I love great inspirational quotes.

Particularly the ones that make you stop and think, give a fresh perspective and really inspire.

So, for those of you that also enjoy great inspirational quotes, thought I would share with you my favourites:

Top 50 Inspirational Quotes

1. “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” – Albert Einstein.

2. “Act now. There is never any time but now, and there never will be any time but now.” – Wallace Wattles

3. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

4. “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering the attitudes of his mind.” – William James

5. “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin

6. “There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” – Nelson Mandela

7. “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.” – Robert Frost

8. “You’ve got to win in your mind before you win in your life.” – John Addison

9. “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anais Nin

10. “An ounce of doing things is worth a pound of theorizing.” – Wallace Wattles

11. “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill

12. “Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us.” – Stephen Covey

13. “The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.” – Joseph Joubert

14. ”Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” – Winston Churchill

15. “Don’t wait for a light to appear at the end of the tunnel Stride down there and light the bloody thing yourself.” – Dara Henderson

16. “Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn

17. “Vision without action is just a dream, action without vision just passes the time, vision with action can change the world” – Nelson Mandela

18. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T.S. Eliot

19. “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde

20. “Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose yours.” – Paulo Coelho

21. “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” – John F. Kennedy

22. “I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.” – James Joyce

23. “I have learned that it’s not WHAT I have in my life but WHO I have in my life that counts.” – Unknown

24. “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau

25. “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” – Jim Rohn

26. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci

27. “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” – Goethe

28. “It’s time to start living the life you’ve imagined” – Henry James

29. “And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln

30. “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.” – Will Rogers

31. “Try not. Do or do not. There is no Try.” – Yoda (Star Wars!)

32. “Every man dies. Not every man really lives.” – William Wallace

33. “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

34. “There are no limits on what you can achieve with your life, except the limits you accept in your mind” – Brian Tracy

35.“Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

36. “Either you run the day or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn

37. “When I thought I couldn’t go on, I forced myself to keep going. My success is based on persistence, not luck.” – Estee Lauder

38. “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” ~ Elbert Hubbard

39. “The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.” – Tom Bodett

40. “Action is the foundational key to all success.” – Pablo Picasso

41. “The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” – Mark Twain

42. “There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.” – Christopher Morley

43. “Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” – Carl Bard

44. “Nothing important was ever achieved without someone taking a chance.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

45. “I will go anywhere as long as it is forward.” – David Livingston

46. “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

47. “The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” – Michelangelo

48. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison

49. “Strive for progress, not perfection.” – Unknown

50. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than the ones you did. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

What is your favourite insirational quote? Please share it in the comments below.

Recently I received the sort of telephone call we all hope we will never receive:

“Ali, I am a paramedic. I am calling to let you know your husband has been in a car crash”

The paramedic would not tell me how he was other than he was trapped in the car, a specialist medical response team was on the way and the fire brigade were working on getting him out.

I can’t put into words how getting that sort of call feels.

At the time the call came in, I was hosting my monthly Self Employed Women Support Group. The group immediately stepped up to do what they could to support me and to get me to the hospital.

Because he was trapped in the car I arrived at the hospital well before him and it was over an hour before I actually got to see him and find out what state he was in.

The wait was hell.

The good news is that we were “lucky”. His injuries were not as bad as first thought. He had a number of broken ribs, breathing difficulties and extensive bruising. We are grateful it was no worse given how bad the smash was. He is now well on the way to a full recovery.

Wake up Call

It is easy to take your plans for life for granted and think you have plenty of time to make them happen. But the reality is that you don’t know when something will suddenly happen that will rob you of the opportunity to have the life you want with the people you want.

Mr D and I have been designing the life we really want since we escaped the corporate rat race 10 years ago. Our design life plans are based on our own definition of success and our core values.

Yet in the aftermath of the accident we realised we had become comfortable on our journey to the next stage of our ideal lifestyle. As a result we had started to play safe, take less of the actions that will take us to the next level of where we want to go. Progress had slowed down. Mediocrity was rearing it’s ugly head (I don’t do mediocrity!).

The Power of a Blank Piece of Paper

Once Mr D was well on the mend, I felt a real desire to go back to scratch and rethink everything. Accident aside, it feels like the perfect time to do it as this year is the 10th anniversay of escaping the corporate world.

So, the other day I got out a blank piece of paper. It has stayed blank for a good few days. Every time I have looked at it, it has stared back at me – blankly!

But it has started to become really powerful.

Powerful because every time I look at it, it has started to inspire me with new ideas and possibilities. It is really making me think long and hard about what “ideal” is in all areas of life moving forward. It is daring me to shoot for what I really want to do.  Clarity around the next phase of designing my ideal business and lifestyle with my husband & son has been kick started.

Yes, a blank piece of paper can be that powerful.

The mediocrity that had started to creep in is about to have it’s sorry ass kicked into touch.

I am sharing this personal experience with you to get you to think about what changes you need to make to have the life you really want. Don’t wait for a wake up call. They don’t always have the happy ending that ours did.

So, I invite you to ponder on this:

• When was the last time you sat down with a blank piece of paper and dared to dream about your ideal business life and personal life?
• If you started from scratch how would you want things to be in all areas of your life?
• What needs to happen for you to start shooting for that?

The blank piece of paper represents just having the time and space to think so that you can make sure you are designing the life you really want.

What will you do to give yourself regular blank piece of paper moments?

Can you remember what your dreams for your life were when you were younger?

Do you still have them? If not, what happened?

I come across many people who have given up on their dreams. Given up on how they would really like their work life, relationships and lifestyle to be.

Actually, I am not sure that they have actually given up or if they have just got buried under the daily grind of trying to juggle all their responsibilities and an over busy life.

Maybe it is the “Dream Snatchers” that have stolen your dreams away. Beware the “Dream Snatchers” – they are everywhere! They are the people who:

• if you dare to rock the Status Quo, rubbish what you want to shoot for.
• say unkind things about the choices you make because it’s not the life THEY want you to live.
• tell you to “get real” if you voice your dreams.
• tell you it isn’t possible

Sometimes we are even our own Dream Snatchers!

Whatever the reason………..

Where have all the dreams gone?

Well, I believe they are still all there waiting to be claimed.

I believe that if you dared to take a peek through all the mediocrity of the daily grind that you would see that your dreams are still there. Not only are they still there, but it is never too late to claim them and start turning them in to reality.

So the question is this……

Are you brave enough to step up and re-claim your dreams?

“Life isn’t a dress rehearsal. This is the real thing.” – source unknown

What are you waiting for? For the kids to get through school? Until finances have improved? Until your family and friends stop belittling what you want to do?

A bit of tough love here folks……….those are all excuses.

There is no reason not to just make the decision right now you are going to reclaim your dreams and get on the path to what you really want.

Working for yourself should be a platform on which to support you in living your dreams.

Fancy a piece of that?

If so, dare to dream. You don’t have to go telling everyone if it doesn’t feel safe for you to do so (those pesky Dream Snatchers are everywhere!!!). Step up and be bold and declare it in the comments below (it’s safe here – it is a Dream Snatcher free zone – I promise!).

To get you started, let me share with you one of my dreams:

Within my life time I won’t need to ask the question

Where have all the dreams gone?………

………..because we are all living them!

Related posts:

• Stepping Up and Being Bold
• Why You Should Break All The Rules

This is the time of year for fun, family, good times, peace, goodwill, chilling out, relaxing.

But is it really?

This seasonal stereotyping is far from the reality for many parents running a business from home. For many, the opposite is often true.

Parents can feel overwhelmed with the prospect of juggling their home business with over excited kids off school running riot. It can feel really challenging.

It begs the question, is it really possible to have a stress free Christmas with the family if you run a business from home?

I believe it is.

The key is intentionally and proactively designing how you want it to be.

But there are two key problems standing in the way. They are:

1. The Quest for Perfection
2. Unrealistic expectations

If you can get these two issues nailed you can survive this time of year with your sanity intact and avoid a lot of stress.

3 tips to bust the perils of perfectionism and unrealistic expectations at Christmas

1. Focus on what is most important

Have you noticed how easy we all get sucked into things that aren’t that important at this time of year?

Things like the roast spuds looking the exact same golden brown colour as Jamie Olivers. Laying on a feast worthy of the Ritz. Convincing ourselves we need to be in the home office doing stuff that can quite clearly wait until after the hols.

Let’s get a grip people.

Do you really think once your kids are grown up they will be saying things like “Christmas was so special because you made the spuds look like Jamie Olivers” or “gosh, I’m glad you sat in the home office doing reports that could have waited”” No. Of course they won’t.

Keep focussed and spend time on what is most important. Drop the quest for perfection and apply the “good enough” rule to everything. Read more on that in The Beauty of Imperfect Action

Ask yourself, by the time the holidays are over what do you want to be able to say about your family time, the Christmas holidays and your home business?

Work out an action plan and put boundaries in place to make this happen.

2. Review your business action plan and make sure it is realistic

It is easy to get sucked in to doing work in our home business during holiday times that could wait just because something pops in to our head and the office is right there.

But ask yourself this, if your office was 5 miles down the road, how acceptable and reasonable would it be to say “must just write that report” and abandon the family to nip out to the office during Christmas family time. It wouldn’t be acceptable or reasonable at all. So why do it just because your office is at home?

Set realistic expectations. Get clear on what must be done and what can wait? Put in place an action plan that protects your family time and stick to it. Read Time Management – the REAL reason you don’t have enough time to help you with this.

3. Keep it simple

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication – Leonardo DaVinci ……….Enough said!

What tips or suggestions do you have for managing the dynamic between home business and family life at Chistmas?

Related posts:

• The Beauty of Imperfect Action
• Time Management – the REAL reason you don’t have enough time

In the previous post The Obstacle That Will Kill Your Ideal Lifestyle we looked at how we are getting in our own way of having our ideal business, family life and real lifestyle freedom on our own terms.

It raises a really important question:

Why are so many people chasing having “stuff & things” at the cost of having real freedom in their work life, family and lifestyle?

Well, the reasons can be many and complex. But here is one of the huge fundamental reasons:

Lack of Financial Intelligence

Now, I am not for one second suggesting people are a bunch of dunces in relation to money. What I am saying is that most of us have never been educated to give us the financial intelligence we need to make good choices and decisions that lead to real financial freedom.

And here’s the shame of it – if we were educated and armed with enough financial intelligence to create real and lasting financial freedom we would probably make very different choices and decisions throughout our life to the ones we make.

I say this, not just from professional experience, but also from personal experience. My husband and I used to be “stuff and things” chasers. It had us chained the Corporate hamster wheel for many years with no chance of escape.

Once we realised that to be really free, in our work life and personal life, we needed to be a bit more intelligent with choices and decisions around money, we started to look at how we could increase our financial intelligence.

If you are really serious about creating your ideal business, family life and lifestyle, I highly recommend you make a commitment to yourself right now to transform your level of financial intelligence and get a plan in place to start making this a priority.

Questions on your Money Mindset to consider:

• Are you on a clearly defined path to financial freedom that will allow you to operate your business and family life on your own terms?
• If you were at a point of financial security and freedom, what difference would that make to the choices you make in your business, family life and lifestyle? Is that worth shooting for?
• What can you start to do improve your financial intelligence and mindset around money?

I know from personal experience, it can feel really overwhelming when you decide to get on a path to financial freedom but don’t know how to start. But here are some simple things you can start straight away while you are building up your financial intelligence:

• Make sure your business and personal life has budgets and review them monthly.
• Make sure you know where every cent of your money goes in your business and personal life.
• Start living well within your means.
• Read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. A good start point for thinking about your financial mindset.

Whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Just get started. Think baby steps and get stuck in.

Related post: The Obstacle That Will Kill Your Ideal Lifestyle

Lifestyle Freedom

There seems to be some confusion as to what constitutes real lifestyle freedom.

In fact, I would go so far to say that some folk are positively delusional about the lifestyle they have. This kills peoples chances of achieving their dream lifestyle and real freedom.

Let me explain:

What a lot of people are calling “having a lifestyle” isn’t a lifestyle at all.

They are referring to things such as a trophy home, numerous flashy holidays every year, spending shed loads on clothes every week and so on.

What they are actually describing is consumerism not lifestyle.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not being the fun police here. I like nice clothes, holidays and nice stuff as much as the next person. But not if it results in me being a slave to the business and costing me living life fully.

To me a kick ass lifestyle is about having real freedom in all areas of your life.

Freedom to only work when you want to, on your own terms. Freedom to have the family life you really want with work fitting in around it. Freedom to have enough time to nurture and keep important relationships healthy. Freedom to really life live.

Here is the point I am making:

Many people are so busy chasing consumerism (and calling it lifestyle) that it is actually costing them true lifestyle freedom and the life they REALLY want.

The reason for this is they have to strap themselves to their business hamster wheel and pedal damn hard to feed their consumerism habit.

Things to Consider

• Are you confusing consumerism with lifestyle?
• Are you having to flog your guts out in your business to feed consumerism habits?
• If so, what is that costing you in relation to lifestyle freedom? (and I don’t mean just financially!)

There is a lot of focus these days on how work life impacts quality of life, families and lifestyle. And rightly so.

But if you are genuinely looking to create REAL lifestyle freedom you also need to take a long hard look at what impact the choices you are making in your personal life is having on how many hours you have to work, the level your business has to perform at, your family life and so on.

Is your business life feeding your ideal life or consumerism?

So, I invite you to take a step back and take a good long hard at all the choices you are making in your personal lif:

• Which are keeping you a slave to working longer and harder?
• Which are really moving your towards true lifestyle freedom and a business life on your own terms?
• Is it time to make some changes?

What is your take on this? Do you agree, disagree, have an alternative perspective? Please share your views.

Is the dynamic between your work life and school holidays exactly as you would like it to be? (and I mean your absolute ideal)

Do you believe it is possible to work only when you want to during school holidays without your business suffering?

These are important questions to consider if you want to create your ideal lifestyle.

Managing Your Business and School Holidays

In the previous post 7 Tips to Manage your Home Business during School Holidays we looked at things you can do to manage the dynamic between your home business and family life during school holidays.

Those things will help you manage your current situation. But, if your current situation isn’t your ideal, you need to know the answers to the questions above to get on a path to something better.

How do you go about getting your work life, school holidays and family life to be ideal?

Here are some suggestions to get you started on designing future school summer holidays to be ideal:

1. Believe it is possible to create your ideal. If you don’t then you are not going to be in the mindset that will allow you to create what you really want.
2. Stop thinking balance. Start thinking design. Many parents are so focussed on balancing everything that it stops them from designing things how they really want them to be. For more information on this read The Curse of Work Life Balance and Why work-life balance is misleading.
3. Work out what ideal means to you – forget any perceived limitations and write down, in the present tense what you, your kids, your work life and lifestyle is like during school holidays when it is ideal. Start taking action to turn this into reality.
4. Include family life & lifestyle in your business planning – many people review and make business plans and decisions in isolation from the rest of their life. Big mistake. Look for creative ways to re-design how your business operates and earns revenue around your family life. Do this at least monthly.
5. Keep focussed on the end game – design your actions plans, schedule and what you spend your time on around your big picture.

The main point I am making here is this:

If you are not happy with the dymanic between your business, family life and school holidays, then start designing it so that you are.

It is 100% possible. And the rewards, well, they are priceless.

But it is essential to remember this – don’t wait. Start working on how you want the dynamic between your business and school holidays to be for future summers NOW. Get busy designing, then put action plans in place to make it so.

What challenges do you face during school holidays? Do you have any suggestions to add to this list?

So, here we are again – school summer holidays time.

How are you feeling about it?

- Are you are delighted at the opportunity to spend quality time with your little cherubs?

- Are you feeling guilty because you feel you have to spend all summer keeping the business going so  you don’t have much time for the kids?

- Are you not enjoying the time with your kids because you are worrying the business is being neglected?

- Are you feeling so frazzled about the whole thing that you aren’t enjoying work or family life?

Regardless of which of these categories you fall into, there are always ways to improve the dynamic between your home business, family life and your lifestyle.

7 Tips to Manage your Home Biz During School Holidays

1. Set clear, strong boundaries between work and family life and implement them.
2. Don’t mix work and family time – this doesn’t work for anyone. Keep them separate.
3. Create a schedule of what you are doing when – this will help with point 2.
4. Prioritise hard - look for stuff that can wait until September. Read Time Management – the REAL reason you don’t have enough time for ideas to help with this one.
5. Avoid Lone Ranger Syndrome – look for where you can enlist some help e.g. family, friends. To find out more read Is Lone Ranger Syndrome Killing Your Business?
6. Delegate – what can you delegate out? Doing everything yourself won’t lead to success whether it is school holiday or not. Don’t use “I can’t afford help” as an excuse. Get creative. For example, students looking for a few hours work experience could be an option, there are people you can hire on an hourly basis etc. What other creative ideas can you come up with?
7. Form a support group with other parents who run their business from home – set up a rota for play dates to give each other work time without distractions.

The point is this:

Your kids grow up very fast. Once each year is gone, it is gone for good. I speak to many parents of grown up kids who say “I wish I had spent more time with them when they were younger”. Haven’t heard one yet say “I wish I had spent more time at work while the kids were younger”.

So, I invite you to get creative and look for what things you can put in place to enjoy your home biz and the school holidays with your kids without feeling stressed, guilty and frazzled.

In the next post we will look at how you can design your business to operate around school holidays and family life moving forward. In the meantime, what tips would you add to the list above? Please share your thoughts to help other parents.

The Curse of Work Life Balance

The whole work life balance movement has been around for a fair amount of years. Yet there is still a significant amount of people who feel that they are struggling with juggling all the balls of life and the things they value most are suffering.

It seems to me that something with the whole work life balance thing isn’t working or surely after all these years we would have the situation nailed.

So it begs the question:

What is Going Wrong with Work Life Balance?

The problem is what we are focussing on – balancing work with life. The two aren’t separate things. There is only one thing – your life. Everything else is a label for an activity you are doing within your life. So what is going wrong is that we are focussing on the wrong things – balance, and seeing work as separate to our life. This focus is resulting in sacrificing what we value most and our ideal life.

The Curse of Work Life Balance

The curse that work life balance creates is that it just gives you more of the same. You are still juggling. It doesn’t actually remove the problem totally. It doesn’t lead to you living your ideal life on your own terms.

Here is something to think about:

Do you really want to balance and juggle the things you value most with less important things that cost how you REALLY want things to be?
OR
Do you want to live a life built on the things you value most with the less important things fitting in around them?

If it’s the first option, keep focussing on work life balance. If it’s the second option, then kick focussing on work life balance into touch. Instead, make a decision right now that you are going to build the life your really want for yourself and your family.

Here are a few tips:

• Make sure you have a crystal clear picture of what your ideal life would look like. Define what constitutes a successful life for you including all aspects of your life as one.
• Is that worth fighting for? If so, start thinking “designing life” NOT balancing life.
• What would need to happen for your ideal to become a reality?
• Don’t wait, start now – even if you don’t know how you will make it all happen. Think baby steps.
• You can find more detailed tips and ideas in this 3 part mini series – Part 1 Why work-life balance is misleading. Part 2 The Alternative To Work-Life Balance Part 3 Goodbye work life balance! Hello success by design!

End the curse of work life balance for yourself. Eradicate mediocrity. Choose really living your ideal life on your terms. The freedom and fulfillment it gives is worth fighting for.

Do you have challenges with work life balance? What are your views on the whole work life balance movement?

There is one question that, if you asked it, you can pretty much guarantee the answer. It is this:

What is most important to you, your business or your kids & family life?

Maybe some of you are thinking it is a stupid question because, of course, parents value their kids more than their business (I don’t actually ask my clients this question because it is a no brainer).

However, it does raise an area of significant challenge for many parents. Although parents value their kids over their business, protecting family life from the impact of their business can often feel like a battle they are losing.

Here are three tips that you can implement immediately that will support you in protecting your family life:

1. Forget balance, think design. So many parents are striving for work life balance that they end up juggling everything, burnt out and the most important things to them are still being adversely affected. Forget work life balance and concentrate on designing how you want things to be based on your core values. For more on why I say “forget work life balance” read  Why work-life balance is misleading.

2. Put in rock solid boundaries. Boundaries are those things that you create to protect your family life. For example, I have a boundary that I only work with clients during school hours. Having clear boundaries and enforcing them protects what is most important to you. It also gets you to look for different ways to achieve results. What boundaries do you need to put in place?

3. Change the way you make decisions. Many business owners make business decisions whilst only looking at the business implications. Big mistake. Always evaluate the impact a business decision will have on your family as well as your business before you make the final decision. Stop looking at your business and family life separately.

Do you have any tips you would add to this list?

Related posts:

Why work-life balance is misleading.

The Alternative To Work-Life Balance

Goodbye work life balance! Hello success by design!