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5 Ways To Boost Your Concentration Skills

Do you lack focus and/or the ability to concentrate for extended periods of time? If you are like the vast majority of human beings, I’m sure that you answered, “Yes!”

A Microsoft study found that, on average, humans have an 8-second concentration span. And that number is probably shrinking as we speak because we’ve got used to everything being fleeting and prompt.

The modern world with the vast bank of knowledge via the Internet and 24-hour news stations, plus social media networks have made us a race of people that want everything NOW!

This lack of patience plays havoc with our ability to maintain concentration and focus on tasks for more than a very short period of time before our minds wander, and add FOMO (or the Fear Of Missing Out) into the mix and it’s a wonder that we can maintain any concentration at all!!

But no matter how much you try to shrug it off, there really is no substitute for paying attention. No matter what your environment is, your ability to get things done depends on your ability to pay attention.

Being able to concentrate can skyrocket your productivity which can be a real boon for your business (if you are a business owner) or can make you a really viable candidate for that promotion or bonus if you work for a company as it will make you stand out from your colleagues.

So, how do we even begin to develop our skills of concentration?

Well, the good news is that you can learn to focus more and focus better. All you need is to alter your mindset, take charge and apply these 5 simple tips to boost your attention span and become a master of concentration and productivity.

Prioritize Your Tasks

You’re at work; you have deadlines, meetings, projects, tasks – all things that need to get done within the span of a few hours. What to do? You make a list, of course.

Many successful people swear by their lists because it has everything on it, from the most important to the things that can wait until later.

Another great tip? Write your list the night before so you’re not bombarded with many things at the start of the day. This is like stretching before a workout – it doesn’t take a lot of time, but you can’t start without it.

Many of the world’s most successful people swear by making their to do lists the night before because they can hit the ground running first thing in the morning and they will already know what their number one priority for the day is going to be.

Why not try it for yourself and see what difference it can make to your day.

Take Scheduled Breaks

Francesco Cirillo, owner of the Cirillo Consulting firm in Berlin, devised an ingenious system that manages time by breaking it down into intervals.

For example, once you’ve started on a task, set the timer to, say, 30 minutes.

During that time, focus completely on that task. Once the timer rings, you take a 10-minute break to get some coffee or just walk around your desk for some quick exercise. Then, every 4 30-minute work intervals, you can take a longer break of 20-30 minutes.

The way this technique works is that you have to refrain from picking up your phone to check your email or social media every 5 minutes.

If you want to know more about this type of system of breaking tasks down, take a look at this post here which explains a technique known as the Pomodoro technique.

Research has proven that it takes us nearly 25 minutes to get back to our original task once we’ve been distracted, which means you’re spending the entire day just on trying to regain your focus but not really achieving it.

A smart way to avoid this when it comes to your phone is to put it on silent or stick it in a drawer to ward off temptation. An even better way to do this is to carve out half an hour at the start of the day, or in the afternoon, to get all that out of your system so that you’re not constantly thinking about it.

Declutter

While it may seem pretty straightforward to everyone that working in a calm, organized environment boosts concentration and, hence, productivity, it may not be as easy as it sounds.

Even if your choices are limited or can’t get away with changing too much of your workspace, you can do wonders with a few add-ons here and there.

But all you need are a few basic items:

a desk organizer to store away whatever you’re not working on at the moment
a plant or two because it’s been proven that being surrounded by nature peak concentration levels and extend your attention span
a good source of lighting
a calming piece of artwork or photo
soft background music or sounds of nature to put you in the mood to concentrate

Stay Healthy

Most people don’t make the connection between eating right and having strong concentration and memory skills.

Studies show that foods high in trans fats and processed sugars have a negative effect on your cognitive abilities.

Enjoying a balanced diet rich in minerals and vitamins, on the other hand, boosts energy levels and gives you the mental stamina you need to concentrate on the task at hand.

Water is also very important to prevent dehydration. Staying hydrated throughout the day prevents your mind from slowing down. Exercising regularly also boosts cognitive powers and mental stamina.

Play Games

There has been extensive research that shows just how much how solving crossword puzzles, problem-solving exercises and other types of mental games can improve cognitive abilities, reasoning, memory and attention spans.

It also boosts your skill and speed on tasks which have to do with memory and reasoning.

So, take a few minutes out of your day to challenge the grey matter to boost your ability to concentrate. And they can be fun too.

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Which Online Business Model Should I Choose?

This sounds like a simple question to ask yourself before venturing into any type of business endeavour and online business is no different.

It is true that online businesses are less risky as they don’t require a lot of capital to get started, but you still need to see which ones are viable and a good fit for your personal circumstances and likes.

So, before you leap into a new business venture, you want to make sure that this will be sustainable for you in the beginning and for the long run. You don’t want to get started with something, only to discover there is a missing piece of the puzzle that will prevent you from achieving success with your efforts.

Analyze

You first need to analyze each business model to see if it’s viable in several different ways. The first thing most internet marketers will want to know is whether or not a particular business model will be lucrative for them.

If it’s not a profitable venture, then you’ll want to focus your efforts elsewhere. For many, it’s not just about the amount of money that they can make, but also the speed in which they can make it.

If you’re only making a few pennies every month, that won’t be enough to sustain your efforts. You have to think in terms of exchanging your time for money. Take a look at what other marketers are earning with that business model.

If you’re adding this branch to another business, then you don’t want to take away your time and effort on a very lucrative business model only to funnel it into one that won’t earn you as much money.

This may or may not be important to you. If you’re adding a second business model on specifically for personal satisfaction reasons, then the financial slant of it may not be as important to you.

But this is rarely the case, because people like to see a return on their efforts. Don’t forget, when you’re determining the profitability of a business model, you’re not just looking at what comes into your bank account.

Upfront Cost

You’re also looking at the expenses you were required to pay ahead of time to get that business model off the ground and operating functionally.

Also, make sure you take a look at any alternate approaches to implementing this particular business model.

For example, let’s say you decided to go into affiliate marketing. If you promoted information products that either had recurring income or a higher ticket cost, you would earn more than someone who was simply recommending books on Amazon, where you would only earn a few cents for every sale.

Implementation

The next thing you want to do when determining whether or not a business model is viable for you at this time is to think about how easy it will be for you to implement. No one wants to engage in a frustrating activity, but if something is difficult, it can severely impact the amount of time, money, and effort that you have to put forth in making it work.

When you first start thinking about adding a second business model, make a list of all of the skills it requires to implement this particular plan. You might find that you have a number of the skills readily available to you.

However, you may also discover that you are incapable of handling one or more of the tasks. If this happens, you will need to look at one of two options.

Your first is to simply delegate the task to someone who does have the knowledge and skill to handle it. This will undoubtedly add to the financial burden that will be required to get this business off the ground.

Another way you can approach it is to simply adopt the realization that you will need to learn the skill in order to implement the business plan.

Some skills are easy to learn and cost-effective for your budget. Others take more time and discipline to understand, and may come at a high cost due to the learning process. Think about all of the tools that you will need in order to pursue a specific business plan.

Sometimes, marketers will teach a method and say no special tools are required. But without them, it makes the process much harder to achieve. You’ll have to decide whether or not you’re capable of handling it without special tools to help you along.

Enjoyment

The final way you want to analyze this business model to see if it’s viable for you is to think about how much you will enjoy working in this business branch over time. There are many people who start out pursuing a particular business branch simply because it looks profitable and easy.

Then they get started with it and discover that it doesn’t bring them a great deal of personal satisfaction. They begin to dread having to work on this business branch, and then it withers and dies.

One of the biggest perks in working for yourself online and at home is that you get to choose what you work on. Instead of being forced to handle projects that bring you grief, you’re able to selectively decide which projects, niches, and path you want to take in your business.

The last thing you want to do is abandon that freedom of choice only to suffer because you added a business branch you thought you would enjoy, but don’t. Before you commit to this particular new business branch, think about what it would be like to engage in this topic or concept every single day.

In fact, you might give yourself a test to do something in the niche for an hour or two each day for a few weeks. This trial run will enable you to gather enough information to see if this is a business branch that will keep you enthusiastic over time, or cause you to quickly avoid and abandon it and waste all of the time, effort, and money that you have put into it.

So, there you have it. A quick insight into how you can pick the best online business model(s) to suit you.

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5 Ways You Waste Time Every Day

Do you find yourself at the end of a day wondering just what you have managed to accomplish? Are you wasting valuable time each day?

If the answer is yes, check out the most common five ways you waste time every day. Be honest, do you find yourself doing any of them?

I’m sure you will be guilty of at least one of them as modern life is so full of things that can distract us from getting things done.

Many of us spend so much time being ‘busy’ but end up with nothing to show for it. Did you get your tasks for today done? No?

If that sounds a bit like you then this post will hopefully help you to become more productive each and every day by becoming aware of these distractions and time sinks and managing to avoid them to get stuff done.

You’ll also find some handy time management strategies in here too.

They can help you become more efficient and productive and be able to get the most out of your day.

Are you ready? Let’s get started…

5 Of The Biggest Timewasters Of Your Day

Even if you’re one of the more dedicated and organized people out there, you still waste time. Whether you work from home or in the office, we’re all guilty of getting distracted and losing focus.

It may not be deliberate, and you probably don’t even realize you’re doing it until it’s too late.

Here are five ways you waste time every day. See if you can relate.

1. Social Media/Emails/Texts

This is the big one and I can pretty much guarantee that everyone reading this post is or has been guilty of this one!

It’s become a vital part of our lives. But the world won’t stop turning if you don’t look at your social media for 15 minutes.

Another big distraction is hearing that too familiar ‘ding’ that comes with a new email or text message. It prevents you from finishing the task at hand because you keep looking at your phone every five minutes.

Picture this scenario: you’re in the middle of work when your phone beeps. You reach for your phone to see your incoming message. So, you go from message to email to Facebook to Instagram. Then, when you’re done, you notice that 20 minutes have gone by.

Research shows that each time you get distracted, even for a couple of minutes, your brain needs more than 20 minutes to refocus. Imagine how much wasted time that amounts to at the end of the day!

The Fix: Avoid randomly checking social media, emails, or texts. Instead, set up a certain time during your day for doing just that. In the meantime, turn off any notifications or mute your phone.

2. Organizing And Preparing

You’re probably wondering: how is this a time-waster?

But too often we fall down the rabbit hole of ‘organizing’ our day. Sometimes, we take too far that we actually run out of time to do any of the things on our list.

The Fix: Find an online planner and to-do-list. Then, pick one day out of the week where you plan out the whole seven days in advance.

Schedule in work-related projects, meetings, and deadlines. You can also include a workout schedule and get-togethers with friends.

3. Multitasking

Multitasking: another thing that we do to trick ourselves into believing we’re being productive. Yet, the sad truth is, multitasking wastes a ton of time.

It’s counter-productive when your attention is divided among several tasks at once. In other words, it’s just another form of distraction.

The Fix: It’s simple. Just put all your attention and focus on one task at a time. When you’re done, move on to the next task, and so on.

4. Checking The News

In this day and age, it seems something is happening in the news every five minutes. So, it’s easy to use the news as an excuse for procrastination. After all, we all want to be in the loop when it comes to politics, sports, and local news.

The Fix: Force yourself to stay away from checking news updates every half hour. You can use sheer self-discipline, or you can use a site blocker.

One great example is the Stay Focused Chrome app. It helps you ‘hide’ certain websites for, say, 45 minutes. Then, tell the app you want to spend 20 minutes on the so-and-so website. After the 20 minutes are done, the app will block you again until your next break.

5. Errands And Chores

The problem isn’t with the errands or chores themselves; it’s when you do them. Running errands during rush hour is one of the biggest time wasters ever!

Doing chores is another. You might be sitting at your desk, working away when you notice a dusty shelf or a cluttered drawer. So, you do the responsible thing and start dusting and decluttering.

You tell yourself that it’ll only take five minutes. Then, when you’re done cleaning the entire room/office, the day is over! And you still haven’t finished what you’re initially working on.

The Fix: Plan your errands ahead when you know there’ll be less traffic. Also, try to do your shopping when you know the stores won’t be as crowded and they’re in their least peak hours.

As for chores, set up one or two days during the week when you do all the dusting, cleaning, and decluttering. This way, even if you see catches your attention, you can push back in your mind and wait until ‘chore day’ rolls around.

A Final Note

We all get the same amount of time each day: 86,2400 seconds, 1,440 minutes, or 24 hours. It’s up to you to figure out how you’re going to spend that time. Sadly, many of us spend our days doing things that don’t really add any value to our lives—or anyone else’s for that matter.

The good news is you can train yourself to focus more and have fewer distractions. Make a conscious effort to add purpose and value to your life and follow through. You’ll soon notice you’re getting more done during your day than ever before!

OK, there are 5 ways you are wasting time every day. If you want to learn more time management strategies to make you more productive, then click on the featured resource below to download a free report that you can read at your leisure. Download, read it and take action 🙂

Why You Should Write Blog Posts On A Regular Basis

If you are a blog owner, you should post articles and other content on your blog regularly. How often you should post depends on your niche and your following.

Of course, this doesn’t mean substituting quantity for quality; your content should always be top notch and be useful to your readers. Ideally this content should be something they would be willing to pay for!

You need to keep track of your visitors, where they are navigating to on your blog and how often they return. You do this by getting subscribers. Keep track of the percentage of subscribers and un-subscribers and this will be an indicator of how often to post to your blog.

If you notice there are a lot of people who unsubscribe from your blog on a daily basis, this is usually an indicator you are posting too much.

Keep an eye on this for a while and change the frequency at which you post to your blog. Not posting often enough is usually the problem blog owners have though.

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Another problem bloggers run into is creating content that is intriguing and “draws a reader in” to want to read more. Sometimes it is hard to think of ways to do this and bloggers continue to just post information about their niche, products, or services.

You are supposed to do this, but there are other techniques to grab a reader’s attention. For instance, you want the blog to be personable and write in such a way it is like you are talking to the reader.

Tell A Story

You can write a story of something that happens to you each day, or a current event that is happening in the world.

These stories are great to add to your blog but do remember you want the content to be evergreen. If you are not sure what that means, you create content without mentioning specific dates.

You also write it as if it just happened. This will make the content seem very current.

All you really need to do at this point is create a bunch of stories of events in your life and have them scheduled to post on your blog.

You can also schedule them to be announced on your social media accounts.

Schedule Your Content

The best results come from having your content scheduled a week or more ahead of time. It is recommended to create about seven to ten articles beforehand.

Then when you are ready and have content prepared and edited, schedule the dates they should be posted. WordPress has a feature where you can do this.

Now as your content gets published, it will post at the selected date and time you scheduled it to. When your readers look at it, they will see content being frequently posted and know you are constantly updating your blog.

But just posting to one blog may limit your audience. There are many other people who use other blog software such as Blogger. It is a good idea if you only have WordPress to have a blogger account.

Having more than one blog can seem like a chore; however, there are a variety of tools out there to help you keep both filled with content.

You will find some tools that can be set up to post to each blog simultaneously. You also have plugins in WordPress that will allow you to do this as well. It cuts down the time it takes to post to all of your accounts separately.

Spread The Word

Now that you have this established and set up, you will find you need to let people know you are posting to your blog and also let some people know that you have a blog in the first place.

Using tools and plugins available on the web and on WordPress can do this. There are tools when you make a blog post, it will automatically Tweet the announcement or update your status on Facebook.

Nothing is exactly automatic, but there are tools out there, which allow you to schedule your posts ahead of time. So as you plan your business and what you are going to write, you can add these posts to a tool and schedule the date and time you want people to see it.

On a side note, you want to schedule the times to reflect the time of day at which most people will see your posts.

Always remember, people want instant gratification. Depending on your view, some people believe there is no way to have it while others know there is.

You want to be the person who always finds a way to satisfy this part of our nature as humans. Those are the people who see much success as in sales increases, more fans, and even more ideas.

Initially, everything you do to keep your blogs and social media current is a lot of work. Once you have a system going and have all your tools are set up you will then be able to spend less time on your blog and social media as the tools will work for you and not against you.

You will also notice you have more time on your hands to create awesome content your fans will love.

Remember that planning ahead of the game will allow for the smoothest experience running your own business.

Being consistent and updating everything from your blog to your social media accounts on a regular basis pays off handsomely in the end.

You will shortly begin to realize how often to post to your account by the number of fans you gain and even the amount you lose. And once everything is set up to work for you, you will see how well it pays off.

The Science Of How To Form Habits

Most of us know that we have some bad habits that are standing in the way of us achieving what we want in life. We also know that we need to replace these with some empowering habits that will make the transition to a better life a lot easier.

This is all well and good but the problem is that breaking bad habits and forming new good ones is a tough thing to do. It requires dedication and effort that most people are not prepared to commit to.

If you really want to break your bad habits and form good ones that will change your life for the better then you need to understand how habits work. In this article we will look at the science behind habits so that you can understand them better and increase your chances of making a successful change in your life.

Habits Have Cues

All habits have cues. These are the things that trigger a specific habit within us. There are different categories of cues and the experts believe that they fall into five main categories which are:

Your emotional state
Specific times of the day
What you see
Where you are
The influence of others

A habit is a neurological loop in your subconscious mind. When the right cue appears it will automatically trigger the habit.

It is tough to change your response to these cues especially if you have habits that have been around for years. Most of the time we do not realize that our habits are being triggered by these cues.

There Is Always A Routine

As soon as you experience the right cue then you will go through a routine that means you will exhibit certain behavior or take specific actions. This is important because it provides you with the opportunity to replace a bad routine with a good routine.

Many psychological experts will tell you that it is far more effective to replace a bad routine with a good one than it is to attempt to totally eliminate a bad habit altogether.

This makes a lot of sense and makes the process of breaking your bad habits much easier if you replace the routine with something better. Habits have Rewards

All habits have a reward associated with them. You may not realize this but it is true. Each time you smoke a cigarette or eat junk food there is a reward attached to this. Smoking may make you feel relaxed for example. Even good habits have rewards such as cleaning your teeth makes your mouth and breath feel fresh.

You Crave Habits

Because you repeat your habits over and over you will receive your reward and then your brain will start to crave whatever the reward is. This craving strengthens the habit whether it is good or bad.

The craving is a positive thing for good habits because it makes the habit stick. On the flip side it is a negative for those bad habits because it will constantly nag at you to indulge in them.

You are now aware of the habit neurological loop that will help you to break any bad habits that you have and form new ones that are good for you. It is a matter of addressing the cues, routines and rewards to make the changes that you desire.

3 Phases Of Forming A Habit

People that are successful in life perform routines that support their success. You may have read that it takes approximately 21 days to form a new habit but there is more to it than that. A number of research studies have concluded that it actually takes people 66 days on average to form a new habit.

There is a process involved in forming new habits. It is not just a matter of doing something consistently for 66 days. If only it was that easy!

So, let’s dive further into what the three phases are to habit formation which will help you on your journey to forming the new habits that you desire.

1. Honeymoon Phase

Imagine meeting someone and then falling in love with them. The world seems a much better place after this doesn’t it? Every new day is exciting and you are prepared to do anything to make this new person in your life happy. You never want this feeling to end but in the majority of cases it does unfortunately.

Reality kicks in and things look different. You start to question whether you have made the right choice. The same can be said for forming a new habit. At the beginning you are very excited about what this new habit will do for you. You work hard at it and feel great about it.

Then suddenly you get past this honeymoon stage and things don’t look so great any more. It is now becoming a chore for you to keep your new habit going. Congratulations, you have just entered the critical stage.

2. Critical Stage

This is not called the critical phase for nothing. It is the time when reality really starts to kick in and you question whether all of the time and effort that you are spending on your new habit is really worth it.

Your motivation levels are at their lowest during this phase and if you don’t survive it then there is a real danger that your old bad habits will resurface and you will go back to your old ways.

You must successfully navigate your way through the critical phase to continue with your new habit and make it stick.

The best way to survive the critical stage is to do the following:

Be aware that you have entered the critical phase
Ask yourself the right questions to refocus and take control of your emotions
Visualize the big picture – how continuing with this new habit will change your life for the better in the future

3. Second Nature Phase

As you might expect, this phase means that your new habit has reached the stage of becoming second nature to you. This is a great place to be but you still need to be cautious here as you do not want to fall foul of these things that can put you back in the critical phase:

Getting discouraged
Having your new habit interrupted
Feeling that you have already done enough

Any one of these things can land you back in the critical stage. If you do end up back there then you need to keep fighting to get back in the second nature stage.

After that it is just a matter of carrying on until the new routine becomes an automatic habit.

You really need to work on your positive habits and to do that you will need to develop a strong success mindset and that is easier than you think; you may just need a few pointers to help you out along the way.

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