To Give or Not To Give

I believe in thinking of others and also helping others when you can, but you give and give and give…..does it ever become too much? Is it ever not good to give? My mom and I go back and forth about that all of the time….I mean all of the time. She gives of herself completely without hesitation and sometimes to the detriment of herself. I give but I am a hard ass (or at least that is what my family says) I believe in teaching a person to fish, I know it is over used, but really when you teach they grow when you give they take. I am not referring to charitable or philanthropic organizations I am talking about family and friends here.

In my journey with the So Cal Women of Arbonne I have found a woman a lot like my mother, she is a wonderful woman, but I wonder if she gives so much that she doesn’t have anything left for herself.

This is what I posted about her on their website http://www.socalarbonne.blogspot.com/

Now my impressions of Wendi: (disclaimer….remember this is based off of observations taken in a 2 hour chat session, I have been known to have wrong first impressions.)

Wendi is a very sweet woman and I could tell that her children and family come first for her. She has a dogged determination in what she does and even in down times she will try to see the positive. She is that person that if you needed something you know you could call her because she will listen and do what she can to help. She is not someone who says no a lot. It is those people that are so open, helpful, and unable to set boundaries that get overloaded with everyone else’s baggage. (I’ll tell you about my mother later.)

After our initial meeting she shared some more personal details of her life with me which confirmed what I had previously guessed. She has a lot on her plate and I have to say I am humbled by all that she has chosen to take on and has also been put on her. I don’t know that I could do it.

Wendi truly wants to do well but I feel that she might have difficulty prioritizing and setting up systems. She knows that where there are downs there will also be ups, but I do not believe she knows how to strategically create and stick to business systems that will generate sustainable momentum in her business. The sheer magnitude of her load probably makes her feel like she is always playing catch up. It is hard to go from the structure of the business world to the chaotic life of an entrepreneur. I wonder if she feels at times to be adrift out there trying to do it on her own. In direct selling you can create more with less hours but you must remain consistent to build up that momentum otherwise you may find more downs than ups.

My advice to Wendi would be to take some time out of each day to focus on you as a person, not as a mother, wife, daughter, or friend but as you. It may only be 15 minutes of quite time or a meditation, but that I am sure is more than you currently give yourself. Once you can get into that habit I think that you need to set aside some personal goals that pertain to you alone with strategic plans and execution dates. Finally and this is probably the hardest (I may be wrong) I would like to see a system for time blocking your day and devise a plan to get more done in less time by staying on your schedule. I know that you are a strong, intelligent, and highly motivated person I think that you probably just get pulled into too many directions. If you could control that a bit more I think you would Rock Arbonne!!