How To Find The Most Productive Time In Your Day

                                        It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants.

                                          The question is; what are you busy about?
                                                          - Henry David Thoreau

Don´t be busy being busy.

Be busy being productive.

But how do we become more productive?

How can we work smarter not harder?

Answer
By focusing on finding a way to be able to do more work per hour instead of working more hours.

We all have a time in our day when we are a lot more productive than any other time of the day. Call it "productive time" or "magic time". 

It is a time of the day when you are able to concentrate the most.

Everything has a rhythm to it. Days follow nights. Spring follows winter. Ebb and flow. Your body has its own rhythm.
Know yourself enough to realize when you are the best at doing something. In the morning or in the afternoon or even in the evening. Figure out what time is best for you and then schedule the most important task for that time of the day.
Make your own rhythm work for you.

For me my "magic time" or my most "productive time", is during the midmorning. If I have to write a newsletter or a blog or something else that I need to concentrate on, my best time to do this is from 8 am to around noon.

In the afternoon I am having more trouble concentration and my brain isn´t as sharp. In the morning I can get the same task done in about half the time that it will take for me to do it at any other time of the day. In the afternoon I will check and answer emails instead. Make phone calls, read articles and books. Things that doesn´t need as much concentration on my part.

Same thing goes for exercise. I have to do it in the morning. If I wait until late in the afternoon or evening, I have to use a lot more willpower to exercise. Besides, if I exercise in the morning I will feel the benefit of that exercise routine all day by flooding my system with healthy hormones, and a lot of positive mental energy that will last all day long.

To make this "magic time" or "productive time" work, you must shut down all your email alerts, turn off your phone. Make sure that you turn off all your distractions and interruptions. This time is your number one priority because you can get a lot more done, up to 3 times more in a lot shorter period of time. But you have to protect yourself from the energy-vampires, who will try to suck your time away from you.

Figure out what will work for you. Just because I do my most important work during the morning hours, doesn´t mean that it is right for you.

Your job is to figure out, what time of the day that you are the most productive.

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Slow Progress Is Still Progress

                                                                
                                                  "Some quit due to slow progress.
                                          Never grasping the fact that slow progress,
                                                                    is progress."

I don't know about you...

But sometimes I feel really frustrated with the slow progress I am making in my own life and with my own vision and goals.
I know change is difficult and it takes commitment and often it takes and a long time. 

It also takes a lot of dedication, persistence and perseverance to make big and lasting changes in our own lives. 

                                 "Don't worry about how slowly you feel you're going, 

                         or how many roadblocks you find, or detours you need to take, 

                     you're still cruising far ahead of anyone who's too afraid to even try."

                                                             - Karen Salmansohn

I try to tell myself that it will take some time to change behaviors and thought pattern that I have had for a long time. It won't happen overnight. I have to learn to be patient with myself. But often I run out of patience and I want it to happen now.

How about you... have you ever felt this way about something that you really want to change or with something that you want to make progress with in your life?

                            "Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, 

                                                             no matter how slow."

                                                                      - Plato

A couple of weeks ago I came across these wonderful words and today I want to share them with you. 

If you are trying to make some changes in your life right now and are feeling frustrated with your slow progress... you will probably find these words soothing and encouraging.

Because of the many years of past conditioning and the intense training you have in holding on to toxic thoughts, behaviors and unhealthy relationships, giving up on, all that toxic in your life won't be easy and it won't happen overnight.

Chances are that you won't see major improvements in your life immediately, and that's okay

Be patient and gentle with yourself while working on rebuilding your life and remember to enjoy the journey.

Always focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing the activity but doing it.

Remember to take one step at a time.

                                                        www.karinglannstam.com

What's Your Excuse?

"Excuses are tools of incompetence,

used to build monuments of nothing."

- Thomas J. Smith

This morning I didn´t feel like going out on my daily morning walk. It was wet, gloomy and cold outside. I was trying to come up with every reason or should I say...EXCUSE  in the world, why I shouldn´t have to go walking.

Well as it turned out I couldn´t come up with a good enough reason or excuse why I 

shouldn´t exercise and besides that my dog Lady was ready and excited  to go for her walk. 

Discipline is what we are going to talk about today.
It is a dreaded word by a lot of people.

So what is discipline?

Discipline is simply doing what you know needs to be done even when you don´t feel like it or want to do it.

A few great quotes

"With self-discipline most anything is possible."
- Theodor Roosevelt

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments."
- Jim Rohn

"The first and best victory is to conquer self"
- Plato

We live in a society built around convenience. The downside to this is that it has made us lazy, both mentally and physically. 

The desire to set a goal and to accomplish it is there, but the self-sacrifice needed to make the goal into reality, isn't.

If you attempt to accomplish a goal based on when it is convenient for you... you will be running around in a giant hamster wheel chasing your goals and your dreams without any chance of ever accomplishing them.

A great way to develop self-discipline is to make a habit to do things you should be doing when you feel the laziest. Every time you feel really lazy, do the opposite of what you really feel like doing.

Isn´t it about time you stopped making excuses... and if you don´t do it NOW ... "later" is not going to happen.
Excuses mean that you are not committed. It also means that you are not taking responsibility for your own life.

I think Jim Rohn said it best....

"Everyone must choose one of two pains:
The pain of discipline or the pain of regret."

I don´t know about you... but I don´t want to ever live with regrets, so I will choose the pain of discipline.

At the end of the day, our excuses are what is keeping us from accomplishing our goals that we said we wanted to accomplish.

                                                         www.karinglannstam.com

Stop Worrying And Focus On What You Can Control

                             "Understand that not everything is meant to be understood.

                              Live, let go, and don't worry about what you can't change."

Where do you spend your time, your emotions and your focus?

Are you doing things that are urgent or important?

Make sure that you are you spending your time, emotions and your focus on things you can control.
Not on things you cannot control.

There is one thing that you can absolutely control... YOURSELF, and what you focus on and what you feel inside.

You get to determine what you feel inside, no matter what is going on, or what someone says or does in your life.

There is nothing in your life that you are going to feel that you are not creating, and that you can´t change immediately... if you want to.

Here is another thing that you can control... YOUR ATTITUDE about something.
You can control what things mean to you. 

                                      "At the end of the day, you can't control the results; 

                                      you can only control your efforts and your focus."

                                                                     - Ben Zobrist

If you feel like the weather, events, the world and other people are out of your control, stressing about it won´t make it any better.

Another thing that you can´t control is... THE PAST.
You can´t control it and you can´t change it. So stop wasting time on it.

It doesn´t matter how stressful your past was, you can never change it. Since you can´t change the past why would you spend any time there?

If you stay in the past, you will become stressed, and it will keep you from being in the present and it will prevent you from important things that matter to you in a positive way, like creating an amazing vision for yourself and the future.

Spend your time on what you can control... YOURSELF and your ATTITUDE.
Focus on what matters to you and stay away form spending time in the past.
Learn from the past. Use the past as a school... but then move on.

Do not stress out about things you can´t control or change.

Instead of obsessing over the things you can't change, focus on what you can:

Your Attitude

Your Mindset

Your Energy

                                                     www.karinglannstam.com

It's My Job To Like Myself... Not Yours

                            "Self-love requires you to be honest about your current choices
                                          and thought patterns and undertake new practices
                                                             that reflect self worth."

We all want love, so a lot of times we will adjust ourselves to the person that we are with at the time. 

We do this so that we can get love.

In order to get love from our parents, we try to keep them happy and later we try to keep a partner or a friend happy, so in return we can get love.

But sometimes we don´t get love, no matter how happy we try to make them. 

What happens then? 

                                       "Your relationships with yourself sets the tone for 

                                                  every other relationship you have"

 

We try so hard to make others happy, that in the meantime we end up losing ourselves.

We try harder and harder to make them happy, but we get less and less back.

We try even harder because we don´t think or feel that we are trying hard enough.

What we don´t realize is that there might not be any love, to get from this person and that we better off moving on. 

                                            "You can never meet your potential until 

                                                     you truly learn to love yourself." 

                                                            - Teresa Collins  

What we must learn to do is to love ourselves, then we don´t need other people to love us. 

And if they love us, that is just icing on the cake, but we are OK without it because we love and respect ourselves and we won´t try to get love, from places where we can´t get it.

Don´t betray yourself when there is no love to be found. 

Just move on and the Universe will always love you and support you. 

                                        "In a society that profits from your self-doubt, 

                                                    loving yourself is a rebellious act."

                                                                    - Unknown 

Remember to always love yourself first.

                                                     www.karinglannstam.com

Don't Let Your Past Stop You From Living Your Future

 

                        "If there is hope in the future, there is power in the present."

                                                        - John Maxwell

Do you know someone that is living and always talking about their past?

I do! 

                                        "Let go, forget the burdens of the past.  

                                           The past can't be changed anyway."

A lot of people get stuck in their past and they refuse to move forward in life.

You learn from your past but you shouldn´t continue to live there.

Your past is important because it has brought you to where you are today. 

But as important as your past is as it relates to your present, it isn´t nearly as important as the way you see your future.

                              "The less anger towards the past you carry in your heart, 

                                     the more capable you are of loving in the present."

The way you see your future determines your thinking today.

Your thinking today determines your actions today.

And your actions today determines your future. 

                                               "Don't judge yourself by your past. 

                                                   You don't live there anymore."

Do you know that you are where you are today because what has gone into your mind?

You can change right now by what is going into your mind.

What are you thinking about when it comes to your future?  

Is there hope and faith in your future? 

                                    "Don't let yesterday take up too much of today."

                                                         www.karinglannstam.com

Stop Giving Away Your Power

                                                "When you blame others, 

                                       you give up your power to change."

                                                 - Dr. Robert Anthony

What is the #1 thing holding you back from achieving your goal?

- An unsupportive spouse
- The economy
- Your health
- A lack of time
- A lack of resources
- A lack of skills or knowledge

Wrong... You Are!

                       "Blaming others takes time and energy away from improving yourself."

Almost 100% of the time we are our own worst enemy.

But you have the power to change that!

That means giving up... 

- All your excuses
- All your victim stories
- All the reasons why you can't
- Blaming outside circumstances

                                                   "The day you stop blaming others 

                                    is the day you begin to discover who you truly are."

You have to take 100% responsibility for your life in order to be able to change it.

The sooner you stop wasting your energy on blaming other people and events for your circumstances the faster you will be able to reclaim your life.

Blame is a very hard thing to let go of. But you also have to understand how much of your own power you are giving to the people and the events you are blaming.

You are letting them prevent you from moving forward in life.

So who or what do you need to stop blaming today so you can move on to truly crate the life that you truly want?

                                        "The only keeper of your happiness is you.

                                     Stop giving people power to control your smile,

                                                   your worth and your attitude."

                                                              - Mandy Hale 

Be Your Full Power!

                                                       www.karinglannstam.com

 

Only I Can Change My Life

 

                                    Your life changes the moment you make a congruent,
                                                        and committed decision."
                                                             - Anthony Robbins

We never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something we must build a new model that will make the existing model obsolete.

In other words... stop focusing on what isn't working or what you can't do and start focusing on what is working and start to create some new ideas on what you want.

Do you believe that you can do what you are trying to do?
(It doesn´t matter if it´s loosing weight, getting out of debt, attracting healthier relationships or making more money).
Most people are not there. They are mostly operating on hope and wish.

We must get to belief.
We must believe that we can do or accomplish what we are trying to do.
When we believe we are ready.

Our belief system is based on valuation of something.
Sometimes we must re-evaluate something and then our belief system will change.

Tip!

Make up your mind that you are really going to do, what you are going to do.

Activate an image in your mind.

Decision will activate ideas and information right away. Ideas will start to flow into your consciousness.

Without a decision nothing will happen.

Make a decision. I am really going to do it! You don't need to know how. 

If you see yourself "on top of the mountain" you will get to the top of the mountain.

You must live the part that you want to be.

Create a picture of yourself and then live it.

Don't allow anyone else's opinion sidetrack you.

                                       "Life gets better by change... not chance".
                                                                   - Jim Rohn


Stop asking other people what you should do
We are in a habit of asking other people.
When we ask other people what they think we should do - we are asking for approval.
We don't have enough confidence inside to know what we should do.

Let's start with what we know.
It's our life and nobody else's
No one can decide for us and no one can do it for us.

People that are getting results in their lives - are ordinary people.
They are just doing things differently.

                                     www.karinglannstam.com

Sometimes You Have To Start Over

 

                                                   "No matter how hard the past,
                                                    you can always begin again."
                                                                   - Buddha

Difficult times happens to everyone. 

It doesn´t matter if you are rich or poor, young or old, man or woman... things do happen in our lives.
Things you didn´t expect to happen.

We can not avoid or control these storms or setbacks in our lives.
But what we can control is how we respond to them.

Are you going to allow yourself to stay in bed for several months after a setback?
Are you going to blame someone else for your situation?
Are going to continue to focus on what used to be?

Or are you going to pull yourself together and start again?
One small action at a time?

Unfortunately a lot of people won´t start something because they don´t know how it is going to work out. 

They don´t have all the answers.
Of course you won´t have all the answers right away. You can learn as you go.
Just make sure that you start.

                                            "Starting all over again is not bad...    
                                                      because when you restart,
                                      you get another chance to make things right."
                                                                - Unknown

One great key to quickly recover from a setback is to have something to go for right a way.
Don´t let if affect you for a year or longer. 

Put something together right away. 

It might not be the total answer, but you must start walking.

Have something new to focus on.
You can continue to focus on what isn´t working and what you have lost.
If you continue to do this you will eventually feel stuck in a negative pattern.

Or you can shift your focus onto what is possible for you.


Start by asking a few empowering questions.

What do I need to learn from this setback?
What is it here to tell me?
How can I avoid this in the future?
What small action step can I take... starting today that will change my situation?

Learn from the lesson but make sure that you start taking some steps forward as quickly as possible.

Start walking from your desperate situation into a more empowering mode.
Start changing your philosophy and start to focus on what else you can do to make the situation change.

Start where you are.
Learn as you go.
Continue to take action.

                                                    www.karinglannstam.com