I know it doesn’t help to stay up later, but I’m doing it anyway. I’ve promised myself I will go after I finish this post.  We’ll see how that turns out.

Interestingly, earlier today-when I was procrastinating on getting started writing web copy for a giveaway event I’m participating in, I found an article in one of those little plug-ins that I have on one of my igoogle pages.

It’s titled The Panacea for Putting Things Off. Some good thoughts, although some of the paragraphs only got skimmed since I had decided to read the whole thing later. Yeah, procrastination is pretty ingrained in me.

I hope you like it whenever you get a chance to read it.

Deborah

http://thinksimplenow.com/productivity/the-panacea-for-putting-things-off/

If you aren’t aware of it, it looks like this…

Poor and middle class people work on the left hand side as an “E” (employee) or an “S” (self-employed).  All of these people sell their time for money.  Because we only have fixed allotment of time our income is also limited.

Rich people live on the right hand side of the quadrant.  ”B” is for business and refers to business owners who leverage their time by utilizing the resources around them including having employees.  

The difference between the ”B” and the “S” is that the self-employed person puts more energy into running things themselves and taking care of the operations part of the business.  A “B” quadrant person sets up systems and hires people to run his businesses.  This frees them up to build more assets.

What if Sam Walton had to be at the store every night closing out the registers?  If so, there would be one small store in Bentonville, AR instead of the mega business it is today.

The last is “I”. This stands for investment.  Rich people are looking for assets – things that bring them money rather than costing them money. Investments are a way to do that. This can include real estate, the stock market, and more. 

Part of rethinking wealth is looking at life in a different way.  If you think opening your own business is the way to freedom, you are right – as long as you run it the right way. 

It all goes back to the old adage “Work smart, not hard” 

 Here’s to your journey,
Deborah

One of the milestones I’ve reached during this time involves a deeper understanding of learning vs. doing and how that has lived itself out in my life.  For those of us who love learning, it can easily supercede getting anything actually done. 

Knowledge is great and necessary, but it can also be our biggest obstacle.  Sometimes we are too smart for our own good. This has been clear in the tax class I’ve been teaching. People tend to miss what they are looking for by overthinking the problem. They end up reading more into things that are actually there. 

In preparing for the exam, I found myself redirecting people to focus their efforts on the task at hand.  They worry about getting the complex issues down. I direct them back to the basic, foundational principles.

In reality, you can’t master the complexities before you get started. You have to get started before you can really figure them out.

The similarities in their efforts and my own thoughts and actions haven’t escaped me.  The reality is that I have more than enough head knowledge to get the show on the road. It’s just that I’m struggling in applying it. 

Some of it is information overload. I’m working through this in a few ways.

• I’m shaving off the unimportant stuff and learning to make priorities. Part of this is developing a sense of what I want and don’t want. I’ve read a lot about goals, mission, and vision statements, but it is still hard for me to get my mind around it. FranklinCovey systems have helped a lot with that.
• I’ve started a mastermind group. That has been invaluable from the get go.  I’m amazed at how it has helped me pinpoint my direction more clearly. Talking it out and getting ideas and feedback are bringing about real change.
• I’ve implemented a brain dump process since thought clutter really holds me back. I’ve had very good success with mindmaps in the past. Lately I’ve found free flow writing does the trick for me. Writing gets info out of my head, organizes it and lets me actually see what’s going on in my noggin. 

Change is a long process, but it is well worth the effort.  Even though I started this blog with a focus on changing how we think, it has become very clear that changing how you act on your thoughts is a bigger part of the process.

Here’s to your journey,
Deborah