Kimanzi Constable's Blog, page 64

Taking Things One At A Time

Welcome to those visiting from godlywriters.com. Stay up to date, and get an inspirational manifesto as a bonus:

For my regular readers I want to share with you some good news. I have joined a collaborative writing project that is all about publishing and everything related to publishing from a Christian perspective. My first post went live today, if you have time I would owe you a HUGE favor if you checked the post out here.

I use to be a TV junkie and one of my favorite shows was “The West Wing”, I absolutely loved that show! I remember my favorite episode, which was about one of the characters (Josh) running the presidential campaign of a new candidate (Matt Santos), a relatively unknown candidate.

As you can imagine, running a presidential campaign even for an unknown candidate can be crazy busy. In the episode, Josh had two cells that were either constantly ringing or beeping from text and email alerts.

He had meetings schedule every three minutes (it seemed like it) not to mention, interviews, strategy and the occasional major crisis, his day was never-ending! I saw this episode and was convinced this was how I wanted my life to be, I wanted to be that busy (I now realize how stupid that sounds).

So even though I was watching a TV show, I went on to try to be as busy as Josh was. I would take on all kinds of projects at work; I would take on all kinds of side projects at home. I actually went out and bought two cell phones, I pretty much lost my mind.

I’m going to make a long story short and tell you that I completely chased and burned, I didn’t get a single thing accomplished. Do you know why that is?

Life is not a TV show.

I’m now in a position where I’m actually very busy: between traveling literally all over the world to speak at conferences, editing my book with my publisher, writing three blog posts a week, writing a monthly column for a magazine, writing as a contributing writer for godlywriters.com, writing my third book, coaching clients, consulting companies on their social marketing strategies and I still have my day job!!!

Sometimes I want to pull my hair out, in a good way

Thinking back to that TV episode and what I tried to do afterward and how things are now, have made me realize one thing: Multi-tasking doesn’t really work.

When I try to do more than one project at a time, can you guess what happens? That’s right, I only get a little of everything done, but nothing actually accomplished. Maybe you’re better then me, but I’m guessing you’re fooling yourself if you think you’re good at multi-tasking.

Smarter people than I have written detailed posts about how much better and how much more you get accomplished when you do one task at a time. Doesn’t it just make sense?

Dave Ramsey bases a big part of his strategy of getting people out of debt off of this principle: the power of focused intensity. This means that you focus on one debt (you start with the smallest) at a time until they’re all gone. The point is you actually get something accomplished and you get ether from accomplishing it.

So if you aren’t getting things accomplish like you want and need to, maybe it’s time to reassess how you’ve been going about it. We all have very busy lives and if we want a chance of knocking things off of our to-do list, we have to do them one at a time. Try it and see if it works…….

What strategy do you use to get things accomplished?

Six Distractions You Must Avoid to Live Your Dreams

Note from Kimanzi: This guest post is by Bernard Haynes . He is the CEO of Lead to Impact, a company designed to encourage, equip and empower individuals to realize and live their God designed vision. You can read his blog and explore his website.  You can also follow him on Twitter.

“Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee…”  

II Timothy 1:6

Recently, I read an inspiring story about Louis Armstrong, the great jazz artist. Mr. Armstrong reportedly applied to attend music school when he was a young man. It was reported that at his audition he was given scales to sing, but he could sing only the first two notes properly. After his audition, he was told he didn’t have what it takes to be a musician. He was heartbroken.

Though he was heartbroken, he did not allow the rejection to hinder his dream of becoming a Jazz artist. He told some friends, “I know there is music in me and they can’t keep it out.”

If you know your music history, then you know Louis Armstrong became one of the most successful and beloved jazz musicians of all time. He sold more records and made more money than many other jazz musicians who were more talented than he was. Today, Louis Armstrong is forever etched in the history of music.

What made the difference for Mr. Armstrong? The difference was that he knew his dream and he did not allow others negative commentary keep him from going after it. He knew that there was music in him and he was going to get it out. When he determined to put in the time and energy perfecting his gift of music the world opened doors to receive it.

I learned from Louis Armstrong’s story of perseverance, six distractions you must avoid to live your dreams.

1.  Pessimistic words of others. Don’t forfeit your dreams because others say it is impossible. Don’t give into the naysayers because they don’t see what you see. Turn a deaf ear to their words of despair and open your ears to what God says is possible.

2.  Fear of rejection. Being rejected can be devastating. It can be very frustrating to put yourself out there and then, be told “no.” We all want to be accepted. I have learned that sometimes getting rejected is a blessing in disguise. It may open the door for something better to happen in your life.

3.  Negative inner conversations. Negative inner conversations often arise from low self-esteem, failures from the past or discouraging words from external voices. You combat negative conversations by focusing on who God says you are and what He says you can do. Make a list of affirmations that you know is true about yourself and read them each morning, noon and evening to feed your mind with the right conversations.

4. Fear of Failure. The fear of failure is a crippling feeling that will influence you to make excuses to why you will fail. It will persuade you to cancel pursuing your dreams. How will you know if you will fail if you don’t try? Don’t be afraid to fail. Failure is a part of success. When you fail learn from it, get back up and try again.

5.  Blaming others. It is your responsibility to live the vision God designed for you. Stop blaming others for where you are. Situations may have happened in your life that was not your fault, but it is your responsibility on how you respond. Blaming others will not empower you to move you forward, but hold you hostage from living your best.

6.  Being an imitator. You exhaust valuable time and energy trying to be an imitator. Today’s over communicated, media driven society have duped many into believing that being an imitator is safer than being an original. If you discard your originality and focus on being an imitator, you reject who God designed you to be.

What is your unique vision that the world is waiting for? Are you ready to live it to the fullest? You can experience tremendous success in your life as Louis Armstrong, but you must avoid the distractions and live your dreams.

Question: What distractions do you need to avoid to live your dreams? Leave a comment below.

 

Enjoy The 4th of July!

Out of respect for the 4th of July I won’t be posting today, please come back Friday for a new post!

Sometimes Bad Things Happen While Chasing Your Dreams

I had the awesome privilege this weekend to chase my dreams by speaking at a conference in Reno, Nevada. I was told by several in the audience that it went well despite some upsetting circumstances.

I flew U.S. Airways from Milwaukee to Reno, with a layover in Phoenix. When I entered the plane to Reno from Phoenix they told me I had to express check my bag because the flight was packed. I have done this several times before so I thought this was no big deal. There were also 50 people behind me so I didn’t have time to properly react.

When I got to Reno I waited by the door where they usually bring the bags that are expressed checked, right away I got nervous when they told me the bad was in baggage claim.

I went down to baggage claim, waited for all the bags and sure enough my bag didn’t come out. I was nervous, upset and scared; all I took out of the bag was my ID and my debit card (praise the Lord for that move).

Still in my bag were all my clothes, especially the ones I was going to wear to speak. My laptop was in there which had my Power Point for my presentation for my speech. My wallet was in there with $80.00 in cash and my Passport and all my documents.

Hind sight being 20/20 I should have grabbed the wallet and Passport but such is life. The only person at U.S. Airways with any competence was the woman in baggage claim, she went over and beyond to help me, thank you …………..

She called and found out the bag was still in Phoenix and nether of us could figure out why. The bottom line was I wasn’t getting the bag until 3 pm the next day and I was speaking at 11:30 am. (as a side note, they never delivered the bag the next day either)

Now what????

Since I had my debit card I had a taxi take me to a 24 hour Wal-Mart and I spent $70 buying decent clothes so I didn’t look like a hobo when I spoke. I got to the hotel at midnight just drained and dejected.

I still had to iron the clothes so by the time I went to bed and woke up; I only got 4 hours of sleep. Despite everything that had happened I had to focus on speaking and making sure I rocked it, this is my dream after all.

The story of what happened made a good opening to the speech and I remembered the material as much as I could. I was told by the conference organizer it went well, and I made some great connections in the audience. All in all it was a good learning experience. At the time though, I was screaming bloody murder.

Here are a few things I learned from this experience:

Even chasing your dreams can have stress.  This should be obvious but we’re always surprised when things like this happen. No matter what we do in life there will be stressful times, the key is to not let them derail you from your path. I easily could have just given up and bombed the speech, making the excuse that I didn’t have my stuff. I had to focus on “why” I was there and I had no choice but to give it 110% despite the circumstances and you will have to do this too.
Don’t assume anything. I assumed my bag would be there so I didn’t take the time to get the important things out of the bag. I assumed that the people behind me would get upset if I spent time fumbling around in my bag holding up the line. I assumed that I would have my laptop so I didn’t back up my speech. I had a teacher that used to say “assumption is the tool of the devil”, we should always plan for the worse and hope for the best.
It’s really not the end of the world. I wrote a post about this very thing but despite all that happened I was still in another state speaking at an awesome conference about something that I believe, this is my dream and I was doing it. In the end I got my bag (minus the stolen $80) with the things that were important, I made some great connections and have added to my platform, all is all, a good trip. When you’re chasing your dreams and you hit that bump just remember that you can get through and flourish despite of it.

I’m preaching to the choir so I don’t need to tell you those frustrating, stressful things happen no matter what, but how have you dealt with them in the past? Have you let them defeat you?

If you have been defeated in the past, use it as a learning experience and motivation to push ahead and accomplish everything you dream of in life. After it’s all said and done you’ll look back at it and laugh or use that experience to help others.

What’s one stressful thing that has happened to you as you chase your dreams?

Sometimes the Problem is YOU

At the end of last year I hated my job so bad I wanted to quit and work any job I could find, even at Mc Donald’s.

When I thought about the job and the things I didn’t like, I combined those problems with other problems that I had in my life. This made the job and everything associated with the job ten times worse, no wonder I wanted out so bad.

Now I want to move on but it’s because I know that I have a higher caller, I know the Lord has more for me and that’s the path that I’m on. Lately though I’ve been thinking back on my twelve-year bread career and all the crazy things that have happened.

One thing that stands out the most is the relationship I have with the person I work for now, things have come full circle.

This post is my formal apology!

I started out working at a factory second shift and working my bread business part-time. The bread business grew and I started working for the person I’m working for now, that was over ten years ago.

He used my services so much I was able to quit my job at the factory and do my bread business full-time, yeah! The work he gave me made up sixty percent of my income, so I made sure to always do good work, until……….

As I made better money then I had ever made, my lifestyle increased and it started affecting my work because I would stay up too late. I was too tired at times to do a good job and I figured that if someone didn’t like it I was the only show in town.

So my number one customer would ask me about this and that and he was right but I didn’t want to be bother with it. Eventually this lead to a major problem, that lead to a large argument and a parting of ways.

We didn’t talk for years and I would tell everyone who would listen that he was the problem and he was unreasonable. When you tell a story you always emphasize how they’re wrong and you’re right, I lied so much I was convinced.

I don’t remember how we patched things up but I’m glad we did and for the last two and a half years I’ve worked for him exclusively. I started with him as my biggest customer and I’ll be ending my bread career with him as my only customer J

As I’ve thought about the times when we’ve had problems I’ve had to be honest and admit to myself that I was the problem.

I have to ask you now to be honest with yourself, have you been the problem?

Think of the times when you’ve had problems with coworkers or a problem with your boss, were you the problem? At the time it may have felt like they were and you were completely innocent but is that true?

By nature we our self-fish and we don’t want to admit when we’re wrong but at some point this has to change, you have to be honest if you are going to move forward in your life.

Now I do realize that you’re not always the problem but all I’m asking for is an honest examination of any tension you have towards someone else. See if you need to apologize and restore that relationship if possible.

Life is too short to hold onto any bitterness and to loose relationships that are important to you, especially if the problem is really you.

This week let’s all be honest and if there is a problem with someone else, see if there’s a way to repair or avoid any tension, let’s see if the problem is with us.

Has there been a time when you were the problem?

When Should You Start Your Own Business?

Note from Kimanzi: This is a guest post by Bill White who is the founder of Succinct Research, a company dedicated to conducting quality research products for business clients and the non-academic public. An enthusiast of alternative health, he is also the creator of “http://www.jobsinayurveda.com/”Ayurveda, which focuses on helping professionals in holistic healing and alternative medicine find jobs and improve their businesses. His most recent book, Resume Writing for Scientists, explains the techniques recruiters use to create killer resumes that help place their clients. It’s an excellent resource for anyone that needs a job. To guest post on this blog email a post to kimanzi@talesofwork.com and I’ll review it.

My job situation got extremely precarious this year. I was laid off and had to scramble to find a new job. With a mortgage and other bills looming large, I had to make sure my job search paid dividends quickly. My family was depending on me. Fortunately, I landed a new job in my career field within a few short weeks. Unfortunately, it only paid about 70 percent of what my former job used to pay. This new job has allowed me to cover the bills, but it fails to provide a few extra funds for all the little things I used to enjoy with my family. Eating out, going to the movies, grabbing a coffee, checking out a MLB game most of those fun activities have been cut from our downsized lifestyle.

Even though I’d found another job, I still felt like my back was still against the wall. I was searching for something that would make up that financial shortfall because my family and I deserve a little fun for all the hard work we put into our lives. That’s when I decided to start my own business as a resume and non-fiction eBook writer and consultant.

What did I know about eBook publishing? Not much, but I knew how to write and research. I had written or contributed to nearly 50 research reports, some of which were more than 2,000 pages long! Also, I had written several articles and done a number of public presentations. My job for the last 8 years has been conducting research and writing-up the results. Research is still what I do today. I decided to take the plunge in order to make things better for myself and my family. My financial situation was the impetus I needed to start getting paid directly for what I already knew how to do rather than keep using my skills to enrich my bosses.

How do you know it’s time to start looking out for yourself?

I’ve heard more than one author state that the best time to start a business is when you already have a job:

In his book The Unemployed Millionaire, Matt Morris recaps how he started on his pathway to economic freedom after an unfortunate layoff just like mine. He got another job and started working in multi-level marketing after work and on weekends. He worked both jobs until he was making enough income to sustain himself.
In his interview on Smart Passive Income, Chris Guillebeau, author of The $100 Startup, suggested starting up an online business right away, even if it’s after work and/or on the weekends.
In the book The 4-Hour Workweek, Timothy Ferriss also recalls how he started his first multi-million dollar business while he was working at a job where his skills weren’t being fully used.

These three famous authors and entrepreneurs all suggest starting your business while your bills are already getting paid. Who are we to argue with them?

Taking the Plunge

I decided that I definitely wasn’t one to argue with the professionals. It was now or never. Although I’m still working full-time, it would be hard for my family to stay afloat financially without my business. Not only do we need cash for entertainment, we need extra income for a nest egg in case a financial disaster happened. Something like a blown-out car, termite damage to our house, or a medical emergency could put us in the poorhouse. As Kimanzi recently Elance the first time I took the resume writing test. Between the book and my personal advice, I’ve been able to get job interviews for quite a few of my friends and relatives. Most of those interviews turned into gainful employment. It turns out that while I’ve been working to change my life, I’ve also been helping other people improve theirs. Amazing!

This is the end of the beginning

My entrepreneurial journey is in its infancy, but I have high hopes. Getting paid directly for my research skills is like a dream come true because I’ve devoted myself to learning more about the world around me ever since I was in elementary school. It’s my true passion. The fact that I’m actively helping others by acting on my passion makes the decision to start my own business even better and motivates me to keep moving forward. I feel like I’ve found my true calling helping others through research.

To me, the best time to start a business is while you already have a job. It may take up much of your free time (I know it has for me), but the return on that time is much greater than you would get simply watching TV. The choice is yours.

After all, there are only two directions in life: upwards towards success and abundance or forward towards mediocrity. Choose the upward path.

Which path have you chosen?

 

Set Backs Feel Like the End of the World

This year has been amazing, as I’ve taken action on my dreams, good things have been happening; all should be well, right?

I was delivering bread as usual this past Thursday morning and everything was going well until I got to my third store and realized my handheld computer (it prints the bills for the stores) was missing!

I tore the truck apart trying to find it, I drove back to the store that I had just left and found nothing.

I retraced the route I took to get to the third store, checking the grass and sidewalks, still nothing.

I called the police department and highway patrol to see if anyone had turned it in or if an officer had picked it up, nothing.

I lost all hope and started getting mad and depressed as I realized that I would have to pay almost $3,000 to replace it, which really sucks!

The rest of that day I was depressed and starting merging all my problems into this single problem, I started listening to that nagging voice of doubt that’s always in the back of my mind.

The doubt was telling me that I would have to pay that bill, reminded me of another bill, reminded me that I’m still not out of debt, and reminded me that I still need a lot more money to be able to afford our families move to Hawaii.

Within a few hours after I couldn’t find the computer, doubt had me convinced I wouldn’t be moving and that I would be doing bread next year, stuck! Every fear I have and every doubt I have was exposed right before my eyes, even making my accomplishments this year seem very tiny and not enough.

I’ve accepted the fact that I need to be more responsible with my equipment and that I need to double-check things more, I’ve accepted that I have to pay this bill and that it will require a lot more hustle from me to make up the difference.

I have written about the fact that when you’re chasing your dream you have to be willing to put in extra work, with all the speaking events that I’ve gotten, I figured I had enough money and I was ok.

The truth is that when you’re chasing your dreams and you have a hard deadline like me, “ok” is not good enough, I have to take any opportunity to make money if it’s available.

I’ve learnt my own lessons and have been recharged and now I’m more hungry, even though it’s an expensive lesson, I won’t let it go to waste.

When you’re chasing your dreams and you run into a similar situation while it feels like the end of your dreams it really isn’t. We always have a chance to get back up, and regroup and re-plan, we can’t let these set back keep us from our dreams, they’re too important.

One day I’ll be giving a speech somewhere and I’ll be laughing about this incident (not today though) it will be a real life example of what happens on the path.

What I want to be able to say is that I didn’t let this keep me from continuing on and if you hit a bump that seems like the end of the world, I pray you can say the same.

What’s happened to you that’s felt like the end of the world?

It’s Time To Get Rid of Small Minded Thinking

“Never let your small business keep you small-minded” Brendon Burchard

Have you been guilty of small-minded thinking?

 

 

Stop Comparing Yourself to Other People

Welcome to those visiting from the blog of World Class speaker Paul Evans where I’m honored to be guest posting. If you are new to Tales of Work stay up to date, and get an inspirational manifesto as a bonus:

I remember how excited I was when my first book finally came out, I thought for sure I would sell enough copies in the first few months to quit my job. Why did I think that?

I had read the story of Amanda Hocking who sold one million eBooks in six months doing nothing more than the things that I was doing, so I thought for sure I would sell at least ten thousand copies

When the book came out I sold three copies on the first day, I didn’t understand. I was doing everything Amanda did, why didn’t I have the same results?

We start comparing pretty early in life

Growing up with two brothers we were always comparing what we did. If my brother got a B in school, I had to get an A. Even when we were in high school we always had to compare ourselves to other kids. I think growing up and having that attitude engrained in us, it carries over with us as adults.

Whether you’re working a traditional job, running your own business or chasing your dreams, you won’t make any progress comparing what you’re doing to what someone else is doing.

You have to focus on your own efforts

I spent so much time trying to copy Amanda Hocking and do things exactly how she did them, it was a bad strategy because we don’t even write about the same things. Every step I took I would run to her website and compare that step to the step she made at the point I was at, wrong, wrong, wrong!

Whatever you’re doing it starts with research and yes you will research people who have done what you’re trying to do. However, once you’ve done the research, it’s time for you to form YOUR own game plan. Once you have your plan, it’s time to move forward and take action.

There will be a natural tendency to go back and see how you’re doing compared to someone else, don’t do it. If you have made more progress than that person, then you’ll get a false sense of success. If you’ve made less progress, then you’ll get discouraged and start doubting yourself. Focus on you and your plan, this isn’t a competition, this is your life.

You have to move at your own pace

I touched on this a little bit but everybody has to do things at a pace that makes them comfortable. I have been pounding the ground hard so that I can quit my day job at the end of this year, my friend William is moving a little slower. My contract at my job ends at the end of this year, so I have a lot more urgency, he stills has a few years before he has to worry about that.

So it’s only natural that I’m moving at a faster pace and talking to him he is completely fine with that. If you see others moving slower or faster than you keep going at the pace that makes you comfortable. The key is to make sure that no matter what, you’re making some kind of progress forward.

Comparing yourself to others will be your downfall

With anything that you’re doing to better your life you’ll always have doubt. When you look and compare what you’re doing to other people, you feed into that doubt. You run the risk of getting discouraged and feeling like a failure.

You may feel like you’re behind and take steps that you’re not ready for that could ruin everything you’ve done. You’ll make a mess, you’ll add to your doubt and eventually give up.

If you have been guilty of comparing yourself or your progress to others, then please stop today! It’s not healthy, it’s not smart and it won’t help you move forward. Stick to your plan and the way you’re implementing that plan, this has to be a personal journey.

Have you been guilty of comparing yourself to someone else?

 

 

You’re Not Getting Paid Enough

When I was sixteen years old I got my first “real” job at Burger King, I was excited that I was getting $5.25 an hour (minimum wage), it seemed like I was making six figures.

When I was hired I was told that if I worked hard I could get a raise, so I made sure I worked harder than anybody else. My work must have been good because even though I was younger than most of the other workers I was promoted to “crew leader”.

Now you would have thought that the position came with a raise (I found out later that I was supposed to get a raise) but I didn’t get one, the store manager gave himself my raise! At that age I never though about it, I didn’t have any real bills to worry about, I could spend my money on electronics and things that I wanted.

There was several times when I would apply for a certain job and they would ask for my wage requirements, you know how that goes right? I would low-ball the offers to assure myself the job, you know how that turned out right? I did get the jobs because I’m sure I was lower than anybody, some jobs I was practically working for free!

Here’s my question for you: Are you getting paid enough for the work that you do?

Sometimes that’s just the way it is

I realize there are jobs where you really have no control as far as how much you make, jobs that a union has the pay structure already set up, with the raises prearranged. If you really want that job you have to be prepared to go along with that system no matter how hard you work.

What I’m talking about is jobs where you do have some wiggle room.

Don’t believe the hype

With our economy being so screwed up we’re afraid that the company could fire us and hire someone else, you have to stop thinking that way. Yes, things are different. Yes, there isn’t the job security that used to exist. However good workers that work as hard as you do are still hard to find.

If you’re reading this blog I’m going to make a HUGE assumption and assume that you’re a hard worker that provides value for your company. So even though companies have more options they’re not likely to get rid of you if you ask for a raise. If you’re making the company money, you should be getting paid properly for what you do.

So what are you worth? How much should you be getting paid?

Know your worth

I told you about the jobs that I low-balled my offer, I did it because I didn’t know my worth, all I could think about was getting the job. If you do good work and work hard, you’re very valuable and you should be compensated as such.

There were times when I found out that a co-worker who didn’t work as hard as I did was making more than me and it was because they weren’t afraid to ask for more. You can’t be afraid either.

How do you approach it?

If you have been at a company and haven’t received a raise for a while then maybe it’s time to think about approaching your boss for that raise. The key is to handle things professionally, you have to go over and beyond.

Put together a nice presentation or a power point that shows what you have done and how that has helped the company. I know this will be a little more work but whatever it takes right? Schedule a meeting with your boss and prove to him that you’re worth the raise, go into that meeting with a number in mind as to what you want your raise to be.

What’s the worst that could happen? All they can do is say no, if you handle things professionally you will be heard.

For too long we have been satisfied even when we know we deserve more. Now don’t miss understand this post and use it as an excuse to be greedy, if your company is taking care of you then be content. If you’re putting together that presentation and you can’t come up with a valid reason for a raise, then take a hint……

This is for those who give it their all everyday, who work hard and provide value, see if it’s time for you to get a raise. Know your worth!