Key #1 - Be Self Aware

I believe being self aware is the first step to being unstoppable. Without self awareness, I flounder, get off track and end up settling for less than I’m capable of. Yet becoming self aware and continuing to be self aware is hard work. Knowing who I am takes time and energy. It takes commitment – a commitment to know and grow myself.

In order to know myself I must be willing to get uncomfortable. Self awareness is not a comfortable process. Many people avoid self discovery because they’re not willing to get out of their comfort zone – they’ rather stay stuck. But if we don’t move outside our comfort zone, we won’t come to truly know who we are.

Self awareness requires that I know my strengths and my weaknesses. It requires that I look at the things that keep me stuck. It requires an honest look at who I am and what I stand for. Self awareness demands that I take down the walls and honestly assess myself in all areas. It isn’t an easy process but it’s worth it.

This past week I had an opportunity to increase my own self awareness once again. It’s amazing to me that no matter how much I practice self awareness – there’s always more to learn. I guess that makes me human. I’m learning that I’ll never have myself completely figured out. I won’t ‘get there’ someday. Self awareness is a lifelong process. Things happen every day that challenge who I am and what I am capable of. My strengths appear in new ways and weaknesses tend to pop up in areas I never expected.

My life is in constant motion. I will always be in a process of self discovery. I am grateful that I am more self aware today than I was at 20 and I hope that when I’m 60 I’ll be even more self aware and comfortable with myself. But for now I’m continuing on the journey of self awareness one day at a time.

10 Keys to Being Unstoppable

In order to grow my business, develop myself or make an impact – I have needed to learn to be UNSTOPPABLE, in other words I need to keep moving no matter what has come my way.

I have developed and lived by the following 10 keys that help me to be unstoppable.

Key #1 │Be Self Aware
Being self aware means that I know who I am, I know where I came from and where I am going. I know my strengths and my weaknesses. I believe being self aware means that I get uncomfortable, focus on using my strengths and maintain daily habits that keep me on track. For me being self-aware is a lifelong process. I must continue to learn about myself and challenge myself to grow. One of the ways I continue working on being self aware is journaling. I make it a priority to take time each day to journal. What simple routine could you add to your life to help you on your journey of becoming more self aware?

Key #2 │ Be Mission Obsessed
Being mission obsessed means that I live my life – my whole life – true to my mission. And in order to do that I must have a mission. Writing a mission statement does not have to be complicated - keep it simple. Let yourself be led by your passion. My mission is simple – to be a cheerleader of people! What is your life mission? Why are you here? What difference does your life make? To live our lives with a powerful mission, gives us the fuel we need to be unstoppable.

Key #3 │Ask for Help
I will never be able to do my life alone. I can’t. I need others to help me in every area of my life. As a young woman I thought I could do it all and that I could do it all alone – I was wrong. I burned myself out and took on a lot of unnecessary stress. Learning to ask for help was a hard lesson for me to learn – but asking for help, having a mentor and leaning on others for support has made me stronger. I used to think asking for help was weak – now I know it’s what makes me strong. Ask for help, get a mentor – be open to all that is available to you. Who can help you be unstoppable?

Key #4│Be Accountable
I was at a networking event last night and the topic was action plans. I heard many people talk about the only reason they had success with their action plans was because of accountability. In my own life – accountability has been critical to my success. If I’m gut level honest and open to feedback, accountability works. I’m able to hold myself to a higher standard when I’m accountable. Left to my own I can get off track very quickly. But when I’m accountable and let others in – I actually follow through and make things happen. Every successful person I know has used accountability to help them grow. Who are you accountable too?

Key #5│Be Flexible
The one thing I know about my own life is that as soon as I think things are stable – something changes. If I accept the change and remain flexible – change is a good thing. But if I fight change and dig my heels in – I’m miserable. And I don’t like being miserable. So over the years I’ve learned to embrace change. To embrace change I’ve practiced being spontaneous on purpose – kind of an oxymoron I know. What I mean by practicing spontaneity is that I make a decision to look for ways to be spontaneous each week and then I just do it. I also learned to take ten minutes to collect my thoughts or just breathe any time a change was thrown at me. The world will not end if I take ten – and those ten minutes may be just what I need to remind myself to be flexible. Are you being flexible? Could you be more flexible and open to change?

Key #6 │Just ‘BE’
This has been by far the hardest thing for me to learn. And it seems to go against being unstoppable. Yet over the years, and after experiencing many periods of burnout and a few ulcers, I’ve learned that if I’m going to be unstoppable and achieve my dreams – I must, I repeat I must, stop! Who would have thought that to be unstoppable I have to STOP? But without regular down time I cannot keep going. I must recharge, I must say no to things when I need to and I must have places in my life that are free of stress. I take time EVERY day. And if I don’t take time to just be – I can tell. If a go a few days without my personal time – watch out, I guarantee you don’t want to be around me. I need time – even if it’s just ten minutes a day. When will you take time to just ‘BE’?

Key #7 │ Single Task
Single tasking goes against everything we are told – especially what women are told. Many of us believe multi-tasking is good. We believe we get more done multi-tasking. Yet do we really? Over the last six months I’ve been practicing single tasking – it’s hard and I have a long way to go before I master this one. But what I find is that when I focus on one thing at a time – I’m able to be in the moment. I am present in my life and being present moves me forward not just with my work but with all areas of my life. The other thing I’ve tried this year is limiting my use of technology – this one thing has been life changing in helping me single task and be present. What could you do to make single-tasking a part of your life?

Key #8 │Master Your Calendar
Every Sunday night I sit down for a half an hour and plan my week. I love this time as I feel so good going to bed Sunday night knowing I can get up the next morning and jump into my day because I have my week set. Yes things will come up – yes I leave room for the unexpected but having a weekly plan helps keep me on track and sets limits on what I can accomplish. In addition, I sit down once a year and do long term planning and I look at my goals and make a master plan. Have you taken time to plan your life lately?

Key #9 │De-Clutter
I am not a saver so this one has come easy for me. I moved a lot as a child and as the result I am not one to hang on to things because sooner or later we would just have to pack and move. Now that I’m married and have kids things have changed. While I may not be a saver – they are. My hubbie and kids love to hang on to stuff – and the clutter can pile up quickly. Once a year I try to sit down and get rid of the old. I just did fall cleaning a few weeks ago and boy does it feel good to have things de-cluttered once again. On a daily basis I try to touch paper or email only once – taking immediate action helps me to use my time more effectively. And at the end of each day I clean up my desk – I love coming in the next morning to a clean space. Whatever de-cluttering tips work for you – use them. The more cluttered our physical space – the more cluttered on minds. Clean it up today! Take a look at your lie, what area do you need to de-clutter?

Key #10 │Be in Motion
In order to keep taking action and to keep moving forward it needs to be fun. Your goals need to be big enough and exciting enough to keep you moving. I find that in addition to having goals that move me – I take risks often. Taking risks helps me to stretch myself and grow. How can you stay in motion and keep taking risks?

Be Unstoppable this week!

More Tips for Developing Excellence!

Help others to de-stress. Only after you learn how to effectively manage your own stress, can you help others. Stress is a killer – it’s destroying your organization and your people. The best part is that you can make a difference. You can set better personal boundaries, recognize your limits and encourage others to de-stress their own lives. Remember organizations and people who effectively remove high stress levels from their lives are more productive and more satisfied.

Share good news. Stop sharing everything that goes wrong and start sharing all the little things that go right every day. Make a conscious effort to consistently share good news, celebrate the little things and look for what’s right every day.

Do not gossip. Gossip is the number one killer of workplace morale. It’s a disease that kills organizations. You can NEVER afford to be part of gossip. It destroys your reputation and the trust of others. Do not gossip, do not listen to others gossip and do not ever ask others for the latest bit of news. Staying clear of all gossip will pay off in the long run.

Let laughter in. We need to laugh more at work and at home. We need to lighten up and realize that laughter will create a better working environment, healthier relationships and a better bottom line. Laughter helps decrease stress, builds friendships between people and lets us take healthy breaks during the day.

Take time for training. Training cannot be a once a year thing. It must be consistent, supported and applicable. Too often training doesn’t work because organizations wait until they are in crisis before they hire someone to come in. This most often backfires and nothing changes. Training must be part of your professional development– think of it as a continual investment in yourself and your future.

Welcome other opinions. We won’t always agree with what others think we should do but we must be open to hear their thoughts. If we make it clear that we’re not open to other opinions, people will stop sharing them. When this happens we are flying solo and miss out on possible solutions. We need to continually stay open to listening to what others have to say. They will feel valued and we'll learn from their feedback.

Take time to for excellence development this week!

Ten Things We Should Know About You

"He who knows others is learned;He who knows himself is wise." Lao-tzu, Tao te Ching

I was recently asked to write down ten things that I felt others should know about me. I felt this was a strange request but once I began the exercise - I saw value in it. By writing down ten, and only ten, things that I felt others should know about me, I was able to define in ten bullets the core of who I am. It was another lesson in self discovery.

I have included my list for you to enjoy. I challenge you to take time right now and create your own. Being willing to continue discovering who we are and what is most important to us at every stage in life is one of the keys to personal development. Here's my list - enjoy!

Ten Things You Should Know About Me:

1. I am passionate about following my dreams and helping others to follow theirs.
2. My family is the MOST important thing in my life.
3. I choose to focus on what is right in my life and in the world.
4. I have awesome girlfriends – I couldn't’t do life without them.
5. I do not pretend – what you see is what you get.
6. I have overcome many obstacles in life – these things have made me a stronger person.
7. I try to live by the motto – faith not fear!
8. I can be corny – my kids will agree.
9. I love meeting new people – especially people who are passionate about their lives.
10. I always wanted to be a cheerleader.

What should we know about you? Take time this week to write down the ten things you want others to know about you. remember the more you know yourself, the more you will be able to achieve the things you want in life. Life is a journey of self discovery. Take time to embrace the journey, to get to know yourself and then to share yourself with others.

More Tips for Developing Excellence!

Acknowledge your mistakes. One of the most impactful things you can do is to admit you were wrong. Admitting mistakes makes you human and it gives others permission to make and admit to their mistakes. When you make a mistake – promptly admit it and apologize when necessary.

Take 24 hours before making a decision. Major decisions should never be made on the fly. Take time to sit with any major decision. Sleep on it. Ask for feedback from people you trust. Consider all the options. After you have taken the time to think it through – make the decision that you know will be best.

Show up ready. Each and every time you show up at work or in your life – be ready for the day. Be ready to engage with your coworkers, your clients and your friends. Being ready is half the battle. We must be ready mentally, physically and professionally each and every day. Create a morning routine that you do each day to prepare you for showing up ready.

Smile. We all know we need to smile, yet how many of us actually do it as regularly as we should? Take time and watch people today. People don’t smile, especially at work. Make an effort to change your culture by smiling more often. Put a mirror in your office and every time you see yourself remind yourself to smile. You really will feel better and impact those around you just by smiling more.

Have meaningful relationships. Work cannot be your life. In order to be excellent – you must have an excellent life outside the office. If you give up your life for your job – you’ll have nothing in the end. Having meaningful relationships is the key to good mental and emotional health. When you have solid relationships – you sleep better, are better able to deal with stress and make a bigger impact.

Ask questions. The best way to lead and engage others is to ask them for their opinion. People don’t want to hear us talk – they want to talk. Let others talk, let them share their ideas and if they are speaking, don't interrupt. Some of the best ideas will come from things others share with you. Pay attention to those around you and ask for their opinions on a regular basis.

Ask yourself, how you can make their day? Before you start your day, stop and ask yourself how you can make someone else’s day. And then ask yourself this every day. Make it your mission to make at least one person’s day every day.

Take time to develop excellence this week!

More Tips for Developing Excellence!

Be a leader. In order to create lasting change in your life you MUST lead your own life. You cannot sit back and hope things will change. You cannot delegate life change to others. You must make things change. It's your life and you must LEAD it. To be a leader means you take action, get engaged in a powerful life vision and learn from others.

Get outside help. There comes a time in every person’s life when they’ll need outside help. This isn’t a bad thing. Getting outside help is common with successful people. Those who admit they need help and get it – overcome obstacles more quickly, develop themselves and fast-track their life. We may know our life inside and out but sometimes we are too close to it to REALLY see it. If you need help – get it.

Follow through. Do what you say you will do when you say you will do it. Modeling this behavior with others will show them how to do it and will set the standard for expecting others to follow through. No matter how good we are – if we don’t follow through our lives will suffer. We need to do what we say we’ll do all the time. When we mess up, and we will, we need to admit our mistakes and once again make a commitment for following through each and every day. People are watching us. If we don’t follow through, how can we expect others to follow through?

Delegate. We don’t need to do it all. In fact, it’s not good for us to do it all. We burn ourselves out, model unhealthy behavior and keep others from participating and learning. Look at your schedule. What can you delegate? Who could you delegate to? Who can you mentor and teach through delegating? Delegating is good for anyone– it teaches us to be a team and to share in the success we acheive.

Give every day. Being excellent is about giving to others ever day. People need you. They look up to you. And they really want to please you. By making giving a priority we build stronger relationships with those who support us. Make it a priority to give back to others. Give of yourself, your time and your energy. Giving is the best part of living an excellent life.

Work less. Most of the time working more hours is counterproductive. You need to have a life outside your work. You cannot just work and expect to be great. In order to be great you need a balanced life. If you set the stage that working more hours is better – you’ll set an unhealthy example for others. Make it a priority to work less and live more.

Take ten. When you need time to think or you’re emotionally charged – take ten. Take ten minutes to collect your thoughts, calm yourself down and think through what you would really like to say. Many issues and personality conflicts could be avoided if we just took ten.

More Tips for Creating an Excellent Life

Take a risk. Take a risk every day. A risk a day keeps boredom away. Taking risks keeps us fresh, young and creative. By taking risks in all areas of your life you are better able to deal with change and more able to reach your goals. Every successful endeavor involves risk – take one today.

Take creative time. In order to grow or develop your people – you need time to think. You cannot be busy working all the time and come up with creative ideas or new concepts. You need time to sit, to walk in the woods, to fish or to do something else that clears your mind. Taking time to regularly disconnect and think will bring out your creativity and give you the stamina you need to get the job done.

Have a mentor. Having a mentor, someone who’s where you would like to be next, can produce huge results in your life. A mentor can help you see your blind spots, save you from possible mistakes and be a sounding board for change. A mentor keeps you humble, on our toes and teachable. Investing the time in building mentoring relationships will pay off in many ways.

Be a mentor. It’s important to have a mentor but it’s just as important to be a mentor. Being a mentor allows you to hear your own advice, give back what you’ve been given and stay connected to where you came from. Mentoring is powerful. You will most likely learn more from this experience than your mentee do. Take a risk and get involved mentoring today – you’ll grow and in return so will others.

Take a stand. Know your values. Your values will be tested and pushed by others. Knowing what you believe and what you are willing to take a stand for helps you succeed when things come at you that are unexpected. Knowing your values also helps you create a culture that mirrors what it most important to you.

Take a vacation. You deserve a break. Schedule regular vacations and stick to them. Get out of the office, disconnect from technology and take time to breathe. You will be more effective and your potential more fully realized when you take regular vacations.

Get out of your office. Take time during the week to get out of the office. Meet a friend for lunch, attend a networking event, go for a walk – just leave. You’re not as productive when you just sit in your office or stay in your building every day. You need and deserve regular opportunities to get out and experience a change of scenery.

More Tips for Developing an Excellent Life

Be approachable. Keep your door open, share your own life and admit your mistakes. Make every effort to be approachable. The more approachable you are the more you will learn about your people and your organization. If you’re not open – people will withhold important information from you and your company will suffer. Excellent organizations are open and transparent. They are places where people feel comfortable sharing their opinions. If you are approachable, you are on your way to creating an open and honest environment.

Take an hour a day to grow. Take an hour a day to read, sit quietly, exercise, listen to a podcast or have lunch with a mentor. Making self development a regular habit is hard in the beginning but the payoffs are HUGE. The more you know and grow yourself – the more effective you will be to your organization.

Know your strengths. Knowing your strengths will help you decide where to spend your time and what you need to delegate. Focus on working in your areas of strength whenever possible. You can overcome and grow in areas of weakness but it requires a huge investment of time. It’s more productive and more fun to work in your strengths and to delegate the tasks that fall in your areas of weaknesses.

De-stress. If you’re stressed out you won’t perform at your maximum potential. There are no excuses or reasons for allowing stress to become a long term state of mind. Stress negatively affects your life and all who come into contact with you. You need to make de-stressing a priority. Take time to decompress, breathe and let go of all the worry. By doing this, you’ll be able to show up at work with more creativity and you’ll make a bigger impact on those your serve.

Study industry material. If you read and research your industry for an hour a day – you’ll be an industry expert within five years. The time you spend in study will definitely help grow every area of your business. It will help you to be more aware of trends, be quicker to make changes or create new products and it will give you a competitive edge. Being an expert in your industry is the best marketing tool you can have.

Volunteer. Volunteering individually or with your organization is rewarding and can be an effective part of marketing your business. Getting out of your own life and focusing on someone else is a great way to de-stress and to get in touch with gratitude. In addition, volunteering allows you to be part of something outside your business. You are able to make a difference, meet new people and market yourself and your business.

Tips for Developing an Excellent Life!

Be positive. The most important thing you can do is to have a positive attitude. This one simple thing can and will get you through tough times, crabby people and down economies. A positive attitude is a must for people who want to create an excellent life. The choice is yours - choose to be positive no matter what.

Be engaged. You cannot feel mediocre about your role or you company and create lasting change at the same time. You must be engaged, passionate and on fire for your organization and its people. If you’re not engaged in your role, you won’t be able to help others to engage in their roles. Asses your current level of engagement and take the steps necessary to re-engage in your role at a higher level.

Engage others. If you’re excited about your job and the future of the company, you’ll be able to get others on board. Employee disengagement is a culture killer. It also affects productivity, effectiveness and the bottom line. Companies with engaged employees have a 200% higher profit margin than disengaged companies. If you’re engaged – you can make a difference. Taking disengaged employees and leading them towards engagement will turn your organization around faster than any other thing. Imagine what your company would look like if every employee showed up and went to work completely engaged and excited about their job.

Pray. I don’t care what you believe or who you believe in – prayer works. Prayer doesn’t need to be religious or formal. It doesn’t have to be a ritual. It just needs to be. Prayer works. Pray for your organization. Pray for your people. Pray for direction as a leader. Just pray and see what happens.

‘BE’ what you want others to ‘BE’. You cannot lead an organization if you say one thing and do another. You must ‘BE’ what you want others to ‘BE’. You cannot lead others somewhere you haven’t been. You cannot ask them to be someone you’re not. If you’re kind – you can ask them to be kind. If you’re honest – you can ask them to be honest. Whatever you ‘ARE’ will impact what they can ‘BE’. Choose to ‘BE’ excellent.

Never stop learning. Your job as a leader is to know your stuff. You need to know your organization, its processes and its products. In addition you need to know how to lead, how to develop your people and how to create an excellent organization. Take the time each week to learn something new. Study your industry, study success and study leadership. No matter what - never stop learning.

Manage Your Life

"Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed." Corita Kent

Have FUN! Take time every day for some fun. Life should not be serious all the time. If we forget to take time to play and laugh, we may burn out quickly. Entrepreneurs tend to be work horses. We often do not know how to turn off work - especially in the beginning when it's new and exciting. If you have to schedule time for fun do it! Laugh. If you are not laughing - you are really NOT living your life. If you haven't laughed in a while - do it now!

Be grateful! Gratitude is an essential ingredient in effectively managing your personal life. Being grateful for our lives, for the little things as well as the big things keeps our minds open to the possibilities and in a place of abundance. focus each day on what you have to be grateful for.

Use a life coach or mentor to help you stay on track. This person should just help you focus on your life outside your business. We can get so caught up in our professional life that we forget to take time to just focus on our personal life.

Write short-term and long-term goals. Include wild and crazy goals and dreams. Think outside the box. Ask yourself what you REALLY want to do with your life and then set out to do what your hearts desire is.

Keep your home life and work life balanced. This can be very hard but it is a MUST for those who want to be truly successful in business. You NEED a life outside from work.

Take a vacation. Regular vacations are absolutely essential! Time to unplug the blackberry, turn off the phone and just be! It is amazing what vacation time can do for you if you are willing to truly disconnect.

Plan time to take care of your personal needs each week. Grocery shopping, haircuts and other appointments can seem overwhelming if we do not plan for them. When planning your week, make sure you plan for personal time.

Hire help when you can! Having a cleaning service or hiring a babysitter one night a week can help you manage your life and all the demands more effectively. Look for areas where you could hire help or even barter services with someone else. We do not have to do it all.

Make decisions based on your long term life goals. Instead of reacting negatively or fighting with a family member - think of the long term relationship you wish to have with this person and make decisions accordingly.

Overhaul your habits and routines. Often we forget to pay attention to things we do repeatedly. Pay attention to habits and routines. Are they working for you? Are they getting in your way? Is there a more productive routine or habit you could adopt?

Be a human being - not a human doing. We can get so caught up in being productive and making progress that we forget to just be. Stop working so hard, work smarter and live more. There is no need to exhaust ourselves - life is too short.

Be true to yourself. You are who you are and you have a life to live. Be true to who you are, your personality, your dreams and your passions. LIVE your life and follow your heart.