Down Time is Not a Waste of Time - So Relax!
7 reasons why down time is not a waste of time

Fall semester is just around the corner! This means, for college students, life may get a little harder to balance. Parents have double duty with kids going back to school. Responsibility (ick, that WORD) may be barreling toward you at warp speed. But, that doesn’t mean you have to turn into a workaholic. When you keep down time in your schedule, studies show it makes you more productive! Here’s are seven reasons why chilling out does not mean you are slacking off.

1) Relaxation = Creativity: When you relax, carry a notepad and pen with you. Prepare to jot down ideas or inspirations you get. When your mind is clear, you are more open to inspiration. If you are ready to capture your genius ideas, suddenly that mid-week fun time is productive time.

Finish reading the article on PuckerMob…

You are beautiful/handsome 24/7! Stop and take a selfie wherever you are right now. Post the photo below. Then challenge your friends to do the same. ‪#‎beautiful247‬
You are beautiful 24/7!
You are beautiful/handsome 24/7! Stop and take a selfie wherever you are right now. Post the photo below. Then challenge your friends to do the same. ‪#‎beautiful247‬
You are Beautiful 24/7

I am openly challenging standards of beauty. I argue that self confidence and beauty come from within, no matter how old (or young) you are, your race, gender, hair color, eye color, height, weight, or political preference. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL! Please join me in telling the humans of this world they are beautiful too.

FACEBOOK:

You are beautiful/handsome 24/7! Stop and take a selfie wherever you are right now. Post the photo below. Then challenge your friends to do the same. ‪#‎beautiful247‬

TWITTER:

You are beautiful 24/7! Stop and take a selfie wherever you are. Post below. Challenge your friends.

This is a What Works Coaching project and I am putting my make up free, just woke up, face out into the world to show everyone that BEAUTY IS NOT CONDITIONAL!

If you want to know what I am up to, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or get the What Works zine. 

You can also contribute to my new project 40 By 40 – Because Life Starts at Mid-Life.

It takes mud for a seed to grow.
Grow toward the light.
It takes mud for a seed to grow.
It takes mud and darkness for a seed to grow.

This morning, I was doing my daily spiritual readings and I stumbled upon something I needed to be reminded of. Seeds need dirt and water (mud) to grow. Mud is messy. It’s not pretty, it gets all over you and, if you let it dry, it can be hard to chip off. But its absolutely necessary for growth. When the seed is in the dark, it’s still getting nurtured by heat, water, soil, minerals, and nutrients. It’s not a pretty place to be, but soon the seed uses those tools to sprout. Soon, the plant is reaching up toward the sunlight. It’s fruitful, with flowers or food. It is fulfilling it’s life’s purpose.

Do you ever feel like the seed under the mud? It’s difficult to see the benefits and pre-growth you are experiencing when you are shrouded in darkness. But it’s there, nourishing you, fortifying you, and helping you sprout to your next challenge.

I’m reminded of when I moved to Carson City. Most people plan a move based on job opportunities, schools, family, or other supportive factors. I moved here under none of those conditions. I was thrown here by the universe, thrust underground compared to my fast-paced lifestyle in Dallas or Los Angeles, to recover, learn, germinate, and sprout. Do I know what’s next? No. Am I grateful for the shift? Absolutely!

I encourage my clients to plan, but I also encourage them to leave space for opportunity to enter. Our finite minds cannot imagine what is possible when we allow room for the infinite to come in and use our right action to create magic in our lives. It’s amazing!

If you are stuck in the dark, I encourage you to try a few exercises in my free workbook. Or, just read something positive to shift you. Understand that the muddy mindset or situation is only a temporary state and you can learn from it to grow toward the light.

How the universe took control of my life.

By: Diane Dye Hansen

Sometimes, when what you want is being denied at every turn, doors are slammed in your face, “no” is the only word you hear, and you are being beat down in various ways every day, maybe it’s the universe whispering not so subtly that you need to go another way. Some people call the universe their God, Buddha, Allah, or Higher Power. Whatever you call it, there’s no denying there is something out there that took control of my life in 2011 and continues to guide me to this day.

Time Hop Homeless

It wasn’t until I was living in a motel room in Minden, Nevada with nothing but my dog Porsche and what my few possessions my car could hold that I began to wake up. How I got there, from being a marketing manager in Los Angeles making six figures, I had no clue. Maybe I was being punished in some way. Little did I know I was being given the biggest gift of my life.

It all started in 2008.

After being laid off, I did what every laid off manager did back then. I hit the pavement. I had brief contract positions, but nothing else was panning out. I went on interviews and they said they loved me. But, there was always someone a little bit better. One day, my husband, who was also unemployed, got a notice. We were being sued by a creditor. Debt renegotiation had failed and they were taking us to court. At the same time, we received a notice from our property management company in Texas that our renter was moving out of our home in Garland, a nearly 4,000 square foot monster on Lake Ray Hubbard. With the lawsuit and the soon to be vacant house, it was clear what we had to do. We had to move back to Texas and file bankruptcy. So, in June of 2010 we packed everything up and hit the road.

Once back in Texas, I grew my consulting firm as much as I could. I threw out resumes in California like wildfire, totally convinced we would be going back soon. A few months later, the call came. A studio I had interviewed with two times before wanted to talk to me. This was it. I was going to get my life back. We took off together with Porsche in the floorboard of my little BMW Z3.  The interview process dragged on and, as a result, my dog and I opted to stay with my mother-in-law.  My husband returned to Texas to prepare the house for rent. He was sure, as I was as well, that the house would rent, I would get a job back in California, and all would return to normal.

porschefloorboard

As the process dragged on, I began to interview again. Once again, I came in second at more companies than I could count. Then, it happened. My mother-in-law fell walking my dog and shattered her pelvis. Porsche and I couldn’t stay there anymore. I still hadn’t heard back from my one “ace in the hole” company. It was one where the COO, a colleague I had worked with off and on for years, put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, you’ve got this. We’re a public company; we just have to post the position first.”

I picked up the phone and called one of my clients, the publisher of a travel magazine in the Reno/Tahoe area. I was the editor-in-chief of the magazine at the time and needed a place to go. I thought the timing was perfect for an editorial visit. A few days later, I was on the road, dog in the floorboard once again. Memorial Day came and went with little fanfare and no news. One day, on the patio of a restaurant overlooking beautiful Lake Tahoe, the news came.

“I’m sorry, Diane. We found one candidate who just fit the position a little better.”

I screamed the F word loudly, in public, when I read that. Tears streamed down my face and I ran to the bathroom out of utter embarrassment for my behavior and shame for the realization I had. My publisher and the editorial team, who I was meeting with at the time, look at me like I was crazy. I felt crazy.

I had nowhere to go.

I couldn’t return to California. My dog wasn’t allowed in my mother-in-law’s house while she was recovering from her fall. I couldn’t go back to Texas. The house was being rented and I had no job prospects there. It was then I made a decision. I would stay in the Reno/Tahoe area.

I had no idea where to go or what to do. My publisher set me up doing hotel reviews where I would stay at a partner hotel a week at a time in exchange for a review. That lasted for two hotels. I tried to find a roommate, a search that was more than a little frightening with a budget of $400 a month.  I had little income from the agency I was trying to build and my options were wearing thin. Gratefully, my publisher and his wife offered my dog and I a room in their home free of charge.

Finally, I found a position that would pay well, working as a writer with the wealth expert Loral Langemeier, who was featured in the movie version of “The Secret.”  This in itself was freaky because, right before my drastic upheaval, I had watched the movie for the first time. Afterward, I delivered a simple request to the universe.  I wanted “radical positive life change.” I thought this meant I would get a position in Los Angeles and I would have my old life back. The universe had other plans.

After Loral hired me, life got good. My income returned. The house in Texas rented. It was time to invite my husband up to Carson City. He came and all he could do is complain about our new situation. To me, it had gotten drastically better. I considered the recovery to be a gift. All he could think of is how to maintain our lifestyle. It was a wakeup call.

Here’s the part of the story I haven’t divulged yet. My husband then is not my husband now. In fact, I’m 38, single and proud. My 16-year marriage had its moments, but was far from good. We were one of those couples whose lives were fabulous on the outside. Inside, though, it was a mess. Throughout the marriage, he was emotionally and mentally abusive. Eight years into our marriage, I got pregnant. He said he was a “30 year old boy” and didn’t want a child. I did not feel equipped to raise a child alone. Reluctantly, I placed my daughter up for adoption and stayed married to him. The last three years of our marriage, he was financially abusive and controlled all the money. He controlled the finances our whole marriage. To this day, I don’t know where our once-six-figure income went. I felt like a work horse. Earlier in our marriage, he would throw food at me if the fast food restaurant got his order wrong.  I remember being in the kitchen, mid-fight, and I got hit with a head of lettuce. He slapped me for the first time in 2010, just before the universe said, “Enough is enough” and did for me what I couldn’t do for myself.

I realized, after four months of living in my publisher’s home, having nothing but the ingenuity I had to start a business from scratch, the support of people who cared about me, and my dog, that I was happier having very little than having the fabulous place to live, the enviable job, the husband, the BMW Z3, the Harley-Davidson, and all the outer trappings of a successful life.

I wasn’t successful. I was bankrupt in more ways than one. On January 2, 2012, I asked my husband to leave.  In August of 2012, I quit my full-time job and became a contractor.  October 2013, after more than a year and a half of separation, I was granted a divorce.

No matter how many ways life was going wrong, back then, I believed I knew better than anyone. Battered and bruised, I finally let go and let the universe take control. The results were amazing then and continue to be nothing short of miraculous.

By the way, Porsche, that dog who rode patiently in the floorboard of my car en route to my new life, is still alive and well at 13 years old. We live in Carson City, Nevada.  Her being by my side is a daily reminder of how far I’ve come. I realize today that the Universe isn’t a fast food window. I can’t just “order up” what I want in my life. But, if I just have faith, it will serve up some tasty experiences!

Faith and gratitude—that’s what keeps me going today.

The beginning is always the hardest.

The Beginning is the Hardest

Do not give up, the beginning is always the hardest!

Have you ever started something only to quit a week, or a few weeks, later? Rushed to see results, you throw up your hands, declare whatever you are trying as “not working” and set off to find another way. Don’t give up when you are so close to the miracle! With exercise, you gain muscle. So the scale may not move for a few weeks, no matter how good your diet is or how hard you are working. When you start a new class, it might be hard at first. Don’t be afraid to ask for help! Relationships begin with a honeymoon period, but the hard part is the beginning of the non-honeymoon period. Stick with it. The rewards are great. It’s true, the beginning is always the hardest. Doing the work you need to do, when everything in you is telling you that you aren’t inspired, are bored, don’t have the talent, or don’t have the time, is essential. Whatever you do, do not give up!

Here are 50 Inspirational Quotes to help you stick with it.

Get ready to hack your life.

This talk by Logan LaPlante at a University TEDx event has us inspired today. We’re so inspired that we’d like to ask you a simple question.

Are you a hacker?

Don’t worry, the NSA isn’t looking over our shoulder, tazers at the ready because we are part of an elite task force to find hackers and destroy them. In fact, we’re bold enough to say (inspired by this video) that hacking is a good thing.

“Hackers are innovators. Hackers are people who challenge and change the systems to make them work differently, to make them work better. It’s just how they think. It’s a mindset.” – Jordan LaPlante

TODAY’S EXERCISE

Pick one thing in your life, one little thing, and hack it. Maybe its the behavior problem your kid is having. Been reading the parenting books on it? Well, try something new, untested, see if it works with your kid. Maybe its a deadline you have to reach. Is there a shortcut you can take that won’t compromise quality? Need help figuring out a hack for your life, career or business? Just contact us. Otherwise, comment below and tell us what you are going to hack to make your life even better than it already is.

Visualize what you want. Now, go get it!

The next time you feel a little “I can’t” coming on. Remember this.

imaginesun

Don’t you dare think of quitting!

This is one of my favorite motivational poems. Rather than fill you with fluff, it allows you to address your situation and correct your mindset before proceeding toward a solution.

– Diane Dye Hansen, What Works Lead Coach

MustNotQuit