There are only 168 hours in a week...

I have been taught that the success of whatever it is that you are currently doing is built upon the foundation that immediately preceded it.

With that in mind, for each of these quality of life areas - physical health, relationship health, career health, financial health and inner health - address the following questions:

• What results are you getting? Are they what you want?
• What are the foundations upon which those results are built that immediately preceeded them? What do they look like and what should they look like?
• Can you delegate this task in this area of your life? (Yes or No)
• How many additional hours a week would you like to spend on these areas?
• What 2 or 3 activites will you do in the extra time which will improve that area of your life?
• What is the impact of improving this area of your life?

All this is more important than money, DIY financial plans, washing the car, cleaning the pool and other 'delegatable' stuff. Who can do those things you can delegate so you can focus on those you cannot with the gift of the extra time that delegation creates?
You only have 168 hours in a week - what are you doing with those hours you have left after sleep and work?

What can I do for you?

I'm going to keep this short:

1. What does the perfect client or customer look like for you?
   
2. What professions can refer you easily?
   
3. What are the biggest challenges that you solve for people?
   
4. What are the key frustrations that people look to you for help with?
   
5. How would I notice a good opportunity for you?
   
6. Who can I introduce you to?

A small journey to a new direction...

Sometimes when we want to achieve things which are important to us or our families, or make important changes, the destination may seem very far off. It may seem like a giant leap.

However, it's a very small journey to a new direction. That's all it takes - a decision to change your direction and you're on your way. Take small strides, daily, one day at a time and you'll get there. Time will win out.

Resolve to follow this formula, today and thereafter:

A small journey to a new direction + a few simple disciplines practiced every day = success

And avoid this one:

Following the same path + a few, subtle errors in judgement repeated every day = failure

(Thank you, Jim Rohn)

Where it all started...

Guess who that is!? So this is where I get it from! This is a picture of me with my Grandad in his shed making stuff. Do you like my golden jumper? - my shed clothes:) We're actually making a bar skittles game and I remember that day vividly. Look how messy the shed is! He gave me lots of time and personal commitment. We used to create things from seemingly nothing - scraps and offcuts mainly.

I was chatting to Mike Wilshire from the Executive Foundation (http://www.executive-foundation.com/) and he's convinced that our past experience way back can shape our purposes, and this is how this memory came to the fore. I was about 4 years old there I think. As I spoke to him about my philosophy, he observed that it's no wonder I give those people who inspire me my personal time and commitment; and, in a sense, craft people's future from where ever they are with their finances - creating for them a personal Financial Road Map: their version of a bar skittles game, a wooden Farm, a wooden Fort and countless other creations that came out of that ramshackle little shed with my Grandad.

As he used to say to me when I struggled with the the saw that was bigger than me, "there's no such thing as can't".

Anything was possible. And it still is.

Loved the Oolong!

Thank you Ryan James of the fabulous Essential Marketing http://www.essential-marketing.com/ for your invitation to your gathering at Attic Tea in Bristol last night - a unique experience and great company.

Very priveleged to be in the company of so many that 'get' altruistic business development.

I look forward to drinking the very drinkable and refreshing Oolong! Pity they ran out of the Zing blend - would have bought that too. There's always another day :)

Time management?

Not sure if we can manage time as such; we each have 168 hours in a week - no more and no less and it ticks on by at a constant rate.

I found it was more helpful for me to believe that I need to manage myself within the time I have, rather than the time itself. As I say that, I appreciate that this it what most people mean when we talk of managing time, of course. However, I think it is more useful to be more precise.

I have found that the prerequisite for determining what we do in the time we have is to be crystal clear on all our goals and have them written down for every category of our lives. We can then easily see whether or not all the stuff and information that crosses our paths is relevant or not.

Then we need to do less. We also need to learn less and study more. Go narrower and deeper rather than broad and shallow. Internalise what we learn and pursue Mastery rather than dabble.

Errors in Judgement or Simple Disciplines?

Which would you choose? In his book, "The Five Major Pieces of the Life Puzzle", Jim Rohn talks about about failure and success. These mean different things to different people and one definition which Jim Rohn suggests can be a helpful belief to hold is:

• Failure = a few subtle errors in judgement repeated every day
  
• Success = a few simple disciplines practiced every day

We don't know the whole effect that little, subtle errors in judgement have on our lives over time. We know they have a compound effect. We need to consider the future more; think about it. A slight lapse in discipline in one area can create a tendency for lapses elsewhere. So we cannot allow an error to be repeated day in and day out.
Key idea: change errors into discliplines. Notice even the smallest errors that can be changed to it's opposite of discipline. Resolve to do this.

Creating game plans

Don't start your day until you have it finished. Don't start your week until you have it finished. Don't start your month until you have it finished.

What is your Philosophy?

Philosophy. I've been reading Jim Rohn recently. If you're interested in listening to some nitty gritty profound thinking and ideas which will inspire you to do all you can do and become all you can become then I strongly encourage to seek him out and read and listen to him. He deals with reality, not wishful thinking.

Here's a few things that I've jotted down. Influence is very powerful, especially the influence of others. It's important to ask:

1. With whom do I spend time?
2. What are they doing to me?
3. Is this association okay with me?

Ponder these questions. If you're not sure, ask:

• What have they got me doing?
• What have they got me listening to?
• What have they got me reading?
• Where have they got me going?
• What have they got me thinking?
• How have they got me talking?
• How have they got me feeling?
• What have they got me saying?

And lastly, after you have pondered these, ask, "Are my associations helping me grow in the direction I have chosen through goal setting?". Do they hurt me or help me?
If you're not sure, it may be time to evaluate some of your key associations in your life. Influence can happen little by little, a nudge here and a nudge there over time which you may not notice, until one day you say, "Hey, how did I get all the way over here?!" So, this matters. Everything matters. It might be necessary to disassociate entirely with people who find a great deal of pleasure holding you back, pecking away at your goals and dreams: you need to move away from that influence. Life can be less simple especially if it's family members or business associates with whom you need to spend some amount of time. In that case, try limited association - perhaps spend less time; or relaxed, relatively unimportant time with them if they derive pleasure in pecking away at you! Don't squander major time on minor things. Or do minor things in major time.
Here's another thought...where we end up is not determined so much by the winds of our circumstances but by the set of our sail. The same wind blows on us all. If the wind changes, we can reset our sail to get to where we plan to go; change our plans - get a new sail. Have you ever thought about this? Is your sail even raised? What's your plan?
This is one to ponder: is becoming a millionaire important? £1,000,000? To some it's "yes - what a lot of money!?" To some it's "no", because money is not that important. Both these focus on the money part. How about a different philosophy? What if having a £1,000,000 is not the issue, so much as who you'd have to become to achieve that goal? If it's something that you can do, should you? Could you? Will you? Ask, "What kind of person would I have to become to achieve that? Who would I need to know? What do I need to ask? What skills would I need to learn - interpersonal skills, business skills, financial skills? How do I need to see my time? What plans would I need to create? What would I need to learn to plan my day, my week, my month before they are finished? How would I need to grow and learn from changes in my circumstances - setting and re-setting my sail?" What does my philosophy need to be? Imagine what you will become as a result of that journey!
One last thought from Jim Rohn: "be happy with what you have while pursuing what you want. And beware...beware of what you become while pursuing what you want". Don't sacrifice your values, your integrity, important things and relationships. You don't need to pay that kind of price to do what you can and become all you can become. These are part of the ingredients - nuture these.

Tax 'un-avoidance'?

Sorry no Blagdon pictures or stories of wasps today. It seems that tax experts are looking to the HM Revenue and Customs to earn a few quid since being made redundant from the tax departments of banks and multinational companies. By employing these experts, the tax department, HMRC, believes it will help them work out how tax lawyers and accountants find loopholes in the legislation and how they can be closed so that the Treasury can maximise the tax revenue they can receive in these times of lower tax revenues and large public debt. Hmmm...

"There's no such thing as can't"

Last Wednesday, the question came up on the Community Soul group on Linked In about who was the most influential person in our lives. Well, I mentioned Jesus Christ, of course, although while being 100% Man, Christians accept him also as 100% God. So, I also added John Laing the builder. His biography is fantastic; he's a man very high on integrity and his life and how he lived it is inspiring.

Closer to home, and by no means least, the other people are my parents - high on integrity; always did what they said they would do and I realise always put the whole family i.e. me, my brother and them as a whole, above their interests. They gave us time. There may not have been a lot of money about, but they sacrificed to take an interest in us, give us time and we did things as a family when we were growing up. In that respect, we were very fortunate indeed.

Then also my grandad...he was a Royal Marine during WW2; joined up at the start in 1939 and managed to get shot up with a large calibre machine gun which also blew up a mine in front of him just 2 weeks before the war was over in 1945. As a result, he lost one and a half lungs and a leg while he spent the next 48 hours alone behind enemy lines in Holland applying his own morphine and tourniquet to stop the bleeding. Although he suffered badly from his wounds throughout the rest of his 52 years after the war, he always said that he was more fortunate than many of his mates; he just ploughed on and got on with it stubbornly refusing to let it stop him being active. Whenever I said I could not do something he always said, "No such thing as can't". That exhortation is very simple and it has always stuck with me.

"£10,200 in ISA's, Darling"

On 27 May, there was clarification on Mr. Darling's confusing announcement in his Budget recently about the increase to the ISA limits. The rules have been amended so that a qualifying investor aged 50 or over on 5 April 2010 can invest up to £10,200 - from 6 October 2009. In other words, if you reach age 50 at any time in tax year 2009/10 you can subscribe up to £10,200 on or after 6 October 2009. This is of course the maximum amount for 2009/10. So if you have already got £7,200 in, you have an extra £3,000.

Why oh why do they see the need to make things needlessly complicated? Why not just increase to £10,200 from 6th April for everyone? Come to that, what about a nice round number like £10,000 or £10,500 - where did the '£200' chappy come from? Anyway, it's still sunny so I'm off to sit in the garden with a Stella.

(Important: please see disclaimer below)

A Powerful Question

I asked for great questions on Twitter and Trevor Lever of Trevor Leaver Consulting (http://www.trevorleverconsulting.com/) came up with this extremely powerful and empowering question for us:

"If you could do one thing incredbily well, that you are not doing now, that would change your life, what would it be?"

Go ahead...see what happens when you ask this of yourself.

A much needed walk and why wasps sting!

Blagdon Lake in the distance

I was complaining recently that I felt pretty exhausted, headaches, tired etc and my friend Nicky Wilkins (Armada Finance in Bristol) asked me, "Do you excercise?" I had to admit that I did not any longer, having foolishly thought that I could keep up with teenagers (and a very fit 60+ year old) playing a full game of football two weeks ago, I injured my knees, which put paid to the running...not that I was actively running...perhaps I should say, put paid to my planned re-attempt to re-start running! Well, when Nicky is not acting, juggling, swinging from a circus trapeze and lending money, he's also a fitness expert having coached gymnastics professionally...so I thought I'd be wise to take his advice and start to at least walk for 15 minutes a day with a bottle of water in hand. As he so rightly pointed out, living in Blagdon, I have beautiful countryside to walk in (the pictures above were actually taken in October - today was just like that, very warm, very sunny). So that's what I did this morning: we walked to the lake and back which is about 5,000 steps. On the way back, we bumped into John Smythe who is well known in Blagdon for keeping bees. I mentioned Terry Andrews who's also a renowned beekeeper in the Mendips (John says hello, Terry). We talked to him about wasps and their purpose apart from to sting you...he gave us an education on wasps, their purpose and why they're a nuisance in the later part of the summer. Thanks, John. And thanks Nicky...I'll do this every morning...and who knows, may start to train for that marathon again!

31 million light years away

One light year is 5,878,630,000,000 miles in distance. That is over 5.8 trillion miles away. That's a huge distance away. The Earth is a tiny speck in the Milky Way Galaxy - and the Milky Way is 'only' 100,000 x 5.8 trillion miles across. This is found 31 million x 5.8 trillion miles away! This image was captured with The Hubble Telescope and is the "X" Structure at Core of Whirlpool Galaxy (M51). More on light years? See this 'You Tube' video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj1sDWjvgjM

What is a budget?

Simply put, a budget is a tool that tells you the truth. It tells you what is coming in, what is going out (and where it's going) and what is left over (or not). When used well, it is an extremely effective tool to help you achieve your goals for your reasons. It serves you in actualising what's on your Financial Road Map and generally getting your financial house in order and keeping it that way.

A Life Changing Question

Dan Sullivan of The Strategic Coach taught me this question:

"If we were sat here today, three years from now, looking back over that three year period, back to today, what would have to happen for you to be happy with your progress?"

Take 30 minutes and pose that question to yourself. You may begin to feel 'unstuck'. There is a follow-up excercise to this. I'll be posting it soon. If you want to have the follow-up emailed sooner, please email me by going to Contact Us on my website http://www.integrity-financial.co.uk/

18% or 50%?

With the rate of capital gains tax at 18% many believe that receiving returns primarily through capital gains is better that through income and as such this ought to affect investment decisions. Add to that the 50% rate of income tax for income over £150,000, and you can see why this message could make sense. However, is there a 'catch'? Well, there could be...while tax is an important factor in the investment decision I don't believe it is the most important factor in most cases. Seeking capital growth (over income) can increase the risk in a portfolio: the recent evidence is all around us: extreme volatility in capital values. Both the Barclays Equity/Gilt report and the Credit Suisse Global Investment Report have stressed the importance of reinvested dividends/ income as a significant factor. So, in looking to mitigate tax, we don't forget to keep an eye on risk and make sure that there's a match between your attitude to risk, your values and your goals. By the way, you may notice arrangements being invented suggesting that income is converted to capital gains in the hands of the investor which will then be taxed at the lower 18% rate: you can bet your boots that these will come under increasing HM Revenue and Customs scrutiny.

The other side of the Mendips - another world...

I've just driven into Wedmore to grab some work to take home for the next few days; the forecast is for another snow-dump on Blagdon on Monday evening (not just Blagdon, of course, but that's what caught my attention). It is as though there has been no snowfall here whatsoever - completely green, dry, sunny and blue skies. In fact it was that way from Cheddar onwards. This of course is the south facing side of the Mendip Hills - whereas Blagdon is North facing and therefore still looks like the Alps. The roads are clear now but all around it's white and deep. I just cleared two tracks for the wheels the length of the driveway this morning: the driveway is about 500 yards long! Basically a private road covered in snow 18 inches deep in places, although mainly about 8 inches. Weird weather.

Decided to explore...

Overlooking the valley and Blagdon Lake...

church to right of centre

Looking up the driveway...

Deeper than I expected!

Very Pretty...not very practical!