Showing posts with label Changing Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Changing Life. Show all posts

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Motivation: Dictating The Terms For Yourself

The importance of the word named “motivation” conveys lot more than it seems to have. Anything and everything that have to be done won’t be materialized unless and until it is supplemented by the crucial entity named “motivation”. Motivation is not something that could be manufactured, instead it has to come from within, rather, has to be cultivated.

It won’t ever be an animated reality if I mention that it is because of this motivation that world progresses even a fraction of a second. So, in a micro sense, each human needs to be motivated for every deed of his to be done. If you understand that the greatest or the ever discussed topic in psychological arena is motivation related aspects, its importance is conveyed and taken for granted.

Though we state that motivation is more or less a mental concern, it should not be stated that the physical well being and fitness have hardly any role to play. Moreover it could be stated that, motivation related problems are cancerously growing among the youth. This is so severe a scenario that they have to have a serious look at the mental status, physical well being and attitude. People, who are addicted to habits like smoking, alcohol consumption etc, should treat motivation as a pivotal entity in recovering themselves from those habits.

People who find it difficult to change their habits or people who continuously fails in motivating themselves to move forward to achieve their desired goal would find hypnosis as an effective solution. Hypnosis could very well be stated as a process of changing the well settled habitual mental status of people which help them in uprooting the so called status, to lead a better living. In whatever one does, motivation holds the key. The situations could be as diverse as it can be like meeting the deadline when given a job, stopping a bad habit like smoking or consumption of alcohol, reducing the weight drastically etc..

It should be reiterated that motivation finds its root in beliefs. If you have a strong faith in yourself, or if you have strong belief that some particular thing could be done within the stipulated time, you starts working hard on it. You are motivated to toil hard since you have the faith or belief that, it could be done. But at any point of time, if your belief or faith got hurt by any means, you are letting yourself down and where is your motivating factor? You find it difficult to dictate the terms for yourself. Here, hypnosis is so relevant. Statistical analysis shows that over 90% of people can be hypnotized. To motivate yourself, hypnosis can very well help you for sure. In this technologically advanced world, you only need to be choosy in selecting the media you need to get hypnotized. Compact disks, MP3 s etc are available in the market which essentially deals with hypnosis related to motivation issues.

It is so amazing to study that, which attribute of human mind caused him to be under motivated; the same attribute helps him to prepare himself for hypnosis, and come out successfully. That attribute, being the delicacy of human mind forms the leanest of all the bridges between an under motivated and a motivated mind set.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Work From Home Advice For Newbies - Important Self Evaluation Tips And Soul-Searching Questions To Consider.

Many people are interested to work at home and earn money these days. However, before you start evaluating a home business opportunity (especially if you are a newbie), start by EVALUATING YOURSELF first! Do some soul-searching and find out what you really want for your life. Earning money working at home is not as easy as it sounds. There are many challenges that could make it more difficult than having a day job.

Self evaluation to understand your strengths and weaknesses is the first step in deciding a work from home opportunity. This is because most self-employed or home business owners failed because they are lack of focus and self-discipline; NOT because the opportunity isn’t good enough.

Below are some self evaluation tips and soul-searching questions that you need to consider carefully before deciding to quit your day job and work for yourself… especially if you are a newbie and have never ventured in any home business opportunity before.

1. Are you a self-motivated type of person? Self-motivation is definitely a very important ingredient as you must be able to motivate yourself to work without anyone telling you to. When you’re your own boss, there can be myriad of things that can get in your way. If you’re not self-motivated, you will always find yourself putting off doing the works you’re supposed to do. And at the end of the day, you will feel that you’ve accomplished nothing and feel very guilty. This can make you feel very depressed and lead you into a stressful life!

So if you are not a self-motivated kind of individual, earning money working from home is a NO-NO for you.

2. Understand that there is NO “instant gratification” when it comes to doing business at home. You won’t get a constant paycheck at the end of every month like you normally have in your day job. You can become very discouraged very fast when you realize that there are large amount of works (with small rewards) you need to do initially. Of course, it is possible to earn good money with a home business but, you need to remember that it will take hard work, time and persistence to achieve success.

So in the beginning, you must be willing to accept hard works with little rewards. Building a home business is like an investment… firstly, you need to know where to invest your money and secondly you need to be patient to allow your investment to grow over time. Similarly, when building your own personal business, you need to invest your time heavily on activities that will bring in sales and revenues. And you need to continually do it over and over again until you achieve success.

3. Can you set goals and stick to them? Setting goals is important in any business, if you don’t set goals, you won’t be able to stay focused. So if you feel that you don’t have the goal-setting skill, you will need to brush up on this area first before jumping in and wasting your time evaluating any home business opportunity.

4. Are you treating it as a business or a hobby? If you treat your business like a hobby, you’re likely to be disappointed with the results! Unlike a hobby, a business needs to be worked at seriously and professionally. A business cannot allow any personal thing to get into its way. I’m sure you’ve heard this popular phrase: “It’s not personal, it’s business!”.

5. Are you financially responsible? This quality is important for any business owner. When you’re your own boss, you’re a finance manager. You’re responsible in managing and controlling your business budget. For example, when you start making some money, you need to be able to invest and spend the money wisely. Often times, you will want to put that money back into your business to help it grow and expand further.

These are just few things you need to consider carefully before you start telling yourself that you want to quit your day job and start earning money from home on your own. Make sure you really know what you want to achieve in your life. What is your personal mission in life? Ask yourself some soul-searching questions and answer them honestly.

So, take the time to do self-evaluation and soul-searching first before making a final decision to quit your day job and work from home. Hope this article is useful for you.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Tips For Overcoming Stress, Anxiety And Panic Attacks

We are all living in a very hectic world these days; it feels like the time is ticking away faster and faster. Works and family responsibilities are overwhelming us at times. Hence, it’s no surprise that stress and anxiety creep in our lives. Nobody could eliminate stress completely; what we could do however, is learn to control and manage stress before it takes control of our lives.

Stress and anxiety are the major cause of panic attacks. If not dealt with, it can have a devastating effect on our life. Especially for people with A-type personalities, the perfectionism they seek in everything they do never quite measures up to their expectations. Please understand that no one is perfect; humans are all imperfect living in an imperfect world. Don’t stress it out and make yourself crazy, just take it all in your stride.

There are many different ways to deal with stress; just some simple exercises can help stop the onslaught of stress. For example, just focus on breathing properly can take away the anxiety from your mind and bring you back to a calm state. Anytime when you feel stress, put your left hand on your stomach and start to breathe deeply and slowly; you should feel that your stomach expands when you breathe in air; that’s the right way to breathe.

Going outside for some fresh air can also help. Walking or running for 20 minutes can release endorphins which help relieve stress. Listening to classical music also helps as it lowers the blood pressure, and brings calm within.

Sometimes, however, stress reveals itself in other ways. Fear, feelings of presssure, inability to focus and palpitations; all these are symptoms of stress that can lead to anxiety, panic attacks, and the fright or flight syndrome.

For example, you are fearful when speaking in front of a group of people; anxious when a plane’s taking off; nervous during your wedding day, etc. There is really no absolute cure for fear and anxiety. To overcome it, you will have to face your fear; admit that you are fearful, seek to understand it, and do the right thing anyway. Develop faith that you will eventually conquer your fear and anxiety.

If stress is getting you down, examine the cause. Determine the origin, talk to a friend or discuss it with a professional or a loved one. Stress, if not acted upon, can cause serious health problems. Learn to live and cope with it at all costs, if you can.

Remember that there is no such thing as “stress-free” life as stress is always around us; unless of course if we are already dead. As long as we are still breathing, we’re susceptible to stress and anxiety. What we can do however, is to develop a “stress-proof” life. There are many successful self-help techniques you can learn to stop anxiety and panic attacks on its track.

Time Management - The Key To A Balanced Life

Time management is basically about being focused on the important things. The Pareto Principle - a.k.a. the '80:20 Rule' - states that 80% of efforts that are not time managed or unfocused generates only 20% of the desired output. However, 80% of the desired output can be generated using only 20% of a well time managed effort. Although the ratio '80:20 is only arbitrary, it is used to put emphasis on how much is lost or how much can be gained with time management.

Some people view time management as a list of rules that involves scheduling of appointments, goal settings, thorough planning, creating things to do lists and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be understood to develop an efficient personal time management skill. These basic skills can be fine tuned further to include the finer points of each skill that can give you that extra reserve to make the results you desire.

But there is more skills involved in time management than the core basics. Skills such as decision making, inherent abilities such as emotional intelligence and critical thinking are also essential to your personal growth.

Personal time management involves everything you do. No matter how big or small, everything counts. Each new knowledge you acquire, each new advice you consider, each new skill you develop should be taken into consideration.

Personal time management should not be a daunting task. It is a very sensible and reasonable approach in solving problems big or small. A great way of learning time management and improving your personal life is to follow several basic activities.

One of them is to review your goals whether it be immediate or long-term. A way to do this is to keep a list that is always accessible to you. Always determine which task is necessary or not necessary in achieving your goals and which activities are helping you maintain a balanced life style.

Below are some important steps you must always remember in order to manage your time and achieve the important tasks.

  • Learning to say "No". You actually see this advice often. Heed it even if it involves saying the word to family or friends.
  • Pat yourself at the back or just reward yourself in any manner for an effective time management result.
  • Try and get the cooperation from people around you who are actually benefiting from your efforts of time management.
  • Don't procrastinate. Attend to necessary things immediately.
  • Have a positive attitude and set yourself up for success. But be realistic in your approach in achieving your goals.
  • Have a record or journal of all your activities. This will help you get things in their proper perspective.

From the moment you integrate into your life time management skills, you have opened several options that can provide a broad spectrum of solutions to your personal growth. It also creates more doors for opportunities to knock on.

If you can't remember anything what you've read so far, just remember this one: "Time management is about getting results, not about being busy".

Four Effective Time Management Techniques

If you have always felt that time is running out, this article is for you. It explores four essential techniques of effective time management.

People all over the world are getting more busier and busier with their lives these days. Thanks to the advanced information age, we’re living in a world that has gotten more demanding of our time than ever. Without effective time management, we won’t be able to use our time productively and would always feel like we’re running out of time.

Let’s explore the four essential techniques of effective time management:

1. Planning and setting priorities.

You will be able to manage your time more effectively if you set out a PLAN first. With a plan to follow, you are more organized and focused. You will know exactly what are the tasks you need to do and complete. No more time wasting and you will feel more accomplished and released at the end of each day. Without a plan, you don’t know what are the things you should be focusing on and accomplished. You don’t know where you are supposed to be going. If you don’t know where you’re going, it doesn’t matter where you arrive at. You may not like your destination and at the end of the day you’ll feel that you’ve been wandering around, wasting time and accomplishing nothing.

2. Decide what are the most important things to do today.

This will help you focus your energy on what is important to you according to your plan instead of what others think is important. You will feel that you are in control of your life and your time, you accomplish the things that are important for you. It will also help you to finish your tasks on time.

3. List those important things IN ORDER in your diary.

This will ensure that you always remember what to do and avoid missing out on important tasks. It also helps you to check and track your progress. Effective time management is all about focus and organization. With a solid plan and list-to-do, you’re able to increase your chances of success multifold.

4. Work through your list in order.

Again, this will ensure that you tackle important taks in a focused and organized manner. Focus on and finish one task at a time according to your plan and list-to-do, do not jump around between different tasks. Doing so can make you lose your focus, make mistakes and end up having to redo and spend more time doing the same tasks. Remember that the essence of time management is NOT to waste time!

These are the essence of effective time management. Use and apply them daily and you will never feel like running out of time again.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Train Your Mind For A Happy And Successful Life

A well trained mind will always provide you great opportunities to work better and achieve a lot of success in life.

The wise men have always said that “the mind is like a bad neighborhood-never go there by yourself”. In case, your mind has not been trained, it would definitely prove to be a bad neighborhood.

Fortunately, there are several techniques available these days to train your mind such as meditation, NLP etc.

You must remember that our minds keep absorbing several thoughts, responses and behaviors from the environment around us. These entire patterns may affect us in different ways.

There are times when most of the thoughts we tend to absorb don’t go well with our goals. Hence it becomes very necessary to train our minds in order to give out equal response to what we require.

If you don’t have a cure of what should be done in order to train our minds, don’t worry. Here are some great tips on what should be done in order to achieve a well trained mind:

- Segment intending

This is a simple and best way to train your mind. This process will also help you to accomplish a lot on a daily basis.

Here is how to go about it:

- Step one

You need to decide the time period for your segment. Now, this time period can be of any length. However, remember that it should not exceed more than a half or one hour.

- Step two

Now, decide on your aim for that particular segment. This can be a whole list of tasks that you want to accomplish, a state of being or may be both if you wish.

- Step three

As soon as the segment start time arrives, you need to start your segment no matter what. Don’t have any second thoughts.

- Step four

In case, you get interrupted during your segment, you must decide whether the interruption is significant enough for your segment. In case, it is not just ignore it and keep up the good work. You need to keep your segment work going.

Practice all the above mentioned steps throughout the day. Remember that each segment that you practice is a kind of training period for your mind. Here, your mind is learning to help you in whatever task you undertake. The technique of segment intending also works with a friend. You can easily keep yourself on track if there is a friend helps you to do so. You would definitely notice that your mind is getting more responsive.

Of course, there are other techniques you can follow to train your mind such as stimulating your brain via doing activities that fill your mind with enthusiasm, doing regular physical activities, focusing on memorizing things, reading books on varied topics, adopting a creative hobby, learning new words, discussing on various topics to exercise brain, popping out ideas, developing an aim in life, sleeping well and using the invincible power of medication.

As you start enhancing your brain power, you will identify a new and improvised confidence in yourself.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

7 Ways To Appear Smarter In Everyday Life

I am here to dispel a myth: While I am intelligent, I have not yet reached the level of Einstein. There you go. Now, could you please explain that to my family, friends, coworkers, and business associates.

I am not here to brag about how smart I am. This post merely exists to show you how you can look like a member of Mensa to the average American, with a minimum of effort.

1. Learn to use Google. Are you one of those people who Google stuff all the time, and yet never seem to find anything? What do you do? You go to a professional Googler, like me, and they find “used bungee cords” in a matter of seconds. How?

We know how to talk to Google. While Google is getting smarter, it still has a hard time knowing exactly what you want. If you type in the word “colour”, Google still does not recognize that it is the exact same word as “color”. Google can only process the information we give it.

How many of you have ever used the advanced search portion of Google? Probably 10% or less, and yet that is how you can drill down to what you really want. Is the page less than 10 days old, do you want it in a PDF or Word document? The more you tell Google, the better results you will get.

There are tons of resources online that will show you how to search more accurately. Just Google it.

2. Use spell check, but don’t depend on it. I wish I had dollar for every time I used “their” when I meant “there”, and vice-versa. Also, watch out for “too” and “two”, “who’s” and “whose”. It is also helpful to know the difference between “its” and “it’s”. Spell check will let all these past without a whimper, because they are all spelled correctly. A firm grasp of the meaning of these words will help you evade embarrassment, and give you a more polished image at work and play.

3. Know the difference between “i.e.” and “e.g.”. Want to see a film called “Revenge of the English Majors”? Misuse these, and I can guarantee you a front row seat. Many people use “i.e.” interchangeably with the term “for example”. This is technically wrong. The term i.e. translates from the Latin as “that is”. If you wanted to say “for example”, “e.g.” would be the appropriate abbreviation.

4. Have a basic idea of where things are in the world. When 50% of college aged kids can’t find New York state on a map, you know we’re in trouble as a nation. If you can tell someone that “Niger” is in Africa, then you will be considered a Geography genius.

5. Collect general knowledge, or as most people refer to it, “useless information”. “Useless information” is something of a misnomer. It is only useless if it is never used. You never know when you might need that obscure fact about the gross domestic product of Germany, or how to open a beer with your belt loop. So take great pains to obtain it, and use it to benefit your fellow man.

6. Don’t be afraid to break stuff. We are afraid to mess things up in our culture. You will find that you will accomplish much more than other people by overcoming the fear of screwing things up. Most people don’t build their own computers simply because they are afraid of damaging the parts. I babied every part as I gingerly put my first PC together. Now, I use “fragile” RAM as everything but a Frisbee, and it still works. Experience will teach you what you can and can’t do. So go ahead, take a plunge into the deep end.

7. Don’t be afraid to say “I have no idea”. If I could pass one thing on to you, it would be this. Once you know all this stuff, it becomes harder to admit that you don’t know everything. It’s even harder to watch a person who wanted an answer “right now”, go back to their cube with a dejected look on their face. In the long run, people will respect you for it.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Life Is About Making Choices And Decisions

Life is like a road. There are long and short roads; smooth and rocky roads; crooked and straight paths. In our life many roads would come our way as we journey through life. There are roads that lead to a life of single blessedness, marriage, and religious vocation. There are also roads that lead to fame and fortune on one hand, or isolation and poverty on the other. There are roads to happiness as there are roads to sadness, roads towards victory and jubilation, and roads leading to defeat and disappointment.

Just like any road, there are corners, detours, and crossroads in life. Perhaps the most perplexing road that you would encounter is a crossroad. With four roads to choose from and with limited knowledge on where they would go, which road will you take? What is the guarantee that we would choose the right one along the way? Would you take any road, or just stay where you are: in front of a crossroad?

There are no guarantees.

You do not really know where a road will lead you until you take it. There are no guarantees. This is one of the most important things you need to realize about life. Nobody said that choosing to do the right thing all the time would always lead you to happiness. Loving someone with all your heart does not guarantee that it would be returned. Gaining fame and fortune does not guarantee happiness. Accepting a good word from an influential superior to cut your trip short up the career ladder is not always bad, especially if you are highly qualified and competent. There are too many possible outcomes, which your really cannot control. The only thing you have power over is the decisions that you will make, and how you would act and react to different situations.

Wrong decisions are always at hindsight.

Had you known that you were making a wrong decision, would you have gone along with it? Perhaps not, why would you choose a certain path when you know it would get you lost? Why make a certain decision if you knew from the very beginning that it is not the right one. It is only after you have made a decision and reflected on it that you realize its soundness. If the consequences or outcomes are good for you, then you have decided correctly. Otherwise, your decision was wrong.

Take the risk and decide.

Since life offers no guarantee and you would never know that your decision would be wrong until you have made it, then you might as well take the risk and decide. It is definitely better than keeping yourself in limbo. Although it is true that one wrong turn could get you lost, it could also be that such a turn could be an opportunity for an adventure, moreover open more roads. It is all a matter of perspective. You have the choice between being a lost traveller or an accidental tourist of life. But take caution that you do not make decisions haphazardly. Taking risks is not about being careless and stupid. Here are some pointers that could help you choose the best option in the face of life’s crossroads:
·
Get as many information as you can about your situation.

You cannot find the confidence to decide when you know so little about what you are faced with. Just like any news reporter, ask the 5 W’s: what, who, when, where, and why. What is the situation? Who are the people involved? When did this happen? Where is this leading? Why are you in this situation? These are just some of the possible questions to ask to know more about your situation. This is important. Oftentimes, the reason for indecision is the lack of information about a situation.

Identify and create options.

What options do the situation give you? Sometimes the options are few, but sometimes they are numerous. But what do you do when you think that the situation offers no options? This is the time that you create your own. Make your creative mind work. From the most simplistic to the most complicated, entertain all ideas. Do not shoot anything down when an idea comes to your head. Sometimes the most outrageous idea could prove to be the right one in the end. You can ask a friend to help you identify options and even make more options if you encounter some difficulty, but make sure that you make the decision yourself in the end.

Weigh the pros and cons of every option.

Assess each option by looking at the advantages and disadvantages it offers you. In this way, you get more insights about the consequences of such an option.

Trust yourself and make that decision.

Now that you have assessed your options, it is now time to trust yourself. Remember that there are no guarantees and wrong decisions are always at hindsight. So choose… decide… believe that you are choosing the best option at this point in time.

Now that you have made a decision, be ready to face its consequences: good and bad. It may take you to a place of promise or to a land of problems. But the important thing is that you have chosen to live your life instead of remaining as a bystander or a passive audience to your own life. Whether it is the right decision or not, only time can tell. But do not regret it whatever the outcome. Instead, learn from it and remember that you always have the chance to make better decisions in the future.