5 Steps to Stop the Rat-Race so you can Enjoy More of your
Life
by Melanie Benson Strick
Published on this site: March 11th, 2006 - See
more articles from this month
Does this sound familiar?
You have been working very hard. Every day you get up, you
start working on your project list to accomplish all the things
you know you MUST do to be successful. Marketing your products
and services. Meeting with prospects. Taking care of your
clients. Managing your teams (or for some people, wishing
they had one!) One day you wake up, exhausted, depleted, frustrated
and overwhelmed. You think to yourself, "Why does it have
to be so hard?"
It doesn't.
You see many of us build a business for all the wrong reasons.
To replace employment. To make a difference. Because we love
what we do and want to make money at it.
I hate to break it to you but none of these are really the
best reason for starting a business. And what I have found
in over five years of working with entrepreneurs is that starting
a business for the wrong reasons is the fast-track to failure.
We get really busy doing every thing that we think has to
be done and we end up creating a job for ourselves where we
work more, make less and have more stress than ever before.
And worse yet, many of you will build a business that you
hate. That's right. I call it "climbing some else's mountain."
You lose that "lovin' feeling" and want to go back
to the saner world of employment.
So how can you turn this situation around? How can you experience
the time and financial freedom you crave? How can you run
a successful business and have more fun?
You have to stay true to what's important to you.
Here is an example from my own life. Early last year I had
a huge breakthrough. In the midst of creating the Unstoppable
Goals Method product, running two companies and coaching 20
entrepreneurs it hit me. I was way too busy. I wasn't enjoying
my life. I didn't do anything but work and coach and go to
events. I was exhausted and honestly, I wasn't having a lot
of fun.
So I set out to redefine what success looked like to me.
Here are the same steps you can use right now to jump-start
your joy factor and start actually enjoying your life as a
successful business owner.
- Create a vision of my life (outside of work).
My big "a-ha" moment was - "What do I do
for fun outside of work?" I had to create new hobbies,
and set some new intentions for socializing and fun time.
The result was I spent this summer traveling, going to more
spas, and I've taken up golf again. I block out time in
my calendar for fun time.
- Reconnect with my priorities and values. I had
forgotten along the way that freedom was my #1 value. I
was working so hard being successful that I lost sight of
the very reason I started my own business. Now, every day
I wake up and say, "What can I do to create more freedom
in my life?" That has led me to change all my coaching
programs, hire coaches and launch the Ultimate Business
Breakthrough Intensive. I'm having more fun and my clients
are getting more value!
- Be ruthless about my time. I was saying yes to
a lot of things for other people. Things that weren't making
me money or leading me to my goals. I had to get ruthless
about where I invested my time. Yes, it was a bit challenging
but it paid off in spades. Now I use my time wisely and
have a formula to evaluate opportunities against. Everyone
on my team is trained in this formula to ensure we say yes
to things that are in alignment with our success factors.
- Surround myself with people who get it. If you
want to change your lifestyle and business strategies, you
will get there faster with people who share your vision.
As I made a commitment to experience freedom, I attracted
more business owners who live and breathe freedom. Now I
learn from them on how they make it happen. When you are
surrounded by people who don't get it, on some level, they
may try to sabotage your efforts. Remember, you are the
average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.
- Uplevel my game. I had to change the way I was
thinking. I stopped thinking that "busy" was valuable
and started focusing on leverage, delegation, and automating
my work flow. I began to think in terms of earning millions
rather than just getting enough cash flow to cover my expenses.
I raised my standards in all areas of my life and set goals
to achieve massive results.
- I know that the only way to get out of the "too busy
for life" trap is to recognize that it is possible
to live a freedom-based lifestyle. I know it is because
I'm living proof. I have friends and colleagues who live
that way. And I have clients who, when they follow my program,
are creating success without the "busyness."
Are you ready for it? I mean, truly, are you ready to give
up being too busy so you can have more fun than you ever dreamed
of? This is the year you can make it happen. Make a commitment
and just do it. If I can do it, anyone can!.
Melanie Benson Strick offers keynotes speeches, mentoring,
training and products designed to get people out of overwhelm
and onto the success fast-track. For your free copy of "The
5 Massive Mistakes that can Put you Out of Business..and How
to Avoid Them", visit http://www.SuccessConnections.com
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