Tag Archives: Life

How to Eliminate Procrastination in Your Life

Eliminate ProcrastinationEliminate Procrastination and Accomplish Your Goals

I intended on writing this article sooner, but I put it off. That is my lame attempt at making the idea of how to eliminate procrastination a funny one. The truth is that putting off, delaying, or postponing anything you deem to be important in your life is not one bit funny. So, what can you do to eliminate procrastination from your world once and for all?

The first method that worked well for me was to write down my goal and give myself a deadline. A goal without a deadline can be put off indefinitely, so by adding it to my to-do list I had no choice but to tackle it by the next working day. I learned much about myself in the process, such that I would much prefer to write than to speak with someone I do not know on the telephone, and that the longer I put something off the more difficult it seemed to become.

You will also want to break down the tasks and activities you write down into smaller pieces, or chunks. For instance, when I am creating a new online course or writing a short report, it’s much better for me to do that over a period of two or three days instead of trying to make it happen all in one day at a single sitting. That’s when I can become overwhelmed and then I accomplish very little that day. Instead, I make a list of what will be included in my project and then work on it one section at a time.

Visualizing the future is also helping in the effort to eliminate procrastination. This means that I step back to look at and visualize the bigger picture of what it will be like to accomplish my project. Basking in the joy of having another course to add to my inventory of products makes me feel like I am headed in the proper direction for my business.

In the interest of honesty, I will admit that fear used to be the driving force behind my tendency to procrastinate on certain issues. But as I have progressed as an entrepreneur those days are long gone. If I ever feel fearful, I push through the situation and keep moving forward. Having the ability to harness your fear will make everything in life easier and more joyous.

These days I am accountable first and foremost to myself. That means I must accomplish my goals in a timely manner and stay on schedule at all time. Yes, occasionally there are times when I get behind or change course at a crucial point in a project, but for the most part my days of postponing my work are not an issue in any area of my life. And when I do exactly what I said I would do I reward my progress with a pat on the back and a favorite film. I certainly hope you will use my experiences and examples to eliminate procrastination and get the job done.

I’m Connie Ragen Green, online marketing strategist, bestselling author, and international speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and inner game mind shifts. Let’s connect to see how I may best serve you in the near future. And be sure to check out my Really Simple Online Courses training course.

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Doing What It Takes in Life and Business

Doing What It TakesAre You Willing to Do What It Takes?

I regularly share that I spent the first fifty years of my life living in mediocrity. By this I mean that over those five decades I seldom did more than simply exist. Yes, once in awhile I did something over and above what was expected or required in my situation, but those occasions were few and far between. I’m not sure why this was how I progressed through those years, but I do know that it was not very satisfying, rewarding or fulfilling to live in such a way.

When I made the decision to change my life completely back in 2005, I gave no thought to what I just shared. I assumed that I would find a new way to earn income and that it would all work out. What I didn’t expect was to have my life turned upside down in a way that would bring me such great joy and rewards. This happened during the first couple of months while I was in my home office attempting to figure out just how I was going to make the transition from classroom teacher and real estate broker/appraiser to online entrepreneur. As I sat in front of my computer I came to the realization that if I wanted to change the outward appearance of my life in terms of time and financial freedom that it had to begin with my changing my thoughts, actions, and habits on a daily basis.

I soon began to think of this mindset shift as one of being willing to “do what it takes” (I wrote a book all about this in 2016) to accomplish your goals. I stopped complaining about the writing being a challenge and the technology being difficult and the marketing being so foreign to my previous experiences. Instead, I began to write a two hundred fifty word article each day, I learned enough technology to be able to outsource most of these tasks, and I challenged myself to become an expert and an authority in the area of online marketing. Each day I was focused on my goals and I did whatever I needed to do in order to achieve them and continue moving forward.

People in my day to day life noticed the change almost immediately. I still had my sense of humor, but it was obvious that I was serious about my new life. I gave up reading fiction from some of my favorite authors (Elmore Leonard and Dean Koontz) in favor of books that could give me the business education I sorely lacked at that time.

I would lose track of time and try to better my best on a regular basis. All of this was exciting and invigorating as my business began to flourish and prosper. And this new outlook on living carried over into my personal life as well. I was on fire! Doing what it takes is good for the heart and soul as well as for your mind.

Take a look at where your life is at today. Are you doing what it takes every single day so that your goals and dreams can become a reality? Do you have a mentor to help you on your journey? How may I best serve you to achieve your goals by doing what it takes?

I’m Connie Ragen Green, online marketing strategist, bestselling author, and international speaker on the topics of entrepreneurship and inner game mind shifts. Let’s connect to see how I may best serve you in the near future.

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Fear of Success and Failure in Life and Business

Fear of SuccessDo You Have the Fear of Success or Failure?

I grew up in a family based on the principle of fear. There was fear of the dentist, fear of flying, fear of being embarrassed, and basically, fear of failure. This precluded us from trying most things, as the probability of failure increases with each new thing you attempt to do. Fear of success was not even possible because of the other fears that took precedence.

But when I was twelve years old and had a tooth ache, I overcame the fear and called the dentist to make my own appointment. The fear of continued pain was enough to make me minimize the fear of dentists my family had instilled in me. And the whole thing turned out just fine.

It was at this point that I began to question the thoughts, beliefs, and values I had been raised with. What if there was nothing to fear at all? What if I could attempt anything I wanted, with only the natural and rational risk associated with it.

For the first time in my young life I felt truly alive and ready to chase my dreams.

Now I would love to tell you that this felling stayed with me until this day, but that is not the truth. Instead, fear began to creep back into my mind almost immediately. It has been a lifelong challenge to deal with my fears and keep them at bay. But it is worth every moment that I am able to push through and accomplish my dreams and goals.

What are you afraid of? Can you pinpoint a time in your life when someone said or did something that struck fear deep inside of you? Sometimes these experiences are so deeply ingrained in our subconscious minds that we cannot remember what happened.

I would urge you to spend time every day working on dissipating fear in your life. Typically we have fears around failure, sickness, death, aging, and disappointment. Work on your fears one by one and see what you can do to alleviate the pain they cause you, as well as the missed opportunities.

Where it may be almost impossible to eliminate fear completely, it is most definitely possible to think of fears in a rational way. For example, when I wanted to start my online business at age fifty I was fearful of failure in a big way. So I spent some time thinking through each of the scenarios I had fear around and decided to go for it.

Then I learned about a new fear – fear of success. What if I achieved everything I set out to accomplish? What then?

For the very first time in my life I was able to set most of my fears aside and get on with the work of creating something that meant so much to me. Yes, there were still times during that first year where both the fear of success and the fear of failure crept into my mind, but I quickly moved past these thoughts and got back to work.

I would love to hear your thoughts on fears of any kind.

I’m Connie Ragen Green, an Online Marketing Strategist, bestselling author, and international speaker. Let’s connect further and see how we may work together in the near future.

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Are You Taking Inspired Action in Your Life?

Taking Inspired ActionTaking Inspired Action in Your Life

The year was 2006 and I had taken steps to change my entire life. After twenty years of working as a classroom teacher, while simultaneously working as a real estate broker and residential appraiser, I walked away from both in search of a new way to earn a substantial living. In addition to these drastic moves, I also built a new home about twenty-five miles north of the city I had lived in for the past fourteen years. All alone in this venture I jumped at the opportunity for change.

At the age of fifty I was ready for a new life, but I wasn’t sure where to begin. Always being a person of great faith, I was sure that God would show me the way to whatever He had planned for me. It was blind faith on my part but it felt like the right thing to do if I were to have life experiences that I had been dreaming of for so many years. These included travel, financial freedom, and people to have these experiences with for the remainder of my life.

In my new community I was drawn to a small, non-denominational church. They met in the back of the Senior Center and welcomed me with open arms. Over the next few months I was introduced to the Law of Attraction, viewed the newly released film “The Secret”, and participated in discussions around the idea of taking inspired action. This was a new concept for me, as I had indulged in the “victim mentality” for all of my adult life. Things happened to me; I didn’t initiate the actions that led to the situations I was unhappy with on a regular basis. For the first time ever I understood what it meant to take responsibility for everything that came into my life experience. It was uncomfortable at first, and superbly empowering once I embraced and accepted this new way of thinking.

In the movie “The Secret” we were told that everything one wants or needs in every area of our life can be satisfied by believing in an outcome, repeatedly thinking about it, and maintaining positive emotional states to “attract” this desired outcome. But the people I was now surrounding myself with had a different take on this. They believed in the law of taking inspired action, which meant that we had to do much more than simply wish for and visualize what we wanted in our life experience. This made all of the difference in my life. Immediately I began learning and doing when it came to my brand new online business. Instead of creating a vision board of what I wanted to achieve, I actually took action by writing, creating, and engaging. Within a few months I was earning some income and this continued to grow.

People who had known me for years were quick to comment on the change they saw in me. They described me as being more focused and serious, yet also more playful and happy. They scratched their heads when I excitedly told them about my new online business. Timidly they asked if I had thought about returning to teaching or real estate “just in case” this new internet thing didn’t work out. I knew they only had my best interest at heart, so I entertained their inquiries while making it clear that I was working hard to make sure the new business would be a success.

But the thing was, I wasn’t working hard at all. Even though I was spending many hours in front of the computer each day, it was joyous at every turn. It was a new world for me and I was taking inspired action at every turn. Even though I had been into computers and technology since the very beginning, this was all new to me. And I had wanted to write since I was about twelve years old but seldom did, until now. My fingers (I continue to type with my two index fingers to this day) flew over the keys as I wrote articles, blog posts, short reports, and more. And as someone who had not wanted her photograph taken her entire life, I immediately turned into someone who was always ready for her close up!

The next step was to seek out like-minded individuals to walk beside on this new journey. I found them at conferences, workshops, and other live events and continue to call many of them friends. Once my business took off I was asked to be a speaker at many of these events, and the public speaking opportunities opened up yet another new world to me.

Looking back now I can see that I was ready for change in my life and open to new thoughts and Taking Inspired Actionsideas on how I could get there. I hope you can feel the excitement as you read my words here, as conveying these concepts around taking inspired action is what I most hope to achieve by sharing them with you. I know that the Law of Attraction can be a controversial topic for many people and I certainly understand why that is the case. But if you are willing to move to the next step by taking inspired action I believe you will find a world waiting for you to step inside and achieve all of your goals and dreams.

Are you taking inspired action in your life experience? What do you think about these ideas on how you can change your life by taking inspired action?

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Life As An Entrepreneur: Road Trip 2016

Entrepreneur Road TripThe Entrepreneur Road Trip

Recently I spent three weeks driving across the United States and back to visit my clients and see the country. The result was quite satisfying, productive, and joyous and I thought I’d share the highlights of this trip with you.

My goal was to connect with as many people as possible along the way, and to work closely with them while I was in their home. Originally I had planned to fly to various cities and rent a car, but my decision to drive my own vehicle from California and back worked out much better. I covered just under six thousand miles in twenty-one days, visiting a dozen people and seventeen different states in the process.

Just as when you work on your online business from home, keeping a routine and being disciplined with your time is crucial to success. I’m used to writing and doing most of my other work in the morning, so whether I was staying in a hotel or with one of my clients this was simple and easy to accomplish. It’s been many years since I waited for inspiration to motivate my writing, so before I went to bed each evening I wrote down what I would be working on the following morning. I’d have to say I completed even more work than usual during this three week trip because I did not have many outside distractions to get in my way.

Even though I travel with my own Internet connection via a “hot spot” device, almost every hotel I stayed in had a decent connection, as did every one of the homes I stayed in with my clients. I had a laptop, iPad mini, and an iPhone with me throughout this trip.

What all of this has taught me is that we are even more capable of achieving our goals than we previously thought. If I was able to do more work than I had been doing at home while on this road trip, just imagine what I’ll be able to do from home going forward.

What is your business model? Are you working strictly from your home, or are you able to work from anywhere in the world where you have an internet connection? As you can see from my entrepreneur road trip, anything is possible.

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