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Having a lot of clutter at your home? Why not clear out everything that is of no use and is just taking space in your closet? Be it a clothing, a mug, books, cars or manual labour, people are trading everything online. Swapping is a part of our day to day lives and this is in the natural behaviour of every human, traditionally with the friends and family offline. Similarly, the same thing is now accessible online with the help of a number of online barter sites.

Bartering is one of the oldest ways of trading when people used to exchange or swap their goods and services to get something for them. Earlier DVDs and CDs tended to be the prime candidates for this hoarding but the good news is that there are a handful of ways to swap unwanted and old goods these days. The same thing of swapping old stuff was always possible via channels of print media or trade-in deals in shops, but with the advent of internet marketing, swapping items online has driven an all-new sphere in this area.

Are you one of those who are new to this way of selling old and unwanted stuff? Here’s how you could get started:

Be ruthless: The best time to have a big clear out is while moving or shifting your house. But why to wait for the right time to come when you have everything decided well in advance what to keep and what to get rid of out of your stuff. A large number of people have taken advantage of the digital services to get rid of old stuff in exchange for something new. This is a trend that is rapidly moving towards achieving pace in the coming time. There are probably some items that you’d like to hold on because you have sentimental value attached to that stuff. Wisely opt out for the stuff you want to sell and what you want to keep as the main motive of this act is to get rid of unwanted stuff as much as possible.

Choose your own method: Once you have decided, what you want to sell out of old gear, mobile phones, antique stuff or other such stuff, you will have to work out how to go about a sale. There are few different sites that allow you do so. You can declutter your home and raise cash or the good of your use in return with the help of few websites that you can consider opting out as a medium and get to know the real value of your stuff before you quote the price yourself. Do some research before picking up the best avenue or website to proceed with swapping stuff either for money or for goods and services.

Set a target: If you wish to declutter your closet against money, it is better to set targets you want to reach by selling your stuff. Ideally, bartering and swapping stuff involves the exchange of goods and services for goods and services. While there is a lot of swapping websites that allow you to exchange your old stuff both for money or for stuff you like.
There are a lot of people who have their homes cluttered with a lot of old and unused stuff, and for people like them, bartering is one of the best ways to raise money out of the leftover stuff.

I recently went to a luncheon and introduced myself to the person sitting next to me. I told him who I was and that I was a website designer, he shared with me that he gets emails from people who do what I do all the time and that he got five that day. I mentioned to him that I myself get a lot of website sales emails even though I build websites for a living. There is a tremendous hunger to stand out from the rest in all businesses, however, the volume of website solicitations in which this person received was mind blowing. Almost SPAM-ish. It made me think how many more people may also get this volume of solicitation from companies within the tech industry. This brief conversation taught me a hard reality within my industry, not only from a customer’s perspective but from an industry perspective.

Once a person becomes interested in getting a website built, the website design solicitation emails may become of more interest. The professionalism within the tech industry ranges from “I know enough to get a website going” to being a highly specialized custom websites professional. How can you tell between the good and bad website professionals through a solicitation? The answer is, you can’t. I’ve met many folks who’ve gotten into contracts with companies that don’t perform to what they were promise, or, they can’t get a hold of the professional after trying for months and when they do their updates takes weeks to get done if all. If you get an interesting email solicitation bookmark it. Narrow it down further by taking into consideration if they are local, national or international. Of course price will narrow the search down as well. It comes down to the quality of product and customer service at this point. If you want to take it further, get references from the professionals you interview or look on their website for a list of customers and call them yourself. This can help give you a better understanding from the customer on their work ethic.

The tech industry is growing every day, expanding into different markets and opening a need for other user experiences and automation algorithms. Since around 2013 there has been a big boom in design and tech trends to accommodate all devices. With that boom came a lot more talent, not so talented and a hunger for business. In the end, it only leads to more solicitations. Be cautious, but sometimes, your spam or junk folder can open new doors to better service.

So you want to dive into this mysterious ‘content marketing’ thing.

Maybe you’ve heard me rabbit on about how great it is – how it’s fun to write, fun to read, ethical, useful, great at building relationships and… you know, a multibillion dollar industry by now.

You probably know, maybe even cleverly deduced, that content marketing involves creating… uh, content. Something people like to read/watch/listen to/otherwise consume, that somehow drives your message.

But… how does it work?

How do you write an article that isn’t an ad, that somehow leads people to buy your stuff?

It’s easy enough to get started. Even if you hate writing, you could stick a camera or microphone in your face and just get going.

Will it work, though?

Or will people ignore you?

Maybe even take offence at you?

Or listen to what you have to say… but then not do anything more?

Content marketing is like another other aspect of your business:

Get it wrong and, at best, it’ll be a huge waste of your time, money and energy.

And there are two ways to mess up:

The content part…

And…

… well, the other part.

Luckily, I have a formula that’ll help. I was originally going to call this THE content marketing formula, but… eh. There’s more than one way to hook in a cat.

Step 1) Bait the hook

When I started out with content marketing – writing articles and whatnot – I wrote about whatever came to mind.

Mostly, it was informative – clearly up misconceptions around hypnosis, what it is (and isn’t) and what it can (and can’t) do.

That kept me busy for a long, long time.

A few problems though:

For one, my writing was pretty cringe-worthy back then. I guess that’s not a problem – if you get everything else right, you can probably write really strangely and still get it right.

That, I resolved with practice.

The second problem – people weren’t reading my articles. Traffic was practically zero.

Thirdly, those few who did read, didn’t act on it. They simply moved on to the next thing to take their attention.

It was frustrating to spend so much time for so little response. It was just as well I didn’t rely on my content marketing to pay the bills, otherwise I would have been freaking out.

It didn’t work because straight-up information isn’t content. Not really, which is why folks don’t read textbooks for fun.

People might be curious about what you offer…

But if you really want to grab their attention, you start with their pain.

Your offer must solve some problem in their life. That problem doesn’t have to be dramatic – if you sell, I don’t know, fancy dinner plates, the problem might be not impressing their friends as much as they’d like during dinner parties.

(If this wasn’t a real concern, no one would buy anything but the cheapest plates… )

People can’t ignore their own pain. Talk about it upfront and they’ll pay attention – especially if you let slip you have a solution.

Step 2) Paint the picture

Now they’re thinking about their problem.

It’s time to tell a story – preferably a personal one.

Why?

Because stories are the ultimate content.

They’re informative, entertaining and persuasive.

They’re relatable – when you talk about having the problem, your audience will know you get their struggles.

And they’re addictive. Why else do people spend billions on hearing stories through books, movies, games…

I doubt there’s a successful motivational speaker, coach or leader who doesn’t tell stories often.

But what is a story, really?

All stories – from the simplest anecdote to Lord of the Rings – feature emotional transformation. If none of the characters change how they feel, it doesn’t feel like a story. It comes across as more like a list of facts.

Your stories feature transformation too:

Someone (ideally you) struggled with the same problem your audience does.

You tried the thing you’re offering.

Then your life changed for the better.

It’s hardly Shakespeare but it still works. You hear this formula dozens of times a week but you don’t notice it until you stop and pay attention.

Here’s where it gets good:

When I started slipping in emotional transformations into my articles, things changed. People would reach out to me to say how much they liked my articles.

Traffic to my articles rose… and stayed there.

Even better, I started making sales.

If your content feels flat and uninspiring like mine used to, it’s probably missing this spark.

Step 3) Dive into the logic

There’s an argument that goes back and forth. Lots of folks believe they (and others) make decisions based on logic and reason.

Others argue back, saying people make decisions based on emotion and instinct.

They’re more accurate, but it’s not the full picture. Sure, we use emotions to guide our snap decisions… and even our important ones. But when we can, we use logic to check them.

For example, you might decide a house ‘feels right’… but before you buy it, you run it against your requirements. Does it have enough bedrooms or too many termites, that sort of thing. If it fails, it doesn’t matter how ‘right’ it feels – you turn it down. Logic overrides the emotion.

As it is with your marketing. You don’t just want to get their emotions on board – you want the logic to back your choice too.

Folks hate dry, boring facts… but you have enough emotional momentum from the first two steps to get away with it. If your audience have read this far, they’re likely to keep on reading. So this is your chance to add some crunch to your content.

Step 4) Make the call

By now, you’ve done nothing but entertain them. If they stopped reading, they’d still get a lot out of your content.

And that’s okay – the ones who are still reading might share your content, fire up your other content and, yep, maybe even make a purchase.

So this is your chance to ask for it.

Remind them of what they’ll get by using your solution.

Tell them what the next step is – like “call me at this number” or “follow this link”.

Then make it easy for them to do exactly that.

And here’s your next step:

You can learn a lot more about content marketing, including how to write awesome headlines or titles, with my training.

It’s free for anyone who used my affiliate link, which will save you a nice little membership fee.

Creating amazing content that sells can be easy and fun, when you know what to do.

Affiliate marketing is actually good for all stakeholders. The merchant gets their products as well as services sold through a lot of affiliates and therefore makes even more sales. The affiliate generates cash from home on each sale without a lot of the hassle related to managing a company. Since they receive items and also services without any type of trouble (at a computer mouse click away), the customers are actually delighted. The network makes a big turnover by putting a great deal of affiliates and merchants all together to do business with one another.

That said and without further ado, let’s examine the pros of this form of marketing for the marketer.

# 1: Affiliate marketing is actually very easy and also free to sign up with

You are certainly not required to have a business training or even marketing knowledge to sign up with a large number of affiliate marketing programs. You do not have to whip out your bank card either to end up being an affiliate of a network. All you need to do to join an affiliate program and also begin marketing the products as well as the services is actually to fill out a simple form in a few minutes.

# 2: This marketing needs to have no financial investment

In a lot of this marketing scenarios, the marketer certainly is not required to spend a singular penny in the merchant’s business. The merchant deals with that on their own. The affiliate’s cost is limited merely to marketing the products or services.

# 3: Easy marketing management

In most of the affiliate marketing programs, the professional has no need to write product reviews, create e-mail swipes, design banners or create hyperlinks. All the marketing material is actually offered by the vendor for the affiliate to make use of on their marketing channels. Considering that you do not have to deal with orders, send out any sort of stock, or even handle the consumer, you merely concentrate on ensuring promoting the offers to your audience.

# 4: The professional in this marketing works from home

You operate from the convenience of your own home, as well as in your pyjamas, if you so desire. The professional certainly must not get up at an ungodly hour, put on job clothing, ride to the workplace via roads crammed with various other travelers as well as churn through tedious activities from 9 am till 5 o’clock.

# 5: This marketing technique is actually cost-efficient

The affiliate seller has no start-up expenses in addition to cash flow to pay for the items being actually marketed. You can possibly do it at a low cost.

# 6: This marketing expert’s work is actually merely to make sales

The affiliate likewise certainly does not need to have to source items, take orders, carry inventory, send invoices, handle packaging, manage delivery, or even manage the final consumer in issues like after-sales service as well as reimbursements. All the affiliate marketer must do is actually concentrate on marketing so that the offers come before the right audience.

# 7: The affiliate seller does certainly not need to offer customer help

With the help of the affiliate advertising system, you will not ever need to be actually saddled with customer help or even the client’s complete satisfaction. Any kind of issues pertaining to product purchases will definitely be actually routed to the vendor’s consumer help staff to cope with. After you produce the sales, the seller handles any kind of customer complaints.

# 8: You can work anywhere there is actually an internet connection

Affiliates really love the possibility to produce revenue from anywhere on the planet where there is a computer system. The affiliate resembles a virtual assistant to whom different businesses have actually outsourced jobs.

# 9: This strategy is actually convenient and flexible

Affiliate networks are actually sensibly lax with their terms and also services. This permits the affiliate marketer to be flexible with their marketing techniques.

Should you be actually banned from one program, you can simply register with yet another providing the exact same or even an identical product.

The affiliate marketer has the freedom to specify their very own objectives, pick the items they would like to promote, and also choose their very own working hours.

# 10: This technique guarantees a several sources of multiple income

The capacity for generating passive income makes affiliate marketing seemingly interesting for affiliate marketers. If you possess the expertise and have the time, you could promote products and services offered through a number of affiliate marketing programs as well as networks and grow your gains through commissions (recurring ideally) for the different sales.

By utilizing SEO to make articles (if they are actually excellent) to rank for popular buyer search phrases, website traffic will definitely be driven to your site. If your call to action is actually attractive, people will click on your affiliate links and make you earn a commission when they make a purchase from your promoted seller sites.

You as a result get funds for your job long after you’ve performed it. With internet marketing campaigns you generate cash while you sleep.

What could be much better than that?

Envision this: you get out of bed in the early morning, turn on your laptop computer, and be actually welcomed with messages of money falling into your account!

Great, isn’t it?

Conclusion

That is it, the 10 advantages of affiliate programs for affiliate marketers.

We hope these give you the vigor to continue if you are already in affiliate marketing but not seeing any result yet or to embrace it if you aren’t yet an affiliate marketer.

Selecting your niche is the most important first step for any content creator. You want your audience to view you as an authority on the topic, so being specialized helps a lot. But which niche should you pick? That’s what this article will help you find out.

Not having a niche, will keep your audience very confused about what it is that you’re actually doing. If you keep your audience confused nobody will buy from you. Just think of the niche you select today as your future audience, who will be the people you will want to talk to, market to and sell to.

From my past experiences after blogging in numerous different niches, I can definitely say: The idea of a best niche is an illusion. The article adds up some of the most beneficial niches are evergreen ones which include health, wealth and relationship.

These niches will never dry out as long as humans exist, the products and services in these niches will be forever in demand. But if your focus is just on an evergreen niche, you’re focusing on the wrong thing.

There is an exception to evergreen niches – The Entertainment niche.

Consider gaming as an example, with kids earning thousands every month without even selling anything, just through advertising fees.

This article will help you in finding the right niche for you. Selecting a niche is not as easy as choosing what to eat for breakfast, it’s really a big decision.There are no quick fixes and overnight successes in any niche, you have to work behind it to make it successful.

The article highlights why people start blaming their niche when the going gets tough and when they do not see any positive results. The most repeated mistake people do is that they focus on broader niches.

Health, Fitness and weight training are examples of broader niches. Try picking out as many sub – niches as you can. For Example: Exercises only using dumbbells is a really good and specific niche.

The niche you select must be as specific as possible, a niche that you don’t mind researching daily and it must have products to review. Research your niche daily by reading blog posts/ articles, watching videos and following social media accounts. People mostly buy from experts in their niche and not from discouraged hobbyists.

So when you establish a niche you have to come up with lots of good content so that you are recognized as an authority in your sub-sub-sub-niche.

It has been proven that product reviews are the best method to make sales. This is mostly applicable to affiliate marketing.

Some key points to follow to be successful in any niche:

Try picking something very, very specific that generates interest among the audience.
Develop a personal interest and research daily to be up to date in your niche.
Generate a lot of free content for the selected sub-niche to reach expert status.
Create product reviews consistently to succeed in affiliate marketing as well.

Our businesses also differ in terms of interface with clients. If you do “business to business” transactions, the number of people you interact with on a daily basis may differ from someone whose business relies on interacting with consumers. Appointments may be more practical in some instances than others. You have to tailor-make how you manage access to your particular situation if you are to eliminate distractions. Having said that it is important to note that some people do not mind spending the whole day at the office entertaining friends, visitors, and casual acquaintances dropping into the office whenever they feel like it. Do not be that kind of person. It sets the wrong kind of example to junior staff and can harm one’s productivity because these people take up time that you do not have and besides you want to cultivate a professional environment.

The demands of the day are enough to fill the eight working hours available unless if you tend to stay back and play catch up. How do you stay competitive in the market if there is no separation between work and play? Anybody serious about success and achieving effective results will put boundaries that are clear so that there is no confusion. Entrepreneurs are more susceptible to this especially when the workplace is easily accessible. The fact that you are your own boss even puts more responsibility on you to maintain self-discipline and self – management. I have written a whole book called, “Achieve More through Self – Leadership. In it I walk you through the practicalities of how you can get better results through managing self.

Appointments are an important way of not only managing time but managing life. They help you become more structured and productive. Some people seem not to be able to honour their appointments. I once attended a job interview that was supposed to start at 10:30am. By 11:30am there had been no communication about what was happening or when the supposed job interview was going to take place. I decided at the point that this company was probably not good enough for me to join because if you don’t respect people’s time you probably do not respect them.

You may be saying appointments are just not for me yet you never rock up at the doctor, dentist, lawyer or hairstylist without an appointment. Why is that the case? Because you simply won’t see the dentist without an appointment. They have given you conditions acceptable to them. We tell the world around us how to treat us by what we allow.

Some people are always available when you want to see them. If you are always free to see people at short notice, you are probably not that organized. The one who owns a diary will manage the one who doesn’t own one. Why? Because the one without the diary is always available, even though he is very likely to forget important meetings, dates and engagements because of a lack of organization. I used to have a boss who kept a diary and whatever you promised to do in the line of work, he would write down, including the day and time you said he would have it by. You would of-course forget because you didn’t record it like he did and when the time to deliver comes, guess who would be found wanting. It was then that I decided that I do not commit to an action that I am not willing to write down because, what’s written gets done!

You may be saying, “what if my business feeds off the “walk-ins? The fact that your business relies on walk – in customers should not be an excuse for disorder. Sometimes those who drop in unannounced may indeed be potential customers, suppliers, cold-calling salespeople, and even worthwhile business contacts. There is nothing wrong if the call is beneficial to you and your business but I believe there must be a structure and way of doing things that follows certain pre-set principles. I remember seeing a poster in an office that said “if you don’t have anything to do please don’t do it here”. It’s humorous yes, but true. Appointments help to structure your day and helps you allocate time to what’s important. This means you can focus on your most important asset: the paying customer. There is nothing as bad as walking into a place wanting to do business and staff are inattentive because there is just a demand on their time. I am more understanding if the personnel are not busy entertaining social visits at work.

In conclusion, you know your business situation better than any of us. All we can do is make recommendations that will enable efficiency that leads to growth. Some of you may actually need a personal assistant who will put order in your office and focus on the things you are not willing to do that will enable to focus on the highly value things you ought to do such as running a business.

Do you think successful people are just plain lucky?

Successful people did not become successful because they were lucky.

They did not achieve success by accident. Being at the right place at the right time, meeting relevant people, reading the appropriate book, did not come about accidentally or by luck.

Luck is brought about by Labour Under Correct Knowledge.

Successful people prepared themselves. Instead of giving up on anything they started and wanted to achieve they got stronger by learning more.

Success is a methodical, orderly and deliberate process of deciding what you want to do with your life, what are the steps that you need to undertake to get you there, and lastly what you will do once you get there.

One of the most important aspects, if not the most important aspect to success, is the ability to visualise your successful outcome and stay focused on it until you achieve it.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge, knowledge is limited.” – Albert Einstein

Successful people understood the potential power behind knowledge, yet they also understood that, for them to close the gap between where they are and where they wanted to be, they would have to piece together the enigma that is most often referred to as “life”.

They had to build a picture, a vision, of success in their mind, and then go about taking action on creating that envisioned life.

In much the same way, you have to be serious about your present and future, you need to have the knowledge that is required so you, too, may close the gap: you need to be and remain determined to devote yourself to taking massive action to build your business of succeeding in life.

You, too, will need to see the end, your dream and destiny that you desire in your mind’s eye. It is up to you to take the necessary and relevant action to make it all happen. It’s just like going to the doctor with a particular health problem.

The doctor may prescribe a medication for you to take four times a day, yet he cannot be there with you to ensure that you are taking the medication.

It comes back to deciding to be responsible for your life.

Have you noticed how it all stems from that one attitude? Being responsible for your own life.

Your success, your being responsible 100% for you to live your dream life starts here.

When you accept 100% responsibility for yourself and your current life situation, you will have the power to move towards those things you truly desire in life: which is success in all areas of your life.

This life-changing article is about possibilities and opportunities, knowledge and tools. It will help expose your unique course in life.

It will inspire, support and motivate you to excel, to do what successful people do, to have all that successful people have, and to become a shining example of a successful person.

Here, you’re not being told what you couldn’t do, instead you are being told to shoot for the stars. And above all, you are being shown how to shoot for those stars.

“A person is what he thinks about all day long.” – Emerson

Interesting thought, wouldn’t you think? So much so, it’s worth repeating: “A person is what he thinks about all day long.”

Success and happiness cannot happen if you possess the same old thoughts and beliefs.

If you do not change your mind, if you do not get rid of the unsupportive thoughts and beliefs, you will inevitably remain stuck in your old ways. Not much, if anything, will change.

Let’s give you a quick overview on how change comes about:

Your BEHAVIOUR, how you act (or perhaps do not act), controls your success or failure. Your ability to attain high levels of success is dependent upon your actions and behaviours. Your results are the outcome of your behaviour. Now let’s consider where your behaviours come from and what controls them?

Your FEELINGS command your behaviour. Every action that you take is first filtered through your feelings that reside in your subconscious mind. How you feel about something determines what you do and how well you do it. So where do your feelings come from?

Your ATTITUDES create and influence your feelings. Your attitude is your perspective from which you view life. Whatever attitude you have about anything will affect how you feel, which, in turn, affects how you act. Where do your attitudes come from?

Your BELIEFS create, control and influence your attitudes. What you believe about anything will determine your attitude about it, which will create your feelings, and then which will direct your behaviour and action. Belief patterns are so powerful that two people who are in the same situation could perceive things completely differently. It only requires us to believe what we see and how we see it. We all have thousands of beliefs – big and small. And where do your beliefs come from?

Your THOUGHTS create, control and influence your beliefs. Your thoughts are real and are immensely powerful. Everything you accept from the outside world and everything you feed yourself from within is a product of your thoughts. Everything starts as a thought.

So, it goes without saying you need to learn to control your thoughts. And when you do, you will automatically control your beliefs, your attitudes, your feelings and, consequently, your behaviour and actions.

The big secret to success:

Learn to control your thoughts and you will influence your behaviours and actions. It’s all a mind-set. That’s what we’ve been saying all along.

Success is predictable and is not achieved by accident.

Have the mind-set of the successful people and you will achieve success. Believe and it is yours!

“There is a great future in front of you, you can leave your past behind.” – Joel Osteen

Science of success experts have concluded that the brain is a goal-setting organism.

That is fantastic news for us: for whatever goal we give to our subconscious mind, it will work for us day and night, 24/7, to achieve it for us; to make it a reality.

The principal breakthrough that scientists made was that we do not need to waste our precious time and effort trying to change old thoughts and behaviours: we just simply create new ones.

And the other discovery they made was that we can continue to create new thoughts, new memories, new behaviours, new skills, and learn new things for as long as we are alive on this earth.

Now, with the new discoveries in recent years, it has been scientifically proven that our capacity to achieve and succeed literally has no limits.

Our brain has the capacity to continually learn during our entire lifetime.

Our brain can form new thoughts, can have new memories, and can learn new things by the millions, no matter what your age is. By the millions.

That’s how many new things we can learn, that’s how many new skills we can learn, that’s how many new thoughts we can have, that’s how many new behaviours we can adopt.

This is encouraging because there is no limit on your capacity to achieve new things.

No limits whatsoever for the human brain to learn, memorise, develop, achieve and perform at higher levels than ever imagined. It makes no difference what your age is: you are capable of learning anything new that you want to learn.

That adds to what we spoke of earlier: no more excuses.

“The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X

Your brain has the capacity to achieve way beyond what was ever thought possible. So now is the time to break out of your limited thinking and start dreaming big and imagining unlimited possibilities.

Becoming successful is not impossible.

It is a choice you make through a decision. Every day, step-by-step, you may climb the mountain of success if you’ve decided to do so, if you’re committed to accomplish what the others think impossible.

Design your future now.

Prepare to receive what you desire.

Thanks to the phenomenal advances made in cognitive science and the development of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), personal change, personal transformation, has come a very long way.

In fact, personal growth is no longer a mystery.

NLP has brought to light that change, transformation and growth can be fast, reliable, and even fun. It has shown us that we do not need to spend thousands of hours slaving away to increase our creative-thinking abilities.

By practicing a few simple exercises and applications, you can start your creative juices flowing, and you may even amaze yourself at the quality and quantity of good ideas that you can come up with to expedite your success.

It can allow you to achieve something you seek within days and months as opposed to years and decades. That’s the power of the progress science has made on how the brain works, and also how you can have your mind to be your best ally in achieving anything you want.

Learn to live as you like by no longer living as you dislike.

Are you ready to get on the road to success and fulfilment?

Bear in mind, much like everything else in life, success requires practice and massive, consistent action.

“Success doesn’t mean the absence of failures; it means the attainment of ultimate objectives. It means winning the war, not every battle.” – Edwin C Bliss

Do you feel as if you’ve outgrown your circle of friends? Perhaps you do not feel safe or understood any longer. There may be fewer and fewer things you can share with people in your habitual circle, and it leaves you feeling lonely or isolated. If so, you are not alone. Welcome to one of the core dynamics of continuous growth!

As we continue to evolve, many of us struggle with a sense of not quite fitting in with our traditional community or tribe: we may have expanded or changed beyond the borders of tribal norms, and no longer find the same sense of belonging there. Other members may have tightened the tribal rules to foster a sense of security. As a result, we may feel a sense of disconnection or alienation.

In truth, each one of us belongs to many tribes simultaneously: there is your original tribe – the family you were born into – and then there are all the communities of choice you have joined: your work tribe, your social circles, your faith-based community, your neighborhood, and more. These communities are not static; they are in continuous flux because they consist of individuals who are in continuous states of change. When there is a lot of change happening in either the individual or the community, a sense of dissonance results.

How are we to deal with this? First, it is important to recognize that tribal allegiances were historically forged for survival. They were adapted over the course of centuries to ensure the safety and survival of the group. Survival required that individuation be sacrificed for the trade-off of security.

In modern society, the tables are flipped. Whether we enjoy it or not, change is essential for survival at every level of being. The pace of change is driven by technological advances and happens with increasing rapidity: sociologists estimate that more change has taken place in society over the course of the past 100 years, than in the totality of the previous 6,000 years. Individual adaptation now is a requirement for survival, and the pace of individual change does not always match the pace at which our various tribal communities evolve. The resulting dissonance can cause intense friction and pain.

Dissonance also results from confusion between the concepts of ‘connection’ and ‘community.’ We tend to equate one with the other, when they really relate to different qualities. Connection relates to connectivity: the objective physical technology or media that enables us to build community, but which does not represent the quality of that community. Connectivity simply offers the opportunity to connect with others through internet, texting, phone calls, or any other social networking options.

Community is the result of building relationship through meaningful interaction over time. There is no shortcut; it is a process that develops when bonds of trust and intimacy are nurtured and honored.

And here lies a caveat: When we confuse connectivity with community, we depersonalize the sacred nature of true community and start relating to people as objects. Instead of developing intimacy over time, we collect friends on social network sites or try to buy people’s allegiance. Yet friending is simply an act of connecting; it does not create intimacy.

In fact, social experiments indicate that technologically dominated connectivity results in alienation and social collapse over time. In a groundbreaking social experiment conducted by Josh Harris, one of the founders of social networking on the internet, he found that the more people’s private lives were exposed by 24/7 technology, the more their sense of intimacy and relationship deteriorated until the community collapsed in violence and self-destructive behavior.

It is time to revisit our concepts of community so we can create tribes that offer a true sense of intimacy and belonging.

In his 1987 book, The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, psychologist M. Scott Peck described several core characteristics of true community. Beyond the obvious components of inclusivity, commitment and participatory consensus, Peck pointed out the quality of embracing diversity through realism. When each member contributes their unique viewpoint from a place of humility and goodwill, the community benefits from a broader perspective in which to better grasp the full context of a situation. In other words, mutual tolerance helps members to embrace one another’s different viewpoints as an integral part of the whole, instead of imposing a forced compliance to groupthink or cohesion.

In an environment like this, members experience and express compassion and respect for one another. They allow others to share their vulnerability, to learn and grow, and to express who they truly are. When conflict arises, they learn to resolve it with wisdom and grace. Members listen to and respect each others’ gifts, accept each others’ limitations, celebrate their differences, and commit to find solutions together rather than to fight against each other. Indeed, the true spirit of community is the spirit of peace, love, wisdom and power. The source of this spirit may be seen as an outgrowth of the collective self or as the manifestation of a Higher Will.

Does this description of community sound spiritual to you? It is indeed, because Spirit is the common denominator among all of us, regardless of how separate we feel from others.

As human beings, we often experience a socio-economic sense of separation from others because of different opinions, beliefs, expectations, language, culture, or interests, since each one of us expresses these in a way uniquely different from anyone else. And still, we continue to differentiate! In this ongoing process, we continue to evolve or devolve in response to life. A community that felt like a good fit last year may no longer work today; the places where we felt embraced, now may suffocate us. Over the course of a lifetime, we can expect to outgrow and change allegiances to many of the tribal communities we once belonged to.

And yet, when we transcend the layers of physical appearance, mental beliefs and socio-economic conditioning, we find in the presence of Spirit a common denominator in everyone around us. Perhaps it is time to expand our tribal definitions to embrace a spiritual community that includes all of mankind as children of God.

Mother Teresa admonished her nuns to see Jesus in every leper they encountered, to find His presence as they looked into the eyes of the homeless. When we can look past the issues that divide us to find omnipresent Divinity in each other, we will uncover the foundations of true community.

Spiritual community transcends all socio-economic borders, beliefs and backgrounds. It is inclusive because it operates on voluntary self-responsibility and mutual compassion, and its doors are open to everyone.

Building this type of community takes time: time to listen, to hear, to respond and to participate. Take a few moments to read the description of spiritual community again. Then, make time in your life to foster that type of connection with people who matter to you. You are one of the architects of community in your life, and you can participate in building a tribe where you belong.

What would happen to you if your home life was more organized than it is right now? Can work-life balance be achieved? What are the tools at our disposal? Could scheduling appointments and keeping them at home help us save time and prioritize?

What is the challenge we face? I sometimes find that time spent at home can be the busiest time, especially in the times we live in. Imagine someone working from home, home-schooling children, and sometimes even doing a side hustle. Imagine also the full-time home-based entrepreneur. How do they manage to do all they need to do in a day?. We are living in a time when many entrepreneurs and even company employees have adopted work- at – home culture. This comes with its challenges as the lines become blurred between home and work. These blurred lines and constraints on the limited resource called time result in over-worked, under-rested, burnt-out individuals. Whilst good time management has been encouraged and indeed, embraced in the workplace, I believe more needs to be done in changing the mindset for the elusive work-life balance to be achieved.

What are the tools at our disposal? To manage time effectively at home, there are many interventions one can employ including setting goals for the day, prioritizing wisely, setting a time limit for every task, organizing oneself, and instituting the discipline of appointments. Yes, an appointment at home! We can spend time pontificating on the pros and cons of each intervention, however, I believe we need to focus on appointments and see how this can powerfully change the course of one’s day regardless of whether it’s a workday or weekend. Life is busy as it is without any intrusions. The question is how do you handle the one who announces that they are at the gate. These can be friends, neighbors, a salesman of some product you do not even need. I am not promoting regimentation here but rather a culture of filling your day with what’s important. Everything that we succeed at is because we carefully plan and execute it. I am a firm believer that you cannot manage time if you do not manage yourself thus I implore you to incorporate planning and appointments into your repertoire. I am not talking about something I do not do. I have to achieve many things in a day therefore I set appointments with my work, others, and myself.

Could scheduling appointments and keeping them on the home front help us save time and prioritize? Whereas we have established that it is a normal business practice to set appointments and keep them, we need to abandon the liberal open-door policy of allowing all and sundry to have access to us as and when they please on the home front. Please understand where I am coming from. We each have greatness within us but for us to achieve it we need to culture great habits. Employing the use of appointments at home and seeing only those people you had agreed to see removes non-essential encounters especially during the most productive hours. I know this will vary with culture, geographical region, or even level of affluence, whether you live in a low density or high-density residential area, but doesn’t negate the need to be organized and effective. Controlling access determines how organized you are and how well you will work and rest when the time for scheduled rest comes.

What do we need to do differently? We need to be disciplined and diligent, learn to say no, now is not a good time, let’s make an appointment for next week. What are the benefits of this approach? You are not always fire-fighting to meet deadlines, You are not always tired because you have not taken time out to rest. You have set aside enough time to spend with your loved ones or a loved one. If you are a busy person, I am sure you appreciate what I am saying. Whether it’s time to work uninterrupted, family time, or “me-time”, it takes some kind of order to enjoy it.

I am not saying that those that come unannounced are bad people. No, not at all, they probably are people you enjoy spending time with. Nevertheless, there must be prior communication so that you can attend to your visitor(s) when it is convenient for both you and them. It can be quite disrupting and a whole day can just pass by without achieving anything that you had planned to do.

As we grow older we begin to appreciate that rest and recovery need to be scheduled. The fact that I am relaxing doesn’t mean that I don’t have anything to do. One therefore cannot assume that just because you are at home you are available. Maybe you have scheduled that time to rest. That is important. You need to make an appointment with yourself, spouses need to also set aside time for each other. Parents need to schedule a time to spend with their children. When you have some sort of order in your life you determine who sees you and who you see. It also means that your relationships will be healthy and that makes you a happier person.

In conclusion, I believe that the work-life balance can be achieved. There are many tools at our disposal just like it is in the workplace.I believe we could do more and be happier if we are disciplined enough to make only the commitments we can keep.I am certain that setting appointments and keeping them at home help us save time and prioritize.