Sometimes very simple techniques are the most powerful.

Each morning the minute you wake, write down three things in this day you have to look forward to. If you are having difficulty doing this, look for very simple pleasures, like: having a cup of coffee or tea, playing with your pet, experiencing a sunny day, reading, or talking to a friend.

Each evening at the end of your day, write down three things that were good today. They might be things you are grateful for, like your health, a friend, or a meal. Or you might think of highlights in your day. Perhaps something lucky happened or you received a compliment.

These techniques may seem too simple to work, but they are actually perfect for helping you change your focus. While you are thinking of good things in your life, it crowds out the thoughts that are making you depressed. And by choosing things to look forward to in this day, you notice and appreciate them much better when they come. Happiness does not lie in circumstances as much as it does in our thoughts. There are wealthy people who are terribly depressed, and poor people who are happy. There are some who feel lonely even though they are surrounded by loving family, and others who live alone who feel blessed by the love in their lives. Some people have lost so much in their lives, and yet live each day overflowing with joy, because they focus not on what they have lost or don’t have, but rather on what they do have.

It won’t take long for you to see that these two simple techniques improve your moods and happiness the more you practice them. If you like them, start adding new moments to your day. You could for example, think of three reasons to feel good about yourself each day, or each day answer how you know you are loved.

Who said learning the French language has to be boring? If you have not noticed yet, there had been so many movies and animated films which were made under the influence of French culture. These films have remained to be our favorites. Kids who grew up watching it over and again never forget what the story is all about and most importantly, the fun characters that made the story very believable.

Just to name one, the Disney Feature Animation have made several cartoon animations that show the French culture and speaks the French language. For instance, an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast was such a great hit back in 1991 and even up to now, we still remember Lumiere, the talented candlestick singing and dancing to the song “Be our guest” with French words such as cherie, Soup du jour, Hot hors d’oeuvres and many others.

To simply put it, you can learn French in any way possible. There is really no such thing as learning it with difficulty or boredom. Probably, you will experience few disappointments at first but as long as you stick to how you should be having fun while learning the language, you will soon realize that it’s not all about how you accomplish the tasks; and when you start to enjoy, its hardly considered a task any longer.

And do not laugh at this idea. You may think that it’s a very childish approach to how you should learn the French language which is actually a very special language. Think of how children are able to learn a second language. Though, children do have their very own skills in adopting a second language, learning the way they learn is a good approach.

It’s easy to remember French words the way they are presented in a children’s book or cartoon because the words are always presented with a story or pictures. And because this is the type of approach that children are used to, they learn how to remember French words; when and where it should be used by retaining the pictures or scenes that are associated with the words. Try this and see how well you are going to enjoy learning this way.

If you’re in the world of sales, it is quite likely you have gone through traditional sales training and learned that there is ‘a way’ or maybe ‘one way’ to sell. Maybe it was the Carnegie method. Maybe you learned ‘features and benefits’. Maybe you learned some other easily definable, package-able way to sell to affluent clients or prospects which sort of hammers away at their defenses and attempts to corner them into buying your product or services. These techniques are responsible for boxing in many excellent sales professionals. I admit to having been hindered once by these techniques as a young man, but I had an awakening, so to speak, and my numbers soared and I never looked back to those old-fashioned techniques again.

Something that defines me and an awful lot of what I do in the world is ‘living outside the box’. In persuasion, there’s no easy way out and no quick fix. This shouldn’t deter you. Anything worth learning is worth spending some time on. Persuasion is ever expanding and limitless, as limitless as human nature and all the myriad ways we interact. This is not a subject that can be mastered, but a constantly growing body of knowledge that is constantly transforming as human nature expands.

Fear not, persuaders. Even if something is vast, even if it’s not entirely ‘knowable’, learning in and of itself is a fantastic process. Think of a specific area of knowledge–say, a new language or a new musical instrument. You do not need to know everything there is to know about the piano or the French language to enjoy the benefits of being able to play or speak with a native speaker passably the first time. I become thrilled by how much my life will be enhanced once this new practice or learning is languaged into my life.

Moving ourselves out of the ‘sales box’ and enlarging our view of the world creates a new paradigm for us enabling us to interact with our affluent prospects and clients and powerfully persuading them.

This is an invitation to be innovative and creative and free from limitations. If you think of the ‘box’ as a frame, then what the box contains, can be expanded and enlarged at will. If we limit our frames, keep ourselves in the box, then we’re generally diminishing our options with persuasion and life in general.

One comment in support of boxes: When beginning anything, it’s hard to get the basics if you don’t know the boundaries.

Once the basics are learned, however, that’s when it’s time to expand and outgrow the imposed limitations. The greatest musicians had to learn theory (unless they had preternatural or divine talents which simply allowed them to compose or create without consciously knowing theory). After the foundation is laid out, then the real magic happens and unhindered improvisation or composition can occur.

The basics of persuasion is an open box which eventually will not contain you and you’ll find yourself expanding beyond the limits.