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Life Improvement 101
02/17/2008 - By Charles J. Di Bartolo
Life Improvement 101
A how-to guide to get your life in motion.Life Improvement 101
We all have goals and dreams about where we’d like to be in life. Some of us make it, but most of us don’t get to the apex of the pyramid of success. Did you ever wonder why? Many of us lack the planning portion of achievement. Others lack the execution portion. Some lack both sides of this equation. Which one are you? If you said neither, you’re on the right track, and you may not need to read this article. For the rest of us imperfect beings let’s get to the basics of how to get motivated. If I asked 10 people what their primary goals are 9 out of 10 people would tell me that they would like to loose weight, make more money and have more free time. Let’s get the basics out of the way. For most people all they would have to do is wake up an hour earlier, take long walks, eat less and work smarter. If most people would do these four things religiously, 9 out of 10 people could achieve their goals.
Where are you today and where would you like to be?
First let’s take a look at where you are today. Get up an hour early tomorrow morning and take out a blank sheet of paper. Jot down the major categories of your life. Some examples may be:
Physical
Spiritual
Mental
Educational
Career
Family
Leisure
Financial
Material
You may have more or less categories to your life and you may add to or eliminate from this list. Each one of these categories should be rated on a 1-10 scale. Think about where you are today in each one of these areas and where you’d like to be. This will be the snapshot of your life, whether you like it or not this is what it all boils down to.
Physical
First take a good look in the mirror. Assess your physical body. Have you treated your body as the temple that it is, or have you let it go a little? Could you loose a few pounds? What is your energy level? Do you fell a spring in your step or do you have to push yourself to get out of bed in the morning? Is your muscle tone and stamina where you want it to be? What about your overall health? Are you on medications that exercise and eating right might help eliminate? Look at all of these aspects of your physical body and rate yourself on a 1-10 scale. 1 being the worst shape you could be in and 10 being the best. This needs to be the first area you must work on because a sound body and mind, which we will talk about next, are the foundation of how to improve your lot in life. Without the energy to get things done, nothing can be accomplished. If you have scored yourself low in this area, it’s a common thing. Those of us with busy lives tend to pay attention to other things and neglect our bodies. The good news is that slight improvements to your physical health will catapult you forward in the other categories. See your doctor before starting any strenuous physical exercise regimen or change of diet. Make a plan and work that plan. It can be as simple as walking a half an hour every morning and working you way up to a healthy jog will do the job. You don’t need fancy exercise equipment or a gym membership. The money you save on these items can start you on your way to your financial goals, but more on that later. Getting up earlier and taking a brisk walk can get you started on the next category, which is spiritual and mental.
Start a healthy eating program. Go back to basics with lean proteins and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Eating living foods instead of the manufactured processed garbage that we’ve become accustomed to can do wonders for you. See a licensed nutritionist that you are comfortable with and work a healthy eating plan into your schedule.
Spiritual and Mental
Let’s analyze our attitude. Are you suffering from stinking thinking? Would you consider yourself a positive or a negative thinker? When people ask you how you are doing do you answer fantastic ok or horrible? You should always be fantastic. Answering the how are you doing question with fantastic will eventually make it so. Answering with the negative will eventually also make it so. This is a basic principle of life. Make everything wonderful in your life by thinking in a positive and exited manner. There are many books on this subject. My favorite book on the subject is “The power of Positive Thinking” By Norman Vincent Peale. Pick up a copy. It’s a classic and it will change your life.
Is your mind relaxed or anxious? An anxious mind cannot focus. Your motivation shouldn’t be found in your next cup of coffee either. A few minutes of clear contemplation, whether through meditation, prayer or just freeing the mind from the worries of the day can create the clear unhampered thinking and planning that will be necessary to help you achieve your goals and dreams. Take the time to clear your mind every morning. The time you take for clearing the mind is not wasted time. It is necessary and its effects combined with a good exercise regimen and a healthy diet is the solid foundation necessary for the achievement of your goals.
Would you like to bring more spirituality, meditation or religion into your life? Your spiritual and mental goals may include weekly or daily religious practice, Meditation, a time for mental relaxation. You may just want some alone time. A quiet peaceful 15 minute break in a garden or at a beach can rejuvenate and refresh the mind. Reward yourself with a mental break every day.
Remember to rate yourself from 1-10 in the spiritual and mental categories and decide where you would like to be here.
Educational
Have you achieved the education that you consider adequate for your current position in life? Will it be good enough for the future position you desire. If you said yes you may be fooling yourself. When you stop learning you start dying. Find something you’d like to learn about and get cracking. Read books on any subject. In order to keep up with the information age and stay ahead of the competition most people should have a minimum goal of a book a week. That may not seem fun for many of you but it is necessary. Most people don’t read a book a year after college. Imagine the advantage you would have over the average individual if you read a book a week. Go to the library and pick out a few interesting books in your field of interest. Listen to books on tape in the car. Subscribe to audio book summaries. You can listen to a whole book in a half hour with the latter method. Listen to college courses on CDs or watch them on DVDs. Today there are so many ways to absorb knowledge. Make use of them. Where would you rate yourself from 1-10 on your educational category? Are you where you should be?
Career
Are you where you would like to be in your career? Did you get passed up for the last promotion? Maybe your not one of the chosen few in the workplace. Why might that be? Have you kept up with the knowledge necessary? Are you physically up to the task? Are you the positive thinker in the group or are you one of the people holding the optimists back. Are you putting the time in that is required for that promotion? Is your business moving in the direction it should be? Do you feel your business is the victim of a slow economy? Some businesses do well in spite of a slow economy or adverse market conditions. Did you ever wonder why? Maybe it’s because the people running those businesses refuse to let adverse conditions to limit their growth. Career oriented people think out of the box all of the time. They put the time in that is required or they find ways to work smart instead of hard. How do you Rate yourself in the educational category on a 1-10 scale.
Family
Are you spending enough time with your family? Is the time that you spend quality time? How much time is enough time? Can you and your family agree on how much time is enough? The bottom is that when our lives are out of balance we usually choose between career and family time. One of them suffers. The same thing goes for mental and physical fitness. One sometimes suffers. If your career is going well it’s probably because you’re spending more time at it, which means your family time has been lacking or visa versa. In most cases type-A personalities that are career oriented lack in quality family time. Do you have a goal for a certain time allotment for quality family time, vacations, weekends together, picnics, field trips, excursions, or large family get-togethers? Where do you rate yourself here?
Leisure
Do you have hobbies or sports that you would like to spend more time on? Maybe you would just like to relax in front of the television, or spend some time listening to your favorite music. Maybe you like to build things, hike, and fish, bicycle ride or go swimming. Your leisure time is a very important part of your life. Think about what you like to do best. Are you doing enough of what you enjoy? Rate where you are and where you’d like to be.
Financial
Do you have a financial plan for retirement? Do you have a rainy day fund? Most Americans live month to month. If the lost their job they do not have enough money to support themselves for more than a month. You should have six months minimum of reserve money in case you lose your job or are unable to work temporarily. Do you have a college savings plan for your children, or will you have to take a second mortgage on the house. With the average annual tuition topping $40,000.00 per year most people aren’t saving enough. Other than wishing you hit the lottery, what is your financial plan and are you achieving it? Would you like to have a few million in the bank for retirement? Are you collecting properties for the future? Do you have a nice stock and bond portfolio? Think about where you would like to be and if you’re on target to get there. Rate yourself in this area.
Material
Do you have all the physical materials that you would like? What kind of a car would you like to be driving? Would you like a house, boat, airplane or something else? Have you furnished your home with everything you like? Whatever dreams you have about what you would like jot them down. No wish is too silly or trivial. Make a wish list. Do you have the material things that you want or are you looking for more? Rate yourself in this area.
Now that you have a snapshot for all the areas of your life, what does the picture look like? Take a piece of paper. From the bottom to the top, on the left hand side, number the paper from 1 to 10. Make ten columns across using the first column as the one to ten columns. Mark each column with the categories from Physical to Material. Now make a chart from one to ten on each category in each column and see where you stand. Does the chart look like the Rocky Mountains? Take a look at the valleys and start figuring ways to improve them. The valleys show where you scored low compared to where you’d like to be. Everyone has some valleys if we’re being honest with ourselves. Maybe you’ve decided that these valleys are acceptable. Chances are they aren’t. We always need to level off those valleys in order to have a more balanced life. Think about what you want. Hopefully this exercise has created some new desires in your life. The purpose article was to make you think about your achievements and your shortfalls. Hopefully you’ve put them into perspective and decided where you need to improve. Visit this site soon for the next article, which will be goal setting. I’ll show you how to set and achieve the goals you desire.
By Charles J. Di Bartolo
charles@nationalepay.com
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