Focus on what you want!

Key Step to your Dream Vision Board is to see you at the end of the Vision and go backwards.  Start now to live as the dream vision as already happened. Feel the happiness, joy, freedom and passion of living your dream. Watch it unfold in front of your eyes.

Step 1:
Buy a large piece of poster board in whatever color you like to. Also, find 4 thumbtacks and glue or scotch tape. You now have the beginnings of your Dream Vision Board.

Step 2:
In the center of your board, put a picture of you that you really enjoy looking at. Under it put “Thank You, for the good that is available to me right here and now and for the good that is on its way to me.”

 Step 3:
Whatever your dreams, goals, etc., start cutting out pictures, words, colors and shapes that symbolize your dreams and paste them on your board. You can always draw the pictures or use ones that you have taken, if you’d like. Can’t draw perfectly? Draw it anyway! (If I can, you can.)

What are some of your dreams? Remember to include all areas of your life on your board– Career/Business, Relationships (self-others), Money, Spirit, Recreation/Play, Health/Well Being, etc. Get specific…. In fact, be really specific and descriptive; write tag lines for the things you desire in your life!

Step 4:

Go for it!! Enjoy it!! Have fun with it!!
Hang your Dream Vision on the wall.

As your dreams continue to grow or change, keep adding to it; this is your own weaving of your life’s journey.

Step 5:

Make it the last thing you look at before you go to sleep and mediate on your dream. Mediate on the passion of the dream being real.  Start feeling it and living your dream.

Step 6:

Spend a few moments in front of  Dream Vision before you start your day, start seeing yourself in that life, what it would feel like, the passion, freedom, joy and energy of your dream!

Step 7:

Invite your friends over and work together on your Dream Vision Boards.  Have a Dream Vision Board day to build community and support your dream vision.

There is nothing that is an accident.

I was talking with one of my clients this week about their uniqueness.  They told me it was still hard for them to believe in themselves and their uniqueness at times.  Many times they felt uncomfortable to claim their gifts and talents.  I asked them if they would be willing to check where else this pattern shows up in their lives.  As they thought about it they could not claim their creativeness which often keeps them from being as success as they could be.  The overwhelm sets in when they are called on to be their unique selves.  I asked them what they would be willing to create to anchor their thoughts when they move back into overwhelm.  Some of their ideas were to collect affirmations to have with them, music on their MP3, favorite books, take a walk, drink a bottle of water, eat some fruit, and a journal to write in.

As our session was finishing and they were creating their action plan for the next week the first thing they wanted to add was to claim their uniqueness, creativeness, and play.

Are you willing to claim and use yours in creating and playing?

“It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of capacities and talents.” ~ Eric Hoffer

What is your strategy to make the sales?

Recently working with several of my clients I asked what was one thing their staff could do to grow their business?  As they stopped to think about this question they discovered they wanted the buyer to be loyal customers.  Further as they thought about this, was that happening and if not, why not?  They became curious about the strategy their staff was using with customers on creating loyal customers.  Were their staff educating the customers to become loyal customers or just going for the one time sale.  They discovered if they were going to have loyal customers they need to build relationships explaining what made their business different and why their products were best for them so they would return time after time.  Showing respect to the customer giving them actual good and useful information not just a sales pitch.

Educating customer is one strategy that can grow your business.  Work with your staff to make sure they have a pitch that prepares them to present your business where ever they are.  It is most important you practice this process with your staff so they are comfortable and well prepared to educate customer as put they put the spot light on your business. This process will build long lasting relationships with customers.

What is your strategy to make the sales?  What do you need to change to educate and have loyal customers?

Awesome New Thoughts

Last week coaching the business game Radical Creativity one of the questions was “What stops creativity?”  We found that about 57% of the players felt it was judgment.  When judgment moves we move in to fear, not good enough, overwhelm, stress, moving back to old patterns of behavior. The “Queen Ant and all of her workers are creating great mounds of negative thoughts” which make choice and change impossible.  What happens is everything in their life is upside down due to the thought of change, moving, career seeking, re-inventing themselves, etc.  They start operating from fear and they gave up their power to be charge of their lives.

I started thinking of what could I create that would be a tool for them to have with them to kill the Queen Ant and all her workers.  Just like you want to kill the ants building mounds in your yard when they first show up with spray (tools) to destroy the Queen Ant and her mound.  I created the following:

Three Steps to Awesome New Thoughts

Step One:

Stop and listen to what you are hearing in your heads.  What is the “Queen Ant” saying (main thought)? Whose voice do you hear? What are the feelings that are coming up?  How many ants (thoughts) are running through your head?

Step Two:

Take out a sheet of paper and on the left hand side write down all those thoughts and words that ran through your head.  Next to the word write down where did it come from?  If there is a main voice put that down too.  On the right hand side create Awesome New Thoughts for each one of the ants that ran through your head.

Step Three:

Now is time to create tools to kill your Queen Ant and all her workers before they can create a mound in your head.  Take your Awesome New Thoughts and put them in a journal, book, audio on MP3 player or anything you can else you can create that have with you, so when the ants show up you have the spray (tools) to kill them dead.  Now you are empowered believing in yourself and ready to live from choice from now on.

Now what are your Awesome New Thoughts?

Games! Games! Games! Now there’s Business Games!  Why play?

These games encourage a shift in how work is done. You as the player gain a sense of play as you practice your core skills. As a player you will become more willing to explore and examine business challenge to improve collaboration and generate insight as to what is possible.  Playing business game is the fun, smart way to energize your brain and put your creativity in motion.

As a Player you need to have specific and measurable goals. One way is to have a game card for each week to track your practice and progress.

Managers need to manage for creativity as we want breakthrough ideas.  The goal is to generate something new. Playing games opens a safe space to practice and play your new core skills.

Playing game is a framework for exploration, experimentation and to discover new ideas for goals.  As you continue playing your goals may change as you discover new possibilities.

Let your goals motivate you and give you a sense of direction and purpose as you follow your intuition.  You need to have a passion and energy for your goals.  Make them tangible so that you can share them with your team players.

Exceed your goals this year by playing games. What games are you willing to play to rev-up your skill set?

What does the tapestry of your life look like? Have you ever thought about capturing it in your own self-expression, in pictures, in drawings, in paintings, in a journal or by creating your own memory book just for you? How to start? Be aware each day of all things in your life.

1. Be aware of colors and shapes that you like and fill your soul.

Save these things for your weaving.

2. Be aware of material that you really like for the feel, smell, or special meaning in your life.

Save these pieces to add to your weaving.

3. Be aware of smells that fill your nose and bring deep pleasure to your soul.

Save the oils to scent your weaving.

4. Be aware of people who live in your soul and make you want to shout “this is my friend.”

Save special notes, cards, wrappings or anything that can be added to your weaving.

5. Be aware of the music that fills your ears and makes you want to dance and feel the rhythm of the beat.

Save record covers, CDs, sheet music – anything that will bring this memory alive again when you see it in your weaving.

6. Be aware of the places where you lose your breath for their beauty and they give you that HA feeling.

Save those postcards, pictures, maps, and souvenirs to add to your beautiful weaving.

7. Be aware of the pictures you took that flood your mind with a special meaningful event or trip in your life.

Start adding these to your weaving in your own self-expression, what really pleases you.

8. Be aware of the animals in your life and the messages they bring you.

What are they telling you each day that is important to your weaving? Think of how you can add them to your weaving in creative ways.

9. Be aware of the birds that visit early in the morning and sing you a love song to start your day.

Capture this special message that is yours, so it will be added to the tapestry you are weaving.

10. Be aware of all nature and the seasons and the messages each are giving you.

Save the flowers, leaves or anything else that awakes your soul that is part of this tapestry.

Now start pulling it together and see the beautiful tapestry of your life. Be sure to save it in a special way to pass on as your legacy of your life journey.

Enjoying the beach

Then shift to intention. Not what I find missing in my life, but to what I absolutely intend to manifest and attract into my life…  The Power of Intention ~ Wayne Dyer

Recently I have been spending time when on what I want in my life now.  What do I want to manifest and attract into my life.  This is a very different concept from what is missing in my life.  To manifest for me is trusting that the universe will bring the best people, places, and things to pull me forward to where I need to be now.  To really be open to everyone I meet, what I see, what I do so I will attract into my life the things that will give me the energy and flow to be part of the bigger dream.

This morning as I was exercising I started taking with a lady that I have seen at the gym for several years.  We started with a conversation around being healthy, so we can have the energy to do all the things we love.  It soon turned into a deeper conversation of having a better life and what that looked like for her.  She started telling me of her dream for her own business and what was stopping her.  It was support and where to start first.  She also had been working setting her intention to find people to support her.  As we talked we agreed to meet next week and put a plan in place to support each other in projects we are both working on.  To me this is the sign I am living my intention and manifesting and attracting into my life the things I need to be totally connected to the universe.

What is hold you back from manifesting and attracting your dreams?  Is it support?  Where do you start?

The other day I was reading Oprah’s newsletter about “Take Back Your Lunch”.  The article asks “does your lunch break look more like a picnic or five minutes at your desk while checking email?”

This article started me thinking that mine was the five minutes at my desk answering email, setting appointments, writing articles, etc.  What had happened to my lunch hour when I really did take a brake and spent the time eating a healthy lunch and doing something for me in self care?  When did I buy back into that I needed to do more to reach my goals instead of working from my Inspired Action List?

That afternoon I was meeting a client for work lunch when I decided I was going to try something new today.  We took the time for lunch first talking about things that really mattered to them.  When we started our coaching we did not feel rushed or interrupted by the waiter which made the session go a lot smoother.  As we were finishing our session the client remarked they enjoyed this new experiment of lunch before coaching.

When I returned home I was working on my reflection coaching notes when I discovered I had just modeled new behavior with my client.  I got out my Inspired Action List and added a lunch hour to my goals to make sure I have a lunch hour everyday for myself and not work.

What are you willing to change to have a lunch hour again, just for you?

Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to cut all sources of retreat. Only by doing so can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a burning desire to win – essential to success. ~Napoleon Hill

Is your life full of Bucketful of Wins? If not; why not? Are you playing to win?  Have you lost your joy and inspiration to play each day to win and be successful?  Are you playing alone or do you have a team to be part of the win?

Being an entrepreneur is sometimes lonely. It is very important to reach out and connect with other liked mined people that I can share my vision with so I can have a fresh prospective on where I am today.

I often work with partners who inspire and keeping my vision growing as they have a different way of seeing the future and what my “Bucketful of Wins” could be.

Three steps for a “Bucketful of Wins”.

1.       Find partners or teams players to share your vision and support you when the pieces don’t fit together.

2.       Keep the burning desire alive to win.

3.       Live from your passion each day and watch your winning attitude grow.

What are you willing to do today to grow your wins?

If you want to know what your experiences were like in the past, examine your body now. If you want to know what your body will look like in the future examine your experiences now. – Ancient Proverb

What is self-care any ways?  There are lots of ideas plus writings about the subject.  To me the ones that spoke the most were giving myself the gift of wellness.  In order to do that, I need to exercise daily, eat healthy food (leave the sugar, white flours and fat out of my meals), and take time off to relax / distress, sleep, and be grateful for my body, mind and soul.

Sounds easy enough until I really started thinking about it was really a Life Style Change they were talking about.  Change never comes easy it I try to act to fast or do too many things all at the same time.  This means I need to chunk it down into small pieces, so the changes will stick and will not have to go back and start over again.

For my life today the easy ones are exercise everyday as I like the challenge, relaxing each day, sleep, being grateful for all that I have and get to do each day.  The one I still work on is leaving the sugar alone as I love chocolate and ice cream.  I know where I learned to reward myself with them was from my dear wonderful grandfather.  When I have an attacked and crave sugar I have to look at my life, and then discover what I really need to change now!  That is always eye opening.

What life style change do you need to make to have self-care?

Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical. – Sophia Loren