Can Speed Reading Help You?

Abu Monsur says that being able to speed read comes with a range of benefits. In our current age of technology, a lot of people have trouble handling information overload and being able to look at all this information. Speed reading may not be the full cure for this, but it can help minimize it by teaching you how to take in more information in less time. Let's explore some of the ways that speed reading can transform your life.

People from all areas of life can experience gains from learning to read a lot quicker. If you're a student, you can obviously get through your course material and textbooks more quickly. In case you are in any type of technical field, you have to absorb new information often. As a business owner, there's always something new to learn to keep your business operating at peak efficiency. More than likely, you'll find that you have a lot more free time to read the books you enjoy.

People who like reading often times have trouble reading everything that interests them as, aside from their classical favorites, new books are coming out constantly. Speed reading will give you a means to make time for all the reading you need to do.

Some individuals express concern that they're going to remember less of what they read if they use speed reading methods. In reality, this is simply not true. If you learn to be a speed reader, your comprehension will increase also. 

Thus, along with learning more, you will also recall much more of what you've learned. This can offer you a significant advantage for any type of reading. Do you read something and then realize that you have forgotten it by the time you're finished? Although this problem is quite normal, you will note a decrease in its occurrence as you learn how to be a speed reading expert. In addition to becoming a more excellent reader, you can expect to read faster too.

Speed reading is not only a valuable skill for adults to know, but it can also be beneficial for kids. Even though opinions vary concerning the age at which a child should learn speed reading, by the time they reach middle school it can certainly be very helpful. Reading is a priceless skill in a variety of subject areas, from social studies to science. Students who require less time to review printed materials will encounter less pressure in terms of finishing homework and will discover that school is not so hard. In addition, it gives young readers an excellent start in life, which can help them get into an excellent college and do well at whatever career they end up picking.

Even though speed reading offers so many benefits, astonishingly there are hardly any individuals who choose to try it. On many occasions, it is simply something they never get around to trying. However, in case you are a fervent reader, learning this technique could add considerable value to your life. It could be ideal for any family member who's old enough to read.

You Can Get More Time For Your Family

It is no secret that we all want to achieve more, or make more money, and yet get more time to spend with the loved ones or things we cherish. Sometimes the workload, deadlines and unexpected business emergencies deny us the most valuable commodity-time. It does not have to be that way. Some people have unearthed small things that they do that give them more time. There are tricks you can use to get more out of an ordinary day. Here are three productivity tips self-employed mobile marketer, Mary Wilhite uses:

1. Start the day with a bang by breaking the seal of hesitation.

Inertia is one of the biggest productivity killers. It's common to take a few minutes in bed after the alarm goes off; or to drag ourselves before we get started on the most important tasks. If you start the day this way, the drag goes on throughout the day. The best way to handle it is to jump out of bed, and move to your most important task of the day. In this respect, it would be inappropriate to avoid starting to read emails in the morning or logging in to Facebook to see what's going on.

I would expect if you are a mobile marketer like me, to use the first one hour in the morning to market yourself; perhaps by writing a good article about your niche or reviewing and tweaking your marketing strategies. If you are a student, you can start by doing your assignments or studying the subject you find hardest. Only after that can you move to other tasks or pleasures.

I have also noticed that one of the reasons for inertia is because of the enormity of the tasks at hand. To reduce inertia, change your mindset and realize that a big project can be finished by attacking it one piece at a time. To write 400-page book, all you need to do is write 2 pages a day. Within 200 days, you first draft will be ready. If you look at all the scary and big projects this way, you will eliminate procrastination and swiftly move into action.

2. Develop a routine.

Having a routine greatly improves the pace and direction of your work. A routine means having a specified time you wake, a schedule of activities that remain largely unchanged. If you use a routine for 30 days or more, it becomes part of you.

A routine is greatly enhanced by meticulous planning. Setting of goals and reviewing them daily. Productivity experts suggest that everyday should be planned the day before and put in writing. That means that tonight before going to bed, take a piece of paper and write the exact things you will do tomorrow. It helps you avoid distractions and when you review the day's goals at the end of the day, you may realize you spent 2 hours on Facebook rather than the intended 45 minutes. The following day you can improve and be strict about the schedule.

You see, we live in a life where they are too many thing crying for attention. Perhaps you should take advice of the late Apple Co-founder Steve Jobs who said, 'Say NO to 1000 things'.

3. Make saying 'No', central in your life.

Focus is central to success in any endeavor of life. Distractions are, on the other hand, tailored to do just one thing - bring you undone. To remain focused, you need ban from your life people and activities that are not pushing forward.

You may need to say no to having to phone someone only during certain hours. You may need to say no to invitations that are not beneficial to your advancement. You may need to take the painful but necessary act of saying no to certain people. Perhaps people who have been with you for years. 

Maybe you may need to take the advice from John D. Rockefeller, the first billionaire to grace the face of the earth in recorded history who said: 'Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great'.

Positive Attitude Is The Key To Success: Myth Or Reality

If you were told that the reason why you aren't more successful is just that your attitude isn't positive enough you'd probably think they are oversimplifying.

However, there is a popular school of professional coaching based around the concept of positive attitude and positive affirmations to achieve professional and personal success. How much truth is there in that kind of teaching?
 

Positive People Get Promoted

It's not easy to deny the fact that people who are successful are often positive and sure of themselves. The reasons for this are two-fold: Nobody likes working with a naysayer that darkens the day with its sole, negative presence, and managers often notice (and promote) people who aren't scared to blow their own trumpet and seem genuinely happy to be working for your company.

In other areas of life being positive also has natural advantages: Who would you prefer as a romantic interest, somebody who is happy to be there and sure of himself or herself, or somebody who is trying to hide in a corner and grumbles about everything? Being positive, without a doubt, has its advantages.

But You Need To Work For It Too

However, smiling and being sure of yourself won't get you anywhere without hard work and dedication, and any lifestyle guru or professional coach that forgets to talk about the effort required to actually make changes on your life is not going to be very helpful.

Working 10 hours a day is of course much easier if you genuinely enjoy your job and know the rewards that will come from all that work, but you'll still need to do your best. Of course, being positive about your skills and your life goes a long way towards motivating you to do your best, but there's no reward without work.

There's No Easy and Quick Way to Success...

But being positive sure helps. While positive attitude is almost a must have for success, it doesn't mean that the moment you start smiling more you'll suddenly will get promoted. 

Anybody promising you quick and easy ways to getting rich (or married, or promoted) is actually trying to sell you the myth of positive thinking, without any regards for your success. - Irene Lizarraga

Some Useful Steps for Managing Anger

Maintaining a calm attitude to life and those around you is an important factor in your voyage of personal development.  Dion Daly is an expert on this subject and has this to say about managing anger.  It takes courage, but it can be done.

Every time that you lose your temper, you are in real danger of destroying relationships and close ties with the individuals that you care about. Nasty words yelled, or objects thrown in anger can frequently be tremendously hurtful to your loved ones.

Also it can be challenging for them to comprehend precisely what went amiss to cause the reaction. Then after a while they will just stop trying to understand you and finally it will get more and more testing for them to forgive and forget. So managing anger is absolutely essential, not just for you, but for all the people who you come into contact with.

The emotion of anger is your body's reaction to a thought, which probably has been activated by an outside state. And this state is viewed through the vision of your own understanding. Your vision is tinted by the mental ideas distinctive to you; ideas like right and wrong; like and dislike, goodness and evil. You need to keep in mind that each of us has a different vision of things, therefore interpretation clashes are unavoidable.

The first vital step on the road to managing anger is to realise that you have an anger problem. Once you realise this you will be well on the way to dealing with it.

If you think back to any situations which made you very angry in the past, you will probably realise that your lack of control, in fact, made the whole problem a lot worse, and not better. But the good thing is, this is a significant realisation for you to make because when you recognise that you have a problem you will then know that you need to do something about it. 

If you begin to feel yourself starting to get angry what you need to do is to just take time out to stop, think about the situation and try to figure out just why you are getting angry.

Very often the real source of the anger has nothing to do with the current situation, and pen-up frustrations from work can overflow into your home life causing unhappiness and distress for your loved ones and which they have no power over.

As soon as you find out what is really producing the anger, the next vital step in managing anger is to do something about it. This is the bit where you possibly will need to bite the bullet and connect with the cause of your anger. 

It may well be that a person at work does something which continually makes you mad. So by talking about it with the person that annoys you the problem can be altered successfully. The thing is the person that annoys you probably does not even know that they are doing it.

So just by talking over your problem you can essentially eliminate the cause of your anger and live a much more harmonious life with your work colleagues, family and friends.

Law of Attraction - Receiving and Giving

I’ve just read these few words by Anna Marie Lee and what she has to say makes a lot of sense to me.  See what you think.

We so often believe that we must get before we can give. This stagnates us because the first law of the universe is complete giving. It follows that when we tune into the law of receiving we come to the understanding that we must first give before we can receive.

The universe is overflowing with absolute abundance, but to tap into that abundance and have it flowing towards us, we must first enter the flow by contributing our own part.

The Law of Giving

The Law of Receiving should really be called the Law of Giving. The Bible says "Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over." When we give the universe immediately responds to us because we enter the flow of the law of life.

So often we believe that we have to have it all figured out, we have to have a big number in the bank account before we can participate in the Law of Giving. But this is completely opposite from the truth. Because giving is the first law of the universe, if we focus on getting, we flow in opposition to that law, and we congest our own growth toward the good.

Everyone has something to give all the time. There is something special in each one of us that is unique to each individual that can be given to the universal pool of goodness. We can give our time, our talent, our love, our loyalty, our service, our knowledge, our thoughts to others every day.

So often we concentrate on receiving, money in particular. Raymond Holliwell said, "When we give our best in some useful service, forgetful of self, concentrating on the joy of giving instead of concentrating on the returns, we find that our purpose and the purpose of money have blended and we come together in righteous and eternal good."

Tithing

Tithing is the law of a tenth-giving 10% of your income to some good service to others. Scientists say that giving in a systematic way gives the tither confidence in his own ability to give and receive. It surely gives the tither additional confidence, but the truth of the matter is that whoever gives in a systematic way is tapping into the primary law of the universe.

However, if the giver gives in order to receive, it is not true giving, and the flow of life cannot come toward him. We must give with the attitude that we are giving the universe our share in the ever flowing abundance of life. 

Without that attitude we are out of alignment with the flow of the Law of Receiving.

It's Not Only About the Money

While the Law of Receiving is true for money, it is true for everything else as well. People are lonely, poor and depressed because they do not give and do not tap into the Law of Receiving. Even if we only have a few dollars, we still have a few cents to give. But even without money, we always have something special inside of us that is ready to be shared with others: our love, understanding, appreciation, energy, and the power of our positive thoughts toward others all the time.

Transform Your Life - 5 Easy Tips To Make Your Life Better

Sunny James was more or less forced to make some important changes in her life following a traffic accident and this is how she went about it:

There are hundreds of people struggling with their life every single day and wanting it to be much better than it is right now. They are struggling to improve their relationships, finances, health and jobs just to name a few things.

If you are having these same struggles in your life then continue reading this article on transforming your life. It has helped many people and it can help you.

I know for myself what helped me start making some drastic changes in my life was after my son and I were hit head on by a drunk driver. Because of the injuries that I sustained in the accident I could not work so I lost my job. This really had a bad effect on everything in our lives. I had a lot of time to think about life and realized I was not happy with my life and wanted to make some positive changes.

Those changes forever changed my life for the better and I want to share them with you in hopes that is can have a positive effect for you as well.

Here are 5 easy tips to make your life better.

Tip 1 - Clearly identify what specifically you want to change about your life. One of the ways I do this is by taking some time to reflect inwardly and ask myself these questions.

1. What do I not like about the way my life is now? Then write out the answer to this question. 
2. How do I want my life to be different? Then write out the answer to this question.

These two questions and the answer to them help you to see areas of your life that you want to change.

Tip 2 - You need to start setting goals for yourself so that you can achieve the changes that you outlined in tip 1.These goals will act as a guide to help you go from where you are now to where you want to be.

Tip 3 - You need to know why you want this change for yourself and your family. This gives you motivation and inspiration to push you into action towards your change and help you keep going to reach your goal.

Tip 4 - You need support from others who love and care about you. This is where you get help from to help you reach that transformation that you are wanting. They uplift you when you are feeling down and out. They help you come up with solutions when you need them. They help give you the strength to overcome adversity.

Tip 5 - You need to believe you can do it!  This is perhaps one of the most important things you can do for yourself. You have to believe that you can make it happen.

Here are some important statements you can say to yourself. 

•  I strongly believe in myself and my abilities. 
•  I want to be actively going after my dreams and passions in life.
• I do not want to find myself at the end of my life looking back thinking I wish I would have. 
•  I want to look back at my life and be able to say I am glad I did.

 Your life can be everything you want it to be if you really work hard at it.

Appreciate and Use Your Creativity

I have recently found myself exploring the subject of Creativity and Imagination. It’s something that, whether we realize it or not, we all have. I find it interesting that many of us, if asked, say that we are not creative. We have the misperception that to be creative we have to be artistic in some way. Being creative is often linked to activities such as painting, drawing, writing and craftwork but not much else.

We seem to forget that there are many other ways of being creative including cooking, decorating our living spaces and offices, finding new ways to solve problems or finding different ways of doing the same old thing. Imagination goes hand in hand with creativity and is a real asset, but is often undervalued.

Without imagination, the computer I am using to create this article would not have come into existence. Bill Gates would not have created Microsoft and Edison would not have given us electric light!

Unfortunately, as children our creativity is often stifled by our experiences at school as we are expected to fit into the education system whether the education system fits us or not. We are told that we have "too much imagination" which makes us feel that to be imaginative and creative is a bad thing. Our ideas are pooh- poohed when they do not fit into the traditional way of thinking. So we learn not to voice our ideas or try to do things differently for fear of being humiliated.

Those of us who neglect our creativity restrict ourselves unnecessarily. Our lives are not complete. I believe stifling our creativity impacts on our mental and emotional health and can have severe physical ramifications to the most creative part of our body, our reproductive organs. As Caroline Myss Ph.D. in her book Anatomy of the Spirit says "Blocking this energy can cause impotence, infertility, vaginal infections, endometriosis and depression." Now there is some food for thought!

We do not have to be a Bill Gates or Thomas Edison to be creative. We can just be ourselves. We all have the ability to use our imagination and creativity. When we have ideas even though they may seem a bit wacky, it is good think them through further rather than dismissing them out of hand. My suggestion is: discuss your ideas with someone you trust to see if they can be developed.

Let your creativity shine, not just in your home life but in your work life too. Being creative can make a boring job more interesting. Showing your Boss your creativity forte could even get you a promotion. Or at least make your job more satisfying.

So ignore the critics, get creating and enjoy the ride.

- Submitted by Hilary F Thompson

Facing Fear - How To Ovecome What Holds You Back

Asia Sharif-Clark explains this very well.  Here’s what she has to say:

There is nothing unnatural about fear. Birds have it. Seals have it. We have it.
It's one of the most natural feelings in the world. The key is to be aware of what you fear and why you fear it. Then use your fear to move you forward. It's a sure way to start facing your fear and overcome what holds you back.

Admit the Naturalness of Fear

Be aware of those who tell you fear is for wimps. Fear is a childish feeling you need to get over. Don't go for it. Ever. What fear gives you is a personal alarm system. It tells you when you're uncomfortable. It alerts you of both real and perceived danger and pulls at your shirt, when you're out of your comfort zone.
This is the time to admit the naturalness of fear. A sense of fear is necessary to survive. When you tell yourself "It's natural to feel what I'm feeling" you validate not criticize, who you are. You validate the essence of being human. And a big part of being human is feeling. With this validation, you're open to move forward with your fear... not backing away from it. 

Someone wise once said, "Courage is not the absence of fear." Courage is really a fancy word for moving with fear. Acknowledging its existence and moving forward... anyway.

Affirm, You Won't Let it Stop You

Fear doesn't just go away overnight, but it can be diminished. Step by step, little by little, one move at a time, one day at a time. Make a commitment to yourself, "I won't let ____ stop me." No matter what 'it' is. It may slow you down, but don't let it stop you. Any step you take is progress. Every step you make is progress. Just keep on stepping.

When facing a new fear, think of an old fear you learned to overcome. Maybe it was a fear of swimming, climbing, or speaking. What inspired you to keep going? Who encouraged you to keep moving? What is your mantra? I love to use songs, powerful words to keep me moving. Step by step, one move at a time, one day at a time.

Get Help to Overcome What Holds You Back

You are never alone. You are not the first soul to go through what you're going through. Don't be ashamed to reach out for support or guidance when you need it. Nothing great is ever accomplished alone. When you reach out an amazing thing surfaces, you run into someone just like you. Someone who's going through or been through what you're now facing.

"I remember feeling the exact same way," can be music to your ears when it's heartfelt and sincere. So reach out to someone you trust and let them know what's holding you back. The shame is not in the asking for help, it's in the denying you need help. You are never alone. So reach out and find out how much company you have.

The Power Of Creative Imagination

Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha says: “Imagination is the secret of life because it is what you see in your mind's eye that you have the unction to go after. Imagination is the element in nature with which you can create your future. It is in the imagination that everything in life takes their form, it is the mighty instrument by which every author, writer, inventor or innovator opened the way to create things that we see in the world today. It is the psychic mental power that turns things physically impossible to possibilities. This creative power is the medium by which we can penetrate into new world of thoughts and experience their various forms.

“You can only achieve in life what you can see in your imaginative faculty and what you perceive with the eye of creative nature. If you believe that you are a failure in the creative imaginative realm, failure will follow you in real life. See your success and work towards it. If you cannot see your prosperity and greatness in the realm of dialogyzmos, forget about it. Imagination gathers up materials which the mind weaves into fabric in which the future is clothed. It paints and colors your world because as you are inside, so, are you outside. Whatever appears in your imaginative house and you believe it will surely appear to you in reality. All external forms take the exact images of what has been presented to the subconscious.

“Imagination is an act of seeing what the ordinary eyes cannot see, it helps you to put novelty in whatever you do, helps you rebrand yourself, business, career and profession. Some mentally lazy people will rather choose to live by fate than going through mental discipline. The whole mechanism of the mind does not think in words or languages but pictures, symbols and images. Imagination is the creator of those things we earnestly desire in life. A great imaginative faculty is a Midas touch in life, without which nature is but a skeleton.

“Empower your life with the power of your creative imagination. Be a great imaginative explorer!

“When someone is successful, people say that he or she is lucky, but actually, I know that a successful person has been to the land of imagination, took hold of the reins of life and that is the singular reason why he or she now reigns as a success. With creative imagination, a person rises to great heights of great work. Nothing great has ever been done without endurance and perseverance. The difference between failure and success is a tiny imaginary line. History is full of the story of the achievement of people who utilized the power of their creative imagination. Bring your dreams to happy issue by putting to work the power of your creative imagination and enjoy a life of prosperity”.

More About Setting Goals

The whole purpose of goal setting is to help you get from where you are now to where you want to be in life, or in business.   If you set goals and work toward them resolutely, you can have all the things you want.  People who set and achieve their goals are people who've decided what it is that they want; have committed themselves to going after it; and haven't let anything stand in their way.

A properly set down goal gives you all the incentive you need to grow in your awareness of yourself, as well as of the laws of the universe; and living in harmony with this awareness will give you results you would never have dreamed possible.

It has often been said that being aware is therapeutic and gives deep meaning to life because it spells the end of what can otherwise be a simply mechanical existence.  The old ways of thinking that often persist with us are not ways we've chosen; they were planted in our hearts and minds by our parents, teachers, and religious leaders when we were young.

While some of these ideas which have been programmed into us may serve us well, many of them are harmful and really do need to be replaced. The old way of living and of handling pre-determined situations can keep us from having a truly abundant life.

However, in order to truly change, our old habits have to be replaced with new, healthy ones.   Having a really solid goal in place will serve as a constant help as we make any changes.  In reality, without a specific goal, we're unlikely to ever make a significant change in our lives.

While we're on our way towards achieving our goals, we actually do learn to choose which thoughts we'll allow into our minds. Only you will be able to see the connection between these thoughts; the feelings and attitudes they produce; and ultimately the results they will yield.  It's definitely not something that someone else can do for you.

How to Be Truly "Living the Dream"

Roger Lumpp faced a Stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma diagnosis in April 2010. Facing eight months of chemotherapy treatment he decided he was going to use his cancer journey to learn how to increase fulfilment in his life so that others could gain from his experience. Lift Living is the vehicle that chronicles his journey back from fighting cancer and mission to Lift as many lives as possible. Here’s a recent article he wrote explaining his philosophy of life:

“I think we've all had a moment in our life where one of our friends asked us how we were doing and we uttered these magical words:

"Just living the dream."

“Not sure where exactly the idea of "living the dream" originated, but I suspect it has to do with practicing the concept of the American Dream to which we are all supposed to aspire. In the spectrum of dream concepts, there is one that stands above the rest and it was delivered by someone who continues to inspire us today.

“In August of 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. was the keynote speaker at the March on Washington. Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in front of more than 250,000 supporters, Dr. King spoke of the racial inequalities in the Union and his dream of a United States where all men and women are truly created equal and we are no longer "judged by the color of our skin, but the content of our character." Martin Luther King, Jr. was a student of Gandhi's non-violent approach to protest and used it to engage the nation in addressing civil rights. Whatever it took to advance equality, he was willing to address it through non-violent means. This inspired men and women of all colors and ages to do the same and resulted in major advancements in the civil rights movement.

“The great part about effective dreams is that they pull you forward in such a way that you can reconcile your current actions directly to their completion. While Dr. King's dreams were grand in nature, he could ask himself if his every action was working towards realizing them. That was the great part about Dr. King...

“Not only did he lead with his vision, he led with the integrity of a consistent character.

“Since I was diagnosed with cancer, I am way more reflective about life. And on a recent flight while I was looking out on the clouds I thought a lot about what my dream was and if I could deliver it in a speech in front of a quarter million people...

“And would it inspire?

“Over the course of my treatment and into remission I worked hard on understanding my values, goals, and beliefs. I realized that in my pre-cancer days my actions were not fully in line with my own dreams, but more towards a composite of dreams made up from societal expectations for my age, gender, employment status, etc.

“Not very inspiring...

“The composite dream is pushed on us from a young age by teachers, employers, media, government, etc. because the concept of the individual is not convenient to administering mass educational programs, employment best practices, or what the average household should look like. The key to finding your own dream is to ignore the pressures to fall in line with what's deemed acceptable by the masses. By doing this you will free up the energy and capacity to understand where you operate at your best. Only then will you be able to paint a picture of a future that you want to spend the rest of your days pursuing.

“In everything you do...

“While we may live in a society that is closer than ever to all men and women being created equal, our dreams should always remain unique. While they may overlap in content, dreams are tools to pull us forward (as individuals) towards maximum fulfilment in our lives.

“When you find your dream and start living it in everything you do it will be apparent to everyone you encounter. Just as it was to those 250,000 people in Washington DC who crossed paths with Martin Luther King, Jr. on August 28, 1963”