Peace. Love. Joy. Gratitude.

We send along our best wishes that you enjoy all the beauty the holiday season brings to your neck of the woods. Here's what it looks like around here these days:

The colorful sunsets are are mixed with smoke from the ongoing fires. We are so grateful for the fire fighters who have worked so hard to protect everyone in this area. Our hearts go out to all those who lost their homes.

The Getty Center was kept safe during the fires but the shrubby hills in the area are burned black. The buildings are made of stone and glass and the whole site is designed to be fire-safe, with a sophisticated air filtration system, plants with the highest water content nearest the buildings, and a one million gallon water reserve tank. The garden still resonates a clear calm.

The succulents are showing off their blooms.

And the sky puts on a show daily.

Focus and Newton's First Law Will Get You Where You Want to Go

I use these two truths every day of my life, and I recommend them to you too. The two together are so very powerful.

Truth #1: When you pay attention to something, put energy into that something you will move in that direction.  

Truth #2: Newton's First Law. An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion.  

Here's an example: When in training, beginning race car drivers tend to focus on NOT hitting the wall. And guess what happens? They hit the wall because they’re focused on the wall (even in a “don’t go there” sense). But if they ignore the wall and focus on making the turn guess what happens? They make the turn (sans wall).

Same principle applies to pilots flying from here to there. True statistic:  How much of the time is an airplane off course?  Most people guess numbers like 3% or 10%. Actually, they are off course over 95% of the time. They get there by course-correcting as they go along.  

These two truths work for everyone in every situation. Focus on what you want (not what you don't want) and get yourself in motion. Then, course correct as needed. You know, set some goals (the focus), get working on them (the motion). You WILL make mistakes. You will get off course. Remember that nothing is written in stone, you can always change what isn't working.

Stop saying things like "I don't know what I'm doing." "I'll never get there." “I’m a starving startup.” "I'm a starving artist." Guess what?  Poof!  You won't know, you'll never get there, and you'll starve. Say it long enough, focus on it long enough and you’ll get your wish. Seriously.

Focus on where you want to end up, think about it, write it down, talk about it, visualize it, expect it. Get r-e-a-l-l-y familiar with it. Marinate in it.

Try it, give it some time, see if this works for you!

We All Like to Save Money

Here's what we do for ourselves and our clients to help save money while getting top-notch products and services.

Every year (or every six months if we're feeling ambitious) we review all the recurring fees for products and services we use (both for business and personal), there are often quite a few. We ask if it's still needed, and if so, we look to see if how we use the service may have changed. Sometimes we can downgrade a plan because we don't need all the bells and whistles any more. Sometimes there are new ways to get the same service for free. Many companies add new, and cheaper, plans too.

Services to look at include software subscriptions, email broadcasting, video storage, backup systems, website hosting fees, phones, fax routing, magazine/newsletter subscriptions, cable/satellite TV, internet, and computer/equipment maintenance plans. The last time we did this we saved over $800 for the upcoming year.

I suggest adding a reminder to your calendar and then go for it. You'll be surprised!

-Robin