The first day of the rest of my life...

It's time for me to get excited about my life again. It used to be that I was so excited to get up in the morning, work on my business, spend time with my family, and just ENJOY life. But over the last year or so, I've let myself fall into a bit of a rut. There were still lots of good times and fun, but it just hasn't been clicking quite like it used to. Well I've had enough! I officially declare today "the first day of the rest of my life".

This is not the first of these firsts. I've had a few. I was probably 13 when the first one came. I had been told by doctors that I couldn't play sports anymore (a central part of my life to that point). I was crushed and my world fell apart. I wallowed in self-pity, railed against the decision and the doctors and felt cheated. But eventually I discovered other avenues to be passionate about and eventually declared one day that "this would be the first day of the rest of my life".

Another day came after my transplant. When I woke up and realized I was being given a second chance, I knew that I was having a first day of the rest of my life. That from that point forward, life would be different. And it has been. But I've allowed life, some problems with anxiety, and financial struggles, to dull that new feeling. I've allowed myself to be become numb to the miracle that is LIFE. So today I declare the first day of the rest of my life. The life where I am completely joyous, loving and passionate about life.

It's a powerful feeling making this declaration. And the best thing about it is, you can choose to do it at ANY time. You make a commitment to yourself that from this point forward things will be different, and then, you do it. It's almost that simple. Yes you have to choose that decision over and over again. But it can be done. Your attitude, after all, is all in your mind. YOUR mind. So YOU have control.

So if you've been in a funk lately, or not feeling like life is what you want it to be, make a change. Declare today the first day of the rest of your life and then most importantly, act accordingly. Act differently and your life will be different.

God Bless and have a great weekend!

Lessons Learned... Be Early

Yesterday I was put in my place. A client I'd been working with told me that she felt like she wasn't a priority in my life because I had been late to our last two meetings.

The worst part about this wasn't losing the client, it was the fact that she was right. Despite KNOWING that it is important to be early, despite TELLING OTHERS that it's important to be early, I was late. Twice. Pretty bad.

So learn a lesson from me today, practice what you preach, and be early. It shows respect to the person you're meeting, and allows you to be totally prepared.

Where are you headed?

I've been watching the v-log of a friend and colleague of mine Stu Saunders (www.ylcc.com) the last few days. Stu is both a friend and a mentor as he has been doing what I do for more than twenty years, and he's great at it. He loves what he does and more importantly, he loves the people he works with and for.

In addition to being a friend and colleague, Stu provides me with a vision of where I want, in part, my career to be. I can look at where he is, what he's done, what he's accomplished, and see in part what I where I want to be, what I want to do and what I want to accomplish. Having that vision clearly defined in my mind is a major step toward realizing it.

Do YOU know where you want to go? Do you have a clear vision for what you want your life, your career, your family to look like in 1, 5, 10 years from now? If you don't, let today be the day you start. Having a clear vision for where you want to go is a critical part of ensuring that your life goes in the direction you want it to. Of course there are no guarantees, and you'll likely hit roadblocks and detours, but you stand a much greater chance of achieving what you want to if you have a clear plan.

Map out your life. Articulate where you'd like to see your career, your relationships, your finances and your spiritual life to be. Not only will these descriptions provide inspiration, they will also give you great clues as to what steps you need to take to realize those visions. Once you figure out what those first steps are, do the next most important thing... take the first one.

Make today a great day!