RELAXED PRODUCTIVITY by Henrik Edberg

"The time to relax is when you don't have time for it."

Jim Goodwin

"For fast-acting relief, try slowing down."

Lily Tomlin

Stress sucks. It sucks joy and the life out of you.

So today I'll share 10 of my favourite tips that I use to minimize stress and live a more relaxed but at the same time productive life. I hope you find something helpful here, even if it's just a few reminders of things you had forgotten about.

1. Accept the situation.

Stress is often to a large part resistance to what already is. You may be in a stressful situation and think to yourself that this situation shouldn't be, that you shouldn't be here. But the situation has already arisen, is here, and so are you.

So to decrease the stress and resistance you accept the situation. With your resistance gone or lowered you can now direct your mental energy and focus to finding a solution in a level-headed manner instead of trying to do it while panicked or confused.

2. Take everything less seriously.

Taking things or yourself overly serious adds a lot of unnecessary negativity and stress to your life. A minor situation may be blown up to a major one in your mind. If you just learn to lighten up a bit, life becomes more fun and you realize that you get great results even if you aren't super-serious about everything.

3. Decrease or put a stop to negative relationships.

If someone is always making you more stressed or creates a lot of negativity in your life you may want to consider decreasing the amount of time you spend with that person. Some people almost seem to like to dwell in negativity. That is their choice. It's your choice if you want to participate.

Or you can choose to hang out more with relaxed and non-stressed people. Both in real life and by watching/listening to CDs and DVDs. Two guys that tend to calm me down when I listen/watch them are Eckhart Tolle and Wayne Dyer.

4. Just move slower.

You emotions work backwards too. If you slow down how you walk or how you move your body you can often start to feel less stressed.

This allows you to think more clearly too. A stressed mind tends to run in circles a lot of the time. And slowing down to decrease stress goes for other forms of movement too, like riding your bicycle or driving the car.

5. Exercise.

A simple and time-tested way to decrease inner tension. Regular exercise can do wonders for both your mind and body. This is one of the solutions that work most consistently for me.

6. Find five things you can be grateful for right now.

Being grateful and appreciating your life and surroundings is one of the most effective ways to turn a negative emotional state to a more positive one. So find a few things you are grateful for right now.

Perhaps it's the sunny weather, that you feel healthy and energetic today, that you have just eaten a delicious after-noon snack, that the guy/gal that just walked by had a great looking jacket on and that tonight there is a new episode of your favourite TV-show to enjoy.

7. Look for solutions.

When faced with a challenge that can cause stress, try to direct your focus to solutions rather than to dwelling on the problem for too long. Dwelling only causes more stress and makes your mind less open to finding a solution.

8. Be early.

Just be 10 or 5 minutes early for meetings etc. This very simple tip can cut down on stress quite a bit.

9. Do just one thing at a time.

Single tasking and focusing on doing just one thing at a time not only decreases stress but from my experience gets things done a whole lot quicker than if you multitask.

10. Talk to people around you about it.

Perhaps they can offer you advice that has worked for them or just an ear and some support. Just telling someone about something, just getting it out can often help to relieve some of the stress. 

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If you found this newsletter helpful then check the book: THE RELAXED PRODUCTIVITY  by Henrik Edberg.

PROCRASTINATION by Henrik Edberg

"How soon 'not now' becomes 'never'."

Martin Luther

"A year from now you may wish you had started today."

Karen Lamb

Procrastination is probably one of the most common problems people have in their day to day life. So find a procrastination solution that works for you.

Here are five of them. Try them out and see which one or ones that fit you the best.

1. Do the hardest thing first.

What this means is simply to do the hardest and most important task of the day first thing in the morning. A good start in the morning lifts your spirits and creates a positive momentum for the rest of the day. That often creates a pretty productive day.

2. How do you eat an elephant?

Don't try to take it all in one big bite. It becomes overwhelming which leads to procrastination. Split a task into small actionable steps. Then just focus on the first step and nothing else. Just do that one until it's done. Then move on to the next step.

3. Recognize that there is more pain in procrastinating than not.

If you have procrastinated a lot you might have discovered that you procrastinate to avoid doing something that is boring, hard etc. You want to avoid that pain. But after having some experience with procrastination you'll probably realise that procrastination itself causes your more pain than actually just doing what you were supposed to. Realising the true amount of pain in the two choices will make it easier to get things done.

4. Make a small deal with yourself.

Promise yourself that you'll work on something for just 5 minutes. After those 5 minutes you can do something else if you want to. But make a note in your schedule for when you will come back to the task and work another 5 minutes on it. No matter how unpleasant a task may be, you can often talk yourself into working 5 minutes on it.

I've found this one to be effective to make a dent in those tasks you have put off for a longer while. Because many times you will just continue working after those 5 minutes have passed. It is the first few minutes of getting started that is the hardest part.

5. Use my three step method for doing something even when you don't feel like it.

Mundane or routine tasks can be a bit boring. Maybe you have a lot or emails to reply to or phone calls to make. Batch them - do them all in row - to get them done quicker.

If you feel inner resistance and just can't get started try this three step method to be able to reduce that resistance, up your motivation and get going.

Step 1: Accept it.

When you feel resistance within towards doing something the natural instinct may be to try to push that feeling away. To brush it off. I have found that doing the opposite and just accepting that it is there can do wonders.

 

Tell yourself: "This is how I feel right now and I accept it".

This sounds counterintuitive and perhaps like you're giving up. However by accepting how you feel instead of resisting it you reduce the emotional energy that you are feeding into this problem. It then tends to just kinda lose speed like a car that runs out of fuel. And oftentimes it becomes so weak after while that it moves out of your inner focus and disappears.

This step may be all you need to reduce the negative feelings enough to be able to start taking action. If not, move on to the next step.

Step 2: List the positives.

After you have accepted how you feel list the positives of getting this thing done. Do it on paper, on your computer or just in your head.

When you don't feel like doing something it's very easy to get stuck and just focus on the negative aspects such as it being hard work or the risk of pain or failure.

So you need to change what you are focusing on to motivate yourself to take action. Making a list of positives like benefits and possible opportunities can be very effective for turning your focus around.

If you have problems getting started ask yourself questions that will empower you. Questions like:

- What is awesome about this situation?

- What is the hidden opportunity in this situation?

You can pretty much always find positives about anything. There are lessons to be learned about yourself and your world and opportunities to be found if you look at things the right way.

Step 3: Just do it.

You should now have reduced much of the resistance within and feel more motivated to start taking action and getting your thing done

 

It is at this point tempting to start thinking again. To reconsider and ponder. But I have found that if you do that then it easy to fall back into the same place where you began. You start to question doing this. Your focus starts to turn back to the negative aspects again.

So when I am at this point I usually just stop thinking and get my butt out of the chair. I get moving and I just do it.

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If you found this newsletter helpful then check out my book:  The Art of Relaxed Productivity

Copyright 2006-2011 Henrik Edberg.

WEALTH MANIFESTATION THROUGH THE LAW OF ATTRACTION

Here are the five things you need to do in order to manifest the wealth that you are expecting through the Law of Attraction.

Believe

The first step is to ingrain the thought of wealth in your subconscious. You have to think staunchly that you will be able to attain the large amount of wealth that you are hoping for.

Visualize

It is very important to actually visualize the wealth. You have to think that the wealth is already in your bank account and now what you will do with it. Begin thinking as if you are planning what to do with the money. You don’t have it already, but that’s not the point. The Law of Attraction tells that you have to be strong in your belief, and visualization is the best way to do that.

Be Grateful

Taking your belief one step forward, you must actually start thanking the universe for granting the wealth to you. Well, it has not already granted you the wealth, but you have no aspersions at all about that happening. You are darned sure that you will get the wealth and so being grateful is the next logical thing.

Listen to Your Heart

Your heart will tell you a lot of things at this point. It will tell you to do particular things. Do not stifle any of these “voices”.

Listen to them intently. Act upon them.

You have to make sure that you listen to every voice because any of them could be the one voice that opens the doors of opportunity to you.

Continue Your Actions

Never give up, never relent. Remember that stopping is a sign of weakness. You don’t want the universe to understand that your belief is faltering. You want it to know that you will keep up no matter what. Sooner or later, your supreme confidence is going to bring the wealth at your door.

Understanding The Secret

Have you read or watched The Secret?  This is the Secret: thoughts create things.

What things make up your life? Are they things you love or things you’d rather change? Do you often feel that you’d be happy “if only?” “If only” you had that job, “if only” you had that amount of money, “if only” you had that perfect body.  Or perhaps “someday” wonderful things are coming your way, but they haven’t happened yet.

Once you master the Secret you will never make the mistake of feeling that way again.

That’s right! It’s a mistake!

Your thoughts have been creating the life you’ve had so far. And thoughts can be changed.  Thoughts of success, abundance, happiness, beauty, strength, and health energize us. We begin to resonate with these things. We take positive, fruitful action which feels effortless. We attract people who are willing to open up doors, people who can teach us what we need to know, people with the resources we need.

This is called The Law of Attraction. The Secret is nothing less than the science of how thought interacts with quantum physics to create our experiences. You don’t even have to understand it. You just have to do it.  Try it out today. Start small. Start with something that you won’t talk yourself out of. Do you want a great relationship with your boss? Sit down.

Picture what that looks like. Picture it in every intimate detail. What does it feel like? Feel those feelings. Be thankful today that you have such a great relationship with your boss.  Then claim it. Begin acting as a great relationship with your boss is how it is, always has been, and always will be. Pretend if you have to. Smile. Speak with the confidence someone with a great relationship with his boss has.  Watch what happens. Then prepare to be excited.

IMPROVING YOUR FUTURE

Imagine a world where every person was using the Secret to follow their bliss – a world where every person was fulfilling their purpose, reaching out to help others, and allowing the will of God to flow through them to create miracles.

Chances are it would look a lot like heaven. Every person safe. Every person holding everything they need.  You might want a huge house on the hill. Another person might feel abundant, at ease, and happy with a small, quiet, rural cottage. There is no need to fear competition, no need to imagine that you must profit at anyone else’s expense.

You must attract the situations that will allow you to profit at everyone’s benefit. Does the world have to be a dark place, full of wars, full of abuse, full of pain, full of madness? Are we somehow special, just able to ignore our way into good things by focusing on the positive? No. Until others are ready to move forward it is our responsibility to make our thoughts create positive change. It is our responsibility to take the actions and be receptive to the ideas that are going to make the whole of the world grow.

Bless others! Show gratitude for all of the ways the world has moved forward. Once people believed slavery was perfectly normal. Now, even though there are people who practice slavery illicitly, we all generally understand it is wrong. Even those who engage in slavery understand it to be wrong. That all began with the thoughts of those who believed things should be better.  We all have the ability to move forward in this fashion. We cannot fear the way the world is today. We cannot sit back and hope for some bright future that never quite arrives. We must work together to create heaven on earth now. We have all the tools we need.