I have a new perspective!

Let’s talk about January shall we?

It’s the 21^st already and usually by this time I am itching to get away from the cold and escape to Florida for a few weeks.  This year with lots of plans and changes going on I have decided to stay put and focus on the work that needs to be done here.

Since the month began I have attended 4 different networking events.  I have joined Karen Baring’s group based out of Oakville and Burlington and I have been asked to host business accelerator meetings for H.U.B inc here at my studio and speak at the upcoming meeting in February about making Instagram Stories work for your business.

I’m so intrigued by the idea of telling stories that last week I had my first of four classes with The Writing Suite to learn all about creative writing and get better at what I already love to do.

Looking at what I’ve accomplished in these first 3 weeks makes me feel very satisfied.  I’m taking control of what will boost my success and disciplining myself to not let daily distractions take over.

In our recent H.U.B Inc meeting I had the pleasure hearing Stuart Knight speak, a motivational speaker from Toronto with a background in theatre.  Stuart is energetic, passionate, has a witty sense of humour.  He has that magnetic personality to make everyone in the room feel like his best friend.

Stuart taught us five key actions to be successful in business that most people will not do.  I wanted to share them with you:

1) Take pride in what you do
2) Acknowledge your fears
3) Tap into your creativity
4) Don’t be a wimp! Develop thick skin!
5) Set goals bigger than you think you will achieve

They sound simple but they really are not.

My favourite point was when Stuart kicked it off with taking pride in what you do.

If you love your work of course you take pride.  But do you think about the big picture?  Stuart gave a great example –

Let’s say your job was cleaning off park benches at a park.  You would clean that bench and sweep around it and take pride in how inviting you made that bench look.  You would know that the work you did on that bench was important because maybe now a young man would sit on that bench and perhaps a young woman might join him.  They would talk for hours, enjoy nature together and maybe even share their first kiss.  They would plan a date and another 20 dates would follow, soon they would be engaged, then married and start a family.  If that bench had not been cleaned by you they would have walked right past and never met that day.

How wonderful is that?  As soon as I heard this I already felt better about some of the mundane tasks I have to work through on a daily basis to get to the good stuff.  I’m looking at those tasks differently now.  I’m respecting my work which in turn gives me a better feeling of self-worth.  I’m up earlier now and I’m tackling the work I used to procrastinate about because I realize that all of it could impact someone else’s life in a positive way.

Whatever you do remember how important you are.  You might try writing a list of three things you avoid in your work and attach a story of how taking pride in doing those things will help someone else for the better.

See how much you matter?  I told ya!

Monica XO