Today's post is from Maren Kate, an entrepreneur who blogs about starting a small business, living extraordinarily and escaping the 9 to 5.

I always hear the stand by "You shouldn't live to work, instead work to live". It's true, I guess, but it always confused me because I truly love what I do, so I have no interest in just working to live, instead I love to work. Now to some this is a sign of workaholicism - but I disagree. I feel like calling productivity a disease is kind of silly in the first place - I mean if you love what you do, are happy and not only aren't hurting anyone but you're adding to the world - how can that be wrong? It's like saying that Mother Teresa was a compassionaholic or that someone who loves to write day in and day out is a proseaholic. So loving-work-aholics, unite, it's our time to shine and to show the world that work doesn't always have to be tedious and with a little creativity & persistence it can actually be one of the best parts of your life.

How to Love What You Do

1. Do you do what you love?

It's a basic concept. If you hate numbers and you work as an accountant you're going to hate your job and most probably your life. If you love writing and you work as a blogger you're going to enjoy life and feel as if you're job adds value to your overall existence. So ask yourself, if I could do anything in the world & get paid a decent wage for it - what would I do? Then figure out a way, come hell or high water, to do just that.

2. Don't get mired in the things you hate within your business.

Too often entrepreneurs start a business based around what they love, but within a few months are hating their lives. The problem is that instead of doing what they love in their business they've tried to become everything to everyone. Thus the artist starts balancing the books, making sales calls and learning HTML when all she wanted to do was paint. Make sure that when you start a business you either A. love the admin side of things or B. find someone who can do that for you while you focus on what you love and are great at.

3. Love where you work.

I had a job as a receptionist over summer break when I was 18. It wasn't a hard job and for the most part I liked the answering phones and filing a bit, but I went home every night crying. Why? Because I hated (with a capital H) where I worked. It was a window-less, cubicle, cell of death, nothing but white walls surrounded me and the horrible lights above me made me literally ill. If I had been doing that same job next to a bright open window, with warm wood walls and a cool summer breeze blowing in - I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have minded it at all. Loving where you work is incredibly important, especially when you are work shifting from a typical 9 to 5 into a career or business where you have freedom of location. Choose wisely, pay attention to your inner aesthetic needs and you'll find yourself 100 times more productive and happy at work.

Making the shift

Shifting from living to work to loving to work isn't an easy one, that's why so few people do it. Most people won't leave their comfort zones or force themselves to truly consider what they would be happy doing. Call it fear, call it negative self image, call it whatever you want - the point is that it's prevalent in our society. So to be different, will be difficult. But the pay off is oh, so worth it. Think of it this way - if you love to work you'll be 5 to 10 times more productive, easily. So you could cut your 8 hour work day into a few hours and still have the same results when you start loving your work vs. when you live to work you'll try to put off your work as long as possible. So you can slave away in a 9 to 5 for the next 30 years, living to work and not be very happy - or you could take a year to figure out what would really make you love to work and do that for a fraction of the time for probably the same, or more financial reward. When you love your work your whole world gets better!

Despite the mountain of data to support workshifting, many companies are challenged to get a viable workshifting program in place.  I believe it's because they are looking for a detailed road-map, and it's impractical to provide that level of detail.  

The reason, every business and every business culture are unique.  Yes, there are general similarities: employees, customers, revenue, and all the other obvious attributes of a sustainable business, but that's where much of the similarities end.  The common thread, no matter how diverse the business, is the intense desire from employees to workshift, and the willingness from management to learn how to make it happen.

The basic workshifting framework will help you develop the business case needed to roll out a pilot program.  


First, clearly define the objective and the problem that will be solved by implementing the program.  If you are not clear as to the value of the program, the organization will not be either.  

Next, define success and how it will be measured. Then identify the people and resources you'll need to make this happen.  As you identify people and resources, start to list the obstacles.  In other words, what are your blockers?

Once identified determine if the blockers are perceived or actual.  For example, do you know unequivocally that your organization values butt-in-seat time over all else? Sometimes the obstacle appears to loom large, but may only exist in the mind of a small handful of people.  If my example rings true with you, then you need to demonstrate productivity gains, improved real-estate efficiency, etc.

Next, identify a small group of employees that would like to participate in the program.  Once complete, you're ready to being socializing the pilot with the stakeholders.  Don't stop at socializing; you have to ask for the sale.  Get the thumbs up to green light the pilot.

It all sounds very tactical, but it's very important to remember to humanize the process.  Start the conversation with your peers.  Keep the dialogue moving and ask for honest, actionable feedback.  Ignore the trolls, every company has them.  

Create a groundswell in your organization.  Take responsibility for the outcome and make it happen.  Rolling out a workshifting program will be one of the most powerful statements a company will make to their employees.  It says, "I believe in your ability," above all else.

Nothing screams confidence more than a company's willingness to hand over the reins to the employees, and trust in their ability to achieve great results, irrespective of their physical location.  If you are the person that lead the charge, you are destined to become indispensable.

Quick List:

1.  Objective
2.  Success
3.  Resources
4.  Obstacles
5.  Volunteers
6.  Socialize
7.  Sell

In the spirit of collaboration, I encourage you to take this framework, build upon it, and share it.  My viewpoint is unique to my experience.  To make this meaningful and scalable for the community, add your experience and your voice

I've always related to those who dare to dream big. They come in many shapes and sizes, whether they are inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers, or other professionals. Dreamers change the game and are the ones behind the curtain of all of today's biggest innovative movements - think mobile technology, alternative energy, and the internet (thanks Al Gore).

These daring individuals thrive in today's information age. Ground breaking technologies have equipped armies of collaborative communities with the tools they need to pump out valuable products, tools, services, and content. 

That's not to say that all dreamers create value. It's one thing to dream. To deliver on that dream is a whole different ball game.

It's the disciplined dreamers that deliver.

Disciplined dreamers don't make excuses. They don't care about the crappy economy or that they don't have any money. They don't care they're a small fish in a big ocean and that they don't have a wealth of experience. They just execute.

Commandments like "ship early and ship often" are the mantras of the disciplined dreamers. The people who wake up each day and do what's difficult are the ones who are the pioneers of progress. They're the ones who consistently work hard to create something out of nothing, and they're often the ones who get tagged as the "overnight success."

The sky's the limit.

I'm inspired by the innovators and influencers who are disciplined enough to follow their dreams. Innovation and ideation only spurs further growth and awakens more of the dormant dreamers. With this growing ecosystem of execution, the sky is the limit.

How about you? What's your dream?

Photo Credit: KayVee.INC

(from the girl who kissed a frog)

As a professional coach, if I was to write a job description for myself, one of the "essential" parts of the job that I would include would be this:  "Assist clients in making their dreams come true"

Recently, I took my sons to see Disney's new animated film, "The Princess and The Frog".  This was a film about making your dream come true, and it espoused some of the lessons that I teach my clients when helping them to define and achieve their own lifestyle dreams or goals.  The difference between a goal and a dream? Try this: A goal is a dream with a date on it.                 

I was enchanted by "The Princess and the Frog",  a modern day take on an old classic with the star an African American girl called Tiana from the poor end of town in New Orleans.  The messages within the movie were so delightfully presented and even better, they serve to illustrate my own three step process to achieving your lifestyle dreams.

Step one: "You gotta HAVE a dream!"
Tiana's dream is to own a restaurant.  She's had the vision since she was a little girl, helping her daddy to cook at home.  Tiana's father had a picture of a beautiful restaurant, full of smiling people and delicious looking food.  The restaurant is opulent, decorated with chandeliers, sweeping staircases and populated with smart besuited waiters.  He wrote on this picture "Tiana's Place".

Fast forward though the years and we see Tiana as a young woman.  She's still looking at that (now rather tattered) piece of paper with "Tiana's Place" written on it.  Every day when she comes home from work, she takes it out and looks at it and imagines how her restaurant will look.  With the help of Disney animation, we go off into Tiana's multi sensory experience of her dream - sights, sounds, smells.. We see what Tiana will be wearing, the food she'll be serving, the fame of the restaurant, the buzz of the place... it's VIVID.

I teach my clients to define their vision  i.e. their dream. You can do this in several ways.  Write "A day in the life of", collect pictures, write a vision statement out each morning and read it out.  The important thing is, like Tiana, to make your dream, your vision, as vivid as possible and to keep it in the forefront of your mind.  

You have to hold onto that vision, even when you don't believe you can achieve it.   On the hard days, you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. On the hard days, it's even more important that you read it/look at it/write it/imagine it, even if you're doing it "by rote"

Step two:  Do something
Nothing in life happens without you taking action. A dream without action will remain a dream.  I'm not from the school of thought that says that things just come along in life without putting some effort in.  I'm one of those old git types who bemoan the fact that so many youngsters these days believe that a life of fame and fortune awaits them if they just queue up for an audition on X Factor.  Don't get me started on that...

Anyway, back to hard work!  We all know deep down that those "overnight successes" we hear about aren't actually overnight successes.  The successful person will invariably have worked for many years and tried many different things in order to achieve that success.

In The Princess and the Frog, we follow Tiana over the years working day shifts and night shifts in different restaurants as waitress and cook. She saves all her tips for the down payment on the derelict building that features as the setting for her restaurant dream. We see her collapsing on her bed each night after looking at her precious picture of "Tiana's Place".  Whilst all of her friends are out having a good time, Tiana never stops working towards her dream, knowing that every shift at the diner, every cent in tips, is moving her closer towards that down payment.

Step three:  Let go
I preach balance in all things.  As Oscar Wilde said:"Everything in moderation, including moderation!" (Actually, that probably doesn't illustrate balance, but I love that quote and I've always wanted to use it!)

Tiana, as our heroine, has a fatal flaw (as all heroines must at some point in the story).  Her fatal flaw is that she doesn't work in moderation, she works to excess.  Tiana never lets her hair down, goes out with her friends or lets up from working towards her dream.

Then she meets her antithesis in Prince Naseem, who represents everything she's not: loucheness, extravagance, fun and drifting through life without any direction at all.  Naseem asks her to dance and she tells him that she can't dance; she's been too busy working hard to achieve her dream to learn to dance.

Naturally, as the movie nears its dénouement (I don't think I'll spoil the ending  here -it's Disney, so it's obviously not going to be a sad ending), Tiana has to give up on her dream and it looks as if it's all going to hell in a handcart.  As soon as she lets go of that neediness and that single minded drive towards her dream and accepts life as it is, that's when the Disney magic happens!  Tiana achieves her dream, of course.  To find out how and what happens to her along the way, you'll have to go and see the film yourself!

John Lennon said: "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."  Too right John!  We have to live each moment of our lives now, and the more we can find happiness and joy in the life we are living today, the more space we create for the magic to happen to us.  


So, in summary, your three steps to achieving your dream, from the girl who kissed a frog, are:

1. Define your lifestyle dream in vivid Disney Technicolor and burn that image into your brain, your heart and your soul.
2. Make a plan to achieve your dream, no matter how far away or how impossible it may seem now.  Keep taking baby steps forward, just as Tiana saved her tips for many years.
3. In the meantime, live the life you have now, rejoice in it, enjoy each moment, kick off your shoes and dance with life.  Then, when you're least expecting it, the magic will happen!

What do you think?



Photo Credit: Krystn Palmer Photography