30 Day Blogging challenge – day two.

I can see this commitment to myself (to blog everyday) will have profound effects on my psyche.  Already the procrastination is falling away, and the excitement to, in essence, “put pen to paper” is taking hold.  Story ideas keep flooding my head and experiences to share abound…

Before we begin, however, let me lay the foundation.  This blog within Culturs Magazine will cover four pillars of our global, multicultural, multiracial, Third Culture Kid, in-between tribe. Four lifestyle areas we especially hold dear will be my emphasis of the next 30 days – and beyond.  Those are:  Health, Entrepreneurship, Human Connection, and Travel.  Within that, there’ll be a little food, a little bit about curly hair, I’m sure, something about working out, and a ton about reaching out – whether for love or in business.  I can’t wait to explore with you.

Four lifestyle areas we especially hold dear will be my emphasis of the next 30 days – and beyond.  Those are:  Health, Entrepreneurship, Human Connection, and Travel.

That being said, today’s focus is entrepreneurship.  I’m super proud of myself right now.  I just sent an email that I should have sent two days ago. – Monday evening to be exact.  Now, I have seemingly legit reasons for not having done it up to now as my days have been packed with meetings, interviews (one with a Nobel Prize recipient that I will share with you later this week), and work into the wee hours of the morn (on the fun stuff – like this blog!).

But seriously, think about it.  You know when you meet that certain someone who makes your heart flutter and your stomach churn?  For whom you wear a goofy smile and can’t help but chirp all giddy into the phone when they call – yeah, that feeling.  The feeling of – I’ll do whatever it takes to make this work.  That RhiRhi “I’d walk for miles just to get a taste” “Love on the Brain” kinda feeling?  (Just bear with me – I’m so obsessed with this song right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if you must endure many, many refrences to it over the next few weeks.  Sorry. #notsorry) Bottom line is when you want to do something – you do it.  Nothing can stop you.

But I stopped me. Two days in a row.  I sent a follow up text to say information is forthcoming. Yet, I still wouldn’t take action.  It was a simple email and attachment to send – but I wasn’t doing it.  The next step was to figure out why.

The next step was to figure out why.

The one thing that almost 20 years of entrepreneurship has taught me is that it taxes your spirit.  Whatever deamons we haven’t yet excised from our person most definitely will come out in some of the most unexpected ways.  For me – I love what I do.  I love my day job.  I love my passion job. So it’s strange when I put something off.  Over time I’ve noticed that if I procrastinate that it’s time to stop and assess because something clearly is holding me back.  I’m pleased to say that after 20 years of this that it only took a few seconds of introspection to solve the riddle.

To see the full picture, I’ll take you back to the #DIPINTO17 retreat I told you about yesterday. During that retreat, I marveled at tips regarding affordable work assistants in other countries.  Now I didn’t marvel because I hadn’t heard of, or even been offered, such opportunities. I mostly was incredulous that such low cost items really could yield the results I expected. One of our colleagues had a point: “Well, if it doesn’t work – it was $20.”  True.  However, in my world – stepping over a dime to save (or in this case to make) a dollar often is much more expensive than we realize.  My thought was “yes, it’s only $20 – but should it not work, the amount of MY time wasted could cost up to thousands.”  And that’s often the lesson to be learned when hiring staff people (In a future post, I’ll go in-depth into the philosophies of good hires that move business forward). But in this case, I was confident the person I’d intended to email would be a good hire.  The problem was that once the offer was made – out of excitement, mind you (which often is not a good decision) – the negotiation began.  Oprah Winfrey once shared that her biggest mistakes were in making philanthropic decisions because they need emotion and logic, but often they were made with emotion. I say the same in entrepreneurship: Business decisions made solely from emotion often are not the best decisions. The potential candidate now had the upper hand and was solid in the conditions under which they wanted to work.  And this is a good thing.  The problem, however, was me.

The problem was that once the offer was made – out of excitement, mind you (which often is not a good decision) – the negotiation began.  Oprah Winfrey once shared that her biggest mistakes were in making philanthropic decisions because they need emotion and logic, but often they were made with emotion. I say the same in entrepreneurship: Business decisions made solely from emotion often are not the best decisions.

So eager to show the candidate that this organization indeed was the place for them, that I’d fallen back into a previously overcome habit of putting my employees’ needs, wants, energy and happiness above my own.  First of all, that’s a recipe for everyone to potentially lose their bread and butter.  Moreover, the best work environments are respectful of everyone – supervisors, managers and owners included.  So I caught it before it was too late.  The procrastination was a result of that gut knowing that I had the potential to revert, and to not let me do so.

So the metamorphasis came when – instead of thinking “now what?” – I was fully transparent with the candidate and sent a straightforward email outlining the situation as I saw it.  I would have preferred a person-to-person talk (which I did propose in the email), but given the situation and the need to keep my word for follow up – this was the next best thing.

Needless to say, once I hit send, a boulder was lifted from my shoulders.  I instantly felt lighter, stood taller, and was oh-so-proud of myself.  This was a good move for both parties involved.  So, let’s see where the next steps take us.  Whatever happens, I’m certain it will work out as it should.

Have you ever made a change that had profound effects on your life?

Let me know in the comments below…