Just Go A Little Bit Further!

This is a blog post from Millionaire Moms and it really spoke to me today. So here it is! Thanks to Joyce at Millionaire Moms!

"I had an experience the other day that felt like a metaphor for my life. I was driving down a road I often get confused on. There are twists and turns that make it a challenge to remember which way to go. I started feeling like I had made a wrong turn. I thought, “I’ll just go a little further and see.” Which I did. Ultimately though I doubted myself & turned around in favor of the “safe way” I was familiar with.

The safe way meant I added extra time, travel & aggravation to my day. The funny thing is I realized the very spot I turned around at was a mere 100 yards away from landmarks I would have recognized as having been the right way to go. If I had only gone just a little bit longer…

This felt like a metaphor for my business. I had been feeling discouraged that day. I was driving thinking about all the work that needed doing. Overwhelm set in & I started questioning if I was making the right decisions purusing this dream? I have made tremendous strides over the year but it didn’t feel like enough. I have been working really hard. I was tired and felt very alone in my journey.

These thoughts came to an abrupt halt once I figured out I had been so close to successfully nagivating the road I was traveling. I had quit moments before I experienced the breakthrough. We have all heard the saying, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” I decided right there & then I wouldn’t quit my business no matter how tired or hopeless I felt. I would soldier on. Victory goes to the decided heart! I would work smarter not harder.

A few days later I was presented with an opportunity that could really take my business to the next level. What if I had quit that day? I would never have known. I want to encourage you in your business journey to have a decided heart. You never know when you are just around the corner of success!"

Pushing Your Limits

I rode my bicycle 75 km today. I didn't plan to ride 75 km or to take 5 hours but the destination I chose took 5 hours instead of the planned 3 hours. At the 3 hour point I spoke to another cyclist stopped at a store and he asked me if I was alright. My response...yes I am fine...I am a my limit but fine. I went back to my map to figure out how much longer my route would take. I concluded that I had another hour or so. I could push through that. I was feeling tapped out. No energy to spare. I got back on my bike, determined to make my goal. Then I hit the big hills on the route. Nice timing. It was here that my mind took over. I had nothing left physically but was determined to make the destination. I hit my limits and kept on going. It turned out the route was two more hours so I really had to push.

So here's the conumdrum. My limits existed well beyond what I had assumed they were. I made the whole distance that I had planned, going well beyond what I had originally thought. I set limits that were seemingly difficult but when pushed I was able to achieve far more than I had originally thought.

I need to take this lesson learned and apply it to how I live my life. Am I setting goals that don't stretch my limits? Without stretching we do not grow and learn. With moderate goals we achieve moderate results. Need to stretch a little more and create some '5 hour' goals for my life. Neat learning.

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway!

Susan Jeffers speaks of Feeling the Fear and Doing it Anyway! She says those who achieve great things do not live in the absence of fear but rather live alongside fear as a constant ever present companion. What a concept. Fear does not go away when you do the thing you fear. Fear arises when you are working outside your comfort zone. When you are growing. Fear and growth go hand in hand. So, when you feel fear you can translate it into "I am growing". It changes the playing field.

I made a large investment into the business. I placed the order. I broke through the fear that until now I had found many reasons not to act. And now it is done. Now I have a responsibility to continue with the details that close that deal and earn the money back. It has moved from a dream to a reality. I am in the corridor.
It is no longer scary. It no longer feels huge. A mountain into a molehill.

Interesting that all that I read says that things will flow smoothly when they are meant to happen. Things are coming together for this project and each time a challenge arises, something shows up to solve it. Is that because I am open to many solutions, seeking answers to my challenges rather that being quick to shut down in response to things not going as planned. Maybe.

Younger Next Year!

I could not resist a post about this book. I absorbed every page and will act on the knowledge. 90% of the ailments that plague older women are preventable. Knowledge is strength. He has 3 recommendations but the general content and style of the book is readable and actionable and not at all preachy. I loved it.

Here is what I took away from the book:
1. Do one hour of aerobic exercise each day. Doesn't matter what it is. It just has to raise your heart rate to 60% of your maximum. Do the thing you love to do but do it at 60% of your heart rate. Buy a heart rte monitor. Easy and fascinating.
2. Strength train 2-3 times a week. Push a little.
3. Be happy. Smile. Take life easy. Don't get grumpy.

3 easy pieces. I can do that. I go 10 km every day but now I monitor my heart rate to maximize my range for fat burning. He says that mid body fat that creeps up does not need to be there and besides that, it is dangerous. 1 in 3 women have heart disease. Totally preventable. I like that.

The book gave me control over my gradual descent into old age. He says you can be fifty until you are eighty and more. I like that too.

He changed my life. And I am not even finished the book yet!

The Retrospective View of Life

Fear is a survival instinct. In early times, it alerted us when we were in peril and protected us from harm. In modern day, our fear instincts alert us to the sound of footsteps that could endanger our survival and keeps us from going into places that could harm us.

But as we get older our self preservation instincts stop us from doing the things that could change our world. We fear an uncertain outcome (one that could be great) and we settle back into the safe, mediocre place where we reside. And yet our greatest regrets are the things we did not do. When I am 85 will I wish I had stayed at my job and not ever experienced my own gig. Probably not. And what about all the experiences and skills I will learn along the way. What if I create autonomy in my life that allows me to see and travel the world. Then it is worth struggling through the fear that threatens to hold me where I am. Even as I write the voice of fear says what if you do not succeed...

Just reviewing the walls I have walked around since I began. Progress has been slow because I was repeatedly stalled - no paralyzed by fear each time something did not work out. Having a mentor who has once been where I am now helps make the process real. She has expectations of my product that makes it far from trivial. She is hugely successful in the exact world where I will go, so her belief in what we are doing is founded in experience and knowledge. It helps me to confront my fears, dispel them and move past them. It moves me faster through this sequence. New skills.

Interesting that those who are near death, get a final hours perspective. Crystal clear visions of how it is. What you have. What you earn. Were you successful on the parameters that your world uses to evaluate you? It all doesn't matter. 'Did you use the years on Earth well' is the true measure of the time spent. We define the word 'well' deep inside of our own heart and mind. If we can hold on to the final hours perspective then it changes how we view things and it creates an almost tangible peace in the choices we make. We eschew the choices that do not resound in the final hours analysis. We need to summon the final hours perspective more often in our lives to crystallize what is real and what is meaningless. It changes what we do with each minute.

Details

I will figure it out as I go. It actually feels quite natural now. I look forward and see the future. In the present I work away at the mundane details to get the product underway. These details are the underpinnings of the future. Not doing them guarantees there is no future. Not easy to focus on them. Want to dance in the future.

I know this is the discipline that ensures that the project goes forward. Endless ideas to expand in the future. Need to focus on now. In this altered view of things, the mountains are just little rocks that can be kicked aside. Each time something does not work out, I follow a new solution. Without fail, that new solution seems to create a better result than the method that was left behind. Sometimes it delays the project and buys me time to see what I could not when I was hurried. It is resulting in a better final product. Just need to get out of my own way and just let it happen.

Authenticity

In his blog Harris III speaks of his goal of creating the perception of what he wants to be - a busy, in-demand professional...and in so doing he has spent his entire life managing and creating illusions. He does everything he can to create perceptions in people's minds of how he wants them to view him. He is an illusionist by trade but he analyzes how his trade has affected his life and his ability to be authentic.

My reflections on his thoughts. For the first twenty years you are figuring out what you would like to be like. For the second twenty years of life you do not even realize that there is an authentic self. You are working to create the perception of what you want people to see. Then for the next ten years you know there is more but it remains elusive. In your fifties it becomes clear and although you stray, you can easily identify when you are in an authentic place and when you are not. And when you are there it is so completely in harmony with who you are that you strive repeatedly to regain it. And eventually you become who you are rather than who you thought you should be. Imagine that.