Christmas Gift Baskets: Ideal Presents on Christmas

Christmas is round the corner, and you haven’t yet made up your mind as to what you are going to give to your husband, the man who is the center of your life. If this is so, hurry up as choosing a perfect gift may be more daunting than you think. Your husband means so much to you, and now is an opportunity to show him how much you love and care for him. Since he is so special, you obviously want the gift to be special too. Are you aware of the latest trend in Christmas gifts? People are making use of beautiful baskets that are available in the market and filling them with all the goodies or gift items that they think might be suitable for the person they are giving as a gift on the occasion of Christmas. These Christmas gift baskets are also available as readymade gift items and in the market there are all sorts of baskets in all shapes and sizes filled with gifts in all categories that you can probably imagine.

Are you bored with giving a John Miller white shirt all the time? Have you gifted him with wallets and belts before also? If yes, and you wish to come up with something more exciting to make your man’s day on the occasion of Christmas, all you need to do is to either go for window shopping to your nearest supermarket or mall, or log on to the net and search on the myriad sites specializing in selling Christmas gift baskets. You will be surprised with the wide variety of gift items that are there in the market and you may even be overwhelmed by them. However, you will at least get an idea of what is current and what is the sort of gifts that people are buying these days.

What you can do to narrow down your search is to confine yourself to items that might be of interest to your dear husband. Is he one of those who are always seeking thrill and adventure in what they are doing? Or is he one of those who are romantic to the core? Is he a movie buff, or finds solace in the company of nature? Depending upon the nature and interest of your man, you can easily come down to 2-3 gifts that might make his day on Christmas.

You can choose from a list of the latest action movies and buy their DVD’s to present as a Christmas gift to your husband if he yearns for action movies all the time. Better still, and of course if you have the budget, you can buy a gift voucher for a hot air balloon ride or skydiving for him and place it in the gift basket to be his real Christmas gift this year. This is the perfect way to not only giving him what he desires, but also get to share some quality time with him.

The GOLDEN Approach To Negotiating

Since, so many of the necessities of effectively leading, for the best interests of one’s organization, necessitate quality, professional negotiating skills and abilities, in order to achieve, effectively, efficiently, and in the right direction, wouldn’t it make sense, to train potential leaders, in the arts, and sciences, of the skills and directions of negotiations? After more than four decades of involvement in nearly all phases and aspects of leadership, from identifying, qualifying and training, actual and potential leaders, to consulting to thousands of these individuals, I have dedicated many hours, and focus, to what might make someone, the best leader, he can possibly be. I have also, during this period, negotiated many contracts and agreements, both, large and small, in the areas of event planning, labor contracts, and many other area, so, this article will consider how the GOLDEN approach to negotiating, using the mnemonic approach, might provide better results, etc.

1. Goals; generate goodwill; growth: Organizations either undergo continuous growth, or lose their relevance and sustainability! A leader must try to generate goodwill, and a meeting, of the minds, by starting every negotiation, focused on goals, priorities, etc. How can anyone negotiate, effectively, if he does not start, the process, focused on possessing a clear understanding, and commitment to, what is needed, and why?

2. Options; opportunities; organized; organization: Different organizations have different needs, and requirements, and therefore, these must be fully considered, prior to negotiating. It is wise to consider numerous options and alternatives, and to be prepared, to recognize the finest opportunities, and/ or create one’s own. Effective negotiating means efficiently proceeding, in the most organized manner!

3. Listen; learn; leadership: Negotiators must effectively listen, and learn, so they understand their negotiating adversary, and his needs, and priorities, also. It takes the ability to exhibit superior leadership, by taking – charge, of the situation, and keeping, on – track, towards the best results!

4. Delve deeply; discover; deliver: Go beyond the surface, and delve deeply into what is most important, and proceed accordingly! Then, clearly discover, what makes the most sense, and remain focused and committing to delivering on the most beneficial ways!

5. Empathy; energy; excellence: The better one learns and cares about others, the better, the results! When one strongly believes, in his ideas, and ideals, he will maximize his energy, in a way, which energizes all, involved. Never sacrifice your commitment to proceeding with the utmost degree of personal excellence!

6. Needs; necessities: Know your needs, rather than simply, your wish – list! Put the necessities, first, consider economics responsibly, and consider options, to achieve, what you seek!

Using the GOLDEN approach, should help you enhance the quality and results of your negotiations. Are you up to the task, and the commitment?

Do You Want a Great Present for Christmas?

Another year has just about gone by the wayside and the Christmas and the New Year seasons are fast approaching. How’d that 2010 New Year’s resolution go to achieve your desired weight loss? This is probably one of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions. I would surely like to know the success rate on that. I’m going to take a guess and say 15%. 15% of the people who make that New Year’s resolution achieve their desired weight loss. Some people may think that is a little optimistic some people might think that figure is a little pessimistic.

If you’re thinking about adding that to you Resolutions for the New Year it really might be a good idea to get a head start on it. Why? I know from experience Christmas and Thanksgiving days alone can add a few pounds to your frame. Combine that with all the days surrounding those days and all the baking that goes on it doesn’t hurt to think about what you’re eating. I’m not saying cut out all that good food that will be on the dinner table those days. What I’m preaching is moderation. Again, from experience these are the times during the year that we fix more than the normal amount of food.

Last Thanksgiving at the dinner table at our house there was turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberries, three layer salad, corn, green bean casserole, rolls, and probably several other things I can’t remember. That was just dinner, there were several hor douvres before the dinner and many deserts after dinner. I used to take a big serving of everything during the meal. In order to achieve your desired weight loss, just think about this. The result of taking a big helping of everything on the menu is that immediately following the meal, the main topic of conversation is how miserable everyone is from stuffing themselves. Speaking of stuffing, there’s always some stuffing on hand for Thanksgiving dinner also.

The next conversation is about taking a walk after dinner. It’s usually said in gest, but why not? You’re probably not going to walk of all those calories immediately, but exercise is always a good thing and it will make you feel better. Take a walk for exercise and enjoy the fall colors.

Achieving your desired weight loss requires that you take action. The great Christmas present that I referred to in the title is that you feel great physically and mentally. You feel healthy and look healthy. Start that New Year’s resolution early this year to achieve your desired weight loss. When you’re at the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner tables enjoy the food, but take a small helping of your favorites instead of a large helping of everything. If your house is anything like mine there will be leftovers, and Thanksgiving leftovers always taste good. Then after dinner take that walk that everyone jokes about. There’s always those leaves to rake too. Take action and achieve your desired weight loss. You won’t regret it.