3 Leadership Principles Every New Leader Needs To Know

Brandy Bischoff·January 19, 2021·1137 views

Hey there, business leader!

Did you know the term “Leadership Principles” is searched online over 8,000 times each month? Leadership is a big topic, and if you’re someone who manages people I bet you’re constantly searching for ways to improve your leadership skills.

As a new organizational leader, understanding leadership principles can feel overwhelming. 

• How do you do it well? 

• What makes a good leader? 

• What makes people want to follow you? 

• How should you handle it when things go wrong?

You could endlessly research the topic of leadership and still not know where to start when it comes to leading your organization. While leadership experts disagree on some of its tenets, there are multiple researched-backed and proven leadership principles. And when you apply these principles, you can rest assured you’re on your way to reaching the highest standards within your organization.

Here we’ll take a look at 3 outstanding leadership principles you can implement today in your own work, whether you’re the owner of a startup company or a newly promoted supervisor in a longstanding business.

1. What You Do Matters

The first leadership principle you need to know is that what you do as an organizational leader makes a real, tangible difference in the performance bar of your team members – what you do matters.

I’ve been where you are as a new leader, and I’m here to tell you—wondering about your impact as a leader and role-model is part of the job.

And this is a good thing. 

Reflecting on your role and how you connect with your own team members and the agency as a whole is necessary to become an excellent leader, because it allows you to analyze your leadership style and evaluate your strengths and weaknesses.

To be an effective and impactful role model, you have to analyze the role you play within your organization regularly. Holding yourself to a high standard means you actively search for areas of self-improvement— and then you do something about it. Don’t just be aware of your weaknesses; actively work to develop the best skill set you can to be the best organizational leader you can be.

Here’s the caveat—while you should regularly analyze your role, your leadership style, and areas for self-improvement, you should never question the importance of what you do.

Let me explain: 

As a good leader, your words and actions make a difference and the way you work with your team members matters. As a leader and role model for those around you, you have the ability to make a real difference. You’re able to impact and empower your team members to raise the performance bar and move your agency forward to places it’s never been before. 

You already have the qualities necessary to be the most successful leader your agency has ever seen, and this is something you have to know and be confident in. Before your own team members can believe this about you, you first have to believe it yourself. 

Kouzes and Posner, award-winning authors on leadership, reviewed data from over one million people around the world to take a look at the real-life characteristics of successful leaders, and their work revealed something not-so-surprising:

It’s the behavior of leaders that keeps employees feeling good about their work and wanting to do their best; it’s not about who the leader is or where they come from—it’s about what you do as a leader that counts.

Your team members measure your leadership skills by the actions you take to guide them in their work and lives.

Here’s another interesting fact about this leadership principle:

It’s not the CEOs, the Presidents, or other top-dogs in an organization who have the most impact on how employees feel about the work they do. Kouzes and Posner explain: 

 A quote from Kouzes and Posner showing the importance of leaders in guiding their employees.

This means that for many, the most important leader in the organization is you. 

You have the power to develop the best in your own team, to empower your staff to believe in their ability to meet high standards and to encourage a strong sense of commitment and dedication to your agency.

Now, you could view this leadership principle with anxiety – a thought filled with pressure. But for you, the leader who believes in your ability to positively influence others, knowing you really do have this kind of impact on others as a good leader becomes an opportunity and opens the door to great things for your organization. 

So, be confident in your decision-making skills and what you do.

You’re a leader, and your words and actions have the ability to move those around you. What you do matters. Believe it about yourself, and others will too.

2. Great Leaders Are Great Learners

The second leadership principle you need to understand is that leaders are created, not born, and everyone has the ability to become a great leader.

You weren’t born knowing how to be a leader, and right now you have questions about how to be better at it. Leadership isn’t a gene, it’s not hereditary, and babies aren’t born with a leadership skill set that puts them above all other babies born in the world that day.

Anyone can learn to be an effective, impactful leader, and you have to be a believer in this. No matter how much experience you have or how good of a leader you are right now – you’ve got to believe that you have the ability to dig deeper, look further, and learn new and better ways of doing things all the time. 

You have to believe there’s always continual room for improvement in your leadership style.

As a strong leader who understands the tenants of leadership principles, you feel passion for what you do, and this passion is the fuel that drives you to want to be better. You strive to always grow and improve, and you understand there’s always more to learn.

The great leader knows the importance of continuing education and prioritizes learning as part of their routine. Setting yourself up for success in learning about leadership is as simple as carving out a small amount of reading time in your daily routine. 

Don’t worry—your resourcefulness as a good leader will aid you in finding time to prioritize this daily opportunity to dive deep into the world of leadership. Here are some strategies to help you in your learning journey:

Take Baby Steps

As discussed in Jeff Olson’s The Slight Edge, small increments of time every day add up to major progress—he notes reading only ten pages on leadership per day means that in one year, you’ll have read 3,650 pages or the equivalent of between 12 and 24 dozen books on the topic of leadership and leadership principles. 

 Taking small steps over time helps make bigger progress.

I’ve got this image posted near the computer I work on for my full-time job in leadership, and I also have it posted by the computer I use for my freelance writing. It’s a daily reminder that small actions build upon each other, and days build upon days. This mindset will have major impacts in your work and other aspects of life, too. It certainly has for me. 

Can you find time to read just ten pages a day? Think of what you’ll learn and the vast amount of new ideas you’ll be exposed to as a leader who strives to be the best you can be!

For a quick read on leadership, click here to check out People Managing People’s 86 Motivational Quotes About HR for Teams and Managers.

Watch and Learn

Another way to continually learn is simply to watch. 

What does this mean? 

It means getting out there with your employees—take responsibility to get out on the warehouse floor, work the line, visit offices throughout the day. Observe the way your team members work together. Watch how they demonstrate self-sufficiency, resourcefulness, and take responsibility for their work to reach the high standards you’ve set forth. 

Be a present leader, and your staff will see your dedication and care about your team. 

When you show up as a leader, you’ll demonstrate your level of commitment—and as an extra point, be able to get a clear picture of how daily operations are running and what areas of the workforce may need your attention. Good leaders have a strong grasp of what’s going on in their agency.

When you get out into the work environment with your staff instead of staying holed-up in your office, you show them you’re available and willing to hear their concerns. 

Listen

Listening is another leadership skill that will teach you a great deal about your team members and your agency. Listening is actually a skill that good leaders learn and prioritize improvement in. 

The key is to actively listen; give your full attention—without phone interruptions or cutting a conversation short—really hear what those working with you have to say without judgment or emotion, and reflect what you’ve heard to make sure you got it right.

Here’s a chart comparing passive and active listening – what kind of listener are you? To be a strong and impactful leader, you need to improve your active listening skills.

 It’s important for leaders to practice active listening rather than passive listening.

Whether or not you decide to make changes based on the concerns you hear from team members, they’ll know you’re present and open to hearing what they have to say. They’re also more likely to respect your business decisions when they know you’ve given them the opportunity to be heard. 

 Employees appreciate being heard and listened to.

If you have a positive relationship with your employees, and they don’t fear embarrassment or have anxiety when talking to you, they’ll be more likely to report small issues they see rather than waiting for these little problems to become glaring issues requiring immediate attention.

Sometimes being heard is all people need from a role model, and they’ll leave the interaction feeling listened to and empowered to demonstrate their own self-sufficiency and leadership skills. 

You might be surprised what you learn when listening to your own team members; sometimes it’s the newest person on the payroll who has the freshest perspective and new ideas that could take your organization to the next level—you just have to take responsibility to be open and willing to hear it.

Check out this article by People Managing People to learn more about employee engagement and the twelve statistics you need to know as a good leader.

Ask For Help

Being open to asking others for help is another great way to dive deep and develop your leadership skills further. Don’t be afraid to call upon those who have come before you in your role or other agency leaders you’re familiar with and admire. 

Sharing experiences and learning what’s worked for other great leaders-–and what hasn’t– is one of the best ways to learn more about what it takes to improve in your own leadership style and develop the best organizational culture possible.

Take Time to Reflect

Reflection is another great way for business leaders to regularly work toward self-improvement, and this effective practice can be easily scheduled into your daily, weekly, or monthly routine. 

Ask yourself questions like these:

1. What went well today? 

2. How did I manage my time?

3. Did I make authentic connections with my team members today?

4. Was I honest in my communications and able to say the hard things?

5. What signals did I send to employees about our work and vision?

6. Did I give and receive feedback well?

7. What step can I take to be a better leader tomorrow?

Prioritizing as little as five minutes at the end of each day to look back on how things went will give you clarity about what went well, what didn’t, and what self-improvement steps you can take to increase your value as a leader for the next day, week, or month. 

Even as a great leader, things aren’t always going to go smoothly, and it’s important to reflect honestly on what went well and what changes need to be made.

This leads us to the third leadership principle you need to know as a new business leader, and it’s one you’re really going to need to get comfortable with. 

Are you ready for it? 

3. Leaders Fail

It’s true. 

They do.

Not only do they fail, but great leaders view failure as necessary and aren’t afraid of risk-taking. Leaders recognize the benefit of taking chances and working outside of the box, and the risk that comes along with it is worth it.  

Making mistakes is the absolute best way to learn and make improvements for the future. 

Think back on the times you’ve learned the biggest lessons. I guarantee it wasn’t the time that things went effortlessly well – no, it’s the time that you made a mistake, fell flat, and had to pick yourself up and try again. 

Risk-taking will inevitably lead to mistakes and failures at times–we can’t escape this fact. But these mistakes and failures teach us valuable lessons and provide opportunities for reflection and self-improvement.

 The 7 fears leaders need to overcome. Source: gordontredgold.com

As you can see in this chart by Gordon Tredgold, there may be multiple areas of fear that you’ll need to address and overcome. The important thing is that you recognize the fears and take strides to address them. 

Being open to failure can be intimidating, and it requires you to demonstrate courage as a good leader. As role models, we want to set the performance bar high for ourselves – sometimes too high, and this brings with it a dread of failing. 

Remove the dread of failure from your thoughts, and feel the weight of perfection lift from your shoulders while you become more human in the eyes of your team members.

Brene Brown, award-winning author and scholar of leadership principles, encourages us to “choose courage over comfort,” and be willing to take the chance, whatever it might be, not knowing whether you’re going to be successful or not. You can read more about Brene Brown’s work here.

Sometimes your risk-taking won’t lead to success—but sometimes it will.  

Here’s another thing about the failure principle—as good leaders, we ought to be able to openly talk about failure. 

Have the courage to take responsibility and openly acknowledge that you made a mistake when you do. When you talk about what you learned from a failure, it opens the door for those you lead and shows your team members it’s okay to go big, to dive deep, and try for something and fail at it. 

As leaders, we do our best to make the best decision we can at the time. Most times, it’s the right decision—but sometimes it won’t be. 

Being open to the idea of failures and people making mistakes doesn’t mean you don’t have high standards. In fact, it means you require the highest standards when it comes to your team members feeling empowered, resourceful, and open to learning and self-improvement.  

Be able to choose courage over comfort and realize that acceptance of failure is one of the great leadership principles that will make you a better organizational leader. You and your staff will be better team members because of it.

As someone working in a leadership role, I know leadership can be tough—especially when you’re first starting and trying to find your way in a brand-new role. But you can do this—all it takes is a firm understanding of these and other leadership principles that will propel you to become the great leader you were meant to be.

7 Ways to Develop an Abundance Mindset

by Mark Pettit | Dec 6, 2018  

In business and life, our mindset determines our custom-designed path to success.  We can look at everything from a scarcity mindset or develop an abundance mindset.  We can have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.

Creating an abundant mindset vs a scarcity mindset can have a huge bearing on your personal and professional success.

A scarcity mindset can lead to envy about what people have, guilt about what others have and anger about what other people are doing in the world.  An abundance mindset can lead to more creativity, more joy, increased happiness and a focus on gratitude and appreciation.

In this article I’ll share 7 ways to develop an abundance mindset which will help you focus in on your unique strengths, so you can focus on the opportunities you have.  These tips will help you develop an abundant mindset where your world is full of gratitude and appreciation for what you have and what is available to you in the world.   

Abundance mindset

A person with an abundance mindset focuses on the limitless opportunities available in business and life. They choose to focus on the positive things in their life rather than the negative things.

People with an abundance mindset are more grateful, more creative and focused on collaboration.  As a result of this abundant mindset they attract opportunities, people and creativity into their lives.

Abundant Thinking 

When you make a point to think abundantly, rather than having scarcity thinking, you feel happier, more curious, more successful and experience higher levels of gratitude. Abundant thinking is about focusing on what you do have and the opportunities in front of you, rather than what you don’t have. 

You appreciate more, feel more confident, develop deeper relationships and have a bigger vision of the future you want to create.  You think about yourself in terms of creating an abundant, bigger future, rather than a limiting scarce future.  Read more about how to develop a gratitude mindset.

How to develop an abundance mindset

If you want to create a life of abundance, creating an abundance mindset will free you up to custom design your ideal future.

With abundance thinking you will come from a place of gratitude and appreciation.

This abundant mentality will help you create more opportunity, more happiness and more fulfilment.  Read more about how to develop an attitude of gratitude.

Abundance mindset vs scarcity mindset

Someone with an abundance mindset believes there is an abundance of everything in life, whether that be more time, more money, better relationships, more resources and more opportunities.  In contrast, someone with a scarcity mindset lives comes from a zero sum mentality and is fearful that there is a depletion of time, money, energy and resources available.

You, therefore, have the opportunity to develop one of two mindsets competing for your attention: scarcity mentality or an abundance mindset.

A scarcity mindset is the belief that there is not enough to go round.  That everything necessary to create an abundant future is scarce or running out.  This scarcity mindset makes you feel envious, guilty and angry. Having a scarcity mindset can leave you feeling overwhelmed, depressed, and paralysed.

An abundant mindset makes you feel happy, excited, motivated, and ready for action.  Want to be happier?  Get more tips on how to be happy.

The importance of an abundance mindset 

The importance of having an abundance mindset in business and life means you focus on progress and positivity.

Having a scarcity mindset means you focus on what you don’t have and what you could lose.  Having an abundance mindset is about having a mindset that focuses on what is available.

Someone who has an abundance mentality is focused on creativity, innovation, opportunity and creating multipliers in their business and life.  They often practice gratitude and focus on the things they have, rather than things they don’t have.

People with an abundance mentality see the world as a place with ever-increasing opportunities to create value and achieve continual personal and business growth.  Read more about how to start your own gratitude practice.

Someone with a scarcity mindset believes there is a lot of unfairness in the world, they are blamers, they believe there is only so much of any resource available and believe that resource is shrinking in size.

How do you build an abundance mentality? 

If you want to build an abundance mentality focus on maximising your strengths and multiplying your capabilities with other people to create something much bigger.

Creating an abundance mentality allows you to:

• Have the freedom to grow without limitations or restrictions

• See the world as full of opportunities

• Have greater clarity and focus around creating something bigger in the future

• Focus on gratitude despite the circumstances

• Create exponential growth rather than linear growth

• Feel plentiful, creative, and inspired

• Create memorable and meaningful life experiences

7 steps to develop an abundance mindset 

Here are 7 steps to develop an abundance mindset that will free up your thinking to make your life happier, more fulfilling and allow you to achieve your biggest goals in business and life.

1. Focus on gratitude to create an abundant life 

Grateful people practice proactive gratitude.

There is an appreciation for what they have and are not envious of what others have.

This creates an abundance mindset.

They don’t feel guilty about what they have or what others don’t have.

The key is to focus on being happy with who you are and what you have.

It is all about expanding strengths, expanding your internal gratitude and appreciating the people you have in your life.

If you go into any situation with a proactive gratitude mindset you will always focus on what it great about the situation or people, rather than what is wrong.

Embrace an abundance mindset by focusing on achievements

A simple tool to help you build up your gratitude muscle is to list 3 things you’re grateful for at the end of each day.

Another tool is, before any meeting, think about the things you appreciate about the person before you meet.

You will go into the meeting with a very positive attitude and the person will pick up on that.

Your gratitude will expand the more you express it.

Rather than thinking about what you don’t have, focus on what you do.  Appreciate everything you have and abundance will flow in.

2. Surround yourself with people who have an abundance mentality

If you want your life to support your growth and success, it’s essential to build a network of like-minded people.

You need people around you who are also committed to constantly growing and who will appreciate your experiences.

Having people who will push you forward, cheer you on, hold you accountable and be happy for you and your achievements is a key choice you can make.

They can instantly upgrade your thinking, act as collaborators and provide a community that can take you to higher and higher levels.

Find people who are looking to create their own breakthroughs and simply get you.

3. Create an abundant life

Creating a vision of your future through powerful goal setting gives you clarity about what could be possible, your ideal future if you will.

This vision can fill you with enormous excitement and energy.

This vision helps you simplify everything and can remove a lot of complexity you may feel about where your business and life is heading and what action steps to take next.

Your vision will act as a guiding path.  Get the ultimate guide to improve your goal setting. 

Setting goals creates an abundance mentality 

From your vision you can create 12 month goals and then work back and create specific, measurable 90 day goals in all areas of your business and life.

You can envision what your future business and life could look like by writing down your goals.

This helps establish the personal and professional improvements you want to make along the way.

Ensure you are always measuring backwards from where you started, to motivate yourself and ensure that you’re always making progress.

4. Focus on your unique strengths

When you spend more and more time utilising your unique strengths and adding real value to the people that matter in your life and you will feel a real sense of abundance.

You may feel anything is possible.  This ensures you become more creative, more energised, and more confident.

From this abundant mindset, you look for multipliers within your own business and life and seek other abundance mindset people to collaborate with.

An abundance mindset increases happiness

This abundance mentality increases your happiness and ensures you are always progressing.

You are constantly moving forward.

This abundance mindset means you seek ways to grow further.

To innovate.

You are always looking for further breakthroughs in both your own life and those of the people that matter to you.

More and more opportunities seem to open up because you have freed yourself up and are spending more time utilising your unique strengths.

5. Do more of what you love

If you look at your business and life what things, activities and people would you like to be freed up from?

How much time are you currently spending doing the things you love and bring you the biggest return?

Conversely, how much time are you spending on low value activities and relationships that drain energy and don’t bring you a lot of joy?

If the answer is quite a lot, then you probably want more time freedom from these activities.

So how can you free yourself up to do more of the things you love?  The high value, high joy activities.

Develop a confident mindset 

Every 90 days look to remove 3 of the activities you don’t enjoy and drain energy.

Either drop them completely, outsource or delegate.

Look to add 3 activities you love to do and deliver the biggest value.

In 12 months you will have freed yourself up from 12 activities, people or commitments you don’t want to do and added 12 activities or relationships that you love to do and are important to you.

A real Win-Win.  Get more tips on how to be more confident. 

6. Build a life of abundance thinking  

Those with an abundance mindset crave learning and growth.  Improving their work life balance is a key focus.

They are looking for new knowledge and wisdom to consume.

There is a focus on improving thinking, and that requires a mind and body at peak performance.

Keys to this include getting a good night’s sleep, exercising regularly eating healthily and finding time to just rest and rejuvenate.

Take days out of your business and life for complete rest and rejuvenation when you can.

This means being completely cut off from all distractions.

You will come back physically and mentally stronger, and have more of an abundance mindset rather than a scarcity mindset.

7. Expand abundance and eliminate scarcity 

Rather than trying to improve your perceived weaknesses or skills shortage, instead focus on expanding your existing strengths.

But, do you know what your strengths are?

Have you taken any time to review and assess what you are passionate about and do really well?

In your professional life and personal life you will face a number of challenges so it’s essential to understand:

• What’s the best use of your time?

• How will you add value?

• What things do you do well?

• Which activities can you be paid the most for?

• Who can help you get to your ideal future?

• What are your most important relationships?

If you can maximise your professional and personal strengths what would that mean to your business and life?

How much time could you free up and how much simpler would your life be?  Focusing on increasing your productivity is key.

Conclusion 

People with an abundance mindset are creators not reactors.

Those with a scarcity mindset wait for things to happen and then react.

People with an abundant mindset are crystal clear on their vision and bigger goals so they know exactly what path to follow and action steps to take.

Those with an abundance mentality are always winning or learning.  There is no losing.

They look at what is working and what strengths and opportunities they have.  Their focus is on expanding those strengths, rather than trying to improve weaknesses.

You can choose to live a life of abundance where you are always focusing on the positive and are excited about the endless opportunities in your future.

Hopefully these tips will help you expand your own abundance mindset.

Now I’d love to hear from you.

What’s one thing you’ve done that’s helped you create an abundance mindset, and what were the results?  

5 Ways to Develop an Attitude of Gratitude

by Mark Pettit | Jun 27, 2020 | Personal Development | 2 comments

5 ways to cultivate an attitude of gratitude by Mark Pettit of Lucemi Consulting

Someone with an attitude of gratitude appreciates everything in life.  They are grateful for their relationships, their health, their business, and their overall sense of well-being.

Having an attitude of gratitude is important because it shifts your focus from yourself onto appreciating someone else or something else.

An attitude of gratitude means making it a conscious habit to express thankfulness and appreciation for every part of your life.  Having an attitude of gratitude means you operate from a place of abundance, rather than scarcity.

When you cultivate an attitude of gratitude you feel happier, more positive, more compassionate and become more focused on, and grateful for, the people and things that really matter in your life.

Developing an attitude of gratitude ensures you make it a habit to express appreciation and be grateful for the limitless opportunities available in your business and life.

In this article I’m going to share the importance of being grateful and give you five ways on how to develop an attitude of gratitude.

Read also: 7 simple ways to practice gratitude 

Being grateful

Gratitude shifts your mindset.  Someone who feels and expresses gratitude is thankful for what they have, and doesn’t constantly seek out more things.  If you want to develop an attitude of gratitude it requires a shift to making it a daily habit to be grateful for and thankful for everything you appreciate in life.

Having gratitude is important because what you appreciate grows and increases in value.  When you practice gratitude for your relationships, your work, your health and your mindset they become more important to you.

Practicing gratitude means that contentment and enjoyment of the things in your life grows.  Rather than worrying about what you don’t have, you appreciate what you do have.  Being grateful improves your self-confidence, self-esteem and enhances your enjoyment of the present moment.

When you feel grateful daily, you feel more positive and that positivity rubs off on others.  Being actively thankful for what you have helps you become more present and more intentional.

Read also: 6 ways to develop a gratitude mindset 

What is an attitude of gratitude?

An attitude of gratitude means creating a conscious mindset and habit to express thankfulness, and be grateful for, every aspect of your life, both the things that are going well and the things that aren’t.

When you have an attitude of gratitude you are focused on expanding the positives in your life, rather than dwelling on the negatives.

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others.”-  Marcus Tullius Cicero

Practicing gratitude means having a conscious focus on everything that is positive and then expressing that gratitude in an active way.

An attitude of gratitude is a regular habit to express appreciation and thankfulness for all parts of your life, big or small.  Developing a gratitude mindset means a shift of focus from yourself to the things and people in your life that are important.

When you express gratitude you feel more confident, positive and optimistic.  You feel happy and joyful about the things you have, and the people that matter most.

This mindset reduces stress, overwhelm and frustration.  You become focused on the positive, not the negative things in your life.

Read also: 7 ways to develop an abundance mindset 

Benefits of an attitude of gratitude 

Gratitude facilitates appreciation and thankfulness.  Practising gratitude is a proven method for increasing satisfaction, self-confidence and positivity.  Gratitude enhances feelings of excitement and enthusiasm because you feel more optimistic about the present and future.

The simple act of gratitude on a regular basis, will change your life positively and instantly, if you are active about being grateful.

Expressing gratitude daily can transform your life if you practice intentional gratitude.  Having an attitude of gratitude is about choosing to be grateful and choosing to be thankful for what you have and the people that matter.

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits talks in more detail about how gratitude can change your life.

Gratitude is a capability that can be developed if you are actively grateful.  Expressing gratitude creates an abundance mindset, rather than a scarcity mindset.  Benjamin Hardy goes into more detail about the importance of gratitude to change negative beliefs.

8 benefits of developing an attitude of gratitude include:

Increased self-confidence and self-esteem

Improved feelings of abundance

Better relationships

Increased happiness

Increased productivity

Less stress

Less comparison

More active rather than reactive

Amy Morin goes into more detail on the benefits of gratitude in her article for Forbes.

How to develop an attitude of gratitude  

Here are 5 ways to develop an attitude of gratitude:

1. Appreciate everything 

If you want to cultivate an attitude of gratitude, actively look for things to appreciate daily.  Active gratitude is very different from reactive gratitude.

With reactive gratitude you wait for something to happen before you express appreciation or thanks.

With active gratitude you are consciously looking to be more grateful and express appreciation.  Expressing gratitude becomes a choice.

Two things happen here.  Firstly, the things and people you appreciate grow in value.  Secondly, you start seeing more things to appreciate.

The result is that you experience far more gratitude in your life which increases positivity and happiness. This positivity also draws in people who want to experience similar positivity in their lives.

Read more tips on how to be happier.

2. Express gratitude every day 

We all have many things to be grateful for in life.  If you want to cultivate an attitude of gratitude, it’s important to express gratitude daily, rather than on occasion.

Developing a gratitude practice of acknowledging what you’re thankful for or appreciate every day, will expand its value.

Start with writing down or saying three things you’re grateful for or appreciate every day, even if you’ve had a bad day.  This could be by writing in a notebook, a gratitude journal or on post it notes.

It could be just sitting down with loved ones and everyone states three things they’re grateful for.

How it happens doesn’t matter.  The repeated process of expressing gratitude every day is what matters most.

This might seem strange or difficult at first.  After a few days, it gets easier to identify and express gratitude for those three things you’re grateful for.

Use my guide on how to plan your day to introduce a gratitude practice.

3. Surround yourself with gratitude mindset focused people

If you want to develop an attitude of gratitude start by surrounding yourself with people who have a gratitude mindset.

When you surround yourself with people who focus on gratitude your own gratitude and appreciation will grow.  You will feel happier, more positive, more energised and more motivated.

Conversely, if you spend lots of time with negative people or people with a scarcity mindset, you’re more likely to have a similar mindset.

Find people who are grateful and appreciative and spend more time with them.  Take your gratitude practice to the next level by sending handwritten letters or notes to those people saying how much you appreciate them.

4. Take ownership of your present  

Developing an attitude of gratitude starts with appreciating and giving thanks for what you have and where in your life you are right now.

You can take ownership of the present moment and choose to be grateful or not.

We can choose to be optimistic and positive about the present and the future or not.

When you are grateful for your present, you can reframe how you think about what’s important right now.  And what you want to be important in the future.

Instead of being negative about failures, the past or what you haven’t achieved, you reframe everything to a focus on what you have and what you’ve achieved.

When you feel gratitude, anger, guilt, self-pity and envy dissipates.  They are replaced by self-confidence, positivity and excitement.

When we feel thankful we can take the decisions, communications and actions to create the bigger future we want.

Living in the present moment, and being intentional about that moment, can transform your life.  Learn more about being present.

5. Commit to a gratitude practice 

When you commit to a daily gratitude practice your mindset and thinking changes. As you are actively appreciating things that matter, you get more insight on what’s really important to you and others.

This gives you a chance to pause and think about your thinking.  You get to understand why things are important, why something is valuable to you and why certain people are important.

We get to understand why we appreciate certain things rather than others.  We get to see the positive effect of our gratitude on others.

When we practice active gratitude we aren’t being reactive.  We are choosing to do something.

This choice happens because we want to do it, and because we understand why we want to do it.

As Dan Sullivan, Founder of Strategic Coach, says “When you think about your thinking, you identify all sorts of better ways to think about things, better things to spend your time thinking about, and better things to focus your energy on.”

The next time you express gratitude for something, ask yourself “Why is that thing or person so important” and “What difference does expressing gratitude make?”.

You will start getting insights that make your gratitude practice even more powerful.

Conclusion

The simplest way to start developing an attitude of gratitude is to choose to appreciate things in your life.  Start by writing down or saying three things you’re grateful for each day and go from there.

If you do this consistently, you’ll develop an active gratitude habit and your life will change.  You’ll feel happier, more positive and more excited.  Plus, the value of the people and things that matter most will appreciate in value.  A real double win.

Now I’d love to hear from you.

What one thing are you grateful for?

How do you develop your own attitude for gratitude?

Let me know in the comments.

6 Ways to Develop a Gratitude Mindset

by Mark Pettit | Jun 26, 2020 

6 ways to develop a gratitude mindset by Mark Pettit of Lucemi Consulting

When you have a gratitude mindset you focus on the limitless opportunities available in business and life, because you already appreciate what you have.   When you are grateful, you choose to focus on the positive things rather than the negative things.

When you have a gratitude mindset you appreciate and express gratitude for what you have, which reduces negative thoughts and feelings.

Cultivating a mindset of gratitude is important because it shifts your focus from yourself onto others.  Gratitude makes you feel thankful for what you have rather than always wanting more.

Gratitude creates an abundance mindset.  Rather than a scarcity mindset, gratitude ensures you are focused on appreciating and expanding what you have.

Expressing gratitude allows you to amplify your feeling of positivity and appreciation for everything you have in your life.  Choosing gratitude and appreciation can change your life.  With gratitude, your first thought is always one of positivity, rather than negativity.

Engaging in a regular gratitude practice can change your mindset, self-confidence and perspective for the better when you focus on being thankful and thinking positively.

In this article I’ll share the meaning of gratitude and share 6 ways to start cultivating a gratitude mindset.

Read also: 7 ways to create an abundance mindset 

What is gratitude?

Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what you have, and what you are grateful for.  Gratitude helps people feel more thankful for everything in their life.  When you feel and express gratitude you live in a world of abundance, rather than scarcity.

Read also: 7 ways to practice gratitude every day

Cultivating a gratitude mindset

When you cultivate a gratitude mindset you focus on the limitless opportunities available in every aspect of your business and life.  There are numerous benefits of having a gratitude mindset.

Being grateful shifts your mindset and strengthens everything that is important to you.  When you enter into a gratitude practice, being grateful narrows your focus to what matters most and expands your appreciation for the people in your life.

When you express gratitude to someone, the value of that person grows and expands in your mind.

Want more tips and strategies to bring more gratitude into your life?  Sign up here for the Time For What Matters newsletter to get the best self-improvement tips and tools..

The importance of a gratitude mindset 

Gratitude is important because it will help you feel happier and more self-confident.  When your mindset is focused on appreciation and being thankful you feel more content.

Being grateful every day can change your life because your first thought is one of gratitude rather than negativity.

When you choose gratitude you focus on the positive things in your life rather than the negative things. Gratitude helps people feel more positive, experience better health, improve relationships, increase feelings of abundance and feel more appreciative of everyone and everything in their life.

Read also: 5 ways to have an attitude of gratitude 

How to develop a gratitude mindset 

Here are 6 ways to develop a gratitude mindset.

1. Measure your positive progress

People with a gratitude mindset appreciate the improvements and progress they make every day.  They use measurable goals to guide their thinking and actions.

Every step forward and improvement achieved is a cause for gratitude and appreciation.  When you have an attitude of gratitude you are always measuring backwards from a specific starting point.  This ensures you feel positive about your progress and achievements, rather than fixating on how far you are away from something.

This gratitude focus builds confidence, motivation and momentum.  When you focus on gratitude you are always succeeding, improving or learning.

There is no losing.

2. Choose to express gratitude every day

There are many things you can be grateful for in life.  But often we express gratitude and appreciation on occasion.

Developing a gratitude mindset ensures that active gratitude becomes an essential part of your daily life.

When we appreciate things their value grows.  If we express gratitude daily, it becomes a habit.  We start looking for new ways to express our appreciation and gratitude.

A fantastic gratitude practice is to write down three things you are grateful for or appreciate every day, even if you’ve had a bad day.  This could be in a notebook, a gratitude journal or just on post it notes.

This might seem difficult at first, but you’ll notice after a few days it gets easier to identify and express gratitude for those three things.

3. Start your day with gratitude

People with a gratitude mindset start everything from a place of gratitude.  When you start from a place of appreciation, the thing or person that you’re appreciating increases in value.

When you start your day from a place of gratitude for what you have, you feel more positive, motivated and confident.

Meetings are so much more productive and energised when everyone starts the meeting talking about something they appreciate, or that went well.

It doesn’t matter what it is, if you can pause and take a moment to appreciate something in the moment it’s value grows.  The experience becomes greater.  Everything becomes more vivid.

The next time you are about to do something or meet with someone, list three things you appreciate about the situation or person.  This will make you feel far more positive and thankful.

4. Focus on the present to feel thankful

A gratitude mindset starts with appreciating what you have and where in your life you are right now.  Having present moment gratitude means you are fully aware of the moment and are choosing to express gratitude.

When you have gratitude for the present moment you can reframe how you think about your present circumstances.  Instead of being negative about failures, the past or what you haven’t achieved, you reframe your mindset to a focus on what you have and what you’ve achieved.

This makes you feel more positive and confident.  When we feel more confident we can take the decisions, communications and actions to create the bigger future we want.

Living in the present moment, and being intentional about that moment, can transform your life.

5. Express gratitude for the people that matter most

Gratitude can change your life if you appreciate what you have rather than what you don’t have.  Developing a gratitude mindset amplifies your appreciation for the people that matter most in your life.

The value of those people, and their appreciation of you, grows if you take the time to express gratitude.

If you choose to focus on, and appreciate, the people that matter most to you their value grows.  They will feel more positive emotions towards you and build stronger relationships with you.

But gratitude is different from a simple thank you.  Active gratitude is about choosing to express appreciation to the people that matter.  It is also about creating a space for them to express gratitude for what matters most to them.

6. Adopt an intentional mindset

Practicing intentional gratitude can transform your life.  When you adopt an intentional mindset you choose to express gratitude and appreciation for the things you have and the people that matter most.

When you consciously choose to do something because you want to do it, your gratitude becomes more powerful, and the effect on others multiplies.

When you are intentional bout gratitude, you develop a daily gratitude practice of appreciating the good things, both big and small, then consciously expressing gratitude for them.

By being intentional, and creating a daily gratitude habit of being thankful, you will feel happier, more excited and more motivated.

Read also: Being intentional: 6 ways to be intentional every day

Conclusion 

A gratitude mindset can change your life. Expressing thankfulness, gratitude and appreciation you are focused on what you have rather than what you don’t have.

People who regularly practice gratitude are happier and experience more positive progress in their business and life.

Hopefully these tips will help you start or expand your own gratitude mindset.

Now I’d love to hear from you.

What one thing are you grateful for?

How do you develop your own gratitude mindset?

Let me know in the comments.

Further Reading 

7 ways to develop an abundance mindset 

About the Author

Mark Pettit is a time management coach based in Colchester, Essex, UK.  Mark is the Founder of time management coaching company Lucemi Consulting and provides time management coaching programs to entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders in Colchester, Essex, Suffolk and across the UK and US.

Get more mindset articles, tips and tools to help you develop a gratitude mindset on the blog.

Get more tips and strategies to cultivate a gratitude mindset by signing up to the Time For What Matters newsletter.

Be Happy

by Mark Pettit | Apr 4, 2019 

How to Increase Happiness: 10 ways to be happy by Mark Pettit of Lucemi Consulting

In our constantly busy lives we rarely have the time to step back and truly appreciate, and be happy about, the things we’re grateful for.  If you want to be happier and increase happiness, the fist step is to take the time to think about what you want and what makes you feel happiness.

Having a happy life makes us feel more energised, inspired and motivated.  A natural byproduct of being happier, is a feeling of self-confidence, belief and excitement with what is truly available to us in the world.

We all want to be happy and feel happier.  This article looks at the keys to happiness and shares 10 ways on how to increase happiness in business and life.  

Happiness meaning 

Happiness is the feeling we have when things are going well and we appreciate and express gratitude for everything in our life than makes us feel happy and brings us happiness.  Happiness is an internal sense of joy, excitement, well-being, gratitude and appreciation for who we are, what we have and what we’ve achieved. 

We can be happy with our health, our relationships, our success, and our achievements, be they big or small.  When we are excited or joyful about the present and the future, we feel happier.

Why is happiness so important?

Happiness is so important because it makes us feel good about ourselves and others.  Happiness can improve our feelings of self-worth and self-confidence and make us more excited, energised and motivated about the present and future.  When we’re not feeling happy, it’s easier to feel stressed, trapped and overwhelmed.  When we’re happier it’s easier to set and achieve bigger and better goals, and stay motivated to make progress every day towards achieving them.

Gretchen Rubin talks more about the importance of happiness in her happiness project.  

How to be happy 

If you want to be happy and increase your happiness, here are 10 proven ways to do it  

1. Know that you’re good enough 

We are bombarded with stories of “success”, whether that’s through friends, your network or through social media.

It’s easy to feel that we don’t measure up somehow.  We develop a fear of missing out. 

We live in a super competitive world. It’s a great thing to have ambition and want to grow as a person.

The problem starts though when we constantly compare ourselves and beat ourselves up that we are in some way “not good enough”.

If you start getting into that kind of mindset, stop.  Challenge yourself about that way of thinking.

What is “good enough”? 

Who defines that anyone is actually better than you?

As long as you feel happy about yourself and stay true to your own values and purpose that is all that matters.

Celebrate your own wins, don’t look to other people’s success, then you will be happy with what you have and what you achieved. 

2. Don’t worry what others think (or seemingly think)

We’re all individuals with our own unique experiences and qualities.  We all have a different perception of what happiness is and what happiness means.

To be happy, stay true to yourself and do what you want rather than worry about other people’s expectations.

This will protect your self-confidence and self-esteem.

It’s your life, your decisions and choices. Others love to pass on their opinions and judge.  Don’t let that change how you feel about yourself, or impact your happiness.

Create your own day, month, year and life. 

When you care too much or are influenced by what others say, you take control of your happiness away and live your life for them rather than yourself. If you want to be happier, stay on your own path and appreciate what you have.

3. Always be learning

The experiences, events, mistakes and successes that happened in the past make up who we are in the present, and what we feel happy about.

We’ve all made mistakes.  Don’t let that define who you are right now.

Instead, look at what you can learn from those past experiences. 

We all get to decide what from the past we want to take into the present and use to create out ideal future.

Choose the best things and cut yourself some slack with the other things that didn’t go so well. 

Increase happiness by focusing on gratitude for the good things and learn to forgive yourself more often.    

4. Focus on your strengths

We often magnify the negative and place less value on the things that are positive, that we are happy about.

To be happier, create your day rather than react to other people and what they want 

Create a sense of abundance and focus on what you have rather than a focus on what’s missing in your business and life.

A chance to focus on our strengths, rather than worry about our weaknesses.

We think about and focus on what we don’t have rather than taking a step back and really immersing ourselves in everything that is good.  The things that bring us happiness.

I always tell my coaching clients that if they want to be happy, they need to focus on their strengths and increase their capabilities in those areas rather than focusing on the negative.

Don’t worry about the competition.  Instead focus on what bring you happiness and where you add the biggest value.

Take a piece of paper and write down all of your greatest strengths.  Then write down everything in life that you appreciate right now.

You’ll soon realise that you have a lot to be grateful for and to be happy about.  There will always be people who have more and people who have less.

Increase your happiness by focusing on who you are, what you have and the value you bring.  

5. Celebrate your courage 

There is actual failure and the fear of failure.  The thing is, everyone has failed in something.

It’s how you react to failure that counts.

The fear of failure often makes people shy away from working on new concepts or achieving goals.

Rather than having the courage to tackle something new or scary they stay safe and stick with what they know.

If you’ve experienced failure in your business or life, you know it’s your attitude to failure that matters.  Do you get back up or stay down?

Do you learn from it or blame someone else? There is always something to be learnt from a failure.

Maybe you don’t think about it as a failure but an experiment or learning experience.

When you are on the learning team, you have the courage to move forward.

6. Believe in your purpose

Is someone else’s expectations of you more important than your own?

When you’re comfortable and confident about yourself, you really don’t need to be someone else or prove yourself to anyone else.

Don’t buy into those constant success stories or perfect lives or perfect businesses.

You don’t know what’s really happening behind the scenes to create those perfect stories or images.

Don’t lose sight of what’s really important to you and what you believe in. 

Focus on staying true to your vision and purpose.

Accept yourself and everything that makes up who you are. 

7. Create your ideal future today

We spend so much time in our futures that we often forget about what we could create right now.

We lose sight of the opportunities that exist in the present and worry about all the things that may happen in the future.

This distracts us from the here and now.  It stops us from taking action in the present moment.

Stop.  Use the next hour to put plans in place to create your ideal future rather than imagining what it could be.

Don’t worry about what could be.  Commit to the present.  Decide what you want that will help you increase happiness.

8. Get clarity on your goals 

 It’s always ideal to have a direction of travel.  To set goals that are important to you. 

To know where you’re heading and how you’re going to get there makes you feel more motivated, and in turn happier.

The thing about knowing where you’re going is that you take control of your journey. 

You decide the steps you will take to get there and what the achievements will be along the way.

You decide when you’ll be happy and how you’ll find happiness.

If we believe we’ll only be happy once something has happened (that may not be in our control), we often put our life on hold until the event happens.

This takes away the joy from living in the present moment and creating our direction of travel. 

9. Forget about perfection 

It doesn’t always have to be perfect before you start.  Sometimes we are so concerned that everything is just so that we forget to move forward.

Procrastination sets in.  We go through things over and over again to make sure everything is perfect.  We begin to doubt ourselves.

Sometimes we start and never finish.  We move onto another project because the first one is not quite right.

Often this is because of fear.  Fear of what others may think.  Fear that it’s not as perfect as we want.

Ask yourself who can help you so you don’t have to do everything yourself.  Remember that progress is much better than perfection.

10. Take advantage of opportunities 

In some way most of us are so afraid of rejection or being different that we stay in our comfort zones.

It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there.  To stand on a stage or present new ideas or risk feedback or risk being vulnerable.

But, the more you hide out of fear, the greater the fear will grow.

Sometimes the opportunities, increased capabilities and outcomes you get to experience are far greater than you expected.

It’s often never as bad as you think it will be.  The confidence you may feel will often outweigh any negativity.

We often create a negative reality in our own mind that isn’t there in the outside world.

Conclusion 

Use some of these 10 strategies to increase happiness and create greater freedom in your business and life. 

When we feel happy we’re more motivated, energised and excited.  Happiness builds confidence and that confidence helps us overcome challenges and allows us to make measurable progress towards our goals.

Take some time out to reflect on who and what makes you happy and then focus your time and energy on expanding that happiness. 

10 Days of Happiness

Action for Happiness have recently launched their 10 Days of Happiness program which involves setting a daily happiness action each day for 10 days.  Hit the link above to find our more and sign up.

Now I’d love to hear from you.

What one thing makes you happy?

How do you increase happiness in your life? 

10 Ways to Increase Productivity at Work

by Mark Pettit | Dec 9, 2020 | Productivity | 0 comments

10 ways to increase productivity at work by Mark Pettit of Lucemi Consulting

In this article I’m going to share 10 ways to increase productivity at work.  If you want to know how to be more productive at work these productivity tips will help you be more effective, reduce distractions , increase focus and boost your productivity.

Let’s start with a productivity definition.  Productivity is a measure of effectiveness of a person achieving a result in the quickest, simplest and most productive way possible.  We often assume that productivity means doing more things to achieve the result we want, but that is the opposite of productivity.

For me, increasing productivity at work is abut working working less to achieve the result you want.  There is no one size fits all to being more productive.  Being able to increase productivity at work is actually about being more productive on the activities that deliver the results you want in less time,.

Increasing productivity is not about working longer and harder.

If you want to increase your productivity at work it’s essential to identify your most important tasks and work on them in the most productive way possible.   

Being productive is about making consistent, measurable progress on a small number of important activities.  It is about working smarter, not harder. 

Let’s jump in to the 11 way you can increase productivity at work.

11 ways to increase productivity at work 

Here are 11 productivity tips to increase productivity at work.

1. Track your time

It’s difficult to increase productivity at work if you don’t know where you’re currently investing your time.  You can’t be more productive at work until you know if you’re currently working productively or not.  

To increase productivity at work, it’s important to take a time audit to give you clarity on how much time you’re spending during the week on which activities.  

Taking a time audit helps you track activities so you can understand how much time you spend on each one.  A time audit gives you a big picture view on your most productive activities and your least productive activities. 

When you understand if you’re investing your time on your most productive activities you can make the necessary changes. 

You can expand your time on your most productive activities that create the biggest impact and eliminate, delegate or outsource those activities that take up too much time and don’t support your goals. 

Read more about how to manage time effectively.

2. Set a time limit for each task

If you want to increase your productivity at work it’s important to set a time limit for each task.  Setting a time for your work will help you stay on task and avoid distractions.  Having a time limit helps you stay focused on one specific project for a specific period of time. 

This focus raises productivity levels and stops multi-tasking.  It also ensures you don’t waste valuable time by spending too long on projects.

Start by identifying your most important activities and then set a time limit for each task.   

Setting a time limit for each task ensures you don’t waste time going down endless rabbit holes. 

Read also: How to prioritise and stay focused 

3. Take regular breaks

If you want to increase productivity at work, it’s essential to harness your energy for your most productive tasks.  You can expand your energy and focus by taking more breaks.

It’s easier to maintain high performance and high productivity when you take breaks throughout the day.

Taking breaks ensures you stay energised, focused and productive.  If you don’t take breaks it’s easy to feel exhausted and fatigued which reduces productivity. 

Try taking longer breaks while working on your most important work to rejuvenate your mind and body.  It’s also important to take shorter breaks to stay productive throughout the day.  These shorter breaks could include meditation,  going for a walk or taking some exercise. 

4. Set daily goals

If you want to increase your productivity at work and achieve more each day, the key is to set goals daily.  By focusing on a a small number of important goals you narrow your focus to your most productive activities, 

Instead of feeling overwhelmed, which is the opposite of productivity, you will be more effective and more productive.  

When you set goals daily you know what results you want to achieve and have clear direction and focus. 

The key to increased productivity at work is to keep your daily goals short. Write down your goals the night before so you are focused in the morning. 

If you set daily goals you will transform your work day from one of busyness, to one of increased productivity.  

Read more about effective goal setting. 

5. Stop multi-tasking

To increase productivity at work it is important to single focus on your most important projects.  Multi-tasking may sound like it will improve your productivity but the opposite is true. 

You can be more productive without multi-tasking.  Multi-tasking exhausts your energy and focus.  When you keep switching between tasks your brain doesn’t know what to focus on.

In addition, when you keep switching between tasks it takes longer to focus again.  To avoid multi-tasking, and increase productivity, set clear priorities for the day, reduce distractions and be aware of what may cause you to multi-task. 

Read also: 6 habits of highly productive people 

6. Eliminate distractions

It’s difficult to be productive at work if you can’t manage distractions.  If you want to increase your productivity don’t ignore the distractions.

Identify the things that distract you and create an environment where you won’t be distracted.  

With so many distractions competing for your attention, it’s essential to manage your attention and focus on your most important work.

To increase productivity at work and eliminate distractions turn off notification, work in a quiet space, clear physical clutter and simplify your to-do list  so you don’t feel overwhelmed. 

Read also: How to stay focused: 10 tips to improve focus

7. Set a smaller to-do list

You will be more productive at work with a smaller to-do list.  Imagine that someone took away all of the items on your to-do list and you could only choose to work on three crucial activities.  What would they be? 

To achieve increased productivity at work, choose only activities that create the biggest value and achieve the biggest results. 

Making better to-do lists simply makes you more productive and effective.  We all have skills and capabilities that represent us at our most productive.  These skills are unique to each of us.

We lose productivity when we have too much to do.  To be truly productive at work it’s important to narrow your focus down to only your most important work and do that work more often.  Having 30 items on your to-do list won’t make you a productive person. 

Narrow your focus if you want to improve productivity at work.  

8. Identify crucial results for the day

It’s easier to increase productivity at work if you focus on achieving specific results each day.  By knowing exactly what results you want to achieve each day you can focus your time and energy on the activities that support those results.

This focus on results not time spend will improve your productivity at work.  It ensures you avoid distraction and the low -value tasks that don’t support your result achievement.

When you know what results you want to achieve each day you can be more focused and productive.  Simply identify three crucial results you want to achieve each day.  Then write down a simple to-do list of activities that will help you achieve those results.

Then work on making progress on the most important result first.

Read more on how to prioritise and stay focused.

9. Be accountable

To increase productivity at work it’s important to be accountable to yourself and to others.  When you are accountability your productivity increases.  

Accountability ensures there are no missed deadlines.  When you are accountable you do what you say you’ll do.  

Accountability increases focus and lowers stress.  When you are accountable at work you avoid distractions and stop procrastinating.

Be accountable by setting daily goals for yourself to complete each day.  If you want higher levels of accountability work with an accountability coach or find an accountability partner to check in with every day.

The simple act of staying accountable increases productivity at work and helps you achieve bigger and better results.

Read more about the benefits of working with an accountability coach.

10. Plan in advance

The key to increasing productivity at work starts the night before.  By planning your day in advance, you can guarantee having a productive day.

When you take the time to plan your day, you can save hours of unproductive time.  By spending just 15 minutes in the evening getting clear on your most important activities for the following day, you will be more focused and more productive. 

When you plan your productive day the night before, you choose to focus on your most productive activities. You know exactly where to invest your time and energy for increased productivity. 

Instead of reacting to your day, you create your day.

There are many benefits of planning ahead.  The biggest benefit is greater direction and focus.  Planning ahead ensures you stay productive without getting distracted or overwhelmed.   

Read more about creating an evening routine.

Summing up

These 10 productivity tips will help you increase productivity at work.  By planning ahead, focusing on results and avoiding distractions you can stay focused and productive every day.

Now I’d love to hear from you.

What’s your number one tips to increase productivity at work?

Which productivity tip will you take action on today?

59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman

 

The Book in Three Sentences

1. Many people are interested in self-help because it offers quick and easy solutions to various issues in their lives.

2. The problem is most self-help techniques are ineffective.

3. The most effective techniques come straight from the scientific community.

The Five Big Ideas

1. “When people can afford the necessities in life, an increase in income does not result in a significantly happier life”.

2. “To encourage people to do more of something they enjoy, try presenting them with the occasional small surprise reward after they have completed the activity, or praise the fruits of their labour”.

3. “To increase the likelihood of someone liking you, get them to do you a favour”.

4. “Fantasizing about your perfect world may make you feel better but is unlikely to help transform your dreams into reality”.

5. “Some research suggests that eating more slowly helps people eat less, perhaps because it fools our brains into thinking that we’ve eaten more, and allows extra time for the body to digest food”.

59 Seconds Summary

• “Happiness doesn’t just flow from success, it actually causes it”.

• “When people can afford the necessities in life, an increase in income does not result in a significantly happier life”.

• “Materialism takes root in early childhood, and is mainly driven by low self-esteem”.

• “Want to buy happiness? Then spend your hard-earned cash on experiences”.

• “When it comes to happiness, remember that it is experiences that represent really good value for money”.

• “If you want to cheer yourself up, behave like a happy person”.

• “To maximize happiness, choose intentional over circumstantial change”.

• “If you set children an activity they enjoy and reward them for doing it, the reward reduces the enjoyment and demotivates them”.

• “To encourage people to do more of something they enjoy, try presenting them with the occasional small surprise reward after they have completed the activity, or praise the fruits of their labour”.

• “It seems that presenting weaknesses early is seen as a sign of openness”.

• “From assessing the effects of a bad-hair day to performing badly in a group discussion, those who feel embarrassed are convinced that their mistakes are far more noticeable than they actually are. Why? It seems we focus on our own looks and behaviour more than others, and so are likely to overestimate their impact”.

• “If you want to increase your chances of making a good impression in a meeting, sit towards the middle of the table”.

• “To increase the likelihood of someone liking you, get them to do you a favour”.

• “When you gossip about another person, listeners unconsciously associate you with the characteristics you are describing, ultimately leading to those characteristics being ‘transferred’ to you”.

• “We like people who are like us, and find them far more persuasive than others”.

• “The more people who are around when a person is apparently in need of assistance, the lower the likelihood of any one person actually helping”.

• “Favours have their strongest effect when they occur between people who don’t know each other very well, and when they are small but thoughtful”.

• “Fantasizing about your perfect world may make you feel better but is unlikely to help transform your dreams into reality”.

• “Some research suggests that eating more slowly helps people eat less, perhaps because it fools our brains into thinking that we’ve eaten more, and allows extra time for the body to digest food”.

• “If you want to reduce your drinking, stay away from short, wide glasses, and stick to tall, narrow ones”.

• “Research shows that just placing food or drink out of sight or moving it a few metres away can have a big effect on consumption”.

• “To cut intake, make sure that tempting foods are out of sight, and in a place that is difficult to access, such as a top cupboard or basement”.

• “People eat significantly more when they are distracted at mealtimes and therefore not paying attention to their food”.

• “Try cutting down on your eating by replacing your crockery and cutlery”.

• “Research conducted by the Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research suggests that making a note of how much you eat can help you lose weight”.

• “Research conducted by Charles Abraham and Paschal Sheeran has shown that just a few moments thinking about how much you will regret not going to the gym will help motivate you to climb off the couch and onto an exercise bike”.

• “Christopher Peterson from the University of Michigan believes encouraging people to consider how they would like to be remembered after their death has various motivational benefits, including helping them to identify their long-term goals, and assess the degree to which they are progressing towards making those goals a reality”.

• “To prime your mind into thinking creatively, spend a few moments describing a typical musician or artist. List their behaviours, lifestyle and appearance”.

• “According to work conducted by psychologist Stephen Worchel from the University of Hawaii at Hilo, biscuits taken from a jar that is almost empty taste significantly better than identical cookies taken from a full jar”.

• “To help promote the chances of a successful date, choose an activity that is likely to get the heart racing”.

• “The theory is that your date will attribute their racing heart to you, rather than the activity, convincing themselves you have that special something”.

• “The results revealed that just a few minutes focusing on the benefits that flowed from the seemingly hurtful experience helped participants deal with the anger and upset caused by the situation. They felt significantly more forgiving towards those who had hurt them, and were less likely to seek revenge or avoid them”.

• “Surrounding yourself with objects that remind you of your partner is good for your relationship”.

• “People are far more likely to agree to a big request if they have already agreed to a small one”.

• “When making straightforward decisions, stick with the conscious mind by thinking about the pros and cons and assessing the situation in a rational, level-headed way. However, for more complex choices, try giving your conscious mind a rest and letting your unconscious work”.

• “Research shows that when most people look back on their lives, they tend to regret things they didn’t do”.

• “To help spot possible shifts, try establishing what researchers have referred to as an ‘honest baseline’. Before asking questions that are likely to elicit deceptive answers, start with those that are far more likely to make the person respond in an honest way. During these initial answers, develop an understanding of how they behave when they are telling the truth by looking at their body language and listening to the words they say. Then, during the answers to the trickier questions, watch out for the behavioural shifts outlined above”.

• “Research shows that people have a strong tendency to underestimate how long a project will take, and that people working in groups are especially likely to have unrealistic expectations”.

• “It seems that to get an accurate estimate of the time needed to complete a project, you need to look at how long it took to finish broadly similar projects in the past”.

• “Those who carried out the mental unpacking produced estimates that proved far more accurate than other participants”.

• “Research shows that people with surnames beginning with a letter towards the start of the alphabet are more successful in life than those with names towards the end”.