Yes, you read that right, a power post-it. Every year, I put a post-it in the middle of my desk and it’s helped me reach my goals consistently, while staying true to my deepest values.
It’s simple, practically free, and consists of just three elements: a theme for the year, your values, and your one main goal.
A theme. Each year, I choose a theme for the year. Usually consisting of just one word, a theme represents your hope for the year, and your focus. Some themes that I and others have used include strength, stability, powerful, flourish, authenticity, drive, focus.
Your values.
Your values are beliefs that motivate and fulfill you. They do not change with age, or your businesses, or when you marry; they are inherent elements of who you are. When you align your actions and decisions with your values, you have more clarity and peace, less resistance, and often reach your goals faster.Your main goal.
Most people set more than one goal for the year, but generally there is one central goal that the other goals support. In business, that central goal is generally a revenue or income goal.In order to make this a powerful tool, once you have all three elements and create your power post-it, I recommend taping it down to your desk directly in front of you. That way you are physically, literally aligned with your theme, values and goals every time you sit down to work.
By having this in front of you all the time, you are getting a visual reminder of your theme, values, and goals constantly. Eventually they just slip into your consciousness, influencing every decision to be aligned with what is most important to you, and helping you reach your goals faster!
Are These Pebbles of Inspiration or Am I Just Weird?
On the first day of the year, I walked the beach at my beloved Morro Bay. As I watched the pebbles wash ashore – every one of them gorgeous and unique – I was struck with an inspiration.
Wouldn’t it be amazing to tangibly capture and share this moment? A moment of calm and inspiration, when everything seems precious, full of possibility and excitement.
So I started gathering these New Year’s Day inspiration pebbles.
I bent and picked up pebble after pebble. Sighing over the smoothness of one, the perfect roundness of another and the gorgeous coloring of yet another.
As I filled my pockets, I thought of these pebbles sitting on the desks of my fellow entrepreneurs. Inspiring them to make this year brilliant and unique. I gathered more and thought of the connection I would create with people across the country. I gathered more and more, my mind racing… with the possibilities of inspiring others, inspiring myself, and carrying this inspiration throughout the year.
Then I got them home and I noticed how dull and ordinary they looked. Just rocks, not pebbles of inspiration.
Doubts crept in and I started thinking, “Am I crazy? These aren’t inspiring. They’re just rocks. And kind of boring rocks at that. People are going to think I am so weird. No one’s going to understand this. No one’s going to want a dull rock. And how am I going to ship these? What was I thinking?”
This is exactly how entrepreneurs crush their own brilliant ideas: through the ordinary grind of work, through lack of confidence, through letting “how” get in the way.
Don’t shrink away from being your brilliant, weird self. You will inspire others to let their own authentic, “weird” stuff out into the world.
Inspiration fades, so prepare for it. When you’re inspired, put together a plan of action so you can keep moving forward even when your ideas shift from brilliant to ordinary.
If you’re not sure how to implement your inspiration, ask for help. Surround yourself with people who are smart, encouraging and wonderfully weird like you so when you need help, it’s right there waiting for you.
Happy New Year. Email me your mailing address to receive your own New Year’s Day pebble of inspiration.
“Toothpaste on my contact lenses.”
This is a busy time of year for everyone, and for entrepreneurs it’s even more intense with so many things fighting for your attention.
Here are a few ideas to help keep your spirit bright and your priorities in focus:
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- Go to a party and limit business talk. Give your brain a break and just have fun and laugh.
- Keep investing focused attention on your business. It’s easy to say, “The heck with it. It’s the holidays. I’ll just coast into the New Year and start over.” Decide on your most important activities, and continue to implement so you start 2017 strong, rather than having to start over.
- Appreciate the status quo. We rarely appreciate the days when we don’t have a cold, or when a loved one is alive, or when everything is just normal. With so many bad and sad things that can happen in the blink of an eye, be grateful – even for just a healthy, uneventful day.
- Take time to do something meaningful. You started a business so you could live life on your terms, so get out there and live it.
- Ask for help. You do not have to bake ALL the cookies, house ALL the guests, or take care of ALL of your business all by yourself. Lighten your load and reach out for support.
- Consider your health. Stress is aggravated by sugar, dehydration, lack of exercise and poor sleep. Take time to nurture yourself at the most basic level.
- Do something now that will have a significant impact on 2017. Join a gym, raise your prices, plan a tropical vacation. Make 2017 a year to look forward to.
With much love and gratitude,
Mary
P.S. A big thank you to Dara Lurie for giving me such a killer subject line!
Smile When They Call You Sleazy
Here’s one thing they don’t tell you when you start a business: you will be criticized.
You’ll be criticized by well-meaning friends and family who don’t want to see you hurt or disappointed.
You’ll be criticized by competitors who want you to stay out of the game so they don’t feel threatened.
Worst of all, you’ll be criticized by random strangers who don’t know you, but think you should be playing by their rules, not yours.
It is tough some days, I won’t lie. And although I’ve developed a thicker skin over the years, it still hurts.
Of all things, I was called “sleazy” recently. After a few minutes of hurt and worry, I smiled.
Because I’ve received all sorts of criticism over the years, and have built up a kind of routine for dealing with it. And I know that, from past experience, criticism is a herald of good things to come.
Here’s the formula for dealing with critics:
Have compassion. Critics are afraid: afraid to hope, afraid to fail, afraid to get screwed over, afraid of success… and the list goes on forever. When people take shots at you, they are simply scared. Be graceful, be kind, be understanding. Then let them go, and move on.
Center yourself. When criticism throws you for a loop, get clear about why you do what you do. It’s all about making a positive impact. A positive impact on others, your family, your finances, your freedom. When you re-center yourself on your vision and what is most important to you, the force of criticism diminishes significantly.
Have a sense of humor. Because, let’s face it, the life of the entrepreneur is pretty hilarious. We’ll work 60 hours a week for a roller coaster income in order to be “free” from a 40-hour a week job with a steady paycheck. People who criticize are often hitting a nerve we’ve be unable to laugh at (yet). Take yourself too seriously, and criticism can destroy you.
Look for the opportunity. Ask yourself, “Is there any truth to this criticism? What can I learn from this? Is it simply to persevere with grace? Or is there something good that can come of this? A blog? A book title?” Don’t change everything in response to criticism… that’s the worst thing you can do. But the second worst thing is to refuse to be open to the opportunities it offers.
Know good things are on their way. When criticism comes, a growth spurt generally follows. The criticism is kind of like a test. It’s the energy of Entrepreneurship tapping you on the shoulder and whispering to you, “It’s rough out there, and people will push your buttons and pull you down when they get the chance. Do you have what it takes? Are you willing to take the abuse with the rewards?” In my career took about 5 years of ups and downs (and pity parties when someone threw rotten tomatoes) to recognize this pattern, but it has held true.
So when someone calls you pushy, or greedy, or too big for your britches. Or (god forbid) sleazy… just smile. Be kind and laugh. Recommit to your vision and look for the opportunity. And believe, down to your toes, that good things are coming your way.
It’s already 2017
Believe it or not (in some ways) it’s already 2017.
2016? That is SO last year.
Because in most businesses, there’s a time gap between doing work and getting results from that work. Usually a 60-120 day delay.
The activity you’re doing now? Expect to see results around January.
This delay holds true all year long, but becomes most apparent in January. When the only sound in your office is crickets, because you decided to wind down your year when things started getting hectic in October.
So…it’s decision time.
Are you going to get focused and serious during this crucial time, and have 2017 roll in on a wave of results? Or are you going to wind down, and in January essentially have to start over from a dead stop?
Now is the time to get serious about what kind of year 2017 will be. Here are 5 tips to keep your momentum going and make 2017 a success:
- Review your goals for this year and write your goals for 2017. Goal-writing in January is too late, because you miss the opportunity to lay the groundwork this year to achieve your goals next year.
- Create monthly and weekly action plans to accomplish your goals. Take the time to get really specific about what work needs to be done, and ditch busy work.
- Become fiercely protective of you time. Turn off your phone, ignore email. As the year progresses, there will be more and more distractions, so start a practice of undistracted focus NOW.
- Plan your day the night before every single workday. Prioritizing your activity before you get into your day makes you more productive and your work easier.
- DO NOT throw up your hands and say, “Well, I’ll just start over next year.” YES, the holidays are demanding. And YES, a lot of people check out of their businesses by the time December rolls around. Don’t be one of them!
The truth is achieving your goals takes discipline. It takes planning and saying no and making hard trade-offs.
But keep in mind: achieving your goals is exhilarating and positively impacts lives far beyond your own.
In other words… it’s worth it. Put in the work. You won’t regret it.
10 Hard Truths of Entrepreneurship
When you become an entrepreneur, you sign up for an amazing journey. One that allows for tremendous freedom, and limitless financial opportunities.
It also comes with a laundry list of frustrations: long hours, cash flow issues, endless learning curves, hustling for clients, marketing, feast-or-famine income, failures, more marketing, cancellations… and the list goes on.
One reason entrepreneurs can stay stuck in these frustrations is simply because of unrealistic expectations. That big gap between what you think entrepreneurial success SHOULD look like and what it ACTUALLY looks like.
Where do these expectations come from? Oh, well, let’s see… maybe people selling the line that we don’t need to work hard or have a list of contacts to succeed? Or the constant message that there are magic ways to become an overnight success. Or simply seeing people who are succeeding without understanding the years of work that got them there?
We fall into the trap of instant success almost without noticing.
How do you escape the trap?
Accept the hard truths about entrepreneurship.
Here are 10 tips focused on the hard truths of entrepreneurship so you can grow, succeed, and keep your sense of humor through the process.
- You’re going to have to work. Everyone who has been dubbed an “overnight success” or who has gotten a “big break” that exploded their business put in years of work to get there. Any big break comes from consistently knocking on doors, practicing, and never giving up completely.
- It’s a long term commitment. Understand from the beginning that building a business is a process, not a onetime event and it takes time. Here’s a way to check this: experts consider 20% year-over-year increase a phenomenal rate of growth. Successful entrepreneurs will tell you that during their first few years in business, they often felt like a failure. Because they would get one client at a time, not the avalanche of clients they thought they should get. The growth felt agonizingly slow and like they were doing things wrong, only to look back years later and realize that the simple consistency in their early years built all of their future successes.
- Income must be a central deciding factor. In a small business, everything competes for attention – marketing, sales, accounting, production. In all this busy-ness and noise, making decisions based on the bottom line can get lost in the shuffle and the results can be disastrous. When making decisions, you must look at your numbers as a primary guiding influence.
- Take time (a lot of time) to work ON your business. Working IN your business = marketing, seeing prospects and clients, email, meetings, phone calls, accounting. Working ON your business = vision, strategy, planning, evaluation, development. Without working ON your business, you run the risk of creating a lot of work, but with no direction and poor results.
- Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Entrepreneurs LIVE outside their comfort zone. Which sounds edgy and cool until you discover it means you always have a degree of “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing” going on.
- Focus on marketing. You’ve heard the saying, “Do what you love and the money will follow.” Not true. Or how about, “Build it and they will come.” Nope. No matter how brilliant you are or how unique your offering is, you are going to have to actively seek out buyers. No way around it, ever. However, if you’re marketing-resistant, here’s how to make it a lot more fun, authentic, and effective.
- Be consistent. To grow a successful business, it’s more effective to take consistent action than it is to make huge onetime bursts of activity. Be consistent with your message and you’ll become known as the expert in your field. Be consistent with your marketing to get out of the feast-or-famine income cycle. Be consistent with self-care so you can actually enjoy the successes you’re building.
- Fail, try again, repeat (as quickly as possible). Even Tony Robbins sucked when he started. But he was willing to suck, then try again and work his way up to being mediocre, and then try over and over and over until he became truly a master at his work. You will fail – it’s part of the process, so get used to it. The important thing is to be willing to fail, then quickly make adjustments, and try again as quickly as possible so you can achieve mastery as quickly as possible.
- Invest in mentors. You will significantly shorten your timeline to success, and lower your stress levels when you stop trying to figure it all out yourself. Hiring a coach or mentor is reported to give you an 86% return on investment. (Source: International Coaches Federation)
- Get used to never being done. Set goals, yes, and achieve them. But entrepreneurs are hard-wired to always look for the next opportunity. As you’re achieving one goal, you’re already seeing the next one – or the next ten!
Bottom line? Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart, nor for the “get-rich-quick” seeker.
It’s for hearty souls like you. It’s for workers. It’s for believers and impact-makers. Champions who are tough enough to persevere when obstacles arise, and humble enough to ask for help to ensure their success.