10 Ways to Stop Procrastinating Now!

There are tons of reasons we procrastinate in our lives. Rarely are they ever good reasons. If you don’t find ways to stop procrastinating you are going to lose precious time and energy that can be used to get one step closer to your dreams.

It happens to the best of us. No matter how far in advance that I know about a trip, I will inevitably be packing 5 minutes before we have to leave. It seems as though I am incapable of packing ahead of time. I hate every second of it, but it happens every time. I put it off and put it off and then I’m rushing around scrambling.

If it wasn’t for my wonderful fiance gathering together my clothes, I would have no shot!

Sound familiar? Do you put things off when you know you need to get it done? Do you go through the cycle? You know you have to have something done. You have plenty of time to accomplish this task, yet you put it off to do something else. You get down to the last minute and barely finish, and get extremely upset with yourself that you didn’t get it done earlier. You vow to be better about it next time.

Next time is here…and your putting it off again.

You must break the cycle! To be successful, you need to be able to focus on the little actions that will move you closer to accomplishing your goals. Procrastination is something you do to yourself. It is a mental wall that can be knocked down if you want it badly enough. Imagine how good you will feel when you break down this wall!

Here are 10 tips to help you with the demolition:

1. Set a deadline - No not the time it has to be done. Set an absolute deadline that is some time before the actual due date. Stop at nothing to reach this deadline. Eventually it will become a habit to get things done early.

2. Get some accountability - Talk to someone you trust, and tell them about the task. Explain to them that you are trying to tear down this wall and that you need their help. Have them make sure they stay on you to get it done and not stop until it is finished.

3. Break it down - Break down the task in to bite size pieces. Then start mowing through them one by one. When you have a small tasks to accomplish, the big picture doesn’t seem all that daunting and you can knock it out easier.

4. Make a list - I love lists! I make a list for just about everything I need to do. It gives me comfort. And I feel a great sense of accomplishment to see that list as it gets smaller and smaller throughout the day!

5. Reward yourself - Set up an award system. Every time you get something knocked off the list early, reward yourself. Sometimes all we need is a little motivation.

6. Do the easy ones first - Some people may disagree with me here. They say to do the longest or the hardest thing first. I think we self-motivate when we have little victories. Get a few easy ones under your belt and build some momentum!

7. Just get started - This is sometimes the hardest part. Just beginning. It’s simple, just get started. Do something, anything and you will soon find yourself rolling along. Action breeds more action!

8. Organize your life – When everything around you is a mess, you won’t want to do anything. When you are organized, you get a natural energy that just comes with everything being in its place. When the tools you need to accomplish something are where they should be, its hard not to just finish it and move on.

9, Find your WHY - Know why you are doing this task. Realize the benefits to getting it done. Understand the consequences if you don’t. A compelling reason, can solve many problems.

10. Decide to change - You can think you will follow all these tips as much as you want, but until you commit to changing, you never will. Commit to changing your life and you will. Stop at nothing!

You can beat procrastination. But you have to want to change, it won’t happen by itself. If you are serious about reaching your goals and accomplishing everything you set out to do in your life, you have to be willing to change. It’s the first step, and arguably the most important. Get started now, there is no time to waste!

You may like this article on action:  “I Will Act  Now”

Do you have any tips you can add to the list? Leave a message in the comment section – I’d love to hear from you!

21 Reasons to Stop Smoking Today!

I plan on writing some posts on how to quit smoking very soon, but for right now lets talk about the why you should quit smoking part.

I quit smoking about 2 years ago.  I had no intention of quitting really, it sort of just happened.  I had been trying to quit for some time, with very little success.  There would be short periods where I could stop but something would always happen that would lead me right back in to it.

One day something very wonderful happened to me.

I couldn’t breath!

I had been smoking so much that it lead to me developing asthma!  I couldn’t believe it.  I had been an athlete my whole life and had never had a problem with breathing.  It was the smoking.  I have never smoked another cigarette in my life.

I can’t!  It could kill me!

Don’t let it get to this point with you.  You have a choice.  And while quitting may be the hardest thing you ever do in your life.  It will also be one of your greatest achievements.  You have to do it!  You can do it!  Don’t give up.  Keep fighting for your freedom.

Here are 21 reasons why you need to quit smoking now!

1.) Save some money - If you think prices won’t keep going up you’re crazy!  They can and they will.  Start saving that money you burn while smoking your pack a day.  You could be saving almost $2,000 per year!!

2.) Sleep better - You go through tiny withdrawals every night that negatively impact your sleep patterns.

3.) Improve your sex life - Smoking reduces circulation.  Circulation is exactly what you need to get, um, aroused!

4.) Less chance you’ll die of brain cancer - Turns out that the brain is a great place for lung cancer to spread.

5.) Look younger - Smoking shrinks the blood vessels, causing circulation to go down and aging to go up.

6.) Taste your food - Food is a magical thing.  I love it dearly.  When you quit smoking, you’ll actually be able to taste what you’re eating.

7.) Save your puppy - Studies show that secondhand smoke may be associated with lung and nasal cancer in dogs.

8.) Add more time to your day - Those 10 minute smoke breaks all day long add up fast!

9.) Avoid Bronchitis - Smokers are the highest risk for this disease

10.) Stop killing other people - Your smoke is hurting me, and I don’t appreciate it!

11.) Go through menopause when you are supposed to - Smoking may advance the arrival of menopause in some women.

12.) Stink less - I can smell you from here…please stop!

13.) Keep your eyesight - Smoking doubles your risk for developing macular degeneration.

14.) Don’t get asthma - Trust me, you don’t want it.

15.) Lower your Cadmium intake - Cigarette smoke has around 4.000 different chemicals in it.

16.) Improve your chances of getting pregnant - Smokers have a higher rate of infertility.

17.) Freedom - Don’t you hate being a slave to something?  Get control of your life back!

18.) Avoid Alzheimer’s disease - Smoking speeds up mental decline

19.) Lower chance of heart attack - Quitting smoking will drastically reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

20.) Stop getting winded opening up your car door - If you are breathing hard doing just about anything – it’s probably time to quit.

21.) Oh and you won’t die…at least not as early - Every cigarette you smoke takes 11 minutes off your life.

These are just a few reasons to quit smoking.  This list could go on for hundreds and hundreds of reasons.  Do you have any good reasons to quit that you could share?  Leave them in the comments!

I just got done reading The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino and something stuck out to me.  It is the wisdom of the scrolls.  If you haven’t read this book, you need to read it now!  It is a life changing book with a road map to success written within its pages.  If you want success, you have to act!

I read this book at least once or twice a year.  It is that powerful.  Here is the exerpt that struck me.  It’s a mantra that I will now read daily to keep it fresh in my mind.  Take a look…

“My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible.  All are of no value unless they are followed by action.”

I will act now.

Never has there been a map, however carefully executed to detail and scale, which carried its owner over even 1 inch of ground.  Never has there been a parchment of law, however fair, which prevented one crime.  Never has there been a scroll, even such as the one I hold, which earned so much as a penny, or produced a single word of acclamation.  Action alone is the tinder which ignites the map, the parchment, this scroll, my dreams, my plans, my goals, into a living force.  Action is the food and drink which will nourish my success.

I will act now.

My procrastination which has held me back was born of fear, and now I recognize this secret mined from the depths of all courageous hearts.  Now I know that, to conquer fear, I must always act without hesitation, and the flutters in my heart will vanish.  Now I know that action reduces the lion of terror to an ant of equanimity.

I will act now.

Only action determines my value in the marketplace, and to multiply my value I will multiply my actions.  I will walk where the failure fears to walk.   I will work when the failure seeks to rest.  I will talk when the failure remains silent.  I will call on 10 who can buy my goods, while failure makes grand plans to call on one.  I will say it is done before the failure says it is too late.

I will act now.

For now is all I have.  Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy.  I am not lazy.  Tomorrow is the day when the evil become good.  I am not evil.  Tomorrow is the day when the weak become strong.  I am not weak.  Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed.  I am not a failure.

I will act now.

When the lion is hungry, he eats.  When the eagle has thirst, he drinks.  Lest they act, both will perish.  I hunger for success.  I thirst for happiness and peace of mind.  Lest I act, I will perish in a life of failure, misery and sleepless nights.  I will command, and I will obey my own command.

I will act now.

Success will not wait.  If I delay, she will become betrothed to another and lost to me forever.

This is the time.  This is the place.  I am the man.

I will act now.

Your homework now is to read this every morning and every night for 30 days.  Let it sink in.  Think about it.  Live it.  Make these words the default philosophy in your mind.

You won’t be sorry that you did.  If you don’t have a copy of this book you can get one here: The Greatest Salesman in the World.

Let me know what you think!

21 Ways to Have Fun for Free!

In response to my post from yesterday, I got a comment from Steve that said, “Dude, you forgot #8, cut out all the fun!” While I don’t agree with Steve that those 7 ideas are cutting out all of the fun from your life in order to save money, I think this is a great opportunity to list 21 ways you can have tons o’ fun without spending a dime!

Saving money doesn’t have to be a chore.  You shouldn’t have to hate your life because you are trying to be frugal.  Just get a little creative.

Use your imagination!

When you were a kid, you didn’t have any money to spend but you had fun all day long!  What did you do then?  Why not now?  Don’t underestimate the amount of fun you can have by just acting like a kid again.

So here they are:

1. Build a bonfire

2. Go camping

3. Grab some friends and play freeze tag (you know you want to!)

4. Have a picnic

5. Go kayaking

6. Read a good book

7. Build a fort

8.  Play beer pong

9. All night board games

10.  Go do karaoke

11. Start a blog

12. Blast your favorite cd

13. Take a ton of funny pictures

14. Go swimming

15. Create your own holiday and celebrate it

16. Go see Shakespeare in the park

17. Make someone a mixed cd

18. Watch funny movies

19. Play with your kids

20.  Go to the dog park

21. Explore downtown

Extra tip: Watch the Big Lebowski as many times in a row as possible!

See, saving money and having fun don’t have to compete, you can do them both at the same time!  Do you have any ideas to add to the list?  Let us know in the comments section!

5 Personal Development Blogs to Check Out!

It’s link day again and today I wanted to share a few personal development blogs that I have stumbled on.  I love finding new sites to read and learn from.  Some end up being great and some don’t, so I’ve started a list of sites that I think you may really enjoy and I will share some of them with you every Thursday and I hope you head over and check them out.

Today’s links are all sites related to personal development, something I value extremely high in my own life and I hope you do too.  Never stop trying to better yourself, even the greatest minds in the world have more to learn.  So without to much rambling, here are a few sites to check out…

1.) Change Your Thoughts -

This is a great personal development site!  I really appreciate that he invites guest posts which gives us a variety of voices to learn from. 

2.) Pick The Brain -

I particularly enjoyed the section on productivity…

3.) Positivity Blog -

I was very surprised by this one.  Make sure you check the archives…Tons of great info here!

4.) The Simple Dollar -

So in my day job I’m an accountant.  Not my dream but it pays the bills.  I can tell you with some authority that this is one of the best blogs I’ve seen out there on personal finance.  There are TONS of tips on this site that you should be following right now!  Get over there and make sure you are making the best financial decisions you can.

5.) Illuminated Mind -

 A lot of the posts on this blog will make you think.  What more can you ask for from a personal development blog? 

These sites come highly recommend from me.  I’m a new reader of these sites too, so tell me what you like and don’t like down in the comments section.  Either way I do hope you check some of these out and you find something valuable for yourself there!

4 Ways to Discover Your Life’s Purpose Now

Over the course of my young life, I’ve read a lot of books on finding your life’s purpose.  Constantly searching for the inspiration that will lead me to what I am meant to do.  Everyone always says, “just do what you love”, but I find that to be a little vague.  I love many things, but there isn’t a lot there that I would say is my purpose in life.   How do you find what you are meant to do?  What should I be doing with my life that won’t leave me empty and regretful at the end of my journey here?

Some people know from a very young age what they are meant to do.  They love it whole heartedly and are passionate about their careers.  I have had a different experience.

When I was younger, I had one passion and one passion only: sports.  My goal in life was to make my dad proud by all the athletic accomplishments I could rack up.  Unfortunately, after high school it became quite evident that I was not born with the gifts to take that love of the game any further.

So I did what I was supposed to do, I went to college.  I’m very grateful I was told that I had no choice but to go to college now.  I think it was worth every second.  However, I did not give much thought to what I wanted to do with my life while I was there.  I picked finance as a major and entered the business world.  While this path does have some updsides, I’ve gained knowledge that has proven to be very beneficial to me.  But I’m not passionate about it.  Honestly, I’m pretty miserable with my career.

The good news is, I’m willing to take a risk.  I’m willing to search out what my purpose is for this life, and then go and get it.  You should be willing to as well.  I know it’s scary sometimes, thinking about leaving your livelihood to try something else, but the pure happiness and joy you will attain by living your passion and following your dreams will leave you more grateful then you have ever been before.

Life is short!  Go for it!

But how do we figure out what our purpose is?  Here are 4 methods that you can try to discover your life’s purpose.  If you don’t get there from these, don’t give up.  Keep searching!

4 Methods for Discovering Your Life’s Purpose

1)      Write your life story as if it were perfect –

Take out a sheet of paper and start writing.  Write about every aspect of your life to be absolutely perfect in your eyes.  Your house, your job, your family, everything in a utopia that you construct.  What does it look like?  What do you do with your time?  What gives you that feeling of happiness?  What activities do you do?  When you have completed this exercise, and it may take many revisions and several days to complete, if you are completely happy with this life you created, start writing what you would need to do to create this life.  It may be difficult but it can be done!  Go get it!

2)      Thoughts Map –

Get a piece of paper and at the top write “This is my true purpose in life”.  Now comes the fun part.  Start making a list of the first things that come to your mind.  It can be a question, one word, happy, sad, or crazy.  Just keep writing.  Don’t stop, don’t think, just write.  Keep writing words one line at a time until something hits you.  Keep going until something just feels so right and you are filled with feelings you haven’t felt in a long time, if at all.  When that happens, you may have found your purpose.

3)      What makes you cry? –

That’s right you are making another list.  Get ready.  This time you are going to list every single thing that makes you cry.  They can be happy things that make you cry tears of joy, or terrible things that make you terribly sad.  These are going to be things you are passionate about one way or another.  Is there a problem in the world you could work to fix?  Is there something that makes you so happy you would want to experience it every single day?  These are excellent places to start!

4)      Post-It reduction –

Grab a partner for this one.  Start writing the things that are most important to you in the whole world on post it notes, one per post-it.  Keep going until you can’t think of anything else to put down.  Now line them all up and sit back for a second.  Here is where it gets interesting.  Pick one thing that you can do without, that you can give up and hand that post it to your buddy.  When you get down to only a few post-its you are getting close to your purpose in life.  When you get down to the one thing you can’t live without in this world you have found your purpose.  If what you are doing in your life is not directly related to this post-it note you are headed in the wrong direction.  Do this several times, you’ll find that your answers will change over time.

Try one or try them all, but keep trying!  Life is too short to live a life without passion.  To not discover what you were put on this earth to do seems like a waste of the gift.   Do you have any ideas for how to find your purpose in life?  Leave them in the comments section so we can all give it a shot!

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Be Grateful!

Be grateful.  If you have the ability to read, you have an amazing gift.  If you have a computer, an internet connection, freedom, you are blessed more than you can imagine.  Be grateful for what you have.

I have been spending a lot of time on what I don’t have lately.  As I start to find my purpose in life and pursue my goals and dreams, I am constantly thinking about all the things that I wish I had that would make my pursuits easier or more financially rewarding.

I’ve realized that if I spend my time dwelling on my shortcomings, and all the things I don’t have, I tend to simply get more of that in my life.  And those thoughts breed more thoughts just like it and soon enough I’m stuck. Riding this never ending wave of self doubt and envy.

But if you think about it, if you are grateful for what you have, and you spend time consciously focusing on the abundance in your life right now; there is no room for self doubt or envy.  If you are intensely focused on how grateful and blessed you are to have the car that you drive, it is impossible to be jealous of your neighbor’s car at the same time.

When you appreciate the things in your life for what they are, and you are truly happy that you have them you can eliminate all of the negative thoughts that keep you from the life that you desire, the life you deserve.

“You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.”
~ Sarah Ban Breathnach ~

Here are 4 ways to include thankfulness in to your life:

1.)    Gratitude journal -

I am a HUGE Patrick Combs fan, and one of the very first things I learned from Patrick is to have a gratitude journal.   Every night before you go to sleep, open up your journal and write down every possible thing you can think of to be grateful for.   Then when you wake up, read back through it, realize all the great things you have in your life.  You will attract more wonderful things in to your life this way.  And in a year or two, you can look back through this journal and just smile.  You’ve had so much your whole life and you didn’t even realize it!

2.)    Picture wall –

Take pictures of all the things you are grateful for.  If you can’t take a picture of it, take a picture of something that reminds you of it.  Then create a big collage of all the things you are thankful for.  I hope you have a big wall to use because you will see it start to grow very quickly.  Make this something you see every single day.  Gazing at this wall can bring an amazing feeling of peace.

3.)    Write a thank you –

Don’t be greedy with all that gratitude you have.  Spread it around.  Write a nice handwritten thank you as often as possible.  It means so much more when you write it yourself too, although an email can be nice as well.  Do this as often as you can, the person who receives it will appreciate it more than you know.

4.)    Thankful Post-It Notes –

Carry some post-it notes around with you wherever you go.  Be aware of your thoughts.  When a thought of jealousy pops up, acknowledge it, and then pull out your post-its and write something you are thankful for on it.  Then stick it right in front of you.  This is a very easy way to break that cycle of wanting and then feeling bad about not having it.  When you appreciate what you have, you will attract more good things your way.

Having an attitude of gratitude will change your life.  It is something that is so simple, yet will make a difference almost immediately.  Take one of these 4 ideas and give it a shot, try it for a few weeks or a month and see what a difference it makes.

I hope if any of you out there have any ideas on how to develop a more thankful attitude you would visit the comment section and let us know.  There are so many different ways to be thankful every day, so let’s hear some more ideas.

My first set of links comes from a blog carnival called “Cultivate Posivity” and it features blog posts that are motivational and inspirational.  Here are 5 that I enjoyed and I think you might as well.

1.  How to Boost Your Self-Esteem (and Happiness!)  - Everyone seems to have an opinion on the importance of self-esteem. And yet, the general understanding of the meaning of self-esteem in the public arena is slippery at best.

2. Brian presents Think Positive & Fight Depression posted at How To Live a Longer Life, saying, “Thinking positive can can help improve mortality rates and assist in disease prevention and recovery but only in cases where the positive thinking is genuine. How then do you think genuinely positive thoughts when you’re fighting depression?”

3. Pay Yourself First - Anything you do requires energy. And everything you do creates energy. Anything. Even reading this article. You’re spending energy by focusing on the text, processing the info in your brain and matching it against what you already know. At the end of this process, you get some energy back in the form of new ideas, new approaches or possibly some answers. Hopefully, you’ll get some positive energy by reading this.

4.  Celes presents Cultivate Good Habits in 21 Days posted at Celestine, saying, “Have you ever thought of introducing a good habit into your life, but never got around to doing it? Perhaps you tried it for 1-2 days, but then lacked the discipline to continue afterward. This is a 21-day program which will help you cultivate good habits into your life

5.  Ali Hale presents Life: Choose Your Own Adventure posted at Aliventures, saying, “Do you feel like life’s boring, tedious or a struggle? Do you get stuck because you’re scared of making choices that might have negative consequences? Take back your life, and start choosing your own adventure!”

Listen!

Life is short.  It moves quickly.  During the course of our daily lives we are running around so much that there is so much that we miss.  I can go days going through the daily routine of work, exercise, bills, eat, work…and pretty soon I get to the end of the week and have no idea what happened.  How much am I missing?  You need to stop and look around once and awhile.  Listen to what’s going on around you.  If you do you might just hear something.

 Just recently I really started thinking about this.  Most of us were blessed with 6 senses at our disposal.  While we are constantly using them, we are not constantly aware of what those senses are telling us. 

 I have been focused on listening lately.  And not just listening to other people.

 Listen to what’s happening around you

 On a typical day, I go to work in the morning and count down the time until lunch.  At lunch, I get in the car, turn up the radio, and speed home to let my dog out and grab something to eat.  It typically takes me about 15 minutes to get to or from work.  I usually don’t really think about it.  I just go.  I listen to the music and just hurry along to follow my routine.

 Last week however, I was thinking about what could possibly be happening while I was going through my routine.  So at first I just turned off the radio and put the windows down and just listened.  I listened hard! 

 It was amazing!

 All these days have gone by and I had no idea all of the things that were happening in my world.  When I really tried I could hear everything!

 I heard children playing.  I heard birds chirping.  I heard traffic stopping and starting and stopping.  I heard construction workers yelling instructions to each other.  It was too much!  I had to pull over.  Little did I know there was a park right down the street from my office.

 So I got out and sat on a bench.  It was beautiful.  I heard kids playing in the fountain, and dogs chasing each other, having the time of their lives.  And all of this was happening, every day, while I was speeding by on my way to lunch.  Sitting there I realized that this is all a gift.  What a blessing just to be able to hear all of these things.

What do you hear? 

Take a break once in a while.  Listen to what’s going on around you.  You’ll be shocked at what you’ll hear.  Listen to the wind playing with the leaves.  Listen to the rain hitting the roof.  These are the things that are beautiful in the world.  The things we miss in the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives. 

 When life gets complicated, pull off to the side of the road.  Go for a walk and just listen.  Let life slow down.  Experience every moment.  Once they are gone, they are gone forever.

My Auntie Jan

“Looking out the door I see the rain fall upon the funeral mourners.  Parading in a wake of sad relations as their shoes fill up with water” ~Jeff Buckley~

Yesterday my uncle passed away.  He had been sick and suffering for a very long time and is in a much better place now.  My heart goes out to my Auntie Jan though who is one of the sweetest, kindest, most inspiring women I have ever met, and I’m so happy that she is family.

Auntie Jan is one of 9 children in a very close knit Irish family.  She grew up with my mom and her other siblings on the same street in Cleveland, Ohio with dozens and dozens of her cousins.  When she was 18 she went to live in a convent.  And there a big part of her story really began.

The sisters needed someone trained in first aid in order to care for any of the nuns that got sick.  So they paid for her to get her training.  It kind of stuck.  And she eventually left the convent and started to study to become a nurse.   I think the reason she excelled so much in nursing is because she just naturally cares so much for people.  As the oldest of nine she helped raise all of her brothers and sisters her whole life.

But she didn’t stop there, she just kept gaining nursing degrees one by one by one.  And that little hospital she started at she never left.  She has been at Fairview hospital for her entire career.  And through the decades as she built relationships and cared for patients became very beloved by nurses, doctors and staff, because she never stopped caring.

And so within the last year or so,  she became the first women president in the history of Fairview Hospital.  An achievement that inspires out to the most distant cousin and down to the nieces and nephews of our family.  And while I mourn for the loss her husband and my uncle. I know that she loved him very much.  I was told that last night she had them bring a bed in to his room and she put her scrubs on and slept right next to him through the night.

Life is short.  And I am inspired to live my life to the fullest every single day because we only get one shot at this.

There are no second chances.  Every moment that goes by is a moment we will never see again.

It is my sincere hope that I can one day be an inspiration to my family.  To my cousins and my nieces and nephews like my Auntie Jan.  To live my life in away that makes it evident that my nature is to care.  To love.  To hope.