How to Brazingly Set Priorities to Achieve Success in Business
Loved this thought and had to share it with you guys:
Decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage to pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically say ‘NO’ to all other things.
No idea where I got that quote. Maybe it’s someone famous. Maybe I got it from a movie or maybe I ‘divinely downloaded’ it from the Universe.
I do know that I had to share it and I definitely want to know what you think! Comment below with thoughts. Is this hard for you? Do you even know what your focus is on? Is this a selfish mindset? Don’t be afraid, share!
What would you do if you found out you had 1 week to live?
Perhaps this topic is at the forefront of my mind because of the recent (and very unexpected) death of one of my closest friends in high school, or perhaps it’s due to watching “Life or Something Like It.” Regardless of the reason (I suspect a combination of both) it is something I am thinking about.
It is my experience that NOTHING makes you think about your own mortality like the death of someone you know. It’s especially scary when the person is your age. 
If I had one week to live, here is what I would do:
- Call each of my loved ones to tell them how much they mean to me.
- Visit my family.
- I’d then grab my husband and we’d go on the adventure of a life time. This would include a hot air balloon ride, staying in the most expensive hotel I could find (and jumping on the bed), visiting Niagara Falls, the Rocky Mountains and swimming in the ocean again.
Now that I’ve created my 1-Week-to-Live Bucket List, I’m wondering why I don’t do those things now.
Hmmmm, why DON’T I do those things now? Because I am human, and I take things for granted. And because of THAT, I have plenty of excuses. All of which come down to time and money.
And I’m a bit ashamed about the simplicity of my list, and the excuses I have for NOT doing #1 and #2. In fact, I think I will completely #1 with some of my loved ones tonight. It just seems like the least I could do, to not take life (and loved ones) for granted.
And so I pose this question to you…what would you do if you found out that you had 1 week left on earth? Would this put things into perspective for you? Would you immediately recognize what is important to you?
I’d love for you to comment below and tell me what you think. What would you do and what are you waiting for?
PS–Just talked to husband about hot air balloon ride. It’s in the works 
. I will provide pictures.
I am NOT my Car…Getting Over Attachments
I originally wrote this for a guest blog post 2 years ago. I felt the need to re-share it this week.
In these current economic times, I feel that it is particularly important for people to remember that their possessions do not reflect who they are as human beings. This is a story to help us all remember who we really are inside.
About a year ago, my husband and I were grocery shopping. We pulled into the lot, and parked near a very interesting vehicle.
It was a beat-up, black, sub-compact car (similar to an old VW Rabbit, but I don’t know what the make actually was) that had writing all over it! In white (paint or marker, I’m not sure) it had things like, “I am not my car,” “Over 300,000 km and still going strong,” and “My possessions do not define me!” I looked at the rusty, dented car as I walked by and laughed thinking, “They must have a lot of courage to drive that thing around town,” and completely missing the point.
This beat-up little car started to really get to me; I started to think about my own car. It was getting old, a little rusty and I was often embarrassed to drive it – especially when I knew I’d be parking it beside some of my friends’ shiny brand new cars.
I had a good job, it’s not like I couldn’t afford a better car, but my husband and I thought that we’d pay down some other debt and built up our savings before we would get something newer. Telling myself that I was “responsible and pragmatic” about my car-situation didn’t always make me feel better parking beside a brand-new SUV but I pretended that I was okay with it.
After seeing this car everything hit home! “That’s right! I am NOT my car,” I said firmly to myself a couple days later when I was feeling embarrassed about the state of my car. I began to ponder this further in my mind and apply it to other area’s of my life.
I am not my car, my job, my spouse, my family, my house, my neighborhood, my level of education, the clothes I wear, the friends I keep, the food I eat. So if those things are not me, then who am I?
Who I am can be defined more by what I am not, than by what I am. My identity lies in my authentic self; the self that is there even after I sell my car, or move to another country.
The point I am trying to make is: if I were to lose my possessions, or change them, would I still exist? And my answer to this is, yes. That is why I don’t entangle my identity with my physical environment. I drive a nicer car now, yes, but I’m still the same woman who drove the old car. I own a wonderful home in the suburbs, but this hasn’t changed me from who I was when I lived in an apartment in the city. And if I had to sell my home, or downgrade my car, I would still be the same person.
Not to say that people don’t change throughout their lives, but I am saying that people should not think they will change because of their things.
Possessions don’t make people. Life makes people. So let go of the idea that your designer handbag makes you a better you than if you had a cheap one. Do not fool yourself that driving a BMW means you’re happier than if you were driving a Chevy. Do not let these things define you because in the scary case where they leave and you have nothing left…you still exist, and everything important remains.
Want to use this in your eZine or on your blog? Sure as long as you don’t change anything and include the following:
Grab your FREE Copy of “Dump The Junk, and Be Happy” eBook at http://kimberlyenglot.com. Kimberly Englot is CEO of The Center for Authentic Self Development. She is the courage you need to put yourself back on your priority list, without feeling guilty or selfish.
It’s IAWBO’s Birthday! But YOU get the gifts
I’m so excited to share this with you! As you know, I LOVE Gina Bell! She has helped me through some major mindset issues with my own business, and is my fab co-pilot for my Master LIFE Cleanse program!
And now she’s gone and done something insane…so insane, I really had to be a part of it!
You’ve got to see the Virtual Birthday Gift Bag that is available through the International Association of Women in Business Online (IAWBO) 
More than 30 successful women (including me) have contributed their wisdom to this complimentary gift bag devoted to supporting – and accelerating – the success of women in business online like you.
And it’s SO much more than your average “give-away”…
Each item in the gift bag is an EXCLUSIVE resource not available for-free anywhere else and also includes access to a special interview series that will unfold on IAWBO’s blog… the How Does She Do It? 2.0 series. You’ve watched and you’ve wondered. Now you can KNOW what these women do to achieve MEGA success.
And, you’ll really appreciate this too…
You’ll get immediate access to all 30 gifts with just ONE opt-in! (You do not have to subscribe to any other list – unless you want to). No more having to sign up for 100 people’s ezines to get a crappy (pardon my French) freebie you can get anywhere. This is HIGH quality stuff!
Hurry — the virtual gift bag is valued over $1000 and is only available for a short time. You can see ALL the fantastic gifts included inside at IAWBO How 2010!
Kim
P.S. Once you register for your gift bag PAY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to the thank you page where you’ll discover the MEGA secret we’ve been keeping. You’ve really got to see it to believe it!
