And, I have deep gratitude to each one of you who has joined my tribe and believe that, too.

The Courage to Step Up to the Starting Line

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

I’m an athlete.  I’ve competed in at least a hundred races in my life, and at the starting line of any given race my internal dialogue might sound something like this:

“I didn’t train enough.  I have to go to the bathroom.  Where’s the bathroom?  The line’s too long!!!  I can’t remember the course map—how long is the first hill?  My shoes are too tight.  I don’t have time to re-tie them… what if my foot goes numb?  My goggles might come off.  This field looks tough.  I don’t belong here!!  I got up early for this.  Other people are still in bed.  I could be in bed!”

Sound familiar?  Whether you’re stepping up to the starting line of a race or building the courage to take the next leap in your business, your internal dialog may sound like a fretting little gremlin, throwing doubts on your intentions.  That’s normal.  The difference between those who go home (or never got out of bed in the first place), and those who step across the starting line is the willingness to embrace the discomfort of The Stretch.

The Power of The Stretch

The inspiration to sign up for a race or to step up to a new business challenge is where the magic starts.  The inception of a goal is powerful because it is generative.  It challenges the limits you’re willing to place upon yourself, and in doing so, it not only sharpens your personal edge of growth, it beckons you to lean into discomfort … the place that’s one step past what you previously thought was possible.

And yet, the spark of inspiration and musing over the possibility isn’t good enough. Thinking about the opportunity before you – fretting if you prepared well enough, wondering how you stack up against everyone else, anxious to know if you’ll knock it out of the park or fall flat on your face – is not an act of internal power.  It fractures attention away from your goal and dissipates the energy you would otherwise channel towards achieving it.

The act of actually taking action is The Stretch—it is the fingers-letting-go-of-the-ledge-scary-as-heck place where your intention meets your action.  And you know what?  Even on a bad day it’s good, because you are ALIVE with that synergy.  In the words of Seth Godin, “… finally you begin to realize that the safest thing you can do feels risky, and the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe.”

The journey of a thousand miles does not begin by thinking of the first step.   It begins by taking the first step.

What Big Idea of yours is waiting to be claimed?

The race only begins when you step across the starting line.

Share your comments and ideas at Stepping Across the Starting Line…

I’m knee-deep in business development for next year.  I’m betting many of you are too. Starting in the first quarter of 2011, I’ll be rolling three major programs that I’m busting at the seams to launch:

• A Year-long Private Platinum Intensive: Money, Marketing, and SoulTM Business Breakthrough
  I’ll be working with just eight private clients next year  – both next generation wealth holders as well as rock star advisors – to break through money stuck-points, develop authentic (read: fun and effective) branding and marketing strategies, and take their businesses (or business ideas) from ‘gettin’ by’ to ‘get outta town’!

• Two Indispensable Advisor 2-day Masterminds (Colorado and New York)

• Indispensable Advisor Mastermind Group
  A nine-month practice-development mastermind group for eight highly sought-after advisors in the high net worth market who are ready to find the sweet spot between “soul and role” and transform their services from being viewed as a commodity by their clients, to being embraced as indispensable.

Ever Feel Like “YIKES!”?

I’m so excited about 2011.  I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t feeling a little scared and edgy too.  After four years of continuous business growth, I’m shifting my entire business model and asking both my clients and myself to step up and play a bigger, more transformative game.  Yikes, right?

It’s precisely because I feel edgy that I know I’m right on target.  But there’s not always a straight line between “edgy” and “scared” to “magnetic ideas.”  So, what’s the difference between “edgy good” and “edgy bad”?

“Edgy good” is based on a magnetic idea that has your heart singing, your clients clamoring and your business prospering.  And it’s all springs from your motivation… your “why.” Once you get your “why,” not only do your ideas become magnetic, but you become unstoppable in your ability to push through your fears and implement them in a big way.

10 Questions to Find the WHY In Your 2011 Big Idea

Here are 10 questions to get you started… I’d love to hear the others you come up with.

• If you could transport yourself 12 months in the future, what would your business/working life look like?

• What else would you like to have in 12 months?

• If you had all of that just the way you like it, what would that mean to you?

• How would you spend your time?  How would you spend your money?

• What is slowing you down or standing in your way from getting what it is that you envision and that you want?

• Once you’ve identified those challenges, what would you say is the worst part about seeing/fearing/experiencing them?

• If you could overcome those challenges/obstacles and flow freely towards your vision, what would that do for you?

• On a scale of 1 – 10, how motivated are you to take action on your vision?

• (On this one, don’t use that big ol’ fantastic brain of yours, just respond with the first thing that comes to you….) What is the first thing you need to do to put the wheels in motion?

• Are you willing to do that?

It is time to set the wheels in motion for a year of business prosperity unlike any you’ve experienced yet??

A final thought for you…..

Until one is committed
There is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,
always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative and creation,
there is only elemental truth
the ignorance of which kills countless
ideas and plans:
that the moment one definitely commits oneself,
then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one
that would never have otherwise occurred. A whole stream of issues
from the decision raising in one’s favor
all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings
and material assistance which no man (Woman)
could have dreamed would have come his (Her) way
Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
Begin it now.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749-1832)

Share your comments and ideas at How Magnetic are YOUR 2011 Business Development Ideas?

You might also be interested in:

• Move Your Ideas from Mediocre to Magnetic
• Biking and Business… a Love Affair

I have a Big Idea on my mind (more on that later).  I have been noodling on it for months.  Sometimes it even keeps me awake at night as I envision every detail from how I will build the experience, to who will excitedly take advantage of the opportunity and how the experience will impact the lives and businesses of those who do.

I’m so excited about it, and so convinced of its viability and potential impact, I am confounded that I haven’t taken any action on it… yet.

Thankfully, I work with amazing clients and colleagues and I realize I’m not alone.  As someone who will excitedly roll up her sleeves every day to support big thinkers to gain clarity and move into action, I’ve been curiously observing where inertia comes from when we have an idea that is so alive it seems like it should have a momentum all its own.

5 Ways to Kill a Big Idea

1. Resist Failure and Floundering. Ewww.  Even just the words can make a brave stomach turn.  We tend to veer far away from both… and who wouldn’t?  They’re messy.  They shatter our closely-guarded image that we are perfect and infallible.  They swing the door open wide for every gremlin of a thought and demolisher of self-confidence to march right in.  And, yet… what if big failure equated to even bigger success?
2. Forget Yourself. You are the engine of innovation in your business, so if you want to ensure that your engine sputters and gags, don’t make time for the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual practices that support a high-level of sustainable performance.
3. Stay Busy. Busy-ness keeps us feeling important and valuable (“Look!  Someone or something needs me!”).  It also keeps us from having the space to ponder the big questions that emerge in the pause between actions.  Eliminating busy-ness — setting boundaries on email, saying “no” to an opportunity so you can say “yes” to the right opportunity, crafting your ideal schedule and sticking to it — takes courage.  It is a lot easier to be too busy to make space and get focused on what is deeply meaningful to you.
4. Keep Deep Clutter. In her post on Deep Clutter, blogger Mary Jaksch hits the nail on the head – there’s a lot of talk about “shallow clutter.”  Shallow clutter comes from having too much stuff and a lack of systems and priorities.  Clearing shallow clutter only increases productivity and focus if you’re willing to clear the “deep clutter.” Some elements of deep clutter are “shoulds,” “have-tos,” old habits, and people-pleasing actions.
5. Tolerate It. Tolerate what?  Whatever is keeping you small.  An old business model, avoiding a difficult conversation, or believing it can’t be done because you don’t see it being done (embrace you’re “inner-innovator”!  Doing what hasn’t been done is what innovators do!).

The Challenge

I’m willing to bet that you have a Big Idea you’ve been thinking about.

• A new business model to support your evolving life?
• The intellectual capital you’re ready to turn into recurring revenue?
• The book you want to get on paper?

I’m throwing down the gauntlet.  I’m going to tell you about my Big Idea, and I want to hear about yours.  With deadlines.  No squirming out.

Here’s mine….

In August 2010, I will be launching a new one-on-one engagement option for clients ready to stop tolerating “small” and start taking action on the Big Idea they are ready to bring to life….

One Big Idea (or the desire to uncover one).
Two brains.
From Vision to Tangible Plan in 48 hours.
Turn down the noise.  Turn up the innovation.
Move into action.

This Private Client Retreat Launch Pad will consist of:

• One month of one-to-one “clarity coaching” to prepare you to get the most from the retreat.
• Two days face-to-face coaching, co-creative discovery, and joint action-planning  at a luxurious mountain resort.
• Six follow-up accountability coaching sessions to keep the momentum from the retreat alive and move past the to-be-expected blocks.
• The support and guidance to clean the mental clutter, get clarity on your vision, and overcome any resistance to action.

There it is.  My current Big Idea and a due date to boot.  Stay tuned for more to come.

What’s your idea and when is your deadline?  I want to hear about it…

Share your comments and ideas at 5 Ways to Kill a Big Idea

: an intricate problem; especially: a problem insoluble in its own terms.

How often have you felt that trying to make lasting change in your life is like trying to untie a Gordian knot?

The voice in your head admonishes, “You’ve tried to [pick one: focus on high pay-off actions, lose weight, implement a Big Idea, drink less, sleep more] a dozen times before and it never sticks.  It’s a waste of time to try again.” But the tenacious High Performance Warrior in you refuses to give up… good for you!

“I am going to do it this time,” you tell yourself, “I just need information and a plan.  How many minutes a day of exercise?  What’s the seventh habit of the highly successful? How many hours of sleep?  Give me the detailed plan!” you beckon. “On Monday I’ll start The Plan and this time it’ll stick.”

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

-Albert Einstein

What if the missing piece to untying the knot is not so tactical?  What if it’s not in gathering more information and creating the perfect plan around which you’ll morph your schedule, habits, and life?  Has that worked in the past??

When changes lack staying-power it’s not because we’re “weak” or uninformed, but because we lack clarity as to why we really want the change.

Without having determined what really inspires us to embrace new habits, once the excitement of having The Plan That Will Certainly Change My Life wears off, the motivation to follow The Plan does too.

“The process of getting there is the quality of being there.”

Choose one change you want to make right now to support your highest level of performance. What is the quality that making that change will give you?

• Will losing weight make you more comfortable in your own skin and give you more confidence in client meetings?
• Will having the discipline to turn your email off allow you to tap your “inner innovator,” thus exploring the new thinking that differentiates your services in the market?
• Will exercising regularly give you the stamina to produce more at work and have energy to be with your family?

The first step to making transformational changes with staying-power is to dig a little deeper and understand the why.  Once you’re clear on why you want to change and what meaning that change has for you, the what and the how are not only easy to embrace, but the process of embracing them becomes a joyful celebration of the synergy between goals and values… and that’s the kind of change that has staying-power.

Share your comments and ideas at Find Your ‘Why’ Not Your ‘Willpower’

You might also be interested in:

• Warriors of Change
• Miles To Go Before I Sleep

The World Health Organization (WHO) gets it.  By their official definition, “health is not only the absence of infirmity and disease, but also a state of physical, mental, and social well-being.”  Hear!  Hear!

And, whether you know or not, you probably get it too.

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is “I am currently ill or am suffering from a chronic disease,” and 10 is “Hot diggity!  I am thriving!  I feel strong and capable in mind, body, and spirit.  My life has purpose and direction and I have the physical and social resources to meet my potential.”—what score would you give yourself?

You may not be currently sick with the flu, but if you’re honest with yourself, are you thriving?

The Dow Jones of Health

At the beginning of 2008 Gallup and Healthways partnered in an unprecedented project:  to poll 1,000 Americans a day in an effort to create a “Dow Jones of health”–a daily pulse of the individual and collective health and well-being of Americans.

According to the most recent polling data released on April 29, 2008:

• 47% of Americans are categorized as “struggling”
• 4% of Americans are “suffering”
• 49% of Americans are categorized as “thriving”

Less than half of us are thriving?  And, what’s more alarming is that the definition of “thriving” offered by the Gallup-Healthways Well-being Index is most likely even less ambitious than yours might be: “Thriving Americans’ have their basic needs (such as food and shelter) met, and they have higher incomes, are less burdened by disease, report fewer sick days, and have better work environments.”

Hmmm.  Maybe it’s time to raise the bar.  What does “thriving” look like to you?

Embracing Your “Hot Diggity!”

Locked within every one of us is the wisdom to uncover our unique path to thriving.

Changing your mindset of what’s possible—risking who you are now for who you are becoming—creates the fertile ground in which the seeds of your highest potential, your most vibrant form of health, are planted.

What stirs in you as you mull over the idea that maybe you not only have the capacity, but, heck, the duty, to shift from “surviving your life” to “thriving in your life”?

If you’re ready to begin to explore what “hot diggity” looks like for you and what’s keeping you from getting there, here are a couple of reflection questions to get you started:

• When in your life have you felt most alive, most vibrant?
• What keeps you small?
• What are you tolerating that is diverting energy from your ability to engage and have impact?
• What does the most authentic expression of your gifts look like?
• What is at risk if you take action towards the highest expression of yourself?  What is at risk if you don’t?

Thank goodness the “path to thriving” is a wide one.  I’ll be looking for you on it!

Share your comments and ideas at What’s Your Hot Diggity?