Dream Big, Work Hard, Stay Focused and Surround Yourself with Good People
Happy Anniversary to US!! Four years ago, we took a leap of faith; we joke that we gave our husbands heart attacks as we left our corporate jobs and launched Lead to INSPIRE! Has every day been easy, absolutely NOT! Has every day been fulfilling, YES…but only after we figured a few things out. We get it, not everyone wants to start their own business, but the lessons we’ve learned along the way apply to anyone, no matter where you are in life or what position you hold.
Our goal each day is simply to be better today than we were yesterday. We're not going to lie, it's harder some days than others, we don’t have it all figured out, but we continue to learn, and we only hope that our journey can help others in some way. Our anniversary gift to each one of you is to share our top four game-changers.
1. Be Intentional and Be Present
It is so easy to get caught in the hamster wheel of life…you know, doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. When we realized we couldn’t do it all, because, we can't, it made all the difference. We put too much pressure on ourselves, society has told us we have to be perfect and that’s not only untrue, it’s also impossible! The game-changer for us was when we realized we need to BE INTENTIONAL and BE PRESENT.
We give ourselves permission to say no to the things that don’t excite us, which intentionality gives us more time to focus on the things and the people we love. We’re also intentional about not allowing our “to do” lists to overrun our days. By being more strategic, we’re able to WORK SMARTER.
We thought we were “being present” with our time and attention as we played board games with our kids or had conversations with our spouses. However, we realized we were often checking email or working through the next project in the middle of either activity, sometimes out of necessity, other times out of habit. How often do you carry your work home?
What helped us shift our thinking was continually asking ourselves - 10 years from now, will I be happy I spent an hour working on this presentation at home or playing catch with my kids? Each day is a gift and we only 24 hours, be intentional with how you use them and be present so you can CAPTURE EVERY MEMORY.
2. Focus on solving a specific problem for a specific group of people
Lead to Inspire looks different today than it did four years ago, in fact, it looks different today than it did two or three years ago. We continually fine-tune the services and products we offer to fit our partners because we FOCUS ON SOLVING A SPECIFIC PROBLEM FOR A SPECIFIC GROUP OF PEOPLE. This game-changer helps us realize we are not the right partner for everyone, and we don’t have to be experts in everything. That focus helps us feel more accomplished at the end of the day because we know we add a lot more value when we partner with the right people on the right things.
3. Mindset is everything
Henry Ford said, “if you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right”. MINDSET is everything! Many days are hard, but the game-changer we’ve found is the mindset you bring to the table has more influence on your success than the skills you possess! Think about the things you haven’t done or even tried for fear of failing. Now, if those same opportunities were presented and you knew you couldn't fail, what would you do? We’ve truly learned more from our FAILURES than any of our SUCCESSES, plus we know at least we tried. Our stubbornness…umm we mean competitiveness, helps us continue to move forward. It’s okay if you stumble as long as you learn from it. It’s also okay if you need to step back and adjust your mindset, just don’t forget to keep moving forward.
4. Dream Big, Work Hard, Stay Focused and Surround Yourself with Good People
We will forever DREAM BIG, WORK HARD, STAY FOCUSED AND SURROUND OVERSELVES WITH GOOD PEOPLE. At the end of the day, we each get one life to live! Dream big, work hard to achieve those dreams and surround yourself with people that elevate you, the ones you enjoy spending time with. It may not always be easy but…it is that simple!
At Lead to Inspire we are forever blessed by the amazing people that surround us and we cannot say THANK YOU enough for lifting us up and supporting us as we turned this BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) into a reality! Cheers to the next 4 years!