New Month, New Quarter -- Where's Your Plan?

It's TIME!

Take out your plan of action you created for the last 3 months, and take a look at it.  How did your progress match up against your goals?  CELEBRATE your achievements!!  Congratulations!!
Now take a look at where you didn't quite arrive.  Identify why that happened.  There are many reasons:

- your expectations were too high or unrealistic
- unexpected life happenings
- you didn't follow your plan ...

Don't dwell on what didn't happen - - dwelling on it won't change things.

Instead, grab a sheet of paper and write down your goals for the next 3 months.

What will your life look like on July 1?  What will your financial situation be?  Your career?  Your family?  Your spiritual life?  How will you have contributed to your community?

THREE STEPS to ACHIEVE:
DECIDE
Write down your goals.  Post them where you will see them regularly.  Bathroom mirror with a dry-erase marker is a great spot!  As is your fridge, in your office, by your bed, keep a copy in your wallet.

DO
Plan your Work, Work your Plan.  What ACTIONS will you take to achieve your goals?  Knowing what you want isn't enough, you're going to have to put some work in to it.
Then DO it.  Day after day, stick to your plan.  Don't fret over 'is it working' ... you have 3 months to test it out, so get to work, give it a fair chance to work for you, and like Nike says, Just DO It!

DEVELOP
On July 1, you'll get to do this all over again.  You may need to make adjustments: You will have achieved some goals and will need to write new ones; Some of your goals may change; and You may find you need to adjust or change your activities to achieve your goals.  That's perfectly and wonderfully normal.

What are you waiting for? Let's DO this!

DECIDE - DO - DEVELOP

I recently completed a fitness program - a 60-day, intensive workout plan - and I enjoyed success and made great strides towards my health goals.  Every day, at the beginning of the workout, these three words scrolled across my tv screen in large letters: Decide - Commit- Succeed.

I decided in January on the program I wanted to use, I committed myself to completed it, and guess what - I achieved success.

It rang so true to me as I have been speaking on the three steps to success in any area, only I use the words DECIDE - DO - DEVELOP.  Here's what I mean:

Firstly, you must DECIDE what it is that you want.  Set your goals.  It's not enough to have a general idea, because with a general idea you are only generally committed and when the going gets tough (and it always does when your goal is worthwhile pursuing), you won't be committed, and you'll stop doing.

Then you must DO.  Get into action!  I see so many people falter here.  If this is your hang-up; if you can't seem to get yourself into action, I suggest going back to your goals and digging deeper to find something that motivates you.

And along the way, DEVELOP.  This is a two-faceted step.  Firstly, you will work on YOU - personal and professional development.  Successful people are always looking to improve.  Listen to audios, read books.  And take steps to "becoming".  Secondly, your 'plan of action' will change over time - you will make modifications based on what you've experienced, what factors have changed, and how you've "become".  You will constantly be in development phase.  This should come as a great relief to those of you with "Analysis Paralysis" -- you don't need to have a PERFECT plan to get started, because your plan will change over time no matter what, so just get started already!

Three steps: DECIDE - DO - DEVELOP.  Know what you want, get to work achieving it, modify your plan along the way.  And celebrate your tremendous SUCCESS!!

What's your earning power

I was listening to the radio this morning. They were reporting on the wage gap for women. I've heard this before; women's wages are about $0.83 to a mans $1.00, plus women shoulder the majority of the child care, household management, and as the boomers age we now take care of our parents too. But there was something 'new to me', that I hadn't taken into cOnsideration until this morning. For those of us who choose to 'stay home' to raise our children, whether for a short while or a longer timeframe, we lose touch with our 'professional network'. Mothers' networks are other moms, pediatricians, play school teachers, day care providers, and kids coffee house owners. Aside from the occasional doctor visit (which lets face it, is a decidedly 'doctor-patient relationship, not as a colleague), we lose our professional contacts. Unlike our male working counter-parts, who are dealing with their work colleagues, investment advisors, accountants, and others whom they encounter through work (even company human resource personnel, and the chance networking with other professionals on commutes or lunches). No wonder women who return to the workforce after staying home with their kids face a decrease in wages or salary equal to approximately 5 years prior to their last working year! Apparently the Wiggles don't provide references, and employers aren't 'feeling' the complexities of running a multi-child household through cold and flu season as an accurate indicator of employee qualification.

What does it all mean? For me, I'm glad to have chosen to stay home with my boys, to raise my own children. I'm also glad that I've chosen to start my own business working from home. I'm grateful for the opportunity to build a business based on my efforts, earning what I deserve, without letting a hiatus from 'the professional world', nor the 'man behind the desk' dictate my salary.

Discipline

I have a favourite story about self-discipline that one of my favourite people shared with me one day (not just with me, with an entire room while she was presenting).  You see this gal's father has always displayed a tremendous amount of self-discipline his entire life, and she felt that to be an area lacking for her.  So she asked her father one day HOW exactly he found it within himself to be so disciplined.  His answer:

"It's not easy; I just decide I'm going to do it and I do it."

What are you feeding your mind?

It is said that the first 30 minutes and the last 30 minutes of your day are integral to creating the most positive and productive mindset. Thus, the first things you see, hear, read, and the last, play a large role in influencing your approach to life.

Why is this important? Take a look at your days. While we are all busy, and many of our days involve a lot of varied activities, our morning and bedtime periods are most likely the most 'routine' part of our days. It is in your first hour of waking and just prior to retiring that you are most likely to do the same things, day after day.

Based on that, examine what you are experiencing during those times. Is it a mad rush to get everyone together and out the door in the mornings, full of stress? Are you listening to dismal news stories on your morning commute? Are you falling asleep to the tv? What kind of information is influencing your most important times of day?

I read a 'story' recently where a man changed his life in a dramatically positive way just by ceasing to listen to, watch, or discuss the news. How powerful could that one change be for you?

There are some simple changes we can make. Put a cd player in the room you spend the most time in in the morning, and listen to something positive, motivational, and uplifting. Same for your morning commute. And really, turn off the tv in your bedroom (better yet, remove it altogether), and spend some time reading, journalling, and capturing your gratitude for the day.

Try this for 30 days. Or 29 days in February. And see what kind of differences you notice in your life. I will, and I'll share them march 1.

Motivational block?

Have you ever felt like you just can't get going ... can't keep it going? Sometimes it's important to take a break, reconnect with yourself, your family and friends. So when you need to take a break, be sure to take it. But don't forget to get started again!

The biggest challenge may be figuring out how to get started again. You may need to have a specific date on the calendar, or a deadline to meet to get the juices flowing again. Or perhaps you have a colleague that you can ask to give you a prod when needed.

It really doesn't matter what you do to get started again, as long as you get started. It's the first step that is the most important. Because after that first step, the second step is much easier. So just focus on the first step ... the next one will follow :-)

Reading

I love reading - I always have. Well, except maybe all those university text books -- I didn't read a lot for pleasure in university, as I was always needing to "read to learn". But since then, I have enjoyed a lot of fiction, trembling under the blankets reading Stephen King into the wee hours of the morning, and I love the Outlander series; and more often non-fiction, reading true crime novels, fascinating over forensic psychology, and even some autobiographical works occasionally.

Recently though, I have been devouring all I can from a personal development standpoint. Since becoming a network marketer, I have spent a lot more time and energy focusing on me - the person. What an incredible journey! Truly the most fulfilling aspect of network marketing has been opening my mind to becoming a better person. Our industry truly is about personal development, as that is a cornerstone to success. And since you own your own business, your destiny is yours, and your personal development becomes more important than I found it to be in an employer / employee relationship. I have to wonder whether or not my past employers were all that concerned about my personal self ... I think they were more concerned over my personal performance as it related to their bottom line, the rest of it they ignored for the most part. Not to say my immediate managers and co-workers didn't care about me - I worked with many incredible people who were instrumental in my development personally and professionally. But I mean the corporate world itself, as a whole.

So I've been reading, listening to some audio cd's as well, and I'm growing, becoming, and living. I love it. If you are new to this area of reading (as I am), I think 2 great reads are Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, and How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

There are so many other great books out there, and I can't wait to read them all. Won't you be so kind as to provide a comment with your personal development reading recommendation? I'd love to know what you have found to be valuable to your self.

Make it a Sensational Day!