As I mentioned in my last blog, I’ve been reading Brian Tracy’s “Eat that Frog”. For those of you not familiar, your “frog” is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on and also the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life at that moment.
So I discovered last week, when setting goals and making my to-do list, that my space, was my frog. And no, I”m not referring to the social networking website dinosaur created 14 years ago, but rather to what has truly become my personal space. I have a study in my home that I intended to use as my home office and it needed a facelift and some customization to make it my own. It required that I go through a number of boxes from my old “corporate” office and clear out room for some new items. Needless to say, I procrastinated for weeks.
But when I finally made it a point of eating that frog, and doing so as Brian would say “single-mindedly”, that is without diversion or distraction until it is 100% complete, what a positive impact it has had on my transition to work-at-home mother.
This photo of my desktop in my new home office is representative of the following: humility, love and pride.
1) Humility – it was a turning point for me in my career when I began to embrace the importance of being humble. My Dad always taught me that respect had to be earned, but it took me years to realize that would happen when I chose to listen more and speak less. It’s always been my practice to hire subject matter experts and trust in them to inform my decision as a leader. I had to learn to be okay with not knowing everything, and while coffee may make me awesome, diversity of thought and inclusion is what earned me respect and truly made me a high performing leader. As an added bonus, a 24 oz. coffee mug isn’t a bad way to start your day. Thanks Kacey 😉
2) Love – hands down, my favorite addition to my space was a Christmas gift from my husband that literally brought me to tears. He had made a personalized nameplate/clock/business card holder with my new business name, Altitude Business Coaching. He’s always been my biggest fan but this gesture and outward show of love and support was truly above and beyond anything I had imagined.
3) Pride- last but not least, while living out my dream and following my passion has been so rewarding, I would give anything for my parents to be alive today to witness it first hand. And since that isn’t possible, the next best thing is to look them in the eye every morning when I walk into my new home office and see the pride in their eyes. No better way to say “Good Morning” then with a ray of light from heaven.
Setting up my home office has provided a kick start to my new business. There is something about finding your happy place that can genuinely provide daily motivation. So don’t procrastinate, eat your frog, and discover the greatest positive impact you can have on your life in this very moment.
