February 03, 2008
1) Val’s Views: Where is your business going this year?
2) Parenting corner: Goal Setting for Kids
4) Stress buster of the month: Small Changes to Reduce Stress
5) Time Management: Where is your time going?
6) Money Saving Tip of the Month
7) Quotes on Goals
************************************************************
VAL’S VIEWS
Where is your business going this year?
When New Year's rolled around, you probably looked at what you'd accomplished in the past year. Were you satisfied? I found that I was pleased with some of what I'd accomplished, but also left with a lingering feeling that maybe I could have done better in certain areas.
I think the fact that I did certain things right is an important starting point. Even the mistakes I made have helped to clarify exactly what I did wrong and what I need to focus on changing.
When January 1, 2009 comes, I want be able to say that I've achieved certain goals. I have specific plans for growing my traffic, and for increasing my newsletter subscription. I'm planning on expanding my ebook sales and my eBay presence and to blog about what I learn. In order to get from here to there, I have to lay out specific plans with baby steps and deadlines.
How about you? Where is your business going this year? What are you hoping to accomplish this year that you may not have accomplished last year? Break down the steps you need to take to achieve your goals. What should you be doing today, or what do you need to do by next week to put you on the path to success? Breaking goals down into bite-sized pieces makes it much more likely you'll achieve them. If you’re setting a vague goal like "I want to lose 30 pounds by next January", that goal won’t become a reality if you don’t map out steps to get from here to there.
***********************************************************
Do you want to make money on eBay and don't know where to begin? Do you wish someone successful would just show you exactly what he does? Stop wishing and check out Planetsms Digital Mentorship Monthly Just $10 gets you in.
***********************************************************
PARENTING CORNER
Goal Setting for Kids
Goal setting like many other valuable skills in life is usually not taught in school. This leaves parents the responsibility to pass on the great power of effective goal setting to their children. Of course one of the best ways to teach goal setting to our children is to be modeling the process ourselves.
Children actually love to set goals. One time my family decided to do a little goal setting in order to make the house run more efficiently. We sat down and created some goals and the kids became contagiously excited. The key for kids, is that you need to make it into a game.
What we did to make the goal setting process fun for them was add a few important elements. Here are a few tips for goal setting with kids.
1. Set measurable goals.
This is important for anyone setting goals, and it is a good thing to teach your children this lesson early. We had simple goals relating each week to completing chores around the house.
2. Create a fun way to measure.
Children need to visually see their progress. What we did was print out a large photo of a mountain and stuck it on our fridge. Our goal was to reach the top. Then we cut out little flag magnets so that as we completed our goals we moved higher and higher up the mountain. This made goal setting fun for the kids. You should have seen their excitement every evening, as we would update our mountain. We had kids running off to clean rooms, make beds, and sweep floors so they could move the flag higher up the mountain.
This tiny game we developed on our fridge eventually became the inspiration for building the online goal setting game The Summit.
3. Have a reward.
Rewards are important for goal setting. I cannot remember what the reward was but our kids were excited about it. We told them that if we reached the top we would get the reward as a family.
Day by day we moved up the mountain and our kids had a blast at the same time. It made our house cleaner, our children more motivated and it taught them some important principles of the goal setting process. You can make your own family goal game, just do what we did and cut out a picture of a mountain and tape it to your fridge, and you kids will have a blast. Goal setting can be a lot of fun.
And if you want to play the online goal setting game inspired by the events in this article then take the Summit Challenge. In addition to creating the Summit Challenge James Robbins also delivers keynotes on personal excellence and leadership. To find out more about the Summit Challenge, go to www.ontothesummit.com
Article source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Robbins http://EzineArticles.com/?Goal-Setting-for-Kids&id=917263
**********************************************************
Good news! Whatever your passion, you can do what you love without leaving your children. Learn more here.
******************************************************
STRESS BUSTER OF THE MONTH
Small changes to reduce stress
Leading a simpler life is something a lot of us yearn for in our overloaded lives. Here are some quick tips for simplifying your life and reducing your stress.
1) Reduce clutter. Clutter sometimes happens because of our busy lives and sometimes causes us to waste even more time. The easiest way to approach it is to take 15 minutes a night and focus on clearing away one pile, or organizing one drawer or one area of your closet. Clutter is an energy drain. Working at chipping away at it will help reduce your stress level.
2) Learn to say no. Are you always rushing from one place or activity to another? Are you so overscheduled that there is no time left for you? It’s time to trade off demands on your time that aren’t fulfilling you. Some of your time has to go for self-nurturing. Start saying no to things and people that are causing you stress, and that are stopping you from doing what you really want to do.
3) Renew your spirit. Make time for spiritually fulfilling activities, such as meditation. A little bit of quiet time listening to soft music by candlelight can do a world of good for the super-stressed.
4) Limit your caffeine intake. Depending on caffeine for quick energy makes you more sluggish in the end.
5) Fit some exercise into your schedule. Exercise doesn’t have to mean spending an hour sweating at the gym. Walking and dancing are two examples of activities that will help relieve stress without huge time commitments. In fact, these are activities that can easily be done with your children.
Small changes will add up over time and lead you to feel less overwhelmed and stressed. Start making some small changes today.
************************************************************
Thinking about learning to write this year? Take a look at the many excellent courses offered by The Easy Way to Write. To learn more Click here.
*******************************************************
TIME MANAGEMENT:
Where is your time going?
Taking control of your time is taking control of your life. So if you are hoping to take control of your life this year, you need to pay attention where your time is going. Consciously choose to make responsible choices for the use of your time.
One way to stay on top of time management is to make a list at night of what you hope to accomplish the next day. This saves the time that you spend figuring out what you want to accomplish when you get up. One of the challenges of working from home is that other people may not see what you’re doing as work. Children think you’re available to play; neighbors may think you’re just hanging around. Set certain hours that are working hours and that you won’t be interrupted. This means not answering the phone, not checking email and not turning on the TV. Weekly planners are also helpful for clearly laying out what you will accomplish in a seven-day period. It may be more realistic to set weekly goals rather than daily goals. For example, plan to write two articles for your website, two blog posts and one article to market to article directories in the course of a week rather than saying you will write an article every day.
Finding out where your time is going, and making a clear weekly plan is the first step to arriving at your destination.
************************************************************
MONEY SAVING TIP OF THE MONTH
Wonder Where to start Saving Money?
Do you think you can’t save money? You may think your dollars are stretching as far as they possibly can. But if you need to wring a little bit more from your budget, you can take baby steps toward that end. For instance, whatever you typically spend at the grocery store, decide that for this month, you’ll spend $5 less each week, and set the $5 aside. If you succeed at spending $5 less, try spending $8 or $10 less. Before you know, you’ll be watching your savings grow.
*********************************************************
QUOTES ON GOALS
"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but dream; not only plan but also believe."
- Anatole France
"Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage, but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal."
- Elbert Hubbard
"When a goal matters enough to a person, that person will find a way to accomplish what at first seemed impossible." - Nido Qubein
***********************************************************
Thanks for reading the current issue of SWAHP.
I would be happy to hear from you if you have any requests for something you’ve been looking for and can’t find or something you want to see more of. Fill out the contact form at http://www.work-at-home-parenting.com and I will be sure to get back to you promptly.
Visit my new blog at http://journey-to-wahm.blogspot.com. In it, I will be chronicling my own journey to make 60K a year.
Best of luck on your journey. You can and will succeed.
Valerie Dansereau
http://www.work-at-home-parenting.com
Don’t just build a website! Build a website that works.
http://buildit.sitesell.com/valerie2.html