Since I’ve been coaching other entrepreneurs on building
their own successful, sustainable businesses, I’ve seen
this same syndrome dozens if not hundreds of times.
Sometimes it’s a question of, “Will I really be able to
handle the success?” or “If I am so abundant and
successful, then I’m taking away from others.” Of course,
neither of these is true. First,  you are always set up to
put systems in place that will embrace your growth rather
than stunt it and second, the more successful you are, then
the more success there is for others.  There is nothing
spiritual, kind, or gracious about holding yourself back
because when you do, you are actually holding others back
as well. When you hold back your gifts, you rob the world.
Your gifts are not for you alone. When you truly use your
talents to serve others, then you are truly living your
purpose and when you profit from this-even better; you have
more to give and the success cycle fuels itself. See?

Now that we have that straight, let’s go to the deeper form
of sabotage I’ve seen in others and myself: waiting for
someone else to do it for you. That same question of, “Who
do I think I am?” can be pretty sly and sneaky by fooling
us into believing we aren’t capable, which shows itself as,
“I don’t know enough,” or “If I do this and succeed, then
people will see that I’m actually capable and no one will
take care of me. I’ll always have to do everything by
myself.” Yikes. This is also cutting off your purpose and,
I can pretty much bet on it, stunting your profit.

This is what I call the Lana Turner myth. Lana Turner was
an incredible, academy award-winning actress who passed
away in 1995. The story is she skipped one of her high
school classes at Hollywood High and was then discovered by
a talent agent at the local drugstore as she sat there
sipping her soda and the rest is history. Now parts of this
story are true, but what’s also true is  no one is going to
come along and produce you (just hand you all of your
business success)! Now really ask yourself, would you
actually want that to happen? Where’s your opportunity to
become authentically powerful? The part of the Lana Turner
story that isn’t talked about is the energy she put into
her career to sustain and take care of it. It’s time for
you to produce yourself.

So what do you do?

If you really want to set your business up to shine;
however, find yourself looking to others to do it for you,
the first step I highly recommend is stop doing what you’ve
always done. That’s right. This is the golden rule. Invest
your resources in getting some major accountability around
moving out of your comfort zone (or as someone just
recently said to me, “the soup that has you stuck”) and you
will begin to connect with your own code of greatness.
Whatever belief you’ve had up until now will begin to shift
to what your true code is: magnificence. I have met many
entrepreneurs who have what they want for themselves in
their businesses; however, I’ve met hundreds who believe
they can’t and will spend a lot of time telling me why.
(Hint: it usually has to do with blaming something or
someone external instead of looking at what they could do
differently.) Instead, they believe they must settle, pay a
price, or try to figure out what the market wants. Start
focusing on producing the magnificence in you and the rest
(marketing, getting clients, etc.) will start to take care
of itself.

Call-to-Action:

Get honest with yourself. Are you waiting for someone else
to take care of your success?

Ask yourself, “What is my current business code?”

Now, what needs to happen for you to embrace that your true
code is one of magnificence? What would that look like? How
can you invest in yourself to support this?

Begin to be in your business what you are truly meant to
be. (Remember, when you shine, others are given permission
to do the same.)

—————————————————-
Heather Dominick, Solo-Entrepreneur Expert, has over 10
years of teaching and coaching experience. Heather’s
primary focus is in coaching entrepreneurs to identify
sources for increasing business profit and making
successful business changes. To sign up to receive your
free business building e-course go here now
http://www.energyrichcoach.com

If you’re anything like me, you’ve got a million goals,
plans and ideas and not enough time in the day to put a
dent in any of them. I may pick one or two of my ideas and
go gang busters working to get it going, and then another
fun thing comes along and I get excited and go gang busters
getting that one up and running.

There are a few downsides to this. The biggest being I am
in the middle of a bunch of really great projects that
aren’t done! It’s easy to see how this can happen next year
too with all of us excited about our New Year’s
resolutions. What happens to a lot of us is either my
scenario above or the opposite happens – nothing because
you don’t know where to start.

With that said, I have a recommendation on how to handle
this strange phenomenon this year…make very small
commitments that you know you can fulfill. By keeping your
commitments small and simple you will have more flexibility
to change, and more freedom to try different ways to keep
your commitments.

Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about…

You may commit to doing one additional marketing piece or
trying one new marketing strategy a month. Something
simple. By the end of the year that really means that you
will be trying 12 different marketing methods.

Another idea is to commit a certain amount of time to a
specific project. For example, if you have a goal to write
a book this year or develop products to sell online, set
aside one hour a week (or a day – whatever you can commit
too) that is devoted to meeting this one goal.

I am not going to say I am going to work out every day
after I drop the kids off at school. Yes, while being
healthy is important, making such a stringent commitment
realistically won’t happen. A better commitment may be to
promise myself that I will work out consistently this year.
For me that could be two times a week as opposed to my
sometimes every day and other times nothing for three
months.

Other ideas of small goals that can make a big difference
in your day are to:

– Only check emails at 8:00 and 2:00

– Have a cup of coffee once a week with a new friend or
business acquaintance

– Take two hours off in the middle of the week that’s free
time

– Do one self-improvement tool or book or something a month

– Post on other people’s blogs once a week

But the deal is whatever commitment you do make, you HAVE
to stick to it. So keep your promises simple and realistic.

If you’ve taken the time to develop long term goals and
strategies for your business (or your personal life) that
is great. You’ve done more than most people I know. If you
don’t want this years resolutions or commitments to fall by
the wayside, break those long term goals into super short
smaller commitments that you know you can keep.

In my newsletter I talked about discipline and keeping your
word to yourself. Now is the time to be thinking about what
commitments you do make and your ability (or inability) to
keep them. For us entrepreneurs and small business owners,
oftentimes ANY commitment we make is one we make to
ourselves only. No one knows about them, and no on else
will hold you accountable to keeping them. Plug your
commitments into a calendar, schedule the time with
yourself to get them done, and don’t make a commitment or
resolution unless you know you will keep it.

No one else knows you are making it, and no one knows if
you break it.

Except the all important you.

—————————————————-
Author of Healthcare Copywriting Secrets Revealed, Kelly
Robbins is an award winning copywriter and marketing
coach/consultant. She also publishes The Healthcare
Marketing Connection
(http://www.healthcaremarketingconnection.com), a free
e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to
receive her free report, “5 critical things you must know
when writing for the healthcare industry” -
info@KellyRobbinsLLC.com or 303-460-0285.

Are you working on your career goals or just going through the
motions? Are you “in” one day and “out” the next? Are you waiting
for your goals to inspire and motivate you, and then you will
jump in completely?

Many of us want a guarantee before we fully commit to our goals.
If only we knew it would work out, then we would not question our
choice or the direction of our future. Guess what? Your career
will not give you the guarantee you are seeking. What you will
get is a strong feeling inside guiding you in the right
direction. Then, you listen to your gut, follow what you hear,
and work on your goals everyday. That’s when momentum takes
over. That’s when you get inspired. That’s when you reach your
goals.

The miracles in your career happen when you throw yourself fully
into what you want to achieve. Will there be bad days and good
ones? Yes. Will you question your future sometimes? Yes. There is
a difference between being “in” versus planning for a time when
you are ready to go “in.” What happens if you are never ready?
How are you ever going to reach your goals then?

So, How Do You Fully Commit To Your Career Goals? Follow These
Four Steps Below:

1. Decide To Commit to Your Goals

Decisions are the turning point for real change and
transformation. If you are unhappy in your job, decide that you
will do something about it. If you want a career change, decide
that you will have one. If you want to move up in your present
position, decide that this will happen. Decide that today is that
start of something brand new. For many of my clients, deciding
is the hard part. One the decision has been made, the rest if
implementation.

2. Act On Your Goals

Get ready to reach your goals by arming yourself with the tools
you need to be successful. Is your resume and cover letter ready
to go? Do you have a list of schools to investigate so you can
gain new skills if that’s what is necessary to get ahead? Do you
have your list of contacts in front of you for networking
purposes? Have you researched what your skills are worth in the
marketplace so you could use this information to make more money?
Make a list of action steps to move your career forward. Then,
work on one action step every day.

3. Let Go Of What’s Holding You Back

Let go of your fears, disappointments, and the mistakes you have
made. They are a part of your past, and not your future. Let
these things go because they are keeping you from having an
extraordinary career. A scary thought? You bet. Some people do
not know who they would be without their past to define them. But
with big leaps, come big rewards. What you are really releasing
is the negative aspects of your past that are holding you back.
These aspects are keeping you from being fully committed to your
goals. Once you tell yourself that you will not fail, your
chances of success increase substantially.

4. Celebrate

Committing to your goals is a big deal. Once you have committed,
it is time to celebrate. You are free to go after what you want.
You can create the future you have been thinking about and
wishing for. You have more power than you think to change the
direction of your career. Use that power to take your career to
great heights. Then, congratulate yourself for doing so.

So, what do you say? You only have one life to live, so it might
as well be a life you love!

———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— -
Deborah Brown-Volkman is the President of Surpass Your Dreams,
Inc. a successful career and mentor coaching company that has
been delivering a message of motivation, success, and personal
fulfillment since 1998. We work with Senior Executives, Vice
Presidents, and Managers who are out of work or overworked.
Deborah is also the creator of the Career Escape Program(TM) and
author of Coach Yourself To A New Career: A Book To Discover Your
Ultimate Profession. Deborah Brown-Volkman can be reached at:
http://www.surpassyourdreams.com
http://www.career-escape-program.com
info@surpassyourdreams.com, or at (631) 874-2877.

Any endeavor you would begin starts with a question: “What
do I want to come of this? What is my intent?” The first R
for success is RESULTS. What results do you want? When you
are starting a business or a project, clarify what you
want. If you are already leading a department or an
organization, clarify what you want.

Most people in the world do not know what they want. They
know what they don’t want, and so they spend most of their
time thinking about what they don’t want. People complain,
worry, and criticize. None of these actions create what you
want.

It begins with a dream, a thought of creating something
meaningful.  As leaders and entrepreneurs we must move
beyond merely dreaming and clarify what results we want to
produce. The key piece is feelings. How would success feel?
The reason people do anything is based on how they think
they will feel. Words like joy, fulfillment, delight,
making a contribution, gratitude, meaning, and love come to
mind. It is this feeling that creates the  passion and
drive that will have you doing what it takes to create your
successful business.

Whenever people start telling me about how much money I can
make in their business opportunity I tend to hang up,
delete, or say “no thanks”. Money is great, and it usually
isn’t enough of a motivator by itself. It is important to
enjoy what you are doing. Money and business success  may
make you feel good. It is more likely that feeling good
will help you make money and success. In other words, our
ability to feel successful right now helps us to create the
results we want. Success is created from the inside out.

Your vision for success is something you begin to live
right now. Think, feel, walk, talk, and act like a
successful person. Never say you are “trying to start a
business.” You are either starting one or you aren’t!

Once you start you need to clarify your identity. What is
your mission? The mission involves what you do, who you
serve, and why it is important. What are your values?
Values involve how you do business and how you treat
people. Clarity about who you are and where you are going
will lead to the results you want.

The second R is RESPONSIBILITY. Responsibility is your
ability to respond. It means that you move beyond blaming
and recognize that you create your experience, therefore it
is you who must respond. Businesses will always have ups
and downs and problems to solve. You can spend your energy
focusing what you don’t want (the problem), or you can
spend your energy focusing on what you do want (solutions).

As an executive coach I have seen so much waste and stress
created by people blaming, being defensive, denying
responsibility, and avoiding problems. At the same time I
have seen businesses where people communicate openly and
honestly, and consciously align their thoughts and behavior
with the results they want to produce.

Responsibility doesn’t mean that we never blame or
complain. It means that we catch ourselves doing it and
move toward resolution.  When we find ourselves complaining
we can ask “What do I want?”, and we can act on it.

The third R is RESPONSIVENESS. Responsiveness is about
being in the moment with other people. It means that my
customers, my coworkers, and others are real people with
real needs and concerns. In business people get so focused
on task they forget about people. People are treated as
objects. A complaining customer becomes an inconvenience.
An unhappy employee becomes a problem. The result in these
cases is the inconvenience  and the unhappiness are
increased.

We need to envision every person wearing a little sign that
says: “Please remember to treat me as important.” We need
to listen, to acknowledge, to respond, and to help people
meet their needs. Most people want to be taken seriously
and not dismissed. If we can be responsive to our employees
and customers, they will want to work with us. Ultimately
the value we create is found in the value we offer to
others. Success is about meeting the needs of those you
serve. If you can do that, you will produce the results you
intend.

—————————————————-
William Frank Diedrich is a speaker, executive coach, and
the author of Beyond Blaming: Unleashing Power and Passion
in People and Organizations. William offers keynotes and
workshops on leadership and moving beyond blaming. William
also offers an inexpensive, yet powerful online leadership
class, The Leaders’ Edge, and a free e-newsletter,
Transformation Times. Learn more about William at
http://noblaming.com

It is unlikely we can prevent ourselves from experiencing
negative emotion when people give us negative feedback, yet
we need to welcome it anyway. Negative information is
better than no information. If my people are unhappy, if my
customers are unhappy, or if those closest to me are
unhappy–it is better that I know than not know. At least
if I know I can do something about it.

In fact, as leaders we should welcome negative feedback and
even encourage it. On one hand negative feedback is
potentially hurtful and upsetting.  On the other hand it is
an opportunity. Complaints and grievances against us are
opportunities to reflect, clarify who we are, and to
envision something new and better.

Here are some ideas on how to turn negative information
into positive opportunities:

1. Accept it. This is how others see you. It is not wrong
or right; bad or good; it just is. Refuse to take it
personally. It is information. How do you want to best use
this information to help others, yourself, and your
organization (or family)?

2. Become a listener. Invite information from those who
have spoken negatively without defending yourself. Let your
focus be to care about their well-being and to understand
them fully. Determine what they need from you. Are you
seeing them as important? Are you giving value to their
needs and concerns? This doesn’t mean agreeing with them or
satisfying all of their wants. It means you see them as
important and you value them.

3.  Examine the tone that you set. Are you approachable?
Are people comfortable talking to you? This will help
people to offer potentially negative information to you so
you can act upon it. If you are not approachable, people
will talk to others about you, but they not express
directly to you.

4.  Are you seeing people in terms of their faults or in
terms of their needs? If you are a fault finder you will
tend to dismiss feedback from others as unimportant. If you
are responsive to the needs of others, you will see their
feedback as important information. Your ability to care
about and understand others is an invitation for them to be
concerned for you. They will want to be helpful to you.

Excellent leadership must always be reflective. As leaders,
we must ask ourselves:  “How am I doing?  How are the
people I affect doing? Am I consistently creating a
positive and healthy environment?” This kind of reflection
causes us to grow and reach higher levels of success.
Reflection will inevitably involve the reception of some
negative feedback.

I coached a senior executive who was having some difficulty
with his staff. I used a 360 degree assessment to get
feedback from his employees, colleagues, and the CEO. He
was horrified at the results. People painted a picture of
him that was selfish and not responsive to others. This man
had high standards and was known as a kind and generous
person in his personal life. The negative feedback served
as a wake up call. He was thankful for this gift of
negative feedback and he immediately began changing his way
of being with people at work.

Learning isn’t always painful. We learn from our successes
too. My senior executive found immediate successes when he
changed his way of being. People became more helpful and
responsive to him. His colleagues greatly respected his
willingness to receive and act upon the feedback.

When people criticize or complain about us it is best to
face it without defense, and take action to help them and
to improve our effectiveness. Negative feedback is not
always accurate, but whether it is accurate or not, dealing
with it honestly is an opportunity we don’t want to miss.

—————————————————-
William Frank Diedrich is a speaker, executive coach, and
the author of Beyond Blaming: Unleashing Power and Passion
in People and Organizations. William offers keynotes and
workshops on leadership and moving beyond blaming. William
also offers an inexpensive, yet powerful online leadership
class, The Leaders’ Edge, and a free e-newsletter,
Transformation Times. Learn more about William at
http://noblaming.com

We often read or hear, “he achieved success” in such and
such a year or upon completion of a project.  Success seems
to be viewed by many people as an end in itself.  Once
reached, some sort of cup or wreath is given to the victor,
and they remain “successful” for all time.  The term is,
somewhat confusingly, applied in several types of
situations.  In baseball, a batter may be successful at a
single time at bat, yet not be successful for the entire
game or season.  A politician runs a successful campaign
when he or she is elected to the office which was sought.
That same politician may run an unsuccessful campaign and
yet be successful in bringing some important issue or
issues to the attention of the electorate.

So, it is easy to look at success as being, as mentioned,
the achievement of a specific goal, whether your own or
someone else’s.  After all, the ballplayer may be wanting a
hit to reach a new record, and his manager may want the hit
to make it to one more playoff so he can hold on to his
job, and the owner may want the hit in order to win the
game and create an atmosphere where he can sell more
tickets to future games.

However, if we are to look at success as applied to an
entire life, one home run, as successful as it may be at
the moment doesn’t quite define a person.  After all, to
continue with the baseball motif, Bobby Thomson hit the
“Shot Heard Round The World”, a home run that won the 1951
World Series to help the New York Giants win the pennant.
He went on to have a good career as a ball player, but
never achieved such a high level of (subjective) success as
on that particular day.  Oddly enough, waiting in the
on-deck circle that day was a rookie who would achieve a
level of success that Thomson never reached.  He was a
young kid named Willie Mays.  At a later point, Hammerin’
Hank Aaron, one of the most successful ball players of all
time, got his chance to play in the big leagues due to
Thomson’s breaking his ankle.

Sticking with baseball just a little longer, let’s take a
quick look at Roberto Clemente.  As a ball player, he won
four batting crowns and had 3,000 hits.  His achievements
as a baseball player include: All-Star (15): 1960-67,
1969-72; National League MVP 1966; Gold Glove (12):
1961-1972; 1971 World Series MVP.  His life and career were
cut short at age 38 when he died in a plane crash while
flying relief supplies to Nicaraguan earthquake victims.
Throughout his career, his humanitarianism earned him the
respect and admiration of fans, players, and the public in
general.  If success is doing the right thing for the right
reasons, then Roberto Clemente was a successful man, just
as Mother Theresa was a successful woman.

While people who achieve what the public tends to applaud
as success often do gain fame and wealth, they are also
often NOT the people who are considered to be the real
successes of a society.  And, while we often hear a great
deal about people who gain momentary success by achieving
some great feat or goal, such as sailing around the world,
or scoring the most points in a game, we hear for decades,
and often for centuries after they are gone, about those
whose lifetime of success was measured in small daily
actions and attitudes which contributed to the betterment
of their fellow humans or the improvement of the earth upon
which we all depend so completely.

So, while not to belittle the amassing of fortunes or
benefits of fame, if you would be truly successful, perhaps
you should try to achieve something of value each
day…something of benefit to all.  Perhaps you will find
that you enjoy the pursuit of THAT sort of success much
more than the pursuit of wealth, fame, or power.

One last note.  People such as Angelina Jolie and George
Clooney are rich and famous because they live in a world of
make-believe and produce make-believe pieces for people who
live vicariously through their stories.  However, it is
possible that they will be more famed and admired for the
steps they have taken to improve the world they live in
than for what they have done in the world of entertainment.
After all, the next movie star can be discovered working
at a soda fountain (they still have those?).  The person
who is going to change the world will have to work at it.

—————————————————-
Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer. He is a University
of West Florida alumnus, a member of Mensa, and is retired
from the U. S. Army. He is the owner of
http://texasprepaidcellular.com .

Many indicators point towards the idea that there will only
be more and more of this kind of change. Therefore, career
resilience is one of the essentials you will need to find
and keep good work throughout your work life.

Yes – without resilience, even if you follow the
tried-and-true process endorsed by a plethora of career
coaches and counselors, the longevity of your sense of
workplace satisfaction may suffer.

As someone who’s passionate about helping people create and
bring their career visions to life, I sometimes notice that
I’m apparently more enthusiastic than my clients are about
their work prospects. How can this be? It seems that when
they’re faced with even the tiniest barrier, they give up.
And this occurs far too often and way too quickly in my
opinion. Somewhere along the way, perhaps due to the very
reason they contacted me, their resilience diminished.

Why is resilience so important? Well, for starters, we can
all count on life routinely handing us things that get in
our way of the real work we yearn to engage in.

Yet, someone who has highly developed resilience would set
a limit or avoid altogether any brooding time. And, the
prospect of giving up doesn’t make its way into their
awareness. Without the option of giving up, what are people
with resilience going to do? They’re going to face the
obstacle, and trust the possibility that this is when
creativity, quality, courage, initiative, and
resourcefulness will likely emerge in their work. Anyone
who has had this sort of experience understands the joy
that will inevitably follow such an experience.

There are limitless practical tips and actions that can be
taken immediately to help you develop career resilience.
Here are some suggested strategies to get started.

Sustain a Practical Outlook: Resilient people are
pragmatic; they know that they can control their situation
and the choices they make in response to evolving
situations. When a career change occurs, one thing you can
do is clarify your core needs for your work, such as the
core values, preferences, and talents that help you feel
energized, enlivened, and fulfilled at work. Once you
understand your core needs, they will become a resource for
you in the midst of change. They’ll help you actively
explore the change and its implications for your work. For
example, you can ask yourself:

- In what ways does this change help me meet my core needs?
 
- How might the change hinder my ability to meet my core
needs?  
- What are some things I can do, now that this change has
occurred, to ensure I continue meeting my core needs in my
work?

Tap into your Resources: People who have high levels of
resilience develop and draw from a wide range of resources.
What got you through previous changes? What happened? How
did you deal with it? What was the outcome?  How can you
take what you learned from that experience to help you now
in the midst of career change?

Explore Possibilities: People with resilience prepare, in
one way or another, for a number of eventualities that may
come their way. Explore the future of your career direction
and the specific ways in which your core needs, values,
interests, and motivations can be brought back into your
career focus through one of the following strategies:

- Enrich: Work within your existing job and workplace to
find ways to bring your core needs back into your work.  
- Relocate: Keep the job type, but decide to change your
workplace.
- Move around: Keep the workplace, but decide to change
your job or area of responsibility.
- Revamp: change it all – your job and your workplace.

Be Intentional: Keep your eye on your intended objective.
Short term changes should not derail you from the “big
picture” of where you’re going in your work life.

Having high levels of resilience offers you a different way
of looking at difficulties that present themselves along
your career path. The person who has resilience understands
that no matter how prepared he or she is, no matter how
much knowledge attained or skills developed, their most
ideally suited work will bring all manner of set backs from
time to time. These people inherently know that such
challenges will foster their own innovation, so they greet
the challenge with enthusiasm. This carries people who have
resilience through tumultuous times, often resulting in
their developing heightened resilience to future set backs.

By shifting your attention from what has happened to you in
your work life to what you are going to do as a result of
the change, you can actively participate and manage your
own transition process in a way that honors your core needs
and ultimately paves the way for you to experience long
term career fulfillment.

—————————————————-
This article is provided by
http://www.srpcareertransitions.com : Helping people
clarify their goals, differentiate themselves, sell their
skills to prospective employers, and get on a path to more
enlivening work. Stephanie Peacocke is a career coach,
certified professional resume writer and specialist in
career resilience and differentiation.
http://www.srpcareertransitions.com