Strange & Charmed

5 Habits that Predict Success

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!

xoxo,

Functional Planning

13 Items to Schedule In Your Planner

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.

Today, we will begin with your Schedule. By schedule, I mean, things that should be given a specific time slot in your planner. I recently wrote an article on why I don’t think relying on schedules is the most productive form of time management, but of course, there are always time sensitive items that do stick to a schedule.

13 Items to Schedule In Your Planner

Appointments
Meetings
Events
Calls
Meals
Routines
Self-Care
Errands
Key Project Dates
Work/Vacation Schedules
School Schedules
Hobby/Community Schedules
Maintenance Schedules

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.

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.

xoxo,

Business

Tax Tips for Entrepreneurs & Small Business Owners

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.

xoxo,

Personal Development Productivity

The Scientific Reason Why Habits Are Hard to Change

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!

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MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO

✔︎ Habits Playlist

✔︎ Dr. Joe Dispenza Books- Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself

✔︎ You Are the Placebo

✔︎ Becoming Supernatural

I hope you find this video enlightening! I’d love to hear your comments and feedback below!

Enjoy!

xoxo,

Functional Planning Personal Development Productivity

How to Make This Year Your Best Year Yet!

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!

xoxo,

Metaphysics

Why I Track the Moon Cycle In My Planner

Hello My Charmed Ones!

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.

Of course, I use my astrological planning sticker set to track the moon phases and other astrological transits in my planner. If you are interested, I hope it helps you to track your health better if that is something you are interested in trying out for yourself.

I hope you enjoyed this post and corresponding video. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below! Have a wonderful week!

xoxo,

Personal Development

My Recent Self-Care Favorites!

Hello My Charmed Ones!

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!

I recommend this set of Gua Sha stone tools and this video to teach you how to use it on your face, and this video to teach you how to use it on your body for neck and back pain.

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.

I recommend this awesome yoga mat for doing Yin, plus I also use this bolster, and I really love this free yin video routine.

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.

I recommend this set of derma rollers, and I like to apply this to my skin after the treatment to help my skin heal better.

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!

CLICK HERE TO UNWRAP YOUR VALENTINE’S GIFT< (opens in a new tab)">>CLICK HERE TO UNWRAP 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!

Wishing you a productive week ahead!

xoxo,

Productivity

How I Plan on Reigniting My Creative Passion

Hello my Charmed Ones and Welcome to February!

It’s been a bit of a challenge for me getting into a new routine with my posting for the New Year after being out of one for a while, but I am hoping to build some momentum here on the blog this month! What a better month to reaffirm my commitment to my content than February, right? After all, February is a month where we often celebrate the concepts of devotion, dedication and commitment, usually in the form of personal relationships, but they can be any relationships. I do love my blog and my community and although I’ve been in a long season of transition trying to find my footing again with my work, I am still committed to showing up for each of you through my content and that is a very important relationship to me.

I know that success with this endeavor is going to boil down to whether or not I can get my routines in order and stick to them. One of the major routines I am currently working on is to write and design more for my community. After all, writing and designing is at the heart of my work and is truly my creative passion that I unintentionally cut out of my priorities in an attempt to focus more of my content on video. Video is great, don’t get me wrong. I love my YouTube channel and creating content for it, but more and more I feel like I’m just not as talented with video as I am with my writing and designing.

If you remember, there was a time when most of my content came in the form of blog posts and free designs I shared with you, and I’d like to work back to that point again. I feel more creative when I write regularly and when I create beautiful new things I wish existed in the world. That was once at the heart of my creative passions that have seemingly been reignited in the last month (I strangely credit this to the Chanel Desk Agenda) and I would very much like to flame the fires of that passion in February.

So here is my plan: I am going to commit to creating something every day.

This could be writing; a blog post, passages for my impending productivity book, or updating content on any of my platforms
This could be designing; a new insert, graphic, template, etc.
This could be photography; a stock image for my personal library, a picture for my websites, or a post on Instagram

Now, I realize that most of this creative work on a daily basis may seem invisible to you in my audience, and might even seem piece meal to myself, but the objective would be for a new routine to have formed by the end of the month and that you in my audience will notice the shift. I’d love for my platforms to seem a little fresher, for their to be a more stable flow of content to you, and to have created some lovely things to share that excite and inspire you!

To kick this month off right, I want to make sure you have seen a few of the new sharable freebies I’ve already created for you this year!

Okay, so I think that’s everything for today, but stay tuned to my blog for more great content this month. We’re going to talk more about self-care this month, I’ll be sharing some more posts on what I’ve learned about metaphysics, and because it’s that time of year- I also have some tax tips to share for fellow entrepreneurs to help make tax season a little less stressful.

Wishing you a productive day and week ahead!

xoxo,

Functional Planning Productivity

How to Plan Your Ideal Day | Habits & Routines {FREE INSERT}

In today’s video I am walking you through an activity I like to do to organize my habits and routines called My Ideal Day! I encourage you to download the free insert and create your ideal daily schedule to keep you on track with your goals for the year!

#dailyhabits #goalsetting #dailyplanning

___

→ MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO

✔︎ MY IDEAL DAY INSERT: http://bit.ly/idealdayplanner

✔︎ BLOG POST ABOUT SCHEDULES: http://bit.ly/2sKqe1Q

✔︎ BABY YODA SWEATSHIRT: http://bit.ly/37pooCU
^ my exact shirt doesn’t appear to be available anymore but there are other cute ones you might like

xoxo,

Filofax Functional Planning

Planner Vibes | How to style your planner without stickers and washi tape?

I recently debuted my new (to me) Chanel Desk Agenda and my disc bound planner setup for 2020 to great enthusiasm from my community. I am so glad that you all love the planner as much as I do and found inspiration in my setup. One theme that kept coming up in the comments of that video was how simple but elegant the setup was in terms of the aesthetic and decor of the planner- and that was all without relying on stickers or washing tape to make the planner “pretty.”

My planner aesthetic has certainly changed significantly over the past several years, as has the way I choose to decorate the planner itself. Where I was once drawn in by brighter colors and mixing bold patterns, adding flair to my planner with stickers, washi tape and other ephemera- now I prefer a cleaner, simpler and more elegant look. My color pallet has gone down to basic black and white with muted tones of nude and grey. I do love a pop of emerald green in the mix- used sparingly of course! But things have been refined quite a bit to create a vibe or aesthetic for my planner that aligns more with my personal style.

After all, I truly believe that although our planners are at their core, tools for our productivity, it’s important that they fit into our lives in a way that makes them inviting and exciting. I consider my planner an accessory of sorts- a living vision board of my aspirations brought to life in paper and ink, expressed in words and images. The way I feel about my goals must be reflected in the way I feel about my planner. I want to open it up each day- multiple times a day- to feel aligned with where my life is headed, excited about the things I get to do and the opportunities I’m creating for myself in my life. That’s why it’s so important for me that my planner has an intentional vibe (or vibration) in line with a specific aesthetic, because our planners can be great tools for manifestation if we let them.

So, today I want to share a few tips with you to help you create a unique vibe and aesthetic for your planner without needing to use stickers or washing tape to decorate. I know for many of us in the community- where we may have once been drawn to this ephemera, as we have progressed, it has become the content of our planners that has really taken center stage as opposed to the hobby crafting or decor. But that doesn’t mean our planners have to be bland. They can and should absolutely be beautiful and well organized as a reflection of the plans we make inside of them.

Without further ado, here are 5 ways to style your planner without stickers and washi tape.

Choose and stick to a color scheme.

The quickest way to create an intentional vibe for your planner is to define and stick to a color scheme by choosing a handful of colors that work together to tell the visual story of your planner. These colors you choose should then be used to help you decide different aspects of your planner like the color of the cover or binder, the paper and font colors used for inserts, your pen and highlight colors, and the stationery items you keep inside your planner. One comment I often receive about my planner (as well as other aspects of my life) is that “everything matches” or rather that everything coordinates. Matching is when everything is the same color/pattern, coordinating is when everything is within the same intentional scheme. The simplest way to get things to follow an aesthetic is to limit and stick to a color scheme and ensure that nothing deviates from that color scheme.

Layer textures and patterns in pockets.

Next, let’s cover the art of layering. As with other aspects of design like fashion and home decor, layering is another technique that can be used to create a deliberate aesthetic in your planner. For this technique, you will need to rely on the organization pockets of your planner to create a three-dimensional visual experience when you open the planner up. Now this can be done in the pockets of the cover or through the use of additional pocket inserts that can be added to the front of you planner to create visual depth. Using the pockets of your planner cover as a prime example, layout a few key pieces of inspiration mixed with functional stationery within your color scheme. Keep in mind that its good to vary items by size so that each item is visible, and that working with odd numbers is always more visually appealing. So that would mean if you are decorating a pocket, choose 1, 3, 5 etc items to put in the pocket as opposed to 2 or 4. As you can see in my example, my passport pocket has 5 items of varying hight organized so that each item is layered but visible. I’m also using a paper clip to ensure that certain items stay put and don’t move around in the pocket, but this clip also adds an additional element of depth as well.

Select a cover with the right vibe.

For this tip I am referencing both the planner cover itself as well as the front dashboard of your planners inserts. These two elements of your planner are very much the first thing you see when using the planner, so it’s important that thought and intention are put into their selection. When it comes to the actual cover of the planner, it’s important that the style, color, pattern, material and even the brand of the planner itself be in line with the vibe you are aligning with. You could want a simple black leather cover and assume any black leather cover will do, but all brands and all leathers are not the same. Make sure that the quality and feel of the planner is in line with your style. Then of course, when it comes to the inner cover, or dashboard of your planner, although this element will likely be some form of paper or plastic, choose something that sends a direct message through the imagery, pattern or style. That message, of course, should be the vibe you are setting for your planner and it’s aesthetic!

Add vellum overlays throughout your planner.

An element of planner decor I have long admired but only recently began to use myself is printed vellum overlays. In one sense, they are a wonderful way to add inspiration to your planner through printed words or imagery without having to decorate inserts with stickers and washi. But what I also love about vellum overlays is that they again add a sense of dimension to your planner because depending on what you have printed on them, you can usually see the next insert in your planner underneath it. If you are someone who likes to print and add pictures or quotes to your planner, consider using vellum paper next time as it really does stand out by adding an unexpected level of interest to your inserts as you are flipping through your pages!

Fill your planner with goals and dreams that truly light you up.

I’ve said it before and I will happily say it again- if the sole purpose of my planner is to keep track of mundane life tasks and appointments, I need a planner like i need a hole in the head! I keep a planner, not to manage my time but to manage my goals! A goal is a dream with a deadline, yes? And those goals aren’t going to manifest themselves! They take a fair bit of intention, planning and execution to come to fruition and that’s where your planner comes in. No matter which planner you are using and what your planner looks like, never loose sight of the fact that your planner is the physical manifestation of your future and life story being written in real time- and that’s a serious vibe that no amount of aesthetic can ever beat!

I hope these 5 tips have inspired you to create an intentional vibe for your planner this year! I would love to hear what you thought of this information and the aesthetic that you’ll be using in your planner so please do leave me a comment below!

xoxo,