Gracious Acceptance and Asking for Help
December 7, 2013 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
I’ve noticed that leaders and particularly strong, independent female leaders have a hard time asking for help and then accepting help, accepting gifts or even compliments. After spending over 3 decades witnessing and consulting with leaders; it seems that asking for help is considered a sign of weakness and many just gut it out and figure it out themselves or go without and struggle to get through it or to the other side of it. Whatever IT is.
I’m here to tell you that asking for help is surely not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength that you know your limits and what is out of reach. It is also a sign of gracious giving to allow others the joy of offering their expertize, their help, their perspective and their compliments. You are GIVING others a change to feel good about themselves and their abilities when you ask them for their help. You are GIVING them an opportunity to be of service. And doesn’t it feel good to be of service to somebody? In what book is giving a weakness? Giving comes from strength and abundance -we have what we need and have the ability to give more. When we give opportunities for others to share their services, we expand positive energy all around.
And then there’s gracious acceptance on the other end of generous giving. So many people, mainly women, brush off complements, well-wishes and gifts or they act embarrassed to be the recipient. Learning the art of gracious acceptance, allows others to experience the joy if giving. Particularly in this time of year where there is lots of gifting and giving; practice the art of gracious acceptance to expand the good feelings all around. You deserve it and even if you think you don’t, somebody thinks you do. Accept help with the holiday party plans, accept help with dinner, accept the fact that you really don’t want to cook or clean this holiday season and hire it out, or do something that doesn’t infringe on your time and space.
Now is a great time to practice the art of generous giving and gracious acceptance and allowing others to give freely. Give the gift of grace and gratitude this holiday season and see what changes appear before you.
Creating Hartful Time to Renew & Recharge on an Energy Escape
November 15, 2013 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully, Wealthy Woman | By Gaia Hart
It seems we’re being pulled in many directions by our personal and professional responsibilities. Leaders at work are answering to the front office and to their teams. Leaders at home are answering to friends, kids, spouses, faith, school, volunteer and sports groups. It’s a difficult challenge to honor free time spontaneously any more, so need to schedule some time for re-assessing our choices, reaffirming our paths, reconnecting with others who are like-minded, or not who have your best interest at heart.
I suggest planning a weekend getaway, or Energy Escape, to connect with close confidantes for brainstorming, master-minding and recharging your batteries. We tend to be in high gear producing and implementing and reacting to life at work and at home. Leaders sometimes have nobody to turn to at work to bounce ideas off of and discuss vulerabilities, possibilities and question their choices. Creating time and creating space with supportive friends and colleagues can help catapult you in the right direction and affirm what you are thinking is your direction, or help guide you down another path.
These gatherings can be weekly Success Teams or Mastermind Circles or quarterly gatherings or even larger annual affairs in person with emails and calls in between the weekend soiree. Hiring a coach to bounce things off of is another option. I find my clients and myself included tend to talk our way through situations better than if we just think it through in our heads on our own. The synergy of the group and the energy it brings to the issue results in a much better and clearer outcome. We tend to question ourselves and when we have the confirmation of a group of knowledgeable and respected professionals and friends; we get it faster and it sticks. There’s something about accountability and knowing others are believing in you and counting on you to do what you say that helps propel us forward in the right direction.
I’ve experienced a few of those weekend gatherings recently which I call Energy Escapes, and have another planned in the near future. They are uplifting, energizing, refreshing and rejuvenating. There’s something about being together in a different setting without distractions to sit and be and talk and set imaginations free for coming up with solutions to professional and personal issues. A nice number is 5-7 attendees coming together with their ideas for others and asking for what support and resources from the group they want as well. Being focused on each person at a time and coming together to pool resources generates incredible outcomes in these synergy sessions. It also helps each participant live and lead more Hartfully, staying closer to their truth, their heart, their centered way of moving through the world. It keeps us focused on the right path and gives us the courage to choose that path.
Why not plan for a solo getaway to get refocused on your personal goals and then plan several more with your pals to help each other achieve their goals as well. I generally use the holidays and the new year change-over to reassess what I’ve accomplished the past year and what lies ahead – calling it my year in review and year in preview. See earlier blog posts about that and the Hot 100 List. I see these gatherings as my 10,000 mile check-up and continual tune-ups for a life well lived in a very Hartful way. Try it yourself and see how much further along the right path you go with the help of others (pals, coaches, colleagues, other professionals) who are conspiring in your favor vs. doing it on your own. I bet you’ll see a vast difference. Facilitating Energy Escapes is something you do for yourself so you can do more for others. It’s a way of giving back to the world your best self with your highest goals in mind.
Try a Little White Space for Wiggle Room – Make Room for Something New with Radical Release
October 14, 2013 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully, Wealthy Woman | By Gaia Hart
It never ceases to amazing me, the rushing about, the velocity of people and the ramping up of activity as we roll into the holiday season. As if many of our lives aren’t hectic enough jammed packed with busy-ness; we amp up and cram in more activities. I dare you to put a little more white space into your life. Make space for serendipity and make room for new things to flow into your path. If our lives and our homes and offices, and cars and garages and closets and calendars are filled to maximum capacity; how is the Universe going to send something to an already-full space? Clear out some stuff to make room for what matters more.
When I was in full-tilt keynote speaker mode for many years; I would always schedule some play time in the city where I was speaking to spend time with friends who lived nearby or to explore a new area. I would also “try” to schedule a down day after a trip to regroup and recharge before going out again for another program. Of course I was also guilting of booking back-to-back programs, in different parts of the world or the country in the same week or sometimes in the, gasp, same day. That would stress me out to no end if I did book something in two different states on the same day – hoping no weather-related or flight-related incidents cropped up. I paid the price for it with stress and exhaustion. I would run into other speakers at conventions who would tell me that they were doing 150 programs that year. My response was “are you bragging or complaining”…. followed by “I’m sorry to hear that.” Which usually got a wierd look in response.
Boundaries. We need to set boundaries and create white space in our lives to allow space for ourselves and our thoughts and day dreaming and planning. My hunch is the over-stuffed schedules come from a fear-based approach to not wanting to lose out on an income-producing opportunity, or to lose out to a competitor or to have to sit with ourselves and our thoughts for just a moment. A fear that we will somehow miss whatever it is may be happening whereever we may not be. Wealth and income cannot and will not flow into a space that is not accepting of it. If you have no room for more to flow in, it won’t. Period. Are you ready for more flow in your life and to release the old stuff and old ways to have more white space?
Most people spend more time writing out their holiday gift list than writing out their life plan and their dream list or their self-improvement list and goals. Why not take a breather this coming holiday season and spend time at home, away from the malls, off the freeways, out of your in-laws or relatives homes and create some more white space within yourself and within your life. I guarantee it will allow you space to Refresh, Refocus and Reconnect with you.
If you’re feeling crazed or off track or stuck or whipped up into a frenzy with all the stuff you usually do rolling into this time of year; I offer you permission to Refresh your frazzled nerves any way that feels organice and natural to who you are. It could be feeding the ducks, going to an art museum, getting a massage, facial or mani/pedi, sipping coffee on the porch, bubble baths or naps. Whatever it is that recharges your batteries, create white space for it.
Refocus and reframe your situation and your choices and your usual to-do lists during the upcoming time of year. Refocus on what you want to do for you so you can better serve others in the future. You can’t give what you don’t have, so regaining your energy and your focus makes you better at what you do. Leaders can’t lead well if their nerves are shot and their attention is scattered. Refocus on what matters most and drop the rest.
Reconnect with your Source, Yourself and Others. Make room for Spirit to work magic in your life and invite positive energy into your intentions. Reconnect with yourself through radical release. Release the old ways of running ragged. Dump the notion that the holidays mean stress. For the past few decades I’ve made a promise to myself to stay out of the malls and shopping centers between Thanksgiving and Martin Luther King Day to avoid the craziness. That is my release from all things un-spirited about the spirit of the season. No more lines, no more figting for parking, no more crowds…it’s quite a good feeling to be released from all of that negativity. I’ve come to love home delivery of my groceries and drug store purchases. Releasing myself from those time-zapping errands gives me a few hours of more white space per month and reduces my stress levels. What can you release from your life to give you more energy for other things that matter more?
Reconnecting with friends – making room for more time to really connect, not just on Facebook. Reconnecting through phone calls, sending a heart-felt card or meeting face to face the olf-fashioined way lifts our spirits. My gift to you is to send a free card to somebody and reconnect with them. Let them know you’re thinking about them – a real card with a stamp and envelope that will land in their mailbox, anywhere in the world. There’s a video that will walk you through how to send it – my treat – http://www.BizBuilderCards.com.
How can you practice radical release and create more white space in your life over the holidays and every day? What new habits can you form that will give you more wiggle room? What things and activities can you delete from your life and your space to make room for the Universe to bring you something that matters more? I double dog dare you to start creating more white space in the margins of your life and allow the flow to come to you. If there is no space for it to flow to you, it will flow to somebody else and you stay stuck in your ways. Let me know what things you’ve released from your life to make more white space to BE.
Testing the Waters of Your Comfort Zone & Beginner Brain for Leaders
September 22, 2013 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
All leaders go through testing phases. Facing tests builds your confidence, strengthens your self- image and shores up your anxiety about what you can face and how you can get through it. When you’re comfortable as a leader and living in your comfort zone, you may be comfy, but are you testing the waters outsize that zone? Are you stretching and growing your knowledge, skills, abilities, compassion and passion for situations, people and things to expand your horizons?
What are you doing to regularly test the waters outside your comfort zone? I believe leaders and non-leaders (but we really are all leaders in one way or another, whether the name plaque on our desk or door says so or not….we’re leading our lives, leading our families and leading friends or sports teams, eh?) need to continually bring themselves to a point of having Beginner Brain. Putting yourself in situations where you’re not the expert, where you don’t know all the answers, where you are challenging your mind and body to do things that may be unfamiliar to you is a way to grow your dendrites and make more neuro-connectors to expand your self-esteem, and bring you back to a place where you don’t know it all and need to rely on your problem-solving skills. I believe in putting yourself into positions which aren’t so easy to figure out.
Beginner Brain can be exciting and exhilarating – putting you back to times when you were much younger and just exploring the world and figuring things out. It’s when you can claim those AHA experiences of having just succeeded over a task or reclaim the joy of discovery when something worked even when you weren’t sure it would. What kinds of things can you experience, new hobbies and adventures to try, new trails to blaze that will put you a little closer to the edge of discovery and test your abilities?
As one who lives for new discoveries, adventure and AHA moments; I recently embarked on a boating odyssey with my best friend to be a part of the 200th anniversary reenactment of the war of 1812 Battle of Lake Erie with 1000 other boats and 19 tall ships. Being amidst the mayhem of 1000 boats with northerly winds whipping up the water of Lake Erie into swells up to 7 feet was something I hadn’t ever experienced. Seeing the tall ships maneuvering and listening to their captains on the radio adapt to all the small craft as they made their way to the reenactment site was stirring. Feeling a little out of control as we were tossed in the waves and wakes of the bedlam was a little disconcerting. Hearing the clash and clang and thuds of every item in the salon being thrown about in the fray was unexpected. Not being the one at the wheel and having trust in my captain and taking orders to keep us safe was yet another level of lessons learned.
Being a life-long boater; I’ve had many experiences in all kinds of water around the world. Having sailed the Greek Islands in a 24? sailboat, helped crew a 100-year-old 65? schooner in the North Sea, captained a 50? yacht through the canals of Provence, was a winch wench for years in sailing races on the Potomac and off the California coast, and on a retired America’s Cup boat in the Caribbean as well as growing up with ski boats on the inland lakes of the Midwest; I knew my way around vessels from bow to stern. I had never been amidst the chaos of so many other crazy boaters and on a 20-ton tugboat. It seems to be the other human elements that trip us up now and again. Being in an unfamiliar vessel added to the learning curve. We ended up anchoring 7 times that night due to wind, water and sea-bed conditions and dragging anchor to ram into another boat at 1am.
My Beginner Brain was moving steadily towards advanced beginner by the time the weekend was over. We also tested the waters in a newly-purchased dinghy and it was like Lucy and Ethel do anchoring and dinghy patrol. In the end we ended up losing only a flip flop, a toenail and lots of sleep….and maybe a little ego. Beginner Brain puts you right back at the start of figuring things out and pulling together out of necessity and really engaging parts of your brain that may have been dormant for a while when you’re an accomplished professional.
It was an exhausting, exhilarating and exciting weekend. Experiencing what Steven Covey in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People calls Sharpening the Saw is highly recommended to stay sharp and keep your edge in business and in life. What are you doing to sharpen your saw, get back to Beginner’s Brain and test the waters outside your comfort zone?
On the Art of Living & Leading Hartfully
August 25, 2013 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
I’ve been a student of the art of living simply and beautifully for a couple decades now. Ever since finding Alexandra Stoddard’s first books on the subject of leading a beautiful life and incorporating it into every single delicious aspect of my life. Why not surround yourself with beautiful things that have meaning and bring your joy? Why not surround yourself with beautiful thoughts, intentions, music, art, love, abundance and design? The philosophy oozes its way into they types of soap, lotions, potions and vessels that find their way into your home, the clothes that find their way into your closet, the work that finds its way into your life, and the friends that find their way into your heart.
I’ve been ruminating about the transition of of message that the world needs to hear and transitioning my work to mesh with what I’ve learned over the years, who I”ve becoming and am still becoming and what entrepeneurs and employers need to know as well as those that are in charge of their lives if not an entire company. The transition has moved from changing my own personal name with much thought and consideration of a grand representation of my life’s purpose but to my company name and what it/I stand for. Afterall, they are one in the same. My work is the outward expression of my essense and purpose: to be a successful artist and messenger in the community spotlight. So bringing the message of living and leading Hartfully has been years in the making.
Recently I hosted a “Gaia’s Girls Weekend” which truly expressed the art of living and leading Hartfully. Gathering some of my favorite women on Earth from “the Southern Contingent”; we enjoyed food, frolic, frivolity, friendship and a stretch limousine to take us to a grand estate for a peek into the truly elengant ways of Living Artfully. Indeed, our lives are works of art that we paint with every choice we make. This particular weekend was delightfully rendered with little scheduling to allow the energy to flow and to just BE with each other and connect peppered with some highlights of living lusciously and treating outselves beautifully. Why not treat ourselves to luxe indulgences to feel special now and again or at least more often than we have in the past. Why not experience the feelings of lushness and grace. What is holding you back from getting a limo now and again to whisk you and your friends off to an amazing day or evening celebration and joy? It doesn’t need to be for anything in particular. Give the gift of a great experience and see how it makes everybody feel…pretty darn good.
What a treat and a blessing to be able to bring my gal pals together and practive the Art of Living and Leading Hartfully. If we can’t live Hartfully, how are we expected to lead Hartfully? If we are not in touch with our purpose and message and the big why’s of ourselves and our hearts; how can we expect to show up and lead in any decent way? I’ve consulted with many leaders who have not found that balance of leading and living fully in their hearts and it’s not a pretty sight. What can you do for yourself to living and lead more Hartfully? More fully in your heart?
What small changes can you make to your home and office to be living more beautifully in what fully represents you? Might I suggest clearing out anything that doesn’t make sense any more. This could be items, thoughts, people, busy work, tasks, clothing, shoes, knick knacks and habits. What can you infuse into your life to help you live more Hartfully? What new habits, new friends, new work projects, new things in your surroundings could help you live more beautifully?
What can you do in the service of others to help you live more Hartfully? What can you do in the service of yourself to express your life more Hartfully? What can you do to bring in more beauty? It was such a treat to treat my freinds to a glorious day of living Hartfully – a cherished memory for all of us. Looking forward to practicing more Hartful habits.
Gaining Your Independence From….
July 6, 2013 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully, Wealthy Woman | By Gaia Hart
It was Independence Day 16 years ago that I had an idea to write a book. The ideas for the book kept flowing to me the week before and I couldn’t stop the flow if I tried. It was the exact opposite of writer’s block, it was writer’s tsunami. I sat on my deck and started to write and write and write in my spiral-bound notebook. Yes, this was before the advent of laptops and digital notebooks. 🙂 I put myself on house arrest for 4 days over the long weekend and kept writing until I ran out of ideas.
I’d been noticing how everybody I seemed to meet in America was tired, lacked energy and vitality and a zest for living fully. I’d been in Europe for the past 10 years and coming back to the hectic, frantic, stressed-out East coast was quite a culture shock. I decided to write the little book Hit Any Key to Energize Your Life: a Caffeine-free Guide to Perk Up Your Spirits. I gained my independence after putting pen to paper over those 4 days because that little book hit a nerve. That little book launched a career and a passion and decades of research into what makes some people have tons of energy and some people barely make it home from work each day before launching into bed to do it again tomorrow. That little idea gave me the independence to travel the world and speak on the topic I love and help people regain their energy and spice for their business and their life.
I was known as Gail Howerton when I first published the book in 1997. You never forget your first book…. and there have been at least 30 more which I’ve written or published pieces and parts in, but it was that first one that gave me the independence to make choices to be the messenger and mentor to many so they can do their life’s work. At last check, that little book was still for sale on quite a few websites in the first edition. I’ve since gone to e-book format and updated it many times over with new and improved information. But it started with a spark, and idea, an itch and an intution to listen to the tidalwave of ideas that kept coming in wave after wave.
What do you need independence from? What ideas are you listening to or ignoring? Where is your itch? What is working for you and what is not? From what, or who do you need to extricate yourself from so that you are independent, or at least inter-dependent so that you gain yourself, your freedom, your wings to soar into your zone of brilliance. You can start any old day, but why not start on Independence Day? It’s a great marker day that you won’t soon forget. Start now to listen to the ideas that you can’t turn off. There is a reason they get louder and louder and louder – you need to listen. Is it independence from a memory, an ex, debt, TV, chips, a job you hate, a friend who is taking more than giving, an employee who is making your life harder rather than easier, a bad habit, shopping addiction or any addiction for that matter, something that doesn’t serve you any more? What is it that you can claim your independence from? Excuses? Complaining? Gossip? Housekeeping? (I’m a big fan of outsourcing to gain independence from things not in my zone of brilliance.)
I’ve also found a new good habbit several years ago adding to the independence being an independent distributor and collecting residual income. Aaaaahhhh, the ring of residual income, so sweet. I felt the same waves of excitement and ideas coming to me once I heard about the possibilities of Send Out Cards. The thoughts of how business owners could use it for relatioship marketing and customer appreciation, of how to remember birthdays and anniversaries and make sending cards and gifts easier and most cost effective, of how to help organizations earn additional income and families to earn additional income in the current financial climate and how military families can stay connected or college students can earn income or write home easily. The possibilities seemed endless to me and the ideas and income just keep on coming.
Check it out for yourself and send some custom greeting cards on me as my gift to you at BizBuilderCards.com. You may just find your way to independence through sending out positive vibes, kindness and appreciation. Making a living through giving feels good for the sender and the receiver and independence never felt so good as sending love and gratitude around the world. Cheers to your independence!
Dreaming, Desires and Doing
June 22, 2013 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully, Wealthy Woman | By Gaia Hart
Daydreaming is a good thing, bigger dreams bring on a bigger life. . . but only if you are doing something to achieve those dreams. What you want doesn’t just, POOF, appear while you’re sitting on the couch. As one saying goes, “as you pray, move your feet”. That means make a plan and do something about achieving what you want.
Your desires are your homing device signaling your conscious self from your subconscious self about what you truly want in your life. If you have the desire for it, you have the resources for it, period. Thos with bigger dreams attract others into their lives who also have big dreams. I know I’ve posted previously about DECIDING to take action, DECIDING what you want as the indeispendible first step to getting the things you want in your life. You first become aware of what you want and bring it into your conscious sphere, then you decide if it’s something you want to work for or take action towards.
The Universe takes orders and your thoughts, dreams and desires are your order for the Universe. Fries, baked potato or mashed? Make your decision and step forward in faith in that direction to take action towards what you desire. Without faith in the Universal law and without faith in the process, you keep one foot behind (just in case it doesn’t work like you’ve heard it does) and only one foot forward, and then you’re stuck. Ever feel stuck? Perhaps it’s because you don’t have faith in the process, faith in the Universe and you get stuck stepping out of your comfort zone. More on comfort zones in future posts. You must decide and then jump in with both feet to move you towards your desires and the Universe will conspire in your favor to make it happen. People and opportunties will be brought into your path that you never noticed before once you’re on your true path of your dreams and desires.
You must believe it is possible, because you get what you expect. You must be committed to staying in the positive when you think about and speak about your “I am” statements because anything you say after “I am” will come looking for you. Avoid the negative in any of your statements that concern you or what you want so you don’t mix up your order with the Universe. Be very clear with your orders to the Universe so there is no question about what you want.
Setting big goals to move you towards your big dreams is the first step in creating momentum and acting on your desires. If you’re ever bored or don’t wake up with a burning desire, then you don’t have a big enough goal. Take stock of your dreams and desires and take 100% accountability for what results from your actions. We create our world around us from what we thought about, did and created in the past. Our choices of yesterday created our today.
We created it – not the economy, not your mother, not the job, not your family, not any other misfortune. We did. We create our reality – 100% accountability. Sometimes it sucks to be respsonsible for all that. It sure is easier to blame the economy or where you live or your boss, or colleagues or kids or whatever, but the buck really stops with us. We must take 100% accountability for our choices, our outcomes, our dreams, desires and what we do about them. You know you’re on the right path towards your true true purpose and the big dreams when your joy is bursting out of you. Your inner guidance system is your joy. Things that bring the biggest joy are in alignment with your purpose and the right dreams and desires in alignment with your purpose – that’s how you know you’re on the right path.
When your dreams and desires and your doing are in alignment with your true life purpose, then all of your actions automatically serve others. It’s when your actions, thoughts, desires and wants are not serving others and only serving you that you should know you are out of alignment. AND it may all fall away because the Universe likes us to serve others and improve the world and expand, not contract and be selfish. Just sayin…..
What are your dreams and desires? Are they big enough to fill your heart? Are they serving others? Or are they only serving you? When we have a goal big enough, that in the process of achieving it, we become someone worth becoming too. It may be scary big – why not think BIG to create the momentum and get you unstuck? What are you DOING to move you towards your dreams and desires? It helps to write things down. We have too much swimming in our heads to remember it all. Write down your dreams, who they serve, write down everything you want.
Sometimes it helps to write down everything you DON’T want on one side of a paper and then write the opposite on the other side. Sometimes it’s easier for know what you don’t want than what you do want because society conditions us that way. THEN, what are you doing to get there? What is the gap analysis? What are your goals and objectives to move you in the direction of your dreams and desires? Do you have a plan of action? What is your order to the Universe and do you have faith that it will be delivered and the resources will be made available to you as you need them to make it happen?
Your Time is Your Life: Learners are Leaders
May 16, 2013 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
If we are wasting time, we are wasting our lives. We trade out our energy for time and our life is made up of time. So when we waste our energy, we waste our time, and we waste our lives. What are you doing with your time? What are you doing with your life?
What I’ve found in my years of consulting, working with leaders of organizations, entrepreneurs, solo-preneurs and from self-study is that leaders are learners and those that learn more, earn more. What I believe to be true from my experience is that when you’re done learning. . . . you’re done. I view life-long learning as something to look forward to in the quest for continuous improvement.
Some studies suggest the average American watches 6 hours of TV per day, making the average 60 year old an avid TV viewer of 15 years of his life, a quarter of a lifetime vegging on the couch! So what if we all eliminated 1 hour of TV per day = 365 hours per year, which equals 2 months of additional time. That equates to 9 average 40-hour work-weeks to do what is more important in your life than click away in front of a screen. And many of us wish we had more time to do the things we like to do. May I suggest re-organizing your time?
My experience has also shown that leaders are readers. If we read just 1 substantive book per week, that’s 520 books in 10 years and if those books are in an area of interest where you make your livelihood, that would make you an expert in your field, and experts are in demand. If you’re reading the gossip publications all week. . . that’s another story altogether.
What about the time spent in your car commuting? The average American commutes 30 minutes each way from work which equals 1250 hours in your car in 5 years. That’s enough time spent in your car for a college education. Are you listening to schlock or are you learning a language or something useful to society or your family or yourself? How are you choosing to spend your time and spend your life?
What about delegating the tasks that can be done better by somebody else, somebody you will gladly pay to take the work off your hands. I have chosen in the past to do some home improvements on my own. It somehow always looks better in my mind than in real life; hence the electricians and carpenters parading through my home at the moment. I know my limits and I know what don’t want to do and what I need to be doing. . . . what I do best . . . which is not installing crown molding, or cleaning windows, or doing my taxes. I pay others to have those little pieces of my life back and save a few gray hairs in the process.
What are you trading your life for? What could you outsource that fits somebody else’s genius to save you the stress? How could you better use your time? What are you reading/watching/listening to? Are you moving yourself forward with your choices or are you treading water in your comfort zone and checking out? Learning new things gives us energy, passion, zest and zeal. Teaching does the same. Once you’ve learned something new, why not pass it along to others?
Here’s your challenge: don’t just delegate, eliminate. Create a stop-doing list along with your to-do list. Name your list a “policy” because most of us follow policies and we respond to policies vs. mere suggestions because a policy is a boundary. What is on your stop-doing list?