Make things better by altering your worldview

Do you want to have a breakthrough at work? Do you want the results of your company to increase dramatically? Do you want to feel more energized, more enthusiastic, happier? All of these things are a lot easier to obtain than I’m sure you realize. It’s all about changing your worldview.

I’m going to keep this simple because it is simple. The problem likely is that you won’t believe what I’m about to say because of the simplicity of it. Here’s your biggest problem: you don’t realize that you’re in charge of everything in your life and business. You worry about customers, vendors, employees, suppliers, the economy, the competition, everything outside of yourself. It’s such a waste of your energy and time.

All of those things you worry about are all part of your worldview. But you actually believe that those things are both real and true. After all, there are customers and vendors and employees, etc. Here’s the key insight: There is no such thing as real or true. There is ONLY what’s real or true for YOU. It’s all what you believe. And mostly, your beliefs are negative and self defeating.

You actually believe that you have obstacles to your success, that you have to do things to overcome those obstacles and you need something to support you in doing the things you have to do. That’s part of the worldview you were born into. It’s just not the truth. You don’t need anything and there’s nothing you need to do. Here’s what will likely be a startling fact: everything you’ve ever thought you wanted is already there. The moment you thought about it, the Universe created it. You just need to let it come to you.

But there are so many barriers to that happening. First, you don’t believe any of that and your life is being created out of what you do believe. Second, you don’t trust the Universe to deliver. As I’ve mentioned before, Einstein said you have to decide whether you believe the Universe is friendly or hostile. Trust me, it’s friendly. But you don’t trust it.

Third, most people don’t have much of an ability to receive. Most people don’t feel worthy of receiving. If you want to receive all the Universe has waiting for you, you have to learn to feel you deserve everything. Expect life to be good. Pound yourself multiple times a day with acknowledgement for everything you do.

Our philosophy, which we call “Unshackled Leadership” is designed fundamentally to help you change your worldview from one that disempowers you and prevents you from having what you want to one consistent with this post which empowers you to have it all. By learning the principles of Unshackled Leadership, an individual’s worldview is altered, immediately changing his or her perspective for the better;

Once an individual’s worldview is changed, team relationships can, and typically do, improve dramatically and when teams are functioning at a high level, business results will also improve dramatically. With one Unshackled Leadership client company, BEFORE: sales were flat and there was virtually no profitability for five consecutive years, AFTER: sales doubled in the first three years and profitability increased by more than ten times. With another client company, where BEFORE: sales had grown an average of 9% per year for over 20 years, AFTER: sales increased by 32% the first year.

This is not hard. You just have to be willing to give up your negative thoughts and beliefs and exchange them for the thoughts and beliefs I’ve discussed here. As many of you like to hear me say, do you want to be right or happy? If the later, give up all the negative thoughts you’ve held onto for too long and exchange them for thoughts and beliefs which are consistent with what you want. Start trusting the Universe to deliver and open your arms and heart to receive.

ATTITUDE: Is yours worth catching

Summarizing what we’ve discussed over these past few weeks:

You were born with the same exact power to create as everyone else.

• You can create anything
• And, you’re creating all the time
• There’s never a time you’re not creating
• There’s not one thing you see with our eyes that’s the truth – it’s only a projection of your past thoughts
• Your thoughts create your experiences 100% of the time
• Your emotions are the fuel that either makes everything happen or prevents things from happening.

This week, let’s talk more about how to put these principles into action and create the life of your dreams:

Since your emotions are the fuel that either makes everything happen or prevents things from happening, you must learn to “choose” your attitude. No successful person allows the circumstances to dictate their attitude. Successful people choose their attitude and bring it to the circumstances of life.

So, what does it mean to “choose” your attitude? First, it means you choose to be satisfied and happy. If you’re waiting for the circumstances to be exactly the way you want them to be in order for you to be satisfied with your life and happy, I promise you’ll have a long wait. Your life’s the way it is and that’s that. Now you get to decide if you’re willing to be satisfied and happy. You can still want a lot more, but why not choose to be happy and satisfied now and take your satisfaction and happiness along with you on the journey rather than waiting for some day that will likely never come before you are that way? Makes sense to me. Furthermore, if I can’t trust you to be happy and satisfied now, when you likely already have an amazing life, how can I trust you to be happy and satisfied and some unknown time in the future when you’ll probably still be waiting for life to turn out.

Choosing your attitude also means to be optimistic, positive and enthusiastic and to have faith and trust in your future. Every truly successful person I’ve meet had this genuine knowingness that everything was going to turn out great and they looked forward to the future with optimism and enthusiasm.

Get in the habit of looking for things to appreciate wherever you are. My favorite way of saying this is: cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Learn to be appreciative of and grateful for all of the things you now probably take for granted, like: having a house to live in, a bed to sleep in, food to eat, a car to drive, roads to take you places, traffic lights to keep you safe, your family, friends, co-workers and customers, and most of all, when you awake each day, for the privilege it is to be alive and contribute to life.

And if that’s not enough, here are some additional thoughts to think about: Speak only about what you love and brings you happiness. What good could possibly come from speaking about what you hate or makes you unhappy. But isn’t that what far too many of us do? Makes no sense. Stop watching CNN, which stands for “constantly negative news.” Focus on what’s working in your life and the good news of the day. I personally love the way the NBC evening news with Brian Williams ends with a section called Making a Difference where they focus on people and organizations who are doing just that. I often turn on the show just for that section.

And for the grand finale, do not allow yourself to feel irritated or disappointed. Learn to accept people and life just the way they are and it is and just the way they and it are not. Give up complaining, blaming, criticizing and gossip. Could you even begin to imagine what life would be like if you did that? We so take those things for granted, as if life is just supposed to be that way. No, it’s not supposed to be that way, it’s just that we have made it that way. And the fact that we have is probably the biggest reason why people are not happy and don’t have the life of their dreams.

To be continued . . . 

2014: Have it be a breakthrough year

I hope you did the exercise I gave you in December to complete 2013 and that you have a clean slate on which to plan 2014. If not, please go back and read the last post and complete the exercise. It will make a huge difference if you do.

There’s a great story in Alice in Wonderland. Alice is going down the yellow brick road when she comes to an intersection. Sitting at the intersection is the Cheshire cat. Alice asks: “which way?” The cat responds: “where are you going?” Alice says: “I don’t know.” Whereupon the cat says: “Well then, it doesn’t matter!”

So first, planning has to start with clarity about where you are going. What I’m pointing to is your vision. In a business context, this means what you’re committed to creating. Not just next year or the year after or even the year after. It’s the big picture. Who are you? Where are you going? What are the fundamental commitments in building your organization? What would you have it look like some day, when all of your hopes and dreams become a reality?

On an individual basis, what is your life about, really? Where are you going? What are you committed to? What do you want to leave behind when you’re all done?

There are a whole series of questions like these in Chapter 19 of Unshackled Leadership. You might want to consider getting a copy before you go too far with your planning.

Why is it so important to start with the big picture? Several reasons.

First, when the context for all that you do is your vision for the future and that vision is big, clear, inspiring and challenging, it creates excitement and enthusiasm for you and everyone else in your organization. And, if you remember the discussion of cause and effect in previous blog posts, you know that a mood of passion, excitement and enthusiasm has you attract into your life and your company more things to be passionate, excited and enthused about!

Second, when all you do is look at what you accomplished in the past and set some goals for things you want to accomplish in the future, you unwittingly design a future that is an extension of the past! And then you wonder why you’re not inspired or motivated.

Third, for those of you that are long time readers, you know we live in a fundamentally fear-based, scarcity-based world. If you’re not standing firmly in your vision for the future of your company or your life, it is so easy to get sucked into fear-based, scarcity-based thinking. And all that does is attract to you scarcity and things to be fearful of. And isn’t that what’s going on right now? Really?

I worked with a client some time ago which so clearly demonstrates what I’m talking about. Great company, great people, great products and services, but not going anywhere very fast and not being real profitable.

Each year, in their business planning process, they did the conventional. They looked at what they had done in the past, looked at the opportunities on the table at the moment, attempted to project what they felt they could predict in the future, and set some goals. Sound familiar?

What wasn’t apparent was how much their thinking was fear and scarcity based. And, each day was more of the same, business as usual. We did a retreat early in the year with the management team and went through the Designing the Future process outlined in Chapter 19 of Unshackled Leadership. What emerged was not only a vision for the future, but a clearly identified mission statement and clarity about the culture they were committed to creating. Standing in the vision, which was truly exciting, a set of objectives to be achieved within 5 years were created. Those objectives included almost tripling the company in 5 years, as well as dramatically improving the level of profitability.

By the time this vision was filtered throughout the company, what was unimaginable earlier in the year not only became the total commitment of everyone in the company, but it became the prevalent conversation that they would blow past the objectives well before then. And the whole fear-based, scarcity-based way of thinking is now long gone. Plus, they had the best year ever!  

In planning for next year, what happened in the past is really irrelevant. What happened in the past was a reflection of your thinking in the past. If you want to have a different future, you need to think differently. And creating from your vision is a great place to start that process.

Once your vision is in place, and looking from there, the first question to ask yourself is “what’s missing?” Not what’s wrong, not what’s bad, not what isn’t working, just what’s missing? Standing in your vision, you’ll see lots of things missing. Just make a list.

When that’s done, ask the next question: “what’s possible?” What’s possible is very different from what you can predict. The later looks to the past, the former looks to the future. Again, just make a list of what’s possible.

Then, standing in your vision, seeing what’s missing and what’s possible, see what you’re willing to take on, what you’re willing to commit yourself to. Not from what you know, not from what you’ve done, not even from what you don’t know. Just looking to the future and seeing what calls to you, what inspires you, what would get you out of bed in the morning raring to go because you have work to do.

Create intentions, goals, projects, commitments, whatever words work for you. But whatever, have it be an expression of the future you are committed to, not some prediction based on what you’ve done in the past.

And then, let it all go, proceed with faith, trust and optimism, and let the Universe take you where it knows is best for you. The Universe is really on your side. The Universe wants you to have everything you want. That is the truth. Move boldly in the direction of your dreams. Bring your passion, your excitement, your gratitude, appreciation and thankfulness to life, and you will indeed have the best year ever!

If you’ve never done planning this way, and I suspect very few of you have, it can be a somewhat daunting task. Please give yourself the gift of a breakthrough year and give us a call. We’ll be happy to work with you to make this all simple, straightforward, exciting, and doable.

Success Strategy – Change Your Conversation

Is your life the way you want it to be?  If you’re a leader of an organization, is the organization the way you want it to be?  The answer to this question for many is “No” or “Not exactly, it could be improved.” 

At Unshackled Leadership coaching, we work with many businesses and organizations  who are doing pretty well, yet they have a desire to do even better. They want to improve their business, maybe it’s to increase their number of clients, sales, revenue, or profits.  Sometimes it’s about improving the culture, making it a better place to work, having people get along.  Often, they’re not sure what’s missing or what they really want to do or be.  They don’t have a clear vision. They need some help.

This is top of mind because today I conducted a retreat for one of my clients.  The goal was to create and align on a vision for the future of their organization.  This is so important because it helps you focus and prioritize, rather than jumping from one thing to another.  It helps you be the successful organization you want to be.

Prior to the actual creation of the vision, we talked about what it takes to be a successful organization.  In Scott Hunter’s book, Unshackled Leadership, this is defined as “enthusiastic, confident, optimistic, appreciative and happy people who work together on behalf of a future they have all committed themselves to.” We work with companies to help them develop this mindset and create a vision.  As we went through our process today, it became clear much of this could be accomplished by changing ones conversation. 

People in most organizations need to change their conversations about themselves, others and the organization itself.  Do you ever stop and really listen to yourself and others?  Is there complaining, blaming, judging, or criticizing?  Do they dwell on past mistakes or history? Is there doubt, worry and uncertainty?  Do people second guess themselves or others?  Usually, when one criticizes another it’s because they also criticize themselves.  They think they’re not good enough, not smart enough, not talented enough or not worthy and this spills out and spreads.  The result is that people and organizations stop growing and moving forward.

If this is happening for you or your organization, you need to change your conversation.  Start with yourself.  Take a stand for your value and greatness.  As you change your conversation and your mindset, you’ll begin to see the magnificence of others as well.  You begin to create a space in your organization for everyone else to experience his or her own greatness.  You will see a shift.  Reframe any negative or limiting beliefs you have about yourself, others or your organization.  Keep the conversations focused on what you want as an organization and all the great knowledge and talents you have to deliver on that.  It’s a win/win for all!

If you need some help changing those conversations and creating a vision for your organization, contact me Lois@UnshackledLeadership.com or visit our website www.UnshackledLeadership.com.

The Roadmap to Success

For those of you who are regular readers of this newsletter, you will recall that back in February of this year, I announced the start of our 2013: Roadmap to Success Coaching Program. I suggested at the time that if you wanted to have 2013 be your best year ever and the year you begin to have the things you truly want, I invited you to give yourself the gift of being part of this program. The program included monthly coaching calls and unlimited access to personal coaching via e mail directly with me, your personal success coach!

Over 30 participants chose to participate in this program and the journey has been nothing short of amazing. The participants have had an opportunity to create a vision for their lives and their careers and they have begun to dissolve the barriers that they have created that prevent the fulfillment of that vision. As one of the participants wrote recently: “Thanks for sharing these concepts which are surely rocking my world. I consider you one of my life coaches and I want to tell you that your effect on me will have effects on many others who consider me one of their coaches.”

 Another one wrote: “Thank you so much for sending the handout, and you reaffirmed many things I know, but forget to apply, so I really value the reminders, and you are right these Programs can be life changing.  I also learned things that are as you say are simple concepts, but you have to make some big changes to reap the benefits.  For now, I am concentrating on four areas, an attitude of gratitude, becoming a better listener, laughing at the voice of my ego, and putting together a vision of what I would like my life to look like in 10 years. Thank you for the opportunity to do these things.”

I know that many of you would have liked to participate but for one reason or the other, the timing just wasn’t right. For others, the thought that you could actually have the life and career of your dreams was too much to consider. If either was the case, I’m sorry you missed this incredible opportunity.

But here’s the good news: it’s not too late. I have created a video version of the program which you can watch on your computer or your TV. And, like the initial program, the video program includes monthly coaching calls for you to get the support you need to accomplish your goals. So if you are ready to win in the game of life and take control of your business or career, I invite you to go to: http://www.unshackledleadership.com/free-success-video-ty and sign up for the platinum group coaching program which will include both the mp4 and DVD versions of the video program. The coaching program starts the first week of August so don’t delay. While you’re at the site that the above link will take you to, be sure to read what the program is all about. This could just be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. See you on the first call in August.