Author Archives: suzie81speaks

Daily Gratitude Challenge Day 6: Challenges

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In an effort to inject some positivity into my daily mindset and the online world I have created a Daily Gratitude Challenge and I am inviting everyone to participate. If you have missed my introductory post that explains the challenge and maps out the daily post schedule, visit here.

What challenges have you overcome (1)

Day 6 of the Daily Gratitude Challenge is about challenges that you have overcome and are grateful for the experience. Often a topic covered during the interview process, embracing and overcoming challenge demonstrates strength of character and resilience. Whether it is a personal fear, person or situation, this is an opportunity to consider the challenges that you have conquered and are a better person for it.  Continue reading →

Daily Gratitude Challenge Day 5: Who Are You Most Grateful For?

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In an effort to inject some positivity into my daily mindset and the online world I have created a Daily Gratitude Challenge and I am inviting everyone to participate. If you have missed my introductory post that explains the challenge and maps out the daily post schedule, visit here.

Daily Gratitude Challenge Who are you most grateful for (1)

Day 5 of the Daily Gratitude Challenge is all about the people that you are most grateful for. I’m lucky in that I have a number of people in my life that are trustworthy and supportive, but this year has also highlighted those who are putting their own lives on the line every day and doing lots of incredible things to help others. Whether it is family or close friends, key workers or charities, this is an opportunity to be mindful and appreciative of those who make life just that little bit better. Continue reading →

Daily Gratitude Challenge Day 4: The Greatest Advice I’ve Ever Received

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In an effort to inject some positivity into my daily mindset and the online world I have created a Daily Gratitude Challenge and I am inviting everyone to participate. If you have missed my introductory post that explains the challenge and maps out the daily post schedule, visit here.

Daily Gratitude Challenge Day 4 Greatest Pieces of Advice

Day 4 of the Daily Gratitude Challenge focuses on advice. Whether the advice we receive comes directly from the words and actions of family, close friends and colleagues or from books, TV and films, people in power or celebrities, I have taken advice from all areas of my life and am grateful for it. Continue reading →

Daily Gratitude Challenge Day 3: Moments and Memories

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In an effort to inject some positivity into my daily mindset and the online world I have created a Daily Gratitude Challenge and I am inviting everyone to participate. If you have missed my introductory post that explains the challenge and maps out the daily post schedule, visit here.

Day 3 focuses on moments and memories. I take hundreds of photographs wherever I go because I feel the need to record the moments I experience and preserve the memories I have of amazing places and people, but I always make sure to stop and take a few minutes to be mindful of where I am and what is happening. I value the memories that I have, particularly when things are tough. Here are just a select few,

Moments and Memories I am Grateful For:

Note: I haven’t included as many travel memories as there is a specific travel topic later in the challenge.

Daily Gratitude Challenge Moments and Memories

Time I spent with my Grandfather. A northern Englishman to the core, he wore a flat cap and grey cardigans and regularly asked me if I was ‘courting’ anyone (despite the fact that I was 10 at the time). He liked musicals and snooker, made up his own lyrics to songs and whenever visited he always had a little white paper bag with a selection of chocolates for us. He was adopted, and so in 2014 I set out to trace his ancestry and I found his birth mother – it was a fascinating journey and not only gave me a bit more of an understanding as to what his early life must have been like, but a greater appreciation of his kindness despite that adversity that he faced. He passed away when I was 16, and it would have been his 100th birthday last year.

The day I surprised my mum by turning up unexpectedly on my 21st birthday when she thought I was at uni. I loved the look on her face when I told her to look outside her office window. Continue reading →

Daily Gratitude Challenge Day 2: What Makes You Special?

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In an effort to inject some positivity into my daily mindset and the online world I have created a Daily Gratitude Challenge and I am inviting everyone to participate. If you have missed my introductory post that explains the challenge and maps out the daily post schedule, visit here.

Daily Gratitude Challenge Day 2: What makes you special

Day 2 of the Daily Gratitude Challenge focuses on you. In a world where image is seemingly everything, it’s easy to forget to be not only kind to yourself, but to appreciate and be grateful for the qualities about yourself that you admire. We’re often taught that being positive about ourselves and confident in our own abilities equates to arrogance, but I am always reminded of an article I read on Facebook a long time ago in which a woman took the compliments that she regularly gave to others and started saying them to herself every morning. I found it to be rather an alien concept at the time and quite a revelation – I like to say nice things to my loved ones but rarely took the time to acknowledge or be grateful for anything positive about myself. Continue reading →

Daily Gratitude Challenge Day 1: It’s the Little Things

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In an effort to inject some positivity into my daily mindset and the online world I have created a Daily Gratitude Challenge and I am inviting everyone to participate. If you have missed my introductory post that explains the challenge and maps out the daily post schedule, visit here.

It's the Little Things - Daily Gratitude Challenge

Day 1 focuses on the little things – the everyday things that are all too easy to take for granted. Whether it is that first cup of coffee in a morning, a letter from a friend, a beautiful sunset or the unconditional love of a pet, there are lots of things in our daily lives that pass us by without acknowledgement. Continue reading →

Introducing the July Daily Gratitude Challenge

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Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough – Oprah Winfrey

In times of struggle, it can often be difficult not to become permanently focused on the negative, and this year is certainly one of the most challenging periods in living memory. In a era of great change, the online world has become an even bigger cesspool of animosity and hatred.

Daily Gratitude

We all have those days when things seemingly go from bad to worse, but when reflecting we all have things to be grateful for every day, however small they may be. In an effort to inject a little positivity, I decided to set myself a Daily Gratitude Challenge for the entire month of July, and I am inviting everyone else to join in. I try to be as mindful as possible by taking the time to be grateful for the people around me, the lifestyle that I lead and the positive things that have happened in my day when filling out a Daily Gratitude Journal in my Bullet Journal. I find this enormously helpful when it feels like the world is imploding.

This Daily Gratitude Challenge is designed to be more in-depth. Instead of a sentence or two, each day will focus on things to be grateful for, with the act of writing becoming a larger part of my self-care routine. And with a sizeable following on Suzie Speaks, I am encouraging anyone and everyone to do the same. Continue reading →

Great Bullet Journal Spread Ideas for June

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Great Bullet Journal Spread Ideas for June

This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small amount of money if you make a purchase from any of the Amazon links included.

All of the images included were given with full permission from their creators and I have linked each account – feel free to go and check out the great Bullet Journal spreads they are creating on Instagram!

Looking for a notebook? I already bought a set of Bullet Journals last year, but I have heard numerous great things about the A5 Dotted Journal by Scribbles That Matter. I have created my spreads using the Tombow Dual Brush Pens and the SAKURA PIGMA Micron Fineliner Pens.

In case you missed them, here are my Great Bullet Journal Spread Ideas for May, Great Bullet Journal Spread Ideas for April, Great Bullet Journal Spread Ideas for February, and my Great Bullet Journal Spread Ideas for January.

Yes, it is enormously late, but it’s still June, right? My own Bullet Journal pread ideas for June have been more than a little lacklustre, and so I’ve been lucky in that there are plenty of incredible Bullet Journal creators to take inspiration from. I’ve seen a whole range of ideas this month, from beautiful muted floral designs to bright ocean and seashell creations, and here are some of my favourites! Continue reading →

The New Normal

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Is anybody else getting sick of the phrase ‘The New Normal,’ or is it just me?

Unfortunately, it’s the perfect term to describe how we’re living at the moment. It doesn’t necessarily provide lots of inspiration for the journal-esque blogging content that I usually create, unless you’re interested in the rather sad-looking cheese sandwich I often make myself for lunch?
 Continue reading →

Hints and Tips to Stay Productive When Working From Home

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14 Hints and Tips to Stay Productive When Working From Home 1

I’ve been working from home pretty much every day since 2015. While at first glance it may seem like the perfect situation (and in many ways it is), but there are lots of potential pitfalls and distractions when you’re solely accountable for your own workload. Over the years I have had to remain self-motivated and develop a routine in order to be able to stay productive and keep doing it successfully.

Here are some hints and tips that I have found useful when working from home.

Set up a dedicated working area. Whether it is a small desk a the back of a room or a shed at the bottom of the garden, create an area that is solely used for work-based activities.

Have a shower and get dressed. Getting up and ready as you would do for a working day elsewhere will help to change the mindset between work and home. It’s also useful should a last-minute video chat should happen – it’s unlikely that clients or colleagues will be impressed by your pyjamas and bed hair and being ready will avoid having to quickly jump in the shower or getting changed when you’re in the middle of something.

Plan your tasks in advance. When I start the day knowing what it is that I need to be working on, I find it much easier to plan and prioritise my tasks for the day, and for this I use a Bullet Journal. I use simple trackers for daily repeated tasks that are drawn out in a simple grid form, and I fill out individual tasks in a monthly calendar layout, colouring in the boxes as I go. This saves an enormous amount of time and I find the colouring rather therapeutic. Continue reading →