5 Ways To Reduce Stress And Find Joy And Be More Optimistic.

Stop paying attention to bad news. Get off the Internet. Read a book. Find the simple joys in life. Take in the cool crisp air of the morning. Don’t let the media influence your morning. Tune out. Find the beauty in life. Chop all the bad news out and you’ll find slices of joy you never knew existed!

Meditate. Find peace in the present moment. Learn to still your chattering mind.  There are so many ways to meditate these days. There is the traditional method of sitting still and paying attention to your outer breath.  Or download an app for your smart phone. I recently downloaded “ Meditation 4 Inner Wisdom” and loved its relaxing flow.

Don’t worry about stuff you can’t change. Work is incredibly demanding these days. Greece is falling apart. Winter is coming. I can either let these stressors roll around in my head like a mouse on a flywheel or pay attention to what I CAN change. What can you change in your life? Write it down and start making those changes. Let the rest of it go. Are you worrying about stuff you cannot change?  Let it go today and change what you have control over.

Exercise. I’ve been trying to lose 20 pounds with no results. I eat well but haven’t been eating fewer calories. Simple math. If I wish to continue to eat the same amount of calories I HAVE to exercise more. Today I got back on the elliptical running machine and did some weights. AND!!  And what? And exercise is one of the very best ways to reduce stress. It’s a double win! Let’s start an exercise routine today! One of the very best decisions you will have made, at any stage in your life.

Write your goals down. We constantly dream and plan in our heads. We stand around the water cooler and talk about living in a warmer climate, having more money or working in a dream career. Get those thoughts out of your head and onto paper! Make them concrete. Take the next step towards making them into reality. What is your biggest dream? What is the very next action you need to take to make your dream a reality? What is stopping you? Write it down today and write down the next step you need to take. Now you are on your way!!

Do You Make This Life Changing Mistake?

Probably the best piece of advice I’ve read lately when making life changes is to STICK TO ONE.

One what?

One life change at a time.

Pick the one life change that will have the greatest impact to your life.

The bonus is that this one life change will positively impact other key areas of your life.

If you lose weight, you become healthier and more attractive.

If you reduce your debt you also reduce your stress.

If you become happier you will become more successful and improve your social life.

Don’t ever try to lose weight, reduce your debt, become happier AND learn to play the piano. Ever.

Pick one life change and write down a few mini goals to support that one change.

If you are using the My Life Changes Tracker, define who you are, define your most important core value and then define one major goal with a deadline. Then define the mini goals that will support that one major goal.

If your core personal value is Health then decide to lose 20 pounds by January 1st 2012.

Then make it a goal to not keep sweets in the house.

Then make it a goal to plan healthy meals every Sunday.

Then make it a goal to bring fruit to work as a snack.

Turn those mini goals into habits and you are on your way.

One life change at a time. Attack the one area of your life that will have the greatest impact.

Go ahead. I’m sure you already know what it is.

Now attack it with a laser like focus.

I Always Failed At Goal Setting – So I Started Reading My Life Changes

One of the key rules of great goal setting is to be specific. People may have read about this a dozen times, but they still continue to set vague goals. Let’s explain the problem with this.

If you set a goal to paint the spare room (because it will look fabulicious painted) it’s easy to set this vague goal. “Paint the spare room”

However, if you are specific and write down – I will paint the spare bedroom on Saturday morning, May 28 …well now you have set aside a time and date which further commits you to take action. Now you know that this date is for beautifying the spare room and not golfing, shopping ,snoozing, web surfing or TV.

This rule especially applies to business. If you have a large project to execute and people are counting on you, you break the project into smaller specific goals and commit to a date for each one. Or else the project will be a miserable failure.

So why shouldn’t you apply the same rules to your personal life? Your goals in your personal life are even more important.

Be specific. Commit to a date and a time.

When I designed this website I used the tracker here in its beta form and broke down each step in order to create the website. It took a few months but if I had not set specific goals and timelines this fabulous website would not exist.  : )  There had to be a business plan, design, programming, testing and support.

Now it’s your turn.  What fabulous goals or habits do you want to create in your life? What steps are required and by what date are you ready to commit yourself to?

Let’s do it.

Goal Setting And Sensational Success – The Cutting Edge Series

The cutting edge series is a series of articles aimed at waking individuals up. Life is too short to let it pass by and phenomenal success is just around the corner if you apply these principals. This article deals with two essential characteristics of phenomenally successful people.

Get the hell out of your comfort zone.

Read more

Goal Setting Requires Dream Goals – The Cutting Edge Series

The cutting edge a series of articles aimed at waking individuals up. Life is too short to let it pass by and phenomenal success is just around the corner if you apply a few of these principals.

Set dream goals

There are regular goals and then there are dream goals. Dream goals are a wholehearted mixture of your passions, dreams, and feelings of wonder that wash over you. Be it starting a business, becoming a professional athlete, traveling the world or making a million dollars, we all have dream goals. If you have educated yourself or have the skills there is no reason not to pursue your dream goals. Arnold Schwarzenegger arrived in the United States poor and speaking broken English. His dream goals were to become Mr Olympia then become a movie star and make a few million along the way. He even climbed the political ladder. What happened to him? Never give up on your dream goals. Write them out now.

Read more

Leadership Goals For The Self

You have never really reflected on the different areas of your life.

Have you taken the time to reflect on your life and find out what your desires are? Your life is divided into different segments, which are all closely interrelated. This means that your health will affect your family, career and much, much more. Living a satisfying and balanced life isn’t about a goal of a million dollars, it’s about taking the time to reflect on all the major segments of your life. This includes your physical health, mental heath, family, finances, career and family.

Read more

Goal Setting To Make You Happy

After years of research on happiness, money, life and goals, here are some of my key findings.
Researchers from the University of Illinois and Pennsylvania State declare that, in a 1985 survey, the Maasai of East Africa were almost equally satisfied with life as some of the 400 richest Americans on the Forbes list. The Maasai are a traditional herding people who have no electricity or running water and live in huts made of dung.

Read more

Three Top Goals You Need To Set

1. Improve Your Physical Health

How in the world are you going to reach any goals with bad health? Remember when you had that cold, fever or aching back? Were you in any kind of mood to work on your life goals? I don’t think so. But when you start eating healthy and working out, all kinds of energy comes flooding in and whether it’s painting a room or starting a business, good physical health makes goals much easier to attain. So get off your butt and start taking care of your body. Good things will follow. Goals will be reached.

Read more

Why Goal Setting Is Extremely Important To You

Do you want to be happy and successful in the future? Then set goals. People live successful, happy and living meaningful lives because they have taken the time to set goals. Below are 11 compelling reasons why goal setting is extremely important to you.

• Read more

Keeping New Years Resolutions – The Very Best Method

If you really want to grow and develop as a person it takes more then just setting goals haphazardly. It takes a step-by-step, but optimality simple approach that will bring a rich, joyful, wealthy and healthy life leading to balance and sustainability.

Read more