The 6 Stages to change your Behavior

Let’s look at the six stages of change, together with an example that will show you how the model works in practice:

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8 Reasons to Find Joy in Your Job

Having fun at work place can light the mood to start the productive week. You can start with having a fun conversation, sharing jokes with your colleagues to strengthen relationships or having lunch or dinner with team to break away from a busy week. Fun is all about satisfaction, doing new things, stretching your mind, and building productive relationships with others. Below are the reasons why you should put joy in your job.

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7 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Do Before 7 a.m.

1. They’re wide awake

Successful entrepreneurs like Richard Branson are known for waking up bright and early.

"I have always been an early riser. Like keeping a positive outlook, or keeping fit, waking up early is a habit, which you must work on to maintain. Over my 50 years in business I have learned that if I rise early I can achieve so much more in a day, and therefore in life," explains the Virgin Group founder.

When you're awake before 7 a.m. you have the time to check the news, gather your thoughts, or exercise. This prevents you from rushing out the door every morning feeling frazzled and unfocused.

Waking up early means that you have to stop hitting the snooze button by getting enough sleep each night - preferably between 7 and 9 hours. Besides ensuring that you're an early riser, getting the appropriate amount of sleep improves your health, memory, learning, productivity, and mood. It may even help you make fewer risky financial decisions, reduce stress, and decrease fat and increase muscle mass with exercise.

2. Avoid your phone

This may sound crazy, but there a couple of perfectly valid reasons for not reaching for your phone first thing in the morning. For starters, placing it next to yourself throughout the night can interrupt your sleep because of the light the screen emits or the notifications that go off throughout the night.

Additionally, diving into your inbox or social media channels can be stressful and distract you from setting your personal priorities. Instead of setting your goals for the day, you're frantically responding to an angry email from a client. That's not the best way to start your day.

3. Exercise or meditate          

Yes. Whether if it's going for run, lifting weights, plunging into a 57-degree Fahrenheit pool, yoga or reciting oms, regular exercise or meditation reduces stress, makes you happier, increases your energy, helps you sleep better, gives your immune system a boost, and prevents you from developing future health concerns like heart disease.

However, just as important for an entrepreneur, exercising and meditating each morning can help you focus on what you need to achieve throughout the day and develop new ideas.

5. Lift your spirits

Some mornings you just don't want to roll out of bed. The weather's crummy and you had a major setback. It's not the end of the world, but it's enough to kill your motivation for the next couple of days.

That's why successful entrepreneurs practice lifting their spirits each morning. Whether it's reading an inspiring book, memorizing motivational quotes, working on a passion project, or writing down your thoughts or experiences in a journal or blog, take a couple of minutes every morning to get in the right mindset before tackling the day.

If those tactics aren't effective, write down the things that you're grateful for.

"The five-minute journal is a therapeutic intervention, for me at least, because I am that person," says Tim Ferriss, entrepreneur and author of The 4-Hour Workweek. "That allows me to not only get more done during the day but to also feel better throughout the entire day, to be a happier person, to be a more content person -- which is not something that comes naturally to me."

6. Set your goals and priorities

Every Monday morning set your goals for the week. Each day for the rest of the week write down the goals and priorities that need to happen that day. Think about how you're going to accomplish those goals while in the shower, jogging or whenever you have quiet time to yourself.

The most effective way to cross items off your to-do list is by starting with the hardest task - or the task that you're dreading the most. Procrastinating on those tasks just leaves them for tomorrow. Get them done and over with now so that you can keep moving forward.

7. Get down to business.

Finally, it's time to get down to business. You can now grab your phone and read and send emails, pop-in on social media, check the news involving your industry, and review metrics, such as the previous day's sales. That data may alter your to-do-list, but because you got a headstart, you'll be prepared and ready when it's time to enter the office.

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15 Time Management Tips for Achieving Your Goals

What are the best tips for managing your time?

One of the biggest problems that most entrepreneurs have isn't just in how they can get enough done in such a demanding market, but also how they maintain some semblance of balance without feeling too overworked. This isn't just about achieving and going after goals around the clock. This is also about quality of life.

Balance is key. If you lack balance in your life, you're going to feel stressed out. Even if you're able to effectively juggle your responsibilities, without proper balance you're going to eventually reach your breaking point. So, it's important to not only follow a system that will help you get things done, but also one where you prioritize personal and family time.

Don't forget to do things like take a walk in the park or just sit and listen to your favorite music with headphones on, or paint a picture, go on a date night and so on. That's more important than you can think. And when you do that, you achieve some semblance of balance. Life is short. So don't ignore those things while you reach for your bigger goals. With that said, here are 15 crucial time management tips for getting the proverbial job done.

1. Set goals the right way.

There's a right and wrong way to set goals. If you don't set your goals the right way, then you'll lack the proper targets, which will force you to fall off track. But when you set them the right way, the sky is the limit. Use the SMART goal setting method to help you see things through. And when you do set those goals, make sure you have powerful deep down meanings for wanting to achieve them.

2. Find a good time management system.

One of the tips for managing your time is to find the right system to actually do it. The quadrant time-management system is probably the most effective. It splits your activities into four quadrants based on urgency and importance. Things are either urgent or important, both, or neither. Neither (quadrant 4) are the activities that you want to stay away from, but it's the not-urgent-but-important quadrant (2) that you want to focus on.

3. Audit your time for seven days straight.

Spend seven days straight assessing how you spend the time you do have right now. What are you doing? Record it in a journal or on your phone. Split this up into blocks of 30 minutes or an hour. What did you get done? Was it time wasted? Was it well spent? If you use the quadrant system, circle or log the quadrant that the activity was associated with. At the end of the seven days, tallies up all the numbers. Where did you spend the most time? Which quadrants? The results might shock you.

4. Spend your mornings on MITs.

Mark Twain once said, "If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first." His point? Tackle your biggest tasks in the morning. These are your most important tasks (MITs) of the day. Accomplishing those will give you the biggest momentum to help you sail through the rest of the day.

5. Follow the 80-20 rule.

Another great time management tip is to use the 80-20 Rule, also known as the Pareto Principle. This rule states that 80% of the efforts come from 20 percent of the results. In sales, it also means that 80 percent of the sales come from 20 percent of the customers. The trick? Identify the 20 percent of the efforts that are producing 80 percent of the results and scale that out. You can do this with meticulous tracking and analysis.

7. Schedule email response times.

Turn off your email throughout the day. When your email is pouring in, it's easy to get distracted. Schedule time to read and respond to emails. If there's something urgent, someone will call or text you. But when you have your email open, those distractions interrupt your thought flow and it's harder to get back on track.

8. Eliminate bad habits.

One of the biggest time-wasters we have are our bad habits. Whether it's Netflix binge-watching, excessively surfing social media, playing games, going out frequently to drink with friends, or so on, those bad habits take away the precious little time that we do have. Use your time wisely by eliminating your bad habits if you're serious about achieving big goals in life.

9. Take frequent breaks when working.

One study suggests that you should work for 52 minutes and break for 17. You might not have the luxury to do that. But you should take frequent breaks. If you're an entrepreneur working for yourself, this is crucial. It's easy to run on fumes and not even know it. Keep your mental, emotional and physical states at peak levels by breaking frequently.

10. Meditate or exercise every morning.

You might not think that this will help to better manage your time, but meditating and exercising every single morning gives you balance. Cut the toxins out of your life and get serious by doing this and watch as your energy, stamina and mental focus takes a drastic shift.

11. Make to-do lists in the evening for the next day.

Every single evening before bed, make a list for the next day. Look at your goals and see what you can do to help move you closer. This doesn't happen overnight. It takes time. But by making to-do lists, you're effectively setting goals for the day. Daily goals are easier to achieve while helping to move us towards the longer and bigger goals. But that happens by creating to-do lists

12. Find inspiration when you're feeling lackluster.

Turn to YouTube, TED Talks and any other inspirational source you can turn to when you're lacking inspiration. It's hard to stay on track with your time when you lose that drive inside of you. Find ways you can turn the fire back on by focusing inspiring content and seeking out others who've achieved big goals.

13. Get a mentor who can guide you.

Finding a mentor is crucial. It's easy to get distracted and dissuaded when you don't have someone guiding you. But when you can personally rely on someone who's been through the wringer and can help you achieve your goals, it's easier to stay on track with your time. Find a good mentor that can help you along your path.

14. Turn off social media app alerts.

Incessant social media app alerts aren't helping you with your time. It's definitely hurting you. Turn them off. You don't need alerts every moment or to know everything happening with your friends. It's not important. What's most important is to have some peace of mind and be better able to focus on the task at hand.

15. Declutter and organize.

Studies have determined that clutter in our environment helps us to lose focus. When we lose focus, we lose time. If you want to avoid that, declutter and organize. Don't do it all at once. Start small. One drawer today. A shelf tomorrow. Maybe a closet the next day. Just one per day. You build momentum and eventually find yourself turning into an organizing warrior.

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6 Ways to Live a Life of Passion and Adventure Right Now

It hasn’t all been great. I’ve made a lot of mistakes. Through those mistakes, though, I’ve come up with these 7 life lessons that you can use whether you’re living abroad, wanting to live abroad, or just wanting a new adventure.

1. Just do it.

Just pick up and move if you want to move. Just put your resume out there and start interviewing if you want to find another job. If you want to write a book, just do it already!

Will it be easy? Maybe, maybe not. Will it be rewarding? Absolutely.

Do what it takes to prepare. The point is to actually take action rather than just planning it in your mind for months or years and constantly making excuses as to why you “can’t” do it.

2. When faced with sink or swim, choose swim.

The way that people drive in Costa Rica is a cross between Mission Impossible car chases and Motocross (jumps included). I came from Los Angeles, and most people think that L.A. has the worst drivers. Not so much.

If you don’t swim, you crash, or you cause an accident to happen and you put yourself and others in danger. You must drive like a maniac, and you must get used to it. You must swim.

This obviously goes for any cultural differences. First observe, then learn, and then swim. It’s always more fun to enjoy the culture from the inside.

3. Erase expectations from your mind.

When I thought of Costa Rica, I thought of white sand beaches, constant sunlight, and beautiful sunsets. What it actually is for me: living a mile-high in a rainforest, constant clouds (and rain of course), and really cold. I’m not sure they could be more opposite.

What I have gained, though, is a newfound love of nature. I used to be so scared of nature growing up because I’ve always lived in cities. The only nature I knew about was in scary movies, and you know what happens to people in scary movies when they’re out in nature!

Maintain an open mind. You never know where life will take you, and for what reason.

4. Make mistakes as often as possible.

When speaking Spanish, I was scared I would say something incorrectly and that people would make fun of me for it. Then I realized I’m never going to learn by being quiet and only speaking Spanish in my head. My vocabulary and fluency have grown immensely since making that decision.

When doing something new, it’s best to just get out there and start making as many mistakes as you can. You will mess up, and people will correct you, and you will learn.

5. Live in a constant state of wonder.

When we move somewhere new or start at a new job, our world is full of excitement and wonder, right? Everything is so cool! You tell all of your friends and family all about it.

Then, as time passes on, it starts to become more normal. The excitement fades and the wonder disappears.

Even if you have lived in the same area or worked at the same company for a long time, there are still wonders to be discovered and exciting things to see. Try to put on some wonder-glasses, and attempt to see your “same” world as a whole new world.

You’ll be amazed by what happens.

6. Stay in touch with those you love.

It’s really easy to get caught up in a new adventure and forget to keep in touch. However, I’ve learned that it’s so important that family and friends know that I’m always thinking about them and that I miss them. Plus, it always feels so good to hear their voice and see their face through Skype.

If you asked me a year and a half ago what I thought I would be doing, this would have never even been on the radar. It’s not until we take the leap of faith (with a bit of planning) that we really reap the benefits.

It hasn’t been all great things, and there have been some big struggles along the way, but in the end it always ends up better when you go for your dreams.

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Sometimes, Honesty Is Not The Best Policy

The truth is, there are some advantages to lying; and they aren’t always for self-gain. Sometimes people choose to lie to protect others and spare their feelings. Because let’s face it, the truth hurts. Why do we even lie? 
We all need to take a moment to be honest with ourselves and admit that we all lie. It is in our innate nature to deceive and sometimes protect. Yes, we sometimes tell lies to cover up bad behavior, manipulate others, or rise to power and attain what we want. But we also lie to spare the feelings of others, avoid unnecessary conflict, or to simply brighten up someone’s day.

Dishonesty is in our nature. 
Researchers believe that the act of lying came into play after the development of language. It is the evolution of deceptive strategy, just as animals use camouflage to deceive their predators or prey. In terms of efficiency, lying is the easiest way to rise to power and attain resources. If your enemy is larger and stronger than you, then physical force will not be very effective. But if you are able to outwit and manipulate your enemy; not only can you acquire their resources, but make them believe that it was their idea own idea.

How often do we lie? 
This of course is relative to the individual. The frequency of lying was first documented by social psychologist Bella DePaulo. She asked 147 individuals to record their blips of dishonesty throughout the day. On average, her subjects lied at least twice a day. The lies themselves were relatively harmless in nature; innocuous excuses for instances such as lateness. Or fibs that present a false image; saying that you ran 5 miles instead of the truthful 2.

We’ve been fibbing since we learned to talk. 
In actuality, we are conditioned to lie at a young age. Didn’t your parents tell you to always thank your host for that “delicious” meal that you had to choke down? Social graces aside, it’s still a lie. Children typically learn to lie between the ages of 2-5. Kang Lee, a psychologist from the University of Toronto studied children between the ages of 2-8 to gauge the kind of lies that children tell. When children first begin to lie at the age of 2, it is an indication that they are starting to test out their independence. They lie simply to see what they can get away with. By the age of 8, the children actually have the capacity of lying to spare the feelings of others. The results of the study actually found that these lies are motivated by empathy and compassion rather than deceit and manipulation.

Lying is a reflection of our goals.
Sometimes you don’t even need to open your mouth to tell a lie. A simple facial expression is enough to convey a mistruth. Embellishments, exaggerations, these are the close counterparts to outright lies. But in this case, these lies are almost never malicious. But in fact, a projection of one’s aspirations. In an experiment conducted by Robert Feldman, he questioned a number of students about their grades and efforts in school. Most of them were dishonest about their actual grades. But instead of becoming anxious as most people do amidst a lie, they became incredibly engaged and excited to boast about their achievements.

“We lie if honesty won’t work”- Tim Levine 
Is there a difference between moral and immoral lying? If we’re being honest with ourselves, the answer is a resounding yes. Some lies are well intentioned- meant to protect those who are being lied to. Lying has even been found to have psychological benefits for the liar. Those who are extremely honest with themselves are more prone to depression than those who are not. Overtly honest people are often construed as blunt, sometimes even pathological. There are even interpersonal benefits to be gained from lying and knowing when it is okay to do so. In fact, if someone detects that you have lied to them to protect them, it could increase the trust that they have in you. These well intentioned lies are known as pro-social lies.

Lying for the better good.
Pro-social lying involves four distinct constructs of human capacity: theory of mind, compassion, memory and imagination. In this case, our choice to lie is a result of moral and emotional reasoning. We prioritize kindness over the importance of truth to spare other persons involved. As our brains develop, our moral reasoning progresses at the same rate as self-control as well as cognitive ability. Further still, the most selfless of lies is known as a blue lie. These lies tend to be altruistic falsities that are actually told at the cost of the liar to protect someone else. In this case, we might subject ourselves to punishment for the wrongdoing of others.

Honestly, lying isn’t so bad.
What determines the magnitude of the lie is the intent behind it. Lies that are told to protect others can actually help to strengthen relationships.

Other lies that are told to embellish ones image are detestably harmless. It all boils down to one fact- we all have our reasons for the lies that we tell and the facts that we choose not to share. At the end of the day, what we don’t know won’t hurt us. Sometimes a tiny lie is necessary to ensure that all is well and all runs smoothly.

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How to Start a Small Business at the Beginning

Introduction: Start at the Beginning

So you want to start your own business? Congratulations. Right now, you’re probably focused on all of the great things you associate with business ownership:

§  Financial independence

§  Creative freedom

§  Fully using your skills and knowledge

§  A balanced life with the ability to have time with your family and friends

Right now, you may not be thinking about:

§  Acquiring Customers

§  Keeping Customers

§  Risk (in various forms)

§  Liability (various types)

§  Paperwork (lots of it, even when it’s all done digitally)

§  Competition (from constantly changing directions)

§  Never having enough time

§  Never quite knowing what you don’t know

Starting a business isn’t easy. It takes a lot of motivation, discipline, talent, research, planning and good old-fashioned hard work—before you can even hang your “open for business” sign. The topics covered in this overview just scratch the surface. The links you’ll find will take you a little deeper on a topic, but even then, any small business owner will tell you: You don’t always know what you don’t know.

The difference in starting a business and starting a startup

This is an overview of how to start a business, not how to start a startup. There’s a big difference. We once created a funny GIF “listicle” about the difference in starting a startup and starting a business, but the main difference is this: Startups are all about raising funds. Starting a business is all about having customers who pay you more money than it costs for you to provide the goods or services for that payment. Both kinds of companies are important to the economy. But our focus is on starting businesses, not starting startups.

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