When I'm working with my clients, often times they'll speak about something that "always happens" to them. Something that seems to come out of the blue, and yet, when we drill down, we discover that it's usually rooted in a lack of awareness about the cause of that "something".
In The PEACE System, I illustrate how many "emergencies" are a result of neglecting a must-do activity for too long. Like when failing to perform the routine preventative maintenance on your car often leads to a flat tire or another car "emergency". Or when neglecting to take care of your health leads to a stay in the hospital.
My clients are smart cookies. They've got a lot goin' on upstairs... they've also usually got a few too many things going on in other areas of their life and/or biz. Thus, the lack of awareness around work and life balance issues.
So today, I'm giving you, dear reader, a piece of advice that isn't really mine to give. I've seen it in various forms from different voices both online and off. This is just the version I share with my clients.
This week marks the beginning of some shifting in both my life and my business. We finished our taxes, and the kids were home for the holiday, so I decided to slow things down a bit and not "push" myself to create. I explain it a bit more this week on "The Convo":
If you're in need of your own quiet stillness, consider The PEACE System as a tool to help you navigate your daily priorities.
[Editor's note: this is a re-post from January 2012. Part 4 of a series of year-end posts I write each year. When we migrated to the new site design, all the old posts were archived. Here are posts 1, 2 and 3]
Every year, I pick a word to frame my development. I also pick a "theme song" to underscore my morning mindset work. I get to dig in and rock on each morning with a tune that pretty much sets me up for the day I want to have, the life and business I want to create.
Last year, my word was "ENTHUSIASM" (yes, I decided on all caps about half way through the year) - the idea being to infuse more spirit into everything I was doing. My theme song was Matthew West's "The Motions". I would lip sync and sing and conjure my own "rock videos" in my living room - like I was going to be on American Idol or something. It was funny, but it was also a very honest reflection of the kind of enthusiasm I really wanted to imbue in every action, every effort, every everything in 2011.
This year, after a daunting 2011 (hey, I asked for it!), I figured I needed to power up a bit, and picked "brave" as my word o' the year. I also selected Nichole Nordeman's song by the same name (some of the lyrics are in the boxes below). (more…)
Often times, we as creators find ourselves in a bind.
Okay, bind is not the right word. Neither is stuck. It's more like being trapped in a building that's collapsed.
We're gasping for oxygen, battling with ourselves over whether we should scream out for help or conserve what little oxygen we have. (more…)
For years, I thought I was a horrible entrepreneur and an even worse mother.
I knew how to make money, but it always seemed to come at a cost. I either made money, or I spent time with my family, but rarely did I get to do both.
There was a lot of talk about work-life "balance". Trying to get all your competing demands to even out - like the scales of justice or something.
I've mentioned before that work-life balance is a myth - at least in that form. But something still tugs at that emotional string that tells us we can have it all, doesn't it?
It did for me. (more…)
Self-sabotage is a mis-nomer. We don't set out to actually sabotage ourselves. Often, in fact, it's quite the opposite. The thing we've opted to do instead of what we originally planned was supposed to make life easier for us. Unfortunately, things didn't quite turn out that way.
Sometimes there is truly a deep-seated issue, and I'm not a doctor, so I won't pretend to diagnose a serious psychological issue from your ancient past (but my friend Sydney might be able to assist). Most creatives, though, use "self-sabotage" as an excuse to resign themselves to mediocrity. Here are three quick and easy steps to get over yourself fast. (more…)
Building a Noble Empire isn't always easy.
For most of my years as an entrepreneur, I've also been a parent. Handling multiple responsibilities at one time has pretty much been the norm for me from day one. At one point, I was working 40+ hours per week in my day job, attending college full time, and raising my pre-schooler (he's now a teenager). There was very little time for sleep. I remember the morning I was supposed to be up early for a special presentation with all the big wigs at work. That's when my son decided he wanted to re-paint the bathroom - at 3 o'clock in the morning.
I'm still not sure what exactly woke me from my sleep, but I heard a noise in the bathroom, went to check it out, and there was paint pooling on the floor. There was blue paint everywhere. He looked like a smurf. (more…)