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5 ways to Get important things done

Are you wasting your day and not getting the important things done?

Strange thing to ask, but when you think about it, we get caught up in minor tasks where we spend the day spinning our wheels and not doing what needs to get done.

So instead of wasting time doing what’s unnecessary, why not spend more time designing a way to realize your dreams? It’s time to get out of your way and take charge of your life.

Read on for some quick tips to find out how.

Remember Your Why

Each day, do this one thing: remind yourself why you’re doing it. When you have a purpose, it’s easy to get moving, even if the reason you’re doing it is something small and only meaningful to you.

Focus on the Goal

Now that you know why you’re doing something. It’s time to imagine what life will be like and how good it feels to have this completed or how life is simpler.

Stop Comparing 

The next step is don’t start obsessing over what other people are doing. Instead, focus on reaching your own goals. Compare where you are now with where you were a year ago or five years ago. Focus on your growth and accomplishments. 

Drop the Perfectionism

Nothing stops you faster than getting caught up in making sure everything is ‘just right.’ Remember, it’s never going to be perfect. All you end up doing is forever tweaking it. Sometimes you have to say ‘good enough’ is ok and let it go. 

Treat Yourself

When you’ve reached your important milestones, it just feels good to have a little reward now and then. Do something you enjoy, and you’ll be amazed at what a bump this gives to your productivity.

Remember you got this!

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4 simple techniques to get over self doubt

Self-doubt. When you read the words a moment ago, you probably cringed. Don’t you hate it when you fall into the pit of negative self-talk?

The problem is that it’s all too convenient to end up there. A casual comment from someone you admire or a reminder of a past failure can send you down a rabbit hole of despair. You end up telling yourself that there are a million reasons why you should quit right now. 

To sum it up, you’ve ended up getting nowhere. If you begin by saying ‘no’ to doubting yourself with these simple techniques. 

Say the Words

This may sound too simplistic, but if self-doubt arises, simply say “no.” Tell yourself over and over that you are not going to listen.

If necessary, say it aloud! Because you’ve gone down this path a thousand times before, it’s essential to focus on finding something different. 

By convincing yourself that you don’t care about it now, you’re freeing yourself to engage in new thoughts.

Remind Yourself This Isn’t the End

Do you feel like you’ve failed because something went wrong? Instead of feeling bad, stop for a moment and objectively look at the problem. Remind yourself that everybody makes mistakes. What matters is that you find out what you can take away from the experience.

Learn Something

When we do not feel prepared, self-doubt creeps in. What part of the process do you expect to go wrong if you’re worried about failing? This could be an excellent opportunity to learn something new. Learning a new skill will help you overcome self-doubt.

Change Your Self Talk

The things we tell ourselves are at the root of self-doubt. So why are you being so critical of yourself? Begin by removing all the negative statements and replacing them with more positive ones. It’s something you have to keep a close eye on, so you can attack those thoughts when they occur.

A little bit of practice, and you’ll get rid of self-doubt. The important thing is to pay attention to what you’re telling yourself and act on it. In no time at all, you’ll get yourself back on track. 

In the meantime, hang in there, stay out of your own way and take back your life.  You got this!

 

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When is the perfect time to start?

How long have you been waiting to begin pursuing your goal or dream? Most people are stuck in a perpetual mode of waiting. Everyone is waiting for the exact moment to finally pull the trigger and get started. This is a huge mistake. 

The ideal time is right now.

Time is more important than timing. Avoid wasting time. Instead of focusing on getting the timing just right, now is the time. 

Consider these ideas to begin acting on your plans today:

  • You’ll never be ready. We love to stall, it’s what we do. If you wait until you’re ready, you’ll still be waiting on your deathbed.  
  • Do you know what the first step is? That’s all you need to know. Just do it, and you’ll figure out the rest along the way. It’s like walking up the stairs. You only need to see one step at a time to make it to the top. 
  • The perfect time will never happen. Again, you’ll be waiting until your funeral. There will never be a good time to get started. There will always be a viable excuse. All of the variables will never be in perfect alignment. The most ideal time you’re going to get it right now.
  • The sooner you get started, the sooner you can be successful. The advantages of getting started now are numerous. Perhaps the most relevant is the fact that you can achieve your goals sooner.  The sooner you begin any journey, the sooner you reach your destination.
  • Your natural tendency is to wait too long. We always wait too long. When is the last time you did something too soon? Everyone else is waiting. Be the person that doesn’t wait. Fortune favors the bold, so be bold.
  • Your natural tendency is to value information too much. We want to know everything there is to know before we take the first step. Unfortunately, we can’t know everything. Life sometimes unfolds in unpredictable ways. You know more than enough to get started. Just do it.
  • The most successful people make decisions quickly and stick with them. The least successful people are terrible at making up their minds. They’re eternally conflicted for a variety of reasons, primarily fear. Give yourself a time limit to make a decision and then run with it.  
  • A decent decision, made quickly, that you stick with, is better than a great decision, a year from now, that you can’t maintain.  Practice making decisions rapidly and moving forward with them. This is a great habit to develop. 
  • The sooner you take action, the more you’ll learn. Action leads to results. You learn something each time you get a result. You’re not producing any results while you’re sitting around waiting for the perfect moment to act.
  • Action leads to inspiration. Most people falsely believe that they’ll take action when they feel inspired. But the opposite is true. Action leads to inspiration, and that leads to even more action.

Why are you waiting? The most honest answer is fear. If you never get started, there’s still hope since you can’t know for sure that your plans won’t work. If you never begin, you can’t fail.

However, the opposite is true, too. If you never get started, there’s no real hope of anything better. If you never begin, you’re guaranteed to fail. 

Take a deep breath and get started today. You’ll never be 100% ready or comfortable, so you may as well begin right now. Now is the moment to change your life. 

You got this!

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4 key ways on how to turn around self doubt

You stop, you start, you set goals, and then you abandon them again and again. Why is it so hard to realize your dreams?

The answer is buried in self-doubt. When you question yourself or your ability to get things done, you put the brakes on progress. After all, if you’re only going to fail, why even try?

The key is to stop self-doubt in its tracks immediately and get out of your own way. Read on to find out how.

Remind Yourself No One is Looking

One of the enormous ways self-doubt gets to us is we start worrying about how others see us. We think the world is watching and waiting for us to fail. 

Here’s a newsflash: everyone is so caught up in their own lives. Very few people are paying attention at all. 

Have a Conversation

Self-talk is incredibly deceptive, which is why we start believing it so quickly. When you listen to those negative messages, it can derail you completely, especially if those messages start sounding reasonable. 

Here’s when you need to stop yourself immediately, notice the negative self-talk and turn it around to the positive. 

Take a More Optimistic Approach

Self-doubt is a negative state. When you find yourself doing more tearing down than building up internally, it’s time for a shift in mood. Take a few minutes for yourself to meditate, listen to music, take a walk, or otherwise engage the senses differently. 

Focus on doing things to build a more positive mood. Self-doubt can’t touch an optimistic spirit!

Stop Making Comparisons

A nasty source of self-doubt is social media. Everyone shares the best of what they have. Instead of comparing yourself to other people, why not take a little different approach? Compare your situation today to where you were last month or last year. You’ve come a long way! Focus on this instead.

In the end, the quickest way to put an end to self-doubt is to simply pay attention to it long enough to derail it entirely with a new thought. You simply don’t have time for self-doubt in your life. Once it’s stopped, the sky is the limit, and you’re ready to experience success like you never have before.

Remember, you got this!

 

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Now We Know why Gratitude Is So Important

You’ve probably heard about the importance of expressing gratitude or starting a daily practice. You know it’s a good idea to be more grateful and appreciative of the good things in your life, but here are some other ways to benefit you.  

Helps Reduce Toxic Mindset Patterns

This probably sounds familiar to you. One bad thing happens to you, then suddenly, 20 more bad things happen to you. It seems to create this avalanche effect that you can’t seem to help. But what if that happened merely because of your own toxic mindset? You assume bad things will happen, then they do. This isn’t an accident or a coincidence. 

With gratitude, no matter what is going on in your life, you find a way to be grateful. The more you focus on the good things, the better your life seems to get.

Can Reduce Your Stress Levels

There is this fantastic effect that occurs when you start expressing more gratitude. The stress you have in your life begins to diminish. It isn’t going to magically disappear, but suddenly what you were worried about doesn’t seem as important. The big things you thought were “the worst” no longer ruin your days because you understand how many good things happen to you.

Makes You a More Forgiving and Empathetic Person

As you start focusing on your gratitude, you get some other behavioral benefits as well. It becomes more comfortable to forgive people for things in the past, and you become a much more empathetic person. You understand people’s struggles a little better as you see the joy in your own life. You become a more well-rounded person who is grateful for everything, the good and the bad.

Allows You to Appreciate Your Life, Even Through Hard Times

Lastly, you start to appreciate your life more, no matter the day you’re having. You become accustomed to showing gratitude for every little thing that you can still find the good even when you get a flat tire or have a hard day at work. These stressful situations aren’t so bad after all.

The beauty of gratitude is that your mind opens up to your life as a whole and how balanced it is, not just dwelling on what you believe is a flaw in your life.  You got this!

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5 ways to overcome self sabotage and reach your dreams

We want to be productive. In fact, you might wake up in the morning with all kinds of enthusiasm for the projects you’re going to get done during the day. 

Now fast forward a few hours, and suddenly you’re wondering where the day went, feeling like you never accomplished anything at all.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. The trick is to realize that this isn’t something outside of your control. Things will happen, which derail you, but you’re reaping the fruits of self-sabotage more often than not. You’ve derailed yourself through your own negative self-talk.

How to get past this? Simple! Start with these easy tips:

Listen to Music

It’s hard to get yourself going if your mood is what’s dragging. Thankfully this is a quick fix. Put on some music you love, something fast-paced and catchy for a quick pick-me-up, and watch your energy and productivity soar.

Get up and Move

Like listening to music, getting your body in motion will build your energy levels. Dance around the room, take a brisk walk, or try a few jumping jacks to get the blood flowing. Then tackle your task again, wide-awake and energized.

Look Inside 

Sometimes what you need is some quiet time. When you find your mind racing and unable to concentrate, try meditation to slow things down. Find a quiet place, close your eyes, and focus on your breathing. Take deep breaths, nice and slow, and focus yourself on the present until you feel calm again.

Review What’s Important

Maybe you’re not getting things done because you no longer find the value in your goal. If this is the case, take some time to ask yourself some serious questions about why you’re on this journey. You might need to shift your goal to something else entirely or start by adjusting the outcome to serve your present needs.

Contribute

When all else fails, offer to help someone else. Mentoring is one of those win-win situations where you bring your life skills and experience to help someone who truly needs it. At the same time, you rediscover your passion through the act of teaching others what you know.

Do all this, and it’s good-bye self-sabotage, hello accomplishment. Soon you’ll be more productive than ever! You got this!

 

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6 ways to overcome your inner critic

Image by klimkin from Pixabay

It’s time you cultivated an attitude. 

Life can suck sometimes. The last thing you need is your Inner Critic taking the wheel, getting on your case about every last little thing you’re trying to do. Why are you listening to someone who doesn’t have your best interest at heart? Now is the time to challenge your Inner Critic and silence their voice once and for all. 

How? Try these tried and true strategies:

Start Noticing

Inner Critics like to whisper, never to speak out loud. The last thing they want is to be noticed in their evil schemes. By paying attention to what’s going on in your head, you draw their lies out into the light where they cannot stand. 

Give it a Nickname

Whenever the Inner Critic speaks up, give it a silly name. Think to yourself things like, “Hey, it’s Moldyvort, back again to cause trouble.” By making fun of this voice, it’s a whole lot harder to take seriously.

What about a Voice?

Do you hear some pretty negative things? Try saying them out loud. By giving voice to these thoughts, you’ll hear just how ridiculous they sound. 

Take a Negativity Break

Tell your Inner Critic they can only come out to play at a particular time each day. During that time, take a break and tell the Inner Critic to do their worst. Be sure to set a timer for the space allotted to give more time to the negativity than necessary. Sit back and let it speak its piece. The funny thing? Most of the time, you won’t even remember what it was the Critic had to say by the time your negativity break rolls around. Even if you do, when the timer goes off, remind yourself you’re done and walk away. 

Question Everything

Is there any truth to what your Inner Critic is saying? Examine the statements. Feel free to argue back. Point out the flaws in the reasoning and back it up with examples of times when you’ve proven those things aren’t real.

Replace the Words

Finally, drop the negative words entirely and rewrite the script to turn each negative into a positive. For example, saying, “I’m terrible at writing reports” can become “I did a great job on the last report I wrote. I bet this one will be fine too.”

Remember, silencing an Inner Critic is going to take time and energy. This kind of voice doesn’t just shut up because you told them to go away once. You’re going to have to work at this, using these strategies until you’re finally free of the nasty little voice.

Once you’ve got it, though? Your world will change enormously in some pretty incredible ways. After all, without your Critic to hold you back, you’re primed for success in a huge way. You got this!

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5 Ways to overcome Self-Doubt to reach Your Dreams

If you could do anything, what would you choose?

We all have dreams. Every one of us. So why do so few of our plans ever reach reality?

The problem comes when we get in our own way or when we become crippled with fear of failure and thoughts of we can never be enough. This is the world of self-doubt, and it’s a tough place to escape.

Until today, it’s time to take back your life. Don’t let self-doubt take over your dreams. Instead, try these simple tips to get your life back on track. 

Take a Trip Down Memory Lane

Ready to revisit history? Chances are you’ve had self-doubts before. But have any of those adverse outcomes ever come true? If so, were the consequences as dire as you’d thought they would be? Now think about the times that things went right. Remind yourself they likely will work out again this time too.

Keep a Journal

Ideally, a journal becomes a record of everything you’ve gone through. Write about the problems you’re having. Write about how you solve those problems. Include everything. Then go back and read your journal sometimes for a reminder of what you’ve already gone through. Use this book for ideas on how to tackle the problems of today. 

Remember, it’s Not About You.

If self-doubt is fueled by a caustic remark from someone else or how someone treats you, take a step back from the emotional backlash. Before you get all fired up, remind yourself that this is more likely more about the other person than you. You don’t know what kind of day they’re having or what they’re going through. Take what they say with a grain of salt and move on. There’s absolutely no reason to start doubting yourself just because of what someone else happened to say.

Readjust Expectations

Do you doubt yourself because you feel like you’re on the wrong track? Here’s where you need to take a step back and re-evaluate the situation. There’s nothing wrong with making adjustments to the plan. Dreams don’t just happen from the initial blueprint. Sometimes you need to tweak things a little significantly if information or situations change. Rather than get hung up when this happens, look for ways to readjust the plan. You’ll be back on track in no time.

Celebrate Wins

Self-doubt hates success. This is why it’s so important to get in the habit of celebrating when things go right. It doesn’t matter if the progress is little. Make a point to enjoy the milestone all the same. After all, you and your dreams deserve it!

 

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How can 4 steps easily help you say NO to Self-Doubt

Self-doubt. You probably cringed when you read the words a moment ago. Don’t you hate it when you get caught up in the world of negative self-talk?

The problem is, it’s so easy to wind up there. One offhand remark from someone you look up to or a reminder of a past failure can cause you to downward spiral all over again. You’re focusing on failure. You’re telling yourself every reason in the world why you should stop now. In short, you’ve just derailed yourself completely.

Don’t get in your own way. Instead, take back control of your life. You start by saying ‘no’ to self-doubt, using these simple techniques.

Say the Words

This may sound overly simplistic but just say “no” when self-doubt creeps in. Tell yourself firmly you’re not going to listen. Say it out loud if you need to. The point here is to stop traveling what is very likely a well-worn path you’ve been down a thousand times before. By firmly telling yourself you’re not thinking about this right now, you’re freeing yourself to engage in a new thought, perhaps one about what exciting place you’re going next.

Remind Yourself This Isn’t the End

Feeling like a failure because something went wrong? Instead of wallowing in self-doubt (it’s ok to take a minute to feel bad), take a step back and examine the situation. Remind yourself everyone fails from time to time. The important thing is to figure out what you can learn from the experience.

Learn Something

Self-doubt creeps in when we don’t feel prepared. What is it about this moment, right now, creating these feelings inside? If you’re worried about failing, what part of the process do you expect to go wrong? This might be an opportunity to learn something new. Mastering a new skill goes a long way toward erasing self-doubt.

Change Your Self Talk

Self-doubt is firmly rooted in the things we tell ourselves. So why are you putting yourself down? Here’s where you need to dig out all the negative statements and to replace them with more positive counterparts. For example, if you think you’re going to fail, detail your past successes. This is a process which you have to be very conscious of, so be on the lookout for those negative statements so you can attack them the moment they appear.

With a little practice, you’ll find it’s not as hard as you think to get rid of self-doubt. The key is to pay attention to what you’re telling yourself and act accordingly. In no time at all, you’ll get yourself back on track. In the meantime, hang in there. You’ll have this new attitude down in no time!