Sometimes in our haste to get things done, we forget to take our time and make sure they are done well. Trying to hurry through a project without giving much thought to the consequences is likely to result in shoddy work and a large number of errors. Not only does your reputation as a professional suffer from such work, but in the end it could end up costing you precious time as well. You may find yourself revisiting old projects, trying to undo or repair mistakes that were made the first time through.

Rather than put yourself in this position and risk tarnishing your reputation in the process, slow down and take the time to ensure your projects are completed right the first time around. The added time it takes to be thorough is a small price to pay in comparison to the price shoddy work can cost you in the long run. This could be of particular concern if you work as an independent contractor, and are able to charge higher rates due to the high quality of your work. Performing rushed jobs could cause your quality to slip, which could result in fewer sales or the need to reduce your prices so they are more in alignment with your local competition. Read Post

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For one time only, I’m offering the Intensive Empowerment System workshop FR.EE !!!

Do you have a personal plan for success?

Most people today are completely overwhelmed by everything that life throws at them on a daily basis. Because the boundaries between work and personal life have become so blurred, we become lost, confused and derailed from our goals.

Personal success is attained in gradual increments by setting and achieving goals.

At SlowDownFast.com, we have developed a comprehensive, customizable and highly flexible program which addresses such a need: The Slow Down Fast Intensive Empowerment System (IES).

The Slow Down FAST Intensive Empowerment System helps individuals achieve their goals.

Here’s how you can benefit from this program:

• You’ll realign yourself with your purpose.
• You’ll once again connect with your values and talents - and this will ignite your passion and drive to succeed.
• You will leverage your own, unique learning style for quicker retention and more rapid advancement.
• You will be empowered in your personal life, which in turn fuels you professionally and brings you greater commitment and dedication on the job.

For one time only, I’m offering the Intensive Empowerment System workshop FR.EE Read Post

Many people go through life in pursuit of happiness and fulfillment, without ever having a clear picture of what those things mean to them. Each person has unique ideas regarding what constitutes happiness, based largely on that person’s individual values and past experiences. In order to be truly happy, you must first determine what it is that makes you content, fulfilled, and satisfied. Only then can you take steps to achieve your own personal state of happiness.

In order to determine what you want out of life to give you a sense of fulfillment or contentment, try the following exercises.

1. Find out Where You are Stuck

Ask yourself what aspects of your life make you feel like you are in a rut or that you feel need to be changed. In doing so, try to determine how long you have felt you were stuck in these particular habits, and ask yourself why you have not yet changed them. Read Post

Have you ever caught yourself daydreaming about the good times you’ve had in the past or the events you have planned for the future?

Many of us live most of our lives in the past or future, missing out entirely on the present moment. Remembering how good you felt or what fun you had in some past experience often eases the aches of current disappointments. Projecting into the future how you would like your life to be or onto some upcoming plans, offers hope and reassurance if your present is not meeting your satisfaction.

However, if you’ve ever studied the mind and the aspects of time, you would know that the present moment is all that is real, all that actually exists. The past and future only exist in the mind, while the present exists in real time. It’s true the mind is very powerful and can play tricks on us. It can pull up a memory that seems so vivid, you actually experience it through your senses and can even feel an emotional response. Similarly, you may get all excited thinking about the vacation you will be taking next summer, and almost smell the suntan lotion.

Yet, living anywhere but the present can be a form of escape or denial. It’s sticking your head in the sand instead of facing the truth–your life today sucks and you better do something about it if you want it to get better.

What are some ways you can stop time traveling and learn to enjoy living in the moment? Read Post

Sometimes it’s hard to set boundaries with others. We all want to be liked and to be considered open and friendly. However, people who fail to set and maintain boundaries in their life and work often find that it’s much harder to meet their own needs, and to prevent others from imposing their needs onto them.

Life coaches are constantly teaching their clients that setting boundaries is important to maintaining strong relationships at work and at home. After all, it does no one any good if one part of a friendship, marriage or work situation feels put upon, resentful or over-burdened. Setting boundaries prevents misunderstandings, hurt feelings, awkward situations, grudges and other interpersonal torpedoes from endangering your relationships. And it’s as simple as taking a few easy steps: Read Post

From my article Realizing Success Through Empowerment at Dumb Little Man:

“So many times when things go badly in our lives we find ourselves wondering how we ended up in such a bad situation, or who is to blame. These are self-defeating mindsets that limit our ability to recover, or to succeed.

Instead of developing a defeatist attitude when something goes awry, try to adjust to a mindset that allows you to empower yourself. Empowerment, in turn, leads to greater success. It allows you to learn from your mistakes, be thankful for your accomplishments, and move on.

The next time you find yourself in a mess and wondering how or why you got there, try looking at some of the more positive aspects of your particular situation.”

Read the rest of Realizing Success Through Empowerment.

Your subjective well-being is a measure of how you personally feel about your own levels of happiness, satisfaction and emotional health - in short, your own evaluation of your quality of life. Having a high SWB means that you are happy with your life; you experience your life as being predominately positive and unpleasant feelings are uncommon and generally situational and temporary in nature. On the other hand, someone with a low SWB rates their life as dreary, stagnant or unpleasant, and considers happiness, joy and pleasure to be uncommon and mostly transient sensations.

According to Ed Diener, et al, in their paper “Recent Findings on Subjective Well-Being” (http://www.psych.uiuc.edu/~ediener/hottopic/paper1.html), there are three components to subjective well-being: Satisfaction, pleasant affect, and low levels of unpleasant affect. Satisfaction is a measure of how satisfied you are with your life. Pleasant affect refers to pleasant or positive emotions - joy, happiness, pleasure, love, pride, etc. And unpleasant affect refers to unpleasant emotions - guilt, anger, unhappiness, helplessness, etc. The sum of these factors, as you see them, makes up your overall perception of you subjective well-being.

Having a high SWB contributes immensely to your state of mental and physical health, you’re ability to cope with change and crisis, and your enjoyment of life in general. Here are a few ways you can boost your own personal happiness, and improve your chances of enjoying a long, happy life. Read Post

I’m presenting tomorrow at the Biz Tech Expo in Milwaukee. Topic: Personal Development in a Professional World.

Here are the details:

Our lives are defined by our choices. But often, the choices we make don’t appear at the time to be the important crossroads that they later turn out to have been. We go merrily along our way, taking what looks like a straight and well-defined path, only to realize later how many times we made life-altering decisions without a second thought.

Personal experiences, cultural expectations, peer and family pressures - each of these plays a role in how we look at life and the lives we choose for ourselves. But all of us have a unique and personal role to play in life. For this reason, it doesn’t pay to surrender our life’s choices to the highest (or loudest) bidder.

Reclaiming your uniqueness and your individuality can be a daunting but powerfully rewarding process. The trick is to shut out the clamoring demands of those around us and find a way to listen to the voice inside, the voice of our heart and our soul. Only by doing this, and acting upon what we hear, can we once again get back on our true path and live the life we were born to fulfill. Read Post