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How are you showing up in your business?

Goal achievement and fulfillment is not just about articulating the path of what to do to achieve your goals. It also requires conscious thought about who you need to become in order to achieve those goals.

Creating an idea of who you need to be gives your mind a clear picture of a version of yourself to work towards. It also helps you identify the behaviours you will need in order to achieve your goals. You need to understand and define who you need to become in order to do the things to achieve your goal. When you focus on becoming the person you need to be to achieve your goal, achievement of the goal is inevitable.

You can get started by just answering a few questions. Think about the top 3 goals of your business and consider the following: 

 Who do you need to become in order to achieve these outcomes? What habits must you have? What actions must you take? What attitude do you need to assume?

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Your blindspot

You may not think that anything is holding you back or feel a huge lack. But that doesn’t mean that your beliefs are not holding you back. The truth is that your beliefs are shaping your current perspective and reality right now. They can be holding you back without you knowing it. This is what’s called a blindspot. We all have blindspots. Blindspots are things we are unconscious of.

If you can bring the beliefs in your blindspot into your conscious awareness, you can open up a whole new world of choice and opportunity. In some ways it’s like reframing;  you’re widening the frame, widening your perspective.

So the question is, are you aware of your own beliefs about yourself and your business? What expectations do you have for your success?

If you want to find out what’s in your blindspot, you can start by asking yourself a few simple questions about your current goals and business:

What things am I afraid of happening to my business?
If I am assuming something about this goal, what might it be?
What are my thoughts about my current business situation?

What’s the 1 thing that I least want to accept about my goal?

It helps to write your answers down. Actually putting pen to paper or typing it out will help the process of bringing these thoughts into your conscious awareness. When you see the words physically written out it also validates the ideas as a physical manifestation in the world. Basically your brain takes it more seriously. And, it helps you gain clarity. The key is to write down your thoughts without censoring yourself. Be completely honest and you will have before you an insight into your beliefs that are hiding in your blindspot. 

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Improve your results with tracking

My favourite personal development tool is very powerful tool. It is also simple and easy-to-use. This tool can keep me on track more consistently than anything else that I have ever tried. I have created new habits and maintained them because of this wonderful tool. I think you too will love this tool when you start to use it.

What am talking about? I’m talking about tracking. My favourite personal development tool is tracking. It literally change my life and can do the same for you. If you want to create consistency, maintain changes and feel a sense of accomplishment, then you need to use tracking. Here’s how to get started:

1. Make a list of the tasks and behaviours that are pivotal to your success both personally and professionally.

Examples: exercise, posting your blog, making sales calls, eating salad, getting a new client etc.

2. Now decide on your Top 3 tasks and behaviours from that list. These are the absolute most important things that need to be done consistently for you to be at your best.

3. Using the Tracking Table I’ve supplied here, enter your top 3 in the “behaviours & actions” column. For each task or behaviour, decide on your goal for the week. ie. how many times do you want to complete this task or behaviour? Record the number in the goal column. If you want to set a specific day for each of your top 3, enter a “o” for each of those days to allocate the day you plan to that item. This is optional, you don’t have to set a day if you don’t want to.

 Example:

BEHAVIOUR/ ACTION
M  
T  
W  
TH 
F  
S  
SU 
TOTAL 
GOAL 
NET 
mindset management
/
/
/
/
/
/
6
7
-1
exercise
/
/
/
/
4
4
0
sales calls
/
/
/
/
/
5
7
-2
write blog post
/
/
/
3
3
0

4. Track your progress: View the table each day and place a tick or a cross in column for that day based on whether you completed that item or not.

5. At the end of the week, review your week’s worth of tracking and tally your ticks in “actual” column for each task or behaviour. Then subtract the goal number from your actual number and enter it into the “net” column.
Example: If you goal was to make 4 sales calls in the week and you actually did 2, then subtract the goal number from the actual: 2(actual)-4(goal)=-2. Your net is -2

6. Look at your results for the week. How did you go? Are you in the negative or positive numbers? What should you focus on next week?

Like I said, tracking has changed my life. It’s truly a powerful tool. Try it out, even just for a week and see what happens.

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5 signs you need a coach

Can you relate to any of the 5 scenarios below? These are common situations that solopreneurs and small business owners often find themselves in. But if you relate, you don’t have to stay stuck there trying to figure it all out on your own. Consider hiring a coach if you can relate to any of the following scenarios:

1. You feel overwhelmed or stressed about your business

The main causes of overwhelm and stress relate to how you manage your mind and how you manage your time. Your coach can help you develop specific strategies to address this issue and work with you on managing your mindset to reduce overwhelm and stress.

2. You don’t have a written vision, written goals and a plan for your business

You need the big picture for your business defined in a business vision as well as a written set of goals with a specific plan to achieve them. Your coach can work with you and provide resources that assist you in this goal-setting process.

3. You’re so busy and don’t see how you can keep managing it all

If you feel like you have no time, then you should definitely seek outside help. Your coach has an “outside” perspective which can help you see your way through this. Together you can implement a time management plan to get on top of things once again.

4. You feel like you’re doing it all alone and would prefer some support/feedback/someone to keep you on track

It’s SO much easier having someone to talk to about your business. Imagine if you had someone whose job it is is to listen and support you, someone who will help you keep on track and be the sounding board you need. This is what your coach can do for you.

5.You haven’t defined your values and the purpose of your business

If you don’t know why you’re doing what you’re doing, you can end up with motivational challenges the moment you hit a bump in the road. Additionally you need to understand your personal values and confidently know that they align with your business goals. This ensures that you’re creating the life you truly want, not just the business you want. Your coach can help you define your values and keep you focused on your purpose.

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What’s really running your life

Your personal values, whether you are aware of them or not, are playing a major role in your life. We all use our values when we evaluate how we feel life is going for ourselves. It is our values that are really running our lives. But for most of us, this is happening at an unconscious level. We are all using our values to make decisions, big and small but often remain unaware of what we are really doing. If these values are really are running our lives, it makes sense to get to know them a little better. And if you need more convincing as to their importance, check this scientifically proven fact: living according to your values is the path to optimum fulfillment and results.

So what are personal values and how can you discover yours? Personal values are the things that are most important to you. They are very much the core of your personality and play a large part in influencing your actions and behaviours. Becoming aware of your personal values will help you better understand what will create the most fulfilling life for you. For example, if one of your personal values is family and you create a business that requires you to be away from your family for extended periods of time, you will not feel fulfilled, even if the business is a great success. So knowing your values, can help you direct your life that will bring you the ultimate results. Want in?! I know I do…

So, let’s discover your personal values…There are many great tools that can help you do this, but you can simply start with answering the questions below.

Reflect upon the last year or so of your life and answer the following:
  1. When did you feel the happiest?
    Consider what you were doing, who you were with.
  1. When were you most proud of yourself?
    Consider WHY you felt that way and if anyone else also shared in your pride.
  1. What was a peak experience you had? ie. an experience that made you feel fulfilled and satisfied
    Consider how this event gave your life meaning.
  1. What do your choices show you about your values?
    Consider the people you choose to have in your life, how you treat others and how you respond to hardship. In these interactions, you act according to your values. Which values are you acting upon?

Once you have a list of values, narrow it down to your top 5, the top 5 values you can’t live without. Then, make sure you write them down, put them in your phone, a Dropbox Paper file or write them on a post-it and put it on your fridge. You can now use these values to direct your focus and to help you make decisions.  For example, knowing that “connection” is a top 5 value, start to think of ways that you can incorporate that value into your day today. It could be smiling and chatting with the barista as you get coffee, it could be really stopping and listening to your colleague as they discuss an issue. When making decisions, you can evaluate your options by how they align or don’t align with your values. If you’re not feeling particularly happy with the way your life is going, you can re-evaluate all aspects of your life based on these values. Then implement changes to move forward.

What you’ll find is that living (and working) according to your values will bring you a sense of peace, make your life much easier and create a sense of purpose you never knew you could have.