Guest article: Be good to yourself. By Dr Fred Grosse

Be good to yourself.

Being a high achiever does not have to happen at the expense of family, friends or any sort of social life. Work is meant to fund life, not become life. As I see it, too many people are either not clear about what they want, or believe it is impossible to have what they want. So they settle for much, much less. I want to encourage you to open your mind to the possibility that you can have both a magnificent life and a wonderful working experience. You can accomplish this by considering an alternative approach to life and work.

Let’s begin by discovering just what it is that makes you happy, what rewards your soul. That is your first lesson: You must partner with your soul to be able to design a magnificent life. When your soul is not your partner in life, it’s very difficult to experience all the richness of being fully human. When your soul is truly involved, traveling your destiny path becomes an adventure.

What rewards your soul?

Where to begin? How about exploring what would really engage your soul and motivate you to work? Invite your soul to be your ally and then do more: Promise to reward your soul! Then pay up. This can be done by identifying the experiences and circumstances that make you happy.

Depending on the degree of joy that different positive experiences bring me, I rank rewards for my soul as 10s, 25s, 50s and 100s. The 10s are the simple joys you can make happen every day- like a good cup of coffee with a friend. The 25s might occur once a month – maybe dinner with a beloved at a first class restaurant or the purchase of a beautiful outfit. More special events – things that you do perhaps two or three times in a year – are the 50s, such as a weekend in a gorgeous villa in Bali. The 100s are the big rewards – the celebration that is extra special, mind-blowing and, ideally, tax-deductible! – like a week in Paris, for example, and invite your colleagues and friends to research an investment.

Most of us put a high value and importance on both money and time. As well as the monetary-type rewards suggested above, ‘buying time’ can be a great reward too. Working fewer days each month or having an afternoon each week to spend with a child or grandchild can be very fulfilling and worth working toward.

You have the idea now, so how about taking some time to really think about what feeds your soul?

Why you should

Now you’re probably asking yourself, “What does all this have to do with making more money in less time”? It’s very relevant. Here’s why.

Have you ever noticed that after a short trip or even just a day off, when you return to work your productivity increases significantly? That’s because your soul has been rewarded and is now prepared to help you achieve, to help you fund your life so that more rewards will follow. Many of us limit ‘payment’ and in turn limit our productivity. Instead of saving all your fun and joy for a few 50s during an annual vacation, why not plan daily 10s and monthly 25s along the way?

Think of how much easier it would be to stay one-minded and work-focused if you knew that off and on during the day you had planned treats and retreats for your soul.

Design an Ideal Day

Your mission then, the alternative approach I’d like you to consider, is to design an Ideal Day for yourself that includes not just prospecting, negotiating and selling but also a number of 10s when you complete the planned tasks. Imagine structuring your workday to include three hours of uninterrupted prospecting, then three more hours of face to faces with clients, an hour or so workout, swim or massage.

The reward is an evening of one-minded enjoyment with your children unencumbered by worry or guilt, now that would make for a pretty satisfying day wouldn’t it? 15 minutes at the end of the day spent on planning the ideal day for tomorrow would then ensure another more enjoyable and dollar-productive day to come.

Once you’ve had some practice rewarding yourself daily, weekly and monthly, then you’re ready for the next step. Dedicate a day or two, to explore what 100s you would like to experience in your lifetime. What would be major rewards for your soul to acknowledge superior achievement, such as a doubling or tripling of income or the completion of a particularly major project or investment? I want you to take out your calendar, sit down with your beloveds and plan for at least one 100 per year for the next 10 years. A 100 for you might be to take the family on holiday to the Greek Islands or a cruise around the Caribbean.

Pay special attention to all those things you’ve dreamed about over the years and dismissed as being out of your reach. As you pick up speed and find your focus and enthusiasm returning full strength with your soul engaged as your business partner, you’re suddenly going to find yourself with an income stream that you never dreamed was possible.

Rewards motivate.

When I have checked in with people who have been working with this very simple, alternative approach to business life, I have heard time and again that it wasn’t the thought of more dollars in the bank that motivated them to double their dollar-productive behaviour. What made them fulfill their commitment to two hours of prospecting calls a day were things like the promise they’d made themselves and their families to do a great trip together, or to take an extra long vacation just being at home.

My wish for you is that you achieve the highest level of fulfillment every day, both personally and professionally. Don’t be one of the walking dead – be an active participant in life. Give yourself permission to enjoy rewards for your inner being for being focused on maximum performance during both your work and your play. May you come to know what ‘magnificent life’ means for you, every day.

Dr Fred Grosse is an internationally recognised coach and mentor to some of the highest performing entrepreneurs in the world. He is also a sought after keynote speaker at national and international conventions. To find out more, visit his website at: www.drfredgrosse.com .