Make Time

Probably no other complaint is voiced more often than not having enough time.

“I don’t have time to pursue my dreams or to even know what my dreams are. I don’t have time for me, for my family and friends. Basically, I don’t have time to live my life.”

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”

-          Henry Ford

Passion is the ultimate time management tool for two reasons. First, when you are doing what you love, who cares about time? When you are with someone special or listening to a great piece of music, or painting or volunteering, doesn’t time just fly by? Second, when you are doing what you love it often gets done faster.

The way we spend our time is the way we spend our lives. Can you slow down enough to get “in synch” with life, nature, and most importantly, yourself? Make a date with yourself, every day if possible. Even if for only a half hour, carving out time for you is a great act of generosity. Your work can usually wait a half hour.

Whether we like it or not, the clock keeps ticking! so live fully, every single second of every single day. Learn the true joy of doing less and having more as you experience each day as priceless. Fill your life with as many precious moments and experiences of joy and passion as you can.

Here are a series of steps that you should follow, which I am trying so hard to follow and bring about a  balance in my life:

1. Make time to Pray
2. Make time for Family
3. Make time to Rest and Relax
4. Make time to Laugh & Smile
5. Make time to Exercise
6. Make time to experience Life
7. Make time to help others
8. Make time to do what you Like
9. Make time to Read
10. Make time to Learn
11. Make time to Play

Over time, these strategies will become positive and life-changing habits that will begin to bring more happiness, joy and peace into your life.

Michael Phelps - 5 Secrets To Success

As I'm sure you already know and remember what he achieved on Sunday August 17th 2008, Michael Phelps achieved one of the greatest sporting records of all time by winning an incredible 8 gold medals in a single Olympic games.

Michael's performance was seen by millions of people around the world and we can all learn a great deal about achieving our own goals by analyzing his accomplishment. Here then, are five secrets of success that helped Michael Phelps to transform his dreams into reality.

Secret #1: Think BIG

The first step in Michael Phelps journey was to make the decision to pursue a dream that many people considered impossible. Instead of thinking negative thoughts and limiting his potential, Michael allowed himself to think big.

"If you dream as big as you can dream,
anything is possible."
- Michael Phelps

Your action:

In order to discover your real goals, let your imagination run free to dream as big as you can dream. Resist the temptation to limit yourself with negative thoughts. It is only by freeing your imagination that you can discover what it is that you really want from life.

Secret #2: Break it Down

Having identified his ultimate goal, Michael and his coach created a series of short term goals that would eventually lead him to his ultimate objective. In between the Olympics came the National championships, the Pan Pacific championships and the World championships. Each race of each event was a carefully planned stepping stone that would eventually lead Michael to achieve his ultimate goal of becoming the most successful Olympian of all time.

Your action:

After identifying your long term goal, take some time to break it down into a series of achievable short term goals. As you move forward, focus on achieving your short term goals one step at a time.

Secret #3: Use the Power of Visualization

One of the most powerful techniques used by elite athletes to achieve their goals is to visualize themselves succeeding each and every day. In his book 'Beneath the Surface', Michael Phelps writes, "When I'm about to fall asleep, I visualize to the point that I know exactly what I want to do: dive, glide, stroke, flip, reach the wall, hit the split time to the hundredth, then swim back again for as many times as I need to finish the race".

Your action:

Visualizing your goals before you sleep is a great way to program your subconscious mind. The more you visualize your dreams as a reality, the more motivated and determined you will become.

Secret #4: Put in the Hard Work

No matter how naturally talented Michael Phelps may be, the main reason he achieved his goals was because he was prepared to put in the thousands of hours of grueling hard work necessary to compete at the highest level. According to Michael, "In the four years between the Athens and Sydney Olympics I probably took four or five days off and none of those were holidays"

Your action:

Be prepared to put in the hard work required to transform your dreams into reality. There really is no such thing as getting something for nothing. In order to make your dreams a reality you will have to work hard.

Secret #5: Monitor Your Performance Metrics

Every elite athlete understands the importance of using metrics to monitor their performance and progress. Michael's coach Bob Bowman constantly monitors and reviews Michael's split times down to the hundredth of a second. This provides them both with tangible evidence of how Michael is progressing towards achieving his goals.

Your action:

As you work towards your goals, figure out your own key metrics. For example, if you are studying, record how many hours of productive work you do each day. Or if you are building a business, record how many potential customers you contact each week. Whatever your goal may be, you will get there faster by recording and constantly improving your performance metrics.

While you may not be pursuing an Olympic gold medal, always remember that your life goals are just as important. I’d like to encourage you today to use some of the same techniques Michael Phelps used to achieve his goals.

In a summary this is what you should do:

(1) Think BIG
(2) Break it down
(3) Utilize the power of visualization
(4) Work hard and
(5) Monitor your performance metrics

You too can conquer the challenges that stand in your way and make your dreams a reality

Your Hidden Fuel

This is one of my favorites.  It has so much meaning and is very practical in its assessment at how to look at dissatisfaction from a positive perspective. I use this during my motivation sessions with great success.

Many people think of dissatisfaction as a negative emotion that should be suppressed or denied, but in actual fact dissatisfaction is one of the most important ingredients for success. Hope you find this inspiring as much as I did.

What most people don’t realize is that dissatisfaction is a powerful form of fuel that has been the driving force behind many of the world’s greatest achievements.

You see, in order to be dissatisfied, you must want something.

And if you can identify what it is that you want and then stoke the fuel of your dissatisfaction, at some point it will ignite and propel you to take action.

Here’s an example that illustrates how this works in the real world.

Yani was a concierge in a large city hotel. He always did his best to help hotel guests and tried to maintain a positive attitude, however, deep down Yani was dissatisfied with his job and career prospects.

Whenever Yani became aware of his dissatisfaction, he tried to suppress it. He told himself not to have a negative attitude and to just accept his lot in life.

However, one night after dealing with a particularly rude and arrogant guest, Yani knew he had to face facts – he was dissatisfied and it was time to do something about it.

He analyzed his dissatisfaction and after a considerable amount of thought, Yani realized that what he really wanted was to pursue his interest in computers and technology, but he had no idea how to go about making such a major life change.

He knew he could not just quit because he had bills to pay, but over time Yani’s dissatisfaction continued to grow and like fuel to a fire, it increased his desire to make a change.

When Yani came across an advertisement in a newspaper for adult night classes in computer programming, the fuel of his dissatisfaction ignited and propelled him into action. He rearranged his hotel shifts and immediately enrolled in the course.Two years later, Yani walked through the lobby of the hotel with a laptop bag across his shoulder. The computer consulting company he now worked for was holding a conference in the hotel function Centre.

The hotel hadn’t changed, but Yani had. Fueled by his dissatisfaction, he had taken action and had succeeded in changing his circumstances and the direction of his life.

“Dissatisfaction is man’s driving force.”
- W. Clement Stone

So the next time you feel dissatisfied about something in your life, instead of dismissing or denying your dissatisfaction, recognize it for what it truly is – a hidden fuel that can spur you on to achievement and success.

Remember that if you are dissatisfied, then you must want something. Spend the time to clarify what it is that you want, and utilize your dissatisfaction to propel yourself into action and make your dreams a reality.

from www.anthonyfernando.com

Are you STRESSED OUT!

Stress is an inescapable part of modern life. But you can change the way you react to it. Stress has not only controlled people, It has taken over their lives. Many people suffer or have died due to stress related issues. I  try very hard to avoid being stressed out, and I am gradually getting the grip on it.

The following suggestions for stress reduction will help you relax and enjoy life. As a dividend, you'll be more productive, so you'll create less stress for yourself in the future.

Eleven Steps to Stress Management

1. Laugh. Laughter is one of the best tension releasers there is. Find things to laugh about and people to laugh with. Laughter is a great antidote for taking life too seriously.

2. Take Breaks. Learning to interrupt a stress-producing activity will help give you the break from tension that you need. You'll return to your activity refreshed and ready to be more productive.

3. Make "Happy" Plans. Anticipation is an exciting feeling. Plan to see a special movie, eat out with someone you like, or do something else that pleases you.

4. Focus Your Thoughts. The habit of thinking about too many things at the same time is extremely fatiguing and stress producing. Instead of being overwhelmed and unproductive, concentrate on one task at a time. Try making a list of other things you must do, and then put the list aside, so that you don't have to think about the tasks, but you won't worry about forgetting them either.

5. Check Yourself. Stop to see if you are relaxed. Are your hands clenched? Is your jaw tight? Such tension will begin to spread throughout your body, so catch it early. Let your arms hang loosely, smooth your brow, relax your mouth, and breathe deeply.

6. Tackle the Hardest Jobs First. This will give you a sense of tremendous accomplishment, and provide momentum for finishing your other tasks. The pleasant things you must do will make your final hours at work enjoyable, if saved until last.

7. Go Task by Task. If you finish one task at a time, you will avoid feeling fragmented and overburdened. It is also easier to see where you're going with a job when you give your full concentration. Leave sometime between activities to minimize overlapping.

8. Move. Speed up your body action by moving to music, stretching, or jogging. Movement helps eliminate pent-up stress by aiding the removal of chemicals that stress produces and which make you feel bad.

9. Manage Your Time. Use a plan of action. Schedule only as many tasks each day as you can reasonably finish without pressure. Leave time in your schedule for the unexpected.

10. Help Someone and Smile. Lending a helping hand or smiling can do what other methods of relaxation can't do- they give you a wonderful feeling of happiness and well being.

Stop whatever you're doing and delight in being alive.

11. Enjoy Yourself Now. Stop whatever you're doing and delight in being alive. Sense the physical processes inside you, the good in people around you, and the beauty of the world you live in.

How Fragile is your EGO?

An ego is a tremendous motivator. At the same time, that ego can also be a horrible problem for us. While it may be a necessary part of who we are, it can sometimes come into direct conflict with who we should be.

Many of us find keeping our feelings of "self-worth" or "importance" in line with the instructions of God very difficult. On the one hand, we are told that we are worth more than anything else in all of creation to God. On the other hand, we are also told to humble ourselves and become servants to others. We seemingly are caught in the middle! 

Sometimes the Ego is associated with an inflated sense of pride or arrogance. As an example, when we talk about a person who is behaving arrogantly, people often say this person has a "huge Ego".

But it's a lot more than that. It has a definite purpose. It is responsible for organizing the different elements of the Self to create some wholeness and integration. All of us require this to function effectively as human beings.

So how does this fit in with your self-esteem? When we focus too much on this part, we begin to become separated from the rest of humanity, and outside forces have more control over us.

For example, does the quality of your self-image rely on any of the following?

- How much money you have - What you do for a living - Who you know - How you look - Where you live - What kind of car you drive 

If you are defined by what you do for a living, then your self-esteem is at the mercy of this factor. So if you lose your job, where does this leave you? Would you still like and respect yourself if you were broke?

It is within your nature to be conditioned to go after these superficial achievements, but I'll let you in on a secret; they have absolutely nothing to do with who you are! You're so much more than your physical body. Your soul is perfect just as it is, and it will continue to live on after you exit the Earth. 

All of us are connected by collective consciousness. When you are able to see past the ego, you learn to cultivate true self-reliance. You accept yourself as the perfect being that you are AT THIS VERY MOMENT - not for who you will be once you have had your hair fixed or gotten in with the right crowd.

When you can get past the ego, you experience true self love - and this comes from your higher wisdom. Your knowledge, your compassion, your strength are perfect - and these things are permanent. 

I don't know about you, but I'm still working on my humility, praying to be genuinely humble, and trying to trust God to work in my life more each day. I hope you are as well.Cheers

The Excuses Culture: Why We Protect Ourselves with Excuses

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. – Benjamin Franklin

When was the last time you made a resolve to achieve something, set a deadline and then achieved it? Can you even remember the last time? I’m struggling. And the reason I am struggling to remember such a time is because of excuses. I make them for everything; consciously and unconsciously. Without noticing it, excuses have become a habit that I am struggling to shake.

In this post I want to talk about the excuses culture that we have develop within ourselves and why we use excuses to protect ourselves from feelings of failure and fear. Hopefully it will spur some readers out there into action.

Why we make excuses

A few years ago I was sitting in the car with a friend of mine having a conversation (argument) about how I always seem to find a way out of things. At the end of the debate he said something that has stayed at the front of my mind, something that I think about whenever I am feeling like making an excuse. He said:

“You have always found things easy. You are good at everything. But you aren’t great at anything because you make excuses. You would rather be the ‘potential’ to be great than actually try and fail. And that is sad.”

He was right. All my life I have been naturally gifted at sport and academics. I didn’t have to work hard to get good. But I never really excelled at anything. I never worked really hard to become great at a certain activity. Why? Because I was afraid of failure. I was afraid of trying and not getting there.

But rather than spurring me on to excellence it seemed to do the opposite. I was comfortable being the potential for greatness. I was afraid to actually give it a shot for fear that I wasn’t actually as smart, talented and athletic. So I made excuses. Excuses so I wouldn’t have to try. And we all do it. All the time.

Fear: the reason for most excuses

So why do we make excuses? Why do we find ways to get out of things? Well, for the most part, it is because we are afraid. We are afraid of trying and we are afraid of failing. We are afraid of change and we will do anything to keep the norm functioning. Fear is the reason most of us make excuses.

If you look deep into your own mind and your own behavior you will see that you make excuses to protect your sense of self. We spend our whole lives developing an ego and decorating it with friends and family and money and success and we will do anything to protect our concept of that self. Even if it makes us depressed and unfulfilled. And ultimately that is what excuses do, they make you feel unfulfilled.

How to stop making excuses and move forward

People say that the hardest thing you will ever do is quit smoking. But quitting excuses is 10 times harder. Excuses are the reason you started smoking, drinking and eating bad food. You make an excuse not to be healthy and an excuse not to be happy. Breaking the excuse culture is damn hard work. Here are some things you can do.

1. Realize that you do it all the time

As always, you need to take a look at yourself and really truly realize that you make mistakes. Find concrete examples of where you have sabotaged your progress by making an excuse and remember that incident. Bring it to mind whenever you feel like doing it again.

2. Look at your (lack of) progress

Take a look at how much progress you have made with your meditation, athletics, mortgage repayments or family weekend time. See how many excuses you have made and how that has affected your progress is a very real way. Until you can see that it is doing damage you will have no real impetus to stop.

3. Realize you do it out of fear

If you go up to a fat man in the street and tell him that he is a coward he will probably punch you in the face. Men don’t like to be considered afraid, but that is exactly what we are. We make excuses because we are afraid. Why, then, do we still do it? If someone told us that we were afraid of something else we would do everything in our power to change and prove that we are brave. Do that now with excuses. Prove that you are not afraid of failure, change or losing the norm.

4. Be different in five years time

How different are you now to five years ago? Are you more loving, compassionate, patient, strong, rich, happy, thin, etc.? Take a look at whatever goal you have in your life and see how much closer you are to it now than you were five years ago. If you can say you are happy with your progress then chances are you don’t have a problem with excuses. If you are almost exactly the same then you can bet your right eye on the fact that you are stagnant because you are sabotaging your progress by saying “its too hard” or “its too cold outside”. Be different in five years time and stop making excuses.

Overcoming Procrastination

Manage your time. Get it all done.

If you've found yourself putting off important tasks over and over again, you’re not alone. In fact, many people procrastinate to some degree – but some are so chronically affected by procrastination that it stops them fulfilling their potential and disrupts their careers.

The key to controlling this destructive habit is to recognize when you start procrastinating, understand why it happens (even to the best of us), and take active steps to manage your time and outcomes better.

What is Procrastination?

In a nutshell, you procrastinate when you put off things that you should be focusing on right now, usually in favor of doing something that is more enjoyable or that you’re more comfortable doing.

According to psychologist Professor Clarry Lay, a prominent writer on procrastination, procrastination occurs when there’s “a temporal gap between intended behavior and enacted behavior.” That is, procrastination is occurring when there’s a significant time period between when people intend to do a job, and when they actually do it.

How to Overcome Procrastination

Follow these steps to deal with and control procrastination:

Step 1: Recognize That You're Procrastinating

If you're honest with yourself, you probably know when you're procrastinating. But to be sure, take our Are You a Procrastinator? self-test.

Here are some useful indicators that will help you know when you’re procrastinating:

·         Filling your day with low priority tasks from your To Do List.

·         Reading e-mails several times without starting work on them or deciding what you’re going to do with them.

·         Sitting down to start a high-priority task, and almost immediately going off to make a cup of coffee.

·         Leaving an item on your To Do list for a long time, even though you know it's important.

·         Regularly saying "Yes" to unimportant tasks that others ask you to do, and filling your time with these instead of getting on with the important tasks already on your list.

·         Waiting for the “right mood” or the “right time” to tackle the important task at hand.

Notes:  

Putting off an unimportant task isn't necessarily procrastination: it may just be good prioritization!

Putting off an important task for a short period because you’re feeling particularly tired isn’t necessarily procrastination either, so long as you don’t delay starting the task for more than a day or so, and this is only an occasional event. If you have a genuine good reason for rescheduling something important, then you’re not necessarily procrastinating. But if you’re simply “making an excuse” because you really just don’t want to do it, then you are.

In his 1986 article “At Last, My Research Article on Procrastination”, published in the Journal of Research on Personality, Lay noted that procrastinatory behavior is independent of need for achievement, energy, or self-esteem. In other words, you may be a procrastinator even if you’re confident in your own abilities, energetic, and enjoy achieving things.

Step 2: Work Out WHY You're Procrastinating

Why you procrastinate can depend on both you and the task. But it's important to understand which of the two is relevant in a given situation, so that you can select the best approach for overcoming your reluctance to get going.

One reason for procrastination is that people find a particular job unpleasant, and try to avoid it because of that. Most jobs have unpleasant or boring aspects to them, and often the best way of dealing with these is to get them over and done with quickly, so that you can focus on the more enjoyable aspects of the job.

Another cause is that people are disorganized. Organized people manage to fend of the temptation to procrastinate, because they will have things like prioritized to-do lists and schedules which emphasize how important the piece work is, and identify precisely when it’s due. They’ll also have planned how long a task will take to do, and will have worked back from that point to identify when they need to get started in order to avoid it being late. Organized people are also better placed to avoid procrastination, because they know how to break the work down into manageable “next steps”.

Even if you’re organized, you can feel overwhelmed by the task. You may doubt that you have the skills or resources you think you need, so you seek comfort in doing tasks you know you're capable of completing. Unfortunately, the big task isn't going to go away – truly important tasks rarely do. You may also fear success as much as failure. For example, you may think that success will lead to you being swamped with more requests to do this type of task, or that you’ll be pushed to take on things that you feel are beyond you.

Surprisingly, perfectionists are often procrastinators, as they can tend to think "I don't have the right skills or resources to do this perfectly now, so I won't do it at all."

One final major cause of procrastination is having underdeveloped decision-making skills. If you simply can’t decide what to do, you’re likely to put off taking action in case you do the wrong thing.

Step 3: Adopt Anti-Procrastination Strategies

Procrastination is a habit – a deeply ingrained pattern of behavior. That means that you won’t just break it overnight. Habits only stop being habits when you have persistently stopped practising them, so use as many approaches as possible to maximize your chances of beating procrastination. Some tips will work better for some people than for others, and for some tasks than others. And, sometimes, you may simply need to try a fresh approach to beat the “procrastination peril”!

These general tips will help motivate you to get moving:

·         Make up your own rewards. For example, promise yourself a piece of tasty flapjack at lunchtime if you've completed a certain task. And make sure you notice how good it feels to finish things!

·         Ask someone else to check up on you. Peer pressure works! This is the principle behind slimming and other self-help groups, and it is widely recognized as a highly effective approach.

·         Identify the unpleasant consequences of NOT doing the task.

·         Work out the cost of your time to your employer. As your employers are paying you to do the things that they think are important, you're not delivering value for money if you're not doing those things. Shame yourself into getting going!

If you're procrastinating because you're disorganized, here's how to get organized!

·         Keep a To-Do list so that you can’t “conveniently” forget about unpleasant or overwhelming tasks.

·         Use an Urgent/Important Matrix to help prioritize your to-do list so that you can’t try to kid yourself that it would be acceptable to put off doing something on the grounds that it’s unimportant, or that you have many urgent things which ought to be done first when, in reality, you’re procrastinating.

·         Become a master of scheduling and project planning, so that you know when to start those all-important projects.

·         Set yourself time-bound goals: that way, you’ll have no time for procrastination!

·         Focus on one task at a time.

If you're putting off starting a project because you find it overwhelming, you need to take a different approach. Here are some tips:

·         Break the project into a set of smaller, more manageable tasks. You may find it helpful to create an action plan.

·         Start with some quick, small tasks if you can, even if these aren't the logical first actions. You'll feel that you're achieving things, and so perhaps the whole project won't be so overwhelming after all.

If you’re procrastinating because you find the task unpleasant:

·         Many procrastinators overestimate the unpleasantness of a task. So give it a try! You may find that it’s not as bad as you thought!

·         Hold the unpleasant consequences of not doing the work at the front of your mind.

·         Reward yourself for doing the task.

Finally, if you’re procrastinating because you can’t decide what action to take, and are putting off making a decision because you’re nervous about making the wrong choice, see our decision-making section. This teaches a range of powerful and effective decision-making techniques.

Remember: the longer you can spend without procrastinating, the greater your chances of breaking this destructive habit for good!

Key Points

To have a good chance of conquering procrastination, you need to spot straight away that you're doing it. Then, you need to identify why you're procrastinating and taken appropriate steps to overcome the block.