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positve change

5 Ways to Help Your Home Office Keep the Ideas Flowing

February 13, 2010 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

I love working at home. I get to set my own rhythm.  I take a break when I need one, go for a walk or read a bit whenever I need a change.  It’s my call.  And it’s also my call about how well I arrange for my office space to support my creativity, my concentration, and my effectiveness.

1 – Organize your clutter

It is way too easy to put off putting something away.  I even have a basket that I put things in that I want for reference as I write.  It would probably be a good idea for me to put that in some order and maybe next time I go searching for something in it I will, but it is in one place – a basket.  Order is good.  I have a great shelf to put things on at my desk but my cats Sebastian and Sabrina like to lie there, so I’ve made another plan.  Their company is supportive and nurturing and they are an integral part of my home office.  I have labeled folders within reach to place the paid bills.  I bank on line and set up my bill payments the minute I receive a bill.  I have the papers I use during the day handy – all my passwords, a calendar, phone numbers I use a lot.  They are in a pretty napkin holder on my desk and don’t take up much space while staying within easy reach.

But here’s a trick I learned a long time ago when I worked in a regular business office.  Each day before you leave spend the last five minutes organizing yourself for the next day, putting things away, making a short list of what you need to do next. That way when you come in you know exactly where to start and you have a tidy space to get started right away.

2 – Acknowledge your successes

I created an acknowledgement/tracking system for myself in which I write the things I feel good about accomplishing.  I don’t necessarily do it every day but I like to do it at the end of the week and if something really great gets done I’ll write in it at the time.  This Magnetic Momentum Builder is my version of the 5:15 report  also lets me track and acknowledge my forward progress

3 – Bless your work

I used to do temp work so I’d go into a company where I knew no one.  And I would bless the pieces of paper I was preparing. It was fun to wonder how many people would handle that piece of paper and unknowingly receive the positive energy I sent along.

When I am waiting for my radio show Passionately On Purpose to begin, I look out my window and the great nature view I have and bless the words I am about to speak and the intention behind what I am about to present.  I fill my thoughts with loving energy to go with what I offer.

I hadn’t thought to do that with these posts, but I will starting right now.  As you post an article or a blog post or begin to give a telecourse, center yourself and align your thoughts with the people you hope are touched by what you offer.  And they will be.

4 – Listen to your inner wisdom

The beautiful thing about working at home is that when a creative idea shows up you can simply make it happen.  I was thinking up ideas for my radio show when I realized that particular topic would make a good post so I started writing and here it is in post format.  And elements of it will be a future radio show.  Now that I’ve begun to do interviews on my show all sorts of related ideas are showing up and I’m hard pressed to keep track of them all. But the trick is to put your ideas all in one place. I now have a folder called “Idea Bank” in which I keep all those things I think up to do or create. Those ideas you get – they may or may not be  yours to do but if you choose to act on them then you definitely are the chosen one for that idea.

Watch for signs.  Whether it’s an email from a friend with something in that sparks an idea, or you read a phrase in a book that would be translated into what you do, or you’re just sitting there and the idea comes in – those are yours to at least capture and think about doing.

5 – Create meaningful scenarios

Can you look up from your computer and see something you like?  I can look up and see a plant I love doing it’s thing in a corner or a lithograph of an old typewriter I’ve had in my office for years as a symbol of my being a writer, a Treasure Map I made of my intentions years ago that still holds true, and my cats curled up in a nearby chair. Surround yourself with things you like to look at and be with. That’s another reason to keep your working space organized so you have space for your treasures.  Stop and admire the small scenarios of meaningful items you have created.

They don’t call it “home” office for nothing – you spend a lot of time there.  Honor yourself by making it visually pleasing and organized in support of what you do.  Periodically schedule a put-away morning and tidy up every corner of your space.  Love your office.  It reflects who you are and what you are thinking.  It should be nourishing and welcoming.  Fill your home office with inspiration and it will support your creativity, your concentration, and your effectiveness

© 2010 Cara Lumen

Filed Under: Positive Change Tagged With: Creativity, Home Office, Planning, positve change

Follow Your Strengths to Success

December 7, 2009 By Cara Lumen

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

The Show
 We are not good at everything, ever. But what we ARE good at we can be very, very good at. What are your strengths? Are you using them to your best advantage? Are you continually developing them? What about that second best strength? How can it be put into play? Let’s talk about how to follow your strengths to success.

http://www.caralumen.com/radio/lumen_803130.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Filed Under: Content Development, Podcasts, Self Mastery Tagged With: entrepreneur, personal growth, positve change, strengths, vision

Have You Giggled Lately?

December 7, 2009 By Cara Lumen

We can get so serious about our business that we can forget to have fun. We can become so worried about our “next” that we forget to enjoy the “now.” When was the last time you laughed so hard you couldn’t stop? When was the last time you sat around playing with a young child laughing in pure joy as he expressed who he was and participated with cleverness and spontaneity?
If you’re missing laughter in your life – get some. A long time ago it was proven that laughter helped cancer patients get better. Part of their treatment was to laugh every day. I’ve laughed out loud more in the four months I’ve been near my family than the last 19 years I lived by myself. Wonderful belly laughs complete with tears running down my face, to a light heart at the sound of my family playing a game about passing a dime around to guess who was actually holding it. 

I don’t know that it depends on others to find something to laugh about but they help. I have laughed out loud at a book I was reading. I have laughed at a friend’s story over the phone. I’ve laughed at myself, but not out loud. 

Lighten up. Even a smile will make a difference. See how light you can get your heart. See how grateful you can be for the people you live with, or where you live, or who you work with, or a kind deed that comes your way. We see what we look for. Look for twinkling eyes, the beginning of a grin, the smugness of your cat as he lies innocently beside the plant he just knocked over. Find the humor, find the joy, find the laughter. Your day will be better for it.

 © 2009 Cara Lumen

Filed Under: Self Mastery Tagged With: goals, personal growth, positve change

How to Create Positive Change

May 15, 2009 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

It’s funny, we do it all the time but we only try to maneuver it when things start looking scary.  I’m talking about our life, our business, our circumstances.  We attract to us everything we experience simply by our thoughts and actions.  So if something is unpleasant we have to make changes inside in order to change the outside.

You get what you look for

I know someone who expects the worst – and she gets it.  She expects to be slighted and she is. She expects to be ignored and she is.  I know someone else who feels deserving and she attracts great opportunities.  Your life begins and ends within – with what you believe you deserve and what you believe can happen. 

How to change your life

Some changes are happening in my life and I get to make new choices and attract new opportunities.  How do I get to vote on what shows up? By my expectations.  For instance, I’m ready for more clients and as I review my Red Velvet Rope policy I know that I want people who value my work, believe in the coaching process, do their assignments and are eager to serve others.  Oh yes, and have the funds to pay for it. As I move through my day I keep the image in my mind of people like that calling me and signing up for sessions. Then I will recognize them when they call.

Some of my projects are coming to an end and there is room for new ones.  How do I choose? How do I attract the best ones possible?  In my case, I’m going to take more contemplative time – time to draw a mind map, to list a zillion possible projects, to look at my business and see what it needs and see that my passion is still high about how I am in service. And I’m going to particularly look at what people are asking me to do for them. It’s like checking the engine of your car – is every part of your business in working order? Will it take you where you want to go?

What does your life/business need now?

What’s missing? What have you been putting off? What would you love to do if you had time?  What would make your heart sing?  The funny thing is that we make up our life by our choices so why shouldn’t you simply choose to do what you love to do?  See what you need to stop doing that you only think you should be doing and start doing what is calling you.

Overcome your reservations

Interviewing others for a podcast has been on my list for a year. It would be a great way to reach out and get to know others and it would be fun to do. But it has yet to make it to the top of my "I’m Doing It!" list.  It’s time consuming, it means committing to a regular schedule, it means pushing through to another level of technical knowledge. Gee, that’s a pretty good list of reservations standing in my way.  All of which are made up by me. And I’m just the person who can undo them.  Look at what’s stopping you and push it aside. There’s too much fun waiting on the other side to delay moving forward.

Stay open to the unexpected

About the time I get my list prioritized and have a clue where to start an unexpected opportunity will come up and the whole scenario will change. That’s the fun part – being surprised and being invited to move in a direction you hadn’t considered. 

You do need to know your core purpose so you can keep your choices in alignment with where you want to go, but at the same time, let the new opportunities open new doors for you.  Go exploring, you can always change direction after you check it out. 

Be willing to change

You have to make room for change to occur. You have to make it OK for things to be different. I know I’m at a crossroads. I know things have to change – are changing and I’m willing to change.  I want to invite new elements into my life.  So I’m going to take time to journal and mind map, listen to what people are asking me to do for them, overcome my own reservations, and explore every opportunity that shows up.  That’s how I’m going to create positive change.

© 2009 Cara Lumen

 

Filed Under: Content Development, Spiritual Expansion Tagged With: business growth, change, content development, passionately on purpose, positve change

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