Try Something Different

In the beginning of the summer I spent a couple of days with a friend that I hadn't seen in quite a while.

She's been going through some hard times yet she's still energetic, optimistic and upbeat. I asked how she managed to maintain those positive characteristics in the face of constant stress.

Her secret? Something that costs absolutely nothing.

Each day she makes it a point to try something new. As she explained, it doesn't need to be something major. It could be taking a different route to work, having a cup of tea instead of coffee, eating dinner at 6pm instead of 7pm.

Why does it work?

For my friend, waking up to start the day was a major challenge due to the stresses she faced. Now, by thinking of what she's going to change that day, she created a sense of excitement and anticipation of something different. Making one small change each day has kept her from being defeated by the stresses in her life.

Being inspired, I started to make one small change a day but somehow lost focus over the course of the summer. Although my attempt was short-lived, I noticed that a small change could give a new perspective to my ordinary routine.

I was reminded of this the other day when I read a post by Chris Brogan about the patterns in our life so I'm going to try once again.

I'll be curious to see what happens this time and also curious about what will happen if I make one small change each day to my business. I'm intrigued by the fact that during the short time I did it during the summer, I had a new perspective. That could be immensely helpful for a business.

What do you think? Are you willing to give it a try? Let me know if you do and what happens.

How to Set Priorities for Your Road to Success!

In the past 6 months, since becoming a member of Janelle Elm's phenomenal site OSI Rock Stars, I've learned about an incredible number of ways to grow my business.

So, what's the problem??
Not enough time to learn and implement everything. Ever had that feeling??

I just found this great article that provides some suggestions.

What would you do for success?

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."

- Stephen Covey

Setting Priorities

By Brian Tracy

In 1970, sociologist Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University wrote a book entitled The Unheavenly City. He described one of the most profound studies on success and priority-setting ever conducted.

Banfield's goal was to find out how and why some people become financially independent during the course of their working lifetimes. He started off convinced that the answer to this question would be found in such things as family background, education, intelligence, influential contacts, or some other concrete factor. What he finally discovered was that the major reason for success in life is a particular attitude of mind.

Banfield called this attitude "long time perspective." He said that people who were the most successful in life and the most likely to move up economically were those who took the future into consideration with every decision they made in the present. He found that the longer the period of time a person took into consideration, the more likely it was that he would achieve greatly during his career.

Doctors, for example, invest many years of hard work and study to finally earn the right to practice medicine. After university courses, internship, residency, and practical training, they may be more than 30 years old before they are capable of earning a good living. But from that point onward, they are among the most respected and most successful professionals in the United States. They had long time perspectives.

If you take additional courses in the evening to upgrade your skills and make yourself more valuable to your employer, you're acting with a long time perspective. Because it can have a long-term effect on your career and your life.

The key to setting priorities is to have a long time perspective - and that usually requires sacrificing present enjoyment for future enjoyment. It requires giving up a short-term pleasure in the present in order to enjoy a far greater and more substantial pleasure in the future. And it begins with deciding what you want most in life and then organizing your time and activities so you can achieve those objectives.

With your larger, long-term priorities in order, you can much more easily decide upon your short-term priorities.

Setting short-term priorities begins with a pad of paper and a pen. Sit down, take a deep breath, and list all the tasks you need to accomplish. Although there is never enough time to do everything, there is always enough time to do the most important things.

Once you have listed your tasks, ask yourself this question: "If I were to be called out of town for a month and I could finish only one thing on this list, which one thing would it be?" Think it through, and circle that one item. Then ask yourself: "If I could do only one more thing before I was called out of town for a month, what would it be?" This is the second thing you circle.

Continue with this exercise until you have sorted out the highest priorities on your list. Then number each according to its importance. You are now ready to begin working effectively toward the achievement of your major goals.

Another good way to set priorities once you have determined your major objectives is with the A-B-C-D-E method. You place one of those letters in the margin before each of the tasks on your list.

"A" stands for "very important; must do; severe negative consequences if not completed."

"B" stands for "important; should do; but not as important as my 'A' tasks, and only minor negative consequences if not completed."

"C" stands for "nice to do; but not as important as 'A' or 'B,' and no negative consequences for not completing."

"D" stands for "delegate or assign to someone else who can do the task in my place."

"E" stands for "eliminate if possible."

When you use the A-B-C-D-E method, you can easily sort out what is important and unimportant. This will focus your time and attention on those tasks that are most essential.

Once you can clearly see the one or two things that you should be doing above all others, just say no to diversions and distractions and focus single-mindedly on those priorities.

Much of the stress that people experience comes from working on low-priority tasks. The amazing thing is that as soon as you start working on your highest-value activity, your stress disappears. You begin to feel a continuous stream of energy and enthusiasm. As you work toward the completion of something that is really important, you feel an increased sense of personal value and inner satisfaction. You experience a sensation of self-mastery and self-control. You feel calm, confident, and capable.

Here are six ideas that you can use to set priorities and keep yourself working at your best:

1. Take the time to be clear about your goals and objectives so that the priorities you set are moving you in the direction of something that is of value to you. Remember that many people scramble frantically to climb the ladder of success, only to find that it is leaning against the wrong building.

2. Develop a long time perspective and work on those things in the present that can have the greatest positive impact on your future. Maintain your balance in life by setting priorities in the areas of your health, your personal relationships, and your financial goals.

3. Make the commitment to improve those aspects of your life that are most important to you. If you're in sales, learn how to be an excellent salesperson. If you're a parent, learn how to be an outstanding mother or father. The power is always on the side of the person with the best practical knowledge.

4. Take the time to do your work right the first time. The fewer mistakes you make, the less time you will waste doing it over.

5. Remember that what counts is not the overall amount of time you put in. Rather, it's the amount of time you spend working on high-priority tasks. You will always be paid for the results you obtain, not merely the hours you spend on the job.

6. Understand that the most important factor in setting priorities is your ability to make wise choices. You are always free to choose to engage in one activity or another. You may choose a higher-value activity or a lower-value activity, but once you have chosen, you must accept the consequences of your choice.

Resolve, today, to set clear priorities in every area of your life, and always choose the activities that will assure you the greatest health, happiness, and prosperity in the long term. The long term comes soon enough, and every sacrifice that you make today will be rewarded with compound interest in the great future that lies ahead for you.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

Manage Your Stress

Stress is a natural part of life. Some types of stress are good while others are not.

Most people think of stress as being caused by an external event in their lives but in reality, it’s the way we react to the external events that produces stress. Each person’s tolerance level is different so situations that are highly stressful for one person may not be so for another.

It’s very common for people to feel stress around the holidays.

This article looks at how to deal with unhealthy stress. Part I gives some helpful tips while Part II gives specific ways to use deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation for stress relief.
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First, you must be able to identify when unhealthy stress is occurring. Signs of stress fall into four categories: cognitive (thoughts), emotional (feelings), physical and behavioral.

When stressed you may experience cognitive changes such as the inability to concentrate, poor judgment, forgetfulness or mental disorganization, self criticism and a fear of failure; emotional changes such as irritability, feeling overwhelmed, tense, anxious or moody; physical changes such as headache, weight gain or loss, insomnia, back or neck problems, fatigue, more colds & infections than usual; or behavioral changes such as eating too much or too little, sleeping too much or too little, teeth grinding, procrastination, increased alcohol use or acting impulsively.

So how do you successfully manage stress? Here are several proven stress management strategies:

1. Have a strong social support network
A support network can be family or friends with whom you can share your feelings, discuss problems and seek advice. Your support network must be individuals who you trust and who genuinely care about you. Not all relationships are supportive and those that are not can create more stress in your life.

2. Identify unnecessary stress
Know how much you’re able to handle at any given time and learn to say ‘no’ when another work project, chore or errand will push you beyond your limit.

Avoid people who bring stress into your life. Limit the amount of time you spend with those who are not supportive or continually cause you stress.

Avoid situations that make you anxious or tense. Find alternative ways to handle them.

Look at all the things you do during the day and re-evaluate them. If you’re stressed because you have too much on your plate, eliminate those tasks that aren’t absolutely essential.

3. Manage Your Thoughts
Often, without realizing it, we give ourselves messages that are inaccurate and those can increase our stress levels. When you can identify your self-defeating thoughts & messages, you can consciously change your cognitive (thought) patterns & lessen the stress.

For example, many of us feel we ‘should’ accomplish certain things during the holiday season. This type of thought creates unrealistic expectations and sets us up for failure.

Other times we give more importance to an event than it warrants. For example, if ‘the Christmas tree isn't completely decorated’, we tell ourselves the entire holiday will be ruined.

And sometimes we generalize one problem to the rest of our lives. For example, if we don’t do well on a project, we feel we’re a failure at everything in life.

When you have negative thoughts about yourself, your body responds as if it’s in a stressful situation. When you think good things about yourself, you’re more likely to feel good. Once you realize the negative messages you give yourself, you can begin to change your thought process by reframing those thoughts, refuting them or stopping them.

To reframe a thought, try to find something positive in a negative event. To refute a thought, look for evidence that proves it incorrect. To stop a negative thought, yell ‘STOP’ (in your mind) as soon as you realize it’s occurring.

Try to be positive and give yourself messages about how well you can cope rather than telling yourself how horrible things are. Think of your stressors as challenges you can handle instead of obstacles that can’t be overcome. With practice and repetition you’ll begin to give yourself more positive messages and that will, in turn, decrease your stress.

People who manage their stress well tend to have an optimistic view of situations. For example, stress-resistant individuals focus on immediate issues rather than the big picture, they assume a problem is temporary, they credit themselves when things go right and they don’t take blame personally when things go wrong.

4. Manage the Situation
Poor time management causes stress. Try to plan ahead and be realistic about how long a project will take. Most projects take longer than you expect so allow extra time.

Express your feelings instead of keeping them to yourself. Keeping feelings inside creates anger, frustration & resentment which results in more stress.

Be willing to compromise. Not everything has to be perfect – not people, jobs or projects. If you’re willing to compromise, stress levels will decrease and the end result will be just as satisfactory as if you tried to make it perfect.

Try to find a balance between work, family life, social activities, daily responsibilities and doing something for yourself. Be sure to have some down time in your daily schedule even if you have to schedule it in.

Prioritize your ‘to do’ list. Put the most important things at the top of your list and work on those first. If there’s something you don’t like to do, do it first and get it out of the way so you don’t end up procrastinating. You’ll enjoy the rest of the day as well!

Break large projects into small, manageable tasks. It can be overwhelming to tackle a large project and you may feel you’ll never have enough uninterrupted time to work on it. By breaking the project into smaller, time-limited tasks, you’ll be able to meet your goals and feel a sense of accomplishment.

Don’t micro-manage. See if there is any work you currently do that can be delegated to others. There are only so many hours in the day. Your time should be spent on those things that only you can do. If others are able to help out, delegate the task. Each project that you delegate will reduce your stress level.

5. Adjust Your Attitude
It’s important to accept that there are some things in life that will not change and some that you cannot control. While being unable to change or control an event, you can change the way you think about the events & the way you respond to them.

Instead of stressing out over situations you can’t control, realize that you can change the way you think about them. Look for the upside. A major obstacle or challenge in life can present you with an opportunity for personal growth.

Learn to forgive. No one is perfect and neither are you. If you can accept that people make mistakes, you can learn to forgive & that will allow you to move on leaving negativity behind.

If you demand perfection, you’re setting yourself up for failure and stress. Try to adjust your standards so they’re reasonable. Sometimes it’s perfectly fine to be ‘good enough.’

If you’re able to change your attitude or expectations you’ll be able to take charge of the situation and lessen the stress. Look at the big picture and ask yourself if the stress you’re feeling now will matter next week, next month or next year. If not, you can focus your energy elsewhere.

6. Diet and Exercise
Junk food and refined sugars leave you feeling sluggish and low on energy so keep them out of your diet as much as possible. This is especially important during the holiday season when sweet goodies are everywhere you turn. A healthy diet promotes health and reduces stress.

Exercise also plays a key role in reducing the effects of stress. Exercise is known to increase the body’s production of endorphins while improving the brain’s oxygen supply and releasing tension from muscles. Physical activity can relieve that uptight feeling and leave you relaxed and energized.

7. Relaxation Techniques
There are a number of relaxation techniques reduce stress. These include deep breathing, muscle relaxation exercises, guided imagery, massage, yoga & tai chi.

Deep Breathing
Stress can cause your breathing to become shallow. Shallow breathing causes less oxygen to get into your bloodstream which makes you feel tense, short of breath and anxious. Deep breathing encourages oxygen intake and helps you relax.

Sit and place your hands on your lower stomach. Inhale deeply through your nose letting your abdomen expand. Hold your breath for a few seconds then exhale slowly through your mouth. As you exhale, feel your abdomen flattening.

To be Continued!
Part II is coming ….