5 Days in Paris soaking up art, 5 days in Provence creating art.

Imagine you’re on the patio of our Provencal B&B this summer, bathed in sunshine. You wipe away the crumbs of your breakfast of a flaky croissant and fresh preserves, while writing in your tour journal, describing your excitement about the day to come: exploring the Roman arena in Arles, some fre.e time in the afternoon to work on your creative project, and an excursion to the beach in the evening.

The tour is filling up fast. If you’re thinking about going, now is the time!

We have an informational call scheduled:

Feb 19, 3:30 pm Pacific, 6:30 pm Eastern.
Call in: 1-712-432-2222
Access Code: 784532

Check out the website: http://www.robinjones.biz/france/seduce_your_muse.htm

Just about every business has policies: those rules and
guidelines that clear up the grey areas between the business
and its clients and customers, clarifying expectations, keeping
integrity intact, helping the business process run smoothly.

But what about your personal policies? If you feel that your
life is chaotic at times, it may be because you don’t have
structures in place to keep the integrity and clarity alive
between you and others.

Here are some examples I’ve run into:

A small business owner client of mine had several clients
that were frustrating her by not following through on
their commitments, hampering her ability to do her job and
serve them properly.

Another client who works out of his home was doing a lot of
“just quickly checking email,” and other business tasks in the
evenings and on the weekends, distancing him from his wife
and children.

A third client routinely fell into the trap of looking at every
angle of a situation before taking action, slowing his progress
to a snail’s pace. I believe the technical term is “paralysis by
analysis.”

For each client, we looked at how they were showing up in the
midst of these issues, and together we identified the problem
as lax personal policies. The emotional result was always a
sense of compromising themselves.

Taking a birds-eye view at your life and deciding what policies
to put in place that will serve your higher self can be a powerful
way to take a stand for your life.

Let’s break possible policies into three categories.

1. Structures that keep you on track

Some examples:

• I’m in bed every night at 10:30 so I can be my best
  first thing in the morning.
• When I leave the office, I leave my work life behind
  me and focus everything on my family.
• I only watch the TV shows I really want to see, and
  I turn it off right after I’ve watched it.
• Healthy diet and exercise – get specific here: how many
  workouts or yoga classes each week? What foods will you
  cut out, and what will you replace them with?
• I meditate for 20 minutes every morning, clearing my mind
  and letting go of stress.

The key here is to take a big-picture look at your whole life and
decide what policies you need to live to be your best. What
will make you feel great about yourself? What will keep you
consistently moving forward while loving the life you lead?
Trust your intuition.

2. Behavior you’re not willing to tolerate anymore

When other people cross your core boundaries, it causes you
pain or grief or stress. Setting these personal policies is a matter
of drawing a line in the sand with those in your life, and clarifying
the consequences for those who cross them.

If you had a friend that continually lied to you and made excuses,
you wouldn’t allow it to keep happening, would you? You’d call
them out and demand that they be honest with you in the future
or you’d end the friendship, right?

There might also be some powerful policy to set for your own
behavior as well. It might read something like this: “I only accept
messages from myself in the form of thoughts and emotions that
encourage, uplift, and support my progress and growth.” Or,
“I spend very little time doing things I don’t want to do, and the
vast majority of time in my passions.”

3. The standards you hold for yourself and others

This one scares a lot of people, especially the implications of
holding others to your standards. I’m not talking about making
the people in your life accountable to who think they ought to
be. Rather, it’s about taking a look at who you surround yourself
with and asking, “are the people in my life on my side? Do they
really want me to succeed? Does having them in my life serve
me, or hold me back from who I really am?”

Addicts who pursue recovery sometimes find they have to let go
of old relationships that encourage the atmosphere of their
addiction. This may seem like an extreme example, but as you
grow and your self-esteem increases through life, you may reach
a point at which you only allow yourself to interact with those who
want the best for you.

When setting standards for yourself, it’s a matter of looking at
who you are at your best, and then guiding every choice you
make towards that standard.

For example…

• Want to be more honest with yourself and those in your
  life? Make a point of it and follow through.
• Want to inspire others with your sense of fun and creativity?
  Do it.
• Want to make sure your commitment to quality comes
  through in everything you do? Keep your focus on it.

The bottom line for policy-setting is choosing to take a stand for
yourself and your life. Hold yourself as a magnificent being,
deserving of all good things, and then pursue them by putting
the rules and structures in place that will keep you focused there.

The Call to Action:

Take some time and write down some of the places where your
life is being compromised, either by others or yourself. Then
write some specific policies that keep you focused on who you
want to be, and what you want in your life. Decide what you
deserve more of, what you want less of, and go for it with
boldness and excitement.

Because ultimately, we both know you’re worth taking a stand for.

Until next month, I wish you much order and inner power,

RJ  

© 2006 The Actor's Success & Robin Jones. All rights reserved.

Robin Jones is a Certified Professional Life Coach specializing in helping actors beat the odds of the business and build thriving careers. Visit www.ActorsSuccess.com to move your career forward now.

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