Self Motivation II: A new way to give yourself a kick in the pants

April 26, 2009 at 5:53 am (Baha'i, Entrepreneur, Mother, Verdanta, business, life balance, livelihood)

You’d think that working for yourself would make you extra motivated to get to work.  Turns out, that’s by  no means a given!

Recently, my business partner (aka, my husband) and I had a discussion wherein we discussed the amount of time I was putting into Verdanta.  Specifically, he was questioning how serious I was.  I assured him that I was VERY serious, but admitted that I was having difficulty prioritizing my time.  Part of the problem was, I still identified myself as a “stay-at-home mom.”  The very term implies lots of leisure time, so how could I say no to friends who wanted to meet me for coffee, or talk on the phone, or have me attend just one short meeting? 

After our little chat, I decided it was time to start thinking of myself, calling myself, and acting like a working woman.  It was a lot harder than I would have thought. 

Then a couple weeks ago, my husband was working on the taxes.  It was the first time he’s had to deal with a small business tax return, so it was extra painful this year.  Afterwards, he mentioned that he wasn’t sure if there was a minimum number of hours you had to put into a business to call it a business.  Just to be sure, he suggested I start keeping a work log. 

I started to write down each day the different activities I worked on, and the amount of time I spend doing them.  Then I calculated a daily as well as a weekly average.  I’ve been keeping the log for a little over two weeks now, and I’m averaging over 30 hours per week!  That’s pretty darn respectable, considering my full time job as Mom still comes first.  It turns out, for a compulsive list maker like myself, if I have a choice between watching TV,  and reading a book about web design, I’m going to choose the activity that I can write down in my log.  There’s no doubt that I put in an extra 10 hours each week just by choosing log-worthy activities over pure leisure. 

This was just what I needed to kick my butt into gear!

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Even the Tortoise has bad days

October 29, 2008 at 5:55 am (Baha'i, Entrepreneur, Faith, audiobooks)
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I’ve been feeling ungrounded lately.  Like one of those cartoon characters whose feet are running a hundred miles an hour, but because those feet aren’t touching the ground, they aren’t going anywhere.

I know I need to be patient like the tortoise, but I’m happiest when I know what I need to be doing.  Even the tortoise knew exactly what his next step was: his next step!

I prayed for assistance the other day, about what I needed to do next.  The answer was, “it will become clear.”  In other words, be patient! 

Last week, I met with my friend and mentor Kevin, and told him my problem.  He gave me some excellent advice: Make a list of all the things I need to do, then make a list of 5 things I would like to see done in the next week.  I made the lists last night because I was meeting with him today to report.  To be thorough, I also made a list of what I had accomplished over the past week.  I was surprised at how much I had gotten done!  And I’ve already gotten three big things done on my list for next week.  What a great tip – thanks Kevin!

I had a dream a few nights ago: I was in a house on the side of  steep hill.  We all knew it was only a matter of time before the rain washed out the foundation, and the house slid down the hill, so we were already looking for a new place to go.  Sure enough, first one end of the house tilted, followed quickly by the other, and there we all were, sliding down the hill in our house.  Fortunately, as dreams go, when the house finally came to a rest, it was still remarkably intact.  When I looked around at where we were, I saw that we had landed exactly where we had decided was the perfect location! 

I did a little research and discovered that the house is symbolic of self, and mud symbolizes being stuck.  Sound familiar?  I have definitely been feeling stuck lately!  When I realized this, I had that “Hand of God” feeling, and I knew that everything was going to work out just fine!  But then, I knew that already, didn’t I?

Oh God! Refresh and gladden my spirit.  Purify my heart. Illumine my powers.  I lay all my affairs in Thy hand.  Thou art my Guide and my Refuge.  I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved, I will be a happy and joyful being.  O God!  I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harass me.  I will not dwell on the unpleasant things in life.  O God!  Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself.  I dedicate myself to Thee O Lord!

- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

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10 Lessons Public Speaking has for New Bloggers

October 5, 2008 at 11:05 pm (Baha'i, Entrepreneur, Faith, Passion, Verdanta, audiobooks, business)
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I’m a blogging newbie, but a relative veteran when it comes to public speaking.  I’ve been in Toastmasters for three years, serving two years in executive officer positions, and I’ve even taught public speaking at the community college level.  I know what differentiates an average speech from a great one.  And yet, it never occurred to me to apply what I knew about public speaking to blogging. 

Last week, I received an email that a book I had put on hold was available for pickup.  I put books on hold all the time, so I wasn’t too sure what it might be.  I was surprised to find ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income sitting on the shelf, because I didn’t remember reserving it.  Looking at the title, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to check it out because money wasn’t my primary motivation for blogging.  Still, I thought maybe there would be some tips on how to make my blog better.

Am I glad I did!

Yes, the book was very interesting, but what really got me excited was a post I found at the ProBlogger website: How to Craft a Blog Post – 10 Crucial Points to Pause.  As I read through it, I realized that most of what Darren Rowse suggested were things I already knew – from public speaking!  That’s when I realized, blogging was nothing more than a Toastmasters speech in written form!

I sat down and in five minutes thought of 10 tips that apply equally well whether writing a blog entry or a speech:

1.    Know your general purpose

2.    Know your specific purpose

3.    Write with your audience in mind

4.    Answer the question “So what?”

5.    Know exactly what you want your audience to walk away knowing

6.    Realize that your audience is voluntary

7.    Use metaphors, personal stories, anecdotes, and quotes to add depth, interest and credibility to your story

8.    Make statistics accessible to your audience

9.    Choose a topic about which you are passionate

10.  Don’t try to cram too much in

In the interest of not violating #10, I will spend the next several weeks exploring each of these tips in its own post.  I know this list is by no means complete, so I encourage you to comment on other similarities that I may have left out.   I could be adding your tip to my list!

If you’re not a Baha’i, feel free to stop reading here.  If you are, or you are a prior visitor to my blog, read on!

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My previous readers know that this blog is about chronicling the conception, gestation, birth and development of my entrepreneurial baby, Verdanta, a business that will record Bahá’í audiobooks.  A discussion of how to improve one’s blog may not immediately seem relevant.  I would posit, however, that since a blog is such a wonderful way to spread the word about something, and that the Bahá’í Internet Agency encourages Bahá’í bloggers, then learning to blog well is exceedingly important, if for no other reason to represent our Faith well.

 

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The journey: setting up an audiobook recording studio

September 27, 2008 at 10:28 am (Baha'i, Entrepreneur, Verdanta, audiobooks, business)
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What started as a simple thought of “I can do this better…” has moved slowly and organically through initial, tentative actions - visiting SCORE, writing a business plan, sharing the idea to gage interest, and learning about audio recording equipment and processes – to concrete commitment, including the purchase of equipment and customization of the den where recording will take place. 

My handy mechanical engineer husband built me a custom teleprompter tower.  It holds a mic boom stand, monitor, and keyboard/mouse tray, all on an adjustable track so I can use it sitting or standing.  It’s also on wheels, making it easy to move it to where it needs to be.

The software has been installed and configured by my resident IT guy. (Thanks, Hon!)  Learning to use it has been a bit of a bear, but I can now do pretty much everything I want to with it.  Thankfully, what I want to do is pretty simple and basic.  I’m glad  I don’t have to figure out midi interfaces!

Next, we got the microphone setup and running (not as trivial as it sounds), but quickly discovered that the mic picked up the sound of the computer fans.  So the past few weeks have been spent learning about acoustics and sound treatment.  My husband is in the process of building a sound isolation box for the computer, to try to dampen the sound of all those fans.  We’ll finish it tomorrow and find out if it works. 

We still need to acoustically treat the space, so that means bass traps in the corners and sound absorption on the walls.  Did I mention how this venture has expanded my vocabulary?  Anyway, it turns out that our funny shaped, five sided little room is actually a pretty good setup acoustically, so treatment should be minimal. 

Whew, we’ve done a lot! No wonder we’re tired.  Looking back, I’m struck with how much time and effort my (non-Baha’i) husband has put into it, all after working his regular 45-50 hr/week job.  I’m grateful to him for his belief in me and in this project.  Without him, it never would have happened, and if Verdanta ever accomplishes its mission, the Baha’i community will owe him a big thanks!

Next up – a website!

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The beginning

September 22, 2008 at 5:13 am (Baha'i, Career, Entrepreneur, Faith, Humanity, Mystery, Religion, Ruhi, Work, spirituality)

As difficult as it is to identify a beginning in the middle of a spiderweb, I’m going to try.

A few years ago, I started taking Ruhi Book 1.  (It’s the first class in a series designed to help anyone interested – Baha’i or not – to learn about the Baha’i Faith.)  I had been wanting to for a long time, and the manifestation of that desire was everything I wanted it to be:  A weekly dip in the ocean of God’s grace, fertilizer to grow the spiritual connections among members of my community, and a spiritual fix to help me make it through days weighed down by materialsm and ego.  

I loved it so much, I looked for other ways to increase my spiritual connection to the Word.  I looked for Baha’i Audiobooks, but found none.  Then one day, a substitute tutor happened to mention some recorded lectures by Adib Tahirzadeh on CD.  That was all I needed to know.  I looked them up as soon as I arrived home and ordered a set.  They were wonderful!  I could (and did) listen to each of the 11 CD’s several times over, learning something new each time I did. 

When I finally finished them, I looked for more.  This time, I found the website that contained all the books on tape recorded many years ago by Services for the Blind, available for free download.  I thought I had found heaven!  I loaded Paris Talks onto my iPod and went for a long walk.  

It was intensely anticlimactic. 

I like to think that I’m a tolerant person, especially when it comes to individual efforts within the Baha’i Faith.  It turns out that when it comes to audiobooks, I am very intolerant.  

The problem with the tapes were that:

  1. Each track was 45 minutes long, based on the length of the side of a cassette tape
  2. The readers occasionally turned their head away from the mic making it impossible to hear
  3. When a reader stumbled on a passage, they didn’t delete and do a retake, they just kept going.
  4. Page numbers were read aloud
  5. The table of contents was read aloud
  6. The sound was muffled sounding

For me, that was too many strikes.  Every time I tried to listen, I’d find myself chanting “I could do this better.  I could do this better.  I could do this so much better.” 

Then one day, the chant of “I could really do this better” was answered with ”Well, why not try?”  Of course, that first thought was immediately followed with “Yeah right!”  But over the course of several more walks on several more days, the same sequence repeated itself.  Then one day, I stopped walking, looked at the sky and asked flat out, “Wait, are you saying you want me to try to do this?”  I was immediately filled with such an overwhelming feeling of joy that I fairly floated home. 

And that was the very beginning.  Or one of them.  So once again, Darrel was correct.  Verdanta was created for one purpose: to create professional quality recordings of the Baha’i writings and make them available to as many people throughout the world as is possible. 

It’s been an exciting journey so far, but lonely at times.   I created this blog so I wouldn’t have to walk that journey alone.   If you are, like me, always searching for more ways to incorporate the Word into your life, then perhaps you will accompany me, and together we can administer the healing prescription of Baha’u'llah throughout the world.

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Mystery Job: Clues to date

September 9, 2008 at 12:34 am (Baha'i, Bliss, Career, Entrepreneur, Faith, Humanity, Mystery, Prayer, Reading, Religion, Service, audiobooks, business, life balance, spirituality, work as worship)

I thought I would summarize the breadcrumbs (aka “clues”) I have dropped so far, so you could see the trail of where I’ve already been laid out more clearly.  There have been a few hints I’ve dropped without labeling them as such, so we’ll see if you were paying attention!

  1. I’m a Baha’i
  2. I love to learn
  3. I love to read
  4. This new career involves at least one activity that requires “mushin”
  5. It allows me total freedom to set my schedule
  6. It lets me use my unique talents (public speaking, organization, leadership and communication) 
  7. It lets me serve humanity through the Baha’i Faith
  8. Books on CD
  9. It fills a need which I have identified in the world
  10. My mission through Verdanta is to “be always occupied with the mention of Baha’u'llah.”
  11. It involves building a business that aligns with the teachings of the Baha’i Faith
  12. My success depends on persistent, consistent, constant action.
  13. I have used the five steps described in “The Power of Prayer” to get where I am today.

That’s it so far.  I’ll even toss out one more:

  14.  It requires the purchase of quite a bit of equipment that must be installed, configured, and learned.

Has anyone figured it out yet?  Drop me a comment and let me know your guess!

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Slowing Life Down: Learning to Appreciate the Tortoise

September 4, 2008 at 8:01 pm (Baha'i, Career, Entrepreneur, Faith, Reading, Religion, Work, business, livelihood, work as worship)

You’ve heard the story of the tortoise and the hare?  In the past, I’ve always been the hare.  I’d get excited about something I’d read, and dive in.  The smell of burning rubber hung in the air as I hurled myself into a furious, frantic frenzy of activity.  The problem was, as soon as my momentum petered out, I had nothing left.  I’d quit with nothing to show for it. 

Eventually, a wise man (my husband) pointed out that it’s never as easy as the books say, and if I wanted to pursue something new, great, but I had to do my homework.  I had to ask hard questions of lots of people, including myself.  That is when I began to learn the wisdom of the tortoise.

The tortoise plods along, with patience and persistence, passing each milestone in turn, without rushing, without panicking, without stopping.  When the idea first came to me to start this business, I was at a complete loss.  I had never started a business or worked anywhere except corporate America.  I was the anti-entrepreneur.  And there were a lot of new skills I needed, skills I had never even contemplated acquiring.  It was very intimidating.  I had no reason to believe I could do it.  I only knew I had a very strong feeling that it needed to be done, and that I ought to try to do it. 

So I did. 

I started to do research on the Internet.  I started checking books out from the library.  I began talking to people.  I began (shudder) networking.  When I started, I knew nothing about anything,  but I kept on reading and talking and listening.  Slowly, ploddingly, I have learned many many new things.  I have also found many wonderful (human) resources along the way.  (My thanks to all of you – you are a gift and a treasure to me!)

One resource I found available to anyone in the United States is an organization called SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives).  It is a volunteer agency within the Small Business Administration.  They offer free counseling services to anyone wanting to start a business.  They have given me a much needed reality check, helped me write a business plan, and given me a lot of encouragement along the way.  Writing a business plan is not for the feint of heart!  It’s a long, drawn out process requiring much patience, and if you’re wise, much help. 

Throughout this journey, I have learned the importance of not rushing things.  If it’s a good idea today, it will be a good idea tomorrow.  If it is God’s Will that I do this thing, then it will happen.  All I have to do is keep moving forward, keep exerting effort, keep identifying the next thing that could/should be done, and doing it.  If I get stalled on one front, then I start chipping away at a different front.  All things happen in God’s time, not ours, so we must patiently wait for Him to bring to us that which we need.  And we must be detached enough to recognize it when it appears. 

(Of course, if it is not God’s Will that I do this thing, then I don’t want to do it anyway, and I trust that He will block the way forward, pushing me in a different direction.)

Life in general is so much more pleasant as a tortoise.  I’m more relaxed and forgiving with everyone, particularly my children.  The truth is, patience comes more easily when you realize there is no need to rush. 

If nothing else comes of this venture, I am grateful for what I have already gained from it.  Thank goodness I’ve discovered the joys of being a tortoise!

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The new business model – Baha’i style

August 31, 2008 at 6:34 am (Baha'i, Career, Entrepreneur, Faith, Humanity, Mystery, Work, business, life balance, livelihood, work as worship)
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Oh, if only it were that easy!   :-)

In my last blog, I explored the idea of service to the Faith within the structure of a for-profit business.  I tentatively concluded that yes, this was an acceptable thing.  But that’s not the end of it, is it?  Obviously, many traditional ”old world” business practices would be inappropriate in an enterprise that endeavours to spread the word about Baha’u'llah. 

What would be appropriate?  Now that is an interesting puzzle indeed!

I have actually been working on a business plan for Verdanta, and in it I was asked to describe the corporate culture.  What would it be like to work there?  So this isn’t just a pie out of the clear blue sky question.  I really want to know, what makes a Baha’i business different?

Two things spring immediately to mind: the first is operating the business based on the writings of Baha’u'llah and Abdu’l-Baha.  The second is the spiritual consequences of doing it wrong.  I guess the place to start is exploring what they have to say that’s relevant to the situation. 

Well, Baha’u'llah told us that ”Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues,” so that’s probably a good place to start.  A Baha’i business must be impeccably honest.  Dealing honestly with suppliers, customers and employees, paying bills on time, and following through on commitments all fall within that maxim.  But so do not fudging numbers, not lying by omission, and not taking questionable “gray area” tax deductions. 

Abdu’l-Baha has said that “With education [the inner reality of man] can achieve all excellence; devoid of education it will stay on, at the lowest point of imperfection,” so constant and continuous education must be built into the structure of a Baha’i business.  Everyone in the organization should be allowed – and encouraged – to learn about new things, to gain new skills, and develop latent talents.  Personally, I can say that starting a business is a completely new thing for me, and I learn so much every day that my head hurts from all the neural pathway construction!

Baha’u'llah has also stated that “Work done in the spirit of service is the highest form of worship.”  I don’t know about anyone else, but if the work I do is equivalent to worship, then I’m going to make darn sure I’m working to the absolute utmost of my ability.  Which means excellence and perfection must be the norm, not only for the members of the organization, but also for all products produced by them. 

And since unity is the central principle of the Baha’i Faith, unity must also be a primary goal within the organization.  Most companies today have no clue what that might look like, let alone harbor any realistic expectations of achieving it.  But if you can’t think it, you can’t achieve it.  Fortunately, “So powerful is the light of unity that it can illumine the whole earth.” And where unity is the expectation, it can be accomplished.   

Of course, backbiting would have no place within a healthy Baha’i business, because “backbiting quencheth the light of the heart, and extinguisheth the life of the soul.” The company culture should be shaped such that everyone knows backbiting is unacceptable. 

I could go on and on, but what I notice in writing this is that a Baha’i business must strive for the same spiritual perfections that individual Baha’is strive for. 

Hmmm.  One last quote comes to mind, and that is ”Bring thyself to account each day, ere thou art summoned to a reckoning.”  It seems that I must not only bring myself to account each day, I must also bring to account the dealings of my business, for they ultimately reflect back on me and my spiritual progress. 

Wow.  How different would the world be today if all our leaders felt that way?

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Service to Humanity is All About Seeing a Need and Filling it

August 24, 2008 at 6:30 am (Baha'i, Career, Entrepreneur, Humanity, Mystery, Passion, Service, Work)

A few years ago, an animated movie called “Robots” came out.  The kids and I enjoyed it, and one line really stuck with me: “See a need, fill a need.”  That’s what it’s all about in life, isn’t it?  Especially if your goal is to find a way to serve humanity in some way, and thereby help to make the world a better place. 

There are many many ways to do this of course, but I wanted to find the one that met all of my other criteria as well: utilizes my talents, engages my passions, feeds my learning addiction, flexible hours, everything I’ve blogged about so far and more.

Earlier this year, I saw a need.  Ever since then, I’ve been working steadily to find a way to fill that need.  I’m approaching the point in time when my efforts will begin to bear fruit.  Small fruit at first, of course, but fruit nonetheless.

And that is clue #9: My new job will fill a need which I have identified in the world.

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Mystery Job: Clue #3

August 8, 2008 at 9:36 pm (Baha'i, Career, Entrepreneur, Mystery, Reading, Work)
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I love to read. 

I’ve always loved to read.

But up until my thesis, I never read anything but fiction.  Now I’ve gone all the way over to the other side: I read nothing but non-fiction.  And I no longer read just one book at time.  That doesn’t satisfy my hunger.  No, now I read at least three books at once.  I pick up whichever one interests me at that moment. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned in the past few years.  Things I never thought I would be interested in, I absorb like a thirsty sponge: finance, business, marketing, healing, nutrition, biographies, spirituality… it’s wonderful!  And it helps satisfy my learning addiction.

Clue #3: I love to read.

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