If I told you the humble notebook could 10x your productivity AND your creativity, would you believe me? I know, it’s a big promise right, so hear me out… Apps and gadgets may be cutting-edge. But that doesn’t mean ‘old school’ tools aren’t effective anymore. In fact, adopt the tools that other people set aside, and you can get a massive edge. Take the humble notebook for example. There’s a good reason top performers including Bill Gates, Richard Branson, and Sheryl Sandberg swear by them. With 70,000 thoughts racing through your head EVERY DAY how can you get the maximum amount of stuff done? It gets worse… a big chunk of thinking is repetitive and low-level. Not only is this chatter distracting and brain numbing, but it eats away at your bandwidth too. And when you have less room for creative thinking and problem solving, it’s harder to be your best. But keep a notebook in your hand, and you can do things differently. Check out these 11 reasons why successful people take notes. 1. Prioritize your bandwidth Your brain is notoriously bad at remembering things! And even if you do manage to hold onto a thought, you’ll forget the detail AND prevent your mind going on another creative tangent. It takes a lot of bandwidth to retain information. So get in the habit of writing stuff down. Use your notebooks as an ‘external brain’, which can store information, memos, to-dos, and ideas for you. With your brain released of the responsibility of remembering, you can put your intelligence to better use. 2. Turn a profit Everything you see around you started as an idea in someone’s imagination. It’s as Napoleon Hill said, “Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes.” If you’re not leveraging and exploring your thoughts, you’ll have nothing to turn into money! Carry a notebook and make note-taking a habit. Eventually you’ll hit on an idea that strikes gold. 3. Generate more great ideas Jim Rohn said it best. “Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea.” Make note-taking a habit and you’ll be primed to capture ideas as soon as they show up. It’s true that not every idea will be a winner, but every creator and inventor will tell you that they had plenty of failures before striking lucky. The more you write down, the more chances you have of coming up with something that could actually go somewhere. 4. Ramp up your creativity Steve Jobs said, “Creativity is just connecting things.” When thoughts and ideas stay in your head, they don’t go anywhere. But write them down and you can tug on different threads and see where they end up. With your thoughts staring back at you in black and white it’s a lot easier to see how the dots join up. And as you build up a bank of ideas to connect up, you’ll become a better innovator. 5. Work the creative process Good ideas aren’t predictable. You can sit for hours and get nowhere, then take a walk and suddenly your brain overflows with possibilities. That’s because great ideas rarely show up on demand. Instead, the best ones happen when your brain is relaxed or focused elsewhere. It’s why you get a brainwave or a Eureka moment when you’re walking in the park, taking a shower, or having a coffee with friends. An ever-ready notebook allows you to work this unpredictable process by ensuring you never miss a beat. 6. Retain more information It might be old school, but studies show over and over that pen and paper helps you remember more than digital alternatives. Something happens when you form words and letters with your own hands and in your own unique writing style. So indulge yourself in old school tools. You may find that you remember more as a result. 7. Expect ideas to flow The act of carrying a notebook is a declaration of sorts. It tells your brain that you expect to have ideas. That alone helps them flow more frequently. That’s because your brain is constantly solving problems based on the questions and situations you put to it. So if you’re mulling over an idea in the back of your mind or you’re looking for a way forward, having a notebook open is an invitation for the insights you want to flow. 8. No distractions Sure, your phone is equipped to take notes - so can your laptop or desktop, but beware! With digital, you’re always one click away from distraction. A notification, an interesting headline, or an entertaining Instagram story and before you know it - boom! You’re lost inside the digital abyss. High performance and productivity thrives on focus - not multitasking - and that’s what you get with a physical notebook. 9. Open doors Some ideas are dead ends, others open doors, and others grow into something extraordinary. But you won’t know which ones are which unless you write them down! That’s the value of a notebook. You can capture it all for processing and analyzing later. 10. Never lose a brilliant idea again Have you ever had a brilliant idea in the most inconvenient of places? If you can’t write it down you’re left relying on your memory - and that can cause a headache. Ideas are fleeting – if you don’t grab them they’ll slip through your fingers and there’s nothing you can do about it. But write them down and they’re yours forever. What’s more, when you write ideas down in the moment, you can stretch them and play with them. You can follow what comes after the initial insight - and maybe even stumble across something amazing. 11. Know yourself better Journaling is a powerful notebook practice that can help you reflect on your experiences, get in touch with how you feel, and work through challenges, roadblocks, and dilemmas. There are multiple ways to journal - so play around to figure out what’s right for you. You could journal to prompts (you’ll LOVE the Wordsmith Deck for this). You could write Morning Pages (Julia Cameron style) where you write a monologue of anything that flows to help clear your head. You could even journal around how you’re feeling or reflect on what you’re discovering. Whatever style you choose, I think you’ll be surprised by how much self growth this habit can drive. Always be ready Top-performers do note-taking differently. They know ideas aren’t predictable and they can struggle to switch their busy, creative mind off. They carry a notebook EVERYWHERE - so they can capture thoughts, random ideas, reflections, and brain dumps ANYTIME they show up. Time you followed suit? If so, we’ve got the tools to help. If you want something pocket-sized for idea generation on the go, pick the Sidekicks. These micro notebooks come in a pack of three and are ideal for popping in your bag or keeping in your jacket pocket. Gone are the excuses for being caught out empty-handed! And if you want something bigger, then Scribe is for you. This top-notch notebook contains a stack of high-performance features including a ribbon bookmark, perforated corners, and an expandable back pocket. Both notebooks are filled with high-quality, fountain pen friendly paper that’s a dream to write on. So start your note-taking habit today with a notebook that best matches your needs and personality.

Are you working towards a financial goal? Perhaps you want to save money to pay for a dream vacation, an extension, or a new car. Maybe you want to pay off your student loan or other debts. Do you want to have more cash in the bank for more security or is it time to grow your business from 5-6 figures - and beyond. Money may not make you happy, but it does create more choice. It’s why so many people set themselves financial goals - and on the surface, they’re easy to achieve! All you have to do is one of these three things: Earn/generate more money Spend less money Or a combination of the two Of course, the reality is more complicated than that. Financial goals require you to change your habits, shift your beliefs, and commit to difficult actions. You’ll need to cultivate discipline and grit as well - to ensure you stay the course all the way to the finish line. So regardless of the top-line strategy you pick, you’ll need a tool to help you plan your actions, track your progress, and reflect on your performance. You need a tool that keeps your goal top of mind and hold you to account - especially when the journey gets tough. It’s why you need a Self Journal. Let me explain… What is the Self Journal The Self Journal is the high-performance planner that combines productivity with positivity. Based on science, this planner provides the structures that help you take control of your life and achieve your goals. With the Self Journal, you can plan your day to prioritize the actions that lead to success. For example: - The 30-minute scheduler helps you fit everything into your day - Habit Trackers inspire you to build the good financial habits that lead to your goals - Reflection makes it easy to access your progress so you can stay on track With a Self Journal in your hands, you can mastermind the path to your goals - instead of making up the steps as you go along. With a clear plan of action, you’re more likely to stay the course and succeed. These are the steps to take. Step 1. Set a SMART Goal If you want to achieve a financial goal you have to set the right goal. This is a non-negotiable. Science says 92% of people don’t achieve their goals and a core reason is because their goals aren’t SMART. Instead of getting super clear on the desired outcome, they say something flimsy such as: “I want to save money” or “I want to get out of debt”. These statements are intentions, they not goals because they aren’t: Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based Making your goal SMART increases your likelihood of success because you know what success looks like for you. As a result, you have a clear target to hit which keeps you focused and motivated. Look at the difference: - I will save $6,000 in the next three months. - I will clear 10% of my debt in the next 90 days. - I will increase my turnover to $10,000 a month by the end of June Each of these goals detail a specific target (S) that can be measured (M) and a clear deadline (T). You know when you’ve crossed the finish line and you know how quickly you have to work. More importantly, these ‘restrictions’ create a framework in which you can mastermind your plan of attack. This is where A (attainable) and R (relevant) come in. It’s good to set a stretching goal. When we’re pushed out of our comfort zone we can always do more than we believe is possible. But don’t make your target so stretching that it’s no longer realistic. If you set yourself up to fail, you’ll struggle to drum up the motivation you need to keep going. In addition, check the relevancy of your goal. Do you care enough about the target you’ve set? Does this goal take you in the direction you want your life to go? If you don’t have a big enough why, you won’t cultivate the grit and determination needed to succeed. With your SMART target defined, you can start to complete your Self Journal 13-Week Roadmap (it’s on page 4). Write your SMART target into the RESULTS GOAL section. Step 2. Define your progress goals With a SMART target set, you’re now clear on the finish line. But how will you get from where you are now to where you want to be? Success rarely happens overnight. Instead, success is the cumulative effect of consistent daily action - and there will be a number of milestones along the way. It’s a little like climbing Mount Everest. While the peak is the ultimate destination, climbers concentrate on each stage at a time. Chunking down your goal into more manageable steps makes the ultimate goal feel less overwhelming. And when you’re not overwhelmed, it’s a LOT easier to focus and keep the needle moving. So your next step is to figure out your equivalent PROGRESS GOALS for your financial targets. What big milestones will you pass along the way? - For a savings target, this could be as simple as saving $2,000 a month. - For a debt reduction target, as well as reworking your budget, you may decide to explore new ways to increase your income. - For a business growth target, your progress goals may focus on the product creation and marketing strategy that will help you cross the finish line. What is your strategy for achieving your goal? When you’ve figured out your plan of action, create your progress goals and add them to your 13-Week Roadmap. Step 3. Define your Actions and Tasks Where your RESULT and PROGRESS goals help you to stay on a straight line, your tasks and actions focus on the nitty gritty of what you need to do on a daily basis. Let’s return to our savings goal: - RESULT GOAL: We want to save $6,000 over the next three months - PROGRESS GOALS: We’ll know we’re on track if we save $2,000 a month. What do you need to do on a daily/weekly basis to hit these targets? Time to brainstorm. For example, you could: - Cut out your daily coffee shop coffee and brew your own - Cancel subscriptions you know you don’t use - Make a shopping list for groceries so you don’t waste money on impulse purchases - Take the subway instead of a taxi - Prepare a meal at home on a Friday night instead of going out If you add up the savings from all the above, it’s surprising how much you can accumulate. Consider the one-offs as well, for example: - Ask your boss for a raise - Do overtime - Sell things you no longer love on eBay or Facebook marketplace - Start a side hustle - Research cheaper alternatives to the things you buy regularly The key is to examine your lifestyle and your budget to explore the opportunities that exist to spend less and save more. You can get really creative with this. What actions and tasks are you committed to? Write them on your 13-week Roadmap. Step 4. Plan your time With your goal set, your milestones laid out, and your actions and tasks identified, your next step is to plan your life to make it all happen. Your Self Journal contains everything you need to do that: - Weekly pages: Use the weekly template to plan when you’ll do your money-saving activities. For example, you might allocate 90 minutes every Monday to sort through your home to identify items to sell. - Daily pages: This is where you get granular with your time so you can set up your day to achieve your goals. The daily structure includes: - Space to write your goal - to keep you focused on where you want to be - Daily gratitude - to remind you of the abundance you already have, even as you hustle for more - Today’s targets - a space to get clear on what’s most important so you can double-down on what will move the needle - 30-Minute scheduler - so you can plan your time to fit everything in - Space for reflection - so you can track your progress and get clear on what’s working (and what isn’t) Time is your most valuable, non-renewable resource. If you can figure out how to spend it well, you’ll be able to get a lot more done. Plan your time to account for every minute, and this is where you free up the time to do the extra tasks and actions that will close the gap to your goal. Step 5: Adopt new, empowering habits What you achieve is the sum of your habits. The problem is that we are creatures of habit! In other words, it’s not always easy to break free of ‘bad’ ones and embed more empowering ones. But that’s exactly what you need to do if you want to achieve your financial goals. Once again, the Self Journal can help with its weekly Habit Tracker. Simply note the habits you want to track (and how many times a week you want to do them). Check off your success and watch your chain of wins grow. Repeat your new habits long enough and they’ll soon become second nature. Self Journal Success Stories Anything is possible with the right plan and the Self Journal contains a proven system that will help you close the gap from where you are now to where you want to be. Do you have a financial goal you want to achieve? If so, grab yourself a Self Journal and use it to mastermind your path to success.

If you never have enough minutes in the day to do everything you want, then you’re far from alone! When you have to-dos to check off, meetings to attend, and personal commitments to see to, you can feel as though you’re constantly chasing your tail. Good news! You can replace busy for productive and you can carry more than you currently imagine. It’s all possible when you discover how to manage time. Truth is, time is not as limited as we think - even if it feels that way. Each new day, you’re gifted 1,440 minutes. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, you get the same amount as everyone else. It’s what makes time the great equalizer… and our most precious, non-renewable resource. You can’t stop the passage of time -- there is no pause or rewind button! But you can allocate and use your time in a way that makes your minutes stretch further. Here are five ways to do that. 1. Manage yourself - not your time The problem with feeling overwhelmed is it makes it hard to get started. Take today for example. I have a number of chunky tasks on my to-do list. I’ve got a team call to attend later and I’m also taking 90 minutes out to watch my daughter’s school show. When there’s so much on your plate, you can wonder where to start - and this decision becomes even harder when you’re handling tasks that will take a lot of you. If you’re not careful, you won’t start at all! Instead, you convince yourself that social media really is your top priority! It’s easy to squander time through distractions, procrastination, and overwhelm. Therefore, if you want to manage your time you can’t focus on the minutes alone. You also need to explore how you show up with your time. For sure, we all have off days and play days. Life shouldn’t be all work, work, work! But when you do need to be ‘on it’, it’s key you can cultivate the discipline needed to sit tight and get stuff done in a realistic timeframe. 2. Prioritize your tasks Not all tasks are created equally. Take a look at your to-do list now… What’s on that list, which can wait? Is there anything you can delegate? Better still, what items can you eliminate altogether? In addition, what’s not on the list that should be because you tell yourself there’s not time right now? It’s tempting to try and do everything and take on more than we can realistically handle, but we all have our capacity. Time management isn’t about quantity. It’s more about quality. There will be some items on your to-do list that will move the needle proportionally further than anything else. Make it your mission to constantly identify those tasks - and get them done first. Remember, that task won’t always be a work-related item. It could be clocking off early to spend time with your kids or making self care time so you can show up as your best. Focus on the significant stuff, and the smaller things often take care of themselves. 3. Use a timer to be mindful of your minutes What can you realistically achieve in 30-minutes? - The school run - Write a couple social posts - A workout or a yoga practice - A journaling session - A game with your kids - A sales call Often, we don’t get conscious of how much time individual tasks and activities need. It’s puts us on a collision course with Parkinson’s Law, which states that tasks will take as much time as you give them. That’s why a 2-hour blog post can take all day or a ½ day presentation can keep you up all night. How to manage time? Set time parameters for individual tasks. Work out how long you think each task will take to complete and pencil that timescale in. It’s good to stretch yourself so don’t give yourself too much wriggle room. But be realistic. If you make it too hard, your productivity will plummet (because you’ll get overwhelmed), and that pushes everything else behind. Then when you get to work, time yourself with a timer. This simple exercise helps you get more mindful of the passage of time. It will also increase your time awareness too as you tap in deeper to what you can realistically achieve in any given timeframe. 4. Set deadlines It’s good to be spontaneous and to go with the flow, but without accountability those precious minutes can float away. Deadlines help to keep you time focused - so less goes to waste. You can use deadlines to inspire you to figure out what you could do - and by when. With a finish line marked out, you have more incentive to keep going - regardless. Deadlines also encourage you to be more productive. They create accountability to yourself (and to those you’ve made promises to). When you feel you have to deliver by a set date or time, you can draw upon your reserves to make it happen. Too much stress can wreak havoc with your body. But a little bit of pressure can heighten your senses, draw out your best, and help you win the day. 5. Schedule your day Have you noticed that scheduled appointments rarely get overlooked? It’s hard to ignore that commitment in your diary, right? More than that, you also plan your day around those commitments - to ensure you can be where you need to be on time. Imagine what would happen if you applied this same principle to everything else on your to-do list. Instead of leaving tasks and activities to chance, you scheduled out committed time in your planner to get stuff done. Here’s a how to manage time example: - Write blog post: 12:30-2:30 - Power walk: 9:00-9:30 - Facebook live training: 11:00-11:30 This is one of the most powerful time management processes I know. It’s a practice that protects you from Parkinson’s law as well as leveraging the power of deadlines. It also allows you to set up your day to hit your priorities first - so you’re always moving the needle. When you can see how your day works on paper, it’s easier to get cracking. When your plan is out of your head and onto paper, you’re less likely to get distracted or procrastinate. Wondering how to manage time with a planner? We get it… There’s a lot you want to do and a lot you have to do! When you’re juggling so much, it’s always easier to plan it all on paper. With a realistic day mapped out, the stress and overwhelm almost melt away. It’s why you’ll love the Self Journal. Perfect for managing time, increasing productivity, and achieving goals. It will also keep you clear headed too - and that can make all the difference with a life that’s as busy as yours. So grab one today. You won’t regret it for a second.

What do you want to achieve, experience, and enjoy in your life? With the hustle and pressure of your day-to-day commitments, it’s all too easy to lose sight of the big picture. When your to-do list is calling and you’re weighed down by responsibility, you can get lost in the flow of life. Then, before you know it, 10 years have passed and you’re left wondering what you’ve got to show for all that time! The good news is there’s a simple tool you can use that can help you maximize your years. It’s your life goals list. In this blog, I’ll reveal five reasons why you want to create your life goals list - and how to start building yours today. “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” - Bill Gates 1. Get yourself in the driver’s seat of your life Do you ever feel as though you’re on autopilot - drifting along through life? It’s so easy to fall into this trap. For example, you find yourself doing the things that others want of you. You stay in the same job for years because it’s comfortable and what you know. You stick with routines that are well worn because you know who you are inside them. There’s nothing wrong with going with the flow, but don’t flow so far that you lose sight of what you really desire. A life goals list allows you to take back control because you get to choose the things you’re working towards. Life goals give you focus. They make you proactive. They empower you to grab life by the scruff of the neck. Instead of allowing things to unravel, you get to set a direction that takes you closer to the life and experiences you want. 2. Spark your reticular activating system When I was pregnant with my first child, suddenly I was surrounded by pregnant women everywhere! It wasn’t that there was a surge in pregnancies, rather my brain was more aware of other pregnant women - because it was an experience that was important to me. It’s the same way that everyone’s driving the car you want to buy or wearing the watch you’ve got your eyes on. Your brain can’t consciously focus on all the stimuli and information it’s bombarded with everyday. Instead, it has to get selective. When you set life goals, you give your brain that focus. You tell it what’s most important to you. It’s how opportunities that will help you achieve your goals seem to miraculously appear! It’s no accident. Instead, when you’re focused on what you want, you’ll be more alert to the people, experiences, and events that will help you achieve them. 3. No regrets Life is short. You have a finite amount of time on planet Earth - so you may as well make the most of it! A life goals list gives you the space to think about what you actually want to see, experience, feel, taste, touch, achieve, and do. The simple act of setting an intention and writing out your list brings all the things you want a step closer. The more things you check off your bucket list, the fewer regrets you’ll have. And the sooner you start the better. Different life goals will take different amounts of time. You could achieve some this year or even this month. Others may take years - even decades, but the sooner you start, the more time you’ll have to play with (and the more you’ll get to do with your life). 4. Know yourself By their nature, your life goals will push you out of your comfort zone and inspire you to take on things you’ve never done before. As a result, your life goals provide incredible learning experiences that will help you get to know who you are, what you’re passionate about, and how far you can push yourself. Under pressure or in intense situations, some of your greatest hidden qualities will emerge. You’ll realize that you’re stronger than you thought, braver than you thought, and more resilient than you thought. And through the pursuit of your goals, you’ll also learn new skills, grow as an individual, and become your best self. 5. Feel happier A life well lived - filled with the experiences you crave and the adventures and achievements that make you feel alive will fuel a deep sense of fulfillment inside you. You’ll feel more successful. More sure of yourself. More aware of your strengths, skills, and unique talents. A full life - rich with all the things you desire - will make you feel happier and filled with a deep sense of satisfaction and contentment. It’s that feeling of knowing you gave it your best and made the most of what you had. How to create a life goals list It’s super simple to create a life goals list. All you need is a notebook, a blank sheet of paper, or a new Google doc. I suggest you break your life goals into categories, for example: - Health, wellbeing, and fitness - Financial - Work/career/business - Adventure - Relationships - Personal achievements - Skills and learning Setting categories allows you to take a holistic approach to your goal setting - so you create a range of experiences across every area of life that’s important to you. With your categories drawn up, write down all the things you want to do. Include the big things, for example: - Helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon - Attend a yoga retreat in India - Backpack around Europe - Become fluent in French - Write a New York Times bestseller - Build a 7-figure business - Buy your dream home And the little things, such as: - Make pancakes with your kids - Go star gazing - Find out about your grandparents childhood - Write a piece of poetry Don’t censor yourself. Remember that Bill Gates quote -  “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” Just because you can’t perceive how you’ll achieve a goal right now, doesn’t mean you won’t be able to in the years to come. That’s the beauty of a goal-fueled life… each time you achieve something outside your comfort zone you transform your future possibilities. With your list written, keep it safe and refer to it often. Always be working towards something on that list. Even better, share your list with the people closest to you - so they know what you want to achieve in your life. If you’re in a relationship, create your life goals list together. Inspire your kids to start one too. One more thing… your life goals list is going to continue evolving. It will get shorter as you check things off and it will get longer as you’re inspired to add more things to it. Embrace this evolution and enjoy how your list inspires you to get the most out of your life. Tools to achieve your life goals list When you’re ready to focus on a particular goal from your life goals list, we’ve got the tools to help you succeed. For example: - The Self Journal helps you plan your time so you can achieve a significant goal in just three months - The Project Action Pad guides you to map out the smaller action steps that will take you to your bigger goal - The Scribe notebook is the perfect place for storing your life goals list and for journaling ideas to help you achieve them With Best Self tools providing the framework to help you succeed, you could go a lot further.

‘Aim to be the best you can be.’ This is a powerful phrase that’s thrown around a lot in the self-development field. But what does it actually mean, why is this something to strive towards, and how do you go about becoming the best version of yourself? It’s what we’ll explore in this article. What does it mean to be your ‘best self? Somehow, your best self implies there are two versions of you. The ‘you’ right now, and the ‘you’ that you have the potential to be (if you’re willing to take certain actions and decisions). In other words, there’s a gap to close because there’s more you could be, do, and have if you stay hungry to explore your limits and learn more about your strengths and capabilities. That could be better relationships, more money, a bigger business, a healthier body, more exciting hobbies - your definition of ‘best’ will be unique to you depending on where you feel you’re falling behind in your potential or aspirations. In this way, wanting to be the best you can be is a powerful motivator that forces you to take a more intentional path through life. It inspires you to look for the growth opportunities and it reminds you to figure out where you could step up. Your best self is a journey, not a destination. In fact, it’s a journey that’s never going to end, but don’t be put off by that! Instead, see this an empowering concept where you have limitless potential for growth. You’ll have already seen this in your life. Just when you think you’ve reached your limits, somehow you take another step and a whole new world of possibility opens up. That’s why your best self is also an attitude. It’s a commitment to being better today than you were yesterday. It’s a conscious choice to keep striving, and growing, and learning from every experience that comes your way. It’s a self-love journey too because being your best requires you to recognize that you are ‘work in progress’. It reminds you to appreciate your achievements and be grateful for what you already have while at the same time knowing there’s always more in your tank. It’s the more challenging path Living to become your best self is the harder path through life. Sure, it’s a mindset that creates the space for incredible relationships, impactful businesses, ideas that change the world, and an insatiable zest for life. But it’s also a route that’s going to be hard. If you’ve ever tried to be your best, you’ll know that personal growth is painful. You take on things you have no idea how to do and fail miserably! You get knocked down. You feel out of your depth and overwhelmed. You drown in discomfort and you’re forced to let old things go as your identity shifts and evolves. But that’s part of the magic of this path. • Every failure creates new insights• You get stronger every time you get back up• Discomfort expands your comfort zone• Letting go creates space for new opportunities Then there’s the elation of achieving an ‘impossible’ goal. The self-esteem boost from figuring it out. The confidence rush when you decide you won’t be beaten. There’s also the excitement of trying new things. The thrill of mastering a new skill and the courage to continually rediscover who you are. Yes! The journey to be the best you can be is addictive, transformative, and one of the most rewarding commitments you can make to yourself in this life. Better still, it’s also a personal project too. There is no right or wrong when it comes to your unique journey - there’s only your way. What’s most important to you will be wildly different from what someone else deems essential. But how do you do it? What are the strategies and mindsets that empower you to be the best you can be - even when you’re feeling beaten, disillusioned, and low in confidence. Check out these five. Five ways to be the best you can be 1. Embrace failure No one likes to be seen to fail. We’re social beings and losing face in front of other people never feels good! But reluctance to fail is always going to hold you back - because it reduces your scope for experimenting and exploring. If you want to be the best you can be you have to take risks. You need to step out into the unknown and do things you’ve never done before. Hindsight is the best thing and there will be plenty of times you’ll wish you had a time machine! But if you never try you never know. Give yourself permission to fail. This may be a big hurdle to overcome - especially if you’re a perfectionist. Work to shift your beliefs about failure and remind yourself that every mistake is an opportunity to learn. It’s true. Failure actually makes you better - if you allow yourself to adopt the mindset that makes this a reality. 2. Invest in the inner journey If you want to be the best you can be, you’ve got to invest in your own inner journey - this is a non-negotiable. You need to be able to reflect on experiences, your beliefs, your thoughts, and your goals. Continually build your self-awareness and you’ll unlock the inner wisdom and insights to understand your strengths, weaknesses, fears, self-imposed limits, dreams, desires, goals - the list goes on. The deeper your relationship with yourself, the more empowered you’ll be to be your best. It’s why so many top-performers and high achievers swear by their journaling practice - because all the answers are inside. 3. Set stretching goals You’ll never know how much you can do and how far you can go until you push yourself. That’s the power of setting your goals. They take you out of your comfort zone and inspire you to create or experience something you don’t have currently. Goals force you to commit, focus, innovate, and problem solve. They’re a catalyst for diving into your reserves to pull it out of the bag! Your goals create a huge learning experience too. Reflect on your performance and you’ll discover your limiting beliefs as well as unhelpful behaviors and triggers. Use your goals to sharpen your self-awareness and as well as achieving extraordinary, you’ll learn more about yourself too. 4. Commit to continuous improvement We’ve already said that being your best is a work in progress. You’ll never truly hit the summit of your potential because each stage of growth creates new learning opportunities. That’s why being your best is something you have to work on everyday. It’s not enough to invest in ad hoc sprints and bursts of activity, instead you have to make your best a habit. Go after the 1% improvements. Ask yourself how you could make something 1% better than yesterday. Do this everyday and you won’t recognize yourself in 12 months time. The amount of growth you’ll experience will be astronomical! 5. Cultivate positivity Henry Ford said it best, “whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” You can’t be your best if your inner critic continually undermines you. ‘You’re not good enough’, that’s too hard for you’, you failed before’, ‘people like you don’t do things like that’... The list is endless! Here’s the good news… Positivity can be learned. Even if you’re the most negative person you know, it is possible to develop a positive mindset. Sure, it’s not an overnight thing. It will take time and commitment, but make it one of your 1% things and you’ll be amazed what you can achieve when you brainwash yourself with positivity. It’s easier than you think… Turn off the negative news. Don’t engage in conversations that pull you down. Listen to positive audios, podcasts, and music. Repeat affirmations. Visualize positive outcomes. Make a big thing of your successes (even the small ones). Make positivity the default and slowly, but surely your default mindset can change. Being the best you can be starts today It’s never too late to commit to becoming your best self. Regardless of where you are on your journey through life, you can take proactive steps today to explore more of your potential and step closer to the person you really want to be. We’re here to help with tools, ideas, and community support to help you get out of your comfort zone. All you’ve got to do is start. Over to you… What’s one thing can you do today to be the best you can be?  

Self empowerment is about taking control of your life. This involves developing the self-trust and self-awareness you need to set the right goals, make sound decisions, and understand your strengths and weaknesses - so you can thrive. Living a life fuelled by self empowerment is a refusal to allow others to make decisions for you. Instead, it’s claiming your own path - regardless of what anyone else says - because you know that path is right for you. It’s the harder path for sure. It’s far easier to settle for conventional rules and fall in line. It’s easier to play small and dumb down your goals and your ideas. But if you’re reading this, I know that’s not what you want. You want to dream bigger and achieve more. You want to explore your full potential and you want to feel empowered to take the actions and decisions that lead to an abundant life. So if you know there’s so much more out there, this article is for you. Keep reading and you’ll discover SEVEN powerful self improvement techniques that will help you cultivate the grit, self-trust, and confidence you need to be your best. 1. Journaling “An unexamined life is not worth living.” - Plato Everyday you make decisions, ponder over thoughts, and live out experiences. It’s a big melting pot, which contains a host of insights ready for you to pull out. That’s what journaling helps you to do - it’s a practice that empowers you to examine your life for self empowerment. By getting introspective in your notebook, you can explore your thoughts and experiences more deeply. You can look for the connections, join up the dots, and get clearer on who you are. Journaling isn’t just about mulling over the here and now. You can also use this practice to reflect over your life so you can get more clarity on what’s shaped your beliefs and your thought patterns. If you struggle to know what to journal about, ask yourself questions or get your hands on some prompts. Do what it takes to get more clarity on the subconscious, hidden stuff that’s driving you, and you’ll be able to make more empowered choices moving forward. 2. Make good decisions “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” - Tony Robbins When you lack confidence and you don’t know yourself, it’s easy to be influenced by the people you admire and respect. Especially when it comes to those big, defining decisions! If you don’t trust your own judgement, there’s a good chance you’ll be persuaded. But what others think you should do isn’t necessarily what’s right for you. Often, we know in our gut what the right choice is, but we end up overriding that decision because of fear, ‘logical’ thinking, and the opinions of others. Decisiveness is powerful because it allows you to take control over your life. Instead of procrastinating, you can choose and act. So invest in developing your decision making skills. Train your mind to think widely about the tough choices - considering all angles so you feel confident you’ve chosen well. Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but trusting yourself enough to go for what you think is right is a hugely empowering thing to do.    3. Set goals "The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score." –Bill Copeland When it comes to self empowerment, your goals are the drivers. Set goals and you begin to live your life intentionally. Instead of allowing each day to be like the one before, you set a course that allows you to create the life YOU want. Goals create focus. They tell your brain what’s important (and what is less so). They make it easy for you to prioritize what’s on your plate by putting the things that will take you closer to your targets first. Goals are the seeds of change and they put you in the driving seat of your life. What goals do you need to set - in your relationships, your work/career, your personal development, your finances, your hobbies, your health and wellbeing etc? Set goals that take you closer to the things you want, and take action on them, and you’ll feel more empowered than ever. 4. Manage your time “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” - Stephen Covey Each day, you wake up with 1440 minutes deposited in your time bank account. Time is the greatest equalizer. It doesn’t matter who you are, we all get the same time allocation. It’s what you do with your time that counts. It’s easy to feel disempowered in life when time feels scarce, but the truth is you do have enough time to do it all. It’s simply a case of prioritization and allocation. Self empowerment is about taking responsibility for your time and ensuing you’re using it wisely. Ask yourself: - What are you doing that you don’t really enjoy? - Where are you wasting time through procrastination and distractions? - What could you outsource, delegate, or even scrap all together? - What are you not doing that you’d really love to explore? Time is too precious to leave it to chance. Instead, use a planner (such as the Self Journal) to plan your day. Figure out your daily targets (ensuring they’re aligned to your goals) and schedule in all your tasks in the same way you would a fixed appointment. Budget your time to get it all done and there’s a good chance you will.   5. Don’t be afraid to fail “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” - Henry Ford If self empowerment is about taking control and using your life to do the things you want, you MUST get comfortable with failure. No one likes to fail. It’s uncomfortable, it can knock our confidence, and it makes us vulnerable to the judgement of others. However, you can’t create a fully expressed life if you never push yourself out of your comfort zone. The things you want require you to take actions and make decisions that you’ve never taken before. It’s just the way it is! You can’t know everything in advance (and if you do, perhaps you’re not thinking big enough). So give yourself the freedom and permission to get it wrong. Change your perception of failure and see it as a fundamental part of the self-growth process. Turn ‘mistakes’ into learning opportunities and every time things don’t go as you planned, soak up the rush of fresh insights that will help you do more next time. You aren’t your mistakes. You are so much more than that. It takes guts to take a risk and push yourself further than you think you can go. But prioritize courage over comfort, and you’ll feel more self empowered than ever. 6. Say no without feeling guilty “Just saying yes because you can’t bear the short-term pain of saying no is not going to help you do the work.” - Seth Godin Time is your most precious resource. So don’t waste it doing things you think you have to do. I get it, saying no can be really hard - you don’t want to let people down and you don’t want others to feel bad about you. But every time you say YES when you really mean no, you divert your time resource to activities you don’t really want to do. Let that sink in… Saying yes to someone else means saying no to you. It’s your life and that means you’re allowed to do things your way. You’re allowed to prioritize your needs over other people’s. Self empowerment involves being more mindful with your yeses and nos. So next time someone makes a request of you and you want to say no, but feel you have to say yes, dive deeper into your thought process. Grab your journal if you need to. When you understand your programming, you’ll be empowered to give replies that are true to you. 7. Love yourself “Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have.” - Robert Holden How’s your relationship with yourself? How do you feel when you look in the mirror? Do you like what you see? Do you think you’re worthy of living life to the full and creating everything you desire? Without self love, everything else becomes so much harder. It’s why nurturing your relationship with yourself is one of the most powerful things you can do. In fact, self love is the catalyst to virtually everything (including self empowerment). - Prioritize your self care routines. - Make more space for the things YOU enjoy (and enjoy them without feeling guilty). - Do the work necessary to ensure your self talk is positive, encouraging, and loving. - Practice daily gratitude and own all the abundance you have in your life already. - Exercise, eat well, and take care of yourself like you are the most important person in the world Make sure your cup is full, and you’ll feel empowered to do so much more. Self empowerment is a journey, NOT an overnight fix Your ability to take control of your life and feel good in the skin you’re in is a state that’s constantly evolving. That’s the beautiful thing about self growth… The more you achieve and discover about yourself, the more you realize is possible. That’s why self empowerment isn’t a destination. Instead, it’s an ongoing journey of personal evolution. And at each stage, you open the doors to bigger and bigger opportunities and rewards. When self empowerment becomes a driver, you’ll always be growing. You’ll discover more and more truths about who you really are. And that is a mammoth reward in itself. How are you cultivating self empowerment in your life? 

Wouldn’t it be great if you did more of the things necessary to live your best life on autopilot? Instead of battling with yourself everyday, you just take action. No compromising, justifying, or excusing - just solid implementing day after day. That’s the benefit of establishing good habits. But how do you make good habits stick? Keep reading to discover some proven strategies you can start implementing today. Why build good habits? “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle It’s a fact that the repeatable actions you do - day in, day out - shape and influence the person you become. So if you never exercise, rely on caffeine for energy, and eat junk food, you can’t expect to be in peak health! Similarly, if you hide your skills, feel reluctant to send emails, and rarely put out an offer it’s hard to grow your business. The person you are today isn’t the result of what you did yesterday. Instead, who you are right now is the net result of all your habits from previous days, weeks, and months. In short, if you want different in the future, establish new good habits today. Specifically, make the actions that lead to your goals automatic and success is almost inevitable. Do this and you’ll be able to achieve anything you want. Remember, your goals are never the result of one big action. Instead, big goals lie at the end of a long chain of bite-sized daily steps. But if you can identify the small everyday habits that close the gap, you can achieve anything. There’s just one problem... Good habits are not always easy to bed in. Here’s why... Why is it so hard to make good habits stick? If you’ve ever wanted to start something new, you’ll know how incredible you feel at the beginning. The excitement of fresh possibilities lifts and energizes you. You feel inspired and motivated - ready to go in and bring your dream to life. Then reality strikes! You realize just how far away the end line is. You feel overwhelmed by the sheer scale of what you’re attempting. You question who you are to even attempt this. Fear crops up left, right, and center, which sends your self-doubt into overdrive. With no experience you feel unsure where to start and what to do next. And to top it all off, your everyday life is calling! You’ve still got to show up in all your other roles and responsibilities. Then, before you know it, you find yourself falling back into the old groove, living life the way you did before you had the idea to change. Truth is, we’re creatures of habit. We don’t like change - especially change that pushes us out of our comfort zone and increases the risk of failure. It’s far easier to stay where we are in what we know. It’s why you’ll hang up your running shoes, put away your journal, stop meditating, revert to a TV binge, put down the phone, or fold away your dreams. But just because the odds are against you doesn’t mean your powerless. In fact, just knowing what you’re up against when creating a new habit can empower you to keep going. And the journey can become a whole lot easier when you try these powerful habit sticking strategies. How to develop good habits that stick - strategies that work 1. Set yourself up to win Remember, new habits push you out of your comfort zone and force you to do things differently. [And humans don’t like change]. That’s why you want to make your new good habits insanely easy to win. The secret is to start super small, and then build on that as your resilience grows. For example: - Want to get in shape? Don’t aim for a 3-mile run on day one. Instead, start with a 20-minute walk.  - Want to build your business? Start with one sales call, one piece of content, or one email a day - not all three. - Want to start meditating? Don’t feel pressured to sit for 30-minutes from day 1, instead start with a one-minute session and build on that. Make it super easy to win so you can clock up the successes and motivate yourself to keep going. 2. Know your WHY New habits are painful because they force you to do something different. If you enjoy drinking lots of coffee, it’s going to be a challenge to replace some of those cups with water! So make it easier on yourself to navigate the inevitable ups and downs by understanding the reasons you want change. When you know your why (and it’s something you deeply want), when you’re tempted to let new habits slip, you can reason with yourself. For example, saying you want to lose weight is one thing… But knowing you want to lose weight to keep up with your kids, fit back into your favorite jeans, and feel better in yourself, is a whole thing. 3. Reward yourself Don’t underestimate the power a reward can have on your motivation and desire to keep going. What will you give yourself for sticking to a new habit for a week, a month, three months etc? Is it a day at the spa, a trip to the movies, a day off in nature, a manicure, a massage? Whatever floats your boat, dangle that carrot and use it as ammunition to stay committed. 4. Leverage accountability You don’t have to tackle your habits alone. You’ll get much better results if you surround yourself with people who’ll support and encourage you. Tell people what you’re aiming to do. Trust the people who’ve got your back to hold you to a higher standard. Sure, publicly announcing your intentions can be scary, but because we hate to lose face in the eyes of others it’s also a powerful motivator. 5. Track your habits New habits require you to be patient. When you’re taking baby steps everyday, you won’t see a difference immediately and that can make you frustrated. In this age of instant gratification, we want results NOW! One way to see your progress - even when it’s not obvious - is to track your habits. Check off every day you do your habits and in time you’ll build a chain. This creates visual proof of your commitment and reminds you how far you’ve come. But that’s not all... You’ll eventually reach the point where it feels more painful to break the chain than to keep up with your habit. Sure its a hack, but it’s one that will empower you to get the long-term results you want. The tool that makes good habits stick “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” - Jim Ryun If you’re looking for a tool to help you track and establish good habits, the Habit Roadmap is for you. With the Habit Roadmap, you can track your daily habits over a 13 week period. It’s easy to use too: Set your targets Check off each day you complete your habit. Chart your progress and create a winning streak until the chain is so long you don’t want to break it. Habit tracking is a method used by countless top performers - and now you can do the same with the Habit Roadmap. Get yours today.

A paper-based organizer planner is a powerful and proven way to jumpstart your productivity and performance. Free of the distractions that plague apps and online tools, you can maintain your focus and get more done. In recent years, the paper planner market has grown. Nowadays you have a lot of choices. But which structure is best? What should you track and think about on a daily basis to think bigger, achieve more, and enjoy today? Here are eight sections that are essential for your success. 1. Somewhere to write down your goal On a daily basis, you’ll be faced with countless distractions and temptations. You do have enough time to do it all - but only if you’re able to divert your focus and attention to what really matters. Writing out your goal every day serves a number of purposes: Firstly, it reminds you of the direction you’re headed. As a result, you can focus on and prioritize those tasks that are going to keep the needle moving forward. Secondly, when you write out your goal, you tell your Reticular Activating System (RAS) what to look out for. Your conscious brain can’t physically cope with the amount of information it receives every day. To prevent overload, you have to filter stuff out. The RAS is there to identify and draw your attention to the things that matter to you most. Keep your goal front of mind, and don’t be surprised if perfect opportunities fall into your lap - because you’re proactively looking for them. 2. Today’s targets Take a quick look at your master to-do list. If you’re anything like me, then you’ll have a long list of things you need to do (and want to do). Worst of all, there’s absolutely zero chance you’ll get it all done today! If you stay focused on what you can’t do, you’ll ramp up the overwhelm and reduce your output. Instead, pin down up to THREE tasks that - if you do nothing else - will make the day a win for you. Pick your highest priority to-dos or activities, get them scheduled, and make sure they happen. End the day with these three wins under your belt and you’ll feel accomplished - even if some stuff has been left untouched. It’s a high-performance strategy that the right organizer planner will help make permanent. 3. Space for reflection No high-achiever gets through life without making mistakes. When you’re thinking big and thriving in discomfort, mistakes are inevitable. It’s how you grow into your potential. Mistakes are never real mistakes if you learn from them. But they can become a problem if you continue to make the same mistakes over and over. That’s why the best organizer planners have space for daily and weekly reflection. At the end of every day and every week, look back and write down what you learned. Maybe it was a new skill or an insight about yourself. Perhaps you noticed a habit that’s holding you back or a new strategy that’s getting results. Capture your lessons learned and you’re less likely to lose them. Better still, you empower yourself to use these insights to help you grow and achieve your goals quicker. 4. Prompts to captures your wins If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re your own worst enemy! You want to be successful and that means you have big expectations of yourself. It’s a common trait amongst high achievers. It’s also one of the problems with your goals… They’re a constant reminder of how far you’ve yet to travel!   A positive mindset is an asset that will empower to succeed. As Henry Ford famously said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” Writing down your wins on a daily and weekly basis (even the super small ones), will give you the motivation and reference points you need to keep going. Create a catalogue of successes and on those days when it all feels too much, you can quickly remind yourself just how awesome you are. 5. A gratitude practice When I first started using an organizer planner, I didn’t really get why gratitude was such a fundamental part of a high-achiever’s day. I’d always seen gratitude as a practice that showed you had good manners - like saying please and thank you to people. But it turns out gratitude is so much more than that. Start your day by proactively feeling grateful for the things you already have in your life and you realize just how abundant you really are. When you feel successful and abundant in the moment, somehow it’s easier to take the next steps towards your goal. In the same way that you shouldn’t only acknowledge big wins, take note of the small things. When you look back over your life, it’s often the little things that mattered most. By all means, write down that you’re grateful for your highest ever month or the new client you secured. At the same time, feel grateful for the wind on your cheeks and your best friend’s smile. Bookend your day with gratitude and it will create a difference you can feel. 6. A daily timeline The most productive people budget their time in the same way a wealthy person budgets money. What gets measured gets utilized well - so make sure your organizer planner allows you to break down your day into 30-minute chunks. Here’s what most people get wrong… They write out their daily to-do list, but have no idea how long each task should take to complete. Instead, they simply work through their list - then wonder why so much is left undone by the end of the day (sound familiar?) There’s a reason this happens: - Parkinson’s Law states that tasks will eat up however much time you give them. Give a task an open-ended window and it will take you all day. - Without a clear timeline for your day, you have no idea if you’re ahead or behind. As a result, you’re more likely to procrastinate - then panic when the clock starts to run down. A daily timeline allows you to map tasks to specific time slots. With a fixed time window for every to-do, you’re less likely to procrastinate (deadlines are good for that!) You can also plan a more realistic day. Rather than adding stuff to your list that’s never going to happen, you can set yourself up for a win. One more thing… 30-minute time slots work best because they allow you to chunk your day into bite-sized pieces. Also, 30 minutes equals one Pomodoro too! 7. Habit tracker “Depending on what they are, our habits will either make us or break us. We become what we repeatedly do.” ―Sean Covey You can’t sprint your way through a marathon. Instead, you have to pace yourself. It’s the same with your goals. Success doesn’t strike like a bolt of lightning and ‘overnight success’ is usually the result of a lot of hard work behind the scenes. Goals are a long-haul game and the quickest way to win is to develop ‘good’ habits. Take consistent daily action towards your goal and you have more chance of winning than a series of frantic sprints every now and then. What habits will help you cross the finish line?   - Drinking 8 cups of water a day - Writing 500 words a day - Creating a new piece of content every day - Playing games with your children every day - Cooking food from scratch every day - 5 sales calls a day - A workout every day - Meditating every day Whatever those daily actions are for you, you’re more likely to stick at them if you monitor your progress. So check your organizer planner has a place to track your habits. Then get tracking! Mark off every day you succeed until you create a streak. Eventually, you’ll reach the point where it’s more painful to break the chain than it is to keep going. 8. Space to plan your work AND your life The right goals will help you transform your life. But success can be cut short if you don’t have work-life harmony. It’s no good building a successful business if it causes your relationships to fail. It’s no good working all hours on your goals if your health suffers to the point where you can’t enjoy your achievements. Bear in mind that what gets planned gets done. So pick an organizer planner that allows you to plan your life as well as your work. Focusing on to-dos alone may keep the needle moving, but don’t forget to enjoy today. This means planning in your workouts, making time for family, and scheduling time to read or run (or whatever makes you happy). Use your planner to plan it all - and you might just have it all as a result. The original organizer planner When you have goals to hit and a better life to create, you need to get organized. You need to plan your day, nurture positivity, make time for priorities - and free up time for yourself. The Self Journal provides you with the monthly, weekly, and daily structure you need to become your best self. Perfect for setting your goals and masterminding your plan, this organizer planner will help you stay on track - so you can become the person you always knew you could be. Inside the Self Journal, you’ll discover space for: Writing out your goal Prioritizing your workload Reflecting on what you’ve learned Tracking your wins Bookending your day with gratitude Planning your day in 30-minute chunks Tracking your habits And planning for work-life harmony In other words, the Self Journal contains the structure you need to think bigger, achieve more, and enjoy today. Get started with yours today.

A monthly, calendar view is a useful tool for planning your life and achieving your goals. With a monthly planner, you can keep dates, appointments, meetings, birthdays, deadlines, and reminders in one easy-to-see place. It’s a life hack! Instead of frantically trying to remember everything in your head (which let’s face it, is impossible!) Instead, you can use this ‘external brain’ to capture all the things you need to keep top of mind. No more double-booking. No more showing up late. And no more frantically trying to swap plans around at the last-minute because you forgot you said yes to your friend’s party invite! But what if your monthly planner could be more than a place to log your dates. What if you could use this powerful tool to help you achieve your goals too. Good news! You can, when you integrate monthly planning into your broader planning process. And if you keep reading, you’ll find out how. Sharpen your focus, get the needle moving It’s a fact that good planning is at the heart of your best life. When you identify all the parts and pieces and fit them into a bigger picture that works, you can be more productive and achieve your goals. Good planning makes you feel good too. When you’re organized with all your ducks in a row, you feel more confident and capable. You’re able to juggle more, take on more, and do more without burning out. Instead of feeling like a scatterbrain, you know exactly where you are and what you need to do. Good planning is a multi-dimensional process - especially when you’re planning a life you love. You don’t just want to stay afloat by checking through that do-do list alone. Instead, you want work-life harmony. You want to have time for fun, your relationships, your health, and your hobbies too. That’s why good planning - whether that’s your daily overview or your monthly planner - always starts with setting goals. What do you want to achieve? When planning to achieve goals, we recommend you work with a three monthly planner. Set yourself a three-month goal. That’s long enough to achieve something significant, but short enough to prevent overwhelm and keep the finish line in sight. It’s a strategy that will inspire you to keep moving - and when you’re trying to hit big goals, you need all the motivation you can get! Even a three-month, achievable goal can feel like a stretch at the very beginning. The nature of goals mean they’ll push your out of your comfort zone and require you to take difficult decisions. Although there’s gold at the end, if can feel very uncomfortable getting there. That’s why different level planning is key. Step 1: Plan your three month goal using a tool such as the Self Journal What do you want to achieve by the end of three months? Will you lose weight, launch a product, increase your revenue, or double your personal savings. Set a goal that’s Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound and you’ll give yourself the focus you need to achieve. With the finish line laid out, you can focus your attention on planning how to cross it. You’ll need your monthly planner for this. Step 2: Map out your monthly milestones using a monthly planner. Your monthly planner can be used for a variety of purposes. 1. Use your monthly planner to keep track of deadlines and commitments On your monthly planner, mark out all your key dates for the month. Use this planning view to capture things such as appointments, deadlines, days out, and vacations. Get all these dates out of your head and onto paper and you’ll be able to see where the white spaces are. This step will help you achieve your goals in a number of ways: - With a monthly overview, you won’t double-book yourself - It’s easy to check days off - like a countdown to keep you motivated and moving - You can figure out realistic deadlines. Can you really hit that first milestone by the date you’ve set? 2. Use your monthly planner to achieve work-life harmony Life shouldn’t be all work, work, work. You need to have downtime too. Your monthly planner can help you do this by showing you what non-work things you’ve got coming up. - Have you got enough social dates built into your month? - Where are you making time for your health and wellbeing - What plans do you have for weekends? - What bucket list items and personal goals can you check off over the next four weeks. Create the bigger picture for your month and you can see where you’re falling short. When you know, you can take action to improve the balance. Use your monthly planner to track your habits Let’s say you want to get into the habit of writing every single day. Here’s how easy it is to turn your monthly planner into a motivational boost that inspires you to keep going: - Choose your success mark - it might be a line, a dot, or a star - anything goes - For every day that you hit your habit, put your success mark - Before long, those success marks will turn into a chain or winning streak - Eventually, it will become more painful to do the habit rather than break the chain - And before you know it, that success habit is now part of who you are Remember, you can track more than one habit using your monthly planner. Simply use a different success mark for different targets. Step 3: Plan your week With your monthly view sorted, you can move to your weekly view using a tool such as the Weekly Action Pad. Your goals should be to identify everything you need to complete over the next 7 days. - Start by taking dates and deadlines from your monthly planner - Next, add on any additional to-dos and tasks - Jot down due dates so you can build up your deadline pattern for the week - Estimate how much time you need for each task - Keep your weekly view somewhere close so you can check off completed tasks and monitor your progress Step 4: Plan your days With your weekly view complete, you can now plan your days - something the Self Journal will help you do. - Set your priorities for the day (taking a guide from your weekly planning view) - Optimize your time by allocating every task a time slot on your daily schedule. Give each task a fixed amount of time, and you’ll be motivated to hit your goals and get everything done. - Reflect on your wins and identify your learnings - Rinse and repeat! Plan your life and become the person you know you can be Planning is key to a productive, successful life. But you’ll get better results when you plan at multiple levels. Used alongside quarterly, weekly, and daily pages, a monthly planner is a powerful tool that will help you achieve your goals. So if you big things you want to achieve, set yourself up for success with tools that help you master your time so you can do it all. With quality planning, you can match tasks with time slots and get yourself ahead of the game. It’s a powerful way to move the needle, hit your goals, and become the person you always wanted to be.