Reasons to Abandon Television - I know it’s not for everyone, but Travis Wright at CultivateGreatness.com makes a good argument for why you should dump the television for more fulfilling activities.

Stop Worrying: 7 Effective Strategies for Dealing with Anxiety - At PickTheBrain.com, Tejvan Pettinger offers excellent advise for avoiding unnecessary and unhealthy worrying.

35 Sneaky Ways to Improve Your Finances - You’re probably doing some of these already. And several of the tips you know about, but just haven’t taking action. But I bet you’ll find a few that you’ve not really considered. This is a guest post by Alex Shalman on RirianProject.com.

Reconnect with Your Teenagers - Shelley Stile uses personal life examples to help you renew your relationship with your teenage children.

Can You Say ‘No’ When You Need To? - Jeff Cohen knows that one of the most important skills anyone can learn is how to say ‘no’. Take a few minutes to learn the skills you need to avoid taking on more than you should.

About a week ago, Alan posted a contest on his blog, TheRatingBlog.com, hoping to gain readers and subscribers. Readers earn entry points into the contest by subscribing, posting comments, and blogging about the contest. But today Alan posted about an additional way to earn points; blog about a list of charities. The idea is to get bloggers to post about these charities AND to get readers to visit the charities on the list. Alan, benefits from the links from those posts back to his blog and the contest. It’s a great way to promote his site while doing some good for others at the same time.

So, here’s the list of charities on Alan’s list and how your click will help:

The Animal Rescue Site - buys .6 bowls of food for rescued animals.
The Breast Cancer Site - helps a woman in need get a free mammogram.
The Child Health Site - helps a child in need get health care.
The Hunger Site - buys food for the hungry.
The Literacy Site - helps a child in need attain literacy.
The Rainforest Site - protects 11.4 square feet of rainforest.

So, click on a charity that interests you and learn more about their work. Then consider some creative ways that you can give of your time or money to help others. It only took Alan a short time to write his blog post, but that small investment of time will have hundred, maybe thousands, reading about these charities.

[Photo Credit:Kris Litman]

1) Blogging Away Debt - This blog tells the story of Tricia and her husband as they work to eliminate over $37,000 in debt. The blog, and their debt reduction journey began in February 2006. Tricia keeps the blog updated with frequent stories, advice, and reports on her family’s debt reduction. Drop by today to see how much they’ve accomplished.

2) DaveRamsey.com - I first heard of Dave Ramsey while listening to talk radio about five years ago. Dave has a radio talk show where he gives financial advice to callers, usually on the topic of debt elimination. Dave’s personal story is one of huge success, losing it all, and coming back to even more amazing financial strength. Last year I read his book, The Total Money Makeover. In the book Dave uses his down-to-earth, easy to understand advice for building a financial future. I am a huge Dave Ramsey fan!

3) Debtspiration - How about some inspiration for eliminating that debt? Better yet, how about some debtspiration? Debtspiration is a blog of quotes to inspire and motivate you toward debt reduction. One of my favorite quotes on the site is from Larry Winget, “Affirmations are fine, but affirmations alone don’t change your life. You can say, ‘I am rich, I am rich, I am rich’ until your face turns the color of money, but until you stop doing stupid stuff with your money and start doing smart stuff with your money, you will still be broke.”

4) CNNMoney Debt Reduction Calculator - Need a practical tool for helping you plan your debt reduction? Here it is, a debt reduction calculator. You enter in your various debts and choose from one of three payment plans: pay only the minimum due, pay a set amount each month, or pay it all off by a certain date. Click the button and the calculator tells the story. Depending on the payment plan, you will learn how long you will pay, or how much each month. It’s a good place to start.

5) “Seven radical ways to save money” - This article by Jennifer Mulrean over at MSN.com makes the point that real savings is in taking meaningful action. Her seven steps don’t include reusing tea bags or putting off a haircut. Jennifer suggests that her seven ideas could save you as much as $1000 a month.

6) Get Rich Slowly - On April 26, 2005, J.D. Roth made a post titled “Get Rich Slowly” on his personal blog, FoldedSpace.org. That original post has been read by more than 100,000 visitors and lead to the creation of Get Rich Slowly (GRS). J.D. has also provided a forum for visitors that has active participation. In the future GRS may be adding new features such as personal finance calculators and public domain books and information.

7) No Credit Needed Podcasts - Each week you can listen to a 30 minute podcast on personal finance, debt reduction, and frugal living. I like to download the podcast and listen to it during my walks or in the truck. The style is like listening to a neighbor talk about managing money. The podcasts won’t be for everyone. But if you enjoy a conversational sharing of information, give it a try.

Well, those are my seven recommendations for debt reduction websites. Leave comments with sites that you’d recommend.

[Photo Credit:SqueakyMarmot]

To start with, let’s broaden our understanding of work. Work is not just our employment. Work is where we invest our time in order to add value to our lives. A stay-at-home mom adds value to her life by raising her children. The charity volunteer finds value in giving support an important cause. Work is an investment of our time and, therefore, directly related to investing, another of the Seven Actions.

The benefits of our work come in many forms: money to spend, activities that interest and challenge us, relationships, and a sense of worth. Not everyone experiences all of these rewards, and sometimes these benefits become less meaningful over time. Job dissatisfaction is a growing concern. We feel “burn out” when the benefits of the job do not outweigh boredom, stress, exhaustion, or other work related negatives. Career changes are the common result of these periods in our lives. (For more on career changes, visit UTurnAhead.com).

Since work is a part of everyones’ lives, we should find ways to optimize our rewards for work. We must find employment, volunteer activities, or other investments of our time that provide a feeling of value. Absent of other income, our work must be able to sustain us financially. And we have to maximize the positive relationships and pleasant experiences from our jobs.

I strongly believe that we are in control of the benefits we get from working. Too often people fall victim to believing that their employer is the reason for all their woes. “If only I was treated better, paid more, or given that promotion.” Sorry, I just don’t buy it. If this job doesn’t provide enough of what we need, we have the ultimate power. We can find other, more rewarding work. Blaming our boss or the company we work for is just keeping us from the benefits we really deserve…or recognizing those that already exist.

So, what value do you find in the work you do?

[Photo Credit: ForestForTrees]

Investing is the act of using something in order to receive a benefit or advantage. Usually we think of an investment in terms of future returns. But investing can also provide immediate benefits. For example, when we invest time in attending a movie, we get the immediate pleasure of enjoying of movie. We may also get a future benefit from interesting discussions about the movie.

Simply put, investing is putting something in and order to get something out. We invest time at work to get a paycheck. We invest money into a car to get transportation to places we want to go. Every use of our money and time is an investment, even if the return is not significant, or beneficial.

When we spend our time or money, we expect to get a benefit or advantage. But like investing on Wall Street, some investments just don’t deliver. We may buy a product that simply doesn’t work, and we get no benefit for our money. We may invest time in helping a friend get a job, only to have that person quit a few weeks later. Investing is making a decision to spend time or money on something that we believe will provide us a benefit.

Giving our time and money for charitable reasons is also a form of investing. First, we invest in the belief that the investment will benefit those we are helping. We usually chose to invest where we believe our resources will make an important impact. Secondly, we invest in order to gain the self-appreciation of knowing we are helping. Like our mothers said, it feels good to help others. It is an investment in anticipation of that good feeling. And there is nothing wrong with doing good to feel good. Giving is one of the most important investments we can make.

To get the most out of our time and money, we need to consider the investments we are making. If we choose to watch a television program instead of playing with the children, we need to understand where we are placing our investment and where we are choosing NOT to invest. Our investments define what we believe to be important. What investments did you make today? Did your investments best represent your life goals and values?

But life is not over and the journey is still underway. I am at a point in my life where I need to revisit the goals that I have set, consider some new paths and set new targets for myself.

Over the years I have come to believe that our lives can be summed up in Seven Actions: love, play, live, seek, learn, invest, and work. Everything we do falls into one of these Seven Actions. By seeking to understand these actions, what they mean, and how we can use them to improve ourselves, we begin to take control of our lives. And when we are in control, we can choose our own path, create our own happiness and determine our own future.

So, I’ve set some new goals for my life. I’ve organized them by the Seven Actions. During the next year I will be talking about these goals, and the progress I am making. I will share with you what works and what doesn’t.

But this blog is not just about me. This blog is about change; and it’s about you. It is about using each of the Seven Actions to better our lives and become what we most want for ourselves. I hope you will visit often.

What you can expect:

• Regular posts and articles about using the Seven Actions to change your life.
• News and information about real ways to reach your goals.
• Tips, tools and resources that will improve your life at work, home and in the community.
• Encouragement from others who are changing their lives.

What you won’t get:

• A lot of fluffy words about change with no help with no real answers.
• Paid posts that promote a product or service without real experience that it works.
• Answers from a guru who knows everything and has life all figured out. (This is just one way of looking at life, and by no means the answer to everything.)