Make More Time with Good Time Management

By Sam Sander

Do you never seem to have enough time in your day? Do you spend all your time at work and never get time for family or relaxation? Unfortunately you can't make more hours and minutes in the day, but you can make the most of what time you have. This article discusses some of the easiest, and most effective, time management tips.

One of the best routines you can develop to manage your time well is to prepare a list of daily jobs. Writing down your chores will give get you back in charge of your agenda and allows you to achieve more in less time.

After you achieve each job cross it off your list. You'll feel great that you've achieved something and gives you the motivation to keep on going.

Each day look at your list of tasks and rearrange them so you are doing the most important tasks first. Then make sure you have time to do them all. If you need to push some things out until tomorrow, then do so. The aim of having a list is to take the stress out of getting things done, and getting important things done first.

Another important time management tip is to say no when you need to say no.

And we're all guilty of it, and find ourselves in over our heads in projects and other commitments simply because we don't have the heart to say no to someone in need. The problem is, if you stretch yourself too thin, you will be so stressed by the amount of work you have to do that you'll no longer be able to perform at your peak and this will compromise the quality of your efforts.

If someone asks you for help, first take a look at your schedule and see if you can get your existing tasks done and have spare time to help them. If not, say no.

And make sure you find out all the facts. Don't take on a new project before you know how much time and effort it will take. And make sure you allow for those little things that go wrong or take a little longer to do.

And finally, get organised!

There are dozens of tasks that you need to perform every single day, such as getting ready for work, getting the kids organised for school and getting the nightly dinner chores complete. Organize your schedule so that these activities and chores are clustered into logical clumps of activity, giving you more time for your other jobs.

And finish tasks completely before moving onto another, to avoid things piling up on you. Also, it's much easier to finish a task by keeping your mind on the one job, rather than flick from one job to another.

With these helpful time management tips, you will be able to achieve much more and make the most of your time.

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You can find out more about how to manage your time to achieve all your dreams by reading this FREE ebook – "The Time Management Secrets that will Set You Free". You'll also find lots of free tips and templates on a range of self-help topics from goal setting to emotional intelligence.

Success in Life Begins by Knowing Your Purpose

By .suraj

Life success will change the course of your life by living your passion. So, do you know your purpose and are you “living it everyday”? We should never take our days for granted because we never know how many days we have left. We should seize each day we are alive and do something to assist and empower ourselves and the rest of the world. Life was meant to be lived on purpose and it will never give us more than we can handle. I learned a long time ago that, between God and me, we could handle anything that could happen to me.

Knowing our purpose and mission in life is so important. However, many people just don’t know what their purpose is. When we know our purpose it brings clarity, meaning, and inner power to our lives and the choices we make. Many times some of us are afraid of owning our own power by truly “knowing” and “being” our purpose. We may feel discomfort when we realize that if we know our purpose, we'll be responsible for living it with “no more excuses”. That purpose should be the underlying core that gives our goals direction and gives meaning to our lives both personally and professionally.

Success in life will change the course of your life and the rewards of connecting with our purpose are so great! We are rewarded with feelings of self-esteem, self-worth, energy, satisfaction, meaning, gratitude, joy, confidence, and a life filled with love. When we live with purpose we will have no regrets about things that we have NOT accomplished if we were to take our last breathe tonight.

If this isn't your time to grasp your vision with the purpose that you were born to live – it will come. However, don’t wait for it to just come to you. You MUST make an effort to find it by doing some inner work and allowing yourself to do whatever you are passionate about. At some point, the distress of staying stuck will be greater than your fear of new responsibilities and challenges. Therefore, it is so important to create your best life NOW! Why not make today the day you are ready to create “success in life”.

You will probably be introduced to a life-changing home based business with “success online” sometime in your future. Taking advantage of it could mean life success which changes the course of your life and you will find your purpose in it by empowering others to be successful. This could be one of your “success strategies” in finding your purpose. DO NOT allow the opportunity to pass you by because opportunities only occur when you are open-minded to everything. I once read a poem that clarified the importance of living our purpose with what was said by the following concept:

The saddest places on earth are graveyards. Not because people are buried there, but because dreams, talents, and purposes that never came to fruition are buried there. Graveyards are filled with books that were never written, songs that were never sung, words that were never spoken, and things that were never done.

It’s important that you see yourself as a meaningful person who has SO much to give to this world instead of complaining that the world is not giving you enough. You have talents and gifts that no one else can offer. There are things you can do that no one else is capable of doing quite the way YOU can do them. DON’T ROB this earth of your purpose by taking it to the grave with you! Choose to be a giver and the Universe will reward your efforts.

We all have a purpose, a reason for living, breathing, and existing. We all have unique talents and gifts that were created and given to us to be shared with the world. Our task is to understand this and figure out what our purpose is. We owe it to the Universe AND to ourselves! "You will become as small as your controlling desire or as great as your dominant aspiration”. Are you ready to create “life changing” success? By choosing to succeed this choice will change the course of your life. Success starts by knowing your purpose, having a vision for your future, finding a home-based business, and starting to experience “success online”.

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Overcoming Performance Fears and Anxiety

By Marcilio David

What is Performance Fear?

Performance fear or performance anxiety takes on different forms. However, it is associated with the growing awareness and the need to perform according to the standard of your own field of activity, whether in the workplace, or an upcoming presentation, or for a sports activity. With the pressure to perform one's best, there is always this preconditioned mindset for the person suffering from performance fear that anything could go wrong that will eventually impact your performance and reduce it to failure.

Studies are still ongoing to determine exactly the cause of this fear but it is closely tied up to one's desire to do better at something. However, you need to understand that experiencing performance fear is completely normal. But some often have unrealistic fear or misconception about given situations that impair their logical decision making capacities and end up in your not performing up to standard.

Different Types of Performance Anxiety

There are various types of performance fears or anxiety, whether at the workplace, sex, speech delivery, or sports. Therefore, the ways in which you deal with them must differ as well. Below are some basic methods suggested in order to minimize the level of fear associated with performing these different tasks and the level of anxiety that is entailed.

Sports

The best way to get rid of any performance fears associated when competing at a sports event is to take it easy on yourself. Even the world's best sportsmen or women have their days off, wherein they do not perform at their maximum potential. When engaged in sports, you cannot expect to win all the time and you will find your team lose on some occasions. Whatever your sport, setting realistic goals is then the first step that will help you deal with sports performance fears and anxiety. However, you can turn that adrenaline produced by your anxious feelings into energy that you can harness to perform better at your sport. And when you are on the actual performance, try to enjoy the experience and you will find the process of competition more rewarding.

Speech Delivery

Several people have this fear of speaking in public. Much of that fear is produced by the pressure of having to deliver a flawless speech that is able to communicate the message to the audience effectively. Instead of letting that fear overtake you, harness it into a systematic plan that will ensure you have control over the situation.

Here are added tips you can apply:

• Carefully plan ahead your speech.
• Do some research to be well-equipped about the topic you are going to deliver a speech on, even when you are already an 'expert' at that field.
• Practice. Practice. Practice.
• Plan ahead the schedule and venue where the speech is going to be held.

Workplace

There are a few innately stressful jobs that require high level of standards for their employees to meet. To keep up with performance anxiety, you need to stop and talk about it, with either your boss, co-workers, or family members. Being in isolation and confronting your fears alone could increase the fear or make the situation worse. It is important to have the support of other people.

Then, change your perspective. There are moments wherein there are job inadequacies but use that as a learning curve. Aiming for perfectionism is good but you need to realize that it is unachievable. Just try to focus on what you can contribute to the company instead of what you are failing to deliver.

Managing and Overcoming This Fear

You need to understand that you have power over your fear, especially when it determines how well you perform at something. Then, think of the following steps that must be taken in order for you to overcome these fears:

• Try to identify the source of your problematic perception or anything that could trigger such fears.
• Then, once you have identified the outside source for such levels of anxiety, look into yourself. Determine how you react to it and why you react that way.
• Refrain from criticizing yourself nor questioning your ability to perform.
• Instead of letting fear consume you, make the necessary preparations needed for your performance, whether at a sports event or at the workplace.
• Once you are through with the performance, do not focus on areas of mistakes or failures in a way that it impairs your self-confidence. Instead, look at them as areas that need improvement in order for you to do better in your next performance.

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Marcilio David is a Cardiologist and Internet Entrepreneur. Learn more tips and tricks about conquering quality of life and stress relief, and get a FREE Anxiety Ebook at anxiety.multiplepage.com The Anxiety and Stress Management Guide

Making a Plan and Taking Action

By Gen Wright

When clients are first tasked with making a plan in order to take action, I initially ask them to think about a time when they were planning a vacation. What is the first question you asked yourself? You most likely considered a destination. Perhaps it's a dream safari vacation on the Serengeti, or maybe a more relaxing stay on the Caribbean. Whatever you decided, you needed a map to mark out your directions, or a travel itinerary. If you don't have a plan in place, chances are slim that you will reach your destination in the time allotted for your vacation. This type of planning is critical not just to achieving an enjoyable vacation, but to most life-goals.

Let's take a moment to review the concept of "S.M.A.R.T." goals; goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and have Timely expectations. Make sure that the goal you are working toward is something that you really want. Remember that a goal that you set for yourself cannot contradict other goals in your life. For instance, if you want to try every pizzeria in Montreal, but you have also set a goal to lose twenty pounds in the next six months, well something has got to give and it won't be the twenty pounds if you decide visiting the pizzeria's is a priority.

No one said it was going to be easy, but you have to consider six areas of your life when you start setting your goals, so that you don't go against other equally important aspirations. Most commonly these areas are divided into family and home, financial and career, spiritual and ethical, physical and health, social and cultural, as well as mental and educational.

It's also important to consider writing your goals in a positive, rather than in a negative statement, including as much detail in the statement as possible to ensure that you have put parameters around realizing your goals. Don't make it too easy. The best way to visualize your goals is to write them down and review them each morning and evening. Practice visualization on a consistent basis because this process will start both your subconscious and conscious mind working towards achieving your goal.

Daily decision-making can either lead you away from your ultimate goal, or take you closer to it. When you make choices during the day, consider your goal. If your choice doesn't move you closer to your goal, it may be time to make a value assessment to determine if in fact this is the right decision at this time. And, unless someone is critical to helping you achieve your goal, do not freely share your thoughts with others. The negative attitude from friends, family and neighbours can sometimes drag you down quickly. It is very important that you maintain positive self-talk.

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Liz Cascagnette is a Career Coach and President of Envision Career Coaching. To find out more about what a career coach can do for you to put you on the track to your dream career, visit her website at www.envisioncareercoaching.com. While you're on the website, don't forget to sign up for her free monthly newsletter providing tips and advice on setting and achieving the goals toward the life you've always wanted.

How to Discipline Yourself

By Janet Erickson

It is so important to have self-discipline; discipline affects nearly any facet of our day-to-day lives, in particular an absence of self-discipline gives rise deminished self worth. If you would like to achieve success in life then being able to structure yourself is a vital trait to have in your make-up.

To assist in keeping you up it would help to write a daily diary, in here you can write down all the things you have been successful with and everything where you got somewhat off course and gave in to temptation. This can help you get the drive you need to keep yourself disciplined.

Establish your goals; make notes in your diary. It is important that when thinking about what you want that you establish goals which are realistic and workable within a realistic amount of time. Planning goals that you cannot hope to accomplish or which are unrealistic will only lead to poor results and deminished self-esteem.

Assuming you are self control then you need to have a strong sense of self, but if you don't trust in what is possible then do not assume that others will have faith in you. Self-confidence contributes to high self confidence and this is a big part of becoming self disciplined.

Learn to do everything in moderation, if you over eat and smoke then cut back. Don't simply state you are going to cut back or stop at once, this only results in failure. Rather think about the rewards you will attain by stopping; write down in your diary all the constructive aspects about what you are doing. If you drink too much for example then aim to cut back by a small amount every day and if you are tempted to exceed the limit you established for yourself then structure yourself. Try something different, something you wouldn't ordinarily do and keep in mind the benefits of self discipline.

If you do fail to meet your goals, lecture yourself and then keep going forward, don't waste time wondering why or how or think that it will happen again. Promise yourself that you will be more disciplined in the future.

Keep a record of how you are succeeding with your determination and reward yourself when you have remained self-disciplined. It's okay to penalize yourself for failing but you have to reward yourself for the good too.

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To read more about spiritual growth and receive free meditations on spiritual healers just go to JanetErickson.com.

Starting and Growing Your Business – Why to Use Marketing and Personal Growth Strategies

By Ben Needles

Why do many businesses fail in the first years of operation? Is it just because they did not have enough business knowledge, enough resources, etc.? By studying and talking to many successful entrepreneurs I have found there is one crucial element to a business success, and it has nothing to do with your knowledge, training, the industry you choose, resources or anything else you can think of.

Don’t get me wrong – marketing and business tools are crucial to a business success, but sometimes having just them is not enough. This is only one piece of the puzzle. What are the other pieces? A success blueprint and a plan for personal growth.

If you combine the right business and marketing tools with the right personal growth techniques, you are going to be successful in anything you do. So here is my plan for starting a business the right way using my personal growth and marketing combo:

1. Find your passion. Have you heard the expression: When you do something with passion, money will follow? It’s true, your passion and love gives that special energy to your business that make it successful fast. Plus, when you do what you truly love doing you are more likely to not get discouraged and get more creative if something goes wrong.

2. Make a Vision Map. Think business plan, but shorter and more to the point. A Vision map is a detailed plan of what your goals and dreams are regarding your business. All of history’s super achievers had their vision maps. It is claimed to be 70% of your success. A Vision map consists of your overall vision – your final destination you want eventually arrive at. And a set of goals, steps and tasks of how you think you might get to your final destination.

3. Write a business plan. Outline your product or service, company mission, marketing strategy, resources, financing, etc. Do your research and write out a step-by-step plan.

4. Create a squeeze page/opt-in page. A squeeze page will start attracting your target audience for you to start building your list of potential customers.

5. Create a website or a sales letter. Depending on what kind of product or service you sell, you will need a website or sales letter or even both.

6. Start driving traffic to your squeeze page. How do you get traffic? There are hundreds of ways you can do it. Some of them are: pay per click advertising, google, yahoo, msn, ebay, blogs, online communities like MySpace, Facebook, Squidoo, Twitter, press releases, articles, message boards, emails, joint ventures, etc.

7. After people land on your squeeze page, get their contact information and start sending them your sales letters or links to your websites with your products.

8. Believe in yourself and in the possibility of your vision to come true someday very soon. What do all successful entrepreneurs have in common? A Success blueprint. They are confident in their abilities and have faith that everything will work out one way or the other. Do just that. Remind yourself every day that your business is going to succeed and prosper and don’t let anything or anyone to discourage you. Faith is a huge thin; it can move mountains.

9. Get clear. Realize your fear and worries and consciously get rid of them. Remember, fear is just false evidence appearing real. Don’t let it stop you.

10. Visualize your success every day. Think about your final goal, the one you outlined in your Vision Map. Think about it every day. Think as if it already came true. Feel it. Smell it. It doesn’t matter if it still seems far away. Visualization will bring it to you faster than you can imagine.

Only this combination of marketing and business tips along with personal growth tips will ensure your success in the fastest way possible. Can you use just one side of this combination and still succeed? Sure you can, but why not to use all the tools to make sure your success comes faster and easier?

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About the Author
Ilona Kravtsova is an expert in personal growth and marketing.

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Living in the Moment - Here and Now is All We Have

By Robert D. Thomson

In our chaotic modern society, most people spend their entire life in a past that no longer exists or a future that may never be real. Regret, anxiety, and displacement through fantasy are the norm in most cultures at the time of this writing.

The result is rampant stress-related illness and death, a soaring suicide and depression rate, and the widespread feelings of loss and disconnection so many people can relate to. But take heart in knowing that life absolutely does not need to be this way on either the individual or collective levels!

The life experience is an incredible journey, filled with surprise, satisfaction, and expansion on all levels. All one needs to do is become aware of the present moment and sustain this awareness long-term.

When you learn to be still and accept what this moment has to offer, you find peace, clarity, spontaneous joy, and inspiration. These energies are always present, but you can't hear or connect with them over the clamor and chaos of your thought-driven reality.

Answer this question honestly:

Have you ever really solved any perceived problem by fretting over it and worrying constantly? More likely you make things worse when you do this.

Here's another one:

Have you ever successfully traveled backwards in time to alter an embarrassing past event? If so I urge you to contact the nearest scientific research facility immediately and set up an interview!

The truth, of course, is that you have never changed the past by obsessing over it. Wallowing in regret does nothing more than diminish your involvement in the present moment and deteriorate your overall enjoyment of life.

Right now, in this present moment, reality unfolds. We can remember the past and plan for the future, and there's nothing intrinsically wrong with doing so, but we can only live in the now.

At first, this sounds like some sort of work order or resignation to fact. But the opposite is true.

Embracing the present moment is the only way to live a truly exciting, refreshing life. Living in the now connects you with your true self and with the faculties of the higher consciousness.

You'll harness the powers of intuition and consistent inspiration when you immerse yourself in the present. In fact you will likely discover a completely new person within the self you thought you knew.

Being continuously aware of the moment also allows for full engagement in your relationships. Two people cannot fully connect when they are both lost in the world of past and/or future thinking. But when just one individual is clear and grounded in the now the entire relationship can obtain a more genuine quality.

And certainly if you have children in your care you will be doing them a wonderful service by teaching them to honor and live within the present moment. Day dreaming is a positive exercise in moderation, but today's youth are often mesmerized by hours of animated "entertainment" and thus severely disconnected from the real now.

All of humanity's hopes, dreams, and potential victories exist right here, right now, in this moment. Trying to hide our faces from our greatness or seeking to dwell in a state of past/future drama will only detract from our possible enlightenment, individually and as a society.

Right now is exactly what we have to work with. And it is brilliantly more than enough to achieve everything we could possibly desire.

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For more great insights on living in the present moment and finding your own purpose in life, be sure to visit the author's Websites. You'll find a wealth of information on the things that matter most in life. Visit Living in the Moment - Here and Now is All We Have.

How To Have The Perfect Day At Work

By Liz Labrum

My friend who works from home was bemoaning yesterday how her workload is causing massive stress just now. What really upset her though was that despite working to the point of burnout nothing much was getting achieved.

That got me thinking how stress and lots to do go hand in hand. For most of us when we've too much work, our internal critic goes into overtime. Then in retaliation we get 'busy' but not necessarily productive.

This is because mentally we're not designed to be busy all the time. We work far better when we take breaks and allow some mental space for our natural creativity to lend a hand.

Give Yourself a Break
These breaks could be as simple as taking a walk to the other side of the office, or up and down the stairs. You could even hum a bit of a song out loud to snap out of stressful or anxious feelings.

It's a bit like the smoker who goes outside to have a cigarette break. It takes them away from the source of stress and gives their minds processing time to work out what to do next.

It's easy to get sucked into worrying and fretting in your head so that all day you're in a fuzz of anxiety that stops you thinking clearly and wears you out.

In fact working this way switches on your stress response and has you at high alert all day.

How did working life get to be like this for many of us?
The answer lies in all the beliefs we've absent-mindedly absorbed whilst growing up. Some could be from all those TV and Hollywood dramas we watched where the hero always solves all the problems and where everyone lives happily ever after. Others from adults in our lives that we somehow assumed were perfect. Either way it means we subconsciously believe that we must be perfect just like our heroes.

So we're acting on and living in the assumption that we can do it all and keep everything under control. It's like the story of that little boy keeping his finger in the dike hoping that would be enough to keep back the huge flood tide of water. We can all guess how things will end.

Avert this disaster by learning how to tap into the amazing mental abilities you possess. Put simply just give your brain clear instructions of what you want done. You do this by communicating in its language of imagination.

Here's an example. At the end of the day decide on next day's plan of activity. Keep your plan brief and limit it to just four or five things.

Then on the way to work next morning imagine yourself doing them and having got them completed. This will only take minutes but really feel what it's like to do each one and have them completed. Your brain is amazingly creative and when you apply this strategy it's like programming it.

During the day check in with your list of tasks and with your mental imagery of getting that stuff done. Do this especially when you're put off the scent by some interruption. It helps you build a sense of perspective so that you can ride out the rough bits.

Life won't change overnight and you'll still have too much work but what you are doing with these strategies is building resistance. You're changing from your normal stress response to one that's more flexible. Flexibility means choice and choice means you've more control.

From now on, everyday could be a mix of perfect moments around a mad day of demands and irritations.

Train your mind to mark out the perfect moments in your day. It's like setting a compass for a more enjoyable journey.

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Liz Labrum of Think-Right Now has helped hundreds of clients be more confident, less stressed, beat burnout, banish fears and bad habits. Her popular e-book Beat the Burnout Blues is a practical step by step guide that has benefited many. Visit www.Think-RightNow.com to download your free report Symptoms of Burnout and How to Recover.

Your Biggest Enemy on Your Way to Freedom

You are already free. Freedom is your real nature. But there is something that constantly prevents you from experiencing your freedom. It's your Ego. And the more you realize and recognize it, the more you will feel free.

What is your ego? Your ego is the image of yourself you have created in order to be accepted by society, by others. It began early in your childhood. When you were a child your parents and other people judged and criticized you. They didn't accept you just as you are. They tried to change you, to make you a person that will fit them, the person they will be able to control. The person, whose presence they will not feel. The person that will not cause them trouble or change their routine.

As you see, trying to educate you, people mostly did not care about you, but about themselves. But you were a little child, who was dependent on adults for survival. So you developed your ego, your false identity that has a purpose to please and satisfy others. That was the only way you could get what you need and what you want.

Step by step you have built self definition. You have started loving some parts of you, because the society accepts them; and hate your other qualities, because the society did the same.

Time passed. You are not really depending on anyone anymore. But here is the power of bad habit. You regularly treat yourself through the eyes of society, so often that you've adopted their "voice" of judgment.

Now you're continuing to identify yourself with that false image that was created in order to satisfy others. You're experiencing everything through your ego. You're not free anymore to be yourself, but this is the only way you can really experience freedom.

So what is the solution? How can you be more you and less your ego? Here are just some of the points you have to relate:

• Practice meditation
• Reduce self judgment
• Learn to totally express yourself
• Practice the state of mind of success, wealth and freedom

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This article was authored by Vicka Tanski. All this and much more you will discover in the author’s newsletter "The Way to Freedom". Sign up here: www.the-way-to-freedom.com/?ref=jstbe-3

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The Most Important Step Towards Freedom and Happiness

The Most Important Step Towards Freedom and Happiness

What do you think you should do to be really happy? I heard a lot of different answers:

• I have to be rich
• To love what I have or do
• I need a good family and friends
• And other variations...

But none of them is complete answer. So, listen carefully: In order to live in happiness and freedom "you have to be absolutely, totally, completely YOU! You have to express yourself full power in all possible ways of expression" — it is the requirement of your soul in this life.

The meaning of this for everyone is different, because everyone has different potential, DNA, information that he/she carries inside. Everyone has different desires, and loves different kinds of people, things and activities.

Until you repress your unique desires and try to be anything except yourself and to do anything except what you like, you will limit your happiness and freedom.

If you want your life to be absolutely fulfill, it also not enough to do only one thing you like, and ignore others. For example: if you like to dance, to sing and to help people to improve their lives, don't limit yourself to doing only one of these activities. Find the time and opportunity to do all of them. You cannot imagine how your life will become more exciting, fulfill and satisfying then.

It's really not so easy in our society to be absolutely yourself. People are constantly judging you, and trying to make you only a "biological robot", in order to control you. But tell me and yourself the truth: what is really important for you:

• Stay small, dependent and weak person, who want to satisfy others and to let them control and use you.
• Or become a free person, start living beautiful and exciting life and help others to do the same.

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This article was authored by Vicka Tanski. To get practical tips on living in spiritual, mental and financial freedom, sign up to the author’s newsletter here: www.the-way-to-freedom.com/?ref=jsht-1 To Your Freedom, Vicka Tanski.

Fourteen Key Personal Development Skills

By Gen Wright

It's helpful to take a high level perspective on personal development, looking broadly at all the important skills. This can help identify areas you may be weak in, and serve as a mental checklist to help you focus. While this is not an exhaustive list of elements important to personal development, these are some of the most important.

1. Continuous Learning: Take responsibility for your own lifelong personal development, knowing that it’s the secret to success in all areas of life, and your most valuable asset. Your knowledge and experience is personal wealth you can never lose.

2. Positivity: Find the positive aspect in everything, accepting what cannot be changed, and acting on what can, towards a positive result. Don’t let circumstances drive your state of being, let your state of being drive your results. Smile and use humor to help drive a positive attitude and share it with others.

3. Personal Excellence: Strive to do your best in everything you do. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Not only to achieve superior results, but so that if you fail you can remain positive rather than wishing you had tried harder. Look to be creative in your personal excellence rather than follow the safest, lowest risk path.

4. Honesty: Maintain honesty and integrity in all that you do. Trust and respect by others is hard earned, yet can be permanently lost over the smallest lie. Decide that honesty is one of your core values, and stick to it at all costs.

5. Know Yourself: You are a unique individual with your own strengths and weaknesses, all others have these also. The difference with a successful person is they have learned to leverage their strengths, and to identify their weaknesses so they can improve those areas through learning and practice. Accept yourself as you are without comparison to others, if you look you will find much about yourself to be proud of and thankful for.

6. Appreciate the Moment: Seek happiness in the present moment, even in the simple things around you such as nature, a good conversation, or a good meal. Excessive contemplation on the past or future steals this appreciation from you. Some techniques to support this is getting out in nature, and meditation.

7. Communicate Well: Learning to communicate well with others is an essential skill, which includes speaking, writing, listening well, and body language. Nearly everyone can still find areas to grow with these skills, and should receive constant attention. Becoming a good listener is one of the top areas of improvement you should seek, become truly interested in other people and it will work wonders.

8. Embrace Mistakes: Mistakes are a prerequisite to personal development; you must choose either courage and success, or safety and being average. Mistakes are a learning opportunity so long as you are not repeating your mistakes, if you have learned from a failure then pat yourself on the back. Carry this to other’s mistakes also, forgive them with this understanding in mind.

9. Embrace Change: Change is a constant part of life, and integral to personal development and success. Become excited about change, and look to it with a positive attitude. Be a leader by being the initiator of positive change. If you fear change, then you fear personal development, as self improvement is about changing yourself.

10. Increase Your Value: Know that personal development is not a selfish activity; rather it increases your value to others, ranging from relationships, business, and career. Too many people focus on changing others, which rarely works as well as changing yourself. Make a difference externally by changing yourself internally.

11. Be Giving: Seek to be giving, compassionate, loving, yet humble, knowing you receive what you give out. This is a secret to finding happiness in life.

12. Balance: Seek balance in all areas of life, considering family, relationships, career, business, health, leisure, and spirituality.

13. Gratitude: Be thankful for the gift and opportunity of life. If you have a spiritual belief, pursue the core tenets of the teachings and make them part of who you are.

14. Find Your Excitement: Find things in life that excite you, and act on them. Embracing things which excite and motivate you will move you more quickly into success and happiness, and attract the things you need to get there. This attitude will support and integrate with all the above tenets.

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Steve Moore is the author of this article, and has many more articles on these concepts at Personal-Development.Com and PositiveArticles.Com