Archive for the ‘Personal Development’ Category
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
You will get more out of your time when you learn how to get more out of your life.
After you determine what you want, what you value, what you believe, and where your priorities lie. Determining how to spend a given day or hour is easy. In order to get more out of your time, know what you want to get out of it. That may seem very basic, but many people fail to define their values, purpose, and goals. They are immersed in their daily activities, and they fail to think about what they really like or want to do. They overlook the purpose of their lives.
Purpose
What is your purpose in life? Do you have a purpose? You will be happiest when you are achieving goals that are consistent with your purpose. If you knew that you had only one year to live, what would you do differently? Why?
Now imagine that you have many years to live and achieve. Visualize yourself and your life in one, three, and five years. What do you see? What is your occupation? What are your family responsibilities? What kind of future do you want? Are your present activities and priorities compatible with that envisioned future? Is there anything you can do differently today that can make a significant difference in your tomorrow? Answering these questions will help you determine your purpose, your vision, your values, and your priorities in life. Every life has a purpose and you exist for a purpose. Within the boundaries of that purpose you shape your attitude, skills, and goals. When you define your purpose and understand your ultimate goals, you have a strong foundation upon which to manage both your time and your life. Choices become easier because you make them in relation to your purpose, your values, and all that is important to you.
Values
Values are the principles you use to make decisions. They are your morals, ethics, and standards: those things that are important to you. They are what you perceive to be right and honest. They are non-negotiable, and unlike opinions, do not change. Take some time to evaluate your priorities and crystallize your values. Create a list of what is important to you. As you create your list of values, consider these questions:
- What gives your life meaning?
- What’s most important to you?
- What do you value?
In order to enjoy a life of fulfillment, you must decide what you want to be and do in your life. One of the most worthwhile activities in which you can engage, regardless of your age or station in life, is an exercise in introspection and values clarification. As was observed by Plato centuries ago, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” You make better choices when you understand what’s really important to you. The right choices improve the quality to your life.
Vision
Visualization, like introspection, is a power tool. It’s the process of forming a mental picture of the future. We must mentally accomplish something before we can physically accomplish it. Your ability to visualize your future is one of the most powerful tools for creating the future you want.
A clear and strong vision will help you to stretch your ability and achieve higher levels of success. A positive vision of our future gives meaning to life, and a significant vision precedes significant success. In addition to giving meaning to your life, a clear vision accompanied by specific goals automatically helps you prioritize options and make good decisions. If you know what is important to you and you can clearly see the long-term future you want, the daily decisions about how to get there become easier. To create the future you want and deserve, you must harness the power of visualization and activate your positive thoughts. Your thoughts will then bring about the appropriate and necessary behavior. The picture you carry within you will determine all that you accomplish in life; therefore your expectations influence your results.
So many people feel out of control and that the world around them is controlling their life as opposed to the way it ought to be. Take back control of your life and destiny by clarifying your purpose, values, and vision. Clearly knowing what you exist to accomplish combined with a clear understanding of what you value while visualizing where you see yourself in one, three, and five years provides liberating power. Take back control of your life and achieve what you were meant to achieve!
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, strategic planning, leadership development, executive coaching, and youth leadership. For more information visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: goals, Plato, Purpose, success, Time, values, Vision
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Friday, October 30th, 2009
Are you inspired? Does your life currently hold within it surpassing brilliance or excellence? Are your dreams becoming a reality?
All accomplishments begin with an idea, a seed, or a dream. It is impossible to emphasize strongly enough the power of a creative and uninhibited imagination. Every achievement has emerged as the end result of a dream, a vision, or what may even have seemed to be a far-fetched idea. When is the last time you exercised your inspiration?
It is so easy to get caught up in the function of business and life that often times we forget to stop and think about what we are really working for or toward. Our daily routine becomes just that … a routine. We get used to going through the motions, and our dreams and inspirations start to take a back seat to the job, the career, and the family—and then slowly slip away into oblivion.
Have you ever created a Dream Inventory©. A Dream Inventory is a continuous, life-long list of ideas and dreams no matter how extravagant or insignificant. It is a list that contains everything you ever wanted to do, to have, to be, and to become. It is an exercise that allows you to take off the blinders of probability and possibility and throws out the filters of whether you need it, deserve it, or are worth it. It is lifelong exercise that gives you permission to exercise your inspiration.
Create a personal Dream Inventory and fill it in spontaneously. It will later provide clues to the kind of things that will motivate you. Many of the dreams that you put on your inventory may seem totally out of reach and that is okay. As you begin to grow and achieve, some of your dreams will become goals and some never will. Keep in mind that this is an exercise of dreaming and inspiration so give no thought to your ability to obtain the dreams. Many of your dreams may seem too small or insignificant to list in your inventory but list them anyway. There is no such thing as a small dream. If a dream has value to you, it is important.
I filled out my first Dream Inventory in 1985 when I started working for my current firm. In 1996 as I was updating my Dream Inventory, I listed I wanted to become President of my current firm. I listed it with really no thought as to a specific action plan, but I knew that role was what I was inspired to become. In 2002, I became President of the firm and remain in that role today.
The power of capturing your dreams and inspiration is life altering. The power of capturing an idea in writing, placing the thought in your subconscious, and letting your subconscious work on the action plan is a science we are only beginning to understand. What we do know is many inspired individuals throughout history have harnessed the power of dreaming to create surpassing brilliance and excellence! I challenge you to create your Dream Inventory today!
Tammy A.S. Kohl is President of Resource Associates Corporation. For over 30 years, RAC has specialized in business and management consulting, leadership development, executive coaching, and youth leadership. For more information visit www.resourceassociatescorp.com or contact RAC directly at 800.799.6227.
Tags: business, Dream Inventory, dreams, imagination, Inspiration, Leadership, management, motivation, subconscious, success
Posted in Goal Planning, Personal Development | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
The title of this blog comes from a principle theme within a book entitled Change The Way You See Everything by Kathryn D. Cramer and Hank Wasiak. Most people are busy juggling a life that includes an overwhelming amount of work, home, family, and children, as well as faith-based and community activities. Each event or activity in isolation has priority and importance, however many of us deal with colliding priorities every day. For example, you need to get the final numbers to accounting by 5:00 today and you are behind schedule. Your daughter has a soccer game right after school at 3:30. You become instantly stressed. Perhaps you rush through the project at work, get it turned in to accounting but all the while you are at your daughter’s game you are rethinking your work wondering if you made any mistakes. While you stand on the sidelines worrying there is no way you are really watching and enjoying your daughter’s soccer acumen and her love of the game.
Your competing priorities are not going away. Therefore the question becomes how can you contribute your best to every priority as well as be the best you you can be!
Stop and breathe. Not every situation or competing priority deserves crisis status. Stop … take a deep breath and think. Take an extra minute to think about what the next best step really is. When you take these few minutes to breathe and think, you will be much less reactive and much more proactive. Living in a constant reactive state reinforces feelings of frustration, self-criticism, and self-doubt. Being proactive reinforces confidence and competence.
Forget perfection: Pursuing perfection is not an asset. Mistakes and challenges are inevitable; therefore, the pursuit of perfection only serves to focus on what did not go well or right. However, if you give yourself permission to believe you are perfect just the way you are, you give yourself permission to focus on your strengths. Commit to always maximize your strengths and you will find the flaws slip away. Babe Ruth held the title of most career home runs for 39 years with 714 until Hank Aaron achieved 755, and most recently Barry Bonds hit 763. All three of these men stood at-bat thousands of times in order to achieve this greatness. Many of those at-bats were even strikeouts. Focus on your home runs as they are what really matter and not your strikeouts! “I swing big with everything I got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.” Babe Ruth
Focus on what is next. Get out of the past and focus on the future. Learn to widen your view so you do not miss any opportunities. “Illuminating the possibilities and opportunities that abound in everyday circumstances increases your options, energizes situations, and inspires you and others” (Cramer and Wasiak). Develop the habit of looking ahead. Where do you see yourself tomorrow, next month, or next year? All accomplishments begin with an idea, a seed, a dream. Create a Dream Inventory (copyright symbol) and list all of your ideas and dreams that matter to you—no matter how extravagant or insignificant they may seem. It’s impossible to emphasize strongly enough the power of creative and uninhibited imagination. Do not let life stifle yours.
Your unlimited success depends on your ability to magnify your strengths and focus on your future. Start today!
Tags: Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, change the way you see everything, crisis, Dream Inventory, focus, Hank Aaron, perfection, priorities, proactive, reactive, Strengths
Posted in Personal Development | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
“One day a donkey fell into a well. When the owner discovered what had happened, he frantically searched for ways to rescue the animal, with no success. Regretfully the owner decided that since the donkey was growing old, he should give up the idea of rescuing the animal and simply fill in the well. Hopefully, the donkey’s demise would be quick and painless. The farmer then called his neighbors to help with the task, and soon several men began shoveling dirt into the well. When the donkey realized what was happening, he brayed, and struggled … but finally the noise stopped.
After a few sad moments, the farmer looked into the well and there stood the donkey. Alive and progressing to the top, the donkey had found that by shaking off the dirt instead of allowing it to bury him, he could keep stepping on top of the earth as its level rose. Then he could easily step out of the well and trot off happily.
As you may have noticed, life often attempts to cover us over with dirt and clutter. The trick is to shake it off and do something to take the next step up!” 12 Choices That Lead To Your Success – David Cottrell
Are you frequently shaking off dirt? Are constantly trying to move clutter from your business or life?
I believe there are three lessons that can be learned from this short story.
- Sometimes trying to bury our mistakes is a mistake. It is better to face them and learn from them and move on!
- Wisdom comes from experience. It is practical wisdom that your customers grow to expect and will always find valuable.
- When you are in a hole and you feel like everything is coming in on top of you, that is the time to refocus on your purpose, your goals, and your affirmations.
Life and business do have a tendency to throw us a number of curve balls, however many of those curve balls can be avoided by developing a specific plan for what you want to accomplish and creating a time line in order to manage the steps of accomplishment.
However, the choice is always yours. You can choose to operate your life and your business like the owner or your can choose to operate your life like donkey.
It is your choice, which will it be?
Tags: accomplishment, development, dirt, Donkey, lessons, plan, steps, well
Posted in Personal Development | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
The phrase you ‘create your own reality’ is something that many new age folks talk about, but what does it really mean, and how does it apply to you?
‘Creating your own reality’ is your perception of how you view your world, how you interact with your world, and how you interact with yourself and others. Perception is not limited to visually seeing something, it is not limited to your thought processes, and it is not limited to your emotions. Perception is all encompassing. What you communicate and the energy you give off based on your beliefs, your emotions, and your behaviors determines what kind of life experiences you have. Your perception of your reality is literally a mirror. At any given moment, your external world and behaviors perfectly mirror your inner consciousness.
When you get right down to it, there is no one more strong or more in control of you than you. As a society we have been practicing, preaching, and implementing these philosophies for an incredibly long time. The challenge is we often forget and then fail to implement. It is impossible to feel badly about yourself without thinking badly about yourself. The only thing that can keep you from enjoying everything you were meant to be and do is thought. Simple but powerful thought. Thinking is an awesome capability, and it can be used either as a tool or a weapon against ourselves.
A lot of people might say their lives or businesses aren’t functioning very well but they can’t identify what is wrong. The root cause of the problem is usually our own thought process. If you fall into this category, here is a suggestion. Buy a notebook that can fit into your briefcase, jacket, purse, whatever is convenient but easily and frequently accessible. For thirty days jot down every single thought you have had about yourself—expressed or unexpressed. At the end of the month, read what you have jotted down and I guarantee you will be inspired to change. By completing this exercise, you will see your negative thoughts fall into specific categories and these identified categories will become the focused areas in which you can commit to improve. After those categories have been identified, there is a proven process that can help you define and select the best solutions and action steps.
Do you know what the number 1440 represents? 1440 represents the number of minutes in a given day. This is the number of opportunities we have to create a positive, productive, and goal-oriented reality or a negative reality. Affirmations are a positive tool to help reinforce a positive reality and many people committed to affirmations typically read or say them 2/3 times a day for about 5 minutes. That equates to about 15 minutes of purposeful and positive input into your brain. How are you managing the remaining 1425 minutes in your day? How are you guaranteeing you are reflecting the positive? Your own mental space can be a castle or a cage, and you have the power to decide which it will be.
As you build your mental castle watch out for cages imposed by allowing other people’s agendas and issues in to your life. We attract this “stuff” into our lives every day. While we certainly learn from other people’s “stuff,” when we get deeply involved with another person’s agenda or issue watch out. It can become very easy for us to adopt and claim another individuals “stuff” for our own. Your mind is the place where you store your success oriented attitudes and corresponding behaviors. Your meaning of life, your purpose, and your success are based on those thoughts. When you have to move or expand your mind to input more good “stuff” that is a good thing. Protect your good “stuff” and don’t let anyone tell you you are off purpose or that your stuff is not the right stuff! Your mind is a place to store all your stuff, but the question really is do you have the right stuff stored? The point being is that your stuff, your attitude, and behaviors, need to always be yours. We achieve more results when we are paying attention to our own stuff! If we let others’ stuff get in the way we hinder our results personally and professionally.
Create within your mind your reality and the reflection you want to see. Believe in yourself. Believe in your ability and business acumen. You have value. You have a set of experiences that no one else has. Have confidence in yourself and commit to be the best you can be!
Tags: 1440, affirmations, best you can be, create, interact, perception, Personal Development, Power within, reality, thought process
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Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work …
I was driving down a local highway the other day and a noticed a company’s marquee that displayed a quote that really struck a cord with me. “The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.” My immediate reaction was “Wow!” … is that statement profound or what … ?
We currently live in a society that has a prevailing attitude that success, financial reward, sometimes even happiness should be given to us automatically by just being part of that society—that those things are somehow owed to us. This thought process is also rampant in businesses and organizations today. People often believe that by existing within an organization, they deserve financial rewards, benefits, and company privileges. The attitude that financial reward, prosperity, and happiness are earned through a process of hard work, dedication, and constant goal achieving seems to be fading away more and more rapidly.
However, before any measure of success can be achieved, three things are required. There needs to be a well-defined plan, specific action steps to accomplish that plan that are measurable, and the personal determination and desire to make it happen.
- Have you taken the time to develop and establish a written plan for your life?
- Have you committed all of your critical success factors and your personal goals to writing, and do you review them daily or at least weekly?
Nothing good in life is ever easy, and it will always require hard work. Remember, hard work that is dedicated to a clear plan of action fueled by commitment and passion is always rewarded!
Tags: action steps, desire, dictionary, passion, Personal Development, plan, success, work
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Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
“The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.” George Eliott
The ability to choose is one of the many gifts of being human, and we are fortunate to live in a country whose foundation is built upon the freedom of choice. Occasionally, we make choices of great magnitude within our lives; however, we make hundreds of smaller choices every day. Even though these smaller choices do not seem to carry great weight at the time, the combination or the accumulation of these smaller choices can be life altering.
Unfortunately, we have a tendency to minimize the smaller, daily choices because they often are made automatically. In fact, they’re automatic because they become part of our subconscious. We constantly make many daily choices without even thinking about them—because that is what we have always done. However, our ability to grow and expand our horizons is directly proportionate to our ability to make daily choices at the conscious level. Fortunately our conscious ability to choose and to grow can be measured in every area of our life.
It is critical that you take the time and effort to make every choice consciously. Without making sure that each small choice is connected to your desired outcomes—you are misleading yourself and taking your life off track. What process do you have in place to make sure that every choice or action is directly linked to the desired outcomes and success of your business? If your response to this question is unclear, then an immediate choice is to develop a process that works specifically for you.
Every choice does make a difference. What you do today even on the smallest level will greatly affect the outcome of tomorrow.
Tags: choices, effect, outcomes, Person development
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