Can you believe that another year is drawing to a close? Remember when you were a kid, and it was forever before summer vacation arrived? It seems that only yesterday we were both worried about and celebrating the turn of the century and this next year is the last year in the first decade of 2000!

Whoosh! And the time is gone.

For those of you who have worked with me, you know that I am known to harp…yes I’ll admit it, harp on the importance of how you spend your time. Reflect for a moment about what is more important to you than your time here on earth?

What is the most important thing to you?

In my years of coaching I’ve heard people put forth the argument that their children or their mate are the most important thing to them. I understand that feeling. Tom and I are together now for five years. It is very hard for me to imagine my life without him. I’m sure you feel the same way, but I’m married to the nicest guy on the planet!

Which is all the more reason that I need to put him second to my time on this planet. Why? The quality I bring to the time I have here is the key to living my rich full life with him.

I refuse to “beat time” and do things because I have to. I refuse to get into bed at night tired but not feel that I’ve enjoyed my day and made the most of my time.

Ok enough preaching. Here’s the deal. A little planning goes a long way during these busy holidays. If you want to take the best care you can of all those around you and you have terrific holidays, plan your exit from work.

Then plan your re-entry into work.

Simple idea and a sure bet way to enjoy your holiday. How do you do that?

Exit Strategy

Make a list of what must get done before you walk away from your office. Do your best to keep it short and sweet. Put only those things that really must get done on your list (and only those things that you have to do go on your list – delegate where you can).

Prioritize and schedule time in your calendar for each of these items. Don’t work on anything else until these are complete. If you still have office time left, then work on the “B” and “C” things. But get the most important things done first.

Sometimes we can be moving so quickly we let the basics go. Work out of your calendar. Make sure you’ve allotted yourself enough time. Get that “to do” list out of your hands and give everything a time in your calendar. Not only will you get more done…you’ll have some sanity to enjoy all those important people in your life too.

The Re-Entry Strategy

This is really easy to do but most of us don’t do it.

One of the biggest issues I hear after any prolonged holiday is how difficult it is to get back to work. Often it is mid-January (or later) before people are back into full swing. I don’t have a problem with that as long as it is what you planned. Because if you didn’t plan this extra time out of production, you are most likely spending that extra time fretting and feeling guilty about what is not getting done. And typically, the longer you are in this limbo the more difficult it is to get a handle on yourself and get back into work.

Don’t leave to go on vacation until you have booked at least one money making activity in your calendar for the first Monday or Tuesday (at the latest) that you are due back to work. In other words make sure that you have something booked in your calendar that requires you to show up on your first or second day back from vacation.

There is nothing like an important appointment to bring us back to work.

The more you book your calendar right after your vacation with strong money making events the more likely you are to get back into the swing of things right away.

Why not start the year out right living your time rather than just spending it.

Warmly,

Jillian

The news can be a bit scary at the moment. A $700,000 plus bailout (and that’s just the beginning) sprinkled with words like recession and depression. Things can look scary. Stomachs tighten and stress levels soar. What can you do?

Here’s my take. There is no point in my getting all wierded out, because there is little that I can do about it. I can let my elected officials know how I feel (and that’s a good idea). Then I have to let it go. It is, really out of my hands. This doesn’t mean that I ignore what is going on. The contrary, educating myself is important – reading and listening to good news sources. I like National Public Radio because of the variety of views. But stay informed.

However, it makes very little sense that I get my knickers in a twist over something that I can’t do anything about. I have no direct affect here, so after I’ve done all that I can do, the best thing for me to do is move on.

Obviously “moving on” is easier said than done, but that doesn’t let us off the hook to take control over the one thing we have control over - ourselves.

Reflect a moment. Do you make your best decisions under stress? Being emotionally distraught is not when I think my clearest! Being scared gets in the way of my clarity and hoses up my judgment. Not a good combination for decision making.

For those of you who have worked with me you know that I believe Awareness is Curative. What do I mean?

Awareness Is Curative

It means, that as soon as I become aware of an issue I’m having, I am already on my way to fixing the problem. The solution has already started. The trick here is awareness.

This is what happens to me. I’ll be working or playing and realize suddenly that I’m short tempered or feeling stressed out. You know, that knot in your stomach that signals all is not well.

Here’s what I do when that knot shows up in my stomach:

• Take a break immediately and be still for a minute and be conscious of my breath.
• Then I give the emotion I’m feeling a definition. Scared, angry….whatever.
• Then I give myself permission to feel that way. Yup just feel it. Don’t act on it.
• I then listen to the dialog going on in my head. Typically it’s telling me I’ve done something wrong or someone has wronged me.
• If I’ve done something I do what I need to in order to make amends.
• If someone else has done something I check my boundaries to see how I could have prevented myself from being in the situation so I don’t find myself here again.
• Then I go do whatever I’d do if this was not in my way. I ask myself this question, “If I wasn’t ranting and raving inside about the “wrongness” of it all, what would I be doing.” Then I go do it.

Keeping to Your Regular Day is Important

The last point of course is what gets you moving again in the right direction. That sage piece of advice comes from a women I worked with in Alanon. For those of you who don’t recognize that organization, Alanon is a support group for people whose lives have been affected by an alcoholic. When things were crazy it was important for me to remember to keep living. She used to ask me, If this wasn’t happening right now Jillian, what would you be doing? I’d tell her. And she’d say, “Go do it.”

Great advice to keep your life moving in the right direction.

Being stuck in an emotional crucible roots you in disaster. What’s more, most of the time we are rooted in these disasters because we are worrying about what might happen in the future. It’s not happening right now at all.

Is This Your First Disaster?

Here is an easy thing to do to keep yourself moving forward while the politicians determine the new monopoly rules.

Take a quick look around you and ask yourself if everything is OK right now? If it is, then things are great! Why? Because this is the only moment you have. You don’t need to sour it by worrying about something that may happen tomorrow or next week or whenever.

Besides which one of you hasn’t survived some kind of disaster? I know I certainly have. I got an email today from my Real Estate coach, Dave Lindhal. I thought he said it really well.

“When your neighbor looses his or her job it’s a recession. When you loose your job it’s a depression. Even if the rest of the economy looks great.”

If you’re like me, I’ll bet you’ve had times when money was short and it felt like options were too. I have been drop dead broke and thought I had no options. That was when I joined Excel Communications and it was the beginning of one of the best things I ever did for myself.

Often it’s when things seem at their worst that the best arrives. If you’ve get yourself in a knot of dithers you may miss it. Some of you know my story. I nearly missed Excel because I was in such a state of inner turmoil. But my best friend Coach Norine was persistent with me until I came to my senses and took a look. I got more information and low and behold there was a solution to my circumstances.

That’s the trick and the key. Don’t tune out but rather tune in. Keep your business moving forward, persevere and don’t worry about what you can’t change.

Educate yourself – read – listen – ask questions. Work with a mastermind group. Hire a coach. Go to free teleseminars – or pay for them. But keep yourself open to new ideas and new opportunities and solutions will come your way.

“The point of power is always in the present moment.” - Unknown

Warmly,

Jillian

Ahh when we are in the business of helping others to succeed it’s tough to think that the best way for us to be, is selfish. But I think it is. In fact, I think one of the issues many people in network marketing suffer from is not being selfish enough.

I know it sounds strange. Network Marketing is a helping business and we are all so interconnected. But I see the results of not being selfish enough all the time.

Do you recognize any of these?

• Often working outside of your regular hours because someone else couldn’t (or wouldn’t) make one of the times you offered.
• Calling downline multiple times offering (begging?) to be of service.
• Working with someone over and over again who doesn’t follow through.
• Doing more in someone else’s business than they do so that it gets done.

Not enough selfishness here.

Here’s what I think. The more you ‘bend over backwards’ for someone, the less inclined they will be to take control of their business and do what it takes to make it work. Ultimately their business is doomed because they’re not doing it. But here’s the real scary part…so is your business…doomed.

Don’t let the interconnectedness of network marketing stop you from being “selfish” enough to take care of you. What do you think?

Warmly,

Jillian

PS - Please join me and 9 other business experts, coaches and luminaries for a F.R.E.E event exclusively for leaders in the direct selling, network marketing and multi-level marketing professions. You know I don’t promote a lot of events… but I had to tell you about this one because the speakers are so extraordinary. I know I’m there too but really look at this list.

• Margie Aliprandi, President of My Mind Makeover
• Jane Deuber, Leadership Expert and co-founder of the DSWA
• Leesa Barnes, President of Marketing Fit
• Michael Oliver President and Founder of Natural Selling Sales Training
• Sandy Grason, best-selling author of Journalution
• Scott Stratten, President of Un-Marketing
• Jillian Middleton, founder of Savvy Sponsoring Strategies
• Michael Port and Elizabeth Marshall, co-authors of The Contrarian Effect
• Keith Ferrazzi, best-selling author of Never Eat Alone
• Sarah Robinson, Direct Selling Business Strategist and Founder of Profit, Purpose and Beyond

Profit, Purpose and Beyond will take place October 13 through October 24, 2008 (excluding the weekend). One speaker will take center stage each day at 1pm EST.

Go here now to get the details and grab your seat before they are all gone! Remember folks, there is no charge for this event!

Last week I had the honor and great fun of speaking at the Usborne Book Convention in Tulsa, OK. It is my second year to be invited to speak with these folks and I’m honored to be a part of that convention. I’ve also had the good fortune to be working closely with many Usborne Consultants over the last couple of years and have a close bond with many of them.

Their convention, like most conventions, is packed with great ideas and lots and lots of information. A recurring theme I’ve heard this week after the convention is “Where do I start processing all of this?”

Anyone who has been to a great convention or weekend workshop knows what this feels like. So much good information. How do you sort through it? How do you put it all into action?

Well the truth is, you don’t You can’t put it all into action right away. Your feelings are right, listen to them. It is too much information. That’s why you feel overwhelmed or at least not totally sure where to start. The big problem, because we feel overwhelmed or unsure, is that too often we don’t start at all.

A Little Goes a Long Way

A little goes a long way is not a new idea and it certainly isn’t an original one. But it’s one we often forget when we have so much information to choose from. Why?

Choosing is tough. Because once we choose to do something we are also choosing not to do something else.

• Don’t worry about what you don’t implement.
• But implement something.

You may not see the results tomorrow from a little change in your business, but over time you’ll see a great change. Like most things, it’s the little steps that count. And often when we add those “little steps up,” they leverage themselves and 1 plus 1 starts to equal 3 or 4.

Here’s my suggestion:

1. Pick one thing that you remember right now.  Something that spoke to you.  Something like sounded interesting and you thought at the time “That’s a great idea!”The trick is to pick just one thing.
2. Find your notes and if there is an audio posted from whatever you attended listen to it again.
3. Break down the activity into small doable steps.
4. Put time aside in your calendar to implement each of the steps.

I promise if you pick one thing to implement in your business from that last teleclass, training or convention – just one – and then use the above steps to get it into place, the change in your business will be substantial. It may take a little time for it to show up, but the ultimately you’ll see the difference.

Put some time in your calendar right now to spend an hour to go over your notes and choose the one thing you’re going to implement immediately.

Have fun!

Warmly,

Jillian