5 Easy Motivational Tips to Wake Up Early

For some people, waking up early is as natural as breathing. Lucky them. But for many others, waking up early is virtually an impossible thing to do. Luckily for them, using the motivational tips below can give them a better way to start the day.

Wake up to the right environment.

Believe it or not but the way your room looks can help or hinder your ability to wake up early. A messy room will generally make you disinclined to wake up early because cleaning your room will just be one of the many worries you have to tackle for the day.

But when you wake up to a clean room, just the sight of it can be energizing and make you jump out of bed. At least you’ve got one less worry to think about!

Give yourself a good reason to wake up early.

Waking up early come with instant benefits like better health, more time to spend on the things you want to do, and greater productivity. Give yourself ten minutes to think about all the good reasons for waking up early and you might never stop writing. Now, focus on these reasons the first moment your eyes open and you’ll be up and about in no time!

Get the best sleep you can.

One common reason why people find it difficult to wake up early is simply because they didn’t have enough sleep and if they had then it wasn’t good enough.

To get the best possible sleep, the first thing you should consider changing about your night routine is your sleeping hours. How about sleeping early for a change? Can’t the things you normally like to do at midnight be postponed for the next day?

Sleep as much as you need. This is different from being a professionally idle and sleeping the whole day away just because you want to and not because your body is demanding for rest and relaxation. Motivating yourself to wake up early is easier to do when your body is not clamoring for the opposite.

Sleep effectively. A night’s slumber is more restful and peaceful when you haven’t procrastinated at work and there weren’t any problems at home you chose to sweep under the rug instead of solving them as they come. Definitely, where you sleep also matters. Try to be comfortable as you can. Change your bed, rearrange your room, or have air-conditioning if that’s what will make you sleep better.

Reward and punish.

Let’s focus on the rewards first. Remember how you used to get candies from parents or stars from teachers when you did something good? How about upgrading the reward system to motivate you to wake up early?

A reward system, however, should cut both ways. To make the system more effective, you need to set repercussions for yourself when you wake up late. You also need to be stringent in implementing the penalties. Don’t rationalize. Don’t justify. The more aware you are about the consequences of waking up late, the more motivated you’ll be not to do it again.

Get a partner.

Find someone who’s also having trouble waking up early and work together to motivate yourselves to change. Don’t think of this along the lines of misery loving company, but rather this is more of a case of two hands getting more things done. The two of you will get the results you want more quickly if you help and motivate each other. Be his personal alarm clock and vice versa!

Changing Jobs and Motivation: How to Keep Inspired During Career Shipts

A change in your career can bring about a shift in emotions.  It could be exciting or scary, unexpected or planned.  If you aren't prepared and don't know what to expect, a career change can even disrupt your personal goals.  But as things evolve in your professional life, how do you keep motivated?  Here are ways you can keep focused on your job and still find sufficient motivation to handle a career shift.

Know what is expected of you.

A career shift can sometimes mean a change in career direction.  What is your new job all about?  How did it happen?  Was it because of a promotion or a move?  What kind of things have you done to arrive at your current level?  Furthermore, with your new responsibilities, what kind of performance is expected from you?  It will be easier to remain motivated if you know exactly what it is you're supposed to do. 

Set new goals.

Don't be afraid to make a few changes in your goals.  Certain changes in your career sometimes call for a reassessment of your objectives.  Identify the things that you need to achieve with this career shift to understand how to keep your motivation.  You might be surprised at how outdated some of your goals are.  With a career shift, you will have an opportunity to keep them fresh and exciting – another great reason to remain motivated.

Once you have these new set of goals, you'll have a clearer picture of your direction.  You will also see that there are new experiences to be had.  As you achieve each of these new goals one by one, you'll find even more satisfaction in your new career.

Learn from your past experience.

Your past work would already have trained you on how to handle the demands of your new job.  Try to compare your past job with the current one.  You can easily keep your motivation regarding your career shift once you realize that your new job is offering you a different set of experiences.  Perhaps you will be working with a new team or handling tasks you've never tried before or will be allowed to try things reserved only for a specific level of management.  Just imagine the kind of possibilities that have opened up for you.

Be grateful for the new learning.

One thing that will get you motivated about career shifts is that they help enhance your knowledge and skill base.  A change in career direction is a surefire way to get out of a boring job or one that seems to be going nowhere.  Keep your motivation and learn as much as you can.  Take advantage of the new opportunity being given you.

Look at it from the point of view of a new learner.  In fact, most career shifts will probably require you to take on new training – something that could benefit your new resume and for expanding your network of contacts.

Consider your career shift as a step towards improving yourself and your career.

A career shift can keep your motivation going for the simple reason that it is an opportunity to advance in your career.  A shift in your job means you aren't stuck in static phase and that there is actually a chance for you to move forward – perhaps in the same field or perhaps in a totally different direction.

The important thing is you keep moving and learning as you go.

Changing Jobs and Motivation: How To Keep Inspired During Career Shifts

A change in your career can bring about a shift in emotions.  It could be exciting or scary, unexpected or planned.  If you aren't prepared and don't know what to expect, a career change can even disrupt your personal goals.  But as things evolve in your professional life, how do you keep motivated?  Here are ways you can keep focused on your job and still find sufficient motivation to handle a career shift.

Know what is expected of you.

A career shift can sometimes mean a change in career direction.  What is your new job all about?  How did it happen?  Was it because of a promotion or a move?  What kind of things have you done to arrive at your current level?  Furthermore, with your new responsibilities, what kind of performance is expected from you?  It will be easier to remain motivated if you know exactly what it is you're supposed to do. 

Set new goals.

Don't be afraid to make a few changes in your goals.  Certain changes in your career sometimes call for a reassessment of your objectives.  Identify the things that you need to achieve with this career shift to understand how to keep your motivation.  You might be surprised at how outdated some of your goals are.  With a career shift, you will have an opportunity to keep them fresh and exciting – another great reason to remain motivated.

Once you have these new set of goals, you'll have a clearer picture of your direction.  You will also see that there are new experiences to be had.  As you achieve each of these new goals one by one, you'll find even more satisfaction in your new career.

Learn from your past experience.

Your past work would already have trained you on how to handle the demands of your new job.  Try to compare your past job with the current one.  You can easily keep your motivation regarding your career shift once you realize that your new job is offering you a different set of experiences.  Perhaps you will be working with a new team or handling tasks you've never tried before or will be allowed to try things reserved only for a specific level of management.  Just imagine the kind of possibilities that have opened up for you.

Be grateful for the new learning.

One thing that will get you motivated about career shifts is that they help enhance your knowledge and skill base.  A change in career direction is a surefire way to get out of a boring job or one that seems to be going nowhere.  Keep your motivation and learn as much as you can.  Take advantage of the new opportunity being given you.

Look at it from the point of view of a new learner.  In fact, most career shifts will probably require you to take on new training – something that could benefit your new resume and for expanding your network of contacts.

Consider your career shift as a step towards improving yourself and your career.

A career shift can keep your motivation going for the simple reason that it is an opportunity to advance in your career.  A shift in your job means you aren't stuck in static phase and that there is actually a chance for you to move forward – perhaps in the same field or perhaps in a totally different direction.

The important thing is you keep moving and learning as you go.

How to Motivate People to Do Good

It’s a common problem no matter where you are, and whether you’re gathering donations for your church or a charitable organization: you can really have a hard time motivating people to do good. Try as you might, you will always bump against people who do not think that going to a homeless shelter for a night of volunteering is not as worthwhile as going to the club.

No matter how hard you work at it, it can be hard to convince people to help you fold clothes or gather canned goods for the less fortunate, especially when they have jobs that they think are more important than any other earthly activity. And no matter what you do, there will be people who will criticize your work as being a Band-Aid to other problems that should be solved.

Despite all these criticisms and setbacks, you should be able to do the work that you want without worrying about what people think. Moreover, you should be able to bank on a willingness on your part to motivate people to do what they can to help your cause out. How do you motivate people to do good? Here are a few tips that you may want to take into consideration.

When starting off your marketing blitz to get people to listen to you, keep in mind that you are not preaching to the choir, but neither are you trying to make devils listen to you. You will have a healthy mix of people who both want to help and who don’t really care. The key is to hit your note in the middle and not end up alienating any of them.

By being too solicitous and too pity-inducing, you end up irritating the people who don’t care yet. By being too appealing to people’s emotions, you may end up annoying the people who already do care and want to help out. Avoid being self-righteous or off handed. Remember, when you want to help people, you don’t want to show how helpful you already are.

Avoid using negative language, such as, “Don’t go to the club tonight when you can help people!” You don’t want people to feel that they are doing something that they should substitute with something that you are endorsing. This could lead them into thinking that you are trying to change them, and whenever people feel that their feelings and perceptions are being attacked, they will go on the defensive.

If you are working with a charitable organization, try to tie in your work with something enjoyable. Have a dance party or rent out the club for a party and charge for entrance. Promise that you will give proceeds from your earnings to a charitable organization or cause. Have people dress up in costumes, and then give prizes away for the best costume, and ask people to bring canned goods with them.

Find a way to tie in your cause to something that people could do and have fun with. You want to look human, too, and you want to get as many people as possible. Just be sure to stay within the bounds of decency and you will be fine.

Lastly, surround yourself with reputable people. No one wants to donate a cause that is associated with gangsters, thieves, or anyone who doesn’t have a solid enough reputation. You want to have people around you that anyone can look up to and admire.

The Press Association: Lung cancer genes discovered

The Press Association: Lung cancer genes discovered

3 Factors That Make You Hard to Motivate

There will always be times in your life when you have to perform tasks that you deem unpleasant for one reason or another – working with a co-worker you don't like, going to work on Mondays, taking the garbage out, driving to meet the in-laws at the airport, having dinner with the spouse's friends... Doing these things just siphons whatever motivation you have inside you and makes you feel sad, tired, sorry, even annoyed. But did you know that there are also things inside you that actually make it difficult to feel excited and enthusiastic? Get to learn the factors that make you hard to motivate:

Your mindset

Your mindset is a major factor that can make you hard to motivate. This is because it can severely limit your understanding of the world and all experiences in general. Your mindset can sometimes be composed of growth-inhibiting beliefs, prejudices, biases and standards.

If, for example, you believe that nothing good can come out of your staff, you'll fail to see that there is a clerk there that actually has management potential. If you refuse to believe that you can actually write for a famous magazine because you're a person from a small town, you'll miss out on an opportunity to expose your talent and reap its rewards.

Your comfort zone

We all have certain limitations in our minds. These limits are things we decide on based on our own personal beliefs, ethics and standards. Within these limits, we feel comfortable in and can pretty much do as we like.

Once we approach the outer edges, we begin to feel discomfort, shyness, embarrassment or annoyance. We do not wish to go further because we do not like what we don't know or haven't experienced. Because we have a fear of the unknown, we'd rather stay within our comfort zones because we feel safe there.

The problem here is that a narrow comfort zone can be a major factor that makes you hard to motivate. Each time you are presented with a new idea or experience, you check to see if it fits into your comfort zone. If it doesn’t, then you simply refuse, no questions asked. This is unfortunate because many of these ideas and experiences can be good for you. But you'll probably never know because you don't have the motivation to try them.

Your past experience

Did you get burned by the stove? That's probably why you hate to cook. Did your former bosses fail to show appreciation for your hard work? That's probably one reason why you don't feel motivated about your job.

Your background – personal, social and professional experiences – has a lot to do with how you decide things in your life. They can also be factors that make you hard to motivate. If these experiences are negative, they tend to make you more hesitant and unsure of yourself because they affect your self-esteem and confidence.

If, for example, you've only been met with rejection or ridicule in your life, it wouldn't be hard to imagine if you don't feel a strong need to excel or to improve yourself. You'll probably be thinking – 'So what? Nothing I ever did was good anyway. Why would things change now?'

Unless you consciously make an effort to identify these past experiences and then refuse to let them rule your life, you will always be hard to motivate.

Are you hard to motivate?  Press the comment button and write your answer to this question and then tell me why are you hard to motivate.  Let me know if it is any of these examples or is it something else.

A Proposed New Name for the Special Libraries Association (SLA) « ResourceShelf

A Proposed New Name for the Special Libraries Association (SLA) « ResourceShelf

Shared via AddThis

Sept. 30, 2009-CPT Codes for 2009 H1N1 Influenza Immunizations on ADVANCE for Health Information Professionals

Sept. 30, 2009-CPT Codes for 2009 H1N1 Influenza Immunizations on ADVANCE for Health Information Professionals

The Problem With Tylenol

On Thursday, May 28 (HealthyDay News) – one month after mandating stricter warning labels about the risk of liver damage from the painkiller acetaminophen or Tylenol, U.S. Regulators are contemplating even tougher standards.




Advisors to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration met in late April to review a new agency report that calls for stronger warnings, better consumer education, and limits on doses for both prescription Tylenol, and over-the-counter Tylenol.



According to the FDA report, released on Wednesday, September 30, part of the problem is that severe liver damage can result from a lack of consumer awareness that Tylenol can really cause this injury. However, many people may take more then is recommended of the over-the-counter pain relievers believing that more is better and that it won't hurt them. Most consumers seem to forget that Tylenol is in many cold, headache, fever remedies, making it possible to exceed the recommended Tylenol dosage.



For more than five years of FDA-sponsored consumer education campaigns, the report said, “recent studies indicate that unintentional and intentional overdoses leading to severe hepatotoxicity continue to occur.”



The report also recommended limiting the maximum adult daily doses to no more then 3,250 milligrams, but with a lower daily maximum for patients consuming three or more alcoholic drinks every day while using Tylenol products. Limiting the tablet strength for immediate-release formulations to a maximum of 325 milligrams, and the single adult dose to a maximum of 650 milligrams, was another recommendation of the report.



Other recommendations from the report were;

limiting pediatric liquid formulations to one mid-strength concentration (compared to multiple dose strengths available now);

requiring that a measuring device (such as using a calibrated cup with dosing increments much like cold and cough remedies have now) to be included in each package;

including dosing instructions for children under 2 years of age if accurate dosing instructions can be determined and adequate efficacy data exist to support dosing.



Then on April 28th, the FDA came out with the statement that many over-the-counter painkillers and fever reducers will now have to carry new warnings on the possible dangers of liver damage and stomach bleeding.



The manufacturers will also have to include these warnings on all their over-the-counter products containing Tylenol, and on all non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs, the agency said.



NASIDs include popular medicines such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), naproxen (Aleve) and Excedrin.



The purpose of the new labeling is to help consumers become more aware of the potential liver damage from Tylenol and the potential for stomach bleeding from NSAIDs, the FDA said.







For More Information



Visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine to learn more about acetaminophen.



Source:



U.S. News, October 1, 2009: FDA Report Urges Tougher Acetaminophen Warning The risk of overdose, and potential liver damage, is still too high, agency says, by Steven Reinberg a reporter for HealthDay.

Are entreprenurs born or taught? Both.

I was reading through BizInSavannah newspaper and ran across this article by Erwin Williams.  This article raised a good question and I wanted to share it with you and get your opinion.  Tell me what you think.

A few years ago, I mentioned to a top executive that I was an entrepreneurship professor. He looked at me somewhat strangely and said, “You have the audacity to believe entrepreneurship can be taught. Entrepreneurs are born – you either have it or you don't.”

This executive was a smart guy and successful in the corporate world, so I pondered over his comment.

It boils down to this – is entrepreneurship nature or nurture?

His answer was obvious. Entrepreneurship is nature; it is in your genes. He is right in that a high percentage of entrepreneurs are children of parents who operated their own businesses. This fact has led to a rigorous study of the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs typically have high energy levels; they are driven, restless and hard workers. They take more risk than the average person, but they are not gamblers. They tend to be creative and come up with lots of ideas. Many are bad, but some are real winners resulting in successful products and businesses.

The problem with these person characteristics is they vary in kind and intensity with each person, and we cannot use them to predict who will be a successful entrepreneur.

So academics dug a bit deeper in the study of the entrepreneurship phenomenon in search of commonalities that could be used to explain just what an entrepreneur does.

Six steps of entrepreneurship

Now we know that entrepreneurship can be viewed from tow perspectives – as a person and a process. Is it important to distinguish between the two? Sure, but how? Think of the process as a “dance” and the person, or persons, involved as the “dancers.”

The entrepreneurship process is a series of creative activities that brings about the birth, development and formation of a new business venture.

These are six basic steps in this process:

1. Discovery of a business opportunity
2. Defining the business concept
3. Acquisition of resources
4. Marketing the product/service
5. Ensuring business growth.
6. The real daunting task for solo entrepreneurs is to make the product, sell it and collect the revenue all at the same time. This is why more than 50 percent of start-ups fail during the first three years.

So, our understanding of entrepreneurship has certainly expanded since Harvard University's Miles Mace taught the first academic course in the subject in 1947.

Now, more than 2,200 entrepreneurship courses are being offered in more than 1,600 U. S. colleges and universities, with some offering bachelor's, master's and Ph. D degrees in the subject. Yes, entrepreneurship is an accepted academic discipline that can be taught, nurtured,m supported and enhanced through mentoring and teaching.

We can answer the nature versus nurture question regarding entrepreneurs. It is not an either/or situation. It's both. The executive was right in part. We cannot teach a person how to be an entrepreneur, but we can surely teach them a definitive process that is common to all entrepreneurs when starting a new venture. So, both the person and the process are important.

What are your thoughts on the subject, and which do you think is more important?

Ervin Williams is Entrepreneur in Residence at Savannah State University and the author of “The Global Entrepreneur.” Contact him at 912-634-8225 or at cheers@ervinwilliams.com.

10 Ways to Create More Time in Your Day

10 Ways to Create More Time in Your Day

Shared via AddThis

"Customer Service That Keeps the Cashing Coming In" | AliBrown.com

"Customer Service That Keeps the Cashing Coming In" AliBrown.com

Even if you have a sound business plan, smart, dedicated employees, and an awardwinning product, all those positive points can be nebated by bad custome service. Compnaies work hard to bring in customers, but once they have them, not all businesses do everything they can to keep their customers. Sometimes customers leave because they feel ignored or assume that the company doesn't really care about their issue.

Customer service isn't just about making people happy. It's also about dealing with complaints, which are almost inevitable. In order to build (and keep) your customer base: it's critical that companies follow the three C's: communication, courtesy, and criticism.

Communication

In order to keep your existing customers, you need to offer extra value and communicate that value clearly so your customers understand why they should choose you over the competition. You might write a blog post or newspaper article about how you're adding value or include a promotion in an email newsletter to your customers. (You do have customer's emails, right?) Maintaining an up-to-date and accurate database of customer's contact information is invaluable. Make sure that their names are spelled correctly, because there's nothing more insulting (and impersonal) than getting an email or postcard addressed to the wrong name. Lastly, be sure to follow through on any promises and thank your customers on a regular basis.

Courtesy

Courtesy costs you nothing, but it pays off far more than an expensive marketing or advertising campaign. When a customer calls, they want to feel that their questions or concerns are being addressed and that you value them as much as (and hopefully more than) their credit cards. Make sure that whoever is answering the phone is polite and friendly. Remind them to smile, because that will naturally make their voice sound more cheerful. Also, be sure your customer service reps call customers by their names (no one likes being treated like a number). If they don't know how to pronounce someone's name, make sure they ask.


Next time I will talk about Criticism and how it can improve your customer service.