Ideas: For a Successful, Less Complicated Life!

Less Busy, More Productive – Is It Possible?

Our lives seem to be getting busier each day; from the time we wake up, there are endless tasks to be done… work, meetings, emails, errands, chores,.. to many other routine things. Irrespective of all the advice on "Get More Done In Less Time", being busy has become a norm.

In reality,

• Just because you're "busy" doesn't mean you're getting real work done.
• Being busy creates stress (most of the time), while productivity creates a feeling of accomplishment.
• Being busy makes time fly. On the other hand, if you are productive, you will be pleasantly surprised at how much you got done.
  

Indeed, there is a very distinct difference between being busy and being productive. To some, That may be a blinding glimpse of the obvious. Yet so many continue to be busy, busy, busy and at the end of the day, you wonder why you have not achieved much; why you are not as productive as you’d like to be.

Although you can’t be productive every moment, being aware of the difference between being busy and being productive can make you more effective and help you get more done. Continual busyness eventually leads to stress, particularly if results are minimal.

I don’t have a sophisticated productivity solution to offer. My suggestion is rather simple..
With each activity ask yourself:

1. “Is this the best use of my time?”

If the answer is yes, you are on the right path.

For those of you who said, "No",

1. Do something more productive or

2. Continue to do whatever it is you’re doing, but at least acknowledge that you’re not being productive!

2. “What am I avoiding doing right now that would really help me be more productive? ”Trust me, if you really look at that question and answer it honestly, you’ll walk away with some pretty good information for what you should be really doing.

I invite you to consider devoting a few minutes today to check over your task list, or to reflecting on how you spent your time last week, and ask… “Am I busy, or am I productive?”

Do you have any suggestions for folks who are struggling to be less busy and more productive?

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This guest post was written by: Shamelle Perera, the creator of: "Enhance Life" (Blog).

Turning the ship around!

I believe that living an abundant life is simple. The basic philosophy which EffortlessAbundance.com is trying to promote is very easy to understand. It’s simply this:

Think thoughts that make you feel good.
Do things that make you feel good.

When you feel good, you draw good experiences into your life. When you feel good, you are in tune with the natural way of things; you are sailing with the wind, allowing yourself to be supported and carried by the power and energy of the universe. This leads to abundance in all areas of your life.

It’s simple. But it’s not always easy to apply! After a lifetime of negative thinking and negative conditioning, we’ve got so used to this way of being in the world that it can seem hard to change. It can seem like a mammoth task to turn the ship around.

But is it really that hard? Is it hard to stop fighting? Is it so hard to allow the wind to take you? It might feel strange at first, but really, all that’s involved is letting go.

I read somewhere that enlightenment is like letting go of a hot iron bar or a really heavy weight you’ve been carrying around. It’s such a relief to just drop it. It feels so good to be free. And it’s so simple! The strange thing is that we make excuses to explain why we have to continue to carry the burden.

Do you really want to be free? Do you really want to live an effortlessly abundannt life? Well, just let go. Make a committment to feeling good, and don’t let anything get in the way.

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This guest post was written by: Michael Miles,  the creator of: Effortless Abundance (Blog). 

How To Do The Utterly Impossible!

“The impossible – what nobody can do until somebody does.”

Have you ever dreamed of doing something that you thought was simply unbelievable? A situation that seemed as if it would never happen to you?

I’m sure we’ve all had many dreams like this. Every night, we turn into superheroes saving the world, great leaders giving relief to millions, and explorers soaring through the sky.

After our adventures are complete, we wake up in the morning feeling both happy and frustrated. Happy because of the amazing dream we just experienced and frustration from the supposed “normalcy” of our lives.

No we can’t fly, obtain super powers, or save whole civilizations in one night (unless you’re into videogames), but we can still dream, right? I know what you’re thinking. “What’s the point of dreaming if it can’t come true? You’re telling me stuff I already know!”

Here’s something you don’t know: without our dreams NOTHING can be accomplished. The good dreams you have at night are basically precursors to the goals you make while you’re awake.

Dream BIG and create something

There are no limits to the dreams you can have. One minute you’re leaping over building evading your evil nemesis, and the next you’re posing with the First Lady (or First Man) as you accept your Presidency. Whatever you desire to dream, just dream it. You’ll be exercising your imagination and expanding your mind. Once you do that, find a medium for your newfound creativity: write a novel, paint a picture, start a blog, or invent something. Regardless of which one you chose, it is inevitable that because of certain incentives (money, fame, popularity, praise, happiness) you’ll want to share it with other people.

Never give up your dreams

Having a creative outlet is one thing, but getting it noticed is another. It’s going to be hard. You’ll definitely want to quit and you’re going to fail A LOT. Taking the easy way out by quitting is going to seem like a very attractive option. Don’t do it. Of course, there are some instances when it’s going to be your dreams versus your reality i.e. your pursuit of becoming an actor pitted against your immediate need of paying the rent. It is at this point that it is most reasonable to choose money over your dreams. Keep in mind, however, that you need this money in order to satisfy your needs. Think of it as getting what you need first in order to get what you want later. Later could mean in a few months or in a few years, but if you really care for your dreams, it shouldn’t matter anyway.

Do your absolute best in maintaining your dreams

Now what does doing your best have to do with achieving your dreams? “Dreams” are the highest manifestation of what you desire. Why would you use the least amount of effort to do something when it requires such an immense amount of imagination to put forth into reality? Here’s what generally happens with most people: they see a significant improvement in the peoples’ responses towards their medium and then they just spend less time and effort bringing people value. They get lazy and act as if their fan base will always be there. Their dream suddenly becomes just a means to boost their own ego instead of improving the lives of others. It’s understandable if you lost the passion y0u once had for your dream, but don’t pretend as if you haven’t changed the quality of what you give to people. Believe me, they’ll notice. There’s a different between stuff that you just want to get out there and true value you want to give people. Always do the best you can with everything you seek to accomplish.

Nothing in the broad sense is really impossible. We don’t have wings, but we can still fly on airplanes; we don’t have super human strength, but with many hands we can move an obstruction off of an injured civilian; we can’t save a civilization, but we can improve their lives with technological advances.

Our world has come so far based on the many attempts at the impossible were have made. There were once those who said it was impossible to fly in the air or go to the moon. Where are they now? Nobody knows. Those who doubt the impossible cannot dream the impossible, therefore they set goals thought to be “realistic”. And with that they fade into the background doing the same thing millions across the world or doing: just being realistic.

Now I just have one question. How will you do the impossible?

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This guest post was written by: John, as was previously posted on: Motivate Thyself  (Blog)

How Do You Use Your Creativity?

On July 13th, 2009, I found this thought provoking article posted on: The Naked Soul  (Blog).

When we think of people who are creative we often think of people who can create songs, music, dance steps, paint, sculpt, create vivid art from piecing together little objects to create a mosaic or string words together in way that form poems or writes in a way that captures are attention. When we reflect on creative people, we may call out people like Michelangelo, Brahms,   Billy Joel, Martin Scorsese, Michael Jackson or Charlie Chaplin.

For most of us it is easy to recognize the creative genius of others. When asked if we are creative, many people will quickly tell you that they are not the creative type.  Why do many people believe that they are not creative? Many people do not believe they are creative because they have a very limited view of creativity. When they think of being creative they think of people in the arts. This is a very limiting view and understanding of creativity.

The truth is we are all creative and weather we acknowledge it or not, we are creating all of the time. Creativity is thought, when we think we create; now that is a very broad statement so let’s dig into this thing we call creativity a little bit more. We are all creative, even the most linear thinkers are creative. Take someone who appears to be non-creative such as a data analyst, a number cruncher; some even refer to these people as “bean counters”. One would think that this is a purely analytical thing to do, yet this very same person who lives in an analytical world creates spreadsheets and graphs and discerns what the numbers mean and provides commentary and findings, all of which are very creative tasks.

On a broader spectrum each morning that you wake up you are creative. As we begin thinking we begin to create. We create the fact that we are going to have a cup of coffee or that we are going for a morning jog. We create our day as we mentally review what lies before us and how we will approach the day. We create our mood by the thoughts we have and the perspectives that we develop.

Even those who believe they are not in the least way creative are in fact often very creative. The creativity that I am speaking of here is the darker side of creativity, we often refer to this type of creativity as fear or worry. When a person thinks about the possibilities of what can happen in the future and they begin to formulate worst case scenarios they are in a creative mode. Albeit, worry and fear are not typically viewed as creativity they none the less are, as a matter of fact this is a type of creativity that almost everyone engages in.

Bottom line is, we are all creative. Creativity is viewed as a positive activity, however as you can now see we also use creativity in way that does not serve our wellbeing. If you are apt at creating fear and worry about things which have not yet happened than it is my hope that you recognize that you are indeed creative. Once we recognize our creativity it is simply a matter of how we choose to use our creativity. In other words, we being the limitless beings that we are have a choice to be creative in a way that creates a world of peace, love and harmony for ourselves and others.

As you can hopefully see, you are creative, you are going to create, you can’t help but create so why not go forth and create the world you desire!

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7 Tips for Navigating Stormy Waters!

Do you ever wonder if something is wrong with you?

Other people seem to be ambling along reasonably happy with their lot, and here you are striving for more - and not more stuff either! Perhaps you hear comments such as “why can’t you ever be satisfied?” Or “why can’t you be like ____(put her/his name in here)?”

You’re hearing your call to journey. You’re restless for movement and change and it often comes at a turning point in your life. It’s the pull of your higher self, wanting more and inviting you to take that next step.

This call to journey marks the point in your life where you’re first given notice everything is going to change - whether you realize that or not. And it usually involves some form of discomfort. This discomfort may manifest in one or all of the following signs:

• Discomfort with familiar environments, which may include dissatisfaction with your occupation, relationships, religious practices, etc.
• Feelings of loneliness or isolation
• Driving desire to discover your purpose
• Need for more contact with nature or time alone
• Feeling something is missing
• Boredom with and lack of desire for that which previously gave you pleasure
• Illness not responsive to allopathic medicine
• Awareness that your life has changed although you may not be able to identify how, but you know you cannot go back to the previous way of life
• A driving desire to declutter!

Each of these are signals that change, expansion and growth are on their way - and it’s coming in response to you having asked for it somewhere, someplace, sometime…..

So there you are feeling seriously discombobulated and disconnected. What can you do?

Here are 7 tips to navigate the stormy waters of discontent.

1. DO NOT try to change the channel! Resisting that bored, discontented, restless feeling is a waste of time. Rather, be curious about the change that’s being called forth in you. That’s the only way you’ll reconnect with yourself - you’re being called on to become realigned with your true self.

2. Assume it’s a good thing to feel restless and uncomfortable, to be that conscious and that aware that you’re feeling all this because that means something bigger is on its way!

3. Trust this place on your journey and be open to discovering what is out of alignment. You become out of alignment when you’re taking actions or being a certain way that is no longer congruent with who you really are. And this happens because YOU are constantly in the process of expanding or on the edge of expansion - and the rest of you hasn’t quite caught up - so there’s a disconnect.

4. Shift the energy in your environment.The energy in your home and workplace has got you in a holding pattern. If your environment doesn’t change it will be holding you back where you used to be - making change a challenge. This is Feng Shui 101. Move things around a bit.

5. Give yourself lots of space to be. Space to journal, move your body, nap, read, watch the world go by, space for extreme self-care. Watch for signals, signs and messages. They’ll come when you stop resisting your discomfort.

6. Ask for feedback. If you have a Coach, she’ll be able to give you feedback about who you’re being right now. If not, perhaps a trusted friend. What they see is not always easy to hear. But it could be the kick in the butt that jolts you into a new awareness of what’s not seeming congruent so you can join the dots.

7. Declutter!!When you let go of things that no longer support or inspire you, you make space for the winds of fortune to blow in and around your life. You know how you feel surrounded by clutter - bogged down, frustrated, lethargic and hopeless. Decluttering will shift these feelings and make space for clarity and lightness and space for your truth to shine in.

Manifesting Fear!

In a class for my Soul Realignment Practitioners the other day, I was speaking about how attachment gets in the way of manifesting what we want.  Ester and Jerry Hicks talk about this phenomenon, as does Neale Donald Walsh.  The wanting of a thing usually attracts more and more wanting, rather than attracting the thing itself.  In this way, attachment actually pushes what we want away from us.

This got me thinking about fear.

It seems to me that fear of something will also attract more fear …. but also will not allow for the manifesting of what we fear.  After all, fear is a sort of polarized version of attachment.  It is an extreme aversion, an attachment to something NOT happening.  So if we fear something, while we may create more and more fear of the thing over time, it’s highly unlikely that what we fear will manifest itself.

This perspective might put to rest the fear of fear itself, which I see time and again in clients and students.  Just the other day I spoke to a client who felt that her fear of failure in her business might actually attract the very failure she feared.  She was fighting two battles - one to keep her business afloat, and the other to keep her fear at bay.  The second was a complete drain of her energy.  Once she realized that it was okay to be afraid, she was able to start focusing on what she wanted to create, rather than on banishing fear.

The idea of a fearless human experience is highly improbable and perhaps not even desirable!  In fact, while fear may create more fear, it actually may also make it impossible for the things we fear to manifest themselves.  It strikes me as an odd sort of energetic self-protection mechanism that we have been gifted with.

I am, of course, not advocating a fearful existence for anyone.  But fear can be yet another voice of our inner wisdom, directing us away from what we don’t want, so we can redirect our attentions towards what we wish to create.  Most of all, we need not be afraid of fear itself.  Through fear, more fear may arise.  But by being afraid, we do not call our fears into existence.

Honor your fears.  Rather than trying to diminish the feeling of fear, listen to it.  What is it trying to tell you?  What are you trying hard to avoid?  Ask yourself what you wish to create instead.  Set your intentions on what you do want, ask for spiritual assistance … and let it go.  Attachment can extend itself to an attachment of feeling only positive emotions.  “Shoulding” ourselves into feeling something other than what is true for us in the moment only drains our energy.

There is nothing to fear about fear itself.

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This guest post was written by:  Andrea Hess, the creator of the Empowered Soul (Blog).

The Secret Is Not To Care!

A friend told me this story, and I’ve never forgotten it, though the following anecdote about G. Gordon Liddy may not, in fact, be true; I’ve never verified it. According to my friend, Liddy once held his hand over a candle flame until his flesh burned. Someone asked, “What’s your secret?” and he replied, “The secret is not to care.”

I think about this phrase constantly: “The secret is not to care.” Because if I don’t want to let certain things make me unhappy, the secret is not to care. (Not to mention not caring about the weird grammar of the phrase.)

Recently a friend explained that although she doesn’t enjoy getting manicures, she has to get them, because her hands must look nice for work (she has a fancy job). The last time I had a manicure was two years ago when my sister got married, and I know that even if I had my friend’s job, I wouldn’t get manicures. I just don’t care, and because I don’t care, I don’t believe that other people care much either.

Another friend is honestly worried because his children don’t have very adventurous tastes in foods. Again, I just don’t care about that, so that worry doesn’t make a difference to me. Of course, I care about things that other people don’t care about.

I think this “secret” is important, because while we can’t exercise complete control over the things we care about, we can take notice, remember that some of our concerns are idiosyncratic, and try to master them where appropriate. Mindfulness! Yikes, mindfulness turns out to be important everywhere I look. (Wondering how mindful you are? I’m not very. Here's a quiz.)

Often I invoke this phrase, “The secret is not to care,” in a context where I find myself worrying about what other people will think. When I feel myself fussing about something, I ask myself, “Do I really care? Or is the secret not to care?”

I felt myself caring about the fact that my four-year-old often goes to school wearing hideous outfits. She loves to pick out her own clothes and tends to choose eye-popping combinations. I found myself wanting to explain to everyone, “She chose that herself! I didn’t match that shirt with those pants!” Then I realized – the secret is not to care. Why shouldn’t she pick out her own clothes to please herself? Why should I care? I don’t care. And I let it go.

This observation by Samuel Johnson keeps springing to my mind: “Since every man is obliged to promote happiness and virtue, he should be careful not to mislead unwary minds, by appearing to set too high a value upon things by which no real excellence is conferred.”

Accordingly, I’m not “setting too high a value” upon coordinated outfits on a pre-schooler, “by which no real excellence is conferred.” The secret is not to care.

Have you found yourself caring about things you don’t really care about? How do you address it?

* I see on Gimundo that the New Economics Foundation ranked Costa Rica as the world's happiest country. Interesting.

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This guest post was written by: 

Gretchen Rubin, the creator of: The Happiness Project (Blog).

How to Solve a Problem: 6 Quick and Powerful Tips!

“The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.” ~Albert Ellis

“Problems are to the mind what exercise is to the muscles, they toughen and make strong.” ~Norman Vincent Peale

“Every problem has a gift for you in its hands.” ~Richard Bach

Are you having a problem in your life right now?

If so, maybe these six quick tips can help you to solve it a little bit easier.

1. First, ask yourself: is there really a problem here?

Often we create problems in our own heads – as I mentioned a bit about a few days ago in Things May Be Simpler Than You Think – that aren’t really out there in reality. So relax a bit. And think about if this is really a big problem.

Is it something that will matter in 5 years? Or even in 5 weeks? Life becomes so less stressful when you stop making mountain out of molehills (or just out of thin air).

2. Accept it.

When you accept that the problem already exists and stop resisting then you also stop putting more energy into the problem and “feeding it”.

Now it just exists (well, more or less, you might still feel a bit down about it). You can use the energy you previously fed the problem with – the energy that probably made the problem look bigger than it was – to find creative solutions to the challenge.

3. Ask for help.

You can ask people for advice on what to do and what they did in similar situations. But you can also ask for more practical help. You don’t have to solve every problem on your own and sometimes it feels better to have someone by your side, even if it is just for emotional support.

If you just ask you may find that people will often be willing to help you out.

4. Use 80 percent of your time to find solutions.

And only 20 percent to complain, worry and whine. It might not always be easy but focusing your energy, time and thoughts in this way is much more beneficial for you and others than doing the opposite.

5. Break the problem down into smaller pieces.

Solving a problem can sometimes seem overwhelming and impossible. To decrease anxiety and think more clearly break the problem down. Identify the different parts it consists of. Then figure out one practical solution you can take for each of those parts. Use those solutions.

They may not solve the whole problem immediately. But those solutions can get you started and might solve a few pieces of the it.

Fear of Success: Are You Really Saying YES?

“The mind gives us thousands of ways to say no, but there’s only one way to say yes, and that’s from the heart.” – Suze Orman

What’s your definition of success? Have you ever asked yourself that question? If you have, you might have realized that your definition of success has multiple answers.

Is it to have a thriving business that generates thousands or millions of dollars? Meeting that special someone and having the loving relationship you yearn for? Losing those extra pounds you’ve been holding on to and establishing a healthier lifestyle so you feel and look better? Becoming more consciously awake and remembering who you are or to make a difference in the world by helping others to have happier lives?

Success means different things to each of us. It’s natural to want to feel a sense of achievement; accomplishment for something we have done. And yet many people hold themselves back from actualizing their greatness because they are afraid.

In working with thousands of people over the last 20+ years, I have found the one of the most powerfull blocks that keeps people from making changes in their life is FEAR. For many, fear of success has been a big hurdle, even more than failure.

Who wouldn’t want to have more happiness, more money, more ease, more love, more… right?

Many times our focus is on a future success, something that is not yet in our immediate reality and hopefully, within our grasp. That is, if we want it badly enough.

Have there been times when you have blown an opportunity? Perhaps it was too much success too soon? Or, you had some good things happen that you felt you didn’t deserve so you unconsciously created ways to sabotage yourself? Sometimes the fear of actually having the things you dream about is stronger than the desire to realize your dream. It’s one thing to want something that appears to be out of reach. It is another to have it within your grasp.

Common beliefs regarding success:

• People expect a lot from me and I must consistently deliver at a high level
• If I succeed, people will expect me to succeed at everything I do
• Success has to be hard
• This will take too long
• This is too hard
• If I am successful, I won’t have any time for me
• If I am successful I will lose my family (time, closeness, divorce)
• Success happens for others, not me
• I’m not smart enough, good enough…
• People will judge me
• People will be jealous of me
• I’ll sabotage my success

 What is there to fear if you really say YES to success?

1. Fearing your own power. If you truly stepped into your potential, who would you become? Would you abuse your power? What might you actually accomplish? When you come to the end of your days on earth and look back over your life, what do you want to see as your legacy?

How Giving Changes Everything!

We often think that our success depends on focusing on ourselves. But this simply isn’t true.

Every successful person knows that you become successful because of how much value you give to others.

Yet, we often forget this.

It works the same way with our happiness, too. When I become overly focused on my goals and my feelings and my desires, I start to feel down. When I become focused on myself, it’s easy to think that everything is about me. But it’s not. And when I’m so focused on myself, I start to become easily offended by others. I think that others do things that I don’t like because of me, when they’re really just doing those things because of themselves.

See how easy it is to become depressed when you feel overly self-important?

That’s why it helps to turn your attention to others, and put your focus on giving, rather than receiving. You would think that by giving all the time, you will never receive. But the exact opposite is true; it’s because you give so much that you attract the desire for others to give back to you.

It’s crazy how this works:

• The best way to be interesting is to be interested in others.
• You gain more physical energy by burning energy when you exercise.
• The way to be loved is to be lovable.
• When you seek to understand, others are more likely to want to understand you back.
• By helping others, they are more inclined to help you in return.

I think it’s interesting how we intuitively know these things, but somehow our ego gets in the way. Our self-importance makes us think that we need to receive to justify giving. This is the same part of you that seeks to be right instead of happy. Is it worth it?

I think it’s a much more empowering position to be the one that gives first. Otherwise, who knows how long it will take the other person to initiate, if it even happens at all. To wait for others to give is like waiting for someone to give you what you want. Why not just ask and find out what happens?

Giving yourself away.

When you can give without expecting anything in return, you have mastered the art of living.

Is it any wonder that the most successful people in the world are masters of giving? The most successful people are the ones that provide the most value to others.

So the question is: How can you give more of yourself away?

I think you’ll find, as I have, that you’re most fulfilled not when you’ve done something really cool, or when you’re doing something that excites you (not that those things aren’t important). You are most fulfilled when you’re serving others.

Here are some suggestions for small, but powerful ways you can give to those around you today:

• Drop the expectations that you have for your partner and your family. Instead of expecting them to behave a certain way to you, see how you can show them how much they really mean to you.
• Give away your attitude. This is really one of the most awesome ways you can give to others. Your attitude and positive energy has an amazing effect on those around you. Darkness, when approached with light, becomes illuminated. In the same way, low energy, when approached by higher energy, dissolves. Help dissolve others’ lower energy patterns by bringing your higher, positive energy to them.
• Gift your intention. Whenever you encounter someone, say a silent blessing or send them a positive intention, instead of judging them.
• Show your gratitude. Write a simple note or letter expressing to someone how much they mean to you and the reasons you love them. The impact this will have on the receiver is amazing.
• Simply offer your help. If there’s nothing specific you can do for another person, simply let them know that if there is ever a way you can help, you would like them to let you know.

These things may seem small, but I think the world is changed by a profusion of micro ideas. Revolutions start with small actions.

So what I’d like to ask you now is, How can I help you? Let me know!

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This guest post was written by:  Jonathan Mead, as was posted on: Zen Habits.net