The Characteristics Of Very Successful People Revealed

Is there a secret to success? Is there more than one? Yes! Let’s find out what successful people, consultants and business pros believe and do that help them achieve their optimal potential. What is it that they have in common, whether its in their beliefs or in their actions that makes them successful? First of all they use resources available to them including publicity, self-promotion, branding and marketing to create their outstanding advantage in the marketplace. The rest comes naturally. The major opportunities go to the ones who are visible, making a difference, seen and heard by their target market. Continue reading »

How Can Young People Best Develop Personally?

Young people growing individually is the underpinning theme of Personal Department. Included are the development of yourself as a person, and how you acquire capability and knowledge. Additionally it is about how you develop in maturity, in the way you are educated, how you work, and how you develop socially.

True, outside influences from family, through schooling and subsequent education, and in one’s social life, all have their significance in Personal Development. But underpinning this, is the effort we are prepared to make ourselves. A runner can receive the best training, but will not win the marathon unless they have pursued their training vigorously, and are inspired to be the winner.

Individual growth in terms of one’s character, and in terms of one’s skills, represent two important components of Personal Development. And the third is about the growth of self inspiration to achieve. Most of us when we are young, develop personally in a Conventional manner.

This assumes the pretty standard sequencing of school, college and maybe university. Also it assumes several interests and activities outside of academia. In my study of 100 successful people who were world famous, 52% presented themselves as Conventional young people.

Others of us, engage in Personal Development which is more Specialized. Examples include being a good singer or sportsperson. In such cases our parents may have committed and motivated us to develop such gifts in a forthright manner, at the same time allowing us to opt out of the educational system when still quite young.

Other Specialized forms of personal development include pursuing vocations, apprenticeships or trades while still young. So developing personally in a Specialized manner, can embrace many alternatives. In researching the patterns of success behind famous people in the world, I found 24% of them were Specialized, as youngsters.

But Personal Development does not stop at just being Conventional or Specialized. It can also include Broad Life Experience when young. This again means we leave the more normal form of education, early.

With Broad Life Experience, young people pursue their own lives, wherever this takes them. This is how they learn and acquire capability, in other words by being involved on the ground in different walks of life. This also comes about by watching other people and life happenings all around them.

So this is experiencing life for real, compared to reading about it. Some would call this their life university, although they may have regrets that they didn’t undertake formal tertiary education. In my study of famous people, 24% seemed to have developed via Broad Life Experience as youngsters.

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The Link Between anger And Depression

Depression and anxiety are said to be the causes of uncontrolled anger. When a person is constantly worried about problems they have no control over or even problems they do have control over, it often results in depression. If you feel that, there is no way out then your depression can affect your life and cause you to drift down into a spiral of despair.

Taking control of your emotions usually produces good results. If you feel that the world is tumbling down around you, then you are almost definitely thinking in a negative mode, which instigates depression and anxiety. In this short piece, we will reveal some techniques to enable you to cope with anxiety and depression, thus relieving uncontrollable anger.

First, let us take a look at the symptoms. Do you feel like you are going out of your mind? Do you shout in your head: ‘I cannot take it any more?’. Do you feel like someone is out to get you? Do you think people view you as a crazy person? If you are suffering any or all of these symptoms or thoughts then you are probably suffering from anxiety and depression.

If you can not find a way to think differently, then you will probably explode when your emotions soar and your anger bursts forth. Instead of telling yourself that you are out of your mind, why not tell yourself that you are temporarily emotionally disturbed and that you need to resolve the situation. Review all the problem areas carefully and search your memory to see if there are answers to your problems there. Reviewing like this, often opens doors to resources you may have overlooked.

If you feel like everyone is out to get you then you may have a chemical imbalance or a mental illness. Why not go to see your doctor or a mental health expert to learn more about the symptoms and find a way to gain control over your life. Anxiety and depression can play tricks with your mind but sometimes the thoughts are the result of a lack of chemical balance.

If you think that people think you are crazy you might care to remember that most people have their own problems and have no time to analyze you as a person. When you walk into a room and think that people are staring at you, you might want to remember that people watch things around them, making sure everything is OK and then return to their own lives.

If you feel that you cannot take it any more, just bite your lip and walk another mile. When times are difficult, it does not mean it is the end of the world, although sometimes it may seem this way. If you are struggling to pay bills, fighting to hold a family together, or having difficulty with your children then remember that we all have these problems at some time or another in our lives.

Are your kids driving you nuts? If they are, take time out. Go and do something entertaining or some exercise. This very often relieves the stresses that lead to anxiety, depression and anger. Life is just too short to worry about the things in life that you do not have control over. If you have problems, the answers lie within you, so it pays to look into your head.

If you are struggling to obtain your goals then you might want to break your goals down to smaller segments and work slowly to achieve them. If you set goals within reason, you will not need to stress your mind finding a way to achieve them.

It is important to pamper yourself each day. Learn some relaxation techniques that will benefit both your mind and your body. If you feel bogged down, you might want to take deep breaths 10 times.

Curling up on a couch and watching a favorite movie can benefit your mind and body, if you want to let your thoughts wander. Learn to focus on what you are doing instead of worrying about what you are not doing. This often clears the mind and helps you to relax.

If you are subject to unbridled anger, you will most likely have problems for the remainder of your life unless you learn to take control of your emotions. Remember that depression leads to uncontrollable anger.

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How To Make Sure Your Goal Setting Is Correct

For many people goal setting is one of the toughest things to do. It’s not because we do not have desires or dreams. Often the problem is lack of know how. People do not like to fail so setting certain attainable goals is something they will just not do. Find out how to reach your desires with some easy tips. It is not as tough as it may seem or people make it.

For many people writing down everything is a necessity. This is something that should be done when you talk about goals. Having it written down where you can look at it daily is very important. Sometimes we get discouraged and lose our way. Having it noted somewhere helps keep us focus on our main goal. It also lets us change them as we adjust to what we want to get done.

Specific goals are something that you will want to strive for. Do not be vague about what you want. The more specific you can be the better your chances for success. Know what you want and go get it. This is what successful people do.

Remember the quote “keep it simple stupid”. Well this same quote also applies to goals. Most people make things more complex than they really have to. Keeping things as simple as possible means success will be a lot easier to obtain. Never make things tougher then you have to. Simple always seem to work best and that goes with goals as well.

4. Share your goals and ideas with others. Getting the support of others around you is important. They can help motivate you towards your desires. Sometimes we need a little push to reach them. Having support in place is a very good idea.

Be responsible and sensible about your goals. Do not try to do something you just can’t. Know your limits and what you can accomplish. By doing this you will have a better chance to succeed. Most people tend not to be sensible and this is why failures occur.

Goal setting is something that we all need to do sometime in our lives. Many of us will set short term and long term goals. No matter what type you set it is good idea to always go over them now and then. It will help you see how well you are progressing and what changes you may need to make.

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How Time Management Skills Will Make You More Successful

There are 24 hours in a day, of which the average person spends eight hours at work and eight hours sleeping…

That makes 40 hours per week of free time that you can do with as you wish during the work week plus an additional 32 hours of awake time on the weekend.

The average person actually spends twice as much time away from work than at it. So what can you do with all of the spare time you acquired from reading the few sentences above? Over 72 hours a week in all!

First, you should realize that most successful people do not work forty hours a week. So you may start by applying at least eight of those 72 hours toward your work or furthering of your career.

If you have your own business, it will be easy to spend an extra eight hours of work productively. If you work for someone else you can take work home and show your boss you put in the extra effort that others do not.

Better still, you may want to use this extra time to start a business of your own…something that fits in with your hobbies and can be fun as well as profitable, like building furniture or painting homes.

You could start a marketing business, or maybe auto detailing service.

The possibilities are endless; and if you spend enough of your extra time developing them, you may well find you create another career for yourself. This is how many successful companies originated.

At least one hour a day should be spent in furthering your knowledge of your business or industry through reading, courses, and seminars. This takes another seven hours from your free time but still leaves you with just over fifty-seven free hours.

An absolute minimum of ten to fifteen minutes should be spent on planning for the next business day. Reviewing your plans for the day should be the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do when you leave work at the end of the day.

You still have over 55 hours of free time to spend as you please, but rather than continue eating into your free time, let’s take a look at how you can better use your work time.

Your Work Time

Many people complain of a lack of time to do all the required daily business tasks. The best way to resolve this is to plan your days in advance, in blocks of time, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute, and if you can second by second.

By writing down how you plan to spend your time, you will quickly become far more productive. More productivity means more money and more success.

You must use your time wisely. Time is the only thing you have to sell to your company or business. How much of the time that you spend at work is really spent working? The truth of the matter is very a little amount of it is spent working proficiently.

Instead you are probably spending the day as most people with poor time management skills do: putting out fires that other people started, shuffling papers around, and writing memos.

Here is a simple eye-opener that will let you see just how much work you are really accomplishing. Show up at work tomorrow with a stopwatch and write down how you spend all of your time in five-minute intervals. Keep the sheet and stopwatch in front of you at all times.

As you start each new task, write down on the paper what that task is and start the stop watch. As you change tasks — phone calls, interruptions from co-workers, etc.– write down what the new activity is and how long you spend on it.

At the day’s end, write these four key headings on a separate piece of paper.

1) Meaningful work

2) Wasted time (this includes interruptions, unimportant phone calls, etc.)

3) Problems that need solutions.

4) Low priority/low return work.

List underneath each of your headings the tasks you have dealt with that day. Then add up the total time spent in each category.

Now you will have a shocking picture of just how few of the hours you spend at work are spent on high-priority, money-making, business growing, or goal-oriented tasks that help your company.

Instead, what you will probably find is that looking for information, interruptions, and wasted time are the winners in the battle for your precious time.

Develop a Time-Efficient Office Space

This means to have all your tools and resources in working order and at your disposal. More time is lost through disorganized paper management and searching for misplaced documents than through any other cause.

Make a habit of keeping all your work areas and desks free of all paper except what is needed for the task at hand. When you are completed with the task that you were working on remove it from your workspace, mail it, file it, trash it, or do whatever action is applicable, but do not leave it on your desk or it will get lost and cost you valuable time.

Start Each Day With a Clear Plan

If you truly want to get the most out of every day, it is essential that you begin each with a clear plan. I usually plan the next day’s activities the night before. Take a day planner and write down all those tasks you want to complete the next day.

Write down each task and number them all in the order of importance. Start with the most important task and stick with it until you have finished it or reached the point you wished to reach for that day. It gives me great pleasure and satisfaction cross out out each task as it is accomplished.

After an overall list of tasks for the day, I plan the day’s specific activities in 15-30 minute intervals using a daily planner. Plan all of your meetings and phone calls.

Be sure to always set a time limit on meetings, especially with people who are don’t pay for your time. Stick as closely as possible to your time-lines.

If you schedule 5 minutes to talk to a marketing representative, then let them know that is all the time you can spend with them. They will make their points faster, thus allowing you to save time.

As you near the end of your allotted time for a given task, give a two minute warning. Try to bring your business to a close quickly and efficiently.

Be Sure To Write Things Down

Keep a pen and paper by your phone. I can hardly believe the number of companies I call only to be asked to hold while the employee finds a pen and paper.

A pen and paper are the world’s most vital business tools, and you should NEVER be without them. I keep my appointment book open on my desktop at all times and keep notes as I speak to people. I note why they called my business and how I’m supposed to follow up with them with the information they request.

In that way, I have a record of the time, date, and purpose of their call so I can refer back to it if necessary at a future date if I need it. I also always write a person’s phone number under their name. In that way, I never have to search further than my appointment book for names and addresses.

Don’t Waste Your Time

Use each minute as the extremely important and cherished resource it is. Every single person in this world starts out each day with the same amount of time in which to accomplish tasks and objectives. The only part that differs from person to person is how that time is being used.

Successful people try to squeeze every second of opportunity out from the day, while those at the lower levels simply waste it away.

If you want to make $100,000 dollars a year, you must make $40 dollars an hour. That is exactly .66 per minute! If you spend 20 minutes on the phone talking to your buddy down the street about Monday night’s baseball game, you have just wasted $13.20 of your very valuable time.

If you spend an extra half hour at lunch, you have just lost $19.80 of your time. Once lost, time can never be regained.

The next time you find yourself involved in a situation that waste your time, ask yourself the following question. Do you think I would pay my friend down the street $13.20 in cold hard cash out of my wallet, right now, to listen to me talk about last night’s game?

The answer, of course, is no. Yet, that is what you are doing. Wasting $13.20 of your cash, which should be dedicated to reaching your goals and serving your clients or business.

If you are working on a project and are interrupted by a call that takes ten minutes, it often takes you another ten minutes to get back to what you were doing. Instead of being interrupted twenty times a day, schedule 30 minutes a day for returning phone calls that are not important.

These are calls from friends, salesmen, or other people who are not actual clients. Your time at work is far too valuable to allow constant interruptions. By setting a specific time, it also eliminates wasteful phone tag.

Let’s say you wanted to make $60,000 a year, to do that you must make $5,000per month. This works out to be $1,153 per week, based on a 48-hour, six-day week, which we will say is typical for most successful people.

This breaks down even further to be $192 per day or $24 per hour. You now have a very powerful tool to help you reach the goals you want to achieve. You know exactly what you must make each and every hour that you are working in order to reach your desired income level.

Now let’s see which of your daily tasks really produce that desired figure of $24 per hour?

Advertising your business or yourself to others.

Increasing your inventory of skills.

Researching marketing information and using it for your business.

These are some of the tasks that really could produce $24 per hour. Great marketing will always produce phone calls. Selling, whether it’s a direct sale of your products or getting someone to give you an interview for a better job, definitely pays off.

Marketing can keep other companies involved in the life of your company and brings new blood in the form of contacts and prospects. Increasing your skills makes you more valuable to yourself and others, and this will pay off quickly.

Then, of course, there are the tasks that do not produce $24 per hour.

Paying bills.

Ordering inventory.

Typing letters.

Adding to a database.

I’m not suggesting that any of these things are not important to the overall success of your business. Rather, I am suggesting that you can find someone else to do these kinds of tasks for just a few dollars an hour, allowing you to focus on the important high-return tasks.

The Word No ” The Most Powerful Word in Time Management

The simple act of saying, “NO,” will save you more time, energy, and effort than you can ever imagine. In an overexerted effort to try to please everyone, we often find ourselves taking on more and more responsibility, activities and stress.

At some point, you simply have to say, “NO, I am sorry but that is not the most effective use of my time.” Try it; it’s not that hard, and the people asking get over your refusal very quickly. The minute you said no they started thinking of someone else that could help them, and have probably already talked to them.

Put aside X amount of hours in your weekly or monthly plan to help your local boy scouts, youth center or homeless shelter. Once that time is used up, it is gone, and there is no more.

Remember the words of Napoleon who said, “You can ask me for anything you like… except my time.

Andrew Wood is the world’s leading expert on golf related marketing. He is the author of over 20 books including Cunningly Clever Marketing, his newly released marketing book. Andrew speaks worldwide on sales and marketing topics. He is the CEO of multiple golf marketing companies including Legendary Golf Course Management Company.

School Success Tips for the New School Year

It doesnt matter whether you are sending your child off to college for the first time, or your two year old is starting a two-day preschool program, a new school year is just around the corner. Some children love school, while others dread it. Growing up, I was one of those weird kids that loved school. Every year at about this time, my mother would take me school shopping for new clothes and school supplies. I dont know if it was the shopping I loved, or the anticipation of a new school year.

Education is an important value in our home. For my boys, I model and teach good success habits so they can be successful in school. With these ideas, your children can be well on their way to experiencing a successful school year.

Establish Routines for Morning, After School and Bedtime

Morning, after school and bedtime routines provide consistency and structure for a child. They help children stay organized and instill good lifestyle habits. Post routines for your children outlining each specific step you want them to take. Be consistent and help your children practice these routines. When my older son Kai was diagnosed with ADHD in 3rd grade, routines kept him organized and contributed greatly to his success in school.

Give Your Children Lessons in Goal Setting

Once you believe your children are old enough to understand, begin teaching them how to set goals. With children under age 12, keep it simple. Ask them to set one academic goal and one behavioral goal. For example, I will allow plenty of time to work on projects instead of procrastinating. Behavioral goals can include showing more respect, getting along with brothers or sisters, or doing chores on time. After age 12, show your children how to set bigger goals that require more action steps, or encourage them to set three or four goals each year. Have fun with your children creating a colorful goals sheet or vision board so they can be reminded of their goals.

Communicate Often with Your Children and Teachers

Communication with your child and his teachers is critical to your childs success. Last school year was not an easy one for my younger son. We were in constant communication with his teacher, working together to shape his character in and out of school. Some children will voluntarily share whats on their mind, but many children internalize their experiences and feelings. Learn to ask them open ended questions instead of closed ended questions like How was school? Questions that can be easily answered with yes, no or fine dont allow us to get inside our childs world. Keep yourself emotionally available and non-judgmental so your children feel comfortable sharing. Ive always found children are more prone to share at bedtime and during active playtime.

Help Your Child Identify His Interests and Talents

Every child is unique. While some thrive in sports, others are more prone to musical, academic or artistic abilities. Pay attention to what gives your children energy, and what activities they naturally gravitate towards. Nurture those interests and talents so they feel confident about being good in something. Help them to define who they are and what makes them special. There is so much competition and comparisons in schools today. Steer your children away from comparing themselves to others, and instead encourage them to compete with their own personal best. For example, when I took my son and a friend bowling, we didnt compete against each other. In the second game, we tried to beat our score from the first game.

Minimize Your Childs Stressors

Stress, believe it or not, affects a child’s life as well as our own. While child stress is different than adult stress, children have their own set of pressures to deal with. Peers pressure them, teachers sometimes have high expectations, and kids are continually faced with trying new things. Stress for a child can be expressed through misbehavior, irritability or increased sensitivity. If your child is experiencing stress, incorporate stress management techniques to help them cope. Help them learn to have flexible thoughts, stand up to bullies, or manage perfectionism and procrastination. Try not to overbook the family calendar with too many extracurricular activities. Make healthy eating, exercise and proper sleep important goals for all family members.

As my youngest enters the second grade, and my eldest begins his first year in college, I am anticipating a successful school year. With these tips, you and your children can look forward to and celebrate success as they enter a new school year.

Lori Radun is a certified life coach, inspirational speaker and author of The Momnificent! Life ~ Healthy and Balanced Life For Busy Moms. As a motherhood expert committed to helping moms live magnificent lives, see why moms are visiting Momnificent for the free Momnificent! newsletter, a library of expert advice, and continuously updated blog of mom-worthy news and developments.

A Couple Assesses Their Irresponsible and Abusive Drinking and Their Aspirations and Goals

Bruce and Sherry have been in a dating relationship for seven years. They met while taking the same art appreciation class at a large state school located in central Minnesota. While they were primarily classmates their first two years at school, during their junior year they started dating one another.

Since Bruce and Sherry came from old school, deeply religious families, neither one of them drank very much beyond the trial phase like they did while they were in high school. The more they dated, nevertheless, the more they began developing their social life outside of the classroom by regularly attending various activities such as soccer pep rallies, impromptu keg parties, hanging out with their friends at happy hour, and attending sorority and fraternity parties. Because drinking was so common during or after these activities, Sherry and Bruce started to drink increasingly more as their dating relationship progressed.

After they graduated with a BA degree, Sherry and Bruce decided to move to the big city that was located roughly seventy-five from their college and find an apartment that they could share. A few weeks after they moved in with one another, they were fortunate to find fairly good jobs in the same medium-size company.

After working at their place of employment for approximately two or three months, Bruce and Sherry found some other young couples that liked to party and drink. In fact, much like their undergraduate days at college, most of the functions and events they went to with their friends had something to do with heavy drinking. As a consequence, the more they hung out and partied with their friends, the more they engaged in abusive and dangerous drinking.

Something started to change in their relationship, however, after Sherry and Bruce had been living in the same apartment about a year. As improbable has it sounds, even though they continued to drink with their friends, their relationship grew. Now, instead of thinking about the next drinking event they would attend, however, they began discussing getting married, having children, and building a new house. In short, Sherry and Bruce began thinking about becoming more responsible adults who would be able to make more positive contributions to society.

With most noteworthy changes in an individuals life there is frequently something that serves as a trigger for the change. For Sherry and Bruce, thinking about moving into a new house, getting married, and starting a family was this trigger. What is more, for the first time in their young relationship, they started to challenge their party mentality and also began speculating how their abusive drinking might negatively affect their health down the road.

As Bruce and Sherry began to question their drinking, a number of other questions quickly arose. For instance, what would their abusive drinking do to their relationship? How would they be able to continue spending most of their money on drinking if they were to begin saving for a new house? How would their irresponsible drinking affect their mental health? How would they be able to face their parents and tell them about their long-term dreams, hopes, and aspirations while they still drank in a reckless manner as they did when they were in college? How responsible would they be if they had children and continued to drink in an immature manner? And finally, would their abusive and hazardous drinking negatively affect their ability to have children?

From a different way of looking at things, even though Bruce and Sherry never suffered through an alcohol overdose, experienced alcohol withdrawal symptoms, or received a DUI, they became conscious of the fact that their immature and irresponsible drinking was becoming a thorny issue that they could not sweep under the rug anymore.

The more that Bruce and Sherry questioned their party lifestyle and their drinking, the more they came to the same conclusion: if they were to reach their goals, hopes, and aspirations, they would have to stop drinking in a careless and immature manner.

Once Sherry and Bruce came to this conclusion, they had a discussion with their drinking buddies and informed them that they had determined that they were going to quit their partying and abusive drinking because they had plans to move into a house, get married, and start a family. Much to their amazement, their friends voiced a similar sentiment because they also had been pondering their future and came to the conclusion that their irresponsible drinking was adversely affecting their ability to achieve their dreams and their plans.

After their face-to-face conversation with their drinking buddies about their future hopes, aspirations, and plans, Sherry and Bruce were pleasantly surprised to learn that they began developing even stronger relationships with all of their friends. The main reason for this was the fact that all of them now had a similar perspective about partying and hazardous and immature drinking and how their party mentality was short-circuiting their short and long-term hopes, plans, and aspirations.

Denny Mitchell writes about alcoholism physical symptoms, etg alcohol testing, statistics on alcohol, alcoholism recovery, and alcoholism statistics. For more info please visit workplace alcohol testing.

What To Do When You’re In Debt

If you are even close to being in debt, you know it is not fun. There is a huge pressure for finding money for affording the monthly installment of your debt in addition to the money you should make for keeping the food on the family dining table.

In the current financial crisis that has hit the entire world, it is hard to focus on making money as you also have to make sure that your job is secured for long term financial stability. Sound’s ominous does it not? And it is. Life for all of us today has become much harder than we ever imagined it would be.

How can you make sure you reduce the amount you have in debt? Let’s discuss some free debt reduction tips. Some of these tips may sound too trivial, and others may sound a tad bit preachy, but either way, it would not hurt to go through these free debt reduction tips would it?

To start the process of getting out of debt, write down all your debt including the loans, leases, and credit card balances. Write down everything in great detail so you will know exactly how much you owe and whether you are capable of repaying them.

The next thing to do would be to consider a consolidate loan for debt reduction. Free debt reduction is something that will never happen, as to get out of your debt you will have to work very hard.

If you are convinced that the consolidated loan as the best way of getting rid of the financial crisis that you are in, you do not have to think about your decision twice. After all, consolidated loans will offer you lower monthly installments, lower interest rates, and longer repayment period by allowing you some space to work on an immediate solution.

If nothing works out for you, you can file for bankruptcy. Never use bankruptcy as an immediate solution for your financial matters as you will not be able to get any financial facility for years to come.

If you search the Internet, there are many software available for free debt reduction using a special calculator.. This sort of free debt reduction is seldom true, and so it is better to find alternate ways to get rid of your debt. And it can be done !

Taking Manic Depression Seriously

Manic depression, or Bipolar Disorder, is considered one of the most severe types of depression that people usually suffer from. It is characterized by sudden and extreme changes in mood. Manic depression is so-called because manic means ‘mania’, which means the ‘ups’ while depression refers to the ‘downs’. Bi-polar also refers to both ends of the spectrum of emotions

Many people experience erratic changes in their moods and, sometimes, these so-called mood swings are not just because of PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome) or stress. Doctors have diagnosed mood swings as a common symptom of depression, when these mood swings are extreme. For example, if someone gets annoyed because a shop does not have his favourite biscuits, it may only a sign of a spoilt childhood, but when becoming annoyed also means that that person will scream and swear at the shop keeper, it could be the onset of Manic Depression.

The ‘manic’ periods or ‘ups’ in Manic Depression (or Bi-polar Disorder) are described as the times when a person who has Manic Depression experiences excessively high periods, consisting of heightened energy, sudden outbursts of euphoric mood, extreme irritability, together with racing thoughts and aggressive behaviour. According to therapists, someone suffering from Manic Depression may have these so-called manic ‘periods’ not just for a day or so, they can actually go on for as long as a week or even longer.

During these ‘low’ or ‘down’ periods, people suffering from Manic Depression may experience very similar symptoms to those who are suffering from ‘normal’ depression. People who are suffering from Manic Depression experience periods of a depressed state of mind – including feelings of worthlessness and being unloved.

There are various other symptoms too: irrational guilt, extreme sadness, anxiety attacks, feeling of not belonging, severe gloom and an obvious lack of pleasure. According to therapists, anyone who is depressed constantly for more than a week can be officially diagnosed as a Manic Depressive.

Despite it being one of the most common and severe types of depressive disorder, Manic Depression can be successfully treated, according to therapists. There’s no reason to worry too much about having it. You only need to follow the procedures that the therapist tells you and take the prescribed medicine in the correct dosage in order to help you (or your friend or love one) overcome Manic Depression before it becomes a dangerous risk to the sufferer’s life by suicide.

Furthermore, individuals who suffer from Manic Depression should visit their therapists on a regular basis, in order to be able to get rid of their pent-up emotions to someone who is able understand just what it is they are going through a lot better than an untrained person.

Although positive results for Manic Depression can be achieved from natural remedies, a proper and a more lasting relief from Manic Depressive symptoms can best be acquired through consultation with a cognitive behaviour therapist. Contrary to some thought, when it comes to psychiatric treatments, psychiatrists, preferably cognitive behaviour therapists are still the best ones to consult for a lasting cure for Manic Depression.

Success Comes through Goal Setting: Learn the Basics

How well we set goals affects everything we do. Life is like a river, full of ebbs, flows, falls, calm and white water. Without goals we float down the river without any plan, letting the river set our path. We don’t view the falls until they are close, then we put our oars in the water and vigorously row. Trying to avoid the danger. With goals we give ourselves a map. We can  anticipate the falls and minimize the consequences.

Goal Setting is a topic that is discussed a lot, multitudes of books have been written about it. We all have some knowledge of the topic. But, few people have mastered it. At some point everyone will think about what they want out of life. Some of these people will write these down. Of the people who write their goals some will break them up into short, intermediate and long-term goals. The last two steps few people ever make it to; schedule completion of your goals and periodically evaluate your goals for success. These last two steps is what sets successful people apart from everyone else.

This is the first series of five weekly articles. Each article will walk you through a step of setting your goals. With each article you can download planning sheets. Each week the planning sheets will be available for download. In this article we will look at the first step. Answering the question “What do you want out of life?”

In this step we must give ourselves permission to dream. As we go through our lives we learn to censor ourselves. We tell ourselves such things as “it can’t be done”, “it is too hard”, “it costs too much”, etc. We settle for what is easy or available. But, through goal setting you can achieve anything. Here you will set the base for your goals. In later articles we will break these desires down into manageable pieces. By working our goals one step at a time they become manageable.

It is time for you to complete the first step. We have created a form that will help you write down your goals. The first page has one sentence on it  “Take 5 minutes and list what you want out of life?” Turn off any noise around you. Ensure that you have 5 minutes uninterrupted. Don’t censure yourself. Spend the complete five minutes just listing your desires. Subsequent pages will walk you through narrowing down the list.

I want to congratulate you on beginning this process. You have shown that you want more out of life. You don’t want to settle for just what is given to you. But, want to actively seek greater achievements. I hope you will return next week and allow me to walk with you through this process. Next week, we will publish the next article “Writing Effective Goal Statements.”