How do you know that you are on the right track to achieve what you really want in your business and life?

And once you are on the right track, how do you stay there?

Well, there are two essential things you MUST put in place to guide you. They are:

1. Create your own Success Definition

Having a definition of success that you have carved out for yourself will be a guide for you to follow when making decisions, setting goals and creating action plans.

It will help you make better choices for yourself. And as a result of making better choices, you will get better results.

It is easy to get caught in the trap of chasing success as defined by society, family and peers.

But ask yourself this

“Whose definition of success do I want to spend my one and only life living by?”

Take time to create your own definition of success for all areas of your life.

Think of it almost as a navigation tool steering you down the right path and keeping you there.

2. Get clear on your Core Values

Your core values are things that are central to who you are. They are the things, that when you are living and working by them, make you feel fulfilled, alive and living life fully.

You can tell when your core values are being trampled all over because life and work feel a push, a struggle and totally unfulfilling.

People who orientate their life and business around their core values are the people who are more likely to be living a fulfilled life, getting the results they really want and feeling successful on their own terms.

So, take some time out to get clear on what your core values are.

Once you have your definition of success and your core values nailed, make sure your vision, goals and action plans are built on them.

To make choices and decisions easier for yourself, keep asking:

“Does this fit with my core values and definition of success?”

If you head off on a journey without a map of how you will get to your destination, chances are you are going to end up taking the wrong road.

The same is true of trying to create the life and business you really want without a definition of success or knowing your core values.

I encourage you to get stuck in to creating your own definition of success based on your core values.

Then use them to drive your choices and decisions to get on the right path and keep you there.

What are your views on this topic? Please share in the comments below.

What difference would it make if you made a commitment to radically simplify your life and business?

And why should you bother or care?

Here’s why:

Simplicity liberates. Complexity Kills. Simplify or Die.

The level of complexity you are allowing in your business, life and relationships directly impacts the results you want to achieve.

Complexity can dramatically influence your level of success in all areas of your life. This is because it has a nasty habit of strangling the life out of whatever it touches.

And that is why I say simplifying is your secret weapon to influencing success on your own terms.

We need to take 100% responsibility for proactively eradicating complexity to reap the benefits.

If you are still wondering why you should give a damn about simplifying your life, consider this:

The Hidden Costs of Complexity

The more complex stuff is, the harder it is to achieve results. Would you prefer your path to success to be harder or easier? A no brainer, hey?

Complexity can create stress, confusion, overwhelm and that feeling of being in sinking sand.

It can strangle the life out of your business, relationships and life. Don’t underestimate its destructive forces.

Complexity is the thief of potential.

The solution is to simplify like crazy.

The Benefits of Simplifying Your Life

When you get into the simplifying habit, things become much easier. Quality results are more likely to be achieved. Life becomes more fun and enjoyable. The pace of life becomes closer to what it should be.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” – Leonardo Da Vinci

How to start Simplifying your Life

Awareness is the first step in any change. So creating awareness is your starting point. Get a piece of paper and brainstorm these points:

• What are you DOING that creates complexity in your business, life and relationships?
• What are you ALLOWING that creates complexity?
• What could you do to start eradicating it?
• What benefits could you achieve if things were a lot simpler?

Once you have completed your brainstorm, start looking for actions you can take to simplify your life, business and relationships.

It is time to escape the slavery of complexity and claim the freedom that comes when you simplify your life.

Get radical folks. Simplify like crazy. It will smooth the path to success on your own terms.

And that is why simplifying is your secret weapon to success.

Do you have any tips of simplifying? If so, please share them in the comments below?

Feeling overwhelmed?

You are not alone. It strikes all of us at some time.

The way you deal with it will greatly influence how quickly you will stop feeling overwhelmed.

There are all sorts of ways to do this. Things like simplifying, saying no to stuff, improve scheduling, dropping non essential tasks – to name but a few.

Those things, whilst they can be very effective, are not dealing with the hidden cause of feeling overwhelmed.

So, what is the hidden cause of feeling overwhelmed?

Before I answer that question, here are some clues:

Feeling overwhelmed is one of the complaints I hear most often from my clients. Things such as:

• I feel overwhelmed by trying to juggle the business and family life.
• I feel overwhelmed by everything I have to do.
• I feel overwhelmed by being stuck in a rut.

Spot the link yet?

Overwhelm is a Feeling.

And where do feelings come from?

Our thoughts.

It is not all the stuff going on in your life that it is causing your feelings of overwhelm. You are creating your own feelings. Nothing else. It is what you are thinking about all the stuff going on that is triggering those feelings.

So, to truly master overwhelm you need to be dealing with what you are thinking about the situation. Then you will be in a better position to manage it.

Yes, my friends, the hidden cause of overwhelm is your Mindset.

That is why I bang on so much about the importance of developing your mindset.

Because it totally dictates how we feel, experience and respond to any given situation. And as a result, our response will dictate the outcome moving forward.

Master your Mindset = Master your Life (and your business and relationships too).

But let’s get back to the specific issue of feeling overwhelmed:

Every time you hear yourself say “I feel overwhelmed”, consider this:

• What are you thinking that is creating that feeling?
• What new thought do you need to focus on to create a different feeling?
• What are your feeling overwhelmed trigger points?
• What will you put in place to proactively manage these?

Be patient with yourself with this. You are starting to work on changing deeply ingrained thought processes. It takes time and practice.

Getting professional help with stuff like this can speed up the process. If you are struggling with this get some support.

Keep reminding yourself that overwhelm is a feeling and that feelings originate from your thoughts.

What will you do to learn how to manage your mindset better so that you feel overwhelmed less often?

I am interested to hear your experiences of dealing with overwhelm. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

How you deal with setbacks can be the difference between moving forward and getting the results you want or staying stuck in the doo doo.

I don’t mind sharing with you that I have experienced some real whoppers.

And boy have I learnt some important lessons from them. One of the most powerful lessons I have learnt is this:

We can’t always choose what happens to us, but we can always choose how we respond

So, with that in mind, here are three easy steps that work a treat when dealing with setbacks:

Step 1 – Learn the Lesson

When a setback happens, whether it be a whopper or just a tiddly little one, look for the lesson.

There is ALWAYS a lesson.

Look hard for the lesson instead of wallowing in the misery of the setback. Don’t fall into the trap of victim mentality. That serves no purpose at all. It will rob you of taking 100% responsibility of what has gone wrong.

Yes, I am suggesting you take 100% responsibility for the setback. Because it is only when we take 100% responsibility for everything going on in our work life and personal life that we can create effective change.

Ditch the quest for blame and assigning fault. That is a waste of time and energy. It doesn’t achieve anything and it certainly doesn’t move anything forward.

Step 2 – Apply the learning

So, you have learnt the lesson, right? Next you have to apply the learning.

Look at the lesson you have learnt and ask yourself:

What do I need to do to stop this sort of setback happening again?

APPLY IT.

Unless you apply the learning you are pretty much inviting that particular setback to happen again.

Hint: this means taking action folks. It’s not going to magically happen by just thinking about it.

Step 3 – Move on

Have you ever come across folk who are endlessly dwelling on a setback they have experienced, sometimes for years? Energy draining or what? They are just keeping themselves stuck.

Holding on to a setback keeps you stuck. Let it go. Move on.

Once it’s done you can’t change it. You can only:

Learn the lesson. Apply the learning. Move on.

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Do you need to embrace the “F” word more?

It is a word that everyone uses at sometime. Anyone that says that they don’t is lying. It is word that stops people in their tracks.

The “F” word in question that I am referring to is this:

FEAR

The other day I put out this on twitter:

Sometimes you have to do stuff that frightens the pants off you to move towards your vision #justsayin’

It generated discussion with fellow tweeters who were experiencing fear for whatever reason in their work life, business or personal life.

The truth about this tweet is that it was a reminder for myself as well as a message to my twitter followers.

You see, for years I let fear cripple me and keep me stuck in a life of mediocrity. It was only 10 years ago when I decided to jack in 14 years of peddling the corporate hamster wheel to work and live on my own terms that I discovered the joys and rewards of frightening the pants off yourself.

Recently, I find myself needing to embrace fear again. I am in the process of changing my business model. It is part of the next stage of our family’s master plan of designing our ideal life.

In order to reach for something big, something we have never done before, something that would be a dream come true, there is going to be fear involved.

This is because it is unchartered territory. Out of our comfort zone. Has a bit of risk involved.

But here is the thing:

If we don’t learn how to deal with fear effectively it grabs us in a vice like grip and keeps us stuck.

And that is why I am on a mission to get us all to embrace fear more. To stop it holding us back from what we really want to shoot for.

It’s OK to feal fear. It’s normal. It’s not some big failure. What is important is how we respond to it.

We need to be committed to learning more about our mindset. What drives it? How do you upgrade it to something that serves us better?

Tips for learning to embrace fear

1. Make a decision that you are going to start embracing fear and stop it holding you back.

2. Ask yourself this question:

What needs to happen so that the fear you are feeling is addressed or managed so that you can move forward?

Focus on nailing that.

3. Identify the source of your fear and deal with it fully.

4. Don’t be a Lone Ranger. Get support from a trusted family member or friend. Hire a coach, mentor or therapist.

Learning to deal with fear is liberating and will unshackle the chains of mediocrity so you can make things how you really want them.

Is fear something you find gets in your way or do you find it easy to deal with? Please share you views below.

Do you suffer with email overload?

It is something that I hear endless complaints about. Particularly in relation to time management. Finding effective ways to manage the email inbox has almost become an industry in itself.

I often hear people declaring war on their email box and having a “blitz” eradicating hundreds of meaningless emails. I have even done this myself and I have to say that it feels really good.

But aren’t we just dealing with the symptom here? Isn’t it the real source we should be dealing with?

Often the source can be meaningless stuff we have invited into our email box by subscribing to all sorts of things. Emails that come from things like:

• Subscribing to newsletters on websites just to get the freebie offer they will give you to subscribe
• Linkedin groups that consist of folk just pushing their stuff down your throat and not really engaging in meaningful discussion
• And don’t get me started on those emails that have some fluffy poem then at the end tells you that if you don’t pass it on to at least 20 people in the next 90 seconds then you will be struck down dead!!!

It’s time to eradicate mediocrity from our email boxes.

This morning I sat back and looked at exactly what was coming into my email box and asked the question:

What value is receiving that regularly adding to me?

And do you know what?

With the exception of a handful of things the answer was “nothing”.

Now, maybe that just says something about my own subscribing habits. But maybe it says something about the mediocrity of stuff people are pumping into our email box each and every day with our permission.

So this morning, instead of just having an email blitz to get my email box under control, I have had an “unsubscribe” blitz.

Loads of stuff has bitten the dust. I am left with the stuff that I look forward to receiving. The stuff that I genuinely get some sort of value or pleasure from.

Dealing with the source of the problem rather than the symptom is far more effective.

The Power of the Unsubscribe Button

Have a look at your own inbox:

• How much of what you have willingly invited into your inbox is of any real value to you?
• Even if it is all good stuff, how much can you physically cope with?
• Is it worth putting a limit on your subscription habits?

Have a think about it and see if you need to introduce an unsubscribe policy.

The “unsubscribe” button holds much power. Use it wisely.

Hello. I’m Ali Davies. I’m a recovering Perfectionist.

There. I’ve said it.

I share this with you because the quest for perfection gets in the way for many people who work for themselves.

It can stop you moving forward and achieving results in all sorts of ways. Not only in your business, but also in your family life, relationships and lifestyle.

And if you are getting in your own way of moving forward, then that’s a problem.

Let me explain:

My own perfectionism addiction started many years ago. It was fuelled by my 14 years on the corporate hamster wheel were the striving for perfection seems to be a competitive pastime and badge of honour.

However, it was only when I left the corporate world back in 2001, that I realised that I was going to have to battle the demon perfectionism, or it could destroy what I was trying to achieve.

The reason being was that the constant striving for perfection was stopping me from moving forward. It got to a point where trying to make everything perfect was adding no value to what I was trying to achieve and was actually holding me back. Not good.

And here is the point:

Perfectionism doesn’t equal results.

It took me a while to get that. But when I did, boy was it liberating. Things happened faster. Results came more easily. Things became more fun.

“Good enough” became the new “perfect”.

All of a sudden, taking imperfect action became part of my business strategy and my personal life.

The Beauty of Imperfect Action

Here is the absolute beauty of taking imperfect action:

It moves things forward. It gets results. It frees up time. It feels liberating. It reduces stress. I could go on and on about the benefits.

And that is why, if you are a raging perfectionist, I invite you to join me in becoming a recovering perfectionist.

Embrace taking imperfect action. You won’t regret it.

Are you a recovering perfectionist? Is this something you struggle with? Please share your experiences on this subject in the comments below.

The Danger of Distraction

What is your view on the impact distractions are having on your business and family life?

Many people aren’t aware what distraction is really costing them. It’s destructiveness is often under the radar screen.

Sometimes it can be because people are using distractions as a way to avoid difficult stuff or challenges. Maybe for some it is an escape and a welcome relief from the boring and mundane. Often it is just habit.

Whatever the reason, it is important to be aware of the cost of distractions

The Danger of Distractions

Let’s be clear on what we are talking about by distractions. We are talking about things like constantly checking email and social media, reading the papers, watching daytime TV, taking social calls during business time, doing admin during family time, unsolved problems. That sort of thing.

If you are allowing distractions like these to invade your daily schedule, here are some things to think about:

• Distractions in your business takes you away from what is really important. As a result productivity drops, quality is affected and ultimately profits can be hit.

• Being distracted when you are with your kids impacts the quality of your time with them and your relationship.

• Constant distractions take you away from achieving what is most important

• Constant distractions increases that juggling feelings which increases stress

The point is this:

Distractions are totally within our control. It is a choice. Distractions only happen if we let them.

The good news about that is that we have the power to minimise distractions in our business and family life. The not so good news is that it can seem a real challenge as often allowing distractions has become a deeply established habit.

So, what is the answer?

Well, there are many ways to eradicate distractions. But here is one technique to try out:

Make Distractions your friend

You can make distractions your friend by using them as a reward system. For example, you can make “deals” with yourself like:

• If I finish this report within the time set, I can spend 10 minutes on social media sites
• If I have the accounts done before lunch I can read the paper for 10 mins
• If I have an article written within an hour I can phone Mary for a 10 minute chat.

Get the picture?

The key is to turn distractions from a negative you have to fight to change, to a positive part of your daily routine.

With that in mind, have a look at how you deal with distractions in your business and family life:

• What is it costing you?
• How do you want it to change?
• What can you put in place today so that you are managing distractions and they are not managing you?

What are your biggest challenges with distractions? Would turning them into your “friend” as a reward system work for you? Do you already have effective techniques in place for managing distractions? Please share your answers in the comments section below.

Have you noticed how very busy people are these days?

It’s like some sort of epidemic.

The “Busy” Epidemic

• People are working very hard, long hours in their business because they are busy.
• Parents don’t have enough time to play with kids because they are busy.
• We don’t have time to nurture important relationships because we are busy.
• We don’t have the quality of life we would like because we are exhausted from being busy!

Where is being busy getting you?

If everyone is so busy, surely you would expect that people are experiencing phenomenal business success, an idyllic family life and a great lifestyle.

But here is the thing:

Many people aren’t.

Why?

Being busy doesn’t equate to producing results.

Often being busy is actually just being in fire fighting mode. Busy often has no strategy or structure to it. It often isn’t linked to vision, goals and action plans.

And when that happens you are just running in circles. You might be busy, but you aren’t productive.

So, take a step back and look at the way you operate in your business, family life and lifestyle:

Are you busy or are you productive?

If you think you pretty much fall into the “busy” gang most of the time, it’s time to make some changes. It’s time to shift yourself into the “productive” gang.

For some tips on improving your productivity check out 10 Tips to Improve Productivity

If you are thinking this isn’t such a big deal and being permanently busy is OK, then keep this in mind:

Those people who are most successful in any area of life are productive more than they are busy.

Are you?

So, over the next few days just observe yourself and your busyness.

• Where is it getting you?
• How does it make you feel?
• Is it achieving the results you want for yourself in your business, family life and lifestyle?

Each day ask yourself “Am I being busy or Productive”

Make a pact with yourself to reduce busyness and increase productivity.

Do you get caught in the “busy” trap? What’s your view on the impact of being permanently busy versus productive? Share your views in the comments below.

Related posts:

• 10 Tips to Improve Productivity
• Time Management – the REAL reason you don’t have enough time
• The Problem with Time Management

Productivity isn’t rocket science.

In fact, there are some very straight forward things you can implement that have a significant impact on productivity and results. Here are:

10 Tips to Improve Productivity

1. Start with the end in mind

I first learnt this many years ago when reading “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective people” by Stephen Covey. If you don’t know where you are heading, how can you choose what actions to take?

Always start each year, month, week and day knowing what you want to have achieved by the end of it (Note: this applies to your family life and lifestyle as well as your business).

2. Apply the “first things first” rule

Do the highest priority things first. That way, if you run out of time later in the day it will never be the most important stuff that gets dropped.

3. Set a “school” timetable

Remember those old school timetables with days and allocated time slots for lessons? Well, set one up every week. (Note: as with point 1, include family stuff as well as business stuff). It will keep you focussed and on track. It will also help you protect what is most important and stop you from over scheduling.

Remember to apply point 2 – put the most important things in your schedule first.

4. Stop multitasking

Multitasking reduces productivity and increases stress levels. Focus on one task at a time until it is done. Do this in line with point 2 and 3. (Read 3 Myths of Multi Tasking for more on this subject)

5. Reduce how often you check email/social media

Constantly interrupting tasks to check emails and social media reduces productivity. Set times during the day for checking email/social media. Use a timer. When the timer goes off, shut email and social media down to avoid temptation.

6. Take regular breaks

People who take regular breaks throughout the day actually do better quality, productive work. Schedule regular breaks as part of your daily routine.

7. Learn to say “no” more

Many people often find it difficult to say no to things, even if it impacts on their own priorities. It’s OK to say “no”. It will stop you taking on less important stuff at the cost of your priorities.

8. Get an accountability buddy

Being accountable to someone else for achieving something by a set time is a great way to keep you focussed and productive. Find someone to buddy up with. Set tasks you are both going to do by a set day/time. Agree a check in time by phone. Amazing how well this works. Try it.

9. Break tasks down into bite size chunks

For each task you have, break it down into bite size chunks. This helps keep you focussed, motivated and helps maintain concentration levels. Then apply point 10.

10. Time bind each activity

Set a time limit on each task. This will keep you focussed and reduce the risk of overrunning.

What are your top tips for improving productivity? Please share yours in the comments below.

Related posts:

• Are you a Prisoner in your Home Business?
• 5 Reasons You Should Treat Your Home Business Like Your Kids