LG Designs was invited for a return visit to teach at the Las Vegas Urban League Entrepreneurship Center during the month of August. This time, we partnered with FitLife Fusion. The 2-part series (Register with DBrowne@LVUL.org before Wednesday, August 5th and Wednesday, August 12th, 2015) focuses on work-life balance for entrepreneurs. Students asked me to share a copy of my notes, so here they are, with a few quick edits and a copy/paste (I know, it’s fabulous right? It’s because I care) direct from my Evernote notebook to your screen:
5 Tips for Staying Aware of Your Work-Life Balance
1) It’s all just life… work and life are not separate because both involve YOU. So build wellness and health (whatever that means for living your best life) into your schedule.
2) Make yourself important enough to put yourself first. If you struggle with this, then learn everything you humanly can about how to move forward in the most positive and creative way possible. Be diligent.
3) John Maxwell Certified Business Coach, Missy Day of Passion 4 Success suggests a fast-track, medium-track and a slow-track for your priorities.
4) Create easy, intentional movement for 10 mins a day.
5) Take a break and go to your happy place: hypnosis, mediation, Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), walking meditation.
Pick one stressor to focus on for a guided imagery activity in class (pls see below)
This isn’t to reduce the importance of the stressor…. it is to reduce the anxiety and fear around it while you are learning to process it and work with the lesson of the situation. Sometimes learning is easy if there is an openness to releasing previous beliefs.
My teacher, Mark Rowland, of ROCeteer reminds me us that we all have 4 superpowers to “Manage Our State”
Everyone has these 4 superpowers:
2 Internal – Thoughts and Emotions
2 External – Words and Actions
Even though it may not feel like it sometimes, if you are feeling crappy and acting out, remember my words to you today because it is important for you to remember that the only one who can control your thoughts and emotions is YOU. And whatever personal issues you have, they will follow you into your business.
This is the guided relaxation activity we did during class. In 8 short minutes students said they felt more calm and more relaxed. It was slightly modified from it’s original version for our purposes (Mind To Succeed’s website).
1. Identify an unwanted stressful feeling you want to change.
2. What specific cue is always there prior to the unwanted feeling? It could be an object, a symbol or a voice inside your head. This is the negative trigger that causes the bad, stressful image.
3. See an image of the cue that is there just before the unwanted feeling of stress…see that image of the cue that is there just before the unwanted feeling of stress and set that image aside for a moment.
4. How would you look already having a new feeling of relaxation? As you create a large, bright colorful image of yourself already having this new feeling of relaxation, you will find that picture of yourself very appealing. Because you notice the posture of that “other you,” you can see that the feeling has changed. When you look at the other you, and as you take a moment to look into the other you’s face, you can see a sparkle in his or her eyes and a relaxed smile on their face. You know the other you feels really good about the change because you can hear their internal dialog. What is he or she saying in that internal dialog? Notice the relaxation. Notice the positivity. Notice the empowered feeling.
5. Notice how attractive and positive and pleasing that other you is. You may not know if you would like to become that other you, yet– the appealing one over there.
6. Does any part of you obJECT to this appealing image? Any doubts? If yes, modify the image until it is appealing to you in such way that it resolves your objections.
7. Now that you have the most appealing image in your mind, Shrink that image. Make it smaller and smaller until it is a tiny dot. That tiny dot already has the new feeling. That tiny dot is the most appealing version of you.
8. Place that dot containing the other you that already has the new feeling in the center of the unhappy image you established earlier (Step 2)
9. Now rapidly exchange the two images, the cue image and the dot, many many times.
10. The unhappy image loses color and shrinks into the distance until it disappears. The new you blossoms out right in front of you…., closer,….. bigger,…. brighter,…. filling your vision. Ssswwwwwoooooosh.
11. Now blank out the scene. There is static fuzz on the screen now.
12. Now hold the two images on top of each other again. Switch them out. Rapidly exchange the two images. Repeat the process faster. In the cue image of what you see just before the unwanted behavior, notice the dot that is the new you. And Swwwwoooooooosh. The dot expands and the new you is right in front of you, bright and alive, as the bad image disappears.
13. Blank screen.
14. Now exchange the two images again…. Faster. You see the cue and the small dot with the new you inside. Ssswwwoooshhhhh. The image of the new you is bright and alive.
15. Can you say your phone number backward?
16. Now again. Faster. See the cue. Sssswwoooosh.
17. Static and Fuzz on the screen.
18. Again. See the cue. Ssswooosh
19. Can you spell your name backward?
20. Again, faster. See the cue. Swoosh.
21. Blank the screen.
22. Cue. Swooosh.
23. Blank screen.
Repeat the last two steps 5 more times, faster. And then another 5 times, even faster.
Now you should see and feel like the BEST version of YOU. 🙂
