Does Multitasking Help You or Hurt You?

This is an important topic that should be evaluated for each business owner, entrepreneur, or worker for that matter. We all have so many things to do on our list and sometimes we don't know where to start. But before we tackle our list, we need to ask ourselves some questions. 

• When is the best time of day that you are most focused?
• What items on your to-do list have a high-value importance?
• Can anyone else on my team assist me with these items? Can I get some assistance?
• How many items on my to-do list can I get done within a 3 to 4-hour period?

So let's answer some of these questions hypothetically. The best time of day that you are most focused is usually after you wake up. This is the best time that I can get things done for myself and for my business or for my clients and usually, this is the time that I use to get the most important things done. Once these tasks are completed, my stress level is diminished quite rapidly. Now let's say I have chores to do, breakfast to prepare, business proposals to complete, or emails to answer - I will usually ask my husband to help with some of these tasks so that I can complete everything promptly for that day. His response is usually, I will prepare coffee or breakfast because he supports me in all that I do. I support him and he supports my endeavors. But we are a team and for us to be successful, you have to know when to ask for help. If I can at least complete three or four big tasks, this will help me jump on one task for the next day to get me ahead. This creates a better focus on what I am doing at the moment instead of trying to multitask. Multitasking isn't suggested when focus is important. 

Distractions That Can Help with Focus

So working throughout your day can be tiresome, especially if you are working six to eight hours a day. Have you ever re-read the same sentence over and over because you lack energy or don't feel awake? This is me sometimes when I do not take a break. Let's take a look at some tips that will help to get you rejuvenated. 

• Get some fresh air or go outside to help with renewed energy.
• Usually, after any physical activity, focus levels will rise. 
• Try to remove distractions such as social media, and receiving text messages and/or calls during high productivity.

I hope this helps and gets you on a step to continue making things easier when planning out your days. 

Please share this with someone who could benefit from this information. 

Love Shell

Where Am I Now...

Hello Everyone! 

How are you all? I wanted to take this time to let you know how things are going. Some days are a struggle with trying to get things done and others are a success. But, we have to remember we am building habits for ourselves. One of the best things that I have started doing is when I jump out of bed, I go straight to the shower and get revived with a warm or hot shower. This is my time to stretch, wash up, and allow myself to wake up to get going. I usually like to pop my neck or back when I am in there. It makes me feel good. This is my highlight of the morning. I have started stacking habits together, this helps! So my habit I stack with getting ready is taking my daily vitamin after I get my clothes on. On the mirror of my vanity, there is a blue sticky that has my daily affirmations. The location of my affirmations and getting ready is all part of it. This is why these are associated together with my morning routine because of the location of where I am getting ready. Successful habit stacking I call it! Below you will see how the morning prayers kind of gets lost during the morning routine, so I will continue to work on where exactly should I put it so that it becomes a successful habit. 

Daily Morning Routine:

• Get Ready
• Take Vitamin
• Affirmations
• Prayer
• Coffee 
• Breakfast
• Start My Day

Then, I try to evaluate if this habit is part of what I am trying to move towards, if is it aligned with my goals and the realities of my successful routines. And if it isn't, then it is time to determine whether it is worth my time. Sometimes, I choose not to do things every day or sparingly (possible three to four times a day) to prevent burnout. I do want to talk about my progress of putting more photos into my home than leaving them on my cellphone. What a fabulous idea! 

I have finally displayed some photos in my home that were taken in January. This was such a great idea! Now when I see these photos, I am constantly reminded of these precious moments that I love! What a great way to show your guests and visitors this type of art! The good thing is that I got these photos uploaded and printed from FreePrints.com. Here is my coupon code:

speshlakai7140

That is all I have for this week! It is good to talk about things we are working on and what needs improvement. I am constantly a work in progress.

Have a blessed week! 

Love Shell

Emotional Roller Coaster and Grief

I'd like to talk about how I got to where I am today. About 18 years ago February 16th, (which is in a few days), my father passed away. So, I am dedicating this blog to him and my goal is to help others who need some guidance in tough or dark times. I will tell you that this has been the hardest road that I have ever had to travel just to be able to function as a normal person. Healing was not easy by any means, but if I did it, you can heal too, as long as you are patient with yourself. 

At one point, I turned to a counselor, because I was depressed. I had to rely on medication because depression was affecting my day-to-day life. Some of the easiest daily activities became difficult for me to do. Healing is not easy, but things can get better as long as you allow yourself some time. Here are some tips that have helped me get better mentally, emotionally, and physically:

• Talk to someone like a counselor or a therapist about your mental health during this difficult time. Let them know where you are mentally and where you want to be.
• Reach out to other people like friends or family who have been in a similar situation and ask them how they were able to cope with the death of a friend or family member. 
• Remember the good times and memories about time spent with this loved one and talk about these times with friends or family members. This helped me heal and I love talking about my father and the person he was and how life and passing impacted me as a child into my adult life. 
• Give yourself grace and keep in mind that everyone copes differently. Remember to be patient with yourself. There is no timeline that it takes to get to a good stable place. 
• Pray! Prayer helped me tremendously.
• Lastly, keep in mind that it never gets better with grief, but with faith, it does get easier to deal with in life. 

I love my parents and am grateful that I still have my mom and glad I had good times with my dad when he was here! My mental health has improved because I know he is in a better place and is not suffering. I do miss him a lot, though! I know I will see him again one day and this helps me talk about it without crying which tells me that I have healed. I am so grateful to God for this.

I hope this helps someone and please share with someone that could benefit. Thank you!

Love Shell

Communication is Key!

Communicating is something we take for granted, whether it is related to work or hanging out with friends. Using verbal cues is crucial to how we get our point across indirectly whether we mean to make them obvious or not.  Have you ever walked into a store and the lady at the counter says, "Hello, what can I help you with?" or how about, "Hello, hi there! How are you today? I love that shirt you have on! Rolling Stones is my all-time favorite band! What brings you in today? Is there something I can help you find?" Which person would you like to do business with? Or who would you like to engage in conversation with?

This brings me to what I learned back when I was 16 years old as a sales associate for Just For Feet and Finish Line. You have less than three seconds to address someone when they walk into your business or when you have an agenda to accomplish. This can be done with grace or take a turn for the worse. So let's just be kind and see where this will lead us. 

Communicating with a sense of understanding someone regardless of whether it is related to us or not, is how it all starts just by listening. This can make or break a conversation with someone if you decide to not listen to them. 

My question today is: why are some people hard to deal with or simply unwilling to cooperate? Their behavior may be complicated, frustrating, or downright terrible, but the reasons can be quite simple. It may be caused by past traumatic experiences: struggling with something in their life, or a previous abusive relationship, which can include emotional, physical, mental, or verbal abuse, causing emotional pain that can't be seen. This leads me to believe that they have not completely healed and until they do they hurt others as they have been hurt.

My previous experiences with abuse were not pretty by any means. I had to undergo counseling and turned to my church as well. However I did this for myself, and not for anyone else. I did not want to continue to take my hurt out on anyone else. It wasn't always clear to others, but it was necessary for me and a benefit that I would be able to share with people later on. I believe that forgiveness is the foundation of being a Christian. Without this ability, can we really be strong Christians? We are all human and continue to make mistakes. 

My advise is be kind and give each other grace as God does to all of us! 

Love Shell

Scatter Brained and Worn Out...BLAH!

So we just started the year, where do you find yourself trying to meet a portion of your goals to set you up for the next month. I think sometimes I need to scale myself down a bit and remember that I can wear myself out or tell myself to take a break. We are all there once, twice, or multiple times throughout the year. So what do you do? Here are a few things that I like to do when I get overwhelmed. 

• Take a bubble bath, get a facial, get your hair done, get your nails done, and/or get a massage. 
• Go out to dinner with friends or family. 
• Go get a coffee with a friend and have a treat.
• Meet a friend in a place that allows you to chat, share your situation, and gain some advice.
• Take a nap.

Yes, I work hard some days that I forget to take a break. You see a goal and you work hard to get to the end result. It can be tedious and nerve-racking but we have to remember that we are human. We have to learn that it will be there tomorrow. Our families and overall health are more important not only to ourselves but also to our family and friends. So get up and walk away from the computer! I forget to tell myself this from time to time. It is okay. We learn that after our backs hurt from looking at a screen for nine hours straight. My husband tells me, "Shell, get up! Get away from the laptop and come eat a snack." So with that being said, I am guilty of this too! 

Tips to Prevent Burnout:

• Set Clear Work Hours For Yourself. Do not work during the other hours that are set for family time, cleaning chores, dinner time, doing the things that you love, exercising, or even the time you set for preparing to go to bed. This all has to be a good balance in your life. 
• Try Not To Answer E-mails or Phone Calls During Non-business Hours. What I mean is exactly what I am saying and that is don't answer your business call during dinnertime. I understand that there are extreme situations such as emergencies but do not make this a habit. Because you will find yourself not ever leaving work and you will eventually burn yourself out. Now if you feel that you need to address that email, make sure you pre-schedule it to go out the next morning during business hours. Not everything is urgent and you need to make clear that your clients know that you have set hours of operation.  
• Find a Time to Manage Your Weekly Schedule. This means that each Sunday or pick another day that works for you, take time out of your busy schedule to see what meetings you may have that are important. Do you have this blocked out of your calendar so that no one sets up any other appointments during this time? By doing this, it prevents from having conflicts. This is a win-win situation not only for yourself but your client or anyone else that you are meeting. I think this is very important and sets you up as a very professional business person. 
• Make Sure You Are Taking Vacation. Many years ago, I would cash in my vacation days thinking that it would help me get ahead. Boy, was I wrong! Taking time away from work to go on vacation was the BEST way to go! This time helps you to re-group, relax, getaway, and remember that work will be there when you get back. 

Honestly, my experience with burnout is what helps me balance all the things that I choose in my life. I am still building my routines and figuring out what works and what doesn't. Balance is what helps me stay where I need to be. I am a work in progress and life is constantly changing. 

Love Ya 

Shell

It is Time to Re-Evaluate!

 Hello Everyone! 

It is time to re-evaluate your goals. Here are some questions that I use to ask myself, "How am I doing?" 

• What is working for you and what is not working for you? 
• Are you keeping a record of what you are doing and what you are not doing? 
• How is your day going? 
• Are you able to get things done within a day? 
• What part of your day are you most productive? 
• Are you trying to accomplish too many things at one time or are you trying to rush through your tasks? 
• What tasks are valuable to who you are trying to become or is it not worth it?

All of these questions help me determine how I am doing. This is an important process when it comes to finding out how things are going with your goals. Without this process, you could be setting yourself up for failure or discouragement. So make the time to keep a record of your daily process and how it will affect you accomplishing your goals. 

While goals can seem appropriate at the time of setting them primarily, sometimes after re-evaluating how you are doing this could make them seem vague. What I mean is your goals need to be more specific. Here is an example:

My goal is to get out of debt. What exactly are you doing to do to get out of debt? This is a vague goal and many things could be done to accomplish this goal. But, how long are you giving yourself to attain this accomplishment? What tasks will allow you to help meet your end goal? So let's re-write this more specifically.

Specific and Timely:

My goal is to increase my credit score by 50 points to get it past 800. This goal will take me about six months and some tasks will include paying my credit cards at least less than 20% or in full each month. I will try to pay my balance three days before the due date or as soon as I can when the money is available. 

This is more attainable within the time given and you know what needs to happen. Tracking your payments each month, re-evaluating your tracking process, and having more specific goals allow your accomplishments more successful. This all works hand-in-hand for you to become the best you! So with that, go set some goals and set yourself for success.

I hope this helps! And, I hope you have a blessed day! 

Love Shell

Photos are Important!

Hello Everyone! 

I want to talk about photos today. What purpose do they serve? How does it impact you to look at previous photos from previous years? How does it make you feel to see one of your friends or family members who aren't here with us today? Is this art or how does it impact your living space? How do you feel about memories and is it important to personalize your space whether it be your home or even your work space? 

PRINT THEM

We are in a time when we take photos and never print them out. They stay in our phones or never get printed to hang up or put in a frame that sets as a reminder of what we need to be grateful for daily. I have decided that I am changing this to print out photos when given the chance. I will have a basket of photos that my family and friends will get to look at when they come over. Some will be hung during the holidays and some will be placed into frames on a shelf, I know that I will do this more often because I want to see their beautiful faces. I am going to do better this year.

ART / PERSONALIZE YOUR SPACE

Many times when you have a photo taken by a photographer, he or she takes their camera and captures and communicates emotionally through their artistic talent. This is clearly art because it is what the artist exemplifies in their photograph. I have taken many photos and I always see photos that need to be made into black and white or a sepia colored photo. By personalizing my space, this helps me remember what is most important to my life. This provides a clear mind to help me remember what my goals are. 

These are just a few of the reasons why I will be making more opportunities as a way to print out the photos that are most important to me. I hope you take this time to do this too. Let's not keep our photos on our phones and keep them lingering in our homes and personal spaces. Time is precious and we are not promised tomorrow. 

Love Shell