Do You Love Your Business?

Who doesn’t want to love what they do? It’s a question we ask ourselves now and again. Do I really love what I’m doing? Do I even like my chosen career path or business? The keyword here is chosen. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or a business leader, the business track you’re on is largely due to the choices you’ve made. You’re thinking, that may be true, but now I feel trapped. Where To StartBegin by asking: What are my strengths? What do I really like to do?

This sounds good on paper, but how is that really going to alter my reality? These two questions are simply the seeds of an approach that will help you examine and change your situation in real time each and every day.

How To Increase Your Choices

You are going to explore your peak experiences. These are moments when we’re at our best. I know it sounds mushy, but remember you are trying to change your work trajectory so it may mean navigating unfamiliar ground.

According to renowned psychologist, Abraham Maslow, peak experiences make us feel as if we have a sense of purpose. This new awareness can help you maximize your opportunities and choices because over time you’ll become clearer on what you do or don’t want.

How To Recognize Peak Experiences

1. What you’re doing feels effortless and enjoyable.

2. No stress

3. Time passes quickly.

4. You are fully absorbed in what you’re doing.

5. You have great clarity with what you’re involved in.

Start identifying these experiences. As you become more aware of them, the more clear the route to building your business life around them will become. Keep in mind, at first these types of experiences may not seem as if they could be directly related to business.

Peak moments can be as simple as appreciating a beautiful sunset, which could relate to a career or business involving spending time outdoors. Another approach would be recognizing when time spent with certain people leaves you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Pay attention to their personalities, and what you happen to learn from them. This may have implications for your new business path.

Four Ways To Get Started Doing What You Love

1. Practice becoming aware of your peak experiences.

You may already love the business you’re in, although maybe you don’t connect with the people on your team. You have the control to change companies or if you’re the owner, you may need to examine your team and how they align with your goals. Have a trusted advisor coach your progress and results. Be accountable for making changes.

2. Start to jot your peak moments down.

Keep track and keep them visible. Over time, things will start to click for you. Entrepreneurs may want to incorporate changes into their business plan. If you’re at the helm of a start up, then you can begin ahead of the game.

3. Integrate them into your business life.

Create a plan to build your peak experiences into your work. Look at where you’re passions and expertise overlap. This is a good place to start.

4. Consider writing out your work-life vision.

You don’t have a documented business plan that aligns with your life? Don’t worry you’re not alone. Start with a half page and then add on to create a plan that will get you there. However, you must apply your plan.

My Suggestion: Post these tips on your fridge, desk, or on your car dash as a reminder until it becomes a habit.

The Big Message here is to get on your way to creating a business path that you love, or at the very least, enjoy.

How To Retire With Benefits

As an investment planner, I have one simple rule about human condition. By the time someone asks me about retirement benefits, they are usually starting about 10 years too late. Retirement planning, you see, is a long and tricky process. If I had my way, everyone would start planning for retirement as soon as they entered the workforce. This might seem pretty conservative to you, but it has a certain logic if you think about it. You see, a retirement is the culmination of your working life – your award for years of hard work. If people put even half of the money they spent on fast cars, expensive holiday vacations, and other trivialities into retirement funds, they could be done with work years earlier. It doesn’t require sacrificing a good standard of living. Just using some good financial common sense is enough. Of course, there are so many different retirement benefit issues to deal with. Getting a job that offers an IRA or some other type of pension benefits is always an excellent idea. The greatest thing about getting a position that does some of your retirement planning for you is that it is automated. You have no choice to put off investing in retirement for another month or another year. Your employer handles those details for you so, whether or not you like it, you will at least be somewhat prepared when the time comes.Of course, pensions are great, but ideally you should have some retirement planning above and beyond them. Your retirement benefits, after all, are not likely to be enough to cover the life you want to live as a retiree. Who wants to spend their last years dirt poor? That is precisely when you should be taking those luxury vacations, traveling around the world and enjoying life! After all, out of all of the retirement benefits there are, the biggest one is free time. You will enjoy it more if you can be carefree about your finances.

Another reason why you shouldn’t depend too heavily on employee benefits is the notorious instability and corruption that so many businesses have shown in the last few years. Who knows if your retirement benefits will be plundered by terrible executives, or if your company will go under years too soon to offer you the retirement package they had promised. It all comes down to one fact: the only person you can really trust with your financial planning is yourself.