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?)
| | THE IMPORTANCE OF AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDEWritten by Rhoberta Shaler
Do you have an 'attitude of gratitude'? What is your first inclination in any situation? Is it to find something to appreciate, or something to criticize?Many folks were raised with constant criticism. It seemed that almost nothing they did was right or good enough. If they got a good grade on a report card, question was "Why didn't you get a better one?" That's one way that parents control their children, or, at least, think they do. If that was part of your past, you may have to make a concerted effort to not pass that along now. Focus on positive. Catch others doing thing right and say so! You've probably heard saying, 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." What do you do when things do not seem to turn out way you want them to? Do you look for learning in situation, and change your approach? That's best use of energy on your part. Spend little time on downside—just enough to understand lesson--and move on.
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