HERE IS A TIP TO START THE YEAR OFF TO A GOOD START.

Make a mental list of those who have helped you succeed last year. And another list of people you’ve helped.

Ask yourself what you’d most like to accomplish in 2010. You don’t need to come to a definitive answer today. Just get your subconscious mind working on it.

If you have the opportunity, spend some time talking to friends and colleagues about their accomplishments and goals. This will give you good ideas. It may even deepen your relationships a bit.

I’m taking yoga again, twice a week. This ancient Hindu practice has been very helpful to me in the past. It’s healed a chronically ailing back, increased the flexibility of my hips and shoulders ,and I’m sure it’s been good for my internal organs. I can feel it.

I took yoga lessons regularly for about a year several years ago, and then stopped when my instructor moved away. Since then, I’ve practiced a few postures every morning — but without taking lessons, I wasn’t getting any better.

Yoga, like golf or Guitar, is extremely technical. There is no end to what you can learn. It’s possible to keep getting better at yoga for 50 or 60 years. You can improve your movements till the day you drift off into Namaste land.

My new instructor, a very knowledgeable teacher explained that before you can master yoga you must master three personal skills:

1. The skill of memory
2. The skill of practice
3. The skill of dissolving the ego

That seemed exactly right to me. For these are the same personal skills it takes to master Guitar,Im learning this as well part of seeking that balance.(And I suspect they are the skills you need to master any complex activity.) I’m trying exercises to get the Green Brain Red Brain thing happening.

* Memory is the most obvious. You need to develop your memory — both physical and mental — so you can execute the skills you have been taught.

* Practice is the least appreciated — for two reasons. Many people believe that unless they have a “talent” for a complex skill, they can never be really good at it. This is foolishness. You can master almost anything if you are willing to spend enough time — maybe 5,000 hours — practicing it under the instruction of a master teacher.

* Dissolving the ego is the most difficult of the three personal skills. Only one person in a hundred can do it. But to get to a master’s level, you must be able to two things: (1) Be humble enough to accept your mediocrity when you are mediocre, and (2) separate your emotions from your desired outcome. You can do that only if you have control of your ego.

If you understand this, you understand a great deal about self-improvement.

You can have less stress and also accomplish more by:

* Following a good goal-setting program
* Setting aside time every day for exercise
* Getting at least seven hours of good sleep every night
* Eating for energy (high protein, low carbs, etc.)

Start on your goal setting immediately – remember to write it down!

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