Living Passionately Takes Courage!

If you find yourself in a life that doesn’t fit you, take some action and do something about it! Don’t take easy way out. Don’t let your comfort zone trap you for life. It is never too late to live your passion. To live your passion, all you need is courage………

Courage is the strength to stand up when it's easier to fall down and lose hold.

It is the conviction to explore new horizons when it’s easier to believe what we’ve been told.

Courage is the desire to maintain our integrity when it is easier to look the other way.

It is feeling happy, alive and moving forward when it’s easier to feel sorry for ourselves and stay.

Courage is the will to shape our world when it’s easier to let someone else do it for us.

It is the recognition that none of us are perfect when it’s easier to criticize.

Courage is the power to step forward and lead when it’s easier to follow the crowd.

It is the spirit that places you on top of the mountain when it’s easier to never leave the ground.

The foundation of courage is solid, the rock that doesn’t roll.

Courage is the freedom of our mind, body, and soul!

It’s time to find the courage to embrace your passions again. Get coached at your business, home, by phone or e-mail to get the results you need to excel in your personal and professional life! Book a complimentary session at http://www.denisedema.com

Networking Your Way Through Life!

Networking is one of the easiest and cost effective ways to get the word out about your business. Social networking opportunities are limitless online and are very popular, but having some real time interaction with other business professionals face to face is still very important for local exposure and profitability.

One of the most popular ways people do this is by joining associations and industry groups. Members attend networking events for the purpose of gathering in one place to exchange business cards and to talk to other executives about each other’s business. This is a good place for person to person introductions to share information.

It is always good to start conversations with an introduction of yourself and then learn a bit about the other persons business needs so you have the ability to see if your products or services are a good fit. The importance of using that information with a prepared mini business pitch is critical in capturing an immediate interest in your business. By explaining the value and benefit of how your products and or services can improve their business, you create a need for further discussion. If this is done right, you will be able to book a follow up appointment at the owner’s place of business to build rapport further in order to then close the sale. If there really isn’t a fit or business synergy, then you can move on quickly to meet someone else that would better suit your time.

Often, people go to these functions without any preparation or thought focus and miss all the opportunities that are before them by just handing out their business card and engaging in some general conversation about what they do. The most successful executives always work smart. They ask questions, have a brief business pitch that creates value, exchange business cards to prospective clients and make follow up appointments right on the spot to maximize their efforts making these events profitable to attend.

Another way to network that is by far one of the most overlooked is to talk about what you do to everyone that crosses your path. There are many ways to engage with others socially in a passive, friendly way, that shares information about your business without sounding like an aggressive salesperson.

Each day you encounter people at places you frequent that might not know anything about what you do or the business you are in. All business owners use products and services not only to run their own company but also in their personal life as well which makes everywhere you go an opportunity. EVERYONE is a potential client when you mention to them what you do, and in doing so, they might also think of someone within their network of business contacts or family/friends that could use your services as well. The opportunities are endless when you start to expose your services to everyone you encounter. It’s as simple as handing them a business card and saying, “If you ever need my services or know anyone that might need them please share my number or pass my card to them. I will take good care of anyone you send my way.”

When you go to your dry cleaner, veterinarian, favorite restaurant, massage therapist, hair salon, doctor, gym or even to a wine tasting or art gallery, you can give the owner your business card for their reference. I am sure a lot of the places you frequent have been recommended to others in the past. Like telling people how delicious the food is at your favorite restaurant, how great your haircutter is, how well the vet takes care of your pet, how great your trainer is at your gym and so on. This should be mentioned to the business person you are speaking to if applicable in order to show them that you refer their business to colleagues, friends and family as well. This plays into the old saying, “One hand washes the other!”

Diversifying your marketing efforts by stepping out of the box is the key to bringing in clients from all different venues. Today can be the day that you look at the world as the land of opportunity by…… Networking Your Way Through Life!

Get the tools you need to achieve your full potential! Work with a Business and Life Management Coach with over 20 years experience empowering individuals, executives and business owners to attain self-defined success in their professional and personal lives. To learn more or book a complimentary session, go to http://www.denisedema.com

Give It and It Will Come Back to You!

Like any lost art, saying "Thank You" can be revived! We can begin the revival by being conscientious about saying thank you to those who help us each and every day. Saying thank you is so powerful because it reinforces the importance of the simplest acts of kindness and reminds us of what we are most grateful for. Don't be in a thank you recession. The more you say thank you the better somebody feels and that energy will soon be returned. Starting today, show everyone that does something nice for you your appreciation! Learn to live each day with gratitude for the simple things that bring joy to your life. Kindness will make your world a beautiful place!

Achieving Happiness and Well-Being in Your Life!

We all want to be happy. When we're happy we are productive and become good at building meaningful relationships with those around us. However, happiness is a notoriously difficult thing to pin down and by focusing on it too intensely we can end up feeling unfulfilled. So think about what we need to do to flourish and to really be happy as a result. To help this process, here are some essential elements that should be in place for us to experience lasting happiness and well-being.

Positive Emotion
For us to experience well-being, we need positive emotion in our lives. Any positive emotion like peace, gratitude, satisfaction, pleasure, faith, inspiration, hope, curiosity, or love falls into this category and the message is that it's really important to enjoy yourself in the here and now.

Engagement
When we're truly engaged in a situation, task, or project, we experience a state of flow: time seems to stop, we lose our sense of self and we concentrate intensely on the present. This feels really good! The more we experience this type of engagement the more likely we are to experience well-being.

Positive Relationships
As humans we are social beings and good relationships are core to our well-being. Time-and-again we see that people, who have meaningful, positive relationships with others, are happier than those who do not. Relationships really do matter!

Meaning
Meaning comes from serving a cause bigger than ourselves. Whether this is a specific person or a cause that helps humanity in some way, we all need meaning in our lives to have a sense of well-being.

Accomplishment/Achievement
Many of us strive to better in some way whether we're seeking to master a skill, achieve a valuable goal or win in some competitive event. As such, accomplishment is another important thing that contributes to our ability to flourish.

Now that you're aware of all the things that make up your well-being and happiness, you can start to work on each one to live a rich, meaningful life.

Let's look at how you can do this.

Positive Emotions
Although we can't be happy all the time, we need to make sure that we often experience positive emotions such as pleasure, happiness, contentment, peace, joy, and inspiration. If you feel you're not experiencing enough positive emotions in your life, stop and think about why?

First, look at your career. Do you get to use your talents and strengths in your current role? If not how can you change that either in your current position or in another so you are valued for your contributions? Determine your strengths and look at ways to share them with others.

Next, identify people, events, or things that give you pleasure. Start to surround yourself with those things even if it is on a small scale in the beginning. For example, imagine you love being outdoors, surrounded by nature but spend a lot of time working inside. Why not bring plants or flowers into your space to experience this source of happiness in your work environment?

Spend time with positive people, do things that make you smile, and look at activities that bring joy to your world. The aim here is to find ways to bring positive emotions and enjoyment into your daily routine, and to ensure that you don't keep on putting these things off into a future that never quite arrives.

Engagement
Do you feel engaged in your career and in life? Engagement is about being fully involved and enthusiastic about what you are doing. You can experience deep engagement when participating in sports, spending time with friends, or working on things that you're fascinated with.

You can increase your engagement at work by minimizing distractions, improving concentration and focusing on projects that provide an interesting challenge for your skills. When you feel engaged you are more productive, effective and put passion into your work.

Look at your interests. Do you make enough time for a favorite hobby or physical activity? Many of us let this important personal time slip away, especially when we're stressed or overloaded with work. Try to devote plenty of time to activities that make you feel happy and engaged. This is very important to attain life/work balance.

Positive Relationships
Do you have positive relationships in your life? These can be with anyone: family, friends, neighbors, or colleagues. Do you wish you had more of these relationships?

You probably spend a good majority of your time at work, so it's important to start here if you want to build great relationships. Good working relationships give us several benefits and make our work more enjoyable when we have strong relationships with those around us. Also, people are more likely to go along with changes that we want to implement and become more innovative and creative.

Looking at your personal life, do you enjoy the company of your family and friends, and do you find that they're positive and supportive? If not, then it's important to take the time to understand why. Are you devoting enough time to strengthening these relationships? And do you need to make more of an effort to reach out to your friends and family? Don’t wait for another time to have these relationships flourish because things can change in an instant.

Make a commitment to spend significant time with a friend or family member on a regular basis. Relationships take engagement and hard work, and they're often strengthened only when we make an effort to connect with other people. On the other hand, you can't do much to change people so if your relationships aren't positive, you need to decide how far should you seek to preserve them? Know when to cut your ties and put your energy into the relationships that serve your life and are rewarding for you to be in.

Meaning
Do you feel that your life and work has meaning? That is, do you feel that you're connected in some way to a cause bigger than yourself? Most of us want to believe that we're working and living for a greater purpose. So finding meaning is important to our overall sense of well-being. When you set out to actively look for purpose in your life, the harder you try, the harder it can be to find. 

Remember chasing butterflies as a kid? The more you ran, the more they flew to escape you. But sometimes, when you just sat on the grass and watched, they'd come to rest on your leg – if only for a moment. Finding purpose in your work can be very much like this. Don't run forward franticly, trying to find meaning. Instead, do a quiet, more thoughtful search. The meaning and purpose you seek may come to you when you least expect it.

Certain activities, such as mentoring a co worker, spending time with our family, volunteering, or performing acts of kindness can really improve our sense of meaning in life. If you feel your own life is lacking meaning, do these things - you'll find them hugely satisfying.

Accomplishments/Achievement
This might be the trickiest element simply because it's very easy to take things too far. For instance, in many societies achievement is highly valued and if we're not always busy, it can seem that we're not living up to expectations and living a full life. However to continually push ourselves too hard can easily run ourselves ragged in pursuit of the next achievement.

So take your time and prioritize your drive in life. If you suspect you're not devoting enough time or energy to accomplishing your dreams, then start now by first identifying what you truly want to accomplish and discover what you'd love most to do in your life. When you set concrete goals for yourself, and discuss them with your manager, partner, parents, coach or mentor, you are creating your image and path of the future. The images you hold about the future serve to guide and inspire you. They influence your present actions and decisions. This is why the power to create your future success comes from within.
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By focusing on all of these elements, you can flourish in life and find the happiness and well-being you want. This is a good starting point for living a great life!

Achieve your full potential today! Work with a Business and Life Management Coach with over 20 years experience empowering individuals, executives and business owners to attain self-defined success in their professional and personal lives. Book a complimentary session today!

The Importance of Mentoring Employees

Smart entrepreneurs, executives and small business owners understand the importance of mentoring new and existing employees. One of the responsibilities of an executive in a leadership role is the professional development of their employees. To make the mentoring process work there has to be a deliberate effort to mold and shape an individual by providing the tools to help them perform better.

Mentors provide expertise to essentially less experienced individuals to help them advance their careers, enhance their skills and knowledge. Mentoring is an important aspect to leadership training and in today’s empowered workplace, the old school command and control structure is fading and self-directed work teams are the hot new organizing principle.

Everything within the system of the organization is acted upon by people. People are the organization. The strength and power of the organization is not as much dependent upon its material assets and resources as it is upon the resourcefulness of its people.

Mentoring employees takes the art and science of understanding employees individually and tapping into their true potentials for maximum effectiveness. Ordinary leaders think in terms of creating a vision of the future, yet often fail to create a context that will allow the vision to become a reality. The context is the mental environment that shapes, limits, and defines who the person is and what they see as possible and achievable.

As the global marketplace matures through the introduction of new technologies, competitive products, and economic climate changes, companies are being forced to change in order to remain successful. The manager’s job has become more complex and demanding, requiring the development of broader personal and professional leadership skills. Today’s leaders are confronted with increasing pressure to produce more with fewer resources.

In this pressure-packed environment, successful managers must use the role of leadership to create results by helping employees excel in making the right decisions, respond quickly to customers, take initiative and work well with peers. They also must use the art and science of mentoring to guide employees to double their effectiveness with new skills and greater efficiency in achieving their goals.

Improve your mentoring skills and the performance of your employees by working with a Business and Life Management Coach with over 20 years experience empowering individuals, executives and business owners to attain self-defined success in their professional and personal lives. Book a complimentary session today at http://www.denisedema.com

Stop Over Analyzing and Live Life!

Sometimes we often contemplate life from every angle. We weigh the pros and cons of every endeavor, every relationship to ensure we don’t take one false step. Unfortunately most of the time they do not protect us from mistakes, nor do they protect us from the very things we are looking to avoid.


Over analyzing life is the major cause of procrastination, and insidious thought. The more you think, the more you conjure up thoughts of how the world is out to get you or that you aren’t capable of attaining whatever goals you desire. We sabotage ourselves. Others don’t sabotage us unless we let them. But more often we do it to ourselves. Over and over until it becomes a part of our psyche and we have to self reprogram our minds into a healthy disposition.

We must rid our thoughts of self defeating feelings. Whether you feel you’re not good enough to date a particular person, or that you’re unqualified for a particular job, you are entitled to anything you want just as anyone else is. No one can make you believe it but you. Just as one obsesses about how they aren’t capable, one can choose to think that they are. It’s the choices they make that determine the happiness of their life. Not circumstances.

Choice is the key word in all of this. It’s what one chooses to think about. For many they consume their minds with needless, irrelevant processes that sap their energy or forms negative energy that they in turn… attract. We are what we attract and attracting these negative forces in our life is our own doing. We have the power to change it. But often many people over analyze themselves into negative dispositions that consume their thoughts, until they manifest it themselves in life.

Life is meant to be lived. The greatest people the world has ever known became great by making things happen and not merely thinking about them and every pitfall that may arrive along the way. You owe it to yourself to be the best person you can be and that starts in your head.  It’s unnatural to be positive every second of the day, but we can choose how we digest and manifest information. How we cope with the information we’re given is a reflection of how we think about ourselves. Many things you will analyze will never materialize, because they are figments of your imagination.

You cannot assume what people are thinking. You cannot assume what people will do. You cannot assume that someone is thinking of you when you are, or in the way you are. It’s a ridiculous process that only feeds fear and uncertainty. Focus on you, and what you’re doing, and don’t make judgments on the hypothetical.

Over analyzing can cripple you to non action. Free your mind of these negative thoughts and bathe in the glorious ether of self awareness and confidence. The more you do the more you’ll be focused on things that will make you happy, and less on those negatives you attract.

Learn to stop over analyzing and embrace the life you were meant to live! Work with a Business and Life Management Coach that specializes in human development and personal effectiveness for individuals and professionals. Book a complimentary session today!

Achieve Your Full Potential!

One quality of leaders and high achievers in every area seems to be a commitmment to ongoing personal and professional development. Are you keeping up with your commitment? Book your complimentary session now!

Simplify Your Life- Habits of Zen to Done!

10 habits that will help you get organized, simplify your life, get things under control, and get things done.

Instead of trying to implement all 10 habits at once, choose one habit at a time and focus on it for 30 days. Then move on to the next one.

Habit 1: Collect
Carry a capture tool with you wherever you go–whether it’s a small notebook, a PDA or anything else that works for you-and write down tasks, ideas, projects, phone numbers or anything else that pops into your head.

The key elements of the capture habit are: take your capture tool with you wherever you go, write everything down before you forget, and empty your notes into your to-do list when you get back to your home or office. (Take note that your capture tool is one of your inboxes).

Habit 2: Process – Make Quick Decisions on EMail
An inbox is any place where you check your messages or read incoming information. The first thing you have to do is minimize your inboxes. List all the ways in which you receive information, evaluate each to see if it gives you value, and find ways to combine or eliminate inboxes.

For example, make sure that all the papers that come into your home get placed in the same inbox. If you have several email addresses, can you get them all forwarded to one service?

The next step is to check and process your inboxes once a day; you may need to check some of your inboxes more often, just don’t do it obsessively.

Start with the top item on your inbox and work your way down, making immediate decisions as you go along:
Delete (or trash it).
Delegate.

If it’s something you can deal with in 2 minutes or less, do it immediately
File it: if it’s something you need for reference.
Add it to your to-do list or calendar to do later.

Work your way down through each item until the inbox is empty. Leave nothing in the inboxes.

Habit 3: Plan
At the beginning of each week list the larger tasks that you want to accomplish–the 3 to 6 “Most Important Tasks” you want to get done that week–and schedule them first. Each morning, create a list of 1 to 3 most important tasks. Do your MIT’s early in the day to get them out of the way to ensure that they get done.

Planning gives purpose to your week: you’re not just checking items off of a to-do list, you’re doing what’s important to you and what will take you closer to achieving your goals.

Stephen Covey tells a story that one of his associates heard at a seminar. The seminar presenter pulled out a wide-mouth gallon jar and placed it next to a pile of fist-sized rocks. After filling the jar to the top with rocks, he asked, “Is the jar full?” The group replied, “Yes.”

He then got some gravel from under the table and added it to the jar. The speaker jiggled the jar until the gravel filled the spaces between the rocks. Again, he asked, “Is the jar full?” This time, the group replied, “Probably not.”

The speaker then added some sand and asked, “Is the jar full?” “No!” shouted the group.

Finally, the speaker filled the jar to the brim with water and asked the group the point of this illustration. Someone replied that you could always fit more things into your life if “you really work at it.” “No,” countered the speaker. “The point is, if you don’t put the big rocks in first, would you ever have gotten any of them in?”

Habit 4: Do One Thing at a Time Without Distractions
Select a task and decide that you’re going to work on it either until it’s done, or for a set amount of time (say 30 minutes). Before you get started, de-clutter your desk and eliminate all distractions: shut off your e-mail and cell phone, get off the internet if possible, and so on. Focus on the task you’ve selected to the exclusion of everything else during the time that you’ve allotted to that task.

If you get interrupted or think of something else that needs to be done while you’re focusing on a task, write it down and get back to the task.

Habit 5: Simple, Trusted System
All you need are lists. Instead of getting caught up fiddling with tools and creating complicated systems, concentrate on “doing” and not on the tools. Place your tasks (“next actions”) in a series of context lists, such as the following:
work: for everything work related
personal: all your personal tasks
phone: for calls you can make from anywhere
errands: your list of errands
waiting for: a list of things you need to follow up on
Someday/maybe: a list of stuff you don’t want to or can’t do right now, but want to check on later.

Keep simple lists: all you need is one list for each context–which you check daily–and a projects list that you review either daily or weekly. These are not your daily to-do lists; they’re master lists from which you pull your MITs.

But what about all those little things that need to get done? You should reserve time in the afternoon to complete these small tasks.

Habit 6: Everything in Its Place
Your life can be completely organized with the following two rules: everything you own should have a home, and when you’re done using any item, put it back where it belongs.

Create a simple filing system so that you can quickly file any papers you’re going to need for future reference.

Putting things where they belong, immediately, is a habit. Treat it like any other habit and focus on it for 30 days to turn it into something automatic.

Habit 7: Weekly Review
You should have a list of life goals; that is, long-term goals. From those long-term goals, you should have between one and three that you want to accomplish this year. If you choose too many long-term goals to work toward on any one particular year, you will lose focus.

For each long-term goal that you choose to work on, choose one medium-term goal that moves you closer to achieving that long-term goal, and which you can accomplish within the next few months. Next, choose one short-term goal that you can accomplish in the next week or so that will move you closer to your medium-term goal. Once you’ve done this, each week review of the progress you’ve made on those goals, and a refocusing on those goals.

Review the notes you made in your capture tool: check that you remembered to add the phone numbers to your contacts, to add items to your context lists, and so on. Also, review your calendar and review your lists.

Habit 8: Simplify
Reduce your goals and tasks to the essentials. Review your task and projects lists and see if you can simplify them. Simplify your commitments and your incoming information stream. Make sure that your projects and tasks lineup with your yearly and life goals. Take everything that you can off of your to do lists: just do the stuff that matters.

Habit 9 – Routines
Set and keep routines. A morning routine, for example, could include meditating, going for a run, processing your inboxes, and reviewing your MIT’s for the day. You could also have an evening routine and weekly routines, such as doing the laundry on Monday, planning your menu and going grocery shopping on Tuesday, paying your bills on Wednesday, and so on. Find routines that work for you.

Habit 10 – Find Your Passion
If you’re passionate about your work and life, your task list will almost seem like a list of rewards.

Create simple habits that serve your life so you can achieve your full potential! Work with a Business and Life Management Coach with over 20 years experience empowering individuals, executives and business owners to attain self-defined success in their professional and personal lives. Book your complimentary session to get started in reaching your goals today!

Integrity......

Integrity is a powerful attribute. It means that you are dependable, you are a person of your word and you are consistent and honest. Integrity is the foundation upon which all other values are built........

The Power of Letting Go.........

A story for reflection….. Two Buddhist Monks were on a journey and they approached a rough and raging river. On the river bank they saw a young woman who was clearly in need of help to cross to the other side of the river. The junior monk walked straight past her without giving it a thought and crossed the river. The senior monk offered to help the woman and carried her across the river. Once across they parted ways and the two monks continued on their journey. As the journey continued, the senior monk could see that the junior monk had something of concern on his mind, and asked what was wrong. The junior monk replied, "As monks we are debarred from touching a woman, how could you then carry that woman on your shoulders?"  The senior monk replied, "I left the woman a long time ago when I put her down at the river bank, however, you seem to be carrying her still."
 
This story shows the importance of detachment. The things we hold onto, bear grudges or perhaps feel angry and hurt about cloud our mind and prevent us from being the best we can be. Letting go usually involves some form of forgiveness or acceptance – whether it’s for yourself, someone else, a situation or even an unknown third party. The irony is that whatever you’re holding onto, it’s probably hurting or bothering you much more than it does anyone else. Letting go doesn’t mean we condone a situation or behavior, it’s about lightening our load. When we let go of whatever is bothering us we set ourselves free and get to reclaim that energy for ourselves. You don’t need to know how to let go, you just need to be willing. You can’t change the past, but you can learn from it and change how you feel going forwards. Remember - whatever you find it hardest to let go of is probably what you need to let go of the most.

There is tremendous power in letting go because it clears your mind and takes away distractions so you can concentrate on living in the present. Letting go of all the things that drain your mind and body allows you to gain more focus and confidence in yourself to achieve your goals. Improving your present moment improves your future as well and will bring more happiness, joy and real freedom into your life..

Below is an exercise that will help you gain some clarity of the things you need to let go off.  Just listing what you need to let go of here will raise your level of awareness and you’ll naturally begin to loosen your grip on the things that do not serve you.  So ask yourself and write down what you’re holding onto, what slows you down, what riles you up and anything that gets in the way of you being the best you can be!

•   What do I need to let go of?    How I benefit by holding on?

Now look at this list and imagine letting go of everything on this list. How does it make you feel?

What have you learned about yourself from doing this exercise?

If you need to let go of something you’ve done, simply ask, “What do I need that will allow me to let this go?” Perhaps you need to make some kind of apology or find a meaningful way to make it up to yourself or someone else. While we can’t change the past, we can make peace in the present and learn from it. Also ask yourself, “What do I gain by holding on to this?” Perhaps by holding on to resentments, anger, hurt, you don’t need to accept your part in the situation, or perhaps it stops you from feeling how hurt you really were, maybe you get to stay in ‘the right’ or avoid dealing with someone.

By becoming aware of the things that do not serve your life now will allow you to start the process of letting go and redirecting your energy toward what empowers you and brings you joy.

Start today and get the support you need by working with a Business and Life Management Coach with over 20 years experience empowering people to attain self defined success in their personal and professional lives. Achieve your full potential and book a complimentary session.