Archive for the 'Procrastination' Category

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The Leadership Traits You Can’t Do Without

Published on February 19, 2010 in Business Coaching, Life Coaching, Marketing your coaching, NLP, Personal Development, Procrastination and Testimonials. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

I was thinking today about leadership. What is it that attracts us to certain leaders? What is it about them that makes them so charismatic, so appealing? You know the ones, it’s as if they have a magnetic pulling power that keeps us wanting to learn more and more about them and hear more and more of their message.

One thing I’ve noticed is that our affiliation with certain leaders will change during certain times in our life.  Whether we are at a certain point in our personal development, business,  or awareness or are we simply attracting the right people at the right time.  These things play a definite part in a leaders appeal, however, I do believe that there are certain positive traits that  we unconsciously seek in a leader. Positive traits the we should endeavor to embody on our journey to become a leader ourselves.

To me these traits could be the difference between you being a good leader and a great leader…. something to think about…

1. Be a Leader who is accountable to themselves and others. I know from personal experience, that I respect and trust those leaders who do what they say when they say they are going do it.

I also can say that from modeling this trait, my business and personal relationships have gone from strength to strength because they are built on a foundation of trust. People know I say what I mean.  I also believe that the first person we must be accountable to is ourselves!

2. Communicate with Certainty. Powerful communication comes from within. As a leader your audience needs to know that we will be there to support them, guide them, and lead them in moments of darkness. A great leader shows certainty in all they do and within that certainty others find faith.

In order to be able to communicate powerfully through certainty a great leader must be certain within themselves. They back themselves and their actions 100%.

Understanding the power of this makes great leaders because what we say to ourselves on a daily basis is reflected in our actions and the way we communicate with others.  Our certainty in ourselves enables us to know what we want and why we want it, is step one to communicating our wants, desires and goals to others.

3. Transparency and 100% Honest Communication is vital to being a leader. A great leader is one who stays true to their values and beliefs. True leaders are not willing to compromise their principles just to prove a point or to make more money.

4.Great Leaders strive toward Greatness, not Perfection. The saying goes ‘people who aim for perfection actually have no standards’ because who defines perfection? And what is the definition by which it can ever be attained? Perfectionism is a major deterrent for growth and progress because decisions are often delayed and the stagnation means it takes longer to move on when something turns out wrong.

A leader who strives for greatness  understands that decisions need to be made in order to build momentum and drive growth. Leaders striving for greatness are responsive and move swiftly through roadblocks thereby averting bigger roadblocks down the track.

Personally, I want to follow and emulate someone who is going for greatness.  I’m looking to model my success strategies on someone who understands that excellence is a greater success tool than perfection.

5. Great leaders focus on the solution rather than the problem. Leaders that say ‘How can I’ rather than being caught up in the challenge or the obstacle they are faced with are by definition, solution-oriented.  Rather than giving up or becoming frustrated a great leader moves ‘through’ a problem. Being able to think clearly and logically when faced with a challenge is a powerful leadership trait – wise decisions and empowering choices are huge keys to success.

These are the key traits I’m modeling to achieve success in my life, for me, they’ve been the difference that makes the difference.

I would love to hear your thoughts, comments or anything you would like to share. Drop me an email action@thecoachinginstitute.com.au or post a comment below.


To YOUR Leadership Success

Kim Rowe

National Student Liaison

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Action or Self Delusion – It’s your choice…

Published on February 17, 2010 in Business Coaching, Life Coaching, Marketing your coaching, NLP, Personal Development, Procrastination and Testimonials. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Knowledge fueled by emotion equals action. Action is the ingredient that ensures results. Only action can cause reaction. Further, only positive action can cause positive reaction.

Action. The whole world loves to watch those who make things happen, and for those who make things happen  it rewards them because that action is causing waves of productivity that stem far beyond your comprehension.

I stress this because today I see many people who are really sold on affirmations. Affirmations are great as a tool to create action and to be a source of inspiration, however “destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for it is a thing to be achieved.”

So affirmations are great when they are repeated to reinforce a disciplined plan, affirmations can help create very strong and positive neural pathways of self belief.

The catch is there is also a very thin line between faith and waiting, wishing and hoping. And you know that these are the three saboteurs of success.  You see, affirmations without action can be the beginnings of self-delusion. And for your well-being, and ultimate success, there is nothing worse than self-delusion.

So the man who dreams of wealth, yet through inaction walks daily toward certain financial disaster, or the woman who wishes for happiness, and yet fails to manage her state and her behavior has a one way ticket toward despair. Both are falling into the trap of false hope that affirmations without actions can create.

Why is this I hear you ask? Because words can sooth, they lull us into a false sense of security therefore complacency. To avoid this remember: To make progress, you must actually get started!

The key is to take a step today.

Whatever the project, start today.

Start clearing out a drawer of your newly organized desk—today. Start setting your first goal—today. Start listening to motivational programs—today (and make sure you are completing the exercises along the way). Start a sensible weight-reduction plan—today.

That’s the easy stuff to get you started…. If you really want to step it up then…

Make that phone call to the touch client you have been putting off—today. Start putting away 10% of your income to save for your financially free future – today. Decide that you will stop pleasing others and finally commit to one thing that makes you happy and fulfilled – today.

Get some momentum going. Motion causes e-motion so through taking little pieces of action you will feel great and you will see the results of your better life because you will have changed your focus to what lies ahead and how you can get there.

How many small pieces of action can you take for you today that will break you away from the downward pull of gravity? Set yourself to full throttle and show yourself that the wishing, waiting and hoping is a thing of the past and that faith with action is the new modern!

It’s a new day, a new beginning for your new life. With discipline, you will be amazed at how much progress you’ll be able to make. What have you got to lose except the guilt and fear of the past?

Now, I offer you this challenge: See how many reference points for success you can collect as you take the little pieces of action towards your most successful future today!

To Your Success

Kim Rowe

National Student Liaison

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9 Steps To Realising: There Is More To Starting A Business Than Money!

Published on February 16, 2010 in Business Coaching, Life Coaching, NLP, Personal Development and Procrastination. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

So we all know the value of having capital behind us when we are wanting to start a business right? Everyone talks about how it is so important blah blah blah….. but I bet you also know, or at least have heard of someone who has started with absolutely no capital and made fortunes!

Ok ok, so I hear you say yes Kim we have (Richard Branson is someone if you don’t have one yet)… but how did they do it??

Well that my friend is what I am here to share with you, because I believe there are more valuable things to your entrepreneurial success that just capital…

1. Time
Time is more valuable than capital. Time is the most valuable asset we’ve got. You can’t share it, save it, borrow it, stop it…. time is always ticking, we have about 300 000 +/- hours in our lifetime and once that’s gone that’s it. So the time you set aside to invest in your enterprise should be invested wisely.

Time properly invested is worth a fortune; Time wasted is worth nothing. So with smart investment we now have Capital Time.

2. Desperation
This creates the ultimate leverage for action. Those people you know (of course no one reading this blog) who may be investing in procrastination…. Desperation is the quickest way to get out of it.

A client of mine recently who was starting her own business said “Kim I can’t afford to put food on my table I’ve got to make this work.” My clients first ‘real’ investment into her business was desperation. So that was what it took to create the leverage my client needed to take action and invest her time smartly in her business. She decided in that moment of desperation that it was more painful to stay ‘hungry’ than to take action in her business.

She now has a successful retail store where she provides exceptional service day after day to her happy clientelle. Best of all she is happy… and well fed!

Desperation can be a powerful incentive. When you say, “I must.”

3. Determination
Determination says I will. So when at first desperation makes you act, when it makes you say “I must do it now” what happens when you hit a road block or an obstacle? They are inevitable, so what happens then? Now what must you invest?

4. Courage
Courage is more valuable than capital. If you’ve only got $1 and a lot of courage, I’m telling you, you’ve got a good future ahead of you. Courage in spite of the circumstances, because it only shows up when we need it, in the moment… it’s not getting posted to us!

Humans can do the most incredible things no matter what happens. We have all heard the stories haven’t we?

Stories where human beings have overcome unbelievable tragedy through their courage and determination.  It’s humans. You can’t sell humans short. Courage in spite of, not because of, but in spite of.

So now that you have overcome adversity by pushing through here’s what comes next…

5. Ambition
“Wow! So now you’ve overcome one hurdle, you can over come another, because you now have reference points for success. You start to notice the small wins, you start to believe and become driven by your dreams and goals for your future.

6. Faith

So now you believe you’ve got something to offer. You start to believe in yourself. “Oh my I’m going to pull this off!” the self talk gets better, more positive. An investment in your self esteem is unmatched by any other.

What if you had a thriving business? A million dollars? But you had no faith?

You’d be poor. You wouldn’t be rich. There is would be no richness in your life. So build up to it, acknowledge it, and have a little faith!

Now here is the next one, the thing that breeds millionaires…

7. Ingenuity
Putting your brains to work. Probably up until now, you’ve put about 1/10 of your brainpower to work. What if you employed the other 9/10? You can’t believe what can happen. Humans can come up with the most intriguing things to do. Ingenuity. What’s ingenuity worth? A fortune. It is more valuable than money. All you need is a $1 and plenty of ingenuity. Figuring out a way to make it work, make it work, make it work.

8. Heart and Soul
What is a substitute for heart and soul? It’s not money. Money can’t buy heart and soul. Heart and soul is more valuable than a million dollars. A million dollars without heart and soul, you have no life. You are ineffective. But, heart and soul is like the unseen magic that moves people, moves people to buy, moves people to make decisions, moves people to act, moves people to respond.

Heart and soul is what makes you your business!

9. Personality

So you’ve got plenty of personality, so lets spice it up a little. You’ve go to get your personality to a point where it can be at home anywhere. Develop it in such a way, by managing your state and your mindset, so that it is effective every day. No matter who you connect with, a child or a business person, a rich person or a poor person.
I like to call this behavioral flexibility. And as you know – the law of requisitevariety states “the person with the most flexibilty controls the system.”

So get it developed so you can communicate and connect with anyone, anywhere, this means you have the opportunity to have a unique relationship with whomever you meet. Quite important if you are in business I would imagine?

And lastly, let’s not forget charisma and sophistication. Charisma with a touch of humility. This entire list is more valuable than money. With one dollar and the list I just gave you, the world is yours. It belongs to you, whatever piece of it you desire whatever development you wish for your life. I’ve given you the secret. Capital. The kind of capital that is more valuable than money and that can secure your future and fortune.

Remember -you have everything you need within you right NOW to be a success.

To YOUR Success,

Kim Rowe

National Student Liaison

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Obstacles are those things we notice when we take our eyes off our goals…

Published on February 15, 2010 in Personal Development and Procrastination. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

An obstacle, if we allow it is something that can stand in our way, oppose us and hold up our progress. I’ll say it again… If we allow it.

Realistically we know that life is filled with roadblocks, challenges and obstacles. It is how we handle these obstacles that determines if we go forward, stay where we are or may be even slip backwards.

Here are 6 steps to overcoming obstacles:

1. Make time to sit down and describe in detail the obstacle or challenge you’re currently facing. You can’t overcome an obstacle or challenge if you are not exactly clear what you’re trying to overcome. Write your description with as much detail and emotion as possible.

2. Break your obstacle into bite-sized pieces. Look at the big picture and then break the obstacle into smaller pieces. Fine-tuning the individual elements of an obstacle can make it become more manageable. **Remember: The only way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

3. Prioritize each of the smaller bite-sized pieces. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being most important) how would you rank or rate the emotional, physical, spiritual or financial importance of each of these bite-sized pieces?

4. Looking at these prioritized pieces, write out a plan of action for overcoming the obstacle. It’s time to form a step-by step plan for taking positive action. ** You can use your goal setting E Book for this. If you haven’t received your copy email timetoact@thecoachinginstitute.com.au

5. Decide how and when you’re willing to put your plan into action. Develop a time frame in which you will handle this obstacle. Will it take a week, month, year or longer? Give yourself a beginning date and a completion date. Decide how you can and will consistently work your plan.

6. Keep track of the results. Reward yourself for each positive accomplishment along the way. Periodically analyze your progress and when necessary reevaluate your plan of action.The biggest benefit of celebrating small accomplishments is that you start to build reference points for success. So next time you come to an obstacle you are armed with much more confidence, certainty and self belief.

When you truly understand the obstacle and how you are allowing it to affect your life, you are coming from a place of personal power.

If you are finding some obstacles in your business this is completely normal. Book your Accelerated Results and Group Accountability class in your diary – the next one is Wednesday 24th February 12-1pm – so you can have your most pressing business questions answered.

Email your questions to Kim on action@thecoachinginstitute.com.au

Love to hear your feedback once you have put this one into action!

To YOUR Success,
Kim Rowe

National Student Liaison

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How to Make a Mess of It Without Even Trying

Published on January 14, 2010 in Personal Development and Procrastination. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

I’m writing, and then rewriting the e-report, and I think I’m further away from completion than when I started.

However, I DID make the time to buy a new Aston Martin. Photo included. Yes, bragging, I know. But how often does a failed crime writer get to do something cool like that? Give me a break!

Anyway, had some people share with me what they want to see in this e-report on goals, and Jacqui, from Perth, got into me about something and I agree with her.

We all keep talking about how to achieve more and how to make it happen and how to be awesome… What about the flipside? What about what to do to really mess things up? Jacqui, that’s easy! Let me share the following ‘Insider’ secrets that will guarantee to mess it up, that have not been shared with anyone for eons!

Why do this? Because I got asked, and because it’s worth noting that we are human, and we make mistakes, and we get in our own way sometimes even when we have the best intentions. I know this to be true. I have 12 years of NOT doing a %$#^&*! thing about it to prove it.

Enough of my whining. Who wants that?

So here they are: How to Make a Mess of It Without Even Trying

  1. Keep your dreams a secret because you want to avoid anyone holding you accountable, so that way you don’t have to really do anything – great way to play it safe, by the way. Now imagine you’re 90, looking back, and it’s too late to change any of it. As the old lade said, ‘Most of the things I worried about never actually happened’.
  2. In reverse, talk about what you’re ‘gunna’ do and never actually do a thing – I know someone like this. It’s like they reassure themselves that they’re all good because they get to keep talking about tomorrow’s plans – the busiest day in their schedule!
  3. Think and then over think all the things that are wrong with you so you feel so bad about yourself you don’t want to do anything – self-reflection has sprung up as what we should be doing these days, but really, there comes a point when I’m over me and my ‘issues’.
  4. Complaining always about your hard luck, so you don’t have to take responsibility – the more successful I get, the luckier I get. Seems to me that luck is another word for sweat.
  5. Never take responsibility for what happens or doesn’t happen – the day one of my clients stopped blaming their parents, they got a life instead.
  6. Forgetting your dreams and goals and just get through the day, like that’s enough – ‘too busy’. Want to improve your life? ‘Too busy.’ Want to learn something cool? ‘Too busy.’ That was me for 12 years. Had 12 years of failure too, but that’s another story.
  7. Sabotaging your efforts with getting yourself busy with stuff that doesn’t matter nearly as much, but fills in the day – time fillers used to be my speciality. I could make housework last two days if I did it right. Now I’m okay with dust, and more concerned with making a difference.

Something to think about, perhaps, on a clear blue day when it’s hard to think of one excuse for why we’re not getting up and doing that secret dream…

This rant was proudly sponsored by The Frustrated and I’m Not Going To Take it Any More Group!

 Shaz

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Ten Ways to Develop a Champion Mindset

Published on January 14, 2010 in Personal Development and Procrastination. 4 Comments Tags: , .

1. Smile – Happy people smile often, even if it’s that inner smile of gratitude – smile more. Science is finally confirming what we already knew; the more you smile, the better you will feel about yourself. Share as many smiles as you can with as many people as you can. Smiling, by the way, is also an antidote for depression and feeling generally down. It activates chemicals in your body which assist you to feel better.

2. Make decisions – the more proactive you are about your life, the more alive you will feel. Proactive, engaged people make more decisions every day. Think about it – if you only make one or two decisions, then they are really going to play on your mind and be important. If you make dozens of decisions every day then you are not going to notice when some of them don’t pay off or get the result you want. Remember, Champions of Life have made more mistakes than people who are less successful – they just kept going. Which leads us to our next tip…

3. Make mistakes – be willing to make mess! People who aim to get everything right invariably end up doing very little, because they perceive far too much risk in action. If you see all mistakes as feedback for how you can do things better next time, you will be willing to make a mess. Give up perfection – it’s so unachievable most of the time that it’s the same as having no standards! Champions of Life know that they have to practice before they get it right, and they’re willing to do that.

4. Have more play – see your life and choices as play and you will experience it differently. The more seriously you take everything, the less opportunities you will see when they come along – you’ll be too busy focusing on how things “should” and “need” to be. Champions of Life know that they can’t take themselves too seriously.

5. Be generous – the more value you give to others, the better you will feel about yourself. Beware! There is a difference between horse trading and generosity. Horse trading is where you give with the anticipation of getting. Generosity doesn’t see the receipt back of a gift – it just gives. Contribution beyond yourself is one sure-fire way to love yourself and your life.

6. Raise your standards – the key to great living is to expect and demand more of yourself. The better you get at this, the better your quality of life will be. Life is not about “getting by” or “good enough”. It is about you giving your best, risking failure, playing at 100% and then doing it again the next day. Don’t play at 100% only when it’s easy to, either. Play at a higher level especially when the going is tough! That is where true champions play.

7. Challenge yourself every day – never settle for what’s “close enough”. Don’t settle, because this will slowly erode your results, and then your confidence. Champions of life are willing to go the extra mile, because they know it’s a pretty empty road!

8. Focus on what you can do – Champions of Life focus on what they can control and influence, and leave the rest alone. People who struggle focus on what is beyond their control and so, naturally, they feel powerless. Focus on what you can do today, and then do the same tomorrow. Make a ten day commitment to only focus on what you can do each day, and see what happens.

9. Focus on your strengths – Champions of Life believe in themselves because they focus on what they are good at and what they like about themselves. People who have low self-confidence focus on their weaknesses and where they aren’t strong, and then wonder why they feel down! Write down your top twenty strengths, and what you are good at. Write down everything you are learning and enjoying and see what happens.

10. Be a leader – be your own leader and your own Champion of Life. Be the person you admire most! Write down every day what you are grateful for, what you are enjoying, what you are creating and who you love. Extraordinary people are ordinary people making ordinary decisions! Be that person – inspire and lead others through the example you set every day.

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Goal Setting Doesn’t Work

Published on January 12, 2010 in Life Coaching, Personal Development and Procrastination. 1 Comment Tags: , .

I’m busy researching (surfing) on goals, and finding some interesting stuff and some dud stuff. I’m also finding there’s a little too much hype around making goal setting seem easy. It bothers me when I see stuff that is complex turned into ‘One Step to…” when there’s more to it than that.

I get where in the age of the get-it-now-get-it-quick and ‘it better be easy or I’m not buying’ – but life just isn’t always like that.

Sometimes stuff takes a bit of time and effort to get, but it’s worth it.

Goals are right in that category. As a life coach I see a bunch of people who have struggled for their entire lives to set, go for and hit their goals. They want to hit their goals, but for some reason it doesn’t happen for them.

If goal setting was so easy, I would have thought this wouldn’t happen.

I’m throwing around some ideas on why this happens, and I think I’ve found something that makes sense.

Because we make decisions on an emotional level, and then justify with logic, we’re going to struggle to hit goals that require an emotion that we’re either (1) unfamiliar with, or (2) uncomfortable with.

 So that’s my working theory.

 I know it’s not a simple sound bite, and yup, takes some thinking about our own lives and emotions, but I think my audience prefers a truth that’s complex than a lie made simple.

Anyway, I’m writing this whole chapter on the different emotions we choose, and which emotions will help us achieve our goals. The e-report is going well. In one of my next blogs I’ll let you know how you can get a copy of it.

Let me know if there’s something you’d like to see in it.

Stay cruisin’

Sharon

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Seven Steps to Overcoming Procrastination

Published on January 11, 2010 in Personal Development and Procrastination. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Has procrastination been holding you back from achieving your goals? Have you had a dream of achieving or doing something that just seems to be put on the back burner time and time again? Napoleon Hill once said “There is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants and a burning desire to achieve it.”

Clarity is the most important concept in personal productivity and beating procrastination. The clearer you are about what you want to achieve and what you have to do to achieve it the easier it is to overcome procrastination and the lack of productivity. When procrastination sets in it is usually described as a lack of motivation, vagueness, fuzzy- mindedness, confusion of what to do next or even what to do to get started. One of the major keys to overcoming procrastination is to ‘think on paper – write it down – mind map it – brain dump it’, whatever you want to call it, get it out of your head and on paper.

The 3% of people that wrote down their goals, made them clear, achieved five to ten times as much as those who were equally or more educated then they were. When did you last write down exactly what you wanted to achieve – and not the food shopping list does not count!

In the book What They Don’t Teach You in the Harvard Business School, Mark McCormack tells a study conducted on students in the 1979 Harvard MBA program. In that year, the students were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” Only three percent of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13 percent had goals, but they were not in writing; and a whopping 84 percent had no specific goals at all.

Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again, and the findings, while somewhat predictable, were nonetheless astonishing. The 13 percent of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all. However, the three percent who had clear, written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.

So here are seven easy steps to beat procrastination.

Step 1: Decided exactly what you want to achieve – Know what it is that you want to achieve and be as specific as possible. Describe your goal using all of your senses. How will it look, fell, sound even taste and smell.

Step 2: Write it down – When you write it down you make your dreams and aspirations tangible, you can touch and see it. Use words, symbols and pictures, use whatever it takes to make real. Someone should be able to pick it up, read it and know exactly what it is you want to achieve without any additional clarification.

Step 3: Give it a deadline, an achieved by date – There must be a sense of realistic urgency. This means that the time frame of achievement is realistic to getting through the steps that need to be taken both by you and others associated with the tasks completion.

Step 4: Make a list of everything that needs to done to achieve your goal – You may start with larger tasks and then need to break them down. For example, to ‘get a business card’ you need to decide the colours and design, you may need to register an new phone number or postal address, then get quotes for printing costs, before finally get them printed.

Step 5: Organise the steps or tasks into an Action Plan –Organise your list into a plan that is both sequenced by importance and order. Identify what are the most important things to get done, things that will prevent or slow down other things from getting done. Now the important things may not be the easiest or quickest things to get done. So if they are bigger steps to take, break them down to tasks that are simpler and can get done quicker. Some procrastinators will use the excuse that it task is ‘just too big and I don’t know where to start’. When these are the case, go back to step four and break them down.

Step 6: Take Action Immediately – It’s been said, ‘progress is better than perfection’, if we wait for things to be perfect before we begin to take action we’ll never get started. Do something immediately to move you forward, this will give you an immediate reward and sense of accomplishment.

Step 7: Decide to do something every day to move forward – Each of the steps you have planned out in step five needs to be scheduled into your daily activities. With these steps write them as a mini goal, “by 1pm I will have sent out called a specific number of prospects” or “by this evening I will have read a certain number of pages of a book.”

Keep moving forward with your goals. Review your goals every day, and every morning take action on the most important task you can accomplish. It was once said that ‘a dream becomes a goal when you take action to make it happen’. So, if procrastination has been holding you back from achieving your goals, what are you going to take action to make your dreams a reality?

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Ten Ways to Develop a Champion Mindset

Published on January 4, 2010 in Personal Development and Procrastination. 1 Comment Tags: , .

Written by Sharon Pearson

1. Smile – Happy people smile often, even if it’s that inner smile of gratitude – smile more. Science is finally confirming what we already knew; the more you smile, the better you will feel about yourself. Share as many smiles as you can with as many people as you can. Smiling, by the way, is also an antidote for depression and feeling generally down. It activates chemicals in your body which assist you to feel better.

2. Make decisions – the more proactive you are about your life, the more alive you will feel. Proactive, engaged people make more decisions every day. Think about it – if you only make one or two decisions, then they are really going to play on your mind and be important. If you make dozens of decisions every day then you are not going to notice when some of them don’t pay off or get the result you want. Remember, Champions of Life have made more mistakes than people who are less successful – they just kept going. Which leads us to our next tip…

3. Make mistakes – be willing to make mess! People who aim to get everything right invariably end up doing very little, because they perceive far too much risk in action. If you see all mistakes as feedback for how you can do things better next time, you will be willing to make a mess. Give up perfection – it’s so unachievable most of the time that it’s the same as having no standards! Champions of Life know that they have to practice before they get it right, and they’re willing to do that.

4. Have more play – see your life and choices as play and you will experience it differently. The more seriously you take everything, the less opportunities you will see when they come along – you’ll be too busy focusing on how things “should” and “need” to be. Champions of Life know that they can’t take themselves too seriously.

5. Be generous – the more value you give to others, the better you will feel about yourself. Beware! There is a difference between horse trading and generosity. Horse trading is where you give with the anticipation of getting. Generosity doesn’t see the receipt back of a gift – it just gives. Contribution beyond yourself is one sure-fire way to love yourself and your life.

6. Raise your standards – the key to great living is to expect and demand more of yourself. The better you get at this, the better your quality of life will be. Life is not about “getting by” or “good enough”. It is about you giving your best, risking failure, playing at 100% and then doing it again the next day. Don’t play at 100% only when it’s easy to, either. Play at a higher level especially when the going is tough! That is where true champions play.

7. Challenge yourself every day – never settle for what’s “close enough”. Don’t settle, because this will slowly erode your results, and then your confidence. Champions of life are willing to go the extra mile, because they know it’s a pretty empty road!

8. Focus on what you can do – Champions of Life focus on what they can control and influence, and leave the rest alone. People who struggle focus on what is beyond their control and so, naturally, they feel powerless. Focus on what you can do today, and then do the same tomorrow. Make a ten day commitment to only focus on what you can do each day, and see what happens.

9. Focus on your strengths – Champions of Life believe in themselves because they focus on what they are good at and what they like about themselves. People who have low self-confidence focus on their weaknesses and where they aren’t strong, and then wonder why they feel down! Write down your top twenty strengths, and what you are good at. Write down everything you are learning and enjoying and see what happens.

10. Be a leader – be your own leader and your own Champion of Life. Be the person you admire most! Write down every day what you are grateful for, what you are enjoying, what you are creating and who you love. Extraordinary people are ordinary people making ordinary decisions! Be that person – inspire and lead others through the example you set every day.

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