Thrive Lounge

July 18, 2018

Goal Setting

4 Simple Ways To Stay On Track During An Unproductive Summer

Thrive Lounge

July 18, 2018

Goal Setting

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

The more I focus on my goals, talk about goals, write book about goals I realize that a lot of us are going through the exact same emotional roller coaster with our ambitions.

In January, we feel rejuvenated after spending time with family over the holidays and are overly inspired by the idea of a new year and an opportunity to create a brand new you.

In Feb - May, we pursue our goals. Somedays with passion and others with reluctance. But... we try.

Come June-July we realize the sun is out and in full effect and we can finally emerge from our winter slumber... mostly to look really good in a bathing suit on a beach somewhere. Or go to brunch. Or finally start dating again. (Just me?)

Even though I literally wrote the book on goal setting I'll be the first to admit that ever summer I struggle to stick to my routines with the constant allure of brunch + happy hour + looking-really-good-in-a-sundress.

Instead of writing, I'm scheduling drinks with friends.

Instead of creating a companion course for my book, I literally went on an impromptu 10-day couch surfing trek through my hometown spending time with every friend I haven't seen in a while - provided they had an empty couch.

Instead of planning out my next speaking gigs, I've been going out on dates like I'm a contestant on the bachelorette.

Yes, #TheStruggleIsReal.

How Can We Continue To Crush Our Goals Through The Summer?

The answer to this question is obvious, but not intuitive.

Choose the one goal that you want to accomplish... then slack off EVERYWHERE ELSE.

Seriously, you're not required to be an all-around life badass all the time. It's the summer, the sun is shining bright - and there are far too many rooftop bars in New York to sit in the house worried about every possible goal.

How I'm Applying This Philosophy

It's obvious I've lost track of my routines and have been trending away from Superwomen towards super-slacker, but my primary goal for 2018 was to get out of student loan debt.

After paying off 10K in 2017, I started off 2018 with $32K remaining in student loan debt and one goal - to pay it all off. In the first seven months of the year, I paid of $10,647 in student loans!

Through the summer, I've continued to make the same large payments on my student loan debt to continue working towards my big goals.

So even though I haven't been productive, I haven't started my next book or course, I've been eating like crap and not exercising, I've been drinking entirely too much wine (Yes, that's possible)....

I have continued to pay off my debt.

That's all that matters.

Related: How This 28-year-old Increased Her Net Worth By $20,984 in 13 months

How Can You Win The Summer?

If you're looking at your summer and wondering what happened to your ambition, you're not alone. Here's a couple of ideas for what you can do to get your goal-getting life back on track:

Lean Back

Make a firm decision that this is not a goal-getting year for you.

Sometimes we just need a break from life all together. If you firmly decide to take some time for inner reflection, you can stop feeling guilty for not pursuing a goal and enjoy your moment of intentional slowing down.

Course Correct

There is always time to get back on track.

If you have a clear goal for where you want to go, figure out where you are in progress towards it. Next, make a list of all the steps you need to take to get you there. Finally, take out a calendar and plan out when you're going to do each of these steps.

Once you do that, get started!

Start From Scratch

It's mid way through the year and you really haven't done anything towards your goals.

That's perfectly fine! The best time to get started is always today. If you don't have a goal yet, but you're really feeling like a couch potato start with figuring out what change you want to make in your life and why you want to make that change.

Related: How To Set The ONE Goal That Will Change Your Entire Life

Once you have your goal, you can start taking steps to reach it.

Stick To The Plan

This is for the folks that are well on their way, but might be getting a little bored with their goal. (Trust my I'm super tired of my budget! Sometimes I want to go out and order a glass of wine without thinking about my student loans, but these days that just doesn't happen!)

Focus on the reason you're pursuing this goal. Remind yourself what your life will look like at the end of the journey. That vision will keep you going. If you created a vision board, take a look at your dream goals - and if you didn't create one maybe you should. :)

The beautiful weather, endless events and opportunities to see friends and family do make it very difficult to put all of your goals first. Don't feel guilty about taking this time to yourself. Instead, find a way to enjoy this moment by intentionally choosing what you're going to focus on ... and what you will ignore.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party?

Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.
Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts.
Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

Ready To Make Your Dream Goal A Reality?

Map out your dream goals and create your action plan with this FREE one-page dream goal planning worksheet.

Thrive Lounge

July 11, 2018

Vision Boards

How To Snag A Top Speaker For Your Vision Board Party

Thrive Lounge

July 11, 2018

Vision Boards

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

You can honestly host a vision board party anyway you like. You could invite your friends over for some wine and have a small party or you could host a large-scale event with speakers and sponsors - the whole nine.

If you're looking to host speakers at your vision board party, it's going to take a lot more effort than calling up your besties but the reward can be huge.

Why Have A Speaker At Your Vision Board Party?

Your attendees want to spend time thinking about their goals for the new year and feel inspired to take the next steps in their journey. As the host, it's your job to help them get there.

A speaker can add a element of inspiration through experience and mentorship. They can talk about the challenges they've been through and how they got through them. Encourage people to continue pursuing their goals. Speakers can also answer burning questions that the audience may have.

Consider your target audience

There are a million speakers out there that can speak on a billion different topics, but you want your speaker's message to resonate with your audience. You have to know who your target audience is to be able to get a speaker that will will be able to connect with them.

First, know what their goals are.

If you have an audience of small business owners, an influencer talking about breastfeeding and healthy eating for new mothers may not resonate perfectly with their goals. However if you have an audience full of pregnant women, they will be highly receptive to that message.

Focus to the audience you are catering to to find a speaker that has a message for that person.

Who would your target audience be interested in seeing?

There are often some speakers that get people super excited, and then there are other speakers who people aren't as excited to see. Try to balance that line of popularity with a very strong message. If you have a larger audience you can simply ask them who are they interested in seeing tell you.

Who can help them Reach their goals?

Sometimes the person your audience wants to see is super popular but their message couldn't really help them reach their goals.

For example, you could invite Cardi B to your vision board party and a lot of people would show up to see her but they may not get the message that you hoped for at the end of the day.

Your speaker cannot be selected based on popularity alone, they have to have a message that your audience can take away to reach their goals.

Panel versus single speaker

Speakers can appear alongside four to five others and answer questions from the host. On the other hand, you can have a single speaker doing a workshop or keynote talk. Both options are really great options based on how you set up your event and how you want your event to flow.

If you have a host to ask questions or you want to ask questions yourself, then a panel might be a great route to take. Panels are great because you get several different viewpoints on one question and opportunity for people to be able to see themselves in different panelists.

A single speaker can be equally as effective if the audience and the speaker are both very targeted so you know that speaker's message is going to totally land with the theme of the event and with the audience is hoping to see.

Getting in contact

Getting in contact with influencers and popular speakers is easier than you might think. Once you decide on the speaker, simply go to their website and go to the contact page. Most speakers will have their email or contact forms available on their site.

Your first email

When you send your potential speaker an email, give them information that helps them understand who you are and who you're catering to.

Here are a few examples:

where the event is and what kind of event it is.
who the target demographic is so they can assess whether it's a good fit for their brand.
show that you know a bit about them and have specifically chosen them based on their credentials (show that you’re not picking a name out of a hat).
the next step in the process and gives them a link to learn more about the event.

following up

When you hear back from the potential speaker about your event, make sure that you follow up with them in a timely manner. Offer a few times to hop on the phone with them so that you can hash out the details and they can ask you any questions they might have.

Paid versus Unpaid

When you start to contact speakers, you will find that many speakers have a speakers fee available on their website or will quote a speakers fee when you contact them.

If you do not have a budget for your speaker, that's okay. Some people are happy to speak at your event without a fee however you may want to give him a few things to make your event worth their time and effort.

Here are a few examples of things you can offer instead of a speaker's fee:

Emails to your list
Advertising on social media channels
A table to sell products at your event
Complimentary tickets to event for friends and family
Access to the full event video

Once you secure a call with the speaker, this is where you talk about all of the offerings you have.

Make working with you easy

From the moment someone agrees to be a speaker at your event, make it super easy for them to do what they do best: speak.

Be Available

Whenever they send you an e-mail always respond within 24 to 48 hours. That will give them the confidence that you are professional and put them at ease with working with you.

Provide a social media promotion kit

We would all like for speakers to be excited about creating fun posts on social media for our event, however speakers are very busy so that doesn't always happen.

If you want a higher chance at getting a speaker to promote your event, make it incredibly easy for them by providing a social media promotional kit.

Your promotional kit will have cut-and-paste social media templates that they can easily post to their channels and provides all of the images that you've already created to promote the event.

Day of show list with to do's and contacts

A lot of moving pieces can be distracting on the day of the event. As the host, you don't want to be running around trying to take care of everything last minute. (At that point, your main concern should be looking fabulous and having a good time.)

To ensure everyone knows exactly what to do (and minimize how many people are asking you questions) provide them a "day of show" itinerary. This is basically a list of what to do and expect when you get to the venue.

Creating this list is a little bit more work up front, but will come in handy when you are able to welcome your guests without having speakers and advertisers asking a million questions.

Having a great speaker for your vision board party can enhance the day of the event. You'll have a professional there for people to ask questions and get more clarity in their goals for the year.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party?

Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.
Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts.
Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thrive Lounge

July 6, 2018

Vision Boards

What Is A Vision Board Party? (And Why You Must Attend One)

Thrive Lounge

July 6, 2018

Vision Boards

At the end of every year, people jump into a frenzy deciding what they want to accomplish in the next new set of 365 days. This is a great time to reflect on what you've already done so far, and look forward to what you will accomplish and become next.

Since you're thinking about your goals and New Year's resolutions anyway, you may want to consider attending a Vision Board Party or hosting one of your own to help you flesh out your ideas in a more creative (and social) way.

What is a vision board party?

A vision board party is a goal-setting event where you create a visualization of your goals.

Usually people will bring their own poster boards and magazines and then they'll spend an hour or two flipping through the magazines to find images and quotes that embody the future that you desire for yourself.

Then you'll create a board with images all of your goals and dreams that will inspire you throughout the year.

What different types of vision board parties are there?

Your Besties and Family

A vision board party doesn't have to be very large, you can have one with just your close friends and family. No need to get fancy, just get a small group together to talk and create.

Potluck

You don't have to supply everything that people need. You can make it a potluck and have everyone bring their own dish or a bottle of wine. Encourage people to bring their own poster boards and some magazines.

I really enjoy hosting Vision Board potlucks because you don't have to supply everything which lowers your cost significantly.

Related Content: What Kind of Food Should You Have at Your Vision Board Party?

A Community Event

Your Vision Board party also doesn't have to be limited to just close friends and family, it really depends on your preference. You can host a party for members of your community. Groups who will typically have a Vision Board party are:

Women’s empowerment groups
Women's ministries
Goal setting accountability groups
Entrepreneurship and leadership community groups
Nonprofits serving the community
Culture Clubs

The use for a Vision Board is unlimited so feel free to introduce this idea within your favorite local meetup.

An Activity within an event

You could also create a larger event and have Vision Boards as one of the activities. These types of events may be something like leadership seminars, bible study groups, entrepreneurship groups, or inspirational retreats.

What's the real benefit of hosting a vision board party?

I know it all sounds fine and dandy (and possibly fun), but what's in it for you besides a potential meal and wine?

Time to focus on your goals

Throughout the year many things come up at times that get in the way of focusing on your goals:

Demanding careers
Family and friends
Relationship/Marriage
Personal emotions (because depression, loneliness or plain ol' exhaustion can get the best of any of us)

A Vision Board party can help you set aside time to focus on your goals without distraction.

sharing your ideas with other people

This is my favorite result you'll gain from any Vision Board Party.

When you're focused on your goals at an event with other like-minded people, you will notice that you start to have conversations on how to develop your goals faster. You'll get unique opportunities for networking with others in your industry. You could meet a new mentor that could guide you towards your goals faster. You may learn different ways to tackle your goal that you didn't know about before.

mentally prepare yourself for a productive year

Because Vision Board parties are typically hosted at the end of the year in December or at the beginning of a New Year in January, it is a great way to prepare yourself for what you're going to do in the upcoming year.

You will leave with unlimited inspiration and feeling energized to focus on your goals and to continue to build upon them as the year progresses. You’ll make some new friends and build a new community of cheerleaders to celebrate your wins with you as you grow.

Cheers to dreams coming true!

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party?

Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.
Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts.
Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thrive Lounge

July 6, 2018

Goal Setting

4 Quick Tips To Get More Done (In Less Time) With Deep Work

Thrive Lounge

July 6, 2018

Goal Setting

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

How many times do you check email throughout your work day? How about checking social media?

As a social girl with a lot of friends, I often end up on social media just answering questions that people have or liking a hundred cute baby pictures when I need a short break from work. It only takes a minute or two and it seems harmless, right?

In Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, Cal Newport discusses how my constant email-checking could be crushing my productivity.

What is Deep Work?

Deep work is the ability to spend hours at a time focusing on a difficult task.

For example, if you're a writer, then your deep work would be writing. If you are an analyst, your deep work will be analyzing stuff.

It seems quite obvious what we need to do to make a difference in our careers (or side hustles) but we often interrupt our own workday with non-deep-work activities. Instead of blogging, us bloggers are scanning social media, click-bait websites and sending text messages to friends and family.

While it seems totally harmless, those activities can distract us from spending that focused time our brain needs to make progress on a difficult task.

Why Do We Need Deep Work?

Cal Newport's book dives into the idea that if people focused on strengthening their ability to do deep work and focus less on these shallow activities, we'd all be able to get more done in less time and do our most important work better.

That sounds like a win-win for everyone, right?

How Can Deep Work Enhance Our Life?

If you set aside more focused time during your work day, you would able to get more done. As a writer, you would be able to write more books one presumes would directly lead to making more sales. If you work for someone else then you would be able to turn around your deliverables faster and also tackle more difficult tasks faster and with greater accuracy.

How often do you take work home? When you focus on deep work, you increase your ability to get your work done during your work day.

Through out the book, Cal Newport discusses how he is able to publish more peer reviewed academic papers than other professors, and he really works after 5 p.M. The ability to do deep work can put you in a similar position where you no longer work those after hours shifts at night to catch up on work that you were not able to finish throughout the workday.

With those extra hours, you might actually be able to shut down your lap top when you get home (gasp!). You could spend that time having dinner with family, engaging in conversations with your close friends, or have extra time for self-care.

How To Get More Deep Work In Your Day?

Most of us have become incredibly attached to social media and our email boxes and our ability to do deep work and focus for long stretches of time has dwindled to next to nothing. With so many distractions are vying for your time it is difficult to sit down for 3 to 4 hours to focus on a demanding task so how do you get more of that deep work into your day?

Disconnect your internet while you are doing deep work

Sometimes you can't get around this and you absolutely must log on to the internet to get information or follow up with someone. Try to shut down the internet as much as possible. If you know you have to do reasearch. Do your research first and then print out any articles that you need. That way you can start spending longer stretches of time without clicking social media or clicking your email.

The ability to do deep work grows over time so the more you can train your brain to focus, the more successful you will become.

Time for attention restoration

While deep work sounds great, it's impossible to do deep work all the time. You have to take a mental break to restore your ability to do hard tasks. Rather than letting a distraction dictate when you take a break, schedule your break into your day.

That way you get to decide the optimal time to take a break from your work.

Create a shutdown ritual for the end of the day

At the end of the day, write down all of the activities you need to do later on in the week. Then take your list and compare them with your calendar to see when you'll have time for each activity. Finally, plan out the activities that you want to do the next day.

This practice will help you mentally close out "work mode" so you can enjoy the hours in the evening care-free knowing that you have all of your work-related responsibilities taken care of.

Change the way you communicate

Have you ever gone back and forth for 6-10 emails trying to find a good time to meet with a friend or colleague? I definitely have.

When you send email, make sure you guide the recipient in what they should do next. That way, you don't get a ton of email flooding your email box with unnecessary emails.

For example, instead of saying "let me know a time that works for you."

You could say, "I am available on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 2PM. Let me know which of these days works for you or send over alternative dates and times." If you're super tech savvy, you can even set up an online calendar where people can choose their own dates and no further communication is needed on your part at all.

Sending more focused email with better directions can help you decrease the amount of back and forth you need - and results in less clutter in your email box.

We lose a lot of time in our work day simply by switching from one task to the next. The constant social media and email checking can seem pretty harmless, but when you add that time together - and then compare it to the time you could've been doing more important work you have to ask yourself: "Is it worth it?"

I'd definitely rather spend my time in deep work.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party?

Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.
Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts.
Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.