1. How to keep up with life’s challenges

    September 5, 2014

    How to keep up with life's challenges

    Life is complicated and it only seems to get more demanding every day. What can you do when you’re already doing your best and, despite your great physical and mental effort you are always behind? You are stressed and disappointed to see your goals in life not being met and unfinished tasks just keep piling up. Many of us are perfectionists, but under constant stress your perfectionism transforms into “neurotic perfectionism”, which results in mental disorders such as anxiety, eating disorders, depression, and even personality disorders.

    So what’s the answer? To learn how to be efficient with your time and to get your mind set on fulfilling your goals. Here are few tips that may help.

    Overwhelmed? Delegate or Prioritize.

    When is it too much? It seems like we all need to be super-humans these days. It’s not exactly a crime to admit it is too much and humanly impossible to get it done. Management experts often say that the key management skill is to delegate! So, does everything really need to be on your shoulders and only up to you? One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned professionally is that no one is irreplaceable. It’s a great humility lesson. If someone else can do it, then there’s no need to try and be wonder-woman or super-man! (And most likely fail at it, adding more frustration and more stress to your life). And when you cannot delegate (or in addition to delegation), prioritize. Create a list that assigns priorities to your tasks and goals. Sounds obvious? Sure, but very few of us do it and this simple approach can work miracles.

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  2. Achieving Your Health Goals with Nutrisystem

    October 30, 2013

    Breaking mental barriers is often necessary to achieve your goals. Our thoughts precede our emotions, and our emotions fuel our actions. This is true when you want to lose weight, too. You first need to see it in your mind. You need to visualize yourself fit and healthy. Once you bring into your mind those emotions of having energy, vitality, and looking good, then taking action toward achieving a healthier you becomes easier. You don’t need to push yourself every morning to exercise and eat healthy. Instead, your goal pulls you into taking the right action.

    I recently read about Robert, an obese individual who achieved his weight loss dream after realizing that the battle is in his mind. He eliminated barriers in his mind that had sabotaged his previous weight loss attempts. For the first time he started picturing himself thin, healthy, and whole. The change came from a program called Nutrisystem.

    Achieving Your Health Goals

    So what is a Nutrisystem? It is a weight loss program that began as meeting places to provide products and counseling for success.  Since the late 1990s, the program was changed and designed to sell directly to the consumer, becoming one of the most popular online resources for easy, healthy weight loss.  It is implemented for people of all ages and genders, from plans to help the diabetic, teens ages 14 to 17, women, vegetarians and individuals of senior years.  You choose your plan, make your food choices and watch the foods get delivered straight to your door.  While on the program, you have total support from staff and a forum of other members who are on the same weight loss journey. Robert from South Carolina was looking for such help and decided to take the plunge.

     

    How Robert Succeeded with Nutrisystem

     

    Robert, like so many of us, has tried every diet plan for the past 20 years in hopes of shedding some pounds.  He heard of the Nutrisystem program and decided to give it a try, noticing progress in only a few days from the date he received his food order.  Robert was so happy with the food choices and the ability to adapt the foods to meet his irregular work and eating schedule.  What impressed him was the personal support by real people.  He stated that “questions I had were always answered by a real person that seemed to actually care about me.”

     

    Beside the personal support, Robert was delighted with all the online tools to success such as the ability to set realistic goals, weight tracking, interacting with others he can relate to, feedback and comments from the community along with menu and recipe ideas using the Nutrisystem foods.  In order to fit his busy schedule, Robert was able to download a diet tracker onto his cell phone for continual help, losing a permanent weight loss of 80 pounds.

     

    For those who worry that pounds will try to return, he offers some tips; read labels, eat healthy snacks, watch sodium intake and calories.  Through the Nutrisystem program, you learn healthy eating habits for long-term success.  It is always helpful to have the love and support of friends, co-workers, others on the weight loss journey and family.

     

    Savings on the Way to Weight Loss

     

    People most often feel that Nutrisystem can be a costly weight loss choice although it is economical if you consider the cost of groceries compared to the foods provided.  To make the plan more affordable, nutrisystem.com and various other sites offer discounts to encourage membership and weight loss.  Some discount options can be found at weightlosstriumph.com while others are available at savings.com.  Such discounts may include $50 discount from your first order with a 20 percent discount on subsequent auto-delivery orders, $30 off of your first order plus the special going on right now for 35 percent off of your first order and 5 percent every month thereafter, up to a total of a 50 percent discount.  If you choose to order ala carte and form your own plan, you can order a membership for about $50 which guarantees you 20 percent off all subsequent orders and free delivery for up to a year. You choose the plan that best meets your needs.

     

    Weight Loss Options Similar to Nutrisystem

     

    It is sometimes difficult to make a decision on choosing the best weight loss program.  Some of the plans similar to Nutrisystem are Jenny Craig and Medifast along with other options such as Weight Watchers, ediets.com and dietsonthego.com that can help you choose the best plan that meets your needs and lifestyle.  You just need to do your research if you are looking for the best eating plan that fits your schedule and way of life.

     

    What keeps you from achieving your goal?

     

    Perhaps, you don’t have a strong “why” behind it. Whether you want to lose weight, make more money, or find the mate of your soul, breaking emotional and mental barriers is necessary to realize your dream. Once you clarify your goal and empower it with a strong “why”, then commit to making it happen. Robert succeeded because he made a commitment, and so can you.

     

    Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32447182@N00/4895571106/

     


  3. How discipline can change your life

    April 1, 2013

    marathon runners

    Image Credit: Marcos Vasconcelos

    by Lima Curtis

    Runners have a saying: “No one ever says, ‘Wow, I regret that run,’” but the same sentiment can be applied to every action in your life.

    It’s human nature that we are always trying to better ourselves, whether it is reading more, going to bed earlier, or simply drinking less coffee.  However, each of these decisions requires a certain amount of discipline, which if we lack, means we don’t do what we set out to do, and end up feeling guilty.

    But how can we introduce more discipline in our lives?

    Join forces. If you want to improve your mind or body, chances are there is someone you know who has the same goals as you. So if you want to be better read, create a book club, invite your friends and colleagues and have fun. It’s a great way to socialise and to discipline yourself to read more.

    It could be you want to improve your yoga technique, if you promise a friend you will practise with them, you will learn to discipline yourself to keep going. As well as looking forward to seeing your friend, with their encouragement you will see yourself getting better before you know it.

    But not with the wrong people! If, for example,  you are trying to give up smoking, this requires a huge amount of will power, so don’t hang around people who smoke! As your self-discipline improves you will be able to put yourself back into situations you previously felt you had no control in, but whilst you are starting out it’s easiest to cut all ties with situations or triggers that weaken your resolve.

    Write your targets down. It may remind you of being back in the classroom, but a tick chart can really help. Write down your goals across the top of your paper, eg drink three cups of green tea and the days of the week down the side. Then tick the days if you achieve your goal. Seeing your actions on paper can give you the discipline you need to achieve your goal/s.

    Self actualise. Of course it is easier to sit on the sofa eating cereal than trying to gather the motivation to run around the park, but if you take five minutes to close your eyes and visualise your goal, you will find yourself lacing your trainers before you know it.

    Sometimes taking time out to think about what you want to gain, rather than what you have to do to gain it, can encourage you to discipline yourself to do it.

    Go public. Like the tick chart, telling people what you are doing, or what you are trying to achieve is a great way of making your goal more tangible. If you are aiming to run a 10k for charity, then no doubt you will have told lots of people what you are doing and why.

    If you feel like you might be letting someone else down, rather than just yourself, you will be more encouraged to work at your goal and discipline yourself to complete the task in hand.

    Small steps. It would be absolutely incredible if you were to give up smoking, learn a new language and complete a half marathon overnight. But these are all things that can be achieved in a year.

    One of the best ways to develop and implement your self-discipline is to take small achievable steps. For example, for the first week swap one coffee for green tea, the second week continue, but do 20 sit ups every morning.

    The euphoria you get from feeling healthier, but also knowing you are achieving your goals should be more than enough to encourage you to continue on your new disciplined self.