Interruptions and unplanned chaos in whatever form make it difficult to focus on the task at hand and, if taken to extremes, can have a negative impact on many things in life. Boundaries can be violated not only by others but by yourself as well. It is important to realize that often, we are our own worst enemies when it comes to respecting our boundaries.

Find out what boundaries are important to you.
Few of us seldom take the time to actually sit down and assess the boundaries we need in our lives. Think about what bothers you and one or more boundaries are sure to arise in your mind that would make good candidates for your ideas about how to go about setting limitations on things in a healthy way.

Write them down. Categorize them if necessary. Using particular situations, instances of emotional abuses, improper requests—or anything else that seems troubling to you—create a list that works for your particular mindset and sense of urgency.

Consider your past approach to setting limits.
After you’ve determined your list of boundaries—10 or 12 would make a nice start—focus your attention on specific situations in which you could have enforced a particular boundary but did not. Do this without judgment, recrimination, or excuse. Based on past experience, simply decide which boundaries worked well and which did not.

Ask yourself if certain boundaries seemed to be effective in the past but no longer useful in the present. Ask yourself if you can commit to observing the utility of your boundaries and make needed changes for better results in the future. Your approach to setting boundaries should be firm yet flexible enough to be modified as required for best results.

Decide who your main boundary violators are.
Many times we shirk away from taking a hardline approach to those who violate us because we believe that those violators will see the error of their ways and change themselves or their actions to incorporate a more positive, sensitive recognition of our needs.

This attitude on your part is usually an illusion. Inconsiderate people do not change when people are kind to them; they change when they realize that their inconsiderate ways brings them difficulty or pain. Do yourself and them a favor by identifying the offenders and realizing that the real change must come from you, not them.

Change yourself, your actions, and your beliefs.
It begins with you taking responsibility for your boundaries. Others can only be responsible for themselves so do not think that they understand or even agree with your boundaries. They are your boundaries—own them, protect them, and call them into play as needed for your own well being. It is your task to communicate how serious you take your boundaries to others when they have been violated.

In those communications be firm yet fair, serious yet understanding, forceful yet willing to listen. On no account, compromise the boundary that has been violated; after all, you have taken the time to set your boundary with the full understanding of what works best for you and you have initiated the process in a way the most people never get to or think about. You examined your needs and changed your actions or beliefs to accommodate that change. Respect that and the violator usually has no choice but to respect your wishes.

Practice being firm when communicating with others.
Sometimes the only way to be proactive when communicating your intention to uphold your boundary is by stating the negative:

• I cannot do that.

• You are acting inappropriately.

• I will not accept that kind of treatment.

• I do not accept that I am responsible for your issues.

• I have no time to deal with this and this is not a priority for me.

• You are mistaken if you think that I am the correct person to lay this on.

• You have not lived up to our original agreement.

Practice doing whatever it takes.
Sometimes communication alone will not stop a violator from trashing your boundaries. Violence and other forms of direct confrontation are rarely satisfactory answers. Some violators who facilely ignore your words truly respond best when confronted with action. You may need to close your door, ignore your phone messages and email, delegate things to others—doing whatever it takes involves being aware of both self-imposed boundaries boundaries you impose on others.

Practice immediate response when you need to set a boundary or call out an offender who violates one.
Most things involving human discourse function best when they are acted upon in a timely fashion. If you have a tendency to procrastinate or ignore, learn to take action immediately. Sometimes immediate action is impossible; in that case, immediately take note of the boundary issue involved and take action or communication with the offender as soon as possible. Immediacy lends its own unique and powerful energy to any situation, and that energy can dissipate over time. The key here is to take immediate action but not to be reactive—train yourself on how to take timely, balanced action as opposed to unthinkingly reacting in the moment.

Deal with the worst offenders by taking extreme action.
Some offenders just don’t get it. They persist in ignoring your needs, violating your boundaries, and imposing themselves inappropriately. Drop them and move on. Keep them and continue to frustrated and unhappy around them. You don’t need crazy makers in your life, you need those who practice mutual respect as you do. It takes courage to take such extreme measures, but sometimes there simply is no other way to keep your self-integrity intact.

About the Author
Timothy Thompson is a professional freelance writer/editor whose work with Dream Manifesto helps illuminate life for online and offline audiences around the world. He is currently working on several writing and editing projects. Visit Thompson InkWorks for information.

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download

Grounding is the kinesthetic sense of being fully present in our body and our environment, moment by moment. It’s the continual flow and integration of sensory, emotional and mental stimuli. Like a sturdy tree, we bend and sway in a storm, but we’re rooted in our core.

A lack of grounding comes from an imbalance in our energy and our body. We feel uneasy, confused, unsettled.  Unless it’s corrected, insufficient grounding can make us accident-prone.  It can also escalate and cause physical and mental problems. We’ll discuss some of these later.

So how do we stay grounded in the midst of chaos? For thousands of years, Chinese Chi Kung (Qigong) has provided practical techniques for strengthening our grounding. Here are nine immediate ways to improve grounding.  These and additional ways are covered in our new book, EMOTIONAL WISDOM: Daily Tools for Transforming Anger, Depression, and Fear,

1. Feel and accept all your emotions; they’re valuable messages from your soul. The positive, joyful emotions tell us we’re doing great. The painful ones tell us we’re out of balance, some situation needs improving, and the painful emotion needs transforming. If it’s not transformed, and it persists, that emotion will embed itself in our body, causing malfunction and eventually, disease.

There are Six Healing Sounds that dramatically transform painful emotions.  Here’s how to do one of them, which is called the Relaxation or Sleep Sound. Lie down. Close your eyes and inhale deeply through your nose, inflating your abdomen, which also inflates your chest.  Slowly exhale as you say the sound HEEEEE, deflating your chest, then your abdomen, and then, sending the sound down your whole body, into the earth.  Rest and breathe naturally; your temperature will even out. Repeat the whole procedure until relaxed or, if you wish, until you fall asleep.

2. Eat three nutritious, organic meals daily, with green vegetables, some raw foods, some fermented foods. Eat foods with a variety of beautiful colors and delicious tastes. Give thanks for each meal, chew thoroughly, and mix each mouthful with saliva.  Carefully shopping for and preparing your own food will improve both your grounding and your nutrition.

3. Emphasize earth element foods: beans and whole grains (pre-soaked overnight; soak water discarded), yellow and orange foods, foods grown in the ground.

4. Avoid addictive stimulants: coffee, chocolate, alcoholic drinks.  Avoid cane sugar;  substitute a little organic raw honey or 100% maple syrup.

5. Soak your feet in warm water.  Massage them vigorously with oil or lotion, especially the toes and kidney point, which is located between the two balls of the foot.

6. If you meditate, do not leave energy in your head or heart.  End every kind of meditation with this safe method of energy collection:  Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth. With both palms together, rub your abdomen in circles. Women, circle counter-clockwise (when looking down at abdomen) for 36 times; then clockwise for 24 times. Men, circle clockwise 36 times; then counter-clockwise 24 times. Repeat if you’re still feeling spacey.

7. Slow down – get in touch with your own natural rhythms in your spiritual practice and in daily life.  Pushing yourself to receive a higher energy than your body is ready to assimilate can cause severe runaway energy.  This is especially true of doing spiritual sexual practices without first clearing emotions and balancing the body.

8. Exercise moderately, daily. Walk in nature. As you walk, connect to the earth with every step: roll each foot from heel, to side, to balls, to toes.

9. Grow a garden or plants. Adopt a pet. Use your unique gifts to help kids, seniors or animals in need. Some meditation methods create an ungrounded energy imbalance by cultivating universal or heaven energy, and ignoring or negating body and earth energies. The fundamental safeguard of the Universal Healing Tao System is that our practices are always grounded in our bodies, and connected to the earth.

At every level, we exercise moderately, transform our painful emotions, circulate our chi (life force energy) to balance yin and yang, and store chi in our navel area, as in #6 above. Our Basic courses heal and fortify our body and emotions before advancing to sexual energy practices, and then, to higher energies.  Even at the higher levels, we continue our daily grounding practices including transforming painful emotions.

Earlier, we mentioned that being continually ungrounded can lead to physical and mental difficulties.  It can make us accident-prone.  It can escalate into uncontrolled, runaway energy (sometimes called “kundalini syndrome”), that causes occasional headaches, dizziness, disorientation, or mild heat sensations in the spine or heart.

More severe runaway energy shows up as very hot or very cold energy rushing up the spine, heat or pressure in the head, fainting, localized pain, frequent insomnia, or frequent diarrhea or constipation.  The most extreme forms of runaway energy cause an inability to function at all, or as mental illness.

Of course, if you have these severe or extreme symptoms, have them checked medically, to rule out physical or emotional disorders.  Note that chi kung literature and the experiences of our students report that western medications do not heal severe runaway energy. We advise you to contact a Universal Healing Tao Certified Instructor, or other skilled spiritual teacher or counselor, who has successfully worked with healing runaway energy.

We hope our suggestions will help you to meet the challenges and unprecedented opportunities ahead by staying firmly grounded.  Have a marvelous journey, nourished and balanced by Earth’s Yin and Heaven’s Yang!

About the Authors:
Mantak Chia’s Universal Healing Tao System is taught by more than 1,200 certified instructors spanning every continent. He teaches worldwide and lives in Thailand. Dena Saxer cowrote Taoist Ways to Transform Stress into Vitality with Chia. Visit Mantak Chia online at http://www.universalhealingtao.com and Dena Saxer at http://universaltaola.com.

Based on the book Emotional Wisdom ©2009 by Mantak Chia & Dena Saxer. Printed with permission from New World Library.

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download

To become a professional in almost any field, it is usually necessary to compartmentalize – to separate one’s personal life from one’s work. A criminal lawyer can’t kick back with clients the way she would with friends. A CEO may call the employees of his company a “family” – but he would be a fool to relate to them in the same way he does his actual family.

While the need for distinguishing the personal from the professional is obvious enough, it’s also clear that compartmentalization can lead to dishonesty and dissociation from one’s true self. It can bring about a cognitive dissonance that separates oneself from one’s spirit.

When such a separation takes place, otherwise good people sometimes knowingly participate in unethical, illegal or even murderous activity under the ruse that they are “just doing their jobs.” Commitment, loyalty and dedication – values that may be genuinely meaningful in their relationships with friends and loved ones – become empty justifications for wrongdoing when applied to their business.

But even when dissociative compartmentalization doesn’t lead to such extremes, it can still take a spiritual toll. If we haven’t developed our spiritual lives to gain a deep and meaningful self-awareness, we could find ourselves putting on a show at the office that, while perfectly innocuous and maybe even convincing, fills us with self-loathing because we know it is a lie.

Healthy compartmentalization is not a lie. Ideally, one’s professional and personal selves are simply different manifestations of a unified whole.

Create Compartments Consciously
For most people, compartmentalization is something that happens without being planned or thought out. We dress a certain way for work and a different way at home. We tell jokes to our buddies that we know could get us fired if we told them to the boss. We react to the expectations and demands of our workplace and adjust our behavior accordingly. And before we know it, we have gone beyond mere codes of conduct and social mores to develop a whole new persona – one which may or may not be meaningfully connected to who we really are.

We may unthinkingly carry this persona from one job to the next or from one level of employment to the next. We may use it to mask insecurity about or dissatisfaction with our work. What began as a show of respect for our employers and colleagues somehow becomes a daily deception we perpetrate on ourselves.

If you find yourself in such a situation, you probably can’t blame your employer. It’s not likely that systematic self-delusion and abnegation of identity were clauses in your contract.

Of course, you may have just picked the wrong career and need to move on to something else. But if the problem truly lies within, an external change of environment won’t fix it. Before sending out your resume, take some time to consider the possibility that – with the best of intentions and all on your own – you may have simply warped your approach to work.

There are many ways to test this theory and bring your personal and professional lives into spiritual alignment. Perhaps the most fun and potentially rewarding method can be found on the internet, in the form of social networking sites.

Get Into It
As web sites like Facebook and Twitter become almost ubiquitous, many professionals are confronting compartmentalization conundrums. Even if there isn’t a big disconnect between our personal and professional selves, our relationships with people at work are drastically different than those with friends and family. Seeing them all lumped together in one place can be jarring.

For this reason, some people only use these sites for business networking, leaving their personal lives out of it. Others take the exact opposite approach and only use the sites socially.

Still others open the doors to both compartments – but then become wallflowers on their own profile pages. They don’t engage on any meaningful level because the idea of uniting the separate compartments of their lives seems fraught with the potential for embarrassment or even disaster. They may understand the value of networking sites and join because they want to avail themselves of the opportunities – but they don’t want to take any risks.

Of course, social networking sites won’t add much to your life if you’re antisocial. Taking this approach certainly won’t allow you to gauge the compatibility of your personal and professional compartments. As with everything else in life, you’ll only get out of the experience what you put into it.

Get Over Yourself
Your colleagues know you’re a human being. They assume – or, depending on how distant you are, may just hope – that you have a life outside the office. Moreover, they have lives of their own and likely don’t care much about yours. If they see you giving an occasional shout-out to an old college buddy or share a silly inside joke with a sibling, they are not likely to sit in judgment or pay much attention to the content of your messages. They are likely either sending out similar messages or pondering the appropriateness of doing so.

What will come across to them, as you use the sites the way they were intended to be used, is your level of engagement.

If your messages to friends and colleagues are positive, upbeat and supportive, you will create a kind of goodwill that goes beyond what you could generate in any one compartment. People from both compartments will see the same you in a different context – which will only serve to reinforce the impression of your integrity.

If there are toxic people in your personal life, don’t bring them into your online social network. These sites aren’t your real life, but you can build them to reflect and unify the best aspects of your compartmentalized life. The connections you make as a result could be socially, professionally, financially and spiritually rewarding.

Set aside ten or fifteen minutes every day to poke your head into the online party. Have fun with it.

Your computer can become a wonderful tool for opening up and airing out your life’s compartments.

Conclusion
The illusion of separateness is necessary for day to day functioning. The illusion of compartmentalization is equally necessary to succeed in the professional world. But both can be sources of needless misery if we forget – or never take the time to realize – that they are merely illusions.

Your professional Self and your personal Self are the same being. And you are united with all other beings. We are manifestations of the same Spirit. Create your compartments with this in mind and use them wisely. But don’t take them too seriously.

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download

When we are confronted with unforeseen changes in our lives, our first response may be to either run away from it or fight against it. Run or fight is an inborn survival instinct that occurs when we feel threatened. Fueled by adrenaline, the run or fight response is exhausting and leaves us feeling overwhelmed. However, there are steps we can take to gain control of our fear, embrace the challenge and turn adversity into an avenue for success.

Gaining Control
Our first response to sudden change is often panic. Rapid breathing, sweaty palms and eye twitching are all signs of extreme alarm which keeps us from dealing with change in a positive way.

Deep breathing is one of the easiest and most useful techniques we can use to calm and center ourselves.

Follow these deep breathing relaxation steps:

• Sit up straight in a comfortable chair in a quiet, darkened room.
• Close your eyes.
• Try to make your mind blank. Don’t think about the challenges you are facing.
• Inhale through your nose slowly and deeply while silently counting to five. Feel your lungs fill with air.
• Exhale slowly through your mouth while counting to seven. Expel all the air from your lungs.
• Repeat as often as necessary.

Physical exertion is another great way to regain calm. Take a walk or weed the garden. Being outdoors in nature is helpful but the treadmill or exercise bike will work, too. Remember to take deep breaths; refrain from shallow breathing while exercising.

1. Reach out to friends and loved ones. Simply having a cup of tea with a friend can greatly reduce that feeling of panic.

2. Get some sleep but don’t overdo it. Clear your mind and do some deep breathing before retiring at night. Get up at the same time each morning. Don’t use sleep to avoid dealing with the challenges you must face.

3. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Stay away from junk food, caffeine and sugars.

4. Other useful techniques to calm stress include meditation, a warm bath and aroma-therapy.

Once the panic response is under control, you can face the problem and think about solutions.

Meeting the Challenge
Give yourself time to adjust. Your mind and body will show you the way to meet the challenge if you listen. Your attitude makes all the difference when dealing with adversity. Train your mind to see the change as a way to make something positive happen. Do not entertain negative thoughts.

Ask for direction from your spiritual force. We are all part of a universe that is much bigger than we are. Whether you call the source God, the universe, nature or your inner self, you are connected to a spiritual source that can not only help you through life’s changes, but can point the way to success.

Write down different choices that you have in response to a change. Ask yourself the consequences of each response, both to yourself, your friends and family. Remember, you will only be successful in meeting this challenge if you stay true to your core beliefs and values.

Picture yourself in the best case scenario after you have succeeded at meeting this challenge. Believe it can happen.

How Change Becomes Success
Unexpected changes often take us by surprise. We may feel as if we have lost our foundation and or are swimming against a rip tide. But change can give birth to our greatest life successes if we open ourselves up to the possibility.

What are the secrets that turn life changes into life successes?

1. Remain true to yourself. Never compromise your beliefs even if it is expedient or seems like the only way out at the time.

2. Listen to your spiritual source. You have asked for help, be receptive when the answer comes.

3. Think outside of yourself. How will your choices affect your friends, family, community and the earth on which we live? You are part of a much larger world and if you make decisions that benefit all, you will benefit yourself.

4. Dream your dreams. Your dreams cannot become reality if you don’t allow yourself to dream.

5. Be patient. Turning change into success may not happen overnight. Knowing that your spiritual source, mind and body are all working together toward one goal will help you stay focused and, in the end, become successful.

6. Help others. While we may be going through change and adversity ourselves, it is through helping others that we truly grow and succeed.

Success is measured in different ways in our society. Most commonly, it is measured by how many cars or homes we own and how our possessions compare to our neighbor’s. The fact is that having money does not necessarily equal happiness. True happiness comes from meeting life’s changes and overcoming challenges while remaining true to ourselves, knowing that we have lived our lives to the fullest, that we have valued others and that we’ve made our planet a better place.

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download

People have been running, too, for thousands of years. But if you want to be in the Olympics, it’s generally a good idea to get a coach.

Most of us can think really well about one or two parts of a problem at any given moment. The challenge is that most problems are more complicated than that, and what might seem like a good solution at first can end up spawning all kinds of other problems we didn’t expect. Brilliant thinking is meant to take our good thinking abilities and use them to completely think through really complex problems — so we can come up with creations and solutions that we’ll be happy about not only today but five years from now.

Who is The Genius Machine for?  Is it just for writers and business people?

I think that everyone needs to be able to think intelligently about things on a regular basis, so my hope is that the book will be useful to all kinds of people. The kind of thinking the book is about is where we want a certain kind of success from what we’re trying to create at the moment, and we will want to be happy with our result one year or ten years from now. So The Genius Machine might be useful for the board of a new charter school designing a curriculum that reflects their vision, or for someone in high school trying to get an A on their final paper of the year, an entrepreneur designing a website, or a country redesigning their entire health care system.

Is The Genius Machine a real machine?

What I had in mind was a device with a hopper that you could drop your ideas into, you could turn the crank, and out would pop your ideas fully thought through, with red flags there to warn you about unintended consequences. And you’d find surprises like the millions of folks who would also like to benefit from your discoveries. The whole thing would come wrapped in a package that would make it easy for everyone to immediately see how valuable your creation is.

So the book is like that imaginary machine, except there’s no crank.

Why 11 steps? Do we really need to go through all of them?

Although 7 and 12 step programs have been popular in the past, when I started to write this book by distilling down all the things I do with my clients when we’re thinking through a problem or developing a new idea, I had no idea how many steps we would end up with. When I finally got it down to 11 that was simply as few as I could make it. I finally concluded that there really are 11 different things you need to consider when you’re trying to think brilliantly. If you ignore one of them, you’ll miss something important.

Will the book make people smarter?

Well that’s the funny thing. At first the genius is in the process that the book makes you go through, but after you use it for awhile and get used to asking these questions of yourself or the group you’re working with, the process kind of gets internalized. And then the genius is in you. Let’s just say that a lot of people, I hope, will be transformed by the book. And it might even create some real geniuses.

Did you have to be a genius to write this book?

No, you don’t need to be a racing driver to build a Ferrari. I’ve been working with a lot of really smart people for a long time, though, and needed to find ways to help them figure out what they already knew but they hadn’t quite been able to say it all yet. This book would never have come about if I’d been talking only to myself the last ten years.

About the author:
Gerald Sindell is the founder of Thought Leaders International, a firm that guides leaders and organizations of all kinds to maximize their return on the most precious capital of all: their ideas. He lives in Tiburon, CA and his website is www.thoughtleadersintl.com.

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download

During the last twenty years of working with business leaders to build their personal reputations, and to enhance the profile of their organizations, I created a system for developing intellectual property – ideas.

Not long ago a number of my clients turned the tables on me and suggested I take a little of my own medicine and organize my methodology. I eventually distilled my process down to eleven essential steps. I wrote a draft outline and circulated it among many of my clients, asking if it captured what they had found valuable. With their comments and further refinement, that system is what you now hold in your hands. I call it the Endleofon (END-leo-fahn), an old English word for “eleven.”

Using this process, I have helped dozens of authors create books that have sold many millions of copies. I have helped leaders in many fields learn to articulate their core knowledge so they could better share it with others. Recently I worked with one of the top two Internet companies to help them complete the development of a core knowledge area, and to turn that into a book that may soon help millions of people all over the globe.

What’s so good about the Endleofon system?
It’s fast, it’s complete, it helps people quickly get to the bottom of what they need to think through, and it anticipates the outreach part of innovation at the very beginning. It is not unusual for an individual or group working with the process to suddenly realize that they can speed through a development cycle in days, not months or years. And with the Endleofon, innovations are always developed with the understanding that it’s tough to get new ideas accepted.

What else do you need to know about me so we can get started? Simply, I am driven to deliver valuable knowledge and ideas to the people who would benefit from that knowledge. Whether this means a subsistence farmer trying to increase his yield, a Swiss banker needing a fresh view of the global economy, or a young person anywhere trying to figure out how to plan a satisfying life, I am eager to diffuse ideas and to improve the process of diffusion. The terrible gap that lies be-tween existing knowledge and the persistance of ignorance – and its concomitant poverty, illness, and suffering – drives me crazy.

Enough about me. Let’s start thinking!
What is thinking? Some thinking is actually contemplation  – thinking about something you’d like to eat or a place you might like to visit someday. Some thinking is problem solving  – two trains, each carrying twelve penguins, leave Philadelphia at the same time traveling in opposite directions. How will the penguins get back in touch?

This book is about a third kind of thinking, one that is directed toward improving an existing idea, thinking through a complete issue, or creating something new. We use this kind of thinking when we’re designing a house, creating a better way for people in our company to work together, or coming up with a better method for kids to learn something. This kind of thinking is about creating something with a particular goal in mind. If we’re successful, we’ll have a better toaster, a better company, a better school system, a better way to choose political leaders.

Imagine how the world would be if everyone could be really smart when they needed to be. The best ideas would always be the ones we’d chose to use, we’d find great solutions for all our problems, organizations would reflect the best values of its employees more often than not, and the world would be one wonderful place to live.

The kind of creative thinking encouraged by the Endleofon is not about simply choosing from various alternatives. If a particular existing choice answers the need perfectly, then fine, we should choose it. But creative thinking is also capable of helping us quickly see when the existing choices aren’t good enough and that we need to develop something better.

Creative thinking has had some pretty good results so far. It has yielded the wheel, democracy, the Internet, and Morbier cheese, with the morning milk on the bottom and the afternoon milk on top, separated by a layer of wood ash. Brilliant! One might assume that, since this kind of thinking is so valuable, there’s probably a pretty well-established way to go about it already out there.

And yet surprisingly, there is no generally accepted system for creative thinking. Put a bunch of people in a room and ask them to solve a complex problem, and the first thing they’re going to do is create a process for solving the problem, because there isn’t one on the shelf, ready to use.

What did you learn in school about creative thinking? Most really creative kids get directed into an art class if they want to express themselves. How about math? Did you learn creative ways to solve problems there? Most of us learned a prescribed way to solve math problems and to come up with the right answer. How many “creative” projects did you have in all of high school? How about in college and beyond?

Even if you pursued a PhD, you may have found that creativity is generally channeled into the narrowest of purposes  – to move the knowledge in your chosen field a few inches further. That’s how academic knowledge works. It’s not surprising, then, that learning how to think creatively in an organized process is simply not an important part of our formal education.

Then comes the real world. In order to develop ourselves, for our companies to flourish, and for our world to improve, we need to be able to think creatively, not just solve problems. We require the ability to create brilliant new solutions, to invent what has never existed before. In the real world, the most valued skills are the ones for which we have little training and no rulebook.

Even when we have a pretty good new idea, we don’t have a ready system to guide us in developing, testing, and refining it and then stepping back and seeing whether, underneath it all, we’ve come up with something that’s just a little new, or something really, really important.

I hope the Endleofon will change that. It’s a system that can help you get from the beginning of a problem – whether it be a complex one that needs solving or a brilliant vision that needs filling out – to the point where your work is fully developed and ready to take its rightful place in the world.

About the author:
Gerald Sindell is the founder of Thought Leaders International, a firm that guides leaders and organizations of all kinds to maximize their return on the most precious capital of all: their ideas. Sindell works with such corporate clients as Yahoo!, Accenture, GE, Alcoa, InBev, Booz Allen, as well as leading business authors. He lives in Tiburon, CA and his is website is www.thoughtleadersintl.com.

From the book The Genius Machine.  Copyright © 2009 by Gerald Sindell. Reprinted with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA.  www.newworldlibrary.com or 800/972-6657 ext. 52.

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download

If you’re feeling worried and anxious about money, you’re not alone.  For millions of people, financial stress is eating away at their basic sense of security and well-being.  And it’s not just bank accounts that are being drained, but also physical and emotional resources, which in turn impact health, relationships, productivity and happiness.

Most of us believe if we just work harder, think harder and try harder, we can resolve our financial issues.  But what if focusing more brainpower and effort in these problems actually gets us even further away from finding solutions? Instead of trying even harder to think our way through these problems, here’s an alternative approach to consider.

A different method for resolving your challenges involves releasing stress and allowing your intuition to help guide your thoughts and actions. By using tools to stop the continual loop of anxiety and fear, we actually free up energy to find new answers to old problems. Even when we can’t control our external situation, creating a balanced connection between the heart and brain helps reduce the internal taxes of scarcity and insecurity and opens new pathways in the problem-solving process.

Here are nine practical and affordable tips for relieving financial stress:

Take advantage of new technology.
You may already use a sophisticated computer program to manage your personal and professional finances, but did you know there’s innovative stress reduction software available, too?  Much like cell phones, PDA’s and mp3 players make life easier and more enjoyable, there are  handheld biofeedback devices that help you relieve stress.  Why not use the latest digital tools to improve your quality of life?

Sit down and make a list of what you’re grateful for.
It’s hard to feel anxious or scared while focusing on feelings of gratitude. Think about someone you appreciate, then, take a moment in your heart to feel appreciation for them. If you choose to, tell him or her. You’ll be surprised by the new energy you bring back to solving money issues by cultivating gratitude and expressing appreciation.

Approach your financial problems more objectively.
If you were going to give advice to a person who was in a similar situation, what would it be?  Stepping outside yourself enables you to see things more dispassionately, without being as invested in the outcome.

Shift your focus.
Stop and remember the basic conveniences and luxuries you may take for granted. Much of the world lives in poverty and while it may sound simplistic, when we stop to think about someone much less fortunate, it puts our financial situations in a larger wholeness perspective.

Get to the heart of the matter.
If you feel like you’re in an endless cycle of worry and angst, try the Cut-Thru® technique to help gradually release the accumulated anxiety caused by financial stress. To gain some immediate relief, you don’t need to sort through all the details of the issues you’re facing; simply address the perceptions, feelings and thoughts that come up while using this technique.

Don’t over-saturate yourself with bad news about the economy.
While staying informed is important, taking in so much disturbing news day after day can lead to a growing sense of pessimism. Try to watch or read the financial news without getting lost in a negative mindset and look for stories that help stimulate more creative, optimistic thinking about money.

Don’t keep everything to yourself.
Reach out to a friend who can help you gain a clearer perspective, but not necessarily one who will simply sympathize with your pain.  Or find an expert you can talk to about your money issues who is knowledgeable and unbiased.  Financial advisors and credit counselors can help take off some of the pressure and there are many free resources for financial advice.

Give some money away.
It doesn’t matter how much. Whatever the amount, giving to someone in need or to a cause or charity you feel aligned with takes you out of self-centeredness and focuses compassion and caring on someone else. Knowing you have enough to share builds your own sense of personal empowerment.

Don’t punish yourself with blame or shame.
Having financial difficulties does not equate to failure. Many times the circumstances are beyond your control. Freeing yourself from these disapproving feelings enhances your perception and intuition, allowing you to think better and more clearly. Despite a sense that things may always be this way, your current condition is not permanent. Change is constant and that includes your finances.

While money issues are real, they don’t have to destroy you.  Letting go of stress, even for just a few minutes, can lead towards fresh ideas and new solutions. If you’re looking for greater prosperity and peace of mind, reducing stress is a risk-free financial strategy.

Copyright © 2008 HeartMath. Since 1991 HeartMath has been dedicated to decoding the underlying mechanics of stress. HeartMath is internationally recognized for their solutions to transform the stress of change and uncertainty, and bring coherence and renewed energy into people’s lives.

Research and clinical studies conducted by HeartMath have examined emotional physiology, heart-brain interactions, and the physiology of learning and performance. Through their research they have demonstrated the critical link between emotions, heart function, and cognitive performance. HeartMath’s work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals such as American Journal of Cardiology, Stress Medicine, and Preventive Cardiology, as well as business journals such as Harvard Business Review and Leadership Excellence.

About HeartMath:
HeartMath’s organizational clients include Mayo Health System, NASA, BP, Duke University Health System, Stanford Business School, Redken, Kaiser Permanente, Boeing, and Cisco Systems, as well as dozens of school systems and thousands of health professionals around the world. To learn more about HeartMath, go to heartmath.com.

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download

A doctor friend I have known for many years was recently severely injured in a head-on collision with a driver who had a seizure on the Golden Gate Bridge. She broke nearly every bone in her body and was in a coma for several months. It is a miracle that she has not only survived but appears to be in the process of a nearly complete recovery.

In her online journal, she writes with a sense of deep knowing and powerful urgency: “We must remember to get on with our lives. Do what is important. If you haven’t been married, GET MARRIED. If you need to get divorced, get divorced. Just do what is essential and important. That is what matters.”

The truth is, you are both carpenter and tools, for you are responsible for keeping the blade, which is yourself, honed. However, busyness not only dulls the blade, resulting in unnecessary and ineffectual effort, it can convince us that we don’t even have the time to pull out the grinding stone and keep ourselves sharp.

Sometimes the day’s furious deadlines make us believe we are so busy that we don’t even have a minute — much less ten or twenty — to stop, pause, and reflect. We convince ourselves that we can’t do the very things that we most want, or the things that would make all our efforts easier and more effective. In short, we become accustomed to using a dull tool, and we may stop even noticing how much extra effort we are exerting for such diminishing returns.

Unlike a carpenter, we don’t need to do anything extra to return to our original state of sharpness and unbridled full-functioning. We only need to do less of what gets in the way. As Shunryu Suzuki, the author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, says, “You are perfect just as you are.” And, as he adds somewhat cryptically, “You can use a little improvement.”

When I first read that quote thirty years ago, I found it hard to comprehend. Yes, it was a paradox, but it seemed rather puzzling and not very helpful. Now that I have had many years to ponder it, I believe it is one of the kindest and most freeing pieces of wisdom to live by.

What is interesting is that we usually become overbusy for laudable reasons — we are pursuing our dreams, being responsible citizens, assisting our family members or colleagues, and seeking happiness and real freedom. Having a lot to do is not innately a bad thing. Most of us love being active. I do. But this becomes over-the-top busyness when it makes us feel depleted rather than complete, when we run down the path toward freedom and real accomplishment but find them getting farther away.

The Power of Sabbath
When my two children were in elementary school, a weekly day of doing less was an important part of our family ritual. We borrowed some ideas from the Jewish Sabbath as well as Buddhist Day of Mindfulness practices. At the heart of our day we had three simple rules that we applied from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday evening:

Rule #1: There was no spending money.
Rule #2: There was no watching television.
Rule #3: We did something together as a family.

These three guidelines produced significant results in the quality of those twenty-four hours. What a relief to not buy anything, not have the television on, and spend time simply enjoying each other’s presence. My wife and I talked more with our two children; we read books, told stories, played games, went for walks, and shared meals. The biggest benefit of this structured break was that, for a day, the pace of our lives slowed down and our family connections increased.

One of my favorite parts of this ritual was the formal ending. We observed the Jewish tradition of looking for the first three stars to become visible on Saturday evening, signaling that Sabbath was over. It was fun and exciting for the four of us to stand on our deck together, seeing who could find the three stars as the sun faded and nighttime slowly emerged. Of course, since we live in Marin County, dense fog sometimes forced us to use our imaginations.

Instituting rest and simplicity is not a magic wand for perfection. There were occasional disagreements, grumpiness, and boredom. But our imperfections often emerge as the most endearing parts of ourselves, and those “Sabbath” days stand out as important building blocks, and are great memories, for our still-growing family. You don’t need to have children to create a regular Sabbath or retreat in your life.  In fact, you can do this if you live by yourself, with others, or a family of any size.

You Are Perfect the Way You Are
See if you can fully own the notion that “You are perfect, just as you are.” Really let it seep into your mind and body, into your bones. We are born with all the wisdom, playfulness, and imagination we need; we just sometimes need help and reminders to return to our senses and get out of our own way.

It is the firm knowledge that nothing extra is required. You have everything you need; just let go of whatever distractions, fears, and busyness might be hampering you. It’s that simple. Allow yourself to think and feel and live that way. Embodying and acting from this place results in greater composure, and when we act with composure, we are more effective.

Try these practices:

• Once a week, or once a month, create a “Sabbath” for yourself or family.  Create some simple rules such as – no spending money, no TV, doing something as a family, or some activity that provides nourishment.
• Once a day for the next week, experiment with this thought – You are perfect just as you are.  Try writing it and/or speaking it.  Notice that it is true.
• Once a day for the next week, experiment with asking yourself : What is one project you want to accomplish. Be specific.  What are the next steps?

Busyness, and the difficulties and demands of our lives demand a good deal of attention, and respect.  At the same time, by bringing our habits into greater awareness and experimenting with challenging our assumptions, we can produce surprising results.

About the author:
Marc Lesser is CEO of ZBA Associates, an executive coaching and workshop company based in Northern California. www.zbaassociates.com

Based on the book Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less.  Copyright © 2009 by Marc Lesser. Reprinted with permission of New World Library, Novato, CA.  newworldlibrary.com or 800/972-6657 ext. 52.

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download

With any undertaking, it’s important to have the right tools. The same is true when you simplify, scale back, live more frugally and sustainably, and make room in your life for things you love.

We’ve already discussed several key tools. The Short List:

1. Determining your essentials and eliminating the rest.
2. A “thriving” mindset where you focus on what you love, not what you don’t have.
3. An “enough” mindset, where you realize you already have enough, and stop wanting more.
4. A plan to reduce expenses, both small and large.
5. Sound financial habits.
6. Debt-elimination strategies.

Beyond those tools, I’d like to share some other ideas for scaling back and living more frugally. You don’t have to do all of these, but can pick and choose the ideas that appeal to you most. And don’t try them all at once – do one or two at a time, and see if they work for you. Another note: some of these tools have been mentioned in previous chapters, but I thought I’d compile a more thorough list here.

Look for used first. If you need something — I mean really need it, not just want it — see if someone you know has one that they don’t use or need anymore. Send out an email to family or friends, or just ask around. You might be surprised. I was about to buy a printer, and then found out my mom just bought a laser printer and didn’t need her old inkjet … saving me close to $100. If no one you know owns one, try freecycle.org or craigslist.org. Then look to buy used, at garage sales or thrift shops. You can find a bargain if you look around.

Adopt a minimalist wardrobe. This tip won’t be for everybody, but I try for a minimalist wardrobe. I generally wear jeans or casual pants, a T-shirt or Polo-type shirt, and sandals or shoes. Plain, solid colors are my favorite. Everything goes with everything else, and I don’t have too many clothes. This saves me the stress of picking out an outfit, and I don’t need as many clothes.

Stop online impulse buys. This was a problem for me before I canceled my credit card. I used to buy online a couple of times a week. Now I buy maybe once every couple of months, using PayPal or someone else’s credit card. I’m not saying you have to go to this extreme, but realize that online buying can be way too easy (you don’t even have to go to a store) and therefore, we make too many impulse buys. Buy online if you really need something and it’ll save you money, but beware the impulse buy. See 30-day list tip below.

Don’t shop. Don’t go to the mall or other shopping area or department store to look around and shop. Go to a store if you know what you need, and then get out. Many times people go shopping, with a vague idea of what they want, and get caught up buying much more. Or they go just for fun, as a form of entertainment. That ends up costing a lot. It can really add up. Instead, stay away from shopping areas and find other ways to have fun (more below).

Use a 30-day list. To curb impulse buys, create a 30-day list. When you want to buy something, other than a true necessity (medicine or food, for example), put it on this list, with the date you added it to the list. And make it a rule that you can’t buy anything for at least 30 days after you put it on the list. And stick to it. You’ll find that you buy a lot less with this system.

Cut out cable. I talked about how I cut out cable earlier. It saves me money every month (in my area, about $60, or more than $700 a year), and also forces me to do things like read and have conversations and go outside. Win win.

Use the library. Instead of buying books, check them out. The library often also has a great selection of DVDs (depending on your area), saving you even more. Now who needs cable?

Find free entertainment. Find cheap ways to have fun. Entertainment often ends up costing a lot of money, if you go to the movies, buy concessions, or go out at night, go to the bar, etc. The average person spends about $1,800 a year on entertainment (not including eating out). Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t have fun … but there are cheaper ways to do it. Go on a picnic, have a day at the beach, watch a DVD and make your own popcorn, play board games, play a sport, toss a Frisbee, watch the sunset … the possibilities are endless.

Frugal exercise. Exercise is important, but it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Try bodyweight exercises you can do at home such as pushups, situps, pullups, squats, burpees, dips, planks and more. Do a circuit of 5 of them, rest a couple minutes, then repeat twice more – you’ll get a great workout.

Stay healthy. Easier said than done, I know, but staying healthy can save you tons of money on doctor’s visits, hospital bills, and medicine over the long run. An ounce of prevention, and all that. Eat healthily, and exercise. Simple and effective.

Commute by bike. Even if you own a car, commuting by bike will save you gas, and get you in shape at the same time. I highly recommend it.

Carpool or ride the bus. OK, you don’t want to bike it. So find a friend or neighbor who works near you, and arrange a carpool. Or take public transportation. Simple advice, but something a lot of people ignore.

Walk. Often we drive to the corner store, or to a school that’s less than a mile away. Leave a few minutes early, walk, burn some calories, and save gas.

Sell your clutter. This is not so much saving money as making it, but the frugal, simplifying cheapskate, like myself, will want to declutter and make a few bucks doing it. Hold a garage sale or sell it on eBay. It’s amazing what some people will buy.

Frugal gifting. Gifts can cost a lot of money over the course of a year. Look for ways to do it cheaply. Make a gift, or give a consummable. My family enjoys getting and giving cookies, for example.

Quit smoking. Not the easiest way to save, I know. It’s hard. But I did it, and so have many, many others. Not only will you save on cigarettes (which are expensive over the long run), but also associated costs (I used to buy a soda or beer to go with my cigarettes) … and of course the huge, long-term medical costs. In less than 2 years of not smoking, I’ve saved well more than $3,000.

Alcohol in moderation. If you drink one beer or a few beers a day, that adds up to big money each month. Some drink even more than that. It’s expensive. If you can cut your drinking to the occasional party, and once in awhile with friends (not all the time), you’ll save tons.

Sweets in moderation. Desserts and sweet snacks give us lots of calories with no nutrition. And we pay a premium price for that, in dollars and in our deteriorating health. Cut back on sweets (don’t eliminate them entirely of course) to save money and cut calories.

Drink water. Often we drink lots of calories through sodas, coffee, alcohol, juices, tea, etc. And that costs a lot too. Drink water, save money, save calories.

Stay home. Becoming a homebody might not sound like a lot of fun, but it really can be. I love staying home with my family. We can do all kinds of fun things at home. Or I can spend a day alone, if the family is at school, and really enjoy it. It’s quiet and peaceful, I can read or watch a good movie or respond to comments on my blog or write. Staying home can save tons, in eating out expenses, shopping expenses, gas, and incidentals.

Stop using credit cards. Credit cards are not evil. I know that they can be used to good purpose. If that’s how you use them, then that’s good, skip this tip. For others, credit cards make buying too easy, and end up making them buy too much.Not only that, but if you don’t pay your bill in full each month, they will cost you a lot in interest. The average American with at least 1 credit card has more than $8,500 in credit card debt. Don’t make that mistake.

Cancel subscriptions. With the wealth of information and entertainment online, do you really need magazine subscriptions? With all the news online, do you really need a newspaper subscription? If you can get DVDs for free or cheap, do you really need a Netflix subscription? I’m not saying you definitely don’t need any of these — I’m just asking you to consider whether they’re really essential — the answer might be yes. Also consider other subscriptions you might be paying for — I’m not saying you should cancel everything, but seriously consider whether they can be canceled without much loss of value.

Make your own. I won’t go into all the possibilities here, but many times we buy things when really, we could make them ourselves for much cheaper if we get a little creative. Now, this might take a little more time and effort, but it can be fun, especially if you make it a family project. We recently made our own (very simple) bookshelves with only a couple of pieces of lumber, instead of buying them. If you don’t know how to make something, search for it online. You’ll most likely find some instructions.

Do it yourself. Instead of hiring someone to do something, try doing it yourself. Sure, it takes some time and effort, but it’s satisfying, and of course cheaper. It’s also educational, if you don’t know how to do it — again, do an online search, read up on it, and give it a go. Frugality freaks are DIYers.

Stop paying interest. I mentioned the interest of credit cards, and auto loans, and mortgages. I consider them a waste of money. I’ve talked about how to live without credit before, and I recommend it for a frugal lifestyle. Consider any other accounts or loans where you pay interest, and see if you can eventually eliminate as much of these as possible.

Reduce convenience foods. Frozen foods, microwaveable stuff, junk food … anything that’s packaged and prepared for our convenience is not only more expensive than something you cook yourself, but also most likely less healthy. I’m not saying to eliminate these completely, but reduce consumption.

Travel frugally. I actually don’t travel much, but if you do have to travel, some advance planning can save you money. Airfare is most expensive, usually, so look to buy your ticket in advance, and look for deals. Also consider train travel. Shop around for car rental rates, as they can vary greatly (or use public transportation). Look for cheaper accommodations, or stay with a friend or relative.

Cut your own hair. Again, this one isn’t for everybody. Personally, I use electric clippers to shave my head. It’s easy, it’s cheap, it’s minimalist, it’s care-free. I don’t worry about my hair getting messed up, or having to fix it in the morning. However, I’m not saying you should shave your head. Many people cut their own hair, in many simple but nice hairstyles, long or short. Saves money, and time.

Maintain stuff. This is a no-brainer, but we don’t often think about it: if you take care of what you have, it will last longer. You’ll then spend less on buying new stuff. When you buy something worth maintaining, take a few minutes to read the maintenance manual, and create a maintenance checklist that you can attach to the item. For important things like your car’s oil changes or tune- ups, put them in your calendar.

Only buy bargain clothing (when you need clothes). OK, so you’re a cheapskate like me who only buys clothes when the old clothes have too many arm or leg holes. But now you need new clothing. I mean really need it. So instead of buying new, look for thrift shops with good clothes. Or buy new, but only buy the stuff that’s 50% off. Look for the bargains, and you’ll save a ton.

Telecommute. Telecommuting doesn’t necessarily give you your dream job, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. But in addition to allowing you to work in your underwear (and who doesn’t have that dream?), telecommuting saves money on gas, on eating out (if you eat lunch at a restaurant), and on buying expensive work clothes.

Cook ahead. If you have one free day a week (or even a month), cook food in big batches and freeze in dinner-sized portions. I don’t do this all the time, but I have done it and it saves money (buying big can often save) as well as time. You have to plan it out a bit, coming up with a menu and shopping, cooking enough meals for a week or a month. But once you’re done, your meals each night (and for lunch if you like) are quick and easy. This saves you from eating out or eating convenience food when you’re hungry but too tired to cook.

Wash clothes less. Some people wear clothes and then wash them, but I’ve gotten into the habit of wearing my clothes more than once if they’re not really dirty. I use my nose as a test — I don’t want to wear clothes that smell, but most times the clothes are still perfectly clean. This saves on washing.

Sun-dry clothes. When my parents were young, everyone used a clothesline to dry clothes. Now dryers are ubiquitous, because they’re fast. But if you don’t wash a ton of clothes, it’s not that hard to take a few minutes to hang them up. You’ll save a lot in electricity, plus your clothes last longer.

Eat less meat. I’m not saying you have to become a vegetarian (although you could always give it a try), but once in awhile, eat meatless dishes. Pasta, vegetarian chili, vegetarian Indian or Thai dishes, falafels with hummus and pitas and tomatoes and lettuce … there are plenty of tasty dishes without meat. And as meat is expensive (well, the fresh kind is … Spam is cheap), you’ll save money on meatless dishes. Again, I’m assuming you cook with fresh meat, not canned.

Download the ebook for free here.

About the author:
Leo Babauta is the author of The Power of Less and the creator and blogger at Zen Habits, a Top 100 blog with 80,000 subscribers – one of the top productivity and simplicity blogs on the Internet.

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download

It was only a few years ago when I was overloaded with debt – so much so that I couldn’t make all my payments and I had numerous debts sent to several collection agencies. I had creditors calling me for late payments, and I was juggling them, constantly stressed about how I was going to make my car payment and make rent. It’s hard to imagine those days now – the unbearable burden of that debt – because as of this year, I am debt free!

It’s an amazingly liberating feeling to be free of debt. Your money is your own, and you have breathing room in your budget for saving, investing, and buying what you need.

But going from overwhelming debt to being debt free wasn’t an instant event. It was a journey, and it meant a firm resolve, some sacrifices, and some new habits.

How I Finally Got Out of Debt
It wasn’t the easiest of journeys for me, but I think because of the struggle that getting out of debt entails, the final destination is that much sweeter.

Here are the most important things that got me out of debt:

1. Canceled the credit card
This item always draws a lot of debate, but I’ll say it anyway, because it’s been crucial in getting myself debt free: credit cards are extremely tempting, and with the high interest, they can be downright dangerous. It is possible to use them wisely and even profit from using them … however, most people don’t use them that way, and for people like me, it’s better to just cancel the card. I still had a big debt to pay on the card, but at least I wasn’t using it anymore. Rule #1: If you’re trying to get out of a hole, stop digging.

2. Eliminated non-essential expenses
This might seem extreme to many people, but remember: I have six kids and for awhile I wasn’t making enough income to support my family. I needed to cut back. So I eliminated everything I didn’t need: cable TV, most of my eating out, going to the movies (except on rare occasions), alcohol, eventually cigarettes (once I quit smoking in November 2005), buying new clothes (except when really needed), etc. I slowly re-learned what it was like to live frugally. This was also key, as it’s part of the “stop digging the hole” rule.

3. The spending plan
I don’t like to use the word “budget” because it strikes fear in the hearts of many readers, and blank stares in the eyes of others. Instead, I like the term “spending plan”, because it conjures images of creating a plan to achieve a goal, taking action, and doing something about your problems. But basically: figure out how much you make, and consciously decide how you want to spend it this month. My plan actually budgets out each paycheck, because a monthly budget wasn’t useful to me: if I only do a budget for a month, how do I know what to pay when my first paycheck comes out? I like to be more specific.

Anyway, the spending plan is essential. You have to decide where your money is going to go before you actually spend it. It was when I was spending without a plan that I got into trouble. And remember: a plan should be flexible, and have wiggle room, because life changes.

4. Cash and online bill payments
One of the reasons I had a hard time controlling my finances in the past is that I was spending left and right with no easy way to track my finances or stay within budget. I was using a credit card, debit card, checks, constant ATM withdrawals, etc. I’m not good at writing down every penny. So I devised an easier way: pay all my bills online (including debts and savings), and then withdraw all the money I need for spending categories like eating out, groceries and gas. I use the envelope system, so that I always know how much I have left in each category. Simple and fail-safe.

5. The emergency fund
I think this was one of the most important things I did. I know, it’s very common advice, but it’s for a good reason: without an emergency fund, your finances are at the whim of any urgent situation that comes up. Unexpected medical bill? Home repair? Car repairs? Need to travel to see your sick relative? These things will have to be paid for somehow, and if you don’t have an emergency fund, you’ll either go into debt to pay for them, or you’ll sacrifice your debt repayment for this month to pay for it.

Without an emergency fund, it’s almost impossible to get out of debt. For myself, my debt reduction didn’t really start until I had saved at least a small emergency fund (shoot for $1,000 to start with, but at least a few hundred in the beginning).

6. The debt repayment plan
I created a plan to get out of debt, using the debt snowball method. I tackled the small bills first, allowing myself to create a sense of accomplishment right away, and to free up some money to pay for the bigger bills. Although tackling the highest-interest debts first is smarter financially, the difference is small and the psychological boost of the debt snowball is huge.

7. Debt is my first bill
In the beginning, actually, saving for the emergency fund was my first bill. As soon as I got paid, I would go online, transfer money into my savings account, and only after that was done would I pay other bills and withdraw my spending cash. Once I had a $1,000 in savings, I began making debt repayment my most important bill, and I would pay those first. Savings second. All other bills third. By paying debts and savings first, you eliminate the common problem that people have when they make savings and debt the last thing they pay: if something else comes up, there’s not enough money left over for savings or debt.

8. Rewards
I am a strong believer in rewarding yourself and celebrating any accomplishment. When a debt was paid off, my wife and I would go out to dinner to celebrate. And we might do something nice for the kids. Sure, we were spending extra money, but that sense of accomplishment is important. It’s a long journey, and you need to be able to look back every now and then to see how far you’ve come. It’s very motivating, and it gets you to the finish line.

9. Increased income
Besides spending less and living more frugally, I also increased my income to make my financial situation more stable and to accelerate debt repayment. To do this, I got a full-time job (I was only doing freelancing before), and continued to do as much freelancing as possible. Then I started ZenHabits.net, and that became a steady and growing income stream. I also improved my freelancing gigs, and began to look for other ways to make money.

Why Living Frugally is Only Part of the Solution
I would not be debt-free today if I didn’t learn to live frugally. If you don’t stem the flow of blood, you’ll never heal the wound.

But frugal living is only one component. You have to learn to get your finances under control, and to plan your spending, and to create an emergency fund. You have to learn how to motivate yourself to finish the long journey.

And one of the most important steps, as mentioned above, was increasing my income in multiple ways, in a series of steps designed to get my finances in better shape and to pay off debt faster.

Living frugal should be the first thing you do, in my opinion. It is vitally important. But it’s only a part of the equation — spending less only gets you part of the way. Earning more gets you the rest of the way.

How can you increase your income? You won’t do it the same way I have. Sure, anyone can create a blog, write an ebook, freelance, write a print book. And I’ve talked about ways to do those things in various places before. But it doesn’t always work out for everyone.

The key is to find something you’re passionate about, and pursue that with all of your heart. That might mean educating yourself, and learning new skills. That might mean finding mentors, and starting at the bottom. But when you’re passionate about something, you’re more motivated to learn and to succeed. Really pour yourself into it, and you’ll find a way.

It’s also important to seek new opportunities, and don’t let good ones get away. If the opportunity doesn’t work out, well, drop it … but at least you gave it a shot. And who knows? One or more of those opportunities might turn into pure gold. They sure have for me, and I’m loving my life more than ever before.

Stay tuned for chapter 9 – Tools for a Frugal Life or download the ebook for free here.

About the author:
Leo Babauta is the author of The Power of Less and the creator and blogger at Zen Habits, a Top 100 blog with 80,000 subscribers – one of the top productivity and simplicity blogs on the Internet.

Get your free copy of my new book:
The Principles of Successful Manifesting - How to make your life dreams come true.
Click here to download