Follow Your Peace

I’ve been quiet again for the last few weeks, but things are picking up behind the scenes. It got me thinking about where I was about this time last year.

I had gone down to three days a week at my “day job” and was running out of my savings with no clear path to income on it’s way. Promoting myself one on one wasn’t really working so I decided to launch a group. I thought that I was doing it because it felt right – but I realize now that I mostly did it from a place of fear.

Most regrettably, I invested in expensive programs that weren’t right for me because I felt a sense of urgency to make money now.

As far as my group program goes, it turned out to be a good thing in the end because it got me to develop a course that I can now use with clients.

A sense of urgency can have it’s place by getting you to do things based on public commitments, but I’ve decided that for me it should be avoided at all costs when it comes to decision making.

My decision to go back to work four days a week was going to enable me to step back a bit and focus on community building through my Embracing Intensity podcast etc. When we acquired Quinn Mountain Retreat though, everything went of track for a bit. I offered to go back full time out of a sense of urgency and almost immediately regretted it. I also came close to investing in another program that seemed to have the “magic bullet” for developing a program using the new retreat space, but fortunately I decided to hold off and see where I was in the spring.

Then a few things happened that gave me a new perspective. I went to a networking event unprepared, without a business card or makeup. I learned that having a retreat center at a networking event is much more fun than telling people you are a life coach. Because people were coming to me excitedly, it freed me up to just be myself, and I almost got a coaching client just for being present and being me.

I also had tea with a wonderful lady who, when I mentioned I might be looking for a business coach down the road, told me to follow my peace rather than urgency. I realized I had made way too many decisions based on urgency in the last year, and when things started to move it was when I stepped back and stopped pushing. In fact, right as my full time gig cut back, I got a client out of nowhere – and it seemed to be just the right timing for both of us.

That’s not to say that I won’t move myself forward. Now that my work time is freed up a bit, I’m ready to dedicate that time toward building my business again. This time though, where I invest my time and money will come from a place of peace.