Posted by Sara Hand, Perspective Consultant On October 26, 2010
The Great Equalizer…
- What resource do you have in common with the wealthiest person on the planet?
- What quality do you share with the fastest runner in the world?
- What gift do you possess that every successful artist requires?
TIME
At my High school reunion a wise friend said to me “20 years equalizes many things.”
Every day the clock strikes Midnight, and a new day begins. Each person has the next 24 hours to call today, that won’t change. The way we spend those hours and minutes is what separates us from each other. No matter how we try, the day is the day. Time cannot be saved for tomorrow, it cannot be traded among friends, and once it is gone, it is gone! Ask yourself “At the end of the day, will I be frustrated with the way I spent my day, or will I be satisfied that it was a day well spent?”
Some people believe you only need to go faster to make “it” happen. They’re wrong. Fractured families, stress induced disease, and mental breakdowns, are at the end of that road. What can we do?
Take it one action step at a time. First identify priorities, and then focus your goals to reflect those priorities. If this is done on a regular basis, when you ask yourself “was today a good day?” you will have a measuring stick. Remember Bill Gates, Gandhi, and Mother Teresa, have accomplished great things, with the same 24 hours that you and I have.
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Posted by Sara Hand, Perspective Consultant On July 7, 2010
Every so often I really am tempted to have someone just take care of the yard for me. (That does not mean that everyone reading this with a landscape business should call me.) Because, if someone else took care of it, I would miss out on all the important stuff I am supposed to learn through the experience of getting out there. For those who have received my newsletter in the past, you have read about butterflies, weeds, micro-climates and a host of other yard related topics. Well this week it’s about potato vine or kudzu. Let me explain what I mean.
Looks beautiful!
A number of years ago we built a new house on a wooded lot, a heavily wooded, previously un-cleared or ever mowed au-natural lot. This gave us a head start on that Florida landscape, that Sunken Gardens’ look that I love. It also gave us some interesting plants…like potato vine. If you are unsure what this is, think of driving on I-75 and those beautiful vines that fill the wooded sides of the road. That is what the back third of our lot looked like, with some beautiful native plants that we wanted to keep and some palmettos and palms…so we cleared this by hand.
This week working in my backyard, I realized that it is just like some of the other areas of my life. I may have been eating well, exercising, and taking my supplements or maybe I have been pursuing personal development by reading or maybe I have made a commitment to manage my finances more diligently and have been more careful in my spending. However, maintaining these habits is more than 21 days to a different life. 21 days is a start, but real lifelong development of behavior means periodically checking in to make sure that there are no little pieces of that old weedy behavior trying to rear its ugly head.
Looks can be deceiving...
I am still clearing by hand! Now it isn’t what it was. But I still have to be diligent, I still have to get out there and rescue the palmettos from this lovely, encroaching, invasive vine that would take over the world if there were not people like me. Although this vine has less of a hold on my yard year after year, like my life and the things that are important to me…auto pilot is not an option. Have you checked in lately to see how your garden is doing?
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Posted by Sara Hand On May 13, 2010
In the last couple weeks we have had a “few cold” days in Florida. In some ways it was kind of nice to have a fire in the fireplace, and to be able to wear my leather jacket and the couple of warm sweaters that I own. However, despite the fact the people still looked fairly normal…strangely garbed shapes began to appear…some in florals and others in stripes and solids.
“Chickens”…”wimps” our northern friends think! Yet apprehension mounts as reports of near freezing temperatures circulate and our vegetation takes the covers…literally.
Several years ago I made a major change professionally. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy what I did, simply that there was something I wanted to do more. So I moved from my comfortable spot inside with more than adequate lighting and regular watering into the big outdoors. As I began to put out new roots without the confines of my former planter…it was scary. Used to a regular watering schedule and climate controlled comfort, a few of my leaves yellowed and dropped off.
Interesting that what fits in a lovely little pot on a windowsill in New York (like a pencil cactus) may grow 10 feet tall in my yard! In contrast to that, some gorgeous foliage (like hostas) won’t survive outside down here, regardless of the coaxing.
After about two years, I love where I am at in my life. I help people make changes. I help them see that there are more choices than they thought. I watch people and businesses grow and thrive and am thankful to be a part of their process. I look at my life and see the changes that I have made and can’t imagine going back. Am I done growing? Not even close in this climate.
**This post appeared several years ago in my Joy Beyond Freedom newsletter and I believe is even more relevant today! STAY TUNED for more “Climate and Growth News.”
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Posted by Sara Hand On April 28, 2010
In the last couple weeks we have had a “few cold” days in Florida. In some ways it was kind of nice to have a fire in the fireplace, and to be able to wear my leather jacket and the couple of warm sweaters that I own. However, despite the fact the people still looked fairly normal…strangely garbed shapes began to appear…some in florals and others in stripes and solids.
“Chickens”…”wimps” our northern friends think! Yet apprehension mounts as reports of near freezing temperatures circulate and our vegetation takes the covers…literally.
Several years ago I made a major change professionally. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy what I did, simply that there was something I wanted to do more. So I moved from my comfortable spot inside with more than adequate lighting and regular watering into the big outdoors. As I began to put out new roots without the confines of my former planter…it was scary. Used to a regular watering schedule and climate controlled comfort, a few of my leaves yellowed and dropped off.
Interesting that what fits in a lovely little pot on a windowsill in New York (like a pencil cactus) may grow 10 feet tall in my yard! In contrast to that, some gorgeous foliage (like hostas) won’t survive outside down here, regardless of the coaxing.
After about two years, I love where I am at in my life. I help people make changes. I help them see that there are more choices than they thought. I watch people and businesses grow and thrive and am thankful to be a part of their process. I look at my life and see the changes that I have made and can’t imagine going back. Am I done growing? Not even close in this climate.
**This post appeared several years ago in my Joy Beyond Freedom newsletter and I believe is even more relevant today! STAY TUNED for more “Climate and Growth News.”
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Posted by Sara Hand, Perspective Consultant On January 6, 2010
The New Year is here and the list of things that you are going to do and accomplish is formidable. I applaud you for thinking big. Yet, one of the most common causes for failur
e is trying to do it all now!
In goal setting with clients, we create a list of all we want to achieve…to experience…to share in the coming year. Then we take a simple one page overview of the year with only the titles of the months on it and divide the objectives from our yearly “to do list” under the titles. There is a desire to want to place most of the items in January…let’s get them done and get them done NOW!
However, most of us have heard the question, “How do you eat an elephant?” and know the answer is “One bite at a time!”
This last year has been challenging to most everyone. Whether business has been good or bad, everyone has had to make some changes of some sort. For many the list of changes to incorporate is long. Instead of focusing on how far and how much still needs to be down…talk about an elephant…what one thing could you do today? What one thing would be a good choice today to make the most difference in your life, in your business? And then tomorrow, choose one thing.
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Posted by Sara Hand, Perspective Consultant On September 21, 2009
Seeds of greatness lie within each individual. For many, those seeds will remain just that, seeds of unrealized potential and possibility. From others greatness will emerge. Lives will be changed and the world impacted as their choices ripple outward.
What makes the difference between those that become and those that don’t? Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Sara Hand, Perspective Consultant On July 25, 2009
Much of what is written about work life balance focuses on the element of time and how it is managed. For some I agree, time management is the place to start. However with many of the clients I work with, through many years of practice they have learned to manage their time. They have learned to incorporate many time saving devices and seem to fill most moments. However they still often feel overwhelmed and ineffective. They can honestly say there are just not enough hours in the day. Something has to change. They know that it’s got to be them, but are unsure of where to start.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Sara Hand, Perspective Consultant On June 12, 2009
Congratulations
Alina Mugford of Translation Link
Winner of 2009 Small Business Rookie of the Year Award
Sara Hand, Joy Beyond Freedom
Awarded 2009 Finalist
Small Business Rookie of the Year Award
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Posted by Sara Hand, Perspective Consultant On June 2, 2009
It wasn’t until sometime during the 1300’s that some artists began representing the world 3 dimensionally in their work. Prior artworks were 2 dimensional or “flat.” Mathematical concepts inspired the “vanishing point”, a technique that created perspective. It took artists thousands of years to do what children today begin learning in elementary school art class.
Around this same time period, spurred on by the adventures of Marco Polo, men began to consider that the world might be other than they had imagined. Christopher Columbus, through his exploration of the New World proved that our world was, in fact, not flat either. Life would never be the same as man’s consciousness embraced new dimensions.
Several hundred years later, man again would move into the unknown and impossible. This time, concepts initiated by science fiction writers such as Jules Verne with their voyages to the bottom of the sea, outer space and time travel would be incorporated into investigative procedures. These would allow man to not only travel to great depths and heights, but to actually work for extended time periods in environments that would further a multitude of industries.
It is said, “What the mind can conceive and believe… man can achieve.”
Yet do you ever feel like your life is flat? Perspective can be defined as a view of things or facts in which they are in right relation. When you look around, do you ever feel that your life may be slightly out of focus? Do you ever wonder if there could be more beyond your current experience? Are there things that you have only dreamt of, but have not really considered possible?
Changing your perspective is changing the way you view things. New dimensions that can only be imagined are simply over the horizon if you can only get past the gatekeepers of “shouldn’t” and “couldn’t”. Begin to add richness and increased depth to your life by identifying priorities, and incorporating goals and an action plan.
Then with accountability relationships, regularly reexamine those projections and make adjustments as necessary to keep your course to a new world.
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Posted by Sara Hand, Perspective Consultant On June 2, 2009
Whenever we are growing or learning new things there comes a time when we are not who we were and are not who we will be. We are in a state of transition. This “identity crises” can be a place of vulnerability. We are at a crossroads. The choices made now are not ones that will be easily changed in the future.
My world of yesterday was a world of comfort.
I knew who I was and what I was to do. Expectations were clear for me and I knew what to expect from the others in my life. But things are different now. I have grown. As an adult I grow as a person. This may not be as easily identifiable to the people in my life. They may see a few changes on the outside. But much of the change has been an inside job, only visible to someone looking at my heart.
How do I make it through this time you ask? For if we are really living life; we will go from one state of change to another. There will be times of settling in, but these will again lead to more change.
Don’t make major decisions when you are tired. When you are tired the good is too good and the bad is too bad. Rest brings objectivity.
Have an accountability person in your life, and expect them to hold you to the goals you have set previously.
Continue to reevaluate and measure goals against “life values”. Although goals will change, “life values” will not. These will act as a compass in the midst of whatever may come your way.
Remember that whether your opportunities were chosen or thrust upon you, it is not so much what happens to us but what happens in us that matters.
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