Does Starbucks Feed Your Need For Overcomplication?

Starbucks claims it offers 87,000 drink combinations.

Seriously? How complicated do we need to make one of the most BASIC drinks?

This statement alone got me thinking about how humans just love to overcomplicate the most basic concepts. It applies to business – and how we do business, our social lives, and parenting. (The latter, of course, is included from personal experience!)

Do we feel that a $5 cup of coffee is somehow more worth it when we have ordered the most complex drink on the menu? And there are those who do it daily! Listen, I drink coffee every morning. At home. From my own coffee cup. Simple and quick. (*The coffee I drink is the only patented thermogenic fat-burning kind in the world – nothing complicated about that!) And while I still pay for coffee, I also make money from the coffee I drink….

So what is it that keeps people coming back IN DROVES to their local (and not local) Starbucks? Or any other specialty coffee shop? Is the atmosphere? The options? Watching how these transactions go down, it appears people order pretty much the same thing every time, and do not typically stay long enough for an entire song (when the barista is that fast!).

So it seems, we have become mindless and numb to our tendency to overcomplicate. Over and over….

Is it that you don’t have “time” to make your own, so you go out and buy it? How much time to you spend actually driving there, figure out what you want (though you’ll probably end up getting the same thing you always do), waiting in line to order, then waiting for your order….??

OK, this wasn’t meant to be a coffee rant. If you want to get into it about coffee specifically, GO HERE.

The point is, there are so many things in our lives that we make more difficult than is necessary. Complication does not increase the value or importance of a person, place, or thing. Simplicity is BLISS!

Here’s a shameless plug about a book I love! To get a grip on your life and KISS (Keep It Super Simple) more often, you MUST read The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. My life got less complicated just by reading the first several pages!

In an effort to KISS myself right now…

The End.

Grown Up Lessons From Yo Gabba Gabba – Gratitude

“Grown ups” tend to over-complicate the most basic life principles.

Are you one of them? How would you know? If you are not where you want to be in life; If you have not smiled and laughed at least three quarters of every day; If you do not use more than one of your senses to enjoy your food, you are suffering this terrible, yet completely curable dis-ease!

I am currently undergoing “treatment” for my own case of Grown Up Disease (dis-ease). Who is my doctor and what is the treatment, you may ask. Well, let me tell you, I have TWO very wonderful doctors who live in utmost simplicity and know first hand how to live the life I desire – completely free from over-complication.

My kids are the best doctors I know, and have cured me of the blues many times, as well as helped to get my head out of my ….. let’s just say “a dark place”.

As I sit here blogging this on my couch at 2:45am, my almost 2 year old doctor is sitting with me watching Yo Gabba Gabba. Ironically, the show theme is DOCTOR! For whatever reason, she didn’t feel the need to sleep at this hour, so we’re having a little snack, diaper change, and some one on one time together before heading back to bed to finish our sleep and dreams. I hope.

Something I have incorporated into our nighttime routine, is straight from Yo Gabba Gabba. At the end of each show, DJ Lance Rock says, “Let’s go back, and remember all the fun things we did today”, and then goes on to highlight the best parts of the day. What a wonderful thing to do for a child, and even as an adult! How often to you lay your head down at night, and recall all the fun things you did that day? Nothing fun worth remembering?

When you have nothing fun worth remembering about each and every day, that’s a symptom of Grown Ups disease. Life is meant to be enjoyed! Of course there are serious parts to life, and not everything is funny, or is supposed to be. Trust me, I can write a whole other blog on that!

My kids have certainly brought fun into my life – as crazy as it sometimes can get. It’s so much easier to lighten up when you can see things the way a small child does. It took me a long time to figure that out. We have our off days, I must admit. But when we begin to recount what fun we DID have, it seems to make bedtime so much more relaxing. I appreciate the time I have with them, even more now, because I choose to focus on the good stuff.

We didn’t always have fun….and it took doing this on a daily basis to whip me into shape, and forced me to plan our days a little better! It’s so easy to slip into this never ending spin-around-doing-housework-and-running-errands life, and forget you have little sponges just waiting for you to have some fun! It forced me to build fun into the day, and be kind of organized about it, so we’d have something worth talking about at the end of the day. It will be the building blocks for teaching them how to have gratitude….for me too.

We CAN survive this Grown Up life!

You’re Already An Entrepreneur – Now Get To Work!

There is no such thing as a free ride. It all gets balanced at the end of the day, so you might as well put in the effort NOW!

Sometimes the payment is currency, sometimes it is pure energy (which is actually one and the same, and will be explained in another post). There are a lot of slackers out in the world that just want to make a quick dollar. There is nothing wrong with the desire to get rich overnight. Everyone should be so lucky! For most of us it takes work and focus, no matter what “business” you’re in. I personally have been guilty of being lazy minded, in the past. I always had an excuse that sounded good to me at the time, only to realize later that it still didn’t get me any closer to what I wanted.

The time for excuses and laziness is OVER!! We all have the desire to live a comfortable life, free from debt, a life of luxurious places and things. How many of us are willing to do whatever it takes to get there?

It takes work to get to the point of enjoying the fruits of your labor. Just like you have to make plane reservations to take a trip overseas (and pay for it), you have to do things (take action) to succeed and have freedom, no matter what industry you are focused on.

Notice I said FOCUS.

Stop career hopping! Too many times, we are approached by well-meaning friends and family members, trying to sell us on the next big thing. We fall for it because it sounds good, and looks promising on paper. We put in our hard-earned money to sign up, all the while praying for payday, or at the very least to break even!

Did it occur to you at that point what it was going to take to WORK this new business? Less personal time? Money? Emotional setbacks? Loss of family time? And what about the HUGE learning curve at the beginning of this new venture?

If you have never owned a business, or been in a high level position at your job, then you may have a long road ahead of you. Those who have successfully worked in MLM’s, Marketing, and even Network Marketing, have an advantage over those who are not familiar with the “politics” or the business of business. There is an overwhelming amount of information online, and can be difficult to navigate if you don’t know what sources to trust. It’s not impossible, though, and can be great fun. You just have to know where to go for the answers.

I love to read, I love to do research. But MAN! You can waste your life away trying to weed your way through all of that “stuff” to get some tiny little nugget, that you can only hope will help you expand your new business and make you TONS of money. I discovered along the way, that while learning is a good thing, and should be done, there is much to say about just DOING IT!! Don’t hide behind the excuse of “Well, I’m trying to learn all I can BEFORE I do anything.”

The best teacher is ACTION! You will feel less overwhelmed if you are taking action with what you have learned.

If you are looking for leadership and inspiration, check out the company you’re with. Who are the leaders? Who is living the life you want? Get to know them and what they do on a daily basis, to achieve the level they maintain. If you are not yet involved with a company, or currently on your own - starting out or lacking progress, look to those who already inspire you. There are plenty of personalities to choose from! I have some personal favorites, if you are interested!

Let’s go back to FOCUS for a minute. Pick one company. Two, if you know what you’re doing, and understand what you’re in for. If you are involved with an MLM company or some form of Network or Direct Marketing, stick with it for a while. I don’t mean 6 weeks and you’re out,  if it “doesn’t work”. Chances are, it’s YOU that isn’t working! You have to give it at least ONE YEAR of true work and learning, sometimes longer to reap the benefits of the seeds you have planted. Go ahead and learn, but do it while you’re WORKING the business! If you are involved with a great company, you will have mentors to help you along the way. Not those people who just set you up in the computer and get your credit card information, but true leadership and support. They will have meetings, phone calls, webinars, etc. They will be the kind of people who will “show up” for you in every way. These are the people you WANT to work with while growing your business. They are the people YOU will be one day, once you have a handle on what you’re doing. But give it time, and give it your ALL.

You are already well on your way to an AWESOME life because you’re searching for information and answers. Don’t ever stop learning. Just don’t forget to DO THE WORK!

Enjoy the ride!

(Originally posted March 11, 2010 under my old site. Copied and modified for MultiLevelMommy.)

One Of The Biggest Secrets To Having It All!

It’s fairly safe to assume that you are reading this because you do not yet have Everything you want.  Does anyone actually get Everything they want? Sure!

Just a quick side note before we continue on: The following blog is written with Work At Home Moms in mind and heart, since that’s what I am, and that’s how I experience the world. However, the basic  theme of this “secret” applies to every human being on the planet!

 

For many of us Work From Home Moms, the quest to “have it all” becomes somewhat amusing to those on the outside. Can you imagine what we must look like, chasing our own tails, going in circles trying to figure out how to multitask raising our kids, doing the housework, making phone calls, running errands, growing our “home” businesses (and ALL that entails!), being a wife (if you have a husband), paying bills, making breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the list goes on! Holy Cow! Does anyone need a nap yet??

We are basically taught by most of what’s on the internet and on TV (not to mention within our own circle of friends and family), that we must find ways to do it all, even if it requires us to forego having any sort of social life, or even taking care of our personal needs. What a load of you know what!

So, without writing a huge long blog of blah blah blah, let me just get to the point and then go from there! One of the biggest secrets to having it all? Not doing it all yourself.

Yep! That’s it!

How and why have we been conditioned to believe that in order to get and have everything we want in life, we must do it all ourselves? Did your parent(s) do it all themselves, so you feel you need to live up to that standard? Get over it! Their life is their life, and you have different needs and desires for your life. It’s also a different time. What happened when your parents were your age is not what’s happening now (for the most part). There is nothing you have to prove to anyone. Having help is nothing to be ashamed of, or shy away from. People love to help, so accept it graciously. You could also help someone else someday!

Is it because many people are financially unable to get outside help? Maybe. But there are always options! There really are. I will write another blog on that issue very soon – to address the options available to those who are in a temporary bind and may not currently be able to afford outsourcing certain activities (whether they be “revenue” producing or “minimum wage” activities).

 

 

 

 

 

The bottom line is, ask for help! There’s nothing wrong with getting help, as there is great pleasure in giving it. Plenty of people are ready and willing to assist you with whatever you need.

Now here comes the Fun part…DREAM BIG! I mean Really Big.  Go crazy with it! We will always regret the things we didn’t do more than the things we did do. So be BOLD with your dreams.  :)

Write it down. What is it that your heart REALLY wants? Writing it down is the first step in clarifying what it is you want, and are expecting to receive. Do it long hand, with a pen and paper, instead of typing it. I’ll explain why in a future blog, just trust this process for now.

The next step is to write Empowering Questions centered around those things you are ready to receive. (Notice I didn’t say ‘want’ to receive….You must be ready for your abundance! The word ‘want’ implies there is a gap between what you have and what you are creating.)

Life is not going to come to you, if you just sit around and complain about what you don’t have, or about all the things you have to do. BE EMPOWERED! Live from a state of Constant Gratitude, and doors will just FLY open for you!

IT IS POSSIBLE TO HAVE IT ALL! NOW!!