If you are not investing in personal development, you may be limiting your true potential. Personal development affects your entire life, not just your work life or your personal life. It’s amazing how many people don’t try to improve themselves. These are the same people that wonder why they are not getting anywhere with their lives.

You want to use some guidelines to help you which are as follows:

Imagine How You Want to Shape Your Life

Without a vision, you won’t be able to determine what kind of life you want to live. You need to balance what kinds of changes you want professionally as well as personally. The two will ultimately overlap. If you imagine yourself being more helpful to others, this trait will become part of both. There may be certain aspects of your personal development that you believe are specific to personal life but may eventually carry over to your professional life. If you have wanted to increase your skills as a community leader, this could...

I have been working with a business coach for many years and have had business mentors that have always been in my corner. These are people I am able to bounce ideas off of, work through situations and get honest feedback on my business. Since you like this page you probably are a friend or family member of one of the Impact team members or you run a business. If you run a business you probably have the same problem that most business owners have (myself included)—TOO many things going on at one time. It is easy to create a daily to-do list or a weekly to-do list and plug away to get all of the tasks accomplished but what about the important things that come up or the things you completed that could have waited. As a business coach, I can help you come up with a strategy that will keep you focused, maximizing your efforts and weed out the tasks that are not of high importance or something you can delegate. Working from strategy it will allow you to focus on the tasks that...

You’ve probably heard about ‘digital detox,’ but you don’t have to go cold turkey to simplify your digital life. Streamlining the way you use technology can increase your productivity and turn your computer or smartphone back into a useful tool instead of a cluttered time-suck.

Here is how to take back control of your digital life by decluttering and organizing.

1. Manage your files
   Set up a meaningful system of organizing your computer files. Create theme or project-based folders and file all your documents. Don’t create a new file without saving it to a specific folder. When you set up your folder system, think of a document naming convention that makes sense to you and use it! Consider using a resource like Dropbox to store all or some of your files. Not only will you save space on your computer, but if your hard-drive crashes, your files will all be safe in the Cloud.
2. Clean up your desktop
   It’s easy to let your desktop become a random collection...

What do you want to achieve? Maybe it’s to lose some weight, get fit, run a marathon, expand your business, or write a book. Whatever your goals, we all know deep down inside that succeeding in any of these calls for two things:

• Planning
• Steady, consistent work

You don’t need to be a Gantt chart guru to ace your planning and organization. There are lots of apps and software available to make organizing easy and fun, as well as giving you instant feedback and analysis of your progress. Many of them promote developing and rewarding positive habits and behaviors that you can apply to all areas of your life, from exercise and healthy eating to social media use and business.

Here are five of the most popular goal tracking apps:

1. Strides
   Strides is a free IOS app based on listing your goals and habits, and it allows you to track daily monthly and annual progress. It displays notifications and graphs progress in meeting your set milestones.
   Strides has a simple display in a...

Spending just fifteen minutes a day writing in your gratitude journal can do amazing things in your life! Scientific studies have proven that showing gratitude on a consistent basis makes people happier and healthier. One of the best ways to get into the habit of cultivating gratitude is by keeping a journal. Here’s a short list of how a gratitude journal can change your life for the better:

Achievement

A gratitude journal will help you note those simple things you achieve. You'll also be aware of both big and little things in life that you have to be thankful for by recording in your journal.

Happiness

A gratitude journal keeps you happy because it keeps you focused on the good things that exist in your daily life. Once you start a gratitude journal, you are “on the lookout” for good things—both big and small. Imagine what your life would be like if you focused on the positive instead of negative!

Good health

Dis-ease is negative energy that has been stored...

When it comes to showing gratitude, it’s a win-win situation. Unfortunately, in our busy world, sometimes we forget to appreciate all the amazing gifts we receive. Here are a few things you can do to cultivate gratitude and keep the practice going.

Don’t Skimp On The Compliments

While it is undisputed that the receiver of praise enjoys feeling noticed, appreciated, and motivated to do more, the giver also partakes in the feeling. For every compliment given you build a bond, you construct trust and encourage new connections.

• Be genuine. False compliments are easy to detect, even when clothed with layers of smiles. Once it is perceived, the purpose is defeated.
• Receive every compliment given to you graciously, never brush it off.
• Be specific with compliments.
• AVOID giving backhand compliments. Like saying, ‘for a boy, you’re quite good at babysitting.’ And don’t be frugal with praise. Let people know you appreciate them.

Get a Journal

A gratitude...

The easiest way to demonstrate the incredible effectiveness of behavior-based goals work when used in tandem with outcome-based goals is to give you a short narrative of someone utilizing both. To that end, let’s say we have a man named Dan who owns his own business and wants to secure three or four new clients each month in order to increase his business revenue.

Up until recently, Dan has relied heavily on word-of-mouth for advertising, and he’s done okay. In order to step it up a notch, he realizes he’ll have to do things he’s not very comfortable doing – things like attending networking events and cold-calling on businesses. Doing things that he’s not used to doing will call into play his self-discipline.

Dan is also aware that he is going to need to do these things repeatedly and consistently in order to secure the new business that will grow his business. For Dan, the fear of keeping his business at the same level, year after year, is more...

Self-reflection is essential to living your happiest life. A life where you appreciate the blessings you already have. Self-reflection gives you the will to gain control over your life, but you want to make sure you practice it in the right way. If you take the wrong approach, you'll find yourself stuck with thoughts of "could’ve, would’ve, should’ve." To get started the right way and build a successful self-reflection practice, try these:

Daily Reflection (Evening) 

• What good did I do today?
• How did I feel today?
• What did I learn today?
• What new decisions have I made and what do I expect to happen  
• What were my character flaws? How did I treat others?
• Am I getting trapped in routine? Am I fully engaged?
• Am I pushing myself hard enough? Am I pushing myself too hard?
• What self-care am I practicing that makes me feel great?
• Am I severely neglecting one area of my life that’s infecting others?

Plan Next Day

• What are the most important things to...

You already have your best asset for success. Your brain is the biggest influencer on whether you’re going to meet your goals or not. And you can use scientists’ understanding of how the brain works, how it reacts to setting and achieving goals.

Neuroscience tells us that serotonin and dopamine are powerful neurotransmitters produced by the brain in response to success, by setting a goal and achieving it. Studies have shown that reward-setting behavior increases the levels of these neurotransmitters in the brain. Set a goal and achieve it, and that flood of pleasure and self-confidence is your brain releasing those feel-good chemicals. And the more you do it, the better you’ll feel.

Setting up a positive mindset feedback loop has a similar effect. Use these five techniques to program your brain with positive statements and thoughts, and your mindset will be positive and focused on success.

1. Be positive!
   Load your brain with positive thoughts, words, and actions to...

Do you tend to postpone things until the last minute? Are you constantly missing deadlines and running late? If so, you're not alone. In fact, one in five people is a chronic procrastinator.

Each year, procrastination costs businesses $10,396 per employee. Workers who fall into this category waste approximately two hours per day on activities that have nothing to do with their job. They get easily distracted, have trouble focusing, or simply don't feel like working.

Luckily, there are ways to beat procrastination and build better habits that will skyrocket your productivity. Let's get into it!

Make Mini To-Do Lists

Many times, we procrastinate because we're feeling stress or overwhelmed. If that's your case, break bigger tasks into smaller, actionable steps that take minutes to complete.

Let's say you want to learn German, but who has the time to study for one or two hours a day? Start with small things, such as scheduling weekly Skype training sessions with a native speaker. Commit...