So here's the deal, I've been busting my ass for the last 6 weeks. The day job is killing me and I've been working non-stop on (one of) my businesses. Family time has been far and few in between so any opportunity we had available to spend together, we did.
I haven't made a blog post in a month since I really had nothing good to say/write.
I've been doing a lot of self-evaluation as of late - I've been a little too hard on myself in terms of expectations and achieving goals. I was so caught up with being results oriented and thinking big that I've neglected to pat myself on the back for the little successes that's come along the way.
I had a bit of a breakdown one evening where nothing I did up to that point made sense and I wasn't getting the results that I thought I should have. It was only after I had calmed down and stopped criticizing my work and efforts that a sense of clarity all of a sudden came to me. I saw myself on the outside - all the hours I've worked after getting home from the day job, how far I've come along with the business in such a short amount of time, how much research I've done already, how much more info I know now than I did 5 weeks ago - and I realized that I've already succeeded...
Achievement is acknowledging that the small victories are the stepping stones to your main goals. By not recognizing that you've won a small battle, you're depriving yourself of the joys of undertaking a new venture.
So pat yourself on the back, have a beer, have a cigar, take the day off, do nothing, watch Clint Eastwood films all day long, miss a blog post, don't Twitter, eat your dessert first, its ok - job well done!
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My adventure in restructuring my life continues.
I have made significant breakthroughs in this department. I have been digesting a lot of self-improvement. productivity and finance books/blogs/articles as of late and one of the main problems with these is that one size does not fit all.
What I mean by that is that someone else's methodology will not exactly mesh wih your own - it's not as if everyone's life is just this cookie cutter model that can be applied to person A, person B and person C.
So if you're just a regular joe/jane that knows nothing about the subject and you decided that oh I don't know...you want to live a richer life, you want to get out of debt, you want to make more money, you want to start a business, you want to be location independent then it gets to be a tad overwhelming.
So here's a few things I've learned. Read it, take what you get out of it and apply it to your own kick-ass life. (These can be applied to anything from blogging to cooking to starting a business to life.)
Follow no formula. Create your own.
Case in point: I tried to put up a schedule to the right of this screen for my blog posts. It seemed like a good idea at the time and I know that a lot of other bloggers have done this as well. It's mostly for me (to keep myself organized) but also for those who happen to stumble upon my little blog and wanted to have a look-see.
Not only did I not keep the schedule due to various reasons, I felt forced to write about certain things on certain days which is definitely doable but too restricting.
I like to write because I have something that I want to say - and it doesn't even have to be important, it could be trivial. I have a couple of notebooks that I carry around where I've written about cooking, marketing, business ideas, funny jokes, stuff that annoys me, books I'm reading, music I listen to...I'd really like this blog to be more personal and transparent. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to post nonsensical entries - I don't want to contribute to noise. There's enough useless info out there.
So I had to create a system that works for me, something not so structured since my life doesn't blend well with a very rigid schedule I had to create my own formula that seamlessly blends with MY lifestyle.
Figure out what your values are and build upon that.
This part is self-explanatory as well as critical since this essentially drives everything else that you do: where you live, how you live, who you choose to spend your time with, the things you spend money on and the things you don't, how you work, the kind of work you'll want to do versus the kind of job you hold, what you do with your free time, the type of adventures you seek, etc.
Think Big
Thinking big means no restrictions, no excuses, and no fear. If you've been wanting to start a business just go for it. Don't say "well I don't have any time and I don't have enough capital to start it", that's BS. If you've been wanting to travel then start planning it right now. Figure out where you want to go and how much it'll cost you then do the math. Make it happen.
Your job can enslave you if you don't take charge of your money.
Routines with work can be pretty evil. It's so easy to get so comfortable that you don't ever want to explore anything else beyond what you already have. If you're just working to pay bills the guess what? It's time to reassess you situation.
If you work 40 hours a week for 40 years (minus the 2 weeks vacation per year), you're still looking at 80000 hours that you spend clocked in working for someone else. Now I know a lot of people are perfectly happy with their jobs and that's fine. But there's a lot of people who are not and there's this false sense of security involved. Your livelihood depends on people that you probably will never even get to know or meet. If they decide that they have to cut back in order to stay afloat, then what next? So you really have to take action and see what else is out there while you're still employed.
I like my job but it's there to pay bills and it allows me to work on my business without worrying about necessities of life.
Speaking of I've signed up for Mint and it's been the best financial tool I've used so far. It's been a lot easier tracking down my expenses and it's free to boot.
It's up to you to decide how much your time is worth.
Are you willing to trade off time to drive around a car that you really don't need?
To live in a house that's entirely too big?
To buy designer clothes at full price?
To buy crap that clutters your home and serves you no purpose?
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Where this blog is going:
I'm not really sure but I'm having fun with it. I noticed a spike of new visitors even with the lack of updates. For all of you lurkers out there please add this blog to your RSS feed and leave comments and send me e-mail. I love interacting with people.
But here's an offer to those who want it.
So here's the low-down on one of my businesses.
I've been slowly gaining clients off and on the internet. Part of the services I offer is consulting and I'm trying to see if I can help out those who have always wanted to start their own business as a sole proprietor but don't really know how to get started and how to go about it and what tools to use and so forth.
Normally my rate is $97/hour (remote session), but for anyone who approaches me through this blog or is referred by someone who happens to read my blog then just leave a comment, let me know if you or someone you know can use my help. I'll put you on my list and I'll give you a RIDICULOUS discount. I'd really love to help people out to either make money on the side to supplement their income or to start something that will eventually become their main source of income.
So leave me a message here so we can chat soon.
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