Are you noticing that each day you wake up feeling drained, low in energy, pushing yourself to get
through your day because you are so caught up in the running of your business and frustrated about the fact that you do not have time for yourself and the important people in your life? There is 1 key starting point that most of us have heard about or know about, yet this is pushed aside for whatever reason. If this starting point was put into place, it would change everything in an instant.

Do you want to know what it is? Most definitely I hear you say! Well the answer is to ‘Begin with your End in Mind’.

What does it truly mean to Begin with your End in Mind?

~ It means to be really clear on your inspirational vision for your business and your personal life.

~ It means to be really clear on your business and personal values and why you are in business in the first
place.

~ It means to be really clear on what type of people you love to work with by creating your muse.

~ It means to set up simple systems from day one of your business and maintain the update of these.

~ It means to maintain simple systems in your personal life for yourself and with your loved ones.

~ Whatever else is important to you – set this up in the beginning – do not wait!

When I first started my coaching business, I started with my End in Mind which has been the major 
contributing factor to my success of having a purposeful and profitable business with a soul-satisfying  lifestyle at the same time. I want to talk about this today because it has come up so often in the past few months with my coaching clients and thought it was time to expand on this very subject.

Because I implemented this in the beginning of my business, it did not mean that the human side
did not come in which took me of my course at times. I remember on a number of occasions in the early days of my business I started to compare my End in Mind with other people’s success on an external level alone.

What I mean by this is that often I would see other business owners really busy, they knew a lot of
people and networking all the time. I am all for consistently being in action doing what you love inside your business, as long as it is not at the sacrifice of having a happy marriage, good health and fitness, connecting with your children and whatever else is important at a heart level etc. I noticed how I started moving into that very direction because I had attached success to being on the go all the time and being ‘out there’.

I started to notice a feeling of being out of control of my business and my personal life because I had disconnected from my End in Mind. I noticed I was reacting to external opportunities that did not match my deeper values and the reasons why I started my business in the first place. The truth be known, I was feeling really sad because I started to push aside other important things in my life that I knew worked for me in sustaining a balanced energy flow throughout my week.

At that very time of this happening to me, I noticed business owners who were exhausted started
asking me for coaching. They told me that they were sick and tired of feeling like they were on the treadmill of exhaustion and really did not know how they were going to handle another 12 months if they wanted to grow their business. They also mentioned that they were trying to be everything to everybody with no real systems and structure that matched their lifestyle and business vision. They were feeling very depleted in energy and frustrated not knowing how to get off the treadmill they had jumped on themselves. There was no pause button for them because they did not create one based on their End in Mind.

As I coached these business owners how to set up their End in Mind, and the simple systems they needed to build a bridge, in not only their business, also in their personal life..they began to quantum shift all areas of their life propelling their personal, business and financial freedom.

This has been the biggest learning lesson for me when first starting my business which has contributed to me making sure that I continue to grab hold of my End in Mind success story with both hands and maintain my promise of never comparing my success (internally and externally) to other people’s outside success alone. You truly do not know what is happening for other people on the inside at a real feeling level, as well as their outside success. True success only occurs when you begin with your End in Mind from the inside out – yes, both internal satisfaction and contentment, as well as external tangible results.

It’s funny how a passion can arise from an adversity. This is what I am most passionate about today –helping people to set their End in Mind Success Story every day. When you zone into your End in Mind success story, it is so much easier because you are eliminating outside distractions that always causes loss of focus and sabotaging beliefs.

Your Lifestyle & Business Vision Success Coaching Assignment:

Here are the Top 10 Simple Steps to easily attracting your Sustainable Success.

Yes, it is normally the simple things that get lost amongst the midst of our busyness each day. Remember to always hold on to the basics as your strong foundation so that you keep standing on solid ground for when you grow your business and expand on your lifestyle.

1. Have a clear heart’s vision on where you want to take your business, your lifestyle and yourself. Write it down and create an inspirational plan on all the intuitive steps your are drawn to taking.

2. Set up powerful and simple systems that will naturally support your business style and your life style on a daily basis. Take consistent inspirational action steps to develop sustainable and solid foundations in your business and your personal life.

3. Have supportive likeminded people around you who match your values – business partners, colleagues, staff and
mentors.

4. Stick to what you are good at doing and hire others to support you and the growth of your business.

5. Create your business and yourself YOUR way. Absolutely, learn from others – take what you want and hold onto
your vision.

6. Create a relationship with money by having an abundant mindset and by managing your cash flow (income v’s
expenses) with expansive thinking using the natural laws of attraction.

7. Set strong boundaries and attract your ideal clients for life. Be really clear on who your deal client is, what are their
qualities, standards, the things you love about working with them etc. Create your very own ideal client muse.

8. Create a positive belief system about yourself and your business, so that whenever challenges come your way –
‘and they will’ – you will then be able to deal with it efficiently and effectively in the moment.

9. Hire a mentor/coach to support your ongoing personal and business growth as a life investment.

10. Have fun along the way and enjoy the journey.

If you still feel like you are struggling with reclaiming your business and your lifestyle and wanting to take yourself and your business to the next level of success with more and more confidence, I would like to recommend you attend my NEW 3 hour workshop covering The 8 Proven Steps How to Live your Inspirational Vision with Personal, Business & Financial Freedom…in record time.

To Find out More – refer to my website http://www.annettestanton.com.au/workshops-events

• Self-Direction

Leaders all have the developed trait of self-direction. They have created a game plan for their life. They set goals based on their values and consistently work towards them until they are achieved. Identify what your self-direction is and create a plan on how to achieve it.

• Self-Management

Leaders ‘make’ it happen. Setting up systems in your personal and professional life to support you in achieving your goals. Self-Management gives you energy and determination in making things happen. Learn ways to manage yourself, especially when challenges arise.

• Self-Awareness

Leaders display a positive self-awareness. They know themselves very well – their strengths and weaknesses. They are more tuned into others around them and intuitively tune-on much quicker than others around. Develop ways to become more aware in the hustle and bustle of everyday activities.

• Self-Discipline

Leaders practice self-discipline. You will never get to where you want to go in life if you do not have self-discipline. Identify what’s holding you back from being self-disciplined and how to break through the blockages of moving forward.

• Self-Image

Leaders see themselves as winners – they act like winners. They use images with pictures, feelings and words according to the roles they want to play. What you see for yourself is what you attract and what you feel within yourself is who you are. Identify how you see yourself and how you truly feel about yourself. Develop ways to create the leadership self-image.

• Self-Confidence

Leaders have developed a strong self-confidence – they weren’t necessarily born with these good feelings. With practice they have learnt to like themselves and deep down inside they have a feeling of their own worth.  Positive self-talk is the key to positive self-confidence. Become conscious about what your self-talk is saying to you all day, every day and how you can develop your self-confidence.

• Self-Expectancy
  

Leaders have a positive self-expectancy enabling them to be better prepared for opportunities. Be aware of what you expect in life because you will always attract what you expect. Develop ways to manage and prepare yourself through self-expectancy.

When I was a national sportswoman in touch football throughout the 80’s and 90’s, I noticed that my whole focus was on the national championships at the start of the year pushing myself training 2-3 times a day (yes I said 2-3 times a day) sometimes it was morning before work, beach run at lunch time and then a game after work. Then after the championships, I would do it all over again the following year. Wow I did have a lot of energy back in those days, yet I know the difference today because it was a driven energy that was not sustainable because it was attached to a lot of should’s and have to’s. I certainly live life very differently now with my natural energy flow.

As I reflected on my sporting journey I noticed I also did this in every other area of my life. I noticed I never fully enjoyed the journey at a conscious level because I was in a ‘Doing’ mode focussing only on the end result and did whatever it took to be my best, all in the aid of performance. A lot of life went by and I missed out on connecting with myself and others because I became one-eyed in life.

Now I am not talking about not putting in the effort and energy to be your best, what I am talking about is when you only focus on the destination….the journey becomes a blur of ‘Doing’ to get somewhere. Ultimately there is nowhere to get to and the joy is always in the journey of who you are ‘Being’ whilst you are in action towards your desired result.

As I kept reflecting on what was driving me, I realised that the best part I enjoyed the most in my sporting career was the training, which was the journey itself and all along my energy, focus and hopes were how I performed at the national championships. My expectations on myself were impossible to achieve, as I never felt anything I achieved was Enough! It didn’t matter if I played really great and others would acknowledge me, I never really let it in because I was too busy being so darn hard on myself for what I did not do well. Obviously they did not know this, but I am sure they picked up my slap back to them when I did not thank them for their acknowledgement or even by allowing it in. You can tell when someone acknowledges someone if they have not accepted it, even by what they do not say.

Even as I write this article, I am noticing insights about the fact that in the first place my performance was based on wanting to be accepted and acknowledged or even be proud of by others and the irony is at the very moment I received acknowledgement I still did not accept it. It was impossible for me to even notice my own success with me having such a strong inner critic which was very old school way of thinking in my upbringing that if you were too confident, you would be seen as cocky and a smart allic!

As a business owner today, I keep catching myself when I become that one-eyed focussed on the Results. This is when I create my own stress on myself and stifles the growth of the business.  I am not talking about not having a vision and a plan, what I am talking about is not being attached to the results. Your only commitment every single day is to enjoy your chosen journey and choose feelings of enthusiasm, love and joy when you take your chosen actions towards achieving your big vision.

Let go of the results ~ Let go of when it will happen ~ Let go of how it will happen ~ Let go of trying to control everything….Struth….I can feel you jumping through the page asking “Then what do I do?” Yes, I totally understand; being a real control freak and results driven type of person myself; asked exactly the same question years ago. You know your values, your vision and your goals, set up your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly; doing the important things first according to your values and take only the inspired actions that move you towards achieving your vision. MOST OF ALL you FEEL GOOD inside because your feelings create an energy and a vibration that will attract to you whatever you desire. It is the good feelings inside your actions that you need to hang on to and be committed to every day.

I noticed that when I stayed focussed on the results it is a controlling feeling and a fear feeling of not believing it will happen. I then create a low energy and force actions to happen, as I keep pushing myself through and living in hope! So much more harder. Life was not meant to be Hard – I totally understand now and live the motto that Life IS Easy!

We are taught to believe that persistence is the key. Yes, persistence is the key, yet only if you enjoy the journey of your everyday life and not being attached to your end result. The missing link I noticed is that I needed to know my desired end result and know that whatever comes to me could be greater than and even better than I imagined because of my initial thought of the desired result. If you are attached to a result looking a certain way, then you may be limiting your own success.

Simple Steps to Remember

1. Thoughts of Desired Result
2. Creates Feelings/Enthusiasm
3. Take Inspired Actions
4. Let Go of what, how, when Result will occurA Result will occur for your greatest and highest good in life (always your next learning lesson)

What does this mean?

• It means to be really clear on your vision for your business and your personal life.
• It means to be really clear on your business and personal values and why you are in business in the first place.
• It means to be really clear on what type of people do you love to work with and what are their traits, qualities etc.
• It means to set up simple systems from day one of your business and maintain the update of these.
• It means to maintain simple systems in your personal life for yourself and with your loved ones.

I was speaking with a business owner in one of my group coaching sessions last week who asked me the question;

“Is it okay for me to choose my own business hours…Don’t I have to work flat out and full on to be successful?”

What is your answer to this question as a business owner. Notice your own beliefs that may be running your business today.

My answer to her was “Definitely Not! You choose how you wish to set your business up and what hours you want to work. Consider also, how much money you may want to make and then work out your hourly rate and how many clients you need to see to achieve this. Then work out your business hours from there and see if it matches your desired lifestyle without sacrificing the important people in your life, as well as your time for self”

More about the simple 10 powerful steps to creating a successful business below. Yes, it is normally the simple things that get lost amongst the midst of our busyness each day. Remember to always hold on to the basics as your strong foundation so that you are standing on solid ground for when you grow your business.

1. Have a clear vision of where you want to take your business. Write it down and create a plan on how
you are going to get there.

2. Set up powerful and simple systems to support your business on a daily basis. Take consistent
action steps to develop the depth of your business foundation.

3. Have supportive people around you who match your values – business partners, colleagues, staff and
mentors.

4. Stick to what you are good at doing and hire others to support you and the growth of your business.

5. Create your business YOUR way. Sure! learn from others – take what you want and hold onto your
vision.

6. Keep a close eye on your cash flow (income v’s expenses) and create an abundant mindset.

7. Set strong boundaries and attract your ideal clients for life. Be clear on who your deal client is. What
are their qualities, standards etc.

8. Create a positive belief system about yourself and your business, so that whenever challenges come
your way – ‘and they will’ – you will then be able to deal with it efficiently and effectively in the
moment.

9. Hire a mentor/coach to support your ongoing personal and professional growth as a life investment.

10. Have fun along the way and enjoy the journey.

One of the most common questions I am asked is ‘how do I overcome procrastination’ and start/complete the things I know I need and want to do? Here is the 6 most powerful steps that will support you in achieving your projects/goals.

1.  Write down your project with a deadline

Having a clear end result of your chosen project and a ‘when by date’ are both the ticket to freedom. This can decrease stress by motivating you into action. Any anxiety about completing a project is usually related to ‘inaction’ and this uses up an enormous amount of energy. When you state your readiness to achieve a clearly defined goal with a ‘when by date’ in place, you release this energy into good use towards achieving your project/goals.

2.  Choose someone to hold you accountable

Put ’supportive accountability’ in place. When left to our own devices there is a tendency to procrastinate in your action orientation, especially when it relates to a project that takes us out of our comfort zone. By asking someone to hold you accountable in a supportive way, your project/goal will become a ‘positive pressing’ priority. Choose someone who has your best interest at heart and ask them to check in with you to be sure that you are on track. Be sure to celebrate your milestones and end result together.

3.  Set a commencement date

Now that you have a clear project, a when by date and someone to hold you accountable, you are ready to set a formal start date. Give yourself time to plan and prepare. Yes plan being the ‘operative’ word. For example if you have a when by date to complete your taxes by July 1st with a start date of June 1st, you will need to give yourself a chance to clear your schedule to get the necessary forms and resources in place before you get into trouble and put yourself under pressure. Too often we plunge into a project without a plan and end up getting frustrated and overwhelm because of underestimation of time frames to get things done.

4.  Set clear boundaries to support your progress

Think of this step as casting a wide net around you and your project so you are protected while you work. For example, if you need to complete a report for your job, you will want to schedule uninterrupted time in your office. This might require a conversation with co-workers about needing space and a willingness to avoid emails and phone calls until you have completed the job. Ask yourself “What boundaries do I need to put in place in order to have the emotional and physical space I need to get this project completed?”

5.  Take frequent breaks

Often when I coach clients to complete a tough project, they often start with a ‘push through to the end’ mentality. For example, they are willing to work ridiculous hours at the expense of their lives. While this might get the project finished, it forms a negative relationship to project completion which only fuels procrastination in the future. You will want to create a positive relationship by taking frequent breaks. Enjoy the process and give yourself a break during the project planning.

6.  Identify your ‘WHY’ – keep them in view

When the project is complete how will your life improve? What are the benefits of completion for you? Identify 3 benefits you will receive from completing your project, put them in writing and keep them in view. There are many benefits to completing a project – the satisfaction of a job well done, the peace of mind that comes from no longer beating yourself up for not acting plus the many physical benefits that go along with your completed project.

Many parts of life is about the process of completing projects in some form or another. What project has been hanging over your head? This month, follow the 6 steps and free yourself from the bonds of incompletion and procrastination so you can enjoy more of your precious time.

“First, have a definite, clear practical idea; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.” – Aristotle.