Monday, May 10, 2010

Five Minutes A Day - That's All It Takes To Change Your Life

When was the last time you looked at your long term goals?

When was the last time you started your day analyzing what you did yesterday to help you achieve your goals, and what you did that prevented those desires?

And when was the last time you took a minute or two to visualize your day ahead. I'm not talking about seeing in your mind's eye EVERYTHING you are going to do that day (that's silly), but at least visualizing yourself accomplishing all that you hope to achieve that day . . . before you do.

All things on this earth happen twice - first in your mind, then in your action.

See what your day will be. Ground yourself in the goals you choose both in the long term and the short. Put those ideas in the forefront of your mind and they will begin to affect the decisions you make throughout your day.

That's right. Start your morning a bit differently. Take FIVE Minutes to review in your mind what you want to be, who you want to become in your life, and what you are planning to do to bring your vision closer to becoming a reality. See yourself acting the way you want to act, doing what you know you need to do, and achieving all that you want to achieve that day.

To help yourself even more, write these things down on read them every morning. Write them down because consistency matters.

Just Take FIVE Minutes - No More . . . No Less.

- FIVE Minutes is all it takes to start your day off with the frame of thought that puts the most important things in your life (for that day) into you conscious mind so that you have them there all day long.

- FIVE Minutes to ground yourself on who you are, what you want to be and how you are planning to get there.

- FIVE Minutes to review your "yesterday" - looking back at everything that both worked and didn't work for you - so that you can make the coming "today" better than yesterday.

- FIVE Minutes to stop and plan out your day, so that you have more control over it than you normally have.

- FIVE Minutes to live life on purpose, rather than just let it happen to you.

Be Different Than Most Others Who Make Excuses Why They Can't

This idea is a key element to my coaching process and I've seen it work, time and time again. I ask all my clients to give themselves just FIVE Minutes to start their day - time to set their mind straight and prepare themselves for the day ahead. Unfortunately, most people tell me they don't have enough time in their day to do this - and I suspect you are thinking this as well.

They tell me, "There is so much to do in the morning - shower, eat, get the kids ready for school, get dressed, and get to work on time."

All of these things are important, right?

Absolutely!

And we all know that there is never enough time to get all the sleep we need, so . . .

Where does the FIVE Minutes come from?

It comes from your attitude.

If you want the FIVE Minutes to be there - if you set your mind to making sure that it is there - it will be.

You might eat and shower a bit quicker, start empowering your children a bit more to get themselves ready in the morning, or even get up just a minute or two earlier. My point is that when something matters, you make time for it.

So before you start making excuses for not having FIVE more minutes available to you in the morning, ask yourself what's more important - making today better than yesterday or making sure that nothing changes from one day to the next in your life?

Monday, May 3, 2010

It's Not What You Are Taught, But Rather What You LEARN

I had an interesting conversation with a client the other day. As it turns out, he had a GREAT day. Despite all the issues that life threw at him - as it always does - he was able to handle them all and still meet his loaded agenda of daily goals.

Being the ever mindful coach, my question to him was, "Well, what did you learn?"

His answer reaffirmed a very important lesson to me (which I then dutifully brought full circle back to my client) . . .

It's Not What You Are Taught, But Instead What You LEARN

So many of us go from book to book, class to class, and degree to degree seeking out the knowledge that will give us the edge - the advantage over our competitors.

I've got some bad new for you.

Life isn't about what you are taught - no matter who the teacher is. All that matters is what you learn - and often times you can learn as much from your own experiences as you can from the greatest teachers in history.

The Premise of My Coaching Practice

I don't care where you learn what you learn - the source is irrelevant. I don't care where you go for your teachings, so long as you apply them to your daily life and make a difference with them. And in the context of coaching, what matters most to me is that you learn what works for you and your business and you apply the ideas for repeat successes time and time again.

According to The Free Dictionary, learning is "the act, process, or experience of gaining knowledge or skill."
That's right you have to gain the knowledge for it actually make a difference. So you can be shown, read or listen to anything you want, until it becomes knowledge to YOU, it is worthless.

Bold
So, when you find what does work for YOU - even if it's your own invention . . . KEEP DOING IT. It doesn't matter if it works for anyone else, so long as it works for you and helps you achieve YOUR goals and the goals of your organization, then you better LEARN what it is that you just did. Because rather than just doing it randomly or haphazardly, you need to start doing it intentionally.

Do it by choice rather than by chance.

Furthermore, when you find something that isn't working in your life or your business . . . that's when you turn to the experts. That's when you pull out Seth Godin for Marketing support, Zig Ziglar for motivational Sales support, or even turn to a coach for a little bit of everything.

That's when you turn to your teacher to help you find something you don't already know. That's when learn something new.

Sounds Simple - But Life Often Is

I know it sounds simple, but that's all there is to improving your business and your life - two steps. First, look at what's working and do it by choice. Two, figure out what isn't working and find out how to make it just a little bit better. You don't have to go crazy with change - just take small steps. If those small steps work, well, back to Step One, if not repeat as necessary.

Believe it or not, you will be amazed at how quickly you can make your dreams come true.