How Can I Work Smarter and Not Harder?

Many people mistake being busy with being productive. But being productive means that you deliver results in a timely manner. If you want to be more productive and focus on impact without working harder, you’ll need to keep your focus on deliverables and the impact of what you’re doing.

Focus on Deliverables

A deliverable is a result you’re shooting for when you make your plans. It could be a report, a slide deck, or even an experience like a ski trip – when you focus on the result you want to create from your work, you’ll eliminate most of the busy work during the planning process.

Chunk Down Tasks

Every task has many steps that need to be done to call the task finished. Chunk each task down to these smaller steps so that nothing seems like too much work. When you have chunked down tasks, you can take five minutes to do portions of any one project rather than having to do it all at once.

Organize Your Space

The best way to work smarter is to start with an organized area to work in. You will waste a lot of time if you have to constantly look for the tools you need to work with. Even if you have to get them all out to start over, you’re less likely to do it. Set things up, so it’s easy to do so that you have no excuses.

Get Rid of Distractions

When you start to work on anything, it’s always better to focus 100 percent on the task at hand. Turn off the TV, turn off the radio, find a way to focus the time you set aside 100 percent of the task, and you’ll find you get done faster and more accurately.

Use the Right Tools

Don’t try to do things without the right tools to save a buck. The truth is, you can likely find the tools at a good price second hand and save yourself a lot of struggle. When you use the right tools, the task gets done faster without mistakes.

Delay Gratification

Sometimes to motivate yourself, it helps to delay gratification for yourself. For example, if you know, you need to create an outline for your next blog post, but you hate outlining you may set yourself up to give up. But if you set up delayed gratification that if you outline that blog post, you can have a cup of coffee or go for a walk or do something you really enjoy, you’re more likely to get it done.

Eat Right and Exercise

It’s hard for anyone to work with proficiency and speed if they’re not feeling well. If you don’t eat right, exercise, and stay hydrated, you may be wasting time being sicker than you need to be. Place a priority on your health so that you can focus on the good things in life and not illness.

Incorporate Breaks

Always set your schedule to include refreshing breaks. Check out the Pomodoro Technique, which incorporates 25-minute work sessions with five-minute breaks, and then every three “Pomodoro’s” you get a longer 30-minute break. Anyone can do any kind of work for a short time.

The thing to remember about working smarter and not harder is that there is no productivity without the product. The product is your desired result that you set when you developed your goals and objectives, whether the deliverable is 100 pounds lost or a finished novel doesn’t matter, it’s the intentional planning and delivering that is important to avoid extra work.

The Value of Changing Your Perspective

The thing to know about perspectives is that every single individual on the planet has a relatively unique point of view, which encompasses their own individual experiences and situations. While it’s true that some people cross over and come to the same conclusions based on their lives and experiences, the way in which they got there is totally unique to them.

For this reason, and the unconscious biases that can accompany any one perspective, it’s valuable to learn to change perspective before making final decisions. Once you understand the value of changing your perspective, you can use this in all life areas.

•Enjoy a Better Understanding – When you seek knowledge from every angle, getting information from different sources, you will gain a much better understanding of the problem and its solutions.

•Change Your Feelings – Hearing from someone else about an issue can even change your feelings about it, despite your own internal biases due to your own personal perspective.

•Improve Your Relationships – Being open to other perspectives and points of view automatically makes you a safe person to be around for the people in your life. If you’re not judgmental and you listen, your relationships will be deeper.

•Overcome Biases – Every single person on the earth has unconscious biases about everything due to their own perspective. When you are able to look at other people’s perspectives, sometimes you can overcome your biases and thus make much better choices based on the real facts because, sadly, our own perspective sometimes can be clouded and not factual.

•Resolve Conflict Constructively – One of the best skills you can develop if you need to resolve conflicts on a regular basis is to be able to argue issues from other people’s perspectives. When you can do that, you can usually come to win-win conclusions.

•Solve More Problems Successfully – A person who can go outside of their comfort zone to collect and listen to many perspectives about a problem that needs to be solved they’re more likely to find a solution. That is why choosing diverse teams is essential to business success.

•Become a More Persuasive Person – The fact that you can look at and understand many perspectives as well as explain issues from these different points of view means that you’ll be able to argue much more persuasively because you can use words that relate to the people you want to persuade.

Being able to look at any issue from many different sides such as yours, other people, and an expert – is the best way to enjoy a better understanding of anything. Learning from this method will also help you become a more persuasive person so you can get more done because of your ability to look at things from someone else’s point of view.

Goal Setting for The Unorganized

Many creative and successful people also happen to be disorganized. Studies do show that being organized can help you become more successful, but you can still accomplish a lot even though you are disorganized.

This can be a problem sometimes because if you can’t unleash your creativity in a way that helps you achieve your goals, all the creativity in the world won’t help you become successful in life. But, if you can harness goal setting, even though you’re disorganized, you can start getting much more done anyway.

Make a List of Your Ideas

Disorganized people often have many, many ideas. You need to get them all out of your system. Keep an ongoing list of ideas so that if you get one, you can just put it on the list, and let it go until it’s time to deal with it. This will keep you from going from one thing to the next without thought.

Prioritize the List

Put the list in order of priority. You can even separate it into now and later or now and next. The important thing is to put the list in order of importance based on what you need to do first or what you want to see happen in your life.

Set SMART Goals

Learn everything you can about setting SMART goals, from the University of California. This process of setting goals will help you naturally prioritize your lists as well as set up the next steps for your goals so that you really reach them.

Set Up Steps for Success

Using your SMART goals, you’ll want to create steps for each goal that you plan to achieve. The process of goal setting ensures that you have specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely – so that you can set a due date – goals that make sense for you to reach.

Make Another List (or three)

You really need several lists, one for each part of your life. For some of you, you may want to separate these lists up into mind, body, spirit, or you may have home life, business life, personal life, social life, and so forth. What you’re going to do is put three top things you must do each day to achieve your goals in these areas of life, which will translate into 10 to 12 must-do daily tasks that will ensure you reach all the goals you set in every aspect of your life.

Schedule Everything

Don’t just make lists, always put the step-by-step actions you need to take into the calendar on the date and time you want to do them. That way, you only need to look at your calendar and then go do what it says without even having any willpower or organization needed.

Consistency is Key

Remember that no matter what you want to accomplish in life, doing it every day, a little at a time is going to be more successful than any other method you can think of. Doing something small each day toward the goal is the sure-fire method of cusses that you need when you’re not organized.

One Thing at a Time

One reason some people are disorganized is that they are trying to do something no human can do – multitask. Multitasking is a killer of time and organization that you can let go of. Focus on and schedule only one thing at a time so that you really focus on it and do it right.

When you’re really disorganized, it will take practice getting used to setting up your goals this way with steps for success scheduled in your calendar. Essential to this idea is your list of basic things you need to do in each area of your life on a regular basis to be successful. You can do this; you just need to get started. 

10 Ways to Simplify Your Life

It’s great to have a productive life; however, being busy doesn’t mean you’re productive. The best way to be more productive is to simplify your life. If you focus on making things faster, easier, and simpler you can get even more done while reducing stress.

1. Declutter and Organize – When you are surrounded by disorganization and clutter, it can make it take much longer to get anything done. If you have a home for everything and a place to do the things you like to do, it’ll all go much more smoothly.

2. Plan Meals – Don’t leave something as important as your nutrition to chance. Instead, plan meals. When you plan meals, you can ensure that the things you make provide what you need at your skill level and within your timeline.

3. Keep an Active Task List – Before you add anything to a list, ensure that it’s a task that helps you meet a goal you’ve set. The way to do that is to create SMART goals and, from those goals, create active tasks so that on any given day, you can look at your list and know what you need to do today.

4. Develop Habits and Routines – Willpower doesn’t work, but habits do. You can create habits by developing routines that enable you to get more done in less time. Plus, habits and routines ensure success in anything you want to accomplish from losing weight to starting a business.

5. Learn to Say No – This isn’t to say that you have to say no all the time. You can say yes anytime you want but do it mindfully. First, do you want to do it? Secondly, do you have the time and resources to do it? Third, what is the opportunity cost of saying yes or no?

6. Automate What You Can – There are many things in life now that can be fully automated, like paying bills. But there may be even more things in life that can be automated using today’s amazing technology that you should consider.

7. Outsource What You Can’t Automate – You can also outsource by giving chores and tasks to the rest of your family or by hiring someone. For example, you can hire someone to clean your home, care for your kids, and even shop and cook dinner.

8. Let Go of Anything Toxic– Something is toxic if it will not change, and you do not have control over whether it will change or not. If the buck doesn’t stop with you, let go of them or it so that you can move on and live a peaceful, happy, successful life.

9. Focus on Gratitude – The more ways you can focus on what you have that is good in your life, the better you’ll be able to enjoy everything else. This feeling of satisfaction will simplify your life because it will reduce drama.

10. Stop Trying to Multitask – The truth is, no one really can multitask that well. You’ll find that you enjoy things more if you focus 100 percent instead of splitting your time.

Having a simplified life doesn’t mean having a boring life or an unproductive life. In fact, if you focus on how you can make things easy for yourself (and others), you’ll soon find that you have a lot more happiness and satisfaction in your life.

8 Tips for Becoming Comfortable with Power

As you mature and grow into your life, you’re going to eventually assume progressively more powerful roles. At home, at work, or as an entrepreneur, the interesting thing is that once you have a position or title, everyone perceives your power, but it’s not given to you by them. To become more comfortable with power, follow these 8 tips.

1.Embrace Your Aspirations

For some reason, many people feel they cannot acknowledge their ambitions. This is especially true for women. They often hide their aspirations from others because they don’t want other people to criticize them or dissuade them. Ambition is normal. You don’t have to be miserable in the present to want more for the future. State what you want and do it with pride.

2.Avoid Negative Self Talk

It’s hard to totally avoid negative self-talk but what you can do is to train yourself that when you hear that negative talk in your mind to transition the thought to something positive or even neutral. Some studies even suggest that for bad days turning your negativity into something more neutral is just as effective as being falsely positive for helping you change your mindset.

3.Ask for Help When Needed

One thing that many people falsely assume as they move into their power through personal growth and development, their career, and homelife is that no one knows everything, and no one can be the expert on everything. Plus, there are always going to be things you don’t know and the worst thing about that is you may not even know what you don’t know enough to explain it or ask the right questions. For this reason, ask for help and bring in experts to help you make better choices.

4.Share Opinions and Ideas Confidently

When asked, give feedback by sharing your opinions and ideas. Share your thoughts confidently. When you do this, it will highlight your confidence and make you seem even more knowledgeable and powerful. Some people will appreciate what you say, even when you share negative aspects. Other people will focus on the negatives and that’s okay as long as you are truthful, and you share from an unbiased point of view. Just make sure that you keep everything confidential so you each gain and feel the trust.

5.Accept and Acknowledge Your Fears

Powerful people have fears too. It’s fine to have them and totally normal and natural. One reason people have so much imposter syndrome is due to buying into the idea that people “up there” don’t have the same fears that everyone else has. The good news is that everyone on the earth has fears, even the President of the United States or a ruler of the most oppressive regime. Strong man or not, they are also fearful. But it’s when you accept and acknowledge it that it loses its power over you.

6.Find Time to Be Quiet

Your brain needs downtime each day to renew while also still awake. Take time to be in a quiet place so that your brain can recharge. Go for a walk in the park, meditate, try float therapy. Do what you can to give your brain time to reset each day either through meditation or something else that is planned and quiet.

7.Be Open-Minded

Open-minded people listen to what others say, are empathetic, and are able to hear feedback without being defensive. They can listen to other ideas and accept them even when they disagree with them. Open-mindedness makes you curious about what other people think and keeps you very considerate of diversity. Plus, it’s much easier to keep your cool when something goes wrong.

8.Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

The only way to grow is to experience some discomfort. If your life is just a breeze with no stress whatsoever, you are probably not living up to your potential. When you leave your comfort zone, you enable growth to take place. Learning new things and doing the things that make you feel a little difficult or uneasy will make you feel good about yourself when you’ve gone through it due to the dopamine release, you’ll experience.

The truth is, the more you’re able to disregard your discomfort, the more you’re going to be able to take your position of power and use it for good. The good you can create in your life and others is also a very powerful thing that cannot be denied. And true power, authentic power, comes from you and not anyone else.

Capital Needed For Home Business

Whether it is a small business or a large one, the amount of capital required for any home business will vary. How much money is needed to start a home business does not have a simple answer? The average amount may be as low as a $1000 to as high as millions depending on the investments, the market you're trying to reach and the type of business you want to start.

The more competition you face and the more the demand for your services is what sets the tone for the capital required to run your home business.

How to know how much Capital is required for your Home Business:

If you're beginning, being able to calculate the amount of capital needed will not be an easy task. If you're new at this, taking some time, in the beginning, to do some research will set you off on the right foot. Only a few businesses can excel without research or prior experience; thus, consulting someone with experience beforehand is advisable before you set off trying to start your home business.

Research:

• Contact people in the same line of work as you intend to be to know what the starting costs and running costs would be of a similar business.
• Use a cost calculator designed specifically for startups to know what initial amount of money you will be requiring.
• Get in touch with retired business people who have worked in the same industry as you and can give you knowledge about it.
• Contact the suppliers you want to pursue to give you insight on retail prices.
• Hire a business or accounting expert to help you before you start your business.

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Investment Options When You Work From Home

Though many people willingly choose to work from home or are self-employed, a lot of them don’t plan for the future and end up saving close to nothing for their retirements. Financial issues may at the time seem too overpowering, but having some retirement plan is essential for everyone. There any many investment options that are designed specifically for those working from or running small businesses from home to minimize tax burden and growing a fund for retirement.

• SIMPLE IRA

The SIMPLE in SIMPLE IRA stands for ‘Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees’, while IRA means ‘Individual Retirement Arrangement.' If you have up to 100 employees, you can invest in a plan through this IRA. As an employee, you can contribute up to$13,500 per year, while as an employer, you can match up to 3%of your net earnings from self-employment.A 25% penalty fee is applied if you withdraw from SIMPLE IRA within two years of opening it, so putting money in it ensures that it will be there for the long run.

• Traditional or Roth IRA

Traditional or Roth IRA is considered to be a good start for those looking to invest. Anyone having some form of earnings or income can contribute to this IRA. However, you can only contribute $6,000 per year or $1,000 more if you’re 50 or older. Roth IRAs have a limit, though, so if you earn too much money per year, you cannot contribute to Roth IRAs. As for taxes, with Roth IRA, you cannot avoid taxes before, but you can avoid them after you take it out in retirement. For traditional IRA, you avoid paying taxes on the money you put into it before as well....

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Steps To Setting Up An Effective Work From Home Policy

Working from home is not uncommon any more, and more and more people are widely accepting remote working over on-site working. While though it has become quite the norm for many companies and businesses, formal policies to manage and monitor the process are not as commonly made by employers as one would hope.

Most companies hiring remote workers don't have policies regarding it, which can ultimately lead to confusion. Here are a few steps to setting up an effective work from the home policy:

• Outline Roles Eligible for Working from Home:

Though remote working may seem like a good option and prove to be more effective in the long run, not every employee is cut out to be a remote worker. Some employees require supervision and cannot work independently. Remote workers need to be disciplined, self-reliant and self-motivated.

Thus the remote workers you choose to work from home should be suitable and fit the category. They would not require being physically present at the office and must be well equipped and well-versed with technology to be able to carry out the job efficiently from home.

• Define the Purpose:

The policy you are setting up should have a definite purpose, which must be clearly stated to your employees. It should be defined in terms of a document and what the opportunity of working from home will benefit in the future. The policy should improve the experience for your employees at the company and should be in touch with what you believe in. Convey to them properly what role the policy will be playing in the company and how it will be put to use....

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Working Online From Home

No doubt, a 9-5 on-site job provides more stability and structure in life, but many people still prefer the flexibility and independence that comes with home-based jobs or jobs in which you work online. Due to the increase in technological advances, working from home has become fairly simple now, and there’s no reason why not to opt for it. Here are some ways to work online from home:

• Amazon FBA

Amazon FBA stands for Fulfillment by Amazon and is a service that Amazon provides, which assists sellers by providing them with services of storage, package and shipment. This way, sellers have to face less of a burden and can work more flexibly. Sellers ship their merchandise to Amazon, where they store items in warehouses, and when someone orders them, employees at Amazon package and ship it.

This is a good opportunity for people with new businesses because since you will be working for Amazon's shoppers, you will have a higher chance of your business growing. Amazon will ensure that your shoppers trust you right off the bat, and Amazon will do the best of all the hard work of packaging and shipment!

• Drop Shipping:

Drop Shipping is a model in which the seller doesn't store the goods that are to be sold in stores with themselves but instead contacts the seller or manufacturer directly when an order is placed, who then ships the product directly to the customer. You can choose the products you want to sell, and your supplier can deliver them directly to your customer's doorstep. This saves you from paying for storage space, and even packaging and delivery charges.

You can sell a wide variety of items through drop shipping. Sign up to websites that provide you access to suppliers online to get started on building your online store.

• Network marketing                                                                                              Network marketing is a business model that works from home and depends on person-to-person sales by self-governing agents. For this, you will have to build a network of business partners or salespeople to help you look for leads and close sales. It is also known as Multi-Level Marketing and usually appeals to home workers because of the independence that comes with this job. In network marketing, choosing the right company to work for is essential. Since you'll be responsible for pitching and selling products for them, make sure the products or services they're selling are safe and legal. Sincerity and enthusiasm will play a huge part in making this successful for yourself....
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10 Proven Home-Based Businesses You Can Start Today

Working from home is not a new ideology, and in the modern age due to the rise of usage and flexibility of technology, there are various forms of businesses that can be started from home and become successful if applied correctly. There are several proven home-based businesses you can start today, out of which ten are:

• Buy Products and Sell from Home:

If you’re looking to set up an online business from home, this may be a good option for you. This is a very simple model to follow and only requires you to purchase in bulk from suppliers and sell individually with a profit for yourself. If these products are easy to store and ship this is a good low-maintenance option to consider

• Sell Products you make yourself:

If you have a specific hobby or things you make yourself, such as homemade hygiene products or food items, you can consider turning that hobby into a business. Since you'll be the creator and seller of these items, you can manage every aspect of it. You can choose to sell these via Etsy or your private website and will prove to be a good way for you to involve passion with work.

• Own a Blog:

Starting a blog may seem like it won’t be worth much at the beginning; your blog can be a well-paying home business. Your blog can be on any topic that interests you, and there are multiple ways to earn from it, such as advertising, charging fees for membership, selling your homemade or drop shippingproducts, gettingsponsors or have others write sponsored posts for you.

• Start a Printing Business:

Starting a printing business can have a similar model to a dropshipping business model. You don't have to ship it yourself; have to have a supplier for yourself. If you consider yourself good at designs or can create creative designs, all you need are white label products and can sell a wide range of products such as books, t-shirts, mugs, and cushions, to name a few.

• Become a YouTuber:

Many people consider being a YouTuberas not a real job, but it is, in fact, no lie that they probably end up earning more than the average worker with a regular job. Just like a blog, your YouTube channel can be independent or can be used to promote your other business of the products you're selling. By becoming a YouTuber, you can earn money by becoming a YouTube partner by advertisements, sponsors, or selling merchandise....

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