Choice and Change

Choice & Change

“Change almost never fails because it’s too early. It almost always fails because it’s too late.”

Seth Godin

 

Choice and Change
Here is the audio version of this post. Background music (snoring) compliments of Zen Louis Kovner. Thanks so much for listening.

I work with small business owners every day, myself included, and one of the themes that runs through nearly all I work with is the challenge of making the choice to make a change. Whether it be a change in systems, strategy, people, resources, planning, whatever. Sounds like a simple theory, but not so simple to commit to and ultimately execute.

One of my favorite Seth Godin quotes is… “You don’t run a punch press or haul iron ore. Your job is to make decisions.”

As a small business, whether it be one person or 10, in order to create awesome and achieve our dreams, we have to get really comfortable with making decisions. And that begins with a choice to do so in order to get the change we are seeking.

We are so good at over complicating things. But it really is as simple as making a choice. If we want to change the outcome of our efforts, we have to look objectively at what choices we are making, every single day.

There is so much freedom that comes when we accept the fact that we have a choice. It also totally freaks people out because when we accept that, all the responsibility for the outcome comes back to us. Ugh!

Here are a few examples I experience on a daily basis, do any of these sound familiar?

  1. You want to increase referrals and you are a service business? Create a referral program and embrace referral platforms such as YELP.

  2. You want to increase holiday traffic and reservations, try an inbox marketing campaign like my buddy Benjamin Jay did at the Hair Loft ltd (check out our Facebook chat about it from November 11th)

  3. You want to have a happy, healthy culture? Get rid of the bullies and tantrum throwers.

  4. You want to get out from the day-to-day and begin to work on your business vs. in your business? Begin making the decisions today that will allow you to transition from worker to leader.

  5. You want to build relevant social platforms? Wake up a half hour earlier, stay up a half hour later, or find someone in your world who is passionate about it and create meaningful content, and share it.

  6. You want more time to do the things you love? Make time. It’s a choice.

So I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. We all have the power to make choices. The key is in making the decision to choose the action that will ultimately get us to the result and change. I see it every day. It’s not easy, but it can completely change the way you lead and manage your business, and in the end, help you create more awesome.

(shared with LOVE from Nina)

The Gratitude List

GRATITUDE: The Best Medicine

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

Marcel Proust

 

The Gratitude List

Here is the audio version of this post. Snoring compliments of Zen Louis Kovner. Thank you so much for listening. I am grateful.

In this month of giving thanks, many of us get inspired to focus on gratitude which is awesome. What is even more awesome is when we learn to bring gratitude into our every day lives. I know I write often about this topic, because it literally saved my life, so yes, I’m a little passionate about it.

Just like any habit or practice, we first have to really want it and see value in it. For me, the incentive was to live. For you, it may be different. No matter the reason, I can tell you that gratitude can be the best medicine.

So how can we incorporate gratitude 365 days a year? My solution is a gratitude list. A simple mental or physical exercise that allows my mind to focus on all the gifts that I have. Whether you make a mental list or keep a journal, try to make one list a day. Try it for a week, then a few weeks, then a month, then 2 months, next thing you know you are in the habit of finding something to be grateful for, even in the darkest of days.

Here are some of my favorite quotes on gratitude. The last one, by Melody Beattie, is tattooed on my left arm, which gives me a daily reminder of why I chose life.


“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”

Epicurus

 


 

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”

Meister Eckhart

 


 

“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.”

John F. Kennedy

 


 

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”

 

Thornton Wilder

 


 

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”

William Arthur Ward

 


 

“Gratitude is the memory of the heart.”

Jean Baptiste Massieu


“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

 

Melody Beattie


Let’s celebrate giving thanks this month, but come December, how about we keep that gratitude going, next thing you know, it will become a way of life. A life worth living and seeing in a whole new way. What are some of your favorite ways to get into gratitude? You can share in the comments below. I’m listening.

(shared with LOVE + GRATITUDE from Nina)