My new office
I have not been blogging here for a while. This is not because of that I do not want to but different things in both my business and personal life has made me neglect this blog.
My focus has been renewed over the last few months to be focusing more on bigger startups and also more on the blooming Swedish market. I still run most of my smaller websites but not as active as before.
As you might now I am also becoming a father in less than a month so a lot of focus has been given to my family and living situation. To make it the best for the baby. This is the greatest thing that has happened to me so it is maybe not so strange that a lot of my time has been put in to this.
So, to the good news. This monday I signed a contract for an office. Below you can see some pictures of me working to get it ready.
On the way in. Welcome . . .
Cleaning material and the windows.
The blogger Andreas blogging in his highly furnished office.
That is all it is really. Quite small room but absolutely enough for me to work in. I will update with more pictures tomorrow when we put up the desk and the rest of the office furniture.
Get energized
There will be times in your life when you feel very low as if something has sucked out all the energy out of your body and you don’t feel like doing anything. You may feel as if you are incapable of doing anything and you don’t have the urge to do anything. You may loose the interest in doing the normal day to day activities and often feel very lazy.
This is a very common state for many individuals and everybody experiences such periods of short bored, lifeless times in their lives. It can really get your down and your performance in life. It is very important for you to keep yourself motivated in life at all times. Motivation is something that can help you get over with such periods of time easily in no time.
It is a well known fact that change is good. If you feel that your life has become very monotonous and boring, it could be a reason why you may feel less energetic and lack the motivation or drive to do anything. In such situations it is good to take a break from the normal routine of the life and to go out and do something out of the way. Take a leave, go out with your family and have a nice time.
It is also very important to have a balanced diet. Your diet could be a reason why you have been feeling lifeless lately and lack energy. If you maintain a healthy diet full of nutrition, fruits regularly, it will certainly show the difference in your energy levels. Healthy eating is one of the best ways of a healthy mind and hence a energized body. It is important to have a balanced diet and to have your food at the right time after intervals that are neither too long nor too short. These days it is a trend for people to eat fast food items, this can be a bad thing for your health, as I have said it is very important to have a completely balanced diet.
Apart from diet it is also very important to maintain a very healthy day to day activity. It is important that you exercise daily for sometime, you may go out for morning and evening walks, and you may go regularly to the gym. Although it may sound a little weird to you to go to gym or for walks when you don’t feel energetic enough, but it is a very important for a healthy body and a healthy mind. With a healthy body and mind you will stay energized at all times and will not experience such things.
Stress is one of the most common factors for causing such effects. It is important that you deal with your stress levels responsibly. You should not exert yourself too much at work and always at all times ensure that you do not put too much pressure on yourself. The lower your stress levels, the better will be your health condition and the better you will feel.
If you regularly practice such things in life, eating a balanced healthy diet, exercise regularly daily, and stay away from stress you will never find a time in your life when you will feel low in energy. Such balanced and healthy practices will also help you increase your life expectancy.
Do not wait. Take action.
Making hard decisions
Introduction
Making decisions can be very difficult on there own, but when the situation is more complex you really do have to consider all the variables before taking the plunge and deciding what to do. Usually when making a decision over something with no real risk involved you can easily decide, but when decisions are hard it can be much worse. My aim in this article is to help you feel more confident when making hard decisions, we have all been there and it eats us up inside ever after we have made our decision final. Making decisions can be easy if you approach it in the right way. Read on to find out more.
Of course, the one thing you must take into consideration when reading this is that people have different perceptions of what is classed as a hard decision; a confident man may find it easy to decide to leave the house to pick up supplies from town, however on the other hand someone who has social problems and feels socially insecure may find it a lot more challenging. We all are different when it comes to making decisions; though our perceptions are similar there is still a subtle difference between each and every one of us.
The Technique
The technique as to how to deal with making hard decisions is relatively easy to grasp and understand, it is applying the technique which can be the tricky part, so once you have read this section please do move onto the scenario section as it will offer you an insight into how to apply the technique to a real life situation.
Step 1
Calm and Collective – It is important that when you find that you have to make a hard decision you take a deep breath and know that making a decision with confidence is within your grasp.
Step 2
Breakdown – In this step you need to break your ideas a part. Stop muddling the two together and worrying about what will be the best option, remove the worry by separating the options you have and laying them down flat so that you can observe each one with a clear mind.
Step 3
Strategy – This step is the most essential, in this step you have to note down all the negative outcomes that could occur as a result of selecting a particular option. Then you need to see if you can come up with a solution for each of these negative outcomes. If you can find a solution to anything bad that may happen as a result of choosing a certain option then believe me you will have much more confidence when making your mind up.
Step 4
Act – In this step you need to choose your decision and carry it out, if you are happy with the planning and preparation you made with the previous step then I am sure that you will feel more confident. It is important that you weigh each choice in the palm of your hand and consider which option is going to be the best to take considering the variables you have mapped out.
Step 5
Done – You are now complete, you have made the decision and hopefully you will have no regrets, if you plan things and know that you have control over whatever happens then you will find that making the decision is so much easier than you originally thought.
The Scenario
Okay, now I have given you some examples on how to make decision making easier, let’s apply them to a realistic scenario.
Mary came back from the store worrying about her financial issues that she had been having for the past few months after her husband left her. Her son was at college and she had a part time job at the local convenience store. Unfortunately the income she made was simply not enough to cover the costs of the mortgage on the house she was living in. She got home and found two letters on the floor. She picked the first one up and opened it, it was a letter from her son’s college, it was the previous year’s college fees, her son Michael was in his final year in college and wanted to be a doctor. The college fees were surprisingly high, but she knew that if she worked a few more weeks she could pay for the fees. This would prevent Michael being kicked out of college in his final year.
Mary then picked up the second letter and opened it, this letter was from the bank, it was 5 month overdue payment on the mortgage, the letter stated that if the amount was not paid within a month that further action would be taken which could result in the loss of her home. Mary looked at the amount she needed to pay, it was smaller than Michael’s college fees, but just like the college fees there was a penalty if not paid within the time given.
This left Mary with a very difficult and hard decision to make, she had to either pay her next mortgage instalment or she could pay for Michael’s college fees. She had to choose between one of the two, she could not pick both because she did not have the money to afford both. On her current wages she could only afford to pay off one of the two payments.
The Solution
Well, the first step Mary had to take was to stay calm about the hard decision. Always remember that stress only worsen the situation and makes decision making much harder.
The next step Mary had to take was to analyse her available choices, the best thing to do was to get two sheets of paper and write down one choice on one piece and the other on the other piece of paper.
Then she had to write down the future risks next to each choice, this is an important step and you must put in every risk that could occur if you were to choose the particular option. The reason this is essential is because it is the foundation which makes sure that the building blocks stay together when making a final decision.
The next step that Mary had to take was to look at the future risks and write down a suitable solution for each risk, the solution had to be realistic and
Once doing this Mary was almost complete, she had to now judge each option by its risks and solutions and she had to pick the best solution that would allow things to work out in the future.
Afterthought
Now, this may sound all to easy, but the truth is, no decision is easy to make, but by applying the technique I provided I can guarantee that it will make your decision making so much easier, it will remove stress and make you more focused when it comes to making a hard decision. The whole point of this technique is to make the decision easier to make as well as make things less stressful for you, after all, if you have a strategy as to how you will deal with the risks and effects caused by making the decision then you will find making the decision a lot easier. Many people think that making a decision is hard and when they cannot decide they instantly start thinking of what could happen if they chose either one of the available options. This gets people thinking about all the things that could go wrong and it adds a lot of pressure and people often go for the option which in their mind brings less stress, but this is absolutely wrong.
By making a decision which in your mind brings less stress you may be just bringing more stress into your mind. For example, if you go for the option with the least risks it does not mean that it is the best option, just because you have less risks doesn’t mean that they are not dangerous risks to take. You have to see what the risks are and what solutions are available to fix any problems you may have.
Always remember, when making decisions you have to expand each available option and analyse them to see which would work out to be the best choice. When you plan things out and know what you can do if something goes wrong, you feel more in control and that is what will give you more confidence when making the final decision.
Conclusion
Decision making is not hard, you have to break things down to their simplest form, and then build everything back up in your own way, because if you can see how everything is done and know what to do if anything were to go wrong then you will feel more confident when deciding which path to take. Add up the variables and weigh them in the palm of your hand, if one choice carries a few high risks with no solutions, but another choice carries lots of small risks which can be solved if a solution is applied then it is obvious that picking the second choice is the best option. Breaking things down is essential, when having a full blown situation thrown at us it can shock us and stress us out. Take time to think about what your going to do, making a plan of action is the best thing you can do, you’ll be much happier in the long run knowing that you did everything you could have done to make the best decision in your judgement. Choose wisely.
Bloggers Club
I have launched a new blog and bloggers resource site over at Bloggers Club.
To celebrate the launch I am hosting a contest. Be sure to check it out by clicking the link below:
This blog focuses on bloggers and blogging with topics ranging from blog design to making money blogging. All steps to make a succesfull blog and be a better blogger. I will take my blogging experience and helt others succeed with their blogging. Some articles will also be written by guest writers.
Recently published
Use your blog as a marketplace
Come on in and have a read.
Always look on the bright side of life
“Always look on the bright side of life.” I happened to have that song by Monty Python stuck in my head earlier today when I thought of this topic. Always look on the bright side of life, find your happy place, it goes on and on throughout media and literature positive thinking overcomes adversity. It’s such a simple concept but so true. If you have a negative outlook on something the likelihood of you succeeding are dim. However with a positive outlook the chances are endless. This article will focus on positive thinking and the advantages to when you approach problems with a positive outlook.
How does motivation affect your performance, and why is a positive outlook and being positively motivated good for you? Well being positively motivated effects your productivity and your performance. If you want to do you, you will do more. If you want to have a great day, you will have a great day. Being positively motivated you realize that you are in control of your life and your actions and you can succeed in reaching your goals. So you’ve realized you need to be in a positive mind set to accomplish more. For argument’s sake we’ll say that you’re normally fairly apathetic and don’t know how to improve your mood. There are a few ways. Analyze your work environment. Is it conducive to work? Do you like working there? Now you may work in some cubicle in the middle of an office, so I’m not saying that I can get you an office with a window view, but how conducive is your workplace to progress? I will assume worst case scenario, you work in a dimly lit cramped cubicle. How do we motivate you? Simple, what motivates you, your family, your idols? Bring in pictures of your family, your pets. Put a big picture of Bill Gates right above your computer. To be positively motivated you need to surround yourself with stuff that makes you want to work. When you feel that you’ve got the will and desire to succeed few things can stand in your way.
So being positively motivated effects everything from your productivity to your mood to your outlook on future events. Your environment and surrounding directly affect your outlook on events. However you can control how your environment affects you. You can surround yourself with materials that motivate you and improve your mood. If you are happy and motivated you will let few things impede your success. I wish you a happy and productive day. If you don’t feel like you are having a good day just look yourself in the mirror and say “I think today is going to be a good day.” Because ultimately, how you perceive your day, is all that matters.
Using Digital Point to sell your creations or services
I have posated a new article on my blog, Entrepreneur blog:
Using Digital Point to sell your creations or services
Read and enjoy my friends!
Professional Wordpress Theme
Another Wordpress Theme released for you. This one is not free though and will be sold for the very small amount of $10. For these $10 you get to use the theme unlimited on your own blogs but can not sell or give it away to anyone.
Professional Wordpress Theme | Order Wordpress theme | Demo
This Wordpress theme is prepared for widgets and Adsense. Just install and run. The simple design of the theme gives you the possibility to do any changes you want and need to the design.
Free Wordpress Themes
I will release a number of different Wordpress Themes that wull be available for download for free. Below is the first one. Download, use and enjoy.
Andreas Bard Wordpress Theme 1.0 | Download | Demo
Leadership skills
As an entrepreneur you need to have at least some amount of leadership skills. Even if you do not have any actual employees you are probably working with freelancers, partners and managing a lot of different projects. If a project get a big brake you are most likely to become a leader of the company and will then be leading and managing a group employees. Would you not want to be ready for that?
The following guide does not make you a good leader itself but what I want is to open your eyes and help you start to take action to become a good leader. Read, enjoy and take action.
Leading yourself
To motivate and lead others you have to be motivated and lead yourself to show the group you lead a good example on how the work should be done. Practice what you preach. If you are not motivated why would your team be motivated?
You are the guide
Guide your employees do not be their ruler. Dictating a group and seeing the business as a hierarchy is very dangerous and is a no no.
A tyrant can only inspire fear and resentment – at first, you might find that things are getting done faster than before, but in the long run, the people around you and the people who work for you will grow to hate you
Influence them and set a good example and they will do the same.
Build up a trust
The team of co-workers you are working with as a leader needs someone that they can trust. You have to work hard with building up that trust. Work for them, yourself and the organization. Make them want to follow you where you are leading them rather than feeling that they have too.
This is a situation where not only they have to trust you. You have to trust them too. It is first then you have a winning team that can accomplish anything.
Do not get stuck
As a leader you have to be the one that dares to take decisions that makes you and your co-workers leave the safe path to walk on a much more risky road. As a leader you should recognize that there are always ways to do things better.
Communicate
Direct interaction with your team members are a vital part of your work as a team leader. Let them be a part of the team and take decisions together with them. Even if it is you that makes the final decision let everybody have their say.
Why would they listen to you?
When having discussions with your employees there are a loot of things you have to take in consideration here are a few pointers:
1. Where? Is this the right place to talk about this. Is it to noisy? Too much distractions?
2. Comfort level. Should other employees hear this? Could anyone be hurt by this conversation?
3. When? Do not wait to take up important issues when a staff member is heading home or is just taking a break. Make a plan for meetings and discussions.
4. Do not be a leader nagging about the same thing over and over again. Problems are not solved that way. If the information does not get taken in the first time you have to find another way to express the idea or plan.
5. If you are giving negative feedback make sure that it is constuctive feedback.
Motivate and appreciate
If your employees show results of good performance you have to reward them. By giving them an response like a raise, bonuses or any other reward they feel appreciation and willk most definitely keep on working hard for you as the leader and your company.
During hard times when goals are not met and motivation might be low the same principle applies. Offer rewards and incentives. Make the team work together.
Not all incentives must be money. Sometimes the best incentives are those that demonstrate creativity and thoughtfulness on the employer’s part. Offer concert tickets or restaurant gift certificates for employees who demonstrate outstanding performance and service.
I hope this short but still content rich article have helped you some. It is far from complete because there are so much to write about leadership. What I hope is, like I wrote above is that it has woken up your interest and made you want to develop your leadership skills.
Belief is power
All great accomplishments starts with a small seed of belief. That is a great statement. Today I talk about the power of belief.
Make it grow
Do not let the seed die. Take care of the seed so that it grows. In other words after the belief in something has come up in your head do not let yourself or someone else kill it by saying that what you believe in is nothing to believe in.
Generate enthusiasm
Belief is a really strong tool. By using it you generate all the ingredients needed to fuel your mind and are then able go for your goals full speed. With the right attitude and mindset you load your body with power and energy needed to achieve your goals.
Belief is one of the most powerful forces in this world.
I can win. I can do it.
If you believe you can do it. You can do it. Decide to make it and you will. Three words can describe it all, Never give up. You might not make it the first time you try, but if you belive that you will and keep on trying eventually you will. Your beliefs are running the show and you can help them in the right direction.
How to do it
Let your mind show you the way. When you believe in something your mind will help you to find the way.
The other way around
On another note if you belive you can not do something your mind will show you why you can not do it. Do you see where I am going? Negative thinking shows you the way to a negative life where you have not accomplished a thing. The outcome of your actions are controlled by your belief or non-belief. How do you want it?
Get rid of the negative thoughts. Think success and success will come.
Some wise words to end this article
“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.”
Henry Ford
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About Andreas Bard
My name is Andreas Bard and I am a web entrepreneur, writer and blogger. On this blog I write motivational articles and aim to help you on your way to success with your business venture.
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