This week, instead of guessing what you might like to read about I thought I’d ask you my FABULOUS readers!
I really do want this blog to be a community where everyone who visits, gets something, a tiny nugget that will somehow help them through their day, week or life. So who better to tell me what to write about than all of you?
I’d love to know – what challenges have you recently been facing?
What topic has recently inspired you, that you would like to know more about?
How can I help you make this week or this month more manageable?
If you could think of one problem that you would really like solved what would that be?
If you can spare a minute to share what you think below then together we can make sure everyone gets what they need from this blog.
Scroll down to leave a comment in the ‘Leave a reply’ section
Image source: Piccsy
Not loving your day job? Get my most popular, FREE online training here: My 3 Step process To Find A More Meaningful Career.
Join 108,000 beautiful souls on the Simple Life Strategies Facebook page to get access to articles before anyone else!
When overwhelmed with a stressful job, how does one switch off to enjoy the moments outside it. Its all too easy to be consumed by worries and pressures so how do we overcome restless nights and get that feeling of wellbeing back again?
Hi Steph,
Great question.
We live such fast-paced lives and it can be increasingly difficult to make the transition between ‘work-life’ and ‘home-life’
In my experience the no. 1 thing you can do is work on reducing mental chatter – as it’s usually this that ‘triggers’ the stress.
Once we can ‘clear our minds’, we can then focus on other things 🙂
I think this is a great topic and I’ll publish a more in-detail response over the next few weeks!
Thanks again for taking the time to get involved!
Zoë B
Oh how I love the beach too, Nina! I love the sounds of the ocean as the waves roll in and break along the shore line. It is woefurdnl to hear that you and your family hada great time there. You will have to share your pictures with me soon!
Hi Zoe B,
I’d love to get your insight into decisions that we make in life. When you reach a fork in the road, how do we know the decisions are right? When all is lost how do we trust our hearts to make the rght choices? Also should we be ruled by our hearts or our heads? For heart led people, this can sometimes be detrimental as we need to listen to the logic sometimes. Complex stuff…would love your wise words on this 🙂
Love S xxx
Hi Salina,
Really interesting question – thanks.
In my experience reluctance around making decisions can tie in with a fear of failure.
We can put off making a decision because we don’t want to make the wrong one. When the reality is – there are no ‘wrong’ decisions.
Even if we don’t get the ‘result’ we were originally looking for – we always learn form the experience enough to move forward.
I think it’s often better to take action instead of ‘thinking’ too much about a decision. We can always change our minds!
Regarding your question about head vs heart – a bit of both seems to work well for me. I think balance is key – you don’t want to be so ruled by your heart that all logic goes out the window, yet you don’t want to only be ruled by the ‘facts’ because gut instinct is very powerful stuff.
Really great food for thought – I’ll definitely write in more detail about these subjects – thanks!
Zoë B
Hey Zoe,
I love your blog, keep up the great work!
I have struggled for years to work out ‘what I should be doing with my life’. I suppose I’m like a lot of people in that I don’t mind my job but it doesn’t really inspire me and I don’t want to look back in years to come and feel like I wasted my life/opportunities!
Do you have any tips or advice about how I can suss out what I really should be doing with myself and how I should go about it?
Cheers
P.G
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the comment.
This is a common problem. I would make a start by thinking about what your natural strengths are and what you ‘love’ to do!
How do you spend your free time? What do others think are your special talents?
We all have abilities that are unique to us – it’s just a matter of finding them and this usually involves some time ‘getting to know who we are’ and what’s really important to us(trust me it’s often not what you think!)
Identifying your personal values is really crucial if you haven’t done this yet. It’s a way to identify the top ‘values’ that are important to you. And it’s different for everyone. For example one of my top values is innovation and I’ve seen this theme repeat throughout my life – my degree was based in innovation studies, the business I started was a ‘new’, ‘innovative’ marketing agency and so it’s important for me that there is an element of ‘innovation’ in whatever I do.
Values is a pretty big subject matter – I’ll make sure I write a post about this soon so you can understand it in more detail.
I do talk about it here too if you are keen to learn more:
https://simplelifestrategies.com/sls6motivation/
Thanks again for your comment!
Zoë B
I would like to learn how to better control distractions while I’m working on a project at home. I’ve tried shutting myself off which makes me feel like I’m in a cave. I’ve tried telling the people around me that I need to be left alone to do this, only to get bothered 20 minutes later. I’m like to be able to just turn off the distractions within myself.
Hi Glynis,
Thanks for sharing 🙂
I have one word for you in answer to your problem: ‘Focus!’
I can’t stress enough the value of being able to focus. It really does make all the difference in terms of productivity. But you’re right – you need to get a ‘balance’. It’s no good completely shutting off from the world- yet we do need some time to ourselves!
Here’s what I would do:
1. Set aside ‘quiet times’ to get to work – identify when you’re most productive and there are less distractions. I find early morning is great for this! No one bothers you at 6am!
2. I agree – you’re on the right track by asking people to respect your need to focus. I would keep this up and not give in. If they keep interrupting you then they are demonstrating a lack of respect for your wishes. You could try and reiterate the importance of your project and tactfully ask them to respect your time (sometimes I resort to using headphones to drown out the rest of the world!).
3. Remove all distractions! We all have some things that distract us more than others! I would suggest switching EVERYTHING off! Mobile phone, emails, Facebook etc Turn them off for an hour at a time to give yourself that precious quiet time.
4. It can really help to mentally say to yourself ‘I’m going to focus now for the next hour’ – your brain takes this as an instruction! And often gets to work!
I hope this helps. These are just a few tips – I will make sure I write a longer post on this for you 🙂
Thanks again for the comment,
Zoë B
Such a nice picture of your guys! I toallty agree – focusing on our family brings amazing results. It really is about being simple. I learned that a lot later in life than I wish I would have. I am toallty focused now on what is important and being simple. It makes all the difference! You’re very blessed to know all this at your young age. :)You’re so special, Marsha!! Thanks for sharing a wonderful picture and a wonderful post.God bless you – Julie
Hi Zoe,
I was hoping for an insight in how to make personal time a priority without feeling guilty. I find family, work and starting up my own business eats all my waking hours and with an equally busy partner asking for “me” seems so hard!
Also how do you stop going to the fridge when you are bored?
Where does your lap go when you stand up?
xx
Kath
Hi Kath,
Thanks for your response.
‘Guilt’ is an interesting one. Of all the emotions – I think this one is the most complex because it ‘tricks’ us into believing that its a good thing to feel guilt because it proves we are good people.
The reality is though – guilt actually doesn’t help anyone! It sure doesn’t help you (because it basically translates to negative self-talk – feeling bad for taking time for yourself) and it doesn’t help anyone else either because it’s just a ‘feeling’! (how many people are even aware that we are feeling guilty?)
In my opinion you owe it to yourself to make personal time a priority – it is your life after-all!
Here are a few things you could try:
1. Setting boundaries – it’s easy to let people dictate how we spend our time. Take control over your time and don’t be afraid to say no! I find if you tactfully reiterate how important it is for you to have some personal space, people will respect this.
2. Identify what’s truly important – by cutting out the ‘unimportant things’ from our days we can make lots of time for other more important things. Try and focus on scheduling ‘quality time’ with your partner & family. Perhaps you could set aside either Saturday or Sunday for family-time only and then you can be sure that you’re devoting enough time so you won’t feel guilty when it comes to setting aside an hour or two for you!
3. Identify times when there are less distractions. I find early morning is really useful because if you get before everyone else then there’s no one to distract you!
Hope this helps – I’ll make sure I respond in a longer post soon! Also I love your question “how do you stop going to the fridge when you are bored!” This deserves a post in it’s own right!
Thanks!
Zoë B
I enjoyed reaidng your work! GREAT post! I looked around for this but I found you! Anyway, would you mind if I threw up a backlink from my site to your site?
This writing has inspired me to start focusing on my own blog
I totally agree, Marsha — spimle is always better. We donated nearly half of the kids’ toys in moving to TX and I don’t think they’ve missed a single one. They’re happiest when John dumps a pile of dirt in the backyard!Now the part about fighting less? Hmmm…not sure that’s happened yet! :)Great shot of your guys — that’s a keeper!
My family rneted a condominium at Orange Beach, Alabama for three nights. We had a wonderful time digging in the sand and watching the dolphins swimming out in the Gulf of Mexico.
hey there and thanks to your info – I have definitely picked up anything new from proper here. I did then again experience some technical points using this website, as I skilled to reload the web site lots of instances prior to I may just get it to load properly. I have been thinking about in case your hosting is OK? No longer that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will very frequently have an effect on your placement in google and could injury your high quality ranking if advertising and ***********|advertising|advertising|advertising and *********** with Adwords. Anyway I am including this RSS to my e-mail and can look out for much more of your respective fascinating content. Make sure you update this again soon..
Youre so cool! I dont suppose Ive read something like this before. So nice to seek out someone with some unique thoughts on this subject. realy thanks for starting this up. this website is one thing that’s wanted on the net, somebody with somewhat originality. useful job for bringing one thing new to the web!
You are a very bright person!
I will right away grab your rss feed as I can not in finding your e-mail subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Please let me recognize in order that I could subscribe. Thanks.