goal setting

How Not to Make Plans

January 7, 2013 By Cara Lumen

There is no way I can make plans the way I used to. I used to schedule telecourses and plan book deadlines. I used to set goals for the number of clients I wanted to coach. I had a yearly plan. I had a quarterly plan. I had my whole year mapped out. Planning in that much detail now feels foreign to me. It feels pressured. It even feels restrictive. I want to learn not to make plans. I want to simply let life unfold.

Forget pressure

I’m semi-retired so I have had time to develop a life style that is more organic. The mere idea of setting some goals to finish the book I am now working on is painful. How can I rush discovery? How can I hurry understanding? The book I am working on is a journey of discovery for me. I have to let it unfold. There is no pressure. There is no deadline. There is only time to gain understanding and formulate my theories. You cannot hurry the absorption of new ideas..

Let go of restriction

If I fill up my schedule with self-imposed deadlines, there is no room for spontaneity. Nearly every day I have an insight that I feel compelled to write about in order to absorb it into my own life. However, that insight and urge to explore it doesn’t come at a specific time each day. Discovery cannot be hurried. Writing cannot be completed any faster than it is organically finished. There are restrictions in schedules. There are limitations in too much planning. Try simply labeling a day with one action: Production, Writing, Technical, Community Building and see how that makes you feel. Then spend the whole day with one goal – to take steps in that major area.

But what if that’s not what is calling to you on that day? I can’t be technical when I have inspired words bubbling up. I can’t write when there is nothing at the moment that calls to me to explore. Be prepared to flow with your inspiration. Check in each morning and see what you feel like doing. Then give it your all. Gibran says. “Work is love made visible.” Love what you do and it will touch the hearts of others.

Choose valued qualities and let life unfold.

I have chosen several qualities that I want to express every day of my life.

“Unfolding” is my first major quality. It allows me to be in the present moment and not pend time planning ahead or worrying about what might happen. I can be present with my passion. Unfolding allows me to simply jot down a phrase that inspires me and act on it in the muse of the moment or be content with the recording of the phrase and turn it into a meaningful article when I am ready. I act on my passion, not the clock.

“Awareness” is my second guiding quality. Awareness allows me to be present in the moment and it affects how I respond and react to other people. Awareness allows me to notice the world around me and increases my ability to be inspired by a small gesture, a few words or the birds outside my window. Awareness allows me to listen to my own heart, to follow my own passion, and to be patient with my own journey.

“Mindfulness” to me is slightly different from awareness. I mindfully take a conscious action. That means eating, walking, talking, meditating mindfully. Awareness is about watching what shows up around you and mindfulness is about consciously applying yourself to the moment.

“Simplicity” is a quality that makes me conscious of my consumption, my footprint on the planet and even the core concept of my work. Simplicity allows me to appreciate what comes my way and helps me relinquish striving and goal setting. Simplicity builds trust. The answers that show up are basic and right on.

What qualities will guide you?

You get the idea. Chose qualities that keeps you present in the moment and allows you to appropriately respond to each circumstance. When you make certain your responses are aligned with the qualities you value, your life experience becomes peaceful and serene. You move through your days like a gentle stream flowing cheerfully on its way. You easily move around rocks, tumble down hillsides, and pool into silence. Along the way, you will nourish and nurture those you come in contact with as you clear a distinctive path for yourself.

The only plans you need to make are what qualities you will cultivate in every moment.

Some Things Just Plain Cost Money

October 15, 2010 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

He was retired, he had a great idea that could become a lucrative business but he didn’t understand that he needed to invest some money to establish his business and market it effectively. In his case that investment would have been a web presence and business development and content development coaching. Some things just plain cost money.

Why we are reluctant to pay for ideas

For those of us who are coaches and teachers and writers, we know how much goes into the crafting of our content or courses or coaching. Because ideas and insights are less tangible than a web site, for instance, we have a tendency to devalue it ourselves, let alone stand tall when we charge for what our mind produces.

A web presence is tangible; the value and necessity of well-written, accurately focused landing page copy is not recognized by many of our potential clients. They don’t know you only have seven seconds to capture a reader’s attention and you need to get it right. But copy writers do, and they know how to do it. And that skill costs money.

I had someone who was new to blogging ask, “I have a blog up, now what do I do?” I didn’t know where to begin because there are a whole lot of “next steps” and because she was just beginning she had no idea how many decisions were important to make – target community, purpose for blog, plug in choices, Cornerstone Content for starters. Since it’s my business to help people take those next steps in a positive sequential manner, I wrote her back about how I could coach her through the steps. I never hear back from her. It may be that she hadn’t realized that hiring a coach could get her through the process faster and more economically. Hiring professional help is an investment in getting it right the first time. Some things just plain cost money.

You can do it yourself but will you do it well?

If you want to truly save time and money you will hire the help you need. Whether it’s a web designer or a copy writer, or a professional site optimizer, or a marketing expert, or a product development coach, every person you ask to bring their expertise to your business will help you get ahead faster and farther than you can go by yourself.

For instance, one of my talents is content development. You better believe writing is a first love for me and that I’ve been writing all my life, read tons of books on the topic, taken courses, practiced, and developed a repeatable system for teaching how to write great content. I’ve already gone through the process and can show you the easy route. So I save you time and money and help you do the work better than you can do it by yourself. I teach you a process that you can repeat for the next landing page or the next information product. This is true of any professional. They spend hours exploring the latest in their area of expertise and deepening their skills. When you hire them you get the latest techniques and knowledge. You are immediately ahead of the game simply because they know how to do what they do really well.

Helping you think big

Throughout the entire coaching process there is an ongoing search for greater focus that takes place. We explore, we clarify, we choose, we discard; we put an idea aside for later. We manage our time to get results. We work in phases so we see results and stay out of overwhelm. I keep you from going off on tangents. I see the steps you need to take in the order you need to take them in and guide you there. That’s my job, to help you think big and then choose the action steps to make it happen.

How do you put a price on expanding your vision?

Keeping you on the right path

Don’t you love it when someone shows you a short cut! It makes the journey faster and more enjoyable. And starting out your journey with someone who can tell you exactly what equipment you need will not only save you money and but it will make your backpack lighter.

Part of what I do as a coach is keep people from wandering off the trail. We entrepreneurs have so many ideas that we are continually chasing one great new idea after another. But a good coach will not only keep you moving toward your target, she will make certain you complete obvious steps so you know and feel you are moving ahead.

Learn what you need to have and go get the professional help you need to get it done effectively and efficiently.

Find someone who knows more than you do and hire them to teach you. Some things just plain cost money but the return you get from learning how to do it right in the first place is extraordinary. Get the help you need. Invest in yourself. You are worth it!!!

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Are You Asking Yourself the Right Questions?

September 25, 2010 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

Every quarter I take time for a look around to see what’s working – and what’s not. And I ask myself some questions that help me decide what I want to do. Am I having a good time doing it? Is it getting results? What is missing in my life? What is the project I’ve been putting off that is perfect to do right now? How can I think bigger? Do I want to grow bigger or am I the right size for a healthy balance right now? Asking yourself the right questions will help you clarify your desires and make the right choices for this point in your life.

What do your emotions tell you?

We’re living our lives because we have a gift to give – an idea to share – someone to inspire. We are hopefully following our passion as we make our choices. How do you feel at the start of your day? Are you excited? Or would you rather go back to bed? When you are aligned with your passion you will go charging off into your day with enthusiasm and full commitment. If you are not aligned you will know it – it’s simply not as much fun.

Let your emotions be your barometer. How do you feel when you are around that person, or working in that group? Fire some friends if necessary; get new ones that will support you in the direction you are moving. You deserve it. Make yourself happy by your choices.

See what is needed and how it is looked for

I had an interesting insight from something my friend Sharon Sayler www.sharonsayler.com said. She suggested I write down the words the people used on Google to find the type of services I offer. I’m Your Idea Optimizer and I help you organize and focus your ideas into products and content that inspire and motivate people in your chosen community. But guess what, no one is going to go type in “organize my ideas” when they search on Google. So I have to get clear what they are looking for and what problem I will solve for them.

I think the people who will want what I have to offer have a lot of great ideas and 1) are bouncing around from one to another because they don’t know how to choose the best one and 2) they know a lot and want to teach it to others. So their problem is they don’t know where to start and how to select the best ideas for each project. So words like “great content” or “information products” express their need.

See what your target community needs that you offer and how they search for it on Google. Then adjust your content to reflect those phrases.

Identify how to communicate what you do

In all my content, my landing pages, my information products, I need to find words that help my target community identify with a problem I fix and to emotionally appeal to them so they come check out what I offer. What questions will they ask? What words will they look for to identify their need?

In my case, someone may search on “how to create information products.” Or “how to make money on the internet”. Or “how to write good content for my blog.” What you type into Google determines the accuracy of your search results just as the questions you ask yourself about what you offer and why you offer it determine the success of your content.

Decide what you want to offer – then offer it

You can’t be all things to all people. You have to choose. My problem is that I can help a lot of people do a lot of different things and that’s too broad a niche. I need to choose. I need to look at my passion and see what makes my heart sing. For me it’s writing – organizing ideas into content that enlightens and motivates and changes lives. That makes my choices very clear. I focus my services and products around helping people organize their ideas into meaningful content.

Are you asking yourself the right questions?

Asking yourself the right questions will clarify your focus. It will help you change direction or keep going the way you are. Make a list of questions you can ask yourself that will make you weigh and consider every choice, that will help you identify your passion and help you follow it, and will make certain the people you are meant to serve know what you can do for them.

Getting the answers to the right questions will keep you in touch with your passion and guide you on a rewarding journey of service.

2010 Cara Lumen

Are you Planning or Putting Off?

April 22, 2010 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

I’m a great organizer and I was sitting here rearranging my list of things I want to do or should do. I’ve been doing it for maybe 15 minutes. And it occurred to me that if I had spent those 15 minutes on any one thing on my list I might have gotten that one thing done. So was I planning or was I putting it off?

Planning is Good

I’ve finally figured out a way to capture all my ideas in more or less one place and then semi-organize them so I can find them. But If I use a priority list then all sorts of things end up there. If I put the ideas in categories like Marketing, Blog Posts, Blog SEO ideas, etc. I can at least find them when I’m ready to work on them. And that’s what I was doing when this thought occurred to me. I work in Word tables and I was going through the list where I have dumped things all week and started sorting them out. Then of course I stopped to write this post because that was more fun to do than to keep on organizing my list.

Putting off isn’t Good

I’m pretty sure I’m putting off doing anything that is not fun today. It’s a rainy Saturday afternoon, I just finished a really not very good book, I put in some good work this morning by posting another article in my Cornerstone Content and I want to play a bit.

When I was a young girl, my mother went to great pains to tell me lesson disguised as this story about her grandmother. Of all the things my great grandmother had to do each day, the thing she really disliked the most was to clean the chimney lamps of the oil lamps. So she did that first! That was my Mother’s version of urging me to not put things off because I didn’t want to do them. But it’s a pretty good idea. Tackle the difficult things first while you’re fresh and when you complete it your whole day lays open wide before you awaiting all the fun stuff you get to do.

Overwhelm is not a good thing

This list I was organizing is rather long. It contains blog post ideas, and ebooks I want to finish, and marketing things I can do if I want to. One way to move forward is to select three things you are going to do this day and do them. NO more than three. It’s not about writing the whole telecourse, but it can be about firming up the outline, or writing the first class. Break your work down into projects that you can complete in a reasonable length of time and see and feel your forward motion.

Another trick I made up is to write down how long each task will take you. Making three phone calls can set a lot of things in motion and may only take ten minutes. If I want to carve out two hours to write my radio script and schedule it I may do that first thing while my mind is fresh. And because I love to write it’s like giving myself a treat to start my day. Even if you have a list of 15 things for the week, try assigning the amount of time needed to do each of them and I bet you’ll find that you can complete your list in fewer hours than the list alone gave you to believe.

What if that Project Never Makes It To the Top of the List?

I’ve got a home study course that I paid good money for that I have owned for over three months and have not cracked a single feature of yet. On the other hand, during that time I’ve completed another three month course, started a new ebook, and am reading at least an hour a day about blogging. That’s because I want to. That’s because those things were more fun, or more interesting, or more exciting, or more relevant – or easier to do. So I get to look to see how relevant the project that hasn’t gotten done is to the direction I’m currently going. I got the course to work on my platform so I could submit my book proposal to another publisher with a strong platform in place. But I don’t ever want to publish a book. I’m watching my friend Sharon Sayler prepare to have her book “What Your Body Says and How to Master It” for publication in June and it’s a ton of hard work. So the reason I bought the course is no longer a priority.

If a project has fallen by the wayside, check out the direction you are going and see if you are still on track and see if that project is still relevant. In my case I am definitely building my platform with greater blog content on Passionately on Purpose and Magnetic Blog Builders and my weekly radio show. and part of me is thinking I don’t want another idea at the moment – for anything. It’s OK to put things off but not if you really do want to get it done.

So next time you find yourself sorting a list, or sharpening every pencil on your desk, go easy on yourself. If you’re putting something off go put it off with flair and conviction – go do something else – a walk, a trip, a conversation. But it you really do need to get it done, simply start – one step at a time will ultimately get you where you need to go.

Are You Doing It For the Right Reasons?

March 16, 2010 By Cara Lumen

Sometimes we get so caught up in what we are doing that we do not take time to be certain we are aligned with our values and our goals or even if all that activity is taking us in the right directions. Here are six questions to ask yourself to keep on target.

Passionately On Purpose Radio with Cara Lumen, Your Idea Optimizer, who keeps you passionately on purpose while you make a difference in your world. As a Business Coach, Content Developer and Educator she talks about how to uncover your passion, define your purpose, identify your path, make money from what you already know and attract the people you are meant to serve. But most of all, she’ll help you believe you can!!! Join her Mondays on www.blogtalkradio.com/passionatelyonpurpose

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