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Exercise Calendar 2010

5 Not-So-Ordinary Ways to Use an Online Calendar

<p><i>Think an online calendar can help simplify your life? You’re right! But besides the usual uses for a calendar, online calendars provide many other options that you may not have thought of. </i></p>

<p>Who among us doesn’t rely on a <a href=”http://www.keepandshare.com/htm/calendars/2009-2010/calendar-2009-2010.php” target=”_blank”>calendar </a> to keep track of appointments, car pool schedules, social  engagements, birthdays and our children’s varied activities? Whether  you use a printed calendar or an online version, you’re well aware of  how helpful – even essential – they are. But did you know there  are other ways to use calendars? Online calendars especially lend  themselves to a variety of other uses, and since chances are good  that you’re already online, why not try them for yourself?</p>

<p><b>Journal</b><br />
Many online calendars  allow you to enter unlimited text, which makes it the perfect place  to keep a journal. Whether it’s a pregnancy journal, goal journal,  personal journal or travel journal, an online calendar is easy to use  and safely stores your writing. Some online calendars even allow you  to share your journal, but only with the people you choose. Of  course, you can also choose to keep it entirely private.</p>

<p><b>Fitness Log</b><br/>
Experts agree that keeping track of  your food intake and exercise helps you reach your fitness goals.  Unfortunately, many of us start out strong with keeping our fitness  journals, but eventually stop doing it all together. That’s where an  online calendar can help. Remember – a good online calendar will  provide unlimited room for text on each day, and since you’re  probably already online at some point during the day, it’s a snap to  enter your information into your fitness log. If you have a  Web-enabled phone, you can even do it on the go!</p>

<p><b>Bill Reminder</b><br />
If you’re  responsible for managing your household’s finances, you know that  it’s not always easy to remember due dates. Try using an online  calendar to enter due dates for each of your bills, and then mark  them off once you’ve paid them.</p>

<p><b>To-Do List</b><br />
Tired of using a  pile of sticky notes to keep track of what you need to do each day?  Use an online calendar instead! It’s easy to add more items to your  daily list, and you can even print out a day or week at a time and  keep it with you. And best of all, some online calendars will let  your access it from any computer or phone with an Internet  connection, so you can check it from virtually anywhere.</p>

<p><b>Special Event Calendar</b><br />
Do you  have a large family, with lots of children, nieces, nephews and  cousins to remember? Or maybe you just like to send cards for the  many special occasions that occur each year. Either way, an online  calendar provides a convenient place to keep track of all the  birthdays, anniversaries and weddings in your life. You can enter  gift ideas for upcoming birthdays, make notations when cards and/or  gifts have been sent and much, much more! </p>

<p>There’s almost no limit to what you can  do with an online calendar, especially user-friendly versions that  allow unlimited text and easy printing options. Try the ideas above,  or incorporate some uses of your own, and you’ll soon discover just  how easy and convenient online calendars can be.</p>

About the Author

Heather L. Clark is a Web writer and researcher based in Omaha, NE. Check out her favorite sources for free file sharing, photo blogs and free printable birthday cards.

Habits are a brain game. This time you could come out a real winner.

What is a bad habit? It’s something that we do regularly which is counterproductive to leading a life that is happy or healthy. It could be overeating, smoking, lack of exercise, being overly critical, compulsive shopping, or any of an infinite number of unhealthy habits which hold us back. And it’s safe to say that all of us likely have at least one bad habit we’d like to change, if not many.

It’s also safe to say that many of us have tried to change our habits and have not succeeded. Here, we’re going to give you some tips which will help you to make positive changes and develop new behavior patterns.

Getting a Handle On Habits

There have been a number of scientific studies which give some insight into effective ways of changing habits and learning new behavior patterns. Here are some of their findings:

Brain Change

Developing new behavior patterns doesn’t happen over night. Scientists have found that when people repeat specific behavior patterns over and over, new brain cells grow extensions (called dendrites) and connect to each other. It’s like learning a new skill such as ballet or baseball or piano; it comes to feel natural over time. So when you are working on changing your behavior, expect to dedicate some time to it.

Baby Steps Work Best

Don’t try to change everything at once. Perhaps you want to lose weight and get in shape, and you also want to get more organized and learn Spanish. Frankly, that’s too much to tackle at once. Prioritize and pick one area to start with.

Being Specific

Studies show that you will be more successful if you are specific in your goal. For instance, rather than saying “I will eat less and lose weight,” decide on a specific diet plan, and resolve to go grocery shopping for the necessary foods on a designated day every week. Rather than saying “I will exercise more”, pick a type of exercise that you enjoy, such as bicycling or aerobics class, and resolve to do it three times a week.

Know Your Enemy

You need to consider any obstacles to your goal – what has kept you from success in the past? If you want to exercise more but hate aerobics class, find a type of exercise that you enjoy. If you want to lose weight but find that you overeat when you serve dinner to your family, prepare yourself a big, healthy, low calorie dinner every night.

Power Up Your Words – Write It

Put it in writing. Write down what you plan to achieve and how you will achieve it. Keep track of your progress on a calendar that is up on your wall in a place that you see it every day, and also write down the times of your exercise class, or the day you will shop for healthy food, or the nights you will attend Spanish class.

If you follow these steps you will find that you will be able to change your behavior patterns successfully and adapt healthy new habits, one at a time.

Encouragement and accountability helps us with growing our healthy habit skills. Tweet us about your progress, @kamaron_org and we’ll encourage you.

About Margaret Ross Kamaron Institute

Margaret Ross, author President Kamaron Institute a Management Consulting Services Company is a Management Marketing Consulting, Parenting, and Bullying expert.

Ross is a frequently featured guest on American’s top radio shows.

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