Helping you achieve your potential

Persistence

Persistence may be the single most important quality you can have to help ensure success. When you throw in the towel you forfeit the chance to succeed. You have to be prepared to go the distance - to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to reach your goals. Many super achievers will tell you they failed repeatedly before they finally reached the top, and that they have persistence to thank for their success. When the going gets tough, the tough (and successful) keep going - and don't stop short of their goals.

When your energy and motivation ebb, don't underestimate your power to turn things around. You may feel tattered and tired now, but you can breathe new life into yourself with the right revamping strategy. With a little effort and some positive changes you'll rejuvenate your body and mind and make a new start.

have Fun

Alan

6 ways to keep your mind super sharp

Research into intellectual ability and aging shows that the more we use our brains, the longer they last. Regardless of a brain’s age, it responds to increased use by developing greater speed, flexibility and durability. Staying mentally fit is fun, too.   

Follow these tips to get the most from your mind.
 
Play Games -At the local Bridge club, people are preserving their mental faculties, as well as having a good time. Card games and board games, from Bingo to Scrabble, exercise the mind wonderfully. Find some that you like, and play.   

Something New - Discover a hobby, take a course or travel. The stimulation of the new gets the brain into high gear. Reading books exposes the mind to new ideas. Learning to play a musical instrument is a fun brain workout.

Do It Differently - Try using your non-dominant hand on the computer mouse. The task’s strangeness forces the brain to develop new neural pathways.  Dress with your eyes closed. Take a different route to the mall.  Challenge the brain to do standard tasks in a different way. 

Exercise - The brain is part of the body and is strengthened by physical exercise. Regular, moderate effort, like walking three times a week, reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s significantly. A fit body gives the brain more and cleaner energy.
 
Eat, Drink, Sleep - Good nutrition, plenty of clean water and quality sleep are important for a healthy mind. The brain is 85% water. Make sure that its tank doesn’t run dry.

Go Online - Test your word power at FreeRice (www.freerice.com). For each word you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated to help end word hunger; get smarter and help feed the world….

Have Fun,   

Alan

 

 

Are you close to burnout?

In some ways it was a typical breakfast meeting.  The waitress
was pleasant, the eggs were average, and the restaurant was full
of busy people. We shared a cup of black, coffee-like substance,
and the first few times my client took a sip he managed to spill
quite a bit of it. His trembling hand was just one of the symptoms
of his burnout. That’s why we were meeting. He wanted to know if I
could help him.

I picked up a fork and explained that as long as I used it for eating,
the fork would last indefinitely.  However, if I began to use it to
drive nails or dig trenches, it would soon break.  The key was to use
it for what it was designed to do.

The look in his eyes told me he got it, but I still went on to say that
people are like the fork.  When they do what they are not designed to do,
they eventually break.

Sure enough, he had taken various kinds of aptitude tests that showed that he was designed to work on projects where there was a definite goal.  He derived immense satisfaction from
reaching goals.  He also needed to work by himself about half the
time.  He was a scientist and enjoyed lab time, doing calculations,
and interpreting test results.

What his job required on a day-to-day basis was another story.  His
primary task was to supervise a dozen people and maintain operations.
No goals.  No projects.  No time alone.  Consequently, his job was
sucking the life out of him.

So how do you know if you, a loved one, or someone who reports to you
is suffering from burnout?  Here are the early warning signs.

1.  chronic fatigue - exhaustion, tiredness, a sense of being physically run down
2.  anger at those making demands
3.  self-criticism for putting up with the demands
4.  cynicism, negativity, and irritability
5.  a sense of being besieged
6.  exploding easily at seemingly inconsequential things
7.  frequent headaches and gastrointestinal disturbances
8.  weight loss or gain
9.  sleeplessness and depression
10. shortness of breath
11. suspiciousness
12. feelings of helplessness
13. increased degree of risk taking

Take a close look at what  you are doing, sometimes a simple
change at work can help you avoid many (if not all) of the early warning
signs of Burnout.

have Fun

Alan

Negative thoughts ...gone forever

Negative thoughts make a hell out of heaven. By contrast, positive thoughts make bad times bearable and good times better. 

Practicing the techniques below will release you from negative thoughts and leave positive ones in their place.   

Decide
Make a decision to be happy. By virtue of this commitment, you’ll find yourself naturally selecting behaviors that increase happiness, such as positive thinking. You won’t have to micro-manage every word and action.   

Remind
Create a way to remind yourself when you accidentally make negative remarks. The age-old remedy is to snap an elastic band on your wrist.   

Re-frame
Instead of trying hard not to think negatively about something that you don’t like, find a positive viewpoint, commonly called re-framing. You won’t become a drooling idiot with no sense of discernment. You’ll just lose the negative reaction to unfavorable things.   

Substitute
Self-development guru Tony Robbins offers a superb exercise for substituting positive feelings for negative ones. Imagine that you hold in one hand something you really enjoy. Feel how happy it makes you. Give the feeling color, shape and texture until you see it brightly. In your other hand, place something that prompts a negative reaction. Pour from your happy hand to your unhappy hand, over and over, until the negative feelings are completely obliterated by joy. The next time the unhappy feeling arises, if it does, it’ll be weaker. Repeat as necessary.   

Challenge
Challenge yourself to go 21 days without negativity. This game has been made into a modern trend by acomplaintfreeworld.org, who sell purple bracelets for the purpose. The bracelet is switched from one wrist to the other if a complaint escapes your lips. When your bracelet stays put for 21 days, you’ve won a happier life.

have Fun,

Alan

Easy ways to get more out of every day

Everyone has the same 24 hours. Yet some people get a lot more done in a day than others. The secret to increased productivity lies in consistently following a few simple principles.

Agenda -  Like Mom’s advice to eat your vegetables, the suggestion to make a daily agenda is both unsexy and tremendously effective. The night before, write down everything you need to do the following day.

Specify - In order to find the quickest way to accomplish a task, know exactly what you want to do. Like mapping driving directions, you can find the quickest route to anywhere with sufficient details about the destination. Spend about 10% of the estimated project time on planning, and be sure to write it down. Include all preparatory tasks in your plan.

Priorities -  Once you have a list of tasks, organize them by priority. Put the letter A beside things that must be done. Put B beside things that should be done. Put C beside things that can be done. Number the tasks in each group according to priority. Each day, work through your list from A1 to the Cs.

Delegate - Hand off work that you don’t need to do personally. Estimate the value of your time compared to that of an assistant. Virtual assistants, people who do chores remotely, are becoming hugely popular in this fast-paced world.

  Have Fun,

Alan