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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 011
In "Self Improvement Front Line" this week:
* Who's Making Your Decisions?
* The Key To Effective Time Management
* 5 Good Habits To Develop
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Who's Making Your Decisions?
Each day we all make decisions. We decide what to wear, what to
eat, what to watch on television, when to go to bed,...and lots
more simple things. And we make them easily, usually without a
great deal of thought.We simply make the decisions based on what
pleases us.
But is that the case for all the things you have to make
decisions about in life?
Probably not! Certainly for most people anyway there are a
whole load of other influences that dictate what they do.
What about you?
Can you truly say that you control your own life and the
direction it is taking?
Now obviously there are always things that you must do that are
not a matter of choice. There are laws you must obey and if you
work for someone else or attend colege then you have an
obligation to do what you are told.
But when it comes to the big decisions in life you really must
take control. Otherwise how can you really do anything about
achieving your goals?
Throughout our lives we are conditioned to believe we must do
certain things or act in particular ways. But that sometimes
means we do things for the wrong motives. For instance most of
us are told as children by our parents and by our teachers that
we need to work hard to get a good job and a career. But just
what is a good job?
You see I had what people would call a good job for many years.
In fact I worked my way up through the company to a position of
national responsibility with a big salary, company car, expense
account, and lots of other perks.On the outside it looked great,
and for a long time it was, but eventually it got where I
started to hate it. On a regular basis I found myself having
to do things that I really didn't want to.
It wasn't one of those situations where I hated my boss, in fact
I got on really well with him and he was a great guy. But I was
just no longer happy doing the job. But I had "a good job" and
"a career",just the things I had been conditioned to believe
from an early age that I should strive for. And for a while I
almost felt guilty about the fact that I wanted to pack it in!
But I did! I made the decision, I trusted myself to do what
felt right, and I've never looked back.
But there can be lots of influences that make you do things
that perhaps you don't want to. The belief that it is the
right thing to do, the opinions of friends or family, the fact
that you want to go along with the crowd. These can all
influence your decisions but do they really get you doing the
things that make you happy and contented? It can be hard, but
sometimes you just have to make a break and trust yourself to
make your own decisions.
So look at your life at present and decide if there are things
you are doing that you dislike but you do them to please someone
else or because it's "the right thing to do".
Take a look at what influences you. It might seem difficult but
sometimes you need to quit that "good job", or end that unhappy
relationship or move away from that circle of negative-minded
friends.
Decide just who makes your decisions and if you don't like what
you find do something about it.
And do it today!!
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The key To Effective Time Management
Learning to use lists is the key to effective time management
and whilst you need to have a "To Do" list, it is perhaps a
more effective tool to have a "Did It" list too.
But there is more you can do with lists if you wish to truly
gain control of your time.
But let's start at the beginning.
The first thing you've got to do is put together your list of
things you need to do. It's vital that you simply sit down with
a pen and a sheet of paper and write down everything that you
can think of.
The full list will depend on whether you are simply seeking to
affect your work time or if you want to get full control of your
time in all aspects of your life.
When I first started working this way I simply went for the whole
lot - work, home, leisure, even all the mundane chores that have
to be done. If you put them all on the first list you will see
the benefit later.
Use the brainstorming method and just write everything down.
The sorting part comes next.
You need to look at all the tasks you have on your list and put
them into three simple categories. They are - the things that
you must do, the things that you should do, and the things that
you want to do.
Next you need to break them down further. Start with those things
that you must do:
When must they be done?
Is it a one-off task?
If it is a routine item is it something that must be done every
day, or is it a once a week or once a month item?
If it needs doing immediately, does that mean it must be today
or can it go onto a task list for tomorrow?
You should quickly be able to separate these must-do tasks into
a more manageable list.
Next go to your want to do items. These are things that should
really drive you in your efforts to manage your time because it
is these that you will be doing when you are truly in control.
So look at them and try to decide which one is the most important.
For each one ask yourself:
How long will it take?
How much will it cost?
Is it realistic?
Do I have the skills or resources to do it?
What benefit will I get from it?
Do I really want to do it?
Sometimes when you actually sit down and analyse these things
you find that some of them are not what you actually want to
do at all!
Once you've tackled these categories you can start to look at
your "should do" list. This is possibly the hardest, but also
the most important to get right.
Are the things on your "should do" list really things that you
must do, it's just that you are putting them off. Or are they
actually things that you don't really have to do at all, maybe
you just feel obliged to do them.
One of the important steps in getting control of your time is
learning to say no! Now's a good time to start.So get rid of
those things that you really don't have to do at all.
By looking at these three groups and working through them you
will be ready to start putting the items onto more clearly
defined lists that will get you managing your time far more
effectively.
Remember too that you can get much more advice from "Super
Tactics of Time Management Experts".
You can still get to the website by clicking below:
http://thimarket5.nemockllc.hop.clickbank.net/
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5 Good Habits To Develop
One of the secrets of successful people is that they develop
good habits. They do things every day that help them to reach
their goals. And by doing them each day they become a natural
part of their life.
If you learn to do the same you will be taking an important
step towards realising your own ambitions. So here are some
suggestions for things that you can do each day:
- Be positive. Always look for the good in people and give
praise rather than criticise.
- Cherish the good times. Each day you have things happen that
are pleasing, It might just be a tasty meal or a smile from
someone, but whatever it is take time to be grateful. Let the
moment linger and actually tell yourself that it was good
and how it made you feel.
- Learn something new. Just find the time to read a few pages
of a book or a magazine or newspaper article about
something new to you. Or just visit a new website.
- Be good to yourself. We all get tied down with
responsibilities but at least once a day take time to do
something for yourself. And tell yourself how it makes you
feel.
- Start the day the right way. When you get up in the morning
look in the mirror, smile, and tell yourself that today you
will stick to your good habits.Repeat it a number of times
and convince yourself that you will do it.
The last point is the most important. No matter what good habits
you decide to develop, and you should try to think of lots more
of your own, you must have a genuine desire to follow them and
your subconscious mind must become convinced that you will do
them.
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