Illuminating Support
I know many of you are spending some time creating your visions for 2019; either on your own, or taking workshops to create your visions. Whether your vision planning takes form in a Vision Board, in your planner or journal, in a piece of art ,or in your head, I wanted to reflect on a few things to give more power and intention to your visions so that you can bring them into form. One of the most important things I want to discuss is to illuminate where you need support to make your vision, dreams, heart and soul desires a reality.
Because we can't do it alone! Nor should we, it is much more powerful to call in support!
First, I wanted to share a few wisdom bytes so that your Vision Board doesn't become just a pretty collage that collects dust, and then some thoughts on calling in the support you need. I have so much to share on the subject that I am considering doing a video on it early next week, because there is more I would like to share than you probably have the patience to read in a newsletter. I am also available to provide one on one support to guide you towards creating a vision that you can actually bring into form, way beyond a board or a list of written goals, as well as, guide you towards a clear idea of what areas of support will get you the biggest bang for your buck in order to achieve your visions, but more on that later.
Consider these things when visioning:
We don't just live to work, our sacred work includes but is not limited to what we get paid to do. Include your home, health-spiritual, emotional, and physical needs, relationships, creative expression, and making sure you do things that bring you joy. In many ways these are all intertwined but if we don't include the rest of our lives and honoring all of our needs in our visions we end up over-working, over-giving, and exhausted.
If you are looking at all aspects of your life then more than 1 or 2 goals for each will also become overwhelming, be gentle with yourself.
Remember that life and business work in cycles, not hard stops on December 31st and brand new starts with a whole new set of goals begins on January 1st. That is external world, calendar driven madness matrix thinking, not Feminine Wisdom fluidity and flow thinking, remember fluidity + focus=flow. Look at those things you did complete (or are complete with energetically) and celebrate it. Look at what will continue into the following cycle (not all goals take a year, some less, some more) and how much energy those will take before adding a list of new stuff. Be reasonable and realistic.
Particularly for business, look at what type of cycle you are in or want to be in. Are you in a growth and expansion mode, or a preserve and maintain mode? Not every year has to be a year where you do a whole bunch of new stuff, it might be more wise to give love and attention to what you have already built. If we are in constant expansion mode, or creating a lot of new things each year, that can lead to burn out, and is not sustainable. An example, is you may choose to focus on really loving on your existing customers, repeatable business and programs, and perhaps offer something special and unique for them. As opposed to chasing new business, creating and deploying huge new programs, networking like crazy to find the ideal clients. Look at the amount of energy you have and what fuels your heart and soul desires.
Look at your energy, your rhythms and your patterns from year to year, honor them, and know what keeps you in your joy. Create goals that bring you joy and abundance on the journey, not just when you get to a perceived destination.
Do not be a slave to a to-do list and goals. Create them, set powerful intention, and then release control over outcomes. For the love of Pete, do not use them as a way to beat yourself up when you don't get to it all. I am pretty certain I will die with a to-do list, and the sun will still rise the next day.
Use your language carefully, really feel into and resonate with the words you use. Try not create goals that make you feel like crap. Ex: I must lose 10 lbs by the summer. As opposed to: I nourish and love my body with healthy food, and physical activity that brings my joy. Now doesn't that feel better? And more attainable?
Those are just a few of the ways I work with my visions, and what I lead my beloveds through when guiding them towards there vision. Now let's discuss support. Repeat after me:
I deserve support, I am open to receiving support, I have support. And so it is.
Sometimes saying these words out loud each and every morning is a magical mantra and the support you need often just appears. Sometimes we don't even know what we need and someone shows up and reflects it for us and offers us a gift. But you have to be open to receiving it, so start there. I am also going to ask you to get a little left brained for a moment. After you create your vision and goals, make a list of all the types of support you would like to manifest in order to achieve the goals. Don't worry about financial resources....yet (yes unfortunately we do have look at that too) but there are many areas of support and ways to call in what you need that don't often cost anything in dollars, perhaps time and energy, but you can look at that later too. Just start by listing out every way in which you could use some support...in all areas of life. Free write, take a deep breath and tap into your wisdom and your heart and write what you need. Do not forget relationships. I have found particularly as a woman in business that there were times I did not have complete support from my sacred partner, and those times were a struggle. Have a conversation with your partner if you have one, and make sure you are in it together. It makes success so much easier to achieve, and again ask for what you need, and sometimes it is a tough discussion if your partner considers your work a hobby (I have been there too) just because it is taking some time to make some revenue.
Once you have your list, then you can begin looking at the cost of getting that support in time,energy and financial resources, and prioritize what is important for you. Always reminding yourself that you deserve it and we can't do it alone. Understand what your time and energy is worth, and then of course look at your budget. Understand all the aspects of your business, and where you have the gifts and skills for the task and where you don't, or where you just don't want to spend your time and energy. You are going to have to be brutally honest with yourself on this, and then decide if you would prefer to spend your resources learning how to do something yourself, or if it costs less to hire support. I am going to tell you a little personal story to explain what I mean, because there are hundreds of ways to find support and resources, which again I may do a video on. One quick example is, maybe you want accountability. I know a lot of women who hire very expensive coaches in order to be held accountable to their goals. However, you may be able to find an accountability partner in a networking group or an FB group that has like-minded, like-business members. Just ask for a partner publically and I am sure one will appear, lots of women are looking for accountability sisters.
Another example of support can be hiring household support so you can be in your vision. I will say it again, you deserve it!
In my own journey one of the first support people I hired was a social media manager, even before I made a dime, but it was budgeted for in my start up year business plan (yes it would help if you had a business plan and a budget of some kind) and is in the budget for every subsequent year. The reason why is not because I can't do my own social media, nor do I have any external perceived resistance or block around it (so many people love to say we have a "block" just because there is something we don't care to do..or want to spend our energy doing) but because I don't want to put my time and energy there, My time and energy is better spent creating the curriculum, creating the programs, and actually doing the teaching and painting, that is where my heart and soul desires lie, and my social media manager specializes in her work, as I specialize in mine. She is worth her weight in gold, because I don't get sucked into the SM vortex. When I think about how much valuable time I would be spending away from my own magic if I was scheduling and creating posts, finding graphics..ugh. She is a Goddess, and I am supporting another woman in business.
I tell this particular story because so very often I work with one on one beloveds who are unwilling or think they don't deserve to spend a few hundred dollars or less a month on a support person in an area they don't want to spend their energy on but will spend thousands (often on a credit card) either A. hiring a coach to remove some perceived blockage or resistance around why they aren't doing said task, or B. spend thousands of dollars or hours trying to learn to do something that is not in their heart and soul desires(like building a website for example). And in the end, the task at hand is still not getting done (or not in a timely manner..whereas a professional could get it done quickly) or it is getting done but at the expense of not doing the sacred work that is in her joy and the whole reason she is in business in the first place.
Please know that I am writing this for you as a starting point to reflect on what you need, become aware that you deserve support, and it can come in many forms. I am fully aware many women start businesses with zero operating capital. I have done it several times myself. But what I am asking you to do is know what you need, and what the priorities are and how to discern when the right time is to bring in the help. I have seen many women become successful and still do it all, and start to burn out, despite the fact that they do have the resources to begin hiring support, and for many reasons don't do it. But I can say without doubt in business and in life at a certain point in order to grow we have to take some risk, and begin to release some control. And most importantly live in our joy, share our magic and our gifts, and allow other people to shine in their gifts, because that is what it is all about in the end, isn't it? You didn't go into business to do a whole bunch of things you don't enjoy doing. If that were true many of us would have stayed in our safe, secure and often more lucrative corporate jobs...lol. But we know we are here on the planet to live out an assignment, so let's live it!
I will likely be writing a part 2 on this, or as I said doing the video around hiring coaches, discerning what you need, and what questions to ask yourself, and the person you are considering hiring. Coaches can be a huge support to us, but again, we have to know what we desire to be supported in, and often there is not "one person" that can fulfill it all. Or we may really need a strategist, consultant, or teacher, so it is important to know the difference between various support professionals.
I hope you received some illumination and value in this article. As always, I am available for support if anything comes up for you, or if you would like some reflection and guidance on creating your vision and bringing it into form. I always offer a complementary 30 minute discovery video call to go deeper on the things I share in my articles. Just email me dina@dinatibbs.com if you would like to get on my calendar.