If you are looking to improve the quality of your life, you need to make your home environment the most relaxing place of all. A lot of people find their solace in other areas, physically speaking, so when they go home, they find all of their relaxations gives way to stress and anxiety. Now, there is a lot of research on how gardening is great for our mental health. And, on the face of it, a garden is colorful, awe-inspiring, and wonderfully relaxing in the summer months, so how can we create a garden that relaxes us?
Pick A Space For Yourself
If you share your garden with others, then you need to pick somewhere that’s for you and you alone. Think about what you want from your space- for example, do you want privacy? In which case, you can get a few shrubs, and position your seating accordingly so you feel secluded, so you can go into yourself.
Go For A Water Feature
A water feature doesn’t just provide a focal point for the garden, but it can be an aesthetic choice that dictates the style of the entire garden. You could build a working friendship with a topsoil, mulch and stone delivery company and gradually build a garden around this water feature. And let’s not forget, the sound of running water is one of those relaxing sensations that can help our troubles melt away.
Take The Aromatic Approach
If you are someone who is constantly pent-up, looking into aromatherapy as a way to relax is essential. And in the garden, you can pick fragrant plants to shortcut your way to calmness. Lavender, clematis, and gardenia are three sweet-smelling varieties that don’t just look beautiful, but they can help to create an undertone of relaxation. You can either purchase potted plants so you can move them around as you wish or plant them into the ground around your secluded space.
Pick Some Lighting
You don’t want harsh flood-lights in a garden space, but when the summer arrives, and it’s that time between sundown and darkness, we have to choose simple lighting. Lighting, let’s not forget, can put us in a really relaxing mood. Solar lights are a popular choice, not just because they are great for the environment and will help you save money on your electricity bill, but they can provide that subtle lighting without being too overpowering. If you want to go more modest, you can choose candles or tea lights. And let’s not forget party lights (or even leftover Christmas tree lights) can add that twinkle to the space during night-time.
It’s our right to have a garden that’s relaxing, but we all have our own opinion of what relaxation is. For some of us, gardening is a relaxing pastime, and a uniformed row of root vegetables is enough, but for others, they need more colors and vibrancy. Life is a stressful thing, so we need our home environment in some way to calm us down. What better way to do this than by having a garden full of color and relaxing sensations?
When employees are proactive, they are productive. They tackle issues head-on, never ask for advice, and use their time effectively. For a boss, this is the Holy Grail of an office. Unfortunately, not every person is motivated to go the extra mile at work. Some people want to do the bare minimum, others are unorganized, and there are others that can’t decide without a sounding board.
To get employees to be change orientated and anticipatory, you need to give them the tools to succeed. Otherwise, they’ll never evolve and adapt. Here are four things you can do to get the ball rolling.
Micromanage
But not in the traditional way as it’s destructive. Instead, you want to encourage them to take care of the small things to instill a proactive attitude. Then, this will permeate throughout their entire approach to their job. Take their desk as an example. To be proactive, a person needs to be organized, something which is tricky to do when space is cluttered. By getting them to clean their workspace, they should see the benefits of decluttering their work life. Think of it as a domino effect that will knock down anything in its path.
Take Away Responsibilities
As a rule, employees want more responsibility not less. However, it’s about the quality and not the quantity. If they spend their day dealing with mundane tasks, they are never going to take the initiative. No matter what they do, they’ll still be bored and uninterested. With this in mind, think about removing the non-challenging jobs from their plate. There are great outsourcers out there, such as https://www.hudsonvalley-it.com/services/managed-it-services/. All you need to do is find one and strike a deal. Alternatively, you can mix up people’s workload so that they share tasks as a team no matter how exciting or run-of-the-mill.
Set Deadlines
Some bosses see them as restrictive, but they give employees a routine to follow. Because they like to slack off at times and a break, you can’t always trust them to be productive. A time-sensitive project is an excellent way to add a level of culpability to their work. If they don’t deliver on time, they are the ones who have to suffer the consequences. And, because workers don’t like getting in trouble, they will try their hardest to hit a deadline. Once they get into a routine, they will do it on autopilot without any encouragement from the boss.
Celebrate
It’s easy for employees to feel disillusioned. They do something positive and it never gets rewarded. All the boss does is to carry on as if nothing happened. If he/she does react, it’s to say that it was expected because it is part of the role. Of course, this isn’t a good way to build confidence and morale in the office. Instead, you should celebrate their achievements, big or small. This method will persuade them to be proactive more often as it gets results.
Rather than taking the bull by the horns irregularly, they’ll do it more often than not.
Whenever you head out on a business trip, you want it to be a productive one. There are many things that have to be taken into consideration when planning your business trip. It doesn’t matter what the purpose of your business trip is, there are some principles that you need to consider before setting out on your business trip.
It’s time to look closely at what you need for a productive business trip and how you can get the most out of your next one. Read on now and put what you learn into practice.
A Clear Plan
First of all, you’re going to need to have a plan in place for what you want to achieve on this business trip. Why are you going on it? What are you looking to secure, achieve or learn when you’re out there? When you’re clear about those aims, you can start to formulate a plan alongside the other people in your team or your boss if they’re the ones organizing it for you. This plan will provide you with the structure you need for a productive business trip.
Make Sure You Have Internet Connectivity
If you’re going to be moving around a lot and trying to make sure that you’re able to do work and communicate with people at all times of the day, you’ll need to be connected to the internet. You can buy plans that make this possible, but it’s not wise to just go out there and see what happens. For a start, wifi connections might be patchy of unavailable in some places and you might have to pay a lot if you don’t organize it all in advance.
Don’t Push Yourself Too Hard
Business trips can be exhausting, so you need to pace yourself while you’re out there and try to make sure you don’t burnout straight away. You will only make your life more stressful if you push yourself too hard and try to take on too much work at once. It’s simply not worth it. It’s all about working smart rather than working every waking hour of the day; know the difference between those two things.
When you leave for a business trip, you’re probably not going to be taking the whole office with you. Therefore, it’s important that you remain in contact with your colleagues or managers back home. They’ll want to know what’s happening and how things are going for you. If they hear nothing, they’ll assume things aren’t going well and that you’re hiding from them, whether that’s actually the case or not. So stay in touch via phone calls and emails throughout the trip.
Use Technology to Your Advantage
There are lots of examples of technology that can help you when you’re on a business trip. Apps like TripLog are great for logging your working hours so you can be paid accurately for the work you’re doing when you get back home. You should also use cloud services to your advantage because these are great when you want to save, share and access files that are important to your work. And you can save your boarding pass and travel documents to your phone so you never lose anything.
Stay Focused and Don’t Get Distracted
With so much going on around you and a new location that you might never have travelled to before, it’s easy to get distracted from your work and start behaving more like a tourist than a worker. That’s a temptation that you should probably try to avoid if you want to have success with your business trip and achieve all of the things you set out to achieve at the beginning of this process.
Familiarize Fast
You need to get to know your surroundings pretty quickly when you arrive in a new location for a business trip. If you fail to familiarize yourself with your surroundings fast, you could end up spending more time trying not to get lost and wondering where you’re supposed to be than actually getting work done. It’s worth researching the location in advance to make that whole process even easier for yourself when you get there.
It’s very easy for business trips to become vacations if you’re not careful. It’s vital that you plan things and make sure that you put everything in place to ensure your business trip is a productive one. That’s the only way to get the most out of your travel plans and to hit your goals.
Children look forward to their birthday all year, but most don’t realize how much planning it requires on the part of their parents.
As a parent, there can be a lot of pressure to throw the perfect birthday party and making the experience as fun as possible for your child and their friends, but there doesn’t have to be. Here are some factors to consider to make the day memorable for everyone involved.
Invitations
Sit down with your child before sending out any invitations and determine who they want to attend. If you’re short on money, a good rule of thumb is to invite the number of the child’s age plus one. On the other hand, if your child is in school, invitations can be tricky — it’s best to either invite less than half the class or the entire class.
When sending invitations, don’t forget to make allowances for close friends and family. Your invitation should include your child’s name, the age they’ll be turning, the party’s theme (if you set one), the location and address, date and time, and contact information for RSVPs.
Obviously, it’s important to remind guests to RSVP to the party. Don’t assume that guests will come if they haven’t RSVP’d yet, so set aside some time to call and ask whether each guest plans to attend. List a deadline for RSVPs on the invitation and begin contacting parents during the following week. Obtaining a headcount is necessary, as it helps you make sure you have enough food and cake for everyone.
Party favors
Party favors are still in trend, and kids love being able to take something home, regardless of what is actually is. After obtaining a headcount, make goody bags to hand out to each guest as they leave (this way, they won’t accidentally leave them at the party). Birthday party favors can easily be found at the dollar store. Packs of crayons or chalk, candy, and temporary tattoos are all great goody bag fillers. Before shopping for party favors, try setting a budget for yourself and sticking to it.
Plan activities for everyone
There are a ton of ideas for simple games that will keep the children occupied and having fun. Make sure to plan your activities around your child’s interests and age group. For instance, younger children love games like Simon Says and musical chairs, while older children have different tastes.
For older kids, try games like charades, trivia, or karaoke. If your party is outdoors, try to rent a hotdog cart or a bouncy house to make the party as fun and memorable as possible.
Staying budget-friendly
Your kid’s birthday only comes once a year, so why not go all out in making their party the best? Throwing the ultimate birthday party doesn’t have to break the bank, and there’s infinite inspiration for budget-friendly birthday parties online.
Invest a few extra dollars on some balloons and confetti, and set an appropriate party theme with the help of your child. Bake a cake that meets the theme — the color and flavor possibilities are endless. If you’re not great at baking, just follow a simple recipe online or use the recipe off the side of the box.
Planning the ultimate birthday party for your kid isn’t easy, but try to eliminate as much stress as possible before the party by starting early. Remember that the party is for your kid, so try to involve them in planning. All in all, your kid’s birthday party is something that they’ll remember for years to come, and the experience should be exciting for everyone involved.
The start of a new year puts a lot of pressure on entrepreneurs to start planning goals and working out exactly how they’re going to have their best year yet. Whilst it’s great to get carried away with all the motivational talk that is happening at this time of year, often it can cause people to fail as they feel they’re not doing enough.
Of course, making a million and one different changes within your business is likely to have an impact, but in order to succeed this year, there are only a few areas you need to focus on.
To help, we’ve put together a list of the top four things every entrepreneur should be focussing on in order to have a successful 2019:
Set Goals For The Year
Setting goals is a vital process when it comes to determining your success as it gives you something to measure at the end of each year. If you didn’t know what you wanted to achieve, how will you know if you have been successful?
The things you need to consider include:
Do You Have Goals In Place?
If you already have goals in place then you’re off to a great start. If not take the time to write down 7 short terms goals and 3 long term goals that you want to work towards achieving this year.
Are They SMART?
SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-Specific and they’re the only type of goals you should be making in order to succeed. For help on how to set SMART goals, you can visit this site here.
Do They Fit Into Your Overall Business Plan?
Goals are all well and good but if they’re not aligned with your overall business plan then they’re rendered useless pretty much straight away. Consider where you want your business to go and whether or not your goals will help you get there – especially in the long term.
Create A Content Marketing And Social Media Plan
Social media is going to an important aspect for all businesses as we move into 2019, so it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to use it to grow your business…
What Do You Want To Achieve From Content Marketing And Social Media?
The first thing you need to do is think about what you want to achieve from social media. Do you want more page views? Do you want to convert followers into customers? Do you want to create viral content? Once you have this pinned down you’ll be able to move onto the next step.
What Platforms Are The Most Important To You?
Knowing your customers is incredibly important when it comes to determining what platforms are going to be the most successful for you as each social media network has it’s own ‘type’ of a target audience. Try describing your ideal customer and from that, you’ll be able to work out what social media platforms they’ll be using on a daily basis. For help understanding who uses what platform, you can visit this handy guide here.
What Content Will You Publish?
Once you know why you want to use social media and which platforms you will be using, it’s time to start thinking about the type of content you will be publishing. Using the ‘ideal customer’ you created in the last step you’ll be able to work out what kind of content they would want to see – whether it’s in-depth blog posts and how to’s or funny memes and shareable content.
Consider The Space Your Work In
The space you work in is an important aspect of any entrepreneurs life as it’s where you’ll spend most of your time. If it’s not a place you love to work and get creative, you’re likely to find you’re uninspired.
Are Your Comfortable In The Space You Work In?
When considering the space you work in you need to determine whether or not your office space is a place you feel comfortable and inspired in. If not, 2019 is definitely the year you should complete your dream office renovation.
What Budget Do You Have?
If you’re going to be renovating your office space then it’s important you have a clear budget in mind. Once you have this you’ll be able to start putting together a plan of exactly how you would like your office to look. Remember, this is a space that needs to inspire you, so be as creative as you can.
Once your budget has been set and your design is finished, its time to get to work!
If You’re Not Renovating, Does It Need A Deep Clean?
If you found that you’re inspired by your office but it doesn’t make you feel comfortable, it may just be that you need to consider a deep clean. For an entrepreneur cleaning your office may be the last thing on your mind but you’ll be surprised at the difference it can make. Whether it’s carrying a deep clean of your floors or carpets, having a move around of furniture or wiping every surface from top to bottom – you’ll be thankful when it’s all over.
Even if you’ve never considered it before, outsourcing could be the solutions to all of your time-management issues.
What Tasks Do You Have To Repeat On A Daily Basis?
If you’re looking to start outsourcing some of the work you have to do as an entrepreneur, the best thing to do is think about everything that you have to repeat on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. If it’s something you can create a simple process that can be duplicated by another team member, consider it a task that can be outsourced.
What Budget Do You Have To Outsource?
Once you know what kind of tasks you want to outsource within your business, you can start thinking about what kind of budget you have to do this. When you’ve worked this out, it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to bring them on board.
How Will You Bring Them On Board?
Will you carry out interviews or ask people to apply online? Do they need to complete a test or show that they’re competent before you hire them? Thinking about all of these different aspects before you post your job advert will ensure the recruitment process is as simple as it can possibly be.
What are you going to do in 2019 to make it successful? Let me know in the comment section below.
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