Live Your Best Life!

Do you wish you could “create more time”? Who doesn’t??? The reality is that although we cannot create more than 24 hours on the clock, we can “create time” in our days by adjusting both how we think about them, and by how we approach them.

Have you ever experienced that you get more done the day before you are leaving to go on vacation than you do on most other days? Why is this? It is because you approach the day differently. You are so focused on wanting to wrap things up so that you can go on vacation and not have to worry about work that, as a result, you work more efficiently and with more focus. On other days, you may tell yourself that you will get to what you can, and whatever you don’t get to will go on your list for the following day. We tell ourselves, both consciously and unconsciously, that we have more time and therefore we take more time to get things done.

What if you could be as productive as you are the day...

Do you ever feel like you are really busy, but still not getting the things done that you want to? Do you ever feel like you did not stop all day, but that you don’t really have anything to show for it? I’ve learned over time that there is definitely a difference between busy and productive. When I am busy it makes me feel like I am getting a lot done but what I am getting done is often not the things that really matter. When I am productive, it makes me feel like I am doing things that move something forward.

There are many different strategies that can be implemented to increase productivity and I have shared a few of my favorite ones below. In addition to the strategies I am sharing below, consider what time of the day you are most productive and schedule your most important tasks for that time whenever possible. Also, focus on one thing at a time. We often hear people talk about the importance of being able to multi-task and keep up with many things at a time....

Have you heard the old joke that the best business model is one where a gym opens on January 1^st, and then turns into a bar on February 15^th? It sounds crazy…but is it really? Have you ever had big goals in January and within a few weeks or months you are no longer putting in the effort required to achieve your goals? Why can so many of us relate to this? It’s because motivation ALWAYS falls off. Always, you ask. Yes…always. But the good news is that there are some practices that you can put into place that will help you continue to work towards your goals and help increase your motivation when it dips.

Break down bigger goals into smaller goals. When you have a big goal, it may feel overwhelming and hard to get started and see progress. Therefore, breaking down big goals into smaller, clearly outlined, action-oriented steps can help you get started and keep going.

Focus on one day at a time. When you think of the big picture, it can feel...

Thought distortions, also referred to as “thinking traps”, “cognitive distortions”, and “stinkin’ thinkin’”, are faulty ways of thinking that hold us back, cause us to experience negative emotions, and/or impact our self-esteem and overall confidence. There are many different forms of thought distortions which is why I am writing a series of blog article about them. You can check out Part #1 on the Live Your Best Boss Lady Life Blog HERE, which focuses on Filtering, Overgeneralizations, and Personalization. You can check out Part #2 on the Live Your Best Boss Lady Life Blog HERE, which focuses on Fortune Telling, Black and White Thinking, and “Should” Statements. What is helpful is to understand them, to take the time to notice if your fall into any of these thinking patterns, and then to start to challenge them. If you do notice that you fall into some of these patterns, there is no shame. Most of us do at least some of...

Thought distortions, also referred to as “thinking traps”, “cognitive distortions”, and “stinkin’ thinkin’”, are faulty ways of thinking that hold us back, cause us to experience negative emotions, and/or impact our self-esteem and overall confidence. There are many different forms of thought distortions which is why I am writing a series of blog article about them. You can check out Part #1 on the Live Your Best Boss Lady Life Blog HERE, which focuses on Filtering, Overgeneralizations, and Personalization. What is helpful is to understand them, to take the time to notice if your fall into any of these thinking patterns, and then to start to challenge them. If you do notice that you fall into some of these patterns, there is no shame. Most of us do at least some of the time, however, by reading this you will start to be able to recognize the problematic patterns and begin to shift them.

In this article, I will review three...

Thought distortions, also referred to as “thinking traps”, “cognitive distortions”, and “stinkin’ thinkin’”, are faulty ways of thinking that hold us back, cause us to experience negative emotions, and/or impact our self-esteem and overall confidence. There are many different forms of thought distortions. What is helpful is to understand them, to take the time to notice if you fall into any of these thinking patterns, and then to start to challenge them. If you do notice that you fall into some of these patterns, there is no shame. Most of us do at least some of the time, however, by reading this, you will start to be able to recognize the problematic patterns and begin to shift them.

In this article, I will review 3 common thought distortions that were identified by psychologists Aaron Beck and David burns in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In subsequent articles I will review additional thought distortions so be sure to...

What are limiting beliefs?

Limiting beliefs are things you think about yourself, your relationships with others, or life and the world in general that result in you holding back, playing small, being self-critical, and / or not living up to your full potential. The problem with these beliefs is that when you don’t realize they are there, or you don’t challenge them, they become the catalyst for the results you get in your life. For example, if you believe you will never have your dream job…guess what you will never have? If you believe you will never be able to lose weight…you will continue to act in a way that prohibits you from losing weight. If you believe you are not worthy of a great, romantic relationship, you will never have a great, romantic relationship.

As I so often reinforce in my coaching, your thoughts create your feelings. Your feelings impact your actions which then create the results you get in your life. If you want different...

Resilience is a word you may have heard quite a bit since the pandemic hit, however, many people don’t fully understand what it is, why it is so important, and what they can do to build or strengthen it. Resilience is defined as, “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness”. In this article, I am going to explain what resilience is, and I will also provide some concrete steps you can take which will help build or foster your resilience.

As I mentioned above, resilience is the ability to recover or “bounce back” from difficulties. In this last year, we have all experienced so many challenges. While we all got hit hard with these challenges, there are some people who have used this time to grow personally or professionally, get healthier, do things they never had time for, and improve their lives overall. Other people got hit hard, and they never got back up. They continue to focus only on the hard things, the loss, and the...

The possibilities in your future are endless. There are things you may dream about having or happening in your future, however, there are so many more things that are possible for you which you have not even conceptualized. Your possibilities are so much bigger than your brain and mindset allows you to consider, unless you train it to do so. If you want to achieve your goals and go even beyond what you think is possible, you need to take control of your brain instead of allowing it to control you.

What happens to so many of us is that we spend too much time worrying about the future and focusing on negative things from our past, that we don’t allow for all the possibilities that are available to us. We worry about all the “what ifs” which keeps us playing small and staying within the confines of what we already know. We use our past to inform us about what is possible for our future which restricts us from growing, expanding, and living to our fullest...

Have you ever set your mind to do something and as soon as it does not go perfectly, you give up completely? I am certainly guilty of this! I used to do it with exercise and eating on a regular basis. I would have a plan for what I was going to do for exercise for the week, however, when it did not go according to plan on Monday or Tuesday, I would give up completely for the remainder of the week. Instead of trying to follow through with my plan for the remaining days, I would tell myself that I would try again the following Monday. Over time, this created the habit of not following through with what I said I was going to do. My slips turned into slides over and over. 

I have done this with eating as well. I would make a plan to eat healthy for the week, however, if I did not eat what I had planned for breakfast or lunch, I would give up on the entire day. Many of my coaching clients struggle with this as well. This pattern of behavior can impact so many areas of our...