Changes

Changing Relationships

Relationships

Sheri here,

Our relationships change as we change. If you are in a committed relationship you have two people affecting change.

Getting Married

When I got married almost 23 years ago, I somehow, naively thought that things would stay as they were – somehow frozen in time. I knew better because I’d been married before. That first marriage didn’t turnout as I’d hoped.

My current husband, George, also had been married previously. Before we got married we talked about what had gone wrong and we were certain we were different now and the results would be different in our relationship.

Yes, this was a different relationship, but we brought ourselves and things shifted.

We went back to work after getting married, our jobs transitioned and changed our relationship. I traveled a lot for work and coming home brought expectations: on my part, that I’d have time to recover from the travel and on his, that I’d be available for dedicated time. While we were both disappointed to an extent, we found a way through. We spent time together and we spent “me” time.

Relationships Change Gradually – Like Seasons

Relationships transition gradually, something like the annual seasons; but these are the seasons of our life. They are influenced by events and aging.

We got married in mid-life and after 23 years, a lot happens. We both retired from our Company jobs. George, retired years before I did, which had a major impact. Now I was the only one still working and subject to the stress of an everyday job and sometimes traveling.

We managed to find a way that worked for us, even though it took time to figure it out and lots of listening to one another.

Then I retired and that was another relationship change. I can’t be idle too long. I had a plan: to go back to school, to do pleasure travel, to knit endlessly, and to play in the garden. It worked for several years, then it shifted again as I opened my business. I loved it as I was meeting new people and doing new things. George not so much. He’s retirement plan was different, more alone time than I. Different is great if you are both happy.

Aging Impacts Relationships, Too

Then aging caught up with us and George began to experience the long-term consequences of his hypertension – kidney failure, then a kidney transplant and then came the impact on his eyes – an eye stroke and partial blindness. Along came a caregiver as other issues also crept in.

All that caused other impacts in our relationship – as these events do not happen in a vacuum. But we have managed to find our way, both as a couple and as two individuals.

Being Adaptable

Life is about being adaptable and that requires patience and a strong spiritual program. You can manage your way through anything if you are willing and can see the blessings in your life.

How about you? Have your relationships changed? Are you continuing to be willing to adapt? Or were the changes too much to overcome? Leave a comment and let me know what is going on with you.

Around Town

Two events are going on over the next several weeks: My workshop for dynamic professional women: 3 Keys to Radically Transform Your Life and Finances Tuesday October 25, 2022, 2pm PT. You won’t want to miss this if your life has shifted and you are uncomfortable or disturbed. You’ll discover life changing tools that will radically transform your current challenges into your greatest opportunities to thrive. Register here.

Secondly, an online launch for my book: Everything I Learned About Life I Learned on Vacation. Sunday October 30 at 4:00pm. Hosted by Marie Macagno, my writing coach. Join us for some fun, a book reading and Q&A about why and how the book got written. Here’s the zoom link.

Ciao,

Sheri

Hit Your Goal Reset Button

Goals

Sheri here –

Ok, 2020 has already been a year or two long with everything that has happened. Most of it wasn’t in our plan!

The good news is that you can reset your plans. You can start where you are and redefine your goals to still make major headway on your goals and plans – your dreams.

Create SMARTER Goals

New Years resolutions are always low on my list because they almost always get abandoned early in the year.

Earlier this year, I posted a blog about creating SMARTER goals, instead of resolutions. You can check it out here.

When I’m having a bad day, I will frequently start the day over. That’s right, start the day over, even if it is late afternoon! Have you ever tried that?

You can do the same thing with your goals!

What do you want to do by the end of the year?

  • Lose 5 pounds? Maybe 10?
  • Pay off some debt?
  • Write a book?
  • Find a new job?
  • Heck, kick start your own business – live the “Laptop Lifestyle”?

Each of the goals you define, have their own first steps. Some may be more obvious than others.

One Step at a Time

These are all possible, but wishin’ don’t make it so. It takes a series of repeated action on your part.

Possible some new habits, new focus, new learning.

Small steps done regularly will take you a long way to reaching your goal.

Once you’ve set yourself some SMARTER goals (see blog here), then its up to you to take that first step.

For instance, if you want to lose 10 pounds, do one thing today toward that goal. That could include things like replacing that cookie with a piece of fruit, a walk around the block, finding a food plan and/or a health coach. (Need one, I know a couple I could recommend…)

Just one thing today, another one thing tomorrow. One foot in front of the other!

Celebrate, Celebrate, Celebrate!

Celebrate yourself – nooooo, not with food. Find something else, maybe a bouquet of flowers or a good book, or scented bath salts.

Celebrating yourself sends your subconscious mind a positive message. This allows you to acknowledge yourself. To give yourself positive reinforcement. Allows you to experience and express the gratitude that you have for the blessings in your life.

Ciao and hugs,

Sheri

P.S. Drop a comment below and let me know about your goals and how I can help!

Where Are Your Dreams, Now?

Dreams

Sheri here –

Life has shifted a great deal the last several months and then again, the last couple of weeks.

Priorities, desires, and goals have changed pretty dramatically too, for ALL of us.

Do YOU want the same things you wanted 6 months ago, or have you discovered new dreams?

Hope Takes Action

Hope was the subject of Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey’s most recent meditation series. One part of their meditation said “hope tells me anything can be transformed, but to make hope effective, takes action”.

I can only change myself, my attitude and my actions. I know changes in my attitude and actions creates room for others to change and grow.

What Do You Need To Change?

Recently, I found myself looking deep into my heart and asking what needed to change? Treating others with dignity and respect has always been important to me. But can I do more?

What has shifted in your heart? Some things may have stayed the same, but are you still focused on your life purpose?

How will you put the action into your hopes and dreams?

Before everything changed in 2020, it was easier to put off your dreams until someday. Now, it’s different, we’ve received several wake up calls.

What Action Can You Take?

Dreams come in all shapes and sizes – what are yours? What small step, what action can you take today toward that dream?

Maybe now is when you finally create your own business.

Or grow your business so that you can be of greater service and make a bigger positive impact on the world?

Or get more comfortable with a location-independent dream business that allows you to work from anywhere?

Position that dream business for success, get my complimentary ebook “10 Secrets for a Successful Business” by clicking HERE.
⁠
Til the next time,

Ciao and hugs,

Sheri

P.S. Would love to hear how your dreams are doing now – leave a comment below.

Without Vision

Without Vision, Businesses Perish

Vision

Sheri here – 

Where there is no vision, people perish – Proverbs 29:18.

You may ask, why should I care if I have no vision – what difference does that make?

If you look at your life, when you leave your house, you usually have a destination. While you might you use an app to help get you there, you are clear on where you’re going. ⁠ 

A vision certainly helps to get you there, sooner than later.

A Vision Gives Us Direction

Without an idea of where you are going, any road will get you there, you will wander aimlessly and endlessly – wasting a piece of your life.  Does that matter to you?  If it doesn’t, then vision isn’t important.

That vision is what facilitates you fulfilling your life purpose, your destiny. There is so much you have to offer when you follow your life purpose, your why – your vision.
⁠
When you are clear on where you are going, you wind up there – sooner or later!⁠  If you are willing, I’d love to hear what your vision looks like.  Swing by the Facebook Group “Money Talks with Sheri” , and leave a note or comment.  If you’d like to share; but prefer to keep it more private, leave a comment below. 

Businesses Need Visions, too!

When you have a vision for your business it does similar things: it gives you your business direction.

That destination could be the size of your profits, the type of products, the people you are working with, the lifestyle you can create, the projects that you can help. 

The list is endless and as individual as you and your business.
⁠
Once you have a destination, you can create a plan, a roadmap to get there.  Then it becomes a matter of working the plan.

Periodically after you create your plan, you will want to stop, check your progress and do a course correction, if necessary, to assure that you are on track to get to your destination, to your vision.⁠

Review Your Vision When Circumstances Change

Given the “reset” that we have been given, this is a prime time to stop and assure that you have a clear vision of where you want to go.

Maybe, you already have one and it needs a few tweaks.⁠
⁠
Maybe, you need to craft a new vision because circumstances have so changed the environment that your vision is out of date.⁠
⁠
Maybe, you don’t have a vision and need to craft one.⁠
⁠
No matter the situation, if you need help in understanding the why of revisiting, updating or creating a vision, then reach out.⁠ Ask for help – book a call using this link.
⁠
Til the next time, 

Ciao and hugs,

Sheri

P.S. If you haven’t joined the Facebook Group, Money Talks with Sheri, just hit this link, and join now!  

Making Change – SMARTER Goals!

Goals

Sheri here –

Well here we are, well into the new year and a new decade. 

Did you decide where you were going to start?

Write SMARTER Goals

Did you write any SMARTER goals?  As I mentioned last week SMARTER is an acronym, which sets out the actions for goal setting:
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Time-Bound
E – Evaluate
R – Readjust

These have a higher success rate than New Year’s resolutions. 

Where to begin?  Frequently losing weight and reducing debt are two that are high on the list.

These both have a lot in common.  They require focus, intentionality, and tracking.

Goal Success Requires Focus; Maybe New Habits

With food, some of the best success rates that I’ve experienced have come with daily food tracking – either in an app such as My Fitness Pal or the old fashion, manual diary. 

The most important thing is to keep track of what you are eating, then followed by PLANNING what your food consumption will look like.

Oh my, does that sound like a lot of work or what.  Well, if you are just starting, yes, it is work, because you are changing patterns – creating a new habit.  Changing habits is frequently at the heart of weight loss and fitness.

Even the commitment to do exercise daily or 5 days a week may be a change in pattern for you.  I know it is for me.  It starts with desire and intentionality.  Being committed to achieving your goals, whether it is weight loss or just to feel better.

It does take effort.

Changing your spending patterns are much the same.  It takes a written plan (aka budget) and tracking your actual spending daily.
This can also be done using an app, manually on paper or even using a spreadsheet.  It takes a commitment to do the work to make a change.

As you track your daily spending, you get a LOT of information about how you spend money.  You may begin to see ways you could reduce what you spend – either in cash or on credit – and make real differences in your life.

Adopting new habits, no matter what they are – changes in eating, exercise or spending requires some dedicated focus.  It might also require a coach, a trainer or an accountability buddy. 

Change Requires Action

Many of our goals requires change. Wishin’ don’t make it so – changes require action.

Are you committed to change, thinking about it? 

What changes are you focused on making?  Share with us in the Facebook Group Reinventing You, just click here! 

Nothing changes until something changes.  It can be a dream, that becomes a goal, that becomes an action.  It can be one small step on a journey that will, over time, change your life.

Need some help – all you need to do is ask…

Ciao and hugs,

Sheri

P.S.   If you really want to change and you know you need some help, let’s talk, you can schedule some time to chat right here with this link.   

Resolutions – Not! Make Goals Instead!

Goals

Sheri here – 

Are you making New Year’s resolutions?  Don’t waste your time! 

What you say?  Don’t try to change?  Don’t try to improve yourself?
Only 8% of the people who make resolutions are successful – that is a pretty sad success rate!  Many don’t even survive the WEEK, let alone the month.

Make a Plan

I am not advocating that you don’t strive for personal growth or improvement.  But use a method that WORKS!

There are studies (well, purportedly, there are studies) that say 3% of Harvard grads that made written goals WITH A PLAN, made 10 times the money their fellow grads made who either had no goals or had goals with no plans.

Create Goals

So, as I said, don’t make New Years’ resolutions – make written goals with a plan!

I remember years ago when someone had told me about goals, I decided that I would write a set of goals that I wanted to achieve during my lifetime.

I spent quite a bit of time working on them.  I wrote them out.  I wrote out STRETCH goals, the kind that seemed possible but really stretched me. Life got busy.  The piece of paper with my goals got buried in the clutter of everyday life.

One day when I was moving, several years later, I came across the piece of paper and was stunned to see that I had already achieved a number of those goals.

Once again they got buried in the move and resurfaced again, years later.

This time, I realized that I had achieved every single one of those goals that I had written down.  They had been acting as a rudder for my actions over the years.

Make Them SMARTER Goals

I’ve become an advocate of goal setting.  But…I have discovered, there is a method to assuring greater success with your goals.

That method is setting SMARTER written goals.  What you say – SMARTER written goals?  What on earth is that?

It is an acronym, which sets out the actions.  Here ya go:
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Realistic
T – Time-Bound
E – Evaluate
R – Readjust

So get a piece of paper and write out your SMARTER goals – not New Year’s resolutions!

Try it.  It might make the difference you have been looking for.

I’d love to hear your top 3 SMARTER goals for the year.  Share it with us in the Facebook Group Reinventing You, just click here!

Whether you write goals or not, spend a little time reflecting on the year, even the decade that is ending and dream a little about how you want next year to be.  Then, maybe write some goals!!

Have a safe, wonderful New Year’s celebration.

Sheri

P.S.  Ok, so you like the idea of written goals and how they could make your dreams more realizable, but you are still BAFFLED by SMARTER goals.  If you’d like some help, let’s talk, you can schedule some time to chat right here with this link.

3D-NOBG_
Take these steps towards your Reinvention!

Get instant access to my FREE ebook "3 Steps to Reinvent You: Go From Stuck to Excited & Fulfilled"  Simply tell me where I should send it below.

Scroll to Top