Category Archives: entrepreneur

Wk 3 Book Reviews

30 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by in entrepreneur, everyday living, personal development

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If you’ve been with me any length of time, you know I have BIG plans for this blog and lots of awesome content outlined to share. I have so many systems in place that if it were possible, this blog could write itself.  One thing that makes systems so great to me is how they hold you accountable to yourself for action.  I have in place a system to develop personally and to document that growth professionally.  On this blog, the third week of every month, I have planned to share what I am reading for personal development.  This routine action with the blog helps keep me accountable to reading for personal development and practice. Well, in theory anyway.

shedule bawThat being said, I haven’t been reading as scheduled.  Yes, I do have time scheduled on my daily plan to read for personal development.  For maximum benefit, I scheduled 30 minutes near the end of the day so I can wind down with it. I thought this would be perfect.  I changed my bedtime to earlier also thinking I would need extra time to fall asleep because I used to fall asleep later.  Of course, my body needs the eight hours and has taken full advantage.  In fact, when I don’t read at the scheduled time, I don’t read at all because I am asleep.

So… personal development time is completely M.I.A. and that’s bad.

One challenge I have is that I am not a single person. I have a family and there are always things that come up and change the schedule at the drop of a pin.  If I haven’t shared with you all yet, let me tell you now, Google calendar is my go-to for managing my time. I love that I can make multiple calendars, color-coded and exportable for the multiple schedules that I have to manage. I am learning that there really is so much flexibility required to live and modeling that for the children is important because to have to pivot an action is not to stop taking action.  Sometimes things don’t go the way the schedule says but that does not mean there is no longer room on the schedule.  It also doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world or any one person’s fault. I think I spent many years frozen when I didn’t complete things as scheduled not sure where to go because I was off “schedule” but now I understand that delays and reschedules happen, it all just keeps the books full.  A full life can be very satisfying in the right perspective.  I think I may have mentioned that the YouTube channel has been a major motivator.  I have been very accountable to myself by vlogging and as such, I have begun to discover my discipline in working. I have also been able to discover where I need to tighten my ship.  I enjoy the creative process and my meticulous planning while making sure that what I plan revolves around my existing life, NOT some future one where everything is perfect. That has been the icing on the cake of my current success. That is why I am excited to recommit to my personal development time.

I have several books I am in between at the moment.  How to Win Friends & Influence People, Who Do You Think You Are, and this past weekend I picked up two new titles from a yard sale: Light on Yoga by BKS Iyengar and The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. I am looking forward to digging into these books and writing some short summaries for you guys each month.  I am also excited about that because I will be reading books in entirety again.  Funny how much less I read now than I thought I would as a teen. I also love knowing my kids will see me reading even more and perhaps THEY will pick up a traditional book a little more often.  Oh yes! Imagine that!

So here we are: Let’s agree that next month when I update this blog about my personal development readings – I will share with you how much I’ve gotten from this new look ” The Power of Habit:  Let’s see if there were some practical tips that I could immediately use to break old unproductive habits and create new ones that bring me quickly to my hearts goals.

THE LIST OF BOOKS

  1. Power of Positive Thinking
  2. How to Win Friends and Influence People
  3. Who Do You Think You Are?
  4. The Power of Habit

See you next month!

 

21 days to a habit – An Entrepreneurial challenge

05 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by in 21days, entrepreneur, everyday living, habits

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Often it’s said that without a goal, people wander about aimlessly. Well, after 40 years of life, I am inclined to agree.  One thing I am learning is the importance of habits, routines, a schedule. I will not pretend that I have mastered following a schedule, but I do believe that the most effective and successful people live by them and so shall I.

I learned in my first few years of direct sales that it takes 21 days to form a habit. So, I thought… what a great idea for a monthly challenge. Every month for the first 21 days, I challenge myself to practice a skill that will help me improve professionally. So, for example, I am not great about making my 6 most important activities to do the next day list.  I call it my six list. The six list is another early direct sales training idea that I really believe is fundamental to successful habits, so I want it to be my habit.  IMG_2088

I make the list each evening and then check it each morning so that I have some direction in my day. I like calendars. I use them, there the merrier. I think it has something to do with the OCD virgo in me. Never the less, a calendar is essential for a 21 day challenge of any sort.  I like to cross off the days as they pass to give me a visual off my success and length of time left.  It reminds me of when I am in the canoe racing.  I know I just have to get to the flag and then I can stop racing. There is no option, no bail out, no quit, no matter what, get the flag.  That is what calendar does for me visually; it gets me to the flag.  So pick an activity to enhance your skill, get a calendar and finally choose a reward for day 22.  You would be surprised at how significant this act really is.  Now, do not reward yourself with sleeping in if your 21 day habit was to wake up early to be more productive. That would totally defeat the purpose of the entire challenge, instead choose something like new pajamas or a new mug for your evening apothecherry drink. I think rewarding yourself with something related to your challenge goal rather than just anything is helpful because it will always be a reminder of exactly what challenge you accomplished.  For my six list example, a great reward would be a new notepad or pen to keep by my bed to make my list with. It doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate, it just has to make sense to you and be what you would like.

So here we are, at the beginning of the month.  Perfect time to take the challenge. Since I used it as an example and it really is something I struggle with, but when I use it I find such feelings of accomplishment so, my challenge for this month will be to make my 6 list each night before bed and to check it at least once every morning. 21 days to make it stick forever… I hope.