Livelife-tothefullest

Do you measure?

At this time of the year, are there any goals you had set that you want to make progress on? There are some simple steps that can help you in becoming more productive and effective.

https://livelife-tothefullest.com/think-well/

There is an old business saying, “what is measured, improves.” I believe that this saying applies, to not just your business, but also your life. If you measure something, you gain conscious awareness of it. Once you gain conscious awareness, you improve your ability to control it.

Why Measure?
Reaching your goals is like a delicate surgical procedure. Would you like to carry out the procedure with a scalpel or a baseball bat? Measurement adds precision to your goal-setting efforts, and helps you see whether your efforts are on target.

The main reason why we need to measure personal change frequently is that people (which includes you and me) are self-delusional. For example, if you don’t measure, you may probably underestimate how much you eat, where you spend money on and how much time you waste in a day.

These biases are inevitable. The only solution is recording what you do to see if your mental picture measures up to reality.

Another reason to measure is to get feedback. Feedback is extremely important for growth. By measuring, you gain access to more immediate feedback. Is your new diet working? You can find out whether you’re eating too much calories on a daily basis, rather than waiting a month or two to see if the weights go down. Is your new routine successful? A daily time log and productivity analysis can help you measure your output per hour of work.

Immediate feedback will allow you to make quick remedy. For example, a person who is dieting conducts a diet log so that he/she can see, with relative accuracy, whether their current eating habits are in line with my goals. Without doing a log, they can only guess and hope.

Time Consuming?
Personally, I feel that sloppily reaching your goals is time consuming.

However, I am know that many people are still hesitant to jump into the deep end of personal metrics because it becomes one more thing they need to do each day. The good news is that this really isn’t necessary. There are two ways you can add more regular measurement to your life without it becoming a distraction.

Measuring ‘automictically’
The first way to make measurement painless is simply to create a habit. If you measure something frequently, you won’t even think about it. It will become a part of your routine.
For example, I have built up the habit of writing down all of my expenses. When I first started, this required deliberate effort. However, after over the years, I barely think about the habit and it consumes only a few minutes each day. For those short minutes, I get precise information about how much money I’m spending and where the money went to. This helps me be smart when using my money. I can see where my largest controlled expenditures are and see whether these matches my goals.
Measuring ‘intensely’
The other approach to personal metrics is to record detailed information for a few days or a week. The total time commitment is negligible, and it can give you a lot of information when you’re trying out a new plan.
Time-logging?
How to get started? You can actually start to keep a record of when you start or stop any activity throughout the day. Alternatively, to simplify things, you may only want to record the time from when you awake till the time you finish your daily goals.

To do this, you can keep an index card and a pen with you. Whenever, you switch tasks, even something like going onto the Internet during work or using the bathroom, make a quick note. Afterwards, you can enter the data into a spreadsheet and sort it into categories.

There are two interesting findings which you may want to pay more attention to:
• The number of interruptions
• The amount of time spent on each activity

Interruptions?
Once you start your time log, you may realise that the first point became obvious was the number of times you interrupt yourself when working. A phone would ring, or you’d use the washroom.

Interruptions break your momemtum, lengthen the amount of time you need to complete a task. I don’t want to spend eight hours to accomplish a task that should only take three. Interruptions can be the major cause of it.

Unless you get some records regarding the amount of interruptions you face, it’s hopeless. Recording metrics will help you identify how much time is wasted and also what causes those interruptions. Knowledge gives you the power to fix those problems. Actions help you to accomplish your goals.

Time Allocation?
Generally, if you do a time log, you will record the time spent on every activity of the day. This allows you to see where you actually spend your time. When you start doing this, you may not like what you see.

Some of you may start to realise that the chunks of time you spend on mindless entertainment is far more than the amount of time you need to spend on the things that matter most to you.

Time logging can be a reality check for many people because it forces you to acknowledge that you don’t spend your time in the way you’d like. But, with that awareness comes the power to experiment with new changes. With better knowledge of my time usages, I had more time for new activities like joining Toastmasters, learning to salsa and reading more books.

Diet-logging?
Another personal metric to record is what you eat. Is that donut you ate a one-time treat, or actually regular habit? If you’re trying to gain muscle, are you eating enough clean calories and protein to reach that goal?

Even if you consider yourself in good shape and want a healthy lifestyle, diet logging can still be a good idea. It allows you to track your eating habits, to know whether or not you are living up to the standards you would like for yourself.

I never like to be too obsessive about what I eat. I still prefer to eat tasty foods and not worry about every calorie or snack. I’m not suggesting you start to mash up and weigh everything before you consume it. Eating is not just about nutrition. It is also about enjoyment, socializing and experiences.

Recording what you eat doesn’t have to remove the pleasure you get from food. All it does is open up the option for you to improve the way you eat. If you have a fitness goal, this may help ganging what you eat to reach it. If you simply strive for healthy living, this will shine a light on your eating habits to see whether your menu is delicious and healthy, or simply fast junk.

https://livelife-tothefullest.com/think-well/

Here are a few things you can do with the knowledge gained from recording a temporary diet log:
• Reduce/increase calories. Do you need to eat 1800 calories a day to meet your health goal? Then a diet log will quickly tell you whether you are going to reach your goal.
• Change the types of food. Are there a lot of processed foods, fast food and junk food on your list? A diet log can expose your eating habits so you can make a shift.
• Increase the variety of foods. Record for a week and see how frequently you eat the same meal. Life is meant to be an exploration so maybe you should broaden your menu?
• Change the timing of when you eat. If you make a note of the time along with what you eat, you can see whether you are eating multiple small meals or one huge meal. Your blood sugar has a huge impact on your energy levels, so if you see large gaps or spikes of processed carbohydrates, that may help explain your fatigue levels in different part the day.

Conclusion?
Time, food and money are three core areas you can become more conscious about your life. What you do depends on the goals you have and what you want to improve.

“What is measured, improves,” works in business because it focuses your attention on a key issue. When I measure statistics for my website or sales conversions, I’m gaining immediate feedback on all my improvement efforts.

Recording your personal metrics works the same way. By allowing unbiased, immediate feedback you can see any change of plan in your measurements. If you’re going to spend hundreds of hours on a project or goal, why not spend a few minutes to see whether those hundreds of hours are being put to a good use.

https://livelife-tothefullest.com/think-well/

| LiveLife-ToTheFullest Do You Measure?At this time of the year, are there any goals you had set that you want to make progress on?Read more.Don’t take RISK!…Don’t take RISK!!!…… Until you know what you are doing. “Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.” – WarrenRead more.Until you make it a MUST!...

Don’t take RISK!!!……
Until you know what you are doing.

“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”
– Warren Buffett (Legendary investor)

https://livelife-tothefullest.com/dont-take-risk/

Not taking risk can be a form of risk, as your current ‘comfort’ situation may not last as long as you may think. By the time that you know that your job security is no longer ‘secure’, it may be too late to make changes.

Taking the road of entrepreneurships require taking risk. Risk taking is a core skill and essential for innovation to occur. Risk taking is essential to innovation: anyone developing a new product, service or idea risks the possibility that it will not work.

If you don’t embrace risk-taking, you may want to rethink being a business owner. Countless entrepreneurs have taken risks to get their businesses to where they are now.

Taking risks, however, does not mean going into business blindly and then expecting great results.

What is your ‘Attitude towards Risk’?

Entrepreneurism is fundamentally about taking a calculated risk with your time, talents and capital. Let’s take a look at it in the context of the journey you are seeking to embark on.

There is a very rational approach to this analysis, which you should undertake.

There is also, however, a very gut-based aspect to this question, “How do you feel about risk, what type of personality and behaviour do you have when it comes to facing risk?” This is as important, if not more.

You should spend time working up projected profit & loss and cash flow statements for your proposed venture and remember to have poor/expected/good scenarios analysis. In most instances, this will help to generate a time value – how many weeks/months can I survive if my hypothesis concerning future sales does not arise?

You will have a mortgage, liabilities and maybe even dependents, therefore calculated risks are essential to help you change your strategies when necessary and at the same time focus on your goals.

So, after doing all the math, ask yourself what is really lost if it doesn’t work.

As expected, the ‘safe’ people will say that you have lost months of career continuity, you may even have fallen a few steps down the career ladder as a result, you will likely have taken a confidence dent and you will certainly be poorer.

Let me also say this, even in the worst scenario, you will have gained some invaluable experience and help you lift yourself above the masses who never take such a leap. The important thing is, don’t weigh too punitively the cost of failure, obviously you don’t seek it. However, just by stepping out into the world of self-employment, you will have crossed a pretty special threshold that give you the ‘personal brand differentiation’ and experiential value.

I strongly believe that you can eliminate a lot of the systematic risk involved in building a business. With that said, there are always external factors outside of your control. Indeed, the world outside your office window can be a capricious place at times, so you need to have a certain constitution for the uncertainty that lies ahead.

You should also factor in your life partner/soulmate in your life. How will they fare – emotionally and practically – with the risk that you may well be sharing? Even if you are an emboldened risk taker, is it fair to take a nervous, dependent partner along for the ride? Only you can judge. There should be a ‘partnership’ between you and your soulmate in the first place.

In final analysis, a reinforcement of the point that this is more art, and gut, than calculator. The reason why is to do with the little-understood distinction between the concept of risk and uncertainty. We do not know the real odds we are betting on.

As such, entrepreneurs are people that will take a bold leap and fix their parachutes on the way down. To entrepreneur is to dare to take the leap.

https://livelife-tothefullest.com/dont-take-risk/

Don’t take RISK!… | LiveLife-ToTheFullest Don’t take RISK!… by Danny Tan | Jun 23, 2018 Don’t take RISK!!!…… Until you know what you are doing. “Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.” – Warren Buffett (Legendary investor) Not taking risk can be a form of risk, as your current ‘comfort’ situation may not last a...

Until you make it a MUST!!!

Most of us may had tried before searching for ‘the secret’ to success. That very ONE strategy that will help lead us to all riches and wealth.

But ironically, we know that the truth is there has never and will never be any secret to success or rather ‘the secret’ is really not a secret at all.

If you have read the biographies of successful people, you will know that never has one been who had gained success just by using the ONE strategy.

If there is really one way to success, here it is:
You MUST make it a MUST to make it happen. No matter what.

After you have decided to make it a MUST to achieve your goal, you will definitely find the way or ways. You will always be ready and willing to do whatever it takes to reach the goal you had set out to get.

Your mind will then be pre-set to learn whatever you need to know to get to your goal. You will put in many hours willingly to get there. And you will just keep going even if you hit rock bottom, suffer setbacks or when it seems impossible.

You yourself are responsible to find the strength inside you. That purpose, that will drive you forward and use it to take you where you need to go. Make it a MUST.

It is your self-motivation that you will discover in yourself when you have that powerful reason. The reason that drives everything you do. Find that passion inside you first, and everything else will follow.

Recall the successful people you know of. None of them got to where they are by that ONE strategy, trick, hack or with luck.

Warren Buffet, one of the wealthiest people on earth, known to read up to 6 hours every day, but that isn’t the one reason he is successful. You could also try to read 6 hours a day, even read the exact same material as him, every day and achieve little or no results. His success is achieved by how he applies that information he read about.

It is the consistency in reading and applying the knowledge he picked up. It is the process of learning from mistakes and loving what he is doing that brought him to where he is today.

You MUST make it a MUST to be consistent.

Oprah Winfrey is one of the most successful TV hosts. Did she get lucky or use ‘the secret’? No… it’s not just one thing she did, it’s everything. She just had a real desire and made it a MUST to find the way. She experienced huge setbacks and challenges. But she was determined to live the life she wanted to.

The same is true for every human of success. Their obsessional desire to find the way is unbreakable and making it a MUST is essential. It is therefore only a matter of time before they reach the success that they defined.

Yes! You define your own success, no one else. The success that is to another may not be the success is for you. It’s certainly not always money or material stuffs. You define your success and make it a MUST to succeed.

Ask yourself these questions:
- Am I living my life to the fullest?
- Am I living my fullest potential?
- Am I living how I want to live?
- Did I settle or did I find the way?
- Did I make it a MUST to get whatever I set out to get?

Remember that life will not always go your way, but you will definitely find your way. There shouldn’t be any doubt in your mind and you will achieve your goal.

Whatever obstacles come before you, conquer them, persevere and you will WIN!

Anything that you want in life is always waiting for you. You just need to make the decision to make it a MUST to get it. Have the courage to make the decision. It requires your dedication to commit to that decision. There may be sacrifices along the way too. Be strong to see through all the challenges.

Whatever price you have to pay is nothing compared to the struggle, disappointment and regret of living a life you don’t want.

Look inside your soul and search for how bad you want it.
Then make it a MUST to achieve!

Unconventional Path, Are You Ready?

Expect challenges when you start following an unconventional path – you will meet with resistance, both internally and externally.

Internal resistance will shows up as fear, excuses, self-esteem issues and analysis paralysis.

You may start to have self doubt and many of your deep-seated limiting beliefs start racing to the surface.

You may be nagged by unwanted thoughts like; Am I good enough? Can I pull this off? What if I fail? Who am I to aim so high?

And when you try to move your life forward, don’t be surprised if you attract resistance from people around you too. Those people may criticise the path you have chosen. They may not understand your choices or even support you.

There shouldn't be anything to be afraid of as it is part of the process. You are challenging the beliefs of those who do not agree with your decision.

Anyone can go after his or her dreams, including the people who criticise your choice. But the reason why most people don’t is because of fear. They are blanketed with their own excuses.

Human progress has always been driven by a sense of adventure and unconventional thinking. - Andre Geim

Once you decide to take action towards you unconventional path, you show people that you are not going to listen to your own excuses anymore. You refuse to stay where you are and commit to doing whatever it takes to create your life on your own terms.

The energy generated by definite aim and determination can the greatest powerful magnet to attract the great things to your life. As you take your new path, you stop being a follower and start becoming a leader. You are passionate, happy and making a stand against mediocrity.

Naturally, there will be people who can get inspire by what you’re doing. They have similar goals for themselves and will reach out to you for help.

There will also be other negative people with their own inadequacies. Watching you striving for greatness makes them jealous, resentful and even angry.

I’ve always done things a little differently, therefore I am no stranger to disapproval or criticism. In the past, negative comments used to really affect me. But over the years I’ve developed a thicker skin and learned how to handle negativity.

If you’re starting out, it’s important that you learn how to deal with negative people and don’t let the haters gets you down.

Try to subtly move yourself away from negative people. Don't hang out with them. So cut negative people out of your life as soon as possible.

I know, I know. It's easier said than done.

It isn’t always possible to eliminate negative people from your life. However, by distancing them at least until you gain clarity about your ideas or while you build your business.

In some cases though, avoidance may not be enough. You will have to speak up, especially if you encounter people who constantly criticise you. Be firm and respectful.

It’s not your job to convince others to understand your vision, least of all the negative people in your life.

Smile and thank them for their feedback.

One of the things that I had to manage in the early days of my online business is to trust myself, especially when it comes to decision making.

Most of the people I know are working 9-5, so they don't understand why I choose to build an online business.

But even though I was scared and not sure of where would this venture lead me to eventually, I kept going and I kept believing.

Most of all, you must be brave enough to test things out.

Slowly but surely things began to fall into place. I managed to get from A to B and then from B to C and so on.

When you are starting out, chances are you won’t have a support network around you. It could be that everyone disapproves of your decision. However, the online business and company that I am with has a great community of like minded people who will always be there to help one another out.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - Mahatma Gandhi

Many years ago Mahatma Gandhi said this, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

You don’t really need anyone’s approval to succeed. So don’t waste too much time trying to convince negative people who don't believe in your decision. Instead, you can build your business quietly without any noise.

Let your success do the talking for you and lead by example.

When they are ready, those same people who criticised you will be stunned by your results. They may even approach you for help.

Be the leader in you. Make a stand against mediocrity by choosing an unconventional path that may seem strange to the outside world. You are breaking new ground so expect it to be uncomfortable in the begining.

Keep taking action towards your dreams because deep down only you know what’s right for you.

Who knows your destiny

Who knows whether you will fail or succeed?
Do it anyway...

Why? because you only live once and you deserve more.
Let’s stop accepting our limitations as permanent truths.
Go and do those things that you have been putting aside. I’m not saying you’ll be perfect at it. I’m not even saying you’ll do it well. But what the heck! Try anyway!

We lived so much of our life unaware that we can actually re-invent ourselves. Instead of accepting the definitions laid upon our shoulders, stand up tall and strengthen ourselves to be the someone we actually like. Because guess what…you can. Overcome the fear in you and do it anyway.

“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” - Jack Canfield

Fear can be very subjective to individual. One of the reason why most of us can’t get ourselves towards what we really want is the fear in us. There is a little voice inside all of us that resists change, that is scared when we start to step out of our comfort zones.

The truth is, fear will never go away, it will just diminish!

Every time you take a step into the unknown, you will experience fear.

There is no point saying, "Wait till I am less afraid, then I will do it." You'll definitely wait for a long time.

The fear is part of personal growth, and it will only diminish once you face it.

The only way to get rid of the fear is to go out and…do it!
When you get into doing it long enough, you will no longer fear that particular situation. You will have faced the unknown and you will have handled it. Then new challenges await you, which will certainly add more excitement in your life.

With each little step you take into unknown territory, the aura of strength develops. You begin to feel stronger, stronger and stronger. Taking action despite of our fear is how we grow, as uncomfortable as they might seem.

You are not the only one who will develop fear when facing the unknown, so is everyone else!

This should be a relief. Yes, all those people who have succeeded in doing what they have wanted in life have felt the fear - and did it anyway. You can too!

“If you want to conquer fear, don't sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” - Dale Carnegie

Facing and conquering your fear is less frightening than living with the underlying fear that comes from a feeling of helplessness! When you push through the fear, you will feel the sense of relief as your feeling of helplessness subsides. You will wonder why didn’t you take action sooner. You will become more aware and confident that you can truly handle anything that life hands you.

So, what if you choose to do nothing?

When you stay stuck at where you are, wanting to make things happen, but feeling too scared to take action, what happens? This is the question to ask ourselves, and to help us recognise that there are consequences to not taking action too.

All those things we want to achieve, the wrongs we want to right, won't be achieved if we do nothing.

But once you decided to start, don't ever aim for perfection right away. Yes, you want to put your best stuff out there, but don't let your perceived imperfections stop you. Know that you will grow, you will improve, you will get there, just start.

Aim for one step better than you have done before. Don't compare yourself with others, don't aim for their goals. Aim for progress. Take that first step. Make a start.

Remember we are all scared. I genuinely believe that. The fear won't go away, but we can learn to walk alongside it and take action anyway.

Next time you are feeling scared of doing something new, do it anyway. Be prepared for some experimentation!

The good news is that, the more you flex your 'fear-facing' muscles, the easier it becomes.

You design your own destiny

"Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way." - Les Brown

Important or urgent

Dr Stephen Covey created and explained his groundbreaking concept in his book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", and it has helped ordinary people like us to understand the differentiation between urgent and important.

The concept is simple. Simplicity explains it all, as I have mentioned in my previous blog. Plans that you carry out are either important or not important and urgent or not urgent. Before showing you the way that this concept can be used, allow me to take a moment to define the terms. These may seem obvious, but I get a lot of questions about how to determine whether things are important or unimportant.

Urgent is one of the most dependable on individual of all concepts. Whether things are urgent often depends upon individual’s expectations. This depends upon setting expectations, personal management and a whole variety of other things that are discussed elsewhere. However, keep this in mind that you must always align your personal goals to this, as it can clearly help you prioritise the urgency level.

Not Urgent is easy to define. There is no deadline, and there is no penalty for not getting the task done today. Till now, you’ll know that categorizing things this way can be the most expensive mistake of all! As you most important goal may be unconsciously being thrown into this category.

Important is also easy enough to define. These are things that are definitely worth our time and need our attention. They need to get done, and will clearly impact the value of what’s in our goals.

Not Important is a little harder to define. My definition is that these are tasks that are meaningless and insignificant to do. They may be important at some level, but just not important that you do them.

Every task in your day can be ranked and categorized by using the boxes on this grid:

Urgent and Important: Top left consist of things that are both urgent and important. This doesn't represent a Strategic Time Management problem, as these are things that need to get done immediately. They are important and because they are urgent they are going to get taken care of.

Urgent and Not Important: Bottom left consist of things that are urgent and need attention, but they are not important for you to do. "Not Important" means, they are meaningless and insignificant and do not belong in your day. They are urgent and call for attention, but not yours.

Not Urgent and Not Important: Bottom right finds us spending our time is on things that are neither urgent nor important. These things have somehow found their way into our day and we tend to work on them for the easy, and often fictitious, view of progress that crossing them off our list provides.

Not Urgent and Important: Top right is the key quadrant. In this box lie the key activities that we should be doing that will make a difference in our business. Unfortunately, we get to them last because we are driven by ‘The Tyranny of The Urgent’, and this box is where we need to spend more time.

I shared this to hopefully help you, who are struggling with time management. I hope that this will help you define your plans according to the quadrants :)

The Ultimate Sophistication...

..is simplicity.

If you are starting on the road of entrepreneurship, my advice is start with simplicity in mind.

Most budding entrepreneurs (I used to think that way too) feel that to start a business must involves with providing very intricate products or solutions, which requires talent and expertise.

They will back it up by saying that, if it was easy, everyone could have own a business. They don’t understand that in most cases it’s not the simplicity that sells but it’s the ingenious application of simplicity.

Clean, straight lines are in and less is more. This has been holding true now and forever.

Feeling overwhelmed by work, personal life and family, have always been a struggle for most of us. We want simple, easy and light. Zero down and no contract lure in our non-committal society.

The times of hard-copy manuals are over and now everything is mostly self-explanatory and user friendly. And they are most appealing to us.

We want to save time and gain space. Books about minimizing and organizing are in. We want to do more with less.

We will always crave for the white space, the place where our minds can rest uninterrupted for at least a little time in our days.

That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.
-Steve Jobs

“Simplicity takes work” says Ken Segall in his book Think Simple.

Simple designs, which look like they were created impromptu had probably taken more time to be produced than the more complicated ones. Simplicity is the KEY that made Apple start thriving again and made us wait in lines for their new products, which by the way has never come with a manual.

I started my online business with simplicity in mind. People nowadays do not like complex stuffs.

Two seemingly simple actions, which people didn’t want to do — they wanted to have ready to use webages and they were willing to pay for them.

Ignoring those who were saying that what I was doing was too simple to be true and others saying that those marketing technique had been done before, SFM and LiveLife-ToTheFullest will keep thriving in its simple way to help like-minded people in the community to thrive.

Never force the details and the intricacies.

Change your thought that you have to do all the work to deserve the payoff. Online businesses is not a tit for tat game. The amount of work you put in may not equal to the payoff and sometimes simplicity gets the largest reward with leverage.