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Why You Need Your Feet In The Fire

by Walt | Feb 18, 2016 | Success | 0 Comments

The gym is nearly empty again. And the runners with their new gear have mostly disappeared.

It’s the middle of February. How are you doing on your 2015 goals and resolutions?

Statistically, only a small percentage of the population bothers to make New Year’s resolutions anymore. And of those who do, most abandon the effort by right about now.

You see, life is just way too crazy busy… and even with the best of intentions, it’s easy to slide back into the ‘old ways.’ That book that you had so wanted to write, that new product you were going to drive to market, that new business that you planned to launch, the new job you were going to apply for, your sales calls that you had planned to boost, the weight you said you were going to lose, that fitness program… all back on the shelf again.

“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans,” John Lennon once said.

And it sure is easy to get distracted.

Frankly, that’s one of the reasons that I so appreciate our coaches (we have 2)… not even considering their perspective, their mentorship, and the resources they provide, the accountability piece is HUGE… staying on track… staying the course… even in times of turbulence and change.

Someone to hold our feet to the fire!

And watching the impact that coaching has in the lives of our own coaching clients – seeing the things that can be accomplished – is nothing short of amazing: businesses, books, health & wellness, new relationships, exciting new careers. It is powerfully transformative and deeply satisfying work.

Peak performers all have coaches… in the arts, in business and in finance… Every Olympic athlete… If you truly want to up your game, if you seek excellence, if you really want to accomplish those important goals, then dial in a coach. It will make all the difference. It certainly has in our lives.

And by the way, if you have fallen off course, no worries. Did you know that a plane flying from San Francisco to Honolulu is off course MOST of the time… but it still gets there because of constant course correction? You can do that too!

Every day is a new day. Every day the chance to begin again.

And the opportunity to finally achieve your most cherished dreams.

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Email me if you’d like to explore how coaching might transform your life!

[email protected]

Has Your Cart Gone Off The Track?

by Walt | Feb 11, 2016 | Success | 0 Comments

This is the end of the line for most folks. This is where the cart goes off the track.

Despite the most heartfelt resolutions, despite whatever the best intentions might have been, most folks give up on their New Year’s promises to themselves… right about now.

Not because they didn’t mean what they said.

Not because they didn’t want to change… because they did.

Not because they don’t have dreams for a better life… because they do.

But because life gets in the way.

I know. I was a single dad for a dozen years raising three young boys. I would get up (too late) in the morning, run around getting dressed, getting the kids up, finding the lost socks, and the lost homework, making the lunches, packing the lunches, unpacking and re-packing the back-packs, running the kids to school, tearing off to my office, arriving (too) late to gather up my files, speeding off to court, tying my tie in the rearview mirror and balancing the coffee in my lap (and spilling it), getting the call from daycare to come back because the kid had a 103º fever or head lice or both, scheduling parent-teacher meetings in between client calls, rushing off to soccer practice, making dinner, mitigating the fights, helping with the homework, returning emails and phone calls, and falling into bed exhausted and depleted… only to wake up the next day and do it all over again.

I know.

But change can happen. (I know this too.) What you really, really want in your heart matters. Your hopes and dreams and aspirations matter. They are the call of your Spirit, the Divine within you, to live your best life; to share those gifts that are yours and yours alone to share with the world in the most perfect way possible.

And it’s not too late. (It’s never too late.) Yes, January may be over. And nearly half of February. But the canvas of this New Year still awaits you.

Here’s what’s true: All you need to do is apply a very basic success principle, one of the easiest of all success principles. Take tiny, tiny steps.

At just 1 pound a week, you’ll still lose more than 40 pounds this year

At just 1 page a day, you’ll have well over 300 pages for your book

At just 1 watercolor a week, you could mount an entire show

One job application a day is 30 in a month

One extra sales conversation every single day might double your sales

Take that tiny step today. Just for today. And then do it again. And again the next day. Small steps magnified by time leading to magnificent results.

But today, just think about this day. And take just one tiny step forward.

Remember, races are run one stride at a time; businesses built one product at a time, one customer at a time, one sale at a time; mountains are climbed one step at a time; novels written one sentence at a time; symphonies written one measure at a time; and cathedrals built over generations one stone at a time.

Go back to the beginning of the year, and remember why it was that you wanted to set out on your path. Reclaim that grand vision of that perfect life that is yours.

In every moment of danger, there is also opportunity.

Opportunity still waits for you.

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If you’d like help getting your cart back on the track, email me: [email protected]

Why Mindfulness Might Be Bad

by Walt | Feb 4, 2016 | Finding The Way, Success | 1 Comment

Mindfulness is all the rage. Everyone’s talking about it. Especially in business.

Mindful work. Mindful leadership. Mindful this; and mindful that.

The big corporations are on board. Like General Mills and Google and Apple and Yahoo and Aetna Healthcare.

Mindfulness has a lot of proponents like Sam Harris and Janice Marturano and Arianna Huffington.

Oh, and there’s research; a lot of research; from impressive places like Harvard and the University of Massachusetts: mindfulness practices will reduce stress and inflammation; they’ll increase acuity and productivity; and they’ll make you happier and give you a greater sense of overall satisfaction.

But here’s the rub. Mindfulness means that you need to show up in the moment. In this moment.

Not swirling; not distracted by the smartphone; not multi-tasking; not racing about; not running around.

Not in the past. Not in the future.

Here. Now.

Seeing what is. Experiencing the present. Whatever it is: the good; and the not so good.

Which may be good; or not so good. Because we live is a culture of overwhelm; a state of continuous partial distraction. A culture in which busy has become a badge of honor. A culture in which busy has come to mean something: Like we’re important; significant; successful.

But as Brené Brown says, “It’s easy to convince ourselves that if we stay busy enough, the truth of our lives won’t catch up to us.”

Which of course is the ultimate “problem” with mindfulness: when we show up in this moment, we must confront ourselves. We must confront what’s working in our lives, and what’s not; where we’re full and where we’re empty. What brings satisfaction, what brings joy, and what brings despair. Which relationships work, and which ones don’t.

In the moment, you can’t hide from yourself. The camouflage of busyness is gone.

And, of course, that can be scary. Because you might have to do something different.

So before you you jump on the bandwagon, just realize that there’s a price to this mindfulness stuff.

You’ve been warned.

3 Things Successful People Do

by Walt | Jan 28, 2016 | Success | 0 Comments

Many folks think that success is like magic. It just happens. It’s a matter of luck; or birthright; or privilege. It’s reserved for the fortunate few.

But actually, success is like a cake recipe. There are ingredients, and particular steps; and if you follow the recipe, you will be successful.

Study successful people. You will see some of these common ingredients.

Here are three of them:

Successful People Focus on High Value Targets

Most of us wake up to a “To Do” list that overwhelms us. Everything looks like it has the same level of urgency and import. But that’s not true.

Successful people know that there are really only a few important things in their day to get done. They apply the Pareto Principle ruthlessly focusing on the 20% of things that lead to the 80% of the results. They focus on what matters most.

And successful people say no. Often.

Steve Jobs once said, “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”

Successful people practice leadership expert John Maxwell’s principle, “Say ‘no’ to the good so that you can say ‘yes’ to the best.”

They know that less is more.

Successful People Don’t Work Like Machines

Our industrial age mindset is that, in order to be successful, we need to work longer, harder, faster; that the more time we put in, the more successful we will be. Show up early, leave late, work overtime, nights, weekends, holidays: that’s the path to success.

Successful people know that we’re not built like machines. They know that, just as we sleep in rhythms, our awake time has rhythms as well. They know that humans work best in 60 to 90 minute segments; and that throughout the day, they need to take breaks to recharge their minds and refocus their attention.

Successful people know that, in order for peak performance to be sustained, they can’t work 24/7/365. They know that performers and athletes and artists at the top of their games ‘practice’ their crafts for 5 or 6 hours a day; and then turn their attentions elsewhere.

They know that the secret to success is not working harder; it’s working smarter.

Successful People Take Care of Themselves. First.

Most folks, especially those of us in service-related businesses, charge into the day, never focusing on their most important resource: themselves. They give and they give and they give some more. Until there’s nothing left. They know they’ve heard that old schpeel from the airline attendant about the oxygen mask and putting it on first before helping others. But for some reason, they believe that the adage doesn’t apply to them; that they won’t end up dead on the cabin floor.

Successful people know that in order to show up in the world, serve at a high level, and really make an impact, they need to take care of themselves first. They know that you don’t run a high performance vehicle around and around the track without ever stopping.

Successful people stop. They fuel their bodies with good food; they hydrate; they rest; they sleep. They fuel their minds with good books and good conversation. They nurture their spirits with time for reflection, mindfulness and meditation.

Successful people surround themselves with others on the path with similar values and powerful visions. They know that they don’t want to be the smartest person in the room; that they constantly want to be growing and learning and called ever higher.

Successful people know that when they take care of themselves first, they can change the world.

How’s your recipe? Is it time for a new one?

Just Start

by Walt | Jan 21, 2016 | Success | 0 Comments

Starting out, even when things aren’t perfect, even when conditions aren’t quite right, is one of the most important of all success strategies. Because, the truth is, that for most endeavors, conditions are never really quite right.

I thought about this success principle as I stood high above the trees looking out on one of the most magnificent vistas imaginable.

The day hadn’t started out suggesting that such a moment might be possible.

Indeed, long before the alarm would go off, I could hear the rain beating against the roof of the motel: a cold, heavy February rain in the White Mountains of northern New Hampshire.

I pulled the blankets up and rolled over in the darkness, sure that it was way too snotty to even consider venturing out.

Two hours later, we sat at the Dunkin Donuts. Our climbing packs were packed; the gear was ready. And the rain continued to pour… just freezing as it hit the surface. Nothing suggested even remotely that it was a good idea to strap on snowshoes or crampons and disappear for a day into a range that routinely and indiscriminately likes to kill its visitors.

A half mile from the trailhead, the rain tapered to a light mist. The temperatures were mild. The wind light. And, before the day was out, the sun poked through the clouds. It was a glorious fun-filled satisfying day on one of my very favorite mountains in the world.

It would have been easy to stay in bed.

Now I am not suggesting that you should be reckless; or act without thinking; or start out unprepared; or not consider contingencies.

But that’s not the challenge that most people face.

Most folks when they’re thinking about starting out on a project – a new career or business, a book, a fitness program, a product launch, a new relationship – want to wait until everything is in place, until conditions are perfect, the set-up ideal. Life is not like that (in case you haven’t noticed). Conditions are never ideal; all of the pieces are never in place.

You’ve gotta start out… and see what happens.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

Imperfect action is still action; imperfect progress is still progress. And sometimes when you start out – in fact more often than not – conditions turn in your favor. It’s as if the Universe recognizes your boldness and says, “Ah ha, she’s serious;” “Hmm, I guess he means it this time.”

You are rewarded for your audacity, for your courage; and for your faith: Faith in the abundance of a benevolent Universe; faith in the knowing that you will always find the path; faith in the power of your own inner strength.

Brené Brown writes, “Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” “Be brave with your life,” she says, “so that others can be brave with theirs.”

You have gifts that the world needs desperately. Conditions will never feel ‘right’ to venture out with them.

You need to start anyway.