Start Your Career On The Right Note - An Important Read

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. "  - Steve Jobs (Apple)

It is important to start your career on the right note. Many people, in their eagerness to get a job and start their earning life would accept any job that comes their way. They just want to get employed somewhere and somehow. They don't start their career on the right note by choosing the field that is right for them.

Do not make this mistake. Do not enter any profession or field that comes first. Exercise some patience and self control. Do not be hasty and do not get too anxious if any suitable job in your desired field does not come to you quickly.

What you need to do before you start job hunting is to take a good measure of your skills, talents, passions, interests, likes and dislikes as well as your strengths and weaknesses. Take a few blank sheets of paper and write down detailed, complete lists of all things that come to mind for the above categories.

For example, on one sheet of paper write down all your strengths. Take another sheet and write down your weaknesses. Take time for each list. Let your mind come up with items to add to the list. Do not hurry to complete the list as quickly as you can. Just keep jotting down whatever thing comes to the mind to be added.

In the same way, make a list of your passions and interests. Make a list of things that you like and another list containing things that you dislike. I am talking of likes and dislikes related to work. I am not talking of the foods you like or dislike. Rather note down whatever tasks or work you particularly enjoy and also the tasks that make you cringe and make you procrastinate. Add each of these tasks that you can think of to its respective list.

An important point - there is no need to try and finish all these lists in one day or one sitting. Let your mind dwell over things and keep giving you more things to be added. Sometimes you might find that as you are sitting with your friend and chatting casually some things come to mind in which you have lot of interest. These things might not have occurred to you earlier, but only after a couple of days.

Anyways always keep an open mind and make sure to write down whatever new idea comes to you. Do not think you have already completed this particular list and dont want to add anything new. Very soon you may get a feeling of completeness or emptiness which signifies that you have exhausted/completed all things for that particular list.

Once you have these lists ready, now is the time to go through these in detail so that you become more aware of your own personality and taste. There may be many things here that may surprise you. You might make many strange discoveries about yourself going over these lists.

Keep mulling over these lists for few days. No need to rush or hurry. Avoid the temptation to hurry things. Let the mind absorb what it has seen and observed and discovered. Let it all sink in. Very soon some ideas may form in your mind and heart about what direction would be best for you. The important thing is not to force yourself to come up with something. Let it happen by itself in its own sweet time.

After a few days you can take the lists and shortlist some items from your likes, passions, strengths and interests. See what you can do with these. How can you utilise these for earning money or getting employed? For example if one of your strengths is helping others solve their problems, think of where this kind of strength would be useful. This strength would probably be useful in management or human resources area where you have to work with people and it is your responsibility to look over their problems and help them solve the problems.

A person with such a strength is better off in working in jobs where he has to deal with people. Such a person is unlikely to be happy and satisfied in a technical or clerical job where interaction with other people is minimal.

So you can use these lists for better self-awareness and for wisely choosing which career field would be better for you. Try to find about what jobs exist which would suit your style, strengths and likes. If you are able to find a job which is suited to your taste and strengths, you may find it lot easier to make  progress and achieve big milestones in your career.

Warren Buffet reportedly said once, 'I did not work a single day in my life'. What he meant was he is so passionate about what he does, he loves his field so much that it does not feel like work. It feels like pleasure, fun and play. That is how you should feel about your work and your chosen field. If you don't feel that way then you are probably not in the right field.

There are many professionals with seemingly successful careers but on the inside they feel exhausted and unsatisfied. They feel something is missing in their lives. Every morning they dread getting out of their beds and going to office for the simple reason they don't love their work. They are just doing it for money. For this reason it is important to choose the right career from the start because once you take the first few steps, it can get very difficult to go back and start all over again in a new field.

And dont forget to check out our huge directory of jobs to find the right one for you: jobsource1.com

How to Sell An Idea or Product to Anyone - How to Make it a Best-Seller

There is an excellent short report by Seth Godin about how to make your products sell like crazy. You can get a free copy of the book. Download link at the end of this article.

Step 1 of the Plan:
The plan presented in this short report is simple - approach just one person with your novel idea or product and convince that person to try it out. Once you are able to sell to that person and after trying it out, the person should fall so much in love with it that he cannot help but recommend the product to dozen other people.

The person should become crazy about your product. He should consider himself very very lucky that he was able to get his hands on this product. He should be smiling to himself whenever he uses your product or service.

He should run to tell others about it. He should talk in an excited manner while talking about your product.

Imagine how this person would recommend your product to others. He wouldn't get tired of recommending your product to others. He will send an email to all people who he knows might benefit from this product. He will not recommend your product just once or twice but will keep on doing so whenever there is an opportunity for doing so.

If one such person falls in love with your product, then others who will try out are likely to do so too. They should get so used to your product that they cannot imagine living without it anymore now.

You can very well imagine the viral effect when 10 or 100 people start promoting your product or service in such a manner.

This is how quality products rise to fame. It is not a single person or company which will promote it, but many others will do so out of their own free will.

If your idea, product or service doesn't cause this level of excitement, then you are better off thinking of the next idea or product instead of working hard at marketing something that is not making people go crazy.

If just one idea or product of yours can make people go crazy then you might enjoy success comparable to that of Walmart, Microsoft, HP, Dell, Yahoo, Youtube, Google, Amazon, Ebay, Squidoo etc.

A New Perception about Marketing:
This book will give you a different perception of marketing. It is now about finding such winning products or ideas which will inspire people to tell others because it benefits other people and not just you. You will then no longer need to market your products too much as others will do it for you.

Your website is a product, your book or even a short article is a product. Your blog post is a product, an idea which you want to spread to others is a product, a service you are providing is a product.

Almost anything you are trying to market is a product and the above guidelines apply to it. When writing an article, try to make it so powerful that people will feel compelled to forward it to others rather than just read and a little later forget about it.

Finally, here is the download link to this short 5-page report:
http://www.changethis.com/50.01.Tribes

Hope you will enjoy the book as much as I did.

Improve Your Listening Skills by Paying More Attention

In order to be a good leader and exceptional speaker, I feel you need to be a good listener too. Too few people I guess have this ability whereas it is such an important one to have.

If you have a hard time focusing on what others are saying then you need to improve your listening skills a great deal. If you can easily pay attention to other people and don't interrupt in between then you probably have good listening skills already.

If you improve your listening skills you can become a good communicator. Your speaking skills can improve automatically too.

One of the better tips to improve your listening skills is to pay full concentration to other people. When they talk, do not keep thinking of your reply. Pay full attention to their talk.

People will appreciate this a lot. They want to be heard and listened to. In turn, they might listen you out more carefully. In this way you can get your message across to others more easily than being hasty in speech.

It also lets you understand others more easily and better. Hence you can craft out your replies in a better fashion. So you see, it is important to improve your listening skills by paying more importance and attention to others.

If you believe that what the other person has to say is important, then you might find it easier to listen to him. Having such a belief and attitude can greatly help in improving your listening skills.

If you feel the other person and his views are not important and if you have a closed mind, then it is difficult to pay attention to their talk.

So you see it is a matter of belief and attitude. Having the right attitude when it comes to communication is a great benefit for yourself and others with whom you are interacting.

How to Stop Panic Attacks Now & Permanently Get Rid of the Problem

Experiencing a Panic Attack
People experiencing panic attacks may feel they are having a heart attack or they are dying. They may feel like they are suffocating or going crazy.

For some people, the breathing might become very rapid and their heartbeat increases.

Even though panic attacks may not be physically damaging to anyone, but they certainly can be very damaging psychologically. Frequent panic attacks are an indication that the individual suffers from anxiety, depression or acute stress.

While frequent or acute panic attacks demand medical attention, there are some ways you can deal with panic attacks when they arise.

Note: In order to learn how to stop panic attacks without medication, click here - stop panic attacks now

Simple Tips to Stop Panic Attacks and Gain Back Normalcy
In order to stop and cure panic attacks you need to slow down your breathing. If there is no medical reason for your hyperventilation, then you have to slow down how much oxygen you are getting into your body.

During panic attacks people start breathing very rapidly. In order to stop panic attacks you need to overcome this habit. Slow down your breathing as much as possible.

You may breathe into a paper bag. Or cup your hands over your mouth and breathe into your hands. Breathing into paper bag can be more effective than breathing into the hands.

The carbon dioxide will help in relaxing your breathing. Once your breathing gets normal, your heartbeat can become normal too.

Start thinking positive assertive thoughts. Stop the negative and weakening thoughts in your mind at once. Replace them with assertive thinking.

Start telling yourself that you can deal with this panic attack, you can stop panic attacks and lead a normal healthy life. Remind yourself that you are not going to die, that you have probably survived many such attacks before and that you are a strong brave person.

How to Stop Panic Attacks Permanently by Controlling Stress
Try to learn how to relax and manage your stress levels. Stress management is one of the most important factors in dealing with panic attacks. Remember that stress is not caused by any situation you face in life.

Stress is caused by negatively reacting to those situations. If you learn not to get affected by stressful situations, then you can overcome the panic problem quite easily.

Remember that stress is not a result of outside events, but its a result of your internal reaction to those events. It is upto you not to get stressed out!

Effective Cure for Anxiety and Panic
Remember that drugs or medications are just temporary solutions. They don't cure panic attacks or anxiety disorder. If you want to treat the root of the problem, there is a good resource available. The stop panic attacks ebook should help you get rid of this problem forever to start enjoying a healthy life. Go to Panic Away website

This program can teach you how to stop panic attacks naturally and without medication. Break this cycle of fear and never fear another panic attack again - Panic Away Program

Questions and feedback below!

Constantly Feeling Tired? How to Become Super-Active Now

Do you constantly feel tired? Always wanting to hit the pillow? Unable to stay active for long?

If you are constantly feeling tired then you are not alone. You may be surprised to know that a lot of people are suffering from the exact same problem like you.

As much as 20-25% of people in USA seem to be suffering from chronic fatigue problem. The problems people face can be about difficulty in getting up, unable to stay alert at work, unable to lead an active life, constantly feeling tired, feeling sleepy all the time, not wanting to do chores, feeling lazy, feeling weak etc.

These tiredness and fatigue issues can cause problems in our relationships, work life and health. If we are active then we can be fit, have healthy relationships and focus on our careers.

Feeling tired sometimes may be quite normal. But constantly feeling tired is something that we would need to work on. If its left unchecked, then it can lead to more serious ailments.

Thankfully, there are measures you can take to overcome this problem of constant tiredness and lethargy. The first step can be to find out the real cause behind your tiredness problem.

Some of the causes of constant tiredness may include:

• Health problems specially heart problems, arthritis etc
• Depression
• Diabetes
• Anemia
• Lack of sufficient quality sleep
• Medications
• Unhealthy lifestyle habits

The above mentioned are just a few causes. There can be other factors responsible for your problem. Once you are able to pinpoint the real cause, you can focus on it to eliminate your problem of tiredness.

If your problem is lifestyle related then you should seriously work to improve your habits. Whether it is your sleep pattern, unhealthy eating or lack of physical activity.

Overcoming Tiredness
Lack of exercise can be a major reason for feeling tired all the time. You should have some kind of exercise be it as simple as walking or jogging or gardening.

Your mind and body will feel relaxed and pleasant with exercise. Exercise can help in stress reduction and make you feel active. It can increase your energy levels. So don't neglect this thing.

Another reason could be unhealthy eating habits. We usually eat all types of junk food, unhealthy food and also overeat food. All this can affect our level of activeness making us more lazy and sleepy.

Eating more fruits and vegetables, avoiding too much sugar, salt or oil, avoiding junk food and avoiding overeating can be some ways we can help overcome our tiredness problem if its related to unhealthy eating. Drink more water to raise your energy levels.

There is a good resource that can teach about how to give up bad habits. You can learn how to eliminate habits that are affecting your health or life. Check out the details here - Bad Habit Busting

Becoming Super-Active
If you don't want to be dull and listless, and want to be super-active, energetic and a fit person then take steps to eliminate constant tiredness from your life. For a happier and more fulfilling life, check out - The End Tiredness Program

This program was designed by tiredness expert - Tina. She was a counselor who had worked with police officers and fire-fighters. You know how stressful these jobs are and you need to be alert all the time.

She believes that we need to treat the condition and not the symptoms of the problem. This program is based on scientific study and long experience of working with fatigued people. You can find out more details by visiting her site - Say No to Tiredness

Leave your feedback below!

Why Are Our Lives Stressed? The Root Cause of It All

Today I read a truly excellent article related to stress. This article completely changed my thinking about stress management.

Nowadays there is a lot of noise and cry about stress management. We are told to find the causes of stress in our life and then learn how to handle it efficiently.

I had read a great deal of such articles and wrote a few of them myself. But this article I read today completely changed my thinking on this topic. It made me realize the true cause of stress in our lives.

Too often we think that our jobs, work pressure, family relations, financial problems etc are the cause of our stress filled lives. Even I used to think so. We were busy finding ways to reduce stress in different areas of our lives.

While it may be true that these outside factors might be contributing a lot towards our feeling stressed out, but the real reason lies within us and not outside of us.

Outside factors do have an importance. But think about this for a moment - 2 persons with similar work pressures or family problems might feel different levels of stress. One may be greatly stressed while the other may be coping with it a little better.

What is the reason for this? The reason is because the latter individual has better control of his emotions and is not willing to let stress ruin his life.

This has been a big awakening of sorts for me. My focus has completely shifted from outside factors to our inner selves for dealing and overcoming stress in our lives.

Its true, we do have to find ways to eliminate problems in our lives and solve various issues. But whether we let outside factors affect us or not is our decision.

The real reason why we are worried and stressed out is that we let these factors get the better of us. We are letting our problems create havoc in our lives. If we decide not to get disturbed and not to lose peace of mind inspite of problems, then the problems would probably lose all power to destroy our peace.

Our worrying and fears do not do anything positive in solving our problems. So why spend time and waste energy in needless worrying.

I am not saying that you should not take steps to solve your problems. Infact, do your best to resolve difficulties and problems that come your way. But do not waste your energies in worrying and panic.

Learn to take positive steps for dealing with any difficult situation without getting bothered too much or getting desperate. If we can learn this self-control, then many problems of our lives will not be able to affect us mentally or emotionally.

We can become mentally tough individuals who can handle difficult as well as easy situations with strength, resolve and a positive attitude. Stress might get far away from our lives. We may not need to read stress related stuff or try pills to reduce our anxieties.

Self control is the key. We should try and live in the present, without being too much bothered about what the future holds for us. Let us try and do the best we can today.

When tomorrow comes, we shall meet the problems and challenges that come with it with this same attitude. This way we can lead our whole lives without being consumed by stress and panic.

The main cause of stress in our lives is ourselves. Being affected by problems, constant worrying about problems, worrying about future, blowing things out of proportion and imagining the worst - these are some of the root causes of stress.

If we work on these habits, then we can attain permanent relief from stress. Sure, problems will still come and go in our lives, but they will hopefully not affect us in the way they have been doing so.

If you feel the need for professional help then have a look at - Mental health psychologist India
Sometimes we are too much stressed, overworked and exhausted or overwhelmed. We may not know where to begin. Though this may happen very rarely, most of the time we can treat the problem on our own, but it is sometimes help to take outside assistance from a qualified, experienced professional to speed up the process. MindoMind offers such help on confidential basis.

How to Earn Money on Internet Quickly

I love internet marketing mainly because it is a convenient way of making money from your home. I mentioned some other reasons why I love internet marketing.

Just read that article and come back here. However making money on internet may not be all that difficult and at the same time it may not be all that easy too.

What we have to do is to take action, be persistent, avoid distractions, be consistent and follow a tested business model. There are many business models we can follow in order to make money on internet.

I came across 1 such model which seems pretty interesting and impressive. Its named conduit method . The advantage with this method is that it seems to be a fairly simple method to implement for beginners and they can earn a lot of money from that.

Another tried and tested plan presented by the same author of the above method is discussed here - Lazy SuperAffiliate Tactics

I definitely feel that both the above methods are worth a serious try - something I intend to do soon.

Related Articles:
1. Myspace Bankers
2. Bum Marketing Tips

Overcome Procrastination by Taking More Time to Do Things

If you face a problem of procrastination because you overburden or over-commit yourself, then struggle to finish off the tasks on time which you assumed earlier that you will finish with ease, then you may be suffering from a problem similar to mine.

I too would think that I will do such and such a thing within this time and then do another thing etc. I would underestimate the time or effort required to do the task.

Needless to say, I would soon feel overwhelmed or disappointed even frustrated when I fail to achieve the objective within my time frame.

Here are a few helpful tips to handle such problem. We should set healthy deadlines. D not set too tight deadlines for yourself. A yourself the time frame to complete tasks without hurrying up or difficulty, even after taking breaks in between and maybe even lazing off for some time in between.

A Neat Little Trick:
Double or triple your estimated time to complete tasks and see how easy it becomes for you to get started with enthusiasm and attack the task with such aggression which you previously didn't imagine possible.

Since our original problem was underestimating the time required for a task, what we can do is increase our estimated time. Life becomes so easy then!

You can avoid putting too much burden on yourself so that you don't feel like even starting the work. I allow myself the luxury of completing tasks without too much time pressure and this has gained me so much peace of mind - thank you.

Procrastination Gone:
By allowing myself a long time frame to complete tasks at leisurely pace, I find so much peace of mind. I immediately find it so easy to motivate myself to go after these tasks with new found enthusiasm and aggression. My procrastination problem is all of a sudden automatically completely cured or atleast reduced to a considerable extent.

Its so much fun to work on things when you aren't pressured by time constraints. The work quality can improve greatly as you now have the time to focus even on minor details and do them to perfection.

More Creativity and Better Work
Your creativity can also be enhanced as you have more time to think and plan on how you will approach and complete the task and what improvements you can think of making. This kind of thinking can help in getting your juices flowing and completely transform you from a procrastinator to someone who seems so passionate about this particular task.

You may surprise yourself and others greatly by this transformation. It may seem unbelievable even to yourself at first. And all this after making just a small change - i.e. increasing your time estimate and giving yourself a lot more time to finish off the task at a comfortable and healthy pace.

What this does is that it almost immediately relaxes you and puts you in a more positive frame of mind. Your apprehensions might fade away and a new positive beliefs overtake them. Just try it out a few times and judge the results yourself!

No More Excuse for Procrastination
Another benefit is that it removes any weak excuses you might have about not finishing the work. Now you have allowed yourself sufficient time to think about, plan in detail, research, draft, edit and improvise your work till you are satisfied.

I tend to feel shameful if I am still unable to complete my work even after so much time I have alloted to it. So I will try my level best not to put myself to shame and do the work with fierce determination. Wow! I didn't know before that I was blessed with such determination and strength.

So most of the time I will complete my tasks on time. That too without putting too much pressure or burden on myself and taking breaks in between and working at a pace I find comfortable and not too exhausting.

Sometimes even if I don't finish off within the time limit, its not such a big problem because most of the work might have been done by then. Only a small percentage would be remaining which can be easily knocked off quickly.

Removing Distractions
Sometimes its a great tool for preventing distraction. As your time limit is nearing end, you will feel compelled and motivated to finish off whatever remains of your task.

Initially you might have given in to certain distractions because you had a lot of time on your hands, but when nearing the end you can find great determination to fight off distractions and laziness. Isn't it cool?

I have observed this phenomena when experimenting with this strategy. This is because of the above mentioned reason - you don't want to feel ashamed of not completing the task even after allowing yourself so much time for it.

Want to hear another benefit of this strategy - it allows time for any unforeseen delays like some unexpected phone call or visitor or any other urgent work which is quite possible to come up and keeps you away from your work. You will now have the time to deal with these delays and still make it within your specified deadline. Ok, enough said, now go out and actually try out this technique if you want to defeat procrastination problem and avoid feeling overwhelmed or over-scheduling yourself.

Am I taking more time than necessary?
You might argue that by following this advice it will take a lot of extra time to get things done because you are setting huge time frames for each task.

In reply to this above doubt, I will pose 1 simple question to you - isn't it immensely better to get things done a little bit late than not to get them done at all?

Moreover, you might have wrongly estimated the time frame initially when you planned to get some work done in few minutes or hours. It might have taken you almost this much amount of time anyways because you were in the habit of wrongly underestimating the time required for any task.

Atleast this strategy will prevent you from certain breaking of confidence and lowering of self-esteem by far exceeding your initial under-estimation of time.

If you want to change your habits and eliminate bad habits from your life so that you can enjoy a successful and fun-filled, happy life - click here: Say Goodbye to bad habits in 21 days or less

If you feel too sluggish or low on energy, if you are going through each day of your life feeling constant fatigue and tiredness then you need to address this problem. Constant tiredness and low energy are indications of some underlying issue which should not be ignored for long. Here is an excellent resource to really help you - How to overcome tiredness now and forever

More Articles and Resources:
1. End your bad habits and stop procrastination within 21 days
2. How to overcome procrastination
3. Strategies to overcome procrastination
4. Overcoming laziness
5. How you can stop feeling tired
6. Five Tips to Stop Tiredness Now

Why Do You Get Tired Easily & How to Stop Feeling Tired

Why Do I Get Tired So Easily? How Can I Put a Stop to My Constant Tiredness?
Do you always seem to get tired easily? Even after sleeping and resting a lot? You can take a little heart from the fact that you are not alone with this problem. Infact 25% of the people report high levels of tiredness throughout their life!

A word of caution ... constant tiredness can be bad for your health and immune system. Your lifestyle habits might be the major contributing factors to your tiredness problem. So you have to start doing something soon to stop your constant fatigue. This article might shock you as to the real cause of your tiredness.

Why do you get tired so easily?
You may be wondering what is causing the fatigue even though you have taken sufficient rest. The problem might be that you are taking too much rest.

You may notice a common habit among most people who complain about too much tiredness. Almost all of them say that they sleep a lot and take rest, yet they feel tired all the time. Does that indicate something to you?

You may find it hard to believe, but people who sleep too much or are couch potatoes - they tend to feel more sleepy and tired. The less the physical activity that you may be doing the more chances of feeling tired!

People whose work involves sitting for long periods can feel sleepy and drowsy because of lack of physical movement. Now this may be a little hard to believe at first.

We have all been led to believe that the more physical activity we do the more tired our body becomes. We believe that just sitting or lie down will not tire us out.

Simple Tips to Reduce Tiredness & Enjoy Yourself
But you try this out - increase your physical activity everyday for the next few days and see how active and energetic you begin to feel. If you feel too much sleepy, then try to reduce the amount of time you sleep daily and watch how less sleepy you actually feel after that!

This may sound weird but there is scientific reason behind it. Actually our bodies do not need 7-8 hours of sleep. we might infact be doing more harm than good by sleeping so much. Not to mention the extra hours that are wasted because of too much sleep.

People might suffer health problems from lack of sleep. At the same time, they may face health and tiredness problems due to excess sleep. If you are sleeping for 4.5-6 hours a day, it might actually be sufficient. The quality of sleep is more important than quantity.

However short power naps during the afternoon are known to be beneficial to health and for increasing energy levels during the day. After a tiring half day's work, a sweet short nap in the afternoon can do wonders to boost your energy levels and also compensate for any possible shortcoming in sleep the previous night!

By the way stress can be a big energy drainer making us feel tired very soon and easily. Moderate levels of regular exercise is known to be beneficial in handling stress and so can be good for reducing our tiredness levels too! Exercising can also improve your stamina.

Drinking a lot of water can also raise energy levels. Get into the habit of drinking atleast 2 liters of water daily. It is good for your body and energy levels.

A Proven Program to End Tiredness Problem
Finally find the solution to completely and permanently end your tiredness, fatigue and sleepiness. Become super-active, energetic and healthy. You can find the solution to your tiredness problem here - End Your Tiredness Now

Leave your comments and feedback below!

Overcoming Laziness and Procrastination Tips - Finally Become Active

Laziness Is Your Enemy
The world keeps moving and changing. For people who do nothing, they are as good as dead. If we do not keep improving ourselves with each passing day, it can actually mean we are slipping back.

In time, we will be overtaken and devastated simply because we were lazy to not utilize our time, resources, energy and skills to enhance our knowledge, experience, career, business, relations whatever.

So keep this in mind. We need to constantly monitor and be aware of where we are heading. Laziness can be a great enemy of ours which is not to be taken lightly.

Procrastination can stem out of laziness. Though there may be other reasons why we procrastinate, but many times laziness and procrastination go hand in hand together like childhood friends.

Do you know what are the disadvantages of being lazy?
First of all, you will be condemned to a low quality life. Simply because you didn't study well while in college due to laziness. In your career you don't take the required actions to increase knowledge and expertise and become indispensable part of the company.

If you are in business, laziness can be fatal. You can lose clients or orders if you fail to act on time. You may find excuses not to work hard or work overtime even though your business demands it.

Laziness can also be bad for relationships and friendships. By being lazy, we might not do the things that are needed to be done. Even simple requests by out family members or friends might go unheeded causing them appointment because of us.

Laziness and procrastination are also big time wasters. If you want to be good in time management, then you have to eliminate the habit of procrastinating.

Firstly, you should be aware of when you are feeling lazy. Awareness and acknowledgment of the problem can be the first step towards solving it.


Low Energy Levels, Tiredness and Laziness:
One of the main causes of laziness can be because of low energy. Sometimes we just do not have the physical energy to do a task. We feel tired, bored, sleepy etc.

There can be many reasons why we feel tired. Sometimes we are genuinely tired because of hard work. In that case, the remedy is simple - we need a good rest. Then we should soon be back to our former best.

But in case we feel tired all the time then its an indication of some problem. Either we are suffering from lack of quality sleep, or we are not eating properly. Our dietary habits can also affect our energy levels.

Stress, depression and physical illness or problems can also affect energy levels and make us feel tired. You need to analyze what possible reasons could be contributing to this problem. Maybe you might also need the help of a qualified doctor in such cases.

However there are a few suggestions which can be helpful to you in overcoming your constant fatigue and tiredness. There is 1 such helpful program which you can check out here - End Tiredness Now

You can also check out my articles about healthy sleeping tips, and power naps to improve your energy. You can also call power naps as short energy sleep.

If tiredness is not the cause of your laziness, then continue reading below...

Simple Tips for Overcoming Laziness & Procrastination:
Most of the time laziness occurs because we are not sure of what to do. We lack a clear picture in our minds or do not have a plan of things to do. This can cause confusion and lead to laziness.

One of the ways you can avoid laziness and overcome it to a considerable extent is to have a daily plan of activities.

The day before, make a plan of activities or tasks for the next day. Include those things which are important and have to be done the next day. Spend some time visualizing yourself doing these things tomorrow.

Then when tomorrow comes try your best to finish all the activities on your to-do list. Once you have a plan, it might be easier for you to escape from the pangs of laziness.

At the same time, also make sure that your to-do list does not include too many activities. We might also procrastinate when we feel overwhelmed or tired. Just be easy on yourself and set realistic deadlines for activities and do not try to do too much otherwise you would be setting yourself up for appointments.

This brings us to another reason for laziness. If we feel we have failed in something then it could also cause us to become lazy next time around.

So make sure that you do not overwhelm yourselves. Make your to-do list small. Its better to have just a couple of important activities in your daily plan and do them and then have the rest of the day free than to have tens of activities many of which you fail to do.

When this happens, you will no longer feel like maintaining a to-do list from the next day onwards. You will quit this good habit. So a good strategy is to be easy on yourself and make your to-do list such that all assignments can be easily accomplished the next day.

You should also have some time for relaxation and for unforeseen emergencies which might cause delays. If you have some difficult tasks in that list, break them up into smaller chunks until you no longer feel difficulty or incapable of doing them.

If you have failed in some thing before, and now you are procrastinating in doing that thing again, what you can do is to analyze your past performance. Find out what mistakes you made. Think how you can do it in a better manner this time around.

If you still feel unable to do that thing, ask yourself what strengths or skills do you think you need to accomplish this task. Then you can try to find means of developing those skills and acquiring that necessary knowledge.

All the above tips should be helpful in curbing this weakness called laziness.

Another technique to overcome laziness and procrastination:
There is a very effective technique to overcome procrastination problem.

I call it the 10 minute technique - which can help you to motivate yourselves to do things which you dislike or hate but still cannot escape from them.

You can read about it here - Motivating Yourself

Finally, I recommend this resource to everybody interested in removing bad habits from their life whether it is procrastination, laziness, lack of persistence etc. Bad habits can stand as obstacles in the way of our dreams. Learn how you can eliminate them in 21 days or less than that by changing the way you think about them - Eliminating Bad Habits

The Successful Habit:
Another important suggestion is to start small and improve gradually in any aspect of your life. Do not try to take giant leaps. Usually people who are in a hurry often get late in achieving things they so desperately desire.

It is because they are always trying to take shortcuts or trying to do too much and obviously fail. And it is usually people who are consistent and persistent who are successful.

If you have been lazy all your life, its not wise to all of a sudden try to be the most active person you can dream of. Remember the story of the hare and tortoise you heard in childhood? The moral of the story was - Slow and steady wins the race.

So take small, baby steps towards improvement. Stretch your comfort zones little by little. Expand your horizons and improve your talents one small step at a time.

Consistency is the key and you cannot be consistent if you are too hard on yourself. You can only do those things consistently which do not burn you out.

This resource can help you in eliminating bad habits so that you can become consistent - Habit Busting

Hope you found the article useful. You can leave your feedback below!

How Procrastination Can Be Useful

Can procrastination ever be your friend? Can procrastination be good? Can it ever be useful to us?

Everyone of us believes that procrastination is a bad habit which can affect our success. Even I used to think like that. But after reading an interesting article, I realized that procrastination can also be good in some situations.

We just have to know when to make use of our ability to procrastinate and when not to. Anyways the link to the article is here - power of procrastination.


The Benefits of Procrastination
What the article states is that procrastination habit can be good when dealing with anger, worry and other negative emotions.

Suppose something made you angry, if you wait for some time and not react to it immediately, chances are that atleast some of the anger may have subsided and you may react in a better and more mature manner. You might not say or do something which can cause you to regret later.

Similarly, if you are in the habit of worrying too much, then you can procrastinate on that. You can say to yourself - "I will not worry now but postpone it for later when I have free time. Maybe I will give an hour or two in the evenings after reaching home to worry about everything that is not going on right in my life right now".

This kind of procrastination can be good as you will free your mind for the more important matters right now.

Even in decision making, I think that a little bit of delay is good. If you have an important decision to make then its better to avoid the urge to make hasty decisions. Taking time to research, learn the details and think over the matter coolly should be essential ingredients in any decision making activity. Here also procrastination can be your friend.


The Final Verdict...
So the final verdict is in. Procrastination need not always be your enemy. In some situations it can be a useful tool to use. You just have to know when and which things to put off for some more time and which are not to be put off.

If you can use common sense then you can make good use of procrastination power. Otherwise it can be your terrible enemy too!

Useful Resource:
If you want to gain more control over this procrastinating habit, go check out - End Bad Habits in 21 days or less. It can be a good guide to help you eliminate bad habits from your life (like procrastination etc.) which can be affecting your success and goals.

Eat a Frog to Beat Procrastination

Procrastinating With Your To-Do List
Many times people hesitate to do something because they don't like a particular task. It might be difficult or boring for them. So they procrastinate.Sometimes a single task on our to-do list can make us procrastinate and we may end up not finishing most of the things on that list.

A simple tip, in such cases, could be to do the worst task on your to-do list first whenever you begin. Now this may seem counter productive. But the fact is that once your worst task is finished, you will usually find it easier to complete the remaining tasks.

The Benefits of Doing the Worst Task First:
When you are starting out to do something, you will likely have more energy. So it should relatively be easier to motivate yourself in the beginning to do any unpleasant or difficult task rather than later.

And when the difficult or unpleasant task is over, you will be on cloud nine. The rest of the activities in your list might seem like a treat to you when you consider that a huge mountain is out of the way.

You might actually enjoy doing the remaining tasks and finish them also with a lot of fervor and energy. Finishing off an unpleasant task might have done wonders to your confidence level and also give you a huge psychological advantage while going after the rest of the to-do list.

Eating a Frog for Breakfast
Imagine that you eat a frog or something equally terrible daily for breakfast before leaving for the office. How terrible would you really feel? Would any other event during that day have such an effect on you as eating that frog??

By eating that frog early in the day, you are setting yourself up to face whatever unpleasant things might happen later on. You may not be as bothered by these things as they are not so terrible as eating a frog. You have already experienced something much more terrible for the day and other less terrible events might not have that much negative impact on you.

Similarly, doing and finishing off any dreadful task from your to-do list can make it much easier to finish off the remaining tasks with ease, confidence and enthusiasm!

I am not saying to really eat a frog. It means facing your fears head on and doing at thing first which you dislike the most.

Try out this simple technique and see whether it really works wonders to defeat your procrastination habit or not.

I have written a similar article here - Do the Worst First

Make a Worst To-Do List:
You might be in the habit of making a "to-do list" of activities daily. If so, you can separate the really difficult or dreaded tasks from that list and make a separate list of "worst to-do list" which includes all the difficult activities. Now you can devote certain times of the day to do activities from this list only - like once in the morning and evening etc.

Focus on 1 thing at a time as multitasking introduces stress as well as reduces productivity. Focusing completely on a single thing can help you complete it faster and better.

Finally, don't forget to check out this resource - End Bad Habits in 21 Days. It can be a useful resource if you want to eliminate bad habits including procrastination habit.

You can even check out more of my articles on procrastination, productivity etc. here - Procrastination Beaters

Don't forget to leave your feedback and suggestions. Let me and others know how this technique or other such techniques are working for you.

3 Strategies to Overcome Procrastination

Here are 3 useful strategies to counter procrastination problem while dealing with important tasks related to your goals or your to-do list.

If you find yourself procrastinating and often putting off things and being guilty of not completing your to-do lists, then the below given tips can come in handy for you. Just read and try them out whenever you get the next opportunity. Who knows you might get a very pleasant surprise!

Useful Strategies for the frequent procrastinator
1. Remind yourself constantly about your goals:
When you have goals that are important to you and you do a good job of constantly reminding yourself of them, then you are likely to take action in the direction of your goals.

This strategy of reminding yourself about what you want to achieve can be a very good strategy to overcome procrastination and force yourself to complete important tasks.

You can constantly remind yourself of your goals by writing the down in bold, colorful and big letters and sticking them somewhere where you can see many times during the day. Also make it a habit of reading out your goals atleast twice in a day (preferably morning and evening) so that it stays fresh in your mind and you are easily motivated towards taking action.


2. Make a smaller "to do" list:
Its a very good habit to make daily to-do list of important activities which must be accomplished during that day. But the problem is that many times you may have many tasks in your to-do list and might not be able to do them all.

A simple strategy in such cases would be to make a smaller "to do now" list of activities which are more urgent, more important, or more easy from among your big to-do list. Then finish all activities from this smaller list.

This strategy can help you avoid procrastination and feeling overwhelmed when you have so many things to do. It can also keep you from getting distracted and focus on the really important things first.

By following this strategy, you can atleast get some activities done if not all from your original to-do list.


3. Try to finish as much of a task as possible:
This is another useful technique. Many times out tasks can take up a lot of time to complete. This can make us procrastinate and try to avoid them.

In such cases, a good strategy is to try and complete as much of a task as you feel like or is possible within a particular time frame. You can go back to the task later to finish off the remaining part.

This strategy is better than trying to finish off the whole thing at once if you feel it difficult. If you do not find any difficulty in completing the whole task at a single time then by all means do so.

But if you find some difficulty and tend to procrastinate because of it, then use this technique to good use. Try and take the task to the furthest point possible before quitting it. Sometimes you would have to repeat this cycle 2-3 or more for a single task before it is fully complete.


Helpful Resources for You:
The above tips can be really useful if you care to try them a few times. After some time you may even add your own slight modifications to these techniques to best suit your needs.

Get more mind control, increase concentration, memory and brain power, check out the Zox Pro Training

Develop Photographic Memory, Achieve Total Concentration, Increase Your Achievement - 5 Minute Brain Power Course




Hope the article and the resources will be useful to you and provide you with long lasting benefits which you can use and re-use many times in your life.

Don't forget to leave your comments and feedback!

How To Stop Procrastinating Forever

Is procrastination problem ruining you work? How you wish that you stop delaying stuff and get the important work done right on time, isn't it?

Do not worry, procrastination is something that can happen to the best of us. There are techniques to help you deal with this problem. But the important thing if you want to stop procrastinating is to learn a little bit of self discipline and you should get into the habit of forcing yourself to do unpleasant tasks which have to be done.

Why We Procrastinate?
We can increase our productivity by more than 20% if we learn how to stop procrastinating. The major reason why we procrastinate is because humans in general tend to move away from pain and towards pleasure. So any activity that can cause you pain can make you procrastinate. The pain need not be just physical pain but can include things that we find unpleasant, boring, difficult, or if we have fear of failure, fear of making mistakes or any other fears or lack of confidence that we can do this task.

Can Strong Will Power Stop Procrastination?
A simple technique to learn self discipline and develop will power in order to overcome procrastination is to get into the habit of occasionally doing things that we find unpleasant. Think of some activity that you find mildly unpleasant. Make sure it is not something that you hate too much, just a little bit unpleasant or disagreeable activity.

Once you have decided on an activity, force yourself to do it for a few minutes. Keep doing this occasionally. You are training your will power as well as getting into the habit of carrying out disagreeable activities.

After some time, you may notice that you are able to easily motivate yourself to do tasks which you would have put off indefinitely earlier. You are able to do them when you are not in the mood, or you hate those tasks. This is because you have developed sufficient will power and control over your own self and over your emotions.

This self control is an important trait which you can find in almost all super-achievers of this world throughout human history. Without self control, we become slaves to our emotions, moods, desires, whims and fantasies. Once we start exercising self control, then we can endure hardships, adversities, challenges, face fears and end procrastination problem.

So do this simple exercise regularly to gain self control. Keep in mind to begin with something that is just mildly unpleasant to you and keep doing it until it becomes almost too easy. Then pick another activity and do likewise.

A person who is habituated to do only pleasant things and avoids unpleasant activities can never gain that self control which is required in order to be persistent, determined and go fiercely after our goals. Such people might become just dreamers instead of action-takers and achievers.

If you find that gaining self control would take a lot of time, and effort - do not worry. Just think, what worthwhile success in life was ever achieved without putting in a lot of hard work, sacrifice and time??

If you can gain sufficient mastery of self, you can easily overcome other bad habits you might be having which can stand in the way of your goals and dreams. This self control can be the key to overcome procrastination and get things done on time.

Procrastination Resource:
If you want to learn how to bust bad habits and end procrastinating problem in just 21 days or less, you can check out this site - Stop Procrastinating and Other Bad Habits in 21 Days

Related Articles:
1. Why We Procrastinate? - Different Reasons for procrastination
2. Procrastination Help - Overcome Procrastination by Changing Focus
3. Getting Rid of Anxieties and Phobias
4. Overcome Problems by writing down

Hope you enjoyed the article. Comments and feedback are most welcome.

Simple Help to Fight Procrastination and Defeat It

Everyone of us feels like procrastinating on our work every now and then. But the important thing is to know how to fight and overcome it so that it doesn't get the better of us.

Just Get Started:
Winners and achievers, know how to fight procrastination. The reasons for procrastination can be many like fear of criticism, fear of failure, boredom, laziness, unclear goals and objectives, perfectionism habit etc.

Its important to know the reasons why you are procrastinating so that you can plan counter measures and still get your job done. The first thing to do is to learn to handle distractions. If you are easily distracted by other things, then it is difficult to get started on some serious work.

Secondly, you should try to get started on the work somehow. Once you get started - take the first steps, and do the task for a few minutes, you are likely to continue further. You will not feel that much procrastination as you felt before beginning.


The 10 Minute Technique to Help Procrastination:
The 10 minute rule can be an excellent tool for getting you started on some work. Just decide in your mind that you will do a task for 10 minutes, no matter what. Whether you face distractions, whether you are not in a mood to do it etc. - let there be any reason. Just start out and do it for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes are up, you have the option of either leaving off the work if you feel like it. Or continue to do it. My experience is that, once I start something and keep at it for a few minutes, I am more than likely to continue it till its finished - even though I might have not at all felt like doing that thing in the beginning!!!


Chunking Work to Avoid Procrastinating:
Many times we put off work because it is difficult for us. So an important step you can take to help overcome procrastination is to break down a task into smaller and smaller chunks. Keep breaking down a task into smaller tasks until you feel comfortable doing that mini-task.

For example, if you have to write a detailed report of something, or a lengthy article - then it is difficult to motivate yourself to sit down seriously and make yourself write.

One of the bad work habits is to procrastinate endlessly. But what can you do - the task seems so daunting, boring as well as exhaustive.

But what if you break it down to smaller and smaller parts. Instead of trying to write the whole article or report at once, why not try and write just a paragraph?

I know that this works very nicely to fight procrastination. I have tried it several times. Many times I come from office, and I am tired and don't feel like sitting in front of computer and writing articles to be published on my blog or other sites.

During such times when I am feeling tired and low on energy, I just think to myself that I will write just a paragraph or a couple of paragraphs about any topic which I have in mind and not the whole article.

The beauty of this technique is that, once I complete those couple of paragraphs, I almost always keep going on and on until I finish. I completely forget my tiredness and am completely absorbed in my work.

If I had started out with the intention of writing complete article and not just a paragraph, then I doubt if I would have been able to even start out. I don't think so .. specially after a tiring day at office.

And even if on some rare occasions, I do not want to complete my article and want to quit after writing just 1 or a few paragraphs, still I would have accomplished at least something. Maybe the article would be finished the next day or so on. But if I had not started out in the first place, and not completed even a small chunk of the work, I think that article might have taken a lot many days more.

Excellent Procrastination Help:
The 10 minute rule, and divide-and-conquer technique(chunking work) are such excellent help for procrastination. If we can get ourselves to begin the work, I think half of the problem is solved.

The beauty of the 10 minute technique is that you can stop procrastinating without using will power. Here is another strategy to -  overcome procrastination without will power!

Very rarely would people stop in the middle of something, even if they were very reluctant to start that work initially. I know because I have experienced it many times.

I am sometimes amazed at this - no matter how tired, bored, lazy I feel - no matter whether I feel that I am not in the mood to do this writing job now, but once I begin and do it for a few minutes and complete a few paragraphs, I just dont feel like quitting until I have finished it. So the major problem is only to get yourself started at something.

That is the major obstacle to overcome, and in this article I have pointed out 2 tools that have helped me with the procrastination problem and you can try them out.

Check out this article on procrastination help through self hypnosis.

Stop Procrastinating Now:
There are also other important skills you need to master if you want to completely overcome this habit of putting off things. Things like handling stress, meeting deadlines, self discipline etc. all play their important roles.

Remember that procrastination can become a habit just like any other annoying habit you might have. If we want to become super-achievers, then developing the discipline to control our habits and overcome bad habits is essential. So if you want to know how to end procrastination problem as well as overcome other bad habits in 21 days or less, then I suggest that you check out this resource - Habit Busting in 21 Days

Hope you enjoyed the article. Your comments are welcome and encouraged!

Related Articles and Resources:
1. Tips to Handle Stress - 22 simple stress reduction tips
2. Simple Exercise for Procrastination - How changing focus can help us avoid procrastinating
3. Public Speaking Tips - 16 tips to improve your public speaking and delivery
4. Solving Problems Creatively - a 5 step approach to finding solutions to problems

What Causes Procrastination & How to Overcome It

In this article we will see what causes procrastination. What are the reasons behind this habit and why it is essential to know the causes of procrastination in order to overcome it.

First of all, relax and don't worry if you procrastinate. Every one of us does it every now and then - its really a common phenomena. The problem arises when this habit becomes a very major part of our life and we begin to frequently procrastinate and never seem to get the important work done, atleast not on time anyway.


Procrastination Can Also be Good:
Sometimes procrastination can be essential and even good. Suppose you have come home tired after a long day's work at office, and you want to think or plan for a major upcoming event or meeting.

In this case, it is better to postpone this for some other time as you are not in the best of shape and best frame of mind at the moment. Since you are tired and your mind is not fresh, is it really a good idea to plan out such an important thing at this moment?? No, if you can afford to postpone it.

So you see, sometimes postponing things can even be a good idea. You just have to know when to postpone things and when not to do so.

Constant and chronic procrastination is what you should strive to overcome as this can cause unnecessary delays in reaching your targets, as well as cause problems in the long term since you might be unable to do important tasks as and when required. Furthermore it can be a cause of frustration, dissapointment and a waste of time.


Why People Procrastinate - What Causes Procrastination?
Before proceeding further, it is important to know the reasons why we procrastinate. Many people might think that laziness is the major reason behind it, but you might be really surprised if you think in detail and analyze about situations or things in which you procrastinate.

There may be many reasons besides laziness as to why people procrastinate. Just to remind you, think of things that you enjoy doing like playing your favorite game, enjoying with friends etc. Do you procrastinate in any of these things?

Don't you have a lot of extra energy and enthusiasm while involved in things that you enjoy even though you might consider yourself lazy? So you see, laziness is not that big a factor in procrastination.

So exactly what causes procrastination then? There can be many reasons, and fear plays a major role in this.

Fears like fear of change, fear of uncertainty, fear of disappointment, criticism, fear of being ridiculed by others, being afraid that we might not be able to do a certain task or it would be too difficult for us, fear of making a mistake etc. can make us want to avoid doing certain things and hence this problem arises.

Other reasons apart from fear include, feeling overwhelmed - if we feel a task is too big, too difficult or will take too much time, we would want to avoid it.

If we find some task unpleasant and don't enjoy doing it, then also we might procrastinate. Lack of focus, already having too many commitments and work, lack of clear goals and deadlines are also common reasons for procrastination.

Sometimes we are not as confident and assured in some areas of our life as in others. These areas can cause us anxiety or stress. Doing work related to such areas can contribute to procrastinating as we would like to avoid such areas as much as possible.


What Causes Procrastination to You - Find Out Your Reasons, Then Deal With Them:
The above reasons are some of the common and major reasons. If you want to overcome procrastination, then first you might need to find out your reason of procrastinating.

The reasons can be different for different tasks. Pick any 1 task and think about the possible reasons for procrastination in this task by going through the above given list of reasons. If you can find out the exact reason, then you would have to work on that.

So from now on your task would not be something vague as overcoming procrastination in general, but it would be more specific like overcoming procrastination when you are afraid of failing or criticism, or when you are feeling overwhelmed or have lack of interest in that task. Narrowing down the category of procrastination, helps in more accurately pinpointing the problem.


Some General Procrastination Solutions and Tips:
I can mention some general tips for overcoming procrastination. Here they are:

1. If you are feeling overwhelmed with some task, break it down into smaller tasks. I intend to write a separate article on this topic alone. This is also a huge topic.

2. Start somewhere even though you might not feel like doing it. For this, you can use the 5 minute technique which can really help to get started with something.

The 5 minute technique works like this - if you don't feel like doing something, say to yourself that you will do it just for 5 minutes then after that you can stop if you wish or continue further if you don't feel any resistance. Then force yourself to do that thing for 5 minutes.

This technique can make get started on a task pretty quickly as doing it for 5 minutes shouldn't be that big a problem. Just getting started with something can reduce some tension of the work, and many times you might feel easier to continue from thereon without further problems.

3. At times when you are feeling energetic and fresh, then try to complete the difficult or unpleasant tasks first, then go for the easier ones.

And sometimes you might be feeling low on energy, at these times its better to go for the easier tasks first - complete them and get them out of the way.

Then either you can go for the difficult ones, the next day when you have more energy or you can continue with the difficult ones at the same time because once you have finished off the easy tasks, you might sometimes be surprised that you suddenly start feeling a little bit more energy and enthusiasm as certain part of the work is finished.


To completely overcome procrastination and get more in control of yourself and your habits, check out - Defeating Procrastination in 21 Days

Related Articles and Resources:
1. 16 Public Speaking Delivery Tips
2. Stress Reduction Tips
3. Have a Peaceful Night Sleep





Hope you enjoyed the article. You can leave your comments and also rate my article.

Stress Management Tips and Identifying Its Symptoms

What is Stress? Definition of stress
Stress is a common problem that affects almost all of us to some degree or the other. It is our body's way of responding to demands placed on it. Further down in this article you can read about various causes of stress and symptoms of stress.

In most stressful situations, our body usually prepares for either "fight or flight" response. The body pumps out stress hormones and the following things can happen:

Short-Term Symptoms of Stress

1. Increase in heartbeat
2. Muscle tension increases
3. Breathing becomes rapid
4. Your digestion might stop for a short period of time
5. Dryness of mouth
6. Anxiety and fear
7. Sweating increases and in some people palms of the hand too sweat
8. Fatigue and shortness of breath
9. Hands and body becoming cold
10. Churning stomach
11. Anxiety

In some situations, this flight or fight response might be essential as it can provide us with extra strength and become highly alert with strong reflexes. But in most day-to-day scenarios, such kind of response is not needed and infact it can be harmful for our health if we keep on experiencing such stress symptoms.

Infact, if you do not handle stress properly in your life, you might start finding other problems developing, the most notable being depression. Depression can affect people of any age, sex or race. The signs of depression include:

• Low self esteem
• Feelings of sadness
• Extreme sensitivity to rejection or failure
• Becoming hostile or angry easily
• Poor concentration
• Low energy
• Feeling of boredness

Stress can cause serious physical and emotional disturbances in your body. Other symptoms of stress include:

	1. Insomnia
	2. Headaches
	3. Backaches
	4. Constant worrying
	5. Racing thoughs and anxiety
	6. Chest pain
	7. Loss of sex drive
8. Moodiness
9. Restlessness
10.Being unable to relax
11.Feelings of isolation and loneliness
12.Nervousness
13.Neglecting responsibilities and duties
14.Sleeping too much or not enough
15.Eating disorders - eating more or eating less
16.High blood pressure
17.Skin problems
18.Heart problems
19.You will feel constantly tired and may even indulge in nervous habits like nail biting, fiddling, etc.

Other long term effects of stress on our body might be ulcers, obesity, sleep problems, heart problems, depression, diabetes and host of other problems. If stress is so dangerous, you might like to know what exactly causes stress.

What Causes Stress?
Many things can cause stress and this varies greatly from person to person. Fear of something, worrying etc. can result in stress.

The things and pressures that can cause stress are called stressors. Any event that forces us to make changes that strain our coping skills can cause us stress, whether the event is positive or negative. And what causes stress to one person might not cause any stress to another.

Some common stressors can be:
1. Environmental Stressors - like being unsafe, noise or pollution etc. can also be a cause of stress.

2. Work Related Stressors - like too much work, over-demanding boss, bad colleagues, politics at workplace, insufficient salary etc. Work related problems are a common cause of stress for most people.

3. Family related Stressors - like family conflicts, problems with relatives or friends, disobedient children, serious illness of somebody etc.

4. Social Stressors - like harassment, unemployment, financial problems, debts etc.

Sometimes, the cause of stress is not external but our own internal attitudes, beliefs or habits might become the cause of stress. Some examples might be - excessive self-criticism, pessimistic attitude, perfectionism, unrealistically high expectations, lack of self esteem, unresolved emotional issues etc.

If something makes you angry frequently, then that can also be a stressor in your life. The adrenaline increases in our body when we are angry. High levels of adrenaline and other such similar stress hormones can raise our blood pressure as well as cholesterol. This can increase the chances of heart diseases in us. You need to learn how to control your anger too if you want less stress in your life.

Some quick on-the-spot stress reduction techniques you can try out are:

1. Relaxed Deep Breathing: Deep breaths can slow down your heart rate and enable you to think more clearly. Sit or lie down in a comfortable position and place one hand over your belly button. Take a deep breath through the nose. Hold it for a few seconds and then exhale through the mouth. Feel with your hands the abdomen going up and down as you take deep breaths.

2. Relaxing your muscles: Stretch your neck and do some other mild stretching to relax your body and get the tension out of it. Also do some mental relaxation exercises to relax the whole body. Other forms of relaxation exercises are mentioned in this page - 

http://www.mtstcil.org/skills/stress-deal-4.html 

and this page -
http://www.mtstcil.org/skills/stress-deal-4a.html

3. Do something you enjoy and find pleasurable like indulging in your favorite hobby or going out and spending some time in the nature watching plants and trees, observing birds, or sitting by the seashore watching the waves. Spending time in nature can be a really excellent stress reduction technique.

Reading, relaxing bath etc. can also be good for stress management as they can take your mind off for some time from immediately feeling the effects of stress and can make you cool off so that the thinking becomes clearer. If you have difficulty controlling worry, then this can be an excellent resource to help you conquer your fear habits - Conquering Fears, Phobias, Anxiety and Panic Attacks

4. Sleep can be an excellent stress management technique at times. A good night's sleep can be such an excellent stress reliever. Even short naps during day can be good for stress management. You can feel refreshed and your energy renewed to combat the effects of stress.

More tips to relieve stress are:

• Eating a balanced and healthy diet
• Getting regular exercise
• Get sufficient sleep
• Learn mental and physical relaxation techniques like guided imagery, muscle relaxation etc.
• Try to do things that involve using your hands like knitting, gardening etc.
• Spend some time in nature
• Take breaks from work.

These are some general stress management tips to help you manage and relieve stress. However if you suffer from excessive anxiety or worry about something, phobias, get panic attacks, or suffer from OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder), then you its good to get professional help.

What is the difference between stress an anxiety?

Any situation, thought etc. that makes you feel angry, frustrated or anxious can be called as stress. So stress is a broader term which can include situations or thoughts can make you anxious.

While anxiety refers to feelings of fear or worry about something. Sometimes you may not know the cause of this uneasiness.

Anxiety generally results from excessive worrying. Another difference can be that anxiety is usually short term while stress can last from weeks to sometimes upto years.

Anxiety disorders refer to problems where patients suffer from excessive anxiety. It can be generalized anxiety or specific anxieties or phobias like social phobia etc.

Usually the symptoms for anxiety and stress are same like - sweaty palms, churning stomach, increased heart rate and similar such symptoms.

Anxiety and Stress can be caused even by imagined scenarios too:

Do you know that the human body responds in similar fashion to imagined or real dangers. So if you keep worrying or thinking about some perceived problem, you will experience upto some degree the same symptoms of anxiety and stress as if you are actually really facing that threat now.

So overcome the worrying habit if you want to get over stress. Worrying will make your brain to focus on the problems or dangers as you perceive them and what is worst is that our active imagination can really make a monster of a small problem and cause us undue stress over trivial things too.

Have you noticed how worrying can cause uncomfortable feelings and physical symptoms to develop in you even though you might at that moment not be facing any real danger, just thinking about it in your mind. See the help at hand section below.

Help At Hand:
If you suffer from depression, mood swings then here is a software that can help you with overcoming this problem and regain better mental health. This software is called as 'Finding Optimism' Software.

How can this software help you?
The program is basically an advanced health and mood diary. It helps you discover your depression triggers, the symptoms that they produce, and based on this knowledge, effective strategies for staying mentally well. Its great strengths are its charts and report, which together
give you a visual "birds-eye view" for identifying the important cause and effect relationships. Here is the link for the software - Overcome Depression Software

Other useful resources on the internet related to stress management tips and techniques are:

1. 37 Tips to Manage Stress
2. Treatment for mental health problems Hyderabad
3. Stress Management Tips at Workplace
4. How to Relax While Working At Your Desk
5. 22 Stress Management Tips& Techniques– Golden rules to manage stress and find relief
6. Stress Management and relief after a disaster (pdf file)

Other useful resources on the internet related to stress management tips and techniques are: