IN THIS ISSUE

*Take Time to Create a Life Balance Sheet for Success

*Today I choose...
 

The kind of life we live has a great deal to do with our day-to-day choices.  Our thoughts really do create our reality.  When things go wrong - as they often do, we have some choices.  We can focus on the negative, which makes it very difficult to resolve the issues,  or we can look to the possibilities.  We can study the situation and make plans for a remedy.  Positive action ALWAYS results in improving matters.  The following guest articles have some great strategies for success.

                                                                                              ...............June

Take Time to Create a Life Balance Sheet for Success
by: Joy Fisher-Sykes

It’s important from time to time that we sit down and honestly assess our lives. Doing so allows us to make an honest determination about where we are now and where we want to be in the future. When we’re assessing our finances, we prepare a financial balance sheet. On it we list our debits and credits so that we can determine our bottom line. What if you wanted to determine the state of the life you lead? How is it, or is it not, serving you? The answer is simple – prepare a Life Balance Sheet. Much like a financial balance sheet, list all of your lifestyle debits (choices that detract from balance) such as the following:

• Maintaining relationships that drain you

•  Constantly whining, griping, or complaining

•  Inability to say no

•  Always expecting the worse

• Being ungrateful

•  Unwilling to listen effectively

•  Forgetting to mind your manners

•  Taking others for granted

Next list your credits – ways you live your life that support and honor you. Anything positive you count as a credit – no action is too big or too small. Below are a few credits that add to your life’s bottom line.
 

• Smile – not just at people you know, but especially at those you don’t

• Give to others without expecting anything in return

•  Do one thing outside of your comfort zone that improves the quality of your life

• Allow someone to merge into traffic – even if they didn’t wait their turn

•  Compliment a salesperson/clerk on a job well done

•  Use the good crystal and china other than for a holiday

•  Be honest about what you need to be happy

• Read to a child

•  Dance to your favorite music

•  Place your neighbors’ newspaper right outside their door

•  Call someone just to say “hello” and to see how they are doing

•  Buy a co-worker a cup of coffee or ice cream cone

• Walk barefoot in the grass

• Tell someone “I love you”

•  Learn one new thing every week

•  Every day acknowledge at least one thing in life for which you are grateful

• At least once a month, create a Life Balance Sheet.

Take a look at your Life Balance Sheet at least once a day. This will empower you, at a glance, to realize how wonderful life can be and allow you to make lifestyle adjustments as necessary. Remember, a great life is yours to create. Go create a fabulous life!

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Joy Fisher-Sykes is a professional speaker, author, and success coach in the areas of leadership, motivation, stress management, customer service, and team building. You can e-mail her at mailto:jfsykes@thesykesgrp.com , or call her at (757) 427-7032. Go to her web site, http://www.thesykesgrp.com , and signup for the newsletter, OnPoint, and receive the free ebook, "Empowerment and Stress Secrets for the Busy Professional."

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Today I choose . .
by: Bill Marshall
 

Here is a great way to create affirmations that may be helpful to you. Here's how it works:

You start off the affirmation with "Today I choose..." then fill in a quality or thought habit that you want to condition into your thinking. Then repeat it often during the course of the day, especially when you are about to make a decision or engage in a behavior that is directly related to what you intend to create. Let it act as a compass to guide you so that you keep moving in a straight line directly towards your goals regardless of what others may do.

So, for example, you might say, "Today I choose to be wealthy." Here are some sample times when you may want to repeat this to yourself:

When you make deposits to your accumulation plan (I like the word "accumulation" much better than "savings").
When you spend money. I use this to check myself to see if I'm turning cash into trash, buying a doodad, or buying a potential asset.
When you think you have to watch some television to unwind (instead of studying to be wealthy).
As I'm listening to a success oriented audio book or studying financial intelligence.
As I go to work.
As I research assets to purchase.
When I even think about using a credit card or some other type of debt.
I'm sure there are all kinds of other situations where I repeat it. What this does is set the direction of my thought to focus on activities that lead to wealth. I'm consciously choosing my thoughts rather than simply walking around unconscious of my thoughts and actions. It helps me think through the consequences of my actions in advance so that I make better choices.

Sometimes for variety, I may replace the word wealth with other variations, such as:

Today I choose to accumulate wealth.
Today I choose to be financially intelligent.
Today I choose to create massive abundance.
Today I choose to spend my money wisely.
Today I choose to live debt free (that is no bad debt)
You get the idea.

This formula also works for far more than accumulating money. Let's say you need to improve your health or to loose weight. How about:

Today I choose to be healthy.
Today I choose to be thin.
Here is why this affirmation formula is so powerful. Once you reach the age where you can start to make choices, the quality of your life is largely governed by the choices you make for yourself. Every choice you make (either consciously or unconsciously) is a cause set in motion. If you want to improve the quality of your life, it starts by improving the quality of your thoughts and your choices. If you are not satisfied with the quality of your life, it won't change until you improve the quality of your thoughts and your choices.

This affirmation acts as a pattern interrupt to help you think through your action to make certain it is consistent with the choice you say you are making. This is why it is important to literally say the words, not just think them.

They also help you make better choices, because they are almost always going to be positive. Who in their right mind would say:

Today I choose to be poor.
Today I choose to accumulate massive debt.
Today I choose to be fat.
Today I choose to be unhappy.
Today I choose to be rude and obnoxious.
I cringed even as I typed the words. I think back to a commercial I saw a while back that showed different children saying things like: "When I grow up I want to be under appreciated" or "I want to be downsized." I can't remember what the commercial was for, but it was very funny. Why? Because they were so serious--like they were saying "When I grow up, I want to be a doctor." The statements were obviously meant to be ridiculous.

But...how many of us unconsciously say these very things to ourselves by our negative thoughts, self-image, and actions--our choices?

Another reason this formula is so powerful is that it focuses your mind on "Today." Today, right now, is all we really have. You can't take actions in the past. You can only plan for the future (and planning is important--see http://www.poweraffirmations.com/RAP.htm to review my personal planning process). But we can only make our choices and take action in the moment--now. Today. How many times did you plan to take a certain action, but didn't for one reason or another? That happens to all of us all the time--often for good reasons. While you must learn from the past and plan for the future, you have to live in the moment. In many ways, "time" is an illusion.

So, resolve to do to live consciously. Don't just make better choices, make outstanding choices. Here's a great thing about choice: as you consciously make outstanding choices, you have the added benefit of rejecting poor or mediocre choices without any extra effort. As these outstanding choices begin to stack on top of each other, it won't be long before you begin to see massive improvements in your life.

Here are some affirmations to choose from: Today I choose...

to be wealthy.
to live debt free.
to live an abundant life.
to be outstanding.
to be successful.
to buy assets.
to be healthy.
to be happy.
to be grateful.
to be an outstanding _________ (singer, business man or woman, accountant, etc.)
to be courteous and kind.
to be a good driver.
to be neat and organized.
to live at peace with myself and others.
to forgive others.
to be persistent.
to be an outstanding community leader.
As you can see, the list is endless and the formula is simple. Use it to start making better choices today!

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Copyright (c) 2005 Bill Marshall - All rights reserved.

For practical self-improvement tips, visit http://www.poweraffirmations.com . Get my new free e-book, "Power Affirmations: Power Positive Conditioning for Your Subconscious Mind".

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