Simplification, the opposite of complexity, results in more energy. Fruit growers prune trees once per year in order to reinforce the vigour of the healthiest branches. Lean trees produce more fruit than those loaded with moribund branches. In the same way, stress is minimized when we make rational choices and discard activities that waste our time and bring little satisfaction.
Concentration improves results in business and private life. Shepherds cull herds to prevent contagious sickness to spread. By nurturing only healthy sheep, they ensure an optimal result. The benefits of concentration also apply to human affairs. Minimizing stress involves abandoning wasteful activities and focusing our time in areas of importance.
Selection frees up time for what really counts. Every man should aim at a future that is better than his present. Know your priorities and reaffirm them at every opportunity. Clever retailers sell slow-moving items at low prices in order to make space for more popular goods. In order to minimize stress, we need to make clear decisions and abandon unattainable goals.
Individuals succeed in reducing stress when they acquire a rational approach to living. Anxiety disappears from our lives when we follow logical and consistent principles. Thinking long-term allows man to identify his goals and priorities. Thoughtfulness allows man to gain visibility and increase his efficiency.
Productivity experts advise workers to clear up the factory floor in order to allow them to see their own mistakes. It is only after misplaced tools and obsolete inventory have been removed that people figure out how to improve and change their ways. Without visibility, there can be no transformation. Without choices, there can be no progress.
Setting priorities and making rational decisions constitute the best way to reduce stress in our lives. A cluttered agenda is a cage full of paradise birds waiting to be released. Those birds are your best ideas, the ones that you have not yet formulated. Simplify your life and sharpen your ambitions. The birds are ready to fly. Open the cage door and set them free.
[Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com]
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There is a cure for stress. It is not a drug and it is not a fantasy. It won't cost you money, but it is not for free. Many people who try it out feel born again, others rejuvenated. The remedy is known under many different names. You may call it simplification or streamlining, reduction or selection, focus or elimination, logic or rationality.
An efficient approach to living is easier to name than to implement. Minimizing stress requires man to concentrate his energies on the essential areas of his life. This is a goal that can only be achieved by establishing priorities. Eliminating stress results from making choices and embracing simplification.
Why are so many people reluctant to set priorities in their lives? Why do they prefer to run in circles rather than follow a straightforward path towards their objectives? Individuals affected by stress frequently lack consistent criteria to make decisions. Men and women who live in anxiety often fear standing still for a minute and questioning their own contradictions.
Overloading one's days with senseless activities is a psychological defence mechanism against the fear of taking responsibility. Rational decisions are impossible for people who lack a sense of direction. On many occasions, having too much to do is an excuse to avoid facing indecision. Small talk with one hundred acquaintances cannot replace a deep conversation with one close friend.
Stress is to the human soul what indebtedness is for a business. Both are problems that compound with time unless a workable strategy is adopted. Intelligent choices enhance professional and private results. Efficiency begins with clarity.
Resources, in particular time, are limited in all human endeavours. We minimize stress when we apply simplification, concentration, and selection to make the best of what we have available. Those three elements constitute the rational approach to eliminating anxiety and maintaining a healthy psychological balance.
To be continued in Part 2
[Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com]
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Magic formulas are not a good way of making plans. Reason and realism constitute a superior approach to making investment decisions. If you want to develop self-confidence as an investor, you have to remind yourself every day to have patience. Forget about short-term volatility and look at the big picture. Ask yourself where the world economy is headed for in the next five years.
Move your focus beyond the next quarter and see what the whole year will look like. Look for companies with a strong international presence. Even in periods of generalized gloom and doom, many countries continue to grow at good rates.
Rational investors tend to prefer enterprises that operate in stable markets, in particular if their dividend is maintained or increased. At the same time, risks can be minimized by investing in corporations, such as pharmaceutical multi-nationals, that have world-wide distribution for their products. These enterprises often purchase rights to new drugs from small laboratories and universities in order to distribute those medicines internationally.
How can you increase your confidence in making the right financial decisions? You do not need to know everything in order to become a good investor. Aim at identifying well-managed companies whose shares are priced attractively. If their products meet fundamental human needs efficiently, chances are that those businesses will do well.
Problems that you know nothing about might come up next week and make your shares go down. This is part of the game for better or worse. A claim of infallibility is something that you should leave to those who believe in magic formulas. Accept that you will make mistakes and do not fall into endless self-recrimination.
Make your investment decisions on the basis of reasonable expectations and stop worrying about the future. If you diversify your portfolio and buy shares of companies that operate in countries with good prospects of economic growth, you should be able to profit from the increasing prosperity around the world.
[Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com]
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During adverse economic periods, many people are afraid of buying shares of any company. Fresh memories of crashing stock markets test the nerves of local and international savers, who often prefer to hold cash rather than take any risks.
Exaggerated fear is, more than not, a mistake. If you act prudently, every period can be good to make financial commitments. When bad news and pessimism reign, those are times of great opportunity to purchase shares of solid companies at low prices.
Stories of financial collapse reported by the media succeed in terrifying many people out of the stock market. At the time of writing this, you can hardly turn on the radio or open a newspaper without learning about one more company on the brink of bankruptcy.
However, in investing, like in everything else, realism triumphs over anxiety and pragmatism over worry. Gloomy reporters seldom look objectively at facts. On many occasions, share-holders would be better off if they keep a cool head and avoid liquidating their stocks at fire-sale prices.
The first step to develop self-confidence as an investor is to realize that nobody possesses the ability to predict exactly when shares are going up or down. There is no magic formula for successful investing. The best you can do is to strive to keep well informed and make rational decisions. Those two are the factors that will improve your financial results and increase your self-reliance.
After a period of inflation or deflation has begun, some people will claim that they had predicted what was going to happen, but these are often the same persons who had previously made many wrong predictions. A broken clock gives you the right time twice per day, but cannot provide you accurate time information.
To be continued in Part 2
[Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com]
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[5] Find a bird that can fly: Entrepreneurs who wish to purchase an existing business often explore dozens of possibilities before they finally make a deal. They are not looking to buy just any company. Their interest is attracted only by businesses with high growth potential which also match their personal taste. They want to catch a bird that can fly.
In the field of personal relationships, you should be willing to discard what doesn't work. Don't hang around someone who is not a good match for you. You are looking for an individual who will make you happier than you already are.
If you are serious about finding a love companion, single-mindedness will move you closer to the place where you want to be. You can never predict the moment when the opportunity for a great relationship will come across your way. Search persistently and keep your eyes open.
In business, love, or friendship, discard speculative advice and choose the wisdom of rational action. Your personal initiative is the decisive factor to enhance your well-being and improve your prospects for the future.
Let others debate if the world should be this or that way. Focus on specific actions that you can carry out to ameliorate your own situation. Make a pause from time to time, assess your progress, and correct your mistakes. Move on and redouble your attempts to reach the place where you want to be. Personal initiative is the key to achieve more in life. Let your actions speak for themselves.
[Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com]
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Avoid in particular comparing yourself to someone whom you might consider luckier. The world is made of all sorts of persons. If you are looking for love, all you have to do is find one good match for yourself. Shrug your shoulders at comparisons and look for the type of person that suits you best.
Your time on earth is limited. You only have one life to live. Move forward with it and don't get stuck in pointless arguments. Let people have their own opinion, but choose what you consider optimal for yourself. Opt for what is rational, even if that alternative lacks popular support.
[3] Decide how you want to play: When it comes to developing an active social life, our century offers infinite possibilities for meeting people. If you live in a mid-sized town, there are clubs you can join and entertainment locales you can visit. The internet is, of course, the largest venue of all.
Ignore fashion and follow your own values. For your search of companions, select times and places that match your interests and disposition. Your background and constraints are unique. Your present course of action should be in line with your vision of the future. Never rely on chance to solve your problems. Take action from which success can be expected.
[4] Run the race you have chosen: Do not let discouragement hold you back from taking action. Make entrepreneurship a habit in business and personal relationships. Stay alert and seize opportunities as they come along. Change the way you think. View life as a market that offers infinite possibilities.
No matter how you decide to play, you will increase your chances of success if you do it regularly. You might have to invest many hours to develop a satisfactory social life. Meeting people, making friends, and dating are similar to looking for a job. First, you have to detect the opportunity. Then, you have to seize it.
To be continued in Part 3
[Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com]
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“If you are looking for love,” wrote the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC-17 AD), “you should spend your time in the stadium and the theatre, since it is in public places where you are most likely to find a companion to your taste. Bees know that, for making honey, they need to keep close to the flowers.”
Two thousand years have gone by since Ovid composed The Art of Love. The world looks different now, but human beings have remained essentially the same. Ovid's compilation of amorous advice has passed from generation to generation, proving its effectiveness through the ages.
The details to reach the place where you want to be have changed, but not the principles. Today, as in Ancient Rome, personal initiative generates opportunities. The following five points summarize the teachings of The Art of Love. These are the sort of recommendations that each of us can apply. These five steps may improve our relationships in any environment or situation.
[1] Make up your mind about what kind of social life you want to have: Your determination will greatly contribute to your success. In this sense, meeting new people, making friends, or dating are like any other venture. If you have gone through divorce, have you decided that you are going to start looking for a new partner? Make a firm resolution and give it the priority that it deserves.
[2] Ignore negative comments and unfair criticism about your ambitions: You can always find reasons not to do something. If you let people, they will name you more obstacles than you can ever imagine. Life is already difficult enough without paying attention to discouraging remarks, so don't.
To be continued in Part 2
[Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com]
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