goes a long way….

What a gorgeous time of the year! Even in South Florida where seasons don’t widely vary, April is consider the best weather. In New York, where I lived most of my adult life, April meant hope; hope that with the March winds behind us, a mild Spring would be around the corner!

This weekend, many cultures in our global family will celebrate Passover or Easter – in some households, both. With the holiday themes of freedom, hope, and resurrection, it seemed fitting to return to the Sivananda Ashram in the Bahamas for their Easter and Passover Symposium celebration: Yoga & Sacred Healing.

This image of universality is what you see moments after stepping off the tiny boat that delivers you from the main island of Nassau. Years ago, a Club Med was nestled right next door. What a study in contrasts!

Resurrection, freedom and hope. This time of the year, with daffodils popping through the earth and cherry blossoms in full bloom, look for signs of resurrection, freedom and hope in your life. When facing life’s challenges, it is very easy to fall back into pessimism and despair – or even worse – resignation. Smile – science has proof that the hormones released will fool your mind into thinking things are not so bad after all. And that’s no April Fool’s joke!

When my coaching clients submit their brief pre-meeting prep form, it includes the question: “What are the opportunities available to me right now?” In posing that question I am guiding them to see “challenges” they are facing (related to their coaching goals) as “opportunities” to grow professionally and personally. For example, if you are facing an upcoming difficult conversation, the gap between the outcome you would like to achieve and the new behaviors it would take to achieve it (better communication, increased patience, anger management, suspending judgement – whatever) can turn that upcoming situation into an a coaching conversation and opportunity to grow.

Given there are many ways of approaching a problem – some better than others – what tools would you need to develop to turn a difficult situation into a “growth opportunity?” You may not even know the answer to that, but the inquiry is a good place to start.

As I was putting the finishing touches on this article for you, a piece about breaking resolutions in Sunday’s print version of the New York Time’s (January 8, 2012) caught my attention: “Be It Resolved.” (Also in my Twitter feed). As it turns out, “willpower” is actually powered by glucose in the bloodstream, and self-control depletes it. The consequence is “ego depletion,” a state of mental fatigue further discussed in the article This makes it particularly difficult if your New Year’s Resolution is to lose weight – the most sought after New Year’s Resolution of all time.

While I hadn’t considered the glucose angle, in last month’s Zoom eNews, I asked you to toss your list, pick one item and approach it from a whole different angle – one of my own creation. Willing to play? Instead of using your “will” – a losing proposition – use your brain instead.

Create a New Year’s (re)Solution.

If you missed December’s eNews, the Coaching Corner asked you to come up with just one item (achievable and important to you) if accomplished in 2012, it will make a huge difference for you professionally or personally, then write it down and do nothing else but think about it from time to time – until I provide you with the next step.

Did you do that? Did you write it down somewhere? The next step is to enter your “item” in your calendar or “to do” list – everyday. That’s right. Everyday. And watch what happens.  (It helps if you have an electronic system.)

Why am I asking you to write your item down and think about your “item”, rather then “Just Do It!”?

• 1.To rewire your brain towards “being” vs “doing.” Doing will happen more naturally.
• 2.To train your brain to “recognize” your desired “item” vs. willing yourself to achieve your “item.”
• 3.Because I want you to win.

The result? You will start performing that activity – without the “pressure” of a New Years Resolution hanging over your head. Your item will begin to fit into your life style and your will find yourself doing “more” or “less” of whatever it is. On December 31, 2012 you will look back and see that you took more positive actions in service of your “item” and did not break any New Year Resolutions.

What was mine?

Reading (and finishing) a LOT more books. At any given time, I have several unfinished books lying around. I know if I read more, it would make a huge difference for me professionally. So in December I selected the one item that if I achieved it in 2012 would make a huge difference in my professional life and wrote it down. I entered “Read a Book” into my calendar – daily – for the next 12 months.

The result?

I started and finished two books and am half way through two others. This is a huge accomplishment for Ms. Easily Distracted, and s_l_o_w reader! Do I read everyday? Absolutely NOT. But I am reading much more. The sheer act of having created the “intention” to read and seeing it on my calendar, created a “reading consciousness.”

I am “training” myself to always have a book with me – just in case I have a few minutes that I’m waiting somewhere. I also keep one in my car. I used to think about doing these things.  Now I actually do it. I remove the post from my calendar at the end of each day, whether I read a book – or not.  No judgment.

FYI: See all that I’m reading and my suggested reading list here.

Now it’s YOUR turn. Take that one REALISTIC item you selected and plot it on your calendar. Everyday for the next 12 months. And watch what happens.

Let me know which ONE item, ONE intention, (personal or professional) you selected for yourself. Send me an email!

… in yourself.

Are you a “lifelong learner?” When is the last time you immersed yourself in a professional (or personal) development program?

Did you see this recent article in the New York Times? “Instead of Work,Younger Women Head to School.”  The projected outcome? Young women will surpass men in the workplace. This is a message all business owners should heed, regardless of age or gender.

Of course, I’m not advocating shutting down your business. However, what this article clearly states is this: continuing education pays off.

Upgrade your skills, get trained on new media marketing strategies, integrate a powerful sales systems, hire a coach or consultant. There is no doubt about it: investing in yourself pays off.

Stay current. Stay curious. Invest in yourself.

With 2011 soon to become a memory, take time to create 2012.

Too often people run their businesses or careers as though they’ve thrown wads of wet paper towels onto the ceiling to see what sticks. Often they feel more like a pinwheel moving in the direction of whatever breeze blows in, rather than a smart business person with a strategic plan and system in place. Trust me, I speak from experience. But then I learned.

Become absolutely clear when asked this question: How do you measure success? Is it by a dollar amount, the quantity of free time you have, the number of clients on your roster, or your ability to be fully self-expressed and creative? Maybe it’s a combination of many things. Evaluate what rocks your world, point your compass in that direction, and then develop a plan that leads you there.

Review what success means to you periodically. What mattered most years back after graduating college likely changed years later. You don’t want to sleep walk or lock step your way through your business or life simply because you didn’t stop to ask yourself what matters most now.

Are you totally in sync? If not, consider this an opportunity to recalibrate. We all need to recalibrate from time to time.

Do you successfully achieve your New Year’s Resolutions year in and year out? Maybe you just don’t believe in them?

If you are more like the rest of us you create a list and end up ditching it before February is even a memory. Maybe you have become so frustrated by your failed NYR’s, that you’ve given up on the entire enterprise.

If so, you will really love what I have planned for you in January’s newsletter. Instead of the tired old talk about creating a list of New Year’s Resolutions that ends up in the trash, you will definitely appreciate my new approach: ”New Year’s (re)Solutions.” I have my “one” already picked out. That’s right. No list. Just one.

Your “Coaching Moment” for December is to come up with just one item if accomplished in 2012, it will make a huge difference for you professionally or personally. It doesn’t have to be anything big. Just something important to you. When I share mine with you next month, you might think, huh? But it’s a big deal for me.

Don’t do anything about it now. Just write it down somewhere. (I entered mine into my calendar the day I picked it.)  Think about it from time to time. I will give you the next step in January’s Success eNewsletter.

Until then, I wish you a peaceful heart and a wonderful holiday season. There is a lot to be grateful for.

I’ve literally made it my business to be a life-long learner, to practice “being here now,” and to absorb the power and peace that goes along with it.

Yet in the midst of a leisurely Skype call with my Dad in Israel, he caught me by surprise when he announced, “You’ve arrived.”

Huh?

To be sure, I have more than a few woes. My 80 years young mother has cancer – again. My younger sister was recently diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer – doesn’t smoke. I can’t shake a cold after 10 days made worse hanging out in the emergency room when my mom was rushed 911 style to ER due to a seizure caused by a mixture of coumadin (a blood thinner) and an over-the-counter sinus congestion nasal inhaler. (She is stabilized and doing remarkable well.) Oh, and my dad is about to go in for a heart procedure. Please, allow me to stop there.

So I’m musing with my 82 years young father. “Despite all I have going on with my life, Dad, I feel good. I am happy. Most of all, I feel peaceful. How could that be?” Without skipping a beat, he says, “Sounds like you’ve arrived.” And you know what? In an instant I got it. I reached my destination. Me.

Surely, it’s been a bumpy ride and I don’t pretend that this arrival marks the end of the road; it simply validates the work, the process, the integrity in which I strive to live, albeit at times messily – the continuous search for authenticity – now realized. A sense of being at home with myself, living according to what matters to me, honestly, heartfully, gratefully.

Are you there yet? If so, good to be with you. If not, continue on your journey, wide-eyed and present to your opportunities and choices. You have the power. And the power if now.

Wherever you are, I will surely run into you on the road one of these days. In fact, we already have. Right here.

A biblical reference typically has some pull. But I’m referring to something else.

After many years of blogging elsewhere I’m starting afresh here.I’m both excited and anxious about this however. Why? Because while I’ll be teaching practical tips and mindsets to add value to your business, career and life, I also intend to share from my heart and hard-earned wisdom – so it may get a little personal from time to time. I hope you will share yourself as well in your comments.

Excitement and fear are flip sides of the same coin; in my opinion they contribute as much to the success of any endeavor as creativity and focus do.

To new beginnings! Mine, yours, ours.