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Archive for the Motivation Category

21 Reasons a Smart Small Business Coach is Worth the Money

A few of my friends asked me if a small business coach is worth the money. They knew my answer would be a resounding yes, but wanted to rile me up a little bit. Hey, what are friends for?

I began to talk about all the successes that I have had with coaching clients. I could see their eyes begin to glaze over.

It’s like reading people’s testimonials. Of course they are going to put the best ones up on their website. You don’t get to read about the failures.

I’ve had plenty of failures. It comes with the territory. I can’t help everyone; that would mean I was superman. I have superpowers, but I can’t fly faster than a speeding bullet.
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9 Tips to Boost Your Motivation

There are days when you will struggle to do even the easiest task. A short email can feel like an hour long torture session. These days can really test your will.

These rough days also give you a great opportunity to achieve significant personal growth at work. When you are struggling the most, you should rely on every resource you have.

I put together a list of 9 things you can do to shake off your blues and boost your motivation:
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How to be Fearless and Fear Less

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Susan Chambers of SAGE Editing and Research Services.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unjustified, unreasoning terror which paralyzes needed effort…”  (Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1^st Inaugural Address, 1933)

Did you know that 12% of Canadians (source: Canadian Mental Health Association) and 18% of American adults ages 18 and older are diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in a given year (source: National Institute of Mental Health)  When you convert the abstract numbers to real people, these findings translate as a distressingly large number of individuals suffering the often debilitating impacts of fear and anxiety; health concerns, a sense of being overwhelmed and helpless, an inability to take action or make changes, and a reduced quality of life.  My guess is that it was in fact the side effects of overpowering fear, the “…nameless, unjustified, unreasoning terror which paralyzes needed effort…” rather than the emotion of fear itself that concerned Roosevelt, back in 1933.

According to an article in Psychology Today by Gordon Livingston (2009), a psychiatrist, the inaction that stems from excessive, irrational fears or fear-based thinking often shows up as a decision to live life from a “safe” position and not take risks, even if that means forsaking opportunities that might provide greater joy and expansiveness to one’s life.  But what are these fears—or perhaps more accurately, anxieties—that keep so many of us immobilized to some degree or another?  How are they triggered? And how do we overcome our fears or at least control them so they don’t take over and imprison our spirits and minds, leaving us depressed and further discouraged (a loss of heart)? Let’s start with human nature and the nature of fear.
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The Law of Attraction and Your Career

The Law of Attraction (LoA) gets a bad rep because of cheesy YouTube Videos and terrible books. They want to make the concept simple and enticing, but in doing so they lose much of the life changing impact that the practice can have. I didn’t believe until I started believing. Imagine that.

We are who we think we are and that’s how we accomplish our goals. If we don’t believe we can write a great book, hike the Appalachian trail, or create a career that will make us so happy that we can’t believe our luck then it won’t happen.

Let’s break the LoA down. First, we have to understand confidence.

What is confidence?

Confidence is our belief in our abilities. When we believe we can accomplish a goal, our minds set to work to make our goals a reality.

I’m working with a client who is afraid to reach out to old customers. He has enough steady work right now, but he knows his slow time is coming soon. He is afraid of the responses that he will receive. There is a reason why they are no longer customers. Right?

My client doesn’t want to face this reality. So he continues to do the same things he always does – wait for business to come to him.

He may have confidence in many areas, but in his business he lacks the confidence to learn from past mistakes.
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Find Happiness At Work With The Help of a Coach

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Michelle Stimpson

“Have you ever seen the movie, ‘Yes Man’ with Jim Carrey? Well, previously that was me,” said Lisa Schmidtke, owner of Able Deluxe and Able Deluxe Technologies. “In my business, I was feeling scattered and jumping on any opportunities that would come my way. I always said ‘yes’ to my customers and colleagues, out of fear—fear of the well running dry, fear of others not liking me, fear of another opportunity not showing up.”

As a Professional Coach, I work with women in business who are eager to invest in themselves and want to live a more balanced, joyful life. Lisa couldn’t have been in a more perfect spot for coaching! Thankfully, Lisa made a courageous move and sought out coaching, in service of being happier at work.

After our initial Discovery Session to get clear on the low-down of her life and her business, I realized that while Lisa enjoyed her role as a business owner and was passionate about the work she was doing, the bottom-line was that she was not happy. Lisa sensed that she needed a change when her self-proclaimed “crazy business practices” began to affect her family life.
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7 Simple Ways to Live Your Passions

Why do you choose to get out of bed in the morning?

You may do it because of:

> Love
> Habit
> Fear
> Excitement
> Obligation
> Dedication

Whatever gets you out of bed, it’s enough to keep you moving forward. At what point do you ask yourself…

Am I happy with my career?

This is the question that we all ask ourselves, but we often don’t take the time to figure out the answer. It’s just easier to keep doing the same boring stuff. Why put pressure on ourselves to change when we aren’t sure what will make us happy?

This is the type of thinking that prevents a person from moving forward.

You have an opportunity to create the career that will make you happy if you start right now.
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I Miss Your Bad Jokes When…

When you work with someone who annoys you, they can seem devastatingly awful. So awful that it can send you into a depression. Trust me – - it has happened to me.

Maybe it’s an annoying client who won’t stop emailing you, a co-worker who loves to click his pen all day long, or a boss who puts way too much work on your desk.
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9 Ways to Overcome Work Annoyances

* I was afraid to publish this post because it may seem too simple for some of my advanced readers, but even my advanced work happiness people had to start somewhere. And yes, even advanced people need refreshers. So here it is.

Work has hundreds of little annoyances that can kill your happiness if you don’t create a system to deal with your problems.

Co-workers, bosses, and tedious tasks can throw us off our emotional center. We must find creative ways to deal with these issues.
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7 Tips to Overcome the Monday Blues

Arrrrrgh days (Mondays) are the most difficult transition for most of us. We just had two glorious days off doing stuff we chose to do. Now we are back at work and doing stuff other people are telling us to do. We all have to do stuff we don’t feel like doing. Even if you are the CEO, your share holders, board members and customers are telling you what to do.

By adjusting the way you view your experience, you have the ability to be happy on a Monday.

You have to take some of the control back and make yourself feel good. I’m not talking about eating chocolate cake. I’m talking about doing small things that can redirect your focus.
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Negotiate Your Way to Great Work

You may have noticed some of the changes going on around here. I’ve been talking more about developing your strengths and living your passions. This is what we should all be doing. We need to leverage what we already are good at and develop the skills we are passionate about.

Many of you don’t get to apply your strengths and passions in your careers. I was talking to a client of mine about these issues. She knows what she is good at, but can’t seem to make the transition. Her boss gives her the same work day after day that makes her unhappy.

As we continued to talk I began to see a theme. She did not want to say “no” to the crappy work or negotiate to get the work that excited her. She felt stuck.
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