SLOWING DOWN DOESN'T MEAN YOU ARE STOPPING...!

Its been a while since I've posted  on my blog , I've been occupied with some life changing experiences that I thought I should share with you.

I have predominantly been a person who loves to do anything that life throws at me. So much that I would stretch myself so thin as to be totally stressed and overcommitted to doing so many things at the same time.

This has been an ongoing process for many years till a few  months ago when I came across an article that screamed out to me .......THINK.

And I realised that although I have going through my life fulfilling all my responsibilities as a mother, wife, daughter in law ever so mechanically, that I have stopped thinking. And when I mean not thinking, I really mean deep thought,self introspective and soul searching thought that evaluates your life and shows you exactly where you stand.

How many of us stop and think....really ? Think about all the things we do on a regular routine, or things we intend to do for our future. We only stop to think we we come across an obstacle on our journey of life, and that very obstacle demands our attention and forces us to think.

We are so consumed by being busy that we do not realise our folly of not thinking.The mechanical living have made us less humane.We have become materialistic and self obsessed.The generation after us are a higher degree of materialism and mechanical living.

It's like going to the bus station and getting on the first bus we see without even deciding where we really want to go. Most of us are running, running and running to places we don't even know why we need to be there in the first place. Some others are just overwhelmed by the fast paced life that they don't even stop to enjoy life and all its moments.

Does life need to be so fast...? Do we need to keep running as fast...? Would it really hurt to slow down a little and breathe deeply and take it all in step by step. Would it really be horrible if we stopped the clock for just a little while.

Seriously friends, I do believe that it is important to stop running so much and probably walk through life, pausing at times to take in the surroundings,smell the flowers and revel in the beauty of the surroundings. and maybe we could think as well, on how we could enrich our lives in every aspect we possibly could. 

Slowing down doesn't mean we are  stopping, it just means we are thinking before we take the next step.

CREATE THE LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS

Most people think that if they focus on work and constantly sacrifice the quality of their life, that they will reach their goals faster. I've been guilty of this over the years too. I would be running around trying to get so many things done, all in that same span of 24 hours, multi tasking and totally burning myself out.

In fact, I used to work myself to near-exhaustion by working 80-100 hours per week. I thought that was the answer to achieving all that I wanted so that I could provide a good life for my family.

I then made it my mission to discover the secret to enjoying life while working at the same time. I’ve always been a hard-worker and able to earn a significant amount of money. But my life was out of balance, and wasn’t a lot of fun.

Here’s what I discovered that totally transformed my life.

The secret to success is making sure you take care of your body, mind, and spirit in addition to your business or job. You may think that you can’t afford to do this, or that it won’t work for you.

But the truth is that your best ideas and contributions in business and life will come out more often when you are happy, healthy, and relaxed.

Sure, there may still be times when you are under an urgent deadline and you may need to spend extra time working. And you may be someone who loves to work a lot because you want to. And those are both fine. But it’s equally important that you play as hard as you work.

In the rest of this article, let’s look at the top 4 strategies I've personally practised that you can use to become more successful and achieve the life of your dreams.  These strategies are focused on helping you balance the business, body, mind, and spiritual areas of your life.

Strategy #1: Focus Your Energy On The Right Things At The Right Time

At some point, nearly every person will fall into the trap of spending time or money on “the wrong things at the wrong time”.

You need to make an effort each day to focus the majority of your time on the tasks that will produce the greatest result.

For example, if you get distracted a lot with emails or surfing the Internet, you may actually only get a few hours per day of quality work done.

Technology is so addicting that it’s easy to get sidetracked without even realizing it.

The easiest way to overcome this problem is to write down the 3-5 most important tasks that would allow significant progress towards your goals.  Then, get started on those tasks first thing in the morning before you do anything else.

If you work on the most critical tasks first, then you will be amazed at how much you can accomplish each day.

Strategy #2: Take Your Health Seriously Every Single Day

You are certainly aware that being healthy is a good thing, and has a huge impact on your quality of life.

But if you’re like I was five years ago, you may not realize that two of the most important ingredients to staying healthy are getting enough sleep and enough water.

It is super-important to get a full night’s sleep, and on a consistent schedule.Have you ever noticed that when you haven’t slept much, that over the next few days, your brain is foggy and you don’t get as much done.

The reason is because you then spend the rest of the week recovering from the sleep you lost earlier in the week. And you ultimately end up getting less done than if you had just done the work after a normal sleep cycle.

And when it comes to water, you have heard a million times that it is important for you to drink lots of water. But if you’re like most people, you fill your day with other fluids like sodas and tea and very little amounts of actual water.

It is OK to drink those on occasion, but not as a replacement for the essential water that your body needs.The human body has approximately 50-75% water.  And your brain is 90% water.So if you don’t supply enough water to your body, then your brain and other parts of the body cannot function well.

That is why it is so critical that you make sure and drink 6-10 glasses of water per day, depending on your age and body size. Trust me when I say, you will lose weight in the bargain. Water helps metabolise fat. It helps to rid the body of toxins that actually cause fat to stay trapped in the body.

So Water Up !

Strategy #3: Chart Your Path To Success With Written Goals/Plans

One of the best gifts that you can give yourself and your family is the “gift of choice”.  You are capable of creating the life that you want, if you just follow the right steps to get there.

It has been proven time and time again that those who go through life with a plan will be more successful than those who just take life as it comes. It makes sense logically too.

After all, if you leave your house and just start driving your car, will you end up in any particular destination?  Probably not. But if you get in your car and set a course for Bangalore and then enter it into your navigation system, then you will eventually get there if you keep driving in the correct direction.

Goals are the same way.  If you always keep working in the direction toward your end goal, you will eventually get there.

Here’s how to achieve your goals as fast as possible. You first need to get clear about exactly what you want to accomplish, and then write those goals down.

Then, you should re-write each of your goals in a positive tense, such as “I choose to have a healthy body that weighs 70 kg”, or “I choose to earn 20 lakhs per year from all sources”.

Once you have written your goals in a positive tense, you should visualize what life is like once those goals have already happened. Picture it in your mind.Then, repeat this process each day when you wake up, and/or each night before you go to bed to reinforce your goals.Next, take action in your life as opportunities come your way that will help make your goals come true.

This process literally trains your brain to be on the lookout for the opportunities and ideas that will help you achieve your goals the fastest.

Strategy #4: Always “Be Present”

While technology has introduced so many incredible improvements into our lives, it has also caused everyone to be more distracted than ever.

The truth is, when you try to talk to someone while you are looking at your phone or computer, you are not really being effective at either.  Plus, you may hurt the other person’s feelings because they will not feel listened to.

A better approach is to just stop what you are doing, and then turn and give that person your un-divided attention for the time you are together.

The same concept applies to your vacations and other time away from work.

When you have a day off or take a vacation, leave your work and your computer behind.  Give yourself some true time away from the office.  In other words, be “present” with your day off, not distracted or multitasking.

This will actually help you be more productive when you get back to work, and will expand your creativity.And don’t feel guilty about enjoying your days off.  Treat your time away from work as being critical to your success.

If you apply these four strategies in your own life, you will be amazed at the changes you will notice, often within just a few days.

They say, ' A journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step ', So take that step in the positive direction !

POSITIVE LIVING…..THE A B C'S

Something I came across a few days ago and it stayed on as a motivational milestone…..

A NEW YEAR ….NEW RESOLUTIONS……FIND YOUR TRUE CALLING

"If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins." -

 Benjamin Franklin

Your success in life will be largely determined by your ability to find your true calling, the right work for you to do, and then putting your whole heart into doing it very well.

The happiest people are those who have carefully thought through who they are, what they want, where they are going, and then decided exactly what they need to do to get to their goal. Asking yourself five targeted questions can help you home in on whatever path is right for you.

#1: What do I do easily and well?

When you are seeking your true calling, you must look at the activities that have always been easy for you but which have been difficult for others. Often, you will get comments and compliments on how well you do a particular task. You will be surprised when you hear those remarks, because you never even thought about it that much. It just seemed natural for you from the very beginning.

#2: What are the things that I have done in life that have been most responsible for my success?

In looking back over your work and your activities, what are the things you have done that have given you the greatest rewards and satisfaction? What gives you that feeling of satisfaction when you look back ? If you work for a company, what are the activities you have engaged in that have achieved the very best results for yourself and your company? Your previous success experiences are signposts pointing to the sort of things that you should be doing more and more of if you want  yourself to enjoy greater happiness and satisfaction in life.

#3: What would I do differently, knowing what I know now?

Is there anything that you are currently doing that you wouldn’t start up again if you had to do it over? Is there any relationship that you are in that you wouldn’t get into if you could make the choice today? Is there any job or part of any job that you are doing that you would not embark upon, knowing what you now know, if you had to do it over?

As many as 95 percent of people working today are under-employed, not working to their full capacity for themselves and their companies. Only 5 percent, when interviewed, will say that they are working fully extended at their current job. Only 5 percent feel that their entire potential is being consumed and that they are working on the outer edge of their abilities. These people also tend to be the happiest, the highest paid, and the most fulfilled in any organization or enterprise.

#4: What work would I choose to do if I won a million dollars, cash, in the lottery tomorrow?

This is a question I sometimes ask my seminar audiences. When you hear this question, your gut reaction is a good indicator of where you are today and possibly where you should be going in the future. Most people, when they think of winning a million dollars, think of quitting their current job and doing something else. There is nothing wrong with that. Since most people have backed into their current jobs, taking them because they just happened to be there at the time a job was needed, most people probably should be doing something else.

Napoleon Hill once said the key to success in America is to find out what you really enjoy doing, and then find a way to make a good living at it. What do you most love to do?

Successful people don’t feel like they work at all. They are doing what they love to do, and they are so busy doing it that their work becomes their play. Their work life and their personal life blends together like a hand fitting neatly into a glove. There is no separation. They are totally committed individuals who are accomplishing far more in a shorter period of time than the average person who is merely going through the motions.

#5: If I were absolutely guaranteed tremendous success in any job I chose, what field would I go into?

One of the major reasons people hold themselves back from doing what they are truly meant to do is that they are afraid they will fail in some way. And being afraid that you will fail is the surest guarantor that you will fail.

But what if you are absolutely guaranteed success in any field you choose? What would it be? What would you want to do if you had unlimited time, unlimited resources, and guaranteed success?

The answer to that question should cause you to tingle a little bit. It should make your stomach flutter. It should send a thrill of excitement and anticipation through you that tells you this is the job you should be doing.

Asking and answering the above five questions can change your life.

You have within you talents and abilities so vast that you could never use them all if you lived to be a thousand. You have natural skills and talents that can enable you to overcome any obstacle and achieve any goal you could ever set for yourself. There are no limits on what you can be, have, or do if you find your true calling.

When you become one of the few people who are doing what they love to do, who are totally absorbed in doing something they really care about, you will make more progress in a couple of years than the average labourer makes in five or 10 years. You will come to the attention of people who can help you and open doors for you. You will be happy and fulfilled in both your work and your personal relationships. You will have more energy, enthusiasm, and creativity.

 You will unlock your true potential, and your future will become unlimited.