Did you ever lose your balance while riding a bike or while skating? Have you ever fallen on the ice? When we are out of balance good things usually “do not” happen.

Take a look at areas of your life where you may be out of balance. For example, if you are not careful, work can take over your life. Earn more! Learn more! Sell more! Move faster. It’s not surprising that there is an epidemic of stress in the workplace. A survey by the American Banking Association indicated that 85% of us do not find our jobs enjoyable and fulfilling. Are you balancing your work responsibilities with your family’s needs? If you are not, what is the answer?

In most cases the answer is following the 80-20 Rule. This is the rule that says that 80% of our success comes from 20% of our activity. This was true for Michael. He was having a problem balancing his family time, his time on the job, and time with his favorite activity which is golf. He simply ran out of time.

Michael asked us if we would coach him out of this no-win situation. Because of this conflict and the stress that it created, he was not performing well in any area. However, he was constantly busy. We suggested that he think seriously about the 80-20 Rule. We asked Michael to think about the consequences of the decisions he was making by asking himself these questions: Is what I’m doing really moving me to the results I want? What do I really, really want for my life? What actions will bring me closer to my goals? We know it sounds overly simple, but you will find that when you focus on crystal clear results, the actions needed for their accomplishment will appear.

For Michael the 80/20 Rule served as a daily reminder to focus his time

and energy on the 20 percent that produces results. He didn’t just “work smart,” he worked smart on the right things. As a result, not only did his job become more fulfilling, but a happy family life emerged and he was also able to take a half a day each week to play golf.

Take a look at the areas of your life that seem to be stressful and not fulfilling. How does the 80-20 rule apply to your physical well-being, your finances, your spiritual life, your family, your career? As soon as you discover what is out of balance, refocus on the results you want and take action. Action means change. Remember that the same old actions will bring the same old results.

As professional coaches, we believe in you. We believe you are capable, competent and strong. We believe you have within you everything you need to create your life exactly the way you want it to be.

“To change one’s life: Start immediately,

Do it flamboyantly, No exceptions.”–William James–

Allan and Barbara Kenyon are Personal and Business Coaches who help their clients live their dream life. Allan was a certified instructor for eighteen years with the Carnegie organization and he received coach training with Coach Training Institute. Barbara holds a Masters Degree in Counseling and is a Graduate of Coach U. The Kenyons work with success-minded men and women who want to achieve their personal or professional goals faster than if they were to go it alone. Their clientele include professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, business owners, sales people, and people in transition. Their coaching focuses on goals in the areas of career, money, retirement, health, relationships, getting organized, and life balance.

The Kenyons offer a 30 minute complimentary telephone coaching session so potential clients can decide if their coaching is for them. They can be reached at 402-423-6777 or by E-mail at KenyonCoaching@aol.com. Their website is http://www.kenyoncoaching.com.

Balancing a family’s varying schedules can be near impossible. Soccer, hockey, dance, skating, Brownies, Scouts, skiing, swimming, school activities, homework, not to mention play and sleep time, fill our children’s lives. Now add in the parental activities, including work, fitness, volunteering, and home maintenance ­ and well, 24 hours just doesn’t seem to be enough.

See if the following list of strategies can help your family learn to gain control of their time:

1. Hold a Family Meeting

• First parents need to objectively determine some initial priorities for their family. These need to be based upon last years schedule, the individual family member’s personalities, finances, current commitments and the comfort level of the family. Some questions that will guide this process are: Do they want to focus on activities or academics based upon last years performances? Will the demands of school or work change? Do they want to fill time with activities or a balance of activities and free time? Do different family members have different needs? Is everyone enjoying their schedules? Is there time for friends, for family, for quiet time, for reading, or for playing?

• Once the family guidelines are determined, hold the meeting and give everyone a chance to choose one or two priorities for the session or year. If one member is having trouble narrowing their list down, have them put them in order of importance. Make sure everyone shares their list and explains why they put it in that order.

2. Create a Family Calendar

• Get a large calendar and input everyone’s current schedules for the upcoming month into it.

• Add or remove commitments based upon everyone’s priorities determined in the family meeting.

• Make sure this calendar includes school hours and activities, work schedules, activity schedules, religious events, family time, mealtime, homework time, sleep time and most importantly NON-scheduled time.

• Take into account hidden time- travel time, preparation/clean up time, waiting time, etc.

• Determine where conflicts lie ­ and as a family see if you can figure out solutions. Maybe one child can suggest a friend they could car pool with, maybe another can walk to their activity, or maybe one can bring their homework along and do it while their sibling is in a lesson.

• Depending on the comfort level of the family ­ activities may need to be removed or postponed. Some families thrive on

being busy while others need to have a more relaxed schedule.

• Make sure that everyone is in agreement or can live with the schedule.

• Try it for one month and then have another meeting and evaluate the schedule. Make sure it works for everyone and make necessary changes.

How to Handle Those Schedules and Not Waste TIme

Once the priorities and scheduling are done, there are few things that families need to do to make sure that they can handle their schedules and not waste their precious time.

ESTABLISH ROUTINES ­ If everyone follows a routine that works, life will run much smoother. Some areas where routines are a must are: before and after school, homework time, chores and meals.

ELIMINATE CLUTTER ­ Looking for things wastes a lot of time. Have set places for the things you use daily ­ keys, school items, library books, bags, purses, lunch kits, etc.

DEAL WITH PAPER IMMEDIATELY ­ Read and recycle mail right at the mailbox, write all pertinent information off school papers, newsletters, mail, flyers, etc on your family calendar and recycle them.

AVOID PERFECTIONSISM ­ Aim for completion and excellence. A little dust or a wrinkle won’t hurt.

LIMIT DETAILS ­ We have so many choices available to us in life. Limit the decisions you offer your family. Ask questions like “Would you prefer a peanut butter or ham sandwich?” rather than “What do you want for lunch?”

TIME WASTERS ­ Limit the amount of time family members do the following: watch TV, play video games, surf the Internet, or talk on the phone ­ unless you are a teenage girl!

When we have children in school, we can’t help but be busy. But being busy with things that are important to us is very different than being overwhelmed by disarray. If we take the time as a family to determine our priorities and work together to eliminate time wasters, we will be in control of our time!

Tracy Lyn Moland, B. Ed, is a Mom Expert. From having written the best selling Mom Management, Managing Mom Before Everybody Else (tgot, 2003) to being a highly sought after consultant on the trillion dollar Mom Market, her advice and information has been featured in over 300 media outlets and to many conferences and corporations. For more information on Tracy Lyn’s consulting or presentations please visit http://www.TracyLynMoland.com

AR Fitness Tips – diet plan, exercises, weight loss and gain muscles latest information.

Women’s health issues often are focused on goals to reach: getting thin, moving up in the corporate world, having a child, taking a vacation, meeting Mr. Right, fitting in exercise or making sure you are eating your vegetables!

Well, I hope to help you start at the beginning to capture moments of time that will help you build a foundation to support that very busy, goal directed life. How can you focus on the process of living, be able to stay in and gain those moments of time as you are trying to reach your extraordinary goals?

What is a moment in time for you? How do you capture that moment? Are you even able to find a moment in time for you? The Buddhists talk about staying in the moment, Kodak would like to sell you that moment and Hollywood movies reflect that moment…. How might you capture that moment when you are struggling with doing laundry, taking the kids to a soccer game, planning dinner, trying to finish the task you started at work and you have been wanting to try that new thigh exercise you saw in the magazine yesterday. Multi tasking certainly is the norm for most women today and not the exception.

Your optimum health is dependent on seeking moments in time on a daily basis. Moments in time will lead to freedom, increase your ability to enjoy the process of life, lower your stress level and they will help you grow. Living today, for the vast majority of women, is complex and fast paced. Capturing a moment in time will help you to slow that pace so that you can enjoy all of your life not just the spare moment at 11:00PM that you have waited for all day!

As an example we often are so busy that we are not able to take the time or moment to truly connect with others. What is that about? When we are in a hurry we do the standard

-”Hi, how are you?” Then move on to the next event or task often without really hearing or connecting with the other person’s answer. What might happen if you stopped for a moment and asked that question of someone with the intent of standing there and really listening to the answer? Would it detract from your day? It might add value and a connection with someone that would benefit both of you.

So to take that moment in time – here are a couple of ideas:

• Call a friend you have not seen for a month.

• Talk to a stranger – ask them a simple question such as “Where are you going today?” and really listen to the answer.

• Sit still for a moment and just breath, breath, breath.

All of us are over-stimulated on a daily basis. Think advertising, TV, Nintendo, traffic, ambient noise…. All of these create a need to shut down some of our senses and withdraw. We simply cannot attend to everything around us. But how sad to miss the sounds of a bird or the ocean because you need to screen out daily sounds that are annoying. Where is our ability to stay in the moment and grow under those circumstances? Here are a few more ideas to help you find a quiet, no matter how small, moment in time:

• Turn off the TV for 15 minutes.

• Laugh – read the comics or rent a Laurel & Hardy movie.

• Read a good book – by “good” I mean anything you enjoy.

• Take a walk alone – you can go for just 15 minutes.

A moment in time does not need to be large, extended or planned. Just let it happen even if for only those few seconds of breathing, breathing, breathing. It will give you back a sense of who you are and more energy to reach your goals.

Just take a deep breath!

About The Author

Suzanne Berg LCSW

“Life is Juicy”

Life Coach/Psychotherapist

sudi@anaturalwoman.com

Learn more by visiting my website:

www.anaturalwoman.com

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We all face decisions that involve doing things that affect competing priorities. We all have three different lives or worlds that compete for our attention, energy and activity. These are our personal lives, our work related lives and our family lives. Our personal lives consist of our health, our inner private likes and dislikes, our inner beliefs, and our spiritual feelings. Our work related lives consist of what we do to earn an income to provide resources to live and prosper. Our family lives consist of our relatives and friends and our relationships with each person.

As you can imagine, each of these worlds will attract our interests and can create various demands on our time, resources, and energy. When these worlds create demands that compete with the other, such that we must choose one world at the expense of the other, on a continuous basis, we get out of balance.

How do you know when you have achieved life balance?People achieve balance in their lives when they are able to consciously and subconsciously align their thoughts and activities with whom they are and what they want to do, without conflict or guilt. People who are in balance, experience “being in the zone” of life. Life is good!

What are the steps to attaining life balance?

Discover who you really are.You will want to first discover who you really are, what you stand for, and what your beliefs and values are. There are two levels to research. The easiest and most accessible is your conscious or rational self, where you logically dissect then evaluate things. But the real you is where your true inner values, beliefs and spirituality are within your subconscious or intuition level. People can learn to rationalize almost anything, but they cannot hide or escape from their inner core values. Conflicts and personal stress occur when the rational self accepts and conducts actions that are contrary to the inner values that have been suppressed. Take the time and energy to discover your inner values and beliefs and allow your intuition to take center stage in your thoughts and action processes. When you follow your instincts in an environment that embraces you, you enter the “zone.”

Discover what you really want to do.We have all been told from childbirth what to do and what not to do. We follow many rules because it is best for living harmoniously with others and ourselves. But, along the way we are also told by parents, teachers, advisors, and bosses what we “should” and “should not” do to suit THEIR personal agendas and perspectives. These are the “shoulds” that we carry with us and try to follow with very confusing and mixed results.

Most people have inner passions that really excite and motivate them. These passions develop early in life and change with time. Yet, you suppress them. These passions are almost always good in nature and very positive. The executive may have a passion to create a rose garden. The housewife may have a passion to play the drums. But they don’t, because they do not recognize and accept their inner passions and if they did, their conscious mind would rationalize that they “shouldn’t” after responding to all of the previously implanted “shoulds” by others. Yet, both the executive and the housewife feel something is missing and can’t put a finger on it.

Everybody also has desires that are extremely important. These desires begin with the basics of life like staying healthy, being secure, attaining food and shelter, being socially accepted, and having a loving support group. These basic desires are rather easy to determine. Once you recognize that they exist you will see that they are almost required for a normal existence. Once these desires are accomplished, you will develop other desires, like living in a warm climate, working outdoors, raising a happy and healthy family, and being acknowledged as special. These are more personal in nature and are also less obvious. This is where the “shoulds” begin to enter the picture and you find yourself following the desires you allow others to impose on you. For example, you might go to law school to become a lawyer because your parents strongly felt you “should” become a lawyer. Or you might become a full time mom and raise a family early on in life because that is what everyone did where you grew up.

Recognize and manage your conflicts.Life is a bowl of conflicts and stress occurs when competing forces interfere with your ability to decide what to do. Additional stress occurs when you feel bad about doing some things, because you feel you “should” be doing something else. So you end up not enjoying or even fully completing what you decide to do because you continue to think you “should” be doing something else.

The executive will certainly have conflicts between leading her company and creating the rose garden. The housewife will experience numerous conflicts between being a mother, a wife and an individual person when she thinks about learning to play the drums and even more when she thinks about playing the

drums with a band.

Once you are able to be honest with yourself and discover what your true passions and desires are, you will be in the position to determine what priorities you place on each. It will be much easier and clearer to evaluate and establish these priorities, since you will now know what the choices are and more importantly you will be the only person involved in making the decision. You will be free from having to consider the conflicting forces of the “shoulds” which are based upon what others want you to do. This will be a great relief, because you will not have to live through the agendas or desires of others, which can be a very tricky thing, even if you tried. Now it is only you deciding, and the choices become much easier.

The executive can decide that continuing in her position is a high priority, but that carving out four hours a week to work on the rose garden will provide her the relaxation and personal enjoyment she wants and needs to function better as an executive. She will be motivated to focus more on her executive duties as she is doing them, knowing that doing so will lead her to being able to exercise her passion of raising her own roses. Now she will enjoy doing both and will be better at participating in both functions with very little, if any, conflict.

Eliminate guilt imposed upon you by others.People allow guilt to enter their world when they dwell on the fact that they are at fault or to blame for things they did or did not do. People take on the burden of being wrong and responsible for not meeting the expectations of others. Even some religions appear to impose guilt because followers are not perfect. Yet, the fact is no one is perfect. When you set expectations or allow others to impose expectations that you must be perfect and you inevitability fail to meet the pureness of perfection, you feel guilty. Then you try harder to be perfect and feel even guiltier because you don’t reach perfection again. The cycle continues.

Most people have an innate philosophy of life or spirituality that they need and want to follow. The key is to discover your spirituality and follow it. When you follow your own spirituality, you greatly reduce or eliminate the artificial guilt you feel by letting others impose their philosophy on you.

Eliminate guilt you impose upon yourself. Another key to removing guilt is to recognize that you cannot always make the best decisions all of the time. One great philosopher, Claude Lunsford, said that you want to make decisions based upon your true inner beliefs, purposes and the information you gather at the time. You evaluate the options available and make the best decision, based upon the truth. Then you want to accept the decision as being the best you could have made at the time.

You do not want to impose guilt upon yourself for a less than perfect outcome. You might not have been able to know about other factors that would have affected your decision, or things might have changed that you could not have foreseen that changed the results of your decision. You do not want to look back and second-guess yourself. Instead, you want to accept your past decisions and learn from the new knowledge you gained to adjust your decision making process for the most important issue at hand, which is to make better decisions in the future.

Follow the path YOU choose to achieve your future goals.Develop life goals for yourself and start the process to achieve them. Now that you know all about yourself, and how to make decisions without guilt, you are poised to use this information to visualize your desirable life and develop a number of life goals that will take you to where you want to go. People reach life balance when they know where they want to go, set the goals to get there, and initiate the necessary steps to achieve their goals.

Life is a journey and you now have everything you need to create the most desirable, most enjoyable and most fulfilling journey for yourself. Once you set your goals, you want take steps each day to reach your life goals and you will not only be amazed at how well you will achieve them, but at how enjoyable and stress free the journey will be.

Your desires, priorities, passions, and even sometimes your beliefs will change. That is very normal. Once you discover what your new ones are you will want to create new goals accordingly, using the same process, and continue your life journey in the new directions that you choose for yourself.

Enjoy the trip!

Provided as an educational service by Bill Dueease of The Coach Connection, where “connecting great people with great coaches” is their goal. You may receive a free copy of the article “The Ten Paths to Human Improvement” by contacting The Coach Connection at 800-887-7214 or 239-415-1777 or coaches@findyourcoach.com, or http://www.findyourcoach.com/0o-career-coach.htm

It is very easy to get into the REACTIONARY circle of life! We deal with what comes up and are hard pressed to make progress on our to-do lists! Here are a few strategies on how to maximize your time, energy and effort through good planning, habits and personal perspective!

1) PLANNING -

a) Plan ahead. Take:

• 10 minutes to plan your day
• 1/2 hour to plan for the week
• 1 hour to plan for the month

b) Do the most important things first (with-in the first 1/2 of your day take 10 minutes to plan for the day)

• What do I need to do?
• How long it will take?
• What is most important? (prioritize)

Do the top 3 important things FIRST! You have heard the Rock story… if you fill your jar with pebbles, sand, gravel, water, and dirt first (distractions, routines, crisis’s, tasks), there is often not any room left for the big rocks (important priorities that often get cheated, ignored, procrastinated, and let un-done because there is just not time).

c) Evaluate. We often spend 80% of our day doing things that are 20% effective and 20% of our day on things that are 80% effective. Look at what you are doing with your time. What are the essential things and make the biggest impact? Look to stream-line or eliminate the things that are least effective and spend more time on those things that are most productive.

2) DEVELOP STRONG HABITS. Habits are a silent contributor to how we work. Often we do not see these are part of the equation, because they are so natural to us. One way to increase your efficiency is to identify your old habits that are not working and replace them with good habits that support what we want.

a) Identify Old Habits. Evaluate:

• What am I doing? Why? (procrastinating, distracting myself, fire fighting, etc.)
• What is not working? (running from one thing to the next, getting frustrated, etc.)
• What is working great? (AM to do list, listening to holiday music, writing my goal daily, etc.)

b) Define New Habits.

• What needs to change? (chaotically running from thing to thing)
• What would help me be better? (prioritizing, doing important things 1st, 1 hour of focus time with no distractions)
• Consider having 10 daily habits. These are little actions that you take every day that do not take a lot of time, but in the long run save time. For example, each AM spend 10 min. and do a clean sweep of your desk or house. You will be amazed with how you can cut down on time spent doing paperwork and cutter when you take just 10 min. a day.

c) Implement and stick to it! It takes 30 days of consistent implementation

to solidify a new habit.

* List 3 things you want to stop (reacting, procrastinating by cleaning, making excuses) (good to create a structure for what you will do if you catch yourself doing something you want to stop. i.e. cleaning – throw in box to deal with in AM)

• 1. __________________________
• 2. __________________________
• 3. __________________________

* List 3 things you what you want to start (from 8-9 don’t answer phone, 10 min. daily clean sweep, prioritizing my to do list)

• 1. __________________________
• 2. __________________________
• 3. __________________________

* Write these things somewhere you will see & do them daily!

3) PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE: a) Attitude. What is your perspective on time? We each have 24 hours; the question is how will you spend yours?

• When you think you don’t have enough time – we rarely get this done, we just spend time complaining.
• When we are optimistic, prepared and focused we often are surprised at what can be accomplished in a short period of time (power hours).
• Take control of your life. We like to blame other things, when really there is a lot was can do.

b) Self-discipline. Review and refine your plan; stay in action (10 minutes to plan your day, 1/2 hour to plan for the week, 1 hour to plan for the month).

• Keep your plan in front of you. Three times each week, set a timer for 10 minutes to review what is working and not. What do you need to change? Are you allocating time correctly? Do you have a margin of flexibility for the unexpected? Make adjustments to your plan and step into action.
• Keep moving. Whatever you do, DO SOMETHING and keep moving! Paralysis of analysis is a deadly time eater. Assess your plan to the best of your ability and move into action. The picture will be clearer the closer you get.
• Say No. There are many things that will pop up to grab your time and attention. Saying “no” is important. How? Be honest, tell people why (not excuses), provide other options/solutions, determine what you can do based on your prioritizes.

“The more you do of what you are doing, the more you’ll get of what you’ve got” UnknownGet excited about what you can do, grab your plan and get going! Do not put off tomorrow what can be done today!

Christy Geiger is a strategic planning coach and the owner of Synergy Strategies, a business and life-coaching company that works with IBOs and professionals to implement their thousands of great ideas in ways that will maximize time, energy and effort! Through solid vision, goal and strategy planning, clients are able to maximize their personal effectiveness and accomplish their mission! Visit http://www.synergystrategies.com

“It’s just been one of those days…I can’t seem to get anything done! I’ve got way too many things on my “To-Do List”. Oh the list started out innocently enough as a single handwritten column on one sheet of lined paper; but now it’s grown to a three-column table in a spreadsheet software program! I get no satisfaction from checking off each item as I finish it. For each task I complete, at least two more are added. I began my work day at 6:30 AM with grandiose plans of completing a special project before Noon. Now it’s 16 hours later (10:30 PM) and I still have not finished the project. My anxiety and frustration are mounting. Tomorrow’s list has already been written and it does not include the things left undone from today’s list! I don’t know if I’m going to make it through the week with all of the demands upon my time and energy. I need help…quickly!

A Juggling Act

I wrote the above entry in my journal several days ago. What a day that was! How about you…been there lately?

Life can be such a juggling act. Like professional jugglers, we try to keep 5 or 6 balls moving through the air at the same time. But unlike professional jugglers, we rarely succeed.

Everyone is so busy these days. Work is performed at a frantic pace and people are in such a hurry. There is an air of impatience and intolerance—a lot of frenetic darting to and fro that is almost out of control. It’s very difficult to keep your priorities in line when life is so fast paced. But the negative consequences of so much activity—stress, damaged or broken relationships, poor health—can wreak more havoc than what we think we will gain.

The Urgent

I tried for years to use a paper-based time management system with columns similar to this: “Must Do…Need to Do…Like to Do”. I’m sure you’ve used something like this (maybe even now). The problem I encountered was that I never seemed to get around to doing much in the “Like to Do” column, which was very discouraging. The “Must Do and Need to Do” items consumed all of my time.

So I switched to a simpler paper-based system with the following columns, “Urgent” and “Important”. Now, I was sure to spend my time wisely. Unfortunately, I found out that the urgent things monopolized my time and pushed the important things to

the back-burner.

Here are three examples of ”The Urgent”:

• Pressing or burning imperatives that must be completed immediately.
• Critical or vital tasks that someone else insists be performed without delay.
• Unrelenting and persistent routine demands on your time.

The Important

“The Urgent” often masquerades as ”The Important”. However, not everything we do is important. To identify what’s important to you requires that you answer three questions:

1. Will the activity I am about to participate in make a significant and lasting positive impact on others?
2. Is what I am about to do an unselfish act that will bring happiness or joy to others?
3. Do my actions and activities promote balance in my life or are they all-consuming?

The Bottom Line

Identifying ”The Important” requires focus—a concentration of energy, effort, and thought. ”The Important” is where you should spend most of your time. Now, before you send me screaming emails, I don’t mean that you shouldn’t address ”The Urgent”. Instead, consider the following:

Focus on ”The Important”!

Priority is the key to managing ”The Urgent” and focusing on ”The Important”. Before you leap to complete a task, take a few moments to think about its true priority. Does it need to be done right at this moment, or is there something else on your list that should come first?

While others may demand that everything on your To-Do List must be done immediately, you and only you can really determine what should be done first, second, third, etc. (It’s not possible to do everything at once; priority must be given to each item).

Today, I’ve taken a dose of my own medicine and committed to focusing on ”The Important”. So far, I’ve accomplished at least one thing that will have a significant and positive impact on others—finishing this article.

Althea DeBrule, entrepreneur and seasoned human resources executive, has focused for more than 30 years on helping people achieve their career goals. Creator of The Extreme-Career-Makeover™ and a founding partner of RADSGroup Organizational Consultants, she is recognized for her bottom line and practical application of career development and management strategies in a way that penetrates hearts and compels action. She speaks and teaches with inspired talent, humor and contagious zeal at management conferences and leadership retreats nationwide, and has been featured in CFO Magazine, Strategy@Work, Human Resource Executive Magazine. Althea is the author of Bosses & Orchards, a compelling and candid book about how to make your work relationship with your boss succeed.

To discover how you can take your career to a new level, visit http://www.extreme-career-makeover.com/

Listen to the salutation to the dawn, Look to this day for it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of our existence. The bliss of growth, the splendor of beauty, For yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day. Such is the salutation to the dawn.

~Kalidisa, Sanskrit

It is Monday morning, for many the start of a new work week. Take the time this Monday, and for the next few Mondays, to keep a record of how many “I hate Monday” type statements you hear.

How do you feel about Monday?

Reflect for a moment. Do that many “bad” things really happen on Monday? I would be willing to bet your answer is “No”. If your answer happens to be “Yes”, then you need to start looking at your attitude and expectations. Life has a funny way of living up or down to our expectations. No matter the date or day of the week the calendar says it is, start each day expecting it to be your greatest day ever.

Yesterday, Tomorrow and Today in Perspective

It is very important to understand the relationship between yesterday, tomorrow and today.

Yesterday

We cannot go back in time and change or redo yesterday, but here are three things you can do with your past; First, reflect on your past successes. Relive them with as much clarity and emotion as you can. Use these memories to build your self-confidence, self-esteem and to create an “I Can” attitude. Second, learn from your past mistakes and failures. Take full responsibility for them, and be grateful for them. Yes, I said to be grateful for your failures. You cannot know which way up is, unless you know which

way is down is. Third, release and let go all negative emotional baggage from your past. This is the toughest of the three to do, and the most important to work on. Carrying this weight will, at the very least, slow you down, and it can stop you completely.

Tomorrow

The future is where all your dreams, hopes and goals live. Your potential lies ahead of you, not behind you. Tomorrow you have a clean slate, an unblemished record, a brand new beginning. Take care when building your vision of the future, it is where you will spend the rest of your life. Most importantly, by creating your vision of tomorrow, by having dreams and goals to reach for, you give meaning and purpose to today.

Today

Today is the most important day of your life! Yesterday is gone. By the time tomorrow arrives it will be today. Today you are creating yesterday’s memories. Today you are laying the foundation for tomorrow.

Everything you do, you do now. Everything else is either something you did do, or something you are going to do. Everything you do either takes you closer to your dreams and goals or it moves you away from them. Every day counts.

Make a habit of taking positive daily actions. Take steps daily that will move you closer to your dreams and goals. Plan your day based on your principles, values and what matters most to you, and then work your plan. Don’t sit by and wait to “have” a great day, take action to “make” it a great day. Take care of today. If you do this, yesterday and tomorrow will take care of themselves.

Make Every Day a Great Day

Article by Ron Kirkland from Learning To Succeed. The free email newsletter dedicated to personal development by Success Review – Success Can Be Learned. Subscribe now and claim your free bonus gifts. http://www.successreview.com/ezine.htm

Here’s some time management tips to try:

1) Set strict office hours and stick to them – use an answering machine to pick up calls after hours. Don’t be tempted to “pick up just one more call”.

2) Have a day timer (or hand held PDA) that you write everything down in and carry with you.

3) If you’re running late to pick up the kids call the school – keep doctors/dentists/personal phone numbers in the book too – you can book appointments while you’re waiting in a line or stuck in traffic.

3) Keep a large calendar at home too – and make sure the whole family knows what everyone else is doing.

4) Take care of yourself – you’re the company’s most valuable asset (eat well, sleep enough and get some exercise)

5) If you find work is taking over your weekends for things like trade shows, or other appointments, be sure to take the same amount of time off during the week.

6) If you find you’re really getting overloaded – write down what you do in every hour for a whole day. This will

really show you the way you spend your time. This will also let you re-allocate your time to those things that are most important to you. You may find you’re spending 30 – 40% of your time on time wasting tasks like answering non-essential emails or phone calls. If you can schedule a certain time each day for these kinds of tasks, OR delegate them to an assistant you will be able to spend your time more productively.

Do YOU have some time saving tips? Why not share them with other business owners? Send in your tips to: wendy@thinkwithoutboundaries.com with “time saver tips” in the subject line.

Wendy McClelland is a motivational speaker, marketing innovator and Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach who specializes in teaching people to “think without boundaries!” She is a past nominee for “Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year” and her clients have included software developers, an Olympic athlete and a wide range of business organizations. She has spoken to 10,000+ conference attendees, about Marketing, Internet Business and Motivation. You can contact her through her website – http://www.thinkwithoutboundaries.com

All of us are busy.

We all have responsibilities in life that can not be procrastinated or delegated. They just need to be done.

Sometimes it feels like we are constantly “doing” 24/7. It’s nice to be busy, of course. That certainly beats the alternative. But we don’t need to be jammed into the mode of reckless overdrive where we are cramming our schedules with things to do just to fool ourselves into thinking we have purpose and meaning in our lives.

I speak of schedules and lives in the plural because we really do have separate schedules and lives. We have our professional work life. Our personal and social life. Our religious life and our creative life. And often, these individual “lives” remain somewhat separate and distinct. Not because we intend them to be that way. But just by their very nature, they tend to separate themselves that way.

Now, our professional lives don’t usually have problems in finding enough time to be spent upon them. We become enough of a slave or fanatic towards our

occupations that plenty of time is allocated, if not wasted upon it.

It is the other areas of our lives that we really need to concern ourselves about. The parts in which we express the real “me”. The parts in which our personalities may come out to learn and grow and improve.

We actually need to consciously make time for our other “lives” to be lived. These are the lives wherein we make the greatest number of significant life altering choices. These are the lives in which we really become the best that we can become, because of our choices.

Take the time to live all of your lives. Take the time to discover who you really are and what you can become.

Make it a point to get to know YOU.

Bob Curtis has been writing articles, short fiction and poetry for over 30 years. He is the managing director of “Relationship Sense” (http://www.People4People.blogspot.com) and is the president of Nexus Publishing (http://www.nexus4u.blogspot.com). He assists with Blue Romance (http://www.moonlitefire.blogspot.com), a site promoting “positive” romance.

We’ve all felt this way: There’s always someone else who seems completely in control and seems to manage every aspect of life with such skill. You ask yourself “Why can’t I be like that?” There were days when I would find myself late at night and have absolutely no idea what I had done that day. Everything just seemed like a blur and I went to bed feeling as though I had accomplished nothing. The very concept of time management just seems like another thing you don’t have time for, right? Why buy another day planner to gather dust on a table or a PDA that has no calendar entries and an endless to do list?

Inside your head you just keep screaming “no more,” but what is the alternative? How can any of us really take control and feel some sanity and sense of accomplishment in this information driven world? Understanding how to manage your time is essential in all business relations, school, home, and everyday life. Having the right tools can make it easy in time management, but having the right sense of empowerment and personal direction is critical in order to create a balance in all of the aspects of life which we must be able to manage in order to live a happy, productive and meaningful life.

You have the same 24 hours in the day as everyone else. It’s your time. It doesn’t belong to someone else so take possession of it now.

When we talk about time management, we’re not really managing time. We’re managing ourselves. It’s not just about learning when to say no. It’s about learning how to say yes to the things that are important to you and give them the priority they deserve. Instead of scrambling to prioritize your schedule, you need to seize a new paradigm and schedule your priorities. Not every bit of information in this book is going to fix the exact needs of how you have chosen to live your life, but by adding context and some approaches to the way you manage your time you will find that you have enough hours in the day. You will find the success that you deserve and the sense of well being and peace of mind will be your biggest reward.

Time management is about self-mastery. The wind of time blows the same on us all. It’s how we accept that wind and allow ourselves to be moved by it that makes the difference between those who sail past all others and those who are dead in the water. Developing skills in time management is like learning how to set the sail of life in a way that creates the outcome you want, and by doing so you’ll always find the shores you seek.

Dave Saunders is a professional lecturer, and enjoys creating life-interconnections through his writings and lectures. You can find out more about time management at http://www.endless-abundance.net