This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day. Sixty Seconds on wisdom, success and personal growth. We’re focusing on how growth begins with yourself.

Self-control is the quality that allows you to stop yourself from doing things you want to do but that might not be in your best interest. For example, without self-control, you might burp and curse nonstop.

“Have you ever had a potato chip or two and pretty soon you’ve eaten the whole bag? Eating a whole bag of chips shows little self-control. Not charging an expensive thing you want to a credit card takes self-control. Getting up early for work takes self-control. Without self-control, it's hard to get far in life. Self-control is similar to self-discipline.”

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/self-control

According to Psychology Today, “Self-control separates us from our ancient ancestors and the rest of the animal kingdom. Rather than responding to immediate impulses, we can plan, we can evaluate alternative actions, and we can refrain from doing things we'll regret. We can also take advantage of these innately human abilities by developing wisdom and willpower.”

Self- Control is an important component of your personal and professional growth. It’s time for you to begin putting it into practice.

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day…Now, go out and be fruitful.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day. Sixty Seconds on wisdom, success and personal growth. When we begin to contemplate our personal growth, it begins with yourself. Today, we’re focusing on Self Awareness.

According to the Pathway to Happiness, “self awareness is having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. Self Awareness allows you to understand other people, how they perceive you, your attitude and your responses to them in the moment.”

How can you become more self-aware? It is only one step in the personal growth process and there will always be blind spots.
- One of my favorite tools to help me remain aware of my self is to keep a journal. I have been able to read back on trying times in my life and see how much I’ve grown. Keeping a journal is a healthy exercise!
- Write your own mission statement! You cannot write a mission statement without assessing who you are and becoming very self-aware.
- Learn to look at yourself objectively and perform a self-review.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day…Now, go out and be fruitful.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day. Sixty Seconds on wisdom, success and personal growth. Self Esteem is one of the most difficult parts of yourself to measure. Some have high esteem, but most have low esteem.

What is Self-Esteem?

Psychology Today says:

“Possessing little self-regard can lead people to become depressed, to fall short of their potential, or to tolerate abusive situations and relationships. Too much self-love, on the other hand, results in an off-putting sense of entitlement and an inability to learn from failures.

Furthermore, “Most of us wish we could improve certain things about ourselves. Lasting change is difficult though—many of our habits are deeply ingrained, and certain core personality attributes may be immutable. But even the oldest of habits and character traits can be altered to various degrees, as it's never too late to change; with effort and determination, it is possible to be the person you want to be.”

Today, we’re growing our self-esteem.

 This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day…Now, go out and be fruitful.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day. Sixty Seconds on wisdom, success and
personal growth. When we begin to contemplate our personal growth, it begins
with yourself. Today, we’re focusing on Self Worth.

My mom used to sing a silly little song that has stuck with my all my life.

“I love myself, I think I’m grand. I go to the movies just to hold my hand.”

Self-worth is your personal sense of value. Do you value yourself as a person, a friend, a parent or employee, boss or business owner?

Self- worth is not the same as self-esteem; Esteem is based on external actions whereas worth is valuing who you are, not what you do.

How can you build your self-worth?
- Challenge your inner critic and tell it to shush!
- Treat yourself well, just like you’d treat a friend
- Look at yourself in the mirror and practice daily affirmations
- Stop comparing yourself to others

Your value, your self-worth is how you view yourself, and it has nothing to do with financial, physical or relationship success. Start focusing on your self-worth and watch yourself grow!

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day…Now, go out and be fruitful.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day. Sixty seconds on wisdom, success and personal growth. When you make the decision that your life and career is just not where you’d like it to be, it’s time to focus on your growth; and growth begins with yourself.

 Perhaps you feel no sense of purpose, or you’re going through a transition and you don’t know which way to turn. Maybe your business isn’t as successful as you’d like it to be or your relationships leave you feeling lonely and misunderstood.

Growth takes effort. Growth takes time. But you must begin somewhere.

Growth begins with yourself. We’re beginning a series of 30 ways of Self Care for your personal and professional growth. Be ready to hear about self-love, self-esteem, self-talk, self-confidence, self-realization and more as we explore the meanings, themes and methods to grow exponentially in your personal life, relationships and professional life.

Are you poised for growth?

Personal and Professional growth begins with yourself!

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day … Now, go out and be fruitful!

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day. Sixty Seconds on wisdom, success and personal growth. When we begin to contemplate our personal growth, it begins with yourself. Today, we’re focusing on self- love.

What is Self Love? According to an article in Psychology Today, “self-love is an action not a state of feeling good.” When you are feeling low, feeling defeated or like a failure, people often say, “Why don’t you love yourself?” or tell you that you cannot love anyone else until you love yourself.

But how do you love yourself?

Here are 8 tips:

• Become mindful. Know what it is that you think, feel and want.
• Act on what you need rather than what you want.
• Love yourself by taking good care of yourself; eat healthy, sleep, exercise and create more social interactions.
• Set quality boundaries. Set limits at work and in your personal relationships.
• Protect yourself. Don’t allow the enemy to get the best of you!
• Forgive yourself.
• Live with intention. Make plans to live your life with purpose.
• Stop comparing yourself to others. You are unique and awesome just as you are!

 Self love is not a crime.

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day…Now, go out and be fruitful.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day. Sixty seconds on Wisdom, Success and Personal Growth. We’re focusing on growth with 30 Days of New Habits.

One of my favorite musicals is the 1948 American film, “Easter Parade” starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. There’s a scene where Judy’s character is auditioning to be a star dancer with Fred Astaire and he challenges her to make men smile at her. Knowing that she wasn’t the type of beauty that would make men take a second look, as she walked along the sidewalk away from Astair’s character, she made a silly face, with crossed eyes and puckered lips to get some attention. It didn’t take long before the men walking by were smiling and looking back at her as they passed.

No matter how you make a habit to make someone smile, try it. Mother Teresa says that, “Peace begins with a smile.” 

 Here’s a cute poem by Karen McLendon-Laumann, “Smiling is infectious, you catch it like the flu, When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too.” 
Make a habit to make someone smile. It’s catching!

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day.

…Now, go out and be fruitful.

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day. Sixty seconds on Wisdom, Success and Personal Growth. We’re focusing on growth with 30 Days of New Habits.

I love helping others. It feels good when I’ve helped somebody solve a problem, address a concern or something even simpler as a chore that needed to get done. There is a sense of community and connection we feel when we offer to help others. Make a habit to offer help, whether it’s running an errand, offering a service, or just proof reading a document. Brian Tracy teaches that, “Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, 'What's in it for me?' Helping others has many health benefits too! It actually lowers your blood pressure, creates a sense of wellbeing and happiness in you, raises your self-esteem and helps you grow.

Make a habit of helping others by volunteering or doing what somebody needs. The benefits will amaze you!

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day.

…Now, go out and be fruitful.

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day. Sixty seconds on Wisdom, Success and Personal Growth. We’re focusing on growth with 30 Days of New Habits.

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful, lest you let other people spend it for you.” Carl Sandburg

Remember what we learn during the safety demonstration when we are ready to take flight? “Put your oxygen mask on yourself first, then help others.”. The reason for this is because you are not going to survive if you aren’t taking care of yourself. Rely on yourself, and you will grow. If you rely on somebody else to take care of you, your feelings, your needs, your wants, your goals… well, you’ll always be disappointed. Rely on yourself first, and you will achieve your desired growth.
This also applies when we want to blame somebody else for our downfall, our mistakes, our failures. Make it a habit to rely on yourself to pick yourself up and continue on your own personal and professional growth journey.

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day.

…Now, go out and be fruitful.

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day. Sixty seconds on Wisdom, Success and Personal Growth. We’re focusing on growth with 30 Days of New Habits.

Mindfulness is all the buzz lately, a term that we often mistake as being “careful”, but what really does it mean to be “mindful”? The dictionary defines mindfulness as: “a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily
sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.” There are so many books about how to be mindful through meditation, eating, working, listening – honestly, there is no shortage of information about being aware of your present circumstances. But, does awareness always mean “enjoyment”? Nobody can be continuously happy all of the time, but you can “enjoy” the moments. Even the one’s that are difficult. Enjoy them because they are making you stronger, wiser
and you are growing! Enjoy the precious ones, however small. Be mindful.

Albert Schweitzer said, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”–

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple A Day.

…Now, go out and be fruitful.

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

Click here for more!