How To Identify What Really Matters to You: YOU!

In 2015 Working Mother magazine released its second Women’s Healthcare Innovation and Leadership Showcase, which showed how the women surveyed ranked taking care of themselves and others.

As you might imagine, women ranked taking care of their children as their #1 priority.  Number two was pets, number three was elder relatives, number four was their partner/spouse and number five was themselves.

Yes, last on the list of who women take care of was themselves.

Is this a problem?  I say it is.

While it is extremely important to take care of others, as women, we must place the highest value on taking care of ourselves first.  Only when we place our spiritual, physical and emotional needs first can we truly take care of others in the best way possible.

How can we begin to do this?  Where do we even start?  Try these tips:

Change your mindset

First, you need to change your mindset.  Most likely you believe putting yourself first is a selfish or arrogant decision.  This is not the case.  Putting yourself first means you are putting your health at the top of the list and when YOU are healthiest (in all realms) you are best able to care for others.

Get back to your passion

If you’re not sure how to identify something to do in order to put yourself first, think back on your passions.  Perhaps even make a list in your journal about things you were once passionate about.  It may be a long time since you’ve taken the time to partake in an activity you’re passionate about – like painting, singing, crafting, etc.  Try not to look at taking time to do so as “indulging” (it’s not!) but as re-charging your life-batteries so you can then take care of others with a more authentic and fulfilled version of yourself.

Cherish your body

Cherishing your body is such an important way of taking care of yourself!  Again, this is not indulgent, but a way to take care of you so you can better takes care of others!  Take time to go for a walk or take a yoga class or treat yourself to a long overdue massage or pedicure.  Such activities will give you a sense of relaxation and renewal so you can better care for others around you.

Spend time with friends

Spending time with friends is often something that gets put at the bottom of the “to do” list during our busy lives.  Who has time to go out for lunch with a girlfriend when there’s a house to be cleaned, doctors’ appointments to bring family members to and bills to be paid?  You do!  It is so important to give yourself permission to take a break from the business of life and spend time with friends.  Friends remind us of who we are.  They make us laugh, they make us remember, they make our hearts sing and they remind us that we are individuals first and foremost.

Let go of the guilt

No matter how you decide to try putting yourself first, please – above all – let go of the guilt.  There is nothing wrong with exalting yourself.  You are an excellent caregiver to others, but to remain so you need to also show great love and care to yourself.

Need a speaker who moves the audience to action? Check out DeLores Pressley’s keynotes and presentations. Discover why OPRAH, Kellogg, Roche, Coca-Cola, and Women’s Associations have DeLores speak on their platforms. Contact Vickie@DeLoresPressley.com to inquire about her inspiring, engaging and interactive presentations that move people to success.

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7 Ways to Find Your Life Purpose

Like the ebbs and tides of the ocean’s waves, your life’s purpose is forever changing.

In your twenties and thirties, for example, your purpose in life may be to nurture and enrich the lives of your children by being a stay-at-home mom.

In your forties or fifties, your purpose may be to care for an ailing parent.

Everyone’s life purpose is so different and so fluid depending on circumstances they face.  Sometimes one’s life purpose is very clear, but other times it’s foggy and hard to identify.

If you’re at a mile-marker in your life where you need to find your life’s purpose, here are seven tips:

1. Identify your passion

Many times one’s purpose in life is simply one’s passion. What is your passion?  Is it singing, writing, caregiving, the outdoors, painting?  Often times, the activity that makes our heart smile is what God intended for us to use to help others, help ourselves and give purpose to our lives.

2. Pray

Perhaps you have many passions and, thus, many different roads you could travel to share your life’s purpose with others.  Or, perhaps you never had the opportunity to develop or explore a passion and, therefore, your purpose in life is very hard to identify.  One way to find your purpose is to pray.  Ask God to guide you to where he wants you to be and keep an open mind. Where he leads you may be someplace you’ve never considered purposeful before.

3. Hire a life coach

A life coach is a professional that can help you improve your career, relationships and overall life.  Unlike a sports coach, they don’t try to fix what’s wrong (ex. a bad swing, a poor gait), but instead build on the positive strengths and abilities their client already possesses.  A life coach has the tools and training to help you find your life purpose and then implement that purpose into action.

4. Seek counsel from loved ones

Sometimes our life purpose may not seem clear to us, but is crystalline to our friends and family.  If you’re struggling to identify your purpose in life talk to friends, family and pastoral leaders you trust and respect. You don’t necessarily need to ask them their opinion on what your life purpose should be, but have them tell you how they see you.  The descriptors that they use may lead you to better defining your purpose in life.

5. Watch videos of keynote speakers

Keynote speakers are those wonderfully motivating and inspiring individuals that command an audience’s attention during a large gathering like a luncheon or conference.  Often their words can stir action in us.  If you need to identify your purpose in life then spend some time watching videos of keynote and motivational speakers on YouTube.  There is a good chance listening to the words of others who have been successful in identifying their purpose in life will help you to do the same.

6. Journal

Journaling is a wonderful way to identify those feelings and find answers hidden deep inside of us.  Some people shy away from journaling because they fear it’s just one more piece of “work” they have to add to their day.  Some people fear journaling because they believe it is too much “work.”  It does not have to be work.  Start out by letting your imagination run wild and listing all your dream jobs, for example.  In this list you may just uncover your purpose in life.

7. Collect quotes

Often times we can find clarity in the words of others when we can’t identify it in ourselves.  If you Google the term “quotes on life purpose” you’ll be amazed by the massive lists online.  Some websites have over 400 motivating and inspiring quotes by people from all walks of life and all spiritual persuasions. Spend some time reading them and saving the ones that resonate with you.

Here are a few to get started:

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

“The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better.” ― Robert F. Kennedy

“Do what you want to do in life and you will see what life will do to you on earth. What you always do, pays what it always pays!” ― Israelmore Ayivor

“One of the first steps toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of what others think about you.” ― DeLores Pressley

Need a life coach or inspirational speaker who moves the audience to action? Check out DeLores Pressley’s keynotes. Discover why OPRAH, Kellogg, Roche, Coca-Cola, and Women’s Associations have DeLores speak on their platforms. Visit www.DeLoresPressley.com to inquire about her inspiring, engaging and interactive presentations that move people to success.

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Inoffensive Ways to Share Your Faith at Work

When you are a passionate believer in God, it is natural to want to share your profound love for Him in all your realms: home, church, clubs and work.  However, if this sharing is not done with tact and grace it is quite possible you will have co-workers that are disinterested or sometimes even offended with you sharing your faith on the job.  Don’t be discouraged, though.  There are still many ways to share your faith at work that are respectful and inoffensive to others. Here are some suggestions:

Answer if asked

If a co-worker asks you a question about your life outside of work, don’t feel like you have to omit your Christianity.  For example, if a co-worker says, “What did you do this weekend?”  it is totally okay to say “I went to Church” or “I volunteered with a group from my Church at the community gardens.” Don’t go overboard with details (as that could be offensive to some people) but use the conversation as an opportunity to share this important part of yourself.  If your co-worker follows your answer up with a question like, “What Church do you go to?” or “That’s really awesome, how could I volunteer?” then by all means tell more!

Lead by example

Sure (in most cases) it would be offensive to start preaching in the conference room, but that doesn’t mean you have to cease practicing what you preach at work!  Even the most religion-free workplace provides a multitude of opportunities to share your faith through good deeds and actions.  Most companies and businesses participate in community service days – take the lead and volunteer to help organize or run such events. If someone asks you what motivates you to always be giving back or helping others, it’s okay to answer truthfully:  your love for the Lord.  Above all, model the Christian spirit at work.  Always practice kindness, never gossip and be a support to your co-workers and the community you work in.

Start a lunch group

Consider starting a lunch group with other men and women of faith and those who possibly wish to exercise their faith more. Or start a bible study or a woman of faith networking group at your church. You can invite people personally. It’s important not to be pushy when doing so, but just gracefully extend the invitation and leave it as that.  You may be surprised who shows up!

These are just a few ways you can share your Christian faith with your co-workers in a way that will not offend, but quite possibly inspire. Know your company policy when it comes to religious beliefs. Be true to yourself in all places – work included – just as the Lord is true to you in all places.

Need a speaker who moves the audience to action? Check out DeLores Pressley’s keynotes. Discover why OPRAH, Kellogg, Roche, Coca-Cola, and Women’s Associations have DeLores speak on their platforms. Contact Vickie@DeLoresPressley.com to inquire about her inspiring, engaging and interactive presentations that move people to success.

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There is More to My Life: Leaving a Lasting Legacy

I really don’t think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don’t mind the failure but I can’t imagine that I’d forgive myself if I didn’t try. – Nikki Giovanni

You are successful.  You go about your day creating positive changes in your company, contributing to society and inspiring young women around you (whether you realize it or not).  But, are you fulfilled?

For many of us who have found success in our careers and comfort in our bank accounts, success is absolutely evident on paper, but perhaps not in our hearts.  There comes a point in life – no matter how successful you are at work – that you want to leave a lasting legacy.

A lasting legacy is a part of you that remains and continues to spread positive light even when your body is gone.

How can you create a lasting legacy?  Here are some suggestions…

Identify your passion

What do you want your legacy to be?  A great place to start is to identify your passions. Take a notebook and jot down the things that you are passionate about; the issues that make your heart sing.  Perhaps your passions are helping animals or inspiring young women. Perhaps you love to write or are enamored with coral reefs.  These issues may be entirely different than what you do professionally and that is entirely OK!  Your passions may even be hidden passions – something you’ve always wanted to do, but never took the time for (like making pottery or taking ballet lessons).  Once you identify your passions you will be well on your way to creating a lasting legacy.

Meet with a life coach

If you’re still not sure what your lasting legacy should be (art, writing, music, etc.) or need a boost of confidence that your idea for a lasting legacy is “OK” meeting with a life coach is a wonderful step.  A life coach is a trained professional who helps you live your unique and one-of-a-kind life to the fullest.  A life coach can help you identify your dreams, the things that are important to you and the type of legacy you want to leave behind.

Enlist a financial planner

Some lasting legacies will only require your passion and talent – such as taking art lessons and creating paintings for all of your children and grandchildren or writing your memoir.  Others though, will require a substantial amount of money.  If, for example, your passion is helping young women attend college and you want your legacy to be an endowed scholarship, you will most certainly want to meet with a financial planner.  A financial planner can make sure you can achieve your dreams while realistically helping others achieve theirs as well.

These ideas should help you get on your way to leaving a lasting legacy for yourself and others.  Congratulations for reaching this milestone in your life – it is a sign that you’ve not only been successful, but have remained humble, giving and God centered in the process.

Need a speaker who moves the audience to action? Check out DeLores Pressley’s keynotes. Discover why OPRAH, Kellogg, Roche, Coca-Cola, and Women’s Associations have DeLores speak on their platforms.

Contact Vickie@DeLoresPressley.com to inquire about her inspiring, engaging and interactive presentations that move people to success.

Need help with building your legacy? Email Assist@DeLoresPressley.com to get more information.

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How to Create a Marvelous Life

Caught up in the swirl of everyday activities, we’re told life is just like that – a boring, mediocre race of perpetual movements that don’t make our hearts skip a bit often enough. People have great lives only in the movies, right? Well, that’s not quite true – there are more than a handful of people who are living the dream! Learn how to create a marvelous life for yourself by reading this guide.

To start with, seek your own motivation. Discover what you feel passionate about in life and what makes you get up in the mornings with a smile on your face. It’s completely normal to sometimes feel like you’re lacking motivation – you’re a human being, not a computerized machine that can be pre-set to a specific emotion! Don’t forget that reading or watching something motivational serves as a nice boost for most people, so you might want to give that a try.

Once you find your drive, try finding joy in the little things in life and start your days by acknowledging God and everything great in your life. If you think about it, life’s so simple and yet so strikingly beautiful – people sometimes overcomplicate things by putting their focus too much on the negative rather than the positive. Remember that you’ll never trip on mountains; it’s the pebble that trips you.

While you’re doing all of those changes, don’t forget to work on your confidence. Confidence comes from being brave enough to acknowledge your flaws and weaknesses and work on improving them. Nothing speaks more about being content with the life you have rather than having a healthy dose of self-confidence. However, be gentle on yourself while working on that much-needed confidence boost; everyone is far from perfect and it’s exactly our flaws that make us unique.

On top of that, joining a mastermind group will be one of the best decisions you’ll ever do in life. It doesn’t matter whether you’re just someone who performs better in a group or needs a little push from someone – everyone is welcome there! You’d be surprised by the number of new things you get to learn about yourself once you feel free to share whatever has been troubling you. Mastermind groups allow you to be more courageous and take on challenges you’d never even thought of before.

Last but certainly not least, learn how to love yourself. If you have trouble doing that, then think that God loves you and accepts you just the way you are – why not do the same? The quality of your life will drastically improve once you bring some self-love into it; smile to the face you see in the mirror each morning.

A key thing to remember once you start working on creating your marvelous life is that all great things take time – don’t give up easily and soon, you’ll be living the life of your dreams!

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How a Mastermind Group Contributes to Success

Success is one of the keys for a truly marvelous life. No matter your profession, the people you’re surrounded with experiencing at least one mastermind group in your life is a must – think of it as a shortcut to the top! Read on to learn how a mastermind group contributes to success in multiple ways and helps you widen your horizons!

Support

The support coming from events like this is the number one reason why people visit them. Everyone wants to feel understood, right? Think of it as a place where people are gathered to hear you out and offer you guidance and support. It can be a “safe place” to share. Knowing no one will judge you about your failures is going to be a significant boost to your confidence and stamina.

Knowledge

Learning something new is essential for both personal and professional growth. Sometimes, it’s easier to accept some knowledge from peers who have already experienced the things you’re going through rather than from a mentor. You’ll probably be able to relate to your peers more easily. Remember that everyone sitting on the ‘hot seat’ knows something you don’t and vice versa – use this to your maximum advantage!

Motivation

Your surroundings are everything in life. However, sometimes, the people around you may lack the motivation you need at that exact moment in life. Don’t let others determine your pace with their low goals! Seeing others’ succeed lets you know that it can actually be done.

Networking

Meeting others in the same or similar field as yourself is essential as that is what sometimes keeps companies alive. Considering how modern professions can be very isolating – let’s say, if you’re working from home or if you have your own business where you don’t work with clients directly – mingling with a fresh batch of people is always more than a good idea.

Call for action

A group filled with people that have a positive impact on every aspect of you will make you change things at a faster pace than what you’ve anticipated. Your mastermind group makes you courageous and makes you accountable for your actions to them. Once you see how much love and support you’re going to receive, you’ll do everything to accomplish your goals and not disappoint your mastermind peers.

With all of that being said, one of the best parts of a mastermind group is that it’ll allow you to take a look at the much bigger picture of your career or business path. Sometimes, that’s exactly what you need to do so you get a better grasp of your reality and a clearer vision of the great future in front of you!

For information about the Marvelous Life Mastermind visit www.delorespressley.com/mastermind

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Women and Business Success: What’s REALLY Holding You Back?

We’ve all experienced sticking points in business. While we’re “stuck” these places can seem impossible to get past. Fortunately, there’s a proven process that will help you to identify and overcome the things that hold you back.

Identify Your Sticking Point

First, you have to identify what you’re actually up against. This isn’t as difficult as we make it out to be. Most business sticking points have to do with starting and growth. The first (starting) is fear based. We have the idea, the plan, and the process laid out in our mind and maybe even committed to paper, but we just can’t get started.

The Art of the Start

Starting a business, implementing a new software, streamlining, opening a new department, attending your first training conference, these all have to do with starting. What holds us back? The way we see. Clarity is the key to just about everything. If we see things differently, we will do them differently. So, the first step is to “think about how you’re thinking.” What thoughts run through your mind when you ponder the “start.” Is it fear, dread, apprehension? Once you identify the feelings about starting, you’ll be able to renew your thoughts and push past the resistance.

If you still have trouble, get an accountability partner. Our UP Women community is the perfect place to build mentorship relationships and verbalize your intentions to another person. You’ll find that doing something as simple as speaking out your plan does great things to bring you to your goals.

Grow Baby Grow!

Business growth is a good problem —we’ve all heard that before. Unfortunately, growth can actually cause a business to crumble if it’s not handled properly. If your strength is in sales, but you’re weaker in operations or fulfillment, you’ll constantly be working against yourself because you’ll never have truly satisfied clients.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself about business growth:

• Is your customer satisfaction score decreasing?
• Are you losing more clients than you’re keeping?
• Are you wearing yourself thin?
• Are there things you could implement to increase efficiency?

Growth is change and change always needs to be monitored and assessed. Of course, some businesses, such as eCommerce websites, have the ability to grow indefinitely, while others, especially those that are service oriented, have a ceiling unless you’re willing to outsource or expand. Bottom line here? Assess the growth of your business on a monthly basis. Make a ruthlessly honest list of the problems and complaints and come up with solid solutions to implement immediately. Sometimes your solution will be a quick but temporary fix, other times you’ll be able to put the full solution in place.

Document everything. Keeping these assessments in a calendar or journal along with the solutions and success rates are vital. There’s something about documenting that allows you to really see where you are and what next move you’ll need too make.

Starting and growth, the two main problems in business. If you’ve been stuck, it’s time to change the way you see the problems. With a renewed vision you’ll  be able to identify the problems and push past the things that hold you back.

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Strengthening Your Character

Would you like to be more deeply respected by others? Do you respect yourself? Maybe you’d just like to accomplish more or improve the quality of what you already do. To work toward all of these ends at once, work on your character.

What is “Character?”

“Character” is defined as “the inherent complex of attributes that determines a person’s moral and ethical actions and reactions.” In simpler terms, your character is what leads you to make the decisions you make and perform the behaviors you do in everyday situations.

Follow the 5 steps below to a stronger, more principled self:

1. What rules do you follow? Think about the morals that guide you. Where did you learn them? Are they connected to your own ideas, what your parents taught you, or your faith?

• An example of a rule you might follow in life is “The Golden Rule.” Maybe you learned it at home from parents or in church. It states, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” More succinctly, the Golden Rules says to treat others the way you want to be treated.
• If you discover you have no “set” of guidelines that you follow, now is the time to compose your own rules and write them down. Alternately, look for morals that you aspire to.

• Talk to those you love about your personal guidelines. They’ll help you clarify what you really want to live by.

2. Evaluate your life. Have you lived by your guidelines? An important step in strengthening your character is taking an inventory of your past behaviors/choices.

• Did you make your decisions based on your principles? For example, if you consider yourself a Christian and vow to follow Christian rules and morals, have you actually been applying those rules in your life?
• This exploration into your past is necessary whenever you hope to strengthen your character. Without knowing where you’ve been, it’s hard to see clearly where you’re at today.

3. Do your morals match your past behaviors? If you discover you’ve avoided following the very rules you’ve adopted for your life, it’s important to reflect on what you did and what motivated you in those instances.

• This reflection is crucial to character development. When you do this, you take steps forward to change your actions and decisions to better follow your guiding principles.

4. Something needs to change. Consider frankly what you’d like to alter about yourself to more closely live by your rules. Next, make a list of what you’ve noticed.

• Do you desire to be more honest with others? Are you ready to let go of manipulating others to get what you want from them? Whatever changes you plan to make, write them down. Ponder them.

• Find others who believe in the same principles as you do and make friends with them.

5. Apply your guidelines each day. From this point forward, focus on decisions you make and how you behave, keeping in mind your chosen set of rules. Vow to make the changes you’ve listed.

• If you like, type up your life guidelines and place them where you’ll consistently see them.
• Your principles might be summed up as simply as The Golden Rule. Or they may be a long list of rules and ideals that you aspire to. Whatever the case, stay in conscious contact with yourself every moment of each day.

• Be fearless in your efforts to follow your morals. Stand guard over your daily decisions to ensure they match up with your guiding principles.

• And remember: today is a new day. Whatever you did yesterday, while it may require an apology or amends, is now in the past. If you didn’t do as well as you would have liked, you can start over today.

Strengthening your character takes effort, discipline and courage. If you apply the above steps, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a person with integrity. You’ll live life according to the principles you’ve chosen. Discover your best “you” by strengthening your character. You’ll be glad you did!

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Developing Self-Acceptance

When you accept yourself with all of your flaws and unique talents, the world seems to become a more accommodating place. You’ll find that some of the causes of your stress disappear and you can gain more joy on a daily basis.

Accepting yourself completely entails courage, wisdom and compassion. If you’re plagued by negative emotions such as anxiety, jealousy, shame, anger, envy, or guilt, these may be signs of low self-esteem. To counter this, you can learn radical self-acceptance.

If you find yourself equating your worth with your achievements, love life or social status, what happens if these are someday diminished? After all, these are temporary conditions. Life has its ups and downs. Practicing self-acceptance will help prevent your self-worth from hinging on your current situation.

How Low Self-Esteem Can Hinder Self-Acceptance

If you have low self-esteem, you can get mired in refusal to accept your own uniqueness and capability for transformation. You may be a perfectionist, and when things don’t go well, you often tell yourself that you’re not good enough. It becomes a vicious cycle of negative self-fulfilling prophecies.

So what can you do to turn this around?

Suppose you start to appreciate the world around you. Then you’re aware of your place. You realize that just as others are important to your well-being, your existence supports others, too. Since appreciation is a prerequisite for self-esteem, you’re now well on your way to self-acceptance.

How to Develop Self-Acceptance

To develop self-acceptance, you must believe in your intrinsic worth and uniqueness. There’s no one else in the world quite like you and you’re constantly changing and developing. Your value cannot be measured by how others perceive you.

You’re also aware of the fallibility of human nature. No one is perfect. Even enlightened souls such as Christ and The Buddha had to struggle to achieve their goals. Likewise, you must also work to improve yourself. Let this be your joy.

When you make a mistake, refrain from judging yourself. Resist labeling yourself as a failure or a bad person because of past errors. You wouldn’t label your child a failure or a loser because he failed a test. Be compassionate with yourself too.

Accept Your Mistakes and Move On

When you review your mistakes, you may feel remorse and disappointment, but these are healthy reactions. They’ll help you to change your behavior to something you like better.

Remorse and disappointment are different from self-condemnation, which can lead to depression, guilt and shame. These unhealthy emotions may cause you to give up or avoid facing your mistakes. Instead, look toward what you can do to change your actions next time.

Try these strategies to increase your self-acceptance:

1. Avoid excusing yourself from your mistakes. It’s okay to tell yourself that you’re human and prone to error, but if you use this to refuse to face your mistakes, you won’t grow. Instead, work on improving yourself. This will help you accept what you did but put it in the past and move on.

2. Use positive self-talk. Refrain from calling yourself names like “idiot,” “total failure” or “loser.” Get in the habit of complimenting yourself instead. Reinforce the qualities about you that you like by telling yourself things like “I can do this,” “I’m good at this,” “Forgiving others is perfectly like me,” or “I can find a solution to this challenge.”

3. Be tolerant and compassionate with yourself, just as you are with your friends. Judge your behavior, not yourself.

Following these guidelines will help you gain greater self-acceptance. It may take some practice to master these new ways of thinking about yourself, but the rewards will be worth it. Soon you’ll be enjoying life more and find it more fulfilling than you ever imagined!

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Setting Boundaries: How Establishing Limits Can Transform Your Life

Would you like to make more time for the important things in your life? Do you feel like you often get lost in the details?

If you can set healthy limits, you’ll regain control of your life. Some benefits of this can include:

• Life is simpler, more manageable, and therefore more stress free.
• You’re able to achieve your goals.
• When you value your time and show that you have priorities, others will also see your time as valuable.
• You become more effective in almost everything you do. 

Rather than focusing on life’s trivia or biting off more than you can chew, read on for some tips on setting boundaries that work for you.

Examine Your Routine

To start this process of boundary setting, look at your daily routine. What consumes most of your time? Try to identify the places where you feel overloaded.

Maybe it’s watching too much television, spending too much time on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribing to too many blogs or newsletters. Perhaps you’re just glued to your mobile phone. Calculate how many hours you spend on such activities and cut down on them.

Then, try allotting a certain amount of time to each of these activities. Maybe give yourself an hour for your email instead of two. Each day, write down exactly how much time you spent.

After a week, look at your numbers. Did you do better than before you were tracking your time? More importantly, did you feel like you had more time for what you really wanted to do?

Refrain from trying to deal with everything at once. Address each time individually, and you’ll gradually see a change in your routine.

Identify Essential Tasks

Once you begin to set limits on your activities, you’ll be able to simplify further by sticking with the essential ones and reducing the trivial. The essentials may be organizing your closet, catching up with your reading, or balancing your checkbook.

Determine your values and goals. The essentials will depend on these. Whatever you choose should make a big difference to your life. For instance, if you want to be a good athlete, you’ll make the time to train on certain days during the week. If you can’t read through all your emails on those days, that’s okay! That’s not your #1 priority for the day, anyhow.

You may want to make a list of things to do. Then you can set your priorities. For example, you could put off cleaning the kitchen shelves in order to pay your bills.

Be Aware of Your Energy Levels

You may set out to clean your entire house in a day or take the kids to the park for a ball game and find your plans impossible because you just don’t have that kind of energy. Know your limitations and work within those boundaries for greater success.

Budget

Just like you’ll want to know your personal limits, you also need to know your financial limits. Make an effort to align your spending with your goals and values. For instance, if one of your values is knowledge, you might choose to buy a book rather than a new outfit.

Ultimately, if you’re looking for more hours in your day, these tips are a great place to start. Try out some of the suggestions above and you’ll begin to set boundaries that work for you. By doing this, you can simplify your life and make the most of work and leisure times. Best of all, you can start today.

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