Valuing Yourself and Your Needs (As a Parent): This is about taking care of your OWN needs as a parent because when you consistently put yourself last to be taken care of and habitually continue to sacrifice your basic necessities to make everyone else happy…Essentially, what you’re teaching your children is that they’re here to be of service to others, then themselves. In other words, you’re teaching them to take advantage of you and use you as they please, which in turn communicates to them that they’re most likely to be used. To prevent this from happening, you need to set consistent limits that protect you from demands that could be overbearing and unfair. That way, you’re communicating that your basic needs are just as important as theirs. It’s true…often times parents that are constantly sacrificing themselves are idealized and praised by other parents. You know… the ones that have no hobbies, no friends and no avenue of enjoyment. Is this really desirable? Parents constantly stressed about the needs of others in the family are usually irritable, and unmotivated to try anything new, fun or exciting. How can parents do this long term with no outlet? Instead, us parents need to enjoy ourselves and focus on being re-energized. When you take good care of yourself, you provide the means to take better care of your children. Going out to dinner or cocktails, trips to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, date night with your spouse or even some alone time reading or going for a walk allows you to be a more productive, interested and patient parent.”

“When everything is laid out neatly and in sequence, you will feel much more like getting on with the job.”

“Successful, effective people are those who launch directly into their major tasks and then discipline themselves to work steadily and single-mindedly until those tasks are complete.

“Discipline is what you must have to resist the lure of excuses”

“If you don’t spend quality time with your loved ones or do things that are important in your life, someone or something less important will take up your time. 3)”

“If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development.”

“What one great thing would you dare to dream, if you knew you could not fail?”

“You can get your time and your life under control only to the degree to which you discontinue lower-value activities.”

“People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.”

“You are not what you think you are, but what you think, you are.”

“One of the marks of excellent people is that they never compare themselves with others. They only compare themselves with themselves and with their past accomplishments and future potential.”

“How shall we live in order to be happy?” Your ability to ask and answer that question correctly for yourself—and then to follow where your answer leads you—will largely determine whether you achieve your own happiness, and how soon.”

“It is impossible to succeed without failing.” 

“Help yourself warm up and prepare mentally by repeating, “I feel happy! I feel healthy! I feel terrific!” It is not possible for you to talk positively to yourself, using words like this, without immediately feeling happier and more confident.”

“Josh Billings wrote, “It’s not what a man knows that hurts him; it’s what he knows that isn’t true.”