LIFEBUSHIDO

Welcome to 2010! Now that we’re in a new year, it seems appropriate, and completely traditional, to ring it in with some new year resolutions. A new year brings the sense of a new beginning, while also prompting us to look back at the past. It is a natural thing to reflect on the changes we’d like to see in our lives and set some new goals (which we are always encouraging at Lifebushido!). Ever wondered what the top 10 resolutions are for many of us?

1. Spend more time with family and friends
2. Fit in fitness
3. Lose weight
4. Quit smoking and/or drinking (or any other addictive behavior)
5. Enjoy life more - slow down and be less stressed
6. Get out of debt, make better financial decisions, and/or save more money
7. Help others by volunteering or donating to those who are in need
8. Get organized and manage your time better
9. Learn something - get a better education, or learn a new hobby
10. Take a trip somewhere

While we typically have no shortage of resolutions, the problem is keeping them. Here are a few tips to help you with following through on your new year resolutions.

• Be realistic - instead of saying you will lose 30 pounds by April, plan to achieve a more attainable goal, like 10 or 15 pounds. If you end up losing 30, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
• Don’t overload yourself - it can be difficult to make big changes (after all, that is what resolutions are), especially if you are trying to make more than one at the same time. Instead, prioritize your resolutions and attempt tackling one at a time - starting with the one you deem most important. By the time 2011 rolls around, you may have kept yourself busy the entire year, too!
• Give yourself some accountability - many of us keep our resolutions to ourselves, but when we tell others in our lives, they are more likely to hold us accountable and cheer us on when we otherwise might give up. And, if you need it, ask for help in achieving your goals - there’s no shame in that.
• Reward yourself - if you’ve ever set and failed to achieve a new year’s resolution before, you know how hard it can be, so give yourself credit for meeting your goals. If you resolve to spend less, reward yourself with a cappuccino if you’re able to avoid buying that high ticket item you’ve been eyeing. If you resolve to quit complaining, reward yourself with a massage after a week of practicing gratitude.

Set a goal for your start date - sometimes the change of seasons is an easier time of year for new goals, instead of using the calendar. When springtime comes by May 1, the change in season will prompt you to make the change(s) you’re hoping to see in yourself.

How often do you take the time to focus on what you’re thankful for? Daily? Weekly? Ever? Many of us spend so much time and energy focusing on what we don’t have and how to get it, instead of taking time to appreciate what we already have - often missing the blessing altogether.

There is nothing wrong with being driven to achieve - that is what likely makes you successful at what you do. Striving toward goals is what allows you to learn more and make progress. However, there is a balance to be struck between looking ahead and enjoying the present - both are critically important to success and happiness. When one becomes more important than the other, you will be out of balance and less happy, in general.

Take a gratitude pause today - spend five minutes making a list of the top 10 things in your life right now for which you’re grateful. Try to write down things that you are thankful for right now (not something from the past, or a future hope). Make it a habit to write your top 10 list at least once a week. In the beginning, it might be hard to come up with 10 items, but push yourself. In time, you’ll find that as you’re more focused on gratitude, your list will grow. As you get more accustomed to this habit, aim to spend five minutes every day focused on gratitude.

Don’t allow the stress of daily life or the struggle of a current crisis to rob you of the joy you already possess. Regardless of any trial you might be facing in the present, if you are committed to looking for the positive in your life, you will find it. Doing so makes the difference between just surviving and thriving.

So, what are you grateful for today?

In this hurried world of multitasking and doing more and more with the same amount of resources, stress is inevitable - right? So many of us subscribe to the mentality that if we simply work more, we’ll do better and gain more. What if simply working more only makes us less effective? What if all of the stress we are under was something we could control? What if stress was a choice?

Of course, we wouldn’t pose the question if we didn’t truly believe that it is. Furthermore, we assert that you have the ability to refuse to allow stress to rob you of your daily peace! "How?" you say? Read on.

First, STOP! Slow down, take a breather, clear your schedule (only temporarily) and breathe deep breaths (research shows that deep breaths reduce stress and tension and make thoughts clearer).

Next, follow these simple steps to simplify and de-stress:

Be decisive - make a decision once and follow through quickly so that unresolved decisions cannot wear you down or cause you to second guess yourself.

Determine what is important and spend more energy on those things, letting go of the things that aren’t. If it helps, make a list of all the things going on in your life and see just where your time is going - is it where you want it to be?

Don’t be afraid to say no - remember, it is impossible to do a good job if you are overextended. Typically, a highly successful person (and one who is not under tremendous stress) is also skilled at delegation.

Get rid of clutter - extra distractions are a time killer and make you less efficient. Eliminating clutter where you work, on your computer, and in your home will keep your mind focused on the task at hand. Less IS more.

Create a routine for your day and week - doing the same thing at the same time each day prevents you from spending energy thinking about what you should be doing. Make sure to spend some time on healthy living, like exercise or prayer, which will keep you strong and release tension.

Focus on only one thing at a time - resist the temptation to multitask. In the end, you’ll get two things done much more efficiently by giving each task the attention it needs.

Do your best to not overthink all of this and go for it. Once you get on top of the stressors in your life, stay on top of them. Clearing stress will bring a new brightness and vitality to your life, which will certainly affect those around you, too. Stress is a choice - choose wisely.

Do you often wish you had more time in each day to get things done? Are you busy, but find at day’s end that you didn’t accomplish all that you’d hoped? If you find yourself overwhelmed with stress - you are likely in need of more effective time management skills. And, with our propensity toward multitasking and increased expectations that we get more done in the same amount of time, who isn’t?

First, it is critical for you to shift your focus and concentrate on getting results. Many people neglect to concentrate daily on the things that matter the most. Doing so, makes what we do during the day more efficient and effective. This will take work, but in the end you’ll be expending less effort and getting more done, which makes it all worth it.

Begin by completing these important steps:

Set Goals. If you know where you want to go, it is easier to do what is necessary to get there. Without goals, it is nearly impossible to focus. For expert help on this concept, visit www.goalbushido.com.

Prioritize your goals. Once you’ve set goals, you need to rate these goals in order of importance. It’s not enough to create a To-Do list, you need to organize it with the most important tasks listed first. This gives you a game plan for your day.

Minimize distractions. When you’re working on an important task, interruptions can be a huge time stealer. While all distractions cannot be eliminated, you can minimize them by planning time into your schedule for them and knowing which interruptions are necessary to attend to, and which are not.

Avoid procrastination. Procrastination can quickly lead to feeling overwhelmed -figure out when and why you procrastinate and work to avoid it. Reward yourself for completing a task on your To-Do list. This will encourage you to complete the most boring or challenging tasks without putting them off.

Schedule your time. Take the time to plan your day, organizing your tasks by importance, and planning time for interruptions and unexpected events. Make sure your schedule reflects your priorities and goals.

For more information and advice on time management, take this quiz to examine your time management skills are. Putting these principles into practice will not only increase your productivity, but minimize stress in every area of your life.

Now that you’ve set some goals (see Follow Your Heart, Secrets of Success Series, Part 1), you have some focus, some direction. Now it is time to put aside fear and achieve your dreams. With no regrets. This means taking some risks.

It is often said that those who come to the end of their lives never say their biggest regret is that they didn’t spend more time at the office. Their biggest regret, instead, is saying, “I wish I had...” Take a moment to consider what you will wish you had done if you found yourself at the end of your life in ten years? Five years? Five weeks?

I had an experience just this week that illustrated this concept for me. I’d been suffering with an unusually chronic migraine headache that lasted for about 8 days. As the days wore on and the headache ceased to subside on its own, I began to entertain irrational ideas of what might be causing the pain, including the possibility of a bleed in my brain (can you say hypochondriac?).

On day 7, as I was getting ready for bed, the thought occurred to me, “what if I don’t wake up in the morning?” Immediately and completely instinctively, I wanted to wake up my two young daughters and spend that time with them, telling them how much I love them, just being with them and leaving loving memories of my last moments, should I not wake up. It didn’t matter that it was way past their bedtimes - nothing mattered except my desire to see them and let them see how much I care about them.

Now, while this was a bit over the top, the underlying fear was not irrational at all. Facing what could have been the end brought up an intense need for me to strengthen my relationships. It never crossed my mind that I should get the rest of my pending work done, or clean up the kitchen before I risked going to sleep for the last time. Obviously, I did wake up the next morning, and the headache is now gone. But the lesson is lasting, and I hope to never forget it.

Put yourself in a similar scenario. What comes to mind about how you would spend your last few hours, if you knew the end was imminent? When you live your life leaving no regrets, you will find yourself facing choices - some will be life altering, some will only affect your immediate future, but you will understand that all of them matter. Leaving no regrets means taking a risk and having faith that, if you take the chance, you can achieve your dreams, all the while realizing that there is a chance that the worst case scenario could happen instead.

We suggest you practice this process as you learn to integrate this into your daily life. First, identify the choice you’re facing - what is the best possible outcome? What is the worst, and if that occurs, can you live with it? If you can, go ahead and take the risk. The key is keeping your mind focused on the best possible outcome, not the worst. Unfortunately, we tend to do just the opposite, and that is where we get stuck. The fear can be paralyzing, and we find ourselves with regret.

Try this with the “smaller” choices in your life today. As you get better at it, employ this strategy with the larger decisions. Take some risk, believe that you will achieve your dreams, and leave no regrets!

There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart...pursue those.

In this first of a five post series focused on the secrets of success we’ve blogged about before, we are going to go a little deeper, and explore the first secret, "follow your heart." What does this mean? How do we integrate this concept into our daily lives?

First, we need to listen. Really sit still and take some time to think about your unique gifts and what your deepest desires and dreams are. Do you know? If you sat down to write a list of your top five goals for your life, could you? Goal setting is critical for success, and knowing which goals you want to attain is the first step. What are the desires of your heart?

We suggest that you begin by visualizing where you’d like to be in 12 months. What would your ideal professional life look like in a year, if you could have anything you wanted? What would your income be, if you could choose it? What about your ideal personal life? What would you accomplish, if you could? Strengthen a relationship? Learn a new hobby? Find a deeper spiritual connection?

During this step, put aside your fears and doubts. Focus solely on what you want, what you dream of, what you could achieve in a perfect world. Forget about obstacles you are facing now, or anticipate facing in the future. Forget about past failures.

Once you have clarity about what it is that your heart desires, professionally, personally, financially, relationally, and spiritually, then you can begin to head in the direction of your dreams. This involves setting goals, and intentionally setting out to meet those goals. If you haven’t already, we’d encourage you to learn more about Goalbushido, and write out your goals with our help.

Goal setting is the tangible result of learning and understanding what our dreams are - an important first step in heading in the direction of following our hearts. What are you waiting for?

It is very easy to get wrapped up in the day to day grind. Too many things to do and not enough hours in the day to do them. Everyone feels that way at one point or another. Sometimes all it takes is a moment to recoup and you can get back into working on those things that need to be done.

One simple trick you can use to help you relax and to help you get refocused is to picture your perfect day. Take a minute to just think about what your perfect day would look like.

What would you do?

Who would you spend the day with?

What would you eat?

What would the weather be like?

Define everything about your perfect day in great detail. Get a picture in your mind. Know what you would do from the minute you woke up until your head hit the pillow at night.

After you have your perfect day planned out and clear in your mind go ahead and live it.

Take one day to just live out your perfect day. If that is not possible, then simple focus on your perfect day and imagine yourself living it.

You would not believe how amazing it feels to experience your perfect day. It can calm you in an instant. It will help you to focus better and to get back in the swing of things. The next time you are feeling like you have too much to do, just take some time to reflect on your perfect day.