Day 7: Serve others to reinvent yourself.

When you live authentically, you may find that you develop an interconnected sense of being. When you are true to who you are, living your purpose and giving of your talents to the world around you, you give back in service what you came to share with others – your spirit – your essence. The rewards for sharing your gift with those close to you is indeed rewarding, even more so in the eyes of a stranger who can appreciate what you have done for them.

Reinvention is indeed a type of work that is worth the necessary effort. Don’t limit your personal reinvention to the confines of your, or the four corners of your own home. The difference the reinvention makes lies within ourselves and how much we want to change for the better.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed the series and found it useful!

Wishing you a larger life,
BB

- Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892)

Day 6: Honor your strengths.

What are your positive traits? What special talents do you have? List three – if you get stuck, ask those closest to you to help identify these. Are you imaginative, witty, good with your hands?

Find ways to express your authentic self through your strengths. You can increase your self-confidence when you share what you know with others.

Wishing you a larger life,
BB

Day 4:  Know your passions.

You know who you are and what you truly enjoy in life. Obstacles like doubt and lack of enthusiasm will only hinder you, but will not derail your chance to become the person you want and ought to be. Express yourself and honor the people who have inspired you to become the person you wanted to be.



“Reinventing the wheel is sometimes the right thing, when the result is the radial tire.” – Jonathan Gilbert

Lately I’ve been working with some folks are in the midst of reinventing themselves. Whether through layoffs, company reorganizations or the kids moving out, they’ve reached  some sort of cross roads while traveling through their personal and/or professional journey.

Why am I the guy to give personal success coaching to these travelers? Well, I guess I’m the right age (54), and as the saying goes -been there and done that! Like most of us Ive had many roles during this life, son, husband, father and now grandfather. Career wise, I have worked in a variety of industries including construction, education, and finance. I have held various positions in these industries, everything from laborer, to classroom teacher, to senior management. Enough about me, back to the folks I coach.

In honor of their journey, Ill be presenting an outline of seven steps you can take to to Reinvent Yourself (hence the 7-Day title). In the interest of full disclosure, (as the attorneys say) you may want or need to spend more than one day working on each step. But hey, its still a great title right?

Wishing you a larger life,
BB

Is this the end, or the start of something new?

Its almost the end of 2009, which would also make it the end of the decade. Of course that means its almost the start of 2010 and the beginning of a brand new decade.

Some look at the daily challenges we all face as ends. The end of a job. the end of a relationship. The end of a vacation. The end of the year.

I choose to perceive these things as beginnings, as the start of something new. A successful career, the chance to meet new people, the chance to begin work with new vigor.

Why do I choose this strange path? Well, because I choose to be happy. Endings are generally thought of as sad negative things that imply loss. I prefer to be as positive as possible, even when there is evidence to the contrary.

After all since you’re alive, you might just as well be happy about it:-)

Wishing you and yours prosperity, health, and the very largest of lives in the coming year.
BB
3VH8JAV7WD8G

As promised, over the next few posts we’re going to discuss a number of specific stresses and a number of ideas for dealing with these specific  issues. Although I was originally intending  four separate posts on eliminating financial stress, I decide to do one larger post today. Enjoy!

Horace’s concept applies especially well to your finances, just as long as you don’t consider “bold and valiant” to mean that it’s okay to be reckless with your money! If you’re suffering stress from financial woes, the best cure is to be bold: take swift, decisive action to get your finances in order, cut expenses, and bring in more money.

Here are some tips for reducing your financial stress:

1. Assess exactly where the cause of the stress lies. Once you know the culprit, you can work to eliminate the cause.

Create a budget. This will let you see how much you’re spending and what you’re spending your money on. List all of your monthly income and expenses, then you can make a plan of action.

Do you overspend on unnecessary items? If so, impose weekly limits that fit into your budget and stick to them.

Do you make enough money to pay for your basic necessities? If not, you either need to cut down on your expenses or make more money. Take action to get yourself out of debt. Don’t wait to win the lottery, it probably won’t happen!

2. If you need more money, consider your options and take action right away. Devise both short term and longer term solutions. Your stress levels will go down as soon as you start focusing on positive actions to bring in some extra cash.

Short term options might include: working overtime hours, getting a second job, having a garage sale, selling unwanted stuff on eBay, doing lawn maintenance for others (this can bring in $300 for one Saturday’s work), waiting tables, and more.

Start your own business selling products or services. This can open up the door to a whole new career for you. Online, the whole world is your marketplace. Established businesses on the web are always in need of people who can do programming, website design, graphic arts, transcription services, content writing, customer service, marketing, and so much more. Offer your services to website owners or use a marketplace like Elance to bid on jobs.

Find a better job. If you need to, further your knowledge and strengthen your skills, then get out there and start interviewing for higher paying jobs. Be bold and valiant! You can’t land a better job if you don’t take action to get one.

Once you decide on the best option for you, the best thing you can do is to take massive action on one strategy to make it happen. Go for it with all the gusto you’ve got rather than divide your energy into many different directions.

Instead of sitting around worrying about your situation, or worse, lying awake nights with insomnia from the financial stress, put that energy into taking action on bringing in more money. Just thinking about it won’t get you anywhere. Take swift action!

3. If you’ve suffered the loss of your job, (as many have) get help. Take advantage of government and other services to help you get through these rough times. A little help can go a long way to providing the much needed funds to reduce your stress.

Apply for unemployment benefits. You can even do this online in many areas. Plus, they can aid you in your search for another job.

See if you qualify for food stamps or monetary aid from your state government. Find out if there are programs that can help you at your local Salvation Army, United Way, or similar organizations.

Many churches get truckloads of groceries and give them away once a month. If you have a local food bank, take advantage of it.

4. Reduce your debt. Put your credit cards away, start a scheduled plan to pay down your debt, and stick to it. If you increase your debt by charging more on your credit cards, it’ll raise your credit card payments and makes your financial situation worse. As the bills rise, so does your stress level.

Wishing you a larger life,
BB

Prayer and meditation.

Take time each day to visualize living the life you desire and give thanks for it. Imagine everything as if it has already happened. Vivid, real, and positive are the key concepts which will help you achieve this life.

• Take in everything with all your senses, feel the emotions, and actually see yourself living your stress-free life.

• Feel your stress melt away and fully enjoy where you are.

• Prayer and meditation can both relax you and bring you energy. You can use the power of prayer or meditation to prepare for the day ahead and end your day on an uplifting note.

Best of all, your positive energy will attract more good things to feel good about in your life.

Make your self-talk positive.

We’ve discussed this before, but I’ll risk mentioning it again. You talk to yourself constantly. What you say to yourself affects your mood, stress level, attitudes, beliefs, self-concept, decisions, and behavior? Believe it or not, you’re quite convincing, no matter what you’re saying! So why not say something you want to hear?

• Encourage yourself. Congratulate yourself every time you do something right. Every success – even a small one – deserves to be celebrated. Tell yourself how it’s perfectly like you to do things the way you do.

• When you make a mistake, beware of stress-causing and confidence-deflating negative talk. Rather than telling yourself what a loser you are, or how stupid it was to mess that up, turn those thoughts into something positive instead.

• Ask yourself what you can learn from your mistakes so you can bring yourself closer to your goal. Practice immediately laughing, as you say something like, “Oops, I know I won’t be doing that again! What can I learn from this?”

• Realize that everyone makes mistakes. If you never made one, then you wouldn’t be human! It’s not a big deal. Admit it, learn from it, correct what you can, and confidently move on.

Preventing, reducing, and eliminating stress (or redirecting this “fight or flight” response into positive energy) are all important. When you take daily action to create a peaceful, harmonious life, you’ll find that things more often go your way and outcomes are in sync with what you desire.

Here are a few habits to create daily harmony in your life:

Start your day stress-free. Each day is a new fresh start. It’s like they say: “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” Use these tips to enjoy the beginning of the day and let one good thing lead to another.

Throw out your alarm clock if it has a harsh sound. Loud alarms cause stress the very first moment you awaken. Accustom yourself to waking up to beautiful music or the sounds of nature. The idea is to be coaxed out of your sleep rather than shocked out of bed.

Get up early enough to arrive on time for your morning activities; whether its work, school or an appointment. No sense in making the morning “rush hour” any worse by being off to a late start.

Give thanks for the new day. Remind yourself of what you have to be thankful for, rather than jumping into stressful thoughts immediately.

Sing a happy tune. Having a happy tune in your head puts you in a good mood. Here’s a perfect song to start your day: “It’s a Good Day” by Perry Como. This song is in the soundtrack for the movie Blast from the Past.

Here’s how it starts out:

“Oh! It’s a good day, for singin’ a song,

An’ it’s a good day for movin’ along,

Yes, it’s a good day, how could anything go wrong?

A good day from mornin’ ’till night!”

An attitude like this automatically helps you overcome the challenges of the day with less stress!