TIME OUT!
SHARPENING THE SAW It has always been a challenge to incorporate leisure and rest into my life. Like… [more]
SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION:
Emotional 1. Fear, worry and anxiety Somehow we find reason to worry about all the things we can’t… [more]
How TO BEAT DEPRESSION AND LIVE AGAIN
THE ILLNESS OF DEPRESSION. Depression is a sickness that we can trace right back to biblical times… [more]
WORRY PREVENTION
Probably the most important factor in worry prevention is the prevention of fatigue. I have found in… [more]
DEVELOP AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE
A spirit of thankfulness is usually missing in the lives of those plagued with worry, thankfulness to… [more]
WORRY CAN KILL YOU
Here is a startling fact: more Americans commit suicide each year than die from the five most common… [more]
THE GHOSTS OF WORRY, FEAR AND ANXIETY
I CAN REMEMBER my mother saying to me as I was growing up, “worry is like a rocking chair it gives… [more]
EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD
EMOTION IS A “stirred up reaction such as love, hate. fear, anger or grief.” According to psychologists,… [more]
NEGLECT YOUR BODY AND YOUR MIND WILL FOLLOW
YOU CAN’T LIVE a balanced life without living on a balanced diet. So much has been written on this… [more]
May 11
27
THE OPTIMIST
There is a story of identical twins. One was a hope-filled optimist. “Everything is coming up roses!” he would say. The other was a sad and hopeless pessimist. He thought that Murphy, as in Murphy’s Law, was an optimist. The worried parents of the boys brought them to the local psychologist.
He suggested to the parents a plan to balance the twins’ personalities. “On their next birthday, put them in separate rooms to open their gifts. Give the pessimist the best toys you can afford, and give the optimist a box of manure. “The parents followed these instructions and carefully observed the results.
When they peeked in on their pessimist, they heard him audibly complaining, “I don’t like the color of this computer….I’ll bet this calculator will break….I don’t like this game….I know someone who’s got a bigger car than this….”
Tiptoeing across the corridor, the parents peeked in and saw their little optimist gleefully throwing the manure up in the air. He was giggling. “You can’t fool me! Where there’s this much manure, there’s gotta be a pony!” Author Unknown
The mind can only think one thought at a time, positive or negative. We and only we get to Read more »
Posted in Goal Setting Life Balance Success by .
May 11
11
ATTITUDE — The BIG Difference
OUR ATTITUDE IS a combination of our thoughts, feelings and actions. Our attitude is our statement to the world of who we really are, regardless of what we say. Our life is merely a reflection of our attitudes.
“The environment you fashion out of your thoughts…your beliefs…your ideals…your philosophy is the only climate you will ever live in.”–Alfred A. Montapert
Our attitude is the major factor in determining whether or not we will be successful in our careers and businesses, in the building of our families and in every other area of our lives. Positive thoughts are the seeds of positive attitudes, and positive attitudes are the seeds of positive results. A new attitude always produces a new result. The Bible says “You will be renewed by the renewing of your mind.” To change who we are, we must change how we think. Prosperity definitely begins with a positive state of mind.
The thoughts we allow our mind to dwell on determine the way we feel, which ultimately is reflected in our actions. Unless we choose our own thoughts, we end up following the thoughts of others. Only we can master our own thoughts. “What we think about, comes Read more »
Posted in Life Balance Success by .
I had no idea that afternoon as I knelt on the edge of a two-storey building, that seconds later I would be traveling towards the ground head first. I also had no idea that the high voltage ballast I was changing was live! As my apprentice (my brother Jamie) handed me a wire he had just disconnected, he began to say “Watch it, it’s live.” It was too late! Electricity jolted through my body propelling me towards the a large shrub on the ground below. I did a somersault on the way down, landing on my feet and flattening the shrub, spraining both ankles and cracking two vertebrae. That’s the law of gravity for you. It works every time.
The law of the harvest began to take on new meaning to me as I began to reap the results of seven years of imbalanced living. The law of the harvest is the same as the law of gravity in that, whether you believe in it or not, it still operates. This same idea will apply to all of the success principles discussed in this book. They are in operation whether or not we believe they are. You will understand the Read more »
Posted in Life Balance by .
May 11
7
It’s Up To You!
Apr 11
26
DO WE TELL ANYONE OUR GOALS?
There is a general tendency for us to conceal our goals. That way, just in case we don’t achieve them, no one will know. None will ever say “Hey Ben, whatever happened to that book you said you were going to write?” or “How is your weight-loss program doing?” On the other hand, how can the crowd cheer if they don’t know where the finish line is? How can they applaud the scoring of a goal, when our game has invisible nets? Fans will support their home-team if they know that they are playing a game. Keep the game a secret and see how many people show up!
Before I began this book I told at least a hundred people that I was about to write a book, even though I had never done it before. I also didn’t know how I would find the time. Since that time, countless people have asked me “How’s the book coming?” Sometimes I wished I hadn’t told anyone about my goal of writing a book. However, here I am, half way through. It is important to share your goals and dreams with those who love and support you and want to see you Read more »
Posted in Goal Setting Life Balance by .
Apr 11
25
HOW DO WE SET OUR GOALS?
Goals must be written and reviewed regularly. Only three percent of all people set goals and write them down. Ten percent have plans and goals but keep them in their heads. The three percent of people with written goals accomplish from fifty to one hundred times more during their life time than the ten percent with their goals only in their heads. A goal is only a dream until it is written down. Setting goals is practically free. All you need to do is take a pen and pad and start writing. Don’t limit your imagination!
Be specific with your goals as well as your prayers. Don’t expect anything you don’t desire and don’t desire anything you don’t expect. Set your goals with a deadline. This creates a little pressure but certainly makes us more productive.
We need to set long-range goals to help us overcome the short-term obstacles we may face. As we step out with the faith we already have and go as far as we can see, when we get there, we’ll see farther and will have acquired more faith to continue. Long-term goals demand a daily commitment to action and must be reinforced by a regular Read more »
Posted in Goal Setting Life Balance by .
Apr 11
24
BALANCED GOAL SETTING
GOAL-SETTING CAN be the most creative, and at the same time, the most destructive force in our lives. It is a creative force when our goals are balanced and our motives are right, but imbalanced goals set with selfish motives can destroy our family, our health and our soul. The dictionary describes a goal as “an aim or purpose.” We need to pursue challenging goals for every area of our lives in order to experience a sense of total well being and balance. Before burnout, my goals revolved entirely around finances and myself. I had three areas in my life in which I had set goals. The first was the business/finance area, and I can’t remember the other two. The world viewed me as super-successful because all I touched seemed to turn into gold and any goal I set I seemed to achieve. I was a winner, and there wasn’t a project or business I would start that didn’t become a success. The fact was, that I had only set goals for one area in my life. I was no more successful than my heroes, Robert Campeau and Donald Trump, who had amassed great wealth as real-estate developers but destroyed Read more »
Posted in Goal Setting Life Balance Uncategorized by .
Apr 11
22
HOW TO TAKE A BREAK
Don’t wait too long. Some people need a reason for everything, and thus don’t take a vacation until they desperately need one – when they are physically exhausted, burned-out, or ill. The best time to plan your next vacation is before you return home from the vacation you are currently enjoying.
Don’t expect too much. The anticipation of your next holiday is as beneficial as the holiday itself. However, a vacation itself can sometimes be stressful, especially if we’ve set our expectations too high and things don’t measure up.
Don’t overplan. I know people who have every hour of their vacation planned before they leave home. They leave no room for spontaneity, no time for the unexpected. Is it any wonder they return from their vacations as uptight as when they left.
Don’t overdo. Leisure means rest opportunity, unhurried quietude, relaxation, calm, reprieve. Now, think of your last vacation. How much time did you spend resting, relaxing, in quietness? How much time did you spend in solitude?
Make a list of vacation goals. Try picking up a travel brochure and clipping out a picture of that place you would like to visit. Pin it up where you will see it Read more »
Apr 11
21
TIME OUT!
SHARPENING THE SAW It has always been a challenge to incorporate leisure and rest into my life. Like the majority of people, I worked so that I could take a vacation; I did not take a vacation so that I could work. In other words, I never thought of taking a vacation to renew myself so that I could return to work with a restored passion. In this sense, taking a vacation is like sharpening the saw. Before burnout, I would spend a week or two a year on vacation with my family. During a visit to my family doctor, while I was experiencing burnout, he recommended I take my family on a vacation. It, “needs to be for an indefinite period of time, and you should return only when you have recovered mentally and are eager to return to your business.” I took the vacation, and it did the trick. I was on the road to recovery. In three weeks, I was back to work and feeling one hundred percent better. My energy had returned, and my depression had lifted. The doctor also recommended that, for the future, I take a two week vacation every three months or a Read more »
Posted in Burnout Life Balance by .
Apr 11
21
SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION:
Emotional 1. Fear, worry and anxiety Somehow we find reason to worry about all the things we can’t change. The exciting challenges in our lives now appear to us as problems and potential failures. Our faith turns to fear and anxiety takes over our trust in God.
2. Irritability When we are depressed, we will become irritated very easily. Coming home after a long day’s work, we find that the noise caused by the family we love can irritate to no end. The people we work with and the customers we serve see us as irritable, edgy and hard to get along with, instead of the loving, kind and considerate people they once knew.
3. Lack of Joy With depression comes an immediate lack of joy or happiness. Forcing a smile requires a great deal of effort. However, the forced smile serves as a poor mask for the emotional pain written across the face of a depressed person. We pretend to be happy, but unless we are happy inside, we look miserable on the outside. Things that once brought happiness now bring no joy whatsoever.
4. Crying When we are depressed, we often tend to cry involuntarily. Weeping and Read more »
Posted in Burnout Life Balance Stress by .