Becoming More Decisive

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Maybe it's selecting what to order from an extensive restaurant menu. Or choosing which event to attend when two are happening at the same time. We are faced with many decisions every day. Hundreds of them, if you really stop to think about it.

Some of them are easy, like what to have for breakfast or what to wear (that one is generally easier for men than women, in my experience).

Other decisions are more involved. They may require gathering additional information or input from others.

One thing that is clear about highly productive and successful people is that they are good at making decisions. They make decisions in a timely manner, and deal with the outcomes as they occur.

To Decide Or Not To Decide

I don't know about you, but I am not a very good decision maker.

I can handle the easy stuff. In fact, I am pretty productive person and make lots of decisions that I can implement myself.

But when it comes to things that require the involvement of other people or more coordination, I struggle.

I get too wrapped up in the different possibilities. I magnify the things that need to happen in order to gather the appropriate information or to execute the decision. I worry way too much about making the wrong decision. (And later I beat myself up for making wrong decisions, or not making the right one soon enough.)

What happens is I freeze.

I do nothing. I wait to see if things will just "work themselves out."

And here's the thing. Stuff does actually work out one way or another. Days continue to go by. But there isn't a lot of change or growth that happens if you are frozen.

Being wrong

In order to become more decisive, I have to accept the possibility of being wrong.

I mean, no one can be right 100% of the time. We're human beings, and we make bad decisions all the time. It's not the end of the world.

Plus, a lot of decisions don't really have a "right" or "wrong," just different outcomes. Trade offs. Maybe several outcomes are good, just in different ways. Maybe none of the outcomes are good, but you have to choose one anyway (I hate those kind!!)

Making decisions takes a strength of character that can manage the outcomes, no matter what they might be.

Each year I choose a word to guide my actions, priorities and growth. This year, my word is decisiveness.

I will be working to improve my ability to make decisions with wisdom and courage. How about you? Could you be a little more decisive in your life and your business? Do you tend to freeze when faced with difficult situations? Maybe you have a different relationship with decisiveness. I think this is a valuable area to explore and discuss, so share your thoughts in the comments.

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How To Identify Your Stress Points And Reduce Them

Most of our stresses happen for a reason. We are stressed for instance because of our work, because of a deadline or because of debt. Knowing what is causing the stress helps us to at least contextualize it and gives us hope that someday we might escape its clutches, but for many of us that is not enough.

The truth is when you break that stress down further and if you really get to know it, then you might just find that it starts to come apart and that it becomes much more manageable.

How To Reduce Your Stress So It's Not Too Much Of A Deal?

The trick is to break down your stress into specific things - into manageable chunks that you can deal with - and then to deal with the constituent parts.

So let's take a look at one of the biggest culprits: work. If your main stressor is work, then chances are that you can break this down further to identify precisely what it is about work that stresses you out. Here are some examples of aspects of our jobs that make us stressed:

Tight deadlines, angry demanding bosses, unpleasant colleagues, stressful workspaces, busy, long commutes, things you love doing but can't, wearing uncomfortable clothes, making cold calls, speaking in public, being overwhelmed but the amount of work you haven't completed etc.

All these things can make us feel stressed about our jobs and most likely there are a number of these things playing on your mind.

But now you've broken it all down and you know the specifics, you should find it becomes much easier to start dealing with the problems individually.

So for instance: if you have a colleague you don't like, you could ask to be moved to another part of the office. Likewise, if your workspace is uncomfortable, you could speak to HR about getting a new chair, or you could put a plant on your desk. Don't like the long commute? How about looking into a lift share, or finding an alternative route. Workload too big? Then again, speak to someone and ask to have it shared!

Likewise, you might find that other 'big' stresses in your life can be made easier when you break them down into their smaller constituents. Stressed about debt? Then perhaps one aspect of that is not being able to afford things - in which case writing a budget could help. Another aspect could be worrying about your credit score, in which case you could talk to your bank manager or a debt advisor.

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The Five Ingredients of Happiness

I've been reading The power of Self Discipline by Brian Tracy over the last few weeks, and I just had to share a small extract from the book, as It helped me so much.

The five ingredients of happiness.

A short fall in any of these areas can cause stress, unhappiness and a feeling of being our of control.

1. Health & Energy - The most important element of a good life.

2. Happy Relationships - 85% of your happiness will come from your relationships with other people

3. Meaningful work - to be truly happy you must be truly engaged with life. You must be doing things that keep you active & give you a sense of fulfilment. If you are making a living you must be doing work that you enjoy, do well and for which you are well paid. People are only truly happy when they feel like they are making a contribution of some kind, that they are putting in more than they are taking out. You need to feel that what you do really makes a difference to the lives & work of other people.

4. Financial independence - some of the greatest fears we experience are those of loss, failure and poverty. We fear being destitute without funds and dependant on others.. One of your chief responsibilities to yourself is to work towards financial independence and financial freedom throughout your life.

5. Self- actualisation -This is the feeling that you are becoming everything that you are capable of becoming. This occurs when you feel you are realising more and more of your true potential.

Abraham Maslow is best known for his hierarchy of needs. He determined that people have both deficiency needs & being needs. People strive either to compensate for their deficiencies or to realise their potential.

He concluded that you only begin to evolve & develop to the highest levels possible for you when deficiency needs are first satisfied.

Deficiency needs:
* Safety & survival - food, water, accommodation, clothing
* Security - Financial , emotional and physical
* Belonging - Social situations with others , home and work.

Being Needs:
* Self esteem/ego - feel & like yourself determines your happiness more than any other factor. This comes from being liked, accepted, doing a good job and moving towards your goals.

Exercise

1 Identify the areas of your life in which you feel the happiest and the most in control - How can you expand on them?

2 Identify the area of your life that you feel controlled by other people or factors - what can you do to resolve these situations?

3 Intentify those areas in your life where there's a gap between your current level of accomplishment & what you would really like to achieve - What can you do to bridge these gaps?

4 Identify the most pressing needs that you have today that are not begin fulfilled - How can you begin to satisfy this deficiency need.

5. Identify those activities that give you the greatest feeling of personal happiness - what can you do to increase these moments of happiness?

6 Identify those areas in life that you are the most discontented - which steps could you take immediately that would resolve those feelings of discontent.

7. Define happiness for yourself what does it mean? What would have to happen for your to feel truly happy? what can you do immediately to help create this situation?

I hope it helped you as much as it helped me. I now have a completely new set of action points which Ill be sharing over the coming weeks.


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7 Techniques for Dealing With Stress That People Often Ignore

Ever struggled in dealing with stress?

Being successful and constantly improving yourself while striving to be the best is hard work and very often it comes with a fair bit of stress.

While having a constant state of urgency and alertness might be quite beneficial while perusing your ambitious goals, it can really wear you down unless you combat the effects of stress on your body.

7 Techniques for Dealing With Stress

It’s really important that you take care of both your body and mind and not allow the strain of working hard to chip away at your health.

These are 7 techniques for anyone dealing with stress:

1. Stop Doing Things You Hate

This may seem obvious; but jobs are the biggest cause of stress for people.

Is this because they’re tough and pressuring?

Maybe, somewhat. However, the big difference linking jobs to stress, is that the people who regularly get stressed out by their career don’t really enjoy their job.

You can quote me on that.

The logical first step to dealing with stress, and completely ridding yourself from it, is to look at the source. What’s giving you all your stress? Is it a side effect from an activity you love? Or is it coming from your boring career choices?


2. Exercise In-between Work

We all know that exercise is important, and yes, some people do still neglect it.

Although, have you ever tried exercising in-between workloads? Say, in your lunch hour?

If you’re self-employed, it’s probably a lot easier for you to exercise during the day. If you’re employed working 9-5, then maybe you could squeeze a quick workout during your lunch hour.

The idea behind this is that you’re resetting yourself for the afternoon ahead, and not allowing any stress to build up. Give it a try, and see how different it is to simply exercising before or after work instead.


3. Meditating on Your Thoughts

One of the keys to staying healthy, especially when you are under a lot of stress, is keeping your mind healthy. One of the most beneficial practices to help maintain mental health, stability and happiness is meditation.

Despite the fact that some goal-oriented people might not have a positive outlook on it, meditation can be extremely beneficial and can reduce the effects of stress on your mind and body to a great extent.

Clearing your mind with it on regular basis helps people become calmer, more relaxed and less prone to stress.


4. Switching Up Your Pattern

Gary Vaynerchuk says that switching up the regular pattern is often the way to break out of plateaus; in business and in life. Plateaus often cause stress, because you start to get fed up of flat-lining, and not making any progress.

Switch up your pattern. Do something different. Go somewhere new. Introduce a new feature into your business. Change your fitness routine. It could be anything.

As long as it breaks your normal pattern of living.


5. Take Care of Your Stomach

While constant high stress levels affect our whole body quite adversely, there are some organs that suffer more than others. One of the first body parts that might start suffering when we are under a lot of stress is our stomach.

When we are under a lot of pressure or when we are in an unpleasant situation, our body’s natural reaction for some reason is to start contracting our stomach into a ball.

This makes it especially vulnerable so people with a lot of ambition that are working hard towards their goals in today’s busy and tiring world, should take special care of their stomachs.

Many herbs and plants can have a soothing and stimulating effect on our stomachs and one of the most effective ways to take advantage of this is through essential oils.

The best place to look for suitable ones to help battle the effects of stress on your stomach is essential oil for vomiting or for an upset stomach.

There are multiple essential oils you could use like lemon, lavender or peppermint and there are a number of different blends you can prepare.


6. Get Both A High Quantity & Quality of Sleep

While striving for maximum productivity, many of us push ourselves too hard and forget about the importance of sleep.

Our body needs to get a constant amount of sleep and if we don’t get the sufficient amount on regular basis, your health, productivity and creativity will quickly start deteriorating.

Sleep is a natural mechanism that allows our body to restore its energy reserves and is also a natural way for us to deal with stress. When you don’t get enough sleep, stress starts to accumulate and maintain a healthy mind and body quickly starts to become increasingly difficult.

But if we get enough sleep every night, our tolerance for stress becomes much higher and our alertness during the day manages to remain heightened. In other words, you will be able to achieve more if you don’t skimp on the sleep.

7. Take A Natural Stress Supplement

On top of everything else, multi-vitamins and various natural ingredients can make a huge difference to your overall health and well-being. In fact, it’s surprising just how much difference taking a supplement can make to the way you feel.

If you’d like to add a stress/health supplement to your arsenal, and I highly recommend you do, then check out some of these awesome supplements:

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3 Underrated Tips To Achieve Work-Life Balance

Is finding a work-life balance something that you struggle with?

The first thing to understand about work-life balance is that most people have the wrong idea of what that actually means. They think that their whole life should be balanced. That they should have a little bit of work and a little bit of play and a little bit of time on the weekends, in order to improve their quality of life.

When thinking about your quality of life, you have to ask yourself:

What do you really want to do with your life?

If the answer is that you want to be really successful in your career, you have to start a little earlier, you have to work a little harder, and you have to work a little later.
How Do You Manage Your Time?

Here’s an interesting discovery:

Almost all successful people work 6 days a week. Average people work 40, maybe even 30 hours a week. Now aside from actual time spent at work, the real problem comes down to what you accomplish while you’re at work.

Most people spend 50% of their time doing non-work related activities while they’re in the office.

Browsing social media, checking email, taking long lunch breaks, and chatting with co-workers are all examples of time-wasting behaviors. When these activities turn into habits, it becomes harder to get all of your work done in order to focus on other aspects of your life.

Here’s the key to achieving work-life balance: Choose to manage your time.

Choosing to manage your time effectively is the starting point of overcoming previous programming and eliminating mental blocks to time management. You must decide, right here and now, to become an expert in time-management in order to improve your quality of life.
Work-Life Balance Tips

Your aim should be to manage your time so well, that people admire you and look to you as a role model for their own work habits.

Here are three tips for time management that will help you achieve a work-life balance and improve your quality of life:

1) Use The Power Of Positive Affirmations

Positive affirmations, or positive self-talk, are commands that you pass from your conscious mind to your subconscious mind, that you either say out loud or to yourself, with emotion and enthusiasm to drive the words into your subconscious mind.

Sort of like instructing yourself to follow new operating instructions.

Begin by repeating positive affirmations over and over to yourself, “I am excellent at time management! I am excellent at time management!” Or “I have a work-life balance!”

My favorite time management affirmation is, “I use my time well. I use my time well. I use my time well.”

When you repeat positive affirmations over and over, they are eventually accepted by your subconscious mind and you will find that your external behaviors will start to reflect your internal programming.

2) Visualize Your Time Management Skills

Mental pictures almost immediately influence your subconscious mind. Begin to see yourself as well organized, efficient, and effective in time management.

Recall and recreate memories and pictures of yourself when you were performing at your best and getting through enormous amounts of work.

Through positive affirmations, you can create a picture of the coming event and see it unfolding perfectly in every respect. See yourself as calm, positive, happy and in complete control. See the other people doing and saying exactly what you would want them to do if the situation was perfect.

Play this picture of yourself over and over again on the screen of your mind.

3) Take Action Based On Your Visualizations
Now that you have visualized and concentrated on what your day and your future will look like with proper time management, it’s time to put it into action.

Do this by working the entire time you’re at work. When you walk into the office, you should work the entire time you’re there. Be pleasant and friendly to your co-workers, but get to work right away and work until you are finished.

By doing this, you’ll get on top of your work and will walk away feeling accomplished at the end of your day. When you don’t have lingering tasks to worry about, since you’ll have worked as hard as you could have during your time in the office, you’ll be left with plenty of quality time to spend with your friends and family after work.

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Why Every Successful Person Sets Goals

Have you ever heard of any successful people, super achievers or elite performers who don't set goals at all?

Honestly I have not.

Goal setting is an important aspect in both your professional and personal lives. Without having goals to strive for, we won't be able to measure our success or achievements. We won't be able to spot our weaknesses and improve ourselves. We won't be able to target our strengths and fully unleash our potential.

While setting goals is crucial to getting what you want in life, what other amazing benefits do this simple act bring you that make all the successful people love?

#1 Control and Certainty

By regularly setting goals and achieving them you are taking control of your life.

This is an empowering mindset, attitude and behavior to have because you are acknowledging that life doesn't 'just happen to you'. There is a lot that is within your control when it comes to creating the ideal life you want and working towards the direction that's right for you.

#2 Optimism and Positivity

Apart from being certain about the future you're heading, setting goals and taking action to achieve them will influence you to have a more positive and optimistic outlook.

This vibe of positivity will help you build stronger mental resilience, which is essential to help you keep going when things become tough or when you got hit by challenges.

Instead of feeling down, depressed or defeated by the hardships, your resilience, optimism and mental toughness will ensure that you see the temporary setback as it is and pick yourself up using your personal power to find a creative way to overcome it.

#3 Wellbeing

Through goal setting you will have created a long-term plan for your life. In your mind, you've created a vision of what you want and worked out a way to get there.

This sense of purpose gives you a feeling of hope that you can achieve what you want. These are all positive emotions which have powerful effects on your mental and physical wellbeing.

Stress levels will be reduced, as will the likelihood of depression emerging. While you are working towards achieving your goals, you will increase your levels of focus and your ability to use it at will to help you get the results you want.

#4 Getting Into Flow State

The regular setting of meaningful goals ensures that you maximize opportunities to utilize the power of flow.

This miraculous flow state occurs when:

you have a meaningful goal;

position yourself away from external distractions;

have all the necessary resources at hand;

have matched the task to your abilities so that it contains enough challenge to keep you motivated and engaged but not too little so that you become bored; and

immerse yourself in the task completely.

Getting into the flow state not only helps you achieve goals, but it also drastically elevates your productivity, relieves stress and increases happiness. The benefits of the flow state have been recorded by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the Hungarian positive psychologist who wrote the famous book <Flow: The Psychology of Happiness>.

By having goals, you are increasing your chances of success. You are also taking positive steps to creating the life or business that you want.

While it seems to take a lot of effort setting goals at the beginning, the benefits you experience will far outweigh any time spent creating, monitoring and meeting them. If you desire to become a more productive, optimistic and proactive, then you should definitely follow what other successful people do - setting goals.

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What Is Your Goal Challenge?

Setting goals seems to be the talk of the town these days. They never seem to go out of style because they make the difference between success and failure.

Setting up a goal challenge for yourself is one of the best ways to get up to speed with your own life. Why is that? Because we all love a challenge. Challenges force us to bring to the table the forces of motivation that we all have.

Are you up to the task? If we want something bad enough how hard a worker would you be to get it? I know I wanted to have a new bike when I was a teenager. The only way I knew how to earn money is through a local paper route.

Seems easy enough but I had to wake up way before school started, fold the newspapers and then deliver them before the sun came up. But I did it and I made enough money to get the bike I wanted.

I know it doesn't sound like much of a goal to you but to me at the time it was one of the best times of my life.

Fast forward to later in life where I wanted more in life than just a bike. I was working full time and going to college to get my degree so that I could qualify to take a test for promotion purposes. It took me 4 years but I did it. I made the grade and entered a career I was proud to be part of.

I couldn't do any of those things unless I made up my mind to do it. I created my own goal plans and challenged myself to meet the demands.

Call them professional goals or personal goals because to me they are both the same. Goals make us whole. Goals make us feel better. Goals help us define our character and allow us to enter a world only the successful people have.

We can be in the upper echelon of people who feels good every single day. Goals are easy to define and even to set up. It's easy to write down the steps to achieve what we want out of life.

The hard part is starting and maintaining motivation is to keep doing what we have to do. Once we achieve even one goal then we know we have the power within us to achieve even more.

That's the beauty of goals where if we do one then anything we write down and define we can achieve.

How dedicated are YOU to getting what YOU want out of life? 

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Have You Ever Hit a Brick Wall?

Have you ever hit a brick wall, something so solid and immovable that you can't see any way around it, no matter how hard you try? It can cause you to feel a failure, perhaps isolated from others, as despair and frustration set in. Life doesn't always go to plan; in fact sometimes we can feel that we're dealing with a problem so complex and unassailable that there are no options left from which we can salvage a good outcome.

I'm sure many of us have at times had this experience, of insurmountable problems, no way forward and perhaps excessive demands being placed on us, maybe all at the same time.

- Work, relationships, home life, health and friends are all areas that can sometimes seem to be operating in an unhelpful and unsupportive way. There may be conflicting demands or responsibilities that require much of our time, energy and attention Sometimes we may need to acknowledge that our desired plans and choices are not feasible at the present point in time.

- Be strong and admit if something's not working. There's no shame in trying something new; it's often a great learning experience, can introduce you to new people and allow you to explore other options. But recognise if it's time to stop banging your head on that brick wall. Others will usually appreciate your honesty, see you as more human and may even suggest a referral to someone who's in a position to help.

- Appreciate that impediments and immovable objects can sometimes provide a useful interlude for you to stop and audit your plans. Dedicate time to review, evaluate and even revise your commitment to your latest project or course of action. Enforced reflection can be a valuable investment of your time.

- There may be some merit in using your temporary timeout to conduct a survey or canvas staff, clients or colleagues for their views. While you're considering your next step why not ask for their opinions, how they view your business or enquire whether they have suggestions to help you grow or improve what you already offer? Other people see things from a different perspective and their feedback may provide valuable insights which could spur you on to a renewed plan of action.

- Accept that your loss of direction may have caused your associates to temporarily lose confidence in you. Management are often expected to be problem-solvers, with all the answers and so, depending on the closeness of your relationships, it may be disconcerting for your team to see you in such a different light. Explain sufficiently and reassure those who need it.

- If you've hit a brick wall it may be appropriate for you to take yourself away from the situation and seek advice elsewhere, in a more confidential arena. Many business owners appreciate the role that a mentor, coach, confidante or partner can play, someone who's survived setbacks or whose support and input they value and respect. A counsellor may help them rediscover their confidence, focus and self-belief again. Stressful situations can be draining and cause loss of direction as well as mental and emotional debilitation. Sharing the load, talking things through and being heard, understood and supported can make a huge difference.

- Many business owners experience self-doubt or a loss of direction at times. Find a setting where you can exchange ideas and problem-solve. Maybe someone you've met at a conference, network meeting or on a business forum would be happy to provide time to talk through your situation in a safe, confidential setting or you could initiate a discussion on a site where contributors are happy to openly discuss solutions and the lessons learned from their experiences.

- Stepping away for a time to reconnect with the personal areas of life can provide a therapeutic break, a chance to clear your mind and regain a more appropriate perspective. Time spent may enable you to appreciate that you don't have to be perfect or do it all yourself. It may be viable to outsource or hire areas of expertise or begin to align yourself with someone who has complementary skills. Viable solutions often become apparent after a break.

- Do something that lifts your spirits and reminds you why you do what you do. One of my friends test drove a super-car, returning afterwards feeling revitalised and ten feet tall. Others may be motivated after time spent with family or at the spa or golf range. Take a break and step back from your 'wall'. Find something that rewards you and reminds you of your worth. Use that to give a boost to your confidence, with time to recharge and enjoy a distraction.

Being 'resilient' is often thought of as being tough, strong and keeping going no matter what. In fact resilience demands that we stop occasionally, take stock of things, adapt and grow in the light of new challenges and goals. Hitting a brick wall indicates that something is not working as initially anticipated. The companies I work with and the workshops I run, place a high value on training staff and management to be resilient by taking stock of the present moment and learning to adapt to an ever-changing and unpredictable future. We discover that a brick wall or loss of direction can be worked around.

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Becoming Rich in Your Own Way

If you really want to become rich, then begin by evaluating your work habits and work environment. That's how most millionaires made their first million. According to Dr. Srully Blotnick, a psychologist and consultant who spent 20 years studying how people became rich, most millionaires didn't make their money in real estate, the stock market, or waiting for their ship to come in.

They made theirs, instead, through their business or profession. They became so good at their job that they made quite a bit of money. Then, and only then, did they turn to real estate and stocks as sites to invest and grow their money. Even then, their basic business continued to produce the bulk of their gains; their investments usually produced only mediocre results by comparison.

There's a monumentally important lesson to be learned from the hundreds of millionaires that Dr. Blotnick studied for 20 years. The lesson is this: If you really want to become rich, invest in yourself first; invest in real estate, stocks, and other ventures later. Dr. Blotnick divided this into two stages:

· The first takes place when you're consumed by a business or profession that you enjoy so much that you would do it for nothing.

· After it pays you enough income, you enter the second stage. This is when you become a bona fide investor. You start thinking of and looking for opportunities to use your surplus income.

To set yourself and your career on track, evaluate yourself by answering these questions about:

liking your work:

· How much do I really like my job?

· Does my job bring out the best in me?

· Has it caused me to do more than I ever thought I could do? If you answered any of these questions in the negative, consider a job or career change.

determining if your work is right for you:

· How can I tell if I really like my work?

· How do I know if I'm doing my work right?

· How do I know if I'm doing the right kind of work?

The best way to determine that is to apply these test questions:

· What would I do for free?

· Am I enjoying my work so much that time seems to fly by?

· How would I like the work to be done if I were on the receiving end?

· What would I do if I didn't have to support myself, but did indeed want to work?

· What work would I do if my doctor told me that I had only five years more to live?

considering my financial rewards:

· Am I contended with my current income?

· Am I in position to influence a change in my income?

· What if the work I enjoy doing doesn't pay very well?

If you're satisfied with the first two, then I say, "Hang in there! You're on your way to becoming rich." People who became rich did so because they persisted. Only a personal involvement with what you enjoy doing will produce the kind of persistence that propels you out of bed in the mornings and makes you willing to work long and hard.

investing in yourself:

· Am I developing my skills, talents, and abilities?

· Have I made a plan that will help me to develop them?

· Am I constantly improving my relationship with others?

· Do I ask my co-workers for feedback about my performance?

Investing in yourself means developing both of these aspects: the technical knowledge you need in order to do your work effectively and the human relations skills you need in order to work effectively with others. Mr. Joseph Brooks, CEO at Lord & Taylor, once said, "If you love your work, and do it well, someone will spot that ... Let the quality of your work do it for you."

To become rich, do it your own way. Rely on your own talents, skills, and abilities. Invest them in a business or profession that you enjoy doing very much. Invest in your personal growth and development. Become the very best at what you do at your work even if it pays you little right now. If you really like what you are doing, eventually a fat salary will catch up with your reputation. The bottom line is persistence. Become an expert at relating well with others.

Remember: When you maximize your potential, everyone wins. When you don't, we all lose.

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7 Small Habits to Help You Handle The Overwhelm of Working and Living in the Digital World

“If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.”
George F. Burns

“Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention.”
Jim Rohn

Life today is quite different compared to when I was a kid in the 80’s and early 90’s. Back then I had a TV with just a few channels and later on a Nintendo videogame. That was it.

Today many of us have smartphones that we use to browse the internet, to work and to play games. We spend a many hours in front of computers and a part of our day is often spent online.

There is so much information these days. So many potential distractions and sources that seem to have made people more stressed, overwhelmed and unhappy than they were in the past.

Working and living in this age isn’t always easy.

So this week I’d like to share 7 habits that help me to keep my attention on what truly matters – both at work and in my private life – and at the same time minimize stress and overwhelm.

1. Shut off notifications.

To find focus the first simple thing to do is to shut off notifications in:
Your email client.
Messaging programs.
Social media and gaming apps.

Then get back to what truly matters without those pings hanging over you and distracting you.

2. Keep your smart phone far away for quality time/work.

The simplest way to not be distracted all the time by your smartphone is to put up small obstacles so you don’t have that easy and tempting access.

Here’s, for instance, what I do when I work:
I put the phone in silent mode.
I put it in another room at the other end of our home.
Then I check it a few times a day for calls and text messages.

We often do the same thing during the evenings and weekends to make sure that the time we spend together is quality time and not time spent being distracted.

3. Unplug or use an app to keep your focus on what matters.

When I write a new article or work on a course then I usually do that disconnected from the internet.

If that’s not possible for you then try a program or browser addon like for example StayFocusd or Cold Turkey Pro to temporarily block the sites where you know you tend to procrastinate and waste too much time.

4. Disconnect over the weekend.

Stay away from work and offline over the weekend. Leave your work phone at your job.

If that’s not possible keep things to a minimum:
Leave that work phone in silent mode and check it just every 24 hours over the weekend.
Do a quick 2 min check of email once a weekend (that’s what I do).
Reply only to the calls, texts and emails that are very important.Otherwise, let them wait until Monday.

5. Focus your information inflow.

Ask yourself:
What email newsletters in my inbox have I actually read and gotten something good out of in the past 30 days?
What podcasts I have listened to that have given me value in the past month?

You can ask yourself the same questions for magazines, blogs and forums and so on. Then take 5-15 minutes to unsubscribe to the ones that just clutter up your inbox, smart phone, bookmark list and shelves.

Time is limited. So is your attention.

So use both of them in a way that enriches your life and that focuses on only the best information sources. This very simple exercise can be surprisingly effective to get rid of mental clutter too and think more clearly again.

6. Stop comparing your life to someone’s high-light reel.

When you start comparing yourself and your life to what old classmates, friends and celebrities share on Instagram or Facebook and you each day see how perfect and wonderful their homes, kids, work and lives are then that can create a lot of stress and erode your self-esteem.

So what can you do if you get stuck in this habit?
Remember that what they share is usually just the high-light reel of their lives, the most positive moments. The other stuff that is a part of life happens too, you just don’t see it.
Focus on comparing yourself to yourself instead. See how far you have come, what you have learned and what you have overcome.

7. Remember the 5 little words for sanity: One thing at a time.

When you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the tabs open in your browser or missed messages, when you’re distracted by something while trying to have quality time with your loved ones and when the stress is starting to build up remember those 5 little words.

Breathe and let them help you to connect with this moment and with simplifying things. Use them to slow down, to find clarity in what you need to do and to resharpen your focus and attention once again.

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4 Components Towards Becoming A Better SELF

How can anyone become the best that he can be, unless and until he commits fully to enhancing his  or her personal persona? Whether one merely wants to take a true, objective, introspective look, or if he wants to perform to the peak of his potential, until one becomes ready, willing and able, to take an honest look at himself, it becomes nearly impossible to perform as well as possible. Far too often, many individuals proceed through life seeking to fool themselves into believing they were someone they were not! If you hope to become the best you can be, these four mnemonic components might help you become a better SELF.

1. The primary objective of maximizing potential is probably doing all we can to maximize our assets, so that we look at options from a position of strength rather than the far - more - often position of compromise and settling for good - enough! When we are strong, it permits us to focus on developing a systematic way to optimize performance. Combined with genuine and sympathetic mindset, we then become capable of developing the best strategy or strategic plan. When we look at things with confidence and expertise, we feel better about our-self because the experiences become far more satisfying.

2. While sympathy might be a genuine, needed emotion, we only grow as individuals when we utilize empathy. This means rather than merely feeling sorry for others (often after the fact), we get to better understand and appreciate their plans, priorities, preferences, and needs (in other words, we see things through their eyes). When we enhance our own education (not solely book - learning but actual expertise and development), everything we do becomes more enriching, which potentiates our energy, and thus produces our best efforts. Yet, it means we begin by committing to better knowing one's self.

3. Learning is the key to achievement. Only when we love what we do (and understand why we are doing it), are we willing to let others in, and thus objectively look deeper within ourselves.

4. Find your inner voice (and motivation), and then fully focus on what is most important and essential to you. Do you know how and what you truly feel? Then fight for your views, and become capable of freeing yourself from the obstacles and limitations created when you begin with pre - conceptions rather than open - mindedness.

How much impact and how good do you really want to be? When was the last time you took a genuine look within? Hopefully, using these four components will help you really, honestly, and objectively, know your SELF.

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10 Less Stressful Ways to Get Your Daily Work Done

“Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.”
Jose Ortega y Gasset

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Aristotle

It is early morning. You’ve had your breakfast and done your morning routine.

So you head out into your day. And in a short while you’ll sit down in school or at your job and get started with your daily work.

But how can you get that work done in a way that is less stressful, less energy consuming and simply a bit smarter?

Today I’d like to share 10 tips that have helped me with that. I hope you will find something here that will help you too to simplify and relaxify your own daily work.


Do just one thing at a time. It will help you to get your task all the way to done, to feel less stressed and confused and you’ll do a better job compared to if you multi-task things. And if you feel stressed and overwhelmed during your day then you can tell yourself this simple thing to regain focus and inner clarity again.

Keep a minimalistic workspace. It makes it easier to keep your focus and attention in the right place and to keep your thinking clear. I keep a workspace with just a small wooden desk, a chair and my laptop and a glass of water or mug of tea on that desk.

Go slow. One good way to do more focused work is to go a bit slower than you may usually do. I have also found that by just doing something at a slower pace it feels less like a mental burden and so I am less likely to procrastinate.

Eliminate. From time to time ask yourself: what one task during my day or week can I simply eliminate and not do with few or no consequences? It’s easy to just keep doing everything simply because “you should” or because you’ve always done so. So question how you go about things to free up energy and time. There is often room to at least simplify a bit through elimination.

Cycle 100% focused work with 100% full rest. This is a big one for me. By doing things this way you’ll help yourself to keep your mental sharpness and energy up for the whole day and workweek. I do this by setting my egg-timer for 30 minutes (or sometimes 15 minutes).
During those minutes I only focus on the one task at hand and it becomes easier to do so because I know that I only have to do it for this limited time period. When the egg-timer rings I leave my work for 5-15 minutes. During those minutes I focus only on resting by having a snack, taking a short walk or by relaxing with my eyes closed on the couch.

Don’t beat yourself up when things don’t go as planned. Instead, be kind to yourself and smart with your energy and ask yourself: what is one thing I can learn from this? Use what you can learn to do things better and to avoid making the same mistake in the future. It’s a better use of your time than spending it on regretting a past that you cannot change anyway.

Let emails and other online checking wait until the end of the workday. Or at least for a few hours. Don’t start your day with going through your email – if possible – because it can add a lot of stress and suck away your limited energy and attention early in the day. It can also make it hard to even find enough time for your most important tasks if you get too distracted by your inbox.

Limit your daily information input. Regularly unsubscribe to blogs, podcasts, forums and email newsletters that doesn’t add much value to your life anyway. Keep only the most helpful, funny, inspiring and best ones. This very simple thing can free up quite a bit of both time and attention during the course of a month.

Ask yourself questions every day that help you to find your focus.It’s so easy to get off track during a day. To stay on it or to get back there if you get lost use one – or both – of my own favorite questions:
What is the most important thing I can do right now? And what would I work on if I only had 2 hours for work today? If you like, write these questions down on a note and put that note where you cannot avoid seeing it during your day.

Focus mostly on the how to and not so much on the what-ifs.Don’t get stuck in analysis paralysis, overthinking and in the worry and lack of self-esteem that usually comes from those destructive thoughts. Instead, focus on what you actually can do, on what action you can take to move forward.
Empower yourself by asking yourself: What is one small step I can take right now to move forward towards my goal or out of this situation?

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7 Interesting Ways to Create Positivity At Work

This is a no brainer;

The key to the success of any company is productive and happy employees.

A positive work environment boosts the spirit of the workforce and helps the company to get the most out of every individual. When employees feel accepted and are encouraged, they are inspired to perform better.

A conducive environment at the workplace plays a quintessential role in enhancing the creativity of the employees. It also encourages innovation, which ultimately leads to the growth of an organization.

7 Ways to Create Positivity At Work

Since an employee spends so much of his time at work; a rigid and tough atmosphere can only create stress and make the work more challenging. Work doesn’t need to be a drag; instead the employees should feel delighted to be a part of the organization.

As a leader you can take numerous, small yet effective, steps to improve the psyche of the employees and create a positive working environment.

This article contains some interesting ways to create positivity at workplace, so your employees feel happy and are determined to give their best. Take a look.


1. Build A Team of Professionals

A workplace constitutes of the people who work there and hence the kind of people you hire has a great impact on your work.

The wise thing to do is hire the right people and let go of the bad ones. People who are professional and can work in a team help create a positive environment.

On the other hand, the one’s with bad attitudes can affect others daily performances as well. As they say one rotten apple can spoil the whole lot.

Therefore it’s important to make the right choice when building a team and although it is difficult to fire employees, you must let go of the wrong ones.


2. Pay Attention to the Décor

A person’s surrounding environment can have a substantial impact on his productivity.

A clean, comfortable and well-designed workplace affects the output and mood of the employees. Make an effort to create a relaxing atmosphere with well lit rooms, comfy furniture and some extra amenities.


A well decorated office can have an impact on the perception of your organization by the job seeker, potential business partners and even visitors.

Keeping the office organized, encouraging personalization of their work stations and providing a separate space to the employees for relaxation can work wonders.


3. Encourage Communication Among Employees

Most of the workplaces have cabins and cubicles. And employees spend most of their time at their computers. Human interaction is vital to encourage creativity and create a happy and pleasant environment.

Employees need to interact in order to solve problems effectively and quickly.

Having a large space where the employees can collaborate sparks creativity and motivates people to come up with innovative ideas.

Apart from eating together, holding fun activities every now and then can foster interaction and help build a positive relationship amongst the employees. You can also celebrate birthdays and other events to make the employees feel more accepted.


4. Replace Emails with Face-to-Face Conversations

In this digital era, we have become too dependent on technology. Emails have replaced personal communication as such employees hardly meet their bosses. As a leader, it’s important that your employees know you’re there for them.

You need to build a more positive relationship with employees, and face to face communication plays a major role in this. Talk to your employees and you will be amazed to see how it boosts their morale and encourages innovative ideas.

Also, try to appreciate your employees for their work in person instead of through emails. This is also a great way to get essential feedback, which can help improve the business.


5. Be A Leader Not A Boss

The perks of being a leader more than a boss are surprisingly wonderful.

Try replacing the “You should” while giving an instruction with “Let’s” and will notice a considerable difference in the dedication of the employees towards work.

When it comes to taking big decisions, leading by consensus can help you rally a team around a common goal and achieve much better results. Try to speak less and listen more, so that the employees get a chance to express their ideas.

This will make the employees feel as if they are working for themselves and not their boss.


6. Don’t Wear Out the Employees

Stress at work is never good for the performance and quality of work.

Employees who are overloaded with work feel stressed. They experience burnout and an imbalance between work and home. Which ultimately leads to negativity, absenteeism and decreased work quality.

Also, overload at work directly impacts the job satisfaction and usually becomes the prime reason for employees to quit their jobs. As such, it is crucial to give only what your employees can handle in terms of work.

If you are trying to increase production, you should so increasing the workforce and not by demanding one person to complete the work for two.


7. Be Thankful

Nothing works more magically than appreciation and encouragement.

Although, there are different motivating factors for different people including promotion and increment, but praise and recognition is craved by all.

Feedback on the work of an employee is the most efficient way to improve productivity and appreciation acts as motivation to give their best. Both feedback and appreciation are equally important to create a healthy work environment.

It leads to a positive reinforcement and improvement in performance as well as output. It’s important to make the employees feel valued and to show them that their work contributes to the success of the organization.


Conclusion
Mentioned above are just a few ways to create positivity at workplace.

There are several other ways to achieve this objective; including properly training the employees, being transparent about the policies and business matters, being flexible at the workplace and trusting the employees for their work.
Try to make these small changes at your workplace and you will notice a positive difference. How do you create positivity at work? Leave a comment below.

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