The Millionaire Mind

I’ve had a number of clients recently say they’ve read/attended “The Millionaire Mind”.  These clients also seemed to know, or at least were familiar with, some of the NLP processes that I use during my coaching sessions, thus I was intrigued about what it was they were learning through “The Millionaire Mind”.  I was also intrigued because I’ve adapted my WealthyMind materials into what I’ve called “The Empowered Mind Workbook”, which is focused 100% on self-alignment, which will help you achieve all that you want.

Anyway, true to the Law of Attraction, I received “The Millionaire Mind” book as a gift, within weeks of thinking that I really needed to read the book.  So I started flipping through the book and found that much of it is very familiar to me.  Some of it was new, or at least positioned in a different way, which allowed me to pull some really great nuggets of information from it.

One nugget I’d like to share with you is listed below and is in regards to “Negativity”.  The reason this jumped out at me was because I was recently having lunch with an ex-colleague and dear friend of mine, when we got on the topic of how happy we were and what a bummer it was to connect with other people that weren’t feeling as happy and at peace these days and how it felt like such a drain on energy to be talking to people who were constantly complaining.

Now, don’t get me wrong, we work as coaches with some folks that are in this pattern however, the difference is that these people, whom we work with, are making a real commitment to making whatever changes are required to help them live a happy and fulfilling life.

So, this activity, that is outlined in “The Millionaire Mind”, really spoke to me, and now I’m passing it along to you!

Good luck and report back with your experience!

Seven Day Challenge

For the next seven days, the challenge is to not complain – out loud or in your head.  You can only speak in “positive” terms.  In a way, this is like forcing yourself to see the “silver lining” in every situation.  As I’ve mentioned before, gratitude has been proven to help your immune system, and in a way, being positive and refraining from complaining, is a bit like being grateful!

So start today!  Carve out seven days of “no complaining” and away you go!

What is Your Core Question?

Recently I was working with my coach on identifying and changing my “core question”, also known as a “primary question”.  Why would one want to make this discovery and shift?  Well, our core question is the One question we ask ourselves on a regular basis, regardless of the circumstances.  It is a question that can either help us or hinder us.  Mine, as it turned out, was no longer helping me in leading the life I wanted to lead.  What was it you ask?  Well it was as follows:

“How can I be the best, and most put together in this situation?”

On the surface it doesn’t seem so bad, but when you dig a little deeper, you realize how much it gets in the way.  It caused me to not try out new things or, if I did, I worked EXTREMELY hard to get good at them quickly.  It stopped me from participating in conversations where I did not perceive myself as the “best” or “most put together”.  I was tired of living that way and wanted to be able to ease up on myself, so I adopted a new core question, which is:

“How can I best support myself and others?”

This new question has been so liberating for me and has allowed me to further align myself with my dreams.

So think about it, what is your core question and how might you want to change it?

Life Happens

As many of you know, I have two blogs, this one, which is aimed more to “personal development” and the other, which is focused on “professional development”.  My posting on the SuccessfulHR blog is one that is relevant for both sites, therefore, I want to share it with you here:

http://successfulhr.wordpress.com/

I hope it helps you a little when “Life Happens” to you.

Dealing with Tough Times

Times are tough, no doubt about it.  It is during times such as this that we are challenged at our very core.  As some of us get swept up in the negativity, we begin to shift in ways that are far from good.  It often starts subtly, like bad behaviors that creep back in.  Those things we thought we had worked through, rear their ugly heads again.  We start eating poorly and sleeping becomes a challenge.  We obsess over the things we would never have given importance to when things were great.  Sometimes we even see ourselves shifting and feel as though someone else is controlling us.  We begin to pick fights with loved ones and argue over the smallest decisions.  So what do you do about it?  How do you maintain your sanity when there is so much to deal with out there?

First, you need to come to terms with the fact that things are always shifting and changing.  Then you need to decide what things do you need to let go of so you can move forward?  What do I mean by that?  There are always behaviors, attitudes, thoughts, even relationships that may no longer be serving you.  So ask yourself – “What do I need to let go of in order to continue moving forward?” Keep in mind, that as you let things go you will begin to feel lighter, freer and less susceptible to the negativity around you.  Once you’ve got that taken care of, make a list of things you enjoy doing and go do them.  Things that give you peace of mind and energy.  It can be anything from listening to music to taking up a new hobby or volunteering.  Whatever it is, it needs to be meaningful to you.

So to recap, your 3 steps for getting through these times are:

1. Change is constant, so embrace it.
2. Let go of things that no longer serve you (I let go of watching the news – too depressing).
3. Start doing something that gives you energy (I started exercising and reading).

Don’t worry about dialing this in right away, you may need to try different things before you get to a balanced state of being, where you are the peace amidst all the chaos.

Leave comments about what you’ve let go of or have started doing, to help give others ideas!

Have You Sparkled Today?

A business coach I’ve been working with is really big on “inquiries”, which are questions that you post somewhere to act as a reminder of something you’d like to work on.

Through the holidays mine was – “Have I been present and peaceful today?” It was the first time I used the technique, and found it extremely useful.  Given that the holidays can be stressful enough on their own, it was great to be reminded to breathe.  This worked so well for me, that I’ve adopted a new one – “Have I sparkled today?” And guess what?  It makes me laugh every time I see the little green post-it with those words.  It reminds me to not take myself or life so seriously and I find that I’m being even more productive!

So, I invite everyone to pick an inquiry for the week or for the month.  The important thing is to have it be fun and be positive (no sense in having an inquiry that yells at you).  I encourage you to post your inquiries in the comments section so that others can learn from you!

Bringing in the New Year

I am bringing in the new year with a whole lot of optimism and gratitude.  I know that things will continue to improve on a global scale and I will continue to do my part to help them improve. I look and see many people not only surviving, but thriving.  What makes them special? In all my research, training, reading, etc. I realize that it is the combination of optimism, gratitude and being true to who you are.

When you are being true to you and being grateful for what you have, it is much easier to have an optimistic view on life.  This will then be the catalyst to help you manage your state of being and open you up to seeing all the possibilities around you. It will unlock your potential to solve what may have seemed like insurmountable obstacles. It will give you the key to enjoy your life and to live.

Why not give it a try? Here’s a quick tip on how to get yourself aligned to survive and thrive:

1. What are you grateful for?
2. Who do you need to be to be authentically you?
3. What’s great about an obstacle in your life and how can you enjoy the process of resolving it?

Happy New Year!

Changing with the times

It is so fascinating to me, to see how my plans continue to evolve and morph.  Since my last posting, I’ve launched a new HR Coaching Program: http://www.insightscc.com/resources/HR_Coaching_Program.pdf that is gaining a great deal of momentum. I’ve decided to part with my business partner on the WealthyMind and minor things like changing my newsletter from Constant Contact to Aweber.

Change is always so constant and so wonderful, in that as one thing ends, some thing else is always begining.  Since making changes to my strategy and focusing, I’ve found more and more opportunities that I would never have seen.  I am working on a relaunch of my website, and even created a plan on some longer term Personal Growth initiatives.  I find that I continue to evolve and expand in ways I never thought possible.

I am grateful to all those around me, my new husband, family and friends.  So many good thoughts and gracious words that come my way and how free and happy I feel in pursuing my dreams.  So although things continue to morph and change, and sometimes I don’t even know where it is going, I am grateful for the journey I’m on, and I’ll just keep on trekking!

Falling into a Rhythm

Well it’s fall and I’ve finally found my rhythm.  Thank you everyone who has stuck by me and supported me!  So here is the update… in addition to changing the look of my blog, I’ve made some other awesome changes in my business, read on to learn more:

1. Finally found my niche… it’s been a long road, resisting this perceived narrowing of my focus, but it’s done! I’ve decided to focus on mid level HR professionals in High Tech companies! Yes, and I’ve just rolled out a new blog for that very purpose, check it out at: http://successfulhr.wordpress.com/ There isn’t much there yet, but I have been at work and the information will overflow shortly, so keep your eye out or use the RSS Feed to keep you up to date.

2. I have been asked to train for the NLPCA, the Institute I’ve been certified through as a Coach and Advanced NLP Practiotioner!  I’m extremely excited and flattered. The bar is extremely high to be asked to work with leaders at the international level! This will continue keeping me on my toes and sharpening my skills so that I can pass on learnings to all of you.

3. Last but not least, I have started up Insights to Action Newsletters focused on personal growth and business growth.  These newsletters will be chalk full of my latest tips and tricks to help you be more successful in all aspects of your life.  Yes I know you are a unique snowflake, but these strategies are ones that can help you regardless what you are up against!  Sign up by popping me an email at: info@insightscc.com

I’m excited and hope you are too! Leave me a message if you have questions or comments and forward to anyone you think might be interested, because I’m about to change the world!

Take care! Silvia Johnson www.insightscc.com

Beliefs and Our Reality

I’ve been doing a ton of research on the concept of beliefs, preparing for a class I am co-facilitating designed specifically around this notion of how beliefs (among other things) can either help or hinder our success.  It is fascinating to know that the limits we perceive in our daily lives have root in the beliefs we hold to be true for ourselves. Not only that, most often the core beliefs (which tend to give us the biggest problems) were ones we created when we were little kids and had very little information to discern what was happening in the world around us.  What does that mean exactly?  Well let me give you an example:

When I was young, 8 or so, as my family watched a slasher movie, I overheard the following comment “Pretty, skinny girls always get it!”  Well at 8, I wasn’t sure what “get it” meant, but from the sounds of it I didn’t want to find out! Shortly after that, I found all sorts of evidence that “Pretty, skinny girls get it”, mostly it seemed that they would come to some sort of violent death or at least be left for dead after some brutal attack.  It wasn’t hard to find this evidence, TV, songs, movies, etc all confirmed that “getting it” was no good.  Pretty soon I started putting on weight, and struggled with it for YEARS.  It wasn’t until recently when I was trying to find out what sorts of beliefs was I holding on to that were preventing me from being at the weight I wanted, when I stumbled onto this notion that I’d been carrying around for so long!  My life all of a sudden made sense!  I now knew why it creeped me out when I got too much attention from “strange” men and why my weight had been yo-yo’ing all these years! Now it was time to take my life back!  I did some NLP Belief Change work that helped a great deal.  I am now on my way (in an extremely effortless way) to getting down to my goal weight.  It absolutely feels like magic.

Although I wont share the details of the process I used, I will leave you with some questions you can ask yourself, to help loosen some of these limiting beliefs.

• How have you known this belief is true, until now?
• Is this belief always true? For everybody?
• What is the positive purpose for holding this belief?
• How would you know this belief wasn’t true? And what evidence (see, hear, feel) do you have for that?

These questions will start shaking the belief up a bit creating space for you to consider more possibilities.  The one thing I find that works tremendously well, with limiting beliefs, inner critics, negative emotions, etc. is determining what the positive purpose/intent in holding these things to be true.  By acknowledging and somehow incorporating that intent into your solution, allows you greater flexibility than remaining in inner conflict.

If you want more information on the specifics, please feel free to send me an email @ silvia@insightscc.comor post a comment.

www.insightscc.com

Taking time to breathe

We are all running at a frenetic pace and sometimes we forget to breathe.  Yes I know this is a natural process, and you don’t really forget to breathe in and out, but how often do we forget to take a DEEP breath. Taking a moment to just allow ourselves to be? It is as if we feel guilty in saying, I am going to take a moment for myself.  There is something about how society views “me” time as being selfish, but in fact if we took time for ourselves, we might let that person in our lane, or we might say good morning as we pass someone by in Starbucks.  If we were kinder and gentler to ourselves, it would be easier to be kinder and gentler to others.  So I encourage you, take a moment to just breathe, and do it every day!

www.insightscc.com