Business Is A Tough Gig
Start Your Day With A Bang
Jim Rohn is credited with saying, “Nothing changes until you change yourself. And when you change yourself, everything changes.”
This is so true.
I’m an avid reader of business books. Biographies. And autobiographies. About people. And businesses. Who have become wildly successful. And not so successful.
They’re my benchmark. And my mentors.
Because.
I meet too many people in real life, on a regular basis, who are not great achievers. But who talk the big talk.
If there is one thing I’ve learned from truly successful men and women, it’s to listen to the rhythm of your own body clock.
When you work with your body clock, you’ll do your best work.
And sometimes you need to change your routine. Or lifestyle. To do your best work.
I have a business friend who is a night owl. And organises his whole life around his body clock. He’s a talented web designer. And only works with clients overseas. Whose daytime. Is his night-time. Technology allows him to have meetings and conferences via Skype. And designs are sent back and forth via email. Dropbox. And simulated web pages. He’s in heaven!
I’m a morning person. Have been all my life.
I’m an expat American. Born and raised as a child in New York City. But as a teenage girl, I lived in a small rural town in southern Virginia, where my father was transferred. I would get up at 5 AM in summer — before daylight savings was even thought of — just to ride my bike to the nearest cornfield. Stretch out in the first light of the morning sun. To watch it rise. And breathe in the unmistakable fragrance of fresh corn ripening on the stalks.
I’m still an early riser.
But these days I get up at 4 AM. To start my day with a bang.
As the owner of The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover And Other Goodies, I have big dreams. And need to be reminded every day of where I want to go with this business.
Every morning. Without fail. I write down my goals. And I’m talking about what you would consider pie in the sky goals. Nothing realistic here. These are goals that break the sound barrier. I have no inhibitions. I never tell myself this is too far out of my comfort zone for me. And I never rein myself in. The last thing I want to do is shortchange myself.
They’re also repetitious. Because repetition works. I don’t think of something new each day to write down. I just write down the goals that come into my head. And keep writing until I run out of steam.
I learned this technique many years ago from Brian Tracy. I’m into my third journal of goals. That’s how long I’ve been doing this.
And it works. Because every time I write down a goal, I discover that I’m refining it.
Some goals I’m close to reaching. And I’ve learned what will work to get towards that goal. And what I need to do to refine things that don’t work.
I NEVER say, this didn’t work. So nothing works.
Everything works. You just need to figure out what the refinement is that will make it work.
Next thing I do is write what’s known as Morning Pages. This is a technique I learned from author and journalist Julia Cameron. She recommends you sit down every morning, and write down whatever you want to fill up 3 blank pages.
It’s amazing what you can get off your chest by writing those 3 pages every morning. And how many new ideas pop into your mind when writing those pages.
I have since learned that a business friend wrote her first business book from the thoughts that flew out of her mind. Onto her blank morning pages.
I also believe in the Rule of 5. I learned this many years ago from Jack Canfield. When I first read Chicken Soup For The Soul.
Before chainsaws, lumberjacks used only axes. And the rule was. If you make 5 axe cuts a day into the biggest tree, you will eventually fell the tree.
So I set 5 action steps every day. That I need to take. To reach my goals.
By the time I’ve done those 3 ‘start with a bang’ activities, I’m ready to head out with my camera, at sunrise. For a walk on my 54 hectare remote rural property in the picturesque hills of The Central Tablelands of NSW. Australia. To take my morning photos that I post on my Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
By the time I come back, I’m really excited about my day. Because I know what I need to do to keep moving towards my high up in the stratosphere goals and dreams.
If you don’t start your day with a big bang, figure out how you can. Remember Jim Rohn’s famous saying. “Nothing changes until you change yourself. And when you change yourself, everything changes.”
~Carol Jones, Ironing Diva❤
Life Behind The Scenes With The Ironing Diva are my stories about how my partner, Victor Pleshev, and I created a new life out of the ashes of Australia’s ‘recession we had to have’. How did we design 8 products? And get them to market? How did we build a worldwide business from broke? How did we carve out a rural lifestyle that is the envy of our friends? And our customers? How did we create a beautiful hectare of garden out of a barren paddock sitting atop an infertile rock shelf? It wasn’t easy. But this is the business and the lifestyle that we built from scratch. The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover And Other Goodies.
