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Each week receive exciting news, tips, articles and advice on how to be the successful person you've always wanted to be.
"Self Improvement Front Line" will guide you along the path to achieving all your goals in life with regular sections on all the important facets of your personal development.
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Newsletter 006
In "Self Improvement Front Line" this week:
* What Will You Achieve In 2008?
* 5 Positive Actions You Can Do Each Day
* Take Control of Your Time
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What Will You Achieve In 2008?
First of all I want to wish you a Very Happy New Year and I
hope that 2008 brings you everything that you wish for yourself.
Of course, as you probably know, just wishing for it is not
quite enough. It's down to you to make things happen.
You may have made your New Year's Resolutions over the last
couple of days. But if you have then don't be just like the
vast majority of people and just as quickly forget about them.
Resolutions are just simple goals and shouldn't be limited to
New Year. Every day gives you the opportunity to set your own
goals and every day provides you with opportunities to achieve
them. It really is possible to get what you want in life just as
long as the goals you set are realistic and truly meaningful.
You should be able to picture clearly in your mind what the
outcome of attaining your goals will be. You should formulate
definite real images of what you will gain, how you will feel,
and exatly what it will mean to you when the time arrives.
And when will that time of reaching your goals actually be?
Well you should have realistic time scales for achieving them.
If they are large goals then break them down into smaller parts
with specific times set for their completion.
Use lists to identify each task or thing you must do to reach
your objectives and then check them off as you go. That one act
in itself can be hugely satisfying and will motivate you to
move onto the next part.
So make sure you have clear, realistic and timed goals with a
definite vision of what their achievement will mean to you.
And work on them every day!
The following article will help you to get to where you want
to be.
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5 Positive Actions You Can Do Each Day
Do you take positive steps towards your life goals each day?
You should because it is so easy for you to become negative and
pass negative thoughts to your subconscious mind. The more you
do so, the more you will continue down that path.And so the
less you will achieve.
Some years back, before I had my own business, I worked in
Sales Management in the Construction Industry. The company I
worked for had a National Sales Force consisting of Regional
and Area Sales Managers. Some were very successful, some just
made steady progress, and others struggled.
Now there was one Area Sales Manager, I'll call him Bob
(although that's not his real name), who was one of the steady
ones.He ran a well-established territory with a good, solid
customer base and his sales figures were usually about on
target.He was never going to pull up any trees but he was doing
OK.
But he could have done so much more. He was intelligent, he got
on well with people and his product knowledge was second to
none.But he fell into the trap of negativity.
You see whenever he had to talk about the business in his
territory, whether face-to-face or in a sales meeting he became
known for one thing.He probably didn't realise he was doing it,
but every he time he spoke on the topic, he began with the
phrase, "the problem with my area is..."
Immediately he had put himself into negative mode and also
immediately he had those who were listening to him on a downer.
In fact do you think, after hearing that introduction, that
anyone was really going to listen? Not likely!
There was so much positive to say but he chose to focus on what
he perceived to be a problem.
Do you know anyone like Bob?
The chances are that you do. And there's also a danger that you
could be projecting that image yourself. You see Bob probably
didn't know that he used that phrase so much, he certainly
wasn't aware that it was known as his catchphrase amongst his
colleagues, and he didn't realise the negative image he
projected of himself. But also importantly he probably wasn't
aware that each time he said "the problem with my area is.."
that he was conditioning his mind to be negative.
So how can you avoid falling into that trap?
Well the simple answer is to ensure that you are always positive.
Now it may not always be easy, we all have problems and
challenges in our lives, but taking positive steps each day will
always be the way forward.
Here's a few pointers to the sort of actions you can take:
- Smile! As silly as it sounds, simply smiling at yourself in
the mirror at the start of each day really can be a boost.
Smile at the people you meet, and even try smiling when you
are on the phone - just try it and you'll see how much more
positive you feel even on the most difficult of phone calls.
- Challenge yourself. Each day set yourself something you must
achieve. It needn't be a massive task or project, it could
simply be something like clearing out the spare room or
writing that thank you note to your aunt for the birthday
present she sent you. You decide, but each day have a
challenge and see how satisfied you feel when it's done.
- Do something new each day. It's easy to get stuck in the same
old routine, so each day do something new.Once again it can be
a simple thing, like reading a magazine article about a topic
you wouldn't normally be interested in or even taking lunch
in a new restaurant or coffee shop. Having new experiences
will help to open up your mind to lots of new opportunities.
- Give. In some way try to give something to someone. It
doesn't have to be a material thing, just giving help in some
way will boost your positive energy.
- Be grateful. Saying thank you and meaning it for anything you
receive or for something someone does for you will make you
feel good about yourself. Think about what you have in life
too - good health, great friends and a loving family, and all
the skills you have, and be truly grateful for them. Think
positive and you will feel positive.
Make sure that you develop these actions into habits. Creating
good habits is a surefire way to ensure that you take positive
steps in life and avoid those negative thoughts.
Oh!,and back to Bob. Well sadly the time came when the company
had to make cuts because of a slowdown in business.Some people
lost their jobs and guess who was one of the first to go.
That's right good old Bob.
So don't let negativity dictate to you.
Be positive!
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Take Control of Your Time
One of the keys to taking control of your life and getting to
where you want to be is by ensuring that you are in control of
your own time.
There are many significant ways in which you can improve the
management of your time and these pointers should help to get
you started in the right way:
- Examine how you spend your time at present. Define how many
minutes or hours you dedicate to specific tasks. Is that
time well spent?
- Put a value on your time. This is particularly important if
you work for yourself. Work out how much you need to earn
in the year. Then calculate how many hours you are going to
work. It is important here to be honest about how many of
those hours will be truly productive, some say it will be as
little as two hours each working day. Then simply divide your
required income by the number of hours and you will have the
value of one hour of your time. Remember this figure when
you start to plan your tasks and also when people want to
phone you or visit. It's a bit of a cliche, but time really
is money!
- Remember to set clearly defined goals and have "Smart"
objectives; specific,measurable,achievable,realistic, and
time-bound.
- Do you waste time sorting through unsolicited E-mails? Then
set up Spam filters to stop them.
- A "to do list" is essential in the first part of planning
how you use your time. But when you've still got items on it
at the end of the day it can be a little demoralising. So
start using a "Did It" list as well. Then you can look at
the end of the day and see what you have achieved. That
will boost your sense of fulfilment.
- Schedule time for your personal development. Allow for
reading and attending training events like workshops or
seminars. If you fail to continue to learn you will get
left behind and achieving your objectives will become much
harder.
- In industry the term "tooling up" is the process of
preparing machinery for the task ahead. You need to mentally
"tool up" to get yourself in the right frame of mind for
the day ahead. You must be focussed.
The secret to having control of your time is to plan so that
you work smarter, not harder. So make that your goal today.
I hope you have enjoyed reading these tips and that your
journey to better time management is successful. Over the
coming weeks we will return to this topic but for now I
recommend that you check out a book called,
"Super Tactics of Time Management Experts".
You can find out more by clicking below:
http://thimarket5.nemockllc.hop.clickbank.net/
It's well worth it!
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