When Opportunity Knocks;

If you wish to strive to be your most capable and proficient; working to maximize your time and strengths toward achieving your goals in life, strategic planning will help you get there.

Strategic planning helps you break down your goals, into manageable actions. Complex issues, big issues, issues that you haven’t been able to face, become simpler and easier, when you have an action plan in place.

When you decide to make an action plan, questions come to the fore and strategic planning, helps you focus on the issue and helps draw your mind to asking the right questions. Questions such as; what’s the first step I need to take? What would stop me from taking that step? How can I manage this, so I can take that first step? What would be the next step? If I can’t afford it, what do I need to do, to be able to afford it? If I don’t have the time right now, how can I make time? 

These questions are many and varied and will help you formulate a plan, which will take you closer to achieving your desired outcome. And you may not get it perfectly right the first time, but every time you try, you’ll get closer to your desired result. Take the time, to acquire the knowledge, so you will be ready when opportunity knocks. 

When you try to manage the issue, as a whole, it can feel overwhelming. So, observe what it is you want. Prepare a plan, that will take you where you want to go. Work the plan you’ve prepared and use the strategies you’ve come up with, to achieve the desired result.

Strategic planning, lines up your objectives with your actions. Without it you’re just shooting from the hip and hoping for the best. Shooting from the hip, is not the kind of planning that will get you where you want to be. 

Write your action plan. Writing it makes it clear and you’re less likely to get side tracked, once you have your objective in front of you. And it must be in front of you. Put your written plan, where you can view it every day and this will keep it fresh in your mind. See yourself achieving the dream, as this gives you the motivation, on difficult days, to continue to strive. 

You can wish all you like, but it’s action that gets you there! It's not wishbone, that gets you there. It's backbone, that gets you there. It’s having the right formula, the right steps, to propel you towards your goal. Being side tracked with other affairs, won’t help move toward your goal. Your time becomes more efficient, when you have a plan in place. 

You may not know what your desire is, or what goals you’d like to achieve. To you I would say; if you had unlimited time and unlimited money, what would you be doing today? (Lazing on the beach sipping pinacolato’s doesn’t count because, believe it or not, you would be bored in a couple of weeks or months.) 

Your dream, your desire, is something that should fulfil and satisfy you. Your goal now, is to create the steps, to make your dream your reality. And sometimes, you might have to put your dream on hold for a year or two, while other things are in play, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start learning more on the topic of your choice. The internet has plenty of free stuff, to get you started.

So – what are you waiting for? Take action now and turn your dreams, into your reality!

 

Autumn is well and truly here...

With autumn in full swing, my garden is still looking lovely. 😀

Quick and Easy, Creamy Mushroom Soup

Serves 4. Cooking and prep; 15-20 minutes

Ingredients;

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 finely chopped shallot

500 gm sliced mushrooms

2 tablespoons flour (any kind you have on hand)

3 cups chicken stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Cream (roughly 1 tablespoon per person) and chives to garnish

Method;

Fry the first 5 ingredients from the above list, until mushrooms are soft.

Add the chicken stock, salt and pepper.

Blend 2/3 of the mixture, until smooth.

Stir remaining 1/3 of the mixture.

Serve either singly, or in a soup taurine and drizzle cream around the centre of the dish.  

Garnish with chopped chives. 

I'm not sure if this is breakfast, lunch, or dinner. 😁

Bean salsa, chili bacon and brussels, as well as capsicum and corn frittata. I don't think it matters when I eat it, I know I'll enjoy it. 

Mansfield Reserve, Bowral

We've certainly had some beautiful days, for walking. At least it's something we can enjoy, as we spend our days in lockdown. 😁

Isolation

With this back garden, who wouldn't enjoy isolation. 😀😄

My thoughts on success.

Are you struggling with success, or rather lack of it?

I’d like to speak to you about success. Do you think you’re reaching your full potential? What is success anyway?

Success is different for everyone. To me, success is being happy where you are, while striving to get where you’re going. Success isn’t necessarily having the biggest home, or the latest car, although some people see that as success.

I feel successful, although I only own a modest home and drive an older model car. I’m comfortable financially and although I work, I feel I have a good work/life balance. I feel successful, because most of the time I do what I love. Sure, there’s bills to pay and housework to do, but most of time, I do what I love. And I enjoy good health…what’s more important than that! (Although even that, doesn’t have to define your success.)

Am I where I want to be yet? No, but I continue to strive and I’m doing what I love and what makes me happy, as I work towards my personal dream, the dream I envisioned for my life. I’m financially comfortable. I have good relationships with family and friends. I work on what I’m passionate about, throughout my week and I’m happy and content. For me, that is success. 

What’s my dream, you might ask? My dream was to become an author and I have achieved that, a number of times. My dream now, is to become an author, where book sales support my lifestyle. That’s the thing with dreams, they’re flexible and changeable.

I have a very nice job. It’s not my dream job, but I like it and it keeps the roof over my head, while I work towards ‘the best seller.’ Having a job you like, is also a form of success. It’s so much nicer to work in a job you like, rather than one you hate. If you hate your job, changing your job, might be the first goal you set, towards becoming successful.

You see, success isn’t linear. It’s not stagnant and in one place, but covers many different aspects of one’s life. To be truly successful, I think you need to know you can cope with what life throws your way. To be successful, as I said, is about having a comfortable lifestyle, with good relationships, a job which you like (or a business, if that’s your dream). It’s about finding peace in the storm and remaining calm, no matter what. It’s about creativity, love, joy, passion and purpose. And if you can reach this point, you’re in the small minority. Not many people in the world, have this level of peace.

So how did I get here? Quite simply; I followed biblical principles. I went from complete looser, where I was so depressed because I couldn’t seem to make anything work, to so joyous, that even on a bad day, you couldn’t knock me off my perch, or steal that joy.

Every day, I feel truly grateful, for that second chance at life and I thank God, for His word, love, provision, help, passion and comfort. It didn’t happen any other way, but through reading my bible and believing what God’s word said, about me, about life, about love, blessings and protection. 

Does that mean everything I’ve tried has worked? No. failure is the step you take, before success. So, if you fail at something, don’t let it stop you. Tell yourself, you’ve just found one way not to do it and get back on the horse. Try, try, try again. Eventually you will win. 

There’s a lot of information about success, on the internet. Many different ways of getting there. And I think I tried most of them, before coming to the bible and seeing that particular one, work in my life. The bible is the success manual for living, although most of us don’t believe it. And I was one of those people. I didn’t believe the bible was for me, however, at the end of the line and with no where else to turn, I prayed and it literally turned my life around. 

You need a mental transformation and the bible will give you that. You need to know what to do, in different situations and the bible will give you that. The bible teaches you nothing is impossible and if you serve the God of the impossible, He will make everything possible in your life. 

If you have a dream, it’s most likely God given. Write your dream, for the bible tells us to write our dream and make it plain. Work out the steps it’s going to take, to turn your dream into your reality. Make sure the dream has purpose and passion, for if it doesn’t, you’ll quit during the rainy season, when the going gets tough.

You write your dream, so you can keep it before you and so you can see what you’re aiming for, because nothing changes until your mind changes. Change how you see yourself, change how you think about yourself and seeing your written goal, will give you the momentum to keep going, when you feel it’s too hard, too much, or too slow. 

You know, we’re not put on this earth, to work, pay our bills and die. We’re here to create, love and enjoy life. So, find your passion, write it down, look at it every day, work towards the steps, which will help you get there and never quit. 

You’re created to live with meaning and purpose, not drudgery and boredom. Discover your potential and build on it. If you don’t have a dream, pray that God gives you one. Think about what you love and enjoy doing. How can you turn that into your passion? Your passion doesn’t necessarily mean you have to make money, either. If you love it and love to do it, then go for it.

These small steps are half the fun, for it’s the journey you’re on, which brings fulfilment, not the destination. The destination is the reward once you arrive, so don’t stop in the arrival lounge. Set another goal and take another journey. 

I’ve had so many fun things happen to me along the way; things I never thought would, or could happen. I’ve spoken to trading guru’s – at least conversed by mail. I’ve spoken and sung, in public – something I never, ever thought I would do. I’ve even had a phone call from Arnold Schwarzenegger – Ok, it was a recorded message on my phone, but how many of us can say “Big Arnie called me!” It’s been a wild ride, with it’s ups and downs and I wouldn’t change it for the world.  And don’t rest on old stories of wild rides. Create new ones. 

I achieved my goal of running 10 k’s. I became a JP (Justice of the Peace), studied dressmaking, journalism and photography, as well as how to trade shares and have written many books and articles (and continue to do so). I failed at cycling from Bowral to Adelaide, (it wasn’t lack of preparedness, but lack of knowledge – see, I found the way not to do it next time). I’ve read my bible from cover to cover…four times – Ok, I get it. That’s not everyone’s idea of a goal. All I’m saying is, I’ve set and achieved a myriad of goals. Even before I finish one, I’m planning the next. 

I’ve always got new projects on the go. Sometimes they’re simple, like taking a bus ride, just for fun. Others are bigger, like renovating my home. Set your goal and work at it every day, and every day, you’ll make a little more progress to achieving it. So what if it takes five years? You’ll be five years older, in five years anyway.

Don’t let fear stop you. To quote the late Susan Jeffers; “Feel the fear and do it anyway.” 

Don’t wait! Make a start today! Live life to the fullest!