You’re probably bombarded by messages like “Don’t do this” or “Don’t do that” on a daily basis by media or by some other source.  While that sort of thinking might work to help you keep rules and regulations in mind, it’s not a very healthy outlook to keep for the other factors of your life.

The Power of Positive Thinking

As kindergarten as it might sound, thinking good and happy thoughts actually affects your outward disposition and behavior.  Job applicants are the most popular anecdotal example because those who think positively and believe that they will get the job are a lot more relaxed and confident.  Your behavior is a psychological aspect of yourself, so changing the way you look at things will definitely affect the way you walk, talk, and act.

And it’s not all about just thinking good things that makes a difference.  When you think positively and, say, imagine yourself achieving your goal, you keep yourself focused on the finished line.  Thus, your actions are more probable to bring you one step closer to that finish line.  When you think positively despite setbacks or difficulties, you keep yourself from getting distracted with negative comments, and you get back on the road a lot more quickly.

Visualize and Affirm

You can break down positive thinking into two components - one that stretches from the time you prepare yourself to the time you actually work for a goal and another for the period of time after you have made your effort.

Before you set out to meet the challenge, set a clear goal and visualize yourself achieving that goal.  In your head, see yourself making that grade or winning that competition.  See yourself shaking the boss’ hand as he tells you that you just got yourself the promotion.  Imagine yourself crossing that finish line victorious.  You might call it mere fantasy, but it’s actually very effective preparation.  It helps you tune out the small, irrelevant, and insignificant disturbances to allow you to focus more on where you want to go and how you can get there.

If you managed to reach your goal, celebrate.  Congratulate yourself.  It sounds like gloating, but it’s actually affirmation because you’re telling yourself that you did a great job and was, thus, able to achieve the goal.  Affirm the good traits you brought out and positive actions that you did.  Tell yourself that you were confident.  Tell yourself that you were focused.  Doing so makes it easier to tap into those same things the next time around.

If you don’t reach your goal, on the other hand, affirm and use positive language nonetheless.  Don’t tell yourself that you didn’t place first in the race.  Tell yourself that you won second, and that you’d like yourself to go faster and stronger next time.  You give yourself congratulations for whatever you were able to achieve while at the same time provide a strong motivation for practice and improvement.

Have you tried reading but you end up reading one line over and over again or you end up staring at a page for a considerable length of time?  This could be frustrating if you’re trying to study for an exam or you are trying to rush a work for a deadline.  Have you experienced talking to someone and finding your thoughts wandering?  Have you experienced sitting in class and finding out that an hour has passed and you didn’t hear any word that your professor said?  Concentrating can be a challenged for some people.

What is Concentration?

Simply put, concentration is a person’s ability to focus his thoughts in a particular direction for a considerable time without getting distracted by other things.  Everyone has the ability to concentrate.  Some people are quite good with concentrating.  There are people though who find it quite difficult to focus their attention in one particular thing without their thoughts wandering.  This can be quite frustrating.  If you find difficulty concentrating, you need to practice and develop your concentration skills.

Your ability to concentrate may depend on a lot of factors.  It can depend on your commitment to your work.  It can also depend on your enthusiasm for a project, an assignment, or a work.  If you don’t know how to go about doing the job, you might be quite disinterested and end up losing your concentration.  If you have problems and you are tired and stressed out, you’d have problems concentrating.  If the place is not conducive to concentrating, you might not be able to concentrate on your work at all.

Tips on How to Improve Your Concentration

If you want to improve your concentration skills, here are some tips that you can follow:
a.    Redirect your thoughts.  When you find your thoughts straying from what you should be concentrating on, redirect it.  Do not let it wander off.

b.    Set aside distracting thoughts.  Commit a time to what you should be concentrating on.  Do not allow yourself to be distracted by problems or worries.

c.    Setup an award system for yourself.  Promise yourself rewards for maintaining concentration.

d.    Create an inviting and calm environment to allow you to concentrate.

e.    Keep yourself fit.  If you are too sleepy to concentrate, it is highly doubtful if you’d be able to finish a paragraph of a book you’re reading.

f.    Do not force yourself if your mind keeps wandering.  It doesn’t help at all.

Are you scared to speak in front of an audience and you get all clammy, complete with butterflies in your stomach?  Welcome to the club because even the best speakers experience the same thing when they are about to speak to an audience.  The only difference is that the latter has enough confidence to get past that stage and take control of their fear of public speaking.  Many times, people we know who lack self confidence tend to stay in the background and get less recognition compared to those who do have that trait.

Build Your Confidence

There are several things you can start doing to make you more confident.  Sure, it may seem awkward when you are just starting, but eventually, you will catch on.  Dressing smartly is one way of building that self confidence.  You notice during job interviews that interviewees who come in business attire tend to look capable of taking on the job compared to those who come in rugged clothing.  When you notice a person walking with confidence, you notice that they don’t drag their feet, but they walk straight ahead with purpose.  That shows a man who knows where he’s going and what he ought to do.  These people tend to give the impression that they are important, and you would want to be labeled as such yourself. 

A good posture tells a lot about your self confidence, too.  Many others will slump back on their chairs or walk with drooped shoulders, and they look like losers.  Get a winning posture and see how people will start thinking you got something they don’t, including self confidence.  As we move from outward manifestations of self confidence, we can start examining ourselves to polish on our own self confidence.  Find out the things you are good at and focus on these.  Look at your weaknesses as opportunities for improvement.

Too Much Confidence 

Too much or too little of anything is not good, including confidence.  So, how do you differentiate an overconfident person from one who exudes the right dose of confidence?  For one, the former are generally unlikable.  Speak with other people, but don’t talk them down.  Ask nicely in a firm voice, but don’t get bossy with them.  Get the courage to be friendly instead of aloof at other people.  We do want to reinforce positive things about us, but it does not mean we would think negatively of everyone else around us.

Can you call yourself an optimistic person?  Are you a positive thinker?  Do you believe that you can shape your own future and command your happiness?  You don’t have to be at the mercies of fate.  Your success in life and your happiness starts with having a positive mindset.  When you think positively, you become the master of your life.  You own your dreams, actions, happiness, and ultimately, your success.  When you are a positive thinker, it doesn’t mean that you deny the existence of misery, failures, or problems.  You just have an optimistic outlook.

Who is a Positive Thinker?

When you are a positive thinker, you believe that you can overcome any crisis that life throws your way.  People who tend to think positively accept their shortcomings but know how to channel their weaknesses to something positive.  They do not let their weaknesses get the best of them.  Instead, they make an effort to focus on their strengths.  They also try to remedy their weaknesses.  This attitude comes with a positive mindset.  A positive thinker knows that if he lets despair and helplessness get the best of them, they will lose.

How to Start Thinking Positively

Once you start thinking positively, you start a habit.  You then equip yourself with the capacity to become successful.  How do you start thinking positively?

a.    Decide to have a positive mindset.  This means committing to a positive attitude, controlling negativity, and deciding to have a control on how you react to challenges and setbacks that life throws your way.

b.    Surround yourself with positive people.  Avoid those who exude negativity.

c.    Focus on your strengths.  How you perceive yourself consciously will affect your subconscious, and this will ultimately reflect in your actions.

d.    Be open-minded.  Do not allow yourself to be put in a box.  If you do this, you limit and restrict possibilities.

e.    Strengthen your knowledge and skills.  When you acquire more and more knowledge, you become more confident.  The more confident you are about your abilities, the more positive you are about your life.

f.    Have long-term goals.  When you have goals, you have direction.  You do not allow yourself to be defeated easily by challenges and setbacks.

g.    Do not limit yourself.  Believe that you are capable of reaching immeasurable heights.  Believe that you have capabilities that you do not even know you possess.

h.    Have faith.  Do not ever lose your faith in yourself.

i.    Constantly motivate yourself.

j.    Keep yourself healthy.

Is the office trying to kill you by boredom?  Do you have nothing to do on a beautiful summer morning?  You want to do something that could augment your income part time?  The management suddenly wants you to operate new software, a new product or implement a new process?  You could learn new skills to increase your productivity or maximize the use of your spare time.

Of course, learning something is not easy for many people like me who tend to settle on things that I could do better.  You need to exert effort and spend time to learn things as it happen.  While learning something can be quite fun, you should not waste part of your time, money, and effort in vain.  You should learn something new the ‘right’ way, i.e., forging what you know to attain what you want to learn.

Learn by using what you know

Learning can be a lot more fun and easier if you will try to learn by using what you already know.  If you’re fond of cooking, why not go up another level and learn to bake some cakes and pastries?  It would be lot more fun if you’re not messing up the entire kitchen.  If you know some techniques with some thread, why not try to learn some pattern making technique, like burlap and crochet?  With some basic knowledge on the things you do, you can forget about the hassles of learning it first and concentrate and doing it best.

Familiarity with gadgets and intricacies that comes with a certain skill would come handy if you want to learn another skill.  This is especially true for technical and scientific skills like carpentry and computer programming.  Save yourself from waste of time and save yourself from unwanted accidents by working on something that you can do without injuring yourself.

Do Not Be Afraid

Ultimately, learning something should give you the results you intended.  If you want to learn some bit of carpentry, you should learn how to make simple carpentry projects and not how sharp the saw would cut your fingers.  When you want to learn how to make cakes, you should learn how to mix a good batter, not how to spoil a good one.  By using a skill you have learned before, you can eliminate these and go straight on what is important.  Its important to make sure that learning process, while maybe difficult, is productive.

Musicians, writers, and actors need it the way public officials, road maintenance workers, and teachers would.  It makes us strive in what we do, which, in turn, makes the output better.  What could be better to be inspired by and be an inspiration to others?

But finding your inspiration could be difficult.  Being an inspiration does not make life easier either.  For in the game of inspiration, where motivation and action are tossed in every manner and direction, it pays to know how much you are willing to throw.  Be a better inspiration for yourself and for others by following these tips.

No Need to Get Too Deep

You don’t need a huge brain to inspire others.  Accordingly, you don’t need to slave for hours in the library to get one.  Look around you.  The world offers a lot of inspiration not only for the masters of art but for also for people who enjoys it in a very different perspective.  It doesn’t take much to admire the things this world has to offer, and it doesn’t need much for them to push people to strive harder everyday.

Aim for the Better

Aim to change yourself and the world for the better.  People who continually inspire people are those who are willing to do what it takes to use one’s potential to change the world.  Think of Mother Theresa and others like her who, like her, do their fare share in making this world a better place.  You don’t have to do extraordinary feats just to inspire yourself and others.

Truth shall Set You Free

Truth guarantees a sustained inspiration, something that no lies and no cover-up could ever endure.  Truth provides you freedom that you couldn’t have when you’re telling a lie.  Don’t make others believe in something you are not.  You don’t want to believe in something that is built up on a lie.

You are Your Inspiration

If there’s one person who should strike inspiration to your soul, it should be you.  You should know better what’s in yourself that could make you and perhaps other people to strive harder.  Again, it needs not be something flashy or monumental.  Nothing inspires a common man like a simple act of good will in times when a simple act of good will is very much needed.

Be an Inspiration to Others

You don’t live for yourself alone.  You also serve your purpose to people apart from yourself.  If you can serve as an inspiration for other people, why not?

So finally you realized that the money you earn is simply slipping through your fingers like water.  Now, you want to cut all those unnecessary expenses and put a curb on withdrawals.  It may sound scary but, in fact, it is not.  Saving money can be a lot of fun, and the rewards are just as great.  Let me show you how you can save some money.

Set Your Goals

Saving some money requires a reason why you have to.  It could be a short-term goal like: buying a nice dress, upgrading your furniture, or having that necklace you’ve always wanted.  It could also be a long- term one like having your new car, a new house, or paying all your debts.  By setting your goals, you have something to look forward to, something you could use to stop yourself from having another bar of chocolate.

It All Adds Up

A movie could cost you $30, a beer could cost you $2, a cup of latte could go around $4, a haircut bills you $20, and a lunch out averages at $15.  Watch a movie every week, buy a beer and a cup of latte every day, go to a barber every month, and buy your lunch for a year and see the receipts flowing in and your money flowing out faster than you expected.  Eliminate all of these expenses and save at least $9,000 a year.

Don’t Put Yourself in a Situation Where Spending is Inevitable

Many of the things we buy are bought out of impulse, not need.  A study, for example, puts impulse factor for buying confectioneries at more than 30%.  And there are more statistics.  Many of the products today hope that you would run into them, be attracted by the way it looks, and hand your cash or your card to the clerks.  Malls and casinos are constructed as a place for consumption.  If you want to save money, avoid luring yourself into places and purchases when you don’t need it.

Don’t Lose Your Job/Income Source

Don’t quit your job if you don’t have any alternative.  Losing money can be felt the greatest when no funds are coming in.
Live a Simple Life

Who says living frugally is not fun? Most of us who want live the life they can’t afford end up with a lot of debt or a lot of years’ worth of jail sentence.  Live within the folds of what you earn.  Living frugally doesn’t mean you take the happiness and entertainment out of life.  Rather, you just have to look deeper.  For example, you don’t need to go to expensive restaurants for a dinner date if you can cook good food and eat at home.  You don’t have to go to specialty shops to buy your veggies and fruits.  There are Farmer’s Marts nearby where you can buy your fruits cheaper and fresher.  Find creative ways to spend less money, and you’ll see the phrase “it all adds up” in a different perspective.

You’ve probably had a bad experience with stage fright at one point or another of your time in school.  True, public speaking isn’t easy, and it never was.  However, you know that simply being good at your job or skilled in your field very often isn’t enough to get you places.  That would require people to learn about what you can do and, thus, know about your skills and your expertise.  That, in turn, involves communication and, yes, public speaking skills.

The Person at the Podium

The issue with problem public speakers is most often confidence (or lack thereof), and you probably list that as one of your public speaking problems.  Talking in front of an audience, particularly one you don’t know, can be a very intimidating prospect.  You can get over that intimidation with a combination of the right mindset and proper practice.

Before you even step onstage, do some mental preparation.  Remember that you’re the one talking on that stage.  You have the floor and the microphone.  Assume the role of the expert, and, thus, assume that your audience cannot refute or challenge what you are saying (and this is most often the case).  That should help you talk in a flowing and uninterrupted manner. 

Confidence is Key

You can further build up your onstage confidence by practicing speaking in public.  How can you do this? 

For starters, you can try speaking to a small group of people that you’re comfortable with, such as close friends and family.  That should help you develop not only your confidence but a more relaxed and conversational way of presenting as well.  From there, work your way up to a small group of strangers, to a larger group of people you’re close to, and so on.  You’ll find that, after a while, you’ve worked your way up to a comfortable stance and style of speaking even in front of a packed auditorium of function hall.

If, on the other hand, you don’t have a couple of years to spare for public speaking training and have to get the skills in a jiffy, there’s another handy trick you could use.  Sure there’s an audience, but it’d be a lot easier for you to speak if you didn’t focus on all of them.  Ask a friend or a family member to sit among the crowd, preferably someplace where you could easily see him or her.  When you start speaking and you want to look in the direction of the audience, try focusing on your friend or family audience member instead of at random people in the crowd.  Think of it as a visual reassurance to help get you comfortable while speaking onstage, which is the same goal of all the other exercises above.

We all have our goals in life, both long term and short term.  Do you want to buy a house within five years, get promoted within two years, have your first child after three year of marriage, or lose 10 pounds to be able to fit into your old clothes?  You will need self discipline to be able to accomplish those.  Self discipline refers to a person’s ability for taking action, no matter what emotional state they may be in.  With self discipline comes persistence, hard work, and will power.

Not everyone has achieved the same degree of self discipline.  But it doesn’t mean that this is possible to only a few.  Think of it as building muscles where we develop one set of muscle then another.  Body builders did not gain the physique they now sport a few months back.  To first timers, they have to start with the basic training like everyone else did.  Slowly, they would move to advanced training with heavier weights to develop the muscles to their full potential.  The same applies to self discipline.  People who have accomplished much in life has learned to curb their sharp tongues, become friendlier, and be better persons as a result of self discipline.  More importantly, they have learned to follow through on their plans where others would have given up.

Inspiration from Buddhist Monks

Buddhist monks are one of the few people we know who have mastered self discipline.  They win hands down when it comes to this trait when we study how they have practiced self discipline under the most rigid conditions.  It’s even tougher than the training military personnel receives.  Where other people could hardly stop their tongue from wagging, these monks have learned to commune with silence for hours on end.  Imagine how we, too, can learn to practice self discipline at every opportunity possible and see a change in one’s fortune.

Whether you’re a student starting out or a practiced professional, the message that you probably get from the rest of the world sounds something like “Achieve everything.”  Day in and day out, you are bombarded with images of men and women from all over the globe, people who seem to have everything: prestige, position, and of course, money.  And it’s almost certain that, at one point or another, you wanted deep down to be like them.  But believe it or not, your hurried and harried lifestyle in today’s tech-connected and frenetic world might not lead you to the comfortable lifestyle of your dreams. 

Priorities, Priorities

Have you ever wished that you could be in two places at once?

People today want to do too much.  You have to be at a meeting by this time, but only after a family engagement two hours prior, and you have to leave by a certain time to make it to a social gathering afterwards.  All too often, the different aspects of your life – your career, your family, and your social life – have time demands that overlap each other.  At those times, you probably try to be in as many events as possible – to make the most of the time, supposedly – and, thus, feel worn and tired by the end of the day.

Instead of gathering all your appointments and then rushing through as many of them as possible in the course of a day, prioritize.  Set which ones precedence over another.  For example, you could set family reunions ahead of business functions, which could then be set over social gatherings.  Sure, you might not be able to get to as many events as with the other paradigm, but you get to do more and enjoy more at each event because you’re not so pressured with time.

A Change of Pace

The statement that 24 hours is insufficient in a day is a common complaint all over the world.  You’re not the only person who wants to do more, and so you’re not the only person rushing from one meeting to the next, reading papers and writing reports frantically in between.  You probably also bring some work home so you could supposedly do more for the day.  However, a very thin line exists between ‘hardworking’ and ‘overworked.’

Make sure that you take some time to slow down in each day.  Set a certain period, such as the hour immediately after you arrive home from work, to be your time for rest and quality time with the family.  Don’t let your days become just a single continuous blur of work just so you could earn more income because that sort of lifestyle could actually end up endangering your life with stress-related conditions.  Many studies have also proven that you’re sharper and more efficient at work when you take half an hour to an hour’s rest a couple of times throughout the day.  And you can bring that all the way to the boss.