Habits Archives - Success With Savitha

Habits

3 Reasons why you need to use a calendar

By Vaishnavi Kumar

Calendars reflect what is important to us.

Managing a business isn’t just hectic but also stressful. One does not want to remember and keep track of all the work & events planned just via memory. Instead using a calendar is crucial to success. A good work-life balance is possible we use our time efficiently. This where living by your calendar helps.

Here are 4 major reasons why you should set up the and follow a calendar for life and business:
1. This is a no brainer, a calendar can help us stay organized. Being organized is crucial to success in any area. Calendars help us plan ahead and prepare well for what’s to come. It helps us prioritise. Work-life balance is something everybody struggles to achieve in today’s time. Having a calendar is one of the ways to achieve it.
- Jot down all the work you need to finish for the coming week, month or even year.
- Fix a particular time.
- Mark it in your calendar.
- You can use different colours. For instance, red for important tasks and emergencies, light yellow for tasks that aren’t urgent and so on.
- You’ll now have a proper schedule. You can inform your family and friends well in advance of your availability.
1. Next, it keeps away unnecessary anxiety which can ruin one’s productivity. This is another reason why a calendar is important. Therefore planning your week and setting a schedule where you can give time for work as well as personal commitments may help reduce stress levels.
- You can share it with your family and friends, so that their invites can be accommodated within your schedule.
- This can help deal with the anxiety of not being able to complete your tasks.
1. Lastly, calendars also do the job of reminding us to take a much-needed break. We’re conditioned to believe that taking breaks is unproductive. In reality, taking breaks increases our efficiency and productivity. It recharges our mind and body. A fresh mind and healthy body have a better capacity to handle upcoming tasks and challenges with ease and competence.
- While setting up a calendar make sure you set apart enough time just to look after yourself and your loved ones.
See this post for more productivity tips from us.

See this interesting post from Lifehack on how not to use your calendar

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5 beauty hacks for the girl boss

By Vaishnavi Kumar

It is hard to be a woman.

You must think like a man, act like a lady, look like a young girl, and work like a horse.

Beauty hacks that deliver a punch is what we all need. Women are always juggling their personal and professional lives. In between their daily hustles, there is usually no time to take care of their beauty. Taking care of your beauty is one of the best forms of self-care as it gives you a sense of confidence and happiness. There is a strong relationship between self-care and mental health. Accumulated stress seems to disappear as you start caring for yourself and your beauty. It helps to increase one’s self-esteem, self-love and aids in the flow of positive energy within your soul.

Here are 5 beauty hacks that make your self-care time much more effective:

Liquid lipstick hack:

Many women struggle to apply liquid lipstick perfectly. The difficult part is the lining of the lips. If you have run out of your lipstick liner, use this simple and quick hack – use a toothpick. Apply some liquid lipstick on the toothpick and outline your lips with it. This is a very effective way as toothpicks have a thin and sharp edge. After this step, fill in your lips with the liquid lipstick brush. This way you won’t have to struggle for a long time with the lipstick and get perfect lips in no time.

French manicure hack:

No time to rush to the parlour, but need to get your nails done? Here’s a quick hack to get the easiest and classiest french manicure in no time. Use an eyelash curler. Yes! You heard it right. Place the eyelash curler vertically on your nails in such a way that the extended part of your nails are out so that the nail lacquer does not affect the inner part of the nails.

Ponytail hack :

Tie a quick and voluminous ponytail in no time. Brush your hair into two parts. Follow by tying two pieces of hair in such a way that both of them are independent of each other. Now you need to pull the ponytail that is below, however before that, you need to split the top one into two parts with your fingers and simply pass the other piece of hair through it. This is a very simple and quick hack to get a perfect pony.

Makeup hack :

Use multi-tasking products instead of a dozen different makeup products. A great example is the BB cream which can be used in place of a moisturizer, foundation or a primer. Using an all in one makeup product saves your time and gives you the same look. Use lip cheek tints. It can be used as a lipstick, eyeshadow or blush.

Perfume hack :

Everybody loves to smell good and smelling good is one quality everyone wants to attain. Want to keep the perfume fragrance longer? Most often the fragrance of even the best perfumes seems to fade away after a while.

Here’s a hack to prevent this. Apply the perfume immediately after showering. The steam from the shower opens the pores of our body and spraying the perfume helps the fragrance last longer.

These are simple beauty hacks that according to us will help busy girls take care of their beauty even in their busy schedules.

Let us know in the comments below what your favourite beauty hacks are.

For some kickass boss babe tips see this post here about Jessica Alba

See our Blog post here on making self care a priority

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How to Set Personal Goals?

By Vaishnavi Kumar

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible”
– Tony Robbins

Goals are strong desires that a person or a group of people want to achieve within a particular time frame. People are caught up with achieving work goals that they often forget about their personal goals. While work goals are as much a part of personal goals, it is still important to have separate goals. Let’s talk about setting personal goals.

Why should you plan your personal goals?

Personal goals help you balance work and the art of living. It brings meaning to your work goals, it’s your Why for what you do. It’s what will keep you going during tough times. Begin with setting at least 2 long term goals and 2 short term goals each year.

While we say this, it’s important to set goals that are realistic. Your dream can be going to the moon, but your goal cannot be deciding it today and fulfilling it tomorrow. Such goals only lead to disappointment. Set a realistic goal and achieve it.

What’s your next move?

Jot down your goals – Writing down your goals should be your first step towards achieving them. Make sure to include the reason as well. It not only makes your goals clear but helps you manifest them. Writing down everything distinctly and reading it every day is a must.

Take one step at a time – Don’t rush and try to fulfill everything in a hurry. Take baby steps and make it happen. Remember the saying, “Hurry spoils the curry”. If you try to do everything at the same time you may end up not doing anything well. Work towards it slowly but steadily.

Give it the required time – Fix a particular time in a day and devote it only to work towards goals. We agree that sometimes it becomes difficult to take out time. Try your best as this is for your own satisfaction and well-being.

Plan it – Make a proper plan. Write down your plan of action and things you are going to do to achieve your goals. Don’t go on doing irrelevant things which will lead you to nowhere. Planning is a very important step in setting and achieving goals which one shouldn’t forget.

Give importance – Just writing won’t make any difference. You need to work towards achieving them. Learn to give importance to yourself and your goals. Follow the above steps with full passion and achieve your goals.

We hope this post will take you one step closer towards personal goal setting.

Here are 10 illustrations of personal goals which might help you to get started:
1. Journaling everyday
2. Working out
3. Losing/gaining weight
4. Traveling
5. Giving time to family and friends
6. Eating/drinking healthy
7. Pursuing a hobby/start a new one
8. Excelling in your career
9. Buying car/house
10. Gifting the best life to yourself and your family
Read this post from Author, James Clear on goal setting

Read our post here on on How to find your purpose?

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Sustainable habits to build in 2022

By Vaishnavi Kumar

It’s 2022 and we are into yet another year of unpredictable times. What can and will hold us in good stead is habits that are sustainable, that renew and replenish us. Now more than ever we need the regularity of habits to keep us grounded and anchored in.

Habits are automatic and rigid patterns of behavior. They are usually formed in specific situations and are acquired through repetition. Habits are very difficult to change and some of them remain with us throughout our lives. This is why it is very important to develop habits that are sustainable.

Do you want to build healthy habits but are not sure how to get started? Here are our recommendations for 8 sustainable habits which you should build this year:
1. Journaling– Journaling your thoughts and emotions is a very healthy habit which everybody should develop. Sometimes nobody in this world, not even you yourself are in a position to understand what’s happening. That is when a journal comes to your rescue. Penning down things makes everything simpler and you realize things aren’t that bad.
1. Daily meditation– Meditating daily helps to clear the clutter in your mind and to function better in your personal as well as professional lives. Many researchers have proven that daily meditation boosts productivity. Develop this habit and you now are ready to multitask and manage your daily hassles.
1. Stretching– Stretching is best for improving flexibility, posture and to prevent aches and pains. It helps in enhancing your well-being and practicing it daily is one of the best habits one should develop. Stretching is yet another way to relieve stress and calm your mind.
1. Reading– Reading is a lifelong habit. Take some time out and indulge in reading every day. It not only improves your memory and concentration but also your imagination and creativity. Reading has innumerable benefits and no drawbacks. It also helps to relax your mind and calm your soul.
1. Mini-vacations– Take as many mini vacations as possible. It helps you balance your personal and professional lives. You have more quality in your experiences, you get to switch off often, more time with your loved ones. It also helps you reset and refresh. Taking small breaks often may be more beneficial in the long run Vs 1 or 2 longer breaks. You are filled with positive energy which will help you function at your best.
1. Hydrating regularly– Hydrating yourself regularly is a must. It helps in proper digestion, regulates body temperature, boots skin health, and provides energy. Get yourself a bottle, set your daily hydration goal, and make sure you follow and fulfill the goal every day.
1. Healthy eating– Eating is essential for our survival but eating healthy is critical for long term health. Healthy eating is a habit that will help you in unimaginable ways, from keeping your body fit to boosting your mental health. Eat more veggies and fruits and greens, work with a nutritionist, eat local, cut down on sugar and salt intake. Small steps lead to long term change.
1. Work on your bad habits – Building a habit of working on your bad habits is a habit. Instead of just blaming them to be part of your nature, is a sustainable habit one must develop. Habits are often difficult to change but not impossible. Work on it and try to be a better version of yourself.
These are some of the sustainable habits which we feel everybody should build. These little habits will help you grow stronger and better!

Read our post on Self care here

For more on sustainable habits in 2022 see this post by Forbes

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What are high performance habits?

By Bhumika Ramesh

Most of us designate a high position to productivity in our daily lives, making it a priority in some cases. We can begin by cultivating a few habits that can make this process easier. High-performance habits are key to exponential success. Maintaining consistency in these habits will aid in the elevation of one’s qualities too.

Let’s talk about some of these High performance habits:
- In pursuit of clarity – Seeking out opportunities that provide challenges. Or focusing on oneself to find out what might be right are all different ways of pursuing clarity. Everyone has a unique mix of passions and obstacles. Taking time to reflect and understand them better and making an effort to incorporate them in your life sets you a level above others. Reflection – What passions do you cultivate and practice consistently?
- Energy, consistency and momentum – Feeling exhausted in the afternoon or evening after a hectic day isn’t new for us. But have you ever wondered how people keep themselves driven all day long? Balancing physical and mental energy throughout is key. Giving yourself short focused breaks, making time for relaxing activities promote the release of tension accumulated from the daily grind. It’s a way to refresh and rest your mind and body.
- Find purpose: When you associate your work with a deeper meaning or purpose, your dedication increases. It’s important to know your purpose, have a Why. You tend to excel at it more frequently. Intertwining identity with performance is not common, but once you do so, quality and excellence follow.
Nothing is achieved without hard work. Implementing these habits may not be a piece of cake for us, however the changes that arrive after doing so are worthwhile. Stepping out of the comfort zone is what matters in the end.

The inspiration for this post comes from Brendon Burchard’s Book – High Performance Habits.

We share a number of posts on peak performance and productivity on our Blog. See this post

for more.

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Self Care tips to try today

By Vaishnavi Kumar

“Self-care means giving yourself permission to pause.”

Cecilia Tran

Taking a break no matter how small is essential for the proper functioning and well being of every individual.

Today we are sharing our favourite 5 self care tips that you can start doing right away.

1.Head and Face massagers: These are one of the best and easiest ways to release stress and instantly feel good. Massage therapies are meant to improve people’s well being. 5 minutes with a hand held Head massager can help boost your well being and reduce stress instantly. This is especially helpful if you get frequent headaches and migraines. It also improves circulation and boosts happiness.

Face massagers contribute to the same and reduce signs of ageing as well. Carrying a hand held massager doesn’t require a lot of effort but the benefits are worth enjoying, you can carry this in your purse easily or stack it in your desk draw.

2. Health supplements: As a busy professional,what suffers is being able to eat on time. To make sure you’re staying on top of your health and fitness adding medically recommended health supplements are a good idea. It ensures that our body gets the required nutrients so that we are fit and fine to face any challenge and pressures in personal as well as professional life. It also improves cognitive abilities and helps you concentrate better. Keeping nutritional deficiencies at bay and managing your energy is a good self care practice.

3. Acupressure tools: Acupressure tools are also one of the best ways to relieve any kinds of stress, tension, anxiety and relax your mind and body. It also works as a medium to reduce aches and pains which you might face due to the long hours of work. Acupressure tools have varying sizes, shapes and forms and you get one that works for you. Handheld ones are easy to adapt to. Acupressure as a treatment for almost all health problems and works as an effective way of self care. It may also be a good idea to work with an acupressure practitioner to help you get started.

4. Journal: Journaling your thoughts is one of our most effective self care tips. Penning down your thoughts won’t take you much time but the relief you’ll experience after this will be your real victory. Sometimes we don’t feel like sharing our thoughts even with our closest people and that’s when Journaling comes to our rescue. Releasing our emotions and thoughts by writing will help you clear all the clutter in your mind and help you focus more on work.

5. Hydration and Quick bites: Keeping some healthy snacks like protein bars, nuts and fruit ready at your desk is always a must. If you feel sudden weakness or you want to uplift your mood, or miss a mail, having something ready on hand helps. Drink lots of water, eat, take a deep breath will all help you when you don’t have a moment in your day for yourself. This will even help you focus better.

For more tips on Self care on our Blog see this post here

We also like this post from Kourtney Kardashian’s website for self care tips.

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How to make Self care a priority?

By Vaishnavi Kumar

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
– Buddha

Self care is extremely important in today’s life, where every second person suffers from burnout, physical as well as mental health issues. But the question that bothers most people is, how to take out time for self care when we are unable to finish the things already on our to-do list?

Self care is something that everyone should prioritise, irrespective of their daily routine. This will help in fulfilling work and other commitments more efficiently, as you will be in a better physical and mental state. People often don’t realise how important the “me-time” is and the role it plays in our lives.

There are a lot of ways you can practice self care. You can engage in reading a book, hit the gym, meditate, run, dress up, dance, sing, journal your thoughts or call up a friend. Basically, self care is anything that makes you feel good and helps you reset. This boosts your mood as well as health and gives you more energy and motivation to complete your commitments.

Here are our 4 tips :
1. Set up a schedule – Scheduling your daily routine is the solution to almost all our time and energy problems. Waking up a little early, avoiding procrastination, and realizing that our well-being is equally important can help us make time even for self care. When you set up a schedule, you will notice that there is a lot of time which you don’t even know you’re wasting.
1. Identify your priorities – Know your priorities and make sure to add self care to this list. When you have a lot on your plate knowing what is important helps you stay on top of things. Figure out what your Top 3 – 5 priorities are in your life.
1. Break it up – Practicing self care for one hour straight when you are incredibly busy seems impossible and impractical. So, it is advisable to indulge in your favourite activities in small bits of time. Even if you find a few minutes of free time, use it to check in with yourself. And ask yourself how you are feeling? You may think what difference will 5 minutes make? But try it once and you will see how relaxing and therapeutic it is.
1. Take it as a challenge – If you are a person who loves challenges then this is the best approach for you. Challenges appeal to most people. When all the approaches seem to be a failure you can resort to this method. Give yourself a challenge! Say you will take out at least half hour for yourself, may it be in one stretch or in intervals. The satisfaction you’ll experience after doing this is unimaginable!!!
These are some simple hacks which may help you incorporate self care in your daily routine.

Struggling with burnout? Read this article for our tips on dealing with Burnout.

Also we love this post from Deepak Chopra’s website, read it here.

Practise self care and be the best version of you!

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How to celebrate all your wins?

By Vaishnavi Kumar

“Celebrate every win, no matter how small”
Jack Canfield

Winning is something that everybody craves. The only difference is some people openly say that they want to win. And the others secretly wish for it deep down in their hearts. What as important as winning is celebrating your wins whether its small or big.

Celebrating wins gives us more confidence. This attracts more success as we feel motivated and practice gratitude. It also makes as happy as we share our accomplishments and in turn we receive love and appreciation. You will feel that all the hard work seems to have paid off. Celebrating wins also works to motivate to inspire others.

Here we share some ways to celebrate your wins :-
- Share it with your loved ones- This is important, often we underplay our success or dont think it is big enough to share. When you share your pain with others, it gets halved, but when you share your happiness it is doubled. Throw a small dinner party and invite your loved ones. Spend quality time with them, call up those who can’t make it and share with them the good news. This will also help you make memories which will last forever.
- Gratitude – It’s always important to show gratitude towards those who helped you. However small or big the contribution may be. The easiest way to express gratitude is by saying thank you. You can also give them flowers or chocolates or whatever they love. It needn’t be something expensive as long as it is meaningful. Writing down your what your grateful for is also another way of expressing it.
- Reward yourself– Watch a movie, go to a spa, order in your favorite food or anything else that you love to do. Sometimes the reward may be self care and quiet time.
- Track your journey- Always remember where you started, and where you are today. One way to mark the date and occasion in your Diary, Journal, Yearly wins. This will give you all the more happiness as the progress you have made will make you proud of yourself.
These are just some ways of celebrating your win. How you celebrate your wins is not what is important. Instead the celebration is!

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4 essentials to get you back on track after a work burnout

By Anusha Bapat

The overwhelming feeling of drowning in work isn’t very pleasant. Work burnout is a form of stress that leaves you physically and emotionally tired and unmotivated.

The common causes of this are heavy workload, long working hours and unclear expectations that leave you feeling unaccomplished.

1.Seek support. Look for employee support programs at your workplace. Asking for different responsibilities can break you from feeling bored and tired of repetitive work. Share your thoughts and concerns with the people who genuinely care for you.

2. Join a yoga or meditation class. Meditation and light exercise has been clinically proven to help with stress and anxiety. You may not get results right away but in the long run it is greatly beneficial to your body, mind and soul. It will stop you from depending on caffeine and alcohol too. Make time for meaningful things outside of work like spending time with your friends and journaling. Practicing affirmations and positive thinking help prevent lack of enthusiasm.

3. Ponder on the reasons you feel unsatisfied and discouraged at work. Address the root causes. Remind yourself of what you did differently when you actually loved the job. Some questions to ask yourself are: ‘What is causing the burnout- is it the work or people around me?’, ‘What can I do to stop feeling this way?’, ‘Am I only tired of this particular project or is it my role as a whole?’

4. Take some time off. Use this time to think about the future and whether your current job is accelerating you towards it. Taking a vacation can recharge you and improve your attitude towards work. If you dread work to a point where it takes away your sleep and happiness then it is a sign to recourse your life. Talking to a therapist or finding a new job can help solve your distress.

Work burnout is a very common drawback in every professional’s life. Often it could be a result of a particular project. Although if it causes long term stress and adversely affects your physical and mental health,it may be a good idea to get professional help.

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Questions to ask before investing in stocks

By Bhumika Ramesh

As the lockdown set in, a lot of people turned to online stock trading, investments and markets – evident of the fuel social media has given it. As access to buying and selling stocks becomes relatively easier – society has paved a simpler way to invest in them.

Nevertheless, before doing so, you can ask yourself a few questions to determine your stance in the process of entering the market.

1.Am I in a position to invest?

Before taking a step further, take a look at where you stand in terms of your budget. Take care of your debt (if any) and emergency funds. Work your way towards eliminating any pending credit and personal loans. Start focusing on building an investment-oriented strategy with your personal finances.

2. Is it a good time to invest?

Apart from taking a bet even when the economy seems low, it’s the for the best if you consider the present scenario before investing – although no guarantee can be made. The stock market is not necessarily unpredictable, but they do take turns for the worse at times. Do your research before jumping in.

3. Do I understand the basics of investing and the stock markets?

It’s important to understand the jargon and terminology you will be dealing with before you enter the field. You don’t have to be a pro, but having the basics on hand is beneficial. You can then take decisions with more understanding. And you don’t have to rush to google new terms every time they appear.

4. How much of a risk can I take?

A simple way to approach this is to understand as to what amount of money would you be comfortable in losing – stock markets are always in ups and downs. With the influx of several new companies and the ever-fluctuating cryptocurrency rates, it’s easy to be pulled into the charm of it all. Experiment cautiously and take your first few investments to secure industries.

5. Do you know what to invest in?

The market is vast, no doubt about it. You need to be familiar with the accounts you use and the funds you would invest in. Not everyone is an expert, but you need to have these fundamentals down before you go through the step of trading, buying or investing in stocks. If you want to take it solo, research along with a few trials and errors will be the course. Working with financial advisors is also good enough – they understand where you’re coming from, what your interests are and can help explain the market.

6. Why do I want to invest?

Instead of jumping on the bandwagon like everyone else due to FOMO, ponder over why you actually want to invest in stocks. It might come down to thoughts such as retirement savings or to generate passive income among others. Knowing the reason why helps you to stay on track with your strategy. As change is inevitable, be open to these goals changing as you navigate your way through the stock market.

While beginning to invest, take it slow. Rome was not built in a day. There will be various questions that pop in your head when you venture out into the financial and economic world. With the answers you find, you get more involved. Investing takes time and research. We hope article helps you get started.

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