The To-Do List Trap - get out of it and build your life

Calling: What Are the Prerequisites?

Everyone has a calling.  He or she may not call it that, but we all have a cause or a calling in our professional and private lives that improves the lives of those around us.

Merriam-Webster defines a calling as a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action.

There are 3 prerequisites that help you make the calling a reality.  While we have many callings that sit in our hearts, a calling in action is what the world needs. 

Here are the 3 prerequisites:

i. Confidence

ii. Belief that your calling is of high value 

iii. Give up insecurities, especially when you allow other people's evaluation systems to impact you.

Confidence: Assertiveness & Seeking

Confidence is necessary to help you be assertive and seeking so you can research what you need to put your calling into action.  It takes a business mind to get things going especially if there are legal ramifications that must be addressed.  Knowing how to lobby the government, obtain certain licenses, etc. are some of the underlying needs.  Hiring the right consultant and gathering the people you need to make your plan more efficient takes confidence. 

Belief: Supported by Experience & Research

You must have a belief that your calling is of high value, even if others don't recognize the need immediately.  Part of this belief requires an understanding of the short and long term benefits of your calling.  Some of this belief may need extra education.  A calling about protecting the environment may need knowledge of eco-science. 

Give up insecurities, especially when you allow other people's evaluation system to impact you

This can be the biggest stumbling block.  You may have a great idea and the first person you talk to shoots it down.   It is easy to let it deflate your own desires when you allow someone's negativity to seep into your mind.  When someone shoots you down, remember that person is actually shooting herself down.  She is thinking about it in her own point of view, and certainly not the point of view that the calling is beneficial or needed.  

How many high school guidance counselors gave out lousy career advice because they used their own evaluation systems and neglected to understand the students' actual talents?  You have to decide if someone else's evaluation system should be your own.  We often adopt other people's evaluation systems that don't fit us.  The girlfriend who advises you buy the polka dotted dress is a simplified example.  If you know you would never feel comfortable wearing it in public, you are using your own evaluation system.

Not everyone is on the same walk with God, and that difference alone makes other people's opinions harmful.  

Do you worry about what other people think?  You can't let other people's insecurities become yours. Then, we are all just throwing our talents away.

The To-Do Trap: Building Your Dreams around Your Everyday Chores

The To-Do Trap: Building Your Dreams around Your Everyday Chores

Hidden Gems Meeting.

Noon.  At Dr. Lisa's Office.

Lunch will be served.

RSVP.

Call or text: 277-1362

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Here's a new term to put in your vocabulary:

"less empowering tasks"

Guest Writer:

How to Put Yourself on Your To-Do List

By Tatiana Kaletsch

With Spring season around the corner, Easter Holiday in less than a couple of weeks, the first third of 2013 already behind us - most to-do lists are getting rearranged to accommodate the bare minimum of priorities. Did you get to your healthy habits goals for 2013 yet, or can it still be done? Or is that to-do already earmarked for Autumn 2013 and beyond?

Healthy habit goals that were set many months ago usually remain just that: goals. The true goal is to feel vibrant health and energy, fair enough, and the intermediate goals are seen as cumbersome stepping stones that don't exactly inspire enthusiasm. No wonder we manage to 'forget' to do them! Before feeling overwhelmed and despairing, consider a different way to move forward to your healthy self in a softer, kinder fashion.

What putting yourself on your to-do list looks like

Let's assume that you have areas you'd like to improve in your healthy habits. There are only two ways that this is going: either you are moving towards those goals or you are moving away from them. I'd argue that there is no intermediate ground here. Sounds simple enough, so now what?

· Look at your list of things to do and ask yourself which of these are moving me towards your goals in general (being a great Mom, getting the rest you need, fulfilling your obligations, etc.), and which are moving you away from them?

· Ask yourself, what is one thing I could add in that would bring me closer to my goals today? This could be anything at all but has to make you feel better. Call a friend you've been meaning to call, buy those vitamins you heard about, bring a salad to lunch, get a 10 minute foot massage, pick up the new timetable from the gym, download a fitness app, wear your favorite nightgown, etc. Just one activity per day is enough for a start.

· See what you can delegate and rearrange out of the list of less empowering tasks - you deserve it! Being a bedraggled do-gooder isn't inspiring for yourself or those around you. The negative self-message starts to be 'I don't deserve to feel good,' and then you wonder why it is becoming your reality.

Getting out of a rut and out of overwhelm is as simple as taking one action step, just one. It works better if it is just a very little one, as simple as looking at a photo of your favorite grandmother on the mantelpiece and pretending she is watching over you today. Say hi back to her image! Say thank you. Promise her you will take care of yourself, put that one item each day on your list, and watch your goals melt away to reality.

Tatiana is the creator of 'The Three-Step Mind, Body, and Self Care Transformational System' for professionals who want to feel confident, look great, and live custom-designed healthy lifestyles. She brings 8 years of health coaching experience to her programs designed for today's busy adults. Her dynamic approach brings out individual strengths to looking, feeling, and living one's best life. Visithttp://www.bodyvisionhealthcoaching.com to find out more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tatiana_Kaletsch

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7557058

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Kick Yourself Out of Your Comfort Zone

The Next Hidden Gems Meeting: 

Thursday March 21, 2013 Noon, 

33 William St. Ste. 10, Auburn,  R.S.V.P. by calling 277-1362.

Guest Column:

Kick Yourself Out of Your Comfort Zone

By Avish Parashar

One of the great things about teaching improv comedy is that I get to see people stretch themselves and do things they never thought possible. For most people, improv comedy is out of their comfort zone. Watching a person step out of their comfort zone and gradually (or sometimes even rapidly) expand their comfort zone is a wonderful thing.

This concept applies to much more than just improv comedy. Getting out of your comfort zone is vital to any kind of success and to your own development, because all success lies outside of your comfort zone. Here's an important fact that most people never think about: unless you are 100% satisfied with everything in your life, you must get out of your comfort zone!

To rephrase that: if there is any area of your life where you are not getting the success you want and deserve, you have to get out of your comfort zone to get it.

There is a quote that sums up why this is true. "If you keep doing what you've always done then you'll keep getting what you've always gotten." If what you've always gotten (and are currently getting) is not what you want, then you need to do something different. Unfortunately, "different" is usually outside of your comfort zone. If you could just do what you were already comfortable with to achieve your success, you'd already be doing it.

The problem is that we don't like getting out of our comfort zones. The word "comfort" is used deliberately. That means that getting out of your comfort zone is "uncomfortable." Naturally, we don't like to be uncomfortable.

The mentality that keeps us in our comfort zone is subtle though, and often comes up in the form of avoidance. That is, we don't say, "I could have what I want, it's just that it's outside of my comfort zone." Instead we blame externalities, "If people would just hire me then my business would be successful," or we limit ourselves, "Oh, I could never do that." In the worst case, we ignore it all together. We don't think about what we want or could have, and we refuse to talk about. It remains a dream buried deep down in the back of our heads for years (regrettably, sometimes forever).

In my years of doing improvisational comedy, I hear the same suggestions over and over (audiences love to yell, "bathroom" for a location and "spatula" for an object - don't ask me why!). There is a strong temptation to "re-use" old material. If I have done a joke or scene based on that suggestion previously, I may want to repeat it since I know it worked before. In fact, I have seen many; many improvisers go down this route. Re-doing on old scene is a classic "comfort zone" technique.

I learned early on however that a joke or scene never works as well the second time around. In improv, it's the act of doing something new (stepping out of the comfort zone) that increases the enjoyment and quality. Once it has been done and is comfortable, something is missing.

Life works the same way. Staying in the comfort zone feels safe and good, but the quality is never the same. If there is *any* are of your life that you want to improve, then you must get out of your comfort zone!

Avish Parashar is a dynamic keynote speaker who uses Improv Comedy to show organizations and individuals how to quickly make the most of whatever life throws at them. He weaves together humorous stories, witty observations, and interactive exercises from improvisational comedy to get people laughing, learning, and motivated!

Get free humor articles and see video clips of Avish in action at http://www.AvishParashar.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Avish_Parashar

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/438834

Where (Who) are Your Hidden Gems?

Priorities shift through life.

Are you in a new phase of life?

What is ahead of you?

How are you look
ing forward to it?

Time for a new purpose, you will be a new person.

You don’t have to picture the new you now.  But analyze your comfort zone.

People often dwell on the problems of the present.  If a change is desired, something (in regards to the "dwelling") has to be given up.

Keep learning to keep living. The brain is a muscle. We have to think differently.

Use the mind-body-spirit to thrive, don’t just survive.  When one area is suffering, the other two suffer as well.  Picture a sail boat that is drifting along.  It can be very slow and subtle until one day you look around and realize you have veered way off course.

What can be done when changing course seems too difficult? 

It is important to seek out the right connections.  Not just any connection.

Do you have a supportive network?

Do you need to find new people to add to your network and let others go?

Find out what Hidden Gems can offer.

Attend a meeting.  Host a meeting. Call 277-1362.