Pat and Lorna Shanks

What Has Your Focus and Concentration?

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The past. It's what has already happened… you have no control over it. You can't change the past. If you spend time thinking about the past, it has your focus and concentration.

The future. Thinking and hoping about what may happen, or what you want to happen, gives the future your focus and concentration.

What does this steal from you? It steals the opportunity to be present, in the here and now. The only thing you can control is what you do and how you feel now. By giving your focus to living in the moment, in THIS moment, you have choices… and the opportunity to be amazed at what you can accomplish!

Enjoy this moment below

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Even When Things Go South… Being Organized Helps You “Go With the Flow”

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Rafting Life… our reality… we make plans and then assume everything will go that way. While it seems like it would be cool if that always happened, it wouldn't bring the same excitement and surprise we get from the way life really works. Yes, it's true, life doesn't always follow the well-ordered plan we have for it. And that's Cool!

However, at the same time, the feeling of being adrift and at the mercy of so-called “circumstances” is not a very empowering place to be.

So… enter the best of both worlds. Surprises can be fun, empowering, happy, sad, scary, frustrating, and so many other things. Yet, no matter what, they are what makes life interesting. If, however, you are organized… it is so much easier to “go with the flow” and ride life's surprise roller coaster with your hands in the air and the biggest smile on your face.

How does that work, you ask?

Here's a little Top 5 List for being organized that will get you on your way…

1) Understand what you've got… that stack of papers on your desk, the websites you visit, the amazing posts you've saved (somewhere), the books you've read. Understanding what information you actually have is a massive first step.

2) Trash, delete or vaporize everything you don't need or use. Holding on to things you don't use just weighs you down. It takes up space in your mind and in your life that you could use for something much more interesting :).

3) Put all the rest of the stuff into a system that best suits what it is you're storing. For all electronic stuff there are a multitude of software systems that can handle that type of information very well. The cool thing is you get to choose which system to use; the one that is in sync with your brain and the way it organizes things.

4) Now that you have your “chosen” storing system, the next step is to set it up so you can find things super fast and easy. If you have to use too much brain power to retrieve stuff it kind of defeats the purpose of organizing it in the first place.

5) Let go! Everything you're trying to remember… where things are, the cool websites you've seen, people's names and contact info… let go of it all. Free your mind!

The secret to riding life's surprise roller coaster? Get all of that “stuff” out of your head, put it in a system that makes sense to you and in a way you can find it, then free your mind! Only then will you have the flexibility to roll with life's ups and downs and still come out looking like a rock star!

Unorganized and Lost? Top 7 List for Getting Things Organized!

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messydeskcartoon A Top 7 List? Yep! Think of it like a checklist that will make it a whole lot easier and quicker to get to where you want to be – totally organized. Will this happen overnight? Nope. Starting is always the hardest part, so once you get going and gain momentum there will be no stopping you.

So let's start…

1. Know what stuff you actually have. Until you know what stuff you actually have to organize it's pretty tough to get organized. What is in that stack of papers at the end of your desk? What files did you put in that folder? Are any of them still pertinent? Take inventory, it's worth the time.

2. You may find the trash is the place you end up storing most of your stuff. Keeping unimportant stuff is a part of the “I may use it someday” syndrome. Don't get caught up in that, there's no easy cure.

3. Clean up your physical stuff. Having an organized home and office is in itself a step towards finding yourself. A cluttered environment creates a cluttered mind.

4. Choose an electronic system for organizing and storing all your files, website links, cool social media posts, and contacts. Find one that makes sense to you. Choosing a system “with all the bells and whistles” that you find way too cumbersome to use will not get you anywhere.

5. Develop a system for your errands. Much time gets wasted running around instead of going on one organized trip with a plan of attack. While you may be thinking that planning your errands is a bit overboard, it can be really simple and fast to implement with so many benefits. Keep your brain free for creative stuff, not what you need to pick up at the grocery store.

6. Create a To-Do System. It goes without saying that focused action is way better than constantly figuring out what you need to do next.

7. Let go! Let go of all the stuff in your mind that is best kept in an organized system. Use your mind for the cool stuff… creating, learning and expanding your possibilities!

Use what feels right to you and Get Started! 🙂

Online Business; Anytime, Anywhere… Do It Your Way

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Picture this… you’re soaking up the sun on a white-sand beach, or perhaps skiing down a pristine snow-covered slope. This is the life! And you’re thinking… it feels like I’ve won the lottery. Later, back in your spacious suite, you pull out the laptop, connect to the Internet and voila… you’re in business. What? This isn’t how it works for you? It could be.

We've been there… whether it was the breathtaking mountains of Whistler, B.C. or Banff, Alberta… or the lush wine country in California… we've enjoyed all there was to offer and still kept in touch with our online business.

It is so cool having a business that focuses on e-courses, e-learning, online videos, or any other kind of online web presentation. The logistical freedom is liberating.

The Internet can be accessed almost anywhere. Granted, if you are in the deep jungles of Borneo searching for a rare frog it may not work, but those are the times when you are really “getting away from it all”. By making use of the Internet’s accessibility you can create your products and market them while you are virtually anywhere in the world.

No longer does owning your own business mean that you are tied down. It doesn’t have to keep you stuck at home, never being able to take vacations. Seriously, isn’t that the reason you would want to start your own business in the first place… the freedom?

So… start by thinking… how can I take something I am passionate about and turn it into a business that will lend itself to online products or services? Then, of course, you will have to do the market research to ensure that enough people will want to buy what you have to offer. Once you’ve established a market and have come up with products that people will pay for, you either create the products yourself or outsource it to someone else. Then market like crazy.

We know that we’ve seriously condensed and generalized the whole process. There are numerous courses, books and websites dedicated to each part of creating a business that operates online… study, learn, do it, make mistakes, do it some more, and above all… enjoy the journey.

Enjoying the journey, the freedom of doing business online, is to us the best part. You can do it from anywhere, and anytime you want. The structure of being at a specific location during specific times of the day is a thing of the past… move your business online and liberate yourself!

Pat & Lorna

Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money.

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Plans, Preparation, Action and Progress!

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You have a goal in mind; something you want to achieve. So you do what you feel is logical:

1. Make a plan on how to get there.

Or do you? Yes, some people decide they want something yet don't make a plan on how they'll get there. Seems kind of strange, but it does happen.

Now, it's a known fact that not all plans turn out as anticipated. The solution? Make a Plan A, B, C – or as many as you can come up with. After all, you won't know how many you'll use to get to your goal.

2. Make all the preparations to reach your target.

That one statement can cover a lot of ground. It encompasses everything from collecting and organizing the tools and resources to reach your goal to reviewing your plans and clarifying your path forward.

A great way to make sure you've covered all your bases is to make a “checklist” of all the things you need to do to prepare for your journey to reaching your goal. That way you can be sure you haven't missed anything, and it may even tweak your mind on things you never thought of to start with.

3. Use your plans and preparation to take action!

You can make all the plans and prepare all you want… if you don't take action, nothing will happen. Your goal will remain as a dream or a few words written on a page. Again, it's a great idea to track your action steps to keep you moving in the right direction… noticing where you need to adjust to get closer to your goal (not farther away).

And of course action leads to…

4. Progress!

But does it? Sometimes yes and sometimes no… and sometimes you progress, but not in the direction you had planned.

Once again, track it. Track your progress. Find a way to determine where you are, what you have done, and where you are at on your journey.

It may seem to you that this is way too “logical” and doesn't leave any room for creativity and “going with the flow” of things. Not so. Yes, it's great to plan, prepare, check that you've thought of everything and then track how well you're doing… but corrections and adjustments are a part of this process as well.

Keep in touch with YOU throughout this journey, make sure it feels right and is aligned with who you are. Plans can be altered, next steps can change… in fact they will! Life and our plans are not cast in stone, change is a constant.

So plan, prepare, take action and watch your progress… it's a wonderful feeling to see how far you can go in very little time. Surprise yourself… be your own biggest inspiration and motivation to achieve your goals.