Health... May be Crucial for Being a Good Leader

[Shamim Ansary]

How Not to Live an Overloaded Life

There is a sad fact in this world we live in. Many people live overloaded lives. They have so many activities and responsibilities that they often feel exhausted. They live from paycheck to paycheck with no room for unexpected expenses. And they keep spending their emotional and physical energy with little or no time to restore it.

There’s a book related to it entitled Margin. The book argues that many people fill their lives up to the capacity, be it in term of energy, finance, or time. As a result, their lives are no longer in balance. They might seem "productive" in one or two areas of their lives, but the other areas of their lives suffer. They might have a good career, for instance, but their health and relationships suffer.

This, of course, is not a good way to live. So what can we do to avoid such a situation? What can we do to keep our lives in balance? I agree with the book’s advice here:

Give margin to your life in the form of emotional, physical, financial and time reserves

Don’t fill your life up to the capacity. Give yourself margin. Give yourself space to breath. You might not achieve as much as other people in the short term, but you will live a happier and more enjoyable life in the long term.

Here are eight things you can do to give margin to your life:

1. Trim your commitments

You might want to do many things, but the fact is you can’t do everything you want. Trying to do too much will only deplete your physical and mental energy. Not only that, it might also take time away from your relationships.

So, instead of taking everything that comes your way, use the 80/20 rule to choose only the most essential ones. If you already have too many commitments, go over them and trim the non-essential ones. Learn to say no without feeling guilty.

2. Set boundaries

Don’t fill up your time with work. Set boundaries. For example, you might decide not to touch your work above 6 p.m. so that you can focus on your family. Or you might decide to take one or two days off every week. Everyone has different situations, so set the boundaries that work for you.

3. Spend less than you earn

This is a basic principle of personal finance but it’s an easy one to forget, especially in this age of credit cards. Credit cards make it easy for people to spend money they don’t have. As a result, many people fall into financial troubles.

The first thing you need to do is tracking your spending. The reason is that it can give you understanding of how you actually spend your money.

After that, you can take action to control your expenses. Remove unnecessary expenses. Find cheaper ways to do things. This requires sacrifices but it’s good for you in the long term.

4. Build an emergency fund

Again, this is a basic principle of personal finance. You need to build an emergency fund for unexpected situations so that you can handle them when they come.

There are different opinions about how big an emergency fund should be, but make it at least three months’ worth of your (and your family’s) living expenses.

5. Make time to exercise

Exercise can boost your personal energy and keep your energy level high throughout the day. So make it a habit to exercise, either by yourself or with a friend. You will be more productive and less stressed as a result.

6. Have enough rest

Your body needs enough rest to function properly. Therefore don’t sacrifice your sleep time for work or any other activities. Make sure that you get 6 to 8 hours of sleep every night.

7. Pray or meditate

Doing this can boost your mental energy and give you peace of mind. You can then think more clearly and stay calm throughout the day.

8. Make quality time for relationships

Your relationships are great source of mental energy. Not only should you make time for them, but also you should make sure that it’s quality time. Give your full attention to the people you are with. Let them feel that you appreciate them.

[Shamim Ansary]

6 Tips for Eating Healthy on a Budget

The benefits of a healthy diet are undeniable. Unfortunately, following such a diet can be costly.

But for us frugal folk who seek a healthy lifestyle there is hope.  With a few tips we can effectively stock our pantries with high quality, healthy foods without breaking the bank.

Before we get started, however, let’s take a look at what eating healthy consists of:

    Keep your intake of heavily processed and junk foods to a minimum.
    Be aware of the amount of calories you intake.  Not saying you need to count every calorie, but ultimately it’s calories in versus calories out that determines weight gain/loss.
    Drink plenty of water.
    Limit foods high in refined sugars and saturated fats (avoid trans fats at all costs).
    Eat a balanced diet meaning get a good variety of all the food groups, especially vegetables and fruits.

Ok, so you’ve got a general idea of how to eat healthy.  Now, let’s get right to it and learn how to eat healthy on a budget.

1. Plan your meals

Plan out your dinners and lunches at least a week in advance and write out a grocery list.  Don’t forget to include healthy snacks to the list as well.  Preparing your own meals is a great way to save money and since you control what goes in the food it makes it easier to eat healthy.

2. Frozen vs. fresh

Frozen fruits and vegetables are usually a lot cheaper than any produce you’ll find in the fresh section of your supermarket.  And contrary to popular belief, frozen fruits and veggies are just as healthy as their fresh counterparts.  Furthermore, since their shelf life is a lot longer you typically won’t be throwing away as much either.

3. Pass the salt

A diet high in sodium can lead to a host of health problems later in life. Limit the amount of salt you intake by purchasing low-sodium and no-salt-added food items, which generally don’t cost anymore than regular items.  And pass on the salt completely when preparing your own dishes.

4. Make extra

If you find it hard to find time to cook then try making double when you do cook and freeze half for a quick meal at a later date.  You may even save some money if you can quickly reheat a meal as opposed to running to the nearest fast-food restaurant.

5. Growing your own

Drastically cut your produce prices by growing your own.  Start a garden or plant your favorite produce items in pots on your patio for an inexpensive way to eat healthy all season long.  You can even take it a step further and plant your favorite herbs in small pots in your kitchen window.

6. Look low for inexpensive items

I mean this literally. Many grocery stores purposely put the more expensive items at eye-level.  So, look a little lower for the cheaper or generic brands and save a little money.  Most stores also post the cost per unit on the shelf so look closely at this and see what the best deals are.

A few quick tips:

    Buy in bulk
    Use cheaper varieties of meats when preparing stews
    Look out for the day-old bakery cart and clearance bins
    When you must eat out, eat half and take the rest home for a quick meal later
    Don’t buy pre-cut veggies, instead cut them yourself

These are just a few ways to get the most bang for your buck so to speak.  But, here’s another way you will be saving money by eating healthy – future healthcare costs! Taking care of yourself now through proper diet and exercise may prevent cardiovascular and heart disease, diabetes and cancer which are four of America’s biggest killers.

[Shamim Ansary]

A Guide to Living A Healthy Lifestyle

What does it mean to live a healthy lifestyle? It is a way of living that allows you to enjoy more aspects of your life in a more fulfilling way. It is not just about trying to avoid one illness after another, or trying to just not feel as bad as you normally do. It is about feeling and being well physically, mentally and socially. It is about making specific choices that give you the opportunity to feel your best for as long as you can. Living a healthy lifestyle is about saying YES to life.
Three Essential Ways to Live Healthy

Do you want to have a body that can support you well into your old age? Do you wish to have mental clarity, quality relationships, good working internal functions, or even an overall feeling of well being? Well, living a healthy lifestyle is what can get you there, or at least improve your condition. There are three specific things that you should do:

1. Exercise

You shouldn’t be surprised that this one is on the list. It is unavoidable. Physical activity is essential to healthy living. The body was meant to move, and when it does not, it can become unhappy and ill. Physical activity stimulates the body’s natural maintenance and repair systems that keep it going. It improves circulation to our heart and lungs. It gives us strength to stave off injuries, and it increases the mobility in our muscles and joints. Physical activity also releases endorphins; the feel good hormones that create a sense of general well being. Physical activity is good for the body and the mind.

Exercises include brisk walking, cycling, dancing, swimming, rowing, elliptical workouts and jogging. Yoga, and pilates are also good exercise workouts; however, they should be performed in conjunction with the cardiovascular-type workouts mentioned above.

2. Eating healthy

Have you ever heard of the saying “you are what you eat” or “garbage in garbage out”? Well, it is true. What you put into your body directly affects how you feel physically, your mood, your mental clarity, your internal workings, and even your skin. Eating healthy does not mean eating expensive foods with little taste. As a matter of fact, there are some fantastic health recipes online and in cookbooks that are very healthy. Basically, you want to aim for a diet that is low in salt, fat and unprocessed foods and is high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and omega-3 fatty acids. It is also good to take a multi vitamin to ensure you are meeting your nutrient requirements.

3. Reduce stress

We have got to get rid of all of this stress. Stress happens when your life becomes out of balance physically, mentally or emotionally. This imbalance can be caused by internal stress like worrying too much, environmental stress like pressure from work, family or friends, or by stress from being fatigued or overworked. Being stressed out has the potential to affect your health in a variety of ways. You can become tired, sick, tense, irritable, and unable to think clearly. If you want to live a healthy lifestyle, you will need to manage the stress in your life so that it does not overtake you. This means taking charge of your thoughts, emotions, tasks, and environment to get your body back in balance.
Action Items

Here are some specific action items for living a healthy lifestyle:

    Use the food pyramid as a guide to how much of what to eat
    Eat less processed foods
    Reduce your sugar intake
    Grill, boil, or bake foods rather than frying them
    Reduce the amount of meat you eat
    Eat a lot of fresh locally produced vegetables and fruits
    Avoid adding salt to your meals after they have been cooked
    Regulate your portion sizes (a portion is about the size of your fist)
    Reduce your alcohol consumption
    Reduce caffeine consumption
    Don’t eat foods that have a lifetime warranty (unless we have some sort of disaster and you have been storing them in your basement for just that case)
    Stop smoking
    Laugh a lot
    Exercise at a moderate intensity, for at least a half an hour three to five times per week.
    Find ways to eliminate stress (meditate, exercise, guided imagery, music)
    Give to others with no strings attached
    Smile at strangers
    Learn to say no
    Avoid people who put their stress on you
    Take control of your life
    Always say please and thank you

[Shamim Ansary]

8 Ways to Get in Shape

Do you procrastinate when it comes to a new workout regimen? Starting a new workout routine can be an overwhelming thing if you don’t have the right mind-set, or if you haven’t mapped out a plan for your routine.

If you’re overwhelmed by the whole process of starting out, I’ve devised a list of 8 ways to get started on a workout regiment and obtain the body that you’ve wanted and become a healthy individual. Hopefully this will be a catalyst and give you hope and inspiration to take the first step.

1. Just Do It! - Okay, I know what you’re thinking, easier said than done right? People who have had success in the area of physical fitness, are no different than you. They’ve just taken the first step and kept at it. It all comes down to your will power, put one foot in front of the other.

For years, I’ve been putting off going to school. It wasn’t until one day last year I picked up the phone and made that call to a local college. While I was making the call I’ll never forget thinking, “What in the world are you doing?” Well, to keep a long story short, guess what?! I’m still in school getting my education and haven’t once considered quitting until I graduate.

What am I saying? Call your local gym and sign up. Before you know it, you’ll overcome the worst hurdle to getting in shape, which is starting.

2. Work Out at Home - For those of you who are parents or have hectic schedules, and have only a small window of time to spare a day, there are so many tools available that makes it easy to work out at home.

This recommendation may not be for everyone but for those who are willing to do so, invest in home equipment such as home gyms, treadmills, stationary bikes, etc. This frees you from having to go to the gym to work out. For some people the one thing that closes the deal in starting a workout program is the travel distance to the gym.

3. Youtube - If you are into aerobic exercise, there are many avenues that teach aerobic exercise.Visit Youtube and type in aerobic exercise at home into the search field and explore the tutorials available. You will be surprised at how easy it is to simply burn calories at home. Many of these exercises are exercises that only take 15-30 minutes a day to complete.

4. Gadgets – I’m always in the sports/fitness section at Walmart and I’m amazed at the number of tools and gadgets available that lend themselves to helping people get in shape on their own terms at home. As an alternative to the more expensive treadmills and home gyms, as mentioned above, many of these gadgets are much cheaper and come with tutorial videos ready to get you started on your road to success.

5. Perfect Pushup - A few months ago I invested in Perfect Pushup, which I purchased from Walmart. Perfect Pushups is an apparatus that was invented by a former Navy Seal who discovered how to do pushups in a way that engages more than just your pectoral muscles. It engages a larger portion of your upper body.

6. Resistance Bands - You will be surprised with the type of workout you can get with resistance bands. The good thing about resistance bands is that you can get a full body workout from them and they are a great alternative to going to the gym or using bulky home gyms. Go to Youtube and key in exercises for resistance bands and your search will return a large number of tutorials for you to get a full body workout with resistance bands.

7. Can-Do Mindset - I believe your mindset has a lot to do with whether you are successful or not. I’ve heard people say that they want to get fit, but they’re not willing to workout. They say, “Oh, I hate working out. It’s just not for me.”

When you think thoughts that contradict your goals, you’re basically speaking death into your goal. Have an open mind. Develop a Can-Do attitude.

8. Stick With It - Naturally, we want to see results overnight. That’s just the nature of human being. When working out, our inspiration comes from seeing results. When we see results that we like we will work harder so that we can see more results.

However, when we don’t see the results we want when we want them, we start to make excuses of why we should put it off for a while. Then a while becomes and even longer while and before we know it, we’ve given up on our goal of getting in shape. Instead of making excuses and getting discouraged, keep at. Stay motivated and you will see the change you want to see.

In conclusion, set small goals and stick with them. Many times when working out we’re looking at the big picture, which is okay to do but I believe you will overwhelm yourself and set your expectations too high, too soon.

When you set small goals, it’s like learning how to drive in a small car rather than learning in an eighteen wheeler. Set small goals that are obtainable and stay motivated and you will see the results you want to see in no time.

[Shamim Ansary]

10 Simple Ways to Reduce Stress & Improve the Quality of Your Life

Life can be a grind…. in fact, most of the time it is. In between working 40-50 hours a week, mowing the lawn, cooking dinner, cleaning the house, taking the kids to soccer games, well..… you get the idea. At the end of it all, we’re toast! The body reacts negatively to consistently high levels of stress and many times lead to things such as burn out, anger, depression, and even physical illness. The body wasn’t made to go “Indy 500” all day long.

Our bodies need to regenerate as well as our minds and spirit. Many people are drinking 3-5 cups of coffee a day just to get by. Our culture tends to treat the symptom and leaves the root of the problem alone. The result is never fixing the problem and in many cases, making it worse. Illness can generally be traced to one or more of three sources: environment, diet or genetics. Stress lowers the immune system, making you more susceptible to disease. Combining this with a poor diet and toxic environment could potentially create a disaster!

Improving the quality of your life increases your return from it. It also has a direct impact on our relationships, how we perform at work and our health and well being. I challenge you to inventory the different aspects of your life in order to determine its quality. Here are 10 Simple Ways to Reduce Stress and Improve the Quality of Your Life…..Today!

1. Evaluate: your current situation. Most situations that we perceive as stressful really aren’t a serious threat; if we reassess our situation we can reduce our stress significantly.

2. Breath: When our bodies become tense, we temporarily stop breathing. Our bodies naturally regulate the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide it needs by breathing naturally. Become conscious of this and take longer rhythmic breaths; this will both calm your body and help to focus your mind. Take 15 minutes each day to close your eyes and clear your mind.

3. Expenses: Lower them and consider working one less day per week. Imagine that!

4. Exercise: Do at least one if not two cardiovascular workouts per week. I like to swim and bike, because I’m fairly sure my running days are over.

5. Debt: Think of debt as in-laws that’ve been at your house for a month; it’s something you should consider getting rid of. If you don’t have the money, don’t spend it. This is the simplest way to stay out of financial trouble. Learn to use cash and keep a credit card for emergencies only. Build an emergency savings account if you don’t have one already.

6. Diet: Consider it and choose a healthier one. A trick that I use is to plan my meals in advance; this way I have a plan and it’s easier to stick to it. I also eat raw foods for one meal every day. For example: at least one meal every day consists of raw vegetables, fruit, or nuts. Your body’s getting more nutrition and it’s easier for your digestive system to break down, giving you more energy.

7. Relationships: Like your bones, you want em’ strong and healthy! We were built for relationships. A void is created when we aren’t investing in healthy relationships. Key word being healthy. As a result we fill that void with things like work, sports, pornography.…you can fill in the blank.

8. Passion: If what you’re doing every day from 9-5 isn’t your passion, consider making a change. If you’re not sure what it is you’re passionate about, create a little time and figure it out.

9. Love: Probably my favorite one. Give and receive love, know and be known, real, true, unconditional love; it’s the Greatest Power on Earth.

10. Spiritual Life: Cultivate one and learn to connect to the source of life, something greater than yourself.


Source of all above articles: http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/category/health/