5 Strategies to Be More Productive and Focused at Work During the Holidays

Sometimes we find our workdays seem to run into each other and we're constantly working on yesterday's (or last week’s) to-do list. This can be a big struggle over the holidays.

When that happens, it’s time to step back and look at our routines and find ways to ease the stress and regain our focus.

Here are five ways to manage your workday more effectively and productively.

Focus on your health and wellness. You cannot underestimate the importance of daily meditation, exercise, healthy eating, and good and adequate sleep on your ability to be productive and successful. Incorporate these aspects of your life into a routine, as mentioned above, and you'll find yourself enjoying greater success. Start the day with a tall glass of water and some energizing food. You need energy and strength to be at your best and so it's important to hydrate with water when you awake and to eat something high in protein and low in sugar, in order to avoid a crash later in the morning.

Find an app. Many routine tasks we need to do in our lives and at work can be made simpler and more effective by using technology to help us. Often, we think of technology as enslaving us as we spend too much time on social media but look to find apps to make your life easier.

Eat the frog and tackle the most difficult task first. One simple strategy that will pay significant dividends for your productivity is to take on your most pressing task immediately and work to complete it before moving on to something else. Avoid getting bogged down by email early in your day. Save the email for the afternoon and attack your most important task of the day first You'll find that knocking out a difficult or dreaded item on your to-do list first thing motivates you to get more day and take on some of those things you really enjoy with more energy.

Work in short bursts followed by a short break. Focus more efficiently by working hard but briefly on your tasks. If you work for 45 minutes and follow that with a quick walk, you'll return to your work with more focus.

Plan for success. Your day should start the previous night or afternoon by identifying your top three priorities for the next day. You're more productive when you plan your day out, allowing you to more easily accommodate and integrate surprises into your schedule as they come up. Also plan to attack your email and clear out your in-box in the afternoon, once you've completed your most important daily tasks.

By implementing these methods your workday will be more focused and productive.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: 10 Things That Will Immediately Change Your Life

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below, Jim Kwik talks about 10 practices that will pay immediate dividends and improve your life and career, including eating for health and learning how to manage stress. Check out the video to learn more.

5 Ways to Avoid Becoming a Workaholic

In a work world where we’re expected to be available 24-7, it can be easy to become a workaholic and overly stressed. It’s important to make a conscious effort to stay in balance and implement processes in our life to better manage the workload.

Here are some steps to take to avoid becoming a workaholic. 

  

Manage expectations. Avoid a tendency to be a perfectionist or to think that you can do everything. Nothing is ever perfect, and no one can do everything. Set realistic expectations for the quality of the work that you do, the amount of time you will devote to a project, and the work you yourself will take responsibility for. Having clear and realistic expectations can help you avoid becoming a workaholic.

   

Delegate and ask for help. An important way to reduce stress is to ask for help when it’s needed and delegate whenever possible. There is no shame in needing help and it can be important for the development of others to provide opportunities.

Focus on health. If you’re focused on your health, getting enough sleep, eating well, and ensuring that you add exercise to your regimen, you’ll better recognize when you’re getting imbalanced in your work life and be better positioned to make changes to avoid overwork.

Unplug. Be sure to set aside time when you’re unavailable to your supervisor and colleagues, and unplug from your email, voice messages, and communication apps. Keep your weekends free of work and try to avoid work after a set time each evening.

Consider a job change. If you still find yourself struggling to avoid stress at work, and you’re overdoing things you might need to consider another job. Look into something that will be less demanding and allow for more balance in your life.

5 Tips for Maintaining Work-Life Balance

The idea of maintaining work-life balance might seem to be a myth and many times in our careers our work lives can feel overwhelming.

Instead of struggling for a balance that might not exist we can instead seek out a way to work that works for us and our unique lifestyle, while allowing us to maintain sanity.

Consider the following five factors when thinking about work-life balance and what is best for you.

Learn to say no. An important key to getting to a balanced place in your life is developing the ability to say no. Your mental health will thank you. Your stress level will thank you. And your work life will thank you. No one can do it all. Understand your limits and be willing to protect them with a well-calculated “no.”

Set structure and boundaries. There will always be exceptions, of course, but we need to be clear about the boundaries we set for our work lives and give it an appropriate structure. For example, you might choose to avoid working past a specific time each day or decline to work on the weekends. Additionally, you might add a walk around the block to your work schedule or after-lunch routine. Perhaps a brief nap or time for reading in the afternoon is what you need to regain focus and energy.

Take advantage of time off. You have time off for a reason. Use it. Whether it’s for a holiday or personal days off, be sure to take time off from your job and recharge. This time should be carefully guarded and carefully planned to ensure that it provides the maximum benefit to your personal like and to your career.

Use technology wisely. There are many problems for which tech companies claim to have a solution for. Unfortunately, some technology solutions simply add to the stress and busyness of life. Be sure that when you add tech to your plans that the technology actually solves the problem you need solving. If you have a work phone, consider getting a personal phone, too, so you can turn off the work phone at times without being available 24-7.

Focus on your health. Perhaps the most important thing you can do for your work life balance is to pay attention to your health and get adequate rest, eat healthy foods, eliminate harmful habits, and be sure to have an exercise regimen. Also, pay attention to your emotional health and mental well-being and seek out professional help when necessary.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 5 Tips for Managing Stress Over the Holidays

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• 5 Tips for Managing Stress Over the Holidays: "You might feel like you have to do everything and be everywhere, especially when technology makes it so easy. But it's just not the case. You might be missed, but your time and energy is limited, so use it wisely."

• 5 Ways to Kickstart Your Side Hustle: "Ask your HR department if they provide access or discounts to premium resources, business management tools or training. Some organizations offer education budgets; use those resources to get ahead."

• How to Help Your Employees Stay Productive Around the Holidays: "closing the office for more days during the holidays has a direct and positive impact on in-office productivity."

• 5 Healthy Resolutions to Make: "This is the easiest of the five, and yet it is so often overlooked, especially by men. An annual checkup is your chance to measure your progress from year to year."
• Why Soul is the Secret to Family Business Success:"when you realize that you're closer to the back end [of life] than the front, you begin to wonder about whether your life has meant something."

Four Ways to Manage Stress and Anxiety at Work

You have a big project coming up or you’ve taken on new responsibilities at work and you feel anxious. When we encounter something new or have an increased workload if is easy to feel overwhelmed.

But you don’t have to through it alone and there are ways to manage the stress without going crazy at work, quitting your job, or kicking the dog.

If stress and anxiety is getting you down at work, implement the following four practices. 

Identify any patterns related to your stress. If you can find specific patterns to your stress and anxiety it becomes easier to develop some strategies to deal with it. For example, if you notice more intense stress on Sunday evenings or Monday mornings as you begin to turn your attention back to your job, you can be better prepared to face the work week. Perhaps the anxiety increases in the lead up to making a presentation at work. This information can lead you to decide to take a public speaking class at the local college, or join the Toastmasters, or avoid procrastinating and have the presentation prepared a few days in advance to allow time to get comfortable. Once you’ve identified patterns related to the stress and anxiety you experience you also help to reduce its power over you.

Discuss the situation with your supervisor. Don’t be shy about asking for help. Oftentimes we don’t want to admit to feeling stress at work because we don’t want our manager to think we’re incompetent or unable to handle the job. However, it’s necessary and important to our growth as a person and as an employee to learn to seek out help when needed. Your boss can likely offer some suggestions or tips that can reduce your stress, and sometimes it just helps to have someone lend an ear.  

Take care of your health. Our physical health plays an important role in dealing with stress and anxiety in our lives. Be sure to get enough sleep, engage in some movement and exercise daily, and be intentional about the foods we eat and the drinks we consume. Alcohol and coffee can negatively impact our sleep, while also contributing to a sense of grogginess or jitters during the day. Also consider adding time in your schedule for a brief meditation practice.  

Seek out professional help if necessary. At times we can feel overwhelmed the stress and anxiety and are unable to see a way out of it. If this describes you, seek out a counselor or therapist. You can likely find a good one in your area who is specially trained to treat anxiety and stress.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 8 Things to Do Daily to Be Happier & More Successful

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• 8 Things to Do Daily to Be Happier & Live with Less Regret:"A good place to start is to take inventory of the things in your life that bring you joy or which have caused you regret."

• 9 Reasons Companies Should Hire Introverts, Not Extroverts: "Creativity is a problem-solving response by intelligent, very active, highly emotional, and extremely introverted persons."

• To Land a Great Job, Talk About Why You Love Your Work: "candidates interviewing for a job should highlight the meaning they derive from their work, and recruiters looking to attract job candidates should emphasize that their employees do work they love."

• 3 Powerful Goals for a Healthy & Happy Future: "I’ve read that common regrets of those on their deathbed are that they didn’t spend enough time with family or friends, that they traveled more, or took more chances."
• Top 3 Fears That Keep Midlife Professionals Trapped in Unhappy Work: "But fear about career change disguises itself in a myriad of confusing ways that we don’t recognize as fear."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Why Nurturing Your Health is Good for Business

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• Why Nurturing Your Health is Good for Business: "If you plan ahead and really are mindful about taking care of yourself, it allows you to live in the moment more fully."

• 3 Common Hiring Mistakes New Managers Should Avoid: "By investigating the emotional 'job-to-be-done' of a new hire, as well as the actual job we need them to do, we become less likely to hire the wrong person for the wrong role, and more likely to hire a great person for a great role."

• Why You Need a Life Strategy: "Don’t limit yourself. Visualize and plan who you want to be, and how you want your life to be."

• How to Find Strength in Differences: "It's a matter of knowing the whole is greater and better than the sum of its parts, even when the parts are a little mismatched and don't seem to fit together."
• 7 Ways to Rebrand Yourself for a Career Change: "Use social media to your advantage to rebrand yourself in your new career area. Follow thought leaders in your target industry and comment on their posts. Connect with relevant industry groups and associations."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Deal with Failure & Avoid Blame

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• How to Deal with Failure & Avoid Blame: "When you blame others, you prevent yourself from being able to do proper self-evaluation, which is critical to self-improvement. The leader who doesn’t blame others has his office in the solutions department, not the excuses department."

• The Right Way to Respond to Negative Feedback: "We can’t act on feedback until we truly understand it. Especially when we hear something new, it’s usually a good idea to ask a few trustworthy sources whether they’ve noticed the same behavior."

• 3 Signs Your Diet is Hurting Your Career: "You’re not able to be as present and engaged with your co-workers as you would be if your body were adequately nourished."

• 9 Simple Ways to Delegate Better: "It is time to begin delegating if you haven't started already, or refine how you delegate if you have, by following these steps."
• How to Stay Focused When You Have a Flexible Schedule: "Maintaining a daily routine helps us to establish a foundation that helps us achieve productive goals, like getting our work done or starting by a certain time."

Do These 5 Things With Your Time Off Over the Holidays

With the Christmas and New Year’s holidays coming up you might be planning to get away from the office or job for a few days, or perhaps even a week or two, if you’re lucky.

Make the most of your time away from work to come back with new energy, new ideas, and a new attitude. Here are some ways to do just that:

Get adequate sleep and rest. We’re often tempted to spend our vacation time staying up later than normal, finally getting a chance to watch TV late into the night, and then sleeping in late the next day. Give your body the physical rest it needs and avoid getting out of your normal routine. This doesn’t mean you can’t stay up late at the holiday party but you’ll be grateful you made sure to sleep well once you return to work.

Upgrade your wardrobe. If you receive some holiday money or gift cards this is a perfect opportunity to pick up a few items to enhance your style at work. You don’t have to spend a lot of money or purchase a full outfit. Adding an accent or two to your wardrobe—such as a new tie or scarf—can liven it up and help increase your confidence when you return to work for that important meeting with the boss or a key client.

Read a good book. While you’re relaxing and making the most of your time away from work be sure to read an interesting and entertaining book. It doesn’t have to be nonfiction, nor does it have to be a business book, or something related to your field of interest. Reading a great novel can open you up to experiences, cultures, and lifestyles that are different from your own, helping to develop empathy and understanding.

Focus on your health. As mentioned with the first point, don’t neglect your health during your time away from work. Get good sleep, avoid excessive amounts of alcohol, control the urge to overindulge with Christmas cookies and other treats, and stay active. If you do these things, you’ll feel ready and perhaps even eager to return to your work routine.

Give. We’ve all heard “it is better to give than to receive” and this can be true. If you focus of your time, talents, and resources over the holidays you will experience this time with more energy, peace, and joy: all qualities that will enable you to be more effective and impactful in your work.

Be intentional with your time off over the holidays and you will set yourself up for more success in your career and life as you head into the new year.

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: Why You Need An Early Night

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

The video below from The School of Life highlights the importance of sleep in order for us to be healthy, whole, and at our best in life and at our places of work.

Boost Your Career With These 5 Tips for Healthier Living

In the US, employees take an average of about five sick days per year. That might not seem like a lot but consider the number of times you work when you’re sick with a cold or some other ailment. When you’re ill you likely are not working at peak performance.

In order to excel in your work and career you should also pay close attention to your health. Below are five simple strategies for improving your health and boosting your performance at work.

Sleep 7-8 hours. Getting adequate sleep provides many health benefits and studies have indicated that getting 7-8 hours of sleep reduces stress, increases creativity, improves memory, and sharpens attention, among other things. On the other hand, sleep deficiency has been linked to increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.

Meditate. A brief, daily practice of meditation can result in significant health benefits such as reduced stress, better sleep, and perhaps even improved immune functioning. Meditation can also help you focus on positive and encouraging thoughts, which can lead to more joy and greater focus throughout the day.

Drink (a lot) of water. Staying properly hydrated is important to provide energy, strengthen muscles, improve skin, and keeps your gastrointestinal tract functioning healthily. As we’ve all heard, our bodies are mostly water and we need to drink enough daily to avoid fatigue, headaches, and other issues.

Move 30 minutes. Our bodies are made to move and we need to ensure some basic level of movement daily in order to stay healthy and strong, and to avoid illness. You don’t need to train like a professional athlete or body builder to see results. Get out and walk two miles on your lunch break, or bike in the morning before work … or, better yet, bike to work. Schedule this time every day just as you would any other important meeting. You’ll soon find that you have more energy and accomplish more throughout the day.

Avoid alcohol. While a drink at a social event or company party might lower inhibitions and help manage some social anxiety, frequent alcohol consumption has many negative consequences—damage to the brain, heart, and liver—and can lead to addiction. In addition, alcohol is a depressant and if you struggle with depression it can exacerbate it. To be at your best limit your alcohol intake.

Implement these five simple strategies and you’ll soon feel healthier, stronger, and more energetic.  

The Mid-Year Career Tune-up

It's June and the year is nearly half over, so where are you at with your career goals and objectives for the year? This is a good time to pause and reflect on your career and evaluate if you're at the place you want to be.

Consider the following three areas and make corrections and adjustments as needed so you can move forward successfully.

Continued Learning. It is incredibly important, both to your job satisfaction and to your future career success, for you to have continued opportunities to learn and develop new skills. Take a look at what you've done so far this year, along with the skills you've developed, and consider if there are some training sessions or a conference you can attend sometime in the next few months. If your employer offers free training or provides reimbursement for classes take advantage of these perks. Sign up today.

Network Building. Throughout the year you want to continue to develop your network in several ways, including through social sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Be sure to keep your LinkedIn profile updated with new skills and responsibilities. In addition, if you're not currently working with a mentor seek one out. You can likely find a good mentor at your workplace or through your network of contacts. A good mentor will also introduce you to others and help expand your network. Finally, find a networking group in your community you can begin attending or register for a conference. Conferences are great places to meet great people doing cool and exciting things in your field and some of these people can become mentors and future collaborators.

Healthy lifestyle. It's difficult to be at your best in your career if you're not getting enough sleep, or if you're eating unhealthy food and drinking too much. Take a look at your habits and determine if you need to build more activity into your schedule. Perhaps you live close enough to bike into work a few days a week. Or join the yoga class at the office. Maybe starting your day with a few minutes of stretching and mindful meditation can get you more focused on developing a more healthy lifestyle that will benefit you and your career.

How to Bring More Balance to Your Life and Career

Research shows that more men and women are reporting increased levels of stress in their lives, despite the ways technology has made many of our daily tasks quicker, easier, and simpler to perform. This increased level of stress is taking a toll on our health, our personal relationships, and our careers.

There are, however, steps we can take to bring more balance to our personal and work lives, and if you struggle with maintaining a healthy and stress-free personal life consider the following ideas for achieving a healthy work-life balance:

Unplug and turn off your laptop and mobile. 

Make a plan to turn off your work phone or log off your email at a specific time each day. This will make it easier for you to succeed, rather than distracting you with your email when you want focus on personal time. In addition, consider setting aside at least one day each weekend to go without your electronic devices.

Get physical and move. 

Incorporating some physical activity throughout your day will help alleviate stress and increase your energy levels. If you work at a desk all day try spending some time—if even only 10 minutes—standing while you work, and take regular walks, if possible.

Spend time outdoors. 

Regular time outside, among clean air, grass, flowers, trees, lakes, and streams has been shown to reduce stress. Take a walk or run before work in the morning or bike through a nearby park in the evenings.

Become energized by your food. 
An important way to gain balance in your life is to eat food that energizes you rather than ingesting foods and drinks that have too much sugar, caffeine, or alcohol. Drink a lot of water and snack on nuts, fruit, and vegetables throughout the day.     

Reduce stress with meditation and sleep. 
Even a simple and brief practice of meditation in the morning can bring significant benefits to your work and personal life, and can greatly reduce stress, while helping you focus on what you’re grateful for in your life. The importance of adequate amounts of sleep cannot be overstated. Focusing on those two areas—adequate sleep and a meditation practice—can set you up for greater success throughout your day.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How Positivity Makes You Healthy and Successful

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• How Positivity Makes You Healthy and Successful: "Pessimism is trouble because it’s bad for your health. Numerous studies have shown that optimists are physically and psychologically healthier than pessimists."

• Stop Reading Lists of Things Successful People Do: "Most of the advice these lists contain is based on subjective interpretations of personal accounts, not on systematic, scientific analyses."

• How to Know if a Potential Workplace is the One for You: "The most effective businesses know who they are and use their values as a yardstick in making decisions from who they hire, to who they want to partner with, to what kind of culture they want."

• The Best-Paying Jobs for Women in 2017: "Several health care positions made a showing on the list. For women, nurse practitioners were the third-highest earners."
• 4 Actions You Can Take Right Now to Improve Your Prospects in Life and Business: "Look up new activities that you can try in your area for a small amount of money. This could be a free concert, free class or just a cheap movie. Participate in different activities so you can find out what you might love."

5 Steps to Stay Healthy at Work

Have you ever been in a company and watched a virus run rampant through a work team, keeping people home in droves? It's not uncommon for viruses and illnesses to spread quickly throughout a work area given the proximity to our co-workers, and the often unhealthy environments where we do business.

In order to stay healthy at work implement the following five practices:

1. Participate in work sponsored activities such as yoga or a chair massage. Many companies provide opportunities for employees to focus on health. Some provide an onsite gym, yoga classes, or other sports activities. Take advantage of these opportunities to maintain your health.

2. Get active at regular intervals. If you have a sedentary job be sure to schedule regular times of activity. Set a notification on your computer to let you know that it's time to take a brief walk around the building. If you can do it outside, all the better.

3. Improve the air quality in your work area and keep your space clean. In many buildings the windows do not open and we are subjected to stale circulated air. Keep some plants around your work station to improve the quality of the air around you. In addition, regularly clean and dust your work space to support your health.

4. Practice brief periods of meditation. Again, another useful tip is to practice regular times of meditation. You can combine this with a walk, as described in point two, or you can simply sit quietly at a desk for a few minutes, or catch an empty elevator. Even a few minutes of meditation will help quiet your mind, increase your motivation, and improve your health.

5. Wash hands frequently throughout the day. Finally, be sure to clean your hands often throughout the day. As we go to meetings we shake hands with others, and touch the same door knobs, and work surfaces, increasing the possibility of sharing and spreading viruses.

5 Steps to Stay Healthy at Work

For many people the work hours are sedentary. We sit at a computer all day or have one or two tasks that we accomplish at a work station. It can be easy to find ourselves gaining weight and feeling lethargic at work.

If this describes you (and even if it doesn't) then consider the following five ways to stays healthy and fit while at work.

1. Move. Make an effort to get up and walk around every hour or so. You don't have to walk for long; simply getting up and moving for 3-5 minutes will help. If you can get outside all the better. Breathing in fresh air and being out in nature helps us relax and has other therapeutic benefits. If your job does not allow you to get up every hour then make sure you move when you get an opportunity, such as your lunch break. Movement is critically important to our health.

2. Eat healthy snacks. Many workplaces have vending machines offering snacks but many of these are unhealthy and filled with sugar. You can avoid the temptation to grab a candy bar by bring in some healthy snacks to munch on throughout the day. Consider bringing in some nuts, carrots, banana or apple. You'll feel better and have more energy when you snack well.

3. Bring in a plant. In many work places the windows don't open and you're stuck breathing in stale (and sometimes unhealthy) air. Bring in a plant or two for you work area. The plant will clean the air around you and, as mentioned above, having a bit of nature nearby can enhance your mood.

4. Exercise and stretch at work. Just because your at work doesn't mean you can't get some exercise and stretching in. Take a few minutes to stand on your toes and reach up for a good stretch. Or do some arm circles. You can even bring in a rubber ball or grippers to squeeze to strengthen your wrists and forearms. There are many other simple exercises you can try with a little creativity.

5. Don't neglect your mental health. As we've discussed above, taking a walk and being among nature has emotional and mental impacts, too. Be sure to consider your emotional and mental well-bing while at work. Bring in a poster with a motivational quote you appreciate, or write a personal mantra on a 3 x 5 note card and post it somewhere you can see it regularly throughout the day.

Implementing these five simple steps will go a long way to help you feel healthier and more energetic at work.

5 Ways to Excel in Your Career (and Life) in 2017

As you've entered the new year you've likely set some goals for yourself in 2017 and, if you're like many people, a goal or two is related to your job and career. Of course, we can start the new year with good intentions and then quickly find ourselves discouraged and failing to meet our goals.

Consider the following five ways to stay on track with your goals and to excel in your career and job in 2017.

1. Automate when possible. Find ways to increase your productivity and create additional time in your schedule by automating as many tasks as possible. Use an app to manage your budget or to organize your email. There is, really, an app for everything so you have an opportunity to better manage and control some of the many tasks that dominate modern life.

2. Start a side gig. If you've always wanted to work for yourself or start a business now is the time. Set aside a few hours every week to work on this: develop a business plan, create a web site, offer your services as a freelancer, or start making that product you've dreamed of.

3. Go back to school. Start taking a class or two toward earning a new degree or certificate. You can even learn online or informally by reading some books by experts in your field of interest.

4. Be mindful of your health. Unfortunately, many of us don't pay enough attention to our health and don't realize that we can be much more successful in work and life, and increase our productivity if we focus on our health. Take a look at your diet and eat more healthily, be sure to be active and exercise, have a consistent spiritual practice, such as meditation, get enough sleep, and reduce alcohol and caffeine.  

5. Build a support system. None of us can succeed on our own so be sure to develop your support system. Your support group should ideally include co-workers, friends, family, a supervisor at work, and a mentor or two.

6 Practices That Will Make You More Successful Tomorrow

We all want to be successful in our lives and in our careers but sometimes we let the busyness of our personal and work lives interfere with taking care of ourselves and doing the things we need to do.

It can be easy to get off track and find ourselves filled with anxiety while we struggle to meet deadlines and prioritize competing demands.

Apply the following 6 practices to your day today and you'll have a better day tomorrow.

1. Turn off the social media. Avoid your Facebook, twitter, and Instagram accounts. These take time away from the important things and we often find ourselves unfavorably comparing our lives or circumstances with others we barely know.

2. Forget multi-tasking. Focus on only one thing and work at it until you complete it. Attempting to multi-task is a distraction and might even lead to taking a look at those social media accounts we suggested turning off.

3. Replace negative self-talk. When you're stressed out or struggling with work you can find yourself stuck in a rut of negative self-talk. You're not good at this. It will never get done. No one will like this. The self-talk can be ruthless. It's important to recognize this and replace the self-talk in your mind with positive affirmations: I've got this. I'm good enough. I'm brave and capable.

4. Take a walk outside and breathe. Get outside into the fresh air, go for a walk, and focus on your breathing. You'll feel better, more relaxed, less stressed, and ready to take on the world.

5. Eat a healthy and energizing meal. Be sure to get at least one meal in every day that consists of healthy food that will make your body feel strong and provide the energy you need.

6. Sleep. You need good and adequate sleep to be at your best. Make sure you get 7-8 hours in order to be rested and focused to start your day well.

5 Steps to Improve Productivity and Build Success in Your Life and Career

Many of us struggle with productivity and focus in your jobs and careers. Here are five steps you can try to increase your productivity and find greater success in your job and in your life.

1. There's an app for that. Many routine tasks we need to do in our lives and at work can be made simpler and more effective by using technology to help us. Often we think of technology as enslaving us as we spend too much time on social media but look to find apps and sites like IFTTT to make your life easier.

2. Develop a routine. The discipline of following a routine, similar to an athlete in training, can help you be much more productive than when you let each day rule you with the tyranny of the immediate.

3. Focus on your health and wellness. You cannot underestimate the importance of daily meditation, exercise, healthy eating, and good and adequate sleep on your ability to be productive and successful. Incorporate these aspects of your life into a routine, as mentioned above, and you'll find yourself enjoying greater success.

4. Plan for success. Take time each day to plan out the key tasks and responsibilities you have for the following day. You're more productive when you plan your day out, allowing you to more easily accommodate and integrate surprises into your schedule as they come up.

5. Tackle the most difficult task first. One simple strategy that will pay significant dividends for your productivity is to take on your most pressing task immediately and work to complete it before moving on to something else. You'll find that knocking out a difficult or dreaded item on your to-do list first thing motivates you to get more day and take on some of those things you really enjoy with more energy.