Things Successful Entrepreneurs Do Every Day

For the past few years I have engrossed myself in the Entrepreneurial culture. I’ve read millions of words in eBooks and went through the internet for every course, resource and scrap of information I can get my hands on and consumed it all. Most importantly I learned and still learn from successful Entrepreneurs by spending a lot of time with them.

In everything I’ve been gathering I started noticing similar trends that successful entrepreneurs do every day. A lot of them start their mornings at around 4-5am while others work out or meditate (I don’t see myself waking up that early).

If all successful people had the same strategies and we had to apply them to our daily lives, wouldn’t we also be at least putting our foot in the right direction?

Honestly, I sure do love my sleep and the laziest person; however, meditating is sure worth a try. Perhaps I should share these habits and strategies and we can work all apply them on our daily lives. Let’s see how far we can go…

1. Plan your day

I easily get distracted and waste time on unnecessary things. This would happen to anyone especially if you have a day job that also needs your undivided attention.

If you want to get things right and done, then plan your day. Successful entrepreneurs don’t just wake up and see where the day takes them, they know what tasks need to get done, what time they have scheduled in for themselves and use most of the given time.

I do my best work in the mornings, so I try to schedule at least three hours on my office work and focus on my writing just after lunch. Look at your calendar and prioritize your schedule. If you work best during a specific time of the day, block out those hours for a quiet work time.

Plan your breakfast, your date with a friend, how long you’ll take in a coffee shop and most importantly, keep your energy up by eating healthy.

2. Single-task.

We tend to believe that when we multi-task, we get do a lot done at once. Unfortunately, when you have too much going on at once you may become distracted by interruptions and unimportant glitches (facebook, instagram and text messages). Switch off your data.

To be productive and effective, prioritize, delegate whenever possible and focus.

3. Say no.

Most entrepreneurs feel pressure to accept every opportunity that comes their way. I’m one person who is always willing to assist and end up regretting all the time wasted because I don’t benefit the work done neither does my brand.

Time is our most valuable commodity. Be selective about what you agree to do.

4. Value your time.

Let me explain this.

Unlike money, time is a non-renewable resource. There’s simply no way to make more of it. Guard your time and spend it doing the most important things for yourself and your company. Avoid distractions whenever possible.

I know we get excited about having a potential client and jump at the first meeting request, but pause a bit. Whenever someone requests a meeting or consultation with you, try asking for the questions in advance so you can do your research ahead of time. This will keep you on time and on task. You are able to determine if the meeting is worth being held face to face or can be handled over the phone.

5. Delegate / outsource.

In the early days of my blogging, I thought I could do everything myself. Then I realized the small, ordinary tasks were taking me away from things important that needed my most attention. I was all over the place and overwhelmed.

From (most) successful entrepreneurs, outsourcing was a essential point in their business. It allowed them to grow their business much faster and bring in way more income than they would have if they had kept trying to do things on their own. They outsourced to experts.

 

Outsourcing tasks you either don’t like doing, or know someone can do better and faster than you will not only free up your time in your business to do what you do best, but also frees up so much more mental space and energy you may not have even realized was being drained.

6. Take a break.

Get up from your desk and eat lunch elsewhere. If you can’t spare even a moment away from work during the day, make lunch your networking hour. Schedule lunch meetings throughout the week with key clients, professional acquaintances and friends. 

7. Dedicate Time To Self-Development

Successful entrepreneurs use eBooks, courses, workshops, mentoring and coaching to increase their self- development. We never stop learning and we never stop growing.

One of the first things you should do when you start a business is invest in your own education and self -development, even if it’s just a few rands. And it should never end.

There are so many different ways you can include self-development. I attend a lot of workshops use eBooks and do short on-line courses. It’s one of the best way to self- develop and empower myself

Self-development is not only for business, learning more about who you are, how to understand your personality and use it in your business and how to be more self-aware are all ways you with grow both personally and professionally.

9. Rest & Recharge

You need to ensure you’re getting sufficient rest and recharge. What I’ve noticed about successful entrepreneurs is that they make time to sleep and recharge.

I have irregular sleeping patterns and that works for me as I prefer working while people are sleeping. However, you need about 6 hours to 8 hours sleep to feel relaxed and refreshed every morning.

In addition to restful sleep, many successful entrepreneurs also take regular time out from their business to recharge and gain a new perspective on things. This may be a holiday somewhere or a few days off here and there or even just some time spent around a different group of people, but all commented on the need to recharge their own batteries every now and then.

Not a lot of things to kick start a stable road to success, right? All you need to do is understand the need to create a balance in your life.

Flourishing Empowered Women
http://flowrishingtheewomen.blogspot.com
IG: @flowrishingwomen @milkflow
Twitter: @milkflows

 

 



Silent Changes

 

We’re always after transformation. So we work and we work. We buff up our bodies, we chisel our features, maybe we even read books and stuff our heads to bursting with theories and facts. Applying the mental model of labour to ourselves, we suppose that transformation, this prize, takes work.

But we are not transformed. No matter how hard we work, how clever or strong or pretty we become, underneath it all, we are still the same people, with the same fears and flaws, the same broken hearts and unmet dreams. What went wrong?

Transformation doesn’t take work. Transformation needs silence. The only work in transformation is getting to silence. Silence itself does the work, which is not work at all.

What do I mean by silence? There is the silence of the world, and the silence of the mind. I mean the silence of the mind. Not just a quiet street, no shouting co-workers, a phone on silent mode. Not no external noise, but no internal noise.

Feelings are products of thoughts. If you think “I am this”, then you will feel that. I am unloved — sad. I am unworthy — ashamed. And so on. Therefore, when the mind is silent, the heart too is silent.

How do we get to silence? We’re always seeking it — especially if and when we don’t think we are. We’re consumed by thoughts of sex, desire, accomplishment, and belonging. Why? All these are just paths that lead us to a brief glimmering moment of genuine silence. The mind stops speaking. The heart is still. There is nothing left in us but what is truly there.

What is the thing that is truly there? Genuine silence means there is no “I” anymore. Sex, desire, accomplishment, belonging. We have them, win them. Just for an evanescent second, in these moments, there is no “I” anymore, is there? There is something deeper and truer and wholer. Something to which the “I” is the drop, and it is the ocean.

And yet, even these moments, where we lose the “I”, don’t really transform us. They relieve us — for a time. But all the sex in the world does not make you a happier or better person, in lasting ways. Why not?

The eye cannot see itself. The “I” cannot see itself. When we are in the mode of “I”, when we are in the self, we cannot see the self. Only in pure silence can we see the self. We can see it as it truly is. Fragile, wounded, broken, noble, beautiful.

Seeing the self as it truly is the acts which heals it. Why? How can just seeing a thing heal it? Just think about it in your own life. Those moments where someone has really seen you, not the idea of you, are the instants in which you have genuinely felt loved.

This is pure love. Love without judgment, condition, time, place, need. Seeing the “I” is self love, in this case. Self love is not the “I” telling itself over and over again that is wonderful, beautiful, pretty, handsome, famous, rich. Self love is the ability to surrender the “I”, so it can really be seen. Only what is really seen is loved. What is unseen remains broken.

We can apply this love to others as well, once we have learned it. We can really see them, instead of just looking at them through the eye of the “I”: with desire, hate, anger, resentment, and so on. By seeing them, without judgment, only with grace and truth, they begin to be healed. They are loved. But who is doing the loving?

What is seeing the “I”, if it is not the “I”? The answer is very simple. You are used to thinking that all there is to you is the “I”. You are always conflicted, aren’t you? Thrilled by sex, maybe a little scared of it. Excited by climbing the mountain where the adrenaline will cause you to lose the I — but also afraid of it. Charged up to conquer the day, where for a moment here or there, you forget about the I — but also exhausted by the tedium of it. All these conflicts are the result of the “I” thinking it all is there is to the self. When the “I” thinks “I am all there is”, then the being is left conflicted: if the “I” is all there is, why does the self feel happiest, truest, when there is no “I”?

What is seeing the “I” is the true self. The true self is not the sum of experience, history, memory, thought. It is the part of you that is the whole. It is what feels connected in you, when you sit before the sunset, to all being, without you thinking a thought, or saying a word. How could that be? Because it is the part of you that is not a part at all. The true self is the whole universe in you. What else could it be? Universe, one whole.

You will say that is against science and reason. It is the logical outcome of science and reason. The human being is the conflicted one, the little one, the fallen one. But the being inside the human is none of those. That being is one. The true self in you is the true self in me. Go ahead and think about it. The patterns of our experiences differ, but only the patterns. The substance does not: we will all suffer, rise, fall, triumph, despair. And yet through that, there is always a part of us that is there observing, as still as snow, as pure as fire, radiating boundless love. That being in us is universal.

All transformation is a road towards being that, towards that being. Whatever we think we seek, behind it lies the quest to extinguish the “I”, and be seen by what it hides. That is all this little life is: the ache of love that binds us all together.

Transformation doesn’t take work. It takes silence. The silence of the mind, the stillness of the heart. In that silence, the universe reveals itself. Not to you. But as you.

Flourishing Empowered Women
http://flowrishingtheewomen.blogspot.com
IG: @flowrishingwomen @milkflow
Twitter: @milkflows

Defeat the darkness - Be the Light

 

 

 

When you think about it, darkness has no real power. All the darkness in the universe can’t put out the littlest flame. The darkest darkness can’t travel through a window. The deepest darkness can’t be reflected in a mirror.

 

Darkness only has power when we believe that there are monsters lurking it. Then we grow afraid, angry and desperate. We build entire mythologies around them. But they were never really there at all. Because the moment we light a flame, they are instantly dispelled.

 

Another way to put that is:

 

The smallest ember is more powerful than all the darkness in the universe. It alone can drive the darkness out. Reflected, even the smallest flame can burn away all the darkness that ever was. But the greatest darkness cannot even touch the smallest flame with the slightest caress.

 

The same is true in you, is it not?

 

The darkness in you is powerful only when you believe there are monsters lurking in it. Rejection, inferiority, dishonor, loss, failure. We imagine these things and more constantly. Then there is anger, vengeance, grief. Whatever the monsters are, there they dwell, in the darkness.

 

But they are not really real. They are just anticipations, expectations, projections. So they are illusions, are they not?

 

You may imagine these illusions are powerful. But they will only take away your power. You will be chasing phantoms, will you not? What power is there in that? When we are directed by anger, fear, envy, spite, that is what we are doing. Our lives feel futile because they are.

 

 

How do we drive them out instead? Even the smallest spark will do.

 

The smallest spark of compassion for your adversaries, empathy for those who differ from you, forgiveness for those who have hurt you. Beginning with you. The littlest flame of rebellion, creativity, gratitude, imagination, appreciation, truth. In every small intention and action.

 

The moment these come into being you, and all around you, see the monsters as they truly are. Not as evil creatures with the terrible power to make you suffer. But just feeble, frightened people, trapped in the darkness, imagining monsters, just like you.

 

We are all each other’s monsters, are we not? What does that tell us? We are all in the same cave. It is dark. We imagine others as monsters. But when we light a spark, then we see they are just like us. Afraid because they are imagining monsters. But now you see the monsters are just each one suffering, powerless beings. Who have taken away their own power by imagining monsters in the darkness.

 

Don’t take away your power. You do that when you imagine monsters. But you have the greatest power in all creation. The power to light a spark. Any tiny light defeats the greatest darkness, remember?

 

There is nothing more powerful that ever will be than the many names of love. It is the most powerful thing that can be. Because it brings all suffering things together in the light, and teaches them the impossible beauty of life.

 

 

Seek the darkness. Be the spark. That is where your power lies. Darkness is the littlest thing in all creation. You are the mightiest. You just don’t know it yet.

 

 

Flourishing Empowered Women
http://flowrishingtheewomen.blogspot.com
IG: @flowrishingwomen @milkflow
Twitter: @milkflows

Seeing with your heart {Look inside. Not outside }

There you are. Here I am.

Can we ever really know one another? There is a gap greater than worlds between us. My experience is mine, and yours is yours. How can we bridge it, limited things that we are? I can’t step into your mind.

So we try with the only crude tools we have.

You tell me who you are. I tell you who I am. I try to listen. But what can I really hear? I hear what I think, my inner voice, before I hear you. You hear yourself thinking before you speak to me. Now there is conflict, dissonance, noise, all these voices competing to be heard. The distance between us is greater this way, not less.

You watch me. I watch you. I try to see you, you try to see me. But I am really just watching the idea of you. You are watching the idea of me. Now there is imperfection, need, desire. Are you what I want? Do you live up to my ideal? Are you part of my tribe? We are seeing through the broken mirror of mind. The distance between us this way is the greatest of all.

I close my eyes. You close your eyes.

I let all this thinking, talking, watching go. I go deep inside me, to see you. Until I reach perfect stillness.

I watch myself. Watch myself thinking, knowing, needing. I watch myself suffering, clinging, trying to hold onto the wave mind calls a self.

Now I really see what is.

The ocean in me. It is the same ocean in you. Just like me, you are thinking, needing, clinging, holding onto your wave. Just like me, you have suffered, fought, held, surrendered, wondered, imagined, created, loved. That is what a wave does.

Now I see you.

I saw you not by opening my eyes. That closed my heart. I saw you by closing my eyes. So I could see with my heart.

Now when you tell me your story, I see the wave in you, travelling across the same ocean as me. How it grew, struggled, travelled. Just like mine did. Now I see you with love, compassion, real understanding, true wisdom. I see you now, because I have seen that the ocean in is the ocean in me.

We look, but we don’t see. You are a wave, I am a wave. Each wave is different. But the story of the wave is the same. Each returns to and is born from the same ocean. Each life is all life in this great way.

I must look through me to really see you. Not at you. That way, there is no seeing at all.

The ocean in you is the ocean in me. If you really want to see people, look inside, not outside. Until you reach it, find it, see it. And you will see everyone you meet for the first time, every time.



Flourishing Empowered Women
http://flowrishingtheewomen.blogspot.com
IG: @flowrishingwomen @milkflow
Twitter: @milkflows

Breast Cancer Awareness Month - Celebrate that woman

There are different symptoms of breast cancer and some people have no symptoms at all. Symptoms can include any change in the size or the shape of the breast, pain in any area of the breast, nipple discharge other than breast milk (including blood), and a new lump in the breast or underarm. If you have any signs that worry you, see your doctor right away.

Women, I see you. I celebrate you. The strength and courage in you is worthy to be celebrated 👑👑👑👑

#MakeYourOwnMagic
#Flow

Flourishing Empowered Women
http://flowrishingtheewomen.blogspot.com
IG: @flowrishingwomen @milkflow
Twitter: @milkflows

Challenge your mind, make positive choices

Choice is one of the few things that most people leave out of the equation when thinking about all of the reasons that separates those who achieve their biggest goals and dreams compared to those who don’t. The one thing that each and every one of us has is the incredible potential to live a remarkable life and be great in our own right.

We choose our habits. We choose the action or lack of action that we are going to take on a daily basis. We choose how hard we work. We choose what we think about all day long. 

Everything that you do on a daily basis comes from a choice. Living a better life, building a more successful business and becoming happier all comes down to making better choices.

Here are three questions that can greatly benefit the direction and quality of your life if you begin asking and answering them regularly.

1. Where am I right now?

This is an extremely powerful question to ask yourself because most people don’t even take five minutes out of their days to think about where they currently are in life. They know deep down that they are miserable but they just continue to coast along the path they are headed down because they fail to ask this important question.

The key when asking this particular question is to be honest with yourself. When you are honest with yourself, you are offered the opportunity for growth that will in the long run help you get to where you want to go.

Some days I have setbacks and don’t take strides forward, but as long as I am honest with myself when asking this question before I go to bed, I am able to know where I stand and the steps needed to move forward. Take the time to analyze your life and really take a long and hard look at where you currently are.

2. Where do I want to be?

This question is all about what you want out of your life. 

What are you putting in the long hours for?

What gets you so excited that it keeps you up at night?

Once you know where you currently are in life, you then must analyze where you want to be.

Most people have no clue where they want to be. They wake up in the morning an hour before they have to be in the office, go to work, do enough to get the job done and then head home before they have to do it all over again the next day. They follow the same pattern until retirement stage. 

If you don’t take the time to think about where you want to be, the circumstances of life and other people’s agendas will determine that for you. You deserve better.

3. What are the steps needed to bridge the gap?

The third question requires actual work and action, it’s easier to neglect it. After you discover where you currently are and where you want to be, the next question that you must ask yourself is what must be done to bridge the gap between the two? This is going to require several sessions of strategic thinking on your part, and may even take several weeks.

The answers to this question will never stop. As time goes on, more answers will come your way. The more you strategically think about what you have to do to get to where you want to go, the better and more efficient answers will begin coming to you.

Whether you are talking about an individual or organization, these are three questions that when answered carefully can dramatically increase efficiency, performance and motivation.

When you take time out to answer these questions regularly, you give your life meaning and purpose. The power of choice is truly extraordinary.

#MakeYourOwnMagic

#Flow

Flourishing Empowered Women

http://flowrishingtheewomen.blogspot.com
IG: @flowrishingwomen @milkflow

twitter: @milkflows 

Fight For Your Dreams

Some days, you have to put on your big girl pants and go fight the powers that be.

Sometimes it just takes a little reminder that helps us to realize incredible potential that lies within us. As a woman, you do not only provide the necessary essentials for life, but you also have the power to create life. Without you, the circle would be far from closed.

You are able to transform and to change, which allows you to leave all negativity behind. Don’t allow others to decide about your life, but instead seize the power that lies within you.

A strong, independent woman has the courage to be the best version of herself. Yes, it takes courage and strength, but it is worthwhile. Until you start trying to become the best you can be, you never really know the true potential that is within you. But if you have the courage to embrace your potential you will be able to make an important contribution to the advancement of this planet.

Our society places too much emphasis on sheer looks, but neglects to discover the true beauty within. There’s only one true ideal of beauty, which is to be yourself no matter what others say.

Many women complain about being trampled upon. The sad thing is that taking up the role of being a victim does not help in solving the problem. If you really want to become do something about the situation, then you will have to be proactive and do something about it. Otherwise, people will continue to trample upon you.

Have the courage to make a stand for what you believe in. No matter how powerful the enemy, be a woman who always gets back up on her feet and continue to stand up against your enemies. However, with the courage to stand up for what you believe in you will also be confronted with the question whether or not you want to stand up to your friends. Have the courage to stand up to your friends, even if it is causing difficulties for you.

Aside from standing up for what you believe in, you should never allow anybody to frighten you about speaking up for yourself. Make your voice heard in the world, otherwise others will speak for you. Speaking up for yourself takes courage, but it is a habit you can develop. Fight for the realization of your dream. Remember that there will always be people trying to dissuade you from living your dreams, so make sure you have some good arguments at hand that help you to speak up for yourself.

Keep fighting for your dreams.

#MakeYourOwnMagic

#Flow

Flourishing Empowered Women

http://flowrishingtheewomen.blogspot.com
IG: @flowrishingwomen @milkflow

twitter: @milkflows