Go Ahead – Take your Mask Off!

Today I read a great article by Lisa Bloom, founder of Story Coach, and I wanted to share it with you.  It’s all about becoming authentic, revealing the true you, taking that mask off!  I invite you to take yours off!

“The Frightening Truth Under the Mask”

So it looks something like this.Beautiful, young woman. Rich, successful, living the life.

Happy marriage. Gorgeous, perfectly behaved kids.

Financially secure. Self-assured, strong opinions. Confident, oh yes, so confident. Sure of the way ahead. No doubts.

Of course, it’s a mask, a beautifully crafted costume. And it almost works. But not quite.

It happens a lot, I walk into a room full of beautiful people. Those who have perfected their costumes, made their image so wonderful. But scratch the surface, holy shit, scary stuff.

You see, you can spend years creating the perfect costume, the flawless mask.

But you can never hide the frightening truth underneath. The simple truth that’s really not so horrifying. That it’s never perfect, live delivers what it will and it’s never quite what you expect.

And worse still, it’s actually better that way. Under the mask, behind the costume is REAL – and that’s a hundred percent better (but only all of the time)!

It’s okay to have challenge and pain and difficulty. It’s okay to show the cracks.

It’s fine to admit defeat or feelings of inadequacy. We’re all there.

You see, that’s where we all live. Not all the time. But sometimes. We live there enough to understand the day that you can’t stand your kids, or you feel like you’d pay a million dollars to be single again. The day you feel fat and ugly and you’re terrified that you can’t make the payments on your mortgage.

It’s real. It’s human. It’s you and it’s me. It’s not that much fun but it’s beautiful and it’s perfect.

And it’s the new currency of business. When you show up authentically, you connect deeply with people and that builds trust. You need to build trust with your potential clients if you want them to take the next step and actually hire you.

The authentic ‘showing up’ can’t be faked. We get that it’s a mask. We get it if you’re hiding out behind a great costume. And we don’t trust that.

But when you tell the real story. When you show up and just be there in the full messy way that life is…we believe that, and we begin to trust you.

And that’s valuable currency to build your business. It gets you followers, supporters and clients. It’s how you make money in your business. It’s how the opportunities to get your great work out into the world start to show up.

You need to show up first.

So go on. Take off the mask, get out of your costume. It’s not so scary out there.

And it’s so worth it. You are so worth it.

Lisa Bloom, founder of Story Coach, trains coaches to use storytelling as a powerful approach to impact their clients and grow their business. She works with entrepreneurs and business owners that are overwhelmed and stressed to help them find confidence, attract ideal clients and make more money by finding their success story. And she works with organizations developing Transformational Story Leaders and creative yet resilient cultures. She is a professional Storyteller & Speaker, accredited Coach, Author, Mentor and Leadership expert.

Lisa is the author of the Amazon best-seller “Cinderella and the Coach-the Power of Storytelling for Coaching Success!” and the creator of the Certified Story Coach Program. She is delighted to offer you the FREE ebook “Using Stories to Get Great Clients” at http://www.story-coach.com

Progress, progress

Today marks the day of me officially posting a few links to my new business website!  I’ve asked for feedback from people, and hope to hear lots of good things, but also some constructive serious input to make it even better.  Here it is…

http://www.envirointegration.com

On other fronts, I have continued to make significant strides in my business development, at least according to my plans and targets.  I’ve reached out, engaged existing contacts, connected with some new ones, made appointments to discuss collaborations, and more.  Every day, I feel ever closer to closing a deal for a first contract.  In fact, yesterday I was offered a contract – one that was presented to me as “much lower than my capabilities, and of course lower rates than I would be expecting otherwise”, but the offer was extended out of care – someone wanting to help me get things going, to have a source of income, and to get my foot in the door…I greatly appreciated that he had thought of me first.  It was nice.

It is an offer that I was of the mind to completely deny, because in addition to it being lower paid and not specifically in my target portfolio, it would require me to be away from my family 1.5 days of every week.  The lower pay, I can handle – being away on top of that, not so much.  Instead, I offered an alternative arrangement – one that would keep me in town, might still gain me some hours, a foot in the door for other opportunities, a good reputation and maybe some referrals, and it would still allow me time to work on developing my business further!  And you know what?  He’s considering…

On a final note, I started a program to learn more about developing and marketing group sessions, formally listed as group coaching sessions, but I’ll just apply the instruction to group workshops I want to develop.  It’s interesting stuff, and there are a lot of amazing people in the program who I’m hooking up with to have some accountability, and to be a part of a mastermind to share ideas, gain feedback and generally support each other.

All in all, it’s been a great couple weeks!

A Beginning from an End

Do you ever feel that you only get more done when you have committed to a timeline for someone, or voiced your commitments out loud?  I never thought this to be true for myself, until I had the opportunity to experience having to do things on my own, just for myself, with plenty of time to do them.  I knew what I wanted, had set myself some goals and approximate timelines, but guess what? SLOW progress…lots of distractions pulled me from my direction on a regular basis.  That, and a whole lot of learning about developing a business, marketing and how to get my name out there.

I believe one of the first things I ever heard from Natalie Sisson, maybe through this blog challenge, or maybe prior to that, was that in order to accomplish what we want, we need to write our goals down with a description of how we’ll feel – where we’ll be – once they have happened.  AND, biggest factor here – to tell people about them, publish them in some form!  We have a tendency to want to achieve those things we have told others we will do – is that to avoid embarrassment? to avoid feeling like a failure?  Maybe, but if it works, great!

I took Natalie’s advice to heart, and have written myself some 3-yr goals, in pretty good detail.  I’m not finished yet, and as such have not published them, but I have shared portions of them with a few, and I need to go further with it…perhaps they will be here soon.  For now, I have found that accomplishing this has pushed me much further in a couple months, than over the last year.  In fact, I have utilized these to develop plans for this year, and by quarter, to keep advancing progress in that direction.

One of the development areas I had identified was getting my brand out there – through social media.  Aack! What? Something I had never done, knew nothing about?  Scary!  So, Natalie’s blog challenge came at a great time, to help guide me into that space.  Little for me to know that the blog challenge would do a lot more for me than just develop confidence in blogging!  Through the challenges, I narrowed my focus and really nailed down some things I needed to do to get a great start for the year and my business.  I got over my uncertainty, implemented some new and great tools and practices, and have jumped leaps and bounds ahead of where I was just 3 weeks ago.  I spoke about some of these in my last post, and I now have:

– a blog site with several posts in it, and confidence to keep posting!

– a person commissioned to create a fabulous logo for me, which will lead to business cards and other marketing materials

– direction for my business website, which was my first goal listed on Day 8 with a deadline in one more month…I will be starting this next week…more to come!

– a set of plans laid out in a schedule and calendar to keep me on the straight and narrow path!

– several meetings completed and lined up with potential clients and partners…my #1 MIA from Day 2…double YAY!

– many people with whom to connect, and to ask questions and advice from, through this challenge : )

– AND many thoughts of other directions my business can go in – for one example, group training / coaching – in fact, to learn more about this, I have signed myself up for training with Michelle Schubnel starting next week – a package that also includes Lisa Bloom’s Becoming an Inspiring Speaker training, something I have been thinking about for many months…is this a distraction or can it be considered a business-building strategy?  I’m hoping these will be more like the drive and focus that Natalie’s challenges gave me (and I can pace the learning however I need, to ensure balance with my MIA’s!)

What were my favourite challenges?  Pretty hard to choose, but here are some that really gave me traction:

Day #2 – Identifying my #1 MIA (most important action) – for me? securing some clients and contracts – that means, doing everything I can to reach out, add connections, meet with people and promote myself!

Day #5 – Replacing a bad habit with a good one – I chose elimination of procrastination, and instead, scheduling it, preparing for it, and then just doing it when the time arrives…

Day #7 – Choosing my one thing to focus on – I thought a while on this because there are so many things to do with a new business, and I chose getting my voice out there, in any way possible.  I use my confidence to post my vision, mission and why statements for the very first time, and then, right after that, actually created a blog site to make my posts formally available to the big wide world…

My plans moving forward?  My ball is now rapidly rolling, and I will endeavour to keep that momentum strong!  Continue to build the plan and put my plans into action…What better than a great new beginning at the end of a previous one?!

K

Challenge overload…

Whew!  I have to admit something…I am feeling challenge overload, and am a bit drained!

This has been an extremely great challenge, and while I found that actually writing the blogs have come fairly naturally to me (happy dance!), the challenges themselves have forced me to think about a lot of things in the past two weeks.  This is all greatly appreciated and I thank you Natalie for inviting me to participate.  I also thank myself for actually accepting the challenge, and you for listening to me go through the steps!

And now, so close to the end, perhaps because I am starting to DO a lot of the things that I took up in this challenge, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.  Is that bad?  No – in fact, it really highlights to me that I can’t, and shouldn’t, expect that I can do it all, or at least, all at once.  I need to keep the challenges and commitments in mind and, for those I can’t keep up with right now, in spirit to pick them up when I can.  Realistically, I have noticed that there has been some overlap in a few of the last challenges, particularly yesterday’s – doing things for my heart, body and mind.

For example, I have implemented the use of Asana, and am finding it a great tool to divvy up my plans into smaller chunks, and schedule in to my calendar.  With this, I have a scheduled list of contacts to reach out to, events I might want to attend, and courses I should look into, amongst other things – so far I have reached out to about 10 more people formally, just in 2 weeks.  And with my previous commitment to outsourcing a couple things, I am happy to announce that I have kicked off both my logo and website design work!  Of course, just starting with checking out a couple vendor options, but by tomorrow I hope to have chosen a path forward with one or two.  Tick, tick, and tick…these should lighten the load on my mind some!

In addition to playing soccer, and walking my dog regularly, I also previously re-introduced yoga into my life, and will be thoroughly enjoying a massage tomorrow!  It’s been a while since the last for sure and my body hates me right now, so there should be a major THANK YOU coming from my soul afterwards.  And, I have realized I need to commit to one more very important practice – drinking more water – I always notice when I have not had enough, typically at 2 or 3 am when I am parched and my body starts to cramp up, which also causes impacts on my sleep!  All positives for my body, and fairly easy to implement with success.

Now, for my heart, amidst all these new things – I need to refocus some of my time and energy for my family – particularly my hubby, who seems always to get the last dregs of my energy, and who I seem to get less and less time to just chat or snuggle with.  Maybe this is where today’s challenge comes in – becoming a tourist at home – how much can we do together, in our city?  I imagine there is a LOT!  My heart would love it, my body and mind will be comforted and feel more secure, and I’m sure my whole family will thank me for it – because not only will I be with them more, I will be more relaxed and present when I am.

I hope you can do some things like these, and really take your changes to heart, as it really will make you a happier, healthier person!

Oh! The Stuff we Cherish….

Think quick!

If someone told you that you needed to become a minimalist within 24 hours, what would be the first 10 things you would get rid of, and I mean, without even thinking twice?  What would you do with it?  Could you go through with a challenge like that?

I have met people who would have absolutely no qualms with this – and actually have very few belongings to begin with.  On the flip side, I know people who have mounds of stuff, and struggle with giving up even a t-shirt.  It’s crazy how we can cherish the silliest things!

It’s day 12 of Natalie Sisson’s 15-Days to Freedom Blog Challenge, and our challenge for today is to decide what we will do to declutter our lives.  What can we start with?

For my family, we regularly pull out clothes, toys and other things we no longer use, need or want, and donate them to others in need.  On occasion we will sell something, but it’s pretty rare.  Incredibly, it never seems like we have rid ourselves of anything, as we have either already accumulated more, or quickly replace it with a few new things.  Or I discover that there is a whole lot more that could have been disseminated, things that WERE in the pile but somehow gained ‘walking feet’ and escaped to some hiding place.  It’s a terrible cycle, but I think we all influence each other, and when one person says it’s not needed, another will say “YES! Buy that!!!”, or “I still NEED that!”

I’d say there are many more things that our family could eliminate from our list of possessions – a couch or two, a spare bed, plenty of sheets and blankets, jackets and shoes, spare dishes and other things hiding under the stairs, sports gear we no longer use, plenty of clothes and toys…shall I go on?  Personally, I would even get rid of our TV, since I don’t really watch it, although that idea might not go very far if I say it out loud.  In fact, most of what I do donate these days happens when no one is home…it quietly disappears for a while, and then, suddenly it is gone.  Poof!  (Picture kids: “Mom, what happened to ??? – I can’t find it!”….Me: “Ummm, I don’t know where you put that?? Maybe you should look for it some more…”)

Really, I am trying to teach my children the value of money, the value of stuff we buy, and what is necessary or not.  And we do gather together to pick things they will donate to others on a regular basis, and even pick out things to buy for those in need.  I try really hard to have them understand how so many people around the world cannot have what they take for granted – I think and hope that they are getting it, but it takes time and they are still young.

Anyways, what would make a full cleanse the easiest? An exciting opportunity on the other side of the world!  We have talked about it on occasion, but have never just gone ahead with it.  I wouldn’t want to take anything with me, short of my family, a few suitcases of things to get started fresh, and a new outlook on life!

Making time for myself

Everyone is always talking about the need to make time for yourself, to put yourself first…for in order to take care of everyone else, you need to be in good health yourself, right?  It’s also usually the best time for idea generation, those things that just pop into your head when your mind has gone quiet.  I love it when that happens, but I have to say it isn’t something I feel I have the luxury of allowing very often.  Not that I’m saying I don’t agree with this philosophy – it can just be so difficult to put it into practice.  Especially when there are smaller versions of you roaming around the house, constantly asking for your attention, needing to get somewhere, a hug, a book…

Of course, these are the times when I feel the need to take a time out for myself the most.  When so much is going on and I get tired, just want a quiet moment, and can’t.  Even if I try to escape to a bathroom, jeez!  (You who have little ones will completely get this!)

In the spirit of making time for myself, both to be more productive and focused on the things I can do well for work, and to be more healthy, Natalie Sisson challenged us over the past two days to identify two things:

1. One thing I will commit to outsourcing (and implement by tomorrow!)

2. One thing I will integrate into my life to take better care of me.

For the first, I admit I find it a bit tough to convince myself that I should spend money to hire someone else to do things for me, since I have yet to gain any clients yet!  I do know, however, that to get my name out there in a broader sense, I need a platform for them to find me on, or to refer to when I hand out business cards or just plain network.  You see, I haven’t finished my basic marketing yet, as this is all new territory to me, and I know there are plenty of people out there that could help me out in this regard.  So, I’m going to start small with getting help on my logo design and business cards (for now, I have only trial ones I created myself, and while they look OK, I think there is a lot of room for improvement!)  I will think about the website some more and possibly get something registered just to have a site ‘under construction’… a contract secured by the end of the month would definitely justify spending on this, and allow me to work on said contract without distraction!

I will also note that, 2 weeks ago, I introduced my children to a great app called Choremonster – where I have entered all kinds of little things they can help me out with around the house and gain points (think filling the marble jar) – for great rewards I gave them to choose from – like 30 min electronics use, buying a new book, going on a play date, etc…so far, the thrill of it has not yet worn off, and I have definitely lightened my load of all the pesky, cleanup tasks that I’ve typically had to do after the kids have left a room, or gone to school or bed!  I hope it continues and recommend it to anyone with elementary kids!

For the second challenge, I play soccer regularly, sometimes twice a week, to completely tune out on anything but the sport and I did just return to my weekly practice of yoga last week – to tune out of everything but me!  I will also endeavour to go for a monthly massage (starting with a Thai one on this Thursday!)  On a daily basis (or at least every second day when I’m busy or the weather is a miserable -40 degrees C), I take my dog out for a long walk at the off-leash park – she gets to run like mad and wrestle with other amenable dogs, and I get to listen to the fresh breeze, have a chat with a stranger, or listen to a webinar or podcast, depending on how my mood suits.  I realized long ago that I am a much healthier, calmer and happier person when I am taking care of myself, and my body always reminds me when I have neglected it for too long.

Catching Up

By now, if you have chosen to follow my journey, you will know I am participating in Natalie Sisson’s 15 Days to Freedom Blog Challenge.  It was the prompt for me to create this blog site, and has been a great way to generate some truly great thinking and strategizing around my business plan for this year.  Now that I have gone back and uploaded all my previous posts to the challenge group, I am ready to catch up and publish Day’s 8 and 9 challenges…cheating?  Maybe.  But after a couple glasses of wine, and a crazy weekend ahead of me (birthday parties, hockey, etc.), I feel that maybe that’s okay for today.

Day 8’s challenge was aimed at setting ourselves goals, targets (SMART ones at that!), and laying out our plans to get there – I mean, actually filling in our calendars with things we need and/or want to do this year.  For me, this was great, as I have actually been working on just this thing for the past couple weeks…at least listing a number of things and starting to formulate the ‘when’ of each.  Natalie asked that we share 3 goals with the group, so here are mine:

1. Develop a fully-functioning business website by the end of February (will post an “under construction” much sooner!)

2. Attend at least one conference (likely 2 I’ve picked out for Q2) before the end of June, for the purposes of networking, meeting previous contacts for potential contracts, and of course, learning some new tips and practices!

3. Secure well-paying, engaging contracts to fill 30hrs/wk of my time, without a lot of advertising effort or need to convince clients of my worth, before the end of the year.

I know she also said to allow for some down time, and digital sabbaticals, but I’m pretty sure I’ll have some time to do this along the way.  And if things get busy fast?  Then I’ll schedule those in too!

For Day 9, today, Natalie asked us to identify one system (or sexy operating system, as she referred to hers) that we will use or implement to streamline our work this year.  For this, I have decided to implement and integrate the use of Asana and Toggl to both schedule my activities, and to track my time spent on various projects or business development.  After reading up on Asana’s capabilities and entering all of my one-year targets and plans (so far), I am already finding this tool will be of great assistance – and bonus that I have read it integrates with Evernote as well, my other favourite project organization tool – I just have to figure out how!

And now to get some rest before my crazy begins…(wish me luck for an 11-kid party for 6-7 year olds tomorrow!)

Keep This in Focus

Previously written Jan 21, 2015

I have to admit, I found Natalie Sisson’s challenge for today difficult – to narrow in on what exactly I should focus on to get the most traction for my business success.  I have a vision and mission, and I know who my target audiences are, but as a new business I have yet to determine which target group I might get the best traction with, who will bring me both the most satisfaction, and intriguing challenges to keep my interest over the long term.

I could say that my focus should be to maintain CONFIDENCE (my word for 2015) in everything I challenge myself with, but I think that is a given, else I should not even try.  Alternatively, I could focus on flexibility, since I need to put energy into a few different things, and I need to let things move in the direction with the least resistance as things move along.  It’s tough to think of just one thing, and I’ve thought about it all day.

Perhaps the one thing that I can truly focus on that will help solidify that chosen path meant just for me, is on getting my voice out there, to all audiences both relevant to my business, as well as to those people who might offer general support in what I believe in, help make the connections needed to carry the torch further.  So, although it’s a bit long, I will start here with stating my vision, my mission and why I am so passionate about all of it!  I haven’t posted this anywhere yet, and would love some feedback on how strong it comes across…(eek!)

My Vision:

My vision is that I will have directly contributed to integrating economic solutions and strategies to address and mitigate environmental and social challenges associated with industry, accomplished by initiating and facilitating successful, open collaboration between industry players, direct stakeholders, designers and researchers, and bringing about a positive change in the short and long term performance and reputation of the natural resources sector.

Ultimately I would like to see resource developments become viewed, welcomed, and even invited, as positive contributors to society, community and the environment, where value-added products are obtained for use in the world, jobs and prosperity are brought to local communities, and where lands are reclaimed to inert, beneficial landforms, leaving no environmental legacy behind.  Contamination and permanently damaged landscapes, historically caused by resource developments, become a thing of the past; accomplished both through new thinking on future design and operation, as well as mitigation of past mistakes and unknowns.

My Mission(s):

To work with industry and consultants alike, to find and implement solutions for environmental challenges, and to positively influence and impact the design of large and small resource development projects, such that they are responsibly designed and built to avoid and minimize environmental impacts through all their life phases.To work with local stakeholders to positively influence and collaborate with industry players, such that projects proceed with a true shared value approach, and communities and lands are protected from impacts.

To work with technological developers and research entities to find innovative, mitigation solutions to reverse and remove existing impacts on contaminated lands, aquifers and water bodies, and to prevent future impacts on these ecosystems from occurring.

Finally, to become a connector – of the parties with challenges to the parties with solutions, be they industry, stakeholders, solution providers or research organizations.

WHY?

I’m a proponent of mining, and the entire natural resource development sector – it is my passion, has been my entire career, and I recognize the fact that its products are all around us, in almost everything we buy and use, and as the world population grows and developing countries each continue to raise their standards of living, bringing new technologies into their realm, it is becoming even a greater necessity for our future lives than it is for our current.  

I am also an environmentalist – I believe that we should be taking as best care of the environment as possible, always looking for ways to do better, to eliminate contamination sources and pathways, and to reverse existing damages.  This is for our own health, for the sustainability of nature’s other creatures, for the balance of our planet’s climate, and for our future generations – for without it, life would be forever changed and likely not a very nice place to live, if that is even possible.  For this reason, public opinion and support of mining has to improve, to gain the innovative thinking and the collaboration and help from a much broader audience – there are a lot of smart creative people out there.  

After spending several years investigating ways to change business practices, assessing new technologies and implementing new strategies for design, I have decided to take my drive and passion to a broader audience.  To help more companies succeed in advancing their change initiatives on performance improvements.

Ultimately, I’ve realized that my role in changing public opinion with regard to the resource development sector is through facilitation of the implementation of change.  Help correct past mistakes, help companies change their ways, invite collaboration amongst all stakeholders involved, bring more people into the circle to introduce innovation, and public opinion will change on its own. 

My business model?

Previously written Jan 20, 2015

When Natalie Sisson suggested, for our Day 6 challenge, that we determine what our preferred business model was, it was something I felt I could easily answer – but although I thought I knew what I wanted to do right from the start, it took a bit of self-convincing that I was on the right track a few months ago.  I listened to a lot of online business entrepreneurs and leaders talk about different options and the best ways to do things, but there were two that I came across that really solidified things for me, to be sure I was headed into a business niche and model that worked FOR ME.  And as Natalie mentioned, the best way to build a business.  After all, who wants to build a business that you want to run away from a few months down the road?

First off, I will say that I am definitely in an active business model, and will be starting off directly with advising businesses, teams and personnel on how best to make sustainability a part of their business, how to integrate protection of the environment into project designs and operational practices, and ultimately make the long term look a little bit rosier for our next generations!  I hope in the future to be invited to lead workshops for organizations, leadership and perhaps speak at conferences on the topic – the how to do it, rather than just ‘what is’ sustainability.  Again, more of an active model, but on a larger scale.  I do expect this to involve some international travel, which will get me a few places, but not on any sort of permanent basis – yet.

How did I come to be so sure that this is my best success path, rather than trying to educate people in other ways, or to sell them products of some sort?  Well, for one, this is what I have a passion for, and I have been promoting the concept and teaching people (which I hadn’t fully appreciated) through the influencing roles that I have had for a few years now.  I have heard over and over again from people that they can feel my passion on the topic.  I’ve also been well recognized by people I’ve worked with for my knowledge, which makes me feel great to hear!

However, all of my career has been working for someone else – as well as having to tag the line, whenever strategies change. And guess what – I found out the hard way that major changes to strategy can be devastating to you personally, when you take something so strongly to heart, but have no choice but to leave it behind.  It is exactly why I left my last role, now over a year ago.  It broke me, horribly, and I was a mess.

Now, thankfully, after a lot of soul searching, reflection on what made my happier roles enjoyable and resolving what I wanted to do, I have decided to go it on my own, at least for now, and I’m feeling pretty confident about it, even if some of my family does not.  SO, if you are struggling at all with figuring out what you want to do, of course you need to determine what interests you the most, what working environments make you most happy (for me, positive relationship building and collaboration are key!).  For determining the business model that would suite you best, should you not know yet and for where you are currently at – I recommend taking a couple quick assessments (disclaimer – I understand there is no formal science behind either of these, but each were developed all based on the experiences of the two people promoting them).  I continue to enjoy listening to the advise of both of these people, no matter how often I hear their messages (as I do Natalie!)

1. Take Shawn Driscoll’s Trailblazer Quotient Assessment…it will help you determine which of the following categories of business you are best suited to: Intimacy, Inspiration, Innovation or Information…more details about the categories are contained within the assessment followup writeup and webinars.  It’s all free, and for me, it confirmed a few things.

2. Take Les McKeown’s Leadership Styles Quiz…it will help you define your natural leadership style – synergist, strategist, operator or processor…again, the descriptions are explained more in the followup report and webinars – I actually was chuckling to myself throughout several of his followup webinars that talk about the different styles and how these types work with others.  And while you may not want to think too much about leadership at this point, it will still tell you a few neat things about yourself and your capabilities in working with others, which may help you sort out your best target clients…for me, the outcome of the assessment was VERY FITTING – it almost seemed like he knew me inside and out, without us ever having met or even spoken!  IMO, it’s worth doing – and a very short questionnaire to do so.

And if you’re at all interested – I turned out to be an intimacy and innovation type entrepreneur, which fit perfectly with my original thoughts for active, service-based business options and I’m very highly ranked a synergist and visionary (and very apparently NOT any of the other types….Squirrel! haha)

Have fun with it!

A Habit to Replace

Previously written Jan 19, 2015

On to day 5 of Natalie Sisson’s 15-Day to Freedom blog challenge!  Today Natalie asked us to do a few things, some of which I will keep to my personal files (like listing the people I need to keep in my life and listing those that I need to part ways from – or at least have a serious chat with to see if changes can be made to our relationships).  The main challenge, though, was to think of one habit I need to eliminate, and another I need to replace it with…

I found this a bit of a difficult one, as I could think of all kinds of little things I’d like to stop doing, but I wanted to find the one thing that would really make a difference.  And funny enough, ridding myself of this, and replacing it with my chosen one is directly in line with the word that I chose for myself this year – confidence.

The habit I need to replace is procrastination – it ties into so many of the things that I otherwise want to change – like going to that yoga class I have in my schedule, like getting out there and networking, like contacting those leads who might have work for me!

So, in lieu of procrastination, I aim to replace that bad habit with ‘just doing it’.  As soon as I think of something I need to do, either just do it then, or schedule it in within the next day or two, prepare for it and just dive in when the time comes.  No buts.  No, oh crap, I forgot to do that, or I’ll just do it after lunch…DO IT!!

Oh, and I have to say that today I managed to NOT look at my email, FB or LinkedIn for most of the day – only during one meal and in the evening.  I haven’t even checked in yet on everyone else’s posts!  Yay!