Top Tips for Reducing Stress

2022-04-27 ~ adminlife

There’s not a single person on earth without stress. Stress is as natural as breathing, whether it’s a major crisis or some minor issue. That’s why we need to learn how to deal with it.

Stress is part of everyone’s lives, and there’s no escaping it. Even the happiest people on the planet have it in their lives.

The body’s ability to experience stress isn’t bad, but it can become toxic if you don’t handle it correctly. The best way to manage stress is to analyze it calmly. There will always be stress in your life, so it’s up to you to learn how to deal with stress and get rid of it.

So what can you do to manage it? Try these tips:

Do some physical exercise. While it might seem contradictory to combat stress with physical exercise, exerting your body can help you deal with mental stress. You’ve probably realized that people with a good exercise routine are healthier and happier.

- Exercise can relieve brain fog, relieve stress, and help you feel more in control of your emotions. A good exercise routine can also support quality sleep, a fundamental for stress management.
- To begin exercising, you might try taking a 30-minute walk in the evening or attending a karate lesson. Then, stick to it for at least four weeks.
- You’ll find that the positive effects on your health, mind, and mood will make exercising a regular part of your routine.

If you would like to listen to these types of articles, you can visit my podcasts atThese are short, usually under 5 minutes but they can enable you to listen to confidence and motivation advice and tips while driving or relaxing.

Focus on your breathing. A simple task like focusing on your breathing can quickly calm you down. Focus on breathing in and out. Count how many seconds it takes for one inhalation and exhalation.

- At first, this might sound like an easy goal. But you may be surprised that it can be difficult to concentrate on your breathing. However, it gets easier the more you practice.
- The best thing about breathing is how you can do it by yourself. It won’t bother you if people are around because they won’t know what you’re doing.

Limit the amount of caffeine you ingest. Drinks like coffee are causes of stress for most people. Caffeine has a stimulant effect that creates anxiety for some and causes them to feel jittery.

- Instead of drinking coffee, try drinking green tea in the morning or herbal tea at night. The herbs in tea have calming properties, helping you relax and fall asleep.
- And although you may feel tempted to drink several cups of coffee during the day, ensure that you do so in moderation.

Spend time with your family and close friends. Your social support system can have a major positive effect, helping you deal with your stress. If you don’t currently surround yourself with loving and supportive people, reach out to them and build stronger connections with them.

- A research study found that when women (especially) spent more time with their children and close friends, that bond released oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone that promotes feelings of calm and relaxation.
- That does not mean women are the only people who benefit from spending time with their loved ones. Men also experience similar health benefits when they spend time with their spouses, children, and friends.

Managing stress is about building solid relationships with those around you. It involves putting your needs aside for the needs of others.

Also, remember that physical exercise is a great way to reduce stress, which can help you build and maintain healthy relationships with the people you love. Let this circle of positivity work for you!

To work together to help you get moving in the right direction in your life, click on the blue button below to book a 15-minute, no obligation “Get to know you” call.

Going alone on creating a better life is difficult. Find out how working with a Life Coach can make the journey to success and a better life easier.

Book the call now.

To your success

Michael

P.S. you know that living a life that is in balance is important. When you can balance your work, family, health, relationships, fitness and money, you feel better and can achieve your goals. You have the support of your family and friends which makes life worth living.

Check out my programs at Confidence and Life Coaching by clicking on the logo below:

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A Foolproof Formula for Finding Your Flow State

2022-04-20 ~ adminlife

According to the old saying, time flies when you’re having fun. The same thing happens when you’re in a state of flow.

That’s the term coined by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Flow describes an experience where you lose yourself in what you’re doing. You feel totally immersed and engaged.

There are even changes in your brain activity, like increased dopamine levels that are associated with enjoyment and motivation.

If you’ve experienced the exhilaration for yourself, you probably want more such moments. Try this foolproof formula for finding your sense of flow.

Benefits of a Flow State

There are many compelling reasons for trying to introduce more flow into your life.

Consider these important advantages:

Boost your mood. Sometimes you have to push yourself to do things that will eventually increase your well-being. However, flow feels a lot more pleasant than visiting the dentist, so you’ll be happier right away.

Manage stress. At the end of a busy day, you might want to sit down and relax. However, challenging yourself with something you find rewarding can sometimes be more effective than taking it easy. Try working on your hobbies instead of watching TV.
Build your confidence. Flow helps you to discover your strengths and maximize them. You start accomplishing more when you focus on activities that you love and excel at. Soon, you’ll find it easier to believe in yourself and your abilities.
Enhance your performance. Think about those moments when you’re at your peak. You’re more likely to excel when you’re working with passion and purpose.

Activities that Help Promote Flow

Depending on your approach, almost anything you do can give you feelings of flow.

These are a few of the most popular areas if you’re looking for where to begin:

Express your creativity. Earn a living making art or do it as a pastime. Choose a medium that you find exciting. You might write a novel or paint landscapes.
Play sports. Lead a more active life. Join the office softball team or sign up for a volleyball league with a community group. Train to compete at the Olympics or complete a 5K run for your favourite charity.
Pursue your education. Add to your knowledge and skills. Take business courses that you need for your job or study subjects just for the pleasure of learning. Teach what you know at a nearby senior centre or online academy.
Advance your career. Only 36% of U.S. employees feel engaged at work, according to a 2020 Gallup poll. Ensure that you’re one of them. Think about the meaning behind your tasks. Try to structure your job in a way that allows you to apply your strengths.

Other Tips for Creating a Flow State

Once you’ve established your priorities, experiment with different strategies. Flow is a skill you can develop with practice.

Try these techniques:

Seek balance. Flow usually happens when you’re doing something that’s challenging, but within reach. Having an accurate sense of your capabilities enables you to aim high without overwhelming yourself.
Set specific goals. You’re more likely to reach your targets if you make concrete plans and write them down. Be precise about details and dates.
Limit distractions. Focus on one thing at a time. Take a break from your phone and other devices for at least an hour each day.
Appreciate the journey. Cultivating flow does more than deliver positive results. Remember to savor the trip as much as the destination.

Spend more time on activities that bring you happiness and help you to use your personal strengths. Encouraging a state of flow will make your life more satisfying and enable you to achieve more.

To work together to develop your Flow in life and understand how being in Flow can benefit you, click on the blue button below to book a 15-minute, no obligation “Get to know you” call.Going alone on creating a better life is difficult. Find out how working with a Life Coach can make the journey to success and a better life easier.

Book the call now.

To your success

Michael

Check out my programs at Confidence and Life Coaching by clicking on the logo below:

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Creating Your Ideal Self

2022-04-13 ~ adminlife

What would it take for you to start living your ideal life? It doesn’t have to difficult to achieve.

Here are some steps you can follow and start living your dream lifestyle.

Where do you want to go?

What do you see as your ideal life? What goals do you have? You need to know where you are going so you can define your ideal life. When you know what you want, you will be able to create your ideal life.

Define the person who can quickly reach your goals.

When you know what type of life you want, you need to start thinking about the type of person who can make this life happen.

What do you need to do to go from your present state to where you want to be quickly?
What would this person be like?

If you would like to listen to these types of articles, you can visit my podcasts at

These are short, usually under 5 minutes but they can enable you to listen to confidence and motivation advice and tips while driving or relaxing.

What are the habits of your ideal self?

You need to consider many different things and areas. Here are some suggestions.

How often does this person brush their teeth? Does he floss after every brushing? When does he floss?
When does he go to bed and when does he get up? Does he read when in bed? What types of material does he read? Does he read regularly at other times during the day?
Describe his morning routine.
Does he work out and for how long and how often? What is his workout routine? What is his weight and what does he eat?
Does he journal daily?
When waiting in traffic, what does he think about?

What are the traits of your ideal self?

There is more to a person than just their habits. Here are some traits you should consider.

What does your ideal self wear, drive, their hairstyle?
What attitudes does he hold towards dating? Would he easily approach an attractive stranger? Would he only date one person or many at a time?
Is he calculating, bold or cautious?
Is he a giving, selfish or practical person?
What about spiritual or religious feelings?
What values and beliefs does he hold?
Does he have specific skills?

You can ask about anything at all. Think that you are creating a movie character.

Use the SWISH technique

This NLP technique is powerful for encouraging you to start behaving like your ideal self.

Create a clear visual of your ideal self. Include all of the habits, characteristics and the qualities the ideal should have. There should be no background for this image, only a blank screen with your ideal self image standing in front of the screen looking out at you.

When you are not behaving like your ideal self, quickly bring up the ideal self image and start to immediately behave as the image would.

Start

From the characteristics and habits that you have listed, pick a couple of the easier ones and start to include them into your life. After they have been incorporated, pick a couple more from the list and repeat until the list has been exhausted.

Find Supporting Evidence

Draw attention to yourself and your actions when you are behaving like your ideal person.

Journal

A journal helps you to keep track of how you are progressing. You also get into the habit of focusing on those parts of your life that are important. You will stay motivated when you are aware of how far you have progressed.

Get started today in becoming your ideal self as you will experience joy and greater life satisfaction.

To work together to help you get moving in the right direction in your life, click on the blue button below to book a 15-minute, no obligation “Get to know you” call.Going alone on creating a better life is difficult. Find out how working with a Life Coach can make the journey to success and a better life easier.

Book the call now.

To your success

Michael

Check out my programs at Confidence and Life Coaching by clicking on the logo below:

Photo by Artem Beliaikin: https://www.pexels.com/

Things That Can Ruin Your Life and How to Avoid Them

2022-04-06 ~ adminlife

No person ever sets out to ruin their lives. It’s impossible to find someone that will make a New Year’s resolution to ruin their life.

Children don’t daydream about how much they’d love to become alcoholics in the future. Students don’t attend classes on how to go bankrupt.

Couples don’t dress up, spend so much money on a wedding, and show up at the altar while planning to get a divorce a few years later.

The point is, nobody plans to fail. But failure happens whether we like it or not.

And our failures are the result of our choices. We often don’t willingly make choices that we know will cause us to fail.

So, how can we avoid making poor decisions that will end up ruining our lives? These ideas can help:

Stop entertaining the idea that your actions don’t have consequences. You may think you’re doing it for fun, but your actions have consequences.
- For example, if you fail to pay your bills, you may get chased down by a debt collector. If you tell a lie, you may upset others. If you smoke, you may eventually develop emphysema.
- Whatever happens, every action you take has a consequence. And you can’t change the consequences or pick and choose what will happen.

- Your actions either lead you to your goals or lead you away from your dreams. It’s the difference between winning and losing.

If you would like to listen to these types of articles, you can visit my podcasts at

These are short, usually under 5 minutes but they can enable you to listen to confidence and motivation advice and tips while driving or relaxing.

Live within your means. It is always better to plan and make smart financial decisions. Today, many people have no problem living beyond their means because they believe that it’s okay.

- Unfortunately, this will only lead to a difficult financial situation in the future. The social media lifestyle causes a lot of people to get carried away with the allure of a lifestyle they know they can’t afford.

- To avoid this trap, focus on what matters the most in your life. Many older people today are paying for things they accepted years ago. They still have mortgages, kids, and day-to-day costs that they have trouble covering.

- They scrimp on health care and end up sick for a long time.

Break any forms of addiction, including drugs, pornography, or shopping. Habits like these have a very negative impact on your life. The sad reality is, many people suffer some form of addiction today.

- Addictions lead to feelings of loneliness, and they don’t fill your life with good things. Some even cost your life. People find it challenging to break addictions because they feed them.

- It doesn’t take a single day to form a habit – it usually requires repetition to develop one. An alcoholic doesn’t become one by drinking one beer. The more he drinks, the stronger the addiction becomes.

- Eventually, he has no choice but to keep drinking. That’s the case with most addictions. Anything that is a drug or habit-forming has the potential to ruin your life.
- The solution? Stop feeding them.

Avoid assuming that you’re the only one going through your painful situation. Sometimes we gravitate towards others who share our problems, but it’s all too easy to think no one else exists out there who’s struggling like us.

- The truth is, you’re not alone. And thinking you’re alone is usually just an excuse you give yourself.

- Instead of making such assumptions, why not reach out? Talk to others and tell them what’s going through your mind. You might discover that they’re going through something similar. Once you’ve connected with those around you, you’ll be able to realize you’re not alone.

There are so many things that can ruin our lives. And sometimes, we only need to look at the path others ahead of us have set to realize what a mistake we make to live a certain way. And that’s okay, because this isn’t the end. We haven’t given up. We’re only getting started.

To work together to help you get moving in the right direction in your life, click on the blue button below to book a 15-minute, no obligation “Get to know you” call.

Going alone on creating a better life is difficult. Find out how working with a Life Coach can make the journey to success and a better life easier.

Book the call now.

To your success

Michael

Check out my programs at Confidence and Life Coaching by clicking on the logo below:

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Stop Negative Self-Talk Quickly with These Steps

2022-03-30 ~ adminlife

One of the most critical mindset shifts you can make in your life is to eliminate negative self-talk. Although everyone seems to understand the importance of this shift, most people still struggle with it.

Negative, destructive self-talk disrupts your productivity and life goals. You have countless negative conversations happening inside your head throughout your day, and these negative statements can leave you feeling frustrated, angry, defeated, or depressed.

It is normal to want to solve all of your problems, but self-criticism doesn’t help.

If you catch yourself engaging in this type of negative self-talk, you can learn how to quickly switch gears and redirect your thoughts to more positive ones.

This process can take practice, but you will notice a positive difference in your thoughts and mindset if you try a little each day.

If you would like to listen to these types of articles, you can visit my podcasts at

These are short, usually under 5 minutes but they can enable you to listen to confidence and motivation advice and tips while driving or relaxing.

So what can you do starting today to help halt negative self-talk? These tips will help:

Take a deep breath. People resort to beating themselves up because they feel overwhelmed, have too much to do, or don’t know how to change their thoughts. If this is you, take a deep breath

- It helps you momentarily slow down your thought process and realize that you are not in a position to change everything. Instead of thinking about how you can change your circumstances, try to focus on the things you can control at this moment.

Acknowledge your thoughts. Regardless of your negative self-talk stage, it’s important to acknowledge it. It’s very natural (and healthy) to have negative thoughts. Try not to ignore them. Instead, take them as a signal from your mind that change is needed.

- For example, if you’re feeling defeated, allow yourself to take a moment to give in to those feelings and realize that it’s normal to feel disappointed in yourself and your abilities. Once you have admitted your feelings, you can refocus on what matters in your life.

Identify the cause. Take a minute to think about what’s behind your negative thoughts.

- Are your complaints and negative self-talk rooted in your inability to practice your strengths, talents, and abilities?
- For example, if you have fantastic communication skills but keep letting your negative self-talk overshadow that fact, it’s time you learned to harness your talents.
- There’s a good chance you’ll realize that your fears and negative feelings were all in your head.

Create a routine. Building a pattern enables you to take less time, thoughts, and energy in negativity. Working through your negative self-talk is the best way to get past your toxic feelings.

- And you’ll have an easier time working through them if you wake up to a planned day, with not much to think about with regards to how you’re going to start your day. After all, negative self-talk overwhelms you with unnecessary stress.
- If you rise at the same time, have the same breakfast, and exercise at the same time daily, you don’t have much to overthink and get yourself worked up.

Consciously work to silence your thoughts. Your mind can power through negative thoughts by itself, but your mind doesn’t want to. You have to give it a helping hand. When you notice you’re about to indulge in negative self-talk, snap out of it.

- Make a conscious effort to let the thoughts pass without acting on them. The more you practice this, the better you’ll get at controlling your negative thinking.

Your mindset is the driving force behind all of your actions, so it’s imperative to learn how to shift your thoughts when negative self-talk begins. You have the power to change your life by changing the way you think about yourself!

To work together to help you get moving in the right direction in your life, click on the blue button below to book a 15-minute, no obligation “Get to know you” call.

Going alone on creating a better life is difficult. Find out how working with a Life Coach can make the journey to success and a better life easier.

Book the call now.

To your success

Michael

Check out my programs at Confidence and Life Coaching by clicking on the logo below:

Image by John Hain from Pixabay