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Who Are You Being?

Be understanding to your enemies.
Be loyal to your friends. 
Be strong enough to face the world each day.
Be weak enough to know you cannot do everything alone.
Be generous to those who need your help. 

Be frugal with what you need yourself.
Be wise enough to know that you do not know everything.
Be foolish enough to believe in miracles. 
Be willing to share your joys. 
Be willing to share the sorrows of others. 

Be a leader when you see a path others have missed. 
Be a follower when you are shrouded by the mists of uncertainty. 
Be the first to congratulate an opponent who succeeds. 
Be the last to criticize a colleague who fails. 
Be sure where your next step will fall, so that you will not tumble. 

Be sure of your final destination, in case you are going the wrong way. 
Be loving to those who love you. 
Be loving to those who do not love you, and they may change. 
Above all, be yourself. 

-- Author Unknown


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Attitude Changes Everything - A Short Story

There once was a woman who woke up in the morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.  “Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.”  So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror, and saw that she only had two hairs on her head,  “H-M-M,” she said, “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.”  So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror, and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.  “Well,” she said, “today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.” So she did and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror, and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head.  “Yea,” she exclaimed, “I don’t have to fix my hair today!”

You see, attitude changes everything!


(http://xr.com/BLGatt)

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The Art of Setting & Achieving Business Goals

Most business owners go through the entire year without a real clear picture of the goals they have for their business. Just going through the paces, week after week, without a clue whether they are ahead or behind. I think the reason most business owners do this is because if they never commit to a specific goal, then they can't be disappointed when they miss it. It keeps them from feeling worse about their lack of a real plan to succeed.

But we're going to run this race differently. We're going to set very specific goals. We're going to make sure everyone on the team knows our goals and we're going to measure our progress towards our goals on a regular basis. Are you with me?

Start here. Write down your goals for this year's race in specific categories. For example, Sales, Marketing, Customer Satisfaction, etc. If you have other specific areas that are critical to your success, then write down a goal in those areas as well. Be specific. What do you want to accomplish in each particular area of your business? When do you want to be at that goal? Who is going to take the lead in this specific area?

Now, if your goals are for where you want to be by the end of the year then I want you to go back and break them up into quarterly goals. Rather than staring at a huge, seemingly unachievable goal, it will be more motivating, more achievable if you state it in quarterly terms. Where do you want to be by the end of March? How about the end of June? How about the end of September? Making the goals more timely and achievable will motivate you and your team to accomplish them.

Now that you have your goals written, determine how you are going to share them with your partners, your team and the person who is going to hold you accountable to them - your business coach. You must go public with your goals if you intend to achieve them. Shine a light on them. Don't hide them just in case you do not achieve them or you can be certain that is exactly what will happen!

Lastly, begin measuring your progress against your goals. This is critical. Having a goal is one thing, but having a measurement system so you can see your progress on a regular basis is the key to victory! Keep it simple. Find a place to record your progress on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Share the results. Celebrate the small wins. Make corrections and adjustments on a regular basis. These tactics will keep you and your team focused and will give you the highest probability of success!

[xr.com/BlgGols]


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Not Being Perfect is Perfectly OK!

By a special guest blogger
Okay – so you screwed up again! Then there is the resultant self-flaggelation afterward, a collection of responses from mental masturbation, that hamster wheel of thoughts as we mentally rehearse over and over what could have or should have been because, DAMMIT, it wasn’t our fault (projection), to lethargy to sleeplessness (more rehearsing even as we try to get a break from the barrage of thoughts), to isolating to sniping at our partners (displacement is Freud’s term – you know when the boss yells at us and we go home and kick the dog). Whew! I’m exhausted just reading this! And believe me, it is barely the tip of the iceberg of responses of how we berate ourselves when we feel as though we’ve done something wrong. No one is perfect – perfect is boring, an illusion.

Native Americans understood the importance of flaws. In Navajo rugs there is always a flaw built into the design on purpose – This flaw is intentional – the Navajo believe that this flaw allows the spirit, or soul, of the blanket to have the freedom to roam, and for the blanket to never truly end. In reality, there is no such thing as perfect as we are all changing from each millisecond to the next – our bodies are renewing and aging, expanding and contracting with each moment. It would be much more true to think that we are perfect in all of our our imperfections. I can really see the beauty in that. So the next time you screw up, I mean really pull a big one (that isn’t caught on You Tube or anything), try to create some space for self-forgiveness. It is sooo much easier and takes a lot less energy to do so. Ahhhhh.

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Appreciate Your Food More, Eat Mindfully

Start with focusing on part of your meal or snack as your "mindfulness" target--such as a cracker, olive, or orange slice. Before you put it in your mouth, note the color, shape and texture. Does it look appetizing to you? Do you notice any reactions in your body when you look at it? Does your mouth water? Does your stomach growl? Notice what is happening in your body. Move your hand slowly toward your mouth with your food. Take a moment to smell the food as it approaches your nose. Just notice. As you place the food in your mouth, notice all the sensations. Where is the food positioned in your mouth? What happens with your tongue? What tastes are you experiencing? Where on your tongue do you taste the different flavors? When you decide to chew, notice how the texture of your food changes. Notice the placement change of the food in your mouth. When you decide to swallow, notice all the changes that take place in your mouth and throat. Can you feel the food item moving down toward your stomach? What do you notice in your stomach now? Sit for another few seconds and notice any other changes in your body.


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How to Remain Calm No Matter What the Storm

There has been a major storm in our economy for almost two years now. Understandably, this resulted in many people feeling very stressed. When you’re overly stressed the chemistry in your brain changes. Your problem solving abilities are reduced and your judgment is diminished - you may even experience an increase in aggression. In fact, being stressed it is a very similar state as being drunk! This is no state to be in when making important decisions about any area of your life. 


When the markets hit tremendous lows in the past year and a half, many investors panicked under the stress and sold all their investments. In most cases, this was a major mistake because they sold low and locked in all those loses. They did so because they were stressed and not thinking clearly. The Dow Jones has increased by about 40 percent since March, 2009 - unfortunately, anyone who panicked and sold stock before that date lost out on those huge market gains. Before you make any major decisions in any stormy circumstances, discover how to overcome the effects of stress on your brain.

Here are some simple and quick steps to take to begin to relax and reduce stress:

Ø Take at least 3 deep, slow, regular breaths – this will start to slow your heart rate, lower your blood pressure and restore cognitive clarity.

Ø As you breathe, let your shoulders relax and loosen your jaw – you may be surprised at how much tension you hold in your jaw.

Ø Focus your mind on the present moment – to help you with this maybe focus your attention on your breath passing through your nostrils as you breathe, or pick a spot on the wall or floor and focus your eyes gently on that spot. When focusing on the present moment you prevent yourself from regretting the past and fearing the future – both of which increase stress. (For a deeper understanding of this concept, read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.)

Ø When uncomfortable thoughts and feelings arise, don’t try to ignore them but acknowledge them as if from a distance and label them – recent research at UCLA proves this practice allows you to detach from negative emotions so they do not hijack your calmness.

Once you sense you are relaxed, you can start to look at your situation more realistically. Perhaps first take a break, go for a walk, get out in the fresh air and sunlight – it is advisable not to make major decisions during the dark of night when your mind seems to magnify problems. Then, like the serenity prayer says, accept the things you cannot change and have the courage to change the things you can. Regarding the things you cannot change - e.g., the markets crashing - simply accept the situation and let go of any tension you feel about it. If there is nothing you can do about it, why worry? 

Regarding the things you can change. Once you are relaxed and mental clarity has been restored to your brain, make an objective list of what you need to do – not one swayed by emotion. Then, calmly and as relaxed as possible, complete each task to the best of your ability.

Will this calm the outer storm in our economy and stop the markets crashing? No. But it will calm the storm within you and make you less likely to do something irrational that you will later regret.

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There Is No Such Thing as a Time Problem

By Sandi Smith, special guest blogger
I know it’s a bold statement and a lot of you will disagree. But please have an open mind and hear me out.

Time is the great equalizer. We all have the same number of hours in a day, yet some entrepreneurs, many of them self-made, become wildly successful, while others languish. Only one in twenty business owners in the U.S. (2002 numbers) make it past $1 million in annual revenues. I believe the way they use their time is a big factor in their success or failure. Here are three better explanations of your time problem:

1. You are not delegating enough. This could be on a couple of levels: you might not be delegating enough tasks, but you also might not be delegating enough authority. This problem is based in fear of letting go of control and trusting. (If you don’t think you can afford a team, then you have some kind of marketing problem that needs to be addressed.)
2. You are doing everything from memory without having documented, automated, or systematized your business to the extent that makes you competitive with others. Read Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth. This one is more of a skills issue than a fear issue.
3. You remain in a reactive mode, fighting fires all day. There could be many reasons for this, and fear is at the root of most of them: we tend to do what we already know how to do, we may have some boundary issues with clients we need to work on, and we might be doing #1 and #2 above which contributes to this one.

(There are several more, but I have to leave some content exclusively for the benefit of my coaching clients!)

When you can go deeper to root out your so-called time problem, then you have something you can work on to improve your business. What can you do to better leverage your 24 hours each day?

About the author:
©2010 Sandra L. Smith, Inc. Business growth and high performance expert Sandi Smith is a coach, public speaker, author, and scientist. She’s one of a handful of women who have co-piloted a single-engine airplane around the world. Sign up at www.sandismith.com to get her FREE newsletter full of business-building tips.
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Keeping Your Brain in Mind: How Neuroscience Can Improve Coaching Outcomes

New discoveries in the field of neuroscience are being applied to the ongoing quest to develop improved personal and business skills, and to the coaching methods to impart them.

Breakthroughs in neuroscience in the past couple of decades have been so amazing the United Nations declared the 1990s to be “The Decade of the Brain.” Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), neuroscientists have discovered incredible new information about “neuroplasticity.” Essentially, the term means an ability for new neural pathways to form in response to brain enrichment of some kind. The discovery that at any age a brain can change for the better is probably the most astounding breakthrough in the history of neuroscience, ever.  Changing how we think can actually change our physical brains.

The May 2007 inaugural meeting of the NeuroLeadership Summit, founded by business coach David Rock, brought together business leaders, coaches, and neuroscientists to compare notes and plan ways to support one another. At that meeting, world-famous Neuroscientist Dr. Jeffery Schwartz stated, “I see what coaching is now…it is a way of facilitating self-directed neuroplasticity.”

Coaching has always been an exercise of the mind. With the more recent application of neuroscience breakthroughs, the coaching process has become even more effective at yielding positive results for our clients. Core activities of coaching, such as setting goals, making connections, becoming more aware, seeking breakthroughs, and taking action, parallel what neuroscientists tell us about how the brain operates.

The life or business coach who utilizes a neuroscience-based approach will convey an understanding of how to get the most out of your own mind. With the application of mental discipline, we can all change the way our minds operate at a fundamental level. Coaches who keep the brain in mind typically are familiar with several models of change and collaborate with clients to match model to situation.

Some brain-based coaching practices allow us to examine our own thoughts and emotions as if we were a neutral observer. These self-awareness practices typically lower the practitioner’s brain waves from the Gamma and Beta ranges to the Alpha range (8 to 12 Hz) and even to the lower Theta range (4-7 Hz). Lower brain waves allow us to process more information in a more intuitive and holistic way. This leads us to remain calmer under pressure and present a better response to pressing conditions by creating a considered approach versus a reactionary approach to a given set of circumstances.

Some people compare this observing of self to “mindfulness,” an ancient practice from Asia.  Without the ability to stand outside your experience, without self-awareness, you would have little ability to moderate and direct your actions. You need this capacity to free yourself form the automatic flow of experience, and to choose where to direct your attention. Otherwise, at best, you will spend your energy maintaining the status quo rather than moving yourself to the next level.

According to business coach David Rock, brain-based coaching guides “clients to learn to think in ways that change their capacity to feel, think, and act – and ultimately to shift who they are in the world.”

Coaching practices that guide the client to understand that all success in life or business is a function of their own mind will ultimately create better outcomes for the client. It follows to reason that coaching clients who have increased mental alertness and prolonged attention spans will do better than those who are mentally more sluggish.

Applying a neuroscience-based business coaching model has been shown to improve the position of major corporations in terms of profitability, efficiency and morale. Learning the focus of clear-minded critical thinking and communication for a group will allow them to work with greater synergy as they strive toward the common goal of success. A coach who is knowledgeable of neuroscience-based practices can steer members of an organization onto a path that facilitates clearer thinking and clarity of the common focal point which will be rewarding to any organization, large or small.

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What Does Fear Have to Do with Running Your Business?

By Sandi Smith
Fear must be somewhat of a taboo topic for women entrepreneurs. I learned this the hard way at a recent local networking meeting. I was delighted when my name was called to be in a hot seat for some coaching from the participants. I always have a topic I could use advice on, so I asked the group “how should I market my new tools that help women entrepreneurs deal with the fears that come up in the running of their businesses?”
What was interesting is I got eager comments about fear from all of the *men* in the room. The women just stood silent (except for two later in the conversation). Well, that’s telling, I thought. I’ve had similar brush-offs at NAWBO with a couple of the women who I know just had to lay off staff. Come on, now, who isn’t scared when something as dramatic as a layoff rips through the company you created with your bare hands?
So what’s going on here?

The only thing I can think of is that some women are too afraid to admit they’re afraid. Perhaps because some people perceive it as a weakness to display fear, they aren’t willing to admit it in public.
Whether you are willing to admit it in public or not, I want you to know right now that fear is normal (the lack of fear is abnormal, that’s for sure). What’s important is that you admit it to yourself.
A majority of the more than 100 women I am around in these pressure-packed, high-growth coaching, training, and mastermind programs are all freely, openly scared to death. They’re also growing like mad, taking on astounding business opportunities including TV, keynote speaking on a big stage, running their own events, and connecting with celebrities and millionaire business owners that are past the stage they’re at.
So what does fear have to do with running your business? The short answer is, just about everything. Fear is a sign of growth in both yourself and your business. If you’re not afraid, you’re stuck, and so is your business.
In future newsletters we’ll provide some tools for dealing with the fears every woman has in running her business. But the first step is to acknowledge that it’s there.

About the author:
©2010 Sandra L. Smith, Inc. Business growth and high performance expert Sandi Smith is a coach, public speaker, author, and scientist. She’s one of a handful of women who have co-piloted a single-engine airplane around the world. Sign up at www.sandismith.com to get her FREE newsletter full of business-building tips.

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7 Stress Relief Tips

By Edward Laing

Stress is a inevitable component of life. You have two options in dealing with it; you can either let it rust out and infect all the other aspects of your daily routine, or you can maintain it accordingly to have a smooth ride all the way to success. Nevertheless, no matter how much work you put into keeping things on course, it's almost impossible to avoid unwanted detours along the way! For that reason, here are 7 stress relief tips that you can utilize to get back on track.
1. Kick things off with 'The Relaxation Response'.
Since stress is unavoidable you need to learn ways to protect yourself from the 'wear and tear' scenarios. By simply relaxing into a deep rest you enable your whole system to go back to optimum functioning after having a gruelling battle with everyday stressors. Benefits include:
* Reduced stress hormones
* Lowered heart rate and blood pressure
* Relaxed muscles
* Increased energy, focus, and resistance
* Relief of aches and pains
* Improved problem-solving skills
* Increased motivation and productivity
2. Start your engine right.
Knowing stress management methods is not enough on its own. You have to learn the basics and build on them. You will need to devote some time and patience in order to perfect each skill necessary to make your sessions work. On average, 10 to 20 minutes can provide you with stress-busting experiences, but, if you are the type that is eager for maximum results, 30 minutes to an hour will prove very worthwhile.
3. Don't neglect the small stuff.
You have to make sure that no stone is left unturned so that continuity and maintenance of the program is certain. In terms of your daily routine, make sure you factor in enough time for your stressnrelieving sessions. An effective move will be to incorporate your practices in your everyday activities. Effective performance can be achieved during the hours of the day when you are active and alert. Do not push things when you are tired or sleepy.
4. This time you can be selfish.
In order to maximize each session you have to go with a technique that appeals to you. Take into consideration your particular needs, fitness level, perception, and beliefs. Decide on whether you want absolute solitude or interactive adventures. You will be able to achieve more with less effort if you execute each portion of the program wholeheartedly.
5. Hit it deep.
Deep breathing has long been a common tool for relaxation enthusiasts, but can only provide positive results when performed properly. The core of this method does not really rely on the position but more on the anatomical part that is utilized. Make sure that deep breaths are done via your abdomen. By doing so, you will get more oxygen resulting in reduced tension, shortness of breath, and anxiety.
6. Get a clear tension picture.
You can use progressive muscle relaxation to gain significant familiarity of how tension and relaxation produces sensations and feelings in various parts of the body. This is the reason why this technique is done systematically from the feet, going up to the face. Here is the basic sequence of movements from one muscle group to another:
* Right foot to left foot
* Right calf to left calf
* Right thigh to left thigh
* Hips and buttocks
* Abdomen
* Chest
* Back
* Right arm and hand
* Left arm and hand
* Neck and shoulders
* Face
7. Go for a trifecta of meditation.
Mindfulness is a method that can be done in three ways. 'Body Scan' offers the opportunity to feel out your body without the involvement of tension and relaxation which means you don't have to look at the good and bad side. 'Walking Meditation' lets you focus on the sensation of each step and the involvement of your interaction with the external factors involved such as the wind or the ground. Instead of aimlessly gulping on your food when you're stressed out go for 'Mindful Eating; and increase the taste, aroma, and satisfaction with each bite.

About the author, Edward Laing: CEO at pzizz technology limited , responsible for the creative development of pzizz, the bringing together and project management of the team, as well as the multi-million pound investment necessary to bring the project to fruition.

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