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The Best Self-Help Advice We Can Give

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If you’ve been on the internet longer than, let’s say, a couple of hours, then you’ll know it’s saturated with so-called self-help advice. Everybody wants to find that hidden gem, that top tip to transform your perspective and finally bring you the life you’ve been dreaming of.

What if we told you it’s easier than it sounds? Self-help isn’t about changing and shaping yourself into something based on what a stranger on the internet tells you, it’s about looking deep within, finding that inner sanctum and bringing it to the surface!

Nowadays, everyone is consumed by a desire to be unique and stand-out from the crowd – but if we’re all trying to stand-out, then nothing will change! Self-help isn’t about comparing yourself to those others in the crowd – think of your own growth relative to yourself. The only way to move forward is focus on what you can do for yourself.

Find your inner you – do what you can to make it happy!

Remember: you can’t help anyone else until you’ve helped yourself. That doesn’t mean: be selfish. It means you should evaluate your own growth – take a deeper look at where you’re at, why it makes you happy and why it doesn’t. Our aim is to find what causes that imbalance, to find out why you’re unsatisfied and help bring about a positive change.

So, here is some of the best self-help advice we can give you:

Focus on Yourself

The clue’s in the name: self-help.

In order to be satisfied with yourself, you have to know who you are and what you want. You have know what it takes to fulfil your own desire and make yourself feel good. You can’t find a remedy if you don’t know what ails you.

It’s also just much, much easier to fully accept, and be, yourself.

It’s a pretty common feeling to reach a certain age and look back on your life in a state of embarrassment. Remember your goth phase? Remember when you went all out to impress someone and failed? Compromising on who you are is part of the journey – but just be grateful to reach a point of self-reflection.

Having regrets is part of life – the important part is to take what you’ve experience, see what it teaches you about yourself and find the best way to be you.

Some Things Can’t Be Controlled

Maya Angelou once said: ‘You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them’. In short, you can’t change your experiences, you can only change how you react to them. By expecting that you can control situations, you allow yourself to believe you have some kind of quantifiable power.

Let that feeling go. If you hold in your mind a belief that you can control situations, you allow yourself to suffer when you inevitably fail. Accept that you have no control – you’ll be much happier for it.

You’ll feel less concerned that opportunities slip through your fingers and you’ll be more grateful when you grab one.

Failure is Normal

Success without failure is a privilege experienced by few. Even then, it sours the taste. Without failure, success has no real meaning. If you don’t know what you have to lose in order to win, have you really won?

Okay, that does sound a bit dramatic. What we’re trying to say is that failure isn’t the end. Failure just teaches you what you could have done better next time. Learn from it. Grow from it. The next time you experience the same situation you’ll have that memory of failure to remind you why you keep going.

If you give up when you experience, you might never know what it feels like to succeed. Listen to any industry leader – whether that be a tech giant or a sportsperson at the top of their game – they’ll tell you just how much they had to fail in order to get it right. You’re only failing because you’re not winning – yet.

When you start to succeed, you’ll look back at those moments and be grateful for the experience.

Failure can help you understand what success really means.

Be Grateful For Your Achievements

In ‘The Art of Happiness’, a novel written by Howard C. Cutler detailing a series of conversations with the Dalai Lama, Cutler details a psychological study involving a number of lottery winners and cancer victims. In the study, both groups – the recent lottery winners and the recently diagnosed cancer patients – were interviewed to determine their levels of happiness. As you can imagine, the lottery winners scored a much higher value due to their newfound financial success, compared to the cancer patient’s life-changing diagnosis.

A year later, the same groups were interviewed again. It may not surprise you, but the cancer patients not only had the biggest change in mind-frame, they also far outscored the initial scores of the lottery winners. The lottery winners, on the other hand, went back below their initial rates and even found themselves more unhappy than they had been before they’d found financial success.

The cancer patients learnt to appreciate what their life was – by finding themselves they understood what it meant to be grateful for the opportunities they did have. The lottery winners, on the other hand, had a taste of a life that inevitably leads to dissatisfaction.

Don’t rue the opportunities you missed, be grateful for the ones you did get.

Do it For You

Every self-help journey is designed for one person: yourself. As well as knowing yourself, you’ve got to appreciate yourself, too. Any change you make should be for your own benefit – you’re not doing this for anyone else!

The only person you need to impress is the one you look at in the mirror. A big part of any self-help journey is realising that you don’t need to prove yourself to anyone. Your priority should be making the right decision for yourself – don’t change yourself to fit in with another’s perception of who you should be. Instead, strive to be the best version of yourself.

Keep This In Mind

The takeaway we want you to keep in mind here is to prioritise your self. By putting yourself first, you give yourself the opportunity to grow – that doesn’t mean you should start being selfish, just to learn what you need about yourself to move in a positive direction.

Don’t let the thoughts of others cloud how you feel about yourself – give yourself credit for the position you’re in now and be grateful for every opportunity you’ve been fortunate enough to receive.

Finally, failure isn’t a bad thing. It teaches us what we should do right next time.

If you need help with your mindfulness, or just want some extra advice, get in touch with our experts to see how we might be able to help you!

Different Types of To-Do Lists to Help Organise your Tasks

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So you’ve got a list of tasks you need to do, but you can’t seem to work through them. As the list grows longer and longer, you’re left unmotivated to begin, continue and complete your assignments for the day. 

To-do lists should help you get things done, rather than complicate things and disrupt your productivity. By prioritising and organising the most important tasks from the least important, a practical to-do list should prepare you for the day to come. 

But different types of lists work for different people. Whether it’s using one type or combining multiple methods, an effective to-do list that works for you can help you progress through your tasks and achieve larger goals. 

Create a to-do list that helps you get tasks done
Creating an effectively list can help aid your productivity!

Here are a few different types of to-do lists to try out: 

Bullet Journal System 

Bullet journaling is an all-in-one organisational method that sorts out tasks (things you have to do), events (noteworthy moments in time) and notes (things you don’t want to forget) into a single journal using a technique called rapid logging. 

Rapid logging is essentially capturing information as bulleted lists. Bullet points are used alongside symbols to identify each category and the importance of each bullet. 

The versatility in customising your bullet journal means you can create a daily, monthly or yearly list that keeps track of all your tasks and priorities in one place. 

Bullet journaling is also a forgiving system when tasks haven’t been completed. According to research by I Done This, 41% of to-do items are never completed. Labelling a bullet with a new symbol signifies that it can be completed for a later date. 

While this type of to-do list requires a lot of upkeep, common reasons as to why people stopped using this method are that they were falling behind and weren’t sure if it benefitted their productivity. 

The Burner List 

Rather than listing multiple projects in overwhelming detail, this simple two-column list is intentionally limited to prioritise tasks that need to get done as soon as possible. 

The Burner List is split into four sections: the front burner and counter space on the left-side column, back burner and kitchen sink on the right-side column. 

  • Front burner: this is your top priority list. Your most important project, and the tasks it entails, will be listed here. 
  • Counter space: this space allows you to add more tasks to the front burner project if necessary. 
  • Back burner: your second most important project and its related tasks will be written here. 
  • Kitchen sink: this section is for miscellaneous tasks that you need to do but are unrelated to your front and back burner projects. 

Using the analogy of a chef cooking, the chef will focus more attention on the front burner (first project) while occasionally working on the back burner (second project) as well. 

Burner Lists are designed to be disposable, as you “burn” through the lists once you’ve completed your projects. Recreating this list allows you to constantly prioritise a new project but also discard unfinished tasks that have become unimportant. 

Whether it’s a work project or personal endeavour, the Burner List is accommodating when priorities shift from one project to another. 

While you won’t have room to write everything down, you can focus your time and energy on the tasks that matter the most for your projects. 

Digital Calendar 

If you’re sick and tired of bullet-point lists, using a digital calendar can help keep track of your tasks. By imputing tasks into your calendar, you’ll be able to schedule when to work on your tasks and for how long. 

Preparing ahead of time what tasks you’re going to do and for when limits indecision and forces you to start working immediately. Not only does a calendar keep you on task, but the ability to schedule breaks throughout the day helps you relax in between your tasks. 

With a digital calendar, it is easy to book recurring events, e.g. work meetings, as well as move tasks around due to scheduling changes. But if you underestimate the time it takes to complete each of your tasks, you might have to keep pushing tasks back to get your immediate task done on time. 

Digital Task Management Apps 

Having a to-do list on a mobile app is handy if you need to refer back to your lists often, especially if you’re working on a variety of projects that include many tasks. 

From Asana to ClickUp, there are a plethora of digital platforms that organise your tasks using a range of features, such as project sorting, prioritising tasks and scheduling recurring tasks. 

The ability to share lists with other people is ideal for collaboration as people will be able to work on different tasks that contribute to the same project. 

Completing tasks can be a source of stress for many, so Todoist has gamified task management through their Karma point system. Rewarding users with karma points once they have completed their tasks, people will be more likely to stick to their tasks as they progress through higher levels. 

While digital apps can create visually pleasing lists which sync across various devices, it will take some time to learn how to use these apps, especially when there’s a multitude of features to choose from. 

The Done List 

For those who get overwhelmed with to-do lists, the Done List may help you manage your stress when it comes to completing tasks. 

Rather than setting out your tasks for the day, the purpose of a Done List is to list all the things you’ve accomplished during the day. These achievements will determine the tasks you set for yourself tomorrow.  

This system recognises that people do not get enough done because they have too much to do. By reflecting on what you have done at the end of each day, you can reflect on your productivity levels and motivate yourself to work on your tasks the next day. 

It’s easy to feel guilty when you haven’t completed your tasks, but the Done List takes the emphasis away from incomplete tasks and focuses your attention on good things you’ve achieved. 

Having to update this list daily might seem like a chore, but over time, you’ll be able to track your progress when it comes to the tasks you’ve accomplished, whether big or small. 

Be proud of the tasks you managed to complete
Listing everything you’ve done today is a good way to keep motivation high!

To Conclude 

A to-do list is an essential productivity tool that helps people keep track of the tasks they need to work on. As it is something you will be using very often, you must find a to-do list that works for you. 

With tasks ranging from work to personal, it may be better to adopt different types of to-do lists depending on what projects you’re working on. 

Remember to revise your to-do lists often, whether that’s tackling a hefty task head-on or prioritising time-sensitive work, to allow your workflow to continue. 

An effective to-do list will get you organised, boost your productivity and give you a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day – making your life a little less stressful and a little more easier! 

If you’re looking to improve your productivity, Ceed is here to help you unleash your full potential! Speak to one of our life coaches to find out more. 

3 Reasons to Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone and Into Your Growth Zone

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As we approach the second half of the year, many of us begin to reflect on our progress so far. You might have begun 2021 intending to make certain changes. But most people find it tricky to stick to the goals they set for themselves.

It can be hard to change habits that make us feel comfortable. Feeling secure and safe is a part of human nature, after all. We hear the phrase ‘step outside of your comfort zone’ repeated from time to time. But, how many of us know what it means? 

In this article, we’ll detail what a comfort zone is and why it’s important to step outside of it!

Moving into your growth zone can help you feel on top of the world!

What is a comfort or growth zone?

Your comfort zone is a psychological state where you are safe and at ease. It is a construct that we create to prevent ourselves from feeling anxious or afraid. This makes the comfort zone a great place to stay for many reasons. 

The problem is, your comfort zone has a limit. Outside of your comfort zone lies the learning, growth and panic zones. The one we will focus on is the growth zone. This is where you can make progress and actualise some of your dreams. 

However, before you can get to the growth zone, you need to experience the learning zone. The learning zone is where you develop some of the skills that will support your progress. You begin to unlearn old habits, learn to deal with challenges, acquire new skills and extend the comfort zone.

Try something new

Stepping outside of your comfort zone can seem very daunting for most of us. When was the last time you did something new? If you are not inclined to try something random, then it may be worth asking yourself why.  

Doing things outside of the norm is a great way to build up self-esteem and confidence. At the beginning of a new year, we all make the collective leap together to make a positive change. This creates a sense of community spirit. However, you don’t need an excuse to try something different. Exploring new hobbies or building new habits can add excitement to your daily life. Why not choose to refresh your routine in the middle of the year? 

You don’t need an excuse to try something different!

Face your fears

Stepping outside of your ‘comfort zone’ is all about putting yourself in an ‘uncomfortable’ situation. Very often, we create this idea in our heads that we probably can’t do certain things. The result is that we usually avoid trying new things altogether. 

Your inability to try something different could stem from a fear you have. Sometimes, people develop a fear of rejection that prevents them from doing anything that may result in failure or rejection. But once you try something, you realise that it is nowhere near as bad as you have imagined it to be!  

George Addair once said, “Everything you’ve ever wanted is sitting on the other side of fear”. You do not know what great things may lie on the other side of you putting yourself out there; the other side being the point when you attempt something that you once found scary.

Personal development and growth

Stepping outside of your comfort zone is an integral part of your personal development. If you allow familiarity and complacency to hold you back, you miss out on opportunities to discover more about yourself. Being open to change and the world around us, allows you to widen your perspective. 

Stepping into your growth zone will allow you to find your purpose. You will have a stronger sense of what you want to do and find it easier to set goals. Having the ability to achieve your goals gives you greater confidence and self-esteem. 

You may discover a new talent or skill that helps you at work, for example. You may just feel more excited to try other new things! More importantly, you may be able to overcome a crippling fear. 

Stepping out of your comfort zone can help fill you with confidence!

Our conclusion 

Now that we have a better understanding of what a comfort zone is, it should be much easier to move from your comfort zone to your growth zone. Whilst it can prove difficult to give up old habits, the benefits of exploring new things far outweigh the cons. You can have new exciting experiences, face up to your fears and make some valuable personal progress.  

The choice is yours to start whenever you want. Once you have thought about the things you want to achieve, you can adjust the habits that prevent you from reaching your goals. Remember that great things lie outside your comfort zone if you can stick to the promises you have made for this new chapter of your life. 

Discover more about how you can step outside of your comfort zone and grow by contacting Ceed today. 

Surprising Benefits of Exercise: Confidence and Creativity

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It’s no secret that sitting for long periods negatively affects our physical health. We spend more and more time being inactive during our leisure time, staring at screens and working jobs that encourage sedentary behaviour. This routine can quickly become monotonous, leading us to feel uninspired and bored with our day to day lives. 

Exercise helps us keep our hearts and our bones strong, fight illness and disease. Exercise also positively affects our mental health, memory, learning alertness. There is even research suggesting improving our fitness can have very positive effects on our confidence and creativity. 

Just a little bit of exercise each day can have a significant improvement on how we feel. Aerobic exercise and exercises that incorporate mindfulness are very effective. However, if you enjoy higher intensity exercise, like HIT, you’re more than welcome to do that also. 

Neuroplasticity means the brain has ‘the ability to change and improve throughout a person’s lifetime, particularly when exposed to consistent, targeted exercise and engaging stimuli.’ Physical exercise is a great way to exercise your brain. So, if you want to increase confidence or creativity, consider getting active. 

Regular exercise can drastically improve your mood!

Confidence

 

Many people struggle with self-esteem and confidence issues. Sometimes, these issues are tied to your appearance and how you perceive your body. Social media is often linked to the rise in body image issues and society’s increasing obsession with appearance. 

Exercise is a great way to improve your confidence. This may seem unusual but working out can really change the way we feel and think. We know that it can positively affect our mental health and even increase workplace productivity. 

Over time, exercise allows you to strengthen and tone your body. Regular exercise gives you an improved physique. Seeing a noticeable difference in your physical appearance is a great way to raise your self-image. 

When you exercise, you are doing something good for yourself. This is something to be proud of! The simple act of creating an exercise routine and sticking to it can provide you with a sense of achievement. 

Physical activity has an almost immediate effect on your mood and lasting positive effects on your mental health. Consistent exercise can help reduce long-term feelings of anxiety and depression. Feeling good promotes feelings of self-confidence! 

Self-growth plays an important part in your happiness!

Creativity

There are many examples of creative people using exercise to boost their imagination. Philosopher Henry David Thoreau stated, “the moment my legs begin to move my thoughts begin to flow – as if I had given vent to the stream at the lower end and consequently new fountains flowed into it at the upper”. Similarly, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche advised, “Sit as little as possible”.  
 

In 2013, the Frontiers in Human Neuroscience published a study looking at the impact of physical exercise on convergent and divergent thinking. In the study, researchers found that regular exercisers are more creative than their sedentary peers. 
 

Convergent thinking and divergent thinking are the two components of creative thought. Convergent thinking refers to being able to provide a single answer to a problem. Whereas, divergent thinking involves exploring many possible solutions for a problem. 

To determine whether there was an association between regular exercise and creative thought, researchers had 48 athletes (those who exercise 3 or more times a week) and 48 non-athletes (exercise less than 1 time per week) perform a test. The first task measured convergent thinking. Participants were asked to find an association between three unrelated words. For example, “time,” “hair,” and “stretch” are connected to the word “long”. 

The second task measured divergent thinking. Participants were asked to list as many possible uses for six common household items (for example, “pen,” “towel,” “bottle”). Researchers scored participants on flexibility, originality, fluency and elaboration. Researchers found that the regular exercisers did better on both tasks compared to those who didn’t regularly exercise. Overall, the study revealed that there was an association between exercise and creative thinking. 

Take time to evaluate who you are and how you can improve your mindset!

Our Conclusion 

Exercise has a surprising impact on our confidence and creativity. Moving around changes the way we think and in turn, promotes positive feelings. Positive feelings such as confidence, self-esteem and happiness can significantly improve our quality of life.  

If you want to boost your confidence and imagination, staying active is a healthy and fun way to do it. The best thing about regular exercise is you are not only strengthening your muscles, but also your mind! 

Ceed can help you understand the importance of healthy habits such as exercise. Feel free to explore our range of services here. 

How Exercise Improves Productivity at Work

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Maintaining good physical health will, of course, improve your overall health. But, staying active during the day can also increase productivity and make you a more efficient worker. If you find yourself feeling tired or overwhelmed at work, getting into an exercise routine might be able to help you! 

A paper published in the academic journal, Frontiers in Psychology, found that exercise has clear benefits towards cognitive function and, as a result, increases productivity rates.  

Many modern corporate environments have begun to promote exercise, both on and off site. Employer might offer free or discounted gym memberships to employees or, in some cases, may even build gyms in the office where employees can work during office hours. 

Exercise doesn’t just benefit employees – it benefits the employer, too. The more awake and energized you feel, the better you’ll perform at work. The better you perform at work, the greater your return on investment for the employer! Increased productivity might even lead to promotions and a general improvement of your mood. It could be the start of a really fruitful cycle! 

More and more employers are beginning to recognize the importance of exercise and its positive effects on brainpower.  

So, let’s take a more in-depth look at how exercise can benefit your productivity rates! 

A few minutes of exercise during the day can help you be more productive!

Does exercise really make you more productive?

A recent study by Leeds Metropolitan University found that after going to the gym during work, employees returned more driven and productive than before. Researchers also found that exercise during the workday can improve office workers’ ‘mood and self-reported performance’. There was a clear benefit to exercising at work, not only to employee wellbeing but to competitive advantage and motivation. 

Remember, fifteen minutes exercise is better than nothing! Just because you don’t have the time to do a full hour workout, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother at all! Getting the heart pumping might be all you need to give you that head-start during the working day. 

Stress

It might sound strange to say that exercise helps reduce stress because some exercises can be vigorous and tiresome. When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins that help you rest and relax. So, if your work life is feeling tense, some exercise might do the trick.  

Think of a stress ball – the more you squeeze and tense your muscles, the more relaxed you become! Exercise is no different. By getting your body moving and your blood pumping, you can purge yourself of all the built-up stress. Some of us like working out ahead of the day, whilst others like to get in the gym after work and let all their frustrations go! 

Whether it’s cardio or weight-lifting, get the blood pumping!

Mental Health

When you feel overwhelmed or stressed with work, your mood and mental health can be greatly affected. It’s easy to let work get on top of you – missed a deadline or just got one too many things on your mind? Exercise helps with symptoms of depression because the release of endorphins can help lift your mood. Moving your body promotes changes in your brain that create feelings of well-being. 
 

When your brain releases endorphins during exercise, they act as your body’s natural pain reliever. These chemicals are responsible for the happiness boost you feel after exercise.  

By incorporating exercise into your work schedule, you can help tackle those overwhelming feelings and boost your mood! 

Exercise, like yoga, can help improve mindfulness.

Increased Energy

Exercise can also help you combat tiredness or fatigue by increasing energy levels. Whilst it’ll certainly be difficult at first, the more you exercise, the more your energy levels will gradually increase. Working out allows you to build muscle strength and endurance over time, making you physically more resilient. By improving your body’s resilience, you’ll inevitably have a more positive outlook on life, too! 

The increased energy from exercising can also help improve your mental alertness. This can help keep you aware and focused on your tasks throughout the day. The more energy you have, the better your performance!

Concentration

As anybody who works in an office knows, concentration can sometimes be hard to come by – that’s just another benefit of exercise! Work can sometimes feel as though it is moving very slowly, causing us to lose focus as the day goes on. Exercise improves our ability to get through busy workdays whilst maintaining focus and improving the quality of our work. 

Exercise can also help sufferers of illnesses that affect concentration. It has even been shown to improve symptoms of ADHD. Exercise works similarly to ADHD medications such as Ritalin because it releases chemicals that improve focus and attention.  

Improved concentration will increase your productivity rates!

Memory and Learning

Exercise doesn’t just improve the size of your body – it also improves the size of your brain! A study at the University of British Columbia found that forms of aerobic exercise were shown to increase the size of the hippocampus. The hippocampus is an area of the brain integral to improving memory learning and retention! 

You might not have thought it, but exercise can have a positive effect on your capability to learn as well as your mood! By exercising, you not only allow your mind to let go of stress, but also free it up to soak in other information! 

Our Conclusion

Exercise has many physical benefits that most of us are well aware of. But, as you might not have known, exercise also has countless benefits for the mind, too! It has been proven to be an effective method for improving productivity, raising concentration and even increasing memory retention! Whether you’re an employer, or an employee, gently encouraging exercise amongst your colleagues – whether in group activities or otherwise – could really revitalize your workforce! 

Sticking to an exercise routine, on the other hand, can be difficult! If you need help sticking to your goals and targets, take a look at our other articles for some advice. If you would like to learn more about how Ceed can improve your productivity, you can contact us today. 

How Exercise Benefits Mental Health

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Regular exercise has countless benefits such as increased fitness levels, an improved physique and even helps you live longer. Exercise also contributes to having a healthy heart, bones and joints. But did you know there are also many benefits of exercise on your mental health?   

According to a study published in the Official Journal of the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry, ‘exercise improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and negative mood and by improving self-esteem and cognitive function.’ Exercise not only promotes your physical wellbeing, but also contributes to improving your mental wellbeing!

What is mental wellbeing?

The Department of health defines wellbeing as ‘an individual’s experience of their life; and a comparison of life circumstances with social norms and values.’ More specifically, mental wellbeing is ‘is more than just the absence of mental illness. It is a positive state of mind and body, underpinned by social and psychological wellbeing. It enables and supports good relationships, improved resilience, improved health, meaning, purpose and control.’  

Our mental wellbeing is connected to how we feel in our bodies as well as our minds. Poor physical health reduces our quality of life and affects our mental wellbeing. Luckily, just thirty minutes of exercise at moderate intensity has sufficient health benefits!

Regular exercise can help improve your mental health!

Depression

Exercise helps with symptoms of depression because it lifts your mood. Moving your body promotes changes in your brain that create feelings of well-being. Your brain releases chemicals known as endorphins during exercise that act as your body’s natural pain reliever. These chemicals are responsible for the happiness boost you feel after exercise.  

The recommended weekly exercise for adults is 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity. There are loads of different exercises out there that will help you improve your mood. Any exercise can help improve your mood. So, find one you enjoy and vary your routine to keep things interesting.

Anxiety

If you experience anxiety, exercise can also help to calm your mind. Anxiety is our body’s natural reaction to danger. However, anxiety disorders are caused when worries and fears begin to interrupt your daily life and interfere with relationships.   

Regular exercise is proven to be as effective as medication for treating anxiety. Focusing on a single activity for a set amount of time diverts your attention from your worries. Incorporating mindfulness in your exercise routine further supports focus. Yoga is a great way to combine mindfulness and exercise for a healthier mind.  

Yoga can be a really effective way to manage your mindfulness!

Stress

Have you ever noticed that, when you are stressed, your body feels more tense? The physical symptoms of stress include low energy, headaches, muscle tension or pain and a rapid heartbeat. Well, stress relief is another benefit of consistent exercise!

Working out helps your muscles relax and relieve tensions in the body. It also reduces the level of stress hormones in your body, such as cortisol and adrenaline. So, if you’re stressed, physical activity is a great way to help you rest and relax.

Sleep

Sleep plays a huge role in our overall health. Your quality of sleep affects how much energy you have throughout the day and, as a result, how likely you are to be active. Exercising early in the day has been proven to aid longer sleep and reduce sleep onset – the time it takes to fall asleep. 

When you exercise, your brain converts an amino acid called tryptophan into serotonin. Serotonin benefits your sleep, mood, memory and learning. A good night’s rest reduces tiredness and increases energy making you mentally alert and ready to take on the next day!

In Conclusion

There are many ways exercise benefits your mental wellbeing. Regular exercise reduces symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and improves sleep quality. Overall, staying active is a crucial part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. 

If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of exercise and how you can incorporate them into your routine, then feel free to contact Ceed. Our experts are here to help you reach your goals!

How To Create an Achievable Five-Year Plan

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Have you ever been at an interview or a social gathering and someone randomly asks you:  
 
“What’s your five-year plan?” or “where do you see yourself in five years from now?” 
 
And you offer them the response of “Um, I’m not too sure, I haven’t really thought about it…” 

It seems that everyone around us has some sort of direction as to where they’re headed or where they see themselves in the next five years or so, but we can’t even think past next weekend – YIKES! 

When creating a five-year plan, where do you even begin? Should you make realistic and achievable goals. Where do you want the next five years to take you? 

Setting a five-year plan can help you feel accomplished.

Wait, What Is a Five-Year Plan? 

A Five-Year plan is a list of goals and achievements which you want to reach within the next 5 years of your life. Your goals and achievements can be personal or professional, depending on what you want to change in order to help you visualize your future. 

Usually, your plan will consist of smaller concrete goals to help you achieve the bigger goals on your list of goals and achievements. 

For example, let’s say you wanted to become a qualified heart surgeon (big goal). First, you should apply for universities that offer medical degrees with a clear path into your chosen career (small goal).

So, Why Should You Create a Five-Year Plan? 

Sometimes, our goals and desired achievements seem like a distant dream, slightly unrealistic and probably unattainable, right? 

Well, that’s because we need some sort of plan to turn our dreams into reality. By providing specific timelines and measurements we can keep ourselves accountable for our future ambitions.  

A five-year plan allows you to dive deep into your current lifestyle, clarify your future goals and help you determine whether or not you would be content with your progress in the plan. 

Your plan can be a rough idea of where you want to be a few years in the future; however, we recommend that you put your pen to paper and try to be specific and realistic with your aspirations. 

“Those that make plans, take action”

Brian Tracy.
Making loose but guided plans can help you stay on target.

How To Create an Achievable Five-Year Plan:

Step 1: Determine what’s important to you

If you’re already wanting to create a five-year plan for yourself, you must have an idea of what you want or don’t want from your everyday life.  

You could be unhappy in your current job position and want to change your employment status, or maybe you visualize yourself leading a completely different lifestyle to what are now. 

With a five-year plan, anything and everything is relevant. The reason behind the plan is to better yourself and to picture your progress throughout time. 

For a five-year plan, you want to be thinking about important and life enhancing goals you’ve thought or dreamed about for a long time.  

The term HARD goals can help you form long-term and challenging achievements that can help you strive for success when creating your own five-year plan. Hard goal is another term for your desired end goal. 

H.A.R.D. Goals can help you reach your long-term targets!

Read now: Goal Setting: Striving for Achievable Yet Challenging Goals 

Here are some examples of different categories that your HARD goals can fall under: 

  • Personal Goals: health & fitness, habits, education, mental wellbeing etc. 
  • Family and Friend Goals: making more time, building your relationships, your family status (marriage, separation or children) etc. 
  • Financial / Career Goals: renting/buying a house, paying off debt, work promotions, increased salary, job transfers, employment status (unemployed, employed, self-employed) etc. 
  • Fun Goals: scuba diving certification, skydiving award, growing a sustainable vegetable patch, traveling around the world, attending a live festival etc. 

You can also work with multiple categories for your five-year plan, we recommend splitting your future goals and achievements into separate categories in order to keep your objectives clear, concise and straightforward. 

Split your H.A.R.D. Goals into achievable categories.

Step 2: Be Specific, Yet Realistic

Now that you should have a rough idea of where you would like to be within the next five years, you should begin to think about your desires in a specific, yet realistic way.  

Examples: 

Specific and Realistic: “I’m going to learn how to drive a car, with two lessons a week, in January 2022 and I’ll aim to pass my test 6-9 months later”.  

Unspecific and Unrealistic: “I’m going to learn to drive a car at some point in the next five years and I’ll probably pass my test straight away with only a few lessons”.  

It’s hard to know how to be specific on a five-year plan, you might want to just “be a better person” – but what does a “better person” mean to you? Would you like to make more time for your family and friends? Or you could want to become more eco-friendly with your plastic waste.  

Figure out what your goals mean to you. Generalizing goals, like becoming a better person, won’t help you to visualize and understand what changes need to be made for your long-term success.  

Remember, when it comes to setting realistic goals, plans change and not everything works out exactly how you imagined. So, make sure that when you’re refining your realistic goals, make them manageable and allow room for error or for the course of direction to change.

Step 3: Break Your Goals into Months and Years 

Start with your big goals; the reason as to why you want to start a five-year plan, your end goals. 

Big goal example: Buy a 2-bedroom apartment in London 

Place your big goal at the end of the time line, and figure out smaller and more tangible goals to hit to enable you to reach closer to your end goal.  

Small goal examples:  

1. Pay off debt 

2. Reduce Monthly outgoings (become more budget conscious) 

3. Find an increased salary  

4. Save a deposit  

Remember to be specific with your small goals too. By listing: “pay off debt” as a small goal, it isn’t specific enough to ensure your plan will work. When making short term plans use the SMARTER acronym: 

S – Specific 

M – Measurable 

A – Achievable  

R – Realistic 

T – Time-bound 

E – Evaluate 

R – Readjust 

Assign your smaller (or short-term) goals into months and years, giving you time-bound milestones to reach throughout your five-year plan. Keeping yourself accountable, regularly, will ultimately decide how far away you are from reaching your long-term goals – that’s the reason why you decided to make a five-year plan, remember? 

Read now: How to Build Effective Short-term and Long-term Goals 

Create a calendar to help you keep track of your goals!

Step 4: Adjust and review accordingly

Life is pretty crazy sometimes, isn’t it? 

It’s full of the good and bad, ups and downs and all of the life changing moments. While we want to set SMARTER targets to achieve our HARD goals, we need to realize that not everything is always picture perfect and straightforward.  

You might find that the path you have chosen has changed throughout time, and that’s completely fine! 

You should review your goals monthly to not only see if you’re achieving them, but to change them if they’re not relevant or possible to complete. Here’s an example of goal changing from someone wanting to become a digital nomad, making a full-time income from travelling the world: 

Original goal: In September 2021, travel to Dubai to meet with X brand for a collaboration. 

New goal: In September 2021, postponed trip (due to COVID-19), set up a video conference call and work with X brand virtually.  

Revisiting goals and adjusting them will help you stay focused on the outcome of your five-year plan. You can modify your goals at any stage of your life progress. You may even find that some of your goals are being reached fast, while others take longer than you originally expected.  

Read now: Why Tracking Your Progress Is Important 

Tracking your progress can help you stay motivated!

Conclusion… 

So, where do YOU see yourself in five-years from now? 

It’s critical to remember that, although it can feel as if everyone around you is succeeding and on-track with their goals, that may not be the case. However, having a life coach could help you to see things from a better angle.  

Read now: What is a Life Coach and What do They do? 

Your only competition is yourself and you should only dictate your future yourself. With a five-year plan, you can begin to see where you were and how far you have come with your achievements.  

Read now: Imposter Syndrome: What is it and How to Overcome it 

Become a five-year plan professional with Ceed – Speak to us today to see how we can help you to create your perfect five-year plan. 

Kicking Bad Habits: Is My Caffeine Consumption Unhealthy?

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Many adults, especially in their work lives, rely on caffeinated drinks to maintain their productivity. Millions of people rely on caffeine every day to stay alert and improve concentration.  

While caffeine has its perks, it can also pose serious problems to your health and mental wellbeing. We’ve highlighted how to find out how much caffeine is a healthy amount and if you need to curb your consumption. 

 

Graphical user interface Description automatically generated with medium confidence
Monitor your caffeine consumption to ensure you have a healthy intake!

What to consider about your caffeine intake:

Caffeine is not inherently bad for your health. Up to 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine a day is the recommended safe amount for most healthy adults. That is roughly the same amount of caffeine as four cups of brewed coffee, 10 cans of cola or two “energy shot” drinks.  

Keep in mind that the actual caffeine content in beverages varies widely, especially among energy drinks. Alternative forms of caffeine—such as in powder or liquid form—can provide toxic levels of caffeine. For example, just one teaspoon of powdered caffeine is equivalent to about 28 cups of coffee. Such high levels of caffeine can cause serious health problems and possibly even death. 

Although caffeine use may be safe for adults, it’s not a good idea for children. Adolescents and young adults need to be cautioned about excessive caffeine intake and mixing caffeine with alcohol and other drugs, as it can drastically increase the addictive nature of the substance. Women who are pregnant or who are looking to become pregnant and/or those who are breast-feeding should talk with their doctors about limiting caffeine use to less than 200 mg daily. 

Even among adults, heavy caffeine use can cause unpleasant side effects. And caffeine may not be a good choice for people who are highly sensitive to its effects or who take certain medications.  

You may want to cut back if you’re drinking more than 4 cups of caffeinated coffee a day (or the equivalent) and you have side effects such as: 

  • Headache 
  • Insomnia 
  • Nervousness 
  • Irritability 
  • Frequent urination or inability to control urination 
  • Fast heartbeat 
  • Muscle tremors 

Furthermore, some people are more sensitive to caffeine than others. Be cautious if you’re susceptible to the effects of caffeine, as even small amounts may prompt unwanted effects, such as restlessness and sleep issues.  

How you react to caffeine may be determined in part by how much caffeine you’re used to drinking. People who don’t regularly drink caffeine tend to be more sensitive to its effects, as is the case with any drug.

Cut back on caffeine if you’re not getting enough sleep: 

Caffeine, even in the afternoon, can interfere with your sleep, as it stays in your bloodstream for an average of seven hours. Even small amounts of sleep loss can add up and disturb your daytime alertness and performance.  

Using caffeine to mask sleep deprivation can create an unwelcome cycle. For example, you may drink caffeinated beverages because you have trouble staying awake during the day, however the caffeine keeps you from falling asleep at night, shortening the length of time you sleep.

Factor in any medications or supplements: 

Some medications and herbal supplements may interact with caffeine and exacerbate its effects. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about whether caffeine might affect your medications. Examples of these substances include: 

  • Ephedrine: mixing caffeine with this medication — which is used in decongestants — might increase your risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke or seizure. 
  • Theophylline: this medication, used to open up bronchial airways, tends to have some caffeine-like effects. Thus, taking it with caffeine might increase the adverse effects of caffeine, such as nausea and heart palpitations. 
  • Echinacea: this herbal supplement, which is sometimes used to prevent colds or other infections, may increase the concentration of caffeine in your blood and may increase caffeine’s unpleasant effects. 

Curbing your caffeine habit: 

Finally, whether it’s for one of the reasons above or because you want to save money on coffee drinks, cutting back on caffeine can be challenging. An abrupt decrease in caffeine may cause withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches, fatigue, irritability and difficulty focusing on tasks. Fortunately, these symptoms are usually mild and get better after a few days. Should you want to change your caffeine habit, try these tips: 

  • Keep tabs. Start paying attention to how much caffeine you’re getting from foods and beverages, including energy drinks. Read labels carefully. But remember that your estimate may be a little low because some foods or drinks that contain caffeine don’t list it. 
  • Cut back gradually. For example, drink one fewer can of soda or drink a smaller cup of coffee each day. Or avoid drinking caffeinated beverages late in the day. This will help your body get used to the lower levels of caffeine and lessen potential withdrawal effects. 
  • Go decaf. Most decaffeinated beverages look and taste much the same as their caffeinated counterparts. 
  • Shorten the brew time or consider switching to herbal teas. When making tea, brew it for less time. This cuts down on its caffeine content. Or choose herbal teas that don’t have caffeine. 
  • Check the bottle. Some over-the-counter pain relievers contain caffeine. Look for caffeine-free pain relievers instead.

To Conclude

If you’re like most adults, caffeine is a part of your daily routine. Usually, it will not pose a health problem. Yet be mindful of caffeine’s possible side effects and be ready to cut back if necessary. Excessive caffeine consumption can be a bad habit to pick up as it can negatively affect your lifestyle!

If you would like further help about how to make positive lifestyle changes, contact us today. Ceed can help you stay on top of health and fitness goals like reducing your caffeine intake! 

How Meal Planning Can Transform Your Mind and Body

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Planning your plate ahead of time can really change the way you think about health and fitness – just make sure you have plenty of space in your fridge or freezer!

For those of you that don’t know, meal planning is the process of batch-cooking a set of meals in preparation for the upcoming week. In some instances, you might portion out 3 meals for the week – you could even plan every single meal for the next fortnight!

Why bother? The answer is fairly simple. Meal planning can drastically improve your health. According to a 2017 study published by the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, meal planning was heavily linked with better and healthier food variety and reduced rates of obesity.

Health isn’t the only reason. We’ve put together a comprehensive list of all the reasons why we think meal planning is great!

You don’t have to be a professional to learn how to cook in advance!

1. It can be a real time-saver

If you’re not planning meals, it’s quite likely that you’ll begin to feel a sense of fatigue with regards to cooking every single night of the week. When this happens, you’re much more likely to give up and order in – think of all the time you’d save!

Well, we’ve got a better solution. By spending a bulk of time on a Sunday night planning and preparing meals for the upcoming week, you can ensure you not only save time cooking every night of the week, you’ll also reduce the time wasted planning meals only to bail and get a takeaway! When you have a set routine of meals lined up each night, you’ve created an efficient system of refuelling. That means you’ll have more time to spend elsewhere!

2. Eat a more varied diet

As the study referenced above mentions, meal planning can lead to a more varied diet. Naturally, if you’re meal planning, you’re probably putting more thought into what you’re eating. You’ll have to do a single, bulk shop each week and it’s likely that you’ll plan this out ahead of time. By planning the ingredients that go into each meal, you’ll have a hand in creating a more varied diet.

If you know you’re going to be eating the same meals for the upcoming week, it’s a given that you’ll probably put more thought into making these meals as balanced and varied as possible!

3. Helps maintain portion control

As well as making a more varied diet, when you meal plan you’ll pay more attention to the quantities of food you’re consuming. If you’re cooking in bulk one night a week, you’ll need to pay a lot more attention to the volume of your ingredients and the output of your batch cooking.

By batch-cooking, you’re creating a more consistent and regular portion control across the week. Not only will this help with dieting, but also making your meals more cost effective!

4. Save yourself some money!

This one is pretty obvious. By meal-planning and ensuring you always have a prepared source of food, you lessen the need to panic-buy takeaways throughout the week. We’re not saying you shouldn’t ever have a takeaway, just that by meal planning, you’re much more unlikely to be struck by that last minute decision.

Not only that, by meal planning also tightens your budget. When it comes to the big Sunday batch-cook, you’ll spend less by doing all your shopping at once than sporadic trips spread across the week!

Instead of shopping three or four times a week, going just once will help you save money.

5. Reduce Your Food Waste

This one ties in nicely with point number 3. If you’re cooking with more specific volumes in order to separate out into several portions, you’re almost guaranteed to reduce the amount of food waste you produce. Not only food waste, but packaging, too. It’s often the case that singular or smaller quantities of food still use a heightened amount of packaging – by buying in bulk you’ll reduce both the packaging per meal and the food waste across the week.

Reducing food waste isn’t just good for the environment, it’s good for you pocket, too. The less food waste you produce, the more value for money you’re getting with every purchase.

Cooking portioned food can help reduce food waste

6. Create a habitual routine

Without a clearly defined, regular eating schedule, you’re much more likely to miss out on that varied, healthy lifestyle we mentioned early. When our blood sugar drops, we get cravings to satisfy our hunger as soon as possible. That could be with anything, from takeaways to snacks!

Creating a meal plan helps to keep all this in check. Eating a regular times helps to simultaneously regulate your body – you’ll eventually get used to your new routine and crave snacks less.

Our Final Say

Meal planning is a fairly achievable solution to both health and productivity targets. By preparing food in large quantities, you can save time and money, reduce your food waste and eat a more balanced and varied diet! As well as all those benefits, it’s also a great habit to get into!

If you need help sticking to habits, whether it be health and fitness goals or a desire to kick bad habits, take a look at our services and see if Ceed can help you develop long-term solutions!

Returning to Work after COVID: How to Manage Anxiety

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The majority of us have spent the past year more isolated than we have ever been before. With lockdown restrictions in full place from March 2020 and continuing throughout the majority of the last year, many people spent the lockdown on furlough or remote working. A complete contrast to the fast-paced British work culture we are used to. 

In 2020, remote working became a crucial tool for rescuing jobs by allowing employees to work from home. Over a year later, the government are finally beginning to ease lockdown restrictions with all restrictions set to end completely on June 21st, 2021.  

Many people are finding themselves confused about what this means for the future of jobs. Will we return to the workplace Monday – Friday? Will we continue to work from home? What happens if there is another rise in COVID-19 cases? 

Some people have also developed anxiety about returning to the workplace after so long away. In fact, Bdaily’s research found that 65% of workers are suffering with ‘return to work’ anxiety. So, if you are a little bit anxious, it’s safe to say you’re not alone in feeling that way.  

In this article we’ve highlighted some tips we think you might find some useful for coping with anxiety.

After a year of working from home, returning to the office is a daunting affair.

It’s Ok to Be Anxious 

It’s important to remind yourself that it is perfectly normal to be a little bit anxious. We’ve all been living in uncertain times so your feelings are valid and understandable. Many people are anxious about returning to work so you are not alone. You may even find that some of your colleagues feel the same. 

Your return to work will likely be a gradual process. Make sure to give yourself some time to get used to it. Why not find a routine that will help you adjust and try to stick to it as much as possible? The important thing is to know you’re not alone and feeling anxious is not something to be ashamed of. With the right mindset and support system, anxiety can give way to reassurance. 

The New Normal 

Perhaps, the best thing you can do to prepare for your return to work is to accept that things will be different! COVID has meant we have all had to adjust to sudden changes over the past year. There will likely be some small changes at your workplace but it’s important to remember that it is all for a good cause. 

You can familiarize yourself with any new policies and listen out for changes to Government guidelines. There are plenty of tips on gov.uk about working safely during COVID-19 for both employees and employers. It’s worthwhile to remind yourself that not all changes are negative. Some changes can be positive and you may find the changes to your workplace beneficial.

You’re not the only one experiencing these feelings. Talk to your boss or fellow employees about your concerns!

Speak to Your Boss 

The best thing you can do in most cases is to speak with your employer. They will likely already have prepared for people to feel a little apprehensive about returning to work. You can take the initiative to ask them about the measures in place. If you are concerned about your health and being exposed to the virus, you can ask them about the specific health measures that will be used to keep you and your colleagues safe.  

We also have an article on our blog that explains how businesses can implement digital wellbeing in the workplace. It’s valuable to remember that your employer is there to help you. They may have experienced some of the same feelings about the lockdown and will likely be eager to accommodate your return to the office. 

Hybrid working – splitting your time between your home and the office – could be an exciting new way to work.

Hybrid Working 

Hybrid working or remote working is very likely to become the norm. Hybrid working is defined by Personnel Today as ‘a form of flexible working that allows employees to split their time between attending the workplace and working remotely (typically from home)’. If you are struggling with social anxiety about returning to work, this could be an effective solution to your problem. 

You might feel worried about having to interact with your colleagues in person. Many employees have enjoyed the flexibility of working from home. Some people have even found that they are more productive than when they are at work.  

If you have the option to work remotely and have done so over the past year, speak to your employer about your options. You could use hybrid working as a temporary solution to ease yourself into being back in the workplace. 

Helpful Habits 

Your daily habits can be crucial to your overall well-being. When you are feeling overwhelmed or anxious, healthy habits can help you better manage these feelings. Ensure that you get enough rest and implement habits such as healthy eating and exercise into your daily routine. 

Mindfulness is a useful technique for coping with different types of anxiety. There are tons of effective meditation practices that can help calm your nerves. You can read more about the benefits of mindfulness in the form of meditation, writing and exercise here. 

Try to foster a positive mindset by paying attention to your feelings.

In conclusion 

Many people are experiencing anxiety about ‘the new normal’. Remind yourself that you have plenty of options; you can speak to your boss, explore flexible working and maintain positive habits. After reading this article, you should hopefully find it easier to manage your anxiety about returning to work.  

If you are struggling with anxiety, you can always seek help from a professional. Get in contact with mental health services such as Mind or Samaritans for support. 

If you would like to learn more about how Ceed can help your build and strengthen your mind, you can contact us today. 

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