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August 29, 2018 – JOLT – In the mood for a rally?

“Push yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you.”- Unknown

Some of my favorite movies…

from childhood were rally movies, like “The Great Race” and “The Gumball Rally.” 

Rallies can be a blast, and can spark new hope, insight and adrenaline.

If markets operate as usual, there will likely be a “Santa Rally” in the stock market in the last several months of the year…where stock prices rise up to the holidays.

Also, “The Amazing Race” continues on CBS after 30 seasons with a new fall lineup of shows.

AND, most important, you have your Third Third Rally of 2018 about to begin this weekend.

You have the last four months of this year — with all the goals, intentions and plans put into place on Jan. 1 (“Wait, where was that list?”) — in which to create something.

Will you unconsciously slide into simply whatever’s next for the remainder of the year, or is it time to regroup, reassess, and re-intention yourself for a big push?

Where are you at with your plans for this year? Have you looked? How can you tidy them up, retarget your dreams, and create new, achievable goals to inspire you into the fall?

Your Third Third Rally begins this Saturday. Rev up your engines and, like all the great rally movies, grab a sidekick to ride with you to the end…and support you to do what you said you’d do.

Need a sidekick to support your race? Click Here to schedule a free 15min chat about what lies at the end of your 2018 finish line. And, if a Career Review or PlayGame Coaching Session can lube your engine, grab one while the $50 summer discount remains for three more days Here.

Local to Southern California? Join us in acknowledging Back Forty possibilities, hosted by Wharton OC Alumni. Click Here for more details. All are welcome.

Got rally?

“A year from now, you’ll wish you had started today.”- Karen Lamb

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August 22, 2018 – JOLT – Leading with acknowledgement?

“The single greatest cause of happiness is gratitude.” – Auliq-Ice

Most books have a section…

of acknowledgements at the beginning or the end.

The author takes time to personally notice all the players in the game that eventually became the book.

It’s a wonderful experience to be recognized as having been instrumental in the creation of something.

The late Sridevi, Indian cinema’s first female superstar, said “Acknowledgement and recognition from authoritative quarters are important to every artiste.”

Truth is, we are all “artistes” in our own life, performing to the best of our ability. Plus, we’re all writing the book of life according to us every minute.

Question is: how often are we writing (and rewriting) our acknowledgements section?

Jack Canfield has quoted a recent management study which revealed that “46% of employees leaving a company do so because they feel underappreciated; 61% said their bosses don’t place much importance on them as people, and 88% said they do not receive acknowledgement for the work they do.”

Now, redirect awareness of that same issue from the workplace to the home, romantic relationships, the family, etc., and you have plenty of blank pages to be filled.

When will you write today’s acknowledgement section? Who will you send it to? And will you write it at the beginning or the end of the day/book? (Hint: A pre-emptive strike of acknowledgment has wheels turn that might not when waiting to report afterwards.)

Jack Canfield also quoted that “Research has shown over and over again that the more you acknowledge your past successes, the more confident you become in taking on and successfully accomplishing new ones.”

Guess who gets acknowledged first on the list?

Local to Southern California? Join us in acknowledging Back Forty possibilities, hosted by Wharton OC Alumni. Click Here for more details. All are welcome. 

Got acknowledgement lead?

“Leaders don’t look for recognition from others, leaders look for others to recognize.”- Simon Sinek

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August 15, 2018 – JOLT – Opening up for a necessary lockdown?

“Accountability is the glue that ties commitment to the result.” – Bob Proctor

The self- made man/ woman myth…

often keeps us playing solo in the world of dreams and aspirations.

First, we’re reticent to cast our “pearls before swine,” guarding our ideas to protect them from wayward, instantly debilitating potshots coming from the peanut gallery.

Then, if we’ve actually developed a dream to the point of potential flight test, we want to keep a low-profile in case it crashes and burns.

So, we’re left trying to both birth and graduate a baby on our own time, in our own private skunk works and only when we get around to it.

That might work for some unique creations, but for the majority of mankind, playing solo often means no go.

Sure, you might schedule time daily/weekly/monthly to move your idea forward…but on more occasions than not, that schedule will be forgotten when life takes over.

However, it’s much harder to say you didn’t take the action, move the ball forward, or engage in the necessary steps when you told another person that you would…especially if they really care for you and your dream and keep tabs on you.

I’m currently engaged in a process to move my next book forward, a process I’ve handled on my own before, but I’ve locked myself into an “action buddy” commitment to make sure I actually get it done…because all the reasons in the world come up when we get close to a finish line.

What’s important enough for you to achieve that you’re willing to put your butt on the line of accountability?

Who will you tell? When? And how much room will you give them to hold your feet to the fire?

Click Here to schedule a free 15min chat to see if I can help you get it done. 

Got lockdowns?

“When your teammate looks you in the eye and holds you accountable, that’s the greatest kind of leadership there is.” – Doug Collins

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August 8, 2018 – JOLT – Is this the image you want to play out?

“It’s not what you are that holds you back, it’s what you think you are not.”- Denis Waitley

In the world of life’s occurrences…

there’s a lot to be said about what happens to us coming from inside influence vs outside conspiracy.

It’s a tough pill to swallow. It’s far easier to wave a flag of victimhood claiming no control than to turn our attention within…to discover precursors of thought preceding outside events.

And, that’s one possible way to live life: at effect.

Yet, if that game isn’t working, we at least have another option, another card to play, such as “Hmmm…now why in the heck might I have brought this about? What’s there for me to learn in this?”

Of course, we still have to deal with whatever it is at hand that we wouldn’t have ever consciously chosen to come about. Yet, going this route, we have more of a voice or play in the game.

One’s “self” image, and associated beliefs, is often the culprit behind what appears to be unappealing circumstances and situations. The good news is that we can always “image up” if we choose.

When my son was little, we played video games together which gave us an opportunity to “Power Up!” (I still hear the audio in my head) so as to elongate our game or play with more force and gusto.

Consider that your greatest impact on your life’s goals, dreams and plans playing out as you’d like comes from the time and attention you give to imaging yourself up to meet them. As within, so without.

Which of your countless ideas and splendid plans deserves an imaging up inside of you?

Click Here to schedule a free 15min chat around your inner picture meeting your outer dreams. 

Got imaging up?

“Take care how you speak to yourself, because you are listening” – Unknown

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August 1, 2018 – JOLT – Sight extensions…the newest and next thing!

“No matter how many goals you have achieved, you must set your sights on a higher one.”- Jessica Savitch

It’s funny how…

when we’re just coming close to achieving a goal, the effort required seems to exponentially increase.

Think about it: it’s easy to start something — a race, a project, an initiative — as it requires little but a good intention and at least a bit of energy to take action.

But, as you near completion, so much has now taken place: obstacles overcome, mind traps endured, the natural entropy of the Universe distracting you.

It seems that both external challenges as well as internal resistance (e.g., fear of success) calls for that that last climb/effort/stretch to be a monumental one.

It’s at that point that it’s smart to set the next goal and raise your sights.

Staying focused on this target which has now all but made it to your doorstep keeps you fumbling and ineffective.

However, picking a new object further out which assumes completion of this goal — and even stands on it’s shoulders — gives you new energy and traction.

It requires active and self-interventional sight resetting: raising the crosshairs onto a much more distant but now somehow see-able next level of your game.

What in your world of splendid plans can get wrapped up quicker by playing a bigger game?

Click Here to schedule a free 15min chat around what’s further out and next for you. 

Got sight extensions?

“You should set goals beyond your reach so you always have something to live for.” – Ted Turner

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July 25, 2018 – JOLT – Rethinking your big rocks?

“Instead of ‘How do I fit everything in?’ ask yourself ‘What’s most important to fit in?’” – Christine Kok & Asha Dornfest

Many of us have heard…

the story of the philosophy professor teaching his students about time management and life balance by using rocks, pebbles and sand in a jar.

He sequentially filled the jar to the top with large rocks, then small pebbles (to fit between the large rocks), then sand (to fit between the pebbles), after each time asking his students if the jar was full. They consistently claimed it was full…but were proven wrong each time.

He was making a point that we must put the most important things into our life first. By the time we get to the smaller and less significant items (pebbles and sand), whether they fit or not won’t matter as much. However, had we put them in first, we’d miss out on what’s essential.

As much as we’ve heard the story, the problem comes in our continued calibration of exactly what those big rocks are.

How strong is the pull to simply get into the to do’s of the day vs take that walk?

How much easier is it to rush straight to that early morning meeting vs 15 minutes of meditation?

How natural is it to be a bit too quick or short with someone you love vs slow down to listen again?

Yet, when the stress and wacked health of body and/or relationship initiates a wake-up call, all of a sudden certain big rocks come into clear focus.

Many have heard the professor’s story, but haven’t personally evaluated exactly what those big rocks are.

What are they for you, and when will you fit them in the jar today and tomorrow?

Click Here to schedule a free 15min chat around aligning your big rocks.

Got big rock rethink?

“If you’re too busy to laugh, you’re too busy.”- Proverb

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July 18, 2018 – JOLT – Rethinking your big rocks?

“Run hard, be strong, think big!”- Percy Cerutty

How many of us…

run to the tape…instead of through it?

Granted, it’s a big deal to even make it to the end of a race.

John Bingham, known as “The Penguin,” said “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”

So, let’s acknowledge that we are bolder than the average big-idea bear in that we actually began the race on our inspiration, initiative, or dream…and that we’ve run it at whatever pace we could muster.

Yet, there is something to be said about actually completing it powerfully and at our fullest pace until the end.

What strong finishers know is that the end isn’t on this side of the tape, but several yards on the other side.

Running TO the tape has you completing the race too soon: in your mind, your spirit, and your speed.

Running THROUGH the tape in your fullest form has you celebrating every step you’ve taken — the start, the mental trials, the stitches in your side, the near exhaustion — in the most honorable way.

What once bold initiative of yours has a tape in the distance for which you can use a sprint of energy to get through it, not to it?

Click Here to schedule a free 15min end-run chat around a career/business/life race you want to complete powerfully. 

Got through it?

“Only think of two things – the gun and the tape. When you hear the first one, just run like hell until you break the other.” – Sam Mussabini

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July 11, 2018 – JOLT- An answer to the endless mystery?

“The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.”- Claude Levi Strauss

The problem with finding the answer…

is that you stop asking the questions.

Yet, as we’ve matured beyond the black and white, The Force or The Dark Side perceptions of our youth, there are few questions that have one single answer.

But, alas, there’s comfort in having an “answer.” We can sit on it, rely on it, revert to it, and stay fixed in it.

To do otherwise means we’re open and vulnerable for other possible answers to come in and shake up our steady foundation.

We like already knowing, so we don’t have to deal with other possibilities.

Unfortunately, very often, so goes our careers, our relationships, our plans for what is or isn’t possible for our lives, etc.

When was the last time you treated yourself, your job, your business, your marriage, your health, your plans for the future like a mystery?

There’s this idea called “inquiry” which, of all realms of questioning around, is the one that you never get to the bottom of.

Dictionary.com defines inquiry as “a seeking or request for truth, information, or knowledge” as well as “the act of inquiring or of seeking information by questioning; interrogation.”

Nowhere in those definitions do I find that the word inquiry involves finding the “answer.”

The coolest thing about inquiry is the idea I once heard from a very smart person: “What if finding the ‘answer’ is the booby prize, and real power comes from living in the questions?”

Where can you step back from an area already fixed in what you “know” and initiate a mysterious inquiry for yourself?

Here’s a short video addressing the tendency to “know” vs playing first with curiosity…something we tend to drop as we “mature.”

And Click Here for a free 15min inquiry into what may be possible outside of what you “know” for your career, business, life.

Got endless mystery?

“The ultimate mystery is one’s own self.”- Sammy Davis Jr.

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June 28, 2018 – JOLT – Breathing life into a new generation

“Finish each day and be done with it…tomorrow is a new day.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The tendency is to carry…

so much of yesterday into today.

The unfinished business, the things out that need to be put in, the incompletions, the wrongs to be righted, and even the general mood.

That’s the default way of being for human beings.

However, to generate requires something beyond default.

Generate is defined as “to bring into existence; cause to be; produce.”

We don’t often think that we need to do anything to have a day come about. The sun’s going to rise, we’re going to brush our teeth and grab coffee, and then get into what’s ahead of us.

But, without the clear and consciously demarcated choice to generate this day newly, the pull of default is simply too strong…like trying to escape the suck of a black hole in space.

What is a consciously generated ritual, affirmation, or even physical anchor you can put in to create a new generation of life in this new day?

The old business and things to be handled take on a fresh light when they show up in a new generation vs an extension of yesterday.

Got a second half/best half plan, project or initiative you want to breathe new life into? Click Here for a free 15 minute focus on new generation. 

Got new generation?

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”- Eleanor Roosevelt

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June 20, 2018 – JOLT – Stats support swinging out

“Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.”- Babe Ruth

The percentage required for success…

in baseball should give us all some relief.

Ted Williams said “Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.”

In the major leagues, .300 always has been regarded as a special number. Like a 20-point-a-game scorer in basketball or a 1,000-yards-a-season rusher in football, it is a benchmark for excellence. A .300 season will get you a pay raise.

However, when we look at our own life, career, pursuit of dreams and excellence, do we give ourselves that kind of leeway, to have 7 strike outs out of 10?

Not usually.

But what new idea, vision, initiative or action might get birthed if we did? Or what persistence might keep a dream already birthed alive?

The drives to “get it right the first time,” “avoid looking bad at all costs,” or “throw in the towel” causes the miscarriage or early death of so many inspirations.

You can say “But life isn’t baseball.”

I’ll respond with “But life is always happening first in your mind…and what chances are you not giving yourself right now because of the fear of striking out?”

Is it a career change? A business venture having you go out on your own? A stretch outside of the comfort zone in some area of health, relationships, creativity?

Look, you can resist and argue with the inspiration of these weekly missives, or you can just use them to take actions that you wouldn’t have anyway.

Who are you going to be after your 7th strike out? Learning and still swinging out, or resigned and aborting.

Take the 8th, 9th, or 10th swing today on something you’ve considered “game over” while you think about Micky Mantle’s quote

Let me know what you see for yourself. And to discuss your game or batting support, Click Here for an at-bat chat.

Got swinging out?

“During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at bats a season. That means I played seven years without ever hitting the ball.”- Mickey Mantle

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