Do You Agree With Disney?

Do you believe in happy endings and the possibility of dreams coming true? If not, please DON’T BURST MY BUBBLE! 

There is evidence all around us to prove that dreams do come true. The proof shows up when we focus on the things that support our dreams rather than on the things that don’t. 

Dreams require belief and determination because the road may not always be smooth. While en route to achieving our dreams we may encounter detours, bumps in the road, setbacks and barriers. When these come up it might feel like reaching our dream is impossible, however just like Walt Disney, with the right support system and focus, dreams do come true.

                      

One Dream

A girlfriend of mine has talked about living downtown, like she did before having children, for the 20 years I have known her. She conceded to move to the suburbs based on her husbands’ desires but always knew that downtown would be her home again one day. She recently became the proud homeowner of a downtown home!

She never obsessed over it but the dream was always there. There were times the dream felt like it would never happen. There were times the dream seemed financially out of reach. There were unexpected events that occurred and she even hit a few potholes through the years. But, the dream persisted even when her circumstances made it seem impossible. 

Walt Disney said, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” 

Your Dream

In the spirit of possibility think about what you have always dreamt of wanting to do or have? 

Write this dream down and commit to it. Whether your dream is purchasing a home, being mortgage free, buying that dream car, landing that dream job, starting your own business, performing on stage, volunteering your time or taking that dream trip, it can happen.

Once you have the clarity of having written down explicitly what you want to achieve, think about who you can talk to about your dream. Make sure it is a person that will support you and your dream. 

As you are gearing up for 2013 outline a few steps you can take this coming year that will get you closer to living your dream. 

Realizing Your Dream

My oldest son had to overcome, what he saw as obstacles, to move closer to his dream; this meant making some tough decisions. One was selling a brand new truck that he loved to go back to school. Getting to this point was not easy but now that the decision has been made his excitement is undeniable. This is what living into your dream feels like.

What are you willing to do or give up to live your dream?

NOTE: Your personal brand is ALL about you and creating the life that reflects who you are….that includes your dreams! 

Share your dreams in the comments below, the big ones and the small ones. The more people you tell, the more you talk about your dreams the better! Here’s to making your dreams come true.

Align yourself with what matters most to you. Live your brand fully expressed with intention and purpose to play bigger!

Dorothy Lazovik is President of Authentic Leader’s Edge. She is a Personal Brand Strategist, Executive Leadership Coach, facilitator and speaker. If you are interested in learning more about managing your impression, empowering your personal brand or mastering your IT factor go to: www.authenticleadersedge.com.

Five Key Elements to Make Change Easy!

Have you ever found yourself thinking ‘I’ve been in this situation before’? Have you found yourself getting similar results despite thinking you are doing things better to create positive change?

I know it sounds crazy, but it happens! It happens with my clients AND to me!!  

You set out to create change, and you really want to achieve your goals; however you fall prey to old habits and possibly allow yourself to blame external circumstances. You make small adjustments, perform inconsistently and can’t understand why you are not reaching your goals. 

Change doesn’t just happen. Saying it doesn’t make it so. To be different you have to think and do different...consistently! This is not always easy but it is absolutely necessary. So what can you do to make change happen?

I recently went on a trip to swim with the dolphins in Bimini. For me it was about making a change to integrate more play into my life. Surrounded by the ocean, being in a different environment with like-minded people made play seem so easy. It makes sense; everyone was there for the same reason!

Similarly, when you attend a one or two day workshop to develop a new skill, it takes you out of your routine and you find yourself in an environment with a group of people who are all there to learn. When everyone is “in on it” (whether “it” is swimming with dolphins or learning something new) the change you want seems so possible.

Being surrounded by people who get it, understand what you want to accomplish and support you in your efforts is invaluable.

Though you don’t need to go to Bimini or attend a workshop every time you want to make a change. So how can the value of these experiences be brought into your everyday life? 

Here are the five elements you can extract from the above examples to make change easier day-to-day: 

1. Know what change you want. Is it to play more and have more fun? Is it to learn a new skill? Is it to incorporate more time to read or exercise? Is it a behavior you want to change? Identifying a specific change will provide you with a place to start.

2. Change up your environment. Do something different or go someplace that will inspire you. Meet up with friends at the waterfront and have a BBQ or play volleyball, just for fun! Go to a place you love, do a wine tour, attend a concert, take a different route to work, have lunch with someone new or go somewhere that you’ve heard about but have never been. Shake things up! It shifts your perspective and renews your energy.

3. Surround yourself with like-minded people. Hire a coach, a trainer, a teacher or find a mentor. An accountability partner can also help you get where you want to go. Keep company with people that support you. You don’t have to do it alone and trust me, it can be a whole lot more fun when you have company! 

4. Say YES. When an opportunity presents itself that feels right take a risk and do it. If uncertain or fear arises check in with yourself. Decide whether your uncertainty comes from not wanting to make the effort or it just not being the right thing for you. 

5. Engage in activities that support a positive mindset. Read a book that inspires you, listen to music that lifts your spirits, join a group that aligns with your way of thinking, exercise to raise your energy. Find the activities that will support you and keep you on track. On the flip side, identify any activities that are draining you and replace them with new ones that get you pumped.

Pick one of the five elements to implement now. Stretch yourself!  Commit yourself to the actions that create change. These actions will become habits.

It’s crazy to expect change to happen when everything around you stays the same. Change isn’t always easy, however it is absolutely possible. AND when it is something you want, change is also worthwhile. 

Share a method you use that supports you in making change happen in your life.  

Align yourself with what matters most to you. Live your brand fully expressed with intention and purpose to play bigger!

Dorothy Lazovik is President of Authentic Leader’s Edge. She is a Personal Brand Strategist, trainer, speaker and coach. Interested in learning more and wanting to connect with Dorothy you can at www.authenticleadersedge.com.

Go Ahead, Celebrate!

At a recent workshop I was reminded (once again) that many of us don’t celebrate our accomplishments. Not just that we don’t celebrate them, we even have a hard time thinking of what they are. We work diligently to achieve specific goals and then when we arrive at our destination we think, NEXT!

I attribute the NEXT SYNDROME to a few things:

   ♦ We get close to our goal, realize the potential and raise the bar. The original goal is no longer 

       the goal. (I’m guilty of this) NEXT!

   ♦ Once we reach our goal we forget the effort it took for us to get there. There is no longer value   

       placed in the effort. NEXT!

   ♦ We compare ourselves to others and see them doing more. This small achievement no longer 

       holds importance. NEXT!

   ♦ Growing up we were told that it wasn’t polite to brag or boast about our accomplishments. 

       Patting ourselves on the back might give us a big head. NEXT! 

Shifting Your Mindset

When you do not celebrate an achievement, big or small, you are cheating yourself big time. Not allowing yourself the full experience of celebrating something that has significance holds you small along with the message you deliver about your brand. By the way – it doesn’t matter if others have done it before you. It can still be a big deal for you!

For instance: we all have milestone birthdays though few of us throw ourselves a party. Thinking maybe that it’s egotistical? I have a very good friend who chose to celebrate a recent milestone birthday by throwing herself a party. Because I had never considered this myself, I wanted to know why. She explained it was simply her way of saying thank you to her friends for being there to support her throughout her life. 

Hmmm…that didn’t sound egotistical to me at all. Actually, the party was great fun and it shifted my way of thinking.

The other consideration to be mindful of when you don’t celebrate is the fact that you are cheating the people in your life who love you and want to support you.

For instance: a colleague recently had a book launch for her second book. When we met for breakfast a few weeks later we talked about the festive occasion. She confessed that originally she had no intention of having a party. Her sister however, expressed feeling cheated by not being able to honor her in a bigger way; so she changed her mind. By having the book launch my colleague experienced the joy in celebrating with loved ones and it shifted her thinking. 

It doesn’t need to be big, but it is important to acknowledge your successes and allow your loved ones to share with you.  

You can celebrate passing a course you took by dressing up and going to dinner with friends. You can celebrate losing those last ten pounds by getting friends together for a spa day or a game of golf.

Play Bigger in Life

Think about when you celebrate on your own and how that feels. Now think about when you celebrate with a group of people that care about you and want the best for you. How does that feel?

Celebrating raises your energy and builds enthusiasm for you and your brand. Celebrating feels good and encourages you and those that support you to play bigger in life.

This is not a “me, me, me” thing! It is an inclusive event that helps create a bigger picture for you and those who know you. You would always encourage a friend not to overlook something that is meaningful to them. Make sure to treat yourself like a friend.

Whether the accomplishment is big or small, it doesn't matter. Celebrate! Feel good and pass it on!

Align yourself with what matters most to you. Live your brand fully expressed with intention and purpose to play bigger!

Can The Small Things Really Make a Difference?

You are more than two weeks into the New Year. Has your enthusiasm begun to diminish in regards to your new goals? The reality that change is hard is probably setting in. Not only that! Change doesn't happen over night! You begin to doubt if all the small efforts you are making will really make a difference.

Making a Choice

Imagine you are given the choice between taking $3 million in cash right now or a single penny that doubles in value every day for thirty-one days. Which would you choose? 

Did you choose the $3 million? Initially it seems to make the most sense. You immediately have a large amount of cash that you didn’t even need to work for. Wow, that doesn’t happen everyday!

Or did you choose the penny? If so you may either be familiar with this example or just really know your math! Choosing the penny pays off in a big way though it takes time to actually see the results. Thirty-one days can seem like a long time to wait for a payoff when there is the option of having $3 million in your possession immediately. 

The Penny Outcome

Let’s say you choose the $3 million. It feels amazing to have this amount of money all at once and you begin to focus on all the things you are going to do with your money. Though you can’t stop thinking about the difference a penny doubling in value everyday can make at the end of thirty-one days. 

Just for fun let’s check out how the penny increases in value weekly and if it can really make much of a difference. 

At the end of week one, seven days in, the balance is 0.64 cents. Two weeks in, day fourteen the balance is $81.92. By the end of week three, twenty-one days in, the balance is $10,485.76. By the end of the fourth week, day twenty-eight, only three more days to go, the balance is $1,342,177.20. Day thirty the account has a balance of $5,368,708.80. OMG on day thirty-one the balance is $10,737,417.10! 

This is more than three times the $3 million you chose in the moment!  

The value of the penny builds gradually. Making changes to reach your goals takes time and patience. There is no quick fix for change. You need to put in the effort and do the work. 

It is never just one thing you do. It is the accumulation of all the small conscious, consistent steps you take along the way that has you all of a sudden achieving success. I remember about year four into my business my youngest son commented on how all of a sudden I had gotten so busy. 

From the outside looking in you can understand how it may look that way. Though the truth is from the inside you know it was all of the decisions I made and the actions I took through those four years that allowed me to be busy all of a sudden.

Continue to stay committed to doing the work and all of a sudden you will have reached your goal.   

Align yourself with what matters most to you. Live your brand fully expressed with intention and purpose to achieve outstanding results!

  

Shrinking Change

One of the toughest things you face at this time of year is staying motivated long enough to make the changes necessary in achieving new goals.

What if…you were closer to reaching those new goals than you thought?

What if….you understood you were not starting from scratch?

You know breaking down new goals into small actions steps is essential. The small action steps take you from a state of overwhelm, feeling the need to do it all at once, to providing you focus on what to do next. This becomes your plan in how to reach your new goals though it does not shrink them.

On a scale from one to ten...

Shrinking the change is realizing you are not actually starting from scratch when going after your goals. Shrinking the change comes from identifying the activities and habits that you are already doing! These activities and habits place you closer to the finish line right from the start. 

When you think about the first action step you take in going after a new goal it has you mentally starting at zero. You accomplish that new goal and arrive at ten. Here's the difference! Before you start working toward your new goal review the activities and habits you are already doing that will assist you in achieving it. This is where you discover you are not starting at zero, you find you are actually starting from 2 or 3! How cool is that? 

Here is how you get shrinkage... 

Your goal is to workout consistently five days a week. You review what you are already doing and discover that you workout consistently twice a week. Now instead of adding five workouts a week you are looking at an additional three days a week. That is shrinking what you want to change.

You have decided this is the year to eat healthier. For you this means eating three balanced meals a day and having healthy snacks. You begin by looking at what you are already doing right and realize you eat three healthy meals a day. Your reality now becomes making healthier choices regarding snacks not your whole meal plan. That is shrinking what you want to change.

You decide you want to be heard and contribute where you can add value consistently. You begin to look where you do speak up and add value in your life. You discover you do it with your husband/wife, your kids, your friends and even your peers. The reality is you don’t do it when senior people in your organization are present. Now there is only one area that you need to focus on in providing your voice instead of all areas of your life. That is shrinking what you want to change. 

This concept can be used when leading change in your organization, with your team or in regards to your personal brand. Look for what you are already doing right!

Shrinking the change gives you a mental boost in realizing your destination is closer than you think.

Align yourself with what matters most to you. Live your brand fully expressed with intention and purpose to achieve outstanding results!

NOTE: “Shrink the change” is a concept that came from a book I recently read, Switch by Chip and Dan Heath. It is a great read with some practical examples of different ways to look at and influence change.