Facing the Giants Wholeheartedly

This video clip is from the movie Facing the Giants. It is a wonderful example of how people can sell themselves short and not maximize true inner potential.

Are you giving your absolute best?!!

Too often we are swayed by what others think; and worse yet, all too often we talk ourselves out of what we are trying to do. We rationalize why we should take the easier road, or settle on heading in a different direction. Those that walk closest to their potential do so because they know, burning deep within them, exactly what it is that they are driving towards. They are able to block out any negative influence that deters them from their goal. They blindfold themselves to it!

Keep a clear mind and stay on your path by recommitting to excellence every single day. When you wake up in the morning look yourself in the mirror and say out loud "I recommit to being the best I can be today." This is also a great time to set a specific intention for yourself as well.

Upon arrival to my fitness camp the participants write down their intention for the day. Some real examples are: I intend to.....

Get organized.
Avoid junk food.
Be kind to myself.
Keep my temper in check.
Stay motivated.
Be happy with my kids after school.

So try and recommit yourself to excellence each day and set your intentions for that day. Like I always say, "You can't hit what you don't aim at!"

Surrounding Yourself With Positive Energy

Surrounding yourself with positive energy is one of the best ways to create the inertia needed to tackle life head on and achieve your goals. The following are four great ways to keep you in a productive positive frame of mind.

1. Uplifting Music: Listening to music that not only has a soothing melody, but an uplifting message, can be great for developing positive self-talk a crucial element in dealing with stress.

2. Inspirational Books: Books on strength, personal power, enlightenment, or self-help are good resources to help you achieve a positive outlook on life. Rather than triggering habitual self-defeating thoughts, you can find yourself thinking of new can-do concepts when times get tough.

3. Positive People: One of the most important ways you can get (and keep) positive energy in your life is with the company you keep. Do your friends uplift you, or bring you down? Are they critical, or complementary? Ideal friendships provide support when you’re down, fun when you’re up, wisdom when you’re lost, and positive regard. Good friends can inspire you to reach greater heights, and see your strengths even when you don’t. Pay attention to how your friends make you feel, and if they’re less than supportive, start putting your energy and time toward people who are better suited to be your friend.

4. Practice Affirmations: Positive affirmations are a great tool to reprogram your unconscious mind from negative thinking to positive. The idea is to take positive statements of what you would like to see manifested, and repeat them enough so that they’re part of your way of thinking and seeing the world. The following is a list of some great affirmations.

I always give the best in me and the best in everything comes to me.

I am a powerful prosperity magnet!

Every cell in my body vibrates with energy and health.

My body heals quickly and easily.

I am my own unique self - special, creative and wonderful.

I choose love, joy and freedom, open my heart and allow wonderful things to flow into my life.

Start surrounding yourself with the kind of energy that will help you achieve your goals. I am POSITIVE you'll be glad you did!

Embracing Change

This past August I had the pleasure of being the guest Expert Wellness Coach on the TV show Navigating Your Life with Dr. Nat Williams. The topic of discussion was change. What better time to explore the concept of change then the transformational fall season.

How do you view change? Do you embrace change or fear change? Do you view change as an opportunity or something to resist at all costs?

People who tap into their inner passions and achieve high levels of success easily adapt to change because, to them, change is simply another way of taking charge of their lives and fully living. They completely embrace the idea that life is a journey, a becoming, a growing. Life IS change.

Fear is often the basis for any negative notions a person has about the concept of change. If you have fear surrounding a change you want to make it is important to build a strong relationship with your fear by identifying the fear and then taking action to alleviate the fear. Writing down your fears or sharing your fears with a friend often helps ease some of the trepidation.

Once you face your fear, you'll find that it begins to lose its power over you. Instead of you becoming confined by the emotion, you now have the upper hand and can take action.

The next step is to be very clear about what it is that you want to change and exactly what achieving the change means to you. When you know something is important to you and why it’s important then a fuel burns inside you to achieve your goal and you can use that fuel to overcome fear and drive you forward.

Create a list of why you want to change and keep that list in a place you see often, such as in your wallet and/or on your bathroom mirror. Before you know it your fear will be a thing of the past and your transformation will have begun!

4 Steps to Success

Napoleon Hill is the author of one of the best selling books of all time Think and Grow Rich. He devised a 4 step process for success after interviewing more than 500 of America’s top leaders including Carnegie, Edison, Ford, Schwab, Rockefeller, Eastman and more. The 4 steps are:

1. A purpose backed by a burning desire for fulfillment.
2. A definite plan expressed in continuous action.
3. A mind closed against all negative & discouraging influences.
4. An alliance with someone who will encourage one to follow through with both plan and purpose.


A purpose backed by a burning desire for fulfillment.

It is very important to be clear about what it is that you want AND exactly what achieving it means to you. When you know something is important to you, WHY it’s important AND that it’s instrumental in reaching whatever you desire, then a fuel burns inside you to achieve it. Use that fuel, that burning desire, to drive you forward.

A definite plan expressed in continuous action.

Ideas are nothing without implementation. Your purpose and goals can only become attainable once the steps necessary to achieve them are laid out. Now, sometimes this road will be clear and many others time the road will unfold as you travel. In addition to the actual steps you must take for progress to occur, you also need to think about the skills and traits you must learn and adopt along the way.

A mind closed against all negative & discouraging influences.

Too often we are swayed by what others think; and worse yet, all too often we talk ourselves out of what we are trying to do. We rationalize why we should take the easier road, or settle on heading in a different direction. Those that walk closest to their potential do so without worry, fear, doubt, or hesitation. They know, burning deep within them, exactly what it is that they are driving towards.

An alliance with someone who will encourage one to follow through with both plan and purpose.

The final step is to have an alliance with someone who will hold you accountable to follow through with both plan and purpose. It’s extremely easy to let yourself off the hook. Find someone who understands what you’re trying to achieve and what it means to you – whether this is a coach, friend, colleague, or otherwise – and ask them to hold you accountable, to push you, to challenge you, to pick you up, to see forward when you are blinded, to remind you of your motivations, to give you a simple breather, and to help you keep focus. This is the fourth and final step because it’s absolutely required to keep you true to both your plan and purpose.

212 degrees - The Extra Degree

Change by Tracy Chapman

If there was one small change you could make, today, to take a step towards being exactly who you want to be, what would it be?

Practice make perfect

Have you ever heard the saying "Practice Makes Perfect?" In order to receive better grades students are urged to study more. In order to lose weight clients are urged to work out more and so forth. This concept is used in many facets of life but I think it is quite over looked in one very important area of life. Happiness.

Happiness is derived from a feeling that stems from within. To some people happiness includes feeling at peace, to some it lies in feeling secure, and for others it may be tapping into ones life's purpose. Each persons definition of happiness is unique. Therefore it is important to think about what happiness means to you.

So many people, including myself, struggle to hold on to that feeling for a significant amount of time. Some bad news arrives, events don't go according to plan, or some other life circumstance happens, and all of a sudden the feeling of happiness is gone and some other negative feeling takes over.

Practicing happiness is one way to be able to get the feeling back more quickly when life throws you curve balls. How do you practice happiness you may ask?

The first step is to define what your personal happiness feels like. By focusing on what thoughts and emotions you would like to attain such as gratitude, tolerance, confidence, spirituality etc and by letting go of specific projects events and outcomes you not only start to make deeper neural connections and imprints associated with that feeling in your brain but you also open up the door for the universe to bring about your desires. You become a part of the greater flow of the universe and life takes on a larger meaning.

Visualizing your happiness for 5 minutes a day can help shift your consciousness and energy levels enabling you to get in the right frame of mind to find solutions and tackle life.

Taking a few moments to close your eyes and feel peace, love, or what ever feeling it is your desiring opens up the channels of holographic thinking. Holographic thinking involves our ability to see multiple perspectives at once. We see the situation as a whole, taking in all dimensions. We incorporate our intuition, emotional awareness, experience, knowledge and logic. This thinking yields the greatest chance for success and happiness in life.

One of my favorite advocates of visualization is Mike Dooley. Check out his website at www.tut.com to learn more.

Now take a few minutes to feeeeeeeeel. It gets much easier the more you practice and it takes no more than 5 minutes a day. The benefits are so worth it!