They sat at a table together, outside the coffee shop. She sat with her back to the window. He sat in the seat next to her, on one side of the table.

She loved this place, right in the center of the city. A circle led cars around a large monument to heroes of the past.

So many people. So much activity. She couldn’t take it all in. But she sure was going to try.

He surfed the internet. She sipped her coffee and looked around, waiting for a moment to talk to him.

The sun was setting. The sky was a beautiful combination of colors that no artist could ever quite capture.

He texted a friend. She took in the view, hoping to never forget it.

She noticed a horse-drawn carriage stop in front of the monument. A young man jumped out, turned to the carriage, and extended his hand to the young lady still on board. They walked hand in hand up the steps to the monument.

“Ah, young love,” she thought.

They stopped right in front of the monument. The young man stepped behind the young woman. He turned her around, her back now to the monument.

He dropped to one knee and pulled a small box out of his pocket. A huge smile formed on the young lady’s face. He stood up and they embraced excitedly.

They walked, arm in arm, toward the couple sitting at the table.

She smiled as they passed, thinking back to the days when her husband was more attentive.

He never looked up. He was too busy playing a game.

An angry bird flew right over his head. It was being chased by a cat which was being chased by a dog.

She saw them coming. She leaned forward in her chair, coffee cup in hand.

He was too involved in the game to see anything coming.

The cat ran under the table, exiting under his chair. The dog followed right behind. In full stride, the dog hit one of the legs of the table.

Coffee spilled all over her husband. He dropped his phone and jumped up. It looked like he had wet himself.

He went to clean himself up. She took a sip of coffee and went back to living in the moment.

 Image in this post from jwarletta

Normally we advise people to stop worrying. But some people just can’t do it.

In fact, there are people who are only happy when they’re worrying.

If you fit into one of these two categories, this post is for you. We’re going to give you three things to worry about.

Worry about what you can control

You can’t control the economy. So worry about your personal economy.

You can’t control your spouse or your kids. Worry about how much love you give them.

You can’t control what happens to you. So worry about how you respond.

So stop worrying about anything and everything you can’t control. And start worrying about what you can control.

Worry only about the next level of success

If you’re unemployed, don’t worry about becoming the CEO. Worry about getting a job.

If you just started a business, don’t worry about selling out for millions. Worry about reaching break-even.

You know what it will take to get you to the next level. Worry about the things you need to do to get you there. Don’t worry about anything else.

Don’t worry about BIGG success. Worry about your next success.

You will never achieve the ultimate if you don’t focus exclusively on the next level.

Worry about not getting it done

Don’t worry about all the things that could happen. Worry about what you’re making happen.

Don’t worry if all doesn’t go as planned. Worry about how you will get back on plan.

BIGG success is life on your own terms. If worrying makes you happy, then worry away in a focused way. Even worrywarts can reach BIGG success.

At least that’s what we think. What do you think? Can you worry your way to success?

 Image in this post from JuliaF

We tend to avoid information that’s not consistent with our beliefs. There’s been a long-running debate between psychologists:

Do people actively avoid contradictory information or is it a more natural process? For example, it may be that we don’t hear opposing views because we hang out with people like us.

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Some new research [PDF] (led by a psychology professor at the best school in the world, the University of Illinois) has answered that question.

If you seek opposing views, you’re in the minority

The research confirms that people do avoid ideas that disagree with their own. They did this study to “see … to what extent people are willing to seek out the truth versus just stay comfortable with what they know.”

The researchers found that two-thirds of us choose information that supports what we already think. However, the more interesting part of their research to us was this:

They found that two types of people are more likely to listen to alternative points-of-view:

People who are confident in their own beliefs

We were out with a friend right after we read this research. The timing was perfect. She’s very politically active – politics is one area the researchers cited that we’re particularly reluctant to consider the other side.

Our friend told us that she no longer subscribed to a certain magazine. She said that she found she always disagreed with their point-of-view. After further discussion, it was clear that she’s not confident in her opinions.

If she had confidence in her opinions, it wouldn’t bother her to read the other side. In fact, by reading the other side, she might gain confidence in her positions. Or she might change her mind, but be more confident in her new opinion.

The best way to confirm your opinion is to continually test it against all the information available. Talk with people who hold counter opinions. Read everything you can. Try to balance opinions on all sides of an issue before arriving at a conclusion.

Even then, continue testing that opinion with any new evidence you find, both pro and con. Then you’ll have confidence in your opinions.

People who have to defend their ideas in public

It’s interesting that the researchers cite the much-maligned politicians here. Politicians constantly have to defend their point-of-view.

They serve as an example to us. Don’t keep your opinions to yourself; defend them.

We should point out two things here:

• You have to be careful discussing certain subjects with certain people.

• We’ve talked about things here in very black-and-white terms. Obviously, many if not most issues are full of grey. That’s what makes for interesting discussion!

When you do discuss your ideas, you will hear other points-of-view that you can synthesize with your own. Your ideas will sharpen and grow. So will your confidence in what you believe.

That’s bigg success … as long as you agree with us!

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Thanks for reading our post today. Please join us next time when we’ll discuss what we can learn from cats about communication. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00438-071609.mp3

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(Image in today's post by adzica)

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This made us wonder: as adults, can we get extra credit outside the classroom?

Survey said, “Sometimes.”

Consistently living up to your promises, even better exceeding them, will earn you extra credit. People know they can count on you to do what you say you’ll do. You build relationships by building your emotional bank account.

Going out of your way to help someone may earn you extra credit. They appreciate what you’ve done for them. As humans, we feel a natural inclination to help people who help us. This may be a customer, a family member, a friend, a co-worker or a business associate.

Simply taking a genuine interest in someone may earn you extra credit. Everybody wants to feel special. Intentional attention goes a long way toward building relationships.

But there are times when we don’t earn extra credit.

Bigg success is life on your own terms. There are five elements to bigg success. One of them is play. Play is all about your personal life – time with family and friends as well as time for yourself.

• If you spend so much time working that you have almost no time with your family, you don’t earn any extra credit.

• If you spend so much time working and being with your family that you don’t have any time for yourself, you don’t earn extra credit.

• If you’re so busy with work and family, and then you pour your remaining time into personal activities and neglect getting enough sleep, you don’t get extra credit.

You may be the primary breadwinner for your family. Your family may understand that you need to work long hours to keep the bills paid. It’s just important to understand that sacrificing in one area of your life may not earn you extra credit in another.

The bigg idea behind bigg success is synergy – look for ways to make all areas of your life work together. And make sure that how you spend your time matches your priorities. That’s bigg success!

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You get extra credit for reading our post today … thanks so much!

When we think of capital in business, it’s usually about money. Please join us next time when we’ll discuss a second form of capital that will be more important going forward.

Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00415-061209.mp3

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(Image in today's post by dlnny)

We can hear Harry Carey singing it right now! (We’ll warn you: If you listen to our show today, you can hear why we could never be on American Idol!)

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Bigg success is life on your own terms. There are five elements of bigg success – money, time, growth, work and play. Today we’ll focus on play.

If you’re a regular reader, you know we’ve confessed that play is the thing we struggle with the most. We love our work. We’ve found that thinking about the five elements of bigg success helpful because we make sure we schedule some play time.

We love baseball, but going to a Major League Baseball game can be a real budget-bender. By the time you buy the tickets, pay for parking, and grab a hot dog, you can spend some serious smack!

You don’t have to throw your budget a curve ball to have fun at the old ball game

We feel fortunate to live in a University town. We have some bigg time sporting events, including a baseball team that is doing very well this year. Go Illini!

Last year, we kept talking about going to a game but never made it. They start early when it’s too cold for us to watch a game outside.

This year we made a commitment to go, so we were keeping an eye on their schedule. Lo and behold, they ran a bigg promotion – you could get into the game for free (it normally costs $5) and you could even get free food.

Now that’s a bigg deal!

And the promotion was a bigg success! They had a record attendance. In fact, so many people showed up, we decided it was worth buying food from the concession stand instead of waiting for the free stuff.

It was a great game. We had lots of fun and some good time together as a couple (see pictures on our Flickr page). That’s the best part. The second best part was that Illinois came back to win in the ninth inning!

But what if you don’t have a University team in your area? Can you still take in a ball game on the cheap? Baseball, you bet!

Summer college baseball leagues. College baseball players finish their collegiate schedules early. They want to keep playing without jeopardizing their amateur status. So college leagues have sprung up. We have a team about thirty miles from us (ticket prices are $6 – $9). Check the National Alliance of College Summer Baseball site for the team closest to you.

Minor leagues. Future professional baseball players have to train somewhere. There are minor league teams all over the country. We have a AAA team fairly close to us ($6 – $10 for a ticket). If you don’t know of one in your area, check out the Minor League Baseball site.

Amateur leagues. We have several teams in our area like this. You can take in a game for a few bucks plus any food and drinks you may want.

Little Leagues. We love watching the Little League World Series on television. Check out the raw talent in your area to a Little League game. You can’t beat the price and there are games all over. We have a field within walking distance of our house.

So what’s the bigg idea? Tap into your local community and have a bigg day out at the ball park!

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Thanks so much for reading our post today. Please join us next time when we discuss how some friends of ours taught their teenage daughter the value of money. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00395-051509.mp3

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(Image in today's post from our Flickr page our Flickr page)