But on to the real reason for this post today.  You see, every day I talk to people who just aren’t getting the results in life, work, relationships and money that they really truly want.  And that’s sad.

Too busy is a common complaint.  No time.  Not enough _________ (fill in the blank – money, resources, clients, fun, freedom, passion, etc).   Hey I’ve been there many, many times.   And I know one thing – if you are NOT having the results you want, it’s because of these things:

1.  You don’t have a plan.
2.  Your plan isn’t working.
3.  You don’ t know what to do next.
4.  You are trying to “figure it out” before you get a plan (my personal favorite)
5.  You are wasting time and blaming everything (and everybody) ELSE for it.

That’s it.  It’s simple.  When you are not BEING in charge of yourself, your thoughts, your actions and your words, you are not DOING the things that get you results.  Period.

The other day, I did a really fun webinar that will help you take whatever project you are currently working on, and teach you the 4 things you must DO in your life if you truly want results, and I’ve put it here for you to take a look.  It’s definately worth your time.  These are the same four things I always go back to when life seems a little messy.

Enjoy!

P.S.  If you want to talk to me to learn exactly what next steps you should be taking, fill out our short survey and get a complimentary Clarity Consultation here:  http://www.MyClarityConsult.com

I believe in you and your success.

Maybe you’ve looked, tried to work with or even hired people to help you manage your business. But somehow, every time, things just didn’t go right, and there you were, left again with the mounds of paperwork, details and projects to manage. Alone.“No problem,” you tell yourself. “I can do it faster myself anyway.”

In that one statement, you just fell into the biggest trap of your entrepreneurial career.

Growing and leading your business is by far the biggest challenge a business owner faces. After all, you are highly specialized in your field – which is not business management. Unfortunately for most business owners, when a new employee or contractor comes into the business, one of two things usually happens.

1. The business owner and new hire spend hours, days, weeks and sometimes months working side by side, with the business owner explaining all of the intricacies of the job. When the employee or contractor gets good at the job, the business owner begins to panic, wondering if the person will stay. When the person leaves the company, the process repeats. Frustration, fear and doubt plague the business owner.

2. The new person is hired and told briefly what is expected of him/her. The big picture is provided and the person is left up to his or her own judgment as to how the job gets done. The person does the job in a different manner than the owner and is reprimanded for doing things a new way. The employee feels disempowered, afraid, and leaves.

Frustration, fear and doubt plague the business owner once again.  It doesn’t have to be that way. You can have the freedom, focus and results you want in business. Solving this problem is simple. You probably weren’t trained in school as a business manager, so you must first understand that business operations management is a required skill for a success in business. Most people make it too hard, by hoping for a single person to show up on their doorstep, smart, focused, creative and able to take away the tasks that lay before them with hardly a second thought. I’m about to burst your bubble, because that person is probably already in business for themselves.

It’s up to you to create the environment where other people can be empowered to assist you. Here are four simple steps to get you started on the road to turn-key success.

1. Create total focus.

Get out a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. Title the page Total Focus. On the left side, write down all of the tasks you do in a week, from answering the phone to shipping to providing service and creating new products. On the right side, write down the three things you love doing. Compare the lists.

2. Group tasks for easy delegation.

Next to each task, label it with one of the three major business areas: Administrative (office paperwork) Sales/Marketing (attracting customers or making the sale) Production (producing/shipping and delivery of products or services)

3. Start Documenting.

For each task, write down the steps to completion. You might start with “Here’s How We _____________” to prompt you. Use whatever method is simplest for you – a screenshot, written or typed steps, diagrams – just get it down on paper and put it in a binder called Procedure Manual.

4. Get Help.

Begin looking for people to work on tasks that are not in your “love to do” column. Start small. The right person works only a few hours per week on the things that take you days. There is no magic person who can do all business tasks (except you, of course!).

With your Procedure Manual in hand, you can delegate properly, relax and enjoy building your business, the simple way. What will you do in your free time?

Stephanie Frank is the Best Selling author of The Accidental Millionaire, a complete blueprint for self-employed business owners to go from a one person operation to million dollar mastery. To receive a complimentary digital copy of the book and a FREE clarity consultation to discover your next best steps to get to the next level so you can make more money, take more time off, and do more of what you love, visit: http://www.MyClarityConsult.com

Just as I thought we were finished, she looked over at me, her eyes softening and said “Let me ask you a question.  When you really want something, I mean REALLY want it, and you’ve tried everything to get it – visualization, inner work, negative beliefs, when do you know it’s just not going to happen and you give up?”

“I mean, I read your story about going to Alcatraz,” she continued.  “You were in San Francisco for a very short time for a speech and you really wanted to see Alcatraz.  You’d never been there.”

“Yes, I remember” I giggled, since she was telling me my own story, straight from the pages of The Accidental Millionaire.

“You only had one afternoon open so you decided to go to Alcatraz.  When you got to the ticket booth, they were sold out for a week.  Then, out of the blue, someone magically appeared with two tickets to Alcatraz and you got to go – that afternoon!  I really, REALLY, want to make this happen for me.”  she continued. “But every time I see a little bit of success, it just slips away.   I know what I want, but it always seems to elude me.   I’m really over the Law of Attraction – it just doesn’t work.”

“Hold on there,” I interrupted her  The Law of Attraction works REALLY well, IF you understand one fundamentally important and very crucial distinction.  Knowing what you want is only the beginning.  Nothing happens until you DECIDE to have what you want.”

“Huh?”  she said, cocking her head.

“Go back to Alcatraz.  You see, I didn’t just want to go to Alcatraz, I DECIDED to go to Alcatraz.  I did the most obvious thing to make that happen – buy tickets.  When they were sold out, I used the Law of Attraction to find a different way.  I never would have said to myself the way to get to Alcatraz is to walk into a T-shirt shop, notice a booth selling timeshares that was giving away two free tickets to Alcatraz if I viewed the presentation.  Which is exactly what I did, by the way.  Because I made the DECISION, possibilities opened up to me that I would not have noticed.”

“Waiting around for the Universe to deliver what you want is a waste of time.  Using the Law of Attraction to attract things to you requires that you stop waiting around and DECIDE to HAVE the thing you want.  Only then do you notice all of the abundance and possibility around you that will help you to reach that objective.”

“So wait a minute,” she continued, “I really want new hardwood floors.  I’ve picked them out, found someone to install them, even saved up the money.  Then something happened and I spent the money on something I probably didn’t even need.  What happened?  Why don’t I have the floors.  I really want them!”  she exclaimed loudly.

I smiled.  “Because you didn’t decide to have hardwood floors.  You had fun picking out the flooring, finding the people and saving the money.  But you still had never said to yourself  ‘I’m installing hardwood floors next year.’  Therefore, when something else came up and sounded good, you DECIDED to do that instead.”

“It’s like this,” I continued, her mouth now hanging open “If you’ve decided to lose weight and are presented with a plate of doughnuts, you’d probably choose something different.  But if you hadn’t made the decision to lose weight, you might not give eating the doughnut a second thought.”

“WOW!”  she exclaimed, jumping up from her seat, “I GET IT!  THIS IS HUGE!”

“Yes, it is” I said quietly, allowing the moment to fully unfold.

“I didn’t make the decision to have the floors.  I didn’t make the decision to be successful in my business.  I was just waiting around for opportunities to present themselves, waiting for IT to happen and never defining IT!”  she was on a roll.  “From now on, I will make DECISIONS to have what I want.  Thank you!.”

She hugged me tightly and it dawned on me that maybe I could revisit some decisions of my own (or maybe some non-decisions).  Always learning and growing, I’ve made some new decisions recently and almost magically, quickly and effortlessly, the object of my decision has shown up in my face.

So what decisions do you need to make to have the things you want?

More money?  DECIDE NOW to be a good money manager, salesperson, whatever.

More time?  DECIDE NOW to spend your time wisely and evaluate every action before you jump in.

Better relationships?  DECIDE NOW to have what you want in your relationship.  Get real if it’s not working.

I think you get the idea.  Leave a comment and let us know what you will DECIDE to have now.

Isn’t this fun?

P.S.  Ready to get clear, focused and intentional working ON your business and life?  Click here to receive your complimentary Clarity Consultation to discover EXACTLY what you should do next to make a bigger difference, double your income and triple your time off.  Just fill out the short form and we’ll call you right away.  To Your Success! 

This week, Nancy asks:

Q: Nancy asks, “How do I prioritize what’s important, when it all seems so urgent?”

A: You know I’ve got a list right now of 234 tasks that I absolutely want to get done. The question is: how many of those things do you think are A priorities? Realistically, maybe two.

Everybody has different criteria for managing priorities. The first thing to do is prioritize those criteria into the have-to’s, the want-to’s and the should-do’s.

Number One: There are have-to‘s that you set with a certain criteria.  Maybe you’re in your business and you’ve got to make some money.  There’s a have-to priority there. That priority is to do whatever it is that’s going to make you more money.  That’s criteria number one.

Number Two: Do the things that are most properly aligned with your own personal style and your own values. (If you are not sure what your style or governing values are, go to http://www.successiqu.com/consultation.html to schedule a complimentary consultation to learn more)  So there are some have to’s that you need to turn into want-to’s.  You must determine what the criteria are by which you’re measuring.

Number Three: How many of those things that you have on your list are actually should-do’s?  Things that other people say you should do or things that you feel that you should do.

From there, now you’re ready to go deeper.

Start with your have-to’s. These are the things you schedule into your calendar right away.

The want-to’s are the things that you’re going to schedule into your calendar a little less frequently, but because they’re fun or they’re things that you really want to get to, give yourself a break and get yourself some time to do that.

Now the should-do’s, these are the things that you get someone else to do. Why are you spending that time swishing around in the toilet, doing the laundry, doing all those household chores when you could literally be out making more money.

Now before you say, “I don’t have the money to spend on doing that,” let me tell you this.  It’s very easy to barter.  It’s also very easy to hire somebody to come in and do something in your house for $10 while you sit down and spend that same time making money in your business.  And that’s exactly how I started out! Somebody came in to clean my toilets for $10 – for two hours a week, and my focus on that time was to literally sit down and figure out how to make $20 so I could pay her.  So it starts out small and that’s the way you’ve got to look at your have-to’s, your want-to’s, and your should-do’s.

And from there you can create a better plan to prioritize based on your criteria and not someone else’s.

Stephanie Frank is the best selling author of The Accidental Millionaire:Leaping From Chance to Mastery in the Game of Life.  She ha been in business for herself for decades and is expert at helping passion powered entrepreneurs get clear direction on their next best and most high payoff steps in business, relationships  and in life. For a FREE audio program entitled “The 13 Vital Traits of Super Effective People,” visit www.StephanieFrank.com

They’re everywhere…in the city, in the suburbs, in the skies and underground.

And they have something to say to you…can you hear them?

If there is something on your mind, a problem you’re trying to solve, a situation that needs a resolution or an unanswered question in your head, chances are the answer is right in front of you.  Animals are a symbol, a secret society that has a vast and amazing collection of communication, strategy and survival techniques that are as important in our everyday lives as they are in the wild.

Animals use their natural abilities to get what they want.  After all, you’ll never see a skunk trying to reach the tall tree leaves so easily accessible to a giraffe!  Yet, we humans spend so much time looking elsewhere and making things harder than they need to be.

Here are 3 things you can learn from animals in the wild:

1.   Find new ways to get what you want.

I used to live in a 3-acre ranch in the desert foothills in Arizona.  It was surrounded by a block fence and a gate, and features a large pond filled with fish on the front acre of the land.  Our home was a sanctuary  and also represents comfort and safety to a variety of wild animals.  Outside the fence, every night, were a group of coyotes.  In the middle of the summer, they got thirsty.

Very thirsty.

They wanted the water that’s in the pond.  And a fish might taste good too.

Now, when the gate was open, sometimes the coyotes just helped themselves, coming right in through the front, going directly to the pond and enjoying themselves.  They might have gone for the easy prey.  But mostly the gate was closed.   They still want the water.

We had one very enterprising (and fearless) coyote who has figured out how to get to the water with very little effort, even when the gate was closed.  You see, coyotes can jump quite a few feet in the air, even with a lame leg (which this one had).  So Mr. Coyote found the point on the fence lowest to the ground, and simply jumped up and over the block wall at that exact point to get to the water.

How many times have you jumped over, gone through, around, under or just plain broken through an obstacle to get what you want?  Animals do it all the time and never think twice about stopping because of the obstacle.   What’s stopping you?  How can you be like Mr. Coyote and get to what you want using another method?

2. A simple, repeatable strategy always gets you closer to your goal.

Sitting poolside at a hotel recently, I had the pleasure of interacting with a wild squirrel.  I’d love to say that the squirrel was hanging around because of my wonderful, magnetic and charming way with animals, but I’d be lying.

He wanted my bag of pretzels.

I watched carefully as the squirrel calculated different ways to get at the bag of  pretzels, laying wide open on a low table between two pool chaise lounges.  First, he sat up on the fence far away.  Then he moved in a little closer…and closer…and closer to get a good look.   Then he scampered away to reevaluate his strategies and options.

If he could talk, he probably would have said “Let’s see.  I could run up and grab the pretzels, but the human would probably try to catch me.  I could try sneaking in when she isn’t looking, but that’s too risky.  Wait a minute – I know!  I’ll use the patience strategy – works every time”.

And sure enough, the little guy sat down, just out of my reach, and waited.

He didn’t wait long.  I threw him a piece of pretzel within 5 minutes.

The little squirrel grabbed the pretzel, held it with both hands and ate it right there, on the spot.  I swear he was grinning.

Next, I held a piece of pretzel in my hand, just to see if he’d come closer.  Again, he played the patience game and won.  And again, and again and again.  Finally, with his full stomach, he left to take a nap.

How many times have you found something that works, only to change the strategy to something that seems “better” or “faster” or “different”?  Changing strategies constantly will only serve to cause false starts, delays and frustration.  Use a strategy to grow your business that works for you, not against you.  Who cares if it’s not the most recent, most popular or most unique?  Do what works and you’ll never go wrong.

3. Act in spite of fear

Rabbits are notoriously fearful.  They run away at the slightest movement, sometimes even afraid of the wind.  But have you ever seen rabbits work together to accomplish a goal?  They do, and it’s pretty amazing.

On our ranch, we had bunches of rabbits.  Spring was always a time for new, little furry bundles to show up with their brother and sister bunnies and begin to explore the world.

In their world, there are juicy, tasty hibiscus and desert flowers available, but they were hidden behind a retaining wall.  It’s a “no rabbit” zone.  Or so I thought.

One day, I went out to my rabbit free zone to find – yes – a rabbit!  A very small one at that, casually grazing on my off-limits flowers.  A quick check outside the area and I saw 4 more full grown rabbits waiting patiently on the other side of the wall, presumably for the little one to come back with its report.

Well, report he did, because the next day I had full grown rabbits eating the hibiscus in my no rabbit zone.  Overcoming their fear, they had figured out a way to get in (I’m still not sure how they did it) to get at the really good stuff.

If a rabbit can overcome its fear to get good food, what can you do?  Is that fear of failure really so bad?  What’s the worst that can happen?  What’s the best that can happen?  Is it worth it to you to really truly face your fear head-on in exchange for success?  I hope so.

I recently faced my fear of heights for the final time.  For years, I was unable to even go into a glass building for fear that I would fall out.  To overcome it, I began riding roller coasters all around the country.  A few months ago, I faced the biggest one – the one that goes off the edge of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas – 100 stories in the sky – and lived to tell about it.

So next time you’re outside, look around.  The animals have something to say to you.  Are you listening?

Stephanie Frank is the best selling author of The Accidental Millionaire and
President of the Success IQ University. She has over 20 years of systemic
problem solving experience, 15 computer engineering certifications She is a
member of the Positive Psychology Association and International Assn. of Applied Psychology.

Give Stephanie 48 hours and she’ll give you a turaround plan aligned with you are
and your greatest strengths.  She’ll make your life simple, productive, profitable and fun!

http://www.StephanieFrank.com

2-Day Turnaround:  http://successiqu.com/programs/coaching/2-day-turnaround/

She didn’t have a marketing problem, a sales system problem, a follow-up problem or a technology problem. Nope, none of those.  It also wasn’t that she wasn’t qualified, smart, knowledgeable and could solve a problem quickly and expertly for her clients.  She was all of those things in spades.

So what was the problem?  She was doing work that she didn’t like to do, telling herself that she liked it.  In short, she was lying to herself.

“Get mad,”  I told her. “You’ve been doing all this work, having no fun and even though you’re making money, you’re not happy. .  You have EVERY RIGHT TO BE MAD!”  I said, my voice level matching hers.

“ARRRRGH!”, she said.  “I HATE THIS!”

“BRING IT ON!” I replied, excited that a breakthrough was about to happen.

“I GIVE UP!”  she said, followed by a huge sigh.  And then silence. And then tears.

A breakdown, followed by an amazing release.  She was about to have an epiphany.  The struggle was ending.

In less than 15 minutes, after finally letting go of years of “trying”, she discovered that all of the pieces of her “puzzle” were there and had been for some time.  We redefined who she really was, what she really wanted to do, and within 5 minutes she had a brand new business plan and clarity for the first time.  It had taken us 6 months to get to this point, and I was thrilled for her.

It is very human to struggle and release, struggle and release.  The thing is, the world we live in is moving much faster than ever before, so we must move faster than ever before.  We must cut away what isn’t working, people that aren’t serving, relationships that are difficult with love and kindness to be able to serve our mission here on this planet.   Now.

Here are 5 steps to start to let go so you can leap forward.

1. Admit it.  It’s not working. Simple in its definition, now it’s time to execute it.  Consider what’s not working in your life.  Now.

2. Decide whether to change, restructure or eliminate things.  Evaluate relationships with your customers or clients, family, friends, significant others, environment – in short, everything.

3. Make a plan. Do NOT try to tackle every area of your life simultaneously.  Most of the alpha men and women I work with dive right into transformation like it was a project to somehow be completed in a 6 month time frame.  Transformation is a way of life, a lifestyle and a lifelong journey.   One thing at a time is good.

4.  Act Quickly and Swiftly. You’ve been frustrated long enough. Take massive, fast precise action.  Make a list and make it happen, like a surgeon.

5. Get help. You won’t like this, but you’re not superman/woman.  Though you may wear a cape and take charge of everyone and everything around you, when it comes to you I can almost guarantee that you’re not doing it for yourself.  (Hey, it takes one to know one).  I surround myself with many mentors, advisors, behaviorists, coaches and friends who all offer the support and guidance I need, even though I’ve been on this journey with eyes wide open for a very long time.

You can do it.  All is going to be well.  I promise.  Jump in without ego.  Forget about what you think you “should” do or what other people will think.  Tackle it head on and you will soar. Ignore it and you will struggle.

This is a process I’ve personally used in my life for over 25 years now, and I can tell you it absolutely, positively works – IF you are being honest with yourself.  That’s really all it takes is respect for the most important person in your life – YOU!

I believe in you,

Stephanie

P.S.  I’m going to be doing a special 6-session private series with people who are ready to make the leap into clarity.   If you’ve had it, you know things are not working and you are ready to get real, schedule a consultation with me here:  http://sfw.clickbook.net Let’s get that handled and get you on the road to wealth and success!

Um, not so helpful.

With very little sleep and early morning meetings coming up, I got myself ready and guess what?!?  EVERY meeting I had went south, people were upset, random weird things kept happening and communication went haywire.  And I take full responsibility for what happened, because my own mind filters created the chaos (and stories in my head).

So why am I telling you this?  Simple.   The very thing that will cause you to make the money you want, have the peace and tranquility you seek, the productivity you need and the powerful relationships you desire has absolutely NOTHING to do with anything but your behavior.  And your behavior, lucky for you, is totally under your control.

It is your behavior that wastes time, energy and money. Period.

Sure you need tactical skills like how to manage your website, how to do Quickbooks and a myriad of other business skills.  Those are simple, really.  It’s the emotional you that wastes time – in procrastination, overwhelm, overload and frustration and worry.

I know you don’t always have a clear vision for your future.  And frankly, that’s okay.  It’s one of the things that causes you to waste time wondering “how” you’re going to do something when you don’t even know “what” that something is.  So here are five things you can consider to help you reclaim time:

1.  Set your targets first. Decide how much money you will make in a month and by when.  For example, if in 90 days you want to double your income, then start with your income on the 90 day mark and work backwards. What target do you need to hit in 60 days?  30 days?  2 weeks?  This Friday?   Then break it down even further to the tasks you have to do to hit those targets.  Not rocket science, but a hugely left out piece for most.

2.  Check in with your emotions. Your emotional body can wreak havoc on the best-laid plans, and stop you from reaching your goals in a timely (and stress free) fashion.  You do NOT have to live in overwhelm, frustration, fear, worry, about, greed, anger or a host of other negative emotions.   Here’s the thing:  YOU created the emotion by your thoughts.  Therefore, you can undo the emotion by alternative thoughts. For example, let’s say you’re worried about money and your thoughts are “I’m going to go broke”.  Yikes!  That’s not a great idea to plant in your subconscious mind, is it?  The brain will go to work and literally make it happen, as it will be tricked into thinking that’s what you really want.   Ask yourself, “do I really want to go broke?”  If the answer is no (and I assume it will be) then ask yourself to let go of that desire. You will feel a shift back to the now.

3.  Set aside focus time daily. Focus time (uninterrupted time) is imperative for your productivity.   Even if the fires are blazing all around you and there’s tons of “stuff to do”, a few minutes of focus time to achieve a task will create momentum in your brain and in your body, which will help you to be more confident and more focused.  Even if you set aside 30 minutes to clean up a pile of papers, the idea here is to actually accomplish something, so you can feel little bits of success.

4.  Be still. Quiet time is a fundamentally lacking element in most people’s lives.  We run from one thing to the next, gotta run, don’t have time in this crazy world.  Stop it. Right now. Seriously.  Your brain cannot do the work you have asked it to do if your conscious mind is in the way all  of the time. You cannot be creative, get new solutions to problems you are working to solve, or develop your intuition or gut instinct.

5.  Lose the To-Do list.   I have all my projects up on a big whiteboard in mindmap format. Everything I need to do for those projects are visible to me all the time.   Each day, I pick a few things and put them on my TODAY list. I get the things done I need to get done but fiercely protecting my focus time.  (Well, sometimes I make an appointment during focus time, but hey, we’re all human!)   Getting stuff done isn’t about the quantity – it’s about the quality. You need a today list that is no more than 6 items long. These are your promises to yourself of things you WILL get done.  And they don’t have to be big huge things together.  Today I changed the beneficiary on my life insurance.  Small thing but it was really nagging at me, causing me to waste time thinking about it.   So I did it and now I’ve reclaimed power in my mind.

Many gurus will tell you that reclaiming time is all about your calendar and your schedule and grouping tasks.  Sure, that’s part of it but it’s your internal behaviors that will make or break your commitment to time – and to your dreams.

More happiness!!!

…or so I thought.

But I had a problem I didn’t know how to deal with, and it required some help.

So like any Alpha, strong willed entrepreneur, I decided to deal with it head on.  I called a local psychologist and made an appointment.  Walked into the office on the day and time of my appointment and said “I’ve got a problem and I need to get past this emotional crap.  I give it 30 days and then I need to move on.”

Well bless her heart, because that woman introduced me to what has become the most important part of myself – my emotional body – and showed me not only how to get in touch with my emotions, but how to use them to my advantage.  To become more compassionate for other people, to “have a heart” so to speak.  In time, I learned that being all up in my head wasn’t working, and I slowly but surely learned to follow my heart and balance out the two.

A little strange for a hard-driving computer geek like me, but I decided to give it a try.

Three years later, I asked that same psychologist, “When does this end?”  She laughed gently and replied “The ladder has a neverending set of rungs.  This is lifetime work.”  Honestly, I didn’t understand it at the time – I didn’t want to commit to a lifetime of internal personal work – I wanted results NOW!  It frustrated me because I was used to DOING stuff, not BEING in the moment.  (and in the emotion)

Today, I am a very emotionally balanced, happy human being.  My business is thriving as I help others to build theirs.  Other hard driving Alpha types call me every day to begin the journey that I started.   Except today, I have shortcuts and lots of systems to help people get happier even faster than ever before (thanks to my computer and systemic patterning training for that!)

I’ve studied with masters of practical application of applied psychology, persuasion, linguistics, cognitive psychology and happiness.  Wow, what a transformation from computer geek to behaviorist.  But to me its all just patterns and systems.  People have patterns just like computers have patterns.  We just need a little reprogramming or upgrading from time to time…

So if you’re one of those Alpha types who thinks you are making decisions logically, without emotion, think again.  All decisions have emotion attached to them.  If you’re ready to figure out how to harness that, give me a call.  Your business (and life) will explode into new realms, and I promise, even though the ride is rocky, it’s blissful and stable on the other side.  Think you can stand the challenge?  (I bet you can…)

In case you haven’t seen it, the movie is about a guy who travels the country, 300 days per year, and fires people for a living. He loves every aspect of traveling, especially the parts that require him not to commit to any relationships – not family, not friends and certainly not a love interest.  He just doesn’t have time.

Then he meets someone and his life gets turned upside down.

Suddenly his heart is hooked on a love interest.  He decides to go to his sister’s wedding, even though the family has written him off.  After successfully facilitating a discussion with a very cold-footed  groom-to-be who doesn’t think he wants to get married anymore, it became obvious to me that this guy’s major strength was the very thing he’d been trying to avoid.  Relationships.  Communication.  He’s actually very masterful at it.

And so realizing his strength and starting to use it, things begin to change in his life.  First, he gets grounded due to some new technology that allows the company to fire people via the internet.  (not such a great idea).   He strengthens his relationship with family and his love interest and his co-workers.   Suddenly, life has meaning.  All because external forces forced him to really realize his strengths.

It is this way with many people – not working or living in your strengths.  Finding struggle at every turn.  Not admitting that maybe the work you’re doing just isn’t for you.   Making the changes necessary to “right” your life.

I’ve been making massive changes in my life lately to accommodate some big new ways to help you be more passionate and purposeful in your career.  In order to go to the next level, I’ve had to say goodbye to certain things I thought I wanted, and really being honest about my own personal blueprint has helped me to shed the things that were not my strengths and find new ways to get things done.

There are 6 things that you need to address to be able to move to the next level.  I’m going to be teaching you those 6 things in our upcoming Manifest Change Now! teleseminar series and helping you to find your own personal blueprint for success.  It’s an uber-affordable series to help you be your passionate, purposeful self starting out this new decade.

I know many of you have been going through things that have seemed difficult lately.  Isn’t it time to do something different?

Leave me a comment and let me know what you’ll let go of or do differently starting NOW.

The year was 1984 and Iwas a year out of high school.  Having decided that I was grown up enough to live in my own apartment, (even though I couldn’t really afford it), with a rusty old ugly green sedan for transportation, I muddled through.  Working a part time job and going to school part time, I spent most nights at home eating baked potatoes because they were cheap and filled me up.

During the day, my thoughts were constantly on worrying about what my future would hold.  In fact, I had such a stranglehold on my fear and worry that I would stay up awake at night, millions of thoughts in my head clouding my mind.

Then…just as I thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did.

It was an innocent move.  I had watched my then boyfriend start the engine on his motocross motorcycle plenty of times.  It looked so easy to do it myself.  I hopped up on the motorcycle, grabbed the handlebars and kicked down as hard as I could, expecting the engine to rev up and come to life.

Instead, I felt the crunching of bones, my foot breaking in four places (I wouldn’t know that for sure for quite a while later).  Four surgeries, two years on crutches and lots of pain later, I could finally walk again.

I made adjustments in school, moved into a new place with roommates, found new ways of coping with my situation and even found happiness and joy in what would be such a difficult time.  As the bills piled up from my surgeries, new challenges came up for me to deal with.  Set in my old anxious ways, I got scared.

Really scared.

My mother had been helpful all through this time, and she saw how scared I was.  Looking at me one day she said “Worry is a huge waste of energy and time.  You can only deal with what’s happening right now.  The future hasn’t happened and the past is gone.  So if you stay up at night filled with worry, you’ll just be tired and worried.”

It was a breakthrough moment for me.   That night, I decided that I would deal with my problems in the morning, after a good night’s sleep to clear my head.  I slept blissfully through the night.

Did the problems disappear?  No.  But my attitude changed.

I learned that day that sometimes breakthroughs feel like breakdowns.  Things don’t go the way you planned.  People leave, projects stall, things get messy.  But when you keep trying to do the things that aren’t working, you just make yourself sick.

I’m still having breakthroughs today, as I know you are too.  Lots of great things are happening and in the midst of it all, lots of things are changing, so it sometimes feels messy.   I want you to know that whatever is going on in your life today that seems messy, you are having a breakthrough.    It will all be okay.

Leave a comment and let me know what breakthroughs you’re having…