I recently had the privilege of attending The Boutique Summit 2019 in Atlanta, GA! It was a conference for boutique owners, like myself, to gather, learn, network and grow. I had such a great time and came home with a wealth of knowledge and a notebook full of ideas to bring to my business!
Along with all of the great business knowledge came some amazing self-development tools and tid-bits. Several speakers really inspired me with their stories and ideas of how to improve happiness, success and productivity.
I wanted to share my top five take aways with you today. I hope you’ll find them helpful and choose to implement them as well.
5 Ways To Improve Your Happiness, Success & Productivity
at The Boutique Summit! Such an honor!
1. WHAT do you want? Find Clarity!
What are your goals? Do you have any? With some intentional focus and clarity what could be improved in your life?
How often do we wish for better health and fitness, better spending habits, a better income or job opportunity, better relationships, etc. And more importantly, when was the last time you sat down and achieved complete clarity on how to attain those wishes? How can you chip away at those goals every single day to better your life?
Justin Prince gave us his 5 rules for success:
- Know exactly WHAT you want.
- Have the right TOOLS.
- FOCUS.
- Stay CONSISTENT.
- PERSIST until you SUCCEED.
Chop The Tree: He made this method come to life by comparing it to chopping down a tree. If your main goal was to chop down a tree. First, get clear on which tree. Secondly, get a good axe. Third, focus solely on that tree. Fourth, take a swing every day at that tree. And lastly, persist until that tree falls.
Sounds like a simple anology but think about how often we jump from goal to goal and how often we give up before we succeed!
2. Gratitude – Try This Quick Meditation!
Justin Prince also shared this quick two minute meditation with us. (For a busy and distracted mom like me, two minutes sounded totally achievable!)
For two minutes, resting your hand on your heart, feel your breath and your heart beat. Focus on three points of gratitude as you breath deeply. The first may be complex, like love, family and children, and the second and third may be simple everyday things we are grateful for but often overlook like the shoes on our feet, a hot shower, and the food on my table. And coffee, let’s not forget to be grateful for coffee!
Focusing on our gratitude and blessings attracts more positivity into our lives and more of what we appreciate.
(So next time I’m having “one of those days” you better believe I’ll be practicing this two minute mediation! Some days maybe more than once!)
3. Put Your Phone Away!
Let’s kick it old school and get ourselves a good old fashioned alarm clock! Too many of us are beginning our day with a phone to the face! Distractions, email, and not to mention the unending stream of beautiful photos that can often leave us feeling blah… and “lesser than.”
I do use my phone as an alarm clock but do my best not open any social media apps, email or messages until the afternoon! That may not be something you can get away with and some days I have more urgent issues to address but if you can forego the phone for at least an hour at the beginning of the day, I think you’ll not only find more productivity but also more contentment.
I’ve loved implementing this practice and need to start looking for that old dusty alarm clock I have stored away!
On Sundays, I LOVE to “lose my phone” or let it die for hours! Haha! It’s the best day to completely disconnect and just be present with family and friends. Try it! It will fill your cup, I promise!
4. Ditch the “Imposter” Mindset
This one is pretty deep but I think something a lot of women struggle with. Have you ever felt like you don’t fit in? Like you aren’t good enough? From work to motherhood and everything in between I know I’m not alone in feeling like I don’t always belong.
Our inner voice determines a lot in life. I’ve always loved this quote by Henry Ford:
“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right”
I think the imposter syndrome is completely controllable within ourselves. We often fabricate what others “must be thinking of us”, how we don’t fit in. We get so caught up in all the ways we don’t measure up… how we’re unqualified, how others are doing it way better than we are BUT here is the truth we must hold onto:
God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
When Nicole Walters, a Dave Ramsey personality, said this at the conference I quickly jotted it down in my notebook.
Read it, write it, say it aloud, and most of all believe it! He wouldn’t have called you to this if He wasn’t ready to qualify you to succeed in it.
5. Read Every Day!
Okay, don’t roll your eyes. I know you’re busy too!
But the facts about reading are out there! While I’m not going to share a ton of them with you today, I did enjoy this article by Inc. about some of the worlds most successful leaders and their reading habits.
It is quoted in the article that Warren Buffet suggests reading upwards of 500 pages a day! Holy smokes! That would be nice but if you’re anything like me, we better start with a smaller goal. At least at first!
I LOVE apps like Audible because I can easily listen to at least one book every month while I’m driving, doing dishes or folding laundry. It actually has become so habitual and rewarding that I look forward to those chores now!
So whether you create a new habit with audible books or a new bedtime reading routine, jump on the reading boat! As Harry S. Truman once said,
“Not all readers are leaders but all leaders are readers”
BONUS: Use & Implement the Information!
It has been said that on average people remember 10% of what they read, 30-40% of what they see and hear but up to 90% of what they do!
So let’s be the doers, my friends!
Let’s recap what we’ve learned here, apply it to our lives, tweak it to benefit our lifestyle and find our ultimate happiness, success and productivity along the way!
What is the one item from this list you plan to implement this week? Let me know in the comments below!
Thanks for stopping by!
<3 Lauren