Make it beautiful

When you are surrounded by beauty, your mind is occupied with your surroundings in such a positive way, that sometimes you find it hard to be in a bad mood.

Decorate your office, landscape your favorite sitting area, or bring in fresh flowers to add beauty where you are, the payoff will benefit everyone who sees it!

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Eliminate distractions

When you find yourself faced with a project that is going to take more time or energy that you feel you can afford to spend,but that must be done, there is a simple way to get it done faster.

Take it to a place where nothing can stop you. Go somewhere no one can interrupt you, lock your door, turn off your phone and the sound on your computer and literally stick a post it note to your door that says, “No distractions!”

Distractions cost more time than you think. Each time you are interrupted, you lose the time the interruption takes PLUS time to get back on track. You gain minutes, even hours by eliminating the time sucking distractions! You can spend that time with your family or friends!

Not getting enough time with your family? Employ the same tactics. They are far more important than any project.

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Listen to the other side

Everyone feels strongly about something. Some people feel so strongly that no matter what you tell them, if it disagrees with their stance, they won’t even hear it.
Those people are missing out on the truth about a lot of things.

When you listen with an open mind, you might not agree with the person stating the other side of the argument, but you might learn something you didn’t know.

The best decisions are based on all the facts and without those facts, people only make bad ones.

The next time you get into a discussion with someone, take time to listen for the facts in their argument.You may not agree, you may not even find common ground, but in the very least it will make you smarter!

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Stay informed.

Some people describe newspapers, and radio and television news as boring. They are used to scanning the headline on Twitter and Facebook and they feel if they ‘get the gist’ they know all they need.

These people are no fun to talk to.

If you want to be prepared for parties, conventions and networking opportunities, the best thing you can do for yourself is read or listen to the news in depth. Discussing current events with your partner or children is doubly beneficial. When you keep your family informed, you build good citizenship habits and your own speaking skills.

What is really going on in your world is important, and you may not get a full picture of reality by watching only one morning or evening news program or reading just one paper.

Switch them up daily to get the big picture and you will not only know enough to talk to just about anyone, you will be more interesting! Start today!

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Plan for fun.

Vacation is supposed to be time to relax, but who can relax when you are worried about your cat, a project that still sits on your desk or what your kids are doing to your house while you’re gone?

Plan far ahead for longer vacations because if you make hasty last minute plans, inevitably, you will forget to do something important at the last minute and if you haven’t budgeted time for it it could throw off everything.

Make pet sitter arrangements at least three month in advance, it never hurts to have a back-up for them.

Do a walk through with older children telling them what you expect and what you forbid.
Put important papers in a bank lock box or safe.
Stop mail and subscription service if no one will be there to pick up your papers.
Buy timers for your lights and sprinklers so it looks like you will be home.
Leave your plants with a friend or get an auto waterer.
Have calls forwarded to your phone or update your voice mail. (NEVER leave a message saying you will be gone from your home.)
Physically unplug everything from all walls before you leave, ask someone to walk with you, to be sure. (Do the same with locks.)
Ask a trusted neighbor to check on your house.
Delegate projects to someone at work who would have something to lose by dropping the ball.

You will enjoy your vacation much more if you cover all your bases before you leave.

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Sex does not equal love.

When you meet someone you are attracted to, it’s natural to entertain thoughts of what it might be like to be intimate with that person. It’s human, we all do it.

But too often we fixate on that aspect of our relationship with the person and never let it evolve into true caring. We jump right to the end result of intimacy, skipping all the building blocks that solidify a couple and therefore making a shaky relationship,

When you get to know someone before sleeping with them you find out if you can count on them, you find out if they share your values, if they respect your ideas, if they really care about you.

Sex has consequences like venereal diseases, unplanned parenthood, and psychological fixation. All of these things stop the progress of love dead.

When you get to know someone before you sleep with them, you can avoid the negative and make the entire experience far better, for far longer.

Have a relationship before you have a go. You’ll be glad you did.

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Go just a little further.

You probably know the way to get great muscles is to lift a little more than you think you can.

It’s the same for life.
When we push ourselves to always take the stairs instead of the elevator, we lose weight and make our hearts stronger.
When we study an extra day we get better grades.
And when we give more than we have to, we make a big difference in the world.

Whatever you are doing to help your family, friends or yourself, do just a bit more. It takes just a fraction more effort but the pay off is exponential!

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Relax everywhere

Consciously relaxing is probably the most important skill you can acquire. To be able to immediately calm your body and mind means to have control over your life.

So often we make decisions based on stress or fear, and then when we find ourselves out of that urgency, we wish we had been able to ‘think clearly’.

Consciously relaxing is a way to immediately think clearly, and it is incredibly simple to do once you have practiced for a while.

Simply breath in for five seconds concentrating only on your breath, then hold that breath for five seconds while only thinking about that breath or nothing at all, (If thoughts come in think ‘Oh, a thought good-bye thought.” then let it pass and go back to thinking about just your breath or nothing at all,) Now breath out for five seconds still concentrating only on your breath.

Fifteen seconds of conscious relaxation.

You may have heard it called grounding or meditation, or centering but at it’s core it is simply relaxing and being aware that you are relaxing.

If you do this several times a day, you will calm your worries, feel more energetic and thoughts will come more clearly. You can do it in traffic, standing in line at the grocery or while going to the bathroom. (Seriously anytime!!!)

Give it a few seconds, you’ll see what I mean.

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You’re never too old or too young

When we were children we couldn’t wait to grow up and make a difference in the world. Everyone was waiting to be a fireman, to get married, to write the greatest song, to cure cancer…

But today young people are inventing new ways to diagnose diseases, and raising money to fund running water for third world villages. They didn’t wait.

When you finally grew up, did you make a difference?

Now you might be thinking something new. You might think you are too old to make a difference, now you are waiting again. This time to sit back and do nothing, because you feel you earned it.

Will that be satisfying? Can you sit still in your life and watch as problems appear and grow before you that you could solve?

Making a difference at any age is as easy as helping someone or something else. Look around for opportunities to be of service in your community, even if that just means picking up a single piece of litter. (Of course coaching a team, walking a neighbor’s dog, volunteering at a school, or babysitting are much better options.)

It is everyone’s responsibility to try to make the world a better place, whatever age you are.

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Press on.

Sometimes we find ourselves in a situation in which we feel like we are stuck, unable to continue moving forward.

Sometimes it is helpful to leave working on that problem for another day and do something completely different. For instance, if you are having a problem getting through to your child about the importance of a subject in which they may be struggling. Stop trying for a while and just do fun things with them.

Play a game, go canoeing or go cart racing and just enjoy each other’s company. You can solve the problem later. taking a break from it might be the breakthrough you need. In this case while you are playing or perhaps on the drive home, your child might tell you that a bully sits next to them in class, or they can’t see the presentations. Things they never had a chance to tell you while you were lecturing them

Pressing on with other important things (like spending time with your child) can also help you to get the distance you need from a problem in order to solve it.

Step back, turn in another direction and press on!

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