This spring and past winter has been a great time of change for a lot of us. I mean look at how some of the economic and social realities are forcing us to change and adapt.
Our systems are changing or on overwhelm. Think of our health care system, or governments, education, the environment…they are taxed to the max and are in need of change.
What I think is happening is that these socioeconomic factors are really getting us to focus on the important things in our lives. We are forced to invest in the areas of our lives that matter most. We must become more careful and intentional about where we spend money. We have to be less frivolous and think more about getting value and a decent return on our investment.
But you know change doesn’t happen without help along the way.
For me 2018 and in 2019 has been a huge year of some personal changes, from having a foot/toe bone infection that took 6 months to heal, to a job loss, due to funding cuts from the local government. They have cut funding to entrepreneur training programs in the Province of Ontario (where I live/work). The entrepreneur Start-Up program I was working on got cut and me with it late last fall.
One change was taking weight off (45 pounds since mid-October of 2018); a second change is reconfiguring my business plan and concepts; and the third change was personally adapting to those socioeconomic conditions that we’re all facing these days.
So as to my weight loss, so far, I am down 45 pounds…thanks to some daily exercise, even with my toe and bone infection. I do my exercise bike every morning with this special protective boot brace. I then do weights as well…I am not blazing a trail, but I do this 6 day a week.
The bottom line is I am diabetic, and my sugars are in the 6 range…I still have 15-17 pounds to goal…I will be in the 5 range then!
My business is starting to take shape too as I am more focused on what it is I need to work on. I am 58 and excited about life!
I will be launching my new book and launching a syndicated podcast. Plus, will continue my coaching/learning business.
But this doesn’t happen alone. I have been surrounded by great people helping me along on my journey.
Now study and look at the picture below…because that’s us sometimes. We are like little kids needing a guiding hand and when times are good, we are the adult…leading the way. We all need the sage or the spiritual warrior who knows the path and can guide us along the way.
We all need help and as entrepreneurs our downfall is that we don’t ask for it. Out of shame maybe? Or God forbid, someone will think we’re weak and not successful. Or sometimes our belief is that no one can do it like we can, and we say, “I will do it myself!”
I say park those stories and get some help. Train your staff to do what you do. Take on the tasks you like in your business and hand the ones you don’t enjoy to someone else. Get the help you need. Ask…ask…ask…as Chicken Soup for the Soul author, Jack Canfield says in his books. Just get the help along the way.
I got coaching help from Dr. Angie Hong from the Discovery Family Health Centre. She counsels me around my weight loss issues and keeps me doing the “Keto-ish” program I am on.
I got a cool idea from author/speaker Hal Elrod about doing the Morning Miracle. The Miracle Morning is a book that encourages you to do a daily ritual of writing a gratitude journal, doing affirmations, reading, prayer/meditation and exercise before 6:30 am!
So, in writing in my gratitude journal, I give thanks to people who help me out each day. It could be a call from a friend to help share a joke or help each other through a challenge we’re facing maybe. It is vital to surround yourself with good supportive people and friends.
Maybe even get a mentor to help you!
As a kid after losing my father when I was 10, I found a mentor in the oddest place!
As an adult I pondered as to who my early mentors were.
Who were they? I wasn’t sure. My first thought was that no one was a mentor. It wasn’t my uncles or those closest to me. But then as I thought about those that made a difference to me growing up, it became apparent that the people I would think would be my mentors weren’t!
However, my cousins, my brother-in-law Jerome and a former (Canadian Football League) CFL football player (Rhome Nixon) were my mentors. You know it’s odd but when you’re not aware life supports you totally.
Sometimes if you expect people to show up they don’t and that clouds your vision, making it hard to see those that do show up and help you along the way. So, you’ve got to lose the expectations you have about and around people and just let life unfold. Look at what you have, rather than what you don’t have.
When you train your brain to look at the positives in your life, you will realize that you are rich with people that can help you through these challenging times.
The other lesson I got in this time in my life (when I was a kid) was that life totally supported me through that difficult time.
I repeat the process now as an adult; I still need help and a supporting cast of friends, colleagues, coaches, doctors and mentors!
I have a coach…Colleen Lindberg and I do a 30-minute call Monday morning at 8 am.
I have friends and colleagues and spiritual advisors like my friend Pastor Malachi Brown; we have meaningful chats about life, work, meaning at least every other week.
I learned as a kid that sometimes the people you think would step up and help aren’t able to. So, it became incumbent on me to surround myself with others who could help me grow up well, even without having my dad alive.
And now back to the point I was making about getting help along the way. I hope you’ve learned some core lessons.
Here is what I urge you to do…it is going to help you immensely, I guarantee it.
1. Ask for help if you need it.
2. Lose your expectations (preconceptions) of others.
3. Trust that the universe is taking care of you at all times.
4. Know that the best people will show up if you allow them to.
5. Have an attitude of gratitude.
6. Realize that you’ve got to get out of the way. Let your negative thoughts, worries and fears vanish and choose positive ones instead!
