Empower Me Photo

Many years ago I promised myself that once I began to earn over $100,000 per year that I would buy myself a nice watch. Once I reached my goal I realized that a watch did not have the same meaning to me anymore and that has to do with the reasons that I was able to achieve the earnings threshold.
A few years into my technology sales career, I discovered how to apply the concept of procrastination to the Pareto Principle, also known as The 80/20 rule. If you are not familiar with the 80/20, it is a premise that sometimes applies to many areas of our life; such as:
• 80% of the clothes that I wear come from only 20% of the clothes that I own
• 80% of my financial reward stems from only 20% of my activities
• 80% of the time I spend socializing is done with only 20% of the people I know

The idea around applying procrastination to this principle is that I discovered how to procrastinate the 80% of my activities that we only attributing to 20% of my earnings. Thus, I became much more productive and achieved the seemingly lofty income goal of that time.

The reason that I highlighted that personal story for you is two fold:
1) to ensure that you recognized the importance of The 80/20 rule and focusing on the 20% that actually gets you to your goal, and
2) to help you understand the power of going ala carte.

Going ala carte is the mentality that I took up once I discovered the need to focus on the 20%. I basically took a step back and looked at my life and took drastic action to simplify things. If my hair was longer so that it took extra care and maintenance, I trimmed it to a different, shorter, lower maintenance style. If it took a few extra minutes to put on a watch, I no longer needed the watch. If there were items in my briefcase or in the trunk of my car that were not actually being used, I removed them. I organized my closet and got rid of a ton of clothes that I was never wearing. My workspace at work was stripped, cleaned and no longer contained unnecessary items that only served to distract me. If I no longer needed anything to be more productive, I removed it from my life.

Please don’t get me wrong. This was not a religious move to where I frantically ejected anything ‘extra’ from my life. It was just an attempt to SIMPLIFY my life. As my life became more simplified, it allowed me room to grow. It allowed me to experience the day to day hustle and bustle without so much hustle and bustle – thereby creating a lot less stress.

So it is with many people seeking weight loss. They’ve tried many things yet nothing seems to work. Sometimes it is a matter of simplifying your life. You may be amazed at how many seemingly insignificant items or things you have in your day to day life that you feel are not a burden; yet, collectively they weigh you down and restrain you from growth. And many times these distractions keep true peace from entering your life.

Let go of anything that you are not using regularly. If it is an item you only would use on special occasions then get it out of sight and mind until that time of year comes around again. Think through every area of your life such as your home, car, purse or briefcase, cubicle or your office at work. Check around your floors, desk drawer and kitchen counter tops. Does clutter seem to be everywhere?

Do you realize that these little items are consuming your subconscious mind and creating distractions? They are like a million tiny little traps holding your mind back and keeping you in a comfort zone that in some cases may actually being sucking the life right out of you.

Weight Loss
You may need to go ala carte. If you do, I assure you that it is a lot less painful than one might think. In fact, it is one of the most invigorating and liberating exercises that you can undertake. As you change the surroundings around you and make your daily path in life consume less of your mental energy, you will discover a simplistic side that is one of the most refreshing feelings that you can ever imagine.

Let going Ala Carte empower you!