Judy Davis's Blog, page 10

Save Your Small Business (Part 1) – A Series by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva

As an entrepreneur there is a natural ebb and flow to running a small business. There is nothing more exhilarating than bringing your passion to life and turning an idea into something successful. But many small business owners are looking for a lifeline. They may be on the verge of closing their businesses and start running their businesses more effectively.

In a previous post, I talked about how many small biz owners in the military community need a reality check and I should know, because this Direction Diva had to do just that. I had to change the way I ran my blog and my overall business to save me from closing operations for good. And I know I’m not alone which is why today is the first post in a new series Save Your Small Business.

Like many military spouses I am running a business out of a desire to create an income stream in a way that works with my military lifestyle. I wanted to share my experience to help someone else, and before I knew it I was working 13 hour days, traveling all around the country and releasing my first book.

Funny thing was that I hadn’t made a dime, in fact profit was a foreign language for my latest entrepreneurial endeavor. Why was this time different?

Looking back there were lots of factors, but I think it was different because from the inception in 2011 I never looked at it like a business. I had a passion to make a difference with no concrete plan to profitability.

Eventually my message caught on and grew, but my business didn’t grow with it. I had set things up in such a way that there were no income streams and I was required to put money in just to keep things going. It was stressing me out and effecting my family. I had to find a better way before it was to late.

So I looked at how I spent my time and realized that I had been grasping at ideas that sounded good but not once did any of my efforts convert to cash flow. Not because they couldn’t but because I hadn’t set them up that way.

I also saw that I had developed the business in the nooks and crannies of my life rather than giving it priority and structure. I took a go with the flow attitude using my military life as an excuse for not being able to plan.  This methodology worked right up until

I understood that without regular revenue I couldn’t keep my business open.
I got sick of feeling like I was starting over and building a new reputation with each PCS move.
My stress level rose, my productivity waffled and my balance sheets looking like Swiss cheese.
Chaos had become my way of life.

What my business looked like on the surface was a far cry from the truth going on behind the scenes and I began to resent the time it was taking from my family without any financial benefits.

So when I found myself debating whether the stress and lack of profits warranted hanging my “closed until further notice” sign permanently I new things had to change. I love what I do and knew that I had run many successful businesses prior to this one and decided to take a real honest look at this business.

What I saw was disturbing but hopeful, because I realized I could turn things around with a few simple changes. So in true milblogger style I decided to share these realizations and changes with you in a SAVE YOUR SMALL BUSINESS series.. you can see how I am turning things around in my business and with my blog and hopefully it will help you to:

Truth #1 : A successful business must have clearly defined, marketable products that are delivered effectively.

It took me a while to admit it, but the way I had built my milspouse business had more to do with my one on one people skills and a desire to help than having an actual “product” that people wanted to purchase.

In order for a business to flourish you have to make your products and services easy to understand and easy to purchase. And up until recently I hadn’t done that.

For the first 2 years of running the Direction Diva Brand, the only product I had available for purchase was my speaking. What’s more is that I didn’t do a great job of communicating what topics and messages were unique and distinguishing. Add to that I was a newbie military spouse without a reputation.

My blog was more of a diary that I did when I had time rather than a viable income stream. My book sounded awesome but didn’t translate. I didn’t define the problem and communicate a solution nor did I have a real marketing plan.

Bottom line I didn’t have products that were clearly defined and available for purchase and therefore I made no money. Simple as that.

No matter what your product, whether it’s a blog, a book, a talk or a service it must be clearly defined, presented in a way that your market relates to AND delivered easily to your target market. Without that you are dead in the water.

Stay tuned for part 2 of

SAVE YOUR BUSINESS later this week!

In the meantime take a moment and evaluate your products and income streams asking if they can be easily purchased by your niche market!

 

— Judy Davis, the Direction Diva is a motivational speaker, author, and military lifestyle blogger as well as the co-founder of LivingThruCrisis.com. Her books Right Side Up  and Warning Signs: Is Your Teen at Risk are go to resources for military families and her website is filled with tips, inspiration and resources for military families. Connect with Judy at TheDirectionDiva.com

The post Save Your Small Business (Part 1) – A Series by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva appeared first on Judy Davis The Direction Diva.

7 Technology Tips that Prevent a Valentine’s Day Disaster by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva

Valentine’s day always puts this Direction Diva in a romantic mood. Every February, cupids arrow strikes hot, but as a couple that has defied the odds and can see a 25th wedding anniversary in our crosshairs, it’s getting harder and harder to keep the romance alive. What gives you ask? What is different now than a few short years ago when a simple smile turned my knees to mush? What has me preparing and finding ways to prevent a Valentine’s Day disaster?

Technology.

Yes indeed. The productivity boosting, life-simplifying, handy-dandy,  can’t live without demon; Technology.

Want to prevent a #ValentinesDay Disaster? – Step away from your device for the day. #Tech #VZWBuzz
Click To Tweet

Now you all know that I love me some tech. In fact since joining the Verizon #VZWBuzz team* I have changed my love/hate relationship with technology to a love/love and love some more one. However, despite it’s convenience and efficiency I have to work to prevent technology from taking over and impacting my personal life.

Here are 7 Technology Tips that Prevent a Valentine’s Day Disaster and re-igniting your relationship in the process!

Stop with the simple “poking” and “checking in”. There is much to be said for a cheesy pick up line or an in person conversation to break the ice.
Turn it off. The worst Valentine’s Day Disaster will come from your inability to put down your device. Turn it off, look your date in the eye and connect on a personal level.
Stalking is BAD. Just because social media gives you the ability to check out your partner, doesn’t mean you should. Call it monitoring, touching base or whatever you want, but nothing good comes from stalking someone else’s feeds, profiles and pics.
Lazy is Really Bad. We have gotten lazy. Instead of a love note, a call or a quick cup of coffee to reconnect with those we love, we text, post and chat. Using technology to be more efficient is the kiss of death to romance. You spouse will be putty in your hands if you set your tech aside and show them that they are still the most important thing in your world.
Show some effort.  Show your honey how much you care by taking them out for a night on the town and leave your phone in the car. Don’t want to go totally tech free? Use OpenTable.com to book your reservations.
Get flirty with it. Remember how much you used to love getting valentines? Spend the day having fun with cards, candy hearts and even a tech option like Angela’s Valentines. or Textpics.
Be mindful of your posts, tweets and shares. Be careful of what you put onto your social media profiles. Misinterpretation can ruin the best valentine’s day plans.

What tech tips would you share?

 

*As a member of the #VZWBuzz team I receive various devices and accessories and provide Verizon Wireless tips for military spouses. No additional compensation was given and all opinions stated are my own. As always whenever I talk about products you will get the real scoop not something someone asks me to write

 — Judy Davis, the Direction Diva is a motivational speaker, author, and military lifestyle blogger as well as the co-founder of LivingThruCrisis.com. Her books Right Side Up  and Warning Signs: Is Your Teen at Risk are go to resources for military families and her website is filled with tips, inspiration and resources for military families. Connect with Judy at TheDirectionDiva.com

Related articles across the web

Valentine’s Day disasters – share your stories of terrible gifts and bad dates
Suave Pickup Lines Only Techies Will Understand
Chip Shot: Show Your Tech a Little Love

The post 7 Technology Tips that Prevent a Valentine’s Day Disaster by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva appeared first on Judy Davis The Direction Diva.

Parenting your Teenager: 3 Things I Wish Knew by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva

Parenting your teenager. Looking back there are so many things I wish I had done differently as a parent. Don’t get me wrong I am a great mom, but there are times when I wish I had known better.

From the moment we hold them in our arms we are responsible for our child’s physical and emotional well-being. For me, Judy Davis, expert on best practices for parenting your teenager, this was no small realization. I worried, and wondered and as they grow, I was torn between my desire for them to stay young and my wish that they would grow up already. After years of teaching, nurturing and disciplining, our babies hit the teen years and start to spread their wings.

When our kids are little it’s simple. If they are hungry we feed them, sick we nurture them back to health. If they are hurt we make it better. But things change when they hit the teen years. A slammed door or angry retort may have nothing to do with the situation at hand. 

When my children were teenagers I found myself wondering if they were ok. I questioned if our military life was taking its toll. I wondered if the changes I saw were normal or if they were indicative of something more. And I know I wasn’t alone. No one ever gave me a how to parent a teen rule book, I played it by ear.

Here are 3 things I wish I had known:

Open lines of communication are your best defense. The teen years are filled with “I’m fine”, blank looks and slamming doors. It can be frustrating, and while patience may be a virtue is was REALLY hard to come by. But if there is one thing I learned that you can do for your child is to keep an open line of communication. I tell parents “you don’t have to be your child’s friend, but you do need to be friendly”. Don’t judge or yell just because your teen is doing things differently that you do. Listen: listen to what they say (and what they aren’t saying. Find out what’s important to them and then make a point to care about that. Our kids need us more than anything and creating a safe and honest place for them to open up to you is critical to their wellbeing.

You don’t have to be your child’s friend, but you do need to be friendly. #parenting
Click To Tweet

Things are different. The lives of our children are very different from when we were growing up. There is so much more pressure to be perfect and competition is fierce. Our children are asked to grow up so fast and do so in an era where every mistake is ammunition for judgment and the rumor mill. Is it the times? Is it the environment? I’m not sure, but I do know that as parents we need to arm ourselves with everything we can to combat the challenges your children face. Limit devices and time on social media. Encourage your child to interact with friends in person and get involved. Our kids need to know that they aren’t alone and that you are there to catch them if they fall. (Note I said catch – not enable – but that’s a post for another day )

Suicide, depression and addiction aren’t selective. #teensuicide #military
Click To Tweet

Suicide, depression and addiction aren’t selective. You know our story, in fact the more I hear from and work with families at Living Thru Crisis I’m discovering how true this statement really is. This growing crisis is a real problem families are dealing with and we have to arm ourselves and fight back. I know that we can save lives IF we know what to look for at the earliest sign of trouble. As parents we need to educate ourselves as to which behaviors and warning signs we need to be looking out for and move beyond the “it’s typical teen behavior” mindset if we want to help our kids. I encourage you to observe, discuss and act – in that order and always on the side of caution. If a teen/young adult exhibits disturbances in sleep patterns, abrupt changes in friends or a social life, even their grooming habits or any of the Warning Signs we talk about here it’s time to get some help before it’s too late. (For additional information to help determine if your teen is at risk grab a copy of our new e-book here)

 

What piece of knowledge do you wish you had known before you became a parent that you’d like to share?

 — Judy Davis, the Direction Diva is a motivational speaker, author, and military lifestyle blogger as well as the co-founder of LivingThruCrisis.com. Her books Right Side Up  and Warning Signs: Is Your Teen at Risk are go to resources for military families and her website is filled with tips, inspiration and resources for military families. Connect with Judy at TheDirectionDiva.com

The post Parenting your Teenager: 3 Things I Wish Knew by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva appeared first on Judy Davis The Direction Diva.

How Your Challenges Make You A Stronger Person by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva

Life is full of challenges especially when we are hit with something unexpected. But this Direction Diva is here to tell you that no matter what your challenges are, they will make you a stronger person if you let them. For most of us, when life takes a twist and our daily lives are more difficult than normal, we want to move through the situation quickly. We just want to get it over with and move on – and the sooner the better, right?

Our thoughts begin to focus on how much better life would be if our current situation had never happened in the first place. Sometimes, I wonder if that’s really true.

Would we really be better off if

we never had to deal with life’s challenges?

I know for myself, without exception there has not been one difficult moment or experience that hasn’t helped me grow as a person in the long run.  It may have taken me years to figure out the why, in fact I’m still asking WHY US when it comes to our life in crisis, but I also know that…

I am who I am

BECAUSE of everything that has happened,

not in spite of it.

I watch people spend their energy wishing for a better life, praying that things could be different. But instead of doing something about it, accepting what is or looking for the silver lining, they embrace a victim mentality and continue to do the same things wishing things were different.

They miss the good stuff – the magic that is there if you look hard enough because they spend all their time complaining or silently feeling sorry for themselves.  Now compare that to the people who embrace their “stuff”, the individuals who don’t spend their life wishing.

That individual fighting cancer that is smiling and soaking in every moment of every day.
The child with a disability that only sees the good in people.
The person who lost their job and happily takes the first thing that comes up to so they can feed their kids.

These are the people I look up to and try to emulate. They are strong, happy and moving forward despite the hand they have been dealt.

Those people – you know the one’s you think “have it easy”- don’t. They don’t have less challenges than you do, they just understand that they need to grow from their experiences and let them go…

Now compare that to the person always whining about money, career or their relationships –  ask yourself – do they ALWAYS complain about the same thing? Don’t you just sigh and think…here they go again…? I know I do.

I don’t mean to sound harsh, but until you learn to accept your life – all of it – you can’t move on. And that’s a good thing.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had  to learn the same key lessons over and over because I was to caught up in the life isn’t fair cycle rather than accepting what was and doing something about it. For years I was stuck in the “same crap different day” mindset and spent more time using the excuse that other people had it easier rather than getting off my butt and changing my situation.

For me it was boundaries and balance, for you it may be something different. Life happens and we all have tough times. But those who learn from them and become stronger in spite of them know something that I didn’t.

They know that who they are is a direct result of what they have been through. They embrace that fact, the good, the bad and the ugly and use it to grow stronger. And that… is something to aspire to.

What do you aspire to?

— Judy Davis, the Direction Diva is a motivational speaker, author, and military lifestyle blogger as well as the co-founder of LivingThruCrisis.com. Her book Right Side Up is the go to resource for military spouses and her website is filled with tips, inspiration and resources for military families. Connect with Judy at TheDirectionDiva.com

The post How Your Challenges Make You A Stronger Person by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva appeared first on Judy Davis The Direction Diva.

I Am a Strong Military Spouse, So Why Am I Crying? by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva

I am a military spouse, and I am strong. So why don’t I feel strong at all. A strong military spouse is the expectation that permeates throughout our community. Strength, toughness, and resilience are  traits  that a “proper” milspouse should exhibit right? But sometimes life is difficult; the daily demands become so overwhelming that I don’t fee strong at all, in fact those are the days when all I want to do is cry.

I know I’m not alone on those days when I feel like I’m falling short here at Direction Diva central, especially when blog posts like this and this really resonate with my battle buddies.

I do my best to hold it all together. I try to be strong and focus on the positive as I go through the motions of this ever-changing inconsistent life…inserting deep breath here… but even though I do all those things, this lifestyle turns me upside down and can turn this pillar of strength into a big puddle of goo.

And that’s when the showers begin.

I’ll admit it, these last few days have been full of goo…with the launching of our new parenting resource Warning Signs , the long hours my husband is working, hormones messing with every damn thing and the stress of too many 13 hour days, the waterworks have been flowing.  But today as I was taking the garbage outside, I noticed something incredible.  I noticed the clouds….

As I watched them it dawned on me that clouds are much like each of us…

They were building and graying, and some looked as if they were going to burst. How like us that the clouds are designed to “overflow” when they can’t take on anymore, they fill and fill based on the conditions around them, and then when the conditions are too extreme, they burst….

Sometimes it’s a gentle sprinkling, sometimes it’s a long steady rain and sometimes it’s as if the heaven’s opened up and everyone should run for cover.  But not matter how they overflow, the result is the same.  There is a cleansing, a feeling of renewal, a knowing that you’ve gotten through the storm and that feeling of anticipation of what’s to come as things begin to settle.

And then it dawned on me. The fact that I cry means that I am strong.

There is strength in allowing ourselves to release what’s been building up.  We are like clouds that can only hold so much before the rains fall. So let the rains fall. Cleanse off the stress and remember that just as the storm clouds subside things become a little brighter, you begin to grow stronger and bloom where you are planted – much like the flowers after an April rain….

How are you a Strong Military Spouse?

 

— Judy Davis, the Direction Diva is a motivational speaker, author, and military lifestyle blogger as well as the co-founder of LivingThruCrisis.com. Her book Right Side Up is the go to resource for military spouses and her website is filled with tips, inspiration and resources for military families. Connect with Judy at TheDirectionDiva.com

The post I Am a Strong Military Spouse, So Why Am I Crying? by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva appeared first on Judy Davis The Direction Diva.

Military Life: 3 Self-help Strategies To Stop Worry Now by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva

I, military spouse, Judy Davis, The Direction Diva am a worrier. There I said it. I am a worrier and have to work hard to ensure that it doesn’t consume my thoughts. Ever since becoming a military spouse worry has become part of my life. It quietly works its way into the cracks of my mind and quietly lies in wait, hoping for a moment of weakness.

And I’m not alone. Ever since the launch of my first book Right Side Up, I have received emails, tweets & questions asking how I handle worry and balance it with my military lifestyle.   Worry seems to be something that we all struggle with at different times to varying degrees.

Here are 3 strategies that work for me, try them and let me know how they work for you:

Redirect Your Thoughts

Ask yourself “What am I thinking about right now”. Do your thoughts make you feel good? Are you able to do anything to change the situation. Can you know for certain that what you are worrying about is truth?

If your answer is no then a simple redirection of your thoughts may help.  For example, if you are worried about the safety of your service member redirect your thoughts to something like “I look forward to hearing from them soon” or think about a happy memory.

Live in the Moment

I know when my mind is filled with worry I think I need answers right now. Heck I even convince myself that if I don’t get them immediately something terrible will happen. Rather than focus on the urgency, try to live in the moment by shifting your focus to stop the negativity.

Shore up Your Foundation

It sometimes helps me to think of worry like termites. Invisible and silent especially if we don’t eliminate the attack early on. Something you can do is to stop worry from eating away at your foundation. The best “pest control” lies within you. Spend your energy thinking about the good things in your life and leave worry to move on to the abandoned house down the block.

I’d love to hear how you deal with worry in the comments below!

 

— Judy Davis, the Direction Diva is a motivational speaker, author, and military lifestyle blogger as well as the co-founder of LivingThruCrisis.com. Her book Right Side Up is the go to resource for military spouses and her website is filled with tips, inspiration and resources for military families. Connect with Judy at TheDirectionDiva.com

The post Military Life: 3 Self-help Strategies To Stop Worry Now by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva appeared first on Judy Davis The Direction Diva.

2 Simple Questions That Stop Military Spouse Gossip by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva

People love to stir things up and focus on all that is going wrong – in someone else’s life. We live in a society that thrives on reality T.V., gossip and rumors. As a military lifestyle expert, I can’t tell you how many milspouses’ contact me through the Direction Diva blog or via my facebook page asking me how to stop the gossip and drama that seems to permeate through our community.  There is nothing that frustrates me more than hearing fellow military spouses offer each other up to the gossip mongers.

Sadly, the gossip monger reared it’s ugly head right here in my own back yard.

Right here on my post.

Right here in my military community.

It seems that so many military spouses are focused on sharing other people’s dirty laundry that I just want to scream

Don’t we have enough stress to deal with?

Why is it that the moment milspouses learn something negative or hear a piece of juicy gossip, they rush to put it out there as fast as they can? Why instead of squelching the gossip and rumors do they fuel them? Why must people stir things up and shed an unflattering light on those around them?

Wouldn’t it be better if the moment someone started a conversation with “hey did you know….” we excused ourselves and refused to listen? With gossip and rumors it takes 2 to tango?

DON’T FILL YOUR DANCE CARD!

Imagine how much more supportive our military community could be if each of us made a decision not to be an active listener. If we stop listening there is no one to gossip to and we essentially squelch the gossip before it starts.

Gossip and rumors prevent us from the truth, they prevent us from getting the support and stop us from receiving the encouragement we need to thrive.

You have the power to change that,

YOU can make a difference.  

Each of us has the ability to stop gossip and rumors dead in their tracks by answering the following 2 questions:

Do I need to tell this or do I just want to?
Will this information put the person in an unflattering light or will it hurt them to hear?

If by answering these questions, you see that listening or sharing the information isn’t flattering, will hurt someone’s feelings or is just something to pass the time, choose to walk away.

You see I have learned if you listen to gossip, you become a gossip. If you hang out with people who put others down, you will do the same. And if your friends are judgmental, you will become judgmental. Ask yourself “Who am I surrounded by…it matters”!

So the next time the pot begins to stir, politely excuse yourself, or defuse the gossip by highlighting the victims good side and defend them.  It doesn’t matter if you agree , what matters is that gossip spreads hate, and you can choose to stop it. Always speak the highest of others. Always find the good. Always stand up for the people weaker than yourself.   Surround yourself with people who lift others up and make a difference. We can stop the gossip, we just have to choose to do so.

It’s important for others, and it’s important for you, because we both know that the gossip mongers and rumor mills are one chat away from throwing someone else under the bus, and it just may be you.

Do you really think if they are talking about others and spreading hate, that for one minute they aren’t talking about you as well?

“Whoever Gossips To You

Will Gossip About You” ~ Spanish Proverb

How do you react when someone says

“Did you know…”!

— Judy Davis, the Direction Diva is a motivational speaker, author, and military lifestyle blogger as well as the co-founder of LivingThruCrisis.com. Her book Right Side Up is the go to resource for military spouses and her website is filled with tips, inspiration and resources for military families. Connect with Judy at TheDirectionDiva.com

For more positive military spouse posts =>

');
// ]]>

The post 2 Simple Questions That Stop Military Spouse Gossip by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva appeared first on Judy Davis The Direction Diva.

Want Your Children to Succeed? Stop Asking This Question by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva

From the time we are children we are asked the question “What do you want to be when you grow up”?  We ask our toddlers, we ask our tweens and we pressure our high school seniors to “choose” a life path so they can succeed. Our children are encouraged to pick a career, find their direction and fulfill their purpose. But this Direction Diva isn’t sure that pushing our children to decide what they want to be so early in life really will help them succeed.

Since launching our new teen initiative LivingThruCrisis, I’m seeing more and more high school and college age kids torn between multiple interests and the pressure to choose. They are told that they need to pick and that by doing so they have a better chance at being successful. The message they hear is that unless I know what I want I’m destined for failure.

And that’s a big problem……

No wonder we have so many 15 -22 year olds stressed out and overwhelmed.  No wonder they feel “bad” that they don’t know what to do with their lives.  It’s hard enough to keep up with classes, studying, social activities and life in general, but we have put this “ticking time bomb” over their lives.

I remember a simple post I read recently that stated “how is it that I still have no idea what i want to do with my life?!”  Everything in me screamed as I read it, I wanted to shout:

YOU ARE 18 YEARS OLD THAT’S WHY…

YOU AREN’T SUPPOSED TO KNOW!

It was in that moment when I realized that somewhere along the way the sanctity of childhood had changed.  I wanted to reach through the computer, take them in my arms and say “Sweetie, if you are lucky you’ll know before you are 40…. and then you may still get it wrong”!

Something in the way we condition our children to choose their path so young isn’t in their best interests at all. In fact what started as a way to help them be motivated to succeed has transitioned and is now putting ALOT of unnecessary pressure on them.  The formula – go to school, do your best, go to college, do better, graduate, get a “real” job and excel. It’s as if we tell them if you do all of these things, in the proper order you will find success and that just isn’t always the case.

How many of us can say that  every time we followed our chosen path we were successful? What about path we “picked” when we were young? Heck I NEVER even used my bachelor’s degree – not even once.

I guess my point is that not knowing what you want to be at 18 may actually be a good thing.  It means that you are open to possibilities and you want to embrace all that the world has to offer.  If I could offer a piece of advice to that young man posting his question…

Stop worrying about it, work hard at what you are doing, continue to take action on the things that feel right, and the rest will come to you all in good time.  In the mean time, be silly, giggle lots and continue to skip and for goodness sake stop and smell the roses, because that’s what it’s all about anyway right?

Do you ask your kids

“What they want to be when they grow up”?

— Judy Davis, the Direction Diva is a motivational speaker, author, and military lifestyle blogger. She is also the co-founder of LiveThruCrisis.com and her book Right Side Up is the go to resource for military spouses. Connect with Judy at TheDirectionDiva.com

The post Want Your Children to Succeed? Stop Asking This Question by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva appeared first on Judy Davis The Direction Diva.

6 Super Easy Steps to Get Back on Track by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva

I don’t know about you but it’s really easy for this Direction Diva to get off track with my thinking if I’m not careful. And this week it’s been tough to get my mindset focused where it needs to be.

Every channel, station and feed is filled with controversy either about politics, terrorism and the American Sniper movie. Today the latest reports are that some people feel that this movie is now responsible for the latest terror threats. These threats already have many of us in the military community on high alert and tuning in, so the fuel on the fire is making it even harder to get away from.

This morning I had a conversation with a fellow milspouse that got me to thinking about where my attention has been.  I realized that by inundating myself with the media’s interpretations and predictions of what is to come, I’ve gotten caught up in the negativity. Yes…Judy Davis, the Direction Diva has lost herself and her way AGAIN…CRAP-Tastic!

Over the course of the last 10 days, I have found myself listening to the news more, tuning in to conversations I typically wouldn’t and thinking about all the “bad” things that are happening more often than not.  I have noticed that I have become fearful, thinking about all the “what-ifs”. I have begun questioning what I am doing in my businesses. More importantly I realize that I have allowed myself to enter into a cycle of thoughts, emotions and stressors that do me no good.

The sad part was that the media has sucked me in, they have done their job…grrrr! They have me “tuning in” so that I don’t miss something that might affect my life or be the key to fixing whatever is wrong in the world (as if that is even possible).  The media are designed to “help” us by keeping us informed.  NOT.

In actuality they have me thinking in a way that brings me down and makes me focus on all that is wrong in the world.  They have me questioning my goals and have me worrying about the future.  And frankly my head hurts from all the coverage of drama, tragedy and crisis – I mean ISIS!

Before the media “got a hold of me”, I was happily moving forward, making progress towards my goals.  But, this little detour that I have been on these past 2 weeks has me searching, questioning and spinning in a way I haven’t done in a long time.

Maybe you feel the same way with how the media portrays our world.  So what can we do about it? What can we do when we are inundated by all that is wrong in the world?

We can begin by tuning out the media and getting back on track.  We can start to focus on what is going right, and use that to begin to take action that moves us forward.  This “economy” doesn’t have to be a distraction, the media doesn’t have to control you, in fact it can be the motivation that keeps you moving no matter what stands in your way.

For me it was the politics, threats of terrorism and the continual coverage of the negative stories surrounding the American Sniper movie that took my focus away. For you there may be some other catalyst that has you on a detour, but no matter what it is, it is important to get back on track, and the following steps can help you do just that.

Determine what catalyst has caused you to lose focus and taken you off track
Make the conscious decision to reduce or eliminate the distraction.
Focus on where you want to go
Decide what actions you can take that will refocus your efforts and get you back on track.
Take action
Review and take notice all that you are doing right and continue to do what is working

What takes you off track and how do you get back on track?

 — Judy Davis, the Direction Diva is a motivational speaker, author, and military lifestyle blogger at TheDirectionDiva.com. She is the co-founder of LiveThruCrisis.com and her book Right Side Up is the go to resource for military spouses looking for help navigating the stress, chaos and change that comes with military life.

The post 6 Super Easy Steps to Get Back on Track by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva appeared first on Judy Davis The Direction Diva.

Focus on the Good Stuff For A Better Life by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva

 

A few weeks ago on the Direction Diva blog we talked about how one word can change your life. That blog post talked specifically about how the word FOCUS can inspire and motivate you to turn things around and begin living your best life. Today we continue the #FocuswithJudy theme as we talk about what you should be focusing on to create a better life.

You hear people talk about how focus is the “key” to so many things.  If you focus you will do well in school.  If you focus you will lose those last 10 pounds.  If you focus you can….”DO ANYTHING”.

Why is that? 

When you focus you actually stop taking action on the things that don’t produce results.  In fact, when you are focused, all the distractions, little acts of procrastination, and excuses go away.  Focus helps us decide what actions we are actually going to take and which ones aren’t worth our time.  Think of it like a filter that blocks your ability to do anything that isn’t in alignment with your best life.

Focus is powerful, and when you focus on what is going right in your world, this filter is engaged in a way that guides you toward the good stuff! And isn’t that what we all want? Focus is powerful and an important strategy of mine for creating a better life!

What helps you create your best life?

— Judy Davis, the Direction Diva is a motivational speaker, author, and military lifestyle blogger at TheDirectionDiva.com. Her book Right Side Up is the go to resource for military spouses looking for help navigating the stress, chaos and change that comes with military life.

Related articles across the web

4 Key Principles to Keep on Track and Sustain Focus
Happiness and success is always just one thought away.

The post Focus on the Good Stuff For A Better Life by Judy Davis, The Direction Diva appeared first on Judy Davis The Direction Diva.