7 ways to improve YOU today

I think it’s a pretty safe assumption to say that your time is precious. Between work, school, errands, traffic, spending valuable time with your friends and family, finding time to eat, sleep, etc… you’re a very busy person and it can be hard to find time to work yourself.

But, I’m here to tell you there is a life hack to make sure you’re able to work on your personal growth while still accomplishing everything that has to be done.

Like most of my teachings, making sure you have time to work on yourself is a learnable skill… a habit… a discipline, and I have 7 easy disciplines for you to begin practicing and repeating daily to make personal growth a focus of your life. If you do this right, you will eventually make these disciplines into daily habits and upgrade yourself to new heights.

Here are the 7 disciplines:

Discipline #1: Goal Setting

Every morning, take 3 to 5 minutes to write out your top goals in the present tense. Get a notebook, notepad, or create a note on your mobile device solely for this purpose. By writing out your 10 goals at the beginning of each day, you will program them deep into your subconscious mind. It will stimulate your mind and make you more alert of the opportunities and possibilities that can move you more rapidly toward your goals.

Discipline #2: Planning and Organizing

Take a few minutes, preferably the night before, to plan out every activity of the coming day. Always work from a list and always think on paper. This is one of the most powerful and important disciplines of all for high performance and personal growth.

Discipline #3: Concentration on Highest-Value Activities

Your ability to work single-mindedly on your most important task will contribute as much to your success as any other discipline you can develop. Apply the 80/20 rule to everything — 20% of your activities will account for 80% of your results. You must adamantly refuse to work on tasks in the bottom 80% while you still have tasks in the top 20% left to be done.

Discipline #4: Exercise and Proper Nutrition

Your health is more important than anything else. By disciplining yourself to exercise regularly and eat carefully, you will promote the highest possible levels of health and fitness throughout your life. After all, you can’t have the energy to grow without the right fuel.

Discipline #5: Learning and Growth

Your mind is like a muscle. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field. Read books, listen to podcasts, attend workshops, etc.. I highly recommend taking a speed-reading course to get through more reading material in two hours a day than many people get through in a week.

Discipline #6: Time for Important People in Your Life

Relationships are everything. Be sure that in climbing the ladder of success, you do not find it leaning against the wrong building. Strong relationships with others are vital components for your personal growth. Build time for your them into every day, no matter how busy you get.

Discipline #7: Commitment to the 7 Disciplines

Lastly, you must study these 7 disciplines and then make a plan for how you can incorporate each of them into your daily life.

Individually, each of these 7 disciplines isn’t that big of an ask, but together they can equate to huge change. I suggest starting with one or two of the disciplines for a week and seeing how it goes. If it’s easy, then you can add another discipline. If it’s hard then stick with it until it becomes easy. The point is for you to take back control of your life.

To your growth,

From: Brian Tracy <newsletter@briantracyintl.com>

Advertisements

RINO and DINO

RINO & DINO

Republican In Name Only (RINO) is a pejorative term used by conservative members of the Republican Party of the United States to describe Republicans whose political views or actions they consider insufficiently conservative.

Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronny Reagan would all be RINOs today given the GOP leadership in congress. What ever happened to dealing and compromises to accomplish things in order be the leaders for all the people? Don’t get me wrong as there should be a number of DINOs along with fellow RINOs. The two-party system is currently failing us. Where are the deal makers today like the named presidents, and people like Howard Baker, Everett Dirksen and Sam Rayburn were in the past?

Conservatives would rather have a liberal Democrat in office than a moderate Republican. We can recall how badly the conservative Republican, Barry Goldwater lost in 1964 when Republican moderate Governors Nelson Rockefeller or William Scranton would have done much better and perhaps even won the election.

The Democrat party is the other extreme. California Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein, senator since 1992, is now being viewed as a DINO by her Democrat State Leadership. She is viewed as a DINO because she is not liberal enough and because of her attempts to work with the RINOs and other DINOs to get things done. I am wishing we had more RINOs and DINOs.

Another possible solution to the Washington log jam is if we had more major political parties and a coalition government. The creation of new parties; the Blue Dog Democrats (The Bulldog Party), the Ripon Society Republicans (The Lincoln Party), Ron Paul (The Isolationist Party), tea party (The Whig Party) could form a coalition government among themselves or with the Democrats (The Federalists Party) or the Republicans (The Tories Party) to run the USA. I would like to see three parties or more in the House and the Senate. Could be an improvement. Hard to imagine it being worse.

Meanwhile I will be a RINO and a member of The Lincoln Party.

Related blogs

Why Democrats are like Donkeys https://boydandnicholas.wordpress.com/2016/07/05/why-democrats-are-like-donkeys/

Why Cats Aren’t Republican          https://boydandnicholas.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/why-cats-arent-republican/

I want a Ménage a trpos https://boydandnicholas.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/i-want-a-menage-a-trois/

The Choice

https://youtu.be/ujk5O5onffI

 

Some inherit manly beauty,
Some come into worldly wealth;
Some have lofty sense of duty,
Others boast exultant health.
Though the pick may be confusing,
Health, wealth, charm or character,
If you had the chance of choosing
Which would you prefer?

I’m not sold on body beauty,
Though health I appreciate;
Character and sense of duty
I resign to Men of State.
I don’t need a heap of money;
Oh I know I’m hard to please.
Though to you it may seem funny,
I want none of these.

No, give me Imagination,
And the gift of weaving words
Into patterns of creation,
With the lilt of singing birds;
Passion and the power to show it,
Sense of life with love expressed:
Let my be a bloody poet,–
You can keep the rest.

 

Robert William Service

This is Happiness

My favorite thing in life is … Doing Nothing.

Doing Nothing is not laziness, inertia or lethargy.
It is not even necessarily the absence of activity.
Is it more like an attitude. A way of being.
An intimate and loving and slow relationship with life.

You can accomplish a lot when you’re Doing Nothing!
Because you’re doing what you’re doing with the fullness of your presence, with a deep sense of non-doing.
The thing you’re doing is the most fascinating thing in all the universe.
You are like a child, existing in wonder.
You’re letting life move through you.

In doing nothing, you may be doing a lot.
(Even though you’re Doing Nothing, and life is doing everything).

“You” may be writing a poem, or making pottery, or sitting drinking tea, or swimming in the ocean.
You may be compiling a report, or feeding the hungry, or researching a cure for cancer, or spending time with a beloved friend or relative.
But inside, there is great stillness.
Inside, there is contentment.
You know you are exactly where you are supposed to be.
And the goal is far less important than the journey.
And the miracle of existence itself
makes you so happy.

The mind may say,
“I’m accomplishing nothing here, what I’m doing has no value, I’m useless, a waste of space”.
The mind may run from the silence, the divine and timeless stillness at the heart of creation.
The mind may flee from what it perceives as nothingness and non-existence and loneliness and death.

But the heart, the heart rejoices in the very same stillness!
For it knows, your self-worth is not linked to your worldly accomplishments.
You are infinitely worthy because you exist.
You don’t need to do anything to prove your worth.
You are inherently lovable AS YOU ARE.

And free…
Free from the need to complete yourself in time.
Free from the need to be liked.
Free from the need to erase “unhappiness”.
Free from the need
to resolve this mystery called life.

This is happiness:
The absence of the one who seeks it.

– Jeff Foster

Forever Young

 

 

Forever Young Laura Branigan  7/3/1952 – 8/26/2004

“Forever Young”

Let’s dance in style let’s dance for a while

Heaven can wait we’re only watching the skies

Hoping for the best but expecting the worst

Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?

 

Let us die young or let us live forever

We don’t have the power but we never say never

Sitting in a sandpit life is a short trip

The music’s for the sad men

Can you imagine when the space is one

As we turn our faces into the sun

Praising our leaders we’re getting in tune

The music’s played by the mad men

 

Forever young

I want to be forever young

Do you really want to live forever?

Forever and ever

 

Forever young

I want to be forever young

Do you really want to live forever?

Forever, forever young

 

Some are like water some are like the heat

Some are the melody and some are the beat

Sooner or later they all will be gone

Why don’t they stay young?

It’s so hard to get old without a cause

I don’t want to perish like a fading horse

Youth’s like diamonds in the sun

And diamonds are forever

So many adventures couldn’t happen today

So many songs we forgot to play

So many dreams waiting out of the blue

We’ll let them come true

 

Forever young

I want to be forever young

Do you really want to live forever?

Forever and ever

 

Forever Young Laura Branigan  7/3/1952 – 8/26/2004

If

“If”
by Anne Dalke

Can you keep your heart wide open
When all about you are closing theirs?
Can you trust yourself when all doubt you,
But make allowance for doubts and cares?

Can you wait and not be tired by waiting,
And being injured, don’t hurt back?
Being talked about, don’t turn to baiting,
Hold friendship tightly, yet learn to tack ?

Can you dream–and not make dreams your mistress,
Can you think–and then revise that thought?
Can you meet with loss and not be listless,
Keep your temper when all’s come to naught?

Can you bear to hear what you have spoken
Twisted away from what you meant?
Or see what you’ve given your life to, broken,
And stoop and straighten what’s been bent?

Can you heap together all that matters,
And risk the whole on one coin toss?
See around you all in tatters,
Yet move beyond your pain and loss?

Can you gather life’s abundance
Without damage to the earth?
Use reason without redundance,
Without stinting joy or mirth?

Can you meet the day with expectation,
Yet not be discouraged when it falls short?
Can you greet the night without trepidation,
And welcome dreams of every sort?

Can you talk with others, yet hold your center,
Walk with others, yet keep your pace?
Know loving friends will hurt you, yet stay tender?
Then–may be–you’ll travel well through time and space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 19th Birthday Dear Granddaughter!

 

Follow the Flag

Follow the Flag

https://youtu.be/XjvKKGSkr8A

You can stand alone
Or with somebody else
Or stand with all of us, together
If you can believe
In something bigger than yourself
You can follow the flag forever

They say it’s just a dream
That dreamers dreamed
That it’s an empty thing that really has no meaning
They say it’s all a lie
But it’s not a lie
I’m going to follow the flag ’til I die

Into every life a little rain must fall
But it’s not gonna rain forever
You can rise above–you can rise above it all
We will follow the flag together
We will follow the flag together

Are You Going to Throw My Son Out of the Hospital?

By Marc Lichtenfeld, Chief Income Strategist, The Oxford Club

“You need to pay $500 today,” the voice on the phone demanded.

It was 7:30 in the morning. I was in a hospital room with my 6-year-old son. He’d just been admitted after spending all night in the emergency room. I was exhausted, stressed and not equipped to deal with a financial transaction.

I told the woman from the billing department that the hospital had my insurance information and I would pay anything that wasn’t covered after the bill was submitted to my health insurer. She insisted I had to pay a $500 deposit today.

“Are you going to throw my son out of the hospital if I don’t pay you $500 today?” I snapped, already knowing the answer to the question.

After a long pause, she said no.

“Then bill my insurance company,” I said and hung up.

It wasn’t the last time I battled healthcare staff over money they said I had to pay.

Just last week, the receptionist at my doctor’s office told me I had to pay $471.25 for my 10-minute visit. Again, I told her to bill my insurance company and I’d pay anything I owe after that.

While we bickered, she fiddled on her computer. After a few minutes, she exclaimed, “Oh, it looks like you don’t owe anything. Your insurance will cover it all.”

Getting healthcare treatment for yourself or a loved one is stressful. Complicated costs and insurance policies make it even more so.

Had I given in and paid the hospital or the doctor when I didn’t need to, I would have had to wait for a refund from my insurance company that would have taken months at best. At worst, I would have had to keep track of all of the paperwork and contact them for the refund myself.

Copays are different. Those are due at the time services are rendered. But anything else should be able to be billed to you or, if you have insurance, to your insurance company.

When it comes to healthcare costs, there are a few simple things you can do to make sure you’re paying only what you owe… and sometimes even less.
• As I mentioned, refuse to pay anything other than a copay until they bill you or your insurance company. That said, you should pay the bill when you receive it. If you have a history of being late, they may rightfully insist you pay something before seeing the doctor.
• Go over the bill, especially if it’s from the hospital. Hospital bills are notoriously filled with errors. If they charged you $47 for Tylenol, be certain you actually got the Tylenol. If you were charged $500 for a test, make sure you received the test.
• Ask the doctors for a discount. If you’re paying out of pocket or if you have a high deductible, request a lower charge in return for paying upfront. Many of them will let you do this, especially if it means they don’t have to submit paperwork and wait for payment from your insurance company.
• Ask the doctor for free samples of medicine. Pharmaceutical reps give doctors lots of free samples. If your medication will be costly, your doctor should be happy to give you any free samples he or she has in stock.
You most likely wouldn’t give in to an aggressive used-car salesman. So don’t be shoved around by the billing clerks in a doctor’s office or hospital either. Push back and advocate for yourself.

My now-17-year-old son took a trip to the emergency room for a dog bite a couple of weeks ago. (It was nothing, and he was fine.) They didn’t treat him other than to give him a Band-Aid.

I plan on going over that bill extremely carefully… I feel bad for the hospital billing clerk who has to deal with me on this one.

P.S. I have other money-saving ideas on healthcare – as well as ways to crank up your income – in my book, the No. 1 Amazon best-seller You Don’t Have to Drive an Uber in Retirement.

Plus, you can get a free bonus chapter, “How to Save Money Every Time You Visit the Doctor,” if you visitwww.uberretirementbook.com after you place your order.

 

 

The Lights go Out

The Lights Go Out

The last issue of Points of Light weekly email newsletter was March 30^th , 2018.

To quote Simione Healthcare Consultants

“We’re Consolidating Our Business Communications ”

After careful consideration of our clients’ preferences for email content and frequency, Simione Healthcare Consultants will discontinue Points of Light, the weekly Friday newsletter of quotations and anecdotes.

We realize that this light content is appreciated by many, but the subject matter and frequency does not serve the majority of our audience, which has identified needs for relevant business content and less frequent emails. Our primary purpose is to improve business performance in home-based care, providing education and support to address challenging industry circumstances.

As we work to continue our focus on professional development and business improvement, Simione remains your trusted resource to help you achieve your goals and aspirations as caregivers, business professionals and organizations dedicated to high-quality care at home.

The newsletter started as a Boyd & Nicholas weekly fax to 17 people in late 1993, became an almost monthly paper magazine in the later 1990’s and converted to the email newsletter with the introduction of email messaging. At the end almost 1200 people received it and it was shared with many others. The POL issues were educational, informative, dealt with nonpolitical events, self-improvement and human-interest stories. It was always intended to show our care and concern for home health care organizations and the people who are part of the caring community.

I will miss the Points of Light newsletter. I appreciate having been a part of this newsletter for almost 25 years and a member of the caring community since 1989.

“…all Americans have not just a right, but a solid responsibility ….to give something back to their communities”

President’s State of the Union Address, 1/24/95 quoted in POL #18 of May 1995.

The Ordinary Man

https://youtu.be/vY4BarUUpQs

If you and I should chance to meet,
I guess you wouldn’t care;
I’m sure you’d pass me in the street
As if I wasn’t there;
You’d never look me in the face,
My modest mug to scan,
Because I’m just a commonplace
And Ordinary Man.

But then, it may be, you are too
A guy of every day,
Who does the job he’s told to do
And takes the wife his pay;
Who makes a home and kids his care,
And works with pick or pen. . . .
Why, Pal, I guess we’re just a pair
Of Ordinary Men.

We plug away and make no fuss,
Our feats are never crowned;
And yet it’s common coves like us
Who make the world go round.
And as we steer a steady course
By God’s predestined plan,
Hats off to that almighty Force:
THE ORDINARY MAN.

Robert William Service