Did you know that each time you sleep in your make-up, you age 11 days!!

Now is a good time to start wiping away those winter cobwebs and start freshening yourself up ready for spring. Here are the Top 10 Tips for a Flawless Complexion:

1.       I highly recommend you apply all your facial products on to the throat and décolleté area

2.       When using your hand cream always smooth the last of it onto the elbows

3.       Never use your facial moisturizer over the delicate eye area. Use a specialized Eye Cream for this area

4.       A Toner/Freshener is an essential step in your Skin Care Regime. Don’t skip it!!

5.       Spray your Fragrance behind the ears or base of the skull. Not onto the throat as this can cause pigmentation

6.       When the seasons change so does your skin.  Make time with your consultant for a seasonal Reprogramming

7.       Cleansing your skin in the evening dissolves the dirt, grime and make-up accumulated on the skin during the day. Cleansing in the morning removes the natural oils from the surface

8.       Select one-two days of the week eg the “W” days Wednesday & weekend. These are your mask days

9.       Start using Anti aging skin care in your early twenties to slow down the aging of the skin

10.   Don’t leave your mascara on. Remove with a dedicated Eye Make-up Remover. Mary Kay has one of the best in the business

Do you allow yourself to enjoy those special moments in life?

Do you find yourself cutting those special moments short in an effort to ‘get back to work’?

This can be one of the common traps that we fall into. For some of us, we need to actually give ourselves permission to be happy in order to make some positive changes to our world.

I remember a time shortly after my divorce when things were really tough for me. I was struggling with lots of different things. There were the actual logistics of being a single parent, such as  having 4 small children under 9, working 5 days a week, making ends meet, taking care of my home, etc. There were also personal things like rediscovering who I was, my place in the world, what I wanted my future to be like and how I was going to get there. Gosh, when I think back there were heaps of things going on in that time of my life.

I had a very hectic schedule and I felt that if I took some time out to enjoy the little things that I would fall behind and not get everything done.

I wonder how many jobs you’re doing at the moment?

Are you a parent, school volunteer, Soccer coach, employee, wife, daughter, sister, cook, cleaner, psychologist, mediator, troubleshooter, first aid attendant, chauffeur, friend and all round carer.

There’s a good chance that you’ve been up since 6 a.m., made breakfast, packed lunches, cleaned the house, chauffeured the kids, gone to work, raced home, helped with homework, read bedtime stories, and finished extra work from the office. It’s 11:30. You’re exhausted. And, in about six-and-a-half hours you’ll begin the whole 24-hour cycle again.

I often hear the cry “Make it stop!”

Happiness requires a lot of ‘self attention’. It is a teacher that helps you learn more about who you are, what is really important to you and what your life is really all about.

One of the first things you must to do create a more fulfilling life and a life that’s exciting to live is to actually give yourself permission to be happy. Permission to enjoy the little things. To stop and smell the roses.

It can be as simple as saying to yourself every morning, “I give myself permission to be happy today”. Repeat that every morning as you get dressed and notice the difference it will make.

Sometimes, all it takes to make a change is to do something little first. It’s tiny steps that make all the difference.

About the Author

As CEO of Believe Lifestyle Centre, Jo Baker leads women worldwide to create amazing lives for themselves via Seminars and Workshops, Online Programs and Private Coaching and Mentoring giving her clients the feminine formula for success and unbridled self esteem and confidence! Together, Jo and her team make it easy for aspiring women to express their passion. Those women who have given everything to the family and are feeling restless, thinking that now it’s time for them to go and fulfill their passion and achieve something for themselves that is truly meaningful. Click here to find out how you can do this for yourself.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes we do more to help someone else overcome the most difficult of obstacles than we do for ourselves? In my work, I’ve found that most people will care for themselves to a point yet will go above and beyond for others often at their own expense.

This is because when you walk into the unknown you are really walking into your fear. Fear is simply an acronym for False Expectations Appearing Real. It’s a future perception that there will be more pain than pleasure, more bad than good, more sad than happy.

In this universe, everything is in balance. There is never more pain than please, bad than good, sad than happy. It’s just our perception. We often become paralyzed by fear when we think about doing something in the future that we aren’t sure of. Our doubts creep into our conscious thought and we start to imagine the worst case scenario’s.

When we break it down, fear is just a perception that if we go to that ‘place’ we won’t be able to handle it. We won’t be able to handle whatever we are confronted with. We won’t have the tools or skills necessary. We won’t be fully equipped to deal with the possibilities that may arise.

The way that you manage fear is actually quite easy. The first thing you need to do is get specific with what the fear is really all about. What are you really afraid of? Chunk it down until you can come up with something that you feel emotional about. Then, write a list of all the benefits of actually doing the thing you are afraid of. Keep writing the benefits until the fear no longer exists. Then, when you have balanced out your lopsided perceptions you won’t feel afraid anymore. You’ll be able to make a clear decision on the right course of action without the emotions getting in the way. You will have more clarity and certainty about the right path.

When we balance out any lopsided emotions, we really step into our own Personal Power. We are able to make better decisions and the path to carrying out our goals becomes clearer. Doesn’t that sound like something better to focus on?

I don’t know about you, but there have been times in my life when my world has felt completely out of control. Like the whole world is conspiring to see me fall down. If this is how you’re feeling right now, then have hope. I’m going to share with you the strategy that I use to take back control.

Feeling in control about our life is one of the fundamental needs of human beings. We need to feel that our world has a sense of order and purpose to it so that we can operate effectively. We feel confident and comfortable which allows us to relax and take it easy. We sleep easier and our stress levels go down.

When that sense of order is missing, we suffer all sorts of afflictions, such as stress, anxiety, we become teary and can’t manage as well as we can under normal circumstances. Then we begin to beat ourselves up by talking harshly to ourselves and putting ourselves down. Sound familiar … or maybe it’s just me.

It’s been said that we are in control as much as we are out of control. The only thing that changes is our perspective. When we see ourselves as in control, we are confident and calm. When we are out of control, we see the opposite.

Control is a funny world, isn’t it? It conjures up all sorts of amazing images in our mind. Images like the ball and chain, lord and master, king and peasant. This needn’t be the case. I remember when I first began my training as a Coach, at our first weekend of training I asked my trainer … “How can we be out of control when there is so much going on in our life that requires us to be in control?” This is what she told me …

The more you are able to learn about yourself, the greater the amount of control you will have. The more you come from a place of knowing rather than reacting, the more confident you will become.

So, here are my steps for gaining control …

Step 1:   STOP!

Simply stop what you’re doing and take a breath. We often scramble to take back control and find ourselves turning in circles. Stop what you’re doing, take a deep breath, close your eyes as you let it out slowly. This will allow you to regain your composure.

Step 2:  ASK A BETTER QUESTION

Ask yourself, what’s really going on here? If I were to take away all of the emotion, what am I left with? This will give you greater clarity around the situation and allow you to see it through new eyes.

Step 3:  WHAT CAN I OWN .. WHAT CAN I DISCARD?

Write a list of all the things that are going on right now. Then, next to each item, mark it with an O or a D. O is for the things that you can control. D is for the things that you can’t control.

Step 4:  WRITE A NEW LIST

Write a list of all the items you have marked with an O. These are the things that you can control. Put them in order of priority and voila, you will feel more in control. You can then put your mind towards ticking those items off your list.

Give these steps a go and see what happens.

Remember, you can only control yourself and your actions. You can’t control other people and what they do or don’t do. Put your energy into yourself and achieving the outcome you want.

What you value most in life is really what makes your heart sing. What lights you up. When you discover what you value, decision making becomes easier, choices become more apparent and your vision for the future becomes clearer.

Your values are your compass. They guide your every decision. Those who know their values and live by them become the leaders of our society. If you want to live the deepest level of life fulfillment, you can achieve this by deciding upon what you value most in life, what your highest values are and then committing to live by them every single day. Too often, people have no clear idea of what’s important to them. They go through life just floating by, never truly knowing where they are going. If you are not clear about what’s most important in your life, then how can you ever expect to lay the foundation for a sense of self-esteem, much less have the capacity to make effective decisions? 

If you’ve ever found yourself in a situation where you were unable to make a decision, chances are, that’s because you weren’t clear on what you valued most. All decision making comes down to values clarification. When you know what’s important to you, making a decision becomes easy.

Know that the direction of your life is controlled by the magnetic pull of your values. They are the force that is constantly leading us to make decisions that create the direction and ultimately the future of our lives. The only way for you to have long term happiness is to live by your highest values and consistently act in accordance with what we believe our life is truly about.

How do we do that? You can start by asking yourself these questions.  Where do you spend most of your time? Where do you spend most of your money? What do you think about the most? These questions will help you to figure out what is most important to you. Once you have listed these, put them in order of most importance. Then, write them on cards and place them all around you. On your work cubicle. In your kitchen. On the back of the bathroom door. Anywhere you can see them regularly. Review them regularly and keep them up to date as often as possible. If something doesn’t feel right, then it may need to go down the list or be taken off completely. This is your list. Make it your own. 

By using this technique you are focusing your mind and training it to go into ’seek mode’ for the things that are most important to you. Soon, you will begin to see people and opportunities that are around you that you didn’t notice before. Knowing exactly what we value is the key to creating an authentic life of meaning and purpose.

Whether you are running a household or running a life, you make hundreds of choices and decisions a day. Decisions about what to do next, what is important, what is going to get done and what is going to get left out.

Our lives are built on the decisions and choices that we make each day. By focusing our minds on what is truly important to us, we will begin to notice more opportunities and get into action around them.

The first step in this process is to clearly define what we value. Start by listing 5-7 values and priorities in your life. The key here is not to stop at a one word answer. Break it down into the simplest, most complete definition you can. For example, if you have a value for ‘Family’ don’t stop at that one word. That word can mean something entirely different to any two people. Write out exactly what it is about family that you value. Is it the love and closeness of your immediate family or spouse? Is it being able to depend on them and vice versa? Or is it the boisterous laughter and fun times with your extended family that you value? And remember, there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ values. This is a self discovery process!

Once you have identified 3-5 values, the next step is to write them on note cards. Use one card for each value and its definition and keep them handy in your purse or by your bed. If you want to go to the head of the class, write a few goals out as well. Read over them first thing in the morning, before you go to bed and as you have an opportunity during your day like when you are waiting in line or stuck in traffic. Don’t worry about memorizing them. Just read them over a few times a day.

By using this technique you are focusing your mind and training it to go into ’seek  mode’ for the things that are most important to you. Soon, you will begin to see people and opportunities that are around you that you didn’t notice before. Knowing exactly what we value is the key to creating an authentic life of meaning and purpose.

Nothing will sabotage your efforts to live a healthy, balanced, fulfilled life more conclusively than surrounding yourself with people who don’t support your desire to live in this manner. The most difficult course you’ll chart as you make life improvements will be that of nurturing and evolving relationships with those who sustain you and identifying and terminating relationships with those who aren’t willing to support your growth.

Your relationships have the capacity to lift you up. They also have the capacity to keep you stuck and tear you down. Surrounding yourself with people who support your growth is an incredibly powerful way to create a lifestyle that pulls you toward your highest potential. Surrounding yourself with people who don’t will almost certainly undermine the very change that you’re attempting to make.

Your commitment to surrounding yourself with supportive people and clearly asking for the kind of support you need sets you up for success. Your willingness to develop relationships with people who share your values and interests increases your chances of success still further.  Your resolve to end relationships with people who won’t support or who undermine your attempts at change ensures your success, increases your satisfaction and validates your deservingness.

Take a moment to consider the key people in your life. Are they supportive of the new things you’re learning? Will they encourage you in your desire to change your behavior? Better still, will they partner with you? Don’t settle for less than you deserve. Adopt the strategy of surrounding yourself with empowering people and you will step more fully into your power.

Living an exceptional life is something that we’re all are striving for. A life filled with the things that are important to us. A life filled with feelings of confidence, success and a general sense of self-assuredness. For me, exceptional living means living life in the present, learning from the past with a view to the future.

For some people, the past is like a ball and chain. It follows them wherever they go, stopping them from achieving goals in their life. It is restricting, heavy and extremely burdensome. Most people never break free from the shackles of their past and are therefore living a life of regret.

“How we spend our days is of course, how we spend our lives” - Annie Dillard

Letting go of your past and living in the moment is one of the steps that will take you towards exceptional living. I say this because the only thing that you can have an effect on is this moment and how you use it. This hour, this minute, this second.

Ask yourself this question:  How can I create the life that I truly want whilst I spend my time living in the past? 

Realize that it cannot be changed

The most sobering thing about the past is that it cannot be changed. Things have already happened. And seeing as there is no way to travel back in time, there is no way to change the past. At this point you must learn to accept it.

How would you go if you were driving your car and the only thing you looked at was the rear vision mirror? You didn’t look out the front of the car, or to the sides. You simply fixed your sight firmly on what’s happening behind you. You can liken that to what happens when we live in the past. We go through life looking backwards. Our vision becomes tunnel like and the only things that we can see is what happened back there.

If you live in the past and are having trouble letting go you need to realize that it cannot be changed. You can never go back to those times and you will never erase what happened. By living in this past moment you are preventing yourself from actually fixing what you did wrong.