Last day of June - keep your eyes on your prize..

As July approaches, we are faced with the reality that the year is half way through – any way you slice it, we are onto our third quarter.

Are you prepared?

Have you been following your personal plan?

We need to plan every 3months. We are following a year plan. We have 5-10year focuses.

We all need to break down ourselves onto paper and create a tangible map. Where am I going and how am I going to get there? Categorize into sections – physical, emotional, personal, spiritual and intellectual. Each piece or sphere needs an inventory, a focus and a progressive direction…the what, why and how of what’s next.

Balance is key, but we all know that strict discipline on that specific focus will bring success. We are the only thing holding ourselves back. Let go and watch your success – it is as easy as that. Do you need examples? Let us know.

But really, it’s all about setting oneself for success. I’d like to share some great advise I received from a teammate…I think you will take something from it..

In the theme of personal plans being completed and some great 1on1's last week with our team, I want to provide some insight & advice on how to set yourself up for success during this stage in business (starting your career) and in your life (relatively new relationships, just finished school, etc). *And by no means do I feel there is a right OR wrong way – but the advice that I have received has been VERY helpful to help me get to where I am now, in terms of balance & focus on different facets of your life which for all intensive purposes are:

1. career focus – more responsibility leading to more income

2. relationship focus – girlfriend / boyfriend

3. personal focus – growth / hobbies & interests / next stage of life (house etc)

4. family focus – kids / mom / dad / brother / sister / in laws & extended.

Now, there is not ‘a right way’ to balance these areas, but what you have to understand is if you were invested equally across all 4 facets you would have only 25% of your focus in each.

• would you be successful finishing your 1st marathon (in the time you wanted) if you subscribed to 25% of a training program?


• would you be successful in purchasing the car you wanted if you went to the lot and put down 25% of the purchase price?


• would you be successful attaining a certification by answering 25% of the questions asked on the test?


• the obvious answer is no.

So the questions are

1. why do we keep kidding ourselves into believing we are capable at managing a career, relationship, family and personal at the same time (at such a high level)?

2. what and how do we plan on a) deciding which facets get the attention, b) for how long and c) communicating that to dependants in our respective areas?

3. why do we not adjust our expectation and goals in the event we wish to keep the results, that stem from the focus in certain areas of our life?

As it stands to reason.

• we must get ourselves established (in one aspect).


• ‘established’ comes with personal & financial stability garnered through time in a career


• the more we are established, the more confident we & others feel about us


• this, in turn enables us to focus more time to focus on things like a healthy relationship, personal and family responsibilities and bring it back to balance. (reminder, most of us have spent 20 + years heavily invested in our families – they are not going to drop off the face of the earth in 5 years).

Obviously

• the faster this happens – the better


• however most people are not willing to scale back x to maximize y. We think we can do it at the same time.


• I’ve got tangible news for those people. They are wrong and as unfortunate as it is to have to say – “at this time in my career OR family life OR personal situation OR relationship, that doesn’t work for me” – they try to cling to %’s in each sphere – hence taking them 2 & 3 times as long to arrive at the point they want.


• 2 & 3 times in a 5 year plan is substantial and of course as we see & hear every day, along the way – there’s no guarantee you keep 1-4 when you arrive at said point (that you have not identified)

Personal Example (and this is not a 'look at me'. This a lesson of what it takes and how to move fast)

• End of 2006 – I started at IF. Following EVERY system and listening to those who have been there before me; before long I decided I wanted to make this a career


• Where a lot of people are good at talking and not acting - I put my head down and started going through the roles; events, sales, product.


• Asked to start doing 1on1's, put myself in the position to be fully prepared when the time came. At the gym from 5:30am until often after 8pm (and still do), training a full schedule and staying later to get myself ahead


• Then I took myself through the management partner program - heading out to whiterock on Fridays (my day off at the time) to have Curtis assist me. NOT getting paid; free time, day off - most people chilling at the beach.


• After being here for just over 2 years I started managing; doubled my salary in literally a day; given opportunities I could not imagine when I first started


• trust me - throughout (and still do) I heard it all from everyone (co-workers, friends, family, etc): “you are working too hard / you are too intense / you are going to burn out/you need to get a boyfriend” . In this day and age - people are usually looking to get more while they give less


• I've decided what my focus is for this period of my life; communicated that to everyone around me, and am now doing it. I/we cannot do anything but that. Communicate and act.


• Now I have the opportunity to go to LA and continue pursuing my career goals and collective company goals. And as with everything else; realize there are sacrifices to be made, work to put into making it happen, and then doing it.


• And as the opportunities grow within the company I have put myself in a position to take advantage of WHAT I WANT...and the balance will shift once again...

The reality is:

• When we focus on one thing, it takes the time & energy away from something else. Hence, in order to get further ahead we need to be prepared to make sacrifices.


• I am not saying that there is a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way when it comes to establishing your career, developing your relationship, focusing on yourself (house), and expanding your family – BUT if you can plan do it one by one (instead of all at once), you will be able to provide more focus & energy to that one facet, and at the same time be able to enjoy the process that much more.


• What I am saying is that YOU CANNOT DO IT ALL.


• Decide where you want your focus to be, communicate to all of those affected and then “GO GET IT” in the order of your timeline.


• It just so happens for most of us, we can accomplish many of our goals (travel, customers, friendships etc) all in one job. We are VERY VERY lucky, but it still requires focus and balance to do this.

..the common theme is work hard get rewarded.
Let’s go team!