I am sure I am not unlike most of us when it comes to how we deal with the stress of our business and our lives – we choose chocolate.  Chocolate is not gender or age biased as men love it as well as women at any and all ages.
For me, it is those moments that I first bite into the morsel of chocolate allowing it to melt slowly in my mouth, to savor the richness and flavor as long as I can – ummmm – just before I swallow.  Those moments are the best in terms of being fully aware of the effect that chocolate has on my body (a total feeling of relaxation washes over me from my head to my toes) and on my life for this one choice that I have made.  It is only when I begin to become addicted to the point of not being able to stop eating the chocolate – to the effect and the taste that chocolate can bring – that I begin to question my choices, especially when the clothes begin to feel a bit uncomfortable.
Choosing chocolate is not unlike choosing the simple easy tasks that I enjoy to do in my business.  Choosing to hang out at networking events socializing, writing blogs, preparing talks are all the things that I really, really love doing to propel my business forward.  Making the cold calls, the follow up calls, the closing of the sale are not the most fun aspects of growing any business and yet they have to be done.  These things are more like all those vegetables that your mother made you eat when you were growing up because they were good for you!  Making all the sales calls, the cold calls are the things that will keep your business thriving even if we don’t like doing them.  We all know this yet we still seem to choose the “chocolate” – whatever that may equate to in business for you.
What can we do to make the “vegetables” more appealing?  For me, I have found that as I have matured, I appreciate the vegetables more because I have learned to be more creative in my “vegetable” choices – to find new and exciting ways to enjoy the “vegetables” in life.  So instead of dreading the cold calls or the follow up calls, I just visualize the after effect of succeeding (getting the speaking engagement, the coaching opportunity).  This visualization helps me to move forward positively knowing that I will reach my success through creative, new means which makes it feel as if I am getting the much sought after “chocolate”.  This is what we all desire anyway.  Getting the “chocolate effect/feeling” is so much better for my business much the same way it is better for my body!
However, there are moments and days, when the only choice is “chocolate”  and nothing but “chocolate”.  It just becomes a matter of when those moments are and how much we savor those mouth-watering moments when we do choose them.

About Denise Hansard
Denise Hansard is a Transformational Life Coach and professional speaker. She offers inspiring workshops as well as in-depth coaching programs that help individuals & businesses achieve new heights of success toward accelerated results. This is her commitment and passion. … to help you live like you were meant to! www.DeniseHansard.com