Category: Mindfulness

Goals, Living Now, Mindfulness, Productivity

What Can I Learn From Tasks I Fail to Finish?

Lyn Bailey

What Can I Learn From Tasks I Fail to Finish?

It’s quite likely there’s been a task you’ve failed to finish at some point in your life, whether it was a project at work or maybe even one in your personal life.

However, although failing to finish something isn’t a great feeling, there are many ways you can learn from the tasks you fail to complete.

How Not To Do The Task

The first thing you will learn from failing to complete a task is how not to do it. This lesson might seem a little silly, but it matters – a lot. Learning what not to do, is an essential part of the learning process. The next time you aim to complete this task, you know what actions and behaviors to avoid. The more times you fail, the more ways you learn how not to accomplish your task. 

You Will Learn Something About Yourself

Whenever you fail at anything in life, it will teach you a lesson about yourself. Failure – and more importantly – your reaction to failure will teach you a lot about yourself. It will be an insight into your ability to deal with obstacles. You can also learn about your ability to bounce back from failure. Most importantly, failure can reveal weaknesses you need to address or strengths you never knew you had.

That It’s Time To Move On

Sometimes, when you fail to finish a task, it may teach you that it is time to move on. While on the one hand, you don’t want to give up; on the other hand, you need to examine if it is worthwhile pursuing in the first place.

This lesson is especially true if the reason for failure is completely out of your control. Maybe there isn’t a market for that new product idea. Socio-economic issues that you can’t do anything about might impact your career. These are times it might be time to move on.

It’s also important to examine if your goals still reflect your current values and needs. If you regularly fail to complete a task, maybe it is because it isn’t that important to you anymore?  Why waste energy on tasks that don’t reflect who you are?

Conclusion

You will likely come across a task you cannot finish at some time during your life. Don’t fret, though. When you fail to complete a task, it can teach you several important lessons. You can apply those lessons to your next task to ensure you can complete it and finally achieve success.

What have you started and not finished? If you would like some help in getting back on track with this project then click HERE to book a FREE Discovery Call with me.

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Abundance, Living Now, Mindfulness, Personal Development

Are You Ready to Move Forward with Your Life?

Lyn Bailey

Are You Ready to Move Forward with Your Life?  

Every day of your life is a new opportunity. Whether you’re going through an upheaval, merely surviving, or you’re just bored, moving forward with your life is much more satisfying than simply “moving on.” So, if you’re ready to move forward with your life, follow these steps.

Stop Expecting Easy

You may have heard the saying, “If it were easy, everyone would do it.” Unfortunately, many things in life are daunting. Self-development is one of those things. This is because there is a learning curve and there may be challenges concerning maintaining a steady progress, especially if you’re just getting started.

It’s not always easy to get to know who you are. Examine past traumas and experiences. Weed through your inner conflicts, and fight to become who you want to be. While this is not easy, it is a straightforward process that can lead you to succeed.

Stop Living in The Past

While you want to understand why you think and do certain things, avoid living in the past. Address the past by accepting that it happened. Work through your past by getting treatment for things that negatively affect your current situations. However, don’t allow yourself to live in the past because the contentment you seek is in the here and now.

When you focus on the present and learn from the past, you ensure that you’re well cared for. And when you do that, your future is almost certainly taken care of too. After all, the actions you take today informs your future. All you can get from the past is a list of actions you took that worked versus actions you took that did not. Let the rest go.

Stop Waiting for Perfection

If you’ve heard yourself described as a perfectionist, don’t take it as a compliment. It’s not. The best time to begin your next goal is now. There is no perfect outcome even if you follow your plans to a T. There is no time like now for getting started on anything you want to do.

Instead of thinking thoughts like, “I’ll be happy when I reach my weight loss goal.” Or “I’ll start my business when my child is older.” Anytime you start a thought with “I’ll do this when…” stop yourself because most of the time, there is no real reason for putting your goals off.

Stop Doubting

One way to squash doubt is to do your due diligence regarding research for all your goals. Here’s the thing, if it’s possible for someone, it’s probably also possible for you. There are very few cases where only one person can do something. You can learn anything you want to learn and do whatever you want to do or at least something close to it.

Start Planning and Doing

Once you let go of the fact that life can be hard, and the past harmed you, and perfection, and release yourself from doubt, you can start planning by learning how to set goals in a way that leaves you with an innovative action plan that gets results. Then, use that plan to start the most critical thing in your life, the doing. Doing will move you forward more than anything else.

After you let go of expectations and stop focusing on the impossible, you’ll see success. Once you create specific goals and follow your plan, you’ll finally start experiencing success. But don’t skip the very last step. You really must “do” to move forward in your life

 if you want to find out how you can start moving forward, then click HERE to book a strategy session for just $49.00!

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Your Personal Development Plan
Abundance, Living Now, Mindfulness, Personal Development, Productivity, Time Management, Working Mums

Five Reasons You Need a Personal Development Plan

Lyn Bailey

A personal development plan is like a roadmap. It assists you in finding your purpose and developing your strengths. It also gives you the confidence needed to get out of your comfort zone. A good personal development plan will also help you improve your self-awareness. This combination will ensure that you know your potential and live up to it with intention.

Discover Your Purpose

On the road to self-discovery, most people want to know why they are here. If you want to know your purpose in life, focus on your personal development and create a written personal development plan to help you find it.

As you discover what makes you think the way you do, challenge your thoughts, and decide what facts you’ll use to make sound decisions. When you do this, you may come across additional information that will lead you to closer to your purpose. You are more likely to feel good about the ideas you have and actions you take each day because you know they will have a particular impact.

Develop Your Strengths

Once you discover your strengths as you study yourself and pay close attention to how you feel about your actions, you’ll know what to develop. Focusing on what you are already good at is always preferable to focus on where you are lacking.

Getting additional training, practicing, and learning from others regarding the things you’re already good at doing is a much more pleasurable and successful way to approach your life. You’re naturally good at something that gives you joy and makes you better. So, you may as well use your natural gifts.

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

While you do want to focus on what you are already good at doing, sometimes it takes time to see what that is. Getting out of your comfort zone has nothing to do with forcing yourself to focus on things you aren’t good at doing. Instead, it may mean simply showing someone else what you’re good at.

Boost Your Confidence

As you develop yourself, you’ll start experiencing success, and that experience will boost your confidence exponentially. Part of personal development is focusing on learning to have a positive mindset, taking the best care of yourself, and reveling in your skills and experience. When your confidence is strong, you’ll free yourself from paralyzing self-doubt and negative thoughts and emotions. You can’t help but become strong when you craft and follow a plan based on self-discovery and your goals.

Improve Your Self-Awareness

Since personal development is all about you, getting to know who you are is especially important. Knowing who you are will allow you to know and lead with your strengths so that you can cope with your weaknesses, realistically and kindly, without lying to yourself or others about who you are. Self-awareness is the ultimate precursor to authenticity.

You also need a personal development plan because you’re much more likely to succeed at anything when you have a plan. A personal development plan is a documented set of facts and information to help guide and direct you through the actions and habits that make up your life. For example, if you want to succeed at any dream, it starts with a goal. Then, through smart goal setting, your goals become a plan that you can follow, track, and even change throughout your life while remaining focused on your ultimate dreams and goals.

As the are now in our second quarter of the year, if you want to find out how a personal development plan can help you live a happier life, then click HERE to book a strategy session for just $49.00!

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Living Now, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Working Mums

Live a Happier Life

Lyn Bailey

How to Shift Your Perspective to Live a Happier Life

Drama, stress, and other challenging obstacles or situations will always be a natural part of your life. It is highly unlikely you can avoid them altogether, but you can control how they affect or take over your life.

A change in perspective can be a driving force in allowing you to live an easier and happier life. Of course, this is easier to talk about than to really do, but with a few simple ideas and actions, you can make a change for the better that sustains your lifelong happiness and success.

The following are some common techniques to help shift your perspective to ultimately live a happier life:

 Only Focus on What You Can Control

The notion of what you can and cannot control is by far the most important concept to understand and live by. Other people’s actions, thoughts, and opinions will never be something you can fully gain control of. You might be able to guide and influence them for a little, but this won’t be sustainable or achievable in all aspects of life. However, you do have the ability to control your attitude, efforts, and emotions.

 Switch Dread Around

Instead of focusing on the negativity or harmful aspects of the situation, find ways to reverse it. Instead of dreading it, find areas you can appreciate or learn from. Highlight the lesson or knowledge you gained.

For example, maybe you failed the live presentation you worked hard on for months. While it’s okay and normal to feel disappointed, don’t allow those feelings to take over your life completely. Instead, acknowledge the areas that went wrong and use that newfound information to do even better the next time.

Ditch The “All or Nothing” Mindset 

Stop expecting the worst or creating expectations that are too high for yourself. Even if you don’t achieve every single step, you will become discouraged if you only focus on the things you can’t or won’t have versus all the things you do have, worked hard to get, and eventually will get in the future.

 It’s important to note that happiness is personal and something that must be found within. You must work towards it and actively seek or make changes when needed to achieve it. Get out and experiment more, be true to yourself, and always try to stay positive by acknowledging reality and where you fit into it.

As the first quarter of the year is almost over, if you want to find out how you can live a happier life for the next quarter, then click HERE to book a strategy session for just $49.00!

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Abundance, Living Now, Mindfulness

7 Steps to Focus

Lyn Bailey

7 Steps to Focus

How do you get the most out of your day?
Where do you find the extra hours you want to pursue your passion or live your life to the fullest?
What is the secret to unlocking that extra time to do what you love to do, instead of what you think you have to do?
Women are very capable of multitasking. As mothers, we are even more capable of it. Employers encourage it. Unfortunately, statistics show that multitasking decreases our productivity, no matter what we are doing.
“About 2.5% of subjects can multitask without performing worse at either task, in controlled studies. These are being dubbed “supertaskers.””
Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 5/2010
While many people aspire to be “supertaskers”, only 2.5% succeed. For the rest of us, that means that we decrease our focus and attention on each of the tasks we are tackling at any given time. How do we change this, I hear you ask. The answer is simple – FOCUS.

7 Steps to Focus
1. Have Goals – know what you want. Set clear, concise goals so that you know what you want and when you want it.
2. Avoid Multitasking – multitasking is not the best use of your time. Block out 1-2 hour blocks to focus on your goal.
3. Take Regular Breaks – give yourself a short 5 minute break every hour to keep yourself rested and hydrated.
4. Identify Distractions – identify your 3 greatest distractions and take steps to eliminate them.
5. To Do list – this will keep you on track as you will always know what the next step is.
6. Keep Your Eyes and Mind on the Prize –Focus on the end result until you achieve it. This will keep you motivated and moving forward towards your goal.
7. Reward Yourself – Decide at the outcome how you will reward yourself when you achieve your goal, then reward yourself on completion. You deserve it!
Go for it now. Start to give yourself time to see the Power of Focus as you incorporate it into your day and your life.

If you need  help in changing OR any of these in your life right now, book  a FREE 30 minute Strategy Session HERE.

 

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Health, Living Now, Mindfulness, Productivity, Time Management, Working Moms, Working Mums

7 Questions To Ask When You Think You’re Procrastinating

Lyn Bailey

7 Questions To Ask When You Think You’re Procrastinating

 

Do you sometimes find yourself making that second cup of coffee instead of taking action to get you moving towards your desired outcome? If so, you are not alone. I have done just that this morning. My intention was to get this blog written and published today. I had set myself a schedule to do this from 9-10.30am. So, what did I do at 9am? I made myself a cup of coffee, then decided to read  some emails, did some Facebook posts, chatted to a friend I finished my coffee, then decided to make a second one. I realised that I was procrastinating. Why was I doing this? I asked myself the first question below.Is writing a blog exciting enough to get me out of my comfy chair to sit at my desk, The answer was NO. So I asked myself what would make writing a blog my exciting for me. The answer that came up for me was this. “I am writing this blog to help those people who are holding themselves back from achieving their full potential, so that they can start to take action to turn their dreams into reality and make this the best, most successful and productive year of their lives.” Now, I am excited to be sitting at my desk writing this blog post starting at 10.30 with enthusiasm and gratitude.

If you struggle with procrastination, you know the detrimental effects it can have on goal achievement. But instead of beating yourself up for failing to get going, consider a different approach. Here are seven questions that will help you overcome procrastination and achieve higher levels of success.

1- Do your goals excite you?

First, ask whether your goals excite you. You may think you’re procrastinating when the problem is you’re not motivated.

There are tasks we all have to complete daily. Not all of them are thrilling. But if your goal is to finish your book by the end of the year, for example, and you find yourself struggling to get going? Consider that the problem may be that you lack passion for the project itself, not your overall drive.

To remedy this, think of other tasks in your life. Are you generally unable to get going? Or is it with just one or two things that you find dull and boring?

Perhaps you need new goals.

2- Are you healthy?

Next, ask yourself if you’ve taken care of your health. It’s much easier to find the energy to work on long-term goals when you’re eating nutritious foods, drinking enough water, and getting enough daily exercise.

On the other hand, if you’ve got too many poor habits like drinking too much alcohol, remaining sedentary, and eating poorly, your issue could be your health.

If you can improve your health and wellness routine, do so. See if that helps give you enough energy to avoid procrastination.

3- What could you get done if you quit procrastinating?

Third, it’s time to daydream for a second. Think of all the juicy details behind what you might be able to accomplish if you quit procrastinating.

Could you finally have that dream body you’ve been craving? Might you get that promotion at work? Will you, at last, start your side business?

Sometimes all you need is a gentle reminder of how good life is on the other side of effort.

4- Can you reframe it as an opportunity?

Next, you may find it useful to reframe the situation. Let’s say you dread going to the gym. Could you think of how lucky you are to have such an opportunity, instead of thinking of the negative?

How fantastic is it that you have the funds to afford a gym membership? How grateful are you that you have a healthy enough body to move around, run, lift, stretch, and sweat? Isn’t it outstanding that even if you’re busy, you can make the time to engage in self-care practices such as this?

It’s not that you “have to” go to the gym. It’s that you “get to” go to the gym.

5- Are you overcommitted?

Beyond that, consider that you may have too much on your plate. Burnout is a real thing. And if left unchecked, it can cause you to lose productivity when you’d otherwise be on top of things.

Ask yourself if you’re procrastinating or if you don’t have the time or resources you need to get everything done.

6- What’s essential and what can wait?

Along similar lines, you might want to do a brain dump of all your responsibilities. Laying it all in front of you will help you determine what’s essential and what can wait. Sometimes if you want to get going, you have to trim the fat. Much of what we pressure ourselves to complete is just busywork. Eliminate the non-essentials and see if your productivity improves.

7- What’s your reward?

Finally, make sure you have a healthy reward system in place to meet your goals. While goal-achievement is rewarding, knowing there’s an even brighter light at the end of the tunnel may prove motivating.

We spend much time bashing ourselves for mistakes and shortcomings. It’s important to celebrate our wins, too.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes procrastination can get the better of you, but things aren’t always what they seem. The next time you worry about your productivity level, ask yourself these seven questions. You may discover a quick solution to your problem.

If you need  help in changing any of these in your life right now, book  a FREE 30 minute Strategy Session HERE.

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Abundance, Goals, Health, Living Now, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Multitasking

Obstacles that Keep You from Being Present

Lyn Bailey

Obstacles that Keep You from Being Present

When you want to live in the now, there are obstacles that can get in the way and stop you from being fully present.

Distractions are one of these. You can set a goal to be more present then it seems like one thing after another happens to get in the way of that goal. Sometimes these distractions can be problems at home or work. They could also be thoughts or habits that keep cropping up.

Closely linked to the problem of distractions is stress. When you’re under stress, it can be hard to keep your mind’s focus where you want it to be. That’s because your brain is busy trying to solve the current crisis.

Your body starts to react to stress in ways that aren’t conducive to living in the present. When your breathing and your body aren’t calm, it’s much harder to soothe your mind and focus your thoughts.

Too many demands on you physically can also be an obstacle to keep you from being mindful. When you reach the end of your physical strength, it can be hard to find the mental strength that you need.

If you’re not feeling well, you’re tired, or you’re under stress, your mind will have a harder time keeping the focus where it needs to be.

Any time that a physical need is present, it can be an obstacle. If you’re thirsty, your mind might want to focus on that only. If you’re hungry, your mind might not be able to focus on anything but food.

When a physical need nags at the back of your subconscious mind, you can have a lot of trouble centreing your mind on anything else. When you want to practice living in the present, you need to be sure that no physical needs are distracting you from reaching the level of awareness.

If you have a cold or other health ailment, that can be an obstacle. If you have a headache, toothache or are hurting anywhere in your body, those can make it difficult to achieve a state of focus for being present. It could be that all you can think about is how bad you’re feeling or how much pain you’re in. Any physical issues that are going on should be dealt with first.

Having a time crunch is another roadblock to mindfulness. If your life is so packed with activities and responsibilities that fitting one more thing in it seems overwhelming, you’ll have difficulty obtaining the awareness needed for living in the present.

Your own thoughts can get in the way, too. Thinking that you’re not good enough or that you can’t keep your focus is a common obstacle. Many people make the mistake of thinking that living in the present is something they can do just by wanting it.

However, it’s something that takes both effort and consistency. If you gently bring your focus back around each time you lose it, then you will eventually be able to live in the present for longer periods.

When it’s difficult is when many people give up. They want instant results and being mindful isn’t something that happens overnight. You need to work at it even when it’s not as easy as you’d like it to be.

Whatever you’re doing right now, try to stop a moment and pause. Take a breath and refocus. This is a simple way that you can calm your racing mind and body so that you can be fully present.

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Abundance, Health, Living Now, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Multitasking, Relationships

Why It’s So Hard to Be Present

Lyn Bailey

Why It’s So Hard to Be Present

Being present can be difficult to achieve because doing so can trigger feelings of discomfort. The discomfort comes from thinking you must be completely within the present without slipping up.

 

When something does happen to shake your focus, it can make you feel like you’ve failed to achieve living in the now. However, being present isn’t something that has a success or failure scorecard. It’s simply learning how to pick up on the situations when you’re not practicing living in the moment and gently course correcting.

 

It can be hard to be in the present because you might get caught up in the mundane. There’s nothing peaceful about the stresses of life. When the dishwasher floods or the car breaks down, it can be easy to start daydreaming, rather than focusing on what’s currently going on in your life.

 

Living in the present is something that can take practice. It’s easy to fall back into bad habits. You can find yourself handling life the way you’ve always done. Your habits are your “go-to” response and your brain can automatically fall back into those thought processes.

 

When this happens and you realize that your mind and your reactions are opposite of living in the now, you can always hit reset. Just because you think you blew it doesn’t mean that you did.

 

Everyone will have times when they forget to focus, especially when life gets hectic. However, as soon as you’re aware that’s happening, you can pause and start fresh.

 

It can be hard to be present when you’re in the middle of something that’s stressing you out or making you angry or sad. This is totally normal. It’s common to have difficulty concentrating or focusing when you’re in the middle of a crisis.

 

 

That’s why you want to focus on learning to “live in the now” even if your life seems peaceful and calm at this moment. Then when difficult things happen, you’ll be able to maintain your peacefulness because you’ve spent time practicing.

 

Some people struggle to be present because they fear living in the moment means they’re going to be handing over control. Sometimes, it’s easier to think that if you worry about something or fret over it; you can prevent bad things from happening simply because you pre-worried.

 

However, living fully in the moment isn’t about giving up control. It’s about focusing your awareness so that you don’t waste valuable energy worrying about what has happened or what might happen. Instead, you’re experiencing fullness of life exactly where you are.

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Health, Living Now, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Working Moms, Working Mums

How Living in the Now Leads to Inner Peace

Lyn Bailey

Peace is something that many people are missing in their lives. You don’t have to live that way. When you live in the now, it can lead to inner peace. You can find the calm that you’re looking for.

Start by dialing it back. You don’t have to be everything to everyone. You don’t have to be available all the time and you don’t have to let social media rule your day. Give yourself limits to how much time you’ll give things or people that drain you.

Next, make a date with relaxation. This might mean listening to music, using visualization, or meditation. It might mean taking off for an afternoon to do nothing but just relax.

While you’re at it, don’t use a wide-angle view of your life. When you look at everything at once, it can create inner panic. This can happen with both bad things or good things.

Ask yourself how important the situation is on a scale of one to ten. Then ask yourself if what’s happening will still be important to you a year down the road. This will help you keep your perspective, no matter what happens.

Another way to find inner peace is to stop rushing. When you’re in a hurry, it affects your outlook and creates stress. Take your time as you go through your day. Be present when you eat, laugh, and love. When you stop the rush, you’ll find that inner peace blooms.

Next, beware of the things that own you. When you have too much stuff, you waste your peace trying to take care of it and you end up letting your things encroach your space. When your home or office is filled with things that nag at your mind, it creates mental chaos and steals peace. Let go of things you don’t need or want.

If you struggle to release an object, consider taking a photo of it. Then you can keep the photo but let go of the object. Remind yourself as you do this that you’re giving a second life to the object by passing it on to someone else to be loved and cared for.

The final way to keep your inner peace is to focus on a “this moment” mantra in your mind. When thoughts about what you should do in the future crop up and you get that tight feeling in your stomach, say to yourself, “I only have to deal with this moment.”

A Better, More Successful Life Can Be Yours

Living in the moment might feel difficult at first. That’s only because it’s a new thing and sometimes, new things feel scary. Just like learning to ride a bicycle, it gets easier the more you do it. If you keep trying, you’ll be putting your hands up and enjoying the ride in no time at all!

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Health, Living Now, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Productivity, Working Moms, Working Mums

How to become Resilient Through Mindfulness

Lyn Bailey

How to Become Resilient through Mindfulness

 

The first way to become resilient through mindfulness is to refuse to see a problem as unending. When problems or negative situations occur in your life, don’t fall into the trap of believing that they’re going to last forever. This lets a hopeless mindset develop.

 

When you have problems, they can sometimes interfere with your life plans or impede your goals. However, you shouldn’t give up and quit going after what you want. If you do that, you’re effectively saying that your problems are bigger than your ability to overcome them.

 

Develop the mindset of “this is temporary.” List ways or action steps that you can take to overcome the situation. Next, embrace change. If there’s one guarantee in life it’s that is that no two days are the same.

 

You might plan to live in the city then you lose your job and the opportunity that opened up for you is on the other coast. When you embrace change, you’re open to opportunities even though they may not always appear in the way you hoped they would.

 

The third way to become resilient is to refuse to sit still. When you want something in life or you have a dream, don’t allow inaction to take it from you. Every day, do something that takes you closer to achieving your goal.

 

If your goal is to own your own business, this might be something like signing up for a business class or writing out a business plan. If you want to get healthier, it could be something simple such as getting rid of the food in your house that causes you to binge eat.

 

The next thing you should do is make decisions sooner rather than later. Avoidance doesn’t solve issues and it doesn’t get you where you need to be. If there’s a relationship issue, you need to handle, do it. If you’re interested in talking to someone, make a move and speak up.

 

While you’re making decisions, resolve to change your self-view. Many people think far less of themselves than they should. You downplay your accomplishments. You look at the negative things about yourself by thinking you’re too awkward, too big, or too small.

You don’t like the way you look, the way you voice sounds. However, by learning how to think of yourself in a positive way, you bolster not only your self-esteem but your belief that you can achieve whatever you set your mind to.

 

Finally, negative things happen, look for the positive. There’s always something good to find about everything that happens. However, the problem is that most people focus on the negative and then miss the good. That’s not to say that everything that comes into your life will feel good but it can work out for your good.

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