Scared of Heights?

"Never measure the height of the mountain until you are at the top. Then you will see how low it really was."~Dag Hammarskjold

Are you letting the height of the mountain hold you back? Why?

Are you afraid of starting what you are want to do but are being held back by the size of the mountain? Why? It is just a story that you are telling yourself, that it's too big, that you can't do it. You know that when you tell yourself those stories, you make them come true.

Start telling yourself NEW stories! Create the future that you want by creating the stories that show you doing and achieving everything that you ever wanted do achieve. When you create the stories that you want and now the ones other people have told you, you can do anything!

When was the last time you told yourself that you couldn't do something? Why? What led you to that story? Re-examine your thought process and you will find out why you thought that.

Henry Ford said "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right."

Think about that for a while.

"Never measure the height of the mountain until you are at the top. Then you will see how low it really was."

Are You A Prisoner?

"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own mind."~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Are you a prisoner of your own mind? Do you believe the stories that you mind is telling you? Why? Do you believe that those stories are 'truth.?' How come? Because you been told so?

Your mind is while the greatest computer you will ever use but is limited because you limit it! Do you realize that you are the only one holding you back? No one else is. Not your boss, your family, your friends. YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE HOLDING YOU BACK!

Break out of you own mind. Start asking yourself questions about everything that you think. Challenge yourself on what you are thinking, why you do the things you do and why you think the things that you think.

Allow the questioning to let you see with new eyes.

"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own mind."

What Are You Waiting For?

"If not now, when?"~Hillel

What are you waiting for? Everything to be just right? Till all the ducks are lined up? Till the cows come home? Are you waiting for perfection?

QUIT WAITING AND START DOING!

Everything will not ever be 'just right.' The ducks will never all get line up. The cows might come home...Do it anyway! There is boldness in action. Start now, stop waiting.

"It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you could only do a little. Do what you can."~Sydney Smith

Do what you can. When? Right now!

"If not now, when?"

Be Present Now

"Yesterday is a canceled check, tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have-so spend it wisely."~Kay Lyon

Be here NOW. Be present in this moment. Stop worrying about yesterday, you can't do anything about it. Don't concern yourself with worries about tomorrow. Be here NOW.

That wise philosopher of the 21st century, Jim Carrey, said "If you aren't in the moment, you're either looking forward to uncertainty or back to pain and regret."

Are you looking forward to uncertainty or back to pain and regret? Why? What good does it do you? do you feel better when you do that? Or is it like hitting your head against the wall so that you feel better when you stop???

The more you are present, the more the world will open up to you. Be here NOW.

"Yesterday is a canceled check, tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have-so spend it wisely."

The Person You'd Like to Be?

"How would the person I'd like to be... do the things I'm about to do?"~Jim Cathcart


How would that thought change your actions? Ever had that thought? Why not?

Who is the person you would like to be, or are you perfect the way that you are? What would you do differently? Would you be kinder, more thoughtful, listen better,work harder, what???

I would hope that we all are striving to improve on who we are, but my guess is that we have become to busy with trying to get stuff that we haven't spent enough time working on who we are.

I ask everybody I meet at events "Who are you?" Most people start telling me what they do and I have to stop them and say 'that's what you do, but who are you' and they are stumped. Have we moved that far away from who we are that that we can't tell others?

Find out who you are, so when I ask you, you will be able to tell me, with confidence, who you are or who you are striving to be.

"How would the person I'd like to be... do the things I'm about to do?"

There Is No Tomorrow

"Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero." Means "Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow."~Horace

We've all heard "Seize the day," but most people don't include the rest...which might be even more important. For several reasons.

"Put no trust in the morrow." Here's the deal. Tomorrow is promised to no one! But most of the time, we proceed as if we are going to live forever and never think about it. There's another quote that says "Put off until tomorrow only what you want to leave unfinished if you die tonight." (Or something like that) We are mortal beings and we can go at any time. Kind of makes you at some things differently, doesn't it.

"Seize the day." Be present now. Be in the moment, only in this moment and your world will expand exponentially. Most of us find it difficult to be in the moment, we are either thinking about what has already happened (and we can't do anything out) or thinking about what's to come (which we can only prepare for). When you are in the moment, you are truly living.

"Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow."

What Are You Investing In?

"An Investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."~Benjamin Franklin

Are you investing in knowledge, in yourself, in learning, in being better? Why not?

In this new economy, your investments should be in creating a better you, a better business person, a better person, in becoming the best that you can be!

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence!

If you aren't doing excellent work yet, get someone to help you. Learn. Invest om yourself! Be a beginner again and start from scratch. Don't use those deadly words "I already know that." Clear you mind of what you know (or what you think you know) and let everything be new to you again.

Too many people shut off their learning when they get out of school (and some even before they get out of school). Don't allow that to be you. If it has been you, start NOW, change your thinking NOW. Realize that life expands with learning. Allow it to happen NOW.

"An Investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."

I Give You Permission

"We need to give ourselves permission to act out our dreams."

Do it now. give yourself permission! What are you waiting for?
OK, I give you permission to act out your dreams!

Too many people today have given up on their dreams because of: "The economy," parents and well-meaning friends, "I need insurance." "I have responsibilities," or many other bogus reasons!

Have you given up on your dream? Why? Are you saving it for another day? Again, why? Are you waiting until everything is "just right?" I hate to disappoint you, but "things" will never be "just right."

Victor Hugo said "There is nothing like a dream to create the future."

Create your future, NOW. You have been given permission. What are you waiting for?

"We need to give ourselves permission to act out our dreams."

What Are You Putting In?

"It is not the hours we put in the job, it is what we put into the hours that count."~Sidney Madwed

What are you putting into your hours? Is it 100% or less? Why?

John Wooden said that "If you give 60% today, you can't give 140% tomorrow to make up for it." There's a misconception that we can give more than 100% You can't! In fact, most people who are told that they are giving more than 100% are most likely giving 95% because you can't give more than everything you have.

Think about your average day. How much are you giving? 60%? 70%? 90%? Are you really or are you just fooling yourself. Here's an example. The 2 days before you go on vacation, you work really hard to get things done. You might even be working at 90%. Why did it take you that long to work that hard?

Challenge yourself to every day, give as much as you can. Your life will change for the better.

"It is not the hours we put in the job, it is what we put into the hours that count."

What's More Painful?

"And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."~Anias Nin

Are you there yet? Are you ready to blossom? Why not? What is holding you back? Is the risk of not growing getting to painful yet? See, we all have our ruts (graves) that have become comfortable and yet we know that we need to grow. When will the pain be bad enough to allow you to get our of your rut?

Is fear holding you back? What other people might think or say? What is keeping you from your growth? Take some time and analyze your situation and see what is keeping you from growing,

What the caterpillar calls death, the butterfly calls life. Are you ready to become your butterfly or will you die as a caterpillar.

"And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

Are You in a Grave?

"A rut is only a grave with the ends kicked out."~Earl Nightingale

Are you living in a grave (you might call it a rut)? Why? You get to choose how to live and if you want to stay in that grave or create a new place to be. If you chosen the comfortable, the easy way, you might be in a grave now.

You are in charge of every choice you make. No one else has that power. If you feel that you don't have this power, then you have given away your power to someone else. If that's the case, take it back now! Choose to break out of your grave and start living again.

Ralph Waldo Emerson asks a great question, "Why should my happiness depend on thoughts going on in someone else's head?" Think about that for a while...

"A rut is only a grave with the ends kicked out."

Are You Being Yourself?

"There is only one of you for all time. Fearlessly be yourself."~Anthony Rapp

Are you fearlessly being yourself, or are you playing someone else on this stage that is called life? Who are you playing and why? Is it because it's what your parents told you, or what a teacher told you, or maybe what a friend suggested you become? If you are not being yourself, who are you being?

"Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you."

Fearlessly be yourself! And if you don't know who that is, find out. Spend some time contemplating what drives you and what makes you feel the most authentic. When do you get the feeling that you are the person who you always wanted to be? Search for that feeling and when you find it, hold on to it with all your heart.

"There is only one of you for all time. Fearlessly be yourself."

Are Going At It Alone?

"No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it."~H. E. Luccock

Are you trying to create a symphony all by yourself? Being the lone entrepreneur, not needing anyone's help? Guess what? No one has ever made it on their own! We all need other people and we need their help.

Look at all successful people and you will see a whole team of other individuals that worked on the success of that one individual. Who is on your team? Who is working to make you a success? Why are they helping you? Why aren't others helping you?

This "New Economy" requires that we spend even more time on those relationships where we can help others succeed and they can help us succeed. Are you spending the time doing that? Why not? Are you doing what you have always done? How's that working for you?

Find those people who are working towards your success and let them know that you appreciate them and how important they are to you. I have a whole list of people and I'm sure that you do to.

"No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it."

Are You Less Than You Could Be?

"If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I must warn you that you'll be unhappy for the rest of your life."~Abraham Maslow

Are you planning on only accepting a little of life? Why? We were made for abundance. I don't think that most people plan on being less than they can be, but have the desire to be all they can be driven out of them. By well-meaning teachers, parents and friends...

How can you reclaim the feeling of becoming capable of doing anything? Confidence, belief in yourself and knowledge that there are no accidents or coincidences. There's a reason that you are where you are right now. It could be to help someone else out, it could be because you have something to learn, but there is a reason why we are all where we are.

"Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you."

Play BIG. GO FOR EVERYTHING YOU CAN GET! Don't allow how others feel about you to diminish who you are.

"If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I must warn you that you'll be unhappy for the rest of your life."

How are you using Time?

“One of the best uses of your time is to increase your competence in your key areas.”~Brian Tracy

Are you using your time to increase your competency? Why not? Are you satisfied with where you are now? Doing just enough to get by? When was the last time you worked on your core competences?

In today's microwave society, it's really easy to get caught up in doing just enough to get by. Are you just getting by or are you striving to thrive?

Work on your competences. There's another quote that really hit it home: "Amateurs practice till they get it right, while professionals practice until they can't do it wrong."

Keep doing it until you can't do it wrong.

“One of the best uses of your time is to increase your competence in your key areas.”

Are You Great or Just Good?

"Good is the enemy of great."~Jim Collins

What is the path to greatness? When you think that you're finished, keep on going!

Are you settling for doing just enough? How's that working for you? Don't settle, get excited about the opportunity to do more. How would it impact your business and clients if you were truly excited about the opportunity to do more for them? And DID IT?

Remember, "The place for the things that you want is currently occupied by what you have settled for." Is it time to stop settling? Is it time to start clearing out what you've settled for and grab what you want?

Practice thinking with no limits and you will find yourself living with no limits. Wouldn't that be cool? Go beyond what you know you can do and then you'll know that you can do so much, much more.

"Good is the enemy of great."

"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all."~Peter F. Drucker

What are you doing efficiently that you should not be doing at all? Think about that. When was the last time that you did an inventory of your business to find out what works and what doesn't, or are you just doing the things that you have always done because you've always done them?

Too often we just go through our day, doing what we've always done and not realizing that we should stop doing certain things because they don't serve us anymore. Are you measuring what works and what does not work? Without measuring, you have no baseline to see what is working or not. Ask most business owners and they will say, "Oh, I know what is working," but they really don't know what is working, they just know something is working.

What are you measuring in your business? You should be measuring everything to see if it's worth doing or changing. Without measuring you're flying blind.

"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all."

Your Business In Life

“Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves - to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by out today.” ~Stewart B. Johnson

Get ahead of yourself today, don't worry about others. We are so caught up with the materialistic aspects of our society and "keeping up with the Joneses, that we have stopped looking at ourselves and how we can be improving us.

Are you looking at ways that you can improve you? Or are you just trying to get past the latest toy your neighbor bought. Need the latest tech gadget? No, but it would sure be cool to have...Is that the way you think about it?

How can you "outstrip your yesterday today?" What do you need to do better today that you can do better today. Have you ever thought about it that way? Do you look at your improvement as a "breaking of your own records?" Why not?

TODAY is the day to outstrip your yesterday!!

“Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves - to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by out today.”

Your Relationships

"Every great business is built on relationships."
~J. C. Penney

Is your business built on relationships? Why not? We instinctively know this but have forgotten it. Even the great Warren Buffett says that relationships are the key to a successful business.

In our 'microwave society' we don't spend enough time developing and nurturing those business relationships. We want them to buy from us and then we move on to the next client. It's been found that 15-20% of business leaves a company each year because the client feels that the business doesn't care about them. How would you like to keep at least 10% of those clients that leave you?

Thoreau said that "The language of friendship is not in words but meanings." What he is saying is that in addition to using your words, you need to know that your client is looking for the meanings in those words. And they are important to them.

Thought for the day:
"Every great business is built on relationships."

What Are Your Disciplines?

"Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines practiced every day."~Jim Rohn

What are your disciplines? Are you practicing them every day? Why not? Everybody has different disciplines and the key is to find what yours are and then do them every day.

See it's easy to follow simple disciplines, but because it's easy to do, it's also easy not to do. So, are you practicing those disciplines every day?

Why practice them? Why do pro athletes practice every day? Even after they've been doing it for years and years? I saw an advertisement once that answered that question. "Amateurs work until they get it right but professionals work until they can't do it wrong." Wow, think about that.

Are you working at it until you can't get it wrong?? What a difference than working at it until you get it right...

"Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines practiced every day."

What is Your Personal Destiny?

"Picture in your mind a sense of personal destiny." ~Wayne Oats

Do U have a sense of personal destiny? We all have goals, but a sense of personal destiny???

What is your sense of a personal destiny? Is it a legacy? Is it your story until now? Your story from now on? Where do you see yourself in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years? Not just based on your goals, but based on how you want your life to turn out.

When was the last time you thought of your personal destiny? Have you ever thought of your personal destiny? I have to admit, that I haven't in a long time. I've just kind of coasted through life without thinking about my personal destiny. What a mind challenge!!!

Start thinking about your personal destiny right now! Create in your mind what you want your personal destiny to be and start going after it. Don't coast through life without your personal destiny. Challenge yourself to start thinking about your personal destiny every day!

Everything starts with an idea. What is your idea of your personal destiny?

"Picture in your mind a sense of personal destiny."

What Are You Living For?

"The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it."~Henry David Thoreau

What are you paying for? What are you exchanging your life for? Why? Is it worth it, or do you need to re-examine it?

You're paying a price for everything you do. Is it worth it or are you really wasting your life away? We don't realize that exchange is happening daily, hourly, by the minute.

Emerson said "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." Are you exchanging your life for something without enthusiasm? How's that working? Is it getting you where you want to go? Is it even moving you in the right direction?

"No thought lives in your mind rent-free." What are you paying to think the thoughts that you are thinking? Ever thought about that???

"The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it."

Are You Learning?

"You can't meet the challenges of today, with yesterday's tools and expect to be in business tomorrow."

What are you learning today that will help you tomorrow? Are you learning new things? Why not? In this "new economy" you need to be constantly learning new things, or at least going over things that you learned a long time ago and discarded.

Think about the way that you did business. How has that changed and is it for the better? I'd guess not. Sometimes we think that we need the latest and greatest new thing for our business when all we really need is what has worked before, maybe just tweaked a little.

As business owners we are always looking for 'the secret.' There is no secret. As Jim Rohn says, "Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines practiced every day, while failure is simply a few errors in judgment repeated every day."

Always Be Learning.

"You can't meet the challenges of today, with yesterday's tools and expect to be in business tomorrow."

What are You Prepared to See?

"People only see what they are prepared to see."~Ralph Waldo Emerson

What are you prepared to see? It is good or bad? Why?

Are you open to new things, things that may not be your usual fare? If you only see what you are prepared to see, how can you open up your vision? Not you sight, but your vision.

Don't stay in the rut that you are in. Open up your vision to new things. Stretch your mind, out of it's comfort zone and see what happens. Be prepared to see anything!

Being prepared to see anything will allow you to see everything. Don't stay closed to new things just because you aren't prepared to see them. Allow yourself the freedom to see new things.

"People only see what they are prepared to see."

Your Attention

"Do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do, give it to what you do or fail to do."~Buddha

Concentrate only on what you do, not others.

In today's society, we are so caught up with trying to "keep up with the Jones's." Why? Do we really need that fancy car, house, I phone? What is it about what others have that makes us want to have it as well. Are we missing out on something if we don't get it?

Be authentic, be who you are, not what others think you should be. Once you are authentic, you will know what you need to have and what you will want to have, not what you 'have' to have. Think about that for a while...

Do not give your attention to what others fail to do either. It is their failure, not yours to rejoice over or point out. We are all traveling different paths but are heading in the same direction.

If you do pay attention to what others are doing, do it in a way that uplifts and strengthens them. Do not do it in any other way.

"Do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do, give it to what you do or fail to do."