If there’s one thing that really upsets me right now it’s that so many women are still reluctant to invest in themselves. And I’m not talking about a boob job (but nothing wrong with that investment either). I’m talking about investing in personal growth – your dreams, your goals and the work that goes into it.

I see many women more interested in chasing bargains than assessing what they really need to get themselves onto a higher ground in their lives.

So here’s the thing.

I recently ordered 6 serving bowls from an online shop. They were by one of my favourite designers and I was going to bring them to my summer house in Finland. To my initial delight the bowls were -75% discounted. What a joy, I thought. But because they were so cheap I was not paying attention. I actually wanted 6 breakfast bowls but excited about the discount, I ordered 6 huge serving bowls! Instead of solving my problem (I needed breakfast bowls) I created clutter.

Now I had 6 huge bowls I didn’t need. Well, I was going to keep 2 but return 4. To return the items took me 3 calls to their call centre and a visit to a UPS shop only to find out that to return the remaining bowls would be more expensive than to keep them. And to keep them… what would I do with those bowls?

You see where I’m getting at. I lost 4 hours of work time (I could have used writing my book), created a lot of frustration and wasted my energy in trying to figure out how to return the unwanted items. And as they are still sitting on my side board, I have a moral problem as I can’t throw them away but as it’s a very special design they are unlikely to make a great gift. I may take them to a charity shop but I have already spent way too much time and energy on this.

Paying attention to what you invite into your life is key to productivity and growth.

Now, back to working on your goals and dreams. It’s the same as ordering breakfast bowls. If you don’t pay attention you will get wrong stuff. You will end up spending time with wrong people or listening to a wrong online course.

We all have set amount of resources: time (24h, same for everyone!), money, energy and attention. How you spend your resources will ultimately determine the end game. Rather than looking at just money, you must also look at how you are spending the other resources, especially if you get something for free. I have personally become more and more suspicious of free or discounted stuff as I’ve learned that generally it only clutters my life. This applies to events, courses, people and stuff (especially bowls!).

So if you are ready to commit to your goals it’s time to stop making decisions based on where you can get a discount. Internet is full of free material, some great and some not so great. It’s ok to take a taster for free but then it’s time to honour your own time and energy and to commit to something.

Do your research, find out what options are there and most importantly decide what it is you need right now?

Business advice?

Networking?

Accountability?

Structure and support?

If you want breakfast bowls, get breakfast bowls and pay the full price with pride. Don’t get serving bowls just because they are discounted!

Get the coach you want. Pay for the online course you want. Sign up to the membership you want. Paying the full price will make you pay attention and sharpen your commitment.

I sometimes get asked why one should pay for attending the DrivenWoman groups because there are so many free groups out there. I ask them,

Have you made the change you want to see in your life already?

If not, then maybe the DrivenWoman network and structured approach will work for you. When you pay for something, you pay attention, get committed and take action. Free groups are great for motivation and inspiration but do little to move you towards your goals consistently. Networking is wonderful for meeting like-minded women and building relationships and friendships, but often these become a business card swopathlon.

When you join DrivenWoman you will start taking active steps and moving forwards to achieve what you want. It’s about being ready to accept that we have to step outside of our comfort zone and that can be painful. Together we can help each other to overcome it. Instead of feeling isolated and frustrated we keep moving forward, encouraging each other, and slowly, step-by-step, our life starts to turn around.

When I created DrivenWoman my mission was to build a bullet proof process, a system that if you’d stick to it and do the work you’d get results. And that’s exactly what this is. At DrivenWoman you can’t hide from yourself, you can’t simply ‘consume’ personal growth, you will have to get involved. At DrivenWoman you will get committed to your dreams.

Are you ready?

~ Miisa

Find your local Lifeworking group and get committed to your goals, now.