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#balance#connections#results Go to www.debrakasowski.com for your FREE e-book 21 Habits High-Achievers Kick download when you sign up for our Success Secrets Newsletter. In this video, Debra Kasowski talks about how striking a balance can get your better results in business, leadership, and life on The Millionaire Woman Show.
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Zaheen Nanji is a resilience champion and an entrepreneur. She teaches people and
organizations how to embrace change effortlessly and create resilient leaders and tenacious employees. Zaheen owns Shanti Wellness and Laser Centre in Alberta and is the author of four books of which two are co-authored. People who don’t know Zaheen’s background sometimes assume that achieving success was easy for her. That couldn’t be further from the truth. She grew up in Kenya, East Africa, where good-quality higher education was not available and there was very little opportunity for economic advancement at the time. When she was 15, her parents bought her and her 17-year-old sister passage to Canada so they could pursue their dreams of knowledge and success.
Zaheen stuttered up until her twenties, but she learned how to embrace fear. For many
people who stutter, simply being able to stop stuttering is a dream come true. But Zaheen
has run with the dream and is now a sought-after motivational speaker. She transformed
her life by overcoming her speech impediment, overcoming her struggles with weight
embraced her journey with breast cancer and creating opportunities for her life in Canada.
She was recently nominated for RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur 2014, and has
completed her fourth book,The Resilience Reflex.
Do you ever feel that you have more demands on your time than you have ever had before? You are working on getting more done with less time and sometimes things are falling through the cracks impacting your productivity and performance. You need to start guarding your time and treating it as a commodity or treasure. Time is not something you get back. By guarding your time, you can focus on what is important to you. What is your biggest priority right now? Are you spending the majority of your time focused on this area? Each day you should be focused on your priority or what Brian Tracy refers to as “Eat that Frog” – doing the hardest thing first. If you get the hardest thing done first, you will feel accomplished and get many other tasks done. If you only accomplished the one BIG thing, you accomplished a BIG thing and not too beat yourself up.
Keep a Time Log
People are often unaware of where their time goes. Complete a time log for the next 3-5 days. Keep track of where you are spending your time and how long a typical task takes. By track your time, you will identify where time is used purposefully and whether is it wasted. According to Parkinson’s Law explained on Wikipedia, the law is “an adage that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” If you give yourself 20 minutes to file, you will fill the 20 minutes. If you block off 3 hours you will fill up the 3 hours. Blocking time allows you fill the time allotted.
Focus on What IS Important
Time blocking allows you to focus on what is important to you during a specific time frame. Get rid of the to-do list and put the items on the list in your calendar. Suddenly, you make them your commitments. Items you place importance to. Assign tasks to a particular block of time. Be realistic with your time; we often underestimate the amount of time it takes to complete a task. Organize your errands to get things done in one block of time so you can dedicate a big block of time to things that require more of your attention.
Be Intentional with Your Time
At the beginning and end of each day, allow for 15-20 minutes of planning and reflection time. If you are always going from one task to the next, you are missing out on having time to vision where you want to be and the lifestyle you want. Block off the time you want off for long weekends or summer or family vacations. When you do some forward planning, you can create the lifestyle you want and work towards a goal. Email tends to be something we react to because it is usually what others want from us versus what we need from them. Block off time to attend to emails. Communicate your business hours. People often think because you work from home you must not be working and if you are you have the flexibility to run errands and take care of extra requests. You may even put in your email messaging that you check email at certain times of the day and if you are required outside of these times that a person should phone. You may also consider blocking off your hardest work for when you feel you do your best work – morning, afternoon, or evening. Don’t forget to block off leisure time too, otherwise, it tends to be pushed to the side.
Put Your Oxygen Mask on First
Remember the safety advice announced at the beginning of your flight – put your own oxygen mask on first. You cannot help other people if you are not taking care of you. Schedule in date nights with your spouse/partner and separate ones with each of your children as well as family time. It is more about quality time versus quantity of time. It is too easy to get caught up in over scheduling everyone that you cannot even have one family meal together.
Eliminate Distractions
Turn off your cell phones or shut down your social media apps and email and app notifications. You can easily give away your time surfing the internet or checking out what everyone else on social media is doing. Keep your office space free from clutter and other distractions.
Be careful not to squeeze too much into your day. Be realistic with your SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely). Time expands to what we allow. Allow for some flexibility as we know life happens and we need some time built in to not react but to respond with intention. Keep sticky notes in hand to jot down thoughts and reminders so you can capture fleeting thoughts and get back to them. It is best to capture the idea while it is at the forefront.
Start blocking your time with intention to get to the success you desire versus sabotaging it. It is your time – protect it and use it carefully. Put a dollar value on your time and you may start to value on it even more. Wasted time is wasted money, time, and attention if not used with purpose.
How important are your goals?
DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free e-book download today! www.debrakasowski.com
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Voted as 1 of 10 Best Doctors in North Carolina in 2017, C. Nicole Swiner, MD/AKA DocSwiner, is a family physician, 2-time best-selling author, 3-time best-selling publisher, national speaker, wife and Mom of 2. She loves taking care of the family as a whole—from the cradle to the grave. Her medical interests include Minority Health, Women’s Health and Pediatrics. For her undergraduate education, she attended Duke University and went to medical school at the Medical University of South Carolina, in Charleston, SC. She’s lived in the Triangle since finishing residency at the UNC-Chapel Hill and is a co-owner of Durham Family Medicine. She also continues teaching UNC medical students and residents as an Adjunct Associate Professor.
Her first book, How to Avoid the Superwoman Complex discusses the false belief that one person can be all things to all people, perfectly. It can have devastating effects—emotionally, mentally and physically. She hopes this book will serve as a guide for recovering superwomen (and supermen) everywhere to avoid said negative effects, and to make it a little easier and less stressful to take care of one’s self and family.
Her second book (released August 2016), The Superwoman Complex: A Follow-Up Visit, is an international best seller and takes a more in depth look into how we fix the issues identified and defined in her first book.
Her 3rd book, the first collaborative one, is also an Amazon best seller—Thinking About Quitting Medicine. It is a story of 13 doctors and clinicians that strive to succeed in passions both within and outside of the practice of medicine.
Since 2009, she has been speaking locally and nationally for organizations, groups, high schools and universities about stress management, health matters and self-care. She does weekly broadcasts online and on Periscope with PeriGirlsTV, that are interactive and live. She enjoys helping others and doing events in a Q&A format to allow people to ask those questions they may be afraid to ask anyone else.
Along with speaking and teaching, she added publisher self-publishing consultant to her list of duties, as friends and colleagues around her became inspired to write and publish themselves. She published the above-mentioned 3 books through this company. Through Swiner Publishing Company, she serves as a liaison and “accountability partner” for those wanting to follow in her footsteps to begin a new career in book writing, marketing, social media broadcasting and speaking.
In January 2016, she launched her inaugural women’s health conference, called “New Year, New You,” and hosted a sold out crowd filled with 20+ vendors, live music, over 14 speakers, 2 panel discussions and giveaways. She plans to hold this annually on Duke’s campus.
She can be contacted and all other information is available on www.docswiner.com.
The quest for work-life balance and ‘having it all’ can be a disillusion for many as they work long hours trying to give equal attention to each area of their lives. Not only is this disappointing, it leaves people literally exhausted and feeling over-extended. People are shuttling children to and from activities, cleaning house, buying groceries, making meals, writing reports and blog posts while making meals, and balancing the budget. They have become so task-oriented that they are no longer pursuing and living a life of significance and meaning. What was once a mission to achieve meaningful goals and leave a legacy has now left individuals disinterested and forgetting why they were on their mission altogether.
When everything around you seems to be falling apart, it is time to step back and take a look at what is going on around you and re-evaluate. There are no easy solutions or one-size fits all solutions. You are a work in progress and what works for you may not work for others. You can adjust your plan as you go. What’s most important is that you honour who you are and what you want in your life. Remember balancing your commitments does not mean that you need to give equal attention to everything. Most of the time is comes down to dedicating some quality time versus worrying about the quantity of time you have.
Decide what ‘having it all’ means to you. What do you want to be, do, and have in your life? What are you willing to sacrifice or put aside for the time being as you focus on a different priority?
Know what your “WHY” is. What motivates you to go after your dreams and goals? What is behind your actions? What are you hoping to achieve?
“If you know the why, you can live any how.
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Make tough decisions around your priorities. Even though you do not want to out on a social engagement, you know family movie night is important to you. Sometimes you must miss out on good to achieve the great things that you want in your life. When you are clear on what is important to you; it is easy to make the right decision for you. Make a list of your top 5 priorities. They say you can tell a person’s priorities by what they worry about. What do you worry about? What do you focus on most? Tough decisions are easy when you know your priorities – everything seems to fall into place.
Learn to stand up and speak up for what you want and need. People are not mind-readers; they do not know what you want and need. You need to get in the habit of asking – asking questions to gain more information or asking for help. The most successful people in this world did not do it alone. They have had help along the way.
Delegate where possible. You may say, “But no one does it as good as me!” Although this may be true, are you using your time most effectively? Can you block off smaller increments of time over the week to do household chores instead of spending your whole Saturday cleaning the house and running errands? Can you hire someone to clean house or order your groceries online and then pick them up or have them delivered? Can you ask the kids to help with things that you usually do? Remember you are teaching them great life skills!
“If you want to do a few small things right, do them yourself. If you want to do great things and make a big impact, learn to delegate.”
― John C. Maxwell
You want to be focusing where your strengths lie. If it takes you two hours to hem one pair of pants, wouldn’t it be easier to get a tailor to do the job? No matter what you are doing, you are making these choices based on time, money, resources, and your beliefs about “how things should be.” Is it really how things should be? What if you came up with a “new normal” of the way you believe things should be? Would you be happier or more satisfied?
Make self-care a priority. Eat healthy meals and get regular exercise. The body you have is the only one you got so look after it. Your body does amazing things and gives you the support needed to function but it needs its rest too. Sleep does wonders for us. When you get enough sleep, you deal with life stressors much easier than if you were exhausted. You think more clearly and are not apt to jump to conclusions as easy.
Tap into your support system. When you get caught up in the hustle and bustle of work, life, and family, it can be easy to take what is important to you for granted. Communication is key. Share your goals and dreams with those most important to you. Let them know how important they are to you. Make time to support them with their goals too. They will be more apt to help you as well.
Choose to have an attitude of gratitude. The whirlwind of daily activities and financial strain can leave people feeling helpless and that their world has gotten out of control. They become resentful when things get in between what they want and what is currently happening. Remember that everything around you is based on choices you have made. What can you be grateful for?
There are some external forces influencing some of the outcomes but overall you are responsible for the results you have received. Instead of being resentful, be grateful and trust that you are exactly where you need to be now. Look for the lesson. Do you need to evaluate spending habits? Do you need to get rid of clutter? Do you need to ask for or give forgiveness? Maybe the flat tire you had kept you at home to avoid a major accident on the highway. The missed opportunity made room for a new opportunity that you otherwise would not have been available for.
Set clear boundaries of what you can take on and what you will not take on. There are people in our lives who can make their emergencies ours if we let them. You have one life to live – make sure you are doing what you want and need to do for yourself. Help people along the way but don’t just drop everything for fear of people getting upset with you or you feel obligated to. Choose a time that works best for you and does not take you away from your own priorities. Priorities change depending on the given situation; you core values of what you believe in do not.
Live with intention. Make a plan but be okay with adjusting as you need to. Be kind to yourself. Block off dedicated time to work on what you need to get done. Block off free time in your calendar for self-care and separate time for family or date nights.
You can have it all. You first need to define what “having it all means”. Be clear on your priorities and make your decisions based on your priorities. You will not be disappointed. Make plans and take intentional actions to achieve what you want and need. You can have it. And if it backfires, take a step back and re-evaluate again! Stay committed to what you want and need to make an impact and live a life of significance!
DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com