Success + Balance

Are you geared up for success and balance in 2010? If not now, when?

It begins with a conscious choice and only takes a moment to DECIDE. Start by asking yourself: What do I want to feel in my experiences of balance and success? Calmness? Joy? Freedom? Peace of Mind? Love?

Choose one! Make sure your choice is deeply meaningful to you. Use this 1-Minute Life Balance & Success Practice to embody your choice.

Declare your decision at the start of your day with these words: "I choose to experience ___________ in my work and life today." Then notice how your 'feeling of choice' shows up in small, medium or big ways for you to experience and enjoy it.

Soul of Money Institute Founder, Lynn Twist, tells us: "What we appreciate, appreciates." So stop sacrificing yourself on the altar of work. instead, make yourself a real precious priority. Boldly decide to experience the feelings you want balance and success to give you. Your decision empowers you to recognize and receive balance and success - your way.

Success is Easier with Balance

Clients tell me that the more balanced they feel, the more success they experience. They feel more energized, calmer, and clearer about their professional and personal priorities. This inspires them to consistently take action that leads to the right results in business, leadership and life.

Let me know how this balance & success practice works for you. Leave your comments below.

5 Invisible Barriers to Success

...for Smart Women Leaders

If you want to be more effective as a leader, take a close look at your inner leadership game. 

"To be effective leaders, we must first understand the field, or inner space, from which we are operating." ~Otto Scharmer, Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges 

Be candid with yourself and identify what really gets in your way. For smart business women it is often one of these hidden culprits.

1. The feeling that while you deserve what you want, it would be unfair to others if you had it.
2. The need to deliver on your expectation that only perfection is enough.
3. A sinking feeling that you do not have what it takes to lead your team or business to the success you envision.
4. The belief that to be smart, engaged, energetic, happy, and enlightened you have to be 'superwoman'.

5. Deep-seated reluctance to ask for and accept the help you need to achieve your ambitious goals.

Leadership Limitations

Unexamined beliefs, feelings and frustrations only have power if you give it to them. So take back your inner leadership power with this simple exercise.

• What belief, feeling or frustration gets in your leadership way?
• If you were free of that belief, feeling or frustration, what would be better for you as a leader?
• What do you gain - if anything - by not letting go of it?
• Who would you be as a leader without it?
• What 3 small steps could you take - starting now - to release your leadership limitation?

Decide to take immediate action. With each step consciously let go of the limitations lurking in your leadership blind spot. Your awareness of new possibilities will increase. This creates more space for you to play a bigger inner leadership game.

"Successful leadership depends on the quality of attention and intention that the leader brings to any situation." ~Otto Scharmer, MIT - Action Researcher in Innovative Learning & Leadership

Sanur Beach -Bali, Indonesia

Do Less, BE More...Effective Leader

For those of you who know me, it's no secret that Bali is one of my favorite places to visit. Even after 24 hours of long flights and several plane changes, my travel weary bones relax as soon as I arrive on this island 7 degrees below the equator.

There, returning to harmony is a daily spiritual practice. Balinese silent morning rituals and the island's quiet natural beauty invite you to relax your mind, reconnect with your body, and spend time with your soul.

I certainly understand that escaping to paradise may not be optional at the moment. Yet this travel metaphor is a perfect example of what it looks like to do less and BE more...energized, focused, alive.

You've probably experienced how doing less and BEING more awakens your knowing - what you know for sure. So allow me to share with you a 1-Minute "Do Less, BE More" Practice you can enjoy in only 10 seconds, 6 times a day. Playfully practice this for 90 days and notice how much calmer, confident, and in control you feel. That's the soul of your success!

Spend Time With Your Soul

It's so simple and easy...

• For 10 seconds stop whatever you're doing, saying, or thinking. Just pause and stop all activity for 10 blessed seconds.
• BE still...BE silent...BE inactive (in body, mind and spirit).
• Stop all activity for 10 seconds, 6 times a day.

This gives you 1-minute a day with your soul. Playfully practice these 10 second pauses, 6 times a day, for 90 days. Allow them to become a natural part of your day. Pay attention to any differences in how you feel - subtle or obvious shifts. Notice how routinely pausing to BE instead of nonstop doing elevates your effectiveness as a leader.

Naturally, I would love to hear how this works for you. Please let me know (email). I learned this 1-Minute Practice from Neale Donald Walsch in an interview about his latest book "When Everything Changes, Change Everything."

What's Your Story?

Sometimes we forget we can choose to be the author of our own success stories. When we do not consciously choose to shape our stories so they support and sustain us, then - by default - we become characters in our own dramas. While we may experience success, it too often comes at a cost that is more than our hearts and minds - not to mention our bodies - can bear.

Are You a Leading Lady?

Wildly successful business women shape their own success stories. When they treat themselves as leading ladies, they reach their ambitious business goals and desired lifestyles quicker and with more ease. The secret? Leading ladies thrive on having enough balance in their work and the rest of their lives.

Entrepreneurial Leading Lady Takes Center Stage

As an entrepreneur and CEO, Debra has built a successful service business. Her company is a preferred place to work for professionals committed to making a difference in the world. Given her years of success, Debra was focused on continued sustainability for her company. When she decided that more strategic business practices and innovative leadership were essential, Debra hired me to coach her. As we assessed what was working well, what wasn't working, and what could work better, it became evident that she was not playing a starring role in her entrepreneurial success. Her success stories did not spotlight the strength and value of her leadership. This left her unclear about how she could leverage her expertise with ease. And...Debra's long standing desire for life balance confirmed that she was not acting as a leading lady. Yet her role was vital to the stellar performance of her business.

One result of our work together was that Debra decided to act like a star and enjoy her success with a work-free vacation. Rest and relaxation gave her time to think about her personal priorities - what was crucial to her health and happiness yet she routinely postponed. When she returned, Debra decided to sign up for a 12-month yoga class that she had wanted to take for years. Going to the class meant she had to act like a leading lady and leave the office at 4 pm once a week. Initially, Debra worried about sending the wrong message to her staff. We talked and Debra realized that she always supported her employees in pursuing their personal priorities.

Being an entrepreneurial leading lady who took time to practice yoga proved to be a tipping point for Debra, as well as for the company. Her energy lightened and increased. she found it less stressful to manage expectations of herself and her team. Debra felt more effective as a leader - more inspiring and influential. Her modeling and coaching produced better results. Just 3 months after her vacation and less than 2 months after she started her yoga class, her business revenue increased by half a million dollars. This revenue gain took very little of Debra's time and energy and enabled her to hire a new staff person.

Debra's leading lady leadership continues to produce the right results for her company. Now she has enough time and energy to enjoy balance in her business and have fun in her personal life.

Leading Lady Coaching Tip

Take 1 hour of your over-scheduled week and spend it on 1 personal priority. Do this each week for an entire month and notice how you have become a leading lady in your own success story.

Escape Your Crazy-Busy Maze

Have you noticed how busy you really are? It's actually quite amazing that you get as much done as you do. Problem is...there's always more to do. So many daily demands - work and life - consume your time and attention. You rarely have enough energy to enjoy any left-over downtime. Having better balance remains a wish - unfulfilled because your strong sense of responsibility keeps you too-busy-for-balance.

The Way Out

Quieting your mind is step one in finding a way out of this energy draining maze. So the next time you think there's no time to stop and recharge your energy before trying to focus on your next pressing priority, don't believe what you're thinking. Just because your mind tells you that you "shouldn't relax for a moment" doesn't make it true. It's only a thought - just passing through your mind for no good reason.

Instead quiet your mind with these words: "Thank you for sharing." Say this with a firm inner voice and notice how your mind goes silent. Then get up from your desk, stretch, yawn, and take a brief walk inside or outside your office or home before engaging in the next task. Mini-balance breaks sharpen your focus and increase your effectiveness. So practice giving yourself refreshing moments of downtime. Consciously choosing to experience them gets you out of the too-busy-for-balance maze. You feel empowered to have the balanced life you seek.