One foot in front of the other - the first step for positive living!
The last thing you want to do every morning is get out of bed and trip all over yourself. Positive living – it’s the first tool you need in your toolbox in order to start each day with one foot in front of the other and a smile on your face! But are you your own biggest obstacle and not even aware?
I’m guilty of getting in my own way. It’s true. My schedule, my life – they get the better of me on some days and I couldn’t fight my way out of a paper bag (even if you gave me a pair of scissors). I’ll share with you today some strategies I use to get out of my own way and back on down the road of positive living. It’ll put a smile on my face to know they worked for you!
Your Schedule – Fix It!
You’re the only one who allows things to go on your schedule. The only one. So stop acting like other people have permission to run your days for you! Enough with the double booking and back to back appointments. Give yourself room to breathe and the time it takes to do what you do best.
Your Clients – Love Them!
In the entrepreneurial world, we sometimes take business because we need the work, not because we like the client. Commit to yourself that you’re only going to take clients you like. When you have clients you like, they’ll refer people like them to you. And that’s more clients you like. It’s magic!
Your Life – Don’t Forget It!
When you leave the office or end your work day, don’t be afraid to not take a call or let your email sit until morning. Your insurance agent isn’t going to hit reply or answer a call at 8:30pm. Why should you? Give yourself the latitude to LIVE your life. Friends, family and relaxation. Devoting time to these things make YOU a better you and ultimately a better business.
Is multitasking helping or hurting you?
OK – reality check: how many windows do you have open on your desktop right now? Are you a multitasking wiz or overburdened by doing too much at once? (Frankly, how on earth do you tell which one you are?!)
We always hear the multitasking mantra – it’s good. It’s great! It’s productive! But here’s my tough question for the day: what are you sacrificing for multitasking’s sake?
When we spread our attention across too many things, it’s a pretty decent bet that none of them are getting our full attention (nor the attention they’re due). Every now and then, there’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of a situation to get a few things done at once but today’s post is about stopping the madness and honing your focus. Multitasking isn’t always grand, so here are some tips for making the most of your opportune situations (and getting everyone the attention they deserve).
Multitasking Tip 1: Close Those Web Browser Windows
You’ve got Twitter open in one, Facebook in the other, Gmail in yet another, three blogs, Overstock.com and…WOW! If you’re working on a report, proposal or other task that requires your computer-related attention, do yourself a favor and minimize the distractions. Close your web browser and hit mute on your computer’s sound. That’s way, you’re not distracted by other shiny, web-based things and you can get to the task at hand.
Multitasking Tip 2: The Wired Headset
I know you like your Bluetooth headsets, but the sound quality is unreliable. If you’re going to multitask on a conference call, do everyone a favor and minimize the “hallway” effect and static – get a wired headset. Oh, and find the mute button on your phone. Nothing’s more impolite than the clicky-clack of keys in the background of a call.
Multitasking Tip 3: Email Time!
Do you answer you emails throughout the day? Do you have desktop notifications or sounds that tell you when a new one arrives in your inbox? Give yourself a break. Set specific times during the day to answer your emails and turn off those notifications. If it’s in an email, it can probably wait and you can focus on other things that require your attention.
Related Posts: Email Etiquette Conundrum: Do I Have to Respond to Everyone?
Three ways to beat the stress under pressure
Stress (defined): The dog just took your car for a joyride. Your older son caused an explosion at the local power plant. Your daughter has run off with a sheikh that lives in Missouri. Nothing is going right. At all.
So how to you unplug and beat the stress when, no matter what you do, life is giving it to you from all sides? Contrary to what you see in the picture to your right, you’re not going to find any answers under a pillow. Here are three things you can do to beat the stress and keep yourself sane when the hits just keep on coming.
Get Out – Now! When life throws it at you non-stop, just get out. Put everything down, head for the door and leave it behind. I’m not saying abandon it – I’m just saying unplug from the situation for a bit. Not only will unplugging stop the momentum of the situation – it’ll give you a much needed and blood pressure-lowering interlude to help you breathe and think clearly once again.
Get Some Help. Really, any kind of help at this juncture will HELP. Maybe it’s a housekeeper. Maybe it’s sending your teenage son to pickup his sister so you don’t have to make the run. Stress can be alleviated in many ways and sometimes it’s the little things that keep us from losing every one of our marbles. Just ask – help is waiting. Listen to your inner psychic. Sometimes we just choose to not see it.
Get a Second Opinion. Sometimes we need an ear and that’s all we really need to keep from spinning out of control. Have you ever told a friend about your crazy day and they just start to laugh?
It’s great to realize that your life is funny again and not the apocalypse you thought. Pick up that phone, dial a friend and become a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? instead of The Biggest Loser.
Fairy tales. As we get older and life shows us what it truly holds around each bend, we begin to lose our faith that somewhere, sometime, there’s a fairy tale waiting for us.
Princes and princesses disappear and we see the monsters in the moat, the fire-breathing dragons. Well, we see everything that keeps us from getting where we need to go.
You know what I love about fairy tales? Everything. The beginning, middle and end, every trial and tribulation in between! Aside from imagining myself all dressed-up in corseted gowns and waving to my prince from a tower’s window, I think fairy tales have quite a bit to teach us about business. If only we’d listen.
I want to share three things that I’ve learned about being a woman in business from all those fairy tales of my childhood. Now, this doesn’t mean that the guys can’t share in these thoughts, but I’m a girl and I’m talking to my fellow princesses today!
Hire a Contractor: Remember the Three Little Pigs? That nasty wolf kept huffing and puffing and blowing their house down. This goes to show that do-it-yourself isn’t necessarily the best defense against the things you want to keep at bay in your business. Whether competition or an afternoon rainstorm, team up with those who know how to build what you need – and it’s most likely not one of the other two little piggies under your roof! (Tip: search for woman-owned general contractors and businesses if you want to keep it with the sisterhood!)
Watch What You Eat: If you want to end up in an oven like Hansel and Gretel, go ahead an gobble-up anything that’s put in front of you just because it looks tasty. There are a lot of people in the business world that prey on your desire to grow and prosper and they’ll sell you a bill of goods because you’re hungry. Do your homework, read the fine print and get referrals for those business snacks you’re about to eat. It doesn’t all taste as good as it looks!
Dreams Can Come True: Your glass slipper, your happily ever after – it’s all possible as a woman in business. There’s no “man” keeping you down and to be quite honest, if you find a fire-breathing dragon keeping you from your goals, I want you to email me a picture. Whatever you aspire to can become your day to day. Grab a white horse and a killer dress and go get that new client, small business loan or fantastic new logo design. You deserve it and if you envision it, you can have it.
How do you find the middle ground in work-life balance?
Is work-life balance really a myth? Every now and then, I pop over and read the fabulous musings of Cali Yost. She’s an expert blogger on the work-life subject for Fast Company and hosts her own site at the Flex+Strategy Group. I like Cali’s content. And I agree with her: work-life BALANCE is something of a myth. She prefers the phrase “work-life fit.”
Fit. I like that. After all, have we ever, for a single day, truly had “balance” in our lives?
Corporations preach it in their recruiting materials and employee benefits books. Day cares and preschools offer to help us out with it. But if I concede that there’s not really a balance and it’s more of a “fit,” then I think we’re well on our way to making some progress in these days that we live that are brimming with non-stop activity.
It’s pretty simple to see when things are off-kilter: we stay at the office too late, answer emails at odd hours from our smart phones and our voicemail inboxes fill up like the laundry basket.
I put together three tips that you can start using TODAY to make your work-life balance a bit more balanced. Put on your life like it fits and stop trying to button that top button when you had the extra helping of your neighbor’s awesome potato salad at the picnic last night!
Work-Life Balance Tip #1: Take Lunch
Yes, I’m crazy. And I’m telling you to take lunch. Whether you work from home or in an office, step away from your work domain for a minimum of thirty minutes. Stop scheduling conference calls during lunch. Don’t answer your phone. Don’t respond to emails. Unplug – and see how much easier it is to plug back in.
Work-Life Balance Tip #2: Hard Stops
Not unlike taking lunch, give yourself a “hard stop” at least two days a week. This means that at 5 P.M. (or whatever time you determine), you call it a day. Not five minutes later and no excuses. Go DO SOMETHING (and enjoy it). Your inbox will still be there in the morning (and your family and friends will thank you).
Work-Life Balance Tip #3: Ask for Help
If you’re simply afraid that you can’t get everything done and the act of trying is what’s putting you off-kilter, ask for help. Hire a virtual assistant, a house cleaner or one of your teenagers to do some of the running around.
Whatever the solution, asking for help doesn’t have to be expensive or worst of all, humiliating. It can be empowering and free you up to do the things you both need and want to! Take a tip from one of my previous entries on how to offer support. It’s easier to lend and GIVE support than you might think!
