The Amazing Power of Small StepsWritten by Kathy Gates
It's small things in life that can drive you loco on any given day, isn't it? (yes, I see heads nodding!). Like batteries dying in your garage door opener in middle of mother of all rainstorms. Or birdfeeder that makes a mess on back patio. Or leaky bathroom faucet.But it's also small things in life that seem to make it all worthwhile. A hug from a child, making a new friend, a beautiful sunset, getting something on sale, hearing from a far away loved one. It's a normal tendency to think that life is made or broken by BIG things in life. It's easy to sit around and complain about how life sucks, and wait for knight (or princess) to show up, or magic pill, or lottery win that will make life better. But truth is (drum roll, please) -- life is made up of very small steps. Think of all small steps in your own daily life. Like how many individual steps it takes just to get dressed in morning (turn off alarm, get up, turn on lights, turn on shower, etc). Or many small steps to prepare dinner. You get idea -- seconds turn into minutes, into hours, into days, into a lifetime. Still not convinced small things contribute to BIG RESULTS? Ok, what if you decided to read just 30 minutes each day? At end of 365 days you have read 182.75 hours. That's 7-1/2 full days nonstop 24 hours a day! The same is true of anything. Save just $1 a day and you'll have $365 at end of year.Christmas money! Clean out one drawer each day, and at end of week you'll have Spring-cleaned kitchen. Throw out or box up just ONE THING you no longer use each day; at end of month, you'll have a nice donation. Eat just 200 calories less each day, and at end of year, you will have eaten 73,000 less calories, an equivalent of 146 pounds! Write one page of your life story, and at end of year you'll have a novel!
| | YOUR 168 HOURSWritten by Rhoberta Shaler
In every week you have 168 hours to use as you wish. Do you really know how you spend them? A general idea of what you do with your time is not nearly as instructional as a clear understanding. Here is an exercise to help you clarify.Take a letter-size piece of paper and draw a large circle on it. To right of circle, write these words in a vertical list: family, career, grooming, sleep, exercise, driving, community, household, recreation, time alone...add any that are important to you. Now, beside each item, put number of hours in an average week that you spend on it. When you are done, change those numbers into a percentage of your 168 hours/week. Now, to really make an impact, make a pie graph in circle of ways you spend your time. If, by any chance, you simply read above paragraph without doing exercise, and are now reading this, STOP! Nothing changes until you do. If you do not know how you spend your time, you will not receive full benefit of ideas in this article. It is not enough to be saying to yourself, "I know that I need more time for ______." If that is so this exercise will help you find it. Please, won't you go back and make chart now? (This may be one of ways you short-change yourself in your daily life. You may not give yourself time to do good and beneficial things that you know would improve your life. Is that a pattern for you?)
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