 6th August.

Upgrade Reality in Diggy’s words is “a no nonsense guide to overcoming personal obstacles and getting the life if your dreams”. "Upgrade Reality" is a complete guide to
help you overcome all your own fears, limiting beliefs and personal obstacles. Get the life you dream of living!

I have been following Diggy and his blog since before I started my own blog a year ago and have watched him grown to over 1800 subscribers to date. Diggy consistently produces inspirational and practical articles to help people make positive change in their lives.

You can find Diggy’s blog here at Upgrade Reality.

Price

The book launches today (26 July 2010) at $27.00 USD (Limited Offer) which I feel is a reasonable price for the quality of this book and the information provided.

What’s included?

Diggy has organised the book into the following categories:

• Achievement & Success

• Productivity

• Confidence & Self-esteem

• Business

• Body & Mind

• People & Relationships

Relevant and Holistic

Diggy shares lessons in a variety of areas of life in this book. I am a big believer that being happy in one area has a ripple effect to other areas and vice versa so the way this book was set out worked well for me. Diggy links the various topics together in a seamless manner and looks at life holistically. There is no point having great success in business if your health is poor as a result. Diggy is obviously building momentum with his website businesses but it is obvious that he has a clear idea that a successful life is a well balanced life. He looks at the importance of a healthy life in all areas.

Inspirational and Practical

This book is inspirational as well as practical. This is important for me when reading a personal development type book as I like to have things to take away as well as inspiration. Diggy shares inspirational stories in a way that helps you apply the lessons to your own life. He also shows you how he has developed himself in various areas of his own life and repackages what he learnt so that others can learn from it too. My goal with my own website is similar to Diggy’s so it was really useful for me to read about his experiences as someone further along this road. Some of the ideas in the Business section were completely new to me so I am looking forward to delving further into what I started to learn here.

Honest

Diggy doesn’t claim to be an expert, but shares his experiences and lessons in a down to earth yet professional manner. He shares about his journey from a shy seventeen year old to the confident man we know today. The fact that he has been there and done it and is happy to share what he has learnt makes this book all the more credible and inspirational.

Professional Design

The ebook is beautifully designed. I really like the design and it is laid out clearly and is very easy to read on the screen. I was also particularly impressed with how Diggy put it together. It is professional, with a lot of useful information whilst also is concise and well edited. The chapters are clear and relevant and there is a good flow to the book.

Verdict

Upgrade Reality is a well written, useful and beautifully designed book. I am very impressed with how Diggy has put this together. He shares his experience and the lessons he has learnt in all areas of life in a practical and professional manner.

As a fellow blogger, the section on blogging was particularly interesting to me and I also learnt a lot of new things in the Business chapter. I have been consistently impressed with what Diggy shares at www.upgradereality.com and this book more than delivers on its promise. Easy to read, practical and inspirational; Upgrade Reality is a fantastic handbook for living the life of your dreams.

To buy "Upgrade Reality" please click here.

Note: I am delighted to be an affiliate for this product.

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Today is one year since I started this blog so I wanted to celebrate with a post and to say THANK YOU to everyone for reading and supporting my work here. I am really happy with how this year has gone. I have developed my writing and website tweaking skills, learnt a lot about myself and made some great friends along the way. From the feedback I have had from you I know that my posts have made a difference, which is a great feeling and the reason why I started this site in the first place.

I had originally planned to share some of the things that I learnt about blogging in this post, but after reading this brilliant post: 33 Things I’ve Never Told You (or, How to Re-Introduce Yourself and Kick Your Watered-Down Self in the Ass) by Corbett Barr, I decided it might be more interesting if I shared 33 things I have never told you about me:

1. I’m 34, but people think I am a lot younger (usually...lol!). I got asked for ID buying alcohol on my 30th birthday which made my year! Saying that, you know you are getting older when you are happy getting ID’d!

2. My parents are Irish. They met in London and settled there. Being born in England I don’t share their Irish accents. My immediate family and some relatives live in England and I have a lot of relatives in Ireland too.

3. I have a very silly sense of humour. The more simple and childish, the better!

4. I met my husband on the Internet when I was 29. I felt embarrassed telling people that initially, but realised after a while how cool it was that I didn’t hang round and wait for what I wanted! Now I tell people, it’s possible… you can find love on the Internet!

5. I'm a Sagittarius. I know star signs aren't everyone's cup of tea but I find things like that interesting so I'm sure some of you will too.

6. I am a book worm. Seriously, if I was left on a desert island for a year with a library, I think I’d be ok! I read ten books in a week when I was on holiday in Thailand a few years ago.

7. I spent most of my twenties feeling lost. I have always been a searcher and spent a lot of time in my twenties doing just that. I felt adrift a lot of the time but am proud of myself that I went out into the world and didn’t settle. I'm not saying I have any answers now, but I do feel a lot more grounded these days.

8. I spent a year in Australia in my early twenties. What a beautiful country!

9. I enjoy a cigar now and then. I used to smoke but always planned to give up by the time I was 30. I managed that, but have a cigar now and then. A little vice of mine.

10. I love watching films. My favourite film is "Life is Beautiful".

11. I’ve lived in quite a lot of places. I've lived in London (UK), Manchester (UK), Brighton (UK) and Sydney (Australia) and Kent (UK). I’m from a suburb of London originally; I went to University in Manchester, spent a year in Australia and lived in Brighton for a while. I now live in the Kent countryside near the coast. All were great places to live (especially Sydney ) and I love country living as well as the city. I think I’ve always been trying to find a balance of the two!

12. I think too much. Not the useful type of thinking but the over analyzing type! I’ve got better at controlling this but it is a tendency I have to keep in check! On the positive side, I think it helps me to understand this tendency in others in my coaching and writing work.

13. I am a vegetarian. I used to be a vegetarian at University but gradually turned back to eating meat. I realized it didn’t feel right for me and became vegetarian again in January 2009.

14. I have had a lot of jobs. I used to get itchy feet a lot (and still do sometimes). I have worked in a bank, been a waitress, worked as a Care Worker, manned a hot dog stand at a funfair, worked as a Coach and worked for HR within the National Health Service to name a few.

15. I’m not sure if I’ll have children. I like children a lot but have never felt like having my own. This hasn’t changed as I get older.

16. I am impatient. This is a habit I try to break and probably why I am so interested in teachings and philosophies about living in the present moment.

17. I can be very sociable, but have strong hermit tendencies too. I love my friends and family but like my alone time too. I used to ignore my hermit whisperings but am getting better at listening to what I need and feel the better for it.

18. I’ve hiked in South America.

19. I have a Psychology degree. I had a great time studying and meeting new people. No regrets but in hindsight see the benefit of developing your entrepreneurial skills as well.

20. I have a tattoo on my left foot.

21. I used to have a tongue piercing. Yeah, that hurt!

22. I love getting older. I feel like turning 30 liberated me, I worry far less these days about what other people think or doing what other people think I should do.

23. I am a good swimmer. I was swimming as soon as I remember and used to compete in tournaments. The skills I learnt never left me and I am a strong swimmer.

24. I did a Nutrition Diploma. I passed all my exams but not my course work. I never used this professionally but its been invaluable for my own health.

25. I love food. One of my favourite things is eating out. I also bake a great carrot cake.

26. I am a big fan of comedy. I love a good laugh, in real life and watching comedy. “The Inbetweeners” and “How I Met Your Mother” are some of favourite programs. I also love films like “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Elf”.

27. Some people think I am a bit of a hippy. I guess I am in ways, I like doing what feels right for me more than what looks right.

28. I can’t sing. But I still do. (at home anyway!)

29. I love my cat, Squeaky. Ok, you probably know that already!

30. "The Dice Man" was my favorite book as a teenager. It is a book about a man who makes all of his choices in life based on throwing a dice.

31. Our honeymoon was in New York. That was my first time in North America and I loved it!

32. I love running and yoga. I find running a great way to shake stress out of my system and switch my mind off and yoga is just great for everything!

33. I love being a blogger. Half the time I feel like I don’t know what I am doing, but I keep going and somehow it seems to be working out!

The Personal Excellence Book is a compilation of 120 premium, personal development articles written by Celestine Chua, which includes 110 articles from the blog as well as 10 new, never seen before bonus articles.

I found Celestine’s blog a while back and was immediately impressed with the quality of Celestine’s work. Celestine is the founder and peak performance coach at The School of Personal Excellence , where she conduct workshops, seminars and 1-1 coaching to help others achieve excellence. Celestine has been featured in media including CNN, Asia One, Today, Lianhe Zaobao, Lianhe Wanbao, Simply Her magazine, My Paper and 938 Live radio. You can find Celestine’s blog here at The Personal Excellence Blog.

Price

The book will be launched on 25 July at $24.95 USD. There will be a special pre-sales exclusive to newsletter subscribers only, 1 week before the launch on the 18 July. This means you’ll be given the chance to get your hands on the book before anyone else. There’ll also be a discount off the original price for the early birds. This pre-sales offer will be only valid to ONLY the 1st 25 buyers and is on a 1st come 1st serve basis.

What’s included?

Celestine has helpfully categorized the articles into 9 key categories for easy browsing:

• Purpose & Meaning

• Awareness & Growth

• Passion & Dreams

• Goals & Success

• Cultivating Life Transforming Habits

• Emotional Mastery

• People Skills/Relationships

• Maximizing Productivity

• Inspirational Quotes

Thorough and Relevant

This book is very detailed and comprehensive. There are articles about achieving excellence in all areas of life. The book includes practical hands on tips as well as inspiration and sharing from Celestine about her own journey through life. What I really liked about this book is that there are lots of exercises to get you really thinking about your life such as creating a "bucket list" and writing a letter to your future self and I particularly liked the idea of creating a "Life Handbook".

Useful

Celestine shares her skills as a Coach and includes a section providing detailed answers to questions from readers about areas of their life. I liked this idea as it was easy to identify with peoples questions and interesting to see Celestine’s responses. I also found the articles on goal setting and productivity very interesting and was particularly interested to read about Celestine achieving her goal of becoming a vegan as this is something I am thinking about doing as well.

There is a lot of information in this book and I enjoyed reading it a lot. It is also a great reference guide, for example the “Cultivate Life Transforming Habits” section has some helpful articles about giving up TV, meditation, how to be on time, exercise and how to manage emails effectively.

Practical

This book is very practical as well as inspirational. I noticed some internal resistance to some of the exercises around organising and planning but realised that that this is one of the areas I really need to work on! I have ear-marked sections of the book to revisit so that I can work on these areas.

Transparent

I particularly liked how Celestine shared her own journey with following her passion (leaving her corporate job to create her own training company "The School of Personal Excellence"). She shows the obstacles she has had to overcome and also shares details such as her income and the progress she has made. This transparency made me feel better about my own goals and progress as someone in a similar field and also made me look at some of the areas in which I have given up myself and what I could do about that.

Professional Design

The ebook has a professional design and is laid out clearly and is very easy to read on the screen.

Verdict

As I have felt previously through visiting Celestine’s site and guest posts, she really gives it her all in this book. It is a great handbook for life, particularly in the areas of living an authentically successful life and achieving your goals and dreams. It is practical and inspiring and Celestine’s enthusiasm really shines through.

It is a very large book and could be read cover to cover or used as a reference guide (or both!). The biggest thing I got from reading this book was getting in touch with some of the areas of life where I have given up. I have now started looking at reigniting those flames and going for what I really want in those areas.

Of course, you will need to take action as well as read this book to get the results you are after. As long as you do that, you will find this book a very useful tool to help you live the life you really want.

To buy "The Personal Excellence Book" please click here.

Note: I am delighted to be an affiliate for this product.