There’s only so far we can go alone.  Magic happens when your dreams connect you with people who love you, support you, and bring out the best in you.  Remember, life grows richer when busyness is balanced out by quality time spent with people who matter to you. In other words, make time for the to-dos and the conversations that matter! Not only will you think bigger and achieve more, but you’ll feel happier too.  Keep reading to discover a collection of practical tips designed to help you build your personal and professional network with authenticity and ease.   Practice active listening  One of our deepest human desires is to be seen and heard for who we really are. Therefore, one of the best ways to build meaningful relationships with others is to invest your attention.  Most people listen to speak instead of listening to understand. It’s a subtle difference that makes all the difference. When you listen to understand, you’re not [impatiently] waiting for a gap in the conversation so that you can jump in. Instead, you lean back and listen with all of your being - not just your ears. This shift in the listening approach allows you to read between the lines so you can get a glimpse at what isn’t being said. You get to spot the body language signals, and you hear the signs in someone’s tone of voice.  Through the practice of active listening, you get below the surface of who someone is and start to see them for who they really are.  And in these moments of deeper knowing, your relationship strengthens and thrives. Be authentic & vulnerable  A lot of people are dancing an awkwardness between belonging and authenticity. On the one hand, we want to fit in and feel accepted [this is old, old coding]. On the other, we’re yearning to take off the mask and show others who we really are.  The question is, which part of you will win?  The more you’re able to strengthen your self-love, the more confidence you’ll unleash to truly show yourself. Sure, this requires vulnerability and courage. You need to be willing to show a little more than what feels comfortable.  But the shift in possibilities if you’re willing to ‘go there’ is profound.  Your vulnerability creates space and permission for others to be vulnerable too. When vulnerability leads, the true self emerges, creating space for deeper connection and stronger relationships. Ask deeper questions  Conversations are lubricants that deepen relationships and bring people closer together.  The trick is to move beyond the superficial, surface-level stuff and really get to know who someone is. Are you brave enough to ask the questions that crack people open and give you a deeper insight into who they really are?  If you only stay with small talk, you’ll only ever talk about the safe, ‘easy’ stuff.  Sure, it can be fun to chat about the game or the latest binge-watch show.  But how much closer can you get if you talk about all the things that lie under the surface? What could be possible in your relationships [both personal and professional] if you talked about your hopes and fears, your values, your life lessons, and triumphs and successes [to name just a few]?  Deep conversation is a catalyst for the meaningful connections that allow us to thrive in all areas of our lives.  It’s why we created the Icebreaker and Deeper Talk Decks!  Practice gratitude What you appreciate, appreciates!  This is where gratitude can inspire your relationships and help you feel more deeply connected to the people in your life.  When you make it a practice to appreciate aspects of the people in your world, you stop taking them for granted. Instead of focusing on the niggles and irritations that people inevitably stir up, you shift our focus to the things that make you smile.  Such as how your partner brings you coffee in bed, or how your co-worker has your back, or how your kids make you feel better when they hug you tight! Proactively appreciating people is a powerful habit to adopt.  It’s a small thing that makes a disproportionate difference to your relationships and ultimately your life.  Make quality time Your calendar or planner provides a powerful insight into what your life really looks like. It’s one thing to say you value your relationships, but does your time allocation back this up?  Meaningful connections require an investment of quality time. We know this in theory, but the practical application is often more difficult. After all, life is busy! It’s why relationships often get the leftovers, because other, more tangible to-dos get prioritized.  One way you can create a better balance is to schedule relationship time on your calendar. For example, diarize that coffee with a potential collaborator. Make a regular commitment to call a friend on a particular day of the week. Commit to a regular date night to keep your closest relationship flourishing.  What gets planned gets done, meaning you’ll soon notice the difference that scheduled relationship time makes. Life is a series of connections You’re right; it does take effort to surround yourself with the right people, but the difference this decision makes to your life is profound.  Decide to be proactive about how you create connections in your life.  It’s a commitment that will make a world of difference.  

How do you build a life that’s fulfilling in all areas of it? A life with work success, fulfilling relationships, good health, and time to check off your bucket list? The short answer is you create work-life harmony [not balance]. This is the idea that over a period of time, you feel successful in all areas of your life. And it’s tough... Each life area has different demands, and your time is finite. What’s more, we live in a society that’s obsessed with work/business success. This means our ‘day job’ is often the focus of our greatest attention (while everything else gets the left-overs). This strategy works for a while, but in time it creates burnout, stress, and even resentment. So how do you ‘have it all’? The good news is you CAN! I’ll show you how in this article, so keep reading! 1. Define work-life harmony for you Work-life harmony means something different and looks something different for everyone. For sure, you can be inspired by other people, but don’t benchmark your success against theirs. Instead, benchmark against yourself. Here’s how to do it…      a. Make a list of all the areas of your life that are important to you. For example, work/business/career, relationships, finances, health, wellbeing etc.      b. Rate your success in each of area where 0 is low and 10 is high.      c. Write a few sentences to explain your score for each area. Your score gives you a quantitative baseline to work from. It’s your start point and a measure you can use to assess how your degree of harmony improves over time. Ready to create your baseline? If so, take the BestSelf Benchmark Quiz today and generate your BestSelf Score. 2. Define what a 10 looks like for you Once you’ve scored your current work-life harmony, the next step is to define what a ‘10’ [or your ‘BestSelf’] looks like for you. For sure, this definition will change over time as you grow and evolve, but for now, get clear on what your best looks like today: - What would your relationship look like? - What would be happening with your finances? - What bucket list items would you check through in your free time? - What would be happening in your business? - What does top-rated health look like for you? When you understand what a ten is for you, it’s easier to figure out what targets, goals, and tweaks you need to work towards to achieve harmony. 3. Know what’s achievable for your life Increasing your work-life harmony score isn’t an overnight project! Instead, it takes time and consistent daily effort. If there’s a lot you want to do, you can avoid overwhelm by prioritizing your actions. Remember, you don’t have to change everything at once, but you can change everything by doubling-down on the right actions. What’s more, you don’t have to focus on big actions only. There are lots of 10-15 minute daily rituals you can implement that could make a world of difference discover them here. To decide where to put your focus, ask yourself, which actions will make the biggest impact on your work-life harmony score? Prioritize these actions first. Don’t be surprised if you’re drawn to work on unexpected areas as your top priority. For example, you may want to build your business, but you’ll find it harder to succeed if your health is poor or your relationships are neglected. There’s a good chance these areas might top your list! 4. Remember to plan for harmony, NOT balance Time is your most valuable resource. To paraphrase Jim Rohn, you can always make more money, but you can’t make more time. Work-life harmony is dependent on how you budget and use your minutes over time. Remember… You don’t need to achieve work-life balance everyday. This isn’t an achievable goal. There are going to be days when work takes everything. For example, when you’re in the middle of a launch or when you’re solving a crisis. Similarly, there will be times when your relationship takes all you’ve got. For example, when it’s your partner’s birthday or when you’re on vacation. Instead, aim to create work-life harmony over time. In reality, this means: - Post-launch, scale back your business focus and invest more in your relationship - Post-vacation, use your rejuvenated, refreshed brain to inject more into your work In other words, worry less about the individual days and more about how things look over the course of a year, a month, and even a week. 5. Plan the bigger picture It’s easy to plan time for your career, work, or business. We live in a society that celebrates hard work! But is a career really successful if it means you have to sacrifice fulfilment in other areas of your life? Is that bigger business, top promotion, or million-dollar side hustle worth losing your health, your relationships, or your fun? The reality is you CAN have it all, if you plan it. Remember, what gets planned, gets done. If your calendars, planners, and schedules are full of work to-dos and commitments, that’s what you’ll accomplish. But add in bucket list items, date nights, work outs, family time, vacations etc. and you’ll create a richer life as a result. YEARLY: Use a wall calendar to explore what work-life harmony will look like over a year. For example:  - How much time will you spend on vacation? - What items will you check off your bucket list? - What do you want for your relationship? - What will you achieve for your finances? - How will you focus attention on your health? - Etc.  MONTHLY:  Use a monthly planner to decide what work-life harmony looks like this month?  - How will you create the right mix of work and play? - How can you create a diverse, fun, and fulfilling social calendar? - What bucket list items can you plan to check off? - What can you plan to make the most of your weekends? - How will you move the needle on your health goals? - What work commitments will you achieve? WEEKLY:  Use a tool such as the Weekly Action Plan to decide what work-life harmony will look like this week? - What are your health goals? - What are your top work/business priorities? - What can you plan to ensure your partner and family get the best of you? - What will you include to cut stress and avoid burnout? - What will you do for fun? - Etc.  6. Plan your day You can’t get more time, but you can create the illusion of having enough time. This is the power of granular daily planning. Instead of a to-do list, schedule each task to a specific time window - in the same way you would an appointment. With this strategy, you can use deadlines to inspire yourself to stay focus and finish up quicker. In short, you’ll have more time to use for other things. With more time to play with, you can plan your day for work-life harmony too. Instead of having a timeline that’s rammed full with work to-dos, you can plan for other tasks and activities to increase fulfillment in areas that currently get less. For example: - Make space for meditation in the morning - Schedule a journaling session before the team call - Plan a power walk or workout over lunch - Block out time to prepare healthy food - Schedule quality time in the evening with your partner - Allocate time to read - Even schedule time to do absolutely nothing! - Etc. With every minute used wisely, you can do more with less! And if you’re looking for a tool to help you do this, check out the Self Planner. Start to create your work-life harmony today Work-life harmony does take time and focus. When work pays the bills, it’s inevitable these demands will take your time and attention. But you can ensure every area of your life continues to improve when you plan for work-life harmony. And you can start that today. Remember, what gets planned gets done. Expand your planning to include ALL life areas. Include relationship, health, financial, fun, and wellbeing goals into your planning rituals. When everything from every area of your life is planned, it’s inevitable your benchmark score will increase. Over to you… How can you tweak your monthly, weekly, and daily plans to create more harmony?

Are you living a ‘groundhog day’ - where you run in circles as the days merge? It’s a common problem. When work takes the best of you, there’s no time or space to think. In turn, the other areas of your life get the leftovers – leaving you feeling short-changed, frustrated, and even resentful. Without work-life harmony, we’ll never be truly happy or successful. If you’re high on one part of life, but failing elsewhere, that lack of balance will throw you off. But how do you create the work-life harmony that ensures you win? Here are 19 suggestions to try. 19 ideas for creating work-life harmony today 1. Forget trying to achieve balance In the past, consensus was to create work-life balance - the idea of arranging your life so all areas feel equal. This practice sounds good in theory, but it’s harder to achieve in reality. There will be times when you have to work late just like there will be times when your relationship or hobbies needs your full attention. So forget balance, instead strive for work-life harmony. This principle gives you the flexibility to shift your focus where demand calls knowing that over time you can have it all. 2. Create a morning routine You get to choose how you start your day, so why not use this time to infuse your life with things you love. For example, journal for 15 minutes, workout for 30 minutes, meditate for 10 minutes, and read for 15 minutes. Mix and match activities that you love and ensure each day starts with a work-life win. 3. Find work that you love Imagine if work felt more like play than a forced hustle? Imagine if work became a playground for creativity, innovative problem solving, and meaningful conversation. It’s possible when you seek out work you genuinely enjoy rather than settling for a job that only pays the bills. When work isn’t compartmentalized, it’s easier to create more harmony in your life. 4. Spark meaningful conversations in your relationship When life gets busy, it’s hard to carve out quality time to talk. And when you’ve known someone forever, what do you talk about? When communication stops, intimacy plummets. If your relationship needs a little TLC, the conversation prompts inside the Intimacy Deck can work like magic. Use the 150 prompts to kick-start conversations that bring you closer and rekindle your passion. 5. Plan your day for work-life harmony Don’t use your daily planner to schedule work tasks and to-dos alone. Instead, plan everything that matters to you. Make time for that evening yoga class or post-lunch walk. Schedule uninterrupted time with your children or space for learning. If you don’t plan your day for work-life harmony, you won’t achieve it. True, you may get your work done, but everything else will get the leftovers. 6. Master your time When it comes to work-life harmony, time is your most valuable resource. It’s in finite supply, but if you allocate it wisely, you’ll free up the minutes you need to do more of the things that matter to you. Make it your goal to work smarter and not harder so you can do more in less time. Productivity practices and techniques can help you with this. For example, leverage deadlines, practice zero-hours scheduling, prioritize your tasks etc. Anything you do to stretch your time leaves you with more headroom to play with when creating work-life harmony. 7. Know where you’re at When you’re juggling a million and one priorities, it’s hard to find time to think. In turn, you can lose sight of how harmonious your life actually is. You can’t change what you don’t know you don’t know and knowledge is power. Once you acknowledge and accept that your finances or health is falling short, you’re empowered to do something constructive to transform your situation. The Self Planner includes a work-life Benchmark Tool. Use it to get clear on which areas of your life are working and which aren’t. 8. Discover what work-life harmony means to you It’s your life and your time, how do you want to spend it? What do you want to do more of and what do you want less of? For example, do you want more time to play and explore your hobbies and passions? Would you like more time to read, write, and explore new interests? Do you need more quality time for your partner, your children, or your friends? When you’re clear on what harmony looks like for you, it’s a lot easier to mastermind your time so you can make your vision a reality. 9. Set and achieve goals Do you know you’re falling behind in one area of your life? If so, set a goal - it’s something the Self Journal will help you do. Goals help direct your focus and inspire you to move the needle in an area you want to develop. Whether you want to write a book, lose weight, or grow your business, goals give you the momentum, confidence, and purpose you need to thrive. 10. Review your money habits Do your financials regularly cause you stress? If so, take some time to overhaul your approach and discover ways to save money, cut unnecessary spending, and get yourself into a healthier financial position. Discover how to mastermind financial goals here. 11. Try something new Humans are creatures of habit which means it’s easy to fall into a rut and get stuck in your comfort zone. Your comfort zone might feel safe, but it also gets stale, which in turn affects your happiness levels. Give yourself a boost by challenging yourself to try new things. For example, go to the theater alone, get lost somewhere on purpose, or see if you can spend $0 in three days. Thriving in discomfort and pushing yourself to do different not only builds your confidence, but it inspires you with new things to weave into your life. Want 150 comfort-busting challenges to try? If so, grab yourself a Courage Over Comfort card deck. 12. Write a bucket list Work-life harmony is about thriving not just surviving. That means giving yourself the space and time to live your life to the full. A bucket list is a great way to articulate the things you’d like to check off. From the places you want to go to the adventures you want to have, write a Bucket List and take the first step to making your dreams a reality. 13. Get to know yourself better How much time do you have for deep thinking and self-reflection? When you’re busy hustling and striking off to-dos, you forget to check in with yourself to see what you really want. Practices such as meditation and journaling can give you the headspace you need to get clear on what you desire. Meditation is a practice that not only calms your mind, but helps you tap into deeper level wisdom. In the same vein, journaling is a power practice that can unlock your inner thoughts so you can design your life more consciously. If the blank page scares you and you suffer from writer’s block, check out the WordSmith Deck. With 150 journaling prompts to explore, you’ll never be at a loss for words again. 14. Inspire yourself to think differently Work-life harmony is an ever-expanding challenge. As you grow, explore new things, or experience a significant life change, what you want shifts. But how do you capitalize on the opportunities that show up and the time you have? Ideas are your ticket forward. In fact, a single idea has the potential to change your life. Idea generation is a skill as well as a talent. To turn your brain into an idea-generation machine, use the Edison Deck. With 150 card prompts to spark innovative thinking, who knows how your future life could open up. 15. Make time for yourself If you spend all your time addressing other people’s priorities, your own desires and needs get pushed off. You can’t create work-life harmony if you don’t have quality time for yourself. So each day, ensure you schedule space in your calendar for you. Use this time to do something you enjoy. For example, draw, read, write, paint, dance - find your thing, do it, and watch your work-life harmony increase as a result. 16. Build new connections As social beings, we need to be surrounded by people whose company we enjoy. As Jim Rohn famously said, “you are the average of the five people you spend most of your time with”. If friendships is one area you’d like to work on, there’s plenty you can try. For example, host an event, join Facebook groups of like-minded people, attend a class - figure out what works best for you. And if you’re stuck for conversation starters, the Icebreaker Deck is the perfect pick. Instead of getting stuck in small talk and idle chit-chat, these powerful conversation prompts will inspire you to connect with people on a deeper level so you can get to know who they really are. 17. Master helpful habits You are the result of the things you do on autopilot. The more good habits you adopt, the better your life becomes. Whether you want to write more, move more, or increase your health, a habit tracker is a simple, but powerful tool to make habits stick. The Habit Roadmap is perfect for tracking three month’s worth of habits. Pin it up and check off each successful day to create a winning streak. 18. Write a prioritized to-do list Each day, you’re allocated 1,440 minutes a day. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you live, everyone gets the same amount. It’s all too easy to squander time when we make unconscious decisions and put other people’s priorities above our own. In turn, important things get pushed and life falls out of balance. When you write a to-do list and prioritize it, you ensure the things that matter most to you happen. 19. Reflect, review, revisit Work-life harmony isn’t a one time job. Instead, it’s an ongoing process that twists and turns as your life priorities change. To stay on track, keep reviewing where you are. Revisit your work-life harmony benchmark to see how your scores increase. Review your definition of what work-life harmony means to you. Enhance your work-life harmony today When you create work-life harmony, you give yourself the space you need to think bigger and achieve more. How do you ensure you spend your life doing the things that matter most to you? Share your work-life harmony tactics in the comments below. And if you’re looking for tools to help you create work-life harmony, we’ve got you!

As an entrepreneur, setting goals is what you do. You set goals to grow your revenue by a certain percentage each quarter, goals to meet with a certain number of potential investors each week or goals to write a certain number of words per day. But while you’re busy setting goals for your business, are you neglecting setting goals for yourself in the process? Are you letting your business goals crowd out personal development? It’s easy to get so focused on your professional and business goals that you forget the importance of personal goal setting. However, setting goals for yourself is essential, keeping you fresh as both an entrepreneur and a person. Let’s have a look at why. Personal vs. Professional Goals What makes a goal “personal” as opposed to professional or business? The most obvious answer is that a personal goal is one that doesn’t relate to your work, but this isn’t always the case. After all, you could be a freelance writer with a personal goal of publishing a memoir. Both technically relate to your profession of writing, but the memoir goal is decidedly in the personal camp. Therefore, we prefer to define personal goals as those that you pursue solely for the enjoyment and fulfillment they provide. In general, they don’t directly relate to making money, or at least don’t have making money as their primary end. Continuing with the above example, you might make a bit of money from selling a book you self-published on the side, but that money is secondary to the joy you get from putting your story out into the world. Personal goals don’t have to be related to artistic output. They can involve anything you do for personal fulfillment, such as reaching a particular fitness benchmark, learning a new skill or growing as a person. With that definition out of the way, here are some essential benefits of setting personal goals. 1. Increased Self-Confidence When you set goals and achieve them, it provides a major boost to your self-confidence. This increase in self-confidence will improve all areas of your life, from your relationships with people to your success in business to your overall sense of well-being. And your personal goals provide the perfect low-stakes sandbox to boost your self-confidence through “small wins” on the goals that you already find meaningful enough to pursue in your free time. 2. Pushing Your Comfort Zone Along with boosting your self-confidence, setting personal goals also provides an opportunity to expand your comfort zone without the risk of serious consequences for failing to meet your goals. If you make the wrong decision in your business, it can jeopardize your livelihood. Therefore, you’re less likely to take risks in business, even when it’s ultimately to your advantage to do so. With personal goals, in contrast, taking risks and going beyond what’s comfortable are far less potentially disastrous. Yet, you still get the practice taking risks in a safe environment, ultimately making you more comfortable with pushing your comfort zone in higher stakes areas such as growing and developing your business. 3. Personal Development Setting goals for yourself offers an opportunity for a type of self-improvement that you don’t get in your professional goals. Sure, learning to get better at sales or sharpening your knowledge of a particular software provide a kind of improvement experience that can be rewarding. But these goals do little in the long run to make you a better person. With personal goals, in contrast, you have the opportunity to improve yourself in a way that lasts beyond your specific job, company or career. This process offers a chance to remember that life is about more than just spreadsheets and dollar signs — it’s also about figuring out who you want to be. How to Set Personal Goals Now that you understand what personal goals are and what benefits come from setting them, let’s take a look at how to set personal goals that you’ll be able to achieve. 1. Pick Meaningful Goals If you’re going to devote the time to achieving a personal goal, it ought to be one that means something to you. This is a decision that only you can make, and you shouldn’t base it on the goals that other people say are worth achieving. Just think about the number of people who resolve to run a marathon each New Year, only to stop in frustration after a couple weeks of the pain that comes from working toward a goal they didn’t care about to begin with. It’s far better to pick a goal that matters to you — you’ll enjoy the process of reaching it and be far more likely to succeed. 2. Balance Long-Term and Short-Term Goals While there are no rules for setting personal goals, we recommend striking the right balance of short term and long term. This way, you have big things to work towards while still benefiting from the motivation that comes from achieving things in the short term. For example, you might have a long-term vision of running a marathon, but that’s far too big a goal to help you maintain the motivation to meet it. To balance this, you can break that down into smaller goals that form a marathon training plan that consists of running a certain number of miles per week. This way, you’re far more likely to accomplish your goal. 3. Set SMART Goals The SMART goal-setting framework is a powerful tool that you can use to set yourself up for success to achieve any goal you want. It consists of setting goals that meet the following criteria:• Specific• Measurable• Achievable• Relevant• Time-bound With this (or any similar framework) in place, you’ll be able to increase your chances of achieving your goals to a far greater degree than if you start without a plan. For a full exploration of SMART goal setting, check out our SMART goals guide. Keep It Personal We hope you now see the power and importance of personal goals as a way to bring challenge and richness into your life. Not only will you see benefits in the professional sphere from increased self-confidence, but you’ll also benefit as a person overall, using personal goals to shape a life full of meaning and fulfillment.