THRIVE

“My mission in
life is not merely
to survive, but
Thrive.”
- Maya Angelou -

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 CONTENTS.
Click on the chapter title to be immediately directed.

Intro. 4
The Big Picture! 6
Know Thyself. 7
Discovering & clarifying your purpose. 12
Developing Confidence. 19
The big vision, goals, projects & tasks. 23
Habits: Formulation and tracking. 28
Structure and scheduling. 37
Discipline & Willpower. 54
Final Words. 60
Resources. 62

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 Intro.
If you’re reading this, then you will have taken the Balance
/ Nurture / Thrive Quiz and received the result “You
need some more Thrive in your life.”

Firstly, I just wanted to thank you for investing the time

into doing the quiz, for signing up to my mailing list and
joining the DCM Lifestyle community, and for making the
decision to invest in yourself!

Secondly, I just wanted to outline what you can expect

from this Thrive PDF, why I decided to create it and offer
it for free, and how to best utilise the information from
this PDF.

Throughout the pages to comes, I have offered a number

of relevant and applicable tools and methods that you can
start using immediately.

There is a lot coming up - take what is relevant to you,

and feel free to come back to anything that doesn’t feel
relevant right now. Use what will help.

When deciding what to include in this PDF, I based it

around the areas of work outlined for the Thrive category
- so everything in this PDF will be relevant to more and
lesser degrees dependent on the individual and their more
noticeable areas of weakness.

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As you may have seen in the contents page, this PDF is
broken down into a 8 sections, which are as follows:

- The Big Picture: How it All Comes Together.

- Know Thyself.
- Discovering and clarifying your purpose.
- Developing confidence.
- The Big Vision: Goals, Projects and Tasks.
- Habits: Formulation & Tracking.
- Structure and Scheduling
- Willpower and Discipline

The first section is a diagram showing how all of these

pieces eventually come together, and in doing so enable
you to Thrive.
If you feel overwhelmed looking at the diagram, take a
pause, a deep breath - and continue reading. I will walk
you through each step of the way, and by the end it will
all seem easy to get started immediately.

I’m not suggesting that pursuing a purpose aligned life is

easy, or won’t come with it’s challenges, but the process
of getting started is something that we can break down
into easy-to-accomplish steps.

Let’s start Thriving!

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The Big Picture!

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 Know Thyself.
“To know thyself is the beginning
of wisdom.”
- Socrates -
Before we get into all the tips, tools, theories and models
that I have in store for you, I think it’s first best to get a
slightly deeper understanding of yourself, as it’ll play a role
in how you may implement the contents of this pdf into
your life with the most relevance possible, so that it may
all have the greatest impact.

I have done all of these quizzes myself, and I couldn’t

speak more highly of them. They really helped me
understand myself to a significantly deeper level. I couldn’t
recommend more that you take a short amount of time
to do them - you wont regret it.

Being completely transparent, there are a lot of

suggested quizzes to do, and so it can be a bit of a time
commitment. However, I want you to know that the
more you do, the clearer the picture you will have of
yourself. You may also start to notice how all of the
results paint a very clear picture of your habits, beliefs,
behaviours, relationships, tendencies, outlooks etc which
can be really illuminating.
Remember - if we wish to create long lasting change,
then first we need to honestly know what we are
working with. All of the good, all of the not so good!
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So take your time.
Work your way through them when you’ve got some
time to yourself.
Don’t let others get involved.
Finally - remember to be really honest! Let’s get to it!

The Four Tendencies.

The first tool I’d like to share with you is a free quiz from
Gretchen Rubin that will help you to figure out what your
Tendency is. Her book ‘The Four Tendencies’ is a fantastic
book that I always offer as recommended reading to
clients, family and friends.
It offers fantastic insight into why as individuals we behave
and interact with the world in the way that we do. It
basically helps us discover how we respond to
expectancies - both our own, and other peoples.
To give a brief overview, here are the four Tendencies:

Upholder, Obliger, Questioner and Rebel.

Here is a link to the quiz:

The Four Tendencies Quiz

Strengths Finder 2.0 - Tom Rath.

When you purchase the Strengths Finder book, you get a
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coupon to do the Strengths Finder Quiz which as you’ve
probably guessed, helps you discover where your
strengths lie.

Within the book there are hundreds of strategies for

applying your strengths, so that you can maximise your
abilities in your career, your relationships and your
lifestyle in general.

Here’s a link to the book:

Strengths Finder 2.0

16 Personality Types.
The 16 personality type quiz is a profiling quiz that assigns
you to one of sixteen personality type options. In their
own words; “Take our Personality Test and get a
“freakishly accurate” description of who you are and why
you do things the way you do.”

Here’s a link to the free test:

16 Personalities Test

Positive Intelligence.
Mental fitness is a measure of the strength of your
positive mental muscles (Sage) versus the negative
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(Saboteur).

This measure of your Mental Fitness is called PQ (Positive

Intelligence Quotient).
Research with 500,000 participants has shown PQ to be
the best predictor of how happy you are and how well
you perform relative to your potential.

Here are the links to take the two free tests to learn
more about your saboteurs and PQ Score:

Saboteur Test & PQ Score Assessment

Here’s a link to the book:

Positive Intelligence

The Five Love Languages - Gary Chapman.

In Chapmans The Five Love Languages, you learn about
the five ways in which someone would give or receive
Love. To explain them briefly:

Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Touch, Acts of Service,

and Gifts.

Understanding your own love language(s) and the love

languages of those close to you is paramount in forming
strong and long lasting relationships.
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Here is a link for the free test:

Five Love Languages Test

Here is a link for the book:

The Five Love Languages Book

Attached - Amir Levine and Rachel Heller.

Attached explores the three ways in which we will each
behave in relationships; Anxious, Avoidant and Secure.

To briefly explain what each of them are:

They are Anxious, Avoidant, Secure

What is interesting, is not only how this information
allows you to see why your behaviour has been a certain
way in past or current romantic relationships, but it is also
interesting to see how this plays out in both personal and
professional relationships. Impacting not only your
personal life, but potentially your professional life as well.

Here are two links; one for the free test, and one for the
book:
The Test & The Book

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 Discovering &
clarifying your
purpose.
When it comes to discussing our purpose, it can become
quite an overwhelming thing - especially if you’re someone
that feels a little lost or confused about what your purpose
is. Therefor, I wanted to offer you a way of, at the very
least, establishing more clarity around what your purpose
may be.
I’d also like to say, that the word ‘purpose’ could be
interchanged with offering / mission / service - or any other
term that describes what you wish to do / create / offer
into the world.

In discovering and clarifying our purpose, we provide

ourselves with an opportunity to start living a life that feels
more authentic, aligned, satisfying and rewarding.

Lets begin simply with the definition:

Purpose
1. the reason for which something is done or created or
for which something exists.
"the purpose of the meeting is to appoint a trustee"
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2. A person's sense of resolve or determination.
"there was a new sense of purpose in her step as she set off"
3. have as one's intention or objective.
"He has allowed suffering, even purposed it”

The likelihood is that you’re in one of three camps when

discussing purpose:

1. You have no idea what your purpose is.

2. You have a rough idea of what It could be, but you
need some clarification.
3. You know what your purpose is, and now you need to
start aligning your life to it.

So let’s get to it!

If you’re in camp one - my hope at the very least, is that

regardless of whether you come away knowing exactly
what your purpose is, that you will have a much better
idea about what it may be. Then it just comes down to
trial and error, or experimentation and experience.
If you’re in camp two, my hope is that you’re able to use
this process to gain further clarity, and through further
refinement, connect more deeply to your intended
purpose / mission / offering.
If you’re in camp three, my hope is that you will still find
the following process useful to really distil your purpose,
and that it will offer some fresh insight.

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 The Purpose Venn Diagram.
A great way to start examining what your purpose may be
is to use the Purpose Venn Diagram.

See it below:

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Your purpose can be discovered at the convergence
points between what you are good at, what you think
the world needs more of, what you really love, and
ideally - what you could be paid for.

To delve deeper into this, I’m going to offer you a

number of journalling questions for you to answer that
should bring you much more clarity about what your
purpose may be.

There are a lot of questions to be answered, all of

which will offer insight and provide pieces to the puzzle
that you are trying to solve. Once you have taken your
time to answer the questions, I invite you to then read
through your answers and to reflect.

With your answers in mind, take another look at the

purpose Venn diagram and see if you feel more clarity
about your purpose.

- If you do, then continue to delve deeper into further

self inquiry.
- If you don’t, then allow yourself some further time to
reflect and to let the questions marinate. If these are
things that you’ve never thought much about, you may
find it challenging to answer as you may feel out of
touch, or like you really don’t know. The answers will
come, it may just take a little more time, and it may
require returning to these questions a few more times.
I invite you to get a pen and paper or your digital
device, a favourite drink of choice, and to take your
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time answering these questions right now!

Journalling Questions - Purpose:

•What do you love to do?
•What activities / practices make you lose track of time
or make you feel like you’re in a flow state?
•What have other people told you that you are good
at?
•Write a list of your talents (however weird and
wonderful).
•What do people seek you out for? Knowledge / skills /
advice / talents.
•In what ways could you help others? (However
seemingly small or irrelevant it may seem to you).
•What do you think the world most needs more of?
•What would you love to create?

By this point, hopefully you’ve answered the above

questions and feel some more clarity about what your
purpose may be, and how you may be able to start
living a more purpose aligned life.

Following this period of investigation and self reflection,

it’s likely that some things may have come up - for
instance:

- “I know what my purpose is…but how do I get

started? What about ‘x, y and z’?”
- “I still don’t feel 100%…it doesn’t feel very realistic to

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 live my purpose. It feels so far away from where I am
now.”
- “I know that the life I’m living isn’t really purpose
aligned, but I’m fearful of the change. What if by
changing my situation I make it worse?! What if the
people around me don’t understand?!”
- “I know I’d be happier living a more purpose aligned
life, but I know how much hard work it’s going to be.
I’m not sure I have the time or resources”
- “What if I fail?!”
- “What will other people think of me?”
- “Who am I to think I could do that?”

I’d like to offer some further questions for you to reflect

on, questions that I hope will start to address some of
the above thought processes, or ones similar.
Again, take your time with these questions - re-read
your answers, reflect and come back to them if you
need.

Journal Questions to challenge inner resistance:

• What is the major challenge for you in terms of
pursuing your purpose or your ability to start living a
more purpose aligned life?
•How could you start tackling this challenge? What
options do you have?
•What might the consequences be of not making the
changes necessary for you to start living a more
purpose aligned life? Think about the impact on your
Health / Mental Health / Happiness / Satisfaction / On

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 your relationships / On your family.
•How might you be able to mitigate the potential risks
of living a more purpose aligned life?
•If you knew you had 3 years left to live on this world,
what mark would you wish to make, how would you
wish to impact the lives of the people around you, and
how would you want to be remembered?

I hope that the above questions helped you to gain

even further insight. If self doubt, fears and worries are
still causing some resistance - then continue reading!

If you feel that you could do with some further support

with this process, then click the link below and get in
touch - we can arrange a conversation as soon as you’re
ready!

Contact me.

In the next section I’m going to share a couple of tools

that you can use to help you overcome fear, self doubt
and limiting beliefs, so that you can develop the
confidence needed to start living a more purpose
aligned life as soon as possible!

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 Developing
Confidence.
In order to develop confidence in yourself and your
purpose, it will require overcoming various challenges
and obstacles. Some of the biggest obstacles that many
people have to overcome when really pursuing
something in life with no reservations, are their own fear
narratives, doubts and limiting beliefs.

It can be very debilitating for some individuals, and more

often than not, results in overwhelm, avoidance, and
stagnation.

Therefore, I’d love to share a couple of tools that I use

with my clients to start tackling some of your own fear
narratives, doubts and limiting beliefs.

The Damage Report.

A damage report is an exercise that we use to help us
rationalise fear, mitigate risk, and offer some broader
perspective.

The process is as follows:

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1. Write down what you’re fearful of in detail.
2. What is the root of the fear?
3. Describe the worst case scenario.
4. List a number of solutions for the worst case scenario.
5. Take the necessary action to make sure the worst case
scenario doesn’t happen.

Let’s use an example..

Sarah’s fear is: “If I leave my job and my purpose doesn’t

make me money, I won’t be able to pay my bills. Then I
might lose my home, which could result in me becoming
homeless!”

When we examine this - the root of the fear is a lack of

security.

Worst case scenario in her mind - she leaves her job, fails
at making money from her purpose, and she becomes
homeless.

What are the possible solutions for this potential

problem?

- Begin to develop her passion project alongside her job

in the early stages to make sure this is something she
really wants to pursue, and to make sure it provides a
viable income.
- Go part time in the job so that there is still enough
income to cover bills etc, but more time freed up to
pursue her purpose.
- Speaks to friends and family to see if they would
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 support her should things go wrong.
- Looks into the possibility of getting a career
development loan.

The list goes on…

As you can see, there are a multitude of ways to
overcome the potential pit fall that Sarah faces. Although
her fear is valid, when we start to look at all the ways that
the risk can be mitigated, then we start to see that the
fear isn’t proportionate.

The Work - Byron Katie.

The Work by Byron Katie is a set of four questions that
you can use to overcome any doubt, limiting beliefs or
mental dialogue thats getting in your way.

Despite the questions being very simple - they are very

powerful questions, that really enable us to start
challenging beliefs that no longer serve us or are causing
blockages in our lives.

The questions are as follows:

1. Is that (the belief / statement / thought process) true?

2. Can you be absolutely 100% certain that it is true?
3. How do you react when you believe that thought?
What are the consequences?
4. Who could you be or what could you do without that
thought?

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If through answering the Journalling questions above you
noticed some doubts, fears, or limiting beliefs start to
surface, I recommend going through the above two
exercises with each of the fears / thoughts that come to
mind - and experience how your outlook can start to
shift and transform.

I hope that at the very least, the above techniques / tools

allow you to work through some of the resistance you
may be experiencing, and that you start to feel a little
more confidence in living a more purpose aligned life, and
then to really start thriving!

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 The big vision,
goals, projects &
tasks.
Once we are aware of the life that we wish to live, we
then need to strategically break down the process into
achievable steps. I like to do this with four main steps.

1. Firstly, establish and get very clear on your Big Vision or

Dream life.
2. Goals - these are the big vision goals. Completion of
these goals represents the finish-line for you having
achieved aspects of the Big Vision! For instance:
Complete financial freedom, a happy family, multiple
passive income streams etc
3. Projects - these are the milestone goals on route to
achieving the big vision goals. I.e Mortgage free house,
my first passive income stream, marry my future life
partner.
4. Tasks - these are the individually daily tasks that we
need to complete to help us achieve each of the
projects, and then in completing the projects, we
achieve the Goal.

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Let’s make this practical!

1. I’d like you download this resource, get some spare

paper and pens, and then start drawing / writing out
what your big Vision is, looks like, feels like and so on.
Here are some prompts to help kick-start the process:

- What would you like to be doing?

- How would you like to spend your time?
- Who would you like to be with?
- Where would you ideally like to be based?
- How much money do you have? Is this of importance?
- What would you like to do that you’d be very proud of?
- What is the mark that you’d make in the world?
- In what way would you like to make a difference in the
world?

2. What big vision goals would you need to achieve for

you to feel like you had crossed your decided finish-line?
Write them down on your downloaded resource!

3. Use the SMARTER goals acronym to refine your goals.

Which is as follows:

SMARTER goals is a tool that we can use to help refine

any goal we may have, so that we provide ourselves the
best possible chance of setting and achieving goals that
are most fitting for us.

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S - Specific [Be very clear]
M - Measurable [Something quantifiable that you can
track]
A - Ambitious and Achievable [Stretching just enough
outside your comfort zone]
R - Relevant & Aligned [Has to matter to you]
T - Time Bound & Transparent [Set initial dates - but be
flexible and adaptable]
E - Evaluate [Make time for regular reviews of your
progress, adapt as needed]
R - Recognise and reward. [Celebrate small wins along
the way!]

4. Break down your big vision goals into smaller milestone

goals or projects. What projects must you complete in
order to achieve the bigger goals? Write them down on
your downloaded resource!

5. Prioritise your projects! Which project is the one that

needs to take place first? How much time will you give
yourself to complete this project? (3 / 6 / 12 week
blocks). Write it down on your downloaded resource!

6. Tasks and to-dos! Write down all tasks needed to

complete your first project! Don’t worry about the other
projects down the line, keep an eye on them, but the
focus currently is on the first project. Write them down
on your downloaded resource!

7. Prioritise your Tasks! What order do these tasks need

to happen in? Write them down on your downloaded
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resource!

8. Select the top 3 tasks - Write them down on your

downloaded resource!

9. When you have completed those three tasks and

ticked them off - it’s time to reflect and review!

10. Continue to repeat steps 8/9/ until all tasks are

complete and the project is completed.

11. Do a project review, reflect and reward yourself! You

are one step closer!

The above provides with you a formula to logically and

strategically start tackling your big goals in a measurable
way.

Keep note of everything that you do along the way with

the tick off sheets on the resource download, so that
when you reflect and review - you are able to see just
how far you’ve come!

If you’re struggling or feel overwhelmed by all of this, feel

free to get in touch to discuss how we may be able to
work together!

Contact me.

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 Tracking your progress for Goals.
When you are pursuing Big Vision goals, it can sometimes
feel relentless, and like the ‘finish line’ is so far away! This
is why regularly measuring your progress is paramount if
you wish to keep yourself motivated along the way.
Tracking your progress does not need to be complicated.

The two main options here as follows:

You can re-print out the Big Vision Tracking Resource you
have just been using, ticking things off as you go, and then
creating a filing system for each of your projects / tasks. If
you’re old school and like the feeling of physically ticking
off things as you go - then this may be the best approach
for you!

Alternatively what I recommend is that you use my

template as a guide, and you can then set up a simple
spread sheet version of it on your pc. This way you can
save your progress, it doesn’t take up any unnecessary
space and it is easier to edit should you need to.
Also - it saves paper!

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 Habits:
Formulation and
tracking.
When coaching individuals that need more thrive in their
lives, they often share that discipline, habit formulation
and consistency are areas in their lives that could do with
some work. They have solid intentions to get things done,
but after the enthusiasm starts to fade or things get
challenging, discipline and consistency start to fade and
those newly formed positive habits go out the window.

If you wish to start Thriving more, and to start living a

more purpose aligned life, it will likely require the
development of new positive habits that support you, and
potentially eradicating some negative habits that you may
have developed over time.

I wanted to share a few different models from some

incredibly intelligent minds that I hope will help you to
develop these areas of your life. The information I provide
you with will enable you to immediately start
incorporating these practices into your day. However, if
you wish to have a deeper understanding of these
principles, then I recommend reading each of the books in
their entirety - as there is so much gold in each of them.
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 Atomic Habits - James Clear
In his book Atomic Habits (see resources for link), James
Clear talks about his model for formulating new positive
habits. Simplistically put, it is as follows:

Cue —> Craving —> Response —> Reward

So, let’s break down each of the above steps so you have
a greater understanding of how habits (good and bad) are
formed:

Cue:

This is a piece of information that suggests there’s a

reward to found or enjoyed. I.e the smell of coffee in the
morning, or of pastry as you walk past your favourite
bakery.

Craving:
Motivation to change something to get the reward. I.e
drinking the delicious cup of coffee, or eating that buttery
pastry.

Response:

The action or thought you need to take or have to get

that reward. i.e making your coffee, or buying the pastry.
Reward:

The feeling of satisfaction or happiness you get from the

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response, along with the lesson of whether to repeat. I.e
drinking that coffee or eating that delicious pastry, realising
how good it was, and how worth the effort it was.
Learning that this feels good, and therefor do it again.

He also outlines what he deems to be the four laws of

behaviour change, or ways to implement new habits. He
suggests that the best way to form new positive habits, is
to make them very obvious, easy, attractive and satisfying.
This then offers a greater chance of instilling a strong loop,
and in doing so, a higher probability of a new habit being
formed.

The Four Laws of Behaviour Change.

1. Make it obvious - for instance, set notifications or

reminders for you to do your new habit e.g meditate,
go to the gym, or to get to bed on time.

2. Make it attractive - for instance, creating a lovely space

for you meditate in will make it more appealing. A spa
or sanctuary room if you will. Do it at a time when
you’re not usually tired or distracted.

3. Make it easy - for instance, if you’re just starting out

with meditation, then simply starting with closing your
eyes (if you’re comfortable to) and breathing for just a
minute or two can be enough to start the habit. Don’t
start with a 90 minute session.

4. Make it Satisfying - creating a reward system can be

really useful, especially with habits that don’t have an
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 immediate feeling of reward. Sticking with the theme of
meditation - as a beginner, it can seem like a frustrating
and thankless task until you start to notice the larger
impacts it has on you directly, and also within your life.
Adding in a reward can be useful. For instance - “If I
meditate everyday for one month, then I will treat
myself to x.” This provides incentive, and also provides
a long enough time for the practice of meditation itself
to start providing noticeable rewards.

He also suggests a couple of other valid pieces of advice,

and they are as follows:

- Environment plays a massive part in our behaviour, and

therefore our ability to maintain positive habits or stop
poor habits. Therefor, it is important to create an
environment that supports success i.e If the plan is to
give up junk food and start eating healthily, only have
healthy food in your house, and don’t bring any junk
food into the house. This reduces temptation and the
chances of failure.

- To use a habit tracker as a fun and engaging way to

measure your progress, and to make sure you stay on
track with your habits and goals.

At the end of this section I will suggest some ways for you
to track your habits, and I’ll also provide a simple print out
for you to use should this be more appealing.

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 Charles Duhigg - The Power of Habit.
In his book Power of Habit (see resources for link),
Duhigg talks about what he calls the Habit loop, and it’s
relevance to both good and bad habits.

However in this section, we’ll use Duhiggs’ model to

explore how we can stop bad habits.

Duhiggs’ habit loop is as follows:

Cue —> Routine —> Reward

Again for context, I’ll briefly outline the above steps in

slightly greater detail.

Cue:

The thought, feeling, sight, smell etc that informs which

habit / routine to engage with i.e a feeling of boredom.

Routine:

This is the behaviour that takes place when cued or

triggered i.e I open my ‘treat draw’ and eat a chocolate
bar.

Reward:

I get the satisfaction of both enjoying a delicious treat, and

for a short moment I’m distracted and preoccupied by
eating and so no longer bored.
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In his book, he suggests that the brain spikes twice within
this short sequence. Once at the start when we’re trying
to figure out which habit to engage with. Secondly, at the
end when we receive the reward or the pay-off, and this
is what reinforces the habit (good or bad).

He suggests, that if you wish to break a bad habit, that

you don’t try to change the start the beginning or the end
of the sequence, but to change the routine.
For instance:

1. Cue (wake up, and have a hot morning drink) - stays

the same.

2. Routine - Normally Make Coffee but now you want to

reduce caffeine intake - routine is replaced to make
decaf coffee instead of caffeinated coffee.

3. Reward - you enjoy your routine of hot drink in the

morning, but now the caffeine has been removed from
the loop.
It comes down to changing the response to the cue - in
that gap between cue and reward is your chance to stop
negative habits, or build positive ones.

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that

space is our power to choose our response. In our response
lies our growth and our freedom.”

- Viktor E. Frankl -

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There are also some other key mentions / lessons in his
book that I wanted to share, and they are as follows:

1. Practice something that requires a lot of effort, but isn’t

necessarily very time demanding. I.e Waking up Early /
Cold water shower etc. This can then make other tasks
/ practices / habits seem relatively easy in comparison.
This could be likened to the practices of the Stoics and
Stoic philosophy should you wish to explore this
further.

2. Plan ahead for failure or worst case scenarios -

shortcomings are inevitable, so plan for failure or
hiccups. Figure out ahead of time what will you do to
overcome the challenge and get back on track.

3. Preserve your autonomy - you need to want the

change. It needs to come from an honest desire within
you, even if some resistance still remains. You need to
have arrived at a place where you know and believe
that it’s time for growth and change.

4. Know your tendencies and plan accordingly - we have

already discussed the work of Gretchen Rubin, so by
now you’ll know what you may need to put in place to
support you. Maybe you’ve got an accountability
partner, or maybe you’ve done your research and have
enough evidence to support the relevance of the new
habit you are trying to formulate.

34
 Tracking your Habits
As I mentioned above, tracking your habits can be a really
useful thing to do. It provides an accountability structure,
you’re able to visually see your progress, and you’re also
able to visually see when you’re starting to lose discipline
with your habits.

I wanted to offer you various ways in which to track your

habits.

Old School:

I’ve created a very simple habit tracker wall chart that you
can stick up somewhere that you will regularly see it i.e
your fridge, your front door, on the wall in your office.

See the resources pages for a link to download a copy of

the habit tracker!

Digital Apps:

Here are a list of various apps that have good reviews,

one of which I use personally:

•Strides (what I Personally use) - Simple and effective.

Create and track up to six habits for free.
• Coach.me - great if you need accountability, as there is
35
 an online community and you can invite your friends.
Free.

•Streaks - highly praised $4.99

•Productive - very visually pleasing but costs £28.49 a

year.

•Habitica - this app gamifies your habit tracking, which for

some can make the process of developing new habits
more fun and enjoyable.

36
 Structure and
scheduling.
An issue for many people needing more Thrive in their
lives, is that scheduling or structure plays a very small role
(if at all) in life outside of work or appointments and such.

During days off, holidays, special occasions and so on, a lack

of structure works to our benefit - as these occasions are
much better enjoyed when structure is fluid and we can do
things as and when they take our fancy.

However, as always - a balance must be struck.

Unfortunately, this is not the case if we wish to make
serious progression in any given pursuit. We must learn to
manage our time.

When we have busy schedules and have to balance work

life, social life, getting / staying fit, wellness practices,
hobbies, life admin, the pursuit of goals or grand aspirations
and anything else you’d add to the list - constant fluidity
unfortunately isn’t going to be best suited. We need to a
way to structure our working week so that we can be as
efficient and focused as possible.

There are incredible amounts of resources about structure,

scheduling, time keeping and so on. To keep this simple,
I’m going to share the approach that I personally use - and
37
then suggest a couple others for further reading should
the approach I use not appeal to you or work for you in
practise.

My approach to Structuring & Scheduling.

The approach I use is a combination of Time Blocking and

Task Batching.

I became familiar with time Blocking after reading a couple

of books by Cal Newport.
If you’re yet to hear about him, I’d definitely recommend
his books, especially ‘Deep Work’. Reading that book was
the game changer for me in terms of productivity, and the
scheduling and structuring of my working week. It planted
a seed that has since lead to more research,
experimentation and implementation of practices and
principles.

“A 40 hour time-blocked work week, I estimate, produces

the same amount of output as a 60+ hour work week
pursued without structure."

- Cal Newport -

So what is Time Blocking and Task Batching? Let’s get into

it!

•Time Blocking - this is where we divide the day into

blocks of time. During those blocks of time we focus on
38
 a specific activity or activities, and nothing else. For
example - “Between 9-10am I will do my work admin
block.”
•Task Batching - grouping similar tasks and doing them all
in the same period to avoid switching context. For
example - “I will group work emails, work social media
responses, brief catch up tasks in my Work Admin Batch
group.

Who is Time blocking and Task Batching good for?

• People who need more Thrive in their lives (obviously).

• People who juggle or feel like they are juggling many

tasks, projects and responsibilities.

• People who find themselves floating from task to task

as and when.

• People who find themselves in reactive mode -

responding to messages, emails and notifications the
moment they pop up, distracting them from the task at
hand.

• People that are challenged by constant interruptions.

• People that feel “I just don’t have enough time in the

day”

So how do we combine these two methods?

You may already be seeing where this is going - but I’m
going to spell it out for you!
39
Follow these simple steps to start implementing this
approach into your day. I’m going to walk you through
how to do this step-by-step (so there are no excuses):

Step One:
•First you need to create your broad categories.

To give you an idea - here are some of the categories

that I use to for my Blocks.

- Morning Routine
- Admin Task Block
- Physical Health
- Recharge
- Life admin
- Client-Based Work
- Content Creation

Step Two:
•Secondly - once you have established your Broad
categories, you then need to make a list of all the things /
tasks you would do in a day, both large and small.

For example:

- Take out the bins.

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- Call mum

- Client meeting with Bob 2-3

- Read chapter of my book.

- Strength Training.

- Record 5 x new videos.

- Write 3 x new blogs

Step Three:
•You then need to assign each of these potential task to
one of your Broad categories. Of course there will be
potentially different things each day, dependent on needs
and so forth.

To give you an idea - here are some of the categories

that I used for my Blocks, and examples of what sort of
tasks I get Batched into each of the blocks.

- Morning Routine (E.g Water, Yoga, Meditation, Yoga,

Walk, Coffee)

- Admin Task Block (Emails, Messages, Scheduling calls,

Response to voice notes, work calls)

- Physical Health (Gym, Swim, Run, Long walk).

- Recharge (Food, coffee, screen-break).

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- Life admin (Take out bins, sort bills, washing, food shop)

- Client-Based Work (Consultations / private sessions /

accountability checkins)

- Content Creation (Blog, Social Media Content Creation,

Video for members area)

Step Four:
• Next, you need to look at a standard working day,
and then establish the following:

- Wake Up time.

- End of working day time.

- Sleeping time.

- Any non negotiable blocks (e.g if you’re employed, you

may have set hours).

- Eating times (breakfast, lunch, Dinner).

This should give you a great backbone for your schedule,

and where the gaps present themselves outside of the
above allotted confines is where you can place your Task
blocks of Batched Tasks

42
Step Five.
• After establishing the above, gaps will present
themselves outside of the above allotted confines. This is
where you can then place your Task Blocks of Batched
Tasks.

Here’s an example of how a Time Blocked and Task

Batched day might look in Google Calendar.

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Step Six.
•At the end of each working day / week you need to
evaluate the day / week. What got done vs what didn’t
get done. If you assigned too much vs too little time to a
number of batched tasks. What needs to be carried into
the rest of the week. Adding any additional tasks to your
schedule, or removing any tasks that are no longer
relevant, and structuring the next working day / week
accordingly.

Whether you choose to plan day by day, or week by

week is entirely to do with preference. Due to the
changing nature of my day and work, I like to plan day by
day, as this allows for flexibility and quick modifications. I
also feel that this personally feels like I have more
freedom, and the structure feels less constrictive.

Some people however, would prefer to sit down once on

a Sunday and plan out the entire week so that theres no
after thought involved. Of course, you still have the
freedom to modify your schedule at any time - so this
may be more time efficient for those with heavily
structured weeks where change is unlikely.

What medium to use when Time Blocking / Task

Batching?
There are numerous apps out there that you could use
that would provide a system that would allow you to do
this. However, I’m going to recommend the three
44
approaches that I use daily that are most simple and user
friendly - starting with most simple, finishing with most
complex.

Pen and Paper:

The simplicity and ease of using pen and paper keeps
things simple, and creates less technical hurdles. It is also
easily modifiable should things need to be modified or
changed throughout the day.Here’s an Example of how
this may look:

45
Google Calendar:

Setting up your blocks in Google Calendar is very simple

to do (simply click, drag, and title), you can then choose
to colour code them to give a visual separation. Finally,
you can click on the block and there will be an option to
add a description - this is where you can bullet point your
list of batched tasks.
Here’s an example of how this may look:

Notion:
Notion is a free app that I use for my scheduling and
productivity alongside my gmail.
Within Notion you can integrate a gmail widget that
provides a visual scroll down of your scheduled day from
start to finish - here’s how my dashboard looks:
46
For those who like the look of Notion, but are unfamiliar
with it, there are plenty of easy follow along youtube
channels. One of my good friends has a brilliant youtube
channel that walks you through the process of setting up
your own notion pages.

Here’s a link to his channel should you be interested in

going down the notion route:

Tim Littler’s Youtube channel

You can use discount code dan20 to get 20% off of

Tom’s productivity system ‘The Focused Mind’ - which is
the system I personally use!

47
A Consideration for all of you individuals that need
more Thrive in your Life.
I know that a large proportion of you reading this will
already be feeling overwhelmed or put off by this
seemingly rigid structuring of your day.

Of course! because that is why we have landed here in

the first place - what we are currently doing isn’t getting
us to where we want to be. We aren’t Thriving.

This could be for a number of reasons, but I think it could

be fair to say that a lot of you will feel like you don’t have
enough time in the day, or wonder where the time went,
or like you have an infinite number of tasks to get done
but not enough time to do it…

I was one of these people too!

The likelihood is that many of you will have little to no

structure outside of musts like work commitments, and so
how could you expect to know where the day went if
you were floating from one task to the next. How can
you expect to get a high number of tasks done if there
are too many to do in the first place, and you’re holding
them all in your mind as you try to focus on each
individual task as you get it done.

I know this will be a process of trial and error to see what

the best fit will be for you, but I’m confident it’s going to
create such a positive change in your life.

48
As much as you may initially resist structure and routine, if
you wish to start making measurable progress towards
your goals - it is a useful to make sure you are being
considerate, efficient and effective with your time.

Why Time Boxing and Task Batching is so effective.

When you schedule a block of time for one specific task,

or a small number of tasks with very similar contexts -
you are able to put all of your mental and physical
resources into a single area of focus. The issue of having a
day with no structure, is that you will respond to tasks
sporadically, randomly, or ‘live’ as and when they appear
in your day or take your fancy. The difficulty with this, is
that you’re then dividing you levels of concentration
across a multitude of tasks, leading to lower levels of
focus and concentration.

The more you’re able to develop your ‘single area of

focus’ muscles, the more concentrated you will find
yourself, and the more “Deep Work” you will get done.

What are the potential benefits of Time Blocking

and Task Batching.
• It makes you aware of how you spend and use your
time! Those days you were supposed to make headway
on that new project of yours, and the day just “slipped
away from you” - and then you look back and realise 4
hours of your day was spent looking at your social
media. When you block out your time, and stick to it,
49
 you can see where you have put your time and effort in
a day. This makes it much more easy to measure your
progress toward a specific outcome.

• It helps you follow through on your goals! When you

are able to break you larger goals into smaller projects,
and those projects into tasks - then you have measurable
steps that you can take, one by one. You can then
schedule these tasks into your week with the knowledge
that you are on track!

• It counteracts Perfectionism! If you have a set period

of time to get something done, then what you get done
in that period of time, is what you get done. There’s no
if’s and buts - it’s time to start the next task. You can
always come back to it when the next relevant block
comes along in your schedule!

Some helpful tips to help you overcome the

potential pitfalls of Time Blocking and Task Batching.
Hopefully by now you can see how this method could be
helpful in your life. If you’re still thinking that this approach
may not be for you, at the very least, you should be able
to see the importance of structure and scheduling and can
start to research an approach that may be more suited to
you i.e Day Theming or Time Boxing. It’s all individualised
based on preference. Either way, find a way of structuring
and scheduling your working days - and it’ll be very hard
for you not to notice the difference in your productivity.
Who know’s, you may even feel more calm, less flustered,
and you may enjoy your free time more because you
50
don’t have a head full of tasks and know you can relax
because it has its place in your schedule. Everything will
get done at it’s designated time.
With all that said, I thought it beneficial to also outline
some of the potential pitfalls of this approach, and some
tips to help you avoid them!

Underestimating or overestimating your time blocks:

When you first start learning to Time block, it takes some

figuring out. Knowing how long certain tasks will last can
take some time to develop, and will come with time,
patience and practice. When you’re starting out, you will
usually either underestimate or overestimate the amount
of time needed to get the task or tasks done. It’s so
important that you’re flexible with your approach and
that you’re willing to adapt and modify as you move
through your day - you can’t properly plan for the
unexpected or unknown. This leads me on to my next
point..

Being too rigid:

Don’t be too rigid! Always know that you can change the
length and placement of your daily blocks at any given
time. Of course, this is taking into consideration your non-
negotiable’s which cannot be moved, and also not using
this as an excuse to consistently avoid certain activities
that need to be done, but that you’re not that fond of.
Usually it comes down to a few things:

- Making the block longer if you’re in the flow, and have

51
 space / time to extend the block, but still making sure
everything else that needs to get done in your day, gets
done.

- You accept that the time is up, you move on to the

next task, and see if theres anywhere else later in your
day that you could add in a secondary block for the left
over tasks.

- If the unfinished tasks / project is not time-bound, you

just move these tasks to the next day or somewhere
else in your week when you review your day and plan
the following day.

Over-planning your free time.

Free time should feel freeing! The joy of having structure

is that when it comes to free time, you can be fully
present, relaxed and able to enjoy yourself in the
knowledge that everything else will get done it’s allotted
time. However, over planning your free time then places
too much structure in all areas of your life and it can begin
to feel like a prison. For some (myself included) it begins
to feel too rigid - and the approach fails.

Tips:

- When I schedule free time within a working day there

are no notes or assigned choices. It’s blocked out like
everything else, but there is complete flexibility and
freedom to do what I ever I please.
- When I take complete days off (Every Sunday) there are
52
 no blocks present in my day for anything. It is a blank on
my calendar and is unavailable in any appointment
booking apps. It feels good to look at the calendar and
see a complete blank space - this really gives a feeling of
complete freedom, and of no obligations to get anything
done.

Over Prioritising something too much within your day:

Avoidant - If you know that you’re avoidant of getting

challenging tasks done, or putting in ‘the work’ there could
be a tendency to over-schedule things like, free time,
reading, rest, eating, snack break etc - to the point that
when you look at your day, it favours down time more
than work time. If you’re one of these people, I
recommend planning in all the work affiliated blocks first,
and then the social and life-based blocks.

Workaholics - If you’re someone that tends to schedule

way to much work, is permanently focused on
productivity, and makes little time for themselves or
friends / family then I recommend the following.

- Schedule in a period of free time every day.

- Schedule in at least one Re-charge block for food, drink
and a mental break from work.
- Schedule in a strict end of work routine to bring the
working day to an end.
- Schedule in regular family and friend social time.

53
 Discipline &
Willpower.
As we near the end of this PDF, I thought it would be
beneficial to touch on the subjects of discipline and
willpower, and how we may be able to cultivate more of
it in our lives.
When we have lofty goals, we need to be willing to be
relentless (but flexible) in our pursuit to achieve whatever
it is we wish to achieve. As you get closer and closer to
your finish line, your discipline and willpower will be
tested more and more.

I thought I’d share a couple of useful pieces of information

that you will be able to use when times get challenging.

Willpower - Roy Baumeister.

“For most of us, the problem is not a lack of goals but rather
too many of them.”

- Roy Baumeister-
In his book ‘Willpower’, there are so many nuggets of
54
gold, but I wanted to share some of the insights I found to
be most useful.

1.Your willpower works like a muscle - if you exercise it too

much, it gets worn out.

Just like you wouldn’t expect to run a marathon on day

one, don’t expect yourself to have the willpower and
discipline to stick to equally challenging habits. Start with
things that only require small amounts of discipline and
willpower, but do them daily. Repetition is key - just as
much as it is in the gym! Practice is paramount.

2. Willpower begets willpower.

You’ve got to practice it to train it, and through training it,

you’ll develop more of it.
Make sure you have regular practices that challenge your
discipline and willpower daily. What could you start today
to start building your willpower and discipline muscles
right away?

3. Stress & Tiredness will negatively impact your willpower

and Discipline.

If you wish to be disciplined and to maintain as much

discipline as possible, you must make sure you are getting
adequate amounts of sleep, and are managing your levels
of stress with self care and wellbeing practices.

55
 “What stress does, though, is deplete willpower, which
diminishes your ability to control those emotions.”

- Roy Baumeister -

The Willpower Instinct - Kerry McGonigal.

“Chasing meaning is better for your health than trying to

avoid discomfort”

- Kerry McGonigal -

In her book ‘The Willpower Instinct’ McGonigal outlines

the three kinds of Willpower, they are as follows:

1. I won’t power - helps overcome the desire to give in.

2. I will power - helps you to do the uncomfortable.

3. I want power - brings to mind long term vision and why

you want the long term vision. You use this when you
most need it, and feel you are at your weakest.

So let’s explore this a little further, and I’ll give you some
more examples.

Harnessing I won’t power:

Which negative habit is hurting my health / happiness /

career / relationship the most?
56
“I won’t x - [insert blank]”

Harnessing I will power:

What habit do I know I should start to start improving my

health / happiness / career / relationship ?

“I will x - [insert blank]”

Harnessing I want power:

What is it I want to do if I wish to achieve my big vision?

This statement needs a Strong Reason, a clear why and
must be aligned to your purpose.

“I want to [insert answer] because [insert answer] and it

will move me closer towards my Big Vision.”

When you’re feeling panicked, under stress, feel close to

giving up, or like your willpower and discipline are going
to fail, McGonigal suggest using the Pause and Plan
approach.

She suggests that is almost could be likened to being the

opposite to the fight / flight response.

When you notice yourself entering a state of panic /

stress etc she suggests the following:

- Begin breathing slowly (Deep inhales, longer exhales)

57
- Continue to breathe slowly until you’re roughly
breathing six breaths per minute.

- Continue to breathe slowly like this until your heart rate

has slowed and you’re able to think with more clarity.

- This will help you better use willpower and discipline,

and overcome the desire to give in.

She also suggests that sleep, meditation, mindfulness,

exercise and a healthy diet are all key ingredients of
developing better willpower and discipline as these all
help combat what she calls the ‘Willpower Saboteurs’.

The Willpower Saboteurs

- Depression

- Anxiety

- Chronic Pain

- Fatigue

Insight question - What practices or positive habits could

you incorporate into your daily routine that would help
keep the ‘Willpower Saboteurs’ at bay?

The final piece of wisdom I’d love to share from her book
is as follows;

58
 “Past good behaviour does not justify bad present
behaviour.”

Simply put, just because you haven’t eaten cake for 6

weeks, doesn’t mean it gives you a valid excuse to start
eating it now.

When you start doing well, and you are on track - you
are inclined to become more lazy about your discipline
and willpower.

It is important to celebrate, but to celebrate in a non

counter intuitive way. Remember will power is a muscle.

Accountability can play a large role in someones capacity

to follow through on what they said they would do .
Sometimes our discipline and willpower can waiver if we
are left to our own devices.

If you feel like you would benefit from further

accountability and guidance, get in touch by clicking the
link below.

Contact me.

59
 Final Words.
Now it comes down to you - it’s time to get to work!

I truly believe that if you implement everything that I have

shared in this PDF, you should be well on your way to
making some really positive changes in your life and that
you will be thriving in no time!

I truly hope that you have found this information useful.

When I put this together, I did it because I wanted / want
to positively impact the lives of as many people as I could
/ can - and so I ask you to do the same.

If there is anyone that you feel may benefit from reading

this PDF or one similar to it, ask them to do the quiz so
that I can send them so helpful resources as well! Let’s
spread the good word!

You will shortly receive some more awesome freebies

from me in the coming weeks as you are now part of the
DCM community - so I hope you find all of the upcoming
content useful as well!

In the meantime if you have any questions, or would like

to discuss any of this information in detail - send me an
email by clicking here.

60
Keep me posted about your Journey as you Thrive!

Lots of love,

Dan Morgan
61
 Resources.
Books.

Loving What Is - Byron Katie

Atomic Habits - James Clear

The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg

Willpower - Roy Baumeister.

The Willpower Instinct - Kerry McGonigal

Downloads.

Habit Tracker

The Big Vision Tracking Resources

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