* Work: I hate regularly working past 5 PM and on weekends.

2. Deal with unresolved issues. Is there something in your past that you have not dealt with – psychological barriers, untreated disorders, unfinished business from your childhood, unresolved relationships, addictions, or depression? If so, seek professional assistance to clear a path for a new beginning. Without first dealing with these obstacles, you may sabotage your efforts or find major resistance to making changes you desire.

3. De-clutter and create order. Creating order in your home and work environment may help you to gain clarity as you explore horizon of some new directions in other areas of your life. Here's my definition of clutter: Anything you own, possess, or do that does not enhance your life on a regular basis. It’s hard to make room for something new amidst all clutter ... whether that clutter exists in your physical environment, on your calendar, or in your head.

4. Move from complaints to solutions. Look at your list of things you hate (above), and design a vision around what you want and choose for future. Create a chart that includes complaints, solutions to achieve your vision, and projected dates of completion.

Tried everything and still cannot find a solution? Ask someone else to help you brainstorm a solution, or make peace with it and quit thinking of it as a problem.

Eliminate excuses that are undermining your vision. For example, if you feel like you have to work late, examine excuses that are undermining your desire to leave office by 5 PM. Are you staying late to catch up with e-mail or to meet deadlines? How can you eliminate excuse? Build in time to handle those activities during regular work hours.

Commit time to take positive action. Carve out protected time for working on an important project that would otherwise not get done until 11th hour (after hours or on weekend). For large projects, break them into smaller "bite-sized" projects.

5. Get support as you change behaviors. In order to create new behaviors which will get and keep you at enhanced level at which you wish to function, you may need support. An accountability partner or personal coach can help you:

* Reflect back what you say you want so you can hear yourself.

* Clarify what it will take to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

* Build in accountability check-ins (without judgment) around actions you choose to take.

Identify level of support you need in order to reach goals you've identified, and then ask for help.

In my search I discovered a very fine line which could either turn my day into a more fulfilling, joyful experience or one that would prevent me from having and owning a sense of pleasure. I observed after making that big sale or having achieved at any level, whether feeling of contentment left quickly or stayed with me. If it left quickly, I would stop for a moment and give greater recognition to my successes in a more conscious way. It truly felt wonderful. Instead of keeping my eyes only on more, I began enjoying successes of day more fully.

It soon occurred to me how wonderful it was when I took time to acknowledge many delicious things that filled my life on a daily basis. Having practiced that for a while now, I've come to realize that life offers us a great deal consistently. But more important, I realized how often I had missed true meaning of contentment. Being so busy in search of more, I had often missed what was right there before me. Copyright2005