Hello Mid-May Printable + 28 things I've learned
This month's Hello Mid-Month printable is designed to help you take stock of 10 pieces of wisdom you've learned over the course of your life thus far. I don't think this is something we do enough, but it's good to stop and ask ourselves, "What have I learned?" and then keep coming back to that list and reminding ourselves so that we don't "forget."
The other half of this printable is centered on the concept of "Seasons of Life." In life we go through seasons - we experience our own versions of spring, summer, fall, and winter. I learned what this really meant from Jim Rohn (you can find him on Youtube).
We have to learn how to recognize the season of life that we are in and make the most of it and - most importantly - be preparing for the next season. There is a season for sowing and a season for reaping and without fail the seasons always change. Winter always follows Fall, Spring always follows Winter, and so on. Which season are you in right now and how are you preparing for the next season that is right around the corner?
For me, I feel like I've been in a season of enjoying the harvest of what I've put in place last year. Since moving into a bigger apartment, I've enjoyed hosting dinners, fixing up our home, planting a garden, and making new friends. I've had 90 days of simply enjoying my life more than I'm used to. I don't stay up late working any more and I get out of the house more and have been to the beach more than ever.
But now I feel ready for the next stage - the next season. I can tell that it's going to be a season of very focused, consistent activity in my businesses. I've been preparing for this season by learning how to balance my new lifestyle with my responsibilities as a leader in my own life and of my team. One way that I've been doing this is by getting alot better at ruthlessly tracking my daily habits. I keep my daily habit tracker printable on my fridge and check off my progress every day. I've also started having Mastermind meetings that are 100% focussed on exactly what we need to achieve on a weekly basis. I meet with my friends/sisters/business partners and we plan our week. And while we schedule in fun stuff like going to the beach or salsa dancing, we also schedule in activities and goals for our business.
I'm ready for the next season of life and the next 90 days. :)
So first things first - May 1 was my birthday. My birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so here I am outside of the Friary where we go to Mass and I am with my sister Angelica (who helps me out with the Secret OWL Society) and my brother William.
Angelica's birthday was on May 7, so we had a joint birthday party with our friends on the beach. We spread out a picnic on the sand and played frisbee - I was doing pretty good at frisbee until I made a dive that twisted my ankle. LOL
Our spread from our birthday picnic on the beach. :)
Blowing out my candles. The frosting on the cake says: "Happy Birthday Mom. Love, your adopted children." My roommates have dubbed me the mother of our home. LOL
Here are 28 things I've learned so far in life:
1. Opportunities don't come from living in a particular place; they come from having a particular mindset.
2. When you put energy into something, you ALWAYS get something back - one way or another.
3. There are seasons of life and you have to embrace the season you're in.
4. "I'm going to die one day and I can't take my physical possessions with me." This thought helps me not grow attached to "stuff," practice minimalism, and focus more on people and experiences instead.
5. One hour spent in planning mode saves you 10 hours of wasted time.
6. A well-designed wardrobe is an essential part of a well-designed life.
7. Just focus on being 1% better every day.
8. What you measure, improves. Track your habits, track your performance, track your meals, track your water intake...
9. Set goals not for the mere sake of achieving them, but for the sake of having a direction, a vision, a mission. Drifting aimlessly is not good for your soul.
10. Be the CEO of your own life and don't let other people's agendas fill your calendar.
11. When you know what you want to achieve, you're able to see what you need to edit out of your life.
12. Your brain is for coming up with ideas - not for storing them.
13. Your home is not a storage unit.
14. Problems are life's way of shaking us out of mediocrity so that we will hurry up and move to the next level.
15. With every new level, there is a new devil. Sometimes when you work to uplevel your life or business, you're going to feel like you're walking through fire. It could be doubts, relationship problems, communication issues, fear, deep-seated insecurities - a bunch of ugly stuff that tries to hold you back, sabotage you, or drag you down. But as Churchill says, "If you're going through hell, keep going." It helps me to know what I'm up against - then I can stop going in circles and start fighting for the person I need to become.
16. People skills get you through life more than anything else. Read Skill with People by Les Giblin.
17. You have to take the good with the bad. Some of the best stuff of my life came out of the worst experiences.
18. Don't trade your dreams for a car payment.
19. Focus on creating multiple streams of passive income and buy your life back.
20. If you're not willing to help one person, you don't deserve to help 10, 100, 1000, 100,000...
This blog started because I wanted to help one person.
21. The more you practice simplicity, the more abundance you get to enjoy. One year ago, I focused on one simple concept - the Life Binder system - and shared it with "the world." This one product has enriched my life with purpose and financial abundance and is helping a thousand other people around the world simplify their lives and focus on what matters. Focusing on this one concept/product has been a practice in simplicity. Out of everything I've ever created in my time as an entrepreneur, the Life Binder has been my most simplest product and at the same time the most rewarding.
22. Drink alot of water and exercise a little every day.
23. Have a morning and evening routine, even if you feel like you are still trying to master it year after year. Keep trying.
24. Treat other people the way you want to be treated. Make people feel the way you want to feel.
25. Keep a list of "What Makes My Life Work."
These are the types of things that you would put on such a list:
- Taking time to plan my day first thing in the morning makes my day go smoother.
- Purple and blue are the best colors to wear for my skin tone.
- When I do x, y, z, at night, I have a good hair day in the morning.
26. Build your business to support the lifestyle that you want. Don't just work for the sake of working.
27. It is possible to design a life you love - you have to be patient. It could take years. But the years are going to pass by anyway. The joy is in the progress - not in the perfection.
28. Don't be afraid to "give up," go to sleep, and get back at it in the morning.
So at the beginning of this month, I planned out my goals. Here are some of the things I want to achieve:
1. (finally) Create my online graphics course.
2. Host my next blog workshop here on Guam.
3. Start working on the 3rd edition of the Ultimate Life Binder.
The picture above is of my sisters and good friend. We are all in business together and we met up here to make plans and commit to what we want to achieve as a team. One of the things that we decided was to have a team meeting every Monday morning and map out our game plan for the week.
We also planned some fun things too. We want to start a tribe of young people on Guam who like classy dancing and create the environment for them to do so.
Here is a pic of what "mapping out our strategy for the week" looks like. There's no such thing as perfect progress, but we definitely get more done now that we are accountable, taking time to plan, and working together.
The view from my apartment. It's even more amazing at night.
And if you've been reading my blog for a while, then you know that I love to make good food.
I had my siblings over the other day and made cinnamon rolls - probably my favourite dessert to make.
I'm working on a new blog post going in depth into my personal Life Binder as it is now. My post about my Life Binder from a couple years ago is one of the most popular posts on my blog, but every time my life shifts, so does my Life Binder. So stay tuned for a new (long overdue) behind-the-scenes-of-my-life-binder blog post very soon.
For the S.O.S. club this month, I created a vibrant kit of printables with an "epic" theme. The picture above shows one of them. If it's still May 2016 while you're reading this, you can still get this particular kit automatically when you
subscribe to the S.O.S. club HERE. :)
And that's it for this month's Mid-Month Review! It's fun taking time in the middle of the month to take stock of everything that's been going on so far and to reset one's internal compass for the rest of the month.
Anyways, enjoy your Mid-May printable!
:) Let me know how you like it in the comments below.
