Interesting article

*       1. Sleep less. This is one of the best investments you can make to
make your life more productive and rewarding. Most people do not need more
than 6 hours to maintain an excellent state of health. Try getting up one
hour earlier for 3-4 weeks and it will develop into a powerful habit.
Remember, it is the quality not the quantity of sleep that is important. And
just imagine having an extra 30 hours a month to spend on the things that are
important to you.



*       2. Set aside one hour every morning for personal development matters.
Meditate, visualize your day, read inspirational texts to set the tone of
your day, listen to motivational tapes or read great literature. Take this
quiet period to vitalize and energize your spirit for the productive day
ahead. Watch the sun rise once a week or be with nature. Starting the day off
well is a powerful strategy for self-renewal and personal effectiveness.



*       3. Do not allow those things that matter the most in your life be at
the mercy of activities that matter the least. Every day, take the time to
ask yourself the question "is this the best use of my time and energy?" Time
management is life management so guard your time with great care.



*       4. Remember that your expectations create your reality and life
pretty much sends you what you think and expect.



*       5. Always answer the phone with enthusiasm in your voice and show
your appreciation for the caller. Good phone manners are essential. To convey
authority on the line, stand up. This will instill further confidence in your
voice.



*       6. Throughout the day we all get inspiration and excellent ideas.
Capture them. Keep a set of cards (the size of business cards; available at
most stationary stores) in your wallet along with a pencil to jot down these
insights. When you get home, put the ideas in a central place such as a coil
notepad and review them from time to time. As noted by Oliver Wendell Holmes:
"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original
dimensions."



*       7. Set aside every Sunday evening for yourself and be strongly
disciplined with this habit. Use this period to plan your week, visualize
your encounters and what you want to achieve, to read new materials and
inspirational books, to listen to soft soothing music and to simply relax.
This habit will serve as your anchor to keep you focused, motivated and
effective throughout the coming week.



*       8. Always remember the key principle that the quality of your life is
the quality of your communication. This means the way you communicate with
others and, more importantly, the way you communicate with yourself. What you
focus on is what you get. If you look for the positive this is what you get.
This is a fundamental law of Nature.



*       9. Stay on purpose, not on outcome. In other words, do the task
because it is what you love to do or because it will help someone or is a
valuable exercise. Don't do it for the money or the recognition. Those will
come naturally. This is the way of the world.



*       10. Laugh for five minutes in the mirror each morning. Steve Martin
does. Laughter activates many beneficial chemicals within the body that place
us into a very joyous state. Laughter also returns the body to a state of
balance. Laughter therapy has been regularly used to heal persons with varied
ailments and is a wonderful tonic for life's ills. While the average 4 year
old laughs 500 times a day, the average adult is lucky to laugh 15 times a
day. Revitalize the habit of laughter, it will put far more living into your
life.



*       11. Light a candle beside you when you are reading in the evening. It
is most relaxing and creates a wonderful, soothing atmosphere. Make your home
an oasis from the frenzied world outside. Fill it with great music, great
books and great friends.



*       12. To enhance your concentration and powers of focus, count your
steps when you walk. This is a particularly strong technique. Take six steps
while taking a long inhale, hold your breath for another six steps, and then
exhale for six steps. If six steps is too long for the breaths, do whatever
you feel comfortable with. You will feel very alert, refreshed, internally
quiet and centered after this exercise. So many people allow their minds to
be filled with mental chatter. All peak performers appreciate the power of a
quiet, clear mind which will concentrate steadily on all important tasks.



*       13. Learn to meditate effectively. The mind is naturally a very noisy
machine which wants to move from one subject to another like an unchained
monkey. One must learn to restrain and discipline it if one is to achieve
anything of substance and to be peaceful. Meditation for twenty minutes in
the morning and twenty minutes in the evening will certainly provide you with
exceptional results if regularly practiced for six months. Learned sages of
the East have been advancing the many benefits of meditation for over 5000
years.



*       14. Learn to be still. The average person doesn't spend even 30
minutes a month in total silence and tranquility. Develop the skill of
sitting quietly, enjoying the powerful silence for at least ten minutes a
day. Simply think about what is important to you in your life. Reflect on
your mission. Silence indeed is golden. As the Zen master once said, it is
the space between the bars that holds the cage.



*       15. Enhance your will-power; it is likely one of the best training
programs you can invest in. All elite performers have high levels of
self-discipline. Here are some ideas to strengthen your will and become a
stronger person:
       a) Do not let your mind float like a piece of paper in the wind. Work
hard to keep it focused at all times. When doing a task, think of nothing
else. When walking to work, count the steps that it takes to get all the way
to the office. This is not easy but your mind will soon understand that you
hold its reins and not vice versa. Your mind must eventually become as still
as a candle flame in a corner where there is no draft.
       b) Your will is like a muscle. You must first exercise it and then
push before it gets stronger. This necessarily involves short term pain but
be assured that the improvements will come and will touch your character in a
most positive way. When you are hungry, wait another hour before your meal.
When you are laboring over a difficult task and your mind is prompting you to
pick up the latest magazine for a break or to get up and go talk to a friend,
curb the impulse. Soon you will be able to sit for hours in a precisely
concentrated state. Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest classical
physicists the world has produced, once said: "if I have done the public any
service, it is due to patient thought." Newton had a remarkable ability to
sit quietly and think without interruption for very long periods of time. If
he can develop this so can you.
       c) You can also build your will-power by restraint in your conduct
with others. Speak less (use the 60/40 Rule = listen 60% of the time and
speak a mere 40%, if that). This will not only make you more popular but you
will learn much wisdom as everyone we meet, every day has something to teach
us. Also restrain the urge to gossip or to condemn someone who you feel has
made a mistake. Stop complaining and develop a cheerful, vital and strong
personality. You will greatly influence others.
       d) When a negative thought comes to your mind, immediately replace it
with one that is positive. Positive always dominates over the negative and
your mind has to be conditioned to think only the best thoughts. Negative
thinking is a conditioned process whereby the negative patterns are
established over and over. Rid yourself of any limitations and become a
powerful positive thinker.



*       16. Make an effort to be humorous throughout the day. Not only is it
beneficial from a physical viewpoint but it diffuses tension in difficult
circumstances and creates an excellent atmosphere wherever you are. It was
recently reported that members of the Tauripan tribe of South America have a
ritual where they awake in the middle of the night to tell each other jokes.
Even tribesmen in the deepest sleep wake to enjoy the laugh and then return
to their state of slumber in seconds. The shortest distance between two human
beings is laughter.



*       17. Become a highly disciplined time manager. There are roughly 168
hours in a week. This surely allows plenty of time for achievement of the
many goals we desire to accomplish. Be ruthless with your time. Set aside a
few minutes each morning to plan your day. Plan around your priorities and
focus on not only those tasks which are immediate but not important (i.e.,
many telephone calls) but especially on those which are important but not
urgent, for these allow for the greatest personal and professional
development. Important but not immediate activities are those which produce
long-term, sustainable benefits and include exercise, strategic planning, the
development of relationships and professional education. Never let the things
which matter most be placed in the backseat as compared to those that matter
least.



*       18. You become who you drink coffee with. Associate only with
positive, focused people who you can learn from and who will not drain your
valuable energy with complaining and uninspiring attitudes. By developing
relationships with those committed to constant improvement and the pursuit of
the best that life has to offer, you will have plenty of company on your path
to the top of whatever mountain you seek to climb.



*       19. Stephen Hawking, one of the great modern physicists of the world,
is reported to have said that we are on a minor planet of a very average star
located within the outer limits of one of a hundred thousand million
galaxies. Are your problems really significant in light of this? You walk
this Earth for but a short time. Why not become devoted to having only a
wonderful experience. Why not dedicate yourself to leaving a powerful legacy
to the world? Sit down now and write out a list of all that you have in your
life. Start first with your health or your family - the things we often take
for granted. Put down the country we live in and the food we eat. Do not stop
until you have written down fifty items. Once every few days, go through this
list - you will be uplifted and recognize the richness of your existence.



*       20. You must have a personal philosophy in life. This is simply a set
of guiding principles which clearly state where you are going and where you
want to be at the end of your life. A mission statement embodies your values.
It is your personal lighthouse keeping you steadily on the course of your
dreams. Over a period of one month, set a few hours aside to write down five
or ten principles which will govern your life and which will keep you focused
at all times. Examples might be to consistently serve others, to be a
considerate citizen, to become highly wealthy or to serve as a powerful
leader. Whatever the mission statement of your life, refine it and review it
regularly. Then when something adverse happens or someone tries to pull you
off course, you quickly and precisely return to your chosen path with the
full knowledge that you are moving in the direction that you have selected.



*       21. No one can insult or hurt you without your permission. One of the
golden keys to happiness and great success is the way you interpret events
which unfold before you. Highly successful people are master interpreters.
People who have attained greatness have an ability which they have developed
to interpret negative or disempowering events as positive challenges which
will assist them in growing and moving even farther up the ladder of success.
There are no negative experiences only experiences which aid in your
development and toughen your character so that you may soar to new heights.
There are no failures, only lessons.



*       22. Take a speed reading course. Reading is a powerful way to gain
many years of experience from a few hours of study. For example, most
biographies reflect the strategies and philosophies of great leaders or
courageous individuals. Read them and model them. Speed reading will allow
you to digest large quantities of material in relatively small periods of
time.



*       23. Remember people's names and treat everyone well. This habit,
along with enthusiasm, is one of the great success secrets. Everyone in this
world wears an imaginary button that screams out "I WANT TO FEEL IMPORTANT
AND APPRECIATED!". Leave people better than you found them and just watch
your own life change.



*       24. Be soft as a flower when it comes to kindness but tough as
thunder when it comes to principle. Be courteous and polite at all times but
never be pushed around. Ensure that you are always treated with respect.



*       25. Do something each day to improve yourself and your life. Even a
daily enhancement of only 1% will lead to a 30% improvement just four weeks
from today.



*       26. Be truthful, patient, persevering, modest and generous. And be
the kindest person you know.



*       27. Soak in a warm bath at the end of a long, productive day. Reward
yourself for even the smallest of achievement. Take time out for renewal of
your mind, body and spirit. Soon all your more important goals will be met
and you will move to the next level of peak performance.



*       28. Learn the power of breathing and its relationship with your
energy source. The mind is intimately connected with your breathing. For
example, when the mind is agitated, your breathing becomes quick and shallow.
When you are relaxed and focused, your breathing is deep and calm. By
practicing deep, abdominal breathing, you will develop a calm, serene
demeanor that will remain cool in the hottest of circumstances. Remember the
rule of the Eastern mountain men: "to breathe properly is to live properly."



*       29. Recognize and cultivate the power of self-suggestion. It works
and is an essential tool in maintaining peak performance. We are all
performers in one way or another and it is particularly valuable to use such
techniques of athletes and public figures for our own enhancement. If you
want to become more enthusiastic, repeat "I am more enthusiastic today and am
improving this trait daily". Repeat it over and over. Purchase a legal
notepad and write out this mantra 500 times. Do it for three weeks with
regular practice and feel that this quality is developing. Very soon it will
come. This is a strategy that Indian sages have employed for thousands of
years to aid their spiritual and mental development. Do not be discouraged if
the results are not immediate, they will certainly develop. The spoken word
is a powerful influencer of the mind.



*       30. Maintain a journal to measure your progress and to express your
thoughts. Writing out not only your successes but your troubles is one of the
world's most effective methods of erasing the worry habit, staying in optimum
state and developing precision of thought. Your life is worth living so your
life is worth recording.



*       31. Stress is simply a response which you create in the
interpretation of an event. You see the world - not as it is but as you are.
Two people might find that a given event results in quite different
responses. For example, an after dinner speech might strike fear into the
heart of an inexperienced speaker while a strong orator views it as a
wonderful opportunity to share his thoughts. Understanding that the perceived
negative effects of an event or task may be mentally manipulated and
conditioned towards the positive, will allow you to be a peak performer in
all instances.



*       32. Read "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen
Covey. It contains a wealth of wisdom and powerful insights into further
developing your character and enhancing your personal relationships.



*       33. Become a committed learning CD user. Most personal-mastery
programs and bestselling business books are now offered in this format.
Listen to these inspirational materials on your way to work, whilst waiting
in the line at a bank or while you wash dishes in the evening. Make your car
a college on wheels and use the drive time to make knowledge your best
friend. All down time can be very effectively used in this productive
fashion. Use such opportunities to learn and continually expand your mind and
its vast potential. All it takes is one big ideas to transform your life.



*       34. Try fasting one day every two weeks. During these fast days,
drink fruit juice and eat fresh fruits only. You will feel more energetic,
cleansed and alert. Fasting also has a salutary effect on your will-power as
you are subverting the otherwise pressing impulses in your mind calling on
you to eat more. And it will give your digestive system a much-needed break.



*       35. Keep a CD player at your office and listen to soft, soothing
music throughout the day. Place pleasant scents and inspirational pictures in
your workplace. By the magic of association, your work will become something
you enjoy even more and arouse a very pleasant feeling within you. Budget
your time on trips such that you can spend half an hour in the airport
bookstore. They always contain the latest and best self-mastery books and
tapes given that those who travel by air are of a group that finds value in
these materials.



*       36. Read "As a Man Thinketh" by James Allen. And don't just read this
little book once, read it over and over again. It contains an abundance of
timeless wisdom on living a fuller and happier life.



*       37. Remember that forgiveness is a virtue that few develop, but one
that is most important to maintaining peace of mind. Mark Twain wrote that
forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed
it. Practice forgiveness especially in those situations where it is seemingly
difficult. By using your emotional forgiveness muscles more regularly, petty
wrongs, remarks and slights will not touch you and nothing will penetrate
your concentrated, serene mindset.



*       38. Empty your cup. A full cup cannot accept anything more.
Similarly, a person who believes that he cannot learn anything else will
stagnate quickly and not move to higher levels. A true sign of a secure,
mature individual is someone who sees every opportunity as a chance to learn.
Even the teachers have teachers.



*       39. The Two Minute Mind is an excellent exercise for developing
concentration. Simply stare at the second hand on your wristwatch for two
minutes and think about nothing else for that time. At first your mind will
wander but after 21 days of practice, your attention will not waver during
the routine. One of the greatest qualities a person can develop to ensure his
success is the ability to focus for extended periods of time. Learn to build
up your concentration muscles and no task will be too difficult for you.



*       40. Drink a cup of warm water before a speech. Ronald Reagan employed
this strategy to ensure that he maintained his honey-smooth voice. Mastery of
the art of public speaking is a noble goal. So dedicate yourself to it. You
will be judged by the caliber of your communication skills.



*       41. When you stand and meet someone, stand firm and steadfast. A
telling sign of an unfocused, weak mind is constant fidgeting, shifting of
the eyes and shallow breathing.



*       42. Act strong and you will be strong. Have courage and inspire
others with your actions. But always be considerate.



*       43. Ask not what this world can give you but, rather, what you can
give to this world. Make service an important goal in your life. It is a most
fulfilling investment of time. Remember, in the twilight of your life, when
all is said and done, the quality of your life boils down to the quality of
your contribution to others. Leave a rich legacy for those around you to
savor. Sustained happiness does not come from what you get but from what you
give.



*       44. Once a week, rise at dawn. It is a magical time of day. Be still,
go for a walk or simply listen to an old Ella Fitzgerald recording. Take a
long, hot shower and do 100 pushups. Read one of the classics. You will feel
alive and invigorated. Getting up early builds self-discipline and
self-respect.



*       45. Your health is your wealth. Without excellent health, you have
nothing. Make being in world-class physical condition your number one
priority.



*       46. Master the art of public speaking. There are few natural
speakers. One great trial lawyer stammered dreadfully but through courage and
strength of conviction, he developed into a brilliant orator. Role model
anyone you think is a highly effective, influential communicator. Visualize a
picture of this person. Stand like him, smile like him, and talk like him.
The results will startle you.



*       47. Seek out leadership speakers committed to character training and
lifelong success. Make it a point to attend inspirational lectures each month
to consistently renew the importance of personal growth in your mind. In a
two hour seminar, you can learn powerful techniques and strategies that
others have spent many years learning and refining. Never feel that you have
no time for gathering new ideas, you are investing in yourself.



*       48. Read the wonderful book "Discovering Happiness" by Dennis Wholey.
It will certainly open up new horizons for you in your quest for an optimal
state of health and happiness.



*       49. To enhance your concentration, read a passage in a book you have
never explored. Then try to recite it verbatim. Practice this for only 5
minutes a day and enjoy the results which follow after a few months of
effort.



*       50. Try entering a 5 km running race and then a 10 km event. The
adrenaline that flows from the experience of racing with several hundred
other fitness-minded people is exhilarating. By constantly pushing the
envelope of your capacity, your potential will quickly unfold. Remember, the
body will give you only what you ask of it.

__________________________________
http://www.sanjaionline.blogspot.com/
http://groups.google.co.in/group/TamilaTamila
-----------------------------------------------------------