While sitting in the airport headed back home from a wonderful vacation, I read an awesome article by Toni Nelson about change. In the article, she challenged the readers not to be afraid of change, but instead to embrace it.
Her words got me to thinking about my own journey of change. It started 5 years ago, on July 7, 2011 when I was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer. That was the day my life took a definite turn. Not only was I faced with multiple decisions, challenges and options, but I realized that I had to embrace the changes headed my way, whether they were good or bad.
Now, years later, I am totally ok with the decisions that I made. Because of those decisions, I am here, alive and thriving!
My message to you is to also embrace the changes that are coming your way. You never truly know how things will turn out, but you can be certain of one thing, if you do nothing, nothing is what you’ll get in return. However, I am not saying that you have to totally uproot and switch around everything that you’re doing.
First, that would not be good for your psyche and second, it would totally drive you crazy. Not to mention that you probably wouldn’t go it anyway.
What needs to be changed?
Instead perform an evaluation of your life and your business as to how you can improve your systems and processes. I don’t want to hear that everything is fine because I am almost 100% certain that it is not. There is ALWAYS room for improvement.
Maybe it’s not how you do something that needs to change; it could be what you do it with? Is there an app or program or software that will allow you to do what you do at least 100 times better because of the steps it cuts out of the process?
IFFT Put You in the Driver’s Seat
Look at IFTTT (rhymes with “gift”) and stands for “if this, then that.”for instance. IFTTT is a service that lets you create powerful connections with one simple statement. The service consists of Channels, Triggers, Actions and Ingredients. They all work together to give you powerful control over the web.
What can you do with this app? Well, just about anything you want, from turning on and off lights in your home or office, hacking your cell phone to automatically go silent when you hit the parking lot of your office or even making your social media posting life much, much easier.
I use this program all the time. It helps me to communicate with my followers, alert me when an event happens, keep up with what body part I work out …and I could literally go on and on. It’s simple to set up and start using, you set up a series of “recipes” that connect programs and software to each other and then let IFTTT do its thing. Try IFTTT, its Free!
Google Drive Rocks!
Another service I use religiously is Google Drive. Since I work with partners in the Write Books That Sell Now program, we have to have a reliable way to communicate document changes and updates with each other. When we first started using Google Drive a couple years ago, we were all a little wary, but it’s turned out to be one of the best decisions we’ve made. It keeps us organized and up-to-date with all our documents, spread sheets and meetings. Try Google Drive for yourself.
Change Can Be Scary
These are just two services that I use to help me stay on top of my business. They weren’t difficult to use or learn. It was the “getting started” part that was a bit scary. The whole thing of changing from what I was using to embracing new technology took some time, which might surprise a few of my colleagues that think that I was born with a computer in my hand. Of course I’m glad now that I took the leap, all of them, but in the beginning there were plenty of questions, uncertainty and hesitation. But it has all worked out for the best and I know that I am a stronger, better business woman and all around person for going through all that I have experienced.
Keep moving forward,
Carol Dunlop
