Are you taking steps to make your dream happen? It means going for it even if you aren't sure if you’re doing the right thing. You learn as you go. It's going for it that makes the dream a reality. It takes guts to live a dream. You can't wait until you're ready or you're sure. If you wait you will never be ready. This is your one precious life. Make it count. Dare to be yourself. Dare to live your dream. Dare to put everything on the line for something that feels a part of you. We’re not talking about something that’s a passing fancy or the latest trend. But something you know you are here to do or be. Everyone who stands out is someone who took a chance without having any guarantee that things would work out. If you "fail" you will have learned about yourself and you will do better next time. By the way, the lesson is not "I'll never do that again!" The lesson is- I can find a way to do it better. I can refine it and go for it.” That is what creates success.
Michael Jordan said he was such a huge success because he missed so many times but he kept coming back. That's what we all have to do is "keep coming back." If you see someone who looks like an overnight success go talk to them. You will find out how many times they fell on their face and had to get up and start all over again. It's the determination that follow the original passion that makes a success in any terms. Know that others have had the same struggle as you but they made it. You can make it too! We are all here to be ourselves, whatever that is. It's so easy to follow the line of least resistance in one way. But in another way it is soul-destroying to do something that is not your true self. It pays to stop from time to time and ask yourself if this is really you or is it something that seemed like a good idea at the time? For a long time we have discounted the heart when it comes to business. The time has come when we can no longer do that. Our planet needs people to live from their heart. Living from the heart, being ourselves, heals many things. It is the gift we give to the world. Be absolutely truthful with yourself. Ask the question: "Is what I'm doing now what I am here to do? If it's not, how can I change it so that it truly fits with who I am? Sometimes it means changing everything and sometimes it means just changing a small thing. Only you will know what the answer is. And, it's so worth finding out. It will change your life for the better and you will be happy and you will be an inspiration and give courage to many others. You have so much to share with the world. Let your light shine! My best to you, Dianne
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Is there a complicated formula to success? Not at all. Very simple. really. Successful people have tunnel vision in the sense, they never consider failure as an option. When presented with insurmountable odds they immediately look for a way around them. All of their focus is on what they want. Obstacles are only see as an opportunity to find a better way. You can see how powerful that stance is.
Truly successful people, (those with a burning desire to accomplish something – not just wealth) are very disciplined and refuse to listen to warnings or pronouncements of doom from the media, statistics, research results, people in their field, etc. They stubbornly keep their eyes, their mind, their energy and their focus on their goal. They become an irresistible force. The Universe responds. Doors open, contacts come, opportunities arise, people give support. Their kind of energy draws everything they need. Sooner or later they achieve what they want. Are they a special breed? Do they have a certain kind of genius? Have they inherited that one important gene? Nope! They are focused and disciplined. Can anyone do what they do? YES! Here's how: Every time you have a thought of giving up or what you want is impossible IMMEDIATELY- shift your focus to something that makes you feel good. When you shift your focus off the thing that's bothering you and instead focus on something you like immediately your spirits lift. Negative thoughts shut down intuition and the ability to think out of the box. As soon as you shift to supportive thoughts, your perception increases and you can begin to see the best course of action. The second part is you DO NOT return your focus to the task at hand until you are feeling hopeful, happy and determined. When you do, you will see solutions not seen before. That's how simple it is. Truth is always simple. You are either open or closed to inspiration, solutions, new perceptions. I want to issue you this challenge: For 10 days: 1) When you feel discouraged about what you want to achieve do the following: a) Immediately stop doing what you were doing when you began to feel discouraged. b) Have a list of things handy that you can focus on that make you feel good. (TIP: usually better NOT to focus on people because they can be a mixed bag. Maybe nature, your favorite food, music, etc.) c) Do NOT return to your task until you feel hopeful, excited and energized. d) Appreciate how you just took control of your thoughts and how successful you were. e) Focus on the small successes that add up to getting you where you want to go. A caveat. To succeed, our goals have to come from inside us, not from others. If you have been told you should be or do a particular thing and it’s not you any success will be temporary. When your focus fits who you are, you can and will succeed against all odds. To paraphrase what good witch, Glenda from Wizard of Oz says, "You had the answer in you all along, my dear." I thought of that because of a habit I've seen in many, clients. Literally at the end of each day, they assess if enough has been accomplished. Should they have worked harder, done more? While it’s disguised as a question it really isn’t. It’s an indictment. The assumption being – No, they should have done more. And, whatever they’ve done is not enough.
In truth, we each have our own style of doing business and doing life. To asses at the end of the day means you are measuring against someone else. We are taught from the time we are young to look at what others do and then try to match our behavior and outcomes to theirs. We use them as a standard against which we measure ourselves. Think about it. Since each of us is different, has a different destiny, how much sense does it make to use someone else as a measure of what we should do or be? To be more specific- it’s important to learn what helps you function best. Are you someone who needs downtime to let things percolate? Do you work best in bursts and taking breaks.? Or, do you do your best work in chunks of time and then stop for the day? There are people we read about who are successes that get up at 4AM every day and begin their day. But, if you are someone that needs time to meditate and to gather your thoughts over a second cup of coffee then 4AM might not do it. You could force yourself but your work would suffer and you would suffer because you are going against what works for you. Find your own rhythm. The way you work best. You will accomplish more and what you accomplish will be of much better quality than if you try to make yourself follow someone else’s pattern. Some people like to be busy all the time and it fits their high energy. Some people like to ease on through life without getting too upset or too excited about anything. Some are in between. But when each of them follows their natural pattern they achieve more and are happier. In addition to working every day, we each need to find a way to get refreshed. That too, is specific to each of us. It’s something we need to know as well because it has a bearing on whether we succeed at work. We are not machines. If we push ourselves beyond what we really can do and don’t take time to get replenished there are consequences. Our work and private life suffer. So, to reiterate: we need to succeed in our own way and find our own rhythm in life and work. We are the only ones who know that. There is no expert, mentor or advisor who has those answers. Even a coach’s job is to lead their client to find answers for themselves. YOU are the expert in your life. You will not have all the answers at once. It’s a lifelong journey to find them. But, if you pay attention and listen to your own inner prompting you will find your specific path in life and live it on your own terms. You get the idea. Have fun honoring your rhythm and see how much easier life is and that opportunities just seem to come to you. Everything is better in when you do. Dianne J. Shaver, M.A. www.entrepreneurmindworld.com entrepreneurmindmag@gmail.com Last week we talked about Destiny. This week I’d like to look at how we fulfill our destiny. It doesn’t happen all at once. Although the decision to follow that path does. But, it’s a choice we make over and over again. A daily choice. The question becomes – what are you doing today that is moving you in that direction? Persistence is crucial. You can take a break but you can’t stop moving forward. It’s the small consistent steps that get you there. It’s not glamourous and sometimes it’s not fun. However, the results are wonderful.
What does this daily choice look like? It might be to stop looking at what other people are doing and focus on what you want. Might be to stop yourself from feeling discouraged. Or, you might have to forgive someone you’ve felt has wronged you. These sometimes overlooked steps are critical to your success, however, you define that. Being self-aware is a critical part of living your destiny. Monitoring how you think, how you react to situations. Once you understand how your mind works you can control it. You can use this amazing tool to bring you what you desire. You can create your destiny in your mind before it is a physical fact. In fact, that is a powerful way to bring your destiny to you. The brain cannot distinguish between what you imagine and what is “real.” That statement alone lets you know that you are in control of your brain and, therefore, your destiny. No one can take that from you no matter how you grew up, what your life has been up until now, how someone else is acting in your life, what the economy is or what is going on around you in general. That’s how powerful you are! Armed with this knowledge I hope you use it to bring you where you want to go. It usually doesn’t happen overnight, although it can, and I have seen cases of that with clients. But it will happen. Use the most powerful tool you have, take charge of it and it will deliver what you desire to you. There you have it! Use it! Go where you want to go. Do what you want to do. You have the power. My best to you, Dianne Shaver, Destiny Coach www.entrepreneurmindworld.com/destiny-coach We are all here to be ourselves, to bring to life whatever is in us we came with. It's about being authentic. Being ourselves. Breaking away from the herd. We did not come here to follow someone else's dream. We each have our own destiny. After we've learned how things work in the world and learned from those before us it's time to use everything we've learned to find our dream and do whatever it takes to bring it. As we mature there is restlessness in us. A dissatisfaction. A longing for something. That is the longing for being our true self. For living in a way that reflects the uniqueness we each have…all seven and one-half billion of us. None of us is alike. How do we find that dream? We begin by noticing what makes us feel truly alive. Not a momentary high but something that makes us feel more our self that we have ever felt. That's the invitation to pursue whatever that is. It might be the destiny we are seeking or it might be the thing that leads us to it. When we follow that nudge from our deepest self, God, the Universe, however you know it, we are on our way to living from our heart. I used to think this was just words until I began to do that. Now I know that excitement, that sense of aliveness is the nudge I need to keep on following my dream. The clients I work with are all successful in their professions but they have each learned that success is not enough. They want to feel that they are the fullest expression of themselves possible. They are willing to do whatever it takes. If you go to a bookstore, a library, or use your tablet you will find thousands of stories of people dropping everything to change their life. Most of us love reading the stories. They are inspiring. But the whole purpose of reading those stories is to gain the insight and courage to do it ourselves. It's our turn to make our life be what we came into life to do or be. The tagline for my coaching business is: "Your Destiny Is Calling. What Are You Waiting For?" I issue that challenge to you. Do whatever it is that opens the door for your own unique, valuable and exciting destiny. You don't know how many people's lives you will change. You will be their inspiration! Go for it! f you want inspiration look at Susan Boyle who met her destiny on Britain's Got Talent, the 47 year old, frumpy, overweight, unsophisticated woman from a small village in England. She was met with barely concealed ridicule from the panel. Until……until she began to sing. She astounded everyone. The whole audience stood for her whole song and clapped all the way through. The panel sat open mouthed. She changed her life by having the courage to go where she would be looked down upon in order to fulfill her destiny. She also changed the panel and the way they look at people. She changed how they judged people by looks and the way they spoke. Inside her she KNEW this was her destiny. She was here to sing and to change lives with her powerful, amazing voice. She went on to sing with Elaine Page her idol; CelIne Dion; Streisand, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston; Donny Osmond; Placido Domingo, etc. She was presented to the Queen and sang for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. By 2013 she had sold over 19 million albums worldwide. She is a huge supporter of British charities, she gives back. You cannot hear her sing and not be inspired. Her gift is enormous because you can hear her soul when she sings. She puts it all out there. It all happened because she dared to put it all on the line and because she KNEW there was something inside her that needed to be out in the world. She followed the nudge from her soul that made her stand up before that panel and that audience Sometimes we face ridicule from others. Until they realize who we really are. It's not about being popular, famous, admired or rich. It’s about being ourselves and delivering to the world our own unique gifts. It doesn't have to be particularly newsworthy like Susan Boyle. It can be something as simple as opening a bakery that welcomes everyone and makes them feel taken care of because of the wonderful goodies. It can be teaching what you know you are here to teach. It can be traveling the world to help disadvantaged people. Whatever it is, it's yours to do. And in the doing of it you will change lives, inspire people, give them courage and make them feel seen. My best to all of you. Go find your destiny. Dianne J. Shaver, M.A. Destiny Coach www.entrepreneurmindworld.com Balance is important not only when you’re playing a sport or dancing. To live a full life there also has to be balance. When in the middle of a project, we don’t have balance, we have laser focus. For that time, it’s what we need. But once out of the crunch stage we have to get back to balance.
Part of regaining balance is to let creativity flow, whatever form that takes for you. But, creativity without focus on the outcome. Whether you are painting, drawing, dancing, writing, playing an instrument, singing (even badly!), cooking, designing, knitting, woodworking, etc. To do it for the sheer pleasure of expressing yourself, the parts of you that you don’t show in your business or social setting. This is just for you. You don’t have to be expert at what you do. It’s the doing of it that’s important. Everyone is creative in some way. It’s how we express ourselves with no thought of outcome other than the experience itself. Strangely enough, it’s when we lose self-consciousness we are most ourselves. We stop worrying about what others think of us, how it will turn out, whether we’re doing it right. None of that matters at the moment of creativity. The thing we are creating and how we feel during the process is all that matters. The lack of self-consciousness is when the sense of time stops. It refreshes us and brings back joy and vitality. We are in a private world for those moments. We all need that private expression when we are completely us. We do not have to fit in or follow anyone else’s rules, or even consider anyone else. What comes through our hands, minds, bodies in those moments is all we need. It’s a way that we remember the real us and who we are. It is one of the most rewarding things you can do for yourself. Your friends, family and your business will all benefit from it. Have fun remembering who you are. Feel the joy and vitality return to your life. My best to you, Dianne Destiny Coach SUCCESS Nothing to lose is a good place to be. Actually, it's a great place to be. That's why many very successful entrepreneurs have come up from nothing. Some have been homeless living in their car or a basement. Some have used their last dollars to get started. When you have nothing to lose you can take risks because it's the only thing you can do. You can go for it because there is no alternative. When you are too comfortable you try to keep from jeopardizing what you have. You pull back and are afraid to take a chance. Taking good chances are an essential part of being an entrepreneur. However, you don't know if it’s a good chance until you go for it. Sometimes it's not the best choice and it doesn't turn out well. That's the time you learn from what you chose and go along another path. It's the experience of testing, learning and changing that makes for success. Along with the nothing to lose category sometimes having a lot of money to start a business is not the great thing you might think it is because you can afford to outsource tasks and you often don't know what's going on in your own company. You also don't learn how to be resourceful. If you don't have the funds you get to know every nuance of your company. You can see where things need to change and change them because you are right in there. It also robs you of being resourceful because you can pay to fix it. Maybe rethinking what being comfortable really means would be in order. Does being comfortable mean desperately holding on to what we have? Does it mean being afraid all the time of losing where we are? Does it mean doing everything the same way. Perhaps, what we value isn't what's really valuable. The status quo is not necessarily a good thing. It stops growth and learning. It stops the sense of really being alive. It's only when we risk, when we do something differently, when we try what feels exciting for us that we are truly alive. Being fully alive does not equate with being comfortable. If you are an entrepreneur or business owner you need to be able to take continuous risks, to continuously learn and grow so your business can grow. As your business grows you need to grow and you will. Use every downturn, every glitch to learn, to make your business and yourself better. It is in the darkest times we learn the most. Take the worst of times and use them to make the best of yourself and your business. You don't know who you are until you overcome you face an obstacle and overcome it. You have it in you. Go for it! My best to you, Dianne Destiny Coach Now accepting 2 new clients When did we begin to value the opinion of others over our own when it comes to our choices, behavior and how we live our life? Most of the time, we have no awareness it’s going on. We just feel upset by what someone said to us or something written about us. If we examined it, we would see the upset comes from giving someone else the power to decide what we should do and how we should behave. It doesn’t even make sense to let a stranger say what you should or shouldn’t do. Think about it.
A friend who was recently widowed wanted to accompany a brother in-law, who had just lost his wife, to a gravesite. She explained to him that someone else would have to ride in the car with them so there would be no appearance of impropriety. These folks are in their seventies, by the way. No one knows what your life is like but you. No one knows what your path is in this life but you. No knows your experiences but you. So, without this pertinent information, it’s clear that no one outside of you can make any judgement on what you should or shouldn’t do. It’s become so much a part of our culture that It’s hard to catch it as It’s going by. Valuing the opinion of others is the reason so much is hidden until an investigation is held. If we were didn’t worry about other people, we would behave better. If our actions fit who we were then subterfuge would not be necessary. Society‘s rules change, all the time, which, right away lets you know how arbitrary those rules are. They don’t fit anyone, yet everyone tries to bend themselves around to embrace them, or at least the appearance of embracing them. When you come down to it, it’s all about appearance, and not what’s real. We have strayed so far away from ourselves that it seems easy to live by what others agree is right. Listen to reality shows, call in talk shows. Everyone is judging everyone else. However, the only person that knows why they do some something is the one doing it. The only one responsible for their actions is the one acting. The moment we take responsibility for our life, we no longer have to worry about someone else’s rules. I have heard the argument, if people could do anything they want, they would behave badly. What I’m seeing is people living under arbitrary rules already behave very badly. Freedom makes people take responsibility. Repression makes people plot in dark corners. Something to think about the next you tell someone else what they should do or someone does that to you. Once again, you get to choose how you live your life. Just do your best, that’s all that’s required. My best to you, Dianne, Destiny Coach – now accepting 2 new clients www.entrepreneurmindworld.com/destiny-coach There are no quick fixes in life, although we are constantly told there are, if you believe what the ads say on TV. For every entrepreneur who “makes it” there are hundreds and hundreds of hours of work. Many times things went wrong and they has to find new approaches. People who said they were going to show up and didn’t. Those entrepreneurs were successful because they hung in there. They refused to get discouraged enough to give up. Did they have times when they asked themselves, “What was I thinking?” Of course! But under it all was a determination to see it through.
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