Is "Earning a Living" Stopping You?

Is "Earning a Living" Stopping You? by Stacey Mayo

Every year, people resolve that this year will be different:
"This will be the year that I write that book, start that
new venture, double my income, take more time off to spend
with my family," and the list goes on and on.

However, when people think about pursuing their dreams, they
often squash the idea because it doesn't seem practical.

Does this sound familiar? You have a dream, but are afraid
that if you pursue it, you would risk giving up what you
already have. It is easy to put it off to a later date -- a
time when there will be more money, more time and/or when
the kids have graduated from college.

However, there is never a time when everything in your life
is perfect for carrying out your goals. Don't wait for
everything to be lined up.

Once you actually commit to your dream, things will begin to
fall into place. Know that is possible to live out your
fondest dreams AND make a great living!

After supporting thousands of people across the globe in
making their personal and professional dreams a reality, I
have found the following strategies to be most effective:

* First, design your life around your priorities. Many
people try to fit their dreams into their life and complain
there are not enough hours in the day to make it happen. If
you want your dream to become a reality, make it a priority.

For example, Stacy Allison, the first American woman to
climb Mt. Everest chose to live just outside of Zion
National Park so she could climb rock cliffs in her own
backyard. Climbing was her priority for many years and she
made choices in alignment with that.

* Second, handle the basics (food, clothing and shelter)
then reach for fulfillment and self-actualization. If you
can't stand your job any longer or have been forced out and
you need a source of income, get a low-stress interim job to
pay the bills while your pursue your dream.

* Visualize every step of your dream and watch the magic
unfold.

For example, an experiment conducted by Australian
Psychologist Alan Richardson found a 23 percent performance
improvement among subjects who visualized every day for 20
days.

Mary Youngblood went from welfare mom to Grammy award
winner. Mary visualized herself out of welfare. She did this
by writing a short story about a young welfare mother. It
was her story, basically, and how she was discovered having
great talent and was able to get herself up and out of
welfare.

She pictured it happening in her head and then took action
in alignment with that picture.

* Laser in on one idea, business or income stream at a time.
One of the mistakes people make is diversifying too quickly.
This is true whether you are trying to build multiple
streams of income or are just working on several different
ideas at one time.

The key is getting the first stream or idea up and running
and having systems in place so it will keep running without
you before going on to the next unrelated stream.

This is one of my biggest lessons as it is for many
entrepreneurs and creative people. When I was writing, "I
Can't Believe I Get Paid To Do This!" I was also looking for
real estate investments which was a new venture for me.

I wasn't making much progress on either count. When I put
the real estate to the side and committed to finishing the
book, it happened quite easily.

And last but not least, develop your resilience muscle by
bouncing back from setbacks. You will very likely have
setbacks along the way. Don't get stopped by these bumps in
the road; learn from them.

Stacey Mayo is founder of the Center for Balanced Living, a
certified career coach and author of "I Can't Believe I Get
Paid To Do This! Remarkable People Reveal 26 Proven
Strategies For Making Your Dreams a Reality," which shares
spiritual and practical tools gleaned from remarkable people
who have achieved high levels of success.