Tag Archives for " Goal Achieving "
What Can I Do to Help My Business During a Recession/Economic Downturn?
The economy is collapsing around you, customers are starting to drop and you are feeling scared for your business and life in general. What do you do?
Get instant access to your free
Just Get It Done! 12 Week Motivational Business Planner today
How Do I Get My Business Mojo Back?
What do you do when you just don’t feel the love for your business anymore, and you are thinking of walking away from it all?
Get instant access to your free
Just Get It Done! 12 Week Motivational Business Planner today
What Tasks Do I Make Priority in My Business?
So many things to do, so little time! What should you focus on as a priority to help progress your business?
To join our free Fempreneur Success Without the Stress Facebook group, click here.
Get instant access to your free
Just Get It Done! 12 Week Motivational Business Planner today
10 Ways to Find Extra Hours in Your Day
Not Enough Time in the Day? Find the extra hours you need to put your plans into action
How many times have you wished that there were extra hours in the day?
You have so many jobs to get done in your waking hours and little, if any, time left in the day to do the things you really want to do.
It’s so frustrating. By the time you get the chance to work on your own projects or goals, you are either too tired or can’t be bothered. So you eventually give up on the idea.
Miracle Workers or Superhuman?
You can’t help wonder, however, how other people are able to achieve so much in the time that we are given each day.
How can others find time for hobbies or to check items off from their ‘bucket list’?
How on earth do people manage to work, have kids and start up a side business?
That just sounds impossible and you wouldn’t be blamed if you thought that these people are either supernatural beings or they have a whole load of paid help that allows them to carry out so much in a day.The reality is that these people aren’t superhuman, they are just able to manage the same 24 hours in a more effective way than most people. It is that simple.Well, perhaps it’s not simple – but it certainly is a habit that you can develop and this is what you are going to discover in this post, so keep reading!
Daily Time WastingAlthough we complain that there are not enough hours in the day, we certainly would complain more if we actually did have more hours! We would feel the need to keep awake longer and we would be tired, lethargic and never get anything done as we are all guilty of procrastinating! Your days at work would be longer – not your free hours. This is not what you want. What you need is the ability to have more control over the hours that you do have in the day.What I mean by ‘control’ is that you make more conscious decisions over how you spend your time. Sure, you have to go to work, pick the kids up, cook dinner and do the housework, but can you do this more effectively? Are there other non-essential things that are eating up your time? Are you losing focus and getting side-tracked?Everyone is guilty of this, but this is the main difference between those who achieve and those who just think about achieving.Let’s take a look at how you can utilise your hours a little more effectively and perhaps reclaim some ‘lost’ hours in your day.
1. Turn the TV OffWith each programme lasting at least 30 minutes, it’s amazing just how much time TV eats up into your day.
Say you got home from work and turned the TV on at 6pm, then didn’t go to bed until 10pm – that’s 4 hours of TV watching per working day. That all adds up to 20 hours per working week!
At the weekend you may even watch more, as you turn on a film or reality TV show. Just think – that’s like sitting in front of the TV for at least one whole day each week! I’m not saying that you should dispose of your TV. I’m saying that you can be more mindful of what you watch and when.
Try watching less and be more choosy as to the programs you do watch.
Turn the TV off when the programme has finished so that you are not tempted to watch something else straight after it.
2. Pre-plan MealsPre-planning meals is a great time-saving exercise.
If you know what you are having to eat each evening, then you can pre-buy what you need in advance rather than having to go the shop every day to pick up what you can find. I don’t need to tell you how busy grocery stores can be at 5pm, when everyone leaves work and decides to pick up food on the way home!
Avoid the queues and the hassle by having a plan in place.
3. Have Groceries Delivered to YouWhere possible, have your groceries delivered to you. There may be a cost for delivery, but it will be small and worth it to recover the couple of hours it takes you to go shopping each week.
4. Learn to Say ‘No’Tempting as some invites may be, sometimes you need to say ‘no’.
The pressure may be on you to help out the PTA at the school fete, but remember that these events often eat up more time than you expect it to.
Don’t avoid everything – just be sure to have the time already available in your schedule. If you don’t have the time free, then you need to say ‘no’.
5. Switch Off Social MediaWe all spend far too much time on social media. We scroll aimlessly through various platforms and completely lose track of time.
Set yourself times each day to check your accounts. Set an alarm to remind you to close the apps down. Stick to these times and you will free up more precious time in your day.
6. Use Lunch Breaks WiselyOur lunch breaks are time away from work and a break for our minds. We can still use this time effectively, though.
For example, if you are studying, take 15 minutes of your break to read or revise over a subject. If you go for a walk on your break, listen to a podcast on the subject.
If you need more time when you get home at night, use your lunch break to make your phone calls, update your diary or draw up your weekly shopping plans.
15 minutes used wisely can really make a big difference – those 15 minutes all add up over days.
7. Smart TravelTravel takes up so much time in our days. You can still tap into this time and multitask!
If you are driving, try listening to a podcast instead of the radio/music.
If you travel on a bus or train, you can do the same, or read, update your schedules, and make plans.
8. Delegate TasksYou are not superhuman, and if you have a partner or family, you shouldn’t be expected to do all their tasks as well as your own.
Learn to delegate tasks, explaining that there are things that you need to focus on for yourself.
If your kids are a little older, start teaching them simple tasks they can do to help with the housework.
Think about hiring someone to help with your chores such as cleaning around the house and garden, and laundry. It may feel strange at first to pay for help, but you will have more time free to get on with achieving your dreams so you will soon get used to the idea!
9. Stick to Your ScheduleTake time to plan out what you need to do and when you need to achieve it by.
Share your schedule with your partner/family members so that they know what you are planning to do and when.
Try to stick to this schedule, saying ‘no’ where you need to.
Remember, it’s not being rude or selfish, it’s carrying out a commitment to yourself and taking the time out that you need to achieve it.
You would let others do the same, so now it’s your turn.
10. If the Task Doesn’t Compliment Your Goal – Avoid ItYour energy flows to where your focus goes. If you take your focus off of your goal, your energy will also be removed from it. This means that you will no longer be working towards achieving your dream.
Sure, not all tasks you do in a day will compliment your goal – but they will be necessary for other areas of your life.
Just be more particular in what you choose to focus on in your spare time.
If you are wishing to acquire a qualification, then focus on study and information around the topic.
If you want a new job, then focus your time on upgrading your resume and social profiles.
If you want to travel the world, then plan your itinerary, finances and what you need to pack!
So, these are my top ten tips for finding more hours in your day!
These are the tips that I use, and they work for me. Yes, it can be challenging, but always remember to keep your mind focused on the goal.To help you, I have created a planner that you can download. It will help you focus on what you can change in your day that will lead to more available hours for you to work on your dreams.
Download the planner here.Keep your focus – you can do this!
Get instant access to your free
Just Get It Done! 12 Week Motivational Business Planner today
STOP Procrastinating!
5 EASY steps to get you on track towards achieving your dreams (Plus FREE Workbook)
Woohoo! You have decided that this year is going to be different. Great!
You are so fed up with the same old challenges in life and want things to be easier. You need a change. You need to move forward. So, perhaps you decided this when the bells rang in the New Year, and just maybe you began to take action in January, and then it slowed a bit in February. Now you are in March, it’s just not happened and you have accepted, as you always do, that it’s just not to be just now. You might try again later in the year. You probably won’t.You had the thought. You had a good feeling about it. You put some energy behind it (possibly some time and money too), yet what are your results?Nothing. Nada. Not the tiniest of changes. This is so sad.What was the point of trying in the first place? It’s probably not for you, right? You are doomed to live the way you do for all eternity. Yes?NO! You just GAVE UP. You LOST THE FIGHT. You got DISTRACTED. You hated how HARD IT WAS to make the change.However, before you beat yourself up about it all, just know that you are certainly NOT ALONE.Procrastination is one of our biggest obstacles when we set out to achieve anything in life. There are so many reasons why we never seem to reach the end goal, so if you want to get back on track, let’s take a quick look into some of the reasons, and find out 5 simple and easy ways which will have you back on the road to success in no time at all.
1. You Gotta Have a Dream
When I speak to people about their dreams and desires for their life, 3 things can happen. 1. Some will look at me blankly. ‘You gotta be kidding? What dreams? What desires?’ is the look I get. These people can only see how they live right now and have given up all prospects of change or introducing anything new to their life. Although this may sound a sad outlook, I can easily understand why they may feel like this, as I have been there myself.2. Others tend to be shy or ashamed to admit that they have any dreams at all. They feel them foolish and something they would never achieve. It’s almost as if they don’t feel that they deserve to have dreams, or that it is wrong to dream and others may laugh at them for speaking out about them.3. Then there are those who allow themselves to dream. There is this magical moment when their eyes light up, a smile forms across their face and they can talk to me for ages about the visions that they have surrounding these dreams. Then almost as suddenly as it happened, the light switches off and they sweep the dreaming aside, dismissing it as if it never happened.Every one of us has a dream. A desire. Something that we want to achieve in life. How we nurture those dreams reflects whether they come to reality or not. People who refuse to dream, or feel the burden in life so much that they have given up dreaming, need to find a way to start. I appreciate opening up to dreaming again can be hard but dreams, goals and challenges are so important in life. They add interest to your day. They give us a reason for being. A sense of achievement and pride. They keep us going when life throws us lemons. What’s dreaming got to do with goal achievement? Well, quite simply, if you don’t allow your mind to be open to dreams you’re brain can’t put the physical work in so that you can achieve them.Dreaming’s a bit like watching a film. You know it’s not real. It’s a story that someone else has made up. You watch it though, and as you do, your brain is sold on it. For the time you are watching the film, your brain thinks it’s real. You jump at the scary bits or cry at the emotional twist at the end. You do this because your brain can’t really tell the difference between the film and reality. Watching and listening to the film your senses are sending messages to your brain, and your brain is reacting accordingly – real or not.When you allow your mind to wander and dream a little, you are planting the seed for your brain to get to work on discovering how you are going to achieve this dream.So don’t be shy about your dreams. Go ahead, enjoy taking time outside your real world and get your mind thinking that you are living your dreams already. Just like the song ‘Happy Talk’ (Rodgers and Hammerstein) says, ‘You gotta have a dream. If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?’Those who have dreams and follow them are more likely to turn them into reality.Achievement doesn’t just come by dreaming however. Read on to find out the next step.
2. Research the Facts
Before you start out on any journey, whether it is a physical or metaphorical one, you need to know how you are going to get from A to B.If you were taking a road trip, for example, you would decide where you want to go, how you are going to get there, what route you will take, how long it will take you, what you will need to pack, how much it will cost you etc.These are basic questions you will answer, and the more you find out in advance of your trip, the better you will be prepared for it and less likely to get stuck by running out of money, food or just getting lost and ending up somewhere else instead!The same principals apply to any journey we wish to embark on. For example, if you want to obtain a university degree, then you need to find out what universities offer the course that you want to do, how much it will cost, how long the course will take, how you will manage your time, what the qualification prerequisites are etc.By researching the facts you are taking the next step from dreaming to turning your dream into a possibility. You are finding out what it will take, and what you will have to do in order to achieve it. You are discovering which steps need to be completed so that you can move closer to obtaining your dream.The more you find out, the more you will be prepared for any hurdles that crop up, the more motivated you will become and the less likely you will give in to procrastination.
3. Self-Belief and Trust
The next major step, once you have acquired as much knowledge as you can, is to start believing that this goal can actually be achieved.You need to work on believing that you can accomplish this goal, and trust yourself to do it.I know that this might be easier said than done, but with perseverance, you can learn to cheer yourself on, just as you would others in a similar situation.You can practice positive affirmations or meditation to help you. Some people like to choose a song which has words that are motivational. Self-belief and self-trust are two crucial elements to achieving your goal – if you don’t believe and trust in yourself, then who will? The only person you need in order to achieve your goals is you. No one else is going to achieve them for you, so you better just get on with it and trust in your own super-powers that you will succeed!
4. Face the Fear
The biggest reason as to why we give up, often before we have even started, is because of fear.The fear of failure, the fear of embarrassment, the fear of pain, the fear of letting someone else down, even the fear of being successful.Fear is in your own mind. Many of our fears are ‘what-ifs’ and will never come to light.We all fear something.Successful people, however, take note of what their fears are, accept them, find out how they can combat them should they become a reality, then go out and do what they want regardless of the fear.Just like researching the facts of your dream, take a good look at the fears that you are holding on to that are stopping you from making progress. Be honest with yourself. Whatever fear you have, own it, find out how you can avoid it, reduce it, remove it or work with it. Figure out your worst-case scenario and work out a ‘rescue plan’ should it ever happen.Fight your fears. Don’t let fear be the reason to let procrastination get a hold of your dreams.
5. Take Action – Daily
We all procrastinate. Procrastinating means that you are putting off the action that you need to take in order for you to accomplish your goal. If you are really good at procrastinating, you will put off any meaningful action until the opportunity has passed.If it’s a chore that you have to complete, then you may initially feel relieved that you didn’t need to do it. However if this was an essential goal that would have helped you towards obtaining your goal, you will eventually regret your inaction.For example, if you need to study for that entry exam so that you get into the course you want, and you don’t bother until the evening before, you are going to feel panicked and pressured until the exam is over. You will feel really stupid for not using your time wisely and spreading out your revision over the weeks prior to this important exam. Should you not pass the entry exam, you will only have yourself to blame. To put it bluntly, procrastination kills off your dreams.I get that you can be sitting with your revision books and laptop in front of you, but just can’t seem to get into study mode. I get that.I get that you really don’t feel like studying.I get that right now you would rather be cleaning the loo, rather than open up one of those books and read it.I get that you can feel overwhelmed and not know where to start. I get that you are panicking inside, and there’s a little voice telling you to go make that 25th coffee of the morning. The thing with procrastination is that it becomes a habit. We let it run our lives. We listen to it’s negative voice in our head and it’s more attractive offers of putting the dreaded tasks off. That makes procrastination an ally to self-sabotaging our dreams.You must take action against procrastination, and you must do it on a daily basis.Just start by doing one little thing. You just have to choose the simplest, smallest of tasks, and make a start. Then the next day, do a little more, then a little more the following day and so on. Soon your new habit will be planning and organising what you are doing the following day, and looking forward to ticking off the task from your ‘to-do’ list (believe me, it becomes an addictive game very quickly!).Don’t break the habit. Make a promise to yourself that, until your goal is achieved, you will devote time and energy everyday to tasks that will help you achieve your goal. Remember that even committing to a smaller task on busier days will still contribute to your end goal. Something is better than nothing, and it’s good to keep taking smaller steps forwards.
Let’s get to work!
So, now you are in possession of 5 steps that you can use to stop procrastination from destroying your dreams.If you would like a little extra help putting procrastination back where it belongs, then download the workbook that I have put together to help you take things step by step.You can do this! Now, let’s get started!