Analyzing your value to the organization can help to protect yourself from being laid off. If you are laid off, getting another comparable job–or a better one–will be far less of an ordeal you can document your contribution to the company’s bottom line.

Ask yourself a few questions to test whether your work makes a difference to your company.

How are your technology skills? Have you taken any new courses to stay abreast of technology? Network with others in your field to identify industry stars to compare yourself with. What skills do they have? What do their job descriptions look like? Search consultants can tell you what organizations demand when seeking candidates for a job like yours. If your job was created specifically for you, you should be sure to keep your tech skills high and broaden your scope. Often when  there is not a market for your specific skills, or you can’t find others who do approximately what you do, you may be in a trouble spot. Expand your skills.

Is your role essential? What impact does your job have on the big picture? Does your work exclusively benefit internal departments? What would happen to your department or division if the company got into a financial bind that forced it to cut back? Would profits or customer satisfaction be damaged if your department disappeared?

Can you be replaced easily? Assume that your managerial and technical skills are top-notch and cutting-edge. Could someone years younger who has the ability to perform equally well as you; and at half your salary take your place? Perhaps. However, if you have something extra, something that puts you steps ahead of the young dynamo, you can secure your place. Make it your business to show that your knowledge is essential. It does not matter what it is, do you have a great memory? Use it to show that you have a full grasp of your company’s history. Are you good with graphs and forms, use that expertise to help remove a cumbersome step in a process. Good event planning may be considered gold at your business. While no one is indispensable, make it harder for your boss to get along without you.

Update your resume. Do you keep your resume up-to-date? If someone wanted to see your resume today, would you be able to pass it on without apology? If you can’t do that, then it is time to update your resume and keep it new updated. A resume should be new employer ready at all times.

You declutter your home and your office, but head and heart space needs to be cleaned, cleared and organized on a regular basis too.  

  What you carry and keep in your head and heart can stop you from being all that you can be (or just plain happy.) If you are miserable and can’t figure out why, it may to be time to declutter your mental space.

1. Learn to let go of old grudges. Life’s too short and uncertain to take grudges to the grave.

2. Unload or step away from your burdensome friends. Take an honest look at the people in your life. Break ties or change the friendship rules with those who don’t support you, or who are incompatible with your values and goals.

3. Take a break and stop being judgmental.Being judgmental can close you off from learning something from others. Don’t judge so quickly; listen to the whole story first.

4. It is OK to be wrong. You have to be willing to be wrong. Don’t be afraid to make the occasional mistake. When you do, acknowledge it. You can waste a lot of energy trying to be perfect or alway right.

5. Be willling to say I’m sorry.  Loosen up on stuborness. Don’t let a misunderstanding cost a  a relationship with a family member, friend or customer because you can’t say I am sorry.

Positive thinking alone does not ensure success, but it’s a good and important start.

Those who know me, know that I follow the teachings of a former co-worker who unwittingly became my mentor. She once told me, “Every morning I look in the mirror and say to myself, ‘You are beautiful.’” I don’t recall how I felt or what I said to her at the time. I was a 20-something and had other things on my mind. For some reason, that conversation has stayed with me. At some point I began to realize how powerful that statement is. Beauty is not just about the physical and if you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll have a hard time persevering against the obstacles, setbacks and naysayers, you’re likely to encounter.  When someone says  you will never be able to do that,  or you are ugly, fat, skinny, etc., ignore them and their negativity, just look in the mirror and say, “You are beautiful.” 

Maintaining the right attitude in the face of adversity:

Use positive language. Use words that emphasize happiness, strength and success.

Create the right mind-environment. Don’t spend too much time on downbeat things or negative people. 

Appreciate your life. Focusing on what you don’t have can crowd out appreciation for what you already possess.

Let go of mistakes. Just about everyone fails at some things; don’t obsess over them. Learn what you can and move on instead of beating yourself up time and again.

Know that success at life is just as important as success in business.

I love quotes. I search them out. I save them. Sometimes, I find little scrapes of paper in my purse with a quote or a person’s name to be searched online when I get home. Many times it is the other way around, a good quote, but who said it?  A dear friend once said, “Good sax is better than sex”; if you have heard the saxophone played right, you know what she meant.  Is it original? Who knows, but I love it.

If you find a quote here that you like, take it, use it, enjoy it.

~~

Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me. — Carol Burnett

Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was. — Dag Hammarskjöld

Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.
— Ernest Hemingway

Safeguards are often irksome, but sometimes convenient, and if one needs them at all, one is apt to need them badly. — Henry Adams

I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen. — Frank Lloyd Wright

Success in business requires training and discipline and hard work. But if you’re not frightened by these things, the opportunities are just as great today as they ever were. — David Rockefeller

How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these. — George Washington Carver

There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. — Frank Zappa

Everything I’ve ever done was out of fear of being mediocre. — Chet Atkins

I must admit that I personally measure success in terms of the contributions an individual makes to her or his fellow human beings. — Margaret Mead

I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot. — Abraham Lincoln

Talent does what it can; genius does what it must. —Edward George Bulwer-Lytton

I can’t imagine a person becoming a success who doesn’t give this game of life everything he’s got.
—Walter Cronkite

To err is nature, to rectify error is glory. — George Washington

The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less. — Eldridge Cleaver

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their beauty is revealed only if there is light from within. — Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. And it will leave you unfulfilled. — Barack Obama

Remember, you can earn more money, but when time is spent it is gone forever. — Zig Ziglar

The one thing we can never get enough of is love. And the one thing we can never give enough of is love. — Henry Miller

I never loved another person the way I loved myself. — Mae West

As one who has somewhat of an entrepreneurial spirit, there are some things I am not comfortable with, one of those things is nest egg risk. As a investor in the stock market for many years, I have stayed in the low to moderate risk area, that is how I am about my home business. Maybe that’s how you are too. If yes, you most likely will never be rich, but if things remain status-quo, you will be comfortable. If you dream of owning your own business you should think carefully about how you feel money, not the money you hope to make, but the money you have saved or put away for a rainy day.

The idea of being your own boss, calling all the shots, and taking control of your destiny is a dream for many people, but owning and running a business takes more than desire.

Before you make your shell out your hard-earned dollars, whether it is $50 to start a home business or $50,000 for a franchise, ask yourself a few questions first.

• Are you comfortable with risk? Don’t invest your life savings unless you’re sure you can live with the possibility of losing your nest egg. All entrepreneurs worry about money, but you can’t let your fears paralyze you.

• Will you be committed and passionate about your business? A business that doesn’t excite you from the start won’t sustain your energy when demands are great and payoffs uncertain. Pick a business that you truly believe in, one you’d be happy to work in regardless of whether you ever get rich.

• Do you have the time and energy? Running your own business is not a 9-to-5 job. You need to be to able to maintain the pace of building a company from the ground up, especially during the early years. And if you are still working your regular 9-to-5 job you have to be willing to forego many things.

• Is your family on board? Running a business calls for all your concentration, and if your family feels short-changed, the added stress can do you in. Include them in any decision you make so you don’t have to worry about problems at home.

If you can say yes to these questions, go for it.

Have you ever thought of building a garden that will become home to dozens of beautiful butterfies? All it takes is a little know-how and patience. Your reward will be a blaze of color, fragrance and butterflies.

Plant your flowers in a sunny section of the garden, butterflies love light and sun. You will want plants that grow at different heights. That will assure that your visitors will find needed shelter from heavy rains. Male butterflys, however, will welcome the wet soil from the rains, the mud provides certain essential salts which is necessary for reproduction.

Plant flowers in colorful patches since butterflys are drawn to an abundance of color. Ask your garden shop expert which flowers are the most fragrant.

The flower list* below attracts many butterfly species. Choose several that are easy to grow in your own area:

Aster
Black-eyed Susan
Butterfly weed
Coreopsis
Daylillies
Goldenrod
Hibiscus
Lavendar
Lilac
Marigold
Orange-eye
Butterfly Bush
Oxeye Daisies
Phlox
Pink Azalea
Purple Coneflower
Redbud
Rosemary
Verbena

I am sure that there are other flowers that will attract butterfliess, you just have to do your homework. Your garden shop is just one source for information. Visit your library, browse book stores and don’t forget the Internet.

See the related links below for more garden information. Very often informational sites will list other sites and sources for additional data.

• The Garden Helper: Growing Zones USA
• Yankee Gardener: Flower Planting Chart USA

Once your garden is abundant with flowers, fragrance and butterflies, be sure to share your treasure with friends, family and neighbors. You may also want to Attract hummingbirds to your garden

*Source: University of Kentucky Department of Entomology

Article from Work & Family at BellaOnline with author approval.

In the summer of 2009 I asked for suggestions for my many blueberries. Rebecca Hubbard owner of Digital Women suggested blueberry cheesecake. That sounded like a plan since I do enjoy cheesecake, and love blueberries. I froze my blueberries (it was too hot to bake) and decided it was time to bake this easy cheesecake now.

This recipe is an old one from the Kraft people. I use vanilla wafers for the crust instead of Graham Crackers and do not add sugar to the crust mixture. Also, I use lemon extract instead of vanilla.

Basic Cheesecake Recipe

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups vanilla wafers, crushed
• 1/3 cup butter melted
• 32 oz. cream cheese, softened in large bowl
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. lemon extract
• 4 eggs
• (optional) 2 cups fresh or frozen fruit for topping**

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325°F

Blend crushed vanilla wafer and butter together to make a crust. Firmly press crumbs in an 8 or 9-inch springform pan.*

To cream cheese, add sugar and lemon extract and beat with electric mixer until the ingredients are mixed well. Mix eggs one at a time in cream cheese mixture, beat mixture low after each egg is added, until all eggs are added. Immediately pour mixture into pan over crust and bake 50 to 60 minutes, depending on your oven.

When cheesecake is done, center will be almost firm but not quite set. Remove cheesecake from oven and pass butter knife between the rim of cake and pan to loosen the cake. Release rim and refrigerate cheesecake until sufficiently cooled, 3 to 4 hours.

Remove cooled cheesecake from bottom of cake pan and place on serving dish. Add fruit to top or on side if desired.

*My pan is 8 inches so the cheesecake is a little higher.

**Blueberries are excellent. If you have frozen your own blueberries for several months they will no longer be firm but still very good. If the berries are sweet no need to add sugar, or add as necessary.

Watkins extract is great. It even has Paula Deen’s thumbs up. Visit Watkins for extracts, herbs and spices.

Not sure what springform pan is? See it at Amazon Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Nonstick Bakeware 9-Inch Springform Pan

Setting the right goals for yourself and your business is important. Your business is less likely to grow if are not working toward a certain goal or goals. When I started working in direct selling, I came in under someone (my upline) who pushed for the number of people in my downline rather than selling the product. I soon found that a large downline could not be my goal because I would spend more time recruiting bodies than getting the word out and marketing my product. I did OK, but was not happy, so I did an about-face. We all have choices, it does not matter what business you are in, you set your own goals. Setting the right goals, though–goals that will inspire and motivate you and those who work with or under you is crucial.

A few good goals to aim for. . .

• Quantifiability. You should be able to measure your success in objective terms so you can see the value of your efforts.

• Challenging objectives. If the challenge is too easy, your objective may not have a significant positive on your business.

• Flexibility. Don’t back yourself into a corner. Although you don’t want to adjust your goal or goals to suit your results, you should be willing to modify your ambitions if circumstances snatch your original objective out of reach. This is not giving up, rather, it is knowing when to change your course so you can move ahead.

Does this mean to set low goals or dream small? I don’t think so. It just means that you should not allow other people limit your success to their goals, or view your future through someone else’s eyes.

Three simple words for a better life?  Improving your life starts with your attitude.

It does not matter if you think Wayne Dyer is a guru or simply hokey, one thing is true, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Dr. Wayne W. Dyer.

Make 2010 the year you use some of these three-word phrases more often:

__ I thank you.
__ Please forgive me.
__ I trust you.
__ Let me help.
__ I believe you.
__ I forgive you.
__ Maybe you’re right.
__ Count on me.
__ I understand you.
__ I’ll do it.
__ Go for it.

And finally, Yes I can.

Some great quotable quotes from well-known people. It all boils down to, “Persevere to reach your goal. Find happiness.” Now that sounds like a plan, I wish good health and good fortune to everyone in 2010.

~~ “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” —Marie Curie

~~ “The road to happiness lies in two simple principles; find what interests you and that you can do well, and put your whole soul into it—every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have.” —John D. Rockefeller

~~ “Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.” —Winston Churchill

~~ “The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one often comes from a strong will and the other from a strong won’t.” —Henry Ward Beecher

~~ “The discipline you learn and character you build from setting and achieving a goal can be more valuable than the achievement of the goal itself.” —Bo Bennett

~~ “One only gets to the top rung of the ladder by steadily climbing up one at a time, and suddenly all sorts of powers, all sorts of abilities which you thought never belonged to you suddenly become within your own possibility, and you think, ‘Well, I’ll have a go, too.’” —Margaret Thatcher

~~ “If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity, it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye, and say: “I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.” —Ann Landers

~~ “For every failure, there’s an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.” —Mary Kay Ash

~~“It’s a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy.” —Lucille Ball

~~ “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” —John Barrymore