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December 2012 Perspective

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2012 has been quite a year!  I have been blessed in business and personally in so many ways.  As I reflect on the year I have learned so many lessons from my successes, challenges and failures.  I will share with you the highlight learnings in hopes that they inspire you to take an inventory of your own learnings as well as learn from mine – no sense in reinventing the wheel 🙂

Lesson 1 – Energy is everything in being a successful entrepreneur!  Managing physical, emotional and mental energy allows me to be more effective, more connected, successful and have more fun 🙂

Lesson 2 – Personal Foundation holds my success structure.  Having a solid foundation in my relationship, physical environment, financial and health supports my ability to achieve success with more joy and less effort.

Lesson 3 – Values are my compass.  Allowing my values to be the basis for every single decision I make leads me to quick and easy decision making with confidence and surety.

Lesson 4 – Metrics are more than just tracking.  Measuring the critical areas of my business not only allows me to know where I am at and how to move forward more successfully, it provides me confidence in my abilities as a business owner and coach.

Lesson 5 – Down time is critical.  I don’t just mean taking a week vacation.  I mean taking a 10 minute break to regroup, refocus and realign with purpose or each activity

Lesson 6 – Knowing is only  small part of the battle.  The bulk of the battle is in managing energy, mindset, and taking action!

Lesson 7  – Accurate and inspiring messaging is more important than being an expert in your craft.  Even if you are the top expert in your field, if your audience doesn’t know that you are, how you are and why you are, being the expert is useless.

Lesson 8 – Your set of personal traits IS the Unique Selling Proposition (USP).  With the exception of the advanced technology and medical research fields, most things have been done before or are being done by someone else right now.  What differentiates you from the rest are your Unique Personal Traits (UPT).

Lesson 9 – Community is place where purpose is born.  We all have a purpose and if we really dig down to the core of it, we find that it is about serving our fellow man.  Serving in our immediate and extended communities are why each of us are on this planet.

Lesson 10 – Relationships are the glue that holds it all together.

Each of these lessons have inspired me to provide better coaching programs & workshops and serve my clients, friends and family in a more rich and powerful way.    Here’s to a prosperous 2013 filled with much joy, love and success!!

 

4 Keys to Effective Goal Getting

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As a business coach I get to work with business owners and corporate professionals in setting and reaching their goals.  I am lucky to get to be the person to help them design and live the life and business they love and effective goal setting is the foundation for our work.

Here are the 4 keys that I have found most helpful for myself and my clients.

KEY #1 – Utilize the S.M.A.R.T goal setting method
Specific – Goals should be specific and allow you to stretch and the description should be simple enough to quickly inspire you on a daily basis.

Measurable – You will want to be able to measure your success once you reach the goal as well as every step of the way.

Attainable – As mentioned above, you will want to stretch into your goal, AND you will want to make sure you are able to reach your goal.  This goal is to be inspired and a little scared.

Relevant – Goals must relevant, closely connected to experience that you want for your business or personal life NOW.

Time Bound – Goals are short term (2 weeks, 6 months, 1 year).  Anything longer than that and it might as well be a strategic plan or vision which requires a different approach.

KEY #2 – Get an Accountability Partner or three  Every person I have ever known benefits from being held accountable – EVERY PERSON!  Accountability partners can be a peer that you check in with, a supervisor who meets with you on your goals frequently or a coach who meets with you weekly.  The point is having others that will help you stay focused and on track.

In the workshops I hold, I ask participants to have three types of accountability partners:

  1. The objective partner – Someone who will look at the facts and just the facts of if you took action and kept your word.  No judgement, just pointing out the facts.  This person may not know you as well as others and will will not be invested, emotionally or otherwise, in your results.
  2. The cheerleader – This is someone who will celebrate the wins in a BIG way.  They “woo hoo”, send cards, do a victory dance and/or anything else that helps you feel confident in your awesomeness.
  3. The collaborative partner – This person is the one who helps you not only keep focused on the goal but also the life that you are creating with the goal.  They help you see the forest for the trees, strategize course correction when needed, and support you in working through the lessons and challenges more effectively.

KEY # 3 – Create an action plan  Taking action is what actually gets you to your goal.  Most people will have an action plan (do step A, then step B, and then step C).  That is pretty straight forward.  Many people also have have a general contingency plan that takes into account foreseeable circumstances – if vendor A backs out, we go to vendor B.  But very few people have what I call the “when life happens” plan.  You know, the when you get sick, or when your computer breaks, or when you get to attend your kids 4 hr event because they won an award plan.

KEY #4 – BE the person who accomplishes great things!  This is self explanatory and in my opinion is THE single most important key to getting to the finish line of your goals!

To learn more about the upcoming Goal Getting Mastermind Program, click here.

imaginibbles

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Have you ever thought of yourself as having a good imagination? What about as innovative? For me, I can honestly say I have never thought of myself in that light…until I met Tamara Kleinberg. I had the good fortune to have coffee with Tamara and as warm and funny as she is, she is also in constant curiosity about what’s possible. Our conversation lead me to the conclusion that I really do have a good imagination and have been innovative many times in my life. Thank you Tamara!!

Tamara G. Kleinberg is the founder and chief imaginator of imaginibbles, an organization dedicated to helping people and organizations think sideways and ignite disruptive ideas. As author of Think Sideways: a game-changing playbook for disruptive thinking, Tamara travels the globe speaking for leaders and organizations looking to ignite innovation, provoke new ideas and harness the power of the entrepreneurial spirit. She is also the creator and host of the internationally watched web show imagi-NATION®: disruptive innovators road tour.

For the past 18 years, Tamara has advised companies such as Procter and Gamble, General Mills, Clorox, WhiteWave Foods and IBM on fostering innovative ideas and people.

And if the above hasn’t sparked your interest enough, what about participating in an “Idea Jam”?  It’s an “action packed collaborative program where you bring the burning questions and we’ll collide it with other entrepreneurial minds, invention ideation techniques, and a wealth of experience and expertise” that you won’t want to miss.

Find out more here

A few Coaching Questions for Success in Business & Life

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Last weekend I took my daughter to see Rise of the Guardians.  It was a wonderful holiday movie and just happened to be full, and I mean FULL of incredible coachy insights and lessons.

I won’t spoil it but here are a few of the things I picked up from the movie

  1. Replace your fear with wonder and light
  2. Your deepest fear is when you realize you are chosen for something specific
  3. The most joyous time is when we have the experience of being seen, heard and understood for who we are at our center
  4. Your dreams are what allows your light to shine
  5. There will always be fear but as long as you believe the fear can be overcome

I found coaching at a time when I was truly searching for my calling.  I was desperate to know that I was indeed chosen for something more than the field of engineering which I wasn’t passionate about at all.  I wanted to be one of those people who was doing what they knew they were “supposed” to do. Well indeed I found my center, my calling and my passion.

Since I started my coaching practice, there has been fear, there has been joy, there has been doubt and there has been belief.  There has also been so much growth and learning not only about my calling but also about my past and how it has served me well.  This movie brought it all to light and I am grateful to have been gifted this additional insight through this movie.

So let’s bring the insights of the movie to you.  What do each of the learnings above mean to you?  How do they apply to your business, to your life?  If I were to call you today, and I just might 😉 and ask you what are you called to do with your life right now, what would you say?

We are almost in December and it is a great time of reflecting but an even better time to do the things that will help you finish the year meeting your goals.  Here are a few coaching questions that will support you in doing so.

Coaching questions:

  • What are the things (fears, thoughts or mindset) that hold you back from reaching your goals?
  • What is the specific thing you are “chosen for” to act upon today, this week, this month?
  • What dreams need to be realized now so that your light can shine?
  • Who do you need to “be” in order to accomplish all that you set out to this year?

As always, I would love to connect with you via email, FB or phone with how these questions help you keep the momentum to success.

Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott

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A few years ago, a friend recommended the book Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott.  The recommendation was due to the challenging situation I was in with a supervisor but applied to all areas of my life.

I have never been one to successfully hide my feelings or opinions about something but having a “fierce conversation” is more than just speaking up, it is about speaking with intention and  effectiveness.  There are ways to have fierce conversations so that everyone feels heard, appreciated and respected, no matter what the outcome.

Fierce Conversations includes practical application shared via multiple stories.  The book includes reflections, assignments and refreshers so that the information can be fully integrated.  It is, what I like to call, a “coachy book”  and provides you with content and application you can really use.

Fierce Conversations can be purchased at amazon.com or your local book seller.