Gratitude

One thing I have found that works incredibly well for me, and that is to find at least 5 things a day that I'm grateful for. At the end of each day, I sit and reflect on the day that was and write down the things I'm feeling grateful for.

Now this can be simple things, like watching the horses play around in the paddock, a conversation with my partner, a meal that was prepared for me. Occaisionally there are those BIG moments in life, however I find these are not the common daily occurance. The important thing for me is to spend some time appreciating, rather than going over the annoying things, the unfinished things, the regretful things...if where I put my focus creates what's next, then I'd rather be in an appreciative frame of mind!

What I also find with this exercise is after a short space of time, I find so many other things to be grateful for. Before I know it, I have my focus locked on gratitude throughout the day and when I feel one of those negative suckers creeping in, I find it easier to switch to the positive, rather than dwell on the negative. Even a smile is enough to lift me out of the negativity, (usually I'm having a laugh to myself about how I go off on a tangent about nothing).

When I first started doing this, I would struggle with finding things to be appreciative about. I'd the first 2 or 3 down then hit a blank. Then I remembered what I'd been told about this, and that was it's ok to repeat things daily...there are some people/things in your life that are important and it's more than ok the appreciate them regularly!

So give it a go and see what you can create with your marvellous mind!

Energy

What I've found over the years, is for me to be successful in anything I want to do, I have to have sufficient energy to get where I want to go. Traditionally we think of energy as physical...do I have enough stamina, am I fit enough etc. Well research has shown there is a lot more to energy than just the physical...so what else is there?

There is also the emotional, mental and spritiual energy that comes into play. These are sperate parts, however they don't work in isolation and one area being low, can and does, effect the others. If you think of it in terms if a car with 4 tyres and one of those tyres is flat, it becomes difficult to steer and uses more fuel to get where it's going...and imagine ifyou had 2 flat tyres!

So let's look at this in more detail.

• Physical is the quantity of energy; strength, fitness, vitality
• Emotional is the quality; positive moods/feelings, ability to handle stress/pressure effectively, confidence
• Mental is the focus; mability to learn/focus, clear thinking
• Spiritual is the force; sense of purpose/meaning, passion, integrity

Thinking of this, you can see how they are able to have an effect on each other. If you're not feeling well with the flu, there is little chance you can handlestress well. If you're feeling really angry about something, try and think clearly. If you do something that is of no improtance to  you, how much does it zap your strength and vitality?

Watching top tennis players is a great way of seeing this happening before your eyes. These players would have to be fairly fit to be out there day after day hitting balls back and forth, sometimes for ours and in incredible heat. So the one that wins, is the one that is more able to manage the other forms of energy. They can be winning and then get a bad line call and they get angry and focus on it...their game starts to fall apart. The inner dialogue as they're serving for the match can have a dramatic impact and many times games have turned around at this point.

Therefore, in order to be successful in anything that we do, we must look at our complete energy levels. If there is an area that is low, then what do you need to do in order to get the energy level back up again? For me, I like to run in the mornings...it wakes me up and clears my head. I also ride my horse and when I do this I have to have a clear focus on him and can't have my mind wandering all over the place. Meditation is my favourite and I'll write a seperate piece on that.

So take the time to nurture yourself and get you energy levels to their optimum so you can be playing at your best. If you'd like to read more on this topic, one of the sources of this material is from "The Power of Full Enagagement" by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.

Thought of the day

My life overflows with happiness, joy and abundance!

Unconscious Mind

What is the unconscious mind? It's the part of our mind that filters all the stimulus that we come in contact with day after day. If it didn't do this, we would be overwhelmed by what comes our way.
This filtering is also known as the reticular activating system...have you ever noticed that the minute you decide to buy a particular new car, you start to see lots of them on the road? It's almost as if heaps of people have gone out and bought the same car!! Well that might be true, however, closer to the truth is the fact that the car is now important to you, (on your mind!), so the unconscious mind allows that information through to the conscious mind. There always were those other cars on the road, just not on your radar!
The unconscious mind is also the part of the mind that keeps our bodies ticking along so we can do the things we want to...when was the last time you had to consciously make yourself breathe, your heart beat? So you can see it's an important thing to have around and yet it is usually taken for granted and not utilised to our own ultimate success.
Did you know that the unconscious mind can't differentiate between what's real and what's not? When we look at a picture, consciously we know it's a picture, however the unconscious mind doesn't...that's why we can feel great just by looking at a picture of a sunset.
This is why positive affirmations can work! I know that affirmations have been maligned in the past, however, if you repeat them often enough, the unconscious mind starts to think it's true and will start to act accordingly. Just tell your conscious mind you're play acting otherwise it might keep telling you it's not true! Now of course there still has to be some ability to do what your affirming...all the positive affirmations in the world won't make you a brain surgeon if you don't have the necessary skill set for it to be so!
The other day I was talking about intention and this is another way for you to program the unconscious mind. I wake up every morning and have a quick conversation with myself about what sort of day I'm going to have and set a firm intention around that. As I mentioned before, the unconscious mind is a filter, so it will now let in the stimuli that supports that intention!
To finish off I'd like to share a quote I saw many years ago and have used often..."if you don't consciously choose your state, one will be unconsciously chosen for you..."

Goals

If you're anything like me, I've never really liked setting goals! For me, it sounds a little too formal and I've invested a lot of time and effort into not conforming, even though I've also felt frustrated over not getting what I want!
When I started coaching other people and telling them they must set goals, I thought it was time I 'walked the talk'. So I started to investigate what goals were all about...and to my surprise, I discovered I'd been setting them under a different name.
A better word for me is intention. This is what I've been using for many years without knowing it was still goal setting! Here's an example. One of my passions in life is horseriding and after many years of not even sitting on a horse, I'm now learning how to ride dressage. If I go on to the arena without any specific intention, the horse and I meander around and kind of get somewhere. However, if I have an intention of what I'd like to achieve that day, there is more purpose and focus and usually a greater result...even success! Sometimes the intention is to have fun, another would be to concentrate on my balance and posture, another would be to keep the horse straight...you get the idea.
Then I started to think about this more and realised that dreams and desires are goals too...anything that drives us to get, do, be more than we are right now, is a goal. Part of my goal avoidence was a belief that it had to huge and life shattering...and this is not the case! Setting a simple intention at the beginning of the day and focusing on it, (when I remember to), gives me a different result to wondering aimlessly through the day.
It can be as easy as "I intend to smile more today". This shifts my focus and I start to find more things to smile about...and have you ever noticed how contagious a smile can be?? So it doesn't matter what you label it as, make sure you have a focus, goal, intention, an idea of where you would like to be and then you can be more productive in creating that end!
If your results are not perfect, that's ok, as nobody's are! Review what you did and the results you got, then identify what you can do differently next time. Please make sure you also take time to celebrate the success you did have. Even if, in your eyes, it was minimal, as this will encourage you to do more of the same next time.
Above all, enjoy yourself!

Forget Failure

It's funny how easy it is to label something as a failure, when in actual fact, it was only a mis-take. This is a common theme I've found with many of my coaching clients and I find it easy to spot as it's exactly what I used to do!
I'll give you an example. A few years ago I was having a career hiatus and I was working in a gym as a sales consultant. I used to see many people on a daily basis, all fired up to get fit and do the gym thing. During the course of the sign up conversation, they would tell me how they're going to come along to the gym 3 times a week and do some classes as well.
Then I'd ask them how they were going to achieve this, seeing as they hadn't been going to the gym 1 day a week! That's when I'd get silence. What I began to realise was, most people have an idea of what they want to do and no plan on how to get there. So when the idea doesn't work out exactly like they thought it would, they give up and call it a failure...which is what happens with over 50% of people who join gyms!
They come along for the first week or so, then they miss one day, so it becomes harder to come along the next day. Before you know it a week or two have gone by and you end up telling yourself you knew the gym thing wouldn't work! Sound familiar?
However, had there been a plan, you can go back and visit it. When you do hit an obstacle, you can reassess and then start again from that point. What you might find is many starting points and the end result is getting to where you want to be...success!

What is success?

Dictionary definition:

1. the favourable outcome of something attempted
2. the attainment of wealth, fame etc.
3. an action, performance etc. that is characterised by success
4. a person or thing that is successful

It all seems fairly easy from that definition...then why is it, that there are so many people who feel they're not successful? What does success mean?
For me, I bench marked myself against others and their achievements of success and nearly always came up lacking!! Then I would get overwhelmed by what I thought was the mountain to climb in order to "be like them", so it was easier to give up! I'd be even more wealthy if I had a dollar for every time I told myself, "it wasn't meant to be".
I've worked in and on personal development for many years now. I've tried some conventional things and some wacky ones too and the end result has been me feeling very happy and contented. I still have those moments of doubt and anxiety, (I don't walk on water yet!), however the difference being, I rarely give up due to fear!
What I want to do over the following posts, is to share my journey. Looking at works for me and I'd love to hear from others too about their journey into success. My aim is to encourage as many people as possible, to create their own outstanding achievements!