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Have you ever mapped out your business and life choices?
I’m currently in a 6 week inspiring and thought-provoking class taught by my good friend Kim DeYoung. The class is called “Choice Confident.” She teaches you how to use questions to map out all the important choices in your life, which she calls “Choice Mapping.” This is based on her book – The Book Of Choice: Mapping the Life You Want by Understanding the Life You Have. The class and her book are fascinating tools. She puts your choices into three categories: Proactive, Professional, and Personal Choices. Last night, we talked about professional choices – specifically work relationship choices. (You can also map out past, present, and future choices too.) All the questions…
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How to set yourself up for success everyday
It’s officially six months into the year. It’s half over, or as I like to look at it – there’s half the year left. 🙂 It’s also a terrific time to pause for a moment, reflect, and reevaluate where you are regarding your goals this year. The calls I’ve been on lately with clients have been focused on wanting guidance to boost their productivity and being better at meeting their project deadlines. Plus, they also want a better work-life balance. Is that why you became an entrepreneur? To plan your calendar, manage your time as yours, and work on things you love? I’ve written before about productivity. This time, I…
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A Puzzling Perspective
I’ve not ever been a person who liked to do puzzles. I didn’t understand what drew people to put a picture together that was in pieces… It just never made sense to me. Until I met my spouse, who came from a family that, on Sundays, would have popcorn and apples, and they’d all do a puzzle together. Since we’ve been together, she’s always had a puzzle on the dining room table. It was a few years in that I noticed how enthralled she’d get doing them. And some pieces would wind up on the floor, the dog would get it, and I’d find it half chewed and have to bring…
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Jumpstart your vision, best laid plans, and cosmic jokes…
Happy January 2023! How are you feeling? The first couple of weeks of January always feels like a bit of a blur to me. All the anticipation, shopping, presents, and prep for the holidays and New Year’s leaves me spinning. So at the beginning of the month, I always try to take it slow. It’s kind of nice to ease into the New Year. Especially this year for me because the holidays were not at all how I envisioned or planned them. It felt more like a cosmic joke filled with everyone getting some type of illness, from the C virus (Spam filters won’t let me spell it out –…
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Balance, Challenges, Entrepreneurs, Goals, Implementation, Motivation, Overcoming Obstacles, Procrastination, Productivity
Need a boost of productivity? I gotchu :-)
This might be the dreaded post here, calling you out on your productivity… Oh wait, that doesn’t sound good… apologies… Let’s reframe that – I want to inspire you with some ways you can boost your productivity. 🙂 How productive are you? Do you feel like you’re not getting enough done in your business? Could you use a boost? Or do you feel like you got it covered? It’s now November, and the holidays that are literally banging down your door won’t distract you from finishing up those last few projects, right? 🙂 Well, if you’re anything like me and have Cheryl’s holiday cut-out cookies, blueberry scones, best Thanksgiving stuffing muffins,…
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Getting That Phone Call That Might Scare You!
Have you ever had a day when you’re at your desk and really engaged with what you’re working on, and then it happens – your mobile phone rings? And if you’re like me with my somewhat loud ring, it scares the bejeezus out of me! And yep, just in time for Halloween – muahahaha. (Yeah, I know I ought to change that ring, but I just love that song…) Once I’m composed, I grab the phone to see who’s calling while that voice in my head says, “Oh my goodness, I hope no one’s died?” When I recognize the caller as a client, that voice inside my head starts…“Oh no, did…
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Balance, Challenges, Entrepreneurs, Goals, Motivation, Overcoming Obstacles, Procrastination, Productivity
What’s that beeping noise?
Have you ever been sleeping soundly, only to be woken up by an errant “beep,” then a few seconds later “beep,” and then a weird voice that you can’t make out screeches at you? By that time, you’re wide awake and jumping out of bed, wiping the sleep from your eyes – looking around, trying to figure out what in the heck is beeping and who’s squawking at you. The big question – when will it happen again? I’m standing in the hallway in my PJs, waiting for it to beep again so I can figure out where it’s coming from. In the meantime, the dogs are freaked out by the…
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Alchemy, Attitude, Challenges, Entrepreneurs, Goals, Implementation, Motivation, Overcoming Obstacles, Procrastination, Productivity
Taming Your Brain
A bit of a heady mindset topic for this week. Stick with me on this brief journey into your brain and how we work on trying to change your neural pathways to form some fascinating changes in your work and life… Curious? Ready? Let’s go… For the past 20 years, I’ve been taking classes, studying, reading, and practicing meditation and mindfulness. From what I’ve learned – Here’s an example of how the mind works – You’re speaking with someone, and suddenly, something they said hits you weird, and you start to get mad or upset – some feelings start coming up. Do you stop at the moment and notice the emotion bubbling up?…
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Put Your Ass Where Your Soul Wants to be…
Been doing some soul-searching, reading, and connecting lately… That’s the gift of taking time out for me – and I’d highly encourage it. 🙂 It’s given me a better and even more interesting perspective of where my adventures in business will continue to lead and take me moving forward… No big surprise – it led me to this book – Put Your Ass Where Your HEART Wants to Be by Steven Pressfield. (Thanks to a wonderful new accountability partner.) He also wrote a classic for creatives – The War of Art. A different take on The Art of War by Sun Zhu. And I borrowed part of this for the subject of this blog post and exchanged…
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Are you unknowingly sabotaging your business?
I have an important question for you: Are you unknowingly sabotaging your business by doing this? Before I tell you what “this” is, let me share a story about “the fence guy… “When we moved into our new home in February of this year, we knew the fence was falling down and needed to be replaced. We had a glowing recommendation from a good friend who had this company put in a new fence for him. So we called him up and ended up hiring him. It would take him a while to get us on the list, which was fine. We were not in a hurry. The fence was…
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How to develop your second brain & get more done!
Back in the fall of 2010, I had the opportunity to meet one of the greats of business and personal development. He’s written over 70 books, created over 300 courses, and is considered a top coach and consultant. His book was one of the first that I read when I started my business – Maximum Achievement (Others – Goals!,The Psychology of Selling, andChange Your Thinking Change Your Life.) I learned so much from him when I started my business. I was working for a client at his live event, and this man was presenting. I was thrilled when my client gave me the opportunity to meet and connect with this person. This man was…
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I have a confession to make…
As I’ve said in many emails before – I truly do love to learn. It motivates me, and it’s even more inspiring to share what I learn with you and with my clients. This is where my confession begins – with my ABL (always be learning) attitude, I’ve bought a lot of online learning products over the years. Here comes the confession part – because of the above, there are quite a few courses that I’ve NEVER finished. THERE I said it. Whew. Am I alone in my confession? Have you ever bought any online learning products that you’ve not ever finished? Sometimes it’s kind of the worst feeling. Almost…
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The interesting secret of how Warren Buffett & Other great leaders create success
Have you ever read any books or articles about great leaders like Gloria Steinem, Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, or Ruth Bader Ginsburg? The one “secret” they and many other successful leaders have in common is the mindset that I LOVE — A.B.L. – Always Be Learning. This is a critical piece to creating a life you love – always be learning, growing, and being open to new ideas and new things, which leads to having a beginner’s mind. Have you gone to a live event or virtual event, and you’re sitting there listening to a speaker, and your mind says, “Oh, they’re not saying anything new. Go check your email and pretend…
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This May Seem Counterintuitive & it Works…
I’ve read a lot of books on productivity and getting more done. Check out the NOTES section below for some interesting resources that will help. What I decided to do when I moved last week was test my theory about productivity. If I gave the three guys who were moving us pizza, hinted at a good tip for a job well done, and took a break between moving houses, would they be more productive? This might seem counterproductive to you, especially knowing I was paying them by the hour. So it’d make sense to make them push through cuz why would I want to pay for them to take a break for lunch that…
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It’s Moving Day – Ready?
My executive coach always shared with me how important it is that you have a plan for EVERYTHING. And she had a saying – “Planning promotes perfect performance.” Well, in this instance, I had a plan, yet, things came up as they do, which delayed some packing and other plans to get the house in order. What’s interesting is no matter how much I plan, it’s like our stuff keeps multiplying! I think it’s a phenomena that all people who are moving experience – am I right? Every time I turn around I see stuff to pack. I’ve been at it for the past 3 days, and now my brain is on…
