Tag: Life

Time Management, Life-Hack!

When it comes down to managing your time I have learned a few tips and new ways to plan my day that seriously changed my life!

I recommend taking a sheet of paper out and writing down all the deadlines you can think of or important things you need to get done within the next month or the following weeks to come. 

  • These can be deadlines for work, deadlines for school projects, exam dates, any upcoming appointments you have scheduled… literally write down everything you would like to get done in the near future! Write down “personal deadlines”on this sheet, as well. When I say personal deadlines I am  referring to any obligations you may feel you need to attend to in your life or any lingering reminders you’ve had in the back of your head for awhile now — like calling a friend back or finally getting those thank you notes sent out. So now you have a list of everything you need to get done. That’s a great start. You’re aware of all you need to do, but sometimes just having a huge list of tasks to accomplish can be overwhelming! It often leads us to overestimate the amount of work we actually have and to not even know where to start!

This is what you can do instead…

Print off your calendar every morning. If you have a job in which you are using a computer then you most likely have an Outlook Calendar that shows your schedule each day. Print that out. If you don’t have Outlook, you can download this daily schedule template that is perfect for this technique: Click Here to access it and be sure to print off lots of copies! Plan on using one every day of the work week 🙂

What you are going to do now is look at your list of things to do and actually block off time on your printed calendar to do them. When I was simply writing down what I needed to do each day and checking the tasks off as they were completed, I was unknowingly allowing myself way too much time to get these things done. 

To show how I changed that and how the time management skill you are learning in this post works, I am going to use myself as an example.

Below is an old “Things to Do Today” list of mine I wrote out the day:

Things I Need To Do: 

  • Email academic advisor to schedule meeting
  • Call TEK Systems Recruiter back
  • Take Sports Communication online quiz  by the end of the day
  • Text Cody (old friend who reached out) back
  • Update my LinkedIn Profile
  • Pay parking ticket
  • Follow up with Prudential about possible future job opportunity
  • Fill Prescription

I wrote these tasks down and gave myself the entire day to get them done. By doing so I was overestimating the actual time needed and was unknowingly procrastinating throughout much of my day. 

What I learned to be SO much more efficient was to print off my calendar each morning and block off time for each task: 

Schedule.png

 

By blocking off 9:00 — 9:30am to email my advisor, text cody back, and follow up with Prudential about the possible job opportunity, I crossed three things off my list in one half hour of my entire day.

Blocking 2:00 — 2:30pm to take my online quiz and then 2:30 — 3:00pm to update my LinkedIn crosses off two more.

And lastly according for 6:00 — 6:30pm to be spent getting my prescription filled and taking either the fifteen minutes I have while waiting at the pharmacy or my time driving back home to call and get paying my parking ticket taken care of, that completes my whole list in just two hours.

If I did not physically schedule the time to do each task on my calendar and have it in front of me, I would have probably spent a big portion of my day avoiding doing these things. It’s fair to say I would’ve also probably put at least one item off for the next day, causing me to feel more stressed and anxious.But instead, using this time management strategy,  I was able to complete all eight tasks on my to do list in only two hours out of my entire day.

By mastering this skill and learning how to properly manage your time, I really think that you will be shocked at how much easier it is to knock out all the everyday tasks that may be piling up in your life! I am forever grateful to the team member who showed me this technique and I wanted to pay it forward. I hope that by sharing this, someone will find this time management tip as helpful as I did!

XoXo, 

Beth

How to Overcome Challenges

“The only constant in life is change” 

The above quote was originally stated by Heraclitus of Ephesus (c.500 BCE); one of the pre-Socratic philosophers of ancient Greece. Who knew a philosophy founded over 2,500 years ago would be so accurate and applicable to society today?

Things change every day — whether it be the weather, a process at work, your plans, or even a life altering change in our personal lives — it is important we know this ahead of time. If we expect changes, it can help ease the challenges we are faced with. However, this alone is not enough to successfully tackle the changes and challenges that are thrown at us. 

Instead, the key to success is in a mindset and skill set driven towards accomplishments. 

Here are Pro-Tips on How to Overcome Challenges and Obstacles:

Think Big — 

We often limit our own potential by doubting ourselves and having a mindset of, “I could never accomplish that!” Be conscious of steering away from thoughts like that and instead seeing and believing in big things for your future. Try your hardest to not despise the challenge before it has even started; chances are the challenge has been presented in your life for a reason, most commonly to help you grow in your career and personal development.

Identify the Challenge — 

Be sure to identify what the challenge is specifically. Is it a challenge that is important to you and will be worth your while to tackle? A good way to answer this question is to set goals for yourself and reflect back on them. Look at the big picture. If it is a challenge you must face, a pro-tip is to make your goal public to your friends, family, or colleagues. Pubic goals hold you accountable and this puts you at a better chance of achieving them.

Surround Yourself with Motivation — 

Re-frame your thoughts about challenges by reading inspirational messages and following the approaches and attitudes of successful leaders. Positivity is key — tackling your challenge with a positive mindset will make a world of difference. For steps on how to be more positive, feel free to reference to my recent post written about the importance of maintaining a positive outlook, by clicking here.

Be Persistent — 

Success is rarely handed to someone, instead it is something that one must work towards and earn. Keep in mind that the most successful and famous entrepreneurs, such as — Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon — undoubtedly faced countless challenges on their journey to the top.

To achieve great things, you must be persistent. Keep trying and trying. If you become frustrated, take a step away for a few minutes. Take a walk, complete another task, but always come back to the challenge you wish to overcome. Keep your eyes on the end result and don’t stop until you are there.

Work Smarter, Not Harder — 

Hard work goes far, but smart work goes further. Your time is often your biggest asset — do not waste it. Make sure your approaches are diligent by measuring your results using analytics. Are you making progress? If so, you are on the right path. But if your working hard for a large portion of time and you are not making a dent in overcoming your challenge, it is time to stop this approach and try a new one.

Utilize Your Resources — 

Never stop believing that there is more to learn; that there are others in your life that can teach you wisdom. It does not make you look weak to ask your supervisor or other individuals in your life for advice on how to go about tackling the challenge you are faced with. It actually makes you appear strong, confident and intelligent.

My father always tells me that it is foolish to not at least listen to the advice and feedback he and my mother share with me.  As he says, I don’t have to execute on their advice, but it never hurts to listen. Bouncing ideas off of other people often helps to steer your mindset in the right direction.

Celebrate Your Wins — 

Write down a list of your accomplishments and every challenge you overcome! It is very important to celebrate these moments in your life. If you are ever feeling unmotivated or discouraged, refer back to your list of achievements and remember how great it felt to experience that success. This will drive yourself to keep taking the actions to overcome any challenge you are facing.

These tips should help you face any challenge that you encounter!

XoXo, 

Beth

#FGGW Quote of the Day

I came across this quote and loved it so much, I had to share…

“When you truly don’t care what anyone thinks of you, you’ve reach a dangerously awesome level of freedom.”

Anonymous.

I love this quote because it truly represents the #FGGW Lifestyle – living your life for YOU. Being happy with who you are and where you are at is crazy powerful and freeing. Stop comparing yourself to others; this will never bring you happiness. Live your life without concern of judgement. Great things and inner peace will follow.

Stay Beautiful & Do You, Dolls.

XoXo,
Beth

My 10 Minute Workout – ABS

The part of my body I’m most proud of are my abs. I love having a flat tummy and it’s definitely something that gives me that extra confidence in a bathing suit!

I achieve my fitness goals and look through a workout that takes TEN minutes out of my day. I love this 5-minute workout (I do it in the morning and again in the evening) because it targets and tones not only your abs, but your arms, legs, butt, back and even chest, too! Don’t get frustrated if you find that you can only get through 2 minutes or even just 1 minute the first time you try this. I cannot stress it enough – but consistency is KEY to toning your body. If you keep at this everyday, you will be able to do the full 5 minutes all the way through before you know it. It only took me a week to get it down!

This post shares my secret to maintaining a toned and fit body, which is accomplished in a 5-minute workout I do twice a day.

I hope the demonstrations above are easy to understand. You simply set a timer and do the plank variations in the order and time listed. If anyone has any questions on how to do this workout, please comment them on this post and I would be happy to answer them

And I wanted to note that this post is ONLY for those interested in learning/getting involved in working out. The #FGGW Lifestyle is about living life for YOU.

Stay Motivated, Positive, and Committed! You’ll thank yourself in three months.

XoXo,
Beth