10 Reasons to Identify Your ValuesWritten by Louise Morganti Kaelin
Living your life 'in integrity' means that your words match your actions which match your beliefs. When you are living your life in harmony with your values, you naturally have more energy. Clarifying what really matters to you, knowing what you stand for, will set you free to live life to its fullest potential. 1. If you don't know who you are, you can't be true to your self. Sounds obvious, but many of us go through life without taking time to identify what truly matters to us. 2. It makes decision-making easier. When faced with a decision, look at your choices in light of your values. How does each choice support you in living your values? If both support your values, which value does it support? And which of those values is more important to you? Makes it easy, doesn't it? 3. It helps you identify people, situations and things that don't support those values. Sometimes people, situations or things don't make us comfortable. Very often, negative emotions they evoke are caused by a value being threatened. Without understanding that, and without knowing which value they threaten, we use valuable energy defending or protecting ourselves. If you have a strong need to be true to yourself, look around. What situations evoke those feelings? In my experience, we only have a strong need to be true to ourselves when we're not being true to ourselves. The rest of time, we just are. 4. It helps you identify people, situations and things you do want in your life. Being clear about what your values are allows you to proactively seek people, situations and things that support those values. That gives you freedom to replace items you identified in Step 3. It puts you in charge of your life. 5. It gives you an incredible sense of peace. Clarifying your values and then living your life in harmony with those values provides you with an inner peace and tranquility that allows you to move confidently through life.
| | Becoming Free of DebtWritten by David DeFord
What keeps most people from developing wealth? What is greatest obstacle to retirement? If you could eliminate one thing to position yourself for financial peace and security, what would be? The answer to each question above is debt! Imagine freedom and peace you would feel with no debt! Imagine small portion of your paycheck you would need to meet your needs and obligations if all of your earnings were available to you! Think about savings, investments, and charitable giving you could enjoy! The safety of your family may depend upon your attention to your debt. It has been estimated that 89% of all divorces can be traced to quarrels and accusations over money. What will it take to convince you to finally resolve to become debt free? Will you need to be cornered by a creditor? Will you have to be publicly embarrassed? Or will you respond to a milder stimulus, like frank advice of a friend, or an article like this one? It's not amount of money we earn that brings peace of mind as much as it is having control of our money. Money can be an obedient, productive servant, or a brutal taskmaster. Success has a way of passing by those who have not discipline to handle it. Through our healthy respect for money, we can attract wealth. Compounding interest is your enemy. It robs you of your working funds. Tony Robbins taught about power of compounding by comparing it to a small , friendly wager on a golf course. Say that your golf partner suggested a small 10 cent bet per hole. You think, "Well, that means that only $1.80 is at stake." So, you agree. Then, he suggest that you double bet on each subsequent hole. Here's how it would go, if your partner wins each of 18 holes: One first hole you lose a dime. On second, you lose twenty cents. When you add dime from first hole, you're down only 30 cents. Big deal! The third hole is worth forty cents, fourth only 80 cents. Not too bad. But now watch what happens: Hole five is worth $1.60, sixth $3.20, seventh $6.40, eighth $12.80, and ninth $25.60. When you add up your losses on first nine, you realize you are down $51.11. Once you have finished your game, you will have lost what, maybe $150? Actually, because of compounding you will owe $19,660.80.Now, your debts probably haven't interest rates that high, but principle is same--if you pay only minimum payments on your debts, you will pay them for years and years. You will pay many times actual principle you spent in first place.
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