ARE YOU SUFFERING FROM STRESS CREEP?

You know what it’s like when you’re down to the wire on a project and suddenly that jolt of adrenalin kicks in and gets you to the finish line? That’s stress. In small doses, stress can give you a welcome energy boost and the increased focus you need to get the job done. But when you’re dealing with massive doses of stress – especially unrelenting stress with no recovery periods – it can take a physical, mental and emotional toll.

When your brain perceives danger – real or imagined – your natural survival instincts spring to your defense and you go into “fight or flight” mode. Your heart rate speeds up, your muscles tighten, your focus sharpens and your blood starts pumping faster. Stress can protect you by increasing your reaction time so that you’re able to slam on the brakes and avoid hitting a car that suddenly pulls out in front of you. Stress also keeps you sharp when you’re giving a presentation or studying for final exams.

The problem is that the amount of stress in your life can elevate without your even realizing it. I call this stress creep. It’s not hard for our stress to creep up on us in our ultra-driven society where we seem to pride ourselves on being crazy, busy, slammed on a 24/7 basis. And it’s literally 24/7 since our cyber-gadgets and social networking systems have added a right-now urgency and around-the-clock accessibility to our lives like never before.

So how do you know if your stress is under control or off the charts? Get a quick snapshot by answering the questions below with the following scores: 4 always, 3 often, 2 sometimes, and 1 never.

The Secret of Success in Life and Business

Tweet By Guest Blogger – Noah St.John Recently, I was in Los Angeles having lunch with some friends who are millionaires and deca-millionaires – people worth $1 million to $10 million and up. As I looked around the table, something made me smile. I noticed that none of us looked remarkable in any way. No [...]

Challenging The Negative Response

For the occasional working vacation, I lecture about Hollywood and teach improvisation on cruise ships throughout Europe and the Caribbean. I know, it’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it, right?

What I find endlessly fascinating when I introduce adults to improv is their vastly different reactions to trying something where they could potentially fall flat on their faces. And not from one too many Pina Coladas, by the way, but from taking a risk that might not play out the way they expected. Even when it’s all in fun, some people succumb to fear’s first line of defense, what I call the Immediate Negative Response, or INR, before even considering trying something new.

The INR is that knee-jerk resistance to change that most of us have experienced at one time or another, which causes us to freeze, retreat, or somehow disengage from the impending risk, even if the results might be delightful or, at least, painless. Even before we’ve had a chance to consider why or why not to take on a project, start a fitness plan, dive into the dating pool – or join an improv class – our fear has already shut us down. By reacting on pure emotion and giving into the INR, we rob ourselves of opportunities for growth, connection and sometimes just a little silliness.

How to Lose Weight: Here’s What You’re Not Doing

Best selling author and guest blogger at StopStressingNow.Com Noah St. John knows how to get people to succeed in life. He’s coached thousands. Sometimes what is keeping you from success can be the most simple thing.

Click Here To Listen To An Amazing Podcast Interview With Noah

Here’s Noah St. John

You Know How to Lose Weight, Here’s Why You’re Not Doing It

Let’s face facts: every one knows that in order to lose weight, all you have to do is eat right and exercise. But a new diet book appears on the bestseller lists about as often as Hollywood releases a new Amy Adams movie.

So why, with this avalanche of “how to lose weight” information, are Americans still getting fatter by the nanosecond?

Here’s the surprising answer no one’s talking about: It’s NOT because you need more “how-to’s” of losing weight. It’s because you need to uncover your hidden Why-Not-To’s of Losing Weight.

Judy, a 55-year-old working grandma from Texas, had tried every diet and exercise program out there. She’d lose weight temporarily, then gain it right back and beat herself up.

I asked her in our coaching sessions why she didn’t want to lose weight – to list her Why-Not-To’s of Losing Weight. Judy realized for the first time that she believed that keeping the excess weight would protect her.

The Journey

Yogi Berra said, “You gotta be careful if you don’t know where you’re going because you might not get there.” Despite his famously lopsided logic, I’m sure you get the drift. If you want to get somewhere, it helps if you know where somewhere is.

I’d like to take that one step further. If you want to get somewhere, knowing the starting point is just as critical (if not more) than knowing the end point. With your somewhere in mind, let’s take a look at where you actually are right now so you can create the shortest possible path from here to there.

Relationship Assumptions to Avoid When Money is Tight

Saying to a working mom “don’t let money affect your relationships” is like saying “don’t let oxygen affect your breathing.”

Without one, it’s awfully hard to have the other.

What I tell my coaching clients who come to me with money worries is that money doesn’t CHANGE anything; it REVEALS everything.

Money acts as a magnifying glass. If you’re a poor jerk, you’ll be a rich jerk – only jerkier. If you’re a broke nice person, you’ll be a rich nice person – only nicer.

And if there are problems simmering beneath the surface in your relationship, those problems will only be exacerbated when money’s tight.

So in these tough financial times, how can we make sure our relationships stay healthy (even if our 401K doesn’t)?

Here are five relationships assumptions working moms need to avoid when money is tight:

Libby Gill – “You Unstuck” Episode #16

With a focus on inspiring excellence in times of uncertainty, Libby delivers keynote addresses and training programs for companies desiring to maximize a multi-generational workforce. Her trademarked “Clarify, Simplify & Execute” process helps individuals and organizations increase employee engagement, create high-passion teams and lead the Gen Y workforce to success, critically important as millions of Baby Boomers are poised for retirement, potentially taking decades of experience and expertise with them.

Among her corporate achievements, Libby is most proud of having guided many young employees to career success. Her former staff members now hold senior management positions at CBS Entertainment, ESPN, Universal, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sony, Disney/ABC and many other organizations. Her coaching clients have also achieved great success in transitioning from one industry to another, climbing the corporate ladder and launching entrepreneurial ventures.

Noah St. John – The Secret Code Of Success – Episode #14

Noah St. John – is the bestselling author of six books including The Secret Code of Success and The Book of Afformations.

Founder of http://SuccessClinic.com , Noah’s work is endorsed by top experts like Stephen Covey, Jack Canfield and Harvey Mackay. Noah has appeared in over 1,000 media outlets including CNN, ABC, NBC, and The Washington Post.

Since 1997, Noah has taught tens of thousands of people in over 40 countries the simple steps to enjoy more wealth faster, easier and with far less effort.

Afformations – A New Approach to Positive Thinking

The problem with “affirmations” is that they don’t work for most people. Why? Because you’re trying to convince yourself of something you don’t really believe.
Have you ever been persuaded to try “affirmations”… and then had… absolutely nothing happen?
Me too. And about a billion other people.

One morning in April 1997, I was taking a shower and thinking about how the human mind is always in the process of asking and seeking the answers to questions. For example, if I were to ask you “Why is the sky blue?”, your mind would start searching for the answer. So I asked myself a logical question: “If the human mind is always asking and searching for the answers to questions, why are we told to repeat positive statements we don’t believe? Instead, why don’t we ask ourselves empowering questions – questions that will force us to change our thought patterns from negative to positive in order to answer them?”

Why People Lie

We’ve all told lies. That’s the truth! There have been times in all of our lives when we didn’t tell the truth in order to protect, what is commonly referred to as “Little White Lies”. Then of course you have politicians, who simply can’t seem to utter the truth no matter what. However, there are those regular folks among us who feel compelled to lie …

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