Did you ever go the store without knowing what you needed to buy? Did you ever buy a home or car without an idea of what you wanted?

For everything in life, we have a reason for going where we go, or doing what we do.

For every facet of our life, especially the important ones related to work, raising children, and marriage and relationship success, we need to set goals.

If we just live day by day with no clear direction in our lives, ultimately our lives will have no clear direction and we can feel frustrated and depressed.

How does a singer or actor attain success?

He or she doesn’t just wake up and sing or act one day. If a promising singer or actor has a dream of making it to the stage, to the Broadway play or in the movies, that dream is his or her goal. He or she will work at it untiringly through study and making contacts.

The most organized way to approach the large challenges in our lives, as well as the everyday small ones, is to set goals for each. When you wake up each day, there should be a clear idea of what you want and need to do that day. Some people make lists, and these can be very effective in getting things done.

The point is, you need structure in your life to achieve things, and you need to start setting small goals to gradually set large-scale goals.

According to mindtools.com there is a way to set goals that will help you achieve what you want, without experiencing the failure that sometimes happens when our goals are too out of reach. The key is to develop “performance” goals vs. “outcome” goals.

If we set outcome goals such as “My goal is to be accepted into Harvard University,” this may or may not happen based on our abilities and the competition among students. However, if our goal is to study hard so as to excel in high school so that we are accepted into the best university that we have applied to, this is a more realistic goal. We have focused on our performance in school, rather than a potentially unrealistic goal of being accepted by a prestigious college.

The same applies to work. Our goal should be to work effectively to achieve the next step, rather than have a goal to be the department director, without thinking about our qualifications.

Goal-setting, then should be an important part of our daily lives, but goal setting should be realistic, and be based on what we can expect from our best performance. Goal setting should help us strive and give us a sense of accomplishment at the end of the road.

In our latest article: The Negative Power of Stress… we discussed the effect of stress. Today I want to focus on the solution part; how to reduce the daily stress…

Stress has become a big part of our daily lives. If it’s not stress at work, it’s stress with children, money issues, lack of time and too many obligations.

We all know that this stress is not good for us. In fact, most of us know that stress can make us very ill.

The key to surviving our stressful lives is in knowing how to manage stress – how to find a semblance of peace and content amid the chaos.

Some of the major ways you can reduce stress in your daily life include:

1. taking time during the day to do something enjoyable for you,
2. getting plenty of sleep, and
3. taking some time to exercise each day – even if it’s for 10 minutes.

Taking a “breather” during the workday always helps to clear the mind. If you can, take a brief More on What You Can Do To Reduce Stress?

The negative effects of stress have been publicized for years. Yet, despite what we know, we still run around in our stressful lives.

Many of us take on too much, work too late, do not get enough sleep, or eat on the fly – certainly not a way to enjoy life. In addition, not only do we miss out on the joy and wonder of life when we’re stressed, but we know it can make us sick.

We can get frequent colds, and down the road even suffer serious illnesses such as heart disease and cancer. Yet, we keep on living with stress. Is that really very smart?

According to More on The Negative Power of Stress…

In today’s hectic world, with long work days, children’s activities, and other things that must get done each day, no wonder we are usually out of energy.

We get through the things we have to do, but many, if not most of us, complain that we are tired, and we feel we are stretching our bodies to the maximum. How can we remedy this situation?

The answer lies in some very basic practices. In a way, these are the practices of yesteryear. They are time-tested practices that medical practitioners continue to support, and that our parents have always preached.

They are: (1) getting enough

More on Energy – How to Get More of It?

Everybody has certain fears, and depending on the fear, it can have a great impact on how you live your life.

Some fears are reasonable: fear of upcoming surgery, fear about troubled children and fears related to certain life challenges that can have a negative impact on lifestyle or health.

However, many people have fears that may be exaggerated and take the pleasure out of everyday living.

Fear and anxiety are probably the most common psychological problems people face. Mental health workers spend a great deal of time helping people cope with fears and anxiety.

According to Dr. Deborah Osgood-Hynes, it is very uncomfortable for people to feel the bodily sensations that go along with fear and anxiety. They can cause a racing heart, dizziness, racing thoughts, and nausea. In order to gain control of the fear, there is a multitude of advice, and there are several therapies that have been employed over the years.

Dr. Phil recommends a few simple things to think about when trying to face your fears. One is to understand that an irrational fear of crossing bridges or going through tunnels, or flying, or other commonplace things is just that: irrational.

These things should not engender such an intense fear that you keep away from them.

Secondly, Dr. Phil suggests that you understand that you do have control. Fears have a lot to do with the fact that people feel they don’t have control in a particular situation. This comes from one’s internal dialogue.

It always helps to balance your fear of things like plane rides and crossing bridges with statistics. We can never predict what will happen to us from one day to the next, but we are armed with statistical information every day when we know that millions of people fly in planes safely and cross bridges safely. There’s comfort in numbers.

If you have really intense fears that don’t seem to go away, even with the above suggestions, you can take advantage of behavioral therapy. In this type of therapy, you have to face a fear in order to reduce a fear.

This has been used very successfully in people afraid of flying. For example, if you fear plane trips, you need to take a plane trip. Some airlines in the past have even offered sessions for people with a fear of flying, leading them up to the plane, and then actually sitting in the plane and taking a short flight.

You need to remember that as long as you have irrational fears, you will avoid certain things in life and not really live to its fullest.

Therefore, it’s important to begin to face your fears, and put them in perspective. Once you take the first step, the next steps will be easier.

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photos by Trapingus Parish, shoothead — flickr.com

Everyone has heard about “time management.” Some people actually take courses on time management, while others may just let the term pass them by, as something they don’t have time for!

What’s very important to know is that the principle of time management is very important and can really set you free and reduce everyday stress.

Time management is simply the arrangement of tasks within a specified time frame. If you have a lot of tasks to complete each day, managing your time is a way to organize your tasks so that everything gets done when it should.

If you don’t think about how to manage your time, you can wind up with a very disorganized household, or be an ineffective employee in the workplace.

The term “time management” sometimes intimidates people because they feel that it is yet another thing they have to “do.” However, effective time management will actually bring freedom from More on Is Thinking About Time Management Worth Your Time?