15 Ways to Practice Positive Self-Talk for Success
You talk to yourself all the time, either mentally or out loud. These messages give you direction and are opinions about yourself, good or bad. They will either motivate and encourage you, or they’ll tear you down and discourage you. Here are 15 valuable tips to help you keep your self-talk upbeat and constructive.
6 Benefits of Being More Focused
In today’s technological world, it’s hard to stay focused. There is so much that pulls at your attention. But staying focused is imperative if you want to achieve your goals. And it is a skill that you can develop and sustain. Learn the benefits you’ll experience when you commit to and practice this ability.
This Is The Difference Between An Anxiety Attack And A Panic Attack
Many people experience a free-floating type of anxiety that can be triggered into high alert by just turning on the news. Other times, anxious feelings can surface with no seeming provocation. They both can feel intense, but they are separate and distinct experiences. Here’s how to tell the difference plus expert tips on how to manage each of them.
10 Simple Steps to a Happier You
Everyone wants to be happier. But unfortunately, many people pick the wrong road to happiness. They indulge in unhealthy pursuits that just create more loneliness and disharmony in their lives. But there are some easy ways to cultivate happiness in your life, and this article describes several of them.
You Can’t See the Forest for the Trees!
Sometimes you can’t see the real issues while you are in the midst of them. You lack perspective to view the whole picture and this can cause you to make decisions or take actions that aren’t constructive. Being able to recognize what can lead you into the forest can help to get you out of it.
Science says: Intelligent people sleep late, leave a mess everywhere, and swear a lot
It’s hard when you just don’t conform to society’s standards of what’s appropriate. But it’s delightful when science comes along and confirms that some of your faults actually are a sign of being intelligent. If you do any of these (or all), enjoy these studies showing that they’re a result of high intelligence.
~ Linda-Ann Stewart
It’s Official: Open Plan Offices Are Now the Dumbest Management Fad of All Time
A new study from Harvard reveals that open plan offices decrease rather than increase face-to-face collaboration. Instead, coworkers start using messaging and email more frequently, cutting down on actual interaction. Overall productivity suffers, as well. Businesses are losing money due to this attempt to cut costs.
6 tips to help overcome your addiction to approval seeking
When you try to seek other people’s approval, or rebel by seeking their disapproval, you compromise yourself. Always trying to please others means that you’ll accept whatever attention they give you, even if it’s abusive. As you stop worrying about what other people think of you, you reclaim your power over your life.
Your Words Are Powerful: 8 Positive Speaking Habits to Build Yourself Up
If you have ever put yourself down, then you’ve unconsciously sabotaged your success. Your mind believes you and will follow what you say. However, you can rewire your brain and your habits to be more positive and supportive. Using these 8 tips of how to talk to yourself could change the course of your life.
~ Linda-Ann Stewart
ArticleComments Off on Align Your Heart with Your Vision
Oct182018
by Linda-Ann Stewart
Do you sometimes want to change a habit, achieve a goal or cultivate a talent, but something holds you back? It may be something that you think you should want. Or it’s something you really do want, but your beliefs don’t accept it. Many people have this problem. They have a vision of where they want to be, but their beliefs can’t support pursuing or fulfilling their intention.
For instance, Nancee was a business consultant and wanted to help business owners develop better business and marketing plans. But unconsciously, she was afraid of disappointing her clients because she couldn’t wave a magic wand and make their problems disappear. Her service would have improved their bottom line, but she held herself back from promoting her business. Once she realized that she wasn’t responsible for how her clients acted on her guidance, she followed the marketing plan she’d created, and her business grew.
Your Heart and Vision Must Align to Make Progress
Nancee’s heart, which was her beliefs and passion, had to align with her vision, which was her intentional destination, before she would take action. Some people think they want to achieve an objective, but their heart isn’t in it. Or they don’t want to take the actions they need to take to get there. They just aren’t invested enough in their vision. Unfortunately, they just don’t have the necessary passion to follow through on it. .
Other people have the heart, or the belief and passion, but they haven’t developed a vision. Flailing away, they try one thing after another. They confuse motion with action. And they’re so caught up with taking action that they don’t take the time to assess if they’re making any progress. Because they don’t know where they’re going, they don’t have a comprehensive plan of how to get there. They might have goals, but they don’t accomplish much unless they know where they want those goals to take them.
And still others have the belief that they can achieve what they want, and a vision of where they want to go. But that intention has been instilled in them by someone else. For instance, Robert’s father talked him into majoring in engineering in college. Once Robert got his degree and got a job, he found the work unsatisfying. Instead, he wanted to teach high school science classes. So he returned to college, got a teaching certificate and fulfilled his passion.
Is the Problem with Your Heart or Your Vision?
If you have a deep desire that isn’t being fulfilled, check either your heart or your vision. The problem will be in one of them. These two must be in alignment or your efforts will be useless and unsatisfactory. They feed each other, creating motivation and inspiration. When one is not in alignment, it’s like riding a bike with a single flat tire.
For instance, if the issue is with your heart, you won’t pursue your vision with enough energy. Your beliefs get in your way. Fear holds you back, or you simply won’t want your vision badly enough. You could also have other concepts that are sabotaging you, such as lack of self-worth or self-confidence. In this case, ask yourself, “What is undermining my progress?”
However, if the challenge is that you don’t have a clear vision, you take action, but spin your wheels. You don’t have a direction you’re moving towards. When you reach a goal, you backslide and have to start over again. Dealing with details takes precedence over moving forward so you stay in the same place. In this situation, ask yourself, “What do I actually want to accomplish with my efforts?”
Once you become aware of where the difficulty lies, you can begin to resolve it. If you need to work on your heart, or mindset, there are many resources to help you improve it. But if the obstacle is that you don’t have a clear vision, set aside the time to create one. Once you have your heart and vision aligned, it’s a natural progression for you to develop a plan that works for you.
This is an ongoing process. As you progress, you’ll discover that you’ll need to fine tune your beliefs, mindset and vision to continue to support you. You’ll be constantly balancing your heart and vision and correcting your course to make sure you remain on track. But because you have your heart and vision aligned, you’ll have your path clear before you.
Affirmation:
The Universe supports my every endeavor by guiding and directing my efforts. I recognize any beliefs that are holding me back and let them go. They no longer serve me. I now establish ideas, beliefs and attitudes that are in alignment with my dream. That dream is now clear and concise and I know that the Universe wants me to accomplish it. Everything I need is now provided.
As a vision strategist, hypnotherapist, and speaker, Linda-Ann Stewart helps women entrepreneurs and small business owners who feel stuck, immobilized and overwhelmed to to get clear, focused and on the fast track to the next level of their business. If you'd like some help to reach your goals, apply for her complimentary "Clarify Your Vision" consultation at http://www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/coaching.shtml
Never Mistake Activity for Achievement
Just because you’re taking action doesn’t mean you’re accomplishing much. Take multi-tasking. You’re always in motion, but don’t actually get much done. Learn 4 tips on how to accomplish more from a famous basketball coach’s model.
The Psychology Behind Messy Rooms: Why The Most Creative People Flourish In Clutter
I have to admit, I’m not the neatest person. I like to have my projects out in the open so they stay top of mind. Now research seems to be bearing out the idea that too much tidiness and organization can stifle creativity. This is a very entertaining article exploring the idea that messiness may help innovation.
8 Keys to Handling Adult Bullies
I don’t know about you, but I’ve encountered bullies in my adult life. I’m sure you have, too. And sometimes, it can be confusing as to how to deal with them. However, it is possible to get them to respect you. This article gives you some great direction on how to handle these challenging people and stay safe.
I’m sure you’ve heard people recommend that you “Sleep on it” when you need to make some important decision. This is because by thinking about the issue just before going to bed, then drifting off to sleep, it allows your subconscious mind to process all the information that it has about the situation. The next morning, when you consider the problem again, you’ll have an answer. But you must trust your subconscious to provide this important service. This is just like when you try to remember someone’s name, let it go, and it comes to you in a few minutes. By letting it do its job, the subconscious, which is the creative part of you, will find a solution.
7 Thoughtful Ways to Stress Less
Stress and anxiety can cause you to age more quickly. Instead, why don’t you start doing things that can reduce them? Quit driving yourself so hard and give up perfectionist tendencies. I know it’s hard, but think of the rewards. This article gives you strategies to shift your perspective and behaviors so you can have a longer, happier and healthier life.
Empower Your Mind To Become Successful in 5 Easy Steps
Success takes grit and hard work. And everyone is looking for easier ways to get things done. But you can use your imagination train yourself to be more successful. This is an infographic that shows 5 different ways to do that, based on neuroscience.
You Have The Power To Choose Your Attitude
When someone cuts you off in traffic, you have a choice to make. You could decide to simply react and get angry. Or you could decide not to waste the emotional energy on something that you can’t change. In these moments like these, it’s worth asking, “What’s to be gained?” This article gives some suggestions of what to consider before you lash out.
VideoComments Off on Making Your Priorities Important
Aug152018
It’s sometimes hard to keep your priorities straight. You’re pulled in different directions, especially when other people want something from you. But your priorities are important and necessary if you’re going to achieve any goal. And the most important person to please is yourself. Here are 3 tips on how to respect your priorities and set them first in your life.
Transcript:
Thank you for watching. I’m Linda-Ann Stewart, a vision strategist. Sometimes, it’s just so hard to keep your priorities straight, isn’t it? You’re pulled in different directions. You have competing agendas from yourself and other people.
For instance, let’s say you want to lose 10 pounds, but you also want a piece of your coworker’s birthday cake. It’s really a hard choice. One part of you wants to lose the weight, the other wants the cake. Future benefits vs immediate gratification, and the cake is right there in front of you. But if you don’t focus on your priorities, which are for your future benefit, you sabotage what you want to accomplish, don’t you? I mean, that 10 pounds will always remain because of all the temptations, unless you prioritize your priorities.
And it’s not just sugar that can be your downfall. When you want to accomplish some goal, it’s all to easy to get distracted by small tasks and other peoples desires, isn’t it? Being able to stick to your priorities is important if you ever want to achieve your goals. It doesn’t matter if your goal is personal or professional. You have to make it a priority above other things. This is what propels you forward so that you reach your goal or dream. And this is one of the things I help my coaching clients with.
I specialize in working with women service professionals and entrepreneurs, who spin their wheels and get stuck as their business runs them. Using my 30 years of experience as a hypnotherapist, I help them chart their course and develop the strategies that will accelerate their business to the next level and beyond. And I’d like to share a some tips that I share with my clients.
One of the things that gets in the say of sticking to your priorities is other people’s desires. They want something from you and it can be hard to disappoint them, can’t it? It’s hard to know when it’s appropriate to give them what they want and when it’s not. Especially for women. All too often, we put off our priorities to please others, don’t we?
But priorities are called that for a reason. When you prioritize something, and follow through on it, you’re establishing that it’s important to you. It’s more important than what other people want from you, or than the other tasks and minutiae that crop up to distract you. A priority takes precedence over all that, right?
How can you approve of your priorities, rather than seeking approval from other people? The most important person to please is yourself. If you constantly put your priorities aside for other people, you’ll never get them done. It may feel selfish, but, if you think about it, so is breathing.
By fulfilling your priorities, you’re committing to a certain course of action that will take you to a goal and you’re dedicating your time and effort to towards it. The priority of your goal comes first on the list of things to accomplish.
Life can get in the way, sometimes, and you can get sidetracked, can’t you? But if you establish your priorities, and respect them, you’ll stay on track to accomplish your goal. And your goal is a step towards your dream or vision. So how can you set your priorities first?
1. Set strong boundaries. Let people know what you’ll do and what you won’t do. When you’ll help and when you won’t. And don’t make exceptions, except in a true emergency.
2. Prioritize your priorities. When they’re they most important thing in your mind, that changes the way you think about them and how you respond to distractions and others demands. When you’re faced with temptation, remember that you’ve set your priority above anything else.
3. Take action on your priorities. Take 1 step, do 1 thing. Your brain and subconscious likes accomplishment, even if it’s small. Your subconscious and brain will use that to keep your motivation up and momentum going.
These are 3 steps you can take to make sure you fulfill your priorities. When you act on them, you’ll have more success in achieving your goal, dream and vision.
If you’d like some help in achieving your goals, apply for a complimentary Clarify Your Vision coaching consultation.
Thank you for watching. As you take care of your priorities, your goal will take care of itself.
As a vision strategist, hypnotherapist, and speaker, Linda-Ann Stewart helps women entrepreneurs and small business owners who feel stuck, immobilized and overwhelmed to to get clear, focused and on the fast track to the next level of their business. If you'd like some help to reach your goals, apply for her complimentary "Clarify Your Vision" consultation at http://www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/coaching.shtml
Prioritization – More Important Than Any Productivity Technique
Productivity doesn’t mean to get more tasks done. That’s just a way of staying and looking busy and it’s neither efficient or effective. True productivity means to get the most important task done. The one that will drive you closer to your goal. To that end, you need to prioritize what is most important and do that task first.
How to Support Yourself When Your Emotions Don’t
Our emotions are valuable because they provide us with important information. But sometimes our emotions steer us down the wrong path, and we can make self-destructive decisions based on them. This article explores how to determine when our emotions aren’t being helpful and what we can do in that case.
Take a Mindful Moment: 5 Simple Practices for Daily Life
From frustrating to impatient, your experiences each day give you opportunities to practice mindfulness. And it doesn’t need to take much time to reclaim your calm and reason. It just needs a bit of consideration and practice. Explore these simple practices to breathe more peace into your day.
ArticleComments Off on Don’t Let Distractions Crush Your Dreams
Aug102018
by Linda-Ann Stewart
I recently had lunch with a friend, Mary, who makes jewelry. Her work is in stores and online, and has begun to get popular. But, as with many creative entrepreneurs, she’s having trouble with loved ones who don’t take her business seriously. She struggles with balancing her work with the expectations of her extended family.
Because she doesn’t have a 9 to 5 job, her family assumes that she’ll be available whenever they want. They don’t respect her work time because she hasn’t insisted that they do. She’s put their desires above her interests. Her message to them and to her subconscious is that her work and priorities aren’t that important. As a result, she’s trained her subconscious and the Law of Attraction to not only accept the interruption to her work, but to attract other interference.
Have you ever noticed that as you’re expanding and changing, you have a lot more distractions? They seem to pop up out of nowhere, and keep getting in the way of what you want to accomplish. If you succumb to them, they’ll sabotage your priorities. But it’s a natural part of the change process. The Universe isn’t testing you. It’s your subconscious testing you to see if you really are dedicated to your dream. The subconscious is also trying to keep you in your comfort zone.
I was amazed at how many of my smoking cessation hypnotherapy clients would experience unexpected stressful situations when they quit smoking. It was their subconscious throwing up road blocks to their goal. The severity of their problems was in direct proportion to the amount of ambivalence they had to becoming an ex-smoker. If they weren’t committed to quitting, they backslid and gave up. The distraction was an excuse for them to continue smoking.
Sometimes the subconscious will know you really don’t want to face a task, and your concentration is disturbed. For instance, you need to get the budget done. But you receive a phone call about an insignificant matter that pulls you away from it. You could have let the call go to voicemail, but welcomed the interruption. That’s the subconscious trying to help you avoid what it knows you don’t want to do.
The main purpose of the subconscious is to keep you safe, even if it means keeping you from doing what you want. It sees any change as a threat. If you allow yourself to get off track, the subconscious will get the message that you want to stay off course. And it will begin to seek out new ways to detour you.
However, if you push the distractions aside and persist with your priorities, there will be fewer disturbances. Your subconscious will get more comfortable and will help you move towards your goal. Your priorities are important. The Universe and Your subconscious will support you as you support yourself. When you respect your own priorities above what anyone else wants from you, you’re instructing your subconscious to respect your interests, too.
Mary decided to make appointments with herself to work, and keep them no matter what. She wanted to make sure nothing got in the way of that time with her jewelry. This will convince her subconscious that she’s committed to her work, and her inner mind will start to support her by reducing distractions. When she recognizes the validity of her business, she’ll be able to stand up for her priorities. As a result, she’ll create boundaries and insist that others recognize them.
Is there some goal or dream you want? If so, set it as a priority. Work towards your goal and don’t let anything get in the way. You can attend to other people’s wishes after you’ve satisfied your priorities. But your priorities come first. How can you respect your priorities and stand up for them? When you figure that out, and act on it, your path to achieving your dream will get easier.
Affirmation:
The Universe supports me as I support myself in the pursuit of my dream. I deserve it, and I respect my time and efforts. I realize that other people may have desires of their own, but I put my well being and interests first. I fulfill my priorities first, then I can address the desires of others.
As a vision strategist, hypnotherapist, and speaker, Linda-Ann Stewart helps women entrepreneurs and small business owners who feel stuck, immobilized and overwhelmed to to get clear, focused and on the fast track to the next level of their business. If you'd like some help to reach your goals, apply for her complimentary "Clarify Your Vision" consultation at http://www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/coaching.shtml
15 Ways to Practice Positive Self-Talk for Success
