Procrastination can creep in and easily become a habit. Once it does, it erodes your capacity to function effectively. But it can be a hard habit to break. However, with some honest self-assessment and an organized and attainable plan of attack, it can be overcome successfully.

Be gentle with yourself when you decide to try and kick the procrastination habit. It may be so ingrained that you don’t fully recognize all the ways you actually procrastinate. Start out by taking a large or complicated task and breaking it down into smaller parts that you can accomplish easier. It’s important to bear in mind that the most difficult or complex tasks are simply just a series of smaller jobs.

Make a verbal commitment to someone else about improving your time management skills and your desire to avoid procrastinating. Allow others to become involved in your efforts by reviewing your progress, helping you set deadlines or evaluating your results can be very helpful. This will most likely create a commitment on your part to fulfill the expectations they’ve set for you.

Sit down and map out a plan to manage your time more effectively. When a deadline is looming, make sure you allot time each day to work on the project so it doesn’t sneak up on you in the final hours or days. Learn to ask for help when you’re feeling overwhelmed or overworked.

Reward yourself for good behavior and accomplished goals. Don’t wait until you’ve accomplished the ultimate goal, but reward yourself for your successes along the way. Make sure the reward is something you like to do. Treat yourself to the newest book by your favorite author and take the time to read it. Indulge in bubble baths or relaxing music. If you’ve gotten into the habit of working late, make sure you develop a new habit of going home on time each night.

By making a commitment to avoid the avoiding habit, you’ll soon be well on your way to finding more time and find yourself more relaxed and productive and less stressed in the process.

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Tags:less stress,procrastination,feng shui

Planning your workday actually starts the previous evening. Take a few moments before you leave work to jot down important meetings, phone calls that need to be made or returned, ideas or concerns that need to be discussed with your supervisors or co-workers, or other notes to yourself about projects you’re working on or clients you’re currently working with. That way, it’ll be right there for you to see the next morning, and it’ll make getting into the swing of things much easier.

You should stay on top of your both your desktop and electronic inboxes. Check e-mail when you arrive, and immediately sort each message into an appropriate folder. Even if you don’t have time to deal with the contents of a message or even read it fully, sort it for later action. Sort through and organize regular mail and correspondence as well, and organize into piles for later action if necessary. Make sure you come back to these at the end of the day and take any appropriate action or you can at that time. Try to make it a habit of responding promptly to all mail requesting a timely response. Check through these inboxes during the course of the workday as well.

Return or make your most urgent and important phone calls early in the day. Like you, most people are more likely to be at their desks during this time.

Get in tuned with your personal energy level and schedule. If you have more energy at the beginning of the day, tackle your toughest projects then. If your energy level dips after lunch, take care of filing, e-mailing or other general tasks at this time.

At the end of the day, return to your checklist and prepare for tomorrow. Review your checklist and cross off completed items. Move any pending items to tomorrow’s to-do list.

Utilize both an electronic and wall or desk calendar to keep track of deadlines, meetings, and appointments. If your day allows, try to work on those long-term projects a bit so that as their deadlines approach you won’t feel so pressured or rushed.

Most importantly, take a break. Don’t get into the habit of having your lunch at your desk or cutting your breaks short. A walk during your break and time away from your desk to recharge are probably the most important things you can do for yourself to recharge your battery, clear your mind and prepare to tackle the tasks at hand more productively and efficiently.

Recommended Audio Book, How To Work From Home As A Freelancer

Tags:feng shui,work,work from home

The should first sit down with your family at a meeting and find out what activities and parties they are involved in during the season. If there are rehearsals for the church pageant, choir practice, or volunteer work activities, make sure you incorporate them all into your family schedule. Be sure to factor in time off that you’ve taken during the holiday season so that if they need an extra set of hands to help out at the church’s bake sale, you’ll know at a glance whether or not you can help out.

That being said, the next step is to ensure you’re not spreading yourself or your family too thin. Don’t commit to more parties than you can attend, or be coaxed into hosting your own holiday event if you simply don’t have the time. Once you’ve established your schedule with your family, do not make any changes, additions, or revisions to it without consulting them first. If you’re stretched too thin, chances are they will be as well since you’ll be unavailable to them.

– editor’s note —

Christmas Present by Jacquelyn Mitchard

A fourteenth wedding anniversary is nothing to sneeze at, Elliott Banner knows, but it’s not exactly a landmark year, like fifteen — or twenty, when he’ll take his wife, Laura, to Paris. But when a headache on the drive home from their anniversary date — two days before Christmas — turns out to be more than a migraine, he wishes he had celebrated every year as though it were their last.

In this poignant, touching, uplifting story, a woman calmly gathers her family around her during the Christmas holiday, to celebrate their lives together — both past and future — and to truly count their blessings. A family history unfolds in a single night in this deeply affecting story that speaks volumes about love, trust, and letting go — a perfect holiday read that underscores the true meaning of the season.

—-

Successful holiday shopping involves careful and methodical planning. A concise and specific list can save you both time and money. Remember too, the season is about togetherness and the spirit of the season, and not about how much you maxed out your credit cards by. Stick to your list and you’ll stick within your budget guidelines as well.

Keep your holiday decorating simple and minimal. Ornate displays can quickly consume your valuable time. If you do choose to decorate big this season, make sure you’ve planned for it in advance and completed it before things kick into high gear such as parties, caroling and shopping.

Santa’s got his list of who’s naughty and who’s nice. Organize and plan wisely so that you won’t become stressed and end up on the wrong side of Santa’s list this year.

Tags:Feng Shui,holiday shopping,holiday decorating

Months prior to your move, sort through your belongings and get rid of those things you’re not using or really don’t need. Excess clothing, small appliances, kitchen utensils, and other household goods can either be donated or sold at a yard sale. But the less you have to deal with on moving day, the smoother things will go. Besides, paying shipping on things you don’t need only wastes your money.

Always get an onsite estimate. The relocation consultant will prepare an estimate in writing and submit it to you. They will be able to tell you how much moving supplies cost, and you can make arrangements to order them at this time. If you order too many, most moving companies will give you a refund on those supplies you don’t use.

—-> editors note

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Like many other industries, the moving industry has their busy and their slow seasons. The busy season for movers is during the summer. The beginning and the end of the month or end of the year holidays are extra busy for movers, also. The demand for moving equipment, vans, and personnel is heavy during these times, so try to plan your move during their slower periods.

If you decide to do your own packing, get packing supplies and start collecting strong boxes suitable for moving. Complete all packing by moving day. If your company is relocating you, find out what portion of your moving expense will be paid by your company. However, it’s important you understand your moving company’s policy regarding things that you’ve packed yourself. With some moving companies, they will not take responsibility for items they have not personally packed.

Obtain a written appraisal of antiques to verify their value. Do not retouch, wax or oil wood furniture before moving. Some products may soften the wood, making it vulnerable to imprinting from furniture pads.

Careful planning and some organized thought will pay big dividends in the end when your move is complete.

Tags:feng shui,alternative medicine

feng shui

Attractive Arrangement of your Furniture Enhances your Room’s DÈcor

Arranging the furniture in the right manner ensures that the room area is efficiently used. A clever furniture arrangement can also highlight a favorite piece of furniture. However, figuring out the best way to utilize space and create a comfortable atmosphere can be a difficult chore. But with some planning and creativity, it can be accomplished easier than you think.

Before you move anything, you have to decide what the focal point of the room is going to be. Focus your efforts around that location or item. Before arranging furniture in the room, decide on what will be the focus of the room. Center your furniture arrangement around that focal point. It can be anything; a fireplace, a picture window, a home entertainment center or a wall painting.

Chairs should be placed within about eight feet of each other to encourage conversation. Position a table in such a way that it is easily accessible from every chair. Keep a light source near the seating area. Coffee tables should have a clearance of about 14 to 18 inches from the sofa. Side tables should be at least as tall as the arm of the chairs or sofa to make serving easy and discourage accidental spills. When arranging furniture, make sure you provide enough space to move around the room.

In a multipurpose room, arrange furniture in a way that you divide the room into separate living and dining spaces. A strategically placed screen or curtains hung from the ceiling are simple and inexpensive ways to accomplish this. Make sure the room stays balanced and that the sections or divisions don’t fight one another. Area rugs are a great way to define areas and groupings. Small pieces can easily get lost in a large room, so be sure to group them with larger elements.

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Feng shui,window treatment

If you’re looking into adding some fresh decorative touches to your home, a good place to start is with your window treatments. But it can be a bit daunting to your budget to purchase window treatments for an entire room. However, there are many window treatment options available that you can do yourself, and you never even have to pick up a needle or thread a sewing machine. With a little imagination and some simple connectors, any piece of fabric can easily and quickly be transformed into a window treatment. So find a fabric that suits your home dÈcor and personal style, and choose something that already has finished edges, such as a vintage linen or printed sheet. Then choose a grommet, clip, hook, or cord to hang it with, and you’ll have a beautifully simple and inexpensive window treatment that reflects your personal style and creativity.

Grommets, slipped over wall hooks, produce a simple, crisp window treatment. Generally, a hammer and a grommet tool works at least as well for setting just a few grommets. The grommet prevents the hook from tearing through the hole. You can thread rayon cording through grommets and tie behind the grommets to create loops to hang from a wooden dowel or hooks above the window.

There are also stylish clips that can be found at flea markets and antique stores that simply latch onto the fabric. Home decorating and import stores also carry clip-on rings to hang curtains from.

You can even use buttons on curtains. Simply thread fine wire through the holes and sections of ribbon and simply twist the wire on the back side to create simple ribbon loops to hang the curtain with.

Let your creativity be your guide, and you can craft window treatments that reflect your personality and style. You’re only limited by your own imagination.

Feng shui traditions tell us that by changing your environment to reflect your desire for something, you can improve you chances of getting it.  This means that you can use feng shui techniques to try to attract love, to try and push your earning power to the next level, or to .  There are many different theories as to why, and how, feng shui works.  Whether you think one or all of these theories are true, or not, what their sum total adds up to is that if you employ feng shui in an attempt to get love or money, you just might be taking the first step towards success.

Feng shui may work because it changes your expectations for yourself.  The moment you hang an object on the wall that you’ve been told will help you find love, you will expect that you will meet someone special.  This may make you open to conversations with new people, or more optimistic about your chances of connecting with a stranger.  These factors increase the likelihood that you will fall in love after you put feng shui practices into place.  So, even if the reason that feng shui helps you find love isn’t so much spiritual as it is psychological, it is hard to contest the fact that feng shui is responsible for your new romance.

Another reason that feng shui can be a great technique is that it continually reminds you of where you want to go.  This may motivate you to take steps to fulfill your dreams.  By putting a symbol of what you want in plain view of yourself and others, you are making it impossible to forget your goals.  A daily reminder of what you desire to achieve can help you stay motivated as you struggle to fulfill that aim.

Many psychological experts believe that just by definitively admitting and announcing that you desire to reach a goal, you are more likely to achieve it than someone who swallows their desire instead of expressing it.  This fact alone could explain why feng shui works.  By the time that you have learned what the feng shui approach to your situation would be, bought the necessary objects to practice that particular technique, and completed the process so that your environment reflects your goal, you will have made it thoroughly clear to yourself that you are committed to seeing your desire fulfilled, which can help you make your dreams come true.

Of course, there is always another possible explanation about why feng shui can change your life.  Perhaps the claims of feng shui, such as the idea that decorating a room in a certain way allows positive energy to flow freely throughout the environment, are actually true.  Whether you believe that the reason feng shui works has to do with your expectations and keeping you motivated, or if you believe it is related to the spiritual realm, there is one thing that you can be sure of.  You have nothing to lose by testing out feng shui works for you.

Further Reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui
http://www.webterrace.com/fengshui/

feng shui

Using feng shui principles to change the atmosphere of your office or desk area at work can help you do better work and get ahead in your career. Feng shui can help you make any environment more pleasant to spend time in, which means that you will feel happier at work after you apply feng shui than you are at work currently. When you are in a great mood, you will feel more energetic, and you will be more pleasant to be around. This can boost your productivity and your reputation at work. Feng shui can also help you to manage stress and tension so that you stay calm and relaxed even when confronted with difficult challenges.

Perhaps the most important benefit of using feng shui to improve the atmosphere of where you work is that the positive effect of feng shui may help you beat workplace-related depression, a serious problem that stops many potential business leaders in their tracks. Management experts predict that depression related to the workplace will prove to be an increasingly devastating problem. Some leaders in the field even believe that within the next two decades, the leading cause of lost workdays will be job-related depression. Feng shui principles can be a powerful tool to aid your career, as they help you maintain a positive, upbeat atmosphere at work. This effectively destroys the menace of work-related depression, leaving you free to excel at your job.

Feng shui is perfectly suited to the workplace because it promotes a clean, minimalist aesthetic that is completely at home in a professional context. If you are looking for a way to create a sophisticated look for your work environment, feng shui may be the answer because its visual appeal is as great as its effect on mood and temperament. An office area decorated according to fundamental feng shui principles of harmony and balance is sure to project an overall sense of order that will help you seem more professional to your colleagues, supervisors, and clients. When people expect you to be competent, you often rise to the challenge and surpass what you thought you were capable of. Feng shui’s tasteful aesthetic can help change how people perceive you, and encourage them to think of you in a more positive light so that you will be expected to excel.

When you spend a lot of time in an environment that follows feng shui principles of order and balance, you can achieve a consistent level of relaxation that will help you overcome tension and worry. By making your work environment a place where you feel calm because of the effect of feng shui, you will be doing your body and your mind a service by better managing your stress levels. Often, a large percentage of the stress in daily life has the workplace as its source, but it doesn’t always end when five o clock rolls around. By using feng shui at your job, you will be better able to remain calm through the working day and beyond.

Further Reading:
http://home.ivillage.com/decorating/fengshui/topics/0,,4tkd,00.html
http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Provenzale5.html

For over 3,000 years Chinese people have turned to the ancient wisdom of Feng Shui to achieve greater harmony in their environment, and in themselves. Today we are bombarded by constant stress. How often do you wait anxiously in traffic, scroll through seemingly endless pages of email, leap at the sound of the cell phone? We are all bombarded by the daily demands of work and family, housekeeping and leisure. The pressure of bills and bosses can leave anyone’s nerves feeling frayed, and all too often we have unfulfilled personal expectations for our lives on top of the stress of just getting through the day. The good news is, you can restore your energy, recharge yourself and release tension by utilizing Feng Shui to create a home that is a sanctuary.

The principles of Feng Shui can help you design an environment that creates and directs positive energy. You may not be aware of the ways your physical space is affecting your well-being. Feng Shui provides guidelines to help in identifying problems in your environment. If learning about Feng Shui sounds like one more project in an already busy life, consider that this is one project that will lighten your load, provide relief and enhance your energy, rather than drain your internal resources or tire you out.   This makes feng shui a truly worthy use of your time.

If your energy and your efforts are blocked, if your environment is contributing to your sense of restriction because the Feng Shui is not in balance, your stress only worsens. Scientists have demonstrated the negative effects of stress on the body. The overproduction of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline tax all of the systems in your body. These hormones contribute to the chronic conditions, like heart disease, that plague our society. And, excess stress wears down the immune system and leads to frequent colds and other aliments.

One of the keys to restoring energy and relieving stress is getting enough rest. Using Feng Shui to arrange your bedroom will help you get the sleep you need. Feng Shui will guide you in selecting the right room to sleep in, careful placement of your bed, eliminating mirrors in the bedroom, all of which will contribute to the quality of your rest and your waking energy.

Anxiety and stress trap and deplete energy. Feng Shui optimizes energy. An environment that employs proper Feng Shui principles contributes to harmony and well-being. The Chinese believe that Feng Shui helps create the conditions whereby you can thrive in your life and in your relationships.  Feng Shui helps restore your energy because the objective of Feng Shui is to allow you to achieve harmony through your surroundings.  You will learn how to place objects and arrange space so as to assist the flow of Chi energy. You will learn to leave negative energy at the door and fill your living space with good energy. With Feng Shui you can give yourself the positive pleasure of a harmonious, planned home environment designed to increase your well-being.

Further Reading:
http://www.alexstark.com/fengshui.html
http://ohmyapt.apartmentratings.com/feng-shui-design.html

feng shui