I’ve had a feeling building inside of me that recently has gotten to the breaking point.  I’ve come to the realization that I’m at my happiest when I’m working for myself.  I am going to find my own way and make my own future that does not involve the traditional idea of a career.  I have a couple of business ideas that I really believe in and know they will succeed - one with a partner and one on my own.

I am really excited about the future and about getting these proejcts going.  The reality is however that I’ll still need to keep my full time job for a while during the development of these projects.  Between work and my training, I’ll need to make sure that I make the best use of my free time to be able to work on this venture.

I could bulldog through it and just forego sleep and work as much as I possibly could - but all that’s going to do is leave me burnt out and discouraged.  I need to work smart as opposed to just working hard.  I am going to break down everything that needs to be done into the smallest steps and set aside a block of time each day where I’m reviewing and working on the small steps as well as a weekly time where I am looking at the bigger picture.

The next year is going to be hard.  I have a lot I want to accomplish and it’s not going to be easy.  This weekend I’m getting a lot of little nagging things in my life taken care of and figuring out ways to make them automated.  You would be surprised at how quickly the little things can add up to completely overtake your mental focus.

I’m taking a mental clarity day on Monday too.  No internet / cell phone - I am taking a full day to myself to do some things that need to be done or that I want to do:

• going for a run first thing in the morning - I am going to mark of 4.5km on gmaps and I am going to make it
• clean and reorganize my room
• meditating for 30 minutes - something I haven’t done in a few months…
• review my brain dump journal - this is a separate journal I record seemingly random thoughts into
• read a book - I’ve really been into the book Walkers - going to knock a big chunk out of it
• listen to an audiobook - I love listening to recordings by success coaches / motivational speakers on all types of subjects - you have to pick and choose through the BS, but there is a lot of value behind it
• listen to some of my favourite music - not in the background while I’m doing something else, but with my undivided attention
• take my dog to the dog park - he loves running around there and I enjoy talking to the other owners
• review my goals and write out a new set of goal reminder cards - something I learned at the mental toughness seminar is to write your goals out and put them up in places you’ll see them to keep them in your mind always
• simplify - I’ve been going through a lot of ’stuff’ to see what I can donate to charity / sell
• paint - I am going to start painting at least once a week again
• take care of paperwork - I’ve got a backlog of filing to do… freelance stuff, bills, etc… it all needs to be taken care of
• watch a movie - something I love doing but don’t make enough time for

So yeah… I’m basically going to get my shit together tomorrow.  Get my head in the place it needs tobe and then move forward.  As long as I move forward and have patience, I’ll get where I want to go.  The future is what you make of it, nothing more, nothing less.