Self- Discipline Can Be Taught: Here’s How

Self- Discipline Can Be Taught: Here’s How

Would you believe that having a lack of self-discipline is one of the biggest things that can cause you to fail in your life? It may sound like a strong statement but let;s break it down for a moment. You need the self-discipline to do pretty much anything in your life. Sure, some things are easier to do than others, but this could be because we enjoy the tasks that are set for us. It still requires some sort of discipline to tell yourself to do the task.
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Self-discipline is something that can be hugely beneficial to you in all aspects of life, we may all have an ounce of it in us, but what if we could tackle tasks not matter how grand they are, and overcome them powerfully? Self-discipline can work for you in your career, in your relationship, in many aspects of your life. Which is why I thought I would share with you some of the ways you can teach yourself to be more disciplined. Through changes in habits and trying out new things, you could create a better version of yourself.

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Make a commitment

If you really want to achieve your goals, then the best way to do it is to make a commitment to be disciplined. It isn’t necessarily a skill you have, it is something you do. So making yourself accountable for it is a great way to become more disciplined in general. Discipline your habit and every aspect of your life. Your health and your commitment to good nutrition, your dedication to exercise and fitness. Even control your reactive emotions and have the discipline to control how you react to different circumstances and scenarios. Put your responsibilities before leisure and see the difference it can make to how you react to different situations and circumstances. Helping you also to keep a positive mindset.

Stay focused on the task at hand

A great tip to remain disciplined is to wake up each morning and review your goals for that day. Make a plan of how you want to tackle the day set out in front of you, paying particular attention to when you can do things and when you can simply complete tasks. Think about the time it takes and the best time of the day in order to achieve your goals. Attempt to do this every morning and make it a part of your routine that you have in place. Choosing a quiet place and time to reflect on your personal goals. It can actually be a part of your day that you learn to look forward to. As you visualize your goals make sure you also visualize yourself ticking off and completing the tasks successfully.

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Consider playing sports

Sport and exercise is a great way to teach yourself self-discipline, as you automatically conform to following the rules and regulations of sports. Sometimes if you can’t get to the gym, it’s worth looking at ways you can enjoy sports at home. Enjoy golf? Get yourself a pro return golf practice net. Enjoying running? Head out for a run from home. Play football? Organize something locally with your friends. Sport is an excellent way to remain focused on your discipline, but it can also help you keep things in perspective throughout other aspects of your life.

Prioritize your tasks accordingly

As you plan your day try and be specific with the tasks you have an prioritize them. This is another habit that can help you be more focused throughout the day and get more out of the time you have available. Try an accomplish the harder and more stressful tasks first, the feeling of success and accomplishment with help you stay disciplined to continue to complete your tasks and reach your goals.

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Change your mindset

The way you think is vitally important to how you discipline yourself. Being negative will have an instant effect on how you do things and when you do them. You begin to choose not to want to complete your tasks, being disciplined in all of the wrong ways and even heading down a road leading towards depression and anxiety. A change in mindset is a great habit to accomplish. Working on positive thoughts, and being disciplined in this way to do it, will automatically make life much more enjoyable. It may seem hard at first, but once you get the hang of it, you will start to do it automatically. If you are struggling with your mindset, try and figure out what might be causing you to feel that way. Eliminating the problem can often be the result and resolution you need to carry on.

Make sure you get rest

There is nothing better for being disciplined and having high concentration levels is to ensure that you get some decent rest. It can be hard with lots going on in your life to take the necessary time out to rest up. So it’s important to develop your own bedtime routine where you focus on switching off from the day. A great tip is to shut off from all technology during the evening, or at least one hour before you want to head to bed. Instead, indulge in a warm bath, read a book and drink a hot drink. Camomile tea is especially good for helping you sleep at night. Being disciplined also means developing other habits that run alongside it, things like being grateful for what is going on in your life and showing gratitude. A good idea is to start journaling before bed. This can also be a way of mentally downloading what you have on your mind, ready for you to prioritize the next morning.

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Good nutrition can vastly improve your chances

There is no hiding the fact that good nutrition means a healthy and smarter brain. So it’s important to have a well-balanced diet when it comes to good nutritional health. Ensuring that you are eating all the food groups and nourishing your body with what it needs to function. Having more energy and feeling able to tackle the day is an excellent way to remain disciplined with what you have and need to do.

Follow through on your decisions

Making decisions ahead of time means that you have no choice but to follow through on your promises. A great way to encourage yourself-discipline. If you plan on exercising, then do it. If you want to complete a work project, then set about completing it. Without the skill of following through on your plans, then you have no discipline at all. Which is the skill you are trying to improve. Again it is about making the commitment to yourself to take action.

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Consider doing just one thing at a time

Doing just one thing at a time is a great way to become accountable for your actions. Multi-tasking may be admirable, but if you can’t commit your whole self to one task, then you may not be completing anything to the best of your ability. This is when prioritizing your day and giving yourself tasks to complete is a great way to place your focus on one thing. Enabling you to have the discipline to follow through and complete the task. Everything falls in line with one another and each point raised in this article will help you in other areas of your life.

Reward yourself

Finally, reward yourself for doing a job well done. We all need motivation as well to remain enthusiastic with the tasks we have to do. We don’t all love our jobs, or enjoy what we have to do on a daily basis. Be happy and proud of yourself. This can also help with your positive mindset.

I hope these tips help you to improve your self-discipline.





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THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING EVEN ON A SMALL BUDGET

THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING EVEN ON A SMALL BUDGET

By Haris Quintana

Small businesses tend to ignore or be oblivious to the fact that branding is everything, and so is timing. When branding is done correctly, at the correct time, it is rare that the business would go unnoticed. Bigger companies such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, etc., might be selling the same product for decades, but what they pay great attention to is the detail and the brain that goes into the branding of their product.

Photo courtesy of Flickr, under creative commons license

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Anyhow, it is not necessary for a company to spend thousands of dollars when they clearly do not have the budget for that. Branding is a simple process and when done correctly, the budget doesn’t make much of a difference. It is the concept that is paid attention to.

What is Branding?

A common misconception held by many people around the world is that branding is just graphic elements and logos. This is a little too far from the truth. There is a lot more to branding than just graphic element, because this is the way that the audience and followers perceive your brand. It has less to do with just appearance and more to do with the creativity and visualization behind the logo.

Branding on a Limited Budget

When you have a limited budget, be it for branding or for any other purpose, you have to think through the concept and the process that you have in mind. You are likely to witness many examples of what an opportunity cost really is when working on a tight budget.

Logo

The first thing to do would obviously be to hire an expert visual artist and start working on a legit logo for your business. If you opt to get a cheap job done, you might regret it later. Therefore, it’s best if you opt for a professional to do your logo, since they can also help you come up creative ideas in the process of creating your logo.

Visual Identity

Your logo is your visual identity, basically, but there are a lot of other elements that come under that category too. Anything that gives your business an identity visually comes under this category. This is usually cheap and can easily be afforded even by small businesses.

Online Presence

Online presence or social media presence is highly important for all businesses, regardless of whether they’re big or small. Many entrepreneurs might overlook this factor or ignore it thinking it’s not important, but it is. Be as active on social media as possible, because this is a great way to promote your business.

Hire an Expert

If you feel you do not know much about branding, there is nothing to worry about. There are plenty of options that you can turn to for help in branding such as Custom Gear – they help you make your own merchandise too!

Core Values

Since you have a business, you must already have the core values of your business intact. If you still have not done that, then this is a good place to start at. Once you’ve developed these, make sure you work in accordance to them.





How To Maintain Your Inner Entrepreneur Without Losing Momentum

How To Maintain Your Inner Entrepreneur Without Losing Momentum

Business is tough, and running your own business is even tougher. However, if you’re able to start and maintain a successful company, the rewards are high, and your life can be plentiful and fulfilled. If you didn’t thrive on a little stress and a lot of hard work, then you wouldn’t be able to call yourself an entrepreneur. Therefore, you want to be able to take the knockbacks and struggles as best as possible, so that you can continue with the same strength and force that you started out with. The following are some help and tips for those who are worried about slowing down and burning out before they’ve reached their business goals.

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Know What’s Fresh

Every market, in any business, is competitive and technology and process progress are ever-evolving. Therefore, it’s vital that you keep on top of what the latest items on the market are when it comes to what your business specializes in and what tech is available to help it succeed. You can guarantee that if there are software and technology to improve what your business is producing; one, or many, of your competitors, will be utilizing it and progressing further than you as a result, so it’s important to invest in what you can wherever possible.
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Keep your ideas flowing; you’re a smart business person because you had an original idea and found how you could improve on something, so don’t stop thinking of fresh approaches and new products to maintain momentum. If somebody has beaten you to it and released something on the market that you were thinking of; get over it as quick as possible and step back to your drawing board. The business world waits for nobody.

Regain Confidence And Rebuild

Often, you’ll have to suffer knockbacks, rejections, and losses when it comes to your entrepreneurial career. Therefore, it’s vital that you build a tough skin and learn how to start again from scratch and get back on your feet. If a business or personal debt is what’s holding you back; you can click here for information on where to seek help and advice. Once your finances are back in order, there’s no reason you can’t have a bright future in the business world once again. You can check out 13 Business Leaders Who Failed Before They Succeeded for some added motivation and inspiration on your journey.

Know When To Say Goodbye

When you’ve invested hard work, money and time into something, it can be challenging to let it go when it isn’t working. However, your company will be able to grow as you learn from your past mistakes and move forward. Cutting ties with old plans and ideas that didn’t work out will also leave room for fresh ideas and new approaches to enter into your business, which will keep your entrepreneurial spirits high and evolve your brand. Know when the right time is to leave a product, idea, a staff member, or service, in the past and keep, moving forward; just think of it as a lesson and an interesting chapter in your future business autobiography!

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10 Apps Your Business Needs Right Now

10 Apps Your Business Needs Right Now

10 Apps Your Business Needs Right Now

Smartphone apps are not just for keeping in touch with your friends and playing games. The business world can benefit from mobile app technology just as much as private individuals. If you are not using apps to run your business you are missing out on the most cost-effective way to run your enterprise. Technology goes hand in hand with efficiency and productivity so here are 10 apps that could change the way you do business!

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Wrike – the project management app
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All businesses need to manage projects where a team of employees are working on a project and need to share documents, resources, and updates. The Wrike app allows you to do that. There are interactive Gantt charts, time tracking and virtual dashboards for cross-team collaboration. You can even manage files and project templates are available. Colleagues can simultaneously work on the same document or spreadsheet without risking duplication. This streamlines the way that your team works and makes it more efficient. The changes that each employee makes will be tracked for complete accountability and transparency. Free or paid-for plans are available.

Equipment and plant hire lease and hire apps

If your business needs heavy equipment hire and material & soil disposal services you can avoid prolonged conversations and a lot of paperwork. This app will make instructions between operators, and clients both and quick and easy. It provides real-time feedback to both clients and the lease company about the progress of a job. This helps to achieve maximum transparency and maximum project productivity.  If you need to hire heavy equipment for your business this is the quickest and most effective way of doing things.

Freshdesk app for ticket support

Nothing is more frustrating for your clients than failing to get their queries and problems resolved when they need them to be. With the Freshdesk app, you can avoid this problem. All of the team will know who else is working on the ticket with an agent collision detection function. Duplication and confusion are eliminated. You can use private notes for internal communication and send well-formatted replies using the rich text editor. Every ticket can be categorized and prioritized as you assign them to the right people in the team to get the job done quickly. Your reputation will be enhanced and your customers will be satisfied.

Human resources management by BambooHR

The BambooHR app will bring strategic human resources functions to small and medium-sized businesses. It enables you to automate human resources tasks including onboarding and compiling employee records. You can also perform big-picture activities that improve the workplace for everyone and improve productivity. You can store detailed employee records and maintain a report library. It has both employee and manager self-service functions. All of your staff will be up to date with their continuing professional development because you can track their training. There are no unwelcome surprises when you get back in the office as all the records are instantly accessible enabling you to answer queries and troubleshoot whilst you are on the move.

Email marketing campaign management

Every business needs an effective email marketing campaign strategy and you need to keep on top of how your message is being delivered and whether it is working for you. For many businesses, they get the lion’s share of their clients from emails so this is an aspect of your business that you simply must get right! With Campaign Monitor, you can design engaging emails but you don’t have to be an IT expert to do it. There are simple drag-and-drop tools built into the app so anyone can do it. There is a powerful email builder which allows you to send personalized email marketing campaigns. You can also use the in-built A/B testing facility to work out what works best for your business which means that you can avoid costly and time-consuming marketing mistakes. You get maximum results for minimum effort.

Information technology service management

The ITSM app enables you to improve resolution time for all IT issues. This sort of problem can grind a business to a halt and lose you a lot of money. You can manage all of your assets and connect service requests to the people who can help in the quickest time. It can even help users to help themselves by solving their own IT issues which save you both time and money.

Billing and invoicing apps

Sending invoices and chasing up money is one of the most tedious tasks involved in running your own business. It can be very time-consuming yet whilst you are doing it you are wasting time that could be better spent elsewhere. It is easy to get bogged down go around in circles. If you use an app such as KashFlow to manage this part of your business for you, you can streamline the whole process. It will enable you to send customizable invoices by uploading your own logo and creating your own templates. You can easily convert quotes to invoices with just one click and without you having to enter the details and costs all over again.

There is a facility for your invoices to be linked to PayPal or WorldPay so that clients can pay with one easy click. This cuts down on late payments. You don’t have to hunt through spreadsheets for unpaid invoices. The app can be automated so that you get reminders at intervals of your choice. If you have a list of regular clients, it will automatically send recurring invoices and copy the one from the previous month if required. Raising an invoice is quicker than ever because lists of the products and services that you regularly use can be saved and the app will automatically fill in the price and the description as well as any applicable tax rates.

Field workers management apps

Do you have a team of workers who work out in the field? The ServMan mobile app will allow you to manage what they are doing and facilitate a method of working that is most productive. You can move your business over to paperless work orders which are better for the environment and more efficient. This type of management system will speed up your revenue cycle and your bills will be more accurate. It can work well if your team is working in your customer’s homes, in commercial establishments or out on the road. There is no paperwork to complete when your team gets back in the office because it is completed in real time. The system can be fully customized to suit your particular business. You choose the screen you want.

Organize the learning aspects of your business

If your business is involved in education or learning in any way you will benefit from the Learn Upon app. The app is a powerful learning management system that provides a simple solution to online learning. The app is based on a clean and modern design and delivers robust features. You can get started right away with a quick setup and it is easy to use yet it is both scalable and secure. Within the app you can build and update courses so that you can deliver training to your customers, partners, and external audiences. You don’t have to do it all yourself! You can delegate and automate tasks and then see how everyone is getting on with insightful and actionable reports. The app can be accessed from any device, at any time for maximum convenience.

Manage your events with ease

Whether it’s a multi-national conference or a workshop for two colleagues, you will want every event that your business arranges to be a success. Now you can get some help with that from the Noodle app. You actually create your own app for the event that you are holding. This is far and away the most accurate and reliable method of engaging with and informing your attendees.

You can provide real-time event information and networking features so that those attending your event know where to go, how to get there and what they will be doing there. They can even check out who else is going to be there so that they can plan their networking strategy.

You can share content and delegates can interact during sessions providing instant feedback. The live polling and speaker Q&A facility allow attendees to get the most out of your sessions so they will want to come back for more! No-one will end up in the wrong place because they will have personalized schedules allocated to them and they can check out rich profiles for all the speakers in advance.

With these apps, there is nothing stopping you from taking your business to the next level. Most of them are free or offer a free option as well as a monthly paid fee option which offers more services. Others offer a free trial so that you can try them out for six months or so before you commit to spending any money.






No Experience? No Problem! How to Learn and Make Money Online at the Same Time

No Experience? No Problem! How to Learn and Make Money Online at the Same Time

In order to get a job, you need one of two things: experience or contacts. If you have neither, then good luck getting a job. If you have one, then you’ll have a pretty good shot. Have both, and you’re probably got a career path waiting for you. Sadly, when you have neither, it can be pretty devastating and it will seem like making money online is impossible. Fortunately, that’s not the case and there are plenty of ways to make a bit of money online while also learning.


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Do simple online tasks that pay

Whether it’s answering surveys, clicking links or entering data, there are simple tasks that don’t require much experience at all and will actually pay out a decent amount of money to help you pay for expenses while studying something. Because most of these are monotonous tasks that involve very little thought or skill, they are perfect for coffee breaks, morning breakfast or while you’re watching a film. Survey sites can be surprisingly effective ways to generate money, as shown in SurveysSay's review. Most of these simple jobs are dead-end ones that won’t get you anywhere, but they’re fairly decent sources of money that you can do in your spare time.

Freelancing while you learn

Freelancing is one of the best ways to make money on the internet, but it needs a small foundation to build on. For instance, if you fancy yourself as a freelance artist, then make sure you’re drawing and creating art on a regular basis to help prepare your skills and inspiration for real paying jobs. Start by offering your services for free to other people or startup websites. Don’t do this for too long, however. Only do it so you get a bit of cash and some recognition on social media. Freelancing can earn you a comfortable living without much experience, but you need to have the skills to back it up and a portfolio to post your work on.

Starting a blog about something

If you’ve always wanted to learn about a subject, then writing about it is probably the most effective way. This is because writing quality blog posts heavily depends on your knowledge on the subject. If you have no idea about sports but you’re writing feature-length articles on the next big game, then you’re one of two things: a complete beginner trying to make themselves look like an accomplished writer with a lot of experience or an incredibly fast learner. Most people will be the former, so make sure you’re doing lots of research so you don’t upset the blog readers with your lack of knowledge. Most blogging money comes from advertising revenue or banners, so make sure to associate the ads with something close to your site.

Summary

Here are just three ways of making money on the internet with little to no experience. All three of these methods allow you to continue learning something while you work, so use them as opportunities to kickstart your very own online career, be it as an entrepreneur or something with a unique and marketable skillset.





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