Your life Simplified-How To Plan Your Day

08/06/2010 By Angela 28 Comments

Your life Simplified-How To Plan Your Day

I have come to realize the amazing power that is manifested when you learn how to plan your day. For a long time I overlooked this and it seemed useless for me to get my “to do” list in writing when I knew what I needed to get done in my head. The major problem with not getting my “to do” list written and defined was that was I was losing focus, spinning my wheels and getting sucked into things that were a major waste of my time. After coming across a video from Jack Canfield (which I will share in this post) about how to plan your day the night before I realized the incredible power planning your day has. Once I started this practice I have greatly increased my productivity and made my life simpler.

So I want to share with you how to plan your day so you can accomplish more and become more productive. I am going to share with you the tool that I use to make my “to do” list and share with you the video by Jack Canfeild that inspired me to start planning my day and get more done.

Tips for planning your day-

1. Plan your day the night before.

2. Get your to do list written down somewhere and schedule things so you know the approximate time it will take.

3. Put your list in order of priority.

4. Leave some time in your day for unexpected interruptions or difficulties.

5. Check things off as you get them done so you can see how much you have accomplished.

An online tool to plan your day-

I have been using this online tool for a while and really like it. I wanted to share it with you. I made a short video to share with you this valuable free tool.

Here is a video from Jack Canfield talking about how to plan your day and how it can make a huge difference in your productivity.

I really hope that this tool will help you plan you day, make you more productive and simplify your life. Leave me a comment and let me know if you use this tool or have another great resource for planning your day.

If you have friends on social media that might benefit from this I would appreciate you sharing this with them.

Focus on Today

07/09/2010 By Angela 38 Comments

Focus on Today

Do you ever catch yourself looking ahead on your life to all you have to get done and you start to feel overwhelmed? While it is very worthwhile to have long term goals and put plans in place for the future, it can get overwhelming with the realization of all you have to get done. If each day you concentrate only on that day and break things up into smaller bits it can relieve a lot of stress and help keep life at a more even keel. I have a few things I do each day that help me get a lot done while working on my personal development and achieving my long term goals. Working on these things on a daily basis with only that day in mind helps keep my feet on the ground and stress from setting in.

Here is what I try to do daily and I hope some of these things could help you too-

-Have a “to do” list for the day, I may not always get everything done but it helps me stay on task. My “to do” list keeps me from losing focus, indecision and rushing through things.

-Focus on my tasks only for that one day. I know there is a big picture of what I am trying to accomplish but do I do things one by one, day by day. I know I can do something for just one day, even if it is something I don’t particularly like. It gets stressful and overwhelming if you think of having to do something you dislike long term.

-Focus on my attitude everyday and work daily on a positive mindset. I work hard at overcoming any negative thoughts or any “I can’t” that comes in my head.

- Work to not be a mental loafer. I try to challenge myself and try to learn something useful everyday. I try to read something for personal development or developing my business everyday, even if it is just 10 minutes a day. I try to listen to helpful webinars or videos everyday as well.

-Give myself time to reflect everyday. I try to gain perspective on my life and get a little time to myself.

- Do something good for my health like exercise or preparing a healthy meal. I know when I feel good and treat my body right I am so much more productive. If I don’t take care of myself I tend to be sluggish and tired.

-Work on my gratitude and appreciation for everything I have.

This is what I have found works for me for improving myself and working toward my goals on a daily basis. Do you have anything you do daily that helps you work toward your goals? Leave me a comment and share what works for you.

Filed Under: Inspiration & Motivation, Time Management Tagged With: Daily tasks, daily to do, Only for today

How to Balance Work and Family When You Work From Home

06/30/2010 By Angela 16 Comments

How to Balance Work and Family When Working From Home

When you work at home it can be quite a challenge to separate work life from familylife. There are so many things pulling you in so many directions when you run a home based business. It really takes time to figure out how to balance the two and avoid becoming a workaholic. So lets explore what you can do to be successful with your work at home business but still have plenty of time for yourself and your family.

Manage your time effectively- Make sure when you are working you are spending your time wisely. Try to think about your business as if you were working in a traditional office setting. They don’t want you spending all day checking personal e-mails, chatting on the phone or updating your status constantly because it is not productive. If you treat your business the same way and do personal items outside of business time it will be a better use of your time.

Write to do lists and prioritize- Schedule how you are going to use your time and get it on paper. Write out a list of tasks for the day and go through the tasks one by one. Put the most pressing thing at the top of the list. If you don’t get all your tasks done for that day move it to the list for the next day.

Get a designated, organized work space- Set aside space that is specifically for your business away from the family space if possible. Try to get a space where you can go in the room and shut the door and not be interrupted. Organize the space so that it is easy to find what you need when you need it.

Have set work hours and set family time- Set the hours you work and plan to stick to it. Spending time with family is very important so make you don’t skimp on that time. If you are handling your time well this should not be a problem. I know it is easy especially when starting a business to get carried away with work hours. You don’t want to get burnt out and sacrifice getting to spend time with your family.

Outsource things when you can- You may find that certain tasks are consuming a lot of your time. You could save yourself time and have more time with family if you outsource some of your work. The best things to outsource are mundane tasks that are easy for other people to do or things you are not good at. You will save yourself a lot of time and frustration if you can avoid things you don’t know how to do. You can then focus your time and attention on what you are good at.

You are your boss when you work at home. The best gift you can give yourself is to learn how to manage your time effectively so you have time for yourself and your family.

Filed Under: Time Management Tagged With: seperating working at home from family, Work at home

How to Manage Your Time Effectively

06/07/2010 By Angela 9 Comments

How to Manage Your Time Effectively

Being a work at home mom it can be very tricky trying to figure out how to manage your time. Most days I say I wish there were 4 of me to get everything I want to get accomplished done. Then I remember this quote by H. Jackson, ”Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” I have lots to accomplish not only in my business, but making time for my son and taking care of household chores. None of that will stop me from giving 110% to everything I do and making things happen so I pull out my “can do” attitude and put the time management tools I have learned to work. These are the things I have found have really helped me manage my time effectively.

Have a to do list written out- I used to think that I could keep track of all the things I needed to accomplish in my head. I quickly realized that I was not getting much done that way. I would kind of lose sight of my goals or what need to be done. Having things written down keeps me in check and helps me prioritize. If something does not get done I can move it on to the list for the next day. I also really like having a list because sometimes it can seem like I have been spinning my wheels and not getting much done. I can then look at my list and know that I really did accomplish a lot more than I thought.

Avoid time Wasters- Avoid watching TV, checking e-mails and spending useless time on social media until you are done with your to do list for the day. I think being on social media is an important part of growing your business and can be on your to do list for the day. I would just try to avoid time wasters in social media like getting sucked into games or reading every one’s status updates. You don’t need to know that someone you went to High School with ages ago is heating up a Hot Pocket right now. Your time can be better spent working on your business in social media.

Have an organized space- Being organized in my office space helps me out immensely. When I need something I know exactly where to find it and don’t have to spend time searching it out. Same goes for my computer, I tend to bookmark a lot of things for future reference. I go through and organize bookmarks weekly so everything has a folder that is easy to access when needed.

Eat well and get exercise- You are no good to anyone else or yourself if you do not take care of yourself. Make being healthy and fit a priority so you feel good, energized and ready to work. When you are not healthy and have not taken care of yourself you tend to get sluggish and it is hard to work when you feel like that. You will find when you are feeling good you will get a lot more done.

I hope these little tips help you out. Leave me some comments and tell me what you do to manage your time more effectively.

Filed Under: Time Management Tagged With: Time Management