Do I Like Who I Am . . .

Before we get to today's message, I just wanted to announce that The Current Realgoalgetter Ezine is now posted online. It's got some pretty good stuff in there, but then again I am a little biased . . . LOL! Now over to today's topic.

Do I Like Who I am When I'm There?
By John Carvana

It’s about being authentic. It’s about being true to oneself about oneself regardless of where you are, who you’re with or what’s going on around you. It’s about setting a standard for yourself that being who you really and truly are is a non-negotiable, inflexible, unwavering condition in your life. Authenticity! As the younger generation would say, “It’s about keeping it real”. In this case you are it!

But why is being authentic so important one might ask. As a baby-boomer, my father and my grandfather clearly did not indulge in such reflection. They were too busy defining themselves through their work and doing what men do. Why has the idea of being authentic become so important now?

Well, being authentic has always been essential even prior to my grandfather’s time. However, due to continually improving technology, mounting economic shifts, and their impact on redefining male - female roles and relationships in the workplace and in the community, being authentic for most people is a practice frequently left undone.

What may have seemed like time wasted activity has become essential to defining one’s sense of behavior, ethics and identity.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~ Judy Garland

The first step in this process is the hardest part. It involves taking an honest assessment of who you are at this very moment. Right now! There’s no need to delve once again in the past. The past has passed and there is very little you can do about it other than to either ignore it, repeat it or learn from it. HINT: choose the latter! What’s done is done and it cannot be changed. But you can, if necessary, redirect your present and redefine your future.

Begin by asking yourself these basic questions:
-“What do I want?”
-“What do I value?”
-“Am I getting what I want? If not, what’s stopping me?”
-“Am I ready, willing and able to change to get what I want?”

The trick here is you have to be absolutely honest with yourself about yourself. If you are unable at this time to be completely honest then chances are you are experiencing a sense of separateness and isolation within you that will manifest itself as stress, confusion, anger and, essentially, fear.

Why? Because you are not being who you really are. You have surrendered / submerged / sacrificed your essence (your “Who”) and that is what is preventing you from being authentic. You are, in reality, living life by default and not by your own design or in accordance with the intentions that your Creator has for you.

"I am only one, but I am still one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do." - Helen Keller

Are you living your purpose? Do you know what your purpose is? Or are you too busy going through life to take time out to be who you really are and to define what you truly want and deserve? You can make a choice to live by design…your design…or by default. Contact me if you want support achieving more.

John P. Carvana has almost thirty years experience in the field as a career service practitioner and is the founder of Level Playing Field (LPF) Consulting. He is certified as a Career and life Purpose Coach with an added background in organizational training and development. His niche includes motivated individuals over thirty years of age who are in either a career or life transition. John’s specialty is to lessen the gap between where the client is and where they want to be. He has helped hundreds of clients achieve their goals.

A dynamic speaker, John addresses local, regional and national audiences on topics intended to improve their personal and professional development. To learn more about his coaching services, or to schedule John for a speaking engagement, call 209.479.2165 or click http://www.discoveredpurpose.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Carvana

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Where Is Your Vision Hiding?

This article by Catherine Franz really describes how a vision for your life may be knocking on the door of your mind and how important it is to listen when it does.

It hit me just right when I read it the second time, I love to hear about someone's personal life journey. This is real stuff and it is nice to know that we are all in the same boat! We all look calm on the outside but many of us have furious currents at work under the surface.

What potential message are you receiving that you dismiss before really investigating what the message is telling you. Our visions do not always come to us ready made and crystal clear.

Sometimes we have to interpret our mind's work, I mean really think about what our sixth sense may be saying to us. Sometimes it takes weeks if not months to clarify what is the right road for us.

Take some time this weekend to listen to your mind's work. Stop and record possible significant directions or hints of a more joyful, passionate future. Here's the article.

Embrace Your Overall Vision: It May Be Hiding in the Strangest Places By Catherine Franz

Thinking back on it, my lifestyle change journey really began about eight years ago. But I didn't become aware of it until about three years ago when I consciously decided I needed to lead a "lighter" life and started by cleaning out the medicine cabinet.

It seems so simple now, but it took three months before I could let go of the contents of that 14 x 16 inch space. Every time I went in that cabinet, a more honest assessment yielded more trash. Soon it became easier to be honest about the clutter of my life, at least the old stuff.

Memory stuff was not so easy -- things my parents gave me, my ex- husband, old boyfriends, friends -- I'm sure you get the picture. Of course, the kids' stuff was the hardest. But practice does make perfect, and in time I was able to make hard choices about what was really important to me.

Slowly but steadily over the next three years I conquered the rest of my house -- purging and cleaning every corner, cabinet and room.

Happy with what I'd accomplished, by fall of 2005 I was ready to focus on other life shifting goals. It was as if cleaning out the medicine cabinet and the rest of the house was the catalyst for other, bigger changes.

And the messages to make changes were all around me. Early in November 2005, I started hearing them. "It's time to really shift." I heard Dr. Phil, television's well-known therapist, say whenever I clicked on his show.

I didn't watch him very often but when my intuition said tape it or turn on the tube, I did, and there was the same message, "If it isn't working for you, change it." The timing was always impeccable. Of course, he expressed the message in different words.

But even with these coincidences, I heard the bold words but didn't take any action. Then the messages started bombarding me. Small, soft, large and loud. They kept coming. In early December, while in a meditative state, I heard it.

This time very clearly, very direct AND very, very loud, and firm. "Its time to really commit and get bold. Its time to reinvent yourself, Catherine."

All I could do was give a throat chuckle. The message scared the heebie jeebies out of me. Over the space of the week my feelings transitioned into, "Okay, I'm open, what do you mean by that?" I asked even though I had a good idea what it meant. The vision of selling everything and changing my environment to be much lighter, more Zen-like.

I've needed to lose a lot of weight (that was always a goal). But this time it was different, it wasn't the weight at all. It was, "Get healthy. There's a lot in store for you, and you need to be healthy in order to get there."

The picture got clearer as each week progressed. Key items appeared, I got nervous, questioned it, mulled over it, ran and tried to hide for a few hours from it, shared my doubts with my best friend, Brenda. The doubts faded but my lack of trust in myself didn't totally go away. I kept wanting all the answers. I want to know exactly what I was to do and how to do it.

The New Year is here now and I know what I need to do, although I still have no clue of what it all means. The thoughts of measuring up to the vision is still a little nerve wracking. Doubts come and go but only when I really don't want to eat healthy or exercise.

One step, now, is all I can focus on. Eat healthy now. Exercise now. Sell one piece of furniture now. Its replacement will come. I know all will come at the right time. And I think that is the only thing that keeps me in the "now" of working towards wherever this "reinventing Catherine" message is leading me.

I hold on to the vision that has been there for the last few months as I really like its picture. Yesterday, I spent some time working on my 2006 Attraction Board. It had been in the works since early November but the pictures weren't clear. Yesterday, while in the craft store things began to mesh.

This week I plan on test-driving new cars, deciding on which one I like, and placing its picture on my Attraction Board so that the universal laws will bring it to me.

When messages come of steps that you want to take, allow yourself to go through the emotions, but don't get stuck in the feelings. Keep the door open because the message you receive may only be a partial picture.

If you block it because it seems too big or impossible or unimportant, then the next message, the one that explains it or gives it additional clarity, won't get through to you. Even profound decisions often mask themselves as many simple choices -- like cleaning out a medicine cabinet -- and only take a few moments to make.

So be ready. Keep the doors open to the possibilities and listen -- messages can come from the strangest places -- a television program, a child, a piece of music, a memory or your own behavior. It really isn't difficult. It is a decision though. It is a choice.

(c) Copyright 2006, Catherine Franz. All rights reserved.

Catherine Franz, is a syndicated columnist, author, radio host, International speaker, and master business coach. http://www.abundancecenter.com

Win-Win, Is It All It Is Cracked Up To Be?

I was rereading an article by Josh Hinds that I especially liked and had printed out. I really try to live my life practicing this principle.

Look For The Win, Win!
Josh Hinds, Copyright 2005

Always be on the lookout for the win, win in all endeavors - I'm absolutely convinced that if we look hard enough at any given situation we can identify a win, win result in it. So what's the big deal about looking for the "win, win" you ask?

Admittedly, I know a lot of people (some are personal friends of mine) that go day to day in their business dealings (and personal lives for that matter) looking for opportunities that only benefit themselves directly.

Now I am not saying there's necessarily anything wrong with this. Even so, I can't help but imagine that their personal level of success would multiply if they only took the extra time to explore ways to ensure that the opportunity was equally beneficial to all parties involved.

There's something magical about focusing on win, win scenarios. When we're fortunate enough to develop ourselves to the point where we are always looking for these types of opportunities it's as if they come out of the woodwork :-) The fact is people like to deal with those that don't have the "what's in it for me attitude", wouldn't you agree?

Believe me, I'll be the first to admit that there are plenty of people who have done very well for themselves without adhering to the win, win approach. However, I wonder if one might really consider them successful?

Keep in mind that success has so many facets to it. Just because someone has attained material wealth for instance does not make him or her successful nor non-successful.

It is all in the eye of the beholder I guess you might say. For me personally, I measure my level of success by how much I can give back to others -- and that's worth thinking about.

To your success, Josh Hinds :-)

(c) All rights reserved.

Josh Hinds specializes in helping people set and achieve their goals and live the life of their dreams. For expert advice on goal setting visit http://GoalsSuccess.com now!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com

Another Way To Get Things Done Faster - Modeling or Mentorships

I was thinking about my blog post earlier and thought of another way I get things done perhaps with a simpler and faster strategy. I'll share it with you here, but it is not new information, many use this strategy to speed their journey to their goals. I think Tony Robbins was one of the first to popularize modeling and mentoring for me.

I follow the expert's advice about going to those who had more experience in what I want to do and ask for help. You would be surprised how many people will help you if you would just reach out to them.

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Are you lost as to what to do next? Have you plateaued? Want to get to your goals faster? Save time and energy by modeling other successful people who have gone before you. Ask yourself some empowering questions.

Who is already getting or who has already achieved the results I want? Who can be my hero? What are they doing or What have they done that I can model. How can I interview them, How Can I get access to how they did it, and what do I need to do right now to secure this information from them?

Do I know them? If I don't know them, how can I meet them? How can I get together with them? How can I get to know them? What value can I provide to them so this can be a win-win situation for all involved? Have they documented their journey so I can study their thought processes somehow?

Find books, audio tapes, CD's, or videos of people who have been successful with the goal you want. Immerse yourself in the details of how they overcome every obstacle that presented itself to them for solution. Focus on solutions instead of problems.

Learn what others have done before you. Most of the time, this gives us shortcuts to our goals. Model their thinking and how they approached the goal, and you will always have the road to your goal laid out before you.

Read their map, make your plan, and follow your heart.

See you next time.

Al Smith

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A Simple Goal Setting Strategy - Keep Your Fingers On The Pulse Of Your Life

Well, September is here already and the first eight months of 2007 are now history.

How is your history reading? How are your goals coming for this year? Are you where you wanted to be by this time? At the end of September, nine months into this year, three quarters of 2007 in the past, how will you be doing?

It is time again to analyze what you've done and what you haven't, to see where you need to adjust your strategies to win your prize. There is still plenty of time to pack in some concentrated effort to get you where you want to be by the end of this year.

Some of my goals are right on track and some are not. After taking a hard look at what I want, I will not pursue the ones which no longer make sense to me. At the same time, I will recommit and intensify my efforts to those that are. And I have added some to my list.

It is the same every year. Once you start on the path, and you are actually in the fight, there are some things that stand out as incongruent with your higher purpose. I do not beat myself up over it. I just adjust and move onward to more of the right things.

This is simple goal setting strategy at work. Plan, organize, execute, followup and adjust as necessary to happily achieve what's important and fulfilling to you. Always moving inexorably towards your major focus. Follow your life's purpose at all times and you will joyfully travel your challenge strewn path through life.

Embrace the challenges. They will make up some of your best memories and give you some of the best stories to tell after you successfully negotiate them. This I know to be absolutely true.

I hope that you are getting the results that you want. You never know how close you are to the prize until you look up and see it right in front of you.

Recommit to those goals that are still important to you, and redouble your efforts. Discard those goals that don't make sense anymore and focus on where you want to be at the end of this year. We don't want to get emotional over what we need to get rid of in order to clear and concentrate our energies.

As always, Go For It!

Al

Getting Emotional Is Key To Getting Results!

First, I just wanted to point out a great article post over at The NLP Weekly Website about "Conditioning Yourself" for maximum effectiveness during sometimes difficult habit changes. Check it out, there is some good info there. And on another blog to go along with that post, Steve Pavlina makes a good case for the use of Overwhelming Force to create results.

Next, I loved the quote in our article today about how powerful emotions add to the effectiveness of your goal setting program. When I was younger, I had a lot of trouble setting proper goals because I couldn't decide which goal to commit myself to. As if I wouldn't be able to change once I commited myself to a certain direction . . .

Anyway the quote to which I am refering is "Focus less energy on setting the perfect goal and spend more time preparing yourself for ultimate success."

I certainly could have used this information earlier! (or maybe I wasn't quite ready to see it's importance back then)

Top goal achievers all agree on one thing. We must get very emotional about our goals or we are wasting our time setting them. How emotional are you about your present goals?

Do they really move you to action, or are they leaving you stagnant? Are you excited about your life? If not you have some work to do in this area.

This is an awesome article today from an expert who knows and practices his stuff. Make some notes about how you can start to apply this in your goals program today.

Emotions are tremendously powerful when it comes to getting ourselves to take action.

Just something to think about today. Enjoy!

Going Beyond Goal Setting
By Kevin Eikenberry

I just Googled the phrase “goal setting”, and found approximately 3,600,000 web pages that relate in some way to that phrase. This shouldn’t surprise us, because conventional wisdom is that goal setting is an important skill.

It is easy to document both through anecdotal evidence as well as through research that setting goals can help us achieve more. There are hundreds of books, tapes, speeches, workshops, and websites that will provide us with tools and processes to set goals.

One would think for something as important as goal setting, with as many tools as there are available, that everyone would be a goal setter. This however isn’t the case.

While I could fill a book with the reasons why, there is one that is very important.

People don’t set goals now because they didn’t achieve the ones they set in the past.

They’ve followed the goal setting process they learned or read about, but the seminar or book stopped at the wrong time. The seminar stopped with the setting of the goal. That is like ending the game after the first play, then going to sit on the sidelines, while the goal is out on the playing field.

My advice to you, if you can identify with what you’ve just read is to stop worrying about goal setting. And start focusing on goal achieving.

In other words, stop worrying about which goal setting model to use, or which software to track your progress with. Stop making the goal setting process the focus, and start putting the focus on goal achievement.

Here are three things you can do to put our focus on goal achievement and drastically increase your success:

1. Get sick and tired. It is often said that people really begin to reach new health goals when they become “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” Achieving a goal means that you want something different than you have now.

To build your ongoing and sustaining drive to achieve the new item, knowledge or situation, you must become disgusted and dissatisfied with the current situation. This doesn’t mean that you should become bitter or grumpy.

Rather it means to develop a healthy dissatisfaction with the way things are now (current profitability, the cycle time for new product development, or your inability to find a bathroom in Brazil).

2. Get (and stay) excited about the result. To sustain the challenges, setbacks and disappointments along your way to goal achievement, you must have another motivation as well. You must really want the benefits that will come to you when the new goal is achieved.

Build a clear and compelling picture in your mind of what you will feel, sense, see, and believe once your goal has been achieved. Focus on the results you will gain from the goal, rather than just the goal itself. This is important because in the end this is what you are after, not “just” the goal itself.

As you work towards your goal, the goal might shift, but as long as the desired results remain clear, you have improved the likelihood of achieving the end result you desire.

3. Start a plan and get started. Notice I didn’t say to lay out a complete plan of all the steps between you and your goal. If your goal is of any size and importance at all, it will require many steps, and it will be very difficult/impossible to identify them with any degree of certainty at the start.

Too many people think they need the perfect plan. They delay starting so they can get the best information. They want to talk to one more expert, read one more book, examine two more options.

Get started already! Give yourself a clear idea of a general approach, and some clear first steps. Allow yourself the luxury of knowing that the next specific steps will become clear as you stay on the path.

Doing these three things will drastically increase your success in achieving any goal you set.

Actually, let me say it more strongly. Until you have these three factors going for you in large (although potentially varying) amounts, you won’t achieve the goals you set.

You will lose momentum. You will lose focus. You will lose hope. You won’t be able to overcome the first setback.

And you will fall into the convenient and comfortable thinking that goal setting “doesn’t work” for you or that you need a new tool, a new technique or a new guru to help you set “better” goals.

Whether you are setting goals for yourself, the team you lead or for your organization at large, take this advice to heart.

Focus less energy on setting the perfect goal and spend more time preparing yourself for ultimate success. Stop worrying about the resolution, and start focusing on the resolve that will be required to succeed.

Doing this will bring you greater success, less frustration and will help you and your organization move closer and closer to your potential.

By Kevin Eikenberry, Copyright All Rights Reserved

Kevin Eikenberry is a leadership expert and the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group (http://KevinEikenberry.com), a learning consulting company.

To receive a free Special Report on leadership that includes resources, ideas, and advice go to http://www.kevineikenberry.com/leadership.asp or call us at (317) 387-1424 or 888.LEARNER.