How to Automate, Delegate and Leverage Your Life...

This blog article was inspired by a facebook interaction on my profile a few days ago.

Are you looking for some answers on how to automate, delegate and leverage your life... so you can have one?

How am I qualified to share this information?

I am a living example of creating my life by design, by leveraging most of the common personal and business tasks out.

I retired two years ago from a job as a Paramedic (and I was also running my business 'bound to a desk.') When I created enough passive income to match my job income, I took a leap of faith from my old belief system of doing everything myself, to setting myself up to win - by automation, delegation and leverage.

My result? I more than doubled my passive income inside 18 months, whilst traveling the world and only working less than 4 hours a month (yes, really!) to 'tap the doors of automation.'

Whilst my vehicle of how I did this may be different to yours, the SAME MIND-SET strategies are required to get similar results for a life designed set to: automate, delegate and leverage.

This article is NOT about how I created my income. It IS about how I created a lifestyle of freedom to travel the world, play every day and position myself to be in an even greater creative space to add even more value to my life and the lives of others.

Facebook Status update on 17th November:

“If you could ask me any question regarding how to automate,delegate and leverage your life for financial and time freedom, what you would ask me? ...OK, if you have a few Q's go ahead.. :o)


Where do you go for inspiration?

I seek out mentors in all areas of life who have overcome great challenges and succeeded. I also master strategies of those that have accomplished what I want to do. I read a LOT. I listen to audio-books and tele-seminars/webinars. I’ll go to many seminars – free and paid ones. I also draw on my own life experiences. My time as a Paramedic was a gift in many ways. In particular to remind me that I am very blessed and to live EVERY DAY with the fullest attention and gratitude.

What drives you to be successful?

I’m very internally driven. My WHY is HUGE! Know your WHY. Have a deep enough WHY. The bigger the goal, the bigger the WHY needs to be.

To create and continue momentum for my drive:
I also create emotional leverage with myself, meaning that I future-pace myself to see my goal complete and how I feel, how it effects my life and of those around me. I also write down my goals, create vision boards and practice the daily habits of gratitude/visualisation/meditation as soon as I wake up, again throughout the day and again just before I fall asleep.

I also ‘stack’ my magic moments of the day. I run a mini-movie at night as my last conscious thought so I am constantly creating and living in a world of success: with relationships (with myself, the Divine, others), my goals, the quality of my life, health, etc.

I’m also now gracious and kind with myself. (In the past, I’d verbally beat myself up if I hadn’t succeeded at a step in the goal by an (internally set) expected time-frame, even if I’d taken massive action.) I’ve learned I can only have “massive” EFFECTIVE “action” when I pay attention to my inner dialogue and ‘working’ on the same team as ALL the personalities within myself. (We all have them!). So, I’ve turned the “inner critic” into the “inner coach” (Jack Canfield) and give myself a lot of love, grace, kindness, attention, praise and internal support. This sets me up to trust my instincts and subconscious mind even more with a collective power, instead of self-sabotaging and dragging myself down with any negativity and internal conflict.

How do you turn it around when things are not quite how you want them to be?

In the last few years (when my success has escalated the most) I have been practicing the ‘Art of Allowing’. I allow and have faith and trust that everything is as it’s meant to be, even if it doesn’t match MY plan and all my actions. Often the situation is a gift unwrapped in that moment. At some point in time, it reveals itself that BECAUSE things “weren’t quite as I want them to be” that I’m on my current path NOW, which is awesome! (Please note, there are lengths of the path I journey down ‘in the dark’ simply grateful for the light about to come. This is where I 'listen' with extra sensory acuity to my inner guidance).

Two tools to use in this situation:
First, practice Gratitude. Find all the gifts.
Second, In your mind’s eye future-pace yourself to see what you create with the situation now. Then go back to your past to see where there have been other times in the past where this type of situation has delivered you many gifts because of similar situations earlier. Then bring yourself back to the now… and take course corrective action! (Time-line therapy model: See an NLP practitioner or Psychologist who can help you through this process).

What’s your # 1 tool for state management and avoiding those time wasting days/hours?

Gratitude (authentic gratitude. FEELING centered in all the abundance that I NOW have) and;

Visualization of all areas of my life: first thing in the morning, and last thing at night. I also set a plan for my goals and create a monthly plan, a weekly plan and a daily plan. Each night (or sometimes first thing in the morning) I set my targets for the day.

I decide on "My THREE MUST ACHIEVE" outcomes for the day. Then everything else is a bonus. I also give myself plenty of time to play, breaking up the day (and the week.) For example, I will go for a walk, sit in the sunshine and read (sometimes ‘work’ material), meditate, re-bound (on a mini-trampoline), call a friend, chat on facebook and connect with people. I’ll plan lots of social activity and events to go to, so I am focused on my time frame on what needs to be achieved in the time in-between.

Essentially I recognize what DRIVES me.

Love & Connection does.

So when I catch myself ‘time-wasting’ I’ll ask myself: “what do I need to do right now to serve my goal at the highest level?” also, “What is it that my spirit needs right now?” is a great question when I sense myself creating a road-block.

It’s important to pay attention to that ‘inner child’ that perhaps wants some attention or even something as ‘little’ as to notice the bird flitting around in the garden or watch the butterfly land on a flower. Again, it comes back to GRATITUDE and living in the NOW. This appreciation allows me to be in the flow and therefore do what is in alignment with my goals and best interest.

I'd just like to know the overall strategies you use for having a mobile life and business. I'll be on the road soon enough managing the business and I'd love your insights into the whole experience.

Leverage: Automate and delegate.

Break down all your tasks and qualify people to delegate and leverage to. I use a “McDonald’s Franchise” model, giving small tasks (even breaking down big ones into smaller chunks) to delegate to people I outsource to on my ‘team’. By spreading out the workload I minimize my risks of being too dependent on that team member. It’s therefore easy enough to re-allocate the task to someone else, or train someone to do the one thing. Think of ‘french fry station’ or ‘drink station’ etc.

You can outsource tasks to people you know locally, or online. Resources for virtual assistants, writers, webs-site designers, bookkeepers, editors, copy writers, etc can be found easily, with you deciding who is the best fit for you at a great price. You can check out resources here: www.RentACoder.com and www.elance.com

On the personal level too, I have a similar mind-set with house-sitters. I have several to mitigate my risk of my house (and animals) being unprotected. So, I have a long-term sitter and a short-term sitter. This allows for me to have a contingency back up.

I have four beautiful animals I care and love for (and who have guided me for 10+ years!) So I keep my home as my base to return to in-between all my travels. It may be a better option for you to release your home: rent/sell/sub-let etc.

I also have a gardener who has access to my property once a month to take care of all the external maintenance.

I redirect all my business and personal mail to my bookkeeper who works in closely with my Accountant. We communicate (usually) quarterly to confirm my tax statements.

I set up most of my accounts to be paid automatically online with direct debits.

Integrating my calendar with my iPhone also allows me to set reminders for bills/events/tasks that require attention on certain dates. There is software available to calendar share with a Virtual Assistant who can access information you give permission to read (and write), so many tasks can be outsourced whilst flying, sleeping or climbing a mountain!

These are some of the basic strategies. The toughest part for most people is getting into the mind-set to delegate and leverage your life…. So YOU can have one!

A Huge THOUGHT KEY here is to have an ABUNDANCE mind-set.

The more people you have on your team helping you, the more opportunities you are creating in life to allow money to FLOW, and helping a lot of people to grow and win financially.

You buy your TIME back which allows you to step into a ‘gap’ to create even more and think of new solutions and attract even more opportunities than if you choose to do most of the tasks yourself.

What extra greatness will you create in your life as you free up your time and create financial freedom? Would you travel more? Spend quality time with your family? Volunteer for a charity? Build another (different) business? Play more? Take up a new sport or hobby? All of the above? :o)

*** *** *** ***

I would love your feedback with these responses. Please let me know if I have added value. Thank you for letting me know what you think.

Serving the world, in the context of love and joy, and an abundance of gratitude!

Katie G. xx
"The Global Butterfly"