Hug A Tree Approach To Success

The strategy to bring out our best is not always what is most obvious.   The common approach is to work harder and longer, until you are worn out for the day, week, decade, or your life.

If you could reduce stress, improve performance, and concentrate better from a single activity,  Would that give you enough icentive to get your butt out of your office?    If you are the boss and realized that you could reduce employee stress,  improve thinking, and maybe even impact performance, would you bringyourself to encourage them to for wa lk in the park?

Researchers at the University of Michigan have found that contact with nature, from passive views of nature through windows to walking in an outdoor setting, leads to an increased ability to concentrate on tasks requiring high mental effort.

Nature provides a constant source of energy . Whenever we safely make contact with beauty in nature, these attractions trigger our brain to release Dopamine, a neurotransmitter that produces good feelings that we seek.

Nature can reduce feelings of overwhelm. Studies reveal that through consciously making connection with natural areas, humans have been observed to reverse challenging personal situations (stress, overwhelm, depression and mental confusion.)

Nature can provide stress relief. Research at NASA shows that long distant views – even painted views in photographs and posters – induce a sense of “mental tranquility,” a natural calming down of the mind.  Spending even a few minutes in your favorite place on the earth can help to ease the intensity of daily stresses of life. The smells, sounds, colors and textures that surround you in nature have been known to relax the nervous system.  The mind slows down so that you can start to access parts of your connection to your inner spirit that you cannot access when there are high levels of stress and tension in your body. The scent of the dirt, the colors of the sky, and the aromas of the plants increase your sensory awareness and heighten your perceptions.

By spending time in your favorite spot in nature, solutions may arise that were not there before, or you may just feel a few moments of peace . Now are you willing to get your butt out of your chair?

Be Inspired

FOUR QUESTIONS TO CONNECT WITH WHAT INSPIRES YOU

Some time ago I read that if two people are up for a job promotion, with one of the candidates being slightly more qualified, and the other candidate more enthusiastic, 80% of the time the more enthusiastic person gets the promotion.

I could never quite label it as such, but during my time in corporate America, this is what I witnessed. As I spoke with clients, and current, and former colleagues, the majority all seem to agree that this is true.

I wanted to learn a little more about why this may be and started with a bit of research into the word enthusiasm, whose greek origins mean the God within. Some of the older defintions of enthusiasm are to be inspired. A little more obvious, the defintion of inspired is the spirit within or to breathe life into. The words have very similar meanings.

Everyone loves to be around inspiring people, and it stands to reason the most inspiring people are inspired by something or someone themselves.   Inspiring people are energizing, creative, and often just being around them elicits a sense of urgency about being one’s best, fulfilling your purpose, using your talents.

This notion of feeling inspired was a catalyst in my becoming a coach.  I didn’t want to settle for just okay, cool, or good.  I know I am in the right profession because I feel inspired ever day to be a better coach,  I , to expand my knowledge, so I can help people get out of their professional suffering and find their own inspiration.  It is a natural energy that comes to me, not one that I have to force.   This doesn’t mean it is without challenges, however, I hardly ever feel like I am working.  Tuesday or Saturday, it’s all the same to me.

When one embarks on the path of seeking work they feel passionate about or that has meaning, it is easy to approach it as if it is a secret the universe is keeping from you. It is much simpler than that, here are some tips questions and thoughts to open it up for you.

First, for simplicity’s sake, let’s talk about inspired as when you feel most alive.  When it feels like energy is surging through you, and you want to be your best.

Who is a person living or dead,  that when you read about or come in contact with, you start to think and feel you want to be your best,  or want to go out in the world and do great things?

Most people recognize the profundity of coming across inspiring people.   Some of the most inspiring people I have encountered, I never even met in person.  I have read or watched a story about them, came across something they created or had been told about them. In some cases they have been activists, entertainers, writers, coaches, entrepreneurs, young, old, male, females, from all races.   I am sure there are many more for me to meet.

One quality they all seem to share is that they are committed to something bigger than themselves, which manifest in many different ways.  At times it has been a musician, actor, or other entertainer, who clearly has made the committment to practicing their craft, which is evident by their masterful performance.  I have been inspired by reading something, it could be the author, subject, or excellence of the writing that inspires.  Social and community activists that have risked their lives, and safety for causes they believe in are very inspiring.

What are the topics that inspire you? This is not about altruism, it is not about judgement, there is no right answer.  I am constantly inspired by other entrepreneurs and business people for their courage, determination and creativity.  Their ability to take an idea, and manifest a business out of nothing.  I have always always loved personal development, and spiritual topics.  It was the recognition I could get paid for working with these subjects, that clinched my decision to become a coach.

What are the activities that when you are engaged in them, you feel most alive? When is it that you feel truly connected with the present moment?  Are you playing an instrument? Writing? Sharing? Teaching? Talking? Painting? Healing? Comforting? Nurturing? Walking? Exercising? Cooking?

Writing this piece about inspiration and inspiring people is inspiring for me.  The notion, that it might serve as one small step in a journey that helps someone else find their inspiration gets my juices flowing.  What could be a better mission, than helping individuals discover and connect with their own inspiration?  After all the world definitely could use more inspired people.

Where do you feel your best? Is it in a museum? Which museum?  Is it in nature, the woods, beach, or snow capped mountains?  Is it the bustling energy of a major city, or the cracking of ocean waves? Go wherever it is you feel most inspired, and think about what/who else inspires you?

It’s easy to understand why enthusiastic people get hired.   Inspiration is the fuel for greatness, it is energy and committment that cannot be bought.  It is contagious you cannot force yourself or someone else to be inspired, but you can inspire them.

Keep an eye out, as we delve more into inspiration in moving forward, with more discussion, and profiles and interviews with truly inspiring people.

Please post who/what/where inspires you here.  We want to know.

Choose Career Freedom

“No one is coming to solve life’s problems for you.  If you do not do something different, nothing is going to get better.  Happy people are typically pro-active.  They do not passively wait for someone else to do something.  They take initiative in the pursuit of whatever is important to them.  They do not wait for the world or someone else to make them happy, which they know is impossible.” –Nathaniel Branden

Professional Freedom is based on recognizing the choices we have and taking responsibility for them.  Not making a choice is still a choice.  

You may hate your job, you are still choosing to get up and go to your place of work every day.  You might be saying at this moment, “he doesn’t understand, I have to pay the bills, or keep a roof over my head.   I do understand, you are actually choosing to earn money over not showing up for a job you don’t like   There is no judgement in this choice, it sounds like a responsible one.  It is not a circumstance that is happening independently,  it is a choice you are making.  When you don’t own the choices in your life, you start to consider yourself  a victim, and it becomes easy to blame other people, or circumstances for your situation.  This kind of thinking is disempowering, it is giving away your freedom, and will keep you stagnant for a long time.  

Commuters generally take the same route to work every day.  You have probably found the timeliest route and it has become a habit.  You are choosing to use that route every day. We can choose how to respond to someone who cuts us off in traffic, says something we disagree with, or doesn’t do their job.  How and whether you respond is up to you.  If someone does something you don’t like, you choose how to react or respond, how long you want to hang on to it, and how much energy you want to give to it.    Three is no rule, or law of the universe that even says you have to give it a second thought.  It is actually when our emotions run high that we have the opportunity to be our strongest.  This is when the urge to say or do something feels so compelling, it almost doesn’t feel like a choice.  Sometimes our reaction is so quick, the choice may even be just below our consciousness.  You can still bring awareness to it, and decide how you want to proceed.  

Are you expecting your company or boss to look after you, because you have been so loyal and done such a great job?  There isn’t any person or organization that will look out for your interests better than you can. At any moment you can choose to start taking care of yourself, taking responsibility for your life, and your choices.  This is where you stop blaming others in your past or your present; you recognize a white knight or fairy godmother is not coming to rescue you.  You present situation is the result of choices you made, you can also make choices that will change your current circumstances if they are not to your liking.  

This is when a person grows up.  It is a scary prospect to take responsibility for one’s life, career, and especially of your dreams.  There isn’t anyone that can make your dreams happen for you, there isn’t any other person that is concerned with doing this.  Even if there were, the most empowering thing you can do for yourself is to act is if there weren’t, and go out and make them happen yourself.  Who knows whether they will happen.  Taking responsibility for them, what needs to be done, will in itself be transformative.

Go out and try it for a day, week, month, year.  Just take responsibility for your choices, your life, and your dreams. Let us know what happens.

Keep The Faith!

What do these 10 Time Magazine covers have in common?

They are all from the 70’s. More good times to come.

TED

TED started as an invitation only conference in the 1980’s; bringing together the most innovative minds from Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It continues today, with selected guests invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less. While these talks were initially only heard by those in attendance, the evolution of the web sparked the creation of Ted Talks, a video archive of these presentations. They have graciously made them available to the public.

These speakers are not just leaders in their fields, they are the trailblazers knocking down the walls of conformity. They are using their position, gifts, talent, resources and knowledge to make the world a better place.

The talks are classified in categories that you don’t ordinarily see on other sites. They include “most jaw-dropping” which is led by Blaise Aguera Y Arcas, co-creator of Photosynth a monumental piece of software capable of assembling statis photos into a synergy of zoomable navigatable spaces.

Deborah Scranton who tops the “most courageous” category shows clips and discusses her film “The War Tapes” which documents putting cameras in the hands of a unit of The New Hampshire National Guard for one year while in Iraq

The “most inspiring” category includes Richard St. John who spent more than a decade researching the secrets of success — and distilling them into 8 words, 3 minutes and one successful book; Stupid, Ugly, Unlucky and Rich: Spike’s Guide to Success

Other recognizable names who’s presentations are archived include Richard Branson, Bono, Jeff Bezos, and Television prodcuer JJ Abrams who is responsible for such shows as Lost and Alias.

There is a dose of inspiration here for anyone and everyone.

The Most Innovative Business Minds Of The Last Year

Fast Company published 18 of the most innovative business minds of the past year. There are some familiar names on the list and some new. Regardless of the industry you are in, chances are you will find someone on this list who inspires you.

Included is Timothy Ferris; Author of The Four Hour Work Week.

Ferriss is a Princeton University guest lecturer in High-Tech Entrepreneurship, the first American in history to hold a Guinness World Record in tango, a national Chinese kickboxing champion, and even a MTV breakdancer in Taiwan. But, what he’s most known for is his 80-20 principle, suggesting that people outsource everyday tasks. He adds, “I’m asking some important and long-avoided questions that make people uncomfortable.”
Follow this link for the other honorees;

Top Ten Signs You’re An Underearner.

Often people feel stuck in their jobs, or have this underlying feeling that they are underperforming and underearner. “This is not how it was supposed to turn out.” Their situation could range anywhere from a financial crisis to being quite successful yet they end up getting stuck somewhere. You may be an underearner. Do you indentify with these symptoms?

1. You blame something or someone else for your situation such as parents, boss, or business-partner.
2. Have low self-esteem and placed an unconscious ceiling on your earning capacity.
3. Minimize the importance of money in your life and attempt to rationlize it by saying things like “money doesn’t buy happiness.”
4. Fear that earning more or having success means loss of freedom, or will somehow negatively impact your personal life.
5. Have negative stereotypes about wealthy people. “Rich people are not nice.” “Rich people are greedy.”
6. Are Waitiing for someone or circumstance to do it for you, you believe you’ll marry rich, win the lottery, or some benefactor will recognize your special qualities and change your life.
7. You choose to stay in your comfort zone by not doing what is uncomfortable, such as promoting yourself, asking for a raise, or gave up on your dreams so you don’t have to take risks.
8. The 5 people you spend most of your time with are also underearners.
9. Believe they are trapped by their lifestyle or obligations such as bills, family.
10. Lacks clarity on the finances, monthly expenses, debts, etc.

If you are an underearner, the first thing you need to do is stop denying or pretending you aren’t one. Then there are some great steps you can take like finding a mentor, going to Debtor’s Anonymous-Don’t let the name fool you they have some great programs on underearning. Build a support network, find some friends who are earning more than you. A couple of great books to read on this subject are “The Soul of Money”; Rich Dad Poor Dad, and Millionaire Mind.

Throw You New Year’s Resolution Away – Now Is The Time To Go For Your Dreams.

You know it’s coming, in the next few days someone is going to ask you what your
New Year’s Resolution is. Don’t worry though, hardly anyone asks if you kept your previous resolution. I guess they do not want to be asked the same question. In most cases the answer is no. Statistics say over 95% of New Year’s Resolutions are not kept.

There are many reasons why New Year’s Resolutions fall by the wayside. I am not sure how helpful it would be to look at them. Instead lets take a look at what actually works for people:

Think Big!
I would say, so big that it is a dream not a resolution. Whatever it is you want for yourself, it needs to be important enough to inspire. If fitness or losing weight is on your agenda; Can you see yourself training for and running The New York Marathon in November? This kind of commitment would engage your mind, body, and soul. This is the kind of experience that asks more of you than “losing 10 pounds” or “going to the gym more often”, it is also the kind of experience that could be life changing.

It needs to be important to YOU.
Make sure it is your dream, not what a parent, spouse, friend, boss, or society wants for you. It shouldn’t be something you think your supposed to want or do. If it is not your dream, will you be able to stay in it when the challenges come up. Wouldn’t you rather feel inspired? Inspiration comes from within. It’s o.k. if someone in your life has the same dream, however, it just isn’t worth pursuing a dream that isn’t yours.

Be specific. You need to know what you want to get what you want.>
If you ask someone their definition of success, the most common answers are money, health, job, security, and family. Those are words not dreams. Who is it that you want to be in the world, within your profession, family, community? If you are a financial advisor, being known as the “go to guy in your community for families that want financial freedom”, is very different than “finding more clients.” It asks you to see yourself in a different way. Who are you working with? What are they dressed like? Are you in the city or suburbs? Use all five of your senses, approach it as if you are writing and directing a movie. Use as much detail as possible.

Make it challenging but attainable.
If it is so challenging that it isn’t attainable, like winning an Olympic Gold Medal at age 55, you will lose interest. At the same time if it is too easy, you will probably lose interest just as fast. If you want to take into account your health and age, you may have you eye on competing in a race in your age group.

Write it down.
Writing it down gives your focus, clarity, and brings the energy of your ideas out into the world. If your dream is a single sentence, you are not using your imagination. “I want one million dollars” is not a dream. Ask yourself Who you want to be?, What you want to do? and What you want to have? in your future. I subscribe to the adage, what you dwell on grows. Writing it down will get your thinking out of the past and present, to what you want to see happening in the future.

It is much easier to create a new habit then eradicate an old one.
This is actually based in neuroscience; reasearch shows it is easier to create new wiring in the human brain than eliminate old wiring. Focus on what you are going to do, not on what you want to stop doing.

Make sure you have the support you need.
By nature human beings are highly adaptable to their environment. If your environment is not set up to support you, then it will drag you down. This is one of the key reasons, you can almost always get started on a resolution and somewhere along the line be pulled back.

This is not restricted to your physical environment, it includes people, financial, health, leisure, and other environments you engage with. Consider whether these areas of your life set up to support you, or are holding you back. As an example, if you are looking to earn more money; Who are the people you spend most of your time with? Are they earning less or more than you? Do they constantly say “money is not important”? Do they have prejudices against wealthy people? Consider spending time with people who are where you want to be.

The dream has to be in integrity with who you are.
It does not have to be altruistic, pick someting that is in alignment with who you are, your own idea of success. There is no moral judgment in what is important to you.If it goes against your personal values, it is not your dream.

Focus on the journey, not the destination.
You can’t control the outcome, only the actions you take and choices you make.There are no guarantess, so you may as well enjoy the ride. You can suffer, sacrifice, and even conjure up all sorts of unwritten contracts with the world, or your god. There are still no guarantees. If someone trains to run a marathon, they may actually have a lot of fun. It could involve joining a running club; training with a spouse, mate, or friend; and buying new running clothes. Even if you didn’t run in the marathon you may have had an awesome time training. Oh yeah, and probably lose a few pounds, build self esteem, and be healthier as a result.

When you get clear on what it is you want, you start feel empowered. You start to feel like you are right with the world, and have the inner knowing that I can do this. This isn’t some magical formula for greed, prestige, or status, it is about becoming more of who you already are.

Happy New Year

“When Pickles Are Your Life’s Calling”

Business Week profiles pickle maker Rick Field, the founder Rick’s Picks. He describes what it takes to transform a hobby into a thriving business with national distribution.

“Background: In 2003, Field, a director and producer for veteran journalist Bill Moyers, left TV to turn his pickle-making hobby into a full-time business he named Rick’s Picks.” more