FamousAshleyGrant

In our business lives, we hear the saying all the time. “Work smarter, not harder.” But, how many of us do it? Or for that matter, how many of us know what working smarter actually even means. The problem is knowing something and implementing it are two very different things. If you are facing this problem of knowing that you could be working smarter rather than harder, try the pointers below to help you get more productive with your time and create more profits overall.

Now you may not get to implement all of these ideas, particularly not all in one go. However, if you start with one and build on that, then you are at least moving forward.

Work on what is relevant and most profitable.

This may seem obvious, but what seems obvious is not always easy to implement. Do a self diagnostic test to see what takes up the most of your time, and you will likely find it is the part of your business that is the least profitable. It may be time to outsource that element, so it costs less time and resources and moves it off your plate. Or, you may just need a better system in place for getting it done faster giving you time to focus on the more profitable projects or components of your business.

Manage your projects more efficiently.

Once again, easier said than done. Still, you should try to build structure into what you are doing. Many people have so much going on in their day-to-day, that they are continuously jumping from project to project with little focus. What you should do instead is finish a task completely before starting another.

No, this doesn’t mean completing entire projects in one time period. I’m a realist and I understand that this isn’t possible for every project. What I do mean though is that you should chunk your projects down and complete an entire chunk at a time before moving on to the next chunk of whatever project you want to move forward on. Bonus points if you document where you left off on every project so that you don’t come back to it wondering what’s next!

Set deadlines for everything.

How many times do you set a deadline to get something done and make sure it is done? You have client deadlines I’m sure, but have you ever created self-imposed deadlines for yourself to ensure things get done in a timely manner? Doing this triggers a sense of need to get it done now, rather than allowing ourselves the “luxury” of putting it off until tomorrow. Just knowing you have a deadline regardless of who set it will inspire your brain to complete it now, not when it’s actually due.

We all know how much we can get done the day before we go on leave or a nice well earned vacation. Apply the same principle to what you do on a daily basis.

A simple starting point is to chunk down your top 5 tasks and create the deadlines you can set around these. The deadlines must be realistic, however. Otherwise you are going to burn yourself out trying to reach them, or you’ll do a piss poor job of accomplishing the tasks to the best of your ability.

Employ people that have strengths where you have weaknesses.

This is really about leveraging your time. If you are not good at doing something, but you still need it in your business, get someone else that is an expert in that area to do it. Then, let yourself get on with the next task in your business. You can either do this by hiring virtual assistants part time or full time, or by hiring contractors for one off tasks as frequently or infrequently as needed.

Manage time interruptions.

Think about the number of times you are trying to get something done that will help with the profitability of your business, when your phone rings or someone knocks on your door for a “quick catch up.” It’s imperative you become more structured in managing these interruptions. Let the phone go to voicemail and set aside time to return all the calls, for example. Ask people to book in time for you so you can manage your day, and not have their interruption mess up your entire schedule.

Remember, time management is not about trying to manage time; there are only 24 hours in a day. It is about managing yourself, your sanity, and the moving parts in your business. For some people time management is easy and effortless, but for many of us it’s a daily struggle. As you work on it though, you’ll build habits for better efficiency in your life.

Additional ideas for getting more done in your day include:

Activity Logs: If you often wonder at the end of the day where your day went, create an activity log to start logging how much time you spend on your various activities. Only once you know where your time went can you change anything.

To Do List: Yes, having a to-do list is important, but if you’re spending too much time on creating lists, you’re not going to get anything done. Keep them short and simple with your top 3-5 things you HAVE to get done each day, and then try to do them before you do anything else.

Create a schedule, and actually plan your day: Unimportant, but time-consuming tasks can end up consuming a lot of your time. Schedule your most important things first, and leave plenty of buffer time for each item. Prioritizing enables you to focus your time and energy on the important things. You can’t successfully manage and grow your business if you can’t successfully manage your time.

Today my dad would have been 58. 🙁 I’m still so upset that he has already missed so much since the last time we spoke in November 2015, we’ll never reconcile, and he’ll miss out on so much more in the coming years than he should have. Wishing and hoping for things to be different won’t make it so.

However, I do want to remind everyone that if you’re unhappy in your life you CAN change it. You don’t have to live in misery. As much as people may disagree with me, at the end of the day YOU DO HAVE A CHOICE! We all do!

You can choose how you react to the cards your dealt. In some ways, you can even choose some of the cards. I wish my dad could have seen that he had so many choices, and I’m still devastated that he made the ultimate bad one by leaving this earth too soon nearly a year ago.

I know everyone has been telling me this year that he took his life because he saw no other way out. And, yes…I believe by the time he let that much darkness take over…he did believe that. But, I also know that there were so many times he could have chosen to step out of the darkness, but instead opted to shun the light.

Looking Back, We Did All We Could

Nothing I or my family could have said or done could have changed his choice to repeatedly choose the darkness. You can only show someone a different path so many times before letting go, and ultimately letting them decide which path they want to take. Looking back I see how many times we did try to intervene.

No, we never hospitalized him, but we did try everything we knew how to do to make him happy and show him how to be happy within himself. We did the best we could, and it was actually never our choice of how he would move forward after each intervention. There is a saying that you can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved, and I feel like at the end of the day, as much as it hurts, he didn’t want to be saved.

I forgive him for taking his own life, and am saddened at how much I understand now what he did and even why he did it. I just will never accept it was the right choice, or that he couldn’t have found another way. Happy birthday dad. I guess you finally found your peace, I’m just so sorry for you that you never found the light.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Call 1-800-273-8255

Warning! This is not a warm and fuzzy blog post. If you are looking for warm and fuzzy go google sweet cat pics or something. This is me being sick and tired of writers (and all artists for that matter) being asked to work for free. I’m over it! This trend of websites popping up all over posting job openings for unpaid positions ticks me off!! In my opinion they should not be allowed on job boards because unpaid= not a job in my book!

What prompted this angry blog post from me? Welp, I’ve been trying to get more writing work because my husband is planning on going back to school in the fall and I am going to need to take over more of the money making responsibilities. I’ve been filling out lots of applications and stumbled onto a website similar to one I’m already getting paid to write for. So, I sent an email to this writing website because I heard they too are seeking new writers. In the email I listed my credentials, how long I’ve been writing and ended with an inquiry about compensation. Was promptly emailed this:

“Right now, we are only inviting people to join our writers community, which offers a link and Google+ authorship, but they are not paid positions. It’s a steadily growing group of writers who want a bit more exposure with their work. If you’re interested in that, you can read more and sign up at (website redacted).”

Below is the response I WANTED to send back to the company but instead opted to not respond at all.

Dear evil company that plans to make money off the backs of unpaid writers,

Most writers don’t need exposure. For the most part, we all get plenty of exposure by excitedly sharing what we write with friends, family and our social networks via facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and more.

What most writers DO need is rent money, food money, gas money and money to pay the rest of our bills. Would you expect your dentist, your plumber, your landlord/ mortgage loan officer, your doctor or any other service provider to be paid in word of mouth advertising? I highly doubt it, so why can’t you pay a writer for their services?


No, I’m not interested in working for your company and I sincerely hope other writers will refrain from writing for your company for free as well. Continuing to make websites and publications think it is okay to not pay us is unacceptable and needs to be stopped. However, as I’m not a jerk, I do wish you good luck in your future ventures.


All the best,
Ashley Grant

In the television show Revenge– Fauxmanda aka the “real” Emily Thorne makes a drink called The Black Dahlia. In it she puts 3 oz. Vodka, 1 oz. Creme de Cassis and a little Blackberry Liqueur. She then puts it in a martini shaker with ice, shakes it and strains it into a martini glass.

I figured- Since I was at a blogging conference…and could not check in until an hour later, I was bored and my bartender Vince was nice- what better time to try it?!?

Vince added some flair by garnishing the drink with some raspberries and voila! I had my Black Dahlia.

Verdict of this cocktail? Sooooo good! Somewhat sweet with a kick and very smooth. Would definitely order it again!!!

This post may contain a link to an affiliate. See my disclosure policy for more information.

I'm a brand ambassador for Citrus Magic, and though this post is sponsored, all opinions and images below are my own.

I can’t stand a stinky space. I’ve got an incredibly sensitive nose, and when I walk into a space I don’t want it to smell bad. I don’t want to smell your pets, or your garbage, and certainly not last nights dinner. This is why I LOVE Citrus Magic Solid Air Fresheners. They absorb odors and stop the stink. My favorite two fragrances so far have been Pure Linen and Lavender.

Here are 8 spaces that I feel NEED a Citrus Magic Solid Air Freshener:

1. Under the seat in your car and/or your RV – I’ve got the New Car scent in mine right now!

2. On the back of your toilet in the bathroom – You know why.

3. The floor of your walk-in closet – It smells nice while you’re picking out your clothes.

4. Inside your home office – Though NOT scientifically proven, I feel like a nicer smelling space makes you more productive.

5. Laundry room – Come on now, you know darn well you don’t wash and dry all of your clothes every night. Absorb the odors that come with piled up dirty laundry. You’re welcome!

6. The garbage can – I put one in the bottom of mine and place the bag over it. It keeps odors out of my can surprisingly well!

7. In the pet area – I know my furbabies can stink a good stink, and Citrus Magic stops it before they can say woof!

8. In the garage – I don’t have a garage right now, but I remember the odors that came out of my parent’s garage after dad mowed the lawn. This space could have benefited big time from the odor absorbing magic of Citrus Magic Solid Air Fresheners.

BONUS – if you live in a state that has basements, I’d recommend adding one there too! Heck, put one in every room, because friends don’t let friends have stinky spaces!

Do you want to get some of the Citrus Magic Solid Air Fresheners for yourself? They are on sale at select Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, Publix, Winn Dixies, and here on Amazon.

This post may contain a link to an affiliate. See my disclosure policy for more information.

Today, I thought it would be fun to switch things up a bit and offer the readers of this blog a guest post. In fact, it turned out so wonderful, that I would like to do this many times more in the future. But, back to today’s guest post. This post comes from the amazing Tammy Furey whom I met in the group Screw the Nine to Five Facebook group. Without further adieu, here’s Tammy’s post:

If you visit London and dare to ride on the underground trains, the one thing you will hear constantly is “mind the gap”. People do their best and take wide strides to bridge the gap between the platform and the station.

This is the essence of Law of Attraction. We are trying to bridge the gap between where we are and where we want to be. We try to mind the gap between these two states and jump onto the train of manifestation. At least that is the idea. What usually happens is that people end up with one foot on the platform and the other foot on the train whilst staring, in desperation, at the gap! All they can think about is the gap between where they are and where they want to be (and their legs are being painfully slammed by the train doors).

This is what a lack based mindset looks like and it means that your train is never going to have the chance to leave the station! You are blocking yourself from the life you dream of.

Luckily there is a solution: it’s name is Gratitude.

Gratitude is the fastest way to shift this self-created block in your life. You may have bumped into gratitude practices before and questioned the relevance on your life. You may think that your current life circumstances are so nasty that you just want to get on with manifesting a better life: “Anything but this!”. Yet this is where the gap widens to the size of a canyon.

My question is this: how can gratitude not be the most important focus in your life? If you don’t embrace life, how the heck is life going to even want to play with you and give you more gifts? “Well I gave them all this cool stuff and all they do is whinge and moan. Why should I do that again?”.

Gratitude removes the thought of lack even existing in your life: it removes the gap. It helps you see what you actually have in your life rather than being trapped in the strangle hold of lack based, depressive thinking. You start to see how you have innocently, through thinking, constructed a life that appears to be so unhappy. Notice I say “appears”? It is your thinking which paints the world with the brushes labelled “good” or “bad”, not the objects and people themselves.

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance”. ~Eckhart Tolle

When you love what you have, you do not desperately look to change your life’s circumstances to get your happy going on. Rather, you enjoy playing with life and moving into new experiences. There is no lack. There is no gap except that which is constructed through your thinking. You get out of your own way and life starts to flow again.

“Appreciation is the secret to life. Become a person who appreciates, and you will thrive; you will fulfil your reason for being”. Abraham-Hicks

How do you do this and get more gratitude flowing in your life? I invite you, each day to take note, preferably on paper, of three things that you are grateful for. The first week may seem easy but as the practice continues you will start to look deeper into your life and get more specific about exactly what is pleasing: in all its forms. You will dive deeper into life, into this amazing universe that we hang out in. Your eyes will become open to the continuous conversation that you are part of, and finally notice all the gifts that you are continuously been given. Then you will naturally allow the gratitude that you are to flow. Life will respond in kind.

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough”. ~Oprah Winfrey

To learn more about gratitude, visit www.fureycoaching.com/gratitude

Tammy Furey is a coach, blogger, writer, speaker who is in love with life in all its colours, seasons and tastes. She loves to guide parents to grow as their children grow (whilst freeing themselves from stress, anxiety and depression that so often haunts the lives of parents).

www.facebook.com/tammyfurey
www.facebook.com/groups/getthegratitude
www.fureycoaching.com

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a sucker for a fun craft project. Though this post is sponsored by Citrus Magic, the ideas, opinions and images below are my own. Check it out!

I wanted to do an upcycle project, because I love, love, LOVE taking something that would ordinarily be garbage and transforming it into something super fun! I’ve been looking at my Citrus Magic Solid Air Fresheners since I got them, and have been thinking about the fun things I could do with the white containers once the product inside had dried up and the containers were ready to be thrown away.

Inspiration suddenly struck while I was watching videos on Youtube about how to decorate for Halloween. Pumpkins! Yes! That’s what these sexy containers would be transformed into. And, so I went to Wal-Mart and bought orange and black acrylic paint, and waited until my Citrus Magic Solid Air Fresheners were ready to swap out for new ones.

I confess, I got a little impatient, lol. Me? Impatient? No! YES!!!!! So – instead of waiting, I went ahead and played with three of them that weren’t quite finished, and the fourth one that was. Haha!

I took the three that weren’t done and painted the exterior orange, and the one that was finished – I painted it black inside and out. Here’s what it looked like with a single coat of paint:

I noticed some white splotches after the dried, so I gave all the containers another coat of paint and let them dry completely again before moving onto the next step.

For the orange ones, I simply painted pumpkin faces on them like this:

The black one though… I got extra creative with that one. I took the top of it off, and using an X-acto knife cut out the center ridges so I would have an opening to stuff something into. I had some black webbing and some orange spiders from last Halloween, so I did this:

How fun is that?!? I just adore how these upcycled crafts came out, and feel like with a little creativity there are so many things we can do with items that would normally just go in the recycle bin. I can’t wait to share my ideas for upcycling the jars from my Citrus Magic candles!!! Spoiler alert – it’s also Halloween themed! Until next time friends, may your crafts be creative, and your messes be minimal.

This post may contain a link to an affiliate. See my disclosure policy for more information.