Moving to Higher Ground

Take off the weight and sprint to your destiny!

Are you moving to higher ground in your life? Let me let you in on a secret: You’re going to have to do things you don’t want to do as you move to higher ground. Those things can include making tough decisions, leaving old ways and people behind, conquering fear, and more.



As we move to higher ground, there will be movement! Things will change, people will come and go, and our lives will evolve. Most folks hate change with a passion. We wish things could stay the same forever, and when we see something we want, we wish with everything in us that that thing would come into our lives and stay forever. Few things - VERY few things - are meant to be in your life forever. I mean, you could count them on hand!

Your comfort level with shifts and changes is directly proportionate to the level of your faith. With unwavering trust in God, there is no question about whether the so-called trials and challenges in your life are to your benefit. Why? Because allthings work together for the good of those who love God. So if you love God, He is perfecting everything that concerns you. Everybody who steps into your life is not meant to be there indefinitely. Again, few things are meant to be permanent. God is the cornerstone, the foundation, the very oxygen of a prosperous life, so everything else is truly optional. Because of His permanence, our peace, happiness, contentment, and success will largely reflect our ability to relate to God in an intimate way. So now we're looking at your relationship with God - are you spending time with Him? Are you talking to Him daily in candid ways about yourself and your life? God rewards honesty and transparency with tender, unconditional love and grace.

If God takes something from you, it's because he has something else for you. If God takes something good from you, it's because he has something great for you. If we delight ourselves in Him, we are given the desires of our hearts - that's a promise, not a guess. And the fabulous part about that is that God is not wishy washy like some of us are...we can rest with the expectation of His fulfillment of every promise He makes. What a wonderful joy!

It's easier to have mediocre faith and to spend countless hours stressed out over matters rather than to exercise that faith muscle. It takes strength to believe - to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God's got your back, and that there is absolutely nothing that can happen that will disturb that. This is why the faith muscle needs constant exercise - it atrophies quickly. To have complete trust in God and His plan is perhaps the greatest demonstration of wisdom. If we took time to truly reflect on the depth and width of God's love, His loving kindness, the incessant blessings, the daily renewed mercies, how could we possibly doubt for a moment that anything other than supernatural blessing would be placed upon our lives as an inescapable covering? He is faithful, and perhaps amidst our human nature, it's difficult to fathom or appreciate that He loves us enough to show up every time, in spite of how we behave. There is no greater love than the one God has for you.


Remember that not everything and everybody can go with you to higher ground. Think about what it feels like trying to carry a 50 lb box up a steep flight of stairs. It’s heavy and once you get up the stairs and put the box down, you feel like you ran a mile even though you only covered a few feet of distance. What would be a better choice? There’s an elevator on every floor of your life. You’ve got to carry your own weight, but there are some people and things you need to put on the elevator of life because God is the conductor of the elevator. If God intends for that person or situation to be in your life at the next level, it will arrive on the elevator by God’s will and that person’s choice or the movement of the situation. Trying to force things to happen is like carrying excessive weight up the stairs. Crying over the past and insisting things be other than what they are is staring woefully hoping the elevator opens on the next level while you’re supposed to be sprinting to the next set of stairs to go to even higher ground.



You’ve got miles to cover on your journey, and you can’t afford to have unnecessary baggage and weight on you. When you are saddled with unnecessary weight in your life, you can not run your race with patience. You are like an Olympic sprinter, running towards your destiny. Imagine arriving to your destiny late, tired, and frustrated because you didn’t completely trust God’s motion in your life. Your destiny is too important for you to be behind God’s timing because of a person or situation that slowed you down! Don’t let people delay your arrival to your destiny.


God is a god of motion. You say you want God to show up in your life? Well get very comfortable with change because that's the first thing that will happen when He shows up. He will take people, places, and things from you - will you trust that there is no error on God's part? In His infinite brilliance, there is no limitation or lack nor is there any foul timing. His plan is perfect, and our submission to that plan is where we get freed up to be, do, and have the abundance He intends for us. Keep an open palm so that you can receive all the things God has for you. Let go of the things God is trying to take from you so He can replace them with something better. Remember that good is the enemy of great! The world will not stop revolving if you let go, but God's appearance in your life will make your world look radically different. If you open your hands, know that some things will be taken away - there will be motion. However other things - anointed things - will begin to flow in, and you can trust in the divine appointment of those things. Don't get in God's way! Run your race, climb your stairs, move to higher ground! Without faith, it's impossible to please God. And ironically, with faith, nothing is impossible for us.

That which has made you free will in the end make you glad also.



Inspired Journaling Prompt: Write about what the next level in your life looks like – who’s there, what’s around you, what does a typical day in that life look like. Now consider what will need to change, how you will need to grow, and who will need to change roles in order for your life to get to that next level.



Inspired Action: Begin packing for your move! Do something this week that will move you closer to the next level – save more money, get an extra workout in, spend a little more time at the office – take eager steps towards your destiny this week…and remember, no baggage!

Moving Through Sad Times

We’ve all dealt with sad times – whether it be the end of a relationship, the death of a friend, or a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, sad times are an inevitable part of our lives. The best thing we can do is find healthy ways to move through sad times and use them as inspiration to press on and live well.



This week, we’re discussing how you can process sadness and move on to brighter days. There are 4 important things for an inspired person to remember when sad times visit.



Acknowledge circumstances. Ignoring tough times doesn’t make them go away; in fact, pretending things away often makes them worse. No matter how difficult, find the courage to face the sad time head on and resolve to move past it with the help of friends, family, and God.



Candidly express your feelings. Be completely honest with yourself and God about where you are. Express all feelings, not just those that seem justified or noble. You’re a human being, and you’re entitled to feel a wide range of emotions. The key is to feel every emotion yet not act on them. Instead, you’ll want to find healthy facilitative ways to release any negative emotions such as journaling, exercising, and prayer.



Have faith that this too shall pass. One of my favorite quotes says that no winter lasts forever and no spring skips its turn. Remember that sad times are temporary and that heartbreak does eventually heal with time. God doesn’t like seeing His children in pain so remember that God loves you no matter what and He’s on your side.



Be patient with yourself. Healing is a process that takes time. As adults, we often want to breeze past hurt feelings and resentments and “get over it”. However, dealing with emotions improperly can cause major issues in our relationships with others and ourselves. Your healing may not be linear; you may find yourself revisiting various stages as you move forward. That’s totally ok. Allow yourself to cry, be angry, be sad, and feel hope rise again.





Inspired Journaling Prompt: Journal about a sad topic and a healthy way to process your sadness. Although sadness is not a fun topic, assessing how you process sadness can help you in the present and the future. Are you suppressing sadness about anything that’s happened recently? Spend time writing candidly about your feelings and how you can resolve them.



Inspired Action: When you find yourself disappointed or upset this week, do something that will move you closer to a solution and something that will feed your spirit. Remember that your emotions need attention like every other important thing in your life.

Tired? Pace yourself!

Are you tired? Do you feel confident and focused? Do you feel exhausted and overwhelmed? So often we find ourselves in going in so many different directions, and as we experience burnout, our emotions begin to play tricks on us. We wonder if we’re on the right path or if we’re even fit to accomplish all of our goals. The call to be excellent and to make an effort at a meaningful life can leave us spent sometimes. I remember a time when I felt spiritually weighed down for a day or 2 and couldn't understand why. I realized I had to get still so I could hear God. When I did, He said to me, "My child, you are simply weary. Rest for a while, and I will give you strength to continue pressing toward the mark. You are on the right path; you're just tired, and that's ok." I began to weep silently because that's what it was. I was simply tired and in need of mental rest. And the more profound thing was that it was perfectly fine. So many of us make outrageous demands on our bodies and minds - as if we’re robots running on batteries who should never need to be replenished and rejuvenated. We often feel guilty or frustrated with our need for rest, play, and rejuvenation. We say things like "The clock doesn't stop" or "Gotta keep moving.", but this point of view does not serve the greater good of our lives. It's ok for some of the things on our to-do lists to be unchecked! The world won't end if we take breaks. This attitude of pressing forward while ignoring pain and fatigue is a nod to spiritual suicide. We are spiritual beings having a human experience; to ignore that the spirit needs rest is to set one's self up for a fall. We all have competing interests and obligations, but we need to be healthy and rested in order to function at optimal levels.


It’s ok to be tired! I know people need you, and I know you have responsibilities and bills, and children and significant others and parents and siblings and school and work and church and community work and personal goals and weight loss goals and personal goals and things that simply have to be done, but be kind and nurturing to yourself. Give yourself mental and emotional rest. This morning I was reading Proverbs, and one of the abiding themes with wisdom is pacing...pacing one's self, pacing the acquisition of material things, pacing relationships, pacing important decisions. Pace yourself! You don't have to win the race tomorrow. All you can do is all you can do and that is enough. Do your best; it isn't necessary to overextend yourself.

Rest when you need to and trust that by honoring your own needs, you are demonstrating self-love which will in turn increase your ability to love others, serve others, and give to others. Treat yourself the way you would your very best friend because you are truly all you have. God has not given you a burning desire to succeed and be prosperous for you to be burnt out! God's protective Hand is guiding you, and His timing is impeccable. He loves you more than you can even comprehend. Be tired, rest, and then begin again with joy, peace, and a renewed sense of purpose.


Inspiration Journal: In what ways have you been overextending yourself lately? Are you pacing yourself or do you feel frantically out of control? Is it time for you to begin delegating tasks that someone else could do? Spend time writing about the pace of your life and how you can be sure you are giving yourself the attention you deserve.



Inspired Action: Spend 45 minutes today on YOU! Do something totally self-indulgent – take a long walk alone and clear your head, buy yourself a new pair of shoes, hire a babysitter and get a massage, head to the beach and enjoy the majesty of the ocean.

The proper use of the word "no"

Many people struggle with setting appropriate boundaries and saying no. Perhaps the most important thing to understand is that boundaries are healthy and without them, our emotional and spiritual security evaporates. Setting boundaries doesn't mean we're "selfish", "mean" or "strict". Sometimes we say yes to things we don't want to do out of fear - fear of losing a person or his/her approval, fear of guilt, fear of loneliness, fear of owning the power of choosing to say no. Saying no when we need to comes from love - love of ourselves, love of the other person, and love of the things we value most.

Consider these things next time you're tempted to say yes when you want to say no:

* You are only responsible for yourself! As a person of integrity, you should speak the truth in love at all times, but you are not responsible for the emotions of people who choose not to respectfully accept your boundaries.
* You can be emotionally attached to people without losing your sense of self and your freedom.
* There's nothing selfish about setting boundaries. You are responsible for your own well-being and boundaries assist you in properly caring for yourself and your life.
* Boundaries don't always indicate anger. There are diplomatic, polite, and loving ways to communicate "no" to those you love. A great start is by showing appreciation for their efforts and requests.
* As you demonstrate love and respect to those around you by honoring their "no"s, you are able to more comfortably say no when necessary.

Use "yes" and "no" as mere indicators of choice. They are not a reflection of your love or respect for the other person, only of your commitment to honoring yourself.

Cracking Your Personal Success Code

I’ve got a secret to share with you today. I know something about you that you probably don’t even know about yourself – you have a success code. You’re probably wondering what a success code is and how I know you have one. So, here we go…

A success code is a personal formula that creates positive results in your life. It’s a method that opens the door to you getting what you want. Most people follow a general pattern of success such as setting goals, taking consistent action, etc. However, within that general pattern, there are specific methods that are unique to you. Discovering what these details are will unlock the life of your dreams.

Let me give you an example: I am a great at multitasking. For many years, I carelessly dismissed this important trait because I didn’t understand how it affected my success code. You may have heard the term, “Jack of many trades, master of none”, but there are some people who can engage in a handful of things and do each of them well. I’m one of those people. It sounds great, but it’s only an advantage if you know that it’s a number in my success code. At the beginning of my career, I thought I had to focus on one thing and one thing only. I thought, “Well, if I want to do something creative, then I can’t be a successful entrepreneur. And if I want to exceed in business, I can’t make movies or do anything Type B.” I was so WRONG! In fact, the skies parted and everything came into alignment when I realized that I work most efficiently and I’m at my best (not to mention much, much happier) when I’m doing more than one thing – when I’m able to work on several tasks, delegate, create solutions, think strategically. What a revelation! It completely changed my life.

I share this with you because many times people struggle for years to attain personal and professional success because they don’t know their success codes. They have belief patterns that keep them from thinking about themselves and their lives in new ways.



So, what is your success code? Use the questions below to evaluate your own methods of succeeding.

1. What criteria do you use to make decisions?

2. In what areas of your life do you consistently make good choices?

3. What are your natural gifts and talents?

4. What energizes you and gets you excited?

5. Do you work best in the morning or at night?

6. How many hours of sleep do you need to feel rested and be at your best?

7. Who inspires you to be better and live well?

Putting these elements together creates a matrix of things that contribute to your ability to consistently create success. Examine your answers closely and begin use each area to your advantage i.e. doing your most important work during your “golden hours” or the time of day you work best.

Inspired Journaling Prompt: Make a list of 5 successes you’ve had over the past 30 days. What do these successes have in common and how can you replicate your results?

Inspired Action: Do something today to contribute to your success. Repeat an action that has yielded successes in the past.

You get what you prepare for!

You may have heard the saying that when preparation meets opportunity, success happens. In recent years, there’s been a lot of talk about the internal success process: creating a vision, visualizing yourself in possession of the goal, and creating positive vibes & energy. All of these things are helpful in your process of creating success, but no amount of positive thinking takes the place of preparation.


Are you prepared to get everything that you say you want to receive? Success is not an accident. It happens as the result of a clear vision, a well conceived plan, and most importantly, ACTION. Without action, even the best laid plans are worthless.

You don’t get what you want or think about – you get what you prepare for. Today, consider what you are truly prepared to receive in your life and what you’re merely wishing for. Throughout history, we see countless battles won, victories achieved, and triumphs gained because of focus and preparation. In order to be the best, you have to train for your challenges – because everyone meets with challenges at one time or another. Your success lies in how you handle those challenges and how you leverage setbacks for success.

Without preparation, countless opportunities will slip through your fingers. Consider yourself a top athlete or major star preparing for a performance. You need to see yourself winning and doing well, and you need to train like crazy so that your success is second nature. Your big event is your destiny, and you don’t want to be without the strength, knowledge, and skills necessary to give your very best to your life.

It’s time to stop wishing and hoping and start preparing! Prepare to receive what you want by making room in your life for what you want and taking the necessary steps to capitalize on every opportunity that crosses your path.

Journal about your vision for your life. What do you truly want to see happen? What will it take for you to get that which you desire most? Are you truly ready to receive what you desire most?

Take action every day this week to prepare for your destiny. Maybe it means getting rid of the old to prepare for the new or perhaps you need to strengthen some mental muscle to move into a new season. Whatever it may be, get READY! Your destiny is waiting for you!

The Power of Patience & Faith

Patience is accepting a difficult situation from God without giving Him a deadline to remove it.

And the amazing truth of this is that God's timing is PERFECT...we never know what unseen dangers He's protecting us from...we also don't know how He plans to bless us. Impatience can be a huge blessing blocker.

Have you ever been in the middle of a situation and had no clue why something so pointless/difficult/heart-wrenching was happening? You know, your suffering appeared pointless, senseless, and undeserved? Well, sometimes God uses adversity to mold us and shape us. Of course, gold will never be pure without fire. If we intend to live a heightened state of existence, we have to be willing to endure some hardship in order to gain wisdom, understanding, and gratitude.

In one of Kirk Franklin's songs, he says, "Some of us wouldn't pray if we didn't go through something." And it's true. When God is raining down His blessings on us, it's easy to get comfortable and start slacking. But when storms are raging in our lives, we cling to Him. He longs to have that same level of communion with us, ALL THE TIME. We should be in that same perpetual state of praise, thanksgiving, and petition, regardless of what's going on. That's why the old folks used to tell us to "stay prayed up" because you never know when you may not be able to pray for yourself. I went through a period this year when I couldn't pray for myself, and to this day, I'm steady thanking God for my mother and my father because without their intercession, I would probably be dead, and that's no exaggeration. God literally carried me through my storm because I was ready to quit.

The funny thing is that sometimes, we look back on our lives and on situations we've dealt with, and we're GLAD that we had that difficult situation or that season of grief. Have you ever wanted something really badly, not gotten it, and then later been glad that you didn't get it? It's definitely happened to me. God knows what's best for us, and giving Him complete control of our lives lends itself to Him covering us, guiding us, and prospering us.

I'm always saying that faith is the cornerstone of my life, and without it, I would be lost. It's true, especially where patience is concerned. Because truthfully, how can you truly be patient and wait on something if you're not even sure that's it's coming? When you have no doubts in your mind that God is working on your behalf, that He is your portion, that He loves you unconditionally and wants nothing more than to give you the desires of your heart that are within His will, then really, it's EASY to be patient. The problem is that too many of us are lacking in faith...the Bible says we only need faith the size of a mustard seed! Do you know how small that is?

That thing is TINY!!! That's all we need?!?!?! Wow...that should be easy. We only need that much faith to have any and every thing we want. Your blessings, to some degree, will be proportionate with your faith. Some folks can't understand why they can't shake that illness or can't get that job or can't find true love...let me tell you something, nothing "unbelievable" or "impossible" is ever going to happen to you. Period. If you believe that your God specializes in the impossible (mine does) then you should behave that way in speech and in action. That means doing things that reflect your faith and speaking excellence into existence in your life.

So, today I encourage you to take heart and be patient. God loves you more than you can even comprehend, and He wants nothing but the best for you. You need only believe that same best for yourself in order for it come to pass. With faith, nothing is impossible!

Lesson Mining

Are you leveraging your failure for success?

Failure. It hurts, it’s no fun, and we all experience it. When faced with the realization that our efforts have fallen short, there is usually a wave of emotion that comes over us. We may feel sad, frustrated, angry, disappointed, or resentful about what has occurred.

Today, I want to give you a secret of success that highly successful, confident women use in their personal and professional lives. This secret is one that will take you from good to great in every area of your life and help you create the life of your dreams. In fact, with the use of this secret, you’ll never truly fail again. How does that sound? You’ll have the leverage you need to evolve into a woman who wins over and over.

The secret is something I call Lesson Mining. It’s a process that involves mining your failures and looking for lessons and cues that will make you more effective in the present and the future. Think for a moment about some of your biggest failures. Did you learn anything from them? I always say that if I have to endure a failure, I’m going to learn a lot from it and make it work for me to earn me many successes in the future. The key to leveraging your failure for success is to accept the failure, resolve to move past it, and then look objectively at the sequence of events. When we are able to lift our emotions from the situation, we can begin to gain clarity on what led to the unfavorable outcome.

Once we’ve mined for lessons, we can create objective success strategies. Objective success strategies are like a map on our path to success to help us make empowered decisions and create amazing lives.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say you lost a major deal because you failed to communicate an important detail and the other party didn’t have enough information to feel comfortable closing the deal. Later, you realize that you left the detail out. You feel frustrated and angry with yourself for not including the detail. Once you’ve calmed down, you mine for lessons.

Your objective success strategies may look something like this: Err on the side of including details. Communicate clearly and ask questions to check for understanding. Follow up on communications to answer any questions.

With the above lessons in place, you can apply those lessons to other areas of your life to prevent repeat failures and create amazing success. If every failure is a stepping stone to success, then you are always getting better and growing. Next time you experience a perceived failure, process your emotions, then move on and mine for the lessons! Use the objective success strategies to help you create your next success.

Inspiration Notes from The Land of the Rising Sun!

Take a look at my video from my recent trip to Japan! It was inspiring and fun, and I'm slowly but surely sharing all the inspiration with you here and in my videos.

Enjoy!

In the spirit of Valentine's Day...

Yesterday was Valentine's Day! I spent the day catching up on some personal things and enjoyed a nice outing. How was your day? I had a revelation about love and decided to share it with you here.

Over the years, I've become increasingly aware of the importance of self-love. I've begun to see that a healthy self-love and self-esteem truly inform many others areas of our lives.

So, how's your self-love looking these days? Is it sagging? Is it stronger than ever? Is it somewhere in the middle? No matter where it is, decide to do something special, just for you this week. I know we've all got commitments, but YOU are the most important person in the world to you (at least you should be). I know you immediately think, "No, Lisa, my kids should be." or "My spouse is."

Well, I'm telling you that you should be. Here's why: You can't give what you don't have. If you don't have love inside of yourself, you can't give love to anyone else. As you cultivate a strong relationship with yourself, you increase your capacity to be the loving person you want to be. You can only give what you have so fill up your internal well with all the good things you wish to be more of, and you'll find it easy to give those things to everyone around you.

L.O.V.E. - Letting Only Virtue Express

Expand Your Vision

Today's post is simple yet profound. As an international speaker, entrepreneur, and coach, I'm always challenging people to dream big dreams and then teaching them how to create the life of those dreams.

A common thread I observe is small dreams - most dreams seem huge when they're unrealized, but the reality is that some of our dreams aren't big enough and therefore lack the power to spur us into sufficient action.

Tony Robbins said that if you have a big enough why, the how will be revealed, and I wholeheartedly agree. From personal experience and watching the evolution of friends, clients, and other successful people, I see how remarkably inspiring BIG dreams can be.

So today, I challenge you to do a simple exercise. Take your vision - whatever it is - and multiply it by 10. So, if you dream of running a million dollar company, make it 10 million. If you want to have 3 great friends, make it 30 great friends. If you want to take more luxurious vacations, make it 10 luxurious vacations.

How does this exercise shift your thinking? Where do you feel it? Many people feel butterflies or heart palpitations when they start thinking that big because they've never even considered the possibilities. Your BIG dreams contain the inspiration you need to get into action and stay in action and eventually realize your dreams and then some.

Expand your vision. Remember that your life can only be as big as you are, so expand yourself and watch your life reflect your internal evolution. Be bold and dream BIG!

The Ultimate Dream Killer

Ok...I'm going to warn you that this post is going to be intense because I feel VERY strongly about this topic...

If you're reading this, I assume you have dreams, goals, and things you'd like to see happen in your life. I would guess that you're a reasonably positive person who enjoys being inspired since you're reading this.

And yet, I'd imagine that at some time in your life, you've dealt with the ultimate dream killer.

You've been cruising along, getting things done, and enjoying some success. You've happily accepted the awesome things that have come your way, only to get comfortable and begin to shrink.

And then...it rears its ugly head. The Dream Killer comes in like a thief in the night, snatching up your ability to succeed while you are none the wiser, basking in the glow of your previous accomplishments.

But you're not the victim. You weren't vigilant and so, the Ultimate Dream Killer visited you via an unspoken invitation.

You looked up and realized that you were plagued by it - PROCRASTINATION.

I have never seen anything other than fear be responsible for so many dashed dreams and so much unrealized potential. Throughout my years as a speaker, writer, and coach, I've witnessed the countless excuses people come up with for not starting NOW on making their dreams a reality and at the root, I see the Ultimate Dream Killer, procrastination, causing even the most brilliant and successful people to be stagnant.




So today, I pose a simple yet poignant question: What are you waiting for (to go to the next level, to take the next step, to create the life of your dreams, to excel even higher)? Sometimes it's money or another person or an opportunity or more time or next year or the "right situation"...frankly, I don't care what the answer is. I just want you to answer it for yourself because we can slay the dragon if he's a ghost.

So you say you're waiting on __________________. Alright...let me ask you this: What is ____________________ never comes? Will you simply forgo your dream and all of its splendor because you never got what you thought you needed? Or will you decide to find a way or make one?

I want you to challenge your assumptions. What do you believe is standing in your way and why are you putting off the specific, important action necessary to move forward? ACTION is such a beautiful thing - not only is it fear repellant, it's also kryptonite to the Ultimate Dream Killer. When you move, everything else moves. The universe is in motion - you are either evolving with it, or devolving into death. Your choice.

My challenge to you today is to DO IT NOW. No, seriously, like, right now. I know that tomorrow, or next week, or next year or next lifetime sounds and feels better, but there's no power in that. Your point of power is ALWAYS now...it's always in the moment. You leverage that power by consistently acting in alignment with your stated goals and intentions.

What will you DO today? Don't let the Ultimate Dream Killer leave you behind in a lackluster life. Create a powerful plan and take powerful action. There are enough people and things to get in your way - don't be one of them! Free yourself by opening yourself up to the possibilities of inspired action. Ok, enough chatter - go take action!

The simple way to be immediately successful

There's a simple yet powerful way to be immediately successful: Start working on a meaningful goal.

What is your definition of success? So many people have super lofty, pie in the sky ideals - a mansion, a billion dollars, a fleet of luxury cars, an appearance on Oprah, an endless supply of rich and beautiful friends, a smoking hot spouse, a jet for spur of the moment vacations and so much more. Maybe you simply want to retire early or find the love of your life. Whatever your goal is, you don't have to wait until you achieve it to be successful.

Most of my readers know I'm a personal development junkie - I devour material that helps me do what I do better. I am a life strategist - I help people integrate their lives to create the life of their dreams. It's fun & exciting work, but it comes with a lot of responsibility. Anyhoo, I'm always listening to or reading something on personal development and one of my favorite recordings of all time is Earl Nightengale's Strangest Secret. It's such a powerful recording, and it always inspires me to step my game up.

In the recording, Earl Nightengale states that success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. Interesting, huh? What if you're already successful? What if you've wrongly considered yourself an outsider from the "successful people"? You may be thinking, "Well, if I'm successful, why don't I have anything to show for it?"

Successful people are ALWAYS learning. I've observed that the most successful people in the world are endlessly curious and always seeking out new knowledge. They're also not afraid of any perceived failure. They insist on playing full out and so, they enjoy success that many people never even attempt.

In Earl's definition, he uses the word progressive...progress...an event that occurs over time. Contrary to the belief of many people, success is not an instant event. It's not an occurrence; it's a development. It's a commitment that one makes that reveals itself over time.

So today, I dare you to consider yourself successful. I mean really successful. And to take it all a step further, begin referring to yourself as such. It doesn't make you stuck up or egotistical or any of that - it makes you confident and reaffirms the truth - that as you continue working toward your worthy ideal, you, in all of your inspired glory, are successful.

Pitch with Passion & Enthusiasm

Pitch. Sell. Propose.

The words create tension, angst, and fear for many. Are you one of them? Over the past year, I've observed how many people have a problem with selling. Alongside that observation, I've noticed how powerful selling is and that is truly is the most lucrative occupation in the world. After all, no matter what your station in life, your ability to succeed and transcend to new levels of success is predicated, at least in part, on your ability to sell.

And by sell, I mean to exchange one valuable thing for another. For some reason, selling has gotten a bad rap as being that slimy, imposing, pushy thing only unscrupulous men in cheap polyester suits do. Yet when I look at some of the most successful people in our world -past and present- Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, and others, they ALL possessed and developed the ability to persuade people - many, many people - to adopt their perspectives. In short, they sold the masses on their ideas, and in the process, they effected change in the world.

How do you feel about selling? I realized a couple of years ago that I had some "stuff" around selling - I was totally uncomfortable with promoting myself and selling myself or my businesses. After doing some reading and studying, I realized that selling is NOT slimy. In fact, I was withholding all of my brilliance and inspiration from the world by not selling. There were throngs of people who needed what I had...but how would they know if I never pitched it? How would they know unless I promoted myself with passion & enthusiasm? I managed to free myself from the mire of "Selling is icky" by being willing to fearlessly step outside of my comfort zone. I decided to "turn it on" - after all, I knew how to sell. I could sell ice in the winter, in the words of the rap scholar Mr. Jay-Z. I was good at it and needed to realize the importance of it to be willing to do it.

So today, I challenge you to become a better seller. Selling is not restricted to business activity either. Every day, we're selling someone on something...a spouse on where to vacation, a friend on where to eat for dinner, a boss on a raise. We don't realize the power of our pitches, but those who do get powerful results.

Work on your pitch today. Next time you ask someone for something, analyze your pitch...
1. Are you creating value for the other party? What's in it for them?
2. Are you receiving value for you your created value?
3. What is the other party's perspective on your proposition? Where are they coming from?
4. Why is this important to you?

Asking yourself these questions will improve your pitches personally and professionally. Give them a shot next time you make a request!

Later.

The Power of Intention

2010 is in its infancy and already I've seen the undeniable power of intention. I am a firm believer in the power of choosing what you want, taking directed action, and then allowing the result to unfold before you in divine timing.

At the beginning of the year, I set powerful intentions and decided that 2010 would be a breakthrough year for me. I set goals that stretched me WAY outside of my comfort zone and forced me to look more closely at my habits and the results they were yielding.

In just 4 weeks, I've manifested some powerful things:
-A new personal trainer
-An international speaking engagement
-New joint ventures
-New wealth building opportunities
-New connections in my network

It's powerful what can happen when you decide that your ACTIONS will match your INTENTIONS...and stop making excuses for why it isn't so. When you throw Plan B away and decide that you will give 100% to Plan A, magic happens.

So today, I encourage you to get super clear about your intention. Decide what you want and be specific in your actions. Passivity will get you nowhere. Be bold and brilliant, and as amazing things unfold, remember to be grateful and to pass on the brilliance!

Later.