James Smith’s Info Serv

It’s a New Year (week or month) and you want a one way ticket out of humdrum. You know that everyday is precious and that you are capable of doing far more with life. If the people around you are either content with monotony or seeking answers themselves, this article shares 5 steps to creating the fabulous lifestyle you deserve.

1. Change your look- Although it may sound so superficial, changing your look can do wonders for your outlook. Get your hair trimmed, plaited or coloured. Try some new makeup on, experimenting until you achieve the look you’re most comfortable with. You are more creative than you give yourself credit for. Hit the shops with a trendy friend or enlist the help of a personal shopper. Choose clothing that accentuates your best assets and expresses the kind of person you are inside. Throw in a couple of accessories and perfume. Remember to wear your new look with a confident poise and show off your lovely smile.

2. Change your language- Keep speaking English by all means, but ditch all negative and self-degrading talk. ‘Gosh, why have I dropped the bucket again?’ is better than ‘gosh, I’m absolutely hopeless!’ We were taught to say how we feel but oftentimes it is far more productive to say how we want to feel. For instance, if you wish to feel uplifted, take a deep breath and say emphatically ‘it’s good to be alive. I feel wonderful!’ Honestly, how did that make you feel? Happiness is a choice and words are its building blocks.
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How do you start your day?

Your answer to this simple question can mean the difference between success and failure.

This is one of the most important questions you can answer and if you answer right it will have a dramatic affect in your life.

Do you get up moaning, grumbling and complaining about what lies ahead or do you jump out of bed excited, invigorated, refreshed and ready to tackle your day head on?

The difference in how you start your day off is a major factor between living a life of fulfillment and one of missed opportunity and failure.

The time you first awaken in the morning is the most important of the day. The mind is still in a stage of semi-sleep, the part that drifts from the subconscious dream state to the fully alert stage.

This is the best time to program the brain.
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Motivation is not a new concept to most of us. We have felt that first burst of enthusiasm. Perhaps it was an ad or news story on TV, an article in a magazine, a chance remark, or an embarrassing moment that brought us that sudden rush of certainty that something needed to be done…could be done. We felt a strong, perhaps overwhelming desire to DO SOMETHING…something that would change what had been or create something new. Often, this is accompanied by a clear and certain knowledge of what to do, how to do, and what the result would be.

Maybe we decided to lose weight, start a business, or write a book. Still bolstered by our reaction to what we had seen, heard, or felt, were certain of success! We would start that exercise program, or open that savings account tomorrow; we would begin writing a chapter a day…tomorrow. No! Tomorrow was too far away! We knew what we wanted and how to get it and we were going to start today!

Nothing could stop us!!

Of course, we know what happened over the next few hours, days, or weeks.
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by: Marie-Pier Charron

As a life coach, I often hear people say they lack motivation – in fact, the “motivation discussion” is almost a ritual with my new clients. You really want something, in fact you almost need it, but you just don’t have the drive to get to it. As a result, you blame yourself; you get stuck in your disappointment, your guilt, or your frustration – further and further away from your goal.

But why are we not always driven enough to meet our objectives in the first place? Is it that we are not sufficiently determined? Or maybe we are not tough and strong enough?

The way I see things, motivation is akin to the sap that runs in the tree: it keeps the tree alive – in fact, it’s essential to it – but it’s useless if the tree (our objective) is rooted in poor, unhealthy grounds. It’s not our motivation that makes the objective real, it’s the other way around: when our goals are healthy, the drive to take action flows naturally. When our goals are unhealthy, we have to push ourselves all along the path to “success” – and we don’t even feel like celebrating at the end (when we do get there).

So what is an “unhealthy” objective? It’s an objective we hold for the wrong reasons, or with the wrong attitude: it’s rooted in poor grounds. It’s not that we should not lose weight; it’s just that we decided to do so because we don’t like (let alone love) ourselves and we think that will patch the problem. It’s not that we should not start this new business; it’s just that we are dead afraid of failure. And there’s nothing wrong with studying law, it’s just that we do so only to honor our (deceased) father’s values and wishes.
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This principle explains that being stretched can turn out to be very positive. Imagine you hold one end of a rubber band in one hand while stretching the opposite end with your other hand. The more you stretch the rubber band, the more it wants you to let go of it so it can come back to its original position. It just wants to return to its place of comfort.

Yet if we continue stretching it, that rubber band will eventually grow into a new size. When we let go of it now, it will come back some, but not the entire distance. In essence, it has developed a new dimension.

Now imagine that you dip this original rubber band into hot wax and remove it quickly. You then allow the wax to dry. At this point, if you repeat the stretching exercise you’ll notice that the wax caked around it cracks and crumbles, as you extend the rubber band. Then it falls off.
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