I'm working on a new business plan at the moment and so dear reader I find that I'm asking these questions of myself and when someone comes to me for help or advice I find they're the questions I firstly ask of them - 

1. Where are you now?
2. Where do you want to be?
3. How are you going to achieve that?

They're not particularly long questions just short, sharp and to the point and if you can answer them all fully then you're on your way to achieving your goals!

Of course it's not quite that easy is it?  I found that I could answer question 1 fairly well and I could answer question 2 fairly well but it's question 3 that's the hard part I guess.

Question 3 can take months and years to work out, it's certainly not straightforward but if you can come up with some kind of answers and plan then you're at least half way there.

So go get your paper and your pens, pencils, Technicoloured paints and just ask yourself those 3 simple questions, see if you can come up with answers to 1 and 2 at least and then we can all work together on answer number 3.

You can apply these questions to any situation big or small, business or personal and this is about getting stuff done, finding the stuff you need to achieve your goals.

Think of it like this example - 

1. In the house with no food

2. Having a delicious dinner

3. There are multiple ways to achieve what you want, you could go to the supermarket, buy ingredients, go home and cook, you could call a takeaway or you could go out to dinner, they're all going to get you to your goal just in slightly different ways.

So now we've applied those 3 things to the simplest of situations think about how you could use them in different parts of your life or business.

So that's your big question for over the weekend, I won't answer the three big questions I'm asking myself at the moment because it's going to detract from you and your questions and I don't want to influence anyone but I'll share them later I promise.

If you want to share something with me privately please do get in touch via email mandy@mandycharltonphotography.com and if you don't mind other people reading them please do leave a comment or join in the conversation on Facebook.

10 Ways To Take Control of Your Own Life Right Now!

Hey you!, yes you dear reader, I am talking directly to you today, you see, there's something I've learned to reach this point in my life on our small planet we call earth and here's what it is;

1. Take control of your own life right now!  It's not going to make things instantly better and you will still cry and be sad, you will still have days where you want to hide under your duvet in the corner of your room (it's not just me who does that is it?) but you will be in control of your own destiny and that in itself is a powerful and positive step which no one can take away from you.
2. Ask questions of yourself and others but be prepared for people to tell the truth, this is a step which can actually be the most difficult thing because you might get answers you don't want to hear but even if you do, you chose to ask the question, have the opinion and no one can ever take away the feelings you have inside and you must remember this, never derivate away from it or make compromises for how you feel in your heart and even more so you should never apologise for feeling the way that you do.
3. The unfortunate circumstance is you can't expect people to feel differently to the way that they do and so you're going to have to deal with that yourself because remember that whatever you do you are only able to change yourself, no matter what you do or how you feel you really can't change someone else, they have to do that themselves and if they promise you that they will change you should always take that with a pinch of salt because you then have to ask yourself if that person is saying it to make you feel better or are they compromising their beliefs and opinions to soften the blow?
4. Sometimes even if you can learn from past mistakes there are things in life which are so big that you will never understand that the best course of action is to just draw a line under it, start afresh and never speak of it again.
5. Try to only thing of good things and see the positives in other people, it's a lot easier than being suspicious or making assumptions.
6. Be Open to everything, now I'm not suggesting that you should accept an invitation to cliff jump next weekend but try to say yes more often, especially if it's to a new experience because it might just be the most fun thing you have ever done.
7. Forgive yourself, yes we all make mistakes, some of them are minor, some of them are huge massive cataclysmic mistakes but other people won't forgive you until you can first forgive yourself.
8. Get out more!  I can honestly say that this January my seasonally affective disorder has been a bit rubbish but nowhere near as bad as it's been for years and that's thanks to Holly and our daily adventures, even if we only manage an hour in the park it helps with my social interactions, my soaking up of sunshine and my general happiness over all.
9. Have more experiences and less things yep, I wrote about that one already.
10. Love and hug more, yes I know that we're all terribly British (unless you are reading this from somewhere more exotic) and known for our stiff upper lips but why shouldn't we hug our friends and tell them we love them, I'm not saying we should become false and tell everyone "Oh I love you sweetie" but if you love your friends then it's ok to say I love you, you might even make their day.

Now I could have added in another one about having a pet to cuddle (get a beagle) but I know that's not possible for everyone, I do think having a pet is a great idea if it's possible to have one in your life, pets give far more than they ask for and I think somewhat that could be even more true in the case of rescue pets.

So lets read through the list, follow steps 1-10 and then march forth in the knowledge that we are in control, we are bright and shiny beings and the world is ours!