Top Ten Tips for Insomnia and your To-Do List

I have a bad habit of working on projects until late in the night when everyone is asleep. Then I finish the night curled up in my favorite spot on the couch watching my DVR until I drift asleep. Wake up, rewind the show I fell asleep on….wake up, rewind the show I fell asleep on…..wake up, give up and stumble into the bedroom.
I have a firm rule that when I stumble in the bedroom, my husband is not allowed to go to the bathroom or talk to me. I additionally avoid turning any lights on or doing anything that requires bright eyes or a brain cell. I just wanna fall into bed in my very drifty mindset so I can quickly fall to sleep.

It doesn’t always work this way though. Last night was one of those occasions.
I did my usual routine of fall asleep, rewind, fall asleep, rewind. It’s 2am as I arrive into bed. But this night was one of “those” nights. My brain just wouldn’t shut off. The mental light went on, and my task list was rolling through my head, hard.
I start freaking out as I have so many obligations and little details that need to be remembered and taken care of for so many different upcoming events I am running/planning. My head starts spinning around the upcoming fitness conference I’m presenting at this weekend. The meeting I’m putting together for over 1000 people in my business heading to Vegas, and trying to remember little details for the presenters, topics, events, and so on. The items I have to order for the newly created back yard pool extravaganza. And to also not forget to send thank you cards, wedding gifts, communion gifts- spinning, spinning, swirling. Eye peaks open at the clock that shines on the ceiling, 2:38am. No, no, no! Stop it. There’s nothing you can do about it now. Just close your eyes, focus on this little blue flame and clear your thoughts.

“This would be a great blog entry! I could give them some ideas on how to get past thinking of your to-do list….”

STOP IT, you are doing it again! Thinking of what you can do tomorrow.

Honestly, I can go on. This is a struggle for many and me sometimes, thankfully.

It’s challenging to just let go and give in to sleep when you feel stressed, responsible, and have so many things going on.

I just wanted to share with you that it happens to many, and here are some recommended techniques to get passed this when it does happen.

1) Establish a regular bedtime time and try to stay consistent
2) Avoid Intense Exercise less than 3 hours before bedtime
30 Avoid Caffeine in the evening
4) Avoid Alcohol in the evening
5) Wind down! Find something that calms you (reading, meditating, listen to music)
6) Keep a notepad by the bed, and exhaust your thoughts prior to closing your eyes
7) Keep a cool room
8) Avoid Taking Naps in the Daytime
9) Avoid Bright Lights
10) Re-direct your thoughts to a simple activity or point.

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WATCH YOUR MOUTH! How the words you choose can create a positive or negative response.

Building your business is scary, especially in the business. You want to make your investment a HUGE success immediately! YOU love the product, the people, the mission, the company, and you can’t wait to share it! But the problem starts to reveal itself quickly! You don’t understand why your business may not be growing. Why do people show interest then disappear? One of the biggest challenges in starting your business is building confidence. Having a strong self and level of confidence in what you do know will carry more weight in trying to learn everything about the company and trying to explain it all to your contact.

You don’t need to know everything about the company. Period.

Think of when you started a new job. The BIG one, the one you first got out of college, the one where it’s your “career”. That first day, that first week, that first month; were you required to be an expert? To have all the systems down? To know everyone’s name and their job title and description? To have all the products memorized, know the ingredients or how it was made? Obviously, the answer is, no! If your employer expected this of you, they surely are not doing a great job with being a leader in management position.
Wasn’t it funny when you finally discovered that bathroom that was just around the corner, super close to you, when you had been walking clear across the building as that was the only bathroom you knew? Or how easy it was when you figured out how to finally use the client database when it was like a foreign language to you at the start?

Why am I bringing this up? Because I’d like for you to feel what you should feel when you start something new. You can’t know it all, and you won’t know where all the bathrooms are I.e: shortcuts.
So stop trying to be an expert, success, know it all. Just be confident in what you do know and what you are passionate about. Now, this leads me to the REAL topic at hand.

When speaking with someone about the possible option of joining your business, working with you, or buying this product, the choice of words you use tell the story. Wouldn’t you love to have your next conversation hidden camera video taped? You could learn so much! How your body language is. What you say. If you are confident. If you puke all over them with details and more details. If you even ask them a question or let them talk. If you know what their primary need or interest is.

Keep it simple. Stay confident in what you do know and what you are passionate about. The choice of words you use will bring up the feeling for result in the conversation. If you tend to speak with negative words, (it’s not this….you aren’t….you don’t have to that…it isn’t going to be…) you will create a wall and a negative feeling for the person you are speaking to.
You help them feel what you want them to feel all by the words you are choosing.

Nothing feels worse than the feeling of defending yourself or your business in a conversation. If you have moved the conversation into this direction, pause, and nicely end the conversation. You won’t ever be able to convince a negative nelly as well as someone who just doesn’t believe in your mission.

Keep it simple, keep it positive, and keep the conversation about them. It’s not about you.

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Portion Sizes – Measuring is Critical for Weight Loss Success

I recently hired a natural bodybuilder to set me up with a diet plan. As I get older, I find I have to tweak my nutrition plan to get the results I’m looking for. I typically do not stay lean all the time and have to lean out for certain events or video filming. So in this occasion, I was curious on how my body would react with something specifically structured for me.
The diet plan was pretty bodybuilder basic 101. He had me eating 6 small meals a day and drinking at least 150 oz of water.

I was getting results, slowly but surely. But then my body hit a stall. The weight wasn’t moving for 3-4 days and I didn’t look any different either. The problem lies in my serving sizes. I wasn’t measuring, just eyeballing. Hey, I’m a fitness professional, I know what 4oz is. I can figure this out. I THOUGHT my husband threw out my manual scale when we moved from NY to TX. He always hated that thing. I went searching for it again deep in the cabinets, and found it!

To my surprise and madness, I was overeating on serving sizes! Sometimes 3-4 times the amount! Pictured here I was suppose to eat 2.5 oz Chicken and 3 oz Yam. As you can see my “guessing plate” and the “measured plate” on how I was way off!

So many of my meals throughout the day consisted of having 1oz of peanuts with the meals. Well, boy do I love peanuts! And the daily increase of an extra peanut or 10 surely made a difference when you times that by multiple meals in a day! No wonder I wasn’t losing weight! Even an extra couple hundred calories a day can make all the difference. Here was another one of my meals and how off I was:

So what does this all mean? YES, weighing and measuring is THAT important for your weightloss success! Even a fitness professional like myself can get it wrong. Invest in a digital scale (btw, I did throw out my manual cheap one after I bought a digital). It will seriously make all the difference in your hard efforts. By delaying measuring, is only delaying the success of your efforts and hard work.

Less IS More! Prospecting for your Network Marketing Business

Call it what you want, but prospecting is specifically thinking about sharing your business with someone else. The dictionary’s definition: pros·pect (prspkt)
n. – a. A potential customer, client, or purchaser.

You will have a greater success rate in building your direct marketing or network marketing business if you focus simply, on keeping it simple.
In everything in life, we become very familiar with things we are passionate about. We become very excited and can’t wait to tell the world so they too can become just as excited and join the excitement bubble we have for that particular product, service, or opportunity.
When working to build your business and the daily action of putting your opportunity, product, or service specifically in front of someone you feel should check it out too, it can become a dangerous line between sharing too much information.

It’s easy to confuse people as well as to talk them right out of even checking it out. Less IS More! Be excited! Make them make their own decision on taking that next step further to see if this is something they are interested in. Below are three top tips to follow when sharing your opportunity with a prospect.

1) BE EXCITED AND CONFIDENT! Speak with energy and confidence. Your facial expressions, body language, and vocal tone will be the first impression on this conversation. With whatever you are about to say, focus on these areas first.

2) BE EFFECTIVE IN KEEPING IT SIMPLE! No need to go into a long list of how to win this, make money here, this random person they don’t know is so successful, you get training here, you can do these home parties there, you can start challenges here, and you can win this award here…etc..you just confused the heck right out of them and made the decision for them. People are busy! If you are clear, concise, and simply just drop a seed so they can go develop that curiosity in your opportunity.

3) POINT THEM TO THE PRESENTATION/PRODUCT/SERVICES! Be clear in direction. Fumbling over your words speaks lack of confidence. Have a clear direction of what you want them to look further into. If it’s a video presentation of your business, know which one you like the best, and be consistent on sharing that. When it is a product, best practices is to have a sample on you to hand over.

In all of your prospecting experiences, be sure to set a clear time for them to check out what you want them to check out and a clear time as to when you will be following back up with them.
Following up is the biggest mistake direct marketers make. Consider it peace of mind! You know where this person stands and you are never left wondering if they checked it out, are they interested, as well as you get to leave the stalker label to the next guy.

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Working Out Your WillPower

We are faced with battling our willpower everyday. As soon as the alarm goes off, you are faced with many choices of will. Do you hit the snooze alarm, do you skip choosing a quick sugar filled breakfast for something healthy, do you skip the double mocha latte with whip and go for the plain coffee, Do you finish following through this major task for work or jump on facebook, and Do you choose to get a chicken salad hold the dressing or get that Turkey club complete with bacon! The list goes on! All day we are battling our will just to make better choices, ones that should be moving us towards our goals, keep us healthy, as well as form to what should be the best decision according to society standards. Does it make you cranky? Sure can! It’s exhausting at times to constantly be fighting temptation. Over and over again, it surely can start to chip away at your willpower and before you know it, BOOM; you’ve given in by allowing your priorities to crash and good choices fly out the window!

 

But great news is that research as proven that willpower works just like a muscle! Overtrain/work your willpower just like a muscle, it falls into fatigue. But, on the opposite scope of it all, it can be strengthened making you more productive and happier with your choices and results. Below are some habits you can use to help create strength in your willpower and not allow yourself to hit that wall.

1) Write it Down!– Keep a journal that you can keep daily notes and tracking on how you perform or scheduled your day. Whether it’s for weight loss and keeping track of your daily meal plan and exercise to following through on business building techniques for your business. This is a way to track back. So if in times where you start to fall short or hit a wall, you can track back to when things were good and progressing.

2) Don’t Procrastinate! – When you procrastinate on a task or get anxious, research has shown we tend to give into an urge to improve our moods by doing something else. One suggested book to read is Eat That Frog, by Brian Tracy. Suck it up, and get the hardest most daunting task done first!

3) Be on the OFFENSE team! – Many people are successful at making good choices and not constantly battling their will because they put themselves in situations where temptation isn’t even a choice. If you can proactively arrange your day and your life to avoid problems or bad choices in temptation, you will have a much smoother day with sticking to your plan in action. If you are trying to lose weight, plan your meals for the day and don’t fall into the lunchtime crew heading out to the all you can eat buffet! If you are working on habitual for jumping back and forth between email, twitter, and facebook to avoid a work assignment, close those programs or shut the computer down if possible! People who are proactive avoid risk. Just like taking your car in for check up and maintenance.

4) Pick your Battles! – You can’t control every situation or every temptation in front of you. It’s easy to fall into a trap where everything just goes to “pot” because you are stressed out with too many situations, obligations, and tasks! Choose your timing! If you are just starting a new job, trying to lose weight, and trying to quit smoking, maybe lighten up on how strict your efforts are while you take on such a major change in your life. Keep that forward progress but maybe put the breaks or slow down on the pace.

5) Reward yourself often! – People love incentives. Your reward doesn’t always have to be like a kid in a candy store. Making good choices on your rewards can be as simple as doing something you normal don’t have the chance to do, like a massage or pedicure. Or even schedule a babysitter so you can go out for a couple hours and do anything you want. It can even be having a day or meal where you take in some of the most desired treats you have been cutting back.

Success in your goals and achievements is planned. It’s a plan laid out like a blue print. You can’t build a house, unless you have a blue print. Work on creating habits that won’t leave you agitated and fighting with yourself every day. Find a way where it’s reasonable, takes maybe a different pace than you initially wanted, but will lay out a plan for success.

How to Get Started and Build Your Small Business Network

In this interview with Carl Daikeler, CEO of Beachbody, I have the opportunity to answer some questions that many small business owners struggle with in getting started and growing their home businesses.
Getting started in a home business does require marketing, scheduling, and following through on business building tasks that will grow your business daily. It's easy to let a day go by, and fail to make motions in your business. Managing your schedule as well as following through with your follow ups is two pivotal steps in growth.
In this interview you will hear how I personally got started in my multi level marketing home business.  Putting this business in front of the people who are closest to you, that you have had relationships with for years, as well as just know by acquaintance or referral.
The more people you can interact with, even if you don't know them, is the only way to grow your business as well as to impact other people's lives. The impact you can make on someone else's life in helping them reach their goals is a step that many people don't take advantage of or see they have the ability to do. But, we are all the same. We all just want to have companionship, accountability, support, and a pat on the head to know that we are valued and that we are doing a good job.

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Please also comment below on what your best TAKE AWAY is from this video and what you would like to see more of.

DON’T FREAK OUT! Consistency for Small Business Growth

Why is consistency important in small business growth? Especially a small home business? It’s not only the important but the cornerstone! It also translates into all areas of your life!

Being in the health and wellness industry, I am guilty of the exact same feelings of discouragement and wanting to throw the towel in when I don’t see immediate results!  All that focused planning of my food, intake, and exercise, why can’t I be at a lean ripped up machine in just a matter of a couple days?  Honestly, I always notice that my body doesn’t change much, weigh different, or really “see” the efforts of my labor until the 14th day!  Weird, I wake up on the 14th day, and boom, I can see it!

Or how about the time where I started washing dishes in a my hometown restaurant when I REALLY wanted to be a “bus girl.” Even though I didn’t get tips being a bus girl, it just allowed me to have that feeling of success and not being the one trapped in a hot kitchen scraping uneaten food off of plates and throwing them in the wash. My time did finally come to graduate into the main dining where I could finally dress in a black skirt and white shirt, and the white shirt would actually stay white!  But I had to put a ton of effort, prove my skills, prove my work ethic, prove my determination for growth, prove I am the girl to move!

Why is your home business any different than any other venture of growth in your life?

There is no difference! Why would you decide to make a big change in your life, one that will improve the quality of your life, invest time, money, and stress in the efforts of getting started then do nothing or drop off because the growth of your business isn’t happening when you want it to?  Only you can answer that question for yourself, yet so many people do just this.

No business should be treated like a hobby and especially your own business you must take it seriously and be consistent on a daily basis.  Don’t think that things will happen overnight it takes time and committing yourself.

I hear many times from people working on developing their business say, “I tried that it didn’t work” or “I don’t have upline support.” Most often time it’s easier to put the blame on someone else or even put the blame on the business model itself.

But what it really boils down to is consistency. Doing the right activity over and over.  Now we have to be realistic!  You can’t expect to see life changing results in a matter of a couple months.  There is no possible way but you must be persistent and consistent. Because just like riding a bike, it’s tough to get the bike rolling as you start to pedal, but once you are rolling it’s rolling with less effort! But as soon as you hit the breaks and stop, to get rolling again is tough! Sometimes you may even be caught in the middle of a steep hill!

I run with the motto, “Things always work out in the end”. I’d be honest in saying I don’t stress out about meeting deadlines, meeting challenges, and even meeting the personal quota and goals I set each month. Even when the month starts to near it’s end, my stress level starts to rise and I start working even more on activity to produce the results I’d like.  But what I find happens, is that because I was consistent, never putting the breaks on for the months leading up to the end of this month, the breadcrumbs and efforts I was laying down the whole time turns around and pays off.

Here are some suggestions to ensuring your activity is productive and not just a matter of busy work that you keep fooling yourself with.

1) Set a 90 day activity journal.  Record your activity for 3 months, as well as the productivity.  If you are failing to see the fruition of the efforts you laid down in the beginning of the 90 days come around at the end of the 90 days, time to re-evaluate your activity.

2) Re-Evaluate your Daily/Weekly/Monthly Schedule – It’s easy to be busy. But being busy with activity that fills your time producing no results will only frustrate you.  Use a calendar to schedule out your appointments of work and activity on each day and follow it! Be sure to move on to the next scheduled task that is on your schedule.

3) Don’t be Scared to Ask for an Honest Opinion! – After being diligent in your efforts of work and activity, find your mentor, sponsor, or direct manager and ask for some constructive feedback.  As hard as that pill is to take, someone that you have in this position above you should be able to deliver just the news you need to hear while giving you that drive and determination to make those changes for a better result.

As more is learned about your efforts, schedule, and areas needed for improvement, more of the inefficiency is removed, exposing that still more can be learned — and so on — creating an ever increasing spiral of productivity and results. But that can’t happen without consistency.

5 Successful People Who Failed Horribly in Their Journey

“I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison

Having success will take you time and effort. And SURE, many times you will fail before you are even successful. Ask just about anybody who has become successful if they have ever failed in their journey towards acheiving their goals or dreams. Chances are you will get quite a few great stores and laughs at many of their failed attempts.

The difference between long-term success and failure is your reaction to it. People who lead, are determined for success, accept it and learn from it. Simple fact:

Failure happens. Live with it. Learn from it. Move on from it.

Your view of failure doesn’t need to change or be avoided. Think of it this way, it’s a chance to learn something that does not work!

If you’re struggling in your online business, don’t be afraid to try things that are “new” “different” or even go against the traditional approach of an online business. The worst thing that can happen is failure… which is just a chance to learn and grow.

Proof in the point! Here are a list of 5 hugely successful people, in which, all of them failed. Of course everyone will fail in a small degree, but they all failed in a public and massive degree. Yet, they are viewed as hugely successful people because of their success and their ability to bounce back.

Bill Gates: Dropped out of Harvard and started a failed first business with Microsoft and co-founder Paul Allen called Traf-O-Data. While their initial idea wasn’t successful, Gates’ later work did, creating the global empire that is Microsoft.

Walt Disney: HUGE success today as it brings in billions from merchandise, movies and their theme parks around the world, but it wasn’t an easy start. Disney got fired by a newspaper editor because the editor felt he lacked imagination and didn’t have any good ideas. Later, he started a number of businesses that didn’t work or last and most ended with bankruptcy and failure. He never gave up, and the rest is history!

Elvis Presley: One of the best-selling artists of all time, Elvis has become a household name even years after his death. But back in 1954, He was still a nobody and even got fired from the Grand Ole Opry after just one performance. He was told: “You ain’t goin’ nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin’ a truck.”

Oprah Winfrey: Most people wouldn’t even know she had success a history of struggle because of her grand success these days in TV and other sources of media. She’s even one of the richest and most successful women in the world. She endured a rough road and often abusive childhood as well as numerous career setbacks including being fired from her job as a television reporter because she was “unfit for tv.”

Babe Ruth: Can’t even imagine someone not knowing his name or his success because of his home run record (714 during his career). But of course, along with all those home runs came a long list of strikeouts as well (1,330 in all). Actually, for decades he held the record for strikeouts. When asked about this he simply said, “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”

It’s just impossible for someone who has a fear of failure to achieve anything, because they have never tried. Never gave themselves the opportunity to succeed.

It is in doing, trying, and experiencing things you never did before that you grow and develop into success. Through practice you get better and better at the things you do.