Why You Should Break out of The Comfort Zone

by vanessa | Nov 13, 2019 | Blog, motivation

Why you should break out of the comfort zone

Want to change your life then you should break out of the comfort zone.

The older we get the more we cling to our comfort. It keeps us warm at night and it makes us feel less weird and awkward than we already do. The problem with staying in our comfort zone is that we never step out of it. The more time we spend in our comfort zone, the harder it gets to step out of it. There are a lot of reasons why you should learn how to break out of your comfort zone.

The one thing I have realized is that fear often makes it seem impossible to step out of our comfort zone. Our insecurities play on our emotions and when the a thought occurs of stepping out of our comfort zone, we opt out of it. Growing up for me my comfort zone offered me reassurances, I knew that even if I failed, it didn’t matter as much as everything else because I was in my comfort zone.

The only people who would know about my failures were in my inner circle and even then they understood. They never pushed me outside of my comfort zone because they too enjoyed being in their comfort zone. We never required much from each other and when you are kids or young adults, it makes sense to remain there.

However, because we have trained ourselves to accept being in our comfort zone, it is a lot harder to break out of our comfort zone. It is a lot harder to see past the wall and break it. And most people believe that it is okay not to break out of their comfort zone. The problem is that staying there limits your potential and growth.

That is why you need to learn how to break out of your comfort zone. This is one of the best you can speed up your growth, learn new things and change your perspective. Sure, we are all terrified of things, but that should never stop us from breaking out of our comfort zone.

You let fear control you

Not breaking out of the comfort zone is a barrier of entry into the fear zone. You let fear control you and even though it doesn’t seem like that. The problem is when you are used to something, it is hard to break out of your comfort zone. To push yourself. What are you terrified? Has it stolen your joy? Taken away your blissful moments or stopped you from doing something?

Most of us never break out of our comfort zone because we are terrified of what people will think. We are afraid of how people will see us and then we never venture past the drawn line. Choosing to stay in the boxes of our so-called life, doing our best to keep our head buried in the sand and refusing to do anything, but the norm.

Not because we are incapable of doing it, but because fear is controlling us. Stopping us from fulfilling our destiny and following our dreams. Fear never just stops there, it will keep pushing to the back row until you break. It will silence you with doubt and rejection. Most of us don’t want to feel rejection so we choose not to break out of the comfort zone.

Fear has a way of pushing us back. Case in point, I had massive stage fright and because of it, for years I couldn’t go onto the stage and talk. My knees would shake and I’d lose my voice. It was so bad that I often choked on stage. I allowed fear to control me to the point where anything to do with speaking in front of large crowds of people terrified me. It didn’t matter if they were just ten or fifty, it was the same reaction.

I had to learn how to do public speaking. Once I mastered it, no longer was I terrified of it. That is the beauty of breaking out of the comfort zone, fear doesn’t control you.

Also Related: How Fear is Like A High School Bully?

You will learn to accept yourself

You need to be okay with failing and to accept yourself fully. The good and the bad. The ugly, the sweet and everything else in between. The truth is most of us don’t do this and as a result, we don’t fully accept yourself. When you break out of your comfort zone and put yourself into a situation that is foreign to yourself, you learn how to be more confident. You also learn how to accept yourself.

When we are used to be around the same people, we train ourselves to rely on them and therefore we understand our boundaries. We understand how to behave, how to act and what to say. However, when you are among new people, everything shifts and it is here that you learn how to accept yourself fully. Breaking out of your comfort zone builds character and it also makes you a lot stronger.

Most of us don’t accept ourselves. Our insecurities and our weaknesses. That is why many of us are terrified to break out of our comfort zone because we need to be vulnerable. Most of us don’t want to be vulnerable in front of strangers, but it is okay not to be good at everything. It is alright to struggle or to even take your time learning a new skill.

New experiences

Do you want to conquer your fear of public speaking? Interesting fact, public speaking has been voted as one of the most feared things. Strange. I know, but many people are terrified of speaking on stage. Those who have done it have said that the first time they did it they were terrified. They had to push themselves out of their comfort zone so they could do public speaking.

If you don’t break out of the comfort zone then you will miss out on new experiences and the people you meet along the way. You will miss out on all the benefits that come with breaking out of the comfort zone. This is something you need to experience for yourself. A perfect example is people who have done public speaking have gone on to become motivational speakers, write a book and appear on national television.

If they didn’t make that leap then they wouldn’t have realized how many doors can open if you are willing to break out of the comfort zone. They wouldn’t have achieved their goals and they certainly wouldn’t have changed their lives. Breaking out of the comfort zone is important because it opens so many doors and new opportunities come your way because you were open to it.

You grow as a person

One of the best reasons why you should break out of the comfort zone is so that you can grow as a person. Something happens when you take a stance and decide to break out of the comfort zone. You become bolder in your stance. You make decisions that push you outside of your comfort zone. No longer are you held captive by your comfort zone.

It is easier to move to a new country, learn a new language and start a new business. It all starts with one decision and that is to break out of the comfort zone. You meet people you never thought you would meet and that makes you far more confident. When you get used to making bold decisions and breaking out of the comfort zone, nothing can stop you.

I know how strange it is, but I have seen how much breaking out of the comfort zone has changed my life. For me, as an introvert, I was always terrified of going to places I didn’t know anyone. Now, it doesn’t bother me as much. I can stir conversation with complete strangers and even joke with them as if I have known them for years. The reason I can do that is I stepped out of my comfort zone and did something I never did before.

Growth is one of the most valuable things you can experience. As children, we are constantly growing and our personality shifts from the age of seven to seventeen. However, that changes when we get older and we become stagnant. We don’t want to change or to grow because it is terrifying. When you break out of the comfort zone, you have to grow. You are forced to grow as a person because now that you are out there, you can’t remain the same.

Why are you terrified of breaking out of your comfort zone. Comment below.

Keep Pushing

Vanessa

5 Reasons Why What You Want in Life Is Important

by vanessa | Nov 6, 2019 | motivation, personal development

5 reasons Why what you want in life is important

There are five reasons why it is important to know what you want in life.

Knowing what you want in life is important because once you do, everything lines up and you will achieve more at a faster pace than you anticipated. When we were children, we knew what we wanted and we weren’t ashamed to let anyone know. Our dreams were ridiculous, but that didn’t matter, what mattered was letting people know we what we wanted.

If we wanted cookies then we would take cookies. Sure, the whole I will take what-I-want-attitude is a little weird as an adult. But what I love about children is that they allow themselves to dream, to imagine the world as they want it to be and not as what it is. Knowing what you want can make the difference between a fruitful life or one where you have chosen to settle.

Everything is possible for eight, nine or twelve-year-old Johnny or Suzie. Every possibility is an opportunity for them to explore their surroundings. If they want to be Indiana Jones in the making then they imagine themselves becoming one. They say with so much conviction who they want to be and what they want to achieve.

Adulthood feels so far away from childhood as a kid. There’s so much time left to plan, to dream and escape. What we never anticipate is adulthood comes faster then we thought as a kid. One moment, you blink and you are eighteen then twenty-five then thirty and then forty. But the pleasure comes from dreaming, from escaping the sheer reality of life.

The thing with life is it is unpredictable nature because we don’t live in a bubble. Our hopes and dreams are squashed due to the opinions of others and we spend the next couple of years trying to figure things out. Hoping that we will have an idea of what will happen next and where we will go next. That is why it is important to know what you want. Sure, you might say there’s time, but time is an invaluable resource that runs out quicker than you could imagine. I understand that one day you didn’t think you would be the age you are right now.

I spent five years figuring things out when I could have used that time to build the life I wanted. Truth is I had no idea what I wanted and therefore it took me a while to figure it all out.

You can work on your goals

It is important to know what you want in life because then you can start working on your goals. So, you might not know what you want to achieve in five years, but once you write it down, it is so much clearer. You can then see yourself in two or three or even ten years. As children, the whole idea of writing down goals sounded a little dumb, but it is helpful to know what you want to achieve.

When I was nineteen, I wrote down an experiment of what I wanted to achieve that year and I kid you not, I achieved half of the list. At the time, I had no idea how I was going to achieve any of it, but I did and I understood then how powerful writing down goals are. But you can’t write down your goals if you don’t know what you want. It is like going to a restaurant and staring at the menu for minutes, trying to figure out what you want to order. Eventually, if you are pressured you pick something, not because you wanted it, but you settled.

Most of the choices we make are because we chose to settle. At the time, we think it is the best decision that we made, but sometimes the choices we make when we are unsure come to haunt us years later. That is why you need to know what you want so you never have to feel like you are settling.

Also Related: How to Set Great Goals in 2019

You will be much happier

Whenever I accomplished something I really wanted, it feels like I won the lottery. Sure, in the larger scheme of things, I didn’t win the lottery. But achieving

something can have a lot of rewards and benefits. That is why go-getters are so much happier than most people. You don’t live in regret and you don’t feel as if you are wasting away.

It is a great feeling knowing that you are making your dreams come true, by going for them. It all comes down to though, that you need to know what you want.

It is normal for human beings to what a lot of things in life, but knowing what you want to change in your life is different than knowing what you want for breakfast.

The decisions we make as I said before are so important. Vital even to whether we go forward or remain behind, holding the glass door, wishing that someone would change in our life.

You become a go-getter

Knowing what you want will turn you into a go-getter real fast. That is because you will keep asking yourself how to get what you want and then take action. This is why writing down your goals is an important step to figuring out what you want. The next step after that is, of course, to go after what you want in life.

Knowing what you want is only half the battle and the other half is going for it. However, at least knowing what you want puts you at an advantage because you aren’t decisive and know what will make you happy. When I was in high school, I went from wanting to be a reporter to a psychologist to a pilot. Every month, I settled on a new profession. My friend’s minds were set, it was either they wanted to be a lawyer, doctor or accountant or scientist,

I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and because of that, people made the choice for me. Often that is life when we don’t know what we want, decisions are taken out of our hands. We are not sure we want to be in a relationship or not, but we find ourselves in. We are not sure whether we want to travel to another country, the decision is made for us. Sometimes, we settle because we are not sure or take the easy road.

When I made the decision to become an entrepreneur, life got simpler for me. I found myself gravitating towards anything that could help me accomplish my dream a whole lot quicker.

Also Related: How to be Fearless by Doing it Anyway

You will kick anxiety out of the door

The future is scary, as I am writing this it is literally a couple of years left until the next year. That’s a terrifying thought especially if you have no idea what you want to do with your life. It can get a little dark when you start asking yourself what have you truly achieved. Humans are anxious beings because on a daily basis there’s so much to be worried about.

So much to concern ourselves with and the list goes on and on. But when you know what you want it is a lot easier to take a deep breath. You don’t have to feel like a failure if something isn’t in the cards for you yet. You don’t have to be pressured into doing something you don’t want to do because you feel as though that is the the choice you have to make.

This is a lot bigger than knowing what you want to achieve next year. There are so many times when I was pressured into doing something because I felt as if I had to. The older we get, even though we become adults, we still end up doing things either for convenience or to escape shame, but that just makes us more anxious. This is why if you know what you want, you won’t feel pressured to do anything that you don’t want to do.

You will learn so much from it

Life is full of so many lessons. It sounds weird, but the dedication you put into something when you know what you want is profound. Think about anytime you knew what you wanted. Where you relentless in your pursuit of it? Did you make sure you accomplished it? How much time did you put in working on it? I have a friend who knew that she wanted to start her own talk show and even though everyone said it was impossible, she worked hard at it.

Campaigned for it, found people who helped her get what she wanted and now she has her talk show. So, yes it is impossible to learn a lot from going after what you want. The secret here is you pick up skills that you never would have had if you didn’t know what you wanted. You learn so much from life because you understand what you want and are willing to break the barriers to get it.

Sure, it won’t be easy, but we all say that. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to go after what you want. You can use those skills to make a huge impact on your life and the connections you want will help you grow. It is a win-win situation either way. That’s what I have learned from knowing what I want. There are so many benefits to it.

Do you know what you want out of life? Loved to know. Comment below.

Keep Pushing

Vanessa

26 Highest Paid Bloggers in 2019 (Crazy Rich Bloggers)

by vanessa | Sep 25, 2019 | Entrepreneurs, motivation

top 25 highest-paid bloggers in 2019 (Crazy Rich Bloggers)

These highest-paid bloggers will inspire you to start a blog because most of them started from zero.

In 2018, Crazy Rich Asians took over the world. People all over the world flocked to cinemas to watch a movie that was adapted from a best-selling novel.

Most of us look at the wealthy as celebrities or CEO in companies making decisions that will affect the world. They jump into expensive cars, live in exotic

locations and for many of us that kind of wealth is unattainable.

The thing that we forget is that being wealthy is more than just having money. It is a lifestyle, a way of life because the most successful people have similar

traits. Most of them want to create an impact, make a difference and help people achieve their dreams. I am not talking about CEO’s or celebrities. Not saying

these kind of people want to help people, but in recent years a new group of people have emerged.

They have been made rich by the internet. Yes, these new rich kids hire out private jets, but what makes it interesting is most of them go out of their way to

make the world better. Their history is marked with poverty, struggle and working tirelessly to get their dreams to come true. Now, they are known as the

new celebrities.

What makes them even more interesting is the majority of them make more money than CEO’s. I know I am losing you, but I read something interesting. The

median salary for a CEO is about $250, 000 + and yes, there are bloggers making more than this. As unbelievable as it is it is true.

When I was a kid like most kids, I wanted to be my own boss and I was told the only way to do that is be a CEO. Let’s be real, twenty years ago being a CEO

was one of those hard to get positions and it is still today. So, maybe you will never be a CEO, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make CEO money or even

more.

There are a lot of bloggers out there who make $10,000 per month and there are some who make $20,000 per month. In a year, these bloggers are making

CEO money. I wrote this blog post as a way to inspire you to sour to greater heights so that you can realize you can make your dreams come true. What it

takes is a little consistency and putting the effort, but anything is possible.

Not every blogger was chosen

A lot of bloggers make serious money, but you wouldn’t know unless you have done some sleuthing. Most bloggers don’t share how much they earn and

for good reason to. Why would they share their income reports? They probably have a lot of good reasons why they don’t do this, but there are a lot that

share their income.

Most would think that it would be for bragging rights. As great as that is, you don’t really go far with bragging rights and bloggers do this as an inspirational

guide. For years, there has been speculation that bloggers don’t make a lot of money. Many of us believe that or we doubt that bloggers even make money

at all.

So, there are a lot of bloggers out there who make serious money, but you will never know. There are twenty-six bloggers, these are some of the rich kids on

the internet block. The new wave of celebrities that are taking the internet by storm. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the highest paid bloggers, if

there’s a blogger I left that you believe needs to be on this list let me know and I will add them. A lot of these highest paid bloggers have made the rounds for

many years. They have appeared on major publications such as Forbes and Huffington.

How do these bloggers make money

When you first start out blogging, it is hard for you to understand how bloggers make money. It is almost as if bloggers are the new version of the door to

door salespeople. Who all seem to sell something. But usually there’s a gasp followed by a hundred question marks. Do bloggers sell anything? Unlike, door-

to-door salespeople, bloggers want to solve problems.

And nowadays people are desperate to solve their problems. If you have a problem, there’s a blogger out there who can solve it. Well, the most successful

bloggers solve problems. Newbie bloggers fail to gain any traction because they are thinking of how much money they can make instead of how they can

help someone solve a problem. These highest paid bloggers are doing something right and we will explore who these bloggers are and how they are making

money online.

What I have come to understand in my research is that many highest paid bloggers have different income streams and majority of their money comes their

own products.

Here’s a breakdown on how highest paid bloggers make money:

Affiliate marketing – this is where most new bloggers start out because it is a lot easier than selling a digital course. Affiliate marketing is when you send

your readers to someone else’s product. You can big bucks here because you don’t necessarily have to advertise the product, you explain what it is an how it

can help solve your problems. It is the vendor’s job to then go and sell the product. If the reader buys the product using your link then you can make a

percentage of the sale. It can be anything from 10% to 70% of the sale. So, yes, you can make a lot of money doing this. One of the most profitable

commissions you can make is from software companies.

Advertising – place Ads on your blog.

Sponsored posts – companies pay you to post something specific on your blog in relation to their product or brand

Digital products – you can make a lot of money off selling your own digital products. In fact, this is what has helped many people earn hundreds of

thousands of dollars a month. A digital product can be anything from software to online courses. Though the most profitable are online courses, the easiest

thing to create is ebooks.

Selling physical products – once you have a little bit of experience, you can start selling physical products. This can range from t-shirts to supplements,

journals and anything in-between. You need to understand dropshipping and how you can sell physical products. What a lot of bloggers are doing is selling

hard copy books on their websites and offering free shipping depending on where you are based.

Printables – this has become incredibly popular in the last few years. Printables are like digital products, but the difference is that you can easily print them.

So, these can be calendars, journal entries, workbooks, and the list goes on. The great thing about printables is that it is easy to create them and you can earn

a considerable amount of money from it. Most printables cost around $7 to $50. This is a rough estimate, but it is easier to sell printables to people so there

are a lot of people who buy them.

Also Read: How to Start a Blog in 10 Minutes with

1. Horkey Hand Book by Gina Horkey ($20,492 per month)

Niche: Virtual Assistant

Gina is the founder of Horkey HandBook, she’s a millennial mother who teaches people how to become virtual assistants and make money from it. Her

the background is interesting because it includes making a living as a writer, being an online marketing consultant and a decade of experience in the

financial services industry.

However, the last time Gina published her income reports was in 2016, so for all, we know she could be making more money now. She does publish her

student income reports and student success stories. Gina has a number of awesome courses on her website, she also offers a VA membership to anyone

who wants to scale their business and start making money online.

What makes her different: Gina provides testimonials or case studies of her successful students who completed her courses. This gives her credibility and

also shows that she knows what she’s talking about.

Takeaway:

If you can get case studies or testimonials that would be a great way to build credibility

2. Club Thrifty by Greg and Holly Johnson ($21,566 per month)

Niche: Budget Living and Travel

Greg and Holly Johnson are a couple in their late thirties who teach people how to save money in every aspect of life. They teach people how to save money

while traveling on Club Thrifty.

They traveled the world on a normal income and they are dedicated to showing people how they can do that as well. They make most of their money

through affiliate marketing as they advertise the best places to stay in countries. They also give free guides on saving more money and how to make money

through investing.

What makes them different: Greg and Holly Johnson are known as the highest-paid bloggers in 2019 because their life story is inspirational. They talk

about how they traveled the world while working a minimum wage job. This here makes them more relatable. People love those who can they relate to

or who understand where they are coming from.

Takeaway:

Share your story with people to make you more relatable. For example, Greg and Holly talk about budget travel. A lot of people are interested in knowing

how to travel on a budget.

3. Art of Manliness by Brett and Kate McKay ($33,333 per month, $400,000 per year)

Niche: Men’s lifestyle

Art of Manliness was founded in 2008 by Brett and Kate McKay and it has grown into one of the largest men’s interest magazine in recent years. A lot of

people would say that this is more of a publication than an actual blog. Though there are a lot of blogs that tend to be in the middle and I’d say that is

what Art of Manliness is and it doesn’t have a huge team of contributors like most publications.

Brett actually started the blog as something fun on the side, this was when he was studying law while attending the University of Tulsa College of Law. When

the blog took off that is when he brought his wife on. Brett and his wife making money from selling their courses, digital products and through affiliate

marketing.

What makes them different: They know how to talk to their readers, even their website describes the kind of reader they are looking more.

Takeaway:

When you know how to talk to your audience, you engage with them and they are likely to buy from you because they trust you. the lifestyle niche

is incredibly big and if you do it the right way, it is incredibly profitable.

4. Yaro Starak ($40,000 + per month)

Niche: Entrepreneurship

When I first started blogging in 2016, I discovered Yaro Starak and at the time, he had started making a lot of money from his blog. Around, $10,00 + per

month. Fast forward to 2019 and he’s making more than $40, 000 per month. If we were to guess how much he’s making a year, I’d say around

$500, 000 per year.

He teaches entrepreneurs how to succeed online and build their businesses. Most of his blog posts are about how to start a business and included all

the neccessary things you need to know. There’s a reason why he’s one of the highest paid bloggers, he’s articles have a lot of information and he

provides quality information for free.

What makes him different: His approach is like a good friend who wants to make sure you succeed. The very first blog he created was about a card game

called Magic the Gathering. This is how he rose to success. Then he started making $1000 per month. This is when he started a new blog and wrote about his

success.

Takeaway

Yaro’s blog is focused on him, his success and how to use that as a template for your success. His picture is on every blog post and page.

5. Problogger by Darren Rowse ($40,000 per month)

Niche: Blogging

Google Darren Rowse and you are guaranteed to find a number of blog posts on blogging and related topics. Darren knows what he’s talking about, all you

have to do is read his articles or visit his website. His blog is an authority site and many famous bloggers quote him or interview on how to blog like a pro.

Pro blogger is one of the most profitable blogs out there on how to blog like a professional.

He makes most of his money through affiliate marketing and ads, but he also has a popular course on how to build a profitable blog in 31 days.

What makes him different: Darren screams of professional. Going to his site you can tell he knows what he’s talking about.

Takeaway:

What your site looks like matters, it is here that you can either build or break trust. It is important what message you are giving out to people who go to your

site.

6. Just a Girl and her Blog by Abby ($41,700 per month)

Niche: lifestyle

Abby started Just a Girl and her blog way back in 2013. It was that simpler time and she started her blog on a whim. Now, she’s one of the highest-paid

bloggers in the world. At the time, all Abby wanted was a creative outlet and chose blogging as a way to do it. She didn’t think that anyone would read her

blog, but six years later, it has become a family business.

On her blog, she writes blog posts about how to decorate, practical guide to organizing and productivity. She also has ebooks where she talks about these

topics in more detail.

What makes her different: Abby talks a lot about her life story, she is open to expressing all the ups and downs she has. She also talks about how she never

thought she’d raise boys because she’s a girlie girl. However, sometimes life doesn’t happen the way you want. Her decorating and blogging tips are easy to

follow. Her being a mom of young boys also makes it relatable for people of young children.

Takeaway:

When it comes to blogging, people are attracted to your content as well as your personality. Talking about your personal life makes you far more relatable.

7. Show me the Yummy by Trevor and Jennifer Debth ($46,000 + per month)

Niche: Recipe blog

Yes, it is possible to make $552,000 by just sharing recipes. Of course, it is more complicated than that, but this married couple are some of the highest-paid

bloggers for a reason. What most people don’t understand is that when you offer to solve a problem, you are helping people cope with life better. Show Me

The Yummy is one of the best recipe blogs out there. There are hundreds of people who struggle when it comes to cooking or even coming up with ideas on

what to cook.

This is where Trevor and Jennifer Depth come in by sharing ideas on recipes. So, if you are unsure that a recipe or food blog can be profitable, this couple

knows what they are doing. Follow their example and you will figure out how to make money from a recipe or food blog.

They make most of their money from advertising, freelancing and sponsored posts. They also make money from affiliate marketing and from their own

courses or videos

What makes them different: they understand how to remain relevant and use video to engage with people on their Facebook page. So, if you were thinking

that Facebook pages are just for vanity points and nothing else then you are wrong. You can use your Facebook page to create your 1000 fans. There’s a

saying online that if you can attract at least 1000 fans to you then those people will buy whatever you sell.

Takeaway

Videos are the future of video marketing, every one and their cat are doing. So, why not jump on the bandwagon while it isn’t crowded.

8. Ryrob by Ryan Robbinson ($50,000 per month)

Niche: personal finance

Ryan Robbinson of ryrob.com teaches people how to make money blogging, how to start a side-hustle business and discusses making money online in

general. I have been following on him for a while, he hardly ventures out of these three topics and that is what makes him an authority figure. From the get

go, he explains that he isn’t a guru or an expert.

His honesty is refreshing and has made him more relatable. He never pretends to be what he isn’t and because of that people follow him, pay for his courses

because they know that they are getting value for money. Ryan is different from most of the highest-paid bloggers in this list because he makes most of his

money from affiliate marketing and a few of it comes from his course sales.

What makes him different: the internet is littered with people who claim to experts. Ryan is different, he’s like a friend advising you on how to get a date.

He’sapproachable and that makes him relatable. His friendly nature oozes out of his writing and it is easy to follow and understand. He doesn’t use jargon

that requires you to have a dictionary next to you.

Takeaway:

You don’t need to be a jack of all trades for people to follow you. You can focus on a few topics and that will make you far more relatable if you do that. Find

your strengths and use that to build a brand.

9. Pinch of Yum Lindsay ($60,000 per month)

Niche: Recipe blog

Lindsay of Pinch of Yummy is one of the highest-paid food bloggers and bloggers in general. Her story is both moving and inspirational. When she started,

she was a fourth-grade teacher who was working on her blog as a casual hobby at night and during the weekends. Now, it has grown into a full-time business

that reaches millions of readers with a fun recipe every month. She makes most of her money through affiliate marketing and sponsored posts.

What makes her different: Her website is stunning and the photos she takes for her recipe can take your breath away.

Takeaway

Great photos have the ability to sell your website and using colors that explain your brand helps you stand out.

10. My Wife Quit Her Job by Steve and Jennifer Chou ($80,000 per month)

Niche: Making Money online

Steve and Jennifer run the popular website My Wife Quit Her Job. They show people how to make money online with an eCommerce store and online.

What makes them different: their story is relatable. They talk about how they wanted kids, but Jennifer wanted to be a stay at home mother so she

could take care of them. So, Jennifer quit her job and they started an eCommerce store and a blog. Many people would resonate with their story

because it speaks to them on a deeper level.

Takeaway:

You don’t have to have a breaking point story or even an underdog story to sell your brand. What you need is to be relatable and use that to get people

to engage with you. Your story ultimately sells your brand.

11. Busy Budgeter by Rosemarie Groner ($86,000 per month)

Niche: Budget blog

Rosemarie blogs about dinner, money, budgets and everything related to being a mother on Busy Budgeter. She’s one of the highest paid budget bloggers

out there. Rosemarie pulls in slightly over one million dollars a year.

She makes most of her money through affiliate marketing, sponsored content and ads. However, she makes most of her money through her own products.

What makes her different: Rosemarie knows her audience well, she understands what it most mothers want to know about and how to use that to entice

her readers. A lot of people are terrified to niche down, but there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, this is how you build an authority, by understanding what

your target audience is and what they require of you.

Takeaway

You must know your audience well. A lot of people struggle because they don’t know their audience and what they are looking for.

12. Smart Blogger by Jon Morrow ($100,000 per month)

Niche: Blogging

I have known about Jon for years, he constantly inspires because his story is one of tragedy, but despite that, he has created an impact. Jon teaches

bloggers how to be successful online. Smart Blogger is known to be one of the best high quality blogging blogs out.

He makes most of his money through affiliate marketing, his digital products, and courses that help bloggers to succeed online.

What makes him different: years ago, Jon got involved in a serious accident and since then he is wheelchair-bound. He can’t feel his face or type properly,

but despite that, he is a millionaire who constantly proves that anything is possible.

Takeaway:

Limitations should never stop you from achieving greatness. In fact, you can use your limitations to push you to new heights. Whatever your limitations may

be, don’t allow this to stop you from going after your dreams.

13. Createandgo and Avocadu by Alex Nerney and Lauren McManus ($100,000 per month)

Niche: Blogging and Health and fitness

Alex and Lauren inspire me, their blogging journey pushes me and I always look to them as examples of what can be done. The difference here compared

to the others on this list is because Alex and Lauren are only in their late twenties.

They have achieved so much success with blogging, that you can’t help inspire to be like that. If I am sounding like a fangirl, I probably am. They are my

favorite bloggers and by reading their blog post, I have learned so much about what it takes to become the highest-paid blogger in 2019.

They make money from their courses and affiliate marketing.

What makes them different: Their first blog was Avocadu then when they became successful at that. Then they started Createandgo. The underlying story

is they didn’t start a blog about blogging. And I love how honest they are about what it takes to be profitable at blogging.

Takeaway

Success doesn’t come off the bat, it takes time and often you don’t need to know everything about your topic. After, some time you will see results.

14. Nerd Fitness by Steve Kamb ($100,000 per month)

Niche: Fitness

Steve Kamb started Nerd Fitness way back in 2009, Steve teaches people how to lose weight and become fit. They receive over 1 million subscribers each

month. Nerd Fitness makes money from their online coaching programs, affiliate marketing, courses, and training.

What makes him different: Steve Kamb makes sure he delivers his promise. On his course page, he has the before and after pictures to show what

someone looks like before they take his course and after they complete it.

Takeaway:

Make sure you deliver on the promises you offer. When people see other people getting results, this makes you an authority on the topic. When you

deliver your results this makes people comfortable in going to you.

15. Making Sense of Cents by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner ($100,000 per month)

highest paid bloggers

Niche: Personal Finance

Michelle left her job as a financial analyst in 2013 and then she started her blog Making Sense of Cents. Michelle is known as one of the highest-paid

bloggers and she rose to fame because of her finance blog. Her story is incredibly inspirational and she teaches people how to make money on their blog

and make better financial decisions. She makes most of her money from affiliate marketing, in second comes sponsored posts and a small percentage of her

income comes from selling her courses.

What makes her different: Michelle isn’t a marketer, but she truly cares in helping her audience. She’s also a great blogger and that is why people are

attracted to her. Because of her awesome content.

Takeaway:

Provide value and this will set you a part from everyone else.

16. A Beautiful Mess by Elisa Larson and Emma Chapman ($125,000 per month)

Niche: Lifestyle

Imagine starting your blog with your sibling, this is what these two sisters did, They started a blog together. Elisa and Emma talk about how to decorate,

fashion and share recipes on A Beautiful Mess. They mostly make money from affiliate marketing and digital products.

What makes them different: I love their warm autumn colors, there’s something welcoming about their website and if I am being honest, their site reminds

me of childhood.

Takeaway:

What makes you different, makes you stand out. For me, it was that they are sisters who have a business together talking about things that we struggle with

on a day-to-day basis. Majority of their blog posts are extremely relatable. They discuss topics like what you should eat for breakfast to how to ripen

bananas. What I have come to understand is what makes these two some of the highest-paid bloggers in 2019 is that they are not ashamed to be relatable.

17. Car Advice by Alborz Fallah ($125,000 per month)

Niche: Car advice

Can you imagine making $125,000 all from giving people advice on cars? I am not that much of a car person, in regards to searching on how to fix cars.

But, there are hundreds of people out there, who want to know how to make sure their cars run properly. This is what Alborz does, he gives advice on how

to take care of cars. He mostly makes money from advertising and sponsored posts.

What makes him different: Years ago, I never would have thought the car advice niche was big, but it is in fact enormous. Alborz turned his personal blog

into a business model. He now has over 30 employees and is one of the biggest car advice websites in Australia. He is also one of the highest-paid card

advice bloggers in Australia.

Takeaway:

Most people are terrified to follow their passions and Alborz is a perfect example of where your passions can take you. You never know the places you can

go to if you don’t follow your passions.

18. Good Financial Cents by Jeff Rose ($135,000 per month)

highest paid bloggers

Niche: Financial advice

Jeff runs Good Financial Cents which is a million dollar blog, where he teaches people how to make the right financial decisions and how to be smarter with

your money. Jeff makes money through his financial planning practice, he also makes money through insurance and affiliate marketing. He also makes his

money selling digital products and courses. A small pecentage of his money comes from sponsored posts and advertising.

What makes him different: When I was university, I had professors who spoke about the subject matter, but did preach what they taught. Jeff has his own

practice, so you always know that the information he gives is not going to be outdated and this cements his authority on the topic as well. This is what makes

him of the highest paid financial bloggers out there. He has already cemented his knowledge by using his business as an example of his success.

Takeaway:

It is possible to use your business as a way to build authority and use that to help your blog succeed.

19. It’s a Lovely Life by Heather and Pete Reese ($175,000 per month)

Niche: Family and traveling

Heather and Pete in recent years have been taking the blogging world by storm because of their success. They run It’s a Lovely life and has grown a

big community in recent years. They make money through affiliate marketing and selling courses.

What makes him different: What makes them different is they combine lifestyle with educating their readers on a variety of topics. This why Heather and

Pete Reese is among the highest-paid bloggers in 2019. They understand how to provide value, entertain and engage their readers.

Takeaway:

It is possible to combine a variety of topics and educate your readers. This has made their blog highly profitable.

20. Entrepreneur on Fire by John Lee Dumas ($195,000 per month)

Niche: Entrepreneurship

John Lee Dumas and his wife runs Entrepreneur on Fire, he teaches his readers how to start an online business and make money from it. The podcast is

highly profitable and attracts millions of people. They have done 1,900 interviews with successful entrepreneurs. He makes his money from affiliate

marketing, his podcasts, selling his courses and journals on Amazon.

What makes him different: John publishes a new podcast every day, come rain, sunshine or even thunder. That is beyond impressive, but he’s dedicated to

making sure he provides value on a consistent basis.

Takeaway:

If you show up every day on a consistent basis then your customers will do the same. This is the reason why John Lee Dumas has amassed a huge following

and is one of the highest-paid bloggers in 2019. He shows up.

21. Smart Passive Income by Pat Flynn ($200,000 per month)

highest paid bloggers

Niche: Passive income

Pat Flynn is one of the OG bloggers out there, he started Smart Passive Income way back in 2008, before blogging became what it is now. He shows how to

make passive income the smart way online. His strategies are easy to implement and compared to most bloggers out there, he’s incredibly authentic.

Pat Flynn makes money through affiliate marketing, selling his digital products and courses and his podcasts.

What makes him different: Pat Flynne is an authentic guy and that makes him relatable. People want to buy products or courses from authentic people.

That is why Pat is one of the highest-paid bloggers. He isn’t a marketing salesman who just wants to sell the latest thing, he wants to help you build a

business.

Takeaway:

People don’t want to buy from a poster of a salesperson, they want someone authentic. Being yourself is how you build trust and create a long-lasting

brand.

22. The Blonde Salad by Chiara Ferragani ($200,000 per month)

Niche: Fashion Brand

Calling Chiara Ferragani one of the highest-paid bloggers in an understatement, she took her personal blog and built a brand around it. She started her

a personal blog in 2009 and now it is a million-dollar fashion brand. The Blonde Salad attracts a million visitors to her website every month. Chiara makes

money through sponsored contents, ads, she also sells clothes and accessories on her blog.

What makes her different: She is the epitome of a girl boss, she truly proves that you can do anything with your blog. The fact she turned her personal

blog into a fashion brand us beyond inspirational.

Takeaway:

You can literally do anything with your blog. All it takes is the imagination and willpower to keep pushing yourself.

24. Sarah Titus ($200,000 per month)

Niche: Parenting

Sarah Titus is one of the highest parenting bloggers out there. Sarah Titus teaches mothers how to make money online and everything related to being a

mother. She makes money from affiliate marketing and she also sells printables.

What makes her different: Sarah doesn’t shy away from sharing her story and talking about God. Most bloggers are terrified of sharing their story,

experiences and talking about God. This is what makes Sarah different, she allows people to get to know the real her and therefore, that is how they

connect to Sarah.

Takeaway:

Never shy away from sharing your life story, your readers will love you for it.

24. Melyssa Griffin ($238,000 per month)

Highest Paid Bloggers

Niche: Entrepreneurship

Melyssa Griffen is one of the highest-paid entrepreneurship blogger and for a good reason. Melyssa knows how to talk to her audience, she uses a friendly

light tone to engage with her readers and that makes it feel far more friendly. Even her website screams of friendliness. I mean makes sense, who doesn’t

love yellow. Melyssa is the queen of hustling and she is truly an inspiration. She makes money by selling other people’s high priced courses, selling her own

courses and through her podcast.

What makes her different: She launches courses to her email list frequently. Melyssa friendly tone makes it feel as if you know and because of this, her

audience loves her. The more your audience gets to know you, the more they are willing to buy from you.

Takeaway:

Connect with your audience and keep hustling so that you can help them more.

25. Survival Life by Ryan Deiss ($1,000,000 per month)

Niche: Survival

Ryan Deiss started Survival Life to show people how to survive in the wilderness or in general, you will learn how to do that. The survival niche is

actually really big right now as odd as that sounds. When I think of the survival niche, my mind wanders off to weird places, but I guess it comes with

the territory. Ryan makes money mostly through affiliate marketing and selling his courses.

What makes him different: He provides value and mostly talks about other people. He’s also honest and as I said before, honesty is incredibly important as

you are building a brand.

Takeaway:

You can make money from your passions. As long as you are solving a problem, it is possible to make money from anything.

26. Tim Sykes ($1,000,000 per month)

Niche: Penny Stock Trader

Tim Sykes is a penny stock trader turned blogger. He teaches people how to make money from trading stocks online. He makes most of his money selling

DVD courses showing people how to do penny stock trading and trading online.

What makes him different: Tim is active on social media, he has 1.2 million followers on social media and he uses that to sell his business.

Takeaway:

He sells his lifestyle and that is what makes people interested in what he’s doing. There are a lot of bloggers out there who use social media to sell their

business,

What do you think of these highest-paid bloggers and what is your main takeaway from the blog post? Please comment below.

KEEP PUSHING

VANESSA

On Dying, Losing Hope and Fighting For Your Dreams

by vanessa | Sep 4, 2019 | Blog, motivation, personal development

On dying, losing hope and fighting for your dreams.

Time is a limited resource and we need to learn how to use it better so that we can start fighting for our dreams.

“Life is short,” is a well-known statement that we can all relate to it. I have learned that understanding that life is short will help you to fight for your dreams. Most of us pretend as if we have all the time in the world and that death is nothing more than just a word. We avoid it like the plague because death reminds us of a loss so deep it cuts through us. Maybe, your loved one died or we watch it on a daily basis. Almost every day there’s a story of people dying regardless of where you live.

No one wants to talk about because death has a way of making us feel small or we feel as if we are insignificant. As though are mere existence is to serve a function of the ecosystem. We are like the ants who help the ecosystem function or we are the cause of the ecosystem crumbling.

But often death has more of an effect on us then we like to admit and for me, I understand that a lot. I am only in my twenties and I have had three incidences with death. I don’t like talking about it because well it is one of those topics, you talk about. It isn’t like talking about the weather, by the time I was seventeen, I was sure I would die at 32.

Another somber story of a young life gone too soon. When I had reached my late teens, my health had crumbled far too many times, I was addicted on prescription medication and I was suicidal so thinking I would die at that seemed natural as if that was my destiny.

Even though I nearly died, I never took life seriously and I never fought for my dreams. It didn’t matter how many times I visited the hospital, how many times I saw the flashing lights or when my heart was giving in. All that didn’t seem to move me. Maybe, I didn’t care for the longest time and I let my health give in.

I let myself get addicted to medication. I know it is getting really dark and the reason why I writing this is for you to understand how short life is. Beyond a doubt, it can be gone in seconds when death truly wants to knock you out. And that is what happened in 2018, I almost died. It is ironic that it wasn’t my physical health that was at play here, but my mental health. Then when I thought I had made it to the other side, a few months later, my health took a turn for the worst.

For the better of ten years, I dabbled with illness from thing to the next, but I had thought my health was better. Then for a whole month, I was sick. Most people think that all this is simply getting a common cold. Yeah, that wasn’t the case. I was bedridden, couldn’t walk and that was the most embarrassing thing. Not being able to do simple things like walk to the couch, bend down or even lift up something.

I had to question everything about life, ask myself if I was truly living and start making better choices. That one month made me deal with things that I tried my best to forget.

In less than a year, I had to deal with two near-death experiences and it taught me invaluable lessons that I want to share with you.

Stop being a people pleaser

If you want to fight for your dreams then you need to stop trying to please everyone. For the longest time, that is all I cared about, pleasing people. When I was fifteen, one of my closest friends at the time told me that. She told me I wanted to please people and like most fifteen-year-old kids I was stubborn. I refused to listen to her.

It is only later, I realize how right she was, I wanted more than anything to please people. Due to that I never fought for my dreams, I didn’t want people to think less of me. So, I followed the normal path, chose to hide in the background. Be a shadow and people’s tail. What I have learned is that does you no favors, I get it we don’t want people to think you are an attention seeker, but as a result we try our best to please others.

And that is all I did, I nodded my head when people said something, I never spoke and now I realize what a mistake that was. In life, you have two choices when it comes to your dreams, you either build someone else’s dream or yours. When I heard that, it changed everything and I saw that often we overlook that one detail.

We stop fighting for our dreams because we think it is a smart decision to make. The wise choice that won’t make us look like a fool and that is exactly what we do.

Don’t get accustomed to your mess

I was accustomed to my mess. For the longest time, I was okay with life being that messed up. Most of us don’t realize how easy it is to get used to a certain routine or bad habit. Whether that is thinking negatively or being used to the mess, accepting that things will never change or even certain statements that are false. Here are few examples of these statements, “I will never be financially free,” “it is okay to be broke,” “I am incapable of achieving X, Y or Z,” “my friends struggled so will I,” “I have been ill for years, I won’t get better.”

It is easy to get used to this way of thinking and when you have this kind of mindset, you won’t fight for your dreams. No way will start exercising if you believe that you will never lose weight. You won’t ask for a raise, especially if you think you don’t deserve it. I could go on, but I am sure you get the point.

When we get used to our mess then well life happens and we do nothing about it. We don’t try to improve because we think that we can’t. We never strive for anything better because we were told we don’t. Don’t get accustomed to your mess because if you do it will hard finding a way out of it.

We forget how to stand up for what we believe in

Kids are relentless, they fight for what they believe in, even when people tell them they are bonkers. They don’t care, they befriended kids despite what anyone says, they sign up for things even when everyone around them tells them not too.

To a kid, what matters is making the most of their time and standing up for what they believe in. By the time we turn thirteen, we lose that strength to fight and start thinking more about what other people think of us. We stop going for our dreams and start trying to blend in. We start acting like everyone else or trying to because we think that is how we can survive the next years of being a teenager.

Then twenty comes and now, we are full-fledged recruits in the blending in-crowd. We do what everyone does and that is the problem. When you forget how to fight for what you care about, you don’t want to fight for your dreams. Why would you fight for something if truly believe you don’t want it?

The crazy thing is that there are so many millennials who hate their jobs and dream of financial freedom. That isn’t an exaggeration. The reason why most people don’t go for their dreams is because they have forgotten how to stand up for what they believe in.

When I was thirteen, I wanted to be a fiction author, I had written a book of short stories and I was going to publish it. I never did because people said I sucked as a writer. Maybe, I did. I had people tell me the stories were good, but the problem was I believed what other people told me. And it went downhill from there.

Eventually, I stopped fighting for my dream and started doing what everyone else told me to do.

You don’t have to do a 9-5

Just because everyone is doing a 9-5 doesn’t mean you have to. The same thing goes for doing online business, just because person A is doing it doesn’t mean you have to.

It all comes down to what you want out of life, what fuels you and pushes you. Who do you want to be? You might be thinking if you don’t want to do a 9-5 or be an entrepreneur what is there left. The definition of an entrepreneur has changed in recent years, it has gone from startups to blogs to membership sites or hosting summits to book conventions or teaching people how to dance with a course.

It isn’t the same as it used to be. Despite the online space, we don’t understand we can achieve the impossible. We lose hope that we will never find a way out of our situation and we think that the only safe bet is having a 9 – 5.

That isn’t even the case. You can be an indie author and make hundreds of thousands of dollars in a year. You can be a guitarist and teach people how to learn the guitar. You can be a gardener and teach people how to take care of their garden.

I want you to believe in the impossible so that you can create the possible. I want you to fight for your dreams so that you can live a life of purpose.

Better habits

I am a sucker for poems and good fiction books. One of my absolute favorite poets is William Ernest Henley, he wrote a poem way back in 1888. It was called

“Invictus.” One of my favorite lines from the poem says, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”

Basically what happens is a direct result of your actions, I do believe that there are things beyond our control, but what ultimately happens is due to our decisions.

Here’s an example, you choose not to wake up early so you are groggy and have to rush to work. That decision might seem harmless, but then you get into a traffic jam and it takes you longer to get to work.

By the time you get to work, you are angry and moody, your mood affects the people around you and how you see the world. You see it as tainted, your boss is mean to you and as a result you are on edge. You belittle your friends and say the wrong things, they, in turn, draw away from you. You start to dwell on this and your negative limiting beliefs makes it harder for you to deal with life.

I am not saying this is how you will react, but a lot of people go through the rough patches of life because one action they have made. If you want to fight for your dreams, get better habits. Habits can make or break you and at times it can appear harmless until it isn’t.

Learn to be okay with not being okay

Being a blogger has taught me that it is okay to be vulnerable and if you met me years ago. I was a brick wall. Impenetrable to the highest degree and I didn’t let anyone. Which usually meant most people had no idea who I was and I didn’t mind it. In fact, I preferred it. I didn’t want people to know my darkest secrets.

It wasn’t like I was auditioning for a talk show or trying to be a reality TV star. So, for me, it didn’t make sense for people to know me and I was okay with that. What I have come to understand is we are all trying to be okay, to pretend as if we don’t have problems because being vulnerable sucks. No one wants to feel as though they don’t have control of everything.

You need to be okay with not being okay because only then can you solve your problems. Only then can you actually be okay? Quick question what happens to a driver that doesn’t want to admit they are a bad driver. Firstly, the driver never improves and therefore, is a danger to himself and the people on the road.

Life is exactly like that and you need to be okay about not being okay. You have to accept that they’re certain things you won’t be good at. You have to accept that everything takes time.

As odd as it is, you have to be okay with not being okay so you can fight for your dreams. Pretending as if life is okay will make it harder to see what you need to do to fix the mess in your life. This is a hard lesson to learn, but it is crucial for you to learn it early on.

What are you fighting for?

Most of us do things and we don’t even know why we are doing it. This is why there are a lot of unsatisfied people, after some time you forget why you are doing this, if you don’t have a strong reason for what you are doing. It is important to understand why you are doing this so that no matter what comes your way, you can move past it.

If you don’t know what you are fighting for, by the time you are forty you will start questioning everything about life. Ask yourself why you are doing this, what you hope to gain from it and once you do that, it will easier to get up in the morning and do what you do.

It will be easier to go for your dreams and fight for them. You won’t care what people think about you because that won’t matter as much as your dream. The reason why you are doing what you are doing.

Every successful person will say the same thing, know what you are fighting for because only then can push past all the obstacles that come your way. Only then can you work on your dreams even when you are broke and unemployed. There are people who have done it before. If a homeless person can become a billionaire then there’s nothing stopping you from achieving your dreams. To fight for your dreams, you need to understand why you are doing this or it becomes pointless. Here is an awesome inspirational blog post that will help you go in the right direction.

Keep hustling

Most entrepreneurs will never tell you this, but before you have the money to invest in your dreams, you have to be okay with being broke or hustling.That means doing more than you normally would. So, instead of working for a few hours, you have to work more. Do more so that you can achieve what you want.

This is what it means to fight for your dreams. The easiest way to start is by creating a side-hustle that will help you get to you where you want to be. It doesn’t matter what side-hustle is. Some side-hustles won’t work depending on the country you are in, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do a side-hustle.

The reason why you need to hustle is so you can achieve your dreams a lot faster. Most people give up before they have the chance to actually create an impact because most people don’t like the thought of working for their dreams. They want it yesterday and if only that was the case, but sometimes you got to do things you don’t want to do so that in the future you can have a better life for yourself. Here is a post about quick side-hustles you can start at home so you can make a bit of money. Most times when you have to fight for your dreams, it requires you to work harder than your normally would.

What are you willing to give up?

This is another thing, most people don’t talk about, but you have to give up something and that is a great way to fight for your dreams. When I was starting out, I had to give up time and eventually money. You don’t go anywhere in life without giving up something. Most people don’t want to do this, but when you are willing to give up something now so that you don’t have to do it in the future, doesn’t that make it worth it.

As life gets complicated and we get older, we are going to have to give up certain things. As a nineteen-year-old kid, I didn’t give up much, when I went to College that changed. I had to give up my bad sleeping habits. I am not complaining about it now, but in the beginning, there was resistance until there wasn’t.

In the beginning, giving up Netflix will feel like a burden until it isn’t and you actually don’t mind not watching any of your favorite television shows. As time goes, and you get more freedom, giving up all those things will be a blessing in disguise. Most of us aren’t willing to give up something in order for us to fight for our dreams and that is the problem. If you don’t push yourself, you will never know what you can achieve.

What is your main takeaway from this post and what invaluable lessons that you learned? Comment below.

Keep Pushing

Vanessa

12 Productivity Myths You Need To Stop Believing

by vanessa | Aug 21, 2019 | Entrepreneurs, motivation

12 productivity myths you need to stop believing.

These are many productivity myths that you have believed in and it also has stopped from truly becoming productive.

I sat on a chair twiddling my fingers, trying my best to concentrate. The room was beaming with noise coming from all four corners, kids screaming at the top of their lungs. A cloud of questions hovered in my mind, my seventh-grade teacher walked, she glared at us.

She said with a perfectly calm voice. “Why don’t you something constructive?”

That changed the way I looked at life, but I still had no idea what being constructive meant or what it meant to be productive.

I spent years reading and watching videos on productivity. “You must wake up early,” one entrepreneur said.

So, I started waking up early, my mother would tell me that I needed to learn about multitasking, but everyone said the opposite. “Multitasking doesn’t work, you need to focus on one thing at a time,” so I learned to stop multitasking.

There were so many productivity hacks out there, but everyone said something different. There were people saying work harder than you ever have ever worked. So, I learned how to do that until when I reached the age of twenty-five and I was burnt out.

“Is this what success is supposed to be like, I mean I wake up at 3 am, but I still am not doing much with my time,” I said to one of my friends. “I am always tired, I’m pretty sure that’s not what success is supposed to look like.”

“Have you tried doing something different, changing things around,” the answer was so simple, I grunted as if I hadn’t thought of that, then I realized she had a point.

I was doing everything wrong, listening to millions of Tom, Nancy’s and Dicks who had a say on how to be more productive, but it wasn’t working for me. I spent the next couple of years figuring out that there are a lot of productivity hacks out there that are myths.

I know, it almost seems like you have spent the last couple of years wasting away your life. Here’s the truth, productivity comes in many shapes and forms. You have to decide which ones haven’t worked for you and if you truly want to be productive here are a few myths that I hate to burst.

It will help you in the long run, don’t believe, you would be shocked at how myths you have believed. Here are 12 productivity myths that you need to stop believing.

Productivity Myth 1# Multitasking doesn’t work

Put down your pitchforks, I know in a recent post I said something completely different, but this is where the trick lies. Multitasking depends on who you are,

I have ADHD so multitasking for me is like breathing, I can’t stop it even though I want to, but I have learned how to use it in small doses. So, you might be one of those people who is good at multitasking. Our mothers do it well, they can manage to cook four different things and not burn anything. That’s hard, by all accounts.

But many of us do multitasking and we don’t realize it, we do it while listening to music and working at the same time or listening to an audiobook while cooking.

So, this one depends on who you are as a person. If you are the type of person who can’t concentrate on doing two things at the same time then this isn’t for you. So, the advice that multitasking doesn’t work well is dependent on who you are as a person. Sometimes, not every piece of advice that we get works in our best interest.

This is where it comes in handy to know yourself, your ins and outs. If you don’t, it easy to follow every advice even if it isn’t meant for you. So, this is the first

productivity myth I had to burst, for all those people that thought your mother’s advice was wrong.

This was is complicated because it is both a myth and true. Multitasking to a certain degree doesn’t work, but as I said before, it helps if you are doing things that don’t require too much of your attention span. Listening to a song while you are writing works. Listening to a podcast while you are writing doesn’t work.

Just be careful when you use it. I wrote an awesome post on productivity hacks that can help you manage your time better.

Productivity Myth #2: The early bird catches the worm

Yes and no. It all depends on you again. Most people are just not early birds and that is okay. Just because you don’t wake up when the owls are up doesn’t

mean you won’t be successful. It all is about whether you are a lark or a night owl, some people can work until 2 am and still be running on fumes while

others can’t.

For the longest time, we have believed that if we don’t wake up early we won’t be successful. It all depends on when you are the most alert, I have been a

morning person since I was eight. I would wake up before everyone else did, eventually, with time I started waking up later on and it took me time to figure

this out and once I did, everything clicked for me. So, the early bird does catch the worm, but you can still catch the worm despite waking up later than usual.

Know your body and how it works so that you can be more productive. That is how you will learn how to be more productive. This is productivity myth is one of those that many of us believe and with time it does become how undoing.

Productivity Myth #3: Work Harder

Just because you work harder than everyone else doesn’t mean you are more productive. This is one of those myths we have been going around saying for years.

“Work hard so that you get the life you want,” teachers would say.

“What does that look like?” A student would ask.

“Well, you must always be buried in a book. work until you see results even if that means leaving work later than most people so that you get more done.”

And people wonder why most of us are so sleep deprived and our bodies are failing us. It isn’t because of Tom and Jerry on Cartoon Network teaching us how to play.

No, it is the advice that we have gotten since we were kids. Just because you work more than others doesn’t mean you are productive. The exact opposite, you could be buried in a book and yet, not understand what you are reading. You could leave work later than most people and still be behind everyone else.

Why? Even our bodies can’t keep with the tiresome demands we require of it. Coffee isn’t a miracle drug that will push us past exertion. Everything has its limits and this is why you need to learn how to work smarter and not harder. Find ways to make life easier for you so that you can accomplish more. Here’s a simple analogy, I hate washing dishes as most people do, but I realized I spent far longer washing plates if I allowed them to pile up so I started washing plates every time I used them, I cut my time in half.

Find ways to work smarter and you will realize that you will be far more productive if you do that. It sounds simple, but it isn’t. With everything it will take time to understand this. The work harder productivity myth causes a lot of grief, it pushes us to the extent of our body breaking down. Keep telling yourself you need to work smarter and not harder.

Productivity Myth #4: I don’t have time for a system or routine

This is an excuse that many of us use, but the truth is you need a routine and this is coming from someone who has used the whole I will wing it speech.

Starting a business has made me realize two things; one a system is the difference between success and failure, and two if you want life to be easier you

need a system.

So, I dragged my feet and started working on a system that will help me progress quicker than the tortoise in the race but will also make me smarter than the hare.

There are countless people without systems and that is why they aren’t successful. So, yes, developing a system will take time, but once it is up and running you won’t have to worry about it.

This productivity myth needs a serious makeover because so many of us believe it. If you can make time to watch your favorite television show be it Game of Thrones or the Big Bang Theory, you have time to create a system that works for you. The reason you use that excuse is that you don’t want to it and I understand, doing something that’s different is terrifying, but one step forward and you will get there. Keep remembering that and you will be fine.

Having not enough time is an excuse we use often, even when it comes to productivity. Many of us believe in this productivity myth.

Productivity Myth #5: Creativity has no business being part of my

system

So, this productivity myth is for creative types. I understand how hard it is to wade through all the business talk when you are a creative person. I regard myself as a

creative type and for the longest time, I believed I couldn’t be a business person. It is ironic how I realize that was a creativity myth. That is coming soon to a blog post near you, but for now, let us burst this myth.

Creative work is still working, whether we want to accept that or we don’t. We still need to deal with procrastination, shoddy work or even drifting off between edits.

The most successful creative types have a system so why do most of us creative types think that we can deliver a Van Gogh without having a system. Even Van Gogh himself struggled to deliver his work in time because he had no system. So, unless you want to be successful when you are deceased, I think its best that you work with a system. I went a little dark there, but I just wanted to show you how important it is to have a system.

Those who don’t can spend years working on their projects and get noticed much later on in life. If you ever wondered why it takes some creative types years to

deliver their best work, that is because they have no system in place. Have a system for everything you do in life. This will be the difference between you being

successful and unsuccessful.

Productivity Myth #6: I will wait for my muse

This is one of those productivity myths that has become so common people actually believe that if they wait for a muse, that is when they will be more productive.

You will be waiting for years because it is true Success, waits for no man. And that is why waiting for inspiration or a muse is not only a waste of time, it is a waste

of your potential.

It is incredibly easy to believe this myth that many of us have been saying this for years. But this isn’t true at all, no matter how many times you want a muse, you

have to learn to work despite being unmotivated. You have to learn to work even when your brain is foggy and you need to understand that when you push yourself that’s when you can be more productive.

A lot of these things are mind over matter, it sounds simple, but it does take time to use this to your advantage. Keep in mind that when you push yourself, this will

train yourself how to respond to moments when you don’t feel like it. This always helps you when dealing with procrastination. So, for all those that aren’t sure how

to get rid of the terrible P. This is one way to curb its effect, do work even when you don’t want to.

Productivity Myth #7: I work best under-pressure

Delayed action has become the default setting for most of us. I did this for the longest time. I definitely understand this because I did for years. I always would tell

people that I worked the best under pressure and as a result, I was always tired, overworked and stressed. I put my health through the grinder that most times I

would see bright hues of colors dancing in front of me.

Then I realized I was messing up myself up, here I was thinking that being under-pressure upped my game, but I still was so tired. I hate planning, but I have come

to understand and appreciate how important it is. My teacher had this saying, she’d say “fail to prepare then you must prepare to fail.”

It was brutal hearing that as a sixteen-year-old awkward teen, but now as an adult I understand how important it is to plan. Without planning, you make more

mistakes so unless you want to get sick to the point where you give yourself a stroke then you need to stop working under-pressure.

And yes even people under the age of forty can get a stroke, life is more stressful and after a while of putting your body in the ringer, it gives in. So, don’t be like

everyone else and work under-pressure. Plan so that you can actually succeed.

Productivity Myth #8: Organizing is extremely boring

When it comes to organizing there are two camps of people; those that adore it and those that equate it to boredom. So, I was in the latter camp,

and I understand how it might appear boring, but it definitely makes life a little less chaotic and a never ending nightmare compared to everything else.

Being organized is a lifesaver, those who are organized, have their ducks or socks in a roll.

They don’t have to worry about missing deadlines, interviews or anything else. No, things work out for them and there we are rolling our eyes, but the truth is they

are having a laugh our expense. Why? Because organized people get to the top a lot quicker than those that are not, they always find a way to make time for things

and we could learn a thing or two.

To truly be productive you need to be organized. You have to be that kid who walked around with markers and colored sticky notes. You know the kid, who

always highlighted their notes and used a different pen for important points. The kid whose desk always looked like it was on sale at IKEA. You know, that kid.

Once you do that, you will look at life a lot better than most and yeah, you will actually become extremely productive. So ignore this productivity myth that

organizing is boring and start to embrace it,

Productivity Myth #9: No routine is my routine

I was a big fan of Mean Girls as a kid and my favorite line even up today is, “Gretchen, stop trying to make fetch happen!”

As much as we think that having no routine is a routine, it isn’t. Having a routine can change your life, it certainly did and this is coming from a person who

wanted so badly to make the no routine happen.

If you want to be productive then you need to have a routine or system in place. It is highly unlikely that without a system you are more productive with one.

The kids in school who had a system for studying always came up with higher scores than those who didn’t. From an early age, we have been trained to

accept that systems are actually a good thing, but the reason why we don’t follow through with it because we terrified to fail.

Doing anything that you aren’t used to is terrifying. I would say that just do it. If you fail at least you can say with a brave face. you tried it out.

Productivity Myth #10: You need a to-do list

Gasp, yeah you have read it right here, you don’t need a to-d0 list to be super productive. Nope, you don’t need a to-do list. The problem with to-do lists is

many of us go overboard. For a day we can list ten to twenty things we want to accomplish. There’s no amount of time in the day that will make it possible

for you to achieve twenty things unless you have eight arms or have a secret.

Most of us normal human beings have limits and that is the problem with to-do lists. I am not saying that they aren’t great, but it is the way we are doing them. It just doesn’t work out, the way we hope it will. So, what should you do instead of to-do lists? I would say have goals for the day. At least about five and focus on those goals. Every time, you make progress, this is a milestone you can use towards your monthly or yearly goals.

Productivity Myth #11: A productivity app will help me

No, the new productivity app that you found on the Apple store or Playstore won’t make you a productivity guru. Yeah, even if they promise

you that it will solve your productivity woes it won’t. Any app is simply a guide for you, that’s all, it won’t change your life or give you the will to.

So, you need to start working on your productivity before you invest your time with a productivity app. This is just a helpful guide to get you started.

Nothing can beat a good old-fashioned system, having a system in place is hard, but just take your time and you will figure it out.

Productivity Myth #12: Everything needs to be perfect

This is the messiest productivity myth out there because people don’t realize this until it is too late. There’s no such thing as perfectionism,

not even for Disney characters. Working on a project tirelessly until it reaches your standards of perfection drains you of energy that you

can use on other things.

When we spend way too much time trying to perfect things, that stops us from actually being productive and achieving our goals in time. If you are dying to know more productivity myths you need to stop believing, here you go.

What is your main takeaway from this and what productivity myths did you believe in and why did you? Comment below and I will reply as soon as possible.

Keep Pushing

Vanessa

Top Six Ted Talks To Inspire Millennials

by vanessa | Jun 12, 2019 | Entrepreneurs, motivation

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.

Keep Pushing

Vanessa

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