Aug 17th
I hope you’re enjoying some of these lazy, hazy days of summer…I know I am!
Many of you ask me how to choose from all your many ideas -which one should I work on NOW?
I also hear from many of you that you’re challenged by the “F” word (and I mean Focus!)
Here’s a powerful, easy 8 step system to choose your ideas, get them into action and completed.
1. Write down all your ideas. You don’t have to DO all of them but if you don’t write them down, you’ll lose a lot of your truly genius, creative gems.
2. Let is percolate for a few days. Come back to your list in a couple of days -some of those ideas you wrote down will seem downright wacky while others will take your breath away -I thought THAT? you’ll say to yourself.
3. Then ask yourself, what is the purpose for doing this? Hint -it’s not always money. It’s probably one of these – list building, lead generation, cash generation, product creation (this can be information products too), or building credibility.
4. Rank your list of ideas from 1-5 on how much this idea will get you to your current purpose (or whatever scale you like) with 1 being this won’t get me to my desired objective at all, to eureka! this is a 5 -I’m going to lock the door, turn off the phone and email and not come out till I’ve got this baby cooking!
5. Make a 2nd column with an estimate of what you think can happen if you focus on this for 40 days. Why do I pick 40 days? I like that there is a great significance to the number 40 in many spiritual traditions. And, I know how tempted I am to lose focus -in many spiritual stories, 40 days signifies temptation or a passage through something.
Next quantify your idea. How many people could you add to your list if you focused for 40 days? How many leads could you generate? How much cash will that information product bring in?
6. Right about now, the buts should be kicking in -small buts and those dreaded big buts. Write down 3 of them. Now write down 3 benefits of doing this focused project.
7. Now write down solutions to your obstacles or ways to prevent them. Then write down, very specifically, about what you’ll get from the benefits. Set dates for when you’ll experience these great things you’ll be, do or have from these benefits.
8. OK. Now it’s time to get into ACTION! Write down 5 actions you need to take to achieve this objective. For example, I’m working on a book right now -some of my next actions are to write an hour a day, interview some folks for stories for the book, decide on a hot title…see?
Some of your steps will be done by you, others like graphic design of a book cover, transcribing interviews etc. will be done by someone else.
So what idea will you focus on for the next forty days (some of you will complete your project even sooner!) Post a comment at www.authenticlifeinstitute.com/blog and let us know -then you’re making a commitment which will make it much more likely that you’ll keep moving forward -don’t you want to come back in 40 days and post about your great success? I’d love to hear them!
Jun 14th
Do you ever find yourself having to make 3 trips to get out the door of your house because you keep forgetting things? Or found yourself standing in the shower and you couldn’t remember if you’d rinsed out your shampoo yet? I’m not talking about memory loss…I’m talking about mindfulness or the lack of it in most cases. If you’re like most of us, your mind tends to wander to the future or to the past most of the time.
The downside to letting your mind run you this way is that you aren’t fully in the present and the present is where 
life happens. James Joyce wrote, in his short story, A Painful Case, that “Mr. Duffy lived a short distance from his body.” Can you relate? I can. There’s been too many times when I’m “in my head”, writing away, only to realize later that my body has been trying to send me signals to relax my shoulders or stretch out my back.
Years ago, I was introduced to mindfulness meditation when I read a book by Jon Kabat Zinn, who at the time was a physician at the University of Massachusetts teaching mindfulness meditation techniques to patients with chronic disease in an effort to help them live with and reduce their pain. His research was sound and showed many benefits to being mindful – I highly recommend his book “Wherever You Go, There You Are” if you’re interested in learning more.
When you’re mindful, you are acutely present, you are paying attention, you are experiencing moment to moment non-judgmental awareness. The principle is fairly simple. With our Iphones and blackberrys it’s not so simple. I have been an early adopter of most technology and enjoy my gadgets thoroughly; however, I have to admit, I resisted getting a smart phone. I often used the free minutes waiting for an appointment or standing in a line to just “be”. To be aware of what was around me. I knew the temptation of checking emails and the web might wipe out many of mindful moments. I have managed to find a balance. I don’t reach for the phone every free minute, but when I am working on a project with a deadline, it’s convenient to be able to exchange information quickly no matter where I am.
Anyway back to the technique. You can do this in just a few minutes. Become aware of your breath. Feel it rising and falling in your chest and your belly. When thoughts start to crowd in, just let them go by bringing your attention back to your breath. When you’re ready start to be aware of all parts of your body. And then from there open your awareness to the world around you, continuing to bring your attention back to your breath when your mind wonders. What will mindfulness meditation bring you if you do it regularly? Awareness and calm. Less stress and stress related illness. Seeing the world for the first time. Discovery that the world is full of small delights, many that you’re probably overlooking. And, a greater ability to be present to others. Pretty powerful stuff. And it’s free.
So go ahead, have a mindful moment or two. I’d love to see your comments here once you try it!
May 18th
I’ve been happily traveling for the last few weeks. I actually like airports -weird as that might sound! I spent a day in New Jersey with Mike Michalowicz, one of my coaches, and author of the infamous Toilet Paper Entrepreneur – he shared ideas about effectively using email marketing -a golden nugget from him – make the emails you send to your prospect list text only and write as if you’re writing to a good friend. I see a lot of successful women entrepreneurs who use fancy email templates with several sections in their email newsletters -but the guys I watch tend to use just text. What do you think? I’ve been doing the fancy route and am now testing out the plain text -I’ll let you know how it goes.
After the NJ adventure with Mike, I spent several days in Providence, RI visiting family and gathering info for my Providence Lover website.
And then, I spent five amazing days with Barbara Sher and nine other powerful and provacative people at the cozy yet sprawling 17 bedroom Saluda Inn in North Carolina. Most of us were interested in learning how to write a nonfiction book and how to get well paid speaking gigs…but the real meat of the retreat (retreat my a**, I worked my butt off!) was getting very clear about what we love and how we can spread our message. A nugget from Barbara “You can’t think of anything you can’t have -if you get to the heart of it -you can have it.”
You KNOW that this is my mission -to get you to acknowledge what you love and to do whatever that is – and yes, if you’re hanging out with me, I’m sure there are many things you love and YES you can do them all! So do something today that makes you happy -even a tiny step is good. Would love to see you comment about what you plan to do or tell me your opinion about that email thing – fancy vs text.
Mar 29th
Prefer to LISTEN to this week’s issue?
Turn up your speakers and
Click here to download…
One of my coaches gave the term “mind junk” to that negative, very active voice in your head. It’s chattering away constantly telling you why you can’t reach your goal, live your dreams or even something as simple as writing an article!
I watch people let this mind junk waste tremendous amounts of their energy. Instead, I’d like to invite you to accept that this voice will always be with you AND you can relax and accept it rather than wasting energy trying to change it. You can wallow around in your mind junk or you can shift your attention from it to your goals.
Let’s identify what your mind junk looks like so you can quickly figure out when it’s happening and you can stop paying attention to it. One other interesting thing…the way you handle mind junk in one area of life -say money -you’ll find that the same mind junk runs your relationships, your creativity, your physical vitality, your time and how much you enjoy life. Here are some ways mind junk shows up:
Keeping it vague. I’ll create that blog soon. Right now I don’t have the time. Falling into the either/or trap. Either I can write a book or I can keep making money in my job -I don’t have the energy for both. Comparing yourself to others. Why does it seem that no one struggles with public speaking as much as I do? Making excuses. I was late in meeting my deadline because I had too many interruptions.
Monkey mind has a lot of tenacity. It loves to keep us in the same behaviors even when it’s not working for us. Here’s what you might find yourself saying: It will work if I just try harder, I don’t have time to do it another way. This is just how I am and there’s nothing I can do about it.
So what to do with this craziness? Know that you are not your mind junk. You have amazing ability to observe it. It is only one part of your mind and who you really are is much more magnificent than any curve ball your mind junk throws at you. When you become aware of it and see how it works, you minimize the odds of getting off track as you move towards your goals.
Here’s an action for you. Over the next 2 days, write down at least 3 times your mind junk was shouting load and clear. Did you say it aloud -like “I can’t afford that and never will” or was it an internal dialogue? Note what kind of form it took -was it being vague, comparing yourself to others or some other form?
See if you can catch the mind junk and not get into a full blown attack of it. Observing your mind junk, you may be amazed to discover that 90% or more of the thoughts that your mind junk pops into your head are irrelevant to anything that’s of real value to you!
Would love to hear any tips you have for living in peace with your mind junk. Post yours here.
Feb 5th
Prefer to LISTEN to this week’s issue?
Turn up your speakers and
Click here to download…
What do you do when you hit a problem in your business? Maybe it’s how to generate more income, how to build a client list or how to create an information product. Too often you might find yourself getting stopped by a problem and just giving up. Here’s what you can do to get past those problems and on to doing what you love to do.
Jim Rohn, the wonderful motivational speaker, said to go inside first and see if you can come up a solution. If that doesn’t work, go to a book or internet sources to see if you can find an answer. If that doesn’t work, ask someone else who is where you want to be. This is good advice. Let’s explore further.
1. Go inside. You have an extraordinary amount of wisdom right inside yourself –from your past experiences and from your natural preferences. One great way to get your answers from within is to take some time to get quiet. Make a list of teachers you’ve had that made a positive impact on you. Some may have been conventional teachers; others may be people you met who were not in a classroom. You can even consider famous people, people who have died or you haven’t met in person but you learned something valuable from them. Now choose one that jumps out at you right now.
Now write out a dialogue between you and this person. Ask him/her for advice. I can bet you will find some powerful insights into how to solve your problem
2. Get some more information. When someone tells me they’re stuck on a problem, I quickly assess whether it is a lack of information that is the real problem. It often is. I’m amazed at how many people don’t take the time to seek information through books and the internet. Often there is someone out there who has solved a problem similar to yours and you can quickly get ideas about how to solve your problem.
3. Ask someone else. If you still can’t figure out how to get past your problem after going inside and doing some research…now is the time to ask someone else. Most people are willing to share information and help you IF you show them that you have done some research prior to asking them. It’s startling how many people ask me for advice and information and when I ask them what they’ve done so far to solve their problem…they say “nothing”.
I’ll give you a concrete example. You want to run a tour business. You don’t know where to start and feel overwhelmed every time you think about this idea…but it just won’t go away.
First, you take time and journal with your teacher within. You have a dialogue and get encouragement from the teacher that you are on the right track. You even get some ideas about where you would like to lead tours and get a strong sense of the feelings of satisfaction and joy you’ll get when you achieve this goal.
Now you think, “I don’t know how to start. What insurance do I need? How do I hire a bus? What kind of outdoor microphone will I need so that people can hear me? How will I find people to enroll for my tours?”
So you go to Google and type in “how to lead tours”. You get nothing useful. So you try, “how to be a tour guide”. Bingo. You get a great article with lots of information and a link to an online course on the topic. You subscribe for the course. You then do an Amazon search and find a book that looks great on this topic so you order it.
After you’ve taken the course and read the book, you are about 100% confident that you’d like to achieve the goal of becoming a tour guide but you’d like to talk to some people who are actually doing it to get the real scoop on what it’s like and maybe ideas on how to break into the field.
Now, if you don’t already know someone in the field, it’s time to look up a few people in the field, approach them by email to request a 20 minute informational interview by phone. Send an email that says that you are interested in entering the field, you’ve taken a course and read about the field and now want to get some real world information.
Tell them that you’ll have 5-10 questions prepared before the call and that you’d be happy to email the questions to them prior to the call. You might want to ask what the best part of their work is and what the worst part of their work is. Don’t ask specific salaries, though you may ask what would be an expected range of pay for a beginner and for someone advanced in the field.
People are generally very happy to help out, happy to share information about work they love AND they will be impressed that you did your research prior to seeking them out.
So go ahead. What’s a problem you have? Try the 3 steps above and get unstuck now!
Jan 5th
I’ve thought a lot about how to accomplish goals and whether or not I should bother. Probably like you, I was never taught to set goals as a child. When I hit college, I had an amazing writing instructor who gave us a long list of fiction novels we’d be reading and weekly writing assignments.
She set us up for success. Now this may sound simple, but to me it was a huge aha moment. She told us to look at the number of pages we needed to read that week and to divide that number by the seven days we had to read and voila! I now knew how many pages I had to read each day…and I knew if I skipped a day to go to the beach, that I’d have to add those extra pages to my daily reading for the rest of the week.
It really hit me that I had been living a life with no goals. Oh…there were vague yearnings about things I wanted to do like travel and things I wanted to have…but I never set an actual goal to achieve them.
Other times, I think that living without goals sounds best. Just get up in the morning, see what the day brings and do what I’d like.
For now, I’ve settled on a happy medium. I believe that setting great goals has stretched me into being even more of who I am and serving more people with my talents and strengths. It’s also helped me increase my income while doing things I enjoy.
AND, I’m sure to allow plenty of time each week to just follow my heart with no goals in sight.
This works for me… I’d love to hear your comments about goal setting!
Dec 28th
What does authentic living mean to you? The end of the year is a great time to look inside and give some thought to the topic.
An authentic woman (or man) brings an air of assurance, calm, poise, peace to a room or situation. They are living in congruency…meaning their words and actions are aligned with their thoughts, values and purpose. Do you know someone like this?
How do you become more authentic? As the ancient philosophers told us “know thyself.” You may think, “well of course I know myself,” but think again. You may know who society suggests you should be through t.v. commercials and glossy magazine ads. You may know yourself as your parents wished you to be.
Under all the messages you’ve received about yourself is the “real you.” Your authentic self. The you that could wake up excited to start each day. The you who almost always is doing things you love to do. The you who brings authentic love to your relationships. The you who freely gives of your talents and reaps amazing prosperity. The you who doesn’t hide your light.
How to uncover that you? It’s always there…it just needs some silence and support to emerge…these are tools most folks don’t take time to give themselves. I can guarantee you…that every successful person you know, every person who walks in the room being authentic does some or all of these things:
1. Pay attention to your inner world. A journal is a great way to start. Don’t worry about getting the “right kind.” Choose one that you can carry with you everywhere easily. Choose one that appeals to your senses…that you’ll love picking up to write in.
Then just start. Write daily or a few times a week. Just make it a habit to visit your inner world and get some of your thoughts, observations, emotions and ideas on paper. As Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.”
2. Make a list of 25-50 things you’d like to be, do, have in the next 10 years. As Jim Rohn pointed out to me, we have about ten 10’s in our lifetime. Make your next precious ten fantastic!
When you’re making your list, ignore the resistance that occurs in the form of your inner critic saying you can’t possibly be, do or have THAT. Just bless it for caring and shoo it away…then turn your thoughts back to the excitement and joy you feel as you imagine these things already here in your life.
Once you’re done…mark 1 year, 5 year, 10 year next to each item showing when you will have it done. Then take 3-4 of your one year goals and map out the actions you need to do to get there (don’t worry if you don’t have all the “hows”) sometimes the first step is to get information.
Look at your most important 5 and 10 year goals and determine if there is some steps that need to be taken this year to get them rolling.
Calendar out your actions for the next 3 months and get into action!
3. Find an authentic forum where you can be listened to and supported with ideas, contacts and genuine encouragement. When two or more come together amazing things, beyond what we can ever do alone, come to pass.
Don’t let your dreams die in isolation. This is the thing I see the most in people who are struggling and it hurts my heart that they are not engaged in authentic living.
Let this next decade be YOUR time to live YOUR life. Your authentic life.
Dec 22nd
“Breakthrough to the Best You in 2010: Create Your Powerful Yet Simple Goal Setting and Time Management System That Works!” Free Tele-Conference Open to Public
Many believe that 2009 was the worst year they ever experienced. What can we do about this? Plan ahead to make 2010 a year where you turn things around, make smart choices and build the future you want in all areas, including finances, relationships, physical and emotional health.. Hosted by Authentic Life Institute, this free tele-seminar demystifies the goal setting process and provides concrete steps for taking control of your precious time and ensuring success.
San Juan Capistrano, CA AddPR.com, December 22, 2009
The economy has battered and bruised many people. They often feel that life is spinning out of control. They react out of fear and maybe aren’t making the best choices.
What can be done? The best remedy is to take charge of your life. There is nothing that dispels fear like a well thought out goal and taking actions to achieve it.
Fact –Less than 15% of people write their goals down in specific, measurable, detail. (Source- www.ThinkTQ.com)
Fact- Only 12% have at least one clearly defined goal for every major interest in their life. (Source- www.ThinkTQ.com)
Fact- Only 22% share your goals with others for mutual accomplishment. (Source- www.ThinkTQ.com)
Who wouldn’t want to be create their vision, have a clear plan to achieve it, know what actions are most important to take each day to live a life filled with peace of mind, financial freedom, a healthier body and joyful relationships?
Honestly? Not everyone. Most people aren’t willing to take the quiet, inner time to think through goals and actions; however, now, more than ever, people are questioning the direction of their lives, seeking more meaning and purpose along with material security and success.
To address the problem of financial adversity and lack of clear direction and to promote the benefits of goal setting and time management, Authentic Life Institute, a virtual learning center reaching more than 17,000 people monthly, is hosting a free tele-teleseminar (via telephone) on January 6, 2010, open to the public on “Breakthrough to the Best You in 2010: Create Your
Powerful Yet Simple Goal Setting and Time Management System That Works!”
Topics covered include-
- Why set your goals?
- A simple but powerful goal setting system
- Action planning to accomplish your goals with ease and success
- Time Integrity -It’s Your Time, How Will You Use It?
Ann Ronan, Ph.D., founder of Authentic Life Institute states “Starting with a vision for your life and then creating a definite plan to achieve it with planned out action steps and support is the absolute key to success in life. It is my mission to help others live their authentic life – a life of purpose and meaning with all the money needed to live a truly rich life.”
For more information visit http://authenticlifeinstitute.com/classes/january-6-2010/
# # #
Dec 21st
What are your goals for 2010? Should we even set goals? That’s been on my mind this month, and I’ve finally come to some conclusions that satisfy me. See what you think.
I believe that we are part of something much greater than ourselves…you can call it God or Spirit or the infinite flow. And because we are made of the substance of this infinite flow, we are whole, perfect and complete…just as we are…warts and all.
I also practice mindfulness meditation, in sitting practice and also throughout the day…bringing my awareness to observe myself acting, thinking, doing, judging, feeling.
And sometimes, I’ve felt like living a “goaless” life. Just waking up and doing what feels right…and sometimes I do that.
BUT…I also recognize that I have the gift of this life to express my unique self fully in service to others. And no matter, what…my day is going to be filled up with SOME kind of activity…I might as well choose wisely.
By setting goals, I give myself direction…hopefully towards becoming more of who I truly am and serving and loving others as deeply as I can.
I’ve studied many time management and goal setting systems. And from all of them, I’ve gleamed what works best for me and created my own system. If you’d like to set your goals for 2010 with some guidance and support, on January 6, 2010, I’m holding a gifted teleclass called ” Breakthrough to the Best You in 2010: Create Your Powerful Yet Simple Goal Setting and Time Management System That Works!”
Get the details and dial in info here: http://budurl.com/goals2010
Igniting your entrepreneurial spirit,
Ann
