The leaves are changing, the animals are preparing for winter, and if you’re a smart human you’re anticipating the changes that are going to occur in your life as well. This year has certainly confirmed that change is relentless and non-discriminating. Our choice is not “if” change will come, but only how we can be prepared “when” it does comes.
I trust you’ll find my notes today encouraging as you prepare to move into the New Year. Check for barnacles, put yourself in the top 3 percent and be a “sissy” if you must to follow your passions.
And take comfort in the fact that nothing we are dealing with today is new. You may think it’s overwhelming but every generation has had to confront unexpected and unwelcome change.
The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. - Abraham Lincoln
****************************** Are you ready for a cruise? I've never experienced a better way to relax, learn and prosper - than on a cruise. Join us for the No More Mondays Cruise February 20-25. Just click on the link below to secure the trip of a lifetime....
Recently I was on board a beautiful new boat with a friend. While the boat looked absolutely stunning from everything I could see, the owner told me it was time to pull it out of the water and see what unwanted debris was hanging on under the surface. As any boat enthusiast knows, this is about the time of year when owners pull their boats out of the water and check for those things that are not easily seen from the top. Over time, various forms of debris accumulate on the hull. Foreign particles and parasites attach themselves to the hull, hoping for a free ride, but creating increased resistance to the smooth flow of water and slowing down the boat itself.
We all experience this process of build-up, sometimes in ways that are slow and difficult to detect. Inaccurate beliefs, unhealthy assumptions, lack of faith, succumbing to criticisms and feeling defeated may cause us to slow down and limit our effectiveness. We may even become numb to our original values, dreams and passions. A job loss, financial pressure, low self-esteem and feeling stuck can literally feel like barnacles on our hull that drag us down or stop us from moving forward.
“He who cannot endure the bad, will not live to see the good.” Jewish proverb
Maybe it’s time for you to strip the boat. Put yourself in dry dock for a day or two and commit to removing all the debris that has accumulated on the hull of your life. Take a fresh look at where you are and where you are going. Hopefully you’ll uncover those old childlike dreams once again. The vulnerability of stripping down to the hull may feel threatening, but it’s not as threatening as continuing to drag along through life with the weight of unfulfilled dreams and the baggage of misdirected activity.
Business, relationship, financial and health failures often bring us to a point where we feel dead in the water. And yet it is often in this forced cleansing process that we have the freshest opportunities for new, invigorating growth. Embrace these times as opportunities for reflection, rest and meditation, confident that on the other side will be renewed strength.
Is there an opportunity you think you may have missed due to barnacles on your hull? How could you still capture that opportunity?
So maybe I'm a little early - but if you want next year to be better than this one, now is the time to make the decisions to make that happen.
A famous study at Yale University polled graduating seniors in a class in the ‘50s. The students were asked what their specific and written goals for their careers and finances were. Unfortunately, only 3% of the graduating class had specific and written goals.
20 years later, the class was studied again. The 3% that had specific goals at graduation had amassed more wealth in the 20 years than the other 97% combined! Goals make that type of difference.
What’s stopping you from writing specific goals? Goals will make a difference if you desire to be a better parent, start a new ministry, or be a better friend. Do you have a dream vacation in mind? Do you desire physical changes or spiritual growth? Want a better job or more income? Turn these dreams into specific, measurable, and written goals. You will achieve more.
You want to have goals in these areas: Physical, Personal Development, Spiritual, Social, Family, Financial, and Career.
Here’s my free worksheet to help you make 2010 the year you describe on paper. 2010 – The Power of Goals
Yesterday I opened my closet doors – and began my annual process there. My plan is that if I haven’t worn something in an entire year, it’s pretty clear I don’t really need it at all. So I gathered shirts, pants, sweaters, belts, shoes, and ties – to be given to our local GraceWorks ministry. Yes, there were some great clothes in there, but really – if I wear a tie 4 or 5 times a year, why do I need 20?
You may want to start the process of goal setting by uncluttering some areas of your life. You can put yourself into the top 3 percent by simply being clear in what your goals are.
One of the most powerful components of Goal Planning is to decide what you’re not going to do anymore.
Welcome to 48 Days radio where each week I look through the submitted questions and then blast through as many as possible right here to give you the unique tools for your own success.
I’m 62 and utterly miserable in my job
We are awaiting a court date to finalize our bankruptcy where we will lose everything but our vehicles and kids. At 41, my husband and three teenage children are starting over. It's the scariest time of my life ... and there is very little light at the end of the tunnel ... and I'm at the point where I feel like I have no solutions.
I would like to know some specific steps to take to make a smooth transition from a full time position to freelance or contract work with my current employer. It seems that resigning would automatically put me in a tough or even negative position to be able to continue to work with the same company.
I would like to start a Christian greeting card business. I love to draw and have drawn all my life, including illustration for children's books --- and I have a unique idea to subject my cards. What are the steps to getting started?
I have been trying to buy an existing business for about 3 months now. The owner is financing half and I need to come up with the other half. I have excellent credit, some bucks in a money market, but let me tell you, can’t get anyone to give you that first leg up, doesn’t matter how many business plans you write, unless you’re already established, they pretty much tell you to go take a hike.
I'm a 62-year-old college professor and utterly miserable in my job. I wish I could say this is a new development, but I've never really felt fulfilled in my work. I am heavily in debt, can't make enough to live on in a job I hate, and see no hope of ever retiring. I feel trapped and hopeless. What can I do?
What should one do to prepare for the upcoming year? I heard you mention that you evaluate all areas of your business and make changes annually. What do you do for the other areas of your life?
****************************** If you have a question, just email me at askdan@48Days.com and you can ask about starting your own business, getting a better job, or finding your purpose in life.
And you can click the link below to listen to this week’s broadcast immediately – no downloading – no wait.
Coaching with Dan
Many of you ask if I still coach people individually. Yes, I do. Feel like you've taken too much time to get to the success you want? Is fear holding you back? These are common issues with the hundreds of people that contact us each month looking for a new start. Give us some brief information and I'll recommend one of my coaching packages or recommend one of the other coaches in our 48 Days network to launch you into the next successful season of your life: Coaching with Dan
****************************** CoWorking
One of the hot new terms accounting for people wanting to work not from home and not from an office is CoWorking. People who struggle with watching Oprah or playing Xbox in the middle of the afternoon may find that a shared office space is just what you need. Sole proprietors, freelancers, artists, consultants and other independent workers are finding refuge in coworking environments with open office areas but dedicated work space, high-speed internet, a kitchenette and maybe even printer and fax machine. Rates range from $15 a day to $500 a month for full 24/hour access. Check it out here - CoWorking Spaces or just Google your city with the word “coworking.”
****************************** 48Days.net
At 48Days.net you’ll see over 4000 other excited people who have ideas – and plans to make 2010 their best year ever. If you want your life to be different in 2010, get involved with people who are on the same path. There is no cost – just lots of people who are committed to helping each other succeed.
******************************* You’re a Sissy
Wolgang Puck’s dad was a coal miner and a boxer. When Wolfgang quit school at 14 and took a job as a cooking apprentice his father told him, “Well, you’re good for nothing. Cooking is for women.” Today Wolfgang Puck’s 16 restaurants and 80 express bistros stretch from New York to Maui. Maybe that discouragement fueled his determination to succeed. Have your detractors fueled your success, or caused you to miss your passion?
******************************* What do you want for 2010?
Do you know how to take advantage of change?"?
The most popular product in the 48 Days arsenal continues to be the 48 Days Career Profile. What's the best environment for you to live out your "calling?" You can find out here.
It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power. -- Alan Cohen
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. -- Anne Frank
In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. -- Eric Hoffer
The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul. - G. K. Chesterton
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. -- Leo Tolstoy
The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. -- M. Scott Peck
Do you know how to take advantage of change?"?
