If you are starting a new business or are trying to succeed in a career, you might be at a loss for motivation, creativity, and inspiration. Thankfully radio stations across the world play pop music that will pick you up out of your rut and give you the strength to continue. Here are some ways you can use pop music to help you succeed at work and meet any goals you have set for yourself.

Think Like a Musician

Most business professionals pride themselves on productivity and constant work. If you get paid by the hour, you probably don’t get a lot of free time to explore new ideas and create new processes that might help your work habits. In an article in Entrepeneur, author John Kao claims that you need to think like a musician in order to succeed in the business world. Instead of taking standardized routes, improvise and create in order to get the most out of your workday.

Justin Bieber and the World Series

You might not think about Justin Bieber, ever… But if you are familiar with the barely pubescent pop singer, you would be shocked to hear he helped a group of grown men win the World Series. Star outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, David Freese, recently confessed to Jay Leno that the team went on a two month spree of listening to Justin Bieber’s song “Baby” before they won the biggest prize in baseball.

A pop song can be used for other reasons than its catchy melody and captivating harmony. It can be a rallying cry for your group of employees, office staff, or just yourself. By pumping yourself up with an infectious riff or chorus, you will have more motivation to get the important work of the day accomplished.

Jonas Brothers Marketing

Pop music has often been associated with sex and fame throughout its history. Elvis started the trend with his swinging hips and today Katy Perry, Rihanna, and Lady Gaga are taking the element of sexuality to a completely different spectrum. While this type of music courts a specific demographic, other young girls simply aren’t ready for such mature themes.

In order to reach a younger audience, the Disney corporation had the Jonas Brothers wear their girlfriend’s promise ring in order to symbolize how pure they were. This type of alternative marketing hit a chord with parents and the Jonas Brothers became a hit. You should apply this to your marketing mix by trying to reach niche markets that may not appear on the surface.

Finding a Spot in Retail

If you have ever seen the movie High Fidelity, you have seen the effectiveness that music holds over people’s purchasing habits. While running a record store, John Cusack’s character plays a brand new song during one of the busiest times of the day. This encourages his customers to ask about the music playing and purchase the record, increasing sales of the overall product. By playing music at your small business or retail location you can increase the subliminal messages and overall tone of your establishment.

Whether your goal is to get employees motivated, increase marketing efforts, or set a certain mood in your office, pop music is there to help you. Don’t just relegate pop as a trivial matter best left for dance clubs and teenage girls. By harnessing the pure power and energy of music, you stream the same energy as the people making the songs.

This post is brought to you by Amanda Green.

By Kevin M

Have you ever noticed that truly successful people have little trouble saying “no”? They may do it politely, but they do it and do it often. And they’re on to something.

“No” is a control word, a word that has real power. When we use it, we’re in control. When we don’t, we’re open to the control of others.

By saying “no”, we guard our time, our efforts and even our money. When we say “yes”, or even “maybe”, it can mean open season on all three. If you’re a “yes-junkie”—a person who feels compelled to say “yes” to nearly any request for help from nearly anyone—you might be your own worst enemy.

If we’re going to get anywhere in life we need to focus on what it is that we do best. Life is multi-faceted, but we all have two or three things that are especially important, and that’s where being able to say “no” is critical. It’s the little word that when spoken emphatically gives us the space we need to do what we do best.

Learning to say no—and meaning it—frees you up to move on to the next order of business, to that thing that moves you forward in your life. Is it any wonder that successful people master this concept?

Why we’re reluctant to say NO

What are some of the reasons we might find it hard to say “no”?

• We want to please others and saying “yes” usually accomplishes that
• Saying “yes” is easy; saying “no” often opens up a line of questioning
• We don’t like confrontation, and that happens a lot more when we say “no”
• When we’re really thinking “maybe” or “I’ll see”, we instead default to “yes”; after all, we never want to seem indecisive
• Saying “no” might indicate that we aren’t “team players”
• Like a candy bar, “yes” brings a short term high—“no” can bring on a guilt trip
• We learned to hate hearing “no” when we were small children and never outgrew it
• The word “no” has a negative connotation and we don’t want to be negative
• Saying “yes” has become a habit
• We think “I’m a nice person, and nice people say YES!”

It would appear that our reasons for not wanting to say “no” have more to do with psychology and emotion than with reason and logic. And that’s the main purpose for setting up a list that highlights the reasons. It might be easier to get control of our fear of saying no if we can get a handle on the reasons why we do.

The problems we cause by refusing to say NO

Not being able to say “no” has a way of complicating our lives. Not only will the infrequent use of the word take us away from our main goals, but it also has the potential to complicate life by drawing us into situations we have no business being in. Consider the problems we bring on ourselves because we don’t want to say “no”:

We can over-extend ourselves. How many obligations can you juggle in life? The more you say “yes”, the more obligations you take on. Each of us has time and energy for only so much activity, and if we get pulled in too many directions we can quickly become part of the problems in life, not the solutions.

We become distracted. Focus is an underappreciated concept. The more directions we’re pulled in, the less focus we have. The less focus we give to our most important endeavors, the less successful we’ll be.

We set ourselves up to be manipulated by others. If you’re a yes-junkie, then others will always have undo control over your time and efforts. Some people can never do anything on their own while others are perpetually needy. You can’t fix that and helping them will never improve their circumstances. The best thing you can do for them is to cut them off and let them learn to fend for themselves. (More likely, they’ll find other yes-junkies!)

We damage our self-esteem. What usually happens when we say yes to someone is that we give them our time or our efforts. If we say yes to most requests that come across our paths, then we can degrade our own time and effort. In most cases, we’re giving away our resources—time and effort—for free. If we’re virtually giving them away, then they effectively become worthless. When what we have to offer doesn’t have value, we can question our own worth.

We help everyone accomplish their goals, but never accomplish our own. This is the deepest root of the problem. While it may seem noble to help others, that effort can drain our ability to go where we’re heading. If you find that you’re always missing the mark on your goals, the answer may be in your inability to say “no” to enable yourself to concentrate on what it is you truly need to be doing.

The benefits of saying NO

When we learn to say “no”, we begin to free up our time and energy to concentrate on what’s really important.

Let go of the “chief cook and bottle washer syndrome.” Each of us can wear only so many hats in life and still be effective. When we say “no”, we’re getting rid of them, and that’s a good thing. No matter how talented you may be, you can’t do it all. It’s just a delusion, and once its gone life gets more productive.

Change the expectations of those around you. People have a way of coming back again and again to those who help them. Have you ever noticed that people will go to some for help while avoiding others completely? That has to do with expectations—and you want to be in the second group. While it might feel good to be needed, it isn’t terribly productive! If you stop trying to put out the fires in everyone’s lives, they’ll start respecting your time. We all need that.

Ability to concentrate. Each of us has only so much time and energy to live our lives, so it’s important that we spend it on activities that will have the greatest impact. Better to accomplish one or two goals completely than to hit a dozen halfway.

“Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all your energies on a limited set of targets”—Nido Qubein

Make sense?

More free time. Accomplishing our goals is important, but so is having time to enjoy life. The more we say “no”, the fewer obligations we have, and the more time we have for everything, including rest and relaxation. There’s a double benefit to this as well: the better rested we are, the more effective we can be at what ever we do. Think of it as an energy multiplier.

 
Sometimes it seems as if we wander through life in a fog. So much is coming at us so quickly that we feel overwhelmed. It’s not that we can’t handle what’s coming at us—we usually can—we just can’t handle so much at once. One of the best ways to get control of this is by using that tiny but powerful word “no”. It blocks the distractions, intrusions and manufactured obligations that can slow us down and drain the life out of us.

Try saying “no” more frequently and see if you don’t find yourself having more time, energy—and success.

Next Post: The Fallacy of Multi-tasking

By Kevin M

Money Reasons did a review on a book called How Rich People Think. I commented on the post, and it got me to thinking about some issues that may go deeper than rich versus non-rich. As much as we might want to think of rich and non-rich as a state of being, there are components to each that make them happen—a mechanical process perhaps.

Much of that seems to come down to how we think about money. Money is the conventional dividing line between rich and poor, but it seems that our attitude toward it—whether we see money as an obstacle or as an opportunity —seems to have a huge impact on where we go with it.

So how exactly do we define obstacle and opportunity mindsets as it relates to money? Rather than attempting a deep analysis, we might be better to focus on examples of each type of thinking. In this way, we can not only see our own thinking, but we might also see how it either holds us back or pushes us forward.

Money as an obstacle

If you see money as an obstacle, you’re likely to see common ground with several of the following:

• You’re mind is never far from your pile of bills
• A single large bill has you in a state of near paralysis
• You worry about potential upcoming bills
• You hope you can make it to the end of the month; next month, the same cycle will repeat as it has for years
• Your financial M.O. is centered on crisis management
• You’re scared to death that you’ll lose your job—and have no idea what you’ll do then
• You don’t particularly like your job, but you play the “go-along-to-get-along-(hopefully)-until-retirement” game
• You’ve stopped entertaining serious thoughts about what you’d actually like to do for a living
• Your house and car are important components of who you are
• You fixate on your employer paid benefit package
• A comfortable retirement is the holy grail of you financial plans
• You worry about how other people will perceive your financial situation
• You live for weekends and vacations
• You’re more concerned with keeping what you have than with advancing in your career and finances
• You mostly think that luck is the main reason other people are successful
• You periodically dabble in TV infomercial get-rich-quick schemes, hoping that you’ll discover your own lucky streak along the way
• Your dreams have morphed into wishes and outright fantasies

This list is long but please know that it isn’t an attempt to insult anyone. It’s easy to come up with so many examples because most of us are either in this mindset or were raised in it. You might even say that it’s the default financial mindset.

Look at the list in total, rather than at any one of its components. Notice that the thinking effectively puts you into a box. There are no doors, no windows, no way out—in other words, you’re stuck! Because you’re surrounded by fires that need to be put out, there’s never time, money or mental energy to move forward to a better life.

The money-as-an-obstacle mindset mostly repels money, which ironically keeps its absence as the central focus in your financial life.

Money as an opportunity

If you see money as an opportunity, you’re likely to see common ground with several of the following:

• Money is a resource to be channeled, leveraged and increased
• Money is a tool that buys the really important stuff, like free time, exciting adventures, interesting experiences, freedom from worry and choosing your own destiny
• Houses and cars are important, but not if they get in the way of the really important stuff
• Pursuing opportunity is the goal—there is no end game
• Problems are details that need to be solved
• You avoid having a big pile of bills, but if you ever find yourself with one and it’s interfering with your pursuit of the really important stuff, you’ll get rid of the bills and what ever amenities that are producing them
• Nothing is certain, but you’re willing to try anyway
• You see life as a dynamic, not as a status quo, and that dynamic plays into your life’s plans
• You see a day—any day—as an opportunity to do something important
• Retirement is not the goal—living a rich and fulfilling life is
• Building a box is for others; your life is “out there”…somewhere
• Investment losses don’t paralyze you; wealth building is a process and you’re in it for the long haul—you avoid high risk speculations for exactly this reason
• You must be self-employed—there are risks to this, but a traditional job will get in the way of the really important stuff in your life and could never contain your ambitions
• Being concerned with what others think of you or your finances gets in the way of the life you’re trying to lead, so you don’t bother yourself with it
• You associate mostly with like-minded people, who feed and strengthen your convictions
• Your like-minded friends are providing you with opportunities you would never have discovered or mastered on your own

Thinking of money as an opportunity doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be rich but it does seem to attract money and it’s easy to see why. Money is held up not as the solution, but rather as a tool, an enabler, that gets the opportunist what it is he truly seeks in life.

Ironically it’s also a freer way to live. The opportunist may decide, for example, that if a house in the suburbs with a big mortgage is an obstacle to his better life, then the house will have to go. Among the obstacle crowd, this would be a heresy.
 

Our minds work much the way the rest of our bodies do—repetition and regular exercise create new patterns and habits. Do you believe that coming to think of money as an opportunity is a state of mind worth creating?

Related Posts:

Pursuing Your Passion Isn’t As Risky As It Used To Be
Work/Life Balance: Lessons From the Sea
Steady Paycheck VS. Self-Employment; Which is Right For You?
Staying Motivated When You’re Stuck in Neutral
Are You Pursuing Your Own Goals – or Filling Quotas Set By Others?
Imagine Being Owned By No One

What are your “anchors” in life?

By Kevin M

In the past couple weeks I’ve learned of two discouraging developments. The first was finding out that one of my best friends has prostate cancer. The second, just this week, was finding out that the husband of a former minister at our old church had a massive heart attack and died a few days later.

Neither man is 50 years old.

It’s an uncomfortable reality that no matter what we have going on in life, we have no certainty of anything. We can make all the plans we want for a great and glorious future, but none of us knows how much time we have, or even what the quality of that time will be.

Does that mean that we shouldn’t plan for the future? No, I don’t think so. We should plan, but in doing so, we should never take lightly the central importance of today. As the saying goes, “yesterday is a canceled check, tomorrow is a promissory note, but today is cash”.

In the personal finance blogosphere we churn the details of all things financial. Most of it centers on the “how”, as in how to manage/increase/eliminate/etc. this or that asset/income/expense/etc. Culturally, we tend to see money as something almost magical, as a commodity that can fix our problems, insure us against disaster and even give life a purpose. But can it?

Money is important—in fact, properly managed it can be one of life’s “anchors”. An anchor being one of those elements in our lives that keep us grounded, focused and moving forward with purpose even during those times when the forces against us are banging at our doors, looking and sounding menacing.

We all have anchors, we all need them. Somehow those anchors seem most obvious and important in the darkest hours and events. Most other times, we tend to ignore them—if we even know what they are. So let’s cut to the chase: should the prospect of disaster and ultimately of our own mortality affect how we live?

Most definitely.

Only when we come face-to-face with the frailty of life do we begin to truly embrace its richness, and the need to pursue that richness purposefully. In order to do that over the long haul though, we need anchors. The more we have, and the stronger they are, the better we’ll be able to withstand what life throws at us. And as you read in the opening paragraph, it can throw just about anything we can imagine at us, and a few we can’t.

With the hope of stimulating your own ideas on what your anchors might be, here are mine, in no particular order. An anchor can be anything you rely upon that keeps your ship of life afloat during the darkest times. Mine are comprised of beliefs, philosophies and practical applications.

Know that it can all end at any time. As someone once said, “you’ve got no contract with life”. That’s something we only think about in a meaningful way when serious events visit our lives or those close to us. But we need to think about this periodically. It begs the question, what would we be doing with this time, with this day, if we knew our time was limited? It is—and that’s why we need to think about it.

Faith in God. True Christianity teaches that the most important element of faith is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The key word is relationship–it’s not about “religion” and all the nuances that reduce it to a debate over issues. That relationship is available to all of us and life is both fuller and easier to bear when you have it. The time to develop it is before the storms of life hit—akin to putting money in the bank for the uncertainties of life.

It doesn’t mean we won’t have problems, nor does it mean we shouldn’t try to deal with them. But it does mean that we’re not somehow doomed because we fail. We’re never doomed, not even when life looks completely hopeless. Not if we’re walking in that relationship.

Take care of your health, but don’t obsess on it. There is no blueprint for good health and a long life—there are only correlations. Nothing we do will guaranty that we’ll live to be 90, or even that we’ll be in good health for most of that time. In the end, there’s also genetics, environmental factors, stress levels and plain dumb luck. We don’t need to run six miles a day, swear off entire food groups, or down a handful of vitamins every day.

Skills are more important than jobs. In all that we do, we need to be able to roll with the punches. Jobs don’t always permit this, and sometimes they are the punch that hits us (job loss, passed over for a promotion, etc.). Skills are part of who we are, and they come with us where ever we go. They represent our “stock in trade”, that commodity that each of us brings to the marketplace of life. They’re worth expanding and it’s worth developing new ones.

Accept that bad things happen, and often they can’t be prevented. Don’t get caught up in shoulda/coulda/woulda debates with yourself and others when something really bad happens. My wife and I refer to that as the “what if game”, and it’s close to a waste of time. Bad things will happen in life, often in spite of our best efforts. Accept the fact that bad things aren’t always someone’s fault. Once disaster strikes, energy needs to be concentrated where it will do the most good. What ever might have prevented the crisis didn’t happen, and analyzing it doesn’t change that fact.

Grudges are a waste of time. Trying to right the wrongs done to you is chasing your past. Retaliation invites retaliation. Focusing on positive efforts and forward directions will accomplish far more than getting even.

We’re imperfect people, living in an imperfect world. We can get depressed if we spend too much time ruminating over the fact that we aren’t perfect, our lives aren’t perfect, or the world isn’t a better place. Maybe that’s part of the price we pay for living in the Media Age. We’re flooded with images of perfect people, living perfect lives in a better world and we ask ourselves, what’s wrong with me? Answer: nothing! We should fix what we can, and be prepared to live in harmony with what we can’t. Perfection is a burden we can’t carry.

People are more important than things. It’s ironic that I first heard it put in those words by the minister mentioned at the beginning of this post. It resonated to such a degree when she said it some 10 years ago that it’s become one of my anchors. We can spend so much time chasing money, influence, things or perfection that we completely miss the people who are right next to us. We can live without all the things we normally chase, but we can’t live without people.

Family and friends are one of life’s greatest blessings. In my worst moments, family and friends have been there for me, like a rock in a storm. In the best of times, they’ve made life worth living. Creating reliable relationships doesn’t just happen, it requires time and willingness when life is going well for us, and theirs isn’t. There may be times when we don’t have time for people, but that should never be the rule.

And so are the “strangers” in our lives. People bring a richness to life that makes it fuller and more enjoyable. We should be open to who ever might come into our lives, even those who don’t look like us, worship like us, live where we do or earn a living the way we do. Conformity weakens our lives; diversity adds strength.

Live beneath your means. We can make all the plans we want and life can still go in another direction. The best plans are loose and flexible. If we can live at least a little beneath our means—what ever those means may be—we’ll always have enough to live on and a little extra to save for later. It’s not a goal, it’s a financial lifestyle, one we can implement at any time in life. Basic and effective since the beginning of humanity, we can take it as far or as lightly as we choose and it will always work.

We’re not building empires here. No matter what we own, what we accomplish or how many people we might have authority over, all of it will end at the grave—or sooner—and none of it will save us when our time is at hand. Our identity should never be tied up in these things.

Take time to enjoy life—every day. While we’re preoccupied with building our own version of the perfect life, real life is happening all around us. True happiness really IS found in the little things. While we’re charging hell-bent for the big prize, we can miss the joys of the journey that make life worth living. Take time to “smell the roses”.

The world is much bigger than our little corner of it. Too often, we wallow in the defeat of the door that just closed, virtually oblivious to the many others that are open or opening all around us. We can obsess on “the one that got away”, when the better course might be bidding it farewell, and moving on to the next opportunity. Always be aware, always be open.

 
I’ve touched on my anchors briefly here, but will cover some of them more specifically in a series of posts that will follow in the coming weeks. I think it’s that important.

In the meantime…

1) What are your anchors in life?

2) What keeps you centered even when your world seems to be coming apart?

3) Is money your primary anchor, or is it something else?

4) What are your anchors if money IS the problem?

By Jacob Mojiwat

Being at sea for long periods of time can be isolating. You cannot access the Internet or reach your friends and family at a moments notice, but there is something wonderful about being out in a world that is just you, your crew, your boat, and the elements. I find that many of the principles I live by are ideas that I formed while I was out on these adventures, away from civilization.

Here are the main ideas that I’ve been contemplating lately, and find to be truly relevant in day-to-day life:

Sometimes you have to swim against the current if you want to get to where you are going

There are so many times in life when it feels as though everything is going wrong. They say bad luck comes in threes, but all too often it comes in a tidal wave, or at least a swiftly flowing current that feels as though it will wash us away. It is hard to swim against that current. It would be so much easier, and more peaceful, to drift along with it.

Maybe it would be easier to take a job that I don’t like rather than to keep struggling to make ends meet, while applying again and again for jobs that I truly want. Maybe it would be easier to stay in a relationship that my friends and family approve of, with a partner who is financially secure, rather than getting involved with someone I am passionate about who also happens to live a life on the margins of society, struggling to get by. Maybe it would be easier to easier to heat up a frozen pizza and spend the evening watching TV, rather than exercising and cooking a healthy meal afterwards.

The thing is, though, that if I drift with that current, it will wash me out to sea. Maybe I was hoping to explore a coral reef. Maybe I wanted to take some underwater photos. Maybe I just needed to get back to my boat. The current might be strong and really tugging on me, but at times, if I want to get to where I am going, I have to push back and find the strength in myself to swim against the current.

What always surprises me is that once I start swimming against the current, it is never as hard as I thought it would be. It isn’t a back-bending effort. Instead, it’s liberating and exhilarating to accomplish something that I set my mind, and body, to do.

At sea, it’s best to wear a life jacket

I don’t think I have to tell you why life jackets are important. They can save your life. We may think we don’t need a life jacket though, as I have gone boating many times with people who told me they were strong swimmers, the weather forecast was good, that the life jackets were too heavy, too bulky, too much of a nuisance. I just ignore them and tell them to wear the life jackets anyway. Why would I do that? I’m an independent thinker and I believe in swimming against the current. Why insist on a life jacket?

Because life happens, that’s why. You can’t really predict the weather. Even a strong swimmer can get hit on the head or faint or get sick. Likewise in life, at sea or on land, we all need an emergency plan. Especially if you, like myself, believe in swimming against the current. If you’ve done something that nobody in your support network of friends and family approves of, then you have to be ready to go it alone. And that means planning ahead and taking precautions. Don’t live beyond your means and always set aside a little money for emergencies.

Find a good friend or family member who you trust to be your emergency contact, in case you need help suddenly. Think ahead about the various ways in which life could take an unexpected turn and plan ways to cushion the impact when it does. I can’t predict the weather, but I can guarantee you one thing – life happens. And when it does, you’ll be better off if you’ve anticipated the unexpected.

The fishing is better after a storm

I love storms. The more thunder and lightning, the better. But there are times in life when we go through storms that are not exciting or fun. Storms that are more like hurricanes or tornadoes, that come through our life and wreck our plans for the future, leaving us marooned, stranded, or adrift.

I can’t tell you that there’s anything enjoyable about going through alife storm, whether it’s a physical and meteorological storm, or an emotional, financial, or occupational storm. But you know what they say about weather; if you don’t like it, be patient because it will always change. Once the storm is over, you can walk on the beach and pick up unusual seashells, or you can go fishing. If you can simply take time to relish the calm and be open to possibility, your intuition will guide you to something new and
wonderful.

There is something to be said for “no wake” zones

Nobody likes having to slow down. We all want to get to where we are going and in a hurry, in possible. This is particularly relevant to me as I am often running late. But in a no wake zone, we have to slow down – a lot. I guess this is what city people experience when they get stuck in rush hour traffic. It’s what athletes experience when they have an injury. It’s what parents experience when they have to stay home with sick kids and cannot go to work. Like it or not, you have to slow down.

If you have to slow down, whether you like it or not, then you might as well try to find peace with it. I’m not a Pollyanna or even an optimist, particularly. In fact, I can be as pessimistic as they come. But at sea you have to be practical and budget your resources. If you are in a situation where you are forced to slow down and take some time, then it makes sense to budget that time to rest and renew your spirit.

Later, when you are rushing forward and desperately trying to make up time, you won’t be able to rest. Rest, meditate, and take time to enjoy life when you can, or you will burn yourself out. Humans are not perpetual motion machines so we need to take time to do our own routine maintenance. Otherwise, you’ll blow a gasket later on when you don’t have time for it.

Even with a flashlight, you can only see so far ahead

My underwater camera has a flash that will allow me to take pictures even when it is very dark, but even with a flash, you can only see a certain well-defined area within the circle of light. Beyond that, there is nothing but inky blackness. In fact, using a flashlight to try to see better makes it easier to see the area right in front of you, but makes it harder to see into the distance.

Sometimes that is true in life as well. We all get lost or off track at times, even with GPS. Wise seamen know that even if you don’t know where you are, you are somewhere. Don’t panic – if a storm comes up, do what you have to and ride it out. Being prepared beforehand will keep you better off if you find yourself in the dark. Eventually you will find your way out again, so don’t be afraid.
 

I truly believe that living these principles of the sea in everday life, is the key to success. Slow down, be prepared, and when the unexpected happens, you’ll be ready for it.

Jacob Mojiwat is passionate about the ocean and water sports. Currently he is sharing the wonders of scuba diving in Malaysia with others. His company puts together Asia diving packages for an unparalleled diving experiences.

By Jakob Barry

Everyone’s dream job is to be doing something they enjoy but unfortunately that’s not the case for a large segment of the population, especially in these tough economic times. Rather than holding off on opportunities in order to pursue more meaningful ones many people are settling for whatever they can find in order to pay the bills; a fine and commendable decision but it does have a price.

For example, when spending a third of the day or more at the office five days a week personal interests are often shelved for long periods of time -an unhealthy predicament for the creative individual. In order for a person to really shine such interests need to be fed but how is this done with so few minutes in the day?

Even when time presents itself exhaustion or the need to take it easy sometimes coerces us into watching TV shows passing out on our favorite comfortable chair.

To win the battle takes a lot of effort yet surprisingly, the key to making it happen is no secret. It’s all about maximizing time both at work and at home.

Maximizing time at work:

1. Prioritize: Get work done on time and don’t take it home. Set daily goals so when you leave work accomplishments are recognized. Even if you don’t finish what you set out to do, make what’s left a part of the next day’s goals. Bringing work or work-related stress home diverts important energy away from family responsibilities and creative activities. Have a positive outlook that everything is for the good and what you are doing now will benefit you down the road.  
2. Exercise: Many people think exercising is only about loosing weight or competing but the truth is when you feel good physically other faculties are optimized. Whether it’s a short jog, doing yoga, or an actual sport, working out will help you concentrate on the moment. Find time to fit it in.
3. Eat right. This doesn’t just mean eating well. Consuming too much food can make a person lethargic compromising daily goals. Learn to listen to your body when it’s saying “enough.” Also, instead of drinking a lot of caffeinated soda and sugar drinks which can dry you out find simple and healthy ways to keep going.

Maximizing time at home:

1. Prioritize: Don’t come home and spend time thinking about what to do; already have it planned out. It’s a no-brainer that when you come home after a long day you’ll be tired so when family responsibilities are complete regulate personal down time and then get focused.
2. Exercise: Many people think exercising tires you out but this isn’t so. Once a routine is established exercising gets the heart pumping waking you up. Essentially, it’s another tool for focusing. If you can’t exercise in the morning before work, try the evening. A work out and shower will get your creative senses and thinking processes flowing.
3. Eat right: If you intend to maximize your time into the late night eat earlier and try avoiding heavy foods, which will tire you out and most likely contribute to a slow start the next day. Don’t rely on caffeine for that drive through the night. Teach your mind to be your wings and carry you.

Finally, it’s understood not everybody’s schedule is the same but these suggestions can be applied in different ways through various formats. The most important thing to remember is even when life appears to have made it almost impossible to move forward creatively, don’t give up; keep following your dreams.

Jakob Barry writes for Networx.com, a growing community of users sharing home improvement projects and monitoring new ones in real time allowing homeowners and contractors to get the most from their resources. He covers various home improvement topics, including green lighting ideas, reducing household allergens, and home safety awareness.

Related Posts:

Are You Pursuing Your Own Goals – Or Filling Quotas Set by Others?
Manage Your Distractions to Take Control of Your Time
Can Higher Energy Lead You to Success?
Majoring on the Majors by Learning to Say NO
Focusing on Your Areas of Brilliance
Imagine Being Owned by No One…

Others cannot set goals for you, only you can – “Goals” set by others are really “quotas”

By Dave Kelly, Professional Speaker

“I am in excellent, physical condition.”

So goes one of the affirmations that I tell myself on a daily basis. Yet, I must admit, it is not true—not now, anyway. Affirmations do not have to be true in the here-and-now to be valid, but they do have to be something we commit to making true in the future.

I have had people ask me how can I be a “motivational” speaker and not be in peak physical condition? Well, after all, there is a niche for everything and everyone! Actually, changing my physical status has not been a goal for me, until now. I believe in speaking things into being and also sharing your goals and dreams with others. By writing this post, I am committing myself to making some positive changes that you should be able to see very soon.

Why not before now? Because it was not a priority for me. It has not been a goal that I could or would truthfully pursue.

Goals versus Quotas

I have had plenty of people tell me that I should do something. I may have even lost speaking opportunities as a result. The thing to understand, though, is that no one—not a boss, not a loved one, not a client—can ever set a “goal” for you. If they attempt to do so, they are actually making a “quota” for you. A quota is someone else’s expectation of what your performance should be.

Are you in sales? Your boss is not giving you a monthly, quarterly, or annual goal. You are getting a quota.

Does your spouse or partner want you to make a certain amount of money? It’s not a goal, it’s a quota.

Does your child want you to play for so many minutes before you do something else? If you do not buy into it, commit to it, and believe in it, then it is a quota. And quotas are not any fun.

Ever hear of anyone offering a “Quota Achievement Program”? Probably not. How about sitting down to do some ‘quota setting”. Oooooo, how fun (he said sarcastically).

And by the way, I will stack up my record of achieving my goals against anyone. I know how to do it and I always succeed.

So, here I go! Stay tuned and let’s see how things look come New Year’s Eve. Along the way, I will share with you how I am progressing on my journey.

In the meantime, don’t get discouraged by other people’s “quotas”. Get energized by your goals!

So my questions to you: Are pursuing your own goals – or filling quotas set by others? Do you believe in “speaking things into being”, also known as “affirmations”?

Dave Kelly is a professional speaker and host of the website Gonzospeaks.com, and a contributing writer here on OutOfYourRut.com. His career story is also a feature here at Professional Speaking—Turning a Hobby Into a Career. Dave is available for speaking engagements either through his website or by emailing Kevin at OutOfYourRut.

Better control of your time means more control of your income and your finances

By Dave Kelly

So, I have been thinking about this… wait just a minute, someone is calling me on my cell phone. “Hello, this is Dave Kelly. Yup. Um-huh. Real World: Motivational Speakers? I like it. Send me an email. Thanks.”

Sorry about that. Anyway, I was going to say… wait, now my phone is buzzing. A text message. Oh, that’s good. Gotta text back. “U R kidding. LOL. HA!”

So, the thing with distractions is… A tweet! Let me see, what is my friend, who tweets his every move fifty-plus times a day, up to?

Getting the point?

And that is just from one medium of distraction, my cell phone.

What else do you have going on? Video games? Facebook? TV? Boyfriend – girlfriend – husband -wife? Multiples of those?

No matter what your distractions are, choose to manage them in an intelligent way. Just because your phone rings, you DO NOT have to answer it. That is what voice mail is for. Do you spend all day checking email? Really, are you that important that the latest set of joke motivation posters can’t sit in your email box until later in the day? Set aside a certain time or a couple of times per day when you will check email. If something is urgent, let the person call you.

We have fallen into this “you’re it” mentality with email wherein if I send you a message about something, it is now your responsibility. Other than in a work hierarchy, do not let people do that to you. Remember, “Failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”

Love “Family Guy”? That’s OK, it’s fine to have programs you enjoy. They are great for relaxing and forgetting about the day. However, that program comes on in Atlanta from 7-8 pm on “Peachtree TV”, some nights from 8-10 pm on “TBS”, and from 11 pm-midnight on “Cartoon Network”. If you sit there for all five hours, taking in “King of the Hill” from 10-11 pm as a sorbet, who is in control? You or the electronic device that you bought?

Have you fallen madly in love and found your soul mate? Great! You want to spend every waking minute either with them/talking to them/thinking about them/texting them? And, at the same time, maybe not so great (but certainly understandable). You have to take control of those feelings in order to be productive. Put your soul mate’s picture on your desk and limit your contacts to either certain times when you can talk or a maximum number of texts per day.

You control your time, if you choose to. You can make it productive time or you can let it get away from you.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch Jack Bauer save the world (“24”, everyday at noon on the Crime Investigation Network). Hey, it’s my lunch hour!

Do you need a great inspirational speaker for your next event?

No matter what you call it, I am available for your next conference, convention, conclave, convocation, reunion, rally, workshop, ed session, orientation, meeting, before/during/after breakfast/lunch/dinner, gathering, commencement, groundbreaking, team building, staff development, leadership retreat, continuing education, ceremony, assembly, congress, council, confab, forum, roundtable, symposium, opening session, closing session, or any session in between. I present practical information in a fun and informative manner with humor, stories of overcoming obstacles, and with anecdotes about cats, football, and biscuits and gravy (among others). I can entertain and inspire your audience for 15 minutes to as long as you need me to. Please call or email me and we can easily work out the details! To see what dates I have available, feel free to contact me via email.

By Paul Williams

Budget. It’s a four-letter word to many people. We hate the
restriction, the deprivation, and tracking all the little details.
But personal finance experts continue to tell us we need a budget.
Don’t get me wrong. Budgets are very useful tools. I think everyone
should try to use one (or something like it) if they really want to
have control over their finances. But I wonder if we don’t go about
it the wrong way when we try to implement budgets.

For someone who’s never had a budget, the whole process can seem
daunting and mysterious. What’s the right way to budget? Why should
I even do it? How do I track all my expenses? While budgets are
quite simple (a list of income and expenses with goals), there are a
number of questions that can come up for the uninitiated. They find
some answers from people who seem confident and knowledgeable and away
they go. They make up their first budget and set high goals. Maybe
it looks like this:

That’s not a bad start. It’s probably missing some categories, but
they covered the major areas. The problem is this person’s been used
to spending $200 a month eating out, goes to a couple movies every
month with their friends, and buys every new Apple gadget the comes
out. Their actual spending is nowhere near their “ideal” budget, but
they don’t think about that.

They try to stick to this new budget, but amazingly they fail. After
going two weeks without a movie or eating out, they cave in and
splurge. They can’t resist the new iPad and buy it even though they
didn’t budget for it. Then they wonder why they didn’t save anything
at the end of the month.

A Better Way?

I think the problem with shooting for your “ideal” budget all at once
is that it requires major changes immediately. It feels like
deprivation. It feels painful. And we don’t like pain. So we give
up on the budget, declare it doesn’t work, and go back to our old
ways.

But maybe there’s a better way. What if we didn’t try to fix our
spending in one fell swoop? What if we simply focused on one or two
areas at a time – making small, incremental improvements every month?
It might take longer, but your chances of successfully reaching your
goal are likely increased. Here’s what this process might look like.

First, track your spending. Without knowing where your money is
going, how will you know where you need to focus? I suggest using
something like Mint or Quicken for this. It takes a little bit of
time to set up, but it can be fairly automatic after that. Do this
for a month and you’ll see where most of your money is going. (It
won’t capture everything because some expenses are irregular or
semi-annual.)

Next, take a look at your spending. Pick one or two areas you’d like
to cut back on. (Or choose to focus on increasing your income.) Set
a reasonable goal for yourself. If you’ve been spending $200 a month
eating out, it’ll be hard to drop down to $50 a month right away.
Instead, start smaller and grow from there. Maybe a goal of $150 or
$175 would be better. Give the money you’ll save a job (like
increasing your savings or paying off debt). Spend the next month
focused on your efforts in these one or two areas. Keep tracking your
spending.

Rinse, lather, repeat. As you continue going through this process,
you’ll make small changes that are noticeable but not drastic. It
might take a year or two to get where you really want to be, but
that’s better than setting ridiculous goals and giving up right away.

This Won’t Work for Everyone

This method probably isn’t ideal for someone who needs to make a big
change fast. If you’re drowning in debt or having a major spending
problem, you’ll have to make a few drastic choices right away. But
once you’re in a sustainable mode, you can start using this strategy.

And I’m not going to pretend this is something new. I’m sure someone
else has suggested it before. I just think it could be a better
alternative for those who have struggled with budgeting in the past.
What do you think? Is this a reasonable process for achieving a goal?
All it really amounts to is breaking a big goal down into bite-size
pieces. Share your thoughts and tips in the comments, and let’s see
if we can improve this idea.

This guest post was written by Paul Williams, a Christian
financial planner in Pennsylvania. Paul regularly writes about personal
finance from a Christian perspective on his website,
Provident Planning.

Have you ever tried building a budget a few expenses at a time? Do you
think going “cold turkey” on spending would be a better way to develop a budget?
Do you have any other ideas on how to implement a budget for someone who’s
never had one?

Controlling our tendency toward Creative Avoidance

By Kevin M

How is it that that some people seem enormously successful, yet astoundingly they have more free time than the rest of us? Have you ever noticed as well that some people who are incredibly busy are at best only moderately successful? Perhaps you’re one of them, always busy, but not having as much to show for your efforts as you think you should.

The typical human reaction to this apparent contradiction in the natural order of things is to assume that the successful person with all the time on his hands is a) lucky, b) has an “in” with important people, and even c) must be doing something unethical, immoral or illegal.

While each of those considerations isn’t beyond the realm of possibility, there’s a far greater chance that the successful person with all of the free time on his hands has found a way to
maximize his results while minimizing his efforts. He manages to do this by saying “NO” to unproductive tasks, either by making it clear to others up front that he won’t engage himself in them, or by simply refusing to participate.

Logically, isn’t that what we should all be doing?

Being busy won’t get you where you want to go

No one wins a prize, lands an important client or earns the biggest paycheck as a result of being the busiest person. Having been in that very position myself, I’ve learned that the busiest person in a company, department or family is often the organizational enabler, making it possible for others to engineer great accomplishments.

Sadly, the busiest person in an organization isn’t even the person most likely to be promoted. That’s quite possibly because the decision makers want the busy person right where she is, cleaning up and plugging holes for others. Every organization needs just such a person doing exactly what she does right where she is.

There’s nothing wrong with being diligent, with being the “go-to” guy or girl in your organization, but if you want more out of your job or career, or want to break into something completely different, you’ll need to get over your addiction to busyness and focus your efforts primarily on activities that will put the most money in your pocket—majoring on the majors!

In order to do that, we need to learn to say “no” or to otherwise disengage ourselves from unproductive activities.

Majoring on the minors

When your income is thoroughly dependent on accomplishing a relatively small number of major projects that define your career, all that efficiency you develop on small tasks becomes counter productive.

We can become so comfortable handling a large number of small tasks in assembly line fashion, that major projects can “get in the way”, always being relegated to the bottom of a never ending To Do List!

Being massively efficient in getting small tasks done can produce a false sense of security. We’re busy getting a lot of details taken care of so we feel as if we’re productive. But if we finish many small tasks and by the end of the day we haven’t completed that one major project or closed sale, we’ve failed to make meaningful progress. A complete shift in mindset is required.

Getting out of the weeds

We’ve all heard the term, “you can’t see the forest for the trees”, and that’s basically what happens when we get so caught up in the details of our business that we’re deep in it, but never on top of it. In that position we’re unaware of the big picture and thus unable to work it to any real advantage.

What can we do to get out of the weeds and centered on majoring on the majors in our careers or businesses?

Establish priorities. At the risk of being redundant, the priority must become the priority! All other distractions need to be delegated, discarded or otherwise minimized. The reality of life is that there will always be endless details that need to be attended, and we need to find ways to manage these. Succeeding at one major activity has more life transforming potential than accomplishing a dozen minor tasks efficiently.

Clear away the clutter. Look for ways to simplify life. We buy things and involve ourselves in more activities than we can comfortably accommodate. In business, if something isn’t working, get rid of it. Also eliminate business activities that are only marginally useful. The key is to clear your desk and your schedule to spend as much time as possible on activities that put money in your pocket.

Focus on the major objective. Our major objective has to be in front of us at all times, otherwise “urgent but not important” tasks will continue to dominate our time and energy. Only by concentrating our most productive time and efforts on life changing activities can we hope to get from where we are to where we want to go. The objective must be central in our thinking and planning. Use placards or computer screen savers posting your major objective so you’ll always be aware of it, then prepare to always work the details around the objective.

Concentrate on the one or two things you do best. Most of us can do one or two things very well, but when we get caught up trying to do too many things, we become the preverbal “jack of all trades, master of none”. While the rest of the world works 40, 50, 60 hours per week and more, many successful people work only 20-30 hours. But the entirety of that time is spent working on activities that put money in their pockets. We can’t balance the trivial with the meaningful, because the trivial has no constructive limit. And no matter how much of the trivial we work on, it won’t change our circumstances.

Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen (see ad banner to the left of this post) and Les Hewitt, success coaches and authors of The Power of Focus: What the Worlds Greatest Achievers Know about The Secret of Financial Freedom and Success (available at Amazon) had this to say on the subject:

“Working harder and longer hours will not solve your dilemma…You must invest most of your time every week doing what you do best, and let others do what they do best.”

“Remember, your bottom line income is directly linked to the amount of time spent in our areas of brilliance.”

Manage your time. Learn what times of the day you’re most productive, and dedicate that time to your major objective. It’s not always a matter of time invested, but the quality of the time that makes the difference. If you’re a morning person, block out the first four or five hours of each day for your major objective, and hold detail work for later in the day. The key is to give your major objective your best time.

Guard your non-business activities. One of the often ignored “details” in life is what we do in our non-business time. In trying to accomplish anything worthwhile, we may have to give up some un-productive spare time activities in favor of greater effort at our major objective. One of the biggest time wasters is television, but it has plenty of company in the form of computer games, shopping and various gadget obsessions. Simplicity requires that we eliminate as many non-essential past times as possible. Upshot: once we begin succeeding in our major objective, we’ll have even more time for non-business activities.

Take charge of “people issues”. Do you have people in your life who always need your attention? You know, the type who always seem to have a crisis going on. And always said person comes to you to help them weather the storm. The problem is that their storm never seems to end, and neither does your involvement. If you have people like this in your life, you may need to find a way of gently moving them out of your way. Immediate family are your obligations, but friends, coworkers and extended family are another matter entirely. It’s one thing to help someone through a crisis, but quite another when their entire lives are one giant crisis. This is draining emotionally, and it will take away from your major objective.

 
The key is to focus your best time on your goals—to major on the majors—to minimize attention to never ending detail and learning to say “no”, either literally or figuratively, to people and activities that take you away from that objective.
 

If you’re making a significant change in your life, what are some methods your using to keep you focused on majoring on the majors?”