I’ve heard that the best way to double your success rate is to double your failure rate. The rationale is that if you have to fail a few times before you can have a success, you’ll get more successes if you have more failures. I think it works in some instances but in other cases can make your situation worse. Especially if you take it too literally.

Where it works:

Back in January, I was rushing about town doing some errands when I came across a country music station. I had never been a fan of country music, but a song caught my ear as I was trying to find something other than news or commercials to listen to. The song was about how things may seem bad, but there’s still a lot to be grateful and thankful for. The song was “Lucky Man” by Montgomery Gentry.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw the movie “Cannonball Run 2″ because it was the first time I fell in love. The movie opens with a white Lamborghini Countach having some fun with the police on a desert road. Yes, I fell in love with the car (especially after the car pulled a costume change and turned red) although the passenger in it – Catherine Bach, “Daisy Duke” from the Dukes of Hazzard – certainly caught my attention as well. From that day on, my goal in life was to own a red Lamborghini Countach.

So you’ve heard (or read) me say it over and over again that the only way to overcome your fear of public speaking is to get up there and speak. Like telling someone not to rub their eyes, it’s easy to say but not so easy to do. Just keep in mind that the hardest step to take (and the most terrifying one) is that first step. After that step, everything gets easier.

Taking that first step:

In the United States, today is Thanksgiving. To many folks it’s a day of food and football. But its real purpose is a day to be thankful for what we have. Here are some tips for getting the most out your Thanksgiving Day (and if you live outside the US, you can still join in on the fun).

Be thankful for what you have:

Children are truly amazing people – they have an unbelievable outlook on life and the world. Many of the things that stress us out as adults were things that we looked forward to as children. Life was simple: no bills, no job, no appointments, no real responsibility. I remember one particular summer where my agenda was to discover the hidden treasures in the woods behind the new house my family moved into – I woke up at the crack of dawn to get started and I’d be up half the night scheming and planning out the following day. I don’t understand why as adults, we forget that excitement we once had as children and as children, we can’t wait to become adults. As young adults, we’re chided to not act childish yet sometimes as adults, acting childish is the medicine that we need to cheer ourselves up during tough times.

We all feel down from time to time. Sometimes, it has to do with things that seemingly shouldn’t have any effect on us such negative stories in the news or even the weather (Seasonal Depression affects a lot of folks). Other times, it’s a bit deeper: someone says something to us, we feel overwhelmed with everything going on in our lives or we’re not feeling well physically, which often affects us psychologically.