Are you planning to hold a food drive? Here are some tips and suggestions when organizing one:

Find a local food bank and contact them. They can tell you exactly what items they are short of and they can help you facilitate distribution when you drop off your contribution.

Next, organize your volunteers. Get several members to form a committee. Assign special tasks for each person – it can be advertising, manpower, transportation, logistics, etc. It all depends on how large your food drive you want to be and if your organization has other needs.

With your committee and your volunteers, set a goal for your food drive. This will help you when you start advertising your cause. This will also help motivate your volunteers.

Don’t forget to reward hard work as well. Treat volunteers to a warm lunch or dinner. If you have a budget for it, you can even give them tokens of appreciation. So the next time you hold another drive, the same volunteers won’t hesitate to help again.

Happy Teen

Stuck in a rut? Doing a job that you hate? Want to be something better? Nothing is impossible. Sure, it does seem impossible what with all the hard work and patience that come along with whatever you need to change your life for better entails, but in the end, it will all be worth it.

Visualize. What do you really want in life? Make sure that you know what it is inside and out. Do you want to ow a successful business? Research everything about it. Cut out magazines or download pictures that would help you envision your desires. You should be able to see yourself in your head in the situation that you want. This will inspire you to make the changes you want. If you want, you can even keep a scrapbook or a file of your “dreams” which you can look at everytime you need hope and encouragement to go on.

Plan. Once you get a clear picture of what you want to be or where you want to be, then it’s time to make a plan to make sure you make that dream into a reality. Sure you have a big goal, but to reach that big goal, you need to break them into smaller ones. Be specific.  Some tasks can be done simultaneously. Some tasks can only be done after you’ve finished with some.For example, you wish to pursue a career in fiction writing, then plan it.:

• Buy a laptop.
• Expose oneself to different writing styles (a.k.a. Read!)
• Attend writing seminars and workshops.
• Write 2 hours/5 pages a day.
• Write 4 hours/10 pages a day.
• Write one short story a week.
• Write six short stories a week.
• Publish 3 short stories.
• Write a novel.
• Get an agent.
• Publish a novel.

Just remember that your goals and the tasks you need to get to your goal must be realistic. Don’t forget to set a deadline for your milestones too. Keep your plans flexible so that it won’t kill you if setbacks happen.

Act. Now it’s time for the most difficult part – making everything happen. The reason why you have to set realistic goals is so you can actually accomplish them. Not being able to reach a milestone can be very depressing and discouraging. So with realistic goals which you can accomplish, you have nothing else to do but keep on working your plan. Keep a chart of your accomplishments and see yourself leaping from one goal to the next.

Support. Get support from friends, family, and other people. If you need to get a life coach, then by all means, do so. These people will help you focus on your goals. They will also help encourage you during the times when you are down. You are not alone in this.

Reward. Yes. It depends on you on how you want to reward yourself. You did a good job, so why deprive yourself of the satisfaction?

A lot people swear that to be tryly happy, one has to find inner peace. Easier said than done especially when one has a lot of personal issues to deal with. But one has to begin somewhere, and here are some suggestions on how to do exactly that:

Stop holding on to regrets. Use the past to learn life lessons but never let it hinder you to move forward. Mistakes are part of our lives. They happen so we can learn from them. Accept that you are only human. Just brush them off and don’t give up.

Forgive old hurts and try to forget. Resentment and anger are very negative emotions that do not get better in time. Some people let old wounds fester until these emotions have poisoned their whole being. They no longer see the brighter side of things, and they become suspicious of everyone. How can you truly find happiness if you do not let good things come into your life?

Once you’ve understand the root of all your pain, take action. There are many ways to slay your demons and only you can determine what is needed to be done. You can confront the people who have hurt you. You can seek professional help. You can join a group of people like you who wish to find inner peace. You can use meditation. Or you can simply make daily affirmations.

You would think that the person who would know you the best is yourself, but many people are clueless about themselves. A lack of self confidence and fear of the unknown coupled by several personal issues and complex can hinder an individual from learning more about himself or herself.

Why is this important? Because once you know your strengths, weaknesses, values, and principles you’ll find it easy to react and adapt to different situations. You’ll be able to come up with decisions that would be the best for you. So how do you do this?

List down your skills, talents, and what you think are stuff that you can be good at but have no chance to test and prove them. List also the things that you want to improve on.

Create goals which can help you further develop existing skills and learn new ones. Start with small ones and as you have more confidence on yourself and abilities, create bigger goals.

Dream bigger things for yourself. You’ll soon find out that the more you strive for better things for yourself, the more your confidence grows. The more your confidence grows, the better understanding you’ll have of yourself, because this time there is no fear of failure that would hold you back from getting what you want. Because you know you can get it.

Take control of your own life. Be more independent. This way you’ll be able to find out what you can and cannot do. Everyday, you’ll experience progress and challenges. You’ll win some battles and you’ll lose some. But this is just part of the learning process. Trust in yourself.

Whether it’s about missing a promotion at work or a relationship that has gone sour, failure is always a bitter thing to swallow. But in life, there really are things that you can’t have. All you can do is to accept it and move on. There are better things in the world which you may not discover if you wallow in self-pity. Here are some suggestions on how you can deal with failure:

Accept it. This is the first step. If you made a mistake, then own it. If you have to deal with a whole baggage of distress and nasty feelings such as guilt, despair, incompetence, embarrassment, fear and vulnerability, then don’t suppress them. These feelings have to be dealt with before you can move on. How can you start active planning when you haven’t even accept the fact that you failed?

Analyze it. By getting in touch with your feelings, you’ll gleam vital information about yourself. Why do you feel guilt in the first place? Why do you feel incompetent? Perhaps you had very high expectations of yourself. Find out what and where you can make improvements on yourself or your
strategies. If you think it difficult to do on your own, then talk with a friend over it. That friend may find objective and insightful opinions which you can take into consideration.

Plan it. Now that you have enough information about you and your situation, it is time to make a planned course of action. If you failed a promotion, then you might want to plan to get it on the next opportunity, or maybe you’ve decided to change jobs. Plan a series of actions you can do to make sure you get it this time.

Act it. Planning is useless if you do not put your plan into action. Stick to your goals and in no time, your self confidence will come back.

Let go. Stop looking back at what happened.  Let go of the bitterness. Just learn from your mistakes and move on. You have your plan, and you are now acting on it. There is no more point in dredging up things that you can no longer do anything about.

Goal setting is not just deciding on which goals to take. There is quite some time and effort needed to make sure that you set the right goals and get there. You can even say that there’s a science to it. Here are some tips on how you manage your goals properly to ensure success:

Pursue realistic goals. Make sure that what you want proves worthy of your time, money, and energy. Not everything can prove to be . You might have to make smaller versions of your big goal so that they’d be more achievable. And keep in mind that there will be other goals that you’ll have to sacrifice or postpone. Be willing to compromise.

Do you know SMART goals in project management? They also work well with life goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based. These five will be your best criteria to find out if your goals are realistic enough to pursue. Specific means that your goal has a clear focus. Measurable means that your goal’s results is easy to determine. Achievable means your goal is doable. Relevant means your goal makes sense to you. Finally, time-based means your goal operates on a particular time frame.

Plan your goals thoroughly. Keep a journal of your thoughts and actions so you’ll know where you are at, which actions work, and which don’t.  With a journal, you can review your goals regularly. You can check off tasks that have been completed, or mini goals (milestones) that have been achieved.

Deligate your resources effectively. If one goal is hogging most of your resources, then you should probably ditch it or modify it.

Involve other people in pursuing your goals. You have to keep in mind that nothing can be done without the help (directly or indirectly) of people around you. So don’t have tunnel vision and keep your perspective wide and clear.

Surprised to find out that there are people who don’t like you? Maybe you’re not as nice as you think you are. Sometimes we don’t realize it, but our more unlikeable selves get through and that’s what turn some people off. Not that we should please everybody, but it won’t hurt to keep ourselves in check. Here are some tips on how to be nicer:

Admit you have flaws. No one is perfect. If you are as good or as smart as you think you are, then you should have been given a prize for it. Admit that like any other person, you have flaws as well as strengths. Don’t act as if you know everything. Be willing to learn and allow others to teach you if they are
willing.

Be happy. Everyone has issues, but other people don’t need to be on the receiving end of your own temper tantrum. Anger can make you do things that you do not mean. So before you blow your steam off at some poor person, count to ten and breathe. Vent it out on something, and not someone. Think happy thoughts.

Listen. We often get carried away of our personal causes that we tend to rattle off about them, to the point that we are too busy to listen to what other people have to say about theirs. Not only that, we also sometimes fail to keep an open mind. So what if your co-worker does not believe in something of which you are an advocate (biggest fan, recognize!). If he respects you for your beliefs, then you should respect his too.

Follow the golden rule. Treat others the way that you want to be treated. I’m sure nobody here likes to be mistreated, right?

It’s amazing how work can really run your life and you don’t notice it until the last minute. When we’re busy, the adrenaline rush is so strong that sometimes, stress becomes addictive. Before that happens, remember that life is not all about work, and you deserve a break. Here’s how you can lose all those wrinkles with just one day of bliss.

Start by filing a leave. Whether you’ve been planning it for weeks, or you just thought of it today, don’t show up at the office today.

Wake up early or wake up late. You can rise early so you can enjoy a day full of activities, or you can sleep overtime because you never get to do that (more sleeping time is never a bad thing).

Be choosy with the people you’re with. This day, you don’t have time to spend with people you don’t really like. If you meet the usual annoying characters, don’t stay long to chat. Simply say you’re off to an errand and meet with friends who make you laugh.

Eat only what you’re craving for. Ever craved for that hotdog but the store is several blocks away? Well today you can drive all the way to wherever you want to satisfy your taste buds.

Flirt if you’re single and looking. When you’re at the office, you barely have time for romance. And it’s not as if the guys there are worth your time, anyway. Since you’re free today, hit the mall and be on the lookout for a hottie. The day shouldn’t end without a date.

Visit your family. If your parents live on the other side of town, now could be a good time to have a mini-reunion. It’s not holiday season, but it doesn’t mean you don’t miss them, right?

Get yourself a spa treatment. It’s about time you get a massage. Loosen those muscles and get some pampering. You deserve it.

In these times of crises, we should all work extra hard to set aside what we can for the rainy days. Your savings can be your only salvation in the event of losing your job or if your other investments suddenly become kaput. But it’s not easy to get a chunk off our income. For all if us who need to be empowered to save, here are a few words of encouragement.

Do you want to have a secure future? The present is said to be the most important, but we cannot just leave the future to take care of itself. If we want to have a comfortable life a few years from now, you have to see to it that you’re making allocations for the future.

How do you see yourself in a few years’ time? If you’re planning to get married, you have to have money for the wedding and a new home. If you’re planning to have kids, you have to have money to pay for their education, medical care, food, and practically everything they need. Almost everything you’re planning for will require a budget so start saving up.

Do you have any retirement goals? There’s nothing like going on an early retirement and just living off your savings and investments–you can do anything you want, without having to work so hard for a penny. If you save enough, you can even go and pursue your dream to travel the world.

If you have the capability to help the less fortunate, why not do it? There are people in my family who were not able to afford school and get good jobs. And even though it is not your obligation to ease other people’s destitution, helping out when you can is always the better thing to do.

If we continue to work our hardest, we can always give our families a better quality of life. So grab that piggy bank and beat the financial crunch.

Toughness isn’t all about being physical and macho so that you can bully that geeky kid on the block. By tough we mean being emotionally and mentally strong enough to weather out the challenges that life dishes out. We can all just drown in all of those stories of people just giving up and shutting down. Personally, I have had my fair share of challenges and it’s quite challenging in itself to just tough it out. Here are some points to consider to tough things out when gets, well, tough.

Tough can come in different ways. We see them on TV and probably in real life. Cancer patients just waiting for their time. Addicts facing rehab. Or some hotshot athlete sitting at the sidelines. Probably some college kid waiting tables to put himself/herself through school. Challenges in life demand certain levels of grit.

Draw upon your own experiences. Take note of the points in your where you felt tested and draw upon them the next time you face another challenge test. Taking risks, admitting mistakes, and changing bad habits are bound to develop your toughness. Even putting up with those annoying neighbors and a mooching friend can be really trying. If you have done any of these, then use them to convince yourself that you’re tough enough

Balance it out with kindness. Many people who claim to be mentally tough can be insensitive and callous to certain points. I personally get that a lot since I get to think that if I can weather out tough periods, so should other people. However, not everyone can be ready and strong enough in an instant. Be sure, that, when faced with challenges involving other people (family, friends), be sensitive. If you can, be the emotional anchor for other people.