Today is That Day - Last Post!!!

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Well, this is it. Today's post will be the last one here. Yes, I know, I know. Feels strange, doesn't it?

In a funny sort of way, I've become a little attached to this blog but as you know, it was time to move on. A few of you somehow found the new location even though it isn't yet ranked on Google or Technorati. Imagine my surprise when I found a couple of your comments over there:

Really terrific look, feel and tone. I especially like the analogy to buying a house — because that’s what this process is closest to. You find that you always have to trade off here and there. But it looks like you’ve got yourself some prime real estate. Consider me a frequent houseguest. Ivana Taylor

I stumbled across your comments to this theme creators design and followed to your new site. Kind of crazy isn’t it? Anyway, I like the look and feel of this theme..... Chris Melton

Okay, are all 170 of you ready to join me? In the next day or so, I will be posting my first NEW article at the new blog. When you go over there for a look, you will see that I was successfully able to import every single article from here to there. I still have a lot more tweaking to do in the coming days, weeks and months but the hard part is over.

There's one more thing we have to do.

Remember I told you in a previous post that RSS and email subscribers "wouldn't have to lift a finger" to be moved over with me?

Well, I learned to my surprise that it isn't quite as simple as that. I've looked high and low for a painless subscriber transfer method but for the life of me, I could not find a ready-made solution! Quite frankly, I was shocked. The email subscription service that I am using at the new site (Feedburner) does not even offer an import feature!

Do you know what that means?

Yes, you got it. Would you mind? It'll only take a few minutes of your time. In fact, I've provided links below to help make the re-subscribing process easier for you. We'll get to that in a moment.

I read in a few places that by asking current subscribers to sign up at the new site could cause me to lose half of you out there. Apparently that's the risk I had to take by moving. But you know what?

That's their opinion.

Just because "they say so," doesn't mean it's true. Right? Will you help me prove them wrong?

All 170+ of you on the subscriber list are a unique and special group of people who have been drawn to Adversity University through the law of attraction. You came here and signed up for a reason. And you've stayed. Now that speaks volumes about what you think of Adversity University! That's why I feel good about asking you to take a few minutes to re-subscribe to the new location.

A quick note before we charter a plane to the new site. For those of you who are email subscribers, I will be sending you a follow-up email in the next couple days personally inviting you to re-subscribe. You will see "Adversity University" in the subject heading so that you won't think it's spam. Please be on the lookout for that. Okay?

I think I've covered all the bases. Shall we?

Welcome to my new home!

Adversity University Blog

To re-subscribe by email, please click here. (this means you get an email notifying you of new materials automatically without having to re-check the blog every so often).

For those of you who prefer to re-subscribe by "regular" RSS FEED, please click here. (this means the blog address has been bookmarked under your Favorites tab in the browser - every time you're on the Internet, you simply check your "favorite feeds" and click on those that appear in bold - that means new information has been posted).

And finally, do you have a favorite RSS Reader? If so, click here to continue using your favorite reader. (you know how your favorite reader works, so no need to explain further).

That's it! That wasn't so hard, was it?

Let's see a show of hands....how many of you just re-subscribed?

Let me count: 1...2....50....100...170.

Hooray! We did it! See you soon........

Virtual Realtor Hands Over New Keys!!

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After canvassing blogging neighborhoods all around the globe and looking at differently designed themes over the last three days, I'm happy and relieved to say that the virtual realtor finally handed me a new set of keys yesterday!

Now that I'm a new blog homeowner, I've been busy painting, adding, deleting, tweaking and otherwise fixing it up. I want it to not only reflect my personality but also transform it into a pleasant environment for those who have become part of the Adversity University community as well as for visitors who might stop in for coffee and browse around.

As I mentioned in the previous post, the goal was to find a place that gave me at least 5 things:

1. Prime real estate screen space (i.e. from 2 to 3 columns, without the clutter)
2. Intuitive navigation capabilities
3. Easy to read text with clean white background
4. The ability to create new pages with tabs on top for future material
5. A theme that was compatible with Wordpress 2.3 version

When I first started looking, I found 20 potential themes. Each designer was sent an email with questions to gauge how responsive and friendly they would be. While waiting to hear back from them, I browsed through their blogs to ascertain whether or not they were keeping up with regular postings.

If the designer got back to me within a reasonable period of time, appeared to be friendly and maintained a current blog, that meant I would probably get a fair amount of support throughout the installation/tweaking process. Keep in mind that while I've learned a lot about blogging in the last year and a half, I'm still learning my way around, especially now that I'm in a new environment with a learning curve to content with. It helps to have some kind of live support on the way, you know what I mean?

After hearing back from some but not others, the list was slashed to 5 potential themes. All of them were well designed and compatible with Wordpress 2.3. The clincher was when I learned one of designers was commissioned to write a book by a well known publisher, which I think will turn into a mega-bestseller. That meant this designer probably knew what she was doing when creating the theme I had my heart set on. In addition, it helps that she was hired by some well known bloggers to redesign their sites. Last but not least, she has a bunch of documentation at her site about how to tweak the theme to each individual blogger's liking - a huge bonus.

Yes, it's a woman. But that's all I'm going to tell you. I am purposefully keeping you in suspense until I launch my new site, which I expect to take place on Wednesday, October 10th at 12 pm EST.

As you can imagine, there's a lot of work ahead. Over 150 posts from this blog are being exported to the new location. In order for that to happen seamlessly, I might be forced to upgrade to Blogger's new template. If that happens, a lot of stuff you now see on the sidebar will be forever gone (which is one of the reasons I'm moving in the first place). In addition, I will be focused on transferring email and RSS subscribers, adding/moving around furniture (i.e. sidebars and plug-ins), plus a host of other things like inserting a notification in each and every post at this location telling visitors where to go.

After we are settled in the new location, I want to throw a blogwarming party!! Any ideas how I can do that? Go ahead and use the comment feature to let me know your ideas or if you prefer, send me a private email at stephen(at)sjhopson(dot)com (this is just in case the email link on the right side disappears if and when I am forced to upgrade to Blogger's new template).

Have a great rest of the weekend! Stay tuned for more updates......

Some News and Link Love

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After months of dragging my feet, I've FINALLY decided it's time to move Adversity University to a new home.

Yes! We are moving! (Above Photo Credit seen here).

Over the last few months, traffic has spiked well beyond the normal levels, resulting in a 50% increase of subscribers. Adversity University now ranks #1 on Google when someone types in those two words in the search box. Technorati reports well over 200 blogs linking back here, attracting even more traffic. Word about my work here at Adversity University has begun to reach the attention of well-known bloggers like Liz Strauss of "Successful Blogs," Phil of "Make it Great" fame, Laura Young of "The Dragon Slayer's Guide to Life," Aaron Potts of "Today is that Day," to name a few.

Simply put, Adversity University is growing by leaps and bounds!

Because of that, it's time for an extreme makeover and move to a more flexible platform (Wordpress) that will allow me to accomplish even more. It's like that five and ten store in a tiny building that needs a bigger place to handle more customers.

Before I share with you my vision for the new home, if you are an email or RSS subscriber to Adversity University, THANK YOU. I truly appreciate you being here and look forward to continuing our love affair. You will NOT have to lift a finger because through the miracle of technology, you will automatically be directed to our new home.

Here are 7 main reasons we're packing up and moving:

1. While we will keep "Adversity University" because of it's unique name and "play on words," I want it to be branded as a personal development site covering subjects including, but not limited to, the Law of Attraction, Thought Transformation, Positive Thinking, Blogging, Adversity Stories from Other People (You?), Power of Visualization and Wealth Building among others. Naturally, this calls for the creation of categories, something I cannot do here (unless I upgraded to Blogger's new template but that would result in the loss of all the tweaking I've done to it). If I'm going to lose a year's worth of tweaking by upgrading, why not start fresh elsewhere?

2. The comment feature at Blogger does not give commentators the ability to receive automatic email notifications on any additional comments that might come in after theirs have been left at this blog. If they wanted to see other people's responses to their comments, they'd have to keep checking back to see for themselves. That makes absolutely no sense to me. Wordpress has a little box that gives everyone the option of getting an email alert for that purpose.

3. More often than not, I tend to edit my writing repeatedly in an effort to give you the best possible material. On more occasions than I care to admit, whenever I went back to edit, the formatting would somehow go haywire, forcing me to manually fix it before republishing the post. I want to be able to repeatedly edit my work without having to worry about the formatting going nuts on me.

4. I am also looking for a more attractive design and go from two to three columns, giving me more "screen real estate" to play with.

5. While I own the copyright to everything at Adversity University, I do not own the domain name. Why? Because Blogger owns it (i.e. adversityuniversity.blogspot.com). By creating my own domain name and hosting it at a server of my choice (Hostgator), I become the owner of the new Adversity University site. If in the future someone wanted to purchase the Adversity University domain name, I would have the option of accepting that offer, putting me directly in the driver's seat instead of the other way around.

6. On top of all this, I want the ability to post-date my articles, a feature Blogger does not have available. Every time I am inspired with ideas, I'm stuck with writing one post for each day I want to publish something. Otherwise if I uploaded more than one at a time, you'd be deluged with a bunch of articles that were meant to be spread out over a period of time. By deliberately post-dating them, I could write a week's worth of articles at once (if I'm inspired to do so) and then arrange for their delivery on the days I want them delivered. How cool is that?

7. In the last year or so, I've been looking at different online income streams that are passive in nature. This calls for making more room for Google Ads, affiliate links and other programs. While daily traffic at this site is substantially higher than before, the overall click-through rate on the Google Ads has been dismally low. However, thanks to the experience I just had with "Pick the Brain," I've seen firsthand what a huge surge in traffic can do. When thousands are visiting your blog at the same time, the Google Ad click-through rate goes right through the roof. Since I will have a new category called "Blogging" (or maybe even "How to Make Money with Blogging") over at the new site, it puts me in the position to share with you what I've learned along the way. That would be especially beneficial for those of you who happen to have a blog of your own. What a great way for me to give back!

Now, of course, the decision to move isn't without risk. Because I am, in effect, starting all over, I will be focused on rebuilding traffic, increasing the number of incoming and outgoing links, regaining Google/Technorati rankings as well as put a forwarding link to every single post on this blog so that new visitors will be directed to the new location.

Despite the amount of work involved in moving (who ever said moving was easy?), let's take look at the big picture. I anticipate blogging for at least the next 20 years. What's one year in starting over again? Makes it seem small by comparison, doesn't it? By having a blog that I own and operate, I'm positioning us for bigger and better things. Blogger.com provided me with much needed "training wheels" and now they are coming off. I've learned a lot in the last year and a half. It's time to sprout my wings and expand. Won't you come along?

Now for some link love.

The following sites are blogs I currently subscribe to. Every one of them have recently mentioned my name, Adversity University and/or embedded the fast-spreading YouTube video on their sites. Not only do I want to publicly thank them but I also want to introduce you to them because I believe they are truly making an impact:

1. Pick the Brain - John Wesley at "Pick the Brain" responded to an email from me one day when an idea occurred to me to see if I could contribute to his blog with an article or two. To my delight, John responded quickly and opened the door for me to submit a couple that I thought would be a good fit for PTB. He ended up publishing an article originally entitled, "How to Deal with Difficult People" that was subsequently renamed, "7 Tips for Resolving Conflicts Quickly and Peacefully." In that article was a link to my "Adversity at the Barbershop" story that drew well over 2,000 visitors last week (and continues to bring in hundreds more every day!). If I hadn't had the courage to ask, I might not have experienced such a sharp increase in new traffic/subscribers. So I thank John for opening the doors for me. It's well worth your time to check out PTB - it's chock o' full of great information! (Did I get that right?)

2. How to Have Great Confidence and Self Esteem - David Rogers from England has many wonderful tips about developing self esteem and increasing confidence. He's worked in various mental health positions over the last 20 years, putting him in an unique position to share ways of achieving more confidence and self esteem. His words of wisdom will surely inspire you.

3. One Powerful Word - Wisdom of the Ages - Mr. Biggs, as he likes to be called, is a young guy whose picture I kept seeing over and over on the Internet. In this picture, he stands next to a shiny black BMW, which he manifested through the Law of Attraction. What you probably don't know is that owning a BMW is dream that I intend to manifest - particularly the 535i series. In any case, after seeing his picture for the umpteenth time, I realized the universe was nudging me to contact him. So I did and we ended up becoming Internet buddies. His blog focuses on utilizing the power of the Law of Attraction. Pretty uplifting material!

4. Communicatrix - Colleen Wrainwright wrote a very cute article with a photo of a doll with dazzling pink hair and glasses. The article was called "Can You Lead an Authentic Life with Fake Hair?" I found her on Priscilla's world famous list of Personal Development Blogs. When I arrived at Communicatrix, I was immediately drawn to the fake hair article, not because I have fake hair - I have NONE - but because she touched upon the power of authenticity, something I strongly believe in. I enjoyed that article so much that I browsed around Communicatrix some more. It's is mostly about her own personal life but because she is so authentic, I have fun while reading about her adventures.

5. Success from the Nest - Here's one of my favorite discoveries on the Internet. Tony D. Clark is quite the creative blogger. His niche is primarily on self development for small business owners complete with colorful cartoons and illustrations, making frequent visits to this blog a great source of information and pleasure for me.

6. Gus' Gang - Jenny runs a small ministry reaching out and encouraging families with chronically ill children and families who are suffering the loss of a child. I found her on the Priscilla list too and was immediately inspired by her ministry. There are loads of pictures of very cute babies that will absolutely, positively melt your heart.

7. Shards of Consciousness - Rick Cockrum is a personal development blogger who specializes in helping people raise their level of awareness on a spiritual and emotional level. He writes in a way that you intuitively understand what he's trying to say. Go check him out too!

8. soupornuts.com - Here Chris Melton covers topics like people skills, the law of attraction and many others but what's even more intriguing is something his business partner (Scott Kay) invented. It's a product called "The Rotater" (not a misspelling) that's fast making news in the world of sports and physical therapy - if you've ever had shoulder problems, I'll bet you'll benefit from using one of them. Even I'm considering one for myself because my right shoulder seems to be perpetually sore for some strange reason. They have a demo video on the rotater site showing you how easy and effective it is. It's pretty cool! It's probably one of those ideas that's causing people to bang their forehead like that V-8 TV commercial exclaiming, "WOW, I could have had a Rotater!"

Well, that's all for now folks. I hope you enjoy reading through some of these blogs and end up subscribing to them.

Meanwhile, I'll continue working on the move and keep you posted. I'll also throw in some older posts from this blog to keep you entertained and/or informed.

Are you excited about your forthcoming new home? I hope so!

More Articles, Stories, Observations For You

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Here are some more articles, stories, observations and tips from the past year at Adversity University:

1. Power of Thanking People w/ Handwritten Notes - I'm a big believer in taking the time to thank people who helped you in some way, with personalized thank you notes, which I think goes a long way these days. This is another one of those "timeless" articles that will never go out of style.

2. Passion at Southwest Airlines - One of my favorite airlines on what passion can do for the entire company. This is one of the secrets of a very successful company that knows how to infuse passion from the bottom all the way to the top.

3. Entertaining the Possibilities at Southwest Airlines - How SWA got their start despite a rough beginning because they were willing to "entertain the possibilities" and ask themselves "can we do this?" Apparently, they thought they could because look at where they are today!

4. Acting on Intuition at Southwest - This is a story about what a flight attendant once did for an elderly passenger who missed her connection. It's a heartwarming story that all companies should pay heed to.

I hope you enjoy the re-posting of some of my earlier stories today. Be sure to comment if you feel inspired to do so. I love hearing from readers of AU. Have a great rest of the weekend! There's more coming in the coming days.

More Stuff from the Past Year

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Did you enjoy some of the earlier articles in yesterday's post? In an effort to celebrate the existence of this blog, I am bringing back some of old articles I wrote when Adversity University was just getting started for old times sake.

1. The Importance of Surrounding Yourself with the Right People - I was experiencing a challenge with some people that did not feel good to be around, prompting this article. It's been over a year since I last associated with those people b/c I felt it was detrimential to being in their presence so I had to take action. This article helped me help myself! It's a timeless article.

2. Winston Churchill - KOB: A short article about him after watching a movie about his life.

3. Battling the Weeds of Adversity - A humorous story written by fellow speaker Tony Brigmon who was mowing the lawn at his house.

4. Blizzard Housecleaning - A story of what happened when driving through a howling blizzard in Canada.

5. Faith Realignment, It's How You See It - Consciously setting the tone when you wake up.

That's all for today folks! Expect some more tomorrow, over the weekend and the beginning of next week! Be sure to comment if you're enjoying these old stories and articles from the past. Let me know which ones impacted you the most, I'd love to hear from you!

And one last thing. Thanks for signing up and being such a strong part of Adversity University! I enjoy writing for you and sharing my experiences with you.

A Blast From the Past

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At this point, I've written almost 150 blog posts since April 17, 2006, the day Adversity University was officially born. A lot has happened since then and I wanted to celebrate its existence by bringing back some of the articles that very few people got to see since I was just starting out.

1. My Very First Blog- a short introductory piece. Number of readers: 0

2. On the Road for Speaking Engagements - sharing an experience I had with a speaking engagement.

3. Imagine You're in the Clouds and You Break Out - a pretty picture showing what it's like being a pilot through instrument weather (i.e. "bad weather") and then breaking out of the clouds to see the runway in front of you. It's the greatest feeling in the world!

4. An Actual Instrument Approach - a link to a Google Video of an actual approach to an airport through bad weather. Although this was not a video of my flight, I've experienced similiar conditions numerous times.

5. Is Your Price Too Low? - a link to a great article about the value of pricing your services higher than you've been charging.

6. Universal Secrets of Turning Adversity Into Possibilities - my first real "self-help" post.

Tomorrow, I'll add some more from "way back when" to give you a chance to see some of the earlier posts. I hope you enjoy going back there with me for a bit.

Attention: Calling All Teachers

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In addition to asking everyone to help me pass forward a special YouTube video showing the ripple effect my fifth grade teacher made on me, I have more goodies for teachers everywhere.

There's a fun contest being run by my good friend, Michael Werner, CEO of InfoSource. They are calling it "Perk Up Your Classroom." Won't you take a moment of your time and visit them to find out what it's all about? They are offering cool prizes including Amazon gift certificates, supplies from Staples, and an Ipod Shuffle!

Stephen a Guest at Popular "Pick the Brain" Blog

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This morning I am off to Traverse City, Michigan for a speaking engagement, returning tomorrow (Tuesday) night. I will be speaking to a group of CEO's who specialize in health care risk management and patient care issues. The title of my talk will be "How to Turn Adversity Into a University of Possibilities." You can see the agenda here if you're curious.

Meanwhile, popular "Pick the Brain" blog with over 7,000 readers gave me an opportunity to share 7 ways of dealing with difficult people in an article entitled "7 Tips for Resolving Conflicts Quickly and Peacefully." It is exactly the same article I once wrote (see "Most Popular Articles" in the right sidebar) called "How to Deal with Difficult People."

Enjoy the beginning of your week and when I return from Michigan, I will come back to Adversity University.

Passing a YouTube Video Forward

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The Ask! Ask! Ask! article from two days ago generated such a great response that led me to Peggy Collin's very helpful, "Ten Ways to Ask for Help Without Feeling Helpless." I was so surprised that there was someone out there who actually specialized in teaching people how to ask for help!

Peggy's list actually gave me an idea. While I've shown the following YouTube video before, I've never actually asked you to help me pass it along. According to traffic statistics at Adversity University, about 100 people a day stop by for a visit. If each one of you took a few minutes to forward this video to 5 people on your list, that you personally know would be inspired by its contents, that means at least 500 people could witness the power of three words that once tumbled out of a fifth grade teacher's lips so many years ago.

As you will see in the video, Mrs. Jordan simply said three words, "THAT'S RIGHT, STEPHEN!", forever causing a ripple effect that continues to expand even 30 years later. I have written a book with that title (which I expect to publish in 2008) and plan to do a bus tour that same year. By speaking of how much of difference she made in my life, this is my way of giving back to her and reminding current/future teachers that they are very much needed in today's classroom.

Can you imagine if teachers knew the potential impact on their students the way Mrs. Jordan impacted mine?

Will you help me pay it forward? You are invited to do this a couple of ways:

1. Click the "Share" button at the end of the video and follow their instructions (YouTube provides three ways of passing this forward easily and effortlessly).

2. At the end at the very bottom of this post, there's an icon resembling a tiny envelope. Click on that and you'll be able to forward the entire blog entry to people you think should see this.

Ask! Ask! Ask!

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The Abraham-Hicks book, Ask and It is Given, inspired me to write today's post. One of the greatest things we can do for ourselves is to ask for something we want. The trouble is those who were our early influencers while we were young (i.e. parents, teachers, siblings, friends, caregivers and/or authority figures) may have admonished us with a withering look that signaled that it was not okay to ask for help. (Photo credit: Amber Waves).

If you asked for help in school, you were probably called a "brown noser" or maybe a "teacher's pet." Perhaps you've heard someone say to you, "Quit bothering me and do what you're told," "I don't want to hear about it," "I don't have time for this right now," or "You're so selfish, all you ever think about is yourself!"

After a lifetime of hearing those comments, we're programmed to think we can't ask for help or pose a question without appearing stupid. We become fearful of being met with one of those looks-that-could-kill. We learn very quickly that it's not okay to ask stupid questions or appearing to ask for a handout.

So what happens later in life? We subconsciously hold ourselves back, afraid to ask, hoping someone will read our minds and reach out to us first.

Well, no one ever said it was easy to ask for what you want but the rewards are immeasurable if you just take that chance. No one has ever succeeded on their own - it's impossible to. Not if you want to take yourself to the next level.

Several months ago, I hired a designer to completely overhaul my speaking website. When she was done, I realized there was something missing. I needed something that would boost my creditability as a professional speaker. After all, I charge thousands of dollars to give a speech. If you were in a position to hire me to give a motivational talk, wouldn't you at least want the reassurance that your investment would be well worth spent? I know I would.

What was needed was a couple of video testimonials from those who were considered heavyweights within their fields who were not only well respected and well known but also heard me speak. After all, how could they say I was a good speaker with a good story if they hadn't been at one of my speeches?

So I got to thinking who I could ask for help in that area. A couple of names immediately came to mind. They were Howard Putnam, former CEO of Southwest Airlines who is in great demand as a business speaker and author of critically acclaimed "Winds of Turbulence" and Mark Sanborn, another popular business speaker, blogger and national best-selling author of "The Fred Factor."

Now, before I go any further, I want to relate to you some of my earlier experiences with asking for help. Yours truly has been accused numerous times as a youngster of being a "brown noser." Due to my disability, I often had to ask others to repeat themselves if I didn't understand what was being said, especially in the classroom or in social situations, only to receive a dramatic rolling of the eyes and a heavy sigh. After years of putting up with reactions like that, I eventually stopped asking because it used to be my perception that people just didn't want to be bothered.

Boy, did I pay a heavy price for that attitude!

Little did I know that people, by nature, are generous and don't mind being asked for assistance if given the opportunity. It certainly helps if you believe in yourself and demonstrate that you are someone with potential. People like to be associated with those who they perceive as winners. Even if you have a couple of flaws, they still want to help you because your likeability factor is pretty high on the scale. If you're an authentic person, others can't help but wanted to be affiliated with you. Whether or not they get anything in return (other than the satisfaction of helping a "deserving person"), they're more than likely willing to lend you a hand.

When those two people came to mind, because of years of programming, I almost held back and didn't ask. Thoughts like "They're too busy," "Don't bother them because this would be too much trouble" immediately bombarded my mind. Fortunately, I had done enough reprogramming of the mind by that point to stop those thoughts from turning into an avalanche.

So I went ahead and boldly asked if they would be willing to do a short video testimony for my website. What helped was that I remained detached from the results. The worst that could happen was a polite, "Perhaps sometime in the future" or an outright "Thanks for thinking of me but my current schedule does not allow me the luxury of doing so, perhaps I could recommend someone else."

Imagine my pleasant surprise when both of them replied favorably! With today's technology, they were able to do it by using a simple video camera within the comfort of their homes, download it into a video file and send me an email attachment. That was all there was to it! You can see their video testimonials here.

Until I do a survey of clients who have hired me since those videos were uploaded, I won't know if I was commissioned to speak solely on the basis of those video testimonials, but I am willing to bet my bottom dollar that if I hadn't asked for their help, I might not have gotten some of those engagements! So I want to publicly thank Howard and Mark for the time and effort they took to do a video for me.

Is it easy to ask for help? Heck, no! Especially if you are asking someone whose visibility, popularity or earnings power far exceed those of your own but you won't know until you ask.

What's more, if there's anything I've learned from asking, it's that many of these successful people did not get to where they are today if they didn't receive help somewhere along the line. So they really do want to help you, especially if they see you have potential. Everyone wants to be associated with a winner. Believe in yourself first and then go ask for help. Otherwise why should they believe in your potential if you don't think you have any yourself?

Henry Ford once said, "If you think you can do it, you can. If you think you can't do it, then you won't. Either way, you're right!" Wow!

Food for thought: There's nothing wrong with asking for help. If you don't ask, you won't get. People can't read your mind - so why not go ahead and give it a shot? The worst they can say is "No." How bad can that be?

Priscilla Palmer's List of Personal Development Sites

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I am pleased to announce that Adversity University was included in a new and comprehensive list of Personal Development blogs created by Priscilla Palmer. Thanks to her for adding me to this list.

Priscilla started out with 5 blogs that she wanted the world to know about and then she asked them to select 5 PD blogs that they knew of. From that day on, the list kept growing and growing. It's now grown to something like 400 blogs and it continues to grow! It is a great place for people to find what they might be looking for in one central location, whether they are looking for ways to get out of debt, overcome adversity, learn more about the law of attraction, find a way to interact with your favorite author or even read some interesting and heartwarming stories, it's probably on that list.

I'd be remiss if I didn't suggest that Priscilla add more than 5 blogs to her growing list. Here they are:

1. Patrick Combs at Good Thinking Co.

2. Mark Sanborn at You Don't Need a Title to be a Leader

3. Wendy Betterini at Wings for the Heart

4. Nita at Moments

5. Karen Putz at A Deaf Mom Shares Her World

6. Corrine Edwards at Personal Growth with Corrine Edwards

7. Michael Werner at Dream Jobs Dialog

8. Meryl K. Evans at Meryl.net

9. Tony Brigmon at Smile Notes

10. Brett Farmiloe at Pursue the Passion

11. Chris at The Philosophy of Change

As of September 18, 2007, Priscilla placed the following blogs on her ever-growing Personal Development List. If you have a moment today or tomorrow or next week or next year, you might want to take a look at some of these blogs out there. You never know what you might find. I've found some interesting sites myself, thanks to Priscilla's idea of consolidating a list of PD sites. Here they are:

Aaron Potts at Today is That Day

Adam Alexander at Adam’s Peace

Adam Kayce at Monk at Work

Adam Khoo at Adam Khoo’s Philosophies and Investing Insights

AgentSully at Life Learning Today

Al at 7pproductions.com

Alan Torres at Made to Be Great

Alex Shalman at AlexShalman.com

Alexander Kjerulf at The Chief Happiness Officer

Alexys Fairfield at Unraveling The Spiritual Mystique

Albert Foong at urbanmonk.net

Alvaro at Sharp Brains Blog

Amber at Amber Waves

Amber at Random Mangus

Amie Ragan at Psychology of Clutter

Amit Sodha at The Power of Choice

Amy Hedin at There is no Maximum to Human Potential

Andrea Learned at Learned on Women

Andrea J. Lee at Money, Meaning, and Beyond

Andrew Brunelle at Andrew Brunelle.com

Andy Wibbels at AndyWibbels.com

Anita Pathik Law at Power of Our Way

Anmol Mehta at AnmolMetha.com

Anna Farmery at The Engaging Brand

Antonio Thornton at AntonioThornton.com

April Groves at Making Life Work For You

Argancel at C’eclair (for those who speak french)

Ariane Benefit at Neat & Simple Living

Ash aka Mr. Biggs at One Powerful Word

Ashley Cecil at The Painting Activist

Ask Lucid at Ask Lucid Spiritual Development

BK Diva at Bklyn’s Finest

Barb Melloh at The Law of Attraction Info

Barbara Curtis at Mommy Life

Barbara Sliter at Creatorship

Belle Wong at Abundance Journal

Ben Yoskovitz at Instigator Blog

Benjamin at WOWNDADI

Beth at Butterfly Thoughts

Bill Perry at Lucid Blog

Billy Smith at The Organic Leadership Blog

Blogfuse at LifeDev

Bluskygirl at LifeGoddess.com

Brad Isaac at Achieve It

Brian Clark at Copyblogger

Brian Kim at briankim.net

Brian Lee at geniustypes.com

Brightfeathers at this time-this space

Brooke at Plain Advice

Bob at everyeveryminute

Bolly at Motivational Corner

Boston Gal at Boston Gal’s Open Wallet

Byron Katie at Byron Katie.com

Cam Beck at ChaosScenario

Cara Lumen at The Success Magnets With Cara Luman and Your Second Wind Blog

Carlon Haas at Possess Less Exist More

Carol Skolnick at Soul Surgery

Catherine Carter at Continuum Wellness

Cheif Family Officer at Cheif Family Officer

Chris at One is All and All is One

Chris Brogan at Chris Brogan.com

Chris Cade at Spiritual Short Stories

Chris Cree at SuccessCREEations

Chris Marshall at Martial Development

Chris Melton at Soupornuts.com

Chris Owen at Pink Apple

Christine Kane at ChristineKane.com

Christine Valters Painter at Abbey of the Arts

Christy Z at Totally Fabulous

Clyde at Feeling Good

Colin Beavan at No Impact Man

Colleen Wainwright of Communicatrix

Conceive, Believe, Achieve at Conceive, Believe, Achieve

Confessing at 7Confessions

Cooper at Wonderland or Not

Crabby McSlacker at Cranky Fitness

Craig Harper at Motivational Speaker

Craze at Crazedreamer’s Thoughts

Curt Rosengren at Occupational Adventure

Cyres at Cyres Matters

Damian Carr at Soul Terminal

Daniel Roach at Daniel Roach.org

Daniel Sitter at Idea Sellers

Danny Kohn at Be Inspired Everyday

Daria Black at Figmeant Writing Studio and Community

Darlene Siddons at Spirited Boutique

Darren Rowse at Problogger.net

Dave Pollard at How to Save the World

Dave Schawbel at The Personal Branding Blog

Dave Schoof at Engaging the Disquiet

Davers at Language Trainers Blog

David Allen at The David Allen Company

David Bohl at Reflections on Balance

David Finch at David Finch.com

David Richeson at 360 Degree Success

David Rogers at How to Have Great Self Confidence

David Seah at David Seah.com

David Zinger at Slacker Manager

Dawn Vinson at Daydreaming on Paper

Dawud Miracle at dmiracle.com

Daylle Deanna Schwartz at Lessons from a Recovering Doormat

Dean Lacono at Law of Attraction for Beginners

Deb at Mind Body and Solar

Deb2012 at Fibromaylgia and Wellness

Debbie Call at Spirit In Gear

Debbie LaChusa at 10 Step Marketing Collection

Deborah aka Zephry1 at Climate of Our Future

Debra Moorhead at Debra Moorhead.com

Denise Mosawi at Destineering.com

Derrick Kwa at Sui Generis

Desika Nadadur at Desika Nadadur.com

Devlyn Steele at Tools To Life Guide

Diane Cese at Everything Yoga

Dick Richards at Come Gather Round

Dominic Tay at Personal Development for Winners

Don Simkovich at Hey Don

Donald Latumahina at Life Optimizer

Donna Karlin at Perspectives

Donna Steinhorn at Rethinking

Douglas Eby at Talent Development Resources

Dr. Charles Parker at The Core Psych Blog

Dr. Hal at Northstar Mental fitness blog

Dr. Michael Shea at From Pain to Personal Gain

Dr. Tim Sharp at The Happiness Institute

Drew Rozell at Drew Rozell.com

Dwayne Melancon at Genuine Curiosity

E Murphy at The Active Life

Edward Mills at Evolving Times

Edward Smith at Bright Moment

Edith Yeung at Dream Think Act

Elizabeth Badurina at Modern Gypsy

Elle Mgee at Ever Hopeful, Ever Thankful

Ellen Weber at Brain Based Business

Ellesse at Goal Setting College

Elly Jolly at Jolly Life Coaching

Emily G. W. Lilly at The Science of Waldorf Education

Emmanuel Lopez at The Adventures of Motivatorman

Enoch Tan at Mind Reality

Eric Napier at Quotation Collection

Erin Pavlina at Erin Pavlina.com

Ev Nucci at My Life is Murphy’s Law

Evelyn Lim at Attraction Mind Map

Evelyn Rodriguez at Crossroads Dispatches

Evolving Excellence at Evolving Excellence

Farouk Radwan at 2KnowMySelf

Frank at Re/Transformation

Frank Kanu at Frank Uncovers Excellence in Leadership

Frank Roche at KnowHR Blog

Galba Bright at Tune Up Your EQ

Garr Reynolds at Presentation Zen

Gary at Personal Strategic Plan

Gerri at Absolutely True

Gilad Buchman at Sigsug

Gleb Reys at Personal Development Ideas

Grayson at Modern Worker Blog

Greg Butler at holistic-personal-development.com

Greg Frost at ChargedAudio.com

Geoff R at Gearfire.net

George Vasu at 360

Golbguru at Money, Matter, and More Musings

Gretchen Rubin at Happiness Project

Gustav at Success-is-in-you.com

Guy Kawasaki at How to Change the World

Gyanish at Diethack

Halina Goldstein at The Inner Travel Journal

Hatter at Dreaming to Infinity

Hilda Carroll at Living Out Loud

Heather Goldsmith at A Creative Journal

Helgi Pall Einarsson at Everyday Wonderland

Henrik Edberg at The Positivity Blog

Holly Sumner at The Abundance Place

Honman at Open Your Mind to Prosperity

Hueina Su at Intensive Care for the Nurturer’s Soul

Ilyria at Finding Norway

Inkedmn at The Cranking Widgets Blog

Isabella Mori at MoriTherapy

Isha at Isha Yoga

Itzy Sabo at Email Overloaded

JC at Job Life Upgrade

Jacin Steele at Jacin Steele.com

Jack Vinson at Knowledge Jolt with Jack

Jackie at The Painted Veil

Jackie Ford at The Vegan Diet

Jacklyn Ker at Inspiring and Empowing Lives

Jarle Husefest at The Personal Development Blog

Jason and Michael at Black Belt Productivity

Jason Ivers at A Miracle a Day

Jason Womack at Fit and Effective

Jay White at dumb little man tips for life

Jean Browman at Transforming Stress Into Power and Cheerful Monk

Jeane Michelle Culp at Binding Ink

Jeanne May at Aspirations Plus

Jeannette Maw at Good Vibe Coaching

Jeanie Marshall at Empowerment and Meditation Blog and DailyAffirm: Positive Affirmations Day by Day

Jeff Davidson at Breathing Space Blog

Jeff Lilly at Druid Journal

Jeffrey Phillips at Think Faster

Jennifer at Goodness Graciousness

Jennifer Mannion at Heal Pain Naturally

Jenny Ryan at Using My Powers For Good

Jenny and Erin at Jenny and Erin

Jeremiah Owyang at Web Strategy by Jeremiah

Jerry Hart at Blue Print to emarketing

Jerry Lopper at Personal Growth

Jessa at clairvoyantGuidance.net

Jessica Hagy at Indexed

Jim stroup at Managing Leadership

Jim Walton at Black In Business

JoLynn Braley at The Fit Shack

Joan Schramm at Accelerating Momentum

Joanna Young at Coaching Wizardry

Joanne at I’m Happy Fish

JodeeB at You Already Know This Stuff

Joe Vitale at Dr. Joe Vitale at Zero

John Chow at John Chow Dot Com

John Pratt at John Pratt International

John Place at John Place Online

John W. McKenna at The Leadership Epidemic

John Wesley at Pick The Brain

Jon at Join The Secret

Jon King at The Effective Life

Jon Willis at Self Happiness

Jonathan at Smart Wealthy Rich and Freelance Folder

Jordan at The Abe Blog

Jory Des Jardin at Pause: Meaningful Work

Josh Bickford at Reach For Magnificence and Reach for Magnificence

Josh Kaufman at The Personal MBA

Joshua Denny at Catalyst for Change

Judy Martin at The Work/Life Monitor

Julia Rogers Hamrick at Julia’s Blog: Journal of the Journey Home to Eden

Julie Bonner at Declutter It

Kailani at An Island Review

Kammie Kobyleski at Passion Meets Purpose

Kara-Leah Masina at Be Conscious Now

Karen at Journey with Water Learner

Karen Lynch at Live The Power

Karen Wallace at The Clearing Space

Karl Moore at Karl Blog.com

Karl Staib at Karl Staib.com

Kathy Mallary at Coaching Biz Tips

Keith Ferrazzi at Never Eat Alone

Kelly at Kellymentology

Ken Dow and Martin Cooper at Creativity Happens

Kenton Whitman at kentonwhitman.com

Kevin Kinchen at Creative Power of Thought

Killeris at Attitude, The Ultimate Power

Kim and Jason at Escape Adulthood

Kim George at Doing What You Can Do

Kimber Chin at Client K

Kirk Nugent at Kirk Nugent.com

Kirsten Harrell at Ipopin

Krishna De at Biz Growth News and Todays Women in Business

Kristen King at Lively Women

K.L. Masina at Be Conscious Now

LJW at Heavenly Inclinations

Lauchlan Mackinnon at Think Differently

Laura at Heaven is Inside

Laura at Orgjunkie

Lawrence Cheok at A Long, Long Road

Laura Young at The Dragon Slayer’s Guide to Life

Leah Maclean at Working Solo

Leigh at The Lab

Lee Nutter at bmindful

Leo Babauta at Zen Habits

Liara Covert at Dream Builders

Life Reflection at Universe in a Single Atom

Lilifixt at Feel Happy

Lillie Ammann at A Writers Words, An Editor’s Eye

Linda Hernestal da Silva at Daily Power Walk

Linda Salazar at Awaken The Genie Within

Lisa Braithwaite at Speak Schmeak

Lisa Gates at Design Your Writing Life

Lisa Haneberg at Management Craft, Two weeks to a Breakthrough Blog, and Chile Pepper High

Lisa McGlaun at LifePrints - Good News for a More Compassionate World

Lisa Mills at Work at Home Mom Revolution

Lisa Q at 40s Singleness-Dating in Your 40s

Lisa Van Allen at Finish Strong

Liz at Internet Marketing Strategies

Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Lodewijkvdb at How to be an Original

Lola Fayemi at Real World Spiritual and Personal Development

Lori Grant and Debbie at Smart Lemming

Lorie Marrero at The Clutter Diet Blog

Lorraine Cohen at Powerfull Living

Luciano Passuello at Litemind.com

Lucid at Spiritual Suggestions

Lumosity at Brain Health Blog

Lyman Reed at Creating a Better Life

Lyndon Antcliff at LyndonAntcliff.com and Cornwallseo.com

Lynn McTaggert at Living The Field

Lynne Morrell at Lynn Morrell.com and Musings From The Edge

MT at MindTWEAKS

Madame X at My Open Wallet

Maddy at Illuminated Minds Want to Know

Malathy Badri at Laws of Universe

Malcolm Campbell at The Round Table

Manny at Success Books

Maria Gajewski at Never The Same River Twice

Maria Garcia at Get Organized Now

Maria Palma at The Good Life

Marianne Williamson at Journal

Marion at Herbal Connection

Marilyn Jenett at Feel Free to Prosper and Feel Free to Prosper Ryze Network

Mark at The Naked Soul

Mark Forster at Get Everything Done

Mark LaPierre at The Winding Path

Mark McManus at Build Your Life To Order

Mark W Shead at Productivity 501

Martin Avis at Kickstart Daily

Mary K at Becoming Your StellarSelf

Matthew Cornell at Matt’s Idea Blog

Meg Haworth at Life Lessons From Your Soul

Melanie Benson Strick at The Success Blog

Merlin Mann at 43 Folders

Michelle at aMusing My Genius

Michelle Moore at Happiness Blog

Michael Port at The Think Big Revolution

Michael Vanderdonk at TOACH Performance

Mike Janssen at Opgestroopte Mouwen

Mike Kemski at BANABU

Mike St. Pierre at The Daily Saint

Millionaire Mommy Next Door at Millionaire Mommy Next Door

Mimi Lennox at Mimi Writes

Mizzy Bohemia at Miz BoheMia’s Rhapsody

Mona Grayson at Question The Mind

Monte Ladner at Fitness Rocks

Moneymonk at Moneymonk

Mr.Wang at Mr Wang Says So

MsJayy at Jackie Young Writes

My Everyday Planner at My Everyday Planner

My Mind on Books at My Mind on Books

Mystical Monkey at One Mystical Monkey

NCN at No Credit Needed

Nancy Mills at The Spirited Woman

Nancy Tierney at Unconditional Confidence

Neal Donald Walsh at Conversations With God

Neil Patel at Quick Sprout

Nic Askew at Monday 9AM Blog

Nick Smith at Life 2.0

Nneka at Balanced Life Center

Organize-It at Organize-It

Pamala Slim at Escape From Cubicle Nation

Pamm Larry at My Secret Spiritual Dance

Patricia Klingler at Remarkable Women Speak

Patricia Singleton at Spiritual Journey of a Lightworker

Patti Digh at 37 Days

Paul at Paul’s Tips

Paul Piotrowski at Self Help Wisdom

Paula Kawal at Paula Kawal.com

Peggy Payne at Peggy Payne’s Boldness Blog

Peter at I Will Change Your Life

Peter Aldin at Great Circle

Peter Haslem at Necessary Skills

Phil Gerbyshak at Make It Great

Philip J Eby at Dirt Simple.org

Philippe Matthews at Shockwealth

Pia at Courting Destiny

Priscilla Palmer at Personal Development Demands Success

Priya Florence Shah at Soul Kadee

Quint Jensen at Win Your Mind

Raymond Salas at Zenchill Powertools

Real Modern Man at Real Modern Man

Reg Adkins at ElementalTruths

Rhonalala at The Harder I Work, The Luckier I Am

Ricardo at Wake Up Tiger

Rich Schefren at Strategic Profits

Rick Cockrum at Shards of Consciousness

Rick Cooper at The PDA Pro

Ririan at Ririanproject

Rob at 7Breaths

Rob Cooke at Leave the Office

Robert at Compassionate Council

Robert at Myselfdev

Robert Ashcroft at PDSS Online

Robin Skeen at Robin’s Reflections

Robin Yapp at Yapp 3.0

Robyn McMaster at Brain Based Biz

Roger Von Oech at Creative Think

Rolf F. Katzenberger at Evomend

Rosemary at Parkinson’s Disease and Peripheral Neuropathy

Rosa Say at Managing With Aloha Coaching

Ryan Marle at The Alpha Project

S.J. Yee at Personal Development for the Book Smart

Sam at Aquire Wisdom and Live with Passion

Scott Adams at The Dilbert Blog

Scott Andrew Bird at Scott Andrew Bird.com

Scott Berkun at Berkun Blog

Scott Bernadot at Keeping The Secret

Scott Ginsberg at Hello, My Name Is Blog

Scott H Young at Scott H Young

Scott McArthur at McArthur’s Rant

Secret Simon at The Secret of Life

Self Pursuit at Self Pursuit

Senia at Senia.com Positive Psychology Coaching

Seth Godin at Seth’s Blog

2 Know My Self at 2KnowMySelf

Shane Navratil at Zoomstart

Shaun Boyd at LifeReboot.com

Shauna Arthurs at Breathing Prosperity and Follow Your Path

Shaheen Lakhan at GNIF Brain Blogger

Simone at Dynamic Living

Simone and Mandy at Outfit Inspirations

Single Ma at Single Ma’s Fabulous Financials

Slade Roberson at Shift Your Spirits and Spiritual Blogging

Sleeping Dude at How to Wake Up Early

Sonora Jayne Case at Positive Realities Coaching

Sophiagurl at Life is Just Around the Corner

Spike at Organize It

Stacy Brice at Virtualosophy

Start Up Coach at Take Charge of Your Life

Stay at Home Mom at Insanity’s Oasis

Stephanie and Jeffrey at Brains on Purpose

Stephen at HD bizblog

Stephen Hopson at Adversity University

Stephen Shapiro at Stephen Shapiro.com

Steve Beisheim at Jumping Ship Happens

Steve Grossman at Why I failed

Steve Harper at The Ripple Effect

Steve King at The Green Geek

Steve Moore at Personal Development Blog

Steve Olson at Steve-Olson.com

Steve Pavlina at stevepavlina.com

Steve Roesler at All Things Workplace

Steven Aitchison at Change Your Thoughts

Success Current at SuccessCurrent.com

Sue Ann Edwards at Always Embraces All Ways

Sunny Schlenger at SunCoach.com

Surjit at Gurushabad

Susan at Got2BeGreen

Susan R. Meyer at Life Work Cafe

Susan Sabo at Productivity Cafe

Susie at The Accidental Environmentalist

Susanna Kompogiorgas at Flowing Chi

Suzanne Bird-Harris at Learning Curve Coaching

Suzanne Falter-Barns at Discover Your Joy

Takeshi at Nakayima

Takuin Minamoto at Takuin.com

Taylor at Mom’s Out There

Ted Demopoulos at Blogging For Business

Teesha Moore at TeeshaMorre.com

Terry Starbucker at Ramblings From a Glass Half Full

Therapy Doc at Everyone Needs Therapy

Thom Quinn at Qlog

Tiffany at Little Red Suit

Tim Ferris at 4-Hour Workweek and Lifestyle Design Blog

Tim Taylor at My Agapic Life

Tim Warren at Personal Development4U

Todd Goldfarb at We The Change

Tom LeDree at Tom LeDree.com

Tom Peters at Tom Peters.com

Tom Spanton at TRCoach

Tom Van Brunscot of Transformation Economy

Tony Chimento at Living Forward

Tony D Clark at Success From The Nest

Torlink at You Create Reality

Travis A. Sinquefield at Disorganizational Behavior

Travis Wright at Cultivate Greatness

Tricia at Blogging Away Debt

Tricia at Loving Farewells

Trizoko at Trizoko.com

Trent Hamm at The Simple Dollar

Trevor Gay at Simplicity is the Key

Troy Worman at Orbit Now!

Tuck Self at Rebel Belle Blog

Tupelo Kenyon at Tu