Let's chat about making life just 1% better every day.
I know 1% doesn't seem like much and it's not in the very moment, but compounding isn't just for finances!
Someone was asked "How did you achieve financial independence by such a young age?"
Their answer? I packed my lunch ever day.
See, in the moment, packing your lunch once won't get you to financial independence. But packing your lunch even just 200 days a year could save you $1000 a year. Invested it's even more! And not only that, you've created a new healthy habit.
If you're here, my guess is that you want to do something different with your life, you want to change it up.
Maybe it's a new job, a new relationship, a new place to live, or just living differently.
Fact is, you'll never change your life until you take action on it daily. And when you focus on the practice not the performance, you're more likely to find enjoyment in it.
Here are a few ways to become 1% better and on your path to create life by design, not default:
🤩 re-evaluate your friend circle and only keep those who push you to be better, support you and love you wholeheartedly.
🤩 start reading books about the things you want to accomplish. Increase your knowledge.
🤩 learn a new skill and practice it.
🤩 exercise - seriously, just 15-20 minutes of exercise will boost your mood and your mindset.
🤩 write down your goals (with dates to achieve them by)
🤩 take one action step daily towards reaching those goals.
🤩 have fun - smile every day.
🤩 start a healthy morning routine - don't check e-mails or social media until later in the morning.
🤩 reduce clutter - both physically and mentally.
🤩 create a budget - healthy finances = healthier relationships with self and others.
Last but not least, practice believing in yourself daily. Affirmations, gratitude journaling and the like are so powerful, especially when compounded over time.
What will you start with today?
xoxo,
Gwen
Gwen
oh and by the way, if you're looking for inspiration or ways that you can start living differently, come join our free community at http://www.inspiredandready.com
More than 50% of the U.S. Population lives paycheck to paycheck and over 62% don't have enough savings to cover an emergency. Sometimes we think “gosh, how did this happen?” but the truth is, we know how.
Education is a business. Banks are a business. Marketing is a business. And it’s so easy to get caught up in keeping up with the Joneses, right?
So let’s talk about how to get yourself out of this rut. I'm going to show you how to solve it in three easy steps.
Step one, unsubscribe.
Raise your hand if you have Netflix. Now raise another hand if you have Hulu. And another...oh wait...no more hands! But how about Disney plus? Amazon Prime? HBO?
I know, I know one show is on Netflix and the other show you watch is on Amazon and so how could you possibly pick just ONE to keep?
Well, when you're in financial stress, you're going to have to differentiate need versus want. So pick one and put the others to rest. We can sit here all day and say “but Netflix is only this amount of money, or Disney plus us only this much.” Ok yeah but how does it feel every month to squeeze by on paying your bills? The ones that keep you driving, or keep a roof over your head or food on the table? Let’s prioritize.
Step two, create a budget.
This is where most people say “I’m out!” and it’s because we already know our situation, we’re just scared to see it on paper. But this is where you get clarity on your income versus your expenses. Because when we tell our money where to go, we are in control, rather than our finances having control over us.
Trust me - this works.
Step three, stop spending.
Yup, I said it. Have you ever looked at your bank account and wondered where all of your money goes? When you start to look at the nitty-gritty details of your expenses. We have coffees out here, we have dinners out there, online subscriptions yadda yadda.
If you have money leftover at the end of the month, that's where you can take 10% of that and put it towards a “fun” account. Forty-five percent of it and put it towards your debts, and another 45% towards your savings or investments.
This is being in control of your money, not your money controlling you. This is opening your bank accounts and knowing, BELIEVING that you are abundant and will always have enough.
If you want more tips on creating your best life, which includes your financial wellness, click the link below and join our free community where women just like you, are working on designing a life that they are truly in love with.
http://www.inspiredandready.com ← I’ll see you in there!
xoxo,
Gwen
Are you constantly on the go? Cooking, doing laundry, in the pickup line, in the drop-off line,
doing 5 million things in between all of your other tasks in the day. Only to crash into bed at
midnight, with a Netflix binge? Is this you?
doing 5 million things in between all of your other tasks in the day. Only to crash into bed at
midnight, with a Netflix binge? Is this you?
There are days when you feel so exhausted and drained that it is all you can do to get through the
day. Appreciation seems like a dream that will never come true. But what if we told you it was
possible? What if there was an easy way to start feeling more appreciated right now?
Two years ago, I was in my naturopath's office. My diagnosis? Adrenal fatigue. I had gone from
never crawling into bed at the same time with my husband, to binge watching Netflix series into
the late hours of the night and resenting my husband for not being there for me, but also not
asking for help. I felt like I was doing it all and all I wanted to be, was seen and heard and have
just a little tiny pat on the back.
never crawling into bed at the same time with my husband, to binge watching Netflix series into
the late hours of the night and resenting my husband for not being there for me, but also not
asking for help. I felt like I was doing it all and all I wanted to be, was seen and heard and have
just a little tiny pat on the back.
My first step, was sitting in my naturopath's office, and she allowed me to see that I needed to
appreciate myself first.
It had to start with me, and I had to start asking for help and reconnecting with my husband, and
reconnecting with those that I loved, so that I could create a life that was based around my
values, and show up happy every single day. And once I appreciated myself, then that allowed
other people to appreciate me.
Start appreciating yourself, and you will reap all the benefits that come with it. It starts by just
taking care of yourself first in small ways like drinking more water or going for a walk to start
feeling better about your physical self - but then also asking for help from friends, family, and
allowing others the gift of helping you.
Thanks for reading. If you want to learn more about feeling appreciated, click the link below and
join our free community, where women just like you are working on designing a life that they are
truly in love with.
Gwen
join us here: http://www.inspiredandready.com
How many times have you set goals and gotten bored or lost interest? Maybe they just seemed too hard or they were taking too long to accomplish.
OR maybe, you set a goal and achieve it within a few weeks, checking the box quickly but wondering if it’s actually pushing you forward in life.
The reason we set goals is to grow, so how do you know you’re growing enough?
Here’s what I’ve found to be helpful in setting goals:
- align your goal to your purpose.
- will this goal change your life?
- does your goal make you nervous or give you butterflies?
- can your goal be broken down into small steps?
- Are you tracking your progress
And last but not least - there is magic in goal setting with others. Having a community to do it with keeps you that much more accountable. I like to say that we are #bettertogether
Oh and by the way, if you’re looking for an easy way to keep you blasting through goals (like paying down $28,000 in debt in just five months) the Oola app and framework is designed to help you do just that. It connects you with others, reminds you of your daily action steps and makes goal setting fun! The truth is, you increase your success rate of achieving goals by 78% when you write them down, do it with a community and take daily steps.
The world needs your genius - your goals not only impact you and your life but think about how much you’ll change generations and the people around you! Can’t wait to see what goals you set!
xoxo,Gwen
I wrote that title and I realize that I say "shit" a lot but I'm gonna go with the fact that it just means I'm really super-duper passionate about the things I talk about here and swear words are just an emphasis on that.
Ok, oranges + skittles. What the heck Gwen, how does fruit and candy help me get shit done.
Let me start with telling you about 3 by 5 notecards. I learned this from the Oola guys and it has changed the way I go about my day.
Let's imagine that you have some goals and dreams you want to achieve (because you DO....) and you've three oranges and a bag of skittles in front of you. Today the oranges represent the three daily action steps you will take daily that will help you get closer to achieving your goals. The skittles represent all the little things that need to be done in our day like dishes, laundry, feeding the kids, food shopping, maybe homeschooling. All those tasks that keep you and your kids alive and your house afloat.
If you had a tall vase in front of you and you put all your skittles in first they would all fit. Congrats, you just accomplished all the little things you needed to do today.
If you then tried to fit your three oranges in, you'd realize there wasn't enough space for them. Maybe you'd get one in there.....possibly two, but definitely not three. There's just no room! Boooooo, those important things that will help you get your goals achieved just don't fit inside your day this way.
So you take everything out of the vase and you try again except this time you put the three oranges in first. Perfect, they all fit! Now you take your skittles and add those too and what do you know, all the skittles AND all the oranges fit inside the vase.
That vase is YOUR day. Your daily action steps that will get you closer to your goal must take precedence. There's no excuse - every day they must get done. Because just three daily action steps will equal over 1,000 steps towards your goal in one year.
I don't know about you but up until now, I've never taken that many steps towards my goals in a year.
So we're obviously not buying tons of oranges and skittles and doing this task every day (because lord knows I'd eat all the skittles.....), but we CAN plug these action steps into a daily accountability tracker.
Sure you can write them on a notecard every night before you go to bed, but what's missing? Accountability, community, and FUN in the process.
You want to be sure you achieve your daily action steps? Join a community working towards doing the same thing and you will be 78% more likely to achieve your goals.
Kid you not, this shit works! So when you're looking to achieve some big goals, some of the ones that have been on your dream board year after year, this is it. This is what allowed me to pay down $27,000 in debt in 5 months. More debt payoff than I'd ever been able to do since having the goal of paying down my debt. It's allowed me to be consistent in my morning routine; waking up, reading 10 pages of my book, and getting my workout in all before 8am. Now I can be intentional with my kids and still have time to work on my oranges, the things that will help me create a life I am totally in love with.
What's holding you back? Do you desire to get more shit done? Join us! The Oola app has revolutionized the notecard Oranges + Skittles system and it gives you the accountability and community and fun, and EVEN suggests daily action steps that you may not have thought of in order to reach your goals.
It's personalized to you - no one else will have a framework like yours. You ready? Check it out here and let's do this together!!!
oxoxo,
Gwen
