Author: Carol Williams

You want to make it big. You want to make more. You want to be more, to do more but what does that actually mean? What is the truth behind making MORE of it?

Whether it’s your business, a project, or some super fun idea…this is for you.

Here’s the scenario. You have a big dream or vision. Hopefully you have done a little research so that you can see if it has potential to take off (if not, go do this…like…NOW.)

But you’ve got so caught up in the day-to-day and spending time IN the business or idea, you’ve forgotten to spend time ON the business, project, or dream. You’ve lost sight of where you’re going, what you were aiming for and what the true goal was here. So how do you get it back? Here are some ideas.

• Assess and review – block out time in your calendar each month, whether it be a day or just a few hours, to look at what you’ve achieved in the last month, assess what you did well and what could have been done better and set yourself a goal or a target for the following month.
• Make a gigantic wall poster or stick post it notes around your house, car or wherever it may be – and remind yourself of what it is you’re doing and what you want to achieve.
• Shout about it from the rooftops and make yourself accountable – don’t hide away, share your visions with those around you, tell them when and why you’re doing what you’re doing and ask them to follow you up on it, make yourself accountable. A bit of social pressure can go a long way.

Okay, find your mojo but then what? How do you actually make MORE of it?

• A lot of hard work and probably some sacrifices along the way. To make MORE of it, usually you have to do more or do what you do more efficiently but that certainly doesn’t come without sacrifices. If you look back in history, those who created something that no one could ever forget made huge sacrifices, whether that be in their family life or with their friends. There goes the saying “you can’t have your cake and eat it” and when it comes to making MORE of it, unfortunately this rings true. Know your limits on what you’re willing to sacrifice will be key to knowing your growth potential and understanding how much MORE you can make of it.
• Make a plan, tweak it, change it but always make sure that you track it, review it and most importantly stick to it. There’s always an element of “winging it” with any project, idea or business but there has to come a time where your efforts are focused and it’s not purely just trial and error.
• Find someone who shares a vision, divide, and conquer – is your own knowledge and expertise capping your growth, is it time to bring someone on who has different skill sets from you, can give everything a pair of fresh eyes and give you someone to be accountable to? Making MORE of it can be a long and hard process, so having someone there who is also living it, can make the journey seem a lot easier!
• Make sure making MORE of it is actually what you want – for me, this one is the absolute jackpot and one I recently got asked. What do you want from this? There’s nothing wrong with plodding away, there’s no shame in it. Social media and the media in general have certainly influenced making us want MORE, to make it as big as possible, to have as many things as possible, to have as much money as possible but this might not be for everyone and that’s OKAY! Decide what it is you want from this and make peace with it; you’ll know when it’s the right time.

So just remember, making MORE of it doesn’t come easily for most and that life is about choices. Every choice you make, makes you.

Secrets to get past the clean and declutter overwhelm

We’re all home. Even those in offices….they may or may not be “really” going back…people are quitting their jobs left and right if they cannot have the flexibility they now know they need and want.

Cool. Who wants to go to an office?

Well one nice thing about leaving (the house) is that when you return you see things differently. You SEE the clutter. Being home, trying to do (does this sound familiar?) WAY too many meals and dishes every.single.day is overwhelming…it’s like you are drowning in your LIFE.

Now that we can breathe again, spring (OK Summer) cleaning is here! So, what are the secrets to getting past the clean and declutter overwhelm?

1. Forget what everyone else is doing and focus on what YOU need – does the cleanliness of your house bother you? Or are you just comparing yourself and your home to those found on social media? Do you actually care? Often, the pictures uploaded to social media are merely just momentary – then kids, parents, pets, and partners arrive, and the sparkly home has suddenly turned into a scene from Wreck-it Ralph.
2. If you’re going to start – start small – With so many other things to contend with in our lives, decluttering your home is probably not top of your list. However, picking a small space per week, like a kitchen cupboard or clothes drawers is a really good way of starting without feeling overwhelmed. Make a list of all the drawers in all the rooms that you want to declutter and tackle them one by one each week.
3. Have a plan of action – If you’re going to have a clear out, make sure you know where you are taking the stuff that you are throwing out and do it as soon as you can. Having black bags of odd bits laying around the house will only make you feel more stressed and increase your already high workload.
4. Create a time-out oasis for yourself – pick one room and keep it your own, free of clutter and dust and think about adding a few things that you love. Candles, books or whatever you like and make this place your haven to have time out when you are feeling tired or stressed.
5. Start with the end in mind – imagine how the space would look and how efficient and calm you would feel. Close your eyes and try to imagine how you would feel. When you’re feeling overwhelmed or fed up, close your eyes and come back to that place, this will serve as motivation to keep going and achieve what you set out to do.
6. Go Marie Kondo style and ask yourself “does this spark you joy” – sometimes we forget that we are so privileged to be able to have cluttered homes and that with everything so readily available to purchase, we can sometimes forget to take a step back and ask ourselves if we REALLY need to buy that. When decluttering a space, you certainly do not need to throw everything out so asking yourself whether something sparks you joy is a great way of determining what to keep or what to toss. For example, yesterday I threw out my high school prom professional pics. I showed my kids. Then I let them go.
7. Don’t forget that tomorrow is another day – if you’re feeling tired, stressed, or overwhelmed, take time out, come back tomorrow and start the day afresh – it really doesn’t matter.

Although it seems difficult to know where to start, once you get started, you’ll be rolling, and you’ll have a system. Systems are everything because you can go back to the beginning (or middle) when things run off the rails. Stop comparing yourself to social media, we lead incredibly busy lives, and we do a fantastic job everyday – so be kind to yourself and prioritize and the overwhelm will quickly soothe.

When life gets hectic and you feel overwhelmed, take a moment to focus on the people and things you are most grateful for, when you have an attitude of gratitude, frustrating troubles will fall by the wayside.

Finally, know that the clutter comes back. It just does. And, it’s ok. I say, be at peace with your imperfection. It makes you the beautiful mosaic of who you are 🙂

Our open space leads to an open and clear mind. It seems obvious that productivity and organization can go hand in hand, but when life is feeling like a never-ending rollercoaster, how do you get organized and declutter your mind to make each day as productive as possible?

1. The Brain Dump – the first step to decluttering your mind and your life is by dumping everything that is on your mind, onto a piece of paper, a white board, onto notes on your phone – whatever system works for you. Write down everything, from how you’re feeling that day, to the things you have coming up that week, what you need to get done, emails that need to be sent – whatever is it, write it down, in no particular order. You’ll quickly see that half of the stress comes from trying to keep everything present in your brain when really, we just do not have the capacity to do that.
2. Categorize your thoughts – once your thoughts are out of your mind and onto paper, you’ll be able to categorize the tasks into priorities. Make three columns, urgent, priority and dump. This is a very useful system because it will allow you to see what you have to do and what can either go or wait. For example, getting the shopping in could be a priority as we need to eat but cleaning the oven can probably wait until next month or to another moment in time.
3. Delegate – from the initial brain dump, you may realize that YOU don’t need to do everything. Are there things on that list that don’t require your attention or that your partner, children, or coworker can take care of? We are all guilty of “taking the world on our shoulders’ but by delegating, you will quickly be able to how efficient you can become with your time.
4. Change your mindset – Be a doer and not a procrastinator. The secret to this is asking yourself what you really want and why is the procrastinating happening. Go deep and avoid the “quick tips”- deep answers provide true change.

• Zap time wasters – on your brain dump, you may have also written down some things that take up a lot of your time and perhaps energy as well. Take some time to evaluate whether you should eliminate these from your life, or at least reduce them down. Things like spending excessive amounts of time on Facebook or Instagram, working with a client who doesn’t value you or any other activities that may cause stress and mind clutter should be seriously considered during the decluttering process.

This is certainly not a “one time fix” but I’ve gotten into the habit of, every week, doing a brain dump on a Sunday, organizing my week, accounting for any “may happens” and being realistic with the time I have. Since doing this, my mind feels less cluttered, I enjoy social activities and time with my family much more than I ever have and I now realize that organization not only in my home, but also in my mind has been key to unlocking true happiness. You too, can achieve uncluttered happiness with these simple steps – what are you waiting for?

You’ve made a plan in your head, you’re clear on how you are going to move forwards, your milestones and your goals. Who better to share these ideas and plans with than your partner or spouse? The person who is closest to you, right? Only to discover that they are not supportive of the new and improved you. Ouch! A real sting for the system, that sinking feeling deep in the pit of your stomach. So, what now?

Figure out what is really going on.

Your first and most instinctive reaction will be to get really mad. Of course, it is, you’ve spent weeks, months, years mulling this over again and again in your head only to find out that you are not supported by those closest to you. But before throwing all your toys out the pram, take a moment to evaluate what it is happening and do a little digging into WHY the lack of support. Commons answers to this question may look like this.

• I don’t feel it’s the right time – they may well be right, so when is the right time? What are you waiting for? Is it really the timings or just that they don’t want to make the right time?
• I like our life how it is – big changes often mean turning your world a little upside down and this narrative doesn’t suit everyone, especially those who like to get comfortable. A great exercise is to ask yourself if you would regret the decision in 10 years’ time to carry on as you are now? This will give you a good indication as to whether you want to carry on with this lifestyle or you are READY to make the leap.
• I’m not sure it’s right for you – I would take some time to look at this question and do a quick sense check to find out whether it is RIGHT FOR YOU. Ask a very close friend or family member, someone who knows you well, and compare what they say with your partner or spouse.

It may seem like your partner or spouse is trying to dampen your dreams, but this may not be the case. For the most part, the goal of any partner is to protect you and care for you, and they may have insights into your personality and wellbeing that you don’t.

Take time to discuss together what it is you both want. This will give you a clear picture of what you both want to achieve in life, both in your life together and individually. If these goals are aligned, talk with your partner about how he/she sees potential in your plan/idea, how it could be improved and how he/she could support in these moments of change.

If you find yourself wanting very different things, it may be time to go separate ways and conquer life on your own.

If your goals are aligned, the actions that you partner/spouse takes after will be paramount to showing you whether they are supporter of you or not.

Toxic behaviours include jealousy, lack of support and controlling behaviours. Sometimes partner/spouses might not be open to the idea of your being more successful than them, provoking sensations of jealousy and therefore a lack of support. If you find yourself in this this situation, this person is not your supporter, they will not accompany on your journey and they will not raise you up when you are down. It may be time to break free.

Steve Jobs said it best – “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

Being an entrepreneur wasn’t designed to be an easy ride, it takes determination and along the way you may alienate some people, but you will also pick up a that stay with you forever. People born to be your supporters and will help you navigate through turbulent waters. Strive to find those people.

Read any book you like about success stories and you’ll find that each one of those people had someone behind them, supporting them, pushing them along and picking them up when times get hard. I would challenge anyone claiming solo success, to take a real good look around them, upon review, they’ll likely find this isn’t true!

A supporter of you and your ideas can come in any form. It may be someone with likeminded ideas and dreams, that you can bounce ideas off and celebrate wins together. It may be a close friend, a family member, a mentor, it could just be someone you aspire to or inspires you, someone who keeps you going motivated and keeps pushing you along to strive to higher ground, to be a better version of yourself and most importantly to believe in you, even when you’ve lost faith.

Making a change in your life can be truly terrifying. Growing as a person and achieving those goals you’ve only dreamed of until now can be like jumping off a cliff, right? It’s scary as hell, but often, you’ll jump to greater ground and to do that, you need to surround yourself if the right people.

Who must you surround yourself with?

There are a few important characteristics that you should for in a supporter.

People who truly understand what you are trying to achieve and most importantly WHY you are trying to achieve it. Not everyone will want to come on your journey but the few that do, will be your supporters, your warriors, your shoulder to cry on.

People with a positive mindset. The negative nelly needs to stay at home. This type of person will only hinder your performance and progress. That’s not to say that they shouldn’t be a realist – of course they should, but constantly picking up on the things that didn’t go so well will only lead to feelings of failure.

People who you feel you can be honest with and them with you. Do you have someone who you could look in the eye and say, “my friend, that is a terrible idea” and not be offended? These are the kind of people you should be surrounding yourself with. Honest, truthful people who, with your best intentions at heart, will be open about what they think.

Likeminded people who have goals and dreams on their own. Supporters who are on the same wavelength as you, will be able to fully understand where you are in your journey and how you are feeling. Empathy is a powerful tool when it comes to success and will be key to unlocking your true potential.

Someone who you can count on. Someone who will be there to listen to you, regardless of what they have going on. Selfless human beings are hard to come across but if you find them, hold onto them tight.

My challenge to you today is to take 5 minutes to look around you and ask yourself who your supporters are, drop them a message, show gratitude for their ongoing support. Perhaps you are a supporter yourself to a friend or family member? What qualities do you feel you have as a supporter? How could you be better?

I’ll leave you with this powerful quote from Oprah Winfrey “Surround yourself only by people who are going to lift you higher”.