5 Things You Can Do Today To Change Your Life

Life moves fast. There’s just no way around that. Before you know it, you have lost touch with certain things that you really treasure. People you haven’t seen, or even spoken to in a long time. You don’t do the things that you enjoy as much as you used to. Work, clients, kids, spouses, parents, siblings, and even your pets are all demanding of your time. If you're not careful you may end up losing touch with who you are deep down. You can become like a robot reacting to what happens today and hope tomorrow brings more time for you... a little breathing room.

I see this with a lot of my clients when I meet with them for the first time. They don’t realize what has happened to them. They just see the symptoms, but not the disease. Eventually, something has to give, and it’s typically either your business, your family and friends, or your health. In some cases, it’s all of the above.

Believe me, I’m not judging here. I used to be the same way. I worked 7 days a week with multiple businesses for years and years. I just reacted to what happened that day, or that hour, or that minute. I had all of the symptoms mentioned above but justified them by telling myself that I was doing all of this for my family. Then a tragic diagnosis of one of my best friends shook me so hard that I did a 180. I didn’t care about my business anymore, in fact, I hated my business. I was angry that it had taken all of the things that I love and made them second to it.

After a few months in anger mode, it dawned on me that it wasn’t my business’ fault, hell, I created them. I saw past the symptoms and realized that I had a disease. The disease was chasing more, more, more. No matter what I had, I always needed more. Once I had that AHA moment, I reacted quickly. I sold one of my businesses and started working no more than 5 days a week, I set expectations for my clients to allow me to have the time I needed for myself, my family, and my friends. They were no longer going to be in 2^nd place!

What was amazing was that my business actually took off! The clarity that this new way of life brought to me attracted more business. Most clients not only understood that I deserved time for myself but applauded it. I was a better person, and it showed in all aspects of my life, especially in my business. Of course, there were a few demanding clients who didn’t appreciate the fact that I wouldn’t respond to a text at 10 pm, or miss an important family event to show them houses. But that’s ok, I can live without those types of clients. My new way of life, and business, attracts much more than I lost, and I certainly don’t miss any of those “toxic” clients. I went from chasing more, more, more, to realizing that I had more than enough.

If you want to take steps toward getting your life back and enjoying the things that you love, start by doing these 5 things. Start today, don’t put it off. Don’t look back in a month, a year, or a decade, and wonder why you didn’t make changes.

      1. Start the day with Gratitude.
         As soon as you wake up in the morning, yep, even before your coffee, take a few minutes
         to think about how lucky you are to have what you have. Your family, friends, and a
         successful business. One of my favorite quotes is “Remember when you dreamed of
         having what you have today?”

      2. Take time for yourself, just you.
         Some people may believe this is selfish, but it’s a benefit for everyone in your life. It 
         allows you to breathe, think, and de-stress. Eventually, this time will become your time
         for clarity. It lets you see what is important to you.

     3. Schedule time with your family and friends.
         Don’t just say, “I’m going to go to lunch with Mom this week”, actually schedule it! Do it
         now. Do this with everyone important in your life. Not all this week, of course, but make a
         habit of doing it weekly, or at least monthly. You don’t want any of the important people in
         your life to be gone one day and wish you would have taken more time with them. 
         Schedule it!

    4. Organize your life and business!
        This one is especially near and dear to my heart. All of my clients will tell you the one
        thing that I will repeat over and over again is, PUT IT ON THE CALENDAR!  If it’s not
        on the calendar you will forget, and then you will have to react quickly and make sacrifices
        to YOUR time. You can tell yourself that you will make changes, “Oh, I’ll remember to call
        Mom,” or “ I won’t forget Susie’s play at school on Friday.” Most of us are pretty good at
        scheduling work appointments, but we don’t do a good job of scheduling the most
        important part of our lives, our time. Put EVERYTHING on one calendar, Susie’s play,
        call Mom, date night, meeting with new clients, inspections, everything! Then when you
        set up an appointment with a client you can see that you are supposed to be at Susie’s 
        play Friday at 3. So, you tell them you’re sorry, but you’re booked until 5, or Saturday
        morning, or whatever your next opening is. Also, you must, absolutely must, input your
        days off! Those are YOUR days off. Yep, you might have to juggle one here and there for
        an out-of-town client, or some other rare occurrence, but for the most part, take those
        days off!

   5. Commit, Commit, Commit!    
       You will never change your lifestyle until you commit to it. Don’t wait for a tragedy as I did.
       Don’t wait until someone you love is gone. Don’t wait until you are in the hospital with a
       life-threatening disease. Don’t wait until your spouse says they can’t take it any longer.
       Don’t wait until your kids expect you to not be at their events. DON’T WAIT!

Brad Staplin is a Real Estate Broker, Business-Life Coach, and a Certified Professional Coach. His coaching philosophy is to "Live Life Unbalanced!" The scales of life should always be tilted on the side of you, your family, and your friends. The freedom of living life unbalanced will attract “more than enough” business to live the life you dream of. For more information visit www.bradstaplincoaching.com.