Work Life Balance
July 23, 2011
Juggling commitments to work and family often seems to require the perception of a psychic, the balance of a tightrope walker and the stamina of an Olympic athlete. Striking the right balance has never been easy, but it will definitely become easier if you make the most of your time by becoming organised.
Start by keeping a time-diary to monitor where the hours in the day actually go. You can then decide if this is the best way for you to spend your time, and develop a set of priorities that will allow you to postpone unimportant tasks and delegate others. There will always be tasks that cannot be delegated, but if you look you can usually find opportunities to ease up your daily routine.
Put your health and happiness first with these four strategies for achieving a successful work life balance.
1. Work smarter not harder
Ask yourself whether you are doing things in the quickest, most efficient manner? Once you have worked out what tasks you can delegate and what you can’t, consider how to go about working smarter, not harder. ‘Smart strategies’ include prioritising your workload, using technology, asking for help and setting yourself time limits and boundaries.
2. Be tech savvy
Don’t neglect the convenience of technology, whether it’s paying bills online or using apps on your iPod. It might seem daunting or time consuming to take on new technology but investing the effort up-front is worth the time-savings it will bring you down the track.
3. No screen time
Take plenty of ‘no screen’ time during evenings and weekends – with no emails, internet, phones or laptop. To prevent work spilling over to your personal life you need to set boundaries with staff and colleagues so they know when they can and can’t contact you.
4. Schedule hobbies
Chances are you will never get around to your hobbies and interests if you don’t schedule them into your day. Whether it’s attending a gym class or learning a language, you need to put aside the time and treat it as you would any other important commitment.
Mindset and Money beliefs
April 10, 2011
The top 4 tips for managing your mindset:
1. Change your money beliefs
We learn our money beliefs predominately from our parents. We were often told that you must ‘work hard for your money’ and that ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’. This type of talk does nothing for our mentalities and therefore you must learn how to identify these limiting beliefs and replace them with powerful positive ones.
2. Change your attitude towards debt
We are taught that debt is bad and something to fear. While ‘bad debt’ debt used for consumables such as cars, clothes, holidays etc. is something we want to minimise; borrowing money to purchase growth and/or income producing assets is a powerful strategy to grow your net wealth. This is considered ‘good debt’.
3. Build up your knowledge Read as much as you can. This is the cheapest way to learn.
4. Surround yourself with likeminded people
Influence, or be influenced. The people we surround ourselves with shapes us into who we are. We can’t choose our family, but we can choose our friends and social circles. You just need to mention the word property and all of a suddent everyone’s an expert. Ask them what their experience and success stories are before taking their free advice.Join a mentoring group or mix with people who are actively investing . This can make a huge difference to your mindset and overall success.
Making Decisions
April 10, 2011
Making Decisions Every day we make hundreds of decisions, some simple, others more difficult. Decisions which can have a lasting impact on your life, such as taking out a home loan or fixing your mortgage are far more intimidating and usually much more difficult to make.
Quick thinker or procrastinator? 
The first step in improving your decision making ability involves recognising how you face the difficult decisions that confront you. Do you make decisions quickly, or do you tend to put decisions off? Both courses are equally dangerous – a rash decision can easily come back to haunt you, while avoiding a decision can force you along a path which might not be in your best interests.
Do your homework
Before making an important decision there are three key points you should consider: the amount of time you have to decide, what you hope to achieve and what information will help you find the best solution. Gather information, explore different options and seek advice from an outsider such as your mortgage broker. Once you have the background information you need (which we can help you gather), you may find it useful to rate the pros and cons of each option on paper. Use the option which offers the best score as your first choice, but have a back-up ready in case things don’t work out as planned.
Your best is good enough
If you don’t have much time, gather the basic information you need (again, we can assist you here to save the leg work) and make the best judgement you can. Be prepared to continue your search for information and monitor the impact of your decision so you can modify if this is needed or make a better choice the next time the situation arises. Whatever you decide it’s important to remember that you can never please everyone. The most important person to satisfy is yourself. “We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over.” – Aneurin Bevan
