Healthy ways to live

Healthy living involves your physical, spiritual, and mental well-being. There are many ways to live healthily and happily.

• Change: A healthy way of life involves changing your habits and your thinking.

It means replacing your bad habits with good ones and be more optimistic about life. 

• Spiritual growth: Fill your heart with gratitude, forgiveness, and kindness. Love is the way to peace of mind.

• Goals: The most important thing in life is to have written goals. Your mind will be the focus on your goals and not drifting aimlessly. There is something to look forward to and life is hopeful.

• Do work that is good for others: Is your work to provide solutions to people’s problems? When what you do is beneficial to others, it gives you a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction.

• Eating habits: Avoid eating in a hurry or under stress. You can have a drink before or after your meal but do not drink and eat. Eat slowly and chew your food well to assist digestion.

• Healthy digestive system

          It is a good habit to excrete in the morning. Thereafter, your system will do the digestion of food eaten up to the evening. At night while you are sleeping your system is working and absorbing nutrients. It is actually the natural cycle of your digestive system.

• Exercise: Enjoy total fitness by boosting your stamina (jogging), flexibility (stretching), and strength (weightlifting). You derive your energy and alertness from physical activities.    

• Sleep: A good night’s sleep repairs damages done to your body after a stressful day. Quality sleep refreshes your mind and you start a new day with renewed energy

• Healthy diet: Drink water instead of a sugary drink. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Take one multivitamin-mineral supplement tablet daily as nutritional insurance. Go for natural food. Avoided processed food with additives, such as flavourings (like sugar and salt) and texture-enhancing agents, and other added chemicals as preservatives.  

• Be connected: A family unit is a source of happiness. To care and be cared for are the greatest joy in life. Share joy and sorrow in the journey of life. Visit your friends and relatives because a healthy life is about getting connected and supported among people you know and care for.

• Intellectual development: Continuous learning is the best way to broaden the mind. Learning stimulates the mind and you will be more alert and adaptive to changes in life.

• Psychological health: Are you feeling good about yourself? Is your mood generally positive? Are you calm and peaceful emotionally? Are you coping well with life’s challenges? Are you happy most of the time? If your answers to all these questions are affirmative, you are doing fine.

• Avoid pollution: The main culprits are air, water, and noise pollution.  Stay away from smokers and live away from heavy traffic. At home install a water filtration system to drink pure water. Heavy traffic and airports contribute to noise pollution. Live close to nature for a healthier life.

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. ~World Health Organization, 1948

8 Reasons Why You Have Unmanageable Debts

The following are the reasons why people seek help from the Credit Counseling and Debt Management Agency of Bank Negara in Malaysia:


1. Poor personal financial management 26%
2. Huge medical expenses 25%
3. Credit card misused15%
4. Failed in business 13%
5. Out of a job 11%
6. Other reasons 6%
7. Death of a breadwinner 2%
8. Mistakes in investing 2%


Three words describe the debt situation: greed, lifestyle, and unavoidable circumstances.
However, there are effective ways to avoid debt:


Poor personal financial management: A budget is a key to personal finance. The aim is to allocate your income in such a way as to meet all your monthly expenses and include an amount for savings. The whole idea is to live within your means and avoid debt.

Huge medical expenses: The first step is to take preventive measures by keeping fit and maintaining robust health. Eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly, and having sufficient sleep is essential for your well-being. The next step is to take up adequate medical insurance coverage. In case you are seriously ill or as a result of an accident you can reimburse your medical expenses and get compensated for your loss of income while you are in a hospital or recuperating at home

Credit card misused: It is a credit card, but its main purpose is not for you to purchase items on credit. It is only for your convenience and nothing else. It means you must pay fully and promptly upon receiving the monthly credit card statement. You avoid paying interest on the outstanding amount when you do not pay just the minimum amount and you also avoid late payment charges. When you are in debt, it is very difficult for you to get out of debt. That is the reason why so many people seek help for debt management.

Failed business: There is always an element of risk in any business venture. The prudent thing to do is not to put all your money in it. Set aside a contingency fund in case your capital is wiped out in a failed business attempt.

Out of a job: Take steps to secure your job. One effective way is to acquire more skills. In fact, employers are looking for staff with multi-skills to reduce costs. With more skills, you are more valued at the workplace and less likely to be laid off.

Other reasons: One of the things that you should not do for your good friend is to be a guarantor for his or her loan. When someone applies for a loan and the financial institution asks for a guarantor, it means the loan applicant is not qualified for the loan. As a guarantor, you are more likely to end up servicing the loan.

Death of a breadwinner: An accident can happen at any time. The wise thing to do is to get sufficient insurance coverage against death due to accidents and critical illnesses. The proceeds can then allow family members to carry on living without financial difficulties.

Mistakes in investing: The mistake is about greed. Instead of investing for the long term, you want a huge gain in a short time because the stock market is on an upward trend. Apart from your own savings you also get a personal loan from a bank and dump all your money in the stock market. However, a terrorist attack somewhere triggers a market slump. You continue to hold on to your portfolio, but there is no sign of recovery and you have suffered a huge loss and owe the bank a substantial amount.


Live within your means, never be in debt, and by husbanding your money you can always lay it out well. But when you get in debt you become a slave. Therefore I say to you never involve yourself in debt, and become no man's surety. If your friend is in distress, aid him if you have the means to spare. If he fails to be able to return it, it is only so much lost.

Andrew Jackson

How to Be Happy At Work

Zappos is a company that believes in happiness at work. Workers are provided with free lunch, free ice cream, and free massage. The company thinks that excellent customer services start with a happy workforce. Even when you decide to leave the company, you are paid $4,000/=. It is better that you leave when you are not happy working there or the morale of the staff will be affected adversely. A happy environment can be created for you, but how do you create your own happiness at work?

• Choose happiness: It is a necessity to live happily. Happiness cheers you up and also makes others happy too. When you laugh the whole world laughs with you when you cry you cry alone. You look at things in a positive frame of mind. Happiness brings you more energy and less stress at work. Your cheerful disposition is a welcome sign to others at the workplace.

• Loving yourself: How happy you are is reflected in how much you love and care for yourself. Are you feeling good about yourself? Do you dress smartly? Do you live a healthy lifestyle like exercising regularly, following a balanced diet, and sleeping well and sufficiently at night? In short, are you happy with yourself?

• Your career goals: Identify your strengths and develop your skills and talents. The most important thing is to choose what you like to do and enjoy what you do. There is something to look forward to in life. There is hope.

• Change: Be adaptive to changes in the workplace. Changes bring about growth and progress. Be open-minded and flexible to adopt new ways of doing things. Change is to work less and get more done and be happier.


• Good habits: Good habits bring you more happiness at work. Starting a new day early, thinking of happy thoughts, carrying a to-do list are some of the habits to be organized and enthusiastic at the workplace.

• Problem-solving: There will be problems in the workplace. Adopt a problem-solving attitude. Be resolute and creative in resolving problems. The habit and ability to find solutions to every problem will boost your confidence to the next level.

• Learning: To be more productive, learn and acquire more skills. Getting more skillful is to be more valued and happy at work.

• Appreciation and gratitude: Getting peace of mind is adopting an attitude of gratitude and forgiveness. Your heart is filled with love instead of anger and resentment. Happiness is a calm and collected mind

• Avoid worry and negative thoughts: The effective way to avoid worry and negative thoughts are to work mindfully. Living in the present is to immerse in what you do with full concentration.

• Be with happy people: Getting along with other happy and positive thinking people will fortify your happiness. Share and spread happiness.

• Helping others: Happiness is getting others to be happy too. One effective way is to be interested in others and help them to do a better job. Others will be appreciative and you also boost your self-confidence and self-worth.

• Bring happiness to work: it is vital to be happy at work. However, work is not everything in your life. Taking care of your family is equally important. You will bring more happiness to work when there are harmony and peace at home. The key is to live a balanced life.

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim, and end of human existence. Aristotle 384 B.C.-322 B.C.

Effective ways to avoid debt

According to the general manager (operations), Azman Hasim, of Bank Negara Malaysia’s Credit Counseling and Debt Management, there are three reasons why people over-borrowed – greed, lifestyle, and unavoidable circumstances. How do you take steps to avoid unmanageable debts?

Greed


• Gambling: Gamblers are no winners or else there will be no gaming outlets or they will be out of business. Don’t get involved.

• Get rich quick schemes: There is no way to make a quick and easy gain in a short time with your money. Don’t believe in such schemes. Even a solid business venture needs time and hard work to grow.

• Invest for the short term: The stock market is bullish and you decide to make a killing. You use your savings and even borrow more money from a financial institution. Initially, it looks good but a terrorist attack somewhere in another corner of the earth triggers a market slump. You decide to hold on but it is a downward slide all the way and it is too late to salvage the huge loss. It is a situation of investing too much, too short a time for too quick a gain, and at the wrong time. You are now in debt. Investment is for the long term.



Lifestyle


• Wants: Your wants are unlimited but your resources are limited. Every day you see new gadgets, new cars, a TV in 3D, and many more. Advertisements are luring you to spend and spend and your neighbors are trendsetters. Can you control yourself to spend less than your means?

• Credit cards: The fastest way to get into debt is to spend on your wants on credit, pay the minimum amount and incur interest at the highest rate. If this is not enough, get advances from your credit cards to spend even more. Can you manage your credit cards without getting into debt?


Unavoidable circumstances


• Accidents and illnesses: Accidents on the road can be prevented when you drive with care. Illnesses can also be avoided when you look after your fitness and health. You can also take up insurance coverage to cushion the blow of an accident or a critical illness. An emergency fund is more effective to meet such unforeseen circumstances.

• Jobless: The smart way is to acquire more skills so that you will be more valuable in the workplace. In case of retrenchment, you are the last one to go. In the event that you are jobless, an emergency fund will get you through a difficult period until you get a new job.

The key to avoiding debt effectively is your preparedness and discipline.

10 Healthy Eating Habits

We should eat to live and not live to eat, but we should enjoy eating to sustain our health and well-being. Here are the ways to eat healthily:


1. Chew your food: Do you know that it is the nose that triggers the digestive process? The aroma of delicious home-cook food creates saliva to aid digestion as soon as food enters your mouth. You taste the food to the maximum when you chew it well. Chew slowly so that the digestive enzymes in your saliva break down the food into smaller pieces for proper digestion

2. Eat Slowly: While eating slowly encourages easier digestion, it is also a way to avoid overeating. It takes a few minutes for you to realize how full you are. When you are eating in a hurry, you are more likely to overeat and put on weight. So, sit down and enjoy a meal

3. Avoid distracted eating: It is reported in the newspaper that distracted eating makes you fat. According to Dr. Brunstrom, a researcher in behavioral nutrition at the University of Bristol in England, the problem lies in recalling what one has eaten. Memory plays an important role in the regulations of food intake and distractions during eating disrupt that. Avoid working and eating lunch in the office and stop watching TV while having dinner at home and eat your breakfast without reading newspapers.

4. Breakfast: After sleeping and fasting for eight hours you need to replenish your energy by eating a nutritious breakfast to start a new day. The best breakfast food is oatmeal. According to John Gunther, all happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast. Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, eat your breakfast first says Josh Billings.

5. Healthy snack food: One of the effective working habits is taking breaks. Taking breaks restores the energy in you and snacking improves your cognitive skills. What can you eat while you take a break? Here are the 10 healthiest snack food

6. Avoid sugary drinks and drink more water: Among other things, sugar suppresses your immune system, contributes to depression, weight gain, and obesity. Water makes up 60% of our body weight and the brain consists of 85 % water. Drink sufficiently (about 8 glasses) to keep your body hydrated. A little dehydration will interfere with your mental alertness.

7. More fruits and vegetables: Consuming fruits and vegetable is not only good for your health but your skin as well. Scientists say those who eat fruit and vegetables such as carrots and plums are considered more attractive. Yellow pigments called carotenoids found in certain fruit and vegetables play a key role in giving the skin that hue. Here are some of the healthiest fruits and vegetables: apricots, avocados mango, tomato, raisins, lemons, onions, ginger. Broccoli, spinach, and garlic.

8. Green tea: A glass of green tea a day is good for your health. Apart from the anti-cancer properties found in green tea, Dr. Ed Okello from Newcastle University says green tea could protect the brain against Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

9. Eat and burn calories: Do you want to stay fit and look sharp? Be active and burn calories by exercising regularly. When you exercise at a higher intensity level, you will be working harder, expending more energy, and burning more calories. Enjoy eating but move your body. Do aerobic exercises such as jogging and swimming and anaerobic exercise such as weight-lifting to burn calories effectively.

10. Eat less but more often: Do not think that you will not gain weight by eating less often. Your body will react and go into starvation mode and conserve calories. To speed up metabolism eat less but more often at regular intervals. You train your system to expect food and burn calories.


The chief pleasure in eating does not consist in costly seasoning, or exquisite flavor, but in yourself.

Horace (65-8 B.C.) Roman lyric poet.

12 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Expenses

The output of agricultural products is affected by weird weather and it is costing more just to get the basic items such as wheat, rice, and chili. There is, all the more, a need to trim your household expenses.  Look closely into your spending pattern and adjust your lifestyle to shield the impact of the rising cost of living.   

1. Insurance premiums: Find out if you are over-insured. Avoid paying too much for personal accident coverage because you have many friends who are insurance agents and you just want to oblige them.

2. Children: Are your children working now? If so, let them pay for their own personal expenses. You love your children but they have to be financially independent. 

3. Technology: Do take advantage of the Internet. Use email instead of telephone or cell phone.  Pay your recurring bills online. Make online purchases as far as possible. You save time and save on transport and related costs. You can also read or download books on the Net instead of buying the actual books.

4. Avoid debt: One effective way is to stop getting what you want on credit. Without credit, there is no debt and hefty interest charges.

5. Medical expenses: Apart from getting adequate insurance coverage, the best assurance to avoid medical expenses is to keep fit and be healthy. You don’t have to enroll for a gym membership, Jogging, cycling or brisk walking is even better. Instead of staying indoor, you exercise and at the same time, you breathe in the fresh air.

6. Telecommunication package: Are you able to get your Internet access provider to bundle with free local and outstation calls? You save on calls among fixed-line subscribers while you surf the Net. In Malaysia, Telekom Malaysia Berhad is able to provide packages for Internet access through Streamyx with free calls among fixed lines.

7. Food: Eating at home more often is the surest way to trim food costs. Drink water instead of sugary drinks. Moreover, home- cook food and water are good for your health.

8. Entertainment: You can cancel your subscription to satellite or cable TV. The free channels are more than enough to kill your leisure time. You can even watch movies on the Net.

9. Utilities: The key is to control the wastage of water and electricity. Whenever possible use the fan instead of the air-conditioner.

10. Car maintenance: Can you live with just one vehicle?  You will save a substantial amount on vehicle maintenance. Always inflate tires for optimum performance. I check tire pressure once a week for a better and smoother ride.

11. Shopping: Go shopping with a list and stick to the list. Do it once a week and use coupons for further savings. Buy apparel for durability and comfort and not shop for expensive brands. Do it during sales.  Get a house brand for everyday items to reduce your household expenses.  

12. Avoid bad habits: Can you kick the habits of smoking, drinking, and gambling? Just think of the amount you can save and the benefits of better health to go along with it.

Reducing expenses is to save even more for rainy days. However, it is equally important to open up more income streams. There is a Chinese saying-开源节流. It means you open up more sources and reduce outflow.     

Working Smart Be Effective

It is essential to work hard doing the right thing but it is even more important to work smart, doing less but achieving more. Look at the following points and see how you can make changes for the better.

Goals: One important area of your life is your written goals. Goals give you direction, meaning, and hope in life. Goals channel your energy one- directionally.

Be organized: Living an orderly life is a smart way to manage time. Things get done smoothly according to your prioritized to-do list. There is no need to rush about and get stressed.

Avoid procrastination: When you don’t adopt a do-it-now attitude, things still get done at the last minute, but it is carried out stressfully and hurriedly. In the end, you are overwhelmed and exhausted because it is a rush job.

Manage paper: Handle an in-coming document only once. You can trash it, act on it, file it for reference or take action when it is due. Maintain a filing system in which you can retrieve a document quickly and easily.

Delegation: Train your assistant to take on more responsibilities. He or she will be delighted to get the trust and the confidence of you to do the job.

Good working habits: Good working habits are about self-management. Starting a new day early, writing things down, getting organized in advance, and taking prompt action are some of the smart things you can do. It is also important to dress smartly and greet people you meet with a smile. Taking breaks while working is another effective way to clear the clutter in your mind and renew your energy

Communication: It is two-way traffic. Express yourself clearly and precisely in writing and verbally. On the other hand, listen attentively to understand spoken words fully. Effective communication is about responding to messages accurately

Be noticed: Don’t just work quietly, keep your boss posted about what you are doing on a regular basis. Don’t go to your boss with problems but let him or her know how you have tackled problems successfully at work.

Career growth: Plan your career path and work your plan. The most important thing is to keep learning and acquiring new skills. The more skills you have, the smarter you will be able to work.

High EQ: Knowing and controlling your own emotions is crucial. It is even more critical to read the moods and feelings of others so that you know when to approach them and when to back off.

Be trusted: The key to a successful career is to gain the trust of others, especially your boss, in you. Build confidence by honoring your promises every time. People count on you because they know you can get things done as expected.

Solve problems: Instead of dwelling on a problem, be solution-oriented. Think of a way to address a problem quickly before it becomes complicated.

Happiness: Feeling good about yourself has many advantages. Your outlook is optimistic and your thinking is positive. You open up many opportunities.

Change: Be adaptive in the workplace. Be ready to adopt new ways of doing things. There is progress and growth when there are Changes.

Skills: Employing the right skills to get a job done is the smart way to work. It is even more important to acquire more skills so that you are more valued at work

A balanced life: Life is not just about work. Paying equal attention to your health and family is crucial too. When you work without taking breaks your health will suffer. If you work long hours the relationship with your family will be neglected. You work hard and you should play just as hard


To work smart is to be proactive, to act, and not to react.

Find Happiness Be Happy

What is happiness? It is all about you. Let me elaborate:

1.      Happiness is about what you do: There is something you are passionate about and deeply interested in. You enjoy what you do and your work is beneficial to others. As an example, you enjoy writing motivational articles, and your articles are able to excite others to take action and improve their life. You get  satisfaction and fulfilling out of writing  because you find meaning in life

2.      Happiness is about what you think: Your thoughts dictate your moods and your action. Happy thoughts generate optimism and you look at things positively. Think of happiness when you get up first thing in the morning.

3.      Happiness is about how you live: Are you living in the past or the future? Happiness is here and now. Getting happiness is to live in the moment enjoying what you are doing mindfully. One effective way to live in the present is to go slow and enjoy the simple pleasures of life such as watching the sunset and listening to the falling rain. Another important thing is to live a balanced life. Life is not just about work. Spend time to be with your family, connect with friends and have fun

4.      Happiness is about how you are related to others: The more connected you are the happier you will be. It is because you are able to share your joy and sorrow with people you care about. Shared joy is double joy and shared sorrow reduces your sadness by half.

5.      Happiness is about what you fill in your heart: Happiness is about kindness, love, gratitude, and forgiveness. How can you be happy when your heart is filled with anger, resentment, and jealousy? 

6.      Happiness is about how you feel about yourself: Do you feel good about yourself? Do you enjoy peace of mind?  Are you feeling calm and collected? Feel the energy and confidence in yourself and be cheerful and joyous.

7.      Happiness is about how much you love yourself: When you care for yourself you want to look your best. You want to project a positive image and you are happy about your appearance. You look after your health; you eat right, you exercise and you have sufficient sleep.  You are happy with what you are.

Happiness is all about how you want yourself to be. Let happiness be with you always.

Be Productive Be Successful

Check List

Productivity is the result of effectiveness and efficiency. It is also about working smart by doing less and achieving more.  Here are the things that you can do to be more productive:

·         Skills: Learning a new skill is to adopt a new way of doing things. You will be more efficient and effective in getting things done by using new techniques. You are willing to change for the better. To be more productive learn more skills.

·         Creative: Creativity brings about productivity by getting original and better ideas to get things done. Excite your mind to think of how you can employ new methods to do a job better.  

·         Communicate effectively: Express yourself clearly in spoken words and in writing so that your messages are understood fully. On the other hand, understand incoming messages precisely. Productivity is affected when a message is misunderstood because a wrong action has been executed. 

·         Organize: Time spent in proper planning is time saved in doing the actual job. Things get done in an orderly manner. One of the ways to organize is a to-do list. It is a wonderful tool to focus on the most important tasks of the day. Getting organized is also an effective way to control stress.

·         Discipline: To be productive, you must be able to manage yourself by working on your plan accordingly. Act promptly and concentrate on the task at hand and think of nothing else.

·         Time:  Your productivity is measured by how quickly you get a job done. The longer it takes, the less time you will have on other tasks Execute within a time frame.

·         Manage paper:  Handle a piece of paper only once. You discard it, act on it, file it or take action when it is due. Learn to do proper filing so that you can retrieve a document easily and quickly.  Avoid paper clutter by clearing your desk daily. A messy desk will hamper productivity.

·         Energy:  Health and fitness promote energy in you. You work with alertness and eagerness when you are energetic.  

·         A balanced life: A balanced lifestyle is to pay equal attention to work, play, family, and friends. You avoid such emergency situations like getting ill without taking breaks or working long hours, neglecting your family.

·         Peace of mind: Develop inner peace to be calm and collected. When you are composed, you see things with a proper perspective and you think clearly and sensibly.

·         Simplify: A simple way is the best way to get things done. Less time is required to do a job and it is executed in a straightforward way.

·         Goals: When you turn your dreams into goals, you can work out your yearly plan, monthly objectives, and daily tasks. There is no waste of time and energy as your effort is channeled towards achieving your goals. 

·         Do it now:  Usually when something needs to be done it is time-sensitive. The best time to do it is now. The longer you delay, the more pressing it is to get it done.  It means you are working under stress to do a rush job.  Productivity is curtailed. The key is to avoid procrastination.

Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.

Paul J. Meyer

Effective Ways to Improve Yourself

There are many ways to improve yourself. Here are some of the areas you can look into. There is no need to work on all of them, just pick one item to make improvement before moving on to the next.   

• Goals: The most important thing about goals is that it gives you a direction in life. It also gives you hope and something to look forward to every day. The wonderful thing about goals is that you can plan and organize ahead according to your objectives. Aim for a balanced life to take care of your work and play,   

• Change: Be open-minded and accept changes in life and be courageous to make changes for the better. There is no progress and growth when you do things in the usual ways. Look into how you get things done and how you can do differently and get improvement.

• One thing at a time: Pay attention and focus on one thing at a time. Multitasking is counter-productive and affects your ability to concentrate adversely.

• Living in the moment: Can you be mindful and enjoy what you are doing at the moment? Don’t think of the past, future, or anything else.  Happiness is living in the present.

• Get rid of bad habits: Think of all the benefits when you replace your bad habits with good ones. However. To be successful change only one habit at a time at the exclusion of all others.

• Discipline: Self-control is the key to personal improvement. When you have decided to do something, stick to it until it becomes a good habit.

• Persistence: Don’t let setbacks discourage you from making progress in life. The road to success is paved with obstacles. Keep your goals in view and be strong and resolute in overcoming problems.

• Excellence: It is not necessary to be perfect. Just do the best you can and make improvements as you go along. The aim is to seek constant improvement.

• Money: The golden rules of personal finance are less material wants, debt-free, living within your means, and saving for the future. Go for financial freedom.

• Time management: When you plan your work and work your plan according to your goals, you manage your time meaningfully. The key is to do less and get more done. At the end of the day when you have done well, have fun.   

• Solve problems: Adopt a positive mental attitude in the face of adversity. Be resourceful and creative in overcoming obstacles.

• Responsibilities: You are responsible for your own happiness and well-being. Decide, act and seek improvement. 

• Connection: Learn to communicate effectively by listening more and talking less. To know and understand another person is to listen more.

• Continuous learning: Progress and improvement are about continuous learning. Be alert to changing situations and to embrace new ways of doing things.   

• Work: How do you grow your career?  Learn more skills, be more productive and be happier at work.

• Hope: There is hope when you seek improvement. It is a powerful force that keeps you going on. When there is hope, there is a way.

• Peace of mind: Getting peace of mind is filling your heart with kindness, forgiveness, and happiness for others. Avoid negative emotions such as anger, resentment, and jealousy

• Love yourself: Do you love yourself? When you do, you care and improve your health, well-being, and self-image.

Improve your business, your life, your relationships, your finances, and your health. When you do the whole world improves.

Mark Victor Hansen

Live Life Fully Every Day

Welcome every new day with joy and happiness because the present is the only time that you can live fully, to live the way you want, do the things you want, and connect with people you want.  There are many ways you can live fully every day. Here are the tips to live a satisfying life.

1. Live in the now: Welcome each new day enthusiastically as if it is the beginning of your life. Be conscious of what you are doing now, no matter how mundane the task is. The quality of your work is reflected in how much love and attention you put into it.

2. To love and be loved: To love is to adopt an attitude of kindness. You open your heart and you accept others without reservation. It means you get peace of mind when you hold grudges against no one.

3. Solve problems: Be creative or listen to your inner voice for solutions. Outstanding problems will disrupt your mind to concentrate fully. Arrest a problem promptly before it gets worse.

4. Time management: An organized life takes care of things that you want to do in an orderly manner. It can be done smoothly in less time and allows you to have more time to pursue your interests.   

5. A balanced life: You really live fully with a balanced life. It is because in a day you allocate your time to look after your work, health, family, and well-being. These are the components of your life and they deserve your attention equally.

6. Rest, relax and have fun: Getting things done successfully in a day is an achievement. When work is done it is time to celebrate and to lighten up. How do you pamper yourself? Do it the way it pleases you the most to reward yourself.

7. Avoid clutter: Be less and get more out of life. Avoiding clutter at home is to have more living space to move freely and live easily.

8. Happiness: Happiness is from the inside out. Get up early to welcome a new day cheerfully. Happiness opens up your mind and your heart fully to look at things from a positive perspective.

9. Healthy eating: To be able to live fully is to absorb nutrients in the food you eat. Start a new day right by taking your breakfast because your system is without food for the last eight hours. Eat slowly to digest and enjoy eating. Eat less but more frequently to assist metabolism. Consume more fruits and vegetables. Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. Stay healthy to stay alive.

10. Exercise for energy: You need the energy to live fully every day. The only way to get energy is to spend energy – to exercise every day. Move your body, sweat it out and feel the power in you to live actively.

11. Boost your self-esteem: To live fully is to live positively and confidently. A positive mindset opens up more possibilities. To begin a new day early with cheerful thoughts is an effective way to feel good about yourself. Dress smartly is another way to boost your self-image.

12. Do what you like and enjoy what you do: Pursue your passion and interests, it is what you fervently believe in that gives you meaning in life.  What you are good at are skills that you can use to solve other people’s problems. You live a richer and fuller life by helping others.

13. Continuous learning: Behave like a child, be curious, and be inquisitive. Be open-minded and learn new things to sharpen your mind. Mental alertness is the way to live a richer life.

14. Embrace changes: Life will be the same when you do things the same way every day. Do things differently and seek positive changes for a better life.

Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.  Anthony Robbins

Effective ways to stop procrastination

Procrastination

When you procrastinate you still get things done but it is done at the last minute under pressure, feeling overwhelmed, and getting exhausted. Here are some suggestions to beat procrastination and get things done promptly, easily, and smoothly:

1. Long to-do list: Having too much to do in a day will surely discourage you to take action. Identify and do just one or two important tasks for the day. It will erase your anxiety of having too much to do in too short a time.

2. Disorganized: Plan ahead and organize your daily life, act according to your to-do list and focus your energy on a few important tasks.

3. Fear of failures: According to Anthony Robbins: do what you fear, and the death of fear is certain. Do not fear failures, these are just temporary setbacks, when you keep trying, one day you will be successful. There is no permanent failure except you fail to act and stop going at it

4. Do it now: When you are in a habit of postponing things to do, it hurts your self-esteem and self-confidence because you are getting nowhere. Can you replace your habit of delaying doing things? Get into the habit of doing it now. When you change your bad habit, you build up your self-confidence and your self-image. 

5. No incentives: Think of all the advantages of getting things done promptly. You build the trust of others in you.  You also establish a good working habit. You are no longer a procrastinator. 

6. Poor self-management: Procrastinators do not care much about personal health, good eating habits,s and sleeping sufficiently. Take control of your life, adopt a positive mental attitude and impose self-discipline such as getting up early, taking your breakfast, doing exercise daily so that you are alert and energetic.

7. Go for pleasant tasks instead of unpleasant ones: Do it the other way round, get the difficult task done first and reward yourself with other easy jobs.

     Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.
     Dale Carnegie

8. Goal setting: Start with a small goal and take the first baby step so that you can achieve a small success.  Continue with the next step and the next to reach your goal.

9. Avoid clutter: The easier way to have clutter is to procrastinate like allowing the paper to pile up on your desk until it becomes unmanageable. Take action and  make it a daily habit to arrange things in their proper place

10. Mindset: Adopt an attitude of urgency. It does matter how mundane or small a task is, just get into the habit of doing it right away. Switch off the TV and wash the dishes.

Putting off an easy thing makes it hard.  Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible.  ~George Claude Lorimer

Be Now Be Happy

According to an article, Instant happiness booster: walking with focus, the more distracted people are while doing tasks -- even mundane ones like washing the dishes -- the less happy they are at that moment. In other words, you are happy when you live in the moment. How do you live now and be happy? Here are some useful tips:


• Happiness is a choice: In life, everything you do is a choice and even if you don’t do anything it is also a choice not to act. You can choose to do things that you like and likewise, you can choose to be happy now.

• Forgiveness: Forgive yourself and others for the things that have happened in the past. Forgiveness releases a burden from your mind and in your heart. You replace vengeance with kindness to be calm and get a peaceful feeling. When you stop thinking about the past. You are more likely to focus and live in the present.

• Thoughts: Your feelings and moods are dictated by your thoughts. The best thing that you can do is to get up early and think of happy thoughts. Start a new day cheerfully to vibrate positive feelings and moods in you. Do it every morning and be happy throughout the day.

• Live your dreams: Happiness is to live your passion, develop your skills and provide values for others. Happiness is about doing things that you are interested in and good at. You turn your passion into marketable skills and solve other people’s problems. You feel great and you are satisfied inside your heart.

• More energy: Energy promotes happiness. Stop watching TV and start to move your body more often to see the changes in you. It takes energy to get more energy. Jog, cycle or swim to build your energy and happiness instantly

• Creativity: Happiness is to enjoy what you like to create and your creativity is further boosted by your happiness. It goes in a cycle. To be creative and happy you make or discover something new. Life is dull if you keep doing the same thing over and over again because the result is going to be the same. Solving problems is another great way to excite your innovative thinking.

• Live today and plan for tomorrow: Do you refuse to get up in the morning? It is because there is nothing to look forward to. When there are no goals, there is no plan and so there is nothing to kick start a new day. Plan ahead according to your goals and start a new day eagerly because there is something to do and there is hope. By living today mindfully you foresee a bright future.

• Be mindful: To live mindfully is to live in the present, fully aware of the things that are going on around you. It does not matter what you do, driving, eating, or working, the more you pay attention to it, the more you will get out of what you are doing consciously and happily.

• Go slow: Imagine that you are driving very fast because your mind is thinking that you will be late for work and you are not paying much attention to your driving. It is very likely that you will not be able to react quickly and avoid an accident on the road in case it happens. To be safe, drive a little slower and pay more attention to the road. Similarly, your work suffers when you work in a hurry. Your mind is restless because something is bothering you . You are not mindful and you don’t enjoy doing the work and as a result, you are not happy.


For baby boomers, you must have heard of this popular song sung by Elvis Presley - It’s Now or Never. Happiness is just the same, be happy now or not at all.

Be Free and Be happy

 Happiness is about freedom in many ways:

• Free from suffering: The happiest thing in life is to be free from illnesses and suffering from pain. You are able to take care of yourself to enjoy a healthy and carefree lifestyle. You are free physically, mentally, and spiritually.

• Free to connect: You are free to connect online or in the real world. The most important thing is to trust and be trusted. Networking is about giving and receiving and the exchange of ideas.

• Free to express: Freedom of expression is evidenced on the Net. Start a blog and write to express your ideas freely. The most important thing is not to cause harm and injury to others.  Live and let live

• Free to worship: You are free to believe and choose your religion, as long as you find peace of mind and contentment.

• Free to move around: Malaysia is a peaceful country and you are free to move around at any time. You are free to travel and see the world.

• Free to obtain education: In Malaysia, you are free to study in any languages you like and it is free. You are also free to take up any courses that you are interested in. As long as you are keen to study, you are  free to be educated

• Free to be rich: Be your own boss, be an entrepreneur: all you need is just to conceive an idea and work hard at it. You are free to create your own fortune

• Free from financial worries: It is about financial freedom. You live within your means and there is no debt. You are able to control yourself from spending more than necessary. You control money and not the other way round.

• Free to manage time: You are in control of the time. You do what is important to you and you go ahead and do it. You spend time wisely by allocating time to be with family, play, work, relax, and connect. You live a balanced life out of effective time management.

• Free to live in the moment: Do you work and think of something else? When you play is your mind thinking about work? How can you be happy when you are not here and now? The secret to true happiness is to live and enjoy what you are doing at the moment. You can’t get happiness in the past and you are not sure you will be there to enjoy the happiness you have envisaged. Go slow in life and appreciate and treasure each precious moment of your life.

• Free to create: You are free to shape your future. You set goals according to your interests and passion, things that you enjoy doing and are meaningful to you. There is no limit to what you can do.

• Free from negative emotions: Be free from grudges, do not harbor jealousy, hatred, or anger within you. Fill your heart with love and kindness and enjoy peace of mind.

The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart - Thich Nhat Hanh