Breaking the Procrastination Habit

We all procrastinate sometimes. The danger is letting it become a habit because all that stuff piles up and has to get done sometime. It causes stress and unmet deadlines. People will consider you to be unreliable and your achievements will be few. It doesn’t feel good to be stressed out and it certainly does not look impressive to slack on your obligations. Try these tips to avoid procrastination.

Understand why you procrastinate. Self doubt and fear are the biggest reasons. You worry the results might not be good enough or your work may be rejected. Big deal. You get even less points for incompletion. Fear of imperfection is not noble; it is a cop out, so just get to work!

Attitude plays a big role in how your approach a project. If you say you hate it or dread it, you are going to be stuck in that negative place where no ideas will come to you and you will continue to hate it and dread it. Attach something positive to the start of a tough project so that you will actually look forward to it rather than dreading it. Before you go to bed the night before, psych yourself up by thinking about the venti mocha cappuccino you are going to Read more

Set a Goal and Congratulate Yourself

We all play different roles in life and one can only assume that you want to achieve your maximum potential in all of them. My primary roles are Self, Wife, Mother, and Professional. Let’s begin by asking a simple self help question, “If you don’t set goals for yourself, how do you know if you have accomplished anything?”

That sense of achievement is a big motivator to keep on climbing those mountains of life, so it is essential to get your priorities in order and set goals, achieve, and give yourself credit every one of your successes.

To address goal setting for a wider audience, let’s address the misconception that setting goals is just for your career.

This is unfortunate because at home, where we play the roles of spouse, parent, and household manager, organization and achievement are key to all other successes. To those folks I recommend to use the term “life list” instead. When it is time to put pen to paper, if you prefer, scribble “LIFE LIST” at the top of yours. Maybe even put some doodles around it. Whatever makes you excited to continue. Read more

How to Maintain Self Motivation

Self motivation is a gateway to self esteem and success. It is difficult to maintain for the simple reason that negativity is everywhere, which makes you insecure and kills creativity. Good ideas are criticized by the negativity of others who do not share our goals and ideals. It is easy to get discouraged, but the self motivated person gains from it and turns it into something positive. Check out these ideas to keep your motivation high.

Be aware of your self concept. Understand yourself. Plan your tasks and work methods around your strengths and weaknesses. So what if your co-worker does it differently. That is what works for him, not necessarily for you. You produce more efficiently if you take the time to customize everything around you.

Track your achievements. Put your goals on paper. Now cross them off when you are finished and congratulate yourself for a job well done every single time. If you do not realize what you are accomplishing, you will get in a rut and face each day with dread rather than excitement. Read more

Meeting Your Goals

Have you been meeting your goals recently? Setting and meeting goals can be a powerful tool for personal improvement. On the other hand, failing to meet goals is actually giving up on yourself and your dreams.

Write It Down
The first step to meeting your goals is writing them down. Putting your goal in writing is making a contract with yourself. It makes your goal concrete and calls your subconscious into action.

Stay Positive
Phrase your goal in positive terms. Write what you will do, not what you won’t. For instance, if your goal is to stop smoking cigarettes, don’t write, “I will stop smoking.” Instead write, “I will put my money in a savings account instead of spending it on cigarettes” or “I will chew gum whenever I feel the urge to smoke.”

Be Specific
Don’t write, “I will make a lot of money.” Instead write, “I will make $500,000 in the next year” or “I will increase my income by Read more

Living Your Reality

After a long day when you go to bed, right before sleeping, what is the last thing in your mind?

When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing you think of? It totally depends on what you do and who you are. For most of us, those last and first thoughts are related directly to what is a problem in our lives. For a mother might be things like what to cook tomorrow, how to cope with teenager hormones and moods, or perhaps, how to pay for that gift that is really out of the budget.

For so many people, those last and first thoughts are directly related to their jobs. Many are worried of loosing that income, even though they can’t stand working there. Many are working extra hard to get that promotion, to improve their performance, to be in a better situation.

But what can drive you to be a better worker if you don’t like what you do? Read more

Building Self Esteem - A Starter Guide To Self Improvement

So how do you stay calm, composed and maintain self esteem in a tough environment? Here are some tips you may to consider as a starter guide to self improvement.

Imagine yourself as a Dart Board. Everything and everyone else around you may become Dart Pins, at one point or another. These dart pins will destroy your self esteem and pull you down in ways you won’t even remember. Don’t let them destroy you, or get the best of you.  So which dart pins should you avoid?

Dart Pin #1 : Negative Work Environment
Beware of “dog eat dog” theory where everyone else is fighting just to get ahead. This is where non-appreciative people usually thrive. No one will appreciate your contributions even if you miss lunch and dinner, and stay up late. Most of the time you get to work too much without getting help from people concerned.  Stay out of this, it will ruin your self esteem. Competition is at stake anywhere. Be healthy enough to compete, but in a healthy competition that is. Read more

How To Be Genuinely Happy

Genuine Happiness Comes from Within

Life isn’t the sweetest candy. Sometimes, when I feel like the world is just too heavy, I look around and find people who continued to live fascinating and wonderful lives. And then thoughts come popping into my mind like bubbles from nowhere – “How did their life become so adorably sweet? How come they still can manage to laugh and play around despite a busy stressful life?”  Then I pause and observed for awhile… I figured out that maybe, they start to work on a place called ‘self’.

So, how does one become genuinely happy? Step 1 is to love yourself.

My theology professor once said that “loving means accepting.”  To love oneself means to accept that you are not a perfect being, but behind the imperfections must lie a great ounce of courage to be able to discover ways on how to improve your repertoire to recover from our mistakes.

Genuine happiness also pertains to contentment. When you are contented with the job you have, the way you look, with your family, your friends, the place you live in, your car, and all the things you now have – truly, you know the answer to the question “how to be genuinely happy.”
Read more

Things to Consider Before Having a Baby

Making the decision to have a baby could be the most important decision you ever make. The decision should be based on responsibility, maturity, a loving marriage, and the ability to make sacrifices.

No one should ever go into being a parent half-heartedly. Children must be an all-or-nothing decision and if you aren’t sure you are ready, please give it some thought first.

But, if you are in a loving, committed relationship and think you are ready to have a child together, here are some things to consider before you make that final decision:

1.    What kinds of sacrifices are you willing to make to be able to afford having a baby?
Babies and children have needs that can be expensive? Are you financially prepared for a baby at this time in your life?

2.    Is your marriage strong enough to withstand the stress of rearing children?
Raising a child can put added stress on a marriage. Make sure you and your partner are both committed 100% to this idea and to each other. Read more

Harness Your Attraction Power

Does a Law on Human Attraction Exist?

“Opposites attract” is a law of attraction, at least where electromagnetism is concerned. But are there laws about attraction between two people? “In a world that is full of strangers” as a line in a famous song of the 1980’s goes, is there a clear set of rules that allows two people to fall for each other?

Is attraction a matter of chemistry?

Maybe. According to scientists, the attraction between animals of the opposite sex is all about chemicals called pheromones. The effect of pheromones in behavior of insects is the most studied to date. It has been observed, at least in some experiments, that pheromones are responsible for communication among same species and colony of ants. The horrible odor released by skunks to ward off enemies is said to be a kind of pheromone. Some species of apes rub pheromone-containing urine on the feet of potential mates to attract them. Some scientists believe that animals (usually the females) such as insects and mammals send out these chemical signals to tell the male of their species that their genes are different from theirs. This gene diversity is important in producing offspring with better chances of survival. Read more

Creative Notions - Unleash Your Creativity

People seem to have the misconception that only a select few are able to unleash a steady flow of creative genius. That is not true at all. The fact is, creativity is very much like a muscle that needs to be exercised in order to consistently give out great results. If you don’t practice harnessing creative thinking, this skill will very much atrophy into inexistence. But keep working and this skill will soon come to you in a snap.

So how do you unleash your creative thinking? Well, the first thing is to become a human leech. No, we’re not talking about just sucking the blood out of every living being available, we’re saying that you should take in as much knowledge and learning you can find. Read everything available — good and bad, and keep your mind open to the infinite possibilities of the universe. The more you know, the more you’ll want to know, and the more your faculty of wonder will be exercised. Prepare to be amazed at little facts that add a bit of color into your life.  Read more

The Basics of Goals - Easier Said, Easily Done

The basics of setting a goal is an open secret known by top-caliber athletes, successful businessmen and businesswomen and all types of achievers in all the different fields. The basics of setting goals give you short-term and long-term motivation and focus. They help you set focus on the acquisition of required knowledge and help you to plan and organize your resources and your time so that you can get the best out of your life.

Setting clearly defined short term and long term goals will enable you to measure your progress and achieve personal satisfaction once you have successfully met your goals. Charting your progress will also enable you to actually see the stages of completion leading to the actual realization of your goals. This eliminates the feeling of a long and pointless grind towards achieving your goal. Your self-confidence and level of competence will also improve as you will be more aware of your capabilities as you complete or achieve your goals. Read more

7 Steps to Self-Improvement

I seem to lost count on how many times I’ve read and heard of celebrity marriages failing almost left and right. Not that I care (and personally I don’t), it seems strange that we often see movie and TV stars as flawless people, living the fairytale life of riches and glamour. I suppose we all have to stop sticking our heads in the clouds and face reality.

There are many ways to lose your sense of self-esteem despite of how trivial it could get. But whatever happens, we should all try not to lose our own sense of self.

So what does it take to be a cut above the rest? Here are some of the things you can think and improve on that should be enough for a week.

1. Know your purpose
Are you wandering through life with little direction - hoping that you’ll find happiness, health and prosperity? Identify your life purpose or mission statement and you will have your own unique compass that will lead you to your truth north every time. Read more

Next Page »