We’ve come now to the end of February 2020 and I have to say, looking back at this month, I am so proud that I was able to get myself back into the swing of creating regular content for you all in the form of blog posts, youtube videos and even some great free resources and inserts for you! So, I thought it might be a good idea to put together a link roundup of all the different content I created this month so you have a quick reference guide to ensure you didn’t miss anything you might be interested in.
I’m going to call this monthly installment series ICYMI- which stands for In Case You Missed It! For those of you who have been with me for a while, you might remember that years ago I used to include a section in my email newsletters called ICYMI which was a roundup of all my content created since the previous newsletter has been sent, and it was a great way to ensure my regular community members didn’t miss anything I created. I put a lot of work into the content I produce for you, and so often my content answers questions I regularly receive my community- so I absolutely want to make sure you see everything and learn as much as you can from what I’m sharing! So, without further ado, let’s jump into the content you may have missed this month!
I hope this roundup helps you locate any content of mine you may have missed this month. I’d love to hear which content was your favorite from the month and what you’d like to see more of from me in the future. Please leave me a comment below and share your thoughts!
I can’t believe March is just a few days away! For those of you who don’t already know, March 13th is my birthday so it’s a month of celebration for me for sure! As you may remember, this year I am focused on creating a whole new set of freebie inserts for my community, so when I was thinking about what I wanted to create for March, I thought it would be appropriate to create a celebration tracker.
This beautiful tracker is a slightly different design than you might be used to because I have not broken out the months, instead, the insert is an open list form. I don’t know about you, but I don’t love using celebration trackers where you are given a set amount of space for each month because some months have more birthdays and anniversaries than others and some months have none at all for me personally. So, I would prefer to keep a list with date references and not waste the space.
Something else you will notice about this insert is that is has some columns you don’t see in the usual celebration tracker inserts. You have a column for “candles” which represent the celebration number; age the individual is turning this year or number anniversary. You have a column for “card” indicating whether you have purchased or sent a card. Finally, you have a column for “gift” indicating whether you have purchased or sent a gift.
Now, perhaps you won’t need to send a card or a gift for a certain celebration, which is absolutely fine, but you have the option to track either task if you do. Sometimes I have the problem of purchasing a gift or card ahead of time and I might forget I did this by the time the date rolls around, so for me, these columns will help me remember these details. I’ll likely use a colored highlighter to fill in a box if I know ahead of time a specific celebration needs a card or gift, and then check the box off once it’s purchased. That should help me personally to keep more organized, and I hope that helps you to do the same as well!
Now, as an extra little celebration for my birthday this month, I also want to share with you a special discount code that you can use this month only in my shop.
Use code MARCH25 at checkout to receive 25% OFF one regular priced item in my shop!
If you haven’t purchased your copy of the 2020 Master Planner, it is still early enough in the year to get yourself planning and organized if you are feeling like you had a rough start to the year or could use some extra inspiration to get a jump on your projects and goals for the year.
If you are still struggling on your annual goals or feel like it’s too late to set them, YOU GOT THIS is the tool you need! My YOU GOT THIS Goal Setting & Planning Workbook is an action oriented guide to get clear on your goals, lay them all out in your planner, and remove obstacles that stand in your way!
Either of those items are the perfect gift to give yourself this month to take small but decisive steps towards the life you want to live and the changes you know you need to make!
I have been on the internet for a very long time. I was building my own websites and doing an early form of micro blogging back in the early 2000s while I was in high school. Yea, it’s been a while and with each new iteration of tech, software and internet enabled gadgets, I feel like I have accumulated so much digital clutter. And I don’t think you even had to be active in the digital space for as long as I have been to feel similarly. Most of us have a backlog of emails in our inbox, a camera roll cluttered with photos, videos and screen shots, and just too much digital stuff to look at, scroll through, listen to and watch!
It’s time for us to do a digital declutter- at least, it’s time for me to do a digital declutter.
If you are not familiar with the concept of a digital declutter, it’s very similar to the concept of a home, room, closet or drawer declutter. We are going to go through our digital devices and start clearing things out.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Why is this necessary? Our digital devices are equipped with enough hard drive and cloud backup space to keep every single email, picture, screen shot, app, and note- so why would we actively declutter this if we can just keep it forever?
You’re right, we do have nearly unlimited storage space for all our digital information, however, when was the last time you truly went back and reviewed older files? I know for me, I occasionally scroll through files looking for something I know I saved and because of all the other digital clutter, it’s hard for me to find that one single thing I’m looking for. Even when I use the search function in an app like my email to find something I know I saved, I find it hard to locate that specific email. I’ve frequently lost digital files on my devices, and so, perhaps we give that seemingly unlimited storage capacity and search functionality too much credit. Like physical clutter, digital clutter can absolutely be an eyesore or weight on our shoulders, complicating things that should be an organized convenience. So, if you are ready to lighten your digital load and have an easier time with your devices, here are some ways you can start your own digital declutter.
7 Ways to Declutter Your Digital Life
#1.Get to Email Inbox Zero: I’ve created an entire video on the exact process I use to get to Email Inbox Zero, so click here to check it out. No, Inbox Zero doesn’t mean we are going to delete all of our emails. Instead we are going to use a system of organizing to process through unread emails and properly store or delete emails as necessary to ensure our inboxes are as organized as possible and that no email is left behind.
#2.Unsubscribe from Email Lists You No Longer Enjoy: While you are completing your Email Inbox Zero project, I know you’ll find emails from subscription lists you no longer enjoy. So to cut down on future email clutter, let’s just take a minute, before deleting those old emails, to locate and use the unsubscribe function to prevent future necessary email clutter.
#3.Delete Unused Apps On Your Devices: As I am completely integrated into the Apple ecosystem, whenever I get a new device, like a new iPhone for instance, it automatically downloads all the apps from every other device I own. Ugh! This is such a pain because I use certain apps on my iPad and not on my iPhone, and I end up with pages of apps I need to organize or remove. Let’s save ourselves the hassle and just purge all the old apps we no longer use. So check your phone, tablet and even your computer for old apps or software you can remove to save space and processing power for other things.
#4.Review and Clean Up the Pictures, Videos and Screenshots on Your Phone: The photo albums on my phone are a particularly cluttered part of my life. I take so many photos, videos and screenshots and very rarely delete any of them. So, if you are like me, I recommend you first take a moment to back up your photos from your phone to either your computer or to a cloud storage system. I have a Dropbox Pro membership so I can set my photos to back up to the cloud there just to ensure I don’t loose anything important. Then once everything is safe, I will go through my photos/camera roll and just clear out anything that doesn’t need to be on my phone.
Looking for more great tech resources for your Online Business? Click the image above to get the Female Entrepreneur Online Business Toolkit today!
#5.Create a Digital Filing System on Your Computer: Now, this happens to be one the few areas of my digital life that I do have pretty well organized already, but I know so many people have a computer desktop covered with files and no clear system for storing information to future reference. For me, my system begins with folders in my “Documents” folder of my Mac. In there I have sub folders for different areas of my life and of course a dedicated folder for my business. It’s not just on folder, of course, but I keep folders nested inside each other for different aspects of my business in a file system that makes logical sense to me, so I always know where I need to store specific files and where to find them when I need to reference them again. My in progress files go in a dedicated folder called “In Progress” and I try to declutter this folder on a somewhat monthly basis. Although I always try to ensure I am saving photos, documents and other files to their appropriate place in my filing system, sometimes when I have a number of items I need to reference for a project, it’s easier to just leave them in one folder and put everything “away” once the work is complete. Whatever system makes sense to you, put something in place where you can properly organize the files on your computer, because again, search doesn’t always work out, especially if you name a file something random, forget to change the name on a file that might have had a generic title or if you misspell your file name as I sometimes do and then loose things in plain sight. At least when files are in their proper place in my system, I can narrow down where I need to look for them!
#6. Scrub through Your Podcast Subscriptions and Replace some Old Shows with some New Ones: I don’t know about you, but when it comes to free platforms like podcasts, I tend to go overboard subscribing to all different types of shows I might be interested in. In truth, however, there are few I follow through with listening to. So, it’s a great idea to review my podcast subscriptions and make sure I take off any shows I thought I’d want to listen to but didn’t like or never got around to while my interest was high. The thing about podcasts, especially if you use a podcast app like the one that comes standard on your iPhone, is that the episodes technically download to your device so they do take up storage space. If you don’t listen to a show for a while, the episodes stop downloading automatically, but if you are subscribed to a lot of shows that can be a big chunk of your hard drive taken up. So, review the podcasts you’re subscribed to, remove subscriptions to shows you don’t like, and perhaps even unearth a new show or two that piques your interest.
#7. Unfollow Instagram Accounts that No Longer Inspire You and Find a few New Ones that Light You Up: One of the aspects of the digital declutter I didn’t even touch on yet is how having soo much content at your fingertips can sometimes overwhelm you in a negative way. Specifically, when it comes to social media platforms like Instagram (but feel free to replace IG with any platform like Twitter, Facebook, YouTub, TikTok, etc) we might start following people or accounts for certain inspirational content, but then after a while it becomes a game of comparison to us. If you aren’t looking to your social content feeds feeling uplifted and inspired, and instead feel judgey, overwhelmed or brought down by what you see, it’s time to purge your feed. Remove, unfollow or unsubscribe from feeds that bring you down, and replace some of them with new content to lift you up.
So, those were 7 Ways to Declutter Your Digital Life. I’d love to hear what you thought of these ideas and how things go for you as you start your digital declutter process. To make this process even more methodical, if that’s something you’d enjoy, perhaps consider turning this into a 7 day challenge for yourself and performing one of the activities per day for a week. Let me know how it goes!
I like to share about habits often in my content because so much of our lives and results boil down to the habitual actions we take. Artistotle said “You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” And John C Maxwell writes “You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” Clearly, the wise understand that habits are essential indicators and predictors of success.
But, which habits, specifically?
This is a question I’ve asked myself for nearly a decade, and have spent significant time researching. I’ve poured over the routines of the world’s elite, the most productive and successful members of society. I’ve dug into the neurology of our brains to understand how habits affect us and which activities impact our brains the most. Some of what I found was surprising, but much of it made perfect sense. Here is some of what I’ve learned adapted into 5 Habits that Predict Success!
Habit #1: Feed Your Brain, Literally.
The first habit that is an excellent predictor of success is how you eat. Specifically, if you eat the right foods that quite literally feed your brain; healthy fats!
I’m sure you’ve heard about the concept from evolutionary science of “the missing link.” The historical and scientific link that explains how humans evolved to become the dominant species on the planet. How we went from clueless, ape-like humanoids to upright standing intellectuals. Scientists have been searching for this missing link for decades, looking for a hypothetical intermediate form of the human that bridges the gap and explains the progression of man kind to its current state. While no transitional fossils of this being have ever surfaced, some scientists now believe they understand the key factor that caused the rapid progression of human advancement; the abundance of fat in the early human diet.
You see, our brains are made of a substance very closely related to fat, and eating fats does wonders for our brains. So much so that eating a lot of fat may very well have evolved us from humanoid animals to modern man. So, eating a diet with a good amount of healthy fats is crucial to keep our brains operating at their fullest capacity. I’m not a doctor or nutritionist so I am not qualified to tell you exactly how much fat is right for you and your dietary needs, but I will say, this information is a significant reason why I have adopted a Ketogenic diet. I have personally experienced the benefits of a diet rich in fats and I believe it has helped me increase my clarity and focus. And if you do not eat animal products- good news- you can still get great healthy fats from nuts, seeds, avocados and oils, so there are options for all of us to feed our brains what it enjoys most!
Habit #2: Give Your Vision a Practical Plan
One of the key determining factors of success is absolutely having a vision for what you are going after. Without a clear vision, little can be accomplished. But, the vision itself is not what makes it all work- it’s the planning that does it!
The habit of planning, taking your vision for what you want to create and breaking it into a step-by-step manageable plan, has got to be one of the more challenging habits to establish. Part of the difficulty lies in clearly defining what you want, and another part of the difficulty lies in understanding how to get there. For some visions or goals, there is a clear path for accomplishment, especially when the vision is for something tangible that we can see, or touch. However, when your vision is for something more abstract, the biggest challenge is assigning tangible outcomes to the intangible vision. If you can give your vision a tangible, practical result, you can create a step-by-step plan to achieve it. And if you take the time each day to understand and evaluate your plan before you take action, you will always move closer and closer to the outcome you desire.
For more productivity tools and resources for planning, download your copy of my FREE Productivity Toolbox by clicking the image above!
Habit #3: Be a Constant Learner
This is a habit that can actually end up taking one of many forms, as there are plenty of different ways to keep yourself learning. You could read, watch videos, travel, attend lectures, take a class, or practice a skillset. Essentially, anything that you can do to expose yourself to new ideas and information will literally help your brain to continue to grow and form new neural connections. The more neural connections you have in your brain, the more you will be able to solve problems, think creatively, and advance yourself.
I also believe that having the general mindset of being a constant learner is wonderful to embody because taking the view that you don’t know it all and that there is always more for you to learn really has the power to remove mental blocks and ego issues when executing on your ideas. This reminds me of a story from when I was in college that is a great example of this sort of situation.
If you don’t know, in college I double majored in Art History and Political Science. So, for that Art History major, I needed to take a few art classes. I’m no fine artist, nor was it my intention to be, so I took the class I thought would be the easiest and most affordable in terms of art supplies, which was drawing. Now, when I came into this drawing class, there were a few other students like me who were taking the class to fulfill a requirement, but mostly the class was filled with art students. Now, much to my surprise, I ended up being probably one the best artists in that class and here is why. Whenever we had an assignment, the normal process was that we worked on our drawings in class, usually with a model present, and then one class might be devoted to critiquing our works-in-progress. Because I knew I was no artist, I would always take the general advice of my classmates and teacher to improve my work during a critique, and because I did, my grade always ended up rather high, like a B+ or A. Many of the actual art students, however, would end up defending their work during a critique and likely didn’t change anything according to the class consensus and would end up with a lower grade than me, even when I thought their work was perhaps technically stronger. Why was this? Well, I realized that because I knew I was no artist, and was just there to learn and fulfill a grade, I took the mindset of a beginner, knowing that each class I would try my best, but would likely need to learn more to improve and get a good grade. But the students who were in their ego about being a good artist, and who thought they were already more advanced than the level of a Drawing 1 class, they rarely listened to feedback during a critique, and they didn’t seem to make much progress. They thought they were right, they thought they knew better, and they shockingly received lower grades than me, the actual beginner.
I tell you this to help illustrate the point that having a mindset of a beginner, or at least avoiding the mindset of “already knowing it all” can often help you make progress and get better results. When we stay in our ego, believing we already know better than others, we close our minds to possibility and future advancement. So, keep yourself in that mindset of wanting to learn more and don’t be afraid of new information and ideas. New information can only threaten a defensive ego, but for those willing to see and learn more it can open many doors to your creativity and success!
Habit #4: Invest in Yourself
Investing in yourself is yet another habit that can take on any number of forms. It could mean taking that class to develop that valuable skill you need, it could mean upgrading that very old and slow computer that makes your work frustrating and time consuming, or it could mean taking that vacation because you are exhausted and could use a change in scenery.
There are so many ways you can invest in yourself and in your future, and although sometimes making investments can seem risky, when you take the time to decide what would make the difference in your life and invest strategically, you can make life so much easier and your success much less resistant. Just make sure you have the money to invest- you never want to use money you don’t have, and if there is an upgrade or investment to your life that is important enough but out of budget, consider how you could either save up for the expense or if absolutely necessary, take out a loan in some cases. Although, I do believe it’s important to think creatively about how you can invest in yourself. Sometimes you might think you need the big, expensive upgrade that is outside of your budget but perhaps in the meantime you can make a smaller investment that will yield an incremental improvement until the time comes for you to invest more. For example, perhaps you could read a book or two to learn a skill instead of investing thousands of dollars into a course or degree program. Or you could test out a temporary Virtual Assistant to get some work done for your business before you take the major step and responsibility of hiring an employee. We always want to make sure we are making our investment in proportion to need and budget, because incremental upgrades and improvements can add up over time to yield great results as well.
Habit #5: Be Proactive, Not Reactive
Last but not least, is the habit of being proactive, not reactive. What do I mean by this, because, this isn’t a concrete habit that you can check a box on?
How often do you take action on a task at the last minute because something has triggered you to get it done, as opposed to you properly planning out a task and getting it done before the need arises? When we are working reactively, we are working from behind, from a place of overwhelm or anxiety. We have forgotten about something and now we must rush to complete it, or we are taking action on something in response to an outside person or trigger that is now taking our focus away from our task at hand. How much of your work falls into this category? I think for many of us, this might be our state a good portion of the day. Acting out of a reaction, instead of acting out of a calm, well planned and well intentioned space. Here are some examples:
PROACTIVE • Meal planning & prepping for the week ahead • Keeping a budget and saving for unexpected expenses • Planning out and working on a project with a nice buffer of time for completion • Reaching out to a colleague to check on something you requested • Mocking up a few ideas before a team meeting on a project • Purchasing and sending a card to a friend so that it arrives on or before their birthday
REACTIVE • Ordering takeout at dinner time • Charging an unexpected expense to a credit card • Waiting for an approaching due date to rush to complete a project • Waiting for your colleague to send you requested information on their timeline • Spitballing ideas during a team meeting you weren’t prepared for • Texting your friend Happy Birthday on the day
Now, something you might notice about these examples is that individually, there is really nothing wrong with the reactive action. For many of us, like I mentioned before, this is the state we live in everyday, and so the reactive state does get us by, but it never gets us ahead. It never helps us bring more ease in our lives. It never helps us to show up as the best version of ourselves. So often in life our success comes down to showing up prepared to take advantage of opportunities and even small opportunities can lead to great things. Let’s take the proactive example of mocking up some ideas before a team meeting. The proactive employee in this example might not have been asked to do this, but they did their homework on the meeting before showing up and because of this, when the time comes to share, they bring better ideas to the table. Because of this, their superior might be impressed enough to give them the lead on the project and then, down the road, may consider their proactive nature as an excellent reason to consider them for a promotion. Is this guaranteed? Of course not, but is it the case that the early bird gets the worm? You better believe it!
That’s what being proactive vs reactive is all about. Being the early bird who gets their first. Being the employee who has cleared their plate and can accept new opportunities that cross their desk. Being the friend or family member who demonstrates to others how much they care, even in little ways. The habit of being proactive is about acting before action is called for, and for those who can develop this habit successfully in different areas of their life, you can expect success to flow more swiftly towards you.
I hope you have enjoyed this post, if you have I would love to hear about it in the comments below. I would also love to know which of these habits you are most eager to execute on and perhaps some additional ways you plan to put them into practice. As I said, many of these habits are not single items you can check a box on, but are pattens of action that help bring you closer to the success you desire. So, I’d love to hear how you put them to work in your own life!
Today, I am starting a little series here on my blog where I will share different ideas with you for important information to keep in your planner. As someone who has been a public personality in the planner community for several years, I am often asked about the many different ways you can fill and use your planner, so in true planner fashion, I’ve been keeping lists with different ideas. I’d like to start sharing these lists here on the blog, focusing each installment on a different category of activity.
Now, in terms of how to schedule these items, I think these are items that could be listed in your monthly or weekly spreads- especially if you use an hourly layout type weekly spread. I personally like to use little icon stickers to represent specific activities but that isn’t always necessary. For the activities on the list that have a specific time slot for completion, I recommend listing them on your weekly spreads, but for the rest of the activities that are just outlining general date information, you may want to keep them on a monthly calendar or on an overview style calendar.
For more productivity tools and resources for planning, download your copy of my FREE Productivity Toolbox by clicking the image above!
I hope this list has given you some ideas for items to schedule in your planner. I realize this first installment is a bit basic in terms of the information, but I know my audience is varied and that not everyone is at the same level in their planning prowess, and these little reminders can be so helpful sometimes! Now, as I mentioned earlier, this is going to be a series here on my blog, so check back often to see more planning ideas. I’d love to hear what else you like to schedule in your planner, so be sure to share in the comments.
It’s officially tax season. While the average person might find filing taxes a bit stressful, those of us running businesses can easily become overwhelmed with the task that often requires a lot of organization and paperwork. If you are a super organized business owner (lucky you- this isn’t necessarily me) you may have been keeping excellent records all year that will make tax season a breeze. But if you are not, and you are like me and you end up doing a bulk of your tax paperwork prep right before you get to filing, then I have some practical tips for helping you stay cool, calm and collected during the process. These tips aren’t related to tax code knowledge itself. For that, you will want to consult a professional or the IRS or tax bureau in your locality. Instead, I am going to focus on practical organization tips that have helped me overcome the overwhelm that tax season can bring and help you make the process easier for yourself in the future as well. From my personal experience, most of the stress of the tax process isn’t necessarily related to the work itself, it’s related to what we believe is a complicated process that carries dire consequences if executed on incorrectly. This is not accurate, so let me share some personal insight and tips with you.
My 5 Best Tax Tips for entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners
Get Started ASAP: In the U.S. we have a window of several months in which to file our taxes for the previous year and it can be so temping to put off working on your taxes until the deadline approaches. However, unless you have a significant reason for deferring the task (or know you need an extension) aim to get the work done sooner, rather than later. This isn’t just a practical tip, but its a psychological hack to help you feel more confident. Delaying the inevitable only increases stress, and stress leads to pressure that could cause you to delay too long or make mistakes once the time comes to execute. By started earlier in the season, it will give you more time and confidence to relax and take your time to get the job done right.
Document the process: No, I don’t mean take photos of you doing tax prep to share for Instagram, although I guess you could do that. I mean as you go through the process of working on your taxes keep notes on what you are doing, why, the questions that arise, the documents you refer to and the solutions you find. This can help you in a few ways. First, you will have a written record and system for your tax prep next year which will make it much easier for you in the future. Second, in the off chance you end up being audited, at least you have a record of your process to understand what you did and why- so you can verify your work or find the errors and correct them.
Familiarize yourself with last years tax return: If you have filed taxes for your business in the past, I recommend reviewing your tax documents from the previous year (or even years) to help familiarize yourself with the process. I happen to use turbo tax software myself to file, and it actually keeps my previous years records in line as I am entering the data for my current year. This helps me when I get to a line I might not remember, to understand what I did before so I can remain consistent.
Use separate accounts for your business: This tip may not help you when you are filing your taxes this year, but if you aren’t yet using separate accounts for your business, you will want to start doing this asap. I know it seems like such a little thing, especially if you are a solopreneur like me, but having separate checking, savings and credit accounts for business use will actually make it much easier for you to prepare your taxes because you don’t need to search through personal accounts for business expenses. When everything for your business is kept on it’s own, even if you weren’t particularly organized throughout the year, you have everything in one place that is easier to organize when the time comes.
Don’t stress, seriously: I remember my first time filing taxes for my business. Stressing and pouring over numbers on spreadsheets to ensure I didn’t make even a single tiny mistake, for fear that I would go to jail for tax evasion if my filing wasn’t perfect. Then, after it was all done and I saw how how simple the process was, I began to relax. Over time, and through talking to different business owners and tax professionals, I’ve learned that the process of tax preparation doesn’t require a degree for a reason. Taxes might seem intimidating, but truthfully, the process isn’t difficult to understand (this could be different in other countries/situations). The government just wants you to pay them, so doing your taxes might seem scary, but it’s actually pretty easy. If you wanted people to give you money, wouldn’t you make the process as easy as you could? As long as you follow directions and don’t lie, nothing bad can happen to you. Honest mistakes happen, and I’ve definitely made them, but if you find a major error you can submit an adjusted tax return to correct it. And if you do something major that doesn’t make sense to the government, that’s what audits are for, to check your work. I can say this having been audited as well, that as long as you know what you did and had what you believed to be a solid reason why you did it, you’ll be fine. In fact, the one time I was audited, they ended up giving me back more money which I totally didn’t understand, but thanks for being honest on your end too, government!
Looking for more great online business resources? Click the image above to get your Online Business Toolkit today!
So those are my 5 best tax tips for entrepreneurs and small business owners. I do hope these tips help you to remain calm and relaxed during the somewhat uncomfortable process of tax preparation. Remember, although paying taxes isn’t the most exciting thing, if you are doing so on behalf of your own business or entrepreneurial endeavors, it means that you are living your dream and producing something of value to society. So, all negative connotations of paying taxes aside, I consider it a privilege and responsibility I have that is par for the course of living the life I choose to live.
In case this wasn’t clear from the start of the article, I just want to say that although I am an entrepreneur/small business owner, I am not a tax professional, and I am not affiliated with any tax bureau’s or services, so this is purely anecdotal information meant to ease your mind. If you have questions about tax preparation or tax laws, definitely seek the advice of a professional or the government. I hope you found this article enlightening and I would love to hear your feedback in the comments.
Today on my YouTube Channel, I am sharing the scientific research behind why habits are hard to change. For me, learning this information helped me better understand the way my brain works and come to a deeper understanding of some of the most common anecdotal information and evidence on how habits work. I hope by learning this concept, you will be better prepared to plan and execute on habit changes in your own life!
I want to let you in on a little personal development secret.
This year can absolutely be your best year ever.
How do I know this?
Because when you have been involved in personal development as a lifelong journey the way I have been, you begin to understand that no matter the ups and downs that life throws at us from year to year, season to season, the one thing we always have control over is our actions. Ultimately, it is our actions that define the success of a year, and when you take the time to learn from your past- your past mistakes and your past success as well- you can use that information to make better decisions and take better actions in the present. That means, no matter how wonderful or how terrible you think years past have been, you have a solid foundation of knowledge to reference to make this year the best year of your life. Armed with all that you already know and understand about yourself and the patterns that bring you success or failure, all you really need is a simple action plan of steps to execute to bring your best year to fruition. So, here are 6 simple (but not always easy) steps to your best year yet!
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6 Steps to Your Best Year Yet
#1. Choose the direction you are headed
The first step to having your best year ever is to clearly understand the direction you are headed for your life that would definitively make this year great. After all, how can we ensure your year is great unless we know what greatness looks like and feels like for you. Each of us will have a unique perspective for what would make a year great. What areas of our lives we want to see improvement or change in, what specific milestones we want to hit. It’s important to start your year off with a big picture vision for what you want to accomplish.
Now, to be completely transparent with you, from experience I have seen that very often this first step is the hardest for people to execute on. Although some people are blessed with a definitive vision for what they want their life to look like in the future, most people have a general feeling that what they have right now isn’t enough but they aren’t sure what they really want from life. If this is you, know that it’s completely normal to feel this way, but that this is ultimately a symptom of your general mindset. I’m going to talk about mindset more in step 6, but for now, understand that if you are struggling to see a bigger picture for your life, you likely have limiting beliefs that need to be challenged having to do with your potential and what is or is not possible for your life. It is very common for me to work with students who have been taught not to expect much from life, and that you certainly shouldn’t set goals and aspirations for things bigger than your current station in life. This is unfortunately a common symptom of small minded beliefs that have been passed on through generations, but it is not a true reflection of the world. In our current day and age it is extremely common for people from humble beginnings to lead marvelous lives and expand their worldview. Whatever you can dream for your life, you can achieve with the right mindset and a good plan to get you started.
DO THIS: I recommend spending some time journaling about all the wonderful things you want life to bring you. Take your time with this step, dream big, and if you reach a point where you feel like you want something but you also feel like it’s not possible for you to achieve it, push back on that limiting belief because I have found through experience that most things in life are possible in one form or another if we get creative about our solutions.
#2. Turn your vision into actionable goals
Once you have come to the end of your journaling about the future, it’s time to take your vision and turn it into actionable goals. Now, do keep in mind that this one journaling session for your future isn’t the be all and end all of all your goals. It’s just a jumping off point to get you started. As you turn your vision into goals, you may find that in order to achieve one goal, you will need to complete one or more other goals first. And that once a specific goal is reached, you may want to follow it up with something else. Keep all these goals in mind, again, don’t worry about how many goals you are creating, because there is enough time for you to accomplish everything you want in some way or another. So many goals branch off from other goals and dovetail together that when you weave together your goals for the vision of your life over the next 1, 3, 5, 10+ years, you really do have time to have it all!
DO THIS: Use the acronym S.M.A.R.T to turn each dream for your future into a Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time Bound Goal. Specific: what are you specifically trying to accomplish? Measurable: How can you track or measure when you have reached the goal? Actionable: What actions can be taken to affect the outcome of the goal? Realistic: How can you realistically achieve the goal? Time Bound: When do you want to accomplish this goal by, how much time should it take you to accomplish it and where in the course of your expected life does it make the most sense to work on this goal?
#3. Give your goals a practical plan
So far in this process you have started with big vague dreams, then turned them into actionable goals, and now you must give each goal a set of practical steps to execute on. For some of your goals the path for achievement will be pretty clear to you. Some goals like getting a specific degree or having children are more straight forward. That doesn’t mean you might not experience certain obstacles to achieving them, but you at least know how to get the goal done. For some goals, you may need to do some research to understand the best way for your to approach and successfully accomplish the goal. Luckily, Google is ready to supply a steady stream of insight and information for nearly any goal you may want to accomplish that you might be unclear about. Finally, some goals are a bit more abstract and may not have a set of directions at the ready for you to use to execute on. Again, some resources online may be helpful, it might also be helpful to find someone with experience like a mentor to help guide you, but if no good information can be found, just start with a plan that seems to make the most sense to you. When it comes time to execute on plans, it’s rare for anything to go completely according to plan anyway, but getting started and taking your first step in any direction towards your dream is a start none-the-less.
DO THIS: Create an action plan for each goal that is due to be worked on in the next year. Don’t worry about creating complete action plans for each and every goal, as year to year you can reassess your goals and create the desired action plans.
#4. Get out of your own way to get things done
Once the time has come for you to execute on your action plans, this is when the real resistance comes in. If you thought it was difficult to just imagine the future vision for your life, wait until you actually start to take action. That’s when the deepest, darkest limiting beliefs of your mindset will rear their ugly head! Your mind will find anything, any tiny little reason for you not to take action towards your goals, so be prepared for this. It’s quite normal and expected for this to happen- in fact it’s a scientifically understood part of the human brain. You see, your brain is a wonderful organ that manages practically all the functions of your body, but it does so by living in the metaphorical past. Anything you have experience with is acceptable for your brain, but anything new, like these big new goals and plans you’re making to change your life, are viewed as a threat. So the best thing you can do is take things slowly, step by step with your action plans and find a way to establish a routine where you give yourself dedicated time to work on your goals.
DO THIS: Aim to create a habit of doing at least one thing for your current goals each day and track your results. Taking small but steady action is a great way to build new neural pathways in your brain that establish permanent patterns and routines for you to go after your goals.
#5. Keep the details of your life organized
There are few things that can steal time away from us taking action on our goals like the necessities of everyday life. We all have to live, right? That means we each have a set of non-negotiable tasks that belong on our to do lists right there beside the action steps for our goals. So, as much as possible to mitigate this, I like to organize and systematize the mundane elements of my life. Organizing your life isn’t always the easiest task, but it is absolutely one that yields tremendous long term results. So, identify the areas of your life that are the biggest obstacle to giving time to your goals and find a way to system
DO THIS: ID a mundane or routine area of your life to systematize. A system is essentially a protocol for dealing with the task on an ongoing basis so you don’t have to think about it each and every time the task comes up. A great example of this is meal planning and prepping. Everyone has to eat and deciding on what to eat right before each meal adds to your decision fatigue each day and takes up valuable time you could be working on your goals. Instead, pick a day of the week to create a complete meal plan for the week, go grocery shopping and then prep some meals ahead of time. This process may take a few hours one day, but by bulking the task you ultimately will save much more time an energy than it would take to cook each meal individually each day. Of course, there are plenty of other areas of life you can systematize if meal planning doesn’t work for you, so consider where you end up spending the most unnecessary time and develop a system for minimizing your effort in this area of your life.
#6. Control your mindset
Mindset is your personal view or attitude toward yourself, your potential and the way the world works. Your mindset has been specifically crafted by your direct experience in life and the information you are given by those around you. Although your mindset is a liquid concept with the potential to evolve throughout your life, for many people, it solidifies by about the age of 7. Meaning, the experiences you had as a child, plus the experiences, lessons and stories shared by your direct family and community have solidly shaped your outlook and world view. But, our mindsets are simply a collection of experiences and beliefs- not necessarily true or false, but usually limiting in some way. They have the power to color our outlook of the world and affect the way we respond in different situations. If you have a strongly positive mindset, you may see the world as full of possibility and eagerly welcome and overcome challenges. But if you have a more negative mindset, you may be limited in the things you believe you can do, accomplish or deserve and you will act in accordance with these beliefs allowing even small obstacles to derail your progress or even worse, finding any excuse not to start on a journal to a cherished goal. Because mindsets are formed so early in life, most of us having been living with our intact and unchecked for the majority of our life, so it takes a lot of patience and self awareness to reprogram your mindset to overcome limiting beliefs. The best thing to do to start the reprogramming process is to handle limiting beliefs as they pop up on your journey. You can identify your limiting beliefs by paying attention to the things you try to avoid, or things you think negatively about yourself. Negative self talk is a major red flag that a limiting belief is present.
DO THIS: As you identify your limiting beliefs, one by one, in the moment that they arise, I recommend doing the following. First writing down the limiting belief that is holding you back in the moment. Next, identify where this belief came from. Did you learn this belief from family? Was it something that played out in your own life that you assigned to yourself? There is always a source for each of our limiting beliefs- a person or a situation that was a catalyst for it. Then, write down an example of when your limiting belief is actually untrue. Identifying evidence that goes against a limiting belief is one of the best ways to break down the stereotype and overcoming it. Finally, write out a phrase that is in complete opposition to your negative belief- effectively turning your negative limiting belief into a positive expansive belief. Every time you face that limiting belief again in the future, stop and force yourself to say and act on the positive belief instead. In time, one will be replaced by the other.
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So those are the 6 simple (but not always easy) steps to your best year yet! I know I gave you a lot of action steps and information to process here, but truly, these six steps are just the tip of the iceberg for your success. The deeper you go into each of these steps, the more you will uncover about your personal goals, aspirations, productivity, and mindset. For that reason, if you would like additional guidance as you work through this process, I would absolutely recommend the YOU GOT THIS Workbook.YOU GOT THIS is a Goal Setting & Planning Guide that not only walks you through these 6 steps in depth with much more example and information, but also contains dozens of activities and worksheets to help you clearly map out this process and bring it to life for your best year ever!
So, if you are serious about taking focused effort to improve your life through goal setting, planning and organization, click the button below to purchase your copy of YOU GOT THIS now!
As many of you may already know, something I like to track in my planner are the cycles of the moon. I’ve spoken briefly about why I do this, personally, in a planner setup video from a few months ago, but many of you asked for me to make it a dedicated post so that is what I am doing today!
So, in my planner I like to track when the full moon and new moon are- I don’t necessarily track the other phases of the moon- these two are the ones I am most interested in for the purpose of tracking and understanding my menstrual cycle, fertility and reproductive health. Full disclosure, I am not currently trying to conceive, but as a woman who may want to conceive one day and is of a certain age where conception is sometimes more difficult, I’ve been much more interested in my cycle and reproductive health now than I ever have been in the past.
So, you are probably wondering, what does the moon cycle have to do with your reproductive health? Well, actually, a lot, not in a directly measurable way, but in an indirect way due to the role the moon traditionally plays in our hormonal cycles.
I guess the crux of the matter here has to do with our body’s producing a hormone called melatonin. You may be familiar with melatonin- it is the hormone in our body that controls our circadian rhythm, which is our sleep/wake cycle, however, melatonin may also play a role in other cycles of our body, like our reproductive hormones. This is how melatonin traditionally works in our bodies- melatonin production kicks off on our bodies at about dusk, when the sun is going down and there is a visible reduction in light. Melatonin essentially keeps ramping up the darker it gets and makes us sleepy so that we go to bed when it’s dark, hopefully it keeps us asleep overnight and in the morning when the sun begins to rise, levels of melatonin taper off. So our personal melatonin production is tied to the amount of light in the sky. And some science and research has shown that the higher melatonin is in a woman’s body specifically, the more fertile she may be. Because of this correlation- some women who struggle with fertility or are undergoing fertility treatments are sometimes encouraged to use melatonin supplements.
Now, what does this have to do with the moon?
Well, traditionally, as in before the advent of modern lighting inside of homes- the darkest nights of the month would be the nights around the new moon. A new moon if you are aware is when there is no moon actually visible in the sky- so those nights are darker than nights around or on a full moon where the moon is at its brightest and the night is brighter. Now again, traditionally speaking, there is a belief or an old wives tale that if a women menstuates with a new moon, she is more likely to conceive during that time- and if the research into the role of melatonin is any inidicator- I’d say this is one of those old wives tales that might have some real scientific backing to why it works. Because new moon means a darker night, meaning more melatonin and perhaps higher fertility for some women.
Now, of course, because we have modern lighting in homes and work and buildings etc, this actually can end up throwing off our personal melatonin production and throw off our circadian rhythms making it harder for us to sleep and sometimes wrecking havoc on the hormonal cycles of our bodies. So, for this reason I personally prefer not to use the lights in my home as much as possible once it becomes dark. I know this might seem funny and like I’m shunning modern convinces but unless I need the lights on for a task, once it becomes dusk, I try not to use any bright overhead lighting- I prefer to use candles or lamps or I use my dimmer on my overhead lighting to keep my lighting as minimal as possible. And what I have found by doing this is that my menstrual cycle has seriously began to regulate itself. I used to have a cycle that was much longer than the average 28 day cycle- it could go on for like 35-40 days if I wasn’t taking birth control, which is a long time. So essentially a few years ago once I made this switch to not using lights, my cycle has seriously regulated itself and now I have very close to a 28 day cycle which is interesting. So, I track the moon cycle because I’m interested in seeing how the moon interacts with my personal menstral cycle. And I feel like I’ve learned a lot about myself, and my personal energy cycles from keeping track of all of this.
Interestingly, it seems as though for me personally, during the spring and summer when the days are longer, I end up menstruating with the new moon, but in the darker months of the year, my cycle switches to the full moon. I think this might have something to do with the juxtaposition of light and dark, that in the days of the year where there is more light, my body senses the darkness at night more, or perhaps in the winter months I end up using more light in my home and it throws off my melatonin production. Who knows- but I find it fascinating. So, that is why I personally track the moon cycles in my planner, obviously I also track my menstrual cycle as well, and for me its just a way to better understand myself and my health and the natural cycles of my body.
Today I wanted to share with you my updated Self-Care routine and give you a little gift to celebrate Valentine’s Day!
I really enjoy the topic of Self-Care! I know for some people, the conversation on self-care can seem to go in one ear and out the other, but I love researching and testing different ways to help me care for my body, mind and spirit. It’s my way of finding new ways to live my best life by feeling my best. Nothing raises my vibration like a little self-care and self love.
Lately, I have been obsessed with a few new self-care favorites.
1. Gua Sha: If you are not familiar, Gua Sha (pronounced gwa-sa) is a natural therapy traditionally used in East Asian medicine that involves scrapping the skin to massage, increase circulation and heal the fascia of the body. I first learned about this technique through some articles and videos that walked through the facial massage aspect of the treatment that uses a set of stone tools to massage the muscles of the face, depuffing it and creating an instant facelift type result. By the time I learned about gua sha I was already using a jade facial roller to massage in my facial serums as part of my skin-care routine, so using the gua sha scrapping tools seemed to be the next step that I was willing to try. And boy does it work! The results for the facial massage are somewhat subtle but still very powerful. I like to do the facial massage at least once a week. But the real game changer for me has been using the gua sha technique on my body. Specifically, my shoulder, back, legs, hips and thighs. For as long as I can remember, I have suffered from terrible muscle knots all over my body. I used to get regular massages for the pain, before graduating to acupuncture, but those are pricey options for the level of temporary relief I felt. Then, I discovered Gua Sha and learned about using the technique on your body to heal muscle pain and knots in the connective tissue- game changer! So now I Gua Sha various parts of my body 2-3 times a week and I’ve noticed a severe reduction in muscle pain and the nights I Gua Sha I have the best sleep!
2. Yin Yoga: I’ve been doing yoga on and off for years at this point and I can’t believe it took me this long to discover the practice of Yin Yoga. Yin Yoga is a slower paced version of yoga that specifically deals with the facia or connective tissue of the body by staying in specific poses for longer periods of time (3-5 mins). Turns out, a lot of the pain I experience in my body actually comes from my facia, so by doing gua sha to massage my fascia and Yin yoga to intentionally stretch out tight areas of my fascia, my daily pain and discomfort has virtually disappeared. To keep up my desired results, I’ve been practicing Yin Yoga about once a week.
3. Micro needling: Another new-ish element of my self-care skincare routine that I have fallen back in love with is micro needling. I know it sounds scary but it’s not as bad as it seems. Micro needling is a technique where you use a derma roller with little tiny needles on it to lightly puncture the skin and generate new collagen production. Micro needling is used for a variety of skin issues like acne, scaring, wrinkles, and texture and when used as a treatment consistently, I’ve seen a great improvement in my skin. So, I make sure to micro needle once a week.
So, I hope you have enjoyed hearing about some of my new self-care favorites that have been added to my self-care routine. Now, let’s go ahead and open your Valentine’s gift!
To help us keep track of our self-care, I have designed this Self-Care Routines Insert! It has space for you to list out your self-care routines in three areas of your life, wellness, spiritual and entertainment, because, after-all, self-care is more than just body care and I’ve been trying to establish new routines to help me feel my best mind, body and soul. So, I do hope you enjoy the insert!
Well, that is all for today! I hope you enjoyed this post and your V-Day Gift! Please be sure to share pictures of your insert with me on Instagram by tagging me @MissTrenchcoat!
