There are some people in this world that are born readers, they will read anything they can lay their hands on.  That happens to be me.  I love reading.  As a child, I would look forward to the day the “Book Club” brochure would arrive at school.  I would carefully go through the catalogue and rate each book as to which ones I would like to order.  I had a maximum spend each month so I would want to make sure I got as much reading as I possibly could for my allowance.
At school from an early age, I could regularly be found in the library.  I was mortified when the library closed during play break and only opened during lunchtime and before school.   It was a relief to go to high school where the library was open extended hours.  The local council library was also one of my favorite places to visit.  
As a young adult, train, and bus rides to and from work gave me the ability to devour books at a great rate of knots.  Once the responsibilities of adulthood, corporate roles and relationships came into fruition, reading quickly took a back step.
A commitment to myself and a new Kindle has reinvigorated my love of reading yet again.  What I found is just twenty minutes of reading a day has such a positive impact, many you don’t think of.  NO matter whether you are reading education books, romance, drama, a magazine or the paper, there are certainly benefits.  Here are just a few:

• Transport yourself to another place with a few turns of the page
• Time to unwind from the day
• Time for you
• Educational
• Self-help books can really help and give you a new perspective
• Inject curiosity
• Spelling improves
• Vocabulary improvements
• Positivity improves
• Awareness
• Concentration and focus improve
• Contributions to conversation increases

There you have my twelve benefits that I found reading twenty minutes a day can bring to or back to your life.  Give it a go, you will love it!  Check out Podcast episode 135 for more detailed information.

Running a business can be hard work. As sole traders we wear many hats & try to do as much as possible ourselves before we realize we have to give up control on some things in order to do the things we are good at & let others do the things they’re good at so we succeed. Otherwise we would be working non-stop & have no life.
We create stress that builds up until our bodies break down. You don’t want to get to that point, it’s really hard to come back from. Stress is a major factor in our lives, that if left untreated, can cause serious harm or illness, disease & death. So what can you do to prevent this?
There are many things luckily, you just have to acknowledge, accept & take action.
1. Get good nutrition
2. Exercise
3. Get 7 to 8hrs sleep
4. Hydrate
5. Relax
Are you eating the bare minimum of 2 fruit & 5 vegetables a day for basic health? Or do you eat processed foods, fast foods, takeaway, whatever you can get your hands on because you don’t have time or can’t be bothered? Wholefood nutrition is key for energy & your immune system. Do you exercise 6 days a week?
A minimum of 15mins a day raising your heart rate & breathing heavy is required. Find something you like to do, add a minimum of 2 days resistance training & you’re good. If you feel & look good, so will your business. Anything 6hrs & under a night regularly is unhealthy & dangerous. It can be the equivalent of driving 0.05 & I’m tipping you wouldn’t go to work drunk.
It affects our cognitive abilities so you won’t perform your best at work. There are so many things you can do to improve your sleep so try them. If you are dehydrated by as little as 2% it affects your general performance. Often when you feel tired you just need water.
Same when you feel hungry, start with water. Our bodies are 80% water so obviously we need to replace it when we sweat, urinate plus all of our bodily functions rely on water to run smoothly.

Finally we need to relax! That S word (stress) is way too prevalent in our lives & it wreaks havoc with our bodies. You have to learn to switch off work mode & find an activity you enjoy each day, spend time with your family, read, meditate, laugh & change your mindset. Discuss these 5 points & share what you like to do, what are your tips & tricks that others might like to take on board to help them. All of this reflects on our business, so make it shine! 
Guest Author: Carolyn Smith Contact: www.inspiredfitnesssolutions.com.au

​That’s right, structurally, we are made for movement, not being still & especially not sitting. We are created for movement, we need to move as much as possible, otherwise problems arise. And it’s not just back & hip issues, or our expanding butts & waistlines or poor posture & bad necks.

I want you to  think about how you can fit more movement into your day & maybe inspire you to get outside doing it. Exercise & variety is so important to everyone.

Fitness has been shown to play such an important part in our brain performance, mental & emotional health, prevention of disease & recovery. Being fit & improving overall wellbeing can help increase confidence in individuals, which can have a huge impact on their career success which is bigger than having the perfect body.

We know exercise releases endorphins that make us feel good & decrease stress, so why isn’t everyone doing it 6 days a week? Why are people still finding excuses?

It doesn’t have to be hard core workouts. Finding something you enjoy is the key. Although resistance training is the best thing, you can still do just 2 x 30min sessions a week & whatever else you like for the other days. Pick any recreational sport or hobby that involves moving a lot, whether it be tennis, table tennis, golf (without the cart), bowling, dancing. Not video games or board games where you are sitting.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Australian women - at three times the rate of breast cancer. The good news? There's an easy way to cut your risk. You can probably guess some of the main risk factors for heart disease. But what's the number one cause? Inactivity!

If you have a lot of work meetings, maybe you could get a tall table to stand around, or take your mtg outside & walk while you talk. It’s not that crazy, & getting the fresh air will do you even more good.

So most people go from a heated house to car to office & back in their car to home & maybe a stop at the gym. All heated environments where germs fester & we get everyone’s colds etc. It’s been proven that those who get more daily fresh air (especially ocean air) live a longer & healthier life. Inhaling fresh air helps clear your lungs and enables you to take deeper, longer breaths of air -- which increases the amount of oxygen that's transported to your body's cells. Oxygen improves our mood, our brain function & increases our energy.

Then there’s the other big thing called the Sun. Spending about 30 minutes in the sun can provide you with nearly a day's supply of vitamin D through skin absorption. Having enough vitamin D in your body helps your bones form properly, which reduces your risk of developing bone diseases such as osteoporosis. 

According to research, people show more physical signs of relaxation -- including lower blood pressure and lower amounts of the stress hormone cortisol -- when they spent time in the forest rather than in the city.
Sunlight is also thought to help ward off depression and stress because the "happy" chemical serotonin is higher in the brain during the time of year when days are longer.
SO HOW CAN YOU INTRODUCE MORE INCIDENTAL EXERCISE INTO YOUR DAY?

• • Don’t forget that incidental exercise adds up, like walking to the supermarket instead of driving, or taking the stairs instead of the lift.
• • Talking on the telephone? Instead of sitting down, walk around while you chat. If you’re on your mobile, a brisk walk around the block or local park.
• • Use your ad breaks! There’s at least eight minutes of ads per 30 minutes of television watched, so spend that time doing star jumps, abs, using your foam roller, going up and down your stairs or dancing with the kids. Just get moving.
• • Take a five minute stretching break instead of a coffee break at work
• • Take the kids to the park on the weekend. Ride bikes or scooters. Be an example to your kids.
• • Go for a bush walk with friends instead of the BBQ (have a BBQ in the park after instead)
• • Get out in the garden. Spend some time each week planting, watering and tending to your garden. Mow the lawn! It will work up a sweat.
• • Be more active in the workplace – walk to the printer, instead of sending an email, walk to the person’s desk rather than call, stand up rather than sit when answering the phone, keep a glass of water on your desk & the big bottle in the break room so you have to keep filling up.
• • Park further away. Choose the furthest car space in the carpark, or better still, leave the car at home and walk to the shops.
• • Join your work colleagues for a lunchtime walk, swim or sports game once a week.
• • Get a dog that has to be walked!

Remember, incidental exercise is on top of your work out.

Guest Author: Carolyn Smith  www.inspiredfintnesssolutions.com.au

Winter is here, traditionally a season for reflection and review. What’s great and not so great about my lifestyle? What might I like to change… and if so how? What might I like to do more of … and less of?
The new normal is not yet clear for us, which is our opportunity to imagine the beings and doings of our ideal day working at home and perhaps beginning to emerge into the world as Spring arrives.

What has to happen? What do you see and what are your various roles you through the day? Who are you talking with and listening to?
Recently Synergy Circle in an autumn meeting raised the reminder that this is a time of year to review and adjust our vision boards in preparation for the Southern Hemisphere Spring. What’s most important to you to start your day? Members of the online CH Collective mention meditation, yoga, walking + a healthy breakfast for example. Imagine that as a start to each of your days. What time would you go to bed + get up to make that routine happen?
What’s always on your daily Plan-List? Business coaches talk of default diaries. For me, this means structuring a day to include defined times (each with a start + end time) for every regular happening in your day.
These times can be adjusted a little to suit your schedule but those commitments to yourself stay put. They are your priorities. You may choose to block out particular times of day for Projects (they’re important so need a capital P!) You select progressing a new project to be the Important and not Urgent action of your working day. These include your ON the business times. (Research Stephen Covey for more on the Urgent Important matrix or ask me).
What do you use your ON the business time for? Other tasks IN your business can fit around the larger goals. For me, all-important connection chats (with a business colleague, a mentor, a friend) happen just after a mid-morning break or around a mid afternoon break.
These are times when I’m likely to meet some folks online and some in a café or walk park. They are times that can be adjusted lengthened or shortened, made a little later or earlier and they remain in of my ideal average day. 
 What do you need to know about yourself to gain such a day and to create a structure to deliver you that day? What do you choose to stop doing or being to have that day? See for your self the potential. Mull over the possibilities with the folks in your life who matter. Create exact steps that give you clarity on what you truly want in your ideal average day. Imagine that, make that happen. PS. This writing happened as my Important, less urgent task of the day! 

Guest ​Author: Mary Unwin– www.walktall.com.au

​Have you ever contemplated who you really are? I mean not what you do but who you really are.

How would your family members, best friend or colleagues describe you? When we are asked to say who we are generally the first words that come to mind are the roles that we play in life. I’m a business owner, wife, mother, sister, brother, aunt, coach, confidante, personal trainer, web site designer, image consultant, and the list goes on.

These labels are the roles we play in life and most generally we describe ourselves as to the role we play or the position we hold. Have you thought more deeply about who you are? When we know who we truly are and appreciate our strengths and our traits it allows us the freedom to embrace who we truly are and be who we truly want to be. A great exercise is to grab a pen and paper and on one side of the page at the top write the heading
I am a…………………
This is where you can write down all of the labels, those roles or job descriptions. These roles don’t define who we are, the roles change as the seasons of our lives change, job changes and relationship changes.
On the other side of the paper is where we really get to think about who we truly are, what makes us tick, who we truly are, our core essence, all of this enveloped in our values. I am kind, sincere, happy, generous, grateful, calm, ambitious, faithful, determined, courageous, optimistic….. Head this page up with
I am ………
Now is your time to contemplate and think about who you truly are. For some people this is a difficult task to consider their true essence, what makes them tick. It may be helpful to think about how your best friend or a special family member would describe you.

Maybe light a lovely candle, put on some soft music and diffuse an essential oil and take some time out for you to figure out who you are. This is the last part of the exercise and is a powerful moment.

As you read through your list of I am, consider if you were to meet you in one of the roles on the other side of the page would you like you? Would you want to be friends with you? Would you want to sit down and share lunch or chat with you?

If you’re not sure in some of the areas, this is a great place to start looking at how to be more of what you are happy with. This exercise is a powerful exercise to do 2 or 3 times a year as a little self-check in. Are you going to try this for yourself? Doing this exercise often you can continue the friendship with yourself.