Are you an Effective Manager (of your own personal resources)?

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Are you an effective Manager (of your own personal resources)? 
 

In an article I wrote previously, I discussed the importance of a positive self concept that is impacted by our thoughts, feelings and actions.  If your life is spiraling out of control due to the fact that you have mismanaged all of your personal resources – chances are you aren’t feeling to good about it and you are continuing a cycle of negativity and chaos in your life that is preventing you from living to your potential and experiencing happiness and fulfillment like you deserve. 
 

You may not be business savvy, but you are a manager whether you like it or not; and are responsible for your own personal resources.  You have to manage your home, your family, job, social status, commitments to your community and just as importantly – the resources that you have a hand in controlling – your talents, education, health, feelings, thoughts, actions, finances, priorities, time management etc.  
 

If you don’t get a handle on the skills to manage your personal resources, you will waste precious opportunities, important decisions and all of your resources on things that detract from your energy and motivation to maintain your agenda of being the person you want to be with a life worth living.  You only get one shot at this life – so these skills are crucial to making it the one that you want to lead. 
 

Low self concept can easily set in when you feel as if someone else is driving your life.  Managing your personal resources effectively enables you to regain that sense of control and feel good about the direction you are headed. 
 

How to we become effective managers? 
 

• Managing our time
• Managing our energy
• Managing our thoughts
• Managing our emotions

Time management:  What is your time worth? Seriously – think about all of the things you need to do, the time you have and the things you are missing out on by mismanagement of this precious resource.  Take your responsibilities seriously – stop procrastinating, set priorities and do what you need to do when it needs to be done!  If you do, you will show yourself and others that you can be trusted and doors will open.  At the very least – you will avoid unnecessary stress.  Managing your time effectively, will enable you to focus on the important things while the rest falls into place.   
 

Managing your energy:  Everything is made and affected by energy – why then is it so elusive?  Sometimes you are dragging and it seems like you don’t have any, preventing you from completing needed tasks or responsibilities – at other times it seems you have tons to spare making it difficult for you to concentrate or get to sleep.  Our energy is impacted by the foods we eat, our sleep patterns, our stress levels, support systems and frame of mind.  If you choose to take positive action, your energy levels will work in your favor and help to heighten self confidence, self concept and success, whereas negative energy – fueled by negative thoughts feelings, actions and choices, will leave you feeling depleted, depressed, anxious and feeling out of control.  Figure out what the sources of positive energy are in your life and how you can maximize those to your benefit and weed out the negative ones to increase your energy and become more productive. For example: What are your nutrition habits? Do you exercise? What are your sleeping patterns? Who are your support systems?  Are you an Optimist or a Pessimist? How do you handle any negative thoughts that cross your mind? 
 

Your thoughts have a dire impact upon how you feel about yourself and the correlating actions that we take (which are the driving force behind how our life turns out).

So how do we manage our thoughts to manage having a positive life; after all – like the famous quote goes “all that we are is a result of what we have thought”. 
 

• Give yourself time to think things through so that you do not do something that may not be in your best interest.
• Give yourself more choices. Do not be closed minded and resolute that there is only one way in doing things.  There are always options for dealing with any situation – consider the pro’s and cons of each (make a list if you have to) and choose the best one.
• Reframe your thinking.  Sometimes we perseverate on a bad situation and come to a stalemate. Trying to look at the situation in a new way and examining your thoughts (and how you are thinking –negatively or positively) can help you come to a positive resolution.  For example.  If you do not have the career that you want – do not be overly critical and say harmful things to yourself like “I am worthless”.  Reframe your thoughts and tell yourself that you “deserve to be successful” or “am building up the experience I need to get what I want”.  Once you have a positive thought, positive feelings and actions will follow.

Managing your emotions.  If we do not have control over our emotions, we will be more likely to make rash decisions and take inappropriate actions that end up hurting us in the end.  Learning to manage your emotions also begins with your thoughts.  If you focus on the positive, as noted in this article again and again, positive feelings and actions will follow. 
 

Learning to be an affective manager of your life is no easy task, to be sure.  However, if you take the time, think things through and make a conscious effort to reframe anything and everything as positively as possible, chances are good that your thoughts will propel you to achieve success, happiness and well being. 
 

2010