Success story: Female astronaut Megan McArthur on final Hubble service mission

August 29, 2009

Megan McArthur

This is a brief story of Megan McArthur’s journey to space this year.

Born in 1971 and graduating with a B.S. Aerospace Engineering, University of California-Los Angeles, 1993 and Ph.D., Oceanography, University of California-San Diego, 2002, it was a chance meeting in college with astronaut Kathryn Sullivan – the first US woman to do a space walk – that helped Megan McArthur decide exactly what she would do for a career.

Fast forward to May this year and Megan McArthur was in space helping to service the Hubble telescope, which was launched by Kathryn Sullivan.

After a career in science as an oceanographer, Megan McArthur joined NASA nine years ago. She started training in 2007 for 1½ years specifically for her first space mission. Its purpose was to service the 19-year-old Hubble telescope for a fifth and final time. She spent 12 days and 21 hours in space in May, performing the roles of flight engineer and mission specialist where she operated the robotic arm that secured the telescope for servicing.

She is one of 20 active women on NASA’s roster, along with 60 men. Her aim next is to go to the International Space Station. For now, though, she promotes science among her other work with NASA. She has been to Australia this month to promote National Science Week.

Sources:

WA today (Australia)

NASA Mega McArthur Bio

Written by SuccessMotivational.com · Filed Under Career, Celebrity success, Science 

Self-help book: The Magic Of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz – a brief introduction

August 26, 2009

The Magic Of Thinking Big by David Schwartz

The Magic Of Thinking Big by David Schwartz

The Magic Of Thinking Big was first published in 1965. A version was published in 1987 by Simon & Schuster, Inc (the version pictured). It contains real-life case studies to illustrate a point. Some people that read this book may find some of these examples hard to believe but they illustrate the point nevertheless.

Dr Schwartz defines a proven approach for getting the most out of your job, relationships and life in general. The reader can learn about turning defeat into victory, building favorable work and personal relationships and thinking like a leader. It is really all about getting rid of negativity and instead believing in success, overcoming fear, building confidence, becoming more creative and more.

It has 13 chapters:

  • Believe you can succeed and you will
  • Cure yourself of Excusitis, The Failure Disease
  • Build confidence and destroy fear
  • How to think big
  • How to think and dream creatively
  • You are what you think you are
  • Manage your environment: Go first class
  • Make your attitudes your allies
  • Think right toward people
  • Get the action habit
  • How to turn defeat into victory
  • Use goals to help you grow
  • How to think like a leader

Dr Schwartz closes the book with the following quote:

“A wise man is the master of his own mind. A fool is a slave to his.” – Publilius Syrus

You can read an introduction for some chapters at Google Books or reviews at Amazon and similar places.

Your opinion?

Have you read this book? Would you like to express an opinion in the forum or write a review? The link to the forum board for this is the Success/self help book opinions.

Written by SuccessMotivational.com · Filed Under Self help book guide 

10 inspirational quotes to start your day with

August 26, 2009

Here are ten of the more memorable inspirational quotes from one of the popular inspirational quotes web sites. Start your day with one or more of these and see what a difference it makes in your life!

  • Beauty, truth, friendship, love, creation – these are the great values of life. We can’t prove them, or explain them, yet they are the most stable things in our lives. – Jesse Herman Holmes
  • Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve. – Mary Kay Ash
  • Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born. – Dr. Dale Turner
  • Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true. – Leon J. Suenes
  • If you have made mistakes…there is always another chance for you…you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down. – Mary Pickford
  • Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. – George Bernard Shaw
  • Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point. – Harold B. Melchart
  • Nothing is predestined: The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings. – Ralph Blum
  • Perseverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth. – Julie Andrews
  • All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you’re not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you’re the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no’s become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES. – Nike ad

Source: Great-Inspirational-Quotes.com

Written by SuccessMotivational.com · Filed Under Inspirational quotes 

Inspirational celebrity story: Soulja Boy tells ‘em who knows best

August 25, 2009

Soulja Boy - Photo: musicremedy.com, movideo.com, more

Soulja Boy

Soulja Boy was just 16 when he bypassed the usual clueless record companies to go straight to his market. He launched his music on SoundClick.com and soon saw some tracks being downloaded up to 35,000 times a day. Listeners loved his music and asked him to create a MySpace site, which he did in 2005.

The attention he gained there landed him a record deal and he then used YouTube to really launch his career with dance videos in addition to his music. His market was still a teen and young adult one and, because he did not have a “bad boy” image, YouTube was just the place for him (plenty of teenagers go there daily).

One of the ways in which he kept a good image was through his lyrics. In one interview this year, he told the ladies of The View that he chose to refrain from swearing in his earlier music because it would set a bad example to other young teenagers. So, parents did not have to worry about their teen children watching him in online video clips. The only influencing he was doing was all good; from his clothing styles to his dance moves.

His story has been one of the rising number of artists using social media to derive an income from digital revenue sources. He now uses a regular record company to promote his music. His efforts saw him spend many weeks on the Billboards Hot 100 singles chart and earned him a Grammy nomination in 2008. Now, of course, record labels are trying to ensure that they can take a piece of the artist’s digital revenue for themselves in addition to revenue from CDs they promote. And all because a kid from Memphis saw the huge potential in social media.

What was one of his keys to success, apart from clean lyrics? In a biography on Pop Tower, he tells a story of his composition book with all his goals outlined for the near future when he was in school. A kid found the book an read it loud and laughed. One year on and all those goals had come true. It is the age-old story: always write down your goals and work toward them.

2009 has continued to be a big year for him and he just turned 19 late last month. What a great story of how an enterprising kid took advantage of Web 2.0!

Links:

Souljaboytellem.com

Soulja Boy Tell ‘em MySpace

Sources:

Social Times

Soulja Boy Tell ‘em Biography on Pop Tower

Written by SuccessMotivational.com · Filed Under Career, Celebrity success, Music 

Self-help book: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill – a brief introduction

August 20, 2009

Think and Grow Rich

Think and Grow Rich

This book is a classic best-seller that has been reprinted over and over again. It was written in 1937 and Napoleon Hill gives 13 success principles used by the great success stories of the early 20th-century. He interviewed Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie and 500 others.

One of the most recent versions of this book is called Think and Grow Rich, The landmark bestseller – now revised and updated for the 21st Century by Napoleon Hill with Arthur R Pell. Here is a quote from the chapter about desire:

“Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money or anything you wish to desire. It needs to be done in fair exchange.

Also write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire, name the time limit for its acquisition, state what you intend to give in return for the money, describe clearly the plan through which you intend to acquire it.”

In the updated version, Arthur R. Pell, Ph.D., a consultant in human resources management interweaves anecdotes of how contemporary millionaires and billionaires, like Bill Gates, achieved their wealth.

There are 15 chapters in this book:

  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2: Desire
  • Chapter 3: Faith
  • Chapter 4: Auto Suggestion
  • Chapter 5: Specialized Knowledge
  • Chapter 6: Imagination
  • Chapter 7: Organized Planning
  • Chapter 8: Decision
  • Chapter 9: Persistence
  • Chapter 10: Power of the Master Mind
  • Chapter 11: The Mystery of Sex Transmutation
  • Chapter 12: The Subconscious Mind
  • Chapter 13: The Brain
  • Chapter 14: The Sixth Sense
  • Chapter 15: How to Unwit the Six Ghosts of Fear

You can read an introduction for some chapters at Google Books or reviews at Amazon and similar places.

Your opinion?

Have you read this book? Would you like to express an opinion in the forum or write a review? The link to the forum board for this is the Success/self help book opinions.

Written by SuccessMotivational.com · Filed Under Site articles 

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