Ever heard of an Optimism Journal?

Have you ever tried keeping an optimism journal before? An optimism journal is a great way for you to build up a list of all the things that you are grateful for and also start to take on a more “glass half full” attitude in the process. Let’s face it, how many of you reading this, take the time each day to stop and celebrate your many blessings? Yes, not many of us have made a habit of it, but we can change all that just by simply keeping a day-to-day journal of the many good things we are surrounded by. Try these steps below to build up a positive mentality that will help you to attract more abundance into your life by using the law of attraction. 1. In an optimism journal list all the good things that occur to you each day. You should start with the basics, such as a roof over your head, food to eat. A family. Then list all the positive events that have happened most recently. 2. If necessary, take a walk around your home to prompt you. Use all of your five senses. For example, you might be grateful for a favourite book, a beautiful picture or the way your bed feels. 3. Look at your list and think of all the ways in which the items you have written down enrich your life. If you have reason to be grateful to the people you know, find a way of showing your appreciation. 4. At the end of the day, review your list of blessings and then go to sleep on a contented note. This will help raise your optimism to the level that it needs to be at for you to start attracting abundance into your life.

Performance Journals and Daily Health

Gotta admit, I’ve always been a fan of keeping a Performance Diary when it comes to my various goals and endeavors – be that with my body, my business or my creative projects. I expect all of the people I work with to keep a daily record too. There’s something amazing about recording behaviors, results, events and milestones in a journal as we work our way towards the ‘new and improved’ version of us. The moment we decide to record our journey is the moment we increase our chances of succeeding; of creating forever results. Somehow it keeps us grounded, keeps our head in the game, helps us stay focused and committed, is an amazing tool for keeping us honest and realistic and always proves to be a great reality check – you can’t argue with facts, figures and results.

My experience tells me that people who want to create their best body (whatever that means for them personally), that is, creating lasting results, are infinitely more likely to achieve their goals and maintain those results if they are more methodical and practical, and less emotional and hap-hazard with their exercise, lifestyle and eating behaviors.

I’ve said many times that we can’t rely solely on motivation to get us to our destination, as it’s temporary. What we need above the ‘feeling’ of motivation, is a mindset of total commitment – this is not something that fluctuates from day to day. It’s what keeps us doing what we need to do even when the process is not necessarily fun, easy, exciting or ‘new’ any more; when the novelty and the initial rush of adrenalin have subsided. People who are genuinely committed, finish what they start because they work through the motivational peaks and troughs. When most are throwing in the towel, they are changing up a gear.

Performance Diaries are without doubt, one of the most valuable, practical and convenient ‘commitment’ tools available to us. Used the right way, they can be the difference between ignorance and education, doing or not doing and ultimately, success or failure.

So, if you are a person who has history of ‘almost’ getting stuff done, a person who has been in shape (and out of shape) two hundred times or a person who feels like you’ve never fulfilled your potential, then I would strongly recommend that you choose to become more practical, methodical and realistic about your chances of creating ‘forever’ change via the use of a Performance Diary.

How to get started with your own Performance Diary.

1. Get yourself a practical diary. One that you can take with you wherever you go. In other words, something small(ish) and convenient. It might be a proper diary, or it may just be a cheap pad that you use specifically for this purpose; doesn’t really matter as long as you can write in it and read it – and it won’t fall apart in two weeks. Electronic diaries are okay, but I’m kind of a fan of the old-fashioned written journal.

2. Collect some base-line data. That is, information about where you’re at right now (before you start proceedings) in terms of your objectives; your current status. If we have accurate ‘before’ data, then we can compare it to our ‘after’ data (results) and gauge the effectiveness of our program (I’m secretly trying to turn you all into scientists!). In my field this usually means doing some kind of health and fitness evaluation in order to ascertain where the individual is at in terms of things like – strength, fitness, flexibility, endurance, power, girth measurements, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, cholesterol, bone density, weight and body-fat. We can also do some subjective testing like moods, energy levels, motivation, feelings of well-being and emotional states. You may (or may not) want to enlist the help of a relevant professional (or a friend perhaps) to help you with this part of the process. Be as methodical, practical, honest and realistic as possible with your evaluation. This part of the process might be quite extensive, or it can be as simple as measuring your current weight, girth measurements and daily calorie intake.

3. Work in 28-day blocks. While we have a long-term vision for what we want to do, be and create, it’s also valuable and practical for us to work in smaller blocks of time. Over the years I have found that four weeks is short enough to keep our head in the game (staying mentally and emotionally focused is our biggest challenge), and long enough for us to see some significant change if we do everything to the letter. Set yourself some short term goals for each of your 28-day blocks.

4. Write a lot! Although the diary concept can work for any type of ‘project’, I’m going to assume that for some of you at least, it will be all about changing your body – once and for all. If that is the case, then I suggest that you diaries everything which will have some bearing on the outcome (your results). When it comes to changing a body there are a bunch of variables and we all know that individual bodies respond differently to different stimuli, so you need to discover what works specifically for you. Not the guy on the TV, the girl in the magazine, your cousin the bodybuilder or your hot next door neighbor; you. This is one of the reasons why I hate people following generic eating and exercise plans – no two bodies are the same, so why would we assume that they need the exact same diet and exercise program. Into your diary goes things like:

Food – what you eat and drink, quantities, meal times. Don’t be vague, provide as much info as possible and be very specific. For eg. Breakfast: cereal (wrong). Breakfast: half a cup of oats, two tablespoons of wheat bran, one small banana and one cup of skim milk (correct). Include things like water, diet drinks, alcohol, coffee, tea – basically anything that goes into your gob.

Exercise – type of exercise or activity, type of equipment (free weights, machines) sets, reps, weights, intensity, speed, gradient, duration of workout, recovery times between sets/ workouts, revolutions (bike) – again, the more info, the better.

Lifestyle stuff – sleep (amount of sleep, time to sleep, time awake), energy levels (you may have to develop your own scale, 1 – 10 perhaps), cigarettes, drugs (hopefully not), medications, supplements, stress levels (another scale needed), moods and even (don’t cringe), bowel movements (constipation is a regular issue for half of the population).

5. Re-evaluate. At the end of each 28-day block, stop and assess your progress. If possible and practical, do all of your testing again, that way you’ll have some objective scientific data. Remember (when it comes to this particular process), less emotion and more logic. You don’t need to be a scientist to apply scientific principles. Once you have your results you can then evaluate the effectiveness of your program and make the necessary adjustments (or not, whatever the case may be).

Working with thousands of people has taught me that those of us who keep a performance diary (as per my above instructions): 1) will be more practical and less emotional and irrational 2) are more likely to stay committed to our cause 3) will have a consistently higher level of motivation 4) will be more accountable, aware and responsible 5) are less likely to have ‘bad’ days 6) will learn more about ourselves 7) will have a better attitude and outlook 8) are less likely to lie about habits and behaviours and 9) are more likely to create forever results – what we all want.

By the way, keeping a Performance Diary is not about becoming neurotic or obsessive about how we live or what we do; it’s about maximising our time, our potential and our resources. It’s about becoming more effective and creating better outcomes. Once and for all.

So, if you’ve been going around in circles for a while, maybe it’s time to get a little practical and to start your own Performance Diary – you might surprise yourself.

I’ve GOT something for YOU…

Hello Folks!

I’ll bet you are expecting me to start in on you about journaling, connecting with yourself, spirituality and all that heavy stuff….and eventually I WILL again!

Just not today….What I do want to express is that this is a wonderful opportunity to go hang with family, friends or just relax for a minute and observe the Memorial Day weekend. There are various events and venues occurring so check your local listings, free printed papers and take advantage of some great inexpensive or even better, FREE entertainment. Remember, our Armed Forces and be thankful for their sacrifice on this weekend. Oh, that’s right, I did say I had something for you…Make new memories and ENJOY your WEEKEND! That’s pretty much it…yep, I think that was IT. Until next time….

FREE Guide-Your Spirituality Journal

A few years ago, I read Stephanie Stokes Oliver’s Seven Soulful Secrets for Finding Your Purpose and Minding your Mission, which basically gives seven simple, but influential factors that actually spell the word, Purpose (purpose, ultimacy, relaxation, positivity, optimum health, spirituality and esteem). At the end of each of the seven chapter themes, she offers a journal page. We encourage you to take advantage of the “Spirituality” Journal (questions) below…

Use these questions to provoke real thought into your spirituality, which by the way, is NOT the same as religion.

How do you feel about your level of spirituality?

How is your life influenced by faith?

What things give you hope?

How are you giving love and compassion?

How do all of the above push you toward your purpose?

Crush It

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m2X9S8LNEBP84R

Once common denominator that most writers share is the love of reading. Reading good material entices good writing creativity in many cases. So for most avid readers and writers, it is not uncommon to have Amazon.com saved to their “favorites” on their computer and as a regular purchaser to have recommended purchases sent to your email address(es) suggesting purchase of similar materials. Needless to say, I got one of those regular emails and sometimes, they “grab” my attention and other times, they are bypassed for more pressing issues. Well, this particular time was a “grab” my attention moment and in the process stumbled across the popular book, “Crush It: Why NOW Is the time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk. Check out his promo video above. I was motivated and inspired just listening to his enthusiasm and passion for living the life as CEO of his own destiny. He heavily discusses marketing and living a life that allows you to live out your passion on a daily basis…for many, they relate this to being “a job, work, volunteer position or whatever one does to make money”, but what Gary discusses all connects to something totally different than carrying out a company’s goals and earning another structure tons of money annually. Gary, in my mere, opinion is talking about that thing that sends you to bed late, awakens you early and you do not mind any of it because it is as effortless as breathing air and that my FRIEND, is passion. Passion is indescribable and it propels you to operate, speak, move and think in limitless ways. Gary seems to believe that kind of passion and the right exposure (marketing) will put you where ever it is you desire to be. Like he mentioned in the video about encouraging a friend to continuously seek “beautiful women” and eventually one of them would say, “YES”!
To me, that just sounds like good ole perseverance and consistently going after what you want. While not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur, business owner, millionaire, librarian, structured or whatever, there is a life of joy, peace and happiness meant for each of us inside. There is that passion that Gary speaks of for each and every one of us, I believe if we only identify it, connect with it and seek the limitless ways to live in it, we will have created for ourselves a life of abundance!
Find your passion and STAY there….

The EYES that watched ME!

If don’t know about you, but many times when I wanted to give up, I remembered who was watching me; Many times when I wanted to respond the wrong way, but instead took the higher road, I remembered who was watching me; When I don’t feel like working, know things have to be managed and I am the only person who can manage them, I remembered who was watching me. To all the wonderful Mothers, I know and don’t, always remember that the eyes of our children are watching us! Being a parent has raised the bar for me, made me much better than I was supposed to be and kept me in line, when I wanted to do otherwise. So today, I celebrate those eyes that were watching ME, that molded me into being a MOTHER!

Happy Mother’s Day…

Recent conversation with a Blogger…

Recently in a discussion about life struggles and how to handle them, one person wrote:

“In life there are highs and lows but when the lows start to out weigh the highs, that’s when life starts to become a strain and very hard to enjoy. For example more arguing in a marriage than anything else, the heartache a mother gets when her child decides on a path that she know will destroy him or her and list goes on. These are things that can cause you to be very bitter, stressed and have no peace. Sometimes, you can not find a solution; Can you attest to what I’m talking about? and what would you do to bring some peace of mind in your life?”

Life brings us all types of challenges, some good and some not so good. While reading the response above from the Blogger for the first time, I thought to myself, this person is seeking answers. Answers many times, lie within us. We must quiet down, find your calm place (possibly in meditation, yoga, wandering, classical music, etc.), even for just a short period of time and allow our minds to rest and listen, for the answers will come. For some, it’s seeing it written down which brings us back to journal writing. The journal is unbiased and objective because it will only show what we have put into it. If we have put in a little, we will only come back to a little and the same for when we purge our thoughts onto paper, we come back to a time and period that reflects whatever it is we are experiencing. For each, the approach will be different but do whatever it is that consciously gets you to a place of calmness and peace so that the answers can come. Answers truly do LIE WITHIN us!

Journal Writing: Helping us define our “WHY”

What is your why?

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. -Friedrich Nietzsche

Finding your why is an important aspect in almost every decision that you make in your life. If you do not know the answer to the question, “Why” then you should not move on until you do. A lot of times we avoid learning our why, because it is painful, because it is difficult, but learning our why is imperative to making sure we are moving forward in a positive manner.
Too many times we go through life with no purpose or direction, never asking, “why?” This can create setbacks in our life if we do not answer the hard questions. Not asking why can cause us to spend too much money, or eat the wrong foods, study for the wrong career, take the wrong jobs, marry the wrong person, this can go on and on.
Asking why before we make important and crucial decisions will go far in helping us learn to be responsible for ourselves and our choices. Also knowing why can help us do what we need to do even when it is not easy.
Let me be the first to challenge anyone, who is not already doing so to write down the thoughts that come to mind when you ask yourself, “WHY”. When we write these thoughts down and are able to return to them hours, days and even years later we understand what it was that motivated us to our destination. The journal is your personal record keeper of the thoughts, ideas, secrets, plans and ideologies that live inside us. Answer your “WHY” in your mind and in your journal.

Start an Accountability Journal

Journal writing serves many purposes. Read about one of them below:

Take Action Tuesday: Start An Accountability Journal

Posted: 20 Apr 2010 12:00 AM PDT-1 Year Millionaire Journey

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
Walt Disney

Journals are amazing things. When done right and honestly, they give us great insight into how we really feel, think and believe. They really teach us a lot about our self and they often serve as a vehicle of growth.

Today, I’m encouraging you to begin keeping an accountability journal not only to record your achievements but also to measure your progress. The truth is over the years, I have come to realize that the difference between those who succeed and those who don’t is one thing: action. Many people say they really want success, but one of the reasons many people aren’t successful is because a gap exists between their actions and what they say they really want.

Accountability is always the process that determines whether your words, thoughts and actions are in alignment. One way to know if you’re in alignment is to keep an accountability journal. This is a journal where you write down each day what actions you took in furtherance of your stated dreams or goals. If your journal is blank for a few days then you have got a problem because the truth is you should be doing at a minimum 1-3 actions each day that move you in the direction of goal achievement.

This is why the journal is such a great tool because it’s an objective measure. If you’re honest with what you accomplish each day, you will be able to really see if you’re moving forward or standing still. And one thing I can assure you is nothing is ever accomplished by standing still so take action today to find out in which direction you’re headed.

Change your mind, Change your life…

I read that slogan somewhere. I don’t know where, but it resonated with me. I realized that it is true. If we focus on negativity then we will be miserable no matter what is going on. I chalk it up to the sickness of “expectations”. Now some people say expectations are a good thing, but in my way of thinking, having expectations are just another way to set yourself up for failure.
This is not to say that one should not have goals for themselves. Yes, have goals. Yes, have a plan. But, learn to be adaptable, and learn to never expect anything out of other people. I am not saying have “low” expectations. I am saying have no expectations. These two are very different ideas. Both are insulting to others. One puts people down and one puts them so far up on a pedestal that they cannot possibly live up to it. Both cause negative feelings and cloud your world in a way that sucks joy out of your life.
So, change your mind, and change your life by letting go of expectations and just living life as it is.

Author info:
Stephanie L. Watson is a Virtual Assistant, a Wife and Mom of four daughters who lives, loves and laughs in Huntsville, Alabama. You can learn more about her at Virtual Assistant Moms. http://www.virtualassistantmoms.com