Ever wondered why some people can achieve more in a day than others do in a week? Although it may seem like it at times, these people aren’t superhuman! Instead, they’ve mastered a series of productivity practices that empower them to work smarter [not harder] and do more in less time. As productivity is a skill you can cultivate as well as a personality trait, you can do the same. But with so many productivity practices to choose from, which should you implement first? Keep reading to discover how to squeeze more from each hour, day, week, month, year… and ultimately your life. 1. Daily plan If you do nothing else, choose this productivity practice to implement. The famous self-help guru Jim Rohn said, “If you don’t run the day, the day will run you” - and he’s right. Each day, you have 1,440 to use any way you like. Without a plan, there’s a chance you’ll squander a lot of these minutes. It’s not that you mean too. Instead, you waste them by procrastinating, lost in decision fatigue, and because you’re not especially mindful about what you’re doing. With a plan, you get to decide what you include in your day. You get to choose the focus and pick the priorities rather than going with the flow. Tools such as the Self Journal will help you get an edge with your daily planning. Its 6am - 9pm timeline will help you mastermind your day and plan in tasks, appointments, and to-dos in 30-minute chunks. A daily plan isn’t about overwhelming you. Just because you CAN do more doesn’t mean you have to. Instead, this is about helping you to stretch your minutes further so you can join the crew of highly-effective. [Get a Journal] 2. Time budgets If you don’t budget your money, it’s all too easy to overspend, squander, and hit the end of the month wondering where all your hard-earned cash went! The same is true for your time. Parkinson’s Law states that tasks will take up whatever time window you allow. If you’ve ever wondered why a presentation took all day when a couple hours should have wrapped it up, that’s your answer! Highly-effective people know they can’t give Parkinson’s Law a chance. It’s why they work with time budgets and stricter scheduling. You can do the same… A to-do list may boost your effectiveness, but you can take it one step further when you allocate a time budget for each task [something the Weekly Action Pad will help you do.] With your time budget complete, you can now view each task as a piece of the jigsaw. Given the amount of time each task needs, when is the best time to complete it during the day [or week]? Mastermind your time in this way and it will stretch a lot further than you currently think possible. 3. Morning routine Truth is you don’t have as much control over your day as you think. A great plan can easily go out the window if something unexpected happens. That’s why highly-effective people make full use of their morning routine. Your morning routine is the things you do before your day really starts. It’s the things you do BEFORE you check your emails, look on social media, or watch out the news! When you give yourself protected space to wake up and set the tone for the day, you stay in charge. You don’t allow someone else’s agenda to take precedent and you don’t allow your mood and motivation to be influenced by something you saw online. A morning routine can help you clock up big wins before the day even begins. Best of all, you get to decide what your morning routine includes. This is a personal journey - something you can tweak and adjust as you figure out the perfect combination of tasks and activities. Here are some examples of activities you could try: - Exercise - take a walk, a class, or practice yoga - Meditate - an app like Headspace is a good place to start - Journal - listen to the Writing Your Best Self Podcast for tips and techniques - Think - use the Thinking Time Deck to help you generate more ideas What’s your perfect combination? 4. Delegation If you want to be a highly-effective person, chances are it’s because you have big ambitions and stretching goals. Often, this translates into an overwhelming to-do list that can easily pile on the stress and overwhelm. It’s OK to go on work sprints from time to time. There will be seasons in your life when you’ll have to go all in on a task or a project. But if working too much becomes the norm, you’ll soon burnout. Remember, you don’t have to do everything that’s on your list - other people can help. This is why delegation is a must for highly-effective people. Look over your list now and get clear on the tasks you could delegate. Remember, this thinking applies to tasks in your home too, not just your work. For example: - Home chores: Hire help for the cleaning, gardening, ironing etc [even pay your children!] - Admin: Hand off tasks such email management, general organization, and administration to a virtual assistant - Build a team: Could you free up time by hiring a new team member or training someone else? Trying to do everything yourself isn’t productive. Instead, share out tasks so you’re always working on the highest leveraged activities. It’s a strategy that will take you further. 5. Work-life harmony Boosting your effectiveness is about more than getting stuff done. It’s also about freeing up time so you can do more of the things you enjoy. It’s smart to chase big goals to see what else you can do. But your best self doesn’t want to burn out, which is why work-life harmony has to be the ultimate goal. Work-life harmony recognizes the necessity to find time for all the things that matter to you. If your hobbies are neglected, you’ll struggle to perform at your peak in work. Your productivity will dip too. If you feel guilty for not spending enough time with family and loved ones, it becomes harder to get your head down. Highly-effective people know they need it all to feel truly happy and fulfilled. So make harmony your goal. It’s a powerful way to enjoy today while you think bigger and achieve more. Are you ready to become a highly-effective person? If so, we’ve got the productivity tools to help. Discover them all HERE.

Do you have big ambitions for your life, but struggle to get everything done? Do you keep telling yourself that you’ll achieve that big goal when you clear something else from your deck? It’s easy to make time the reason you let go of a big ambition, but it doesn’t have to be that way. When you get yourself planned, you can stretch your time and make much more of your 1,440 minutes a day. And when you’re ready to start, these five powerful planning tools are here to help. 1. Annual wall calendar You can’t ignore what’s staring you in the face! With a big picture overview of your year, you can see at a glance what’s coming up and what you’ve already achieved and checked off. Use your wall calendar to map out any vacations, key dates, and high level deadlines. With these important dates top of mind, you can plan your year accordingly to ensure you don’t miss a beat. You can even check off each day as it passes to create an annual countdown [and some additional accountability]. 2. A monthly calendar Similar to your whole year overview, a monthly calendar allows you to see the next four weeks at a glance. Use it to keep track of dates and deadlines to ensure you never double-book yourself. You can also use a monthly planner to achieve your goals. You can also use this powerful tool to assess your choices for work-life harmony. - Have you factored in enough social time? - Do you have any days booked out for fun? - Is there really enough time to achieve that deadline without burning out? When you can see all your commitments and deadlines written down, you’ll find it easier to make decisions when fresh opportunities come your way. 3. A weekly to-do list Each day, you have a finite amount of bandwidth to play with. If you have a lot to do, don’t waste that head space mulling over repetitive thought loops or desperately trying to remember things. Instead, empty your head onto paper so you can put maximum focus on tasks that move the needle. Your weekly to-do list is the perfect place to practice this. Instead of keeping your list of weekly tasks in your head, get them onto paper. A to-do lists serves a number of important productivity benefits: - You won’t forget anything - so no last-minute rushes or panics - It helps you delegate - It helps you organize your thoughts and tasks - Checking completed tasks off makes you feel good - It captures the specific action points you need to accomplish When writing out your weekly to-do list, aim to create a Weekly Action Plan system to win your week [the Weekly Action Pad can help]. Instead of a simple lists of tasks, a Weekly Action Plan helps you prioritize and structure your week for maximum performance and productivity. For example: - Time est: When you know how long a task will take, you can make better decisions about when you’ll fit it into your week. - Due: With deadlines clearly written down, you can be sure to plan your work so you can deliver tasks on time. - E/N/D: When you know whether a task will energize or drain you, it’s easier to pick the optimum time to get that to-do done.   4. A daily planner Each day, you’re gifted 1,440 minutes - and it doesn’t matter who you are… we all get the same amount. The question is, what are you going to do with your time? How will you convert those minutes into a life you love? With so many opportunities and so much to do, your daily plan is key to maximizing the time you’ve got. If you could only use one planning tool, this would be it. Get granular with your planning. Get real with the places you squander time. Get prioritizing and quit procrastinating! Plan your day for maximum productivity and results. For example: - Plan your day in 30-minute chunks - it will make your minutes stretch further - Practice gratitude - it unlocks feeling of positivity and abundance which help skyrocket your performance - Focus on your top three tasks - if you could only achieve three things, what would those tasks be? When you prioritize, you’ll move the needle even if work remains to be done - Leave zero white space - this doesn’t mean overwhelming your workload. Plan in time to chill, read, or binge on Netflix. When every minute is allocated, none of it is squandered. If you want to invest in a daily planner designed to help you achieve your goals by boosting your productivity, performance, and positivity, check out the Self Journal. 5. A Habit Tracker Did you know that you are the sum total of all your habits? Habits are a powerful tool because these are the things you do on autopilot - without having to think about them. Whether we like it or not, we all run on habits. It’s what makes you clean your teeth, make your bed, or always have cake with your morning coffee! If you want to inspire your day, commit to infusing it with habits that will take you closer to your goals. For example: - If you want to write a book, get in the habit of writing 500 words a day - If you want to be a public speaker, do a live each day - If you want to run a marathon, make a daily run a habit When you know what habits will take you closer to your goals, you can plan your day to incorporate them. A habit tracker will help you with this. Use your tracker to monitor the habits you want to adopt and create a chain of wins. Before you know it, that chain will be so heavy, your new habit will be on autopilot. BestSelf’s Habit Roadmap allows you to track a range of weekly and daily habits over a period of 13 weeks. It’s a powerful tool that will help you develop good habits that stick. If you want to be your best self, robust planning is a non-negotiable. Without solid plans, you’ll waste time, get stuck in the weeds, and head for overwhelm. Don’t allow lack of time to be the reason you push off your big goals and aspirations. Instead, get smarter with your time. Don’t waste it. Make it stretch further. Invest it wisely, and you will think bigger and achieve more.

If you want to achieve big goals, one of the trickiest aspects is staying patient. When you’ve got your goal in sight you want it NOW! It’s easy to look at other people and believe in overnight success stories. But the truth is success doesn’t hit you like a bolt of lightning. Instead, success is the result of consistent daily action - because this strategy creates momentum. It takes a lot of effort to push a heavy boulder up a hill. But once the ball is rolling back down again, all you’ve got to do is keep up! It’s the same with your goals. You’ll face a lot of friction and resistance when you first begin, but the second you’re out of the starting blocks you can ride the flow. That’s why momentum makes everything feels easier. Instead of pushing you’re rolling and instead of procrastinating, you’re implementing [which also builds your confidence]. So how do you build momentum into your life so you can more easily achieve your goals? The simplest answer is the way you approach your day. Let me show you how… 1. Plan your day to master your time The self-help guru, Jim Rohn famously said, “either you run the day or the day runs you.” In other words, you’ve got to get a daily plan pinned down to ensure you don’t squander your time and your minutes are invested wisely. A tool such as the Self Journal will help you get granular with your day. Use the daily timeline to plan your day in 30 minute chunks [it’s a great for working on Pomodoros]. Plan in everything so you can eliminate decision fatigue and move smoothly from one prioritized task to another. When you know what you have to do, your daily implementation becomes seamless - allowing you to leverage flow and create that all important momentum. 2. Start with your morning routine There are only two parts of your day that you can control fully. That’s the way you wake up and the way you go to bed. While you may have robust plans for the space in between life can be unpredictable. You never know what else is going to come your way. Your morning routine is your time to set your day up right. It’s your opportunity to do things that light you up and put you in gear for your A game. During this time, eliminate all distractions so you don’t get thrown off course. Don’t look at your phone. Don’t check your email. Don’t jump onto social media. Instead, stay fully focused on you and your world. You can experiment with what gets you going and tailor a morning routine that’s perfected for your needs. For example, you may want to journal, fit in a workout, meditate, do some yoga, take a cold shower etc. There are no hard fast rules when creating a morning routine - it’s just what works for you. Regardless of what you do, the benefits are clear. With a morning routine getting you into a peak mental, physical, and emotional state, you can hit the day hard - and create maximum momentum and results. 3. Invest in good habits Take a moment right now to think about all the things you do in your day on autopilot. For example, clean your teeth, make your bed, eat your breakfast… Autopilot tasks take virtually zero bandwidth or motivation. Instead, you just do them. What’s more, you feel bad if you don’t do them! That’s why Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” If you want to build momentum and get more out of your day, your habits are the key. Imagine how much easier it would be to achieve your goals if you did all the actions necessary - without even having to think about them? For example, you habitually went on a run, made those sales calls, wrote 3 emails, published a blog… Whatever the small steps to your goal, just imagine if they became a habit. Habits build momentum, which is why the world’s top performers double down on theirs. You can do the same when you use a habit tracker. It’s not easy to embed new habits - especially in the early days. So hack it! Use a tool such as the Habit Roadmap to track a winning streak. Build a visual chain of daily wins and before long that chain will become so strong you won’t want to break it. As Warren Buffett says, “chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.” 4. Get accountability The road to your goals is never going to be smooth! Ups and downs are inevitable when you’re trying something new and pushing out of your comfort zone. That’s where an accountability structure can make all the difference. It’s harder to back out of the things you said you were going to do when other people are watching. This is why accountability structures can make such a difference to your goal-inspired journey. When someone else is checking in and has the same ambition as you, you’re more likely to get stuff done. Accountability can take a number of forms. - You can use your daily planner to hold yourself to account by pinning down the deadlines and targets you want to achieve. - The Graduate Challenge inside the BestSelf Alliance helps to keep you accountable to your daily planning - it rewards you too! - And for something more robust, there are the Momentum Challenges - 30-day challenges that set you a task each day to help you build momentum and grow in different areas of your life. Momentum can be hard to build, but the pay off for sticking with it is clear. When you can ride the wave of action and implementation you can go further - and faster. So try out some of these techniques this week. Take the actions necessary to get you moving - because once you truly start, it’s a lot harder to stop. You’ve got this!

Have you ever set a goal you didn’t achieve? Or said no when you really meant yes? Or turned down an opportunity because you knew it would push you out of your comfort zone - and you didn’t know if you were ready? These feelings are all normal reactions to a life that stretches you, challenges you, and is calling you to step into ALL that you are. That’s why your ability to be your best self, achieve your goals, and create a life you love goes far beyond the actions you take. It’s one thing to define targets, set intentions, and hustle after deadlines. It’s quite another to work through the discomfort and overcome the resistance and hesitations that always show up when you’re committed to doing more. That’s why ‘success’ is as much about the way you think, the beliefs you hold, and the mindsets that drive you as it is your ability to implement. And that, in a nutshell, is why journaling is such a potent tool for top-performance and high-achievement. When you can journal to understand who you really are, you free up more clarity, decisiveness, and confidence to act. You cultivate self-confidence, unravel limiting beliefs, and nurture the self-awareness you need to hit your potential. So if you’re ready to think bigger and achieve more, here’s how journaling is the tool that can make it all happen. What is journaling? Journaling is the practice of writing out your inner self. It’s the process of articulating your thoughts and feelings into the written word. It’s a ritual of exploring how events [past, present, and future] shape your thinking, influence your behaviors, and drive your actions. There’s no right or wrong way to dive into this practice. You don’t even have to be a ‘good writer’ to get huge results from this ritual. That’s because the point of journaling isn’t to write incredible insights that others can read [although it could be]. Instead, it’s about giving you the clarity you need to understand yourself better. Journaling can be a stream of consciousness. It can be bullets and lists. It can even be splodges of words interjected with doodles and scribbles and highlights! As long as you reflect YOU back at you, you’re going to benefit. That’s because when you read your thoughts on paper, you can take a more objective view of your situation. You can become that third person looking in at yourself. And that can give you the clarity you need to find closure, take a risk, or even just get a better understanding as to why you do things the way that you do. Why journaling works Did you know the average person has between 50,000-70,000 thoughts a day? That sounds like a lot - until you realize that most of those thoughts are repetitive. And that’s the problem with our brains. We’re great at creating and problem solving - and we’re also really good at getting trapped into repetitive thought loops that never find any real resolution! This internal dialogue is also the realm of your inner critic and habits. In short, your subconscious is busy causing you to respond in predictable, but not necessarily beneficial ways. But start journaling, and you can tap into a whole inner world of new information about yourself that you didn’t even know was there. What’s more, when you use journaling to dive into this treasure trove to explore questions such as: - Why you do things the way you do - Why certain things trigger you - Why you get stuck with the same challenge over and over again - The limiting beliefs that trip you up - The life experiences you’ve had in the past that are shaping your future etc. You’ll find that you can change the way you see the world, act in the world, and achieve in the world. That’s how journaling allows you to shine the light on all those unseen and unspoken things and see where they have the potential to go. How to journal effectively 1. Create a habit. As with everything, the more you journal the more you’ll get out of it. A daily practice is preferable because then this ritual becomes part of who you are and what you do. [N.B. Remember, you can use your Habit Roadmap to track your journaling habit until it becomes automatic.] 2. Allocate a timeslot. To help you get into the groove, allocate a timeslot. For example, you may want to integrate journaling into your morning routine or even do it before you go to bed. 3. Plan your journaling time You know how it is. You have good intentions for what you want to achieve in a day, then life throws a curveball and balls get dropped. Don’t leave your journaling practice to chance. Instead, plan it into your day using the timeline in your Self Journal. What gets planned gets done. 4. Dedicate a notebook. Allocate a notebook that you’ll use for journaling alone. [Scribe is a great choice for this.] That way, you can keep all your thoughts in one place making it super simple to reflect back on earlier entries - if you want to. 5. Don’t shoot for perfection. You don’t need to spend hours writing. As little as 10 - 15 minutes a day can be effective. And remember, you’re not looking to create perfect prose. Instead, your goal is to get YOU onto the page in whatever way that shows up in the moment. 6. Reach for journaling prompts. Feeling stuck for what to write? Notice you’re writing about the same things day after day? Frustrated that you’re not unlocking any new insights? If so, journaling prompts are perfect for you. Journaling prompts [such as the WordSmith Deck] present you with a question to focus and redirect your thinking. In this way, journaling prompts invite you to explore memories, moments, and insights you’ve not considered before. What’s more, journaling prompts help you push through writer’s block by giving you something to write about. Instead of waiting around for inspiration to strike, you can make the words flow by giving your brain a prompt to play with. 7. Enjoy the process. Most importantly, have fun with your practice. Play with it. Have fun with it. Get curious to see where your thoughts will take when you allow them to dance on the page. Allow your practice to stretch and challenge you as it opens up parts of you that you didn’t know where there. Then use the heightened level of clarity, confidence, and insight to go get your goals. Journaling is a practice used by many high-achievers. It works for them and it can work for you too. So grab your Scribe and some WordSmith journaling prompts and turn the blank page into insider intel that will empower you to be your best self. You’ve got this.

In a nutshell, self-improvement is about using your time and other resources to nurture your potential so you can create a life you love. It’s about: • Building the courage to step out of your comfort zone• Cultivating the self-awareness to know how your mind works• Working through limiting beliefs so they no longer hold you back• Sharpening your natural talents and developing new skills• Going after the things you want because you know you deserve them To name just a few. The benefits are clear. If you can achieve your goals and feel successful and fulfilled, you’re going to live a happier life. But how can you empower yourself to do your best? How can you make it easier to achieve your goals so you can think bigger and achieve more? Let’s explore seven powerful self-improvement strategies that have the power to transform your life. 1. Set goals that excite you First up, you’ve got to know what it is you want to create for yourself and your life. This is where you get to dream big and set the right goals for you. The right goal should stretch you while igniting your passion. It will force you to grow by taking you out of your comfort zone as you figure out how to do things you’ve never done before. Your goals open the door to new opportunities, new accomplishments, and a ton of satisfaction and self-improvement as the needle moves ever closer to the finish line. Goals work because they give you a clear focus so that you can head in the right direction. Each day we have so many options. With a goal to work towards, it’s easier to prioritize your actions while eliminating distractions. Goals help you focus the resources you do have in the right places so you can get the maximum return. It’s a proven way to work smarter, not harder. For best results, set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound [or S.M.A.R.T]. In terms of time-scales, we always advocate a three-month target. That’s because 13 weeks is long enough to achieve something significant, but short enough to push off procrastination and keep you motivated to implement. So make a life goals list today. And if you need some help with your goals, this SMART goals worksheet helps you plan your goals and create your roadmap. 2. Plan your year Not all goals can be achieved in three months, but there will be an aspect of that bigger goal, which you can accomplish within a 13-week period. That’s why it’s powerful to map out your year with a tool such as a wall calendar.  Plot your year in one place and you’ll be able to maximize your time and best figure out how to fit in all the things you want to do. For example: - Plan your vacations - because self-improvement is about rest, rejuvenation, and adventure as well as goal-getting - Plot out your deadlines - so you can see which tasks and activities are interrelated. It makes big picture planning a whole lot easier - Include any dates you don’t want to forget - such as birthdays and anniversaries You can even check off the year as the days pass to help keep yourself time focused. After all, you can’t ignore what’s staring you in the face! 3. Plan your projects into bite-sized chunks Do your goals feel so big that you don’t even know where to start? If so, you’re not alone. Overwhelm gets the better of all of us. That’s because overwhelm creates brain fog, which makes it incredibly difficult to be decisive or plan effectively. So how do you move through this self-improvement roadblock? It’s the same way you ‘eat an elephant’. You tackle one chunk at a time. A tool such as the Project Action Pad can help you do this. With the help of this tool, you can break down a big goal into all the component parts. Create a task list in this way and you’re no longer trying to start a business [for example]. Instead, you know you need to choose a name, create a logo, build a website, develop your offer, plan your marketing etc. Empower yourself to see the individual steps and it’s so much easier to take action - because overwhelm melts away. Take one step at a time and success becomes inevitable. 4. Plan your week A big cause of overwhelm for anyone looking to achieve goals and do your best is lack of time. Often, your goals are an extra to what you’re doing right now. That means you have to fit your goal-based tasks and activities into an already hectic schedule. Here’s the truth… It’s not lack of time that holds us back. Instead, it’s how we manage time. It’s why learning to manage yourself is one of the biggest catalysts to self-improvement. It’s all too easy to squander time. You don’t mean to, but that quick look on Instagram can easily turn into an hour and you could fit more productive stuff into the time when you Netflix binge in the evening! Self-improvement isn’t about overloading your time so there’s no room for fun - or even doing nothing. Instead, it’s about developing the discipline to master your minutes so lack of time doesn’t become the reason you don’t make progress. Planning your week with a tool such as the Weekly Action Pad is a powerful way to do this. Weekly planning is hugely proactive. Learn how to plan your week for maximum productivity and performance and you’ll reduce the likelihood that you’ll hit the weekends with a ton of stuff still to do. You’ll also make it a whole lot easier to fit everything in. That’s because as soon as something is planned, it’s more likely to get done. Better still, know when you’re going to do it and how long it's going to take you, and you’re less likely to be caught out. Use your weekly plan to create the big picture overview of what you want to achieve in the week ahead. You can do this by noting down all your to-dos. But don’t stop at the work-related ones. If you want to do your best, factor in your goal-based tasks as well as activities that will help you achieve work-life harmony. Date night, workouts, playtime with your kids, reading, and journaling etc. Don’t leave all the self-improvement and fun stuff to chance. Plan it - and see the huge impact it makes to your life. 5. Practice gratitude A life fueled by self-improvement is going to get tough at times. There will be difficulties ahead. You will encounter obstacles that you won’t be sure how to tackle - at first. Things are going to go wrong. You will get disappointed and you’ll probably mess up! But the lows aren’t necessarily bad - because they provide the fertile soil that helps you to grow and do your best. That’s how feeling grateful can make you more successful. Gratitude fuels positivity. See for yourself… it’s impossible to feel angry or stressed when you’re feeling grateful. Gratitude is also very grounding. It reminds you of what you already have - even as you strive to achieve more [and even when you’re having a bad day]. Practice gratitude and you’ll cultivate an abundance mindset. From this place of positivity, you’ll find it easier to see the pluses - rather than the negatives. You’ll be better equipped to deal with life’s challenges and you’ll also find it easier to enjoy the journey along the way. It seems crazy, but often the simplest of tweaks can make the most profound difference. That’s certainly the case with gratitude and why this daily practice is integrated into the Self Journal. It’s super easy to practice too. Simply write down three things that you’re grateful for each day. Feel how that gratitude makes you feel then use that feeling to fuel you. 6. Track your habits Success is never an overnight thing. It may look that way when you look at other people’s stories, but those highlight reels never reveal the full extent of what it took to get where they are now. There are no silver bullets either. Instead, success is the result of consistent daily action. It’s a decision to keep moving forward - regardless. And of constantly taking the right steps in the direction of your goals. That’s why your habits are so important. Your habits are the things that you do on autopilot and they have the power to either make you - or break you. Take a moment to think about your habits right now. For example, you may habitually make the bed when you get up in the morning and you probably always clean your teeth before you go to sleep. These habits are so ingrained that you feel ‘weird’ if you don’t do them. These habits require little thought either. You simply do them - because they’re part of your identity. So imagine how your life could be if you cultivated good habits that would empower you to achieve your goals and do your best? If you’ve ever tried to create new habits you’ll know it’s not as easy as it sounds! Unfortunately, we’re creatures of habit which means it’s all too easy to slip back into your existing groove - especially when you’re feeling tired, down, or demotivated. That’s why you’ve got to hack it in the early days using a tools such as the Habit Roadmap. Use this tool to mark on the daily habits that you want to cultivate for your self-improvement. For example, a daily power walk, writing 500 words, 3 sales calls, read a chapter - the list of options is endless. Want more inspiration? Check out this list of 10 success habits to start this month. Next, check off each day that you perform the habit to build a streak. Before long, that streak will become so long that it actually feels painful to break it - in which case you’ll find it easier to force yourself to do it. Keep going for long enough, and you’ll soon rewire a string of helpful habits on autopilot. 7. Journal for self-improvement Self-improvement and doing your best is a journey that never has to end - because there’s always more you can do and there’s always more to discover. Journaling is a powerful practice that can help fuel this journey. In fact, there are many compelling reasons to start your journaling practice today. As you journal, you cultivate the self-awareness that empowers you to take action. You can process your thoughts, work through limiting beliefs, and get to know yourself better. Journaling gives you clarity which can lead to confidence. It can help you figure out your motivations and guide you to work through what’s stopping you. It’s why journaling is a practice advocated by so many high achievers. If you’re unsure what to write about, get your hands on some journaling prompts. Then add a journaling notebook and you’re good to go! Self-improvement is a strategy that will help you think bigger and achieve more while you enjoy today. It’s a commitment that empowers you to do your best by lifting the lid on how you spend your time and what you create with your life. There’s no better way to live your life then empowering yourself to go after the things you want while maximizing your chances of success. So go for it. Give yourself permission to dream bigger. Empower yourself to takes those big leaps. You’ve got this.

Does your happiness and feeling of success suffer because you never have enough time? If so, you’re not alone. When you’re always playing catch-up and you’re struggling to stay on top of your to-dos, it’s easy to feel down on yourself. Especially when being behind means you have to work later and sacrifice time for yourself, your family, and your friends. When your work-life balance goes out of the window, it’s hard to feel your best. So what’s the solution? The short answer is to sharpen your productivity skills. Productivity works because it empowers you to get more done in less time. And when you learn to do things quicker and more efficiently, you’ll find you have more time for yourself. But how do you acquire these magical productivity skills? Here are five of our favorites that you can try today. 1. Remove distractions My iPhone kindly records my screen time. When I first saw the social networking figures I was terrified! I couldn't believe I spent quite so long looking at Facebook and Instagram. I think most of us are blissfully unaware at the amount of our day that gets sucked up by social media. I thought I was pretty good. A quick glance here and a quick glance there. But over the day those little glances added up into a big number. It’s really, REALLY hard to stay away from your phone and all the digital addictions that go with it. It’s not your fault. Social platforms are designed to keep you addicted. They want you to keep checking! It’s why creating time that’s free of distractions takes real discipline and practice. But get into the habit, and you will reclaim a big chunk of your day. And not just because you’re not wasting time needlessly. In this brilliant Impact Theory podcast with Cal [which I highly recommend you listen to], Cal reveals that it’s not just the time you waste that’s the problem. Every time you’re distracted, you bring back some residue to the task you were doing. This reduces your mental capacity and can hinder your ability to do your best work. If you’re serious about getting things done better and quicker, make space for deep work. Set yourself up for zero distractions - however challenging! And watch your productivity soar. 2. Plan your day robustly If you’re relying on a to-do list alone, I guarantee you’re squandering time. A to-do list can only remind you of what you need to get done. It doesn’t tell you when to get each item done. And the WHEN is critical for optimum productivity. Not all tasks are created equally. Some tasks move the needle significantly, while others hardly even make a dent! Spend a disproportionate amount of time on the wrong tasks, and you’ll be busy, but not productive. So how can you turn your to-do list into a plan of action that makes sense? This is what a daily planner such as the Self Journal can help you do. Your Self Journal has a daily timeline that stretches from 6am to 9pm divided into 30-minute chunks. The secret to optimum productivity is to: - Allocate tasks a specific time window on your daily timeline - Arrange tasks according to your energy levels Why does this work? Firstly, your energy levels vary during the day. At your peak, you’ll be highly motivated and on it! At your lowest, you’ll struggle to think - let alone do anything productive! You’ll get more done if you work with your individual flow of energy. For example, schedule your hardest tasks for when your motivation is at its peak. Then do the mundane tasks that don’t require much thought when you’re running on low. And don’t make the mistake of giving each task an open window. Instead, schedule tasks like you do meetings and appointments. Leverage the power of deadlines and get more done in less time. 3. Work in Pomodoros It’s tempting to force yourself to sit at your desk and just keep going. But this approach can actually be counterproductive. If you’ve lost your mojo, forcing yourself to work more will drain you even further. So make sure you build in fresh air breaks to keep your energy levels high. Even better, plan in frequent breaks using a tool such as the Pomodoro technique. This technique leverages the power of work sprints followed by rest breaks to keep you energized and motivated for longer. It’s seriously simple. Use a timer [such as the Tomato Timer] to time a 25-minute block, then get to work! Focus on the task at hand and don’t stop until the alarm goes off. [I refer you back to tip one.] Next, take a 5-minute break. Take a walk, drink some water, stretch your body - whatever you need to prep yourself for the next sprint. Then get to work again and repeat this process until your work is done. It’s powerful, it’s proven, and it will help you get more done in less time. 4. Give yourself permission to say no Sometimes your ability to do more requires you to take on less. If you’re the type of person who enjoys being busy and likes to help out, there’s a good chance you’re subconsciously overloading yourself. Overwhelm does pile on the stress and when you feel under pressure, it’s a lot harder to think clearly and creatively. In turn, your productivity can plummet. In comparison, take on a more reasonable workload that you know you can handle confidently, and you’ll feel more empowered to get everything done. It is OK to say no. No simply means you’re respecting your boundaries and prioritizing your own needs. It doesn’t mean you don’t want to be helpful. It simply means you’re at capacity right now and any more is going to put you under unnecessary pressure. When you use no to stay in control of your to-dos and commitments, you’ll find it a whole lot easier to get more done in less time. 5. Delegate There’s no rule that says you have to do everything yourself. A quick way to shrink your to-do list is to identify what tasks you can hand off to other people - at work and in your home. For example, what tasks could you delegate to your team or your VA? And if the answer is nothing, ask yourself how you can train others to take on some of your workloads to free up your time. In the home, how can you better allocate household chores? What could your children or partner take on to free you up? Also, consider paying for help. What else could you do if you employed a cleaner or a gardener? You may not be able to make more time, but you can often buy it back by getting tasks off your list temporarily or even permanently. So don’t feel stuck. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking this is it. Instead, commit to sharpening your productivity practice so you can better use your time and become your best self. What’s your favorite productivity practice? 

Are there things in your life that you’ve not yet achieved? Are there goals you want to set, places you want to visit, and personality traits you want to be? Here’s the thing… success doesn’t hit you like a bolt of lightning and it doesn’t happen overnight. Instead, success is a process that results from consistent action towards the things you want. If you want to be successful, then you have to build momentum and leverage it -- and that’s not easy! Why? Because the things you want exist outside your comfort zone. This means you must be be willing to take risks. You have to be prepared to thrive in discomfort and you need to get comfortable taking on things where the outcome is either unclear or uncertain. But if you can do these things, you’ll be able to confront your fears -- and beat them. If you can cultivate the courage to take action regardless, you’ll keep building the confidence that helps you win. It’s how you can be your best, achieve your goals, and create the life you really want. This is how fear gets in our way It’s one thing to think about taking action. It’s quite another to actually do it! But there’s no getting away from the truth... Whether you want to write a book, run a marathon, start a business, get promoted, buy your dream house, fulfill your bucket list, find a soulmate relationship -- or any one of an endless list of goals, you have to take action. It’s a non-negotiable. Sure, visualization will get you started by creating a clear vision of what you want in your head -- so you know where you’re headed. But you can’t make your goals physically tangible until you act. And that’s going to put you head to head with your fears. Whether fear gets you stuck or inspires you forward is a matter of mindset. It’s easy to get frustrated with yourself when your fears get in the way, but remember your fears do serve a valuable purpose. Fear is a red flag that warns you of potential danger. It’s a survival instinct that links to the archaic brain, which responded to help us cope with life-threatening situations. That’s what the gnawing feeling in your gut and anxiety in your chest is all about. It’s a reminder that you’re facing the unknown. That you’re stretched beyond what you know and what you think you can handle. In this way, fear puts the brakes on your actions and gives you a breather -- so you can better assess your next steps. In other words, fear helps you better analyze the situation and scenario you’re facing so you can make the right choice going forward. In short, fear in and of itself is not a bad thing -- because it helps to keep you safe. What matters is how you handle fear when it shows up. The worlds most successful people know how to differentiate between ‘real’ danger and ‘perceived’ danger. Real danger is a threat to life. It’s what our fear response is designed to do -- help us escape from sabre tooth tigers and survive in a harsh environment. Nowadays, we’re unlikely to get chased by an angry bear! Instead, it’s perceived fears that stop us. For example, we talk ourselves out of taking action because we’re worried about: - How others will judge us - What people will think if we fail - That we’ll get it wrong or screw it up In other words, most of the time the fear that holds us back is rooted in an internal dialogue in our heads. And this dialogue works to keep us small and stuck in what we know. And even if we know this intellectually, it’s still a challenge to break out -- but not impossible. Did you know there are TWO ways to push through your fears -- so you can take action regardless? 1. Take a giant leap I’ve always wanted to do a parachute jump. It’s something I thought would be pretty cool so when an opportunity came up to do one for charity, I jumped at it (excuse the pun!) I don’t especially like flying, so when the big day came I did get a little bit freaked out at the prospect of jumping 12,000 ft out of an aeroplane. I was going tandem, so I didn’t have to worry about remembering to pull a cord or anything, but I was terrified that the parachute wouldn't open. But I was committed and felt strangely calm when I was asked to move to the side of the plane ready for the freefall. Then the next second, I was out in the air, plummeting to the ground at terminal velocity and having the time of my life. When it comes to your fears, sometimes you have no choice but to take massive action. For example, there is no halfway house with a parachute jump. You can’t step out of the plane and then jump back in again. It’s all or nothing. You’re either all in or you’re not doing it at all. And sometimes that’s exactly what’s called for. And the payback for your bravery is HUGE! When I landed safely back on the ground after that jump I was absolutely ecstatic. I felt unstoppable and I felt like a hero [especially when my 4-year-old daughter put a medal around my neck!] My fears were blown apart and in that moment I knew I could do anything. But you don’t need to rely on giant leaps alone to expand your comfort zone. There’s another way to face your fears and grow exponentially that doesn’t feel half as terrifying. It’s called baby steps. 2. Take baby steps You may not be able to climb Everest tomorrow, but you could walk a mile. A keynote speech in front of 2,000 people may be more than intimidating, but you could start with a Facebook live. Writing an entire book may feel impossible, but you could start by publishing a post on social media. For all your BHAGs, there are baby steps you could take today that would nudge you a little bit closer. Find the courage to take a baby step every single day, and after a week, a month, 6 months, a year -- how much closer will you be to your goal? That’s the power of chunking down your big plans into tiptoes and then taking consistent daily action. You cultivate a habit of implementation and you start to see yourself as an action-taker who’s prepared to step up and do what it takes to succeed. Every time you move forward, your confidence grows that little bit more as your comfort zone expands. And as your confidence and comfort zone expands, you feel ready to take on more. You’ll WANT to do more! You’ll also train your mind that discomfort doesn’t have to be scary. As you relish in the resulting personal growth, you’ll start to feel safer taking risks. Commit to this baby step strategy and completely overhaul what you think you’re capable of. Beware! It’s a strategy that’s going to make you think bigger and motivate you to take on bigger things! Life happens outside your comfort zone. Every time you say YES to the uncomfortable, you grow. Every time you put courage over comfort, you make it easier to face your fears so you can be your best. Every time you take action in spite of your fears, you are being your best. So how can you cultivate your courage muscle - so you can feel more comfortable around fear and take action to be your best self? The simple answer is to create a diet of uncomfortable actions. In other words, make it a habit to put courage over comfort EVERYDAY. These uncomfortable actions don’t have to be related to your specific goal - in fact, the more unrelated, the better. That’s because unrelated challenges get you familiar with the feeling of being uncomfortable. They force you to engage in things where you don’t know the outcome, which empowers you to be more open, pliable, and adaptable in the face of change and uncertainty. Introducing Courage over Comfort A Momentum Challenge Sign up for the challenge, and each day we’ll invite you to try something new - so you can stretch your comfort zone, thrive in discomfort, and be your best self. This challenge is a fun, yet powerful way to prioritize your own personal growth and it costs just $29 to take part. You won’t do this challenge alone. Instead, you’ll join a group of other high-achievers who all have the same goals as you. Don’t underestimate the value of public accountability in getting you to step up! The next Courage over Comfort challenge starts on the 1st of the month and you can sign up here. REMEMBER… You can do so much more than you currently think possible. None of those high achieving people you admire are any better than you. Instead, they’ve simply cultivated their courage muscle -- so they’re able to step up and take the necessary actions to achieve their goals. You can do the same when you prioritize courage over your comfort.

 Do you feel under pressure to show up, hit your goals, and make awesome happen? If so, you’re not alone. In a world of social media highlights, it can feel as though everyone else is living the perfect life! Comparisonitis shows up and before you know it you’re comparing where you’re at with those influencers you admire on Insta. Why aren’t you as far along as they are? Grrrrr. It’s not a good place to be. Feeling as though you’re not where you ‘should’ be undermines your confidence and steals your motivation. It’s a habit that takes away from your achievements and undermines your current success. So instead of setting yourself up to fail by measuring yourself against the wrong benchmarks, why not simply commit to do your best? Take this approach and the only person you’ll ever have to beat is YOU. It’s an approach that’s hugely motivating and inspiring. When you are your own competition, you get to control the game. You get to hold all the cards. You get to set the finish line and choose the metrics you want to crush. And let’s be honest, all you can ever ask of yourself is to do your very best - in every situation. But how can you make it more likely that you’ll do your best? Here are five powerful strategies to try. 1. Write down your wins When you’re always on the go, juggling a big to-do list, and hustling after your goals, it’s easy to lose sight of what you’ve already achieved. It’s easy to see why… when you’re always busy, it’s hard to take a pause and reflect on how far you’ve already come. That’s why writing down your wins is such a powerful strategy to adopt. It can actually fuel further success and inspire you to do your best. When you write down your wins, you crystalize your successes. You take ownership for them and this helps boost your confidence and self-esteem. Writing down your wins also allows you to reflect on your performance. This helps you get clearer on what it looks like for you to do your best. It’s easy to get distracted and skip over your wins, but write them down and you’ll build up a record of what’s possible when you do your best. 2. Prioritize your day Do you regularly hit the pillow wondering where your day went? When you’re busy, but not productive it’s easy to fall short of your goals. And when the needle doesn’t move because you’ve run out of time, your confidence takes a hit. Being your best doesn’t mean doing everything. In fact, it’s impossible to do it all - there just isn’t enough time. Instead, focus your energy on doing the most important things - or the 80/20. Identify which tasks on your to-do list will move the needle furthest and fastest and do those first. When you prioritize your day in this way, it’s easier to do your best. That’s because instead of wallowing in overwhelm and doing lots of things badly, you can ramp up your performance and output on the tasks that really count. One of the simplest ways to prioritize your life is with a Weekly Action Plan. Write a list of everything you need to do, by when. See everything that’s on your plate in one place, and you’ll find it easier to figure out which tasks to do now, next, and later (or even never). 3. Create good habits that stick Good habits make it easy to do the things that matter - on autopilot. When you don’t have to think and you remove decisions, you can get more done with less time. So if you want to do your best, cultivate the habits that empower you show up as the person you want to be - in all areas of your life. For example, take daily walks, start meditating, practice journaling, make Friday night date or plan your week on the Sunday before the week begins. Then go a step further and track your habits until they become so ingrained, you feel wrong if you don’t do them. A tool such as the Habit Roadmap will help you do this. 4. Become an evergreen learner Your best is a moving target. Each time you learn something new, take a risk, or step out of your comfort zone, you get a new insight into who you are and what you have the potential to do. So if you want to do your best, commit to a learning diet. Become insatiable about topping up your skills, sharpening your strengths, and overcoming your so-called weaknesses. The more you know and understand, the more you’ll be able to think, problem solve, and create. There are countless ways to learn. So mix it up and discover what ways work best for you. For example, you can: - Read a book - Take a course - Get yourself mentored - Stay accountable with the help of Facebook groups (such as the BestSelf Alliance) - Go back to school - Reflect in your journal - Ask questions of people who’ve got the results you want - Listen to podcasts - Watch TED talks In today’s information rich age, you can create your own learning curriculum around the topics, special interests, and knowledge that matters to you. 5. Do your best with S.M.A.R.T Goals If you want to do your best, you need targets to head towards. Without a clear target, your efforts will be more scattergun. That’s why we advocate S.M.A.R.T goal setting. This strategy goes deeper than setting intentions alone. That’s because a S.M.A.R.T goal is: Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based In other words, S.M.A.R.T goals create a specific finish line. This creates the clear direction you need to figure out your action steps and get busy implementing. With a stretching, but clear goal to work towards, you can hustle with purpose. You can hone in on the tasks and actions that move the needle. And you can feel inspired to do your best to get the result you want. In the absence of a clear, achievable goal it’s more likely you’ll drift. And when you feel aimless in your day-to-day it’s a lot harder to do your best. If you want some help setting S.M.A.R.T goals for everything from business, to health and relationships to money, download these S.M.A.R.T Goal Setting templates - they’re all free! When you do your best you can feel your best. And when you do your best you get to live with the satisfaction that you gave it your all and achieved the results and outcomes of which you are capable. A commitment to do your best - in every situation is a catalyst that can help you step into your best self. And with this five strategies to try, you may find it easier than you think to get the results you want.

I know your life is busy. I know you’re juggling a million and one things while trying to stay on top of your seemingly endless to-do list. Sure you enjoy the hustle (most of the time!) and you also thrive on the challenge. But sometimes you wonder if there was an easier way to get it all done. Good news -- there is. And it’s called your daily routine - a simple, yet powerful practice that high-achievers and peak performers use to manage a crazy workload and avoid overwhelm. Best of all, it’s a practice you can use too. This time-tested practice involves more than ticking off the items on your to-do list. Instead, setting a routine inspires you to establish helpful habits which lead to greater levels of success and a more meaningful life. In fact, it’s a practice that can help you achieve your goals, juggle multiple balls, and make your success inevitable. So if you’re curious to develop a daily routine that works for you keep reading because this article will show you how. Here’s why your daily routine is a non-negotiable success habit A routine is simply the set of habits that help you get things done. In other words, habits that you feel compelled to do (often on autopilot) because things feel amiss if you don’t. [Ever gone to bed without cleaning your teeth!] Chances are, you already have a routine. True, you may not have consciously designed it, but there are likely a set of steps you take to get yourself ready for work or get the kids off to school. The secret is to intentionally create a routine that helps you switch on your A-game so you can fire on all cylinders, switch on productivity like a tap, and stay on top of your goals and commitments. But why is it routines work so well for this? Check out these scientific reasons: Firstly, a daily routine helps you cut down on wasteful multitasking and decision fatigue. If you follow a repeatable structure, you can work through essential tasks while spending less mental energy in the process. Secondly, a routine guides you to focus on one task at a time. Multitasking is one of the greatest productivity lies. Doing multiple things at once doesn’t get stuff done faster. Instead, it drains your mental energy leaving you with less bandwidth for dealing with more complex issues later. Thirdly, routines are vital to our development as humans. If you’re a parent, you’ll know that kids thrive on routines -- but did you know that adults do too? A routine helps build confidence, organization, and self-control making us better equipped to deal with the demands of modern life. It’s why plenty of top performers swear by them including: - Winston Churchill woke up at 7:30 am and stayed in bed to eat breakfast, catch up on the news and dictate to his assistants. By 11:00 am, he’d head out to take a walk and start work for the day (always with a whiskey and soda!). At 1:00, he’d take a break for lunch and often play cards with his wife until 3:00 pm. After working for a few more hours, he’d take a quick 30-minute nap at 5:00 pm to recharge in time for dinner and drinks with friends at 5:30 pm. At midnight, he’d squeeze in an hour of reading before heading to bed. But that’s just one man. Mason Currey has compiled the daily habits of some of the world’s most successful people in his book, “Daily Rituals: How Artists Work”. For example: - Maya Angelou would wake up at 5:30 am, have coffee with her husband a 6:00 am, and be off to work by 6:30am in a small hotel room she reserved for writing only. By 2:00 pm, she’d wrap up for the day and head home to re-read her work, disconnect, and prepare dinner. - Novelist John Grisham wakes up at 5 a.m. in order to arrive at his home office desk by 5:30 so he could write one page before heading to his day job as a lawyer. - Toni Morrison drinks a cup of coffee and watches the sun come up before she sits down to write. How to create the right daily routine for you The most effective daily routines are those that are designed to help you stick to good habits and achieve your goals. With a finite amount of time in your day, high-performers know they have to leverage their minutes to cultivate focus and concentration to get everything done. And it’s not about mastering a monster to-do list alone. The right daily routine should create time and space in your day for everything that’s important to you. So as well as creating focused time for work, your daily routine should consider your health and wellbeing, your relationships, your hobbies, and anything else that lights you up. If you fail to make time for these things there’s a good chance they won’t happen -- and that won’t lead to a happy or fulfilled life. Your daily routine is also about prioritising. High-achievers know they can’t do everything. It’s why they prioritize their workload to ensure there’s time (and bandwidth) to get the most important stuff done. So when it comes to creating a daily routine that works for you, the first step is to figure out what’s most important to you. Get clear on all your priorities (and your goals) and you can get clear on the habits needed to make it all happen For example, let’s say you want to achieve the following: Daily power walks to boost your health Regular journaling to clear your mind and cultivate self-awareness Time to prepare ‘proper’ food from scratch Quality time with your children Nurture your mind by reading more Date time with your partner Focused time to write the book you’ve had in your head for years As well as sufficient time to plough through all your work/business related tasks and to-dos. It sounds like a lot, but it all becomes possible when you create a daily routine -- and stick to it. For example, you might: - Timetable a daily power walk after you’ve completed the school run - Put aside 30-minutes to journal when you’re back from your walk - Timetable a one-hour slot to work on your book - Schedule an uninterrupted block for building your business/work time - Include a buffer here to allow yourself to switch from work to home mode - Finish work by 5pm - no excuses - so you can prepare food - Spend quality time with your children until their bedtime - Read for 30-minutes before you go to bed What might a daily schedule look like for you? Stay disciplined around a flexible routine You won’t get results from your daily routine unless you stick to it, sounds obvious, but life will throw those unpredictable spanners into the works. It’s why you want to get your schedule out of your head and onto paper using a tool such as the Self Journal. Practice timetabling your day to get everything done and you’ll increase the likelihood of making it all happen. Writing it down also helps you to reflect on your scheduling choices too. So don’t be afraid to admit if something isn’t working. If you haven’t giving yourself enough time to connect with your employees or get your busy work done, you can adjust your timings. If you’re consistently missing your power walk, develop a new plan. As with any road map, your daily routine is a learning curve that can grow with you. So periodically switch and shake things up to ensure your daily routine empowers you to show up as your best self. Your daily routine can become a game-changer if you use it to get organized, get more stuff done, and fit in more of the things that matter. So start today. Make a list of what you want to create for yourself -- then schedule your day using a tool such as the Self Journal to make it all happen. It’s a powerful step you can take towards your best self.