Valuing Taking Responsibility

What if you were to say right now “I am 100% responsible for my results” could you own that? 

If you were followed around every minute of everyday by a camera, what would you do differently? 

What could you have done differently today?

When we accept 100% responsibility for our results that means there is no room for excuses to blame influences external to ourselves.

(Lets not get technical and picky about extenuating circumstances either, fire, flood, hurricane, earth quake) I get it. 

YOU'RE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT. 

But how you pick yourself up after it IS. How you rebuild IS. The choices you make ARE.

This is Value #4 for us at TCI and it’s a powerful one.  We all know that it’s the standard we hold ourselves to. 

If someone in our team did not get the results they were working towards in the week, we take responsibility for that too. 

• What didn’t we do to ensure each team member was supported?
• What could we have done better?
• How can we support that team member to develop a communication system or accountability system?
• What needs to be taught?
• What do we need to learn?

In your work, business or even personal life, when you do not deliver a result what happens then? 

• Do you point the finger at that person or thing that got in the way, or didn’t come through? 
• Or do you reflect on what you could have done better. What your gap was. What you need to learn?

Success leaves clues. The successful strategy for outstanding results is to be able to take on more responsibility, to welcome accountability as a measure for results and to be able to assist others to achieve their results too. 

Are you aiming for a successful life? 

Are you working towards a successful world?

Like the quote in the pic above says “No single drop of water thinks it’s responsible for the flood” but you and I both know, everything we do or don’t do contributes to the whole. 

We are all in this together. 
We are all one. 

What results or non results are YOU contributing?

As always I would love to know you stopped by. Please like, share and/or comment if this has provided you with a provoking thought or inspired you to learn something new. Thank you for reading xx

Life De Fined

It’s amazing how complicated we make answering the ultimate question “What is the meaning of life”.  Take everything away, clothes, houses, technology and imagine yourself as a naked being in amongst the trees, basking in the warmth of the sun, drinking from a river flowing through the valley.  What’s left? What meaning does your life hold now?

It’s really quite simple don’t you think? Isn’t the act of life extremely and blatantly obvious?  First and foremost don’t we simply just LIVE? We have life. We do this by the mere act of breathing and our hearts beating to the pulse of the universal flow of life energy?

So if you were asked...have you truly lived the answer could only be yes - could it not? So - so long as you are breathing and your heart is beating – you are alive! Let’s not complicate the act of LIVING now.

The statement “but have you REALLY lived?” is absurd and is the complication I speak of in the very first paragraph.  Living and having experiences within that life are two completely different things...get it right!

In an instant you have your complication right there. One minute you were in search of the simple answer then BOOM someone had to fill your head with questions that were completely irrelevant!!

Ok back to the point of living.

You’re -

Alive ü check

Breathing ücheck

Pulsating ü check

We have well established the simplicity of Living...it doesn’t take much, but if that’s all there was we would have died out a million years ago of sheer boredom...so what else did life come with?

Enter LOVE *insert awwww here*

Love is an energy within us and you can describe it with all the nice fluffy words that you like but at the guts of it those fluffy descriptive words are a mere expression of your intellect. If you are breathing you are showing yourself love.  In contrast if you are holding your breath and starving yourself of oxygen in order to take your life away from yourself, then you are not showing yourself love.  It’s simple really.

Can you appreciate what I am doing here? It is not a mere trivialisation of life but a simplification in order to inspire humility. 

We get so caught up in worrying about our “life’s purpose” that we take for granted the gift of life in all of its simplicity.

You HAVE life. 

Creating a meaningful experience, an emotional experience, sharing with others, contributing to others...that's all the cool stuff we get to do BECAUSE we have LIFE and the sheer JOY of that, the LOVE we feel, is what inspires us to BE more meaningful in this life.

Thank you for sharing these precious moments of your life experience with me. I trust it has added something inspiring and positive for you to think about...

As always leave me a comment, like the post where I shared on my Facebook page, hey even share it on if you think it will be of interest to others xx

Live Your Dream!

Valuing Delivering WOW

There's a great quote by Maya Angelou that says "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." How true is this. When you think back to the people in your life what comes up for you? Even those you had negative experience with have left an impression haven't they...you can feel the memories, and the fondest ones, I bet they feel the best.

In the business world we talk about leaving a legacy. Something that can contribute to the lives of others long after we've gone. Hands up who would love their legacy to begin with the statement... "Wow"... that would feel great huh, great for you and great for the one feeling compelled to utter the very word. 

For the sake of today's learning let's bring it right back to the now. If you are not already focusing on Delivering Wow or however that is translated for you then perhaps now is the perfect time. Which one of your values ensures that you are creating a positive experience that doesn't just feel good but makes your clients know that you are committed to giving them an exceptional service with impeccable care?

How does what you do deliver an emotional impact to the receiver? How are you making them feel and more importantly WHAT are you making them feel?  Are you utilising feedback systems to find out what your clients love, or not, about the service you deliver? 

Think back to the previous values blogs in this series (#1 & #2) one of the ways we deliver wow at TCI is by living the values. This includes letting Outstanding Results do the talking, being Passionate & Determined as well as the next 7 values blogs to come. When we consistently live and teach the values we strengthen the ability for the team to fulfil the companies vision & mission - Inspiring the Extraordinary - so each student may - Live their Dreams.

So I'll leave you with a few questions to ask yourself today:

- Who walked away from you today with an exceptional experience?

- Where did you deliver - Average - today and did you hold yourself accountable?

- How do you measure your ability to WOW?

- How are you teaching others to WOW and how are you holding them accountable?

Go forth and WOW :)

Thanks for reading... Please leave me a comment to let me know the value you got (or not) LOL trust you were WOWED and hey if I've inspired the extraordinary in you please share my blog with others and pay forward the inspiration xxx

Valuing Passion & Determination

Value # 2 for the team at TCI is to “Be passionate and determined”

There is very rarely an opportunity for a straight out “NO” to be THE answer. Our thinking is “There is always a way and we will find a way”.

Think back for a moment to a time when you wanted something so badly that you stuck with it, no matter what, until you got it.

Perhaps it was learning something new, or maybe it was having the patience to wait, or it could have even been pushing through the pain to bring a task to completion. Whatever it is that you remember I want you to focus on the energy it took from you and the resources inside of you that you had to draw on to make it happen.

Powerful energy huh!

It’s the fire in the belly that we call PASSION and the powerful inner voice that we call DETERMINATION that made those moments possible.

To value this in a business setting means that we value what we bring so much so, that we use this passion and determination to deliver - what I mentioned in the last blog - Outstanding Results.  We want to be the best we can be and because of that we create a thriving company.

Could this be something that would be worthwhile for you to focus on as a value right now?

Do you have area’s of your business or even your personal, family, sporting or even hobbies, that are waiting around for you to learn how to be better so that they can improve, grow, succeed?

What will be the consequence of you NOT learning what you need to learn?
What would it take for you to get fired up about it right now? 
What would it take for you to want it badly right now?
If not now then when?

Go ahead and do that NOW.

As always I would love to know that you've stopped by ... and just for a laugh - yep I am PASSIONATE & DETERMINED to get awesome comments on my blog, that's how I know it's been valuable for you :) Thanks in advance and have an awesome day!

Valuing Outstanding Results

I chose this pic "Magical Drops by i5yal" to accompany my blog today because I believe there are many artists out there who truly value Outstanding Results and deliver it in the quality of their amazing art work.

What if...

The way YOU communicated to others, was by letting "Outstanding Results do the talking"?

This is value # 1 for Team TCI 

If we want to maintain the highest standards in our industry and be an example of excellence for others, there's no use saying we are.   We have to BE, DO & HAVE an example of excellence in each and every team member in everything we do.

Actions speak louder than words - yeah?

This may not be something you are deliberately focusing on...yet.  There may be days where just getting through the to-do list as best you can is enough. That's ok.  

If you would like to create Outstanding Results start by asking yourself some high quality questions that will move you in the direction of this becoming a 'non negotiable standard' in delivering and measuring results.  Here are some of the questions that Sharon Pearson teaches us to ask ourselves in order to strengthen this value:

1. What would the result look like if it were outstanding?
2. What's the criteria for outstanding results?
3. Be objective - are YOU delivering outstanding results?
4. Do you hold yourself or others accountable to their results?
5. What did you do today to set up outstanding results for tomorrow?
6. Who is your model of excellence for outstanding results?

Set yourself an intention each week to focus on delivering outstanding results until you're nailing it.

Start with, the way you answer your phone, the notes you take, the setting of daily intentions, the holding yourself accountable to committing to completion of what you say you want to achieve in your day. 

How you do the small things is how you do the big things. If you're letting yourself off the hook by only half heartedly doing the small things there's bound to be a ripple effect.

Trust that's inspired you to lift your game... Enjoy!

As always I would love to hear your thoughts, leave me a comment so I know you've stopped by. Thanks for reading xx

3 steps to bringing in more PASSION.

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." - Confucius

What does that quote even mean? Never work? We all need to work don't we?

My interpretation of that is, if the service you bring to the world is something you love and are passionate about, you'll do it everyday, like breathing, but with the bonus emotions of great joy, fulfilment, love and satisfaction experienced at the same time. It won't feel like work because it makes you feel alive!

I’ve had “jobs” before and as grateful as I am for the experience I wouldn’t want to go back to that. Rigid hours, job descriptions, limited growth. Blah!

Bring on a life with a vision and mission fuelled by passion! Living the dream!

What’s your passion?

As for me, I am passionate about singing. I will usually either be singing out loud, or in my mind, depending on the given moment.

I don't have to remind myself to sing. That's key to me knowing it's a true passion of mine.

Another is my passion for connecting people to information and inspiring ideas. It's these passions that have created a direction for my growth into service giving me opportunities to passionately serve a community of thousands through Social media.

The best bit about what I do is that I do it with others who are also passionate about doing what they love.

So if you’re feeling like you're stuck in a “job” or you want to bring in more passion - here’s 3 things you can do right now to move closer to doing what you love…

1. Acknowledge what your TRUE passion is

If you don’t just - know it - then perhaps you can uncover it with this handy little question - What do you do when you are procrastinating on the work you’re “meant” to be doing? That could very well be your passion.

2. Add it to your vision board, 90 day goals, weekly intentions

Give your passion pride of place in all that you do. It all starts with the vision to be living it in whichever manner you choose and you’ll need a plan for that.

3. Add massive value to others

Become well known for it, the expert in it, the go-to person for it. Share it with others

You can do this in as BIG or as small steps as you like.  At the end of the day any steps you took towards living your dreams will get you closer.

Share this blog with anyone you think could benefit and for those of you already living a life of passion and purpose please share a comment below I’d love to hear your thoughts :)

Do you feel like you just keep DOING and DOING and DOING? This might be why...

                        

What gives some people the edge over others when it comes to really getting results?

What's the difference between having real tangible results at the end of the day compared to being the "busy" person that did lots of "stuff" but has nothing to show?

I remember when my children were first born there really were some days that I felt like it was go go go non stop but come the end of the day, exhausted and sitting down for pleasure for what seemed like the first time all day and looking around only to feel like I had barely scratched the surface of what I needed to do.

I think there are times just like that when it comes to setting up a business especially when you are a one woman or man show. When the entire business relies on the results you deliver day to day.

In the E.S.I.P Model as taught by Sharon Pearson,  the act of "doing" sits in the "I" which is Implementation and the "P" is People and in the examples I used above, the people...well that's you or me and the doing is all the things that need doing to be a new parent or business owner.

What we learn from this model is that the I & P are what we would consider to be a low level thinking approach to getting results. And what does that thinking "look" like, well, it's "oh boy, there is ALL OF THIS TO DO today and only ME that can do it" I'm not sure about you but just looking at that creates a hint of overwhelm and I haven't even seen the To-do list yet!

Now "All the things to do" may not change, in fact we know it really doesn't and hey who would want it to...but...the way we THINK about it CAN.

Going back to ESIP. Model we have two more letters there to investigate. That's the E and the S. These, when utilised as a focus, gives us the ability to think at a higher level where we can see and connect with greater and more satisfying results. 

The E is for Environment. So as a new parent what was the environment I wanted for my new baby?  The most critical would have been. Baby is clean, fed, comfortable and loved.  What is the environment you want for your new business? A place that takes great care of your clients.

Thinking at this level means that ANYTHING we do is working towards that as an end result. If after all the things you chose to do in a day maintains or even improved the environment you have a successful result that's worthy of acknowledgement. If not, then perhaps it's time to check in with what you're choosing to do that doesn't.  At the end of the day, is my baby clean, fed, comfortable and loved? Yes. Is the floor vacuumed...maybe not. Does it matter...not right now. Can I agree that I got great results with this level of thinking? Yes.

Wow. That's cool to type out and read and even cooler to think. Everything I do today works towards me living my dream, the dream of nurturing new life, new business, new days...Excellent!

Does that feel better already? 

Does that give your to-do list a higher purpose, one that could even be as high as living the dream? 

So how do you know what TO DO? Well that's the "S" in the ESIP Model. It's for Structure. It's a whole nother conversation that we'll have another day including setting goals - yes even as a parent - and recognising what the absolutely non negotiable things are that must be done for the best results. 

If you're a coach you've possibly heard it a thousand times... Start with the end in mind. If everything you're doing is working towards creating the environment of your dreams, what is the one thing you could choose to achieve today that will work towards creating it.

Now go do it! :) Enjoy and thanks for reading, would love for you to share your comments or questions below xx

If you would like to learn the ESIP model in greater detail you can do so HERE

Our Chocolate Adventure

We really enjoyed making our own Chocolate today. 

It would be easy to go to the shops and spend money on cheap Easter eggs n bunnies but really...how cheap are they?

When you take into consideration the ingredients and resources NOT on the label, the product starts to leave a bad taste in your mouth and a huge imposing and expensive footprint on the earth and your health!

We chose to be the change. To place our vote at the Organic produce shop and so with a few quality ingredients we did exactly that.

Yum!

The bananas were ours. We dehydrated them :) I thought some chocolate coated bananas would make for a yummy treat too.

So here's how we made the chocolate...

1/2 cup Coconut Oil

5 Tbsp Cacao powder

1/4 tsp Cinnamon 

2 Tbspn Coconut Nectar

Dash of Vanilla powder

Mix it, Mould it, Chill it, Enjoy it!

It's quite a rich mix. Xaviar could only eat one piece of choc coated banana and really, that's enough of a treat isn't it? When I think back to the amount of Bunnies and Eggs we would have consumed over the years it's disturbing...

Yay for awareness that allows us to indulge in the finer things and enjoy doing it!

ROARRR!!!

Ahhhh... the internal battle of punch an idiot in the face or send calm love?

Do you ever have moments where you really feel deep inside of you that the punch in the face would just achieve so much more???

Ok so I’m completely aware the punch in the face will NEVER happen, not in real life and not even virtually so back to the sage advice of my wise and gracious mentor…

“What would love do?” …(Thanks SP)

WAIT!!! *insert scratch of vinyl record sound here* STOP right there!!! LIONS LOVE each other…

How does a mother lion pull her cub into line??? WITH A SMACK ACROSS THE HEAD…pushing it’s face into the dirt…hahahaha maybe I can slip a quick whack in there after all LOL

It's a good thing I am really not a wild animal or there would be trouble today,  I think it’s that primal instinct of protecting my tribe kicking in…yeah let’s go with that!!

Alright enough ranting :) LOL

It really is important to know that when people behave in a hateful way towards you or those you care about, it is saying so much more about them.  It could be a scream for help.  It could be that the only way they know how to feel significance in this world is to tear others down.  It could even be their strategy for love!

There are many reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with you for a person to behave badly (unless of course you totally sucked and caused it by doing wrong - then it’s called a consequence and you'd better suck it up or fix quick smart).

No matter what is going on on the inside of you, what evil thoughts you might be having (see rant above lol) be sure to hold yourself to your own standards of behaviour.   Live YOUR values.   BE the example so the haters and the lovers all know what you stand for, what you will invite into your world and what you will not.  

Teach them how to treat you by treating you as you would be treated.

And at the end of the day forgive yourself for having a GRRRR moment and being the badass lioness protecting the tribe and ROCK ON with the little extra RRRRR in your ROAR that all that passion and fire gave you!

So What would love do?

Protect, nurture, forgive, hold the line, set the standards, live the values, be the example, embrace the learnings, teach the lessons to the cubs…DEEP BREATH…yep - you've got this <3

Listen up!

You know when you're being listened to, you know when you're not.  I'm guessing you know what you prefer.  

It's not just because we are in the "Age of Distractibility" that's the new "thing" for 2014... I think it started a long time before that and for those who grew up as the children who should be "seen and not heard" well…I'm not sure the listening skills weren't taught very well at all.

Being listened to has a profound effect on the person talking. They feel safe & secure and that their presence counts. Being listened to creates an environment that builds trust.  That's what we want isn't it? An environment of trust…

What kind of listener are you?  Ask a lot of people and they'll probably tell you they are really good listeners, great listeners even!  Do people REALLY know what it takes to be a GREAT listener though?

It's more than just hearing a person, nodding in agreement then adding an opinion as a reply. There's a great quote that springs to mind right here…

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; 

they listen with the intent to reply.” Stephen R. Covey

Listening has got to be about the person who's speaking, not about the person who's listening.  We must get ourselves out of the way so we can hear exactly what is being said without making it mean anything, without making assumptions about it, without the need to reply "to it".

So how can we be great listeners then? 

We can:

• Focus completely on the person speaking - make eye contact, assume rapport.

• Listen with empathy - accept that the person is doing the best they can with what they've got.  Accept that this is their interpretation of life.  Be curious to understand.

• Listen without interrupting - oh boy this is a big one! How often do you find yourself interrupting because you think that what's popped into your head is relevant and important?  Just shhhh! Your turn will come when they've been heard, understood and are ready for you. 

• Keep your but's in the chair (or your pants) whatever's relevant - no more YEAH BUT… no more BUT… This is an acknowledgement, trust and conversation KILLER! The BUT negates all of what you just heard. Begin with YES (the acknowledgement) and follow it with AND (now you're adding value).

• If you don't understand something ASK for clarification. 

It's ok just to listen silently if the person you are listening to just needs to talk. They will be grateful that you held the space and didn't try to "fix it".  Remember to ask permission first to challenge someone on their thinking before jumping in.

Not everyone is ready for change so they won't hear it anyway.

Those that are - will be willing and happy - to LISTEN.

Thinking Differently & 90 day Goals.

Think about the next 90 days and set goals for what you're aiming to achieve...

Now really it shouldn't be too challenging right?  I manage to make it challenging though! I'm sure I'm not alone?? There's got to be others out there...?? *insert sound of crickets here* haha jokes...I know you're out there too!

So what is it that makes it so challenging?   Well I it could have something to do with not having done goals before. It could be not knowing what is possible. It could also be ones ability to go big picture versus detail. It could be__*insert excuse here*___ ...but it's not.

It's the THINKING.

The thinking is what creates the Environment for everything to happen.  Recently I have been introduced to the concept of Inductive thinking versus Deductive thinking.

Let's take the 90 day Goals for example and use this article to Think Different

• Deductive thinking is focused on what is, and chunks down further into current reality. 

eg. What are the TASKS that I need to do in order to move forward with this project?

• Inductive thinking is focused on what could be - the alternatives - which chunks up and away from current reality.

eg. How do I want [this project] to be?


So lets put it in to practice.

The project is: Facebook Sales

Deductive Goal: - create sales marketing budget - design ad - place ad - get sales

Inductive Goal: - Potential clients are WOWed by the entire Facebook sales experience recommending others to also experience the massive value we offer.


It's pretty obvious which one of those opens up a whole new world of possibilities :)

I've done my goals for a while now and right up until now I have felt like my goals were leaning more towards Deductive thinking. The deductive part certainly still has it's very important place in the goal process but that place is not #1.

So today as I sat down to do my goals I looked at each category and thought "What kind of environment could this have in 90 days time. How do I want it to be?" and started right there.  It really has made a huge difference for the possibilities of HOW I might achieve each one, I don't know how...yet...that's what I'll be thinking into tomorrow :)


Trust that gave you something to think differently about, I would love to know what you think!

Do you think I could say think one more time? I think so! hahaha