Are You Feeling Lost or Overwhelmed?

We have all been there at some point in our lives.  The moment when you feel lost, overwhelmed, or totally out of sync in your work/business and in your life. The moment when you feel uninspired, burned out, and unsure of what to do next.  What is a girl to do?  Ask yourself these questions and answer them HONESTLY so you can get back on track.

1. What’s feeling good?

When we feel out of sorts, this can be a tough question.  I mean, how do you really know what feels good when you are feeling lost?  Take a few minutes and think about: What you really enjoy in your business? What things are you loving in your life? What do you want even more of moving forward?

These questions will help you to see what is going right for you and as a result, help you reconnect to what lights you up.  Do you know the things which light you up?  Once you get super specific about what feels good, then you MUST ask yourself – how can I get more of these things?

2. What isn’t feeling good?

Now, the positive energy is flowing.  It is time to look at what is not working.  We look at the positive first so the negative doesn’t open the door for the inner gremlins to beat us up even more.  So, what is leaving you feeling drained, unhappy, and frustrated in your business and your life? What do you want way less of moving forward?  What sucks your energy?

Once you get a handle on where those energy leaks are in your life and business, you will be able to get super clear on how you can minimize the not-so-feel good areas in your business and your life.  There are going to be some unenjoyable things in our business and life – I mean does anyone really enjoy doing laundry or cleaning the house – but they have to be done.  The key is to see how we can change things up so we can find a balance between the enjoy and the don’t enjoy.  While at the same time, start eliminating some of the things which are totally sucking the energy out of us.

3. What are my core desires in my business and my life?

This is a great time to dream a little.  Think about what you want in your business and in your life? Do you want to grow your business?  Do you want to work less?  Do you want to connect more in your relationships? Do you want more self development? Do you want more clarity and momentum?

Get super specific about your core desires. Allow yourself to want what you truly want.  Listen to what you really want. Don’t just follow the crowd or let the expectations of others drown out your core desires.  These core desires will be your anchor as you move forward.  With every step you take in your business and your life, you will ask yourself, “does this align with my core desires?”.  If the answer is NO – don’t do it.  If the answer is YES – you will move forward.

4. What are my core priorities in my business and in my life?

Fulfilling our desire is wonderful but the reality is we still have responsibilities we need to show up for thus holding ourselves accountable along the way.  Ask yourself – what are the core priorities in my business and in my life?  Are there deadlines I need to meet? Are there relationships you want to invest more time in?  Do you want to prioritize your health and wellbeing?  Do I need to improve my money management?

Whatever your priorities are, you need to get super specific about them. Your core priorities just like your core desires, will become your anchor when you start to drift.

5. What distractions do I need to let go of?

When we are feeling lost, or overwhelmed, it usually means our focus and our actions are out of alignment with our core priorities, and desires.  Since you are super specific on what your core priorities and desires are, now we can review your current routine, workload, and what the areas are you are focusing on.  Ask yourself – what do I need to let go of?  What is just a distraction and isn’t serving me in my business or in my life?  What do I need to give myself permission to say no to so I can make more space for the things which truly matter?

Have these questions help you to find some focus but more than anything, have you given yourself permission to move forward in a way which feels most true to you?

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

 

 

Get Energized for Business & in Weightloss

This is a repost from April of 2013….

#1 – Establish priorities.

As in business, we try to tackle everything at one time. List your priorities and focus on just one or two items at a time. The same thing in your weight loss journey – one step at a time. Eating more fruits & veggies.  Exercise. Cutting out carbs. Prioritizing a list takes the stress off and allows you to focus on one thing at a time with the comfort of knowing where you will go from here.

#2 – Be as efficient as possible.

In my business, this is a little bit easier to do when I avoid Facebook, Piniterest and anything else that distracts me from my goals for the day. I even put a picture of a “security camera” in front of me. This is my gentle reminder I have to practice what I preach when it comes to office hours. In my weight loss journey, the same can be said – excuses or reasons why we don’t have time to take a 10 minute walk, eat the right foods, go to a meeting or as Weight Watchers would say “get active”. Don’t be a computer zombie or a couch potato, move even if it is up and down the stairs or around the block. Get up during commercials and move.

#3 – Combine your work with different areas of your life.

For me as a Thirty One Director, it is an easy to combine areas of my life. I use and carry our bags every where I go.  The best is when I get to combine work with a trip to North Carolina to see my daughter, Belinda. As far as my weight loss journey – it is not just a “diet”! Yes, my goal is to reach my ideal weight but I am also learning how to care for myself by eating right and moving more. Seems basic enough, right?

#4 – Actively manage your time and stop wasting it.

Time management may be easy for some but for me it is a struggle so calendar blocking has become my friend. My monthly calendar is color coded so I can manage time with family, work, my Thirty One business and time for me (sometimes this gets cancelled). Manage your time when it comes to activity or exercise. Add it to your calendar so it becomes a part of your every day life and you aren’t wasting the small amounts of time doing nothing when you could be active. I know, I need to practice this one myself!

#5 – Commit to learning new things.

My professional development is important to me because it is an investment in my business which helps me personally and my team. You can learn new things in a variety of ways like reading a blog, a video, a conference call, a networking meeting or a formal conference/ training. The same is true about my weight loss journey. I continue to learn new tips and ideas from my Weight Watcher meetings.

#6 – Don’t sweat the small stuff.

There are going to be bumps in the road but you can learn from them and then let them go. Sometimes this is easier to do in business then when we are losing weight. If you lost weight but are suffering from a small set-back like some weight gain or a plateau – look back on what worked and what didn’t. Protect your loss. Just because you gained a little doesn’t negate all the positive work that you have done.

#7 – Laugh more.

I have learned to laugh at myself. I LOVE what I do – who wouldn’t love to party every time they go to work, right? The same has been true in my weight loss journey . I have found  finding humor in everyday life makes me a happier person.

This might be lot for a Saturday but the lesson is simple – we tend to look at our lives as separate compartments – business, family, work, spiritual, etc. – very seldom merging together. When they do, it is often in a negative way – why not take the positive lessons we have learned and apply them to every part of our life as we take this journey through life.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

Goals on Your Terms

  

Happy Friday!  It was a short week for many and for me, this is my last weekend at my part-time job.  It is time to embark on a new journey, one which scares me to death but I am ready because I have an awesome support system….

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The New Year is all about making this year our best and what we’re going to make happen in the next 12 months.  No pressure, right?  We (or at least I do) tend to let external noise and pressure dictate how I’m going to work and grow my business. I know I am not alone after seeing countless posts on my newsfeed with similar messages about how 2017 will be different.

My question to you is, what are your priorities in 2017? Do you want to take your business to the next level? Or are you looking to grow it in other ways, maybe with consistent sales, building stronger relationships? The the key to commit to what works best for you.

I was working with my new accountability partner, and she said something which really stuck with me – “I know what my goals are for everything in my life but my business.  I really need to pray on it”.  WOW!  She didn’t have the pat answers everyone else had about promoting.  She didn’t just want to quit her FT job.  She really wanted to be walking God’s plan for her life in her business.  It made me realize my answers sometimes look like everyone else’s and I wasn’t sure if they were really my answers….

I came across these questions from Jen Carrington in one of her blogs, which made me reconsider how I wanted my business to look this year on my own terms.

1. What am I proud of in my business and my life this past year?

A good foundation starts by spending a little time with the things you’re already proud of and grateful for in your business and personal life.  This allows you to set goals from a place of peace and positivity.  Ask yourself: what am I proud of this past year in my business and personal life? What have I made happen along the way? Have I responded to struggles, frustrations, and mistakes in a way I am proud of? What goals have I met and achieved? What have I learned and how have I grown?

2. What does growing my business look like for me?

Now get super honest with yourself: what does growing your business look like for you? Forget about the others and find your own definition. Is it reaching new financial goals? Developing and honing your craft? Growing your community and network? Feeling more fulfilled and at peace in your business and creative life and routine?

3. What are the non-negotiables when it comes to the ways I don’t want to grow my business?

I’m not a carrot chaser, so the idea of promoting isn’t the only thing which appeals to me.  So I totally get it.  Sometimes our fear of going against our core values and losing the heart behind our business holds us back from truly reaching our potential or building the business we really want.

So ask yourself: what are the ways you don’t want to grow your business?  Give yourself permission to not go after the things which don’t matter to you. Then you can scale, grow, and evolve in a way which lights you up.

4. How would I like to grow in my business over the next 3-5 years?

This one is hard for me…. I mean I just created my first REAL HONEST vision board for this year.  So when someone asks me, how would I like to grow my business over the next 3-5 years, I develop the stammers…. In 5 years, where would you love to be with your work? What are the big goals you’d like to work towards over the next few years ahead? It’s okay if you don’t have all the answers, but if you have any ideas about what you’d like to work towards in the long run, spend a little time with it so you can connect to the bigger vision.

With everything you discovered in these questions, what would you like to prioritize this year?  What does taking your business to the next level in 2017 on your own terms look like for you?

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

 

 

How Many Half Read Books Do You Have?

I’ve noticed over the last few years, I have developed a bad habit – leaving books half read.  I was never a HUGE reader but I did and still do enjoy reading. Life was crazy as a single mom with a stressful job as a Social Worker but I did like to escape for a little while in a good book.  I am a fan of fiction and some self-help books.

My concentration level has drastically changed with the onset of MS symptoms. The MS has affected my memory so reading became difficult.  I would read something and within hours forget what I read.  It now seems like a great excuse for the many piles of books I haven’t started yet – or worse, half read and then forgot about. My Kindle app is full of books but the truth is, most of them are half read or have never been uploaded to my Ipad.  Collected for “some day” when I “have time”.

I love reading.  Books were my happy place.  A chance for me to get away from the craziness of life.  Now, reading requires lots of concentration – no music in the background just silence.  But on a typical day where I’m balancing my business, my home, my relationships, and my health, I seldom find time to carve out 30 minutes or so for getting lost in a good book. Of course, reading before bed is a definite no-no.  I am asleep before I have read the first page.

The truth is, I’m just not prioritizing reading.  Whether it is to help me grow my business, strengthen my relationships or just escape from life, I need to give it time since it is important to me.

I have similar experiences with my long distance relationships – my mom, and my best friend.  Our lives are all so busy, we’ve got into a bad habit of letting weeks go by before we are actually talking to each other.  Communication falls to texts and emails.  I know no matter what, in the long run – we’ll always be there for each other – but the truth is friendships or relationships can’t thrive without communication.

As for the books, I’ve made a promise to myself I will stick with a book from start to finish (unless it’s really bad) and actually give myself space and time to really take something away from it, instead of just dipping in and out now and again before bed.  So far, that is what I’ve been doing and reading is becoming enjoyable again.

Why am I sharing this with you on a Friday – the first Friday of the New Year?  I am being “accountable” for my actions, in all areas of my life this year.

So, what’s important to you?  Family? Worship? Friends? Reading? Work?  Do you realize there are always things we say are important to us but we’re not actually prioritizing them in our lives.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What are the things you say are important to you, you’re not actually making space for?
• Dive deep for a minute and ask yourself: is this actually important to me? If so, why? If not, how can I let go of it?
• For the important things, how can you dedicate more time to them? It’s totally natural in our busy lives to struggle to “do it all” – it doesn’t mean it’s not worth still making space for – but what can you put in place to make it easier for yourself to actually do the things you want to do?

For me? I’m going to finish reading “You are a Badass” by Jen Sincero.  Then I am moving on to a fiction book.  As for what is FIRST in my life, I’m going to put a date in my planner to hang out with my hubby, my mom and my best friend,

Comment below and let me know – how are you going to make space for what’s most important to you this week?

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!

 

 

 

Make Your Dream A Priority

It’s Friday… let’s do some dreaming.  What have you always wanted? You have probably spent countless hours on Pinterest wishing and dreaming, right?  How often do you act on that dream?

Maybe your dream is to have a new house. Maybe it is to change jobs. Maybe it is to start your own business.  How many times have you put YOUR DREAM on hold?

We always seem to find a way to do what is important to us yet that seldom seems to be our dream.  How many things have you bought that are lying around the house that never get used?  If we were to add the cost of all of those items together, I am sure their cost would be more than the investment it would take to get our dream off the ground.

I realized how true this is. Of course, there are times when getting serious about our priorities may take longer than we’d like. Are you like me and want instant gratification?  But whether your priority is getting out of debt, making an important transition, or following your dream, it begins with a decision that your dream is a priority. And if it is a priority, you must be intentional about investing in what it takes to bring that dream to life.

I will be honest, I have been guilty of this same thing.  WHY?  First, my dreams are not going to come cheaply. I don’t necessarily mean in money but they will take a lot of time, effort and confidence. Quite frankly, they scare the heck out of me. I am moving forward with my knees shaking, not knowing what the future will hold.  I do have faith that God will be with me whatever the answer.

I am investing the time, effort and some money for an AWESOME coach to help me reach my dream.

What is your dream right now?

Whatever your dream, I encourage you to commit to it on a whole new level. Know that it will take some sacrifice. Get creative about finding the time, the money or other resources you’ll need. Get serious about making it happen. Get brave about trusting that God is with you if you follow the desires of your heart. Don’t expect it to be easy. Just expect it to be worth it.

I challenge you to take some time to write down the excuse you have made for why you cannot have your dream? If you were to let go of that excuse, what would you have to do to make it happen? Are you serious enough about your dream to do that now?

Who is ready to reach for the stars?  Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!