Is Your Relationship Ready for Kids?

Children. It’s a big decision, some say the biggest you’ll ever make.

istock_000005013797xsmall.jpgPeople have kids for many reasons. For some, kids are life’s biggest blessing. For others, they’re a moral or religious imperative. For yet others, they’re a way to leave a legacy – a sort of genetic immortality.

One thing is certain, however – once you have kids, neither you nor your significant other will ever be the same. Having kids can make or break a relationship. A lot depends on how strong your relationship is, what your views are on parenthood and raising children, and – most importantly – how compatible these views are with your partner’s.

Before you make such a monumental decision, there are certain questions you need to know the answers to. (more…)

5 Steps To Move From Concern to Content

Many of us spend a lot of time being concerned about every aspect of our lives and often miss out on the sweet feeling of contentment. Concern causes stress, anxiety, and upset, while contentment elicits feelings of peace, confidence, acceptance, and fulfillment. That sounds like a great place to be.

istock_000005985442xsmall.jpgYet, if we’re not feeling content with our lives, how do we get to that place of self-acceptance, self-love, and self-appreciation? Where we feel everything is right with the world, and even when it isn’t, we can handle whatever comes up. Where we can give up the constant nagging concerns that haunt our every waking, and sometimes sleeping moments. Where we can continue to strive for more, if we want it, while being perfectly okay with where we are.

Here are some strategies I’ve discovered over my years of coaching that can help you experience more contentment in all areas of your life: (more…)

8 Essential Ingredients to Master Your Time

Being rich is having money; being wealthy is having time. – Margaret Bonnano

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Sometimes it’s hard to believe we all have the same 24 hours/day and same 7 days/week. While some people seem pretty organized and on top of things, many of us find ourselves running out of time. At the end of the day, there are still so many items on our to-do list and we don’t feel like we’ve accomplished all that much. We thought technology would ease our time pressures, but with overflowing email accounts and lost hours surfing cyberspace, it’s done just the opposite. Then juggling our work and personal lives seems to make it impossible to ever get control of our time.

If you feel like you are a slave to the clock, you’re not alone. Time management books, classes, and even software are plentiful and among some of the most popular how-to subjects. They offer myriad solutions to an age-old problem. Maybe you’ve read some of the books or taken some classes only to find you slip back into your old habits.

In order to master your time, you’ll need to take a little time to plan your strategy so that you can end your stress-filled days. I know it doesn’t seem like you have time for one more thing, but this is a top priority and will bring you back to more control of your time. You’ll need to create a schedule not only to include what you intend to accomplish, but for unexpected interruptions, most of which cannot be avoided. When we don’t leave space for those surprises, we wind up angry, frustrated, and feeling even more out of control of our time.

Here are some key solutions that I have found to be very effective. Follow these 8 essential ingredients to master your time: (more…)

5 Signs It’s Time to Slow Down Fast

istock_000005226426xsmall.jpgIt wasn’t too long ago that I was close to hitting the breaking point in my own life – but I had no sense of this at the time. You see, when you’re flying high on success, you don’t always recognize the warning signs of an impending crash. What ends up happening is that the pressure to be everything to everyone slowly begins to erode the quality of your experiences and relationships. It’s only when you’re about to self-destruct that you suddenly wake up and realize what you could have done better and what you shouldn’t be doing at all.

Here are some signs from SlowDownFast.com that it may be time to hit the brakes and learn to cruise life in the slow lane: (more…)

Get Out of Debt to Find Greater Happiness

istock_000005541049xsmall.jpgOne of the biggest causes of marital strife is finances. So many couples who end up either in counseling or divorce court say financial issues caused excessive stress in the relationship, taking it to the breaking point.

Financial troubles can impact your personal happiness and health as well. Stress over money issues may lead you to work long hours of overtime to try to keep up, reducing your time with your family as well as your ability to get proper rest. Constant worry takes a toll on the body, too, and can lower the immune system’s resistance to disease.

If you find yourself spending sleepless nights worrying over money, or if you are fighting with your spouse over excessive debt or your long hours at the office, try these simple tricks to cut back on your spending and free you from debt’s evil clenches: (more…)

Are You Living Your Own Story

or Someone Else’s?

Check out my guest post Whose Story Are You Living? at The Change Blog:

istock_000005348590xsmall.jpg“Do you ever find yourself telling someone you’ve recently met the story of your life? You probably don’t think of it as a story, because to you it’s all factual. Truth is, we place a lot of interpretation on our life story. And when you remember how it was from the present day perspective, you often distort fact from interpretation. When you do tell your story, do you look at it and wonder if it’s the story you would have written for yourself? Do you ever wonder whose story are you living?”

Read the rest of Whose Story Are You Living?.

My Interview at Affirmawords: “What Inspires the People that Inspire Others?”

Many thanks to Michelle at the Affirmawords Blog for the opportunity to share my insights on the topic:  “What Inspires the People that Inspire Others?”

Check out my interview here.

eBook review: Your Life in Balance at EffTD

Mike Vardy at EffTD has posted a review of my eBook Your Life in Balance. Thanks Mike!

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Creating a Portfolio Career

What would you say if I told you that the idea of a linear, ladder-like career may have been a mere blip on the cultural radar instead of the taken-for-granted path that many of us have come to accept?

The fact is, the days of spending your life working for the same company and leaving with “30 years and a gold watch” are long gone. In today’s work world, more companies are viewing employees as contract labor, to be hired and fired as needed, and fewer workers are looking to stay in one place their entire lives. In fact, the newer generations are far more interested in work that seems like fun or that offers a unique experience than adhering to any outdated model of a linear, predictable professional career.

istock_000005793898xsmall.jpgAdd to that the reality that secure, long-term jobs that pay enough to support the average middle-class worker are becoming fewer and further apart thanks to cheap overseas outsourcing and technological automation, and you have the makings of a work-culture sea change of tsunami proportions. Enter the portfolio career.

A portfolio career is one, “in which instead of working a traditional full-time job, you work multiple part-time jobs (including part-time employment, temporary jobs, freelancing, and self-employment) with different employers that when combined are the equivalent of a full-time position.”

(http://www.quintcareers.com/portfolio_careers.html). A person with a portfolio career may work a few days a week at a local cabinetry shop, spend a few days a week teaching woodworking at a local continuing ed center and offer their services as an independent cabinet installation contractor to home builders when there’s work available. Or, it could be an IT geek with a part-time tech job, an on-call tech repair service and a website where they sell their own custom software.

Portfolio careers are shaping up to be the professional wave of the future. (more…)

Cheap Treats: No- and Low-Cost Ways

to Give Yourself a Boost

istock_000005587568xsmall.jpgLife 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. (more…)