Challenge Yourself To Be An Unstoppable Advisor

I've been a big fan of Scaling New Heights since the first time I attended two years ago. I was blown away by the content and the level of education that's in place at this conference.

Scaling New Heights is genuinely for the ProAdvisor. This year, I'm fortunate to be a part of their "Unstoppable Advisor" series. I love this conference because the conference organizers, particularly Joe Woodard, have made this event about education and growing your firm to thrive in the future and about health and self-care. Coming out of a year of Covid lockdowns, many of us have struggled.

One of the places that I leaned into was my yoga and meditation practice. I'm fortunate this year to teach a course called "Bring Balance and Harmony to Your Life with Yoga and Meditation."

I'm teaching with the amazing Carmen Marique. She is also a registered yoga teacher. In my advanced training and one of the areas that I took extra time to study is meditation. It's also a place that I have taken many years to get regular practice. In this course, I will tell you why you need to add this to your day and the science behind meditation.

Below are a few rules I try to live by. I make them a part of my every day. As you may know, I work with attorneys. That job in the legal industry can be rife with stress. I'm hoping that this article will help my attorney clients and accounting friends make better health choices.

Be intentional

Intentional with your words and intentional in life in general. In yoga, we have the practice of setting an intention every time we hit our mat. Setting an intention around what you want to move towards is a powerful practice. There is a ton of data (see this article from Gaia written by Kimberley Stokes) behind being intentional.

Health comes first

You have heard the old adage, “Without your health, you have nothing.” We've all heard this. In a world where everything is moving so fast, we are being pulled in multiple directions and sometimes it feels like it is spiraling out of control. Do you take time out of your day to go for a walk in nature? Do you take steps to care for yourself? Eat healthier? Exercise or lift weights? These may seem like times in your day that you can give up so you'll have more time to work but don't let that happen. We must care for our bodies because in doing so we are caring for our minds.

Nature

Spend time in nature- my morning walks are where my ideas are born. Being in nature is my number one way to help your mental health. It's incredible how being around nature and being outside breathing fresh air is not only healthy for you but healthy for the mind.

Focus

Focus on what you have control over. Focus on you.  You cannot control the past, but you can control today.  How often do we get wound up, worry, and feel like things are spiraling out of control? When you think life is out of control that is where your journaling can come into play. We can't help the thoughts, which is why meditation helps sort them out, but by writing, and I mean pen and paper, help you realize that if it's something that you can't control, you need to let that go.

Labels

Don't attach to a number or a label. In this rule, I'm talking about whether I want to weigh 134 pounds or be a size 2. Why are you focusing on that number? Are you going to be happier when you hit that level? Focus on what I like to call “non-scale victories'' (ex: you quit drinking soda, or your body mass index went down). Focus on just being healthier, and the rest will fall into place.

Optimize

It can help if you optimize your day.  By optimizing your day, I mean again writing down what you do daily, pen and paper what you do during a typical day. Sort it out. Tackle the small things that you can scratch off that list first, for a quick win. Once you start to work and organize the list, you will find that it's a fantastic decluttering method. You'll feel better when you optimize your day. You feel organized and spacious.

Love yourself first

If you are struggling with any relationship with a friend or a spouse or family member, you have to love yourself first. It's so easy to beat ourselves up. One of the tips that I have, came from my yoga training. Part of our training was to take a sticky note and place it on the mirror in your bathroom, so you see it multiple times in the day. Write a love letter to yourself and stick it in a mirror. It could be something so simple as you are beautiful. This small tip can make a momentous shift.

I hope you join me at the Scaling New Heights accounting conference in Fort Worth, Texas on October 24-27th, and learn about meditation. Learn and grow with Carmen and I as we share what we have learned through our practices and geek out with me on some incredible data as to why you need to make meditation a part of your day.