Wise Ways Recipe for Life
If your life is moving too slowly for you, try this. Let this method trigger a few ideas that you may be missing. Then watch what happens!
I was teaching one of my public workshops on confident conversation skills and this little ’formula’ emerged. I’m big on catchy phrases or acronyms that are uncomplicated, inspirational and easy to remember.
Here it is: CREATE, INITIATE, CULTIVATE, DEDICATE and CELEBRATE. Sounds obvious? Read on.
Create
Have you caught yourself saying you’ll do something ‘when an opportunity comes up’? You can help success along by creating your own life opportunities. How? There are two ways I use.
Behind every door stands a person. Get to know people in the right field, with interests in common. Go to networking functions, join meet-up groups and clubs. Get out there. Volunteer. If they don’t have the answer they may well know someone else who does.
You do all this already? Hmn. Maybe you can expand your search.
Looking for the right people (and new friends) is a bit like shopping for shoes. You need to look in many different shops, try them on, compare the value with other choices and only then do you select those you want to keep.
Spotting the life Opportunity Gap.
Opportunities also come from research. I always check what everyone else is doing, but more importantly, I look at what everyone else is NOT doing. I look for gaps that I might be able to fill in some way.
There’s no room here for me to tell you my professional history, but I’ve been a huge success in Melbourne. How? By looking for needs that no one else was filling. So I created one opportunity after the other. I was the first in a number of fields.
The point is the opportunity emerged out of a gap—Find a need you can fill. If you’re looking for a life, career or job change, research companies that interest you and check what they are NOT doing. And should be.
Many companies will create a position for a person who can pitch an interesting proposal. Have you heard of being an Intrapreneur? Check it out. This could be you.
The second step of this method is:
Initiate
Don’t wait for someone else to make a move. You be the one to initiate that social outing and introduce people to new contacts.
Years ago, I attended a song-writing class attended by some 20 people over ten weeks. At the end, I approached a handful to suggest we continue to meet, to inspire one another. After 18 years, four of us still meet at my house monthly. It’s enormous fun, and very helpful, as we have complementary skills. We’re all glad I took the initiative.
Next:
Cultivate
As you need to cultivate life in a garden, fertilise the ground, get rid of weeds and bugs and shape the plants, so you need to cultivate your friendships and business contacts.
I know people who tell me they only catch up with their friends maybe once every six months. Really? Is that a friendship or just an acquaintance?
If we apply the concept of cultivating to other aspects of life, it means cultivating your professional experience, or learning new skills to keep growing.
Next:
Dedicate
We all know we need to dedicate blocks of time to important activities.
We all know how hard it can be to find those blocks of time.
The trick to keeping conflicting priorities moving forward is to CREATE small chunks of time: 5 or 15-minute opportunities are easier to find than a whole afternoon. It’s amazing what you can accomplish 5 minutes at a time.
Break down your projects to tiny chunks; a telephone call, one email, a few pages of a book, one thing to put away. You can find 5 minutes, even to practise your mindfulness meditation.
How do you think busy people get things done…5 minutes at a time.
Commit. Turn up for your own life.
And finally:
Celebrate
Make sure you keep a record in your journal of your progress. Keep encouraging yourself by acknowledging every step you have taken, however small.
Professionally, it’s vital that you keep a record of your achievements before you forget them.
Celebrate not only the end result, but progress you make along the way.
Celebrate by buying yourself a present, or joining friends for a celebratory dinner. Enjoy your friends. Enjoy your successes. Most of all, enjoy your life.
Life is a journey and it should be enjoyed as much as any other sort of travel.
Imagine how you would feel if you were able to create your own recipe for an enjoyable life. Interested? If so, contact me directly to arrange a convenient appointment time.
I’d love to know what you think of what I’ve said here.
You can give me your feedback, ask a question by email or post a comment below.
If you or someone you know would like a personal consultation, please call +61 439 969 081.
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