Today marks the first day of the second half of the year. So, in many ways it is the perfect day to celebrate new beginnings … something that I’m experiencing in my own life.

Yesterday, I went to the local county court and filed my divorce papers. It has been a long process to get to this point:

• First, I had to accept that my marriage just was never going to work and release the need to fix it.
• Then I had to tell my husband I wanted a divorce.
• Then I had to move out on my own.
• Then I had to wait six months while I established residency in California.
• Then I needed to figure out how I wanted to initiate the process (I went with the self-help option).
• And finally, I had to file.

Now the process is officially “Go!” and I’m one step closer to being a totally free woman. I’m also now in a space where I’m comfortable being open to date … until I filed those papers, it just didn’t feel in integrity to do that.

So what does all this have to do with your business?

Stay with me a moment here … quite a bit.

Imagine that the business … or even job … you currently have isn’t serving you the way it should, much like my marriage. The first step to making things better and initiating your own new beginning is to recognize that things are not working and understand that if you’ve been trying to fix it to no avail, maybe its time to let go.

Next, you need to clearly state your intentions … that’s analogous to telling my husband I wanted a divorce. Until you can write down your intentions and express them clearly, you will not know what direction you want to go in. Your new direction could be a complete overhaul of your business. It could be a purging of the dead branches of your business. It could even be letting go of your current business and moving in a totally new direction.

Then you need to start taking action. This was like my moving out on my own. You need to start taking the steps you need to take to move you closer to your clearly stated intention. Sometimes those steps will be clear and easy. Sometimes not. But the key is to start taking action, even if it is in the form of baby steps.

Next, you’ll go through what feels like a waiting process. This is the time that your actions start taking on a life of their own. All big changes in life have a gestation period. This is a time of formation, activation and growth. But much like pregnancy, much of this activity may not be visible to the naked eye. Trust your decision and keep moving forward, knowing that your clearly stated intention has, in essence, become a request being acted on by the Universe.

Finally, once things start to really move, you need to step up to the plate and be the leader of your new life. This may mean making things more official with paper work. It may mean fully accepting that you created this new life. Regardless, enjoy what you’ve accomplished. Enjoy your new life!