011 – Take Time To Rest!

May 14, 2012 in Blog, Podcast with 6 Comments

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When was the last time you took a break?

Find Rest

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This past week I was reminded of the fact that I needed to take some time and relax.  So much of the time there are things pressing at us all of the time demanding our attention and we really need to ask ourselves, “Do we really need to be doing this?”

So often our bodies become deprived of rest as we as things just keep on demanding us to pay attention to them.  We hardly ever take time for ourselves or take time for others .  This always will result in an unbalanced life.

Like I said before this past week I actually was able to find some way of resting.  I took time to make sure I was getting sleep as I was going to be running my first ever 5k.  Through this I was additionally able to spend time with my wife, extended family and friends more than I had before, just because I was purposely taking time to rest.

Take Time to Recharge

When we take time to rest our minds and bodies, we are able to hit that reset button on ourselves that allow us to begin to recharge.  Recharging can come in various forms like taking a nap, reading a book, or maybe just enjoying a beautiful sunset at the end of your day.   However you recharge, it  is something that is essential in your week to keep yourself productive.

Do I need to be doing this?

So as you look are your week, what are you spending your time on?  Ask yourself, “Do I really need to be spending my time on this right now?”  You may be even apart of something that is “good” (like a church group or something in the community), but do you need to take a break from it for a while or stop doing it all together.  Do you need to learn to say No?

What can you do in your life to find more rest?

Opportunity 003 – Learn to say NO

May 11, 2012 in 168 Opportunities, Blog with 0 Comments

In a world that is always advancing and always doing more and more things, our time is always under some sort of pressure.  And although we still  say No to things that are a complete waste of time, we struggle with saying NO to good things.

Learn to Say No

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You may be saying to me right now, “but Peder why would you ever say NO to a good thing?”  Through my experiences in being involved with great ministries, great schools,  and great family and friends, I have  come to realize that although something maybe a good thing, it doesn’t mean that I have to do it or that I should do it.

As a confused Introvert, I was always trying to do things (many things out of guilt).  To be truthful the more I did things the more I felt important.  I did get to do many things, but I always found myself tired and stressed when it was all over.  I wasn’t saying to NO to good things.

Eventually, after many years of that endless cycle of always being busy, I found myself headed for burnout.  I knew I couldn’t keep

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010 – What will you be doing in 10 years?

May 5, 2012 in Blog, Podcast with 0 Comments

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I recently listened to someone who was in a world of hurt.  She was a single mom with $11,000 of debt making less than $20,000 worth of income a year.  It was a very hard situation for her to be in.  After some financial advice was given the question that was proposed to her was What Would you like to be doing in 10 years?

Journey of Life

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The hard thing listening to her was that she just did not know how to answer that question.  I felt her pain as I know because I have been there before. It is a sad place to be in.

“Without a Vision the people perish.” – Proverbs

One of big problems with people and looking forward is that they are either not planning long term goals or not looking out far enough.  In order to maintain an improved life you need to have focus point that you are moving to.  A good way to do that is to decide what you are going to be doing in 10 years.  I admit that for me it is very hard to do so, but if you or I do not try where are we really going too in life.

We need to have a long distance mindset.

The Basic Process

In order to have a have a long term goal you need to have a  Dream.  From there the understanding of how to get that dream becomes the Vision.  Your Vision broken down are your short term goals.

But we need to start with a dream or long term goal.  We need to have that long term focus.  Where will you be in 10 years? We can not start with the short term goals first because then we have not clarified an end purpose.

It is a great Idea to dream about where do I want to be in the 7 areas of my life. Once those have been established the map of how to get there should begin in your mind. This may be a process, and you may have to seek some counsel on how to get there, but it is something that your mind will try and naturally figure out the steps needed.

Once you have seen the steps needed, accomplishing those steps is where your short term goals come into play.

Remember, we need a long term focus to help us stay the course.  Our short term goals should be a reflection of our long term goals.   Once we have set our long term focus, outlined the steps needed through vision, and set goals in order to reach those steps, we can expect to seem great improvements in our life and in accomplishing our dreams.

So, what will you be doing in 10 years?

009 How Do You Spend Your Time?

April 28, 2012 in Blog, Podcast with 0 Comments

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How do you spend your time?

How do you spend your time

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With the concept of 168 Opportunities, the outlying issue is where are we spending our time.  If we all have 168 hours every week, to a certain degree we all have the same amount of time to be changing our life!  However , most people never take time to actually analyze where they are spending their time or never see the places where they could be maximizing their time.  When have you really looked at where you are spending your time?

What are your priorities?

When it comes to our time one of the biggest factors we should be looking at is what are our priorities? Write them down in order

You may have to learn how to say No to things! You have to if you are going to be able to spend more time with your family, God and yourself.  sometimes in order to do that you have to create boundaries with your time as to make sure your priorities are still able to be achieved.

If you do not, your life will become very unbalanced.  Look at shows like the Biggest Loser!  Many of those people always gave their time and emotions to other things and they never took time for themselves.

I share how as a people pleaser I was also in the same mindset always giving my time to things and events, because I thought it made me feel important.  This nearly led me to a breakdown.
Lesson learned was you just can not just always give and never take time for yourself. You will never be able to recharge.

Remember to try and analyze your week so that you can make sure that you are spending your time correctly.  This then should hopefully mirror your priorities.

Call to Action

What are you doing to keep track of your time?

Where are your priorities currently?

Where should they be?

008 – Overcoming And Learning From Setbacks!

April 21, 2012 in Blog, Podcast, Uncategorized with 2 Comments

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Recently I watched the movie October Baby and wow that was a great movie.  It’s a movie about a girl, Hannah (Rachel Hendrix), who finds out for the first time in 18 years that she is adopted and that she was a child of failed abortion.  Talk about having your life turned upside down.  Having just found this out, she goes out in search of her birth mother trying to pick up the pieces of her life with one of her childhood best friends.  Wading through the jagged emotions of feeling unwanted, unimportant and at times unloved, she finds healing, a loving family, a way to forgive, a God who cares, and a way to joyfully move forward with her life.

I will not spoil the movie for you, but I highly recommend seeing it as I would definitely label it as an inspirational movie. But it was a great reminder that though all of us have setbacks or failures, those events can provide some amazing insight and guidance for the future.

This week on the Podcast we will be looking at ways to look towards the future despite crazy life events and use them to help improve our lives.

Additionally, I got a chance to see an amazing group of guys called Men In Black.  They are a quartet from Connecticut and they sounded amazing.  Just a great example of individuals pursuing their passion and having fun during it.

Men In Black

Oddly enough from all of these events helped me prepare for this podcast in hopefully helping individuals overcoming setbacks and turning them into opportunities.

The Event

Sometimes life can hit us with something negative like slowly loosing money in poor financial decision or as sharp as a sudden loss of a job.  Whatever it may be, we have all been there and experienced an event that has caused us much pain or sorrow.  In the past 3 years, I have experienced many stressors that have been hard, but with a good response I have been able to come away from it much better.

Ironically, this week I had some setbacks this week in doing the podcast, but I learned a lot from it all.  And though I do not want it to happen again. I would not trade it for something different either.

How these events affect us, all depends on our attitude and how we deal with them.

The Process of Moving Forward

There are many great people who have had great failures and yet they are well known for their success.  So what is it that they do that allows them to move forward?

We discus those that have had great success, but have had failure sometimes great failure.

Acknowledge the Setback

Do not be afraid to state to yourself that what happened was a setback.  So often we try not to admit to ourselves the failure, which never then allows us to begin the process of moving forward.

Realize your Responsibility

Take responsibility for what has happened.  It will be freeing for you in the end because it will allow you to realize you do have control and you can avoid it happening to you again.

Reflect on what Happened

You very well may need some time to reflect on things.  When a major setback happens it will usually knock the wind out of you and you will probably need to take sometime to recover.  This is okay and can be a great thing.

Process your takeaways

What did you learn from all of this?  What can help you in the future?

See the Blessings

What are the positives that you can come away with?  You may have to change your attitude, but it will be helpful in the long run.

Enter Whole Heartedly into the Next Endeavor

After, you experience a setback, if you have the right attitude you often may have great success as you will have learned some great insight.

Call To Action

How are you handling things when setbacks into your life?

Are you turning your Setbacks into Opportunities?

007 Tips On Transitioning From a Negative Job Experience! Part 2

April 14, 2012 in Blog, Podcast, Uncategorized with 2 Comments

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Many of us are experiencing a negative experience in working life where we have reason to quit, were forced to quit, or we just really want change. I have been there! Having just moved to a new state where I only really knew a few people, a week after my honeymoon in a “down” economy, I QUIT MY JOB. Let’s just say I had good reason, but I was left with tons of pressure to provide, Lack of Self Confidence, stress on my marriage, and a very negative mindset. It was a pretty horrible time.

Well 2 years later I am significantly in a better place, but first I had to change my mindset.  In part 1 of Tips on Transitioning from a negative job experience, this is where we identified the need to change our mindsets before we actually went out into the world and looked for a job.  Most employers do not want to hire someone who has a very pessimistic attitude, hence why restructuring your mindset is key.

Hired

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In Part two of Tips on Transitioning From A Negative Job Experience series, we look at ways of moving from a negative experience into a Job you love.  As a guide to this episode we use several tips from Dan Miller’s 48 Days To The Work You Love book and I highly recommend you read this even if you are just thinking about a career change.  This book was how I found some work I love to do (including 168 Opportunities) and increased my income by 40%.  Just a solid book all around that will change your life.

Start with looking inward

Realize who you are as a person. Ask yourself questions will help you think about your strengths.  Here are a few to keep in mind…
What do you love to do?
What are you good at?
What did you do before that you loved?
If you could do something and get paid for it what would that be?
What talents do you have?

Ex Cliff Ravenscraft
Ex Landscaping

Finding Potential Employers

Look at places that you would like to work at. I share how my brother in law got a job at a place he wanted to work at called Vertigo.  For some reason we often feel that if we want to work somewhere, it would just be too good to be true. Do not stop yourself from something that could change your life for the better.  Believe that you can and this could be a great opportunity to do so.
Once you have discovered what you would like to do, look for places that fit those criteria.  Just because a business doesn’t have help wanted posting sign, does not meant that there are not hiring.  Imagine if you were the first person they saw and they didn’t have to do a hiring campaign or spend money advertising.  You would feel like a blessing from above, not to mention you want to work for them.
As far as searching for places it’s a good idea to identify at least identify 20-40 different places.  Using the Internet looking for available positions should not be your primary source though. Take some time to analyze your area to look for places you might like to work at.  However with the way today’s technology is going you can even find positions to work from home now.  Once you have identified places where you want to work, identify the people who make the hiring decision and find ways of being on the “top of their mind”.

Selling Yourself

When you create your resume make it simple and sweet.  Avoid paragraphs of explanation and instead use straightforward bullet points.  Do not be afraid to be creative either. I share how someone put their resume on a cake or how Dan Miller used a cheap toy frog to market himself.

When being interviewed make sure you are smiling and holding their gaze.  Make sure you are expressing interest into what they are stating.  When they ask you questions about things do not be afraid to use personal examples other than your “work history”.  This will help you be more transparent and help them see who you are outside of the office.  Most employers know if their employees are having success in their personal lives then they will have success in their professional as well.
Try to market yourself in a way that you will be able to schedule several interviews within a month’s time frame.  Avoid the feelings of I have to take the first thing that is offered to me “I need the money”.  Even when you are offered something ask for a little time to think about it.  Use other offers as leverage for better pay or benefits. Most importantly do not just take another job otherwise you will probably find yourself in the same position again.

Whatever you do, just remember to stay positive. It’s true that maybe not everyone is hiring, but that doesn’t mean that no one is hiring.  It may take some time, but if you are feeling discouraged look for ways to get your mind back on track.  Most of all, believe that you can find a job and even one that you may enjoy.

Call To Action

What are you doing to stay motivated?

Have you redone your resume?

Have you thought about places you would like to work at?

Opportunity 002 – Try Taking A Different Route Home!

April 10, 2012 in 168 Opportunities, Blog with 0 Comments

So much of the time we do the same things over and over again, never realizing that there may be a different way to do things.  People who never try anything different, but do the same thing over and over again usually experience boredom more often.  Unfortunately, we all typically have some area in our life where we have allowed our mind to just become numb, because the repetition has allowed our mind to run on very “little power”.

New Inspiration

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But we need our mind to have to think about something new in order for ideas to come forth.  Until our mind is challenged it will work in it’s “sleep mode” like on a computer until something new is required of it.

The other day I once again realized this as I was driving home from work.  I know we all can be a little exhausted when coming home, but I found myself just zoning out not thinking about anything.   To get my mind awake again or at least somewhat active, I did something very crazy.  I took a different way home.

Just try it sometime and just feel your mind awaken as it states, “Wait, what are you doing, this isn’t the right way home!” You may even feel your arms tense up if you drive by an intersection where usually you would turn.  It’s funny what are bodies are programed to do after doing the same thing over and over again.

However, my mind became very active and as I drove by different scenery all of a sudden new thoughts began coming into my mind.  Ideas emerged.  I smiled as something triggered the inspiration of getting flowers for Alison.

The mundane of a regular trip home from the office had been broken and a deposit of success was created when I handed Alison flowers when I came home.

The truth is we all have certain habits that may be preventing us from thinking new ideas or finding inspiration.  In your everyday life try to find out where your mind may just be idling due to repetition and see if you can find something to break it.  You may be surprised at how quickly your mind will awaken as it is forced to do something different.

So next time you are in a car on the way home, do something rash try a different route.  You may be surprised what you will think of!

Call To Action

So what areas of your life seem mundane?

What steps do you think you can take to change that?

006 10 Tips On Transitioning From a Negative Job Experience! Part 1

April 7, 2012 in Blog, Podcast, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

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Whether you quit your job, looking to transition, or were forced out of it, there are many emotions one goes through in a situation like that.  The majority of the time they are emotions that can stir up resent, bitterness, and just all round negativity.  And the effects of such a change in ones life are noticeable quickly.

Job Loss

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The first area of your life to suffer right away is your financial, which then leads into your family life.  With the lack of self-confidence building your physical well being can go to waste as you find yourself just sitting on the couch or listening to the news tell you that the economy is in bad shape and no one is hiring.  In a matter of a week, your life seems to have been flipped upside down.   In Part 1 I will be discussing how to first get your mind correct before you begin looking for a new position again.  It is critical that you change your outlook, otherwise no one is going to want to hire a downer.  Therefore in this Podcast I discuss 10 tips to help encourage you through this time.

10 Tips On Transitioning From A Negative Job

  1. Identify what causes you to feel like you’re worth less and get rid of it.  Often times there are many things from our previous or current employment that bring up very serious negative emotions.  Avoid them as much as possible.  You already may have a bitter taste in your mouth, no need to feed it, you need to move on.
  2. Build Success in the other areas of your life.  Just because you may have had a serious blow to your career, it does not mean that life is over.  Much of the time we identify ourselves with our Job whether we really want to or not.  But our lives consist way more than our career, what about the other 6 areas of your life.  What deposits of success can you make in your personal, physical, spiritual, social, family, and financial?
  3. Make a big effort towards your Physical area of your life.  I from personal experience know that keeping up your physical area of your life after a time like this can really help in giving you hope.  To back this up I play a little clip from one of Dan Miller’s 48days Podcast.  I would state that if you are looking for a job, you really need to be listening to Dan’s podcast and reading his books 48Days and No More Mondays.  Even if you are not looking for a job, I would state theses are must reads.
  4. Change your Outlook.  Often times we view either needing to leave our job or being forced to as negative.  Why not flip it and see it as an opportunity.  Many people have stated 18 months, a year, or even a month down the road that it was one of the best things to happen to them.
  5. Surround yourself with encouraging friends.  If you have a tendency to beat up on yourself, you need to have some friends and family support.  Additionally, make sure that they are encouraging you, not encouraging you in your gloom or joining in your misery.  Even if they are family, avoid them!
  6. Fill your mind with encouraging material.  There are several great authors and speakers out there that are providing great content through blogs, books, podcasts.  Take advantage of that and fill your mind with that material.  It is a good idea to fill your mind with that positive reinforcement about two hours a day.  Podcasts are a great thing to listen to while you are working out or in the car.
  7. Record your thoughts/feelings in a journal or blog.  Not only will documenting how you feel show you progression, but it may be a great way in helping yourself dream about where you are going and where you want to be 6 months to 5 years down the road.  When I quit my job I started a website which eventually turned into 168 Opportunities and even ended up helping get my current job.  I’ll touch on this more and probably in Part 2 next week, but employers are now beginning to avoid your resume and just Googling your name. Here is a post that discusses that.
  8. Listen to your Family’s concerns.  Understand that if you quit a job or lose a job that your family make become a little worried due to the potential financial loss.  This is normal, listen to them and try to calm their fears.  Do not let that discourage you into thinking you have failed your family.
  9. Begin Dreaming again.  Take this time to dream about what your ideal job would be.  Just because you had to quit or forced to, does not mean that you have to settle for something less.
  10. Understand that change can be hard, but for things to get better they have to change.Self explanatory.

    Job Transition

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Call To Action

If you have lost your job how are you feeling right now?

What steps are you taking to improve your mind?

Where are your sources of encouragement coming from?

Book In the Making

I announced that through my posts, I hope to be making a book. If you would like to send some topics that you would like me to talk about, you can send me an e-mail at Peder@168Opportunities.com.

7 Areas Of Your Life Help Guide

I also announced that coming in April, I will be producing a guide to help others balance their lives.  I will contain messages and worksheets to help others realize where they are in life and where they want to be and to help them start.  Those that are subscribed to 168 Opportunities will receive the guide immediately.  If you would like to be one of the first you can subscribe in the sidebar.

168 Opportunities List 001 – Start Dreaming And 8 Actions to Help You Do So!

March 29, 2012 in 168 Opportunities, Blog, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

I have been deciding on several concepts of how to help others and my audience to realize all of the opportunities they have all around themselves.  Obviously the name of my site and brand is 168 Opportunities, but I do not have anything to really show for the number 168 on my site.  Apart from my 168 Pennies budget post that I did, I have not produced anything that really displays the number 168, and I have deeply wanted to change this.  It has taken a few months of brainstorming and some help from my friends and mastermind, but I do believe that I have come up with a good starting point.  168 posts specifically labeled to help individuals in their personal (professional life). This series of posts will probably continue for a long time and my goal is to reach Opportunity #168 this year.  It maybe wishful thinking, but I believe that the content that will be produced will help many improve their lives dramatically.  It will primarily be posts, but also may include some Podcasts, I am just a little unsure as of right now! Either way I am excited and am Looking forward to producing this content and to produce something I am passionate about!

Dream

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When was the last time you Dreamed?  I’m not just talking about the occasional dream of wanting the day to be over or wishing you hadn’t super-sized your value meal. I mean dreaming about how you could improve your life or even the lives of others.  I’m talking so far out there that it seems, well almost nearly impossible.  I’ll give an example.  I was out on date night this week with my wife and we were talking about just absurd things and laughing at them.  Somehow we got to talking about the Olympics and how cool it would be to see all of the athletes competing with all of their might when I said, “hey,wouldn’t it be  awesome to have the Olympics here!”  Keep in mind I live in the State of South Dakota.  South Dakota’s population is probably less than how many people attend the Olympics. Okay, it might not be that bad, but its close.

So maybe the Olympics might be stretching it, but hopefully you have thought of something in your life that seemed impossible, but deep down you knew that it maybe wasn’t as far from you as you were making it out to be.  The problem is that most of us have allowed ourselves to become stagnant in dreaming.  We have allowed the mundane of life to begin to creep into our lives.  It dawned on me today as I drove away from work how often I take the same road everyday so much so that I catch myself just being like a vegetable in the car, not paying attention to anything.  I just get in that Zone where my brain activity goes really low and when you get home you ask yourself what just happened.  Was I paying attention to anything? I know that most of you can relate to that, but if we have been given amazing minds, why does it seem that we never use them to their true capability.

Wherever you are (unless you live under a rock) just take a look around you.  Even better yet, look at what are you using to read this.  If you are reading this post on a computer, phone or tablet of some sort, realize that the product you have, started with a dream.  So think even bigger, can you think of anything that was made or accomplished that did not start from a dream.  I sure can’t.

And how often do we downplay dreaming and in order to be “realists”.  More and more I am beginning to dislike that term, because it just seems that many people have abused that word and mostly on themselves.  A common theme among “Realists” is that this life is short, live for the weekend, work a job you do not like, have too much month at the end of your money, and maybe have an okay marriage. Ugh, I feel depressed even just writing that. Truthfully though, if we think like that, often times that is all that we will get.

So what can you do to begin to change your life and begin really Dreaming again?

Well here are some actions you can take to help.

Action #1  Find A Secluded Place (10-30 Minutes)

You need to have some peace and quiet around you, free from distractions.  That means turning your cell phone to silent, potentially turning your computer off, making sure the kids are some where else (if you have any) and maybe even go somewhere else than your home.  They main point here is to find a place that is will give you a means to be uninterrupted.

Action #2 Make Your Environment Thought Provoking (20-30 Minutes)

This may seem to line up with Action #1, but you might know that a secluded place maybe in a closet in your basement where there is no light, however that is probably not thought provoking environment.  Depending on your budget and also what you have available for space, you may even want to try and create a space that you just feel at peace in.  This may seem cheesy, but just the other day I was in IKEA and they had a showroom that just looked amazing.  I walked over and sat down in the couch that was apart of the showroom and I could just feel my body and mind recharging. I didn’t want to leave.

That is the kind of space that you should find or create.  And I am sure that for some people  a place like that would be in the great outdoors.  You may even want a little background noise, as I know for myself sitting in a silent room drives me nuts.  It will be different for everyone, so try and find what works best for you.

Thought Provoking

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Action #3 Exercise Before or During (15-60 Minutes)

A great way to get your body awake is exercising, however when you exercise your mind is also waking up.  When you exercise you begin to release endorphins and endorphins are your “feel good” hormones.  Feeling good and having an alert mind are some great components in coming up with great ideas.  Most (if not all) of the people I admire that are mentors to me, incorporate exercise into their brainstorming.  They consider it apart of their formula to create amazing ideas.

Action #4 Grab A Pen and Paper (1-5 Minutes)

This is something that is crucial and often times overlooked.  But if you are going to be thinking up great ideas for your life, you need a way to capture them.  As David Allen would say from his book Getting Things Done”, “Don’t trust your head to remember”.   You need to write things down. This way you will have something to refer to when you are looking back at what thoughts came to your mind. Interesting to note some facts.  3% of America is considered to be extremely wealthy and only 3% of Americans actually write down their goals.  Think what you would like, but I believe there is a correlation there.

Action #5 Clear Your Mind (10 – 60 Minutes )

This may seem very Zen, but you do need to clear your mind of distractions. This is another David Allen principal, but not only do you need to clear your environment of distractions, but also your thoughts.  If you forgot to take out the garbage today and it is constantly coming to the front of your mind, either go do it or write it down on a separate piece of paper and trust yourself to do it later.  This will happen a lot, especially if you are doing this for the first time.  You will have several thoughts that are really tasks that need to get done as your mind may dream up something that triggers them to appear.  Write them down and trust yourself that you will do them later.

Action #6 Read A Good Book (30 Minutes – 2 Hours)

This will be different for everyone, but their are some great books with some amazing authors out there that really will make you think and dream up some great things.  2 years ago I never would have dreamed of reading on my own.  College kind of ruined it for me always having to read something that did not appeal to me.  Then somehow I realized I was free from that and now I could read books that were on subjects that I like.  These authors may not excite you, but when I started reading great books like Dan Miller, Dave Ramsey, Jon Acuff, Dale Carnegie, and many others my mind just fed off of that content.  Ask my wife, in about a year I was a totally different man with a completely better view on life.

Anyways, find a way authors or subjects that YOU are interested in and read them.  I know those will spur some great thoughts into your mind.

Action #7 Listen to Great People (15-90 Minutes)

Another great way to feed your mind is to listen to great people.  I have found that many people or subjects I am interested in have some sort of speech or video that you can access on YouTube or TED.  Often times to get some inspiration I will listen to a podcast from someone who inspires me with his or her content.  Chances are you may even have found me through my podcast.  The truth is listening to content that you find interesting or inspirational will help you give you ideas for dreams you would like to achieve.

Listen

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Action #8 Be Ready (1-10 Minutes)

Be ready for when inspiration hits your mind.  Although this really isn’t an action, it can result in actionable things.  Although it is good to set aside time for Dreaming or brainstorming, once you get into the habit of imagining what you want your life to look like things will come into your thoughts at random times.  Keep that pen and paper handy or something that you can record your thoughts down onto.  It is frustrating to try and remember that great idea you had that now you have forgotten.  Just be ready to write them down.

Conclusion

Remember that Dreaming can be a good thing.  It seems like all of the inventions that we love today started with a Dream.  Who knows you might think up the next “light bulb” or in more modern terms the next “iPod”.  Dreaming is the first step to believing that something is possible.  Until you have imagined your life becoming better, it will stay the same.  So, keep on Dreaming!

Call To Action

When was the last time you took time to imagine how you wanted your life to become?

Have you been writing down your Dreams?

Have you found a space where your mind can recharge?

005 – 10 Tips to Balance Your Dream And Your Family

March 21, 2012 in Blog, Podcast, Uncategorized with 2 Comments

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Family and Work

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A New Look

I started out this episode discussing the new look of 168 Opportunities website and how excited I am with the change.  Jon Saddington and the team over at The Standard Theme (Affil) are amazing people and provide some great support for their product. If you use WordPress, The Standard Theme is very customizable and if you have a question they provide amazing support.  And by the Way I am hoping to interview Jon sometime in the future, talk about a guy who is pursuing his dreams and balancing his life with his family.

Random Plug of the Week

A fitting plug due to the topic at hand goes to Chris Bokay and his daughter Allie from the entertainment podcast The Smorg Show.  I have been getting to know Chris Bokay from my Podcast Mastermind group and have been impressed how he incorporates his passions with his family.  A good example of that!

Book In the Making

I announced that through my posts, I hope to be making a book. If you would like to send some topics that you would like me to talk about, you can send me an e-mail at Peder@168Opportunities.com.

7 Areas Of Your Life Help Guide

I also announced that coming in April, I will be producing a guide to help others balance their lives.  I will contain messages and worksheets to help others realize where they are in life and where they want to be and to help them start.  Those that are subscribed to 168 Opportunities will receive the guide immediately.  If you would like to be one of the first you can subscribe in the sidebar.

Featured Discussion

10 Tips On Balancing Your Family And Personal Life While Pursuing Something You Love

  1. Create a plan!  Make a list of the pros and cons of the end results of your pursuit.  Look at how it will affect you in the 7 areas of your life, and then try to figure out how your dream will affect the areas of your family’s life.
    1. Make sure that you do address the negative impacts and try to find ways to prevent or minimize their effect on your family.  Especially make sure that your better half will be comfortable and supportive.  Ex. If I do this we will not be able to spend time together or we will not be able to do this.
    2. A good Idea would be to understand the love languages of your family. This way you know how your decisions going forward will impact your family. Here is a great link to help discover you or your family’s love language(s).
  1. Make sure that your end goal includes the involvement of your family somehow.  If you are going to be moving to be pursuing something on your own for example, find a way to incorporate their gifts and abilities to get you there. Ex. Wife’s Bumper
  1. Create an accountability system with your family. Encourage them to create goals where they can create consequences and rewards, if those are met or not met.
    1. I give an example of my Friends who Ex. Sam and Rachel Menge’s challenge with p90x and Insanity.
    2. Check out Stickk.com as a good potential for accountability online, not to mention a good consequence they have built in where you will have to pay out to people if you do not achieve your goals.
  1. Make a calendar. Make a calendar that displays deadlines it could be virtual too, but I recommend making one that is also visually large. One that you have to walk by every day including your family!
  1. Set up review meetings with your family. Try to do this at least once a month and also make sure that they are fun where maybe you do the cooking, you order takeout, you watch a movie together afterward something where they will view these meetings as fun.  It really doesn’t have to be a bummer.

Side note: Keep a date night going with your spouse or significant other and even though you can talk about what is going on in your life there, do not make it a business meeting.

  1. Designate some time every day with your family.  Even if it is just 30 mns, a good amount of uninterrupted time with family can be good and should be a part of your day.
  1. Listen to your Family’s Feedback. Express to them how much it means to you, even if it isn’t very pleasant.  Actually, if they think something is wrong it could actually save you many problems. Ex. A Website endeavor
  1. Encourage your family in their own endeavors.  Be a good example of someone trying to improve herself or himself.  Help them find their passions and encourage them to pursue them. You are not the only one with dreams, encourage theirs too. Ex. My Wife and Sewing!
  1. Remember to take care of yourself.  You need to have personal time on your own.
    1. Realize that if you are taking time to start something on your own that you love, you will still need time to reflect doing something else.
    2. Michael Hyatt’s free e-book Creating A Purposeful Life Plan shows taking care of yourself first then taking care of your family is important.  How can you help your family unless you have helped yourself.
  2. Understand that there will be sacrifice! Understand that there will probably be some level of sacrifice with your family.  However enjoy the journey, enjoy the learning process of balancing your time with your family, and continue to look for “and” solutions with pursuing something that you love and your family.

Call To Action

Have you Created a plan for your Dreams that includes your Family?

Do you know what your Family’s dreams are?

Are you also conscious about reserving personal time for yourself?

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