Making space for something new, purge the old

If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind,

what is the significance of a clean desk?

Laurence J. Peter

Every year, before Easter my mom cleans the whole house.  I call it “spring cleaning”. And there is a good reason for doing it. 

Whenever you want to bring in new business or new project, you have to purge the old. From Aristotle and Einstein way back when, to physicists today, both scientists and philosophers agree that (at least here on Earth) nature abhors a vacuum.

Meaning, when you create space, the Universe will gladly fill it up for you, with what your intentions are set on.

The problem is if you don't have space, nothing new can come in.

When we don’t throw away clutter and items we no longer need, it’s as if we don’t trust our ability to manifest the necessary abundance in our lives to buy new one. But incompletes like this keep that very abundance from showing up. We need to complete the past so that our present can show up more fully.

Are there areas in your life where you’ve left uncompleted projects or failed to get closure with people? When you don’t complete the past, you can’t be free to fully embrace the present.

Failing to complete robs you of valuable attention units

When you start a project or make an agreement or identify a change you need to make, it goes into your present memory bank and takes up what I call an attention unit. We can only pay attention to so many things at one time, and each promise, agreement, or item on your to-do list leaves fewer attention units to dedicate to completing present tasks and bringing new opportunities and abundance into your life.

So why don’t people complete? Often, incompletes represent areas in our life where we’re not clear-or where we have emotional and psychological blocks.

For instance, you might have a lot of requests, projects, tasks and other things on your desk you really want to say No to. So you put off responding to avoid saying No. Meanwhile the sticky notes and stacks of paper pile up and distract you. There may also be circumstances in which you have to make decisions that are difficult or uncomfortable. So rather than struggle with the discomfort, you let the incompletes pile up.

Some incompletions come from simply not having adequate systems, knowledge or because of our bad work habits.

So who to get into Completion Consciousness?

Take a look the The Cycle of Completion Steps:

1. Decide

2. Plan

3. Start

4. Continue

5. Finish

6. Complete

Each of these steps is required to succeed at anything, to get a desired result, to finish.

Continually ask yourself “What does it take to actually get this task completed?” Then you can begin to consciously take that next step of filling completed documents, calling a clients to complete a contract or making payments, etc.

The truth is that 20 things completed have more power that 50 things half completed.

Action steps:

How many things do you need to complete, dump, or delegate before you can move on and bring new activity, abundance, relationships or excitement into your life? Make a list, choose four items, write down how you’ll complete each task. Start completing them. Choose those that would immediately free up the most time, energy or space for you – whether it’s mental space or physical space.

Also add what’s irritating you. Like incompletes, daily irritants are equally damaging to your success because they, too, take up attention units.

What is your favourite way for making space for something new?

The Secret to Successful Networking is Following Up Part 2

Here is Part 2 on how to Follow up successfully and bring new clients and referrals to your legal practice. Here is the link for Part 1 where I covered how to follow up using a phone. In today's article I am going to cover following up by email and in person.

E-mail
Be careful when making contact by e-mail. Many people are offended by e-mail messages that are essentially generic marketing letters. It's more advisable to use these media as tools to communicate more personally with people you have already opened a dialogue with. 

The Secret to Successful Networking is Following Up Part 1

All the networking in the world serves no purpose if you do not follow up effectively with the people you meet or who re referred to you. I’ve seen people who work hard at making contacts but whose follow-up was so bad that the contacts were lost. Its as if they networked halfway and completely lost sight of the potential to generate world-of-mouth business. Follow-up letteres and phone calls set the stage for further contact. All things being equal, the more you’re in contact with others, the more business you’ll generate. Today, more than ever, there’s no excuse for not following up. 

When I travel abroad, I plan to meet for coffee with people I met which helps me to stay in touch with people from different countries. 

Schedule “reconnection calls” regularly. Such calls enable you to remind the new contacts who you are, where you met them, and what you do, as well as help you stay in touch with your log-term contacts. If you don’t follow up with a phone call or letter, you will surely lose many business opportunities.

Create Your 2014 PROFIT Marketing Plan

Did you know that October is International Strategic Planning Month. And let me tell you something... if you think it's just about setting goals, you're mistaken.
Goals cannot stand alone - otherwise they seem like far fetched, never-gonna-happen dreams that always seem out of reach.

Ever wonder why some people have so much - from successful businesses to lavish vacations to second homes? They know how to identify and move forward toward a goal. But they aren't special. They're just working their plan, and you could be, too.

Did you know that the quality of your goal has a direct result on the viability of you actually getting it?
Earlier this week I spent some time planning out my MAP (Marketing Action Plan) for the next 12 months (January- December 2014). I can see exactly what Offline and Online marketing activities I will be doing on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. It's so important that we take the time do to this in our businesses, which is why every month, I am offering a VERY limited number of 'Business Acceleration' sessions, so you can discover what you need to create your own strategic business plan.

I also had two, almost identical, conversations with my long term clients, last week. They were both frustrated with not getting results from online marketing. A lot of lawyers spend a whole lot of money on website and a whole lot of time on social media, and they banging their head against their computer wondering “Why don’t I have enough clients?”  And you know what the problem was? It was down to them not having a plan in place, so they didn't know what tasks to do to market effectively.

So in the spirit of business planning, this week's brand-new article shares with you 7 Simple Steps to Market Your Law Firm.

Are you ready to attract only the Ideal Clients?

Have you tried everything you're "supposed to do" to get clients and it's still not working?

Have you been trying to stay "in the flow" and focused on abundance, but in reality, all your intentions, affirmations and positive thinking HASN'T translated into more clients and dollars in your bank account?

Let’s imagine that your business is like a "lighthouse" standing strong and tall on the rocky shore of a beautiful harbor. The water is calm, the sky is blue, and many boats are out at sea. But off in the distance a storm cloud is forming. It approaches the shore very quickly.

Networking– Who Do You Know Who…?

“It’s not what you know, or who you know – it’s how well you know them that makes the difference”

Have you ever attended a networking event, collected a bunch of business cards, and when you go through them the next day, you can't remember who many of them are?
      Well, you certainly don't want to be one of those that other people can't remember? It's ok to pass out business cards, but if people don't remember you well they would not keep you in mind for their future needs or possible referrals.
     But, what is networking and how do you learn important networking skills to meet more people and make better contacts?