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…or have you just lit a fuse?

I am sure that most of us are familiar with this motivational poster with the cute little kitten:

Or, for the more cynical among us, this little gem:

I tend to find more humor the second image myself, as I am not a cat person. In addition, I find the act of “hanging in there” to be antithetical to progress and growth, if not self-destructive. Tying a knot in the end of your rope and waiting for something to happen (or someone to rescue you) is no way to fulfill your dreams, no way to achieve your destiny. What do you do to avoid becoming a pinata in the great game of life?

Change your perspective.

Stop thinking of your situation as dodging the blows of randomness, or as some kind of rope to be climbed. Make that cord in your hands symbolize something else! Visualize that “rope” as a fuse, and You are the bomb! Everything can change once you make the decision to change your perspective. No longer do you have to think of yourself as the pinata swinging at the end of some rope that is beyond your control, pulled to and fro by competing forces. Instead of a rope you hold in your own hands a fuse that needs to be lit in order to set off an explosion of creativity and motivation. You will become a powerful device for change.

What one thing can you do today, what one thing can you do right now, to light that fuse and make a change? Is there something about your job, your home life, your relationships that needs a burst of energy? Look at your Someday/Maybe list, is there something that you have been putting off for no good reason?

Light that fuse, go and do something with that bomb!

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/au98du. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

This is a guest post from Phil Gerbyshak. He is a motivational speaker and self-improvement advocate and challenges you to “Stop having a nice day…and Make it Great!”

Phil’s website is updated regularly with thoughts about how you can take control of your life and stop letting life take control of you. If you’re looking for management and productivity tips, head over to Slacker Manager.com. And you can pick up a copy of Phil’s book 10 Ways to Make It Great at Make it Great Book.com

I live a fairly complicated life. I have 2 Blackberry devices (1 for work e-mail and 1 for personal e-mail), I have 3 PCs, 1 Macbook, 3 TVs, and much more clutter than I could ever want.

Starting tomorrow, I’m working on hacking my life to make it better, to make it a truly GREAT life! Here are the 3 things I’m going to do, and that you can do, to hack your life right now.

1. Simplify your life
   • Get rid of anything in your house/apartment you don’t know what it does anymore. I’ve got 10 remote controls, many of which I have no idea what they do.
   • Get down to 1 or 2 bank accounts.
   • Bonus tip: Share some of your most successful tips with the loved ones in your life, as the less complicated their life is the less complicated they’ll try to make YOUR life.
2. Organize your life
   • Write everything down or put them on your PC so you don’t forget what needs to be done.
   • I bought a nice Levenger shirt pocket briefcase so I always have a notebook.
   • Store things in 1 place and 1 place only.
3. Clarify your life -Figure out what’s really important, and make sure you are making time for it. Whether it’s your spouse, your kids, or your friends, take a long look to clarify what’s REALLY important, and put that on your calendar first.

What are YOUR best tips for hacking your life?

Phil Gerbyshak is the author of 10 Ways to Make It Great! and can be found writing management and productivity articles at Slacker Manager.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/6oagkx. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

On Monday this week we discussed how to incorporate the Habit of Being Proactive in your daily life. Now it is Saturday and time for a review.

For those of you who may not have read Stephen Covey’s landmark book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, here is a brief synopsis of the first habit: (from Wikipedia)

The Seven Habits

The chapters are dedicated to each of the habits, which are represented by the following imperatives:

1. Be Proactive. Here, Covey emphasizes the original sense of the term “reactive” as coined by Victor Frankl. You can either be proactive or reactive when it comes to how you respond to certain things. When you are reactive, you blame other people and circumstances for obstacles or problems. Being proactive means taking responsibility for everything in life. Initiative and taking action will then follow.
   Covey also shows how man is different from other animals in that he has self-consciousness. He has the ability to detach himself and observe his own self; think about his thoughts. He goes on to say how this attribute enables him: It gives him the power not to be affected by his circumstances. Covey talks about stimulus and response. Between stimulus and response, we have the power of free will to choose our response.

Some of the activities to help you implement this Habit were described. Please leave a comment and let us know how you were able to implement this new Habit into your daily life.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/5keafa. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

As part of my quest to overcome my own ADD difficulties through lifestyle changes, rather than medication, I offer the following tips. (Please note, I am not a doctor! Discuss any changes with a physician before beginning. These tips are based on my own, unscientific experiences and research)

• Positive Human Contact Face-to-face interaction is very good for everyone, in terms of slowing down our mental processes in order to communicate with another person. Your brain is able to think at a rate of 500+ words per minute, but we tend to speak at 100-200 words per minute. Taking the time to listen and interpret what others are saying is healthy brain excercise.
• Spend less time with electronics Recent research indicates that not all ADD/ADHD symptoms fall into the genetic neurological, dysfunctional or disabled categories. Often children diagnosed as ADHD have experienced too much information in sound and picture images (via TV and video games) coming at them too rapidly for them to process. They are overloading their senses and are unable to understand what these images represent at this speed. As a result the left side of the brain is unable to fully integrate what the right side of the brain is experiencing.
• Get enough sleep Getting enough sleep means going to bed and sleeping until you wake up on your own.
  

  A study of 866 children between the ages of 2 through 13 found that youngsters who frequently snore or have sleep disorders are almost twice as likely to suffer from ADHD than those who sleep well.

  “Inattention and hyperactivity among general pediatric patients are associated with increased daytime sleepiness and – especially in young boys – snoring and other symptoms of SDB (Sleep Disordered Breathing),” wrote Dr. Ronald Chervin, a University of Michigan neurologist and sleep researcher. “If sleepiness and SDB do influence daytime behavior, the current results suggest a major public health impact.”"

• Eat a balanced diet While somewhat unscientific, there is anecdotal evidence that diet can be a major factor in your ADD expression. Reduce sugar intake, as well as refined carbohydrates while increasing protein consumption. Be careful of foods that are frequently associated with allergies, such as milk, eggs, and wheat.
• Regular excercise Being active is good for your body and your mind, whether you have ADD or not. Aerobic exercise increases levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. These neurotransmitters provide emotional stability, the ability to focus, mental alertness and calmness. Conversely, a deficiency in neurotransmitters can cause depression, mood swings, irritability, anxiety, attention problems, stress and sleep problems.
• Prayer or meditation There is evidence that meditation can be a powerful tool in controlling the symptoms of ADD:
  

  Meditation can help improve symptoms in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), an international psychiatry conference heard this week.

  The Australian study in 48 children diagnosed with ADHD found Sahaja yoga meditation led to an average 35% reduction in symptom severity over six weeks, and enabled many to reduce their medication.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/6gmohl. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen