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5 Steps to STOP the Rat-Race so you can Enjoy More of your Life
By Melanie Benson Strick
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.
1. 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.
2. 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!
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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!
About the Author
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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