I really loved my job.

And then my boss walked in one day and informed me that I was being laid off. That was a little over three years ago. There’s a lot more to the story than that, but it’s what happened next that I most want to share with you...

Please click here to read the rest of my story on The Hired Guns and learn how you might regain your confidence and recapture your mojo!

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” — Shakespeare’s Hamlet

We can’t always control what happens to us, but we do have the power to control how we think, interpret, and respond. Irrational thought patterns and overly hasty emotional reactions are among the leading causes of stress and anxiety.

By making ourselves consciously aware of, identifying, and then correcting distorted and/or anxiety-inducing beliefs, we can think and act more calmly and rationally, and ultimately make ourselves less stressed, more satisfied, and happier as a result.

Click here to visit my Hired Guns blog to find out the 5 types of negative thinking...and what you can do about it!

So I’m sitting at my desk typing up a memo, when all of a sudden I hear my boss’s office door swing open behind me. As I turn around to see what’s going on, I instinctively duck to avoid the object flying at my head. A box of pens hits the wall above my desk and breaks open, spraying 12 brand new blue Papermate medium ballpoints in all directions.

Every year it’s the same thing. We start out the New Year filled with good intentions, high hopes, and a formidable list of life-changing resolutions.

And for an indomitable few, those resolutions result in positive changes and personal growth.

But for the rest of us, life tends to get in the way.

Before we know it, January is over and February flies by (it’s such a short month!). Then the spring holidays come along. Then it’s summer, and… well, you know the rest.

That pledge to “start tomorrow” just leads to the eventual realization that today is yesterday’s tomorrow.

So, what can we do about it?

We can start today. For real. Right now.

What we need to do is go from “resolutions” to “real solutions”!

And one real-life solution that really works, is easy to do, and can kick-start us into action, is to start reading.

And my recommendation is to start your New Year’s reading with any one of the 13 inspirational and motivational books on this list.

Click here to continue reading my post on The Hired Guns and to check out my "13 for '13" list !

Proud to announce that my post was named by the "thoughtLEADERS" website as the "Best Top 10 List" of 2012!

Best Top 10 List: 10 Tough Questions Every Self-Aware Leader Needs to Answer

Todd Cherches shares 10 questions leaders must ask themselves. It’s a two-part post (the first 5 questions are here and the next 5 are here).