Change 1 MEMORY And You Can Change It All!

All to often I find my clients make their goals concrete and then stall out with a sense of not knowing what to do to get to them.

They’re not alone. We all tend to focus on creating lists of future accomplishments, writing them in our calendars, putting them on vision boards, sending ourselves year end letters.

These are wonderful techniques for telling our sub-conscious that we’re really serious – this is what we’re aiming for!

What gets lost is our own memory that we’ve set forth and accomplished plenty over the years. Somewhere in our minds IS the know how to accomplish our goals, every time we step up to them.

Think back to a complex challenge you took on and solved recently.

Ask yourself:

“What 7 to 10 steps did I use in order to accomplish that goal?”

Write down the practical actions you used from the moment you set the goal, to the moment you declared it “done!”

This may fill a half page or 5 pages. Either way, make it detailed enough that you could explain it to another person so that they could actually see you taking those actions in their mind as you describe them.

Now give those steps a name, and post them on the wall or near your computer. Each day for the next 21 days reread that list so it shifts from actions you happened to take in the past, to a technique you deliberately use to get stuff done.

December 30, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment 

Creating Appreciation In Your Business

© 2008 Linda Feinholz.

So often our focus is on what’s ‘not yet’ done, what is sitting on our To Do list, and what we ‘ought to’ be getting to but haven’t yet completed.

Children have a great deal to teach us about what motivates our hearts and gives us the impetus to put our energy into growing our businesses. They remind us that our strength in life comes not from what’s missing and undone, but rather from what we’ve accomplished.

My 6-year old nephew reminded me of this as we were celebrating the holidays. His joy as he calculated 600 times 600 in his mind and got it right is his motivation to keep learning how to work with numbers. His glee at that power is a great pointer for all of us to deliberately take stock of what challenges we’ve taken on, what we’ve learned this past year, and now can use it.

Here are some of my favorite accomplishment prompts that I use with coaching clients and participants in my programs: Read more

December 27, 2008 | Filed Under Ideas, Inspiration | Leave a Comment 

Next Up – Linda Live!

Next Up on the radio…

The Spark Effect internet radio show -

Hosted by Linda Feinholz on VoiceAmerica Business Internet Radio

SURPRISE GUEST! It’s ME for the full hour…

“7 Steps That Get You EVERYTHING You Want“

You can join the show on Monday, December 29th 10 a.m. Pacific

at http://www.modavox.com/VoiceAmericaBusiness/

Please, pass the word along to others as well. YOU CAN SEE MORE DETAILS BY CLICKING HERE

and yes, I’ll be focusing on ‘business’ but you’ll see that you can use these steps in every part of your life!

December 26, 2008 | Filed Under The Spark Effect shows | Leave a Comment 

Reminders From Young Children

I LOVE this time of year. The world gets still and quiet with everyone pausing for holiday celebrations. The city grows calmer, and so do my internal rhythms.

That makes it all so perfect – perfect for refelcting exactly what HAS been accomplished the past year.

My niece Emily and nephew Evan are getting The Game Of Life this year – and I know they’re going to have a blast with it.

So I thought I’d share with you a set of questions that will help you awken to a new sense of appreciation for what you HAVE achieved, and apreciate it.

It’ll make a wonderful foundation for your deciding what game you’d like to play and what success you plan to build this coming year.

December 25, 2008 | Filed Under Ideas, Inspiration | Leave a Comment 

Success Quote

“The secret of joy in work is contained in one word – excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.”

Pearl S. Buck

December 25, 2008 | Filed Under Managing, Quotes | Leave a Comment 

Change 1 DELAY And You Can Change It All!

What’s been clogging up your attention and distracting you from
getting you best work done? Or getting to the leisure activities you
long for?

It’s time to take back control of your time and attention.

Grab several pieces of paper and something to write with. Put your
phone on hold.

Ask yourself:

“What have I been tolerating?”

Use
“Ten Lists of Ten” – writing down the first ten things that come to
mind, then the next ten, and so on. If nothing comes to mind, get up
from your chair and walk around your office and home looking at the
objects you have sitting around.

Ask everyone else what you’ve been commenting on but not taking action on.

You’ll find yourself naming and eliminating lingering to do’s in mere minutes.

Let’s get your time and attention on the things you love doing and
celebrate the success you create.

December 24, 2008 | Filed Under Catalyst Action Tip | Leave a Comment 

What Are You Tolerating In Life And Business?

© 2008 Linda Feinholz.

Recently
I used my monthly mastermind group to review the targets each person
set, check how close each participant was to achieving them, and sort
out any obstacles getting in the way.

As we worked our way around the group, one of the members recognized
she had become completely stalled – making no progress on one of her
key goals for several weeks. I posed a question that gave everyone
pause.

“What have you been tolerating?”

It sounds simple. But that’s deceptive. Sometimes sheer genius is hiding in the simple.

It’s very natural for each of us to startle, and say “Who me? I’m not
tolerating anything!”

As I use the question, I have to laugh in understanding at that first
response – it’s so very much my own reaction, no matter how many times
I hear the question.

Our ego pops straight up and starts deflecting, just like a defensive child.
I, me, my. “Tolerating? Me? I don’t ‘tolerate’ things. I have exactly
the life I want. There’s nothing weak about me. My challenges are just
stuff I haven’t gotten around to yet…”

After a moment of that chatter, a quiet inner voice usually speaks up.
“Well, I’m annoyed by the pile of papers I haven’t gotten to yet.” And
“Well the house / office / car isn’t as clean as it should be.” And
then there’s the list of broken electronic equipment, poorly fitting
shoes, and weeds in the garden.

All answers that feel safely impersonal.

When I give this exercise to my groups, and use it for myself, we push for one hundred items.

It can be shocking to do this the first time. So many unaddressed annoyances!

As we write, an interesting shift takes place – it starts to feel
playful and confessional all at the same time. And there on the page
are a rich list of items that can easily be sorted into three
categories:

The 2-minute Teasers

You know. These are the little tasks that ought to only take a couple
of minutes to solve. Yet, when they come to mind, we shove them to the
side as unimportant and flag them mentally as ‘things I’ll get to when
I have free time.’

They keep popping up and nibbling another second’s attention and
another and another. It can go on for months!

My list often contains things like reorganizing the closet, getting an
errant spider web down from a ceiling corner, and fixing the paint
patch that’s missing on the office wall. None of these are important
but they constantly, quietly tug at my attention.

The 2-hour Tamers

You’d probably find these on your list as well: sorting piles of
papers, returning calls that need problem solving without knowing what
the outcome might be, designing the layout for the furniture in a room
that just hasn’t felt comfortable for ages.

They’re activities that are so common we all run into them. We let them
hang on for days, even months, rather than step into the unknown to
sort them out.  So we spend what becomes hours over weeks thinking
‘about’ them rather than just taking them one after the other and
eliminating them.

The 2-Mind Tanglers

Every time I create my Tolerating List I confess there are 4 or five
‘biggies’ on the list. I’m usually thinking about them the entire time
I write everything else down. These are the items that have my logical
brain saying “Just Do IT!” while my emotional brain argues “Maybe this
will just go away.”

I see topics and issues I’ve seen on this list before, such as sitting
down with my financial planner to determine whether I ought to take any
action with my portfolio. Another is deciding to wrap up and conclude
work with a client who is four times as demanding and one quarter as
satisfied as my other very happy clients.

They’re topics filled with complicated emotion. I anticipate I won’t
like dealing with them, so I dance around them rather than facing them
head on.

The
irony is that the very act of taking each of these on usually gets them
sorted out in under a half hour – barely a quarter of the time we
imagined we’d need!

The miracle of listing them is that’s the first step of taking action. The rest of the steps that solve all of them are usually done within 72 hours.

So
don’t wait to be stalled – clear out what you’re “tolerating” today,
and get back all your attention for the things you’re excited to be
doing

December 23, 2008 | Filed Under Ideas, Productivity Tools | Leave a Comment 

Heading into the holidays

The holidays create a perfect time for restting our plans for the coming year AND for how we want to show up.

For 14 years I’ve had a question posed to me by friends, family, colleagues and clients.

I was asked this question a month ago, and a week ago, and it came up in conversation today as well.

“So, Linda, does you work slow down at this time of year?”

My answer is based on my actual experiences, year after year for the past fourteen years it’s been “Nope. The time of year has nothing to do with how busy I am.”

So many of us live according to how external rhythms show up, like ‘holiday season’ – I did when I was salaried by organizations rather than running my own six-figure business. Now that I’m a solo professional, my business is determined by two specific factors.

  1. When the client has decided to move into action and get their challenges solved, and
  2. When I make myself available.

Actually, there is a third factor: My deciding who I will have as a client, and how I make myself available to them.

Since we each have the greatest influence on our own lives by how we make ourselves available, for relationships, for work, for our creativity, I thought I’d spend more time on that in this week’s article.

After all – if you aren’t making specific decisions about how you’ll show up, how you’ll steer your own path in business and life, who is steering? Your distractions? Your obstacles? Your loudest annoyances?

Let’s get that straightened out! Watch for the next article on how to stop tolerating them.

By the way, I’m launching speaking and teaching programs in the next few weeks. I’ll let you know all about them. I hope you’ll join me, and let others know what is available to them!

I look forward to helping you build your success!

December 22, 2008 | Filed Under Ideas | Leave a Comment 

10 Reasons No One Can Find Your Website

… and Why All Your Potential Customers Are Buying From Your Competition

Frank Buddenbrock

Frank Buddenbrock

Ever wonder… Why All Your Potential Customers Are Buying From Your Competition? Because today they’re looking for products and service solutions on-line, on the web and they’re not finding you! Your business web success depends on top ranking in the major search engines. Without it, you’re dead. Most web surfers NEVER look past page two of their search results– 40% stop after the first page, and only 8% will continue past the top 30 results. SEO-Einstein solves that for businesses like yours. Frank Buddenbrock joins The Spark Effect internet radio show host Linda Feinholz to show you ten of the most common reasons why your website is nowhere to be found, and how to stop everybody looking for your product or service becoming loyal customers of your competition.   more…

Monday, December 15, 2008 at 10am Pacific
www.modavox.com/VoiceAmericaBusiness

December 11, 2008 | Filed Under The Spark Effect shows | Leave a Comment 

Success Quote

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
Carl Jung

December 10, 2008 | Filed Under Quotes | Leave a Comment 

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