The Universe gives you the best messages when you are finally ready to hear them. Better yet, when you are ready to hear them, they are the biggest yet most gentle, smack in the forehead you’ll ever get.
What was my smack in the forehead this week?
It was why I am giving up on giving away my time, energy and intellectual property.
I am neither rich, nor old, and therefore do not have the time nor means to do it.
My new goal in my intentions for my career and life:
“I work that hard and effectively to attain a level of financial abundance that I no longer have to budget to ensure I have money to cover the cost of running a business, family and home, so that when I am comfortable enough, I will then be able to step into a life of donating my time, energy and expertise to those who really truly desire it and feel awesome in doing that.”
Twice this week I’ve read articles about people who in the twilight of their life and working career, who no longer needed to work and be paid to ensure a standard of living for themselves or their children, set about dedicating their rest of their life to serving those less fortunate in whatever their profession was.
So, that’s the new me. 
I will now work with vitality and happiness, working solidly until the time I can comfortably and happily donate my time and energy to helping those that truly desire it. I know that this being my end goal to get to a point in my life where I can give without condition is my greatest life dream and the passion I have to be able to do that, will ensure that my working life of being paid will facilitate that. More, if everything is on track, I won’t have to wait until I’m 60 before I do get to that place in my life.
The old resentment bunny paid a visit to my brain the other day with the expectation that I be available at beck and call to a social enterprise that will benefit from my expertise but are in ‘no position’ to pay me anything let alone what I am worth.
The upbringing of helping those less fortunate than you kicked in, but then the “I am putting my whole family in financial distress” if I allocate anymore time to freebies also kicked in. The funniest thing I realised too, at some point, in any event or outcome where I have donated my time, someone always got paid, and it was never me.
Note to self….find experts in my field who do donate their time free of charge to help those who are in ‘no position’ to pay for a service.
If you are a small business owner reading this and you, like me, have given countless hours of your time and IP away since you started in business, you can now comfortably step away from doing that and go into the mindset of working to ensure that your life is abundant enough to donate and volunteer at some point. There are people in your given industry doing the volunteering and donating, so be kind to their legacy and let them do that while you continue your business in a successful manner.
If you need to, for whatever reason, give away anything, then choose a day of the week, like Pro-bono Friday or choose one cause a year or one cause a half and commit to donating your time to that. Just have boundaries.
Did your planets align this week for an aha moment you never expected?
Great Post, thanks for sharing…oh and yes, my planets aligned in giving me an afternoon of cleansing…tears running with gutso down my cheeks and splashing onto the desk…A new, clearer pathway…thanks to this cleansing 🙂
I totally agree with keeping on track with your own business and supporting one to two that do not have the abilities or resources…but to give of our time freely all the time…Is definitely of no purpose to us… 🙂
Thank you Narelle. I’m so glad to hear of your cleansing. Tears are good at washing away when you have those “I don’t have to deal with that anymore”. YAY for you. Thank you for leaving a comment.
Great realisation Amanda!! I agree with you, and your solutions sound spot on. Because I work a lot with health and the healing arts, many feel that they have an obligation to share their ‘gifts’. I honour that by suggesting the limit to a hour or 2 hours per week, or a monthly allocation, so that need to ‘serve’ freely is still met, but they can still put food on the table! Let me know if you might be needin’ a reminder! xxx
This is the biggest industry that gives away too much Krishna. I wrote a blog really early in the piece when I was struggling to come to terms with charging for the Reiki’s that I provide and then when I realised the outcomes and the length of time it took, I decided I had to. Thank you for commenting. x
Yes me too Admanda I give away heaps and heaps all the time and yes at times it comes back to me, most of the time I am still left struggling a little at bill time… I LOVE to help though and I LOVE to teach people how easy it is to be successful and yet all too often the people I teach are more successful (financially and in business) than I am, using my often free hints when they start out. Every time I try to change this paradigm I end up with less business – I would love to know what the secret is to giving away just enough and earning what I am worth – I missed that lesson in life somewhere along the line lol
Do the free day or donate so many hours a week thing Annie. That’s what’s made the difference for me. People don’t want to waste their money, so when you charge and there are outcomes – then you’ll be on track. Get a product funnel too – starting with what you give away for free and then that leads to step 1, step 2 etc. It will also help put your clients in the picture of what you are trying to do.
I agree, sometimes it’s hard to stop giving – we’re brought up to believe we need to share our gifts, but those in charge of frivolous things like rent, food, power bills and other bills don’t seem to share that obligation! 🙂
Good luck in quitting for this time, I’m on the wagon with you! 🙂
Thanks Pauline….we need to make one of those clear patches that we can stick to our arm that give us a boost of ‘sticking to our guns’ each hour or so. 🙂
Hi Amanda, I just read your blog and the previous one and by doing this, it has helped me realise that a situation that I was placed in this past weekend, had nothing whatsoever to do with anything that I did but the person attacking me was having a shitty life and needed something to take her anger out on. It hurt me greatly, no apology on her behalf so I have adopted the thought……”her problem, not mine”. I will be civil towards her, polite but not go out of my way to be bosom buddies with her. She has never been one of my favourite encounters, but I respected her as a person. She has lost my respect and has now become just another person that I see from time to time. I have the next 10 days to get through where this person will be present on a daily basis, but there will be others there who like and accept me for who I am so I am going to enjoy myself. Thanks for all your positive support through your blog and Facebook. I will be back to see you soon. xo Deidre
WINNER Deidre. Your growth is amazing. Keep up the good work dear lady. xx