Inspired Leap - You are far more brilliant than you think you are!

• Quotes of the Month
• Upcoming Speaking Engagements
• The Power of Focus
• What Do You Not Want?
• Your Ideal Day
• If You Were Brave...
• Inspired Leap Reminders
• Final Thoughts on Focusing on What You Want

Right now, I’m working on focusing my thoughts and attention on what I want, instead of on what I don’t want or what’s right in front of me. In conversations with others, I’ve come to realize that not knowing what we want (or thinking we don't know) can make it difficult to put into practice this idea of focusing on what you desire. This month, I’ll discuss ways to get clear on what you want and to begin to retrain your mind to focus on the ideal end result you envision. Read on to be inspired to use the power of focus to create the career and life you desire.

Intuition in the Workplace: The Key to Success in the 21st Century: June 8, 2006, 7:00pm–9:00pm, Boston, MA. Learn how your brain works and why it’s critical to use your intuition to access all of your knowledge and wisdom and to make more effective decisions. Location: TBD
Intuitive Intensive: Learn How to Tap into All of Your Ways of Knowing to Reach Your Full Potential: September, 2006, Lake Austin Spa Resort, Austin, TX.

Focusing your thoughts and attention on what you want is so powerful because we are wired to achieve what we think about. Remember that the RAS, or reticular activating system, within each of our brains serves as a gatekeeper for all of the impulses of information being sent to the brain. As I mentioned last month, your RAS sends to your conscious mind only what it deems to be important to you.

The RAS focuses first on whether or not a physical threat to you is likely and then, secondarily, pays attention to what you are thinking about. If your thoughts are scattered and go back and forth between the past, present, and potential future, your energy is also scattered and you are not directing your life. When you take charge of your thoughts and focus them repeatedly on what you want, you send clear, powerful messages to your RAS and your nonconscious mind (which comprises 5/6 of your brain) to bring about what you want.

If you want to proactively create your ideal career instead of reacting to what comes your way, you simply (but not easily) need to turn your attention again and again to what you want. So, what do you want for your career, job, or business?

Sometimes it's easier to say what we don’t want or don’t like about our career or job than it is to say what we do want or desire. So, to get clear on what you really want to focus your attention on, start by thinking about what you don’t want to focus on. One of the easiest ways is to write down what you dislike about your current job situation.

When you think about your career, what are you dissatisfied with? What annoys you? What drives you crazy? Finish this sentence: "I would thoroughly enjoy this career or job if I didn’t have to _________________." See if you can come up with a top-ten list of dislikes or "must change" items.

Be careful about making your list too generic. For example, if you write down "I don’t like my boss," you need to go back and ask yourself why you don’t like your boss. A more helpful statement would be "I don’t like that my boss never gives me any positive feedback."

Getting clear on the real issue is important because the next step in this process is to write a statement that’s opposite of what you dislike. Remember, the ultimate goal is to get a clear idea of what you want—what you will choose to focus your attention on. So, if your "don’t like" statement is "I don’t like my level of compensation," then your "focus on" statement might be "I am thrilled with how I am compensated for the work I do."

Go through the process of transforming all ten negative statements into positives and use that new list as a starting place for what you want in your career or job.

The next step is to set aside 30 minutes for crafting your ideal workday or week scenario. I’ve talked about this before, but it’s worth repeating because it’s such a powerful way to find out what's really important to you and to begin to bring the scenario you describe into reality.

First, close your eyes and ask your intuition to tell you the top five critical components of your ideal workday or week. What do you really need to be doing? What does the environment have to be? Who must be working with you? Five is an arbitrary number, so don’t worry if you can only think of a few "must haves" or you have many more than five. The idea is to allow your nonconscious mind and your soul to speak to you through your intuition. Don’t think about the ideas that pop into your head, just write them down.

Next, grab some paper, a pen, and a timer. Set the timer for 15 minutes, start writing, and do whatever you can to keep writing without stopping or picking up the pen. Start with "my ideal day starts with..." and keep writing until the timer goes off. Then take a few moments to stretch, relax, and take some deep breaths.

Finally, go back and see if what you wrote in your timed description contains the ideas from your list of five components. If not, rework the description of your ideal day to include all of those five components and until it’s a vivid description of a day you can’t wait to experience.

Remember to create a fuller picture by referencing as many of your senses as possible. What does your office look like? Does your ideal day begin with the smell of fresh coffee? Do you hear the laughter of coworkers during your day? Is there applause after a presentation? Do you get a pat on the back for a job well done? Sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Go back and incorporate these into your day.

Consider your description of your ideal work day a work in progress and a springboard for a powerful visualization (see March’s newsletter for a refresher on how best to visualize).

In February, I had the pleasure of attending a remarkable workshop, The Power of Focus for Women, led by Fran Hewitt, author of the book with the same name. There were many gifts that came out of this excellent workshop for me, but one of the most powerful was Hewitt sharing the work of musician Jana Stanfield—in particular her song "If I Were Brave." Spending time with the key question in the song, What would I do today, if I were brave?, has already had a big effect on me and will continue to do so. I’m also incorporating it into my workshops where appropriate.

If you think about what you want in your career and come up with nothing—or a sense of confusion—consider Stanfield’s question for a while: What would I do today, if I were brave? There is a part of you that does know what success looks like for you and where you really want your career to go. That part intuitively knows exactly what you would do today if you were brave.

To specify it even further, consider this question: What would I do today to further my career, if I were brave? Or, What would I do today to create more joy in my work, if I were brave? The possibilities are endless. What is the best way to phrase this question to help you get clear on what you want and, most importantly, to take a step in that direction?

After I posed this question to attendees of a recent workshop, one of the participants mentioned what she would do today if she were brave: call a potential client and ask for his business. How about you? Here are some ideas to get your imagination going:

1. Pick up the phone and call _________ to set up a sales appointment, meeting, or ask for a favor.

2. Block out fifteen minutes for quiet reflection on how best to pursue a goal or solve a problem.

3. Admit that I’ve made a mistake about someone or on a project, acknowledge that a project is off-track, or that I don't know the right next step for something I’m responsible for.

4. Forgive myself or someone else for a past mistake and refocus on the current goal.

These are just a few examples. After looking at this list, take a moment to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and ask yourself, What would I do today, if I were brave? Remember, the very first thought is likely the most important and powerful one for you, even if it seems stupid or doesn't make sense yet. Write it down, as well as any other thoughts that come up for you. What might your intuition be trying to tell you? If you were brave and listened to the wisdom of your inner voice, how might your workday, week, or year be different?

Inspired Leap Reminders are areas of focus and part of the Inspired Leap Approach to maximizing productivity, creativity, and morale. In each newsletter, we take a look at how the topic of the month might be viewed in the context of these important areas of focus. Or, in some cases, we use the section as a gentle reminder to pay attention to these concepts in our daily lives.
Responsibility: While re-reading the handbook from The Power of Focus for Women workshop I attended, I found this advice for both men and women from author and workshop leader Fran Hewitt:

We tend to like ourselves more in areas where we take responsibility. The opposite is also true. When we avoid taking responsibility, whether with money, health, or some other area of our lives, we like ourselves less. If you want to feel better about yourself, start taking responsibility in more areas of your life. [p. 21, emphasis added]

What area of your career or life are you ignoring, avoiding, or waiting for someone else to handle for you? Take responsibility for the situation now and watch your self esteem rise. Ask yourself what step you can take today to generate an ideal outcome. Take it!

Creativity: How can you begin to bring your ideal career or workday into being now? Are there some creative ways to incorporate a little bit of this ideal into your day? For example, if you want to have XYZ Company as a client, can you create a new file folder for this client?

Consider creating and practicing a powerful visualization. Perhaps you can see yourself shaking hands with the CEO to close the deal. Whatever small step you can take, have fun with it, get creative, and, if you choose to, share it with those who will understand the power of taking steps our logical, analytical mind (and friends) might consider silly.

Detachment: When considering what you want, it’s important to focus on the desired outcome and not on the "how." When we focus on how we’re going to reach our ideal career or workday, we get attached to each step. Then, when things don’t go exactly as expected, our worrying minds easily start assuming the desired outcome will never be achieved. We start to doubt and ultimately lose focus and return our attention to the current situation. When you focus on visualizing and creating the ideal outcome, you let your intuition and nonconscious mind guide you to the end result. Detach from the "how" and focus on the "what."

Forgiveness: Retraining our minds to focus on what we want, not what’s behind us or in front of us this moment, requires creating new habits. This is challenging work for a mind that is afraid of change (all of us are wired to prefer the status quo), so forgive yourself for stumbling and forgetting. Harsh personal criticism only drains you of much-needed energy. Forgive and get back into "the game" of positive focus.

Kindness and Compassion: Be kind to yourself as you begin to focus on what you want. All sorts of inner challenges can rise to the surface when we finally make a concerted effort to go after what we really want. Again, change is part of the process, but is not easy for most of us. A lot of energy goes into this kind of focus (you’re creating new mental muscles), so give yourself permission to relax and even sleep a bit more.

Resistance to Change: The old saying, "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it," could be rephrased as, "Be careful what you focus your thoughts and attention on, for you will surely get it!" And, as I’ve shared before, there is a part of us that will fight this transformation. Know that your mind will try to sabotage any efforts you make to take control of your thoughts. When this happens, remember that all successful people have the same challenges. The only difference between the big "winners" and the rest of us is that they’ve found a way to move beyond their internal (and sometimes external) saboteurs.

Please join me this month in getting clear on what you want and focusing your energy, thoughts, and actions in that direction. When you are clear on what you want, it becomes much easier to schedule and manage your time and to plan and prepare for success.

If you were brave, what inspired leap would you take today to further your career? May you find the courage to answer that question and make that leap.

If your company needs help with inspiring employees to reach new heights in productivity, creativity, morale, and integrity, please contact us at inspiredleap.com or 512-236-0090. If you need some more inspiration or more regular nudging to practice these steps, check out our website to see what’s new to inspire you (a visit to The Quiet Room may be just what you need!).