No, I’m not late in sending New Year’s greetings. I’m right on time.

Any day can be the start of a New Year for you. There’s nothing in life’s rules that says a ‘New Year’ has to start on January 1.

It can start on any day YOU want. Could be your birthday, could be your incorporation date or the date your started your business, could be the second Tuesday in March, could be the 29^th of February! Whatever day YOU choose to begin a New Year is the right date and time for YOU!

After dealing with a death in the family on Christmas Day and all the subsequent activity until early January, I decided that my ‘New Year’ was going to start ‘later’. I just didn’t know when. And the biggest problem I could see looming ahead of me was procrastinating about when my New Year would start. The wheels were spinning but the brakes were holding steady.

Want to know how I figured it out?

First of all I paused. For someone with AD/HD, pausing can be extremely difficult. While my body can pause (generally for a short period of time), it’s very difficult to pause my mind. So I used several of the actions steps in the ‘Activate Your Vision’ strategies in my book, Getting Paid to Pay Attention. And I paused.

Then, I created some thinking time. Now I’m always thinking but this time I took all my thinking thoughts, wrote them down and looked for common themes, brainstormed some ideas, sorted them out, set out some targets with benchmarks along the way and poof!!! My New Year was 33% ready.

Then I used a couple of action steps in the Build Your Accountability Team section to set myself up for success so I can transform this year into my best year ever. Then I was 66% ready

Then I finished off with my favourite Celebration strategies and action steps and that it made it 99% ready.

It’s that last 1% that’s tough. That’s the movement, the action, the motion the release of the brakes that sets everything moving forward. And I’ve done that today.

So, today, January 16, 2013 is the start of my New Year!

How about you?

When do YOU take time to Pause, Transform and Celebrate? Could be for a New Year, could be for a new project or task, could be just for YOU!

Let me know!

Happy New Year to YOU, whenever it is or was!

Marilyn

Marilyn Strong, author

Getting Paid to Pay Attention

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She wrote, “Strong’s book actually made me feel optimistic that I’d be able to overcome the typical ADHD bugaboos and lessen their stranglehold over my own productivity. Knowledge is, after all, power.” Knowing that others are benefiting from reading my book makes my whole book writing/publishing journey worthwhile.

Zoe is also going to use my Action Planner for a week to prove she can be more productive. Then she’ll blog about how she did and I will send her a posting commenting on her use of the Action Planner and give her ideas and suggestions on how to improve.

So, how are YOU doing with the Action Planners? How’s your Big Picture and Little Picture programs working for you? Let me know!

Oh and check out the blog this week and next!  http://blogs.psychcentral.com/adhd-zoe/2012/04/solo-adhd-business-owner-get-paid-to-pay-attention/.

As children with ADD/ADHD, it seems our measure is never as good as others. Everyone from parents to teachers and relatives to preachers scold us and draw attention to the fact that something is wrong with us. We feel we are unlovable, unworthy, imperfect, flawed, or defective in some significant way.

As ADD/ADHD adults, some of us have spent thousands of dollars on therapy and personal development programs to help boost our self-esteem and even still, we often measure our self-esteem by the dollars in our bank account or the number of customers or sales we made or the number of friends we have.

Genetics tells us that chances are, our children have ADD/ADHD and although there are new therapies and treatments, the  issue of self-esteem is more important than ever. I would love every child diagnosed with ADD/ADHD to be able to have their own self-esteem coach.

Whether that coach is a parent or guardian, a school teacher or sports coach or a neighbour or preacher who sees the struggles the child is having, a self-esteem coach can make a HUGE difference in a child’s life.

Where do you find Self Esteem Coaches? Dr. Joe Rubino, one of the world’s foremost experts on self esteem elevation, has developed the Certified Self-esteem Coach Certification program.

However, many parents and teachers take the course not for the certification, simply to be better qualified to support children to learn the secrets that will champion them to develop soaring, unstoppable total self-esteem!

Imagine if you could put into place structures and programs that champion children to:

	Feel capable, competent and able to produce their intended results with velocity
	Possess authentic personal power and have the ability to influence others
	Feel significant, accepted, and loved by others
	Feel worthy of love while developing a positive expectation that they WILL receive all the blessings that life has to offer
	Develop an appreciation for others while possessing empathy for what it’s like to be in their shoes

John Asaraff, New York Times Best Selling Author, and featured in the movie and book The Secret, says,

“This program is an amazing guide that any parent, teacher, grandparent, aunt, uncle or older sibling can easily follow to help guide the healthy mental growth of a child. It offers insights, skills, strategies and actions that will encourage all those who seek to be great parents or participants in the healthy rearing of children with a plethora of ways to do so. We need not try and figure out what we need to do or how we need to do it on our own. Dr. Joe offers us the blueprint to follow.”

As you work through the program, you will acquire the skill of empowering your life and the lives of the children you impact. Not only are your helping children, with or without ADD/ADHD, you’ll be learning new strategies yourself on how to elevate your own self-esteem! I call that a win-win!

Take advantage of this transformational, life-impacting program! Don’t let any child repeat the problems that you and I had growing up with ADD/ADHD.

I’m launching my book, “Getting Paid to Pay Attention” which will help entrepreneurs and small business owners overcome procrastination, distraction and hyper-focus and finally have the business of their dreams. I would be honoured if you would take a look at the website and at the $3,000 in bonus offerings including bonuses from Tee Crane, Keith Leon, Noah St. John, Bob Proctor and Jack Canfield for those who buy the book from here: http://www.gettingpaidbook.com

So, tell me, what are YOU doing with your extra day of work???

It’s a well known fact that referrals and word of mouth are the best way to grow a business. Referrals are  trust builders. If you have ADD/ADHD you may be a bit concerned about asking for referrals – especially if you feel that the work you’ve done for a client or customer could have been better, bigger, prettier, faster, smoother, more colourful, whatever! We are our own worst critics at times.

Now there’s a solution. Here’s the bible on building your business the fast, fun, easy way through referrals – and right now, it comes with valuable free bonuses!

Matt Anderson’s Fearless Referrals will show you how to grow any business quickly and easily by systematically developing high-quality referrals. This groundbreaking guide provides a toolbox of wording that works, powerful fear-killing techniques, and proven referral-gathering methods.

Even if you’re the timid type, Fearless Referrals will turn you into a referral machine by leveraging your most valuable asset: your network of contacts, and word of mouth. It’s complete with quizzes, exercises and scripts, so you get hands-on practice in addition to invaluable advice.

Here are some of the areas Matt covers in his book:

• Getting over discomfort at asking for referrals

• How to make getting referrals fun and rewarding

• The right way, the right time and the right people to ask

• Wording to use that is comfortable and not “salesy”

• How trust matters even more than expertise in getting referrals

• Rewarding your best referral sources

• How to get people talking about you – in a good way!

Brian Tracy, Top-Selling Author, Coach and Motivational Speaker says, “These are the “Golden Rules” for developing referrals . . . in any business.”

 Please click on this link for more information, ordering and free bonuses!

    http://fearlessreferrals.com/

Setting up a system to generate referrals from happy customers will help you keep your vision for your business active and activated in your mind. Keeping your vision active and activated is the first step to ending your Business A.D.D.

If you have ADD/ADHD you’ve already thought of all the creative and cool things you can do for your loved ones. Maybe you’re going to mail them a card, or send an e-card, or create a special ‘crafty Valentine’ or even text   them a special message.

But you haven’t done of any of that yet because, well, it’s too early to mail the card (if you’ve been to the store to buy one); the e-cards are too ‘girly’ or too ‘naughty’ for your special person; you spent an hour searching for your craft supplies, laid them out all over the dining room table and as you sat down to create the Valentines you looked at the clock and remembered an appointment and just left everything there; or it’s too hard to figure out how to limit your text characters and still say what you want.

Help is on the way!

The Book of Love Text Messages is one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” sort of books. Author Armand del Tor has packed this book with beautifully written messages you can mine for ideas for text messages that will make your “significant other” feel good all day. Just in time for Valentine’s Day!

Check it out at http://bit.ly/boltm and you’ll have the book in time to send special love texts to all your special people!

Now, back to work.

Marilyn

To that pile of unread mail? To stickies stuck everywhere? To the phone messages? To the list of sales calls you have to make?

When you STOP paying attention to the parts of the business you don’t like, you are neglecting your business and damaging your chances for success. That neglect is called Business Attention Deficit Disorder or Business A.D.D..

As a solopreneur, paying attention to the parts of the business you don’t like (I call it the ‘ugly work’), can be difficult.  You know, the stuff you look at and your stomach immediately starts churning, you self talk says, “No way, you’re not going to do THIS right now” and you bury the note or the paper so you don’t have to be reminded of it.

How can you stop your self-talk from talking you out of doing the ugly work?  In the book, “Getting Paid to Pay Attention”, you’ll learn three quick and easy action steps you can take to learn how to get through the ‘ugly work’.

You choose which of the three action steps YOU want, take anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes to implement it and you’re on your way to getting the ‘ugly work’ done.

Imagine how you’ll feel when the butterflies leave your stomach, your self talk turns itself off and you have energy to go back to working on the other parts of your business!

Learning to pay attention to all parts of your business, including the ‘ugly work’ is what will make you a successful business owner!

Here’s to your success!

PS if you decide to purchase the e-book, Getting Paid to Pay Attention, for a limited time you’ll also receive the Action Planner as a bonus! It’s normally $19.95 and it’s yours free when you purchase Getting Paid to Pay Attention.

Setting up simple rewards keeps your energy at a high level and you can accomplish anything!

I like to dance to reward myself. I do my own ‘happy dance’ in my office or sometimes even in the car if I’ve just accomplished a major goal! Here’s my list of top songs that make me feel rewarded and celebrated!

Please email me with your list!

My Top Celebration Music—Let’s Dance!

1. Celebration – Kool and the Gang
2. What a Feeling (Flashdance) – Irene Cara
3. Walking on Sunshine – Katrina and the Waves
4. Dynamite – Taio Cruz
5. I Got a Feeling – Black Eyed Peas
6. I Just Want to Celebrate – Rare Earth
7. Sing a Song – Earth Wind and Fire
8. Don’t Stop – Fleetwood Mac
9. You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet – BTO
10. Hold Your Head Up – Argent
11. Abracadabra – Steve Miller Band
12. Party Rocks – LMFAO
13. Joy to the World – Three Dog Night
14. Taking Care of Business – BTO
15. I Like That Old Time Rock and Roll – Bob Seger
16. Let’s Get It Started – Black Eyed Peas
17. All I Do Is Win – DJ Khaled

Have you ever found yourself overcome with procrastination, distraction or hyper-focus while working in your business?

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. It’s estimated that over 15 million North Americans – and a proportionate number of the rest of the world’s population – suffer from at least one of these three business-killing symptoms. Now imagine how many self-employed professionals, freelancers, artists and others who ARE their business find themselves not able to succeed due to these three symptoms.

Do you fit into self-employed business owner category in any way? Are you struggling to keep your business afloat due to the “stuff” that keeps you from being as successful as you can?

Business ADD – the Silent Dream Killer

Then maybe you should ask yourself if you or your business has that little-known, but quite common “disease” known as Business ADD.

If so, you’re in the right place. You’ll find the help and advice you need here. You’ll also get tips and strategies on how to keep everything in check so you can get your business doing what it’s supposed to do – make you money!

Let’s take a look at the three dream busters, shall we?

You have a report to finish – or a proposal to prepare. The client wants it on a certain day. It’s now two days before that time and you haven’t even started it yet. Sound familiar? It’s not because you’re lazy – you work at least 10 hours every single day – or that you aren’t capable.

Your procrastination comes from deeper within than that.

In my book, “Getting Paid to Pay Attention – Why Your Business Suffers From A.D.D. and How to Fix It,” you’ll discover the real reasons for your procrastination. You’ll probably be surprised by the causes. I know I was when I first started researching! Then you’ll discover some powerfully effective strategies to knock procrastination out of your life forever.

Another symptom of Business ADD is distraction. I like to call it the “Shiny Penny Syndrome.” Every time something new and interesting comes along, I stop what I’m doing and go down a new rabbit hole for a while. In some ways this can be a good thing because it helps your mind stay active and alert, but it is a killer when you’re trying to meet a deadline or have to be somewhere at a certain time!

And finally, if you’ve ever put everything out of your mind and focused on one thing for a long time, you could be hyper-focusing. Many of us do hyper-focus when we’ve procrastinated for too long or chased too many shiny pennies. But when you hyper-focus on one thing for too long at the expense of getting other things done, it could be a sign of Business ADD.

Many of the answers to your questions or thoughts are in my book, “Getting Paid to Pay Attention.” Click the link to go to the order page so you can improve the way you work so your business gives you everything you wanted. And end Business ADD forever.