When Your Plans Go Up in Smoke...


Picture this...you're on a 17 1/2 foot speedboat with your family, it's a beautiful, sunny day and you're getting ready to head over to a floating pub for a family dinner. As you cruise the ocean at 5 knots, you get ready to up the throttle and go for speed once you're out of the harbour. Ahhh, you can taste the steaks already.

As you get your boat up to 20 knots, the sudden sqeel of a warning bell goes off to alert you of a problem. Great, you think...those steaks will have to wait. As you look back at your engine, the smoke is billowing out of the engine and it's not looking good.

You turn your boat around and start heading back to your marina and then the engine dies. Great...now you'll have to have someone rescue you. Since many boaters are good samaritans and as any boater knows, there will come a time they break down, a saviour comes to your rescues. Yes, this person has rescued 5 sailboats, 7 speedboats and has been rescued once.

What's the point of this story? Sometimes the best made plans of mice and men go astray - yes, you can plan, you can use the Law of Attraction, but sometimes the boat's motor needs a new waterpump.

So what are you going to do? Stop whining and change your plans.

This story was true, it happened to me and after our boat got towed to shore, we got in our truck and headed to a restaurant that we'd never tried before. We sat outside (like we wanted to do at the floating pub) and instead of watching boats go by, we watched cars. The food was good, the view was okay and the company was great.

In short, when business or life doesn't go as planned, have a backup plan - an alternative plan. And, try to see the bigger picture; sometimes seemingly annoying bad things are blessings in disguise.

I'm glad we had a problem with boat when we did; we were close to shore and weren't way out to sea when this happened. Had we been out far away, who knows how long it would've taken to find a good samaritan.

By the way, we finally did get over to that floating pub - The Dingy Dock Restaurant, and the food was awesome. So...sometimes your plans have to wait.



Take care and happy escaping,

Lisa Rickwood - "Small Biz Stress Buster"


Lisa Rickwood, "Small Biz Stress Buster," is a small business coach, visual artist and author of Escape The Pace: 100 Fun And Easy Ways To Slow Down And Enjoy Your Life and co-author of Power & Soul: 42 Successful Entrepreneurs Share their Secrets for Creating the Business and Life of Their Dreams. She helps small business owners ‘master stress for professional and personal success.’ Get your FREE e-book, 5 Critical Actions That Hurt Your Business and Add Stress to Your Life…and How to Escape Them by visiting: http://www.escapethepace.com/

Maybe there is justice...

I don't usually write about celebrities but I wrote my last blog about Paris Hilton being released from jail after only 5 days and she had a 45 day sentence. She pleaded no contest to dangerous driving and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, education about alcohol and $1,500 in fines. In the months that followed she was stopped twice while driving on a suspended license.

I know if I did this, I'd probably lose my business and my future employment would be a challenge. However, Paris might just miss a few photo shoots.

Anyhow, the judge decided she should serve the rest of her term - 45 days, although she may still get out early as for every 4 good days, inmates where she's sentenced, can get out a day earlier.

Time will tell...

Anyway, there is a little justice after all.

Lisa

Paris Hilton or Bust!

So now I know society has really gone to the dogs or to Paris...

Even when I don't care or want to know about the infamous, Paris Hilton, the media shoves it in my face - it's at the newsstands, on the evening news and the radio. Newsflash: I DON'T CARE.
Well, I must care because I'm writing about it, but why I'm writing is because I never cease to be amazed at the number of 'well you know' people who commit a crime and don't do the time.

So...after a few days in jail, poor Paris Hilton is allowed to finish her sentence in the comfort of her multi-million dollar mansion with an electronic anklet attached to her ankle. What if the electronic tag isn't covered in diamonds? Poor, poor Paris. I can just hear her saying, "But it doesn't match the rest of my outfit - where's all the diamonds?"

So they're releasing her because she's having a panic attack? What, she doesn't have a solid gold toilet in prison? Poor, girl - that would do me in as well.

It's so sad that she's under house arrest for the next 40 days. Does that mean - she can't leave her mansion to go shopping on Rodeo Drive? Awww, that's sad - what's a girl supposed to do?

Paris was originally sentenced to 45 days incarceration for breaking the terms of a drink-driving probation, but as everyone can see, 5 days was just too long for the poor girl. If it was you or me with this conviction, they'd throw away the key indefinately. Ain't society grand!

Lessons you can walk away with:

• Always look sexy - even when your picture is a mugshot
• Play the victim - you'll receive the first 'get out of jail free' card
• Change your last name to Hilton - you'll always have a place to stay
• Make sure your dog has more diamonds on him than the cost of the average person's home - then you'll feel complete
• Be sure your anklet matches your outfit - you may have to ask for designer anklets in different gemstone colors so the anklet doesn't clash with your stripper outfits.

Am I being sarcastic? Ya think?

There is one great thing about stories like this - they take our minds off the real issues of climate change, Afghanistan, money issues and so forth.

Happy escaping,

Lisa Rickwood - "Small Biz Stress Buster"

Lisa Rickwood, "Small Biz Stress Buster," is a small business coach, visual artist and author of Escape The Pace: 100 Fun And Easy Ways To Slow Down And Enjoy Your Life and co-author of Power & Soul: 42 Successful Entrepreneurs Share their Secrets for Creating the Business and Life of Their Dreams. She helps small business owners ‘master stress for professional and personal success.’ Get your FREE e-book, 5 Critical Actions That Hurt Your Business and Add Stress to Your Life…and How to Escape Them by visiting: http://www.escapethepace.com/

Butterflies and Business

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough." ~Rabindranath Tagore

If you're an entrepreneur or small business owner, you know all too well about the TIME game. What's that? Basically, it's that feeling of trying to cross off every single thing on your to-do list before the end of the day.

So what do you do if you're trapped in the 'too much to do, too little time' game? Get smart.

Here's the thing - don't do everything on your list. That's right, life's too short. Yes, you may need to send that proposal to a prospective client, finish a report, write a letter, do some consulting, etc. but do you need to do everything on your list? How do you know what to do and not to do? This will vary depending on your business and lifestyle but there are some things you can do to simplify your day.

Try this:


- Every day, start out with a plan. Be sure to have 3 key high-payoff things you'd like to achieve. This will keep you focused and you won't have to have a to-do list a mile long.

- Take at least 30 minutes every day and work undisturbed. Have your assistant answer calls, or turn on your answering machine.

- Every day say this phrase, "Is this the best use of my time at this moment?" This phrase will keep you focused. Sometimes you will use your time to work on business, sometimes the best use of your time might be to take a walk or relax.

- Write down your high pay-off activities on paper. Every day, try to focus on these most and let the other things be dealt with minimally. ex. high payoff activities might include: consulting, selling products, phoning past customers or current customers, etc. High pay-off usually means activities that generate the most revenue.

- Hire experts to do jobs that aren't your forte. This will free you up to do what you're good at. ex. if you don't enjoy doing websites, why waste your time? Get someone to do this so you can focus on your real skills.

Our time on this earth is fleeting, much like the life of a butterfly. When we really think about this, we need to make the best use of our time in our business and life.

I invite you to think about your day today as you read this. How are you spending your time? Are there things you can eliminate? Can you add more fun to your life? How can you make your life better?

Take care and happy escaping,

Lisa Rickwood, "Small Biz Stress Buster," is a small business coach, visual artist and author of Escape The Pace: 100 Fun And Easy Ways To Slow Down And Enjoy Your Life and co-author of Power & Soul: 42 Successful Entrepreneurs Share their Secrets for Creating the Business and Life of Their Dreams. She helps small business owners ‘master stress for professional and personal success.’ Get your FREE e-book, 5 Critical Actions That Hurt Your Business and Add Stress to Your Life…and How to Escape Them by visiting: http://www.escapethepace.com/