Some people talk of addiction as a disease which it is not but it is arguably an illness. Nobody chooses to be an addict. They become addicted and the addiction takes control of their lives forcing them to…
Read More: The Tragedy Of Addiction And Why We Are All Addicts
Life is About Choices and the Decisions We Make
Life is like a road. There are long and short roads; smooth and rocky roads; crooked and straight paths. In our life many roads would come our way as we journey through life. There are roads that lead to a life of single blessedness, marriage, and religious vocation. There are also roads that lead to fame and fortune on one hand, or isolation and poverty on the other. There are roads to happiness as there are roads to sadness, roads towards victory and jubilation, and roads leading to defeat and disappointment.
Just like any road, there are corners, detours, and crossroads in life. Perhaps the most perplexing road that you would encounter is a crossroad. With four roads to choose from and with limited knowledge on where they would go, which road will you take? What is the guarantee that we would choose the right one along the way? Would you take any road, or just stay where you are: in front of a crossroad?
There are no guarantees.
You do not really know where a road will lead you until you take it. There are no guarantees. This is one of the most important things you need to realize about life. Nobody said that choosing to do the right thing all the time would always lead you to happiness. Loving someone with all your heart does not guarantee that it would be returned. Gaining fame and fortune does not guarantee happiness. Accepting a good word from an influential superior to cut your trip short up the career ladder is not always bad, especially if you are highly qualified and competent. There are too many possible outcomes, which your really cannot control. The only thing you have power over is the decisions that you will make, and how you would act and react to different situations.
Wrong decisions are always at hindsight.
Had you known that you were making a wrong decision, would you have gone along with it? Perhaps not, why would you choose a certain path when you know it would get you lost? Why make a certain decision if you knew from the very beginning that it is not the right one. It is only after you have made a decision and reflected on it that you realize its soundness. If the consequences or outcomes are good for you, then you have decided correctly. Otherwise, your decision was wrong.
Take the risk: decide.
Since life offers no guarantee and you would never know that your decision would be wrong until you have made it, then you might as well take the risk and decide. It is definitely better than keeping yourself in limbo. Although it is true that one wrong turn could get you lost, it could also be that such a turn could be an opportunity for an adventure, moreover open more roads. It is all a matter of perspective. You have the choice between being a lost traveller or an accidental tourist of life. But take caution that you do not make decisions haphazardly. Taking risks is not about being careless and stupid. Here are some pointers that could help you choose the best option in the face of lifes crossroads:
Get as many information as you can about your situation.
You cannot find the confidence to decide when you know so little about what you are faced with. Just like any news reporter, ask the 5 Ws: what, who, when, where, and why. What is the situation? Who are the people involved? When did this happen? Where is this leading? Why are you in this situation? These are just some of the possible questions to ask to know more about your situation. This is important. Oftentimes, the reason for indecision is the lack of information about a situation.
Identify and create options.
What options do the situation give you? Sometimes the options are few, but sometimes they are numerous. But what do you do when you think that the situation offers no options? This is the time that you create your own. Make your creative mind work. From the most simplistic to the most complicated, entertain all ideas. Do not shoot anything down when an idea comes to your head. Sometimes the most outrageous idea could prove to be the right one in the end. You can ask a friend to help you identify options and even make more options if you encounter some difficulty, but make sure that you make the decision yourself in the end.
Weigh the pros and cons of every option.
Assess each option by looking at the advantages and disadvantages it offers you. In this way, you get more insights about the consequences of such an option.
Trust yourself and make that decision.
Now that you have assessed your options, it is now time to trust yourself. Remember that there are no guarantees and wrong decisions are always at hindsight. So choose decide believe that you are choosing the best option at this point in time.
Now that you have made a decision, be ready to face its consequences: good and bad. It may take you to a place of promise or to a land of problems. But the important thing is that you have chosen to live your life instead of remaining a bystander or a passive audience to your own life. Whether it is the right decision or not, only time can tell. But do not regret it whatever the outcome. Instead, learn from it and remember that you always have the chance to make better decisions in the future.
Self-improvement statistics guide in decision-making.
Statistics shows that about 75% of the people working today are unhappy with their current jobs. One reason is that their talents are wasted because it is not applicable for their current jobs.
Thats just one problem. You might have unreasonable demands placed upon you. You have to work really long hours to get anywhere. The paths to promotion may be blocked. You cant get to where you want to be because of the view that people have of you, your experience, or your performance in the job.
Maybe a little self-improvement will help you out with that problem. You should know how to appreciate your job if you want to succeed in life.
If you are always late to your job, maybe it will become the reason for your termination. Why dont you try to wake up early or if youre always experiencing traffic, try to find other route. Self-improvement of your habits will help you succeed.
There might be criticism leveled against you that isnt just. There could be too much politics or backstabbing, you have to grease the right palms to get ahead. The job may just not be what you expected. You were promised one thing, but it turned into something else.
One thing that you should do about backstabbing is always retain your temper at the right level. Dont try to argue with your officemates of it will be another reason for firing you.
You have to get to the root of what is causing your unhappiness about where you are and what youre currently doing. The easiest way is The Five Whys. Ask, Why? five times.
Oh, Im not happy. Well, why? Because I got passed for a promotion. Why was that? Because they didnt value the project I was working on. Why not? Because management changed and they changed the objectives. Well, why was that? You really sort of drill down to the root cause and find out what the problem really is.
Once you decide that you need a change – that’s where the real fun begins. How to go about finding a new job or change careers completely.
Theres another way of looking at, the Top Ten Signs That You Need a New Job. Its a bit like a Letterman Top Ten. Theyre a bit tongue-in-cheek, but theres a bit of truth in all of them.
10: Youre outgo exceeds your income. You just need more money.
9: The most rewarding thing you did this week was sharpen all 12 of your pencils to the same length.
8: Youre reluctant to be a Career Day speaker at your kids fourth grade class.
7: Everyone in your workgroup got a raise except you.
5: You were late for work three times this week, but you dont care.
4: Theres a meeting at 3:00 to talk about the upcoming reorganization, but youre not invited.
3: Your boss keeps forgetting your name.
2: You constantly daydream about being a forest ranger.
1: Your company was recently acquired and you spent two weeks worry that youd be laid off. After that, you worried that you wouldnt be.
Remember, finding a new job nowadays is really hard. So, before you decided to look for another job, always resolve your problems with your current job. Self-improvement will really help you in that.
“The Game of Life” Start your own coaching: 7 days program
Have you ever been a coach to a neighborhood team? I know how it feels the first time I’ve coached a team of seven-year-old soccer kids and how much they can really test my patience, not to mention sanity as they run around kicking the ball like ants to a huge, white crumb. It feels strange at first, having to be stared at by a bunch of kids who they will know that I’m not the one in the field. Sounds wrong in a sense, right? But what is the dead about coaching?
Coaching is all about being a, well, ‘coach’ in the corporate world of handlers, front-liners and even a couple of benchwarmers biding their time to be given a chance to perform. I know how that feels when I go back to my regular day job. Some players are just MVP material, and some of them are just to support the MVP’s so why bother sticking around? It sounds ironic when they say ‘there is no I in team’, but even the underachievers can be sore losers as well.
These are steps that can be done within the day, and no matter what, it takes determination to be a coach.
1. There is a WHOLE lot of talk these days about Corporate Team Building. There are many, many options: vacation packages, rope courses, on-going office games, ice-breakers, etc. Management can also purchase videos, books, and seminar packages to assist them in building up their organization into a team worthy of belonging. A little later I will give you some ideas of where you can go for information on these team-building tools.
2. The truth about motivation is waiting to be grasped! It is ripe and ready for you to put into action today. Don’t settle for mind-numbing gibberish. Get practical in 3 small ways to begin looking forward to your alarm clock sounding off each morning before you huddle with the team.
3. Experience is the best thing despite of what course you graduated in. There is something about being a people person who knows how to stir the energetic side of one individual, and more so when you mix it up with an entire team.
4. To question a person by his or her performance is sometimes required, but never question their knowledge or their intelligence. Sadly, I have seen a few mistakes from past coaches who never seem to understand what a player has to go through to get the job right. It will lead to further aggravation and maybe even hostility. If you want the job done right, then go do it yourself. You’ll see how it is to be at the receiving end and it will help your set a much better course for improvement.
5. Sending a player to the bench is probably the worse experience a coach has to go through, especially if your player is the top performer. In dealing with this kind of person, see to it that he spills his guts voluntarily. Egotism in a performer tends to make them lose their focus on even the smallest mistakes, then you can catch him or her red handed. Be firm, but understanding about it.
6. Don’t allow your position to blind you from what you are supposed to do. Even coaches are human enough to think that they are far more superior, but only by rank. Even if you have been in their shoes when you were their age, it’s better to dole out a piece of wisdom in order for them to realize that this will be for their own benefit.
7. Lastly, you should learn to trust yourself and your team. Decisions and performance are primarily your goals, and there are many of them to see if they could perform the task much more efficiently. So before you think about sending one member to the bench, have a good chat with him or her and see if they have any problems. If it’s too personal, then just encourage them to do their best and it also helps to give them a good, encouraging slap on the back.
I guess there’s all there is to it. Being a corporate drone myself, I know how important it is for a company to be successful, and we’re all part of that success. Coaches are there not to make your work a little difficult just because you have either an attitude problem or not much a performer, but they’re the guides who will help you perform as hard as you can possibly can. You’ll do them proud one of these days, as well as you.
SELF IMPROVEMENT AND SUCCESS
Everything that happens to us happens in purpose. And sometimes, one thing leads to another. Instead of locking yourself up in your cage of fears and crying over past heartaches, embarrassment and failures, treat them as your teachers and they will become your tools in both self improvement and success.
I remember watching Patch Adams its my favorite movie, actually. Its one great film that will help you improve yourself. Hunter patch Adams is a medical student who failed to make it through the board exams. After months of suffering in melancholy, depression and suicidal attempts he decided to seek for medical attention and voluntarily admitted himself in a psychiatric ward. His months of stay in the hospital led him to meeting different kinds of people. Sick people in that matter. He met a catatonic, a mentally retarded, a schizophrenic and so on. Patch found ways of treating his own ailment and finally realized he has to get back on track. He woke up one morning realizing that after all the failure and pains he has gone through, he still want to become the a doctor. He carries with himself a positive attitude that brought him self improvement and success. He didnt only improved himself, but also the life of the people around him and the quality of life. Did he succeed? Needless to say, he became the best damn doctor his country has ever known.
So, when does self improvement become synonymous with success? Where do we start? Take these tips, friends
*Stop thinking and feeling as if youre a failure, because youre not. How can others accept you if YOU cant accept YOU?
*When you see hunks and models on TV, think more on self improvement, not self pitying. Self acceptance is not just about having nice slender legs, or great abs. Concentrate on inner beauty.
*When people feel so down and low about themselves, help them move up. Dont go down with them. Theyll pull you down further and both of you will end up feeling inferior.
*The world is a large room for lessons, not mistakes. Dont feel stupid and doomed forever just because you failed on a science quiz. Theres always a next time. Make rooms for self improvement.
*Take things one at a time. You dont expect black sheeps to be goody-two-shoes in just a snap of a finger. Self improvement is a one day at a time process.
*Self improvement results to inner stability, personality development and dig this . SUCCESS. It comes from self confidence, self appreciation and self esteem.
* Set meaningful and achievable goals. Self improvement doesnt turn you to be the exact replica of Cameron Diaz or Ralph Fiennes. It hopes and aims to result to an improved and better YOU.
*Little things mean BIG to other people. Sometimes, we dont realize that the little things that we do like a pat on the back, saying hi or hello, greeting someone good day or telling Mr. Smith something like hey, I love your tie! are simple things that mean so much to other people. When were being appreciative about beautiful things around us and other people, we also become beautiful to them.
*When youre willing to accept change and go through the process of self improvement, it doesnt mean that everyone else is. The world is a place where people of different values and attitude hang out. Sometimes, even if you think you and your best friend always like to do the same thing together at the same time, she would most likely decline an invitation for self improvement.
We should always remember that theres no such thing as over night success. Its always a wonderful feeling to hold on to the things that you already have now, realizing that those are just one of the things you once wished for. A very nice quote says that When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. We are all here to learn our lessons. Our parents, school teachers, friends, colleagues, officemates, neighbors they are our teachers. When we open our doors for self improvement, we increase our chances to head to the road of success.
Power through the people
Have you come across a person who is so naturally friendly that when you put him inside a room of strangers, he’ll be friends with almost everyone in no time? We call such a people-person, someone unbelievably nice and charismatic that he can charm anyone into doing anything.
A socially-empowered person achieves so much greatness, basically because of the people that catapult him to success. He earns the trust and all-out support of the people, whom he had helped before. He never runs out of help. He can do anything with the plethora of people behind him. All because he knows he maximizes his social potential!
See, if you know your social skills and you make use of them, you will reach self-empowerment. Self-empowerment is making a general overhaul in your life and turning yourself into a happier and more successful person.If you can be one of those people-persons, then I can’t see any reason why you will not succeed. You just have to know how to start.
1. Be genuine.
Hypocrisy will just bring you all the way down. Be genuinely nice and interested to people. Once they perceive that you are Mr. Hypocrite with selfish intentions, you might as well say goodbye to self-empowerment.
2. Be the greatest listener that you can be.
To earn the love and trust of the people, listen to their problems and sympathize with them. Do not just hear them out, listen to them with your heart. Make eye contact when the person talks to you. Listen as if every word matters, and it does. Brownie points when they find out that there is a confidante in you.
3. Laugh out loud.
I do not mean that you force yourself to laugh for every joke cracked by someone, albeit you do not find it funny at all.This means finding humor in things and not being too darn serious. A person oozing with an awesome sense of humor attracts crowds and eventually, attracts success.
4. Don’t forget yourself.
In the process of fluttering around like a social butterfly, you might forget yourself, allowing everyone to push you over. Remember, love and value yourself before anyone else. If you deem yourself respectable and worthy of affection, people will flock to you and not trample on you.
5. Do random acts of kindness.
You don’t have to do a John Rockefeller and blow your savings to charity. Little acts of kindness matters the most, and this can be as simple as giving someone a surprise you-take-care card or helping an elderly cross the street. When we were kindergarten students, kindness was taught to us and greatly practiced. Now is the time to revive the good deeds and this time, let them stay for good.
6. Contact your old friends.
Sad how some friendships are destined to goodbye, but thanks to technology, you can do something about it. Relive the good old days by flipping your yearbook and look for the great people whom you want to communicate with again. Adding these old friends to your roster of support peers will surely make you feel good all over.
7. Develop your personality.
Are you grouchy, grumpy and generally morose? Whoa, you can’t go through life with those. Get rid of the bad traits and habits that perpetually hamper your growth. And really, who wants a grouchy friend anyway?
8. Be confident.
Be able to stride to the other corner of the room and introduce yourself to people with that winning smile of yours. Just remember: be confident, not arrogant.
9. Practice control.
When angry, don’t snap at anyone. Never throw a tantrum. Stay calm and collected. Be adult enough to take control of situation and transform your anger into something more productive and passive. As soon as people think your anger goes to volcanic proportions easily, they will find it hard to come to you.
10. Keep nurturing your relationships.
Your relationship with your family, friends and significant others is too precious that you must not neglect it whatever happens. Go out and have fun with them. Do things together. Happiness will never fly from your side as long as the people who matter the most are close to you.
In the end, using people for self-empowerment means becoming a better and more lovable person. It’s a win-win situation: the people know they can turn to you anytime and vice versa.
Self improvement and success go hand in hand
How do you know if a person is willing to attain self improvement? This is a question with no definite answer. It will all depend on the individual.
Many people have goals, dreams or ambitions but do not know how to go about achieving them. They may have thought about what would make up self improvement and their ideal life, but have no idea how to even begin to make the plans and take the actions required to make them a reality.
Some people have a vague idea on how to go about self improvement. These are the ones that believe that if only they had a better job, or had been given better opportunities, or met the love of their life, or whatever else, everything would be fine and they would be happy.
They feel that their happiness or lack of happiness is decided by external factors and their thoughts and actions are of little consequence.
Some believe that if only they had more money they could have whatever they want and be on their way to self improvement.
They may have spent little time thinking about what they actually want from life, and do not really believe there is anything they can do to create their fuzzy version of utopia anyway, apart from buying more lottery tickets.
Other people do not even know what they actually want from their lives and may even have little idea what would really makes them happy. They seem to just drift from day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year, and do little more than just about get by.
They may have seemingly secure jobs and be earning enough to live relatively comfortable lives. They seem happy enough and have no great ambition to achieve anything more from their lives than they currently have.
Is self improvement important?
The reality is that throughout our lives we are all constantly growing and developing. Circumstances make us grow and develop, even if we do not make the conscious decision to do so.
Up to a certain age, we learn through formal education and we continue to learn through our experiences for the rest of our lives. We have to learn and grow to deal with everything that life throws at us. We all have to go through self improvement.
Modern life moves at a dramatically faster pace than at anytime in history. For anyone living in modern society there are more opportunities to do anything that you want to do with your life than ever before.
But there is also more competition than ever before, and ever changing technology means that there really are few, if any jobs for life anymore. It is now normal not only to change jobs quite often throughout our working lives, but even to completely change careers and industries.
Because the workplace is so competitive, people who are ambitious and hungry for success know they need to learn new skills and knowledge to keep ahead of the pack. To attain this, self improvement is needed.
These are the people that will be most likely to keep their jobs, or progress within their chosen field, or that will be readily employable in different organizations or industries.
A commitment to self improvement and personal growth may well be the deciding factor in how anyones future will turn out.
Gardening is supposed to be a pleasureable experience and while they do say that a bad workman blames his tools, good tools enable a workman to do a better job. Faster, better and easier.
Garden tools come in all shapes and sizes. There is less technology in the garden than there is in other areas of our lives. Many will be thankful for that but there are uses for technology such as the internet for finding out more about gardening and particular plants and garden equipment.
Gardening tools remain much as they have been for the last few decades. A spade is a spade and a garden fork looks the same as it did a hundred years ago.
There are newer materials available now and stainless steel has proved to be a durable benefit when used in spades and garden forks, as well as various other garden hoes and tools.
It is always worth paying a little more for top quality garden tools. I had a spade once that eventually broke but if I had invested a little more cash buying a better quality spade I expect I would still be using it today. As it was I had to go and buy a new one anyway so it cost me double to buy two spades when one good one would have lasted me a lifetime.
Buy good quality garden tools and you are set up for life. You might even be able to pass them on to your children as gardening heirlooms.
Following your self improvement worksheets by heart
Have you ever wished that your life could be a lot better and more fulfilling than the one you are in right now? Have a self improvement worksheet you can put your plans on to turn them into reality.
Here are some of the things you have to plan out in your worksheet for a smooth sailing journey towards self improvement goal.
Get up early.
To be able to accomplish this and still avoid losing any precious sleep, you can go to bed just a half hour earlier to get up a half hour earlier than you usually do.
What this got to do with self improvement?
For different people the answer can vary slightly. To start with you need to fully awaken yourself and get rid of early morning sluggishness.
After you are completely alert step outside of your house and watch the sunrise. Nothing like the view of a fresh morning to set you out on your self improvement destination.
This simple but immensely satisfying act will lift your spirits and help with self improvement.
If you are unable to do this, take a brisk walk, jog or run depending upon what you prefer and what you are physically capable of.
Eat breakfast.
To start your day out on the right foot and stay in keeping with your self improvement plan this is practically a necessity. You need the energy this will provide you with to accomplish your daily tasks.
If you are overly pressed for time you might try cereal and milk or even a few pieces of fresh fruit would do.
Any of these are better alternatives than skipping breakfast.
Smile a lot.
When you go places, smile more at other people, even if you find it a bit difficult at first. Just curve your lips up a bit as you make eye contact with another human being.
An effective goal is written.
The primary purpose of your self improvement worksheet.
This is extremely helpful and essential because there will be times when your self improvement goals will make you uncomfortable and you may lose site of them.
When this happens, you need to have them written down to keep yourself on track and accountable. Posting your goals on the refrigerator, bulletin board, or in your planner ensures that you will be reminded of them on a daily basis.
Review them on a regular basis.
You must review your self improvement goals in order to stay on track. Check out your worksheet on the schedule you set. Reviewing them causes you to commit to their achievement.
According to studies, only 1% of the population actually understands how to effectively set goals. This is the reason why so many New Year’s resolutions are not followed.
And this is also why people keep failing at the very same goal. The desire to improve yourself is genuine, but the process you go about while seeking this desire is faulty. Then how can you achieve the self improvement results you want?
The positive results of achieving any goal are unforgettable. An individual’s failure to achieve is not because they are incompetent but because they simply do not know the process of success.
Have an effective self improvement worksheet. Follow what is written, be patient and celebrate your success to come.
An Overview of Vitamin World
Nutritional supplements are in huge demand and one of the most established companies in this competitive market is Vitamin World. Vitamin World is a well established manufacturer and retailer of nutritional supplements. There are over 550 Vitamin World stores in the United States. However, it is the online side of their business that is even more impressive. The Vitamin World website has an extremely efficient automated order fulfilment system that is extremely sophisticated. This allows Vitamin world to process orders and dispatch them to thousands of households across the country.
The manufacturing side of Vitamin World was established in the 1960s in Long Island, New York. Nowadays, vitamin world produces more than a thousand nutritional supplement products. The product range that Vitamin has is extremely extensive and includes vitamins, minerals and herbs in every available type including tablets, two piece capsules, soft gel capsules, powders and liquids. All of the Vitamin World products are manufactured in their own state-of-the art facilities in Long Island.
Vitamin World has grown into a well respected nutritional supplement provider and this is due, in part, to the millions of dollars that it has invested in the manufacturing and quality control aspects of the business. The demand for quality nutritional supplements is constantly increasing and Vitamin World keeps ahead of the trends with its own scientists and researchers striving to develop new products to satisfy the needs of the public.
All of the Vitamin World products are developed in association with many state and federal agencies, including the FDA and the U.S. Pharmacopoeia (USP), to ensure that their test procedures guarantee their strength and beneficial qualities. This gives all Vitamin World customers the reassurance that their nutritional supplements are produced to the highest possible standards and with the greatest amount of purity available. The processes used by Vitamin World have become the benchmark for many other nutritional supplement manufacturers and retailers to aspire to.
Customers now have the choice of buying the Vitamin World products through a traditional store or in the comfort of their own home through the website. The efficiency of their website strives to deliver quality vitamin supplement products in the shortest time possible and guarantees full customer satisfaction. Vitamin World continues to develop new and more effective nutritional supplements and manufacture them in convenient forms to enable people of all ages to be able to have the nutritional health that their diet and lifestyle may not provide.
