5 Quick ways To Overcome Monday Morning Blues

My ‘Monday Blues’ used to start on Sunday evening itself until I started making these small changes every Monday.

Happy to share with you.

1. On waking up in the morning stay in bed for 15mins and do this.

While you are in your bed, bring to your mind’s eye, what are the top 5 things you are grateful for. While you are thinking about these things (could be your family, friends or even the nice paying job), ask yourself what is that you would like to create in your life? And as a result of that what is that you would like to create today. This simple technique can set the tone of your day and make it more purposeful.

2. Doing an activity that is physical could set you off on a positive note for the entire week. 

Exercising is one thing. Because our fear (or doubt) is physical, a physical activity where you show up no matter what and finish that to the completion makes you a winner. It’s one of the easiest ways to prove it to yourself that you will do anything that you have put your mind  and energy to. I don’t have to explain how it can add value to your day as well as your week.

3. Start your day with a smile no matter how others respond.

I remember when I used to go to the office using a bus, some of the bus drivers would have this broad smile and they would wish good morning to every single person no matter what. Soon all the passengers in the bus would start smiling at each other, giving up seats, changing the whole vibe.  I used to look out for this particular driver and excited to be on that bus. Your smile is contagious, and it will raise your spirits.

“A smile is all you need to feel that it’s going to be okay.”

4. Replace Morning News with some positivity from the world of personal development.

Jim Rohn is my most favourite teacher, his aura, humorous style of speaking combined with life-changing information always makes me smile and feel grateful at the same time. I love using Audible for the ease of travelling but if you like to read then carry a book or Kindle with you.

5. Unlike the most common belief that Mondays are least productive, go out of your way to make it the most productive. 

I am talking about getting productive with yourself. Looking at the week’s goal and think about how you would like to tackle. Three things to ask yourself when self-managing your day are: what do I want to get done? What is the Highest Priority? And When this task needs to be done? As you list down these things in your diary, also think about how you could do it better than the last time. Before you know it you will have your entire week’s plan setup and ready to go.

I hope you enjoyed reading this little article. Feel free to drop a comment if you have any questions.

Cheers!
Shivi Chhabra

Innate Impressions
http://www.innateimpressions.org/

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Finding Your North Star

We spend most of our lives dealing with the same circumstances presented to us in different forms. Same things appear in front of us over and over again. In spite of having made significant efforts, every year, most of us even have the same new year resolutions.

How come when the cycle completes we find ourselves standing at the same point from where we began?

For most of us, this may only be true in certain areas of your life.

For me, it was my finances. I made considerable efforts every year to make more money, achieved my results, but at the end of the year, I had the same amount in my bank as the last year. What happened? Did it evaporate?

The other typical examples, I see are:

• Ending in the same type relationships over and over again. It could be with the friends or boyfriend/girlfriend even life partners.

• Ending with the same body weight or just slight changes even after losing significant weight during the year.

You cannot help but ask yourself! What the hell is happening??!!

THE ANSWER LIES IN YOUR NORTH STAR.

North Start is a concept that helps you find guiding principles of your life. North Star is that inner voice, that one single sentence, that finally glues your every decision. It could be a good guiding principle for the right choices and the not so good guiding principle for the decisions that landed you in the square one after the complete cycle.

This is in fact a fascinating concept that can help you find the reasons for your recurring cycles.For example, In the case of finances, I had a very specific guiding principle. It was = “I am too young, it is too soon to be thinking about saving, I have the whole life for that. And By the way, I don’t even spend that much. Have you seen my friends?”

For example, In my case, I had a very specific guiding principle that was leading me to the same results.

And that was = “I am too young, it is too soon to be thinking about savings, I have my whole life for that. And by the way, I don’t even spend that much. Have you seen my friends?”

You may not see a problem with this thing, but, this is my STORY. Every time I was spending extra for that trip that I had not planned earlier or paid for those expensive sunglasses, I am telling myself that I am having fun and I shouldn’t be thinking about saving money at this point. As soon as I do that, I am happy to let go and spend as much as I like. If you notice, what truly is happening in the background is that I am telling myself that “Saving Money = NO FUN” if my life’s driving force is fun, guess what is going to happen?

Another example is in the case of relationships.
If you are finding yourself coming across same people over and over again, ask yourself what is that you are you telling yourself?
One story I know is = “I am an independent, woman! and I don’t need anyone. Anyways,Guys are not trustworthy!” Guess what would be happening for this person in the area of relationships?

so,How can you find your North Star or Guiding principles?

It’s simpler than you think. The easiest way to find your north star is by following the below steps:

A. Find an area of your life you want to change.
B. List down the things you would like to change.
C. Write down the current results.
D. Backtrack and look at all the decisions you made to reach to that point.
E. List down your driving thoughts when you took those decisions.

With this simple activity, you can decipher what had been the guiding principles which are not working in your favour.

To Alter your North Star try this:

A. Simply find the trigger (A situation/circumstance that is leading you to that thought pattern = One Sentence).
B. Replace your old guiding principle with a new one.

For e.g. in the case of saving money, my new guiding principle is

Saving Money means more investments means bigger returns means more Luxurious Life for the rest of my life.

C. Find examples from real life where the new guiding principle is actually working for people to prove it to yourself that it, in fact, is the right principle.

Some common questions at this stage are:

Q. Are all North Stars bad?
A. The answer is No, like you have a north start for the results you did not like, you also have them for the results that you desire. You can do the same activity, as suggested above and find out your positive North Stars. Ideally, you should apply them more often to

Q. How quickly can I change my North Star
A. As soon as you realise it. Though it varies differently for different people, you will definitely make positive changes in your life as soon as you realise what they actually are.

To Summarise:

Your guiding principles define your life. All results in your life will, in some way shape or form, prove to you that your North Star is, in fact, right. This stands true for both good guiding principles and not so good guiding principles. If you happen to think that life is fun and saving your money will reduce the fun, guess what every time you will think about saving money, your energy and your life will change to prove it to you. Your reality supports your thoughts.

I hope you enjoyed reading this piece.
Change your North star to change your results in Life.

Until we meet again, Follow your intuition and remember life rewards actions.
Biju Abraham Chacko

 

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The Best Online Tools For Mums Who Want To Work From Home

“I feel I have lost some of my pre-mom self”,

“It doesn’t feel me when I have to ask money from my partner.”

Can you relate with any of these statements?

 

The most common complaint that I hear from women even those who are loving everything about their motherhood is losing the financial independence. When they worked, they could shop, buy gifts and bring in income to contribute towards their family finances. As soon as they have a baby, their primary job becomes that of a mother, care giver, nurse, chef, housekeeper, driver, teacher, etc. They work 24 hours around the clock and get paid in kind. If you have been a woman who has been working since her early twenties, it could be very hard to shift roles from that of a self-dependent, financially free woman to stay at home mum dependent on her partner.

 

Now, working from home doesn’t have to be a DREAM, you could make it a REALITY using some or the combination of the tools below. The primary difference between these options is how much money you make for the time you invest in the long run. If it were for me, I would look for opportunities that provide me long term learning and results. Considering you are going to be a mother with a child dependent on you for at least next 20 years, it’s a good idea to find options with flexible hours and income while still pursuing your interests.

 

There are a few ways you can go about this and find out mums friendly professions.

1. Finding your passions –

Motherhood can be an incredible opportunity to look at the some of the aspects of your life that you never considered before. Find what you would love doing and use that to create a side income for yourself.

• Writing – If you like writing, you may consider below options.

  1. Blogs and
  2. Magazine articles

For both of these options, you are expected to get paid per article. Blogs somewhere between $20 – $300 and Magazines between $50 – $1000 based on who you are writing for

3. Books are an amazing way to help others grow and they also serve as a permanent asset that can give you return on your investment as long as they sell. There is a lot that goes in the background of writing books like editing, publishing, designing, printing, registrations etc.

• Talking – If you love talking and connecting with people, here are a few options to consider

1. Talks and webinars – Both Educational and promotional can be done in flexible hours.
2. Customer care representative working from home for top firms.

For these options, you are expected to get paid by the hour. If you pursue your career as a speaker, the gigs can vary from $500 – $100,000 again based on who would you like to speak for. There is a lot of hard work that goes behind the scene that includes, learning a new skill, practicing, keeping up to date with the market and always positioning yourself.

• Teaching – Online tutoring is one of the ways you can work from home and stay connected with kids who you love to inspire and teach.

 

2. Online home based business in Sales and marketing.

Most of the times these opportunities don’t need you to have prior learning in marketing and sales when you start, but in fact give you a chance to learn on the job through ongoing training and support. You must believe in the product to be able to sell it. As the name suggests the business gives you flexibility with timings and hours as this is your own business. If you ever thought about being your own boss, this might be the option for you.

• MLM (Multi -level marketing) –

Avon, Herbal life and Tupperware are some examples. Some companies let you market their products online while others need you to host house parties and meet your clients in person. Commissions vary based the number of sales and your level. There is no upper cap on income.

• Not MLM – home based online business – Direct Selling. –

These companies provide more scope for commissions and hence your income. Finding a business that resonates with what you like and also a business that gives you an ability to grow would be perfect for the long run. Keep an eye on the companies selling online products (as that will save you from storing and stocking up.) and also look out for no requirement to sell to your friends and family. Commissions can go up to 80% of the sale.

 

3. Creative work –

If creativity is your thing. There is nothing like it. You can be creative in anything that you love.

• Creating recipes and recipe books.

You can even do home baking and sell certain products from home.

• Paintings and homemade stuff

Handmade clothes and patchworks will never go out of fashion.

The only thing with these types of home based selling is, you have to love it more than the money. Until you play big enough, which in retail comes with backing up the stock, storage and operational handling, you might just cover a bit over your investments. It’s a perfect opportunity if you are trying to find something to just keep you busy.

• Web designing –

Creating logos and websites online are great ways to get paid for your creativity. Places like Fiverr, Upworks and 99designs is a perfect way to explore your options. These platforms can also be used to find jobs as Virtual Assistant. A virtual assistant helps the person requesting for the virtual assistant with a variety of activities which may or may not include photo editing, writing, cropping, sending emails, posting on social media, etc.

 

4. A little less mind work and more manual work –

If you are completely jam packed for whole day, and the last thing you want is to think a bit more and get creative, then these opportunities are for you: –

• Tech support and online search engine evaluator
• General Transcription, Data Entry, Typing, Transcription, Translation

 

5. Employee Positions:

• Existing job arrangements –

Most companies provide flexible working arrangements for women going on maternity leave or even after. You can discuss with your existing boss or ex-boss to work out an arrangement that suits you.

• New Job Opportunities –

Find companies that could provide you flexible working hours and timings. Powertofly is one company that gives you that opportunities. Do look out for shift timings as these jobs can be anywhere in the world.

• Freelancing with existing skills.

If you know skills like Photoshop and Hootsuite etc. you could look for freelancing jobs through Upworks and Fiverr.

 

I often get this questions, what are the typical number hours required to generate sufficient income while working from home.

Based on what choices you make, by which I mean if you choose a job or business your hours can vary significantly. There are options to generate 6 -figure income by working productively and efficiently for 20 hours or less. There are no short cuts to success. Any new skill, business or job takes an initial startup time to get you into momentum. Jobs pay you sustainably during this time, but the income remains consistent for the rest of your term. With business, you accrue the revenue and ensures that you get paid more every time you get results.

 

How do I know if the choice I make is the one that will help me the long run?

There are different priorities and financial goals for different people. You can choose any of these options that suit you as long as they cater for your long term goal. For example, I love to learn, but I will not invest my time and money into anything that will not give me at least three times the initial investment I have made.

 

To summarise, if you are a Mum or mum to be and are cautious that you are losing a touch to you pre-baby self, you can start looking at options that can generate some income for you and keep you busy and on purpose alongside. Different people have different priorities, so if your choices are different than others, don’t be surprised. At the end what matters is what makes you happy and feel empowered during this beautiful experience of your life.

 

For both Shivi and I had to go through a massive shift in how we manage our time and energy while starting our part-time business from home, which means we had to be super productive. But thanks to all the knowledge we gained during this time that we understand how important discipline is.

If you are interested in being a business woman who wants learn more about discipline, time management and entrepreneurial mindset, click on the link to read more about – ‘Tips About Making Money Online For Mums By Entrepreneurial Expert’.

And if you want to know more about how to make 6-figure income home using the online home based business opportunity for mothers, please register your details at http://www.innateimpressions.org/, I would love to share more information with you.

Until we meet again, follow your intuition and remember that life rewards actions.

Biju Abraham Chacko

Innate Impressions

 

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How Part-Time Business Can Grow To The Financial Freedom You Deserve

Hey there this is Biju Chacko, and it is a real pleasure for me to be able to spend some time with you today.

I have a question for you…

Where do elephants live??

You must wonder what elephants have to do with the part-time business and financial freedom?

Have you ever heard the phrase “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time?” What this really means in this context is you could tackle your bigger goal of financial freedom, one chunk at a time.

If you have ever dreamt that one day you would have your own business and will be travelling and living around the world and it will all happen with a big idea that will change your life, then you are not alone. We are all advised to think big, look at our big future and visualise it, but no one taught us how to start from where we currently are.

I often used to hear from my friends and colleagues that, “I want to do something of my own or start a business but can’t leave my job because I have a family or mortgages.” Or even “how can I start a business? I don’t have any original ideas”. What they didn’t realise is that business is not about one excellent idea that will make you millions, but it could also be one idea done better and more efficiently than everyone else.

Waiting for that excellent idea that no one has ever thought of could leave you in a state of limbo preventing you from taking any action at all.

So, What are the skills required to start a business?

50% of your business is sales and 50% of it is marketing, and there is no escape from creating 100% of its presence online. So if you ever think that you don’t like sales, marketing or being on social media, I have bad news for you.

You know how important selling is, Thomas Edison said, “Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent.”,That Important!

You must learn about sales and marketing, more importantly, digital marketing in this age of technology where Facebook alone has 1.6 billion active users.

You have two choices at this stage: 

1. Learn the skill first and like everyone else you could start thinking about college or some certification. This is a trap that keeps you hooked into learning and not taking action.
2. Or learn on the job, first hand while applying the knowledge.

There are three types of business where you can learn sales and marketing. 

1. By building your own traditional business from scratch. 

In most cases, you end up being the sales team, marketer, product creator, accountant, researcher, speaker and the face of the business all by yourself.

Advantages:

• You create your business from scratch.
• Even though the learning curve is steep, you build a foundation that can be later duplicated into more businesses
• More flexibility of how you would like things to operate.

       Disadvantages:

• Heavy investment of time and money to research if a market exists for your product/service
• Investment of your resources to build, package and market the product/service which you aren’t sure will sell by the time you get to market
• Too much focus on the product and not on sales and marketing, which eventually creates revenue and goodwill of a business

2. Franchising 

For the purpose of understanding think of you as a franchisee who is trying to buy a             franchise of the Boost Juice which makes Boost Juice, the franchisor.

According to the definition, franchising is a business relationship in which the                        franchisor (Boost Juice) assigns to independent people (the franchisees – You) the                  right to market and distribute the franchisor’s goods or service, and to use the                        business name for a fixed period.
      Advantages:

• Utilising the strength of the brand and loyalty of its customers
• Business and marketing support from the franchisor
• Utilising existing business systems that are generating income
• Access to proprietary methods and comparatively lower risk due to an established brand
• You’ll learn to see your products but not market them (also a disadvantage).

      Disadvantages:

• Huge initial payout and monthly royalty payments
• Marketing and advertising fee which means you don’t get to learn marketing
• Long term locked in contracts
• Your success is related to your franchisor’s success

3. By being part of an existing business mostly online home based business opportunities

      Advantages:

• Utilise existing business systems, brand and information
• A lot of training and support for the team members especially in the area of Sales and Marketing
• Business can be started along with a job while learning as you are implementing the knowledge
• Network of like-minded people as well as existing successful mentors for your support and training
• Minimal cost to start your business

      Disadvantages:

• Limited flexibility in operations
• Not an asset
• A lot of discipline is required to ensure you grow consistently
• Low start-up costs could impact your motivation and seriousness towards the business

You could choose any path that resonates with you.

For the purpose of our discussion on how a part-time business could help you achieve financial freedom:

Imagine you start a part time business along with your job which could mean extra income, education and personal growth adding to your experience. Over the period you can either utilise this additional income to build your investment portfolios or gradually transition between one of these stages.

Here are the 4 quadrants showcasing your transition from an employee to the employer by Robert Kiyosaki.

You might ask what if I am already too busy to complete my everyday tasks, how can I start a business?

The answer to this question my friend is, learning to say NO. Most people struggle to say NO because of the fear of losing their jobs, guess what? Having a part time business gives you an additional skill and confidence to say NO and stand up for your decisions when it’s required.

You may say that your boss is too rude or too strict to hear No! 

Well, when you make decisions in your life things change in your surroundings, people change because the person with the strongest intention always wins. You are going somewhere in your life while 99% of the people aren’t.

I had witnessed the circumstances changing in so many areas of my life including work, relationships, career, health when I decided to start my business.

To summarise it all for you, we discussed that part-time business could be a perfect way to transition into the business world and eventually financial freedom.

1. Because of the nature of the business, it provides flexibility of working hours, and you can start it along with a job
2. It teaches you right skills with on the job training, required for any business
3. It Provide right mentoring and support for you to move forward in your business and life.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you want to know more about how I started my part time business that transformed my life. If you would like to join my team, simply fill in the form. Please note that we do go through an interview with you before we can bring anyone onboard.

If you want to learn more about a Few Ways To Make Working From Home More Productive please click here.

Until we meet again, follow your intuition and remember life rewards action.

                        

Biju Abraham Chacko
http://www.innateimpressions.org/

Reference:

http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/popular-social-networks-worldwide-chartoftheday/

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How To Be a Morning Person

Early to bed early to rise makes you healthy, wealthy and wise. Yes, wealthy, that’s true.

Most successful people have one thing in common and its discipline. It’s not the morning routine or the discipline but the morning routine with the discipline that needs to be optimised to create success in your life that you desire.
You may ask if it’s important to be a morning person only to be successful. What if you are a night person, is it a bad thing? Good question!. No, being a night person is not a bad thing, If it’s working for you, please keep doing what you are doing.

However, there are a few arguments in favour of waking up early.

• Morning people tend to be more productive the reason is unlike late nights, getting up in the mornings and sleeping on time doesn’t impact your body cycle. The disturbed body clock has adverse effects on your concentration, energy and sleeping patterns throwing you in a loop of empty unfocused days.
• Another reasonable argument is, people who work best at nights are subconsciously developing a habit of not utilising their day time. This might be because you like the comfort of working at night when it’s free from distractions. In the most cases, the improved focus at night is nothing but the extra energy kick due to the pressure of meeting a deadline or completing a task in now a limited time.

I was a night person for over two decades and during that period I continually struggled to incorporate a few things into my routine. I wanted to get into the habit of reading books, doing certain courses and building new skills on a monthly basis. Doing additional work particularly became challenging when I was already putting in extra hours, mostly at night. It was clear what I was doing wasn’t working for me. No matter how much I wanted to justify I was a night person, or I worked the best when everyone else sleeps, I had a long record of poor results to challenge my arguments. I needed to change my habits.

So, here is what Shivi (my wife) and I did to start waking up in the morning and optimising our morning routine.

Step1: Analyse your current routine and decrypt the exact steps that lead you to stay awake till late at night.
In our case, we were deliberately leaving important tasks until late at night which justified keeping awake or working till late. Once you know your pattern, find out a way to improve.
Action: We planned our day to complete most important tasks first.

 

Step2: Go slow.
If you are habitual of waking up at 8.30am. Making a decision to get up at 6.00 am is a perfect example of setting yourself up for a failure. The body needs to adapt to the new routine, for that reason, you must bring in the changes slow and ensure that you compliment those changes with right actions a day before.
Action: For every one week let your body adapt to 30mins change. This means for week1 your aim is to get up at 7.30am and week2 – 7.00am, week3 and 4, 6.30am and 6.00am . And for every 30mins that you are getting up early, make sure you compliment it by finishing your day 30mins early as well.

 

Step 3: Get excited for your reason (WHY) for waking up in the morning.
Knowing what you want to create as a result of waking up early is the first step to setting the right tone for your day. For us, it was to create more time to read and research that would help us share our message better. Our why was to inspire others every day.
Action: Write down a list of things you want to create as a result of waking up early.

 

Step4: Maximise your energy, not your time.
The best tool we have learnt from the network of entrepreneurs we work with is to maximise our energy rather than time. What I mean by that is utilising your energy in doing tasks that will impact your future. Your morning routine should be more or less robotic. Some examples of robotic tasks would be brushing your teeth, going for a bath. You can now add other tasks to this list to make it a no brainer e.g. exercising, eating same breakfast every day. The robotic tasks conserve your energy for the doing what you love. Also, it makes the routine less painful taking out additional thinking.

 

Step5: Using technology to keep you accountable.
Thanks to the wonderful apps and technology we can utilise in our everyday life to our advantage.
We use Sonos (our wireless speakers to play our favourite peppy songs as an alarm. It sets the right tone for the day in the morning and making us happy go-getters.
Google calendar – Reviewing your Google calendar (or any calendar app that you use)right at the beginning of the day sets you up for an exciting day. By the way, I even add my exercise and travel time to my calendar.
Thirdly, you could use some yoga apps that gives you quick 10mins morning wake-up exercises to start your day fresh. We used black coffee initially and soon switched to yoga (btw I was made to do that!).
Lastly, use goals setting and tracking app to see how we are doing with our goals. See how far you have reached and how far you would like to go.

Patience is the key with any habit. Every day ask yourself how you could get better. No need to beat yourself up when things don’t go as planned, simply dust off and try again next day.

Feel free to drop us an email and ask any questions on how you could implement any of these steps.

Your life and your success grow with every new step that you take outside your comfort zone. I created a life for myself that gave me a reason to wake up every day excited and to be grateful for where I am.

If you want to know more how to create a life and lifestyle you desire by learning and growing every single day, please reach out to me at http://www.innateimpressions.org/

Please Note : We do go through an interview process before onboarding any new team member. The interview process ensures that only capable and motivated people join our team.

Until we meet again. follow your intuition and remember life rewards actions.

Biju Abraham Chacko
Business Coach and Mentor