Just a quick post today to let you know that Sunday Night Success may disappear for a bit this week.
I am switching the registration of the domain name and switching my hosting services. I have mixed stories: some telling me this is an easy switch with nothing to worry about, other people telling horrible tales of broken links and general chaos. I am hoping the SNS switch will follow the plot line of the former and not the latter stories.
Sticking to what I do well.
Generally when toying around with technology I inevitably make a mistake and mess things up. I actually, for the most part, enjoy learning new tech-tricks and figuring things out for myself. However, more often than not, I miss one little step, or click on one wrong option, and it all goes wrong. Then I spend countless hours trying to troubleshoot my mistake and getting stressed out. I always fix the problem, eventually.
No eventually this time
The plan is to skip the stressed out problem solving step this time and have someone else do it for me. I am going to investigate the world of virtual assistants and see what it will cost me to have an expert help me with the switch. My business is now making money, not a lot, but it is making money, and I think my time can be used better with other business building tasks.
I am intrigued by using a virtual assistant as one of my support environments and this seems like a perfect opportunity to test the waters.
Wish me luck!
Have you ever used a virtual assistant before? Do you have any recommendations for an awesome Wordpress virtual assistant?
Welcome to a new experiment at Sunday Night Success.
I have recently spent a lot of time writing about the idea of shifting perspectives and looking at everything around you as being an environment that has the potential to support or block your success. To help with this perspective shift I thought it would be a good idea to provide a weekly example of something that I consider to be one of my environments, and briefly comment on why I see this environment as being a support or a block.
Let the experiment begin…..
Weekly Environment – 22″ Monitor
Until recently I have been doing all of my writing on my 13″ Macbook, which, for the most part has been a wonderful experience. However, with my recent increase in writing tasks (both my own and my new contract writing work) sitting at my desk and peering down at the 13″ screen was starting to put a strain on both my neck and my eyes.
A quick purchase of a video adapter and a video cable and I attached my Macbook to an old 22″ monitor I had in my office. The positive change to my environment was instant, and my effectiveness as a writer was affected immediately.
No more strained neck or eyes means I can sit and write for longer periods of time, and I now spend more time in the peace and quiet of my office writing instead of sitting on the couch amidst the chaos that only a two year old son can cause.
As an environment my 22″ monitor definitely supports me in being successful.
What is a piece of technology in one of your spaces that is acting as a supportive environment?
Welcome to a new idea here at Sunday Night Success: the weekly TED video.
Ted “is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading” that puts on conferences where thought leaders give talks about “the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world.” Attendance at TED conferences requires an application, not only to speak, but to sit in the audience.
One day I will sit in that audience and listen to these thought leaders live, but until that day (not to mention the day when I give my own TED talk) I have TED.com to fill my mind with amazing ideas and inspiration. I start every weekday with a TED video for inspiration, it is a source of creative energy for me. I would love to share this inspiration and energy with the readers of SNS.
Starting today, and every Friday, you can visit SNS to watch my weekly favourite TED video and see what helps me tick.
When your various environments are functioning correctly they should be supporting you in being successful. A functional environment, when in place, helps make completing your actions and reaching your goals simpler. The environment, by just being there, provides the structure for success and because of this you need to put less energy into the tasks that you are attempting to accomplish.
Example of a functional environment
Marketing websites and marketing newsletters were two of the environments that I leaned on heavily during the summer. These sources of information provided me with a background in marketing I did not have, and with the support I required to move forward. By not having to come up with all of these ideas on my own, I saved energy.
These two environments supported me in being successful.
These two environments were functional.
Dysfunctional Environments
When environments are no longer supportive and no longer saving energy they have become dysfunctional. The problem is that we do not always immediately realize that our environments have become dysfunctional, and end up continuing with environments that are eating up energy and actually hindering success in some way.
Example of a dysfunctional environment
The marketing newsletters that I received over the summer are an excellent example of a dysfunctional environment that I did not identify immediately, and because of this, they ended up taking energy from me on a fairly consistent basis.
During the spring I read every marketing newsletter sent my way. I would eagerly scan through the information and pick out the pieces that I thought would work for what I am doing. I enjoyed reading the newsletters. However, during the summer I began moving the newsletters to my “Marketing” label in gmail without even reading them. I figured these newsletters were still a supportive environment; I would just need to read them later.
I was being delusional.
Flooded inbox
I finally realized my marketing newsletter environment had become dysfunctional after returning from a three-day camping trip with my family. I opened my gmail account to 45 email messages, of which 41 of them were marketing newsletters and four were from actual people that I correspond with.
I realized I would never have the time to properly read all of them, so started moving them over to my “Marketing” label once again. This required thought, which required energy, and none of this energy was moving me forward.
Wasted energy = dysfunctional environment.
Repairing Environments
Once you have identified a dysfunctional environment you will need to alter, eliminate, or replace this environment in order to stop losing energy.
I repaired my marketing environment through elimination. If I opened and read a newsletter it stayed on my list. If I moved it to my “Marketing” label without opening it, I removed myself from the subscription list.
Nice and simple: I don’t read it, I don’t get it anymore.
What is one simple action you could take right now to clean up one of your dysfunctional environments?
This is part two of a post. Check out the first part here: Defeat by wallet
Once I identified my mental block I realized that I needed to change the environment of my wallet so that it would support me in handing out my business cards, feeling confident, and connecting with possible clients.
I needed to buy a new wallet.
The solution: calfskin leather
After much window-shopping, web surfing, and pondering about what makes a wallet supportive I decided on a budget of about $50 and headed to Macy’s to check out some wallets I had seen on a previous trip to Spokane. Then it happened: I made an unexpected visit to Nordstrom before going to Macy’s.
I headed into the men’s department and there they were, all lined up carefully inside of a glass display case: really expensive wallets.
I should have walked away, but I couldn’t, they were calling me, demanding that I come and “just take a look”. No need to commit, just take a few out of the display cases, check out the features, and set them safely back in the case.
No turning back
When I picked up the kmono of London leather bifold wallet I knew it was over. The feel of the calfskin leather in my hand, the bright unique green liner and accents, and the immediately noticeable lack of bulkiness in my pocket all made the decision for me.
I had found my supportive environment. I had found my wallet:
A supportive environment
A simple way of providing support
Now when I reach into my pocket and grab my wallet I feel confident: no more “scrrrrrritttttch” to hold me back. I look forward to taking my wallet out of my pocket, opening it, and handing someone my business card. I feel like I have taken another step towards becoming a professional coach.
The idea of a wallet making that much of a difference may seem crazy, but too often I think we forget to look at the simple physical things in our lives that are either holding us back, or supporting us in moving forward.
It could be the wrong clothes, a bad haircut, an old computer, a broken down car, a malfunctioning printer, the wrong breakfast food, an uncomfortable chair; whatever.
For me it was my wallet.
What simple, overlooked item in your physical environment could be holding you back from experiencing the success you desire?
I have been having a fairly serious business problem lately:
I am in the process of starting up my own professional coaching practice and one of the actions that I knocked of my list early on was getting business cards made. My SNS support group convinced me to get the job done right, so I hired a designer and had unique cards made instead of using a template off the internet.
Totally worth it
I am proud of my business cards. My business cards give me confidence. My business cards make me feel like I am a professional coach and that I am running my own business.
My business cards are a perfect example of a supportive environment that is going to help me be successful.
The problem
Even though my business cards are fabulous they are also completely ineffective in helping me grow my business as a professional coach.
Why?
They are trapped and rarely see the light of day. All of that wonderful confidence is kept out of my reach by an impenetrable barrier that I cannot surpass:
my wallet
Wallet as a mental block
You see I don’t own an adult wallet. I carry around a bulky trifold wallet, the kind with the velcro strip that holds it shut. The kind that makes a horrible “Scrrrriiiiiiiitch” sound when you open it and highlights to everyone around me that I am not playing the game of business seriously.
It is the “Scrrrriiiiiiiitch” that has locked my business cards away from the world.
Not networking
I was recently at an event that provided an excellent opportunity to do some networking. I met an old contact that would have been an excellent candidate for providing me with referrals. We talked and everything was flowing nicely. I reached into my pocket to grab my wallet and offer a business card and that horrible sound echoed in my mind:
“SCRRRRIIIIIIIITCH!!!”
I pulled my hand out of my pocket, the conversation and opportunity ended, and we parted ways.
I was incapable, mentally, of “scritching” open my wallet and offering a business card.
My wallet had, and has become a totally unsupportive environment of my success.
