We all do it and that’s just part of life. What you don’t want to do is let it ruin your day or (and this happens) your career or job. Being in a bad mood is no fun, and it makes your life worse in every aspect if you don’t get out of it. That bad mood can also cost you your reputation at work, with friends, or even your family if you’re not careful. I work very hard to try and be positive as much as I can and to always see the bright side of things, but still it happens. I have not always been able to say that life is good to me.

Trust me it has had plenty of bad times and I am sure I will have more. The driving factor in those bad times is usually my mood, and the way I see everything around me when I am in a bad mood. What I decided a few years ago is that I won’t let it cause damage to any of my hard work in my life. To make sure of that I have a few simple and easy things to do that most often then not will get me back to having a pleasant day. That way I can continue to work on making my life the best it can be.

1. Write it down. Write down what it is putting me in a bad mood. Simple and short, just write it down. If it’s your work, a feeling, or a person. Write it down. Don’t write a laundry list of things and the whys. Just write the basic reason on a piece of paper. It has been proven that actually writing things down helps you to deal with them and releases stress. So, write it down and turn it over and move on.
2. Clean up and relax. Go get cleaned up and take a shower. Taking a warm shower or a bath always helps to comfort you and lets you relax. This helps you to deal with what it is making you in a bad mood. Being comfortable is a big key to having success in your everyday life. If you’re comfortable then you won’t feel so defensive. It also just feels good to get all cleaned up and looking good. Take your time, relax and treat yourself to some me time.
3. Get a snack. Take a few minutes and get a snack, not a big meal, just take a few minutes and get a little something. I suggest drinking a little tea and eat a little fruit. Oranges, lemons, and limes have been shown to make you feel happy just by smelling them and we all know that a nice warm cup of tea helps to unwind the day. If you don’t like these try a piece of toast or some peanuts. Both of these too have been shown to help your body cope. It could be that hunger was making you feel stressed. Anything to make sure you’re not hungry and to help level out the old blood sugar.
4. Do something that makes you happy. Do something you enjoy. I like to go running, if I can, and I usually take my iPod with some pretty heavy music I can drown in for an hour. If I have time I might even get out the camera and take some pictures for my blog NintzPics. You can play a game, watch a movie, get in your garden, go to a friend’s house; but call first and make sure they are having a good day. Anything you can find to just enjoy. Maybe go watch some kids play, that’s always a good pick me up. Heck, I have even sat in traffic and started singing the oldies. It really doesn’t matter what it is, it’s the act of enjoying your day, no matter what is going on you can find yourself happy if you let it happen, sometimes it just takes a little push.
5. Think again. Now go back to that paper that you first wrote on. I bet you haven’t been thinking about it for a while and it’s not a big deal anymore. If it is then you may have a problem that you need to work out and it’s not just a bad mood. If that is the case, you at least can face it now with your full head on and in a mood that will let you do your best.

Just remember that you can get out of a bad mood no matter how bad it is and getting out if it will let you move on and get over it once and for all. If its just a little grumpiness in the morning, then make the steps simple and by the time you get your day started or to work. Your done and in a mood ready to tackle anything. If it’s a bad day all together, then stop and take your time to fix it. Trying to make do and not deal with your mood can have long lasting complications that make life harder. Take the time and work it out in the beginning, you will be much better for it.

For Most of us the 1000 hour rule to learn something new is not anything we have not heard of, but few of us rarely try to follow it before we give up on real change.  I know it seems like a long time, but if you really want to change your life, is it really too much to ask?

OK, I understand that 1000 hours can seem like over kill, so maybe we should look at a more common rule of thumb for change.  21 Days to break an old habit.  If you google “21 Days” you will find lots of programs based off that number.  To stop smoking, lose weight, or just breaking a habit it takes 21 days, and that time does seem much more reasonable.  It works too, but if you look at that number and consider that real change is both breaking old habits and making a new one, you will see that we are back to the same amount of time required.

21 days equals 504 hours, so depending on the type of change you want to make, you really need to look at the hours spent, not the days.  Learning something new is no different then breaking the old habit you have of sitting and thinking of learning something, and then learning it. It is the same thing.  IT IS CHANGE!

If you want to stop a bad habit, chances are that the habit is something like smoking.  Well, that is something you would be doing during the whole day, so you can count all those hours a day.  If it’s something like getting fit or learning to write however, that’s where you need to look at the hours a day you actually spend doing it through the day.  If you want to get proficient at writing then you would need to spend about 4 hours a day, 5 days a week for 1 year to get there.  Anything less and you are giving up before you even had a chance.

So…. go into it knowing this time line and if you really want to learn that new skill, language, or change a major part of your life.  Make sure that you give yourself the time you need to make it happen. You will always have set backs in life and when you are trying to learn something new you need to face it head on and be prepared for it.  That way you can succeed at the change and be much happier for it.

My top nine suggestions for being successful at what you do. Whatever it is that you do.

I know, time and time again we see these lists about how to do things, and this one is probably no different other then it’s the list I follow and a very simple one at that.  This list is posted on my wall and I read it every time I begin to wonder if I am doing the right things in my work and life.  You can use this list for anything you want to be successful at.  I have tried to write it with the thought of working on your own in a job you love.  If you follow it, you will in some way be a success.

This does not mean that you won’t be if you don’t follow it.  I know a lot of my friends that live off the normal path and work for themselves look like they are parting and living life free.  However; all of them are good at what they do and work hard on it.

1. Figure out what the word successful means to you. Yes, believe it or not we all see this as something different and this is the very first thing you need to figure out.  For me, it is being able to live my life, my way.  For you, it might be to be a great parent or to write a book.
2. Do what you love for a living. If you hate your work the day drags and never seems to end well.  You will never do a good job at a job you hate.
3. Find “that thing” you like to do, that other people will pay you to do. Sounds easy, and to be honest it usually is.  Look at all the things you like to do, then go down the list to see which of those things people can do for a living and you can get paid to do it.  There you have it.
4. Be the best at what it is you love, and work everyday to do that one thing better then anyone. Not saying you will always be the best, but your work will be better for working that hard.
5. Don’t waste your time. If you do something for fun and relaxation, make it fit into the things that will help you achieve your goal.  Does not mean you can’t live your life happy and free; just try to make your time count.
6. If you have clients, and I bet you will of some kind.  Be their partner and not the enemy. As a writer I see many other writers fighting their publishers at every turn.  Be positive and work for your clients like they deserve.
7. Never do anything then your best work. Even if the pay is less then you wanted, give your best work.  Some of my best work has been for little jobs I did for fun or to help a friend and they usually have nice returns later down the line.
8. Whatever it is you decide to do.  Become the Master. Don’t try to do a little of everything.  Find your thing and do it like no other.
9. If you charge for your work.  Charge what you are worth, not less, and certainly not more. I don’t think that this one really needs much more said.  If you are new to a profession you need the work.

That’s pretty much it, and to be honest I feel a few of them are closely related, but that is my point.  It is not hard to do what you want in life and make a good living at it, and be successful.  It is scary for most of us to cut that tie to the normal corporate world and 9-5 jobs, but if you can follow this list, you can make a go at whatever it is that is calling your name.  Even if you use this list just to be a successful parent, it still works.

There I was sitting on the plane on the way back from Costa Rica.  I had had a great time and wanted to stay.  I think that someday my home will be there and I will be able to pass the days the way I want.  That day I was offered a small chance to stay and try to make it there, but the offer wasn’t much in terms of money and I was so afraid to mess up the life I have been working to have.  I was living with my parents at the age of 36 gearing up for a divorce and the thought of losing everything I had. Not that it was much, but still. I didn’t want to risk it.  I didn’t have anytime off work left and if I called in sick even one day that job was gone.

I was about half way done with the book, “Illusions – The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah” by Richard Bach – 1977.  When the pilot come on to say that we have circled the airport longer then we planned and reserves were being used.  The airport was closed so we were going to another one to get fuel, and he was doubtful we would get back off the ground tonight.  I started to think about all the things that could go wrong and what would happen to me, when the guy sitting next to me started getting upset that he would miss his next flight and things were going bad that day for him.

That’s when it hit me; I relaxed, smiled, and went back to reading my book and listening to my Ipod.

So, what happened? Why the sudden change?  I realized that in life, just like the book was saying, we make our life our reality.  If we think about all the bad and expect that, we will get that.  If we think good and want the best we can make it happen.  I know it sounds simple and it is, but how many times have you sat and tried to do a simple task that takes you hours to figure out, and then when you do, you bang your head telling yourself that was much easier than you made it.

Life is the same way.  You have to make your reality and happiness in the way that you see it.  You can’t do it from anyone else’s eyes, because you are in your reality alone.  That is what I realized on the plane.  It didn’t matter.  I was happy and if I lost my job, my life would only change.  No reason to make it change for the worse.

Welcome to my Spiritual Karate Blog.  I have been in Consulting and Business Management for long enough to have a list of very happy clients.  However, I noticed this year that I have been neglecting my own issues for far too long.  I never seemed to finish my own TODO lists until this year when at 36 I finally got my BlackBelt in Karate.  After 5 years of training and classes I finally have it.  I have finished something and I have something to show for it and now its time to do the same with the rest of my life.

My goals are to live a new life, fix some personal things I have ignored, and to start working for myself only.  I want to walk people through the steps a person would take to start this life change from scratch both personally and professionally.

I know that:

• I want to help people. That has always been a dream of mine to do
• I want to create a business that is something I can be proud of
• I want to promote positive change
• I am good at the consulting part of my life and this is just another form of it

SpiritualKarate is going to be my way of doing this and to document my progress.  I know that I can do this and get my life back in my hands 100%.  I have wanted this for a long time and it is where my passion is now.  I have been reading and working with some friends that own a few Self-Help, Personal Development, and Start Your Own business sites and decided to create something a little different.  I will discuss the things needed to make both your personal and professional life better.  They go hand in hand for us, if you can get your personal life together, your work will to and vise-versa.  Then with a little work, that change can be used to help people in multiple ways.

The term Spiritual Karate is from the book “Illusions – The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah” by Richard Bach – 1977.  This book is what finally kicked me into doing this and making this change for myself and taking a step at being more in life.  I have a post coming soon about this book and a flight I was taking at the time, but that is later.  There is a part where the challenges to the main characters beliefs, is referred to as “spiritual karate” and I loved that term the minute I read it.  Maybe its because for me also, getting my belt was the start of a major change in direction.  We will see in the next coming posts.

I don’t have any solid plans for the site other then to work on it and develop it and myself as time goes.  Hopefully it helps others as much as it helps me too.  If I can motivate or help just a few people to go out and help others to create a better world or make other peoples lives better then I have succeeded.

Please feel free to join me, laugh with me, or help me.