Full Steam Ahead

I have a huge amount of respect for ‘balls to the wall’ … yes, putting yourself out there, giving life all you’ve got.

The kind of people who are itching to make every day count. They ooze with this badass — I’m here world, you better be ready for me! People look into their lives and think — whoa. Yes they’re movin’ and shakin’ but they’re also bringing the world along for the ride.

I can name a whole pile of people the fit into this ‘type’ — off the top of my head a few are: Jenny Blake, Nicole Antoinette, Tara Hunt and Ron Tite.

Not everyone relates to ‘balls to the wall’ … I get that. Hell, we can’t all be the same! What saddens me is the amount of people I know who are  caught up in big fancy jobs with big fancy salaries, Abercrombie husbands with 2.2 children and a body that could only be created in Photoshop. They are continually frustrated that they haven’t achieved what they want.

Being caught up in anything for the moment — is fine. We’re all human. Ruling your life over these things…? Your time could be better spent.

Move on and move up. Set yourself up for success.

The goal is to be — happy. Simple as that.

Be grateful and humble. Give — and take. Care for your family. Spend time with friends.

Take care of your body. Take care of your mind. Sleep. Smile.

Do what’s right.

Focus on your strengths and find what makes you happy. Then grab the life by the reins and make it happen.

Not happy? Then change something.

Give your absolute best — to yourself and your life.

You 100% deserve it.

PS – Came across a great post this week via Sonia — the 20 best things that can happen to a person! Bang on.

The Life Checklist – Circa 2012

I’m a big fan of setting goals… not SMART blah blah blah goals, but real goals that I can practically touch! I have to be excited about them and be able to see the end goal. I’m still ironing out my goals for 2012 (stay tuned personal board of directors), but had a chance last week to update my bucket list. Yep, bucket list. That list of things you want to achieve in your life — that are critical to who you are as a human being.

So here we go. Deep breath.

The super human, Jenny Blake likes to call this a  Life Checklist. Jenny is totally Type A and Google docs obsessed, so the fact that ‘checklist’ was a word she adopted into the bucket list exercise doesn’t surprise me in the least. :)

Writing goals, resolutions or something like a life checklist are extremely reflective exercises. While I sat in a Starbucks last week in Toronto writing these out, I couldn’t help but think about Tony Robbins’ seminar last year {blogged about it}. We discussed the ‘wheel of life’ and this was my result:

• Strengths: physical body; emotions and meaning; work/career/mission; celebrate/contribute.
• Weaknesses: relationships; time; finances.

Still accurate if I do say so myself. Progress has been made. I’m about to hire an Accountant. Woop! And I’m done dating dirt bags. As for time… let’s just say a goal this year is to sleep more and truly figure out the golden question… ‘How much is my time worth?’

My life checklist has been in some form of an another since my late teens. It’s always evolving. This year it grew substantially as I’ve had a lot of clarity in the last 18 months. I used to encompass career and community all in one, but I’ve decided to separate the two as community is something that completes me and I needed it to be an integral part of the picture! I took out relationship goals… because it seemed crazy to me to write down that one day I hope to be married and have a baby. I don’t ever want to check those things off a list… and same goes for a dog or a white picket fence {of which I need neither}. I’d prefer to be a good friend, daughter and sister — of which I hope I don’t need a list to keep me on track.

Anyways that’s it… a mighty big list but one that I can’t wait to tackle. I better get to work. Well actually, I better get to sleep. Insomnia last night meant I’ve been up for 39 hours. So much for a strength being ‘physical body.’ ;)

Happy Tuesday.

PS – Sending love and hugs to Haley for always sticking by my side. xo

Shit Got Real

Late Night Working = Bad Habit

When I left my corporate job, I took a major pay decrease… major… and all of my {ridiculously comfortable} job security, to give entrepreneurship a shot.

Why? Because I wanted to.

I was ready to take a jump. I needed a change.

{My mother surely thought I was crazy.}

I entered into the land of solopreneurship completely unprepared.  Totally my fault by the way. I knew I wasn’t ‘corporate’ but I had no idea if entrepreneurship and small business was for me.

I started a notebook called ‘how to be a business’ … Every time someone gave me advice, I wrote it down. Every time I found some sort of magical piece of information online, I wrote it down.

I have definitely learned that it’s way easier to ask people {who have been around the block} for help, rather than search for an answer for 6000 hours.

I have become very aware of what I spend time doing and how long I spend time on tasks. {Perfectionism can be the devil.} I have begun to learn what I enjoy doing and what I should be outsourcing.

I went from working every day, all day long {with absolutely no boundaries} to a reasonable amount of hours in 6 days a week.

I am more organized {but not in a ready for tax season kind of day} and this week I achieved Inbox Zero in all email accounts. The very first time in over a year. Hooray!

I learned how to invoice {both correctly and incorrectly}, manage a budget {most of the time} and keep my clients happy.

I still have a long way to go and a lot to sort out, but I am moving forward. And finally it all feels real.

Guess what? I left corporate. And didn’t die. 

It’s been 10 months and it took me until today to feel like a business.

Today I figured out what I am worth.

A few online peeps I have learned from:

• Jenny Blake – 20 Lessons from 2 Months of Solopreneurship Part 1 and Part 2
• Chris Guillebeau – The Flip Side of Self-Employment and Freedom
• Danielle La Porte – Biz Knocks and Being Human
• Amber Rae – ‘Hell Yes’ Decision Making Model

Thank you to Judy, Val, Pete, Jill, Scott, Tod and Glenn for the love — and of course, the hand holding.