I listened recently to a radio program about the the "letters" of great men and women. Down through the ages, the written letter has given insight and solidity to the people that fill our histories. Through the letter, we are privileged to catch a glimpse of their inner workings.

Interestingly, it is the letters they DIDN'T post that often reveal the most about them. The next day, before the postmans arrival, they were reconsidered and tossed in a drawer or box... never sent to their recipient. More than a few reputations have been saved because of the unsent, hand-written missive.

One of the unseen impacts of electronic communications is that we guard our words less and less. We don't speak with significance or care, and we write well-considered letters far less than in the past. Some of us may have simply stopped doing so. Electronic "laziness" has set in, frankly.

But, that doesn't eliminate the power of the word. Modern arrogance does not remove the onus of being earnest and saying what matters. Firing off whatever pops into your head, trying to "keep it real" or be spontaneous... well, that is a poor salve for being insincere.

So, I recommend you attempt to treat ALL the things you write as serious. Everything you write in internet forums or post to your blog, for example, can be seen by the world. The internet has given us far more exposure than our predecessors ever had; millions of people can read what you say in the electronic age. And our words last a long time - I recently googled a topic, and stumbled over something I myself had written years before. Obviously, this makes it all the more important to be aware of the impact your words may have.

So, if you want to avoid membership in the "Foot-In-The-Mouth Club," behave as if you are writing a letter each time you begin clicking the keys. Consider what you say and how you say it, expecting that it cannot be retrieved or undone once you hit "SEND."

SUCCESS TIP: Do you want to really make an impact on someone? Send them an old-fashioned letter, card, etc. You WILL be remembered for it - I guarantee it..

HOW TO KILL YOURSELF

Rocker Tommy Lee once said, "We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time!" You tell 'em, Tommy.

Many of us follow his lead every day by shunning the most basic principles of Darwinian evolution, trying to kill ourselves through food, toxins and all manner of reckless lifestyles. If you'd like to get in on the act with Tommy, here are the Top Ten surest paths to self-destruction. Who needs a life worth living, any way?

10. Sacrifice Sleep
Inadequate sleep (less than 7 or 8 hours a night) has been tied to many different health problems, including obesity, diabetes and cancer. Mental fatigue is an equal risk factor for vehicular accidents as alcohol. SO burn that candle at both ends. And just think of all the time you'd have for destructive behavior if you stopped sleeping altogether! Eureka!

9. Ignore the Doctor
If you don't want to hear the doctor denounce the rest of these tips for self-destruction, just don't go. Early disease detection and important medical consultation will surely get in the way of your Tommy Lee lifestyle.

8. Dumb Down Your Brain
Reading, doing crosswords, tackling sudokus and other brain stimulating activities are known to ward off the effects of Alzheimers and other forms of senile dementia. So, forget trying to be smarter if you want to live a short life. Just let your brain rot, instead. The rest of you wont be far behind.

7. Sex
Sex in itself isn't bad... it's how you do it that means life or death. The smart self-destructor doesn't use protection, ignores the partner's sexual history and shuns the annual medical exam. Twelve million Americans contract sexually transmitted diseases every year, many of which leave the victim infertile. Killing yourself and preventing new births? Now there's a win-win!

6. Drive a Lot
If you want to increase your chance of living to a ripe old age, fly everywhere. Driving kills more people, aged 1 to 35, than anything else. Stay home and this becomes a non-existent threat. But what fun is that?
So hit the road and hit the gas. While you're at it, text on your cell phone, eat fast food AND neglect to buckle up.

5. Drink a Lot
The occasional drink of alcohol, especially red wine, can be beneficial to your health. But if you want to do yourself in right, overdo the two-drink-per-day limit. If you're lucky, you might become an alcoholic, contract diabetes AND get liver damage, too!

4. Stress Out
Creating more stress in your life is a great way to invite all kinds of diseases to attack the body. Chronic stress inhibits the immune system and allows disease to attack. So, if you wanna check out early, worry about everything from the color of your socks to whether dinner will be ready on time.

3. Watch More TV
Not only is television entertaining, it keeps us on the couch for hours at a time. The average American spends a full 9 years of his life glued to the boob tube. You could go ride a bike or take a walk, but that might be healthy - an we can't have anything but a wasted, sedentary existence if we want kill ourselves.

2. Smoke Tobacco
Tobacco-related illnesses are America's number two killer. So, if you really want to die early and leave your loved ones behind, light up. Just one cigarette will immediately increase your blood pressure and decrease the circulation to your extremities. Imagine what you could do with a pack!


1. Eat Junk
Here you go, number one. This isn't to say that eating healthy will undo the other nine destructive life behaviors. But, last year, at least 400,000 Americans killed themselves based almost solely on what they ate. Looking for the most effective, probably most enjoyable way to do yourself in? Have another doughnut... hell have six a day. And make them cream-filled!

Taken from the LiveScience.com website

I was reading something by internet sales "guru" Michael Oliver today. He says that sales is not about creating “relationships,” and comments thus:

"Let’s be clear about this. It’s NOT about having a nice chat, creating a relationship and calling them back next week.

It IS about establishing in the first call whether they are serious about changing their present situation and whether they are prepared to do something about it. That’s all. If they are, you introduce your solution and how it can help them get what they want."

In recent years their has been a lot of buzz in business about what is called 'relationship selling'. As the name implies, you don't sell to people, you get to know them, build a rapport and eventually get around to making them a customer.

So why does this matter here at Key Thoughts?.
Because success in life, in nearly all regards, hinges on your ability to either DO something or SELL something. There is little middle ground.

Skilled tradesmen, lawyers, sailors, nurses... these people, from all walks of life, all know how to DO something. That which they know how to do is valuable and so is something for which others will pay. SO what if you don't know how to do anything?

Then you sell something. In fact, even those will "skills" must at sometime or another sell themselves and their skills. Many fortunes have been made by men and women who have no formal skills or education, but are good sales people. It is a field that takes no advanced degrees, adept hands or specialized skills. All you need to know, as Mr. Oliver suggests, is whether the products or services you sell...

a) Can help the people you meet,
b) Are needed by these people and,
c) Are something they can pay for.

If these criteria cannot be met, then so be it. You don't have to leave them in the dirt at that point, in fact no good salesman will. And you can have a relationship with them, albeit it will a customer based one later on. As Mr. Oliver says, "In the meantime, you bow out graciously. You let them know that when they are ready, you’re ready. Then clear your mind and move on to talk with others who ARE prepared to do something about their situation."

In fact, creating a personal relationship for the purpose of making a sale is borderline dishonest. It is certainly ingenuine. Instead, the relationships you build with people are created as a natural consequence of how you relate to those people - thus the name. In other words, the relationship is created regardless of the outcome.

Zig Ziglar, the self-help guru, is famous for saying that "...helping people get what they want will help you get what you want." If this is true, then it takes two people to make a sale and it certainly behooves you to create relationships with them. Finding the right ones that can buy today will help you on your way to success... and pay your bills in the meantime.

But creating healthy human relationships with all of them with whom it is possible to do so, will help you on your way in the future. So if you are intent to GO, DO, and BECOME in this life (as you should be), then consider this 'relationship outlook' as you meet people and look for ways you can help both them and you.

You Dont Need Talent

Alright, having talent can't hurt. But what is really needed as you work your way throught life, trying to BECOME, is best illustrated by this quote from Andrew Carnegie:

"People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents" - - Andrew Carnegie

WOW! Talk about impact!. Mr Carnegie was good for that; any study of him, no matter how perfuctory, will show that. But read that again...

Talent doesn't matter as much as being able to get yourself out of your comfy chair and do the things you must DO. It is crucial, in fact, if you are to change yourself and your life - in other words, to GO, DO AND BECOME.

So think about what it is you want to BECOME, and get to work on it. Even if all you do right now is plan and align your thoughts, that is a start. It is the putting off of action - any action - that is the show stopper.

So get motivated and GO, DO and BECOME!

I’ve been reading the biography of Theodore Roosevelt as my quarterly and self-improvement project. This is the original work by Henry Pringle, considered the definitive source on “Old Teddy.”

I find it to be a fascinating look at a very fascinating individual. While TR was, by all accounts, rather “high maintenance” by today’s standards, he was also overcome with the fervent desire to do the right things by the country.

More than that, though, is the revealing look into the inner workings of politics provided by the book. Today, we clamor for transparency and disclosure in politics. But there was none of that back then. For the politicians of T.R.’s day, it was about deal brokering, special influence peddling and a fervent desire to dominate the opposition. The politicians of his day no more considered themselves "men of the people" than today's political luninaries.

The more I read up on it, in fact, the more I find there is little difference in today’s politics than in Teddy's day. Oh, we cling to a pretense of openness and we give lip service to honesty. But these aren't qualities and attributes we actually hold anyone to.

When Barak Obama won the election I was interested to see Democrats in Congress pumping their fists, red-faced and flushed with emotion. As they jumped and reeled in giddy triumph, I was more shocked to hear the shouts from these so-called leaders… “We’re gonna show them – Now it’s our turn to stick it to ‘em!”


No mention was made by any of them about serving the people of their districts, or looking out for the country’s best interests. No, it was retribution time in their minds, and a pound of someone's flesh was going to be taken.

NOTE: This vid clip quickly disappeared from the various media outlets. I don't think it lasted a day and I doubt you can even find it on YouTube anymore.

The more I learn about how the fabric of politics is really woven, the more I realize that it is the very lack of unity that makes us strongest. Think about it for a minute:

If we are all of one mind, sharing one voice in a society-wide group hug… then what we have is a monocracy.

Democracy and individual choice is gone. There is no dissent, there is no one to raise the red flag in a monocratic rule when something isn't right.

Frankly, I'm firm in the belief that it is not in us to be unified. To impose togetherness on us artificially is the height of ignorance, or requires total brainwashing of the indivdiual.

This is why, in the end, Utopia never works out and why so many promised reforms fall short. Sooner or later, someone wises up and revolts – individually and often enough collectively. The trouble is, it’s very hard to undue the harm done by the ersatz "reformists" of the world while they hold sway. Best to nip it in the bud, before it goes too far, and let us go on with our separate ideals.

That is what Teddy would have done.