Are you the master of time or is time the master of you? Time is a precious commodity and one that is non-renewable. We’ve all heard the 80/20 rule, but, have you seriously considered it when it comes to your time. We often we spend over 80% of our time in exchange for little or no result. In fact, chances are that 80% of the results you are getting in your ilfe can be traced back to a mere 20% of the activities that occupy your time. No matter who you are or where you live we all have been given the same amount of time (24hours) in a day. The differences in results stem from how you use the time you have. Furthermore, don’t let people steal your time. How often do you sit down to accomplish a specific task that is at the top of the priority list only to be interupted by the ringing of your phone. The question is – do you answer it? NO! Become the master of your time and direct yourself accordingly. You can return calls when you have gotten everything on your “to do” list done!

Time is the most important tool in your toolbox, when it comes to building business. It can make you or break you. How you use it will determine the speed at which you are able to progress and the quality of life you’re able to attain while along for the ride.

All the best,

Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.

Getting in front of an audience is one of the most effective ways to prospect for new opportunities. When you’re the speaker, you have all eyes on you. From there you have the chance to build visibility and credibility for yourself and your business offering. Not to mention, people are always impressed with the fact that you have the guts to get up and speak in front of an audience since most people would rather face death than this!

If you have the confidence to share your expert knowledge with qualified audiences – I suggest you get on the speakers roster sooner than later. I think you’ll be pleased with your results!

All the best,

Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.

When you’re hunting for new business, and especially when you’re a single shingle entrepreneur, it’s important for you to stretch your resources. One of the easiest ways to do that is to find the watering holes where your niche markets hang out together. If you can have an opportunity to speak to your target audience in a group, you’ll get far greater results than if you tried to find them and speak to each of them individually. Start today by profiling who is your niche market? What are their commonalities? What kinds of books/mags/websites etc. do they read? Where do they hang out? What do they watch on TV?

Once you’re clear on who they are and where they can be found (aka the watering hole), hunting becomes a walk in the park.

Happy Hunting!

All the best,

Heather White

CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.

Even with my Psych degree in hand, even I forgot what is probably the easiest way to realign yourself and channel your passion for business – take care of your basic needs! As women especially, we are so good at taking care of everyone else and ensuring that their needs are met. But, what about us? If you’re having trouble connecting with your enthusiastic, passionate self, ask yourself “am I taking care of my basic needs?” It may be a simple concept, but, don’t ignore it’s importance. It’s impossible for you to be passionate when you’re tired, or haven’t fueled your body with nutritious food, or are trying to buy the farm when you haven’t paid the heat bill in the house. Take a trip down memory lane and revisit Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to make sure you’re giving yourself the best chance to be passionate and if you’re not, do yourself a favour and get back to basics.

All the best,

Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.

It’s not that the passion that lives within us is ever that far away, but it is true that it can become dormant if we don’t activate it. Sometimes that activation comes from a profound idea or thought, a stimulating conversation, a book or article that your read….or…a Flash Mob:

Watch the video here: Vancouver 2010 Dancing in the Streets Flashmob

How’s that for inspiring your passion??

All the best,

Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc

I think passion is another one of those words we toss around, assuming the meaning, but often not digging deep enough to understand the essence. Passion to me is alignment. Alignment of your natural gifts and talents with an arena of expression. Passion is the skater with a sheet of ice, the skiier with snow covered mountain peak, the golfer with a plush green fairway, the teacher on stage with an audience watching.

I think the biggest barrier between you and your passion is your knowledge and acceptance of yourself. Our whole life we are conditioned to believe that we are not good enough. That we have to learn more, earn more, say more, do more in order to reach some holy grail of accomplishment. This paradigm no longer serves us.

In the silence and stillness of your life is where you will hear your inner voice of wisdom talk to you about your true passions. From there, your job is to be open, to be honest and to be willing to take the necessary inspired action steps that will lead you on a path of alignment.

Passion is not something external that you need to go out and get. It’s internal and you simply need to allow it to come to the surface of your life.

Be brave!!

All the best,

Heather White, CEO 2020 Communications Inc.

There is one definite inevitability in life and that is, of course, death. Not usually a topic that most people want to talk about or frankly think about, but, nevertheless something that we cannot escape. Personally, my consideration of the concept is something that has given me an incredible amount of strength thus far. Whenever I have a desire to do something there is the almost immediate reaction from my mind. Sometimes it tells me why I can’t do it, sometime why I shouldn’t, sometimes it just laughs at my plans. I’ve heard many theories about why this happens, why do we get in our own way, why would we stop ourselves from giving something a try? We shouldn’t! We have to go for it!

When I watched the below video I was further convinced. The man on the video has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only months to live. In this, his last lecture, he gives a moving, practical, matter of fact speech about how and why to live a life in pursuit of your dreams. There is no time to put things off – we have to pursue those things that we have a desire to!

A version of Randy Pausch’s last lecture as seen on Oprah

All the best,

Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.

It is possible that the cell phone has done more harm than good for business. It leads to bad manners, worse work product, and disruption in focus. I know people that spend hours on their cell phone each day, or typing out emails 20-30 times a day. This is a waste of time. Books like the Four Hour Workweek suggest checking messages/email 2 x a day. This makes sense to me. You control your technology, not the other way around. This week, I want you to track your calls/emails on your iPhone/Blackberry. On Friday, count how many total you had (voicemail/email). How many were necessary? How many disturbed work you were trying to accomplish. Unplug for a while each day and see your productivity grow. If you can’t turn off the phone, you have some serious dependency issues you need to address. I used to be that guy, but realized that being tied to technology didn’t serve me. Try something a bit different and next week (after you get your counts from this week), try to drop the number of calls/emails you take/respond to by 50%. You will likely see no drop in opportunity, but a huge return in productivity. Try it, you might like it.

Cheers,

C./

www.GhostCEO.com or if you are feeling brave: www.ChrisFlett.com (rated “R”)

Last week we talked about being selfishly selfless as a rule to live by. If you did your homework, you should have a long list of things that you need to take care of in order for you to be operating at optimal capacity. Today, we’re talking about the next step in this process, which is: communicating your new rules.

In my experience, in my own life, one of the reasons I struggled to put this selfishly selfless concept in to place was because of how it was going to affect the other people in my life. For example, in the early days of my relationship we were on totally opposite schedules. I worked all day, he worked all night (well, almost). I’d often stay up and/or wake up when he got home in order to hang out and spend time together and hear about one another’s days. BUT, when my alarm went off at 6am the next morning – I was tired! And, as you know by now, I don’t do tired well. Something had to change, but, at the same time, I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to hang out with my boyfriend….what to do??

First – I had to get clear on what I really wanted – #1 to hang out w/ my boyfriend + #2 a good night sleep. So how could I be selfish in this case and get both? I needed to COMMUNICATE my new rules. So that’s what I did.

We came up with a new plan that included a special ‘date day’ every week, when we could coordinate our schedules in order to hang out and catch up with one another and meanwhile, there was no more getting up in the middle of the night. In retrospect, I realize that I was nervous to ask for what I really wanted out of some fear that I had made up in my own mind. (i.e. Would he commit to this new plan, would I miss out on something if I didn’t get up in the middle of the night, would my relationship last if I didn’t spend every chance I had to work on it?)

As you can imagine – none of this was true, but, I needed to experience enough pain (feeling exhausted all day) to realize that this wasn’t working for me. Then I needed to get clear on how things would work for me. And lastly, I needed to communicate what I wanted/needed to change in order for me to operate at optimal capacity. This is the same for you. After last week, you now know what you need – this week – communicate those needs/wants to those in your life who will support you in honouring you.

Let me know how it goes!!

All the best,

Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.

Selfishly selfless – what does that mean exactly? Well, for starters it means taking care of all your personal needs before anything else. Yeah, I know, sounds great eh? But the question I get over and over again, how? How exactly do I ‘do’ that?

Not unlike making any change, you have to begin with an audit, in this case of yourself. Do you even know what you would need to change in your life to be selfishly selfless? For me, I need a lot, but here’s a sample:

1. Food – I don’t know about you, but, if I’m hungry, I don’t cope well.

2. Sleep – unlike Tiger Woods, 5 hours doesn’t do it for me – I need 7-8 hrs

3. Exercise – I LOVE working out (I know, I know, you can punch me in the face now), but, I’m serious, I really do. For my entire life I’ve been an athlete. Athletics and working out my body is so much more to me than just staying in-shape. I’m the first to admit, I like the side effects, but moreso, I like the adrenalin rush, the connection with my body, feeling powerful and the confidence that comes as a result of exercising and challenging my body.

4. Music – it’s a constant for me, can’t live without it.

5. Money – I have a certain lifestyle that I enjoy, and that often requires a monetary exchange. Managing mine (both in my business and personal life) is a must.

I could go on and on, but you get the point.  Now it’s your turn.  This week I want you to identify what your non-negotiable needs are. Write them all down.  Then…

Tune in next week for the next step: Communicating Your New Rules

All the best,

Heather White, CEO, 2020 Communications Inc.