Tag: affiliate marketing

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The Impact of Music on Productivity

Research shows that music can provide many benefits to your brain and overall cardiovascular health. It can increase your blood flow, making it easier to concentrate and relax. Increased blood flow protects your brain from memory loss, allows you to de-stress, and reduces inflammation that can damage your body’s healthy cells over time.

How to Find Your Most Productive Hours

Music even works the other way around for high blood pressure due to illness or stress. The key to music and productivity is that it makes you happier. It is creating a positive spiraling effect throughout your day.

 

Music impacts your productivity in many different ways, including: 

 

  • Boosts your performance and accuracy.
  • Improves your focus, motivation, and inspiration.
  • It releases dopamine improving your mood.
  • It stimulates your brain and improves your energy levels.

 

Music can be incredibly beneficial, however, too much of it, or wrong implementation, just like anything, can have detrimental effects.

 

Tips to keep in mind when playing music:

 

Choose the Right Song

Find the tune that is right for you and the work you are doing. If the tempo is wrong for your needs, you can accidentally make a mistake. If the song is too slow, you will soon see yourself at the same pace or fall asleep; too fast, and you may start dancing instead of working. You must pay attention to your feelings and the thoughts that are going on for the music to work on your side.

 

Be Mindful of Your Tasks

In other words, some tasks require your complete and undivided attention to do safely and correctly. Be mindful of which tasks you are doing and carefully evaluate them to ensure your music doesn’t prevent you from doing your best.

 

Take Notice When It’s Not Working

Music only works if the person who is listening to it likes it. Keep this in mind. If you slow down because the tempo is slow, or it irritates you, or even because you like it too much, immediately change the music or request to turn it off, just like with anything, especially technology – it only works if the user knows how to use it and pays attention to their actions while being mindful.

 

Make Sure It Promotes Happiness

While it may not feel like it, the music is actually what’s making you productive. It’s the fact that the music is making you feel and be happier. This is why it’s so important to pick the right song and keep it personal. If it doesn’t make you happy, you likely will slow down and produce the opposite results.

 

As you can see, as long as you pick the right music, it can lead to happier and more productive days. Next time you get to work, put on a good steady beat and see just how much faster you get things done.

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Deprioritize Non-Essential Tasks: Know What’s Important

Proper time management skills, high productivity, and achieving your goals all require knowing when and how to deprioritize. Just because you do everything or are extremely busy every day does not mean you are being most productive or will be successful one day.

 

Efficiency and high productivity stem from understanding that the effort you put in should equal the same or more output. Every time you work, if your actions don’t chip away at your tasks helping you reach your goals, you are not the most productive – you’re just busy.

 

The following tips will help you learn to deprioritize the right tasks so you can run a more successful business:

 

Goals First Tasks Later

In other words, when you create your daily to-do list, you should keep in mind your goals first. For example, don’t organize your day to leave easy tasks last unless it makes sense for your business and overall plan for that day. Think about your most important goal, then organize your actions or tasks around it.

 

Understand the Value of Your Time

Twenty-four hours a day may seem like a lot when you look at it numerically, but it goes by quite fast in realistic terms. For eight hours, you need to sleep, and then you only get sixteen hours left to share between work, friends, family, fun experience, and your life.

 

You can’t be bogged down constantly by things that don’t matter when you don’t have that much time to spare between everything and everyone. Highlight the essential tasks that get you closer to your dreams. Learn when to say no. Remember, you are missing opportunities when you spend all your time on one thing.

 

Start with The Most Obvious

What brings you pain, discomfort, and anxiety? Are there people in your life that only bring you stress and frustration?

 

Be sure the answers to these questions are not the first thing you are trying to do each day. For example, if a friend only keeps you distracted from your goals, stop going to breakfast with them every morning or being around them in general.

 

They are not worth your time and value. If you know checking emails, first thing in the morning will throw off your whole day, leave them for last or outsource it. Just because you put something at the bottom of your list doesn’t mean you can’t get back to it eventually or let someone else handle it.

The Secrets to Time Management and Why You Need It

In the end, if you want to have more time to focus on the things that truly matter to you, then take a moment to evaluate each area of your life and make sure your focus is on the right priorities. Start with your calendar right now. Are they a good use of your time?

 

 

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Be More Accountable and Consistent, Share Your Goals

If your goals are a secret, are you really making much of a commitment? Keeping your goals from others is a direct path to failure. You are essentially living a lie by not sharing.

This doesn’t mean it should be the only thing you talk about, but if you don’t share them, you likely are not doing the right actions to achieve them. You are allowing other people to get in your way of success. You need to share your goals so you can be more accountable, consistent, and successful.

 

The following are five ways that will help you be more accountable and how it leads to a more prosperous life:

 

Blog or Vlog About It

Share your goals or progress by developing and editing videos and posting them to YouTube or other social media platforms.

 

Tell Your Friends, Family, and Co-Workers

Pretty much let everyone know about your goals and aspirations. However, don’t let this be your only focus. Just let them know when the time is right so you can be sure to stay on track.

 

For example, don’t be afraid to let your co-workers know you started a new diet. Not only will they want to encourage you to do better, but they might also even join in. Making the process even easier for you. If you keep it to yourself, though, you could set yourself up to fail and join in on take-out during lunch.

 

Surround Yourself with Like-Minded People  

Not only is this a great way to keep you consistent and accountable, it can also be a great source of motivation to do and be better at sticking to your goals. Different people can also provide new information and perspectives that give you more knowledge to perform better or think more positively.

 

Find an Accountability Partner

If you don’t like the idea of telling everything, then an accountability partner is your next best option. Pick a person who is fully willing to say to you how it is – even if it hurts. Accountability partners only work if they want to help and don’t enable you instead.

 

Get A Coach or Mentor

A coach or mentor is like a glorified accountability partner. They are packed full of knowledge, education, and experiences to help you be a better person. They won’t be afraid to tell you how it takes to get where you want to be.

 Are You Being Realistic About Your Goals?

To live the life you desire, by becoming a goal crusher through productivity, you need to commit to it. Letting others know is the first step towards a successful commitment to achieve the life you want. Otherwise, you will only permit yourself to stay on the wrong path.

 

 

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How and Why Getting Rid of Things That You Don’t Need Frees You

If you want to live a more organized and easy life, have less. When it comes to success and overall happiness, less is more.

 

Getting rid of things that you don’t need frees you because it: 

 

Promotes Clarity and Focus

When there are things not put in their place or disorganized, your brain can feel the same way. Confused and lost as to where it should go or look at. Getting rid of these extra things mean you no longer have to worry about making sure they fit.

 

This is why many productive people get into the habit of clearing off or decluttering their workspace. They are not constantly distracted by the things around them that are generally not there, nor do they have to think about having to do that chore anymore.

Promotes Positive Energy and Inspiration

When you remove distractions, unnecessary tasks, or people in your life causing you pain, it only makes you want to keep going forward. You finally get to see how much better life is without the pain and frustration—the power of saying no and taking control of your life breeds positivity and inspiration.

 

Here are a few quick tips and tricks to help you get rid of things you don’t need:

 

Streamline Your Business and Personal Objectives

Getting rid of things doesn’t have to be about material possessions. It can also be clunky processes or systems at work that are making you lose sight of what you care about.

 

Start Small and Categorize

Start with the smallest area in the room or department in your business and take it slow. You don’t need to do this all-in-one day to feel the benefits. The more time you give it, the more efficient you will be and the more benefits you will reap. Donate the things that don’t provide you value or are just sitting around. What are the things you don’t ever use, touch, or often save for last?

 

Take Notice of Your Emotions or Mood

If a task, person, or thing affects your mood to the point where you are bitter, sad, angry, or irritated every time you do it or are around them, you must rid these things or people from your life.

 

While you can’t use this strategy every time you feel discomfort, it should be used when you can’t get it off your mind or move on with your day, week, or worse years. You can always outsource the work or have technology do it for you instead for a low monthly price.

 

No person is worth keeping around that destroys your mental peace either. Even though possessions are most commonly what people get rid of, they are often not the real culprit to their problems. People are.

 

As you can see, getting rid of things is a great way to de-stress and reorganize your life. You don’t need to be caught up with the newest and most significant thing to feel happy. In fact, it only keeps you further away from your goals.

 

 

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5 Rituals to Boost Your Energy and Productivity

Wish you had more energy throughout your day to get each and everything on your to-do list done? You are not alone. Many people, tiny business owners, and entrepreneurs struggle to keep up.

 

Here are five rituals to add to your daily routine that will boost your energy to live each day more productively:

 

Sleep for 7 to 8 Hours Every Single Night

You can’t have good energy and be productive if you don’t get sleep. You may think you function great off 4 or 5 hours, but science doesn’t support this. You are more like a walking zombie. Even one to two hours less than a full night’s sleep of 8 hours can reduce your productivity by up to nineteen percent.

 

Getting a full night’s rest also affects your overall mood, health, and outlook. Your sleep pattern and routine are the first places to look when living a more productive life. Sleep and proper food equal optimal energy. Without both of those, you can’t expect to feel optimal.

 

De-Clutter Before You Get to Work

Nothing is better for freeing your mind than getting rid of clutter and ensuring your workspace is organized. When chaos is around, your brain will feel cluttered too. That will affect your work more than you may realize. Practice decluttering or quickly picking up everything before you get to work. It’ll be one less thing you will have to worry about later. Giving you clarity, focus, and peace to do your work right.

 

Meditate or Stretch with Sunlight

Your body requires vitamin D to feel optimal, and the best way to get that is through natural sunlight. Start each morning off with a short five-minute meditation routine or stretch outside or with your blinds open in the living room. As you clear your mind and de-stress, the sunlight will wake you up and energize you for the day.

 Avoid Burnout: How to Exercise and Sleep More

Wake Up Early and Get Moving

Science has shown that those who are early to bed and early to rise are healthier. They have smaller waist sizes and have longer life expectancy than those who refer to themselves as “night owls.”

 

Even if you feel like you may be a night owl, you can change your habits and morning routine to become one. Try going for a walk, light jog, or practice yoga to wake you up. The workout will provide you a boost of energy to help you work efficiently and allow you to get a full night’s rest once the day is over.

 

Never Skip Breakfast

Breakfast is when your body finally gets a moment to refuel after a long rest. It needs healthy fats, sugars, proteins, and other vital nutrients to be strong and alert. If you feel like you suffer from a lot of mental fog, especially in the mornings, your diet is probably to blame.

 

Watching motivational videos before you get to work or accomplish your goal, always taking a lunch break, or any repeatable task that benefits your life are good rituals to adopt if you want to be more productive. Remember, consistent, repeatable actions get you to the finish line.

 

 

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The Importance of Continued Learning in Life and Business

There is one thing that is certain in life, and that is change. You can always bet that something will change throughout your life, big or small. While change may be scary and uncomfortable to most, there is also a beautiful and different side. The chance to learn and gain something new, an opportunity you should always take no matter what.

 

Reasons to keep learning for a lifetime:

 

To Increase Your Confidence and Motivation

A lot of anxiety or fear stems from a lack of knowledge. If you strive to learn something new as often as possible about your niche and the world at large, you will empower yourself to do better, thus making you believe in yourself, and boosting your confidence while giving you the knowledge to be successful.

 

To Keep Up with Your Competition

Do you remember when Netflix used to mail DVDs to your house before there were streaming companies? If you don’t know, that’s okay too because Netflix did precisely what they were supposed to do to power through their industry and be the leader. Netflix saw a change in technologies and tried to understand and learn new ways to improve its business model.

 

They now lead their industry by streaming movies and television shows straight to your T.V. and skipping the mailbox altogether. They would become the next Blockbuster, whom Netflix and Redbox destroyed with their mail-in service if they didn’t. Something Blockbuster adopted a little too late and ultimately had to shut down.

 

To Fully Understand Your Potential

Learning unlocks skills and resources about yourself that you would have never discovered if you didn’t make an effort to do so in the first place.

 

To Run A Realistic and Successful Online Business

To be successful and keep up with an online business, you must continue learning new technologies, software services, and social media platforms. If not, you will undoubtedly stay behind the crowd and won’t get any foot traffic you may be used to with a brick and mortar store. Even brick and mortar stores have to keep up with social media and techniques as more and more people stay indoors or work from home.

 

To Create the Job or Life You Want

There are so many different paths, careers, or choices to make in life that it is impossible to know them all. You will discover this and unlock worlds, ideas, values, and inspiration you never knew existed when you learn—giving you the knowledge and more choices to live the way you want.

 

In the end, education, knowledge, and experiences are fun and rewarding. They, together with practice, are vital for growth, understanding, and compassion for the world. Education and learning provide no consequences if you want to accomplish your dreams and be more productive. Keep reading, experimenting, and jump out of your comfort zone to learn and gain more knowledge.

Are You Being Realistic About Your Goals?

 

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Top 7 Productivity Tools to Try

If you haven’t started automating some part of your business yet, then you are already behind. Tools and technology make business more accessible and ultimately increase your productivity so you can earn more money or crush more goals. Technology keeps you organized and consistent, allowing you to keep up with your competition.

 

Give these seven tools a try today to increase your business productivity:

 

#1:Trello

Trello is an online, cloud-based project management system that allows you to work anywhere with an internet connection. Create message boards, lists, cards and organize or delegate tasks to different team members.

 

#2:Dropbox

Cloud-based software that allows you to save and share files from any location. Dropbox is an excellent option for businesses that need to share, transfer, or save large files like video production.

 

#3:Zapier

Connect all your different applications to automate your workflow instantly. This application moves information from different social media platforms, email applications, and more. Choose your medium and trigger and watch Zapier do the work for you. For example, anytime someone signs up for your Facebook event, you can tell Zapier to send them a message automatically.

 

#4:Wave

Every business requires accounting, and that’s precisely what the Wave app makes a little bit easier. Create professional invoices, track your business expenses, incoming revenue, pay employees and instantly generate essential business reports.

 

#5:Evernote

Evernote is more than just a notepad. It saves your text, images, files, to-do lists, and more all in the same place to keep track of new business ideas or important events and information.

 

#6:Pushbullet

If you feel like you are juggling with too many devices, smartphone, tablet, desktop, and laptop, then Pushbullet is right for you. It connects all your devices making them easier to use and seem as though you only have one. Get notifications, check your emails, send links, text messages, or files, chat with friends, family, or co-workers all from one device.

 

#7:Todoist

Keep all your to-do lists, and never forget an appointment or important assignment again with Todoist. Todoist provides features that allow you to easily organize and prioritize your most important tasks, from creating the family budget or weekly grocery list to updating important business routines and strategies or instantly share your lists or delegate tasks to your team.

 Tools and Tips to Help You Automate Email Marketing

Don’t be behind anything longer. Find the right tools and technology for your business to be more productive. Start by adding just one of these productivity tools to your daily routine. Remember, technology will only go as far as you allow it. Learn how to use it right and give it time to see the rewards and benefits.

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How Sleep Impacts Your Productivity

American businesses lose an estimated $60 billion of revenue yearly simply due to poor sleep. A Baltimore sleep study in 2018 found that those who received less than a whole night’s rest of 7 to 8 hours of sleep regularly had significant productivity loss.

 

Anywhere from 19 percent less for those who got five hours of sleep and up to 39 percent for those who got even less sleep – showing just how important even one to two hours of sleep can make.

 

The numbers got worse if the employee experienced insomnia, snored, or have sleep apnea. Poor sleep and other factors contributing to your health affect every part of your body and your business. It compromises your memory, decision-making and problem-solving skills, mood, performance, bone, organ health, and more.

 

Proper sleep as well as adopting a good diet and exercise routine prevents:

 

  • Burnout – Sleep deprivation is the number one cause of burnout. You must rest to expect your body to work at its best.
  • Lowering Your Life Expectancy – Being sedentary, not getting enough or getting too much sleep, and getting the wrong foods can ultimately lower life expectancy. You can significantly increase your life expectancy by fueling your body appropriately, exercising at least thirty minutes a day, and getting eight hours of uninterrupted sleep per night.
  • Memory Loss – When you get the right amount of sleep, you can improve your ability to remember things and learn. Sleeping well gives you the mental clarity to make better decisions and perform at your best.
  • Mistakes or Injuries – Sleep deprivation leads to mental and physical impairments that can cause poor decision-making and accidents that create significant consequences like lost revenue or, worse, your life.

 

Three Tips to Help You Get More Sleep:

 

  1. Exercise and Diet – As annoying as it is, always to hear this, exercise and diet are the most important if you want to get a whole night’s rest or live a healthy life. Most problems stem from a poor diet and exercise routine.
  2. Avoid Stimulants – You may be drinking too many cups of coffee in your morning, which is easily crossing over into your sleep time. Start reducing your coffee intake; no more than 2 cups a day or less.
  3. Stay Consistent – Pick a nighttime routine and set a time and stick to it. Eventually, your body acclimates, and you’ll soon want to go to bed without you even trying.

The Areas of Life You Need to Design for Success

If you want to live your most productive life, feel better about yourself, your body, mental and physical well-being, you must sleep. Your business success and health depend on it.

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6 Habits That Are Destroying Your Productivity

Are you constantly scratching your head at the end of the day, wondering why you feel like you worked so much to get nowhere? The good news is that you are not alone, but unfortunately, there is bad news too.

 

The bad news is the habits you have adopted over time are killing your productivity. It doesn’t matter how busy you are. If you are not doing the right tasks to complete the job, you will never get it done.

 

Here are six habits that are destroying your productivity that you must end today:

 

Doing Everything at The Same Time

Most tasks require your undivided attention to get done and get it done well. Stop multitasking and expecting too much from yourself at all given times. You are not productive. You are only causing unnecessary stress, confusion, and poor-quality work.

 

Avoiding Technology or Using Too Much

Are you still keeping track of your bills, inventory, and tasks on paper? That is slowing you down too. Utilize technology where appropriate but be sure not to overdo it. Technology can be great until it becomes a distraction instead.

 

Not Following A Schedule or Routine

While it can seem like a business owner waking up and going with the day’s flow would be fabulous, the truth is, it’s not great for business or productivity. Routines and schedules make your day easier and help guide you in the right direction. When you have a clear idea of your goals and what to do next, you can get it done faster and with more confidence.

 

Poor Sleep and Diet Choices

It’s not something anyone wants to hear or admit to, but your diet and exercise routine has a direct reflection on how you perform throughout your day. Your work, business, relationships, and mental state are all affected by what you do and eat, negatively and positively. You’ve already heard the common phrase “you are what you eat,” and it’s true. Too much sugar and not enough nutrients from your diet leads to mental fog, body pain, and fatigue that can negatively strain your overall performance.

 Avoid Burnout: How to Exercise and Sleep More

Poor Communication Skills

Too much back and forth and confusion takes away the time you need to get work done efficiently. Not only that, poor communication means it’s likely not getting done correctly either. You are only pushing your schedule back and getting you off the path.

 

Poor or Distracting Work Environments

Working at a coffee shop or home is a dream come true for many entrepreneurs, but they quickly learn it comes with many challenges. If you are easily distracted, your work environment needs to be completely free of distractions.

Being busy and thinking that busy means productivity is also a bad habit. That thought process must be changed. Break your bad habits now so you can work less and do more.

 

 

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Get Your Goals into Your Calendar

Accomplishing your goals requires action. Stop waiting for the perfect time. You can create the perfect time. Pick a time relatively soon and realistic to your goal needs and put that goal into your calendar.

 

This means you need to:

  • Pick a start date and time for your ultimate goal
  • Set proper and realistic deadlines
  • Fully understand the tasks needed to reach your goal
  • Then schedule times and deadlines for each task required to reach your ultimate goal.

 

Adding your goals to your calendar forms a sense of commitment and re-establishes your sense of purpose or direction. It develops healthy routines and habits that inspire you to stay on track and keep you working towards your goals. It’s a great way to create instant motivation. When you can see it, you are more likely to want to get it done.

 

Essential Things to Keep in Mind When Goal Setting:

  • What is the end or ultimate goal?
  • How much time do you need? Have you timed yourself doing these tasks before? What if you don’t get as much sleep?
  • Are there things that could protentional go wrong or get in your way?
  • Who needs to do it? Can you complete each task or do some things that require help from others?
  • Group similar tasks and utilize technology to work more productively and save you time.
  • Get the most crucial items out of your way but keep in mind that little tasks add up over time.
  • Once you set a time, stick to it and don’t permit yourself to change it.

 

These are important questions and tips to keep in mind so you can pick the right deadline for your goal. You don’t want to create the opposite reaction and turn your goal into a nightmare because you took on too much work too fast. Slower is better than rushing it and pushing out shoddy quality work or products.

 

Research shows that more time is better for creativity anyways; however, just like too little time can have the opposite reaction, so can too much time. You must be realistic and take the time to evaluate. On the other hand, get going. Don’t wait or sabotage yourself any longer.

What Methods Work Best to Ensure You Make Your Goals?

The most productive and successful people utilize their calendar any moment they can.

Overall, the number one tip to achieving your goals and improving your time management skill and productivity is setting deadlines, adding them to your calendar, and then sticking to them. The more you schedule, the more you will achieve.