Self Improvement Information

I read a news report published by Associated Press on Sunday, April 8 that demonstrates how unpredictable life can be. A 72-year-old man was riding his motor cycle down interstate 12 in Covington, La when he hit a bathtub. Yes, you read it right a bathtub. This is incredible, of all the dangers on the road one would never think of hitting a bathtub. You have to chuckle a bit however; the rider received serious injuries and is currently hospitalized in St. Tammany parish Hospital. It turned out the tub bounced out of a man’s pickup truck and the man was charged with negligent injury and driving with an unsecured load.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.

You just never know when life is going to through you a tub. That’s a joke, maybe a bad joke but nevertheless, life has a way of dropping tubs in your path when you least expect them. And on a more serious note divorce, death, serious injury and other life altering circumstances occur without warning. The tubs of life can bring a ton of pain and the only chance of maintaining your equilibrium is to have a firm trust in God. Oh you might try medications, counseling or any number of measures, which might work and they might not.

Trusting God is a sure fire method of dealing with issues out of our control. He knows the future. He sees the big picture and we only see the tub. He has the answers to life’s serious problems and we can’t even figure out what the question is. He can see the path and we can’t even see the direction in broad day light. He is boss. He loves us and wants us to lay back and trust Him.

Let me encourage you, if a tub has been dropped in your path trust God. Let go of your control and allow Him to do His job. God knows there is a tub in the road and He can guide you safely around the obstacle, so let go and let God.

Dr Bob Wilkerson is founder of Challenger Christian Ministries, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping others recover from life altering circumstances. Dr. Bob is a motivational speaker with true life story of God’s power to change any individuals life.

If your Church or organization is looking for a dynamic speaker please email him today.

mailto:challenger7777@gmail.com challenger7777@gmail.com

The start of a new year is a good time to review your dreams and goals. I am not asking you to make another new year’s resolution you are going to break in a few days or weeks but to think of what is important to you or what you want to achieve or work towards in the months to come.

It is extremely important to have a goal in mind. You will not get anywhere by doing the same job day in and day out. It is so easy to carry on with an established routine if you are reasonably content and no one is making your life miserable. Most of the time we decide to change our job or get out of a relationship because someone makes our life difficult. Don’t wait for that to happen. Think of what you would like to do this year that would help you make progress in your career, would improve your personal relationships or make you happier. Remember you must have a goal in mind. You must know what you want, otherwise you cannot get it. People who don’t know what they want are like people who go to a store and come back with things they don’t need.

To succeed in any aim we must be focused and concentrate on how to get there. The mind is all powerful. If you deeply concentrate on a problem or a goal, you will find the solution and the path how to get there. On the way people will come to your aid.

Focusing on your goal is like walking up a mountain – one step leads to the next until you reach the top. And once you reach the top, what exhilaration, you suddenly see things from new and different perspectives. This will encourage you to set your sights on higher and more distant goals.

But you must keep on going. You cannot stop half way because you get tired or discouraged because you encounter seemingly insurmountable obstacles on your path. You must keep going until you reach your goal. Those who fall down and pick themselves up again and again are the ones who will be victorious in the end. Very few people become a success on the first try. President Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest Presidents of this country, failed in almost every undertaking before becoming President – but he never gave up along the way.

Remember, to become successful you must (1) have a clear goal in mind; (2) deeply concentrate and focus on how to achieve it and (3) persist until you succeed. NEVER GIVE UP!

Ostaro is the Producer of “Cobra’s Wish, a digital movie ( cobraswish.com cobraswish.com). He is a veteran media personality and has appeared hundreds of times on television,
radio and in print media; he frequently appears on radio nationally.
He is the host/producer of the Ostaro Show (Time Warner and RCN Cable TV every other Fri and Sun in NYC) featuring the best in celebrity horoscopes. Listed in Who’s Who in America, he is a positive thinker and the author of the “Art & Craft of Success: 10 Steps” published by Svarg Syndicate Inc, NYC. Mr. Ostaro is a Premier Hindu Astrologer of New York City, and is a Kentucky Colonel.

ostaro.com ostaro.com; mailto:ostaro@ostaro.com ostaro@ostaro.com

Hypnotherapy is a form of therapy that is rapidly growing in popularity. Used for everything from obesity and terminal illness to quitting smoking and curing phobias it’s not hard to see why this seemingly mystical method of treatment is attracting so much attention. This article will examine the practice of Hypnotherapy and its effectiveness in making changes to both conscious and unconscious behavioral processes.

Unconscious and Conscious Minds

Hypnotherapy is based on the principle that we have two ‘minds’. As science confirms, we have a left hemisphere that deals with logic and thought processes and a right hemisphere that is not logical but emotional and governs such processes as creativity. Hypnotherapists recognize that the cause of a lot of problems such as phobias and the associations that cause us to smoke or overeat are a result of miscommunication and misrepresentation of certain aspects of reality within our minds.

Inducing a State That Is Conducive To Healing

Hypnotherapy then recognizes that if a certain mental state is produced, commands or directions can be interpreted in a way as to powerfully effect the mind of the client. If you were to try to convince someone to stop smoking you would find it difficult because you would have to penetrate their thinking and logic (that causes them to smoke) and influence the emotional part of the brain enough that it would create a command to itself to stop smoking. While this can be done it is rarely successful and relies on many factors being present in the client. Hypnotherapists achieve this goal by inducing a ‘trance’ or a mental state in a client that is conducive to this positive change. Through various means of communication the therapist will distract the logical thinking mind and without the patient’s recognition, implant a command into the unconscious mind that will cause behavioral change. Because it seems to passive and lacking in force, the patient generally receives the treatment well and assuming the therapist does everything correctly, the treatment is successful.

Andrew Hansen is an entrepreneur, author and personal development trainer. He runs a website dedicated to andrewjhansen.com personal growth that provides tips, information and advice on attaining the level of success that you’re worthy of in all areas of your life. For more information on hypnotherapy please see andrewjhansen.com/hypnosis/hypnotherapy hypnotherapy

Every day, I witness people leading chaotic lifestyles, responding like robots to the negative circumstances of their lives, creating more dissonance and conflict. They seek solace in the next best thing, person or position they can find, but always end up frustrated and wondering why they are not truly happy. It is a conundrum of sorts. Sadly, it is self-perpetuating. Stress, negativity and unpleasant reactions to everyday situations only beget more of the same experiences on a deeper level. This, of course, creates undue stress on your body, mind and spirit.

Letting the stress of unplanned or unwanted events influence the way you react to and view the world will always lead to turmoil. Living with a mind-set of negativity and fear will blind you to the miraculous flow of bliss, which is within and around you always.

I spent the better part of twenty years frustrated and unhappy with my life. Although I accomplished much more than I could ever have imagined possible, I still lived in a state of dissatisfaction. One would think being a Navy SEAL (the elite special warfare unit) would have been the pinnacle of my life, but I looked upon my military profession with disdain. Then I was living my childhood dream, playing guitar in a rock band, but irritability and aggravation permeated the mood of that environment. Years later, while running my scuba diving company, a day job that many people envied, I felt only petulance and exasperation. I dated many great women from all walks of life, but all my relationships ended in disaster. I moved from state to state, career to career and woman to woman, with no psychological or emotional liberation. I felt lost and I was suffering. I was wasting this precious life and something had to change. And one day, it did.

I often hiked to help temporarily alleviate the stress in my life. Being in the mountains took me to another place where I could, if only for a short time, escape the turmoil of my life. Waking up one morning angrier and more stressed than usual, I decided to forego work and hike a mountain near my home. As I stomped my way to the top, each footstep reverberated with anger. Hiking always helped relieve my anxiety, but I was finding little release this day. I knew I could not go on living like this. I had to figure something out, and fast. For almost a decade, I was unhappy and frustrated with wherever I was and with whatever I was doing. I knew my own choices had brought me to where I was, but that only made me feel worse. I had made the choices, so I must have deserved to feel that way. Despite my best efforts, I was not where I thought I would be. My business was extremely time-consuming and stressful, money always seemed short, my relationships were disastrous and I felt utterly alone in the world.

When I reached the summit, I found a quiet place to sit and think. I looked out and took in the beauty of the mountains and lakes. The warm summer breeze felt good on my face, and the many sounds of nature slightly quieted my mind and eased my tension. Exhausted, I laid back on a huge boulder to relax. I felt helpless and I prayed for an answer to come my way. My head was pounding so I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep. I woke about forty minutes later, feeling kind of strange.

As I refocused my vision out over the breathtaking landscape, everything seemed surreal. It was so quiet, peaceful and unaffected by the chaotic state of the world. It was as if my worries and frustration were still sleeping. For a moment I thought perhaps I was just dreaming, but I was not. I wondered why life could not be this peaceful all the time. I took a deep breath and felt myself expanding into the vastness of the mountains. For the moment, I was on top of the world. Anything seemed feasible, and my mind was open to all the amazing possibilities of what I could do and be. I was elated—in a pure state of momentary ecstasy. If only it could last.

Quietly relishing the moment, I had what some might call an epiphany. I realized that all my problems were still waiting for me at the bottom of this mountain. Nothing had changed, yet something seemed very different. Why was I so happy here and now on the top of this mountain, but not happy at the bottom?

I sat thinking about this for a while, and then something occurred to me. I had heard it many times before, but never really grasped the concept. Bliss is a state of mind—a choice, a simple choice. While sleeping on the mountain, I had unconsciously connected with the flowing bliss of life. What if I actively chose to stay in this state as I hiked down the trail? Would it work, could it work? I decided to try. I figured if I could mentally bring myself back to this spot whenever I began to feel stressed or overwhelmed, I could reconnect with that feeling of bliss.

Before I left the serene summit for the turbid waters of normal life, I captured the essence of the moment in my head. I took a mental snapshot of the scenery, the smells, the sounds, and how I felt at that moment in time—empty of stress, full of peace. What I did next was the key to my success; in my mind, I created a Bliss Box—a special gold box for that moment to exist. In it, I put the embodiment of everything that helped to create the perfect peace I felt. I tied up the box with a gold ribbon and placed it on a storage shelf in my mind. I knew I could count on opening it later, and in the days that followed I was thoroughly amazed to find how well my Bliss Box worked.

Sometimes you can’t control the situations you find yourself in, but you can control your emotions and your actions. By creating your own Bliss Box, you can find peace and harmony any time you choose.

It is said that to be human is to suffer, and yes this world can be a painful, harsh place. But it is the way you look at things that dictates the circumstances surrounding your life and the way you perceive the world. Contentment comes from within, and no amount of searching or material gain will lead you to blissful living. You and only you hold the key to happiness—use it often.

David Ferruolo is the author of ‘Connecting with the Bliss of Life; Powerful Lessons for Living a Peaceful and Happy Life.’ He is a former Navy SEAL, who has chosen a spiritual path. A lifetime of interest in philosophies and metaphysics gives David a vast knowledge bank of information for his writing and success coaching practice. David’s life has been nothing less than inspirational. For more information visit daveferruolo.com daveferruolo.com

Dear Loved Ones,

How wonderful it is to know that we are alive.

Why are we alive? Because we have chosen. Yes, with our own free will we have chosen to live and be here in the Now in this journey.

Are you living your life’s Passion?
Have you ever thought about this question?
Do you have the answer?
Would you like to live your life’s passion?
Do you see it as possible?
What would it take for you to make the first step?
How can you connect more to your life’s passion?
How can you and I and all be more attuned to our life’s passion?

Easy. First know what it is you are passionate about. To really know is to ask your heart.

Realize that your heart knows your passion in life. Sincerely I bring this awareness to you. If you ask your ego you will get a totally different answer. So, please make sure in meditation you ask the right question and your question is directed to your heart.

What I know for sure is that when we direct our energy to what our passion is we feel so Good. We feel Alive. We feel Capable. We feel One. We can actually see it Happening. We want to express it Freely. We get Support. We feel Connected. We feel Energized by what we are doing. And so on.

So today and everyday I encourage all of us to do something we are passionate about, letting ourselves to be free to experience passion in all things. Passion from our Heart and Soul that is.

For we are worthy and deserving of living a passionate life in everyway.

May the love and light of God and the Universe surround and protect you, your loved ones and the planet earth.

Peace to you, Love is you, Joy for you and knowing that we are the creators of our lives, let us create a life of passion for all and all blessings.

With Gratitude,

With God All Things Are Possible

ABOUT MICHELLE

Michelle Morovaty is an Intuitive Spiritual Teacher and Healer. She has healed herself from many challenges including Lupus CNS, a car accident and divorce. She uses her intuition and universal guidance to assist people through the healing process.

For more about Michelle see spiritualityinsideandout.com spiritualityinsideandout.com and for her healing guided meditation CD’s see insidenow.com insidenow.com

It’s not always easy to get people to like who you are. Of course you can’t force people to like you either but there are some things that you can do that will greatly increase your odds of people liking you no matter who they are. Here are 3 simple keys to making people like you.

1. Remember their name.

This may not sound like a big deal but it is. Think back on a time when someone that you didn’t think would remember your name did. How did it make you feel? By remembering someone’s name it tells them that you care about them and it make them feel appreciated by you. Just by remembering someone’s you will be able to make people like you.

2. Listen.

People love to talk, especially about themselves. If you are able to truly listen and make them feel like you are interested in what they have to say you are making them feel important. Anytime that you make someone feel like they are important you will have someone that likes you for that. Now don’t patronize them. People can tell a fake a mile away.

3. Remember the little things.

Remembering the little things about people will make people like you more than you can know. Has anyone ever remembered your birthday when you didn’t even know they knew when it was? It makes you feel good and also has a tendency to make you like the other person doesn’t it? Do this same kind of thing for other people and you will have more people wanting to be your friend than you know what to do with.

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Do you know which one of the two drives you, do you know what your motivation strategy is and can you utilize it to maximize the potential of your life? Do you know how to motivate yourself on a daily basis to improve the quality of your life? There are two forces that drive us, that is, there are two motivators in your world. Those have been called inspiration and desperation, pain and pleasure and several other names. This means that there are two different things that motivate you, either you move away from things or you move towards things. Both motivation strategies work, they have worked for you to some extent to this point, you are already working with one of these strategies. To explain these strategies and to give you a chance to utilize them to the best we will explain this to you in very simple manner, if you want to learn more about motivation strategies and understanding them better we suggest that you see a life coach that specializes in NLP. How to identify your motivation strategy.

One of the best examples of motivation strategies is what you do every morning. When the alarm goes of in the morning, for those that use an alarm clock, you should be able to quickly identify what your primary strategy is. The first strategy is the person that hits the snooze button, waits a little bit in bed, can’t seem to get out of bed. The alarm goes off a second time, now time is being cut close, you hit the snooze button again. Soon images of the boss start sneaking in, the boss is beginning to turn red in the face, and you hit the snooze button again. Now the alarm goes of for the third time, now you see your boss with smoke coming out of his ears, you hear the long speech he is going to give you and you foresee being fired for showing up late. At this point you finally get out of bed, get dressed, running late you rush to get to work and just make it on time. This motivation strategy would be an away from strategy. Now then there are the people who hear the alarm go off once. They immediately jump out of bed and start thinking about all the things they can get done that day. They can’t seem to decide what to do first, they can’t wait for the day to begin to get all the things on their list done that day. This is a very easy way to identify your motivation strategy.

Alternating motivation strategies. On some occasions our motivation strategies will be reversed or even change, so in some cases you will need to find the right motivation strategy for the right thing. For example when you go on vacation, how many times does the alarm have to go off before you get out of bed? Do you even set an alarm clock? Is it hard for you to get out of bed or can’t you wait for the day to begin and do some of the exciting new things? In an instance like that you may have a different motivation strategy. How did you decide to go on vacation, was it to get away from the daily things, or was it because you wanted to experience a new place and new things? If you are away from motivated, it was probably that you wanted to get away from things more than experiencing something new, yet when you get there your motivation strategy changes, you can’t wait for the new day to begin. Does it matter which one I use?

Depending on what your primary motivation strategy is you can setup things in your life to maximize your outcomes. You can setup things in your mind to get motivated to do or achieve them. The two strategies aren’t good or bad, they simply are there, it is up to you to utilize them to you benefit, like you have done to this point. The worst thing that can happen is that you fall in the comfort zone that is in between being inspired or being desperate, unfortunately a lot of people stay in that are. One day you may even decide to change your strategy. Both of them can be extreme motivators, people using both strategies have become extremely successful. What is interesting is that once people learn how to use these strategies people often end up utilizing towards motivation strategy more than the away from strategy since it seems to be easier to control. How can you maximize your motivation?

Once you realize and recognize what you primary motivation is you can start working with it, you can setup tasks, things you need to do or want to do in the format that fits your motivation strategy. Now with tax season coming up, you will start noticing the two types of motivation strategies in people around you. There will be the last minute people, and those who get their taxes done as soon as they can get them done. Which group do you think is the towards motivated and which one is the away from motivated? Here is how it works, the people that are towards motivated will get it done, because they know how relieved they will be once it is over. They might also look forward to getting their refund and are very excited about finalizing their return. The away from motivated people will wait till late or the last minute. For them doing the taxes is a painful process, they dread doing it like many other things, so not until waiting becomes more painful than waiting do they go and get it done. Just like they wait till the last minute to get out of bed they will wait with their taxes.

To maximize your motivation you can deliberately setup a motivation strategy that works for you, in anything you want to do. Let’s say that you want to loose weight, what motivation strategy do you use to get things done? Do you look forward to the feeling you get once you are done at the gym, or do you dread going to the gym because it is much more comfortable sitting on the couch? If you are a towards motivated person going to the gym may be very easy for you, because you know how to setup the anticipation for how great you will feel afterwards. Working on your health may be easy since you know how to set goal and work towards them in a systematic manner. If you are away from motivated you will need a different strategy, the how good you feel after the gym strategy probably will not work for you. So what would it take for you to get off the couch, what is more painful than going to the gym? If you look in the mirror is that enough to drive you to the gym, is the inability to move around easily enough to get you to go to the gym? Once you connect not going to gym to more pain than going, you will be able to go and it would be fairly easy to go, just like with your taxes. If you are away from motivated some things may be harder for you to do, such as the gym.

Goal setting seminars were initially setup for away from motivated people, techniques in NLP teach not only away from motivated people how to set goals, but also towards motivated people how to set their goals more effectively. So which motivation do you have? How good are you at setting your goals? How good are you at going through with them? Do you know how to utilize both strategies? Maybe tax season will teach you something new about how you are motivated this year. If you are an inspired person you would be considered an towards motivated person, if you are desperate you would be considered an away from motivated person. So why not take the step this year and go from desperate to inspired?

Mr. Sigurdarson is a life, executive and business coach, motivational speaker and author of: The first step a peek at the real world. Mr. Sigurdarson is the former VP of training and education of DesignEuropa. Currently owning and operating Mindformula.com a coaching and motivational company located in Eastern PA. Mindformula offers seminars, motivational speaking, along with life, business and executive coaching for all types of people. With business clients ranging from top executives to multi-level marketers Mindformula offers coaching, seminars and speaking engagements on a variety of topics. Mindformula works with many people who are starting out in the process of self development and looking to improve the overall quality of their life.

You want to change your life and be more successful but you’re living in a world where you are immersed in negativity. Your friends are negative about your desires to succeed and don’t support you. You need to find ways to spend more time with positive people who will help you to achieve your goals. Here are a few personal development tips to do just that…

The people you associate with will influence your thoughts and decisions to a great extent. Your future is created in your mind through the decisions you are taking today. Your level of success, your level of income in the future is directly related to the people you mix with today.

If you mix with mainly negative people, or people who pour cold water on your ideas for changing and improving your life, your motivation and drive to make those changes will suffer.

If you want to be more successful then you need to spend more time with supportive people who have already achieved what you want and less time with the naysayers that are already in your life. Try these personal development tips in your life:

1. Stop associating with negative people. There are probably several people in your life who are very negative. If you carry on associating with these people all you are going to get is more negativity every time you meet them. Stop meeting with them.

2. Minimise the impact of people you have to live with. It may not be possible to stop meeting everyone in your life – you may have a very negative boss or a negative life partner for instance. Find ways to minimise the impact of these people.

3. Choose your friends carefully. Look for positive people who have some of the characteristics that you want to acquire. Spend as much time as you can with them, learning how they do what they do, why they do it, what’s important to them and how they decide to do what they do.

4. Find a support group that you can join. For example the world of weight loss has many such support groups. Do some research, is there a group that can help you with your goals? A good support group is very effective at immersing you in a positive environment with like minded people.

5. Find a mentor or coach who can become an “unreasonable friend”. Someone who will challenge you and keep you on track for your goals and who will always be there with a positive attitude for you.

6. Read books, listen to tapes and watch videos by successful people. You can turn your car into a haven of positive thinking as you drive around by listening to tapes from positive thinkers.

7. Use your imagination. Napoleon Hill, one of the great success experts imagined that he was sitting at a table with 9 wise figures from history – his
“invisible councillors”. He did this every night, drawing on their knowledge to develop his own.

With these 7 tips you can choose to change the company that you keep. You can start associating with positive people who are going to help you with your personal development and success. Remember the quote from Zig Ziglar: “You can’t fly with the eagles, if you continue to scratch with the turkeys”.

Would you like some more

Imagine for a moment. It’s Tuesday night about 7pm. You are excited and full of energy even though your day has been stressful and long. You have invited a group of like-hearted, spiritually-focused friends together in your living room to share and explore living as Soul.

You know some of the people well and others perhaps you met for the first time over the potluck. But now, as everyone takes a seat and gets quiet, there’s an energy of freshness in the room. All of a sudden you are keenly aware that something new is about to be discovered…a new uncovering of truth, joy, upliftment, laughter and loving.

Have you longed for a community of people who know how to foster and support clear, open soul-centered communication? Are you wanting a deeper connection with your divinity…and would like to know how to access that connection in any moment throughout your day? Would an ongoing monthly group supply you with just the right amount of touch in to help keep you focused and moving forward?

As we mature in years many of us seek a lifestyle that is relaxed, intellectually stimulating and spiritually nurturing. The current number of people officially ‘retiring’ this year will be the most affluent, mobile and healthiest group that has ever retired! If you are part of this group you are probably already making decisions about the next 30-40 years of your life.

Everyday in my coaching practice I work with individuals that are consciously approaching these enriching years – and they want to take full advantage of the inner knock on the door. Many are downsizing, moving into a new neighborhood or a new state. Health, exercise, whole foods, alternative wellness approaches and creative living styles have replaced stressful commutes and hurried schedules. Finding their community is top on the list of “wants”.

Soul-centered living is a viable choice for adventure and new discovery through ongoing growth, revelation and awareness. My clients take a look at the state of the world and say, “We can do better and I want to contribute in some meaningful way.” Finding a model for living as soul in community prompted me to created Soul Salons.

Soul Salons are intentional – a few hours each month create years of inner health, wealth and happiness.

Benefits of creating your soul community

**Essential conversations about what is most important in your life

**Expansion in your understanding of living as soul

**Building trust – within yourself and with each other

**Support for taking soul purpose steps in the world

**Knowing the connection of others that hold the same focus and intention for themselves and the world.

Begin with a clear intention.

How do you want to live the next 30, 40 years of your life? Vital and alive? Conscious? Living your Soul’s purpose? Cocreating heaven on earth?

Then, from this clear essence statement think about the form that would promote all those baby steps. Remember, the promise is when two or more are gathered.

By Rebecca Skeele, author of You Can Make It Heaven:
How to Enrich Your Life with Abundance and Loving

Her coaching and counseling business, Make It Heaven, LLC offers
life changing courses and workshops inspiring people to become masterful at
cocreating their personal heaven on earth. An ordained minister, Rebecca is an international workshop leader and speaker. Her new course, Becoming a Spiritual Scientist: A Course for Cocreators gives practical tools to move beyond story-based reality and begin living intentionally with divinity.
Enrollment for FALL 2005 course now.

For more information about Soul Salons and course enrollment visit Rebecca’s new website: spiritual-scientist.com spiritual-scientist.com or email mailto:course@spiritual-scientist.com course@spiritual-scientist.com

Most people are fully aware that to spend a really effective day, on of the most important things to do at the outset is to make a simple plan to maximize your time. Here are 5 key tips to make sure that your planning is simple, effective and completely in line with your goals.

Tip #1 – Why. The point of planning is to manage your time effectively and give you the opportunity to be realistic about what you hope to achieve. It is a good idea to decide which tasks take priority and which ones will take the most time, require you to be in a certain place or demand certain equipment.

Thinking about these things in advance makes sure that you know exactly what you need to prepare so that you can take action immediately and not go back to pencil sharpening mode.

Tip #2 – Where. Find a quiet place to do your planning. You need the time and the space, without distractions, to think about the bigger picture of what you are trying to achieve. Your daily plan is the building block of your overall construction and you need the perspective to make sure you’re not putting on the roof, before you have built the walls.

Tip #3 – When. One of the dangers of planning is that the very act of writing down what we intend to do is capable of taking up all the time that we planned to use for action. I call this the ‘pencil sharpening’ habit; spending all your time preparing instead of doing.

A very simple cure is to do your planning the night before. That way it doesn’t eat into your action time. It also allows your subconscious mind start work straight away, while you slumber, on some of the issues ready for when you wake up. Just make sure that you don’t stay up all night, planning! You need your sleep too.

Tip #4 – What. Try not to get carried away with your planning process. A day chart with coloured time slots and flow charts may look great but it is certainly not necessary. A simple list of tasks in time order is all that’s required. Highlight the ones that must get done and recognise that if they overrun, then the less important jobs can be allowed to slip.

Tip #5 – How. Carry your one sheet plan with you all day or pin it up over your workstation. Keep it up to date and cross off the tasks as they are completed. Remember to carry over unfinished jobs, but give yourself authority to discard them too – the very fact that you didn’t get them done may mean that they were unnecessary in the first place.

A plan is a guide to your day, not a rigid and unbending framework. It is there to help you make realistic judgements about how much time you have and let you see what you still have to get done, but don’t become its slave. Allow yourself the flexibility to react to things that happen during the day.

That does not mean allowing yourself to get distracted by trivialities, but no one will ever thank you for being rigid, if that means turning away from immediate opportunities.

So, don’t forget; just before you go to bed. Grab a pen and paper, shut yourself away from the family and TV for ten to twenty minutes and put your plan together. You will be amazed at how much more you can achieve each day in return for that small investment of time.

Hi my name is Andrew Grant, I hope you enjoyed this article. If you’d like to see more on positive thinking and goal setting or subscribe to my newsletter go to
money-and-mind.com money-and-mind.com