This is something that kept coming up between myself and friends in our mastermind group - we'd be making good progress and then all of a sudden realize that that we had fallen off track with the little things like packing lunch to avoid eating out, staying on top of appointments, or managing our money in the most effective way.

So we realized that it all comes down to proper planning...and that planning all comes down to sitting down and having a regular time to do it.

I've created this 6 step guide to help you (and myself!) remember the need to plan out my week before it begins and cover all my bases.

To print, click the following link: 6 Steps to Planning a Darn Awesome Week Printable

What do you think? Are there any steps that I did not include in this list that you use when you plan your week? Please share any further tips with us in the comments! :)

Welcome back to FREEBIE FRIDAY! Today's freebie is my secret weapon. This is how I brain dump, mind map, get clarity, get focused...

The printable below is a technique for mapping out your thoughts and there are so many ways to accomplish that.

In the circle at the center, write down your main area of focus.

It can be... 

"June goals"

"2014 goals"

"Today"

"Minimize"

"Decide"

"Trip"

And then, in the circles surrounding the center, you drill down into the sub-areas. So, if I write "June Goals" in the middle, then in the other circles, I'm going to write the different areas of my life that I am going to set goals for. So I'll write things like health, business, project, home, finances, etc. Lastly and most importantly, I'll write the goal for each of those areas next to the circle. So for "Health," I'll write something like, be able to run 3 miles (not really, I hate running). I can go further and branch off into writing down activities that support that goal, like "exercise 15 minutes a day," "eat healthy," "drink 10 cups of water a day."

I hope this makes sense. It's super late in the evening (just got back from a late showing of  the X-men movie...it could have been better in my opinion), but I wanted to get this up.

I promise I'll do another post soon in which I show this printable in action with helpful, hardcore examples.

In the meantime, feel free to fiddle around with it. Click on the following link to print >> Mind Map Printable

Complicating life is easy. Simplifying life is H-A-R-D.

Simplifying can be difficult because it requires that you know who you are...basically.

What do I mean by that? I mean you have to know what your values are.

Are you keeping that because YOU value it or because you think you're supposed to value it?

It's FREEBIE FRIDAY! Ok, I'm a little late, but here is your freebie after all!

There's alot of talk around whether or not it's possible to live a "balanced life."

I like to think that even though you can't focus on giving massive action to more than one area of life at a time, we can always find a way to do something positive for each area - no matter how small.

HOW TO USE THIS PRINTABLE:

1. Write down your life areas in the boxes on the left side: Health, Blog, Family Business X, etc.

2. On the lines on the right side, write one baby step that you KNOW you can do today for each life area. For example:

Health  :  Drink green tea instead of coffee

Blog  :  Write new post

Business  :  Follow up with customer

Keep it simple.

To print, click the following link: MY BALANCED LIFE PRINTABLE 

I love being able to look at the week in a glance - to have everything on one paper - my routine, my schedule, my goals.

I've made this printable available at my ETSY SHOP for just $2.50

If you don't have a system for mapping out your week, this printable is a great place to start. :)

I've heard Seth Godin talk about this concept and I think it goes back to the entrepreneurial virtue of learning how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Yup, that's all I have to say about that.

I love taking really good quotes to the next level and this quote is really worth thinking about : "A year from now you will wish you had started today." I created this printable with some starter thoughts already written in. Pretend that it's a year from now...what would have had to happen for you to be happy with your progress? Do you have money in savings? A bigger business? More fluency in another language? A residual income stream? A new skillset? So what do you have to do every day to get there? Write it down.

Wanna dive in? To print click here >> Goal Printable