Attracting Success

I remember when I was in real estate. I was young compared to my colleagues – 25 – 29 years old. It was my first real “career” and I was in a steep learning curve. One of the first things I needed to learn was goal setting and achievement. Everyone kept telling me all about how to break things down into various steps, or how to create SMART goals, etc. etc. None of it worked.

When that failed, I was told I just needed to work harder, generate more activity, it was just a numbers game. That didn’t work either. At the end of each day I went home exhausted, cranky, and miserable. I constantly asked myself, “Why am I such a failure at this?”

Sound familiar?

Today however, was a completely different experience. I have a goal and I know what the steps are. My mentors are teaching me how to be more effective at each step. Those peices are the same, even though I’m in a different industry. What’s different though, is how I FEEL at each step.

Before, I’d complete a step, mark it off, and think, “That was so hard and exhausting I don’t ever want to do it again.” Not exactly encouragement to move forward! But I’d gather the will and force myself to do it again.

Today, when I complete my step I thought, “This is so cool! I love this. Yes! I want more of this in my life!” The motivation to repeat it, is 100 times higher and far more natural.

What’s the difference?

Before, I was doing what I thought I “should” do. Today, I’m doing what I really want and love to do. I’ve done tons of internal work to figure out what it is that I really want in my life, and life coaching has been a tremendous peice of it. The results however, speak for themselves.

I love what I do every day. I’m generating more results, faster and with less energy drain than I ever have. All because I took the time to understand what is fulfilling to me, and learned how to honor that in my life. It’s an ongoing process, of course, but I’m still thinking, “Yes! I want more of this in my life!”

When was the last time you felt that way about something in your life?

Compass can help.

Live radio interview! Women: what drains you? Listen live: http://kboo.fm/listen on THIS FRIDAY, May 29, 6:30pm Pacific. In Portland? 90.7fm

Wouldn’t it be nice to feel refreshed every day? Tues. May 26, 4pm PST. http://ping.fm/U9GMF

More Money Memories

It fascinates me how many memories about money are popping up – and all the ways in which they’ve influenced me without my even being aware of it. Not all of them are bad though.

I remember as a child that I used to LOVE money. I can remember dumping out my piggy bank on my bed just to see how many coins there were. I loved counting them, and saving them up. I loved the way they felt in my hand, the cool metal against my palm. Hearing them clink and clank together always made me smile.

So what changed (no pun intended)?

There came a point when I no longer felt as if the money was mine to play with when it came to me. There were bills to pay, and so the rewards lessened. Plus, I couldn’t feel it in my hands anymore. It was all electronic or plastic. The clink and clank went away.

I’ve told myself this was a good thing – to not have cash around. But is it? If it feels good, why not allow myself to keep some? It seems like such a little thing, and yet, the smile comes back just thinking about it.

Plus, it gave me the ability to buy a little drink for my daughter on a hot day when plastic wasn’t an option.

Maybe letting myself be a bit of a kid again with my money isn’t such a bad thing after all. The bills will still get paid, but letting myself enjoy the feel of money in my hand again is like letting myself play at the park with my kids again – an opportunity to “do-over” and this time, do it better while having far more fun.

What wonderful money memory do you have that you’d like to relive?

Explore more with Compass.

Learning my “Money Monster” is just a little kid in a costume – nothing to fear! I love Compass! http://ping.fm/qFlxj

AfFORmations Revisited

A while back I wrote about afFORmations (rather than affirmations) by Noah St. John PhD, and I can’t help but come back around to them again. They’ve made such a difference in my life! And they’re so simple. It’s just a matter of harnessing what your mind is already doing.

Our brains will unconsciously and consciously answer whatever question we plug into it. The problem is we usually plug in the wrong question.

For example, when it comes to money, so many of us often look at our bank accounts, get stressed about the bills to pay, compare that with all the other things we need and want, and find ourselves asking: Why isn’t there enough?

Well, when I ask myself that question I come up with thing like:

• because the economy is in bad shape and everyone’s pulling back
• because I don’t have the number of clients I need yet
• because I had to put new brakes on the car and it cost a lot more than I thought it would
• because there were unexpected medical bills
• because… because… because…

You get the idea. My mind begins to give me the answer to the question I’m asking, and honestly, it only makes me feel worse. Which doesn’t exactly motivate me to look for possibilities, or be able to get myself into a creative mindset. Instead, my shoulders get tight and I shut down. Sound familiar?

But what if I plugged in a different question? Like: Why is money so magnetically attracted to me?

• because I’m genuine, honest and take care of my clients
• because I provide value
• because I use what I wisely
• because money is a tool that I have fun with
• because… because… because…

The process is the same, but the result is different. With the right question, I’m reminded of positive things in my life, things I can build on, that make me feel good, and put me in a more creative and open mindset. My shoulders relax and there’s a smile on my face – a far more inviting posture as I walk in to meet a potential client.

What questions are you plugging in to your mind?

Money Memories

This month through Compass I’m enjoying the topic, “Tame Your Money Monster.” It’s been a fascinating journey already! I’ve known for a long time that my beliefs impact my choices, and I’ve known that many of the beliefs I’ve operated on (conscious and unconsciously) have come from experiences in childhood.

For instance, I remember “learning” that investing was a bad and frustrating experience. I was at my granmother’s and she happen to be opening the mail. She had a knack for money in her life – it just came to her. I remember she’d take an annual trip to Reno to gamble and always came back ahead – often by hundreds of dollars. She got so that people would give her money to take with her to gamble on their behalf – everyone always at least broke even, but usually they’d get back more than they’d given her to take. It was uncanny.

This particular day though, she was very frustrated when she opened her mail. When I asked her what was wrong, she said her stocks had split. I was young, this sounded like a bad thing. Money was a taboo subject in my family, and I didn’t know enough to know what to ask in order to get a better understanding. So I knew “stocks” had something to do with money and investing, and I knew she was frustrated because they’d “split.” Logically then, this must be a bad thing, right?

I laugh about it now that I understand things more. Her frustration wasn’t about the stocks. She had been trying to sell them off for months, a little at a time. Each time she got about half way out of the stock, they’d split. The letter she got while I was there indicated that they hadn’t just doubled, they’d tripled – and all she’d wanted was out!

Today, I wish I had that frustration! Funny how we can misinterpret such simple things as kids, and yet, how that lesson can impact our lives far out into the future.

Focusing on the subject for a whole month is generating a lot of memories – and giving me the opportunity to re-evalutate my interpretations of them with a much better perspective.

Feel Good Friday: Holy Child Academy

Students enjoying their instruments

The Holy Child Academy in Drexel Hill, PA recently received a Givers Gain® Grant for $943.50 so that teacher Lettie Switzer may purchase Orff musical instruments for their 215 kindergarten through 8^th grade students.

The Orff-Schulwerk method is not a method for teaching children to play xylophones, but rather one that mixes ensemble performance, with chants, rhymes, songs, games, dances and movement. The deeper goal is to have students understand how melodies are constructed, accompaniment created, and musical textures and timbres are manipulated to achieve expressive coherence.

The study of music requires an understanding of melody and harmony. To give students a good foundational experience, students need pitched instruments. The Orff Instrumentarium is designed with bars that quickly come on and off, depending on the requirements of the musical selection. It is also easier to eliminate all bars not needed for performance. This keeps student confusion to a minimum and makes for a more accurate and successful use of class time. Orff-Schulwerk instrumentation can be simplified to a basic repetitive pattern, or made as complex as needed.

The ability to create what is needed to fit every student’s needs is only limited by the arrangement a teacher creates, or more importantly, the number of instruments in the classroom.  Funds will be used to purchase 2 alto xylophones, 1 bass xylohpone and 3 pairs of mallets for the school’s music program.

The BNI Foundation thanks Margie Cowan, Executive Director for BNI Colorado, for this referral.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ve got to see this. 2 mins that will remind you why you do it: http://ping.fm/w1KTD

Book Review: The Go-Giver

I’ve heard some great things about The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann, so I picked it up recently. The sub-title reads: A little story about a powerful business idea. And it is.

The writing is simple. The reader follows Joe, a frustrated business and sales man through a serious of introductions he receives and the lessons he learns. I have to admit, there’s a way in which the writing is almost too simple, and yet, that’s the power of it too. It allows the ideas themselves to absorb as the reader moves through the book.

In this book, Joe learns the “5 Laws of Stratospheric Success” – laws I’ve seen at work, have been aware of, but have never seen laid out quite so sucinctly and explained in a way that is so accessible to so many.

Telling stories is one of the most powerful ways we learn as humans. Before writing was invented, it was through story that we handed down our history, shared our culture, passed along news, and connected. Our brains are simply wired for it. So it’s no surprise that telling a simple story has such a powerful effect.

I read this book in just a few hours. But I’ve been thinking about it and referring back to it ever since. Stratospheric Success isn’t about getting. It’s about giving. Why not let Bob, John and their friend Joe show you how?