Overcoming stress or overwhelm in your business can be one of the hardest emotional and physical challenges you face.  Here in the first part of a two part series on overcoming stress, I present one awesome tool for you to use.

Before we get onto that, let’s be honest here.

You might not even know you are experiencing stress or overwhelm.  Take a moment and look at the feelings or statements and ask yourself if any of these sound familiar to you?

“I’m overwhelmed, torn and frustrated”

“My business is time consuming and tiring”

“I’m spreading myself too thin”

“I’m exhausted”

“I have to force myself to take action”

“I can’t make a decent living”

“I’ve got lack of structure”

“I’ve got a lack of clarity”

“I’m pulled in so many different directions, there’s distractions everywhere”

If you said yes to any of the above then read on!

Overcoming Overwhelm – Are You In Flow?

If any of the above statements rang true for you then take note.  These are the words that come from someone who is out of flow.

When I say flow – I mean what Carl Jung called synchronicity, the collective unconscious.  When we are in flow, i.e, doing what we love to do and it comes so easily to us it doesn’t even feel like work, then we somehow attract positive coincidences, experiences, situations, opportunities.

When we are out of flow – we experience stress and overwhelm.

So, this is why you need to get back in flow.

How To Overcome Stress – The Habit Of Connection

To overcome your feeling of overwhelm and stress, I want to suggest one lifestyle tool you can use everyday to start creating connection.  I call this your connection habit.

The habit of connection is about reconnecting to your soul, to the collective unconscious, the universe, what God wants for you, for your soul – that’s what you need to reconnect to.

Because when you have your connection, you’ll be creating synchronicity, you’ll be tapping into that collective unconscious, you’ll be creating flow. Magic will happen to you, but it will be no accident and that’s where your ultimate lifestyle business comes from.

So, the secret to overcoming overwhelm and getting back into our sense of flow, the secret is maintaining connection regularly. We’ve got to have a habit of connection and if you want to create your ultimate lifestyle or you just want to eradicate stress or overwhelm then you must create a connection habit.

That means it’s not something that happens once, it’s not something that happens twice. It’s something that happens everyday. You stay connected and every single day, you need to make sure that you do that.

And so what we need to do is to create that habit connection?

We’ll look at that in Part Two.

Creating your dream lifestyle is not a myth.  It can be your reality.

Take a moment to imagine your dream lifestyle.  What would it involve?  For most people, it involves some of the following ingredients:

• Foreign travel
• More time off to relax and pursue your hobbies
• Quality time with your family and friends
• New clothes
• New hairstyles
• New cars!

And the list goes on . . .

The Myth

But here’s where the myth begins.

Most people believe all this is beyond their grasp. As a child, all this seemed possible and yet as adult-hood sunk its cynical claws in, these goals become dreams, which in turn become ideals, which in turn become a faraway concept forever out of your grasp…

But this doesn’t have to be the case.

You Can Create Your Dream Lifestyle.

It’s just that most people don’t know HOW to create their dream lifestyle. And the sad fact is . . . it’s actually far easier than people think! People chase the magic pill of success which will change their lives, but as a business owner, if you just focus on the following 3 strategies and apply yourself, you can create your dream lifestyle.

1. Increase Your Income: Using smart and effective marketing strategies you can increase both the number of customers you have and the amount each customer spends. Which will in turn…..
2. Give You More Time Off: As you bring more money into your business you won’t have to work so hard. The goal here is to free up 25% of your time (minimum) to work toward passive income streams.
3. Leverage Your Business Into Passive Income: You will then be able to select the quickest and easiest way to create passive income, in a way that works WITH your natural talents; not against them.

Summary
By following these 3 strategies, you could be on your way to creating your dream lifestyle. Don’t be one of the masses, why not take a step this week toward increasing your income so you can get more time off and leverage your business into passive income. . . . You never know, your dream lifestyle could be just around the corner.

My sister Kath Clarke's amazing shortbread

I’m just so proud of my sister, Kath Clarke. She was interviewed today on Joy FM in Melbourne on a spot called “Cravings”. The topic? Food memories.

She has a TV spot coming up soon on Channel 10 too. Watch out for this little superstar. She’s gonna go big real soon!

Listen to the interview here:

Kath Clarke Interview on Joy FM
Check out her yummy cakes here.

The thing about Kath is she just attracts media attention. And this got me to thinking. What is it that captures the attention of the media. Why is this woman getting radio, TV and press attention without even trying- while others cant get attention to save themselves!

What are your thoughts?

Welcome to a very special blog post!
Since Jo and Greg are currently honeymooning in Bali, Jo turned to me this week to write this update and share the wedding with you.  So, I’ve put on my best journalist’s hat to make you feel as if you were there too . . .

Firstly let’s start with the weather.  All weddings rely on mother-nature and this one relied on her more than most.  In the midst of a sodden summer, the sun Gods truly were smiling because as dawn broke on Saturday 15th January, the Tasmanian sky was a sheet of blue and the sun shone down making the island look even prettier than it was.  *Note if you’ve never been to Tassie – you must go!  What a gorgeous island.

Anyway I digress.  The ceremony was set for 4.30pm and at 4ish the guests started to gather in Princes Park in Hobart.  A string quartet played softly in the background, a handful of white seats were set out and the pimms was flowing.  There were about 80 guests in total, lots of family and a mixture of friends and Shift personnel.  Take a look at the photos because Joey and Greg loved the contrast of everyone’s dresses against the vivid green of the park. 

At just gone 4, the groom showed up . . . looking great I have to say in a black Hugo Boss suit and a sexy black tie.  Accompanying him were his 2 brothers. As he took position the guests gathered around a lilac carpet and awaited the bride . . . 25 minutes later the bridal party arrived.  Jo’s 2 sisters, Kath and Emma, led the way along with Jo’s 2 year old niece, Charlotte. 

And then came the bride!

Jo’s stepdad and dad walked her proudly down the aisle . . . and a beaming, beautiful and radiant Joanna looked absolutely overjoyed as she walked toward her soon-to-be husband.  For you ladies out there who want the details . . . Jo’s designer dress was an off white silk, with a ruched bodice with a sweetheart neck line and hand embroidered beads.  She had a ruffled halter-neck with a short train and a very fancy feathered head piece and net in her hair.

She looked amazing.

As they exchanged vows in a simple but touching ceremony, some of the guests were seen to shed tears (especially when Jo did!) and when the ring was slipped onto Jo’s finger and she could finally call herself Mrs Elliott, the guests whooped and cheered.

The new wedding ring matched her engagement ring perfectly.

The reception was just as gorgeous  . . . the wedding party sailed upriver to Moorilla Winery . . . and were entertained by some hilarious speeches and some more moving ones.  I asked Jo what her favourite moment of day was and she answered without hesitation that Greg’s speech was her best moment.  Greg, not usually the public speaker, made a beautiful speech to his new bride which brought tears to her eyes (and to most of ours!)

Joey and Greg specifically wish to thank all of you for all your support, love and wishes of good will.  Their wedding was not just for them, it was an opportunity for everyone to witness their union. Without the love of the Shift Community it would not have been the same and it makes them truly happy to know you were there with them in spirit.

So if you have a glass handy, raise it to Jo and Greg Elliott and toast their new marriage.

Love

Welcome to 2011!  I hope you had an amazing Christmas break and a fun New Year.  The holidays have passed so quickly and I can’t believe it’s the start of a new year and more importantly, only 10 days to our wedding!

This Christmas heralded the start of a new dawn . . . the patter of tiny feet.  No, not our own!  At least not just yet.   But this Christmas was a happy portent for Christmasses to come!  At Greg’s brother’s house on Christmas day we had the pleasure of Charlotte, Greg’s 2 year old niece, and then at dinner at my dad’s house we had my little cousins running happily around us.  As you know, our intention for 2011 is to create our own babies so it was great to get some practice!

On New Year’s Eve, we went to the beach near our new home in Williamstown, Melbourne, to sit and watch the fireworks cascade over the city.  Fireworks are such a dramatic way to bring in the new year – they beckon excitement and wonder and I love relating them to business.  As each rocket exploded over the city, I imagined how many of your businesses will take off and explode into profit this year. 

Profit comes with good planning and the right intentions.  If you want to set some intentions, now’s the perfect time to do it.  In the meantime, happy new year!