Prospects become customers

Customers become community members

Community members become raging fans

Raging fans become your absolute best marketing team

My thesis is very simple: Build a community of raging fans who love and support what you do – and they will stay around to tell everyone.

No matter what type of business you might be in, you need a community of happy clients/customers surrounding you. If you are a brick-and-mortar – you need a community. If you are a work-at-home mom – you need a community. If you are a writer, speaker, salesperson, community activist or CEO – you need a community of people who believe in and promote you.

Sounds interesting DeLores – how do we do it?

4 Tips for Building a Community of Raging Fans:

1. Champion Community

Champion community by being involved in community. This is the starting point for building community. If you are a writer – involve yourself in writer communities. Places online or off where other writers hang out, talk, discuss and share.

If you are a businesswoman – organizations like BNI offer a place to network, share leads and ultimately build community.

Believe in the power of community and champion it at every turn!

2. Provide Quality

Do not tolerate bad quality in your product, service or content.

People talk about things they love.

Providing quality is the best way to get people to love what you do. Powerful, quality-filled products or services get noticed, purchased, used and talked about.

The more people talk, the more community gets built.

3. Offer Places For Connection

The UP Woman Movement builds community by offering places where its Members can meet and connect. Forums, Monthly Teleclasses and UP Woman Circles are great avenues for building community. I have found that when people connect, they feel a sense of ownership – and when they experience ownership, they tell other people about that experience.

Other places for connection:

• Facebook Pages
• Linkedin Groups
• Membership Communities
• Social Gatherings
• Customer Appreciation Events

4. Let Them Like You

This is all about reviews.

People buy from recommendations from friends, family, trusted colleagues or a website. If your business has a website – allow your customers to review what you do or provide.

Letting people use the power of their voice to say they like you and what you do not only builds more business, it begins to build a powerful community.

It doesn’t matter what type of business you run these days, your best marketing resource has become a community of raging fans who shout your message from the mountaintop.

Remember our process:

• Prospects become customers
• Customers become community members
• Community members become raging fans
• Raging Fans become your number one marketing team.

Build community today!

Your Turn:

What other ideas do you have for building community?

P.S. You are invited to consider a Membership in the UP Woman Community! Check it out by clicking here.

Today we will talk about empowerment – specifically the empowerment of a team. Your “team” might be those that you lead on a daily basis as a Manager at work. You may find yourself in a higher position in the corporate structure where you are leading the Managers who then lead their teams.

You could also be a member of the team who is providing insight and feedback to fellow team members and your Team Leader.

Wherever you are in the structure – being an empowered member of the team is vitally important!

Here are 3 tips for empowering a team.

First, the underlying assumption:

As a leader, you must first be empowered in order to empower.

Most of the failure I encounter when working with companies and organizations is a top down failure of unempowered leadership.

Have you been a part of a team led by a weak leader? Most of us have at one time or another in our careers. The experience is frustrating.

In order to lead – leaders must be empowered. They must take the time necessary to put themselves in a position of leadership – one marked by experience, understanding of goals and insight into the actions needed to reach those goals.

A leader must also possess the interpersonal skills that allow for team building through relationship building. In short, a leader must be able to relate to people.

A knowledgeable, experienced, insightful and relatable person – this is an empowered leader.

Tip # 1 – Understand Your Team.

1. What is their background?

2. What motivates them?

3. What do they want from their experience on the team?

I know this sounds overly simple, but in order to understand your team you must be willing to ask lots of questions. You need to take the necessary time to get to know each member.

Are they motivated by money, position, teamwork or recognition? Are they motivated to simply work hard and get the job done? Is their satisfaction derived from the daily work or do they want to buy into the bigger vision of your company or organization?

Spend the time needed in order to understand your team.

Tip #2 – Involve Your Team.

1. Demonstrate that you trust them by involving them in the decision-making. This should start in the goal setting process and proceed through daily action plans.

a. Use brainstorming as a tool to gain their insights.

b. Ask – “How would you recommend we accomplish X, Y or Z”?

c. Allow for mistakes to be made. Coach from the mistake to moving forward.

Only when we involve our team in decision-making and then allow them the freedom and authority to make decisions on their own, will we begin to empower them. When we do – the results will be amazing.

Tip #3 – Reward Your Team.

Most of us like to be rewarded for a job well done. Rewarding our teams is a sure-fire way to build morale and empowerment.

1. Reward publicly – any embarrassment felt will be overcome with a sense of pride.

2. Reward often – expectation of recognition is a powerful motivator for most people.

3. Reward specifically – when rewarding individual team members – reward according to what motivates them the most.

So there you have it – three tips for empowering your team. When a team member feels understood, involved and rewarded – that team member is empowered – and when a team member feels empowered – look out for what will happen!

Your Turn:

What other tips would you suggest for empowering a team? What has worked for you? 

P.S. One of the things I absolutely love to do is to work with businesses and organizations. Some of the groups I have worked with are listed here on the website. If you have a need – contact our office today.

Welcome to the newest series here on the blog - The How To Series. Join me over the next several weeks as I provide many practical “how to’s” related to a variety of topics. Let’s get started.

I have written about personal power and professional development for years now. I love these topics and spend all my time, in several formats, with one or the other.

After all these years I am still amazed at the number of people that do not realize the connection between personal and professional development. For many people, they are two very distinct and separate things.

For these people:
Personal development is a foo foo, touchy-feely, out there in the ether kind of thing. They think it is for the ”New-Age” or “Self-Help” crowd. It’s rainbows and unicorns.

Professional development is facts and figures. It’s job specific and based on the latest, greatest techniques from the great business minds. It’s not emotional in any way, shape or form.

First, let me just say that ALL development is emotional. Good training involves your head and your heart. You can know everything there is to know about your life and your career, but if that knowledge doesn’t involve you inwardly – if you don’t buy into it with all that you are – it’s only half effective – at best.

As a Motivational Speaker and Coach, if I fail to get both your mind and heart involved – I have failed.

The same thinking is true for personal and professional development. It is not an “either/or” question when it comes to the need.

My belief is this: When you develop yourself personally, the benefits will reach professionally. In fact, I believe that the best way to expand professionally is to greatly enhance your personal development.

They belong together. Always have, always will.

So how do I do it DeLores? How do I develop personally so I can explode professionally?

4 How To’s:

1. Agree from the beginning that this is going to take work.

When did we become a bunch of sissies? Stop whining already. Progress, development and growth all take work. They all take deliberate action. It gets hard. Get over it already! The benefits of bettering yourself far outweigh the struggle you go through along the way.

When you grow as a person you:

• Brighten your self-image
• Strengthen your self-confidence
• Increase your personal power
• Live happier
• Worry less
• Fight stress
• Make the world a better place

All of it takes work. Settle that within yourself from the start.

2. Set goals.

Strong personal goals set with intention and a plan of action will be the foundation upon which your development is built. Your goals will remind you of your destination- your action plans will determine your path and provide the steps to take along the journey. You MUST have both.

One good resource to get you started setting goals is: How To Set Goals: Ultimate Goal Setting Guide to Having Your Best Year Ever by Craig Ballantyne. Craig gives you a good and easy to use system for setting S.M.A.R.T. goals.

In order to develop personally so you can power through professionally – you will need some goals.

3. Get the best personal development tool out there.

I’m not talking resources like books or systems now – I’m talking about the best tool you can have in your personal and professional development tool kit.

You need to get a journal.

Ladies – you probably get this. Gentleman, stay with me here.

This journal is very specific. It is not a daily diary of people you saw, things you did, etc. This journal is about recording your progress from point A to point B. From goal #1 to it’s completion and so on down the line.

You need to see where you are going and document where you have come from. The visual of the progress you make and the problems you encounter will allow you to stay focused, determined and strong. I cannot fully explain what happens when you journal, but I can tell you that it is a tool that you should not be without.

Journal online at places like Penzu or go the traditional hard copy way. Whatever you choose, do it and do it daily.

4. You will need a good personal growth book.

One of my all-time favorites is the long-time bestseller by Dr. Stephen Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. This book will lead you through many life changes and help you pursue both personal and professional growth. It is simply a classic.

I would also humbly recommend two of my books - Clean Out The Closets of Your LifeandOh, Yes You Can. Both offer a practical, “how-to” approach to personal development.

Once again I return to my belief that when you develop personally, the benefits will reach professionally. I have seen it time and time again. A woman makes a decision to grow, expand, stretch personally and she begins to become a better worker, leader, boss or business owner. Before you know it she is beautifully, confidently pushing forward into new greater heights – ones that she never thought possible!

Find a resource that is powerful and meaningful to you. Use it on a regular, consistent basis. Journal it and your goals and do the hard work.

I’m rooting for you!

Your Turn:

Share your thoughts, comments, and suggestions for additions to the list.

P.S. I am not only rooting for you, but I’m here if you need me for personal coaching. I would love to work with you!

Let’s get started….

“Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.”

-Michel de Montaigne

The “esteem” in self-esteem is a verb (something you do – an action) meaning to “respect or admire.” Personal Power and Self-Esteem meet at the crossroad of personal respect and admiration. One cannot talk of self-esteem without first thinking of self-love. It is plain and simple really – if you do not love yourself – all that you are and were created to be – you are explicitly, without question, losing the game of self-esteem.

Give yourself to yourself. Do this first and then worry about lending yourself to others.

During coaching, many people ask: Why is it so hard to do this?

Ram Dass, the American spiritual teacher pulls no punches:

“Your problem is you’re too busy holding onto your unworthiness.”

 -Ram Dass

Why do we do this?

I believe it is because we have been sold a bag of goods that equates self-love with arrogance, pride and boastfulness. We are taught to love others at all expense. The problem is that “at all expense” becomes “at our expense”. At the expense of my good, I must love you. At the expense of my self-worth, I must center my attention on you. At the expense of my very well-being, I will love you.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is a bag of goods. Better yet, it is a lie that has so taken up residence in our lives that we render it as gospel truth.

When hold onto some false sense of unworthiness, we do the world and ourselves a great disservice.

This “unworthy” attitude is a trap:

“We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies.”

-Roderick Thorp

The myth of unworthiness confuses us. We begin to act and talk in ways that lower our standards and bring us down.

Like how DeLores?

Like this:

I can’t do that.

I’m not smart enough.

I can only wish to….

I’m too shy, timid, weak, short, fat, ugly, poor, tired etc., etc., etc.

Soon, before we even know it, we become our own worst enemies. We perpetuate the myth, and our self-esteem takes another shot to the gut.

Then the next step in the downward spiral finds a foothold – we start believing, and ultimately living, the opinions of others.

We let other people and their opinions define us. We start overestimating the power of others while underestimating our own. We allow these toxic people to influence our thoughts, actions and lives. Somehow, without explanation, we value them more than ourselves.

And when we do – we lose.

That’s it – enough! It is time to stop this nonsense.

As Les Brown says: “Other people’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.”

The minute you stop caring about what others say, think or do, their power vanishes – giving you the power to find your own.

Stop it NOW!

Emerson reminds us that:

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

 -Ralph Waldo Emerson

My friends, the way you treat yourself is the jumping off point when working to enhance your personal power. You have the power within you to realize all your hopes and dreams, but in order to do so, your self-esteem, that measure of your respect and admiration you have for yourself, must be your first priority.

One is dependent upon the other.

Sounds great DeLores – Now how can I change my self-esteem for the better?

One of the key factors to low self-esteem is what Zig Ziglar called “stinkin’ thinkin’”.

We must challenge our thinking and beliefs if we are to enhance, grow and sustain our self-esteem.

Here are four styles of thinking we must challenge:

1. All-or-nothing thinking. You see things as either all good or all bad. For example, “If I don’t succeed in this task, I’m a total failure.”

2. Converting positives into negatives. You reject your achievements and other positive experiences by insisting that they don’t count. For example, “I only did well on that test because it was so easy.” Or, “I know my husband loves me, but he only does because we have kids.”

3. Jumping to negative conclusions. You reach a negative conclusion when little or no evidence supports it. For example, “My friend hasn’t replied to my email, so I must have done something to make her angry.”

4. Mistaking feelings for facts. You confuse feelings or beliefs with facts. For example, “I feel like a failure, so I must be a failure.” This is one of the biggest lies we tell ourselves. Our emotions do not always support the facts of the matter.

Our thinking has such a great hold on how we perceive ourself. When we stop the “stinkin’ thinkin’” and adjust our attitude and belief, we have taken a potent and persuasive step down the road of personal power and positive, growing self-esteem.

As always, I’m rooting for you!

Your Turn:

Thoughts, insights, reactions and comments – I’d love to hear them!

P.S. What are you reading right now? The Personal Power Store is now open. Arm yourself with the goods to live an UP (Undeniably Powerful) life! Check out the Store by clicking here.

Today we consider Personal Power and Love.

On this Valentines Day, a day filled with thoughts of love, answer this question:

Do you love yourself enough….

1. To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

2. To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

3. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

4. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

5. To think only of the best, to work only for the best and expect only the best.

6. To be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are of your own.

7. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements in the future.

8. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

9. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself  that you have no time to criticize others.

10. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.” 

From: Your Forces and How to Use Them – 1912 by Christian D Larson

Your Turn:

Which of these ten caused a stir in you when reading it? Share your thoughts by commenting below or leaving a comment on the Born to Be UP Facebook Page. If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it with your friends. Happy Valentines Day!

Today we are focusing on Personal Power and Productivity.

What is productivity?

Once again, I like the Business Dictionary’s definition:

Productivity is: “A measure in converting inputs into useful outputs.”

When you are acting in a productive manner, you are efficiently transforming your work into something that can be used – by you, your family and/or your business.

How can I be (more) productive?

4 Actions Needed to Cultivate Productivity in Your Life:

1. Define your goals, action plans and to do list.
2. Find or develop your productivity system.
3. Explore the technology available.
4. Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate.

Remember: Personal Power is  “a potent force within us that seeks to achieve change in ourselves, our families, our business and our world.” Moving towards a more productive life is a change that must flow from your personal power. So – Power UP! as you move.

Define Your Goals, Action Plans and To Do List

This first action needed to become more productive is the ground upon which the productivity house is built. We must first know what we want to achieve (goals), the plans we have in order to achieve it (action plans) and the things we must do to get it done (to do list).

Do you like to brainstorm ideas and then turn the good ones into goals? I do!

Use a notebook, a white board or even a napkin while sitting at your favorite restaurant (I’ve done that before) and capture your ideas. Whittle them down to the most outstanding ones and set them as goals.

Step two of the process involves thinking about (and writing down) the major actions that will be necessary in order to reach the goal.

Will you need to develop a blog? How about hire an employee or find and intern? What about training – will you need additional training in order to achieve your goal? These are your action plans.

Then get specific and develop your “To Do” list. These are the specific things that you must do to accomplish your action plans and, therefore, your goals.

Once you have these three things written down, I recommend you find (or develop) a system that will help keep you focused and productive as you work toward your goals.

Find or Develop Your Productivity System

Systems are a dime a dozen. That doesn’t mean that there are not some good ones out there, it just means that they only work to the extent that you are willing and able to work them.

Three popular productivity systems are:

David Allen’s Getting Things Done
Francesco Cirillo’s Pomodoro Technique
Time Management Matrix that popularized by the late Stephen Covey

For me, it doesn’t matter what system you use. What matters is:

1. The system must be comfortable and easy to use FOR YOU to use.
2. The system must not complicate things.
3. The system must keep you focused.

My advice is to take bits and pieces from the established systems and then add in the spice that makes it right for you.

Explore The Technology Available

I just googled the phrase “gadgets to be more productive” and here is the first page of results .

Take a look and see – there has got to be something that will help as you seek to be more productive.

Will a laptop help?

How about the ease of use of an iPad?

A smartphone that allows you to check email on the go?

A product management software?

Explore the technology. You do not have to be a completely tied to it, but you can use it as an assistant.

Evaluate, Evaluate, Evaluate!

My best advice is to always be evaluating your productivity. Evaluate your most productive time during the day to work. Evaluate whether you like working in silence or with music.

Ask a friend to use a space in their office for a week and then evaluate whether having an office in your home or away from it makes you more productive.

Evaluate your productivity system. Is it keeping you focused? Do you spend too much time trying to figure out all of its bells and whistles?

Evaluate, evaluate and then evaluate again. It is the thing that will keep you moving forward smoothly to achieve your goals.

Final Note: Personal Power and Productivity work hand-in-hand. The greater your personal power, the better your productivity. The more victories you achieve with your productivity, the more personal power you build into your life. Win, WIN!

As always, I’m rooting for you!

Your Turn:

What method, system or technique do you use to help you with productivity? Let’s compare and share ideas in the comments!

P.S. If you have not already done so, Sign up for my “How To Live an UP (Undeniably Powerful) Life” ebook absolutely free!

Personal power is a potent force within us that seeks to achieve change in our ourselves, our families, our business and our world.

More to the point -> A potent force within us to achieve change.

• The reason for personal power is change.
• The focus of personal power is change.
• The goal of personal power is change.
• The power of personal power is change.

Personal power is all about change.

Two important areas where personal power and change intersect:

1. Our inward life

2. Our outward life

From this, I want you to see some key attributes or characteristics of change. I have always believed that the starting point for anything in life is understanding. When we understand something (as much as humanly possible), we can deal with it. Let’s get started….

Our Inward Life

Personal power’s influence must start within you. All change begins at home, deep down inside us as human beings.

I believe that we cannot effectively change anything outside of us until and unless we are willing to first look within.

Why? Because the things that limit us personally, directly effect our abilities as powerful agents of change in the world.

Are you a person who procrastinates? This effects your ability to foster change in the world.

Is your disposition more negative than positive? This limits you towards change.

Do you struggle with self-esteem? Not working to overcome this struggle hinders your abilities.

Make sense?

Do you see what I mean by the need for change to start from within? It must happen in order to use our personal power – that “potent force within us to achieve change.”

This is the first key characteristic of change: Change must start from within us.

The second is this: Without inner change, we are limited in our ability to effect change in the world.

Our Outward Life

With our inner change in hand, we can look at personal power and change as it relates to family and business. This is what I call our outward life. These are the areas that are the closest to us as we move out from within.

Let me say it this way: Time spent with family and business or career is second only to your time spent with you.  Because of this, it is vitally important to look at change and these areas.

We’ve often heard the old adage that “the only thing that never changes is the fact that everything changes.”

This is so very true within our family and business life.

We get married.

We divorce.

Children are born.

Children grow up.

Children leave home.

Children come back home.

Family members pass away.

We get our first job.

We change jobs.

We start new businesses.

We get promotions.

We get laid off.

Change happens all over our family, career and business.

How we manage this change is directly related to how we use (or do not use) our personal power.

Hear me say this again in a more direct way:

If you and are are going to be able to successfully navigate through the changes that will happen in your outward life – you must do it with the potent energy within you that is able to exert great force – you must do it with personal power.

This is the third characteristic of change: In order for change to be managed effectively, it must be managed with personal power.

So, what have we learned?

We’ve learned that:

1. Personal power is all about change. Change is it’s reason, focus, goal and power.

2. The first characteristic of change is: Change must start from within us.

3. The second characteristic of change is: Without inner change, we are limited in our ability to effect change in the world.

4. The third characteristic of change is: In order to manage change effectively, it must be managed with personal power.

In upcoming posts we will move further out from ourselves and address how personal power can help us to achieve change in the world – what I call our Community Life.

Your Turn:

I’d love to hear your thoughts, insights, ideas and inspirations. Let’s chat in the comments.

Speaking of Change

Are you ready for some positive change in 2013?  Reinvent Yourself! is the theme for our upcoming UP Woman Circle Event on February 1st, 2013. UP Woman events are changing lives of women – you do not want to miss this!

Get all the details and Register Today!

It is my hope and desire that we will gain a powerful foundation upon which we can understand and use personal power in our life, family and business.

So let’s begin by:

Defining Personal Power

If you Google the term “personal power” you get millions of  results. Trying “what is personal power?” brings in even more. Obviously, there are a few definitions of the term and several ways to approach it. I want to approach personal power from, well, the personal standpoint.

What is personal power – and more importantly, how will it help me?

How will it help me this year in my personal life as I seek to grow and flourish?

How will it help me as a member of a family?

How will it help me as a worker with a career – as a professional business person?

How will having a strong sense of personal power help me to help others?

In my book, any definition of personal power must include these factors:

1. It must be personal.

2. It must be powerful.

3. It must achieve change.

Personal:  Personal power’s influence must start within you. It must help you to “clean out your closets of your life.”  Then, and only then, should your personal power be used to effect others.

Powerful:  It’s power must be potent and able to exert great force in the world.

Change:  This is the focus of personal power – positive change in the world.

So here is my definition of personal power:

Personal power is a potent force within us that seeks to achieve change in our ourselves, our families, our business and our world.

More to the point -> A potent force within us to achieve change.

In the coming weeks, we will look at how this potent force can be used in a variety of ways to achieve positive change in us and our world.

Until then…. let’s chat in the comments.

Your Turn:

What is your favorite definition of personal power? What is it for you and your life?

Wouldn’t it be nice to surround yourself with positive people who believe in you and inspire you? That is exactly what happens at our UP Woman Circle Events. You are invited to the next one on February 1, 2013.  Details here.

Happy New Year! It is my wish for you that 2013 will be all that you want it to be – and more. You were born to be UP - undeniably powerful!

I do not believe in making New Years resolutions. Yes, saying “I resolve to….” can be a useful exercise, but not nearly as powerful as setting goals. When we learn how to set goals – we have something to work with – something that can lead us through the year with vision and focus. Goals have teeth to them – resolutions, as you have probably discovered, are easily broken.

Everybody and their brother has written about setting goals. There are books and seminars, systems and resources all over the internet and your local bookstore. Today, I want to provide you with a simple, three-step framework to help you as you think about the goals you would like to achieve in 2013.

Note: No matter what the date is that you read this – It is never too late in the year to start setting goals for your life and business.

DeLores Pressley’s Simple Three Step Framework for Setting Goals That Matter.

1. Envision

2. Division

3. Action

Envision:

Sadly, we are slowly becoming a society who cannot dream. We are losing the ability (or desire) to  envision our future before it happens. Our fast-paced, I want it, don’t make me wait for it, give-it-to- me-now world is the culprit. This needs to change – and change now, before we completely give away our power to the shallow, selfish desires of the so-called “needs” of the present.

We must take the time to envision.

Merriam-Webster dictionary has my favorite definition of the word envision:

“To picture oneself”

It’s synonyms are such words as: conceive, dream, imagine and visualize. Powerful words.

It was Napoleon Hill who said:

“What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

To envision is to picture oneself at the completion point of a desired goal. It is to visualize the future in the present. Top athletes do this all the time. They dream the dream, visualize the end from the beginning and then step out to make it happen.

To get past the “give-it-to-me-now” mentality, we must slow down, sit down, take stock of our desires and set goals.

Try this activity:

1. Set yourself up in a comfortable and quiet place – without the normal distractions of the day.

2. Get quiet in mind and body. Do whatever it is that you do to slow down. Close your eyes if needed. I suggest the simple act of breathing. Slowly in through the nose, out through the mouth until you feel a sense of calm run through your body.

3. Begin to think of your desires for your life, your home, your family, your career/business.

What do you desire physically, spiritually and financially? Dream big, positive, challenging, even scary dreams. Envision what you want. Picture yourself having it. How would you feel with it? What would you look like? What would you do? How would you live?

Note: We are thinking desires here, not just needs. Over the years, I have found that when we are able to envision and dream our desire, our needs fall into place.

4. Take out a legal pad and something to write with – your favorite pen helps this exercise to flow and makes it fun.

Write. Make a list of the things that flow out of your envisioning. Don’t analize and over-think – just write down your desires.

New job.

Successful business.

Feelings of personal power.

Spiritually fulfilled.

The number in your bank account or the size of your waist.

Write. Fill the page or pages.

Allow yourself the wonderful gift of envisioning a future that matters.

Division:

If you have taken the time and not judged your desires, you should have a extensive list.

Don’t freak out!

You are now going to divide that list into manageable chunks. Look topics like:

• body
• mind
• soul
• finances
• career
• family
• fun
• travel
• charity

The process of division helps you to recognize themes. You begin to see patterns.

This is extremely important. Why? Because when we set goals that matter to us most - we are more likely to achieve them. When we have a personal investment, physically or mentally in a goal – we work harder to bring it to life.

The second step in division is to make a choice. I want you to chose your top five goals. Which ones matter the most to you?

Make the choice and write them down on a clean piece of papper – better yet, put them in a journal or notebook – a place where you can refer and work with them.

Top five – not three or seven – five. Trust me.

Action:

As you can imagine, this is the step where the rubber hits the road. Without action – envision and division are utterly useless.

The best way I have found to take action with my goals is to give them a set of action plans and a date of completion.

Think: For goal X, I will take these specific actions and I will complete them by ______.

What you are doing here is further division of your goals into even more manageable chunks.You are also are setting your mind to a specific timeframe for completion. Both of these activities are powerful and important to the realization of a goal.

Take out your journal or notebook daily (gasp – yes, daily) and spend a few minutes reminding yourself of the goals, action plans and dates. Get them deep into your mind.

Do some action each daily that brings you closer to your goal.

Rince and repeat.

Reward yourself along the way for successes. Evaluate mistakes. Learn from them and move past them into new actions.

Envision your dreams – divide them up into chunks – act of them each day.

There you have it – a simple three step framework for setting goals that matter.

Be diligent. Trust yourself. Believe in the power of you.

Now get going!

Your Turn:

What do you think? Is this a framework that you can use for goal setting? What would you add to the mix?

P.S. I’m proud to announce that we are holding another UP Woman Circle on February 1, 2013. These events are changing lives. Get all the information at the UP Woman website. I personally invite you – you won’t want to miss it!

First, let me take a moment to say that I hope this time of year has been marked with beauty, friendship, family and joy. I also want to wish you a happy and prosperous New Year. May 2013 be all that you want it to be – and more!

4 Things I Learned This Holiday Season

1. Although beautiful and often heart-warming, this time of year can be very stressful in several ways:

For those who lack family and/or friends to celebrate with, this season can be stressful.

For those who are dealing with financial problems such as unemployment or little employment, the emphasis on gift giving can become a real burden.

For those who are stricken with physical or mental illness, this time can bring on feelings of depression and despair.

For those who have loved ones serving abroad in the military, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Years can be anything but times for celebration.

2. This realization helped me to relearn the need to be very aware of those around me who may be suffering in silence.

Truth is: Most people do not share their pain and stress during this season.

It’s almost as if this time of year precludes any talk of  suffering.

It is my job to be extra sensitive to family, friends, coworkers, neighbors and others around me. This sensitivity should be part of who we are as undeniably powerful people.

3. I learned that this is a great time to look back and pay homage to my past.

I asked myself:

“What was my favorite Christmas as a child?”

“What about as an adult?”

“What event, gift, celebration or person from past holiday season’s influenced me the most?”

“What can I pay homage to from past holidays that will help me in the future?”

I think Kierkegaard was right when he said:

“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”

I believe this little exercise is important.

4. In the midst of all this, I learned (once again) that life is about spreading your “UPness” to those all around. 

Whether happy and joyous or stressful and sad – the holiday season is the perfect time of year to renew our efforts to spread a message of the undeniable power that resides within. That power will carry us forward, overcome our obstacles and better our lives and the lives of those we touch on a daily basis.

You are truly born to be UP.

Your Turn:

What did you learn about yourself this holiday season? What can you take away to positively effect 2013?