I am pleased to say that my first official foray into the personal development world, at least on a conscious, chosen level, was when I read Napoleon Hill’s classic bible on success: Think and Grow Rich.
I have spent countless hours over the past three decades since then absorbing everything I can to expand my own horizons but rarely have encountered anything with the awesome raw power and message of success than Dr. Hill’s work.
Recently, I came across a video piece of Dr. Hill discussing his initial conversations with Andrew Carnegie, the insightful steel magnate (and the world’s first billionaire) who put the young Hill to task in studying the most successful men of the day and determine their common threads for creating that success. The resulting work changed the lives of millions of people around the world.
One of my favorite variations on Think and Grow Rich was the Nightingale Contant recordings called The Science of Personal Achievement. I was particularly moved by this because it includes so much of the original recordings done by Dr. Hill himself. This may not seem like much to us today but it is important to note that Hill first published Think and Grow Rich in 1937. The recordings from The Science of Personal Achievement were from old radio interviews, recordings made on 78 speed records and were really the first serious work in audio recordings. It was cutting-edge stuff at the time…the information still is and now, the piece is (finally) available on CD. I had two different cassette version of the piece; one for me and one that I always circulated through my network, and always passed along from one person to another with a letter telling the next one in line how the work had affected his or her life.
I tell this story today to share with you that some concepts are universal and remain true throughout the generations. Think and Grow Rich and it’s related material is just such a work. If you haven’t read it (or listened to it if that’s your preferred medium), I strongly encourage you to do so.
For now, have a quick taste of Dr. Hill himself laying the foundation for what is a very similar idea to what I now teach in my Law of Attraction programs.
Life is challenging enough without having to create and achieve your goals all on your own. The truth is that very few people, if any, can actually do that.
Throughout history, the most successful people of all time have surrounded themselves with teams of people who support their vision and mission.
What is your vision and mission? Are you clear? Are you focused? Are you on your way and doing great? Are you passionate about your life and what you’re doing with it?
Who is on your team? Are you a typical entrepreneur trying to juggle all the balls at once? Are you an entrepreneur who simply “owns” your job? Are you feeling like a hamster running on a wheel?
In order to create anything great and substantial, it is vital for us to create a team and most small business people find a lot of ways to stay “busy” all the time and try to do everything on our own.
A business and/or life coach can help you to bring clarity to your goals, then keep you on the path toward reaching them. Everyone needs a great coach to keep them on track! I’m a coach and I use coaches and mentors to assist me all the time. Why? Because I KNOW that I can’t do it all on my own. I know where my skills are effective and where they are lacking. I know that I can’t create my big dream without a team.
Some of the greatest business minds of all time have chimed in on the subject of coaching. The media is talking about coaching. The concept isn’t going away.
Here are a few quotes that I’ve gathered up for you on the subject of coaching.
“Coaching can certainly help you strengthen your sense of self-worth, focus on your goals — and get there, fast.” – The London Daily Telegraph
“I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum potential.” – Bob Nardelli CEO, Home Depot
“…a personal coach is better than a best friend.” – Sausalito.net
“Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.” – Timothy Gallwey
“People who are coaches will be the norm. Other people won’t get promoted.” – Jack Welch, CEO, General Electric
“A coach maybe the guardian angel you need to rev up your career.” – Money
“Part therapist, part consultant, part motivational expert, part professional organizer, part friend, part nag — the personal coach seeks to do for your life what a personal trainer does for your body.” – Kim Palmer, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune
“Coaching simply speeds up a process of change that would most likely occur anyway if an individual had enough time. Without a coaching program that forces a client to focus and make time, people sometimes miss the real issues they need to focus on.” – The Ivy Business Journal, September-October 2000
“No matter how strong a person mentally is, without proper mental nourishment he or she will crumble. Personal coaching is one of the best ways to help you get that nourishment and to keep you stay focused.” – BeingLive.com
“If you want to build your business and at the same time have a rewarding personal life, you call a coach.” – Robert Schwab, ‘Businesses Hire Coaches to Build Winning Teams,’ Denver Post
“When all is said and done, teaching is what I try to do for a living.” – Jack Welch, CEO, General Electric from ‘Jack: Straight from the Gut’
“The hottest thing in management is the executive coach…Coaches are everywhere these days…Corporate coaches are in such demand that they can charge from $600 to $2,000 a month for three or four 30- to 60-minute phone conversations.” — Fortune
“Our chief want in life is someone who will make us do what we can.” – Emerson
“To get the most out of yourself you need to tune yourself regularly, just like a musical instrument needs regular tuning. Personal coaching is one of the best ways to help you improve yourself and stay focused.” – BeingLive.com
“A coach can play any number of roles –mentor, consultant, motivator, but one thing she [or he] is not is a therapist. Coaching deals with the “how”: how you can move on from where you are and make change. It’s action-oriented, and concerned with the present and future, not the past.” – Shape Magazine
To schedule your complimentary Discovery Coaching Session, visit our web site:
Someone contacted me the other day about the free coaching sessions that I offer and responded in a really “interesting” way. I don’t often get these kinds of responses anymore because of how I work with the Law of Attraction but every now and again I get a mild “heckler.” So, the guy writes to me: “You know the only reason you do these free sessions is to get people to buy your coaching!” Maybe he was having a bad day but…
Wow! I had to stop and think long and hard about that one. Why would someone approach me like that? I’m looking at this as a gift that I give to people and he’s challenging my integrity. And course, there was a part of me wanting to say: “Uh, duh! (I mean, of course, there is a marketing strategy involved…)” but that really doesn’t begin to tell the reason why I REALLY do free coaching sessions.
Money is just an exchange of value and energy and I have yet to work with a client who didn’t tell me that I brought WAY more value to them than the money they were paying for my services. So, I decided to really put some thought into how to respond to this gentleman.
Think about this for a minute. When someone offers you a free trial, what is the purpose? It is to prove to you that what you are trying is worth buying in the first place, right?
This happens every day in the marketing world and no one thinks twice about it. You see it in the grocery store when someone offers you a taste of a new food product. If you like it, you buy it. You see it in internet marketing a lot these days with $1 trials and free this and that to lead you to EXPERIENCE what is being offered, thereby being able to make a better buying decision. It helps you to get to know the product, or the service, or in my case, the PERSON. Let’s be realistic, you’re not going to sign up to pay for for coaching services without even knowing the slightest bit about me or just from reading my web page, are you?
So, let’s break this down a bit:
Of course, I don’t provide my coaching services just for the money. There is a lot easier work you can do if you’re just about money. I do coaching and mentoring, first and foremost, because I love it. One of my favorite experiences is that of seeing one of my clients rise to a new level in his or her life, or discover a greatness that they didn’t previously acknowledge, or helping someone make more money and see their lives changes as a result.
Everyone has at least one unique skill set. One of the highest and best uses of my unique skill set in the world is to help people break through barriers, structure their business to bring them freedom, get clear on how to move forward, solve challenges and provide a plethora of different ways someone can create more time, money and personal freedom in the process…just to name a few things that I do in life and business coaching. Virtually everyone I work with believes that brings great value to their lives, whether or not they end up paying for my services in the long run.
For example, check out what one of my clients (an actress) had to say recently:
There are more examples like this on my coaching page, if you want to take a look.
Rarely do I work with a client that hasn’t created a new way to pay for my services and much, much more in the first 90 days. As a business coach, if I don’t bring actual bottom line monetary, dollars and cents (and sense) value to your life, what’s the point of paying me, right?
Going back to how this all lays out from the “you’re only doing this to get people to pay you!” comment made by our skeptical friend earlier in this story…let’s take a look at how “free” looks from my perspective…
In my Platinum Coaching and Mentoring Program, people pay $777 per month, although most people just go ahead and pay $1497 for three months of coaching because it’s like getting a whole month for FREE. That’s about three hours a month, plus a bunch of other perks including recording every single session and maintaining a web page for each of my clients so they can have those recordings and other bonuses available 24/7. Again, it’s all about bringing great service and value. So that basically comes down to my hourly rate falls in the $175-250 range.
So, addressing our skeptical friend’s concerns, these complimentary sessions, that I call Discovery Sessions, are not some scaled-down version of a coaching session where I’m holding back the “good stuff” and offer no real value. It’s the real deal.
Just like any other session, we spend time examining your life and situation, your business, your strategies and where you might make things more effective. We usually spend 45-60 minutes on these calls. That breaks down to about $250 of my time…that I give you, as a gift for FREE.
The design is to determine whether I can provide a greater value to you, to see if we are a good fit in working together for some period of time after the initial session. My intention is to put you in a position that you have powerful new ideas and tools to work with from DAY ONE (Day One – The Free Discovery Session).
I don’t work with everyone, not even with everyone that wants to pay. I believe we have to both be clear that our working together is a good fit. Our personalities need to connect, and my skills and your project, or your business, or yours goals in life, have to be a good match.
So, I can’t work with everyone…there aren’t enough hours in the day. However, while I’m still in a position to be able to do it, I will gladly provide anyone with a true desire to improve their current situation with complimentary coaching session.
So, like the man who wrote me the email and was skeptical about my intentions, are you willing to walk away from a $250 gift? It is just that: a gift to you, with no strings attached and no pressure.
If you do find that this interesting and intriguing, what have you got to lose? Really, what’s the worst-case scenario? Less than an hour of your time and at the end, perhaps we don’t mesh? Hardly a risk, don’t you agree?
The bottom line for me is that my greatest passion is to help people find the best parts of themselves and bring that out into the world. I love helping people discover new business ideas and potential income streams. I love finding new ways to MasterMind with people to overcome challenges and have more time, money and freedom in their lives. That’s my passion!
By the way, the skeptical man I referred to earlier has now come back to me with an interest in pursuing a session. Isn’t that interesting? Sometimes it’s all about someone’s slightly skewed perception. All it took was just sharing my true motivation.
Let’s face it…everybody is busy these days.Sometimes is just seems like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done.
Between our seemingly never-ending “to-do” lists, families with two working parents, or single parents working hard, kids’ soccer practice, the internet, and everything else that goes on in our world, we hardly have time to breathe, right?Wrong!
Typically, the problem isn’t actually a matter of available time but instead it is the prioritization of time.There are some simple techniques and tools that you can use to stay focused and get a lot more done in your day.
At this point in human evolution, it is important to accept that we live in a fast-paced, results-driven society and that multi-tasking and time management is not an option anymore, it’s a necessity…in fact, when you do it right, it’s an art!
Here is my list of Top Seven Power Tips To Stay Focused.This will help you get everything done in your multifaceted life:
Prioritize your tasks and be disciplined about staying on your priorities – This may seem obvious but very few people actually do it.Here’s a simple way to prioritize your day.Make a list of the things that you know you have to do.Then, go through the list and rate the priority of each task from 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest priority.Be honest with yourself about that…everything can’t be a number one priority…what REALLY needs to happen NEXT?Once you have prioritized your list from 1 to 5, make a list of all your number 1’s.Then prioritize that list in order of highest priority from 1 up to the number of tasks on that list.
The next part is what requires discipline:Start with Number 1…and don’t do ANYTHING else until Number 1 is complete, or if that task requires a longer term focus, work on it until there is nothing else you can do to move that task forward.Then, just continue down the list in the same way until you complete everything.You’ll be amazed at how much time you save by staying on task.Don’t allow yourself to get distracted with phone calls, email, Internet surfing or some other task unless it’s an emergency (Hint:there are very few “emergencies” that qualify).
Prepare for your next day in the evening before – If you make and prioritize your list the night before, you save lots of time and can jump right into your day the next morning.Plus, you won’t like awake in bed thinking about all those things you think you have to do tomorrow.
Drink lots of water throughout the day – Staying hydrated is vital to your mental focus.Stay away from lots of coffee and sodas (I know there are bunch of you who don’t want to hear that) because they tend to dehydrate you and the caffeine, while a quick “pick me up” creates other focus issues later.
Use a SYSTEM for time and priority management system — There are lots of excellent systems that will help you stay on track.For scheduling, I like to use Outlook and keep it synced up to my Treo phone.That way my assistants can have access to my schedule and it syncs up wirelessly when I’m on the road, so we’re all on the same page, no matter who is doing the scheduling.
Definitely DO NOT allow technology to slow you down, though.These days, many people have a tendency to spend more time with their slick new devices than they would spend making a simple handwritten list.Also, don’t let the lack of technology be an excuse not to manage your priorities.
In my opinion, the very best system available for really taking control of your time and your day is called Simpleology, developed by one of today’s most brilliant minds, Mark Joyner.The basic program is f-r-e-e and you can set it up in minutes.You can get your complimentary system at:
Batch tasks together – If you have similarly repetitive tasks or errands to run, take a few minutes before you start to see how certain tasks can fit together.You can literally create extra HOURS in your week by doing this one process alone.For example, plan your errand route for the highest level of efficiency.You can start one project that can run on it’s own and then do another while you’re waiting…example:Instead of sitting there watching your email download in the morning, hit “Send/Receive” and then go make your breakfast while it downloads.You get the idea.It’s really incredible how much time you create when you have two or three menial things going at once, when they don’t require your constant attention.
Delegate everything you possibly can – I know, especially with us entrepreneurs, that we have a tendency to want to do everything, be everything to everybody and we suffer the consequences.Every time you find yourself cleaning your own house, doing your own filing, making tedious, non-essential (to you) phone calls, ask yourself these questions:“Is this the highest and best use of my time?”“Could someone else do this for me?”
Virtual assistants are great at taking the load off of you and helping you stay focused on revenue-generating activities or higher priorities.You may at first question whether you can “afford” the extra help but once you have that help in your life, you will be asking yourself why you didn’t do it sooner.Your goal should be this:Anything that isn’t your true passion is something you should delegate.
Reward yourself for a job well done!This is SO important and yet so overlooked.We work, we work, we work, we accomplish great things and achieve our goals and then…?And then, we work, work, work, accomplish great things, achieve our goals and…you get the picture?Get in the habit of rewarding yourself and celebrating even your minor achievements.Take yourself out for a frozen yogurt or take a few minutes to do something nice for yourself.It doesn’t have to be big or costly (but it can be if you want it to), just something that acknowledges yourself for a job well done.In fact, I suggest you celebrate as soon as you make the list in step one of this process.
There are lots of other things you can do to create more minutes in your day, hours in your week and days, or even weeks, in each year.It’s just a matter of focus!
I have set some very high goals for this year…a few that some might consider impossible to achieve (at least this year).But, do you know what’s very interesting about setting the bar REALLY high for yourself?When you do that, you tend to always hit a goal higher than what you previously thought was achievable.
I got into the habit of setting “ridiculous” goals many years ago and it’s a really fun process.Have I always achieved every goal?…well, uh, no, but I have always grown by leaps and bounds through the process of reaching higher to achieve something bigger, and eventually that goal is reached because of the constant growth required to stretch myself to a new level.
“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes US author & physician (1809 – 1894)
Quite often, when I ask a coaching client to set the top three goals they want to achieve over the next six months, he or she comes back with something they feel is “achievable” (with their current thinking).In the coaching process, I’m always asking my clients to “go bigger” and “stretch farther”…”How would you feel if you actually could accomplish _______”.
Don’t stop with something you think (or even know) you could achieve…where’s the challenge in that?Go bigger, reach higher, stretch farther and stop worrying about how it might feel if you DON’T achieve your goal.Instead put yourself in the emotional place of what it will feel like when you DO hit it.
The reason to set goals higher than your current conscious state of mind can expect to achieve is that when you plant that big thought or idea, with a clear vision and focus, you can’t help but stretch yourself to a new level toward achieving that goal…and just as Dr. Holmes stated in the above quote, once you reach that new level, you can never go back to where you once were.You simply have to grow and challenge yourself to get there.
Think about this for a moment.As a child, goal-setting (and achieving) was easy.Why?One reason is that as a child you believed that anything was possible.Your goals were simpler…walk, talk, eat by yourself.You strived for this because it was part of “growing up.”Isn’t it interesting how children just can’t wait to grow?They relish the process. They are always looking forward to what they will achieve as they get older, the privileges they will have and the things they will be able to do that they cannot do now.
When you were a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?An astronaut, a professional sports hero, a rock star (that’s what I wanted…and yes, I was able to actually achieve that goal…although I did fall short of rock “superstar”…I guess I didn’t set the bar quite high enough)?Try to remember what it felt like when you didn’t think anything could limit you…if something has changed in you…why?Because, as a child you were right on the money with that “never give up” attitude.
I have good news for you.There is nothing limiting you now except about six inches of real estate between your two ears.That energy and determination you had as a child for setting and achieving goals is still there, and still believes wholeheartedly that everything you set your mind to CAN be accomplished.You might have to do some searching to find it again, but it’s still there!
If you’re feeling like you can’t achieve your goals, then you may have lost sight of that childlike belief (read:truth) that all things are possible.
Maybe it’s time to try something different.Maybe it’s time to release the past, all the programming and negativity that you have allowed to seep into your brain and try just being a child again, knowing that all things really ARE possible.
There are a lot of processes that can help you release old patterns from the past but whatever method you choose, remembering that childlike innocent belief in yourself is the first key.So, be a kid and have some fun!You’ll be happy you did…
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