Career & Business Coaching Blog.
Inspiration and tips for multi-passionate creatives & entrepreneurs.
Is destination addiction keeping you from achieving your goals?
Many of us – especially multi-passionate, talented, creative makers and doers – feel we can only allow ourselves to be happy after we’ve ticked off our major goals, bucket and to-do lists. We think that we’ll only be truly happy when we reach that important milestone, get recognized for our work or finally achieve every goal on our list. The problem with this *after* thinking is that it leaves us perpetually aiming for more. Even if we achieve a big goal, the feelings of pride and accomplishment last only for a little while before they fade. Afterwards, we’re right back where we started: dissatisfied until we’ve achieved the next goal.
As a coach to multi-passionate, creative women I know the idea of happiness for many of my clients is always in the future. Never in the present moment. Throughout their lives they’ve accumulated many interests and projects, most of which they started but didn’t finish or never even got to in the first place. Someday is what I hear most often when asking about their dreams.
The truth is: us multi-passionates have a peculiar relationship with time.
Although the present moment is all we think we have, we often forget that *now* is all the time there is. (I know, but bare with me for a minute.)
We all have big goals and plans, right? Often we start a project or decide to go after one of our dreams. Before we know it, the enthusiasm that made us so passionate in the beginning is gone. Why?
It all just seems too far away.
That’s when many goals and dreams. We resign ourselves to the status quo, our responsibilities and the whimsy hope that things will (magically) work out later. This all-or-nothing thinking is what keeps us moving forward. We don’t see how every single day we could pull our dreams into our present moment, little by little. How *now* is all the time we really have.
But that’s when we actually start something. Oftentimes we don’t even get to that point. We may have many creative ideas and paths we want to take but because of fear of failing, aversion to criticism or worry of making the wrong choice, we sit on our ideas and plans, never getting around to do anything about them. This now-or-nothing thinking is an obstacle to achieving our dreams. We fail to see the sea of time we have to accomplish what we want.
“Destination Addiction” was first coined by Dr. Robert Holden, a British psychologist. He referred to it as a state of mind that holds the idea that happiness and success are destinations we arrive at, instead of experiences we have along the journey of accomplishing our goals. Because of the high expectations we have of when we’ll get there, we often fail to enjoy the journey. Society has programmed many of us to think in a linear way, where we expect one major milestone to occur after the other. We go to school, get a job, get married, have kids, retire then die, living as though happiness was to be found at the arrival of each one of these stages of our lives.
This is often not the case.
There is no inherent happiness in arriving at these milestones or achieving our goals. The feelings we believe these achievements will bring us are ones we can feel right here and now.
As multi-passionate women, we have to constantly remind ourselves of this, that joy and happiness are not rewards for a job well done but a state of mind we can bring into our lives right now. The more we do this, the faster we’ll feel whole, accomplished, and in the presence of our goals.
All we have for sure is how we decide to feel today. The late Dr. Wayne Dyer once said, “Life’s what’s happening to you, when you’re busy making other plans.” In other words, it’s good to plan for the future and have goals to work towards (I mean, duh!), but it’s important to remember that life is not put on hold until you achieve these things. Or that you can have some of those things in your life right now, before you believe you’ve accomplished them!
If you suffer from destination addiction, here’s three things I’ve found to help:
#1 Keep a list of your daily accomplishments
Break up with destination addiction by celebrating yourself everyday. Acknowledge the effort you’re making. When we’re on a journey towards change, a part of what keeps us motivated is remembering the steps we’ve already taken. Instead of beating yourself up over not being *there* yet, acknowledge how far you’ve come instead.
Click here to download your free copy
#2 Remind yourself of the goals you’ve already achieved
It’s great to hold steadfast to our vision and goals, but we must also take the time to be grateful for where we are in life and how far we’ve come from. It’s easy to get so tied up in what we’ve not accomplished yet or what we don’t have, that we lose sight of all our past goals and dreams that are now part of our reality. With destination addiction it’s easy to dismiss those dreams as “oh, well, that’s nothing. Yes, sure, I did that. But that was easy, this here – the new goal – is what matters”. If that’s you, imagine what will happen when you’ve reached that new goal? Exactly. If you’re not careful, you’ll brush it off just as fast as all your other accomplishments. Leaving you dissatisfied and aiming for the next one. And the next one. And the… you get the point.
#3 Live as if
On the journey towards your dream life (aka the creative lifestyle to fit your many ideas and interests) it’s important to experience as much of that life in the present as you can. In fact, this is the real *secret* to achieving your dreams. You may wonder how, but consider this: by being too focused on the end result, many people never take steps to actually incorporate the activities associated with their goals into their daily lives. Take a woman who dreams of being a bestselling novelist but never finds the time to actually write. She believes that she will write everyday once she’s an author. That is, someone who has the time to write, who’s read all the books about writing, and who feels ready. Only then will she write. The problem is, with this kind of thinking she’ll never feel (or even be) ready. All she needs is available to her right now: just write already!
It’s the same if you’re dreaming about being a photographer, actress or dancer! Want to be a great photographer one day? Take photos everyday, even if it’s just with your phone! The same with dancing; if you want to enjoy being a dancer, start moving. Now.
It really is that simple. So tell me, what are you waiting for?
9 best planners to achieve your goals
As creative, multi-talented, curious, ambitious doers we have many interests and projects to keep track of. Every day is a fresh page in our planner with different work obligations, goals to aim for and a life to take care of. But that’s not all. We also have a mission – to make a difference, change the world… leave our mark. Right!?
Balancing our obligations with our personal interests and aspirations is often the biggest struggle we face. Making sense of the ideas, goals, and to-dos that constantly roll around our heads isn’t easy. Often it’s as if they’re all pulling at us for our attention. When that happens (which is, well, almost every day) it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
Without a systemized approach to our daily work, scheduled events and projects we might feel in control of our goals but we aren’t. That’s why we need planners!
As a coach for multi-talented, creative women I’m lucky to work with amazing humans who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. The problem is, due to their multi-passionate nature, they’re often juggling a lot of balls in the air at the same time. Making sure they stay there, and don’t come crashing down is a fulltime job – and not an easy one at that. Again, it’s a process that requires an organized plan. But also actions and the soulful productivity practices to go along with them. Regardless of how hardworking we are, neglecting to plan how we’ll achieve a goal will lead to disappointments & frustrations.
With the end of the year in sight, what better time to put together a list of my favorite planners to help you get clear on your goals, stay on track and finally achieve your dreams!
Here’s my pick of 9 best planners to achieve your goals.
The Clever Fox Planner made it to #1 on this best planner list again this year. From all the planners I have (and I have many, believe me) this is the one I use on a daily basis. I love the daily undated version. Yes, you can start using it anytime, isn’t that awesome? Even more cool is the space you have to record your weekly objectives, routines and habits.
Some other useful features include:
Comes in pink, black or orange.
Contains pages for gratitude and self-awareness.
Features pages to record your top goals for the year, daily rituals, a mind mind, vision board, and more.
Comes in both weekly and daily versions, with monthly overviews.
Anyone looking for a planner that will also serve as a goal-setting tool and habit tracker will enjoy the Clever Fox Planner. With space to record month to month and week by week objectives, wins, and habits I find it very useful, and a perfect addition to other tools to help me stay on track to accomplish the goals that really matter to me.
#2 Day Designer
As a creative, multi-passionate entrepreneur, the Day Designer is one of my all-time favorite planners. An instinctive planner that’s not only spacious but also extremely beautiful! Designed with the wisdom in mind that a well-structured day leads to a well-lived life, the Day Designer offers an ingenious, yet simple framework to help you find balance, focus, and increase productivity, by focusing on what’s important.
The Day Designer is a blend of worksheets, prompts, planning tools, and note sections. I love how its initial pages offer a variety of worksheets, each intended to enable you to discover your qualities, values, individual abilities, vision, and interests.
Inside the Day Designer you’ll find:
A separate page for each day of the week, with the exception of the weekend, where Saturday and Sunday share a page.
Weekly spreads that start on Monday and run daily from 5 am to 9 pm.
Within the day by day pages you’ll also discover prompts for your top 3 to-dos, inspirational quotes, space for dinner planning, a gratitude section, and more.
The Day Designer comes with a notes section, a monthly calendar, and space for project planning with due dates.
The Day Designer is a perfect planner for anyone looking to define objectives, create plans and take action.
#3 The Planner
This planner, created by Carrie Green from the Female Entrepreneur Association, is another great business planner to keep you inspired, focused & dreaming big.
The Planner is a limited-edition daily planner that covers an entire year of planning, and goal setting. When you’re flipping through the soft pages of this planner, you can’t help but think it was created by someone who knows A LOT about effective goal setting, and has a great sense of style.
The Planner has a luxurious powder pink & gold foiled cover, gold accented corners, and gold wire binding. The first pages of the planner are for yearly planning, and asking yourself powerful questions about what you want to achieve.
I absolutely love the monthly calendar spread, weekly planner pages and daily pages of this planner. On the daily pages you have space to list your 3 top goals of the day, a schedule from 7am until 10pm, and a section for notes. At the bottom of each page is an inspiration quote.
All of this, together with the free online course and monthly bonuses that come with The Planner, make it one of my top picks of the year!
The Daily greatness collection is probably the most in-depth planner collection out there. If you’re looking for a blend of goal-setting workbooks, tools for focus and productivity, to-do lists, and daily or weekly planners, Daily Greatness is for you.
For my business I swear by the Daily Greatness Business Planner – one of the most comprehensive and complete business planners available on the market today. Designed for optimal focus, personal growth and organization, the week-to-a-view pages will guide you in forming excellent thinking habits while taking action on your most important priorities. The weekly check-ins, challenges, planners and inspiration keep you firmly on track, while the 90-Day high-level check-ins and challenges keep you committed, accountable and motivated to achieve your goals. Each stage lays the foundation for staying true to your purpose as an entrepreneur, reaching your goals, expanding your mind and exploding your business.
Daily Greatness also offers other collections worth checking out in case you’re searching for more structure to continue making progress in other areas of your life or business.
#5 Inkwell Press LiveWell Planner
What I love most about the Inkwell Planner are it’s build-in tools to help you deal with overwhelm. Especially useful when you’re a multi-talented, creative woman with a gazillion ideas and interests!
The Inkwell Press Planner comes with proven productivity tools and reflective prompts to help you feel inspired, relaxed and in control while working on your goals. The planner is also fully customizable and comes in different planner formats including daily planning, week after week planning, goal-setting and more. With the new liveWELL 360° disc planning system, pages can be added or removed depending on your needs.
The focus of the Inkwell Planner differs from most other planners in that it’s more than just setting goals and productivity. This planner’s main goal is to help you create a life full of happiness and purpose. It’s about bringing balance, self-care and meaningful creative pursuits into you life. How inspiring, right?
#6 Simplified Planner by Emily Lay
The Simplified Planner is intended to help you put that which matters most first in your life. Whatever it might be, whether starting a creative project, a new exercise routine or a healthy change in eating habits – the Simplified Planner will help you get there. Within the planner you’ll find events and memories sections, space for dinner plans, and more.
I’m especially fond of all the inspirational quotes added throughout the planner.
The Simplified Planner is a perfect option if you’re looking for a lovely, compact, well-organized planner. Oh, and it comes in two versions: luxurious Mohawk and gold wire-o binding. Both so beautiful it’s hard to choose!
The Erin Condren Life Planner is one of my most loved planners. It has everything you could ever want in a planner. Besides keeping track of your daily appointments and to-dos, it helps you define objectives, get a clear vision of exactly what you want, and take charge of your life.
What makes the Erin Condren Life Planner so exceptional is how much of it you can customize. Different planning layouts, color schemes, cover & coil options; you can build your planner the way you want – and need it.
MY PA Planner is a newcomer in my planner selections. As I’ve mentioned above, for my business I’ve sworn by the Daily Greatness Business Planner a few years now. The MY PA Planner might well be its biggest competition!
If you’re looking for a planner that doubles as a personal business assistant, this planner might be exactly what you’re looking for. MY PA is a goal-setting tool as much as it is a daily planner. It comes with an extensive section of reflective questions about your personal and business goals, review prompts, financial overviews, and more. It even tracks your social media and content activities. What I really love about this planner is that it gives more space to write down daily goals, actions, and to-dos than it does for appointments. For someone like me – and keeps track of appointments digitally – having enough space to jot down ideas and to-dos is a must.
My PA Planner key features that I love include:
Yearly Life, Business & Marketing Planner.
Yearly, Monthly and Daily goal Setting Planner.
Social media & content planner.
Weekly Review and Gratitude Journal.
Idea and Inspiration Vault for all your amazing ideas and doodles.
Daily Health & wellness checker where you can track your daily water intake and record exercise.
Space for your notes and reminders.
Space to draw, mind map & be creative.
With all these benefits and features, I’ve decided to give the MY PA planner a spin as my business planner this year. That’s how impressed I am by it!
#3 PowerSheets Intentional Goal Planner
I’m ending this year’s list with my all-time favorite goal planner. Although some of the planners above come with goal planning sections, many of them don’t. And when they do they often don’t go into enough depth or don’t ask the right questions.
Not the PowerSheets. This intentional goal and action planner is a step by step system created to help you define who you want to be in the big picture and how to get there. It brings together a lot of the golden nuggets I’ve seen in other planners: ideas for the new year, prompts to dig deep into who you really are, evaluation tools to get clear on where you are right now, a section for your big picture dreams and even your word of the year.
That’s for the first part of the PowerSheets. The goals section that follows guides you through the process of turning your ideas and big picture dreams into goals and action plans that you can actually achieve. What’s really great about the PowerSheets is that it comes with monthly pages designed to help you keep on track with your action plans, as well as review them.
It doesn’t hurt that it’s one of the prettiest planners out there, too. Just seeing its bright colors and holding it in my hands makes me happy!
If you’re looking for a tool to help you make sense of all your ideas and turn them into actionable items, I’d give the PowerSheets a try. Lara Casey – the creator of the goal planner – and her team have been perfecting this planner for many years, and it shows. The PowerSheets is a must-have for any avid goal-setters out there!
That’s it for this year’s list of 9 Best Planners to Achieve Your Goals. In the comments below, let me know which planner you’re going for this year, and why. I’d love to know!
Miracle (morning) routines that actually work
There are two things in the world I love more than anything else (well, almost): learning and experimenting. In my pursuit of figuring out what a soul inspired life might look like, growing into my best, happiest and most productive self often requires using myself as a guinea pig. Today included.
One of the nuts I’ve been trying to crack for a while now is HABITS. How they’re formed, the things we can do to uncover them and – most importantly – how we can change the ones that work against us for better ones.
Something else that I’m absolutely convinced of obsessed about is how we systematically overestimate what we can accomplish in the short term, yet underestimate what we can accomplish over longer periods of time. This fascinates me because it’s rooted in the complex way we operate as humans.
Imagine you want to write a book. You know – rationally – that if you spend one hour a day writing you’ll have a book (self-)published within a year FOR SURE. The thing is, there’s a little voice inside you (or a big one, depending on who’s talking) that keeps telling you a year is way too long. Eventually she convinces you to turn your book dream into a six-month plan (if you’re lucky). What started as an easy, soulful *less-than-a-page-a-day* kind of deal has now magically doubled in pressure and daily required effort. Although it FEELS easier (faster, more doable) to write a book in six months rather than a year, the chances of success aren’t better.
I know, I know. You’d expect me to say that the chances of success are lower, right? Well… yes, in a way. But not exactly. If you give yourself a year to write a book, what works in your favor also works against you: TIME.
This brings me to the third (and final) ingredient of today’s conundrums: the compound effect, aka the theory that your REALITY is the result of your daily choices, behavior, and actions.
This is important. Why?
Because if you give yourself a year to write a book (for a stronger punch line: replace with personal dream of choice) but you’re skipping writing hour three times a week… guess what? It won’t get done.
Slip up once and you can get back on the saddle. Slip up twice and it gets tougher. Do it three times in a row and that book idea probably goes back into the procrastination fridge for a while.
If that’s you (and that is SO ME, by the way) I want you to know you’re not alone.
Nobody taught me about any of this stuff, and I *bet* nobody taught you either (would have been great but, hey, there where so many useless other things to learn first). We’ve been conditioned to fail right from the start by not learning how habits really work. And how to make them work for us.
Because the thing is, there’s a big difference between our unconscious habits and what we can consciously do with them: the MIRACLE ROUTINES we can create to bypass, and change them.
Perhaps you’re familiar with Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning. A daily routine that has you wake up earlier to do what the author calls “SAVERS”: silence, affirmations, visualizations, exercise, reading, scribing. That last one simply means journaling but, according to the author, it didn’t make such a nice acronym. There’s a huge community of people adhering to this practice (more than 170000 of them on Facebook alone). And for good reason.
Small actions repeated over time create the most amazing results.
Actions put together into a specific sequence repeated at regular intervals turn into a routine. Daily routines are easiest to remember and keep up. That’s why creating routines for yourself is so powerful – and creates miraculous results!
Long before I came across Hal Elrod’s book, I was already convinced of the power of routines. In fact, due to my HSP nature, routines is something I always had. Whenever I learned how to do something, the most efficient way I could find to do it would easily turn into a routine for me. Although this can make me a little inflexible at times (hmm) it’s also been an incredible asset both in my private and professional life. Having routines help me
save time,
remember what I have to do,
know what to focus on,
keep at it over time,
build habits (!),
improve my productivity,
slowly become a joyful, courageous, free version of myself.
The real juicy part of routines comes from creating them in such a way that they not only make you benefit from the compound effect, but positively influence your subconscious mind at the same time.
To illustrate what I mean, here’s my morning routine (what I consider a great mix of action-oriented and mindset improving steps):
Transcendental meditation
Journaling
Visualisation
Writing down my goals
Affirmations
Reviewing my to-dos for the day and getting started with the first one
I have no exercise in this routine because – ta-da! – I have another routine for that. I use the Pomodoro technique when I work, and use my 25-minute breaks to squeeze movement into my day.
Now, these routines work well for me because I have a home office and no kids. I understand things might be different for you, and having a morning program like mine might not be possible. But that’s not to say that you can’t have any routines set in place. In fact, I strongly *suggest* that you do.
Even just one thing – repeated every day – will have a tremendous effect over a longer period of time. I’ve used this technique for years now to teach myself new skills: piano, writing, photography, drawing, even computer programming. (I know, it’s the multi-passionate in me, I can’t help myself).
My point is: you can do this too! If you’re up to it, here’s what I’d love you to do.
Think about what you want accomplish for yourself. Less stress? Better self-care? Writing a book? More clients? Learning to play the piano? Getting back in shape? Whatever it is, think about one step that will help you to get there. Now vow to yourself that you’ll do it every day (morning, noons, nights… it doesn’t matter when) for the next 90 days.
The results will BLOW YOU AWAY.
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How to get unstuck and get started now
“It’s only too late if you don’t start now”. Wise words that I love and cherish, spoken by my idol Barbara Sher, grandmother to all scanners as she calls them us: the multi-passionate creatives, creative generalists, multipotentialites…
For us especially, but for anyone else with big ideas and goals too, making sure we get to live our dreams – passions, interests – is absolutely necessary for our happiness – and sanity.
I’ve touched on the importance of having a plan before. Because, yes, a dream that isn’t planned out is nothing more than a wish. The same goes for today’s tip. As long as you don’t *start* to do something to achieve your dream, you’re stuck in the ideas realm. That’s why – once you’ve set your mind to accomplish a goal – you must start immediately. And I mean that LITERALLY – as in now.
I’ve found that the quicker you set out to do something – anything – to work towards a particular goal, the easier it becomes to anchor that goal into your life, and to turn taking action on it into a habit.
And that’s precisely what we want.
The achievement of a goal is the compounded effect of (sometimes very small) actions taken over (sometimes very long periods of) time. The actions might differ greatly depending on the dream you’re trying to achieve. But the dreams all share at least one thing: to get to the finish line you need to get started. This single action might *go without saying* but it’s the biggest dream killer I know, and probably one of the most important actions you can take in trying to achieve your goals.
That’s why – to dream bigger – you need to start now.
From my own experience, and from working with so many clients on figuring out the way to their dreams, I know how dangerous failing to start can be for your dreams. For years I kept *thinking* about all the things I wanted to do: play piano, write, draw, create new projects and businesses, make things… Guess how many dreams came true during that time? A grand total of ZERO.
It’s only when I decided to do something with those dreams that my life took on a completely different shape. My biggest regret? Not to have done it sooner.
Does this mean you have to hurry to achieve your goals? Nope. Not at all. In fact, I’m a strong advocate of taking things slowly. But failing to start is not the same as taking your time to accomplish something. Not taking that first step means not doing anything at all. And that, as I hope you got by now, will get you nowhere.
How to start now?
Pick an action you can get started with immediately
All dreams have actions that require nothing more than for you to do them. If not, we would never be able to achieve anything because we would never be able to get started. For most dreams there’s some research you can do, or someone to talk to who knows more about what you want to achieve than you. Perhaps it’s a book you could read, or something to buy or put together. Whatever it is, there’s ALWAYS something you can start with immediately.
Do it now
Texting someone or doing a quick search online will take no more than a few minutes, so there’s really never an excuse not to do it. Think about your goal and come up with one thing that you can start with immediately. Once you know what it is, do it. Now.
Schedule your next work session in your calendar
After you’re done with the previous step you can – of course – continue with the next action. If you’re like me you’ll probably be enjoying ticking off some of those todos from your list, so please feel free to do so for as long as you like! Whether you keep going or not, however, make sure to schedule your next work session in your calendar. This will make sure that you continue to work towards your goal, and keep taking action.
Pretty easy, right? So many of us think of dreams as daunting mountains that we’ll never be able to climb when the only thing we *really* need to do is to take that first step. Then another. And another.
If you want more tips to get unstuck, I’ve got great news for you! This tip is part of a series, you can find all entries here.
How to say “no” without feeling guilty
I get a lot of emails from people who want to partner with me or have *irresistible* offers for me. They’ve got THE app that will quadruple my productivity or the system that will boost my website traffic into the millions. Usually I dismiss those emails (because you know what… you don’t have to reply to unsolicited email… no really, you DON’T) but sometimes the pitch will be *really* good, or the way the email is put together shows someone with a brain actually sat down behind a keyboard to write it. In that case, I might reply. Like I did last week, when I got an email from an airline magazine offering me a once in a lifetime deal to have my work featured in their upcoming onboard edition.
I was intrigued (not in the least by the outdated information they had about my business, which goes to show that there’s more that triggers me besides great pitches) so I decided to give it a shot.
Long story short, last Friday my phone rang. It was the airline magazine people. Quickly I realized the great deal was in fact an emergency cover-up on the side of the magazine, who had lost one of their advertisers last minute.
My business could be featured in the magazine instead. But to make it work I needed to act fast and provide a suitable ad by the end of the weekend, pay a (ahem) exceptionally discounted fee, change copy on my website, and be on stand-by all Monday for changes that would – most probably – be requested. Of course, all this without any certainty of return on my investment.
All in all not such a great deal after all.
With all the ifs above, and because I profoundly dislike last minute marketing (hello marketing plan) I told the friendly magazine representative that I wasn’t interested, at least not until the fee was so low that I couldn’t pass on the opportunity. I shared with her how disruptive this opportunity was for me, how I’d have to pay premium to my designer to work on such short notice, kiss relax and recreation my weekend plans goodbye, rearrange my marketing budget to squeeze in a magazine. All of which without knowing if it will result in any tangible business. After a short pause she took a breath and thanked me. Told me that she understood where I was coming from and wished she could give me a better rate. Since she couldn’t though, we said goodbye and left it at that.
I’m mentioning this experience because it’s a great example of how I’ve learned to say “no” in an authentic way, and how effective such clarity and honesty can be.
When you think of it, most requests are usually a “no” or a “yes”, but rarely a “maybe”. Even so, we turn most of our “nos” into delayed “yeses” floating around for way too long as “maybes”. Why? We don’t want to disappoint, we’re afraid we won’t be liked, or we haven’t learned how to do it properly (that’s most of us by the way).
The truth is: dancing around a “no” takes so much more time and effort than offering a gracious one immediately. It’s really not that hard. No, REALLY, it isn’t.
You can say something like:
Thank you so much for thinking of me, but right now I’m focusing on X so I won’t have time to do Y for the next Z.
I love the idea but I’m currently going all in on this new project I’m working on, so I’ll have to pass.
I’m so honoured you’ve thought of me, but I promised myself I wouldn’t take on any more work for now, so I won’t be able to help you. I can give you some referrals instead if that would help.
This sounds like a great opportunity but it doesn’t fit in the plan I’ve created for myself. I do know someone who might be just what you’ve been looking for, shall I introduce you?
Saying “no” doesn’t need to take long, be difficult, or put anybody off. All you need to do is be clear and honest about your situation, and explain why you cannot go in on the request.
That’s all.
Once you’ve mastered the art of saying “no” graciously, it will become one of your biggest allies in protecting your time so you can focus on what that really matters to you: your dreams and nobody else’s.
PS: If saying “no” is somewhat tricky for you, I’ve put together a free soulful productivity challenge that might be just what you need. In it I share everything I know about how to do your best work in a way that flows and feels easy. Including how to set boundaries and protect your time so you can do the things you really want to do. Click here to learn more (and sign-up :)).
10 best planners for college students and young professionals
With the end of August in sight, I can’t help but reflect on where I am in my life and business right now. Don’t mistake the calm that emanates from my words for composure. While I might look all put together on the outside, as I’m writing these words my inner goal-crushing Amazon is frantically eyeballing my goals list and gasping for air at the thought of EVERYTHING we still want to accomplish this year. (Sounds familiar?)
The truth of it is: whether you’re going to college, getting started in your first job or decided to start your own business… this time in your life is the ideal time to take stock of what you’ve done so far – and get organized.
To help you get started (or going again), I’ve put together this list of Top 10 Best Planners for College Students and Young Professionals. Each of them is a personal favorite of mine, and most of them have exciting new features each year! Enjoy and break a leg (I mean, smash those goals will ya!).
The Clever Fox Planner is a miraculous little A5 all-in-one planner. You can use it as an agenda, daily, weekly and monthly planner, as a gratitude journal and even as a goal-setting tool. I’ve been using my Clever Fox Planner for a while now and I love it’s versatility. According to its designers – a team of five passionate online entrepreneurs – this planner is the solution for anyone looking to boost their productivity and hit their goals while becoming the best version of themselves at the same time (hello habit tracking!).
Vitaly, one of the creators of this unique planner, explains:
We tried out several productivity planners on the market, and although they were great, we knew something was missing. Either they were only for 3 or 6 months (we wanted 12), either they lacked some very important features (such as a habit tracker or yearly goal focus section), or they did not have enough space for notes, to-dos or goals. In the end, we couldn’t find what we were looking for, so we decided to create it for ourselves. That’s how The Clever Fox Planner was born.
The Clever Fox Planners has many featured I’m looking for in a planner. One of the most *clever* ones is its unmarked calendar that allows you to start with the planner any day of the year. But that’s not all. Each weekly overview comes with a habit tracking section, to-do list, main goal and priorities overview. There’s even room to reflect on your week’s wins and lessons learned.
The planner doubles as a goal-setting tool. In its first pages you’ll find a section for gratitude and self-awareness, a page to add your daily rituals and affirmations, a double-sided spread to create a vision board. The planner also included a double spread for your life and business goals followed by an overview page to list your five most important goals of the year, and a mind map section. Yes, all that!
But that’s not all. Even bullet journal fans (and note takers and list makers like moi) will find something to love about The Clever Fox Planner. The last part of the planner (a considerable portion believe me) is composed of dotted pages. All the room you need to let your creativity run wild and bullet journal, keep notes, organize your thoughts, track ideas and so much more. A must-try for any planner lover if you ask me!
The Simplified Planner is one of my all-time favorite planners. It’s a planner that makes you happy just by looking at it. With it’s six beautiful and joyful designs, this planner is the perfect companion to organize your life, your work and make things simpler in the process.
Emily Ley, mother-of-three and founder of The Simplified Planner, is a firm believer that simple is best. In this always-on-busy-world we live in, Simplified stands on the idea that there is more to life than overwhelm. Its mission is to inspire and empower women with the tools they need to simplify their lives so they create space for what really matters.
The Simplified Planner comes in a daily and weekly edition. They both cover 12 months. The daily planner has one day per page and shared weekend pages and features luxurious paper and a gold wire-o binding. The weekly edition has one week per two-page spread and features a book-bound, lay-flat binding. This makes the weekly edition slightly smaller in size and easier to write in (I use ring-bound planners but often find it’s hard to write close to the rings. But that might be just me and how I write :)). Both editions are finished with a beautiful hard cover with gold foil details and protective gold corners.
Besides the weekly or daily pages the planner comes with full month views and space for your schedule, to-dos, notes and meal planning. Colorful stickers and a pocket inside the front cover tops it all off. Not to mention the elegant box the planners come in or the monthly “planning tips” that you’ll get from Emily via email with each purchase. A simple yet complete planner for anyone looking to simplify their life.
Are you one of those creative, multi-passionate types (like moi) that enjoy lots of options, and – if possible – a little DIY in the process?
If so, you will LOVE the Erin Condren Life Planner. There are plenty of planner manufacturers out there that offer customizable options. None of them to the extend of this planner. The Life Planner is full of tools to help you plan out a successful year, and to help you set goals, figure out what you truly want and take charge of your life.
As I mentioned before, what makes the Erin Condren Life Planner (even more) awesome is how you can customize your planner to make it unique for you:
Interior color: you have the choice between neutral or colorful interior.
Cover: you’re free to pick a cover (in fact that’s how the whole customization process starts) or interchange your covers by purchasing different beautiful laminated ones and change them depending on your mood. You can also choose between having your name printed on your planner or two lines of text of your choosing. I mean, does it ever get better than this?
Layout: you can choose between vertical, horizontal or hourly weekly layouts.
Calendar: the Life Planner comes with three different calendar options. Two 12-month options. From June to July if you’re looking for an academic planner or from January to December if you’re looking for a standard one. The cool thing is that you have a third option, and in my opinion one of the most awesome features of any planner I’ve ever seen! You can order the January to December version including the remaining months from your time of purchase until January 1st. Isn’t this AMAZING? Often I decided against buying a planner because I couldn’t start using it right away (right?!). This option takes care of that issue completely!
Coil color: you have a choice between platinum, gold, rose gold (my favorite :)) and black.
The Life Planner comes with a goal-setting spread and weekly spreads for each week of the month. An entire week is spread across two pages (from Monday to Sunday) and each day features a lined section. At the back of the planner you’ll find a notes sections with lines, dots, coloring book pages. The 4 sheets of stickers are great to customize your planner even more, and make sure important events and to-dos stand out.
All of this makes the Erin Condren Life Planner the DIY planner by excellence, and super fun to put together. It’s also easy to use, extremely functional, and absolutely beautiful and unique at the same time!
The Conquer Kit by Natalie MacNeal is A Creative Business Planner for Women Entrepreneurs. A newcomer in my planner lists, but one that has definitely deserved its spot! On the back cover of the planner, Natalie MacNeil states that The Conquer Kit is a *canvas for your dreams and goals*. I have to say… it sort of is.
When I started using the planner I followed along the recommendation to “sketch, scribble, collage, and write all over its pages” (and had so much fun doing it!). And yes, by the end of it, I was left with a strong business plan AND the strategies to put them into action.
The thing about The Conquer Kit (uhm) is that it is NOT – in fact – a planner.
If you’re working on building a business (or if you have an idea or project in mind), The Conquer Kit is the workbook you need *before* you start using your planner.
Through eight clearly defined and actionable steps you’ll go from ideation to business creation. Natalie has thought of EVERYTHING (in a very her kind of way) to guide you to tap into your creative genius, build a strong foundation, create heart-centric product and marketing plans, put together your A-team, envision the bigger picture, map your next steps, and ultimately bring your dream business to life.
I use The Conquer Kit (or at least sections of it) on a somewhat ongoing basis. I go back to it for clarity, or work through the steps again when I have a new project or goal in mind. I find new golden nuggets every time!
#5 She Plans
Another newcomer in this back to school planner list. She Plans is one of my latest finds, and I’ve deeply fallen in LOVE! Ashley Staum, owner of She Plans and the designer of its minimal looking planners, notebooks, and print & plan printables, started designing planners late one evening while in grad school. She explains:
In order to avoid studying for a few hours I decided that I *needed* to design my own planner to stay on top of everything that was on my plate. I fell in love with the process of designing that first planner and continued to make my own planners each semester and later began making planners for co-workers who glanced over in meetings and were a bit envious of what they saw.
In early 2013, Ashley took the leap and began selling digital planners and later physical versions. Her designs have grown and changed over the years, morphed into different layouts, each designed towards a different way of planning.
Her focus for this year is to grow her Print & Plan line of simple print-at-home planning tools. And those are the ones I’m so absolutely smitten with! Again it’s the customization that does it for me.
In the Print & Plan line you have a selection of covers, and daily, weekly and monthly printables to choose from. The add-ons include perpetual calendars, notes, gritted and dotted pages, project planning and to-do lists. All editions of the Print & Plan line planners come with worksheets at the front of the planner to help you create your Focus Goals for the year ahead as well as monthly goal tracking pages to help you set deadlines and plan your weekly action items.
A back to school planner top 10 list wouldn’t be complete without my friend Michelle’s Ultimate Life Binder. Through her Secret OWL Society (don’t you just love that name?) she’s already inspired thousands of people to take 100% responsibility for their life.
When I met Michelle she told me that the Ultimate Life Binder helped her to systematically elevate herself and her life. She’s now at the 4th revised (extended) version of the binder and has sold more than 2500 copies all over the world!
The Ultimate Life Binder is probably the most complete planner out there. Michelle has literally thought about EVERYTHING. And I mean – everything!
A yearly calendar overview, top-3 goals of the year overview, monthly glances and two-page and one-page monthly overviews.
Prompts to help you focus on a weekly and daily basis on what’s most important to you.
Everything you need to stay on track with your goals, including a project planner and mind-map.
Handy daily pages with space for to-dos and to reflect on how you want to feel, what you’ll do to take care of yourself, and what you absolutely need.
A specific section to record your achievements (so important!).
Prompts to identify your key habits, and daily success habits tracking.
Everything you need to stay on top of social media and your blog: a schedule, strategy plan, editorial calendar and post planner.
Fun lists for books you want to read, things you want to buy, courses you’re taking but also more practical overviews like password sheets to record your online passwords for safekeeping, goal breakdown worksheets, budgeting tools, and even travel planning sheets.
What’s so cool about the Ultimate Life Binder is that Michelle’s binder addresses the important life and business stuff, even when it’s not that sexy. Like tracking your financials, or getting clear on the habits you need to build (or change) in order to be successful.
So if you’re looking for the more complete planner, with a different and more intuitive focus than traditional ones, it’s definitely worth checking out!
#7 Inkwell LiveWell 360 Planner
The Inkwell Press LiveWell Planner is an all-time favorite planner of mine. This year celebrates the 5th edition of the liveWELL Planner. And it features some amazing changes for its 2019 planner edition: the brand-new liveWELL 360™ system.
This disc planning system allows you to customize your planner to make it perfect for you. The fun starts with four covers to choose from, including two vegan options that I absolutely love! After that you can select your style: daily, weekly (flex or classic), monthly or goal-setting (my favorite option) and whether or not you want tabs. Add-ons can be purchased to customize your planner even more or as standalone planners. The options are:
Goal Setting Planner
Project Planner
Meal Planner
50 pages of dotted or gritted notes
What I love most about the Inkwell LiveWell Planner is its focus on goal setting and productivity. When you buy this planner you become part of something greater: a community of like-minded planner lovers who want to achieve their goals. Productivity courses, a podcast, blog and YouTube channel all accompany this planner to make sure you get and stay on track making this planner an all-in-one productivity solution.
#8 Day Designer
The Day Designer is a real work of art. Ever since I discovered this planner a few years ago I’ve been amazed at how attractive it is, and practical! It’s beautiful, intuitive, and has so much space for everything! There is a wide selection of contemporary cover designs to choose from. My favorites include the Jungle Out There (flamingo lovers unite!), Antigua, and Brushed Confetti. But the classic remains the Black Stripe. I mean, how can you say no to a black, white, and gold combo?!
Whitney English – designer and creator of the Day Designer – believes that a well-designed day is a well-lived life. I couldn’t agree more. As a minimalist and essentialist I believe that the more intentional we live our life, the happier we are.
The first pages of the Day Designer hold different worksheets, each designed to help you find out what really matters to you and what your personal skills, values, vision, passions, and strengths are. Yes, it’s absolutely essential to have clarity in order to achieve your goals!
In the daily planner edition, each day has its own separate page, except for Saturday and Sunday, which share one page. Each weekday, from Monday through Friday, has an hourly schedule from 5am to 9pm (great for early birds!), space to add your top 3 tasks of the day, an inspiring quote, dinner planning, a spot to record daily gratitude, notes and more. What I particularly like about the daily page is the space reserved for your daily to-do. Most planners don’t leave a lot of space to add to-dos (and let’s be honest, it’s important not to have to many of those on our daily list) but I love having room to scribble down things on the spot, or a list of things I have to remember.
This planner is an effective tool to help you organize your goals, ideas, tasks, days, thoughts and life!
#9 Danielle LaPorte’s Desire Map Planner
Danielle LaPorte’s Desire Map Planner and Program are one of my favorite productivity tools out there because the focus is so different. With Danielle LaPorte it all starts with how you want to feel. Once you’re clear on that, she helps you put a strategy together to achieve that feeling – and the goals that go with it. The program and planner not only helps you plan your to-do list, but also inspires you to think about and discover the feelings that make you happy. This is soulful planning at its best, and in my book a core piece of setting goals successfully!
The Desire Map Planner is the perfect option if you want more soul in your life (and goals). The planner starts from your desires and feelings, so you can keep track of what’s most important to you. It will help you stay on track, take better care of yourself, focus on your mindset, explore creative ideas, and feel grateful throughout the year!
I wanted to finish this list with a planner with a totally different approach still. That’s why I decided on The Freedom Journal. The promise of this planner is to guide you in the accomplishment of your #1 goal in 100 days.
The Freedom Journal is a goal-setting, productivity and accountability tool all at once. John Lee Dumas, the creator of The Freedom Journal, has interviewed over 2000 successful entrepreneurs and has created a unique step-by-step process that will guide you in setting and accomplishing your #1 goal in 100 days. What I like about it is the Agile approach, a methodology I was trained in as a project manager and that works wonders to complete projects in the most efficient way possible. Imagine doing that with your goals? That’s the promise of this planner!
When you order a copy of this planner you get access to an exclusive planner community on Facebook. You also get the audio book, mobile app and fillable PDF version of the planner for free. Worth getting your hands dirty if you ask me!
That’s it for this back to college or kill it at that first job list. I hope you enjoyed this post, and that it helped you to choose the planner that is perfect for you. Now it’s your turn. Do you use a daily or monthly planner? What’s your favorite, and why? In the comments below, share your #1 planner pick, how you plan and organize your days or anything else productivity you’d like to share with me. I’d really love to know!
Is low self-esteem sabotaging your business?
CONFIDENCE. A ten-letter word that holds so much power. The most important sales tool you’ll ever have or need. Precisely why it’s so important to cultivate, and be aware of it. And why so many creative and passionate entrepreneurs struggle financially.
The reason is, anyone can feel when you don’t *really* believe in yourself – I mean when you feel like an awkward little duckling in a big pond of voracious alligators – and that often puts people off.
I’ve always known this to be true. In fact, when I first started out as a freelance project manager in 1998, confidence (and a pair of heels) was all I had. I call it confidence now, but looking back I’d say it was mostly naiveté. Not knowing what I was getting myself into (building a business is freakin’ hard) and with absolutely no clue about the MOUNTAIN of things I actually didn’t know anything about. Add a dash of ambition, and a cup of perfectionism and people-pleasing into the mix and you’ve got yourself a workable mix – at least when it comes to landing projects.
Clients responded well to that initial enthusiasm. I was just slightly ahead of the curve with my knowledge of the emerging Internet and my self-taught web development skills. So they hired me. For one project at first, then repeatedly. Projects and business was coming in.
As time went on my knowledge of the work I was doing improved. I gained more and better skills (bye bye Dreamweaver!) and was in charge of increasingly complex projects. After a few years spent trying things out (read: getting totally lost in business land after a few wrong turns) I eventually started my own web agency. I approached it with that same passion, and enthusiasm.
Quickly a list of repeat clients was born.
I’m not going into the details of the type of clients I was attracting, or the promises I was making them – I wasn’t the best judge of budget versus scope back then. That’s for another post (said while writing potential jaw dropping title down in editorial blog planner).
What I want to talk about today is how exhaling confidence was the only tool I had when I started out, and how it allowed me to make money and start a business.
In those early days, whenever I wasn’t confident (didn’t believe in the idea, didn’t understand it, or wasn’t sure I wanted to work with the client) I usually wouldn’t sell. Afterwards I had this nagging feeling that I’d somehow “sabotaged” myself, that I’d not given it my best shot. I was right.
I wouldn’t sell because I wouldn’t fully engage. I wouldn’t show the extend of my capabilities because I wasn’t passionate, because I wouldn’t take the lead during the meeting. Potential clients would doubt my skills, and whether or not I could handle their project. The important lesson here is: it was ME doing it. I was playing the wrong cards unconsciously – but on purpose.
When I became a career coach and business consultant the same principle still held true (well duh!).
In the beginning I didn’t feel confident calling myself a coach. I didn’t have a lot of experience, and the coaching sphere felt really overwhelming. So when I did speak of it, the words that came out of my mouth sounded more like an apology than an enthusiastic claim to greatness. In every single one of those cases I got back what I was sending out: a lack of enthusiasm to work with me, aka absolutely nothing. A few months in, and many failed attempts at trying to land a client this way I decided something had to change. I’d made a commitment to become a coach, I’d studied hard for it, had done all the work. I might as well be PROUD of it.
The next time I spoke to a potential client, I didn’t try to sell her anything. Instead I told her about all the changes my pro bono clients had achieved, the new careers they had transitioned into, the projects they had started. I spoke honestly and with passion, and started dreaming with her about the things she could do and that I could help her achieve. She signed up ON THE SPOT.
Moral of the story? Sales require confidence.
If you don’t believe in yourself and the products or services you offer, you can still make a buck or two, but sell consistently and in a way that feels good? I sincerely doubt it.
The solution? (wouldn’t wanna leave you hanging on a cliff :))
Practice – as often as you can. With all the enthusiasm you’ve got to offer. Fake it till you make it if you have to.
Investigate your self-worth: perhaps you need a little confidence boost (there’s plenty of books out there that can help with that like this one, and this one, and this one).
Don’t sell what you don’t believe in (it doesn’t work anyway). If you’re not sure what you believe in, get clear on your values.
Take a (free) sales course (again plenty of good options available, but I particularly like this 25 Days to 100K one – thanks Ash for being such a star!)
Learn from your mistakes. Keep a “lessons learned” list by your bedside.
Learn from you wins. Keep those on the same list.
Never stop growing: try something different every day, join a mastermind, go to a sales seminar, or just talk to people.
Hire a coach
But most importantly: BELIEVE IN YOURSELF.
You’ve got this, I promise! Selling doesn’t need to be all eek and yikes. The more confident you’ll get that you have THE solution for a client, the better the process will feel (to both of you). So don’t sell yourself short – pun totally intended – but instead grow that confidence muscle, relax, have a drink and watch as your sales finally take off.