Use it or lose it

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The Use It or Lose It title is a little tongue-in-cheek. The self improvement tips and tools on this site will help you on your way to a better you. If you choose to use them then they will help you. If not, you stand to lose the opportunities that would otherwise come your way.

Just like the well-shaped young man here, regular training keeps him in top shape. So too with gains in self improvement. Either we use it or lose it.

Doing is one of the keys to success. Reading, thinking, planning, talking, wondering can all play their parts along the road to success, but the act of doing is what can bring us closer to our goal.

When we hear of a great tip to improve our health or save time and energy while doing chores, we so often will go find it, then read it enthusiastically, however...

If we do not make a new idea part of our lifestyle by building a habit around it, then it is very likely that we will slowly fall back to the same way of doing the same old things.

Many of the "same old things" are an essential part of our lives and we and many others would probably suffer if it was not for the millions of people doing what they do best each day.

So please don't misunderstand me. What I am referring to is changing a non-productive habit into a better habit, something that makes better use of your time and resources.

We all have habits, it is just that some of our habits are not in tune with the needs of our bodies and lives. In fact, there are some habits that actively work against our best interests.

So, is there a magic formula for using the resources on this site? No. But, as you may have guessed, there are a number of hints and tips for you to try. Some will work for you, some won't. Find what does work for you and make it part of your life.

Tips for turning good ideas into self improvement habits

Tip # 1 - Life Remodeling
Tip # 2 - Be Success Minded
Tip # 3 - Plan for Success

Use it or lose it Tip # 1 - Life Remodeling

You have seen those home and yard remodeling shows on TV. They often pick something with character or purpose and remodel the rest of the room or yard around that object. The existing colors and styles that do not add to the remodeling are painted over or disposed of. Do the same with your life.

This involves identifying what inspires you. It could be something that is only for a season - it doesn't matter. Use that inspirational value as a central point of focus in your life. Is it financial security? Perhaps a happy and healthy home life for your family? A better job? A place on the team? Lose weight?

If you have a few minutes and need to work out your inspirational value, get inspired with some of these inspirational and motivational quotes.

What important life goals do you hold on to? For example, if it is building financial security then measure all the other parts of your life against it. They will either fit or not. They will help secure your financial future or drain your funds. Those that do not fit with your goal need to be either shaped up (just like the body builder in the image above) or shipped out. Some parts of life are essential, even if they do seem to work against your goals. Consider each of these carefully and see where you can fine-tune them to better fit with your life goals.

You might find it helpful to review these goal setting tips.

Don't be afraid of dumping pieces of your life that do not help you reach your goal. Make time and room in your life for those things that are important. Keep those things that have lasting value to you, but be ruthless with everything else. This will be difficult for some people, but liberating all the same.

Do spend time on remodeling your life. It will take more than a weekend for many people. Start small and make progress little by little. When you experience progress, using the TV show concept in the opening paragraphs, and you finish remodeling one room of your life, celebrate and reinforce your inspirational goal.

Lastly, keep your mind focused on the here and now. For example, if you are cleaning the fireplace, keep your mind on the end result. I sometimes find that my mind will wander back and forth between what I should have done yesterday and what I might achieve tomorrow. If you are doing this it uses up lots of mental energy on things that cannot really be changed while you are deep in the ashes inside your fireplace, or whatever you're doing at the time. Unless something else more important comes up, keep on doing what it is you're doing right now.

Life Remodeling Action Points:

1. Select an inspirational goal for your life and use it as the focal point to trim or renovate other parts of your life.
2. Remove the clutter from your life and free up your time and resources to concentrate on achieving your inspirational goal.
3. Take small steps and celebrate each victory.
4. Stay focused. Invest all your physical and mental energy into completing the current task as quickly and effectively as possible. Then move on to the next one.

Use it or lose it Tip # 2 - Be Success Minded

Success has a lot to do with who we are on the inside rather than what we have achieved on the outside.

What I think Mr Edison meant is that our success is closely linked with our thinking. We will often think of ourselves as being much less capable than we truly are.

Success is often a result of many things working together that produce a desired outcome:

• commitment
• persistence
• keep going after failure
• will power
• faith in a higher being
• stubbornness (the right kind)
• what we believe about ourselves

The last dot point brings up a key issue about being success minded. We attract what we are, not what we want. That is, our thoughts have a way of bringing into being who we are and who we are capable of being will determine our level of success.

By changing our thoughts we can change ourselves. Being success minded will result in success being attracted to us. This is not hocus-pocus or new-age hoo-har. This is a tried and true.

In 1902 James Allen wrote As a Man Thinketh. In it he talks about the concept of being success minded. I cannot recall him using those words, but he talks about us attracting not only what we love but also what we fear.

How to you become success minded? Think on those things that are good and wholesome. Use your imagination to see yourself achieving your inspirational goal (see Tip # 1).

The things we spend time thinking about will then influence our level of success. Think about achieving that successful outcome. Imagine your delight at making the final mortgage payment, getting that college degree, landing your dream job.

One final word though. We all experience failure in life. Treat failure as an opportunity to grow and learn. Acknowledge the failure, do not simply ignore it, pick yourself up and have another go. Being success minded does not eliminate failure, but it will increase your chances of reaching your goal.

Use it or lose it Tip # 3 - Plan for Success

Successful people plan. They value their time and plan to use it productively.

If you are missing out on something in life, it can quite often simply be due to a lack of planning. Choose success and then plan for success.

How? As I said above, value your time. Choose what it is you will achieve and how long it will take. Plan to write your book, own your own business, be happy, financially independent, working in that dream job or whatever is your inspirational goal.

Then allocate time to activities that help you move toward that goal. Use otherwise idle time to think about how well you have been doing so far. Reflection is a valuable tool and helps us keep our lives in perspective.

By far the biggest gains will be made when you plan to make big gains.

Save yourself lots of grief and wasted time. Even if your plan only involves setting aside two hours a day to work on your best-seller, it is a plan. It shows that you value your time and that are prepared to do something to improve your life, follow a dream or fulfill your passion.

The title of this page "use it or lose it" rings very true with time. You can either use time or lose time. The difference is in the planning.