How to Give an Amazing Presentation

How to Give an Amazing Presentation

What’s scarier than spiders and high places? For many adults, the answer is public speaking. According to the National Social Anxiety Center, more than 70% of Americans have at least a mild case of glossophobia, otherwise known as fear of public speaking.

While it’s natural to be nervous in front of an audience, it could also be holding you back in your personal and professional life. Increasing your confidence is the key to raising your visibility and sharing what you know.

With patience and practice you can overcome your stage fright. Try these tips for reducing stress and strengthening your communication skills.

Learning to Relax:

1. Rehearse your speech. Set yourself up to succeed by going over your presentation thoroughly. Ask a colleague or friend to be your test audience. If you’re on your own, practice in front of a mirror or record yourself.
2. Remember your purpose. You’ll feel less anxious if you focus on helping your audience rather than overthinking your performance. Identify your core message and why it matters. Ask yourself what you’re trying to achieve.
3. Straighten up. Your body language counts too. Lift your chest and relax your shoulders. Project confidence by standing tall and avoiding nervous hand gestures.
4. Monitor your breath. Taking deep full breaths will make you feel calmer and happier. It will also enhance the quality of your voice.
5. Enjoy the excitement. Reframe your thoughts. Think of yourself as being energized rather than nervous. Feeling stimulated can help you to appear dynamic and communicate effectively.

Developing Your Presentation Skills:

1. Build rapport. Make it easy for your audience to like and trust you. Smile and maintain eye contact. If possible, arrive early to greet them and engage in casual conversation. Offer to stay afterwards to answer questions and continue the discussion.
2. Start strong. The first few minutes are critical for capturing your audience’s attention. Lead off with an interesting statistic or a question that will stir up curiosity.
3. Tell stories. You can liven up any subject by throwing in some characters and a plot. Draw from your own personal experience or find relevant material in current events and pop culture.
4. Slow down. Do you talk faster when you’re nervous? Pace yourself and insert some meaningful pauses.
5. Limit text. Written notes can be helpful but resist the urge to read extensively because your audience may tune you out. Similarly, keep slides and other supporting materials brief and easy to scan. Consider handouts if you need to provide more detailed information.
6. Recover quickly. What if you freeze and forget what you were going to say next? What if you tell a joke and no one laughs? Embarrassing moments are more likely to be forgotten if you keep your composure and move on.
7. Welcome feedback. Learn from each experience. Hand out evaluation forms and give out your contact information. Watch your audience to see if they’re listening closely or becoming bored or confused.
8. Seize opportunities. Speaking more often is usually the most effective way to strengthen your presentation skills. Start small with a familiar and friendly group, like your book club or the local chapter of your professional association.
9. Find a role model. You can also learn by studying the speaking styles of celebrities or anyone you admire. Watch Ted Talks and YouTube videos. Attend lectures and panel discussions. Experiment with new techniques and adapt them to your own personality.

Your hard work is more likely to pay off if you learn how to demonstrate your knowledge and connect with your audience. Giving amazing presentations will help you to impress others and make the most of your abilities.

10 Things You Can Do

10 Things You Can Do Now That Will Greatly Benefit Your Life in 10 Years

Just think how much different your life would be if you had done a few things differently 10 years ago.

• You could have been saving money for 10 years or learning to play the guitar.
• Exercising regularly for the last 10 years would have benefited your health.
• How profitable of a website could you have built if you had started 10 years ago?

The key to having a great life is to regularly spend time on things that will enhance your future.

You can’t travel back in time, but you can make the most of the next 10 years by taking advantage of these tips:

1. Maintain a healthy weight. Everyone has that skinny picture from high school. However, if you look around, there are far fewer middle-age adults that would be classified as skinny. There are a lot of health issues that can be avoided or minimized by maintaining a healthy weight.
2. Save money. A lack of savings is a major stressor for most people. Just think, if you had just started saving $100 a month 10 years ago, you’d have over $17,000 today. That assumes a 7% return.
   • A little money saved each month can make a big difference over the years.
3. Avoid consumer debt. Most people have to finance a car or home. However, anything else you can’t afford to buy with cash could probably wait. Consumer debt is very expensive and ultimately very stressful.
4. Set goals and reach them. It’s possible to accomplish a lot in 10 years. Setting goals, reaching them, and then setting new goals will result in a very effective and fulfilling decade.
5. Find a hobby that you love. Spending 10 years on a hobby that you love will bring a lot of joy into your life. If your hobby is something like playing the piano that requires a lot of skill, you’ll be pretty good at it after 10 years.
   • Hobbies can also be a great way of making friends and enhancing your social life.
6. Avoid making big mistakes. It’s not too hard to have a great life if you can avoid making any major mistakes. Big mistakes include things like marrying the wrong person, accumulating a huge amount of debt, committing a crime, seriously injuring yourself, and ignoring your health.
   • Some things are difficult or even impossible to unwind, so choose your actions wisely.
7. See the doctor regularly. An annual trip to the doctor can discover a lot of issues before they become serious. This is one of those things that has the potential to be a major mistake.
8. Travel. The differences between someone that has traveled extensively and someone that never ventures far from the familiar is stunning.
   • When you meet someone that has traveled the world, you notice something special about them. They have a wisdom that many of us lack.
9. Read. You can learn an awful lot in a decade if you read good books. The library is free and contains a treasure trove of information and entertainment.
10. Make a budget and stick to it. Everyone needs to be able to create and stick to a budget. Even people making over $10 million a year have outspent their income and gotten themselves into serious trouble.

Ten years is a long time, but it goes by very quickly. Time only seems to accelerate as we age, so the next 10 years will seem to pass more quickly than the last 10 years.

Will you make the most of the next decade? Or will you be kicking yourself for not taking advantage of this opportunity? Your life can be vastly different in 10 years by making a few wise decisions today.

9 Tips to Save Time Each Day

9 Tips to Save Time Each Day

If you have more to do than you have time to do it in, you’re not alone. Regardless of how much society advances with new technology that’s supposed to enable us to do more in less time, there never seems to be enough time to do everything that needs to be done.

But what if you could essentially add another hour or two to your day? How would you use that time?

While you can’t actually add time, you can free up additional time with these techniques:

1. Eliminate unnecessary tasks. Maybe you just have too many things to do! Take a detailed look at your life and determine if there are any tasks that you’re doing that are simply unnecessary. There are bound to be a few things you can eliminate from your life without suffering any negative impact.
2. Delete social media accounts. Social media platforms can be valuable, but they are also great timewasters. There’s also a lot of evidence that social media use can be harmful to your mental health.
   • Consider deleting your social media accounts and picking up the phone once in a while to check in on your friends and family the old-fashioned way.
3. Disable notifications. Do you really need to be notified of every text, email, and app activity in real time? Turn all of it off and take a quick peek every few hours to see if you’re missing something important.
4. Avoid perfection. Some tasks require a high level of attention. Others do not. It’s not necessary to clean out your closet with the same level of perfection as a surgeon performing a liver transplant. Ask yourself how well a task really needs to be done and perform it at an appropriate level of effort and detail.
5. Ask yourself how you can do this task better and faster. Are you sure you’re taking the best route to work? Are you cleaning your house efficiently? Think about every task you do on a regular basis and search for a more efficient way of doing it.
6. Outsource. It’s possible to outsource much of your life. No one can eat, sleep, or exercise for you, but you can pay others to do a lot of things for you.
   • There are people that will clean, do laundry, mow grass, drive, shop, cook, do your taxes, and build your new deck for you.
   • You might even have a partner or children that can carry some of your load.
7. Schedule your day. A decent plan is lightyears better than no plan at all. Think about what you need to accomplish and make a list. Stick to your list and you’re bound to get more done in less time each day.
8. Track your time. Where are you wasting time? How are you spending all of your time? You might be surprised where your time is going if you’ve never taken a hard look at it.
   • Spend a couple of days logging your tasks and how much time you spend on them. Pay particular attention to the time spent on electronic devices and other amusing activities.
9. Consider your mealtimes. Eating takes more time than people realize. You have to shop for the food, cook it, eat it, and clean up afterwards. If you eat three meals a day, that’s a lot of time.
   • Some meals are much quicker than others. A sandwich and an apple eaten on a paper plate is less time and work than roasting a chicken, making mashed potatoes, and washing pots and pans.
   • Shop for foods that are easy to prepare and have minimal cleanup. Also, shop as infrequently as possible. Each trip to the store can take an hour or more.

Everyone gets the same 24 hours each day to live life. Whether your 24-hour day is easy and carefree or extremely busy, it’s also helpful to find additional time to use as you see fit.

You can’t make a day last longer, but you create additional hours by being more effective, more efficient, and reducing unnecessary tasks and responsibilities.

How to Make Yourself Accountable to Yourself

How to Make Yourself Accountable to Yourself

You might be accountable to your boss at work, but are you accountable to yourself? Do you regularly let yourself down or fail to live up to the standards you’ve set for yourself? You’re not alone.

Most people struggle to behave in a way that is congruent with their values and goals. Most people make plans that they never follow or set goals they never come close to achieving.

This is a frustrating and ineffective way to live. There’s no one to hold you accountable if you don’t do it yourself.

Be accountable to yourself and anything is possible!

Follow these tips to master the art of accountability:

1. Keep a to-do list. If you don’t have a plan, you can’t hold yourself accountable to anything. Start each day with a detailed plan of what you want to accomplish. This list should consist of things that need to be done to maintain your life, as well as things that will bring you closer to achieving your goals.
   • The first step to self-accountability is a to-do list that you take seriously.
2. Make a schedule. A list of tasks isn’t enough. When are you going to do each item on that list? What is most important? What needs to be done first? Create a schedule and hold yourself to it. Start each day with a plan.
3. Review your performance. Review your performance each day. You can review at the end of each task or review all of your tasks at the end of the day. Make note of your successes and failures.
   • What can you learn that will make you more effective?
   • What do you feel good about?
   • What embarrassed you about your performance today?
4. Reward and punish yourself as appropriate. When you do well, give yourself a reward. When you’re not performing up to your standards, punish yourself. Most people don’t have trouble thinking of rewards, but here are a few ideas for punishments:
   • Don’t allow yourself to watch TV for a week.
   • Give money to a charity you don’t approve of.
   • Don’t allow yourself to ride your motorcycle for a month.
   • Embarrass yourself publicly.
   • Snap your wrist with a big rubber band.
   • Force yourself to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a week.
   • Make yourself watch a news channel that you despise.
5. Be clear on your goals. Your to-do list is largely dependent on your goals. It’s easy to sit around and accomplish little if you don’t have well-defined goals. You can’t hold yourself accountable without something to hold yourself accountable to.
   • What are your five most important goals? Make a list and review it at least once each day. Be able to recite them without thinking.
6. Have others hold you accountable. Whether you’re training for a marathon or trying to buy your first rental property, let others know your plans. You might be more inclined to take action rather than suffer the public embarrassment of failure.
   • Who will hold you accountable without trying to sabotage your efforts? Who really wants to see you be successful? This person could be a great accountability partner.

It would be nice to be assigned a drill sergeant to hold us accountable each day. Unfortunately, we have to manage ourselves.

What would you be capable of accomplishing if you could hold yourself accountable each day? The sky would be the limit. However, we allow ourselves to get away with regular displays of mediocrity and simply sigh as a response.

Today is the day you can begin to hold yourself responsible in all areas of your life. Be accountable to yourself and you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve!

8 Reasons That Explain Why You Fail

8 Reasons That Explain Why You Fail

Everyone that’s ever tried to accomplish anything knows what it’s like to fail. While there are numerous reasons for failure, most of them can be boiled down to just a few possibilities.

Understanding why you failed is important, because it educates you on how to improve your odds for success in the future.

See if you can identify the cause of your most significant failures in this list of common reasons.

These reasons may help you to understand why you failed:

1. Failing to learn from past experiences. You have the opportunity to be a little bit better at life each day. Every day you’re on this planet, you’re learning new things.
   • Each success, failure, neutral result, and interaction with others is a learning moment that you can apply to the future.
   • Analyze each day. What did you do well? Where did you go wrong? If you don’t evaluate your day and your results, you won’t recognize what you’ve learned.
2. Not acquiring the necessary knowledge. The more you know about what you’re trying to accomplish, the better your approach can be. When you first begin any new task, your knowledge is likely to be insufficient to ensure success.
   • Spend some time learning a little more each day. However, it’s important to avoid the common tendency to spend too much time learning and not enough time doing. This is just another form of procrastination in many cases.
3. Avoiding commitment. Determination and regular effort are important components of success. Many failures are due to a lack of commitment.
4. Distractions. Life is full of appealing distractions today. It’s never been easier or less expensive to find mesmerizing distractions than it is right now. Eliminating unnecessary distractions will do a lot to enhance the odds of your success.
   • Ideally, your objective will be the most interesting option available to you – more interesting than social media, cat videos, or mindlessly watching the TV.
5. Fear of failing. The fear of failure might be the most common fear. We fear wasting our time, embarrassing ourselves, and failure in general.
   • Ironically, failure is one of the primary ways in which humans learn. And the more you learn, the more successful you can be.
6. Not believing that you can succeed. If we don’t think we can succeed, we won’t waste our time trying. Unfortunately, we’re not very good at predicting how well we can perform over the long term.
   • This one is tricky, because you don’t know what you don’t know. The only reasonable course of action is to give it your best shot.
7. Giving up too soon. Persistence is one of the most powerful traits to have at your disposal. With small and consistent improvements, nearly any objective is achievable. Most people give up too soon to be successful.
8. Wanting to avoid the spotlight. Significant success draws attention, and many of us prefer the comfort of obscurity.
   • If this reason is stopping you, realize that much of this concern only exists in your head. A few people might admire your success. A few people might be annoyed with your success. However, there are already people that admire you and people that are annoyed with you.

We all hate failure, but failure is educational. What’s most important is to keep trying and to understand why you failed.

A little more commitment and perseverance are often all you require to be much more successful than you’ve demonstrated in the past. Determine the most common cause of your past failures and vow to yourself that you’ll never fail again for that reason.

If you can eliminate all of these common causes of failure, you’ll be nearly unstoppable. Fail aggressively, but never fail to learn from your failures.

A Lucrative Guide to Creating a Wealth Mindset

A Lucrative Guide to Creating a Wealth Mindset

Without a wealth mindset, it’s unlikely that you’ll do the things necessary to build and preserve wealth. A wealth mindset is necessary, but insufficient on its own.

However, a wealth mindset creates the potential to change your financial life in a big way. Your mindset is a starting point.

Most people have a mindset of short-term enjoyment. They spend money to make themselves feel better in the moment with little regard for the long-term ramifications. How many times have you been excited to purchase something that turned out to be less than exciting after you owned it for a week?

Would you like to create a wealth mindset?

Enhance your mindset and your financial situation with these techniques:

1. Take your spending seriously. A wealth mindset requires taking your money and your spending seriously. Each dollar you spend has the potential to decrease your wealth by more than just a dollar. Consider this example of how this works:
   • If you purchase a $50,000 boat, the impact isn’t just the price of the boat. It’s also gas, insurance, maintenance, and so on. There’s also the opportunity cost. You could’ve invested that money in something that would actually build your wealth.
   • You also lose the time you spend enjoying and dealing with your boat. That time could’ve been spent on creating more wealth. Is the enjoyment worth more to you than the money? Only you can decide what’s right for you in the long-term.
   • A wealth mindset takes spending seriously and considers the short and long-term impact of each dollar spent.
2. Focus on creating value. A job can be lucrative, but it can take years to reach the point in your career that you’re making a very large salary. The wealthiest people create the most value and charge others for it.
   • Consider how you can contribute the greatest amount of value to the world and get paid for it.
3. Spend your time wisely. One of your greatest powers is your ability to choose how you spend your time. A person with a wealth mindset uses their time effectively. How do you spend your free time? Are you building wealth, learning about wealth, or spending your time on something else?
4. Learn about wealth creation. The more you know, the more you can do. Unless you are very fortunate, no one pulled you aside and taught you about wealth. You might not even know anyone who is wealthy. It’s up to you to learn everything there is to know about wealth.
5. Think big. It’s important to have big goals, ideas, and plans. Conservative goals are for average people. Wealth and average don’t go together.
   • Imagine that you could make steady progress for 25 years. Where would you end up? Now, create a plan to accomplish that in five years. That’s thinking big.
6. Consider how your behaviors, thinking, and decisions relate to your wealth goals. Before you do anything, consider how it will impact the achievement of your goals. Each dollar you spend can take you further away from or closer to your goal. Each person you date will either be a help or an obstacle.
   • In a nutshell, ask yourself, “Is what I am about to do going to make me more likely or less likely to achieve my goals?”
7. Hang around wealthy people. You become more like the people you hang around with. Wealthy people have a different way of viewing the world and making decisions. You can gain a lot of ground just by hanging out with wealthy people on a regular basis.

If you want to turn your financial life around, your mindset is a great place to start. If you do some research, you’ll find that wealthy people don’t view money in the same way that financially challenged people do.

When your mindset changes, the way you view the world changes, too. This is the first step to creating wealth.

Fear Of Failure

Fear of Failure: The Greatest Threat to Your Success

The fear of failure has killed more dreams than all other fears combined. The fear of failure is insidious, because it’s largely in your imagination. It can also prevent you from even trying in the first place, which guarantees failure.

It’s interesting that very small children have no concept of failure. They couldn’t care less if they fail to do something. They just try again. There are no negative thoughts or emotions involved. They just keep on going.

But it doesn’t take long before children learn to fear the opinions of others. It’s usually around the time they start school. After that first day of school, we’re all changed forever.

It might not be possible to go recapture the mentality of a toddler, but you can come close. The fear of failure doesn’t have to impact your life significantly.

Consider these facts:

1. Failure is temporary – unless you quit. Failure isn’t final unless you give up. All the most successful people have experienced a lot of failure. But they ended up being successful precisely because they didn’t quit. Failure is just a temporary state that means nothing, because it’s only temporary.
2. Failure is common. You’ve failed thousands of times and managed to survive. Consider how many times you failed to walk or to talk well. Babies have constant failure.
   • Successful people fail all of the time. It’s a huge part of how human beings learn. We realize that our approach didn’t work, we adjust, and we try again.
3. Failure is educational. You can learn something from every single one of your failures. Failure makes you more knowledgeable and capable. The more you fail, the stronger you become.
4. Others are far less concerned about your failure than you think. A few people might notice your failure, but they quickly turn their attention back on themselves and their own challenges.
   • There’s nothing to worry about. Feel free to fail as much as necessary. Fail enough and you’ll quickly see that no one relevant cares.
5. Focus on how great it will be when you succeed. Instead of worrying about possible failure, consider possible success. Make yourself feel excited and positive about taking action.
   • With high enough expectations, you’ll do just about anything without worrying about failure.
6. Redirect your thoughts. Put your attention on what you’re doing. If a negative outcome isn’t going to cause any real harm, forget about the outcome. Stay focused on your actions or something positive. Thinking about failing will freeze you in your tracks.
7. Consider the cost of doing nothing. Taking action might be a little scary, but what will happen if you do nothing?
   • What will you feel about failing to take action?
   • What if you’re stuck in your current life for the next decade or more?
   • Maybe taking a risk is far more attractive than remaining where you are.

What would you do if you weren’t afraid of failing? Probably a lot more than you’re currently doing! How much has the fear of failure limited your life?

We’ve all allowed the fear of failure to influence our decisions. We’ve allowed this fear to stop us from trying new things or taking risks. We all have smaller lives than we could because we’re too concerned with what others think.

Rejecting the fear of failure is one of the greatest things you can do for your future!

You can start today. What are you going to do today that you’ve been afraid to try?

An Introduction to Stoicism

An Introduction to Stoicism

Stoicism is a philosophy founded in ancient Greece around 300 BC. This philosophy teaches how to focus on what you can control to live your best possible life.

Following Stoic philosophy, you learn how to enjoy things without being anxious about losing them. This is because Stoics believe suffering comes from your happiness being dependent on things you cannot control.

They see that dependence as self-imposed slavery.

Because of this, a common misconception about Stoicism is that people who practice it are unemotional or do not feel joy.

On the contrary, Stoicism is about being able to find calmness and joy even when things you cannot control do not go your way.

Here are famous Stoics:

1. Zeno of Citium. Stoicism was founded in ancient Greece by Zeno, the first Stoic philosopher.
2. Marcus Aurelius. Leader of the Roman Empire for two decades. Nightly, he wrote in his journals. Those journals are now published as a book Meditations. These journals are known for changing perspective.
3. Seneca. Lucius Annaeus Seneca was an advisor to the Roman emperor Nero. He is famous for his practical ways of viewing the psychology of emotion, the human condition, and consumerism.
4. Epictetus. Epictetus was born a slave. After he was freed from slavery, he started a philosophical school. His book, The Enchiridion, includes a summary of his teachings.

Of the famous Stoics, similar key principles were taught that are still used today.

Here are 5 key principles of Stoicism:

1. “Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens. Some things are up to us, and some things are not up to us.” – Epictetus

• This is a key principle that acknowledges some things are within our control whilst others are not. A recurring theme that comes up in Stoic teachings is the principle to focus on what you can control and accept what you cannot.
• Take Action: Practice focusing on what you can control – namely, your thoughts, judgments, and actions.

1. “If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out this judgment now.” – Marcus Aurelius

• Stoics train themselves to look at events objectively as they happen. From a Stoic perspective, the events themselves are neither good nor bad. It’s the way that the individual Stoic responds that is either good or bad.
• Take Action: When you feel sad or angry, separate facts from feelings. How can you change your judgment about the situation to reach acceptance?

1. “How late is it to begin to live just when we must cease to live!” – Seneca

• Seneca wrote about appreciating the present instead of dreaming about the future. Stoicism also teaches its students to turn misfortunes into good fortune by accepting events as they come.
• Take Action: Although it may feel unnatural – learn to accept, and then look for the positive, in every situation.

1. “Every day and night keep thoughts like these at hand—write them, read them aloud, talk to yourself and others about them.” – Epictetus

• Journaling daily was a practice for Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus. Modern-day Stoicism keeps the daily practice of journaling as a part of the philosophy. In Stoicism, journaling is a way you can review the day, and prepare for the next day.
• Take Action: Journal daily – in the morning or evening. Reflect on the previous day and plan for the next day.

1. “There is a noble manner of being poor, and who does not know it will never be rich.” – Seneca

• Seneca believed poverty was good to test your discipline. Seneca observed wealth and the temptations that came with wealth as challenges to self-control.
• Take Action: What is one way you can put yourself in an uncomfortable situation? Take an ice bath, fast, or have a “no-spending” day. Do something that pushes you out of your comfort zone.

At its core, stoicism is a philosophy of acceptance. Stoics turn obstacles into opportunities because they believe external things do not affect their happiness.

Although some things – like looking for the positive in every situation – may feel unnatural, practicing stoicism can help you feel calmer and happier because you’re not focusing on the negative.

Conscientiousness is the Greatest Predictor

Conscientiousness is the Greatest Predictor of Success: How to Develop More of It

You might think that being intelligent or hardworking is the greatest predictor of success, but you’d be wrong. Those are tremendous attributes to possess, but it’s easy to find people with those qualities who aren’t highly successful. You probably know someone that is very intelligent but isn’t doing well in life.

You also know someone that works three jobs to make ends meet but is still struggling. Many manual labor jobs require hard work, but most of the people with these jobs aren’t commonly viewed as successful.

Conscientiousness is the best character trait to possess if you want to be successful. Someone that is conscientious does what needs to be done and does it with the intention of doing it well. Think about how much easier your life would be if you could just be more conscientious.

It’s simply the trait of taking care of one’s business and doing it at a high level. Think about the conscientious people you know. They are successful beyond what you’d predict from their intelligence and skills.

Practice these tips to become more conscientious, and you’ll become more successful:

1. Understand the importance of conscientiousness. Knowing how important it is to your future will fuel your motivation to build this important trait. Understanding is a great first step to developing a higher level of conscientiousness.
   
2. Be on time. A simple way to begin building conscientiousness is to take more responsibility for your time. When you decide to be someplace at a certain time, hold yourself to that agreement with yourself. Life is a lot easier when you’re not running late. The people that might be waiting on your arrival will be happier with you, too.
3. Plan your day and follow your plan. This is the bread and butter of building conscientiousness. Have a plan for your day in place before you begin your day. You’ll waste far less time and accomplish far more. All you have to do is put your head down and follow the plan.
4. Finish what you start. Conscientious people are great at finishing what they begin. Avoid leaving any task unfinished. Push through any resistance you feel and be a finisher. For example, if you plan on spending 30 minutes on the treadmill, don’t let yourself quit at 25 minutes. Don’t stop until it’s done.
5. Set goals and create a plan to reach them. The best way to make a good plan for the day is to have goals. Plan a day that will help you to achieve your goals. When you consistently work toward a long-term objective, you’re demonstrating conscientiousness.
6. Avoid being reactive. Put some thought behind your decisions. Respond, but avoid reacting. Take your time and make thoughtful choices. You’ll avoid a lot of unnecessary challenges this way, too.
7. Remove distractions. Distractions are essentially obstacles to focus. You have to be able to focus on what you’re doing if you’re going to be conscientious. Take control of your environment and make things easier on yourself. Create the most distraction-free environment you can.
8. Do your best. If you’re going to spend your time on something, do it as well as you can. It’s an easier way to live and is a big component of conscientiousness.

You might not have been born conscientious, but you can develop conscientiousness. This is great news. There are plenty of qualities a person can have that are difficult, if not impossible to enhance, such as intelligence. Conscientiousness is well within your power to develop and utilize. Start building your conscientiousness today.

7 Obsessions That Will Change Your Life

7 Obsessions That Will Change Your Life for the Better

Too often, we have unhealthy obsessions. We’re obsessed with celebrities, TV shows, a person in our daily lives, extreme wealth, or chocolate.

Potentially worse are obsessions with social media which can be all-consuming. Checking your social media feed every few minutes can really hamper your productivity and happiness.

The time wasted on these types of obsessions can be extreme. And not only are you wasting time, but many obsessions can be mentally, physically, or financially unhealthy.

However, not all obsessions are unhealthy. There are things you can be obsessed about that will actually make your life better!

If you’re going to be obsessed about something, choose wisely.

Consider these options:

1. Your health. What is more worthy of your concentrated attention than your health? Your diet, sleep, exercise, and medical care deserve your focus. Imagine if these four things were among your top priorities every day.
2. Learning and reading. There’s nothing wrong with having a healthy obsession around learning and reading. Both can add to your knowledge and enhance your life. When you know more, you can make better decisions. It makes you a more interesting conversation partner at parties, too.
   
3. Improvement. Perfection isn’t a worthwhile obsession but focusing on improvement is a great idea. Imagine if you improved just a little each week in your finances, health, relationships, work, and your hobbies. How amazing would your life be in the future? It boggles the mind to even consider it.
4. Your family. As long as you’re not micromanaging the lives of everyone in your family and driving them crazy, your family can be a healthy obsession. Most people wish their families were closer.
5. Mastering a skill that enhances your income. Many people like to downplay the importance of money, but those are usually the people that either have a lot of it or have none at all. Money matters. Money can solve a lot of life’s challenges. There’s nothing wrong with becoming an expert at something lucrative.
6. Mastering a skill that enhances your life. It might be mastering one-on-one communication skills, decision making, emotional intelligence, or equanimity. What skill could you learn that would greatly enhance the quality of your life?
7. An obsession that enhances your social life in a healthy way. Maybe you love to bowl on Friday nights, or ballroom dance, or play horseshoes. This type of obsession can be fun and can add greatly to your social life.

How do you know when an obsession is unhealthy? There are a few things to look for:

• It negatively affects other parts of your life.
• It impacts the quality or the amount of sleep you get.
• You spend too much time thinking about it when you should be focused on something else.
• It negatively impacts your health.
• You’re getting yourself into legal peril, such as stalking.

Even positive obsessions can be taken too far, so be sure to keep it healthy. For example, it’s possible to spend too much time thinking about or performing exercise. Or you can put so much attention on your family that you drive them all crazy.

Choose your obsessions wisely, because the right choice can have a very positive impact on your life. The wrong obsession can waste your time or worse.