16Strategies to Kick-Start Your Custom Built Life 16Strategies to

Transcription

16 Strategies
to Kick-Start
Your Custom
Built Life
Stacy and Dave Rowan
www.custombuiltlife.com
16 Strategies
to Kick-Start
Your Custom
Built Life
Stacy and Dave Rowan
www.custombuiltlife.com
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Enjoy reading these suggestions to replace feelings of overwhelm and frustration with feelings of confidence,
happiness and fulfillment as you begin the process of designing your Custom Built Life!
©2014 Custom Built Life. All rights reserved worldwide. www.custombuiltlife.com
Table of Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Strategy 1: Spend Time and Money to Eat Well. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Strategy 2:Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Strategy 3:Establish a Firm Financial Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Strategy 4: Make a Commitment to Lifelong Learning and Skills Development. . . . . 6
Strategy 5: Clean Up Clutter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Strategy 6: Set Personal Boundaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Strategy 7: Spend Time with People Who Can Help You Achieve Success. . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Strategy 8:Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Strategy 9:Express Goals in Writing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Strategy 10:Find an Accountability Buddy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Strategy 11: Break Big Projects into Small “Next Actions”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Strategy 12:Have a System to Set Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Strategy 13:Prioritize the Important; Put Off the Unimportant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Strategy 14:Celebrate Success!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Strategy 15:Accept That Being Uncomfortable is a Part of Personal Growth. . . . . . 17
Strategy 16:Take an Experimental Approach to Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
What’s Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
About Stacy and Dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
16 Strategies to Kick-Start
Your Custom Built Life
TM
Introduction
Congratulations on your decision to download our free eBook entitled 16 Strategies to Kick-Start
Your Custom Built Life! This eBook is a compilation of over a decade of research, reading and personal
coaching that we have completed on these subjects. The sixteen practices described in this eBook make
up the backbone of the personal and business lives we have created together and we are so happy to have
the opportunity to share them with you!
Doing this foundational work is much like the life cycle of the Chinese Bamboo tree. Bamboo is an
incredible species, that as many of us know, can display phenomenal rates of growth – up to one inch per
hour in some cases! (If you’ve ever had bamboo take over a portion of your back yard, you know exactly
what we mean…)
What is not as well known is that this tree exhibits essentially no visible, above-the-ground growth during
its first four years after being planted. Instead, for four years, this amazing tree absorbs water and nutrients from the soil to build a massive underground root system that is capable of supporting its eventual,
explosive growth. (If you are a bamboo farmer, you’d probably get pretty frustrated after three or four
years of watering and fertilizing the soil with no apparent rewards, right?)
However, year five for the mighty bamboo tree does eventually come. The bamboo farmer is rewarded
for his or her efforts and in a matter of six weeks this tree rockets up to 80 feet into the sky! This is all
made possible by the extensive root system that has been built under the soil during those first four years.
The foundational work described in this book does not need to take four years for you to start seeing
results. There are things you can do starting today to accelerate the process. However, this foundational
work does require your patience. It requires a conscious decision to adopt new ways of thinking and acting
that may not be comfortable initially, but will pay huge rewards for you going forward. Begin building
this “personal root system” to lay the foundation for the life you want to lead instead of the life you are
living now.
As you read the book, think about which of these best practices are currently a part of your life and which
you would like to add to strengthen your foundation. Visit www.CustomBuiltLife.com for additional
resources and help as you continue this wonderful journey!
Introduction
2
Strategy 1
Spend Time and Money to Eat Well
Over the last seven decades, as more and more families converted to two income households, the amount
of time that people devote to preparing food has dwindled. As couples juggle two corporate calendars and
kids’ activities, evening meals become an exercise in, “What can I throw together in 15 minutes so we can
jam dinner into the half hour we have each evening to eat?”
The problem with this strategy is that families often resort to highly processed, pre-packaged meals
that are short on nutrition and long on ingredients and that leave you with less energy to go pursue your
Custom Built Life.
There are many different strategies for healthy eating, and while we do believe that different people
require different areas of emphasis, we feel the following four guidelines can benefit the majority of people:
Guideline 1 Eat more vegetables and fruits.
Guideline 2 Consume less sugar and fewer processed and pre-packaged foods.
Guideline 3 If you can’t grow it in your yard or on a farm, then it’s probably best to keep it out
of your body.
Guideline 4Look for foods that contain five or fewer ingredients on the label and pick foods
that are made with ingredients that you could find in your own kitchen.
Following these four guidelines will require you to spend more time planning, shopping for, preparing
and cleaning up from meals. However, consider this time an investment! You will quickly gain time in
your day by having increased energy, more productive hours and fewer trips to the doctor and pharmacy.
Put a plan in place to make one positive dietary change each month and stick with it. Definitive changes
include things like:
• “I do not have soda with meals anymore.”
• “I do not eat sweets that people bring in to work anymore.”
• “I pack a healthy afternoon snack for myself so I’m not tempted to hit the vending machine.”
Make this investment in yourself starting today!
Strategy 1
3
Strategy 2
Exercise
The benefits of exercise have been documented in countless studies. Like taking the time to plan and
prepare healthy meals, the time that you invest in exercise will be paid back to you several-fold in the
form of increased energy, higher creativity, and more productive hours within each day. You will sleep
better and you will feel better as a result too.
Our point of view is that with exercise, like all forms of personal development, it is important to know
what works for you, for your body and for your mindset and stick with it! This can range from:
• Hard core fitness enthusiasts who run 20+ miles a week, push themselves with short but intense
bursts of interval training, and add in strength training several times a week when training for
an event.
• Moderate exercisers who consistently log their recommended 150 minutes or so per week of
walking, biking, yoga, or other low-impact, but extremely beneficial physical activity.
• People who have recreational activities that keep them active such as tennis, golfing, hiking,
dancing, or a myriad of other fun things to do that also get your blood pumping.
So, how do you know how much to exercise? That is a very personal decision and depends on how you
feel in your body. When our health is good and we are physically fit, our body does not stand in the way
of us accomplishing other goals. In fact being healthy and fit many times makes it easier to accomplish
our dreams.
Consider adding more exercise into your life if you:
• Are overweight and the excess pounds make you feel uncomfortable with yourself and keep you from
trying new things.
• Have high blood pressure or high cholesterol and the concern over these conditions adds stress to your life.
• Do not sleep well and your lack of energy keeps you from doing things you really want to do.
• Have difficulty keeping up with your kids or participating in activities you once loved, and you feel that
by not being able to do these activities you are missing out on some of the joy in life.
• Are sick more than once or twice a year and after being ill find yourself scrambling to catch up on the
responsibilities that you couldn’t take care of when you weren’t feeling well.
Consider exercising less or differently if you:
• Injure yourself exercising once a year or more.
• Have difficulty consistently exercising because you periodically burn yourself out.
• Use exercise as an excuse not to pursue other critical elements of your Custom Built Life.
Stop using your treadmill as a drying rack and start putting one foot in front of the
other today!
Strategy 2
4
Strategy 3
Establish a Firm Financial Foundation
A friend of ours once said being poor means you have no choices in life. We encounter a number of people
who say, “You know, I could do so many things (translation – start living a life I would truly enjoy) if only I
had a little money saved up.” These are people who in many cases make a middle class salary of more than
$100,000 a year and could make choices that would enable them to live comfortably while still being able to
save money. Unfortunately, by not living within their means, these people spend significant energy worrying
about how to pay the bills and severely limit their options to go aggressively pursue their dream life.
We could devote entire seminars, books and programs to the subject of establishing a firm financial
foundation. As is the case with many of these topics, there are numerous systems and approaches out
there for you to try. Once you set this as a goal for yourself, here are some rules of thumb to use with
any system:
• Make the decision to meaningfully change your spending and saving habits. The only way you will
make progress in this area is to make permanent changes in how you make spending decisions.
• If you are married, have a discussion with your spouse or partner about changing your spending
habits. If this initial discussion doesn’t go as well as you’d like, seek out books to read or personal
coaches who can help you have “money talks” as a family.
• You can always justify any expense to yourself based upon your old ways of thinking. When you
find yourself reaching for that credit card to buy your daily $4.00 Starbucks coffee or yet another
new pair of shoes, think less in terms of how much you “deserve” these things because you work
hard. Instead, ask yourself, “Is buying this item really worth limiting my choices in life? Is it really
worth limiting how quickly I can go after the life I really want to live?”
If the answer to these questions is “No,” walk out of the store and get on with the next
important action that will move you one step closer to the life of your dreams!
Strategy 3
5
Strategy 4
Make a Commitment to Lifelong
Learning and Skills Development
The importance of this statement can be expressed in the form of an analogy. Building your dream life is
very much like building your dream home. In order to build a house well, you need to have the knowledge
of many different disciplines and processes (design aesthetics, permitting, site preparation, plumbing,
electrical, finishing work, etc.) You can certainly start building a house without knowing how to do all of
these things; however, the more expertise in each of these areas you have, the better your house will be.
Building your dream life works the same way. High school and college prepare you with a limited set
of knowledge and skills. With that knowledge you begin building your life as a young adult. Different
people have varying degrees of success crafting a life that they truly enjoy living. However, you can
almost always further customize that life and make it even better if you continue to learn how to sort
through what matters most to you and put plans in place to make it happen.
Make a commitment today to listen to an audio book, read a blog or attend a seminar
on a personal development topic that is important or interesting to you!
Strategy 4
6
Strategy 5
Clean Up the Clutter
Back in the early 1990’s, one of the first training courses that we attended together as a couple was
a seminar on Project Management. It was at this seminar that we were introduced to the concept of
“Personal RAM.”
As most of you know, RAM in a computer context stands for Random Access Memory, and is the amount
of computing power that the machine can bring to bear as it chugs through the various calculations
required to run all of the software programs that are currently in use. Overwhelming the RAM on a
computer causes it to slow down – how many hours have you spent watching the little hourglass on the
screen waiting for something to happen?
Your brain is similar in that you have a limited amount of brain power that you can bring to bear at any
one time to work through the activities, problems, distractions, commitments and tasks that make up
your life.
If you are constantly wading through a cluttered home or office, you likely have a never-ending stream of
thoughts running through your head related to that clutter that drain your Personal RAM. Thoughts like:
• “I really should wash all of these dishes piled high in the sink.”
• “I really should file all of these papers so I don’t have to spend hours looking for documents the
next time I need them.”
• “I really should finish this half-done house project. There are tools lying all over the place, and I
keep tracking the dust and dirt all over the house.”
• “I really should put away this laundry piled on my dining room table before someone stops by and
sees it!”
All these “really should’s” drain much needed energy away from your creative inner self, energy that you
could use to accelerate the process of building a life you love.
Set some time aside each day to neaten things up, call that repair person for help, or
say “No” to the commitments that no longer fit into your life. Doing so will free up your
Personal RAM for bigger and better thinking.
Strategy 5
7
Strategy 6
Set Personal Boundaries
Many people feel like they are continuously being pulled in a million different directions and racing
from commitment to commitment. All of us want to be a loving spouse, a caring parent, a supportive
adult child of aging parents, a good friend, a contributing member of the community, or a respected
employee or entrepreneur. In fact, many of you are probably trying to satisfy many or, in some cases,
all of these roles!
The irony of this situation is that your “reward” for doing a good job within each of these roles is
an ever-increasing demand for your time within each of these areas. We have seen too many smart,
talented, caring people burn out as they chug through an ever-longer To Do list linked to requests
that may be important to others, but are not getting them any closer to living the life they designed.
Think through the people, things and situations that pull you away from what matters most to you.
For example:
• Is it more important for you to work until 7:00 PM every night or to break free every now and
then to see your daughter’s soccer game?
• Is it more important for you to spend time with your gossipy neighborhood friends or to seek
out other people who are interested in talking about and spending time on personal development?
• Is it more important for you to always say, “Yes” every time your shopping buddy or golfing
buddy gives you a call or should you consider saying “No” sometimes to spend more time
connecting with your spouse?
Once you have thought through this list, make a commitment to yourself to say “No”
to obligations that drain your precious time and energy, and say “Yes” to more people
and situations that nourish your spirit and move you into closer alignment with your
dream life.
Strategy 6
8
Strategy 7
Spend Time with People Who Can Help
You Achieve Success
Have you ever seen a bucket full of crabs? When one crab decides to try to crawl out of the bucket, as it
struggles to make its way over the side, the other crabs reach up and actually attempt to drag that brave
little crab back down.
If you make a conscious decision to truly define and live your Custom Built Life, you may at times feel
like that solitary crab struggling up the side of the bucket while some of your friends and family seek to
pull you back into the known and comfortable (but frustrating!) life you have been living up until this
point. This is understandable because it validates the choices that these people are making within each
of their own lives.
To help you climb out of that bucket and into a life you love, get to know people who are already “out of
the bucket” and doing what you want to do:
• If you want to found your own business, spend time with successful entrepreneurs.
• If you want to lose weight and get in shape, spend time with active friends and get involved with
groups that focus on healthy eating and physical activity.
• If you want to become financially secure, spend time with people who make wise spending
decisions and seek out the advice of qualified financial professionals to help you make financial
choices that are consistent with living your Custom Built Life.
As you work your way toward the top of the bucket, these people will lend you a helping hand to lift you
up and help you succeed.
And just as importantly – once you make it over the lip of that bucket and are on firm
footing within that aspect of your Custom Built Life, remember to look back down into
the bucket. When you do, reach down and lend a hand to that next brave crab who is
trying to climb out!
Strategy 7
9
Strategy 8
Play
Remember when you were a kid? Remember those endless summer days that were full of running
through the sprinkler, playing your favorite outdoor sport or sitting under a tree with a great book? As
kids we don’t appreciate the emptying and restorative power of play. However, as adults, we often view
playing as a guilty pleasure or a waste of time that distracts us from the work at hand.
However, taking the time to play as an adult is critical to stimulate our creativity and bind us to one
another socially. Don’t believe us? Check out Play; How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and
Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown who is also the founder of the National Institute for Play. This book
is a wonderful blend of scientific case studies and personal stories that highlight the importance of play
toward boosting our productivity and achieving our goals.
Take the time to either rediscover the activities you loved as a child or develop new ones.
It will fuel your brain and help you creatively pursue your dream life!
Strategy 8
10
Strategy 9
Express Goals in Writing
People often wonder why they feel like they are drifting aimlessly and have difficulty gaining traction
on making changes in their life. The process of gaining traction starts with committing goals to writing.
Here are four important reasons to do so:
1.It helps clarify what you really want – In many cases we have a vague idea of what our
ideal life will look like; however, until you spend the time to sit down, think things through and
put pen to paper, your goals will remain unclear and your actions toward them will remain
unfocused.
2.It motivates you to act – Writing down your goal represents a commitment to yourself. It
is powerful! All organizations that are serious about making things happen (corporations,
government, educational institutions) have written objectives. Take yourself and your own
goals just as seriously to boost your motivation.
3.It helps you prioritize things – Living in the 21st Century, we have unprecedented access to
information and opportunities. Having written goals helps give you a filter to sort through the
deluge of information that comes your way each day and distill it down into the actions that
will help you truly achieve your dreams.
4.It gives you concrete reasons to celebrate! – When you are a kid in school, it’s pretty straightforward that when the dismissal bell rings on the last day of school it’s time to celebrate because
summer is here! Having written goals that you can check off of your list gives you this sense of
structure and anticipation as well. Knowing that you have these celebrations to look forward to
keeps you motivated to take that next step.
Grab a pencil and a piece of paper and write down one or two goals you would like to accomplish in the
next week, the next month and the next year. Draw a small box next to each goal and post the list somewhere
you will see it every day, for instance on the bathroom mirror or in your office next to your desk. Then
set a red pen or marker near the list.
Get ready to celebrate as you fill the box with a big, beautiful, red check mark each
time you complete a goal on your list.
Strategy 9
11
Strategy 10
Find an Accountability Buddy
In the last section, we talked about the importance of writing your goals. When you combine written
goals with an “Accountability Buddy” you can supercharge your efforts to make progress toward your
Custom Built Life. A goal-setting study conducted among 149 participants at Dominican University in
California backs up this assertion.
There were multiple groups in the study; here are the most important two for our purposes:
• Group 1 was asked to simply think about some goals that they wanted to accomplish in a four
week period.
• Group 2 was asked to write their goals, share them with a friend and send this friend weekly
progress reports.
Group 2 successfully completed 76% of their goals versus only 43% for Group 1 – a 33% increase!
Multiply your efforts and progress toward living your Custom Built Life by combining
the practice of writing down your goals and sharing them with an Accountability Buddy.
Strategy 10
12
Strategy 11
Break Big Projects into Small
“Next Actions”
Lao Tzu, the founding father of Taoism said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
There are a couple of important points within this quote. The first is the concept that all goals, no matter
how large, can be broken down into small, manageable pieces – in this instance, “single steps.” After you
write down your goals, have a planning session for each one and break it down into a series of smaller,
more manageable tasks.
The second important point is that these tasks should be clearly defined. Within the quote, the definition
of each part of the 1,000 mile journey is very straightforward – put one foot in front of the other to take
each step.
Your action plan should be just as clear. Let’s say you are launching a new business and want to build out
your marketing plan. You have decided that an important component of your marketing plan is to launch
a website. It is not enough to simply say, “Launch Website” within your task list. Instead, break it down
into the smallest steps possible, examples of which include:
1.Review existing sites of businesses that are similar to mine and make a list of what I like and
don’t like about each.
2. Draft a set of questions that I have about how to build a website.
3.Take two of my friends who own businesses out to lunch and interview them about their
websites. Use the questions I’ve drafted in Step 2.
4.Determine the number and name of each page I would initially like to have on the site (Home,
About, Success Stories, Contact Us, etc.).
5.Choose color scheme for website.
6.Draft initial content for Home Page.
Using this approach does a few things, it:
• Clarifies exactly what you need to do next
• Makes a large project feel more manageable
• Gives you many intermediate milestones to celebrate
• Provides you with the courage to keep putting one foot in front of the other!
Go back to the goals you listed in Strategy 9 and break them into well-defined, single
steps. Then decide what “next action” you can take against each one TODAY.
Strategy 11
13
Strategy 12
Have a System to Set Priorities
Once you break big projects into small “next actions” it’s critical to have some way of establishing priorities
among these tasks. Dozens of books, seminars, programs and blogs exist to help you with priority setting.
Here are some rules of thumb:
• Experiment with different systems until you find one that works for you.
• Go to bed each night knowing what your top three to five priorities for the next day are.
• Determine when your most productive hours of the day are. Whenever possible, work on your
highest priority tasks during that time.
• Find a system that prioritizes enough tasks to keep you challenged most weeks without feeling
a constant sense of overwhelm or burnout.
• Be prepared to adjust your priorities as you learn more information and your path forward on
certain aspects of your Custom Built Life becomes clearer.
• Have a system to capture long-term ideas or things that you might do some day. Review this list
of longer-term ideas and tasks one to four times a year.
• While setting priorities look for ways to delegate, eliminate, combine or streamline certain tasks
to free up additional time for yourself.
Assess any prioritization system you experiment with against these guidelines and if it
helps you accomplish each of these objectives, you are on the right track!
Strategy 12
14
Strategy 13
Prioritize the Important;
Put Off the Unimportant
In his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr. Stephen Covey talked about the distinction
between that which is “important” and that which is “urgent.”
“Important” activities are those things that have the potential to enable you to more fully live your
dream life.
“Urgent” activities are those things that have a tight deadline and if this deadline is missed there may
be negative consequences for you or for someone else.
Many people end up scattered and not making progress against living their Custom Built Life for
two reasons:
• They are spending too much time on urgent, unimportant activities - such as meticulously
responding to every single email they receive at work or attending every single PTO meeting to
make sure they don’t miss anything going on at their child’s school.
• They are spending too much time on non-urgent, unimportant activities – such as excessive TV
watching, social networking, or aimless web surfing.
If you really want to accelerate the building of your Custom Built Life, vow to spend more time on
important activities that genuinely move you closer to your goals. This consists of not only meeting
the urgent deadlines that allow you to capitalize on the opportunities that come your way, but also
spending the time to plan, reflect and form some of the new habits suggested in this eBook.
The activities of planning, reflecting and experimenting with new ways of doing things
are never urgent, but they are highly important. Carve this time out for yourself even if
it means that you need to ignore some seemingly urgent tasks that might be important
to someone else, but move you no closer to the life YOU want to live.
Strategy 13
15
Strategy 14
Celebrate Success!
Designing and building a Custom Built Life can often require courage. It is courageous to:
• Try new things
• Make mistakes
• Sometimes look silly when you don’t know what you’re doing
• Fail and try again
Particularly when you are just starting this process and requiring positive energy to keep your spirits up,
make it a point to celebrate your progress and your successes. Acknowledge and celebrate your effort even
on what seems like the smallest and most inconsequential step. You can celebrate things as simple as:
• Making a telephone call that you were uncomfortable or nervous about making.
• Remaining calm in a situation that normally triggers you emotionally and “pushes your buttons.”
• Going a whole day without consuming any sugary, processed drinks.
These celebrations do not need to be a long time- and money-consuming affair. They can be quite simple
yet highly effective at keeping you energized. We love having a “Ten Second Dance Party” when we
complete things on our list that move us closer toward our goals!
Think about what you’ll do to celebrate your successes and incorporate it into your daily
routine. Then make it a point to celebrate something today!
Strategy 14
16
Strategy 15
Accept That Being Uncomfortable
is a Part of Personal Growth
Do you remember all those “firsts” as a kid and young adult? The first day of school; your first big game
in front of a crowd; your first dance recital; your first date; your first job interview?
Did you feel 100% relaxed, confident and comfortable for all of these events? Of course not! Do we expect
our kids to not make mistakes and look like a pro their first time working their way through these situations?
Again, of course not!
As adults, some people fall into the trap of needing to appear like they know what they are doing all the
time and to “look like I have my act together.” (We have been guilty of this many times!) As a result, they
shy away from opportunities to try new ways of thinking and new ways of acting that might be a little (or
a lot) uncomfortable and might result in some mistakes or in looking silly along the way.
If you really want to push the accelerator pedal on moving into your Custom Built Life,
embrace the opportunity to continually seek out some new “firsts” in your life. Your
willingness to do this will broaden your understanding of yourself and your ability to
build and implement a life you truly love!
Strategy 15
17
Strategy 16
Take an Experimental Approach to Life
This topic is similar to the previous subject in that something changes here as well when we leave
childhood and enter adulthood. You continuously see young children taking an experimental approach
to things – for example:
• What happens when I try to shove my peanut butter and jelly sandwich into this space?
• What happens when I pull the dog’s tail or ears?
• What happens when I climb up onto this table?
These children are not bounded by the negative consequences that could happen from each of these
experiments:
• If I stick food in the DVD player, I might ruin it.
• If I pull the dog’s tail, she might bite me.
• If I climb on the table, I might fall off and hurt myself.
As adults, we sometimes get so focused upon the negative potential outcomes of situations that it paralyzes us into inaction. If you fall into this trap, lower the perceived danger that you associate with certain
circumstances by running “experiments” to see what happens.
Examples of this approach include:
• If you are considering a career change, figure out a way to get a taste of what this new work is
really like without leaving your current job. Dave did this by accepting an unpaid internship at
a Financial Planning firm while still working full time in his corporate job.
• If you want to relate better to your kids, figure out how you are going to change your interactions
with them, and try these changes as a two week experiment. After the two weeks evaluate
what’s working and what’s not and decide whether you want to continue with the changes or try
something else.
• If you want to change your eating habits, put a time limit on your new diet. In 2012, Stacy
decided to run a one day experiment on significantly reducing the amount of grain in her diet.
The one day experiment turned into a one week experiment, which then turned into a weekslong and months-long experiment. Ultimately, this simple experiment has become a permanent
change and has made a dramatic difference in Stacy’s overall health as well as the health and
well-being of our entire family.
Stop the paralysis and start the action by setting up some simple experiments today
that are linked to building your Custom Built Life!
Strategy 16
18
Conclusion
So there you have the 16 practices that make up the foundational work for creating a life you love. Now
that you know what they are, decide which of the practices you want to add to or improve in your life.
Choose the one or two practices that you want to start with first, write down a plan of action steps, and
commit to taking the steps in your plan. Begin building this “personal root system” now.
And if you want additional guidance, support and accountability during the process, call us at (484)
798-0648 to discuss how we can help you or visit www.CustomBuiltLife.com for additional resources.
Conclusion
19
What’s Next? It’s Time to Take Action
If you took the time to request and read this eBook, you are obviously interested in improving the quality
of your life. Most people are, right?
What separates the people who actually go out and design, build, and live a life that they love from those
that do not is that the first group takes action. They don’t just think about it or talk about it, instead they
“be about it” by taking the actions that move them toward their goals.
It’s not about making perfect choices or knowing exactly what to do in every situation, but it is about
setting personal goals and putting plans in place to take action each and every week.
If you currently are taking action and making progress toward designing your own Custom Built Life,
that’s fantastic!! Come on over to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/custombuiltlife, say
“hello” and let us know how you are using these and other strategies to make your Custom Built Life a
reality. Hearing these stories is always the highlight of our day!
However, if you are having difficulty figuring out how to get started, how to prioritize your efforts, or how
to move forward more quickly, and want help achieving the life goals that are important to you, then get
in touch. We’d love to work with you.
Find out more information about our private coaching experiences at www.CustomBuiltLife.com.
Help Others Kick-Start Their Custom Built Lives
Did you love this eBook and want to share it? That’s wonderful! Our goal is to help as many people as
possible to begin this journey and take action to design and build a life they love waking up to each day.
It’s easy to share with your friends and we’d appreciate your help with our mission!
Tweet or share on Facebook:
Just finished 16 Strategies to Kick-Start Your Custom Built Life by @stacyrowan. Get it here: www.
CustomBuiltLife.com
What’s Next?
20
About Stacy
Stacy Rowan is the president and founder of Custom Built Life™,
a rapidly growing company committed to improving the lives and
level of happiness of overwhelmed, unfulfilled corporate employees and
entrepreneurs. This is achieved by sharing the practical skills required
to design a Custom Built Life, and also game-changing strategies and
techniques that shift the mindsets and overcome the limiting beliefs that
hold so many people back from pursuing their life’s goals and purpose.
Stacy holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from a top ten undergraduate
program. (Go Blue Hens!!) She then went on to become the youngest
employee to be appointed to the role of technical manager at her second
employer before exiting the corporate world to focus on a successful Fine Art business. Stacy used this
diverse background to create the Custom Built Life System™ and brings a balanced analytical and
intuitive approach to her private coaching sessions with clients providing them with step-by-step strategies
and personalized support on their journey to build a happy, balanced life customized for them!
About Dave
Dave Rowan is the co-founder and CEO (that’s Chief Encouragement
Officer) of Custom Built Life. Like Stacy, he brings a unique combination
of technical and creative skills to his work with clients.
Dave also holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering as well as an MBA. He
has over fifteen years of corporate managerial experience, most recently
through his work as the Director of Research & Development at Crayola,
LLC. While still working full time, he became a Certified Financial Planner
and founded Rowan Financial LLC in 2010.
This diverse business background makes Dave well-suited to assist
entrepreneurial clients either with the transition out of a corporate job and into a successful business of
their own, or with achieving success within the corporate environment without sacrificing the balance
and joy in the other areas of their life.
About
21

16Strategies to Kick-Start Your Custom Built Life 16Strategies to

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