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Does your Business Fulfill Your Lifestyle Goals?
The last few weeks something has been bugging me. I realised that I have forgotten why I am in business! This is not good when I am resigned to only clearing some of my mounting To Do list each day. This blog is all about recapturing your dreams and having it work for you now. I cover the “doing stuff ostrich dunk”, getting back to basics and how to have your business work for your goals.
The Doing Stuff Ostrich Dunk
Why did you start your business? Was it to have lots of freedom to travel; follow your passions; spend more time with the family; set yourself up financially?
When you start your business the vision carries you through thick and thin. The excited feelings of the possible success, (fame?) and fortune is enough to make some pretty amazing things happen! The problem is that unless these dreams are fed by our success we start to forget them in the day to day grind.
If you have been at it a while you may have even forgotten what those dreams are. We get so bogged down in all the things to do (yes it can be endless!) that we go into autopilot and do stuff and do stuff with our proverbial ostrich heads in the sand.
Unless kept in check a business will start to absorb all of your time and thought and in the end actually detract from your original goals. So have a look and see if you are avoiding what you want to achieve from your business in terms of lifestyle.
Getting Back to Basics
Have a think about what you want to achieve with your business. When I ask people what they would do if they didn’t need the money I generally get a variation of these three answers, more often than not, all three.
- I want more time to spend with family/friends/pursuing passions
- I want to travel more
- I want to make a difference in the world
This certainly rings true for me, and what I noticed was that although these were the things I really wanted, I would put them off so that I could make my businesses bigger and better and faster.
Have your business work for your goals
So today I am looking at having those goals fulfilled NOW! How can you use your business as a tool to have your lifestyle goals fulfilled? It’s probably easier than you think. Once you intend to make your business serve your goals, you will find ways that never occurred to you before.
For example, I thought that once my business was making squillions of dollars I could use the money to make a difference in the world. But really I can help to make a difference now. It’s just a lot smaller than my original goal (with the squillions) but it makes a difference none the less. Next week I will produce a page on the website that shares with our readers some inspiring organisations that are doing cool things in the world. Voila! A baby step taken towards things that matter to me.
What can you do so that your business can serve some of your goals now? Start somewhere even if it is small, and get back some of that start up excitement!
Lifestyle Goals as Business Goals
It can be easy to forget why we went into business when we get bogged down with everything there is to learn and do. Regardless of the stage your business is in it is important to keep your lifestyle goals in mind, as if you know what your goals are, you can eliminate actions that don’t fulfil your goals. Have your business directed to fulfil your goals and you may be surprised at how much more achievable your dream lifestyle really is.
Happy Hunting!
Serena “Social” Star
Serena is a business coach, radio presenter and one half of the Grassroots team currently travelling through South America as an ambassador for World Vision. She has a passion for successful websites, low maintenance income and blogging and her book How to Retire in 12 Months is in stores now.
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that’s an article after my own heart, well said! we all get caught up in busyness and self-importance and loose sight of what it is that we really want to do. it is about integrating your values and ideals/dreams with the day-to-day requirements of your business and doing the right things, in the right way for example trying to reduce your ecological footprint of your business while you are building it and treating people fairly you are dealing with so you are making a difference with the way you operate as well as with your products.
I have made an effort to remember that I work for myself so that I can choose when I have time off, take my granddaughter out when it suits me, or wander through the clothing shops.
I have worked very hard on some software, but today my son and I walked out of the house and drove into town, had a coffee, then I looked in the clothing shop while he bought himself some CDs.
I am now home, refreshed and back at work.
My granddaughter and I went away for a few days over the school break and had a lovely time. I always find I get refreshed, get new ideas and come back ready to get back into my work.
Keep up the good work Serena.
Mary
[...] I have a feeling that I am not alone in this! I wrote a blog on Grassroots about this called does your business fulfil your lifestyle goals and a few people have spoken to me about this since. So I will declare it here lest I forget [...]