Did you ever feel like you wanted to join the Procrastinator’s Club, but never quite got around to it? At some point in time, procrastination plagues us all, some more than others, but everyone at some point gets a bite from the bug.
We’ve all heard the quote, “Why put off till tomorrow what you can do today?” For some of us, this is the only motivation we need, while others struggle with putting things off for weeks, months, or even years.
Procrastination doesn’t have to be a way of life for you; you can overcome it. With a little focus and the right attitude, coupled with some practical tips and techniques, procrastination can be a thing of the past.
Here are five strategies you can use today to help you bite the procrastination bug back:
1. Set small goals. Many times, we feel overwhelmed with a task, so we continue to put it off until we have no choice but to complete it.
Now throw on all the new projects we received while we were putting off the first project, and you have a prime equation for some serious procrastination.
Setting small, quickly achievable goals can help you avoid procrastinating in the first place so you don’t get overwhelmed. Here are some tips for setting those small goals:
· Break your big project up into smaller steps. These steps can be completed systematically one at a time. Make sure you have well-defined end points for each smaller goal, that way you have something to keep you going.
· Setting small goals provides you a nonstop feeling of accomplishment as they’re attained. With each individual success, you feel better about yourself, and this motivates you to continue.
· Giving yourself break points allows you to focus on each individual task and takes the overwhelming feeling out of the job. In addition, they give you a prime place to get up, move around, and refresh yourself for the next step.
2. Avoid distractions. We all do it. We sit down to start working, but have to get back up and grab some coffee. Then we sit back down and check email, then voicemail, and then email again just to make sure no one sent a message while we were checking the voicemail. How long did that take?
· Try checking your email only twice a day instead of every 5 minutes. You need to have some time to focus!
· Get everything you want, need or think you need before you sit down to start working so you can concentrate.
3. Delegate. Start giving some of your responsibilities to others instead of hogging them for yourself and creating more stress. Stress leads to procrastination, procrastination leads to tight deadlines, and tight deadlines lead to more stress; it’s a vicious cycle.
4. Keep a list. A constant reminder of the things you absolutely need to do is a great way to avoid procrastination. A small pocket notebook or even a note card works wonders for list keeping.
· Keeping a list puts your daily to-dos in front of you at all times for quick reference.
· Include your small goals on your list. Get started early each day completing those small, easy goals. Doesn’t it feel great to scratch through the things you’ve completed? Before you know it, the whole list is marked off!
5. Turn it off. When you’re done for the day, shut down everything work related. Don’t take it home if you can help it. Turn your brain off at the end of your workday. By giving your brain a break, you help avoid over exhaustion and keep your mind fresh for the next day.
· Spend some time doing the things you love to recharge your batteries for the next day.
Pick one or two of these techniques and try them out for three weeks. Studies have shown it takes 21 days to form a habit and if you truly want to beat procrastination, you have to make productivity a habit.
When you’ve made a habit of one of the strategies, pick out another one, and before you know it, you’ll be the personification of productive!
Tags: Accomplishment, Achievable Goals, Attitude, Distractions, Focus, How To Avoid Procrastination, Job, Motivation, Procrastinator, Struggle, Way Of Life
Have you ever invested your time and emotions to build a relationship, only to see that relationship destroyed in a matter of minutes? When it was all over, and the dust settled, did you find yourself wondering, “What happened?”
Whether the relationship is in your business or personal life, strong relationships take time, attention, and energy to build, maintain, and nurture.
Relationships are important to everyone. As the saying goes, “No man is an island.” We need and depend on each other. Our relationships help define who we are and how we get along in the world. We’re often judged by the company we keep and our relationships are part of this.
Without relationships, a business cannot exist for long. Regardless of what type of business you have, you need good working relationships. At the very least, you need people to do business with! Forming healthy relationships with your customers and colleagues is an integral part of the recipe for success.
Additional types of relationships include family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, supervisors, mentors, and more. These relationships add layers of depth to your life. Each one can touch your life and make a difference, so you want to build and cherish these relationships as well.
Here are 5 essential keys to building healthy, profitable relationships:
1. Be Honest. People respond to honesty. In a world where people are often faced with scams and lies, honesty is a priority. The relationships you form with honesty as a foundation will be strong and powerful.
2. Apologize. If you’re wrong about anything or do something that offends or hurts someone, admit it. Everyone makes mistakes; after all, we’re all human. People respect you more if you admit your mistakes and apologize. Respect strengthens your relationships.
3. Stay in touch. Relationships require exchanges. In our world today, we have many options to communicate and improve our relationships.
· Face to face is always the best. Enjoy coffee, lunch, or just stop in for a chat. Not only are you communicating, but you’re also fully devoting your time to them as well.
· Letters and cards are a good way to stay in touch, and they remain special in this computer age full of quick text messages and impersonal emails.
· Emails are also appreciated, particularly when you give it the personal touch, but nothing says, “you’re important to me” like meeting in-person or chatting on the phone.
4. Recognize accomplishments. Let people know that you notice even their small accomplishments. Everyone likes to be noticed and recognized. It fosters good feelings and builds on your relationship when you give someone a well-deserved compliment.
· Let your co-worker know they did a great job on their presentation.
· Tell your client you noticed how well they’re doing in their business.
· Give your child a hug for doing a great job on anything!
5. Take a genuine interest in those you have relationships with. Don’t just serve up generic compliments from time to time. Ask questions. Showing an interest and remembering small personal details lets them know that you’re thinking about them and that you’re interested in their life.
· Learn from their experiences. For example, you can ask, “How did you do that?”
· Ask about what they’ve been working on.
· Inquire about their family, baseball team, or the new puppy.
Relationships add much to our lives. In our personal life, they can add the richness of friends and shared memories. In our business life, they can bring us success and recognition. Strong, healthy relationships are the founding corners of a rewarding life.
Relationships grow over time. While there are the rare finds where you instantly bond with someone, this is the exception rather than the rule. Be sure to follow these tips to build and nurture profitable relationships that will stand the tests of time and challenges.
Tags: Building Relationships, Co Workers, Colleagues, Emotions, Family Friends, Healthy Relationships, Honesty, Neighbors, Personal Life, Personal Relationships, Profitable Relationships, Recipe For Success, Working Relationships
Do you feel like you are always talking yourself out of success? As soon as you start to set goals for yourself, do you suddenly have nagging thoughts about how you aren’t up to the task or how you simply aren’t qualified to carry it through?
If you have ever experienced either situation, you need to change the way you respond to your inner dialogue. Instead of obeying your negative commands, you can use positive self-talk to counter the negativity and overcome nearly all anxious thoughts.
Setting Goals and Sticking to Them with Positive Self-Talk
Are you initially filled with excitement when you first set goals for yourself? Are these thoughts then followed by self-doubt and self-defeating thoughts that stop you in your tracks before you even get started?
It can be difficult to make the most of your life when you are constantly talking yourself out of being a success. It can be frustrating and discouraging to have these thoughts constantly plaguing you. Many of us, in fact, don’t even realize we have them! All we know is that we don’t have the confidence to stick to our plans and reach our goals.
But there’s another way!
Positive self-talk is an effective way to set goals and ensure that you stick to them, even if you have never been able to do this before. The way this works is that you decide what goal is important to you, and then you plan the logistics of how you are going to attain this goal. When self-doubt starts kicking in, you will respond with affirmations that prove your success without surrendering to the negative pressure. Since you’re reading this article, it’s clear that you’re no quitter and you’re certainly not a failure, so start believing in yourself!
Re-Programming Your Mind
Affirmations are essentially positive statements that re-program your mind for the positive. The moment you have a self-defeating thought you’d be able to counter the negative with a motivating statement. An example of a positive affirmation is: “I am worthy of great success,” or “I see myself in the winner’s circle.” What this does is replace negativity with thoughts that will help you move toward your goals instead of further away from them.
Positive self-talk is easier to implement than you might think. You may not be aware of the severity of the negative dialogue currently within your mind. However, once you begin with positive self-talk, you will suddenly realize that you are self-sabotaging the goals you set for yourself from the minute that you make them. This process can open your eyes to exactly how much this inner conversation has been interfering with your life. You’ll feel hopeful that you can now set goals and surpass them.
Through positive self-talk you will be able easily set long and short-term goals for yourself. And when you use affirmations, you’ll have accessible tools to help you push yourself further than ever before. Learning to quiet negativity with positive thoughts is a great move toward setting and attaining future goals with ease.
Tags: Anxious Thoughts, Confidence, Excitement, Inner Dialogue, Negativity, Positive Self Talk, Self Doubt, Setting Goals, Success
Let’s face it: we all have a bad habit or two that we would like to get rid of! Whether it be smoking, biting our nails, overeating, or a host of other afflictions, it may be easier to eliminate it than you imagine.
With a little perseverance, willpower, and determination, you can be free from that nasty little habit!
Here are five strategies that can help:
1. Commitment. Make sure this is something you truly want to accomplish. It’s wonderful to “talk the talk,” but you’ll need to back that up by “walking the walk” as well. Be honest with yourself. Do you truly believe that this is the right time to kick your bad habit? Remember, it has to be done for the right reasons.
· Don’t let yourself be pressured by others. Search your soul and be certain you’re doing this for only one person - you! It’s your time and energy you’ll be using to make your goal a reality, so make your decision carefully.
2. Start a journal. Jot down every time you practice your bad habit. This isn’t to be used as a punishment, but to give you more of an idea when your undesired behavior is occurring, so that you can better devise ways to break it.
· Include your thoughts and feelings that precede or accompany the behavior. This can give you an idea if you’re doing this when you’re under stress, bored, tired, and so on.
Though it may seem time consuming at first, recording these thoughts and actions can be a wonderful tool to speed up your success in breaking the habit.
3. Choose an alternative behavior. This behavior can either remind you of your desire to quit or be a permanent replacement of your bad behavior with a desirable one instead.
4. Start a replacement schedule right away. Start immediately replacing your bad habit with your alternative, but a gradual shift may work better for you than a complete change.
· You may want to start with once a week, then maybe twice week, then three times, until you’re consistently practicing your alternative behavior instead of the bad habit.
· Remember, this won’t happen overnight, so please practice patience. People learn different behaviors at a different pace. Don’t be discouraged if your best friend stopped smoking in three weeks and you’re on your fifth week and still craving a cigarette.
5. Don’t keep this a secret. If you’ve made the decision to break a habit, tell others. This is the time when you need the support of your family and friends to help you be successful.
· Whether you succeed or not, you’ve taken a major leap in a positive direction. That’s why it’s so important to share what you hope to accomplish with family and friends. Those who love you will be there to encourage you, offer support, and help you wherever they can.
Breaking a bad habit can be difficult, but it isn’t impossible. Use these techniques to make your journey easier, then celebrate your accomplishment when you’ve succeeded - you deserve it!
Tags: Breaking The Habit, Desire, How To Break A Bad Habit, Stress, Thoughts And Feelings, Walking The Walk, Willpower
If you’re having trouble sleeping, but don’t want to poison your body with harmful sleeping pills, there are a number of natural sleep aids you could try instead. Read on to learn more about the best natural sleep aids that could have you sleeping like a baby again in no time at all!
Why Can’t I Sleep?
Take a look at your daily routine and you may discover what’s causing your sleeping issues. Are you under a lot of pressure or stress? Have you changed your diet or used a new medication? These factors may be affecting your sleep pattern and may be the cause of your insomnia.
Here are three quick changes you can make that may help you get a better night’s sleep:
1. Avoid eating too close to bedtime. Your body needs ample time to digest your food before you sleep. The best time to eat your dinner is about 4 hours before your bedtime.
2. Avoid caffeine. Tea, coffee, and most sodas are full of caffeine, so avoid these drinks after lunch.
3. Avoid television and video games before bed. These are far too stimulating and you’ll find it much harder to fall asleep.
Natural and Organic Sleep Aids
Here are some of the best organic sleep aids available:
· Adding a drop of lavender oil to your pillow will help you fall asleep faster and sleep for a longer time. Lavender oil also works well in the bath. Taking a long soak in the tub with the essential oil will help you fully relax before bed.
· Chamomile, which you can drink as a tea, has an amazing calming effect and promotes better sleep.
· Chinese medicines & acupuncture can both help you get a better night’s sleep.
Create a Relaxing Environment
Your place of sleep is very important. You may need to transform your room into a more relaxing environment to help you sleep.
· Keep your room uncluttered with minimal distractions. Don’t watch TV or work in your bedroom. Instead, assign another room in your house for these activities.
· If you have a ticking clock or an alarm with a light up display, get rid of it. Rid your bedroom of as many electrical items as possible or switch them off.
· Set your thermostat for a comfortable temperature that’s conducive for sleep, and wear comfortable, loose fitting bedclothes.
· It’s best to sleep in a quiet, dark room, but this isn’t always easy to achieve. If light and noise are an issue, a quick fix is to sleep with earplugs and a sleeping mask.
Mind, Body and Spirit
It can be difficult to properly wind down from a busy, stressful day. Fortunately, there are three quick relaxation techniques that can help you transition into a more relaxed state and prepare you for sleep.
1. Meditation. You can practice this in bed before you sleep and it will help you drift off. You’ll be able to forget about your day and allow your mind to fully unwind.
2. Yoga. There are number of gentle yoga styles that focus on light stretching and breathing techniques. These only take 10-15 minutes and can be done just before bed.
3. Relaxation CDs. You can also listen to relaxation CDs to help you get to sleep. These range from soothing music tracks to the sounds of ocean waves. These sounds have a particularly relaxing effect and will also help you sleep more soundly.
A good night’s sleep helps to keep you healthy by giving your mind and body time to replenish. Follow these strategies to help you sleep well and wake up each morning feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead!
Tags: Acupuncture, Bedtime, Chinese Medicines, Daily Routine, Insomnia, Lavender Oil, Sleep Aids, Trouble Sleeping