Category Archives: Lifestyles

Health and Fitness, Internal, Lifestyles

WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET: THE POWER OF VISUALIZATION

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Imagination is underrated.

We live in a world of dollars and cents, ones and zeros, and cold, hard facts. Dreams and hopes are great, but results will always be our number one priority.

But what if your imagination mattered?

What if your mind’s eye actually held the key to success? There’s strong evidence that actually visualizing certain outcomes can reduce stress and empower you to achieve your goals and dreams. It might sound like voodoo, but it’s actually not! Here’s how it works.

Mind and Muscle
Your brain is connected to your body. Your brain registers things that happen to your arms and legs and ears and lets you know if they’re good or bad. A soft blanket? Good! Stubbing your toe? Bad!

But the connection between your brain and body goes both ways. Imagining an action in your mind can actually improve your performance in real life. There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence for this; legends like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Muhammad Ali were big believers in imagining specific outcomes.(1&2) But there’s also research to back it up. People who imagined exercising certain muscles gained almost as much strength as people who physically exercised!(3)

Visualization can also reduce stress. Studies have found that novice surgeons and police officers who receive imagery training feel less stress and have less objective stress.(4)

Some visualization tips
Imagining yourself on a generic island paradise in 15 years is just daydreaming. The key to effective visualization is specificity. Be as precise as possible. Break down how you’ll achieve your goal or throw that game-winning pass into as many tiny movements as possible, and imagine how you’ll execute each one. Incorporate your senses; what will you smell and hear when you finally achieve that goal?

Verbal affirmations can also help with this visualization process. Take a page from Muhammad Ali, and tell yourself that you’re the greatest every morning before you get breakfast! Even better, say your goal out loud before you go to bed or eat lunch. Writing up a mission statement that you read daily or making a vision board of images that inspire you are also ways to boost your visualization!

Just remember that one of the key strengths of visualization is that you can do it anywhere. Develop your goals, make them as specific as possible, and then start imagining!

 

(1) https://www.forbes.com/sites/lidijaglobokar/2020/03/05/the-power-of-visualization-and-how-to-use-it/#12e463d66497

(2) https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/flourish/200912/seeing-is-believing-the-power-visualization

(3) https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/flourish/200912/seeing-is-believing-the-power-visualization

(4) https://www.forbes.com/sites/lidijaglobokar/2020/03/05/the-power-of-visualization-and-how-to-use-it/#12e463d66497

Lifestyles

ARE YOU A FREELANCER OR ENTREPRENEUR?

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Stock images of freelancers and entrepreneurs are essentially identical.

They feature a wide range of people in neat home offices and coffee shops bent over laptops in deep focus. And that reflects how most of us think about them; freelancer and entrepreneur are two different words for people who work outside the traditional employee/employer world.

But there’s more to the picture than stock photos let on. Here’s a look at the difference between freelancers and entrepreneurs.

Freelancers trade time and skill for money. The word freelance comes from the early 19th-century when English authors attempted to describe medieval mercenaries. Most knights in the middle ages pledged their loyalty to a lord. They swore that they would use their skills and resources to support their sovereign in times of war. But there were many knights who worked as mercenaries. They would fight for whoever had the most coin. Sir Walter Scott referred to these soldiers for hire as “free lances” in his novel Ivanhoe, and the name stuck.¹ Soon it was used to describe working without long-term commitments to a single employer.

Freelancers are essentially modern day mercenaries. They have a skillset that’s in demand and they sell it off to the highest bidder, typically for a short period of time or a specific project. They trade their skills and time for money, and then move on. A freelance graphic designer, for instance, might get hired by a small business in need of a new logo. They pay the designer a set fee, the designer delivers the logo, and the two parties part ways. The freelancer doesn’t have any more responsibilities towards the small business beyond completing a specific task, and the small business pays the freelancer a fee.

The main appeal of freelancing is flexibility. You get to decide for whom you work, the hours you work, and from where you work. Yes, you’ll have deadlines, but you get to decide how you’ll get everything done. Freelancing is also a great choice if you’re currently an employee and want to start exploring your options. Striking a balance with your side-gig and your main income stream can help bring in extra money to cover debt, save for retirement, or just have nicer vacations.

But freelancing has drawbacks. You’re still completing tasks for other people, you have to manage projects by yourself, and work can sometimes dry up. If you can’t maintain a healthy time balance with your main job, that work could suffer.

Entrepreneurs trade their team for money. Defining entrepreneurship is tricky. Freelancers and entrepreneurs have many things in common. But they end up working on different levels of risk and solving problems in very different ways. Remember how we said freelancers were like mercenaries, fighting wars for other people in exchange for money? Entrepreneurs are like the lords mercenaries fight for. They make decisions, assume responsibility for outcomes, and build things that last even when they are long gone. A more modern example would be your favorite local restaurant. The owner of the business doesn’t take your order, pour your drinks, and prepare your food. They have a team that does all of that for them. But they had the vision of owning a restaurant, may have reached out to investors, and then took on the financial uncertainty of starting the restaurant. They make the top-level decisions but rely on a team to ensure that the day-to-day operations work smoothly.

Starting a business is risky. Only 25% make it past their 15th birthday.² But the advantage of successfully starting a business is that it will eventually reach a point where it runs on its own. Apple didn’t need Steve Jobs to operate. Amazon doesn’t need Jeff Bezos. Neither does your favorite local restaurant. They’re all built on a system and have teams that empower them to grow and accomplish more than they could independently. A freelancer’s income, however, is tied directly to the time they invest. If they get sick, they can’t earn. Losing just a single client could be a significant loss of business.

Interested in freelancing or starting up your own venture? Let’s talk! There are perfect opportunities out there for you to start exploring your potential.

¹ “The Surprising History of ‘Freelance’,” Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/freelance-origin-meaning

² Michael T. Deane, “Top 6 Reasons New Businesses Fail,” Investopedia, Feb 28, 2020, https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/1010/top-6-reasons-new-businesses-fail.aspx#:~:text=Data%20from%20the%20BLS%20shows,to%2015%20years%20or%20more.

Lifestyles

Is A Travel Cruise Franchise Opportunity For You?

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If your entrepreneurial mind is combined with a love of travel, you may want to consider a travel franchise. Cruise franchises can be particularly lucrative as evidenced by these data: Last year, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) reported that the North American cruise industry grossed $35.7 billion, and global industry revenues were $20.6 billionóa […]

Is A Travel Cruise Franchise Opportunity For You?
Lifestyles

You’re All Invited!

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You’ve been following the blog for a while now, some of you since we moved to this platform back in 2013. You’ve see how our focus on overall wellness has from the beginning included being able to enjoy what you do for a living. So do any of these comments from people we’ve interviewed sound like something you’ve said?

  • “I love what I do but I hate the work environment. I wish I could change things/was running things.”
  • “I don’t have the money 💰 or the time ⏳ to start my own business.”
  • “I’m afraid of failing if I start my own business. What if no one supports me?” 😨
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

We’re hosting a LIVE masterclass this Sunday, January 9th where we’re going to address each of these perceived obstacles to entrepreneurship and help you create a plan to overcome them. Interested?

**UPDATE: The Class is now On-demand!**

REGISTER FOR CLASS HERE

The objective of the class?
      + Teach you what you need to have to smoothly transition from employee to Entrepreneur.

Here’s what you’ll learn:
     + What everyone needs to know when deciding whether to become a business owner
     + What it takes to maintain the entrepreneur lifestyle
     + What should be part of your plan E (no, I’m not talking about a business plan)

Why are we doing a Masterclass?
     + Because classes change lives. Seriously.

Our blog posts, videos and social media feeds provide INFORMATION only. But here at ECV Talks we know that EXECUTION creates value. And after a decade as an educator, Ms. ME knows how to provide you with that critical support throughout the process of creating & executing your Plan ‘E’.

Join her on this FREE Masterclass, and see what being an entrepreneur can look like for you. You’ll also get our Entrepreneur starter pack FREE just for attending!

Now is the time to stop wondering, stop wishing and go ahead and take the leap. Level up that side hustle or start that dream business!

Wishing you wellness!

Lifestyles

Entrepreneurship Will Change You

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Starting your own business can be a challenge.

It will test your talents, your mental toughness, and your ability to adapt. And those tests—if you pass them—can spark extraordinary growth.

Here are four ways entrepreneurship will change you.

  1. You’ll develop self reliance. 

Entrepreneurs need to learn to solve their own problems, or fail. They don’t have a team to handle the daily grind of running a business.

Instead, new entrepreneurs handle everything from product development to accounting. It’s a stressful and high stakes juggling game. (So if you’re ever frustrated by the somewhat inconsistent posts here at ECVtalks.com, please realize that we’re entrepreneurs also and at the moment still a team of two (with a possible third soon 😉.)

But it can teach you a critical lesson: You’re far more resourceful than you thought. You’ll learn to stop waiting for help and start looking for solutions.

  1. You’ll discover loyal friends.

One of the downsides of entrepreneurship is that it may expose toxic people in your circle. They’re the ones who might…

  • Mock your new career
  • Feel threatened by your success
  • Try to one-up you when you share struggles

As you and your business grow, you may need to limit your interactions with them. They might be too draining on your emotional resources to justify long-term relationships.

Rather, your circle should reflect values like positivity, encouragement, and inspiration. Those new friends will support you through the highs and lows of entrepreneurship.

Photo by Karl Solano on Pexels.com
  1. You’ll learn how to manage stress.

Late nights, hard deadlines, and high stakes are the realities for entrepreneurs.

To cope, you must build a toolkit of skills that can carry you through the hardest times. Otherwise, you may crack under the pressure and lose any progress you’ve made.

It comes down to one key question: Why do you want to be an entrepreneur?

Are you driven by insecurity? Or by vision?

If you’re trying to prove a point to yourself or others with your business, you may fall apart at the first hint of failure.

If you’re driven by vision, you’ll see failure as part of the process.

Examine your motivations. Over time, you’ll grow more aware of your insecurities. Talk about them with your friends, families, and mentors. As you bring them into the light, you may find they have less and less power.

  1. Entrepreneurship can spark an explosion of professional personal growth.

You’ll grow up. You may start with an employee mindset, but you’ll mature into a leader. That’s how entrepreneurship will change you.

P.S. If this seems daunting, start with….you guessed it, a side hustle! It can ease you into the role of entrepreneurship without throwing you into the deep end too soon! Want tips on getting that started? Make sure to register for our free class at the end of the month.