Sunday, September 1, 2013

Start with Lucky

Living the long-time dream of standing on top of Machu Picchu, August 15,2013. How did I get so lucky?
Louis Pastuer said it like this: "Fortune favors the prepared mind." And as I observed in my travels across the Peruvian high plains, being prepared is just a start - it doesn't hurt to be born in the USA. 
 
Here are the gifts I brought back from my 8 day journey in Peru.
 
1. People are the same in more ways than we are different. We all value family and loved ones, we need to have adequate work for housing and food, and we enjoy smiles and laughter. Our group was served dinner in the home of a village taxi driver. The house was built by the grandmother's father - stone walls, dirt floor, cooking fire in the corner, one weak light bulb, and a table long enough to seat 12 filled the room. We ate lavishly their typical celebration foods: corn and potato in several forms, stuffed peppers, quinoa, and cuy/guinea pig. There was such a warmth and hospitality as the 18 year old son spoke with us about their family life.

2. The foreign country I've seen in books and video is so much more than flat images and simplified stereotypical ideas. The air, the mountains, the earth; the people, animals, and plants; the history, culture, and political landscape are more complex and fascinating than I could have imagined. Travel reminds me that every country is more than a different color area on the map - countries are alive. Knowing that fact intellectually is one thing, being there is quite another.

3. Comparing my worst day living as an American with the best day of a Peruvian farmer or moto-taxi driver, I am incredibly blessed. It is more than I can describe here, but it includes peace and safety, healthcare and abundance of life's basic needs, clean air, good transportation, running water and flush toilets, and an incredible amount of independence, interdependence, and opportunity for anyone willing to go for it. And social caring and awareness for those unable to do it alone.

Again I ask myself, how did I get so lucky? 
 
No excuses for me. Take Charge -- Get Moving! Anything is possible.
Love and light,
Diane

Monday, June 3, 2013

Motivational Direction - Part 2



In the last post, I listed the principle of direction in how we motivate ourselves. You may have wondered how to know your built-in direction. Think about an unpleasant task - mowing an overgrown lawn or washing a week's worth of dirty dishes by hand - put yourself into the scene as vividly as possible in the moment just before you get started on the task. What thought and feeling do you have in that moment? Do you feel so uncomfortable that you just say something like "let me get this over with," or is it a sense of how good it will look and you will feel when the lawn or kitchen are shining back in their glory? Do this quickly without pondering and you may recognize your pattern.

Example
For Sales Pros: Away from pattern gets moving when the discomfort of NOT making quota becomes strong enough - so rev up that feeling right away to get moving. Toward pattern sees the prize and feels that feeling of achievement right away and motivation is easy. Here's a word of advice for the Away from pattern people - it's easy to lose motivation when you've made a little progress and your discomfort is lessened unless you turn to the Toward pattern's process to keep you moving forward.

For Fitness: Pay attention to your motivational direction and use the same process listed above. 

Making significant change in your life can be much easier when you look at your internal programming and work with it to Take Charge -- Get Moving!

Want to know more about how this works? Contact me for a free coaching session.
Love and light,
Diane

Saturday, May 25, 2013

"If you keep on doing what you've always done ... Part 1

... You'll keep on getting what you've always got." And yet, how many of us actually CHANGE what we're doing, even when we know the change that could make a difference? Whether the topic is health, wealth, relationship, or business, there is plenty of information telling us how to achieve any objective. So there must be something besides Knowing that keeps us stuck in the status quo. Most people call it "Motivation".

Over my 60+ years I have been a teacher, trainer, consultant, sales pro, and for the last 15 years a coach helping people make changes in their life and career. I have studied the works of personal development gurus for most of my life: Jim Rohn, John C Maxwell, Stephen Covey, Kenneth Blanchard, Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, and Dr. Phil to name a few. There is a wealth of information about how to motivate ourselves to change what's not working.

There are two key principles that have worked for me and for my clients. 
1) Motivation is based on what we value most. If we value comfort (freedom from discomfort), change will seem very difficult. If we value safety/security (the known vs. the unknown), we will see change as very risky. The potential rewards will seem impossible and dangerous. 
2) Each of us is "wired" to motivate ourselves from one of two directions: Toward what we do want, or Away From what we don't want. Knowing which direction is our natural perspective can be very powerful in getting through the inertia associated with making a major change.

In my next blog entry, I'll say more about how to work with the two motivational principles so you have a choice about making change.

Meanwhile, Take Charge -- Get Moving!
Love and light,
Diane

Friday, February 22, 2013

Playing to Win



How do you succeed in anything - career, sport, relationships, life in general? Why do some people seem to move more quickly toward their goals and higher accomplishments?

A key factor is knowing the rules of the game AND the strategies that others have used to achieve success. Let's take chess. When I was in grade school, my older brother taught me how to play. I learned what each piece could do and the objectives of the game. I tried very hard to make "smart moves" with that information. But alas, he always won! What he omitted from his instruction was strategy, or what constituted a plan of action and truly smart moves. He liked to win.

I see people in great jobs in different industries playing the game of work with the same level of "not knowing what they don't know" doing their job very well, but without much attention to the bigger picture strategy of that game. And I completely understand that the last five years have continued to demand more production from smaller numbers of workers on the team. People get burned out just doing what has to be done, let alone manage their career strategically.

It's important to clarify what you want out of work - a job to get done, or a career with progressively more responsibility and superior rewards. If the latter is the goal, you may benefit from the objective support of a professional career coach. Someone who can see your game of work from a meta level and support strategic behaviors and opportunities. 
Checkmate! Now that's a lot more fun!
Let's Take Charge ... Get Moving
Love and light,
Diane

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

New Year of Purpose

Big questions have come to me as the New Year 2013 begins. Who am I now, at this time in my life? What value or significance can I leave as a legacy or a mark that I was here? How can I balance BE-ing in a spiritual sense with my call to DO-ing on the human level? Big questions ... and thank goodness I am at a point when I have some time and energy to do something with the questions on a personal and professional level.

Let me start with the BE-ing. I have given up the idea that my worth and value are based on anything I have to do - same for every other human being. We have worth and value because we exist. Without putting any religious context around it, we are pure energy, we are loved, we are love.  What a wonderful thing to feel peace and acceptance in that state of being.

At the same time, my life would be pretty dull without a purpose that allows me to touch other people in positive, healing, and joyful ways. For me the activities of coaching and working with people who are dealing with changes and challenges in life have given me a purpose and expansion. If I'm going to be busy, I choose to be busy in meaningful work - meaningful to me and for others.


This year I am going to volunteer in support of a cause that is much bigger than myself. This project will inspire passion and purpose in ways I can't even imagine at the beginning, but I know that will happen. 


This year I am Taking Charge - and Getting a Move on in a totally different way. Why not? It's a brand new year. Anyone care to join me?


Love and light to all,

Diane