Productivity Hacks to Manage Your Time Better

Productivity Hacks to Manage Your Time Better

 

7 Productivity hacks to manage your time like a boss

These productivity hacks will help you manage your time a whole lot better.

Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. I am recommending these tools because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something.

Many of us struggle when it comes to productivity. If we took at a look online, it is easy to discover that it is one of the most searched terms and there’s a reason for this. Truth is, most of suck us at productivity and to actually be successful it is one of those skills that is needed. Without it, life becomes a whole lot harder.

You need to be productive at work. You require it at home, the list goes on and on.

If you want to make progress, you need to know how to be productive, but most of us struggle knowing what productivity hacks we need in order to truly be a success. So, the millionaire dollar question is what are the productivity hacks that can help us manage our time better. In this post, I list down the best

productivity hacks that will help you to manage your time. Success never comes easy and most times we require a little help to push us in the right direction, that is what you will learn about in this post. How to manage your productivity like a boss.

 

Stop multi-tasking

 

Growing up my mother always said, ” a woman should be able to multitasking,”

And I’d say. “Well, most women aren’t like Dexter’s mother or you, so I don’t think multitasking is for me.” I’d cross my arms as a form of protest.

She’d roll her eyes. “As a woman, you must be able to multi-task.”

For all the women who can actually multi-task, I’d love to know how you do it because I can’t do it. Studies show most people struggle to multi-task, usually, when we try to we lose focus. Though I have come to realize there are certain things that are easier to multi-task, when you are cooking, it is a lot easier to do this because you are using the same type of brainpower. You can’t multitask between reading a book and writing a blog post for example. It doesn’t make any sense.

What ends up happening is you put far too much pressure on yourself and that in itself is never a good thing.

You need to understand that multitasking is the worst things you can do for yourself, most successful people don’t do this. You can’t do two things at once and still manage your time better. This is one productivity hack that will definitely help you manage your time better.

 

Keep track of your time

 

Many of us are terrible at keeping track of our time, that is the problem. We have no idea what to do next or how much time we are wasting doing trivial things.

For the longest time, I used to be like this. I’d wake up early and before I knew it, I’d have wasted so much time doing stupid things. I hated it because I’d never know what I did with my time. Now, I make sure that I keep track of my time. 

In the beginning, this will be difficult so if you want to excel at it then you need to do the Pomodoro Technique. If you have no clue what this is, I explain. Basically, you do tasks after every twenty minutes. Okay, unless you are fast when it comes to doing tasks this will be impossible. You can use the Pomodoro simply as a way to keep track of all the things you do. 

I can’t stress enough how important it is to track your time. That way you at least realize what you are doing with your time. For example, have an important call and you have only twenty minutes to spare then you this technique to help you manage your time a lot better. It works great especially if you struggle with managing your time. This productivity hack is simple to implement if you want to manage your time a lot better, but you do have to be patient with yourself.

 

Write down your goals

 

One of the best decisions I ever made was to start writing down my goals, so I would write down all the things I would want to achieve in a day, week, month and year, That whole thing made things so much better for me in terms of actually achieving my goals. All the gurus say that you must write down your goals and there’s a valid reason why you should do it.

Writing down your goals makes it easier to achieve them, a reminder pops in your head every time you look at your goals. A trick here is to write in the future

tense rather than the present. So, instead of saying I want to make $10,000 a month, you say I made $10,000 per month. This whole process makes you more

likely to achieve it. That’s because you start believing that you can do it.

Write down the tasks you want to complete that day, there are a lot of things you can to speed up the process, but it helps for you to understand you must limit the number of things you have on your to-do list. Focus on at least five because when you try to do more than that, you won’t be able to achieve it. In the beginning, it is better to focus on less so that you can achieve more.

If you need a little help with accomplishing your goals, there’s an awesome course all about how you can slay your goals. Click on the banner below and it will take you straight to the sales page. Belong to a community that will help you crush your goals and excel in every area of your life.

 

 

Create a morning ritual that works

 

How your day starts affects the rest of your day. If you have a unproductive morning, that is how the whole day will be. Most people don’t realize this and that is why they end becoming so frustrated. You want to be productive then the simpler solution is to look at what your morning ritual is. Your morning ritual is extremely important.

For example, if you wake up at 6 am and then you are in a rush to get ready for work, chances are that is how your whole day will be like. I have discovered that the sweet spot in the morning is 4 am. You are alert, can do better and you are far more productive than if you are rushing to get ready. When you wake up early, you have time to plan your day, think about what you want to do.

The reason why most people will never achieve their goals is because they wake up too late. Your brain doesn’t have time to process everything, also when you over sleep, your body is flooded with the wrong hormones. Excess progesterone which is responsible for making you sleepy usually occurs when you over sleep. It is a hormonal imbalance. 

As simple as it is, sleeping is one of the best productivity hacks you can implement so you can manage your time a whole lot better.

 

Track your milestones and keep note of your failures

One of the best things I ever did for myself was taking note of my failures as well as the milestones I reached. This can be beneficial to you actually progressing in life.  When I was younger, I had a teacher who always used to tell us that you need to write down all your successes and failures. No one understood what she was talking about. Besides the fact we were eleven-year-old kids who had yet to learn about how the world worked, to us it didn’t exactly make any sense.

Kids hands shot up, ” why do we need to write down our failures? Wouldn’t that make us sad.”

She nodded, understanding the truth hidden behind that question. “You will never go far in life if you allow rejection and failure to cripple you.”

At eleven, I didn’t understand it, but now years later I do. Most of us don’t want to take note of our failures because we don’t want to accept that we have

failed. No one wants to go around and shout at the top of their voices, how they have failed. Unless you like feeling like crap. Most of us want to avoid that feeling and we have become experts at it. 

Though, if you want to progress you have to accept both the good and bad. You have to appreciate the good and bad days, because only then can you

understand who you are and where you want to go with your life. 

 

Deadlines are a smart way to work

Have you ever tried to get something done and weren’t motivated to do so. Many of us have gone through that. In school, it was so much easier to get things

done because we had a deadline to achieve. When we didn’t make it, we would be reprimanded or we would simply fail the grade. Our brain has been

programmed from an early age that we can do much more with deadlines.

That is the reason without them it is hard getting work done or even getting our tasks done. We have to know come up with our own deadlines, tell us ourselves what will happen if we don’t meet them. We can also give incentives if we make deadlines, This is a simple way to getting things done in time, rather than procrastinating and never doing it.

To achieve success we need to realize that we have to do things the smart way, rather than struggling along and never making it because we are trying to do

things the hard way. That doesn’t work. If you want to manage your time a lot better, this productivity hack will help you manage your time better. You just need to realize that we work best when we are under pressure and setting deadlines does the job.

 

 

Don’t neglect your sleep

 

A little confession to make, I wasn’t one of those college kids who could party all night, sleep for two hours and be alright. If I had less than four hours of sleep then I’d fall asleep in class. I had insomnia in school so I struggled sleeping and that made it hard to concentrate. It was then that I realized I had to have a minimum of six hours of sleep to make through the day. Here’s an article about how you can avoid being burnt out, you should read it. It will help you understand how important it is to take care of us.

 Most of us now still act like college kids, yeah getting older sucks. I do get that, but if you are mentally tired, you can’t make a lot of progress. Sometimes we need to swallow the hard truth and accept that we cannot go without sleep. When you are sleep, your body is still working and that is why they suggest that you sleep for at least six hours. Most people walk around, dragging their feet and fatigue clogging their mind.

Take your time to rest so that you can be far more productive, this is a far better way to do things than to try and push yourself. That can have detrimental effects in the long run.

These are some of the best productivity hacks that you can implement today to help you manage your time a lot better. 

 

 What productivity hacks do you like the best and what productivity hacks to you do to help you manage your time better. Comment below

 

 

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                                                                                                       VANESSA

 

 

 

Quick Side-Hustle Ideas To Start at Home

Quick Side-Hustle Ideas To Start at Home

 

quick ideas of side-hustles you can start at home in 2019. 

These side-hustles will get you going and you can start your business as start as today. 

Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. I am recommending these tools because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel you need them or that they will help you achieve your goals.

So what exactly is a side-hustle and why is it everyone keeps going on about it? Well, the short version of that answer is that a side-hustle is a cool name for a

part-time job. One that you can do at your own leisure and at home. That is why over the last few years it has taken off. Side-hustles have been around for years, the problem is most people have no idea how to profit from a side-hustle. In this blog post, you will learn side-hustles that you can start doing at home.

It is a beginner-friendly way of starting a business without diving in completely. Okay, so this post with give you quick ideas of side-hustles that you can start at home. If you read through this whole post, you will realize that it isn’t as hard as it is. 

Side-hustles can range from easy to difficult, but there is so much earning potential when it comes to a side-hustle it is unbelievable. If you were to write down the most successful people that you know about, they all started with a side-hustle and most of them don’t cost a lot of money to do.

Yeah, you could do a side-hustle and starting earning money within less than the month. I am not trying to selling you a ridiculous idea only so I can crush your bubble, starting a side hustle is pretty easy. All you need is a laptop, WI-FI and an hour or two a day.

The reason why most people don’t start a business is that they believe, they don’t have time to do so, but if you are given an hour a day to do it, then time isn’t an issue. Another answer arises when you speak to people about starting a side-hustle, often they say they don’t have money to do it.

You don’t need a lot of money to start a side-hustle. In fact, all you need is a few dollars and that’s it. There are also a lot of side-hustles that don’t require any

capital at all. It is mostly about willpower and pushing yourself past the barriers that hold you back. That’s it. Okay, I will show you the earning potential and a few ideas you can start with when you are working on your side-hustle so let’s go. 

 

Tutoring

 

 Times have changed, I remember dreading having tutors because when they’d come to my house, it always felt like a chore. Now, there are online tutors and you can make a considerable amount of money teaching people online.

I had a friend who was doing this so she could pay her bills and she was making a bit of money from it. What’s great about this is you set your own schedule and you get paid on time. What’s there not to love. I know teachers used to have to endure the abuse from their students.

It might come off as impersonal, but it isn’t. Normally you tutor a student at a time and get to know the student. You also get a few skills along the way. When it comes to becoming an entrepreneur, one of the skill-sets you must develop is knowing how to communicate and educate your students. This is great training. 

How to start

 VIPKid

 Gogokid

 

Range: Easy

Investment: Free

Earning potential: 22/hr, $400 per month

 Schedule: 4/10

Growth: 4/10

 

Online Freelancing

 

 

The first side-hustle that I ever did was freelancing and I still do it, but not as much as I did before. There’s so much earning potential that it is unbelievable. You can do a lot of awesome stuff when it comes to freelancing. If I am being honest, the sky is the limit.

When I started I was doing writing, but I know not a lot of people like writing so you can choose literally anything. If you are great at graphic design you can do that as well. Maybe, you prefer something else like designing book covers, that can earn you a lot of money. There are a couple of sites that pay $60 to $300 for one book cover.

 The great thing about freelancing is you can literally do anything. Let’s say you don’t have any skills that you know of so you can become a virtual assistant. There are virtual assistants that earn anything from $3000 to $10,000 per month.

If this is the first time hearing about a virtual assistant, this is a swanky name for someone who is an assistant, but online. Normally what they do are small tasks; replying to emails, answering calls, data services and following up with clients.

VA’s have become so popular in recent years that you do need to learn a bit, grow your client base before your name gets out there, but still, it is a great side

hustle if you are pressed for time. 

Another great freelance gig you can do is transcribing. This one is easier to start with than the others. All you really need to do is listen to audios and transcribe the words. Considering how many podcasts require this, the earning potential is massive. 

Starting off can be tricky if you have no idea where to begin, so I have listed awesome courses, sites, and free training to help speed up the process. Most people struggle with freelancing is because they don’t know where to begin so don’t make the same mistakes. 

 

How to start

 

Proof Read Anywhere

Transcribe Anywhere

People Per Hour

Fiverr

Freelancer

Free Freelancer Course

 

Range: Medium (need portfolio to get going depending on what you choose)

Investment: Free to $10 per month (for website or portfolio site)

Earning potential: $1000 to $5000 per month

Schedule: 8/10

Growth: 7/10

 

List your house

 

 

This one is downright easy, I don’t understand why most people don’t do it. I get it, it’s scary listing your house or apartment, but that’s why you need to go to

legitimate sites. If you post it, you can earn a bit of money. The great thing about that is that most sites now do a thorough check and you don’t need a lot of

money.

You make sure that your house looks great and take awesome photos, put it up on the site and watch the money roll in. This is however, not for everyone. I

understand that, so I do get it. Absolutely, but if you are little intrigued check this one out and see if you are comfortable doing this.

Starting this as I explained above is easy and it won’t take much time to do that as well. There are also a lot of options for you to start. The problem with this is you can’t make a full-time income and the growth potential is limited. If you think that you could take this and it will replace your day job, it won’t do that, but it will give you extra capital. And you don’t have to leave the comfort of your home to do it so it is a win-win situation.

This is an easy side hustle you can start in a day and make money quickly. 

 

How to start

Airbnb

Booking.com

 

Range: Easy

Investment: Free

Earning potential: $1000 per month 

Growth potential: 4/10

 

Buy and Sell things

 

The earning potential for this is ridiculous, but you must be willing to spend money. Compared to the other ones I listed above, you need capital, but there’s a way around it where you don’t have to spend so much money. The great thing about this is you can do it in so many ways.

For example, you could buy domains (a domain name is an address for a site, for example, amazon.com) and sell them for a higher price. This one has become popular in recent years. For example, buy a $10 domain and then sell it $100. It’s that simple. This side-hustle is a great way to start earning money on the side as long as you know what to do.

You can also do this with websites and sell them for a higher price. Another way to do this is to buy things on eBay and sell them on Amazon for more money.

This is beginner-friendly so you can do it without having to crack your skull and it won’t require much time to do it.

How to start

Amazon 

eBay

Filippa

 

Range: easy

Investment: at least $100 to $2000 (to start off with)

Earning potential: $1000 per month

Schedule: 7/10

Growth: 6/10

 

Create stuff to sell

 

If you are talented or have some skill-set this is a great option. There are a lot of people making money from doing this. In fact, you could use this as a way of

starting a business, but this alone won’t make you a six-figure earner. However, if you are strapped for cash then why not use your God-given talents and use that to make money from it. This side is pretty awesome and you can do it at home.

What you can create varies on what you are good at, so it depends. Maybe, you have a knack for writing then you could write a book. If you are artsy then that you can create paintings, handmade goods and anything you can imagine. There are lots of people out there who are using this as a way of making money so why not try it out. This is easier to start than most of the ones I listed above.

How to start

Etsy Sellers

Amazon Handmade

 Amazon KDP

Range: Easy

Investment: less than $500

Earning potential: $600 to $2000

Schedule: 7/10

Growth: 7/10

 

Print On demand

 

Print on demand is a swanky term for creating designs for mostly t-shirts and selling them on platforms. Then you market them and the platform not only sells them and delivers them to your customers. You can sit back and get paid for your efforts, this one is tricky because of the increase in competition so you need to know how to do it well. It also depends on the platform you start with, some are easy and others require far more effort. 

You also need to be willing to spend time researching so that you can market them well. It also requires a little bit of investment to start with because you need to market it to your audience and that in itself can take time for you do.

If you start now, it might take a few months for you to make money from it. That’s why it is important that you have an idea of how to do it the right way. There are a lot of people offering courses that will help you speed up the process so you just need to be willing to take the time to do it.  This is an awesome side hustle and there are a lot of people out there who have said print on demand has changed their lives.

How to start

Amazon Merch

Teespring

 

Range: experienced

Investment: less than $1000 (to start with. You will use this money to market to your audience and for designs if you aren’t great at graphic design)

Earning potential: $1000 to $5000

Schedule: 7/10

Growth: 8/10

 

Start a blog

 

This has to be my absolute favorite side-hustling and it is by the far one of the easiest ways to start. When it comes to starting a blog the reason why most people fail is that they do it the wrong way. That’s the problem and that is why they quit within a few months. When I first started that is what happened. In the beginning, I was excited, paid for everything and then there were crickets. I had no idea what to do next.

I had no clue what a CPanel was or even how to use it and I had to figure it all this out by myself. I wracked my head trying to understand what I should do next. It took me months to figure things out no matter how many books or articles I read I still had no freaking clue about blogging.

I hope I didn’t scare you off. You are not me. You are smarter than I was and because you are smarter. 

How to start

Go here to learn how to start a blog

Range: medium

Investment: about $3 per month

Earning potential: $1000 to $5000 per month within 12 months (but you can scale this to $10,000 and more.)

Schedule: 10/10

Growth: 10/10

Which of the above side-hustles are you interested in? Comment below.

                                                                                   

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How To Build A New Business In Just Three Months

How To Build A New Business In Just Three Months

 

How TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS IN JUST THREE MONTHS

If you want to build your business quickly, you need to have a strategy in place. 

The hardest part of building a business is starting. And it is even harder to build your business in just three months. If you want to know how to build your business in just three months then keep reading on. There are so many things out there that makes it a lot harder for you to even begin. A problem with the internet is often it’s overwhelming. So many gurus and marketers tell you to do this, then you go to another guru who says something else. That is the reason why we end up not doing anything because we’re not sure how to even begin or even what to do next. 

It is understandable, how do we know if we are doing the right thing if there’s someone who is already telling us something else.  When I first started, I was in

the same boat. I had no freaking clue. It took me years of procrastination to finally get down to business and do things. After all, I wasn’t getting younger and I wanted to do a business that would make my life better and help my loved ones. I soon realized that everyone I knew had the same problem. They had no

idea what to do, or what steps they should take. 

Eventually, I managed to create a brand and I learned so many things. As hard as it seems you can actually build a business in three months. If you change your life in 90 days, you can create anything in three months. What you need to know are a few steps that will make it a lot easier. These steps are so easy to implement that you will be shocked at how easy it is to create your business. I know every guru out there talks about how you need to do A, B and C, but what you need is a road map. That’s it. One that you can implement and that won’t make you feel like you are going crazy. I know you have questions how it is possible to create a business in three months. Here’s an awesome article by Fast Company that will help you out. 

  

Know why you are doing it

 

Before you start doing anything you need to know your why you are doing it. You need to know this so that you can implement certain steps. For example, if

you want to make more money then how do you go about doing it will be different from someone who wants to explore their passions. It is crucial you know

why you are doing this? Why do you want to create a business? If you are going to build your business in three months then your goals must be clear.

 

My first blog flopped so hard because I didn’t know why I was doing it. Even the name sucked. It was creative but in that corny way that made it sound like

superhero cereal or some new cartoon about powered kids. I thought at the time it was unique, now I realize years later that it wasn’t really. So, you need to

define your goals and be clear about them. Goal setting is so important because without them you can steer so far to the left that you almost crash into the

pole. 

 

Now, that you get the analogy you must realize your goals will either help you or push you back. So be crystal clear about why you are doing it. Only then can

you move to the next step. But if you are clueless about whether you have what it takes to be entrepreneur then you read this blog post. 

 

Business Strategy a.k.a dreaded s word

 

 

If there was one thing I hated in high school was coming up with a strategy. Teachers threw the word wherever they went, you even needed a strategy to

study. Who does that? Now, a little older and hopefully wiser I get it, strategizing is important. It is like swimming without a float if you can’t swim or being on

a boat without an oar. A business strategy is important without it you will sink. Creating an online empire isn’t easy. That’s why it is important that you know

what your goals are and what your blog will be about.

 

Having a strategy is important. This is a lot better than a business plan. Man, do I hate those things. It still gives me hives when I think about it. Business plans

are great if you are doing a brick and mortar business. You definitely need that if you are planning to do a traditional business. However, if you are doing

online business, what you need is a strategy and it can be simplified in a few steps. 

 

For one thing, you need to identify your target audience, what your content will be, what your brand be and what it signifies? What you will want to be known

for and your goals? These are questions you need to answer and most importantly how will you market your blog. To help you out, scroll down and sign up

for the free library of resources, you will find a business strategy template.  

Great Design 

 

Your design must match, for example, the fonts you use must reflect everything. So, If you don’t know a lot about fonts, read up. The colors must also match.

So, if you are giving away freebies then they must have the same colors as your blog. And the list goes on. Go with a theme that works. If you are interested in the theme that I use it is Divi. If you are going to fast track your progress then stick to a theme that works. One that you can easily scale with time. A great theme for your business will take you a long way.

Understand why you are using those colors and why you want to use that theme. There are so many great themes, but they all have a purpose. I suggest going with a multi-purpose theme, there’s a lot you can find for free. Those are a great starting point especially if you have no idea what to do or what steps you should take. So, you don’t miss out on anything. 

 

What are you going to sell?

 

So you have no idea what to sell. You have tackled your strategy, design and your goals. What’s next? Selling for a beginner is excruciating because there’s so

much that goes into it. A lot of online gurus say brand sponsorships are great and so are ads. When you are starting out all it’s too much to process. What you need do is affiliate marketing. Start with that and nothing else. When you make your first sell and become used to selling then you can do other things.

Affiliate marketing is great for beginners, but it will also make it a lot easier to create a business in three months. There are hundreds of people making

money from affiliate marketing every day. 

If you are brand new and have no idea what affiliate marketing. Give me a minute to explain. Remember door-to-door salesmen that would come and sell you something on behalf of their employers. Affiliate marketing is like that, though it’s less in your face and the products work. You are basically selling products on behalf of a company and getting paid for your work. That’s it and you can literally sell anything when it comes to affiliate marketing from your website theme to digital products. Basically, the sky is the limit. If you want to speed up building your business in three months then you need to make sure you don’t overwhelm yourself. 

Is that it?

 

Obviously no, there’s a lot that goes into a business. This is what you should know for now. Building a business and scaling it are two totally different things.

There are a lot of gurus out there that push things to you without them taking the time to understand that if you are brand new it is easy to get overwhelmed.

So, focus on these things for now and the rest will come.

Baby steps are important. Focus on your strategy, designing your theme and working on how you can create your business. After that, it is a lot easier

deciding what’s next. Building a business is a life-long process. It is like raising a child, you don’t rush it. You have to nurture it first before it can grow. That’s

the thing you need to remember if you want your business to be successful. Creating a business in three months is the easy part, but then you have to grow

and scale it. That will require more than three months to build your business, but you can get started today.

 

 

What risks are you willing to take to chase after your dreams? Loved to know. Comment below.

                                                                                   

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Top Six Ted Talks To Inspire Millennials

Top Six Ted Talks To Inspire Millennials

 

top six ted talks to inspire millennials

Ted talks have a way of pushing you out of your comfort zone and motivating people in a way that inspires change. 

Do you remember your first Ted Talk? I was in university when I watched my first Ted Talk and if I am being honest here, I was bored to death. The topic didn’t excite me, a few years later, I started listening to Ted Talk Podcasts and I was hooked. The next time I watched a Ted Talk it blew my mind. Watching television takes more than it gives and that is the problem. We have to be careful when it comes to what we feed ourselves and most of us watch reality shows. Sure, it is great knowing what Kim Kardashian had for breakfast today, but that doesn’t inspire us to take action.

It doesn’t equip us with what we need to know, instead, often we’re left with an empty feeling because we haven’t solved our problems. That’s the great thing about Ted Talks, it isn’t necessarily there to solve your problem, but to motivate you to take action. The kind of action that helps you push yourself out of your comfort zone. These are the best ted talks, I was inspired to write this post because of Jessica Walker, you should check out her blog. It is absolutely amazing. 

 

 

Why Some of us Don’t Have One True Calling | Emilie Wapnick 

So, you have no freaking clue what to do with your life? Should, you be a chef or an author, or maybe you want to run a dance studio. You don’t have to pick one passion, you can be a successful multi-passionate entrepreneur or artist. Marie Forleo is a perfect example of this, if she can do it then you can as well. This Ted Talk is great for people who are undecided and believe that to be successful they need to be put in a box. Richard Branson would disagree with you. 

All you need is a dream and use that to achieve the unimaginable, before you know it you’ll be reaching heights you never thought you ever would. This Ted Talk should be on your most watched list. 

 

TIM FERRISS, WHY YOU SHOULD DEFINE YOUR FEARS INSTEAD OF YOUR GOALS

Tim Ferriss is a renowned serial entrepreneur who swept the world with his book, “The 4-Hour Workweek,” This Ted Talk has over one million views and it is one of the best. It shows us that we should define our fears rather than our goals. That can sound counterintuitive, but it makes sense. Often we focus on our goals, but that isn’t enough especially when fear and doubt hold us back. 

So instead of defining our goals, we should figure out what we are scared about so that we can go after our dreams. 

 

 

              The unexpected benefit of celebrating failure | Astro Teller

 

 

No one wants to celebrate failure. That’s crazy talk, but when you celebrate failure, it is easier to swallow. Crazy, I know, but think of it this way. When you get used to celebrating failing, you don’t mind if you fail. That is the number one reason that stops us from going forward. The fear of failure, it holds us and pushes us back. So far back, that we have no idea how we got to where we are now.

If you want a reason why you should celebrate failure, this Ted Talk will help you. It will give you the motivation to keep going for your dreams even if you fail. 

 

 

Inside the mind of a master procrastinator | Tim Urban

 

This is a love song to procrastinators, letting them know that they are not alone. This Ted Talk will open your eyes and make you realize that we all are procrastinators to some extent. As a massive procrastinator, this Ted Talk definitely has opened my eyes to why I procrastinate. Sometimes, we do things and we don’t know why, but this short video lets you know the reason why.

When you know why you what you do, it is a lot easier to beat the odds. This is a love letter that you should watch if you want to understand why you procrastinate. 

 

     Start with why – how great leaders inspire action | Simon Sinek 

 

 

 

Simon Sinek changed the world with his book, “Find Your Why,” and this Ted Talk inspired so many people including me. A few years ago, I was clueless with what I wanted to do with my life. I had no idea what my purpose was and I watched this video, it made me see things differently. It was then that I realized, what I wanted to do. There’s no way, that I could do a top list for Ted Talks and not mention this video.

It changes the way you look at life. We all have a dream, a purpose and most millennials want to leave an impact. We want to do something we love and there’s nothing wrong with that. Find your why and live a life of purpose. 

 

     Get comfortable with being uncomfortable | Luvvie Ajayi

No one wants to be uncomfortable, but when you get used to it, you create an impact. Sometimes, we think by being quiet, it can protect us, but often that isn’t what happens. Changes happen whether we want it to or we don’t. It is here that we find ourselves, become comfortable with being uncomfortable. It is here that you find your strength. 

What is your favorite Ted Talk? Comment below.

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Is Entrepreneurship Right For You?

Is Entrepreneurship Right For You?

 

Is entrepreneurship right for you?

The answer here is to look at what makes you happy. As cliche as it sounds. 

Entrepreneurship has become the rage in the last couple of years. Growing up, entrepreneurship was for old men who wanted to do something

else in life so they became entrepreneurs. Now, the tide has changed. Seventeen-year-old kids to college dropouts are entrepreneurs. The

dictionary defines it as, “spending a few years like most people won’t, doing what most people can’t.” 

 

This statement is the true face of entrepreneurship because the truth is the rigid way of doing it has changed. In the 90s, an entrepreneur set up a

good old-fashioned brick-and-mortar business. They employed people, spent most of their time working in the office. Times have changed, an

entrepreneur can be literally anything from a blogger to a Youtuber, even a Social Media Influencer.

 

That is because with time the form has evolved, even though the definition hasn’t. As I reflect on my life, the one thing I never would have

imagined becoming was an entrepreneur. My father is one, anyone I met would ask me if I ever wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps and I

always shook my head.

 

To me I saw entrepreneurship as a waste of time and resources, it seemed too complicated. Simply, I wasn’t interested in the idea of doing it.

Entrepreneurship is hard, even as a ten-year-old kid I understood that. It involves risk and certainly. Most people like to be certain of things. I went

to boarding school so for me certainity makes me queasy, but it wasn’t always like this. 

 

Most people can’t be entrepreneurs, that is a fact and most people won’t. It is less to do with your capabilities and more to do with what you’re

willing to risk. I do believe that everyone should follow their passions where it leads them to. I do understand though, a lot of people don’t want

the risk and uncertainty that entrepreneurship brings. 

 

 

Do you have what it takes

 

In high school, I had dozens of dreams, but the one that was the strongest was being an author. I am still going after that dream. Most people go

through the same thing, they have dozens of dreams, some pursue them and others change course. A lot of people don’t say they want to be an

entrepreneur. The reason is that we’re taught to walk the wide road and not the narrow one.

 

Teachers teach us to be employees and not employers. That is the way the system is created unless you go to China, Nigeria, Korea or Japan.

Creativity is encouraged and they push their children to excel in every area. That is why Asians are great at business and why Nigerians are good at

the arts. However, most of us go through life thinking and believing that to be happy we have to be employed. I was talking to my niece yesterday

and she was talking about how she wants to create a natural hair product line. That moment I was immensely proud of her.

 

Anyone can be an entrepreneur. All you need is an idea and the belief that you can carry it out. That’s it, you don’t have to be a super genius, born

in a rich family, gone to college or have a degree. 

 

 

What makes a good entrepreneur?

 

Okay, you want to be an entrepreneur. Well, you need to slap a few traits on you to be a good one. You know those inspirational movies Hollywood

pushes out of the woodwork when you need a confidence boost. From the “Freedom Writers,” to “Race,” they all have common characteristics.

Besides making you cry like a baby with the scores and soundtracks, there’s one common denominator in them. Take a gander. 

 

They all are about struggle, a down and out person who wants to achieve a goal and everyone thinks they are a clown. In the end, they achieve the

ultimatum goal but go through hurdles. Scriptwriters and writers call this the hero’s journey. It starts with the hero having no clue what they want

to do, they have to go through a series of trials and tribulations before they understand their purpose. 

 

In reality, we all go through our own hero’s journey. For some, the trials are harder and for others, it is easier, but to be a great leader or someone

great, tribulations come with the job description. Shakespeare once wrote, “Some are born great, some have greatness thrust upon them and

some achieve greatness.” 

 

This is my favorite quote because it represents so much of our lives. Some people are born with resources that you might not have, some are put

in a position where they can build themselves up. And others have to do it the hard way and work their way up. We all achieve greatness in a

different way and that becomes part of your journey. However, you need five personality traits in order for you to be a great leader and an

entrepreneur. These can easily be learned. As the saying goes practice makes perfect. 

Adaptability

 

You have to be adaptable. There’s no way around that one. I used to hate change as much as anyone and then I got used to it. I can blame it on the

fact I went to eight schools before I went to college or I lived in four continents. Whatever the reason is I can adapt. What I have come to

understand is life changes, for some people, it is a small change and others it is on a larger scale. 

 

We all think we can’t adapt, but we forget that every day we have to change our way of thinking, approach something differently or get accustomed

to a lifestyle. For example, if you get ill, you have to change your regiment. If you start a new job and have to wake up three hours earlier then you

do it. If your boss wants to relocate you, you do it because you have no choice in the matter. Well, you do, but making the wrong choice means

getting fired or your health getting worse.

 

So, if we can do that, why do we think we can’t adapt. It’s already in our DNA. From the time we start school, we have to adapt, to learning a new

subject, becoming part of a team or learning a new skill.  

 

 

Curiosity

 

Yes, we all know the story of how curiosity killed the cat, but what is wrong with being curious. Yes, there are instances when it does nothing but

cause you harm. Unless you have a death wish and are the type of person who thinks you are in a mystery book or in a TV show then curiosity is

harmless. And it is important for becoming an entrepreneur. 

 

Entrepreneurs are curious individuals, they want to learn anything from Physics to literature and that is what makes them diverse. The whole point

is to continue learning, to evolve as your business does and to grow the way that you must. Many entrepreneurs dropped out of college, think Bill

Gates and Steve Jobs. 

 Passionate

 

An entrepreneur who isn’t passionate tends to quit when things get hard. And believe me, entrepreneurship is hard most of the time. When you

are passionate about something, it thrills you, and you can do the impossible.

For example, I struggled waking up early, I’d drag my feet to class and sleep late. I would set up five alarms and I never used to hear them. Now, it

is different. Often, people give you secrets to waking up early, but they leave out an important factor. If you aren’t excited to wake up the next day,

you can put ten alarms and you still won’t hear it. 

There are days when it is hard when I lose motivation, but I pick myself up. Sometimes, we forget that you won’t like every aspect of what you are

doing. In entrepreneurship this is true, you’ll have to work more than you would at a normal job.

At least in the beginning, so that means, waking up early and working until you hit a breakthrough. They will days when you are not sure you can

keep going. When things don’t work the way you want it. That is how it goes, there’s no perfect job out there because life is beautifully imperfect.

But when you are an entrepreneur what separates you from everyone else is that you are willing to jump through hoops to get to where you want

to go.    

If you have no idea where to start from, I wrote a blog post about quick side-hustles you can start with at home. This will help you go in the right

direction. 

 

 

Resilient

 

No one wants to fail, and yet everyone in their life has failed at one point in time. There this great quote from Richard Branson, “Few first ventures

work out. It is how a beginning entrepreneur deals with failure that sets that person apart. In fact, failure is one of the secrets to success, since

some of the best ideas arise from the ashes of a shuttered business.” 

 

You have to rise from the ashes of disappointment and failure to get to the top. Because only then will you realize how failure has been building

you up all this time. There’s no successful person out there who hasn’t failed. We have heard the stories time and time again, but we still feel as

though we can’t do it. It’s normal when you don’t know the beginning of someone’s story, it’s hard for it to inspire you. 

 

Here’s one thing you should remember, as kids we failed all the time. We got up despite being mocked or ridiculed. That is because to kids, failure

is part of growing pangs and when we became teenagers, it shifts. Our perspective changed, we saw ourselves as failures and wanted to be like

everyone else. 

 

To be successful, you have to pull out the resiliency you had as a kid. Even if you don’t want to be an entrepreneur, you still need this character

trait to be successful.

 

 

Visionary

Vision is what fuels entrepreneurs, without it many have no direction. When it comes to people being visionaries, the picture of a mad genius

comes to mind. But that is further from the truth, being a visionary, help you come up with an idea and understand the direction you have to take. 

 

Sometimes being a visionary is about understanding the bigger picture, think about Amazon or Shopify or even Apple. It started out as a small

business and now it has taken the world by storm. In the beginning, all you have is an idea and that might not feel like much but with time it adds

up.

 

I loved playing with Legos as a kid, I would take one piece and connect to the next. The fascinating thing about Legos was that it started out with

small plastic blocks and then you built on that. Eventually, from those pieces, you managed to create cities, buildings and even robots. In the

beginning, all it was were blocks. That is what being a visionary is. You start with a small idea that can appear trivial to most people, then you build

on that. 

 

Without visionaries, this world wouldn’t be what it is now. Inventions have been created on ideas, the world changed because people were willing

to build on their visions for the future. 

 

One more thing, here’s a post from Jonathan Fields that will help you decide whether entrepreneurship is right for you.

Do you think entrepreneurship is right for you? Comment below

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How To Stop Perfection From Ruining Your Life Now

How To Stop Perfection From Ruining Your Life Now

 

how to stop perfection from ruining your life

Perfection is often the enemy we don’t see coming until it ruins our lives.

I have a confession, I’m a perfectionist. I had to learn a few things in order for me to stop perfection from ruining my life. There was a time when the word would bring me comfort, but now I realize that perfection is something we should be wary of it. I can spend days, weeks or even months working on the same thing. Making sure that it looks the way I want it to look and often this pushes me back. My need for perfection stems from believing that what I put out isn’t good enough.

Majority of perfectionists feel this way, that is why they strive to make everything perfect. In a perfect world, we’d fit right in, but the world isn’t perfect. It is far from it and yes, it does feel great to put out a product that shimmers. Time will pass by and we will still be in the place that we were before. I have known people who worked years on their projects wanting it to be perfect and even now they are still working on it. Perfectionism is a construct we created so that we can feel good about ourselves. The only purpose it has is pushing us back.

I’m beginning to realize how much perfection has taken away from me. I missed opportunities because of it, I was pushed back due to my fear of not being good enough. I cowered in shame at the feeling of lagging behind. Perfection made me terrified of being seen less than. It is great to develop an idea that impacts your audience or clients, but it will never be perfect. There will still be things you need to add and that can take years for you to finish.

This is how you stop perfection from ruining your life

 

 

Your goals and expectations have to be realistic

 

 

In the beginning, you can’t expect things to be perfect. That is unrealistic, but yet so many people go down that rabbit hole. Me included. The fear is that if our product isn’t perfect in a crowded world, we’d be swallowed up. The truth is people don’t really care so much about what your product looks like, but the value you give them.

There are websites out there making hundreds of thousands of dollars yet they appear as if it was made in the early 2000’s. This isn’t a jab, this is realistic. They are making money not from what it looks like, but the value. You can have a product that appears perfect from the outside yet there’s no value. Another thing you have to realize is people don’t want to get overwhelmed and often products stock full of value are a pain for people to consume.

Whatever your goals are they have to be realistic. You can run for a marathon every day, but the chances of you coming in first place are slim if you have never done it before.  Unrealistic expectations take away your energy and focus, it also can mess up with your emotional well-being. 

In order to stop perfection from ruining your life your goals must be realistic. If you want to start a blog, in the beginning it won’t be perfect. The same can be said if you are starting a YouTube channel or building a personal brand on Instagram. In the beginning, you will make a lot of mistakes and that’s alright. The learning curve will be steep when you are starting out.

 

 

Focus on self-care  

 

You are worth it and take it from me perfectionism isn’t the road you want to be on. Perfectionism gave me ulcers, I spent so much time stressing over trying to make a project look perfect, I didn’t take care of myself. Worry consumed me, all I thought about was how to make it perfect and I got really ill. So ill that I almost went to the hospital. 

I realized something had to change or else my perfectionism would eventually mess up my health. Perfectionism can seem harmless, but it isn’t. It is one of the causes of stress and we all know how stress can mess up with your life. You need to focus on yourself, that is what matters. Even if something isn’t perfect in the beginning, it doesn’t matter. Take care of yourself. When you focus on self-care everything takes a backseat especially perfectionism. However, keep in mind life should be balanced. Self-care is important, but don’t let it consume you that you forget about everyone else in your life. 

If you want to stop perfection from ruining your life, you need to take care of us. We all have flaws but when you take the time to focus on you and to appreciate your flaws this will eliminate the need to be perfect. 

 

Also Related: 5 Habits That Will Change Your Life For the Better

 

 

Take your inner critic to court

 

I have a friend who says take your inner critic to court. Sounds weird, but often we allow our inner critic to push us to the extent of breaking down. Motivation can be a good thing, but it can also lead you to your demise. When you challenge your inner critic by asking questions as a lawyer would; you start to notice that your negative thoughts don’t represent the stage you are at. 

You start to appreciate motivation is great in small doses. Often our inner critic pushes us to the point where we want to be applauded for our effort. In the beginning that is an impossible feat and not everyone is built the same. There are some people who can survive on little sleep, but most people have to take breaks in between in order for them to not crash and burn. There’s no set rule for how many hours you have to work in a day to achieve your goals. All that matters is getting it done so if you’re inner critic tells you you’re lazy. Challenge it. This way you’re challenging it and also convincing yourself you don’t have to be superhuman to accomplish your goals. 

 

You can’t do it all

 

What I mean by this is you’re not superhuman, even Superman had limits. Multitasking does nothing but gives you stress. And life is already stressful enough without adding to your plate. It also decreases efficiency, there are people who believe they can multitask, but that isn’t true at all. Chances are your work will suffer and it is best to focus on the task alone and get it done than trying to do too many things at the same time.

You end up exhausting your energy and this will cause you grief. We have this belief that if we can’t do two or four things at the same time then we’re not good enough. This is where perfection comes in, we also want to be good at doing multitasking. But we can’t. Human beings weren’t meant to multitask, it isn’t in our DNA. You can’t fight biology as much as we want to. Best way to overcome perfectionism is understanding that we all have limits and that is okay. 

 

Take breaks and recharge

 

I used to believe if I took a break then everything would explode and life as I knew it would cease to exist. A tad bit too dramatic, but that is what I thought. Relaxing wasn’t in the cards for me, my skin crawled at the thought. I was always on the edge, I’d lean back and snap out of it. My thoughts condemning me and making me feel as though I did the unthinkable. “Who was I even to take a break? There’s too much to do.” My thoughts were relentless.

So, I chose to not take breaks and that ended up ruining my health. You need to recharge, nothing will happen if you take a break. You won’t break in hives, your work won’t be gone forever. But if you don’t recharge, eventually your battery will run out of juice, Sometimes, all we need is to realize that the work will get done. Yes, it might take time for it to finish, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t achieve your goal.

You have to keep that in mind so you don’t go crazy and think you have to be a superhero. Take it easy. To stop stop perfection from ruining your life then you need to take a break and recharge. We aren’t machines so it is normal to take things easy once in a while. 

 Also Related: 5 Proven (And Not Obvious) Ways to Avoid Burning Out

What reasons have you told yourself to stop going for your dreams?

 

 

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