Category: Work-Life Balance

Crisis Management — How You React Makes All the Difference

In the past six weeks, we’ve experienced unprecedented disasters of scale — some delivered by nature in the form of the big hurricanes affecting Texas and Florida, and the major fires in Napa and Sonoma counties; and some by man as was the case with the music festival massacre in Las Vegas. While these disasters wreak havoc and change lives in untold ways, how we react to them when they’re going on makes a huge difference in how we (literally) weather the storm, and in the recovery once we’re on the other side. It makes good sense to reflect on lessons learned before, during and after these disasters. Here are a few ideas to share: …

The True Meaning of Freedom (at least for me)

For many of us here in the US, we’re celebrating our country’s Independence Day this week (on the 4th). A lot of people gloss over the real meaning of the day…how many lost their lives to ensure we have the many freedoms most in this country take for granted, but which are responsible for us being a global leader. I think it’s worth taking a few minutes to pause and reflect on that as we’re spending time with family and friends this week.

That’s an external orientation. There’s an internal view as well, and that is we’re halfway through the year. It’s a great chance to pause and take stock of whether your year is on track, and whether you’re making progress towards the key goals you outlined at the beginning of the year. …

Coping with Demands When on the Road

email inboxThese days many of us spend a good portion of our time on the road — whether for business travel or personal time away. It can be a real challenge to deal with demands from others when you’re away from the office. But it’s important to manage your time and priorities as much as possible — and to set healthy boundaries.

For myself, when I’m at a multi-day training or just taking a couple of days of business meetings in another city, for example, I do my best to ensure my clients know that I’ll be away and slower to respond during that time period. …

How to Prioritize What is Important…And Get it Done!

note doneWe are all juggling so much, and we each have the same 24 hours each day. One of the ways we suffer is that we have so much on our plates that we can easily get overwhelmed, and we forget that we have control over how to structure our days around the most important things that we need/want to make happen in our lives. It comes down to prioritizing our day ahead of time (ideally the day or night before) — so that we make progress on just the three or four things that are most important to us. When we accomplish those tasks we feel great.

Then there are the things that we need to make happen but that we don’t want to do or that don’t light us up. Those are tasks we tend to procrastinate around and push off for another day/week/month/year.

I recommend the following approach… …

4 Ways to Align Yourself With What Really Matters

Are you focusing on what really matters in your life? Or are you just going through the motions jumping from one distraction to the next and being tossed around like a row boat in rough seas? If you want to experience a life well-lived, then it’s probably a good idea to pause and reflect on how aligned you are with the things that carry the most meaning for you on a regular basis — ideally once a week, minimum.

Here are a few suggestions you may want to try on for size:

Life Gets Easier When You Operate in the Zone

Many of us run our lives off “To Do” lists — and have issues managing time, priorities, and eliminating distractions. We’re all over the place and our attention and mood is scattered, stressed and we’re inefficient. It doesn’t have to be that way! We can increase our productivity and save our sanity when we operate ‘in the zone’ more of the time. When you are in the zone, you are focused, firing on all cylinders, getting things done, accomplishing your goals, meeting expectations of yourself and others, all while staying in a calm, neutral place emotionally. You feel good because you’re taking care of what you need to and are honoring your commitments to yourself and others; you’re doing what you said you were going to do. There’s no greater sense of satisfaction than that! I know that’s been my experience.

Here are a few tips for getting in the zone: …

5 Ways The Cloud Can Make Your Business & Personal Life Easier

How can you use the Cloud to be more productive at work, to enjoy and share music and video, and to stay in touch with family and friends? Here are 5 ways the cloud will make both your business and personal life easier:

  1. ID-100126965The cloud allows you to store data remotely, rather than on your home computer, giving you easy access to your files from anywhere. This can keep you productive when you’re either in or out of the office, and also allows you to collaborate with others on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. The cloud really benefits small businesses because it allows for such great flexibility. You can access your data from anywhere, on any of your devices. Because you can update and share these documents on the go, cloud-based apps enable you to brainstorm with business colleagues as well as personal connections no matter where they are.
  1. There are cloud services that offer easy ways to keep track of your appointments, schedule meetings, take notes and help you to organize your day. To-do lists can help ensure that daily tasks are not forgotten. This certainly ups your productivity in business, and can keep your personal schedule running smoothly. No more missed anniversaries!
  1. You could say that web-based email was the original cloud. Instead of downloading electronic messages to your computer, cloud email lets you log in and view them from anywhere. As far as social media, when you like, retweet or pin something, and whenever you use a messaging app, you are doing it in the cloud.
  1. For entertainment purposes, streaming music and video on demand from the cloud affords you access to millions of files, as opposed to relying on what you could store locally on a specific computer. Gone are the days of burning cd’s or placing large amounts of media on your hard drive. You can host your own files to share pictures or home movies with family and friends, no matter where they are.
  1. Many data experts remotely recommend backing up those precious memories and important business documents and using a private cloud is a great way for individuals and businesses to securely store files.  No more worrying that hard disk failure or computer theft will mean the loss of your important files. When you make use of online storage and syncing services like Dropbox, you have been involved with cloud computing. The cloud also offers a disaster recovery solution in the event of an outage.

The cloud is becoming a bigger part of our everyday lives. Use it to enhance your business and personal life, increase productivity, and to give you peace of mind when you store and back up your most important files.

Until next time,
Kelli Richards
CEO of The All Access Group, LLC

PS: Always remember that your goals are possible to achieve. Believe in yourself and your ideas. Your intuition got you this far, so trust it. Don’t ignore your own excitement. Keep the passion burning and your vision front and center at all times. It’s the perfect fuel for your dreams. Visit: https://allaccessgroup.com

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