Dollar signs

Keep your eyes on the prize, what does this mean to you?  My first thought is money, winning, getting to the end with a wad of paper when the game is won and done.  I don't know about you but that is NOT how I want to conduct my business. The prize for me is the client getting exactly or better than what they expected or dreamed of having.  The prize is repeat business and referrals~these are my measures of success.  The prize is me doing such a good job that my reputation precedes me and lives are richer from having been served well.  This is about the client, not the money they hand over.  Clients are not a means to an end, they are the life blood of work.  As Zig Ziggler used to say, wealth is a measure of how hard you have worked.  I will add, wealth is a measure of how hard you have worked to deliver the unexpected, the extra, the more.  The monster dollar signs would have us look in the wrong direction, at things instead of people, it is with delight that I slay this self serving monster.

Loving Me, Loving You

Bold rather than arrogant, confident rather than cocky, the differences between the attitudes or attributes are huge, and a wise young friend of mine pointed to how each sets a tone, with bold and confident instilling trust while arrogance and cockiness instill the opposite in relationship. I think bold is oh so very attractive given the fact that insecurity is like a rampid disease, inferiority claiming the lives of many, stealing their dreams and relegating people to the sidelines rather than the spotlight in their own existence.  What the heck, how does this happen?  What steals away the fire of knowing how fabulous we are designed to be, what cold water is poured freely on the fire that is, leaving smouldering coals and a I can't put my finger on the memory of what greatness looks and feels like ghost of something that could be?  Bold, confident, this means claiming who I am, who you are. This isn't a threat to others, because it calls them forth too, domino effect welcome.  Loving me means I model you loving you, and so on and so on, and so on...

Me Too

Keep trying and you will get there, this seems reasonable.  Given that mastery takes 10 000 hours, the investment would appear to be worth while when the returns come in.  Yeah, I nod to this, acknowledge its validity, IF, not giving up is in the game plan.  No guts, no glory, nothing can be more true when it comes to slaying the monster of not me...not me wants you and I to believe that good things, health, wealth happiness belong magically to the other guy or girl.  Such a lie.  Watch the people who are successful, they are relentless in pursuit of excellence.  The cream of the crop, the top 20%, the producers, they are the ones to keep an eye on.  I don't mean pay them and expect it to rub off, I mean do what they do, follow the formula, integrate it and stop reinventing the wheel.  Beginners think they need to learn more before they master their craft, I say get in there and get dirty, make messy mistakes and take risks, boldly go where you have never gone before and then clean yourself up for the next round of learning until you get THERE, on the side of the line where the masters move and shape the world. They aren't  standing still waiting for people to catch them, they don't care about that, they have work to do, and so do we.  Not me is silly,  Me Too is more like it!

Keep your mouth shut

I am not at the mercy of the world. The world, as someone so aptly stated, is my oyster.  What does this mean?  For me, it means that within every hard and closed mouth oyster, there is a pearl of truth, a shiny shiny gift of delight, a secret something that I wasn't expecting.  Asking and getting, they go together...that is the secret that sales people have been screaming for years!  It only seems like a secret because many are too afraid to ask and believe falsely that if they wait, somehow magically the "universe" will discover exactly what they need and want and it will suddenly appear, rabbit in a hat style.  Asking gets you and me one step closer to getting, this is ancient advice, I'm just telling it on the mountain so all who listen can hear...you are not at the mercy of the random kindnesses the world periodically throws your way, YOU are powerful and have a mouth and can speak the request(s), not to the universe for goodness sake, to the human beings you want to enroll as paying clients.  The money monster keep your mouth shut just got slayed...now go get those clients and change the world. 

Free got slayed

Services rendered without payment are not valued.  This quote I memorized and while I do believe there are exceptions to this truth, I am thinking and feeling that it's pretty accurate. Skin in the game, as has been said, appears to be a great motivator for advancement and change.  Currently, I mean right now, free doesn't cut it for me.  Here's the deal~when starting out in a new profession there is some teeth cutting, some getting acquainted with the work and how to be on the job. When in the service industry, the must is to practice on and with people, people that know you may very well be horrible at first while you learn your trade but they are generous enough to let you practice your line of work with them. This is a gift, to you and to them, because they want something you have and you need the experience. All is good and fair.  There is a point though, a line of demarcation, where the exchange must feel beneifcial on both sides in order for it to work. It isn't always about money, it is about value. If I value a client enough to give of my time gratis, I have an expectation and at the very least a hope, that they will do their part, their own work. My deposit into their wellness is the start of a savings account for life, they must add to their own account to make it healthy and grow.  Now for paying clients...they are the motivated, they make the investment first, generating their own change, growth, transformation from the inside until it shows up on the outside.  Inside out, inside out, change happens with a thought, a feeling, then an action step. Change is painful and powerful~parting with hard earned money is a good indication that there is a willingness to pay for the pain of forward movement. The money monster free services just got slayed.

Keep it

Yesterday I cleaned out my closet. Sure, it's not the first time and it won't be the last, with the cleaning out though, this time was different. As I looked at each item I thought, will I wear this again?  That was the point of hesitation because a little voice inside me said "you spent money on that, it's a waste to not keep, you have to get your money's worth".  I grit my teeth and a new question came to counter this money monster of stale and old keep it it's waste not to.  The question is "would I buy this item again, right now if I were looking at it in the store, price tag still attached?"  This moved me quickly through the clothes and within a short period of time, two garbage bags were filled. The really neat thing about this is the juxtaposition of the past and the present. What attracted me than no longer does, and keeping what I won't use is like keeping my garbage, just in case I find a use for it, cluttering up my space, keeping my choices unclear because every time I say no to a sweater as in "no, I won't wear that, I don't feel good in it" and I keep it, it's like I have said yes to it hanging around and making me feel indecisive each time I see it and consider it as a possibility, despite my disliking the thing. How does this relate to money?  Well, what's the clutter is the question?  What have you spent money on, continue to spend money on, just in case, that no longer serves you and in fact, needs to be cleared out so you can make choice rather than feel bogged down?The money monster keep it just got slayed...out with the old, in with the new, I win again!

Slave driver

The money monster slave driver is such a liar. He would have me believe that I have to be run ragged, be available and accommodating at the best and worst of times for work.  While at the gym the other day I heard a man say to another "you gotta work when you can" and I thought, now how did he know that is the thought I'm trying to extinguish?  As I write, I realize hey, this thought was planted in my pysche, it isn't organic, it didn't just sprout like an ugly prickly weed all by itself , it's societal!  Now don't get me wrong, I love my work, and am grateful for it, it's the crazy weird hours that need some attentive taming. Entrepreneurs are a unique and wonderful breed of independent dependant workers.  While we independently rely on ourselves for revenue generation, we also depend on attracting, serving and maintaining relationships with clients for our income.  No clients, no work, that's the catch. Slave driver, he wants me to feel fear, fear of loss, fear of lack, fear of not doing enough and all the while he laughs as I jump on his hampster wheel and spin my way to crazy mental and emotional exhaustion.  As I write, I know I am not alone, that there are many small cages around the world with human hamsters running so fast that they don't realize the scenery somehow always stays the same.  Do I want to work, oh yeah I do. Do I want to make money, absolutely.  Do I want it to be the reason I wake up in the morning, well kind of, but I don't want it to be the only reason, the driving force, the wheel I endlessly spin round and round.  Slave driver monster, you are not the boss of me, I have a life ya know, and it doesn't include YOUR hamster wheel.  Today I worked, got paid, and I will patiently wait for what I know will come again, more work and more pay because I'm good at what I do, not because I have to keep trying to be good.  I stand tall and still, victorious with my sword deep into yet another slayed money monster.