Working Moms
How Much Are Distractions Costing You
How Much Are Distractions Costing You
You probably think you’re pretty good at multitasking. After all, you can text and walk simultaneously, right? Wrong! My daughter was doing this walking to uni one day, and didn’t notice the pothole in the road. She ended up breaking her ankle as she fell into said pothole! So, unfortunately, when it comes to multitasking, it’s more likely to cost you time and money than to save it.
A study conducted by the University of California, Irvine found that it takes the average person 23 minutes to recover from one interruption and get back to the task at hand. And if you’re interrupted multiple times, that number can go up exponentially.
So, how much are distractions costing you at work?
Let’s say you’re interrupted three times an hour. That’s an hour of productive time lost every eight hours, or the equivalent of losing a whole day of work every week. And that’s just for starters.
You will make mistakes if you constantly try to juggle multiple tasks. For instance, a study by the University of Pennsylvania found that people who were interrupted made 50% more errors than those who were not.
And those errors can cost you, both in terms of time spent fixing them and in terms of lost business. In fact, the AICPA conducted a study that discovered that one in four businesses lost revenue due to employee mistakes. You may even be passed over for promotion due to last-minute completion of work.
Research has repeatedly and consistently found that multitasking is not feasible with human cognitive functioning (Jeong & Hwang, 2016; Madore & Wagner, 2019). To take this one step further, in one study, only 2.4 percent of participants were found to be able to multitask effectively (Watson & Strayer, 2010). And most fascinating, Sanbonmatsu et al. (2013) reported that people who think they are good at multitasking are actually not good at it!
Sometimes It’s The Office; Sometimes, It’s You
Sometimes the distractions are not due to how your workplace is set up but how you use your time. When you’re constantly checking your phone or taking calls, your boss may not view you as fully focused on your work. After all, spending too much time socializing with co-workers or browsing the internet takes away from productive work time.
To avoid these distractions, you must be mindful of your time management and focus while at work. For example, when coworkers want to chit-chat when you’re trying to get work done, you can politely say that you’re busy and need to focus on your work.
You can also try working in a different area where fewer people are around to distract you. Finally, if the chit-chatting is bothering you, you can talk to your boss or HR about setting some boundaries with your coworkers.
There are less aggressive things you can do even in an open office that gets the message across, such as posting a sign near your cubical or work area, or if you have an office door, shut it and put up a sign that you’re focusing on work right now to make an appointment.
Next time you’re tempted to answer that text, check your email or chat with coworkers in the middle of a work task, think about how much it’s costing you. But, on the other hand, the thought of the cost might be enough to make you focus better on working. Distractions may cost your company a lot of money, but they also cost you in the long run if you miss out on important promotions, raises, or the respect you deserve.
7 Questions To Ask When You Think You’re Procrastinating
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.
How Living in the Now Leads to Inner Peace
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!
How to become Resilient Through Mindfulness
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.
Why Living in the NOW Makes You More Resilient
Why Living in the Now Makes You More Resilient
Living in the now stops the mental chatter that consistently goes on in your mind. This chatter is what keeps you thinking about what happened yesterday, what’s going to go on at work tomorrow and all the hundred and one responsibilities you have on your plate.
When you’re fully present, the things that you do right now become your goal rather than being the destination. For example, this could be something like learning to play a new instrument. You spend time enjoying the practice and the art of learning rather than focusing your attention on the complex song that you want to be able to play once you learn the instrument.
You’ll learn to eat less but enjoy more. When you feel the strong desire to go and get a snack or you want something you know isn’t good for you, living in the now helps you to overcome these cravings.
It does this because you realize all you have to make it through is this moment. You don’t have to worry about what you’re going to do for tomorrow’s mid-morning junk food hunger pangs.
Each little moment of the new becomes its own success story. That empowers you and makes you more resilient so you’re able to handle the next difficulty that arises.
If you have a goal to lose weight, living in the now helps you not to focus on the entire twenty pounds. Instead, you can focus on losing what you can today, one pound at a time. You keep your attention on what you’re eating now, what exercises you’re doing today. You don’t worry about how you’re going to beat a future plateau. Mindfulness allows you to enjoy what you eat, to feel the texture, to appreciate the aroma and to delight in the taste. You enjoy your food more when you live in the now.
Change becomes easier. Just focus on one little change at a time. In the end, the little changes add up to successfully reaching your goal. Living in the now helps you stay in control. It also helps you overcome self-defeating thoughts and habits such as drinking too much, smoking, skipping sleep, or skipping meals.
Taking care of yourself becomes more doable when you’re living in the now. You can concentrate on one healthy action at a time. Eating a healthy snack, going to bed earlier, or walking around the block today are good examples.
You don’t have to concentrate on making sure you get to the gym every single day of the week. All you have to put your focus on is working out today. You don’t even have to focus on making sure you exercise for thirty minutes. You just complete whatever exercise you’re doing during the moment.
Reaching your goals will become easier. You’ll be able to make your plans by focusing on which step you have to do right now. You don’t have to have all the answers today. You simply need the first step. That first step is what leads you to being able to handle whatever it is you want to do in life.
This will help you stop feeling overwhelmed with large projects. Instead, you’ll choose to look at the small steps and accomplish those, which become a completed project.
As you develop this resilience, you can quickly learn how to understand yourself. This helps you to stop living with stress or worry or anxiety about situations.
When you feel upset about something, take a moment to focus on yourself. If you feel dread or fear, take a deep breath and allow your subconscious to come to the forefront of your mind. You’ll be able to connect the emotion with the thought that was used to create it.
For example, you may realize that you felt dread after hearing your partner mention that layoffs were happening at his or her place of employment. When you focus on connecting that information with the present emotion and physical reaction, it’ll help you to see that your dread isn’t permanent.
By addressing it, you’ll be able to let it go rather than allow the dread to continue to build to the point where you feel fearful about your future.
Let resilience improve the moments in your life. When you live in the now, it can help you to become more aware of what you’re doing that could have a negative effect. For example, hitting the snooze button repeatedly can cause you to sleep in, wake feeling groggy, and leave you rushing around in the morning in order to get to your job or school.
By being mindful, you’re aware of the value of your time. You become aware of how one moment affects the next
How Living in the NOW Strengthens Your Relationships
How Living in the Now Strengthens Your Relationships
Everyone wants to have healthy strong relationships but not many people know that living in the now is exactly how you develop those types of relationships. It’s all about what you choose to focus on in the relationship that makes all the difference in the world.
Being fully present lets you look at the foundation of your relationships and allows you to be nurturing rather than wasting time and effort trying to fix what you believe is wrong with the other person.
When you’re living in the now, you develop a deeper level of kindness and connection toward the other person.
than rehashing and reacting to what you perceive are flaws—or even what irritates you about the other person—living in the now lets you become accepting. When you accept other people as they are, they tend not to be as defensive. Their guard is lowered and true bonds can be formed.
You’ll be able to grow within the relationship. As a result, you can change the tone of the interactions you have with those you care about. When you live in the present, you have relationships where loving honesty are at the forefront. This allows the relationship to flourish. So if you’re ready to nurture your relationships, here’s what you can do to strengthen your bond today…
Practice paying attention.
When the other person is speaking, give them your full focus. When you multitask as someone is talking to you, it makes them feel like they’re not important enough for your full attention.
By giving half of your attention away when someone else needs you to be present, you’re robbing yourself and them of the full benefit and enjoyment of your relationship. However, when you pay attention, you’re living in the moment. This deepens the level of the relationship and allows you to feel closer to the other person.
Check your emotions by being in the present.
When you’re in the present, you’re not allowing the emotions from the past to interfere with your relationship. Constantly holding onto things that bothered you then allowing those things to remain in your thoughts or to come out during an argument can erode the relationship over time.
Your emotions become heightened when you carry past baggage into the present. You end up saying things that you may not truly mean. This happens because you’re not speaking with present emotions but with past ones. Checking your emotions allows you to break the circle of constantly fighting over the same things.
Teach yourself.
Use living in the moment to guide you on how to deal with relationships now. Look for self-teaching moments. This is when you stop and check in with yourself. Ask what the best way is to handle the situation. Look to see if you reacted emotionally and created friction rather than acted mindfully and created peace.
What checking yourself does is boost the strength of the relationship. You’re not busy looking at what the other person is doing. Instead, you’re focusing on what your responsibility is.
Being mindful enables you to control and manage your feelings and actions. It also means you don’t have to be in control of the outcome of the relationship. You’re free to let it evolve.
In the end, the only person you’re capable of changing or improving is yourself. When you focus on strengthening the relationship, it lets the other person “off the hook.” Taking off that pressure prompts others to feel better and react differently toward you.
Create the future you want.
When you behave mindfully in any relationship, it shapes how it will be in the future. Many people have hopes of loving, fulfilling, relationships but don’t realize that today’s behaviors and words create that. If you want love and peace, you have to plant and cultivate those seeds.
Let go of your expectations.
Living in the moment makes you let other people off the hook. People won’t follow the script that you have in your head. They won’t react as kindly or as romantically as you had hoped and sometimes, this can be painful.
When you keep your focus on the now, it lets you see past the surface of that person’s response. You’ll develop empathy and realize that the other person is under stress or they’re worried or something is going on that has absolutely nothing to do with you. Being mindful allows you to take a step back to see the truth.
Own up to what’s happening.
Living in the now helps you to deal with whatever issues are going on in a relationship rather than ducking it. Every relationship has flaws because humans have flaws. Some flaws can be so big that if not dealt with, it can wreck the relationship.
You can strengthen it by approaching the other person with your feelings now mindset. This helps you not to lay blame and use words that are guaranteed to make the other person defensive like “You always” which is accusatory.
Instead, living in the now will help you to address others calmly. You’ll be able to change the tone by saying, “Right now, I feel let down,” and that enables the conversation to start and the situation to be resolved.
Set your intention each day.
Let mindfulness make you more forgiving toward those in your life that you care about. When you get up each morning, think of two things that you can do to help the relationship grow closer. This might be two acts of kindness such as leaving a caring voicemail, writing a note or simply saying, “I love you and I’m on your side.” Your relationships take work. However, living in the now makes it easier to strengthen your bond and build the relationship you’ve always dreamed of.
Goal Setting Rules That Work!
Goal Setting Rules That Work
Poor goal setting can be a roadblock to success. Think of it as a business plan—the plan and path you need to take to be successful. Without a plan or a set of goals designed with steps to follow, you lack direction, and without direction, it is hard to get where you want to go. All humans need guidance and to do the work to reap the rewards.
Follow these rules to goal setting that work:
Be Realistic
For example, your goal may be to lose 30 kilos, but don’t expect that to happen in two or even ten months. Give yourself a realistic timeline to reach your goal. Don’t set yourself up to fail before you also get started by being unrealistic.
Baby Steps
Break down your goals into manageable steps or smaller goals that you can change or repeat each day to reach your goal. This way, your bigger goal seems easy to get to, and you won’t overwhelm yourself again by doing too much or making it look too hard.
For example, maybe you have a goal to do more exercise, as I have at the moment. Instead of going from 500 steps to 5,000 steps in one hit, you can just start with 1,000 steps a day for the first week, then 2,000 the second week, and then as the weeks go by, you will find yourself doing 5,000 steps each day easily and effortlessly. All you need to feel accomplished is to work toward your goals slowly. I had become very inactive with the pandemic lockdowns. I found my osteoarthritis was really taking hold again and I was needing more and more pain relief to cope each day. I decided to make a change. I started with the 1,000 steps daily for a week. I’m now up to 3,000 steps a day and really enjoying my walking time and challenge. I also feel much better and have been able to come off my pain relief medication.
Be Specific
Make sure all the goals that you set for yourself are very clear and specific. Don’t make it broad and all over the place. If you can’t see the finish line, you may not get started. If you don’t know precisely what you want to accomplish in the end, you won’t know how even to get started in the first place, much less the steps that it takes to reach the goal.
Be Relevant
Each goal you work on should be relevant to where you want to see your life going. Do you have big career goals? Then make sure the goals you write down are career related. Don’t make all your goals about your health and hobbies if you ultimately want to be a doctor one day. You will need to put in a lot of work to get there and make it a top priority.
Always Plan
Writing down the goals is only the first step. You must also plan how you want to achieve the goals. Having a clear direction, a beginning, middle, and end will lead to success. For each goal that you make, also write at least three to five things you plan on doing to get there first.
You must want to accomplish the goal and believe in it to succeed. After all, it takes your continued hard work and dedication to make it happen, no one else’s.
Guilt!
The Most Overrated Emotion: Guilt
Guilt is an emotion people experience when they do something wrong (or think they did something wrong) whether they did it on purpose or not. Guilt is frequently an emotion people express when they fail at something or don’t accomplish something they worked hard toward. Guilt can be positive but more times than not, guilt is harmful and can be an overrated emotion.
Guilt is a Distraction
Guilt is more of a distraction than a useful emotion. Guilt distracts and detaches you from reality while you feel hopeless and sad about what you did. Instead, that time could be used to solve the actual problem or to forgive yourself or the person that may have caused that feeling in the first place.
Guilt is a distraction from the lesson to be learned. We often dwell on failing instead of why we experienced the failure, which distracts from learning from your mistakes. Instead, take the failure as a sign that you need to learn something. What did you miss? Discover it and realize it was a lesson, and eventually, you will overcome the obstacle if you don’t let guilt win first.
All Effort is Lost
Guilt makes you forget about all the effort you already put into it, which ultimately wastes even more of your time. Why did you also put in any effort if you were going to waste it by feeling guilty? Be proud of the hard work that you did even if you ultimately make a mistake or you didn’t succeed at a level that you thought you would.
Used for Control
Guilt is sometimes used to control large groups of people. Cults will use guilt to make their followers feel bad about themselves. Parents, teachers and bosses use it to get others to do what they want them to. Guilt is a potent tool to control you because your desire to want to feel better now relies on them.
Guilt is Unhealthy
The feeling of guilt is ultimately very unhealthy, both physically and mentally. It can cause high blood pressure, stress, and many other mental illnesses that can show up right on your body. This includes baggy eyes, weight gain, or even nausea and vomiting in severe cases.
Letting go of guilt will give you the freedom to learn and grow. Even when you make a mistake that doesn’t mean you are dumb or a bad person. The actions that you take next is what will determine that. Instead of dwelling on the mistakes you made, learn from them. Use that time to learn about yourself, so you avoid repeating the same actions. In time you will genuinely understand how useless and overrated guilt is.
So, next time you find yourself feeling guilty, as yourself “What can I do in this moment to change the way I feel?” Then take one small action in that direction.
5 Benefits of Self Care
Top 5 Benefits Of Self-Care
Self-Care Isn’t Selfish – It’s Necessary
Contrary to what you may have heard, self-care isn’t selfish. It’s necessary. When you’ve got commitments, responsibilities and obligations pulling at you from all angles, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you can’t afford the time or resources to care for yourself.
The fact of the matter is that you can’t afford not to.
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Here are five reasons why self-care should be at the very top of your list of priorities.
Top 5 Benefits Of Self-Care
1- Improves Your Self-Esteem
First, engaging in regular self-care practices improves your self-esteem, both in obvious – and not so obvious – ways.
On the surface, sure if you take time to care for your physical body by exercising, eating well, maintaining proper hygiene, and having a beauty regimen you’ll look and feel great on the outside. But caring for your mental and emotional health improves your self-esteem from the inside, too.
A quick example is with a problem that so many people have in common – putting others first.
If you tend to say “yes” to others a little more often than you’d like, sacrifice some of your own needs to make others happy, or riddle yourself with guilt for saying “no”, caring for your emotional health by slowing down, considering what it is you really want and need, and making authentic choices on how to spend your time and money would benefit you.
While it may not seem like it on the surface, people-pleasing is a huge sign of low self-worth. Why do you feel like your wants and needs aren’t valid or important?
Journaling your true feeling, taking time before accepting or denying requests from others, and blocking off personal time in your calendar are just a few examples of simple self-care activities that can help you boost your self-esteem from the inside out.
2- You Have More To Give To Others
Second, while you may assume taking time to care for yourself means less time and energy you can spend on others, the reverse is true.
If you happen to play a role in life where you care for others (for example a parent, work in healthcare or customer service, care for aging parents), it’s all too easy to spend all your time and energy attending to the needs of others.
But what about you?
Who takes care of you and makes sure that you are okay?
Have you ever heard that saying “you can’t pour from an empty cup”?
Chances are that nobody cares for you the way you care for others, so your cup is probably running low. You’ll have to care for yourself or risk total and complete burnout – at which point you’re no good for anyone.
Prioritizing your personal wellbeing is good for everyone. You’ll have so much more to give if you put yourself first at least some of the time.
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3- Increased Productivity
Third, one of the most important self-care practices you can get started on right away is making sure you get enough sleep. The average adult requires 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Running on less than this has potential adverse effects that you may not have considered, such as weight gain, inflammation and poor mental health.
But, one of the strongest benefits of getting enough rest is a boost in concentration and productivity.
Imagine having a high-pressure meeting or presentation at work, or an important exam to take at school. Do you think you’d perform better if you stay up all night drinking coffee and cramming, or after a good night of rest?
The answer is obvious.
If you think you can’t get more sleep because your life is just too hectic and busy, start small! Start by setting a strict cutoff for when you’ll turn off your phone or laptop and go to bed. Then, try going to bed just ten minutes earlier for a while. Even if you don’t fall asleep right away, you’ll be training your body and mind to get into sleep mode.
Once you get used to that, you can slowly add more time. It really works!
4- Get To Know Yourself Better
We humans are constantly changing, evolving and growing. And if you’re reading this right now, chances are personal growth is high on your list of priorities. So, it’s important to you.
Well, if you don’t regularly spend quality time with yourself, evaluating different aspects of your life, setting goals, tracking progress, and examining yourself, how do you stay familiar with who you are once you’ve changed?
Unless you intentionally work on this, you don’t.
It’s not possible to outgrow the perception you have of yourself unless you establish a self-care practice that supports self-understanding.
Some ideas for self-care that will help you explore who you are include journaling (specifically reviewing old journal entries to compare your progress over time), meditation, and pursuing hobbies that involve creativity (making art, writing literature, playing instruments).
5- Healthy Management Of Emotions
Someone who doesn’t have a strong self-care regimen is highly likely to crumble under stress, anger or disappointment. This doesn’t have to be you.
Even the luckiest people on the planet have bad days. We lose loved ones, suffer broken hearts, don’t achieve goals we set out to conquer…
Without a solid self-care toolbox, it’s so easy to turn to unhealthy habits such as drinking to excess, seeking comfort by overindulging in food or shopping, or even becoming avoidant – neglecting our responsibilities completely. These only make bad situations even worse.
When you have great coping mechanisms for when you’re sad, angry, stressed or hurt, you’re able to deal with negative events in much healthier ways.
You’ll still feel the negative emotions – mind you – but you’ll be able to manage them. And that makes a world of difference in your overall life experience.
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Final Thoughts
While it may seem on the surface that you don’t have time or money to prioritize your personal wellbeing, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Self-care doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. In fact, you can find subtle ways to integrate it into your daily life so that you can experience all the peace, positivity and progress you deserve.