1.       Achieve More with Less

Today’s society often confuses hyperactivity for productivity or growth. Just being busy all the time, though, means you’re grinding away the hours you could be using to focus on and achieve what you really want in life. Stop being mindlessly busy and take time to sit down and sort out your priorities. Because unless you are working towards those goals and results that give you true satisfaction and joy, all that effort won’t mean anything in the long run. Achieving what matters most to you requires first determining what you truly want for your life, focusing on what it takes to make that happen, and taking the steps needed for that outcome.

2.       Avoid Negative Relationships

Do whatever is necessary to break away from the people in your life who don’t make you feel good about yourself. You know who I’m talking about. The people who don’t appreciate your worth, who undermine you, who constantly moan and complain. I call this type of person a “Small Mind!”  A Small Mind holds you back, sabotages your growth, diminishes your self-esteem and, often without your realising, makes you feel bad about yourself. Starting today,  be aware of who you choose to spend time with and seek out those who bring positive elements into your life, rather than drain them away.

3.       Get The Happy Hormones Going!

If exercise isn’t already part of your daily routine, now’s the time to change that. Alongside all the physical benefits of exercise–better sleep, weight loss, bone and muscle strength, cholesterol and cardiovascular health–there are numerous mental benefits, such as reducing stress, elevating moods, developing brain power, and lifting depression. Find a physical activity that fits your personality and schedule and then start turning it into a habit.

4.       Keep It Simple

Clutter brings chaos. This applies for both physical and mental clutter. The more stuff you have, the more difficult it is to manage. As you grow, you’ll discover how much more free and meaningful life can be when it isn’t weighed down by material things. Plus, when you consume less on a regular basis, you’ll develop a keener sense of appreciation for those items that are worth keeping around.

5.     Ditch a Few Rules

Rules are like road signs. Following a few can help keep you on track and keep you safe. Too many, though, and life becomes a hectic mess as you try to sort out which ones to follow where, until you’ve totally lost track of your original path. Not to mention all the stress and guilt that piles up while trying to follow all these demanding–and sometimes conflicting–rules at once. Cut loose from these rigid ways and experience the incredible freedom of a life that goes beyond the tyranny of rules.

Start improving your life right now! Determine the goals you really want to achieve, exercise daily to keep your body and mind healthy and happy, spend time around those who make you feel good, declutter your mind and living spaces, and break some of those rules that have been confining you for too long.

What simple tips could you use to begin living a better life today?

Who knew that answering  three simple questions could elicit profound and powerful answers? This is your opportunity to reassess your situation, gain perspective, and make relevant changes. Ready? Get a pen and paper and start writing!

1.  What do you want more of in your life?  

What things are going really well for you? Consider what makes you happy, what makes you laugh, what brings you a sense of satisfaction, fulfilment and reward. List all those things and determine to bring more of them into your life.

2.  What do you want less of in your life?

What causes you to stress out, or be overwhelmed by frustration or worry? What upsets you or makes you angry, hurt, abandoned, or disappointed? With all that in mind, what can you do to have less of those elements in your life? Better yet, can you eliminate those things completely? List what you want less of in your life and set out to minimize them as much as possible.

3.  How can you bring about positive change in your life?

Now that you have a better idea of what you want more of and less of in your life, the final question is, “What are you going to do about it?” How are you going to bring about these positive changes? What can you do to enjoy more of what you love while eliminating the unwanted things in your life.

The more often you answer these questions and make positive changes, the better your life will become. Some of my clients find this exercise so useful that they take a daily snapshot with keywords (E.g. Less procrastinations, more focus/less stress, more relaxation).  The key, however, is the action step. The answers are useless unless you do something about them!

To gain perspective quickly and easily, just think ‘more,’ ‘less,’ and then ‘action.’

Want to be informed and stay ahead in everything you do? Our collection of carefully chosen self-improvement books will help you discover your strengths, stay motivated and achieve greater results.  By selecting the best self-improvement books for you, we not only save you time, but money and effort too.

Sites like Amazon, Barnes and Noble have best sellers’ book lists and now we are revealing the best selling self-improvement books our esteemed readers have been buying in 2011. We’re really excited to share those best-selling self-improvement books with you.

It’s no surprise that in the year 2011, money mindset and wealth building tips and techniques became a top priority for our readers. ‘Think and Grow Rich‘ has been topping our best sellers’ list.‘The Richest Man in BabylonThe Millionaire Mind’ and ‘The Science of Getting Rich’ were also hugely popular with our readers.

In addition books on purpose and fulfilment in life have also proven to be selling really well. Among such books are ‘The Element: How Finding your Passion Changes Everything ’, and ‘I could Do anything If I knew What It Was’.  For those of you seeking inspiration and motivation titles such as ‘Outliers: The Story of Success ‘, ‘Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway ’, ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ and ‘As a Man Thinketh’ captivated our readers.

Achieving more in less time was also a priority for our readers in 2011 with books on productivity ranking high on our best sellers book list. Getting Things Done’, ‘First Things First ’ and ‘ Do More Great Work’ were firm favourites.

Looking for great ideas? Then be sure to grab these top selling creativity books: ‘ Made to Stick ’and ‘ Six Thinking Hats ’.

So here it is! The top 25 best selling books chosen by our readers.

1.   Think and Grow Rich
2.   As a Man Thinketh
3.   Outliers : The Story of Success
4.   Acres of Diamonds
5.   The Richest Man in Babylon
6.   The Science of Getting Rich
7.   Feel the Fear . . . and Do It Anyway
8.   First Things First
9.   Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with NLP
10.  Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
11.  How To Make One Hell Of A Profit and Still Get In To Heaven
12.  How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
13.  I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was
14.  The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
15.  The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity
16.  The Millionaire Mind
17.  Unlimited Power : The New Science Of Personal Achievement
18.  Awaken the Giant Within
19.  Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters
20.  Flow : The Psychology of Optimal Experience
21.  How to be a Brilliant Thinker: Exercise Your Mind and Find Creative Solutions
22.  How To Win Friends and Influence People
23.  Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
24.  Six Thinking Hats
25.  The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

One thing is certain, you are guaranteed to do more, have more and live better than you ever dreamed of by reading self-improvement books and learning from great mentors. We will continue to simplify the task of finding the best books about topics you are really passionate about.

Are there times when you doubt yourself and your abilities? Have you missed out on opportunities because you felt you were not talented enough, lacked education or felt unattractive?.

Time and time again, I coach people who have lots of talent and wonderful ability, yet for various reasons they are filled with self-doubt. They give up on their dreams, settle for less and become stuck in a rut due to lack of self-confidence. It is no wonder that those who lack self-confidence are less adventurous, get less out of life and always underachieve.

Having self-confidence is crucial to living a fulfilling life. It influences your success at work, your relationships with others and your performance in everything you do. Confident people have faith in themselves and their abilities and they believe that that they can have the best in life.

The good news is that confidence is a skill, it can be learned, and just like driving a car, it can become a habit. As you know, we don’t even have to think about our habits as they are part of us.

Apply the following 5 steps to greater self-confidence and you’ll soon notice positive changes:

Step 1 – Decide to Become Self-Confident

Write out the answer to the following two questions:

- What would your life be like if you were confident?
- What would self-confidence mean to you?

Based on your answers make a decision today to invest your time, effort and money in becoming self-confident. Read books about self-confidence, listen to confidence building audios, attend confidence building workshops and consult with a coach who specialises in confidence coaching.

Step 2 – Become More Self-Aware

Learn to develop an awareness of your unique individuality. When you know and understand yourself at a deeper level, you will have greater control over your thoughts, feelings and attitudes which in turn will help you build greater self-confidence.

Step 3 – Act with Confidence

If you want to feel confident; act with confidence. When you think confidently, walk confidently and talk confidently, it will easily and effortlessly become natural for you to be confident.

Step 4 – Visualise Confidence

When you use your imagination to visualise yourself being confident, you are impressing very powerful images onto your subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind stores images and the more you visualise yourself being confident the more it becomes part of our life. Whenever your subconscious mind accepts an idea, it immediately begins to execute it.

Step 5 – Believe in Yourself

It is not your actual abilities that determine what you can achieve but your belief in them. It is essential that you let go of limiting beliefs that hinder your progress and develop empowering ones that assist your development. Often we are like the fish that does not even realise it is in water. When you work with a coach you will identify and eliminate those limiting beliefs that hinder your progress.

In order to achieve what you want in life, you must develop your self-confidence. Begin today to create a new and confident you that uses and values your talents and creates the life you want. Break free from self-doubt and learn to trust in yourself and your abilities. With greater self-confidence, you will feel inner strength, greater happiness and much more fulfilled. Begin today to sow the seeds of confidence and you will be amazed with the positive effects that ripple through all areas of your life.

Recent research suggests that compared to last year people are working an extra 6-10 hours per week with only 32% stopping to take a full lunch. Despite countless articles written each year aimed at helping create balance and quality in life, people are still overworking and expecting to achieve more. When you burn the candle at both ends, productivity decreases and you are left overwhelmed, overworked, overstressed and overcommitted.

A break from the norm will recharge your energies, but in terms of yielding longterm results the benefits may only be short lived.

In order to enhance your effectiveness the long term, you need to maintain and develop the greatest asset that you have – yourself. It’s essential that you take time to refresh your skills, enhance your knowledge and develop your capabilities. Take time to tap into the potential you always knew you had. Read a book, listen to a great speaker on audio or attend a programme focused on developing your potential.

Ensure that you are resiliant enough to deal with all the obstacles that life is giving you. Invest in yourself so that you are physically charged and mentally focused.  Assess if your fire is burning out and add some spark to it again. Recharge, reignite and reenergise and be the best you can be.