Following Your Dreams When It Gets Hard

One of the things about dreams is that they’re usually not easy. They seem all warm and lovely and shiny when we think of them, but pursuing them is a whole other side of the story. When you’re pursuing your dreams and you’re stressed, worn out and not seeing any real results it can be REALLY hard to push yourself to keep going. We've ALL been there.

‘your dreams are ball-busters; they’re not the yellow brick road’ - Kelly Cutrone.

Dreams aren't meant to be easy

Your dreams are meant to intimidate you, scare you and at the same time make you want to pursue them all the more. If your dreams don’t do that, then sweetheart; you’re not dreaming big enough. Your dreams aren't supposed to fit in a neat little package that you can tie with a pretty ribbon.

 If your dreams don’t challenge you, you’re never going to grow as a person.

Pick your ass up off the floor and try again

Okay, so you've hit a road-bump while you’re driving towards your goal. Are you gonna allow yourself to get stuck in a stupid little pot-hole when you could  keep going?
Maybe that business you were so passionate about isn’t bringing in the sales you thought it would. Should you give up? Sure as hell not! 

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts

 - Winston Churchill.

Failing doesn't mean that you’re finished with your goal, it means you learned something the hard way. EVERY experience is valuable.

Visualize your end result

The thought of one day being a successful writer, or a surgeon or for some people even a mom is what makes a fire of passion burn in their belly. Don’t forget and let that flame in your belly go out when you’re past the dreaming and into the doing stage. 

One of the most important things when you’re trying to achieve a goal is how it will make you feel when you finally get what you wanted. Keep visualizing that end point and don’t let go of it.

Know When It’s Time to Let Go:

While I don’t advocate giving up on your dreams, I do advocate that you re-assess them. At least once a year you need to be sitting down with yourself and getting your ‘ish straightened out. Are the goals you had as a teenager still relevant when you’re a 30 year old mom of 2? Most likely not. 

Make sure that all of your goals still apply to your life and will be BENEFICIAL to you. We’re not here just to do things so we can say we did them!

In the comments I want you to share one of those goals that really make you giddy when you think about it. I also want you to tell me what the hell you’re doing to achieve it too! 

You can do this.

5 Easy Ways to Be More Productive

Take time to refocus
This is especially important if you're 'multi-passionate' or you do a lot of different things. Switching between tasks like blogging and designing can help keep you refreshed. Block out 45 mins - 1hr per task and switch so that you're not staring at a blank page and menacing cursor for too long. Getting up in between times and having a healthy snack like a handful of fruit & glass of water can really help your brain too.

Reward Yourself 
For each task that you complete, reward yourself.
For example when I have something I NEED to write, sometimes I'll tell myself ' you can't an awesome lunch until you finish this' or 'you can spend 45 mins reading blogs once you've finished'. Having a good thing to push towards really helps the time pass.

Set Timers
If you're like me you might need to set back up timers for the timers too. For example when I do laundry I'm always forgetting to take it out of the machine, so I set a timer to go off when the machine is done to remind me to go and get it. I also set the timer in a different room from me, so I HAVE to get up and turn it off making it more likely I'll go and get the laundry.

Prioritize:
The whole reason that it feels like there's not enough time in a day is lack of priorities. Sometimes the only reason your to-do list is a mile long is because there are a lot of unnecessary things on it. If you really assess what is important vs. what you would like to do, you'll see that there is enough time. Scheduling also really helps, since you can make sure your time really is going to your priorities.

Stay Away From Social Networks;
You KNOW that twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram are huge time sucks. It's the infinite scrolling possibilities that keep you hooked, sliding down your finger/cursor on the screen and wasting valuable time. That and the ability to shamelessly stalk other peoples pictures... [ the good and the bad ].
Try putting your phone down, or putting a block on those particular sites when it's time to get down to work.

what do you do to be more productive?

How to Create a Killer Schedule ; Maximize Your Productivity

1. First of all you need to be realistic with the time that you actually have in your day. Then mark out where you already have commitments such as work and school.
2.  Write a list of all the tasks, projects etc that you're working on and prioritize what needs to get done. 
3. Go ahead and start allotting times to the tasks you need to get done; now you know how much time you have, what needs to be done and the order of importance
4. Assign colors to each task. This will make it way easier to tell at a glance what needs to be done and when.
5.  Break down the time that you have into <30 minute slots, and after 30 minutes of producing, creating, studying or whatever it is you're doing, take a break of 5 minutes.
6. Assign yourself free time; If you don't give yourself any down time there's almost a 90% chance you'll burn out or abandon your schedule completely. 
7. Test, re-arrange and test again until you get it right : Half the reason you probably haven't stuck to past schedules is that they haven't been 'right' for you. Especially if you're organizing a family or multiple people you need to get down with their routines and schedule things conveniently for you, and pay attention to notice what works and what doesn't.
8. Last, but not least; back up your schedule - in like 3 different places. I have a handwritten paper copy of mine, one on my laptop and one on my USB drive. However if you have a smart phone or tablet, try to keep it synced to all of your different devices.

How do you guys keep on track?

Weekly Wishes 25/08

• Get on top of the chores   Duh this got done, because un-tidy things give me nervous tics.
• Read all these blogging e-books that I have;   The only problem is I keep accumulating more!
• Read up on changing domains and using squarespace. I'm totally enamored with Squarespace and so far haven't found any real downsides. I'm looking to change domains some time within the next 2 months. 
• Get off my lazy behind and work on my email list. I made a start, but autoresponders sure can give you a headache!

• Dedicate some time to my blog again. Other projects have really taken over and my blog needs a little love! Then again, it never feels like I spent enough time on the blog.
• Dedicate as much time as possible to the side hustle! 
• De-clutter my email inbox; Who'd have thought someone who checks their email so often could get so far behind?

Weekly Wishes 18/08

• Write down everything: Complete!
• Dream Big;  I have SO many plans.
• Pray; Not a total failure, but not a total success either. Definitely going to work on this more this week.

• Get on top of the chores and wash all the baby clothes we have. I had a scare and had to go to Labor & Delivery unexpectedly last week, so I definitely want to get on top of things incase the baby decides to make an early appearance!
• Read all these blogging e-books that I have; while I still have the time.
• Read up on changing domains and using squarespace. I'm thinking about taking that leap.What do any of you out there that use squarespace think about it?
• Get off my lazy behind and work on my email list.

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Weekly Wishes 11/08

• Be more active on the blog Facebook page; meh. I wasn't really active on the page or social media much at all. Will improve on it this week though.
• Try cooking a new food;    while I didn't cook a new food, I did actually spend a bit more time in the kitchen than normal, especially last night which was nice. I want to get in the habit of cooking more regularly!
• Reach out to one person each day:   Aced this, and it was better than I expected. You'd be surprised the amazing things that happen when you try.

• Write down everything: I really want to commit to journaling again this week. I'm gonna create a method that works for me that's some sort of planner/journal hybrid. I really can't keep up with both, so why not simplify? 
• Dream Big; My most creative stuff comes from when I've just let my mind wander and I want to do more of that. And get it down on paper. There are some dream goals that are closer to becoming a reality and it can only get better.
• Pray; I prayed with Richard today and it was an invigorating experience. It's something I've wanted to do for a while, but never approached him about and it just happened today. I definitely want to make it a part of our day every day from here on out.

Weekly Wishes

• Continue to batch write. Done ! Wrote a ton of posts and content
• Finish reading Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett. Although I love how intriguing this is, I've been saving the book till bedtime to read and then it hurts my head to concentrate on it lol. Hopefully will finish this week.
• Work on side project;  Aww yeah, I feel like I made some MAJOR in-roads in to this and I've been experiencing success in it so far. Hopefully it continues.

• Be more active on the blog Facebook page; I always forget about this but I guess it's worth giving a shot.
• Try cooking a new food; I'm one of those people who can literally eat the same lunch everyday for months and not tire of it, and then all of a sudden hate the food. I really need to add some variety in to my diet 
• Reach out to one person each day: and make their day (and mine!) better

What are you planning for this week?

Weekly Wishes #2 ; August Goals

• Finalize blog plan: I'm not exactly 'finished' this but that's because I tend to always find something to tweak. Made major inroads into blog planning though.
  
• Batch write posts: I wrote my little heart out this week, and I have a good few posts scheduled already and more in progress
  
• Work with sponsors & on sponsorship program: Definitely checked the box here, also did some research for the up-coming months in terms of possible sponsorships too.

• Continue to batch write: I'm officially stock-piling for September when my little one could make an appearance at any time.
• Finish reading Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett. This novel is so weird and intriguing. Death gets fired and people stop dying.
• Work on side project; while I don't really want to jinx it and say too much about it, I do want to get some serious work done on it over the upcoming weeks.

• Research for and work on my side project
• Completely organized and pre-schedule the blog
• Spend some time connecting with R before the baby arrives; it's really hitting me how little time we have left just us!

What are your goals for the upcoming week and month?

Weekly Wishes #1

• Finalize my blog plan; plan out posts, and branding. With re-launching and re-branding my blog I decided to change up a lot of things. So far posts are planned until August and 

• Batch write & schedule posts: Now that I've planned what I want to write, I actually need to finish writing it. In order to make sure that my blog runs smoothly when little Peanut gets here in September I'm pre-writing a lot of content straight through August so I can continue to write another month- 2 months content during August and schedule for when I'm in hospital and the first few weeks after the birth.

• Work with my sponsors & on developing my new sponsorship program: I have arranged a few upcoming sponsors and want to work thoroughly with them to test out my new sponsorship program. If you're interested you can get a free month right here.

The Life Binder

I consider myself to be pretty organized, so I thought I’d let you all in on a method I’ve tried and tested.
The life binder is exactly as it sounds. A binder with your life in it. Mine has 5 sections. I also use a planner for the day to day planning, but this allows me to have a place at home for my stuff to be, and for it to be easily moved (rather than a complex filing system).
                        

Pros:

• It’s affordable
• It’s extremely customizable
• You can add/remove things as you get an understanding of what you need.
• You don’t need to take the whole thing with you.

Cons:

• Is a bit bulky to carry around.
• It doesn’t have a fastening clasp (if you’re looking for that kind of thing).

The binder I used was a 1.5” binder 3 ring binder, with clear plastic front/back cover. You can use any kind of binder/folder but I like these because they’re not too big and you can customize the front. I merely inserted a few pictures.
What you’d see when you opened it up;

My favorite quote.                                 My New Years Resolutions ( Not Kept)

Also, you’d see my monthly calendars.

I handmade mine, but you can find free printables here,here or here.
These are great for keeping track of what you have to do and planning ahead. Color coding is useful for these calendars too– mine was Red=Exam, Blue= Blogging Business/ Work

Okay, so lets get started with the categories I included.


To Do;
Inside this I just use regular college rule binder/filler paper. It’s cheap and easy and if I want to be able to just take my to do list with me I can simply take it out and pop it in my school bag.  If you’re looking for a printable template check here

Blogging;
Here I keep a list of all the posts I have completed and uploaded. I also keep a list of the posts I’m planning to do/ blog challenge prompts in case I get writers block.

I also used to plan my posts by writing them out here when I first started blogging, but now I use Windows Live Writer. It is amazing, it makes adding photos and formatting SO much easier. Check it out  here. It cut the time it takes me to blog by at least 30 minutes/per post.

School Info:
I keep all my important documents in here. I have 1 folder with my exam certificates and school reports, and in the other folder I keep my citizenship and birth certificates and all the documents you need to take to apply for colleges& school. I didn’t include pictures of this just for security reasons as they have my full name and ID numbers on them.

Banking:

In this one, I have an envelope in which I keep any balance inquiry slips or deposit slips for my bank account. Behind that I then have the statements that they send – hole punched and in chronological order.
This is more suitable for those of you who don't have multiple incomes or bank accounts to keep track of. If you have more paperwork you may want to look into a separate binder for bills/bank statements.

Workout:
Here is where I keep any work-outs and nutritional info that I may want to refer to. I simply cut/tear them out of fitness magazines and put them in clear folders. This is also where I keep my monthly calendar that I print from blogilates.

They’re divided into categories – abs, yoga, diet and total body.

How do you organize?

How to Achieve Your Goals

Now I know that a ton of us make a ton of New Years Resolutions, and a ton of us don't keep most, if any of them. Trust me, I'm one of the head people that makes a TON of goals come each new year, and never keeps them - for crying out loud, it's my birthday on New Years Eve, and of course I always feel like turning a year older warrants some serious goal making.

I've realized the whole problem with my goals in the past was that I was SOOO vague. My goals weren't uncommon, but I found that there just wasn't the detail I needed to stick to them later in the year when my motivation wasn't as high.

For example let's say my resolutions were:

1.  Lose 30lbs
2. Revise More( over and above existing homework )
3. Keep on top of housework and chores ( laundry etc)
4. Be more organized
5. Work out more.

They seem decent right? They totally seem attainable, until real life happens..

What you need to do to help push you to motivate your goals is :

• Make them more active. Don't just say do this or do that..

You need to create sub-goals, or a sort of checklist if you will. That way later in the year it will actually feel like you're getting somewhere and you know what you've still got to do. It helps you to visualize, but in a constructive manner rather than just dreaming.

• Reward Yourself. 

If you know you're getting something AMAZING at the end of it, it totally helps motivate you, whether it's a small treat for a small goal, or whether it's a shopping spree rewarding you for losing 100 lbs!

• Keep Your Goals in Sight

Out of sight out of mind completely rings true with New Years Resolutions.. When we write down our goals and then don't look at them for 3 - 6 months or as much as a year we don't actively work towards them. Whether it's a photo of your dream dress, a reminder of that vacation you want to take or a failing grade card, motivating you to always do better, it's good to have it close at hand. Also I like to keep a list of my goals in my planner.

• Make Sure They're GOOD for you!

A lot of us make the same old goals every year, and never attain them, or we desire things that are no longer healthy for us. I suggest you think of what you wanted this time last year and de-clutter that list.. It's unlikely everything is still relevant or as important. Make sure that whatever NEEDS doing is done, and whatever else is on that list is for your benefit.