Jeez, with the dramatic levels of change going on in the Universe today, many of us are feeling disoriented, uncertain, and exhausted from trying to figure out things that are beyond our ability to figure out. I hear the stories all the time. We don't know what to do about our work, our money, and our future. We feel immobilized as if the Economy Fairy has put us under a spell.
In other words, we feel stuck. Is there any hope to break the spell? While there's no Handsome Prince waiting nearby, here's 4 tips that have worked for clients over my 20 years of coaching:
1) Don't Rush. Understand there is always a space between Endings and New Beginnings. While it feels empty, it's a critical to re-birthing. A caterpillar cocoons before it becomes a butterfly. All things in nature follow the same process. Rather than operating from panic, allow yourself to be still. Most of us have been so over-productive most of our lives that days "doing nothing," is viewed as wasteful. Then we beat ourselves up and try to move faster.But doing nothing is actually the stage when the most creativity is occurring. Creativity and new ideas need oxygen....space...in which to ferment and breathe. Allow that process to take place as it will serve you in the long run.
2) Identify with a Vision. It doesn't have to look anything like your old life...and probably won't. But you do get to choose your Vision. Let go. Get passionate. Get imaginative. A gardener puts seeds in the soil with a vision of what it will look like come Spring. No matter how fallow your life may look now, start planting things you really want to see bloom in your life later on. Go to adult school, take internet classes, blog, and hang out with people you think are really cool even if they can't help you with business.
3) Experiment and Move. Try new stuff. Visit new places, explore different activities. Transition is the ideal time of life to experiment. You'll learn new sides to yourself (which may or may not improve your marketability) and you will become more alive. That aliveness makes you powerfully attractive to all things: other humans, opportunity and money. If you stagnate when you feel stuck, you will only feel more stuck. Physical movement and activity can change your perspective very quickly...and open you to unforeseen opportunities.
4) Get Support. Of course, I am a huge believer in group support, collaboration and masterminding. One hour of masterminding can dramatically alter your outlook because you get someone else's ideas rather than constantly recycling the same limiting beliefs over and over, and wonder why things are not changing.
Try some of these, and let me know how it goes.
Showing posts with label change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label change. Show all posts
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
From "Fired Up" to Fizzle?
It's the beginning of a new year - even a new decade! It's exciting. Hope abounds. You might even have plans to eat more vegetables, de-clutter your office, and spend more time with your family.
This year for me is to expand the offerings and opportunties for the members of my Mentoring and Mastermind Network. (http://www.firedupforsuccess.com/.)
Here's the thing: It is estimated that 97% of all New Years Resolutions don't make it past the 3rd week. Wow! How could it go from Fired Up to Fizzle in such a short time?
We produce in our lives that which we are aligned with. Whatever we say, think, feel and do gives clear direction to our brains to create the outcomes. If we say, "This probably won't work," it probably won't. On the other hand, if we become positive, hopeful and optimistic, we will produce a positive result.
Henry Ford made the well known comment: "Whether you believe you can or can't, you're right."
But, in making change, the key is not doing something once or twice. It's about consistency.
It takes about 3-4 weeks of new behavior for the brain to begin to set a new pattern. It often takes months to put together those 3-4 weeks.
That's the value of a support group or mastermind. It's just not easy to embrace of way of being which is contrary to how you've been. Your brain simply isn't wired to do it yet. You're not bad or weak, just not fully programmed. You need to be around others who embrace this kind of a process. We all need for others to hold the vision of what is possible even when we aren't ready to embrace it for ourselves.
"I am just too close to myself to see my potential," said Julie, a nutritionist, to me one day. "I am amazed at what the others see and the ideas they have that I would have never had for myself. The group has really accelerated my progress. I could have never bbeen ableto stay this focused on my own."
Give up trying to do it on your own. Recognize we all need help. Want to go from"Fired Up" to more "Fired Up?" Get a mastermind group!
This year for me is to expand the offerings and opportunties for the members of my Mentoring and Mastermind Network. (http://www.firedupforsuccess.com/.)
Here's the thing: It is estimated that 97% of all New Years Resolutions don't make it past the 3rd week. Wow! How could it go from Fired Up to Fizzle in such a short time?
We produce in our lives that which we are aligned with. Whatever we say, think, feel and do gives clear direction to our brains to create the outcomes. If we say, "This probably won't work," it probably won't. On the other hand, if we become positive, hopeful and optimistic, we will produce a positive result.
Henry Ford made the well known comment: "Whether you believe you can or can't, you're right."
But, in making change, the key is not doing something once or twice. It's about consistency.
It takes about 3-4 weeks of new behavior for the brain to begin to set a new pattern. It often takes months to put together those 3-4 weeks.
That's the value of a support group or mastermind. It's just not easy to embrace of way of being which is contrary to how you've been. Your brain simply isn't wired to do it yet. You're not bad or weak, just not fully programmed. You need to be around others who embrace this kind of a process. We all need for others to hold the vision of what is possible even when we aren't ready to embrace it for ourselves.
"I am just too close to myself to see my potential," said Julie, a nutritionist, to me one day. "I am amazed at what the others see and the ideas they have that I would have never had for myself. The group has really accelerated my progress. I could have never bbeen ableto stay this focused on my own."
Give up trying to do it on your own. Recognize we all need help. Want to go from"Fired Up" to more "Fired Up?" Get a mastermind group!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Overcoming Fear of Success
Are you drowning in invitations to dramatically increase your income, create a bigger plan, or achieve astronomical goals? I recently received an e-mail asking if I was “tired of taking small steps instead of making quantum leaps.” They said that if I was ready to take a quantum leap, I could join a 3 day program, and leap away with them.
I'm not ready, thank you, and the truth is most of us are terrified at a quantum leap. Did you know that the brain is designed so that any new challenge or opportunity – no matter how beneficial – will trigger some degree of fear? The bigger the challenge, the greater the fear. The idea that we can avoid fear in the face of success is pretty much impossible.
Once the fear response gets triggered, we unconsciously make excuses to resist any change and stay where we are. We say things to ourselves like “I’m too busy to deal with changing any behaviors right now,” “I don’t have the time to learn how to do new things,” and my personal favorite, “I don’t have the money to invest in myself today – I’ll do I it later when I have more money.” (Of course, that probably won’t happen until you change some things.)
This is why we find ourselves with big ideas yet resistant to implementation.
When our fear is triggered, we may experience one or more of these success-blocking behaviors: (1) lack of focus, (2) difficulty implementing ideas (3) perfectionism and (4) procrastination.
So, when you find yourself experiencing some of this beahavior, what can you do about it? I can’t tell you how to not be fearful – if you’re on the path to success, you’re going to experience it. (Give up, you’re nervous.). But I can tell you what really works…
Take extremely small steps. Consistently. Over an extended period of time.
It’s magic.
According to one of my former teachers, Dr. Robert Maurer, author of One Small Step Can Change Your Life, and psychological researcher at UCLA, “small, easily achievable goals – such as picking up just one paper clip on a chronically messy desk – let you tiptoe past the amygdala (fear center), keeping it asleep without setting off alarm bells.” He explains that while you take these small steps you are actually reprogramming the new nerve pathways for your desired change so that it happens almost without you realizing it.
Our Fired Up Mastermind Network™ system is built around this very principle so we get to see it in action all the time. We see successes created around amazingly small steps as a matter of course.
Recently Donna in our “Nooner” Mastermind team, has been transitioning from graphic arts into a voice-over career, but she also wanted to leverage her creativity to open another stream of income. “I can’t even imagine what that would be. I used to sew, but I have no idea what I could do with that. It’s overwhelming.”
The step was simple. Visit a fabric store. Let go of what she needed to do with it. Indeed, she went with her sister on an outing and loved it. “There’s something that happened inside of me at that store. I got in touch with my love of sewing. Now the ideas and opportunities are just coming effortlessly. I am so excited.”
Donna’s new ideas that may be up and running far more quickly than she would have ever imagined, but her new ventures did not come from the search for a quantum leap, but rather a focus on the smallest possible step.
If you want real magic to live a life you truly love, start small…….and keep it that way for a long time.
(If you're ready to go really small, try our Fired Up Mastermind Network™.)
I'm not ready, thank you, and the truth is most of us are terrified at a quantum leap. Did you know that the brain is designed so that any new challenge or opportunity – no matter how beneficial – will trigger some degree of fear? The bigger the challenge, the greater the fear. The idea that we can avoid fear in the face of success is pretty much impossible.
Once the fear response gets triggered, we unconsciously make excuses to resist any change and stay where we are. We say things to ourselves like “I’m too busy to deal with changing any behaviors right now,” “I don’t have the time to learn how to do new things,” and my personal favorite, “I don’t have the money to invest in myself today – I’ll do I it later when I have more money.” (Of course, that probably won’t happen until you change some things.)
This is why we find ourselves with big ideas yet resistant to implementation.
When our fear is triggered, we may experience one or more of these success-blocking behaviors: (1) lack of focus, (2) difficulty implementing ideas (3) perfectionism and (4) procrastination.
So, when you find yourself experiencing some of this beahavior, what can you do about it? I can’t tell you how to not be fearful – if you’re on the path to success, you’re going to experience it. (Give up, you’re nervous.). But I can tell you what really works…
Take extremely small steps. Consistently. Over an extended period of time.
It’s magic.
According to one of my former teachers, Dr. Robert Maurer, author of One Small Step Can Change Your Life, and psychological researcher at UCLA, “small, easily achievable goals – such as picking up just one paper clip on a chronically messy desk – let you tiptoe past the amygdala (fear center), keeping it asleep without setting off alarm bells.” He explains that while you take these small steps you are actually reprogramming the new nerve pathways for your desired change so that it happens almost without you realizing it.
Our Fired Up Mastermind Network™ system is built around this very principle so we get to see it in action all the time. We see successes created around amazingly small steps as a matter of course.
Recently Donna in our “Nooner” Mastermind team, has been transitioning from graphic arts into a voice-over career, but she also wanted to leverage her creativity to open another stream of income. “I can’t even imagine what that would be. I used to sew, but I have no idea what I could do with that. It’s overwhelming.”
The step was simple. Visit a fabric store. Let go of what she needed to do with it. Indeed, she went with her sister on an outing and loved it. “There’s something that happened inside of me at that store. I got in touch with my love of sewing. Now the ideas and opportunities are just coming effortlessly. I am so excited.”
Donna’s new ideas that may be up and running far more quickly than she would have ever imagined, but her new ventures did not come from the search for a quantum leap, but rather a focus on the smallest possible step.
If you want real magic to live a life you truly love, start small…….and keep it that way for a long time.
(If you're ready to go really small, try our Fired Up Mastermind Network™.)
Sunday, March 29, 2009
4 Positive Results of the Economy
I know you are familiar with all the negative aspects of our economy today. After over 20 years working with clients in transition, I am very familiar with the process, and realize the entire world is in a classic transition process!
Every transition process begins with something going wrong, (as it most certainly has), and the transition piece is where we begin the renewal process. It is scary, exciting, and uncertain – a fair review of our situation today. But, this major shift is offering some interesting positive results and new opportunities:
1) IMPOSED RE-EVALUATION: Certainly as a nation and planet we are re-evaluating everything from our policies and foreign relations to economic structures. Similarly, as individuals, most of us are re-evaluating our choices including core values, work, family and how we have spent our money. For many it’s long overdue. We’re finally forced to finally release jobs that bored us, work that doesn’t fulfill. This is a positive result. One of my clients made a comment awhile ago about her experience as a result of 9/11: “If it weren’t for 9/11, I wouldn’t have lost my job. But it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. It forced me to re-evaluate my life, make a career change and start my own business. Today I love my life! Without that kind of crisis, I may have gone along in that old life a long, long time, letting it just sap the life out of me.”
2) RENEWED FAITH: The last few months have seen a dramatic increase in church attendance. People are being driven back to their spiritual roots or seeking new outlets. Many of us feel moved connect with a Higher Power. It is said that we are always making the choice between fear and faith, and that whichever one we choose, cancels out the other. Faith and an uplifted heart will outperform just about any business building tactic. Sandy Gooch, founder of “Mrs. Gooch’s” which has since become Whole Foods Market here in Southern California commented that she would have failed if she knew that a mother of small children with no marketing or business background couldn’t build the empire she did. Her faith came first and created her success against all odds. If you’re focused on increasing your energy and relying on higher laws to create your results, you can accomplish anything.
3) RE-CONNECTION TO COMMUNITY: The uncertainty has led to a marked increase in people seeking comfort and community. Job seekers are filling hotel meeting rooms and bars, banding together to help and support one another. Networking is suddenly a vital skill. Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-In are all thriving. People are reconnecting with old college roommates, former schoolmates and lost loves. It’s great! We are all one and there is comfort in being together as never before. In January 2009 I started Fired Up for Success Mastermind Network and it is steadily growing because people not only want to connect, but more than ever need to keep focused and their energy fired up so that they can attract what they need for the next step. This trend of connecting to community is contributing to making the world a better place to live.
4) CREATIVITY AND RE-INVENTION ABOUND: “Necessity is the Mother of Invention.” In my book, “The 8 Myths of Making a Living,” I talk about my dad who was a young man in the Depression and saw that period as a time of “opportunity.” He invested heavily in stocks – which were really cheap! The result was he became a wealthy man and taught me that all economies offer opportunity! He taught me to be an “opportunity seeker,” no matter what is going on.
I have clients coming to me saying, “What I did to market myself or make a living a year ago – or 6 months ago –is not longer working! Now what do I do?” Take heart: There is plenty of opportunity; it’s just being re-tooled.
There are more creative ideas than ever. Once you have re-evaluated what you really want, gotten support to keep your spirits “fired up,” and have community, you can create just about anything. That’s the good new for today’s economy!!
Every transition process begins with something going wrong, (as it most certainly has), and the transition piece is where we begin the renewal process. It is scary, exciting, and uncertain – a fair review of our situation today. But, this major shift is offering some interesting positive results and new opportunities:
1) IMPOSED RE-EVALUATION: Certainly as a nation and planet we are re-evaluating everything from our policies and foreign relations to economic structures. Similarly, as individuals, most of us are re-evaluating our choices including core values, work, family and how we have spent our money. For many it’s long overdue. We’re finally forced to finally release jobs that bored us, work that doesn’t fulfill. This is a positive result. One of my clients made a comment awhile ago about her experience as a result of 9/11: “If it weren’t for 9/11, I wouldn’t have lost my job. But it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. It forced me to re-evaluate my life, make a career change and start my own business. Today I love my life! Without that kind of crisis, I may have gone along in that old life a long, long time, letting it just sap the life out of me.”
2) RENEWED FAITH: The last few months have seen a dramatic increase in church attendance. People are being driven back to their spiritual roots or seeking new outlets. Many of us feel moved connect with a Higher Power. It is said that we are always making the choice between fear and faith, and that whichever one we choose, cancels out the other. Faith and an uplifted heart will outperform just about any business building tactic. Sandy Gooch, founder of “Mrs. Gooch’s” which has since become Whole Foods Market here in Southern California commented that she would have failed if she knew that a mother of small children with no marketing or business background couldn’t build the empire she did. Her faith came first and created her success against all odds. If you’re focused on increasing your energy and relying on higher laws to create your results, you can accomplish anything.
3) RE-CONNECTION TO COMMUNITY: The uncertainty has led to a marked increase in people seeking comfort and community. Job seekers are filling hotel meeting rooms and bars, banding together to help and support one another. Networking is suddenly a vital skill. Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-In are all thriving. People are reconnecting with old college roommates, former schoolmates and lost loves. It’s great! We are all one and there is comfort in being together as never before. In January 2009 I started Fired Up for Success Mastermind Network and it is steadily growing because people not only want to connect, but more than ever need to keep focused and their energy fired up so that they can attract what they need for the next step. This trend of connecting to community is contributing to making the world a better place to live.
4) CREATIVITY AND RE-INVENTION ABOUND: “Necessity is the Mother of Invention.” In my book, “The 8 Myths of Making a Living,” I talk about my dad who was a young man in the Depression and saw that period as a time of “opportunity.” He invested heavily in stocks – which were really cheap! The result was he became a wealthy man and taught me that all economies offer opportunity! He taught me to be an “opportunity seeker,” no matter what is going on.
I have clients coming to me saying, “What I did to market myself or make a living a year ago – or 6 months ago –is not longer working! Now what do I do?” Take heart: There is plenty of opportunity; it’s just being re-tooled.
There are more creative ideas than ever. Once you have re-evaluated what you really want, gotten support to keep your spirits “fired up,” and have community, you can create just about anything. That’s the good new for today’s economy!!
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