The Perfectionism Project

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is considered by many to be one of the most influential business and personal development books ever written. Being the self-development junkie I am, I of course got myself a copy!

The first time I read it, however, I didn't really get much from it. It was a few years ago and while I made my way through the book I did so without really engaging with it. While I felt inspired at some level, I didn't put any of Napoleon Hill's advice into practice, I quickly forgot everything I'd learned and was left believing that perhaps this book had been overhyped.

But a couple of months ago, I saw this book on my shelf when I was packing for a holiday and decided to take it with me. Mainly because I'd been learning a lot about the law of attraction and this book comes up a lot in that context too.

Long story short, it felt like I was reading a completely different book to the one I was the first time (even though it was the exact same copy) and took so many lessons away from it - many of which I've put into practice.

This book is challenging to summarise, as the magic of this book can really only by discovered by reading it cover-to-cover. So instead, I'm sharing the biggest lessons I learned from this book and how I've been applying them to my life. I hope you enjoy it!

And to find everything I mention in the episode, make sure you visit the show notes here.

In June I decided to take a step back from everything I've been doing in my business and figure out where I should be spending my time. To do it, I asked myself a question that came from The Four-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss - "What are the 20% of activities that are yielding 80% of my results?".

After having a good look at everything I was doing, I realised that a few months ago I decided to make my content creation process more time intensive. And while I do love spending time making content, I didn't make this decision for the right reason - although I didn't know it at the time.

I was self-sabotaging.

By keeping myself busy with the easy stuff, I didn't have enough time to do the challenging stuff. The put myself out there stuff. The risk rejection stuff. The grow my business stuff. And I've realized that if I want to achieve my impossible goal, I need to make more room in my calendar for the activities that will lead to that.

Since I get the most love from you guys about my podcast and my Instagram account, that's where I'll be spending most of my time. At least for the next few months while I test out a new way of doing things! But the good news is that I've decided to do more podcast episodes. And, because I'm no longer doing my daily vlog, I thought it'd be fun to give you guys a monthly update in podcast form. I hope you enjoy it!

• The Four-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss
• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
• Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas
• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
• The Curated Closet by Anuschka Rees
• Tim Ferriss Fear-Setting Exercise

As many of you know, when I first started my blog I was studying full-time and working part-time. When I finished studying, I was working full-time whilst trying to grow my blog. And it wasn't easy!

Gaining momentum can be challenging when you only have a couple of hours each day, but it can be done! Over the last five years I've done my fair share of experimenting and have had to figure out how to make the most of the limited time I had - and in this episode I'm sharing it all with you.

If you've been struggling to make time for your side hustle (or maybe you haven't even been able to begin), listen to this episode to get my best advice on how to use the limited time you have.

If you want my help growing your blog, make sure you find out more and sign up for my Grow Your Blog Workshop by clicking here. Registration will close strictly at midnight (EDT) on Friday, 29 June 2018 and I'll be teaching you everything you need to do to set your blog up for success (as well as how to deal with fear of judgement and perfectionism).

And as usual, you can find everything mentioned in this podcast episode in the show notes.

It's normal to feel discouraged when things aren't turning out the way you'd planned but that doesn't mean it's fun! But the thing is - if you quit and give up, you're only creating more discouragement. Which is exactly what you're trying to avoid. So learning how to manage your mind is SO important.

In this episode I'm sharing:

- What creates the feeling of discouragement and how to get yourself out of that emotion

- Why it's normal to feel discouraged when you start something new and how to manage your expectations without losing hope or aiming too low

- How setting effort-based goals, rather than results-based goals, can help you persist through the initial stages of something new

- Why gratitude is so powerful and simple ways to practice it

- And more!

If you've been feeling discouraged when it comes to growing your blog, make sure you find out more and sign up for my Grow Your Blog Workshop by clicking here. Registration will close strictly at midnight (EDT) on Friday, 29 June 2018 and I'll be teaching you everything you need to do to set your blog up for success (as well as how to deal with fear of judgement and perfectionism).

And as usual, you can find everything mentioned in this podcast episode in the show notes.

After spending the last two weeks listening to just about every seminar Jim Rohn ever gave (thanks YouTube!) I've been inspired to dedicate time to reading everyday.

Even though I love reading, in the past I've really struggled to make consistent time for it and I've always had a lot of very good reasons (excuses) as to why I can't fit it in. But I'm managed to get back into the habit by making a few key mindset shifts and doing a few very simple things, so I thought I'd share them with you! So in this podcast episode, I'm sharing how to read more books. I hope you find it helpful!

And to find out more about anything I mention in this podcast episode, make sure you visit the show notes.

Blogging has been one of the most powerful personal development tools I've ever come across, it's enabled me to become more confident, to inspire others, to make money and helped me figure out what to do with my life. So it's not surprising I'm a HUGE advocate of blogging.

In this episode, I'm sharing exactly why I recommend starting a blog - even if you don't have ambitions to become a successful blogger.

If you're interested in starting a blog, make sure you sign up for my Start Your Blog Workshop this weekend. CLICK HERE to find out more and sign up! I don't know if or when I'll be doing something like it again.

I started Smart Twenties in 2013 and at the time, I had no confidence in myself whatsoever. Starting a blog brought up insecurities I never even knew I had and those insecurities kept me small and stuck for a long time.

Five years on, I still struggle with many of the insecurities I had when I first started but I've learned how to manage them and how to keep myself moving forward. In this episode, I share the biggest lessons I've learned and how you can move past your fears - if you have the same ones I had!

If you've been wanting to start a blog, make sure you join my Start Your Blog Workshop that's coming up on 10 June 2018. Click here to find out more and sign up.

At the beginning of 2018, I set myself an 'impossible' goal of making $500,000 in my business. The first 5 months of 2018 have been a rollercoaster ride filled with failure and self-sabotage, so I thought I'd share it all with you.

I've learned an incredible amount about myself and my beliefs already, as well as what it means to work towards a goal without knowing exactly how you're going to achieve it. I hope you find this helpful and if you're working towards a big goal, I have no doubt you'll be able to relate. To find out more make sure you visit the show notes. And if you want to sign up for my Start Your Blog Workshop that will be happening in the coming weeks make sure you click here.

I asked you guys if you'd like me to chat about personal development on Instagram Live (@smarttwenties) and you said yes! But some of you said it's hard to find the time so I thought I'd put it all of it up on the podcast too!

In this episode, I'm sharing some of the thoughts behind two of my popular instagram quotes (since the captions never give me enough room). Here are the quotes I'm chatting about:

"It's always wise to ask yourself whether you're failing on purpose to avoid failing at your purpose."

"To get what you want, you must be grateful for what you have. Otherwise, you'll always be waiting for more - even when you get it."

I hope you guys enjoy this style of episode and as always, I'd love you to let me know if you do! I'll be putting one of these up every time I've done a couple of Instagram Lives. And if you're not already following me on instagram, make sure you find me at @smarttwenties!

If you don't know what you want, it's insanely hard to get it. And while we all know that intellectually, many of us are still blocking ourselves from finding the answer - without even knowing!

In this episode, I'm share 5 reasons you can't figure out what you want as well as the way that I've blocked myself from creating goals in the past. I hope you find it helpful!

And as always, this episode is part of a series on this topic. I've written a blog post about how to figure out what you want, created a free workbook to walk you through each of the life-changing exercises and filmed a YouTube video that will help you see why you've been holding yourself back. You can find it all in the show notes.