Five Easy Steps to Staying Motivated

Five Easy Steps to Staying Motivated

Motivating yourself to excel at your job or to be an example to your employees, should not be something you do only when the spirit moves you. It’s an ongoing process that should include every facet of your business life. This means your mental attitude, physical well-being and appearance, work atmosphere, your interaction with others (clients and employees alike), and your off-the-job environment.

Motivational experts get paid big bucks to tell professionals, striving for success, that they must constantly examine these factors. How do you do that? Follow the 5 tips that follow, and watch the changes.

1. Maintain a Positive Attitude – Let’s realize that life is only 10% of what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. We’re responsible for our own actions and attitudes, and changing them when appropriate. When you’re around people/things that are uplifting and positive, you feel that way. You have more confidence in yourself, and know you can change whatever needs changing. If you can make your workplace such a place you’ll find happier workers and higher production. You might even find your employees look forward to coming to work!

2. Leave Personal Troubles Home - Everyone has problems, but they don’t belong at work. Turn your attention and energy entirely to your on-the-job tasks. This will actually be good for you because you’ll get a mental break from your troubles.
3. Create Positive Affirmations - The reason for writing goals for your business is the same as creating positive affirmations on paper. What your eyes see and ears hear, your mind will believe. Try it! After you’ve written them down, read them aloud to yourself – and do it every morning when you get into work. You’ll be amazed at what happens. Come up with a set of new ones every month. Statements such as, “I’m an important and valuable person,” or “I know I’ll make good use of my time today.” Repeating them out loud everyday at a set time will help reinforce positive actions.

4. Make Sure Break Times Are Really Break Times - This is an area where most bosses/entrepreneurs fall down. You become so intense about the project or situation you’re working on that you don’t ease up. Thinking that it’ll be solved in the next few seconds, and then you’ll get a cup of coffee can lead you right up to quitting time. Regularly adhering to a specified break schedule, even if you’re the boss, releases the tension. If you work on a computer this is even a greater problem because before you realize it – you’ve been working in that same position for hours. The best answer to this is to set yourself a reminder on your appointment calendar for every 2 hours, and let the computer reminder chime send you the alert to move around.

5. Exercise, Exercise, Exercise - I know that lately it seems that “exercise” is the cure-all to every physical ailment or your love life, but despite that there is some truth to that ugly word. By “exercise” I don’t mean that you should go out and join a gym and spend your lunch-time, 3-days-a-week there working out. What is really beneficial and workable is that at those chiming alerts from your computer, get up and walk around your desk or room. Maybe go outside and get the mail and enjoy the sunlight (if you’re an entrepreneur that has a home office), or just get up and do a few stretches. Concentrated, tense thinking – typing - plotting plans - or whatever your work, makes all those muscles tighten up and knot up. Then when we move we “ooh” and “ouch” because we’ve knotted up into a ball of tension. Periodic stretching, even at our desk, or just getting up and walking over to the window and getting a different view can help. One of the greatest disservice modern business décor has done to us, is making our offices pristine, sleek, unencumbered spaces. There is nothing more relaxing than getting up from your desk and walking over to a peaceful, serene, seascape or pastoral painting and just drinking it in visually. Momentarily transporting your mind out of work and into that place does wonders. A few good paintings and less shiny chrome in offices would benefit us all.

It only takes a little concentrated effort on our part to keep motivated and productive, which leads to success. I know you’re going to hate hearing this, but it’s true anyway – and that is, “WHEN LIFE GIVES YOUR LEMONS – MAKE LEMONADE!”

google.com, pub-8577904012707424, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

Curren Events

Now is a good time to get started on some important year-end financial tasks. Wouldn’t you rather enjoy the holidays with family and friends than scramble to meet

Click Here!

Here’s a list of 10 smart money moves to consider—some that need to be addressed by December 31 and others that are an important part of a year-end financial check-in.

Most of them can be accomplished quickly, but the benefits can last a lifetime.
1.     Size up your portfolio.

This year’s stock market swings may have changed your mix of stocks and bonds. You may need to bring your portfolio back in line with a diversified mix that is appropriate

for your situation (read Viewpoints: “The pros’ guide to diversification”). For help analyzing your overall portfolio, choosing a target asset mix, and rebalancing your

portfolio to bring it in line with that target mix, use Portfolio Review (login required).
2.     See if you may be able to put any losses to work.
Ten things to do before year end

Tax-loss harvesting might sound complicated, but the principle is pretty simple. Offset your realized taxable gains on your investments (capital gains) with losses (capital

losses). That means selling stocks, bonds, and mutual funds that have lost value to help reduce taxes on gains from winning investments. (Of course, you don’t want to

undermine your long-term investing goals by selling an investment just for tax purposes.) Tax-loss harvesting needs to be done by December 31. For more information, read

Viewpoints: "Harvesting losses: One benefit of a correction."
3.     Give to a charity or your family.

Give to others. Charitable donations are an effective way to reduce your taxable income when you itemize on your tax returns. If you’ve been meaning to make a donation

and want to lower your tax bill for 2015, be sure to make your contributions by December 31. Now is also a good time to clean out a closet or basement and donate clothing

and household goods. Remember to get receipts for non-cash donations.

Give to family members. You are able to give up to $14,000 a year to as many individuals as you choose without paying gift taxes, which helps reduce the amount of your

estate. You can give cash, stocks, bonds, and portions of real estate. You must do this by December 31. Read Viewpoints: “Getting serious about your giving?”
4.     Bundle your tax write-offs.

One way to maximize the value of tax deductions is to bunch two years’ worth of itemized deductions into a single year, especially if you expect your income to be higher.

For example, if you have unreimbursed work expenses that you incurred early in the year, you might be able to pull next year’s expenses into this year and double up your

2015 deduction.

Consider making an extra mortgage payment or prepay taxes (state and real estate) to allow additional deductions. For tax-deduction tips, read Viewpoints: “Tips for

deducting more at tax time.”


5.     Max and match: Reduce your taxable income and save too.

Click Here!

 Even if you contribute regularly to your 401(k) or 403(b), take a few minutes to see whether you can make an additional contribution before the end of the year—especially

if you aren’t on track to contribute the full amount your employer matches. The maximum you can contribute in pretax dollars for 2015 is $18,000, or $24,000 if you’re

age 50 or older, and contributions must be made by December 31, 2015.

You may be able to reduce your taxable income1 by making a contribution to an IRA or spousal IRA. While you can make an IRA contribution for 2015 by April 18, 2016 (the

tax-filing deadline for 2016 due to a federal holiday), doing so now will give your money more potential to grow in a tax-advantaged way. The maximum contribution is

$5,500 per person ($6,500 if you are age 50 or older) or 100% of employment compensation, whichever is less. For age-based tips on retirement savings, read Viewpoints:

“Retirement roadmap: rules of the road.”
6.     Use the money in your flexible spending account.

There are two types of flexible spending accounts that allow you to set aside pretax money and then reimburse yourself, with calendar-year “use-it-or-lose-it” deadlines:

health care and dependent care. The U.S. Treasury Department has relaxed the rules a bit this year. Employers can allow participants to carry over up to $500 in unused

funds into next year, so make sure your balance doesn’t exceed that. Some plans allow you to submit 2015 claims until March 2016—check with your employer.
7.     Do a financial reality check.

Understanding how you are saving and spending can be a valuable step to helping put your financial house in order. You don’t necessarily need to manage every penny.

Consider our guidelines: Not more than 50% of your take-home pay should go to essential expenses, 15% of your pretax income to retirement savings, and 5% of your

take-home pay to short-term savings. Use our saving and spending checkup to see where you stand.
8.     Check the beneficiaries on financial accounts.

When reviewing your investments, also make sure you have designated a beneficiary for each account. This can be as important as writing a will, but it isn’t as complex. It is

especially important if there have been changes in your life, such as a birth, a death, or a change in marital status.

One important point to keep in mind is that retirement accounts pass directly to named beneficiaries, rather than becoming part of your estate. This can provide significant

tax advantages for your heirs.

If you are married, keep in mind that most employer-sponsored retirement plans automatically designate your spouse as the beneficiary unless you name another

beneficiary and your spouse has consented in writing. For more details, read Viewpoints: “Five ways to protect what’s yours.”


Click Here!

 9.     Go for tax-free growth: Consider converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.

Who wouldn’t want the tax-free growth potential and withdrawals in retirement that a Roth IRA offers?2 The problem is, not everyone can contribute to a Roth IRA because

of income limits. But you may be able to convert existing money in a traditional IRA or other retirement savings account into a Roth IRA. Because pretax contributions and

gains in a traditional IRA are generally considered taxable income when you convert, later in the year is a good time to take a look. That's because you have more

information about your taxable income for the year, which may enable you to convert a more targeted amount to ensure that the income from the conversion doesn’t bump

you into a higher income tax bracket.

If you don’t have an existing traditional IRA, you may want to open one, make a nondeductible contribution, and convert it to a Roth IRA before it accumulates any earnings.

That way it would not be considered taxable income. See if a conversion may make sense with our Roth Conversion Evaluator.
10.     If you’re age 70½ or older: Take your minimum required distribution.

Beginning when you turn 70½, IRS regulations generally require you to withdraw a minimum amount of money each year from your tax-deferred retirement accounts, like

traditional IRAs and 401(k) plans, or pay penalties of up to 50% of your minimum required distribution (MRD).3

If you reached 70½ this year, you have until April 1, 2016, to take your 2015 distribution, but it still might be a good idea to do so before the end of this year. Why?

Because if you wait, you’ll have to take two distributions in one year (the grace period applies only to your first distribution, so your 2016 MRD will have to be taken before

December 31 of next year). That could push you into a higher tax bracket for 2016.