LIVE LIFE UP HIGH

photo credit: littledan77

When I was planning to write the introduction to this article I was reminded of a story about goals that I read in Mark McCormack’s book, “What They Don’t Teach you At Harvard Business School“. This story is so relevant that I would like you to read it before you read the rest of this post (Read Goal Story).

Write S.M.A.R.T Goals
It is not enough for me to encourage you to write goals for your personal and professional life. I must encourage you to write S.M.A.R.T. goals. If your goals are S.M.A.R.T. you are more likely than not to achieve them. All your goals should meet each standard. If they don’t, they are more wishes than true goals.

Specific – Clarity in your goals is important. What specifically do you want to achieve?  Be specific.

Not good: I want to be rich.

Good: In 5 years I will have multiple profit streams that total $20,000 per month.

This latter example is clear and it gives you a specific target for which to aim.
 
Measurable –  Your goals also need to be measurable. They need to be measurable for two reasons: (1) You need to know when you have achieved the goal; (2) You need to know if you are making progress towards your goal.  

Example: I am writing a 150-page book on setting and achieving goals by December 22.

Attainable – I want to be careful with this one because people usually err on the side of not thinking big enough instead of thinking too big. Think big but to give yourself enough time to achieve the goal or break the goal down into manageable chunks. I know this is a little different from what some folks say but all the big achievers say it is important to think big. Don’t sell yourself short but at the same time don’t set your goals so big and your time period to achieve them so short that you become discouraged and quit.  As in most things balance is important.

Relevant- Make sure the goal is your goal. It should be relevant to you. This is where the why comes in. In his book called “ The Millionaire Real Estate Agent: It’s Not About the Money…It’s About Being the Best You Can Be!“, Gary Keller has a great section discussing the importance of your Big Why.  Here is an excerpt:
 

Above all else, we’ve discovered that one thing all high achievers have in common is they are working for a Big Why. The Big Why is about having a purpose, a mission, or a need, that in turn gives you focus. High achievers always have a Big Why powering their actions.

It is important to have a Big Why because it pulls you through the difficult times. Why are you setting these goals? Thinking about this also helps you identify your true desires. Your true desires are your allies.

It is also important that you determine that your goals are really your goals and not another person’s goals for you. Really think about this because you want to make sure you are living the life you want and not the life someone wants for you.

Time Sensitive – A goal must have a date of completion. Lack of a time constraint usually leads to procrastination and unrealized goals. In fact, you should think of each goal as a project.  It should have a definite start date and end date, as well as some measurable milestones along the way.

Other bite sized insights

Obstacles -When writing your goals you should also include any obstacles you think you may run into and think about how you will get around these obstacles. Don’t just think about external obstacles either. Think about things that you have done in the past that has kept you from achieving your goals. How can you overcome these obstacles this time?

The beliefs behind the goals – Your beliefs may keep you from achieving your goals. This can cause you to sabatage yourself. Take a look inside and see if you really believe you can and should reach this goal. If not, then determine why and eliminate this factor. Most times it is an irrational fear or lack of understanding that is holding you back.
 
Resources – It is wise to identify any resources you will need to meet your goal. Think about the people resources, financial resources and knowledge you will need to achieve this goal. Now don’t get discouraged or overwhelmed if all of the resources you need are not readily at hand when you write the goal.  There is something wonderful that happens when you, with persistent determination, go towards a positive goal. It seems that all heaven’s resources come to help you move forward.

I encourage you the write your S.M.A.R.T goals today.  As always I welcome your comments.

Click on the images below to get these resources.
 

photo credit: piccadillywilson

The Power of Choice
I know we ended our off last time discussing the power of choice but I think this point is so important that we need to delve into it a little deeper. Your power to choose is one of the most powerful God-given forces in the universe. You can choose to be rich or poor, a winner or a loser, a success or a failure, a giver or a robber, a person of accomplishment or a person of excuse. It is really all up to you. So before we start on this journey to your best business and professional life we must begin with the most powerful thing you can do. Choose.

Make Your Choice a Quality Choice
Most of us have experienced making a choice one day and then violating that choice the next day. What I am suggesting today is that you make a quality choice. A quality choice is one that is backed up with the commitment to do whatever it takes (without causing harm to others or yourself) to live up to the choice you have made.

Check out these 5 great quotes about choice

The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.
George Eliot

There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.
Denis Waitley

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
Kahlil Gibran

What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life.
Leo Buscaglia

You are the person who has to decide. Whether you’ll do it or toss it aside; you are the person who makes up your mind. Whether you’ll lead or will linger behind. Whether you’ll try for the goal that’s afar. Or just be contented to stay where you are.
Edgar A. Guest

Here are 12 powerful choices you can make
1. Choose to be the best version of yourself by God’s grace.
2. Choose to constantly increase.
3. Choose to be the best businessperson you can be.
4. Choose not to limit yourself.
5. Choose to be humble.
6. Choose to be a person of faith.
7. Choose to be a winner.
8. Choose to be prosperous.
9. Choose to be generous and loving to others.
10. Choose to discover and use your best gifts to help others.
11. Choose to discover and fulfill your destiny.
12. Choose to do no harm.

I encourage you to make a quality choice to live your best life today. As always I welcome your comments.

photo credit: nyki_m

In this final post discussing Dr. Caroline Leaf’s book, Who Switched off My Brain?: Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions, we will briefly describe the last three detox steps outlined in the book.

Detox Step 11 – Diet – Dr. Leaf suggests that you should never eat when you are angry or facing any other unpleasant emotions. Eating during those times can make your food toxic to you. Your toxic thoughts will interfere with the proper working of your digestive system. 

Another important point is that when you eat well you will properly feed your brain. Dr. Leaf explains that a major source of food for the brain is glucose. Of course, you need to eat this in the proper quantities.

Finally, it is important to think about what you eat. In the book Dr. Leaf mentions a few of the types of foods that help us think well and feel good.

Detox Step 12: The Spiritual aspect – In this section Dr. Leaf talks about the power of spiritual truth to deal with toxic emotions. The Christian faith is the guiding belief of her life and mine. I encourage you to live in your spiritual truth.

Detox Step 13: Relax – The “acceleration syndrome” is the cause of many mental, physical and emotional health problems. The key point here is to learn to spend your time wisely. You must focus on what is good for you and you must take time to relax.

We have reached the end of the steps to detox your thinking.  These last 3 detox steps are obvious and we hear them all the time, but sometimes as entrepreneurs we don’t do them. Make a decision today to begin using all the steps to detox your thinking and improve your life. 

As always I appreciate your comments.

Please click the image below to obtain this resource.

photo credit: nyki_m

In this post we continue our discussion of Dr. Caroline Leaf’s book Who Switched off My Brain?: Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions. We are specifically looking at the steps she recommends for detoxing your brain. In the previous post we discussed the first five detox steps. In this post we continue by briefly discussing steps 6-9.

Detox Step 6 – Think Forgiveness – Much has been written about the importance of forgiving yourself and others in order to acheive success. Dr. Leaf  joins these writers in expressing the power of forgiveness on your mind and body.  She says forgiveness is like taking an “emotional shower”. Forgiveness allows you to let go of toxic emotions and memories and build new and better memories. Make a decision to forgive and release those who have done you wrong in business and in life. This will add years to your life and life to your business.

Detox Step 7 – Love – Tune Into Your Heart -  Did you know that your heart considers and “thinks” about the information the brain sends to it. According to Dr. Leaf, the heart has a “mini-brain” that functions like a conscience.  She suggests that when you practice love and appreciation many of your internal systems are positively affected and help you live longer and healthier. The key thought here is to tune into your heart and practice love, kindness, gratitude and appreciation. These emotions help eliminate toxic thoughts. These emotions also help you to get more business and serve more customers.

Detox Step 8 – Monkey Hug- Therapy – Touch has long been touted as having a powerful affect on human beings (and others). Dr Leaf relates an interesting story in the book about a study conducted with baby monkeys. This study clearly shows the power of touch. It is a must read.  Caroline also mentions various studies that show that touch releases powerful chemicals from the brain that breaks negative feedback loops. The message: take time to hug and be hugged.

Detox Step 9- Play and Laugh – This one is self-explanatory. An interesting point here is that laughter releases feel-good chemicals that boost the immune system and does other great things in the body. To be a successful, well-rounded entrepreneur you must take time to play and laugh. Entrepreneurs by nature are driven to succeed. We must be reminded to take time and enjoy ourselves. Our lives depend on it. Consider this your reminder.

Check our Dr. Leaf’s book and as always I look forward to your comments.

Recommended Resource

Please Click On The Image Below To Order

photo credit: IRENNA&M (home)

In my last post we discussed Dr. Caroline Leaf’s book, Who Switched off My Brain?: Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions . In that post we discussed some of the dangers of toxic thinking. In the next three posts we will briefly discuss the 13 steps that Dr. Leaf suggests for detoxing your thought life. If you follow these steps, you will definitely think better, feel better and perform better. Ultimately, you will dramatically increase your level of success and the success of those around you.

Detox Step 1 – Consciously Control Your Thoughts – The key idea here is to pay attention to what you are thinking. Are you putting unrealistic expectations on yourself and others? Are you thinking fearfully? Do you have specific positive written goals that you are focusing on or are you just drifting through your day. Dr. Leaf suggests that you engage and analyze thoughts that enter your mind and make a conscious decision as to whether you want to accept or reject this thought.  Step 1 is an important step with several important sub-steps that you will want to read in the book.

Detox Step 2 – Frame Your World With Your Words – Most of us have heard that words have power. This is shockingly very true. As, Dr. Leaf explains, 

The words you speak feed back into the magic trees of the mind, reinforcing the memory they came from. When you make negative statements, you release negative chemicals. These lead to negative memories that grow stronger and become negative strongholds that control your attitude and life.

An important point here is that it is not just positive talking that is important, it is positive talk that is congruent to your positive thoughts that is important.

Detox Step 3 – Express those Emotions – The key here is not to deny what you feel. You need to express your emotions at an appropriate time, in an appropriate environment, in an appropriate way. When you repress your emotions you make yourself sick. Eventually these emotions will manifest themselves anyway and usually not in at an appropriate time or way.

Detox Step 4 – Take Responsibility and Take Control – In this step Dr. Leaf discusses the importance of being aware of what’s in your mind in terms of past experiences and conditioning. What are your memories and emotions? Once you are aware of these thought patterns you can begin to deal with bad memories by growing good ones. Also, be responsible enough to seek extra help (prayer, meditation and counseling) if you have long standing emotional strongholds.

Detox Step 5 – Dream On! – According to Dr. Leaf when you dream, important psychological and physiological processes happen in the body-mind connection. Because dreams give you clues as to what is happening in your thought life she suggests that you make a conscious effort to remember and record your dreams. Some experts believe that when you dream, the body can discuss its condition with your mind. The key is to decide to remember the dream.

I know many of my readers may be wondering what all of this has to do with entrepreneurship. I understand the hesitation but please remember proper thinking helps you to excel and take advantage of opportunities. Without proper thinking you will probably never fully realize your entrepreneurial potential.

As always I welcome your comments.

Recommended Resource

Please Click Book Image Below to Order.

photo credit: ooOJasonOoo

I recently read a very interesting book on toxic thinking and its affect on all aspects of our lives. I found the book so interesting and so relevant for the serious entrepreneur that I decided to share it with you today. 

Did you know that the average person has over 30,000 thoughts a day? Further, did you know that an uncontrolled thought life can create the conditions for illness in your body? Toxic thinking can actually make you sick and if you are sick you can’t properly achieve your entrepreneurial goals.

In her book, “Who Switched Off My Brain?”, Dr. Caroline Leaf  helps you understand the anatomy of a thought, how a thought grows, what happens when thoughts go toxic and how to detox your thinking. It was really amazing to me to see how many systems of the body are affected by a thought. It has made me more determined to manage my thought life and to make sure I keep it positive.

In her book Dr. Leaf gives an example of three negative and incorrect beliefs that lead to toxic thoughts and emotions:

1. I must do well.
2. You must treat me well.
3. The world must be easy.

It would seem that these are harmless thoughts but the truth is they create unrealistic expectations and when they are not met they put your mind and body in stress mode and cause all types of health and performance problems.

Please check out the book and let me know what you think. As always I look for your comments.

photo credit: Publicly Sc(∀)lped

Entrepreneurs, in this post I share with you an eye-opening article that I read in graduate school. This article helped me to be more aware of the reward systems that I was using in every area of my business life. I changed the way I interacted with my employees, peers and clients.  I hope this classic article (updated version) is as helpful for you as it has been for me and many other business people. Read, learn and enjoy.

Kerr, S. (1975). “On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B.” Academy of Management Journal, 18(4): 769-783.

photo credit: davitydave

Well, we have made it to deadly mistake number 6 in our discussion on the 7 deadly mistakes new entrepreneurs make and how to avoid them. I hope by this point you have learned how to avoid some of these mistakes based on the information I have supplied. Why repeat mistakes others have made if you can avoid them?

Deadly Mistake No. 6 – Not Placing a High Value on your Customers

Many entrepreneurs have been taught how important the customer is but few have really embraced this concept so that it permeates every aspect of their business. Valuing your customer goes beyond customer appreciation days and rebates. In order to value your customer you must take the time to get to know them and then design your business around them.

Many entrepreneurs start out with the customer at the heart of the business but somewhere along the line the customer becomes secondary. This is especially true of growing companies. The entrepreneur’s focus moves from the customer to building the business and dealing with internal issues. This is a hugely costly mistake. The customer must remain the main focus of the business if the business is to thrive.

Here are three simple keys to help you keep your customer front and center in your business:

1. Focus on your customer – As the leader of your business the customer must be your personal focus. Spend time thinking about your customer’s lifestyle. What do your top customers do for work? What do they do for recreation? What are their biggest problems?  You also need to know how your customer interacts with your product or service. Why do your top customers buy from you and not from your competitors?  How are your top customers’ needs changing? What is the biggest problem your customer is having using your product or service. Start thinking along these lines about your customer and you will help keep them front and center in your mind.

2. Build your systems around your customer – This is really self-explanatory. Any system you build in your business should be built only if it helps you serve your customer better. If it doesn’t help you serve your customer better it is not a good system for your business. Simple.

3. Teach your employees how to treat your customers- Your customers are gold to you and they must be gold to your employees. Make sure every employee knows the link between their jobs and how they treat every customer. They must understand that without the customer there is no business and therefore no job for them. It is your responsibility as the entrepreneur to communicate this message to your employees both orally and by example. You may also want to reward your employees for going the extra mile for your customer.

In the final post in this series we will discuss the 7th deadly mistake. As always I welcome your comments.

photo credit: hans.gerwitz

In part one of this post we discussed the fact that many entrepreneurs allow their past failures to hold them back. We discussed 3 bite-sized nuggets that entrepreneurs should consider to help them move past these failures on to success. 
In this post, we will introduce and discuss the four remaining nuggets.

Seek the advice of others who have gone before you – This is probably a step that many entrepreneurs skip. I think for many of us it is a pride thing.  However, it is imperative that we take this step my entrepreneurial friend. Seeking competent advice is very wise. You should seek advice on three levels:

1.Seek advice about whether you have properly defined the failure . Knowing how to properly describe and define the failure is key in determining the causes. It is also a key factor in ensuring you don’t have a repeat performance.

2. Seek advice about whether you have correctly identified the 1 or 2 key factors that led to the failure. It may be hard to be objective about what caused the failure. Discussing your list of possible key factors with a competent advisor can help you clearly identify the key contributing factors.

3. Seek advice about possible approaches to circumvent the failure in the future. This is very important if it turns out that your failure was due to an error in judgement. We all have blindspots in our lives that others see clearly. By seeking advice about solutions you will multiply the odds of succeeding this time around.

Create an action plan – After you have sought competent advice and combined it with the information you gleaned from your own analysis, it is time to create a plan for moving forward. Take your time and consider all the steps you need to take to move forward. A great action plan should include steps to take, deadlines for completion of each step, resources needed to complete each step, possible obstacles to completion and steps to circumvent any known obstacles.

Implement the action plan – There is no need to create an action plan if you are not going to put it into action. At this point, you need to commit to the action plan and get started. After each step, review your plan and see if you need to make any adjustments. Remember things change and we need to be flexible.

Review - After you have accomplished your goal it is important to review. You want to see what went right and what you can improve. The key is to understand the process so you can improve it and repeat it. 

When you face failure this way you will no longer fear it. You will eat failure for lunch. As always, I look forward to your comments.

photo credit: hans.gerwitz

Too many entrepreneurs allow their past failures to keep them from moving forward and pursuing new opportunities.  They tend to magnify these failures and allow these failures to hold them hostage. Don’t let this be you. In this post I give you 3 of the 7 bite sized nuggets to consider about your past failures and show you how to use these as stepping-stones to new opportunities.

Forgive yourself – It is amazing how hard we entrepreneurs can be on ourselves. When we make mistakes we often blame ourselves and then condemn ourselves to the entrepreneurial dungeon. To be truly successful as an entrepreneur you need to take responsibility for the mistake but don’t dwell on it and condemn yourself. You also shouldn’t blame others either. Even if they were a part of the reason you made the mistake, forgive them. Lack of forgiveness is a negative drain on your present and it sabotages your future.

Don’t allow fear to hold you hostage – Sometimes we are able to forgive ourselves but we are afraid to try again. We allow the fear of failing again to hold us back. It is imperative that we get past this stage. The key is to properly define failure. As entrepreneurs we must realize that to fail at something is just an event not a state of being. We are not failures because we have failed attempts. As a matter of fact, most successful entrepreneurs have had many failed attempts. They usually have many more failed attempts than the average entrepreneur. In order to move forward we must resolve to make another attempt using the information we gained from this event. 

Glean lessons from the failed attempt – As an entrepreneur it is important to measure and analyze. Think of yourself as a scientist when it comes to attempts. Look at the failed attempt objectively and determine what went wrong. Identify all of the contributing factors that went into this being a failed attempt and then prioritize the factors. You will probably find that one or two factors contributed to the failure considerably more than any other factor. Isolate these factors and do an analysis to see what you can do to make changes in this area.

In Part 2 of this series I will share with you 4 other nuggets. As always I look forward to your comments.