Mindset – Page 3

The 6 Foundational Habits for Productivity – No. 4 Morning Routine

September 5, 2016 by Camilla

We’ve all heard the say that the way you start your morning sets the tone for the day. Which is true if you really think of it. If you have a calm morning when you don’t feel rushed you feel differently than if you rush around. When you’re stressed the entire day seems to work against you, while if you’re calm things go smoother.

It’s time for habit no. 4 in the series of The 6 Foundational Habits for Productivity. If you missed habit 1 through 3 go HERE.

Step Number One For a Calmer Morning

If you want a calmer morning I have a very simple solution for you. NO checking email, NO checking social media, NO checking anything on the phone (or the computer) at all for the first hour.

According to a 2013 study done by IDC Research 80% of people check their cell phone first thing in the morning. I wouldn’t be surprised if that number is even higher now.

When you check your phone first thing in the morning, you end up not only wasting precious time you could use for other things, but you also end up on other people’s agenda. You may think it’s not affecting you but now you’re down the rabbit hole of busy but not productive. Your mind is focused on whatever input you just exposed it to. That also includes other media such as the news. Starting your day with the news isn’t exactly uplifting!

Studies show people check their phone about every 6 minutes during waking hours. If that’s you, then your brain has become addicted to your phone, just like someone is addicted to drugs. Your brain is craving its dopamine hits and if it doesn’t get its dopamine (aka. checking the phone) you may feel stressed. Re-train your brain by becoming “addicted” to a calm and balancing morning instead.

Mediation and Gratitude

Meditation is a great habit to incorporate into your morning routine and throughout the day too. Meditation alone can boost your focus, productivity, memory and energy. It also helps with stress relief and can have a very calming effect. Meditation is a practice so if you’re new to meditation remember it’s about progress, not perfection. There are two great apps I recommend called Calm and Headspace that have guided meditations that can help you get started.

Gratitude is the foundation for happiness and starting your morning feeling grateful definitely sets a positive tone for the day. Gratitude helps you to focus on the positive instead of the negative. Positive people handle stressful situations and detours in life better so when that person cuts you off in traffic it’s not a big deal. Remember – whatever you focus on expands!

Successful People Protect Their Morning

When I started this journey I wanted to know how highly successful people spend their time. They seemed to get so much done and I wanted to know their secrets. What I learned is that they protect their mornings and focus on doing things that nurture them. Besides getting up early, often around 5 a.m., some practiced meditation, some would exercise and others had a routine of journaling and reading. Then they would dive into work.

I remembered a time when I used to get up early to read first thing in the morning and how peaceful that was, so I decided to create my own morning routine to see what would happen. I tested different things but finally set on a routine of meditation, gratitude and journaling, positive affirmations and then reading. I sometimes do visualization after meditating. I instantly noticed a difference in how calm and more prepared I was for the day. I was hooked.

Years later I read a book called the Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod that explained why I felt such a big difference. Implementing the habits from the book into your morning is life-changing. Hal set out to test to see what would happen if you did ALL of the habits that highly successful people do in the mornings instead of just a few of them. With that he created the S.A.V.E.R.S. system. I highly recommend the book. Try it out!

It can be challenging in the beginning to switch over to a good morning routine so start with one thing, then add another until you’ve created your ideal morning that sets the foundation for the kind of day you want to have. You can either live your life in a proactive mode or a reactive mode. Successful people create their day into what they want it to be instead of letting the day rule them. You can too!

*The link goes to Amazon and should you purchase the book through that link I may receive a small commission. I appreciate your support. As always I ONLY recommend books and products I’ve read and use.

What Are Success Habits?

July 5, 2016 by Camilla

We often hear about “success habits” but what are those? Well, they are the kind of habits often practiced by successful people. These habits are simple to do but also simple not to do. Like all habits they must be implemented but the difference is that many of these take a long time to see results from, which is why most people don’t do them. We live in a microwave society where people want instant results.

Now, just because it made people successful doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee that practicing them will make you successful but I think we can all agree on that they will improve your life and isn’t that in itself success?

Successful people:

1. Invest in their personal development. They understand that in order to stay on top of their game they need to continue learning and growing. They read, hire coaches, work with mentors, join masterminds, they go to seminars, take courses and invest in themselves.

2. Don’t let fear or lack of knowledge hold them back from achieving what they want. They seek out the things they need to learn or acquire in order to achieve their goal.

3. Understand the power of exercise and healthy nutrition and take it serious.

4. Know to set boundaries and understand the power of saying NO. They create space in their life and prioritize what is most essential.

5. Take personal responsibility and don’t blame others, the economy or the weather for their results.

6. Are generous and give back to their community and those less fortunate. They practice abundance thinking, not scarcity thinking.

7. Take the time to get clear on their vision and why they want it.

8. Stay disciplined. They do the work whether they feel like it or not. The reason why they are successful is because they are willing to do the things unsuccessful people are not willing to do. They understand that motivation doesn’t just happen, that taking action and doing it regardless is what moves you forward.

9. Don’t just dream or wish for something to happen. They create an action plan on how to achieve it. They take charge of their own path.

10. Understand the power of “You become the average of the people you spend the most time with” and learn how to create proper boundaries for the rest.

11. Network and understand the power of creating personal connections and relationships with people who can up-level them. They understand that no one makes it to the top alone. They are also genuinely interested in people.

12. Don’t compare themselves to others as they know that is a distraction. They pay attention to the competition but ultimately they do their own thing.

13. Learn from the past, work diligently toward a better future but live in and appreciate the now. They practice gratitude.

14. Have fun and enjoy hobbies that take their mind of work. They understand that taking time for fun and hobbies actually increase their creativity, focus and productivity.

15. Understand the power of the mind and positive self-talk. They understand that what you feed your mind is what you get out. They don’t watch TV or if they do, they do it with intention. They filter what kind of input they allow into their life.

One habit that will give you great bang for the buck would be to practice daily gratitude. When you’re grateful for what you have, instead of what you don’t have your mindset shifts to more positive. Gratitude has also shown to be the foundation for happiness. And who doesn’t want to feel more happy?

3 Simple Ways to have a Better Day!

June 20, 2016 by Camilla

“You don’t stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing.” ~Maurice Chevalier

Do you smile every day? If not, it’s time to start. Plus it’s a whole lot easier dealing with the boring stuff we sometimes have to do in order to get stuff done if we smile more. It also helps when we run into those days that needs a restart button.

When you smile neurotransmitters like endorphins, dopamine and serotonin are released. They are the kind of “feel-good” neurotransmitters that are involved in reducing stress, making us feel happier and more motivated.

Have you ever had a less than awesome day and then someone genuinely smiled at you and you caught yourself smiling back? Did you notice that it made you feel better? A smile is contagious. When we see someone smile our mirror neurons in the brain cause us to smile back, which then kicks in the “feel-good” neurotransmitters.

You know I’m all about working less and taking the time to enjoy life. But that doesn’t mean every day is a blissful joy. Life can be stressful.

Which is why we need to smile more. It may not fix the less than ideal day but it definitely won’t make it worse.

What else can you do to have a better day?

Pay attention to your mindset. It takes the same amount of energy to create and focus on a negative thought as it does a positive. If you have a tendency to default to negative thoughts you can train yourself to become a more positive person. It’s like any habit. It can be changed if you’re willing to make the time and commitment.

“Whatever you focus on expands.” ~Camilla Kragius

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Third way to have a better day? Practice gratitude. Do you get up in the morning focusing on the things you don’t have or on the things you do have? If you wake up in the morning being grateful you will have a different outlook than if you focus on the negatives. For example, will focusing on something you wish you had but don’t have yet make you feel better or worse? It will just make you feel worse. Which is wasted energy. Remember, what you focus on expands so put your focus on what you can control. Practicing gratitude will make you focus on the good things in your life and less on the negatives.

So remember:

1. Smile. Laugh. Be goofy.
2. Change your mindset. Fill your mind with positive talk instead of negative.
3. Practice gratitude. Every single day.

Doing those three things will move you forward in life. It takes practice, but like any habit it sets in after a while and it becomes automatic. Start now. Smile at someone while walking in the grocery store. When a negative thought arrives, push it out and replace with a positive. Find at least three things to be grateful for each and every day.

What do you practice for having a better day?

Stop Putting So Much Crap on Your To-Do List

June 5, 2016 by Camilla

If you use a to-do list you know how it tends to multiply itself. It never seems to be finished and always gets longer.

It’s time to change that. It’s time to make shorter to-do lists.

Crossing things off as done gives most people a sense of accomplishment. Which is a good thing. We want to feel accomplished and it’s not the crossing things off that is the culprit. It’s the false sense of being productive by crossing something off.

Our society has made being productive synonymous with being busy. Working long hours and always doing something is viewed as if you’re productive and getting stuff done. However, being busy doesn’t necessarily mean you’re being productive. Quite often, it’s the opposite. You’re busy but not productive. That leads to the feeling of never having enough time doing the things you want to do.

Are You Working On the Right Things?

To-do lists have become a dumping ground for anything and everything, which is fine. Getting things on paper instead of trying to keep it in your head is a good thing but what seldom happens is any thought of why things are on your to-do list.

Start asking yourself why a task is on your to-do list and what purpose it serves.

Is it an essential task that will make a difference in your life or is it what I call a stocking stuffer? A stocking stuffer is a task that keeps you busy but that is not essential and only keeps you distracted from working on tasks that would move you forward both personally and professionally.

It’s Time For a Short and Focused To-Do List

I teach my clients to do what I call a brain dump meaning instead of using their to-do list as their dumping ground they actually create a specific place for it, dump everything there and then use that as a base to create either a daily or a weekly to-do list that’s super short and focused.

Each item on the to-do list has a purpose, is lined up in order of priority and is scheduled to be done that day or that week.

What Gets Scheduled Gets Done

A huge reason why people don’t get everything done they set out to do, even if they have a short and focused to-do list, is because it’s not on their calendar.

We are masters at underestimating how long a task will take us. Which means, that if we only look at the list of to-do’s it’s easy to think we can easily get it done that day, but it’s first when we block out time on our calendar we get a correct picture of what can be accomplished.

I’m challenging you right now to take you to-do list and try to fit it in on your calendar. Between life, meetings, errands and everything else that needs to be taken care of, my guess is that your to-do list is a bit overambitious.

That’s why putting your to-do’s on your calendar is so effective. It gives you a visual view of your day and what you realistically can accomplish, which forces you to prioritize better.

– How important is that task if it means you won’t have time to go exercise?

– How important is that task if it means crossing it off will make you skip lunch when you promised yourself you’re going to take a daily lunch break?

– How important is that task if it means it will only make you more tired and unfocused because you’re already exhausted?

– How important is that task if it means staying up late and not getting your sleep in?

– How important is that task if it means saying no to quality time with friends and family?

Feeling accomplished by crossing things off is great but if it comes at the cost of missing out on life then how is that an accomplishment?

It takes a shift in mindset to start working in a productive, yet not busy way so that you can create time to enjoy life. It means going against what society has engrained in us. It means that others may think you’re lazy for not running around like a chicken with your head so exhausted you don’t know what’s up or down.

It means that anytime you utter the words “I’m so busy!” you mentally give yourself the grade F. Being busy isn’t a badge of honor. It means you’re not working on the essentials but working on stocking stuffers.

It’s time to change your thinking. It’s time to work on the truly important things so that you can work less. It’s time to be productive but not busy. It’s time to rip up that long to-do list!

Are You Surrounding Yourself With the Right People?

May 9, 2016 by Camilla

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” ~Jim Rohn

If you pay attention you will notice that you have picked up habits, phrases, attitude, beliefs, self-talk and even body language from the people you spend the most time with. It’s become part of your blueprint and often you are not even aware of it. Why is that?

There are two reasons. First, you have something called mirror neurons. From the time you were a baby you were mimicking those around you. That is why you smile when someone smiles at you. That is why you yawn when someone yawns. And that is why you pick up on habits, phrases, attitude, beliefs, self-talk and body language from those you are with.

Research on mirror neurons are still in the early stages as to what effect it has and what role they play, but you don’t have to be a neuroscience geek to see that much of your behavior mimics those you spend the most time with. That includes your positive or negative self-talk language, your belief system, you income, success and even your health and body weight.

The second reason is that your brain’s pathways and neural connections are always molding, it’s called neuroplasticity, and you can help shape the pathways and connections you want.

Basically, for this purpose, what that means is that what you allow to enter into your mind, either by the influence of the people you spend the most time with or input you choose to allow into your mind is who you become! Your brain will process what you give it, create those pathways, so if you give it negative input it will produce more of that, if you give it positive input it will produce more of that too. Your brain is a very loyal machine and will do what you ask it to do.

Today it is known through neuroplasticity that you can think yourself into anything, including thinking yourself into becoming sick, sabotaging success, and a variety of less than ideal outcomes. Which also means you can think yourself into not becoming sick, not sabotaging success, and other positive outcomes. There’s a book called The Power of Neuroplasticity that I recommend you read to understand this better, and no worries, it’s an easy, yet life-changing read!*

“You become what you think about.” ~Earl Nightingale

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If you surround yourself with negative, always complaining, always blaming other people, you start picking up on that simply because that is what your mind is fed. If you surround yourself with positive, not complaining and always taking personal responsibility kind of people, you start picking up on that.

You can’t always choose who you are surrounded by like immediate family. But what you can do, is to limit your exposure to those you can, understand the impact your spouse, sibling or parent’s language has on you and create a barrier to it, and then work hard at implementing the habits, positive self-talk, attitudes, mindset and actions that will help you become the person you want to be, and work at becoming a shining light that can positively influence those around you.

That means seeking out people that you want to become and learn from them. It takes time and effort to change direction if you realize you have surrounded yourself with the wrong people. It takes guts to fire friends that are not good for you. It takes bravery to say no to those that suck the life out of you and create boundaries. It takes effort to seek out new friends, groups and community and it takes effort, love and patience to deal with those you can’t fire.

But if you want to achieve your goals and dreams, get stuff done and live your life to the fullest remember you become the average of the people you spend the most time with. Choose your friends and the input you allow into your life wisely!

Are you surrounding yourself with the right people in order to go to where you want to go?

*Link goes to Amazon and is an affiliate link. However, as always I only recommend books and products I use and believe in.