One of the most valuable lessons I have learned over the years is how to maximize my time, turn time into money, and have more time to spend with those I love. The truth is that I love my work and I could do it all day long because it is so fulfilling to me, but honestly, that is not a healthy practice. I was a single mom for 12 years and I learned the hard way that balance is not only key, it is essential to living an inspired life. Here are a 5 practices I use repeatedly to get out of busy and into productive, with time left over to play.

1. Get very clear on your Big Picture Vision, where you truly want to be in your life. When you have a clear direction and are completely focused on your life and business goals, you will not get thrown off by every distraction or mismatched opportunity that comes your way. Then break this big goal into small 10 minute steps, I call them Mini Feats. Do 3 Mini Feats a day toward your bigger goals (that is 21 steps closer to your goal each week) and you will happily arrive at your destination, without feeling harried.

2. Be ruthless with your boundaries. Practice saying ‘No’ and you will have a lot more ‘Yes’ time for you. This is a tough one, especially for women, because we are the caregivers and we don’t like when people get mad at us! However, to accomplish what you truly want in your life, you absolutely must have the space to make it happen. Specify ‘You’ time during your week and make sure everyone knows to give you this privacy. They’ll be happy in the end because you’ll be more fun to be around when you feel accomplished.

3. Get support. There is no way you can grow your empire alone.Solo-entrepreneurs can grow their business to a point, but there are only so many clients you can take care of in one day. I realize it is scary to take that step and hire help, but you will thank me when you do. Not only will this free you up to do more of what you love in your business and your life, your clients will feel more supported and you will be able to expand your reach. Yes, its time to let go of the reigns and delegate, delegate, delegate. You cannot make a million dollars if you are spending your day doing $15-20 per hour jobs such as your filing or organizing your mailing list!

4. Batch your actions. This little practice has been miraculous for my life. Just like baking cookies where you cook at least a dozen at one time, batch your similar tasks all in one day so you stay focused and streamlined, without the stress. For instance, run as many of your errands that you cannot delegate during one afternoon a week. Assign full or half days that you will only see clients, or that you will only make phone calls, or research a project. Rather than mixing your goals and tasks, you will be much more effective when you don’t mix everything together and bounce from one thing to the next. It literally takes 5 times as long to finish a project when you are continually distracted, so be deliberate in designing your week.

5. Be honest with yourself on how you really spend your time. Most people, believe it or not, can find 2 extra hours somewhere in their day. Wake up one hour earlier and watch one less episode of The X Factor. Whalaaa! By doing this you will literally add an entire month to your life. Yes, 30 bonus days to your year. What can you accomplish in an entire month? You could invent the next Pet Rock by then, or even take a vacation!

My clients and I map out our weeks on The Interactive Life Coach Online Success System. I invented it to make my life and those I coach a lot easier, much more productive and lots more fun. Check it out here. Not only does it help you design your life and reach your goals, there are tons of great applications to set your financial goals, get clarity on your dreams and make amazing things happen in your life, your relationships and your work.

Please  comment and share your time saving tips. I would love to hear how you balance the clock and I am sure my readers would, too!

Allison Maslan is the CEO of Allison Maslan International. She was recently named “One of the Top Women Entrepreneurs Who Inspire” by Self Made Magazine. A born entrepreneur and No. 1 Best Selling Author of the book, Blast Off! The Surefire Success Plan to Launch Your Dreams Into Reality, Allison has built nine successful companies from the ground up starting out as a single mom on her own. As president of Blast Off Business and Life Mentoring, www.MyBlastOff.com, she has helped thousands of people transform their lives while launching countless into thriving dream businesses of their own. As a world-renowned homeopath for the past 16 years, Allison’s work embodies a partnership of holistic balance, a zest for success, and the most innovative business strategies you will find anywhere. Allison has been an expert guest on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox Stations across the US. She was also recently nominated for San Diego Magazine Woman of the Year.

For passion to sustain the long journey of your business and your life, it must have a front end and a back end.

The front end of passion is the blossoming intensity from which your passion is directed. This exploding energy is powerful, yet fits you so perfectly that it supports you with ease toward your big dreams and goals. It is an energy that comes from deep within your life force and cannot help being expressed outwardly in an enthusiastic and contagious manner. The front end of passion is a positive expulsion of energy. However, if you are not prepared, this continuous momentum can deplete you in a flash. As a homeopath and serial entrepreneur, I understand that to win in business, a healthy body and mind comes first. Here are some simple tips to keep you feeling fit and on fire during the summer months. When your health is a priority, you can blast off in your business and your life!

1. Establish good nutrition. It’s easy to fall into fast food or snacking when you are so engrossed in your passion that you’re not taking the time to eat right. (More detailed nutrition information can be found in Chapter Six).

2.Eight hours of sleep each night. Sleep is one of the most healing,energizing medicines, and it is absolutely critical for a creative mind. Did you know that sleep deprivation is used as a brainwashing technique? Without sleep, you are living in survival mode, which is the opposite of a passionate life.

3. Take a passion break once a week.Most of my creativity comes when I’m not working. When my mind is clear and I’m exploring or having fun, the ideas have room to appear. Turn off your phone. Shut down your computer. Go spend the day outdoors in nature, go to a movie, take a bike ride, or visit some friends. Talk about things other than your passion. (For a few minutes, anyway.)

4. Get physical. Especially if your passion is of the intellectual persuasion, you must get into your body. If you’re living from the neck up, your body needs to be enlivened. Choose exercise that you can sustain by doing activities that you will enjoy, such as dance, running, swimming, biking or boxing. Mix it up! It’s more beneficial to incorporate more than one activity to stimulate various muscle groups in the body. You will also stimulate the serotonin in your brain for more creativity and mood enhancement. You will prevent fatigue and burnout as you stimulate your cardiovascular system, get your blood pumping, and your billions of cells moving. Ahhhhhhh!

Come find your Champion Within at Allison Maslan’s live entrepreneurial event called The Blast Off Business Breakthrough on September 16-18 in San Diego, CA where you will experience, in person, an exclusive combination of unending inspiration, magical bursts of clarity, extraordinary breakthroughs, and laser-sharp strategies you can apply immediately to amp up your business and your life like never before. You will leave with a completely unique step-by-step plan for your new or advanced small business. Click the photo below to learn more about the event.

Allison Maslan is the No. 1 best selling author of Blast Off! The Surefire Success Plan to Launch Your Dreams Into Reality and the president of Blast Off Business and Life Mentoring. As a serial entrepreneur of nine of her own businesses including being world renowned homeopath, Allison has guided thousands to reach their potential and launched many into dream businesses of their own. She was recently named One of the Top Women Entrepreneurs Who Inspire by Self Made Magazine and has been on ABC, NBC and Fox stations across the US. www.MyBlastOff.com

Tip #3

Have you ever had a big lofty goal or dream for your business or your life?  You put a lot of energy toward it, made great headway, yet because of this big picture focus, you lost momentum in the important day-to-day projects and responsibilities, causing major overwhelm and chaos?

Or do you feel like you are stuck spinning in the short-term goals and projects, getting stuff done, yet only making it month to month without the potential for the big time growth?

Your diagnosis: Too much focus on either the short-term or long-term goals.
The remedy: You need to focus on both.

In order for you to grow as an entrepreneur, you need to have a vision for the next level in your business. You need to have a creative, strategic plan in place that is developing and moving you toward higher levels of achievement and success.  Maybe you are working on the newest widget that will take the tech world by storm?  Or maybe you are so close to discovering the cure for baldness and plan to add it to your savvy hair product line?  This idea development, what I refer to as ‘The Magic’ in business, is crucial for your expansion in your marketplace.  At the same time, if you only focus on the long-term, the Big Kahuna, you will begin to lose traction in your day-to-day business needs, such as cash flow to pay your office expense and staff. Not good. 

I am a true entrepreneur. A trailblazer of sorts as I have built 9 of my own companies and mentored hundreds of others to do the same. In my own journey, it took me a while to really understand the importance of this concept.  My deepest passion is helping people find their true calling and guide them to express their gifts through a successful business.  One of the important rules you must understand in Business 101 is that your entrepreneurial entity needs to turn a profit. If it’s not, it won’t be long for this world, even if you have invented the  miracle cure to wrinkles. So keep your eye on the dream and the pulse during each business day. It can often feel like a juggling act, but with practice, you will become a gifted, profitable and high-flying juggler.

This is one of the reasons I invented my web-based software, The Interactive Life Coach, www.InteractiveLifeCoach.com.

I wanted my clients to have a fun, inspiring and easy-to-use tool that would help them create their beautiful Big Picture Visions, make them easy to attain by breaking them down into baby steps I call “Mini Feats” and at the same time help people continue to keep the steady business flowing in on a daily basis.

Keep moving forward and don’t lose focus on any goal, short- or long-term.  YOU deserve to suceed!

~Allison
Life and Business Strategist, Allison Maslan, was recently named One of the Top 50 Women Women Entrepreneurs Who Inspire by Self-Made Magazine. She has built 9 successful companies and has guided hundreds of others to do the same. She is the author of the #1 bestselling book, Blast Off! The Surefire Success Plan to Launch Your Dreams Into Reality. Allison is available for one-on-one coaching and her exclusive mastermind program, The Pinnacle. www.myblastoff.com.

I recently did a survey to ask readers what they want and need most in regards to business support, implementing strategies, and guidance.   I heard an overwhelming response from both new and long term entrepreneurs, asking for a road map to lead them and take their many fabulous ideas from idle to moving forward.

I heard so many say they have tons of fantastic ideas, so many, in fact, that they simply don’t know where to start.  They also said when they start creating and developing an idea, they find them selves distracted with another idea, and then sidetracked by yet another, and end up thoroughly confused and getting nowhere.

For the next several posts on my blog, I will be sharing my valuable secrets and tips on how to manifest your brilliant ideas so they can finally show up and be seen in the real world.

Allison’s Success Roadmap Tip #1 : It all starts with ‘The Decision.’  Challenge yourself to make one MAJOR decision by the end of today.  You have many phenomenal ideas and,yes, you can do them all, but it is important to start with just ONE.  Too many projects going on at one time will ultimately dilute any forward movement.

It is important to just pick ONE path. To reach your dreams and goals, there is no room for limbo. There is not room for hemming and hawing.  Not making a decision is making a decision. It is  choosing to stay stuck. Even a the wrong decision is better than no decision because it begins the forward movement of your roadmap.

Please let me know what decision you make today on the start of your phenomenal and exciting path towards success.

What Is Your “I Can’t”?

• I can’t get in shape because I just don’t have time to exercise.
• I am miserable in my career, but I can’t develop a new line of work because the economy is so bad.
• I would love to start my own business but I can’t because I don’t know what I would do or have any idea where to start.
• I can’t make any money and I am spinning my wheels?
• My relationship is so, so. I can’t seem to make it any better so I am pretty much stuck.
• I can’t because I don’t have enough money.
• I can’t learn to dance because I have two left feet.
• I can’t, I can’t, I can’t!

I have a challenge for you. Pay attention to your language throughout the day and count how many I Can’ts fall out of your mouth from morning to night. These two words are the wall between you and your passion, you and your joy,  you and all of the abundance that awaits you. When you stop saying no to life and knock down the barriers between you and all the good stuff, your entire reality will begin to change. Instead, say, “Yes I Can.” This short statement alone is very powerful. Just by uttering these three words, you will begin to build your accomplishment muscles. Follow up these words with small daily action steps, and before you know it, you will be sailing to the top of your intimidating mountain. This is my internal mantra as my fitness trainer is pushing me to run just one more minute or do one more push-up. I cannot say I am having a blast during the work-out, but I am so happy that I have stepped up to the plate and challenged myself. Are you really ready to make the changes in your life that you have been dreaming about for years? Do you want a more fulfilling career, but have no idea what that could be? Do you want more satisfaction in your life, but have no idea how to make it happen? I would love to hear your comments? Tell me if you are ready to make the changes happen now! Life and Business Strategist, Allison Maslan, was recently named One of the Top 50 Women Women Entrepreneurs Who Inspire by Self Made Magazine. She has built 9 successful companies and has guided hundreds of others to do the same. She is the author of the #1 best selling book, Blast Off! The Surefire Success Plan to Launch Your Dreams Into Reality. Allison is available for one-on-one coaching and her exclusive mastermind program, The Pinnacle. www.myblastoff.com.

What were you taught about money when you were a child. These values could have been discussed from your parents or unknowingly taught by example. For instance, if one or both of your parents constantly complained about money and worried they would not have enough, you may have developed a belief system that money is scarce and hard to come by. Therefore you may hang on tight to your money, rarely ever take risks and therefore stay in the mode of struggling and surviving. On the other hand, if you had an authority figure demonstrate the possibilities one has when they open up to the world’s optimism and opportunities, you may be more willing to open up to them.

Make a list of the negative beliefs concerning money that you have carried with you throughout your life, such as:

• Money does not grow on trees.
• Who do you think you are Miss Moneybags?
• Money is the root of all evil.

Now that you have written those old thoughts down, think about how they have influenced the life choices and daily behavior in your career, relationship, and personal fulfillment. We think it only affects our bank account, but in reality, if you did not have those negative beliefs, you may have made very different choices in your past.

• Have you taken a career you did not want because of your fear of money?
• Have you stayed in a relationship because of your fear about money?
• Have you stopped doing things you love because you are afraid you will be without funds?

I am not invalidating your choices, I am just suggesting to take an honest look and see how powerful those childhood money beliefs can impact our entire lives. Mind bending, huh? The good thing is that we can shift our money thinking. And this can be one of the most powerful steps in accessing an abundance of wealth.

Think about it. If you just expect and know money is coming freely and easily to you, you will have much less hesitation to take risks and put yourself out there. And the more you put yourself out into the world, the more opportunity you will find. You cannot find it sitting tight at home holding onto your nest egg. Do not confuse this with the idea that impulsiveness or spending with abandon is a good practice. Rather It is a knowingness that you are presenting to the world that “money is coming”. To seal the deal, follow this knowingness with consistent daily action toward your goals.

Do you feel drained by your money beliefs? Let me know how these tips works for you!

Blast Off! The Surefire Success Plan To Launch Your Dreams Into Reality by life and business strategist, Allison Maslan, will cut to the core of what is holding you back and give you the solutions and a step-by-step plan to reclaim and re-invent your life and career.

Also, Click here to watch:     Allison at La Valencia making final preparations for Pinnacle.

Click here to watch:     Allison at La Valencia making final preparations for Pinnacle.

Here I am at the historical La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla, CA as my team makes final preparations for the big event. I look forward to seeing you Backstage soon!

Allison Maslan/ CEO

www.ThePinnacleProgram.com

www.MyBlastOff.com

Allison Maslan is CEO of Allison Maslan International. She was recently

named one of the Top 50 Women Entrepreneurs Who Inspire by Self Made Magazine.

As a life and business strategist, I take my clients through a process to find their true calling so they can turn it into a business. Or we work to expand the business they already have while making it much more fun on a daily basis. Once we get clarity on the direction, I help them get creative and design what I call, their Big Picture Vision, which is a window into how they want their business and other aspects of their life to unfold.

Most people get very bold during this phase and dream big, which is what I like to see, and honestly what is necessary to take your reality up several notches. They get very enthusiastic about growing a fantastically profitable and fulfilling business, so we put the plan and structure into place.

Then it is time to take this big, bold dream and put it into action, because at this point, it is all fantasy until you take it out of your head and start moving toward it. I call this the “Jumping In With Both Feet” phase. Invariably, they begin to get scared and ask to take it slow and test the waters instead of diving in wholeheartedly. With the best intentions, they might say, “maybe I’m not ready for that kind of success”, or “I’m not sure if what I have to offer is valuable.” They start talking themselves off the ledge saying, “I cannot spend the money right now because I am feeling stuck financially.”

I am here to tell you, that playing it safe doesn’t work in business if you want big results. (Same goes for athletics.) To get unstuck, you need to let go of the training wheels and jump higher than you have before. Try sort of diving off a diving board. Can you say, “belly flop”? Just like creating a successful relationship, you cannot experience true love unless you open your heart fully.

So many people hold on tightly trying not to fail, yet to be wildly successful, you need to jump in knowing you will succeed even if you are not sure how it is all going to come together. An entrepreneur goes after his/her mission because he is determined to make his dream a huge reality no matter what, because the alternative is living in regret or wondering what could have been. To a visionary, this is a slow death.

My father is the quintessential entrepreneur at 81. His secrets: He lives with passion, has an ability to think big and has taught me to say yes to my dreams even when I had no idea where the financial resources would come from or who would help me. At the prime of my dad’s life he ran the largest privately owned women’s clothing chain in the US. He did not accomplish this from taking small steps and waiting for the right time to appear. Instead, he created his own opportunities and went for them full on.

When you say ‘yes’ to your dreams, something magical starts to happen. If you proclaim your vision to the Universe, believe in it at a soul level, and then jump in with both feet, somehow the world rearranges itself to support your intention. The money suddenly appears, you meet the connection you needed while standing in line at the grocery store, and the opportunities start falling at your feet.

So tell me, what are you waiting for?  If you don’t want to be at the same place next New Years wishing things were different, it’s time to jump in and make it happen. Hire the coach, get the support, invest in yourself and take the bold leap. You will be so happy you did.

Allison Maslan, CEO, Blast Off Life and Business Coaching was named one of the top 50 women entrepreneurs who inspire by Self Made Magazine. She helps her clients build or expand their dream into a profitable, fun and meaningful business.

www.MyBlastOff.com