I want to start off by saying TODAY (well technically yesterday…. it’s an hour into a new day now) was one of the best days of 2015… so far.
Why?! You ask…. lots of reasons! LOTS! A couple of things happened that were life changing, a couple things happened that were special, and overall, I felt loved. So I have many reasons that it was one of the best days of 2015.
I will paint you a small picture.
I woke up between 8:14-8:45am (my alarm wakes me up gently over a time period that it thinks would be suiting to how much sleep I had) then I checked my social media, e-mails, text messages. I went to an appointment at my local beauty salon, as I like to do on Mondays. I helped one of my best friends wedding plans (small small detail). I talked to my life long best friend. I sent my boyfriend a loving emoji. I checked out a local Starbucks that had been renovated and saw an old co-worker of my ex-boyfriend who always makes my day. I sent my Aunt Norma a big happy birthday post on her Facebook wall and I snap chatted my man best friend because it is also his birthday.
Yup and that was all before 1:00pm.
So you can see where my day started. Well this evening I went over to my girlfriend’s house for a night of inspiration, girl talk, and catch up. Originally we decided last week via text that we would meet soon (at that time no dates were given) to help me plan my future.
I don’t know if she would call herself a life coach but she is defiantly one of my life coaches. She has so much knowledge, experience, and she truly loves life. So tonight we met.
The night was beyond amazing. As you can tell… I’m actually writing a BLOG. Miracle. Yes, this blog has a point more than being just overly happy. I’ll get to that in a second.
We did our normal girl talk. Talked about boys, friends, sex, life, and my future. We laughed and drank a glass of wine. Oh boy it was fun! While I was leaving she walked me to my car. Then I told her how important she was in my life and that she was one of the few people who truly inspire me. Again… I’m writing a full blog with no drafts. Trust me I’ve had a lot of half written ones in the last year that I feel/felt that I did not want to post or felt short of being something I wanted to share with you.
Then it dawned on me.
Have you ever heard of the saying “You become like the 5 people you spend the most time with- choose carefully.” I have on several occasions. Pinterest, Social Media, and at conventions… especially business conventions. It always made me think yeah… I want to surround myself with people who live the life I want.
Then I look at my friends and think I spend my life with amazing people but they don’t live the lifestyles I dream of (Don’t get mad but in a way it’s true). I actually spend my days with on average a group of 10 people who I love dearly and yes they DO inspire me. SO freaking much. I am who I am because of our lives together. We do a lot of the things that I want in my future but they are not living the lives I want, crave, desire, dream. Of course not, they are different people. They have different lives, dreams, careers, ideas, feelings, emotions. They may see me and say I love Lili, I love that she is spontaneous but I’m not. Lili is the best but I am not as social as she is, dancing at a night club is not for me. Lili is awesome (hehe) but I do not dream of going on a stage in front of hundreds of people to inspire. You see what I’m saying? My core group of friends who I call my family and I are very different people but yet I spend my days (almost every day) with all 10 of them.
So when I hear you need to spend time with the people who inspire to be but yet I spend time with the people I love…. I get a little confused.
Of course I become like my best friends. Yet we are all on our own paths with different career choices, dreams, and life styles.
So I want to break that sentence down in my words for you. I hope it helps you the way I see it. Unless of course you want to ditch you best friends and find new friends to hang out with regularly.
Find 5-10 people who live the lifestyle you crave and spend time with them… on a regular.
1. Define who those people are.
For me I find inspiration with dreamers who also doers. Like the beautiful women who I spent the evening with. She came into my life a couple of years ago through another beautiful (yes I surround myself with beautiful women) sister of mine and we became friends instantly. I would consider her one of my best friends now. She is an entrepreneur who is extremely hard working and runs a very successful home based business. On top of that she is very in touch with people and who they are. Like I said before I do not know if I would call her a life coach but she is one of my life coaches. She understands freedom. She is finically independent. Plus she thinks like I do. She has a dream and she goes for it. Some people are not motivated by dreams. They live their lives based on their reality. For me like I said I am a dreamer who is also a doer. So is my lady friend.
Now I would put her in a small group of my friends who are inspired, visionaries, who are entrepreneurs that want a lifestyle that is creative and free. So to me she lives the life I crave. She would be in this specially category.
I have also found people like this who I may not know personally but are successful in the career I have chosen.
If you were an actor this may be Gary Oldman or Rachel McAdams or Alan Rickman for you. Not necessarily people you know but who have made it big in the acting world. Yes those are some of the actors I looked up to when I was acting.
All of these people I do not see on a regular so how do I change that?
Find creative ways to keep your inspirations in your life on a daily.
Make the time for each other. Get a coffee or a bottle of wine monthly. Text more. Easy enough… you think.
Some times I go months without speaking to my girl friend. I mean she is a hard working entrepreneur who has a different life style than mine (at the moment).
Here are some ideas to change that.
1) Follow them on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. You never know how one small post can change your day.
2) Hold each other accountable. Set meetings. Generally entrepreneurs or business owners run their lives on meetings. Make it a meeting. Make it serious. You may be having a glass of wine and talking about boys but you also get to the inspiration when you make it important.
3) YOU NEVER MET THE PERSON. For me I’ve met my three most inspired people in my career path but others I still have not… So make sure to follow their blogs or mailing lists. Find a way to follow their business. Once you have them on your daily radar do the things they teach. Every day. Take their tips and use them. You may not know them personally but that does not mean you cannot follow in their footsteps. They have made it because of these ideas, tips, rituals. USE THEM. It’s like free advice to become OPRAH.
4) Add them to your vision boards. I LOVE VISION BOARDS. You probably know this about me if you follow me… My good friend used to say “Change your mind, Change your world.” I’ve literally written that up on my calendar. I would keep it always in eye shot of my daily life. Even if I couldn’t see him regularly his mantra was always there.
Get one to two mentors.
My last advice is have a mentor. Some one who isn’t your boss but has been completely made it in a career that you want. Like is the top of the top. Ask them for permission to become your mentor and follow them, learn from them, soak it all up. Educate yourself as much as you can before they retire. Great leaders will always be willing to mentor. Do not be afraid to ask.
I have the greatest mentor in the WORLD of my business. She made it back in the day with no internet, no material, and not a lot of leaders to follow. I can tell you now how grateful I am for her. One of my biggest blessings and I will tell you now that I am not using her enough! DO NOT TAKE THEM FOR GRANTED. They may retire.
I finally figured out how to change my mind on this saying and it will now change my world. I hope it helps you too. Don’t ditch your awesome friends because they are on different paths. They will inspire you and they will help you become the human you are so don’t change that. Just find a way to spin it so it helps you….
With LOVE (lots of it)
A very tired and happy lili
xo
