Talk about staying healthy and productive! Organic gardening is not only a great way to keep your body moving and your mind clear, it is also an incredible way to wake up productive as well as save a large amount of money on your food bill yearly.

Organic and whole foods keep your body, mind and soul in optimum shape. Knowing that you are feeding your system the very best is a great feeling. When you feel happy about the things you are doing daily to keep balance in your life your mind reaches a center of peace.

I have been gardening most of my life and have always had great joy in it. Growing up I watched and learned from my mother Grace, who is to this day one of the best gardeners I know of. I always got a great feeling of joy helping her pick fresh tomatoes, string beans and especially corn… She pretty much laid the foundation for me to become a pretty decent gardener throughout my life. And yes, I still call her to this day for advice and sometimes to brag about my garden. She still wins the award on it every time but we have fun sharing about what we grow.

Growing An Organic Garden:

I did quite a bit of research on different books and videos from what I will call the pros’ out there. While I will stand tall with mom by my side in knowing how to do this, neither one of us have created a guide or a video on it. So I found something I felt was worth sharing with everyone that wants to learn how to grow an organic garden easily.

From what my subscriber tell me, they like to learn from both books and videos, so this fits the bill on what you ask for.

Jonathan White’s  “Food 4 Wealth”:

For more information on Jonathan’s video and book guides visit: FOOD4WEALTH

Related articles on Organic Gardening:

• Why Would You Bother To Produce An Organice Vegetable Patch? (backyardgardeningtips.com)

Hey everyone,

We have been invited to post this on our site… Have fun and good luck with this.. This is the first post we have done here for a contest. We thought it would be a cool motivational and productive thing to do…

Top 3 Responses To The Following Question
Will Win A FREE COPY Of The Power of Thin
Weight Loss Hypnosis Kit!

Question:

Tell me why you think you’re ready to try
REAL hypnosis (the kind used in the study
below, not the hokey kind you see on TV)
to increase YOUR fatloss…. starting NOW.

REMEMBER: Leave your response in the Comment area below. NO responses that involve financial reasons for winning will be considered, as the course is already more than half off! ANYONE can afford this… the question is WHY SHOULD YOU be given this Kit for Free!

Thanks, have fun, and good luck!

P.S. Contest Ends Wednesday, May 5, 2010!

———-

STUDY:

Hypnosis has been used for years to help people lose weight. Multiple studies have shown the long-term benefits of hypnosis on losing weight. One meta-analysis revealed; researchers found that after receiving several sessions of hypnosis, overweight females lost on average of 11.83 pounds while the women who did not receive hypnosis lost only about 6 pounds . This means that the hypnosis group lost 97% more pounds than the non-hypnosis group.

What is even more astonishing is the follow-up that was performed on the participants of the study. Researchers found that those who received hypnosis lost an average of 14.88 pounds during the follow-up. This compares to only 6.03 pounds in the non-hypnosis group. The participants who received hypnosis lost 147% more weight than those who did not use hypnosis to lose weight.

This study shows that hypnosis is not only beneficial in helping people lose weight in the short term, but it helps people continue to lose weight even after treatment has ended. This is powerful information that can help a lot of people reach a healthier and more desirable weight.

Kirsch, I. (1996). Hypnotic enhancement of cognitive-behavioral weight loss treatments: Another meta-reanalysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64(3), 517-519.

———-

COMMENT BELOW AND YOU CAN WIN!

Related articles o Hypnosis

• Can’t Stop Eating? Try Hypnosis (lifescript.com)

Oh the phrase, “Fat-n-Happy?”…

I’m sure you’ve heard many overweight folks claim that they are “Fat and Happy”.

Can being overweight actually make you happy?

My fit buddy did an article on this and takes a look at three national studies on his page.

The presentation is about 5 minutes long… he reveals number one cause for alarm in the United States and Canada.

Read that again:  The Number 1 Cause For Alarm.

Statistics are here and stats do not lie.

They can’t lie.

This deals with our children and is so important that we all take notice of what is going on with overweight issues and our kids today.

Please… go see:

click.here— Fat-n-Happy Study

John can tell you of his first-hand experience, which he documents in “Fit Over 40″, that his personal 10-year-journey through the challenge of obesity was ANYTHING but happy.

he was depressed, to the point of suicide at times (thankfully he never went that far.)he was socially hidden and wore “fat-clothes” all the time. The few times he HAD to wear jeans or dress pants he would rush home to change into sweats because they were just too uncomfortable to tolerate.

He was “fat-n-miserable”.

I think most people who are overweight or obese feel more despair, sadness, or perhaps just really frustrated than “happy”. Of course you can be happy and be any size, color, shape, etc. But I’ll tell you from my experience that I am MUCH happier staying fit and trim.

When you get decide to change your lifestyle and the way you treat your body and what you feed it, something incredible happens.  When you’re more active, you release more “feel-good” hormones… and these are powerful anti-blues hormones… they really make you feel like a champ. At least that’s been my experience. When our brains are healthy so are our bodies. When we put good foods in our bodies our brains react and send us some pretty cool signals letting us know how happy it is. Ans it’s not because it’s fat. It’s because it’s “fit-n-happy”

You can watch the 5-min video and see what you think…

click.here—>  Fat-n-Happy Study



Related articles Fat and Happy

• Campus News Blog: Toys Banned from Kids Meals (smudailymustang.com)

[ Note: My favorite fitness pal John Benson has given me permission to post his article. This guy knows fitness ]

Sometimes you have to nearly lose it all to realize what you truly have.

I can honestly say that I have come close to death several times in my life. I’ve had my share of accidents, medical emergencies, and a near-fatal accident while driving.

But there was something about just laying on the gym floor today with two doctors hovering over me that gave me serious pause.

Time for some major reflection.

Now, before you get too alarmed (for those who know me, or just think I’m a pretty good guy… ; )… fear not. I did not have a stroke or anything like that, thank goodness.

What I did have was a major drop in blood pressure… so much that I came dangerously close to entering the “coma” zone.

I kid you not.

And trust me… I felt like I was slipping fast.

My girlfriend was there with me. I had her kneel down and, just like Spock in an old episode of “Star Trek”, I had her slap me several times in the face. Hard!

“If my eyes roll back, hit me harder.”

The doctor probably thought I was nuts… but I know that’s one way to elevate my blood pressure.

So, what happened? Am I falling apart at the relatively young age of 46? Is my dietary and exercise advise dangerous after all?

No… and here’s why:

I actually VOLUNTEERED for this.

Before you think I’ve totally lost my marbles, hear me out. If you listen to the rest of the story, you’ll see that not only has my advice been of great value when it comes to exercise and dietary strategy… it actually ended up saving my butt!

—————————————–
Really Bad Genetics Meets
The Cath Lab:  A Wild Encounter
—————————————–

First, the “volunteered for this” bit needs explaining… right? Right.

If you read my first book, published in 2004, called “Fit Over 40″ (read more at www.fitover40.com) then you may recall that I went into great detail about my poor genetics and horrible health in my early and mid-30s.

Since then, and knowing exactly how bad my genetics are for such things as high blood pressure (oh, the irony!), heart disease, and stroke, I adopted the dietary plan and exercise routine I use to  this very day. The very ones I cover in “The Every Other Day Dietplan” and “7 Minute Body.”

(If you don’t have these books and want them, you can get both here… The Every Other Day Dietplan Revealed — oh, and I have a short video up on this page if you have not seen on a 1-minute fatloss tip… )

Now, let’s get real folks:  Dietary power and exercise MAY not be enough to overcome really bad genetics when it comes to certain diseases. And being ever curious, I wanted to know exactly how my own health was doing on my plan. So a month or so ago I paid a visit to the hospital to have some tests ran. All my yearly check-ups were okay, but I wanted a closer look at my heart… and I mean “literally”.

I wanted to be “cathed”… this is where they insert a camera into your heart, going up the femoral artery in your right leg, and take a look around. If they find anything dangerous, like a clogged artery, they can fix it right then and there with a stent. A stent is a metal device that presses plaque against the artery wall and opens up a clogged artery.

Of course I hoped I would not find such a thing… and certainly nothing worse. I mean, can you imagine?  “Mr. Benson, you need a quadruple bypass!”

I could not, that’s for sure… and I was fortunate because, as you probably guessed, I didn’t hear those words from my doc.

It’s hard to get a cath done as it’s a risky procedure. I can’t even tell you how I managed to pull it off … that’s how touchy the hospitals are when it comes to this kind of stuff. Afterwards, I volunteered to do 5-10 workouts at their heart care facility so I could hook myself up to some nifty gadgets. I get to watch my EKG (how my heart is functioning during cardio and weights… and it works like a charm!) and really nice doctor folks come by to check my blood pressure (which is always low) during the workout.

Yep… the doc and I wanted to put my workout plan to the test, I guess you could say. I wanted to do it just to make sure I was 100% healthy during my training. You never really “know” I suppose, so I was up for it. And my doctor wanted me to do it just in case what he found during the cath was serious. There’s a lot to this process, and there’s some details I don’t wish to cover for privacy sake… but anyway, back to my story.

It’s long, but it may save your life too. : )

—————————————–
The Good News… The Bad News…
And The Stupid Jon News!
—————————————–

Turns to find out I made a few mistakes… some pretty costly mistakes… but (get this) none of them had to do with my dietary or exercise plan.

During the cath, here’s what the doc said:

“Jon, your heart’s two primary arteries look good… hardly any obstruction at all. And they are nice and thick from exercise.” For a guy who has had a cholesterol level of over 400 before, and a history of heart disease in the family, this was really good news.

“However, your genetics are catching up to you in one of your arteries…. and you need to be more aggressive with your drug treatment to make sure we don’t have to go back in here one day!”

Er… what??

Yep… turns out that the only thing that saved me from a BYPASS (that’s right) was what the doctor called “an enormous amount of peripheral arteries formed from years and years of weight training and exercise.”

Wow.

“Look right here Jon…”  (He showed me my beating heart on camera… freaky…) “See all these arteries? Well the average person doesn’t have them. You do. Congratulations… you earned them.”

Wow again. And remember, I only workout with weights 3-4 times per week and my workouts are rarely over 21 minutes (time under the weight.)

—————————————–
What I Did Right… And What
I Did Wrong… And Why This
Could Save Your Life
—————————————–

So, listen up folks as I’m about to tell you everything I did wrong for the past several years… how it ALMOST cost me dearly (a bypass?… no thanks!)… how I managed to prevent it… and how I ended up on the gym floor today with doctors all around me.

It’s all related. And again, sorry for the novel-like email, but (again) this may save your life.

First, here’s what my excellent cardiologist said I did RIGHT:

1. Exercise:  “Jon, your exercise plan, to put it bluntly, saved you from a great deal of pain… in fact it probably saved your life as these blockages would have been far worse without it.” With it, I had only one artery with enough blockage to warrant the drug therapy that I should have been on for years… more on that in a second…

2. Dietary plan:  “Jon, your diet is perfect for this condition… low in carbs, high in protein and healthy fats is all anyone can do in order to help fight this genetic killer.”  Yep… again… prevention in the form of dietplan saved my butt. Or rather my heart. : )  But it wasn’t enough… at least for one artery. However, it WAS enough to prevent them from having to do surgery on me.

“Jon, the take-away here is simple:  Exercise and dietary plans, even the very best, may not be enough for super high-risk people… but in your case your lifestyle saved your life. And it certainly prevented you from having to have any serious surgery to correct a truly broken heart.”

Talk about EXCITING news… yep… you CAN beat this killer, even when you have MY horrible family genetics. However, like me, you may need some help… more on that in a second.

3. Blood pressure:  “Jon, your blood pressure is excellent. Your lifestyle and very low-dose diuretic has kept your formerly sky-high blood pressure (it was 200/110 when I was 32!) to an excellent 118/78.”  But you know doctors… even “excellent” isn’t enough and they recommended a stronger BP med for “my intense weight training.”

So, I listened… and ended up on the floor today. You see, many doctors do not realize the POWER of weight training compared to cardio. My blood pressure never budges during cardio, but less than 3 minutes into a resistance (weight-training) session it goes down like the stock market after a bad news day.

I mean SHOOTS down. I tried to explain this by letting the doctor see the veins in my legs… “Doc, my veins are MUCH larger than the average person’s… trust me, my pressure is fine.”  “Jon, just try it for a few weeks.”

Bad mistake…. like I said, I ended up on the gym floor today with a blood pressure of 72/45. If I hit 40, I’m literally in a coma. 5 points away… very scary. Needless to say the doc took me OFF these meds and let me do it my way:  With my Every Other Day Dietplan (low-carb most of the days) and good-old exercise.

If you have high blood pressure, I URGE you to take up weight training or resistance (body-weight or band) training. Of course, ask your doc about it first… but I’ve seen first hand for three weeks now how powerful my weight training sessions are compared to intense cardio sessions.

They are night and day folks… weights RULE. Cardio is good, but weights are best. Both of course would be the best course for ultimate health, but most people do far too much cardio and far too little resistance training.

—————————————–
Oops…
—————————————–

Now, here’s what I did WRONG:

1. Cigars:  “Jon, you cannot afford to smoke cigars… ever. They have lowered your protective HDL to a dangerous level. Stop NOW!” That’s all it took folks. Yes, I smoked cigars for many years, but fortunately I was never an addict. I quit that very day.

Guess what? 10 days later my HDL DOUBLED (no kidding)… and without drugs. Of course that’s not all I did…

2. Fat too LOW:  “Jon, you’ve lowered your dietary fat too low… this affects your HDL.”  Yep, I normally eat about 35% dietary fat… and I cut it down to 20% to help me get ready for a photoshoot. Now that I put it back to where it belongs, I still have my abs (yep!) and my HDL is raising as I type.

3. Stress:  “Jon, you are simply working too hard not to do some form of meditation or de-stressing.”  So I dove back into my meditation CDs. (I’ll tell you more about Holosync and my hypnosis CDs in my next email… very cool stuff.)

4. Advil:  “Jon, you take 4 Advil before you train? You’re nuts! That stuff can cause sticky plaque formations!!”  You know, I may never even had an issue if I had known this (and not smoked cigars) a few years ago. Live and learn!

5. And finally… oh, this hurt to hear… no drugs!  “Jon, if you want to make sure you beat this thing, you simply must take some meds to help.”  Okay, I resisted any form of statin drug for the past 15 years (drugs to lower cholesterol.) I opted to try natural stuff… but unfortunately for me I was never too consistent. And I paid the price.

So the doc and I came to a compromise:  I would take the LOWEST dose of statin along with 400 mg of CoQ10 (scary, but this was my idea, not his, and statins deplete this heart-friendly enzyme!) But I wanted a natural solution to the real issue:  small particle LDL. You see, I’ve known for years that I carry the gene that makes LDL “small”. LDL is not dangerous unless it is small… that’s why “total cholesterol” means nothing to me. I’ve seen folks have heart attacks with a cholesterol level of 130. No joke. But their LDL was super-small… like mine.

And guess what?  Dietplans cannot really help this. Well, they can HURT it (too many carbs, too many toxic fats, etc.) but they cannot shift the LDL from small to large.

For that, you need plain old niacin. Just a simple B vitamin… but in not-so-simple doses. In fact it’s considered a drug at the dose you have to take, and you should NEVER take niacin over 50 mg without a doctor’s supervision as it can be very toxic to the liver.

—————————————–
The Conclusion:  The Power
Is In Your Hands
—————————————–

In conclusion, I’m A-Okay… my heart pumps and functions “like that of a strong 20-year-old” (my doctor’s quote) thanks to the extra arteries I developed from my exercise program (how cool!) … but in order to keep that one artery in check, I’m taking his advice and taking much better care of myself than I have been.

Today I learned that this does NOT mean taking blood pressure meds…thankfully… : ) But I had to make some changes. Some of them were “stupid” changes… sure, I know cigars are not good for you. I know you need good fats in your dietplan. I could have used common sense and figured out that 4-8 Advil on workout days was… well, stupid.

But the good news, which is what I choose to focus on, is this:  In the areas that 95% of people NEVER change, I didn’t have to change much at all.

Dietary plan and exercise.

Turns to find out that what I was doing works great… and it did, in fact, save my heart and quite possibly my life.

For more on my dietplan and exercise routine, go here:

The Every Other Day Dietplan Revealed

Thanks for reading, and I wish all of you good health!

P.S.   I got lucky in many ways, but especially so when it came to my doctors. Both of my doctors are young and savvy enough to be up on the latest research on nutrition. They know NOT to buy into this “low-fat” nonsense for heart health. (I’d use a harsher word, but kiddos may be reading… : ) That only works for about 10-15% of the population. The rest of us need to lower our CARBS, not our fats… but the way I do it I get to keep my favorite carbs in my dietplan every week.

The little that I do eat keeps me happy as a clam, and keeps my heart nice and healthy too. A little bit of bad food will not hurt most people… but eating it every day can flat-out kill you.

Please… take this seriously. I promise, my dietplan and exercise routine is a PLEASURE to follow… but if you don’t follow it then find one that IS enjoyable for you to follow… and do it.

Life is too short, you know?

[ Note: My favorite fitness pal John Benson has given me permission to post his article. This guy knows fitness ]

Got a minute?

That’s all I need to share my first of many video-based 1-minute fatloss tips.

Go here for the first of many….

click—–>  How To Eat Your Favorite Foods And Drop Bodyfat

My new design is something to see too.

I have my weekly live 1-minute video, tons of new features… even a “diet quiz” if you care to test your fatloss knowledge.

Plus my main presentation: “1 Tip To A Flat Belly!”

Just don’t laugh at my ballcap/unshaven look in the video… I wanted this to be super-casual, but I may have taken it a bit too far… ; )

Oh… speaking of a flat belly… I’d like to give you yet another reason to eat and workout the way I suggest in “Every Other Day Diet” and “7 Minute Body”…

I had to go to the hospital last week. No worries… I’m fine… just a bit of a scare. Definitely enough to wake you up from walking through life like it will never end! But fortunately for me, only a scare.

Anyway, the doctors in the hospital were amazed when they looked at my heart and lungs (they had to make sure I did not have any infection… and I didn’t.)

“Most 46-year-olds do not have these around their heart,” the doctor said as he showed me the pictures they took. You could see all these vessels around the heart and branching off the main arteries.

“Peripheral vessels… they were formed by your exercise program. Well-done! These help keep your heart strong and healthy.”

Every doc that listened to my heart said, “Wow… strong heart!”

Indeed… resistance training makes it so.

Before I left, after the scare went away, I asked the doctor his opinion on my dietary plan. “Well, obviously you are very lean and in fantastic shape for a man of any age.”

Thanks doc, but I wasn’t fishing for a compliment!  Since this was a heart doctor I was curious as to his thoughts.

“If you had heart disease, or if you want to prevent it, this is the exact dietary plan I would recommend.”

While I expected to hear this, it was still music to my ears.

So, my higher-than-normal dietary fat and protein, lower-carb, and relatively frequent “fun food” dietplan is “ideal” to combat heart disease according to the good doc. And according to my family doctor.

Nice to know.

Read more about my plan here…

click—–>  How To Eat Your Favorite Foods And Drop Bodyfat

Remember:  A good dietplan and exercise is not always sufficient to keep you disease-freee… but I love what the doctor told me.  “People who exercise and eat like you LIVE through it and recover much faster.”

Fortunately I didn’t have a nasty virus to recover from… but if I did, I know my condition would have helped me do just that.

Waking up productive with a clear mind will enhance your way of thinking and help you to move more efficiently through the tasks you have set before you.

When your mind is clear of all the clutter that does not need to be in the forefront of your thoughts you can absorb new information that will increase your production.

It is always a great idea to meditate and do some breathing exercises to clear out and filter the junk that you don’t need to keep stored in your brain. Get rid of the thoughts that are not needed first. Just get into that zen state and release the convoluted thoughts that sneak in throughout your day. One negative thought can disrupt your balance for peace, productiveness and prosperity.

Here is a great tip to get your mind clear and ready for a productive day.

Before you get ready to call it a night and get into sleep mode take all of the thoughts and information you have stored in your mind though the day and write them out on a note pad or type them in a word doc or what ever it is you personally like to use to transfer thought to written text. What this will do for you is allow your mind to have peace in knowing you will not lose the important information you want to keep.

Image via Wikipedia

It is written down and documented so you can stop worrying about making sure you remember it. It is now out of your mind yet readily available when you need it.  Writing and transferring your thoughts also stimulates your brain and opens up the possibilities for new thought and creativity.

Try this tonight and wake up productive with a clear mind!

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We all get those nasty little blocks every now and again and when it happens it can be frustrating at best.

So what do you do when it creeps up and knocks you off kilter?

There have been several wonderful articles written on “How To Bust Through Your Mental Blocks” but from my research on the subject, I have found that there are some missing links in a lot information that is given.

A couple of things I do personally when the block hits without warning is I stop everything. I mean literally completely stop…

I have leaned to notice the hit when it comes crashing in without an invite. Being aware of the small shut down can drastically increase the re-boot if you allow yourself to say the block is temporary and not fight it so hard.  Instead of struggling to try to remember what path and mind map you are on, it may be helpful to lay down your inner struggle and walk away from the blind spot.

Give your mind something refreshing to devour and let it do its thing. When your inner spirit decides it wants control, your mind can get confused over which functioning part of your body it really in charge here.

We are so complex that our minds are constantly in an attempt to use capacity that has not yet been tapped into. It is both bothersome and something to marvel at in a sense.

While I could go on and on about my own trip down this narrow wall of the brain buster and give out my advice but at the end of the day it really boils down to is this:

Breathing in life as it happens.

Stopping just long enough to let go of the ego that wants to fight the minds curiosity.

Feeding your brain the proper amount of water and nutrients it needs to function at its best.

I have included a link here that will take you to a site that has some cool ideas on brain power.

It’s pretty cool actually:Train Your Brain Clinically Proven Brain Fitness Programs from Posit Science

What is it in our brains that trips the trigger of procrastination?

If you stop and give yourself a few seconds to thinks about it, procrastination is usually activated by the fear factor.

Of course we are not talking about the boogie man here, we are talking about the fear of screwing something up or the fear of not being smart enough, talented enough, educated enough or even good looking enough as you see yourself.

While these thoughts can fester in our psyche, it is imperative that we learn to remove them as soon as they start moving in for the kill.

There is also the possibility of just having too many things on your plate or simply just not being interested in completing a task due to fatigue or maybe plain ol’ laziness..

When procrastination starts weaving it’s ugly little character into our thought process, it can either take over or be demolished within a matter of seconds.

It is up to you to GET RID OF IT as soon as you feel it creeping in and attempting to activate itself.

Here are 7 steps you can take now to stop Procrastination Activation!

Step 1:
Remove all clutter from the area you are working in. This is not limited to your desk, counter or any other hard surface. You need to remove the clutter from your mind as well.

Step 2:
Take a few minutes to clear your mind of all thoughts. Close your eyes and just breath. Listen to the sound only from your breathing pattern and embrace the life you have been given. “It is a Gift.”

Step 3:

Take the very first real thought of completion on a project you have in your mind and immediately put it into movement or action. Do not allow yourself to get sidetracked not even for a second. Focus on real time as it is happening, not on what is going to happen. “That will take care of itself.”

Step 4:
Allow yourself to do what your current focus is; to flow and let your inner self be creative and without care of what others may think.

Step 5:
Let your mind be completely open to both acceptance as well as rejection without differentiating the two. “Here you will find pure balance from within.”

Step 6:
Stay in the groove of your zone by focusing only on the task at hand. “When you are near completion you will want to race to get to the finish line and start the next movement or action.”

Step 7:
Give yourself a moment for gratitude and move on to the next wonderful creation you can share with yourself, your family and your friends.

HAVE A PRODUCTIVE DAY!

-Rhonda Giarraffa-

Ask yourself this question every time you are feeling overwhelmed and chances are you will keep coming to the same conclusion.

The Big Question:

Why is it that I never have enough time to get every thing done that I have on my list?

The Big Answer:

You are getting in your own way!

So what exactly does that mean and how exactly do you knock it off?

GETTING IN YOUR OWN WAY 101:

OVER COMMITTING
OVER CONTROLLING
OVER ANALYZING

We are going to pluck these off one by one so you can get back on track.

Over Committing:

No it’s not the same as staying committed.

Over committing is usually brought on by ego, guilt or fear (unfortunately.)

We’ll get the big fat ego out of the way first. You will notice it will come up few times in my writings.
EGO:
The ego in us will lead us to believe we are much bigger than we really are. It will put us at the top of the hill and then pitch us right back off of it when we are not paying attention to it. It’s an evil little word with a wicked backlash.

Our ego will make us over commit in an effort to have ourselves and others believe we are GREAT! Oh the gut wrench when we run out of time or forget to do that other thing we were supposed to do.
GUILT:

The guilt factor is another reason for over committing. This can be brought on by feeling obligated internally or from someone else that is placing guilt on us to do something for them right away when we really do not have the time to do it. It’s a bear to deal with and you need to learn how to say no to it.

FEAR:

This is one more tiny little thing that will put you in a position to over commit. The fear of losing your position, the fear of losing a client, the fear of losing a relationship or even the fear of losing your ego. OUCH!

OVER CONTROLLING:

This is a good one but not for everyone. There are just certain people that have  over controlling personalities and characteristics.

It’s a very tough battle to get through because this is really the mac daddy of ego to say the least. So what makes certain people over controlling?

Here it comes again. EGO,GUILT and FEAR

To have this type of control is mandatory with some people. It is the foundation that has a special type of safety attached to it. Being in control means never being vulnerable or open to pain and heart ache and is always on the top of everything or so it seems to the controller at hand.

OVER ANALYZING:

This one can set you back so far that you may never accomplish anything completely.
It will take the very breath out of what could have been a wonderful experience and drown it in doubt.

While ego and guilt do not seem to be the root of this issue; fear definitely plays a role here. Those who over analyze usually do it out of the fear of missing something or risking the chance of imperfection that may ultimately reflect a flaw in ones prideful perfection.

Hm mm, sounds like ego does slip in on this at the end of the day. Oh and guilt of putting less than perfect out there, slides in again as well.

Can you see the cycle here?

Lets make a really big effort to get you on track, organized and free of this problem.

This can be simple if you give yourself permission to drop the baggage you carry around with you and just start moving forward.

Drop the EGO Drop the Guilt and Drop the FEAR:

Over Committing:

Stop doing it! Take your time and schedule it out in specific,targeted frames.

If you plan to accomplish a task within a given amount of time that you have scheduled, stick to that time frame. Do everything in your power to not go over it. What this will do is give you a better focus on your task at hand. When you dedicate yourself to completion of a project and focus only on that project, chances are you will complete it in the time given. Be careful on giving yourself too much wiggle room in your time schedule or you may get yourself in a situation of procrastinating purely because you can tell yourself you have plenty of time. Act as if you have less time than scheduled and watch how fast you will get things done.

Do not allow interruptions unless it is an absolute emergency. Do not stop to check emails,telephone calls or text messages.

Do not stop to call a friend or colleague for advice that will lead into conversation of frivolous content. If you get stuck and need help with a stumbling block you may come across, get the information quickly from someone that can give it to you and cut it off at that. Of course always express your gratitude for the time they have taken to help but let them know up front you are on a time crunch and are looking for something specific they have the knowledge in you are seeking. Get it and keep going.

Do not allow anyone to believe you can take on an extra task if you know it will put you in a pinch. This is not good for them and it is not good for you. To have to apologize for biting off more than you can chew will only put that feeling of guilt on your shoulders.

OVER CONTROLLING:

Give yourself a break!

Allow others to shine for a change. When you give up the over controlling personality and pass the torch to someone else, you are giving so much more that you could ever imagine.

Stop and breath enough to let someone else create. If that person is not doing exactly as you would do it. GOOD FOR THEM! You may just learn something new…Now, if there is a mistake on that persons part, bring it to their attention and praise that person for a job well done but work with them to understand the reason something may not be correct and let them continue on with the task. Don’t grab it away from them out of ego and tell yourself how much better you can do it yourself. That action would be the beginning of animosity and a deteriorated relationship that could have otherwise been beneficial to both. It will also keep you from doing other important things with your time. Of course at the end of the day if you do have someone else working on a task for you and the skill level is just not there with the individual that is assigned to the task at hand, offer that person your apologies and get someone that has the right level of skill for the task. Do no keep yourself or others in the position of uncomfortable situations. Again, express gratitude for the work but you must stop the bleeding as quickly as possible.

This is not being controlling, it is being responsible for your time and respectful to the time of others.

OVER ANALYZING:

While it is good to analyze, over analyzing will keep you from accomplishing something that would have taken much less time and money. Your time is worth many things. But the old saying hold true. “TIME IS MONEY” The faster you can act on something and make a decision the faster you will earn income. Over analyzing can also lead to procrastination. Take a chance! There is a reason BETA versions are released. They are not perfect in any way shape or form but they are still released. I am not saying you should simply toss caution to the wind. What I am saying is that some of the largest companies in the world do everything they can to give their very best and even that may not be good enough for some. You are no different. You will never be as perfect as you would like to be and neither will anything else on this earth aside from nature. It can be perfectly formed or perfectly deformed.

To analyze is awesome! To over analyze is detrimental. Home in on what it is you need to do, get your self line up to take action and just take action. Get the job done weather it is perfect or not. Weather you got the best price or not. Weather you found just the right words or not. Finish the task and then go back and fix what you need to. At least get Beta 1 completed. Then go back and review to see how or what you need to fix if anything at all.

Start putting this mind set in to action today and you will begin to see a change in your daily behaviour and accomplishments.

Have a Successful Day!

Rhonda Giarraffa

Why is it that some folks can jump out of bed in the morning like a spring chicken and others get all slugish and and feel like they have a ton of bricks is on their shoulders?

Well it can be as easy as how well you train that brain of yours.

While I won’t claim to be a brain specialist of any sort, I will let you in on my own personal habits I hold to keep my brain exercised and productive. But before we get to that, let me tell you a little story.

I have been guilty of being a couch potato at one small point in my life years ago. What I started realizing is that my memory was in the territory of CRS syndrome. I was not as enthusiastic when I got up in the morning and was really losing my edge.

It really hit me hard when I found that I could remember what the last episode of Oprah was about but I couldn’t for the life of me remember scheduled meetings or even where I put my shoes.

I was at the bottom of the bottom as far as having a healthy brain goes.

I started doing some research on what would cause the fatigue I was going through. I was young, healthy, had a thriving business that allowed me to take breaks whenever I wanted….WHOA stop the car!

Yep, I took breaks whenever I wanted and I was so bored on those breaks that I would veg in front of the “Boob Tube”!

Ah Ha…

There lies the golden cracked egg that lowered my energy, my will and finally my productivity.

Fortunately this did not last for too long. I learned at that point I was turning my brain to nothing more that a big bowl of mush and had to train my brain to snap back into the healthy condition it was in before my little set back.

This happens to the best of us at time or another in our lives. I am cetain of that. I have talked to many people about it and get the same response every time. “I have totally been there” Some still are and are happy with the new mush bowl. However if it is productivity you are after and te want to get yourself back to where you were when you were at your high point in life, you absolutely want to get that brain going in the right direction. Once you do, you willbe jumping right back out of that bed in the morning full of life and excitement for what the day will give to you.

Here are a few little execises I have learned to help keep stimulated throughout the day!

1. Go for a brisk walk. This will pump that much needed oxegyn to the brain.
2. Switch hands while using the mouse for your computor.
3. Go somewhere you have not been before, even if it’s a differnet grocery store or coffee shop.
4. Read something completely unrelated to your daily life. “This is one of my favorites simply for the fact that that I am learning something new all the time and it really get the thought processes going.
I have actually created more money making opportunities while doing this that anything.
It’s really cool.”

There are also some cool games you can get into that will stimulate brain waves and get it trained and exercised at the same time.

I am checking into this one myself so I can do another blog on this.

Have A Productive Day!
Rhonda Giarraffa