Ranking Plummeted
It's another beautiful day in paradise and as soon as I'm done here, it's time for a dash on the mountain bike before phase two of this awesome day begins; in my humble opinion it's well-deserved. Personal rewards and celebrations are essential.
What's This About Plummeting Rank?
Well, funny old thing, but the start of the lock down here in France coincided with a sharp increase in business and related projects. I notice today that my WA rank has dropped from somewhere close to 30 down to 248 today. Oh dear C'est La Vie, such is life.
I will get on to business in a minute but first, I thought I would share how life looks from here in the south of France right now. Normally on workdays, I am alone. I can record video, make client calls and do everything I need to without so much as the sound of a pin drop in the office, only the occasional passing car through the village, lawn mower, tractor, chainsaw . . . disturbs the peace. Tranquil bliss.
Then came social distancing and all it's baggage
Now I am one of seven in the household and one of those needs frequent supervision to maintain focus on her "teletransmitted" school work. It's fair to say that the others are getting a little tetchy too even though movement restrictions have been relaxed in our "green zone".
We've noticed a lot of changes in the children. In the beginning they thought it was a healthy buzz. Today, well, not so much of a healthy buzz and they have even stopped asking for movie time at inappropriate times. The creativity of mum and dad has been heavily challenged and to be honest, we really need a day at the beach, in the mountains, just out. No more movies, please.
I'm so grateful for my mountain bike. My escape to sanity and nature, and I am no longer limited to rides within 1-kilometer of our rural home. I had a very flexible idea of 1-kilometer during the height of lock down. Call it creatively re-scaling the map. Not that I ever see people out on the trails on weekdays. There's another joy of working from home, I ride when it fits into the day.
Down To Business
As I said at the start of this post, I've enjoyed a sharp increase in business. I've made a few videos with Ger & Siobhan Leijan (Ger is a WA member), a few of my own, written well-over 20K words on my website recently and the paying client sessions that came to an end have been replaced with new clients. In August, I will be interviewed on a live Webinar with a huge audience which fills me with joy and excitement. All of that is exciting and has given me much to celebrate.
Of course none of that success would be possible without Passionate Action in the right directions. Goals without plans are just dreams, right? Some of those plans come from the training here at Wealthy Affiliate, some from my background and experience and significantly from a team of remarkable individuals who are members of the Tony Robbins speaking team. I'm talking motivation on steroids and I'm already a motivated person.
Investment in Self
I work in the personal development industry so if I didn't invest in self I would be a fraud. Having said that, whatever the industry or niche any of us work within demands that we need to pay plenty of attention to our own growth. I'm not going to go on about that here and I've written plenty of posts about it in the past.
Robin Sharma said "investment in self is the best investment you will ever make", the added bonus to that is that self-investment also impacts the people we serve, family, friends, business partners . . .
Impact and Serve
I know precisely what my products are and how they can Impact and Serve my ideal client. Not everybody is my ideal client, as much as I might like them to be. Think about it like this. If I owned a bookstore and sold self-help books, there's no point trying to sell to a person who is not interested in their personal development. Maybe they will at some point in the future so the best I can do is keep them on a contact or mailing list.
An example of this is a person who as far as I remember, never liked or commented on my Facebook posts until recently I received a message which grew into a new paying client. We may not always be aware but, people are watching what we do and what we say.
Ramble Over
Well, I hope you enjoyed this short ramble and maybe you discovered a takeaway. I truly hope you are safe and well as we navigate these uncertain times. Yet, one thing is certain. Many people still need your positive service.
Namasté
Recent Comments
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Well timed Steve. It's interesting to see how you navigated the coincidence of increased home activity with the sharp increase in business. Thank God for the mountain biking escape.
My takeaways, passionate action in the right directions lead to success and investment in self creates ripples beyond just your business. Thanks for sharing.
We are Blessed.
Mark
Glad to hear that you're still safe, Steve. I'm still a little puzzled over that 1 kilometer limit on your bike rides a while back - what if you go off trail? How do they know if you've been beyond 1 kilometer to catch you? 🤔
Thanks,
Isaiah 😊
Hi Isaiah, Great to see you. Do you know what? I'm still puzzled over the 1KM rule. So, that in mind, on the first day, I made it my mission to reach a particular forest well outside the zone without going near any form of civilization or even narrow roads. Mission accomplished and I now have a lot of thrilling new routes. If they had caught me, I would have gladly paid the fine for their ingenuity.
Have a great weekend & stay safe.
Steve
Great to see you back Steve. In some ways (I like to think) absence for periods indicates that 'business' is booming.
The landscape you look out on is spectacular, such an incredible back drop.
Here, there is a feeling of 'easing off the gas' as far as sticking to the 'safety' guidelines is concerned. It's a worry to some extent, as this will allow the virus a new lease of life.
Humans hey, who'd have em'
Good to see you.😎
Hey Twack, booming, inspiring, challenging, motivating. So much to be grateful for.
Easing off the gas indeed. One son lives in Toulouse, the other Montpelier. One said today, "they are inviting more of the same". I hope he's wrong. Eldest daughter still stuck in Aus. Not much we can do about that.
It's always good to see you too. I do feel guilty that not enough time is spent here....not enough hours in the day. Healthy chaos.
S
Likewise my friend.
I wouldn't be greedy, just one extra hour an day would make me happy. I would also bring the 'time' into the metric world.
Unfortunately, I would agree with your son. Still, we can only do what we can do.
Hey Steve,
I never realized that you lived IN France until now.
Yesterday I posted an article on French Maritime Pine Bark extracts as a nootropic supplement.
Have you ever heard of the researcher Masquelier?
It was a very interesting intellectual journey to discover that something as simple as pine bark extracts have been found to be so useful.
I was surprised to see that it gets used a lot for skin care.
In any case, I enjoyed your post very much. Thanks for sharing.
Steven
Hi Steven, My wife is the herbal / natural expert and midwife. I will ask her about Masquelier. I have only heard of. There are a lot of interesting people in our region who are into many types of natural healing (Haut Valée / Pyrennes). There is a local market we go to (ha ha currently closed) at a place called Esperaza. Herbal / natural heaven.
Glad you enjoyed the post.
Take care
Steve
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Here’s to investing in self, Steve :) we cannot give what we do not have.
Great to hear all is going well for you despite the challenges. Goal setting continues, though the time taken to execute has doubled during this lockdown.
With this in mind, celebrating the small successes is vital to keep motivation. The TR speaking team are top class when it comes to motivation. Funny how it all fits together :)
Happy Sunday, Steve.
Ger.