Discover your purpose by Adding Exercise

Is living a life of happiness and purpose related to your level of physical fitness?  Yes!  It gives you the energy and emotional desire to go out and do more, thus getting you healthier from just moving around more!  I am sure there are other ways that it also increases your physical fitness, but what I really want to look at is if you are not living a life of purpose and are unhappy can focusing on physical fitness help you find your life direction?  I believe it definitely helps and has big impacts on my journey!  There are three main reasons that participating in fitness helps you with your direction.

1. Self esteem
2. Clearing your mind
3. Reduce stress

First, when you are exercising you end up establishing a higher self esteem.  When you are surer of yourself it is easier to move in the direction of your true calling.  You have the confidence to make the right jump or confront the issues that are affecting you.

Second, when you exercise it helps to clear your mind.  It allows you to zone out.  This helps because sometimes it makes way for a break through to occur with no other thoughts in the way (you often hear that great ideas came through in the shower, this is the same phenomenon).  These break through can be realizations that you are at the wrong company, it is time to retire or that it is time to start your own business.

Finally, exercise reduces stress.  Stress blocks logical thoughts making it harder to think and feel in an organized non emotional manner.  The less stress you have the clearer you are able to think and determine what you want from life.

So are you ready to add physical fitness to your life so you can begin to discover your true dreams?  It is much easier than you think and you don’t need to become an athlete to achieve this either!  I recommend three basic ways to add easy (and inexpensive) exercise to your day (talk with a doctor first if you have not worked out in a while!)

1. Walk – super easy just put on some shoes and hit the road.  Start small if you need to by walking around the block, keeping adding more every week.
2. Yoga – I love yoga as a way to not only get physical activity but to also find mental clarity.  There are enough styles of yoga out there that finding one you like is just a matter of trying different classes!  Try a local studio; buy a DVD or my personal favorite the web!  www.yogatoday.com is full of great teachers and lots of classes.  You can even start with the free class to see if you like it!
3. FitDeck Playing Cards – these cards make working out at home incredibly easy.  I have multiple sets and am always amazed at how fun and easy these cards make exercise! Even my four year old loves to do these with me!

Don’t wait another day, add exercise to your life and find that discovering your happiness is much easier!

Taking responsiblility for yourself and your money

Earlier today I was reading some blog posts about personal finance and came across one that looked at hidden 401k fees.  (http://blackopulence.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/the-truth-behind-hidden-fees-in-401k-plans/)  It is another reason that we need to take action to be responsible for our own lives.  We need to pay attention, learn and constantly ask questions.

Take the time right now to go to this blog post and watch ALL three videos!  It is worth your time.  Then when you are done check to see what your 401k plan looks like and then call you representatives in Washington.

Business Recycling

This is definitely out of my range of normal writing, but it has been on my mind a lot lately so I wanted to get it off!  Why do more businesses not offer recycling bins? 

Maybe it is because I am in the Midwest, maybe it is because the pickup service is not offered to businesses, or maybe it is because businesses just don’t want to implement a program.  Whatever the excuse, I believe it is worth adding, even if that means that the businesses have to push their disposal vendors to add that service, or if they have to buy new bins and train employees.  I believe it is worth it, and that customers would probably be happier about shopping at those businesses. 

I personally hate to see the waste and actually stop to decide if I can manage to get the trash home for recycling.  It would be a lot better if I could just recycle right then and there.  Whole Foods has a great program for recycling and more business should learn from them!

If we can do it at home why can more businesses not do it?  If you own a business, PLEASE consider adding recycling.

Adding Customer Service to local business

Recently while at a local coffee shop I began contemplating customer service due to the bad service I was receiving – actually it started with anger, but eventually that turned into contemplation!   Specifically, how can small local stores offer worse service than a large corporate conglomerate would offer?  Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?  I thought corporate America did not care, and that local small business was there for us the consumer?  So how is it that many of these large companies provide better service than our mom and pop stores? 

After much pondering I concluded that the key is training.  The larger companies have an entire staff dedicated to training and customer service.  When a new employee starts they do more than just toss them in.  They get more training than here is the register call if you need anything.  Now don’t get me wrong having a training program does not eliminate the chances that a store will have bad customer service, but it does give them a leg up, a better chance to make it!  So how do small businesses compete?  I recommend starting with three areas: procedure manuals, staff training, and empowering your employees. 

Procedure manual?  Why should you take the time, which I don’t have, to write a procedure manual?  A procedure manual is a great way to ensure that the way you want your business run is somewhere other than your head and is available to your staff.  Then if you are not around they can refer to it if they have questions.  In addition it enables you to walk through all the what ifs that can occur in your business, forces you to think about what exactly you want your business to be and how it is going to get there and makes your business run smoother because everything is mapped out.  Training will be based on your procedure manual.  It gives your employees a sense that they have the knowledge and skills to do their job right!  

Don’t let your training end at their first week of work!  The second item I recommend is training – all the time!  If you continually provide them with extra skills, such as customer service classes, leadership classes, or even history classes on your industry!  Not only will they provide better service, but they will feel you are more committed to them and their success.  The extra costs will be more than made up in lower employee turnover and happier customers.  Most companies do not provide their employees with the skills to succeed,  make sure you are a step ahead!  

Finally, empower your employees to solve problems and make customers happy.  Not every situation you will be able to put into your manual or will your staff take the time to learn about every issue that might occur.  So instead, include in your procedures manual a clause about minor adjustments, set a limit on cost, to make customers happy.  If your policy is to serve a drink in x cup and the customers wants y cup, let your employees make that adjustment.  You will have happy customers and employees because problems can be solved without you! 

Don’t feel overwhelmed by how long implementing all this will take.  It will not happen overnight, but start working on it and you will be amazed at the results!  Set aside 30 minutes a day to write and develop your programs.  Find templates you can adapt, send your employees to already established training seminars.  The most important thing is to just get started.  Your business will thank you!

Why you should invest

Why should you invest? Investing creates freedom!

I already have Freedom, I am American? Freedom – Do you have the means to live and do exactly what you want when you want! Without saving money and investing you are tied to your job, parents, kids, the government, whoever is providing you money! Investing provides the money to help live your life your way! Just a small sampling below to show you why you should save!

Investing provides money to:

• Take care of yourself and family in retirement – no relying on a pension or the government.

• The ability to retire when you want to, not when you are able to get social security or retirement benefits from your company – if they even provide have them.

• Seize opportunities when they come along – business deals, new houses, you name it if it comes along and you don’t have money you cannot seize anything!

• Increase your sense of self worth, this comes from knowing that you don’t have to depend on anyone. This is more empowering than you will ever know until you are in the position where you have this freedom! It empowers you to write your own story, not one dictated by your provider. Don’t you want to write your own story?

• Investing gives you a sense of security that when bad does occur you are better able to manage it. You can worry about your emotions not how you will pay for everything.

This is just a small sampling of what investing can provide. Isn’t having one less dinner out worth the freedom that investing provides? That is all it takes, $25 a month, one dinner out. I even dare you to imagine missing 4 dinners out a month – $100 a month saved could rock your world! Don’t delay save now!