Update- Loving the no-satellite plan but technology failed me this morning :( Thought I set my alarm for an earlier wake-up time but nope. My alarm rang at the same time it does every day. I *was* half asleep when I changed it so it could have been user error. It's reset and ready to rock tomorrow. I spent my first day of holidays chillin' at home. I ran on my treadmill for an hour and a bit, made cookies for the kids to come home to and made dinner for the fam. Been a LONG time. Felt fantastic. It made me seriously miss my days of being a stay-at-home mom.
31 Ways 31 Days - Craig Jarrow
Automating tasks
Currently I am automating several tasks::
- For instance, I prepay a year's worth of certain bills (phone, power, etc.) and if you ask for a discount for the prepayment, sometimes you can get a 1-2% savings. (that's a win/win!).
-I also automate my portrait/consultation/ordering sessions via TimeTrade. This is a massive time saver in my work.
- I use Google Reader to gather all the blog posts I usually read which allows me to scan the interesting headlines and share them if I want.
-I schedule my blog/twitter/facebook posts via HootSuite and use Buffer to schedule the links I want to share.
-I schedule recurring e-blasts via MadMimi using the scheduling feature.
One more thing I could automate would be to back up my harddrive. I currently do this manually and would LOVE to not have to fuss with it. To make this happen, I would first need to research an online-based storage service that is compatible with my system and my terrible internet service where I live and of course ensure that it is reliable and affordable. If I could automate this, I'd likely save 20-30 minutes a week which equals 17+ hours!
Reclaim Your Dreams - Jonathan Mead
Undomesticate yourself
For me, the biggest self-limiting beliefs that are holding me back from living my dreams are that I don't deserve the kind of success & freedom I imagine. I believe that I can't create consistently beautiful images that people want to invest in. I believe that my home will never be what I wish for. I believe that my financial life will always be chaotic and disorganized. I believe that my dream of travel is outside my reach.
The empowering beliefs that I would like to adopt instead are that I absolutely do deserve the success & freedom I imagine. That I do create consistently beautiful images that clients invest in. That my home is well on its way to being everything I wish for. That my financial life can be easily organized and that travel is readily available to me.
Ways that I will remind myself of these things include vision boards, delegating (financial organization), affirmations and journaling.
By slowing down, I will be able to savor the creative process of creating my art every step of the way including meeting with my clients before the session, shooting the portrait session, processing the images to show my client and the final edits of those images for the printers. Also, slowing down will afford me space to breathe, relax and be present in my experience with my family. By slowing down and being an active participant in my 'present' I will truly be present and therefore receive the fullest blessings and gifts of the moment rather than passing them by in pursuit of the next accomplishment or to-do.
To 'be incredible' rather than seeking incredible things means to participate actively in my own life experience and do things that bring joy and fulfillment to my present rather than merely observing them and passively being involved, as in an audience. To 'be resourceful' rather than seeking resources means to create your opportunities instead of waiting for them to happen. It means to ask for what you want rather than hoping it will magically appear.
Three ways that I can take more responsibility for my life are::
-releasing my pre-existing beliefs about what I cannot be, do or have and replace them with new ideas about achievement, success and joy.
-practice slowing down, doing less and being fully present when I do any task/activity
-following my dreams more authentically rather than pushing them aside in the name of practicality.
On that note of my third goal for taking responsibility of my life, here's the thing. As much as I'm a dreamer and can clearly articulate what my creative goals are and what activities bring me the most joy, my practical mind totally overshadows all of that and does not give me the opportunity to experience the life I truly desire. I am so often pushed in the direction of the practical choice rather than the joyful, fulfilling one. Granted, practicality has its place, especially when it comes to adult decisions like paying bills, taking the dogs to the vet or buying groceries instead of a new art supplies. But there needs to be a way to integrate the two.
For me I think that if I ensure that the work I do is always with clients who truly love the art I make, then every commissioned project will be immensely creative and rewarding, therefore my heart's desire. Also, those tasks will then be as enjoyable as possible while continuing to create an income for me personally and professionally. Additionally, by doing only that kind of work, I will feel more confident in the decision to spend less time working and more time resting, playing with my children, reading or journaling and pursuing other non-work related goals.
My intention for the new year is to take a more holistic approach to my life. That means that I will be working less, resting & recharging more. I will spend fewer hours in front of my computer and more hours outdoors, in the kitchen, on the floor playing with my kids, on the sofa reading or napping. Enjoying ALL the parts of life that I haven't afforded myself over the past two years. I miss those things. I miss actively parenting, I miss domesticity. I miss all the things that are part of who I am aside from being a photographer which lately has been the only hat I've worn. Time for a bit more variety with my wardrobe. Time to bust out the mom-hat, the chef-hat, the crafter-hat, the party-thrower-hat, the spontaneous-pajama-day-hat... the OTHER parts of myself that have been neglected for a long time. Asleep. Dormant.
Time to wake the hell up.
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So tell me, does any of this resonate with you? This isn't some kind of skeezy sales pitch, I'm sharing the REAL, HONEST work that I am doing on my own life using the tools I invested in from the Kickstart The Year program. There is an insane amount of material available to you for seriously a minimal investment of $88 for eleven workbooks/audio recordings/e-books. That's $8 each. Dude, you spend that on coffee in a week and really, how much do those coffees do for you in the long run to helping you achieve your dreams?
I'm not kidding. Go buy it, blog your experiences and leave the address in the comments section. Or, just share your own response to what I'm figuring out about myself and together, I promise we'll learn some cool shit. Ok? Now go buy it... I'll wait for ya.
xo
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