Life Is a Do It Yourself Project!

If you have not realized it yet, no one is going to hand you the golden platter with your life’s forward path laid out on it for you to follow. You are the only one that can take the steps to improve your situation and life. Change is difficult; I’m here to help you take off. Get started with some very basic steps that will allow you to t can and I show some simple steps to follow in getting started. First let’s understand the three phases you are going to dive into; the what, how and when.

The *What* phase is digging into your self improvement psyche and brainstorming a list of areas to improve about yourself. This list should include anything about you requiring improvement. Dig deep and be honest.

The *How* phase is simply five steps that guide your through your list created the *What* phase, to actions you will take. Examples may include your desire to be a more creative and healthier cook at home, train for a 5k run, learn a foreign language.… the key is list than all. In this phase these five steps help me get going on my self improvement journeys; convince, create, categorize, prioritize and initiate.
1. Convince- you are the only person that can commit yourself to this whole process, if you can not convince yourself no one else can and you will fail. Why, because you will let distractions and setbacks stop you. Any doubts at this point, a close friend or partner may be able to review what you are engaging in a give you that push, I encourage you to talk with them as a way to convince yourself, *I can do this*.
2. Create – write out your list of improvement items, at this point put anything and everything you may think of on the list. Include areas specific to health, personal relationships, family, income, your job, education, sports, family, communication, relationships … the list is limitless as you can see.
3. Categorize – now that you have your list it is time to put the lists in common categories that are manageable. These categories should be such that some of the items may compliment each other. For instance, cooking or eating may fall under improving your health, walking, and swimming or running can fall under improve physical activity and appearance. You get the idea, simplify.
4. Prioritize – Take you categories and review them critically, pick out the top 3 or 4 ones that you seem the most interested in, put the others aside for now but do not throw away, remember this is a Life long journey. With your selection down to 3 or 4, now pick only two … you guessed it … now pick one. There may be more than one item under this category so you need to repeat this same prioritization exercise again until you have identified the one!
5. Initiate – What are the resources you can tap to learn about this subject, is it the internet, local continuing education, on-line universities, seminars ... seek out subject matter experts. This may take a little time a so be patient. A good starting point on the internet search is to identify key words regarding your subject; these will expedite the search and give you greater access to the resources that are available. I have found the resources at Success University to be among the best, here is a link for you - http://start.successuniversity.com/specialoffer.aspx

For just $2 you have 14 days of unlimited access, how great is that!

Next comes *When*, this phase creates milestones and a timeline for measuring your achievement towards the self improvement goals. Do not underestimate or overestimate the time it will take you to achieve some of these life changing activities. Understand and remember how long it took you to be where you are, it will not be easy, but you can do it.
Include in this milestone and timeline chart, specific tasks required to get you towards your ultimate achievement goal. Keep this list with you and visible, not only will this keep you focused. If you are a visual person, stick-up reminders everyplace you can on the specific task to be accomplished as well as you ultimate goal. Many tools can be helpful, calendars, day planners or PDAs are terrific.

You are in control; now just dedicate yourself to giving the 1st project a try.

Never Settle for Ordinary

I have discovered a common attribute among successful people no matter the age, profession or location in the world … they never settle for ordinary.

Successful people in all walks of life at various ages discovered ordinary is not going to get them very far in life. Sure, being ordinary provides stability and the ability to fit in or adapt, but not get them ahead. If getting to the front is what you strive for, then stand out and never settle for being ordinary. Of course you are not going be the front runner in every venture you try, but the important aspect of your life is having the drive to not be ordinary.

Easier said then done? Sure it is, it is true that everything comes at a price, wow how many cliché’s can I get into one article, you get the point. Ok, here are my 6 how not to settle for being ordinary self checks for you.

Self Checks that will not allow you to settle for ordinary:

1. Take on a Leadership role at any age, task or activity. Step-up and start learning about your leadership skills. You probably already have a pretty good idea at this point what type of improvements are needed, this major step that takes experience and time.

2. Learn from your mistakes; do not make the same mistake over again.

3. Continuously Improve yourself mentally and physically. Find new and interesting subjects to learn about, searching out information online or better yet, reading a book provides a foothold into a wonderful habit.

4. Mentor those around you by exhibiting positive behaviors and habits. By teaching those around you about subjects within your span of knowledge you gain even more subject comprehension.

5. Set goals for yourself. Short and long term goals, easy goals or stretch goals … just set them and post them somewhere in writing on your computer, on the fridge in your office or car. Check yourself periodically on progress or lack there of.

6. Be Driven; do not let yourself become complacent or satisfied with where you are at or what you have achieved. When you reach some of your goals set new ones, tougher goals or some people refer to them as stretch goals.

If you do not know where you are going, how will you ever know when you get there?

Let me remind you what E.M. Cioran wrote – We are all geniuses when we dream!

Pumpkin Carving Success

You must read this article if you or someone you know is about
to carve a pumpkin. I call these 5 ideads, my Kent's Pumpkin
Carving Survival Tips. My advice is for you to read these tips
before you begin this endeavor end up with a disastrous event
again. We all have experienced good and not so good pumpkin
carving experiences. Well, here is all you need to know to have
a successful pumpkin carving experience. These 5 easy tips that
are guaranteed to make the day special and ease you mind:

1. Do a little prep work on the pumpkin carving design. The kids
want to have a cool pumpkin, but they also want to have some
design input themselves. Have a pumpkin transfer or template kit
available to start out the process. The kits are available almost
everywhere pumpkins are sold. Also, get the kids or adults for
that matter, to start designing ahead of time. Tell them ahead of
time, everyone must have the design ready for transfer to the
pumpkin prior anyone being allowed to carve their pumpkin.

2. Go out and get your self one of the pumpkin carving kits. The
kit will save your self from rummaging through the kitchen and
allocating “tools” for the people involved. If there are kids,
always handle the knives with strict adult supervision. Sure let
the kids try, but have an adult do the cutting, pumpkins are
tough. These tools can also be shared and can create some pretty
cool images when used correctly.

3. Have plenty of newspaper for the pumpkin guts. This is not
the most enjoyable for the kids, but you need to have them reach
in and get gooey! A large cooking spoon works very efficiently
to complete this job is a short amount of time. If you are the
adventurous type, clean the seeds, soak in salt water (to taste)
and bake until crunchy.

4. Make sure each person has a second pumpkin. Why, well how
many times has the “Oops factor” come into play? The knife slips
or the tooth gets cut off … the eye is crooked … having a backup
pumpkin plan saves the day. Even if you do not need them, send
them home with one of the guests or give away as a prize to
someone!

5. Take pictures of the whole process, it is a great time of year
and everyone is around in good moods. Take a bunch, because some
are destined for the scrap book!

Sorry, but you are on your own to bring light to the finished
pumpkin. Everyone needs to see what works for them, I can
recommend the simple glow stick, and they even come in a variety
of colors and last a good while. Be safe and have fun.