It's time to take back control of your inbox

Remember when your inbox was filled exclusively with messages from friends and family? No? Been too long? Every year that passes I find my inbox filled with more and more junk. Data shows that only 42% of emails are important., meaning the majority of email in our inbox is unimportant! 

Stats about email:

•  The average person receives 110 e-mails per day.
• The average employee spends 650 hours per year processing unimportant email
• A case study conducted by the Danwood Group found that it takes an average of 64 seconds to recover from an email interruption and return to work 

While changing the way you think about and process e-mail is a great start, there’s a lot more that can be done to reduce email overload.

SaneBox is a well known email management tool among techies, CEOs and investors, but is starting to make a push into the mainstream. SaneBox analyzes your inbox and then with an unbelievable amount of accuracy filters your "unimportant" email into a separate folder called SaneLater and summarizes this email in a daily digest. This means your inbox is left with only important email.

They also offer a number of additional email productivity features, but my favorite is SaneReminders. Simply add a timeframe such as 3days@sanebox.com in the CC or BCC field when sending and email and if the recipient doesn’t respond within three days you’ll receive a notification. You can use any timeframe you desire (1day@sanebox.com, 27days@sanebox.com, Tuesday@sanebox.com, 5pm.Monday@sanebox.com). I use this feature on almost every email I send.

We’re all overloaded with email, there’s no way around it, but we can greatly reduce our pain with email by adhering to good habits and utilizing the tools around us. For me, SaneBox is the tool that has been in the most helpful, I'm still working on creating those good habits!

Personal Wellness

As humans our needs are complex. But the complexity of what we want doesn’t matter as much as how much we want it, and our willingness to change in order to obtain it. Change requires that we make choices. Personal wellness is a choice, and a process of positive change.

It’s a fact that personal wellness means much more than being free from physical illness. It requires a multidimensional approach to health, one that incorporates the emotional, physical, spiritual, environmental, social, mental and occupational state of being.

The anatomy of a great personal wellness plan brings together all of the interconnected dimensions of wellness to produce holistic health and happiness. And in this article, are guidelines that provide a betterunderstanding of the different dimensions of wellness, andhelp get you started on creating your individual personal wellness plan.

Assess yourself

• Begin by performing a self-assessment to identify areas in your life need improvement. A physical self-assessment you can ask questions like, “What am I doing to improve my physical condition?”You’ll also want to examine your eating habits and whether you are making healthy food choices

• Assess your spiritual wellbeing or belief system. (Take note, spiritual doesn’t just mean religion.) What are your personal values, beliefs and mission in life?

• An environmental assessment requires leading a lifestyle that is respectful of and in harmony with your environment, and reducing the impact of your actions on the environment.

• A mental wellness assessment examines your emotional and physiological wellbeing.Evaluate your ability to enjoy life. Can you live in the moment and appreciate the now?Also mental stimulation and wandering out of your comfort zone will increase possibilities for further self-improvement.

Identify Areas Improvement

Once you’ve identified areas in your life that need improvement, write down your goals and create a personal wellness plan that is attainable and that addresses your individual needs.

Record your progress

Keep a chart or journal to reassess your accomplishments and areas needing improvement; all the while, monitoring your growth along the way.


Reward yourself

Celebrate your success when achieving a goal, no matter how small. Go to the spa, or visit the museum and discover something new. These little rewards will make your hard work worthwhile.

Read the article here

Improving Life Through Self Improvement: Read This Now!

Do not neglect working on your self improvement. Personal development can include leading a healthier life or getting control over your finances. It’s vital that you work on yourself to live the best life you can. You may never stop developing yourself personally, because there is always a way to improve in some area in your life. You are sure to have a much happier and healthier life if you find a way to develop and maintain good habits every day.

Self improvement comes from the decisions that you make when you choose not to miss an opportunity. You need to face these decisions with confidence, even if you aren’t totally sure. Positive habits are formed through the instances where you make a successful decision, which in turn becomes a more ‘natural instinct’. Even if you make the wrong decision, you will still have a valuable learning experience. When you learn from your mistakes, you are less likely to repeat them.

Read good articles about personal development. Make sure you choose books that are in line with your goals for self improvement. Books on the topic of self improvement can be poorly written. To avoid this, make sure you read books that have been reviewed well.

Identify what is standing in between you and success. This can prove problematic for most folks. Identifying and acknowledging your weakest points is a crucial element in transforming them. Removing obstacles in your life can help you get a clearer picture of what’s to come.

Try to get the most out of your work time to get more accomplished. One simple solution is to go on more breaks while you work. This may seem counterproductive, but by taking constant breaks, you have time to unwind and recharge so that when you get back to work, you can get more stuff done.

Be ready to take down any ideas you may have, no matter what the setting is. Carry pens and paper with you at all times. Just write down what their idea or thought is and then develop it more when you have the time and are feeling creative.

Self improvement begins with becoming a leader. The key to being a leader is influence, according to most people. Identify the leadership qualities you possess. Which events have had the most impact on your life? What changes did those events bring forth in you? What are the things about you that make you a great fit for a team? By asking yourself these questions, you can become more aware of how you best fit into a team.

Read the full article: http://anagreementwithlove.com/123-improving-life-through-self-improvement-read-this-now

Self help: forget positive thinking, try positive action

For years self-help gurus have preached the same simple mantra: if you want to improve your life then you need to change how you think. Force yourself to have positive thoughts and you will become happier. Visualise your dream self and you will enjoy increased success. Think like a millionaire and you will magically grow rich. In principle, this idea sounds perfectly reasonable. However, in practice it often proves ineffective.

Take visualisation. Hundreds of self-improvement books encourage readers to close their eyes and imagine their perfect selves; to see themselves in a huge office at the top of the corporate ladder, or sipping a cocktail as they feel the warm Caribbean sand between their toes. Unfortunately, research suggests this technique does not work.

In one study led by Lien Pham at the University of California, students were asked to spend a few moments each day visualising themselves getting a high grade in an upcoming exam. Even though the daydreaming exercise only lasted a few minutes, it caused the students to study less and obtain lower marks. In another experiment led by Gabriele Oettingen from New York University, graduates were asked to note down how often they fantasised about getting their dream job after leaving college. The students who reported that they frequently fantasised about such success received fewer job offers and ended up with significantly smaller salaries.

Why should this be so? Maybe those who fantasise about a wonderful life are ill-prepared for setbacks, or become reluctant to put in the effort required to achieve their goal. Either way, the message is clear – imagining the perfect you is not good for your life.

However, when it comes to change, the message is not all gloom and doom. Decades of research show that there is indeed a simple but highly effective way to transform how you think and feel. The technique turns common sense on its head but is grounded in science. Strangely, the story begins with a world-renowned Victorian thinker and an imaginary bear.

Working at Harvard University in the late 19th century, William James, brother of the novelist Henry James, was attracted to the unconventional, often walking around campus sporting a silk hat and red-checked trousers, and describing his theories using amusing prose ("As long as one poor cockroach feels the pangs of unrequited love, this world is not a moral world"). This unconventional approach paid off. First published in 1890, James's two-volume magnum opus The Principles of Psychology is still required reading for students of behavioural science.

Read the full article: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/jun/30/self-help-positive-thinking

Best motivational speech EVER! *Never give up!!!* Eric Thomas

Thumbs UP!

I don't own the speech or the music.

Inspirational Stories: Never Give Up

In 2005 i was having the best time of my life i was 20 drinking recklessly parting everyday i was in my gap period in life. The following year i was to go off to university in another country and i was so excited, life could not be better than this. On new yrs eve in the morning like every new yrs eve i was in happy mood, planning with my friends, for the evening ahead everything was going great. Normally i would get the party started at about 7 pm with a few glasses of hot stuff but that evening i felt down sad, i could not explain it , my parents where even concerned by 10 normally i would be 2 hrs out of the house by then. My best friend called me at about 10 pm to go with him to a party and came to pick me up THEN i started drinking from 10:30 till 12:30 nonstop shot after shot . I don't know how i wondered off from my friends and ended up on the main road yes i got struck by a car.

It was bad all i remember my friends who had been called by someone who recognized me trying to take me to the hospital but my leg had broken it was detached and I could not move. I was still intoxicated and could not feel the pain, an ambulance arrived and i was taken to hospital, now came the difficult part for my best friend to call my parents what i must have put them through, when i woke up which was now about 6 am the alcohol had worn off by now with still a broken leg i was in so much pain.

The doctor told me i had to have an operation to reattach my bone together and that i would never be able to walk without a walking stick, my heart sank how could i have done this to myself why did i do this why how ran through my mind everyday, worse i come from a country where the medical facilities and medicines are in short supply and the procedure would be very costly my parents had to sell the family car to pay for the op. There was no food given to patients so my dad would come every visiting hr to bring me food and tell me stories i have never felt so close to my dad.

I also spent my 21st birthday in hospital. The day of the operation came i was nervous, 2 pm was my scheduled time 6 pm i was done thank god for morphine, my family was with me till visiting time ended They had put metal plates in my leg to reattach the bones. 8 pm the horror began something was terribly wrong or the meds had worn off too quickly, i called the nurse a short stout lady who appeared to hate her job i pleaded with her to give me painkillers but she ignored me and walked away and turned off the lights i tried a few more times but to no luck i was alone in the ward just me and 4 other empty beds. I cannot explain the pain it was as if my leg had been sawn off, i tried to think of happy thoughts to occupy my mind it did not work, i tried to move i was paralyzed i had no use of my lower half of the body i spoke to myself, i blamed myself for being in this situation. what could i do who could i tell i was sorry who would listen to my repentance i was alone. i asked anyone in my head my mind please come and take me any where but here someone come and rescue me. i called to my Dad hoping he would hear me 15 km away.Across from the bed a clock i could see hear every tick tock tick tock. Why me God angrily WHY.

Continue reading Never Give Up

How to Become a Wildly Successful Motivational Speaker

I frequently have people say to me, "I think I'd make a good motivational speaker. How do I go about it?" And since I get this question a LOT, I thought I'd just put all the answers down in a blogpost and then I can direct people here when they are looking for answers. Here you go. 

1. Have something extremely important to share with people - information SO valuable that you know it will change people's lives for the better.
2. Write a brilliant, funny, substantive, Pulitzer Prize winning, story-rich one hour speech about it. 
3. Make certain it is DIFFERENT than the other brilliant speeches out there. Not just better (which is a given) but DIFFERENT. 
4. Do NOT present it until it is ready (bad press is worse than no press.)
5. DO, however, present it to professionals in the meetings industry who will critique everything from the content, to your delivery style, to what you are wearing to why you keep saying or doing "x." You NEED to know what is and is not working.
6. Do NOT rely on your friends to tell you how good your stuff is. They love you, they don't want to hurt your feelings, they want you to like them - and most importantly - unless they are GREAT motivational speakers themselves, they don't actually KNOW what is good and what isn't.
7. Once it is brilliant, give it away to deserving, appropriate groups for free or a very low fee. You need to know from experience what is working, what isn't, where the laughs are, etc.
8. Hire a professional videographer to shoot several of these sessions. GREAT quality video with good lighting and sound. Cheap video in a dumpy looking conference rooms works against you.
9. Hire a professional editor (preferably who knows what meeting planners are looking for) to edit a rough cut for you.
10. Hire another professional to look at the rough cut and make more suggestions about what should and shouldn't be included. (8, 9 and 10 could be the same person - but they NEED TO KNOW WHAT MEETING PLANNERS ARE LOOKING FOR! This could be a very costly mistake if they don't know what will get you booked.)
11. Build a VERY professional looking website with all your great video clips, plus photos of you speaking AT actual events (not the posed, "Oh look at how I am pretending to speak" photos.) If you do not have a great website, people will not book you 999 times out of 1000. You are competing with professional speakers who have AMAZING sites. Be prepared. This costs thousands of dollars to do right. AND - it takes a long time. 
12. Hire a professional to optimize your website.  Allocate another couple of thousand dollars to have someone insure than when people are searching the term "motivational speaker," of the 3,500,000 results that appear (no, I'm not kidding on that number), you will come up at LEAST in the top 10 pages of results listings.  And many people won't search past page 5. I'm on page 4...today. Trust me, tomorrow I may sink like a rock. You have to WORK to stay high on the results listings.
13. Figure out how to market yourself to meeting planners and speakers' bureaus. And be prepared again - these people don't know you and don't have any track record with you. But they DO have a track record with hundreds of other speakers who are years ahead of you, have made them look like rock stars for recommending them and have made those bureaus and meeting planners lots of money in commissions. 
14. Go to your local chapter meetings of the National Speakers Association. They are in lots of cities around the U.S. Go to www.nsaspeaker.org  to find a chapter near you. They bring in professional speakers who cover every topic you need to know about: Presentation skills, marketing, business tools, technology needs, social media advances, business practices, ethics, etc. 

Read the full article by Linda Larsen here