What is Your Daily Agenda | Part 2

A couple weeks ago we talked about the book, "Today Matters" by John C. Maxwell. The key to success is found in your daily agenda. In other words, what are your daily priorities? Are you running your day or is your day running you? 

I wanted to share my musts for each day. I literally create an agenda sheet and print a new one each week. It's my version of checking off my goals. Am I the only one who loves doing that? I thoroughly enjoyed having a curriculum in school or when I was off to a sports or bible camp. I found that I struggled with consistency once I became an entrepreneur. It's not that I didn't work. I actually worked day and night. So much so that I lost balance and family time, among other areas, suffered. 

Each day I must: 

• have a daily quiet time/devotional
• post to my own social media sites
• work out
• read or watch an educational video
• write
• plan (blogs, podcasts, mastermind topics, social media, etc...)
• laundry-- ha!  "It's easier to keep up than catch up"

In addition to my daily musts, I have weekly goals and/or restrictions as well as monthly tasks. Oh, and like most of you, I have an ongoing to-do list that is dependent upon upcoming events, speaking engagements, etc... I once was told that I needed to focus on the behaviors that lead to results rather than the results themselves. It's a practice. It's continuous. And it works.

P.S. what I mean by restrictions is I set boundaries for my schedule. Okay, an example would be that I only allow myself to have two one-on-one meetings per week. I know if I go beyond that, the consistency of my daily routine will suffer and other important tasks or goals may not be met. I pre-plan open spots each week for those times when someone wants to get together for coffee. You dig?

Please reach out with yours or share on my Facebook page so we can high five one another and hold each other accountable :)

What is Your Daily Agenda | Part 1

The book "Today Matters" by John C. Maxwell talks about our misunderstanding of success. It's not what we think it is. It's not what I thought it was...

He writes, "The secret of your success is determined by our daily agenda. If you make a few key decisions and then manage them well in your daily agenda, you will succeed." 

Besides reading this awesome book, I recommend joining me in the following exercise. What are the main decisions you need to make in the following categories? Once you've made these decisions for your life, you will need the discipline in managing them. And remember, discipline means giving up the good, and the better, for the best! 

1. Attitude: Choose and display the right attitudes daily
2. Priorities: Determine and act on important priorities daily
3. Health: Know and follow healthy guidelines daily
4. Family: Communicate with and care for family daily
5. Thinking: Practice and develop good thinking daily
6. Commitment: Make and keep proper commitments daily
7. Finances: Make and properly manage dollars daily
8. Faith: Deepen and live out my faith daily
9. Relationships: Initiate and invest in solid relationships daily
10. Generosity: Plan for and model generosity daily
11. Values: Embrace and practice good values daily
12. Growth: Seek and experience improvements daily

If you're open to it, I'd love for you to share with me on social what you've decided on in these categories for your life!

You Were Born for This

Acknowledging and Accepting Your Challenges

I know that I’m speaking to the salon owners, and hair and beauty professionals out there. And I get that we wake up many days wondering what we were thinking! Sometimes our profession can seem like a thankless job. But it could also be the same with parenting, or any role we’re in. Some days we may just wonder what the heck made us decide to put ourselves in this position.

But I believe that you were born for this. I first heard this saying when my husband and I went on a “Love like you mean it” cruise. It’s a marriage cruise put on by an organization called Family Life. Their mission was not only to have couples walk side by side with one another, but also to have them grow closer to the Lord. This cruise was an amazing opportunity for us, and I can’t say enough about how great it was for our relationship with each other, and for our walk with Jesus. I’m very thankful for that opportunity. While there, I heard one of the Pastors onstage say, “Marriage is a mission you were born for. When you become married, you’re taking on a role with your partner, and you were born for that role.”

Think about it like being a fireman. Would a fireman resent having to put out fires? Sometimes we do resent the obstacles we need to go through. But we still jump over, climb under, get through that obstacle and emerge better, stronger, wiser, and more resilient.

Persevere to Find Greatness

Nothing, in my opinion, is not meant to be. And I know that it’s challenging when you have these obstacles and you wonder if it could get any worse. But I promise that if you persevere, you’ll realize (and maybe not anytime soon, but eventually!) that you needed to experience that hurt, pain, or trial, so that you would be prepared for future challenges.

So stay positive in the midst of the struggle. Keep your eye on the greater prize and the greater vision. Remember why you began this adventure in the first place. When you remember why you started on this path for your life, you can endure any challenge.

In this line of work, it’s never because we have to. It’s because we get to. All storms eventually die down, and the sun comes back up.

You were born for this. Try to remind yourself of that regularly. There is a bigger, greater, deeper purpose, and you are exactly where you’re supposed to be. And if you persevere and endure, you will be successful. You may not see glimmers of hope for six months, or a year. You may not see how this will work or might not believe that it’s true. But just don’t give up.

I can even get a little biblical with this topic. I believe the devil tries to bring us down. And there are also a lot of naysayers and negativity out there. “See? You couldn’t do it, I knew you couldn’t do it.”

And even in our own minds, there can be plenty of negative self-talk. But think about it this way…You choose a role, just like a fireman does. You have to show up for hard, scary tasks sometimes.  But you’re prepared to put out the fire, because that’s your role. You were born for this. Don’t give up.

Your Deepest Weakness is Revealed

I recently heard Pastor Craig Groeschel, who produces a leadership podcast and is the pastor of LifeChurch.tv, say, “The place where you issue your harshest judgments often reveals your deepest weakness.”

When I heard this, it felt like a dart straight to my heart.

This quote got me, and it stuck with me. I’m going to be very transparent about this. Because I thought about that quote, and asked myself, “Where am I highly critical?”

Being critical is a pride issue. And I can tell you, it’s a big problem for me. My ego gets in the way of many things, and it’s something I need to work on. I want to give it up, so that it’s not a barrier between me and relationships with fantastic people.

One of the areas where I’m a huge critic is with my family and their nutritional choices. I believe deep down that the choices they’re making are irresponsible. They food they eat, isn’t technically food. If you look at any food item that you’re purchasing, beneath the nutritional label is always the list of ingredients. If you’re buying whole, fresh food, there’s only one ingredient and you’re looking at it. But if you’re not buying fresh food, then you have to look at those ingredients! And if a lot of them are completely unknown to you or you can’t even pronounce them, that’s because it’s not real food! So we’re putting these things into our bodies, and I believe that it’s poisoning us a little bit at a time, over and over.

And I understand that struggle; it can be addicting. And some of you may know my personal story, some may not. But I have struggled with food addiction from the age of five, and this is where that stems from.

So my reaction to my family, and their choices, and the way I treat them is very critical, condescending, and shaming.

When I heard Groeschel’s quote, I immediately knew that this was my personal issue. Because when you physically point a finger at someone, you have one of your fingers facing their direction, but you have three other fingers pointed straight back at you. And I used to be a food addict. It was my issue first, and that’s why I’m so hard on my family.

And at times, I still struggle with relapses. I now say that I’m in remission from food addiction, but there are times when I relapse. That struggle is real for me, and the relationship I have with food is sometimes very unhealthy. It’s like being in love with someone who pretends to love you back, but always hurts you.

The same goes for food and me. Depending on the food choices I make, I think that it loves me and tastes and feels so good, but then I come down from the food high and realize that the negative effects from that were just awful. So I project my own issues with food onto my family and loved ones.

But really, you can’t change others. You can’t beat other people down and just expect them to have magic epiphany moments. You don’t have that kind of power. You won’t win anyone over that way. But loving them is one way to show them that in the midst of their struggles and choices that you may not agree with, you are still there to love them and be a resource for them. And after this realization, I posted this on Facebook: “As social media as my witness, I will no longer shame, torture, ridicule or condemn my family for the food choices they make.”

So my tip to you is to sit down and think about the places where you issue your harshest judgments, and what that reveals about places of weakness for you. Then take ownership, responsibility and accountability for those weak spots and work towards improving yourself and your relationships. Together, we will consistently grow and develop! 

Identify Your Purpose

It has been many years in the making for me to really feel like I can identify my life’s purpose. I feel like many of us find ourselves in a hamster wheel, just doing the same things every day, on and on and on. And then there’s this lack of fulfillment inside of us.

Recently, I came across some advanced education, and I heard some very profound questions that really impressed me. I sat down and wrote out the answers to these questions, and it brought such clarity to me. So I want to offer them to you today. I hope that they’ll help you find clarity as well.

What brings you energy?

What is it that energizes you?

Think about that. You do a lot of things every day and have a lot of commitments. And some of those things will drain you! And you might start to think, “Well I slept great last night, but after doing this for twenty minutes, I feel like I’ve been here for five hours!”

And part of this is realizing what you need to give up. But, we’re going to focus on identifying your purpose; what gives you energy?

For me, it’s people! Being a part of an event with people, leading people. Music—singing and dancing—also brings me energy. Fitness gives me a ton of energy. Education—when I’m learning or teaching—also brings me energy. When I’m organizing or planning new projects, I have a ton of energy.

So, take some time to think about it, and discover what that is for you. 

What is important to you?

Relationships are huge for me. My personal relationships with Jesus Christ, family, employees, colleagues, friends, my husband, my church. Health and fitness is also important to me; building muscle strength, clean eating, flexibility, dancing. I also believe that having a flexible lifestyle is important to me. It gives me the opportunity to meet new people, attend educational events, and travel.

What else is important to you?

What tasks, activities and environments are you 100% present for?

What activities or tasks that you’re doing are you 100% present for? Once you take a few minutes to brainstorm some of those, I believe that you, like me, will find some common ground. You’re going to start noticing that on each of these lists, there are a lot of similarities.

I’m also going to throw one more question in as a bonus.

What do people reach out to you for?

For me, it’s a lot of business advice, or people asking, “How would you handle this situation?”

What is that for you? Maybe you haven’t been paying attention to that, but when people start reaching out to you, consider jotting it down. And over the course of the next month or two you’re going to start to see some similarities.

Here’s one last neat thing to think about: I believe that I’m made up by these specific talents and gifts, and I ask myself: How can I take who I am and serve the world?

Is it time for you to ask yourself the same thing? Is it time you identify your purpose?