Change Your Life in 5 Minutes or Less Blog Directory - RSS Feed https://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/most_recent/feed Change Your Life in 5 Minutes or Less Blog Directory - RSS Feed en Relationships - Self Improvement Bootcamp - Day 15 https://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/bootcamp15.html Video: <a href="https://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/bootcamp15.html">https://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/bootcamp15.html</a> Related Infromation: This bootcamp is designed to help you gain insight into who you are, and help you determine the best approach to improve your life. Summary: In our last videos, we learned about the significance of the almighty dollar, including ways of saving money, investing, and dealing with debt. Today, we are going to cover a very important area – relationships. I want to emphasize that I believe this to be one of the most important lessons in this boot camp. Nurturing good relationships with friends, family members, and colleagues is often *crucial* to our personal and professional growth. Relationships, I believe, factor into every single facet of your daily life. Nearly everything we do in life, in some way, boils down to whether or not we have a good relationship with someone. In terms of relationships, there are a couple of different categories of relationships that I plan on discussing with you today. First, I’ll be discussing relationships with the ones you love – namely, the members of your family and your close friends. Then, I’ll talk about relationships with the people you associate with in the business world and at work. Sustaining good relationships with these people is also critical. The key to *any* healthy relationship – and it doesn’t matter with whom – is clear and honest communication. It just DOESN’T MATTER what sort of relationship we’re talking about – it could be a relationship with a family member, your spouse, a colleague at work, a close friend, or a potential customer in the business world. First off, be honest. If you’re not being honest with someone when you talk to them, then you’re not properly communicating at all. Don’t say something when you mean something else. Just say what you mean. Make sure you understand, clearly, what the other person is saying – not just the words, but the actual ideas associated with those words. Keep this in mind: Stephen Covey, one of my favorite self-improvement experts, once said that we should “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Make sure you listen, actively, to what the other person is saying. Don’t just nod and pretend to understand – really think about what that other person is saying before forming your response. That’s what understanding is. Stop and think about your interpersonal relationships. Make a mental list of your most important relationships – separate them into family/friends and business relationships. What are these relationships like? Would you consider them to be healthy ones, or unhealthy ones? Let’s jump right in to a discussion on effective relationships with your family and friends.To maintain a good relationship with your spouse and children, there’s one really, really easy thing you can do that is virtually guaranteed to result in a better relationship. Love them. Simple, right? Love your children, your spouse your parents, your brothers and sisters. TELL them that you love them, and don’t assume that they already know that. Granted, they probably DO already know that, but it never hurts to tell them again. Of course, it depends on the person. Some people aren’t too big on being verbally told “I love you” – they’d prefer that their significant other actually SHOWED their love. A good way of showing your spouse or children that you love them is, simply, by spending some time doing what they like to do. You know what I mean. Do the same thing with your children – take them somewhere fun. Tell them you love them. It’ll go a long way toward cultivating a healthy relationship. Let me paint a picture for you. You’re sitting at the dinner table with your spouse, and your conversation goes something like this. Your spouse says, “So, honey, how was your day?” “Good,” you reply. And the conversation ends. If that’s the way you and your spouse communicate on a typical day, it might be time to re-examine your communication style with your spouse as a whole. Now, don’t forget about your friends – I consider the relationships you have with close friends to be second in importance to the relationship you have with the members of your family. It’s incredibly important to have friends. They have skills and resources that you might not necessarily have. They can show and teach you about different areas of life. They can offer you help when you need it most. In short, friends are incredibly valuable to have in your life. Let me leave you with this last bit of advice. Have FUN with your friends and family, but make sure the relationship isn’t just about fun, games, and entertainment. It should be genuinely meaningful, as well. Now, for the last portion of this video, I’m going to discuss maintaining healthy business relationships with people you may encounter in the workplace. With a few exceptions, it’s nearly impossible to succeed in business without cultivating open, honest, and professional relationships with the people you encounter. I mean, sit back and REALLY think about it: when’s the last time you heard of an enormously successful businessman who completely shunned contact with the outside world? If you’re struggling in business, it’s possible that all you need is to establish a good relationship with someone who could help propel your business to the next level. Think about it – are you going to buy a product from someone you don’t know, or from someone who you trust and who has proven trustworthy in the past? I think the answer is obvious. First off, in any business-related relationship, you should GIVE, not take. If you freely share your resources, which could be money, time, contacts, leads, or anything else, people in the business sector will start to notice how valuable you are. That makes you an important part of their business network. Also, treat the other party in your business relationship as if they are valuable – because they are valuable. It’s important for the other party to know this, too, and for you to display traits showing that you believe them to be a valuable part of your business. Keep that in mind. Remind the other party in the relationship, through your words AND your actions, that you believe them to be valuable. Thanks for watching – we’re almost at the end of the bootcamp, so I hope you have enjoyed everything so far! Building Wealth- Self Improvement Bootcamp - Day 14 https://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/bootcamp14.html Video: <a href="https://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/bootcamp14.html">https://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/bootcamp14.html</a> Related Infromation: This bootcamp is designed to help you gain insight into who you are, and help you determine the best approach to improve your life. Summary: In our last videos, we learned about the importance of dealing with financial debt. Today, we are going to continue our discussion on growing wealth by pointing out methods of saving and investing. This section is not designed to be comprehensive. It is really designed to give you a good starting point. Saving money is also critical for your financial health. Here are some tips I’d like to share with you on saving money. Step # 1 is to Develop a concrete plan for saving cash. Write it down in a journal or notebook. Step # 2. If you don’t have one, Open a savings account at your local bank. Step # 3 Do NOT spend your savings on unnecessary things. Only use it for investments, and planned purchases Step # 4 is to Set a goal – write down a specific amount of money that you want to save and work towards it. If you’ve saved up a decent amount of cash, you could try investing it. Be careful when investing, though – if you’re not that experienced in the stock market, you might want to spend some time researching it first. Or if you’re feeling generous, you could make a donation to the charity of your choice. Not only will your contribution go a long way toward improving someone’s life, you’ll feel good, too. Think about your spending habits. Are you a saver or a spender? Do you need to do things differently? Let’s chat about investing your money for a few minutes. Investing your cash is a surefire way of multiplying your assets. But investing doesn’t just apply to the stock market, which is something many people assume – rather, it can apply to variety of other things. In the next few minutes, I’ll tell you all ABOUT some of those areas. Most people think of the stock market when they think of the word “investing.” But I’ll tell you, right now, that there’s more out there than trading stocks. I’ll start off by saying that a good starting point, if you’re looking to invest, is to invest in items that have a proven history of success. A good example of this is real estate, but a general rule of thumb is to consider anything that has a history of increasing in value over time. We’ll move on to one of the most popular methods of investment – the stock market. If you’re not an expert stock trader, the entire concept of buying, selling, and trading might seem a little daunting to you. That’s natural – believe me, there’s a LOT to learn. But it’s also a method that many wealthy people use to greatly multiply their net worth. The important thing to remember about investing in publicly traded stocks is that YOU become an owner – at least in part – of the company you are investing in. Essentially, you’re having that company work for YOU. I’m not a certified financial advisor, so I’m not going to advise you as to what stocks to buy, what to sell, and all the other intricate facets of the stock market. What I can do is direct you to one of my favorite informational resources, that being the Internet. You can find a wealth of valuable information about investing just by doing a simple Google search. I have a very personal example of investing that paid off for me. I had to invest time and money into my internet business. Initially I thought of it as a hobby. But I felt like my idea for this business was powerful – and realistic enough to work into a business. So I invested in my idea, and it’s paid off. Here’s some general tips for investing: 1. Speak to someone with a financial background. Surround yourself with people who know how to invest, and who have done it successfully. Learn from them. 2. Be disciplined. Make sure you know where your assets are invested, and make sure you make the necessary changes as the market fluctuates, or as things change. 3. Start small. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket – invest in a variety of different opportunities, but don’t put every penny you have into your first investment. That’s how you LOSE money. 4. Be careful what you invest your money in. Do all the research you can before making an investment. After we’ve finished up with this segment, sit back and think about your financial strengths and weaknesses. Identify them, then try to think of ways of nurturing your strengths and improving upon your weaknesses. What are your investing tips and strategies? Let us know in the comments below! Debt - Self Improvement Bootcamp - Day 13 https://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/bootcamp13.html Video: <a href="https://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/bootcamp13.html">https://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/bootcamp13.html</a> Related Infromation: This bootcamp is designed to help you gain insight into who you are, and help you determine the best approach to improve your life. Summary: In our last videos, we learned about the importance of Physical and Emotional Health. Today, we are going to cover a very important area – money. This lesson will include brief discussions on the importance of saving, investing, and dealing with debt. This section is not designed to be comprehensive. It is really designed to give you a good starting point. So why do we have a section on money? Have you ever heard the phrase “Money makes the world go ‘round?” I know that money isn’t everything. There are certainly things that *I* think are more important than money. But that doesn’t change the fact that money is an important part of what makes our world function. I mentioned a fairly simple strategy during the last boot camp lesson on health. I said that one of the easiest ways to improve your physical health is by eating less and exercising more. Pretty easy, right? Now, I’m going to apply that very same simple concept to money. If you like money and want to have more of it, spend less and earn more. Sounds simple? But don’t get me wrong – saving money is tough. With all of the interesting things for sale nowadays, impulse buying has become a major problem for most Americans. That’s why I want to stress the power of saving money – not only will it mean that you’ll have more cash to spend, but it *ALSO* means that you’re well on your way to financial independence. Before I go into any details on the subject of money and finance, I want to start out by letting you know that I am not a certified financial advisor, but I do have suggestions from other experts that have worked for countless people. Your needs for financial advice will vary substantially depending on where you are in your life financially. With that in mind, I am going to share some simple tips that have worked in different areas. One simple starting point is to do a financial checkup. There are two primary places to do this. The first is to create a budget. You can do this by First, Identifying all of your expenses. This can be done by going through your credit card statements, checkbook and your cash receipts. Add it up for a month and those are your expenses. Now, make sure your income is great than your expenses. If it’s not, it’s time to start cutting back on non-essentials. The second part of your financial checkup is to analyze your assets and your liabilities. You can use this information to determine your Net Worth. Your net worth is determined by first adding up your total assets including your home, car, investments and anything else you have of value. Then, determine your total liabilities. This includes money that you owe. Maybe, a mortgage, a car loan, or debt on your credit cards. Your net worth is equal to your total assets minus your total liabilities. Your goal of course is to increase your net worth. There are 3 general areas that I would like to cover about money. They include: Getting out of Debt, Saving and Investing. For todays bootcamp, we are going to focus on dealing with debt. To begin with, here’s a good guideline that could help you avoid debt: don’t spend more than you earn. It’s a simple rule. But debt can come from a variety of other situations. Some people have spending addictions. Occasionally, debt arises from a personal hardship, like a bad divorce or some unexpected health trouble. Some people, however, just aren’t all that experienced with budgeting their money, which often leads to debt. I’d like to share a couple of tips for dealing with debt. Step # 1 is to Develop a personal financial plan, and make sure you know where each dollar is spent. That’ll go a long way toward avoiding debt before it even begins. Step # 2 is to Stop spending money, unless you absolutely have to! Cut out all the extraneous purchases – new clothing, new CDs, new movies, and everything else. Step # 3 is to Seek the help of a qualified financial advisor. This is a good tip, whether you’re in debt or not. Step # 4. If you’re in debt, don’t panic! Try to lay out a payment schedule for yourself, and make a payment whenever you can. Just don’t spend anything else WHILE you’re in debt. In our next session, we are going to focus on saving and investing. And now for our question of the day, Why do you think there are so many people in debt? Is it lack of self control, poor planning or just challenging times. Please answer below. Thanks for watching. Mental Health - Self Improvement Bootcamp - Day 12 https://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/bootcamp12.html Video: <a href="https://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/bootcamp12.html">https://www.selfgrowth.com/blog/bootcamp12.html</a> Related Infromation: This bootcamp is designed to help you gain insight into who you are, and help you determine the best approach to improve your life. Summary: In Day 11, we learned about how to improve our Physical health. Today, we are going to cover an equally very important area, mental health. Some people also refer to this as psychological health. For our purposes, I want to use a broad description of mental health including brain health and emotional health. This quote might sound familiar to you: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” Yes, I know, it’s a pretty common quotation, but the beauty of it is that it still rings true. Your mind, just like your body, is a precious gift. But you have to keep it well-honed, just like your body. Our minds are, first and foremost, a learning tool. Think about it: ever since you were born, you’ve been learning. From learning to talk to learning to walk, you’ve been learning. From math class to English class to biology class, you’ve been learning. It’s important to keep learning throughout your life. Some people stop learning mid-way through their lives, but I’m here now to remind you that learning should be a lifelong process. I want to share some quick ideas to keep your brain sharp: Number 1) Read regularly Number 2) Take classes in whatever interests you Number 3) Write something. Anything. Number 4) Participate in interesting conversations Number 5) Learn a foreign language Number 6) Learn to play or practice playing an instrument. Number 7) Do anything that helps you sharpen your mind. These are all great ways to keep your mind sharp. Now, back to mental health. We all realize that mental health is important. We all realize the damage that is done by excessive stress, excessive anger, depression, and the many other mental maladies that we humans suffer from. If you are seriously suffering, make sure you go to a professional for help. In today’s short session, I don’t have the time or the expertise to provide a complete health program. I’m not a trained mental health professional. What I can do is share with you some ideas to get started on improving your mental health. You’ll be familiar with many of these ideas. The challenge for you is to identify which ones you aren’t doing and pick and choose which ones you want to get started with. Number 1) Create personal boundaries and Stop Tolerating things that are intolerable. Number 2) Quiet your mind at least once a day, perhaps with meditation or simple breathing exercises. Number 3) Spend Time with Friends Number 4) Cut the cord and Get Rid Of the Garbage that is tying you down From Your Past. This can Include Forgiving people and forgiving yourself. Number 5) Plan a fun activity every day and try to find reasons to laugh throughout the day. Number 6) Ask people to help you when you need it. Number 7) Show your appreciation for life. Number 8) Take time for yourself on a regular basis. Number 9) Explore and experience your feelings fully, possibly by writing in a journal Number 10) Try to Be Honest When Speaking With Others and with yourself. Number 11) Try to think and live in the present. Countless books have been written about these subjects. Find the ones that work for you, but do something. Get some help if you need it. Experts are everywhere. Therapists, psychologists, counselors.You can also look online – there’s a wealth of information about physical fitness and exercise to discover on the Internet. Now for our questions of the day. First, What are you currently doing to improve your mental health? And finally, what do you want to do improve your mental health? Please post your answer in the comments below.

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