Tolerations are events, people, situations you put up with that drain your energy, that keep you from being yourself and enjoying life to the fullest. Tolerations are like holes in your personal success cup....no matter how much you put into the cup, the toleration-hole lets it all drain out. For example, if I have a dirty car or dirty room, every time I notice the dirt I am focusing my attention on that and not on something more positive or creative; if I tolerate a friend's tardiness, I expend energy on my negative feelings or reactions.

Tolerations are found in all aspects of our life: home/office, relationships & family, car/appliances/equipment, work/clients & customers, personal finances/income level, body/appearance, problems/stress.

What are your tolerations?? You should be able to come with 10 easily...actually you probably have about 100 tolerations at the present time. The first step is recognizing what you are tolerating: what is cluttering or life, or worse: what is draining your life force? Make a list..keep adding to it...and then ZAP those tolerations that are not productive in your life-get rid of those things that deplete your energy and time once and for all! Fix that torn curtain/mend that shirt, clean that car or room, confront that tardy friend, finish that letter/proposal/book, learn that skill, train that dog.

The benefits of reducing/eliminating tolerations are many: you will feel freer; you will have more energy; you will become more creative; you'll attract better opportunities; you'll strengthen yourself; you'll enjoy life more - you will be plugging those holes in your personal success cup so that you can be more successful in whatever you do.

There are several ways you can reduce your tolerations:
1. Allot time. Give yourself an hour to get done as many tolerations as you can
2. Organize your tolerations into time-groups. In other words, list all your 15-minute or less tolerations in one area; 15-30 minute tolerations in another, etc. So, the next time you have 15 minutes, you can pick one from that list.
3. Work with others for an hour or two, via the phone. Check in once or twice during the hour.
4. Make a toleration-work day: go for reducing 50 or more tolerations in one day!
5. Involve your family and each person makes a goal and game out of it. Be sure to educate them about tolerations so they can become your partners and understand what you are doing.
6. Hire a coach to support you in your effort

What if you don't want to take the time to eliminate these tolerations? Or you have other reasons. You might find someone else to get rid of them for you...pay them or make a trade. Look around. I'm sure that you have a huge resource in your neighborhood and community... people who surely have lots of talent, skills, information, and interests. Who knows how to sew? knit? cook a gourmet meal? give a massage? use a computer? type? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to call on them to help you take care of a toleration? eg. find someone who would love to type those letters for you or show you how to use the internet or wash your car; then you could barter a service/skill of your own or simply pay them for their service. For example, I would gladly barter personal or professional coaching sessions with someone who would like to wash my car periodically or make me an occasional gourmet meal or give me a professional massage.

A wonderful benefit of reducing tolerations is that you will then have more time to focus on the things you love to do...the activities and experiences that give you happiness and joy such as playing tennis, kayaking, reading, going to movies, being creative, etc. Do you have enough time to do the things you love? Do you have enough time to be with the people you love?

Start today in identifying... then reducing... and finally eliminating all those tolerations in your life! Do it yourself or take advantage of your resources. You will then find you have more time to do the things you love to do and more time to spend quality time with the people you love. You will find your life filled with more happiness and joy!

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