Live As If You Matter

Ten days into your New Years resolutions...how are you doing? Statistics show many of you have already fallen off the band wagon. Some will make it another week or two but most will have given up before the end of the month. Busyness and the needs of others at work and home will begin to interrupt our determination to improve that area of our lives. Even if nothing unusual has occurred just the force of habit can quickly pull us back to our old ways. So here's my question for you - Do You Matter?

Seems like a dumb question when asked doesn't it. Of course you matter. But do you live as if you matter? If the answer is Yes - You matter then answer this question: How much time and attention do you give to your life and what matters to you? If New Years resolutions are cliche and something that never really happens for you then the answer is probably - not much time.

The point of all this is that You do matter and with 5 easy to follow tips you can find the time to stick with your New Years resolutions.

1. Aim for consistency not perfection. Truth of the matter is that there is no such thing as perfection. After all one moment of lapse does not mean you're a failure, it just means your human.

2. Monitor Yourself Keeping track of your goals and progress isn't just a technique that works in food journals. Regardless of what your goals are take 5 minutes at the beginning of the day to re-write your goals and then take 5 minutes at the end of the day to acknowledge the positive steps that you took towards your goals.

3. Visual Cues Often times to build new habits we have to stop old habits. Visual cues are an excellent way to keep your mind and actions headed in the right directions. Some examples of visual cues could be pictures on the bathroom mirror, signs on the refrigerator, keeping your tennis shoes by the bed, or having your favorite weight loss site as your home page.

4. Learn from your mistakes When it comes to mistakes or slip ups relapse doesn't mean collapse. In fact psychology studies have shown that the way you view your mistakes is actually a prediction of your success. So view your mistakes as an opportunity to set you up for success. Remember the point of viewing the mistake is not to continue to look backwards but to be better prepared to continue to move forward.

5. Be Patient One of my favorite quotes is "If we talked to our friends like we talk to ourselves we wouldn't have any friends." Its true for most of us - we are extremely hard on ourselves. The truth of long term change is that it typically takes 6 months for old habits to be broken and the new patterns to become the norm. So be patient. Although you can microwave gourmet meals you can't microwave a gourmet life.

For additional resources on Living As If You Matter visit My Life Compass for the coaching and personal development products to support you in your journey.

Karen Zeigler
Speaker & Life Coach

Focus - Your Eye Glasses for Life

I've been very fortunate thus far in life to not require eye glasses for reading or for distance. But the time has come that glasses are required for reading. Although I can see to read without glasses, my vision becomes crystal clear with glasses. Glasses help me achieve my goal of reading faster and more easily.

The equivalent of glasses for your Life vision is Focus. Accomplishing a goal without focus is like trying to read without glasses - everything seems a little blurry, your progress is slowed, stalled out or you have given up or decide to do something else. The video clip below gives some great tips on Focus and the difference it makes in your progressing and achieving your goals.



Is your vision for 2010 a little fuzzy? Contact me for a complimentary 1/2 coaching session and increase your focus and move from clear to crystal clear.

Karen Zeigler
Speaker & Life Coach
Inspiration to Change Coaching
www.inspirationtochange.org

Brain Freeze

Have ever attempted to slurp down any Icy or Popsicle too quickly on a summer's day? If the answer is yes then you'll remember what happens next - Brain Freeze!! It's funny to everyone watching but for the person caught in the brain freeze it's pretty debilitating. Everything stops until the brain freeze passes. Unfortunately adults can experience a different brain freeze of sorts every day. One that stops progress in its track and sometimes stalls it permanently.

The adult version of a brain freeze occurs when we use the word "try" in our vocabulary when referring to goals, actions, or tasks we would like to accomplish. In speaking engagements I've explained this principle by a little exercise. Let's do that now. Pick an object sitting in front of you (a cup, pen, etc.)

1. Pick up the object. Ok, now put it down.
2. "Try" to pick up the object. What happened?

Almost without exception people participating in this exercise are stumped with what to do in step #2. Our brains do not know what to do with "try". We can do a task or Not do a task but we are stumped when we "try".

So whether doing a task like sales calls will help you achieve your goal or Not doing task like aimlessly surfing the net remember eliminating the word "try" will unlock the brain and get your brain back on track towards your goals.

Create Some Breathing Room

In my last post I compared the stress of having too much on your plate to overeating at a Thanksgiving meal. Although creating breathing room on Thanksgiving is just a matter of unbuttoning the top of your pants, creating breathing room in your schedule is a little more challenging. There is no magic button or switch that you can flip that will give you a little more room in your schedule or time in your day. But freedom from stress and schedule overload is achievable when you are willing to do the work. Since you have created your vision of what your stress free life looks like then I’m confident you have come back to roll up your sleeves and do the work to begin living your Best Life now. Keeping your Vision at the top of your mind will make the tough decisions that follow much easier to accomplish and in some cases even enjoyable. So roll up your sleeves, grab a pen and paper and let’s get started creating some breathing room.

Create the following table on a piece of paper. Create 6 Columns with the 6 items listed below across the top. Then begin to fill in the activity column with the tasks, work, and responsibilities that fill your calendar on a typical week. I’ve provided a couple examples:

Activity - Heart - Impact - Growth - Obligation - Total

Marketing my business
Housekeeping

Now in each of the columns rank the activity 1-5 (one being the least and 5 being the highest value). To explain how this works I would rate marketing my business as a 5 under impact because I believe that task has a high impact to my business and thus my life. For housekeeping I may give the heart category a 1 because I really, really don’t enjoy the task but I would have to give it 3 or 4 under obligation because it is a responsibility I have. Once you have totaled each row then it’s time to identify the activities that have the lowest total score. Circle the lowest totals.

This is where to start the work and hopefully the light bulb has already gone off. These are the activities that you are filling your schedule with that really don’t matter or have very little positive impact on your life. So here is where the tough work begins – it’s time to dump it, delegate it or double up.

Dump It – Is what it sounds like. These are activities that just no longer are important or a priority. Although they may have had a purpose when you started or were serving a goal initially they don’t any longer. Life changes and often times we keep doing what we were doing without even thinking. Pick up the phone, send an email, whatever it takes – take the steps to dump it. And dump it quickly before you talk yourself out of it.

Delegate It – Sometimes activities can score low in the heart, impact and growth category but because they are an obligation we cannot get rid of them. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t delegate it, hire it out, or share the responsibility with another to lighten our load. Stand up for yourself and your sanity and take this step.

Double Up – This is where you get creative. And if you’re not creative then seek out a friend or Life Coach to help you brainstorm. Look at the activities low scoring ones and high scoring ones as well. Where can you double up activities so that you can accomplish multiple activities in less time? Here are a couple examples from my own life. A very effective way for me to market my business is to speak before business groups. Yet speaking before business groups accomplishes multiple activities – marketing, networking, and client prospecting – just to name a few. Another example would be my love of horseback riding and hanging out with girlfriends. So I joined a trail club which is primarily women who get together and share friendship and their love for horses.

And one last tip. If the time cost of the activity isn’t enough then consider the dollar cost of the activity. Get fired up to eliminate those low scoring activities that are not only costing you precious time but money as well.

There you have it - Dump It - Delegate It - Double Up - Do it. Live Your Best Life Now.

What's on Your Plate?

Today there is no shortage of things to be stressed about – the economy, your job, your kids and their activities, finances, relationships at home and at work, and the list goes on and on. To compound stress Thanksgiving and holiday season are just a few short weeks away. Although these holidays are supposed to be joyous occasions they often only add to the list of to do’s and shoulds. In fact thinking about your typical Thanksgiving meal is a good story picture of how stress works in your life. You have your plate and this abundant buffet of lots of great food. The food is so appealing you fill the plate to overflowing. You eat and eat until the next thing you know you are stuffed, miserable and on the couch unable to move. Now you may have just gotten a pretty funny image of Uncle Harry, but it’s true and Life is just like that Thanksgiving meal.

You have your plate for life, there are so many good things to do - you start piling on the stuff. Seems like all good stuff, stuff you feel you should do (like you should try Aunty Betty’s Coconut pie) but at the end of the day the result is the same. You’re exhausted on the couch, miserable and lack energy to do even one more thing. Lucky for each of us Thanksgiving only comes once a year but when it comes to Life we get a new plate each and every day that can be filled to overflowing. But reducing Stress and not overeating this Thanksgiving both are solved with the same first step.

The first step to positive changes in your life is Vision. When you are clear about the life you want then you can take bold steps in the direction of your goals and dream. A clear vision motivates you to identify what’s good on your plate and also what would better serve your values, dreams and goals to be removed from your plate. A clear vision empowers you to say no to the seemingly good stuff and Yes to the life you want. Go ahead – take that first step. The life you want is waiting for you.