Red light, green light
Image - Flickr Vizzzual
One of the items in Jennifer Lee’s Right Brain Business Plan that I love is Start, Stop, Continue. I actually do this exercise with my team and myself regularly.
What are the three things right now that you would like to start, three things you would like to stop, and three things you would like to continue?
In late January, Chris Brogan wrote about “quitting” in his newsletter. It was around that time that I started to think about the things that I needed to quit. So over the course of the last couple of months here are the three things I have been stopping/quitting:
1. communities that no longer serve me
I belonged to two communities that although I fully support their vision and mandate, were no longer serving me. By letting it go, I freed up my time and mental space to focus on other things including other communities that are serving me right now.
2. fear
I think many of us, maybe even most of us, are run by fear. We make choices out of fear. We limit our Selves, our dreams, our lives because of fear. Fear is the egos way of keeping control over us.
3. compartmentalization
I tend to keep my life very compartmentalized. I have work, I have my spiritual practice, I have my interests and hobbies, and I keep them all very separate. I think I believe that it isn’t possible for these things to exist happily outside of me. That they don’t mix. I am learning to embrace all parts of me as a whole. Bringing a little of each into the other. It is still an experiment in practice.
What do you need to quit or stop doing to give you the room to do something else?
Time: 7 days, 168 hours or 10080 minutes
“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” John C. Maxwell
It’s the beginning of March. Can you believe it! Time certainly does march on. Before you know it, we will all be reading posts about year in reviews, getting ready for the holidays, and questions being asked about our goals for 2013. It may seem far away but doesn’t New Year’s feel far away.
Maybe you will be one of those that will sit and wonder, what happened to 2012? I had all these amazing, beautiful dreams that I was going to focus on this year. But time marched on. I didn’t focus on the things I wanted to. I focused on the other day-to-day things that needed to get done. I went grocery shopping, did the laundry, cleaned the house, went to work, read a book or two, spent time with friends and family, volunteered, and so on. My days are always full. Does this sound familiar?
Of course, you then start to rationalize your choices. My days are so full. I don’t have time to follow those crazy dreams. What was I thinking in the first place. It really isn’t about doing this or that. I have a good life. And quickly those dreams aren’t yours anymore. How quickly we can talk ourselves into and out of things.
Don’t be so quick to let go of your dreams. Hold on to them. It’s not about radical transformation. It’s about change: slow, steady change. It’s about daily actions – one day at a time. It’s about moving towards your dream step by step.
Quite often our New Year’s resolutions and plans fall by the wayside because our head and our heart are not in alignment. When we are in alignment and our decisions, choices, are made based on what is important to us. When it’s important, we make time.
Don’t have time? We all say that. You have the time, we all have the same number of hours in a week: 168 hours to be precise. How we choose to use those 168 hours is very different.
- How many hours a week do you spend watching TV? You could limit/cut back and find a few hours a week to work on your project.
- How do you commute to work? Did you consider public transit so you could spend the commute reading, listening, meditating, or planning?
- Do you do things you really don’t want to do because you feel you “have to”. Drop the shoulds. Do what you must for your family, but drop the sense of obligation where there is no real obligation. It’s sometimes is hard, but you will be relieved when you do it.
- Quit those things that don’t fill you up to give time for those things that do. Your family will appreciate it because you will be happier.
This week, consider monitoring how you spend your time.
Laura Vanderkam’s book 168 hours You Have More Time Than You Think has a spreadsheet you can download here. The excel document can help you really ascertain how you spend your time. You can listen to Kimberly Wilson interview Laura here on her book and about time management.
My suggestion is to set a timer for every 30-60 minutes. Then when the timer goes off take a few minutes to jot down what you have done over that time period. Do this every waking hour every day for a week. Be honest. It is what it is. And yes, it will take some time, but it will also shed some light on how you spend your time and how you don’t. Once you know how you currently spend your time, you can make changes.
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I am hosting quarterly check-in teleclasses to get re-calibrated with your goals and dreams so you can be successful this year. Starting April 3, 2012, the one hour class with provide an opportunity to reconnect with your goals and vision for 2012, and change course if necessary. The cost for the class is kept low purposefully so that all can attend. Each class is $10 or $30 if you purchase all four. The classes will be recorded so you can listen to it later if you are unable to attend live.
Before the class you will be provided with the conference call line. Bring your journal and 2012 dreams with you. During the class we will be going through a series of questions to consider our choices thus far and the choices we want to make in the next quarter. We will take the big goals and chunk it down. We will break it down into manageable pieces to move you forward over the next few months.
Commit to yourself, your dreams, and your 2012 goals by joining us on these Quarterly Check-ins. I hope you will join us.
March Goal – Health
Highlights from Feb Goals
- Prayer/Spiritual Practice – success
- Learning – Reiki, entheos, and Goddess research – success
- Website updates – slowly but surely
- Movement – could have been better!
- Random Acts of Daily Rebellion – started off strong but when I got busy this didn’t happen.
March Goal: Health
- Spiritual Health: defining and committing to a spiritual practice and working with a spiritual coach
- Physical Health: getting my butt moving this month, running and preparing for a 5k race, regular weekly yoga class
- Mental Health: learning a new skill with my Reiki Level 2 training
- Financial Health: continuing to work on the new business while balancing my responsibilities at my job. Planning and writing the new e-book.
- Emotional Health: have some fun with friends and family. Get out and socialize at least once a week.
Blissfully Flourish
One way or another, we all have to find what best fosters the flowering of our humanity in this contemporary life, and dedicate ourselves to that. Joseph Campbell
When I think of the word flourish it reminds me of a big, beautiful plant.
Consider that a plant doesn’t lament about growing. It doesn’t look at the other plants in the room and judge itself or others. It doesn’t shrink and hide so as to not offend anyone by its own beauty.
That’s ridiculous.
It knows what it is supposed to do. No one has to tell it what to do. It’s encoded in its cellular structure.
Given the right environment. It will grow – strong and true. It will do what it is supposed to do without thought or consideration. It will flourish.
We are not so different from the plant. Of course, we can think and consider, but, more often than not, that’s where problems start.
Connecting to our bliss and allowing it to shine through and to flourish is our true purpose in life. And moreover, just like the plant we know what that purpose is. I believe this will every cell in my being.
We need to:
- Connect to our bliss
- Create the right environment for our bliss
- Do that “thing that brings you bliss” diligently, passionately, persistently and playfully every day
And we will flourish.
Imagine the world where all of us were like the big, beautiful plant: owning our space and beauty, shining for the enjoyment of all, and doing what we love.
That would be a beautiful world indeed.
February Goals
January Goals Check-in:
1. Be clear on my goals and intetions for 2012: Faith, Harmony and Connection.
2. Redevelop Myles Ahead and new product ideas (in progress)
3. Health Conscious – daily movement practice (half done)
4. Get knitting those legwarmers (haven’t started yet)
5. Develop new workshop materials (in progress)
February Goals: Faith, Harmony and Connections
1. Daily practice of surrendering the outcome and focusing on the work
2. Continuing to work on new content for website, e-book and workshops
3. Health Conscious – daily movement practice
4. Learning – Reiki workshop, Goddess research, and finishing up entheos Academy class
5. Random Acts of Daily Rebellion – doing things that fills me with joy.
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Working towards my annual goals. Are you? Join us for a quarterly check-in of our goals. I’ll be leading a discussion to ensure our goals are on track.
Get ruthless to be successful
Sometimes it’s hard to focus on something. We get distracted. We procrastinate. Our minds and thoughts are all over the place.
Have you ever had one of those days at the office. At the end of the day you realize you got nothing tangible accomplished. You kept busy and the day flew by, but your to-do list is still full and all your priorities are still waiting.
Focus is “the state of maximum distinctness or clarity of an image”. We sometimes don’t reach our goals because we lack focus on the outcome and then flounder on what needs to be done.
It’s the end of January. How are your goals and dreams coming along? Are you where you had hoped to be? Do you need some focus? Some readjustment to the image or goal?
Do you have what it takes to be ruthless about your focus?
- What are three things you need to start saying NO to in order get focused? What’s getting in your way? Distracting you?
- What do you need to say – great idea, but not now – to? Create a folder for your great ideas. Put the ideas in it and put it away. When you reach your goal you can go through the folder for the next idea. Give yourself the time and space to do what you need to do now and allow the other ideas to sit and wait.
- Get clear on what needs to happen now. That’s the focus.
Getting ruthless increases your chance of success. Do you have it in you?
Quarterly Check-in – Every quarter I’ll be hosting a teleclass to talk about our goals and dreams for 2012 and help us keep on track to make sure 2012 is a great year. Each teleclass is only $10 and if you book all four sessions the total cost is only $30. I priced it so everyone could participate. Each class will be an hour and we will cover all sorts of things. The call will be recorded so if you can’t make the time you can listen in later. I hope you will join us!
Read this great post from Danielle Laporte.
Motivation
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” Zig Ziglar
What motivates you to great heights?
Motivation is the psychological feature that arouses a person to action toward a desired goal or the reason for the action.
So, what’s your daily motivational ritual?
Do you have a visual reminder of your goal around your house and office? Have you made changes in your life to support this new goal? Have you talked to your friends and family about it so they can support you? Do you have the partners you need to be successful? You have to first have the elements of success. You then have to remind yourself of your goal daily or weekly to keep it top of mind. The goal has to be intrinsically linked to something important to you. And you have to keep positive about it as there will be times when fear, anger, and other negative emotions will try to take over.
Do your rituals change when you are riding the creative high to the dragging your behind low?
It’s easy to stay motivated when you are pumped up and things are going well – think first two weeks of January at the gym. It’s packed because everyone has made New Year’s resolutions and are still motivated by the resolution itself to keep going. But those that go to the gym regularly know, by mid to late January it starts to peter out and by February it’s back to normal. You do have a few new faces who have stuck it out though. They have managed the highs and lows and have remained committed.
What is it that keeps those few people motivated long enough to make a new habit with the behaviour?
It’s always a WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) state of mind. You won’t be truly successful if your motivation is about someone else and not you. Remind yourself of the why: why are you doing this? What will it do for you personally or professionally? Why is that important to you?
Besides commitment to the goal, those that are successful are motivated intrinsically or extrinsically by other factors. Most would say that extrinsic factors are the easiest but not always long lasting. If I … go to the gym, lose weight, insert goal here – I can get a … new outfit, indulgence, trip, insert reward here.
This is a great idea for those times when you are just dragging and don’t want to do something, but you know you will feel better if you do it. It won’t necessarily help maintain long term motivation if you haven’t made other changes intrinsically, but it can help you out in certain situations.
Consider that it takes:
- 40 days to change a bad habit into a positive one;
- 90 days confirms the new habit in you;
- 120 days allows the new habit to become who you are;
- 1,000 days ensures you have mastered the habit
Ideas for visual reminders:
Big calendar with the X’s through the days to show how far you have come while keeping an eye on the ‘deadline’. This is good when there is a deadline. If you don’t have one you can create one. Take the 90 days as a deadline.
Make sure to put time in your schedule for the activity and protect it. Learn to say no. You don’t need to explain yourself, feel guilty, or anything else you feel compelled to do. If this is a major goal in your life, carve out the time and protect that time like nothing else. Make sure you find a time that works with your schedule. If you get really busy at work and end up working late a lot – go in the morning. Get up 30 minutes earlier than normal and do what you need to do – exercise, write, read, paint, etc.
I started to get up at 5:30 am to run a few mornings a week. It was fine in the fall and I was making a regular habit out of it, but then winter arrived and my motivation dropped. It has been hard since it is cold and dark out. I had to find new ways to keep myself motivated. I have a sign on my clock so when I roll over to turn the alarm off I see it. It reminds me to get my butt out of bed and go running.
Have your visual cards/index cards near where you get up in the morning so it is the first thing you see. On the cards include not only your goal but a visual representation of what it will be like when you reach that goal.
What other visual reminders could you create that will help you stay motivated?
Published at Creative Dream Journals
2011 Year in Review – Lessons Learned
I sent out a bonus email to the Planning 2012 group today. I just noticed I put 2010 twice where it should have been 2011. No matter how many times I reviewed it, I didn’t pick up on the mistake. I must have had 2010 on my mind for some reason. All I can do is shake my head and chuckle.
As I was reviewing the email, I thought others might enjoy the questions I included in the email. The questions were created from prompts including in past reverbs (2010 and 2011) and journalling prompts. The questions are meant to help you do a Year in Review 2011 as it comes to a close as we look to the future in 2012.
Top 10 Reflection Questions on 2011
- What was the one social gathering that totally rocked in 2011? Describe it. What was awesome about it? Who was there? Where was it? When was it?
- What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out? Did you know it was wise at the time? Why was it wise in retrospect?
- What (or who) healed you this year?
- Imagine you can only capture five minutes of 2011 to remember and all the rest of your memories will be wiped. Write down the the things you most want to remember about 2011 in 5 min.
- What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? What does this mean for your future?
- Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. What were you doing? Who were you with? Where were you? What was it that made you feel alive?
- Describe a defining moment or event that affected your life this year.
- What was your favourite meal this past year? Why? Was it the food, the people you ate with, the location?
- Who surprised you and how did they do it?
- What was your favourite accomplishment this year and why?
- Bonus: One Word. Encapsulate the year 2011 in one word.
I look forward to serving you in 2012. I know it will be a magical year. I have big plans! If you are interested please sign up to receive notifications from Myles Ahead on our plans. It’s simple to subscribe see the right hand margin. And I won’t bombard you with emails or give your information away to anyone.
Have a wonderful New Year’s weekend!
Be safe and enjoy yourself.
Giving and Receiving
Tis the season where this is at the forefront. But I have been thinking of it in a different perspective over the last few weeks. It has been coming up in discussions with others about our life’s purpose, our businesses, and our dreams.
We all have special talents and gifts that we are meant to give to the world. That’s what they mean when they say to live your life’s purpose.
It’s essential we are open to receive those gifts from the universe and others as well. Remain open to the lessons that others will share with you, to their gifts that can help you and support you on your journey, and to giving of your gifts as the opportunities arise (and they will arise).
Considering your strengths and talents, your plans for 2012, and your business dreams, what is your gift to others this holiday season? What do you most need to receive to see your dreams realized?
December Goals
I can’t believe it’s December! This past month flew by. Here are my November Goals with updates. I ended up reading a couple of other books instead of the ones I had intended.
December Goals:
- Healthy Living: Eating right especially at all the parties, getting back into the exercise routine, and weekly self-care activity. Self care is important always but more important during the holiday season.
- Learning: Taking class – Spirit Junkie with Gabrielle Bernstein at entheos Academy.
- Books to read: Book Club – Miss Peregrine’s home for Peculiar Children and Night Circus. Also reading Spirit Junkie for class. And trying to get Uncertainty read. I have 7 books to read before the end of the year. I just bought 7 additional new books last Friday. I have lots to choose from but need to get it done.
- Creativity: Dreamboard session, Planning 2012 series and execution,
and some dancing time.
- Relationships: It’s the holiday season – lots of parties, get-togethers, and activities. I plan to take time out and enjoy the time with friends and colleagues without stressing.
- Holiday: I don’t buy a lot of gifts for the holidays anymore. And this year I have decided for the few that I do buy it will be handmade from artists online or locally. And if you like the idea of adoption, check these great gift ideas at WWF, Sanctuary, Pigs, and more.
- Business: Finalize dates for the first quarter workshops, execute planning 2012, develop joint venture programs.
Monthly Mantra: I am deeply fulfilled by all that I do. Each moment of the day is special to me as I follow my higher instincts and listen to my heart. I am at peace with my world and affairs. (Power Thought card by Louise Hay)
Have an amazing month!
P.S. I selected this image as I have recently fallen in love with pigs.