How Do We Do It All? Not Forego Ourselves and Our Health? And... Not Feel Guilty?

Good Morning!

WOW! That title is a mouthful if I say so myself! I think this post might be for me a lot more than it might be for some of you who really have it together! You see, when I train and present to other educators, I have to immediately give them this disclaimer if you will.... I share with them that my mind whirls in thousands of directions which might sound appetizing to you; however, it's not at times I assure you! So, having an educational background, and more specifically knowing I am a right brain by heart and also knowing "I'm a squiggle..." (more on that because you have to figure out what shape personality you are too...) okay, so knowing these different things and then here comes the kicker... I am so ADHD wired for 220 voltage most all of the time. I know those of you who know me are laughing right now because you are saying, "Well, that explains it... I can see that for sure LOL." Nevertheless, of course, it gives me creative energy; however, it can also make me so frustrated and it's number one cousin is that word called, PROCRASTINATION! Ugh! I hate that word -- don't you? Well, I found a couple of tools this morning that may help us with this "bad to the bone" word and I am hoping that some of you may have some tools as well! One thing that I think that may help if this is a "bad word" to you too is to become more self-aware of yourself -- meaning -- know if you are functioning more with your (1) right brain hemisphere or your left brain hemisphere (see earlier post -- I included a link for you to be able to determine this!); and (2) determine your "shape personality."  You will love doing this and don't cheat! Here is what you need to do. Look at the shapes that I have included below and without knowing any other instructions, pick the shape that you think best resembles your personality! GO! Don't cheat! Here are the shapes:

Here is your link! Again, don't click on this link UNTIL YOU DECIDE! Also, some will refer to the last shape as a zigzag and some will refer to it as a squiggle! http://www.learning-mind.com/geometric-shapes-simple-and-unusual-personality-test/

I told you! It's fun! I use it all the time when working with different groups of adults in training sessions! So, now let's move on to some steps that might be helpful to us (me namely for sure) that might help us beat "PROCRASTINATION!" Here we go...

(Step 1:) Stop in the name of love and recognize that in fact you are in procrastination mode! So, I have a link here for you as well to help you better define procrastination -- of course, if your like me, I know when I am there i just don't like to admit it LOL but here's the link: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_99.htm Try it and see if it confirms what you were thinking. Okay, yes I scored a 29 and confirmed what I have stated to you thus far -- now what??

(Step 2:)  Reflect and try to figure out what's the deal? Just why in the world are you procrastinating? Is the task unpleasant? Are you disorganized (that's a whole other story for me...)? Are  you honestly overwhelmed by the task itself and can't figure out where to start? Decide where you stand!

(Step 3:) Adopt a set of strategies that you can put into motion that will help you tame or beat procrastination... your thinking... "yea, I would have already done that if I knew what they might be..." Okay, what might these strategies be: (1) Reward yourself ever so slightly for getting started on the task and/or completing the task; (2) Have someone be your accountability partner-- someone who knows that you might fuss when they ask you, "How's it coming?" Someone whom you know you don't have to have your guard up -- they will truly help you! (3) Identify why this task is unpleasant; make a list and look at this list! (4) Think about your "cost of time" to your employer... shame shame; (5) Promise yourself on a daily basis to eat the elephant first meaning tackle the big things first thing in the morning; (6) Use Einstein's Urgent/Important Principle (you have seen this in a previous blog post); (7) Make an old-fashioned "To-Do" list; (8) Get you a planner that allows you to look at a month at a time and then a day at a time -- work on mapping projects out that allow you ample time to have success; (8) Set goals in your planner and then put these aforementioned strategies into place to make them happen girlfriend!

I have included an image of the Einstein's Urgent/Important Principle to jog your memory! I will create you a printable of one of these quadrants for you to use as your "To-Do" list!

Einstein's Urgent/Important Principle
Time Management Quadrants

So, calling all Superwomen, here's your homework: (1) Right brain/left brain? (2) Shape personality? (3) Procrastinator? (4) Strategies that you find beneficial -- PUT THEM IN PLACE!

Stay tuned for a *FREE PRINTABLE* for your time management quadrants for a "To-Do" List!

Have a great Monday and be your best Superwom@n!

Terri

Source of Information: www.mindtools.com

Balance Your Brain Superwom@n! It's the Right Thing to Do!

Maybe this visual appeals to you more... I believe a "right brain" thinker created this visual! Remember that knowledge is power in terms of being a superwom@n! Know your brain dominance!

Here's where we are and what we are discussing! Where do you stand? It's important to know to up your game superwom@n!

Calling all superwomen... in our earlier post, we examined just a few things that we can do for ourselves to "up our game" in being the superwom@n that we all strive to be! Yesterday, we looked at paying more attention to our internal clock and working in tune with basically the way that God designed us extraordinary humans! Today, let's look at the second attribute -- that of -- balancing our brain! Here we go!

Obviously, the first that that we superwomen need to look at intensely is that of figuring out our dominant side of the brain and then going with it! There are plenty, plenty of online versions of figuring out your brain dominance. 

So, having said this, I have included a link to a free brain dominance test that will help you gauge where you stand... be honest and be quick in your answers! Have fun!

Here's the link: http://braintest.sommer-sommer.com/en/ 

Also, I wouldn't ask you to do the brain dominance test without having completed it myself so I took a screenshot of myself... I honestly thought my right brain percentage would be a bit higher but oh well... here it is!

So, see where you stand and then let's go from there! When you are presented with a challenge, a problem, a concern, etc. do you immediately begin to try to solve with your brain dominance? If not, you should! Then, if that gets you nowhere, proceed to your next brain dominance and try to come to a conclusion. In other words, if you are solidly left brain dominant (I am really not... the two percentages are somewhat really close), then you would purposely attempt to solve your situation with that dominance. For example, if you are left brain dominant, then you would approach your situation from the who? the what? the where? the why? and the how? You are solving from a logical, sequential mindset. If you see that is doing no good whatsoever, give that side of the brain a rest and focus on solving from your other hemisphere and see what you are able to derive. Honestly, ladies we all know there are situation out there that can't be solved with either dominance and those are the ones that we submit to our belief in the Serenity Prayer right? If not, it should be! There is NOTHING productive in worrying about things in which you can do absolutely nothing about!

This graphic will appeal to some of you; however, the next one is my favorite!

I wanted you to see characteristics of each side of our brain and the dominant characteristics for each! Some of you will benefit by just taking the dominance test and being more aware of your dominance because it affects how you perform in your job/career/profession! Please remember this! Here are some of those info-graphics:

Is this not the coolest? It says so much just looking at the graphic!

This one really helps us and explains the difference well between the two hemispheres of the brain and how we approach things!

Have an awesome Tuesday everyone!

Terri 

Happy Valentine's Day Superwom@n!

Happy Valentine's Day Superwom@an! I hope that your day has been awesome! Have you thought about what, in fact, makes you a superwom@n? I did some investigation (and I plan to do a lot more...) about the characteristics that just flat out make us all superwomen, and some characteristics that we might need to pay more attention too in order to become greater superwomen. Here is the beginning of my investigation:

Happy Valentine's Day Superwom@n!

(1) We must pay great attention to our internal clocks! There are times when we are obviously at our best and then times when we are ready to wilt! (More to come on this... it is really interesting...)

(2) We must balance our brain! Now, what does this entail? More to come... it has a lot to do with serotonin, dopamine, and cortisol!

(3) We can LAUGH! You know that laugh so hard that your eyeliner is running down your face!

(4) We can CRY! Sometimes, heck we need too. There is nothing absolutely nothing healthy about keeping things bottled up inside-- it will cause us to release more cortisol which is bad on our health!

(5) We must learn to prioritize ourselves! Prioritize your day... we will look at this more and use some tools for being able to graphically represent this! I  don't know about you all but I need some of this!

(6) We need to feed our brain with foods that fuel our focus... so what are they? (more on this too!)

(7) We MUST learn to delegate! You can not do it all, and you shouldn't have too!

(8) We must learn to listen carefully! This is an art and unfortunately is sometimes very hard to do!

(9) We must rid our bodies of toxins that harm our focus, our concentration, and out productivity! We will talk more about these toxins!

(10) We must make absolutely sure that we are not our own worst enemy! Examine things... more later!

We will take each of one these statements and expound on them, and see what kind of superwomen we shall become! 

Until tomorrow! We will investigate "tuning into our body clock!"

Happy Valentines Day! 

Terri