Sorry I haven't been posting, I have some personal issues going on at the moment and the challenge is just not working out for me the way I was planning. This last week was a total bust at $900 for the week and I clocked in at $1500 the week before.
Just wanted to update cause I've been laggin on this.
I hope this helped some people a little, cause I dropped the ball on my own challenge, and I apologize for that. But I am hoping it still served a purpose....
This is a way I decided to challenge myself to push my limits and stimulate change in my life. To recruit accountability and support, and create a supportive environment for others to do the same.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
What is happening?
Well this blog is not really structured the way I originally intended, and for a while I have been struggling with that. But at this point, I am going with it. This challenge has changed, and that's O.K. My perspective is changing as well! So please bare with me, I am new to all this stuff.
Last week I didn't make my goal, but I had a great time with my daughter on saturday and rekindled some love with my wife on Sunday.
So this week started off with $345 today, looking to meet my goal this week!! I'm going to keep at this till I get it!!!!!!!!!!!!
This challenge is really helping me, I have been thinking a lot about how I used to work in the beginning of my business, and what my dreams were for where I would take it. Things have changed, but spending the time remembering and evaluating where I am now has given me an awesome perspective on my glass. I have realized that I let some of past failures get me down so much that it really hindered me in my progress, not only with my business but with my skill level as well. So in a way I am restructuring the way I think about things so that I can continue to pursue what I want aggressively no matter what.
I think my biggest problem is that I started to tell myself that I can't make it happen the way I want it. Now I am seeing that the only thing stopping me from achieving what I want IS what I keep telling myself. Now I am starting to tell myself that I CAN keep at it, and as long as I keep evaluating myself I can continue to find more ways to keep myself motivated when I feel like things just can't go right. And I can continue to find ways to change my approach until I achieve what I want. The only reason I have ever failed at anything is because I quit trying.
So here is continuing to find new ways to stay motivated, to learning from the things that usually get us down so they can serve us, and to being supportive for each other in this process!!!!!
LETS Get after it!!!!!!!!!
Last week I didn't make my goal, but I had a great time with my daughter on saturday and rekindled some love with my wife on Sunday.
So this week started off with $345 today, looking to meet my goal this week!! I'm going to keep at this till I get it!!!!!!!!!!!!
This challenge is really helping me, I have been thinking a lot about how I used to work in the beginning of my business, and what my dreams were for where I would take it. Things have changed, but spending the time remembering and evaluating where I am now has given me an awesome perspective on my glass. I have realized that I let some of past failures get me down so much that it really hindered me in my progress, not only with my business but with my skill level as well. So in a way I am restructuring the way I think about things so that I can continue to pursue what I want aggressively no matter what.
I think my biggest problem is that I started to tell myself that I can't make it happen the way I want it. Now I am seeing that the only thing stopping me from achieving what I want IS what I keep telling myself. Now I am starting to tell myself that I CAN keep at it, and as long as I keep evaluating myself I can continue to find more ways to keep myself motivated when I feel like things just can't go right. And I can continue to find ways to change my approach until I achieve what I want. The only reason I have ever failed at anything is because I quit trying.
So here is continuing to find new ways to stay motivated, to learning from the things that usually get us down so they can serve us, and to being supportive for each other in this process!!!!!
LETS Get after it!!!!!!!!!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Been a minute
O.K.
I haven't been posting much cause I've been working like a dog. Unfortunately, I have had some breakage problems and my actual success rate has been a little low. But that's fine with me, I'm learning a lot from this challenge and I made $1000 in the last 3 days regardless.
I don't know about anyone else, but I am getting a lot more out of this challenge than I expected. My shortcomings have taught me a lot, because the challenge is helping me to look at them from a new perspective, instead of just getting frustrated. I have been reevaluating the way I work and how I view my business. Even though I have been struggling with the challenge, I am getting more excited every day about what I am learning from it.
I would like to genuinely thank everyone for your support and for putting yourselves out there as well. Everyone has been a tremendous help for me personally, and I appreciate how you have helped make this thread a positive uplifting experience!
Lets get after it!!
I haven't been posting much cause I've been working like a dog. Unfortunately, I have had some breakage problems and my actual success rate has been a little low. But that's fine with me, I'm learning a lot from this challenge and I made $1000 in the last 3 days regardless.
I don't know about anyone else, but I am getting a lot more out of this challenge than I expected. My shortcomings have taught me a lot, because the challenge is helping me to look at them from a new perspective, instead of just getting frustrated. I have been reevaluating the way I work and how I view my business. Even though I have been struggling with the challenge, I am getting more excited every day about what I am learning from it.
I would like to genuinely thank everyone for your support and for putting yourselves out there as well. Everyone has been a tremendous help for me personally, and I appreciate how you have helped make this thread a positive uplifting experience!
Lets get after it!!
Monday, August 15, 2011
4 weeks to go
Yesterday was a more of a massive preparation day for me to get back in the swing of this challenge. I made 100 and got all prepped up.
Looking to make 2 g's by friday so I can take 2 days off.
woot woooooot!!!
Looking to make 2 g's by friday so I can take 2 days off.
woot woooooot!!!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Reassessing the challenge
I was having a talk with a good friend of mine today, and we were talking about how to deal with getting back after something you are doing, after an obstacle comes. We were talking about how it is necessary to build the mental muscle in order to be able to continue with something until you succeed instead of just giving up and accepting failure. (which is a big reason for why I wanted to do this challenge anyways)
It brought me to the realization that this challenge is about even more than I thought for me. For me it's become about raising my standards, raising my standards for what I demand of my results with my glass. When my skills were lacking, a normal week for me was 60 hours on my torch pumpin product to make it happen. As I have increased my abilities, and through my transition into a different part of the market, I have changed the way I view working unconsciously. And have let some bad habits have creep in.
When I first started my business, I very rarely let anything come between me and my torch time, and my torch time was first thing I did every day, starting early in the morning, and I was rarely done after 5 or 6. It was normal for me to work in 4 hour increments without getting up daily, sometimes even more if it was really needed. But being self employed, working at home, and having a daughter 4 years ago, I seem to have subtly got into this horrible habit of letting the interruptions dictate my life. This has caused me to get into the habit of working in the morning, afternoon and evening to get my work done because I am stopping for random shit (all avoidable, this is purely a hidden form of procrastination) throughout the day. So for the last 4 years I have not had steady days off in any shape or form, and my days feel like I am working all day. So even if I don't work much throughout the day, I still feel like I am working all the time, with no end in sight because I never know when the next day off will be.
I am realizing the biggest part of the challenge for me isn't about working 30 days straight, because I do that every month. It's about making sure that I am actually being as productive as I need to be on the days that I work. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying I make money every day every month, I am just saying that I never know when I am going to take a day off, and if I do it's usually because something came up and the day wasn't planned. So I always feel like I have to work every day anyways.
Doing this challenge is helping me reassess how I am doing things, and how I am approaching my work. I have been contemplating what I should do at this point with this challenge, that I feel would still accomplish my original goals, and be something achievable for me and not completely consume my life trying to catch up. So here is my new commitment.
My original commitment would have put me at 9000 in 30 days, and at this point I have only made a little over 1000 in glass. Sooooo
[B]I am recommitting to:[/B]
-continue updates daily
-Producea minimum of 8000 in glass in the next 4 weeks
-Produce a minimum of 2000 of that, each individual week.
-Only take days off if I have met my quota for the week. (the weeks start on monday and end on sun, although, I am starting this week tomorrow so I will have an extra day this week)
-I will make a min of 300 a day until the quota for the week is met. (this leaves me with the option to bust out more and have a day or 2 off if I choose to)
I hope this makes sense: and to clarify, the reason I changed this is because I was feeling like I failed, and I needed to get back at it without the feeling of failure guiding my decisions. Even though the injury was legit and I did try to work, and got back to work as soon as I could, it really took the wind out my sail. So instead of trying to change the direction of the wind, I am choosing to reset my sail and go at this again with a new energy that is not contaminated with the feeling of failure I was associating to the last commitment!
Thanks everyone for your support, and I apologize for falling off, but I'm getting back on with the same enthusiasm I started the original challenge with!
It brought me to the realization that this challenge is about even more than I thought for me. For me it's become about raising my standards, raising my standards for what I demand of my results with my glass. When my skills were lacking, a normal week for me was 60 hours on my torch pumpin product to make it happen. As I have increased my abilities, and through my transition into a different part of the market, I have changed the way I view working unconsciously. And have let some bad habits have creep in.
When I first started my business, I very rarely let anything come between me and my torch time, and my torch time was first thing I did every day, starting early in the morning, and I was rarely done after 5 or 6. It was normal for me to work in 4 hour increments without getting up daily, sometimes even more if it was really needed. But being self employed, working at home, and having a daughter 4 years ago, I seem to have subtly got into this horrible habit of letting the interruptions dictate my life. This has caused me to get into the habit of working in the morning, afternoon and evening to get my work done because I am stopping for random shit (all avoidable, this is purely a hidden form of procrastination) throughout the day. So for the last 4 years I have not had steady days off in any shape or form, and my days feel like I am working all day. So even if I don't work much throughout the day, I still feel like I am working all the time, with no end in sight because I never know when the next day off will be.
I am realizing the biggest part of the challenge for me isn't about working 30 days straight, because I do that every month. It's about making sure that I am actually being as productive as I need to be on the days that I work. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying I make money every day every month, I am just saying that I never know when I am going to take a day off, and if I do it's usually because something came up and the day wasn't planned. So I always feel like I have to work every day anyways.
Doing this challenge is helping me reassess how I am doing things, and how I am approaching my work. I have been contemplating what I should do at this point with this challenge, that I feel would still accomplish my original goals, and be something achievable for me and not completely consume my life trying to catch up. So here is my new commitment.
My original commitment would have put me at 9000 in 30 days, and at this point I have only made a little over 1000 in glass. Sooooo
[B]I am recommitting to:[/B]
-continue updates daily
-Producea minimum of 8000 in glass in the next 4 weeks
-Produce a minimum of 2000 of that, each individual week.
-Only take days off if I have met my quota for the week. (the weeks start on monday and end on sun, although, I am starting this week tomorrow so I will have an extra day this week)
-I will make a min of 300 a day until the quota for the week is met. (this leaves me with the option to bust out more and have a day or 2 off if I choose to)
I hope this makes sense: and to clarify, the reason I changed this is because I was feeling like I failed, and I needed to get back at it without the feeling of failure guiding my decisions. Even though the injury was legit and I did try to work, and got back to work as soon as I could, it really took the wind out my sail. So instead of trying to change the direction of the wind, I am choosing to reset my sail and go at this again with a new energy that is not contaminated with the feeling of failure I was associating to the last commitment!
Thanks everyone for your support, and I apologize for falling off, but I'm getting back on with the same enthusiasm I started the original challenge with!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Just a heads up
I'm going to try post in the evenings because I am having internet problems in the mornings.
Day 11
I clocked in at $90 yesterday with 2 visits to the chiropractor. I'm down to moderate discomfort and tension now, I have no excuse not to meet my goal every day now! I'm jumping back on at $300 a day for now to see how that goes. If I don't make up the $1,975 I am behind at the moment, before the end of the month I will continue the challenge until it is made up.
I am at a point in my life where I am working on balance, spending quality time with my family, getting my daily workouts in and working through my daily self evaluations. For me, this is a big reason why I am doing this challenge, so I can get back to a spot where I get my work done as fast as possible instead of letting myself be distracted by all the things that come up on a daily basis. I have found that after 8 years of doing this for a living, I have slowly let the habit of trying to tend to everything all the time creep in. Part of the idea of this challenge was to get back to a space where I treat my torch time like I treated all my old jobs, and not stop for anything except real emergencies.
So as much as I would like to try to catch up, I don't feel at the moment that it is conducive to what this challenge is about for me. I have had a bad habit for years of working long hours for days, then being so burnt out that I don't work for a bunch of days. This is the opposite of the balance I want to create in my life! But if I have days that are going extra smooth, I will get some extra work done.
At any rate, I am not going to stress about it. But I am back on the horse as of today, so it's $300 a day until I meet my quota!
I hope the challenge is still helping some of you, whether it be in the way you originally thought, or you are learning something else through it. Lets stay after it regardless of the challenges we face!!!!!
I am at a point in my life where I am working on balance, spending quality time with my family, getting my daily workouts in and working through my daily self evaluations. For me, this is a big reason why I am doing this challenge, so I can get back to a spot where I get my work done as fast as possible instead of letting myself be distracted by all the things that come up on a daily basis. I have found that after 8 years of doing this for a living, I have slowly let the habit of trying to tend to everything all the time creep in. Part of the idea of this challenge was to get back to a space where I treat my torch time like I treated all my old jobs, and not stop for anything except real emergencies.
So as much as I would like to try to catch up, I don't feel at the moment that it is conducive to what this challenge is about for me. I have had a bad habit for years of working long hours for days, then being so burnt out that I don't work for a bunch of days. This is the opposite of the balance I want to create in my life! But if I have days that are going extra smooth, I will get some extra work done.
At any rate, I am not going to stress about it. But I am back on the horse as of today, so it's $300 a day until I meet my quota!
I hope the challenge is still helping some of you, whether it be in the way you originally thought, or you are learning something else through it. Lets stay after it regardless of the challenges we face!!!!!
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