Do you smoke? bite your nails? overeat? In truth, we can all let go of a bad habit or two. With these five following tips, it may be easier to quit than you imagine.

Here they are:

1. Commitment. Make sure this is something you truly want to accomplish. It’s wonderful to “talk the talk,” but you’ll need to back that up by “walking the walk” as well. Be honest with yourself. Do you truly believe that this is the right time to kick your bad habit? Remember, it has to be done for the right reasons.

• Don’t let yourself be pressured by others. Search your soul and be certain you’re doing this for only one person – you! It’s your time and energy you’ll be using to make your goal a reality, so make your decision carefully.

2. Start a journal. Jot down every time you practice your bad habit. This isn’t to be used as a punishment, but to give you more of an idea when your undesired behavior is occurring, so that you can better devise ways to break it.

• Include your thoughts and feelings that precede or accompany the behavior. This can give you an idea if you’re doing this when you’re under stress, bored, tired, and so on. Though it may seem time consuming at first, recording these thoughts and actions can be a wonderful tool to speed up your success in breaking the habit.

3. Choose an alternative behavior. This behavior can either remind you of your desire to quit or be a permanent replacement of your bad behavior with a desirable one instead.

• For example, a friend of mine once put a rubber band on her wrist when she was quitting smoking. Each time she had the urge to light up a cigarette, she would snap the rubber band on her wrist instead. Naturally, this was only temporary to remind her not to smoke.
• Some more ideas are to take a walk, read a book, sing a song, or cook. Any activity can be used as an alternative behavior. Of course, you don’t want to replace one bad habit with another one, but anything that can redirect your focus works well.

4. Start a replacement schedule right away. Start immediately replacing your bad habit with your alternative, but a gradual shift may work better for you than a complete change.

• You may want to start with once a week, then maybe twice week, then three times, until you’re consistently practicing your alternative behavior instead of the bad habit.
• Remember, this won’t happen overnight, so please practice patience. People learn different behaviors at a different pace. Don’t be discouraged if your best friend stopped smoking in three weeks and you’re on your fifth week and still craving a cigarette.

5. Don’t keep this a secret. If you’ve made the decision to break a habit, tell others. This is the time when you need the support of your family and friends to help you be successful.

• Whether you succeed or not, you’ve taken a major leap in a positive direction. That’s why it’s so important to share what you hope to accomplish with family and friends. Those who love you will be there to encourage you, offer support, and help you wherever they can.

Breaking a bad habit can be difficult, but it isn’t impossible. Use these techniques to make your journey easier, then celebrate your accomplishment when you’ve succeeded – you deserve it!

Are your emotions and actions heavily taxed during the day? Finding your optimum life’s balance may be difficult to do, especially during stressful days. There’s family and work obligations, plus extra-curricular activities for your kids and unexpected situations. It’s no wonder that you’re feeling out of balance and overwhelmed!

There are things you can do to achieve balance in your life. Below are great starting points to get you on the road to a well-balanced life.

1. Start using a central calendar for every member of your family.

• This calendar can be a shared calendar online using Google Calendar, or it can be a paper calendar stuck on the fridge. Either way, have each family member write their activities on the calendar and be sure to include the time, location and mode of transportation. This way nothing gets missed and you can plan your schedule accordingly.
• If there are conflicting activities, this is a good time to teach your family about compromises and the give and take in relationships. There are ways to work things out and a little lesson in selflessness never hurt anyone.

2. Take a look at your daily routine. Are there activities you can cut out to make your life more balanced?

• In this society of rush-rush, convenience, and got-to-have-it-all or do-it-all, you may be feeling overwhelmed by all the extracurricular activities you’re involved in. As you look at each activity, ask yourself:

Is this activity necessary for my well being?

Can I live without being involved in this activity?

Is this improving my life or is this overwhelming me?

Is this helping others or is it purely for self-gratification?

Is this going to help me achieve my career, family, and personal goals?

• The answers to these questions will help you clean up your schedule and continue to enjoy the things that are really important to you and your family.

3. Establish a daily routine.

• Routines help us stay on task and get things done without procrastination. Without a daily routine, you tend to wander aimlessly, instead of engaging in tasks that take you down the right path toward your goals.
• If you work from home, it’s easy to wander away from your daily routine because you can set your own schedule, so it’s especially important to have a routine and work diligently at sticking to it. Whether you work out of the home or you’re a stay at home mom or dad, a daily schedule is vital. Following an agenda will help you achieve your daily, monthly, and yearly goals.

4. Set goals for yourself, your family and your career.

• Without goals, you have nothing to work for and you’ll feel lost without purpose.  Talk about making things feel out of balance! Some worthwhile goals to reach for might be:

Losing weight

Starting your own business

A new house

A new car

Establishing a budget and sticking to it

A pay raise

A promotion

Learning a new skill or trade

Writing a book

Those are just a few ideas to get you started thinking about all the possibilities available to help you achieve more balance in your life.

Balance in life is something that requires constant attention and resilience. Don’t let the busyness of life get in the way of living your life to the fullest. You can accomplish it when you work at it. Keep trying and you’ll be amazed at the stability that comes your way.

Do you ever feel like your life has no purpose – like you’re just going from one day to the next, without really loving or hating it? If you’re in this situation (and if this situation is your daytime job), boredom is your enemy.

And if your one of the working bored-dead on the job, perhaps it’s time to consider dabbling with the idea of becoming an entrepreneur!  (Gloria Steinem suggests that many women undergo a major life’s transition in mid-life, as that is when the social layers have all been peeled back: Confidence is up because women begin to notice that it’s not what’s outside that counts, but what is inside.)

We all experience boredom at some point in life, and it stops us from meeting our full potential. (Fear is the other beast of burden, and that’s a biggie that I’ll get into later!) If you want to get out of this rut and onto the fast track to success and fulfillment, you’re going to have to give up boredom. It’s time to say you’ll never be bored again!

“Live UNTIL you die.” Don’t die a 100 tiny deaths each day!

Boredom is detrimental to your physical and mental health. It makes you feel unfulfilled, unhappy, and tired. It’s a fact – inactivity leads to more inactivity, plus it leaves you feeling empty and miserable. The cycle becomes ongoing, and you’ve got to consciously break its path.

If you’re feeling bored and want to get out of the slump, do something – anything! It doesn’t matter what. Just get moving. If you don’t like your current career path, change to something else. It is NEVER too late!

Boredom and Purpose

How does boredom relate to finding your purpose? It’s simple. If you’re allowing yourself to be bored, you’re putting roadblocks in the way of finding the path that will lead you to the top of your personal mountain.

It’s important to have a purpose, because that purpose will allow you to feel happy and give you a reason to get out of bed every day. It will keep you moving, active, and healthy.

Your special purpose doesn’t necessarily have to be a career; it could be a hobby or charitable cause. Having said that, though, how sweet would life be if you could actually earn money doing what you LOVE.

It’s also important to love what you’re doing. The ideal, of course, is to turn your life’s passion into a full time career. No matter what you’re doing, if you don’t love it, you need to find something else to pursue.

Some people are able to pursue their passion during the time when they’re not working, because some passions may not make the best careers. For example, there are few highly paid stamp collectors.

How Do You Find Your Purpose?

How can you discover your special purpose? The answer is simple, but the process might be a tough one. You need to open yourself to all new experiences and get out there and do things. You mustn’t allow yourself to say you’re bored anymore!

Exploring the world around you is a great way to discover your purpose or passion.

Whether you’re reading new books, exploring parts of your city you’ve never been to, or talking to people you’ve never met, you’ll discover new things about yourself, learn more about your surroundings, and experience new adventures.

New experiences have a lot to offer. They get you out of the same old mindset and into one where you have more passion and interest in the world. New encounters encourage you to try new things, develop new skill sets, and find out what you excel at.

You can find purpose in the strangest places, so don’t rule out any activity. After all, if you try something and don’t like it, you don’t have to go back to it.

It’s having passions, and the perseverance to pursue them, that makes us stars. If you’ve been feeling like your life is empty, it’s time to fill it with some passion!

To your ultimate success!