10 Ways To Use Your Business Skills To Excel At Life {Guest Post}

My life can really annoy me. My mom is getting to the age of crotchety, my best friend gives me an hour by hour detailed report of his day, and my housemate needs constant reminding that the kitchen doesn?t clean itself. All the stress, negative energy and time suckers can add up quick. The truth is, I feel a lot more balanced and successful when I use my business skills to excel at life. Here?s my best 10 business, er, life, skill secrets:

Take out the emotion
As a thinking, feeling, intuitive being, this can be hard, especially when you?re angry. If you need to make a decision you don?t want to, look at the facts, and choose what makes sense in black and white. Use the numbers if you have to.

Shut the door
Ah, the universal signal for do not disturb. Pretend you have a private meeting. Close yourself off for half an hour to focus on what you need to get done.

Block out meetings and appointments
Sticking to a schedule helps me turn it off and tune it out. It?s like switching gears in a car. If you shift correctly, the transition is smooth and you quickly get where you need to go. This is homework time, then dinner time, then me time. (Don?t forget free play open time.)

Be resolution minded
I don?t always have time for quiet listening and venting. Ask, how can we resolve your frustrations and move forward? Dwelling on a problem just uses up energy you could spend on resolving the problem.

Take a long lunch
Chances are you?ll be far more productive when you return to what you need to get done. It?s like a reset button, and every single important thing you own has one. You?re important. Reset a minute.

Focus on what you do best
To successfully grow my business, I need to delegate what I?m bad at. I?m a writer. That?s what I do best. So, hiring an accountant makes sense. In a personal realm, maybe a cook or floor cleaner would give you the extra two hours a week you need to be the best you.

Step outside your snow globe
If you get wrapped up, like a robot, in going, going, going it?s good to take two steps back. Assess the situation. What can you do better? What changes would make you happier? Which of those can you execute and which should you accept as unchangeable?

Declare diplomatic immunity
I am learning not to express an opinion if it means there will be backlash from opposing forces. As in a suited meeting, declare to your best girlfriend, clearly, you?ll be happy to give her a piece of your mind but only if she agrees not to hold it against you.

Accept when no means no
There are lots of ways people say no. You have to recognize when to push back and when to fold. Folding means a little ego hit, but it also means you have an answer. And sometimes life says ?no.?

Be ok with an occasional unproductive day
Last week, I couldn?t stop watching Lifetime television. I knew I had productive things to do ? but it was Sunday, and rainy, the lap cat was purring ? and my sweatpants were oh so comfy. Things you don?t get to today will be there tomorrow.

I love my life. But it isn?t easy being a centered, well balanced young woman. Every day, I wake up with a passion to do what I do: Connect with businesses and make them even more profitable with my marketing content writing. When I use my best business skills to balance my personal life, it helps me focus on what?s important. That way, I can be the best me to absolutely everyone. Now, go excel at life, you powerful woman you, one business skill secret at a time.

By Elspeth Misiaszek, eMarketing Copywriter.