Should You Go On A Digital Detox?

Technology is one of the biggest blessings for mankind. Now, people can communicate with people thousands of miles away, take online college courses without stepping into a classroom and buy household products without leaving the house.

However, there are negative side effects that come with using smartphones  too much. You miss out on enjoying nature and socializing with other people. Go on a digital detox today and see everything that you have been missing in life.

Reasons to Go On A Digital Detox

With the recent introduction of smartphones, people now take the Internet with them wherever they go. However, technology has brought many unfavorable qualities to avid technology users, such as lethargy and lack of social interactions. Computer users are more likely to develop addictions to their computers and the Internet. When they sit around all day in front of the computers, they exercise less and suffer more from health problems. Their social relationships suffer because they become less interested in meeting people in places other than chat rooms.

Feel the Difference When You Detox

A digital detox is your way of escaping from the negative effects of technology. For an entire month or several months, refrain from using all forms of technology, including smartphones, computers, tablets and video game consoles. Any device that can be plugged in should be avoided temporarily.

Going on this detox is your way of breaking away from the all-too-common addictive behaviors that reduce your concentration, decrease your attention span and increase your fatigue.

In return, improve your health by reducing your exposure to electromagnetic radiation. When you become unglued to the computer screen, you look up and notice the wider world around you. Non-computer users like to go outdoors more and enjoy nature. They are not straining their eyes by looking at the screen all day or sitting in slouched postures.

Keeping Track Is Simple

Use an organizational tool like STARTplanner to keep track of your daily progress. Mark the day when you start and count the days that you can survive without being plugged in. Plan a detox every month and challenge yourself on occasion. See if you can extend the number of days you remain on detox.

Start the New Year Off Right

The digital detox is great because anyone can do it. There is no need to get a physical from the doctor or go out and buy supplements. Start detoxing today and end whenever you want.

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7 Best Motivational Podcasts On iTunes

Looking for some inspiration and motivation to start off 2017? These podcasts may be just what you’re looking for.  From interviews with top motivators and movers and shakers to plain old great advice. You are sure to find at least a few that are perfect for you. So, if you really want to get organized, improve your life and have some fun, check out one or all of these. You’ll be glad you did.

1. The Chalene Show with Chalene Johnson
This one has great content and inspiration about business as well as personal. Chalene is very easy to listen to and has a happy, friendly personality. The most recent podcast discussed getting organized and increasing production for the new year.

2. The Charged Life with Brendon Burchard
Brendon is a bestselling author and the creator of Experts Academy. He reaches out to people regularly on You Tube, Facebook and by this podcast. His advice varies a lot which is great and he covers topics such as: high performance, meditation, family, love, and many more. His podcast is truly one of the best.

3. Happier with Gretchen Rubin
Gretchen is the author of The Happiness Project, a bestseller on how to improve your happiness on a daily basis. In this podcast, Gretchen interviews people on the finer points of happiness and good habits. She is very motivating and friendly too.

4. The Quote of The Day Show with Sean Croxton
Sean was known for his health inspiration through Underground Wellness and lately he started up a podcast with inspirational daily quotes. Every weekday, Sean has a quote of the day he plays and then discusses. These are great quotes from people like Wayne Dyer, Tony Robbins, Napoleon Hill and Earl Nightingale.

5. The Daily Boost with Scott Smith
Scott has daily motivation tips that are usually under 15 minutes. If you need a quick boost to your day this one is easy to fit in. He covers topics like finding your purpose, building your future from past lessons, and exploring possibilities.

6. Achieve Your Goals with Hal Elrod
Hal is the author of the book series, The Miracle Morning. In this podcast he interviews people on how to make life great. From morning rituals to making money to caring for others, he covers it all.

7. The School of Greatness with Lewis Howes
Lewis is another bestselling author who inspires and motivates people. In this podcast, he interviews people who have achieved greatness in some way and are willing to share with others. This podcast is one that is on many lists of the best podcasts for 2017. This is truly worth your time.

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How To Create Work Life Balance When You Work At Home

Whether you have a home-based business or are employed by a company that doesn’t require you to come into an office, working from home can have many benefits, including a more flexible time schedule. Managing your time efficiently will play a large role in creating a healthy balance between your work life and your home life.

Set regular hours.
When you have a job that allows you to work from home, it can be tempting to change your schedule from day to day for maximum convenience. That strategy can actually backfire. While one of the advantages of working from home is a schedule that allows you to adjust to the demands of life, you’ll actually be more efficient if you set regular hours for yourself. However, you don’t have to necessarily work a traditional nine to five. If you do your best work in the afternoon or evening, carve out time for work later in the day and use your mornings for other activities. If you are a bonafide morning person, use those hours while the rest of the house sleeps to accomplish the bulk of your work. You may even find that working non-traditional hours allows you to get more actual work done with fewer interruptions.

Create a dedicated work space in your home.
If your goal is to create a balance between work and home life, you should definitely have a dedicated space in your home that is used solely for work. Depending on what you do, you don’t have to have a separate room just for your job. It may be as simple as a small nook that fits a desk, computer and other necessary supplies. Plus, creating a separate space for work signals to others in the house that you are “at work” and shouldn’t be disturbed. Sure, you may sometimes find yourself returning emails on the couch, but a space to act as a home office will help you compartmentalize the different aspects of work and life.

Plan your time in advance, leaving room for flexibility.
Efficient planning may be even more important for people who work from home than those who work in more traditional environments. The very nature of being at home while you work opens the door to a lot of distractions. Who can get work done when there are dishes in the sink or that home project that you didn’t get to over the weekend? Using a product from STARTplanner will help you organize your tasks for work and home, keeping you on course. You can also set goals, track your finances and plan days off. With custom options, you can control how your day, week, month or even year looks for both work and play.

Know when to call it a day.
One of the hardest things to do when you work from home can be putting work away. When work is always there, it may be difficult to shut down for the day and focus on your family, friends and home life. Adopt the mindset that when your day is done, you won’t be tempted to check one last email or make one more phone call. Whatever your hours, give yourself credit for the job done and allow yourself to put work away. Remember that a healthy life requires balance.

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How To Write A Thank You Note That Will Make An Impact

In today’s world, the act of writing a thank you note is becoming a lost art. People send a quick “thank you” email to show their gratitude–or mention it briefly in conversation, then never bring it up again. There’s something personal about taking the time to sit down and write a thank you note, making it one of the best ways to show your gratitude. Sound like fun? If you’re ready to get started, here’s some tips on writing the perfect thank you note.

When Should you Write a Thank You Note?

Of course, you don’t have to write a note for every little favor. But if someone gives you a surprise gift, helps you out of a tight spot, or performs a special favor, a thank you note won’t go amiss. Thank you notes are also a great way to thank people for birthday and holiday gifts. But at the end of the day, there aren’t any “hard or fast” rules about when to thank somebody. If you think that someone deserves your gratitude, that’s the time to write a note.

If you just celebrated a holiday and need a way to keep track of the gifts you received, you might want to invest in a SMARTplanner. A personal planner is also a great way to remind yourself to write thank you notes to you friends and family.

Formal or Informal?

Ultimately, it’s up to you how formal or informal your thank you note will be. If you’re writing for close friends or family, they might expect–and even appreciate–a bit of informality or humor. But if you’re writing to a stranger, it’s better to remain formal, with a certain level of professional distance. Purchasing a card is a great way to add a formal touch to your note. Pre-made thank you cards are available, but they tend to feel impersonal, so make sure you add your own personal note.

What Should I Include in the Note?

A good thank you note is simple, sweet, and direct. You don’t have to gush about the other person or pepper your note with lots of flowery language–simply tell the other person what their gift or gesture meant to you. You can send your note through email, but handwriting your note gives it a truly personal touch–and a handwritten card is something that they’re likely to keep. Make sure you sign your note at the end. A thank you note might seem like a small gesture, but it offers the simple gift of gratitude: something that the recipient is sure to treasure.

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4 Easy Steps to Network Like a Boss at Parties

Networking is either a fabulous way to increase your work and business connections or the quickest means of making yourself feel like a failure. People who network successfully know how to make connections pay off for them. Those who struggle with this important life skill can benefit by implementing a few key strategies taken from the playbooks of people who understand the game.

1. Have a Gameplan

Sure, you go to parties to have fun, and that should be one of your goals. Your other goal should be gathering and organizing information about the people you meet there. This is one way that your STARTplanner will help you. Use it to keep track of where you go, whom you meet, details about their interests and any other tidbits that might help you connect with them later.

2. Ask Questions

Networking often means introducing yourself to strangers without much preamble. While you might think that the best way to make an impression is to give everyone as much information about yourself as possible on your first meeting, this can actually backfire. Partiers might interpret your self-focused holding forth as conceit or boasting. A better approach is to ask questions and get others to tell you about themselves. Remember the details that they share about their lives and work in order to make note of them as soon as you get the opportunity and while the conversation is still fresh in your mind. Learning about people’s work, family and leisure interests will tell you much about how best to interact with them in the future. Having a systematic method for retrieving facts about individuals will impress them next time you share conversation.

3. Find Out How You Can Help Them

That’s right, your goal is to see what you can do for others that will make you valuable in their eyes. If you hope to discover ways that people can help you further your goals, you must be willing to make yourself useful to them as well. Mutual benefit is key. Even if someone doesn’t seem to have anything to offer, never forget that when you score a new contact, you are potentially meeting everyone they know in the bargain. Make yourself available to help them in order to open up a wider network by way of referrals.

4. Facilitate Introductions

Review your STARTplanner prior to every function to refresh your memory on the information you have stored there for anyone you know who might be in attendance. Keep this knowledge in mind as you work the room and make a point to introduce others for their mutual benefit. This value-added action will lead acquaintances to view you in a positive light if they are ever in a position to assist you.

Successful networking means more than showing up and hoping for the best. The payoff comes from planning, organizing and implementing your strategy for building lasting connections.

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Why Travelling Makes You More Motivated In Life

A lot of people thinks traveling as something intimidating. Most of them believe that going abroad is not worth the expense, especially when they have had bad experiences before.

Also, they perceive traveling as a thing for the adrenaline-junkies, the adventurer, the wealthy and the young. Others think that it is merely just for the sake of people’s vanity, and only for their social media followers to like. And because of these, they choose to stay at home and slack on their couches rather than spend their time off from work in another country.

Nonetheless, the desire to travel and stroll is an innate characteristic of every human; we have reached this stage of evolution because our ancestors were moving places to survive. Steve Jobs even went to India to get enlightenment before he built Apple.

If traveling is not on your motivation list, hope this short list will enlighten you.

1. Traveling gives you time to appreciate the things around you.

One reason why people lack motivation is that they feel like they are too sick and tired of everything that they just want to quit. Those who wanted to quit their jobs, drop out of school or worse, end their life, didn’t have time to appreciate the things around them.

They forgot why they were there in the first place and what got them there. They forget to realize that not everyone has the opportunities that they have and that no matter how hard life is, there will always be people who would be there for them through thick and thin.

They are too tired to experiment and think that they will forever be the same person they were yesterday, like being in a cage where they could never be free.

Traveling gives you time to appreciate the world, your life, and the things around you. When you see the scenery, the smiles and joys in people’s face no matter how simple they are; you will realize how fortunate you are to live life the way you do right now.

Traveling is the ultimate remedy for people losing gratitude in life and themselves.

2. It makes you appreciate yourself.

Aside from delighting in the things around them, what most people in the world lack is an appreciation for themselves. Being ungrateful about who you are is one reason why people lack motivation.

A lot of individuals put their value on their Facebook likes or Instagram followership, which is so wrong.

There is nothing wrong with being active on social media, but it should not be the measurement of one’s self-appreciation. You can have everyone’s likes but still, continue to be depressed. The basis of your value doesn’t depend on how many people likes your photos or posts; it is all about your personality and the real you.

It is so easy for people to believe in virtual reality- it’s nothing but imagination. Almost everyone has learned to be diabolic liars; not because you look happy in social media you are happy in real life.

Travel abroad, take pictures, memories, and experiences but don’t spoil the happiness you received. Not everyone will like the angle of your photo or shots, probably because they are just envious of you so they can only be mean commenters. You don’t have to look perfect just to be appreciated.

Admire yourself the way you are.

3. It gives you time to think about where your life is going and what you genuinely want in life.

Traveling is an escape; it lets you look at your life in a different perspective. Traveling makes you temporarily abandon the things that matter now so you’ll know the things that would matter later.

Traveling allows you get out of negative space.

It is the best time to look at yourself from an outsider’s standpoint. Have you ever taken a chance to ask yourself, how you’re doing?

You have to find value in things around you and the things that you do. Replenish the joy and passion you once gave your work. Think if what you’re doing now is something you would want to do for the rest of your life.

You can’t count on tomorrow for it never comes, as they say, so don’t wait for another day to pass by before you make up your mind.

If you are unhappy, find the reason why you are unhappy. Write it down in your planner where you can see the reasons and to always remind you how to avoid it or move on from it.

Ikigai is the Japanese term for life’s purpose. And knowing your Ikigai will guide all of your decisions in life. Finding your life’s purpose isn’t going to happen overnight. It will be a push and pull, but listening to your heart and your intuition will lead you there.

Travel and wander around, and you might just stumble upon your purpose.

There’s no greater achievement than to know where you are ultimately going.

4. Traveling gives you time to strategize.

If you already know what you want to do for the rest of your life, you should strategize your way there. Don’t jump into the cold water of uncertainties, be sure of your steps, because the difficulties might kill your passion.

Take time to plan things out and take baby steps towards your dreams. You don’t have to start grand, for great things always start small.

Traveling allows you to get out of the office walls and the time you have will be more than enough for you to soul search and strategize.

5. Traveling gives you idle time to slow down and be creative.

Traveling also gives you time to be idle and to forget all the hustle and bustle of commute, work and anything about “adulting.”

Idle time can bring you space for creativity and lets you slow things down. Finally, you can enjoy your coffee; its aroma, and taste.

Slowing down lets you see the beauty of life and all the things around you. Staying in the bath tub and listening to music, while you drown your skin in herbs or anything to treat your skin.

Your idle time is key to your next million dollar idea.

Takeaway

Traveling is not about the destination, but the experiences and realization you bring with you as you excitedly come home.  Traveling is an excellent source of lasting motivation, and the awareness you bring with you can powerfully turn your life around.

Roam with new eyes, mindset, and heart. Stroll, wander, trek mountains and restore your inner motivation. Want to plan your next trip? Pick up one of gorgeous planners and get started budgeting and planning. Happy planning!

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How To Get The Most Out Of Your Workout

Increasing the effectiveness of your workout is important for avoiding hitting that dreaded wall. Yet, squeezing the most out of every second gets challenging as your body gets into shape. Fortunately, all it takes is a few small tweaks to maximize the benefits of your daily workouts.

Stay Focused In Your Sessions
Spend just a few minutes at any gym, and you will quickly notice which people allow distractions to interfere with their workouts. While it may seem like a great idea to work in a phone call while you are on the treadmill or quickly check your email between sets, these types of activities stop you from paying attention to your body. Instead, choose to focus on your breathing and notice how your body feels as you progress through your workout. This helps you to identify whether or not your exercise routine is ready for an upgrade. If necessary, write down potential distractions in a to-do list before you start your workout so that you will not be tempted to try to do them out of the fear that you might forget.

Schedule Workouts As a Priority
It happens every day. People buy a pair of running shoes or join a gym with the best intentions, yet they never show up for more than one workout or two. This is because life does keep going, and your responsibilities will quickly overshadow your desire to get in shape. That is, if you don’t make working out a priority. Grab a day planner, and start putting your workouts on your daily schedule. Seeing it right up there next to your company meeting or child’s school play establishes it as a priority. So go ahead and use a pen, there’s no need to just pencil it in. Working out should be a permanent part of your schedule.

Track Your Progress
Once you start scheduling your workouts on your day planner, you can also use it to track your progress. Next to your workout reminder, write in how many laps you swam or how many reps you did at your new weight level. Weigh-ins and race times are additional stats to include in your planner. As you look back at your previous stats, you will see a pattern of progress that serves as motivation to keep striving for higher challenges. The confidence boost you receive after achieving a new goal also makes it easier to decide that working out is worth every minute.

Reward Your Efforts
Planning little rewards for your accomplishments reinforces desirable behavior. However, it is important to avoid rewards such as food that interfere with your goals. Instead, upgrade your planner after a month of solid workouts or purchase a new set of workout clothes when you master that boot camp class. Having a reward to strive toward is an excellent motivator for pushing past those little hurdles.

Fitness is a state of being that is only achieved through hard work and dedication. Getting the most out of your workout begins with simply showing up and putting your entire focus on how it is affecting your body. Then, wrap up every session by jotting down a few notes about your progress so that you can enjoy looking at all that you have achieved. By making your workouts a priority, you will always know that you are doing what it takes to enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

Don’t Forget to have FUN!

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