I recently finished reading Stephen Covey's book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, that emphasized, among other wonderful principles, the great impact of leading a principles-based life.
Lately, I have had a number of my career and executive coaching clients needing to make critical decisions about what professional or entrepreneurial venture they should pursue next. Even for a professional deciding on the next best step within his or her company, it can be challenging to understand what is most strategic and valuable to pursue. As managers, leaders, chief executive officers, and aspiring leaders, making a strategic next step can be critical to the personal and professional trajectory of these individuals.
Towards the end of 2020, I was in the process of making some tough decisions in my own personal and professional life. I found that I was working quite a bit, not sleeping as I should, trying various new marketing tools in my company, and steadily plowing through the curriculum for various programs I signed up for to learn more about advancing my business.
Something felt off in the midst of this hustle and bustle, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
Then, came a defining moment. I was attending a conference in late October 2020 where the facilitator asked participants to write out our dreams for our family life, work life, marriage, financial life, leisure time, spiritual life, etc. and I realized I wasn’t doing enough of the things that fulfilled me.
I realized that even if I had the bandwidth to do a whole lot of work, I didn’t have to do a lot of work. I needed to be more strategic and focus on what could create the biggest shift in my life and business.
I scaled back on my marketing efforts, focusing on only what worked the best for my business. I spent even more time with my kids and husband. I started cooking healthier meals. I started exercising more. I started reading my Christian devotionals more. I even picked up journaling and coloring in adult coloring books :).
That shift started in November 2020, and in January 2021, I made more than double than I made in November 2020 and had my highest grossing month in business yet.
My clients have also found that when they get laser-focused on what they want both personally and professionally, and when they understand their mission, vision, and values, they often see the results financially and practically in their careers or businesses. These results have included growing business revenue by 3x or 10x, getting promoted, increasing job responsibilities, launching into new and exciting projects at work, and increasing their salaries by as high as 105% -- all results clients have attained in 2020.
Maybe you value creating tangible results within your company. Or maybe you value travel or financial freedom. Maybe you value forming community. Or maybe you even value creating innovative ideas.
This week, take time to think about what you value most. What do you need to scale back on and what do you need to scale up in order to be more laser-focused on what’s most meaningful to you?
If you found this post to be helpful, definitely send me an email at daphne@daphnevalcin.com to let me know, and of course, feel free to forward this to family or friends who you believe this could be useful for.
I believe in you!