Are you on target to reaching your goals for the year?

December 7, 2017 By

 

How would you rate your success so far?

As we head into the last several weeks of the year, how would you say you have done so far?

  • Have you reached or are you close to reaching the goals you set for yourself?
  • Are you feeling great about what you have accomplished so far?
  • Will you be doing the Snoopy Dance by the end of the month?

OR

  • Are you not even close to reaching the goals you set for yourself?
  • Not feeling so good about where you are in regards to what you wanted to accomplish this year?
  • Hanging your head and wondering how the heck this happened?

If you are on target to reach your goals, congratulations! I’d love for you to tell me what worked for you. And if you’d be inclined to post here on my blog so others can learn that would be awesome.

Ways to get closer to hitting your goals.

If you aren’t on target and are feeling less than successful with where you are at this point with your goals, don’t despair.

I have a few tips for you to end the year on a high note and set yourself up for an amazing new year. Are you ready? Good!

  • Review what it is you wanted to accomplish.
  • For each one of your goals, rate on a scale of 1-10 where you feel you are. 1 = nothing, 10 = near the end.
  • List out what still needs to be accomplished.
  • Look at the time you have left in the year and determine what you can realistically complete by the end of the year.
  • Schedule time in your calendar to do it.
By taking the time to review where you are, you’ll know what you need to do to accomplish it -Kim Ravida

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Give yourself permission to hit reset.

One thing I know from working with my clients and in my own business is that it’s ok (more than actually) to hit the reset button. Sometimes in order to reach your success what you truly need is to just start again.

Be willing to do that for yourself!

Your turn, where can you hit reset and have the type of December you truly want? Where can you take a look at where you are and get started again to move yourself forward to what you want?

If you would like some assistance with creating realistic action steps to accomplish what you want by the end of the year, schedule a 30-minute complimentary Productive Planning For Success Strategy Session with me. You’ll walk away with a productivity plan for you to get to doing the right things at the right time!

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Want a simple method to have more time?

November 16, 2017 By

 

Time IS on your side!

You may remember the Rolling Stones song, Time Is On My Side

Do you remember the last line in the song? It says “Time is our closest friend”.

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a pretty awesome concept. Yet, why is it everyone runs around like the Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland?! I’ve even written about it before because it’s so prominent in the lives of many business owners.

Make Time Your Closet Friend.

Yes, there are many strategies and tactics that we can apply and I teach a great many of them. Yet, what I’m talking about is creating a positive relationship to time.

Presently, I’m participating in Deepak Chopra’s free meditation and guess what the focus is? TIME!

Perfect right? You bet! I’m only on Day 3 but basically it’s teaching us how to live in the now. And from experience, it’s only in the now that we can truly live. You are probably saying “yes, Kim, I get that, but how do I do it?” Believe it or not, it’s pretty easy.

As Eckhart Tolle says: Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Eckhart Tolle

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Learning To BE In The Now.

See, here is the deal, when you are thinking about the future or the past, you are physically in the now yet your mind isn’t. You hear me talk a lot about mindset and how that basically all of our successes happen because of how we perceive them.

So if your perception of time is that you never have enough, feel overwhelmed with all you have to do and can’t fit it all in or constantly fall short of completing what you want then that’s what you’ll get. As well, if you are constantly worried about the future, reliving the past you pretty much as throwing the time you have in the here and now away. I call that being a time waster.

Now if your perception of time is that you can expand it, you have plenty of it or that you have all you need to do what you want then that is what you’ll get.

Steps To BE IN The Now.

You already know I love to give you steps, I’m a application kind of person! So here you are:

  • Breathe. Sit or stand (stand works wonders) with your back erect and your hands resting in your lap (sit) or beside your body (stand). Inhale steadily through the nose feeling your chest rise and maybe your shoulders widen and exhale through your mouth steadily as if you are blowing up a balloon. Try to make your in breath and your out breath equal. Notice how present you feel.
  • Say out loud “I am in the present moment, all I have is now.” This helps remind you to be in the present. Your mind can only focus on one thing at at time (yes that’s right) so by focusing on the present you can’t be in the past or the future. Extra credit: say this while you practice breathing 😉
  • Focus on ONE thing right now. If you are doing this and that at the same time your attention is diverted. Remember, you can only focus on one thing at a time, use that to your advantage. Go and do one thing, take a pause (maybe breathe) and then choose the next thing you’ll do.

That’s it! That’s your method to expand time, get more done and be in the present so you can create your phenomenal future!

How can you use the above tips to expand your time and how you feel about it?

If you need help with any of the above steps or would like help creating a day-to-day structure that will work for you, schedule a 30-minute complimentary Productive Planning For Success Strategy Session with me. You’ll walk away with a productivity plan for you to get to doing the right things at the right time!

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Do this one simple action for an absolutely productive day

September 7, 2017 By

Have you ever ended your day having done 100 things? And have you ever ended your day without doing the ONE thing that you knew you absolutely had to do?

You aren’t alone, and you probably know that. I’m not writing about anything you probably haven’t heard before.

There are so many articles on productivity and time management it’s crazy. Yet, here I am writing about it. And the reason why is because there is such a need for it.

Here where I live, in the United States, the culture is pretty much get as much done as you can and even more than you think you can physically do and you are a star.

So, we add and add and add to our ever growing to-do lists, calendars and schedules and we hope that we’ll be able to get it all done. When we don’t we are frustrated, unhappy and basically burnt out.

Is that anyway to live a life? Not at all!

The solution.

How then, can you end your day doing the ONE thing that you absolutely need to do in order to move your business forward?

Well, (now, hang on to yourself, because I know you are going to say, “that’s it?”) simple, set aside 15-30 minutes to plan out your day either the night before or first thing in the morning. Yes, that’s it.

It is the most simple thing you can do to end your day feeling amazing about yourself. Your productivity will improve and you will have more time which in turn helps you be a great time manager.

How to effectively use your daily planning time.

Below you will see the steps to follow during your daily planning time.

  • Set a timer. You only need about 15-30 minutes to plan your day.
  • Get out your calendar/planner, to-do list, any other support materials you use. This gives you an overview of what you want/need to get done.
  • Prioritize what is on your list. Do a rough outline of how long you think things will take.
  • Review your schedule, what appointments are already in there. This tells you where your time is already committed that cannot be filled with anything else.
  • Determine how much open space do you have. Look back at your to-do list and rough time-line and determine what you can actually get done in the time you have available.
  • Choose your top 1-3 things that you have to complete by the end of the day. I say have to, yet it can also be doing things you want to and that will feel good to accomplish.
  • Write down your priorities in a place you will see them during the day. This helps you stay focused and on target.

After you have completed the above, it’s time to get into action and started on your #1 top priority.

Next, all you need to do is do it. You already thought about it, planned it and now it’s time for you to succeed and end your day feeling productive and good about yourself!

Decide. Commit. Succeed.

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Keep The End In Mind.

If this is a new action for you, keep in mind it takes time to create a habit.

Writing down your top three and placing it in a place where you see is paramount to your success. You use it as a touch point. It is your guide that will help you get to the end of the day feeling successful.

Each time you find yourself going off track (bright shiny objects anyone?!), this list will pull you back. This is your to-do list for the day and by thinking (or even saying) by the end of the day, I will have done this, this and this, the odds of you actually doing that are very high.

Also, you don’t have to struggle with this. If you’d like some help with planning or even going over these steps, I’d love to help you with that. Sign up for a 30-minute complimentary Productive Planning For Success Session.

Here is to your success!

Kim Ravida works with solopreneurs and small businesses to help them create fun, stress-free and results-oriented plans for their business success.  Kim’s clients have simple to follow plans of actions that have them seeing fast results in their business.

Get your free e-book 5 Essential Steps to Creating a Successful Business that is Profitable.

 

 

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Simple tips to live the life you want

August 24, 2017 By

Did you know that you are the one responsible for what you get in life?

You are. I’m not a big proponent of telling you things. I really like to share and have you test the waters to see if something is right for you, would work for you and help you in the way that you are wanting. So for me to say you are 100% responsible for your results goes against what I normally teach you.

Though I’m doing it because it’s something you need to hear. In order to live your life the way you want to you need to stop making excuses and assigning blame to anyone other than yourself.

Ways you can get what you want in your life.

So, it’s up to you. Now what?! My goal here is to share with you ways in which you can get what you want.

I’ve been doing some Facebook Live Videos and wanted to share two with you. My most recent is about a trick to stop procrastinating. You can watch it here. If you have ever found yourself not getting to what you truly want to do, this will help you get there.

And the second one is about leaving white space in your calendar for the unexpected. We all know stuff happens. Yet, we never plan for it and end up feeling frustrated because we didn’t get to do what we wanted or needed to because of it. Click here to watch.

Both of these videos will get you started on the path to getting what you want in your life. Repeat after me:  “I will no longer just settle for what I get, I will be at the cause of it.”

In order to get what you want, you must be intentional and specific.

If you wake up and just start your day with whatever comes to you first, you will never find the time to do what it is you truly want. And you’ll end up settling. Your life is worth so much more.

Are you ready to stop behaviors that aren’t supporting you? I hope so!

Be intentional and specific about what you want your life, year, month, week, day to be like. Then go out and take the actions you need to in order to get there.

Your turn, what is one thing you want in life and what will you do in order to get it? I’d love to hear about either comment here or feel free to email me personally at kim@kimravida.com!

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Introducing a remarkable way to get things done

June 22, 2017 By

I always do what I say I’m going to do, do you? Although this may have been true, some of the time, it wasn’t true for all of the time.

BUT, I created a new strategy for myself. And now I actually do what I say I’m going to do.

A new strategy to help you get things done!

I’ve been writing a lot lately about time management. One, because so many of my clients struggle with it and two, there are so many options out there it’s hard to find the time to figure out which will work for you.

My goal has been to share simple strategies that work so you can just get to the doing. You can read about fundamental of getting time on your side and several others over on my blog – I try to write short, informative articles so that you can read them and get going on implementing the actions I share with you.

The new strategy that I want to share with you isn’t anything you haven’t heard before. In fact, nothing really regarding time management is. The strategy is taking a NO EXCUSES approach to doing what you say you are going to do.

Excuses will kill your productivity

For the purpose of this article, an excuse is a reason why you didn’t do what you said you wanted to or needed to get done.

It usually shows up when you say things like:

  • I don’t have enough time
  • But I needed to do this first
  • I was tired
  • I didn’t feel like it
  • Ya but….(fill in the blank)

At the same time, you might be thinking ya, but, I have a good reason for putting it off or not doing it. To that I say you may think you have a good reason, but it is still killing your productivity.

“What to succeed? Stop making excuses and get going.” –Kim Ravida

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Stop making the excuses. Instead, think on the positive side of what will happen for you because you did what it was you were going to do (or even supposed to do).

Your turn, what are the excuses you are guilty of using? And then, when will you stop making them? Leave a comment if you so dare!

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The fundamentals of getting time on your side

June 8, 2017 By

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Do you follow a schedule? Do you get things done? Or do you wonder what happened to your time and why you always seem to not have enough?

I could go into telling you that we all have the same amount of time in a day, but you’ve heard that before and I’d like to tell you something new (or at least a new spin on it).

There IS a better way to finally getting things done.

The better way is to schedule it. And I’m not talking about scheduling your appointments with other people. More than likely you already do that (or at least that’s my hope) so that isn’t a problem.

What I’m talking about it to schedule your tasks and activities. To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, here are a few examples:

  • Planning time
  • Writing your blog
  • Specific times you set aside for phone calls and follow up
  • Social Media Marketing (and let’s not confuse this with socializing)

Moreover, knowing what you are doing and how long it takes you makes is simple to put it into your calendar. And to that end, get it done. I wrote about this in a previous blog, which you can click here to read if you don’t know what you are doing and how long it takes. As long as you already know what you are doing, you can then schedule it and get it done!

Trick to getting things done.

Because I’ve had many trials and errors when it’s come to time and getting things done, one trick that I have learned is to use the time blocking method. It’s blocking off the time that I know I have to work with and scheduling in my tasks and activities into that time.

Here’s what it looks like:

  1. Look at your day (the night before is preferable) and get clear on how much time you have to work with. Since you already know what you are doing and how long it will take you, you can schedule appropriately.
  2. Enter that task/activity into the time you have for it.  Example: Writing a blog takes 1 hour, enter ‘write blog’ into the appropriate time slot on your calendar.
  3. When that time comes, you know what you’ll be doing so you go and do it.

Where most people go wrong is that they have a laundry list of things they want to do, are going to do or even need to do and they never seem to get them done. Whenever we fail to schedule, we fail. Plain and simple. I know this because a) it’s happened to me and b) my clients were doing this before starting to work with me and once they created their time management system they got things done – even those that they had had trouble doing.

“Action is the foundational key to all success.” –Pablo Picasso

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Your Next Step – Take Action.

Give it a try and see what happens, my guess is that when you put what you need to do in your schedule and follow it, you’ll be getting many things done, feeling pretty great about yourself and reaching your goals!

And if you are still struggling and would like help. Schedule a 30-minute complimentary Business Strategy Session where you’ll walk away knowing specifically how to set your schedule for your optimal results!

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When you have clarity, you have a winning chance

May 18, 2017 By

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Why it’s important to focus on winning (especially for yourself)!

Winning feels great, it gives you such a boost in your life! However, so many of people set themselves up for failure. And when it comes to managing our time, well, while you might not be truly able to “manage” such a thing, you can absolutely use it wisely.

Do you remember the rabbit in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland?

Do you remember how he was running around saying how late he was for a very important date?

Do you find yourself acting like that and saying similar things?

You are not alone.

That’s the good news. The other good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way any more.

Women are famous (if that’s even the right word to use) at being able to do a lot of things at one time. And often some wear it as a badge. Can you relate? Now, for some things that may be an appropriate behavior. Though when it comes to creating and running a successful business, it more than likely is what is holding you back from reaching your goals.

Running around creating chaos?

What I find happens with my clients and other business owners that I talk to is that they are running around going here, doing this, that and other things and basically creating chaos for themselves. When this happens, what normally is happening is that they aren’t clear about what they are doing. They get an opportunity or an idea and they are off with it (kind of like the “off with his head” mentality the Queen of Hearts had). There is no plan, there are no action steps and no clear path to get to where they think they are going.

What usually happens next is they utter (often in despair) “I don’t have enough time”, “I didn’t have enough time to do what was important”, “I kept getting caught up in this or that”. Maybe this sounds familiar. Well, to give yourself not only a fighting chance, but a winning chance, you need to get clear of where it is you are going and what it is you will do to get there.

Getting there from here.

The fastest way to get results in less time is to be clear on where you are going and exactly what you will do (not can do, but will do) to get there and then go and do it. Meaning, plan it and then schedule it.

It may mean you need to figure out how long something takes to do, it may mean that you need to eliminate things (oh my) and it may mean you just get off your butt and do it (thank you Nike) and so be it. If you truly want to get to where you are going, you just have to do it! Trust me, you won’t be sorry in fact you’ll be doing the Snoopy dance.

Watch my Facebook Live video on just how you can get there from where you are.

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How to win at the game of time

May 4, 2017 By

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Who doesn’t like to win?

I know I like to win. I especially like to win when it comes to time.

Time and me, we go way back and time usually won. To put it another way, I had no idea how to manage my time. At the same time, I knew that I had to figure that out.

Time was not on my hands.

The saying “time on your hands” definitely fit here. And if I wanted to have more time, sooner or later I had to figure this out. Ever since I started my coaching business I never (and I do mean never) finished my work on time. I was always racing to start making supper before my husband came home (he actually does our cooking. I’m the prep-chef) and I never ever got there.

That was until I finally figured out how to beat it. It was (and still is) such a great feeling. I remember the day exactly. I had finished my work and closed up shop only to find myself standing in the middle of my kitchen wondering what to do next. That is to say I actually had time to prep for dinner. All things considered, it was an awesome feeling.

Time was winning.

It’s important to realize that before that day, I couldn’t seem to get my stuff done. There was always so much more to do, something I never got to and wanted to get done. Something that I just had to do. It was frustrating to every day end up with more to do and not enough time.

Until one day when I finally said enough. And decided to learn how to win at this (as I called it) time thing. As a result things changed in an instant for me.

To explain, I was working nights and weekends and not having much fun in my life because I always was doing one more thing. I felt I was playing catch up and that I was behind the 8-ball almost constantly. It was time to stop.

Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness. Jean de La Bruyère

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Game changer.

With this in mind, I decided that I had to get a handle on this time thing. For this reason, I did some research. I read many books, blogs and worked with my coach on my schedule, priorities and tasks. As a result, I came up with specific steps that work for me. And that’s how I now find myself with time on my hands.

Want to be the one with time on your hands?

To put it another way, if you are looking to win at time, get very clear on what it is you are doing, whether or not you need to do it and if you need to be the one doing it. Ask yourself: does it fit into your big outcome of what you want for your business and your life? Click here and read how to clarify your own priorities and tasks so you can win at time.

And if you are like I was and thinking to yourself, I so need help with this then you are in luck! Click here to set up your free 30 Minute Get Clear with Time Management Session with me. You will walk away with specific-to-you steps so that you win at time and find yourself with time on your hands time and again!

 

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Does It Feel Like Time Just Evaporates On You?

April 20, 2017 By

Time is elusive.

Do you ever say to yourself “where did the time go?” or “I didn’t have time to do what I wanted to do” or “I didn’t think it would take that much time”?

If so, you are not alone. One of the biggest challenges I faced when I began my business was time. I uttered all of the above and then some. The biggest one though was that I didn’t think things would take as much time as they did.

Time threw me off path many, many times. Time felt so elusive to me. It was a challenge finding time to get the things I wanted to and needed to get done. That meant I wasn’t achieving a whole lot – oh wait, let me rephrase that, I was achieving a lot – a lot of nothing! And once I was able to solve time being elusive to me, I was then able to achieve the results that I wanted – which was to start my business and work with amazing people like you to help you reach your goals and dreams.

Time=life; therefore, waste your time and waste of your life, or master your time and master your life. –Alan Lakein

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How to get time on your side.

You need to know what it is you are doing each and every day and yes, practically each and every moment.

My clients do not like to hear that. They like to work in a free-flowing way. And when I tell them that they can do exactly that and be productive when they get time on their side, they are excited to get started.

Also, it’s the time piece that often throws people off. That place of not knowing how long something will take or how to be efficient with your time so you are completing things, moving things forward and seeing the results you desire. This is why it is important for you to get time on your side.

First of all, before you do anything, the one thing you need to do to get time on your side is to list out everything that you are doing.

Create a list of everything you do.

If you are struggling with time, it may be that you don’t 1) really know what you are doing and 2) have no idea how long things take to do. Since figuring out what it is you are doing means you’ll easily be able to figure out how long it takes let’s first get clear on that.

  • Get out a piece of paper or use your favorite electronic device and start listing everything you are doing in your business – don’t edit just write.
  • Categorize your list – you can use headings such as working with clients, marketing, administration and so on.
  • Drill down within those categories – marketing may mean networking, writing, creating copy, things of that nature – get clear on exactly what it is you are doing.

Establish a timetable for getting things done.

Then, once you have your list, estimate how long you think it is taking you to do each task, make sure you write it down. From there before you begin that particular task, note the time (I like to write it down) go to work and when you have completed it check the time again and note exactly how long it actually did take you. As a result, you now  know exactly how long it takes for you to do a particular task!

Finally, another thing you’ll do is to assess how you did. How close were you to your time estimate? If you were spot on, awesome – if not, you now know exactly how long it will take you to do your task – make sure you mark that down too so you never need to say again “I had no idea how long this would take” because you will know!

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