Some Important Questions To Ask Yourself
Before You Get Started
What Makes Me Happy?
What makes you happy today may not be the question you need to ask yourself. The better question may be: What will make me happy in the long run? I am not saying you need to be doing something that makes you unhappy. Too many of us have done that for far too long by going to a job for all those years.
The thing you need to be looking at is what is in our next question but, let’s wait until we get there. If you are just working at something that makes you happy today you are, most likely, not going to be motivated to keep at building your business until it is established and growing.
If you are married then your short-term happy, in the beginning, was to spend time with “the love of your life”. Ladies, you know that is true even though we were aggravating from day one. However, after the honeymoon was over and life settled in just spending time with each other was no longer enough to keep you going every day.
You started looking down the road at a home, a new, or newer, car and yes, kids and later grandkids. Those were the things that got you through the days you did not feel like going to work on that job. Of course us men folk had different long-term happiness goals. We knew it was our responsibility to take care of that beautiful lady we married.
If we don’t know what makes us happy for the long haul then how can we possibly hope to influence our lives to be more positive? Of course, if we do know, then we can work toward the things that make us happy and live a happier life.
Isn’t that what we were doing all those years we were working toward retirement?
What Is My Passion?
Your passions in life are the things that you are naturally enthusiastic about, the things that you can talk about for hours. This is different for ladies than for men. Ladies passions usually revolve around family, especially grandkids. For men, it is usually the new boat or new truck or maybe the golf clubs we got for Christmas. Now, we usually get around to the grandkids too but, it takes us a little longer.
Those things that inspire you to learn, study and share are your passions. They always play a big part in your overall life purpose, and they are the things that will cause you to dig deep to do what needs to be done to enjoy them.
Most of the people who are reading this are, I hope, already retired or getting ready to retire and spending time with family is most likely high on your list of priorities in life. Unfortunately, too many times we find that retirement check we worked toward all those years is not enough to do those things.
At that point, one of two things usually happens. We either get depressed thinking about what we won’t be able to do or we let those passions motivate us to find out what we need to do to enjoy those passions and do it.
Uncovering your passions for things to do, for some people, is an easy thing to do, but for others, it can be a much more difficult process. There has to be a balance between the passion for WHAT we are doing and the passion for WHY we are doing it. You might have to experiment with a few things to find your WHAT so you can have your WHY.
What Inspires Me?
This is very closely linked to your passions, but not always. The things that inspire you are the things that may help you find your WHAT. These can be people, objects, places, events, memories, in fact, pretty much anything can inspire you if it fills you full of motivation. Just look at the things that influence you in this way and you will usually find the WHAT that will get you to your WHY.
What Is Most Important To Me In My Life?
This is actually a pretty simple question and within the answer to this question you will most likely find your WHY passion.
What Are My Beliefs?
Our beliefs can either limit us or set us up with a life that is unbounded and full of wonder. It is important to have a clear definition of the belief systems that we hold closest to our hearts because it is these that will govern everything that we either let into our life or push away from it.
If you have been told all your life that you are a loser and will never amount to anything good you have a choice to believe this or not believe it. If you have lived without much most, if not all, of your life and have always been told you don’t deserve any better you have a choice to believe or not believe that as well.
I believe that because you are here and have most likely worked toward something better all your life that you have chosen not to believe anything like that. As good as that is there is something you need to believe in or doing better will be hard.
If you have been encouraged most or all your life; If you have been helped to understand how you can do better and deserve better you are on your way to a better life.
I am a Christian so I choose to believe what The Bible says about me and how God enables me to do and become better. I am not going to preach my beliefs here but if you would like to know what I believe and why I believe it just send me a message. What I believe and why I believe it is what has enabled me to get where I am today. Do I have a WHY? Of course I do. I also have a WHAT but, what I believe and why I believe it is what empowers me to do the WHAT, no matter what comes along.
Am I Lacking In Confidence?
Some people think that you either have confidence or you don’t. This is true to a certain degree, but it’s also something that can be developed and cultivated. If you think you are lacking in confidence you need to figure out a way to enhance this for yourself.
I think, if you look within yourself you will find what you believe is controlling your confidence level. I am not sure where I heard it first but there is a saying that says something like this. If you believe you can or if you believe you can’t, you are right.
In other words: If you believe you can do it you will have the confidence to do it, whatever it is. If you believe you can’t do it or don’t believe you, you will not have the confidence to do it.
To change what you believe you can do and increase your confidence you will most likely need to get out of your comfort zone. Of course getting out of your comfort zone is something that may require you to get some help.
I can hear many of you saying “I have confidence in myself and my ability. I was good at my job.” I understand but how confident are you with doing something new? You got comfortable doing your job but now it’s not your job, it’s your business. That means you don’t get a paycheck unless you generate the income.
I know that may sound scary but where will you be this time next year unless you make some changes? Forget about the trip to see the grandkids and the Christmas presents. What about dinner and a movie from time to time or medicine?
It’s time to answer these questions about yourself and start doing something to overcome your situation. It is not your fault your retirement and/or Social Security are not enough. It is, however, your responsibility to do something about it because no one else is going to, especially the government.
Keep an eye out for your first lesson tomorrow.
The link will come in an email with the subject Lesson 1-1.