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006 – Don’t Settle

September 22, 2011 in Direction with 1 Comment

I’ve had a sinkhole in my yard for the past few months. It started out as a simple indention in one spot. It ended up being one foot in diameter and about 5 feet deep. It looked just like someone had drilled a giant hole in my front yard.

It ended up being the remains of a tree that had been buried.

But due to settling, the hole got bigger and bigger, and became a HUGE pain in the butt.

Check this out:

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Are you settling in your life? Are you staying in your current job because it’s the “safe”, “secure”, “smart” thing to do?

Remember, settling now causes problems down the road.

I should know. I settled for my different day jobs for MANY years. This has lead to high blood pressure, AWFUL headaches, and asthma attacks for the first time in my life (and I’m 32!!!).

DON’T SETTLE.

Recognize the symptoms, combat them with necessary actions, and move on to the life you WANT!

As always, let me know how I can help!

~Ivan

Can you accomplish everything that needs to be done?

August 31, 2011 in Action, Community, Direction, Getting Started, Priorities with 1 Comment

NO!

At least I can’t.

In getting A Better Way of Business off the ground I have found that there are AT LEAST 100 things that should have already been done but I have not gotten to. Of those 100 items, 50 needed to be done yesterday. The other 50 needed to be done 2 weeks ago!

And it seems like every day there are 10 more things that need to get done, for which I don’t have the time.

It can and does get overwhelming at times.

So the question is, how do you decide what to actually devote your time to?

You could simply accomplish each task as you encounter it. Although you won’t be able to accomplish every task you come across each day, you can work on the each item until it’s complete and then start the next, but realize you’ll never be able to get it all done.

I’ve found this to be ineffective. If you’re like me, you have a tendency to think of new things that need to be done that are inspired by what you’re currently working on. And if you’re like me, you’ll be prone to forget what you’re currently working on and chase after that new shiny object you just saw.

This will lead to an infinite of half complete, started and never finished projects. And if you don’t complete some of these projects your business WILL suffer.

So what do you do?

Here’s how I’m approaching it. I am prioritizing tasks based on whether or not they fall into one of three major categories I’m currently focusing on.

For instance, right now I’m focusing on: 1) Generating quality content. 2) Connecting with people. 3) A special project I’ll be writing about soon.

So each day as I come across the various tasks that needed to be completed at some point in the past I make a quick note or type a quick email to myself as a reminder of what I need to do. Then when I get home I analyze all that needs to be done and see which of the items fit into one of the three categories. If the new task doesn’t fit into one of the three categories I save it in my inbox for another day. If it does fit into one of the three categories then it gets my attention, but again, it gets my attention based on which category it fits into.

So generating quality content comes first, connecting second, and items for the special project third.

Trust me, I’m right there with you when it comes to having too much to do and not enough time. But hopefully you’ll be able to maximize your effectiveness with YOUR business if you prioritize.

~Ivan

Running from or running to?

July 21, 2011 in Direction with 6 Comments

As I sat in the waiting room after getting my allergy shots this afternoon the idea for this post hit me. It’s something near and dear to both Skye and me because it has affected SEVERAL very important decisions in our recent past.

It’s the concept of “running from” something versus “running to” something.

You experience “running from” something when a situation is SOOO bad that you get away at any cost. You don’t care where you go, you just run and end up anywhere.

You experience “running to” when you realize your current situation is not the best it could be. So you take some time and determine what the best situation would be and then plan on achieving that desired destination. You run to what will be best for you.

When you stop and think you may realize that you have made some very important decisions because you were running from something.

You may find that you started your business because you ran from a horrible job. Now you’re realizing the business you’ve started isn’t much better than what you ran from.

You may find yourself running form your customer complaints and filling your time with busy work. Meanwhile your customers are telling everyone they know that you don’t care about them.

In life you ran from the last relationship you were in because your significant other just didn’t get you. But somehow, you’ve ended up in another relationship that looks exactly the same.

Some of us have run from God and we have no clue why our lives just seem to be on a constant downward spiral.

Each of the above situations happen because we hate our present situation SO BAD we just decide to leave. We have no idea where we’re going and no plan how to get there. We’re just running from the current situation.

However, I’ve found that if we actually sit down and look, REALLY look, at our lives we can usually see what doesn’t fit us. We can be forewarned that the business isn’t a good fit and we’re very non-confrontational. We realize that we continuously place ourselves in destructive relationships. And we recognize God’s sovereignty.

And since we realize these things we can do our best to determine how to correct them and then run towards that new goal. We figure out what business is best for us to start prior to leaving our horrible job. We realize a customer complaint is just an opportunity to improve our business and hopefully build loyalty with that customer. We see what type of person would be best for us and do our best to go about meeting that special someone. And we realize that God loves us and we try to grow closer to Him.

“Running from” something is usually the easiest way out and the quickest way out, but usually doesn’t get us where we want in life.

“Running to” something takes introspection, planning, and time, but will actually help us get where we want in life.

I’ve learned that “running to” is a much better approach to living life to the fullest.