If you’re creatively inclined, then you probably enjoy most of your time coming up with ideas, but you’re likely less intrigued by the serious business side that requires a lot of focus and monotonous work.
Any creative projects require these aspects to become full-fledged products or ideas, as annoying as it may seem. Don’t panic when it comes time to set aside your creativity, because you will get back to it.
Instead, just focus on your intentions with the creative idea and work to bring it to reality. While ideas certainly have merit, they’re not particularly useful if they’re never put into action.
Often times, putting them into action can be a tedious process, but it becomes worth it to see your creative endeavor brought to life, able to accomplish the goals that you had in mind when you thought of it in the first place.
For example, if you came up with a great infographic to inform people about a topic that you’re passionate about, it wouldn’t get very far as a simple idea or rough draft. A completed product that was shared and spread online would be able to actually inform others and spread your knowledge, but it’s going to take work.
You’re going to have to do research and cite sources, make it look nice, and go through the work of getting it to be spread and shared around. These are tedious things, but since your intent was to spread knowledge to begin with, it makes it worth your effort.
You might also want to create something with the intent of generating some income for yourself. It might be something like designing logos for up and coming companies or making physical products that people can buy on websites like Etsy.
The thought process is fun when you get to utilize your creativity, but then comes the actual process of bringing it to reality. Gathering materials, stocking your inventory, shipping purchases – all of these things can be a hassle.
Regardless of whether or not it’s a pain for you to do, your intention was to make money. The only way for you to do that is to give them an actual product. Very seldom will people pay good money for the concept of something that they’ll have to actually create themselves.
Instead, they’re more interested in purchasing a completed product, something that they don’t have to put any more work into. That’s where your effort to backburner your creativity comes in handy.
While technology and all of the gadgets we have today are certainly useful and can help you work more efficiently, they may also be dragging down your creativity and focus.
Whether it be a ton of distractions on all your devices or the fact that you might be using them as a crutch, they can sometimes do more harm than good for your creative flow and ability to focus.
In these situations, it’s best to put all of the tech down and just focus with the bare essentials. It’s almost like a palate cleanser. While you spend hours and hours writing on Word documents or drawing pictures in Photoshop, you can just as well get it done with a good old fashioned pen and paper.
It might not be as efficient, but it helps in ways that you might not anticipate. The best thing to do when attempting this is to separate yourself from as much technology as possible.
Otherwise, you shouldn’t be listening to music or watching anything, and preferably it’s somewhere outside where you can really absorb the sights and sounds of nature. When you don’t have the distractions of technology, from constant alerts to easily accessible entertainment, you might find that you’re able to be much more focused.
You’re there with only your own work to do, and otherwise you have nothing to really focus on. If you’re having trouble focusing, this might be a great way to get you back on track.
In terms of creativity, technology is very helpful, but it can start to become more of a crutch than a tool. If you know that you can always reference random guides online and draw inspiration from all kinds of other designs, then you may start to lose your creative edge.
By isolating yourself from all of that, you’ll be able to use your own pure creativity to create something entirely unique, without the reliance on all kinds of other sources. You should always look at technology as a tool – a means to an end.
It’s an amazing tool that you can and should take advantage of, but sooner or later, you’re going to reach a point where you’re becoming overly dependent on it, at which point you need to take a break and reassess.
Productivity is often stressed above all else in businesses today. It’s the best way to put out product after product, which typically results in the highest profit yield. However, productivity isn’t everything.
You need to be able to put out something that you’re proud of, something original and creative, and too much focus on productivity may stifle that, leading to some rather negative consequences.
There are many companies that would rather put out as many products as possible instead of making high quality products a priority. There’s a balance to be found between the two.
You obviously can’t release just one small product every year, but you also can’t be rushing so quickly that you’re not putting enough effort into things. Once you start to rush through your projects without care, you’ll start to slip.
If they’re used to receiving quality products from you, ones that are made with much love and care, they’ll be pretty sour once they start receiving a ton of mediocre work.
At that point, word may start to spread, and you can actually end up losing business. Creativity takes time. That is a fundamental part of business – it doesn’t just come out of thin air.
It takes time and care for you to develop an idea fully and to polish it to near perfection. You can’t take all the time in the world to get it done, since you naturally have certain deadlines to meet, but you can put a bit of extra time and effort into it to get it just as you’d like, to make something you’re proud of.
Extended periods of time spent pumping out as much as you can without any true creative input can actually hurt you in the long run as well. It might get you some short term sales, but it’ll start to fall off.
Creativity is like a muscle. It needs to be exercised frequently in order to grow and develop as well as stay healthy. If you’re not spending some time honing your creativity over a certain amount of time, it will start to degrade.
Eventually, you’ll be left without the same degree of creativity that you had before, and it can be difficult to get back into your flow when you need it. Instead of focusing on pure quantity, make sure you’re actually putting some heart and effort into the things you produce.
Well, as I’m sure you can appreciate, there is a lot more to be learnt about increasing focus and productivity; far more than can be covered in this short post, but if you’d like to know more about this, then click on the featured resource below where you can pick up a free report, Stay Focused For Success, that covers this topic in more detail. Download, read it and take action 😊
Work addiction is just like most other addictions. It’s hard to break and you’ll need to be mindful about it at all times so that you can wean yourself off this addiction.
The good news is that unlike smoking or drug addiction, it’s easier to stop being a workaholic. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy… and in these times, with the workload and stresses that abound, Jack just might go mad if he doesn’t take a break.
The first step to understanding why you’re addicted to work will be to self-reflect on why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Very often, there are feelings of guilt or fear associated with working too much. You may feel guilty at not earning enough to provide for your family. Or maybe you’re working long hours just to please your boss because you fear losing your job.
Once you understand what’s making you work such long hours, you’ll be able to understand how to fix the root cause of the problem. In some cases, it would be a good idea to speak to a professional for guidance.
The best way to break work addiction will be to have a fixed schedule that you blindly follow. This will mean starting work at the same time every day and stopping at the same time.
Ideally, you shouldn’t be working more than 8 or 9 hours a day. You could push it up to 12 hours, but not beyond that. Even 12 hours is extreme.
All work you need to complete for the day needs to get done within the working hours. Then it’s time for you to switch off and wind down.
You MUST be extremely strict with this routine of starting and stopping work at the same time daily. This will help you break your addiction to work and help you to let go of the need to keep hustling and grinding to do more and more to a point where it’s a never-ending cycle.
You can get more done in a shorter time by increasing your productivity. Very often, people spend time at the water cooler gossiping, or attending unnecessary meetings that are time wasters.
You want to be doing work that matters and not just ‘busy work’ that makes it look like you’re working – but what you’re doing is irrelevant, and you’ll need to spend more time doing the relevant work later.
Whatever can be automated, should be automated. Whatever can be delegated, should be delegated.
You may need to pay for software or hire help (workers, freelancers, etc.) to handle your workload. The investment will pay for itself many times over by freeing up your time so that you’re not overworked.
Exercise is fantastic for giving you a mental break from the stresses at work. It’ll also release dopamine in your body.
Try to end every workday with a 20-minute exercise session. It could be yoga or sprints or just some bodyweight training. These 20 minutes will help your body stretch the muscles, get the heart pumping and the blood flowing.
You’ll feel better and less stressed out. You’ll also have something to look forward to after work, provided you enjoy the activity you’re doing. So, find one that’s fun.
“Workaholics are addicted to activity; super achievers are committed to results.”
– Charles Garfield
Being a workaholic can have many negative repercussions in your life if you do not get your addiction under control. Just like most addictions, very often, the person who is addicted to work doesn’t see their addiction for what it is.
Their reasons for working so hard are often plausible on the surface. They’re trying to progress in life, or provide for their family or they love their job and so on.
Relationship with the spouse is strained and they’re a stranger to their family members. They’re also highly stressed out and life seems to have lost its purpose… and work is the only thing keeping them going.
It can be extremely hard admitting to yourself that you’re a workaholic. A few common signs have been listed below. If you agree with 2 or more of them, you’re probably a workaholic and will need to take steps to remedy this problem.
This is the most obvious sign. You can easily work 12 to 14 hours a day and it seems normal to you. In some cases, it could go up to 16 hours or more.
While some minimum wage jobs have 12-hour shifts, these are mandated by the company, and you’re given rest days too.
However, when you’re working from home and subjecting yourself to such long hours daily with minimal rest, you’re a workaholic.
Most workaholics put their family commitments in second place. Work always comes first. Family events, communication, dinner time, etc. are all distractions that get in the way of the work.
If you often let down your friends and family because of work, you just might be a workaholic.
Workaholics are so busy working they rarely even think of taking a vacation. If the last time you went on a holiday was years ago, you’re probably a workaholic.
If you do go on a vacation, but keep thinking about work, you’re definitely a workaholic.
A workaholic thinks about work while having their meals or talking to others or even watching TV. They can’t think of anything else besides their work commitments.
Most workaholics are either addicted to caffeine, alcohol or nicotine.
Very often, caffeine is used to keep them alert so that they can keep going even when they’re tired.
Alcohol and cigarettes help them to calm down because the stress at work gets to them and these deleterious habits are their coping mechanisms.
Workaholics tend to be perfectionists, or they have unrealistically high standards for themselves. The work can always be better and improved upon.
They dislike delegating their work because they don’t want to lose control and feel like others will not be able to do as good a job as them. As a result, their hands are full and their workload never decreases.
Recognition and acceptance of the problem is the first step. From there, it’s just a matter of better time management, increasing your productivity and learning to delegate more so that you can maintain a good work-life balance.
Whatever you want in life will require discipline to achieve and maintaining a healthy work life balance is a small part of that. And if you want to know more about harnessing the power of self-discipline, then check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 🙂
“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.”
– J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan
Our lives are a reflection of our beliefs. Most of us know this, and yet, we cling on to old negative beliefs – even when they hold us back.
Discarding them and creating new beliefs seems to be a Herculean task.
Yet, if we stopped to think about it and ask ourselves, “Where did we get these beliefs from?” … we’d realize that most of them were ingrained in us by our parents, teachers and other ‘well-meaning and sensible’ adults when we were young.
In most cases, these self-limiting and defeatist beliefs will impede your progress when you decide to become an entrepreneur. You’ll be setting yourself up for failure from the get-go.
Let’s look at some of the most common beliefs that are injurious to your goals…
This is probably the biggest fallacy of the lot. This misconception creates a catch-22 situation. You want to get into business to improve your financial standing… but you need money to get into business – and that’s money you don’t currently have.
So you’re doomed.
But is this reasoning valid? Do you really need money to start?
In the same vein, nothing is stopping you from starting off small and climbing the ladder of business success. It’s resourcefulness and not resources that you need.
Do not count yourself out just because you lack the finances. Rest assured that enthusiasm, confidence, passion and hard work will help you find the resources you need, and you’ll be able to employ them to forward your business.
And when you do start to see some financial reward, don’t take it and spend it! During the early stages of your business it pays to put it back into the business, whether that be with outsourcing the stuff you don’t like or can’t do, or investing in tools that can move your business forward quickly.
The world loves a winner and tends to put them up on pedestals. The media gives them coverage. Books are written about them and so on.
Parents, teachers, etc. often tell us to model successful people and read biographies. The goal is to be like these larger-than-life people who define the epitome of success.
Millions of people dream of being the next Michael Jordan or the next Elon Musk. Or the next pop star… and so on.
And yet, if you asked Michael Jordan who he wanted to be, he’d most probably say that he wanted to be Michael Jordan.
They’re so focused on being the best they can be that they don’t have time to try and be like someone else.
Using a role model to inspire you is a start… but if you want to truly see success, you’ll need to lead rather than follow. You’ll need to put yourself in the limelight and be willing to be seen by the masses, rather than quietly skulking in the shadows.
You’ll get the accolades and recognition, but you’ll also get brickbats and hate. This is par for the course. Just remember, leaders lead. You must lead if you want massive success.
Now I know that many people reading this will not want to become leaders, but if you truly want to succeed at the highest level, you simply MUST step up and become a leader in your niche.
A lack of patience has sounded the death knell on more goals/dreams than any other cause.
The current society we live in encourages impatience.
Instant notifications, text messaging, microwaves, instant meals, entire 22-episode seasons of Netflix shows presented all at once, etc. have made us believe that anything can be had fast.
We want results and we want them now. Preferably yesterday.
Life, however, has quite a different set up. Any worthy goal will take you time to achieve. Usually, it will take you longer than you believe. SO, you must have patience, lots of patience!
Like Jeff Bezos said, “All overnight success takes about 10 years.”
You can’t shrink the journey to fit into a 90-minute Hollywood movie. There is no rousing soundtrack to inspire you. Success is an ugly, dirty fight where you’ll have to claw your way to the top.
It has ALWAYS been that way.
You may wonder, “Why is this happening to me? Why is it so hard?”
The truth is that it doesn’t just happen to you. It happens to every entrepreneur who wishes to level up. This is the turbulence you need to get past until you reach cruising altitude.
And it will take you time. So, if you lack patience, it’s time to tell yourself that you’re in for the long haul.
Try breaking down what you want into smaller chunks. Not only does this make your chances of success much more achievable, it also allows you to have some quick wins along the way which can satiate the desire for instant gratification that plagues so many of us nowadays.
Now that you’re aware of these 3 negative beliefs, you can take steps to fix them and be on your way to success.
Whatever you want in life will require discipline to achieve and overcoming negative thoughts and self doubt is a small part of this. So, if you want to know more about harnessing the power of self-discipline, then check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 🙂
We all have a hundred different ideas that we feel could be a smashing success in our industry.
Whether it be the idea for a new product or service, there’s more ideas than there is time.
This is where you need to learn to reign in all of those ideas you have and construct an action plan that not only fleshes those ideas out so you can weed out the likely winners from the duds, but it will help you focus on boosting productivity.
Why do you need to do this?
Because it’s been proven that the human brain can’t focus on more than one thing at a time.
When we try to divide our attention, we end up scattered. Our quality also suffers. While learning to multi-task may seem like a great idea, narrowing your focus so that you’re tackling one task at a time will always produce better results.
So, what can you do when you have more ideas to grow your business than you have time for?
Begin by jotting down the top ideas that come to mind. Don’t write summaries or get carried away with hashing out the details. Instead, write down titles for each idea.
Then, tear them apart, one-by-one. Be realistic with your expectations and the time you have to spend on each project. Think about your core audience and what they’d be most interested in.
Create a priority list based on all the ideas you have. Again, keep your audience in mind because the ideas you have may not align with what your market is actively looking for.
Otherwise, you’ll spend more time thinking about and analyzing ideas, versus bringing those ideas to life.
A project management system is a great tool when it comes to not only fleshing out potential ideas but in staying on track with the projects you’re working on.
Day-to-day operations can be exhausting to keep track of. With a system in place that makes it easy for you to assign value to projects, allocate time and be able to generate a quick snapshot at where you are during each project will make it easier to stay focused on your end goals.
There are countless project management tools available to you including Asana and Basecamp.
You can easily create schedules using Google Calendar found here:
https://gsuite.google.com/learning-center/tips/calendar
By now you probably realise that there are different ways you can improve focus and subsequently, increase productivity and quality output and I have covered a number of them in this and other blog posts.
And now I want to give you a few more tips and strategies that I hope will help you. You can never have enough ways to boost your productivity, right?
Previously I have mentioned the importance of narrowing your focus down to one main goal at a time since it’s been proven that our brain responds better when we are working on one project at a time, rather than attempting to multi-task.
Use project management tools such as Asana or Basecamp to help you stay on track.
What projects aren’t panning out? What do you feel is less likely to be a success?
What tasks could be wiped off the to-do list? Take a step back and evaluate the things you’re spending your time on, staying on the lookout for ways to free up your time and improve your focus.
This is an important one when it comes to staying focused. If you’re finding yourself burned out working on tasks that you are simply not interested in, chances are the quality of your projects won’t be up to par.
Instead, learn to delegate the tasks that you don’t personally enjoy. Not only will you be able to increase output, but you’ll be able to provide a higher level of quality to your customer base by turning to the experts.
Struggling to complete a task because you lost focus?
And finally…
We all struggle with focusing on tasks, especially repetitive or mundane ones. Even the most organized of us all has those moments where no matter what we do to try to refocus on our goals, it feels as though we’ll never get ahead.
So cut yourself some slack when this happens. Acknowledge the fact that you can only do so much. Sometimes taking a step back and giving ourselves permission to simply take a creative break is enough to boost productivity and re-focus on the bigger picture.
Here are some steps to take that may help you with that:
Well, as I’m sure you can appreciate, there is a lot more to be learnt about increasing focus and productivity; far more than can be covered in this short post, but if you’d like to know more about this, then click on the featured resource below where you can pick up a free report, Stay Focused For Success, that covers this topic in more detail. Download, read it and take action 😊
Are you ready to start getting more out of your life and to start getting the results you want? For many of us, success is a very slow process and one that involves a huge amount of work and effort.
For others, it all seems to come very naturally. We all know those people, the ones who seem to have the Midas touch – who seem to strike lucky no matter what they do. What’s their secret?
It’s making that cognitive shift that will help you to start making the progress you want to see in your life and moving away from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. And here are five of the biggest ways that changing your outlook can change your fortunes…
Problems Become Challenges
A success mindset turns problems into challenges.
It means that you stop seeing setbacks as the end of the world and start seeing them as new opportunities to kick ass and take names!
When you take this approach, nothing can stand in your way!
And Failures Become Learning Experiences
You might have this idea in your head that highly successful people can never put a foot wrong or make a mistake. That’s far from the truth though.
They see it as a chance to try again – now with new information!
You Feel Amazing
When you genuinely believe you can do anything, it doesn’t just affect the way you walk around the office and conduct yourself in business.
It changes the way that you present yourself and feel about yourself. In short, you feel awesome.
You Become Instantly More Attractive
What is the secret to attractiveness in both genders? You guessed it: confidence!
People who are confident tend to be more charismatic and positive, so others will naturally tend to gravitate towards them.
You Finally Start Getting What You Want
Finally, when you adopt an open mindset for success and everything that comes with that, you’ll finally start to get what you want.
When you have a clear goal and mission, anything becomes possible. It’s just a matter of time.
‘Create a success mindset’ they say.
‘Just go after the things you want in life’ they say!
‘Take risks’ they say…
Some people seem to be able to rewire their mind with ease, but for others it can be a real struggle to change the way they think from negative to positive.
Here are the top five challenges of creating a success mindset:
You Don’t Know What You Want
This is a surprisingly common issue and one that rarely gets brought up.
How can you go after what makes you happy if you don’t really know what that is? How can you find a goal and stick to it when you fear commitment?
Clarity is key to changing the way you think; once you know what you want, you can put your efforts into achieving it, but it you aren’t really sure about what you want, you will make excuses to procrastinate, and you’ll never make any progress.
Having Weird Aims
Or what if you know what you want in life, but your aims are just too weird or unattainable? What if you don’t want to start a business, travel or start a family. What if you want to be an acrobat? And you’re 60?
What if everyone will laugh at you?
I’m not saying that you should restrict yourself, but you need to be realistic.
If you want to know more about enjoying the journey, check out this training because it is important to not just enjoy the end goal but also the whole process: Enjoy The Journey
Being Conflicted
Or how about being torn between travelling and settling down with the person you love?
What if your heart is genuinely pulling you in two different directions?
What if going after your dream, means saying goodbye to people you love, or turning your back on the things that made you who you are?
This is where clarity can help, but ultimately you need to decide what is most important to yourself.
Being Honest With Yourself
We are prideful creatures, and our very psychology is wired in such a way as to protect our fragile egos. We don’t want to admit to our failures, and we don’t want to feel like we’re going backward.
And it’s even more difficult to blame the person in the mirror, but the responsibility for your own path in life is ultimately yours!
Responsibility to Others
It’s easy to say that you should take a leap and apologise later but what if people are really relying on you to be mature and stable?
What if your goal is to go travelling but your wife just got pregnant? Yes, there are ways around this too – you can explain how important this is to you and convince her to come with you.
But it won’t always work. And at the end of the day, you’re always going to be giving your child a less stable home.
There are answers to all these problems of course – but just know that the path isn’t as simple as some would have you believe!
If you want to know more about changing the way you think, check out the featured resource below for a free Strong Mindset report; download, read it and take action 😊
