General

Note #1: So I’m thinking about giving away a free product for you… IF you’re interested in having a greater sense of joy, peace, abundance, clarity and focus in your life.

But it’s going to take a significant amount of time to put together. Before I move forward, I want to be sure you actually want it so I’m focused on what will bring the most value to the world…

More details near the bottom of this article on how you can make this happen

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Note #2: In case you’re wondering, this is a Follow Up to this Post which received more comments than I’ve ever had on one post before. You are all SO Awesome!

The Story of How I Became a “Time Coach”

As you may or may not know, I am an “accidental” entrepreneur … meaning that I never actually intended to start a business. It just spontaneously emerged from the perfect storm of resigning from my job, getting none of the seven jobs that I interviewed for and having a large network of journalism contacts eager to take advantage of my writing, editing and photo styling skills (In case you were curious… photo styling means setting up the sets for the photographer to take the pictures.)

Before I knew it, my work was featured in about 50 publications around the country, including Real+Life Decorating, Do It Yourself, and Home Depot Designs for Living.

My life was full of describing the glories of inset sinks in marble countertops, scouring the city for just the right flowers (do you know HOW hard it can be to find pink ginger stalks?) and making sure that readers knew about gooseneck and bridge faucets and could pick which one would be right for their perfect kitchen.

I guess you could say my life was dreamy (it seems that all movies glamorize journalists!) but it definitely wasn’t balanced…

How This All Began

You see, I enjoyed my work and was grateful to be keeping busy but it started to bother me that anytime I wasn’t out at an event, I felt like I should be working…

So I would come home sometimes around 10 p.m. and think I should still answer work e-mail, and I rarely had a weekend where I was completely “off.”

But I remember the EXACT moment when this went from something that kind of bothered me to something where I was actually willing to Take Action.

It seems obvious now that no one should have to just settle for a life overwhelmed by work, but at the time, it was a bit hard to take that kind of stand because so many entrepreneurs tell you that feeling crazy busy is “just part of the game.” Or “you should be grateful you’re busy.” Or “you have to take the work when it comes.” Or “if you say, ‘No,’ people won’t hire you again…”

But despite the chorus of warnings and doubts ringing in my head, I finally came to terms with the fact that I would never feel successful if I didn’t have time to invest in what mattered to me outside of work—without guilt.

The Moment When It All Began

The moment when I decided to really make a change happened as I was talking a walk on a temperate July evening. There were some Canada geese squawking about and some people lazily casting their fishing lines into the river that flowed beside the trail, but I didn’t really notice much of what was happening around me.

I was in one of those mental states where you lose sight of what’s around you and don’t even quite remember that you’re walking and your mind just wanders about trying to make order and sense of what’s happening to you.

And something in me clicked, and I decided: Enough is ENOUGH! I don’t care what other people say! I don’t feel like a success when I’m working all of the time… when I don’t have time for the people and activities I love… and when the work that used to give me so much joy… kind of fills me with dread and a weighty sense of tiredness.

At First It Felt Like I Was Having Withdrawal Symptoms—Really!

I started keeping track of my hours and stopping when I hit my self-imposed limit for the week.

I hated it.

It felt awful to stop working when I “could” do more and when I didn’t always necessarily know how everything would work out.

But I told myself to “step away from the computer” and purposefully scheduled in activities after work that would force me to stop.

In time, taking evenings and weekends off went from being a HUGE struggle to being a natural part of my lifestyle.

I learned to say, “No,” to ask for more time when I needed it (instead of being too proud to let people know I wasn’t perfect) and to value the quality of my life as much as I valued the quality of my work.

The surprising thing I discovered is that people actually respected me MORE. Not only did I have better relationships with my friends and family and a whole lot less guilt, but also my business did better. (Go figure?)

Soon Other People Started to Get Curious…

How was it that I was continuing to build a successful business where I could support myself, have time and money to travel, and not be “crazy busy” all the time?

My approach to life and work mystified people—especially others with flexible schedules who thought that a total lack of balance was something that they HAD to settle for in life. Or that being perpetually sleep-deprived was a natural rite of passage to success.

It Took a Bit of Time

Around the same time, I realized that I wanted to make more of a positive impact in people’s lives in a way that went below the surface…

That I didn’t want to just be the interior designer of people’s homes (though I still appreciate great design!) but to be the interior designer of their minds, hearts and lives—to help them make something beautiful and life-giving out of chaos.

So I Started Talking With a Coach…

…About what it could look like for me to step away from the computer and the photo set and inspire more people to live the life of their dreams.

This lead to the launch of my second business, Real Life E ® that encouraged people to Dream! Dare! Discover!® who they were created to be.

I began giving key note speeches and doing training events on topics such as Think Inc: How to Thrive in Uncertain Times with an Entrepreneurial Mind™ (about helping employees have an entrepreneurial mindset) and High Heels: How to Advance in Business Without Losing Your Skirt™ (about embracing who you are as a woman to help you succeed in the business world).

But despite the fact that I was speaking all over the country and inspiring thousands of people, including speaking directly after Steve Forbes at a conference (a true “rock star” in the business world!) I didn’t feel satisfied that I was making the right impact for two reasons:

1. I inspired people for a day but didn’t get to see, encourage and support their growth and development over time.
2. Starting to travel so frequently for speaking violated the sense of balance and order that I had fought so hard to establish in my life.

So I made a decision that would change everything…

Instead of continuing down the path of speaking as my main focus, I would develop a coaching business. But not just any coaching business (the idea of being a general life coach terrified me because there are SO many out there!) but a very specific, focused, targeted business focused on spreading the message that “Life Could Be Radically Different!” in terms of how people thought about and invested their time.

I pursued coaching training and time management knowledge through best sellers like Getting Things Done. But MOST of all, I carefully observed the reality of what it took to create lasting habit change in people’s lives and used this to develop my Schedule Makeover™ coaching process…

When I Began, I Never Would Have Dreamed…

That I would have clients on four continents, that I would give time management presentations in Asia and Africa, that I would appear in Inc, Forbes.com, WomansDay.com and TIME.com and that I would see SO many beautiful transformations in people’s lives.

But I have…

… and I somehow feel like this is only the beginning.

 

I LOVE Time Coaching (there’s no way I would give that up! It’s the best thing I can possibly offer you.) But I just feel like it’s not fair for me to only offer this one option any more…

Here’s the deal.

The demand for insight on ‘how to be peaceful’ that goes beyond platitudes like “just relax” or “take time for yourself” or rigid structures like you must get up at 4 a.m. and spend two hours in contemplation has come…

As “The Joy of Quiet” article published in the December 29, 2011 issue of the The New York Times states:

“The urgency of slowing down — to find the time and space to think — is nothing new, of course, and wiser souls have always reminded us that the more attention we pay to the moment, the less time and energy we have to place it in some larger context. ‘Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for our miseries,’ the French philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote in the 17th century, ‘and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries.’ He also famously remarked that all of man’s problems come from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone….

MAYBE that’s why more and more people I know, even if they have no religious commitment, seem to be turning to yoga, or meditation, or tai chi; these aren’t New Age fads so much as ways to connect with what could be called the wisdom of old age.”

The only problem is that everything—yes everything—in our world is specifically designed to distract… to allure… to capture your attention for even a moment.

So even if you’re someone who wouldn’t naturally have too many problems with focus, this over stimulating world can cause mental fragmentation. And if you’re someone naturally prone to distraction, the pings, bleeps, bells and boxes can make attention almost impossible.

Everyone Seems Concerned About This BUT No One is Telling You How (in a super practical way) to Be Different

With my time coaching, I really look to get below the surface of what’s going on and to look for answers to how you can fight back and create peace and order in your life in a world that’s attempting to swallow you up. This is a holistic approach that encompasses ALL of your life from your sleep schedule to your work schedule.

But I think there’s more I could be doing to have a larger positive impact. So I’m thinking of focusing in on the one specific area with a product about how to make time and space to think, to process what is happening to you, to stop running and to slow down… both inside and outside.

I’ve been really encouraged and amazed at the Tremendous Interest around this idea so I am thinking about giving you a value packed, 100% free Gift of “5 of the BIGGEST Obstacles to Making Space for Inner Peace & How You Can Overcome Them Now”

This is meant for you IF you’re serious about creating space in your life for the practices that give you a sense of internal order, calm, alignment and centeredness.

This Gift Will Include:

• A description of each of these 5 Major (but often hidden) obstacles and how you can identify whether they’re holding you back.
• Activities for freeing yourself from the power of each of these obstacles
• A short guided meditation recording where I help you release the worries of the day and prepare your mind for reflection before you head to sleep.

But Here’s the Catch

Because I want to be extremely clear on the true interest for this gift and I don’t want to send further e-mails to people who are totally not interested…

…I need you to let me know if you’re interested in receiving “5 of the BIGGEST Obstacles to Making Space for Inner Peace & How You Can Overcome Them Now.”

So Here’s What You Need To Do

I’m making a list of everyone potentially interested in receiving my free gift and getting in on the start of anything else that may come of this.

(Those who don’t sign up won’t hear anything more after this week.)

So if you’re interested: 1. Enter your e-mail address below, and if there’s enough interest, you’ll receive your free gift at that address. 2. Please leave any comments or suggestions below.

Email Marketing You Can Trust

If enough people get on this “interest list” (I’m thinking about 200 or more…) then I’ll make this free gift and send it to EVERYONE on the interest list (but none of those who haven’t signed up.)

If no one wants this gift, then no worries… I’ll direct my focus toward something else.

At your service,

Elizabeth

P.S.-Thanks so much for all of your comments and e-mails. You make this all worth it 🙂

P.P.S.-Feel free to share this info on Facebook, Twitter or e-mail it to those who might be interested. It would be truly fabulous if there’s the momentum to move this gift forward. Let’s start a movement!