When people don’t thoroughly envision what they want in all areas of their life, they end up with single-focus goals. When making more money, losing weight, finding a spouse become your agenda to the exclusion of the bigger picture of developing yourself and the life you want, you may reach your goals, but not enjoy them like you thought you would. You also are likely to struggle to maintain them.

So what kind of “success” are you pursuing?

My clients and I are attracted to “holistic success”.

When you have a holistic approach, you create the complete vision and take strategic action in every area. You take time to evaluate when your goals are conflicting or competing, and you make adjustments.

“Noticing the contrasts” is a skill I learned from Christy Whitmore in her book, “The Art of Having It All”.

NOTICING THE CONTRASTS

You notice the contrast when something in your life is not going well:

• the revenue isn’t coming in,
• the kids are sick,
• you feel like you can never catch up at work,
• your jeans are too tight.

Instead of getting into despair with the awareness of how far you feel from your vision, when you notice the contrast, you use the opportunity of the yucky times to hone in on what you really want.

Most people don’t jump up and down every day when their kids wake up and are well, “Yea!  My kids aren’t sick today!”

So use the days when you have the stomach flu rotating through your home, a lovely scent of vomit permeating your home, and a completely chaotic and disrupted schedule to appreciate when everyone is well. You can even go a step further and think, “What can I do so that we experience more days when everyone feels good and is healthy?”  This may even motivate you to have your kids take vitamins, eat more healthy, get off the electronics and into the sun, get more sleep, etc.

WHY IS “NOTICING THE CONTRASTS” IMPORTANT FOR HOLISTIC SUCCESS?

The holistic success approach is a slower go. You’ll have more days when you feel like you are off track. Holistic success is more like slower, long-term weight loss through learning new habits in contrast with rapidly dropping pounds only to gain it back as quickly as it came off.

Celebrations and the adjustments you make from “noticing the contrasts” keep your motivation and perseverance high. Gradually, the results do come with time and consistent effort.

HOLISTIC SUCCESS IS DYNAMIC

Noticing the contrasts helps you continuously shape your success because you see how all different parts of your work, self, and life inter-relate. You are systemic. A shift in one area can and does affect another area for either the positive or negative. Noticing the contrasts help you monitor the effects of the changes you are making.

I used to stay up late to get work done. I cherished the quiet time in front of the computer without the distraction. In reality, it took me much longer to complete my work at night because of fatigue and the accompanying loss of creativity and energy.

Today, whenever possible, I put everything I did not get done the night before on the schedule for the next morning when I am fresh. I started seeing my choice to complete the task at night, in the bigger context of my overall productivity.

CONCLUSION

Defining your vision guides you to focus on your vision, not what others are doing or not doing.  When you’ve mapped out your vision well in a holistic approach, it really just takes time, perseverance, and making small adjustments along the way to achieve it. Noticing the contrasts keeps the focus on monitoring and adjusting yourself, so you don’t get distracted with the actions of others.

Christian Entrepreneur Biz and Life Tip: When you notice yourself not liking what is happening at the moment, ask yourself what it tells you about what you do want to happen. Take action to experience a greater percentage of the good stuff in your business and life.