Plan

Some people are so structured and seem to plan every detail of their day. Yet, others tend to fumble around, hoping they don’t miss something vital that they need to do. If you want to learn how to get everything you need to do in a day, there is no secret or magic trick.

It’s not difficult to plan your day, but it takes some determination and a few life-changing tips. Why should you plan your day? Well, here are a few reasons.

Four Excellent Reasons to Plan Your Day

Here are some useful planning tips for implementing today.

1. You’re Better Prepared

When you have everything planned, then you know what to expect. Your goals for the day are clear, and unless something unforeseen arises, you’ve got things covered. When you have a prepared mindset, you will have a higher chance of having a good and productive day.

The problem comes into play when you don’t have a clue what’s going on. You will struggle through the day fighting hard and have a low chance of success. When you wake up ready to tackle the day, you will be motivated and drive to accomplish the tasks at hand.

Your brain needs to be prepared to be able to have full motivation. If you’re in doubt, you should know that this method works, and it will help you finish the tasks you have to do promptly.

2. You Prioritize

How many times have you worked all day long and haven’t seemed to accomplish anything? You might feel like a dog chasing its tail around in circles. You must know that this is a rookie mistake, and it must be avoided.

When you plan, you have the chance to prioritize the tasks you must complete making sure each one is fulfilled. If you don’t have a plan, then you can run in 100 directions and do whatever comes to mind first. When nothing is connected or coherent, your entire day is run very haphazardly.

It’s essential that you give time to the things of the highest priority. When you start your day armed with a plan, then you can make sure that all the urgent tasks are handled. If you need to see a doctor or attend your child’s school play, then you can ensure those tasks get worked into your day too.

The fact is that you can get where you need to be, and you don’t have to compromise your responsibilities to yourself or your family to do so.

3. Improves Time Management

Your day and productivity level come down to your time management. Do you need to manage every second of the day? Well, no one is perfect, and it’s hard to have a life so scripted.

Thankfully, you can schedule your day and make good use of every minute of it. The most important task should go into slot one, followed by the next important thing, an hour for lunch, and so on until you’ve filled your schedule.

Make sure that you have a list and don’t let anything overlap. You have deadlines, personal commitments, and you must ensure that everything is planned out for 24 hours so that you don’t waste any time or feel burdened.

4. Create Structure

Do you have days when you seem to wing everything? Spontaneity is the spice of life, but you can’t live every day in that manner. It sounds fun to throw caution to the wind and not let life become too structured and regimented, but did you realize that living like that will take a toll on your mental health?

It’s not fun to deal with surprises and urgencies as they can affect your personal life and your work efficiency. When you plan your day, it brings order to an otherwise chaotic time. Planning gives you structure and order, and it will make your life seem more systematic.

Now, you shouldn’t mentally confuse a scheduled day with an uninteresting lifestyle. Having composition means that you have a plan and know what you need to do to be successful. Your routine must be pre-planned and thought out clearly.

You can boost your productivity and keep a structured life, but this type of lifestyle can help you get rid of all your bad habits and strengthen your good ones.

When you are accomplishing tasks and reaching goals, then it gives you a boost in your step. It does incredible things for your self-esteem to mark items off your checklist as accomplished.

5 Tips to Planning the Perfect Day

If you want to plan your day and boost your results, you need an effective method. Here are some tips for you to consider.

1. Begin with Clear Goals

You must first start each day with clearly defined goals. Never start a day without a plan. It’s essential to keep your daily goals on track to achieve all you need.

While setting precise daily goals, you must also keep in mind your plans for the week. You want to make sure that one day flows into the next, and you’re not left wandering around.
When you have not only your daily but weekly goals in mind, you can plan in advance. Your goals must allow you to accomplish all you need to do and allow time for the unforeseen events.

2. Each day must Be Part of the Bigger Picture

Please don’t get so caught up on a single day that you forget it’s part of the bigger picture. Remember, Monday is only one-seventh of your week, so you can’t single it out over the whole week or month. Everything you plan must take into consideration the week, month, year, and your life.

Having a cohesive plan is advisable, and it should fit into what you want to achieve for the long term. Additionally, keep the events from yesterday and those from tomorrow in the back of your mind. If you have unfinished business from Tuesday, and it’s not Wednesday, you must consider what’s left and what’s on the list for Thursday.

When you have deadlines in both the business and personal parts of life, you need to be mindful of them daily rather than waiting until the last minute.

3. Classify

Your day should be about much more than your job. In every life comes the need for socialization, personal commitments, chores around your home, and family time. You must ensure that you include all these things in your schedule and learn to make time for each classification.

Self-care is an item that many people don’t make time for in their day. You are more important than dusting the furniture, paying the cable bill, and making a work deadline. Yes, all those things are essential, but if you don’t take care of yourself and your needs, you will never accomplish all you need to do.

You should have no less than 30 minutes each day to reflect, create, and boost your mental strength. When you have it all planned according to then, it’s easier to balance your day.

4. Allow for Flexibility

When you plan your day, you don’t want to make the time restraints, so regimented that there is no time for flexibility. Life is full of surprises, and you never know what each day will hold. You must have room for adjustments.

Your boss may throw a surprise assignment on you, or your child may wake up sick. There always needs to be a plan b or backup to your day. You must be able to move things around so that you can handle life’s unexpected challenges.

5. Sustain Balance

You only have 24 hours in your day, so you don’t want to put so much onto your schedule that it’s not humanly possible to do it all. When you plan your day, you want to give yourself about one or two major tasks.

Once those big tasks are handled, then you can schedule about three or four smaller ones. Remember, some jobs will take more time than others, and you need to allow for interruptions, phone calls, and other things that can get you off schedule.

You also need to have some sort of balance. Your day cannot be all about work, or you won’t have time to relax and read a book or watch your favorite television program. Don’t cram so much into one day that it stresses you out and take the rest of the week to recover.

Final Thoughts on How You Can Achieve Better Results When You Plan Your Day

Are you convinced that planning your day is worth the effort? Make sure you make those plans the day before to wake up knowing exactly what you face that day. It’s all about keeping things into perspective and seeing yourself reach each goal that you set.

Don’t feel pressured to tackle all of these suggestions at one time. Small steps will equal big changes in due time. So start with little goal-setting and work up from there.

The goal is to see growth and development in your life, which can happen when you plan your day and make time for all the things you must do.

You have goals. That’s wonderful. Believe it or not, you’re doing great. Life coaches everywhere will tell you that a lot of people haven’t even made it that far.

Now you’re probably wondering how to achieve those goals. Many people psych themselves out at this step. It can be overwhelming trying to figure out how to achieve these grand goals you have floating in your head.

Life coach Lauren Handel Zander suggests that people haven’t really taken enough time to figure out what they want out of life. Taking the time to sit down and map out what you want can help guide your life. “Whatever you’re chasing in life — it needs to be you true north,” says Zander.

The best way to not get overwhelmed, and to achieve goals is to create an action plan. When you have a plan, you can see the journey step by step and suddenly your goals seem easy to attain. Here is the best way to create a great action plan based on advice from several life coaches.

A Ten-Step Action Plan to Help You Reach Your Dreams

Step 1: Relax.

As stated before, a lot of people can be overwhelmed at the thought of trying to achieve goals. Just relax. You need to get rid of stress first before you embark on this journey because you need a clear head.

Whatever you need to do to take the edge off, do it (as long as it’s nothing harmful to yourself like drugs or alcohol). Take a couple of days off, do yoga, read some self-help books, and get yourself in the right state of mind. You don’t want to start the journey off as a frazzled mess. That isn’t going to help anything.

Step 2: Clearly define your SMART goals.

You may have goals, but your goals need to be clearly defined. According to life coach Alexis Robin, co-founder of pLink Coaching Center, “when you get crystal clear about where you are going on a project, in your career, or in your life, each decision you make will get you closer to or further from that vision. If you are struggling with big decisions it may be because you don’t have your destination clearly identified.”

To clearly identify your goals, you should use the acronym SMART. This stands for:

• Specific – your smart goal should be as specific as possible. For example, instead of just saying you want to save money, you should specify how much you want to save and give yourself a deadline.
• Measurable – you should be able to keep track of your progress. It’s essential to be able to see the progress from week to week or month to month.
• Attainable – you should always aim high, but the goal needs to be reasonable and attainable. For example, don’t say you want to save a million dollars in six months if you’re currently only bringing in $20,000 annually.
• Relevant – the goal should be relevant to your life, skills, and needs. For example, don’t have a plan to buy a new car if your goal is to save money.
• Time-based – you should be able to set a deadline for you to achieve the goal. The deadline should be reasonable.

Step 3: Figure out your reason why.

It’s important to understand why you want to reach the SMART goal you’re striving for. Your reason why could be simple. You want to save money so you’re not living paycheck to paycheck. You want to lose weight so you can live a healthier lifestyle. These are simple, but sometimes you have to dig a little deeper to find the real why.

This could take some self-exploration and it may be a little scary to do that. However, understanding why you want to achieve that goal will provide you with the motivation you need to do it.

For example, you might want to save money so you can enjoy more time and activities with your children before they completely grow up. That’s much more motivational than simply saying you don’t want to live paycheck to paycheck.

Step 4. Create actions and a timeline.

You have your SMART goal in place, and you’re motivated to accomplish it. This part of the action plan is where you map out exactly how you’re going to do that.

You should be able to create a list of actions or tasks that will take you, step by step, to your goal. Essentially, you’re going to divide your main goal into smaller goals. Remember to keep the smaller goals attainable.

Step 5: Get started.

You would be surprised how many people create an entire action plan but never put it into action. Now that you have your plan all set, you have to start doing it. A plan without any action isn’t a plan at all.

This is where your real why is most important. It’s going to give you that fire to get started. Keep that in mind and don’t be afraid to take that first step in your plan.

Step 6: Delegate tasks and designate resources.

Parts of your plan may require the help of other people and outside resources. Don’t be afraid to seek out that help. However, make sure you’re counting on reliable people.

For example, if your goal is saving money, you might have a plan to get a promotion so you can have more money coming in. This means you may need to step up at work and take on leadership positions which include managing other co-workers. Here is where you’d delegate tasks and designate resources.

Step 7: Take your plan step by step.

Remember to take your plan step by step. Of course, you’re going to keep your primary goal in mind, but don’t allow yourself to think of the entire goal at one time. You may find yourself getting overwhelmed.

Remember, you made an action plan for a reason. Don’t focus on future steps. Focus on the step that you’re currently working on.

Step 8: Don’t give up.

Your plan makes it easier to achieve your goals, but it doesn’t make everything easy. There are still going to be challenges along the way. These challenges might push you to your limit.

You have to remember not to give up. Make sure you have a source of strength around you to keep you pushing towards your goals. Keep a reminder of your real why near you. Write daily affirmations, listen to motivational videos, and do whatever it takes to keep going. Remember, when things get hard, or almost impossible, don’t give up.

Step 9: Monitor your progress.

Keep an eye on the progress that you’re making. As you achieve each of your smaller goals, look at them as milestones. Look at them as points in the plan where you need to recognize your small successes so far and make sure you’re still on track.

In other words, hold yourself accountable. If your goal involves a team, hold your team accountable. Have meetings to make sure everything is going as planned. If you need to, meet with individual team members.

Pay attention to the needs that arise as you follow the steps of the action plan. Make sure you’re providing those needs so that your progress won’t stop. In fact, you may need to anticipate needs so that your progress doesn’t stall. You can’t anticipate needs unless you’re doing a great job of monitoring your progress.

Step 10. Celebrate your successes.

Everyone works better on a rewards system. Plan to reward yourself with the accomplishment of each small goal. It can be a small reward, or it can be something extravagant (although if you’re trying to save money you may want to go with a small reward).

If you have a team that’s involved in your plan, don’t forget to reward them for their successes as well. The reward could be as simple as recognition for their efforts. There are plenty of studies that show that employees (or team members) work harder and are more productive when they are recognized for their efforts.

This includes you recognizing yourself. It’s a great way to keep up your self-motivation.

Final Thoughts on Creating an Action Plan to Attain Your Goals

Having goals is the first step to a better future, but you have to find a way to reach them. Action plans are the way to do this. Focusing on the big picture all at once can be overwhelming but creating a plan to get you there makes your goals much more attainable.

Life coaches everywhere will tell you that smaller, attainable tasks take the pressure off you and that taking the pressure off allows you to thrive when you’re pursuing your goals. Take this advice and get started on your action plan as soon as possible. Remember to stay focused and stay motivated and before you know it, your big picture will become a reality.

Beginning a Business: 6 Steps to Plan Opening a Shoe Store

The footwear market is valued near $250 billion in the U.S. alone. It shows how valuable and attractive the shoe industry is. 

But does that mean you should open a shoe store? 

That depends on what kind of shoe store you want to open and how well you know your target market. It also depends on how much you know about starting a business, especially a shoe business. 

Just because the shoe is the industry is booming doesn’t necessarily mean your shoe store will be booming. 

Before opening a shoe store, you should know 10 critical things about opening a shoe business. These 10 critical things can help make your life easier as you consider opening up a shoe store. 

1. Know Your Market

Before you consider starting a shoe business, you need to do some market research. You need to know your target market. 

That means figuring out the shoes they like. After you’ve figured out the shoes they like, you need to get more specific about how to target them. 

You’ll have to figure out the demographic, age, interests, and why they love the shoe they are buying. Find the reason why your ideal customer loves the shoes you are selling because your goal is to sell to them. 

Your goal is to imagine what your ideal customer is thinking about that makes them want your shoes. Your shoes might provide extra support, they may be exclusive, or they might offer some other benefit. 

Overall, the more you know your market, the more you know how to help them. The more you know how to present your product in a way that shows them how your product is the best solution. 

2. Master Your Niche

Your niche is everything about your specialized area of shoes. If you open a shoe store, you should know everything about your niche. 

It includes not only knowing about your target market but also about the shoes you sell. 

If you master your niche, you should know everything about how your shoe is made. You should know everything from the design to the price point. 

Ultimately, you should be an expert in your niche. If you aren’t, it could hurt your business because you don’t know who your ideal customer is or who your shoe appeals to. 

3. Online or Offline

When it comes to the business side of opening a shoe store, you will have to make the decision to be a brick and mortar store or an e-commerce store. 

You have to decide where your target market shops. You will also have to assess how much you have to spend on creating a store and creating the product. 

If you decide to have an online store only, you will have to be specific about shoe sizes and lenient on returns since some shoes may not fit when they arrive at the customer’s home. 

You should also consider the benefit of an e-commerce store because you can have anyone shop at your store from anywhere.  

4. What’s Your Marketing Strategy

Your market strategy is about knowing who to target and how to target them with organic or paid search. 

Since you already learned about your target market, it’s important to consider ways that can help you reach your target market. Take for instance social media. It’s one of the best ways to promote your product in front of your audience. 

Facebook ads, Twitter advertisements, LinkedIn ads, and other forms of social media help spread brand awareness. It also helps you create very targeted ads that can make your product more specialized. 

5. Start-Up Costs

Another factor to consider before opening a shoe store is start-up costs. 

You may need to spend money on research expenses, inventory costs, as well as obtaining licenses. 

If you don’t prepare for these costs, it could put you in a financial bind. It’s also important to consider how much you’re paying employees. 

6. Business Planning

Business planning is about calculating startup costs but also having short-term and long-term goals set up. 

You want to have goals in the first year and the first 5 years. You also want a gameplan that details how you’re going to make money. That means understanding what you’re overhead is as well as your profit margin. 

In addition, you should also know your budget and have an exact plan on how to address your market. A business plan is everything that goes into making a business work effectively. 

A business plan is also a written document that helps give you a blueprint on everything you need to start a business. It should include what your competitors do and how your strategy will be different. 

Your business plan should also include the kind of shoes you will be selling. You should also know the impact of the shoe industry on the environment and if you will be creating more environmentally friendly shoes. 

Opening a Shoe Store is a Lot of Work, But You Can Do It

Opening a shoe store is a lot of work. It takes commitment to understanding business strategy, the costs of opening a business, and the work behind developing a fundamental marketing strategy. 

However, if you put in the work, you can create a profitable shoe store. You can target the right audience, know everything about your product, and have a solid business plan. 

Now it’s your turn to start a shoe business and be successful at it.

If you liked this article, you can read more like it by visiting our website. 

Wildly Relaxing: 5 Reasons You Need to Plan a Vacation to Africa

Surveys show that 59% of people would rather go on a relaxing vacation than one filled with a lot of vigorous activities. If you’re one of those people, then planning a vacation to Africa should be on the top of your to-do list. 

When it comes to finding things to do in Africa the list is never-ending. There are plenty of adventurous things you can add to your list but there are also lots of wildly relaxing activities that you need to do on your next vacation. 

Keep reading for our guide to the top five reasons why you need to plan a vacation to Africa. 

1. Wind Down on the Beaches

When it comes to a relaxing vacation the first thing that might pop into your head is relaxing on the beach and there definitely isn’t a shortage of beaches when it comes to Africa. You’ll find numerous white sand beaches that are just waiting for you to plop a towel down so you can spend your entire day sunbathing. 

Africa is filled with private beaches, public beaches, or even hidden beaches that many people just don’t know about. You may even want to rent a boat so you can explore the water from off the shore. When it comes to the water the options are endless and it’s really up to you on how you want to spend your day. 

There is even a beach in Kenya that is partly a zoo called Diani Beach. This means that while you’re relaxing on the beach you might find colobus monkeys swinging from tree to tree or even spot camels strolling along the water. If you’re looking for a bit of an adventure after you’re done relaxing, then you may want to hire a camel for a ride for a bit of fun on your beach day. 

2. Camp Out Under the Stars

One way to truly relax on your vacation to Africa is by gazing up at the beautiful night sky. You will find that Africa offers some of the best views of incredible galaxies that you will ever see. What is the best way to stargaze during your vacation to Africa?

Renting one of the perfect star beds of course! A star bed is basically an outdoor and open-air bedroom with a comfy bed, down duvet, toilet, as well as a shower. 

When it comes to staying in a star bed you and your partner are going to have the most romantic getaway of your life. You’ll be sleeping in a secluded area all on your own right under the Milkyway. 

Sounds of nature like hippos, hyenas, or even lions will lull you to sleep and the sweet sounds of birds will be your wake up call. Don’t forget that you can wake a beautiful sunrise together too! 

When it comes to picking out a star bed for you and your partner there are plenty of different options so you will be sure to find one to fit your needs. 

3. See Big Things

When it comes to a relaxing vacation that might mean doing things at your own pace. Africa is filled with some of the world’s largest things that you need to check out at some point in your life! 

For example, the world’s largest desert, longest river, and even the oldest desert can all be found in Africa. These are all awesome landmarks that you can check out at your own pace and don’t really need a guide to show you. 

When it comes to exploring Africa there are some cool landmarks that you should totally take the time to see just to say that you’ve been there even if you want to spend the majority of your time relaxing! 

4. Feast on Some Local Cuisine

Another great thing about Africa is that there are tons of great local places that you can check out. You will enjoy trying their craft beers, delicious coffee blends, as well as dining in their local establishments. 

Feeding your mind, body, and soul is one of the most important steps when it comes to relaxing on your vacation and you’re going to want to make sure that you check that off your list when you visit Africa. 

Heading over to Cape Winelands is great for any wine lover or even someone who just wants to try some delicious food. You’ll have a great time exploring the beautiful estates as well. 

Another thing you will notice when it comes to finding local cuisine in Africa is that the people are extremely friendly and welcoming. You’ll find that everyone enjoys meeting new people and they’ll even be willing to help you out by recommending their favorite places for a bit to eat! 

5. Visit Local Markets and Bazaars

As we’ve just mentioned, you’ll find that the people you meet in Africa are very friendly so you’ll want to spend as much time as possible interacting with them. If you find rummaging for treasures to be relaxing, then you will love visiting local markets and bazaars during your trip to Africa. 

This is a great way to get an authentic view of the country’s culture and see their work first hand. Plus, you may be able to find some handmade treasures to take home as souvenirs for your friends and families. 

Many people find shopping to be a relaxing and calming activity so you should definitely make your way over to the local markets and bazaars if you do too! 

Things To Do In Africa For Fun and Relaxation

Who said that having a relaxing vacation had to be boring? When it comes to finding fun things to do in Africa there are plenty of great activities that you can do that you will find relaxing but also enjoyable. 

Make sure to add all of these awesome activities to your to-do list for your next trip to Africa so you can have a peaceful and relaxing vacation. 

If you’re looking for even more travel advice, then make sure to check out our blog as we have tips and tricks for travel from all over the world! 

7 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Risk Management Plan

Over 5,000 fatal workplace injuries were recorded in 2017. It’s why a risk management plan is essential to employee safety.

Even with a risk management plan, injuries can still occur in the workplace. But a risk management plan helps reduce any potential danger to employees.

A risk management plan is having a plan to avoid dangerous risks in the workplace. There is an emphasis on protecting the employee, the undertaking project, and the entire business.

One of the most important reasons for risk management is to protect customers and your brand. If your customers feel safe buying from your business, it creates a lifelong customer.

If you don’t have a risk management plan for your business, consider these 7 most important reasons why your business needs one.

1. Have a Contingency Budget

A risk management plan is not always about employee safety. It’s also about budgeting on unforeseen circumstances.

Business needs to stay within a budget on projects. A risk management plan assesses how likely a project will go over budget or the cost if a part of that project breaks.

A contingency budget is preparing for the cost of damages. Managers need to figure out how much to put aside in case a project does extend beyond its budget or if something goes awry.

2. Increase Return of Investment

Risk management also increases your return on investment in the workplace. As a business, you can reduce the risk of losing profit by preparing for unforeseen circumstances.

Risk management ensures that a project is finished on time. But it also assesses how much profit is lost if the project extends past the deadline, goes over budget, or if something breaks.

Every business wants to know how to make a profit with the products and people they are investing in. Bv lowering the risk of how long it takes to complete a project, the business is increasing its return of investment.

3. More Consistent and Efficient Workplace

People are the most important part of the workplace. When you eliminate potential danger and increase safety measures, employees work more efficiently. Projects are completed on time.

Risk management is concerned with employee safety. They want to create an environment where the employee and the customer feel safe. But risk management also looks at every system in the organization and sees if there is any risk that could damage the relationship with the customer.

An example would be if a company relies on a key instrument from a specific source. The company now is at risk because if the specific source dries up, that company is at risk of losing profit and, worse, the customer.

4. More Satisfied Customers

Customers are the lifeblood of a business. When you have happier customers, you create lifelong customers who believe in how your business operates.

Risk management helps create an efficient and safe workplace that gives the customer a better experience and product.

But this is why risk needs to be identified in how it takes a customer to get a product and what pitfalls exist from a person first seeing a business to that person becoming a lifelong customer.

5. It Clarifies Roles

Creating roles in the workplace avoids confusion among employees. There is less confusion if a problem arises and who’s supposed to report to who.

When everyone works together and understands their role, it creates efficiency in the workplace.

Everyone knows who to report to and what their assigned roles are on a project. There’s less risk of a project falling apart because everyone knows what to do within their roles.

Examples of roles can be board members, the CEO, and the Operations Group that implements plans.

The board must create policies and an appropriate risk management system. The CEO must ensure that these policies are executed.

You can find more information on this security consultant and how it helps your business reduce risk.

6. Employees Know What to Do in Emergency Situations

A business needs to know what to do in case of an emergency situation.

Risk management helps to assess if it’s a minor or major emergency and what employees of the company need to do.

There should be a management or response plan in case of an emergency disaster. It can help mitigate loss and prevent injury to employees.

An emergency plan can help prepare employees on what to do.

Risk management can also help your business change strategy if they think there is a major risk that could hurt the business.

7. A Healthier Business Brand

Every business has a story to tell its customers. It’s the brand of the business.

A risk management team helps a business tell its story. They help ensure that your business is staying compliant, and is implementing proper security measures.

Risk management also makes sure you are staying within a budget on projects and other costs. They make sure that you have a safety net in case something goes wrong.

While risk management is there to maintain employee safety, it’s also just as concerned about customer safety.

If a customer slips and falls and blames your business, your brand may take a hit. You may lose profit. You may have legal issues.

These are issues that risk management is there for, protecting your brand and your customers.

A Risk Management Plan Prepares for Success

A risk management plan is about preparing for intentional success. Businesses who hire risk management companies want to eliminate any risk that can hurt their business.

Identifying risk in a business is about being aware of the pitfalls that can hurt customer relationships. It’s about creating a system that takes your customer from A to Z seamlessly. It’s not just about having a product released as quickly as possible so your customers can be happy.

It’s about creating a business system that’s built on backup budgeting, employee safety, and ultimately a business brand.

You can find more information on risk management on our website.

Learn How to Chill Out! 10 Tips for Creating a Stress Management Plan

Is stress starting to take a toll on your life? Whether you’re dealing with stress at work or stress at home, it can have a profound impact on you.

Surveys have shown that about 77% of people admit to living with physical symptoms associated with stress. They’ve also revealed that almost 50% of people lay in bed awake at night as a result of their stress.

Coming up with a stress management plan is one great way to get a grip on stress and stop it from ruining your life. Here are ten tips that will help you do it.

1. Figure out What’s Causing Your Stress Levels to Skyrocket

Before you can start ironing out the details of a stress management plan, it’s important for you to identify what’s causing you to suffer from so much stress. Is your stress caused by:

• Your job?
• Your finances?
• Your house?
• Your relationship with your spouse?
• Your political beliefs?

If you don’t know why you’re always feeling so stressed out, it’s going to be almost impossible to manage your stress levels.

2. Eliminate Things from Your Life That Lead to Stress

Once you know why you’re so stressed out, you can start to get rid of some of the things in your life that are causing stress. You can do it by:

• Looking for a new job
• Making a stronger effort to pay down debt and get your finances in order
• Moving to a house that doesn’t require so much maintenance
• Going to marriage counseling with your significant other
• Avoiding political arguments with family members and friends

You’ll be amazed by how much less stressed out you feel when you cut out some of these things from your life.

3. Find Ways to Manage Your Time More Effectively

Everyone gets 24 hours each day to do everything that they need to do. But not everyone uses those 24 hours in the same way.

Are you using your time to the best of your ability? If you’re not managing your time well, that could lead to you dealing with more stress than you should have to.

Invest in a daily, weekly, and monthly planner and start taking back control of your schedule. By managing your time better, you’ll start to feel some of your stress melt away.

4. Work More Exercise into Your Daily Schedule

About 80% of Americans don’t get enough exercise each week. This has led to a dramatic increase in the country’s obesity rate.

There is also a direct correlation between America’s lack of exercise and the increase in the country’s collective stress levels. So many people could benefit from exercising more as far as beating stress is concerned.

Start jogging, lifting weights, or playing recreational sports more often. You’ll feel less stressed out when you make exercise a bigger priority in your life.

5. Make Sure You’re Eating Healthy Meals Every Day

In addition to getting more exercise, you should also eat healthier meals to combat weight gain and defeat stress. If you’re constantly stuffing yourself with unhealthy fast foods, it’s going to impact your physical and mental health before long.

You may also want to start taking supplements and even consider using the best CBD oil as part of your diet. When used properly, CBD oil has been shown to help those battling stress.

6. Get More Than Enough Sleep Each Night

A lack of sleep can impact you in so many different ways. It can cause you to gain weight, make you very forgetful, and even put you at an increased risk for cancer.

You’re also going to notice that you have a hard time working your way through stressful situations when you’re sleep-deprived. It’s why any good stress management plan should include lots of sleep.

7. Take Time to Take Part in Hobbies

Do you spend your days dealing with one stressful situation after another? It’s no wonder why you’re so stressed out all the time!

Rather than trying to keep up with this routine, take time out of your busy days to take part in hobbies and any activities that make you happy.

Some people enjoy putting together puzzles or doing crosswords. Others enjoy skydiving or flying planes.

Whatever you like to do, do more of it! It’ll be very beneficial to you if you suffer from stress.

8. Avoid Using Alcohol and Drugs to Battle Stress

Far too often, people turn to alcohol and/or drugs as a means of coping with stress. These things help them escape their stress for a few hours and make them feel good about their lives.

The problem, of course, is that alcohol and drugs eventually wear off and send stress running right back in your direction. This will force you to decide what to do next:

• Deal with the sources of your stress head-on
• Use more alcohol and/or drugs to get rid of stress for a little while longer

Sadly, many people go with the second option since it’s the easiest way to handle stress. That sometimes leads to substance abuse issues and addiction.

9. Spend More Time with Family Members and Friends

The simple act of socializing more with other people is enough to bring your stress levels back to earth. After spending a few minutes on the phone with your mom or hanging out with friends for an afternoon, you’ll almost always feel better.

Find time to pal around with your family members and friends more often. You’ll be blown away by how much better it makes you feel.

10. Adopt a More Positive Approach to Living Your Life

Many people who have dealt with stress for a long time don’t know how to live without it. They are so used to being stressed out that they’ve pretty much tricked their brains into thinking that there’s no other way for things to be.

Breaking this cycle is difficult to do. But you can do it by taking a more positive approach to life.

By smiling more and thinking positive thoughts, you can put up a heck of a fight against stress. It might take a while to see your stress disappear completely, but it’ll happen over time.

Use Your Stress Management Plan to Stop Feeling so Stressed out

It’s going to be almost impossible to live a long, fulfilling life when you always have stress hanging over your head. Stress will literally kill you before it’s your time to go if you don’t do something about it.

Use the tips found here to create a stress management plan for yourself. Stick with it and see first-hand how beneficial it can be to live a stress-free existence.

Check out our blog for more helpful articles relating to stress.

Early Relapse Warning Signs: Why You Should Have a Relapse Prevention Plan

The battle against addiction never ends – even once you’ve reached recovery. As much of a relief as it is to get clean and start transforming your life, you always have to remember there is a chance that you relapse.

This is why you need a relapse prevention plan.

Creating a list of action steps you can follow when you feel the temptation to use drugs is crucial to staying sober. This becomes your go-to resource when you run into someone from your past or end up in a stressful situation in which you previously would have used drugs to handle.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been clean for 5 years or 5 weeks. If you don’t have a relapse plan in place, you need to create one right away.

Here are 3 reasons why this is so important to your sobriety.

1. To Better Identify Early Signs of Relapsing

The thing about relapsing is that it doesn’t happen out of the blue. It takes a long time for the small temptations and early signs of relapsing to add up and lead you back to the bottle (or whatever drug you were using).

As such, it’s on you to identify when certain things come up in your life and figure out ways to handle them in a healthy manner. You can’t risk pushing loved ones away or bottling up the emotions you feel. This will only get in the way of the progress you’ve been making, and eventually, lead to relapsing.

2. To Go Back to the Basics of Recovery

Once you identify the early signs of a relapse, you have to work on correcting them. The best way to do this is to back to the basics of drug recovery.

Write a list of all the things that helped you during your process to get clean. Then, turn those actions and resources into everyday parts of your life. You shouldn’t stop meditating just because you’ve checked out of your recovery center, or throw your journal away because you think your demons are in the past.

When temptation strikes, it’s these small, simple actions that are going to keep you on the right path. Avoiding them and forgetting the tools you’ve learned in recovery will only lead you back to where you started.

Before you know it, you’ll be checking into a place like Taylor Recovery Center again unless you stick to the teachings you learned in your first recovery process.

3. To Understand When You Need to Ask for Help

At the end of the day, you can’t stay sober on your own. There are going to be times when you need to ask for help, and the sooner you do, the better.

Your relapse prevention plan can help you understand the difference between a small hurdle you can overcome and a big challenge that you need to face with the help of others. There’s no shame in reaching out to loved ones when you feel the need to use again. In fact, this is one of the best things you can do to better prevent yourself from falling into a dark place again.

Why You Should Share Your Relapse Prevention Plan

Once you’ve created a personal relapse prevention plan, make it a point to share it with a few of your closest friends and family members. This way, they can help you in identifying the signs of relapse and support you in going back to basics.

Sharing your plan makes it easier to follow and enhances its chance of success. It’s the extra step that makes a big difference in your long-term sobriety.

Who knows, you may even decide to share your sobriety story with others and inspire more people to get clean! If this is appealing to you, check out these tips on how to start an addiction recovery blog.

4 Tips for an Effective Website Development Project Plan

Are you designing a website for an important client? Maybe you’ve got a great idea and you want to bring it to life.

Whatever the reason for creating an online site, it’s always going to be a process. It can be a slog, but it doesn’t have to be.

Benjamin Franklin, undoubtedly one of the wisest of the founding fathers, said: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”. Before you promise anything to your client or write your first line of code, you need a plan in place.

We’ve got four essential tips for the ultimate website development project plan. Follow along and you’ll have the tools you need to create a website with minimum problems!

1) Begin At The End, With The Finished Product

Before you start, make sure you understand what the end looks like. How can you deliver a product without knowing what the end result is supposed to look like?

Your website development project plan needs to include a detailed roadmap of everything that is expected of you and your team.

Don’t skimp on the details! Make sure everything is outlined and clearly stated.

2) Communication Is Key

Whether it’s between you and your client or your team, clear communication is a must. Communication ensures you’re on the same page and working towards the same goals.

Almost 50% of employees leave a meeting without knowing what their next step is. Does that sound like you and your crew?

Make sure roles are clearly defined, make your deadlines explicit, and make sure you keep your door open.

3) Take It For A Test Drive

You have your checklist of what’s needed. You’ve been working in harmony with your client and your crew every step of the way.

It’s time to take your site for a test drive. Go over what you’ve got so far and see if you’re still moving in the right direction.

Needs change, visions evolve, and promises might have to bend but not break. If push comes to shove, you can always bring in a third party, like Slickplan, to help put the finishing touches on your project.

4) The End – And Beyond

Think your job is done the moment you hand your site over to the client to fill with creative content? Nope!

Your website development project plan has to include a post-site rundown. Here’s a list of crucial questions to ask yourself as soon as your project is finished:

• What went right? What are your team’s strengths?
• What could have gone better? Find out what your weaknesses are and work on them
• How can you create a more efficient workflow from your findings?

As you can see, the end isn’t the end – it’s just the beginning of the next phase.

Implement Your Website Development Project Plan

With these four tips, you can’t fail. You’ll be able to craft the ultimate website development project plan and grow more efficient.

Once you and your team are running like a well-oiled machine, you’ll be able to expand your business and capabilities.

Want to read more must-know tips and tricks? Check our blog often – we update it with the latest information!