Blog.

This needs to be made clear.

Don’t go chasing investment returns.

Don’t go picking the funds based on returns.

And please for the love of designer handbags, don’t go comparing your shoes, handbags or investment account returns to your neighbours!!

Two accounts will never look the same even if they both have the same amount of initial money invested and they are both invested in the exact same mutual fund, stock, ETF (exchange traded funds), or other liquid assets if they are invested at different times.

This is where the problem comes in.

You talk to your neighbor or you read the annual returns for your investment and it looks nothing like the returns that you received in your personal account – good or bad!

You see, the day you entered the market will make your market returns completely unique to you!

Comparing to your neighbour will be useless,

Over time this conundrum solves itself, but only after staying invested for years (like quite a few years) will your returns begin to reflect those of your neighbour and even then it depends on if you are buying or selling units in the interim.

The thing is this.

You don’t know if you bought at the top or the trough.

But that all aside, you look at your neighbour or your return on your statement and see you only did 3% when your neighbour actually did 10%+ for the year and you want to jump ship even if you were both invested in the exact same fund.

This happened to me when, a year and a half ago, I moved both my daughters RESPs from one institution to another institution, from the same funds to the same funds.

Even though the paperwork and trades were submitted on the same day, they 2 accounts came over to the new institution 2 weeks apart.

Funny enough, one account was invested at the peak of the market that year and one was invested in the pits a few weeks later.

A year later these 2 accounts had a return difference of 10.8%!!!

One account on the date I checked it was -2.6% and one was 8.2%!

Keep in mind, these 2 accounts are showing up on my dashboard right beside each other and have had the exact same amount of money put into them and always held the same underlying investments.

This isn’t even me comparing to my neighbour or other clients, this is me comparing me to me!!

Needless to say, only one of my daughters is allowed to go to an IVY league university! HA!

But, all kidding aside, I didn’t run out and change my investment – you see…

The investment is still a good investment. The fund is still a good fund.

The underlying investment is still good even if one of my account showed a negative return for the year – that had to do with timing – nothing else.

So, my message to you for week two of this investment series is this:

DON’T GO CHASING RETURNS!

Once you know you have good fund managers, a good investment – don’t sell because one year was bad.

On that note, maybe you lucked out and killed it with 18% your first year – congrats, but then don’t expect that to be the norm.

Markets will do market things and carry with them lots of volatility – more ups and downs than your toddler or teenage daughter!

You have to go with the flow.

This goes back to choosing your investments with the best of your knowledge, doing a quick gut check, make a plan and then releasing it to do its thing.

Chasing returns is going to get you killed in the world of investing.

Chasing returns will just cause you stress and leave you totally unsatisfied.

Don’t do it!

You could be throwing out the baby with the bath water.

I didn’t even get deep into regular withdrawals and deposits made into your account which can drastically reduce or increase your return as well.

Honestly, there are so many factors that you really just need not compare to anyone else, because it will either make you feel smart or stupid – neither is usually the case when it comes to investing because there is the element that no one can control, call it luck, or just call it the market.

The phrase “you do you” becomes even more important when it comes to investing!

That’s why my catch phrase at the end of every blog is Live Your Legacy and not, live your neighbours legacy…

you can’t.

Don’t try to copy them, it will probably end up bad for you.

Like picking stocks at the water-cooler at work or over BBQ wieners at the family reunion –

it rarely ends well.

And now you know….

Live Your Legacy!

xx Lisa

PS. If you haven’t yet signed up go to FINANCIALBLISS.CA and unlock your free content now!

This is where you must start if you want to be successful in investing.

This is before you learn anything technical or even do any research!

There are 2 things that I think need to happen first, but I see don’t happen most of the time.

1. You need a specific aim/goal for your money.
2. You need a specific aim and once the goal is reached, you still need a specific aim – or refreshed focus for your money.

So, in other words, you need to be crystal clear as to your ‘why’ at all times when investing.

Most people don’t have this, or if they do, their aim is WAY TOO VAGUE and they are setting themselves up for disaster before they even put their money anywhere.

I know this. I’ve done it. Many times – but now I know better!

Before we start talking about aim complacency, I need to talk about aim confusion.

Aim confusion comes first before you even have achieved your goal.

You have to know your end goal.

You have to know your why.

You have to know your purpose.

If you don’t, then you are about as good as a ship without a rudder and all the millions of metaphors I could use right now.

Useless.

And yes, that’s harsh, but you want to make money, right?

So, get serious about it and pick the end in mind.

You have to know your end point!

You can change it along the way, but you need to start with a goal or you are not going anywhere fast.

I’ve been watching clients invest for 20 years now and I can tell you this, anyone who knows exactly what they want, even if it’s 45 years down the road, has more success with their investment accounts than those trying to accumulate ‘as much as they can’ without specifics or planning for a vague word like ‘retirement’.

I can’t explain most of this phenomenon (I can explain some of it, but there’s definitely some unseen aspect to it!) except for the fact that some clients were so specific in their goals and others weren’t, and yet lots of them were in the exact same investment!

That’s the biggest difference between the 2 groups of clients. I’ve asked my colleagues as well, most of them agree.

“Accumulate as much as you can” is an arbitrary thing.

The money gods don’t like that. I joke, but it’s true. The universe, nature – GOD wants to give you what your hearts desire, but when you are vague, the universe will deliver you a bowl of mixed-nuts and like only 2 macadamia nuts in the whole bowl. Ughhhh……

That never works.

What do you want the money for?

What do you want this specific pot of money, this investment account for?

Even if you say $1,000,000 for retirement (whoever came up with that amount?!) is better than just saying you want your money to grow.

Money is energy.

That energy needs to be put to work in a specific way otherwise it will manifest itself out in crazy ways!

Direct the energy and money will follow that route.

Okay, now, you are fair to say, but I can’t control the stock market or any other investment or private equity, etc. etc.

Correct, that is outside of your control.

However, this is where the magic happens.

You make your plans, set your goals and providence moves with you.

I’m not going to explain it – because I can’t – maybe some quantum physics scientist hottie can, but this is where faith comes into play.

Set it and hold your intentions.

Yes, there will be ups and downs and market corrections, but when you hold the space for exactly what you want, life has a funny way of giving you exactly that.

You need to be in control of the aim.

You need to keep your aim ahead of you at all times.

Aim confusion will be your downfall when it comes to successful investing – especially if you go chasing returns or the “hottest” stock!

Buying stocks? You need to take the emotion out of it and determine your end point before you even buy the company in the first place.

Make sense?

I’ve seen so many people say, “oh, I’ll just ride it all the way up” and usually end up losing money. We humans are very good at emotional ties, FOMO, and when it comes to our money, that’s all amplified.

You are rarely going to get the timing right when buying and selling stocks or anything to be sure!

If you are planning for retirement, you will have to set a goal for an amount you wish to have as a monthly income in retirement and then figure out how big that pot of money needs to be when you want to retire, make sure to take into account inflation and work the numbers backwards. (If you need help, talk to a financial planner.)

Make sure you don’t have AIM CONFUSION in regards to your investments.

Now, aim complacency is aim confusion’s wicked annoyingly rich step-sister.

AIM COMPLACENCY is when you are all smug that you did “well” with your investments, or that your investment accounts are all “up” in value and you think it’s time to coast or that you hit the last decade of growth in the stock market and think that this is going to happen for the next 10 years and beyond!

You have jumped on the 1980s yacht, it’s sailing, the martini’s are flowing freely and you think you have arrived but you don’t see that soon you will be lost at sea because the captain is on his 10th martini as well, and being distracted by beautiful women.

Don’t be on that boat! It’s like Gilligan’s Island all over again!

Complacency when things have gone well for a long time is awesome, however we tend to go on autopilot and then forget that things can go wrong.

I’m not saying they will, I’m saying we get off course one or two degrees and then the reality is that we are really off course and need to re-align.

The big thing that happens in investing is that people do well (meaning their account value on paper is up!) with a fund or stock.

Then they sit on it.

And sit on it.

And sit on it.

And greed sets in.

You made money, now take it and move it to something else.

Or at least re-assess the situation and set a new fresh goal around that investment holding that you have.

Lots of people lose money when greed sets in – sure fire recipe for disaster!

Again, we are back to the AIM.

Make sure you have a new aim once you have reached your goal!

This is important.

I think the other big problem for all investing is when the emotion of greed gets in the way.

And I’m not even talking the BIG OBVIOUS GREED you can see a mile away, but the subtle, soft greed that’s just enough to block you from receiving! (Yes, a money block!)

You have got to get over your AIM CONFUSION & AIM COMPLACENCY and just focus on the aim then release the outcome.

(All the same stuff/energy work/tools that work in the rest of your life – like weight loss, health restoration, romance, relationships, etc – all work the same way for your money!)

Hey, investing is never going to be perfect – get over that! It’s never going to do you any good if you are constantly worried over it.

Set aim.

Release.

and….

Live Your Legacy!

xx Lisa

PS. If you haven’t yet signed up go to FINANCIALBLISS.CA and unlock your free content now!

Let’s talk INVESTING.

I woke up and decided I need to write a 6-week series on investing, so this is what’s happening – but it won’t be your dad’s type of investing and it sure as heck won’t be an all-boys club here!

You’re dealing with me remember – the person who relates everything to shoes – so it will be fun!

I have 6 main ideas that I want to share in this series. These are themes, basic common sense that isn’t so common anymore and things to keep in mind when being bullied by the masculine world of investing.

I love men, so this is not a slight on men, but when I’m speaking of investing and the whole world of money that goes with it, it’s still a masculine energy.

I want to add some of that feminine energy and thought leadership to that conversation.

The ‘truth’ is that these blogettes (cause I’ll try to keep them under 1000 words! HA!) have come to from my thoughts, my philosophy on investing.

I’m actually just sharing with you what is my truth on the subject of investing, which are my opinions, observations and thoughts that I believe to be true and go about making decisions from the collection of these beliefs – as we all do for all things!

And the ‘truth‘ is that you need to create your ‘truth‘ on the subject of investing or you already have your ‘truth’ and it can be different than my ‘truth’ and that’s okay and WE CAN BOTH WIN with different ‘truths’ (this is key by the way!!) I’m not trying to convert anyone here.

The reality is that many people just go along with what someone else says about investing without even really questioning if that’s good for them or not. I know that a lot of people that also haven’t given investing in general focused thought as to how they want their money to serve them.

That’s why I’m writing this series – so you can give your investments some deep consideration and see if they align with your goals to fund your dreams – not to just follow along with what society says, but really allow this: you do you!

My goal or “aim” if you will is to bring us all back to the basics and bring in a whole lotta common sense and questioning, which I think brings us back to the feminine energy and power. (Here’s the woo-woo!)

And yes, I’m trying to bring in some thought leadership from a place of deep love and care for all the people on this topic only because this type of perspective doesn’t fit in the investment world with the masculine narrative. (Push, Push, Push – and many other words I could insert here.)

The masculine world of money, politics, investing is not cutting it anymore for just slightly over 50% of the population are women and are bringing with them the air of feminine energy out into the open. That means we are not the niche market as some masculine investment companies have referred to us in the past, we are what will be the biggest market share in investing going forward, if not now!

That’s another reason why I’m writing this series – and trust me, it’s going to still be my mix of the spiritual and money and mindset because that’s all investing is. (Why do you think all my blogs are on the spiritual side or mindset side more than the money?! Because money – and all the things you are after come after those are aligned!)

Anyone who thinks their money and mindset and spiritual energy are all separate matters are clearly mistaken.

If you are a women or man, the feminine energy around money benefits everyone because it doesn’t carry with it lack, scarcity or competition and that mindset view really will change things over time.

I want to mention to you that for men, feminine energy does not mean that men need to be more girly, or visa versa – not at all – these are bigger themes unrelated to personality or the ego. These are fundamental shifts that needs to happen in mindset and those using the masculine and feminine as terms are merely the best way I can describe these energies, but they have no real relation to sex (as in sexy time!) or as in sex (male and female gender).

With that said, let’s do this!

6-weeks all about investing – keep your eyes peeled for these puppies!

Live Your Legacy!

xx Lisa

This is your year!

How are you going to make it your year?

You are going to be your own cheerleader.

You are going to remember (or learn) that everything gets created from the inside out.

INSIDE –> OUT

Not the other way around.

It’s never outside in.

Your outside world never creates your inside world.

Your circumstances will never let you be happy, find joy, live life to the full.

Do you get that?

You are going to stop letting the world dictate your life, your feelings.

You are going to stop being swayed.

You are going to spiritually grow up.

You are going to REVEL in the fact that you now hold all the power, the joy, the LOVE and all you have to do is tap into your UNENDING supply of it.

You are going to stop letting people, places or things be the reason for your unhappiness

AND

You are going to take responsibility for it.

You are going to create your happiness – ALL OF IT.

Did you not know that you were the one responsible for it all along? Did you know it was already inside of you all along – all you had to do was “tap” into it?

That it had NOTHING to do with what happens to you “out there”?

Sure, winning the lottery was nice for a minute, but it never created lasting happiness.

That’s why all the “stuff” out there is fleeting – because it’s always out there.

The good stuff of LIFE is always from within.

You created the feelings, the world in which you live.

No one else.

Here’s something else for you to chew on.

This is wisdom.

This whole inside-out thing is wisdom.

Creating from within to produce the life you want to experience is tapping into wisdom.

Be wise.

There’s unlimited wisdom for you right where you are.

So this year.

This decade.

There is something you must know on a soul level…

You must be your own cheerleader.

No one can do it for you.

You must be the one who creates the confidence within.

You must not care what others think.

You must not.

You must risk it all to get what you want. (And by all, I mean you must risk looking foolish to others. But who cares, their thoughts AND feelings aren’t your responsibility either!)

You must have your own back.

You must be your own cheerleader.

No friend, no BFF, no boyfriend, no girlfriend, no client, no husband, no partner, no sister, no mom or dad can do this for you and it ISN’T THEIR RESPONSIBILITY – so stop making it so!

IT’S ALL ON YOU.

You are SOLELY responsible for the whole SHOW!

You are SOLELY responsible for the whole SHEBANG!

So act like it, LOVE YOURSELF, and be your own cheerleader.

If there’s something in your life you don’t like or out grew, move on.

The BEST advice I ever heard was not to read my own book reviews.

I know MANY “famous” people who have said on various podcasts (mostly because I’m a podcast junkie and that’s all I listen to!) that they don’t read their reviews.

Good reviews are nice, like compliments and you can let them go to your head and coast.

One bad review can send you spiraling down into a hole.

Also, good reviews and bad reviews are just one persons opinion.

Here’s where the rubber meets the road baby –

Reviews don’t matter.

You need to pull yourself back to what matters – ALWAYS!

What is it you are after? What’s your big picture? Stay focued on that – no matter how crazy the dream is.

Sales?

Changing the world?

Helping millions of people?

Whatever it is, I’m guessing it’s not about the reviews and for me it’s not worth it to get sucked into getting patted on the back from a few people who adore me.

Again – that’s not the world’s job to adore me.

It’s my job to love and adore me.

End of story.

It’s my job to have my back.

To know I did my best.

If I did – it’s the end of the story.

Let me ask you this: if you did your best, who cares what other people think?

If you are dedicated to your craft, always learning – you will naturally learn and get better – you don’t need to be critiqued up the wazoo.

Who likes that anyways?

If someone doesn’t like you or how you look or respond to emails – then move on.

Let them go.

You will be better for it.

BECAUSE – here’s the truth – there are people excited to work with you, excited to be the love of your life, excited to be your client, excited to read your book.

Those are the people that you want to align yourself with in the world.

People will support you.

As you will support them.

BUT the feelings, the world you create, the thoughts, the mindset, the money(!) –

That is all on you.

To get the perfect life you dream of and desire, you must create it internally first.

Anyone who knows, knows this is the law.

And not a stupid law, like my tinted windows on my car being too dark, it’s like a law that will change your life.

It will open all the doors.

This changes everything.

The fear can go – flee forever.

Then abundance of love, joy, peace can enter.

Abundance of money can enter too!

All of it!

Oh my dear soul – this is how you…

Live Your Legacy!

xx Lisa

I write to you on the last day of this decade.

As I’m working through today and ‘cleaning house’ – if you will – I’m leaving a lot of ‘things’ here in this decade!

The biggest ‘thing’ I’m leaving behind in this decade is allowing others words to affect me more than my own words.

Essentially, ditching the whole “people-pleaser” identity.

But what does that look like?

I think it will look like this:

• loving others while being able to say NO

• listening to others, but not internalizing it

• picking the best and letting go of the rest

• letting others opinions BE others opinions and not letting it affect my opinions of myself

• trusting myself (higher self) and ONLY myself (my higher self – aka: God, Holy Spirit, Universe)

and really following this mantra – which happens to also be my word(s) of the year:

BE STILL

b e s o s t i l l

BE STILL to recognize God’s voice.

BE STILL to breath. Slowly.

Deep Breaths.

BE STILL before speaking, tap in.

BE STILL to connect to source.

BE STILL to listen.

That’s my word for this year and honestly it will be my theme for this decade.

I’m leaving behind not being still.

Being rushed.

Eating so fast.

Working on the wrong things!

And I’m taking on listening to my body, myself, my soul.

This new decade is going to be one that’s 100% SOUL LED.

I will not do things that don’t align with JOY.

I will not take on projects or clients that don’t fill me up.

I’m also leaving behind certain feelings.

Namely any low self-worth feelings like inadequacy, low-confidence, feeling like a failure much of the time.

Can you relate? Are you over it too?

I’m also leaving behind ALL MONEY STRUGGLES with business, real estate, personal – ALL OF IT!

(Side Note: Money struggles have no bearing on how much money you have or don’t have – it’s just a mindset. I know multi-millionaires with more money struggles than your average person! Regardless, I’m over being stressed over things I can’t control – such as the ECONOMY!)

What am I taking on with BE STILL?

A peaceful abundant mindset.

Tapping into the unlimited LOVE, POWER & ABUNDANCE that awaits us all and is out birthright, we just forgot to claim it.

So, I’m claiming it.

Will you claim it?

One thing I’ve learned about tapping into your God given gifts is:

a) most people aren’t ready to claim them or don’t know they can or don’t know they are available for claim

b) most people don’t even want to claim them (which always perplexes me!)

c) if you are ready to claim them, really claim them – it’s terrifying to step out and do so. It’s so much easier to play a small game in life.

Now if you are ready to claim your “prize”, you may be asking me how do you claim it?

You declare it.

You say it.

You write it.

You let that soak in until your belief is rock hard.

You think it.

You mediate on it – that it is true.

You do not let doubt creep in.

You change your thoughts before they begin to spiral down to nothingness.

YOU CLAIM IT.

And you BE the things you want to be NOW.

Not in the future.

NOW.

You act like it is so.

You act like it is done.

You believe so earnestly that nothing can shake you.

I know that most people won’t do this because by 8am, they have already watched the news that the world is a mess OR they think the above words are so polyannaish to stay focused on things that they can not see because that is not “reality”.

Oh ye of little faith?

Believe that all your dreams and plans are coming true and they will.

Is your faith that strong?

Is your belief that real that you know without a shadow of a doubt it is coming true for you?

Is the health, the miracle, the love, the business, the money coming to you?

HAVE FAITH.

It was created for you.

It’s waiting for you.

It’s waiting for you to simply claim the life that is meant for you.

What are you waiting for?

It’s right now!

Make this your time.

Make this your decade to….

Live Your Legacy!

xx Lisa

I want to tell you about a practice that I started with a dear friend of mine about 5 months ago.

We do it everyday.

Miracle Journaling.

Basically, it’s writing out in a 10-minute brain dump everything that you are grateful for and sending it to a partner – a partner you trust absolute and won’t throw ANY judgement.

I’ve been writing a daily gratitude journal for years, but this was different in the sense that you had a partner and have to email it!

My dear friend call me up early this summer and told me to read Melody Beattie’s book, Make Miracles in Forty Days.

So I did, and then we started our daily grateful rants to each other.

We actually passed the 40-day mark and continued on because we both decided it was such an important reflection time in our daily lives.

So many miracles have happened along the way, but you don’t really realize the miracles until you actually take the time to reflect on them.

Why?

Mostly because while you are in the midst of a miracle it’s usually difficult to recognize until the dust settles.

And this is because most miracles are subtle.

Sure, there are the BIG MIRACLES!

And those are AMAZING and FUN and EASY to celebrate, but most of the time, I’m sure you will find many many little subtle miracles in your life.

Google defines miracle as a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.

A Course in Miracles defines miracles as a correction in perception, a conscious mind-shift.

Miracles are happening all around you right now waiting for you to uncover them with your mind.

I’ve had some SERIOUS miracles that I’ve witnessed for other people. I’ve seen health restored, I’ve seen financial abundance where it was not before.

I’ve seen it with my own eyes and nothing makes you a believer in the miracles shifts that happen than when you see them with your own eyes!

For those of you in the middle of an undesirable situation – whatever it may be, trust that your miracle is coming soon and be ever grateful for it.

It’s on it’s way to you right now.

For those of you feeling pretty good about life right now, continue to be ever grateful – it’s what attracts an abundance of miracles to you.

There is no such thing as too lucky.

Personally, I had a huge miracle happen to me. It’s coming in February and I can’t wait to share it, but I can’t now because it’s not my miracle to share yet, but, it will be in print soon! (hint, hint!)

So let me tell you the back drop to this story.

Last Friday, I was SICK, SICK, SICK in bed. The whole 9-yards flu thing and I mean, seriously, I threw up so hard I popped blood vessels in my face and looked like I went through the ringer!

It was bad. Cancelled 2 Christmas parties bad!

No noise, no light, no Hallmark Christmas Movies in bed – NOTHING!

I was dead.

And from an energy standpoint, I knew why.

This year was NOT my favorite year.

It was a VERY CHALLENGING year to say the least.

I went into my head office and finalized a deal I had been working on for MONTHS, and I was physically, mentally and emotionally DRAINED.

It was over and my body probably took it’s first real breath in months and relaxed and then had to purge all of this year from me, in the most unpleasant way! HA!

But truly, this is what was happening for me.

A cellular revolt.

A time to purge and make way for a new year.

A new decade.

Then, at my LOWEST POINT of this year.

LOWEST POINT.

Physically weak.

Mentally weak.

Emotionally weak.

Looking like total shit with blood vessels popping in my face, I received an email.

A miracle email.

And I had no energy to do the dance of joy, and to be honest, I couldn’t even think about it I was so weak.

I didn’t really process this email until 3 days later when I was feeling better.

But my miracle happened.

And I will tell you about it in a few weeks.

But, that’s not the point.

The point is this.

Don’t give up.

I know you’ve heard it a thousand times.

This year I wanted to give up EVERYDAY!

I mean, quit, go get a good paying J-O-B.

But I didn’t, even when my business couldn’t pay bills on time, I didn’t give up.

And I HAD TO keep my VISION infront of me everyday.

And it’s practically the only thing that has pulled me forward to this point, because seriously, I really wonder some days if owning your own business is really worth the stress of owning your own business, regardless of how much money is involved!

But, I decided it was, and I decided I needed my own business to bring about into the world what I’m creating and the content and education platforms I’m creating to help transform people’s lives financially.

So, I ate a pile of shit-sandwiches this year! (Big Magic anyone?!)

And at the end of the biggest shit-sandwich was a rainbow.

LOL!

Okay, so maybe not all unicorns and rainbow, but for me, it’s better than that.

The point again, keep eating the shit-sandwiches, ONLY if it’s for a good cause – YOUR CAUSE. The cause you define!

Find your cause.

Follow your cause.

Eat a lot of shit-sandwiches for your cause.

And

Repeat.

Don’t worry about the outcome.

The outcome will come out of the blue.

Maybe when you are at your worst.

Maybe when you are sick in bed.

But it will come.

Keep believing –

Keep going on –

and

Keep –

Living Your Legacy!

xx L

There’s so much to this conversation on MONEY PLANNING for the new year!

First of all, we have the goals.

1. Set your money goals.

This can include:

• income goals
• items you wish to purchase
• things you want to see and do
• business income
• asking for a raise
• savings and investment goals
• debt reduction goals

Okay, so the stage is set. You have an idea in your head of what you want to accomplish.

Next step:

2. Write it down everyday.

“But Lisa, I use all the online tools, like MINT, so I don’t need to write it down.”

Yes, you do.

You actually have to write it down often.

Ideally every day.

But you know this.

And going back to last week’s blog on scheduling, you need to make sure you are planning time to actually write down your money goals.

This is part of it.

It refocuses you daily.

It anchors you in your goals.

Writing it down gives your mind a visual.

I have to tell you this strange thing.

I was trying to recall what I wrote in my blogs over the past year.

AND I CAN’T.

Even this right now as I click-clack away at the keys, I won’t remember.

But if you asked me what I wrote down in my journal, I could tell you exactly what I journaled on and what my goals are written in there – even up to the last few years! I can actually see my journals and what’s on each page in my head.

Photographic memory.

If you are like that, then you best be taking what I’m saying about writing down your money goals to heart!

And yes, the online tools, the cool money phone apps (I mean, I get it – I’ve created an application too and know how useful they can be!), but they will never be able to replace that special part of your brain that can recognize what you wrote by hand.

Fascinating.

And, I’m sure this holds for most people. OBVIOUSLY not all,.

So, totally utilize the YNAB app or MINT or whatever floats your boat, but keep writing too.

Okay, so be able to write your goals down every day, and as I already mentioned it, you need to….

3. Schedule Your Money Date In Your Calendar

This can be weekly, daily – whatever needs to happen for you.

Some people have very simple financial lives.

I don’t.

Money comes in almost every day for me and money goes out.

Many of you have crazy juggling acts.

Whether you are juggling lots of money stuff or have a simple money life, setting a money date with yourself will help you create calm.

Yesterdays money date included Christmas music and a coffee.

It can be a coffee shop, a glass of wine, flowers – I’ve even had a bubble bath money date before – although that gets tricky with the paper and water…. just sayin’.

Light a candle, play some music and do some of these activities in your money date:

• Check on your KMM (Key Money Metrics – included in my 5 Money Metrics you need to watch – ask me for the blog post link!)
• Check on account balances
• Make a list of upcoming expenses and due dates
• Make a list of upcoming income & sales coming in
• Update your spreadsheets (if you’ve followed me long enough, I gave out the money makeover spreadsheet for free, you can DM me for the URL sign up!)
• Pay Bills
• Donate Money, plan your charitable giving
• Investment Research
• Insurance policies review
• Book an appointment with ME – your financial planner!

Next we talk about the book keeping and number…..

5. You are the CEO of Your Financial Life.

So start acting like it!

Literally, you need to be running your financial life like a successful Fortune 500 company and not like the government. 🙂

You need to look at strategies, make plans, follow up on plans, make sure you aren’t overspending.

This doesn’t take rocket science.

All it takes is a belief that you are good with money.

AND YOU ARE.

If you can do simple grade 2 & 3 math, then you can be a money wiz.

And what you really need for 2020 is to UNCOMPLICATE your financial life!

Especially if you find you have tried every software and program and app that’s out there, you can rest assured that even large businesses can be boiled down to a simple 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper printed from a simple spreadsheet.

You can make your life that simple.

It does not need to be complicated.

We use Quickbooks and other things – but at the end of the month, the CEO needs to see the overviews, the big picture stuff!

Details are important and can be looked upon as needed, but sometimes GIRLS, you just need to keep it simple.

6. Don’t over complicate your financial life!

and if you really take to heart some of these money planning tips for 2020 then you will be sure to…

Live Your Legacy!

xx L

Ya’ll need to be getting your planning on!

I mean doesn’t the thought of a new planner or journal just excite the crap outta ya?

Okay, my people are hearing me.

YAY for a new year – BUT….

As exciting as a new planner or journal can be, the excitement wears off and fast if we are not getting the results we want manifested into our daily lives!

So, I thought I’d share with you my ritual for planning and my absolute non-negotiables when it comes to all things scheduling and planning.

OH and don’t forget the golden rule:

What gets scheduled gets done.

or as my Grade 6 teacher, Mr. Satterbloom had on our classroom walls:

Fail to Plan. Plan to Fail.

Okay, so before we dig into planning – we must remember that this is a DAILY thing that must happen, except weekends.

Weekends – let’s face it – I don’t do any planning. I KNOW after a busy week that my brain needs to shut off completely to get me ready for another week.

Don’t push yourself too hard, you’ll crack and end up no where near your intended goal. #beentheredonethat

Like “they” always say, you can over estimate what you can get done in a day, week or year – but completely under estimate what you get done in 5 years, 10 years or even your lifetime.

I know this to be true.

Even this blog post was completely scheduled and planned into my calendar.

You don’t create a great body of work with one piece of work!

233 blogs has taken me 233 weeks to write.

Same time every week.

No matter rain, sleet or snow (like the mailman’s creed!) – YOU HAVE TO stay true to what you’ve scheduled and have integrity with yourself on the tasks at hand!

So how do I do it?

Every monday morning – the weekly planner.

I literally have everything in my google calendar and on my iPhone cal.

For me everything is synced up. It has to be as my clients have access to my calendar as well to schedule appointments if need be.

Also, my assistant has full access to my calendar, so we have to keep an online calendar – paper just doesn’t work for the practicality of business.

HOWEVER, Monday morning I print off a weekly calendar (or use my yearly planner – depending on my mood!) and hand write out all the scheduled events in the time slots.

This does 2 things:

1. Helps me create a visual of my week and I have a photographic memory so I can see all my appointments on one piece of paper and it helps me never forget a meeting and visually lock everything in – helping with time management.
2. It helps me visualize the events and meetings and appointments. I literally can see everything unfolding, from successful sales calls to picking up happy children (LOL, okay sometimes visualizing happy children works!)

The key with manifesting anything in your life is first thinking the idea, and then the second part is really holding the vision for at least 17 seconds (seriously, google it!).

SEEING IT.

SEEING IT in your mind unfold.

That’s the magical part of it all!

As elementary as this sounds, and I will say that I’m committed to it (ONCE AGAIN!) that PLANNING is the most important thing you can do to help you accomplish ANYTHING you want in your life.

And… talk to anyone who has lost weight and kept it off has more than likely planned out everything that went in their mouth.

Here’s the truth bomb:

Planning takes time.

Too much time sometimes!

This is where I fall down.

I half-ass plan sometimes and trust me when I say that is the downfall of WHY I HAVEN’T CREATED and brought into reality some of my dreams.

SERIOUSLY.

I know it.

Deep down you know it.

Running around like a chicken with your head cut off and all that “busy” work will never get you close or even in the same room as your dreams.

What I LOVE to do is take hours, if not days, alone and plan out what needs to happen.

It goes like this:

I have an Ellements Group Bible. (EG is my corporation/business name – in case I didn’t tell you.)

No serious.

It’s called the Bible for one reason only and that’s because it’s not supposed to change everytime I feel like changing it… which is often, which I guess makes it more of a guideline book instead of Bible, but I feel if I call it a Bible I may actually follow the own words I write in it! 😉

The Bible contains the vision, mission, goals, plans, team roles, products, future plans, financial projections.

It’s totally one step up from a business plan – because it’s never going to be shown to a bank, or outsider.

So it’s like a secret Bible.

Why will it never be shown to an outsider?

Simple.

Because when it’s for my eyes and my teams eyes only then it’s not being influenced by outside forces.

Think about it.

When you write a business plan, usually you are trying to impress someone, usually it’s a professor for a grade (hence my University Business Plan!) or my dad or a bank/investor – because if you need money and investors you need to go to the bank.

This doesn’t work people!

Stop trying to impress someone else.

Have a business plan and go forth with conviction!

The power is yours.

You give your power away every time you ask for someone’s opinion on your plans!

So stop asking.

Make your plans top secret.

Only share them with your team or people who are supporting you and uplifting you in accomplishing your goals.

Hence, the Ellements Group Bible is not to be seen by anyone but me and my team. (You can do this for your family/home life too!)

It’s the be all end all to my business. It’s a book unto it’s own.

Okay, so you hear me now?

Create your “plan” and treat it like your “Bible”!

Then, once you have your plan it’s easy to schedule in your life.

Create strict boundaries around your intentions.

For example, I rarely take a client before noon.

Morning is my time.

MY TIME.

I write, plan, read, exercise, create, work with my numerous coaches.

I get GROUCHY when this is not honoured.

AND that does happen sometimes for meetings, so I compensate on that day and schedule my time in the afternoon – or whatever it takes.

I need 3-6 hours a day of alone time.

Like a QUEEN.

(You are Queen/King of your life, don’t forget!)

I realize many of you do not have this kind of time, or even an hour to plan and take alone time BUT I encourage that you make the time.

Nothing else is as important as planning.

Nothing.

Without the time and space to think, create and bring ideas forth – there is nothing!

NOTHING!

And we were born to create!

Okay, so now we’ve planned out week and days to coincide with the Bible.

Next, is the hardest part.

Even harder than sitting your butt down and planning.

It’s now honouring your word to yourself.

We all get pulled in a 100 different ways.

This is what separates the people who set out to achieve something and the people that don’t.

The people who say “No” more are usually the people that win at their goals.

The “Yes” people don’t.

You are no longer a doormat to the rest of the world vying for your attention.

Don’t give into them.

Millions will.

You won’t.

Why?

Because this is what it means to have dreams bigger than your bullshit.

This means you say “no”.

You only say “yes” to things that are in alignment with your plans, your goals, your dreams.

And because we are all “too nice” – we say “yes” to everything.

That’s the Canadian way after all – like if we don’t say “yes” to everything, people will freeze to death or something. Maybe that’s how it started….

But today, you are allowed to say “no” to events and requests that don’t work for you for whatever reason on the planet you want.

Maybe you just needed to give yourself permission to say “no” so you can say “yes” to yourself.

The problem with saying “yes” to someone else’s agenda means you are saying “no” to yours, unless both parties are aligned in the same outcome or goal.

Here’s the other thing to catch yourself in.

The fun.

I blow off my schedule MANY TIMES for a better offer.

Once in a while it’s great and soul refreshing, but doing this consistently is not going to help your efforts. (Real it in Sagittarians!)

Final point.

Take a day to yourself to think, plan, create.

I do this often, but definitely at the end of the year for the new year.

Turn off everything.

No interruptions.

And dream, and plan.

I have to do this alone.

I can’t do it in a workshop.

I can’t do it with family around.

I can’t do it with friends.

I can’t do it with my team.

I can’t do it with my fish watching.

I have to be all alone.

That’s when I make the biggest strides in my business.

That’s when I get closer, more tied into what I’m creating.

That’s when I get to create the vision and sit with the vision in my mind and play with it.

That’s when life gets good.

That’s how I plan my day, week, month, year

and

that’s how you…

Live Your Legacy.

xx L

Startled. Awoke from a dream in bed at 12:41am. Today. December 3, 2019.

With an idea.

A divine inspired idea.

And proceeded to plan it out for the next 3 hours and 20 minutes at which I said I really needed my rest because today is a big day for me. (Client and then 2 Work Christmas Parties! 😉 )

Like I said, big day. Need sleep.

But this idea was something I’ve been searching for FOR YEARS and it kinda came together in an effortless way last night in a dream.

Here’s the truth about miracles.

They come in the smallest of ways most of the time.

Yes, of course there are big miracles.

But how often do you get BIG miracles?

For you, my love, I hope you get BIG miracles ALL the time.

I guess my experience on earth believes more that the smaller miracles are more available to us ALL the time.

I would venture to say that most of your miracles come as small whispers and nudges from the universe.

Divinely ordained.

Waiting with ebullience for you to accept them and take them seriously.

Many pass by, like the muse, and venture on to others, and then one day someone else is walking around with your idea. (And they made millions with the waffle maker design and hair clip that you new would have been a hit but never followed up!)

When you have an idea, a miracle, and God handed it to you on a GOLDEN PLATTER, it’s best you follow it.

I think regret comes from the moments when you know deep down you didn’t follow an inkling you know was gnawing at your tummy.

This miracle I’ve been handed is going to take time.

It’s actually going to take approx 350-365 days to manifest itself out fully.

I’m a very patient person.

Miracles love a patient heart.

This miracle I’ve been handed is going to take lots of work.

I mean, a lot of WORK.

I mean, like 5-10 hours a week for the next year kinda work.

Unpaid work upfront, reward later.

Miracles love those who take them seriously and will put in the effort to see it through.

This miracle I’ve been handed is going to take a lot of faith.

LOTS of it.

At first glance, this is way bigger than me and I have ZERO idea how I’m going to pull this off!

Miracles are drawn to those with great faith.

Often times, you can swap out the word miracle with idea.

All ideas are miracles in someway shape or form born from our beautiful desires and subconscious creations.

Here’s my challenge for you:

Will you take your next miracle that comes your way and run with it?

Will you look at it awe inspired like a gift of manna from the heavens?

I won’t lie to you.

I was almost in tears of gratitude for the miracle idea I received.

It was like a sigh of relief.

Seriously.

Something I have long been searching for was now laid upon me and I know that from here on out it’s all action.

Sometimes we just need clarity in our lives to move forward and take giant steps in fear, er… I mean faith. Cause let me tell you they both “FEEL” the same.

I’m somewhat terrified people will laugh at my idea, or want to change it.

But this vision is all mine and I’m going to run with it.

AND with that kind of clarity, courage and confidence, I will see this miracle through from a small miracle to what it will turn into….

A BIG MIRACLE.

Did you know small miracles grow up to be big miracles?

Sure, it’s all perspective.

It’s the same with money.

Do you know how people create big financial miracles in their lives?

Small habits that turn out big for them.

Same with health. Same with strong relationships. Same with all off it.

Miracles are always available to you –

But it’s up to you to receive them! (Okay, that was some deep truth my soul just shivered writing that.)

When you take the small whispers, the miracle seeds handed to you and plant them, and watch them grow, you…

Live Your Legacy!

xx Lisa

I write about all the things my soul is curious to.

After all, are we not all here to test the curiosity of our souls?

This is my second last day of my 30’s.

Yes, I’m turning 40 in a few hours.

I can clearly define this decade as one of growth.

The thing about growth is that while most of us do it kicking and screaming there really are some big gems hidden in growth – ALWAYS.

I feel it’s our job to find them, learn the lesson and move on.

Obviously, there are many that don’t see life that way and are handed the same lessons on repeat – until the day that they just choose to know they are done with that lesson.

It is a choice.

Big lesson #1 I learned this decade in a deeper way: Everything is a choice. My life is made up of my choices.

More than absolutely anything, this decade has been magical for me because I can honestly say that I was able to unleash my soul to set out and do what I was put here to do.

Although still in the early stages, I feel I’m well prepared for my 40’s and on that note, pray it’s a much better decade. (Yes, like all humans, I want to still take the easy way out and desperately want life to flow with ease! #newbelief )

30’s, like my 20’s and like my teenage years, was exhausting and I don’t think I’d want to relive it for the most part.

Isn’t that the best part about our past – that we can choose to leave it there!

The problem being that most of us don’t do that.

Here’s a multiple choice question for you.

Where do you want to be spending most of your time with your thoughts?

a) dwell on how bad the past was

b) dwell on how great the good ol’days were

c) dwell on how bad the future looks

d) dwell on how amazing the future looks

I think D might have been the right answer – if there even is a right answer, which I don’t think there is.

However, I think in someways, I pulled a con on you by not offering you the real answer, which you know wasn’t an option in the question. (It’s like university all over again!)

The other answer and probably most correct answer is E.

e) dwell in the now.

Why? Because we are here, we are here now and always are technically dwelling in the now, not in the future or the past.

This will be the single greatest lesson of my 30’s.

Your past is made up and your future is made up.

Technically speaking, when you talk of your past you are referring to something that no human can go back and confirm.

Same for your future, no human can confirm that you will have a wonderful or miserable future.

It’s all hearsay.

I learned this in depth – you know – the moment when your soul “really” gets it in 2014. I mean, really, really, really gets it on a quantum physics level and you are forever transformed in all your thoughts and thinking.

The other thing I will gladly take from my 30’s is that it’s my life and my stage. Anyone I don’t want on my stage, I can kick off.

This stage is not a physical stage, it’s more the stage of my brain, my thought stage.

Who I am letting into my thoughts and who I do not want taking up any more time in my thoughts.

Powerful when you know that the worst thing that can ever happen to you is a feeling. Another great lesson I learned this decade. Could someone have told me this as a teenager? Seriously.

The power of the law of attraction never ceases to amaze me.

It’s been a guiding principle in many things I’ve personally witnessed over the last decade and can track it all through my life.

Awareness around what I’m attracting to my life is all because I took the law of attraction and studied it (ad nauseam! I read over 50 books – if not more on the subject in the last 7 years!), analyzed it and literally watched it occur for so many people and watch how it plays out in life.

My life, as I like to think of it, is one big human experiment. I relish in psychology and why people do and act the way they do. It fascinates me.

I do things on purpose to test and see what will happen.

It’s fun.

One big thing I learned this decade is that everything is meaningless and we are the ones who put meaning on everything.

And that is SUCH a big relief when I’m so stressed out (which happens often) and reminding myself that for the most part everything we busy bees are doing down here on earth is irrelevant and yet we do it to self-actualize. Deep stuff and fascinating.

But when I’m stressed out about things out of my control, I remember none of it really matters at the end of the day and I smile.

I smile and chuckle to myself – even if I’m hysteric and crying.

I can see my monkey brain freaking out and still have my deeper soul laugh at myself for being so ridiculous. It’s one of the greatest gifts.

Life is just life. So don’t take it so seriously, or do – it’s up to you to put that meaning on it. AND your meaning is not any better than any one else’s meaning.

I’ve just come to learn that stress ages you and isn’t worth it in the long run, especially for your blood pressure and health.

Money is just energy you direct.

Another big one and most people including myself, still really don’t know how to channel this one….

The beliefs have shifted for me as well.

New beliefs that I’m choosing to embrace and I know will manifest themselves over the next decade and beyond.

Beliefs like:

Money flows easily to me in abundance.

That’s a good belief to have.

–> Thinking that money is hard to earn will make it so.

–> Thinking that you need to work hard for money will make it so.

–> Thinking that life is hard will make is so.

Don’t get me wrong.

Sometimes I love to relish in my pity parties. We all do.

I think going through and sitting with negative emotions and feelings and having negative thoughts is healthy.

I don’t think you’ll ever get past a 50% negative and 50% positive life, thoughts or feelings.

I don’t think we were created to ever have a 100% positive mindset.

We all have pain.

Pain is real and pain is pain is pain for all the humans.

We can’t escape pain.

We sit with it and feel it.

We don’t need to hide it.

But the suffering.

That’s optional.

You don’t need to suffer for years on end.

Best lesson I’ve learned as well. You get to take your lessons and your pain and turn them into beautiful things in your life.

Sit with the pain, feel it and let it move through you.

As long as it takes.

So blessed to know these lessons.

There are other lessons too.

Lessons around parenting are endless, but like all things, kids grow up and those lessons come and go (unless I were to hatch another batch of children, which is not something I ever plan on doing again!).

Lessons around what my body needs and likes and the awareness around that.

Lessons around business – I’m sure I will have many more lessons here, but I feel I got over some major hurdles in this decade and plan to not relive those!

My connection to my spiritual life is stronger than ever and God has my back and that peace is indescribable. This would be the best outcome I received in the last decade. Above relationships, money, business, friendship, family, my physical body – all of it – having a deep desire in connecting with God, my source, is something no one can take away ever.

And in life, that’s really the only thing that can’t be taken away….

I pray for so many people to find that kind of deep peace with their souls and it will look different to everyone. That peace takes you far and definitely helps me re-frame in times of great stress and trouble.

And then there are some lessons my heart has yet to learn and in many ways I’m excited about those lessons yet to come in my 40’s and beyond.

Most of all, today.

Today will be a good day.

I am seeing my kids off on the bus here soon, making breakfast and lunches, seeing 2 clients today and driving kids around in the evening.

I will call my mom & dad and tell them I miss them and love them.

I will smell the flowers in my office and thank my amazing Pam profusely for all the work she’s been doing lately in our office.

I will write more client thank you cards and respond to at least 30 client emails & phone calls today and move my business forward.

I will have a few hard conversations.

I will no doubt have a few joy-filled conversations or texts from friends.

I will experience all that life has to offer: excitement, frustration, sadness, anger, love, happiness, deep joy and peace.

I will put on a new pair of shoes today. Shoes make me smile and giggle like a geek. But most of all, good shoes help me STRUT and give me confidence to take on the world.

Most of all, today I will –

Live My Legacy.

And you will…

Live Your Legacy!

xx Lisa