What Is Life Balance and Why Should It Matter to Me?

Getting a handle on what is life balance isn’t necessarily simple. This concept, after all, can be a difficult one for people to understand. Consider it as an ever-changing way of bringing harmony into your life. When you do, it becomes easier to comprehend and very clear why it matters. This balance involves a matter of degrees that can change with age and personal circumstances. What mattered to you in your 30s, for example, might not provide equilibrium in your 50s.

Now, here’s the good news: No matter your age or present circumstances, your life balance can be improved. Balance involves attaining certain levels of satisfaction in your life in such areas as personal growth, healthy living, recreation and fun activities, personal finance, relationships, career, mission and personal sense of purpose.

To gauge your balance at any given time, you just have to rate those factors on a scale of 1 to 20. A 1 equals a nonexistent satisfaction level; 10 is barely passing; 20 is perfect. The scores can be used to help you gain awareness of the areas in life you are happy with and those that could stand improvement. Striking a sense of equilibrium or striving for it is essential for enjoying inner satisfaction and harmony. Most of us typically feel like we’ve lost something if one of these important areas are neglected. Go ahead and rate yourself in the above areas. It’s likely you’ll find some factors that are well tended to and others that are neglected. Try to put more time and energy into the neglected areas to create a more holistic sense of satisfaction.

As you learn to strike a greater balance, you are likely to enjoy such benefits as: Feeling more energized Gaining a sense of fuller participation in life Gaining a sense of greater enjoyment The benefits creating a greater sense of harmony can depend on the area you choose to make improvements in, for example: Healthy lifestyle benefits might include better health and wellness, perhaps lower stress, and more periods of happiness. Personal growth improvements might give you a better ability to deal with the challenges that come from time to time.

Developing a mission and purpose could bring a sense of inner calm while also providing you with more energy and focus since you have a better sense what is most important to you. As you make improvements in one area, you might find that doing so has positive ripple effects in others. Should you have problems with organizational skills at work, fixing them might benefit your home life, as well. Focus on personal growth and you might find your entire outlook improves as you learn to define what is life balance for yourself. Should you have low skills at coping with stress, you might discover improving here truly does offer positive benefits throughout your life. Perhaps one of the most important aspects of personal growth for anyone to address involves the manner in which the meaning about things that happen to us are interpreted. These perceptions can and do affect how stressed or calm we are concerning specific situations that are occurring or have occurred.

Getting into a positive fitness routine that includes regular exercise can have very many positive impacts. Not only can you reduce stress and recharge batteries, it can also improve your overall health. Take the time to improve your diet and the near immediate impacts can be astounding. Eating healthier can help you truly be and feel healthier.

Now, if relationships are a concern, working on them can also prove valuable to an overall sense of well-being. The more you are connected to others, the more likely it is you will be able to share concerns, give and receive support, experience love, understanding and so on.

Taking control of personal finances is a great way to enjoy more harmony. Managing your finances better can increase your sense of competency while helping you enjoy a higher level of self-esteem.

While it’s quite true that what is life balance has a very subjective answer, it is something we can all understand and work to improve. The more energy that is put into gaining balance, the more likely it is real results will be enjoyed. Life coaches can help clients improve their standing and make the path to satisfaction less bumpy. To learn more about how life coaches can assist, visit http://www.creative-life-coaching-for-balanced-life.com.

Ronald Mitchell

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Why Self Development Is The Industry To Be In Right Now

You don’t need to open your eyes very wide to see that self development is booming at the moment and as the industry gets bigger and bigger, more and more lives are changing for the better. There has been a huge increase in the variety of products available both on and offline, as people attempt to increase their self-confidence, improve their love-lives, lose some extra belly fat, be more assertive, quit smoking or experience past life regression.

In fact, so many stories you hear on the news or in business about anyone who has had some sort of personal breakthrough or who has achieved any sort of personal success, usually have a self development story attached to it. The late Steve Jobs who achieved massive success in his life was a self-development aficionado, spending seven months in India on his spiritual journey. He later became a Buddhist and it was his faith that influenced his simplistic designs and business philosophy.

What Is Self Development?

So what, then is self development? If you look in Wikipedia, it will tell you that self development is,

‘a self-guided improvement-economically, intellectually, or emotionally – often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements and each has its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders.’

This explanation is pretty vague and if you are involved with the self development industry, you will know that is so much more than that. In fact, I would say that the industry has undergone a transformation of late. It used to be about getting rid of an unwanted problem but these days it seems to be appealing for more positive reasons. Guided meditations, visualisation and other subconscious techniques are used by very successful people from sportspeople to top-tier salespeople in an attempt to get the best possible results from themselves. In fact I was listening to a very influential network marketing coach the other day who said that it was important to ‘work harder on yourself than you do on your business’.

Why Self Development is So Important

And here is the bottom line. Here is the reason self development is so important. When the most successful people realise that they can increase their results by spending half an hour a day meditating, listening to a motivational CD or using subliminal messaging or self-hypnosis, this creates a huge opportunity. Self-development is something that is used by winners. And by winners, I mean people who have the money to invest in themselves, or are at least willing to invest some money into themselves.

And the best thing is that people who want to emulate winners will follow their example. So the message has a distinct trickle-down effect. Now as the times we live in become more uncertain and more and more people are realising that they need to develop themselves in order to keep up with change, we have seen an unprecedented growth in self development.

The self-development industry is now a multi-billion dollar industry. Last time I checked it was worth somewhere between $17-19 billion and it seems to double in size every few years. Why? Because it is about getting results and people are seeing the need for results more than ever. If that wasn’t the case, we wouldn’t have seen the unprecedented growth in the number of life coaches, NLP practitioners and the like around the world.

Now if you also consider the growing popularity of the Law of Attraction (a consequence of the hugely popular film ‘the Secret’) and how this concept links into the self-development movement, then you can begin to see just how powerful an opportunity self-development is.

Of course, there is a downside to all this and that is that everywhere you look, there is a new ‘wonder product’ that will help you to effortlessly create miracles in your life and it is these types of over-hyped products that lower the integrity of the self-development industry.

But that being said, there is still massive opportunity for people who wish to get involved in the industry in a real and genuine way.

And on that note, I’m off to do a nice 20-minute meditation and ponder my direction.

If you would like to know more about how you can be involved in the self-development industry, then visit http://subliminalmindprogram.com/work-with-linda/ or you can download my free e-book ‘How Your Sub-Conscious Mind Works here: http://subliminalmindprogram.com/freedownload/

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Saying No Is Not for Wimps

Once I say yes, I don’t like to say no. If I make a decision, I like to stick with it. If I make a commitment to you, I’m going to keep it. If you’re my client, I want to give you all the support you need.

But what if I change my mind?

The act of saying no, can be one of the most strategic, smart, loving, profitable and honoring things you can do.

Think about how painful it is when you say yes and you really mean no. Or what about when you set a goal, and then don’t feel inspired to go for it, but you pressure yourself to get it done anyway because you wrote it down? Sure, you got it done, but was it fun?

I’m all for going for a HELL YES. That’s when you have a choice in front of you to do something, and everything about it feels good and it totally aligns with your values and goals. That’s a HELL YES! You can’t wait to jump on it.

But sometimes those things lose their attractor factor. Or maybe some other feeling or circumstance comes up and your HELL YES fizzles. Then what?

You have to give yourself the option of saying no.

That is exactly what happened to me this year. My world-traveling mother told me she was booking a trip to the Amazon and Galapagos for 2012. I immediately told her I wanted to go. I was all geared up and excited, so I made a deposit for the trip. So did my uncle. Boy, this was going to be great!

The first obstacle showed up soon after. My mate chose not to leave his business for that long. Argh. Understandable, but I really wanted him to come with me. Next, I needed to make sure I had childcare while he worked. Grandma #1 was going to be traveling with me. Grandma #2 was doing a two-month vacation during that time. My Godmother was going on vacation, too.

Doesn’t anybody park their butts at home anymore?!

Now my Hell YES seemed like a long shot. But wait! I know how the Law of Attraction works. I will just hold steady on my intention to go and a babysitter will appear (I’m a pro at this technique for having ‘date night’).

But as the months have progressed forward in time, I feel no more at ease than I did when I found out my entire family will be out of town for those weeks. As I dug deeper into my unease, I found that I really didn’t feel good about leaving my one and three year-old behind for two weeks.

I still realllly wanted to go on the trip, but it was no longer a HELL YES. It became a no. Saying no didn’t feel great but it felt better than moving forward with the original decision. A true HELL YES would be me, my mate and kids going on this vacation. Add in the rest of my family and I’ve got a triple HELL YES! So I will wait until it’s exactly the way I want it.

Saying no requires an abundance mentality. You have to trust the right and perfect opportunity or person will be revealed at a later date. HOLD OUT for that.

Saying no to a commitment is okay. There is no integrity police that will come and find you if you decide not to go to the meeting, don’t show up at a party or keep to your schedule for the day if it begins to feel like a drag. Tell your truth to anybody who needs to know and do it powerfully.

If you hire someone, accept a new client or enter into a contract and it turns out not to be a fit, you can say no. There is ALWAYS a way out and you can do it gracefully.

Saying no after you say yes is not for the faint of heart, especially if integrity is high on your values list. But if you want to have integrity with yourself, then saying no must be an option.

I’m also a huge fan of saying no right up front. It’s clear and gives the other person the freedom to move forward without you. There’s nothing worse than waiting for an answer from someone because they really want to say no but don’t have the guts to do it. Then after making you wait for eons, they say no anyway.

Be straight, it’s so much easier on everyone.

Client: Can you coach me this Friday or at 5pm today?

Me: No. I work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 8am-4pm Pacific.

Client: There is no other time I can coach this week and I really need to talk to you.

Me: How about these options _________and I can give you 10 minutes right now until we can go more in depth at another time.

Client: Okay, thank you.

And if the client still resists or pushes, then they are not the ideal fit.

Boundary pushers are not ideal. Period.

I know that sometimes saying yes is scary, too. But the all powerful no brings freedom to every decision.

Jeanna Gabellini, is a Master Business Coach who assists high achieving entrepreneurs, corporate leaders & their teams to leverage fun, systems and intentionality for high-octane results. An entrepreneur for 20 years she has a treasure trove of kick-butt tools to give you peace & profits. A Gift For You! Get your complimentary Business Building Audio CD “Transforming from Chaotic Entrepreneur to Conscious Leader” for the entrepreneur who wants to be a SUPERpreneur: http://www.masterpeacecoaching.com/freecd/

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What Is Next for Your Life?

What is next for you? When I ask this question, I am asking, what is it that you desire for your life? Many of us have things that we want and aspire to do, but never take the time out to plan and map out how we go about attaining what we want. I challenge you to ponder upon this: everything and everyone that has been created took a process. Before you were born, it took a process in order for you to get here. It took nine months for you to completely form; for your organs, extremities, brain to form completely to function to its fullest. So why do you go through life without carefully considering your desires and the path that it will take to acquire it? Answer these questions:

What do I want? Answer this question with confidence. Whether you desire marriage, a business, more money, relationships, a home, or to lose weight. Be absolutely sure that this is what YOU want and not based upon someone else’s influence. This is key in order to truly embrace and enjoy what you want.

Why do I want it? Simple question, yet powerful. Oh too often, we make unconscious decisions based upon other people’s opinion. So ensure that this is your desire, your want, and your decision.

What is the necessary process in order to acquire it? Consider what you need to do in order to attain what you want. What is/are the necessary process or processes? Also think about who you need in order to help you in this matter. What kind of professional expertise that you may need. Consider the first step that you need to take and TAKE that first step even with fear. Do it anyway.

Who do I need to become to truly receive what I am asking for? We all ask for things and never consider who we need to become in order to attain it and maintain it. For example, when you want to lose weight, if you currently have bad eating habits, you cannot expect to lose 20 pounds with that same mindset. Something in you has to change. So as you are considering what you want, think about what in you needs to change in order to acquire it and maintain it. The road to success is not just about the things and people that you acquire along the way, but about who you become in the process.

JaNee’ Yeates is a confidence and purpose life coach, mentor and speaker who works with women entrepreneur & professional women to help them eliminate fear & increase their self confidence so that they can make more money, get the promotion of their dreams and live life by their design. If any of this resonates with you, visit http://www.unveilingyouenterprises.com. Also, get your FREE audio download of The 5 Confidence Boosting Strategies that will Help You to Eliminate the Fear so that You can Unveil the Real YOU at http://unveilingyouenterprises.com/

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