by Diana Long on August 7, 2009
A Simple, Yet Powerful Strategy to Having an Abundance of Time & M*ney
How would you like to have a Truly Profitable business and life?
Here’s how:
I heartily recommend a process that’s easy and most importantly, effective to do. It’s called a Time Audit. This simple, yet powerful process will help you to clear away the “fluff” from your weekly schedule so that you spend your time and energy on what really matters most.
Here’s what happened for my client…
I recently coached one of my clients, Jim, on how to do this process. This 30 minute exercise instantly showed him where the “time leaks” were in his business. He carefully evaluated all of his memberships and committee committments and then streamlined his schedule by letting go of the groups and organizations that were no longer in perfect alignment with his goals. (Sometimes we get comfortable in our routines and stay on in roles and programs that are no longer a good fit.)
Jim’s results?
His activities are now “high-return” and making these shifts immediately brought him closer to his professional and personal goals, which meant higher-end clients and more “flex” time in his schedule to create and implement new profitable projects.
Time is your most precious commodity.
Period.
Here’s what to do: Take 20-30 minutes to sit down and do a review of how you spend your time. Grab a pen,some paper and get down to business. (Tip: schedule your Time Audits quarterly to keep track you time and Return on Investment or ROI.)
Doing the time audit will immediately and precisely how you spend your time. It may shock you. The Time Audit will explain why you “never” seem to have enought time! The information you glean will allow you to decide which activities are “keepers” and which to let go of.
Be completely honest with yourself and write down on paper or computer what each of regular on-going commitments (be sure to include business and personal). This means all clubs, organizations, meetings, lunches etc. EVERYTHING. Add up the total amount of time you expend each month. Be sure to account for everything…drive time to and from events, extra social get-togethers, buddy lunches, etc.
Great job. Now you’ve got a very clear picture of how and where you are investing your time and energy.
Here are a few important questions to ask yourself:
*Is this commitment truly serving me in the highest possible way?
*What is my ROI?
*Is it time to move on?
Design your day with high-return activities. (I define high-return activites to include both business & personal items which bring you closer to the m* ney AND what energizes you). Try this process. I promise that doing so will give you an abundance of time, energy and cash flow. Carpe Diem!
by Diana Long on July 30, 2009
According to the National Science Foundation, the average person thinks about 12,000 thoughts per day. If you subtract 8 hours for sleeping, that comes to nearly a thought per second. That’s a lot of noise to filter day by day,hour by hour,minute by minute!
Now that I have your attention, you may want to do a quick inventory today and see what the nature of your thoughts are. Chances are quite good that you will discover that you are thinking some thoughts that absolutely do not support your vision, your goals and what you really want.
It’s been said that thought follows form,meaning that once we conceptualize something, we’ve created a possibility for the thought to “grow legs” and actually be manifested.
Are you following me? This is both good news and bad news! We really do sculpt our success with the patterns of our thoughts. This is fact, not fiction. So, probably a really smart idea to pay attention to what’s floating around in that gorgeous brain of yours! Are the thoughts circulating in your head of a positive or negative flavor?
You might be shocked to discover that your own thought patterns are sabatoging your success. I’ve coached many people to do this simple exercise:
Keep a log of your thoughts for 24 hours. Every hour or so during your day, do a mental check in and observe the kinds of thoughts that you are thinking and jot them down. At the end of the day, take a look at your thought patterns. What do you see? Are the thoughts you are thinking leading you to your desired outcomes OR do you find that you’ve got a streams of thought are shutting your confidence down? Even the most optimistic people who do this exercise discover what thoughts they are thinking that are “holding” them back on a project, realtionship or new endeavor.
Change your thoughts…change your outcomes. Be willing to challenge your negative, timid, scary thoughts such as “this will never work” The recession is “killing” my business, “people aren’t buying these days”, etc etc and try challenging those beliefs/thoughts and replacing them with versions of: “I can do this”, “there is a solution”,I am looking forward to increasing my cash flow” I am open to noticing and acting on new opportunities”
I promise you that becoming more aware and responsible for your own patterns of thought will bring you results. So go for it and direct your brain to support your success,not sabotoge it.
Make a decision. What do you really want? What thoughts support your vision? Think thoughts of successful outcomes and you will speedily and readily achieve your hearts desires.
by Diana Long on December 29, 2008
Got goals?
This is the right time to make a date with yourself and review your goals for the upcoming year.
Did you know that on average, out of 100 people, approximately 67% will say that they have goals?
That sounds pretty good, right?
Out of those 67%, approximately 10% have those goals written down as a plan.
Uh-oh, we’ve lost quite a few people here. But for those 10%, we are heading in the right direction. That’s good!
Guess what percentage actually achieves their stated goals?
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