Say No More Often: Purge Your To-Do List

The telltale signs of burnout are feelings of overwhelming exhaustion, cynicism, and detachment. You may also feel as if you are ineffective and are not accomplishing anything in your life while simultaneously feeling irreplaceable and as if no one else can do what you do and help you.

In other words, you may be experiencing signs of burnout because you never say no. Purging your to-do list can help. But first, how do you know what to stop doing, and more importantly, how do you stop saying yes to everything?

Remember these keywords:

Eliminate, automate, and delegate as you rid yourself of extra work and start saying no more.

Eliminate

Whenever you look at a task, you need to first think about whether it’s even required to be done or not. Just because you’ve always done something does not mean it has to be done. Try to anticipate what happens if you just take it off your list completely. Write down the pros and cons of totally letting this task go.

For example, if you are a writer, do you limit how many times you read through and edit any one piece of work? If not, you should. There is always a point at which future editing will just make the work less effective.

Automate

Can the task that you need to do be done with software? If you can eliminate a task through automation, taking it off your plate in an affordable way, it’s essential to do it as soon as you can financially accomplish it. There is a technology that exists that you may not even be aware of yet.

It might help to talk to someone aware of the technology available for productivity in your space. The advice will be paramount in helping you move your business forward with as much automation as possible. For example, did you know about IFTTT technology that you can use through platforms like Zapier.com?

If This Then That (commonly known as IFTTT

Delegate

If you can’t let it go entirely, and you can’t automate it, perhaps you can outsource it to someone else? You might want to pay a virtual assistant to help you with customer service, editing, or other things. Maybe you can get your spouse or kids to do more housework, so you have more time for business.

For example, if you are a writer and you know you have to edit your writing, it might work out better for you if you let someone else do the editing and final revisions to ensure it gets done in a timely manner? Or perhaps you cannot yet afford an editor, so instead, you get your spouse to cook dinner so that you have more time to edit in a timely manner.

Finally, once your to-do list is cleaned up, start saying no more often when asked to add something to your plate. Make it a habit to never say yes right away. Instead, tell people (or yourself) that you have to check your schedule. Then determine the benefits and drawbacks of adding that task to your life. If it helps you advance your goals, you can say yes, if it doesn’t do anything to move you forward and only adds stress to your life, say no.

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October 8, 2020December 20, 2020

Develop a Realistic Business Plan

One reason for burnout is incongruency between the life you want and the life you’re living. Most of that problem is due to a lack of planning.

Many small business owners think that if their business is a home business or a small business that they don’t need a real business plan. After all, they think I am not going to get a business loan, so why do I need to do all that planning?

The truth is if you want to succeed, and you want it to be repeatable, and you want to avoid the potential for burnout, you must develop a business plan. A business plan will help you structure, run, and grow your business realistically and sustainably. Plus, creating a business plan isn’t even hard to do. Let’s learn how to make a one-page business plan for your home business right now.

Your one-page business plan should include the following. However, keep in mind it doesn’t literally have to live on only one page. You should include as much information as you need in your business plan to help you develop a guiding document for your business. If one page works for you, that’s fabulous!

Describe the Problem

You’ll want to write a well thought out description of the problem that your customers have that you can solve along with any relevant data that describes how you can do that to show proof.

Your Product or Service

This is the solution to the problem above, so you’ll want to go through each product or service you offer and describe the solution in terms of how it solves the problem that the customer has. If you have more than one solution, this is the area that might end up taking more than one page. However, going through this can help you with marketing later.

How You Make Money

This is considered your business model. How will you make the money, how much will it cost you to make the money, and what is the price the customer will pay for the solution and how will they pay it?

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Describe Your Customer(s)

Understanding your target market is an essential component of your business plan and your business planning needs. Include a customer avatar through the buying journey. Talk about how many customers there are, and how much you can earn from each customer throughout their customer life cycle.

Describe How You’re Different

It can help to describe how you’re going to differentiate yourself from your competition. This is called your “competitive advantage” in business. It’s how you use your differences to stand out from the competition and create customer loyalty.

Describe Your Team

Even if it’s just you, it helps to write down all the tasks and roles that need to be accomplished to make this business work. However, even if it is just you, it’s not just you due to the technology you can use, such as email marketing software, funnel software, and other automation.

Also, if you plan to outsource anything, write that down too. Maybe the first year you’re doing it all yourself but include financial metrics that trigger outsourcing or major software purchases.

Include Key Financial Metrics

Do you Know your Numbers?

You need to know what your budget is for marketing, software, outsourcing, and so forth. This is often called a Financial Summary in a business plan. You’ll want to include figures for now, and your future as you forecast potential sales. Finally, you’ll want to add what funding you need right now to get started or to move forward with your business.

As you go through this, just focus right now on writing a summary of each section so that you see what needs to be done in one easy to read page. As you move forward, you can add more information to the plan, which may make it grow past the one page, but it will be a helpful exercise to help keep on moving toward your goals.

As you move toward your goals, you’ll be a lot less likely to experience burnout when you’ve set up your business realistically in balance with your entire life. Writing down the business plan helps you see it more clearly and plainly, thus allowing you to really accomplish what you set out to do rather than keeping it as a dream.

October 6, 2020December 20, 2020

Stop Burnout Now: Overview of the 30 Day Avoiding and Overcoming Burnout Challenge

During this Series, some of the ideas you have about business, life, and productivity will be seriously challenged. However, what you’re going to get out of this series is how to recognize the signs of burnout, know how to avoid burnout, and if you’ve let it go too far, how to overcome burnout.

Burnout is a problem that entrepreneurs sometimes develop. The following symptoms characterize that problem:

Exhaustion – Do you feel tired no matter how much you sleep? It’s not just tiredness; it’s not able to get up at all.
Fatigue – Are you tired whenever you get stressed out about something?
Lack of Energy – Do you notice that you lack the energy you had previously when completing specific tasks?
Sleep Issues – Do you have trouble falling asleep, or are you sleeping more or less than usual. Adult humans need from 7 to 9 hours of sleep each evening for optimum performance.
Poor Performance – When you are doing your work or doing tasks for your family, you aren’t doing them correctly and are making more mistakes than usual.
Memory Issues – You’re late for appointments or miss meetings or just cannot remember your thoughts as you speak.
Problems Focusing and Concentrating – If you have circular thoughts in your head, it can affect sleep but also affect your daily life keeping you from focusing on one thing at a time.
Indifference – You’re starting to feel as if you really don’t care about anything, whether business, family, friends, or fun. You don’t really get anything out of anything now.
Disillusionment – You don’t think anything you thought was true is true now, and it’s causing you problems with getting joy out of your chosen business.
Restlessness – You keep looking up something new instead of focusing on your business choice.
Loss of Empathy – You notice that you aren’t able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes right now due to your own issues overshadowing everyone else.
Cynicism and Bitterness – You feel downright bitter about the situation, and you can’t overcome it because you think nothing can change, including you.
Relationship Issues – What is happening in your business can also affect your home life and vice versa. If your friendships and family relationships are being affected, it’s time to get some control over it.
Less Initiative – You just can’t be bothered to do anything because it’s just too hard, and you don’t come up with any new ideas.
Lower Imagination – It’s hard to imagine anything because you can’t focus, you’re tired, and your mind won’t relax enough.
Poor Health – Burnout can affect your physical health as well as your mental health and sometimes even be due to your physical health and poor nutrition.
Heightened Anxiety – When you are experiencing burnout, sometimes you’ll also feel very anxious whenever the subject of work or the thing causing the issues comes up.
Depression – Burnout can be either caused by a severe major depressive episode or produce one. If you feel depressed or find yourself idealizing death, please seek professional medical care.

You may also feel as if you are the only person who can do anything to solve the problems that have developed. You tend to make it your job to do everything as if you’re indispensable, and due to that feeling, you never have enough time, resources, or ability to do everything needed.

You may feel like you cannot say no, and due to that work for free, or feel resentment about the work you are doing due to the lack of recognition you’re getting. These are all actually normal feelings if you don’t set up your life to recognize and avoid burnout and treat it if you should experience it.

While true burnout may need professional treatment, you can do a lot to help yourself, including seeking professional intervention if everything else you’re trying is not working for you.

During this series you will get 30 Blog post focusing on how to keep your mind healthy and able to better focus in life and in your Business.

October 4, 2020December 20, 2020

Five Steps to Reviving A Fading Dream

Do you remember what you wanted to be growing up?

Many people forget their once cherished dreams because of bad things that have happened from the time they realized their dream of becoming such and such to where they currently are.

Growing up, you may have wanted to be an Astronaut only to end up with a completely different profession due to unfavorable conditions or a series of misfortunes along the way.

If you are wondering whether reviving a fading dream is possible, I need you to know that it is.

You can begin chasing your long-lost dream, bring it to life, and start living the life you have always wanted no matter where you are, what you have accomplished, how many times you have failed, or how old you are.

You just have to believe you can do it and begin taking the necessary steps that will get you a step closer to your dream every single day.

Top 5 Ways Of Reviving Your Fading Dream And Making It Work.

Write down your vision.

Every professional worth her salt knows that keeping a journal of the most important things you intend to achieve is a smart way of moving forward.

Writing down your fading dream is going to give you a clearer image of where you desire to be and it will make you realize that fulfilling your dream is still possible.

Writing things down is a smart way of reducing a seemingly huge and impossible task into a much more sizable and doable undertaking. It is a brilliant way of reviving a dying dream.

Find out what needs to be done to bring it to life.

After writing down your dream as a way of reminding yourself of what you once desired, start finding out what you need to do to bring it to life. Identify the main things that you need to begin paying more attention to.

For example, “Do you have to change your schedule?” “Do you need to take a short course?” etc. Once you realize what needs to get done or changed, go ahead and implement the change.

Take small essential steps.

A lot of people haven’t gathered enough courage to renew their vanishing dreams because they fear things may not turn out the way they are expecting.

You may be thinking of changing careers but you are afraid that resigning from your job may not be the smart move at the moment.

The good thing about revisiting your vision is that you don’t have to quit your job. You can begin working on your dream while continuing with your occupation.

The only thing that matters is that you allocate at least an hour a day to reviving your dream and always take small but significant steps.

Let that sink in for a minute. Even small steps can move you closer to your Goal. Keep Moving Forward.

Take calculated risks.

Taking risks isn’t something that many people are comfortable with mostly because not all risks turn out the way they are expected.

However, the most noteworthy academics and business magnets had to take risks at some point in their lives and some of the risks they took turned them into the experts they are today.

Know that there is nothing wrong with taking risks.

You just have to make sure you make a careful estimation of the outcome that is most likely to occur.

Once you have concluded that you have more to gain from making that choice, go ahead and take the risk. It may turn out to be just what you need to begin living your dream life.

A perfect example of someone who took an unusual risk is Steve Jobs who sold his Volkswagen bus to raise $1, 500 in capital to start his tech company Apple Inc. Steeve Job’s shares had a net worth of over $10 billion at the time of his death!

Be persistent.

The most effective way of renewing your fading dream and making it work is by being persistent.

As you continue to bring your vision to life, you will experience feelings of insufficiency and doubt but don’t give up.

Keep moving and stick it out until your long-cherished dream becomes a reality.

October 2, 2020December 20, 2020

Managing Your Physical State (Managing Your Physical Health In Times Of Crisis)

Taking care of your body is an essential part of caring for your overall well-being. In fact, physical health and mental health are closely related and tend to affect one another.

Optimal physical health is difficult to achieve without mental health and vice versa. Physical health not only refers to exercise, it includes conscious choices that one can make to avoid diseases and live a balanced life.

When times are hard, stress, anxiety and fear can weaken us physically and mentally. These lifestyle choices are important for managing your physical health, especially in times of crisis.

Staying physically active is a lifestyle choice that is beneficial in many ways. Not only does exercise make your body stronger, it can lower blood pressure, improve circulation and prevent osteoporosis. Ultimately, helping you live longer.

As stated, physical activity can also lead to mental health improvements such as, energy and mood boosts, improvement in self image, better sleep and stress management.

Walking

All of these benefits will aid in overall health. Making you more equipped to take on tension that tough times bring.

Eating right and staying hydrated will positively influence your physical health as well. Stay away from fast food and prepackaged and overly processed foods as much as possible.

Rather, try to focus fresh food with an array of colors. Colorful fruits and vegetables offer the antioxidants needed to help your body fight against cancers, heart disease and hypertension. For example, leafy greens, berries, bell peppers, carrots, broccoli and cabbage.

harvest

Eating a rainbow of foods will help your body stay physically strong and boost your immune system.

Drinking ample amounts of water will also help aid in weight management, kidney function and overall mood.

Finally, get a good night’s sleep. It’s recommended that adults get at least seven to nine hours of sleep per night.

Staying on a sleep schedule also helps. The body relies on sleep as a time to repair muscles and organs as well as to reset and file away memories. Being well rested will help with cognitive and immune system function.

It’s clear that managing physical health has many components and is closely related with mental health.

Both are equally necessary for us to be in the best shape possible to take on life’s stressors. Whatever the crisis may be, if physical health is managed properly, we have a better chance of dealing with it and coming out of it in the best position possible

September 28, 2020December 20, 2020

Set Yourself Up For Future Success During Or After A Crisis

Life is full of surprises. Some are positive; some can prove to be more challenging. It’s the reaction to the unknown that defines us. Crises are subjective, unplanned and can range from a small occurrence to something catastrophic. Although we may not know when change is coming, we can be prepared for some of it with just a little bit of forethought. There are several things you can do to set yourself up for success after a crisis.

Don’t live outside your means. Living paycheck to paycheck is difficult and takes an emotional toll. But, scraping to make rent or mortgage, bills etc. becomes even more stressful when there are other struggles going on in life. There are some steps you can take to live within your means. Downsizing your home can help reduce your monthly payments and give you some ability to save more. Make a budget and stick to it. When formulating the budget, take a close look at your spending habits. You can save by cutting out eating at restaurants, cable tv and entertainment costs. All of this will help set you up to be more comfortable in the future, when the unexpected happens.

There are some useful pastimes you can take up that will enlarge your life skill set and ultimately help set you up for future success. Gardening is fun and has functionality.

harvest

Growing some of your own food will help you financially as well as ensure you always have something to eat. There are plenty of herbs, fruits and vegetables that are easy to grow and require a relatively small amount of space. Learning to sew is another way to cut costs. You can do your own alterations, pillowcases and other useful household items and maybe even your own clothes.

Finally, take care of yourself. When you are physically and mentally healthy, you are more equipped to take on any challenge that comes your way.

Weight loss Regular exercise is important and doesn’t have to break the bank. It also aids in reducing stress and getting a good night’s sleep. You can also try fifteen minutes of relaxation and mindfulness to help your brain unwind and begin the morning with clarity. This will help your mental state, making it easier to take on challenging situations.

Hardships are a part of life. Planning ahead and bettering yourself will drastically increase your chances of success on the other side of a crisis.

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September 26, 2020December 20, 2020

Becoming More Mindful By Slowing Down on Immediate Gratification

Immediate gratification is defined as the desire to experience fulfillment without delay.

In today’s world, it’s more attainable than ever.

Some common instances of how some people allow themselves immediate gratification are with food, shopping and entertainment.

It’s human nature to want something good and not want to wait for it. But, there’s such a thing as too much of a good thing.

Being conscious of how much immediate gratification we allow ourselves and then slowing down on it has some perks.

If we take the time to ask ourselves what we really need and want and if we’re willing to wait for it, we can become more mindful and productive.

Overconsumption of food, as well as the type of food Americans tend to reach for is a common topic in the US.

Almost all of us are guilty of it. After a long day at work or taking care of our kids, it’s often easier to stop at the fast food drive thru for dinner.

But, just as well known as these facts are, it’s as well known that fast food type foods aren’t good for us.

Instead of the immediate gratification of the easy meal, we can make the mindful decision to choose our health.

All it will take is a little planning ahead to have a healthy and satisfied meal already prepared at home.

By consciously choosing to not give in to the immediate gratification some foods provide, we will be healthier.

Shopping is another way people achieve immediate gratification.

It feels good to buy something that we want, or that is a good deal.

With the boom of online shopping it’s as easy as a click away. Do we really need all of these “things”?

Simply being mindful of spending habits can help save money. Financial stability is more important than the “next new thing”.

Entertainment is immediate too. Almost everyone has a smartphone. The internet is at our fingertips at all times. I

t’s not uncommon for people to be on their phones constantly checking social media sites or playing on gaming apps.

If we are able to put the phones and computers down and actively engage, we will build stronger, more meaningful, productive relationships.

By being mindful of our urges for immediate gratification, we can curb them. We can take a front seat in decisions that affect our lives. Immediate gratification is so easy, especially in this day and age.

But, easy is not always best in the long run.

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September 24, 2020December 20, 2020

Thrown Into Schooling at Home

Finding yourself thrown into schooling the kids at home can be an overwhelming experience. It can also be rewarding.

Whatever the reason why you’ve made the change to homeschool, it’s definitely an adjustment.

home school

The prospect of staying home from work to not only care for your children, but to now be responsible for their education is quite overwhelming to most parents.

Rightfully so, because raising children is not an easy job on its own. Besides the usual tasks that come along with parenting, can we handle being their teachers too?

Take a deep breath, parents, we can do this! We were our children’s first teachers when we taught them to walk, talk and their numbers and colors. We can do this too! Implementing a few tricks will make schooling from home go more smoothly.

One of the things that may help both you and your child as they learn virtually from home is to stick to a schedule.

Waking up early and at the same time every day to start school, even if it’s from home can help both you and your child feel more organized and in control.

Children crave a stable and predictable schedule and this will set them up for success.

Limiting recreational screen time is important as well. Schools will need to rely on computers for communication with students using tools like Google Classrooms and Zoom.

There is already going to be a lot of screen time needed for learning. So, when they are not on the computer doing school work, find other ways to entertain them.

Go outside, ride bikes, go for walks, and go swimming. Remember to get that recess time in. Running around and getting their energy out will help kids be able focus on their school work later?

basketball

Lastly, try to remain calm and give yourself a break. Most of us are not trained teachers.

But, we can help guide our kids through this unpredictable time in a manner that is helpful to them.

When tensions rise, and surely they will, take a time out for yourself to cool down, go to another room and breathe.

It’s important to remember that kids will be stressed or anxious too, so try to give them a break as well.

With time, it will get easier. Putting use to these tips will help you and the kids get through the adjustment period. Homeschooling will feel natural before you know it.

September 21, 2020August 17, 2021

Perseverance Requires Persistence

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” The slogan ‘’press on!’’ has solved and will always solve the problems of the human race.

Don’t Give Up….Keep moving Forward Daily.

These words which were said by Calvin Coolidge who was the 30^th president of the United States to me are the most realistic description of what persistence entails, its importance in the lives of each of us.

Persistence is defined as the act of not giving up, and having a firm and obstinate continuance in a course of action you have decided upon despite difficulties. I would go on and define it as one of the fundamental building blocks to a firm and anchored foundation to success. Nothing entails more success than to keep hammering on that idea that you chose to put into action, to keep investing all your efforts and time into one particular plan that you are working on until you get the desired results.

Consistency forms a large part persistence as it is the action of redoing. The other building block that brings our persistence into being is self-discipline. The fuel behind consistency is self-discipline. As humans, we are automatically drawn to take the easier path, therefore when anything becomes less enjoyable our instinct is to quit. When barriers and huddles are presenting themselves before us, we pick the easy road. Self-discipline reprograms our mind to be consistent and to keep soldiering on in the face of adversity. It makes us persistent.

Perseverance and persistence, are words that resemble each other in character and depth. They are often used interchangeably but there sure is a thin line that separates them. Perseverance means to abide strictly by something, to be immovable, and unshaken. Persistence is tenacity, the strength to hold on even when it is unbearable.

Perseverance is acting upon a choice until it becomes a lifestyle, you look past instant gratification and rewards and keep going even when everything around you is shouting otherwise until you reach your goal. It becomes the fundamental differentiating factor between being successful in your endeavors and failing. Even in the face of failure, the more you persist the better the chances you will have of winning because in the process you are learning all you did wrong and you get more insight on what you should be doing right.

We cannot call it persistence if we just continue doing what we like doing, being in our comfort zone, and facing no trials whatsoever. Perseverance only comes where challenges are involved, that means pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and developing a resilience mindset.

For perseverance and persistence to be part of you, you need to take your time to work on it. Take your time to figure out what you want, give yourself a time limit, and refuse to back down until you realize your goal. Take a leap, and get to it without allowing the fear of failure to paralyze you. After taking a step towards your goal make sure you surround yourself with things and people that boost your confidence and strength. When you encounter challenges along the way and they knock you down, give yourself time to analyze and reevaluate where you went wrong and then get back to your feet.

To make it easier to tackle mishaps and challenges prepare yourself for them beforehand, anticipate potential setbacks in your plan, and find a way to counter them in advance. Through it all, you have to remain focused on the goals to be accomplished and on the reward it will all come with. A well- visualized goal fueled with enough passion, perseverance, and persistence, brings about inevitable success.

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September 14, 2020December 20, 2020

Make it Real. Write it down and take Action

Why You Have To Write Your Business Goals Down

Throughout this short little series on setting business goals, I’ve mentioned the importance of writing said goals down. That isn’t just because it’s easy to forget. There’s a lot more to it and there are some very important reasons why you have to write them down.

I thought in today’s blog post, I’d share my thoughts on this and hopefully inspire you to write down your own goals going forward. By the way, this works for any type of goal, not just the business ones.

The simple act of setting a goal, even if it’s just in your mind, doubles your chances of success. That’s a pretty big deal in itself, isn’t it? If you take it a step further, and actually write those goals down, you’re 10 times as likely to succeed. Read that last line again please.

That’s right…you can increase your chances of making it by 1,000%. That’s mind-blowing.

There are a few different mental and psychological processes going on here that start to give us a glimpse into why it is so important and effective to write our goals down.

The first is that it’s a lot easier to remember something that we’ve written down. You’ve experienced this first hand with your grocery list.

When you make a mental list of 10 or 15 things, you’re likely to forget about half of them when you get to the store. If you write out the list on the other hand, and then end up forgetting it on the counter, you will remember the vast majority of the items you needed.

This is explained through the fact that information has to be moved from one area of the brain to another to turn it from thoughts into written words on a page. A process called encoding is also involved. All of this helps you retain and store the information better. It’s the reason we’re asked to take notes during lectures in college.

Last but not least, when you write down your goals, you have something you can review regularly. This adds another layer of cognitive processing and increases your chances of success even further.

Sadly, only a very small percentage of people make the time to regularly review and evaluate their goals.

The ones that do are some of the most successful and highest achieving people out there. In other words, it’s something we should do as well.

To recap, start by setting smart goals. Write them down in as much detail as possible. Set aside some time to review them regularly. This could be weekly, or even daily.

Give it a try for this coming quarter. Set yourself a goal. Be specific. This could be something like finally creating that first paid product or adding an extra $500 to your bottom line.

Decide by when you’ll reach your goal and how you plan to get there. Write it all down and look at it every morning. This will help you stay on track and make time in your busy day to work on making progress towards your goal.