No matter if it's family members that stress you out or simply the surge and excitement of the new year to try and better yourself, you need to have numerous stress reducing techniques ready to use! 

Technique #1: Mindfulness Meditation. 
Meditation is one of the most powerful things you can do to reduce stress or anxiety. It brings short term and long term stress relief. Basically, you take some time to sit down and focus on breathing. Having your mind focus on a simple task gives it a good break from the choatic and unorganized thoughts that you have during the day. 

Technique #2: Guided Imagery
This is kind of like day dreaming, just enhanced! Focus more on the details such as what your ideal surrounding smells, feels, and sounds like. Get really detailed and let your imagination run. You can even pull up YouTube videos or apps to help get you into that space. 

Technique #3: Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Sounds technical and advanced right? Not quite. It's actually very simple, but it does take practice. You relax all muslces in your body to release any tension. Much like the first technique, you need to focus on your breathing first. There are lots of instructional videos out there to help you!

Technique #4: Planning 
Planning can seriously help organize your thoughts and goals. Consider getting a journal or planner to help you with this. We also have our own performance planner here on the site. 

Technique #5: Socializing
Humans are certainly social. Simply hanging out with one of your friends or family members can release a chemical called oxytocin which basically lowers stress levels instantly. 

No matter which one of these techniques you use, keep in mind that some of them will take practice! Especially if you are effected by instrusive thoughts and have trouble slowing down your mind. Thanks for reading and happy holidays!

As we go through life, some of us might be feeling like the passion for our business or our day-to-day is fading. It is absolutely key that we keep that fire stoked as it will push us into success and get us to where we want to be. Here are ten steps to help you re-ignite your passion: 

1. Think back to where it all started. What was it that took you down this road? 
2. Think about your why. Find out what it is that always gives you that extra bit of motivation. You may need to change this why if it no longer gives you the motivation and passion you need. 
3. Take control of your emotional state. Try meditating, working out, or simply listening to your favorite songs. 
4. Start reading books to get you into the right mindset. 
5. Be consistent. Start getting into habits that ignite your passion and motivation.
6. Join a community with like minded individuals that will serve as a support system and push you to keep your passion alive. 
7. Be patient. Success doesn't come in a day. 
8. Make sure you are doing something that you love. As we age, we gain new interests and goals. Life situations change. So be sure to adjust as needed!
9. Embrace the journey to success Take a step back and think about how far you have come already. 
10. Consider making a vision board to help you visualize your success and get your passion back on track!

So there you have it. 10 tips to help you get your passion back in life. We hope this helps give you a few ideas so you can confidently persue your dreams!

Any day we wish we can discipline ourselves to make important changes in our lives.  We can start a new activity, we can start the process of life change, we can learn something new...we can do it right this very minute, in a week, or next month or next year.

    We can also choose to do nothing.  If the idea of having to change makes us uncomfortable, we can choose to stay just as we are.  The choice is ours to make.  

    “The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves”, as Shakespeare once said.  Our current circumstances have come about because of our past choices. We have the ability and the responsibility to make better choices starting today!  We cannot allow our errors in judgment and poor choices to lead us down the wrong path. We have to learn and grow from mistakes we make. We have to keep coming back to the basics that make the biggest difference in our life, and we have to continually make the choices that bring us happiness and joy.

    The one thing you have to always remember...if you do not like the way things are, you have the power to change it!  You have the ability to totally and completely transform your life and it all begins with the power of choice.

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2020 is just around the corner. You may have already set goals for yourself, but one thing that can totally kill your productivity is procrastination. Here are a few strategies to help you stop procrastinating: 
-  An awesome way to avoid procrastination is by doing something you love while you do something that you commonly procrastinate. For instance, if you love a certain podcast, listen to it while you go the gym or do boring paperwork.
- You can also make the cost of procrastinating more severe by making an agreement with your friend that if you don't do X, then you pay your friend $5 or take them out for coffee. There are also apps out there that help you with this. 
- Try restraining and planning out your future activities. An example of this is that if you have bad eating habits, take control of your future actions by buying in small portion sizes
- If you make your tasks more achievable and package them smaller, you'll likely gain more motivation as you complete each one which accelerates your overall productivity.
Ultimately, it is really a matter of finding a few procrastination hacks that work for you .If you would like additional tips and tricks, feel free to check out this detailed blog on how to avoid procrastination. 

Your company culture and how your employees feel when they walk in the door is what determines the degree of your success as a business owner. Do your employees feel stressed? Or happy? Is there something missing in your office or workplace that would make a huge difference? According to Tony Robbins, not all employee perks are considered equal: 

"Companies aren’t only competing for customers and clients, they are competing for the gold-standard players in the labor market as well. The terms company culture, employee well-being and work-life balance populate most job postings today, as employers hope these perks will draw top talent. But not all perks are created equal. In fact, most employers tend to focus on offering surface-level perks – perks that might look flashy and exciting but don’t offer much value to employees – over a long-term plan to create a company culture that supports growth, retention and employee well-being."

When it comes down to it, employees who are happier and striking the work-life balance that they individually need, will be more productive. And - this does not mean adding random XBOX consoles throughout your building, or having a bar, or having a ping pong table. 

​"Many employers mistakenly believe that investing in their company culture and employee well-being means providing a kitchen stocked with snacks and a foosball table. And while these things are nice to have, they are nearly meaningless if you don’t have additional more substantial cultural support measures in place.

What will truly make for a highly engaged and productive team is to invest in their growth and development, inside and outside of the workplace. Tony Robbins says that the number one key to a fulfilled life is that we grow. When you provide opportunities for growth, you show your employees that you care about them beyond the duties of their job."

So if you bring in experts that truly help your employees succeed even outside of the workplace, You may even want to consider paying for workshops or passion projects to help them feel more fulfilled and creative. Of course, you set an example for the entire workforce if you're a manager or business owner since most people will look to you on how to behave. So if you're looking to start imrproving your culture, make sure you start by focusing on your individual employee's needs and not just installing serface level perks. 

View original Tony Robbin's article here.