Kimanzi Constable's Blog, page 63

A Testimony to To Kicking Out Small Minding Thinking

Note from Kimanzi: This is a guest post from Jared Latigo who is a designer, father, husband, writer and speaker. He writes at JaredLatigo.com and tweets about business, passion and design at @JaredLatigo. He also really likes sandwiches If you would like to guest post on this blog, email a post to kimanzi@talesofwork.com

A recent post by Kimanzi himself revealed to me something that I was doing without even noticing it. And its been giving me some incredible results. I wanted to share one of those results with you and a few more tip to help you get rid of small-minded thinking.

A Few Notes To Start With

The premise behind this is that small-minded thinking will disable you from achieving the unthinkable. If we’re so locked into the mindset that we’re too small to contend with the big dogs, we’ll always be that way. Kimanzi points out in his video that one of his favorite quotes by Brendon Burchard is “Never let your small business keep you small-minded.” – Click to Tweet

He also refers to a time recently when he was thinking small-minded and letting that get in the way of his success. While I think it’s important to be semi-realistic, sometimes even that can hurt us.

From Where I Sit

I’m a huge minded thinker. I always have been. I believe in many of the things Seth Godin talks about in terms of the industrial revolution being over…he just beat me to the marketing of those ideas. So with that in mind, I’ve set out to gain traction as quickly as I can to get my ideas heard.

That involves thinking huge.

When I first started blogging just a couple of months ago, I did so because of Michael Hyatt. He’s a leadership professional and has recently published the book called Platform. This book talks about getting your business noticed and what it really takes to succeed in today’s market.

So what does this have to do with my story? Everything.

I set out on this journey and I don’t plan on turning back. My #1 goal at this point was to get a blog post published on MichaelHyatt.com. You have to understand that this guy has incredible readership well over the 300,000 mark each month and a social network follower base around 150K. So getting published on his blog is a big deal.

But I made it.

My first post will be published there at the end of November.

How Did I Do This?

I started with my ultimate goal. I started huge. I told myself that it could be done and it would be done. I didn’t let small-minded thinking take over but instead let larger than life thinking take control.

And really, it was easy. We just have to be intentional about it.

In fact, most things are easy when we’re intentional about them. It might take some practice. We may have a few train wrecks along the way…but ultimately, we’ll achieve what we need to if we put in the time and effort.

That’s the power of the American dream, right? So here’s a few steps to help you out.

Pray.
Forget boundaries.
 Get rid of the realistic.
 Set your ultimate goal and when you achieve that, set a bigger one.
Don’t get discouraged even if it takes you 200 times.
Pray some more.
Work really hard. There are no shortcuts.
Have perseverance. Remember to forget boundaries.

This honestly goes against pretty much everything in our society though. So that is probably your biggest task. Breaking the boundaries of your mindset is going to take some work. You’ll hear the negative voices in your head talking you out of it…but don’t give in. I tell you, don’t give in.

So there you have it.

Goal #1 accomplished. My next one is still under wraps to everyone except for me and my wife. But it will be achieved hopefully sooner rather than later. Get rid of small-minded thinking and you’ll succeed at whatever you want to.

Question: What goals have you set in the past that you met? Any that you are still working on? How about your mindset…does that need some serious work?

P.S. Dan Black will be moderating the comments while I’m away, thank you Dan!

The Battle Of Change and Three Steps to Help You WIN

Welcome to those visiting from weeklyhustle.com where I have the honor of guest posting, please enjoy Tales of Work!

Note from Kimanzi: I am out-of-town speaking at WordCamp Fayetteville in Fayetteville, Arkansas . While I’m away I’ve asked several bloggers to guest post in my place, enjoy! This is a guest post from Ben Dempsey who is a health/wellness coach that has went from 360 pounds to triathlete.  He wants to help others defy obesity and reach their goals.  He blogs about his journey and how to win the battle against obesity.  You can follow him on Twitter. If you would like to guest post on this blog, email a post to kimanzi@talesofwork.com

Whenever you start something new, no matter what it consists of there will be a battle that takes place. Where you ask? In your mind. Change is 80% mental and 20% physical.

The battle consists of changing the beaten path you have been on to turning down a new road with endless possibilities. On July 22, 2009 I weighed in at 360 pounds and was on the path of destruction.  I had to take a stand.  I began to implement the 3 steps I list below and over the last few years I have found who I am, I’ve lost 160 pounds and completed my first marathon.  I hope that you find these steps helpful as I have.

Three steps to help you WIN the battle of change.

Believe in yourself:  This can be one of the hardest things to do, especially if you are like me and have failed so many times.  Sometimes we don’t ever think we can win, change or succeed.  But, that is not the case.  You can do it, it won’t be easy but with hard work and perseverance you can overcome the defeat.  Simply let the past be what it is, learn from it and move on.  Don’t let it HOLD you down any longer.
 Understand that there will be plateaus:  We are not perfect, things will happen that will cause us to plateau and it’s ok.  It doesn’t matter who you are, this will be a punch in the gut and make you feel that you have lost.  That is not the case, use it as a reflective period, learn from it and use it to catapult you to your next objective..         
 Accountability:  No matter who you are, you need to have accountability.  Someone or a group to hold you accountable. Not to bash you down or cause you to turn and run.  But, someone who you can trust, depend and lean on in a time of need.  They will give you the proverbial kick in the pants, but be there to help you get back up when you have fallen.  

Question for you?  What ways help you win the Battle of Change and what has been the biggest hurdle along your journey?

P.S. Dan Black will be moderating the comments while I’m away, thank you Dan!

Three Secrets to Living Your Dream

Note from Kimanzi: I am out of the country speaking at WordCamp Sydney in Sydney, Australia (yeah!). While I’m away I’ve asked several bloggers to guest post in my place, enjoy! This is a guest post from Christine Niles.  She is a writer and project manager with a heart for orphans, and a mother of two girls adopted from Ukraine at ages 12 and 14.  Christine blogs about adoption, parenting, and making a difference in the world on her blog.  Follow her on Twitter. If you would like to guest post on this blog, email a post to kimanzi@talesofwork.com

A year ago, I said, “I’m a project manager, but I want to be a writer.”

If we’re honest, I think most of us yearn for the day when we can quit our day job — the day when we can live our dream full-time.  But as my dream of writing grows, I’m finding that it’s more likely for that to look like series of small steps, instead of one giant leap into dreamland.

I want to leap.

I want to, oh, how I want to.

But it’s not right; not quite yet.

As desperately as I want to be ready to write full-time, it’s not time to leap.  But I refuse to wish my life away.  I refuse to wake up a year from now, or five years from now and say “what if…”

Hustle

I get up early every day.  Not two days a week, not three.  Every day.  And I still have more goals than time.  A novella.  A memoir about our adoptions. Publish in more places.  Incorporate feedback and make my site better.  Keep up with other bloggers and find ways to serve them.

I want ten hours a day to do all this instead of two.

But really, I can use my time better.  I can hustle smarter.

Harmony

Juggling a day-job and a dream is not about balance, it’s about harmony.

If I sit down and brainstorm, I can make an overwhelmingly long to-do list.  New story ideas, new blog posts.  New social media tools to learn.  Design and technical updates to my blog. Mentors to meet with. Friends to encourage. More new story ideas.

Obviously, I can’t do it all.

But I’m taking intentional steps toward my dream.  I’m learning to prioritize and focus my effort on the things that work together to make my dream more beautiful.  To feed the blog ideas that complement each other.  To focus on one or two types of social media that work best for me.

Everything else can wait.

And that’s OK, because the whole of the dream is far more important than any one particular task, no matter how great it seems.

Headway

I’m learning a lot about making headway from watching my gracious host, Kimanzi. Hustle first and measure that. Set goals and measure them. Focus my hustle on efforts that will advance my dream.

I also make sure to take a day every now and then to look at my progress over the past several months.  Evaluate, recast the vision, reset my goals, and strategize how to best use my time.

If I set goals as incremental steps toward a full-time dream, I will control the when.  I will know when I can take each step.

Are you in this boat with me?

Are you trying to find harmony between your paying job and your dream?  Are you trying to make a difference in the world and keep a roof over your family’s head?

It’s not easy, is it?

We need encouragers.  People who are hustling for their dreams.

We need each other.

What’s your dream and what steps are you taking TODAY to get there?  Leave a comment….

P.S. William Haeflinger will be moderating the comments while I’m away, thank you!

Dreaming With Your Eyes Open

Welcome to those visiting from the blog of Jon Acuff If you like what you see, consider staying up to date, and get an inspirational manifesto as a bonus:

Note from Kimanzi: I am out of the country speaking at WordCamp Sydney in Sydney, Australia (yeah!). While I’m away I’ve asked several bloggers to guest post in my place, enjoy! This is a guest post by Dana Pittman who is married with children residing in the Houston, TX area. She is a writer, speaker and Bible teacher slowly penning her next novel. You can read her blog and follow her on Twitter and Facebook. If you would like to guest post on this blog, email a post to kimanzi@talesofwork.com

Dread filled my mornings. The snooze button was my only ally, it and my husband. I had to make a decision: Practice law or live my dream.

But I had two major problems:

We had very little savings and my job had a very nice salary.
My dream was fuzzy. I had a few ideas but nothing concrete.

I let my problems overshadow my hope and instead I continued to loathe the sound of my alarm clock. It reminded me daily of how much I desperately wanted out.

I wish I did something smart like read Kimanzi’s book. No, that would have been too much like right. Instead…I walked away.

Don’t try this one at home.

                                                                   Dreaming with Your Eyes Open

If I had to do it again I’d suggest the following:

 Don’t ditch your primary investor. Your prospective of your employer should be a healthy one. Stop thinking of it as a ball and chain. Think of it as an investor. Your job is financially investing in your future. Thus, treat it and your dream accordingly.
Get organized. The organization ensures you are still present on your job and fulfill your obligations during your working hours. It also means prioritizing your family life and finding the needed time to pursue your dream. It’s not easy yet it’s doable.
Create a plan of action. Create a written plan of action. You should be realistic but don’t rule out the impossible. For starters your plan should include:

Measurable goals,

                                   Financial goals,

                                   Your health,

                                   Ways to nurture and cultivate ideas, and

                                   Any key components related to your personal wellbeing.

I’d like to explain the last one in a bit. Jumping blindly, as I did, only adds to the stress and anxiety with making such an important decision. For example, if you have issues with remaining focused, you may want to include a section on accountability.

Write the plan without input for anyone. Not even your spouse. Write it fully from your perspective. Once you’ve completed it, then share with people who will become vital to your success.

Find a supportive community. This is an area I strongly suggest, yet it’s a personal struggle. After committing to working, spending time with your family, pursuing your dream…how do you include another element in the equation?

Meeting with a writers group or joining a speakers group may seem impossible. However, it usually gets harder before it gets better. Surrounding your efforts by like minds will help weather the challenges ahead. It will also provide an outlet for objective feedback.

Your Success

Dreaming with your eyes open allows you to maintain your livelihood while laying the foundation for your future. I wish I could say I following these suggestions 100%. I don’t. Yet I believe these suggestions will help whether you would like to leave your current employer or make a transition in your existing business to another. The bottom line is by embracing these suggestions you can set yourself up for success with a little planning.

Do you dream with your eyes open?

P.S. William Haeflinger will be moderating the comments while I’m away, thank you!

You Are Not A Number

Welcome to those visiting from the blog of Jon Acuff where I have the honor of guest posting today. If you like what you see, consider staying up to date, and get an inspirational manifesto as a bonus:

Note from Kimanzi: I am out of the country speaking at WordCamp Sydney in Sydney, Australia (yeah!). While I’m away I’ve asked several bloggers to guest post in my place, enjoy! This is a guest post by Tammy Helfrich who is a wife, Mom, daughter and friend. She blogs about life, marriage, encouragement, and motivation.  Read her blog here or follow her on Twitter. If you would like to guest post on this blog, email a post to kimanzi@talesofwork.com

Sometimes when you’ve been in a job for a while, you can start to feel like a number.

Sometimes it is your boss who treats you like a number.

Sometimes it is your coworkers.

Sometimes you begin to treat yourself like a number.

You get up, go to work, eat lunch, have the same conversations, and live the same days over and over again. It can feel like the movie Groundhog Day.

We don’t realize we’re doing it. We just gradually get stuck. We stop dreaming. We stop thinking we can make a difference in the world. We get trapped. For many different reasons.

But don’t feel bad. The majority of people have found themselves in this situation at one time or another.

But you don’t have to stay there. You can choose to be you. Not a number.

 

                                                                                   Photo – Creative Commons How do you do it?

Start by believing that you have something to offer the world. Even if you have forgotten it, or buried it, you do have something unique to contribute.

Think about what comes natural to you. What people tell you you’re good at. Think about what excites you. You may be surprised at what it is. Sometimes it’s something that you do consistently. It just stopped becoming or feeling unique to you.

Start being present. Even if there are things that you don’t particularly like about your job, you can choose your attitude. You can choose how well you do your job.

You can choose to notice the people who God has placed around you. You can choose to make a difference right where you are.

Start speaking up. If you feel like a number, it may be because you have chosen to take the route of not getting noticed. To do just what is required, and nothing more.

The good news is you don’t have to feel like a number anymore. You can choose to change. TODAY! It starts with one small step.

What is one step you can take today to start being YOU?

P.S. William Haeflinger will be moderating the comments while I’m away, thank you!

It’s A Whole New World of Possibilities

At the time of you reading this I will be in Sydney, Australia! I wanted to write to you before I left to tell you about something pretty amazing that I’m thrilled to be a part of.

[image error]Do you realize the incredible potential that is available to us with the Internet and the rise of social media? In the past to get noticed or have your message heard you had to go through many gate-keepers. In the past of you wrote a book you had to pitch it to an agent and hope he would pick it up.

If that agent agreed to represent you, they had to find a publisher that would even look at the book. This year I self-published two books, sold a bunch of copies and got a book deal all without an agent or spending a single dime on advertising. It’s a whole new world.

With all this opportunity think of how this could benefit ministry. What about a missionary that self-published a book of their experiences or started some kind of online business? They wouldn’t have to be supported by anyone and with the state of the economy, mission’s giving has been way down. How much more effective could missions be?

The Lord is GOOD and will always provide for those that follow his command to go into all the world, but maybe one of the ways the Lord is providing is with all these new opportunities.

Not only missionaries but what about you? I know many that read this blog are striving to create their own income that will give them the freedom they need to really focus on the things that are important in their life. To focus on things like missions or helping out in many other ways.

I want to tell you about a conference that is coming up that will teach you how to do the things that make a successful online business. The kind that would provide what you’re looking for, where I have the honor of being one of the speakers:

Christ In Business: Making a Difference, Leaving a Legacy

This conference is online so you won’t have to worry about travel and all of that, you can participate in the comfort of your own home in your PJ if you want If that’s not enough Dan Miller will be speaking there as well, so you know it’s going to be good!

The cost of the conference is $199.00 but for that you get admission to all the sessions (that makes it less than $20.00 a session) and you’ll get $599.99 worth of free bonuses. I personally contributed to some of the bonuses and I didn’t hold back!

Enough talk from me, here is a link to the website where you can get all the details here

If you do decide to go I hope you’ll consider going through my affiliate link of which I will make a commission. This is how I’ll be getting paid to speak at the conference, you can sign up through my link here

Thanks and I look forward to updating you on my trip to Australia!

When He Plans the Next Step…

Welcome to those visiting from the blog of Josh Hinds where I have the honor of guest posting. If you like what you see, consider staying up to date, and get an inspirational manifesto as a bonus:

Note from Kimanzi: I am out of the country speaking at WordCamp Sydney in Sydney, Australia (yeah!). While I’m away I’ve asked several bloggers to guest post in my place, enjoy! This is a guest post by Heidi Kreider who is a wife, mother, author, and friend.  She blogs about life, grace, and gratitude at heidikreider.com. If you would like to guest post on this blog, email a post to kimanzi@talesofwork.com

Abruptly my life course changed direction. Though it wasn’t an earth shattering change, I felt like I had lost my purpose.  For a decade I homeschooled. I thought I would graduate all three of my children.  Instead, our home school whittled down to one.  I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. My life didn’t look like the picture I carried around in my head.

A wise one once said, “the years reveal what the days cannot see.”  In my insecurity, God was already at work.  He had the next step of my life planned.  He brought to fruition a life long dream of mine, to be an author.  There was never enough time in a day to pursue any serious writing… until my life course changed direction.  My God works that way, often in ways that I only recognize in hindsight.

I am now an author.  More importantly, I am a Jesus lover, wife of 18 years, and mom to 3.  I’ve spent the past fifteen years at home.  My days are full taxing my children to their various events, adventuring on field trips, and laughing uproariously with my friends.  I count gifts daily and seek grace and forgiveness hourly.  I have been blessed with deep friendships and have prayed many friends  through the horrific battle of breast cancer.

While homeschooling just one, I wrote my first novel,  The Secret of Counting Gifts and the accompanying journal The Secret of Counting Gifts Gratitude Journal.  Both are now available in  eBook and paperback through Amazon.com.

The Secret of Counting Gifts is a story about life, friendship, hardship, and gratitude.  It is the story of  Kris McClintock and Liz Bower and their friendship that spans twenty-eight years.  Through marriage, babies, and infidelity they stand by each other and hold one another up… until breast cancer delivers the final blow.  A s she sits by Liz, Kris recounts the trials and blessings that made them who they are.  She tells their story and recalls the many “gifts” they have been blessed with throughout the years. She shares of how Liz taught her to notice the  gifts in each day and to live with a grateful heart. It is through the telling of their story that the secret of counting gifts is discovered….

I look forward to seeing how God will use this next step in my life.  Through out this month, I am on a virtual book tour.  You can see the stops along the way at http://www.heidikreider.com/.  Come on over and say “Hey!” and register for my giveaway… autographed copies of The Secret of Counting Gifts and The Secret of Counting Gifts Gratitude Journal in a hand-made basket.

I’d love to chat.  How has your life direction changed?  What is your next step?

P.S. Dan Black will be moderating the comments while I’m away, thank you Dan! 

Pursue What Really Matters

Note from Kimanzi: I am out of the country speaking at WordCamp Sydney in Sydney, Australia (yeah!). While I’m away I’ve asked several bloggers to guest post in my place, enjoy! This is a guest post by Jim Woods who is a writer, coach, dreamer and chocolate chip cookie addict in Nashville, TN. You can read more of his posts at his blog here or find him on Twitter. If you would like to guest post on this blog, email a post to kimanzi@talesofwork.com

I was completely obsessed.

I checked my web traffic probably six times a day, maybe more. It was even worse if I did a guest post.

Usually, the traffic was going up. Very, very slowly, but it was going up.

Then one day after writing a guest post for another blog, my traffic dramatically dropped. My heart sank. My eyes teared up. I was pouring my soul into this work and no one cared. It made me bitter. Cynical. Angry. Hurt. All of the above.

I was ready to give up.

So much for having a career as writer.

Then I spoke to a friend I respected who had been blogging for years. She told me something very important that made me realize I had it all wrong.

“It’s not remotely about traffic. It’s about relationships. Who cares what the traffic was. You need to care about each person as a person, not a statistic.”

Thanks to that great advice, now I view web statistics as one small piece of the puzzle. I try to only view my traffic on a month by month basis. Day by day is too extreme and I know I can’t help but obsess over it.

I now gauge my success as a writer by the quality of relationships I have. Knowing that I can contact friends all over the world to talk about writing, life, or just to receive some encouragement means more than millions of page views from total strangers.

I challenge you to focus more on relationships. Relationships are what REALLY matters.

How can you improve the quality of relationships you have with others?

P.S. Dan Black will be moderating the comments while I’m away, thank you Dan!

5 Lessons Travelling Can Teach You

Note from Kimanzi: This is a guest post by M.Farouk Radwan, who is a full-time blogger and author. You can read his blog here or follow him on Facebook here. If you would like to guest post on this blog email a post to kimanzi@talesofwork.com and I’ll review it.

When most people think about travelling all that comes to their minds is being on a vacation and escaping from work. In addition to the amazing moments a person spends while travelling he can learn lots of important life lessons without actually noticing.

Travelling to a new country or to a place that you have never been to before will not only help you relax your mind but it can teach you lots of things about life that you might need along your journey towards your goals.

Here are some of the lessons travelling can teach you:

Being ok with loss of control: many people freak out when they lose control in their lives. The beauty of travelling is that it sometimes lets you go through situations of harmless loss of control. These situations can help you adapt to the fact that you sometimes might not be able to control everything and so help you feel better whenever something goes wrong in your life. Being lost in a new city, not finding enough cash all of a sudden, finding yourself alone in a new place and many other similar situations can help you adapt to loss of control.
Finding business ideas: many successful business ideas can come to your mind while visiting a new country. Sometimes you might find a brilliant idea implemented successfully in a country that you are visiting and that is not implemented in your country yet. Such ideas can be the seed that you plant to harvest a successful business.
Improving Social skills: the best way to develop social skills is to find yourself in a place where you either have to socialize or die! For example, if you lost your way while visiting a new country then you will be forced to talk to people you don’t know in order to know your way back. This situation and many similar ones will help you develop better social skills.
Learning to plan: when you travel to a new country you will find that you have to plan for many things in order to be able to survive, whether it’s the budget or the way you are going to communicate with people who don’t speak your language such tasks will teach you how to plan for your goals which will in turn teach you how to plan for your life.
More self-confidence: when you do the things listed above along with the other things you will find yourself forced to do your self-confidence will increase. Self confidence increases when people learn new life skills and travelling can be one of the best schools that can teach you these skills

Take a break from work, travel, have fun and develop your skills : )

Where have you gone or where do you plan to travel this year? What lessons have you learned?

Stop Living For The Weekend

A couple of months ago I went to work on a Monday a little more excited than normal because in a few days I would be flying out to West Virginia to speak at my very first conference. One week later it was the same thing, I was heading to work on a Monday and on Friday I was flying to New York to speak at a conference there.

During those weeks I had noticed something but I filed it under “I’ll think about it later” and went about my normal life. A month later I had another trip and the thing I noticed became super obvious: I was completely living for the weekend.

Even the weeks in between speaking events, I noticed that during the week when I worked, I didn’t do anything outside of focus on the next day of work. When the kids wanted to play I would give them some time but limited that time because I told them and myself that I needed to be rested.

When my wife would want to go out to eat or go and hang out with friends, I told her we could do it on the weekend. Basically my whole week became about getting through that week of work before I could enjoy life.

Does this sound familiar?

Forty hours a week (and even more for some people) is a big time commitment, no matter what, it’s going to affect the other areas of your life. The question I had to ask myself and that I’m now asking you is how will you let it affect your life?

Do you only do fun and exciting and I dare say necessary things on the weekends? If you don’t, what are you doing after you get off of work?

Life is short, too short to waste all that time. I was stunned when I looked at my son and realized in five years he’ll be eighteen. I had to honestly ask myself if I had taught him all the things I wanted to have taught him at this point. Had I spent enough time with him?

All that time that I would come home and just veg out was wasted time that I couldn’t get back. Here’s the thing, it wasn’t wasted by me coming home and watching TV, it was wasted by me not being present.

Are you present?

I know how hard it is to get work out of your mind sometimes, especially if there is a crisis. The thing you have to remember is that we’re all living on borrowed time and we have to make the most out of it.

If you’re a parent then your most important job is your children. They need everything you have, they need all of you. They need you to put work second and them first, that means not wasting that time during the week making the excuse that you’re waiting for the weekend.

Are you wasting valuable time?

If you’re in the process of chasing your dreams than any spare time you have (outside of the time devoted to your family) is time you need to make those dreams a reality. Your dreams will never become a reality if you only work on them on the weekends, and more than likely you won’t even be working on them on the weekends. Use that spare time, push through that fatigue, this is how you can finally leave that job or business that is making you this way.

The weekends are great and sometimes a good time to catch up; it’s not the time to live your life. You have to live a full and abundant life everyday, you should go to bed tired everyday from all that you accomplished and the time you spent with love ones.

Have you been living for the weekends?