New Years Resolutions-Goal Setting and Success

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A new year is approaching. It’s time to make New Year’s Resolutions, or is it?

The concept of making annual resolutions at the beginning of the calendar year is one that many people adhere to. Before we get into the actual making of resolutions let’s talk about what resolutions are.

A resolution is a declaration, an act of volition, moral courage, or mastery over self. Often a New Year’s list looks more like a child’s letter to Santa because it is a list of things that a person wants, but lacks the call to action required to obtain the goal.

Is January 1st the most appropriate date for setting your personal declarations? Yes, if that is when you want to do so. However, any time, any day is just as appropriate, the important thing is that you do it. Certainly, you must re-evaluate your list more often than annually. Just writing out a list and then filing away is a waste of time and paper.

If your list of resolutions is to be more than a wish list, what should be on it? Every item on your list needs to meet two criteria: desire and belief.

Okay, I know every list is always filled with desires, that one is easy. On the other hand, is it? The only way that you will achieve your goal is to have a burning desire to obtain it. A burning desire is more potent that just wishing you would find an envelope with $1,000 in it and your name written on the front.

A burning desire is a need, from deep down inside you. This burning is what will motivate you to do whatever it takes to accomplish your dream.

The second part of each resolution is your belief. Yes, it is true that if you do not believe that you will achieve your goal, you will not achieve it. Your belief must be more than lip service. You must believe consciously and subconsciously to make your vision reality. The subconscious often does us in. Have you ever said to your best friend, that this is the month that you will be the top salesman? You may have convinced your friend, but the little voice inside you is saying, “yeah, right-when pigs fly-ha, ha, ha”. You have effectively just cancelled out your verbal declaration.

You need to get personal with your list. Every resolution you make must be in the present. Not; I will sell 3 vacuum cleaners in January; but January is the month I sold 3 vacuum cleaners.

  • You must be able to visualize the sale of 3 vacuums,
  • Taste the victory of having the customer’s signature on the contract.
  • Feel the thrill of sending the order to headquarters.
  • Visualize that commission check.

Visualizing your success in both the real world and the pictures and thoughts inside you mind is essential.

How do you go about setting your vision? Every one of your senses needs to be engaged—meaning what you

  • See
  • Hear and
  • Feel—both on the outside and inside your own head.

 

To achieve this write a detailed description of your image. Fill in all the tiny details, the more details you have filled in the more ‘real’ your vision will be.

If a goal of yours to buy a new vehicle:

  • write down the exact name of the vehicle
  • its color
  • engine configuration
  • wheel style
  • seat covers
  • the smell of the leather
  • the feel of sitting behind the wheel
  • the smile on your face reflecting back .
  • from the rear view mirror
  • the sound of the engine purring.

Once you have a vision formed, you must keep it in front of you. Tape the description to your computer monitor, on your bathroom mirror, taped to the sun visor of your current vehicle. Review the goal every morning when you get up, every night before you go to bed, and different times during the day. Make your vision live, hold on to it, and nurture it. Yes, it does require work. It takes action and planning. The better your visualization the quicker you will meet your goal. Sweet victory is yours

A workable list of personal resolutions need not be long. However, it does need to be detailed, precise, and filled with heart-felt, burning desires.

 

 

 

Memorization for Success

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Tips for Learning Memorization Skills


Memorization skills are like any other skill, if allowed to lay dormant they get lost. Good memorization skills are the foundation to greater productivity in all areas of like. Your career, school and even socialization skills are better when you can easily and quickly retrieve information, names and facts.

Tips

Visualize it: Take a mental picture of the location of an item. This is especially helpful if you are a visual learner. Remembering words, concepts and math processes can be remembered with this method.

Vocalize it: Say the material you need to memorize out loud. This works especially well for auditory learners. Saying the information out loud reinforces learning because you are both saying it and hearing it. Vocalization along with visualization is an excellent memory tool.

Sing it: Putting the material to be memorized in the form of a simple ditty or favorite childhood song is an excellent memory enhancement. Singings activate our right brain which is very good at recognizing patterns. By singing you are activating more areas of the brain.

Use more than one of your senses:  If you visualize and vocalize the material you can also write or enter the information into your computer. The more detailed you are in filling in the picture the more successful you will be in remembering it. Also the more senses you engage the better the result will be.

Create a relationship: If you can relate something that you are trying to remember with something that you already know, it is very helpful. Association with familiar things is another excellent memorization tool.

Chew gum: Yes chewing gum can improve your memory. Of course it is not the gum itself that helps you memorize but it is the action of moving your jaw in a continuous manner increases your heart rate. An increased heart rate improves oxygen delivery to your brain which enhances cognitive skill, which of course includes memory.

Get adequate sleep: Neural connections in your brain are altered as you sleep. Memory skills can be lost if you are sleep deprived.

Physical Exercise: Physical exercise is important for keeping the body healthy, but it also may reduce the chances of you developing dementia or other memory disorders. Physical exercise has a positive effect on the heart. There is a connection between the health of the heart and the brain.


Mental Stimulation: People who remain mentally stimulated have a lower chance of developing memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s. Mental stimulation happens in many different forms. Social interaction improves memory as well as raising a person’s self-esteem. It is as important to keep your body in good shape as it is to keep your brain in good shape.


Keeping your memory sharp and in good shape results in a more active and productive life. It also makes life more interesting and fun.



Laundry Done the Smarter Way

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Laundry is a never ending job around most houses. The only way to prevent doing laundry completely is to constantly buy new clothes every day, not very practical though.

Laundry is ongoing task, and also an expensive one. Efficiency is needed.  The cost of laundry detergent, fabric softener, and bleach, color safe bleach, pre-cleaning spray as well as energy to run the washer and drying all adds up. Of course the biggest cost is your time.

The object of efficient laundry is many faceted. You need to spend as little time and effort, as possible on doing laundry. You need to keep cleaning supplies to a minimum so that you have money left for more fun activities.  Energy bills and you carbon footprint need to be as small as possible. Lastly you want to save wear and tear on your clothing and prevent damaging them in the laundry.

Laundry hampers are very important, if possible put a double hamper in each bedroom or some other convenient but out-of-the-way place. Having you laundry sorted between lights and darks from the beginning saves a lot of time. Enlist every family member old enough to help by making them responsible for putting their own clothes in the appropriate hamper. This saves you work, and prevents piles of dirty laundry in corners and under beds or in closets.

In the Laundry room have a three hamper system that you can divide your loads before laundering. One hamper is for white and light colored clothing, one for darks, and the third on for items that you need to bleach, such as underwear and bed linens.

Some basic precautions for you to take as you load your washer:

Don’t mix fuzzy fabrics like chenille, fleece with corduroy, permanent press items, or velour to prevent your entire load becoming full of lint and fuzz.

Check every pocket before tossing the item into the machine. One facial tissue, crayon, or ink pen can wreak havoc on the whole load.

Turn corduroy, denims; screen printed shirts and knits inside out before laundering.

Zip all zippers, button all buttons, close the Velcro, and tie all closures to prevent damage to that particular item as well as the rest of the clothes.

Mix your loads with large bulky items and smaller items to balance the load properly.

Fill the machine to capacity but avoid overloading it.

Use the coolest water possible, on all loads except those that need hotter water such as linens, underwear and towels.

Wash your lingerie in with your regular clothes just be sure to use a mesh bag to keep them from getting tangled.

To prevent new dark colored clothes from fading add one cup of salt to the rinse cycle the first time you wash them.

Take each item out of the washer and shake it, checking that any stains were removed prior to drying them because heat will set the stain.

Remove your clothes from the dryer as soon as they are dry, but not 100% dry. Hang, fold, or smooth them while they are still warm.

Timing is important if you want to prevent more work by allowing the clothes to sit in the drying to long or throwing them into a clothes basket to put-up later, when they will be much more wrinkled and may need to be ironed.

These simple, time efficient and economical steps mean an easier laundry day and your clothes will thank you for the extra care by looking new longer.



Book Organization

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You have worked hard to collect books; it has taken time and a certain amount of money to build up your collection. You now have a wonderful collection of books, but they are in disarray and difficult to find.

The answer lies in organization. There are several ways that you can organize your books. As long as you can find the book you want, the method you chose is the right one.

Among the ways to organize books the following are the most used:

  • Subject: Organizing books by subject works very well for reference books. Various subjects could include: self-improvement, writing, cooking, photography and so forth. This is an excellent choice for your non-fiction books. It is less useful for fiction books.
  • Genre: This selection is good if you have a lot of books of different types. Examples of different genre include:
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
    • Poetry
    • Arts and photography
    • Cookbooks
    • Children’s books
    • Travel guides
    • This division type is particularly useful if your bookcases are not all in one place.
  • Author: Sorting by author is excellent for fiction books, it is also very useful to use within genre divisions.
  • Size: Books often appear neater if arranged by size. This system can also be functional because most fiction paperbacks are similarly sized. Hardcover fiction and non-fiction books are usually taller. Design books are usually the tallest.
  • Color: This method has more eye appeal than function. Removing the dust jacket is practical because usually the book itself is usually a solid cover. One thing to note: books decrease in value if they are missing their dust jackets.
  • By Frequent use: Many people want the books they use most often to be in one location regardless of what type of book it is. This is a practical system for a bookcase in your office. When the juices are flowing it is very helpful to be able to just reach over and grab the book you need without having to walk to a distant bookcase.
  • A combination of these methods can be adapted for you particular collection of books. You may wish to store your commonly used reference books, journals, Bible, fiction or poetry that you may enjoy during a quick break.
  • You may choose to arrange books by genre and/or subject in another bookcase or on more distant shelves.

It really does not matter how you organize your books. The objective is to have them stored in a way that is practical and functional to you and to your décor style.

External Focus and Success

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Each of us has two types of focus. The first and most common is internal focus, where the focus is of course internal; how do I feel today? How does this affect my bottom line? How much work will this cause me? All of these questions show that the focus in inside our own little world.

External Focus is focus that is centered on the physical world around you.  Most aspiring artists draw what they see around them. Journalists’ write about events that occur around them.  Both of these are examples of external focus.

 

John F Kennedy summed up the contrast of internal focus to external focus by his famous statement. “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country. “

 

Any time that your focus is on the give, what you can give or do for others you are externally focused. When you are focused on what’s in it for you, you are then focusing internally.

 

During the research for this article, I came upon information that I found extremely helpful. Parkinson’s disease afflicts many, many people.  One of he primary risks that Parkinson’s disease carries is that patients are at great risk for posture and balance impairments. These conditions often lead to falls, which may result in head injuries and fractures.

This has carried over to healthy adults who are able to learn and perform motor skills more efficiently when instructed to adopt an external focus. This same concept has shown to be effective to people after suffering a stroke.

 

This concept when applied to golf was also very effective. Golfers who focus on their arm swing (internal focus) and golfers who focus on the club swing (external focus); the external-focus golfers out performed the internal-focus golfers.

 

It is of course the same in business world, businesses that provide more give for the dollar, allowing the customer to leave with the feeling that they got more for their money are much more successful. A business that allows a customer to feel that they paid for more than they got, or feeling that they were “taken” will not stay in business long.

Does Stress Deserve It’s Bad Reputation?

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Stress has a bad reputation even though it is one of our bodies’ best defense systems. When stress kicks in our bodies release adrenaline and other chemicals, which raise our blood pressure and increase our strength. Our speed and reaction times are enhanced. This positive effect of stress can work in our favor for a short time, especially when our life, or the life of a loved one, or even our careers is on the line.

Positive stress or Eustress keeps you stimulated, increases awareness, may improve your vision and even enables you to make good decisions. If you view a problem as a challenge or opportunity you are harnessing the benefits of Eustress.

Look for examples of positive stress in your life and career. Especially look for Eustress in the areas of creativity, imagination, desires, daydreams and new experiences. These may be part of the solution to managing your stress.

 

Ways to Use the Positive Effects of Stress:

1. Make a list of things that bring you inner peace. Most often they are intangible and give you hope and joy. Use this list to draw on during periods of distress.
2. Train yourself to see the humor in stressful situation. Your laughter produces positive emotions and tend to create a sense of well-being. Find ways to indulge in deep laughter, the more often and longer that you laugh well the better you will feel.

3. Keeping a positive attitude allows you to remain optimistic at the same time as accepting situations that you don’t like or are out of your control. Remember the situation doesn’t change, but attitude and resilience does.
4. Maintaining friendships and creating new ones help you to develop healthy relationships with many people. Sharing your life problems with others helps to find way to work out conflicts in a positive manner.
5. Self-care is very important in harnessing positive stress. Examples are self care is: exercise, healthy eating, developing hobbies and other interests.
6. Volunteering is often a good release, and helps give you a positive attitude and improves your mental health.

A good balance of stress, both negative and positive, will give you the resources to draw on when needed. Use good stress management techniques including taking needed actions recognizing the causes of distress and therefore reducing the negative symptoms of stress. Stress in and of itself is necessarily dangerous.
Stress when well managed can be a positive experience.

Types of Stress

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There are many types of stress. Stress is a necessary part of your life. How stress affects you depends mostly on how you perceive stress-either negatively or positively.

Stress can be broken down into two main categories:

  1. Bad or Distress is what comes to mind first when discussing stress. Distress is unpleasant or disease producing stress. Chronic uncontrolled stress of a negative type may lead to a compromised immune system, illness or even death.
  2. Good stress or Eustress is defined as pleasant or curative stress. This is the type of stress that gives you a competitive edge. Stress provides focus for your life.
  • There are three main types of stress: 
    • Situational Stress  This is stress that in your immediate environment: example-sitting in a roller coaster car, clutching the harness, waiting for it to start
    • Work: you may have too many jobs to do at one time for example you must wait on customers but also need to re-stock the shelves. 
      • Key: It is happening Now.
  • Body Stress 
    • This is the type of stress that affects your physical health.
    • Too much alcohol ·
    • Illegal drugs
    • Too many fatty meals
    • Too much exercise ·
    • Not enough exercise 
      • Key: abuse or neglect
  • Mind Stress 
    • This stress may occur because you are perceiving life events negatively
    • Pessimism
    • Reliving past events 
      • Key: Negative stress

A few tips to help manage your stress:

Learn to say NO to taking on too many responsibilities. Your First responsibility is to yourself.

Learn Time Management Techniques Situational stress often results from the feeling of not having enough time. Use a daily planner and/or to-do lists.

Share Responsibilities-let other people help. You will build more trusting relationships and reduce your stress levels at the same time.

Practice relaxation techniques: dealing with evident symptoms of distress. Examples are: Rapid Chest breathing, tense muscles, and extreme fatigue.

Some good advice is to not concern yourself with what was, but with what is. Live in the present moment.

The two categories of distress and Eustress can certainly co-exist. Life doesn’t stop and let you deal with only one thing at a time. Life is continual motion with many things happening at the same time.

Likewise you may experience situational, body and mind stressors at the same time. Before you can effectively deal with stress you must be able to recognize the different types of stress, and when and where they take place. Once you have figured out exactly what is causing distress you will be able to take action to handle it.

Connection Between Housecleaning, Success and Motivation

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Hi!

I hope you are having a fantastic day. Now that you are here my day is going great!

You may be wondering why I have a site named EZHousecleaning and also have a lot of posts concerning Success and Motivation and Focus

Well, they just work together the way I see it. Why?
In order to have success a person often has to do a lot of housecleaning of a different type. You have to clean out your mind of negativity and maybe some learned behaviors. I have often heard a change of attitude called housecleaning and to me they just fit together like a hand in glove.

What about Motivation? Well the same answer applies. You see you most often have to do some housecleaning concerning your schedules, your true desires and needs. You need to prioritize your goals and that often means getting rid of clutter and other things that are holding you back.

So, the way I look it housecleaning is part of homemaking, success and motivation. I hope you agree and have a good look around my site.

I welcome your input.

Pat

9 quirky things about me

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I have never participated in a  memes because I had never seen one before. But this one, which I heard about through Laura Burke, was fairly short and sounded fun. So here we go.

1. I must have a beverage, glasses-computer and reading, and my pedometer with me at all times.

2.I have an Ipod, which is really full but I don’t even have one song on it.

3. I keep everything, I keep magazines around me all the time, I never know when I will need to refer to an articles, of course I may never find it!

4. When I’m in the car alone, which is very very rare, I rejoice in the silence.

5. I drink Diet Kroger brand cola, with a dash of vanilla flavoring added, like it’s going out of style.

6.I am constantly hold many conversations in my head at all times.

7. I absolutely hate talking on the phone. I much prefer e-mail, texting, or a good old-fashioned letter.

8. I am constantly doing Google searches on the internet.  Looking for that one last piece that eludes me in whatever project I am working on.

9. I am a collector, but a very organized one-at least it is organized for me. My husband feels differently.

If you’d like to participate in this meme, just post 9 quirky things about yourself on your blog, making sure to link to this post. Your link will appear as a pingback in the comment section below so we can see how quirky all of us are.

While you are here please have a look around my site, you may find something that is just what you are looking for.

Thanks,

Pat

Organized Home: New Ways to Use Leftovers

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One of the greatest feelings a person can have is to have your home organized and in order. Very close to that feeling to find a new use for something that you no longer need in the capacity it has been used in the past. Leftovers don’t have to be stored in the refrigerator until they get thrown out in the trash! Give them new life and save money in the process.

It is estimated that nearly half the food purchased by the average household is thrown away. Why? Because it has gotten stale, past the expiration date, too much was cooked, the family didn’t like it, or it was stored and forgotten about.

Tips to save food from being thrown out

  • Use up all the pancake batter and freeze the extra pancakes or waffles.  They are excellent for a busy morning  and save the the expense of buying frozen ones, and taste better too.
  • Use leftover spaghetti or macaroni by combining with leftover veggies and cooked meat, stir in a can of cream soup and have a delicious new dish to enjoy for dinner
  • Always check the expiration dates before purchasing items, especially if they are not used up quickly
  • Use leftover veggies and shredded cheese or sour cream as toppings for baked potatoes
  • Keep a plastic container in the freezer and when you have a few veggies leftover add them to the container and when full you have the veggies for vegetable soup
  • Use stale or leftover cookies for crusts by crushing them and using them as you would graham cracker crumbs.
  • Use stale crackers or bread as crumbs for frying chicken, or other meats
  • Use stale bread for croutons and for use in making dressing next time you make chicken and dressing.
  • Make homemade broth by boiling bones from roasts and hams and other boned meats.  Add spices and carrots and celery and the next time you need broth you have your own delicious  broth.
  • Leftover mashed potatoes can be used as a thickening agent for gravy.  Use as dumplings  in stews and soups by placing spoonfuls of mashed potatoes in the boiling liquid
  • Mix an egg a  small amount of flour, some grated onion and salt and pepper to mashed potatoes, form into patties and pan fry.

Once you get into the habit of finding new ways to use leftovers and other foods you would normally throw out your creativity will soar, your food bill will drop and you will be left with a wonderful feeling of not being wasteful.

You can find tons of kitchen organization solutions at Stacks and Stacks (see ad at left). They have over 300 products in the Kitchen Storage and Organization category alone.