Is there  a low-hanging fruit opportunity right in front of your eyes but you just haven’t seen it yet?

Allow me to share with you a shocking and true story that I hope inspires  you to see what you have been missing in your own life and business.

The Ritz Paris Hotel, famous for its bar, pool and Coco Channel’s long term residence, made a magical  discovery recently. A beautiful painting by Le Brun, former painter to the King Louis XIV” ( also known as one of the greatest French painters of all time) , has been on display, un-named and unnoticed in one of the hotel’s rooms…. for decades.

How can this be so? For decades, no one had a clue about the significance and value of this famous french artist’s painting.

There it was. No one noticed it.

Something so obvious…And no one paid the least bit of attention…

Sometimes in our careers and personal lives, we might be overlooking what is right in front of us. Opportunities right there for the taking.

Here are some clues to what you may be overlooking:

#1. What do people ask you for? And do more of that!

My friend Meredith was constantly being asked for tips on branding. She quickly realized this is her sweet spot—where her skills, gifts and talents intersect with a strong need in the marketplace.

#2. What comes naturally to you?

Often, we overlook the very thing that is easy and effortless. What you may deem as no big deal or anyone can do it, is not true! It may just be the thing people are willing to pay you for. Make a list of what you do really well. How might you combine some of your offerings together to create a “super-offer”?

#3. What is “right” in front of you?

One of my business  start up clients was undecided about which  of 2 different niches to to focus on. In our coaching conversation she revealed  that the several new opportunities had been offered to her in the past week AND there was a common denominator. The opportunities were all related  specifically to one of her niches. Ta-Da! Problem solved. Her niche has been calling her. She took action immediately and is seeing the fruits of this opportunity.

#4. What steady money opportunities do you have?

Is there an income stream lying  in a stack of folders by your desk? Sometimes “less sexy” work projects can give us the income boost we want. Another one of my clients had this going on in her world. After uncovering this money opportunity in our coaching conversation, she decided to devote a 3 hours every week to this project. This regular work project paid her a nice sum each month.  With the stability of this additional income, she  reduced her stress levels, boosted her confidence and got  super-focused on increasing profitability streams in other parts of her business. Win-Win.

So which of these “low-hanging” fruit strategies speaks to you? I challenge you to sharpen your perspective. What “masterpiece” is hanging right in front of you? Open up your eyes and see what life is showing you, right here, right now!

Successful coaching  goes hand-in-hand with thought leadership…

As with many industries, the coaching industry has changed over the past year or so.

There’s just too much information (TMI)…

Noise and hype from so-called “experts” guaranteed to make you waste money and time.

This online summit is the real deal,featuring well respected experts and it starts next week on May 1,2012 for the kickoff series.

World Business and Executive Coach Pre-Summit May 1^st, 2012

https://modernmethods.infusionsoft.com/go/wbecs/dl3/

Last year…

Over 7,000  listened in from the comfort of their own homes + offices.

An industry first…

Top experts under one “virtual” roof, making sure all in attendance got:

• Maximum value
• Executive training
• Great strategies and advice.

This year, the online summit will be  better than ever, with another all-star lineup.

If you’d like to sneak a peak, you can attend the  FREE via the pre-Summit series of sessions.

Click on this link to register:

https://modernmethods.infusionsoft.com/go/wbecs/dl3/

A small selection of thought leaders presenting at the summit will include:

• Sir John Whitmore—pre-eminent thinker in leadership and organizational change
• Verne Harnish—named one of the “Top 10 Minds in Small Business” by Fortune magazine
• Dr. (VG) Vijay Govindarajan—world’s leading expert on strategy and innovation
• Dr. Marshall Goldsmith—#1 leadership and #7 business thinker in the world…2011 Thinkers 50 ceremony.

WBECS has one simple mission in mind:

To dramatically elevate the impact of business and executive coaches the world over…

If you’re on board with that, you won’t want to miss THE online coaching industry event of the year—WBECS 2012…

Sign up today to reserve your spot.

https://modernmethods.infusionsoft.com/go/wbecs/dl3/

I’ll be there,too!

Many people view the brain as a mysterious structure incapable of change. However, with the help of advancing brain scanning technology, we now know that our brains are continually learning and processing.

We can boost our memory, retention and ability to learn new skills and concepts by using these 8 strategies. Pick one or two strategies this week to uplevel your own successes.

Eight Success Strategies:

1. Self-Awareness: Know your strengths and develop them, so you can reach your goals. Select goals that intrinsically motivate your unique passions and drive, so that you fulfill your own definition of a meaningful life.
2. Emotional Regulation: Thoughts and beliefs affect feelings and subsequent behaviors. Reflect upon how your self-esteem and your world directly affect your feeling and actions. If you are not satisfied with it, take steps to change it.
3. Cognitive Reframing: Repeatedly engaging in negative thoughts and actions results in undesirable brain alterations; actively engaging in positive thoughts and actions leads to beneficial ones. You won’t always achieve your goals, but you can benefit from failure. Put positive spin on those failures and start a change from them which in turn changes the brain and primes it to be resilient and motivated.
4. Deliberate Practice: London taxi drivers train very hard to memorize city street addresses and in doing so enlarge certain areas of their brains. Musicians experience that same brain growth in other areas. We all do. The key is to keep practicing in spite of setbacks.
5. Meditation: An interesting thought: Practicing even small doses of daily meditation can improve your focus and attention. You don’t have to be a Zen master; sitting calmly for several minutes is a start. Try to add a minute to your meditation every time you try it.
6. Physical Exercise: A regular exercise program increases your focus, improves learning and memory, reduces impulsivity, enhances mood, and lowers stress and even helps the brain improve its functioning. As little as 20 minutes of cardio exercise releases BDNF, a chemical neurotransmitter, which support the growth of new neurons; this enables you to learn even more.
7. Nutrition: What’s good for the heart is also great for the brain. Fruits and vegetables, low fat sources of protein, berries, apples, fish and omega oils all are needed provide for a healthy successful brain.
8.  Sleep: Sleep is vital for optimal brain function; it helps restore the balance of communication between reasoning and emotional centers and even improves your memory.

A very popular and effective tool is creating your own dream board ( also referred to as a vision board). This is the PERFECT time to create yours and I’ve provided some easy tips to help you to get started.

Making your own vision/dream board is very effective tool to use to get out of your “head” about your goals, and to visually represent your goals in a way that inspires and motivates you. What makes this technique so powerful is that using visual imagery allows us to bypass our intellect and suspend our disbelief about our ability to achieve our goals. Seeing our ‘dreams” as symbols and images, it is easy to accept and integrate into our subconscious mind. Many people faithfully use this process to help facilitate speedy realization of their goals and dreams. ( Myself included!)

Here are 6 quick tips to get you started on your own success board today. Remember the old saying; a picture is worth a thousand words!

1.Gather your Materials- Poster board, scissors, glue sticks, magazines

2.Write down a list of your goals & determine your theme for your board- Common goal categories are financial, relationships,community,career, spirituality,adventure,fun and creativity. ( tip: you can create more than one board. Some people have boards for their business, their personal life, and some create one board that represents all of their goals.

3.Light a candle, have a latté- Turn on music you love and enjoy this process. Fully express your creativity. ( tip; this is a very fun group project)

4.Rules for Vision Boarding- Gotcha, there are no rules! Allow your subconscious mind to connect to what truly resonates for you. Let the images you are attracted to as you flip through the pages of the magazine “speak” to you. This is actually a way for your logical mind to take a rest and let your subconscious ideas to come forward.

5.Visual Imagery- Find visual representations of your goals: clip all art, images, quotes, and keywords that describe or show your important goals. Assemble and glue your images in a way that is pleasing to you. ( Tip: Cut and paste a few pictures of you and place them onto your board)

6.Display Your Board- Proudly showcase your board, you are actually “feeding” your subconscious mind these powerful images, bypassing your inner critic’s message that you can’t have what you want. Let your vision board, with pictures of your goals and dreams serve to remind, inspire and motivate you towards your personal achievements. Vision/Dream Boards have worked for thousands of people. It can work for you,too.

Have you noticed that your best ideas seem to show up “out of nowhere”, unannounced and often unbidden?

Brain research reveals that creative thinking comes from our right-brain, the part of our brain that is intuitive and instinctive.

Daniel Pink, the author of A Whole New Mind, states that the era of “left brain” dominance is giving way to a more integrated approach that includes and values the gifts of our right-brain; creativity and intuition. This blending of both sides of our brain allow for, as Pink suggests, a whole new world. A whole new world of possibilities.

Sometimes all it takes is one good idea.Right?

Consider what one good idea could do for you such as:

solve a business dilemma that is keeping you awake at night

show you how to combine two of your favorite activities into a viable business

The possibilities are endless. An article in Wired magazine was quoted to say” right- brainers will rule the future”. It’s easy to get caught up in left-brain, linear mode but sometimes, the missing ingredient is the creative edge which makes all the difference.

Here are 3 quick tips on how to nurture your right-brain + boost your creative potential starting today…

1. Set up daily routines- By putting ordinary things on auto-pilot,we are able to conserve valuable psychic and physical energy so that we have room for our creative ideas surface.

2. Be in nature- a walk in the woods or sitting on a park bench is akin to rolling out the welcome mat to our creativity. Say, hello to your inner brilliance!

3.Be different- Try new foods, read books in an unusual genre,go a new way to work, meet new people. These novel experiences activate your right brain. You’ll see things differently and find yourself coming up with new ways of thinking and doing.

Enjoy.Create.Celebrate.

What they say they value and what is important to them is often not a match to what they spend time on daily basis.

That’s a big problem.

One of the quickest and best ways to get this back on track is to make a list of what is most important to you, eg. your family, your friends, your community involvement, your hobbies, your spirituality, your work projects, goals, travel etc etc.

From this master list of important elements, prioritize them in order of importance.

This week keep track of your time. What are you spending time on? Is what you spend time on a match to your priorities?

It’s easy to be busy checking things off a master to do list, but ask yourself: is what I am spending time on key to increasing my priorities such as boosting my cash flow or furthering my lifestyle goals?

Try this little,yet powerful technique of telling the truth about what you spend your time on. Do a quick review and make the tweaks to your calender. This will quickly help you to take control, to get your life back in alignment. I’d love to hear what shifts for you as a result!

Can you relate? If you are like most people I know,including myself, there’s always work to do, dozens and dozens of ideas, projects that you want to complete, and lots of every day realities to handle, ( money, health, relationships)

Overwhelm stems from a feeling of paralysis that sets in when we feel we have too much to do and not enough time to do it. It’s a common dilemma.

One of the best ways to reduce your overwhelm is to take time to map out all of your current projects. Once you’ve done this, pick your #1 top priority. You did read that right, only pick one!

Now decide what your goal is for your # 1 priority. Decide the date that you want to achieve this goal. Experts say that if you carve out a specific time to complete a task, you are more likely to make it happen.

After you have decided what you want and have set your measurable goal to a timeline, the next step is to break the goal down into individual action steps.

A fast way to break down your big goal, is to keep asking questions: what needs to happen first, then what? Then what?

Keep asking and allowing the step by step process to reveal itself. Write each step down. ( A great process for doing this is mind-mapping, created by TonyBuzan.com)

Take a nice deep breath. You’ve literally created your blueprint for this huge goal. Take the first action step, then the next action step, then the next. Your project will begin to take momentum.

Lather,rinse and repeat with your other important goals.

Step by step, your big goals become attainable. Ah, the thrill of accomplishing what is most important to us. It’s in your reach. Go for it!

What’s been on your mind lately?

What are you ready to change in your life? Is it your income? Is it the quality of your marriage? Is it to have more fun, more adventure, more meaning in your life?

If you are like most of my clients (and me) you have several things that are on your mind that you want to shift to a higher, better place.

The challenge to change? Making and sustaining change can be tricky. Changing our behavior and long held patterns can be downright difficult. We resist the very change we say that we want because we unconsciously (or consciously) don’t want to leave the comfort zone of familiarity.

Truth is,in the short term, it is easier to keep things the same. We stay where we are and cling to our life raft of “status quo”. We may not like it, we may complain and whine about our circumstances ,but something keeps us stuck.We don’t take action.

Why is it so hard to change?

Change demands us to make a new commitment and to think and act differently.

We have to risk.

If we choose to stay where we are, then we don’t have to try that scary new behavior (telling your family member what you REALLY think, or writing and sending that sales letter to your list about your new program).

If we don’t make a change, we protect ourselves from these potential consequences:

….that we may make a HUGE mistake.

…. the sting of other people’s criticism ( or our own inner critic)

….that our lives will actually change and what that means for our relationships or our lives

Understanding what holds you back is critical to being able to move forward.

Ask yourself, what am I afraid will happen if I go after this big goal? Whatever answers you get, respect them! Embrace it. Allow this to guide you. Set up your action plan so that you address your fear(s). Here’s how:

3 Ways to Make Profound Changes, Fast & Fearlessly

1. Focus- Determine 1 priority at a time. Often we get excited and try to change to many things at once. You become overwhelmed and go back to old patterns. What do you want to change in the next 21 days? Write it here_______________________________________________________________

2. Ask Why? – You must answer this question! Milk your answer for ALL of the reasons why do you are motivated to make this change.How will you feel in the having of it? What’s in it for you? What will this change give you? How will it make your life better? Really take the time to understand your motivation for this change. Your “why” will fuel the “what”. Write down your “why”__________________________________________________________________________________

3. Support-When we embark on a new path, we truly need the support, guidance, inspiration and tools to empower us. Gather EVERYTHING you need to succeed. This can be positive people, your coach, inspirational books, quotes, audios, visuals and whatever tools you need to allow you to make an effective change. Write down ALL the support you need ( no skimping) to make this change_________________________________________________________________________________

This fabulously simple 3 step formula will help you to bridge the gap, allowing you to feel more confidence about making those big changes. Let the shift happen!

Image by rubystream via flickr.com

I recently read this passage about dreams written by Sam Grawe, Editor-in-Chief of Dwell Magazine. Here it is:

“I think it says it all about the importance of dreams and realizing them: “Many of us stockpile dreams for years, cataloging and filing them away for later. Some of our heads are so full of them that it is hard to believe there is enough room for them all.

If space does become a concern, one of the best places to store a dream is in reality. Once your dream has been realized, it is technically no longer your dream, but it may serve as inspiration for other peoples’ dreams, in which case, it is still something of a dream.

There is something of a dream in almost everything around us.”

Did reading this spark a fire within you like it did for me? I ask you: What dream are you putting on the back burner that you take a small, easy and doable action on TODAY?

If you dream to build your business online, take that first step and create or upgrade your free and valuable give-away report and share it with your contacts.

If you dream to meet your “soul-partner”, get out there and circulate. Attend an event this weekend.

If you dream to make a difference, get into action and support a cause that is dear to you.

If you dream to dance, set up your first dance lesson.

If you dream to paint. Go buy paints and a palette.

We truly are all in this together. By being true to your own dreams, you become a source of inspiration for others to live their dreams.

Dream big. Take a baby step. Start now.