Caption from photo=”After a few hours this fellow had this jam cleared up just by moving a few key logs.”
For the love of your business…Do both of these gracefully.
The Flow=The things you LOVE doing
Letting Go=The things you can’t wait to hand off (but need to do now, because there’s nobody to hand them to)
Make a list of both. All of the things you do in your biz go under one or the other. Write ‘em out.
Things I love:
Things I don’t love but commit to do because I love my business:
Now, how do you buck up and get things done when they’re on your “Things I don’t love…” list?
What are your best hours of work?
Take that time when you can bust anything out and schedule time for both categories. Even split. Give your best hours to one OR the other. NO multi-tasking (cause, who are you kiddin’? That just means you’re doing both half-ass.)
Now, what happens when you have a major log jam? When your best hours won’t get the Letting Go items DONE?
1) Buck up and get it done (not pretty, nor inspired, but sometimes the way it goes).
2) Buck up and pay somebody else to do it for you.
Those are the options. Or else, you’ll be stuck there for ages.
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Feeling that feeling of NEW-ness and possibility all around you? Interested in having a guiding line to keep you all inspired for 2012?
Now is an excellent time to sit down and choose a theme. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to rhyme. It doesn’t have to impress others.
Hell, you might not even like your theme.
What is most important, though, is that it resonates so strongly with your heart that you know in your whole being that it is The Answer for moving forward in this coming year.
First, you’ll need a place to sit and listen.
Make sure you can get away from the chatter of people, the regular noises of your house, and even the regular chattering in your head. If you’re most calm in the morning, do this then. If your quiet time works best around 3:23pm, then schedule it. Just set aside about 15 minutes to ask yourself the question….
“What is it I need most to move forward this year?”
That’s it. Simple right?!
Now, sit down, set a timer for 15 minutes, and close your eyes. Ask yourself the question once and then just be still. Be silent. Meditate. Breath.
Allow whatever comes up into your mind to surface and just notice if there is a message there. It will come to you nice and clean. Don’t resist. Don’t argue. Allow.
When the 15 minutes have chimed, write down the theme (heck, it may even be themes) that surfaced and play with them. Which feels most right? What do you know in your heart of hearts is the answer?
And once you’ve got it, post it somewhere. Put it up to remind you when you’re freakin’ out that your theme is “Peace at all times.”
If you need an example, my theme last year was, “Be open and allow.” I had no idea what it even meant, but now looking back I can see how many places it showed up and how by holding to it, I had one of the greatest years of my life!
This year, the message is, “Faith in the flow.” While I have a few hunches what this means, I also know that it will show up in ways to knock my socks off in 2012 (which I look forward to since I like being barefoot!)
Here’s to you, 2012, and themes that knock your socks off!
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Closing out one year (in all it’s messy and gorgeous glory) can actually take some conscious thought. I mean, there is always some psychic baggage around the things that didn’t quite go as you would have liked as well as overlooking the things that went great!
So, here’s a little somethin’ for you to get clean and clear of 2011 and move into 2012, ready for great-ness!
(Cause, if we head straight to the good stuff, your mind won’t allow you to see it cause some ick will be in the way!)
Make a list of all the things you’re bummed about not having happened. This can be (well, should be, but I don’t like shoulding all over you) both personal as well as business stuff.
Want some examples? These are some common ones:
I think you get the idea, right?! Get them all out. Bitch, whine, cry…but keep on writing.
When you feel like the list is exhausted (and you too), then you can take a moment to breath and contemplate.
Read over that list and with each entry ask yourself these questions:
Now, take the ones you’d like to have happen in 2012 (might be all of them, might be just a few) and put them in order of importance to you…the ones that are very important (they make your heart feel light and hopeful) go at the top, and the lesser this-would-be-nice ones go at the bottom.
Congrats! You now have a list of things to play with in the New Year! Start with #1 and incorporate it into your schedule for at least 30 days until it’s a habit. Then add others as you like.
And, if you’re tempted to head straight to this part before doing the above, I’m gonna say, DON’T!
Like I said, you have to clear the ick out of your view, but you also need to be clear about what this last year truly held in order to grow from it. While I DO believe that there is a lot of fun and party in starting a business, there also must be clarity about strengths and weaknesses. So please do it in order. It’s for your own good.
Make a list of all the things that went right! The things you ROCKED in 2011 and feel great about! Though I hope you don’t need examples, here are a few just in case!
These are mini-celebrations, each and every one! Now, go through and ask yourself these questions:
Now you have more Power Items, but ones that are more likely habits already. Just be sure you celebrate them every time you accomplish one.
I hope you can see. This isn’t about making resolutions so much as having revelations. How far did you really come? Where were you more hung up than you’d like? What will you do to make this coming year the BOMB?!
Happy new year. Happy new you. Happy old you realizing that the new you was the real you all along…and just waiting to come out and play.
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I was sent this video from my lovely friend Angela Croft after a long talk about how real change (both personally and globally) can come from how we operate our businesses.
So, you might be thinking, “Really Julia? You think appreciating the simple pleasures is enough to run a kickass biz? You really want to boil it all down to this fabulously sappy song?”
And my response is, “Yes. And no.”
“Yes,” in that without being able to appreciate all that you have going on (the people, your surroundings, your experiences that have made you into the person that you now are), it will be nigh impossible to have the inspiration to get moving and the clarity around what your work is all about (let alone the stamina to continue moving)!
You’re starting your own thang because you want to help people. I get that. But, you can do that right now working for somebody else, right?
The bigger thing is that you’re passionate about having the freedom, the creative control (a word I use loosely!), the fun, AND the lifestyle that comes with running your own thang. True, right? Otherwise, no way would you venture down this road because it can be a bumpy ride.
But, the big key here is that you have to be able to live that fabulous life WHILE you’re building your business…that fabulous life doesn’t just plunk down when you hit 6 figures. It can happen right now.
It comes out of knowing, in your gut, in your soul, what it is you are here to do and how you are going to do it so that it gives you the pleasures you want at the same time as serving your peeps in a truly profound way.
It comes from seeing just how perfect everything is and has been in getting you here. It comes from recognizing fabulous-ness in what you already have, both within and without.
This has to be where you come from. Otherwise, you’ll be slogging a long, boring, tedious slog.
And, the other side of that answer is “No,” in that you still have to do the work to get your thang to be prosperous!! (But, the song and the simple pleasures certainly put a smile on your face, so that helps!)
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