Life – Page 2 – The Big Words Blog Site

How Can Businesses Provide For Our Most Pressing Life Needs?

Three focuses of my blog are Health/Wellness, Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Businesses are often solely thought of as money generating entities. The can also play crucial roles in our qualities of life. The following contributed post is entitled, How Can Businesses Provide Four Our Most Pressing Life Needs?

* * *

Pexels – CC0 License

When we think about it, the services and products we utilize are not just nice adornments, additions or conveniences, but means through which we structure our lives. You’re likely reading this on a device you purchased and did so either by the guidance of someone else or thanks to your own research. However, it was made by a company looking to make revenue and ultimately profit.

The same goes for the telecoms firm you pay your internet bill to every month, and the people who designed the clothing you’re wearing right now, no matter how humble and comfortable. In this regard, then, it’s important to recognize that in some way, we rely on businesses to provide us with our daily conveniences, and their output is rarely a distinctive separation from who we are, as if businesses lived in some kind of imaginary corporate world where no people existed.

We can see this with how companies intend to iterate on their products to make them more user-friendly and convenient to use in the long run. In this post, then, we’ll take that spirit and provide some advice as to how this mindset can impact your firm, and why a people-first approach can help you optimize your strategy:

Tackling The Sensitive Life Topics With Care

Many businesses make a business plan out of the most sensitive and difficult elements of life, be that caring for end-of-life patients in private hospice facilities, to managing funerals for those we care about. Additionally, preparing for any eventuality with highly regarded professionals such as Shawn Meaike and his life insurance plans can be key. With profound professionalism, confidentiality, sincerity and a means of going the extra mile, firms have the chance to truly thrive by presenting their values with consistency.

Providing Dignity, Worth & Value To Your Clientele

It’s important to note only provide a service or product, but to notice how that value is enjoyed, undertaken, and preserved. For instances, providing accessibility features to products can enhance how inclusive and effective they are. It also means helping you provide dignity and care to a wider clientele. This is why sometimes, looking at your designs from multiple angles and speaking to those with authentic life experience can be so informative.

Ultimate Confidentiality Can Be Worthwhile

In many cases, companies provide essential services that need to be confidential in order to make us feel comfortable using them. This means protecting our personal, financial and even tangential information. Patient-doctor and client-attorney privilege are two examples of this, where unless there is a threat to life, professionals are obligated to provide their discretion and do so in a manner that helps them stick to their principles. If you run a firm, it can be healthy to offer this kind of value. As consumers, demanding it, especially in sensitive areas, is key.

With this advice, you’re certain to provide for your most pressing life needs going forward. If you can do that, then firms will continue to provide our pressing life needs with consistency and clarity.

Tips for Businesses to Ensure Work-Life Balance

Two focuses of my blog are Career Discussions and Health/Wellness. No matter which career/industry you’re in, establishing a work life balance is critical as the workplace can be all consuming. The following guest post is entitled, Tips for Businesses to Ensure Work-Life Balance.

* * *

Working long hours has become the norm for many businesses, but what happens when workers don’t have a work-life balance? The pressure to constantly be available and working can lead to burnout, which can cause employees to leave their jobs.

Businesses should ensure their employees have a healthy work-life balance to avoid this. Here are some tips for achieving a work-life balance at the workplace.

Set Boundaries for work hours

One of the most important things a business can set boundaries for work hours regarding work-life balance. Due to this, employees should not work long hours all the time. Instead, they should be allowed to set their working hours within reason. Setting boundaries will help prevent burnout and ensure employees can enjoy their personal lives outside of work.

Provide health-related benefits to give employees peace of mind

One way to ensure a healthy work-life balance is to provide health-related benefits to employees. These benefits can like health insurance, dental insurance, and vision insurance. These benefits give employees peace of mind, knowing that they receive medical attention if they get sick. It also allows them to focus on their work without worrying about what will happen if they get sick.

Businesses can also put their employees at ease by getting a group insurance policy from a reliable company. They can also help their employees prepare for retirement by providing investment opportunities to build their retirement funds.

Encourage employees to take time off

Employees should also be encouraged to take time off from work. Employees can take time off from work by taking paid vacation days, sick days, and personal days. Taking some time off allows employees to take a break from work and relax. It also helps them recharge to return to work feeling refreshed and energized.

Encourage flexibility

Another way businesses can help employees achieve a work-life balance is by encouraging flexibility. Encouraging flexibility means allowing employees to work from home or come in late or leave early if they need to. This situation will help them better manage their time and still be able to get their work done.

Businesses should also consider offering telecommuting options. Telecommuting allows employees to work from home, which can be a great option for those with young children or elderly parents they need to take care of. It can also help reduce traffic congestion and pollution.

Limit email and phone notifications outside of work hours

While many people might think that checking work email or voicemail during non-work hours is no big deal, the truth is that it can be detrimental to one’s work-life balance. It can be tough to “leave work at work” when one is constantly getting notifications about emails or messages from work.

This situation can lead to people working long hours and not having enough time for themselves or their families. Businesses can do a few things to help their employees maintain a good work-life balance. One is to limit how many emails and phone notifications people receive outside of work hours.

Another is to encourage employees to take breaks and to leave the office at a reasonable time. Businesses can help their employees have a more balanced life and be more productive at work by doing these things.

Make time for team-building activities outside of work hours

In addition to setting limits on email and phone notifications, businesses can also encourage their employees to take breaks and leave the office at a reasonable time. Another way to help employees maintain a good work-life balance is to make time for team-building activities outside of work hours.

These activities could involve going out for drinks after work or participating in a team-building exercise like a paint night. By doing these things, businesses can help their employees to feel more connected to each other and less like they are just working together.

Reward employees for working reasonable hours

Businesses can also reward their employees for working reasonable hours. This could involve giving them a bonus or taking them out to lunch or dinner. It could also involve giving them more time off or allowing them to work from home occasionally.

By doing these things, businesses can show their employees that they appreciate the effort they are putting in to maintain a good work-life balance.

Achieving a work-life balance can be difficult, but it’s important for both the employees and the business. By following these tips, businesses can help their employees live healthier and happier life outside of work. These tips also allow businesses to help their employees have a more balanced life and be more productive when they are at work.

15 Powerful Positive Affirmations to Help You Stay Motivated at Anything

Two focuses of my blog are Creating Ecosystems of Success and Health/Wellness. Many people find positive affirmations to be important tools for moving through the world and dealing with life’s challenges. This guest post lists 15 positive affirmations for you and is entitled, 15 Powerful Positive Affirmations to Help You Stay Motivated at Anything.

* * *

Affirmations have a significant impact on your day-to-day life as it sets your course’s tone and mood. Studies have shown that positive affirmations have mental and physical benefits that impact their overall well-being. Start your day with these powerful affirmations that will keep you motivated in anything.

1. I am a work in progress towards positive change.

Embrace that you are on a journey that you will become a better person. Start the day with the thought that you are a work in progress and that each person has their journey. Tread a positive change in your life by affirming it today.

2. Today is going to be productive.

Boost motivation in whatever project, chore, or goal you have in mind by affirming it first thing in the morning. Start being productive by having a positive thought of productivity. Having a positive affirmation on productivity will set your course towards all your goals today.

3. I deserve success and the things I have today.

Set out that you deserve the success you have today. Knowing that you deserve the things you have affirms that you don’t hold back on your goals, and you are in a constant state of gratitude for everything you have. Aside from manifesting success, owning that you deserve it strays away from self-sabotage.

4. Happiness is a choice, and today, I choose to be happy.

Choosing happiness is a great way to let go of the things that hold your emotions back. Forget things that cannot be changed and choose a better outlook in life by letting happiness prevail in your thoughts. Exemplifying happiness as the choice will reflect on you physically, and the happiness within you will radiate to the people around you.

5. My past does not define me.

Letting go of who you were in the past can sometimes be a struggle. It is easier to accept that the past is no longer in charge of you are in the present. Take every past mistake and difficulty as a learning process. Acknowledge that your past is way behind you and that it won’t hold you back to the things you can do today.

6. The door of opportunity is open, and I will take advantage of it today.

This affirmation shows that you acknowledge that there are a lot of opportunities you can grab today. Positive affirmations are set to open doors that fill your thoughts with nothing but abundance. This thought sets out that you are open to set your life to a positive course of change.

7. All I need is within me right now.

Before you start your daily chores, a positive affirmation that you have everything you need is within you will help get things done. This positive affirmation negates out that there are still things you need beyond what you have. It also highlights that what you have are sufficient to deal with your day to day quests.

8. Note to self: I am enough

Having a mental note that you are enough gets you to a lot of places in life. There will be an instance where self-doubt eats up your day, but knowing your worth and recognizing that you are enough will change your perspective in life. Know that you are enough in all aspects of life. Accept compliments and validation, and accept that you alone are sufficient to keep yourself happy and motivated.

9. I am loved.

Keep this positive affirmation to yourself to have the glowing mindset of great value in this universe. Thinking that you are well-loved changes your outlook and will.

10. My goals are set, and I will accomplish them today.

Keep your eyes and your mind on your short and long term goals. A positive affirmation of your goals for the day will set it on fire. This affirmation is part of you trying to let the world know that you are goal-oriented and there is nothing that can set you apart from it. Abundance and productivity will come your way if you are focused enough and have a positive mindset.

11. I won’t let what other people think of me affect me.

Having a fear of what other people think is a significant obstacle you can easily overcome. Implanting what other people will think of you has a significant impact on your thoughts. Set out that you will mindlessly go on without their negative energy to focus more on your goals.

12. I will nourish my body with the right food choices.

Food can be a great source of comfort, especially when you are having a rough day. Positive affirmations have physical benefits, especially if you are mindful of what you eat. Positively affirm that you will choose healthy food choices, and other aspects of your well-being will follow.

13. I believe in myself.

Create no room for self-doubt today. Believe in who you are and what you can do today. There is no reason for you to doubt the things you are destined to do. You may stumble and fall but know that it is part of the process you are in. You are your best cheerleader, so affirm that you believe in all you can do today.

14. I am grateful for everything I am and everyone around me.

Part of having a better and more peaceful mindset is recognizing some people believed in you. Having a grateful heart plants seeds to pass on the good things that happened to you along the way. A positive affirmation of who you have become and the people around you balance the negative energy set out by others.

15. I am at peace with myself.

There is a difference between being at peace with the world and being at peace with yourself. This positive affirmation sets out that you have accepted your flaws and mistakes and that you are in the process of growing and changing. There is no definite you, and being at peace with yourself can clear out the clutter and clouds of doubt in your mind.

Say these positive affirmations to yourself and feel inspired, motivated, and empowered! Finally, love and trust yourself. You are you – and you CAN!

About the Author

Charles Vallena

Charles is the editor-in-chief at TheSleepMatters.com. He provides expert insights, guides, and reviews on the best mattresses online. When not working, you’ll often see him watching Gary Vaynerchuk and Tony Robbins’ motivational videos on Youtube.

References

4 Ways To Lay The Path To Success Early In Life

Buffer

“Finally, it’s important that children understand the concept and value of money from an early age. Children that don’t grasp this concept are more likely to end up in debt later in life or run into issues with money.”

Buffer

A key focus of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success. While the start we get in life is not the ultimate predictor of our overall success, it certainly helps. Likewise the better the start a child gets, the more likely they will be to succeed once they leave the nest. The following contributed post is entitled, 4 Ways To Lay The Path To Success Early In Life.

* * *

Are there steps that parents can take to ensure that their children are successful later in life? Debates have raged about this question for decades and countless generations. There are thousands of research studies investigating how to help children learn, develop, and grow, perhaps at a faster pace than their peers. Of course, finding the right school for your child is essential. A higher education school for gifted students will often help them explore their potential, while institutions for those with learning difficulties will also help their students make fantastic progress. You need only see these Alpine Academy reviews to see how much academic approaches can have an effect. So, let’s look at some of the ways that people could potentially charter their children towards success.

Encouraging Group And Team Activities

First, parents should think about getting their children involved in teams and groups from a very early age. Working as part of a team is going to be an essential skill that children will need to succeed in adult life. Regardless of the business industry or sector you choose, teamwork is absolutely vital and always will be. Children learn skills related to teamwork naturally in school but the more experience they have here, the better they will be.

Pexels CCO License

Extra Learning

Various educational experts agree that children should be engaging with fresh levels of education outside of the boundaries of school. This could be useful in two different scenarios. First, it’s possible that kids are falling behind in certain subjects or classes. If that’s the case, then extra education will help them get back on track. Alternatively, it might be that they are racing beyond their peers. If that’s the case, then you should encourage their ambition and push them even further forward. The good news is that there are resources available for both scenarios. Sites such as https://studentreasures.com/teachers-lounge/lesson-plans/fourth-grade/ will help you craft lesson plans for home.

Develop Confidence

Next, you need to make sure that you are developing your child’s level of self confidence. Various research studies show that levels of confidence are positively correlated with rates of success. If you want your children to feel confident in who they are and what they can offer the world, you need to provide them the support they need in their endeavours. This could be one of the most important roles that parents fulfill in their child’s lives. This could be as simple as attending their sports games or helping them find where their talent lies.

Pexels CCO License

Teach Them About Money

Finally, it’s important that children understand the concept and value of money from an early age. Children that don’t grasp this concept are more likely to end up in debt later in life or run into issues with money. As well as impacting their finances, this can stop them from climbing higher in their career too. Teaching them about money can start with a piggy bank and pocket money. You might also want to consider planning lessons about how to spend money and highlight the importance of saving. Letting them make mistakes with money early on will ensure they don’t fall into the same traps later in life. You can learn more about money lessons for kids on https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/how-to-teach-kids-about-money.

It’s clear then that there are a variety of different ways that parents can put their children on the path to success. Exploring these options could be the difference between your child becoming a professional and working for professionals.

What’s The Goal In Life And How Can You Get There?

A key focus of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success. A major key to being successful is setting goals and then creating a plan to execute and achieve them. The following contributed post is entitled, What’s The Goal In Life And How Can You Get There?

* * *

In life, everyone is going to have a goal. Some goals are where you want to end up, what you want to do and basically, what you want from life. Once you know what this is, you can start putting plans in motion to get there, and these are the things that we’re going to be looking at in this article. If you would like to know more about this topic, then keep reading down below.

Picture Link – CC0 Licence

What Is The Goal?

The first thing that you’re going to need to think about is what the goal actually is. This is important for a couple of reasons. The first is that it will give you something to aim for. Once you know exactly what your goal in life actually is, you don’t have to worry about it anymore. Too many people spend a lot of time trying to come up with a goal in the first place, and it takes a lot of time away from their lives while they are trying to figure out what it is they want to do.

The second reason is that it gives you some kind of direction. What we mean by this is that once you know what your goal is, you can start taking steps in the right direction. The sooner you can do this, the better as it gives you more time to come up with a plan of action.

Get More Education

So, the first thing that you may need to do in order to reach your goal in life is to get some more education. You should figure out what kind of education you need in order to achieve your goal, and then you should work towards it. If you already have the required level of education, then there’s no need to do anything further, and you should simply move on to another step. However, it is more than likely that you’re going to need some sort of course in order to get where you need to be. For example, you may need to study to offer health services or even some kind of engineering. It’s entirely dependent on where your life is headed.

It’s About Who You Know

The final thing that you need to consider is the fact that it’s about who you know more than what you know. While this may not be entirely fair, if you can network and make friends with the right people, you are more likely to get further, quicker. Knowing people in high places is always going to come in handy, so it’s a good idea to be as sociable as possible, attend events that you think will help you meet people in the industry, and do whatever else you need to do to make some valuable friends.

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the things that you can do to reach your goal in life. Everyone’s goal is going to be different, so your journey isn’t going to be the same as other people’s. It’s for this reason that you’ve got to stick to your own path, no matter what anyone else is doing. We wish you the best of luck.

How to Regain Your Focus in Life

A key focus of my blog is Health/Wellness. A key to your personal health is having a level of focus and direction in your life. Having this focus will allow you to invest your energies in positive places and prevent them from getting lost in negative places. The following contributed post is entitled, How to Regain Your Focus in Life.

* * *

Image Pixabay CC0 License

We are living in uncertain times, so it is natural for this to impact your wellbeing. For many people, the current COVID-19 situation has taken them out of their daily routine and put their usual activities on hold. This, combined with extra time at home to think can lead you to raise a few questions about your direction in life, and what you are hoping to do with your future. During these challenging times, you may have lost your focus a little and be looking for ways to regain this. If you feel that you have lost some of your direction in life, and are looking to get back on track and return to the ‘new normal’ with renewed energy, why not give some of these ideas a try and see if they work for you?

Reconnect with Your Talents

Everyone has talents and things that they enjoy doing. Reconnecting with your talents is an excellent way to remember what you are good at and which activities bring greater enjoyment to your life. The process of reconnecting with these is useful to help you focus your energy on things that you enjoy and make you feel good about yourself.

Get Inspired

Discovering the paths to success that inspirational people have followed is a useful way to get some inspiration for your journey. Seeing the route that successful people in society, like Alex Becker, have taken will help you to see how others have made changes in their lives and focused their attention on their future goals to enable them to make significant achievements.

Having inspirational role models to look up to shows you that it is possible to regain your focus and take back your control over your future.

Talk it Through

If you are feeling truly stuck in a rut and unable to move forward, then speaking to a professional can be super helpful. Scheduling an appointment with a trained counselor or therapist can help you to gain a greater understanding of the way that you are feeling. With guidance from your counselor, you should be able to move forward through the thoughts that are holding you back and to focus instead on the present and what you want from your future.

Make an Action Plan

Making a plan of action that lays out step by step how you can move your life forward is an excellent way to get yourself back on track. You may want to think of the action plan as a road map to your future success. It is much easier to work towards your goal when it is broken down into smaller, actionable steps. This enables you to make constant progress and keep track of how far you have come.

Remember, regaining your focus and achieving what you want to in life is not something that happens overnight. Instead, it is a journey, which makes it even more satisfying when you reach your goal. What will be your first step towards regaining your focus?

How to Get Things Back on Track When Life Gets out of Control

Two key focuses of my blog are Creating Ecosystems of Success, and Health/Wellness. There are times in our lives when things get out of control. Likewise, the mark of a high successful person is one who figures out how to get things back on track. The following contributed post is entitled, How to Get Things Back on Track When Life Gets out of Control.

* * *

If you are concerned that things are a bit out of control right now, then you are certainly not alone. So many people are in the same situation that you are in right now, but if you follow this guide then you will soon find that it is easier than ever for you to get things back on track easier than ever before.

Do a Life Audit

Life audits really are the best way for you to try and focus on the different areas of your life, your career or even your relationships. When it comes to getting your life back on track, it’s always a good idea for you to assess where you are right now. There are many versions of a life audit, so you need to make sure that you find one which is suitable for you. Either way, the ultimate goal would be for you to try and find clarity across everything if possible.

Source: Pexels (CC0 License)

Regain Confidence

Confidence is the ultimate root to how you show up every day. Believe it or not, showing up is far more than just getting to work. It’s about showing up with an intention. When you feel as though things are spiralling out of control, this comes down to the fact that you do not feel physically or mentally in control. If you want to get around this, then you need to think about what gives you confidence. Then, find things that correlate to that. If feeling good mentally involves you feeling good about your body, then it is wise for you to try and commit to fitness. When you have control over this, you can then feel more in control of your life in general. If you feel like your criminal record is holding you back or getting in the way of your happiness then look into RecordPurge.com.

Brain Dump

Did you know that the average person has around 50,000 thoughts per day? Although it is very much impossible for you to keep track of every single thought that crosses your mind, you may find that eventually things get too much. Brain dumping is a way for you to declutter your mind and it also gives you the chance to bring all of your ideas together on paper. So the next time you feel overwhelmed, think about writing your thoughts down. When you do this, you can then prioritise them into different categories as this will save you a lot of stress.

Organise the Little Things

If you don’t feel as though you have much control over everything that is going on in your life then remember that you do have control over the space around you. You may want to clean your home, or even try and organise your drawers. When you do, you will soon find that it is easier than ever for you to get a fantastic result out of your space and mental organisation.

So, if you are feeling overwhelmed right now then remember that there are things that you can do to put yourself at ease. When you do focus on them, you will soon find that you can easily feel better about yourself as well as the things that come your way.

Why History Can Reshape And Politics

Two key focuses of my blog are Current Events and General Education. History is a core course in many curricula. It’s not always taken seriously, but it has the ability shape minds and the perceptions of whole populations of people. The following contributed post is entitled, Why History Can Reshape And Politics.

* * *

History itself, written from the stories of towns, people and written into books, helps form new views and changes within communities and within people. We tend to separate history into oral and written. The first usually narrates the actions of invisible men, while the second tends to narrate the clichés of prominent men in order not to be forgotten. The muse of history is considered to be Klio, daughter of Zeus and Memorial. Its name comes from the ancient Greek verb close, which means I narrate or make something known. According to Nietzsche, from the birth of Christ, the zero point of history, history as the truth of human life was detached from its essential character, fell into a linear record of events regardless of the unfolding of life, but also of the future of man. Life began to degenerate, from the moment people stopped associating history with life and vital action. The famous German thinker is by no means against history, on the contrary he argues that historical knowledge is valuable, as long as we know how to use it, so that it serves life and offers outlets to promote its security.

Photo: Unsplash

The Mayor of Irvington NJ has learned all too well some incredible political lessons from both history and D. Bilal Beasley who taught him the possibility of change. So why do we learn so much from history and from books when these experiences have not directly affected us ourselves? Well, that is because that we do learn from other people’s mistakes and not always from our own, because of the effect it may have on us indirectly. This is seen throughout black history.

Philosophers argue that humans, unlike prehistoric animals, can not learn to forget, since their past experiences follow them every step of the way and often act as an obstacle to their subsequent evolution. To define the limits within which the oblivion of the past occurs, we must avoid making history the undertaker of the present, we must know exactly how great is the plastic power of an individual or a people, a power that helps him to transformed by incorporating the past and the foreign, replacing the lost, and reshaping from within the broken forms. In this way, the ahistorical and the historical are considered equally necessary for the “hygiene of life” of an individual, a people and a culture.

Undoubtedly, our age is superior in terms of knowledge of the past. Psychoanalysis itself has highlighted both individually and collectively the need to study the past, as it provides us with a measure of the speed and dynamics of our own movement. In the psychoanalytic process the subject is historicized, he writes his own history, he subscribes to the present conversing with his past in view of the future. If we think about it, culture is nothing more than transforming involuntary and instinctive action into possibility, after all. So yes we do learn from our history books, our choices and those around us, but the more we read, the more we immerse ourselves into possible change.

Make Changes to Improve Your Life Right Now

The first principle of my life is Creating Ecosystems of Success and two key focuses are Financial Literacy/Money and Health/Wellness. Some people feel stuck in where they are, but there are changes that we can all make to improve our lives right now. The following contributed post is entitled, Make Changes to Improve Your Life Right Now.

* * *

It is so important to make the most of things that can make changes in your life. You have to understand what it takes to make the right decisions in life and to try to make positive changes as much as you can. As much as you can do to take your life in a positive direction, you need to try to do now, and there are a lot of factors that play a part in helping with this.

Life can often not go the way you want it to, and this is why it is essential to make sure you plan and prepare for this. Try to do as much as possible to help you make the right improvements in your life, and there are a lot of things that can play a role in this. Here are some of the key changes that you can make to improve your life right now.

Image

Get Healthier

You have to make sure you do as much as possible to get as healthy as possible, and this is something you need to keep in mind as much as you can. Getting a healthier body and mind is one of the best approaches you can take in your life. This is something you need to make sure you focus on as much as possible, and there are a lot of ideas you can use to achieve this. Healthy eating and exercise are the order of the day, and they can go a long way toward helping you with this.

Protect Yourself

It is essential that you do as much as you can to protect yourself in your life right now. There are a lot of things you can do to achieve this, such as staying fit and healthy and buying health insurance. However, there might also be times when you need to make sure you take steps to look after yourself in other ways, such as hiring a misdemeanour lawyer to defend you if you need to be protected.

Take Charge of Your Money

Taking charge of your money is something that you need to make the most of right now, and this is something that plays a massive part in the process of making your life better. You’ve got a lot to think about here, and getting a handle on your cash is something that you need to work toward right now. Budgeting your money is something you are going to need to focus on as much as you possibly can, and this is so important moving forward as well. Keeping yourself financially comfortable is something that you need to work on right now.

Make sure you do as much as you can to improve your life and make the best changes you possibly can. Try to think about some of the best ways you can go about making the right changes to take your life forward as much as possible. Taking steps to try to look after yourself and take your life forward in a more positive way is so essential right now.

3 Tips for Being More Respectful of Your Time

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success and a key focus is Health/Wellness. A key problem many people have is not respecting their own time. Unfortunately time management is not something that is taught across the board. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Tips for Being More Respectful of Your Time.

* * *

Pixabay CC0 License

In life, there are all sorts of resources of various types that you might have plenty of – or very little of – depending on a broad variety of circumstances.

One thing that everyone has equal access to, however, is the time available in a given day. No matter whether you are the most quick-witted and enterprising business guru in the land, or someone much more ordinary, you will never have more than 24 hours in a day to spend attending to your chores, chasing your dreams, and all the rest.

Very often, we end up convincing ourselves that the reason why we don’t do the sorts of things we would ideally want to do in life, is because we just “don’t have enough time.”

While time constraints are obviously real, it’s also true that we frequently sabotage ourselves and develop a distorted sense of what is and isn’t possible, due to the fact that we aren’t as respectful and thoughtful of our time as we should be.

In her book “168 Hours,” the writer Laura Vanderkam details many examples of successful people in a variety of fields who have nonetheless managed to juggle their hobbies and personal lives alongside fruitful careers. The secret? They always found a way to squeeze in a bit of time on a regular basis for the things they were really passionate about, even in spite of all the odds.

Vanderkam shares one particularly telling anecdote in the book, where she describes having read a publication where various members of the public waxed lyrical about the brilliant things they would do if they only had an extra 20 minutes or so a day to spend. Predictably, there were a lot of people who were apparently going to live out their dreams and pursue their hobbies if only that extra sliver of time would materialise.

Considering the fact, however, that the average person spends several hours a day watching television – this can’t help but ring a bit hollow.

Here are a few tips for being more respectful of your time in general, so that you can live your life in line with your true values, hopes, and principles.

Consider auditing your time for a while to see just where it’s actually going

In “168 Hours,” Vanderkam proposes a great exercise for raising time-awareness – that is, keeping daily “timesheets,” detailing how you spend all your time for at least a week or two at a stretch.

This isn’t necessarily meant to be a permanently ongoing exercise. The key point is that it will shine a light on just what’s actually happening with your time, so that you are no longer likely to be so inclined to feel as though the minutes and hours have just swept by in a blur.

After doing this exercise for a few days, you might be shocked to find just how much of your “working hours” were actually spent on browsing the web. Or how many of your evening leisure and relaxation hours were not actually spent on entertainment, time with friends and family, or relaxation, but were rather dedicated to checking work emails after hours.

There is a famous old saying that “what gets measured, gets improved.” By the same token, if you never actually track how you’re spending your time, you will inevitably have a very limited scope for mastering it and treating it with more respect.

Realise that outsourcing certain things is often a great way of freeing up more time

Generally speaking, it’s quite common for people to be reluctant to spend money outsourcing things that they could – if pushed – do by themselves.

Of course, it’s good to be self-reliant and not to spend money gratuitously, but both in your working life and your personal life, it will often be the case that “outsourcing” various tasks, projects, and chores, is one of the best and most reliable ways of freeing up more time that you can then spend more fruitfully.

If you are an entrepreneur, for example, there is quite a good chance that you will naturally be predisposed to try to micromanage your business as much as possible. But everyone has limited time, a limited range of skill sets, and a limited amount of energy to spend on a given day.

Bringing a third party network management company on board, for example, might therefore not only mean that this dimension of your business gets handled more effectively, but that you also suddenly find you have far more time and energy available in your day to spend on other things.

Use the power of your environment to keep you focused and on point

There is a popular idea in productivity-focused circles that suggests that willpower is the end-all-be-all when it comes to things like proper time management.

While willpower is certainly important, however, it is not a resource you can draw on endlessly in order to try and structure and arrange every aspect of your daily existence. According to the psychologist Kelly McGonigal, author of “The Willpower Instinct,” research suggests that willpower is actually a finite and expendable resource. If you try to rely on it too heavily for too many things, you’re setting yourself up for burnout and failure.

In order to be more respectful of your own time, and to manage your time more effectively, one of the most powerful things you could do would be to use the power of your environment to keep you focused and on point.

What exactly does this mean?

Well, essentially it means that as human beings we are all inclined to follow the path of least resistance, by default. The way you structure your environment can therefore serve to nudge you down more or less fruitful and intentional paths, requiring varying degrees of willpower.

When it comes to being more respectful of your time, a good environmental shift might be something like installing a web blocker on your computer to keep distracting sites at bay during certain hours. Or, surrounding yourself with people who will keep an eye on you and keep you accountable if you’re supposed to be meeting a certain deadline by a certain time.