Digital Clutter Areas to get Organized

by ajohnson | Sep 24, 2021 | Blog, Life, Opinion

There are a million perks of having a gadget with vast internal memory. You can store a gazillion files without encountering ‘Memory Full’ pop-ups from time to time. You can take as many pictures and videos as you can think. But even that is inevitable because there always comes a day when you begin to have storage issues. 

But even if you are sorted, and think there’s ample free space left you must clear digital clutter to work smoothly and keep your gadgets healthy. They are bound to slow down, lag for hours otherwise.  

All this makes you frustrated and overwhelmed at some point. You can’t work efficiently if your computer is cluttered with files and keeps lagging now and then. Hence, it’s necessary to declutter your digital space from time to time.

But, if you don’t know where to begin, Read on!

Here’s how to proceed for a de-cluttered digital space. 

Digital Clutter Areas to get Organized

Here are 7 Digital Clutter Areas to Get Organized:

1. Mails

Deleting emails is a hassle. However, it is something you have to do. You can make your task easier by selecting multiple messages, or, you can pick one subscription that your mailbox is full of. Supposedly, if you happen to use Amazon a lot, then your inbox might be full of amazon mails. So start with searching Amazon in the email search bar, and select all to delete them. 

While you are at it, do consider unsubscribing from platforms and websites that are irrelevant. It will avoid accumulating clutter in the future. Secondly, if you happen to have important emails, then always ensure that you mark them important, to prevent them from going down the trash. 

The easiest way to do this is to pick one day or a few days a week to do it a few at a time. I like to spend about 30 minutes at a time and unsubscribe and mark as spam, especially if I know I didn’t subscribe to the list at all. I do as much as possible in that timeframe, and then I wait until the next week or day to do the next list. Hot tip — do this when you have your favorite beverage of choice and it will make it go faster and your wallet will have more money left!

2. Screenshots

Your screenshots are most likely to contain things you haven’t seen in a gazillion years. Even then they just sit there somewhere in your disk creating storage issues. Time to clear them up. You can start by deleting older ones, and retaining some recent ones that you might need.

I always take screenshots which sometimes are meaningful while most are meaningless. In the moment, I usually think I will remember the importance or use the information, however it sits and I forget about it.

3. Delete cookies

You have to do literally nothing here. If you happen to have windows, then you can simply press Windows + R, and type %temp%, and delete the files that show up.

For iPhone, go to settings – Safari – clear history and website data. Likewise, some apps like Amazon and Tumblr allow you to clear cache internally within the app. Make use of the features. 

On Android, the process is easy. You can use some third-party applications to clean cache and cookies.

4. Your music library

In the era of music streaming, why would you still keep music stored in your gadget’s library? Rather get a subscription, or listen to music free on YouTube without creating a strain on your storage. 

5. Old programs and apps

Our gadgets come installed with apps and programs that are of no use to us. Therefore clean them up. Here’s how. 

To do that, search programs in the Windows search bar, click add or remove programs. Find the one that you don’t need in the list, and uninstall it. 

On Mac, Open Finders – Applications – Click the program you want to delete – click move to trash. 

On iPhones and android, it’s really easy. Just long-press the app, and click uninstall to remove it. 

This happens to all of us, we download something because it’s the new thing or next productivity tool but we never open it past the download. These take up valuable space on the device and can cause increased anxiety or stress especially if notifications are on.

6. Photos and Videos

Photos are memories; you would not like to delete them. We understand the sentiment. However, even in the photo albums, you can find numerous pictures that are identical or multiple shots of the same moment. You can start by deleting them. If you are like me, and your kids get on your phone, you very likely have multiples of the same photo. You can look through and decide which one or few you’d like to keep and delete the rest. 

Once you are done, then head to the video section, and do the same. 

7. Conversations and sent media

Did you know even if you delete media from your phones, they still remain in the media compartment of apps through which you shared them with others? Both WhatsApp and iMessage store media that you send, creating a digital burden on your memory. 

Here’s how you can delete them. 

Whatsapp – Go to WhatsApp settings – storage and data – manage storage -and select the media you want to delete. 

On iMessage, you have to delete the media files conversation by conversations.

Here’s a hack – You do not have to click one image or one message one by one, instead, click select, and swipe vertically, to select multiple without having to click on them. 

Well, here are the major areas you can declutter, but there would be many, so look close. Have a happy decluttering. Trust us, it will only make your life easier. 

Hey, have some tricks and hacks to share? Feel free to drop them in the comments section.

What it Really Means to Have a Positive Mindset

by ajohnson | Sep 16, 2021 | Blog, Life, Opinion

We all have been told to swear by one mantra – be positive. You can look anywhere, on social media or in books, and even the people you talk to; all will always suggest the same thing.

You might find yourself wondering why? Because you might have tried to be positive, but it did not work out for you. And you somehow ended up believing that being positive is to run away from reality. It is to deceive oneself and give false hopes. 

Positivity while being embraced by millions, has been slammed by many people for being misleading. But those who attack it might not even know what positivity is about, or perhaps they have been misled or mistaken. They might have been fed with wrong definitions of positivity. 

They might have been told that to be positive is to give yourself reaffirmation that everything will be fine when instead everything is going downhill. We understand, when times are tough, one may refuse to have hope of better times. 

But being positive is neither deceiving oneself nor giving false hopes. In this article, we would tell you what it really means to have a positive mindset.

What it Really Means to Have a Positive Mindset

The true meaning of positivity:

1. It is not being in denial

What it Really Means to Have a Positive Mindset

Optimists have often been accused of being in denial. They are labeled as cowards who are too afraid to come to terms with their reality. But it is not true. Positivity recognizes both the negative and positive aspects.

They are familiar with the negative aspects; they are not blind to it. Yet they choose to focus on the positive ones because they can control their thoughts. It’s a simple choice they make – to be positive. And the reason they choose it all over again is that they have reaped the benefits of being positive in the past. Being positive helps them stay sane and more controlled about their thoughts and emotions. 

2. A positive mindset helps avoid panic and allows to focus on the solution

What would pessimists do in a chaotic situation? They would walk here and there panicking, rather than focusing on the solution. They would waste their energy thinking negative things when they can invest that time to think of a constructive solution. Consequently, they will not be able to think through and make wise decisions. 

But only if they had a positive mindset, they would believe more in themselves, and eventually, that would allow them to focus on the solution in times of crisis.

3. A positive mindset is all about consistency

If you don’t believe in the power of a positive mindset, chances are that you haven’t tried hard enough to be positive. A positive mindset is not something you can switch on and off. When you have a positive mindset, it means you have to be consistent with it all your life. You have to overpower your negative thoughts with positive ones every step of the way.

For instance, every time you find yourself thinking that you would not manage to crack the interview, tell yourself that you will. You have to do it all your life to finally develop a positive mindset. 

So, if you have given up on optimism believing it does not work, then you did not start in the first place. It’s a good day to start though.

4. A positive mindset is not shutting off your emotions

Emotions are the essence of our being. No one can avoid having emotions and that includes positive people as well. Like everyone else, positive people too have their occasional breakdowns; they experience all the negative emotions such as sadness, sorrow, wrath, fear, vulnerability. That does not make them a negative person, but just humans. 

However, they approach such situations a bit differently. Even though they feel negative emotions, they don’t let it become a phase. For them, they are just a few bad days, nothing else. They have a hope that this too shall pass. This is the magic of a positive mindset. It brings them back from the depths of despair until they go back to it again. (As everyone does)

I hope we maneuvered you to believe in positivity. I so wish that you witness the power of a powerful mindset. It’s worth developing because it makes your life easier. 

Hey there. Have something to say? Don’t hold yourself back from reaching us. We are waiting for you in the comment section.

Things to do to Double the Traffic in 2021

by ajohnson | Sep 5, 2021 | Blog, Life, Opinion

It’s super easy to start a blog of your own. However, driving organic traffic to the website is another story altogether. There are many marketing hacks to drive traffic to your blog, and this is precisely why sometimes, it can get confusing as to which techniques would work for you.

If you have a blog that isn’t doing so well in terms of traffic, worry not, for you have landed in the right place.

Here are 30 tips on how you can double the blog traffic in 2021

1. Invest time in SEO and optimize your blog for search engines.

Make use of keyword research tools to pick relevant keywords, and use them on your website to optimize it for search engines like Google and Bing.

2. Try to write longer blog posts

Long-form posts generate more traffic than shorter posts, so try to write posts that are at least 1000 words in length.

3. Submit your website for indexing to search engines like Google and Yahoo.

4. Try to write listicles and how-to posts as these posts generally do very well in terms of traffic.

Think of common problems your audience faces and write about the solutions to those problems.

5. Divide your content into catchy headlines, subheadings, and bullet lists.

This makes your content reader-friendly and intriguing to read. Blocks of text jumbled up together look tedious to read.

6. Write posts about trending and evergreen topics in your niche.

7. Stress on using long-tail keywords.

It is important to use a mix of shorter and longer keywords. Longer keywords help increase domain authority and rank higher in search results.

8. Interlink your blog posts.

Include links to other relevant blog posts as interlinking helps to rank on search engines.

9. Include social share buttons at the top or bottom of your posts.

10. Add click-to-tweets

Things to do to Double Blog Traffic

11. Use Pinterest to drive blog traffic.

Pinterest is still the number one way to promote your blog. Pin your blog posts and products multiple times a week, and pin all the images within a blog post, as this increases your chances of your pins going viral.

12. Make use of Tailwind.

If you don’t want to use Tailwind, you can always use Pinterest and schedule directly. They have implemented many new features for both options. 

13. Join Facebook groups and interact with other bloggers

Search for relevant Facebook groups within your niche and promote your blog posts there. However, remember that shamelessly promoting your posts in groups just won’t work. You have to interact with other posts and members in the groups, comment on their posts and build a network.

14. Participate in guest posting for others

Guest posting allows you to reach a broader audience with your blog. Have other bloggers guest post on your site, and write guest posts for other blogs to cross-promote your content to their audience as well as yours.

15. Build your email list

Focus on building a strong email list. Send out mailers once every week, and engage with your email subscribers. Give them sneak peeks of exclusive content and products, and build strong relationships with your audience.

16. Post regularly, but pay attention to quality over quantity

It is not imperative for you to post daily, but it is important to post consistently. You can post only twice a week instead of posting daily, but make your content the king, and stick to your schedule of posting twice a week.

17. Streamline your website to make it user-friendly and super-fast to load.

18. Host contests and giveaways

Only those which are relevant to your account and followers will help grow and cultivate the community you want. Don’t overexert yourself here on the wrong audience or products. 

19. Invest time in YouTube marketing

This goes for any and all video marketing as video is a great way to get eyes over to your content in a different way not just traditional words. 

20. Master Instagram marketing

If your audience is on Instagram, it’s best to learn it. If not, no need to sweat it! 

21. Use Twitter to market your blog posts

Twitter is another great way to market your blog posts. Write a catchy text, include a good image and the link to your blog post, and click the Tweet button.

22. Invest in influencer marketing

Influencers are other bloggers within your niche with high domain authority and reach. Reach out to influencers for collaborations and ask them to post about your website and products on their social media sites.

23. Engage in forums like Quora, Reddit, and Yahoo Answers.

24. Reach out to affiliates.

25. Advertise via digital ads.

26. Partner up with other bloggers and brands.

27. Partner with local businesses 

This helps not only build your local following, but it also helps the local business, and we all know how bad local businesses could use the support these days. 

28. Invest in a good theme for your blog website.

29. Use pictures and GIFs in your blog posts.

30. Promote your blog in LinkedIn groups.

That’s all from my side. Hope these tips help you to skyrocket your blog’s traffic. Have any suggestions or ideas? Feel free to drop them in the comments below. 

How to Create a Reset Routine and Get your Life Together

by ajohnson | Sep 3, 2021 | Blog, Life, Opinion

There’s one thing that most of us are all certain about – what kind of life we desire. Some of us want simple things from life, while others want to live lavishly. However, the only way to achieve the life of our dreams is to work for it. Nothing comes easy, we are not privileged enough to be served everything on a silver platter. We have to work hard, we have to struggle, only then we can be somewhat closer to our dream lives. 

However, despite being all clear about, we still make mistakes; we still do things that would prevent us from achieving our dreams. It could be plain habits, perceptions, or not working hard. Nonetheless, don’t waste time blaming yourself. Instead, get to the action; change your life if you have to. Push the reset button and start over with good habits to achieve the kind of life you want. 

You can start by creating a routine to get your life back together. Here’s how. 

How to create a reset routine and get your life together

1. Change Perceptions

It all starts with a mindset, especially when you have to change your life. You cannot go about life, desiring change while still depending on destiny. You have to change your beliefs and embrace the fact that your world is only going to change if you do something about it. 

And you cannot just believe in yourself on Day 1, and start doubting yourself a month later. It does not work like that. Developing perceptions and changing beliefs should be permanent, so much so that you do not go back to your old life, ever again. 

2. Do what you want

Want to be a chartered accountant? Or perhaps a lawyer? Whatever it is, you have to know how you would want to achieve the life you desire.

If you are still a little unclear about it, we suggest reflecting on your life. What is it that you like to do regardless if it is deemed to be a suitable career or not? Secondly, just have a vision. Where do you see yourself in a few years? 

Just think all about it, and you would find it all easier to know where you can go and how. 

3. Identify your flaws

How to Create a Reset Routine and Get your Life Together

When you pushed a reset button, it included resetting your way of life, or some habits or even personality traits that rendered you unproductive and only wasted your time. If you want to achieve your dreams, you have to get rid of these habits, work on your flaws and embrace the ones that aid in your development. 

But before doing anything about it you have to first identify them. Ask yourself, what stops you? What is it that makes you give up? Some fear perhaps or lack of confidence? Whatever it is, you would know it better than we would. Therefore, do a little thinking and find out your flaws before you can correct them. 

4. Set goals for the day

When you have to change yourself for the better, then every day counts. Therefore, make optimal use of the day. As they say, a new day is a chance to change the world. Change your world then. You can start by making goals for the day. 

For instance, if you want to develop a reading habit, then make it a goal to read every day. If you want to start and own a successful business, then work like you haven’t before. Set a goal of covering these many tasks for the day, and this will be your stairs to change. 

5. Get to the action

How to Create a Reset Routine and Get your Life Together

Just as you have heard, actions speak louder than words. Likewise, you would not be able to change your life if you do not make efforts. Everyone can plan, and dream, but only those who take actions and are consistent with them, and manage to change their life for the better.  

Final thoughts

You must have heard; we are the writers of our own life. Start believing in it, and begin. Just so you know, all the good things are waiting for you on the other side of the door. 

How did you change your life? Do you feel you have some resourceful tips that you want to share? Feel free to drop them in the comment section and inspire us all.

The SECRET to Keeping Your Sanity After Your Toddler Stops Napping

by ajohnson | Sep 2, 2021 | Blog, Life, Opinion

We all know that naptime is a sacred time for us moms and we are rarely ready to let go of it. But when your child starts showing signs of dropping their nap, you feel as if you don’t have a choice.

The mere thought of losing your alone time is enough to make you panic. When will you bust out chores? Get some quiet? Work on your side hustle? The thought of having your wildings running around all hours of the day can definitely be a little stressful.

But here’s the thing… there is a GOOD solution to a dropped nap. The solution being to learn how to implement quiet time when your toddler stops napping instead. This will be the saving grace for you, I’m sure of it.

Not sure where to start? Not to worry – I’ll be walking you through that exact transition throughout this post. By the end, you’ll feel you can relax just a bit knowing that dropping a nap isn’t as bad as you once thought.

The SECRET to Keeping Your Sanity After Your Toddler Stops Napping

What is Quiet Time?

If you’re reading this wondering what I’m even talking about, don’t worry – I’ll explain. 

In simple terms, quiet time is a period during the day in which allows your child to escape stimulation. During quiet time, your child avoids anything with lots of lights, noise, or movement. The purpose of this time is to allow your child’s brain a chance to calm down for a little while.

This is a great time for you to calm your brain down, too. (That’s the major benefit, isn’t it?)

When a child naps, they are giving their little developing brains a chance to settle down. But when a toddler stops napping, they can still do that with quiet time.

Toddler Stops Napping: Signs it’s Time to Transition

If your child hasn’t dropped the nap yet but you’re suspecting it might be time, it’s important to know the signs. The last thing you want is to drop the nap before they’re ready and end up with another set of problems on your hands.

Here are a few signs to look for to know if your toddler is truly ready to drop that last nap.

It’s difficult for them to fall asleep

If naptime has turned into a wrestling match marathon, it might be time to consider the transition. A 3-hour fight just for a 90-minute nap isn’t exactly worth it, is it? LOL. Plus, you’re so exhausted by the end of it, you end up falling asleep yourself when you never wanted to.

You’ve tried everything you can think of to help – a relaxing routine that includes diffusing essential oils, running out their energy all morning, and everything in between.

NOTHING. HELPS.

When you’ve reached that point of tear-worthy frustration, it might be time to consider other options. 

Bedtime routine is a nightmare

You had a full wrestling match with your toddler in the afternoon, and then it’s time for a round two complete with dinosaurs around bedtime.

Your child who should be EXHAUSTED from your long day (lord knows you sure are), is nowhere near being tired. He’s running wild, wanting to play, and can’t get enough stories. Those eyes aren’t even heavy! He just rawred at you like a dinosaur before running off to get you to play tag.

You finally wrangle him into the bath to start your “calming” bedtime routine. But nope – you’re now spending the next 2 hours fighting bedtime and end up passed out on the floor next to him from pure exhaustion.

If you can relate to this, that is yet another sign that naps might have reached their expiration date.

Skipped naps have little to no effect on them

It’s that one day that for whatever reason – naps got skipped. You’re stressing out over what tonight will bring. Will it be endless tears and screaming as you approach bedtime? Are we going to get cussed out in baby language for giving them the wrong color cup? You’re not prepared.

But then the time comes… and much to your surprise – they’re fine. They didn’t miss a beat and nobody noticed that naptime got skipped today. They started getting sleepy by bathtime, but no meltdowns occurred (well none out of the ordinary, that is).

Then the same thing happens again. And again. And again.

When skipped naps have little to no effect on your child, that is a PERFECT sign they’re ready to drop them. 

Set the Right Expectations

You figured out that your toddler is indeed ready to stop napping and it’s time to start transitioning over to quiet time. So what do you do next?

The first step is to start setting the right expectations so they know it’s coming and what exactly they should expect. Make them part of the process to help them handle it a bit better.

Last thing you want is to transfer the stress of napping to the stress of your child’s overwhelmed reaction when they notice change happening. 

Take it slow and embrace the transition

First and foremost – take it slow and embrace the transition as much as you can. You don’t need to transition to this overnight (in fact you shouldn’t). Instead, start taking a few steps to lead up to it.

Change the name of naps to “quiet time”. This can help your child to transition a little easier. They’re used to the word quiet time and now you just ease into it looking a little different.

Encourage independent play time. If your toddler has never played by themselves before, they might struggle with quiet time. They won’t want to sit by themselves and you’ll be playing tag around the house the entire time. To make it easier, start encouraging independent play.

You can encourage independent play by:

• Setting up a “yes space” where everything in reach is available to them
• Offer appropriate toys that aren’t too easy to figure out, but aren’t too hard either
• Give them plenty of time with you leading up to independent play
• Limit over-stimulation as it makes kids less willing to play alone 

Make it a family effort. Set the expectation that “quiet time” will be for everyone, not just for them. Everyone needs space and that’s what quiet time will allow. They will transition easier if they know you also are getting your quiet time. Be sure to start this conversation before it actually happens.

Explain it’s time to rest

Many kids respond better when they understand why certain changes are happening. If your child is one of them, they may really benefit from this conversation.

Explain to them that because they no longer need naps, you need to create a time for their brains to rest. Their body doesn’t need it anymore, but that doesn’t mean their brains don’t!

Younger toddlers may gloss over at this, but it certainly can help in some cases!

Set 3-5 boundaries for quiet time

Quiet time will not go well if no boundaries are set – trust me. These will differ from family to family, but come up with 3-5 boundaries that are exclusive to quiet time. 

It will take them a while to understand, but they will eventually catch on and come to expect them. Be gentle but firm when you are enforcing them as this is a process. Stay consistent and it will get easier over time.

Keep it simple by only having a few. Too many will overwhelm your child and they won’t catch on to anything.

Some possible boundaries to consider are:

1. Stay in your room until mom comes to get you
2. If you need something, come get mom (no yelling for her)
3. Set aside your pretty drawing to show mom after quiet time is over
4. Bathroom breaks are limited to only once during quiet time
5. No loud toys or activities during quiet time

Create a “Quiet Time” Environment

Once you’ve set the right expectations, you need the right environment to encourage quiet time. If the environment is too stimulating, it will be really hard to be quiet during this time.

Setup a dedicated area

The best place to start is with the area you choose to utilize for quiet time. You likely won’t want to use an entire playroom for quiet time, but instead a very intentionally setup bedroom.

You might consider having a small table, few select toys, lots of books, stuffed animals, and other items that would encourage quiet time. Avoid having stimulating toys or activities present in the room during quiet time.

Provide exclusive activities

To help with the transition, you might consider having exclusive activities during quiet time. This can mean a wide range of things, so approach it as you see fit.

Things to consider are:

• Age-appropriate puzzle
• Books for them to read 
• Magnet activities
• Various open play crafts

The important part is that these things are exclusive to quiet time to get them excited for when that time rolls around. You might even consider setting up a few different quiet time boxes so that they get a different set of activities each day.

Give them something to look forward to

At first, it may help to offer some sort of reward or activity once quiet time is over. Giving them something to look forward to might encourage them to stay put. If they’re old enough, ONLY offer this reward if they successfully follow the boundaries that have been set. If not, you can offer it as something they know is coming each day.

Some ideas to implement include:

• Special 1-on-1 time with mom
• Going to a park or playing outside
• Watching their favorite movie

Conclusion

Implementing quiet time when your toddler stops napping doesn’t have to be rocket science. Set the expectation ahead of time and create an encouraging environment and the rest will fall into place.

Now over to you – are you going to start implementing quiet time for your toddler? Or if you already have, how is it going for you? 

Let me know by commenting below!