Something Simple

My success: Teaching a successful, and hopefully fun, program for BNI members last night.

I appreciate: 1. My husband.  2. Small business owners crazy enough to run their own business. :)  3. My beautiful nieces. 4. Electricity. 5. A warm home.

I appreciate my willingness to continually improve myself.

I want more free time.

Largest ROI: 2 proposals.

I promise to finish those two proposals.

1% Shift: Time Tracking

Legacy

Grandpa's in hospice. His kidneys have shut down and he has a few short days left.

I know he's lived a wonderful life. I'm reliving my memories of him: hiding from the Japanese and selling black market food to his neighbors from a canoe, getting his Master's degree when he was 40, climbing a coconut tree with a machete in his knife, praising me for finishing all the food on my plate (I know! Saving that for another blog.), teasing me for knowing more about U.S. history than I did (when I was 7).

Again, I don't feel like doing this, but I'll journal anyway because I always feel more centered when I do.

My successes: 
Following up on a lot of tasks on Saturday.  Spending time with my nieces.  Buying the Crayola "make your own paint" set for my niece (and also for me).  Only 1 day left of the 21-Day Primal Challenge.  Great team meeting Monday morning.

Gratitude:

1. My family.
2. Flexibility in my schedule.
3. An incredible team in my business.
4. The 81% increase in revenues this past year.
5. Trust in the process.

First time at a craft store. So much to choose from!

A photo posted by Gail Nott (@gailnott) on Nov 11, 2014 at 1:46pm PST

Gratitude for my Husband:

For being there even when I'm not fully here.

Gratitude for Me:

Always moving forward, even if it's an itsy bitsy, flat on my belly, crawl.

Investment:

Listening to Chris Hardwick's book, The Nerdist Way.  Already got these gems:

• Results include getting paid & getting laid.  Who doesn't want that? :)
• Knowledge is useless if it isn't shared.

Learning & Applying:

Choose a goal & focus on it.  Even if I don't feel like it, still going through my goals & journaling.

Integrity:

Complete ads and plan for clients. Visit Grandpa.

1% Shift:

A little bit at a time.

Snow Break

I started another post, but I'm not ready to publish that one.  I'll try again on that post tomorrow.

For my daily journaling:

Successes

1. Networked with other BNI Directors and a graphic and brand designer.
2. Last-minute promotion and reminders for a client's event.
3. Decided on a niche!  More to come on this one on my business blog.
4. Marketing work for my husband's business, Referral Institute Oakland.
5. Recorded videos to help with team delegation.
6. A fun break at the mall with my sister and her family.

Post by Gail Nott.

Gratitude

1. This weird thing called life.
2. The capabilities to ponder this life.
3. The flexibility to go play in the middle of my day.
4. Meeting nice, fun, inspiring people every day.
5. Time to get stuff done.

Gratitude for My Husband

• His humor, the delicious dinners he makes for me, and just being there for me.

Gratitude for Myself

• Giving myself time to process emotion and life purpose.

Investment

• Record videos for team delegation.

Integrity

• Focus on client projects today.

1% Shift

• Realizing I don't work well shifting from one computer project to another.  Instead I'll stick with personal projects in between computer tasks to give myself a break from the computer.

I Don't Feel Like It

I don't feel like journaling today.  It's Monday, late morning, and I don't think I have any successes to celebrate yet.

I'm disappointed that we had to reschedule our camping trip.  I'm pissed that we didn't plan properly and our tax bill was higher than expected.   And I don't  think I did anything fun yesterday.

Ok, that's off my chest. Enough of the one-person pity party.

Successes:

1. I didn't spend money on something I wanted, but didn't need.
2. Organized my sales pipeline.
3. Organized my desk inbox.
4. Prepared a thorough team agenda & I feel good about empowering my team to take care of the day-to-day operations.
5. Went for a walk with Cory & the pets yesterday.  It's been a while since Cory & I've walked together.

I flipped a file box on a side & turned into a monitor stand/daily inbox.

Gratitude:

1. I get to cancel AT&T. Yay!
2. A tip from my friend Sheila Best, a financial coach, has made it easy to save money for fun.
3. The freedom to set my own schedule.
4. Delicious wine to choose from.
5. Fun clients with interesting businesses that we get to help grow.

Gratitude for my husband:

• Cleaning, organizing & cooking this weekend.

Gratitude for me:

• My focus in improving my business, which in turns grows my clients' businesses.

Investment:

• Watch 2 videos for the Advanced Power Editor (Facebook) class.

Integrity:

• I promise to create the team delegation project.

1% Shift:

• Stick to my planned schedule for today.

The 1% Shift

I came across this article yesterday on habits and improving your life, This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and Here’s What Happened by James Clear.

It reminded me of what I heard in marketing seminar once:  changing the direction of your ship by one percent can bring you to a different continent.

In my daily journal, I'll start tracking that 1% Shift to reach my goals.

Lesson Learned

My successes:  Getting through my urgent email.

I am in gratitude for:

1. A business I love.
2. The ever-changing social media industry I work in.  It keeps me on my toes & challenges me to always improve.
3. Women who understand the true power in femininity.
4. This gorgeous state I live in. I'm looking forward to the next camping trip.
5. Giving myself a raise.

Gratitude for my husband: Buying & setting up my new speakers for me.  

Gratitude for me:  My willingness to continue to explore and grow.

What I want more of:  More clients who value abundance, collaboration, and communication.

I invest in:  Continuing to learn more about Facebook's Power Editor. (One lesson at a time!)

My lesson learned:  Clients I give discounts to, discount my value.

Integrity:  I promise to go through my non-urgent email today.

One more thing I'm grateful for... this little birdie always brightening up my day.

Post by Gail Nott.

Daily Gratitude

1. A productive Sunday. Organized my first aid kits & toiletries. #WhatIDoForFunOnaSunday

2. Great bottle of red wine & my week of alcohol abstinence is over.

Enjoyed one of the last bottles last night. So sad that Westover Winery is closing.

A photo posted by Gail Nott (@gailnott) on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:01am PST

3. Lost an in off my waist. (Doing the 21-Day Primal Blueprint Challenge.)
4. Fall back. I love the "extra" hour of sleep.
5. My awesome team for my business.

Gratitude for my husband: Had fun shopping with him yesterday. Found the perfect sport coat for him. He's going to treat me to new clothes too.

 Gratitude for my self: The fact that I'm doing this daily gratitude thing. :)

Appreciation & Gratitude for ME

Double Rainbow in Rohnert Park

Lately I haven't been consistent in journaling.  When I do journal, I'll write about my successes, lessons learned, what/who I appreciate, what did I promise to do, and what can I do today that will bring me the great return on investment (and that's not always about money).

My relationship coach, Katie Macks, gave me a slightly different journal exercise to do:

Write five things I'm grateful for.  Write one thing I'm grateful for about my husband.  Write one thing I'm grateful for myself.

What?  Me?

I criticize everything, but like a lot of people, I'm most hard on myself.  I have a long history of picking myself apart: my business, my education, my home, my office, my body, my decisions.  There's so much to choose from!

It's been a journey of learning how to truly love myself for who I am.  And even as I type that, the cynic in me peaks it's little head out and spits how cheesy that is.

Oh well. It's a process and I'm proud of how much I've grown.

So here's what I'm grateful for today:

1. Gorgeous, cool weather.  I love the changing of the seasons!
2. A lazy Sunday morning. I got to wake up without an alarm, enjoy my coffee, journal, listen to music, paint my nails, and play with my pets.
3. My fuzzy slippers. Perfect for a cold morning.
4. YouTube. You can watch these magical little movies set to music, called music videos.  ;)
   I miss my MTV!  At least I can now create a private playlist of my favorite songs.
5. My crazy parrot singing along to the songs.

For my husband:  I am grateful to have a husband who reaches for his dreams.

And for me:  I am grateful for myself in taking the time to take care of my husband and my nieces.

That was challenging.  I felt myself tighten up while I scanned my brain, trying to think of what one thing I was appreciative about myself.  

Then I paused, took a deep breath, and acknowledged what I already knew.