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Review and Reset: Real-life Goals Work

July 6, 2010

Filed under: Mid-year Goals, goals, success — Tags: , , , , , — Starla J King @ 8:53 am

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[blog post by Starla J. King, Big Fish 2009-10]

Ah, summertime! 

Long days of sunshine luring us to the water, summer vacations giving us an excuse to play hard and relax even harder, and all sorts of external activities encouraging us to step away from work for a while.

Ice cream, anyone? :)

While it might seem counter-intuitive to talk about goals during this time of typical work breaks, it’s actually one of the best times to review and reset our goals.  Our minds are open, our energy is in a positive place, and our dreams are more accessible.  It’s a perfect set-up!

I have my Big Fish Goals Wheel in front of me — created in Dec 2009 during Lorin’s Big Fish Annual Goals-setting Teleclass, expanded a bit in January (2010), revised slightly this spring.  Let’s take a look together at some of my goals:

Personal:
Intention: Mystically connected
- Yoga at least 1 time per week
- Morning Pages [2 pages stream of consciousness longhand writing ] 5 days per week
- Monthly “Artist Date” [anything that fills my creative storehouse] alone

Career:
Intention: Simply amazing
- Set up OutWrite Living (see OutWrite Living biz goals)
- Complete Book 1 concept, outline, and proposal
- Establish myself as expert blogger-for-hire / blogging coach (see OutWrite Living biz goals)
- Set up t-shirt line and begin selling at least 3 designs

Fun & Recreation:
Intention: Main Ingredient
- Daily playtime

A quick review of my Personal goals, and I realize that I haven’t done yoga even one time ALL year.  So I need to look at that – am I the issue here, or does the goal just not fit?  In this case, it’s the goal – I’ve done other body and spiritual work that has met that need wonderfully, so I am erasing that goal because I no longer need it.  (note, always use PENCIL… goals set in stone can actually get in the way of our success!)

Morning pages 5 days per week?  Check!  Celebrate my success there!  With ice-cream, of course.

Monthly Artist Date?  I’ve neglected that, and definitely still need that goal.  No revisions there, no self-reprimand — just renewed focus.

My Career goals are on track, which actually surprises me.  I’ve felt as though I haven’t made a lot of progress towards the career goals, but I see in reality, I’m right where I planned to be at this time of year.  More celebration (and more ice-cream! and a new goal to work out even harder! :) ):
- New business (OutWrite Living) is being formed
- The book concept is becoming more clear as the  new business takes shape
- I have several blog-writing jobs and am coaching people re: successful blog-writing
- Our t-shirts are ready (just need to get them online for sale)

Fun & Recreation?  I’ve had playtime in most of my days, but definitely not all, so I’ll keep that goal as it is and will refresh my determination to make play a MAIN INGREDIENT of my life – a non-negotiable. 

As you can see, this is not a difficult exercise… it’s actually fun (ooh, I just met one of my goals for today!). 

Hopefully you already have your goals written down and refer to them often, but if you don’t, you can create them now.  You still have an entire ½ of this year to make things happen! 

What are some of your key goals??  Share them here to give them even more strength, to get support from other readers, and to get excited about them all over again!

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Need more help with setting and reviewing goals?  See previous blog posts for additional tips and inspiration:
- Resolution Revolution
- Clipping into 2010
- Spring-cleaning your goals

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Tapping into our Richest Resources

June 1, 2010

Filed under: Thought Leader, Women Leadership, success — Tags: , , , , , — Starla J King @ 8:19 am

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[blog post by Starla J. King, Big Fish 2009-10]

I was intrigued to see the flood of responses to Lorin’s blog post last week and responses to the referenced WSJ article (by Sharon Hadary) about the topic of women business owners taking their businesses to the next level(s). (Click here to read full blog post).

Apparently we women entrepreneurs are hungry.

Hungry to feed the success of our businesses… …hungry to create flourishing businesses that we can be proud of AND be recognized for… and hungry for the tools to do all of this without overwhelming our lives.

I’m certainly one of those hungry women. I’m ready to sidle up to a buffet of resources and connections and best practices that every one of us women entrepreneurs have.

I keep thinking about that buffet (or maybe it’s more like a full-fledged banquet) — the incredible skills and knowledge in each woman business owner – and wondering, how can we better leverage those resources in and for each other?

What if, for example, every one of us made an intentional effort EACH DAY to do ONE THING to help advance another woman in her business? Such as:

  1. Make powerful introductions between potential business collaborators – powerful because you’ve sensed shared values and goals between these women, not just a similar business line.
  2. Contact (call, email, even text) a woman business owner asking “what one thing can I do for you today?” And mean it.
  3. Share information and inspiration (both are critically important) tailored specifically to the recipient. Become one of the people whose emails always get read because each email is that impactful.
  4. Ask other women business owners for specific assistance. If another woman business owner might be able to fill a specific gap in your skill set, knowledge base, or even a certain type of motivational energy, ASK her for help, or even negotiate a mutually beneficial business deal. Chances are, the collaboration will further her business every bit as much as yours. 
  5. Ask each other the tough questions. Many of us women entrepreneurs have business or life coaches who ask those questions that require digging deep internally and doing clarifying research externally. If we’ve been coached, we know how to ask those questions of each other. And if we haven’t been coached, we can still ask open honest clarifying questions of each other. Questions ignite discovery – the fuel for taking ourselves and our businesses to the next level.
  6. Be someone else’s microphone. When another woman business owner impresses you or inspires you, let other people know. I suspect we’re all pretty good at personally congratulating or thanking that person, but how often do we publicize someone else’s successes? Let’s each start doing that regularly – TODAY.

Just one more thing here – the part about not overwhelming our lives. Yes, I’m asking each of us (myself included) to add something to each day. And believe me, I know we are all busy enough that we struggle to find space in our schedules for even the priorities. But I am not asking us to add a tedious To Do to our list.

I’m suggesting instead that with a little practice, we can make showing up for each other consistently just another part of the unique and highly effective way we women do business.

Are you with me??

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Big Fish Nation is an incredible program for connecting women entrepreneurs with each other and invaluable tools. If you want to hear about my Big Fish experience, email me directly at starlaking@comcast.net.

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The Power of Retreat

May 4, 2010

Filed under: Women Leadership, success — Tags: , , , , , , — Starla J King @ 6:51 am

[text and photos by Starla J. King, Big Fish 2009-10]

There’s a workworkworkwork vortex of owning a business.

Detail work
 Visionary work
  Networking work
   Planning work
    Lessons Learned work
     Prioritization work
      Re-prioritization work
       Resourcing, accounting, marketing, selling, servicing, creating, giving, doing, learning, expanding…

STOP!

       Retreat…step back
      Breathe
     Focus
    Let go
   Allow
  Laugh
 Connect
BE.

You see, when you’re too busy to take a break, that’s the time to do it. 

Somehow we get drawn into this notion that the only path to success is overwork.  If we’re maxed out on work hours and have exhausted our energy, then we know we’re doing enough… because it’s all we CAN do…so it HAS to be enough. 

It takes courage to stop working before you’re tapped out, and to take a retreat in the middle of your “busy season.”  But that’s what keeps your business alive, fuels your vision, hands you the unexpected insights, AHA’s and breakthroughs… the “taking care of business” (see last week’s blog).

Case in point:  Lorin Beller Blake of Big Fish Nation:  Successful business owner, wife, mother, athlete, etc. etc.  Undoubtedly busy and in demand, and probably a To Do list long enough to make me cry. 

Yet she took a retreat this weekend.

And she walked on fire.

I think perhaps we can manage our own “retreat” don’t you?  Today it might be 10 minutes.  Or this weekend ½ hour.  Then maybe next month an entire day.  

On our To Do lists, let’s put  “Retreat” and so there is no question about priority, add “NON-NEGOTIABLE”  … then tell us about it here.  Are you in??

(tune in next week for Lorin’s blog about her fire walk!)

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Clipping in to 2010

January 19, 2010

Filed under: goals, success — Tags: , , , , , , , — Starla J King @ 3:09 pm

[text and photos by Starla J. King, Big Fish 2009-10]

I just got clip pedals installed on my road bike. Uh oh.

It makes me a wee bit (ok, a lot) nervous that most people respond to that announcement with wide eyes and phrases including wipe-out and falling over.

Really, what was I thinking?? Now my shoes (unfortunately, with my feet in them) will be clipped in – metal thingies on my cycling shoes snapped into metal brackets on the pedals.

The only way to “get out” is a quick twist of the foot. Apparently a non-instinctual move that requires some training. And falling. And road burns.

So — WHY???

  1. Because “clipping in” makes my pedaling more efficient as I become one with the bike and our energies blend seamlessly. 
  2. Because (once I get the hang of those little monsters) a secure hold on the pedals keeps me safer. My feet won’t slip off the pedals, so I avoid a potentially disastrous move when standing up on the pedals for extra oomph up the hills
  3. Because they make me feel tough… strong… like something I never thought I’d be come – a biker! I’m playin’ in the big leagues now… I have CLIP PEDALS!

Turns out that’s exactly what my annual goals do for me.

Before I went through the Big Fish Nation program last year, I thought about setting goals, but actually doing them? Never got around to it.

This year, I started my 2010 goal-setting during the annual Big Fish Goal-setting Call, and now I’ve got those puppies written down and am already making progress on them!

Like those clip pedals, the structure of goals makes me nervous. I’m an artistic, act-on-inspiration, go-as-the-spirit-leads sort of chick.

So why clip into annual goals??

  1. Because I’m more efficient in my work and my whole life when I’m more streamlined, letting my own natural energies seamlessly combine with the focus of the goals.
  2. Because goals keep my feet from slipping off the path of what I want to accomplish and who I want to be. I still get to use inspiration and intuition in reaching my goals – I just don’t wander around aimlessly so much now!
  3. Because simply having goals makes me feel tough … strong…downright invincible at times. And then reaching a goal? Oh, that feels amazing! I’m in the big leagues now – I SET GOALS and REACH THEM!

Go on, try it… I dare you. <grin> Clip into 2010!

My Big Fish goals wheel – get yours plus help writing your 2010 goals by listening to the replay of the Annual Goals Setting Class, available for $59.

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