Your Fire Is Your Fuel
Last week’s EnCOURAGEment was about Ingrid, an entrepreneur who found her fire and focus and was unstoppable in creating a successful company. Here’s another story about how strong fire can be, even for a child.
A few summers ago, my 11-year old daughter, Chelsea, and I were boogie boarding, which was her favorite thing in the whole world. The waves were fairly big, so I was helping by pushing her up on them. She was having a blast, catching wave after wave. But as she rode the waves to shore, I could see the front of her board going back and forth.
When we dragged our exhausted bodies to the beach, I asked, “Chelsea, why was the front of your board going back and forth on your way to shore?” She said, “Because, Daddy, every time you pushed me, you were pushing my bathing suit up and giving me a wedgie up to my neck. So I was pulling out the wedgie!” When I asked her why she didn’t tell me, she said, “Because I didn’t want you to stop pushing me.”
Now that’s fire! Nothing, including a wedgie up to her neck, would stop that girl from boogie boarding.
Your fire is your fuel. Are you doing things you love so much that you’d put up with a wedgie to do them?
“There is no passion to be found playing small
in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”
— Nelson Mandela
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Be Unstoppable
Fire + Focus = Unstoppable
Here’s a story about one of the best small entrepreneurs I know; let’s call her Ingrid. Ingrid was a teacher and a single mom who had no training in business or interior design. Her friends owned a small interior design firm, so Ingrid asked to work for them because she had fire (passion) to become an interior designer. The company was struggling financially, so she volunteered to be the receptionist and learn interior design (she had the courage to focus on what she loved).
Because of her fire and focus, she learned interior design quickly and soon became a paid designer. Within a few years, she had become a talented, confident designer and purchased the struggling company from her friends. Over the next 20+ years, her firm became one of the premier interior design firms in the world (in its niche). Ingrid is now very confident, and her success has been Unstoppable because of her Fire + Focus.
Find your Fire and then Focus on it … and you will be Unstoppable.
TC North, Ph.D., High Performance Expert
Here’s a story about one of the best small entrepreneurs I know; let’s call her Ingrid. Ingrid was a teacher and a single mom who had no training in business or interior design. Her friends owned a small interior design firm, so Ingrid asked to work for them because she had fire (passion) to become an interior designer. The company was struggling financially, so she volunteered to be the receptionist and learn interior design (she had the courage to focus on what she loved).
Because of her fire and focus, she learned interior design quickly and soon became a paid designer. Within a few years, she had become a talented, confident designer and purchased the struggling company from her friends. Over the next 20+ years, her firm became one of the premier interior design firms in the world (in its niche). Ingrid is now very confident, and her success has been Unstoppable because of her Fire + Focus.
Find your Fire and then Focus on it … and you will be Unstoppable.
TC North, Ph.D., High Performance Expert
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
My negative world ...
"The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts ... .
The content of your character is your choice."
Heraclitus
This is the second EnCOURAGEment on defining moments (a time when you made a life-changing decision). This week, let's examine defining moments when you had the choice to stay the same, or become more of who you want to be.
I am generally a very positive and happy person, but this wasn't always true. In my twenties, a girlfriend broke up with me by saying, "I can't live in your world of negativity anymore." As I reflected on her statement, there was a painful realization that she was right. I had a choice: Do I continue on as I was, or do I have the courage to become a more positive person? I chose the latter. I even took a humor workshop to learn to laugh because I laughed so little that it was uncomfortable! I will always be thankful for my ex-girlfriend. She gave me a defining moment, a gift. Almost 30 years later, I am a positive person, laugh a lot and ... I work daily to be more positive.
Would you like to be different in some way? If yes ...
Have the courage to be honest with yourself, review your defining moments.
If your previous choice(s) is not helping you be who you want to be,
be courageous, make a new decision ...
then work every day to become who you want to be.
- TC North, Ph.D., High Performance Expert
The content of your character is your choice."
Heraclitus
This is the second EnCOURAGEment on defining moments (a time when you made a life-changing decision). This week, let's examine defining moments when you had the choice to stay the same, or become more of who you want to be.
I am generally a very positive and happy person, but this wasn't always true. In my twenties, a girlfriend broke up with me by saying, "I can't live in your world of negativity anymore." As I reflected on her statement, there was a painful realization that she was right. I had a choice: Do I continue on as I was, or do I have the courage to become a more positive person? I chose the latter. I even took a humor workshop to learn to laugh because I laughed so little that it was uncomfortable! I will always be thankful for my ex-girlfriend. She gave me a defining moment, a gift. Almost 30 years later, I am a positive person, laugh a lot and ... I work daily to be more positive.
Would you like to be different in some way? If yes ...
Have the courage to be honest with yourself, review your defining moments.
If your previous choice(s) is not helping you be who you want to be,
be courageous, make a new decision ...
then work every day to become who you want to be.
- TC North, Ph.D., High Performance Expert
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Courage to be Who You Are!
“It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.”
E.E. Cummings
We’ve all had defining moments in life (a time when we made a life-changing decision). This and the next EnCOURAGEment message examine two types of defining moments. This week’s is having the courage to become who you really are, and next week’s is having the courage to become more of who you want to be.
In the small town where I grew up, most guys hunted. When I was about 12 years old, I was walking in the woods mindlessly shooting chipmunks with my BB gun when a bird began chirping really loudly at me. I walked closer, thinking the bird would fly away. But it sat on a branch and chirped more loudly. I thought, If you are dumb enough to stay there and chirp at me, I’m gonna shoot you. I raised my gun, it chirped, aimed, it chirped, squeezed the trigger … the bird dropped straight from the tree and hit the ground with a thud.
As I looked at it lying motionless and silent, I thought, That’ll teach you! Then, I heard the faint sounds of baby birds coming from the nest, where the bird had been. When I realized I had killed a parent protecting its babies, I fell to my knees and sobbed. I decided then that I would never shoot another gun or hurt another animal — and I haven’t. This was a defining moment for me. All my friends had guns and shot animals, which made me an outcast at times. It took courage to be different, but it was who I really am. I am an animal lover, and I have never regretted the decision to never hurt an animal again!
Defining moments … are the life-changing decisions you have made.
Are yours really who you are in your deepest self?
E.E. Cummings
We’ve all had defining moments in life (a time when we made a life-changing decision). This and the next EnCOURAGEment message examine two types of defining moments. This week’s is having the courage to become who you really are, and next week’s is having the courage to become more of who you want to be.
In the small town where I grew up, most guys hunted. When I was about 12 years old, I was walking in the woods mindlessly shooting chipmunks with my BB gun when a bird began chirping really loudly at me. I walked closer, thinking the bird would fly away. But it sat on a branch and chirped more loudly. I thought, If you are dumb enough to stay there and chirp at me, I’m gonna shoot you. I raised my gun, it chirped, aimed, it chirped, squeezed the trigger … the bird dropped straight from the tree and hit the ground with a thud.
As I looked at it lying motionless and silent, I thought, That’ll teach you! Then, I heard the faint sounds of baby birds coming from the nest, where the bird had been. When I realized I had killed a parent protecting its babies, I fell to my knees and sobbed. I decided then that I would never shoot another gun or hurt another animal — and I haven’t. This was a defining moment for me. All my friends had guns and shot animals, which made me an outcast at times. It took courage to be different, but it was who I really am. I am an animal lover, and I have never regretted the decision to never hurt an animal again!
Defining moments … are the life-changing decisions you have made.
Are yours really who you are in your deepest self?
Monday, November 5, 2007
Replace Destructive Thoughts
“The longer we dwell on our misfortunes,
the greater is their power to harm us.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
What’s 2 + 2? Easy, it’s 4.
What’s 63 + 75? Boy, are you slow … (kidding). It’s 138. Much harder, eh?
Why do you easily know what 2 + 2 is, but not 63 + 75? Because of repetition. The more times you repeat something, the stronger that neuronetwork (group of nerves) becomes in your brain. The brain is a lot like a muscle — the more you work it, the stronger it gets. So if you keep focusing on a destructive thought, you will make the destructive thought a more powerful, dominant part of your brain.
Consider a four-step process to stop and replace your destructive thoughts. Clients say this simple, yet powerful, technique has had incredible long-term impact helping them overcoming negative thoughts and become more positive and confident. One recent coaching participant said, “It changed my default thinking from negative to positive!”
Replace Destructive Thoughts With Constructive Thoughts
1) Recognize the destructive thought.
2) STOP the destructive thought.
3) Replace the destructive thought with a constructive, true thought.
4) Feel good about taking control of one of the only things you can have 100% direct control of in your life ... your thoughts.
You will have to stop and replace destructive thoughts often, maybe hundreds of times before the replacement thought becomes your dominant thought. Keep working it — it will get stronger.
- TC North, Ph.D., High Performance Expert
the greater is their power to harm us.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
What’s 2 + 2? Easy, it’s 4.
What’s 63 + 75? Boy, are you slow … (kidding). It’s 138. Much harder, eh?
Why do you easily know what 2 + 2 is, but not 63 + 75? Because of repetition. The more times you repeat something, the stronger that neuronetwork (group of nerves) becomes in your brain. The brain is a lot like a muscle — the more you work it, the stronger it gets. So if you keep focusing on a destructive thought, you will make the destructive thought a more powerful, dominant part of your brain.
Consider a four-step process to stop and replace your destructive thoughts. Clients say this simple, yet powerful, technique has had incredible long-term impact helping them overcoming negative thoughts and become more positive and confident. One recent coaching participant said, “It changed my default thinking from negative to positive!”
Replace Destructive Thoughts With Constructive Thoughts
1) Recognize the destructive thought.
2) STOP the destructive thought.
3) Replace the destructive thought with a constructive, true thought.
4) Feel good about taking control of one of the only things you can have 100% direct control of in your life ... your thoughts.
You will have to stop and replace destructive thoughts often, maybe hundreds of times before the replacement thought becomes your dominant thought. Keep working it — it will get stronger.
- TC North, Ph.D., High Performance Expert
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Boldness has genius, power and magic
“Boldness has genius, power and magic.”
Goethe
Elite performers including entrepreneurs, sales professionals and athletes all have an element of boldness. For example, the destitute orphan, who didn’t even have a pair of shoes who promised himself, “I will become a world champion, move out of this country and never live in poverty again.” A bold statement for an impoverished, uneducated child. But he developed his raw talent and became a world champion in an endurance sport. He also attended college and has become a very successful businessman.
You too have genius in you … we all do, you must find it.
What bold thought or action might be genius in your life?
- TC North, Ph.D., High Performance Expert
Goethe
Elite performers including entrepreneurs, sales professionals and athletes all have an element of boldness. For example, the destitute orphan, who didn’t even have a pair of shoes who promised himself, “I will become a world champion, move out of this country and never live in poverty again.” A bold statement for an impoverished, uneducated child. But he developed his raw talent and became a world champion in an endurance sport. He also attended college and has become a very successful businessman.
You too have genius in you … we all do, you must find it.
What bold thought or action might be genius in your life?
- TC North, Ph.D., High Performance Expert
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