Sometimes some of your life's biggest trials create the best motivation and teach you the most important lessons in life.
Posted October 2009.
Instead of
sitting in some auditorium, or reading a certain book, my inspirational speaker
has been a different fellow. You may at first think this blog post odd being
categorized under Business Tips and Planning, but please read on...
My brother
passed away on October 5th after
a 1 1/2 battle with prostate cancer. For those of us that have lost a
loved one (I have now lost both of my siblings and my Mom,) part of the
mourning process is self reflective. We take heed of our own lives - We
ponder our own self worth, things we've accomplished, things we have not, as
well as life's pleasures and sorrows.
Life is.. well life. No pity party here. If you go through it thinking"Why
Me?","I Should of...," "Well...That's because..."
- You know what? It will just pass you by.
So let's
reflect on that in terms on how we look at ourselves within our
businesses. We are all independent business owners; it's a part of our
self make up, our life's elevator speech. And how COOL is that? We
determine our own business destiny. We get to plan our path - With that,
let me share with you things I've learned from my favorite motivational speaker
- Death.
He's a bare
bones kind of guy. He helps you make finalized plans, his directional
message launches lessons smack into your psyche - No warm and fuzzy accolades
or sayings from this speaker.
When my Mom
passed away in '98, I sat intently listening to her eulogy and absorbed her
wonderful life story balanced with a perfect mix of family, work, play and
volunteerism. Toward the end of her life, although afflicted with a dire
disease, she continued to live life at full speed - she golfed while terminal. It took her death to motivate me to act on my new career
path. There sitting in a drawer for three years was information on
specialty training in Interior Redesign & Home Staging. There is sat
in that drawer -Waiting for me to say the cost was worth the educational
results, waiting for me to say I had the time to juggle kids/ husband with
work, waiting for me to devote myself to building a business. Within 6 months
of her death, I had started a new business, and taken that training - Moving
full speed into a career I felt passionate about. Now going on 11 years,
I just love my job. So what did Death teach me? Do not wait for some
revelation to be motivated to move on a passion - Just Do It!
So now with
the passing of my brother, I reflected on what fills my day.
Made up of only so many hours, how do you want to spend it?
Time management is a huge issue with many business owners. How
wonderful that we get to dictate how each of our days is spent? But how
easy is it to let that control go?
The key here is to create that perfect
recipe of success - To balance it correctly, make room for that perfect harmony
of family - work - play. Create that list of what is important to
you within those areas to make your day fulfilled -
- Are you busy doing something trivial, when you could be taking a beautiful fall walk with your spouse/child/self instead?
- Can you give yourself a raise, which will allow you to spend more time doing a hobby, or taking a class?
- Can you hire a service/person to free up tasks you dislike?
Pretty
great speaker isn't he?
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