subject: Schedule For All Types Of Success [print this page] A few years back, I had build up my wedding business to the point where I was more successful than I knew was even possible as a wedding planner. I was planning dozens of weddings all at the same time, with one assistant and two interns, making at least $5k per wedding and as much as $50k on each wedding. My husband was working with me as the operations manager and doing all of the back-of-the-house kind of work. We literally had everything we wanted. If we liked it, we bought it. We were living the American dream, and I was only 27 years old. And I was miserable.
That same year, I started hating weddings and wedding planning in particular. The brides were literally flocking to me by the dozens non-stop because my marketing was so solid. So why was I so miserable? I was still working all the time.
That year, I realized how important it is to schedule our lives in a way that sets us up for success in all aspects of living. Its very important, of course, to schedule your day efficiently to market to brides, to set time aside to complete work for brides, and not waste the days away doing BS stuff.
But, its equally important to schedule time for you to just.be. Many people have asked me along the way what I mean by that You see, its so very easy (especially when you get so good at it) to become consumed with doing.
We do, do, do stuff all day everyday. But human beings are cyclical in nature. And so, we must also honor that side of ourselves and take time to be. For me, this is time to read, extra time for meditation, setting intentions, lying in the grass and watching the clouds, dancing with my daughter, cutting up with my husband, and just taking in all thats around me.
So, instead of working yourself to death like so many of us seem to be doing, schedule time just for you! To give you an idea of how I do this for myself, heres a sneak peak at my own schedule (which also evolves as I do). Monday is business development day, Tuesday through Thursday is bride and client work and marketing, Friday, Saturday and Sunday is my weekend (except on wedding weekends, when I work Saturdays and take off Mondays). And the last week of every month is marked as Natalie time. It literally gets marked off the calendar. This gives me time to rejuvenate, relax and renew as needed and desired.
One thing weve started doing too is to mark off at least 4 solid weeks in advance for vacation, even if we dont know where we want to go yet. Thats our schedule that works for success.
Your Bride Attraction Assignment:
This realization of what true success is in our lives is why the Bride Attraction tagline includes all three aspects of what Ive found to mean success. more money. more brides. more freedom. Without one, an important ingredient is lost.
The key here is that again, just because you were told business must be done this way doesnt mean it must be so. Ive recreated the rules in my businesses according to how I want to live my life and I encourage you to do the same. After all, no one else can live your life, so why should they tell you how to structure it?
Ive realized most especially that when youre passionate about something and love doing it with all your heart, you may easily find yourself working around the clock. But Ive found time and time again that when you do this continuously in your life and business, you actually squeeze the love out of what youre doing over time. And that defeats the entire point of what were all creating together a life worth living.
And the real irony that is so sweet is that when I started taking time to be and live life more, the money, wealth and abundance flowed into my life easier and faster than ever before.
Success comes in many forms one of which is taking the time no, making the time, to live and just be! So, work, live and be smarter, not harder.
2008-2010 Soire! Ltd.
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Event Planning entrepreneur Natalie Bradley publishes the "Bride Attraction" weekly e-zine. Get your F*REE audio course: "5 Ways to Recession-Proof Your Wedding Business...Starting Today!l" at www.BrideAttraction.com
