How Do You Choose to Spend Your Time?

I've been thinking a bit about what success in any endeavor requires, and it seems to me that time is the common element.  People talk about not having time for various activities, and of course it's a matter of prioritizing:  I can say I don't have time to exercise in the morning before I start my work, but the truth is that I'm choosing to sleep an extra hour.  Taking this to a logical extreme, I can say I don't have time to hike the Appalachian Trail, but I do - I'm simply choosing to spend that time on income-generating activities instead, as I have a fondness for, well, eating and having a place to live.

So when it comes to allocating time to business matters, what am I choosing to not do?  For me, television is a fairly easy "pass."  It's too easy for me to plonk down on the couch at 8:00 in the evening, not move until 11:00, and do nothing but absorb negativity for the entire three hours.  Housework?  Erm, yeah.  I do maintain a basic standard of cleanliness, but the higher-level right-up-next-to-Godliness ideal will still be there when I get back to it.  Time spent on friendships with people who are bent on self-sabotage?  Nope - that can be spent better elsewhere.  We've all heard that "a friend in need is a friend indeed," but I've (finally!) released myself from the job of rescuing folks who create their own crises over and over again.  None of those things contribute to my business or personal satisfaction.

What will I not give up?  I refuse to sacrifice being a part of my children's major milestones.  I joined the network marketing industry in part because I wanted more time with my family, not less, and that's a value I share with my prospective business partners.  My faith community is an important part of my spiritual growth, and Sunday mornings are spent with those people.  I recently realized I had unconsciously given up reading just for pleasure and reclaimed that time for myself.  Time devoted to my family, my church, and my self (spacing intentional) is a component of the life I'm choosing to create.

An investment of time in an activity is necessary in order to achieve excellence.  Balance in one's life is necessary in order to avoid burnout.  What will you give up, what will you hold on to, and how are those decisions consistent with the life you say you want?  

High-Mindedness

A friend recently told me she was "too high-minded" to participate in network marketing from a business perspective.  She could see selling products, if she were very passionate about them, but offering the business model to others as a way to make money?  "I'm far too high-minded for that," she said.

Like many of my colleagues in this industry, I wear a few hats.  I also work in a prosthodontic practice, coordinating treatment for patients who sometimes need complex dental care.  Prosthodontics includes crowns, bridges, dentures - sometimes supported by dental implants, sometimes not.  Many of our patients come to us when their needs have gone beyond what a general dentist would provide ... and in some cases, they're losing teeth and/or jawbone, they're having a hard time eating or talking, they're in pain.  They want to smile again.  We try to help them.

This week two patients had to cancel appointments because they'd lost their jobs.  Dental care can be costly, and if you have to choose between buying groceries and taking care of your teeth, groceries win.  One said he hoped to be able to resume treatment by January.

My business contributes a significant amount to my household budget.  I operate it on a part-time basis and work it around my life (rather than working my life around it).  I teach other people how to do the same.  Could these two patients have benefited from the business I have to offer?  Maybe. 

Too high-minded?

So I'd heard of parabens being used in personal care products, and concerns about them ... long story short, they're preservative substances that have been found in high concentration in breast tumors.  It's not yet clear whether there's a causational relationship going on, but they're hanging out in our bodies.  Does that give you the creeps?  It does me.

How do they get there?  Go look at the bottles and tubes in your bathroom and start reading the labels: "propylparaben," "methylparaben," "polyparaben" ... rub that stuff on you and it worms its way in.  Think about how many products you use every day - c'mon, really think about it.  I'm a bit of an earth mama myself, but I do use shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, face cleanser, toner, moisturizers, eye cream ... okay, maybe I'm not so much of an earth mama these days.  But you get my point.  Multiple products containing these chemicals applied to the skin on a daily basis over several years - decades - results in an accumulation of the little buggers.

 I'm reasonably cautious when it comes to my health.  I recently heard someone say they treat their body "like a temple, not a tent."  I liked it.  No tents here, I'm more of a Hilton/Marriott kind of girl.  (Yeah, the analogy kind of fell apart there ... sue me, I grew up Lutheran, we didn't go to Temple.)  So I don't use products that contain parabens.  I - just - don't.  Hello?  We have choices here.  We can read, we can buy accordingly.  What do I use?  My own stuff.  Duh.

 "BUT BUT BUT!!" said Butt the Hoopoe, to paraphrase Salman Rushdie (if you haven't read the book, give yourself a treat and do so) - I recently learned that checking for parabens in personal care products wasn't enough.  No!  During a quick trip into Harris-Teeter to pick up some grub, I zipped over to the bakery (see, I haven't cut out the wheat or cooked foods, so I'm not a real purist) and grabbed a baguette in a paper bag under a sign that said, "Baked fresh daily!"  The ingredient list seemed a little long, so I stopped and read it ... PARABENS!  In FOOD!  That was, per the store, baked that day.  Why ever did they need to add paraben preservatives to freshly-baked bread?  Little kids might be eating that bread!  Fortunately, right around the corner of that very rack were more baguettes that were free of parabens or any preservatives - except salt, I suppose.  I can deal with a little salt.

REAL FOOD, people.  CLEAN PRODUCTS.  It's not that hard.  Vote with your wallet.

This Little Light of Mine

We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. -  Marianne Williamson

What were the things you loved to do as a child?  What did you want to be when you grew up?  Are you still doing those things, and did you grow up to be that - whatever it was?

I used to love to sing.  My mother used to sing to me when I was little and I found her voice beautiful, although she'd grown up believing she had a tin ear.  She never sang in public except in church - and then, only very quietly.  I remember her "shush"ing me when I belted out "Onward Christian Soldiers."  We did not belt.

Some years ago, my family attended a camping party with lots of other families.  There was a fire and marshmallows - and singing.  As the evening wore on, the music became the focus of the party.  Children were put to bed, and gradually most of the adults wandered off to their tents, but six of us stayed up: three men playing stringed instruments and three women singing.  We were fantastic, in the truest sense of the word.  I ran into one of the guys a while back.  "Are you singing?" he asked me.  "You need to be singing."

I haven't been.  I will.

What does this have to do with business?  Well, Tim Sales defines a successful business as something that makes people's lives better.  Doing what brings us joy allows us to shine.  Shining is how we attract others, how we lift them up, how we allow them to shine - how we make their lives better. 

Tell me about your light. 

When I look at a mirror and into my eyes, I see the Light ... the Light that was planted within me by the Creator of all creation.  It is the same light that I see within all and though it may vary in brilliance, we all have that Light. - Al Diaz

Getting the Job Done

You might guess that someone who enjoys the night sky and storytelling might be just a teensy bit interested in astrology - okay, so I'm hooked on Rob Brezsny's weekly "Free Will Astrology." I love his writing style, but more remarkably, he hits the nail on the head quite often. (A friend says when she was going through a very challenging time in her life, the TV Guide horoscopes guided her best.) So yesterday, I had a full day planned: a brunch in my home with local colleagues, helping a friend move, and a six-hour drive for a business/pleasure trip that included dropping my children off at two different landing sites. About hosting the brunch? Just know that some people are tidy-house people and some are not ... I fall into the latter category. Noisily so.
  
Fortunately, I had read my horoscope for the week of July 15 (why DOES he start mid-week, anyway?) and it had put me in the right mindset for the day:

The baseball game was over. TV announcer Mike Krukow was describing the "ugly victory" that the San Francisco Giants had just achieved. The team's efforts were sloppy and chaotic, he said, and yet the win counted just as much as a more elegant triumph. He ended with a flourish: "No one wants to hear about the labor pains; they just want to see the baby." That's my message to you this week, Taurus. All that matters is that you get the job done. It doesn't matter whether you look good doing it. 

PERFECT.  Just what I needed to hear then.  I relaxed and got the job(s) done, and as a result, had a great time doing them ... which in my world is the equivalent of looking good.  "All that matters is that you get the job done."  This might be a good mantra for any day for anyone, regardless of your sign.

And Why "Constellations"?

Network marketing isn't something we do alone.  It's about networking, forming relationships, learning each other's stories and dreams.  We are all like stars: some glow quietly, some twinkle, and some shine brightly.  Together we create teams, weaving our individual stories together to create larger ones. 

I've always been enchanted by the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters, a star cluster inside the constellation Taurus.  Their story varies - some versions say they became stars to escape Orion, others that Zeus immortalized them by placing them in the sky - but the common theme is transformation.  Network marketing is one of few industries in which self-transformation or personal growth is a key element of success. 

What is your story?  What can we achieve together?  Can we bring light where there's darkness?  I'd like to try. 

What's a Nice Girl Like Me Doing in a Place Like This?

For those of you who may be interested in the details …

I was dead-set against purchasing the nutritional supplements my company offers; after all, I was a family child care provider and ate what I fed the children in my care, and that met the requirements of the state food program, right? Finally I was persuaded to try them, and I had a pretty quick response. I don't know whether that was because my system was particularly sensitive or because I was exhausted by my job caring for five preschoolers every day, but WHAM - that experience convinced me that pharmaceutical-quality supplements make a difference. I think that notion has become more mainstream over the past several years, and most people are already a step ahead of where I was at that point.

Truthfully, I called the friend who encouraged me to try the products and said to him, "I'm going to tell everyone I know about these, and I'd rather make commissions myself than just send them to you." That doesn't sound very noble, but I wasn't thinking big back then. He very happily brought over the form (those were the olden days before online enrollment) and and I signed up as an associate. I was off!

Then I went into a panic. I thought, "Oh my gosh, what have I DONE?" I'd worked for attorneys for four years in a previous life and even attended law school myself (bleagh!), and I was sure I'd just signed my life away. So I did what I do best - I got on the phone. I called the Better Business Bureau, the Attorney General's office for the state of North Carolina (where I live), the Attorney General's office for the state of Utah (where the company is located), everyone I could think of so I could find the real dirt on USANA. I read every single policy and procedure that came in my Business Development System and grilled other associates about each item. But the deeper I dug, the cleaner it looked, so I decided to stick with it.

Strangely, the parents in my child care group were not terribly receptive to my approaches. I think in spite of the fact they trusted me with their children and I developed all kinds of fancy early learning curriculum activities, they still saw me as The Babysitter. What did I know about nutrition? But here's something funny - one of them telecommuted for her job, and had a colleague in Salt Lake City - right in USANA's back yard. The colleague was complaining about being exhausted, and this parent told her, "My child care provider swears by these vitamins - I'll have her email you." This woman had never heard of USANA, and voila – she was my first customer.

If you had told me ten years ago that today I would be training associates in the health and wellness industry, I would have laughed in your face. Although my friend is no longer doing business with USANA (and that's another post), I have him to thank for introducing us to an amazing industry and a fabulous company. I have the privilege of working with some amazing people and helping some of them achieve goals far beyond what I might have wished for them. I had no idea I could be part of something this big!