G’s Daily Dose

How Much Compromise

Starting over does mean wiping the slate clean. But, how much should we compromise, if at all?

To decide this, we must consider, what is a part of our past and current life that we want to keep, like our family and friends, lifestyle, and living arrangements.

If you, like me, have been married for some time and want to keep that relationship in harmony, what compromises will you need to make?

For me, I could live in the forest in a shack to make this quantum leap faster, but, my wife, not so much. In fact, to her, backing up to live in a typical middle-class neighborhood and lifestyle, is a major heartbreak and disruption and, I get this, so the decision has to be made, what do we bring into our starting over strategy?

Hint! Don’t expect these to be easy decisions!

Find the Right Starting Point

Just thinking about starting over is enough to keep us from taking the leap. Unlike so many, who think starting over is simply taking a turn, or changing direction slightly, starting over is starting over. Starting over is letting go of the past, getting rid of the very things that have held us back, the clutter, the busy, time-wasting habits, things that have kept us from obtaining our dream, kept us “caught up”, it’s time to let that be the past, and start with a brand new perspective, a new way of living our lives, one that allows us to move rapidly in our chosen direction.

Adjust Your Thinking

As the years pass by, it’s easy to get stuck in an era. An awareness that everything seems expensive. The cost to run our businesses seems ridiculous to even outrageous. We question, how is this possible?

A couple of months ago, while updating my small business monthly budget, it seemed almost unbelievable how much the little things added up. The thoughts came, how can this be? How can I cover this budget and make a profit? Can this be? What am I doing wrong? What am I not seeing? None of these thoughts helped!

As I thought about it, I pondered the number of conversations that I have while working hard to serve a customer, that focused on costs. We all get stuck in what it used to cost or what we wish it cost, but that’s not reality. Reality is today, what it cost to do this today! The difference in doing it right versus doing it cheaply. We are pulled into beer thinking and hoping for champaign by the many stores and businesses that focus on being the cheapest and we are bombarded with marketing campaigns that imbed that thought in our heads.

Then I realized, the capability to be more productive due to the many time-saving devices should make it easier than ever to achieve goals. If that’s so, what’s the problem? The problem is we need to adjust. We need to adjust our perspective and our thinking! There has never been a time when so many can afford so much and if they can we can! It’s that simple!

Adjust Your Thinking!

Learn Something New Every Day

Most people today in my industry know little about the products and almost nothing about the way they should be installed. That’s a sad testament but true.

All it takes to be the most knowledgeable in our fields is to learn something new every day and in five years, you will be far ahead of the pack and actually be helpful and no doubt, no longer struggling to sell your service.

Invest the time, learn something new today!

Train Your Mind

We probably all know that the most difficult task in life is allowing only the thoughts we want to see come to fruition in our minds. This takes practice. Most of us have allowed less than positive thoughts creep in and steel our dream, by shaking our confidence in our plan or when there are things that we should do, allowing the fear of this may not work, they won’t listen or this will be difficult and many other thoughts that keep us stuck.

But, how do we keep this from happening, time and time again? Again, I will say, it takes practice, a lot of practice and to complete our practice to the point we have control of our thoughts takes time, time invested in clearly defined objectives with various methods to use while mastering this single act that keeps most of us from succeeding.

It has been stated by many leading thinkers in years past that to do this, to gain control of our thoughts and stay focused on what we want and shutting out all other thoughts makes everything possible.

We must train our minds!

Navigate Rough Waters

There may be times when the going gets tough. There are many cliches that have been pinned about tough times but it’s rare that real answers appear inside the cliches.

So what is the answer? I believe the answer is to clarify the goal or goals regularly. It’s so easy to get lost on your way, to become busy fighting the waves instead of trimming the sails. To clarify your goals, it’s important to get the vision into just a few key things to focus on. There will be many to-dos and activities but the destination must be single or few to keep clarity.

Then use the cliches as a verbal mantra. Use extreme motions when you say them to create an emotion that you can feel. It will build confidence but first know where you’re going and sail through the rough waters.