Thursday, March 17, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Life's Circumstances
The disciplines we keep.
Discipline : behavior in accord with rules of conduct;
behavior and order maintained by training and control
We all want our lives to be more balanced. More organized. More 'together'.
Sometimes it is events that are beyond our control that keep us from realizing our goals; this is true in our personal lives, as well as our business lives.
But quite often, if we take a good hard honest look at our lives, our lifestyles, and our habits, we can see that the habits we keep are sabotaging our own good intentions.
Take for instance: My goal is to save money. Oh, lets say I want to buy my dream car in a year, and I want a nice healthy down payment, or want to pay cash. I faithfully deposit money into savings... but three months down the road it just doesn't seem to be adding up fast enough.
Are my habits holding me back? Do I need to develop discipline in this area?
Ok, so I grab a note pad and start keeping track of where my money is going. Hmmm. $4 a day on machalattefrappycoffee..... no big deal, its only $4, right? WRONG. In a week its $28...a month, $117.60 and wow! in a year I'm spending over $1400 on foo-foo coffee!!
This is where discipline comes into play. It is hard to be painfully honest with ourselves. Sometimes making sacrifices is really uncomfortable. But really, it is simple. It is a matter of priorities.
It is easy to endure that discomfort if the reward is greater than the cost.
Examine your lifestyle and more importantly, your habits. Are your disciplines such that you are sabotaging your own success? Are they keeping you from reaching your goals?
Discipline : behavior in accord with rules of conduct;
behavior and order maintained by training and control
We all want our lives to be more balanced. More organized. More 'together'.
Sometimes it is events that are beyond our control that keep us from realizing our goals; this is true in our personal lives, as well as our business lives.
But quite often, if we take a good hard honest look at our lives, our lifestyles, and our habits, we can see that the habits we keep are sabotaging our own good intentions.
Take for instance: My goal is to save money. Oh, lets say I want to buy my dream car in a year, and I want a nice healthy down payment, or want to pay cash. I faithfully deposit money into savings... but three months down the road it just doesn't seem to be adding up fast enough.
Are my habits holding me back? Do I need to develop discipline in this area?
Ok, so I grab a note pad and start keeping track of where my money is going. Hmmm. $4 a day on machalattefrappycoffee..... no big deal, its only $4, right? WRONG. In a week its $28...a month, $117.60 and wow! in a year I'm spending over $1400 on foo-foo coffee!!
This is where discipline comes into play. It is hard to be painfully honest with ourselves. Sometimes making sacrifices is really uncomfortable. But really, it is simple. It is a matter of priorities.
It is easy to endure that discomfort if the reward is greater than the cost.
Examine your lifestyle and more importantly, your habits. Are your disciplines such that you are sabotaging your own success? Are they keeping you from reaching your goals?
Monday, February 21, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Choose Your Hats Wisely
If you are in business for yourself, you wear many hats. OK, many, many hats. Sometimes you wear many different hats all in one day, and often you may find yourself wearing many hats at once! It's not too far-fetched to find yourself at times, wearing the wrong hat for the task at hand. (I hate when that happens!)
It doesn't matter if you are a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker....all businesses have specific tasks that are segmented into their own little 'niche.' A few examples? Client relations, sales, services, administration, marketing, advertising and record keeping.
So what is it about hats? It is not uncommon for business owners to think, "I can do that." Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn't. Trying to do too much, often leaves you feeling stretched thin, like you are caught in a whirlwind and just can't gain ground. And you can't! Very few can do it all, and do it well!
As a business owner/Entrepreneur you have to decide which niches in the business you can fill.. and fill well. Think hard about which hats you can wear consistently, and which hats would better serve your business if someone else was wearing it!
Which hats are most effective for you, and most productive for your business?
If you need to be with clients or providing services in order for your business to grow and thrive, how is that achieved if you are wearing the administrative office hat? It is easier now to hire others as the resources to handle tasks than it has ever been.
An experienced and savvy marketing pro can put your business right in front of your target market, saving you both time and money in wasted efforts. Nothing is less effective than trying to reach the wrong market!
Think you are going to buy a bookkeeping program and keep your own books? Think again....you still have to have bookkeeping skills and knowledge...or all of the money you've saved will go to pay for someone to make sense of it all come tax time!
For a small fee, a personal assistant or concierge could run your business errands...trips to the print shop, the office supply store, etc. All tasks that need to be done, but they can certainly waste valuable time and leave you drained when instead you could be spending time with clients or prospective clients.
Think about your hats. Decide which hats you can wear, and wear well...and think of the impact it has on your business. Hire someone else to wear some of your hats if you need to. Choose your hats wisely.
It doesn't matter if you are a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker....all businesses have specific tasks that are segmented into their own little 'niche.' A few examples? Client relations, sales, services, administration, marketing, advertising and record keeping.
So what is it about hats? It is not uncommon for business owners to think, "I can do that." Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn't. Trying to do too much, often leaves you feeling stretched thin, like you are caught in a whirlwind and just can't gain ground. And you can't! Very few can do it all, and do it well!
As a business owner/Entrepreneur you have to decide which niches in the business you can fill.. and fill well. Think hard about which hats you can wear consistently, and which hats would better serve your business if someone else was wearing it!
Which hats are most effective for you, and most productive for your business?
If you need to be with clients or providing services in order for your business to grow and thrive, how is that achieved if you are wearing the administrative office hat? It is easier now to hire others as the resources to handle tasks than it has ever been.
An experienced and savvy marketing pro can put your business right in front of your target market, saving you both time and money in wasted efforts. Nothing is less effective than trying to reach the wrong market!
Think you are going to buy a bookkeeping program and keep your own books? Think again....you still have to have bookkeeping skills and knowledge...or all of the money you've saved will go to pay for someone to make sense of it all come tax time!
For a small fee, a personal assistant or concierge could run your business errands...trips to the print shop, the office supply store, etc. All tasks that need to be done, but they can certainly waste valuable time and leave you drained when instead you could be spending time with clients or prospective clients.
Think about your hats. Decide which hats you can wear, and wear well...and think of the impact it has on your business. Hire someone else to wear some of your hats if you need to. Choose your hats wisely.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
How's your Vision?
If you want to be in a bigger, better game, you have to "see" or think bigger and better. Given a realistic, reasonable but methodical time frame and specific accountabilities, your dreams can come true.
When is the last time you checked your vision? Just like life in general, business can become routine and stagnant if we are content just to settle in to the same ol' same ol' every day.
When you look at your business, do you see exactly what it is at this moment? Do you see the routine of tasks and chores, or do you see today as a stepping stone on the path to bigger and better things?
In order for your business to grow into something bigger and better, you must have a vision. But just having the vision is not enough to make it happen. According to Loral Langemeier, author of The Millionaire Maker, there are three things you need to go from vision to motion....
~ your vision needs to be exciting enough to energize you
~ your vision should be reasonable, yet doable
~ your vision should never compromise your values
So now, how's your vision?
When is the last time you checked your vision? Just like life in general, business can become routine and stagnant if we are content just to settle in to the same ol' same ol' every day.
When you look at your business, do you see exactly what it is at this moment? Do you see the routine of tasks and chores, or do you see today as a stepping stone on the path to bigger and better things?
In order for your business to grow into something bigger and better, you must have a vision. But just having the vision is not enough to make it happen. According to Loral Langemeier, author of The Millionaire Maker, there are three things you need to go from vision to motion....
~ your vision needs to be exciting enough to energize you
~ your vision should be reasonable, yet doable
~ your vision should never compromise your values
So now, how's your vision?
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Savoring a Balanced Life
Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experiences to savor, not to endure ~ unknown
Is your life balanced so that you have experiences to savor, and do you have time, and take the time to enjoy them to their fullest when they arrive? Or are you too busy 'enduring' drama-filled experiences, that you don't even notice the wonder in your life?
If your life feels like one thing after another to 'endure'....maybe its time to step back and take a look at what changes you can make to take control of those events. Certainly, we can not control everything that happens in our lives. We can control our reaction, our behavior, and the way we respond to these experiences.
Creating an intentional balance in your life will lessen your moments to endure, and gift you with experiences to savor!
Is your life balanced so that you have experiences to savor, and do you have time, and take the time to enjoy them to their fullest when they arrive? Or are you too busy 'enduring' drama-filled experiences, that you don't even notice the wonder in your life?
If your life feels like one thing after another to 'endure'....maybe its time to step back and take a look at what changes you can make to take control of those events. Certainly, we can not control everything that happens in our lives. We can control our reaction, our behavior, and the way we respond to these experiences.
Creating an intentional balance in your life will lessen your moments to endure, and gift you with experiences to savor!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
The problem with drama.....
Living in continual chaos is exhausting, frightening. The catch is that it's also very addictive. ~ Lorna Luft
The problem with chaos, or drama, is that it is addictive. We often don't realize how swept up we are in it. It becomes so much a part of our daily lives that we don't realize the disruption it causes us.
Just like stress, we accept it as a normal part of living. We often don't even recognize it as part of our routine, until it is removed and we can finally take a deep breath in relief. But really, do you want to spend your life in a whirlwind of "putting out fires"? Because that is usually how drama effects our lives.
I've heard that hindsight is always 20/20, but wouldn't it be nice to have foresight that was equally as good? At the time of year when many make resolutions to make changes in their lives, now would be a good time to resolve to take steps to eliminate the drama from your life.
Easier said than done, sure! But taking small steps to first recognize the drama in your life is a start. Taking steps to eliminate drama from your daily routine will create a calmer, more peaceful life....
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy New Year!
Today is the day that millions will make resolutions....most of which will be broken within a short time.
Lose weight....exercise more....quit smoking.....be on time....what's yours??
Instead of resolving to make one major change, why not resolve to seek a well-balanced life?Sounds like an incredible task, but it is not something achieved overnight. Instead of stressing over the success or failure of that one major life change, why not commit instead to making small positive changes that will have a huge impact on the overall quality of your life?!
Lose weight....exercise more....quit smoking.....be on time....what's yours??
Instead of resolving to make one major change, why not resolve to seek a well-balanced life?Sounds like an incredible task, but it is not something achieved overnight. Instead of stressing over the success or failure of that one major life change, why not commit instead to making small positive changes that will have a huge impact on the overall quality of your life?!
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