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Jay Whitenoreply@blogger.com2008-06-02T10:55:37.955-05:008 Ideas to Break Your Hurry-Habit While Preserving Your Sanity</h3><content type="html"><div id="write"><h7 class="write">Written on 6/2/2008 by Shamelle Perera, who blogs about personal development with a heavy focus on practical and actionable advice. Visit the Site at <a href="http://www.theenhancelife.com/">The Enhance Life</a> or subscribe to the <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/EnhanceLife">RSS feed</a>.</h7></div> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hortulus_aptus/2375726922/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_dH0q9hvpVHg/SEQW6ICzBrI/AAAAAAAABzI/tUfwZ7sNPjc/s320/busy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207312256994576050" border="0" /></a>It's been a hectic day as usual. The phone has rung at least a dozen times, you have attended 3 meetings, you spent an hour answering emails, dealt with 4 queries from colleagues who unexpectedly arrived in your office, and there have been 2 major crises to sort out. You have been busy but you don't really feel as if you have achieved anything. Before you know it its time to go home. The chaos continues at home as well ….…. You always seem to be in a hurry. There seems to be too much to do, and just not enough time. Do you feel like you're chasing something, but you never quite catch up? Don't you think it's about time to figure out just WHY you are always in such a rush and do something about it? <ol><li>Analyzing your current use of time: That sounds so simple, but in reality, most people find difficult to practice. We can get swept along in the cut and thrust of daily life without appreciating where our time goes by. Try keeping a time log. You will be able to identify people you don't need to talk on the phone, bits of paper mislead, meetings last longer than expected… </li> <li>Cut back on time wasters: When completing a time log many people are shocked at the amount of time that is wasted during the day. What is a waste of time (or not) is often a matter of opinion. You decide for yourself when you choose priorities. And yet, people often continue to spend time on an activity they've decided is a waster, usually because it's a habit or something that provides instant gratification. For example excessive television, games, pointless online surfing If you find an activity that is wasting your time, you might try scheduling a smaller amount of it rather than totally eliminating it. </li> <li>Accept the fact that you don't have time for everything: Do you have a hard time saying "No"? Make conscious choices and priorities about what you are going to do. Don't feel obliged or guilty about the other things. People will have wants and needs that don't always coincide with your own. You would do well to learn when to take time for others and when it's better to say no. You must decide whether or not the person receives your time by examining your values and priorities. There are times you will want to be sensitive to other's needs and go the extra mile. But when you weigh the situation and decide you must say no, don't hesitate to do so. </li> <li>Perfectionism: Do you spend extra time getting things 100% right when 95% would do? Does your attention to detail mean something else more important doesn't get done? Trying to be perfect takes too much time and effort. It creates too much stress and is impossible anyway. Your best is good enough. Live to a high standard, not to an impossible obsession. </li> <li>Delegate Tasks: If you can justify the cost of hiring someone to do the unpleasant or time consuming task, you should. Less enjoyable responsibilities such as laundry, house cleaning or house repairs etc are not only time consuming but also can drain you of energy. Why do all the work yourself? Share those household chores as a family. Besides a less-stressed you, there will be more time for your family and your kids will learn that great virtue called responsibility. Make sure to post a list of chores and the member responsible. </li> <li>Set time limits: If you have to work late, or during the weekend, set time limits for yourself. Whether you work for two or four hours, stop working at the end of that time and enjoy the rest of the evening or weekend. </li> <li>Have a place for things: Make things easy to find. Time spent looking for items is not only wasteful it's frustrating as well. It also has an effect on delaying daily appointments, which will leave you pressed for time. Put things in the same place so you don't have to think about where they are. Life is too short to spend time looking for things! </li> <li>Schedule fun time: People who are highly motivated to succeed sometimes forget to leave a little time for pure relaxation. Although the ideal situation would be to enjoy everything one does, many people find it necessary to work at things, which are not totally gratifying. A hard working individual may find it exhilarating to think of an activity as fun time, or "my time". For example, you could spend time with your children and view that as your fun time. You may view your daily walk as "my time that nobody can interfere with; no phone calls or interruptions".</li></ol>Finally…. When you are striving to gain and maintain your balance, whether it's working towards a single goal, or several goals, your pace should be relaxed and confident, not rushed and worried. When you put your top priorities first, take one thing at a time, and do the best you can. The important things get done while the less important things will simply have to wait. If you have many priorities which are all important, you'll just have to decided which are top priority, and put those first -Shamelle <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=470fcb9c69a869fcac735727fd92e192" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=470fcb9c69a869fcac735727fd92e192" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?a=ul2xFs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?i=ul2xFs" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=mAaByi"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=mAaByi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=WvdLii"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=WvdLii" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=YAObVi"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=YAObVi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=F0avBi"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=F0avBi" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=zqTeFI"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=zqTeFI" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DumbLittleMan/~4/303062743" height="1" width="1"/></content><author><name>Jay White</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><updated>2008-05-30T23:55:58.120-05:00</updated><title type="text">When Does Your Healthy Eating Plan Go Awry? Let's Fix it!</h3><content type="html"><div id="write"><h7 class="write">Written on 5/31/2008 by Ali Hale who blogs about healthy living for busy people at <a href="http://www.theofficediet.com/">The Office Diet</a>. You can grab the <a href="http://www.theofficediet.com/feed">RSS feed</a> here.</h7></div> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachklein/54389823/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_dH0q9hvpVHg/SEDT0xpocMI/AAAAAAAABzA/LBEj-DAK6ck/s320/frustrated.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5206394072874905794" border="0" /></a>So you’re on a diet. Maybe not trying to slim (though, if you’re Joe Average, you’re probably a few pounds overweight) – but you might be attempting to kick the <a href="http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/05/how-to-kill-your-addictions-to-junk.html">junk food habit</a>, spend less on food, or make better nutritional choices. Whatever it is, you know you need to plan ahead and make conscious decisions on what you’re eating. But it keeps going wrong… There are seven flash-points in the day when it’s easy to screw up your diet. Everyone will most likely fall into one of these categories of failure. The key is identifying your weak point and planning for it. You might need to put in a bit of effort to begin with, but get these sorted and you’ll be set for success. What time of day kills your healthy eating habit? <ul><li>Waking up: You can start your day badly before you even get out of bed. How? By hitting “snooze” repeatedly on your alarm. Sure, you had good intentions the previous night when you set it for 6am – but now you fancy an extra hour’s kip. Suddenly you’re running late. There are many, many articles online to help you spring out of bed in the morning. Read <a href="http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/03/3.html">How to Wake up With Energy Each Morning</a> and on Dumb Little Man, or Steve Pavlina’s hugely popular <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/">How to Become an Early Riser</a>. Why does getting up early help your diet? You start the day in a relaxed, unrushed frame of mind. You have time for some exercise, journaling, reading inspirational health and fitness blogs, and, crucially, you can prepare a <a href="http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/03/5-quick-simple-breakfast-on-run-ideas.html">healthy breakfast</a> and lunch. Which leads me on to… </li> <li>Breakfast: I don’t need to tell you that you should eat breakfast if you want to succeed in losing weight: it’s the one piece of advice that diet gurus seem unanimous on. If you’re genuinely not hungry when you first wake up, try eating less at dinner time the night before. Don’t just grab a doughnut on the way to work or class – loading up your body with with sugar first thing is going to lead to an energy crash well before lunch. And spending a few dollars on coffee and a snack every morning just because you couldn’t be bothered to wake up earlier (see above) is bad for your wallet, too. The healthiest breakfasts are ones you prepare yourself. Nothing complicated – a bowl of cereal with skimmed milk, or a couple of slices of wholegrain toast with baked beans, are perfect. If you really can’t have breakfast before you leave the house, can you keep milk and cereal at your workplace and get in ten minutes early to eat? </li> <li>Mid-morning: When eleven o’clock comes around, you might feel peckish. Maybe you’re tempted by the tray of brownies in the cafeteria … or if you’re at home, you feel you deserve a treat after working hard for hours on end. You don’t need me to tell you that a giant cookie isn’t likely to fit well into your diet plan. If you’re hungry, have some fruit. (Not sure if you’re hungry or not? Try asking yourself “Would an apple or granola bar satisfy me...?” If only a king-sized chocolate bar tempts you, you’re not hungry, you're craving.) Keeping healthy snacks on hand is a must; easily done at home, but trickier if you’re in work or school. Your desk drawer, locker or bag are all good places for a stash of fruit, trail mix, granola bars or plain popcorn. </li> <li>Lunch: You’ve successfully made it through the morning. For most dieters, though, that’s the easy bit; lunch is where it all goes wrong. Whether it’s a mayo-laden sub, a pizza with friends, or something deep fried from the canteen, an unhealthy lunch can ruin the rest of the day – leaving you lethargic in the afternoon, thinking “I might as well give up.” As with breakfast, prepare your own meal: whether that means brown-bagging leftovers the night before, or taking five minutes to make a sandwich in the morning (you got up early, so you’ll have plenty of time). You’ll have complete control over what goes into it: wholegrains, lean sources of protein and plenty of vegetables and fruit works well. And if you’re not buying lunch out every day, you’ll save a lot of money. </li> <li>Mid-afternoon: Many people manage a healthy breakfast and lunch, only to be tripped up by the 4 o’clock energy slump. Late afternoon is not your best time of day – you’re a bit tired and cranky, lacking energy and motivation. If at work, you’re tempted by the office cookie tin, feeling you “deserve” something fat and sugar laden. And if you’ve just come home from school, raiding the cupboards can be almost automatic. If you ate a light, healthy, lunch, you may well be feeling a bit peckish by 4 o’clock. That’s fine – and there’s no point waiting till 7 o’clock to eat if you’ll be so ravenous that you’ll scoff down triple helpings. Have a healthy snack – <a href="http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/05/5-snacks-that-will-smash-that-afternoon.html">5 Snacks That will Smash That Afternoon Groggy Feeling</a> might give you some ideas” </li> <li>Dinner: Don’t resort to getting takeout or microwaving a frozen ready meal every night. Not only will you be denying your body decent nutrition, you’ll be wasting a lot of money, too. Plan ahead, and make sure you’ve got easy to cook foods in the cupboards: simple ingredients like rice and pasta, chopped tomatoes, plenty of veggies and some skinless chicken breasts can be thrown together for a variety of meals. If you can’t cook, get a good “beginner’s” style book that covers all the basics. Learning to prepare healthy, tasty meals is an essential skill: if you’re still living at home, offer to help out in the kitchen once in a while, and get your parents to teach you, and if you’re at college, don’t eat in the canteen every night. </li> <li>Evening: Have you ever had an almost perfect day – healthy breakfast and lunch, nice dinner, fruit for snacks – only to spoil it all right at the end? It’s easy to slump in front of the television after dinner, maybe with a sweet treat for dessert. Then you get an ice-cream, followed by a cookie, followed by a handful of chocolates … followed by the inevitable feelings of guilt. Don’t do this to yourself. Brush your teeth as soon as you’ve finished eating for the day, and don’t have anything else till breakfast time. Doing some activity which involves your hands (knitting, writing, painting) or mouth (talking to friends or family) is a big help, as you won’t feel that constant temptation to grab a snack. </li></ul>Which of these seven is the worst time of day for your diet? How do you plan ahead and cope with it? Share your tips and experiences in the comments below. -Ali <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=b994477d2de44e603ee89b52dd61bd8f"><img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=b994477d2de44e603ee89b52dd61bd8f"/></a> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=b994477d2de44e603ee89b52dd61bd8f" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?a=ZwOYaY"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?i=ZwOYaY" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=66b2c05330304248a29f2f3cb0c4f3b6&u=%%UNIQUEID%%"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=66b2c05330304248a29f2f3cb0c4f3b6&u=%%UNIQUEID%%" border="0"/></a> </td></tr> <td> <a href="/dmoz/"> Top</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/Arts/"> Arts</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/Business/"> Business</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/Computers/"> Computers</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/Games/"> Games</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/Health/"> Health</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/Kids_and_Teens/"> Kids</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/News/"> News</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Recreation/"> Recreation</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Reference/"> Reference</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Regional/"> Regional</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Science/"> Science</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Shopping/"> Shopping</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Society/"> Society</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Sports/"> Sports</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/World/"> World</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/World/"> Languages</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/news/"> News</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/news/"> Blogs</a> <HR NOSHADE> <center> <!!--#exec cmd="/cgi-bin/banner"--> <table><td> <script type="text/javascript"> GA_googleFillSlot("news-banner-bottom"); </script> <td> <a href="http://www.ba.net/about/"> <img src="http://ba.net/gifs/adbrite-your-ad-here-banner.gif" style="background-color:#CCCCCC;border:none;padding:0;margin:0;" alt="Your Ad Here" width="11" height="60" border="0" align=right></a> </table> <form method="POST" action="http://www.brujula.net/cgi-bin/buscar"> <input name="text" size="45"> <input type="submit" value="Search"> <input type="hidden" name="buscador" value="categorias-en"> </form> BA.net Brujula.Net © 2008 <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/acerca/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">advertising</a> <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">english</a> <A HREF="http://www.brujula.net/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">español</a> <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/italia/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">italiano</a> <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/germany/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">germany</a> <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/japan/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">japan</a> <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/france/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">france</a> <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/world/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">more</a> <A HREF="javascript:window.external.AddFavorite(window.location.href,document.title)" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">bookmark</A> </center> </td> </TABLE> </TD> <TD valign="top"><IMG src="http://www.brujula.net/gifs/sep3horiz.gif" width="23" height="1"></TD> <TD bgcolor="#333366" valign="top"><IMG src="http://www.brujula.net/gifs/sep3horiz.gif" width="3" height="1"></TD> </TR> <TR bgcolor="#ffffff"> <TD colspan="2" bgcolor="#FFCC66" valign="top"><IMG src="http://www.brujula.net/gifs/sep3horiz.gif" width="1" height="24" border="0"></TD> <TD colspan="3" valign="top"><IMG src="http://www.brujula.net/gifs/sep3horiz.gif" width="1" height="24" border="0"></TD> <TD rowspan="2" colspan="2" bgcolor="#333366" valign="middle"> <CENTER> > </CENTER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD colspan="5" bgcolor="#333366" valign="top"><IMG src="http://www.brujula.net/gifs/sep3horiz.gif" width="1" height="3"></TD> </TR> <TR bgcolor="#666699"> <TD colspan="8"><IMG src="http://www.brujula.net/gifs/sep3horiz.gif" width="1" height="10"></TD> </TR> </TABLE> </BODY></HTML>