Tag: productivity

Goals, Health, Living Now, Mental Health, Time Management, Working Mums

How Finishing What You Start Can Change Your Life

Lyn Bailey

How Finishing What You Start Can Change Your Life

 

If you constantly leave unfinished projects by the wayside, you know all too well how it feels not to finish a task. But the truth is, you can’t accomplish anything if you never finish what you start. It’s time for you to learn how to finish tasks because finishing tasks can change your life in several beneficial ways.

You’ll Find You Have More Career Options

No one wants to hire an employee who doesn’t finish projects or often leaves them partially complete. Once you demonstrate that you can finish projects every time they are assigned, you’ll find that you receive more promotions and other career paths open to you that weren’t there before.

 You Will Feel More Relaxed

Leaving unfinished projects in your life creates anxiety in your mind whether you realize this or not. When you begin to finish projects instead of leaving them undone, you’ll find that you feel much more peaceful and less anxious about the world around you. This will have profound effects on your mood and your relationships with others in your life.

You Will Feel Success

People often undermine the power of feeling successful. It really is a feeling which puts you on top of the world. Once you feel successful in one task, it will spill over into all your other tasks. This momentum will propel you to be more successful in your life. All from just finishing one task.

You Will Be Ready For Your Future

With the feelings of success that come from finishing what you start, you will also enjoy feelings of preparedness. Feeling more prepared will make you feel ready to face the future ahead. Future changes and projects will seem less scary and easier to accomplish, paving the way for future tasks for you to finish with ease.

Finishing what you start is not an easy task, but once you get the ball rolling and truly get yourself to complete tasks, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the benefits which follow. You’ll not only have more options in your life, but you’ll also feel more emotionally at peace with these options. And don’t forget you’ll also feel success, which will keep you on the road to achieving your dreams.

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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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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12 Reasons to Live in the NOW!

Lyn Bailey

12 Reasons to Live in the Now

There are many reasons to live in the now. Doing so can improve every area of your life. You’ll live happier and in greater freedom from things that would normally weigh you down or hold you back. Here are the reasons why you need to live in the now…

Reason #1: You’ll feel better emotionally.

When you live in the now, your focus is on what you have, not what you lost, what was, or what will be. You won’t waste your precious hours dwelling on anything. You won’t live in discontentment and focus on what’s going to be.

You’ll simply be open to life as it’s happening to you. When you do this, you’ll find that your joy in life is magnified. You’ll smile more often and you won’t have that feeling that the world is sitting on your shoulders. You won’t feel like you’re burning the candle at both ends. Instead of just existing, you’ll be living life to the fullest.

Reason #2: Your mental energy won’t be wasted.

It can be exhausting having your thoughts jump through the hoops of “what if…” or “if only I had…” which in turn leads to physical fatigue. When you guide your thoughts to living in the now, you’ll discover that you don’t waste energy dwelling on things that don’t matter. You’ll gain freedom from pressure and worry.

Reason #3: Living in the now can rid your life of chaos.

You won’t find yourself reacting to things anxiously or fearfully. You’ll have a sense of peace and well-being even during the times that something is going wrong. You’ll feel this way because you’ll understand that living in the moment means that whatever is going on is current and doesn’t mean it’s always going to be that way. You’ll know that chaos is transient and doesn’t have the power to steal your peace of mind unless you give it control.

Reason #4: When you live in the now, it boosts your self-esteem.

You’ll have self-assurance and understand that you’re fully capable of handling your life. The way that you approach situations and others will change. You’ll be aware of your strength and wisdom and you’ll know that you’re prepared to deal with each thing as it arises.

Reason #5: Your understanding will increase.

 When you live in the now, you’ll have a deeper understanding of what’s right and which direction to go when you need to make a decision. Many decisions are made out of fear of what might happen in the future rather than weighing the truth of the options at hand.

Reason #6: Being present alters who you are.

You won’t be stressed out or worrying all the time. You’ll take things moment by moment. Your reactions will be formed out of living in what is. Because of this, you’ll discover that other people will be drawn to you. They will be drawn to your positivity, your calm outlook on life. They’ll see your peace. The people that are drawn to you will be ones that support you and give back rather than people that act as emotional drainers.

Reason #7: You’ll accept the forks in the road.

When change occurs, whether unexpected or planned, you’ll know that everything is going to work out. You won’t waste time or mental energy feeling like you didn’t get what you deserved.

You won’t go through life expecting things because you’ll be focused on what you have with a positive, thankful attitude. If something does go wrong, you’ll be able to take it in stride. It won’t shake your belief in yourself or in the goodness of your life.

Reason #8: You’ll stop trying to be perfect.

When you stop trying to orchestrate what happens to you or what unfolds in your life, you’ll realize that the now is what you have before you. You’ll stop being focused on planning your life to perfection.

When you live in the now, you won’t worry if something goes on that you didn’t plan. Every time life throws you a curveball, you’ll be able to accept it and still live happy, rather than getting caught up in what “should have” been.

Reason #9: Living in the now can add years to your life.

That’s because you don’t let stress ruin your life. You don’t allow the negatives and things you can’t control to become a roadblock. Stress tends crops up when you don’t focus on the moment. Perfectionism when planning the future is an example of this.

Many people want to erase bumps, roadblocks, and distractions from their goal planning because they want the perfect future. This strategy doesn’t allow for changes or failures. When it happens, they start to worry about what it means to their future and how they’re going to fix things.

When you start focusing on the future whether things have gone wrong or not, gently bring your thoughts back to the present. Being aware of the current moment keeps you from stressing on the moments that haven’t even happened.

Reason #10: Practicing living in the now because it gives you a positive outlook.

When you have a positive outlook, you have a stronger tendency to see life as good and you expect good. When you expect good, your emotions follow suit. Your thoughts can change the emotional landscape of your life.

Reason #11: Living in the now brings balance to your life.

You’ll discover that you can go through life trustfully knowing on a conscious level that what your life is as it should be. In addition, you’ll develop a faith that your present moment is exactly where you’re supposed to be.

When your life is in balance, it means that what’s important to you will be able to be center stage. You won’t miss the opportunities life gives you.

These opportunities may show up in hundreds of different ways. Such as paying full attention to the conversation of a child, picking up the nonverbal cues given to you by your partner or being in tune to your own needs or the needs of someone else

.Reason #12: You’ll stop using a subconscious script when you live in the now.

Too many people overanalyze their lives and waste their moments trying to decide what’s really going on. Living in the moment allows you take things and people at face value. You won’t second-guess their actions or motive

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Goal Setting Rules That Work!

Lyn Bailey

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. 

Click here for your FREE My Goals Journal

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. 

Click here for your FREE My Goals Journal
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Abundance, Living Now, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Productivity, Time Management, Working Moms, Working Mums

How Clutter is Impacting Your Life!

Lyn Bailey
     

How Clutter Is Impacting Your Life!

 

You’ve seen the social media memes that suggest clutter is good because it’s a sign of creativity. For a few minutes, the memes make you smile and let you know that you aren’t the only person with a clutter problem. However, the truth is that clutter is not a sign of creativity or of productivity. It’s a sign of disorganization, procrastination, lack of control, and sometimes a lack of value or respect. Clutter can even cause problems you may not even be aware of. 

 

Maybe you think it’s just not that bad, it’s just a little clutter, and a little messy but it’s not hurting anything. The fact is that clutter can wreak havoc with your physical, mental, and financial health. 

 

Increases Mental Problems 

The clutter and disorganization around you are ruining your focus. It becomes hard to concentrate due to having to deal with the mess and thoughts that are continually popping up interrupting your flow. The exciting thing is that science is discovering that in some cases the clutter came before the mental illness. This means that there may be a cure.

 

Induces anxiety – Obsessions with the Past – Clutter is closely tied to an inability to let go of the past. 

 

Risk of becoming a Hoarder – While not all people who have clutter become hoarders, it can happen. 

 

Chicken or Egg – People with lots of clutter physically also have lots of clutter mentally that makes life, in general, feel messy and out of control. Usually when the clutter is cleared their outlook improves, and their mind becomes clearer. 



Ruins Your Diet 

When the house is dirty, the car is a wreck, and you’re running on fumes, it’s not shocking that you’re not making good food choices. It seems too hard to plan grocery shopping, cooking time, and so forth when it’s all so cluttered that you cannot find your kitchen table and your oven is full of dirty dishes.

 

  • Junk & Fast Food Seems Easy to Grab

  • Stress Hormones Make You Hungry

  • Guilt Makes You Do Unhealthy Things

  • Guilty feelings for not doing a good enough job taking care of your home and office clutter can cause you to stuff your feelings with eating

 

Causes Respiratory Issues 

Dust mites cause allergies and illness. 

 

Is Not Safe 

One of the saddest and most preventable injuries among the elderly and those who live alone is falling. Most falling can be prevented if you keep the paths clear and clutter free. Collections of papers stored in rooms, attics, and crawl spaces create severe fire hazards. 

 

Weakens Relationships 

The clutter, whether it’s mental clutter or physical clutter can get in the way of experiencing true downtime and relaxation with the people in your life. Living in chaos, the mood level in the home will not be positive. The negativity will cause every relationship to suffer. Is it time for a family meeting? 

 

Decreases Productivity 

If you have to do an hour of reorganizing just to get something done, the clutter will contribute to procrastination, causing your productivity level to dwindle to nothing.

 

Inability to Meet Deadlines – If you cannot find things, it can be hard to meet your deadlines. If you cannot meet deadlines, it can adversely affect your business or career. 

 

Lack of Motivation – Even just walking in a room and seeing the clutter can be demotivating. All the things bombard your mind and cause confusion

 

Can’t Find Stuff – One of the most significant factors in reduced productivity is just not being able to find stuff. If you cannot find your assignment, important research documents, your frying pan – whatever it is that you needed to complete a task it causes costly delays and reduces your productivity. Everyone has the same hours in a day, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed when you’ve allowed your home and/or office to get so cluttered. Clutter can really drag you down and make you feel like giving up. 

 

Encourages Bad Money Management 

Clutter can cause so much destruction if you’re not careful. You will end up spending more money on replacing “lost” items or buying something you already own because you forgot that you own it since you cannot find it. If you’re always forgetting that certain bills are due, it can be very costly to you. If you’re so cluttered in your mind and space that you cannot keep track of time, it’s likely that you’re also not balancing your bank account regularly 

 

Rebuying Things You Already Own – This is something a lot of people who have a lot of clutter end up doing. They either forget they own something and buy another one because they like it, or they go out and buy another one because they cannot find the one that they know they own.

 

Clutter is Bad for The Environment 

One of the main culprits of clutter is overconsumption. People have garages so full of stuff that they don’t use that they cannot put their cars inside. 

 

Next Step

As you can see, clutter in your environment has adverse effects on every aspect of your life. It affects your mental health and your physical safety when it decreases productivity, stresses relationships, and has a negative impact on your financial future. It even affects the physical environment due to poor or inaccurate decision-making and overconsumption.  

 

What area of your life is impacted by clutter? 

What is one action you can take today to start to clear your clutter?

 

Share in the comments below.

 
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Why Living in the Now Makes You More Resilient

Lyn Bailey

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.

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5 Steps to Throw Fear to the Curb and Take Control of Your Life!

Lyn Bailey

Life is challenging, and painful, and exciting, and unpredictable. We are surviving in a crazy world at the moment, with life being all of these things. There are two basic forces that drive our reactions to what Life throws at us – love and fear. Love opens us to the passion and excitement that Life has to offer, while fear causes us to withdraw and hide. As we join forces to overcome the COVID 19 pandemic, we are faced with both love and fear. Our fear comes from the uncertainty of what tomorrow will bring, and how long this situation will last. Our love comes from our gratitude as we have the time and space to question what is truly important in our lives right now.

Fear stops you from taking action, fear of what you might lose or gain, fear of not having enough money, fear of not being loved or belonging, fear of being alone, fear of the unknown, fear of the outcome.

There is a time for fear. It protects us from danger and destruction. The problem is that if you’re not living your life to the fullest, chances are good it’s because you’ve let fear dictate to you that pretty much everything new you want to try is dangerous and destructive.

Well, guess what? It’s not true.

You can throw fear to the curb, you can take control of your life, you can start living your life to the fullest.

Click here for your FREE Checklist on 10 Ways to Overcome Anxiety

Here are 5 steps to get you started on Throw Fear to the Curb and Taking Control of Your Life!:

1. Be Clear About Your Goals
What do you want your life to look like and be like? You must have a destination, a goal, a vision to work toward or you’re not going to know that you reached it. What goals do you want to achieve? Get clear on this and your first fear will be taken care of – the fear of not knowing what to expect. Now you can shift your focus to the tasks that will help you achieve your goal.

2. Prepare Yourself
How many opportunities have you had to say No to because you weren’t ready? No doubt there are many. And there will be many more if you don’t begin to prepare yourself now. Based on the goals you’ve set, what skills and knowledge do you need to achieve them? Begin obtaining those skills and knowledge now.

3. Network With Others
If you don’t have the skills or knowledge, you should know someone who does. A strong social and professional network is vital to your ability to live the life you want. This doesn’t mean you must befriend everyone who crosses your path, or that you must nurture professional relationships with people you don’t like or understand. It means meeting people online and offline and deciding how they fit in your life. You make that decision. Just be sure to nurture those relationships that can help you personally and professionally by being helpful to them first.

4. Ask More Questions
Opportunities don’t appear as if by magic. And sometimes they’re not obvious. Use your imagination and curiosity to help you ask more questions about what is happening around you. When you can see situations from different perspectives amazing lessons can be learned, answers can be found, and recognition of an opportunity can happen.

5. Take Risks
Not just any risk, though, calculated risks. Calculated means understanding what the risks are, whether it’s financial or emotional or mental or physical, and weighing the pros and cons of each risk to determine if you’re willing to live with the consequences of moving forward. When you do this, you are in control of the decision-making process and can accept responsibility for the achievement or failure of what you do in your life.

Click here for your FREE Checklist on 10 Ways to Overcome Anxiety

These five steps apply to your personal and business life because the truth is that you take yourself wherever you go, don’t you? When you are in control of how you make your decisions, why you make your decisions, you throw fear to the curb and are able to live a life that is free of fear and full of joy and happiness and purpose.

While I hope you all stay safe and well during this crazy time we are living in, if you are struggling with this situation, please book a FREE 15 minute coaching session with me to help you come up with a survival plan. CLICK HERE to book your FREE session

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Productivity, Time Management, Working Moms, Working Mums

5 Easy Steps To Take The Headache Out Of Productivity

Lyn Bailey

5 Easy Steps To Take The Headache Out Of Productivity

LaptopAre you working longer hours yet getting less done? How would you like get more work done in less time? If what you are doing right now isn’t working, then it is time for a change. It’s time to develop a whole new productivity system for your business, home and life!

The thing that trips most people is that it takes time, energy and know-how to develop and use a good productivity system from scratch. It took me years of trial and error to develop the system that I’m using now and work out all the keys. A great way to shortcut the process is to look for a proven productivity system and adapt it to your unique situation. In the rest of this section, I’m going to take you through a simple five-step process that can serve as the core or foundation of your personal productivity system. If you want more help creating your own productivity system, don’t hesitate to contact me for a one-on-one introductory session to get a system in place.

To get my FREE “8 Simple Ways to Have a More Productive Day” Cheat Sheet just click here!

5 Step Basic Productivity Process

  1. Capture: Capture and collect all your projects and tasks to get them out of your head and into your system.  
  2. Organise: Organise your projects and tasks in a way that makes sense so you can wrap your head around them and use them more effectively in later steps.
  3. Prioritise: Prioritise your most important projects and tasks so you know the most valuable way to spend your time. 
  4. Plan: Plan your weeks and your days so you can maximise your productivity and focus on what is most important to you. 
  5. Act: – Act NOW! What one step do you need to do today to move you closer to your goal? 

 

By following these 5 easy steps, you can start to take control of your projects, your business and your life. You can start to let go of those feelings of overwhelm, “Oh my goodness, I’m not getting anywhere,” frustration, and guilt that you have spent all this time working in your business and you have nothing to show for it. 

To get my FREE “8 Simple Ways to Have a More Productive Day” Cheat Sheet just click here!

Let me share an example of how one of my clients was able to put massive change into his business using this system. He was a young real estate agent. He was full of life and very enthusiastic and loved what he did, and showed me his to-do list, and showed me tick, tick, tick, tick. All these things were ticked off and he was so excited about this.

I said, “Well, what’s your income like?” He said, “Well, that’s the problem. I’m not getting listings and I’m not selling houses.” I said, “Well, hang on. Let’s look at this to-do list.” He would have 20 things on his to-do list. He would cross 18, 19 of them off every day and the one that was left sitting there day in, day out was to follow up prospects which would lead to finding new leads, people who wanted to sell their houses. Day in and day out, finding houses to sell was on his list, but not getting done. He was so excited about doing everything else, he was missing the number one action that he needed to do. 

Once we got him to rearrange his projects and we put finding new listings as his number one priority, his whole attitude towards his business changed. He started to find listings. He started to sell houses and he started to make an income in his real estate business. That just gives you a little bit of an idea of what I’m talking about with how important it is to manage our projects wisely. 

Give this system a go. Let me know what is working and not working for you.

To get my FREE “8 Simple Ways to Have a More Productive Day” Cheat Sheet just click here!

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Abundance, Multitasking, Productivity, Time Management, Working Moms, Working Mums

Is Multitasking really the answer to productivity?

Lyn Bailey

Is Multitasking really the answer to productivity?

Multitasking seems like a great tool to get more done. But you have to ask yourself, are you really ever truly multitasking and won’t it just set you up for confusion?

“Think you’re good at multi-tasking? Feeling energized that you can whip through email messages while simultaneously listening to discussions on a conference call? You might not be as efficient as you think.

It turns out that 98% of the population doesn’t multi-task very well. Only about 2% are good at multi-tasking and these “supertaskers are true outliers.” For most of us, we’re not really multi-tasking – we’re actually shifting back and forth from one task to another, such as typing an email and then listening to that conference call conversation, then back to our email and so on.

The problem with trying to multi-task is all that shifting back and forth between tasks isn’t all that efficient because, each time we do it, it takes our brain some time to refocus. So while it might seem efficient on the surface, it isn’t – studies show that multi-tasking can reduce productivity by as much as 40%.” See Forbes

If you are typing an email, it is unlikely you will be able to concentrate on something else at the same time. If you are on the phone, can you really give your attention to who you are talking to if you are reading your Kindle book at the IThe truth is, we are not really good at multitasking.

Looking at even a higher level, if we try to be a jack-of-all-trades, we tend not to be good at any one thing. On the other hand, if you focus on just one skill and put every effort into being the best at that skill, you are going to do a pretty good job at that skill. It will only take a matter of time before you are expert at it.

My Family

As a working mother of 4 young children, I used to pride myself at being great at multitasking. The truth was that my world was falling apart around me. I didn’t see myself as a good wife, a great mum or a good midwife. I was a jack of all trades and a master of none. Something had to give. I changed the way I started to look at my day and my To Do list. I learned how to focus on 1 or 2 really important, productive goals each day and worked at them until they were completed. This allowed me to feel I had achieved what I set out to do, and, in turn, feel better about myself.

While it’s true that we live in a fast-paced society, one requiring more and more of us to take on more tasks, it remains to be seen whether we are improving productivity by doing this. If instead, we figured out what the most important tasks are to move the organization ahead and then focus workers’ resources on those tasks, it is likely that the productivity gains could be greater from this.

Buddhists believe that people should focus on one task and one task only. They widely hold the belief that we are not good at multitasking, in fact, we are terrible at it. Even if the task given is mundane, it should be completed to the best of our abilities and only then do we move onto something else.

You’ll find plenty of people who will swear that they are good multitaskers. But if you look deeper at what those people are doing, more often than not you will find they are not good at it at all. These people tend to get easily distracted because they are trying to do too many things at the same time. It’s not that they are necessarily worse at it. It’s just that since they hold the belief that they are good multitaskers, they tend to do it more than others. So they appear to be worse at it. None of us are really good at it. You will find your productivity will increase if you focus on one task at a time.

If you would like some help in making this change in your life, then contact me for a FREE 30 minute strategy session to point you in the right direction. Click here to arrange a time.

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