Tag: mindsetandexecutivecoaching

Posted on

It’s a Great Month to Figure Out What Am I Doing with My Life? Tips for Figuring Things Out

Do you often find yourself wondering what you are doing in life? Many people reach a point where they feel they lack direction in their lives. Instead of living life to the full, they simply go through the motions.

If this sounds like you, there are things you can do to help you get out of the rut you are currently in. Today starts the beginning of August, so what better time than to get this question answered, so you can start a new chapter.

Below, you’ll discover some fabulous tips for figuring out what it is you want from life. Just remember, there are no right or wrong answers here; these tips are meant for you to explore your inner game which will lead to your outer game, i.e. gaining clarity and direction:

 

Consider Your Passions

If you want to know what direction to go in, it’s helpful to think about the things you are passionate about. The things that motivate and inspire you will change on a frequent basis. For example, what you want today may look very different to what you wanted a few months ago.

As we change and adapt over time according to our experiences. This means to keep a direction in life, we need to constantly assess what it is we want. Figuring out the things you are passionate about will help you to understand where to go next and what you need to do to get there.

 

Address Your Fears

Even if you know what it is you want to do, you might be stuck because of fear. Known to be one of our most powerful emotions, fear can stop you from going after the things you truly want in life.

So, if you are going to move forward and figure out what it is you are doing in life, you are going to need to address your fears. Figure out where the fear is coming from. Then, be willing to work through them so you can stop them controlling your life.

 

Assess Your Current Goals

Do you have any goals you are working on right now? Chances are, if you aren’t sure what you are doing in your life, you won’t have any goals to work towards that mean something. This can contribute towards the problem.

You need to set yourself goals to keep the mind motivated and positive. When you have things to work for, it gives you a purpose each day. As you see yourself progressing through your goals, it generates more motivation to get you to where you need to be.

Make sure you set small, specific goals that are easy to achieve.

 

You Don’t Need To Have It All Figured Out

 

Nobody has their life totally figured out. There will always be doubts and things you want to do better. You don’t have to have it all figured out all the time. In fact, just going with the flow sometimes can present you with a lot of opportunities you would otherwise miss. As stated earlier, there are no right or wrong answers to go with the flow and see where it leads you.

 

Feeling like you don’t know what you are doing in life can be lonely and frustrating. However, the above are just some of the things you can do to figure out what it is you want. Take a notepad and pen and just reflect; free-write any ideas or thoughts you have to get them out, then you can go back and edit to make sense of them.

 

Change isn’t easy but with the right mind-set, goals, and a plan, you can do anything. Oh, and some hard work. Determine to make this month the start of the ‘new you.’

 

 

“Never underestimate the power you have to take your life in a new direction.”

                                                                                             (Germany Kent)

 

 

 

Posted on

Self-Sabotaging Behaviors That Keep You From Doing and Getting What You Want

Do you ever find yourself wanting success but not going after it? Have you ever not raised your hand to take on a more challenging role or expressing an opinion, despite knowing the answer? Do you stay in the background, allowing others to take the lead even though you know you have the ability to do so?

If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to any of these, then you have fallen into the trap of self-sabotage.

Quite frankly, we all have been our own worst enemy at times. Self-sabotage is when you don’t do the things you want, or do the opposite of what you intended. You could have a great relationship but do something that messes it up, or have a great job but then start showing up late to work or on assignments.

The results of this type of behavior can be severe:

  • Your income will suffer.
  • Your self-esteem will plummet.
  • Your confidence will find new lows.
  • Tasks remain unfinished

The end result? Frustration. Burnout. Resentment (of your clients or your business). And, yes, even more self-sabotaging behaviors not to mention feelings of guilt and shame.

This downward spiral can quickly turn devastating, but stopping it is easy when you learn to recognize the symptoms.

Procrastination

Did you mean to apply for that high-end coaching program but missed the deadline? Or maybe you were going to send a proposal to a potential new client, but waited too long? Or maybe you simply waited too long to take advantage of a sale price on a hot new app that everyone’s raving about.

These and other missed opportunities can often be blamed on simple procrastination, one of the most destructive habits we suffer from. Procrastination is what keeps us working late at night to make a deadline, costs us money in late fees, and even costs us business.

If you’re prone to procrastination, try these techniques to put an end to it:

  • Recognize your fear. What often keeps you stuck is simple fear. You’re afraid that even with that amazing coach you still won’t reach your goals, so you put off applying. You’re afraid you’ll look bad when compared to other proposals, so you just don’t send one. But if you want to be successful in business, you must learn to recognize and face your fears, then do the work anyway.
  • Start with small steps to not activate the fear center; doing small task will make the word seem easier so you will continue on.
  • Visualize the life and business you desire. Imagine what it will be like to have that amazing business you’ve been dreaming about. Picture your ideal workday, daydream about that fabulous vacation you’ll take, and imagine VIP days with your ideal client.
  • Reward yourself. It’s okay to give yourself a little incentive for getting things done. Take yourself out to lunch; buy a new pair of shoes; take an afternoon off. Do what’s most likely to motivate you to power through your fears and take the next step.

Failing to Complete Your Projects

Be honest. How many half-written books, partially planned programs, and unfinished products are cluttering up your hard drive right now?

If you’re like a lot of entrepreneurs, the answer is probably several.

You started all of them with great enthusiasm. You planned out the modules or chapters, created the slide decks, and maybe even outlined the sales page. And then…you just stopped working on it.

Maybe you tell yourself that you’re too busy. Maybe you “need to do some more research.” Or maybe you simply lost interest. But the truth is, none of those are the real reason. For a lot of people, this self-sabotaging habit is actually a symptom of a lack of confidence, and it’s keeping you from the success you deserve.

Consider this: You cannot know the actual success rate of a project you’ve never finished, and you cannot improve upon something you’ve never completed. So rather than filling your hard drive with half-finished projects, power through and start releasing them—even if you believe they’re not perfect, and even if you think they’ll never sell. You are not a fortune-teller who can predict the future – you will do so only if you create it.

 

If you find yourself procrastinating and not achieving your goals, then isn’t it time to get help? Reach out to learn more – mindset matters.

 

Posted on

Tap Into the Power of the Present Moment to Achieve Breakthroughs

Has this ever happened to you? You were thinking about a problem and no matter how hard you focus it seems that you’re stuck. You’ve gone over the problem several times. You have tried to redefine it. You’ve looked at it from different angles. It seems that no matter what do you do and regardless of when you think about the problem, nothing seems to happen.

 

A lot of this has to do with the fact that your conscious mind can easily get stuck in a holding pattern. If you’ve ever gotten on a plane that was trying to land at a busy airport, you probably have experienced a holding pattern before. Your plane would circle around a city several times delaying the moment of your arrival. When the runway clears and your plane is given the green light to land, your pilot will then break the holding pattern and start the descent.

 

It’s not much different from your thoughts. When your mind is burning precious energy trying to achieve some sort of breakthrough because you have to, and you find yourself at an impasse – your brain it goes into a holding pattern. It’s as if you can’t think of anything new. You just keep revisiting the same things over and over again.

 

A big part of this is due to the release of the hormone Cortisol, which goes immediately to the pre-frontal cortex area of the brain, or our executive functions; the resulting effect include confusion, concentration, and memory issues. The more you keep trying to solve a problem, the more foggier you will feel.

 

Think of the last time you lost or misplaced something, such as your keys. I’m willing to bet that when you were looking for your keys, you kept checking at the places that you checked before. At the back of your head, you know that your keys aren’t there. After all, you just checked it a few minutes before but you can’t help yourself to keep checking again and again and again.

 

Maybe you just didn’t look properly. Perhaps it’s stuck somewhere in the back of your purse or the car seat. Possibly, you just didn’t pay enough attention so you keep repeating this pattern over and over again. That’s how your mind works.

 

Unfortunately, this habit doesn’t get us any closer to the solution. How can it? You keep revisiting the same process. As the old saying goes, insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results each time. How can you achieve different results when you’re doing the same thing?

 

When you focus on the present moment, you get the chance to focus on your issues right here, right now. This is the power of mindfulness. In other words, you can train all your creative and imaginative resources to the right problem at the right time and, at the right place. This is definitely better than worrying sick about stuff that may or may not happen or, worse yet, crying over spilled milk.

 

By learning to tap the present moment through mindfulness or meditation practices, you start looking at your situation differently. The reason why this happens is because your subconscious mind enters the picture. Your subconscious mind is very powerful. It enables you to achieve breakthroughs when you thought these were simply not possible.

 

Going back to the keys, if you sat and allowed your mind to relax, you would soon find them as you are thinking more clearly and calmly. Use the power of your subconscious mind to be more present in the moment and achieve amazing results in your life. It takes practice to get into this state, but the result is worth the effort, as the saying goes.

 

If you’re looking to up your performance and productivity, and get more done in your life, reach out to learn more and get started living your best life.

Posted on

Dealing with Information Overload

What Is Information Overload?

Have you ever started something new – a new job, a new sport, even a new game and you’re trying to learn the information, but it feels like your brain might explode?

That’s an exaggerated symptom of information overload, or having to take in too much information in a short amount of time, or at once. Most people are experiencing this daily  due to fast access to information, mainly via the internet.

The use of social media has increased exponentially; here are some sobering facts (Allegheny-Kiski Health Foundation, n.d.):

  • People check their phones at least 46 -74 times per day
  • Social media is addictive, according to newer studies
  • 81% check their phone while dining out
  • 76% of Americans attribute information overload with their stress
  • 35% of workers feel overload affects their performance, with 30% feeling it affects their job satisfaction

Information overload can cause the following symptoms:

* Headache

* Stress

* Moodiness

* Fatigue

* Overweight

* Cardiovascular issues

* Memory and concentration problems

* Lack of sleep

*Eye strain

* And more…

Plus, often it can cause problems in interpersonal relationships and work relationships. The reason is that most information overload is a choice you make. You choose to be on social media all day; you choose to watch every single news station and every single pundit on TV talk about whatever is the topic of the day.

It’s Like Drinking Water from a Fire Hydrant  

Anytime you want to learn something, it’s tempting to start gathering tons of information. And due to the net, it’s easy to get drawn down into the rabbit hole of unending information. It becomes hard to determine what information is good and what information is bad.

It Leads to Poor Information Filtering

When you are bombarded with so much information, your brain can’t filter it properly. Your brain does something called twigging, which means that instead of filtering information in terms of importance it just generalizes all information as being the same. This is terrible for decision making.

It Leads to FOMO: The Fear of Missing Out

The Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is related to our emotions and a belief that other people are living better, doing more, and have more satisfaction in their lives. This result leads feelings of anxiety, or worry, that you are missing out on wants in your life. It leads to self-comparison which does nothing for your self-esteem and confidence.

It Leads to Bad Choices

If you can’t properly filter information to determine what is true, what is right and what is wrong, you’ll have a hard time making the right choices. The information overload causes you to choose wrongly on any number of issues, because with so much noise going on you can’t determine what is right.

It Harms Your Relationships

Information overload can harm your relationships. If you’re always reading your smartphone, looking at social media and aren’t present in your life, it can hurt intimacy. If your partner and friends are complaining, take heed.

It Leads to Black and White Thinking

The world is not black and white. The world is colorful, black, white, gray and everything in between and more. The same can be said for a lot of issues. There are very few issues that are either right or wrong, black or white.

 

If you have too much information at your fingertips and are rating everything the same, it’s easy to see things as black and white, which can make it hard to negotiate a happy life and successful business. Some people can take it further by relying solely on what they’ve read on the internet or news as the gospel truth, which harms one’s way of thinking and critical thinking.

It Can Lead to Mental Issues Like Anxiety and Depression

When you get to the point of information overload, a lot of people experience mental problems such as short-term memory issues and even depression. If you find that you’re just feeling mixed up a lot, forget appointments and aren’t doing your best at home or work, consider information overload as a potential culprit.

Information overload can be a big problem for a lot of people. People are wrecking their cars due to not being able to turn away from looking at their text messages. Who knows how much money is lost in overall productivity due to information overload which, according to a study by Basex, is $900 billion.

So, what is the solution?

First, look at your usage of how you are taking information in, which includes: social media, TV news and shows, gaming, reading magazine and books, talking to others; information is exchanged at a constant rate so assessing how much, and in what formats, will help to begin to limit your involvement.

Begin to ‘detach’ in smaller steps, such as not opening your phone for 30 minutes, then increase your time; limit your TV time; read for 20-30 minutes then go outside and walk. To calm your brain from not worrying about what you think you’re missing, small is better (although going ‘cold turkey’ is a better way for some.

Monitor your physical and mental health to see progress and how much better you feel – are you more alert and able to concentrate longer; do you feel more energetic; are you sleeping better; do you feel happier. Looking at the ‘before’ and ‘after’ can help you recognize the benefits of your efforts so you continue on. You might be surprised to realize how much you don’t miss those activities as much as you thought.

 

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, which is affecting you productivity and emotional health, reach to get help. You don’t have to struggle alone.

 

Posted on

The Benefits of Aromatherapy to Deal with Stress

If you’re looking for an easy way to relax when under stress, aromatherapy can be an answer. Our senses are very powerful and are useful when trying to get calm, to relax, and to energize.

The sense of smell goes into the deepest part of the brain through the olfactory area of the central nervous system, which stimulates the hormones of serotonin and dopamine (our happy chemical) and helps with mood-regulation.

Aromatherapy has its roots in holistic and alternative medicine; these practices are being embraced and used by the medical community and other businesses. We now see products being sold in grocery stores and pharmacies.

Aromatherapy is the practice of using oils from plant extracts for medicinal, relaxation and aromatic purposes. Making your own ‘concoction’ gives the best results, as the pure extracts are being used; essential oils are most notably sold but these are laced with other ingredients. Candles offer another way to reap these calming benefits, as well as diffusers, incense, and lotions. My personal favorite is Vick’s VapoRub, as it has both calming ingredients plus pain relief.

Using any of these can bring calm from depression or anxiety; pain relief from tension, such as in your head, neck or back; and energize with certain scents.

So, what scents are the best? Here are some suggestions:

  • Lavender – calming, pain, enhance memory, sleep aid
  • Eucalyptus and peppermint – brain fog, mental focus
  • Rosemary and lemon – memory, focus, mental fatigue, stimulation
  • Patchouli and Ylang Ylang – reduce stress and anxiety, enhance mood
  • Orange – mood enhancer

Of course, there are many others, which can be used in combination with other to create appealing scents. Some scents might be overbearing so other ways include: candles, incense, and lotions or bath salts/bombs (“Calgon take me away…”).

You may have to test and try out which method and scent  to see what works best; you may take a relaxing bath with lavender to decompress, or add lemon to a diffuser while you’re doing the dishes.

Aromatherapy is truly a great way to feel good. These alternative herbs and oils can bring a natural way of  enhancing your mental health and well-being.

 

 

If you’d like help with anxiety and stress, and learn healthier coping patterns, reach out to schedule a call to learn how we can help.

 

 

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)