Seven ways to create the life you want
For best results, run your life like a business, advises personal and business growth expert, Royston Guest
We can all be guilty of passing the buck when it comes to our struggles. Some people make it a mantra to complain about how things aren’t going well and to pass the blame for their failure or hardship elsewhere. The government is always an easy scapegoat, no matter who is in charge. It’s the economy, the ‘system’ or even the weather!
To create the life you want, you can’t think that way. No matter how you measure success, it is achieved by people who take total, note, TOTAL responsibility for their lives, actions and results. The same rule applies to you and me.
So here is the million-dollar question to help you start living the life you were meant to lead: If your life were a business, would you invest in it?
We all run a business called “Me Unlimited”’ and Me Unlimited, aka you, has unlimited potential to maximise the results of whatever you set your heart, mind and attention to. If you had to float Me Unlimited on the stock market, how confident would you be of its success? As you write the prospectus for investors, how credible would the overall goals be? Would a potential investor pick up your brochure and say ‘Yes, 100 per cent I am going to invest’ or would they say ‘This just isn’t viable’?
As with any business, there are multiple roles to ensure that daily operations happen. This is no different for you, but there is one fundamental distinction: in your business, you play all the roles. These are the seven director roles that make up your board: Chairperson, Sales and Marketing Director, Finance Director, Planning and Administration Director, Wellbeing Director, Learning Director and Communications Director. These roles collectively control your life, both personally and professionally.
1 Your Chairperson is responsible for your vision and values and for setting the direction of travel, culture, environment and cadence and pace of your life. Attitude cascades from the top, so having a great Chairperson is essential to your success.
2 Your Sales and Marketing Director is responsible for having a clear picture of how much money you’re likely to generate (sales role) and for safeguarding and promoting your brand (marketing role).
3 Your Finance Director is responsible for the finances of your life, which include budgeting, maintaining accurate records and making sure you look after your money wisely.
4 Your Planning & Administration Director is responsible for setting goals, creating roadmaps and planning to achieve your dreams: and the more mundane one of keeping your admin in line so that you don’t trip yourself up with unnecessary roadblocks or distractions.
5 Your Wellbeing Director is responsible for your health. Your greatest wealth is your health, and this is a central reason why this role is Wellbeing Director and not Fitness Director. Fitness is just one component of wellbeing, but wellbeing also includes
paying attention to things like exercise, diet, relaxation, sleep, avoiding burnout, mindfulness and more.
6 Your Learning Director is responsible for your ongoing strategy of development and learning. There has never been an easier time to learn, with resources available at the touch of a button. The day you stop learning is the day you stop earning, and the day you stop learning is the day you lose your edge and stop being the best version you can be.
7 Your Communications Director is responsible for how you interact with others and for how conversations are managed internally, with yourself. Knowing how to communicate effectively includes your ability to listen; your ability to interrogate people and ideas openly and curiously with the desire to understand; your ability to build rapport, to empathise; and to read both spoken and unspoken language.
There are many moving parts to success, with multiple things requiring your attention, all at the same time. This can sometimes feel overwhelming – so overwhelming that there’s always the temptation to do nothing as you try to figure out where to start.
To overcome this feeling, break down your objectives into bite-sized chunks. As the saying goes, ‘How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time’. Take small steps and find your natural groove, a rhythm that helps you focus and gain traction and positive forward momentum.
Adopting the seven directors approach allows you to split your life’s goals and aspirations into bite-sized chunks. The multiplying effect of all seven roles working together results in constant small improvements and marginal gains, which can give an exponential uplift to creating the life you want.
Royston Guest is an entrepreneur, author, CEO of Pathways Global and founder of The Business Growth PathwayTM. Find out more at https://www.roystonguest.com/blog/
