Tag: Marketing tools

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Essential Elements of The Realistic Optimist

If you want to be more productive, striving to be more of a realistic optimist might be the strategy for you. If you ask a successful entrepreneur what values or attitudes you should project, realism and optimism will likely be high on their list. An optimistic mindset should always be filtered with realism to see success. You can be a positive person all day long, but that doesn’t mean you will get what you want if you don’t act.

 

Here are a few tips to help you become a realistic optimist:

 

Unrealistic Vs. Realistic Optimist: Understand the Difference

One of the best methods to learning how to do something is to discover what not to do first. Being positive is great and has many benefits but doesn’t do anyone favors if it’s unrealistic. Toxic positivity only keeps you back and focused on the wrong things.

 

The distinction between a realistic optimist and an unrealistic one is their actions and their perspective on the world. Unrealistic optimists believe they will have success no matter what, even if they don’t work on it. They deserve and are owed success and the path to it won’t be complicated or challenging.

 

Realistic optimists are the exact opposite. While they too believe their life will be successful, they understand it is still up to them to realize that they have to seek knowledge and education, recognize mistakes, improve skills, and go after their dreams. They don’t wait around for it to come. They are proactive and always take on new challenges because they see them grow and gain more.

Changing Your Mindset: Attitude is Everything

Keep It Positive but Relevant and Attainable

An optimist is someone who is hopeful and confident about their life and the direction it will go. They believe that the world is ultimately good, and that evil will never prevail. While it sounds great, it’s not very practical on its own.

 

The world may be ultimately good, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be hard or challenging, which is why you need realism to balance it out. Realism makes sure that the plan you are taking is relevant to your ultimate dreams and ultimately attainable.

 

Only Focus on What You Can Control

One of the main objectives of a realistic optimist is to only focus on and control what you can. There is no point in ruminating or overthinking something that you have no ability to change.

 

You can’t change the weather; you can’t control people’s emotions, but you can control how you respond and which actions you take or don’t to get around it. You know the weather can change at a moment’s notice, so always have a plan B, for example.

 

Use these tips to be more positive and realistic to achieve maximum productivity, happiness and never miss any opportunity.

 

Changing Your Mindset: Attitude is Everything

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Quit These Bad Time Management Habits Now

Adopting the right time management habits and routine for your business is essential for maximum productivity. Obviously, if you don’t have the time or can’t manage it appropriately, you will always be behind.

 

Here are five common bad time management habits you must quit now for better business success:

 

Creating Variable Deadlines

If your deadlines are not strict or hard, then you are only doing yourself a disservice and further using up and wasting time. More so than if you didn’t set one in the first place. Every time you move that deadline, you use adequate time to focus on action instead. Set firm ones to keep you on track and find the discipline you need to be a business owner.

 

Utilizing the Wrong Tools or Too Many

Tools are great until they are not. With any technology or resources, even if they work great for others, it doesn’t mean it will automatically be right for you. Each person and business is unique and needs to be studied, tried, and tested.

 

Doing Easy Tasks First

Don’t use your most productive time on easy or brainless tasks. Just because it’s easy doesn’t mean you should get it out of the way. Use these tasks at the end of your day, or when you don’t need to focus on a bigger or better project that brings you closer to your main objectives.

How To Manage Your Energy

Just imagine you start your workday full of energy, ready to tackle your most demanding project but then fall into the never-ending rabbit hole of emails. Your energy is drained before you know it, and now you have to slug through your work to reach your deadlines. Affecting the quality of your work and likely decreasing your willpower. Making you create excuses to give you permission to change your deadlines and delaying any results that truly make you productive.

 

Zero Time Tracking Tools

If you are not tracking the time it takes you to complete each task, you are not planning appropriately. Effective time management and planning include understanding precisely the time you need to get it done and then applying fifteen to twenty extra minutes to account for the unexpected.

 

Being Someone That You Are Not

Trying to go after all the latest trends or following the advice of everyone around you constantly without taking a break, being dishonest with yourself, and not being true to yourself is a recipe for disaster.

 

Their habits may work for them, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be the most valuable or comfortable for you too. If you keep doing things just because everyone else is but unhappy and uncomfortable about the process, your business and customers will see it too. Always be honest with yourself and keep the journey more personal for more success.

 

Don’t let these bad habits control your life. You have what it takes to do and be better as long as you put in the work and take a moment to reflect.

 

 

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6 Steps to Quarterly Planning for Increased Productivity

Quarterly planning is a strategic productivity hack that organizes your goals and objectives into a 90-day action. This method is designed to help you accomplish more goals in less time.

 

Here are eight steps to quarterly planning so you can better manage your time and increase your productivity:

 

Step 1: Start with A Clear Vision

Define your idea of success, dreams, and aspirations you wish to achieve for your business. Visualize what you want for your business and life. If you have already developed a business plan, then this should be pretty easy to get started.

 

Step 2: Set Your Dates

Choose the quarters you want to work in. Ideally, these quarters or 3-month periods should be set to make sense to your business and its processes. Keep in mind your busy seasons, when your customers have the most revenue or problems to solve, or any other important information that could affect the flow of business.

 

Most businesses and organizations use the quarterly schedule as following:

 

  • Q1 – January 1 to March 31
  • Q2 – April 1 to June 30
  • Q3 – July 1 to September 30th
  • Q4 – October 1 to December 31st

 

Step 3: Outline Your Main Objective

Now that you have determined your quarter dates, you need to develop three main objectives you wish to work on for the next three months that each can be accomplished within three to four weeks. These main objectives should get you close to your vision and idea of success that you set in step one.

 

Step 4: Create Action Steps, Deadlines, and Set Priority Levels

Develop three to four action steps that allow you to accomplish the main objective you set for that month. Be clear of the resources you need, what values and morals you need to instill for success, your strengths, and weakness and what obstacles may get in your way.  Then set deadlines and a priority level of high, medium, or low. This way, you know which action to take to get you where you need to be and on time.

 

Step 5: Be Mindful and Keep Track

Be mindful of your actions, practice discipline, and track your results for real success. Be realistic.

 

Step 6: Stop, Evaluate and Repeat

You can’t have a successful plan if you don’t take the time to evaluate. You need to make sure it is optimized for your goals and business success. Ask yourself open-ended questions and reflect on the actions and goals you accomplished. Keep in mind your emotions and feelings while doing it too. All successful plans change and grow over time.

 

If you haven’t already changed to a quarterly schedule yet, then use these six steps to get started in no time and reap the benefits before it’s too late.

Outsourcing: The Key to Success for The Life Affirming Entrepreneur

 

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Better Goal Setting Tips for Maximum Productivity

Research shows that setting the right goals increases your success by as much as twenty-five percent. However, you can’t just set any goal. You need to align and refine them to specifically suit your needs and the direction you want your life to go.

 

Here are the five goal setting tips you need to improve and be more successful in life and business:

 

First Imagine Your Ideal Life

Block out all distractions, everyone else’s opinions, what you currently have, what career path you’re on, and where your life is presently going, and imagine for a moment your perfect and ideal life. Where would you like to live? What activities would you be enjoying outside of business? How much work would you be doing to get there?

 

These are all important questions and things you need to evaluate to be sure you are creating the right goals to achieve happiness. Just because something is popular, or you already went to school for something, doesn’t mean you need to keep doing it or can’t change up your plan. Reflect and understand who you really are and what you want.

 

For example, if you would like free time with your family or enjoy the “four-hour workweek,” then you must do hard work now and set your life up with the right goals and action plan to get there. You can’t expect that kind of life working as a brain surgeon to give you a different perspective.

 Building a Freedom Lifestyle

Think Quarterly, Weekly and Daily

All goals require more goals or action steps to get them done. Think about the big picture or objective you need to achieve. Then break it down into weekly and daily goals that you can get done within 90 days. Research shows that 90 minutes is the perfect amount of time to get big things done while using your time more while avoiding rushing.

 

Keep Them “SMART” And Prioritize

As stated earlier, picking just any goal isn’t the right strategy. While it still increases your success more than going with the flow, you can get even more out of it by giving it more focus. In other words, a vague goal will produce lackluster results when you could get even more value by working on them a little harder.

 

A common and successful way to do this is to follow the mnemonic acronym, S.M.A.R.T:

 

  • Keep them specific and to the point.
  • Make them measurable.
  • They need to be attainable.
  • Keep them relevant and realistic.
  • They must be time-sensitive.

 

Establish Strict Deadlines

All goals must come with strict deadlines; otherwise, you will continue to permit yourself to use more time than needed for the tasks. Providing a sense of urgency can give you the motivation and inspiration you need to finally get them done and achieve more goals in the long run.

 

Setting goals are a powerful tool for your business as long as you have the right strategies in mind. Keep them S.M.A.R.T and always remember what you want for your business and life to be more successful.

 

 

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Hit Pause, It’s Time to Reflect

It’s perfectly normal to experience times that you aren’t happy or satisfied with where your life is going, no matter how many goals you may have accomplished. The point of reflection is to ensure you are satisfied with the direction as you achieve each goal.

 

Without really trying things then you really never know what you might or might not like. It’s only natural to change course if you don’t. Evaluation and reflection also highlight areas you are likely doing wrong that are actually causing the process to fail.

 

Furthermore, self-reflection is an essential resource to your business because:

 

  • It builds confidence and self-efficacy.
  • It reduces stress and improves clarity.
  • It improves your goals and business processes.
  • It saves time and allows you to be more productive.

 

The following are a few ways to hit the pause button and reflect to better your business and yourself:

 

Ask Yourself Repeated Questions

Start the process by asking yourself open-ended questions. Meaning you can’t just answer yes or no. They need to inspire you to deep dive into your processes, goals, and aspirations to ensure you are on the right path for the success you want to achieve.

 

The following are a few ideas to get you started:

 

  • What’s working right now that I should continue?”
  • What didn’t work that I should change or adjust?”
  • What’s one new thing I have learned?”
  • What emotions did I experience, and how have they affected my work?”
  • What made me the proudest overall?”

 

Each of these questions is designed to analyze your actions and results and see how they compare to your ultimate goals and wants from life. For it to work, you can’t hold back and must commit to being honest. Accountability and ownership are two of the most important core values of productivity. As without them, you won’t take the right actions to get started or redesign your strategies.

 

Apply Solutions to Your Answers

After you answer each question, you need to take notice and action on whether you need to stick to your plan or change course. If you are experiencing more emotions than usual, for example, then it’s likely you need to add another routine or adjust a bad habit to make your day easier, less overwhelming, or bothersome.

 

Ignore Your Business for Once

One of the most important steps of self-evaluation is to forget about your business or job for once. While you may be passionate about your business, it’s not you or your life. It’s there to fuel the life you want. What do you and your body really need to achieve happiness, and why?

 

As you go through this process, it’s important to note that each time the experience will be, and should be, different to see results. Block time from your schedule and don’t utilize off-days. You need to set adequate time blocks and commit to the process to achieve ultimate happiness and success.

Are You Being Realistic About Your Goals?

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Kick Distractions or Else

If you enjoy personal and professional growth and genuinely want to live the life you imagine for yourself, then you must take responsibility and kick those distractions keeping you down. Distractions come in many different forms and come with their own set of consequences too.

 

Sensory or External Distractions

These include environmental and digital distractions such as your cell phone, browsing the web or social media websites, and your workspace, including those around you. While you may enjoy working at the coffee shop, constant interactions and noises are likely hurting your quality and time management.

 

Emotional or Internal Distractions

These are the distractions that your brain is telling you as you are working. These thoughts are self-sabotaging and can easily guide you in the wrong direction if you listen to them. Controlling your emotions is possible and will help you in life in many ways. Try studying stoicism to help you if you need extra assistance with this.

 

Personal Distractions

This is the category that you need to be the most mindful and honest about. No one but you truly know what is keeping you away from working at your best. It would be best to take accountability and ownership of your actions and things around you to be successful. If you wait around for others to solve the problem for you, you might as well throw your goal list in the trash.

 

The following are six tips designed to kick distractions so you can stay focused and on path: 

 

Set Clear Boundaries and Limitations

Fully understand what you are capable of and your limitations for each work requirement or personal goal.

 

Be Mindful and Realistic About Your Surroundings

In other words, create a workspace optimal for the tasks you plan to do and be realistic about your personality and what you can handle. For example, if you know, you will get too chatty with your clients, keep your meetings short, follow a list of bullet points to keep you on track, and only do them over Zoom or the internet.

 

Simplify and Automate Your Processes

Use technology and other resources to automate processes that don’t need your complete focus and attention or ones you know will only distract you in the long run. Utilize tools, cell phone applications, or Google Chrome extensions such as StayFocused that allow you to set time limits or block websites for a certain period of time — giving you the control and confidence you need to stay focused.

 

Be Honest and Stop Self-Sabotage

Stop negative thoughts before they control your actions. Most internal distractions are false and a result of low self-confidence, lack of knowledge, and experience. Experiment more, try more things, and gain as much knowledge as possible so you can learn yourself inside and out and gain back control of your life.

Multitasking Is A Lie

In the end, to kick distractions successfully, you must practice self-control and discipline. If you don’t, your business and personal goals will suffer.

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How to Create Repeatable Workflows for Better Time Management

Setting up the right workflows and process are essential to proper time management and the success of your business. When you create repeatable workflows, you can better improve the quality of your work and stay consistent, saving you more time and energy in the long run. They establish proper communication habits and increase your confidence as you more easily glide through your day and accomplish more goals.

 

Establishing proper workflows allows you to more easily highlight the areas that need to be improved or eliminated—in return, saving you time to be more creative and innovative within your industry and business. In other words, repeatable workflows allow you to optimize the way you conduct business so you can more smoothly accomplish your goals without delay or frustration.

 

The following are five tips to creating repeatable workflows that improve your productivity:

 

Understand Your Full Needs and Requirements

When it comes to creating a successful workflow, you can’t miss any details. Block out time to really focus on this and list your full needs and requirements for the objectives you want to accomplish. Start with the most important areas of your business first, then work your way down not to overwhelm yourself.

 

Keep It Simple and Standardize

One of the many faults of any workflow is that it is too bulky and tries to be innovative in places it’s not needed. Trim down any unnecessary fat that causes delays and confusion and find better ways to streamline the process. Start with the tried-and-true methods first, then adapt later when you have made a consistent effort first.

 

Physically Map It Out with A Flowchart

Write down one major task required for your business in the center of a document or physical piece of paper, then draw a circle around it. For example, new customer set up or product purchase.

 

Then draw arrows out that direct you to each required step of the process, including the resources needed and who will complete the project, just like a mind map for brainstorming but with a specific direction and set of instructions. The idea is to create a visual and scannable chart so you can more easily see where you need to adjust, streamline, or add more information.

 

Document and Analyze

Add controls and benchmarks so you can measure and analyze the success of your workflow. Something certain in life is change. Businesses need to adjust at a moment’s notice to stay successful. The state of constant change highlights the importance of blocking out time to evaluate your processes, business plan, and long-term goals.

Project Management Tools to Try

The path to success requires consistent and continued action, and repeatable workflows allow you the freedom and ability to do just that.

 

 

 

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The 2-Minute Rule You Need

This is the 2-minute rule you need to finally end your procrastination or other bad habits and achieve more out of life. Procrastination and other lousy time management habits lead to many missed opportunities and chances for personal growth to build up your business. It encourages laziness and lacks accountability, in turn stalling your momentum, focus, and consistency needed for success.

 

What Exactly Is The 2-Minute Rule?

It’s a stress-free approach to starting new habits and kicking bad ones. It’s a rule designed to help you achieve more goals without feeling overwhelmed and keeps you from delaying action any longer than you should.

 

The two main concepts for the rule include:

 

  • If it only takes two minutes, then get it out of the way right now.
  • Establishing new habits or routines should only take two minutes to begin with.

 

As with most methods, if they are misused, they provide the opposite results than you intend.

 

Here’s how to use the 2-minute rule effectively to kick your bad habits and achieve max productivity:

 

Keep It Relevant and Realistic

Only use the rule if it is relevant to whatever you are doing at that time. In other words, don’t just do whatever task comes to mind if it doesn’t relate to what you are actively doing.

 

For example, if you are trying to finish your next content package for your client, it’s not a good idea to go ahead and get that email notification about your next business meeting out of the way. It is unrelated and will ultimately get you off track and prevent you from finishing your course. Instead, think, “what can I do in two minutes to finish this course?”

 

Don’t Make It Hard

You don’t need to gain success or be the best overnight. Don’t make adopting new habits challenging and overwhelming by speeding up the process. Small gradual changes make it easier to accomplish and stick around long term. For example, science proves that those who lose weight over a more extended period of time maintain the weight longer than those who lose it very quickly.

 

Meaning you shouldn’t focus on what you can’t do; rather, what you can do instead. For just two minutes, what can you do towards changing one bad habit? Then the next day, add two more minutes and keep repeating the process.

 

It’s All About Perspective

The main goal of the 2-minute rule is to change your perspective on how you see a challenge or annoying tasks. You can trick your brain into believing a task is simple and easy, even though it can be hard. Anyone can deal with something for just two minutes, and sometimes the most challenging part is just starting.

 

Give this 2-minute rule a try the next time you feel that you need to push off your work to Monday. You won’t regret giving it a try.

The Secrets to Time Management and Why You Need It

 

 

 

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Do This to Be More Consistent in Life and Business

Consistency is about doing repeatable tasks each day, night, or week depending on the goal you are trying to accomplish. Consistency is a smooth and repeatable process combined with the right actions to achieve your goal more efficiently.

 

Just think about the last place you ordered food. It’s likely that one of the top reasons you selected this choice is due to predictability and knowing they will do it right or be consistent in delivering the food you expect. Their ability to provide you the same food each time is why you keep coming back and why they are successful.

 

Become more consistent in life and business by following these five tips:

 

It’s Not Always About Being Comfortable

Push through even if you don’t feel like it or want to do it. It is pretty understood amongst successful entrepreneurs that continuous daily actions, no matter if you feel like doing nor what other problems are currently going on, is the path that leads to success. Even the happiest people realize they will experience discomfort, and it doesn’t stop them from getting what they want.

 

Understand Your True Wants and Intentions in Life

How do you define success, and what values do you live by each day? If you can’t answer these questions quickly, then take a moment right now to answer them and understand them.

 

If you don’t know yourself honestly, you can’t expect to achieve goals, especially not the right ones. Imagine for a moment that you have accomplished everything you want out of life and create a vision board to match it. This way, you can have a daily reminder to help you back on track.

 

Clarify Your Mission and Expectations

Highlight your goals and clearly outline what resources and other requirements you need to get there. The easier it is to understand, the easier it will be to make processes and systems that better flow for you and your business — giving you the resources you need to be more consistent.

 

Organize and Work in Batches

Be sure the work you set to do each day is organized and relevant. For example, schedule a separate time for checking emails or responding to clients and don’t allow yourself to work on anything else during this time.

 

Establish Healthy Routines

The first step you take in the morning is the most important as it determines your path going forward and how well you do. For example, if you wake up each morning in a bad mood, you will likely drag your feet trying to get work done — making your day that much harder to get going. Find the routines that allow you to live at your most optimal mental and physical health to always start on the right foot.

 

Being consistent should be at the top of your priority list and easy to do as long as you plan correctly and commit to it each and every day.

5 Rituals to Boost Your Energy and Productivity

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If You Don’t Set Hard Deadlines, Plan to Fail

If you feel like you can never get anything done and constantly run against the clock, you are likely skipping one of the most essential details of any to-do list or 90-day action plan. If you don’t set hard deadlines, then you are setting yourself up to fail from the start.

 

Deadlines are crucial to a successful plan because they:

 

  • Ensure you complete the right work to accomplish your goals.
  • Establish consistency, organization, and a smooth workflow.
  • Clarify your expectations and responsibilities.
  • Maximizes success and productivity.

 

In other words, when you set clear deadlines and stick to them, you can better use your time to focus on your goals and achieve more in life. When you are not constantly running to beat the clock, you maintain your energy and improve productivity.

 

Here are a few ways to create deadlines you will always stick to, to achieve maximum productivity: 

 

Gain and Understand the Right Resources First

Understand all the expectations required of you, what extra materials you may need, and any other obstacles that may get in your way before you establish a deadline.

 

Make Them Urgent but Realistic

Once you fully understand the expectations set a deadline that pushes you to act without feeling overwhelmed and is realistic to the task you are doing. While also accounting for the unexpected. This step will require your full attention, honesty, and accountability.

 

If you can’t be honest with your actions and abilities, you won’t estimate the correct times to accomplish your takes. For example, if you know you usually take about two hours to do a specific task, don’t expect you to get it done in an hour, even if you think you can do it or be better overnight. If you do happen to get things done faster, take note of it, find a new task to work on instead or take a much-deserved break.

 

Make Them Personal and Meaningful

Instead of telling yourself, you need to meet the deadline simply to be on time for the project, highlight a better and more meaningful reason to complete it on time. To harness even more power, make it as personal as possible.

 

For example, “if I don’t complete this assignment on the date I established, I will miss free time with my friends and family.” Even though this isn’t about your business directly, it is precisely the motivation you will need to stay on track. If you are more likely to suffer consequences, you are less likely to fall off track.

Be More Accountable and Consistent, Share Your Goals

As you can see, the correct deadlines are there to motivate you and give you the discipline you need to get work done in a timely and orderly fashion as long as you stick to them.