PREPARING FOR A YEAR OF AWESOMENESS

We all know the saying “If you fail to plan, then you are planning to fail!” I look at the previous couple of years and my planning has left a lot to be desired. I have a diary/planner that I enter our Polaris training calls so I don’t miss any, I tick off my 6 daily steps to success when I do them and I write any times I have arranged to call someone for follow up, but that was about it. The last few months my diary/planner has evolved. It has become more about Action Lists and achieving what I set out to. If I complete a mini-goal for the day then I get a sticker in the diary (you know those ones we had as kids that said ‘well done’ or ‘great effort’ or just a smiley sticker or flower sticker – something that’s a bit silly and a bit fun and helps me celebrate the win.

Well, today I have taken it one step further. Yesterday I made a list of my top goals for 2015. 15 FOR 15! Yeah, I’ve got 15 goals on that list (thought the number was kind of appropriate!). I then examined each goal and planned out the steps I want to take to move towards achieving that goal…one small step at time. I planned which days I would take the action and charted it on a calendar. So now, I’ve got some real strategy involved – something to really work on.

I’ve just mapped out my first 4 days of the new year and what actions I will take on each of those days. That takes me up to Sunday when I’ve allocated an hour to do some ‘Strategic Planning’ and plan for the following week. For me, allocating a specific time to do these doesn’t work for me. Being a carer for my husband Michael I have to be quite flexible. And that’s the beauty of our Polaris Businesses – having the flexibility to work when and how we want to.
What I have done is create a daily Action List. I do love my lists – always have done, and it works for me, so having an Action List to check off each day is perfect. When I looked at all of my goals on the list and then printed off charts and calendars it seems a little overwhelming and thoughts of ‘how on earth am I going to get all that done’ came to mind. But once I wrote it all in the diary it actually looks so achievable that I’m excited to get stuck into it.

So, my goals are not just airy fairy dreams or ideas of what I want, but real concrete actionable items that I have strategies in place to actually achieve. Oh yeah…2015 is going to be AWESOME!

ANCHOR YOURSELF TO AVOID THE DRIFT

One of my favourite Jim Rohn quotes is: The formula for success is “a few simple disciplines practiced every day”. This reinforces how important following the 6 daily steps to success is.

I was standing in front of my bookcase today and picked up Jim Rohn’s book The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle. I was flicking through the pages and found the turned page corner with that very quote. I flicked back a couple of pages and found the formula for failure. I found this really interesting. We hear all the time – you only fail if you give up. But what leads up to that point where someone would give up? This is where the drift comes into play. Are you drifting? Or are you the captain of your own ship, in control, and steering your life where you want to go – towards your goals? Am I? In this book, it makes the point that failure’s most dangerous attribute is it’s subtlety. Little errors – in judgement, lack of action, in thoughts – these thing accumulate every day. We do something (or fail to do something), there does not seem to be any immediate consequence, the sky didn’t fall in, so we repeat that action…over and over and over, and before you know it time has gone by, we have drifted so far off course without even realising it. What we must wake up to is the consequences of not taking corrective action. For example, if our pattern was to eat the wrong foods on a daily basis, if not corrected this would result in health problems in the future. The pain and regret of our errors in judgement has just been delayed for a future time.

How can we turn this around? By following the quote mentioned at the start of this post – practice a few simple disciplines every day! You don’t have to make a grand gesture to renounce your former action and turn your life around. All it takes is small but consistent steps – every single day. It’s all about creating a new pattern or habit for yourself.

One of my current goals is: ‘to be balanced…in work, exercise, nutrition and fun’. So for me, this is a perfect time to assess and course correct those ‘simple disciplines’ in my life. One such discipline that I have been implementing into my life is to ensure that I make time every day to work on myself with our Beyond Freedom Evolution curriculum. It doesn’t have to be this big thing that I spend hours each day on – just 10-20 mins a day can make a huge difference, and it has been making a big difference for me. I have learned so much about how to be the best version of me, how to get what I want in life, and to really live with purpose. I have a lot to work on, but day by day I’m improving, growing into my skin, learning how to do this thing called life, and its giving me so much joy to have that sense of moving onward and upwards – all thanks to Beyond Freedom Evolution.

So how about you? What is one small discipline you can add to your daily method of operation?

Working for Someone Else vs Working from Home

What is the difference between having a job 

and working for yourself from home? 

Here are a few things that come to mind:

Trading Time for $$$

You go off to work - in an office or building or to a location where you do your work and you receive a salary at the end of the week/fortnight or month. Your salary is based on your job, your age, your experience and even on your sex.  (Men are paid more than women in the majority of positions even to this day).

In a home-business you are trading effort for dollars - you receive a profit from whatever you sell or for whatever service you provide. The beautiful thing about that is - there is no salary cap!  You can earn any amount of money based on your business model or fee structure and depending on the amount of time and effort you are willing to put into your business.

Finishing the Job

In a job you often only have to take care of your set of tasks - you may never see the end result.  You do your little part and then someone else takes over and does their bit. In fact I was told that it wasn't my job to do more.  I found over my career in corporate admin positions that this is quite common and very discouraging when you really want to go above and beyond on delivering good customer service.  It really dampened any enthusiasm I had for the 'process'.

As an entrepreneur it falls on your shoulders from start to finish!  It's a huge responsibility, but also a great buzz to finish the job - to see something through and to be the one who gets the results.

Rewarding Work

Are you enthusiastic about your job? Do you do your job well, really focus and get your work done quickly, only to be rewarded with - yeah, you got it - more work!  And then, because you are getting through your work quickly, you are forever more expected to work to that level.  You might find yourself getting burnt out, stressed, sick and not able to keep up with what is expected of you.  I've found myself in just that very situation in the past.  Work can be rewarding, but you need to pace yourself and slow down a little so you can achieve a little bit of balance.  But slowing down to an average level can put you to sleep, can rob you of your enthusiasm and can make you feel like a mindless drone.

For entrepreneurs it is exciting that you can get stuck into your work with as much enthusiasm as you can muster.  You can do all of your work in the morning if that is what you want and then you have the rest of the day to play!

Work/Life Balance

One of the greatest draw-cards for people looking to leave the rat race and work from home is the idea of having a work/life balance.  Working 8:30am to 5:30pm no longer works for most people.  Families have kids to collect after school, new Mum's find it heartbreaking to leave their little ones to go back to work.









Many single people just want more to do what they want and have fun rather than be tied down to working all the time. Then there are the people who love to travel but don't want to sacrifice having a regular income to do it.






The idea that you can work from anywhere with a laptop and a phone is very attractive and very flexible for many wanting a different lifestyle.

So, Job vs Business - which is better?  

Well, I can't answer that - only you can.  Think about what you really want, and if it is different than what you currently are doing, ask yourself "Am I prepared to do what it takes to do it".

Whatever your choice I wish you much happiness in life, love and career!


Susan Dorrington
Lifestyle Mentor
Executive Income Specialist
Leadership Development Business Consultant
_______________________________________________
remember, if working for yourself no longer works for you
... hire yourself!   www.hireyourself.com.au

GETTING YOUR SPARK BACK

Have you ever lost your spark? You know…that inner glow, that yearning for more, that desire and motivation to take control and create your life?

Events are great for igniting your spark, but to keep it burning, it needs to come from within. How do you re-kindle that spark when it feels like you have lost it?

We learn so much through Beyond Freedom Evolution about creating our lives, but sometimes, life can throw challenges at you and it’s easy to become overwhelmed by it all. I have had many challenges thrown at me over the past 4 or 5 years, and even though I remained positive to a degree, somewhere along the way I lost my spark, my inner drive. I knew what my WHY was – the reason I wanted to create a successful home business, but it didn’t seem enough to motivate me. Something was missing. I lacked motivation. The drive to succeed was almost non-existent. I had a lot of head knowledge on how this business works and what it takes to succeed, but it wasn’t translating into actions.

Towards the end of my career working in a corporate job, I found myself getting up most days and thinking and saying: “I don’t want to go to work”. In essence what I really meant was that I no longer wanted to work for someone else. I was terribly unhappy in a job where I had been moved into a position that allowed me to work part-time around caring for my disabled husband. I had agreed to the move as I was given no other option, but this was not a position that I had truly chosen and not a position that I enjoyed or that used my skill-set. Every day was a grind. Every day I was unable to meet the targets set for me. Every day was wearing me down. So, I left that job in April this year, and then went on to finish our minor house renovations, put the house on the market, move interstate and then deal with a financial situation we had created for ourselves due to poor decisions we had previously made. It certainly has been a ride.

So what has kept me going?

Making a commitment to my own personal growth, I chose to prioritise my personal development with Beyond Freedom Evolution as part of my daily method of operation (DMO). It has been key to my growth as a human being – learning finer distinctions about this thing we call life and overcoming many obstacles to really living on purpose.

For a while I thought there was some kind of block – that there must have been some limiting belief standing in my way. Through my personal development I worked on many topics hoping to release whatever was holding me back. Examining concepts such as Be, Do, Have, (and thinking about who I was Being), Being your Higher Self and having conversations with my Future Self really helped me to realise that I was burnt out because I was not being true to who I wanted to be. I had not been looking after myself. I had been pushing myself to the limits to get everything done without any thoughts of my physical or mental health. My life was not balanced. I didn’t make time for me. I was burning the candle at both ends before our move – working on the house from early in the morning to late and then packing, caring for hubby and then trying to do a little personal development at the end of the day as I fell into bed – most times falling asleep part way through. Since our move it has been my goal to become more balanced – to take time out to breathe, to go for a walk on the beach, to make time to go sit in my massage chair, or paint my nails. I’m giving myself the space to breathe, to think and to just BE!

And do you know what? I’ve got my spark back! The last couple of weeks I have been waking up excited about my business. I’m calling my prospects with more enthusiasm that I have had in a long time. I am enjoying creating ads and increasing my marketing. I am excited about what I can create in the coming months and years. This is a big deal! This is not false or fake excitement or a spark generated from others….this is my own inner joy and excitement glowing from within. Giving myself the space to just exist has made my soul flourish. Flowery words….but I just mean that I feel more complete, more alive, sparkier and more on purpose…and I’m really grateful for that.

When life is in balance you are so much better equipped for creating the live you truly deserve.

What can you do today to give yourself the space you need to Be, Exist, Grow and Flourish?