by WP-Dev | Feb 13, 2020 | Entrepreneur, Virtual Assistant
5 Must Reads to prepare you for the year ahead
Welcome to 2020. And welcome to the year that I start to pick up a book and read again! How about you?
Did you know that thoughts are nutrition for the brain? So it would make sense to feed your thoughts with only the most inspirational, motivational and valuable information as possible right? And that is why reading a good, thought provoking or information rich book is so important.
Now, knowing this I went on the search to find some of the top reads for you (and me) to indulge in this year. Whether you are just on a journey of enlightenment or you are a business owner needing the motivation to stay on track and to be the most successful at whatever it is you choose to do, there is sure to be something out there that will tickle your fancy.
Before I dive into that thought let me summarise what, for me, makes a good read:
- A great opening line or three. Something that immediately gets my attention and makes me want to read more because I know that yes, I am going to be a changed person at the end of this book.
- Not just any information though, relevant information. Information which I can relate to and that is relevant to the title and description of the book.
- A great take away that I can put into practice easily and that gives some sort of reward
- And lastly – it must make me want to refer it to someone and make me want to read it again at some point
Right, now that I have that out the way – let us get to the list and where you can find it.
My pick of 5 books:
Just to be clear, this is merely my suggestion from the plethora of books I found listed. These are the ones which caught my eye and made we take notice. Perhaps you have seen others that speak to you more – that’s awesome!
- Girl Stop Apologizing – by Rachel Hollis – If you fear taking on new challenges or taking the steps to do new things because you do not want to fail or be embarrassed, then this book is for you. Great read!
- Manage your Money like a F*cking Grownup – by Sam Beckbessinger – I just loved the name of this one really. But in all seriousness, I think the key to success and wealth and just balance overall is learning to manage everything, and especially when it comes to money.
- The Power Of Positive Thinking – by Norman Vincent Peale – This one speaks for itself and is one I have actually read. The mind is a powerful thing and when we can tune it to be on a positive frequency all the time, oh wow, amazing things will happen for you. Things you can only imagine. Get this book if you are in a slump and need some motivation and a mind shift.
- The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results – By Gary Keller and Jay Papasan – The whole premise of this book really caught my attention and is on my list of must reads this year. I also asked myself, “What is the one that if done right can make everything else in my life easier?” I have not come up with an answer as yet but I am guessing that by reading the book, it will help me on my path of discovery.
- The Disruption Mindset – by Charlene Li – This books shows us how many businesses use disruption to be successful. They disrupt the norm without thinking about it, and the results are quite phenomenal. Think Uber, AirBnB
by VA Connect | Feb 11, 2020 | Entrepreneur, Virtual Assistant
The beginning of the year is full of resolutions, good intentions and goal setting. It can be all too easy to let it all slide after the first month but with a little bit planning and time management, it can be made easier and much more achievable.
Here are some tips to help with your monthly goal-setting practices to ensure you keep your resolutions on track and to help you achieve your goals all year.
First day of the month planning session
At the beginning of each month, put some time aside to sit down and plan. Decide what you want to focus on for the month, write down your monthly goals and what you need to do to stay on track in order to meet your goals. If you have long term goals that need a few months, half a year or even the full year to achieve, write them down at the beginning of every month as a reminder.
Monthly, weekly, and daily focuses
Each month choose one main focus that is the most important goal to achieve in that month. It could be related to your personal life such as making more of an effort with friends, concentrating on a new hobby or work-related such as working on improving your business network. Make that your priority for the month to give it the focus it needs. That’s not to say, you should forget about any other goals for that month, but it helps to prioritize. You can also make weekly and daily focuses if required to help you meet any urgent goals.
Make your planner/calendar layout fun and attractive
Whether you work with an online planner or a written planner, keep it fresh by adding in backgrounds, colours and images. Change it each month so you don’t get tired of looking at it. You can even have some fun with little notes to yourself and motivational quotes for good measure.
Achievement tracking
Keeping track of what you have already achieved in preceding months is just as important as planning ahead. Write down your achievements at the beginning of each month to help you see and understand your progress. Tracking your progress and being reminded of why you’re doing it is vital to staying focused and motivated.
Weekly check-in
Schedule a weekly check-in at the end of each week to track progress and to make any adjustments to your goals. What is working or not working and what can be done to keep your plan on track for the month?
Sticking to your new year resolutions and achieving your goals for 2020 is obtainable and just needs a small amount of planning and reflection time each month to help keep you on track and motivated as the busy year starts to take over. Good luck for a productive and rewarding year!
by WP-Dev | Feb 6, 2020 | Entrepreneur, Virtual Assistant
I know that start of the year always reignites everyone’s motivation for what we want to do and achieve in life and in our respective careers or business. We form these goals and objectives in our minds, we verbalise them to our family and friends and we hit the road running full steam ahead but by the time Easter comes around the motivation is already starting to run low, obstacles have come our way, there just isn’t enough time in the day for everything and the fatigue is starting to kick in… Does this sound familiar?
Personally, this has been my vicious cycle for a couple of years now but towards the end of 2019 I came to a harsh realisation that having these all these objectives in mind without self-care along the way will only result in complete mental, spiritual and physical exhaustion. Which is why I decided to take a step back and really take a break as my start to the new year. In that time sat and really took a good look at myself and realised that my cup was completely empty. I had given so much of myself to my family, friends, my work, my studies that I had nothing left. Don’t get me wrong I love all of these things but the problem was I was just pushing too hard to be everything everyone expected me to be (ok more honestly what I thought everyone expected me to be) that I was just completed overwhelmed and burnt out. I kept asking myself how do all these amazing, successful women do it? What am I doing wrong? The answer came to be while reading various interviews on some of the women I admired – they took time to look after themselves and refill their cup.
Looking after yourself – what’s that phenomenon?
Yip, that was the first thing I said to myself when I heard these women talk about taking time to look after their wellbeing. I also come a few realisations firstly it’s ok to be selfish and take time for yourself and secondly like with everything in life, it comes down to the choices you make. I made a choice that day to commit to myself this year. I have made a choice to do small things daily/ weekly / monthly that will ensure that I continuously refill my cup in order to truly be the best that I can me.
It’s the small actions that lead to big results
I have put together a list of my the small commitments I made to myself daily and although on some days it falters, I have chosen to make this part of my journey of self-love, growth and happiness, hope you find it useful too!
- Wake up early and start your day with a grateful heart and prayer or meditation
- Keep a journal – this has been a hard one for me, but its amazing how when you put your plans, ideas or obstacles down to paper how much clearer your vision becomes and how much easier the obstacles seem to overcome
- Drink more water! Yes, I think this is an obvious one that you have probably heard a million times, but seriously getting that H2O in really does make a difference to your energy levels and this coming from a BIG coffee lover is saying a lot
- Get active – even if its just a walk in your garden or office block during a lunch or coffee break, get up and get moving
- Activate the mind – whether it’s watching a YouTube video on a topic that interests you, reading a book or signing up for a course. Do something that will keep your mind active and where you will be enriching yourself mentally
- Less screen time – make it a point to be on your phone less or cut back on tv time, allow those things to be a treat not a bad habit
- Fail forward – Learn from every mistake that you make.
- Embrace change and spontaneity
- Be truly present in the moment – time is a precious commodity don’t waste it.
- Be kind to yourself and others
Its your choice
I know making these changes aren’t easy – I am a work in progress myself but you’ve got this! As Darren Hardy once said “Everything you need is already inside you. Don’t wait for others to light your fire. You have your own matches” .
by WP-Dev | Feb 4, 2020 | Entrepreneur, Virtual Assistant
How are those New Year’s Goals going? Have you given some thought about what you want in 2020? One thing many of you probably have in mind for this year is overcoming your procrastination.
What is procrastination?
Procrastination means putting off something we know we should be doing but, for some reason can’t motivate ourselves to do or facing it only when it is inevitable. You need to understand better why you procrastinate. There are several reasons for it, and more than one may apply to you.
When we feel that a task is going to be one or more of the following, we avoid it like the plague:
- Boring
- Frustrating
- Difficult
- Unstructured
- Lacking in personal meaning
Procrastination is a bad habit, which, over time, can negatively affect your life, resulting in increased levels of stress, reduced performance, and productivity. The good news is that like any habit it can be changed and it all starts with your mindset.
Every time you find yourself thinking “I’ll do that later,” stop and ask yourself why you’re finding the task at hand so off-putting?
Everyone procrastinates sometimes. The problem with procrastination is it causes you to take tasks that could’ve and should’ve been done yesterday and brings them into today. I’ve found that procrastination is caused by one of two feelings, fear or dread.
Fear
You put off a task because you’re afraid you’ll mess it up and can be summed up as fear of failure or not being good enough.
- Fear that you’ll fail or do badly. Probably the most common one.
- Fear of the unknown, the task is not familiar to you, so you don’t know what to do or where to start.
- Fear of the uncomfortable. It’s easy to do things we’re comfortable with, but doing new things is uncomfortable so we put them off.
Dread
Dread occurs when you don’t like the task you need to perform so you put it off, until it becomes an emergency and then you have to deal with it. You spend so much time thinking about your distaste of the task at hand that you just never do it, letting yourself and others down in the process.
There’s an easy three step fix for this that I’d like to share with you that has really worked wonders for me and I think it will for you too. Before I share this with you though, I need you to see that right now you’re focused on the feelings your brain is telling you to feel. Once you’re aware of this, you can take control simply by changing your focus. Instead of focusing on feelings like the fear of failing or the dread of doing the task, I want you to start thinking of the result instead using this process.
- Say – tell yourself how good it’s going to be when you’ve completed this task. What benefits do you gain? How does it make you feel accomplishing the task?
- See – see yourself completing the task and receiving the rewards that you’ve told yourself about.
- Feel – feel the feelings you’ll feel for getting the task off your plate and enjoying the benefits of what you did.
Conclusion
If you procrastinate often, you are not managing your time wisely. You are adding to your workload burden with each task you put off and are making it more difficult to complete these tasks in the future. Create positive habits by prioritizing tasks and completing them before they pile up and become unmanageable.
by WP-Dev | Jan 30, 2020 | Virtual Assistant
People used to think that self-care was a luxury that only the wealthy indulged in, but today with the ever-increasing fast paced lifestyle people live, it is a necessity for everyone in order to be able to function at optimal levels.
Self-care comes in many forms and shapes
What are the things that you love to do, eat, smell, see….? I’m sure that some of these things can be incorporated into your general every day to day life. Simple things like stepping away from your office space just for a few minutes at a time can make a huge difference to how you feel physically and mentally.
Grab a delicious snack and go sit outside for a few minutes, even if it’s cold outside. I personally love doing this myself. It makes me feel alive. One of my joys is taking close-up photos of flowers. It’s truly amazing to me how much stunning beauty in the details is missed if you don’t get in close.
A simple little weed in the grass is an exquisite beauty.
You need to make a point of taking that timeout, whatever it is that delights you, especially when you are struggling to get your head around a problem-solving task for instance. Incorporating something you love into each day will make those monotonous, mundane tasks easier to do if you allow yourself to break away even just for a few minutes. Indulge yourself a little.
Step away from the noise
We are living in a constant din of devices all day, in the car, in the office, at the shops and yes, even in the ladies’ room. There seems to be no escape, even from the constant voice in your head that is planning, reasoning, deciding…
This takes some practise but is possible. Find a spot somewhere (leave the phone behind, it is not a life support device) and be still. Tune your ears into the natural sounds and close your eyes, you will be amazed at what you hear. Step away from the office for a few minutes for a coffee break.
Sleep yourself awake
I’m sure you must have heard the phrase “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed”. It’s a terrible thing to feel like you have to drag yourself through the day, how wonderful it feels to be wide awake and feeling great. You need to have self-discipline to ensure that you get enough sleep. Get to know how many hours of good sleep you need to feel on top of the world and do your best to get it.
What also works wonders is to take a power nap during the day if you are feeling tired and dull. Ideally the best time is between 1 and 4pm for about 10 to 30 minutes maximum. I do this occasionally and it has worked wonders for me. Give it a try.
by VA Connect | Jan 28, 2020 | Entrepreneur, Virtual Assistant
Things can become alarmingly busy in any job, but especially so for a Virtual Assistant. We are interrupted far more frequently than office-based workers, so time management is crucial if you are going to deliver the best service to your clients. My best laid plans can turn into chaos without any warning if my family needs me, or there’s a crisis with the plumbing and there’s nobody but myself to sort it out.
Here’s how I work to be organised and flexible at the same time:
Use a calendar
I use my calendar to do a monthly and daily plan, with time slots for specific projects and tasks with reminders of deadlines. This way I can see at a glance what free time I have and plan family activities and even that essential shopping trip to spoil myself! It’s quick and easy to jiggle projects around as you need to.
If you use more than one calendar on multiple devices, it is essential that they sync regularly.
Establish a rhythm to start the day
Working to a rhythm will help you to stick to your plans. These steps will help you to assess your workload for the day:
- Check your calendar
- Check all your email accounts for new tasks, projects and deadlines
- Check your to-do list
- Prioritise
Use a to-do list
I make quick notes as I work of anything which I might forget – personal, business, whatever it may be – and cross them out as they are done. The last thing I do every day is to transfer any unfinished tasks to a to-do list.
Prioritise and re-prioritise
Sometimes you know that you are not going to get everything done. Decide what absolutely must be done today and prioritise the rest.
Read email at set times
Email keeps arriving all day long, and you are interrupting yourself when you keep your inbox open while you should be focused. I read email first thing in the morning, at mid-morning, just after lunch and last thing before I shut down the computer. This is a cunning trick – if you don’t reply to every email the minute it appears in your inbox, often you don’t need to because a few hours later you receive mail that the issue resolved!
Plan, plan, plan and plan again
Lastly, keep planning. When things go wrong, instead burning the midnight oil or spending less time with family, have a fresh look at your planning and priorities before you go into panic mode.
Working this way helps me cope with deadlines and crises and keeps me cool, calm and collected (most of the time).
I’m sure you must have heard the phrase “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed”. It’s a terrible thing to feel like you have to drag yourself through the day, how wonderful it feels to be wide awake and feeling great. You need to have self-discipline to ensure that you get enough sleep. Get to know how many hours of good sleep you need to feel on top of the world and do your best to get it.
