Accelerate Your Life

A very simple principle that all successful people understand fully is to surround yourself with people that you can learn and grow with, and those you enjoy spending time with.  When you surround yourself with those that you can learn from, it accelerates your own progress. This applies to all aspects of life.  Here are a few I have experienced....

Work - like minded goal driven people.  There is nothing more frustrating in business than to be surrounded with small thinkers, people that are just settling for whatever life brings, and those that do not pull their own weight.  That is, unless that is what you want in your life.  

I am very fortunate to be surrounded by visionary, creative, fun, happy, self motivated, supportive,  big thinkers in my work.  This adds to the fulfillment I gain, we learn from each other,  share in each others's successes, and work doesn't seem like work.

If you find yourself constantly frustrated with your work, reflect and ask yourself if you are on the same page as your co-workers and employer.  If not, you will feel like you have no sense of control...work just becomes something that pays the bills and in many cases, leaves you coming up short.  Identify what is important to you, what you want to experience in your work, and have the courage to make a change.

If you are the employer, and your staff is not on the same page, you either have to explore to find out what is missing, and start providing it, or, you have the wrong people in the role and may be time to replace them.

It's vital in the workplace to be surrounded with those that are in sync with the vision you have and are doing what it takes.

Cooking - I have never been interested in cooking.  To me, it was always just another domestic "job" to do each day.  I've always had a career, and I wasn't interested in spending time cooking.  Of course I did it to feed my family, but didn't enjoy the process.  That all changed when our daughter grew up and met her future husband.  They spend a ton of time with us, and are extraordinary cooks.  Something that I first learned from them, was to make cooking fun.  Put on some music, have a glass of wine, have some laughs together as a family as you are preparing the meal, and make it a real experience.  It was such a different perspective than I had all the years our kids were growing up, and I am very grateful they had such a positive influence and demonstrated how to really enjoy the process of cooking.  

Let's face it, it's something we have to do everyday to live...why not enjoy the process?  A good strategy is to identify something that you don't enjoy doing, but needs to be done, and find a way to implement these type of ideas.  Find someone you know that does enjoy the activity, and pick their brain on their methods.  You will find some distinctions you can implement that you may not have thought of.

Exercise - Many years ago, our grown son was working at a gym.  He was in a sales position, so of course, one of his first sales was to my husband and I.  I had avoided exercise my whole life and only signed up for the gym to help him out.  However, since I paid for it, I was determined to attend classes and get my money's worth.  I started losing weight, feeling better, having more strength and energy, was capable of doing things I had never been able to.  Because of that experience, I became committed to my health and fitness.  Simply helping him, gave me a gift of better health and fitness and I have been fully self motivated for many many years now.  He is very committed to his health and fitness and because of that, it rubbed off on me.

Friends - We are fortunate to be surrounded with fun, happy, funny, music lovers as friends.  We all also love to get together for pot luck dinners, wine & cheese, appetizers, attending live music events, etc.  These are all things that we personally love, and by surrounding ourselves with friends that enjoy the same things, it adds so much joy to our lives.  Our grown kids are always at these events, and our friends are a big part of their lives as well.  It takes these experiences up another notch when you share these things with people you love.  The ordinary, becomes the extraordinary and increases the joy in your downtime.
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If your life isn't where you want it, take a look at all the areas that you are dissatisfied with, and reflect on who you are surrounded with in each area.  This will be very revealing.  The next step is to have the courage to go forward in the direction you want to go and seek like minded people in those particular areas.  

As Published on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/accelerate-your-life-debbie-ruston?published=t

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Debbie Ruston has been an entrepreneur and trainer since 1986. She works with individuals, and groups interested in developing their entrepreneurial leadership mindset.Was this article of value to you? Feel free to share it on your social networks and with your contacts, join in the discussion below, and FOLLOW her on the top right corner of this pg.
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