Ultimately, life goes by in a blink. And too many people live the same year 80 times. To avoid getting to the end and feeling flooded regret over a life half-lived, read (and then apply) these tips:

1. Exercise daily.
2. Get serious about gratitude.
3. See your work as a craft.
4. Expect the best and prepare for the worst.
5. Keep a journal.
6. Read “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin”.
7. Plan a schedule for your week.
8. Know the 5 highest priorities of your life.
9. Say no to distractions.
10. Drink a lot of water.
(More tips forthcoming in future blogs.)

Jim Rohn was the master of the journal. "If you're serious about becoming a wealthy, powerful, sophisticated, healthy, influential, cultured and unique individual—keep a journal. Don't trust your memory. When you listen to something valuable, write it down," Rohn said. As such, a journal can be many things to many people. Here are a few ideas for how to use a journal:
1.  Keep a tally of your daily 'wins' or accomplishments.
2.  Keep notes on an ongoing problem you're facing.
3.  Write down ideas. The Magic of Thinking Big author David J. Schwartz writes, "Every day, lots of good ideas are born only to die quickly because they aren't nailed to paper."
4.  Maintain your lifelong goal file. Writing down your aspirations in a journal helps build a file so that you can review your ideas over and over.
5.  Keep a to-do list for big projects. Day-to-day tasks can be scheduled in Outlook, but larger-scale projects are perfect for recording in a journal.
6.  Jot down inspirational quotes and why they impact you.
7.   Keep a dream journal bedside.
8.  Handwrite important facts, statistics or phone numbers to help cement them in your mind.
9. Tear out a page and write a note to someone important in your life.

Most people seem to forget that even God rested. It wasn’t that God rested because he had scheduled to work seven days and finished early. God’s rest was an intentional rest. God planned to rest on the seventh day. How’s that for a Biblical concept? This is the important concept to grasp: Rest – or leisure – should be a part of your life. If you are not intentionally planning time to rest, you are not honoring God’s plan for your life!

To me, leisure is not simply another in God’s great and glorious tools to help you savor life. It’s even more important. It’s part of a natural God-designed continuum that travels from hard work to relaxation. Now, leisure isn’t the same as laziness or sloth, as some might have you believe. Intentional Rest is a planned, practical approach to making sure you are honoring God’s model for rest in your life.

Four Things to remember as you honor God and rest:

1. God’s plan for you intends for you to spend time with your family even when you are caught up with all the demanding work.

2. God’s plan for you makes room for you to go home on time so that you can kiss your children goodnight.

3. God’s plan for you includes time to leave the housework to the husband, while you spend some time alone, rebuilding, praying, worshipping.

4. God’s plan for you develops the space you need to regroup and rebuild your thoughts and ideas so that you can be effective for His kingdom.

One of the key things to remember about intentional rest is it requires good planning and really being intentional about it – not simply relying on accidental or happenstance circumstances to create your leisure opportunities.

                                        
     Everyone wants to be healthy or improve their health, but making the change to live a healthy lifestyle can be intimidating. It might seem labor-intensive, expensive or simply not doable. But making little changes and adjustments can lead to good health and add up to a healthful lifestyle. Eating well, exercising and avoiding unhealthy habits are ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Other ways to stay healthy include avoiding stressful situations, being surrounded by supportive friends and family, and keeping your brain challenged. A healthy lifestyle can add 14 years to your life, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge in England.

My experience with lifestyle changes is that you have to incrementally but consistently take one step at a time towards your goal, whether it is finances, spiritual, health and fitness, or any other life categories.  Trying to bite off too much at a time will usually overwhelm, frustrate, and eventually terminate your journey towards what you are trying to achieve, I also caution that these changes are more of a marathon than a sprint, so the changes are more gradual than instantaneous.  So my simple advice is to ease into the change you want to occur incrementally and consistently and your chances for success in this area are much greater, in this case we will be discussing a healthy lifestyle and in particular healthy eating. (Click to read more)