7 Senseless Habits to Drop in 2014

Motivational speaker and author Shawn Anderson takes the idea of "living a life you love" seriously. With a mission of empowering one million people to lead a more positive and purposeful life, Anderson shares seven senseless habits to let go of in 2014.

"Why would we ever want to live a life that makes us unhappy?" Anderson says. "We read everywhere about what we need to do to be successful. But I believe if we just change a few of our habits, we'd be much closer to leading a life we love." Anderson continues, "Sure, some of the seven items on the list may sound harsh, but if we don't stop doing them, the lousy results we will produce later will feel a lot harsher."

7 Senseless Habits to Drop in 2014

HABIT #1: Quit hanging out on Facebook. "Facebook is a fun way to kill time," Anderson says. "But that's what it does: it kills time. Time that could be used to create, inspire and build."

HABIT #2: Quit Keeping Up With the Kardashians. "Filling our heads with unedifying TV doesn't do a lot to help us achieve a better life," Anderson comments. "Instead, exchange an hour of TV time to build your own dream rather than a celebrity's dream."

HABIT #3: Quit staying up late. "The surest way to be unmotivated on a Monday is to stay up late on a Sunday. Want to feel energized? Watch a few more sunrises."

HABIT #4: Quit spending money you don't have. "Having the freedom to do what you want in life starts with not being chained down by financial obligations. Give your credit card a rest."

HABIT #5: Quit working at a job you hate. "Nothing saps the life out of you more than working at a job you hate. Find something else."

HABIT #6: Quit hanging out with negative people. "If you have people in your life who drain you of all that is positive, ask yourself 'Why in the world are they even in my life?'"

HABIT #7: Quit pointing fingers. "Take a massive leap forward and take responsibility for where you are in your life. It's not your boss's fault...or your spouse's...or the government's that you're not where you want to be. It's your own cause-and-effect decisions that have you sitting where you are."

Source:  ShawnAnderson.comShawnAnderson.com..

Officer Stops to Play Ball With Kid

Another Act of Random Kindness ...



This is the kind of dash cam video we usually see – police chases and general mayhem which makes this dash cam video remarkable and unforgettable. 

Saturday afternoon, Rosenberg Police Sergeant Ariel Soltura was on patrol, driving through an apartment complex parking lot when he saw a young man. He slowed down.

“And I saw he was throwing up a football and I could tell that was actually playing by himself - he wasn't just waiting for more kids to arrive,” he said.

Soltura could have continued driving but instead, he stopped.

“I literally got out of the car - I did like this which is the universal sign of throw me the football and at that time you just saw his face just lit up and he was ready to play,” Soltura said.

And so they did. Two men as Soltura says – playing football on a perfect day. The Rosenberg Police Department posted it on Facebook. Hours later, it had a about a quarter million likes. 

Truth be told Soltura says, it's part of the department's emphasis on community policing - not as adversaries, but as neighbors. What was captured on this dash cam video has gone viral but in a good way.

“It's important because we all live in this world together. We all make an impact in this world and I think it's important that we all put in our little bit and make it a better place,” Soltura said.

On this day, in this place, you could say that's what happened. All because of a kid with a football without anyone to throw it to, until a police officer arrived and threw it long.  

To read the rest of this story and to see the Video, Please Click HERE

7 Tips to Achieve Your Goals

As we move on from the holidays and settle into 2014, it’s common practice to set goals and resolutions for the new year. However, as many of us can attest to, many of these goals, especially long term ones, will fall by the wayside as the weeks and months pass by. This week we’ll be examining 7 simple tips for sticking to your goals and accomplishing them.

#1  Live up to your own expectations. Set your own goals, not those someone else’s. By setting the bar yourself, you will be more motivated to reach your goals and push yourself beyond your initial expectations.

#2  Write your goal down. Be specific and always keep it visible as a reminder.

#3  Reward yourself to celebrate achieving small milestones. Motivate yourself with a small reward for each step you accomplish toward achieving your goal. This can be something as simple as taking yourself out to lunch, taking a break to do something you enjoy, spending time with friends and family, or buying something to help with the next stage of your goal.

#4  Eliminate distractions and avoid taking on too many activities all at once. Stay focused on the task at hand to avoid getting sidetracked. Break the task down into small incremental steps to keep your goal realistic and don’t multitask.

#5  Get all the facts. Weigh all of the facts before you come to a decision in order to make the most informed choices possible.

#6  Dream big. Set your sights high, even on the outrageous. Better to set the bar too high than too low.

   

#7  Be willing to fail. Accept the fact that you might fail, learn from your mistakes, and get back on the horse. It’s better to regret something you have tried then something you haven’t tried. 

SOURCE:  Dale Carnegie Digital Tips

Dale Carnegie Training, www.dalecarnegie.com

Four Kittens Break Into Prison!

The feisty felines found their way into the Great Meadow Correctional Facility and there they have stayed.   

The reason they haven’t been kicked out may seem unlikely.

It turns out the inmates like them. And the feeling seems to be mutual.

The kittens were in poor physical shape when they first “broke in to the prison.

But one prisoner quickly built them a “kitty condo” from scraps and began to care for them.

Now Bruce Porter, the electrician for the pen, takes care of the animals during the week. Porter told The PostStar.com, “I’ve got a soft heart for any sort of animal. I don’t mind helping them out a bit.”

On weekends when Porter is not there, an inmate known as the cat whisperer watches after them. 

But Doc, Meadow, Annie, and Comstock -- as they have been named -- won’t have a life sentence in the big house.

The kittens will soon be adopted and have homes of their own.

Source: KRMG Talk Radio 

Story by Rick Couri

Feds blow $100 billion a year on incorrect payments

Between 2002 and 2012, federal agencies spent more than half a trillion dollars ($688 billion) on payments that should never have been made. 

Every year, according to their own record-keeping, the agencies that administer major federal programs are now paying out more than $100 billion improperly, and even though they're aware of the problem, they recover only a tiny fraction for taxpayers. This adds up to huge losses for the U.S. Treasury.

In 2012 alone, the Office of Management and Budget gathered data on just 13 high-error programs in the federal government, and determined that they made a combined $101.3 billion in improper payments. To put that in perspective, that's almost $16 billion more than the highly controversial budget sequester wound up cutting from government spending in 2013.

The government doesn't get a whole lot of that money back. In July, then-Controller of the Office of Management and Budget Daniel Werfel testified in a Senate hearing that over the preceding two years, the government had recaptured only $2 billion in improper payments.

• Your taxes wasted on a $120 million parking center

To be clear, the term "improper payment" covers many problems and is not limited to out-and-out fraud. It can include payments made in error, either through the fault of the agency itself or the person claiming the payment. But what the vast majority of the instances of improper payment have in common is that they represent money that shouldn't be paid out at all leaving the Federal Treasury and not coming back.

As part of their annual financial reports, federal agencies are required to estimate the payment error rate of the programs they administer, and for some of the biggest benefits programs, the percentage of payments deemed improper reaches double digits, and tens of billions of dollars.

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In-flight Act of Kindness To An Autistic Child

I love sharing stories where people are kind to one another.  

Please share this with all your networks!  

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When Shanell Mouland boarded a Philadelphia-bound plane out of Orlando early this month with her family, she was bracing for the worst.

Mouland was headed home to New Brunswick, Canada, Jan. 5 with her husband and daughters Grace, 5, and Kate, 3, who has autism and doesn’t like to sit for long. They were returning from a week spent at Walt Disney World.

“We knew that flights were difficult for her,” Mouland said. “And we knew this was going to be a tough one.”

To Read the Entire Story and Watch the Video, Please Click HERE

SIMPLE ACTS OF KINDNESS MEAN THE MOST

This is a wonderful story that should be passed around as much as possible.  SheKnows Home & Living Editor Kelli Uhrich shares her moving experience with a stranger who offered her kindness.

Please share and cross post on all your Social Networks!  

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Dear Stranger,

Today we stood next to one another in line at the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, waiting to move through the security checkpoint. You probably don't remember me, but I will never forget you. I was the woman with the frazzled hair, the sweat-dripping brow and the large plastic bag — the latter of which was clearly unplanned. I was the woman in the back of the line who thought she had adequately prepared for her business trip but quickly discovered she hadn't. You, on the other hand, were composed, collected andearly for your flight. You owed me nothing. You didn't have to help me, but you did — and I don't know how else to say thank-you.

You see, this all began last night as I was packing for my trip. I wanted everything to be in order and nothing to be overlooked. I wanted to wake up this morning, throw my hair into some elegant curls and put my best self out into the world — but when I discovered my single oversight, all of my planning was for naught.

Business cards. An entire box full of them sits in the upper right-hand drawer of my desk at work, yet somehow, only three of them made it into my wallet. Three business cards for a business convention. Three opportunities to spread the word about SheKnows and network with other media outlets. Three. Only three.

That's where everything went wrong. Instead of heading straight to the airport, I was left with no choice but to drop by the office to pick up more cards. I left my home at 8 a.m., arrived at my office by 9 and then was off to the airport, arriving at Sky Harbor at 9:45.

The ticket in my hand explained that my flight departed at 11:05, but what I hadn't noticed was the boarding information: 10:25 a.m. That was the time I should have referenced in all of my planning, but I didn't.

But it didn't stop there. While checking my bag, I was informed that my items were too heavy. Fifty-seven pounds was seven pounds too much, which is why when you met me, I was carrying seven pounds worth of my luggage in a plastic trash bag. It's also the reason I was twitching anxiously as we wound in and out, moving like snails through the security checkpoint line. Perhaps I looked desperate enough that you took notice of me, standing amid hundreds of other travelers. Maybe you caught how frazzled I appeared and wondered if something were wrong.

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