Hello everyone and welcome to the 2020s!
Not only have we entered a new year, but a new decade as well. With this in mind, I wanted to put together a list of resources and tools that I have found helpful and inspiring throughout the years.
Articles, tools and exercises that tackle major components of our lives: meaning and purpose, health and fitness, productivity and success, nourishment and cooking.
Most of all, I wanted them in one place, easily accessible and within reach. Putting together the list helped me reflect on my own journey and growth in the past decade – what helped, what didn’t, what worked and most of all, what changes were lasting, sustainable and why.
I hope you will find these resources helpful and go back to them again and again! make sure to bookmark and save this post so that you have it within reach anytime you need a little bit of help or inspiration.
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
For all things personal development, Celestine Chua’s Personal Excellence blog has been my go-to. She has many in depth quality articles on:
- How to find your life’s purpose
- What to do if you have too many passions
- How to achieve a work – life balance
- How to make life’s hardest decisions
- How to finish what you start
- How to stop procrastination
- How to apply the 80/20 rule to your life in 3 simple steps
- 7 tips to be productive, not busy
BUSINESS AND CAREER
I’ve really enjoyed Marie Forleo’s interviews (on MarieTV) and her podcast in the last couple of years! lots of insights, practical advice, successful stories of people that bounced back from setbacks and turned their businesses around in an impactful and profitable way, as well as lots of life-enriching content can be found on her website and in her book, that she launched last year, “Everything is Figureoutable“.
Here’s a list of interviews that I found most useful and inspiring:
- Brendon Burchard: the world’s most successful people have these habits in common
- The secret to getting paid: knowing your worth and overcoming shame
- How to grow a business when you’re short on time
- The secret to finding your happiness no matter your circumstances
- David Bach: how to get rich without budgeting
- 3 strategies to never run out of content ideas
- Laura Vanderkam: Too busy and burnt out? how to make the right choices with your time
- Tererai Trent: even the most impossible of dreams can be achieved
- How to be (and stay) true to yourself
- Want more customers? here’s how to find your pleople
- Steven Pressfield: overcoming resistance and how talent doesn’t really matter
- Overwhelmed at work? how to fix your job instead of quitting
- The ultimate guide to saying NO + scripts
- Dan Buettner: how to live a happier and longer life
- Ryan Holiday: speed is not the key to success
- Latham Thomas: how to prioritize play and self-care
FOOD AND COOKING
One skill that can exponentially impact your life and health for the better is learning how to cook. Given that every cell of our body gets regenerated and fed from the foods and drinks we consume, what we put in our bodies will literally become our bodies.
The ability to be able to cook simple meals using a handful of ingredients is one of the most underrated skills in the universe AND one that can directly impact the length of your lifespan and your health.
So, if you want to start cooking (and you should) or improve and diversify your cooking skills, these are some resources to check out:
- Essential kitchen tools to start with. Although, my suggestion is to stay away all together from non-stick cooking pans and invest in ceramic/stainless steel. Here is the reason why.
- Dry pantry essentials
- 10 useful cooking tips from Gordon Ramsay
- I always find helpful and inspiring the meal prep videos from Lisa’s Downshiftology. She has a very clear way of explaining the process step by step.
- Lots of “How to” tutorials for very simple and basic recipes on Clean and Delicious
- The Domestic Geek has many delicious recipes that range from smoothies, easy breakfast ideas to easy weeknight dinners. Every single recipe that I have tried or adapted has been very yummy
- Pick up Limes is my go-to for all recipes vegan/vegetarian and I always make and discover new favorites
FITNESS
I love to (speed) walk and that is my absolute way of moving and getting some exercise in BUT, when I want to challenge myself, yoga is another favorite of mine. And if I am not hitting my local YMCA for a yoga class or a workout at the gym, I enjoy doing some:
- Yoga with Adriene – for some easy poses and stretches
- Boho Beautiful for a more intense yoga or pilates session
- For little ones, Cosmic Kids Yoga is a great way to introduce simple yoga moves and movement through engaging storytelling
PLANNING
Want to better plan your time and become more productive and efficient? writing it all down and being consistent with it is key!
Here is a list of my most used and loved planners over the years:
- Make it Happen Planner by Leaders in Heels. These are 12 months planners that cover to do lists, daily and weekly pages, quarterly and yearly reviews and basically, pack quite a few tools for self-reflection, goal setting and accountability. I have this one.
- The 5 Minute Journal is the perfect tool to help you start your day feeling grateful, energized and focused on the positive in your life. I have spoken about it before and I will keep on speaking about it since it has not left my bedside starting 2017. It has been the no. 1 most instrumental item in helping me cultivate a mindset of gratitude throughout the way.
- The Productivity Planner – I have found this most helpful in breaking down the bigger, long term tasks and goals like finishing a novel, a dissertation paper, or a big, unstructured project. The planner makes it easy to structure a somewhat abstract and formidable goal in smaller, achievable daily tasks by working in pomodoros with scheduled breaks in between.
That’s it! I’d love to know what are some of the tools and resources that have helped you along the way so make sure to comment down below and let me know.
To a happier, more productive and meaningful year to us all!
Roxi
p.s: photo found on pexels.com