Should You Rest or Push Through

There is a difference between just not feeling like it, and not feeling like it because you need to rest.

I think knowing the difference can get easier over time but if you’ve always done one or the other, the answer might not be so obvious.

So here are 5 questions to ask yourself to help you figure out if what you need is a kick in the butt, or a break.

Is my health suffering?

Physical, mental, emotional; If any of these areas have been suffering lately because of the amount of work or things you are doing, its a big red flag that you need to rest.

Feeling overly emotional, super impatient, easily triggered, or struggling with mental clarity, fatigue or low energy are signs you might need a rest.

Conversely, is your health suffering because you haven’t been pushing through? Maybe its the workout, healthy meal or therapy session you need to follow through on because otherwise, your state of health isn’t going to get any better.

Have I already done a lot?

Have you already done an extra full days work or is it 9:30am and you just have what my husband calls the f*ck-its?

(Its important to note that if you are someone who typically prioritizes work and productivity and struggles to slow down, simply not feeling like it may be your brains way of saying its needs a rest from work.)

Have I been denying myself rest or self care?

My type A, Generators, Enneagram 1s, Upholders….I am talking to you. (and yes, to myself). Hustle culture is actually making us less productive! If you don’t prioritize rest or self care on a daily basis, what you need is a break!

What is the consequence of not doing this task now?

Its possible that you really do need a break. But this is the real world and its also possible that you just have to get this thing done. So weight out the consequences of both options and see which one you can live with.

Are we talking burning out in order to post for the 3rd time on IG? Or getting an hour less sleep to finish an important project?

Is it possible to reschedule these things without any major problems?

I said major problems. There might be some inconveniences but when you truly need a break, its your health thats on the line so make sure that you are not putting everyone else need above your own.

And yes, I am talking to myself there again.

The easiest was to be able to have the flexibility to reschedule when necessary is to make sure you are managing your life and time in a planner. The Life Book planner was created for the busy entrepreneur with a full life and lots go goals. Complete day planner and goal planner in one it will keep you organized, on track and productive. Go here to learn more!

You can also test it out for free here!

Ultimately, people often struggle with one or the other. If you find yourself rarely taking a break, then not feeling like it is probably a sign to do so. On the flip side, if you often find yourself making excuses to quit, stop or give up, some extra accountability might be good for you.

We usually know which one we are.

That being said, both situations can arise and its helpful to have some questions to ask ourselves to help figure out the best course of action!

Jennifer

p.s. If you enjoyed this post and would like access to daily free content on all things organization and productivity, you can find me on IG @organized_owl.

What You Need To Know About Motivation.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

We know by now that internal motivation can be fleeting. Its strong when we get inspired and set a goal but it can disappear as the days and weeks go on.

Most of us need to find an external source of motivation to keep us going, a form of accountability that gives us the push we need to act.

But what if there was a way to boost your internal motivation? Or at the very least keep it higher as you work towards your goals?

Well there is, and it starts with your mindset, not willpower or self discipline.

Your mindset determines how you interpret and respond to situations and your motivation is the desire or drive you have to do a particular task or behaviour.

So your mindset determines how motivated you are to do a particular behaviour. Meaning, it determines how you respond to the fact that you need to do this thing to achieve your goal.

Since your mindset is based on the beliefs you hold, the ones you have around what it takes to achieve your goals and how hard it will be, affects the motivation you have to do the things you need to do to reach your goals.

So what does this look like in real life?

If you think it’s hard, you will have a harder time finding the motivation.

If you think you’re going to fail anyway, you will struggle to find motivation.

If you think its a drag, your motivation will dip.

Everything about our ‘reality’ is actually just a reflexion of our own perceptions.

Of course, internal motivation is not the single key to success, most of us need some outer forms of accountability to motivate us along, at some point. Things like coaches, mentors or a really good planner, like the Life Book Planner, that holds us accountable to our to do list.

But imagine how much easier it would be if you had more internal motivation?

So how is your mindset around your goals? Does it help your motivation or hurt it?

Jennifer

How To Find Accountability That Works For You

Accountability, follow through achieve your goals, how to stop quitting

If you are reading this, chances are you struggle to follow through and are no stranger to the feeling of failure and frustration that comes with not achieving what you desire.

I don’t need to tell you how valuable it is to know how to hold yourself accountable to the things you need to do in order to achieve your goals. But you may be struggling to find accountability that actually works for you.

Because here’s the thing, what works for each person is going to be different.

What’s effective for you personally is going to be depend on 2 things:

Your personality type
What motivates you personally.

Your Personality Type

You might be familiar with personality types like Enneagrams but you may not know that there are 4 different ones when it comes to how we respond to expectations.

Gretchin Rubin, who wrote The 4 Tendencies, discovered in her research that people fall into 1 of 4 categories when it comes to how they respond to both inner and outer expectations.

Upholders are people who respond well to both. Meaning they generally have no trouble following through for their own personal desires (inner expectations) and for other people (outer expectations). Obligators are great at responding to others expectations but struggle to follow through for their own, which means they often find it difficult to achieve personal goals. Questionners are the opposite of Obligers; They have no problem responding to their own expectations but tend to resist others expectations of them unless the reason behind it makes sense to them. Hence they tend to ask a lot of questions before doing anything because they want to know if it truly makes sense first. And lastly, Rebels resist both inner and outer expectation. They do things because they want to and once something feels expected of them, whether by someone else or themselves, they resist following though.

If you are here, you are likely an Obliger or a Rebel.

(If you are not sure which one you are, head on over here to take a quick quiz to find out! With your results you will get a list of ideas on what exactly you can do to hold yourself accountable.)

Your Personality

Everything from being an introvert or extrovert, to what you find motivating to the lifestyle you enjoy are going to have an impact on what kinds of accountability works for you.

We are all so unique, some people like Shaun T and some like Chalene Johnson, if you know what I mean.

So take some time to think about your likes and dislikes, the things that motivate you and how you like to live your life. Look at the list of ideas from the quiz results and consider which ones appeal to you (note: Its accountability, so by appeal I mean effective).

This might look like: You are an Obliger that is motivated by tough love, so you hire a personal trainer that has an intense bootcamp style.

Or you are a Rebel that is motivated by seeing their own progress so you create a chart you put up on your wall where you track your results.

For many reasons, figuring all this out can be overwhelming or confusing for a lot of people. Which is why I created the Accountability Club. If you are struggling to figure out what works for you, head on over here to check out the Club.

Not only will you figure out what works for you, you will find most of it available to you inside the club, along with community, support and a ton of knowledge to help you from everything to organization and productivity to mindset and growing your business.

We’d love to have you join our tribe!

Jennifer

What It Takes To Achieve A Goal

The secret sauce to accomplishing all you want

What it takes to achieve a goal. Goal setting. Accomplishing dreams.

Its really a shame that goal planning is not taught in schools because while its not complicated, there are a few important elements and leaving one out can make things harder then they need to be.

I would honestly say that of the items I am going to cover below, only 2 are non-negotiable but not having or doing the others will greatly increase your chances of giving up.

Notice I didn’t say failure…

The only way you can fail, is by giving up. You will not achieve every goal you set out to do, even if you do it all right. For some you will miss the mark slightly and for others you will make so little progress that you go backwards.

But all that is, is knowledge you take with you in the next goals you choose to go after.

So first, the 2 non-negotiables:

The right mindset and a good plan

Mindset is EVERYTHING.

If you don’t believe it, you will. not. achieve. it.

We all have limiting beliefs and if we don’t work through them they will forever hinder our progress in our personal growth and our goals.

So before you do anything else, get your mind in the right space.

Personally, I think therapy is the fastest and most effective way to do this, but do whatever works for you.

Secondly, you need a good plan. A plan that gives you clarity on what exactly you have to be doing every day to reach your goal. Now, when working on big goals its not ideal to plan it all out from beginning to end right away because you really don’t know how things are going to go, but you need a detailed plan for your first action steps.

In order to be able to make that plan your goal has to be measurable and specific and you also have to have done the research to find out what exactly you need to do.

Of course, no amount of research will prepare you for everything that may come up, but it goes a long way to getting you started off on the right foot.

If goal planning has you stymied or you’re asking what the heck does measure and specificity mean, head on over here to find out what all this means.

Nothing that is worth it, comes easy

Ok, so I fibbed…

There is a 3rd thing that is absolutely non-negotiable.

You have to be willing to put in a little hard work. If achieving goals was easy, everyone would be doing it. Certainly doing it the right way makes things waaayyy easIER but not easy. You need to be determined and you will need to apply some self discipline. Motivation will get you started but self discipline will help you get through the moments you just don’t feel like it.

And oh boy, there will be moments that you get what my husband calls the *uck-its.

Carry on, it will be insanely worth it in the end. I promise with all my heart.

The slightly less then non-negotiables

You could, technically take the first 3 things now and get to work.

But you will struggle.

I know, because I did. Big time.

The single biggest game changer (besides a mindset shift) for me was getting and using the right planner. The magic of a planner is that it addresses all of the other elements to some degree to make things easier for you.

It will make goal planning simple and efficient, it keeps you focused on your goal tasks so that you don’t need to rely solely on willpower to keep moving forward and seeing your plan laid out and you actively working on it each day will help you shift your beliefs.

And most importantly it incorporates the last important element; accountability.

A good planner allows you to plan your goals and to implement that plan AND it keeps you focused on your goal tasks by making them a non optional part of your day. Therefore, it holds your accountable.

Research shows that writing things down makes them more concrete in your mind and makes it more likely that you will do them. Also, seeing your goal related to-do’s written down in front of you every day in the same space that you write the things you have to get done in, makes your brain feel like they are as important as the essentials, like groceries and paying rent.

Basically it tricks you brain into thinking that you can’t just put it off.

Now, the key is finding a planner that allows you to do all of this. The biggest problem is finding one with adequate space to plan all your goals for the year.

Honestly, I never found one. So I made my own that has that space, as well as a monthly and weekly calendar layout that has place for writing in goal related tasks and due dates AND place to organize and track all the other areas of my life.

Essentially, it has all you need to organize your life, plan out and implement your goals and enough extra space to personalize it to suit you.

If that sounds like a wonderful unicorn that you just can’t let get away, to learn more or to get yours, go here.

(Can you tell that I’m in love with my planner?…haha Seriously though, it changed my life.)

If you already have a planner that will work, then awesome, you’re one step closer to smashing through any goal you choose!

However you choose to address using a planner, just know that you will need accountability to achieve your goals. There are several ways to do this but visual reminders, planning rewards or having an accountability partner are common ways you can build this in. You may have to play around with this a bit, but find out what holds you to your goals and make sure you utilize it.

So now you know what it takes, the only thing stopping you is deciding to go for it.

‘It’ being whatever your little heart desires!

Jennifer

Need some extra help or motivation to achieve your goals? Join my Facebook group Goals for Greatness where you will find a ton of free tips and tricks to help you reach your goals, as well as an awesome group of ambitious, like minded people just like you there to support you along the way.

Yes! I want to join the Community!