Knowledge

One More Move: Face Yourself

Posted on by Zinga H

Being an authentic leader, requires a healthy and growing amount of self-awareness. Back when I was in college (not tooooo long ago), I realized, I would avoid myself in the mirror if I was feeling the winter/semester blues. Now, I am a lot better at choosing to be positive, optimistic, and present, but back then I found this to be a big indicator that I was in a fog.

So why might one avoid seeing themselves in the mirror when they are down? 

Avoidance is a coping mechanism we think helps us escape feelings and thoughts we do not want to deal with. I didn’t want to deal with being a first-generation, out-of-state, working-class dishwashing college student in the middle of my first dreary/frozen Ohio winter. From my reflections, I saw this as a time where my mind was not happy with my situation and thus nothing was good enough, most importantly the view of myself. It was almost as if I could not look myself in the eye because then all the truth would spill out and I would have to face it. One good thing is: avoidance and other limiting thoughts and behaviors are surmountable. It just takes practice.

Here I am, growing my authentic leadership everyday, and hopefully you are too! Facing yourself in good times and especially bad times is a conversation you must continue in order to ensure your mind, body, and spirit are all on good terms. So my One More Move Challenge below is to Face Your Self.

Challenge steps:

  1. Find a comfortable place with a mirror.
  2. Stand in front of the mirror and move close enough to feel as though you are truly staring within – .
  3. Ask yourself: How can I achieve [x] ? ;  or How can I project who [I truly am]? 
  4. Answer yourself
  5. Accept your answer and express gratitude for your honesty.
  6. *Bonus*: Give yourself a big kiss. [Rarely my style, but it can be fun :)].

Seems simple, but this may be uncomfortable for some people. Facing ourselves is not a practice people delve in often. Find a moment to make friends because you are your own best friend for life. Repeat this exercise every and you’ll begin to build your confidence and character leading  to your authentic career brand. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

One More Move - Sounds out the word omm which is a common chant in yoga

One More Move: Give Gratitude

Posted on by Zinga H

Back to our regularly scheduled One More Move article! This series gives you singular moves to keep you motivated, authentic, and connected as your grow you personal and career path. This week, I challenge you to express gratitude. Why? Because it is through this expression of gratitude that we heighten our life’s quality, elevate our mood, and build our interpersonal relationships with others.

The benefits of gratitude are immense. It affects our mind, body, and soul. Below is an excellently designed infographic on The Power of Gratitude. You can see how the power of gratitude can help you can gain more energy, get better sleep, be less anxious, and have fewer headaches. All these benefits are necessary to regulate in order to stay motivated on the long-haul to your legacy. In a sense gratitude is the attitude of leadership that keeps us going and connected to ourselves and others around us. How do you find gratitude through out your day? 

12 Steps to Thrive

Credit Thanksgiving Infographic from Mind Valley Academy.

Here 5 easy ways to express gratitude today!

  1. Write a recommendation on LinkedIn  
  2. Send a thank you card to a colleague
  3. Give a generous tip to your server
  4. Publicly thank someone on Facebook
  5. Handwrite a letter of appreciation to a mentor your admire

Tiny Buddha offers 50 unique ways to express gratitude, which focuses a lot of being fully present with others  and considering ways to truly touch another person as a leader. There are many places where we can express gratitude. When we take time to make this one move we ripple forward positivity and good vibrations.

To cap off, here is a TED Talk on the Transformative Power of Gratitude. Give gratitude fair value as your return on investment is worth the deposit.

Take 1 Hour To Automate Your Social Media

Posted on by Zinga H

I manage the social media as a part of my role. It is a small percentage of my day so to stay consistent with my schedule I set aside 2 hours a month to plan and organize posts I like on Hootsuite. tEREUy1vSfuSu8LzTop3_IMG_2538With the ups and downs of working in higher education, it can be easy to forget to reach out on a daily basis. Using a social media management system can help you to share your own content and build your brand by displaying what interests you value. Here’s how I would split up the time.

10:00  Review my annual social media plan – Make any adjustments and add in any new creative ideas around the events happening in my local area.

10:05 Scan through Feedly and look for articles that match the month’s theme and my brand’s values. I right click through the ones I like and write relevant reviews with a short link going back to the original post. Read through the articles, write a short summary, and find a relevant picture to represent it. Sometimes there will not be a picture that represents well enough, so I will often find a better article or create the picture myself using Canva  or find one on Photopin.

10:35 It averages about a minute per post to get the month scheduled for one post per day. Doing this grew the social media page by 300% over the past three years. It’s small, but steady, growth, and engagement averages around 27% percent of organic views, where organic reach for a page my size benchmarks at around 11%. So once I’m done I check to make sure every day is posted and review for typos.

10:40 For the rest of my time, I scan my social media feeds on Hootsuite and share relevant content from my community, specifically from other social media contributors within our organization, such as what’s happening in the Facebook groups, on our Listservs, or other events emailed to me.

10:50 Finally, I will add in a few posts supporting initiatives I have in my department.

When it comes to social media marketing, what you share from others should balance to four times of what you self-promote. Linking together is key to building a strong voice and vision with your social media brand.Finding time to consistently post is a matter of scheduling and automation. There are plenty of tools to use but Hootsuite is definitely tech I pay to have.

What are your biggest social media management challenges?

Want success control time. This shows a clock falling to the ground to show a sense of time being out of control

Want Success? Wield the Tool of Time!

Posted on by Zinga H

Want success control time. This shows a clock falling to the ground to show a sense of time being out of control
photo credit: 12 sec via photopin (license)

Do you want to move forward in your career, manage multiple projects with ease, drastically reduce stress levels?

You may be wondering how can I take control of my time?

What we know about time do know about time? Scientifically we are still inconclusive. Early theories related time to the breakdown of things; the collapse into chaos. The theory behind the relationship between time and energy show that with time dormant energy will move velocity and acceleration at a constant rate. Although what time is exactly is still fuzzy to definitions science agrees it plays an important role in the things that happen and perhaps even the creation of the universe.

Yet, with all the studies surrounding time Carrol claims it is “not the be found in the underlying laws of physics” Time does not take up space and does not have a mass. Which in a sense means time is a imaginary. It’s not a real part of our physical world, but one created by us humans. It is hard to pin down this tool we created. Major philosophical theorist divide into three parties: Presentists, Growing-past philosophers, and eternalists. Presentists believe on the present is real. Growing-past philosophers believe the past and the future are real and eternalists believe in the existence and reality of past, present, and future. I lean towards the eternalist camp. I think most entrepreneurs do, since the future is the substance of our dreams.

Time is more valuable than money quote

Which is why “time is money” is the mantra of any wealth warrior. Recorded in The Free-Thinker in 1719, the phrase time is money relates the idea that time is a valuable resource as one of the purest measures of human value since our time is finite on this earth and we must produce what we best can and seize opportunity. Are you leveraging your time to maximize your return? Wasted time is wasted money and it moves you further away from the feeling of success. As though you are not maximizing the opportunities available in your life. How can we escape the subtle sense of chaos that comes with time?

We have to focus on what is really at play. You have a desire to effectively seize the opportunities you have before you. Time-management needs to be re-named to Self-management. Self-management is “the process of evaluation [sic], prioritizing, and organizing one’s tasks” . Time is the imaginary tool we use to measure the movement and completion of tasks. We watch a flower grow and a forgotten yogurt die. When we use the tool of time right we realize the steps we are taking towards our goals. When we use the tool incorrectly, we can dwell in non-present aspects of time like stressing over the future or reminiscing in the sweet past.

How do you manage yourself wisely? The first step is to put yourself first. Self-management is a continuous process of a commitment to developing yourself. It took me ten years to get a comfortable grip on time, and I’m still striving for greater discipline. What major roadblock in my way, was the belief that if I just gave my mind, body, and spirit up to other things I would somehow feel fulfilled with the time I was spending. So I worried unnecessarily, ate indulgently, and felt all types of ways without making any real traction in my goals. It was only when I focused on myself: being my healthiest; cultivating my thoughts for pro-action; and rewarding my behavior with gratitude and respect that I suddenly began to take leaps towards achieving the life I desired.

Practice items

Here are some reflection exercises for self-management:

  • What do your value? How do you rank your values?
  • What are your top 20 priorities? Drop it down to 5.
  • What does it take for you to perform at your best?

Sign up for the free e-Mail course! 5 days to Confidence with Time Series releasing August 17th

References 

Time and Energy – Millennium Relativity.” 2002. 5 Aug. 2015 <http://www.mrelativity.net/TimeEnergy/TimeEnergy.htm>

What Is Time? One Physicist Hunts for the Ultimate Theory …” 2014. 5 Aug. 2015 <http://www.wired.com/2010/02/what-is-time/>

“Time | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.” 2009. 5 Aug. 2015 <http://www.iep.utm.edu/time/>

“What is the idea behind the quote “time is money”? – Quora.” 2014. 5 Aug. 2015 <http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-idea-behind-the-quote-time-is-money>

“Time = Money | SUCCESS Magazine | What Achievers Read.” 2013. 5 Aug. 2015 <http://www.success.com/article/time-money>

“Time Management – Exploratory Studies at Purdue.” 2014. 5 Aug. 2015 <http://www.purdue.edu/exploratory/academic-support-new/time-management.html>

Management: Developing Self-Management Skills … – SQA.” 2007. 5 Aug. 2015 <http://www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/CB3496_self_management.pdf>

One Move Monday: Give a Good Hug

Posted on by Zinga H

One Move Monday Give a Good Hug - Cute Hugging Kittens

It’s Monday and it’s time for One More Move that will bring you closer to your authentic success. This week I challenge you to hug someone for five minutes. Yes, five minutes! In this digital world we’re constantly seeking to connect with more information; more friendships; and more experiences, but sometimes the rush to go from one activity to the next causes us to miss the authentic human to human connection that comes from physical contact. Hugging, holding a hand,  or giving a pat on the back are always to physically and spiritually connect and be a touch point in someone’s life. As a #mompreneur I am always struggling to find quality time with my husband and daughter, yet when I take the time to hug them beyond the quick embrace on my way to work, I find I feel refreshed and fulfilled.

There may be some science behind the method! When we connect in a hug, we generate an oxytocin flow that helps us feel less anxious; get better sleep and boosts our sense of belonging.

Interested in learning more about oxytocin? Here is a great Ted Talk  discussing how oxytocin may build our morality, which builds trust and eventually stable authentic success.


When is the last time you had a good hug? If you take this challenge let me know how it was on twitter @NzingaHart.

photo credit: We Are Family via photopin (license)

one more move omm

One More Move: Visualize Your Vision

Posted on by Zinga H

Note: Hello Readers, I am switching the title of One Move Monday to One More Move. This way I can post when inspired as  opposed to just on Mondays, but I will still regularly post once a week on Monday.

one more move omm

    Now One More Move!

In honor of the workshop I am hosting in Kent, Ohio I am sharing one technique to help build your future of abundant success: visualization. One of humanity’s greatest gifts is the power to imagine a future reality prior to the moment arising. We can foresee what we want our outcome to be and then have a blueprint to flexibly follow. Look to your future and see your greatness when you practice this visualization technique. One practice would be to record it in your own voice and then playing it during a 15 minute break.

Here’s the script from Infinite Futures.

Hack your sleep routine

5 Ways to Hack Your Sleep Routine

Posted on by Zinga H

Hack your sleep routine

Sleeping is important. When it comes to your growing list entrepreneurial ventures using sleep to keep your mind and body fueled will become ever important. Sleep keeps us alert, happy, motivated, and creative. These are all qualities needed to sustain the long hours, pivot  gracefully and receive more opportunities in your life. Check out 5 ways to enhance your sleep schedule, so you can advance your wake time.

  1. Wake Up Earlier – There are several ways to do wake up earlier in the mornings. The first is to have a reason to wake up. Knowing what you want to do with your time will help convince you to wake up. Also, it will give you a good routine to flow into right after turning off your alarm. Besides having a plan, one action to take is to set your alarm at your normal start time then set it ten minutes earlier each morning progressively.

Tweet tip! Ditch your cell alarm and switch to a standalone alarm, that way you can charge in another room and minimize cell phone distractions – 

  • Take Naps – Taking naps is shown to have great effects on our productivity [link]. Many of my friends look at me incredulously when I say I take naps daily. How do I do it? I practice. Start in your nap spot and set your alarm for a 5-minute nap, then a 7 minute, then 10. Work your way up to a 20-minute nap and you will have the power nap [link] mastered.
  1. Sleep in Phases – Poly-phase sleeping is the practice of sleeping on a schedule of multiple smaller rests throughout the day over one long rest during the night. In essence, it’s your nap routine pumped to the max. I’ve not mastered this, but some people manage to get their sleep down to two hours a day. What a dream. Steve Pavlina explains this how to do this in detail.
  1. Meditate – I’ve heard 20 minutes of meditation is equal to 4 hours of rest. Try just one minute [link – YouTube video] to start. The increase in oxygen to your system will help it feel satisfied and mellowed, like the rest you can get from a well-maneuvered massage.
  1. Write Before Bed – Sometimes going to sleep can be difficult, especially for the entrepreneurial mind that often races with new ideas. One way to settle your mind is to take the time to write them all out before going to bed.

A good sleep schedule is a great practice in personal leadership. Take the time to nurture your body and your body will nurture you.

 

photo credit: Dormir en N&B via photopin (license)

Stack of fiction books on a desk

5 Ways To Read 5 Books A Week

Posted on by Zinga H

Stack of fiction books on a desk

I prefer non-fiction myself.

Great leaders take in a lot of information, and when you are just starting out with your passion you may find there is hardly any time to sit down and take in everything you need to know in order to launch your successful venture. Having no time is a limiting mindset that will hold you back. Fortunately reading books has gotten a lot simpler these days. Here are the 5 ways to read at least 5 books per week in order to maintain my edge and personal development.

Change Your Attitude About Reading 

First, you do not  have to read every word of a book to have successfully read it. While yes there are some books  worthy of being fully read, a lot of books will be perfectly useful if you use speed reading practices. Skim, scan,  and  trust your ability to understand concepts without reading every word.

Read on Your Way To Work

One of my favorite websites on the entire internet is my library’s e-book collection. Filled with a host of free e-books and audio books waiting to be taken in by any library card. Check out your library and see if they offer audio book options, which now can often be played through your smartphone. If not YouTube has an extensive collection of audiobooks as well.

Read before you clock in 

Always get to work half an hour early. In that half hour, you can change your world. Or if that’s not possible then the time before you clock in for lunch is another space of time to spend reading. Typically I set a ten-minute clock and go as far as I can. Progress will always be made with consistency.

Read during your downtime
If you are at work, there will be downtime. While I advocate using that downtime to be a better work, that could also include being a better leader, which is applicable in any industry or company. Once again go to your library’s website to see if they have electronic books. Another possibility is letting an audiobook play in the background in lieu of your awesome work playlist.

Read during chore time 
Unless you have a maid, you will have to do a chore or two. The point here is there are some weekly activities you naturally do, like the laundry, dishes, or whatever is going on in the fridge. Use the time to put an audiobook on in the background.

Always find ways to acquire more knowledge for that is the substance of creative thinking, which is the habit of success.

photo credit: Recent, present and future reading material via photopin (license)