InsomniaZ ™ : บล๊อกเบลอๆ ของคนนอนไม่หลับ

Image : http://www.flickr.com

An important aspect of your online business is being able to cope with the many challenges that you will encounter.  When you start online, you may not have that positive attitude and belief to be able to deal with the disappointments.  This is where self development comes in.

Self development should be ongoing in your business, you can never learn too much.  You should be striving to learning new things, developing your skills and knowledge. 

Here are some helpful tips that you can put into your business.

o    Books – You want to start investing in your future by reading self development books.  All successful people read these books because they seek new ways on improving themselves.  These books can give you ideas, inspiration and belief.  Whatever you are lacking in business knowledge you can learn from books.

o    Create a library - Start building yourself a library.  What is good idea is to buy a book a month which will slowly build up your collection.  However, a common error is to read it once and let the dust settle on it, never to pick up that book again!  When you read a book you only retain a small percentage, so it makes sense to read it again.

o    Audio – We all love listening to music, it can be a great motivator to get you pumped up just when we need it.  However, when we are on the move it is an ideal time to pick up useful innovative ideas and new skills. 

Self development doesn’t need to take huge chunks of your day.  Reading for half an hour just before you go to sleep is a method that I would recommend.

Image : http://www.flickr.com

The problem begins with the “greeting” message you leave for callers. Your message probably asks callers to leave their name and phone number; and it ends by stating you will call them back “as soon as possible” (ASAP). Therein, lies your problem.

Think of your “greeting message” on your v-mail/answering machine as your electronic professional secretary or administrative assistant. Make it a professional message, one that provides callers relevant information and requests the same from them.

Record “greeting messages” that state who the callers have reached and what day(s) your message is for; ask callers to state their phone numbers twice and, then, state the purpose of their calls. Avoid playing “telephone-tag” by stating times when you can return calls, and ask callers for the best times for you to return calls to them.

Always avoid using the words, “I’ll call you back as soon as possible.” Your ASAP statement is nearly useless because, typically, your callers have no idea what your ASAP means. Does your ASAP statement mean you will call back after you return from a two minute trip away from your office, a two hour meeting, a two day business trip or a two week vacation?

Then, too, are you in the first or second hour of a two hour meeting, first or second day of a two day business trip or first or last day of a two week vacation? As you see, your ASAP adds nothing but uncertainty to your “greeting message”; it does not help your callers resolve the conflict between your availability and the urgency or deadline for their talking to you, or someone else in your company.

Change your “greeting message” at least daily; make it the first thing you do. State the day of the week and the date, so your callers know your message is current. If what you do day-in and day-out is receive and place phone calls, changes in your availability throughout the day may require changing your “greeting message” several times each day.

Based on the nature of your business, your message may need, also, to state the person and number to call in case you’re not being available creates an emergency or crises for you and/or your callers. Here’s the point; make your “greeting message” do for you what a professional secretary or administrative assistant would do if answering your phone. Your callers deserve nothing less, nor do you and your company.

For illustration, here are two examples of messages used this month:

Hello, this is Dr. Larry Baker. This message is for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday – November 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I’ll be out of the office those days. Please leave your name, state your phone number twice, leave a detailed message and indicate a couple of times on Monday, the 6th, that would be good to return your call. I look forward to getting back to you.

Hello, this is DR. Larry Baker. This message is for Friday, November 10th; I am in the office today, but have stepped out for a few minutes; and I will be out to lunch from 12:00 to 1:30 P.M. please leave your name, state your phone number twice, leave a detailed message and indicate a couple of times to return your call. I look forward to getting back to you.

These messages are longer than you normally hear; but, don’t you know more about your options? Isn’t it better than when you are asked only to leave your name and phone number and are given the typical ASAP message? Caution: it is not wise to leave “greeting messages” on your home voice-mail/answering machine that describe how long you will be away.

Short-sighted callers may complain about your longer “greeting message”; but, most callers will appreciate knowing your availability. And, if the person you called believed it necessary for your mutual business interests for you to know who to call in an emergency, you would have been given contact information.

However old you are, you may have found yourself in the situation where you are faced with a huge decision, one which will have an impact on the rest of your life. This situation may make you feel helpless, and perhaps disoriented, and in need of someone to help you out, because you don’t know which way to go. However this is the kind of occasion when you really need to depend on yourself alone. It is very tempting to rely on the advice of others. After all, if you take someone else’s advice and things to wrong, then you can blame them. A professional would tell you that you should make your own decisions.

If you are going to make your own decisions, and deal with these situations by yourself, then how do you do it?

Personal Development and Meditation

Meditation has been around for hundreds of years, and could help you when you find yourself in this situation, and through it you could find you can get what you want out of life. But how do you use meditation?

To meditate you need to be away from possible distractions, so that you can look inside yourself, without any of your attention being focused outwards.

Having rid yourself of outward distractions, then you need to consider questions which concern who you really are, and which relate to everyday life. For example, about what sorts of things you like to do, and what makes you feel proud, or about your finances, and the things that are important to you, or the things you always wanted to do but haven’t been able to, and the people or things you are dependent on.

If you are trying to think about a particular situation, or come to a certain decision, then try to think of all the questions connected with that. Try to blank any other issues out of your mind and think only of one particular question, and write down any answers which come to you. It is important to concentrate, and to be honest, because if you are not then the only person you are going to deceive is yourself. These questions will help you to understand exactly where you stand and what you want out of life. When you have thought through the questions you need to answer and noted any answers that came to you, then look over them and not anything which you are proud of or not proud of.

Now make two lists, one of the things you found which you were proud of and one of those which you are not proud of, and put the lists up somewhere where you will be able to see them every day. Now work on moving things from the ‘not proud’ list to the ‘proud’ list, and re-do the lists when anything is moved.

We all want to lead full, happy lives…so why is it that so few of us do?

If it’s time you took a good look at your own life and gave it an overhaul, don’t wait another minute. Whether we like to admit it or not, the clock is ticking for each of us. Make each moment count by actually putting into place the practices which will bring you joy and rekindle the passion in your life. This has nothing to do with anyone else – it’s all about YOU!

Following are some tips to help you make the most of each day and ensure you are living your life to the fullest. While they may not sound positive and easy, this is all about being EFFECTIVE. These few key areas are where you can put new practices into place and give yourself the gift of a happier, more satisfying life.

GOALS: The trick here is to make them YOURS. Not what your Mom wants, nor what your guidance counselor told you was right for you…but what YOU want. Have you even thought about this lately? Many people have not thought about what they truly want in years. This is partially due to the vague notion that many carry around that says ’some day I’ll have more time to figure it out and then I’ll get what I want’.

This is NOT how it works…some day is NOW. Tomorrow will never come, and our time here is limited. You can either choose for this to be a depressing thought and turn away from it, or face it straight on and FREE YOURSELF.

Today is all we have – live it up! Dream with passion! PLAN to do things you love and which are fun…there is no time like the present!

PRIORITIES: In these busy times, it is time we realize that we cannot do it all. We can CREATE everything we want – I firmly believe this – but we only have 24 hours in a day, and there will simply be things that slip through the cracks.

Therefore, the more we hone our focus and decide what our priorities are, the better we can live each day from that focus, and accomplish more of the things that matter to us as individuals. This is not goal-setting. Goals ARISE from this work, and allow you to accomplish those things that you wish to. This allows us to live each day with a strong sense of purpose, aliveness and joy.

The trick to living this way is two-fold: the first is to invest the time to look at your life overall and decide what you want it to be about. A good way to think about this is to look at the end of your life. Ask yourself what you will regret most if you don’t change it? What do you want said about you when you’re gone? What kind of a legacy would you like to leave? What will you wish you had done?

The second part ties your priorities and your goals together. The best two tips in this area I have heard in years are extremely simple:

1. Make a list every night of the five things you MUST accomplish tomorrow, and then DO THEM tomorrow, in the order of those you want to do least first.

2. Ask yourself each day: What can I do today that I’ll be glad I did tomorrow? This one step is amazingly powerful, as you will see after a few days.

VISION: How many times have you heard that you must visualize what you want in order to get it? Did you know that in studies with Olympic-caliber athletes, tests have shown that they performed just as well after visualizing themselves going through the motions with precision, as when they actually practiced physically? Additionally, in brain and muscle tests, all the same neurons in the brain and muscle fibers in the body were activated during intense visualization as during the actual athletic endeavor.

Amazing? YES! Use this to your advantage in your own life! Practice and improve your ability to clearly and precisely picture yourself being in the situations you wish to create. There are some guided meditations in the Wealth Beyond Reason program that we have found to be very helpful with this process.

HEALTH: This has been addressed in many places, but my two best tips are:

Eat less, and more often. Studies have shown that those who eat less actually survive longer, and with this happy, passionate life you are building you’ll want to prolong it as mush as you can! Also, eating smaller amounts every 3-4 hours serves to boost your metabolism and burn more fat…helping you to be healthier and have more energy. Think of your metabolism like a fire…consistently feed it in little amounts. If you starve it or smother it, the results will be less to your liking.

The second tip is to get moving, and do it consistently. This one thing, if you are not already doing it, will make a huge difference for you. Go for walks, take up new sports – do whatever you have to do to stay active, and enjoy increased energy and stamina, as well as more clarity in your thoughts.

ROLE MODELS: Get some new ones. Look for people and situations that empower you, and remind you of the magnificence of the human spirit and what is possible. This lifts you out of your narrow, every day focus, and gives you a broader perspective.

There you have it…a few key ingredients to living a life with passion!

Of course there are more things you can do, however we have found that it’s the fundamentals that need to be put in place for people to really feel energy, passion, happiness, and a sense of purpose.

Enjoy, and go create your dreams!