Achievant Blog
Keep your Joy in the Chaos
Do you have a lot on your plate and struggle with finding the joy in each day? To many problems that constantly pop up? You simply feel overwhelmed, under appreciated, and dream about staying in bed with the covers over your head?
That’s no way to live! And you miss all the good stuff along the way.
Here are a few things to get you moving and thinking in the right direction:
- This too shall pass - this season is only for a time and things will change, nothing stays the same.
- Be prepared - show up in the morning ready with a plan for your day. Don’t let the day take control of you. Things will come up unexpectedly, you will be better prepared to handle them when you know what’s already going on in your day.
- Put your phone down - in meetings, in the car with your kids, and at the dinner table. Pay attention to those around you. Those relationships are important.
- Schedule time - to take breaks for vacation with family, lunch with an elderly loved one, or even a pedicure to get your toes pretty again. It’s OK to make time for these things.
- Pay attention - there are amazing things happening all around you. When a moment gets tough, take a step back and give yourself a breather. Pay attention to the good things that are happening around you and in your life.
- Practice possibility thinking - when a problem isn’t working out as you had hoped or a situation pops up, think about the BEST POSSIBLE SITUATION for YOU and the other parties involved. Get your head out of the negative rabbit hole and start moving in a positive direction. THIS WORKS EVERY TIME!!!!
Time is going to pass, things are going to happen, but there is joy in every day if you choose to find it.
If you’re struggling with business or career problems that seem overwhelming, I can help. Schedule a discovery call and we can chat. If you want a bit more motivation, check out my social media pages to see The Achievant Minute: The Little Things video.
Achievant Blog
Know Your WHY: Discovering Your Purpose and Motivation
Know Your WHY: Discovering Your Purpose and Motivation
Have you ever found yourself feeling lost or unsure about your goals and direction in life? Do you ever wonder what drives successful people to achieve their dreams and make a difference in the world? If you’re not moving forward, simply treading water, you need to sit down and figure out your WHY.
Knowing your WHY means understanding your underlying motivations and purpose for your actions and decisions. It's a concept that's become increasingly popular in personal and professional development, as well as in entrepreneurship.
When you know your WHY, you can gain clarity and focus (you know the actions to take), make meaningful decisions (it’ll be easy to say Yes or No), and stay motivated in the face of challenges (fewer dreary Mondays and wishes for Friday). It will help you align your actions with your values and beliefs, leading to a sense of fulfillment and purpose (you will be happy and engaged in your life!).
So, how can you discover your WHY? Here are some tips to get started:
- Identify your values and beliefs. Your values and beliefs are the guiding principles that shape your worldview and influence your decisions. Take some time to reflect on what matters most to you and why. What do you stand for? What are your non-negotiables? Once you've identified your values and beliefs (go deep here), use them as a filter to guide your decisions and actions.
- Ask yourself WHY. Take a look at your career. What's the deeper motivation behind choosing your field? Are you a business owner? Are you an executive? Why are you working in your chosen field? Why is it important to you? Is it because you want to help people? Is it because you want to provide for your family? Keep asking WHY until you drill down to the root of your decision. By understanding the WHY behind your actions, you can stay motivated and focused on what truly matters to you.
- Consider your strengths and talents. Your unique skills and talents can give you clues about your purpose and calling in life. What do you have a large amount of knowledge in? What are you naturally good at? What do you enjoy doing? Are you currently using your strengths and talents every day in the work that you do? Does this allow you to spend quality time with your family? By aligning your actions with your strengths and talents, you can find a sense of fulfillment and purpose in your work and life and will be more engaged, present, and…the feeling everyone wants…happy! (By the way, you can be happy now and every day, you just have to choose to be, no matter the situation, but that’s for another blog!)
- Think about your legacy. What do you want to be remembered for? What impact do you want to make in the world or your family? When you think about your legacy, you can gain perspective on what truly matters to you and what you want to achieve in life. This can help you prioritize your goals and make decisions that align with your long-term vision.
Knowing your WHY is an ongoing process and it changes with the seasons in your life. Take the time to reflect and uncover your deeper motivations and purpose in life. This simple exercise will help you can gain clarity, focus, and a greater sense of purpose. So take the time to reflect on your values, motivations, and talents, and use them to guide your decisions and actions.
Are you open to some coaching to help walk you through this? Schedule a Discovery Call (insert link) to learn about coaching or check out the all the things on the home page. There’s a weekly GPS to Success Zoom call that’s starting on Monday, August 14th. Let me know if you’d like to get your week started on the right foot by emailing: bhendley@achievantcoaching.com. I’ll put you on the list so you can check it out. Look forward to seeing you there!
Achievant Blog
Do you have the GPS to Success?
Whenever you hop in the car, do you you use the GPS? I’ve found it as a great way to figure out which route is going to get me there the fastest especially if I go outside a 5 mile radius (I live outside of Baltimore, historically known for it’s traffic and back ups). Do I have my tried and true routes that I use from memory? Sure! I use that as my guide to decide which route to take. Do I want to miss all the lights and take the scenic route? Do I want to bypass that large and busy roundabout? Depending on what I’d like to experience and how quickly I need to get there is usually the route that I decide to take.
But what if I’ve never been to a location before? I don’t have a guide or a benchmark to make the best decision. Honestly, I just pick the quickest route, (usually on long trips it’s all about the time for me!).
This is what I’ve learned:
- While going up to see family in New Brunswick, New Jersey you have to take a left exit ramp to make a right-hand turn at a light off bigger roads. And you don’t pump your own gas, an attendant is required to do it for you.
- In Washington D.C., it doesn’t matter which way you go in, there will be fast highways, chaos, and massive back-ups while on route 50, 95, 295, 395, 495, and every road in between. Hold on tight and just keep moving!
- While driving up through Delaware to get to the beach, you cross large bridges over rivers with sleepy little towns, and big waterfront homes with boats along the edges, that lead into 4 lane road through the country with huge cornfields on each side. You can put the windows down and open the moonroof to smell the salt water in the air building the excitement as you’re “goin' down the ocean, hon!”
On all of these trips, I just trusted the GPS. Were there obstacles, rerouting, pit stops, and bio breaks? Absolutely. Did it deter me? NO! I just kept going and I trusted it would get me to where I programmed it to go. And it did. Every. Single. Time.
Now let’s talk about your dreams. As in the Pretty Woman, her bestie asks another friend at the end of the movie, “Do you gotta goal?”. Do you know where you want to be in the next 10 years? 3-5 years? Next year? If you answered a resounding YES, then that’s half the battle!
At Achievant Coaching, we have the GPS to your Success. If you are a Business Owner, Executive or Professional. We have the tools, systems, and support to get you from where you are to where you want to go. Do you want to:
- Double your Income?
- Have the freedom to take more time off or work wherever you want?
- Manage your time and get organized?
- Create processes that take away the emotion and high stress for you and your team?
If you want to start with baby steps and want a little help working toward that goal, there’s a 21 Day Sprint Challenge with a worksheet on how to set your goal, reverse engineer the steps to reach it, and put a plan in place. It’s free and you can take it over, and over, and over again, resetting each month and taking on a new habit or goal that will get you to your next step, check it out here: https://grow.achievantcoaching.com/21daysprint
If you want more support, a community AND additional learning to keep you motivated along your journey, there’s a GPS to Success Community which meets each week for an hour on Zoom, starting on August 14th, 2023. Click here: https://grow.achievantcoaching.com/gps2success
If you want to speak with me and want individualized support set up a Discovery Call. Here’s the link: https://app.worksmartercrm.com/v2/preview/BKOBr4PdyIhYQNA2pecI
Achievant blog
Are your emails stressing you out?
Is your email making you crazy? Do you have THOUSANDS of unread messages and don’t know how to tackle your inbox? Short of deleting them all and starting over, here’s a great way to clear out your inbox and put a management system in place for years to come.
Carve out at least 50 minutes of uninterrupted time. Put it on your calendar if you need to and silence your phone. Now let’s tackle those emails!
Create the following folders:
- @Immediate Action – for the things you actually need to do.
- @Follow UP – for the things you need to follow up on at a later date.
- @Sort – for things that you need to put into folders or be able to search up later (client, household, and tax information, etc.).
- @Tickler – for things you want to read or that interest you to include coupons and special offers. Great for easy reference while shopping in store or online.
Now it’s time to go through your email and put the important things in these folders. Once you get good at this, you can clear out a ton of emails quickly.
Everything else gets DELETED.
Now it’s time to go back to your Immediate Action folder. This now becomes your email To Do list.
Once you complete a task, move it into @Sort.
If you need to follow up on it, put it into @Follow Up AND put it in your calendar to follow up.
Now about that @Sort folder…if you have a Virtual Assistant, have them follow this same system when cleaning out your inbox. They get the job of putting the @Sort items into actual folders in your email.
Go through this process EVERY DAY so you can stay up on your @Immediate Action items.
Try to make this a daily practice, in the mornings and in the evenings, to wrap up your day and help you create a To Do list of things that need to get done.
If you do it the night before, you’ll start off the day without anxiety already knowing what you’ll need to get done and be able to better prepare for it.
Remember, even if you fall behind, you can do this each week and it will help you stay organized. You’ve GOT THIS!!!
Achievant Blog
Do you like the people you surround yourself with?
Who do you hang out with? Who are your 5 closest friends? Do you like where they are in their life? Do you admire them? Do you feel superior to them? Do you feel they are holding you down? Or are you holding them down?
Start paying attention to who you are around the majority of your time.
I’ve had the privilege to be around entrepreneurs my whole life. My Mom and my Dad both had their own businesses. They were driven by different priorities at different times in their lives and business. Sometimes it was to put food on the table, pay for college tuition, or simply pay the bills. For my Mom it was a passion. For my Dad it was to provide. For both of them, they were driven to succeed, they loved accomplishing the job, making the client happy, and enjoyed the money that followed. And they surrounded themselves with other successful entrepreneurs and a support system that encouraged them to succeed.
If you are starting your business or have been at it for 3, 5, or 10+ years, having people around you that are doing well in their business is important to your success. Their energy drives and encourages you and they have your back and can support and hold you accountable.
If you don’t have a group to support you, find one. If you want to join my group, sign up here https://grow.achievantcoaching.com/gps2success. It starts on August 14th at 12pm EST and keeps going every week. Each month we’ll have a challenge, Q&A, Subject Matter Interview, and feature a hot seat. It’s designed to keep you motivated and moving forward to reach your goals!
Achievant Blog
How do I make the right decision?
Are you excited about a new idea or opportunity and you need to make a decision? Are you asking for advice, hearing negative and positive responses and you just can’t make up your mind?
I remember when I was looking for a new car in 2000. I just graduated from college and wanted to replace the 1984 Nissan Sentra my parents had bought me. That little car took me everywhere: college, work, home, the beach, the mountains, and everywhere in between. It was freedom on wheels! AND it broke down a few times along the way. I had worked a few jobs while going to school and had saved money for a down payment. I had a degree and was going out into the working world. It was time to upgrade!
I was so excited about power WINDOWS and LOCKS! Yes, I was manually opening windows and doors, and starting the car with an actual metal key. We didn’t have Apple Car Play back then, and cell phones were JUST coming out. I had an original version in my car’s glove box for EMERGENCIES! Back to the story: my Dad, the person who has owned the most cars that I know, said, “You don’t want power anything, it’ll just break and then you won’t be able to open your car or put down your window or lock your car door. Just another thing to fix.” I love my Dad and he is a problem solver like no other; however, for most things, he thinks about what could go wrong. Know your audience and information noted.
I’m a problem solver too, and that thinking didn’t sit well with me, so I did my research and looked at a number of reliable cars. I wanted a SUV, a Green/Blue Isuzu Rodeo, but they were relatively new at the time. I saw the reviews on high maintenance costs and the cost of gas was rising and it deterred me. I had a budget and those types of vehicles were a bit out of my price range. Information noted.
I moved forward and purchased a Dark Red Pearl, 2000 Honda Accord, 4-door, with power windows and doors. It even had faux wood trim! I felt so grown up and was SOOOO excited about my new car. For the first week, if I didn’t have anywhere to go, I would sit in the chair at the front window of the house and look at it parked at the curb (remember, pre-smart phones). I was so proud. Side note: I took my Step Dad and Mom with me, he was an excellent negotiator and got the overall price down to where I could afford the payments and got the maximum amount on the trade in. Sometimes you just need the help of someone who has the expertise that you lack.
That car lasted me 12 years: one transmission, many oil changes, and a few sets of tires were all that needed to be replaced. No power window or lock repairs…now about that transmission.
Things are going to happen. Let me tell you how this worked out: I got a surprise bonus the day AFTER I received the transmission diagnosis, which was the exact amount I needed! I was a little bummed that I couldn’t use that money for something fun, but I couldn’t have predicted the money falling into my bank account!
If you are excited about moving forward with an opportunity or a purchase. Be smart about it. Put a plan in place, talk to people you trust, do the work, save the money, trust your gut, and move forward. Make the decision that gets you excited and lights you up! Don’t let fear stop you.
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