Eating Healthy And According To A Preset Eating Plan

By Al Smith | 1 Comment

Hi again. Just following up on another post I made the other day about weight loss. I have started eating healthier and according to a plan. I have begun walk/jogging again starting at 1-1 1/2 miles daily and this will increase gradually.

I have big goals this year and in order to make them happen, I need all the energy I can create by losing weight and exercising regularly. So I have been reading a lot on healthy food and driving my energy supply up the roof! Here are some tips for healthy eating.

Eating for a Healthier Me

Most people know they need to improve their diets in one way or another. They also recognize how difficult this is when you drive down the street and you see a McDonald’s on every corner or a line of fast food restaurants.

Our lives have all become about convenience and in exchange for convenience we have become the most obese country in the world. With our instant gratification lifestyles we also know that eating healthy can be a challenge.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way and there are steps that we can take to balance the good and the bad, so that we can enjoy a Happy Meal with the kids on occasion.

Making our everyday diet healthier will allow us to improve the way we look, as well as the way we think. It’s never too late to change our eating habits, we need to have the personal motivation to do it.

Is Your Diet Healthy Enough?

Everyone wants a healthier diet, but with all of the conflicting nutrition information in the media it is hard to determine what type of diet is healthy. There are many factors that contribute to a healthy diet. It is important to evaluate the current diet that you eat before you embark on a plan to become a healthier eater.

Begin by asking yourself these simple questions:

o Do I eat a variety of different foods? Variety is one of many important parts of a healthy diet. It is important to eat foods from all of the food groups. If you find yourself avoiding certain food groups, such as fruits and vegetables, then it may be time to adjust the way you eat.

o Do I eat fruits and vegetables? It is important to choose from a variety of different fruits and vegetables. In fact, you want to get all of the different colors of these foods in your diet because each offers their own unique vitamins and minerals that are essential to your diet. Eat dark greens, reds, oranges and yellows.

o Do I eat breakfast? The absence of breakfast is a good indicator that you are not eating very healthy. If you don’t eat breakfast you need to begin working on that aspect of your diet, as your body may think that it’s starving.

o Do I choose low fat foods over high fat foods? There are low fat alternatives in a variety of foods including all dairies and meats. A great way to avoid a lot of fat is to prepare your own meals instead of eating prepared foods such as TV dinners.

o Do I drink a lot of water? Water is the foundation to life. Your body needs plenty of water and is important for maintaining a healthy diet. If you drink a lot of soda or coffee, you may be dehydrating yourself.

o Am I able to maintain my ideal body weight? Gaining weight without trying is a sign of a poor diet. Following a healthy diet and getting regular exercise is the best way to lose weight and keep it off.

o Do I limit the amount of salt, sugar, alcohol and caffeine that I consume? These are okay in moderation, but a lot of people use these in excessive amounts. These four elements can wreak havoc on a healthy diet.

I find that by making notes of what I eat, and analyzing and adjusting my eating plan, I can ask myself these questions and more often than not come up with positive answers of late. My weight loss plan demands it.

Hope I am not boring you with my new challenge, but writing about it keeps my focus sharp and on my goals.

See you next time.

Working At Home? Try Self Discipline & Time Management

By Al Smith | No Comments

How To Successfully Work At Home

There is a misconception that people who work at home have it easy. Successful people working at home usually have been successful time managers and discipline themselves to achieve the goal they have preset.

They set their schedules, wake up any time, do not have to dress up to go to the office, and work at their own pace. Most people think that those who take the home-base route also work more effectively than those in the office because of the relaxed environment and the absence of a strict boss who constantly looks over their shoulders.

“It is all hoopla!” say the people who work at home. According to them, working at home is more challenging than being in the office. First, because of the absence of time pressure, you will have the tendency not to set a schedule. If you made one, you will be tempted not to follow it unless you have motivating goals.

For instance, if you have set yourself to work on a particular task at 2 p.m. and your favorite talk show suddenly airs a re-run of its best episode for the year, you could forego the work schedule and, instead, watch television, thinking that the task can be done later. A lot of “laters” later, you find yourself cramming and getting all stressed out become your deadline is in an hour.

Because of the absence of a boss who watches you like a hawk, you will be tempted to do other things and find ways to stall. You might find yourself taking a nap instead of working on a task, or taking a bath longer than usual. Or you might get carried away surfing other Web sites that you’ve forgotten the assignment that you need to finish right away.

In short, there are a lot more temptations at home than there are in the office. And if you’re a mother working from home, the challenge doubles, because your kids will be calling on you from time to time.

The key to succeeding at home-based work is to set goals and manage your time well. Discipline yourself to follow through with your schedule.

Here are some tips to help you REALLY work at home.

· Maximize time : because you are aware that handling time and distractions is difficult when you’re working at home, you must maximize the time you spend accomplishing tasks when you’re really in the mood. Find out if you work better in the morning, in the afternoon, or in the evening, and then commit yourself to sitting at your desk and accomplishing all that you can during your peak times. Use this momentum time to explode your productivity!

· Set up a professional-looking office: Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you can’t have an office that looks like the real thing. Choose a quiet corner in the house or a room where you believe will minimize distractions while you’re working. Design the area the same way an office would look so that you don’t feel that you’re just at home. You really need to control your work environment and maximize it’s effects on your productivity.

· And, yes . . . Discipline yourself: Who else would do this but you? Act like your own boss and berate yourself every time you are tempted to stray from the job at hand. Make up some rewards and penalties for yourself. If you were working outside the home, your BOSS would!

When you really value your job, you eventually find the will to work. It may be difficult at first to keep to a preset schedule, considering that you can always change your mind and leave things as they are, but you should always keep in mind that the earnings you get from working at home are the same ones that pay the bills and buy all the necessities in your life. This should be motivation enough to keep you alert and working at home.

See you next time.

Set Your Goals, Then Reasons, Then Take Action!

By Al Smith | 3 Comments

Reasons That Move You, Bring Clarity, Focus, Determination and Momentum

Are your goals SMART? – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Rewarding, Time-Deadlined

Just about everyone has heard about the SMART Goal Setting method. But are you really using it. Proper goal setting seems to be a lot of work, and takes considerable time to set up.

Many people stop short of completing the necessary detail to maintain their focus long after the novelty has long worn off. Hence, “The New Year’s Resolution” syndrome of stopping short of getting what you want, prevails.

Goal Setting is easy and fun to maintain, once you have the fundamental work completed, because you are gathering momentum, and attaining success one step at a time! It is much easier to continue along a chosen path when you know that it is only a matter of time until you have what you want.

Magnify and Intensify your Desire, bring it closer, see it clearly and make it larger, sharpen and maintain your focus. A-h-h-h. There’s the rub, How do you maintain focus, and minimize distraction on the road to what you want? When all seems lost, how do you keep getting back up for more?

Have Great reasons, and Keep Them in Front of You Always!

Whenever possible, once you decide on what you want, take some action, view the exact model of what you want, and do it as many times as necessary to burn the desire you have for this goal into your subconscious mind. Write down every detail that you love and appreciate about your goal.

Use all of your senses in describing it, eyes for seeing how it looks, nose for smelling how it smells, mouth for tasting exactly how delicious, how it feels to the touch, experience all the different textures, etc., capture every delightful detail in your mind.

This will always magnify, and intensify your desire and focus, instead of just looking at pictures alone. However, you will still want pictures too!

Take Pictures of your goals and place them everywhere:

On and in your day timer
On your fridge
On your bathroom mirror
On your bedroom wall, frame a collage of pictures
In work binders
On home office wall
On your desk at work
Make them your wallpaper on your computer
Email pictures to yourself, or have a close friend email them
Put them everywhere you spend time each day.

Make your own audio tape in your own voice, using your posture and physiology of excitement, energy and determination, make it descriptive, from a script taken while looking at what you want – smell, touch, feel, and imagine it. Listen to this tape frequently.

Have someone make a video presentation of you with your goals – detailed, then do theirs! Have fun with this. Watch videos of the rich and famous. Experience everything!

Goals like cars or boats, or winnebagos – go to the dealerships and get in, take pictures, smell them, feel the upholstery, go for a test drive, sit in them, close your eyes and visualize you in it, feel the emotions rising up, those you hold onto, go see them as often as you need to – get it in focus, and maintain your high levels desire

Dream Homes – get home magazines, real estate papers, architectural magazines, any publications that are relevant to your focus, immerse yourself totally!

Go to open houses, new home models, take pictures when you can, and you will come across something that fires you up.

Go to places like Home Depot, find everything you want, inside and outside, go to the furniture store, pick out the furniture, just like you want – visit these places as often as needed, with everything, take pictures, feel the feelings, as if you already are in possession of it all! Lock in that thought.

Travel Goals – pick up brochures, read magazines and books pertaining to the places you want to go, the things you want to do and see there.

Talk to travel agents that take a lot of trips to those areas that interest you and seek the inside story on the places to take in while you’re there.

Make a budget for all you want to do and have during your stay, and imagine you are already there and ready to go!

Make up score cards and update them frequently so you can see your progress towards each goal.

See in your mind’s eye how you are making it. Immerse yourself in it! Have it on your mind always. Look for every opportunity to concentrate your power on getting it.

The human brain is the most awesome instrument for creating what it focuses on. Keep what you want front and center, and your subconscious mind will go to work for you and show you the way! And remember that you can only think one thought at a time, so make it a thought that serves you.

There are many ways to get your internal fires burning. Find out what works best for you. This is enough to get you started for now.See you next time.

Al Smith

First The Mission Statement Then Goals That Align

By Al Smith | 1 Comment

I just noticed a great guest post over at Alice Seba’s Internet Sweetie Blog by Jan Ferrante that pretty much is spot on when starting to make business goals for your home online business.

She states that one should always start with their mission statement first, then create the goals that will bring the mission statement to life.

This is a great blog, one that I follow regularly. You might want to click on over and check it out.

Here’s the teaser for Jan Ferrante’s article and then the link that will take you over there.

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Goal Setting For Increased Productivity

After creating your business mission statement, goal setting becomes a lot easier.

You can create big picture goals to help you to decide how many hours you want to work.

For example, if you are a mom of 3 small children working from home and wanting to earn enough to pitch in for groceries and spending money, your major goal will be to grow happy healthy kids, working part time.

This will immediately give you an idea how many work hours to plan into your schedule.

If your kids are grown or you have none and your goal is to replace your corporate salary – obviously it will be clear that you will be scheduling a full work day.

That is pretty much cut and dry.

TARGET YOUR GOALS

But you can use goal setting with a different spin to help you to decide what tasks to plan during your focused working hours.

How about subscriber goals?
Web traffic goals?
Product specific sales goals?

Setting goals for specifics like this give instant focus and motivation to your efforts.

Read the whole article: Goal Setting For Increased Productivity

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Hope you enjoyed the article. I did.

12 Weight Loss Secrets To Successfully Lose Weight

By Al Smith | 2 Comments

I have begun my own weight loss journey. One of my high priority goals is to drop 60 pounds, yes, you heard that right! I have stepped up my writing and my computer usage, and my diet and my exercise routine has suffered.

And so, here I am going to write about weight loss secrets and such, just because this will be a main focus in my life for the next 3-4 months.

Almost everyone has gone on a diet at least once in their lives. It can be hard to change your eating habits, but the desire to shed those pounds steels your resolve. Ironically, many a diet fails due to this steely resolve. Just because you want to lose weight doesn’t mean you have to administer punishment to yourself to accomplish your goal.

Set up a reasonable program based on your goals. Make it a lifestyle change you can live with. If you get too extreme in your diet program, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

No one is going to stick long term with a diet that consists of a glass of juice and a container of plain yogurt for breakfast, a couple of saltines and a cup of soup for lunch, followed by a dreary dinner of a tiny piece of meat and a dinner salad. BORING!

You’ll be down at the convenience store getting a bag of cookies by the second day. You do want to count calories, but be reasonable,. Many people fail simply because they get too radical, cutting calories to 900 a day, in hopes of losing weight quickly. Nine times out of ten, this strategy does not work.

You didn’t pick this weight overnight and you surely are not going to lose it overnight (healthfully). Start your new program with enthusiasm knowing that you are beginning a new life, a new way of living.

Here are the top 12 weight loss secrets successful dieters practice:

1. Setting realistic goals and following a consistent program is the first weight loss secret of every successful dieter.

2. Keeping a food diary is a proven technique in keeping dieters honest. Get a small, 5 by 8 inch notebook, or use you PDA device and carry it everywhere. Whenever you eat something, jot it down. Review your notes at the end of the day, and plan any changes for tomorrow.

Food seems to go into our mouths, unnoticed, unless you use this method of keeping track. Many studies have shown that dieters that keep a food diary, lose more weight than those who don’t, and also tend to keep the weight off.

Keeping a food diary also helps you discover certain eating patterns which contribute to those unwanted pounds. When you log your weight, once a week, you’ll also start to notice foods that work for you.

For example, you’ve been adding more fruits and veggies to your menus, while cutting back on sweets. Your taste buds and appetite adjust over time. Now you prefer the produce and lo and behold, you’re losing the weight at a steady pace.

3. Spreading your food consumption out with more frequent, but smaller meals works well for many people. Five or six small meals can help you feel satisfied, while gradually shrinking your stomach and improving your digestion.

4. Another technique is to eat meals, one course at a time. Take your time eating your salad and chew your food slowly. You’ll know when your full, you’ll get more enjoyment from eating and your overall digestive system benefits as well. This simple conscious change in your eating patterns is one of the best weight loss secrets.

Gradually change your eating habits. If you have a voracious appetite, you may not be satisfied with that well-known and recommended 4-ounce portion of meat. If it now takes a 12-ounce portion of meat to make you happy, cut it down gradually over the first three weeks. New habits generally are recognized to be set in 21-28 days.

Start increasing the veggie content of that meal. You should feel satisfied with the 4-ounce portion and a load of veggies by the end of the first month. Choose lean meats you like, eating fish a couple of times each week, as possible.

Broiling or grilling reduces fat and calories. Olive oil, with no saturated or trans fats, is a no-cholesterol and heart healthy choice for salad dressings.

5. If you like to butter your veggies, wean yourself away from this fattening habit. Try substituting good oils or a sprinkling of herbal seasoning mixtures to add interest and taste.

6. Too much salt causes water retention, so check out sea salts, or salt substitutes, including herbal blends which are reminiscent of salt, without containing salt. Any spice that adds zip to your food will help you reduce salt intake.

7. So many dieters never eat breakfast thinking this should allow for a larger lunch and dinner. While it’s true the calories not consumed at breakfast may be divided between lunch and dinner for a net target calorie intake, this is a self-defeating technique.

Breakfast, like Mom always said, is the most important meal of the day, supplying fuel to get you going. By the time lunch rolls around, you might well have burned all the calories consumed at breakfast!

Burning calories is good! Breakfast is also a good time to get your fiber in a whole grain cereal or bran muffin. A glass of juice and some yogurt completes this nutritious and low calorie meal. You’ll be happily surprised as you discover that the best, truly effective, weight loss secrets are really common sense.

8. Lunch should be a good meal, made with wholesome good food. Again, you have a much better chance of burning those calories in the course of your work day than you do settling down to a big dinner meal, and then laying down on the couch in front of the TV.

9. Dinner should be light. Taking a walk, after dinner, weather permitting, is a good exercise strategy. You burn calories, relax and avoid that sluggish feeling.

10. Snacking between meals can help you avoid overeating at mealtime. This weight loss secret works only if you choose healthy snacks, such as a piece of fruit or nuts and seeds. The secret here is to choose a snack that is low in calories and takes a long time to eat.

While a thoughtful diet plan should steadily reduce your intake of forbidden foods – we all know what they are – there’s no need to get on a total guilt trip over a pastry. Occasional treats are allowed. Just be sure to log these in your food diary!

Our last weight loss secrets are well known, but not well received by dieters.

11. Yep, you guessed it: drink lots of water and

(12) exercise for at least 30 minutes a day. If you don’t like water, jazz it up with a teaspoon of lemon or lime. Do your chosen exercise, without fail. Make it a priority.

If you put all of these weight loss secrets to work for you, you’ll lose the weight! Secrets are meant to be shared with all your friends. Be a hero or heroine to everyone to whom you share these common sense weight loss secrets.

Self Help Books For Life's Problems – Online Library Coming

By Al Smith | No Comments

Before you consult a professional, educate yourself on issues with self help books on the specific topics that concern you. Every day I solve problems at a basic level that people could very well solved without me if they had done the least bit of investigation.

Sometimes, life deals us some situations which we are not equipped to deal with in an effective manner. We do tend to be challenged by problems that are outside of our normal expertise. This no reason to think that we cannot find solutions ourselves.

You might be faced with a family issue, such as caring for an elderly family member, or are experiencing the ‘terrible twos’ for the first time. Sometimes life gets in the way of our goals progress, sometimes we need to address life challenges before we can continue.

While there are plenty of professionals who can give you excellent guidance, there are also thousands of so called self help books at your online bookstore, which can serve to educate you on the finer points and complexities of such issues, as well as good advice on fielding these situations.

Look for available self help books that address these topics. Just the background knowledge the books provide is worth the time to read up on whatever subject you need information on.

Let’s take the case of your toddler, who suddenly gets a case of never-ending – or so it seems – temper tantrums. What happened to that sweet, pliable child?

You’re ready to tear your hair out if you can’t get a handle on this behavior. Your bookstore, whether online or at a local shop, is certain to carry at least a few self help books relating to child developmental stages!

While your pediatrician can surely give you some clues, busy doctors seldom have the time to spend going into detailed issues that help you be an effective parent during this stage.

A self help book on the topic can be quite educational, citing reasons for the behavior, how to deal with a child’s tantrums and how long you might expect the situation to endure.

This type of book can be reassuring to a parent who hasn’t seen this particular movie before! Moreover, you can review sections that you feel contain valuable hints and information, until you feel you’ve got a grip on the issues.

If you’ve gained the background knowledge and still feel the need for your pediatrician’s opinions, you’ll have specific questions you might not have known to ask, prior to reading your self-help book.

Most bookstores have a section devoted exclusively to self help books, which says something about their value and popularity. The self help section contains books that might be considered a genre of the non fiction market.

These self help books typically deal with psychological, social and cultural issues, such as parenting, family issues, etiquette and socialization. Other common topics include career planning, dream interpretation, personality types and behaviors.

For example, your teen is in high school and is expressing interest in developing a career path to guide them in choosing colleges and classes. Get a self help book on career planning and let your child educate himself on just what decisions should be made and how to reach workable, solid conclusions.

Maybe you’ve started having a series of strange dreams that have you puzzled, but not alarmed. If you normally don’t have a pattern of dreams like this, a self help book on dream interpretation can provide all the answers you need.

While some situations may demand professional help, there are so many issues you can deal effectively with on your own, by buying a good self help book on the subject.

For myself I have a pretty wide variety of self help books on my bookshelves and I dive into them quite regularly.

I am in the process of starting up a free self help library which will have self help topics for reading online. It’s coming soon and will be available on this site.

I’m pretty excited about opening it up soon. Hope you will find it enlightening and help you with any challenges or questions. See you next time.

Self Help Books For Life’s Problems – Online Library Coming