Look around you. Complacency is everywhere in our society. We tend to look to the news headlines for the courageous, the heroes.
Complacency breeds upon itself and spreads insidiously through all areas of our lives as we unwittingly give up our power and our will to create excellence.
Good enough or that will do becomes the standard of the day.
Why should you care? No one else does.
Complacency is a deadly disease. It steals your energy, your joy and your aliveness. It kills companies. It destroys economies. It diminishes and destroys your relationships with your partner, children, friends and colleagues.
Complacency fosters the acceptance of negativity, violence, self-centeredness, isolation and substandard quality in all things. It has crept silently into our education systems with the “dumbing down” of standards and the “numbing down” of mind and spirit.
So, who are the courageous, the real heroes?
The most courageous amongst us are those who commit to discovering who they really are and seek the best in themselves. They are the individuals who are committed to learning and changing the beliefs and habits and thoughts that are holding them back from fulfilling their dreams. They are willing to fight complacency.
Change is the hardest thing that any of us can do. It requires that we face our fears, our limitations and take responsibility for our decisions and our mistakes. It means letting go of blaming and making assumptions.
How do you overcome complacency?
Napoleon Hill says: Control Your Own Thoughts.
Focus on the thoughts that feel natural to you: positive, intentional thoughts that move you forward towards your goals and feel congruent with your values. When things don’t quite work out, don’t bring out the WHY hammer and beat yourself or someone else. Learn, change and continue forward.
Courage brings you freedom.
“Only those who risk going far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
(T.S. Eliot 1888-1965)
Monday, March 28, 2011
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Is Your Belief System Congruent with Your Business Goals?
Your Unconscious Mind is steering the ship! Using the iceberg analogy, our Conscious Mind is only the tip that is visible above the water line. This Unconscious level controls our life-view, decisions, our health, wealth and general well-being. It determines how we show up in both our personal and professional lives.
Much of our Belief System resides in our Unconscious Mind. It is built on our evaluation and perception of events and experiences in our lives. If we re-evaluate or change our perspectives (thoughts), our beliefs will change. We create our own reality.
Integrate the conscious and unconscious levels and you create congruency.
The process, the shift, begins with Values Clarification. What is important to you and why. Are you living and working in alignment with those values?
The next step is to look at your Comfort Zones. A comfort zone is the emotional ceiling you have put in place. It is a place to hide. It feels safe because it is familiar.
Your Comfort Zones will indicate your Limiting Beliefs.
For example: Your obvious business goal is to be successful. But, perhaps your unconscious belief is that you are a failure, or, you are not worthy of success.
Your Limiting Beliefs Support Your Comfort Zones. Failure becomes your comfort zone because it is familiar. Everyone has failed at something.
A new zone may feel awkward, foreign or like you “don’t belong” and your inner critic (that voice in your head) will pull you back. The critic, your personal saboteur, will always fight for the status quo, the comfort zone.
In order to access your Limiting Beliefs, you might ask yourself the following questions:
- Where and when do you feel frustrated, disappointed, stuck?
- What are your excuses? Your “yes, buts”?
- Where do you feel guilty?
- When and how often are you second-guessing important decisions?
- How is it serving you to stay where you are? In other words, what is the payback?
Although it is not always necessary to identify exactly where the fears, self-doubts and limiting beliefs originated in order to make a shift, it can be helpful.
Most of our limiting beliefs date back to our early programming as children.
As you begin to re-program your belief system and dump the old stuff, you clear the way for that other voice: the voice of wisdom, insight, intuition and confidence.
Make the choice today to rewrite the old stories and beliefs and access your inner Warrior, the voice of wisdom.
Want to get there faster? Get a Coach!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
You Dream of Starting Your Own Business....
You have been feeling the itch for some time. You want the freedom to fully express yourself and your talents and to be your own boss. It will take more than talent, passion and prayers.
Here are 10 things to consider before you take the leap.
1. Are you crystal clear about what you want to create?
2. Who would be your competitors, directly and indirectly, and what are they
doing? Get out there and ask.
3. What would make your business stand out? What makes you unique?
4. Who are your potential customers; what are their burning wants and needs
that are not being met? How will you know for sure?
5. Can you realistically obtain and support sufficient financing for the next 2-5 years
it will take to establish your venture?
6. What are the potential barriers and risks and how will you manage them?
7. What aspects of your business will require training? Where will you get
it and what will it cost?
8. What is the impact on other areas of your life and your loved ones?
9. What support structures will be there for you?
10. Is your level of commitment great enough to sustain you through the
obstacles and unforeseen setbacks?
Beginning a new business is a bit like a new romance. The adrenaline is pumping; you feel energized; your creative juices are pumped and you are passionately committed. This is the honeymoon stage. When you hit the first few bumps in the road, you are still confident that nothing can stop you.
Gradually reality creeps in. You are getting tired, less focused and clear. The day-to-day grind seems less attractive than what you had envisioned. This is where you may begin to drift from the “why” part of choosing to be an entrepreneur.
Here are 6 things to consider once you decide to take the leap:
1. Make a detailed business plan that includes the above questions.
2. Establish your goals and the compelling reasons they are important.
Why are you in business?
3. Identify your team and how they can support you. Be sure that you
include the professionals that you will need such as a lawyer, an
accountant, a banker and perhaps a business coach.
4. Make sure that your budget includes what you need to invest in
your own training, marketing and branding.
5. Make another plan: a plan for executing the first plan with excellence.
6. Pay yourself first. Always. Even if it is a small amount.
This the bare bones of what you will need. Depending on the complexity of your business, there will be many details. Make your plan flexible; re-visit it often and make necessary changes quickly. Leverage your mistakes.
In order to deal with the dip that follows the honeymoon, surround yourself with positive people who will champion you, be objective and truthful, and hold you accountable.
The last word:
Get out of your own way.
Have fun and laugh often.
Don’t give up.
Coaching Your Warrior,
Sharon
Here are 10 things to consider before you take the leap.
1. Are you crystal clear about what you want to create?
2. Who would be your competitors, directly and indirectly, and what are they
doing? Get out there and ask.
3. What would make your business stand out? What makes you unique?
4. Who are your potential customers; what are their burning wants and needs
that are not being met? How will you know for sure?
5. Can you realistically obtain and support sufficient financing for the next 2-5 years
it will take to establish your venture?
6. What are the potential barriers and risks and how will you manage them?
7. What aspects of your business will require training? Where will you get
it and what will it cost?
8. What is the impact on other areas of your life and your loved ones?
9. What support structures will be there for you?
10. Is your level of commitment great enough to sustain you through the
obstacles and unforeseen setbacks?
Beginning a new business is a bit like a new romance. The adrenaline is pumping; you feel energized; your creative juices are pumped and you are passionately committed. This is the honeymoon stage. When you hit the first few bumps in the road, you are still confident that nothing can stop you.
Gradually reality creeps in. You are getting tired, less focused and clear. The day-to-day grind seems less attractive than what you had envisioned. This is where you may begin to drift from the “why” part of choosing to be an entrepreneur.
Here are 6 things to consider once you decide to take the leap:
1. Make a detailed business plan that includes the above questions.
2. Establish your goals and the compelling reasons they are important.
Why are you in business?
3. Identify your team and how they can support you. Be sure that you
include the professionals that you will need such as a lawyer, an
accountant, a banker and perhaps a business coach.
4. Make sure that your budget includes what you need to invest in
your own training, marketing and branding.
5. Make another plan: a plan for executing the first plan with excellence.
6. Pay yourself first. Always. Even if it is a small amount.
This the bare bones of what you will need. Depending on the complexity of your business, there will be many details. Make your plan flexible; re-visit it often and make necessary changes quickly. Leverage your mistakes.
In order to deal with the dip that follows the honeymoon, surround yourself with positive people who will champion you, be objective and truthful, and hold you accountable.
The last word:
Get out of your own way.
Have fun and laugh often.
Don’t give up.
Coaching Your Warrior,
Sharon
Monday, July 26, 2010
When My Ship Comes In....
By society’s standards our dad was a very successful man: a top executive with an international company.
But we could always feel his discontent, his restlessness. It was in the air.
He always wanted to own a tree farm.
“Most of us die with the music still in us”, said Wayne Dyer, and others.
Does this sound like you?
What is your secret desire, your impossible dream? What is the fear that holds you back?
- when I have less stress..
- when I have more money…
- when the kids have left…
- what if I fail…
…..When my ship comes in….
So, here is my question. Have you sent your ship out?
Don’t miss the journey!
Your partner in success and bold steps,
Sharon
But we could always feel his discontent, his restlessness. It was in the air.
He always wanted to own a tree farm.
“Most of us die with the music still in us”, said Wayne Dyer, and others.
Does this sound like you?
What is your secret desire, your impossible dream? What is the fear that holds you back?
- when I have less stress..
- when I have more money…
- when the kids have left…
- what if I fail…
…..When my ship comes in….
So, here is my question. Have you sent your ship out?
Don’t miss the journey!
Your partner in success and bold steps,
Sharon
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Saying Goodbye....Letting Go..
I have been paralyzed and blocked from writing since the January 4th death of my ex-husband, former business partner and dear friend. He had been ill for a long time with a serious and progressive heart condition. He was also mentally ill. Mental Illness. We still, as a society, want to whisper the words. We shrink at the mere thought.
Brian was brilliant, exceptionally creative and talented and worked hard. He was a paranoid schizophrenic and an obsessive-compulsive hoarder. The collecting, the hoarding and utter chaos of his environment was reflective of the turmoil of his mind. The thoughts that ran together constantly, intersecting and bouncing off each other offered him no rest, no peace. A cluttered, noisy mind.
He hoarded at two locations over a period of almost 20 years. The emotional trauma for me and our son was enormous as we searched the rubble for treasures, for understanding and for meaning.
He was a talented writer. He wrote volumes in order to express the endless stream of thoughts that sought release. He searched for peace, for truth and for purpose. The real world became too harsh for him. He pushed against it. It was like pushing against an immovable object. The very evil that he raged against and tried to retreat from, instead, engulfed him. By holding onto the injustices that world spewed out, he grew weaker. The less he could control the world and ultimately his own thoughts and actions the angrier and sicker he became.
As we sifted through the massive piles and boxes, we traveled his twisted, painful path. We found little of material value. We felt his torment. We experienced his longings. We heard his prayer. And gradually, gently we began to let him go…with love.
And now we can now move forward, having chosen what we will keep and what we will release. I keep within me the memory of the man with whom I worked shoulder to shoulder to build a successful business from scratch. I hold on to the passion, the integrity of the dream and the gentleness of spirit that I knew was there. I can now hold him in that peaceful place he so longed for.
Grief takes you into the past. It is an opportunity for reflection. It is a time for sorting and choosing. It can also be a time for clearing space for something new and wonderful. Like Spring…a new beginning……..
……Or, the birth of a baby. Our first grandson arrived yesterday, May 15th, and is named Briden in honour of Brian Dennis Cowan.
What do you need to clear away to allow for new growth and possibilities?
What miracles are waiting for you to show up?
Brian was brilliant, exceptionally creative and talented and worked hard. He was a paranoid schizophrenic and an obsessive-compulsive hoarder. The collecting, the hoarding and utter chaos of his environment was reflective of the turmoil of his mind. The thoughts that ran together constantly, intersecting and bouncing off each other offered him no rest, no peace. A cluttered, noisy mind.
He hoarded at two locations over a period of almost 20 years. The emotional trauma for me and our son was enormous as we searched the rubble for treasures, for understanding and for meaning.
He was a talented writer. He wrote volumes in order to express the endless stream of thoughts that sought release. He searched for peace, for truth and for purpose. The real world became too harsh for him. He pushed against it. It was like pushing against an immovable object. The very evil that he raged against and tried to retreat from, instead, engulfed him. By holding onto the injustices that world spewed out, he grew weaker. The less he could control the world and ultimately his own thoughts and actions the angrier and sicker he became.
As we sifted through the massive piles and boxes, we traveled his twisted, painful path. We found little of material value. We felt his torment. We experienced his longings. We heard his prayer. And gradually, gently we began to let him go…with love.
And now we can now move forward, having chosen what we will keep and what we will release. I keep within me the memory of the man with whom I worked shoulder to shoulder to build a successful business from scratch. I hold on to the passion, the integrity of the dream and the gentleness of spirit that I knew was there. I can now hold him in that peaceful place he so longed for.
Grief takes you into the past. It is an opportunity for reflection. It is a time for sorting and choosing. It can also be a time for clearing space for something new and wonderful. Like Spring…a new beginning……..
……Or, the birth of a baby. Our first grandson arrived yesterday, May 15th, and is named Briden in honour of Brian Dennis Cowan.
What do you need to clear away to allow for new growth and possibilities?
What miracles are waiting for you to show up?
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Captain Trevor Greene, The Peace Warrior
On November 9th, 2009, Captain Trevor Greene received the Sacrifice Medal at Rideau Hall, Ottawa. He has traveled a long and hard road from March, 2006 when he was shipped back to Canada from Afghanistan in a coma. He was not expected to live.
In March of 2006, the Vancouver BC reservist, journalist, published author and new father of a baby girl, was serving a peace mission in Afghanistan. In a small village in the Taliban area, he and his troops sat down to a meeting (shura) with tribal elders for discussions to build trust. As a measure of goodwill the troops typically remove their helmets and lay down their guns, a position of vulnerability. Almost immediately he was savagely struck in the back of the neck with an axe. Another Canadian soldier shot the attacker dead.
Surprisingly, when he regained consciousness and after brain surgery, his cogitative abilities were still in tact! His recovery to this point has been a series of near-miracles strengthened by the dedication and support of his fiancée, Debbie. Still, it is the drive within that ultimately moves one past insurmountable obstacles. Trevor had not only the will to live, but to live a meaningful life again.
CTV’s W-Five produced the documentary The Peace Warrior which follows Trevor and Debbie for more than a year as Trevor undergoes brain injury rehabilitation. This documentary (http://watch.ctv.ca/news/w5/w-five-presents-peace-warrior/#clip121589 ) received the Gemini Award this year for Best Biography Documentary.
Trevor appears at speaking engagements and is now writing a book about his experience and the power of hope.
Trevor before the attack and now is a thoughtful, deep and caring person. This has come back to him ten-fold from near and far.
The true warrior knows he doesn’t stand alone.
The true warrior knows he must be an instrument of peace.
In March of 2006, the Vancouver BC reservist, journalist, published author and new father of a baby girl, was serving a peace mission in Afghanistan. In a small village in the Taliban area, he and his troops sat down to a meeting (shura) with tribal elders for discussions to build trust. As a measure of goodwill the troops typically remove their helmets and lay down their guns, a position of vulnerability. Almost immediately he was savagely struck in the back of the neck with an axe. Another Canadian soldier shot the attacker dead.
Surprisingly, when he regained consciousness and after brain surgery, his cogitative abilities were still in tact! His recovery to this point has been a series of near-miracles strengthened by the dedication and support of his fiancée, Debbie. Still, it is the drive within that ultimately moves one past insurmountable obstacles. Trevor had not only the will to live, but to live a meaningful life again.
CTV’s W-Five produced the documentary The Peace Warrior which follows Trevor and Debbie for more than a year as Trevor undergoes brain injury rehabilitation. This documentary (http://watch.ctv.ca/news/w5/w-five-presents-peace-warrior/#clip121589 ) received the Gemini Award this year for Best Biography Documentary.
Trevor appears at speaking engagements and is now writing a book about his experience and the power of hope.
Trevor before the attack and now is a thoughtful, deep and caring person. This has come back to him ten-fold from near and far.
The true warrior knows he doesn’t stand alone.
The true warrior knows he must be an instrument of peace.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Stop Kicking Your Entrepreneurial Spirit
Possessing an “entrepreneurial spirit” does not mean that you must have your own business. Not all business owners possess it.
When a business, career or relationship is new - you feel alive. The vision is clear. Senses are engaged and vibrating.
And for a while you feel unstoppable, until one one day you notice that you are hurtling through space on the busy-ness rocket - into the darkness until you literally start asking yourself:
“When did the light go out?”
“When did the path become littered with noise?”
“When did my passion turn into panic?”
That’s when a 180 degree u-turn can help you get back on the right track - by doing something different.
Be still. Turn down the volume of endless chatter in your head.
Breathe. Have you been holding your breath?
Share. Speak what’s on your mind with someone who can objectively ask the tough questions and offer you new perspectives. Find someone who’ll hold up the mirror so you can see the real you.
Dump the details that just don’t serve any purpose.
Try something different - hey maybe a kick butt life coach can help :-)
When a business, career or relationship is new - you feel alive. The vision is clear. Senses are engaged and vibrating.
And for a while you feel unstoppable, until one one day you notice that you are hurtling through space on the busy-ness rocket - into the darkness until you literally start asking yourself:
“When did the light go out?”
“When did the path become littered with noise?”
“When did my passion turn into panic?”
That’s when a 180 degree u-turn can help you get back on the right track - by doing something different.
Be still. Turn down the volume of endless chatter in your head.
Breathe. Have you been holding your breath?
Share. Speak what’s on your mind with someone who can objectively ask the tough questions and offer you new perspectives. Find someone who’ll hold up the mirror so you can see the real you.
Dump the details that just don’t serve any purpose.
Try something different - hey maybe a kick butt life coach can help :-)
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