There’s More to an Animation Career Than Creating Cartoons

There’s More to an Animation Career Than Creating Cartoons

Cartoons and animations are all around us. We grew up with them, we laughed at them, we may have even cried with them. We enjoyed them as children and even still as adults. But where exactly did they start? Someone had to take the time to create them, and that someone is the animator.

The world of animation is a fascinating one and it covers more than just cartoons. There are also video game animations, animated logos, and web site animations just to name a few.

Animations are actually composed of many different “frames” of drawings of the same kind, but each drawing has been altered just slightly. When these frames are then added together in sequential order, an animation has then been created.

To be an animator, one has to be extremely passionate about art and drawing. All animations start out the same way, as either a hand drawn or sometimes a computer drawn prototype of the future animation. Once the basic drawing has been created, they must then fill in the finer details such as color, texture, and background, if any. The image is then transferred to film or scanned into a computer. Each subsequent drawing of the same object or objects is then processed in this same fashion.

Aside from having a natural affinity and talent for drawing and art, an animator’s natural talents can and should be honed by attending college or a professional school, and majoring in, of course, Art. The average time it takes to graduate is two to three years.

There are a few required courses of study in which an animator must take. These include:

-Graphic Design

-Art Appreciation

-Computer graphics

-Video and multimedia effects

-Animation

The student animator may also learn or choose to take courses in:

-3D digital animation

-Modeling and sculpting

-Creative writing

-Game design

The job industry for experienced animators is extremely broad and diverse and offers many different opportunities for aspiring and experienced animators. Virtually, every industry has a need for them. Television, animated motion pictures, the gaming industry, graphics design companies, among others are some of the industries in which an animator can find employment.

The most common job for an animator is as a cartoonist. However, animators do so much more than just create cartoons, and they can also find employment as:

-Web designers

-Illustrators

-Painters

-Sketch Artists

-Graphic Designers

-Logo Designers

-Visual Artists

-Computer Game Programmers

-Multimedia and Photoshop designers

Because of the ever growing demand for animators and new types of animation projects cropping up daily, interactive cell phones for instance, these demands have opened up lots of career opportunities for them. Plus, with the increasing popularity of computer and console games, graphic designers with animation and web site design skills are becoming one of the most sought after professionals by employers.

The annual salary of an animator varies greatly by the type of animation work that they do. This can range anywhere between $44,500 per year and $66,700 per year.

There’s More to an Animation Career Than Creating Cartoons

There's More to an Animation Career Than Creating Cartoons

Do you know what salaries in animation are? Find out here: http://www.animatorsalarydata.com

Content About : There’s More to an Animation Career Than Creating Cartoons

Affirmations are simply statements that we make to ourselves; it’s our self-talk. You use affirmations all the time, whether you’re doing so intentionally or unintentionally. If you make a mistake and you think to yourself, “I’m always making mistakes, I never do anything right”, you’ve just made a negative affirmation. If instead you make a mistake and you think to yourself, “That’s OK, I have the ability to correct this”, you’ve just made a positive affirmation.

Your self-talk has an enormous impact on your conscious and subconscious minds. By repeating positive affirmations you can reprogram your thought patterns. Creating new thought patterns will allow you to begin to change your underlying beliefs and the way that you think and feel about yourself, others, and your place in the world. In this way, you can improve your life dramatically through the use of daily positive affirmations.

Choosing Your Affirmations

Shakti Gawain, author of Creative Visualization, offers the following advice for choosing your affirmations:

o Always phrase your affirmations in the present tense, as if it already exists. Say “I enjoy being at my ideal weight” instead of saying “I will reach my ideal weight.”

o Affirm what you want, not what you don’t want. Instead of saying “I am no longer a procrastinator”, say “I always get things done on time.”

o Don’t simply go through your affirmations by rote; add positive feelings and emotions to your affirmations.

o Choose affirmations that feel right for you. If you come across an affirmation that you like but you would feel more comfortable changing a couple of words, go right ahead.

Use Three Different Pronouns

A technique that you can apply to make your affirmations more effective is to write down the same affirmation using different pronouns. For example, if you want to affirm that you’re surrounded by positive people who want the best for you, you can write down the following three affirmations (in this example your name is Joan):

o I am surrounded by positive people who want the best for me.

o Joan, you are surrounded by positive people who want the best for you.

o Joan is surrounded by positive people who want the best for her.

When you say affirmations in the second and third person it’s as if someone else is talking to you or about you. Your internal critic is less apt to interject a negative comment if it thinks someone else is making these positive affirmations about you.

Affirmations Can Be General or Specific

Affirmations can be general or they can be very specific. Some examples of general affirmations are the following:

o Abundance is all around me.

o Abundance is my birthright.

o There is more than enough for all.

Use general affirmations to “set the stage”. Once you’ve established clear, well-defined goals for yourself you can create specific affirmations to help keep you focused on your goals and to strengthen your belief in your ability to reach your goals. For example, if your goal is to lose 10 pounds in the next three months by exercising, your affirmations could be the following:

o I now jog for 40 minutes, 4 times a week.

o Jogging helps me to lose weight and makes me healthy and fit.

o I am now lifting weights 3 times a week.

o I enjoy going to the gym and lifting weights.

o I am getting excellent results from jogging and weight lifting, and it shows.

o Every day I am getting fitter and fitter.

o I now weigh X amount of pounds (your target weight).

o People comment on how much thinner I am and how good I look.

You Have to Be Able to Believe Your Affirmations

Whenever you choose to change anything in your life, you’re choosing to move out of your present comfort zone. We should always strive to grow and expand our definition of ourselves and of what we are capable of. However, you have to make sure that your affirmations are not so far off from where you are at the moment that there’s no way you can get yourself to believe what you’re affirming.

If you don’t believe the affirmations you’re saying to yourself, then you need to start with a less ambitious affirmation and gradually make your affirmations bigger and bigger. For example, if you currently make $3,000.00 a month, it may be difficult for you to believe “I am now making $50,000.00 a month”. However, you can probably believe the following affirmation: “I am now making $4,500.00, or more, a month”. As you move forward and begin to see results you can progressively increase this number until you do feel comfortable affirming that you make over half a million dollars a year.

Repeat Your Affirmations Often

There is much power in repetition. Positive affirmations are not something that you do once in a while, instead, you should expose your mind to the affirmations that you choose for yourself as often as possible. In the words of Robert Collier: “Constant repetition carries conviction.”

Write down your affirmations and place them where you can refer to them often (you can even carry them around in your wallet). You can say them out loud to yourself every morning when you wake up and at night before going to bed, or you can set aside a few minutes each day to scribble them on a sheet of paper several times to help reinforce the message in your mind.

Taping the affirmations in your own voice and listening to the tape while you’re relaxing-or, even better, meditating– has had extraordinary effects for countless people. Louise Hay, author of the International bestseller “You Can Heal Your Life”, recommends that you sing or chant your affirmations. Some people leave a CD with positive affirmations playing softly in the background while they sleep at night.

In addition, there are several programs that allow affirmations to flash on and off on your computer screen unobtrusively, helping to program these affirmations into your subconscious.

Affirmation Bath

Practitioners who offer healing workshops often use a technique called “affirmation bath”. Basically, several people stand around one person and they all begin saying positive affirmations directed toward that person. The person is “engulfed” by positive messages from others. You can try this technique if you can find several like-minded people to participate in this exercise with you.

Release Any Negative Feelings That Arise

Negative feelings can act as self-imposed stop signs to getting what you want in life. If you feel any discomfort, self-doubt, fear, anger, and so on when saying your affirmations, you need to let go or release these negative feelings. One way to do this is by using the Sedona Method. As stated before, you have to add positive feelings and emotions to your affirmations, and if negative feelings are getting in the way, you need to be able to let go of them.

Your self-talk can either prevent you from getting what you want in life, or it can be a powerful catalyst for creating the life you’ve always wanted. Create a daily practice of using positive affirmations to help motivate, support, and inspire you to go after your dreams.

Written by Marelisa Fábrega who blogs at http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com

Affirmations are probably the easiest and most effective method – compared to the effort involved – known to influence the conscious mind. Many of the world’s most intelligent experts and philosophers have used, and are using this technique, which has been handed down over thousands of years, in various guises such as mantras and prayers. The difference today, because of the now more wide spread knowledge of this technique, is that people from all walks of life are using them to meet people, win tournaments, heal disease and close business deals.

Affirmations are quite simple by their very nature, as all they really are is simple statements repeated regularly to yourself, whether silently or aloud, and practical to you at the time. You can do them anywhere, you decide upon a statement that represents what you want to have happen to you, and then you simply repeat it to yourself over and over again.

As an example, let’s say you find yourself in a familiar situation which normally upsets you and leaves you worn out and stressed, when actually you would prefer to be relaxed and unworried by it, this would be the exact time when using a positive affirmation would be beneficial to you, and in this situation a good example of an affirmation you would repeat to yourself to help change the situation could be ” I feel calm and relaxed, I feel calm and relaxed, I feel calm and relaxed”. Now at this point it is important that you don’t try to force yourself to feel calm and relaxed, just make sure that you keep repeating the affirmation to yourself for approx 5 minutes. Another quick example of a positive use of affirmations would be prior to attending an important business meeting that you would like to go well; this time you would begin affirming to yourself a few minutes beforehand with something like this “It’s going to be a great meeting, It’s going to be a great meeting.”

So Exactly What are You Doing When You do Affirmations?

When you use affirmations you are influencing, directly, the very thoughts that are occurring at any one specific time in your mind. As your mind can only hold one thought at a time, an affirmation works by cramming your mind and filling it with thoughts that support your goal. It’s quite clever really; in a simple way the words are suggesting to your mind what it should be thinking, so if you are affirming ” It’s going to be a great meeting ” then your mind naturally begins thinking related thoughts about it being a great meeting. It really is quite simple really, but the technique can be remarkably effective in helping you achieve the results you are looking for.

How do You Know if You are Doing it Right?

Well it’s all in the words you choose, they must be POSITIVE not negative, and, as gratitude forms part of the whole attraction process, you should include words that also convey this. For example, I use the following terminology to start all of my affirmations, taught by a great mentor of mine, Bob Proctor (from The Secret, Movie) no matter what I am affirming ” I am so Happy and Grateful now”. These words you will notice also use another important aspect of affirmations, they must always be in the present tense, as if you already have whatever it is happen. So if for example you have a money affirmation to bring more financial abundance into your life you could say ” I am so Happy and Grateful Now That Money is Attracted to me and I am attracted to money” or, for more opportunities to appear to you, you could say ” I am so Happy and Grateful Now That New Opportunities are Presented to me From Multiple Sources on a Continuous Basis”

You actually don’t even need to believe what you are affirming! This mistake can have a counter effect and nullify the effects. I know of many people who have used affirmations unsuccessfully mainly because they were trying to force themselves to believe. By the way, don’t get me wrong, if you DO believe what you are affirming, this will only serve to enhance, but if you don’t, then that’s OK too. You don’t have to force anything; by the process of repetition your mind will pick up the content of your affirmations and will therefore allow the correct thoughts into your consciousness.

You must also keep your affirmations reasonably short and to the point, easy to say and easy to repeat over and over again. I try to keep my affirmations to a maximum of 25 words, sometimes a lot less. Even 2 or 3 words can sometimes be an effective affirmation, short statements like ” I have tremendous success always” or ” I achieve record sales ” I have seen affirmations that were a full page long. There’s absolutely no chance that you can repeat an affirmation of that length in an effective manner, and I have found with people who have affirmations which are too long, soon tire of the repetition and the affirmation soon fizzles out. So the lesson here is, make it short and make it easy to say and repeat.

Also be very careful that you do not use your affirmations in a careless way that means they may work against you, for example statements like ” I’ll never get it done” I’ll never do it” I always lose” are all affirmations that you can easily find yourself repeating to yourself without even realizing it, so watch out for these.

So remember that anybody can create affirmations and use them effectively throughout the day to help accomplish the things that they want. They can be said anywhere, in the doctor’s waiting room, in a traffic jam, they don’t need to be believed, all you have to do is repeat them. I repeat my affirmations 5 times per day, however this is my personal preference which works well for me, but if I was to recommend a minimum I would say 3 times per day, first thing when you get out of bed in the morning – this sets the tone for the rest of the day – secondly, at lunch time – this helps to re-motivate you when typically you might be flagging – and thirdly just before you go to sleep – this is when your subconscious mind is in its most receptive state. Two or three minutes is all you need, start doing this now and commit to repeating every day and you will be amazed at how quickly you will begin to produce a noticeable affect.

Jon Leuty is a successful internet marketer who is dedicated to helping others succeed online. To find out more about Jon and to grab some awesome FREE training go to: http://whoisjonleuty.com

There’s a Reason We Love Computer Games

There’s a Reason We Love Computer Games

Video computer games have become as much a pillar of our entertainment universe as books and movies. Why is it that so many of us are drawn to the computer monitor or TV screen like flies? A bit of history might help explain the phenomenon.

Originally computers were all work and no play, being outrageously expensive to build and operate. But computer engineers and designers, being overgrown kids after all, soon began to get comfortable with their big room-filling machines. In their idle hours it occurred to them that it might be kind of cool to have the computer show some spaceships and planets cruising around the galaxy. An in the 1960s a group of fun-loving computer geniuses created SpaceWar, the father of the famous arcade game Astroids.

These games were well received by geniuses and regular folks alike, which motivated the geniuses to design some more fun stuff. They could have used the computers for a lot of diversions, but somehow the visual element of the games activated the imagination. Over time we got Pong, PacMan and a continually evolving string of games, including software that eventually could beat chess masters at their own game.

By the late 1980s computer games software was getting quite sophisticated, with the invention of Sim City. This product expanded on what was going on through all the previous games; the players were being drawn into an imaginary world. Not unlike books and movies, these video games were very satisfying mentally. Sim City actually allowed the user to create amazing cities and even worlds.

Also in the 1980s, a group of computer programmers began creating software that would show moving images all generated by computer. The images started out very simple, almost like stick figures but they could dance in time to a music track. No skin, no facial features but it was very exciting to think what might come with more powerful computers. The computing power grew exponentially and, over 20 years, we now have not only some fabulout computer generated movie effects and whole characters, but the realism of video games has taken a quantum leap forward.

A good video game will draw you in to another world and, unlike a book or movie, a computer game will offer an interactive experience. In fact, at least one computer game has become sufficiently popular to become an action movie; think Mario Brothers. But it’s funny that sometimes a simple game can be as entertaining as a much more sophisticated game. Some of the most beloved games of all are Tetris (stack those blocks), Pac Man and Pong.

A modern computer will still do a great job of playing state-of-the-art video games. There are hundreds of options, including many that pit you online against other players. Then there are the specialty consoles like PlayStation, Nintendo and XBox360. With tricked-out controllers, guitars and wands, you can really develop some hand-eye coordination by playing many of the current titles.

One of the most fun educational games is Roller Coaster Tycoon, where you build your own amusement park and then operate it with “real” guests making decisions about which rides to take. If a guest loses their lunch on a roller coaster you’d better have a custodian clean it up or the guests will stay away. You must watch income and expenses and save money to build more attractions. This is a great game.

But the bottom line as to why we’re so enamored with computer games software is that it captures our imagination in a variety of interactive ways. Our games are prized possessions and it is wise to treat them carefully to make them last.

There’s a Reason We Love Computer Games

There's a Reason We Love Computer Games

J. Michael Key has written widely on a variety of subjects. To learn how to back up all of your video games visit:
http://www.computer-games-software.com
Back Up Computer Games Software.

Content About : There’s a Reason We Love Computer Games Article

The affirmations a person uses depend on many factors. What is the person trying to accomplish? Where is he or she now in relation to that goal or dream? What is their belief factor? Is he or she aspiring to something big or just looking for incremental improvement?

One of the biggest knocks critics have against affirmations is that they encourage unrealistic thinking.

It is ridiculous, they say, to encourage a sixth grader who can barely play “Hot Crossed Buns” on the saxophone to use an affirmation like, “I am a world-class saxophone player”. That’s just delusional, they argue, to have a child believing something so out of touch with reality.

I absolutely agree!

“What,” you say, “I thought you were in the business of promoting affirmations and encouraging others to follow their dreams?” I am. And, I still agree with those critics. Oh, I believe emphatically that affirmations are for everyone, but I do not believe every affirmation is for every person.

Yes. The critics are correct. This affirmation is completely unrealistic for any sixth grader who believes it is unrealistic.

They are also correct that a smart sixth grader is probably going to doubt the affirmation at some point. Sooner or later the sixth grader using this affirmation may have the thought, “I can’t even play ‘Hot Crossed Buns’. I’m not a world class saxophone player.”

These two pieces of information do not match up. The sixth grader, like most human beings, will search for a way to make the ideas congruent. When this happens it is decision time for the sixth grader and his or her dream of being a world-class saxophonist. Whether they know it or not the critics are citing and the sixth grader is experiencing a well-known psychological phenomenon called cognitive dissonance.

This theory states that when we hold two incongruent pieces of knowledge in our minds there is a very strong psychological impulse to bring the two conflicting thoughts into agreement. The idea being that our sixth grader cannot hold the thought, “I can’t even play ‘Hot Crossed Buns’,” in his or her mind while at the same time holding the idea, “I am a world class saxophone player.”

The classic example is the mother on the news who cannot reconcile the baby she brought into the world with the possibility that he may have committed a crime. So, she believes in his innocence even against overwhelming evidence.

Now, here is where the critics’ logic fails. They assume, I suppose, that the only option for this newly self-aware sixth grader is to stop using this unrealistic affirmation and stop pursuing such lofty and unrealistic dreams. Basically, “Give it up, kid, there’s no chance.”

The cognitive dissonance theorists tell us that there are actually three options (besides “getting real”) open to resolve this dilemma.

Change beliefs – the sixth grader can change one or both beliefs to be more in line. “I know I’m not a world-class saxophonist right now, but I can be someday.” He or she admits the first fact and changes the condition for the second to bring them into congruence.

Adding beliefs – the sixth grader can think, “It’s true I cannot play “Hot Crossed Buns”. It’s true that I’m not a world-class sax player right now.” “It’s also true that Charlie Parker was not a world-class saxophone player in the sixth grade and look what he accomplished.”

Alter the importance of the beliefs – the sixth grader can think, “It doesn’t matter that I can’t play “Hot Crossed Buns” right now. I will be able to some day. I still have it in me to be a world-class saxophone player.” He or she chooses to diminish the importance of the current state and focus, instead, on the future possibility.

Part of the confusion, candidly, comes from affirmation gurus who promote the idea that your affirmations must be adhered to with unshakable belief to make a difference. Doubting – the cardinal sin of affirmationdom – must never be allowed to rise or else the magic potion will be spoiled.

People are people. Some days we believe in our dreams fervently and other days we completely lose sight of them. That’s not being negative that’s just being human. The path is not lost by one moment of doubt.

This affirmation may or may not be appropriate for the sixth grader in question. It depends on how he or she resolves the cognitive dissonance associated with it. If he or she cannot come to terms with the disparity, then an affirmation like “I am becoming a world class saxophone player” or “I am a better saxophone player every day” may be more acceptable and reduce the cognitive dissonance.

Conversely, the previous affirmation is ideal for a college student majoring in music performance on the saxophone. That person has already put in many years and is now an expert on the instrument. He or she may be planning a career playing the saxophone. That college student certainly can realistically aspire to becoming a world-class sax player.

Here is what I have learned from more than 17 years experience working with affirmations. There really are two classes of affirmations – aspirational and incremental.

Aspirational affirmations are your “big thinking” affirmations. They are the ones that remind you that something far greater than right now lies within you. That knowing is not for anyone to label as delusional or unrealistic. It depends on you and your belief. Incremental affirmations are affirmations that are more finely tuned. They focus on specifics and immediate steps. They are the trees to the aspirational affirmations’ forest.

In my view, they are both part of a healthy affirmation diet. Just like protein and calcium serve two different but beneficial roles in the body. Both kinds of affirmations add value to your over all growth. One is today’s weather forecast and the other is the long range forecast.

Let me illustrate the difference with a couple examples.

A high school quarterback with big dreams might use both of the following affirmations:

Aspirational: “I am the next John Elway.”

Incremental: “My completion percentage is improving each and every game.”

A person trying to climb out of depression might use both of the following affirmations:

Aspirational: “I am completely happy with all aspects of my life.”

Incremental: “Today I am putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward.”

A person focusing on creating a better financial future might use both of the following affirmations:

Aspirational: “My million dollar idea is on its way to me right now.”

Incremental: “Today I am paying my bills on time.”

It’s not about being unrealistic. It’s about using the very real power of your thoughts to support your immediate goals and your long term dreams.

So, if you are a sixth grade saxophone player with a passion to be the world’s greatest saxophonist, I say go for it! One thing is for sure. None of your critics will be there to beat you out!

Be peaceful Be prosperous!

Ray Davis is a writer, poet, and thinker based in the American Midwest. His writing advocates the principles of personal freedom and spiritual development. He has developed B2B sales training programs for a Fortune 40 company for nearly seven years. Prior to that he was a top producing sales rep for six years. He is the founder of The Affirmation Spot – http://www.theaffirmationspot.com

Affirmations are positive statements that inspire and motivate people to take active steps to enhance professional and recreational performance, strive to achieve goals, face challenges, modify or reinforce behavior, and improve the general quality of life. They are thought vitamins that fortify your mind the same way vitamins fortify your body.

Pet Care – There’s No Other Job Quite Like It

Pet Care – There’s No Other Job Quite Like It

“Pets are such agreeable friends, they ask no questions and they pass no criticisms” said George Eliot about pet animals. Pets often reciprocate the love that their masters lavish on them by demonstrating various forms of affection including licking, hickeys, even love-bites.

There’s no other job quite like keeping a pet. Pet care is in fact a permanent job, and includes the very important functions of grooming and striving to maintain good pet health care. General pet supplies could be considered a definition of useful tools for grooming and keeping your pet in good health.

Pet Supplies:

An essential list of pet supplies for purchase could include the following: pet food and food dishes, pet id tags and collars, pet medications, supplements and tonics, etc. Some other items to consider are animal carriers, pet houses and furniture, pet beds, clothes, and pet jewelry.

Online Pet Supplies:

Online pet supplies are supplies that can be purchased from pet stores over the Internet. There are numerous pet grooming product manufacturers and pet-grooming stores selling their products online through their individual official websites.

Pet Grooming Supplies:

Pet grooming supplies include items such as grooming clippers, pet hair care products, soaps, shampoo and perfumes.

Pet Health Care:

Pet health care is a very important responsibility of pet ownership. For puppies and kittens, or any other four-legged pets, important treatments would include giving a hygiene bath, cleaning, combing, brushing, checking ears, paws, teeth and underside of the tongue, nail trimming, removing fleas and insects, and fixing regular meetings with a professional veterinary. A good pet owner should follow a regular schedule of grooming sessions.

Pet care can require a lot of patience. Like children, pets often require special attention. A puppy, kitten or any other pet in its infancy needs to be handled with extreme care. In particular they must be groomed properly, fed carefully, and bedded properly.

Choosing A Pet:

The process of choosing a pet is very important. Choosing a pet depends on one’s preferences, but there are still some important things that should be kept in mind. One should always choose an animal of good breed. Secondly, the pet should be healthy especially if it is still in the initial stage of its life. A healthy young pet shows good fast growth.

Pet Grooming Business:

The pet grooming business is a flourishing business today. There are numerous pet grooming schools offering the equivalent services of a pet grooming professional. People hire the services of these professional experts for the proper grooming of their pets. Professional pet grooming is becoming quite popular in United States, Canada, and European countries.

Pet Care – There’s No Other Job Quite Like It

Pet Care - There's No Other Job Quite Like It

Paul MacIver writes about pets and Pet Health Care [http://www.information-spring.info/?cat=12]. Visit Online Pet Supplies [http://www.complete-pet-supplies.info] to read more about Pet Care, Pet Grooming [http://www.complete-pet-supplies.info/pet-grooming-products.html] and Pet Supplies. You may freely reprint this article as long as nothing is changed, and bio is included with all links intact.

Contents About : Pet Care – There’s No Other Job Quite Like It

Everyday people use positive affirmation statements to correct bad habits, stop smoking, or become more confident to attract the opposite sex. But did you know there’s a right way and wrong way to use affirmations?

Used in the right way, affirmations can be a key component to helping you replace limiting beliefs and habits, that hold you back from living a fulfilling and happy life. If used in the wrong way, the likelihood of successful results goes down dramatically.

Here are 5 common mistakes people make when using positive affirmations:

1. They use future tense – Affirmation statements are more effective if they are used in the present tense. Instead of starting phrases with “I will” or “I might,” it’s better to start your affirmations with phrases like “I can” or “I am.” That simple switching of words shifts your focus to the ‘feeling’ of having or experiencing something now, rather than projecting into the future.

2. They exclude using “I” – you’ve probably seen this technique used in movies, when the character repeats an affirmation in front of a mirror. They’ll say something like, “You are a confident person inside and out.” Think how much more powerful this would be if they said, “I am a confident person inside and out.” Using “I” instead of “you” helps to internalize it even more.

3. They focus on too many affirmations at one time – Applying too many affirmations at one time has diminishing effects. Especially for anyone who’s new to using positive affirmations. Too many affirmations can be too much stimulus for your system, which can result in the feeling of being overwhelmed. Instead, focus on one or two, get those down, then move on to more. Think one affirmation at a time.

4. They don’t practice often enough – Repetition is key when forming new habits, or new ways of thinking, which is what you’re doing when you’re using affirmations. At a bare minimum affirmation statements should be performed once a day. If you want the best results, perform your affirmation first thing when you wake up, a couple of times throughout the day, and once immediately before going to sleep.

5. They get stuck when creating affirmations – With information basically at your fingertips in today’s age, it’s easier than ever to come up with that perfect affirmation. You’ll come across plenty of sites that list affirmations, if you do a search online. Pick one or two. Use them as is, or modify them to fit your needs, and move on. The point is to move in the direction of what you want, which is positive change.

Using positive affirmations in the right way can result in a life full of fun and enjoyment. Avoid the mistakes most people make with affirmation statements, and you’ve won half the battle.

Here’s a list of positive affirmations you can use to jump-start your progress. Take a look at them over at: http://www.harmonicthinking.com/list-of-positive-affirmations-6-simple-affirmations-that-add-years-to-your-life/

Internal Communication – There’s More to Deliver

Internal Communication – There’s More to Deliver

Internal communication specialist headhunters Watson Helsby, published an entitled report ‘Internal Communications – More to Deliver’, the sequel to a similar research exercise undertaken way back in 2002, which was widely acclaimed at the time.

Based on qualitative research with 75 senior in-house ‘movers and shakers’, the research was designed to assess the state of internal communication practice, to identify some broad themes and issues and, specifically, to provide some pointers on the best way forward for the profession and its practitioners. It was written by two seasoned IC commentators, Nick Helsby of Watson Helsby and Michael Croton of Comma Consulting. To summaries, the big messages from the report are:

We’ve come a long way since 2002 – companies have invested heavily and are demanding more and better IC. However, the results IC has delivered have not always matched expectations.

There is now broad consensus on the scope and remit of IC with most respondents saying they were accountable for developing and communicating the corporate story, developing channels, leadership comms, campaigns and programmes, internal news management, supporting engagement and employer branding efforts, crisis comms and measurement & evaluation.

We’ve still got a long way to go to become a genuinely mature profession – there are many challenges ahead and numerous areas where we could and should be doing better to demonstrate our value to organisations.

The best is yet to come – the future for IC is rosy, if we continue to professionalize the function, raise standards, build understanding and appreciation in the board room and get the talent right.

One of the most useful sections of the report is the discussion on obstacles to progress, where several themes emerge:

Lack of coherence – an increasing focus on IC has resulted in an increase in noise and clutter. As business unit heads, functional leaders and others battle  to give their messages prominence this is creating a situation where there are simply too many badly coordinated messages bombarding employees. The result is a cacophony.   

Poor governance – unlike PR/external comms there are few checks, balances, controls and protocols in place to guide internal comms. It is often informal and decentralized and, as a result, leaders cannot be confident that (a) communication is flowing through the organization effectively (b) they have the ability to communicate quickly and consistently in a crisis situation.

Employees’ ranking in the audience hierarchy -external stakeholders (shareholders, media, etc) are often viewed as more important than employees and, as a result, these audiences often receive more focus, attention and senior executive time. Put simply, IC still often plays second fiddle to external comms.

Senior level support – to thrive inside an organization IC needs to have a senior sponsor who really ‘gets it’ – someone who understands what good IC looks like and can deliver in its broadest sense (i.e. beyond simply pumping out messages). Likewise, it’s vital that there is someone at a senior level – someone with ‘clout’ – who is proactively championing the work of the IC team and helping push through organization-wide initiatives. 

Shortage of talent – IC is still not attracting, nurturing and growing sufficient talent.  As a result there is little in the way of a succession pipeline inside organisations, meaning that candidates have to be lured from elsewhere. Even then, there is a relatively small pool of good practitioners to fish from.  

The report also identifies a number of key areas where IC can add – and be seen to add – more value. This provides a useful checklist for any communicator who wants to develop themselves and/or their team. The report concludes that, in order to realize its full potential, IC needs to focus on getting the right people in the right roles, developing that talent, winning support from senior leaders, beefing up the role, becoming more proactive when it comes to identifying and grabbing opportunities to demonstrate their value, and getting the operating model right.

Internal Communication – There’s More to Deliver

Internal Communication - There's More to Deliver

Lee Smith is Co-director at Gatehouse Group, an internal communication agency, provides consultancy services for internal communications, internal comms research, audit, jobs, and employee engagement.

Content About : Internal Communication – There’s More to Deliver Article

There’s talk by people who claim that practicing self affirmations can really be effective. That it really bring positive changes and success to many areas in their lives. However, there are others who do not experience this. They claim that despite practicing self affirmations for some time, they still do not see any results from it.

So why are there 2 contradictory opinions? What makes the difference between these 2 groups?

First of all, let us understand what self affirmation is. Self affirmation is the act of repeatedly affirming what you desire to have. This can be done in a similar way to reciting or chanting out your affirmations. There are no limitations to what you can affirm for. You can practically do self affirmations for almost anything.

Here’s an example of a self affirmation;

- “Everyday in every way I am getting healthier and healthier”

An affirmation is just a simple statement like that. Or lose the “everyday in every way”. Just go something like “I am getting more and more healthy”.

Affirmations are made with ‘I am’, ‘I can’ and ‘I will’ statements. Such as “I am confident” or “I can be confident” etc.

How Affirmations Work

Practicing self affirmation works because of the power of intention. Affirmations are not just all talk and no action. Chanting affirmations signal of your intent to the universe. You are declaring it to everyone and everything in the universe.

The brain cannot differentiate between reality and something you imagine vividly. The more intense and real you make the imagination; the more your brain will accept it as reality. It is the same with chanting affirmations. When you do it with high intensity and emotion and the brain would accept it as reality too. This is why self affirmations work.

The more you repetitions of the affirmations, the more ‘real’ it becomes to the brain.

So why does it not work for some people?

So how come there are people who say that self affirmations don’t work? Is the power of intention real? Will the brain actually feel that you’re just kidding yourself?

Well there are basically 2 reasons why it does not work for some people.

The first reason is because they are not doing the affirmations correctly. What do I mean by that? As stated earlier the power of intention is displayed when we are repeating affirmations with power, passion, emotion and intensity. When there’s no power, no passion, there’s no belief. The brain would immediately reject the affirmation when it is done in a weak, uninspired manner.

The second reason is because of lack of congruence after practicing the affirmation. Remember that practicing affirmations is not the final act. After the doing the affirmation, you must still put in your effort to work together with it. You must try your best to live your life congruently with it.

That is the mind-set to have when it comes to affirmations. Self affirmations should not be considered as the end all solution. We must work with it. Be determined to help the affirmation take effect by putting in the effort to change our lives to reflect the affirmation.

Copyright (c) Ethan Beh

Ethan Beh is a business consultant and self improvement enthusiast who spent the good portion of the last decade finding, learning and practicing the best self improvement techniques available.

Visit his site for his unique collection of personal development ideas, which includes more resource on self affirmation, and sign up for his free monthly newsletter.

Recently I responded to an email that posed the question, “How well do these affirmations really work?” Below is the response that I sent the person who asked the question. There are a number of important points that will be helpful to others, so I’m reprinting the information. Here it is…

The answer is that it depends on you and how well you apply them. One person can take a single principle outlined in the affirmations and become so inspired that they make millions. Others can listen to all of the affirmations a couple of times and do nothing with them. Sorry I can’t be more definite than that, but that’s the truth.

I think that the better question to ask “are the Power Affirmations are based on sound principles that can lead to success?” The answer is absolutely. Here are some of the primary principles that they are based on:

1. The Power Affirmations are stated in the positive. We become what we think about most of the time–our dominating thoughts.

2. The power of repetition of positive thought and suggestion. Repetition mixed combined with belief and a positive enthusiasm is the fastest way to condition your subconscious mind. The whole adverstising industry is based upon repetition of suggestive thought aimed at getting people to buy their products. Does it work? Just take a look at the trillions of dollars American’s spend each year largely as the result of billions of dollars spent on advertising. Successful business people are not stupid. They spend a lot of money on advertising because they know repetition of thought leads to people taking action to buy their products.

3. These power affirmations are foundational. As you listen to the power affirmations, you will find that there is a natural progression to the thoughts within the sections or (“discs”) and the sections themselves. This is not by accident. I initially created the program for myself with no intention of selling it or even sharing it with others. I went through the books that had the greatest impact on my life and extracted the primary points that I wanted to condition in my mind and translated them into Power Affirmations.

4. The power of multisensory learning. What do I mean by this? We have 5 senses–sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. The more of the senses you can involve in learning, mixed with repetition and emotion, the faster you will learn. With the Power Affirmation recordings, you have an easy way to involve the senses of sound, sight, and touch (or feeling). Sound is obvious. You can involve the sense of sight by using the power affirmation posters or screen savers. Or just by looking at the list of affirmations in the eBook. Even more powerfully, using your creative vision and imagination. Feeling is involved when you add “physiology”–such moving your body with a feeling of certainty as you listen to or repeat the Power Affirmations. Tony Robins talks a lot about that concept in his books and seminars.

5. These affirmations are general. While there are specific concepts, there is no mention of specific goals or amounts of money, etc. Again this is by design so that anyone can use them. As you get better with using affirmations and more familiar with the language patterns, you will want to create specific Power Affirmations for your own situation–especially setting your Definite Major Purpose or Mission in life. For example, one of my personal power affirmations is related to reaching over 1,000,000 people with my free affirmations eBook and website by March 31, 2008. Or someone may want to target a specific weight amount if they over weight. But you have to learn to walk before you can run–and that’s where these affirmation recordings excel. You have to condition your mind so that your predominating thoughts are of success, health, happiness, prosperity, etc. in order for more specific affirmations to be effective. Then add power affirmations based on specific goals.

6. It’s best to use the affirmations in conjunction with a goal planning system. This is why I include an explanation of my RAP planning system in my eBook. It’s simple, but effective. That’s because you are organizing your plans on a daily basis around specific goals and measuring your progress daily. Even though the explanation of the system is only a few pages, this alone could be worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars to you. Why do I say that? I personally spent years of study and trial and error and thousands of dollars trying to find a way to plan and manage my life and my time. This is the ONLY system I have been able to consistently use (for several years now) to consistently achieve my goals. The key here is that the daily plans are ORGANIZED. While using a “to do” list is better than nothing, it’s generally ineffective and worse leads to stress and overwhelm. If you have any ambition (and obviously you do), if you create a random list of things you have to do and want to do, it will quickly become overwhelming if you don’t find a way to organize it. By the way, the idea for RAP came to me in a flash of inspiration while I was listening to my Power Affirmations.

7. The power of concentration and focus. When you read or listen to an audio recording, most of the information goes by so quickly that you don’t really have an opportunity to savor and meditate on a specific point in order to extract the full value. The recordings help you to focus your thoughts around the key points so that you are able to firmly plant it into your mind to give it the best opportunity to attract similar thoughts. This allows you to take advantage of the law of sowing and reaping–multiplication. This is a law of nature that you can easily see all around you.

For example, if you plant a single seed of corn, nurture it and care for it, eventually, it will bring forth a plant that has multiple ears of corn on it. And each ear of corn has multiple seeds. In fact, from that one seed of corn, not only are you able to grow enough to eat a portion of it, there is also more than enough to plant more seeds next season. Over a number of seasons of seedtime and harvest, that single seed of corn can lead to a whole field of corn (this is why I say super abundance is a law of nature–the multiplicative process of seedtime and harvest). Think of each thought as a seed. As it grows into maturity, it attracts a number of thoughts of a similar nature. Before long, the mind is saturated with these dominating thoughts. This is why it is so important to protect your mind from any kind of negative influence or thought suggestion. The best way to protect yourself is by continuously planting positive thoughts and nurturing them. And learning to recognize negative thoughts and avoiding them.

With agriculture, there is a definite season for seed time and harvest that operates like clockwork. You can’t plant a seed of corn and come back the next day to reap the harvest. The great thing about sowing positive seeds of thought is that there is no set time for the harvest to come. While time is a factor, there are other steps you can take to accelerate your progress–such as concentration.

Well, that’s all that I have time for for now. I’m sure if I thought about it, there’s a lot more I could say. But that’s because this has been my area of focus for a long time–really ever since I first read Think and Grow Rich back in the late 70′s. What is really important is that you get started immediately. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you have to know everything about affirmations before you will start to receive the benefits. Start with just listening daily and going through the RAP process. RAP will help you measure your personal progress. Be patient. Allow yourself to grow. Remember, seedtime and harvest. The harvest will come soon enough, but only if you sow the seeds and nurture them. It can come faster than you may currently think is possible–it’s all up to you.

Copyright (c) 2005 Bill Marshall – All rights reserved. Feel free to republish this article with copyright and link information included.

For practical self-improvement tips, visit http://www.poweraffirmations.com. Get my new free e-book, “Power Affirmations: Power Positive Conditioning for Your Subconscious Mind”