Do You Have a Dream You Need to Resurrect?

Life moves in a different direction.  Health struggles make you doubt.  And the result is postponing a dream……You are the only person who can decide to pursue your dream.  Whether it is a book you want to write, a business you want to launch or an adventure you want to go on – YOU need to take the first step and keep moving forward.

Have you postponed a dream? Is one of your ideas sitting on the shelf collecting dust? What hope or vision has been left for dead in your life?  Maybe it is time to dust it off and bring it back to life…..Believe it or not, it is not difficult to do.  So how do you do that? What’s the first step to get you started?

Walk through these powerful questions and you will be on your way…..

1. What dream lies dormant in your life you wish were still a possibility?

Is your dream buried so deep, you forgot about it?  Think for a moment. Maybe it is a dream connected to your professional life, finances, relationships, health, or personal life. What is it for you right now?

2. What do you need to give yourself permission to do about it?

There is a reason something important to you has been buried. Whatever the reason you decided you couldn’t pursue it any longer, now is the time to give yourself permission to do it.  Maybe you got hurt in the past and found a safer road to travel.  Maybe life took over and you let your dream die. Or maybe the dream seemed unattainable, so you gave up on it. Let the past be a learning tool to recast your dream. Have the faith to believe nothing is impossible with God.

3. What do you need to say about it?

Did you know the power of life and death is in the words you speak?  Speak life into your dream right now. Say it out loud. Allow yourself to hear the words. There is power in this exercise. Speak life, not death. Then watch how you talk about your dream to others. When you start with all the reasons you can’t have what your heart desires, you speak death to your dream. Each negative word is like a shovel, digging the grave and then piling dirt onto it until you can no longer see the dream at all. Negative words will steal your vision.  Negative words will NOT get you to your dream!

4. What action will you take next?

Faith without action is dead.  Did you know you may have killed your dream by inaction?  BUT when you take action, you can bring it back to life. Do you believe your dream is possible? Then take steps toward it. It doesn’t mean you have to take BIG steps or lots of them you just have to take them!  Even baby steps, when taken consistently, will get you to the finish line.

I challenge you to dust off your old dream! Give it new life.  Think about the dreams lying dormant in your life then answer the four questions above.  Share your dream with us and what is the ONE baby step you will take?

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

Consistency is the Key to Success

The most often question I hear from members of my team revolves around maintaining and growing their business.  What do you do when you have exhausted your family and friends?  Where do you turn, how do keep your business?

Your business is fun and flexible but the work is NOT optional.  A reminder I keep on my wall from Carrie Wilkerson.  The key for me has been consistency.  Did it happen over night? NO!  But after consistently working my business intentionally a little bit every day, I see the results.  Let’s be honest, I wouldn’t still be doing direct sales for the last 7 years with the same company if I wasn’t making money, right?  Gotta pay the bills!

Here are 5 things you can do to be more consistent in your business and help you to  reach your goals.

1. Break your goals down into activities.

I can’t always see the BIG picture but I can focus on the baby steps.  I know, crazy, right?  Your daily activities are like gasoline for your car which gets you to your destination.  If you have a goal to reach $1000 in income every month, you need to figure out how many new contacts it will take each month, how many parties you need to hold, how many team members you need to recruit and what your team sales need to be. Then you can break it down to the activities you need to do on a regular basis to find those new customers, book those parties, recruit those team members and then help them build their business.  I know it sounds overwhelming BUT it is possible!  WRITE down your goal.  Now make a list of all of the things you could do (if FEAR was not a factor) to make it happen.  Those activities could include marketing, lead generation, events, follow ups, opportunity Facebook Live, or 1 on 1 team coaching.  You will be surprised what happens if you step out of your comfort zone just a little bit to complete some of these activities.

2. Focus on creating new habits.

I am all about lists.  I like to see things highlighted in my planner which means they are done or crossed off my list.  I even have a daily habits schedule because on those “rough days”, I could forget even the things I have done every day for months.  So let’s get busy.  It’s actually much easier to create new habits than to break old ones.  When we re-train our brain, it will become easier to complete the new tasks, routines and goals we have. What would an ideal day look like in your life and in your business?  What are you waiting for?   Begin working NOW to follow the new routine each day. Choose 1 area to focus on changing to allow your brain to adjust to the new way of thinking and being.  Remember the tortoise and the hare?  Slow and steady wins the race.

3. Evaluate your activities each day, week and month.

Do you review your activities?  Do you actually write down your successes, challenges and big ideas for the month?  The only real way to make sure you are making progress and staying on course is by evaluating what you do on a regular basis.  Create a daily or weekly task list.  Create theme days you use to keep yourself on track – Motivation Monday, Team Tuesday, etc. Then look at it at least once a week to see what is going well, what isn’t going so well and where you need to improve or adjust.  I review my week on either Saturday morning or Sunday evenings as I prep for the upcoming week.  A weekly check allows me to tweak my focus so I can reach my goals faster.

4. Seek Accountability.

I don’t know about you but I need to be accountable to someone.  Change can be tough but when I add in an accountability measure, it gives me an incentive, and encouragement to do the work.   Some share their goals with their family to get them on board. Some find a buddy in or out of their direct sales company to connect with on a regular basis. What works best for you?  Create a vision board to help you keep focused.  This can be done with magazine cut-outs or hand drawn.  I am part of an incredible Facebook Group called League of Audacious Women run by the AMAZING Desiree Wolfe which helps me stay accountable on a daily basis. Join a monthly group coaching or training program which provides support and accountability. Be willing to hold yourself responsible and learn from others who are further along the path than you are.

5. Celebrate your progress.

Do you wait to celebrate until you reach the final goal OR do you celebrate your accomplishments along the way?  The success is in the journey and not always the destination.  Your goal is a target for you to focus on to keep you moving forward BUT life happens. We get derailed or make mistakes.  Sometimes it takes us longer to reach our goal than we hoped for or maybe we never reach it BUT we need to continue to celebrate our progress.  Practice self-love and be our own biggest cheerleaders. Focus on progress not perfection.

Who is ready to get consistent?  What small step will you make to change the direction of your business and your life?

Have a ThirtyOne-deful day!

Let’s Get Unstuck Together!

WOOHOO!  It is Wednesday – the last day of the month and a day we are going to CELEBRATE you!

How many of you woke up this morning, and hit the snooze button?  How many of you buried your head under the covers for just a few minutes more?

I will admit, that is me most mornings.  I could use the excuse of health challenges but that isn’t always the case – sometimes, I just don’t want to get up.  Have you been there?

What happens if you just push yourself to move – put those feel and on the floor? The simple key to moving forward (or getting up) is ……….

“The key is to get your feet on the ground and keep them moving!”

Simple, but so true.

In that split second when you decide to sit up, swing your legs over the side of the bed, stand up and start moving – something happens.  You have made the conscious decision to say, “No. I’m getting up now,” and then followed through with action steps.  Once I start moving, I keep moving!   There is no turning back.  There is a sense of accomplishment!  What about you, do you feel that little tingle of pride. “You did it! You didn’t feel like it, but you got moving.”

Success is a series of good decisions.  When you stack them up one on top of another;  you build a wonderfully successful life. I know, getting out of bed doesn’t seem so major, right?  But the actions that you took to do that can be applied to other areas of your life.  One small step at a time….

It starts with getting up early so you can meditate or work out.  Then it moves to choosing the grilled fish off the menu instead of fried (eating healthy). When you approach a big decision that needs to be made – break it up into small decisions.  It can start with saying “no” to an opportunity that will lead you away from your vision rather than closer to it.

So what keeps you procrastinating? Will you head to the gym or come up with an excuse? Will you sit down and work on that project or turn on the television?

Here are 4 Ways to Get Unstuck in Five Seconds courtesy of Valerie Burton:

1. The person that you’ve been procrastinating about reaching out to – when you finish reading this, contact them immediately. Don’t wait until later. Do it now – while your motivation is high. 
2. That thing you need to say, but can’t seem to muster the courage? Remember this: All you need to do is open your mouth and say it – honestly and kindly. That’s all that is standing between you and standing in truth.
3. Ask for help from someone who is a “mover.” Sometimes we just need to get around somebody with vision, someone on the move. High energy is contagious.
4. Stop thinking about your problem and think about a solution. Ask, “What’s the next easiest step that will move me towards what I want?”

In what area of your life do you feel stuck right now?  Let’s change it TODAY! Let’s enter September ready to move forward and be unstuck.

Feeling stuck and being stuck are not the same. Feelings are honest, but they are not necessarily the truth. Feelings come from thoughts – what you say to yourself about your dilemma. Change your thoughts and you change what you feel. Change what you feel and you change what you do.

Staying stuck is a choice. Move towards what you want. Even if it is a baby step, get moving!

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

 

Does Someone Else’s Success Threaten Yours

 

“Stop beating yourself up. You are a work in progress; which means you get there a little at a time, not all at once.” ~Unknown

Today is HUMP day!  I wanted you to know that no matter where you are or what you are doing or what you think of yourself, you are an inspiration to ME!  For some, that may not mean much but I am sure that there is someone out there that needs to hear those words.

I am sure that I am not alone in playing the comparison game…..

You go to the gym with a goal – say walking 2 miles on the treadmill.  You get there and all of them are full EXCEPT the one next to where someone is running 10 miles uphill.  In that moment, do you feel like you are wasting your time at the gym.

Have you almost walked out of the gym or worse yet tried to copy what that person was doing.  YIKES!  The truth is, you need to CELEBRATE how awesome you are for the progress you are making.  No matter how small a step it may be for you, it is one step more than someone else is taking.

Growing up there was always that “keeping up with the Jones” mentality in our neighborhood.  As if having the same “stuff” or doing the same things were going to make anyone like you any more.  The PTA mom who is always dressed to the hilt and has mega time to “organize” successfully anything she says that she will do.  The mom whose house is spotless despite being a working mom.  They all seem to have it together, right?

I will admit that I struggle with the comparison game but here are some reminders:

Detach from Everyone Else

I know, this is easier said than done, right?  The truth is that unless you’re having a competition with a friendly wager, your personal progress is 100% independent from the rest of the world and the people in it.  I am not saying that you can’t use them as inspiration of where you want to be or what your goal is BUT what I am saying is that they should not threaten your sense of satisfaction in the progress you’ve made or are making.

No Pain, Still Gain?

Yes, we have all heard this saying right?  Whether it is on a weight loss journey, building a business or running a household, right?  It is pretty common to be envious of others and want to use that as a motivator.  The truth is that this “negative motivation” is mentally draining and relatively ineffective.  Remember the Law of Attraction, right?Amazing progress is more about consistent effort and NOT emotional pain.

The Permanent Cure for Envy Is Progress

Acknowledge your progress, CELEBRATE it no matter how small.  Steps towards your goal no matter how small is one step closer to it.  Maybe you can’t run the 10 miles on the treadmill but you can jog 2 miles, that is a step forward.  Maybe your house is not spotless but it is neat and feels like home to those who visit.  CELEBRATE those things and revel in the positive energy that it creates in your life.

There will always be someone who is further along the path than you are in every area of your life.  You are making changes in your life  that is your personal progress.  You don’t know what their journey has been to get to where they are.  They may have reached their goal after years of hard work while you are just starting your journey.  Each person’s story is different.

We are the choices we make so do you choose to compare yourself to someone else OR are you ready to write your own story?

The only person you have to measure up to is the person you were yesterday. If you can beat that person, trust me, you’re doing very well.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!