I was teaching my live Effective Newsletter workshop yesterday, and a participant brought up a really interesting point. We were talking about how she is publishing a set of CD’s and she said that she found a wonderful publishing company to work with. She was grateful for their help because she wouldn’t have known even where to begin with a project like that.

Her expertise was in creative piece - recording the CD’s. She had no idea how to get them published or on Amazon.com. She said “I’m a master at what I do, I don’t need to be an expert at publishing - I let someone else be the expert in that, and I gratefully pay them for their service.”

How many times in your business do you try to master something that you’re really not an expert in? I know so many practitioners who dive into things that are outside of their area of expertise.

What ends up happening is a lot of frustration. It’s not easy to learn the ins and outs of something and try to expertly apply it to your business. Like web design. I know so many people who try to tackle web design. They end up mad, frustrated, and worst of all - with a web site they aren’t even close to being happy with.

The biggest reason we try to tackle these things is money. We plead that we don’t have the money to hire someone to do these things for us.

If you explore your options, you can find ways to outsource tasks that aren’t going to be expensive. And, if you really look at your budget, where is your money going?

It’s worth it to get the help you need. It saves you time, it gives your business an edge, and it allows someone else to be the expert, and allows you to do the work you were really meant to do.

Yesterday, I had the honor of having an Intuitive Healing Session for my cat Sophie with Marti Wegner. This session was amazing, and incredibly insightful… I learned a ton about my kitty - and - about me!

Sophie is my oldest kitty. She has been with me for 11 years, and has helped me through some pretty rough stuff. The amazing thing is that, she always knows when I need someone to bounce things off of, and she’ll be right there for me.

What struck me as interesting is that, Sophie needs her own space. She’s naturally introverted in that, in order to re-charge, re-center, and reclaim herself, it’s important for her to have a space of her very own where she can go and just Be.

Hmmm… that sounded awfully familiar… sounds like a certain Intuitive Business Coach that I know…

When Sophie doesn’t get that space and time to just Be - she get’s really cranky. And she’ll tell me that she’s mad in her little cat way. The reason I had Marti do a session for me was, I knew she was mad, I just couldn’t always pin-point why.

Here - she’s just like her human!

I need space and uninterrupted time to just Be too. When I don’t get it - I get cranky… and the funny thing is, when the crankyness sets in, I don’t always understand why I feel that way… just like with Sophie - I knew she was mad, just couldn’t figure out why.

Marti so beautifully helped Sophie and I remember that we need that time to ourselves. And now, when I get cranky, or when Sophie seems grumpy, I’ll know that maybe we just need to just retreat from the world and just Be for a while.

I’ll let you know in a few weeks how it’s working, and what Sophie has been up to.

A good friend of mine, Lisa Hunter is a fellow coach, and her specialty is helping extraordinary women thrive… and she particularly specializes in helping those of us who are driven to really make a difference - driven hard enough to either not know when to stop, or not know how to stop.

Each week, she puts out this amazing e-zine - The Three Minute Miracle Launcher. If you’re a spirited go-getting woman who has trouble slowing down for self-care - you MUST check out Lisa’s work. She’s not going to tell you all that blah stuff about carving time out of your schedule, and talking to yourself gently - she gives solutions for self-care that are unbelievably profound, and are effective - and best of all - easy to integrate into a schedule that’s already tight, and you can’t possibly squeeze anything else into. Go here to get in on it.

This week, in Lisa’s Miracle Launcher, she talked about the hard edges in your business. Hard edges are those things that create definition for you. So, from a business perspective, these would be things like deadlines,  or goals, or appointments. Lisa says that hard edges are good because without them, things become unfocused and muddy.

But - she also says they can turn harmful when you start slamming yourself up against them.

Boy have I been there. I’ve slammed myself up against my share of deadlines for sure. And I’ve also slammed myself against goals that were way too aggressive *ahem* that would be why I didn’t sleep well on Sunday night…

And I’m also really good at beating myself up with my hard edges - I can be REALLY hard on myself - OUCH!

Where are the hard edges for you?

I love what Lisa says this week when dealing with hard edges. She says to bring an element of softness in - in other words, be gentle with yourself. And she says to envision yourself wrapped in a cahsmere blanket or immersed in a bubble bath - get really into that vision - and THEN think about your hard edges.

Cool huh?

When you try that technique - what happens for you?

I’ll chime in to the comments section in a few days and let you know what happened for me. *Hint* I got a really good night sleep for starters

I love to learn. And when I want to try something new, I immerse myself in the subject. Nothing wrong with that, except that sometimes – I over do the learning, and under-do the doing (say that 5 times fast!). I spend so much time accumulating information. I subscribe to e-zines, read blogs, join networking groups, download e-books, buy physical books, research the subject online… I get to the point where my head feels swollen with information.

And then a funny thing happens. I get stuck. I worry that I’m missing some vital piece of information. I stop trusting my intuition - I stop trusting myself to do the exact right thing. I worry that I’ll get it wrong. You would think that having all that information would boost my confidence to the point where I knew I couldn’t possibly get it wrong.

When we are about to embark on something new, it can be overwhelming. We fear we won’t get it right, we fear rejection, we fear abandonment. So we want to learn everything we can so that the possibility of a negative outcome is so tiny, we aren’t afraid to take the risk.

But being bogged down in information only ends up stifling us.

There are so many experts out there, so many gurus, and with the internet – we’ve got access to free information in more forms than you can possibly absorb in a lifetime.

So who’s right? Who’s information is the best? Who has the techniques that are REALLY going to work for us?

There’s a reason there are so many experts and so much information in the world. It’s because they all have something unique to offer. Whether it’s the specific service they provide, or just in the way they communicate their message – they all have a different voice, and they resonate with different types of people.

So how do you know who’s right for you?

You feel it – deep inside. I know – that’s the standard woo woo answer. But it’s the truth! Sure, you can hear what someone is saying, and you can relate to their message, and you can get the feeling that they know you very deeply – but deep down – do you really resonate with them on the level of your soul?

How much information from how many different sources are you currently receiving? What do you do with all the information? If you take time to read it all, mentally – where do you store it?

Over this next week, I invite you to take a look at the information you receive. Does learning stop you from doing what is actually necessary? Do you spend too much time reading and not enough time implementing?

When you think about implementing something new, do you trust yourself? Do you trust yourself that you know enough, that you’ll do it right, or that the project will be everything you want it to be?

Take some time with each information source you receive this week. See if it’s something you truly, way down deep, resonate with. If not, don’t take it in - consider releasing it.

By limiting your information intake, you won’t miss anything. On the contrary – you’ll make room for the information that counts, and you’ll have time in your schedule to do what counts.

I am so excited today - I have a guest blogger! Below, please find a wonderful article about the benefits of blogging. This article comes to us from Nicole Graham and Tara Spicer, who co-wrote The Journal For Modern Godesses.

I am a huge fan of journaling, it is a core practice for me. Nicole and Tara have developed an amazing journal - there is a link below to check it out.

I’m honored to be part of The Modern Goddess book tour, and am thrilled that they stopped by my blog and provided this amazing article.

And now, without further adue, I turn it over to Nicole:

Journaling is the practice of keeping a journal that explores your thoughts and feelings surrounding the events of your life. It is more than keeping a diary and recording the activities of your life, journaling allows you to clarify your thoughts and feelings, thereby gaining valuable self-knowledge.

Below are some examples of the benefits to keeping a journal.

Reduces Stress – Journaling has a proven benefit of reducing stress. The process of writing your thoughts and feelings down allows you to let go, and not carry as much with you throughout your day. This is a powerful form of self-expression, and through that expression you can gain clarity, release, and relief.

Increases Focus – Taking the time to journal can help you disentangle thoughts and ideas so that you can identify your true feelings and bring a clearer focus to what you want. This allows you to begin to live your life to the fullest.

Promotes Self-Healing – Through journaling and reflection you can uncover and record patterns and cycles as well as heal the past, heal relationships and soothe troubled memories. You will gain surprising and valuable insights into yourself as you journal, and again when you revisit past writings.

Encourages Personal Growth – As you express yourself you can integrate life experiences and learnings, explore night dreams, day dreams and fantasies, which in turn allows you to move forward in discovering who you really are.

Better Know Yourself – Journaling helps you create awareness of your beliefs and options, as well as help identify your values. This self discovery reveals different aspects of yourself, and allows you to better know yourself and make changes where you feel there is a need.

Better Communicator – Instead of saying something you may regret at a later stage, journaling is a safe way of expressing feelings and half-formed thoughts until you are ready to communicate them to others in a healthy and constructive way.

Setting Goals – You can clarify what you want and what is most important to you through journaling. Once you have identified those, you can begin to set goals and create action plans to support you in achieving what is important to you.

No Structure – Start today, stop tomorrow and that is how it should be. Journaling allows you to write whenever you feel like it. It is your journal, and your journey – record what you want and when you want based on your personal needs.

Overall journaling can be an effective tool of healing and self-empowerment for everyone, from those suffering great personal battles to those who wish simply to empower and clarify their own unique light and wisdom.

Your journal is your own sacred space, where you honour yourself and the unique light that you bring to our world.

~
Nicole Graham and Tara Spicer are currently on a virtual book tour promoting their recently released writing journal, Journal for the Modern Goddess.

About the Journal for the Modern Goddess:

This beautiful hard covered, spiral bound writing journal helps women uncover the beautiful, unique and powerful Goddess that they really are.

The journal features 6 coloured inserts with inspirational quotes, guided questions, affirmations and 204 lined pages for journaling. The coloured inserts divides the journal into sections - Gratitude and Happiness; Moving Forward; Dreams and Visions; Journal Pages; Guided Meditation; and Sanctuaries and Sisterhood.

The companion guided meditation CD features 3 tracks that provide women with sacred journeys that inspire and encourage them to create positive life patterns. These tracks help them to recognise and invite magic, inspiration and loving energy into their lives.

The journal retails for $34.95 AUD including GST.

To view or purchase the journal, please visit Nicole and Tara’s website, Journals for Empowerment. Please click on the Picture below:-

Tomorrow, Nicole is interviewed by Simone at Simone’s Butterfly. Simone’s site is http://simonesbutterfly.synthasite.com.