Well today some of my stress was released in the form of a little red sign that says “SOLD”. It is amazing the ways that we hold our stresses and I realized that this stress was effecting a number of areas in my life. I was exhausted, unable to concentrate and taking it out on those around me. One of my clients pointed out to me that I wasn’t my usual cheerful self.

As business owners it is very important that we try our hardest to not let our stresses effect our business - I know easier said than done. When we allow things to effect our business, it is hard to recover from the repercussions. Luckily the ways that I let this effect my business probably will not have a lasting effect (especially if I handle it right over the next few months), but I am still left to wonder what if …

What if I had followed up better with potential clients ….
What if I had spent some more time on social networking ….
What if I had gone to that networking event that I passed on ….

So rather than linger on the what ifs, I am going to turn them into new goals for my business …

I will work on better follow up and follow up with each new lead within 48 hours!
I will try to post at least 3 times on my blog and visit the forums at least weekly!
I will attend at least one extra networking event monthly outside the events I am already attending!

As business owners it is important that we know our faults and recognize when we make mistakes, but even more importantly we must take those mistakes and make them into lessons. Once we realize how not to make the same mistakes again, we will be on the road to creating a thriving business!!

So after Sally’s comment I went and read her post and it was like a light bulb went off. There right in front of me was the reason for my funk. I had met all my goals!! This explains the reason I have been so bored. I am truly the type of person that sets out to “prove” something and that I had!! I had started a Virtual Assistant business, written a book (actually 2) and been recognized by my peers. When I thought about it I realized I had been thinking now what.

So this is the reason I haven’t been able to finish writing a book … I already did that!!

This is the reason I haven’t been able to find excitement in my VA business … it is already a successful business!!

So today when I re-write my goals I am going to think about things I haven’t accomplished yet, things that will make me excited again and then I am going to go after them with gusto. The biggest thing I am going to do though … I am going to remember that goal setting is a continuous thing … we need to read them, review them and revise them as we grow and achieve the goals we set for ourselves!!

First I blamed it on the stress of trying to sell my house, then I blamed it on the children being home for the summer and finally I blamed it on being too busy, but finally I realized that no matter the reason it was time to pull up my socks and “smarten up”.

Yesterday at my BNI meeting our President said something that really made me stop and think. “You have to feel your way into a new way of acting not act your way into a new way of feeling”. In other words instead of acting as if everything is great, it is time to change the way you feel about things and other things will fall into place … so that’s just what I did.

I took some time to think about why I was feeling the way I was and decided it was time to stop “feeling sorry for myself” and start remembering that I am a successful business woman for a reason. I can put on whatever show I want to, but unless I start feeling better about myself and about what I am doing people will eventually see through the “veil” I have created.

So once I came to this realization I realized it was time to “brush off my goals”, re-write my schedule, and start working on all those ideas in my head instead of just leaving them there. So watch out world because I have a new attitude!!

I can’t believe how far behind I am at my blog. I come in with good intentions, but it seems that blogging seems to be at the bottom of my totem pole of important things to do. (Well actually me time for hobbies and interests is actually at the bottom!!) I don’t intend for that to happen, but it just does … it seems that when life happens the things that we begin to not “keep up” with are the things we enjoy the most!!

I love to write and I love to blog, but finding the time seems to be a challenge. See, in the hierarchy of tasks I tend to put them in this order …

- client work
- family time (especially now that the kids are home for the summer)
- promotion of my business (ie networking events, meetings with potential clients)
- household chores and tasks (especially now that we are renovating our new home and trying to sell our present home)
- writing, blogging, working on other projects for my business (oh if you only knew the ideas that are swirling in my head, but I don’t have the time to implement!!)
- hobbies and interests

As you can see, although blogging is not at the bottom … it just seems that the days seem to slip away one at a time and although my intentions are good ……..

So to all my faithful readers I do apologize for not keeping up and when life seems to get back on track, I promise to be back and I am sure you will be excited when I finally find the time to get these things moving!!