Those of us who follow this routine are sometimes wasting our precious time and making more work for ourselves. We have a challenge on our hands.

A way to change this routine is to start Focusing on a plan. By focusing you breakdown goals into reasonable action steps.

Daily Action Plan:

• At the beginning of the day determine how many reasonable hours you would like to work that day. Remember, as my mother would say, “Rome was not built in a day.”
• Choose one to two action items you can accomplish.
• Analyze the steps to determine if they can be accomplished in your work day. Taking into consideration emails, phone calls and time for yourself.
• Once your plan is finalized create timeframes for the different activities. Keeping in mind your pre-determined working hours.
• Start your day following the plan and focus on one activity at a time. Nothing is written in stone and revisions can be made anytime.
• Once your plan is finalized set-up an accountability system by working with a friend or leave comments on the Love Yourself – It Matters! Blog regarding your progress and Helen will support you.

Now It Is Your Turn!

Please share your new plan with Love Yourself – It Matters Community. I am looking forward to hearing new ways we can plan our day.

Bookmark It

Are you thinking, “It is September and before I know it we will be making our plans for 2011 and what have I accomplished this year?

Let’s celebrate our 2010 accomplishments, broken promises and lessons learned!

A little exercise?

• Take out a piece of paper and pen.
• Make three columns.
• Write in the different columns your accomplishments, broken promises, and lessons learned.
• Review the list.
• Choose one item from each list.
• Focus on the items you have choosen and answer the following questions:
  • How are you going to celebrate your accomplishment?
  • What action steps are you going to take during 2010 to achieve your broken promise and lessons learned?
• Create and implement an action plan taking into consideration ways to achieve your borken promises and lessons learned.  Also include when and how you are going to celebrate your accomplishments.

It is very important to create a support group so you will be accountable.  The Love Yourself  – It Matters! Community is here to support you in anyway we can.   Together we will create prosperous businesses.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Helen

Bookmark It

At this time the struggle with my business is how to organize my time so I have larger blocks of time to work. I have so many distractions: husband, son, mom, training, household responsibilities, meals, telephone calls, e-mails, client meetings, networking, and personal care. I find myself in the office very late at night when the family wants me to be with them or early in the morning when I should be organizing my day.

Thank you for your support!
Signed, A Frustrated (and very Tired) Entrepreneur

Dear Entrepreneur:

Welcome to the world of a being business owner!

I wish I could wave my magic wand and grant you extra hours in your 24 hour day!

Many clients I have worked with, myself included, had the same issue. It comes down to organizing your time. Sounds so simple and hard to accomplish.

What could we do differently? Many years ago I took a Franklin Covey training on organizing your time. Since taking the training, I have been using the same simple tools successfully, on a daily basis:

• After getting out of bed in the morning with a cup of coffee, write down every activity you want to accomplish during the day.
• Analyze the list and determine which activities require your focus during the day. Limit the activities to those that you can accomplish in only 8 hours. Remember you are not Superman/Superwoman and cannot accomplish things in record time.
• On a calendar block time out for your family and personal time. Make a commitment to yourself that you will never deviate from this blocked out timeframe. By keeping this commitment you are honoring yourself and family.
• Schedule the activities that require your focus in the time slots remaining.
• Leave unfilled timeframes for unexpected situations.
• Remember to schedule breaks during the day to eat, go for a short walk or close your eyes for 10 minutes. After a break you feel energized and in the long run are more productive.

This exercise should only take you between 20 to 30 minutes.

Follow this plan for a week and see if you feel more organized. Please be gentle with yourself if you revert back to your old habits. The important thing is to STOP and start following your planned schedule. Remember it takes 21 days for a habit to become routine.

Special Request:
Love Yourself Community Members please post ideas for organizing your day in the Love Yourself – It Matters! Blog.  Virginia please put a link to the blog.  Together we will create different suggested schedules that will help us all.

Share your Business Challenge Today!
Want Free Business Advice? In the comment section write-in your business challenges that drive you crazy just like a pesky fly or mosquito. One dose of Love Yourself Coaching Biz Insight, could be all it takes to get you motivated and achieving your goals.

“The main thing that keeps an objective out of reach is your assumption that you cannot reach it. You’re able to do precisely what you expect to be able to do.”

~Ralph Marston

Bookmark It

 Today is my daughter’s birthday.  To celebrate her birthday for many years she has been sending me either flowers or a fruit basket saying, “Thank you for being my mom and bringing me into this world.”

 This special gift means more to me than words can express.

 What can you do today to thank your business?

Some thoughts:

• Leave a voicemail on your phone thanking your business for helping others and giving you the sense of fulfillment.
• Write an email to your business thanking it for allowing you to pursue your passion.  Make sure you address the email to yourself.
• Send your business flowers or a fruit basket and just say, “Thank You.”
• Acknowledge yourself for all your hard work and the accomplishments you have achieved over the years.
• What other steps can you take to say, “Thank You.”

Please share your action steps with the Love Yourself Community and how you felt when you took them.

 I am looking forward to hearing from you.

 Helen

P.S. Mindi, Happy Birthday!!

Bookmark It

Do you wake-up in the morning with the idea you are going to accomplish certain tasks?  Then as the day proceeds you never take action towards any of these projects.

Welcome to the world of the entrepreneur!

This morning getting out of bed, I started thinking about my to-do list.  My day started walking with my neighbor, straightening the house, answering emails, coaching clients and all of a sudden I looked at the clock and it was noon.  To my utter surprise I did not start any of the projects that were on my to-do list.  This pattern happens a lot.

What is a person to do?

Thinking about this challenge, all of a sudden the “Smart Goal” Model popped into my head.  Below is the model:

S = Be very specific
Example: My goals were write an article, research different writing groups, coach clients, food shop, take time to just relax and the list goes on and on. 
M = Measure your progress
Example: My measurement would be completion of the different projects. 
A = Achievable
Example: This plan was not achievable, no way could I accomplish everything in one day.
R = Reasonable
Example: Since all the items were not easily accomplished in one day, I would create a realistic
plan. This plan would be produced by reviewing my goals and choosing which items could be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time.
T = Time Table
Example: Today’s Schedule:
1:00pm – Write Article
3:00pm – Food Shop
4:00pm – Spent time with Jeffrey, my grandson relaxing
6:00pm – Coach last client for the day.

Tomorrow:
8:00am – Research writing groups
10:00am – Create a new plan

 This arrangement sounded realistic.    

Please share with the Love Yourself – It Matters! Community your challenges about creating a reasonable daily plan.  I am looking forward to hearing from you.

 Helen

Bookmark It

Reading this quote what comes to mind, by changing our thoughts and hoping things will be different will not necessary alter our situations. Sorry guys we have to do the work!

What could we do differently?

Let me tell you a little story.  Jane was having a difficult time enrolling new clients.  She thought by changing her negative thoughts to positive ones a miracle would happen and clients would start calling.  Jane worked hard on thinking positive and repeating affirmations all day. She started to feel more positive and in spite of her new behavior one or 2 clients appeared.

One day during our coaching session we were discussing positive thinking plus taking action. Jane decided to continue thinking positively and take action at the same time.

She continued focusing on positive thinking, saying affirmations and now taking action.  Attended networking events, writing articles and facilitated an Abundant Workshop.

Low and behold, Jane started building a following and her business started to grow.

The moral of the story is by thinking positively, feeling good about yourself and taking action miracles start to happen.

Please share with the Love Yourself – It Matters Community your thoughts regarding the combination of thinking positively and taking action vs. just thinking positively.  I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Helen

Bookmark It

After struggling with this negative thought process for a few days, I decide to call a friend.  To my good fortune she picked up the phone.  After relaying my story, she started to laugh and asked who I was talking about.  The Helen she knew was a beautiful giving person and successful business owner.

As we continued speaking, I started coming out of my funk, admitted the great things I accomplished and the amazing life changes my clients achieved.

Sometimes all we need is a good friend who listens and is supportive.  Eventually we will put our Gremlins to sleep and bask in our greatness.

When you are having one of those days feeling your business will never flourish.  Pick up the phone and call a caring friend or leave a comment on the Love Yourself – It Matters! Blog.

My commitment is that I will get back to you and support you in finding your true greatness.

Enjoy your greatness!

Helen

P.S. I had a beautiful birthday.

Bookmark It

Do you ever stop and think about how lucky you are to be a business owner?  Depending on your experiences you can either feel lucky or wish you were working for someone else.

Welcome to the world of the business owner!

It is time to embrace our enthusiasm!

Following is an exercise which will awaken your passion or provide other realizations:

1. List your motives for owning a business.
2. Document the drawbacks.
3. Highlight the thoughts that ring true for you.
4. Evaluate both lists.
5. Determine your next step.

How are your feeling?

When you feel enthusiastic, your creative juices start flowing and there is no stopping.

If after completing the exercise you want to explore different options, go right ahead, this might be the eye opening realization you needed.

Remember…there is no right or wrong just opportunities.

Please share your insights with the Love Yourself – It Matters! Community. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Helen

Bookmark It

Learn More Here: http://ow.ly/1bOkV

In this webinar, you will quickly understand how to use Facebook,

LinkedIn and Twitter specifically for growing your coaching practice.

We will be revealing:

• How easy it is to set up your profile and be a leader in your industry.
• What not to do, when building your following.
• Decide which media site is best to develop your business.
• Remove your overwhelm about Social Media, once-and-for-all!
• The perfect formula for posting your status updates.
• The secrets to drive more traffic to your website and blogs.

Click Here and Register here now!

Dates:

Facebook on March 17 & 24

LinkedIn on April 14 & 21
Twitter on May 5 & 12.

Participate in the webinar from the comfort of your home or office! All you need are a phone, computer and Internet access.

Cost:

$65 per topic (two one-hour sessions)
10% discount for registering for your choice of 2 topics: $117
20% discount for registering for all 3 topics: $156

Register here now!

Please forward flyer to your Business Colleagues!

Bookmark It

Do you think and say kind words about your business?  Unfortunately, most of us think about what is not going right.

When we have successes our feelings turn towards excitement and joy.  Why is it so hard focusing on those times instead of finding things to worry about?

 Simply, we are human beings and wired to think that way.

When you start thinking about your business in a negative way.  Stop, take a deep breath and say in a powerful voice, kind words about your business.  An example would be, “My business is achieving its goal by helping business people.”

 Even though this little exercise sounds simple it is very hard to do.  It takes practice, practice, and more practice before it becomes a new habit.  Remember…a habit takes about 21 days to become natural.

Constantly think, “ I will say kind words about my business.”

 Please share your experiences with the Love Yourself – It Matters! Community.  Sharing our experiences and thoughts with each other enables us to create successful businesses in a loving way.

Bookmark It