Archives for November 2015

November 24, 2015 By Kim Hughes Leave a Comment

Motivation for Discovering Your Passion

Whatever your passion may be, it is uniquely yours because you are uniquely individual, and your passion is a result of those elements of your composition that determine it. Your passion is an expression of your personality. It embodies your greatest potential to create something completely original. Fulfilling that potential requires some introspection and effort. All of us have that creative gift that keeps reminding us that “I need to pursue that someday”. Well, you know what they say– “there are seven days in a week, and someday isn’t one of them”.

Here are some motivational ideas to discover your true passion in life and some encouragement to fulfill it. Try asking yourself these questions.

What do you spend your time doing? Other than work.
What holds your interest and engages you? For instance, what section of the bookstore do you gravitate towards?

Describe to yourself the traits you exhibited when you were at your best.

What belief do you have that no one else shares? Is it original?
What are you supremely best at? In other words, what comes effortlessly to a situation? Build on these strengths.
What interests have remained with you since childhood? What was your favorite thing to do?
Are you willing to experiment now?
Would you consider trying a temporary job related to your passion – an outside contract or moonlighting job, just as a trial and error?
When you look back at your life, what would you want to say you’ve accomplished?

Write in a sentence what you want to achieve and sum up who you are. Begin to pursue your passion and focus on achieving the goals which fulfill your sentence. Use your passion to become who you mean to be as indicated by your sentence, and consider that your time for self-realization has come.

If you are feeling overwhelmed or need a little help focusing on your goals, please contact me and let’s schedule a complimentary 20 minute coaching session to see how we can, together, get you back on the right track.

P.S. Imagine you were offered the opportunity to be coached both on-site and virtually – by the leading expert in the real estate assistant industry through the 10 most important areas of a real estate agent’s business. Introducing The Real Estate Assistant Playbook. Designed for both real estate assistants and agents, The Playbook offers the training you need to excel in the business of real estate today! Visit TheRealEstateAssistantPlaybook.com for more information.

November 17, 2015 By Kim Hughes Leave a Comment

Make Your Vision a Reality

Most all people have dreams, and a few manage to make them come true. But all successful people not only have dreams, they have very clear visions, and therein lies the difference. Achieving a dream is an end, while a vision is a means to achieve it. Dreams are of the imagination, while a vision is a specific, well-defined and ever-present goal, and successful people’s efforts are continually directed toward it.

Once a vision is established and a person begins the process of realizing it, there are specific steps that are required for success. Finding a mentor to aid in achieving the vision is ideal, as well as using the advice of many successful entrepreneurs. Here are some of their valuable insights.

The only way to success and satisfaction is to truly believe in your work and your vision. Becoming an entrepreneur requires great dedication, determination and perseverance – only a goal you believe in will inspire the necessary commitment. Learn every day and challenge yourself. The process is on-going. When you meet a risk, take it. You won’t know the outcome until you do. You won’t regret failure as much as not trying.

Believe you can succeed, otherwise, why attempt such a goal? Keep your vision clear and stay motivated to create it. Associate with people who are successful – the way you want to be. Remember, we become like those we associate with. Don’t be deterred by fear – the more you overcome it, the stronger you are.

The world is full of good ideas; at some point, we must stop talking and start acting. Invest the time needed for the creation of your vision and keep in mind that overnight successes actually took a very long time. Speaking of time, your energy is more important. Your energy manages your time.

Understand that no one succeeds alone, and begin to build a team, not just any team, but a great team. Choose people whose values are a fit; character is just as important as skills. You must have capital to create your vision, and it will take much longer to raise than you think. Develop a plan and spend it wisely so as not to run out too soon for success.

To ensure you are focused on your goals, keep them in mind every day. When you meet obstacles and failures, realize that mistakes are the best teachers. Understand your industry; this is the key to success. Listen to the input of those you serve – ask them directly. Deliver solutions based on your thorough knowledge of your customers. Unhappy customers can show you shortcomings, learn from them.

Finally, take the advice of one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our age, Steve Jobs – deliver more than expected to build a loyal following. The three keys to entrepreneurialism are: Vision, Work, and Perseverance.

November 10, 2015 By Kim Hughes Leave a Comment

First Night In Your New Home Infographic

Just bought a new home? Don’t forget you’ll need some essential items for the first night in your house. Consider this great infographic checklist of items you will want to have. It’s got you covered from first aid items to pet toys.

November 3, 2015 By Kim Hughes Leave a Comment

Developing Consistency

Being consistent is defined as displaying predictable and reliable behaviors in meeting goals. The first step should be the realistic evaluation of the likelihood of meeting the goals we set—in other words, it would be self-defeating to attempt goals which we realistically have little chance of meeting based on many factors – time frames, ability, life circumstances, lifestyles, lack of motivation, and lack of personal valuation of rewards.

Consistency requires repeatedly valuing goal achievement enough to develop the necessary discipline of performance to be successful. Repeatedly achieving success meeting goals develops stability and predictability of behaviors.

Therefore, making goals manageable is the first step in creating consistency of performance. If goals are not being met, examine the reasons for failure. Perhaps striving for perfection is the cause of self-defeating behavior. Consistency is not compatible with perfection. Determine what is “negotiable” in task performance; the end result is the most important factor.

Developing motivation to perform consistently is based in personal value systems. The goal itself must be valuable enough to encourage repeated efforts to achieve it – that is, the reward must be great enough to inspire discipline in performance. The reward may be positive or negative in nature. The avoidance of a negative outcome may be motivational in itself; for instance, meeting deadlines for work projects avoids the negative outcome of compromising one’s job.

Consistent performance is a measurable outcome of repeatedly achieving goals. Here’s a breakdown of the steps to take for success in meeting goals and staying consistent:

Set expectations and hold yourself accountable.
Avoid the self-defeating expectation of perfection.
Set attainable goals and measure progress toward meeting them.
Strive to make measurable progress continually.
Keep a positive attitude towards consistently attaining goals and subsequent rewards.
Celebrate successes with each goal met to reinforce motivation in achieving future goals with consistent job performance.

Image courtesy of Unsplash.com

November 1, 2015 By Kim Hughes Leave a Comment

New Regulations for Tax Preparers

Tax season is here, and even if your records are impeccable, changes to tax law regarding who prepares your taxes could impact your future income tax filings. As a result of new regulations, filing taxes with your usual preparer could place you in a precarious situation with the IRS.

After December 31, 2015 important new rules apply for tax preparers. “Non-credentialed preparers without an Annual Filing Season Program – Record of Completion – may only prepare tax returns. The new rules do not allow them to represent clients before the IRS on any returns prepared and filed after December 31, 2015.”

Don’t find yourself without representation before the IRS. Be sure to protect yourself with the knowledge required to assure you have adequate representation through your tax preparer. It could be that your usual tax preparer is no longer qualified to represent you in tax disputes.

For more important information, please click here.

Image courtesy of geralt/Pixabay.com