Personal Development Blog

I’ve just uploaded the three newest Chuck Gallozzi articles, who writes for our website.  If you subscribe to the newsletter (at http://personal-development.com) then you’ve already seen them.

 The first article on Life Planning discusses the importance of having a plan for your life, especially in the new year.  He lays out twelve specific tips for setting and achieving your goals.

The second article on Overcoming Bad Habits was in response to a reader question.  This reader was having a difficult time finding useful information on overcoming his bad habits, stating that “Self-help books aren’t geared towards the people that can’t find a way to help themselves.”

What is “Positive Thinking”? Is it doing Affirmations such as at Dailyaffirm.com? Or are Affirmations and positive thinking just self-delusional as stated at Steve Pavlina’s Blog?

My own thought is that both points of view have value depending on the circumstances. I believe the wrong type of Positive Thinking is where one is trying to force optimism which isn’t really there. Your emotions and thoughts are driven by your underlying beliefs and attitudes, and it’s those which must change. Trying to control your thoughts through Affirmations isn’t going to help unless you truly believe in the affirmations, and are using them as a means to remind yourself of what you have chosen to believe.

Time management can only be mastered by creating and using a key master list. Below are eight simple tips on creating your own key list in order to help increase your time and your productivity:

1. Avoid using small pads and make your list on a bigger sheet. With plenty of room there will be no reason to leave anything off of your list.
2. Write everything down. Even if it seems so small and unrelated. If it must be done, then get it on your list!
3. Use a legal pad for additional pages. Do not use single sheets of paper. Many times it takes a lot of items to list down when we really clear out our mind of things to do. It is vital to pour everything on paper.
4. Cross off completed tasks each time they are finished.
5. Prioritize your list from the most important to least important.
6. Schedule the most important items to be done first thing in the morning each day.
7. Avoid rewriting your list everyday. This is only a waste of time.
8. Understand that this list is not something that has to be done in one day. Your list may be something that can cover the entire week or even the entire month.

In almost 100% of the surveys in which teenagers said they felt smart about their money, they attributed much of their savvy to involvement of, and guidance by, parents who manage their money well and have financial goals themselves. In some cases, the parents of these teenage children were financial professionals in one way or another or owned their own business.

However, if you are not a financial or business professional then do not let that stop you. Simply let your children in on your financial life. Talk about how you manage your money, how you set financial goals, and ultimately how you achieve them. When you are balancing your checkbook, show your kids what you are doing. If you have a retirement plan or a business investment, show your teens what is in your account and how you are preparing them.