A Dose of Inspiration: Just Do It

Sure, it's Nike's tagline, but it's a good one to remember anyway. Just do it.

How many times do you catch yourself daydreaming about the life you want to have? The new "thing" you have to have? The personal achievement that's just out of grasp? The experiences you want to have?

So...what's really stopping you? It's not impossible. Other people are doing and having those things too. Why aren't you? I'll tell you: You have to get past the "thinking" stage and move into the "action" phase. Stop making excuses. You deserve to have those things, so stop selling yourself short. What's in it for you in keeping yourself from it? How much better could your life be if you had that? 

Focus on that. Envision your life with this "thing." Looks good, doesn't it? Take a glance back at your life without it and notice the difference in your feelings between the two. Then, identify what's really stopping you. More than likely, you'll have to push yourself beyond your comfort zone to obtain this "thing," but, whatever it is, you can be assured it'll be worth it.

As someone who is self-employed, I've come to get comfortable with continually stretching my comfort zone, and it's really quite thrilling. Sure, I have times where it catches me off-guard and I wonder what in the world I'm doing, but then it comes back--that daydream--and I remember that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. So I smile.

This post was somehow inspired by my first float from Barton to Carver on the Clackamas River this past weekend. There were SO many other people doing the same thing, that I really got the feeling as if we were all fleeing or evacuating the land. Being on a time restraint made the experience a little stressful instead of relaxing, but the experience of doing it made it worthwhile anyway. I wish I had had a waterproof camera so I could show you how the river and parking lots (and any other open spaces!) looked with such a flood of people there.

Accountability!

Alright here goes...

I am vowing to nix my chronicly-late problem this year, and truly learn to take control of my time and manage it better. There are always roadblocks in overcoming any challenge, and it can be so tough to really grab that challenge by the horns and defeat it. It takes a lot of planning for sure, and prioritizing.

Already, I have promised to share the statictics on my clients and business information from 2009 (keeping everything anonymous, of course), and I will get that accomplished. Turns out it was a bigger task than I anticipated, so it's taking me longer to figure out even HOW to share that information. My tally sheets are so confusing to read, and transfer to computerized versions. Not only am I working on getting 2009 stats up and posted, but also re-creating a format to simplify the process for 2010, and not fall behind in tracking my clients and business information as the new years rolls on.

Realizing the new challenges, I feel confident in being able to share the results of what really was my first full year in business FOR MYSELF by the end of this month. Some of it isn't pretty, but it is all so helpful to help me steer my business/marketing into the right directions this year. For that, it is entirely invaluable.

I hope you will come back to my blog to see how you ranked among my other clients, and how your business has contributed to MY business. And by the way, if you are low on gratitude, I owe each and every one of my clients a tremendous THANK YOU for helping me learn how to grow my business and become a better massage therapist. I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing without YOU. THANK YOU!