Tag Archives: Positive Change

Awareness

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Image credit – the brilliant Andy Kefford 

The first step to creating effective change in life and business is awareness.

Awareness that something has to change, awareness that something is not working for you, awareness that you want something different. 

Awareness comes from that feeling of something not being quiet right, that feeling that you know things could be better, that feeling that there is more for you.

Maybe you have had that feeling for years, maybe you have had that feeling for only a few minutes, however long you have had this feeling it now becomes an awareness, an awareness that change is needed and when you become aware the journey towards effective change can start. 

As we navigate through our personal and professional lives, what we need expands and evolves. When we become aware of something and want to change it, we have two choices. The first choice is to do nothing resulting in no change, this awareness without change is a missed opportunity and those feelings of something not being quiet right do not go away. The feelings stay but without change will become suppressed. 

The second choice is to  take action.

Wouldn’t you rather take a step forward and change than remain where you are?

The second choice sets us on the path of change, then purposeful, focused and consistent action will move us along this path which is so much better than staying where we are. 

One of my favourite Maya Angelou quotes is 

 ‘Nothing works unless you do’ Maya Angelou

This is so true when it comes to creating effective change in your business and your life. Become aware and take purposeful, focused and consistent action until the change you envisage becomes a reality.

[tweetthis]‘Awareness is all about restoring your freedom to choose what you want instead of what your past imposes on you’ Deepak Chopra[/tweetthis]

You can get a copy of my free e-book ‘The A-Z Of Effective Change’ of which this post is a part of by popping your e-mail into the form below,

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x x

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All Green is Red

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Following on from my blog post ‘Red is Good’, this post takes a look at the role the colour green plays in business in terms of Lean. The colour green is associated with all things positive –  go, start, progress, energy, growth, environment, finance etc. 

We use green in the Lean world to highlight when a target has been met, when something is on track, when a task has been completed, when we are happy with an outcome. As green is associated with positive outcomes, it would be normal to think that all green is good.

This is not always the case.

Problems exist in all processes and if all we are seeing is green then these problems are not visible.  In this case then ‘All Green is Red!’. Problems will be invisible if your measures are too high level, too low level or if your measures are not the correct measures.

Taiichi Ohno’s well known saying ‘No problem is a problem’ is so true. If you are not seeing problems in your process than this is a problem.

How do you make problems visible in your workplace?

Does your culture support problem identification, discussion and solving?

Thanks for reading, you might like my previous post on ‘Red is Good’,

Siobhain

x x x

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Annual Review 2019

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In the Lean/Continuous Improvement world we carry out ‘Hansei’ which is Japanese for ‘Self-Reflection’. Hansei allows us to review & reflect on our goals (personal and professional) to evaluate what worked so we can build on the successes and evaluate what didn’t work so we can adjust and change direction.

I have been carrying out an ‘Annual Hansei/Review’ for many years and find it hard to believe this is the 7th year I have published this review online. See Annual Reviews from past years at the end of this blog post.

A large part of me didn’t want to do this year’s Annual Review as I would prefer to look forward to 2020 than to look back at 2019. Parts of 2019 were amazing, and parts were beyond sad. My uncle and one of my best friends passed away in Oct/Nov and everything else that happened in 2019 paled into insignificance.

Losing people you love is hard for many reasons and even if someone has been ill it is still so unexpected and completely unwelcome. It is an inevitable destination for us all but still yet so incomprehensible. 

And so, with trepidation, here is my Annual Review for 2019. As always, Mike, my family and my friends are my reason for everything. and the source of most of my happiness.

Lean is a business philosophy that I follow at work & in my personal life and that I write about here on my blog. 

I had 3 ‘Lean’ highlights this year,

1. I travelled to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia on two trips to teach (and learn) Lean Principles & Leadership to the 2018 & 2019 classes of Riyadh Airport Future Leaders. These groups of young and inspirational Future Leaders taught me more than I could ever teach them. I am grateful to all at daa International for this opportunity esp. my friends Debbie Kearns for looking after me so well and all of the Riyadh Airports Future Leaders for welcoming me to their beautiful country and sharing their knowledge with me.

2. I wrote an e-book on ‘Positive Change’  All going well I will be launching it early in 2020. The e-book is a compilation of blog posts from a blog series I wrote in 2019/2019, you can view the blog posts here ‘The A-Z Of Effective Change’

 3. I am fascinated by Japan and all things Japanese and in 2020 I am finally getting to tick Japan off my ‘to visit’ list. I have booked a place on Katie Anderson’s ‘Lean Study Trip’ in May 2020 and will be sharing the journey with you here on my blog and through social media

Similar to 2018, in 2019 I became more aware of the power and necessity of a Lean Culture in business. Respect for & development of people is truly the only way to grow and sustain businesses. Lacking these people focused elements and treating people poorly will ensure your company is one that people cannot wait to leave and are in no hurry to join, leaving your company moral on a downward spiral with your profits following closely behind.

In terms of Travel and Photography, my friend’s Karin and Paula enjoyed a few days skiing in the Italian Alps in February. I’m not the best skier  but the fresh air and the excellent company on the slopes was food for the soul!

 I visited Riyadh with work twice in 2019. My blog post on ‘The Top 5 Reasons To Visit Saudi Arabia’ was my most viewed blog post of 2019. I cannot recommend Saudi Arabia highly enough as somewhere to visit and now that it has opened to tourism, there has never been a better time.

My Mom and I spent 2 fabulous weeks on the islands of Malta and Gozo in September. I would highly recommend both islands as places to visit, you can read more about them on my blog posts, 

The Top 5 Things To Do in Malta

The Top 5 Things To Do in Gozo

 I enjoyed working with my gorgeous family and friends on photo shoots this year, it is always a joy to work with those you love.

Like most things in life, the more I learn about social media the more I realise I don’t know. Social media changes every day and so there is always much to keep up to date with.

In 2019 I continued to post about Travel and Photography and Positive Change on my blogs,

‘The Photographer’s Guide To Travel’

‘The Art Of Positive Change’

Blog posts on ‘The Art Of Positive Change’ were categorised into 3 areas of interest, 

  1. Thoughts On Change – my thoughts on both personal and professional change
  2. Tools Of The Change Trade  – useful tools I recommend for personal/professional change 
  3. Book Reviews – reviews of books I love

Throughout  2019 I continued to post daily positive quotes to various social media platforms which helped me learn more about posting, scheduling and outsourcing on social media. I created ‘The Quotes Store’ on Flickr where you can download albums of these positive quotes for your own use.

I continued to work with the brilliant cartoonist Andy Kefford who created the cartoons of ‘Pinky the Positive Pig’, the star of my 26 part blog post series  ‘The Complete A-Z Of Effective Change’ of which my new e-book is based. I look forward to sharing our new writing project with you later in 2020!

I love writing on my blogs and I learned over the past couple of years is that not only do you need to build skills to write content, but you also need to find the time to think about, write, edit, publish and market this content.  I struggled to find enough time for writing last year (as I did in 2018) and so this is a real focus area for me for 2020.

I have always been aware of the importance of physical and mental health. 2019, for many reasons, brought this awareness to another level. 

Keeping our physical and mental health in peak shape is required for everything else in our lives to function. Working to look after our physical and mental health should be the top priority in our lives and a daily practice to ensure same. 

I wish you and your loved ones excellent physical and mental health in 2020.

In 2019 I continued to improve my financial habits by learning from Tony Robbins book ‘Money Master the Game – 7 Simple Steps To Financial Freedom’.  Tony is a master when it comes to finance and in this book he not only shares his own wisdom but also leverages the wisdom of many of the world’s finest financial advisors to share their advice, insights and experience. Tony’s book is written in an easy to understand format for all levels of financial understanding which is why I like it so much.

Like all habits, my financial habits are a work in progress. 

 

It’s nice to give back. I have been supporting various charities for many years. Year on year I try to give more to each charity whether this is monetary support or volunteering my time. This is something I will continue with and build on in 2020.

That’s it, 2019 in review, albeit a little less detailed than previous years.

 Here’s to 2020, may the New Year (and the new decade) bring you and your loved ones health, happiness and prosperity,

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x x

Note: The system I use for my Annual Review is a work in progress and evolves year on year. When I first carried out my Annual Review I started with a template used by Chris Guillebeau. If you are interested in starting your own Annual Review, here is Chris’s guidelines on  How To Conduct your own Annual Review and his  Annual Review Template.

My previous Annual Reviews can be found below,

Annual Review 2013  Annual Review 2014  Annual Review 2015

Annual Review 2016  Annual Review 2017

Annual Review 2018 

 

 

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PDCA – Dr Deming’s Gift To The World

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Image Credit:  Madhuri Gupta

William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an American engineer, statistician, professor, author, lecturer, and management consultant.

Dr Deming’s philosophy below (thanks Wikipedia) will give you an insight into his profound wisdom and deep understanding of systems and operations and how they work efficiently, effectively and optimally.

‘Dr. W. Edwards Deming taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organisations can increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs (by reducing waste, rework, staff attrition and litigation while increasing customer loyalty). The key is to practice continual improvement and think of manufacturing as a system, not as bits and pieces.”

The above sentence sums up why all businesses would benefit from Lean and how Lean requires to be implemented through a series of systems that support the work and not as a stand alone philosophy.

See ‘Wikipedia’ for more information on Dr Deming and his great work.

The Plan, Do, Check, Act Cycle, or PDCA cycle, is a technique designed to facilitate continuous improvement in the workplace. It is also referred to as the Deming Cycle, as it was popularized under the instruction of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Deming was introduced to the concept by Walter Shewart, a statistical quality control expert. PDCA has also been referred to as PDSA (Plan, Do Study, Act), PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Adjust) and numerous variations in between.

Whichever version you decide to you the principles are the same.

Dr Deming’s PDCA cycle has completely changed how I work and how I live. Everything I do in relation to projects & work (personal and professional) now goes through this cycle or some variation of it. Let me give you an insight into how it works and the benefits it brings.

PLAN

(Develop a detailed plan )

This is the first step in the Deming cycle, and it is here you determine exactly what the opportunity for change is.  In this first step, it is important to determine what problem you are solving, what is the goal, what will the measurements of success be and how will you implement this change.

It is here that you determine exactly what you need to achieve success and how you will know you are successful. The only way to know if something has improved is by measuring it and so it is critical to determine what metrics will give you this information and how you will collect these metrics.

When you are happy you have a detailed plan, know what metrics you will monitor (and how you will gather and monitor these), it’s time to move into the ‘Do’ phase.

The above sounds very simple but it’s not uncommon for people, departments and organisations to plough ahead with change without a detailed well thought out plan.

Spending most of your time in the Plan phase will set you up for success on the next stages of the PDCA cycle.

DO

(Implement the changes according to the plan)

Here it is time for action and time to use the plan developed above to put that action in place. The plan will serve as an excellent guide and reminder of exactly what it is you want to achieve. The metrics you will gather during the ‘Do’ phase will ensure you are continuously moving in the right direction towards success.

If you are leading a team, department or an organisation through change it should be very clear at all stages in the ‘Do’ phase where you are with the change and what the next steps are.

CHECK

(Reflect on and evaluate results)

This phase reduces rework and provides clarity.

 This step is sometimes referred to as the study phase. Here we are reviewing and analysing the results of the improvements implemented in the Do phase.

In this phase you ‘Check’ if your initial goal from the ‘Plan’ phase has been reached and ‘Check’ if the metrics gathered support this goal achievement.

Did you reach your goal?

Do the metrics support this?

Are you happy that this initiative has been a success?

ACT

(What are the next steps?)

This step is our last in the where we ask 2 questions and act accordingly on the answers.

Did we reach our goal?

If the answer is Yes, we standardise, document and roll out the new process, training those who need to be trained. This is the new Standard Work on which we continuously improve.

If the answer is No, we may need to alter our methods of implementation, develop a new plan, or test our improvements on a larger scale.

As this is a cycle, the PDCA process never really ends.

It repeats itself providing the path to continuous improvement.

Do you use the PDCA cycle?

Could the PDCA cycle help you transform how you live and work?

Want to read more about change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below. 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

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The ‘Not To Do List’

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Do you have a ‘Not To Do List’ ?

Lately, the Not To Do List has become my favourite time management tool!

My recent post on the time management tool ‘The Priority Matrix’ highlights that there are many tasks that could be moved from your ‘to do list’ to your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’.

As our lives get busier and busier – creating, updating and getting through our ‘to do lists’ can sometimes feel a little overwhelming. The ‘so much to do, so little time’ syndrome has become widespread as we move through the digital age trying to juggle all that is part of our day to day lives.

The constant and exhausting need to take everything on and get everything done will eventually lead to burnout.

So how do we deal with our ever increasing ‘to do lists’ and the constant and consistent requests for our precious time?

First, prioritise what is on your ‘to do list’ by using ‘The Priority Matrix’.

Then place everything that does not need to be done on your  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’.

If you update your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ every day you will feel you are getting through tasks by the simple movement of tasks from one list to another. 

Time is so precious and a ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ can make us think deeply about where we spend our precious time.

 To say my  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ has totally transformed how I get things done is an understatement.  For me, my ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ is just as important and gets as much attention as my ‘to do list’.

As a big fan of lists but also as someone who is susceptible to overwhelm, I use a  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ every single day. As I review my daily plan of what needs to get done I also review what doesn’t need to get done that day. 

I am always astounded at the amount of tasks that end up on my  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ freeing up precious time!

Even physically moving something from your ‘to do list’  to your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ will give you a sense of achievement! 

Do you have a  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’? 

Could this help you free up time to focus on more important things in your life/business?

What would go on your  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’?

Want to read more about Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain 

x x

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The Priority Matrix

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Image Credit: Madhuri Gupta

Eisenhower’s Priority Matrix is named after it’s founder Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. Before becoming President, Eisenhower served as a general in the United States Army and as the Allied Forces Supreme Commander during World War II.

During this time Eisenhower had to make tough decisions about what tasks he should focus on each day. This led him to invent the world-famous Eisenhower Matrix, which today helps us prioritise by urgency and importance.

More recently this matrix has become popularly known as ‘Covey’s Time Management Matrix’, named after Steven Covey who introduced us to the matrix in his wildly successful bestselling book ‘The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People’ which was first published in 1989.

Whether you call it ‘Eisenhower’s Matrix’ or ‘Covey’s Time Management Matrix’ – the ‘Priority Matrix’ is a highly effective and powerful tool for utilising your time wisely and focusing on what really matters in business & life.

It is widely known that focusing on our priorities can help us reach our goals while also ensuring we don’t become overwhelmed, stressed & burned out along the way.

Many studies have been carried out on the detrimental effects of stress & burnout on the human body and going by these studies stress should be avoided at all costs.

If we add all of our tasks into the Priority Matrix, it looks something like the below which is cluttered and can be overwhelming. Knowing where to focus our energy and time will help us declutter our tasks, feel less overwhelmed and focus on our top priorities.

Here is how the ‘Priority Matrix’ works.

The matrix is divided into 4 quadrants determined by varying degrees of urgency and importance.

Only one of these quadrants will move us closer to our goals.

Only one quadrant will PRIORITISE OUR PROGRESS. 

1. Important and Urgent 

These are tasks that require immediate attention, they must be done asap. 

These can be deadlines, crises, problems that need immediate solutions, emergencies, last minute tasks.

Only tasks that require your immediate attention should go into this quadrant.

Care is required to ensure you do not spend all of time in this quadrant as this quadrant is basically FIRE FIGHTING. 

You will be VERY BUSY in this quadrant but you will be making LITTLE TO NO PROGRESS towards your goals!

This quadrant does not prioritise YOUR progress towards YOUR goals. 

2. Important and Not Urgent 

These are long term tasks that contribute to your business & personal strategy.

These tasks move you closer to YOUR GOALS.  

They are not urgent tasks but must be planned and scheduled to run the business or live the life you want for yourself. 

These are strategy planning, strategy review, goal setting, continuous Improvement, problem solving, learning and personal development.

This is the most important quadrant and you should be spending AS MUCH TIME AS POSSIBLE here.

THE MORE TIME YOU SPEND HERE, the more PRODUCTIVE, SUCCESSFUL & HAPPY you will be.

This quadrant prioritises YOUR progress towards YOUR goals. 

3. Not Important and Urgent

These are tasks that deliver VERY LITTLE VALUE in terms of your goals. 

These are interruptions, problems that do not belong to you, non-relevant phone calls/meetings/e-mails.

The best thing to do with these tasks is to either delegate or decline them. 

They may need to get done, but don’t necessarily need to get done by you. 

In this case delegate asap.

If you can’t delegate, it’s also ok to decline and say no to these time wasting activities.

It’s best to spend as LITTLE TIME AS POSSIBLE here.

This quadrant does not prioritise YOUR progress towards YOUR goals. 

4. Not Important and Not Urgent

These are tasks that deliver NO VALUE AT ALL in terms of your goals but can be enjoyable and used for entertainment and relaxation purposes.

These are watching tv, scrolling social media, video games, surfing the net, needless phone calls/meetings/e-mails.

Watching tv, scrolling social media, video games and surfing the net can be very enjoyable and they are wonderful ways to relax but they are entertainment – unless you work for Netflix etc!  

It’s a matter of balancing these enjoyable, entertaining activities with time spent in quadrant 2!

This quadrant does not prioritise YOUR progress towards YOUR goals. 

That’s it, the Priority Matrix is a pretty simple tool yet incredibly effective and powerful.

  • What quadrant do you spend most of your time in?
  • Where would you like to spend more time?
  • Where would you like to spend less time?

Do you want to join my weekly newsletter?

If so download my free ebook  ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below and you are all signed up! 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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The 9Rs to Eliminate Overwhelm

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Image Credit: Madhuri Gupta

The English Oxford dictionary describes overwhelm as the following

  1. Give too much of something to; inundate – ‘they were overwhelmed by farewell messages’
  2. Have a strong emotional effect on – ‘I was overwhelmed with guilt’
  3.  Be too strong for; overpower – ‘the Stilton doesn’t overwhelm the flavour of the trout’

Overwhelm to me is more of a feeling, a feeling of having taken on too much, of having too much to do, of not having space or time to organise, focus, and move forward.

My head feels fuzzy, murky, unclear and even the thoughts of facing another item on my ‘to do list’ makes me feel tired.

This is a familiar feeling to me and happens every now and again, not often enough to be a huge issue but often enough that I like to put a system in place to deal with it.

I am very mindful to watch out for and recognise overwhelm as it arrives and deal with it before it affects my physical, mental & emotional health.

These days when I start to feel overwhelmed, I take immediate action to stop it!.

Here are the 9R’s I use to manage and move forward from overwhelm of which should be priority in our lives at all times and not just when we start to feel overwhelmed or stressed, 

1. Rest

Overwhelm and stress (if it has gone that far) is a signal to your mind and body that you need to slow down. One way of slowing down is to get more rest – rest more during your day, take regular breaks from work and keep these breaks device free. If you are taking breaks but using your phone to scroll social media/listen to podcasts/listen to or read books your mind isn’t really getting a break.

Your mind needs a total break from devices to switch off and recharge.

Not only is rest important, it’s quality rest with no electronic devices!!

Another way to slow down is to get more quality hours sleep. Research has shown that we don’t function optimally without sufficient sleep.

Sufficient sleep is a different number for everyone – I have always needed 8 hours sleep to function and I fully feel the effects when I don’t get those 8 hours. By adding ‘adequate sleep’ as a priority to your ‘to do list’ your physical, mental and emotional health will benefit.

2. Relax

How many hours in your day do you spend relaxing, really relaxing –  away from social media and all electronics?

It’s so important to relax, – to stop going, to stop moving, to stop thinking and just breathe!

Whatever you do for relaxation, whether it’s reading, listening to music/podcasts, watching tv, meditating or just being –  it is so important to schedule this into each and every day.

This will not only keep your mind and body healthy, it will also keep you sane! I’m a big fan of relaxing as I know how it supports me to get more done but I don’t relax as much as I would like to or need to. It’s something I definitely need to find more time for and not only when I feel overwhelmed.

3. Reconnect

Reconnecting with yourself and whoever/whatever you may have lost contact with that gives you joy will help you slow down and focus on the priorities in life and not just what makes it to the ‘to do list’.

This reconnection can be with people such as family, friends, colleagues, team mates or it can be with whatever or whomever you have a spiritual or religious connection with –  God, Buddha, Allah, Source, Universe – whatever works for you.

For me, my connection with my boyfriend Mike, my family and my friends is essential for my happiness and well being. There is no easier way to enjoy yourself, slow down and take your mind off your ‘to do list’ than spending quality time (minus electronics!) with the people you love.

My connection to myself and my spiritual growth is the cornerstone on which everything else is built and is absolutely essential for my happiness and well being.

4. Replenish

Replenish your Mind, Body and Soul with what it needs – good food, regular exercise, time in nature, creative hobbies, sports, silence, crowds, prayer – whatever works for you.

Fill your surroundings with good thoughts and kind deeds, this will not only benefit you but those whom you spend time with.

Above all make sure the person you are kindest to is yourself.

For me, the following are the basics required to replenish my Mind, Body and Soul –  quality time with Mike, family & friends, reading, writing, solitude, meditating, journaling and exercising.

5. Remove Clutter

Clutter can be physical, emotional or digital.

Physical clutter is stuff in our physical spaces that no longer serves us. Physical clutter also takes up space in our minds, a messy space is a messy mind. Start clearing physical clutter away and your mind will start to feel clearer. 

Emotional clutter is all sorts of negative energy, thoughts and  beliefs. These are not beneficial to our physical, mental & emotional well being and they do not serve us. Evaluating and replacing these negative energies with positive energies will remove what feels like physical weights from our shoulders. 

Digital clutter seems to build up almost without us knowing. Photos on our phones, digital downloads, scanned documents, space consuming e-mails. If you work online, the amount of digital clutter is almost never ending. Digital clutter can also be scrolling time, time spend mindlessly scrolling and clicking through links online – this creates digital clutter in our brains!!  

Removing all types of clutter will create the space to allow whatever you want in your life to manifest! 

6. Reading

Reading is an excellent way of tuning out of this busy world into other worlds of whatever interests you. 

Reading is for me one of the most relaxing things I can do. I love nothing more than sitting down with a great book, soaking up the wisdom and learning as I relax!

I also love listening to audiobooks while out and about, it’s a very efficient way of getting through books – most audiobooks are narrated by the author which is an added bonus!!

 7. Writing

I know writing starts with W but phonetically it starts with R!

I love writing just as much as I love reading and also find it very relaxing.

Writing helps me gather my thoughts and clear my mind. I love all sorts of writing, writing in my journal, writing blog posts and writing e-books. You can download my first e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ at the end of this blog post. 

I often say, if I could read and write for a living that would be my perfect job! 

I updated this blog post to include the next 2 Rs as my great friend Tony Mc suggested them, thanks Tony! 

8. Rush – no need to rush!

My friend Tony says ‘try not to rush, everyone is in a big rush today’. 

This is so true, I find the speed at which we live our lives has increased.

Add our connection to social media and the online world where everything is instant & immediate and this makes for lives lived at a dizzying speed. 

We all know that the busier we are the faster time seems to go, we also know that we can’t slow down time, the speed at which it passes is set. 

We may not be able to slow down time, but what we can do is slow ourselves down – stop rushing from one thing to another, stop racing to and from activities, stop taking on too much, stop filling our calendars with things to do, stop filling our minds with things to process! 

Being ‘crazy busy’ is not good for your Mind, Body or Soul. What is good for and what nurtures your Mind, Body and Soul is being more mindful, more intentional and more present, all can be achieved by slowing down.

Even reading the words mindful, intentional, present will slow down a bit.

9. Rewind & Reflect 

My friend Tony says ‘rewind and take a step back’ of which I also totally agree. 

If we continuously move forward without rewinding, taking a step back and reflecting on our experiences we are missing out on so much learning. We are our own greatest teachers yet we must invest the time to rewind, step back and reflect to bring our inner teachings into our lives. 

I am a huge fan of reflection.

The wisdom gained from reflecting on your own experiences can be found nowhere else and is well worth the time it takes. 

That’s it, the 9Rs to eliminate overwhelm.

I hope you are using some of these to eliminate overwhelm and avoid stress in your life.

What do you do to deal with overwhelm?

Do you use any of the 9Rs?

Can you suggest anything else to eliminate overwhelm?

Want to read more about Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain 

x x

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How To Free Up Your Time Using Online Outsourcing

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Image Credit: Madhuri Gupta

My blog post on the time management tool ‘The Priority Matrix’ explains that in order to use your time more effectively and make more progress towards your vision and goals you will need to delegate.

There are many reasons to delegate –  it will free up your time to do more of what you want in life and business, you will make more and faster progress towards your goals and among many other benefits you will get access to the skills and talents of those who you delegate to.

Whether you are running a full-time business, a hustle on the side or building a brand there is always so much to do and one person cannot do everything.

I outsource as much as I can which frees up my time to write, research, create content and focus on what I need to focus on.

There are many websites offering outsourcing and judging by the expertise available you can outsource just about anything – Administration, Graphic Design, SEO, Web Development, Blog Editing, Podcast Editing etc, the list goes on and on.

My website of choice is Upwork.

Upwork is a user friendly, highly efficient website that makes the process of hiring and working with freelancers from all over the world so quick and simple.

To find suitable freelancers to work with through Upwork you will require the following

 

 

  • An e-mail account – this takes 5 minutes to set up on any of the free platforms

 

  • A method of payment – Upwork accepts Visa or Paypal – Paypal takes about 5 mins to set up

 

  • Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) – these are documents outlining the step by step tasks required that your freelancer can easily follow. The more detailed the SOP the more efficient the process will be – I use Google Docs to create SOPs as it is a dream to use and is easily sharable

 

  • An online sharing platform – this allows you to share your files/images/documents with your freelancer. My favourite online sharing platform is DropBox which takes 5 minutes to set up. I also use Google Drive which is very handy and is free with a gmail email account. 

 

All of the above are ABSOLUTELY FREE and are sufficient to get you on the road to hiring your first freelancer!!

When you have all of the above in place, you are ready to hire your first freelancer. Upwork’s hiring process is really simple and goes something like this

 

  • Create your job description on Upwork – the more specific you are when creating your job description, the more streamlined the hiring process will be

 

  • Post your job on Upwork – fabulous freelancers will then apply for it 

 

  • Review the applicants – for me this is the most challenging part of the process as there are so many talented people available through Upwork

 

  • Connect with/interview shortlisted applicants – as Upwork has access to globally based freelancers, chances are your preferred applicants won’t live near you and so you will need Zoom or another platform for face to face interviews. Most of the time there is no need to interview as the freelancer’s portfolio speaks for itself, such is the calibre of freelancers available on Upwork.

 

  • Hire your freelancer of choice – share the Standard Operating Procedure with goals, timelines and an agreed price for the job then sit back and relax. Your freelancer will notify you when the job is completed and Upwork will arrange payment. All that is left to do  is thank your freelancer for a job well done!!

Upwork is highly efficient – within 10 minutes of setting up my account I posted my first job, in 3 hours I had almost 20 job applicants and within that same day I hired my first freelancer. That was eight years ago and since then I have worked with the most talented, wonderful people from all over the world. 

Can fabulous freelancers help free up your precious time?

Can fabulous freelancers bring you and your business to a different level?

Could you make a side income by becoming a fabulous freelancer and sharing your gifts with the world?

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain 

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