Students Of Success

Working with a coach can be a rewarding, enlightening, eye-opening experience, but many people wonder, “What can a coach do for me that I can’t do for myself?”

As long as you have an open mind, are willing to grow and stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone, and have a “gap” between where you are now and where you want to be, the benefits of working with a coach are enormous.

With a coach, you will:

1. Set goals and take specific actions to get them.
Somewhere inside yourself, you know what you really want to do. If you keep finding the way to your goals blocked, it may because you’re trying to achieve a goal that isn’t coming from your heart. One of the first things we’ll do is find out exactly what you want and need for yourself. Once you visualize your ideal life you’ll be much more likely to take the actions required to get yourself there.

2. Life a balanced, centered life.
If you want to have it all, you have to start with you. That means figuring out what you need and putting yourself first. Selfishness has gotten a bad rap over the centuries. You can’t be there for others unless you have first taken care of yourself. With a coach, you’ll learn how to be selfish and get your own needs met, yet still respond appropriately to the needs of others.

3. Discover energy you didn’t know you had.
When you’re happy, fulfilled, taking care of yourself, in tune with what you want your life to be and able to deal with problems and stressors as they come up, you’re going to feel – and look – better.

4. Live a rich, full, abundant life.
You’ll learn how to bring abundance into your life. You’ll learn that you can always reach for more of what life has to offer because you deserve it. There’s an old saying, “If more is enough, then too much is just right.” Your life will be abundant and you’ll attract more and more good things for yourself.

5. Make smarter decisions for yourself and your business or career.
Sharing ideas with a coach who respects and listens, yet won’t let you wiggle out of the hard work, will help you make clear, focused decisions. A coach has no bias or personal agenda, so you will get an honest, straightforward viewpoint.

6. Get a handle on your money once and for all.
Almost everyone has money issues. No matter what, you have to have it and you probably think you never have enough. Truth: you have more money than you think you do and a coach can help you find it and keep it.

Joan Schramm is a career, executive and personal coach with twenty years experience in management, training and coaching. Joan can work with you to figure out exactly what you want from your life and your career, and how to get there without a lot of detours.

For more information about Joan, or to talk about what’s going on in your career, e-mail coach@achieve-momentum.com, or go to http://www.achieve-momentum.com - Sign up for a free monthly newsletter, “Angular Momentum” and take a free Job Satisfaction Assessment. Check out my bog at http://www.blog.achieve-momentum.com.

Not long ago, I traveled back east to Ohio and Chicago. While I was there, I was amazed that the friends I made along my journey seemed to have completely different observations of the state in which they lived.

For example, when I asked what the winters were like in their town, I got completely opposite answers from people, depending on where they originally lived. When I asked the question of a former Californian, she talked as if she’d landed in Siberia, recounting the snowfall and treacherous conditions meant for only the wildest of beasts. When I asked the same question of a native resident, he painted a beautiful picture of the changing seasons, each more spectacular than the last, and recounted wonderful memories of having the fortune to grow up in such a picturesque land.

What’s the difference here?

Their perception dictated their experience.

It’s like the old stories about a bank robbery. The event could take place in broad daylight, with 30 eyewitnesses, yet each gives a completely different account of what he or she saw happen. It’s like when someone in your office or home says something to you, and you receive a different message than the person intended.

Why does this happen?

I believe it’s because

Our perception determines our experience.

It works like this. I bet at one time or another we’ve all gone into a grocery store and noticed that everyone seemed happy, helpful, and cheery that day. Even the people in the checkout line were full of good spirits. Yet, when we’ve gone another day, we’ve had a completely different experience. We found people to be grumpy and in a bad mood—every one of them.

I believe we view our outside world the same way we see ourselves in our inside world. That’s why many people continually attract drama into their lives while others do not, or why some people get into fights all the time while others refuse to let the same situation get the best of them.

If this is true, it explains a lot. It could be why, when we feel out of place and chaotic on the inside, we tend to attract more chaos and drama to our outside self. If we feel anger and resentment on the inside, we will, in turn, attract it to our outer world as well.

With that said, let me ask you the following question:

How’s your outside world looking lately? Are the people around you happy and productive? Are they full of life and passion, or do you find yourself in your own little tornado that seems to constantly bring nothing but negative energy your way? In other words, does it seem like everyone around you has problems and can never catch a so-called break?

Remember, in life you have choices. You have the choice to work on your inner self, to create a brighter outer self. Have you ever seen someone who’s lost some weight and noticed that they seem to have a new glow? Or looked into someone’s eyes just after their first child was born? There’s a spark there, right?

Well, here’s the good news. You have the ability to re-spark yourself.

Here’s this month’s challenge: Take notice.

That’s it. I’m not asking you to do anything but become aware of how you’re viewing things around you.

By doing so, you’ll find that when you’re at your happiest, everyone else around you will be as well. On the flip side, if you want to know why the world seems to be crashing in on you, look inside and see what’s out of place, and then take action to repair it.

It’s that simple.

Because when it’s all said and done,

Our perception determines our experience.

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You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated - send to: GregReid@AlwaysGood.com

About The Author

Gregory Scott Reid
Speaker and two-time #1 best-selling author, The Millionaire Mentor and Wake Up: Live the Life You Love www.AlwaysGood.com

The key to making time for art is the ability to say “NO”.

If you say “yes” to everything that is asked of you, you will not
have time to be creative. And it is so easy to say “yes” to all
kinds of things and so hard to say “no”. It is hard to say “no”
to immediate family, extended family, demands of friends,
organizations, messy houses, cluttered basements–the list
is endless.

Making art takes lots of time. It not only takes a great deal of
time to do whatever it is you are creating, but it also takes a
great deal time for what most people would consider “down
time”. Artistic down time is a foreign concept to people who
are not artists. Our society values busyness over artistic
incubation, but you cannot create art without it.

You will feel immensely guilty saying to yourself that your art
is more important than time spent with a certain friend,
organization or clearing out that large dust bunny that is
appearing under your bed! But ask yourself, if there was
something really crucial, wouldn’t you slash everything that
was unessential in your life to take care of it. The answer is
yes. Do the same thing with your art.

Learning how to say “no” takes practice. You may want to
communicate to your nearest and dearest your new priority,
so they won’t feel emotionally abandoned. From time to
time you will get sucked into situations and events; and it
takes a great deal of effort to find a balance between
creating art and also having a meaningful life outside of that
endeavor.

But remember, “no” is a complete sentence. It will take
everyone some time to adjust to your new way of living.
There may be a lot of grumbling from a lot of people, but if
creating art is really important to you, let them grumble
away. You’ll find out who your friends really are. The ones
that really care about you will want what’s important for
you–to create art!

© Mary Baker 2005

Mary Baker is a contemporary realist painter, whose studio
is in Newburyport, Massachusetts. This New England city,
north of Boston, has been the inspiration for the artist’s
realistic oil paintings. Mary Baker is a professional artist and
has shown in New York art galleries.

You can visit Mary at her website, Mary Baker Art, http://www.marybakera
rt.com , see her beautiful paintings and read her
commentary on a variety of subjects concerning art,
including Why Buy Original Art and Art, Artists and the
Web–Why Every Artist Should Have Their Own Website.

Seeking improved performance at work? Wishing you could finally achieve your sports-related goals? Merely looking for a way to get more out of everything you do? What follows are five basic skills (basic in that all top achievers know these skills and apply them in some form on a weekly basis) that will dramatically improve your performance.

1. Visualization

Some people are more “visual learners” than others, but most everybody can benefit from the utilization of applied visualization in their lives. It is important to understand, though, that visualization is NOT the same as daydreaming. Think of visualization as power daydreaming. The results you get from the two activities are drastically different, though their process may be similar. The four keys to visualization are:

A. Use all your senses- the more senses you bring in to your visualization experiences, the more “real” it becomes for your brain. Remember-the brain seeks to make the “outside” or external reality congruent with the “inside” reality. Make that inside reality one that is vivid.

B. Be clear- make certain your outcomes are clearly set in your visualization. Do you succeed? By how much? How well do you perform?

C. Be positive (in your outcomes)-this might seem like a no-brainer, but it is important to make certain that your visualization is always positive with regards to tone and outcome.

D. Do it often!-as it has been said, repetition is the mother of skill. The more you do something the right way, the better you become at it.

2. Goal Setting

Most people subscribe to a well-known method for setting goals: Choose a goal, and make a daily to-do list towards attainment of that goal. Don’t do this. Most people fail in their goal setting for that very reason. Why? Life gets in the way! Daily tasks, crises, emergencies, etc. steal our time and leave nothing for achievement of our ambitions. Some ways to improve your goal setting abilities include:

A. Make certain your goals are in line with your dreams

B. Make sure that your goals inspire you (the “get-out-of-bed-early” test)

C. Invoke specific strategy (what you want to do) and planning (how you will do it)

D. Get your priorities straight, and get them on your schedule. Get them done first, before anything else.

E. Do these things on a weekly, not daily, basis.

3. Focus and Concentration

What is the difference between focus and concentration? I define focus in broad, behavioral terms. Focus is the center of our life interests and activities). Concentration is more narrow, and deals with cognition. It is the directed attention of mental activities toward a single point of reference.

So how can this help you? Understand that success requires a broad focus on a goal (outcome) with subsequent narrow attention to it’s attainment as time progresses. Geology, for example, teaches us great lessons about focus and concentration. Geology is merely the study of pressure and time. Given enough time and specific factors (focus), various geological formations are formed. Learn what geologists know: To achieve your goals, you will need to have a goal, and stay flexible in your approaches toward that end. Utilize concentration when specific instances occur in your life that will lead you closer to your goal.

4. Mental Toughness

Mental toughness is not what you think it is. Mental toughness is simple to define and difficult to execute (or everybody would be tough). Here are the keys:

A. Resiliency (the ability to bounce back)

B. Optimism (the ability to see the good in situations and events)

C. Proactive (the ability to act upon your environment)

Resiliency is important because everybody fails. The higher up you go in life, the more chances you will have had to fail. What is important, however, is how you respond to life’s inevitable obstacles and potholes. Optimism is simply a better choice than pessimism, as it leads to hope rather than despair. There is always a positive lean on a situation if you are willing to look hard and long enough. Finally, being proactive puts you in the driver’s seat to achieving your goals, as you are not at the mercy of your environment. Act or be acted upon.

5. Perspective

Perspective is the key to mental health. It allows for proper life balance, and allows for simultaneous realism and optimism. To get a better sense of perspective, realize that there are only three things in life that you can truly control: Your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Focus your energy on those three things. Monitor what you allow yourself to think about and focus on. Doing so will allow you to gain true perspective, which is always grounded in reality, but hints of better things to come.

Copyright (2005) Leif H. Smith. All Rights Reserved.

Performance expert Leif H. Smith, Psy.D, is the president of Personal Best Consulting, a consulting firm located in Hilliard, Ohio. To learn more tips and techniques to immediately improve performance in your life and to sign up for his FREE monthly advice newsletter, visit http://www.personalbestconsulting.com