1. ANY action is better than inaction

God can only direct you if you’re on the open seas not when you’re stationed at the harbour

People often email me saying, “I don’t know what my dreams are” or “how do I find my passion”.

It’s something many thirty-somethings struggle with, the age-old, “is this all there is to life?” question

So today I thought I’d tell you a really, really quick way to get in the right direction of your passion.

If money, family and time were not a problem, how would you spend your time?

Most people then say they’d travel the world

If you’re one of those, then question 2 is this…

And after you’re done travelling the world, how would you then spend your time?

Leave your answers in the comments!

P.S. I usually do a 90-minute coaching session to help people discover their passion with a comprehensive assessment – this one question is not meant to replace that at all!

I know I need to eat better and exercise more but how do I actually make the switch from thinking to doing?

Yesterday, I had a client phone and ask me about my organising services. She has a home office and needed help getting all the paper and filing organised.

After a couple of minutes, she said to me, “are you passionate about this kind of work?”

I love paper organising and home offices, so I said, “YES, I actually am. That is my favourite type of organising.”

And we laughed.

So today I was at her house and she said, “do you remember I asked you if you were passionate about your work?” After I said yes (this is the first client who has asked me something like that so of course I remembered ), she said this…

“I resolved this year to only work with people who are passionate about what they’re doing”.

WOW! Isn’t that powerful?

I happen to agree with her because a passionate person brings a lot more energy and enthusiasm to your interaction – let’s face it, passion is inspiring and you just want to catch it!

Are you passionate about your work? How can you get more passion into your life?

You know how I love notebooks, right?

I used to write in just any notebook before until I found these beauties…

They’re about 10 times what I normally pay for a notebook but they were just SO gorgeous – I couldn’t resist.

But you know what was weird? Actually putting pen to this lovely, smooth, thick paper.

I felt like I needed to have something worthy to write in there. Perfectionism rearing its ugly head.

And then I realised – I do. Whether it’s a new idea for a coaching programme or just a things to do list, it deserves to be in a gorgeous book.

Why?

Because they’re my ideas. And even though all my ideas might not be great, they are still worth writing down in a beautiful place.

Once you start, you get used to using nice things very quickly. I hardly broke a sweat when I started my 2nd gorgeous notebook this year. I chose one to match my gorgeous planner

The other weekend my husband finished his church notebook.

So he asks me, “do you have a notebook I can use?” Of course this is the House of Notebooks so I have stacks (after seeing the selection, he told me I have a sickness ) None of them was quite right so I said (about the blue one in the picture), “what about this one?”

And he went through the exact same feelings I’d been through!

• how can I write in something so nice?
• I feel like I need to write something more substantial in it.
• and so on…

So I told him, your thoughts are worth writing down and this weekend, he made me proud and broke in that beauty!

Your coaching questions

1. Do you value yourself?
2. Do you find yourself thinking you don’t deserve to use nice things?
3. Which ONE thing can you start doing today to treat yourself better?
   

Something amazing happened in November last year.

A reader contacted me with some questions on how to become a professional organiser.

We exchanged some emails and when I realized she was based in Port Elizabeth, I suggested a laser coaching session since we were going to be there in just a few weeks.

Well, Rae and I met for our session in PE and it was fabulous. I always have lots of ideas so these sessions are really creative and inspiring. Rae is such a compassionate, caring person and is a great listener!

And here’s what Rae sent me in an email afterwards:

I was stuck in a lifestyle rut with my world “just ticking over”. I needed a new challenge but hadn’t been doing anything to make it happen.

Then I contacted you, Marcia, and everything changed. What a vibrant and enthusiastic person you are. You encouraged me to become a professional organiser and even gave me a contact.

I now believe that this will be my year and that it is never too late “to make things happen”.

To a very special person, thank you so much, you have given me back my confidence.

Rae Bradbury

Professional Organiser

If you’re thinking about becoming a professional organiser, this is your year too.

I “fell into” professional organising quite by accident (helping out a friend) but I found that this supported my coaching business very nicely, especially since I’d always coached on time management, goal-setting and other such topics.

You can book some coaching with me (I have a 27-page workbook which I throw in free – oh, probably a R150 value).

If you’re not sure, then book an intro session with me and we can take it from there.

Here is another testimonial…from another PO I helped for 3 months late last year

WOW I loved being held accountable and as a result got so much more done.

Taking my goals and breaking them down into bite sized pieces was super, having your creativity to bounce ideas off of, was phenomenal.

I enjoyed our relaxed phone chats, and in no way did you make me feel as though I’d failed. In fact your encouragement that poured through was soul refreshing and spurred me on to greater things.

Thanx Marcia for your input into my life, I felt as though we connected well and I appreciated your sensitivity and encouragement in my life.

Thanx

Debbie Herholdt
Sunshine Organizer (her website was one of the goals she accomplished while working with me)

Does this sound familiar?

1. I can’t do that.
2. I have no choice.
3. They always do this.
4. I’m too old.
5. I’m too young.
6. I’m too fat.
7. I don’t have experience.

These are some of the negative things we say to ourselves every day.

I heard once that 50 000 messages flash through our minds every single day. Wow!

Now imagine if even just 10% of those messages were negative? That’s a huge mountain of self-doubt to climb!

What if you started changing it around? Say…

1. I can do it. If I get stuck, I can always ask for help.
2. I do have a choice. I will accept responsibility for my life.
3. Yes, I am overweight but from today, I will start doing just ONE thing every week to take care of myself better.

You would be empowered with taking your life back, feel better about yourself and actually get more done so you can move towards your goals.

Every time you catch yourself saying something negative, STOP and rephrase what you just said. Make it a habit and you’ll soon not even need the self-confidence shower curtain

What are some negative things you tell yourself?

Do you prefer taking risks or do you like security?

I am naturally someone who likes being secure about 80% of the time and there’s really only a small part of me who likes taking risks.

But I do know it’s good for me to step out of the box occasionally so now I do so much easier than before.

One of the biggest risks I ever took was putting myself out there by starting a newsletter. I never labelled myself a writer so I thought I had nothing to say. I’ve always been a talker though so eventually I just started writing as if I’m talking to one person. Yes, you

I wrote my first monthly newsletter in July 2002 on my favourite topic (goal-setting), sent it out to 20 of my friends and that’s how the whole thing started!

And from just writing the monthly newsletter, I now write ebooks, ecourses, articles and blogs. All of which would never have happened if I hadn’t taken a risk.

If you’re also not a natural risk-taker like me, start small and build up.

1. write to a blogger and offer to guest post
2. ask for the sale
3. set a big, juicy goal
4. tell your hairdresser that no, you don’t want that hair cut
5. volunteer to do something difficult for you (like make a presentation)
6. schedule a teleseminar, announce it and then do the preparation
7. be honest about what you want and don’t want with your friends and family

Are you a natural risk-taker? What other things can you do to step out?

I heard a great example linking goals and cooking that I thought I should share with you.

When you follow a recipe, you have…

1. specific ingredients (flour, eggs, milk, etc)
2. a sequence of events (first cream butter and sugar, then add flour)
3. a time line (bake for 25 minutes)

You know if you follow those directions perfectly, you are guaranteed success.

Goals are exactly the same.

If you add all the correct ingredients (setting SMART goals, writing it down, etc), follow the correct sequence of events (set the goals before making the plan) and set a deadline (by 31 Dec), you are guaranteed success.

When I do talks on goals and goal-setting, I like to say, “the principles always work if you work the principles”.

And that’s exactly right!

What kind of success have you had with goal-getting? And which goals would you really like to achieve before the end of 2009?