And yet, as you look around your workplace, you can probably spot someone who seems to thrive on doing it and actually does it exceptionally well. And while that person may not seem to be any more intelligent or hardworking than you are, for some reason they embrace the challenge while you shy away from it.

The underlying difference between yourself and that person is simply this – they understand and practice a very simply concept – Task Management.

Regardless of the actual scope of work involved or the timeframe to completion, every project can be broken down into smaller, easily managed tasks that are readily completed over the short-term. As each task is completed, it contributes towards the completion of the project itself, in due time.

More often than not, each task itself can then be broken down into a fixed schedule, allowing you to steadily and consistently work at it over a number of days or weeks. Depending upon the type of task, it may even be possible to work on several tasks concurrently, by spending a relatively small amount of time on each, every day.

The watchwords of Task Management are diligence and consistency, but tempered with flexibility. A given task may need to be paused if it is dependent upon the completion of another task or an unexpected issue presents itself. With flexible scheduling and a willingness to adapt to these unforeseen barriers, the project itself will continue while you explore options to resolve them.

Those whom excel at project management do so because they are able work in such a way that each and every day they make some degree progress on one or more of the tasks involved. This may mean spending as little as 10 or 15 minutes per day or up to an hour on each task. At different milestones within the project, the amount of time spent each day will inevitably vary.

It is for this very reason that project managers are often able to take on multiple projects simultaneously and not become stressed over their workload. Managing several projects at once actually breaks up the monotony of working on one single thing at any given time. It provides a way for you to step back from each project for a short time and then resume it the next day with a fresh perspective.

While we can never lose sight of the overall project itself, by focusing on Task Management, careful scheduling and consistency in how we approach our work, we can easily increase our Personal Productivity without unduly frustrating ourselves or becoming stressed about our workload.

Feelings of anger, fear or helplessness are common indicators of stress, as is insomnia.  Stress can cause headaches and pain in the jaw, neck and back.  Habitual smoking, drinking, overeating and drug abuse are also caused by stress.

Stress is how your body responds to change.  And situations that cause stress in one person may not cause stress in another.  It’s a very individual experience.  One person may become tense when driving over high bridges, while another may enjoy the view.  The thought of skydiving terrifies some people, but others find it thrilling.  It’s nearly impossible to classify any particular situation as stressful, because what causes stress in one person could be a source of enjoyment for the next.  The key is to identify and manage what is stressful for you personally, because letting stress go unmanaged can have life-threatening health consequences.

Things you feel that you have no control over can be upsetting.  But remember that it’s not the situation, but how you deal with it that’s important.  You can’t control everything that happens to you, but you can choose how you handle stressful situations.

Here are some tips for relieving your stress:

• Focus on your breathing and breathe slow, deep and deliberately.  Picture a peaceful scene in your mind.
• Exercise regularly.  Exercising releases tension from your body.  Find something you enjoy that gets the major muscle groups going.  Jogging, walking, swimming or bicycling are all excellent choices.
• Count to ten slowly and deliberately.  This helps you to pause and relax before reacting to a stressful situation.
• Do some stretching exercises several times during the day.  Stretching relaxes the muscles and reduces tension.
• Have a friend massage the back of your neck, shoulders and upper back.  These muscles get especially tense when you are stressed.
• Take hot showers and baths.
• Listen to relaxing music.
• Talk to your family and friends about what is causing you stress.
• Seek help when you need it.  If you have recurring headaches and neck or upper back pain, and are having problems sleeping, you should see your doctor.

Learning how to relieve stress, and putting these methods to use are critical your overall health and happiness.  Try to learn to accept what you can’t change.  Not everything is going to happen the way you want it to.  Train yourself to look for the good in what appears to be a bad situation, talk to others about your troubles, and try to mentally remove yourself from the situation then evaluate it from the outside looking in.

When we begin feeling stressed, we have a tendency to also begin breathing faster and shallowly, which reduces the volume of carbon dioxide in our blood and causes blood vessels to constrict. More often than not, this can lead to hyper-ventilation, which throws our metabolism completely out of whack!

Coaches and athletes understand the need to practice good breathing habits to keep metabolism’s in balance and produce up to 99% of the body’s energy aerobically. Conversely, those of us who have poor breathing habits experience a drop to around 85%, which is a significant decline in aerobic energy production.

The physiological changes caused by poor breathing habits throws off our pH balance, the ratio of O2 to CO2 in the bloodstream, diminished energy and of course a feeling of anxiety or poor health in general. Although we naturally breathe autonomously, over the course of our lifetimes we actually learn to breathe incorrectly. It’s a behavior that can be unlearned given time and effort.

That said, we first need to become aware of our breathing habits, by actually listening to ourselves breathe. We need to time how many breaths we take per minute and if that number is much over 12 in a relaxed state, we need to think about how we can best re-learn to breathe normally.

The first step is to avoid holding the stomach in, preventing the diaphragm from working properly. Relax your stomach muscles and inhale slowly through your nose to a count of 3. Now hold that breathe for a second and then exhale to a count of 6. Repeat that three times and then allow yourself to breath normally. The entire exercise should have taken you 30 seconds.

Since a good 70% of your body’s waste is eliminated through exhaling, you’re going to always attempt to double the time spent exhaling compared to inhaling. This allows your body to balance its metabolism and pH levels and well as increase the amount of energy produced. In stressful situations, your body will literally relax as you do it and your fight or flight response will quickly recede.

As a quick fix, this type of breathing technique works wonders for calming yourself down, but does not address the larger issue of learning to breath this way all of the time. To do this, you need to remain aware of your breathing habits and continually remind yourself to stay in control of your breathing.

Over time, you will develop the habit, but meanwhile, you may need prompting. One solution is to set a timer (for example on a digital watch) to beep every 3 to 5 minutes as a reminder to check your breathing. This helps because as we submerse ourselves into a given task, we can easily lose track of our breathing without realizing it.

You may even find it helpful to repeat a phrase during your practice like, “I’m breathing in”, “I’m breathing out”, to help you establish the proper rhythm. Your goal is to allow your body to take over autonomously with proper breathing habits as a result of your practice.

If you condition yourself to breath properly, especially in stressful situations, you will alleviate the stress and anxiety of it and remain calm and rational. Good breathing habits are learned, so training yourself beginning today will get you back on track to a happier, healthier you!

life coaches help their clients discover what is most important to them, help them perform at optimum levels, and achieve what it is they most desire.  They work one-on-one with their clients, either in person or over the phone, and help them set and achieve personal goals.  life coaches are not therapists or consultants.

life coaching evolved out of executive coaching, which itself drew on techniques developed in leadership training and management consulting. life coaching also borrows from disciplines such as sociology, psychology, career counseling, mentoring and other types of counseling. Coaches may apply mentoring, behavior modification, behavior modeling, values assessment, goal-setting and other techniques in their practice.

Some say that life coaching is similar to psychotherapy, but without restrictions, oversight or regulation. The State legislature of Colorado disagreed, and ruled that coaching is unlike therapy because it does not focus on examining nor diagnosing the past. life coaching focuses on changing the client’s current and future behavior. Neither does life coaching delve into diagnosing mental illness or dysfunction.

According to a survey of coaching clients, “sounding board” and “motivator” were what they were looking for most in a coach. The desire that their coach “really listen to them and give honest feedback.” Time management, career and business are the top three areas in which the surveyed clients sought help.

Before travelling too far down the path to becoming a life coach, you should first decide on a specialty, or a focus for your practice.  Besides the three areas already mentioned, you could also specialize in finance, health, relationships, career management or a variety of other areas.  Decide on your specialty, then pursue further training in that field.

Next you should attend a life coaching seminar.  This will give you a good overview of life coaching in general, and you will have the opportunity to see how coaches interact with people in the crowd.  A seminar may have one or several speakers.  Approach one of them after the event and ask how best to break into the field.

After attending a seminar, you should have a pretty good idea of whether or not becoming a life coach is something you really want to pursue.  You want to be sure of that before you invest your time and money into life coach training.

There are hundreds of coaching training programs that range from $100 home study programs, to $15,000 two year life coach certification.  The value and cost of life coach training varies widely and is something you should research thoroughly.  The most comprehensive list of coaching courses and schools can be found at www.peer.ca/coachingschools.html

It is important that you pursue a program of instruction that results in accreditation.  Without a coaching credential you will have a difficult time convincing potential clients that you are the real deal.

You are now armed with a basic outline of how to become a life coach.  Make sure you invest plenty of time in researching the topic further before you open your wallet.

So if you’re already overwhelmed by your to do list, and you find yourself making excuses not to do what you know must be done, then you need some motivation.  You can find that motivation in the Big Benefit of Time Management.

And what might that big benefit of time management be, you ask?

Happiness!

Think about it for a moment.  Why is it that when you can’t seem to drag yourself out of bed at 7:00 to get to work by 8:00, you will jump out of bed with great enthusiasm on a weekend at 5:00 to spend a day in your favorite hobby or pasttime?  Because the leisure activity brings you joy.  You are motivated to get out of bed because you know the day will bring you happiness, as opposed to the workday that brings misery.

So, in order motivate yourself to exercise effective time management, you must use the carrot of the Big Benefit of Time Management rather than the stick your boss likely uses–increased productivity.  Remember, the more time you can free up, the more time you will have for your favorite activities.

To develop effective time management skill, begin with what motivates you.  Don’t worry about mundane tasks or activities that increase productivity, but rather think about the things you love to do.  Think about the things that drive you to try and earn more money so you have more money to spend on them.  Then make those things your priority, schedule them first, and schedule other things around them.

There are many places on the internet you can download a daily planner template or a free printable daily planner.  Don’t get too caught up in what tool to use.  A legal pad or wall calendar is enough for now.  The important thing is you get into the practice of planning your time and writing it down.

Let’s say the activity that brings you the most enjoyment is camping.  First, decide how many days this year you want to spend camping.  Then decide what times of year you want to use those days.  Now that you have the number of days and the season, take a look at the calendar and begin planning which days specifically you want to spend camping.  Block those days out on a calendar.

Now you must evaluate what you need to accomplish to be able to spend that time camping.  If you’re going to be gone for a week, what must you do prior to being able to be gone for that week?  Consider the “must do” items only, write them down, and then schedule the necessary time for those activities.

This is a simplified example, but you will notice how much more motivated you are to schedule other tasks when you first schedule your favorite activities.  You are motivated because there is a reward of the Big Benefit of Time Management.  Happiness!

On the surface of things, it reads well and sounds easy enough to do. Unfortunately, it rarely works out that way for numerous reasons; primarily because we often fail to establish realistic goals. Additionally, we often casually set goals with only a hazy view towards how they’ll actually be accomplished. And while we’re typically motivated at the beginning of the process, it’s not at all unusual to lose our motivation somewhere along the way.

When preparing your own goals, it’s important to first understand that every goal you set must be realistic and readily achievable, given an appropriate amount of time and resources.  For example, setting a goal to earn $25,000 per month within three months, when your present earnings are less than $1,000, is probably unrealistic. On the other hand, setting an ongoing goal to increase your earnings by 5% or 10% per month is not only realistic, but more likely to be achievable.

Once you’ve defined a goal you believe you can accomplish, the next step is to break it down into smaller, manageable tasks and scheduling them in sequence (assuming one task depends on the completion of another). Before defining the target date the overall goal must be completed, be certain that each task is given a reasonable amount of time for completion and allow the sum of the tasks to define the completion date, rather than arbitrarily selecting one.

Depending on how far into the future your goals are planned for, it’s very helpful to schedule regular progress reviews, even if you’re the only one involved. For example, scheduling time every Friday afternoon to review your progress and make any necessary adjustments will keep your goals current. Don’t be surprised if something unexpected interferes with your scheduling from time-to-time. That’s normal and you will simply need to identify some way to compensate for it.

Another artificial barrier to actually meeting your goals is the process itself. Be careful to avoid implementing a goal management process that consumes more time than the goal itself. On a smaller scale, a simple spreadsheet will often suffice to meet all of your management needs. For larger scale management, a variety of goal management software exists, usually scalable for most organizations.

Aside from actually working the process towards eventually realizing your goal, the final step is to take some time to evaluate the overall process and your performance at the end. This should be done objectively and embraced as a learning opportunity, one that will help you to improve your performance the next time.

With proper planning, setting realistic goals can only benefit you and your business in the long run, especially if you streamline the goal management process for yourself. If you think of it as an evolving process focused on continual performance improvement, over time you will see a measurable improvement in everything you do!

Have a think about your past – are there any issues that you remember immediately, and recoil at the memory in the same instance? These are the experiences you need to focus on. To truly move on in life, you need to learn and accept your past – be it an embarrassing moment or something far more sinister.

To begin, write down the experience in full. If it is something embarrassing or you’re ashamed of it, don’t worry, only you will ever see it. Write down exactly what happened, why it effected you so badly and what kind of effect it still has on today. Instead of recoiling and dismissing the thought, spend a good half an hour actually thinking about it – for some, this is the first time in decades that they’ve really relived in the memory in full, and the process can be liberating. However, it can also be upsetting, so try and bear in mind that you’re doing this for the greater good.

With the entire incident written down, send it to yourself in the post. When it arrives, open it and read it again. As this is happening on a fresh day, it allows time for perspective and sense to come through and you should feel slightly differently to how you did at the time of writing.

At this point, if there’s something you can do to rectify the past, do it. It may be contacting someone you had a fight with or apologising for past behaviours, it could even be something extreme like going to the police. If you can do something, then do try and do it, for only until the issue is resolved can you really move on. Force through the awkwardness, telling yourself that at the end of the road a calmer, happier you await. After all, a short period of unpleasantness is infinitely preferable to more years of misery at a certain memory.

With this done – or if it wasn’t something you could rectify – then complete the exercise by destroying the written text. Fire, as long as it is done safely, is most people’s preference for this, as you can watch your past burn away slowly rather than a sudden and almost violent action like tearing it apart. Watch the past smoulder and try to finally release all that negative energy surrounding it.

You may need to repeat this process several times, and in fact it may even be best if you do. But by confronting an uncomfortable past, you are opening doors for a more pleasant future. Good luck.

It is often assume that only wholesale changes apply to getting out of a rut, such as leaving a bad relationship or getting a new job. The truth is much more trivial than that, and those in jobs they like and marriages which are loving can still feel worn down by the repetitive nature of their lives.

One of the biggest causes of repetition is traditional, that one thing that tells you time and time again to repeat the same actions. And all just because you’ve done it before. Every Christmas, for example, you find yourself eating the same food, with the same people and getting bored singing the same songs. It might be ‘tradition’, but unless you enjoy that tradition, it’s utterly pointless. This applies to everything where tradition exists; unless you still actively enjoy the activity and would do it even if it weren’t tradition, stop doing it!

Changes in even smaller phases like that can rejuvenate the mind. To begin, go for those things that really seem pointless – such as watching a different genre of film from your usual, changing your IP provider or buying a different newspaper. You might not like the experiment, but even small differences can help stop you from feeling like you’re just living Groundhog Day.

For the ultimate feeling of breaking the pattern, do something that you’ve never had the courage to do before. Maybe you’re always wanted to try skydiving but have been too scared, or you’ve had a crush on someone in your office but have never had the courage to say something. In these instances, simply ask yourself “what’s the worst that can happen?”. By running through the worst case scenario, you’ll find it loses it’s fear. This type of thought processing is known as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and is widely accepted by psychologists across the world as genuinely having the power to change lives. By facing your fears and doing something completely different, you’ll unleash a feeling of new energy unlike anything you’ve ever felt before.

One of the biggest problems people have with their bodies is their weight. This can range from feeling too big or too thin, to just not liking their shape. By deciding to finally do something about whatever it is that bothers you, you’ll almost feel better immediately.

If you need to lose weight, then join a healthy eating plan. Note the non-use of the word “diet”. Learn to eat well, regularly and allow yourself the occasional treat. If it helps, consult a dietician for advice. It is always best to seek someone calling themselves a “dietician” and not a “nutritionist” – dietician is a protected term (such as Doctor) whereas anyone can call themselves a nutritionist. The truth remains that simple methods are the most effective, so while the latest diet craze may be supposedly having wildly spectacular results for others, in the long term a plan of sensible eating will work the best.

Even if you’re happy with your weight, exercise is hugely beneficial and should be encouraged for all. Exercise produces endorphins, known as the feel good hormone, and many find their natural disposition is greatly improved by regular exercise. self improvement is all about feeling better, after all.

You don’t have to go the gym to exercise; literally anything that increases heart rate is classed as aerobic exercise and is therefore encouraging the body to produce endorphins. Of all the hundreds of ways to increase your heart rate, there is going to be something you enjoy. Once you’ve found it, the benefits are two fold – you enjoy the activity, while getting the resultant buzz from the endorphins and keeping fit, too.

Very few physical problems are utterly insoluble. If you really think fixing a body issue will make you happier and improve your life, then there is no reason – nor any social stigma – that should discourage you from doing it.

Some of the things you dislike about yourself, the things that have spurred you into believing you need to improve yourself, can be solved purely through effective time management. If you dislike how short tempered you can be, or how you never see your friends and family enough and worry they feel neglected – the problems are easily solved.

One of the best ways to change the way you use your time is to document it first. There are numerous programs available, free, on the internet which run a clock on how long you spend working on a computer. They’re actually designed for freelancers who bill by the hour and need to prove the time they’ve spent working, but the function is the same for finding out where your time goes. Install it on your work computer and you’ll soon see where your time really goes, and how the six hour stint you’d thought you’d spent working in the afternoon was actually an hour of working and a lot of time spent checking Twitter, writing emails and posting on forums. It should be quite a wake up call.

Knowing where you go wrong, set yourself goals. Organise a chore you dislike – anything from cleaning to responding to letters – and set aside an hour a day in which you do nothing but that. If you have time spare in that hour, start pre-empting the next chore. By compartmentalising those chores that you hate, you’ll free yourself up the rest of the time.

Keep a diary and stick to it, don’t cancel engagements just because you’re too tired or feel like you can’t be bothered. These little non appearances add up, and if you usually just cancel, you never know what you’re missing. Use a diary you can carry in your pocket or briefcase; amazingly, so many people don’t, and then wonder why they miss appointments.

Essentially, when instigating a system which you hope will improve your life and self, you need to know exactly how your life works. Writing everything down and analysing the results will let you see where improvements can be made – and don’t worry, before you know, documenting your life will become second nature.