Tag Archives | change

Create a Life Plan in 30 Minutes or Less…and Why You Need to

By on January 2, 2012 in Happiness, Life Balance, Personal Growth, Questions

Do you have a life plan? If not, it’s time to think about creating one. We are not talking about some 20 page research paper with charts and graphs and maps. Just a general snapshot of where you are right now in all the areas that matter and where you’d like to go in the future.

This should take no more than 30 minutes. This is your life we’re talking about…you can find 30 minutes. And if you can’t …we need to talk, you and I.

How would you rate your life on a scale of 1 – 10? – Are you satisfied with that rating? What would you be satisfied with?

Write a brief description of the current state of your life. – Health, relationships, work, finances, spiritual or emotional well-being, community, etc. Whatever is going on. Just briefly jot it down.

What makes you happy? – There must be some good things, some things that bring you joy and make you laugh.

What are the drains on your energy and happiness? – What people, situations or behaviors are your kryptonite? We all have these things (or someones) that suck the life out of us like vampires draining our life force.

What isn’t working in your life? - These are the obstacles to living a satisfied life of fulfillment…Do you need to lose weight, be more organized, find a different job, end or change a relationship, manage your stress better or maybe just learn to laugh again.

Now describe your ideal life. - I’m not talking about a commercial for the “Rich and Famous,” some Hollywood fairy tale. I’m talking about what kind of life would truly make you happy to get out of bed in the morning. What would you be doing? Who would you be with? How would you be feeling?

What do you need to do to get that life?  – What needs to happen for you to get from point A to point B? Again, not a detailed outline of actions for the next 20 years, just some general goals to work toward, a few habits to adopt or a change in attitude or surroundings to adopt.

Something to think about…Why? Why do you want whatever it is that you want? What do you really want to accomplish in this life? What kind of person do you want to be? What do you want to be remembered for?

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Tackle the time Wasters!

By on November 7, 2011 in Productivity, Simple Steps
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Image by openDemocracy via Flickr

Simple Steps

Weekly challenge: Tackle the time wasters!

Identify 5 time wasters that eat up your time, your focus or your energy.

Then choose one item to reduce or eliminate. (I know you’re ambitious, but making one change at a time yields the highest rate of success. You can build on that later.)

Care to share? What are your time wasters and which are you tackling this week?

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10 Ways to Make Change Work for You

By on October 10, 2011 in Simple Steps

Simple Steps

Change is not the enemy. In fact it can be the best friend you never knew you had.

From time to time it’s beneficial to shake things up and get out of a rut, even if you think that rut is working for you! You’d be surprised at what a measurable difference a small change in routine, environment or process can make. Change can be a valuable success and happiness tool if you learn to make it work for you instead of avoiding it at all costs.

Commit this week to making just one change in the way you live and work.

10 Change Suggestions to get you started:

  • Rearrange your furniture in your office or a room at home – Especially if you work from home (I recently moved my desk so that I was no longer facing the wall and immediately found I was happier and more productive.)
  • Change the colors that surround you – Colors have been scientifically proven to affect mood and creativity (you don’t have to paint your walls…new curtains, a throw pillow, flowering plant or an inexpensive wall hanging can work.)
  • Wear something different – Buy something completely different from your usual wardrobe, even a new tie or scarf will work or wear favorite clothing in a new combination.
  • Shift your normal routine – Do you always get groceries or go to the bank on the same day? Do you always check your email first? How about when you take breaks and lunch? Shake it up and see how it works (you can always go back.)
  • Try out a new commuting activity – If you normally talk on your mobile phone or listen to the news, how about listening to an audio book instead or try a silent commute (might be uncomfortable for some, but I find the silence to be great opportunity to mull over creative ideas.)
  • Expand your social circle – Eat lunch with someone different, invite a colleague or acquaintance for coffee, ask a neighbor to dinner ( you never know where you will find your next friend mentor or business contact.)
  • Swap activities – Do yoga at lunch instead of sitting in the lunch room, try Zumba instead of the treadmill, Pilates in place of yoga or biking instead of your usual morning run (altering your exercise routine not only keeps it more interesting, but also is more effective at improving your fitness and health.)
  • Eat a different meal – If you always have a bagel or muffin for breakfast, try having eggs or yogurt and fruit instead (the extra protein will increase you alertness and energy level.)
  • Examine one firmly entrenched process and see if you can tweak or overhaul it (well established processes and equipment that may have worked quite well at one time, may not be the most effective method now.)
  • How about changing your attitude or behavior – Gulp! This is the toughest, but by far the most effective change strategy (If you notice that you complain or criticize often, try remaining silent when the urge strikes.  Or if you’re always late, make it a priority to be on time for a week and see how it feels.)
Most importantly…Smile…It changes everything.

Question everything, move forward, enjoy the journey.

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Review: “The Art of Accomplishment” by Nicholas Townsend Smith

By on September 8, 2011 in Good Reads

I was thrilled to be asked to review this book! I love reading…well…anything really, but I especially love reading something I can share with my readers that is 1. useful and 2. affordable. 

Art of Accomplishment“The Art of Accomplishment” by Nicholas Townsend Smith is both. From the book:

I know if you apply my methods, your life will change, as it has for me and so many others. If you follow these methods, you will become one of those people who reaches his or her goals.

Let me ask you this: what do you think it means to accomplish?

I”ll tell you what I think it means. If I could give you one take away from this book and nothing else, it would be this: to accomplish something is simply to complete it. If you start finishing what you start, amazing things happen.

However, I will warn you that accomplishing anything requires effort. If you picked up this book thinking it would be a get-successful-easy methodology, you picked up the wrong book.

Put it down before you actually EARN something!

Nicholas delivers his insightful information with analogies we can relate to and useful strategies we can all apply.

Read an excerpt from one of my favorite chapters:

REDEFINE PERFECTION

How many times have you thought to yourself that if you did not do something perfectly the first time, then you wouldn’t do it? If you looked like some kind of an idiot, you wouldn’t even try?

The word perfect originated from the Latin word perficere; per meaning ‘complete’ and facere meaning ‘to do’.

To do something perfectly never meant to do things flawlessly or without defect; we redefined it to mean that. The original meaning of the word perfect was to do something and to finish it.

As you now know from the Certainty Cycle it is really hard to know if something does or does not work if you never finish it. It is in finishing things that we discover the results. If you finish what you start, then you are performing perfectly even when the results are not flawless. Perfection is what allows you to make adjustments and continue on to flawlessness.

As a little bonus, I want to share with you the process of perfection. This is a five step process and will help you accomplish every goal you set:

  • 1- Intention – What is it you are stretching toward? What is the goal you would like to reach? Establish your target and determine the high probability path for reaching it.
  • 2- Trigger – Establish a trigger that gets the process started. You could have an intricate goal and system put together, much like a Rube Goldberg machine, but nothing to trigger the next action, so it really doesn‟t matter. The trigger is the item or action that gets you moving toward your goal.
  • 3- Perform – Now that you have the goal, the system, and the trigger, the next step is to do your system; to act.
  • 4- Complete – Finish what you start. Perform to completion because this is the only way you will know if your system works or not.
  • 5- Adjust – Make adjustments to your system and actions until you are getting the results you want.

The process of perfection is a simple tool that will assist you in reaching your goals every time. Do you want to perform perfectly? Do what you say you will do and finish it! That my friend, is perfection.

 

Nicholas Townsend Smith is quickly becoming the most powerful performance trainer in America. His transformational style and commitment to individuals has generated lasting change in business owners, organizational leaders, executives, employees and individuals across America and into Canada. His clients’ results have been astonishing; from establishing high paying contracts to increasing health, each person has used concepts from Nick’s seminars, webinars, teleseminars and group and individual coaching to accomplish his or her desires. More information on Nick and his work can be found at http://clearpathtraining.com.

 

 

 

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Reader Questions: How Can Productive Life Concepts be More Useful?

By on August 1, 2011 in Life Balance, Personal Growth, Success

questionsIt’s time for a reader question post – How can I make Productive Life Concepts more useful for you?

I’d like to get some reader input in an effort to continue improving the blog and making it more useful to my readers.

Topics – What topics would you like me to cover in the coming weeks/months? What are the main issues that you or others are facing? What would you like to learn about or how would you like to grow?

Posting Frequency – Are there too many posts, not enough, just right?

Type/Style/Length of Posts – Do you prefer longer, shorter, or a mix of posts? Tips, reviews, lists, pictures? Would you like to see video posts?

Design – Is there anything you like, dislike, would suggest for design or layout of the website?

Website Features – What would make your reader experience better?

Community – Do you care about interacting with other readers and myself? Are you making use of our Facebook page? Why or why not? Are there features that you’d like added to help connect more?

Services and Tools – What services or tools could I offer that would help you?

New Products in Development –

  • An affordable email/online coaching option rolling out soon – Are you interested in this? Topics, format, price range?
  • EBooks coming soon – Any thoughts, requests, price range?
  • An app is in the works – Again, ideas, requests, pricing?

Other Ideas and Feedback – All feedback, suggestions or ideas are welcome.

While I can’t promise to put every suggestion into place I do promise to consider them all!

All that I ask in return is that you be honest, courteous and constructive with your feedback.

It’s your turn. Feel free to either leave your feedback in comments below, post them on our Facebook page or to share them privately with me via my Contact Page.

 

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Change is Necessary to Move Forward

By on July 1, 2011 in Personal Growth, Success
Decide

Image by mattwi1s0n via Flickr

 

“Growth is the only evidence of life.”  ~John Henry Newman

We are often paralyzed by this weird inability to make changes even when we know that we must in order to move forward.

Why is that?

I think it is really because we have this innate fear of making a wrong decision. So to avoid that terrifying (in our minds) possibility we avoid making any decision at all. This usually results in life (or other people) taking the decision out of our hands, which is what we were secretly hoping for anyway.

That way we don’t have to take responsibility for the consequences of our non-decisions. See, it was somebody else’s fault.

But that behavior keeps us stuck in a holding pattern, not unlike a car on a one-way street sitting at an intersection.

You can’t turn around and go back.

You have to choose which way to go. Right or left. The road less travelled or the road most travelled. Just choose.

If you don’t, you will sit idling until you run out of gas. Not a happy prospect.

The moral of the story is decide…something…anything. If it doesn’t work out, you can choose something different next time. Most often it’s not a matter of life or death. That’s just a story we tell ourselves.

BE BRAVE!  BE BOLD! DECIDE! MAKE A CHANGE!

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Overwhelmed? Stuck? Stressed? Try This Simple Strategy

By on June 17, 2011 in Sanity Savers

We all feel overwhelmed occasionally…some of us more than others. And by us…I mean me, though it probably applies to many of my readers as well.

It’s the new way of life on the 21st century isn’t it?

I’m not going to tell you that I can cure the insidious attacks of overwhelm and manic busyness that we so often fall victim to. I would however like to share a very simple strategy that has worked for me…at least it works when I remember to use it.

You can use this strategy any time you feel stuck, stressed or unable to focus, have thoughts swirling round and round in your head or just can’t figure where to start or what to do next.

Trust me. It works. And it’s very easy.

I call it one of my Sanity Savers!

STOP

Step 1: Stop!  - Stop whatever you are doing; a few minutes won’t kill you. This stops the spiral.

Step 2: Take a breath – Just take one minute to take a few deep breaths. You can count to 10 if you wish (or use affirmations or mantras if that works for you.) I just breathe slowly in, hold it for a few seconds and breathe out. Repeat a few times. Simple. This lowers your stress and calms the mind. You think and act better with a calmer mind.

Step 3: Order – Briefly use just a few minutes to bring order to your “zone.” Only your immediate zone and only a few minutes. This is not the time to organize your whole house or office or even the entire room. Just look at what’s right around you and tidy it up. Do not sort through all of your piles, or scrub your kitchen sink. Just put away what you don’t need and straighten what’s left; this may be the top of your desk, your kitchen counter, your bed, your work table or even your car if you’re driving. Clearing your space focuses your mind.

 

Step 4: Pick – Choose one thing to do next. Just one. It can be a phone call, an email, a chore at home, a project you’re working on. It really doesn’t matter what you choose. Now that you’ve regrouped, calmed your mind and cleared your space it’s easier to move forward. One step at a time.

It’s that simple, though it’s not always easy.

Remember…Life moves ahead one thought, one breath and one action at a time.

Do you have other techniques to share? What works for you?

 

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Are You Ready for Change?

By on May 11, 2011 in Life Balance, Personal Growth, Success

“It’s not that some people have willpower and some don’t. It’s that some people are ready to change and others are not.” ―James Gordon

Are you ready to make changes in your life? To move to a  more fulfilling, productive and purposeful type of existence?

Don’t be ashamed to answer no! This may not be the right time in your life. You may not be ready to examine what you have been doing. You may not have a burning desire to accomplish something more than you have so far. You may not feel that it’s important to know where you’re going in life or sort out the meaning and purpose behind your life and work.

That’s OK. Really. Just briefly consider that clinging to your old habits and attitudes may be costing you more than you think. It can be physically and mentally freeing to let it all go and try something different.

Consider a career shift if you don’t feel fulfilled.

Examine your family roles and dynamic.

Analyze your routines and habits – both personal and professional.

Evaluate the health of your relationships.

Assess or re-assess your goals and priorities.

Look at your health patterns.

Move toward a mindset of generosity, kindness, forgiveness and gratitude.

You may find many areas where it’s time for a change. What would you like to do about it? Change is inevitable. Why not make it a considered change rather than a forced one?

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Paris - Musée Rodin: The Thinker

Contemplation is Priceless

By on March 4, 2011 in Personal Growth, Success
Paris - Musée Rodin: The Thinker

Image by wallyg via Flickr

Do you ever take time to just sit and think? If you are like most people the answer is no. Thinking seems lazy and unproductive; a waste of time.  In reality, time to think, dream, plan and contemplate can be one of the most valuable uses of our time. How will we make friends with our inner selves otherwise? How will we conjure plans to change the world? How will we get that inspiration that takes our success to the next level? How will we discover the true gifts of life unless we take the time to turn them over in our minds and fully absorb them?

This weekend set aside some time to just think and see where it takes you. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that it the time well spent.

Never be afraid to sit awhile and think. – Lorraine Hansberry

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