Today, I was asked by a client if the economy was affecting my business.  I told him no when I should have said yes.  I am doing great for my consulting business.  I have steady clients, continue to get new leads, am trying out a lot of new applications and am really enjoying myself while being able to pay the bills!

How is that possible when people are getting laid off, companies are canceling contracts and the ECONOMY IS SO BAD?

It’s not a secret which is why I am sharing it.  If you tune in to my lifestream, you know I talk about how I’m making my dreams of success a reality.

Focus

That’s right.  Focus.  Most people don’t think for themselves.  They allow the media to penetrate their thoughts and they buy into the “reality” of what they see, hear and read.  It’s a sort of mass hysteria if you will.  On the other hand, there are people who seem to be doing great no matter what.  You’ve met them.  They seem happy, cheerful, focused on their goals and seem to be going somewhere.

There are many ways to get results but the most important thing I can tell you is to imagine where you want to be in 5 years and “work it backwards”.  Imagine how you will start your day:

• Do you go to work at an office or do you work from home?
• How do your co-workers greet you?
• What do you do for work?
• How are you spending your free time?
• How is your health?
• What are the people closest to you doing in your future?

The problem is that most people cannot enjoy the present moment.  They are either worrying about the future or regretting the past.  They are wrapped up in other people’s opinions and are not truly connected to themselves.  I can tell you from experience, this is an exhausting endeavor.

Why would someone stay in this sort of stressful, anxiety ridden state of mind?  They don’t know any better.  There is no one in their life living any differently.  It’s like a bunch of hamsters on a wheel.

I was able to find out there was a different path I could take by reading how other people were dealing with goals, stress, reality, health, boundaries, organization, dreams and of course, focus.  I found links, websites and books that I could identify with.  The two earliest forms were David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done and Gina Trapani’s website Lifehacker.  Both described how I could deal with situations in my life differently so I could have more free time.  I liked that idea and began thinking about how my life would be different.  I was excited by the possibility of a life that I could enjoy.  Until then, I had the mindset that life had to suck at first to have a better payoff later on.  I worked long hours, put up with other people’s crap and bit my tongue so as to not hurt other people’s feelings (a lot!).

Times are tough for people who buy into the hype

Here’s a recent example.  I read about “Fly-in restaurants” in The Progress Paradox.  Did you know there are restaurants out there that serve people who arrive on the runway in a plane?  This isn’t fancy 5 star food and the people who arrive for a good meal are not rich and famous but rather people who fly their own planes and seek out this sort of unique adventure.

CJ’s Restaurant and Catering
Pilots can fly their own planes on a day trip and meet others for lunch right at the restaurant with the nearby airfield and landside accessibility.

In fact, there is an entire book devoted to the subject with over 1,000 restaurants people can fly to and grab a bite to eat.

Get started today with that vision of your life 5 years from now.  Create a rich, detailed story of how things will be.  Write it down, draw it, clip out pictures the reflect your future.

Reserve a few minutes each day thinking about this future of yours.  Don’t worry about how it will come to be.  Don’t guilt yourself for not being “perfect” or whatever.  Just focus on the 5 year vision.

Eventually, you will begin to notice things happening in your life that help you get there.  Puzzle pieces come in all different sizes but they all help to complete the big picture.

Remember, hope, faith and working smart (not hard) will move things along.  Many people in modern society are used to being in control of things and knowing exactly every-little-detail-about-every-little-event and future event.  Let that go.  There’s a lot in life that you will never be in charge of.

I hope this helps someone the way I found articles and links when I started moving towards something better.