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Jun 15 2017

You deserve a break!

The first five months of 2017 flew by. I was waist (or was it neck?) deep in an event I was planning. If you’ve ever been totally immersed in a project, you know that sleep, rest and relaxation are rare luxuries if not very distant memories.

The thing that we sometimes forget is that we can only do this for so long. The body is going to let you know in some way that it requires rest, even if you don’t think you do. If we take the time to be good to ourselves, we realize that we’re more focused and productive.

When we push ourselves too far, mistakes start to happen and deadlines get missed. The project or goal that was once an exciting, rewarding endeavor has now become a burden. The scary thing about this is that if you forget why you started working on this project in the first place, it can be very tempting to quit.

Taking the time to recharge is the best thing that you can do for yourself, your family and your goals. When we’re well rested our brain functions better and we have more energy. If you add physical activity and a healthy diet, you are really good to go. Throw in a positive daily routine to keep you focused and grounded and you’re unstoppable!

If you want to give your all to the things that matter to you, be that in your personal life, or in your business, you have to make time to give that to yourself as well. Schedule that time for yourself in a way that works for you and your needs. Some will do something daily; others weekly and some with treat themselves every month.

What you do to recharge and how often you do it isn’t as important as actually doing it! Remember that you cannot give from an empty cup. When I first heard that phrase, I thought it was a nice cliché, and now I get it. If you don’t take the time for self-care you will run out of fuel. When that happens, you won’t be any good to anyone including yourself. Do yourself and everyone you care about a favour and schedule a break today!

Sandra Dawes is a certified life coach specializing in helping women who feel unfulfilled with their 9-5 follow their dreams and pursue their passions. She holds an Honours BA, an MBA as well as a certificate in Dispute Resolution. She has completed her first book,Embrace Your Destiny: 12 Steps to Living the Life You Deserve!

Connect:

www.embraceyourdestiny.ca

www.facebook.com/embraceyourdestiny

www.facebook.com/embraceyourdestinythebook

www.twitter.com/sandradawes

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Sandra Dawes · Tagged: planning, productive, Sandra Dawes

Dec 27 2014

Before you make your resolutions and set your goals, DO THIS first!

Uchechi

So, 2014 is about to come to a close, and I’m sure many of you have been thinking about resolutions you want to set in the New Year. I’m one for planning and setting goals, but late last year, I discovered something that I thought was just genius and I wanted to share it with you today. It may be the ticket that actually guarantees that you strive for the right goals; ones that you will actually enjoy pursuing.

So, what is this new method I’m talking about? Well, it’s from one of my mentors, Danielle Laporte, author of The Desire Map. The Desire Map’s core concept is that, because we set a goal in order to feel a certain way, we need to start from there (the feeling place). She says, “You’re not chasing the goal itself; you’re actually chasing the feeling that you hope achieving that goal will give you.” She calls these feelings, your core desired feeling. When we take this approach, we then set our goals based on how we want to feel. If you take a look at past goals you’ve set for yourself and your business, if asked, “why did you want it”, it really boils down to a feeling. Let’s take a goal to get 10 new clients for your business. It really isn’t just about the 10 new clients, but more about how getting those new clients will make you feel: the desire to reach more people with your product or service, feel accomplished, productive, and of service. Those are the goals you’re really going after, not just the number of clients.

Let’s take another example of a resolution many people have which is to lose weight, say 20lbs. It really isn’t just about the number 20, but really about how losing 20lbs would make you feel: the desire to feel fit, strong, healthy, confident and sexy. So, before you set your resolutions and goals this year, it is critical to establish your core desire feelings first!

Next year, my biggest focus is on my core desire feelings. My specific tangible goals, which are important to have, is now based on my core desired feeling not the other way around. So many times, we subscribe to society’s definition of success and achievement. We then strive to reach it, even though reaching it does not evoke feeling of success for us! You need to understand what success feels like for you, and then align your goals to those feelings. If we take the example of losing 20lbs, and focused on the core desire feelings of being strong, fit, confident and sexy, you can set goals to strength train and work out 3-5x/week, because that’s what it will take to feel that way versus just having a goal to lose 20lbs. Even buying that cute little black dress that hugs all the right places will give you the same feeling! How great is that?!

Another great thing about this is that it allows you to evaluate opportunities that come up through the year. So many times we lose focus on our goals or have the “shiny object” syndrome. However, if you have something to compare the opportunities against, it makes it much easier to decide what is best for you. You are then able to make decisions that are aligned to your values and missions.

When you’re clear on your core desired feelings, you become an “intentional creator” of your life as Danielle puts it. As we all know, we start of the year with great intentions. However, along the way, we may hit some roadblocks. When we focus on our core desires, we are able to recognize when we’re not on it. We can’t control what happens, but we can control our reaction and experience of what happens. Focusing on your core desires allows you in those moments to take back your control and ask yourself; “what can I do to generate my core desire feelings”. This allows you to not be a victim to your circumstances.

Check out my two of my favourite gals in this video (Marie Forleo and Danielle Laporte) talking about the steps to match your goals to your core desired feelings here.

So when setting your goals this year, be clear on why you’re setting your goals and look to match them to your soul’s desires.

Uchechi Ezurike-Bosse is a Business & Lifestyle Strategist, Speaker and Writer, but most importantly, a proud Mother and Wife. Uchechi is Founder of My Empowered Living (http://www.myempoweredliving.com) a website aimed at helping women shift their mindset and live their passion! Whether it’s starting and building their dream business, or helping them create a lifestyle they crave, Uchechi is the modern woman’s secret to success! Visit Uchechi at www.myempoweredliving.com to get her FREE online video training series The 4 Keys to your Business Success! This free 4-day business training reveals her 4 key strategies needed to build a profitable and successful business, and how to put them to work in your business!

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Uchechi Ezurike-Bosse · Tagged: 2014, accomplished, business development, Canadian Small Business Women, clients, core desire feelings, Danielle Laporte, desire, desired feeling, entrepreneur, feeling, goal setting, goals, intentional creator, Marie Forleo, missions, My Empowered Living, new year, productive, pursuing, resolution, service, setting goals, shiny object, small business development, small business owners, Speaker, The Desire Map, Uchechi Ezurike-Bosse

Dec 15 2014

The year in review…

sandra

Several years ago I started the New Year’s Eve ritual of celebrating my accomplishments. I find it’s a great way to end the year off on a positive note and carry over that positivity into the New Year. Last year, in addition to celebrating my accomplishments and setting my intentions for the upcoming year, I also took stock of the habits that contributed to my success, and those that kept me from making the year an even more productive and successful one.

We’ve all heard it said that the definition of insanity is doing the same things and expecting different results. It was with this in mind that I started to take a look at the habits that served me and those that didn’t. It was especially important for me to review these things at the end of last year, since the second half of the year was the start of my journey as a full-time entrepreneur.

Along with reviewing our habits, the end of the year is also a great time to consider what worked and what didn’t, both personally and in your business. We want to continue to do the things that worked, yet we shouldn’t hesitate to question whether or not we could do those things even better, more effectively. We also need to review the things that didn’t work and figure out why. Not to beat ourselves up about our failures, but to learn from them, and figure out what we need to do next time so that we don’t end up with the same results.

Obviously we don’t have to wait until the end of the year to do these things, but the New Year is a great time for new beginnings. For many of us it’s also the start of a new fiscal year, so making changes and improvements in January will allow you to measure your growth year over year as you continue to build and grow your business.

Whether 2014 was an awesome year or just so-so, there is always room for improvement. Taking stock of the current year provides you with the opportunity to celebrate the progress you’ve made and tweak the plan to make the upcoming year an even better one. It’s about a constant evolution. If you had a great year, the next one can be even better. If you didn’t achieve as much as you wanted to do this year, know that there’s always room for improvement, it’s just a matter of retooling the strategy and your mental game.

Make a commitment to learn a new skill, release the habits (and anything else) that doesn’t serve you and develop the habits that are helping you get closer to your goals! If we want to achieve the best we can in our respective businesses, we have to be at our best. Take the time to evaluate the game plan and make the changes necessary to knock it out the park in the New Year!

May the New year be one of great health, peace and abundance!

Sandra Dawes is a certified life coach specializing in helping women who feel unfulfilled with their 9-5 follow their dreams and pursue their passions. She holds an Honours BA, an MBA as well as a certificate in Dispute Resolution.She has completed her first book,Embrace Your Destiny: 12 Steps to Living the Life You Deserve!
Connect:
www.embraceyourdestiny.ca
www.facebook.com/embraceyourdestiny
www.facebook.com/embraceyourdestinythebook
www.twitter.com/sandradawes

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Sandra Dawes · Tagged: Accomplishments, achieve, business, business development, Business Woman, Canadian Small Business Women, coaching, commitment, current year, Embrace Your Destiny, end of year, entrepreneur, goal, insanity, new year, New Year's Eve, positive, productive, review, Sandra Dawes, successful, year, year in review

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