If you thought exercise was merely a necessary evil to keep your body slim and healthy, you’re missing some essential elements of what exercise is about. If you thought exercise was something you had to squeeze in between the demands of life and work because it’s supposed to be “good for you,” you’re overlooking the vital values of exercise.

Through regular exercise, you can find both emotional and physical well being.

Here’s how exercise can make you happy: Read Post

Life is full of ups and downs. There are times that call for a little something special - nothing big, nothing earth shattering. Just a small pick-me-up or celebration, something to boost your spirits when your energy is down, when you need to break up a boring rut or when you feel like acknowledging an achievement.

Feeling like treating yourself? Go ahead and indulge. There are lots of options to consider that won’t break the bank or require a lot of time or preparation. Here are just a few ideas to get you on the right track. Read Post

Becoming successful in business is always a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you’ve got more money coming in and more opportunities for growth as you continue to rise. On the other hand, you’ve got a lot more responsibilities and things competing for your valuable time.

If time is money, then you need to learn how to free up as much of it as possible by delegating or outsourcing tasks that take you away from your work.

Here are 3 areas to consider: Read Post

Is middle age a time of crisis or control?

Joe Brown, a 45-year old husband, father, and successful businessman, wakes up one morning to ask, “Is this all there is?” Suddenly he feels that his life is half-over and he hasn’t yet really lived. Over the course of the next year he buys a red Corvette, steps out on his wife, drinks too much and destroys much of what he spent his earlier years building. From there, it’s a slow, but steady decline into aches, pains, and health problems. But wait… does this stereotypical midlife crisis have any basis in reality?

According to results from a large research project by the MacArthur Foundation, midlife is not a time of hazard and peril. Orville Gilbert Brim, who directed the MacArthur project, found that “the more we got into it, the more we studied it, we found that on balance, middle-age really is the best place to be.”

In reality, midlife for the majority of us is a time of stable relationships, financial security, and relatively good health. Careers are well established. “For most, it is smooth sailing,” Brim said.

Of course, it’s not smooth sailing for everyone, but most of the time the stressors that happen during our middle years have nothing to do with age, and everything to do with life. Divorce, the loss of a job, death of a child, serious illness or severe financial problems can drop the floor out from beneath a person of any age.

So why then, do we hear so much about midlife crisis? Read Post

I’m not implying that you’re greedy, but most of us expect a lot out of life and often forget to be grateful for what we have. We seem to quickly jump from one accomplishment to the next, from receiving good things that we enjoy only briefly to quickly pursuing the next good thing we want. We’re a pretty needy and wanting bunch of beings.

If you’re at all familiar with the Law of Attraction (LOA), you know that it states that what you put your attention on you attract to you. When you are grateful for what you have, you will be more apt to attract more good to you. When you are greedy and constantly wanting more and the next best thing, you are not stopping to be grateful for what you just received. You are not even taking time to celebrate your success, to enjoy the accomplishment, to revel in having it. What you appreciate, appreciates. That is, what you offer gratitude for grows and more comes your way.

For example, say you wanted a promotion at work and you got it. Read Post

In today’s fast-paced, get-up-and-go world, crisis situations are bound to happen.

What should you do when a challenging situation arises? More importantly, how can you remain calm in order to deal with the situation to the best of your ability? Knowing the ropes when faced with a crisis will enable you to get your bearings and handle it with a minimal amount of stress.

Breathe. Remember that even in the most stressful situation, breathing deeply and forcing yourself to remain calm will help. If you are perceived as calm, then to others you are calm, and you can influence their response to the situation as well.

Have a plan. The most successful entrepreneurs are those who have a good game plan. Same goes for dealing effectively with a crisis. Develop a crisis management plan that can be put into place in case of emergency. Include ways to handle potential crises from all walks of your busy life. For instance, make a plan for how to deal with a large, unexpected bill. Or, take some time to talk to your family about how to handle a possible natural disaster.

Practice makes perfect. Read Post

Does it take a family or a village to raise a child? This question became the subject of great controversy during the 1996 presidential election with the publication of Hillary Clinton’s well-known book, It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us.

But somewhere between the two extremes, there’s a simple truth that when the family AND “village” is dedicated to helping the next generation succeed, everybody wins. As parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, mentors and educators, we all have our part in the process.

Of course, parents have the largest role and the largest stake in raising happy, well-adjusted children. We want our children and teens to make smart choices and avoid trouble. The single most effective way to bring that to pass is to concentrate on helping our kids build a strong foundation.

The nonprofit organization, Search Institute, describes this foundation as being made up of 40 essential building blocks, which they call developmental assets. Read Post

These days, the self-help books and life coaching newsletters are full of people advising you to get in touch with your inner child. And they have a valid point, if their advice is taken correctly. However, too many people confuse connecting with their inner child and living irresponsibility or cultivating a lack of maturity.

The whole point of the “inner child” movement was to free yourself from unnecessary and limiting beliefs, such as only kids can play or that creativity is a trait reserved for children and artists. (http://www.coping.org/growth/little.htm) It was designed to help you release pent-up anger and negativity while embracing all the things that make life worth living - an open of mind, a curious and inquisitive state of being, a safe and nurtured core and a lightness of spirit and energy. It was never a call to abandon mature behavior, responsible action or moral consequences.

Connect with and encouraging the expression of your inner child is a worthwhile pursuit. But to allow that activity to cross into bad behavior and negativity risks not only your own success and quality of life, but also that of those around you. Here are a few distinctions to help you tell the difference: Read Post

When freshmen descend upon college and university campuses late this summer, chances are good that their orientation programs will be filled with maps of the institution, contact information for department heads, extracurricular activities schedules and parameters for maintaining passing grades.

The most important lesson missing from the agenda, however, may be a practical outline about how to adjust to a lifestyle that for many, includes learning how to live away from home for the first time. The scenario has been repeated all too often: kids get to college and they either party themselves to an early exit from school, or they spend so much time studying that they fail to grow socially. This leads to stress and often, mental and physical illness.

Read the rest of College Freshmen Get Schooled in Work-Life Balance 101, Face Monumental Transitions.

Most of us realize what a bad habit is. We know that smoking, overeating, skipping meals, biting fingernails, and tapping fingers are annoying bad habits, but do you know that the following are also bad habits?

Procrastination

Procrastination is the root of all unproductive evil. Every time you complain to someone that “you just don’t have enough hours in the day” or you “can’t get anything accomplished,” chances are that procrastination is the real culprit standing between you and your personal success.

“What’s a few more hours of surfing the internet?” “Is one little phone call really going to matter?” If these activities stretch on, from one instance to the next, the answer is YES - “just one more” is the biggest offender, and the sole reason why you never seem to be on top of things at home or on the job.

Being a “yes” person Read Post