Have you decided what you want to achieve during the New Year?

Having a sound strategy coupled with the right intentions works. Help from the Universe using the Law of Attraction might just make it your best year yet.

I’ve written about the technique of using Creative Visualization for Crisis Management as well as combining it with the law of attraction to achieve career success before.

Yet there are times when we don’t hit the bull’s eye.

There are finer points we need to cover and not just chant mantras and affirmations thinking we will manifest what we want.

Let’s take a deeper look.

How and Why to Set Your Intentions

Setting intentions allows you to describe not just what you want, but what you intend to do.

In the post ‘Are You Intent on Intending’, we used intentions to do better time management.

With the Law of Attraction, you’re asking the universe for what you want. You do this by saying what you are trying to attract and how you want things to go.

It is similar to setting any intentions in your life, but you want to write them down using the method of scripting. Meaning, you write as if they have already happened.

Why Set Intentions?

With intentions, you aren’t just thinking a random thought about what you might want. You’re specifically asking the universe for something you deeply desire. There might even be a goal in sight that you want to achieve.

The intention takes it to the next level, where you have made the decision, asked the universe, and begin the process of manifesting it.

Intentions are very powerful when they are done correctly. As with any skill that we want to master, it helps to start small and build your Intention Muscle.

Choose Different Types of Intentions

Remember that there are different ways to set intentions, including different times to do it. You might have daily intentions, weekly or monthly, or even longer than that, such as your yearly intentions.

Try first with simple daily intentions. Think about what you need to get done today. Not the meaningless tasks, but the tasks that get you closer to your goals.

Write down your intentions, visualize yourself completing them, and then go on with your day.

You can try this whenever you have new intentions, whether it is something for the week, the month, what you want to manifest this year. Anything you can think of that you want to attract in your life.

Think About What You’re Manifesting

When you’re beginning to write out your intentions, you want to do so in a scripting method – where it is in the present tense. Write about it as if it has already happened. Try to visualize what you are trying to manifest when writing them down.

First, write down what you want to manifest. Just one word or phrase that describes what it is. Then close your eyes and visualize having that thing.

It could be money, wealth, status, fame, a house or car, a relationship, big group of friends, or traveling to a dream destination.

With it in your mind, open your eyes and set your intentions. Write down in a journal what your dream was, in vivid detail, with as much feeling and emotion as you can muster.

One of the best examples that I know of was shared by Rev. Anne Presuel in her Divinely Intuitive Business Group that I was a member of a few years back.

When she was ready to manifest her true-life partner after a failed marriage, she scripted what she wanted in great detail.

Amazingly, Mr. Right not only came into her life, but she married one of the most amazing men in the world who matched everything she had asked for.

Read her book to learn more about this method.

Be Specific

Intentions are short, but also specific. Generalizations won’t work so say exactly what your intentions are. This can be in list form, scripting, or in the form of affirmations that you repeat to yourself every day.

Your Feelings Are Stronger Than Your Thoughts

I personally believe this is the secret sauce to a successful manifestation.

Among the different misconceptions about the law of attraction and manifesting, is one in particular – the universe does not recognize thoughts, it recognizes feelings.

The reason visualization is so powerful in the law of attraction isn’t because you are thinking about what you want, but because it helps you actually feel it.

It’s like the time I manifested the new laptop during a holiday as well as a new internet connection. You can read the story here.

My feelings were intense and even though my computer guy was out of town, he managed to arrange what I needed.

Here are the 2 factors that come into play.

Like Attracts Like

This is something you will hear and read over and over again when you study the law of attraction.

It goes back to the first influencers of the law of attraction, where they said like attracts like.

If you spend your time visualizing what you want and feeling it, you are going to attract more of those good feelings.

But if you spend all your time thinking about your limiting beliefs and why you think it could never happen, then the universe is going to make sure you keep feeling that.

This means you want to focus your time, attention, and energy on what you want instead of what you don’t want, even if it has to do with ending your current situation.

Don’t think about how right now you can’t pay your bills – spend your time thinking about when you are able to pay your bills. This is what like attracts like comes down to.

Tips for Focusing More on Your Feelings

Manifesting what you want does begin with asking the universe what you want, but it doesn’t stop with your thoughts. You really need to tap into your feelings if you want this to work.

To focus more on your feelings, here are a few tips:

Use detailed visualizations. When you visualize, start by putting the vision in first person perspective. You want to see what you are dreaming of from your point of view.

Not like someone watching you in movie, but you actually living that life. If you want a house with a pool, think about swimming in that pool, right down to the feeling of the water on your skin, your fingers pruning, splashing in the water. Sense everything you can during your visualizations.

Try meditating. If you struggle with your thoughts and fears taking over your mind, try meditating for a few minutes a day.

Scripting works miracles. Literally! When you script what you want to manifest, you go beyond just thinking about what you want and actually put yourself in the place where you already have it.

Write your intentions and your manifestations, but as if they already exist. Instead of “I want to buy my dream home”, you would write “I am so thankful after purchasing my dream home!” and get as specific as you can.

You could go further and add details, like “I am lucky to have a garden with my dream home. Each of the three bedrooms has an attached bathroom.” And more.

Let’s look at scripting in detail.

The ‘I Am’ Rule in Scripting

Scripting is an extremely powerful way to use the Law of Attraction. Instead of asking the universe what you want as if you don’t have it now, which is going to attract more lack of that thing, you ask in a way that you already have it.

Since like attracts like, you always want to ask in present tense, as if what you are asking for has already happened. This is where the “I Am” rule comes in.

What is the I Am Rule?

The I Am rule says that when you are scripting in your journal about what you are trying to manifest, you always write “I am”, instead of “I want to” or “I will”.

You’re writing in present tense as you will find out in the next paragraph, so make sure you start each sentence with phrases like:

I am

I do

I have

It is really easy to change any negative statement into a positive one.

For example, if you find yourself writing “I want to”, your focus is visualizing on the lack of something, not as if you already have it.

Change that to “I have” or “I am” and it completely changes your perspective to a feeling of abundance.

Scripting is done in present tense, always, no exceptions

This is a way to ask the universe for what you want but write it down as if it has already happened. You are thanking the Universe for bringing this into your life.

Not sure how this works? Think about what you want or what you are trying to manifest.

Now imagine you already have that thing or are living that life. Then write as if it is in the future when you have that dream already, and what you might say.

For example, if you are trying to manifest a new car, don’t think about what you have to do to get it or that you don’t have it now.

Write as if you have that car, and how you feel about it. How excited you are to drive it and thank the universe for bringing this new car to you.

Tips for Changing Your Mindset

In the beginning, it is hard to get past the old way of journaling, where you are talking more about what you don’t want, instead of what you do want.

Scripting is all about acting as if, being in the future when you have what you are trying to manifest.

If you find yourself writing about lack or what you want, not as if you already have it, take each sentence, cross off the words that point to lack, and replace them with words that represent abundance.

How to Recognize Signs from the Universe

As you begin manifesting, and using various methods in the Law of Attraction, you may get to a point where you are a little confused as to what direction you are meant to take next, in order to make your desires a reality.

The Universe tends to send you signs in many different forms about the path you are on, helping you to see when what you manifested is coming true for you.

If you are concerned about missing these signs, here are some things to look for.

Look for Patterns in Everything You Come Across

If you want to look for signs for the universe, it helps to first know what you’re looking for.

One way to see signs is in different patterns.

This might be seeing the same symbol over and over again, like a peace sign or a certain shape, or you may see number sequence like 555 or 11:11 over and over again.

Another thing people often notice is that they keep seeing the same kind of bird before something great happens.

Pay More Attention Outward

The reason people often miss signs from the Universe is because they aren’t paying attention.

Start noticing other things in the world, paying attention to everything around you.

When you go outside to walk your dogs or for a stroll, notice any smells or sights you experience. Don’t just watch your dogs but watch the birds in the sky. Notice how tall the grass is, what sounds you might hear, what seems to be out of place. Or something you never noticed in that area before.

Not only will you often see signs in these simple things, but it helps to open up your mind. You’ll become a more observational person in general.

This is a really important trait to have when you have to notice signs the Universe may be sending you.

Listen to and Trust Your Intuition

Your intuition is telling you a lot, even when you aren’t listening.

Do you ever just get this weird feeling?

Maybe you suddenly start thinking about a person just before they call, or you have a song playing in your head before it plays on the radio.

Sometimes, when you meet someone, you have immediate good or bad feelings, or you get this overwhelming feeling of joy before going to an event.

This is your intuition talking to you, sending you vital signals.

The more you pay attention to it, the more you can read your own intuition and listen to your gut. This can also be a powerful way the universe sends you important signs.

May you achieve all that your heart desires in the New Year!

Law of Attraction Essentials for the Real World Bundle

This bundle of resources will help you apply the Law of Attraction to manifest your intentions while improving your life and reaching your goals.

Click here for full details!

The bundle includes 3 planners and short reports to enable you to make any year your year of manifesting the best!

Multi-tasking is an essential skill in the current corporate world and cannot be ignored as I had pointed out in an earlier post.

Your challenge then is how to do it without adversely impacting your Executive Presence or productivity.

But Multitasking does have its drawbacks.

According to The Harvard Business Review, this behavior can lead to as much as a 40 percent decrease in productivity. It takes workers time to switch mindset from one task to another, and doing so may not be in the best interest of your work group. In addition, it can negatively impact your company’s bottom line.

An article I read about the impact of multi-tasking in the workplace, points out how this can raise stress and anxiety in a worker and even possible burnout.

I’m not surprised. Clients who engage me as their coach for building their Executive Presence always have time management issues.

The side-effects of multi-tasking also have to be addressed.

That’s because multi-tasking over stimulates your brain function and you lose your ability to differentiate between the important and not so important tasks. It also blurs the line between tasks that are urgent and not so urgent.

Priority tasks get mingled with activities that aren’t really urgent and sadly, the Covey Quadrant or Blanchard Quadrant approach to prioritization of tasks doesn’t work for these professionals because they aren’t able to think with a clear mind.

Having said that, there’ll always be jobs where this skill is essential for completing tasks, like customer service representatives, nurses, bank tellers, bartenders, receptionists, and other front-end roles for examples.

To serve customers better, they must attend to several tasks at once.

But this same skill can become a hindrance for professionals who need a high level of concentration at work such as accountants or data entry specialists, to name a few.

I mean, have you ever heard of a surgeon multi-tasking on patients in the operation theater?

Focusing on one task at a time is necessary for these roles to produce quality and accurate outputs.

The era of multi-tasking has generated a disturbing phenomenon – our inability to focus on just one thing at a time and experiencing scattered brain syndrome.

Even if we aren’t willing to admit it openly, most of us feel scattered a good portion of the day. That’s because we’re always juggling many things at once and never have our brains entirely concentrated on one task at a time.

5 Tips to stop feeling Scattered & start feeling in Control

While I have an entire course on effective time management for professionals, here are 5 tips to help you learn to focus.

#1. Remove Distractions

Before you embark on becoming more focused, identify the things that are most likely to distract you.

Do you find yourself always looking at the notifications on your phone? Turn them off.

Do you constantly browse social media when you should be working? Install a plugin on your browser that limits how much time you spend on specific sites.

Turn off anything and everything you can that can be a distraction, including ringers, pop-ups, and other noises or visuals that pull you out of your zone.

If you focus better while listening to music, put your headphones on and select your best tunes before you start working.

Whatever it is you need to do, get your environment set to be as distraction-free as possible.

#2. Prioritize Your To-Dos

This one is often on the top of lists related to productivity for a good reason. The act of writing down what needs to be done helps to declutter your mind and get a handle on everything rattling around up there.

After it is all down on paper (or your phone) prioritize what needs to be done first. These are your tasks that MUST be done today (or by lunch, etc).

Prioritizing also tells your brain to stop worrying about those pesky things way down on the list and to focus on what is essential.

#3. Pick One and Break it Down

Start with your most pressing goal. Simplify it into its most basic steps or actions, which should take no more than 20 minutes for each.

If a step will take longer, break it down even further. Once you have a clear outline of how to accomplish the goal, you are ready to begin.

#4. Start Working. Focus on One Step at a Time

Since you know exactly what needs to be done and how long it will take, you do not need to rush, and you can focus on one thing at a time. Focus on getting that first step done.

It will take less than 20 minutes, which means your brain can concentrate for that long without interruption. Do each step deliberately and do not try to do anything else while you’re at it.

Once you are done with that step, evaluate how you feel. Do you need a break? Are you ready for the next step?

#5. Break up the Day

If you start to feel agitated or anxious, it is okay to break up your time by getting up to move or doing another very small task.

But do one little thing and then come back to your priority.

The more you neglect the important stuff on your list, the more scattered your brain will feel. After you have completed four steps or tasks, you should take a real break.

During this time, you can check your social media, read blog articles, or indulge in your guilty pleasure that you have been avoiding while you were working.

Bonus Tip: Focus on Tasks, Not the Clock

It doesn’t matter what time it is or how long you have been working. Focus on checking off the steps in your list or the tasks you have prioritized.

If you need some boundaries, set a timer for 20 minutes and work consistently until you hear it go off. Take a short break, and then return and start again. The more you practice this, the easier it will become as you build your stamina for focus.

Retraining a scattered brain takes time and diligence, but it can happen.

Be assured that you will slowly but surely start feeling like your mind can focus and you do not feel so scattered all the time.

Have you been thinking about starting a new business because you now want to leave the corporate world but are too scared to step out of your comfort zone and do it?

Well I’ve got some news for you. It is possible AND it can happen even during a pandemic.

Prefer to read? Here’s the transcript below

Hi, I’m Vatsala Shukla, Chief Encouragement Officer of Karmic Ally Coaching and today, I’m going to be showing you how you can take advantage of the pandemic for launching a successful new business.

But first, let’s get rid of this myth or a truth bomb.

If you think that a recession is the worst possible time to start a business, then think again.

Because some very profitable businesses were launched during times of recession and they took advantage of some key factors. And the same is true for pandemic times.

And you know why I’m going to say this? Because I’ve got case studies to prove it. And here, I’m going to be telling you about 3 of them.

The first one that I want to outline is that of QuickHire, which is actually an online hiring platform which was started by 2 sisters, Angela Muhwezi-Hall and Deborah Gladney just as American businesses were shutting down during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

This was an idea they had for a long time to help service industry and skilled trade workers obtain jobs.

When it came to capital? Guess What? They pooled together about $50,000 from their savings and 401(k) plans in September of that year and have since secured a $350,000 investment from one angel investor.

More importantly, they are making a difference and thriving during the pandemic helping the job market and skilled workers.

The next one I want to tell you about is Life First Sanitisation which was actually started in India by filmmaker Aditya Gupta when the nation went into lockdown and his industry found itself totally unprepared for the pandemic fallout.

And since starting Life First Sanitisation, he has actually worked with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar and leading Bollywood production houses. And his company carries out Covid-19 tests for the cast and crew, it sanitises their spaces and equipment with Ultraviolet-C light, and it enforces social distancing.

And this business only came about because while he was binge-watching Netflix movies and looking at Shark Tank, a new entrepreneurial spirit of his came to be.

The third example that I have, or case study is that of Anthyesti Funeral Services.

This one is slightly different because the startup had already happened in 2016.

And it was started by a former software engineer Shruthi Reddy Sethi, who wanted to clean up India’s unregulated funeral industry but it really took off after they adapted to the new COVID situation. And right now, this company is providing “end-to-end” COVID funerals in four cities.

So you see, it’s not just launching a new business but you can even pivot and actually tap into a market during recession and pandemic times.

And in my opinion, what’s really required is a fire in the belly and a desire to succeed.

So, what does it take for an entrepreneur to launch during a pandemic?

Well, I’ve got some more stats for you if you need more evidence.

There was this survey done by Salesforce in April 2021 to find out what it was like being an entrepreneur during a pandemic and there were 6 facts that emerged that need to be considered seriously.

And these 6 facts are outlined in this slide but let me tell you a little more.

Creativity is critical

Creativity was number one by a landslide and 57% of those who were surveyed said that, you know, they started thinking outside of the box and that is how new businesses were born.

Like housebound parents suddenly baking away in their kitchens and their products. Others you know started using skills and talents that perhaps they hadn’t used in the corporate world but which turned out to be profitable businesses. There were online classes, online therapy.

Creativity and being able to imagine a new business idea was what counted.

The Ultimate Inspiration? Being your own Boss

Now not surprisingly 57% of those who were surveyed said that becoming their own boss was the ultimate inspiration.

And of course passion for your product or service, and capitalizing on market needs is a normal reason for going into business but saying you want to be your own boss, live life on your own terms, that was a very big factor.

Pandemic preponed entrepreneurial plans

25% of those surveyed said the pandemic actually accelerated their plans. Many professionals suddenly found themselves being laid-off or furloughed and they needed an income to keep their kitchen’s burning, and they just decided to go into business instead.

In fact many of them had been planning on starting their own business or becoming self-employed and the pandemic simply brought their plans forward.

The rise of the B2C businesses

Now, 80% of these businesses sell directly to their consumers. In fact, interestingly, the pandemic saw many new businesses in what is known as the B2C space or business-to-consumer space instead of the normal business to business model.

And which means you don’t really need a big office or lots of staff to take on consumers. You can deal with them yourself.

Also, you don’t need a ton of cash to start a side hustle.

In fact, 52% of businesses launched had less than $10,000 seed capital and nearly half of that group had less than $5,000 on hand on the starting day. 80% of these people drew from their own bank accounts and roughly one-third received friends and family investments.

So you see, you don’t need millions and you don’t need an angel investor to start with. You can do it. You need to have a good idea and you need to have some money to fund your fledgling business until the business starts bringing money in.

And the last one was the new businesses are digital first.

In fact, 59% of these new businesses had five or less employees. And what helped them was that thanks to the lockdown and the pandemic, they didn’t need physical space or equipment beyond say a computer or a phone. And 70% of businesses were born out of technology or were tech-focused from day one.

In other words you didn’t need to put out or get any office space. You could use technology. Many meetings are conducted over Skype or Zoom and other platforms and there was simply no reason not to go ahead.

I mean, sort of, our costs are much lower and you could do it. But the best part and the one that made me very happy when I saw the survey was that nearly three in four of the new business owners surveyed already had customers.

So now that we’re all on a positive note, let me ask you, what’s your business plan like right now?

Now with some smart and creative thinking, you can have your business launched in no time. And if you have a clear plan, you can make this happen regardless of the state of the economy.

And for that, I want to give you some more encouragement and I’m going to be sharing some tips that can help you take advantage of the recession or the pandemic to get your business off to a great start:

So my first point is that your Startup costs can be lower.

And that I’ve already shown you how that survey revealed about the seed capital that these new entrepreneurs had and also how they kept their costs down because they were mostly technology based businesses that didn’t more than a laptop, an internet connection or a phone and all. So if they could do it, you can also do it.

The next one is that you must provide excellent customer service.

In other words, make sure you treat your customers the way you would want to be treated.

And a bonus tip here is that when a pandemic or recession happens, many talented professionals lose their jobs.

So if you’re planning to actually have employees on board, you could actually hire some very awesome candidates and if that isn’t possible for you right now, then you could even hire a VA or virtual assistant who can help you with the technology.

In other words, there is no excuse for you no starting your own business.

Now this is actually a very super-duper tip. You see the way Amazon and Flipkart and other online companies keep making great offers?

And of course even though you don’t want or need something, you think oh my God this is a great price, it’s a good deal. Let me take it especially if it is something you have your eyes on?

You might also have seen a lot of online companies which offer services to businesses making absolutely awesome discounted deals and all during the New Year Christmas period.

Similarly, I suggest you offer bonuses.

Now I don’t say, you know, discount yourself completely so that you cannot break even, but you can make offers which have bonuses which complement the services or the product you’re planning to sell and in that way prove that you are actually providing greater value than your other competitors and actually start bringing in the customers to start building up your business.

Ah, you have to be frugal.

In other words, abstain from going after shiny objects thinking that oh this is going to help me or that will help me. Instead, count, make sure you stick to your budget.

Make sure that you actually work out what all layouts you need to start your business.

And if there is something that is required, research all options before you go for it. Don’t just splurge with oh, I have a business, I need, you know, all sorts of crazy things.

The bells and whistles can come later. In the very beginning, make sure that you have your basics and fundamentals correct.

And the other reason, or rather the best reason that I can think of was actually getting started and launching a new business is that it’s going to give you a head start.

You know it takes a lot of courage to actually say ‘I’m going to start a business and I’m going to use it to sustain my lifestyle and provide for my family or for myself’.

But you know, those people who are brave enough to actually take courage in hand and go for their goals, they get a head start because you might just find that many people who are going to be entering the industry in which you have skills and when they join in, the market will get saturated and competition will become tougher.

But when you start earlier you already know the mistakes, you know how to adapt to changing requirements and you also understand what is required in the market and you’re able to keep a respectable if not a very good market share.

So, if I have managed to inspire you a bit to start considering launching your own successful business during COVID-19 times, then here is a very special offer, which I hope you will not resist.

And that is, I have got a workbook which details the 5 things you need to work on before jumping into business and those are the 5 areas that I have found need to be addressed both when I started business and when others who I know have started their businesses and it is in a very simplified form.

But it is going to help you to get your ideas down and actually work out where you could run into hiccups and sort it out before you make some drastic mistakes.

And because I always like to over deliver, I’m going to give you some extra help with resources which actually tie up with the main theme of this workbook and that is, you’re going to be getting the Entrepreneur Mindset Worksheet, you’re going to be getting the Ideal Business Worksheet, my Goal Setting Business Report and an Essential Business Information Guide.

The last one will also help you when you start working on your Business Plan. The link to this resource is included in the comment and I suggest you actually check it out and see if this is something that will help you.

I feel that it can but it’s your call.

So, my final words on the subject.

If you can launch and operate a successful business during a pandemic or during a recession, just think of what you can accomplish once the economy booms again!

And instead of waiting for the “right” time, take action today.

That’s all from me, Vatsala Shukla from Karmic Ally Coaching signing off. See you soon. Bye for now.

What drives you?

I was asked this question back in 2007 when I was on the verge of leaving the corporate world to start my own IFRS consulting business during the adoption of those accounting standards in India.

My office had shifted to a neighboring city but with the Metro and Airport Highway construction work, I was spending 5 hours a day commuting.

Relocating residence was not an option for my family. By then I’d already had my wake up call regarding my health and the need to change my lifestyle.

The querant was a lady introduced to me by a mutual professional contact who felt we could both benefit as she was looking for a person with my specific subject matter expertise to facilitate training in New Delhi on a contract basis and who also had the contacts for business development.

She owned a publishing company with live training being a secondary revenue stream.

The project didn’t work out because when I saw the contract and ran it through my lawyer, it was an employment contract with terms and conditions that even a bonded laborer wouldn’t have signed in India, if they knew what was good for them.

Besides, she told someone else with whom I was in talks for projects to keep away as she was interested in my knowledge and skills and that person obliged but not before telling me why he was backing out.

It was flattering to know she wanted me to come onboard but I was made to feel like a commodity rather than a serious professional who had a lot to bring to the table for an all-round win-win outcome. That’s another story for another time.

But yes, I walked away from both and went on to do work on projects that made me happy and kept me self-driven towards my purpose.

What she was asking me at that point was more about how self-driven I was and my end goal.

A good question when you consider I was walking away from a 6 figure salary with one of the biggest accounting firms in the world when the next rung of the ladder was partnership or becoming a Director, to follow my own ideas and passion.

As you can see, with Karmic Ally Coaching, I’ve arrived where I wanted to go and the journey continues as I have found my calling and purpose in life.

It’s a great feeling to find one’s purpose in life because you suddenly know where you should go and what you want to do!

But just as finding your purpose is important, it’s also important to make sure your purpose is self-driven.

Because if it isn’t, it may as well never get accomplished.

You’ve seen it on LinkedIn profiles but do you know what Self-Driven means?

Let’s go back to basics for a moment. When someone is self-driven, this means they are completely self-motivated to achieve their goals.

They get up every day and do what they have to do to get where they want to go.

They don’t need any exterior form of motivation or carrots being dangled in front of them because they are their own motivation. This makes it easy for them to accomplish things, because they want to do them.

They might need a mentor or coach to help them when they hit a rough patch on the way but they know where they are going.

Additionally, self-driven people don’t waste time. They take action in the now and don’t put off doing things that they can get done today.

Frankly speaking, you’ll never find a self-driven person sitting at home on the couch doing affirmations and visualizing that they were getting things done or hoping for a new job or promotion expecting it to happen.

To make the Law of Attraction work, you still need to take Deliberate Action!

How to tell if your Purpose is Self-Driven?

Now that we understand the meaning of self-driven, the next step is to identify if our purpose qualifies.

When you have found a purpose in life that is self-driven, it won’t feel like a chore to work towards it. Rather you will enjoy every minute that you spend pursuing your passion.

If you feel that someone has to drag you out of bed to complete your purpose, then there is definitely a chance that it isn’t self-driven. It’s a sign you need to reflect and introspect and figure it out.

Coming back for a minute to the bonded labour contract, I was talking to Beata, an old friend back in Warsaw, on the phone about it at the time.

She told me that while my lawyer could vet it for unfair terms and conditions, I should look at myself and how I was feeling.

She could make out the opportunity didn’t make my ‘heart sing’.

Besides having walked away from a job that others would have given their right arm for, it wasn’t my purpose because I would not have followed my dream to ‘fly solo’.

Beata was right, of course.

Why Should Your Purpose Be Self-Driven?

The simple answer is that if you don’t have the motivation to achieve your goals, then they will most likely never get done or will be a half-baked effort.

It’s the same thing about finding your purpose but lacking the drive to move towards it. It’s as good as simply daydreaming, chanting, affirming and expecting things to fall into place. It won’t happen.

If you want to accomplish your purpose, then make sure it is a self-driven one that you feel pushed to work towards successfully achieving.

But there’s more to this and it’s all about you.

You need to understand that your needs, wants and sense of purpose changes over time.

What’s important at the beginning of your career like getting a great job and the ability to get a loan to purchase your first home isn’t the same as it will be when you’re 25 years into your career.

At that point, your aspirations will change and you would be looking at avenues to fulfill your self-realization goals.

That’s what happened with me and what’s happening with a lot of people who are now part of The Great Resignation or Big Quit that got a boost from the pandemic and work from home aspect of a job.

Our focus has changed and so have our goals. If that sounds like you, then click here and download Life Focus in 7 Days.

It’s a good guide to use for a new beginning or to start in a new direction, whether in your life or career.

3 Simple Ways to increase your Self-Drive

Are you self-driven to achieve your purpose? Or feel you need to up your game? Especially when it comes to your career path?

If you’re discovering that your purpose maybe isn’t as self-driven as you thought, don’t fret, as there are some easy ways to increase your drive to help you achieve goals.

Take Responsibility

You’re the only person who is truly in charge of your life and you need to realize that. There is no one hovering your shoulder telling you what to do.

If you want to make a change, it’s time to get up and do it for yourself, because you are responsible.

Realizing this, and taking responsibility for the things that are happening in your life is the first step to increasing your self-drive.

Find a New Purpose

A key indicator that your goals might not be the right ones for you is if you’re struggling to achieve them and just soldiering on because that’s what’s expected of you.

Take a pause and a step back. Not everyone is cut out for everything.

I remember during my trainee days in London I had a great audit supervisor who suddenly handed in her papers.

Why?

She’d realized she didn’t want to become a Chartered Accountant! That too after passing the first level of exams with barely a year to complete the mandatory training required by our Institute.

Her knowledge and experience wasn’t lost but could be transferred to another career or line of work.

Don’t be afraid to start over and don’t be afraid to abandon something that just isn’t working.

If you aren’t feeling inspired by something, you will never be able to make it your self-driven purpose.

Wondering if your purpose is the real one? Ask yourself these 5 Key Questions to Discover your Life Purpose.

Or it might even be the case that you were self-driven until external forces that were beyond your control changed everything.

Maybe that’s the wakeup call you need to start your journey towards your true purpose. If that’s your case, then the roadmap provided in Wakeup Call: What happens when you accept your Call to Adventure will guide you.

Create a Plan

Sometimes, all you need to get yourself to become driven is to make an action plan for yourself. An action plan can make it easier to see where you are going in life and help inspire you to get moving.

But remember that a plan alone isn’t enough and you will definitely need to take responsibility as well!

Overall, when you think you’ve found your purpose in life, be sure to take a minute and ask yourself if it is a self-driven purpose.

This is important when it comes to knowing if you’ll be able to accomplish it. But if it is self-driven, you’re well on your way to success.

In the second part of this series, I’ll give you more guidance about finding your life purpose but for now, here’s a question to consider.

Are you self-driven when it comes to your career and life decisions?

When you hear the words abundance, prosperity and success, what’s the first thought that comes to your mind?

If you think of money, wealth and finances, then know that’s okay. We’re conditioned to think about moolah and tangible items as hallmarks. Let’s accept it, money definitely has a powerful charge.

In fact, when I did my series on money, my post on attracting abundance by raising one’s money set point based on my own practices, it made it to my popular post section.

You can read the post at this link . Also check out additional resources in that post to attract more money into your life.

But there’s more to abundance than a pot of gold.

You don’t have to wait for special occasions or moments in the day to manifest abundance. With a few simple behavioural changes, you can attract more good abundance into your life as a whole.

It can feel like a daunting task but it’s actually very simple. Ultimately it comes down to certain actions you can take and thoughts you can enforce to improve your quality of life by attracting and manifesting exactly what you want.

By making an effort to manifest your dreams and aspirations, you’ll find yourself reshaping your perspective on life and connecting with your desires.

In this post, I’m sharing 5 simple and easy examples of behaviours you can incorporate into your daily life for lasting results.

In fact, when you embrace these behaviours, you raise your own vibration. This in turn helps the Universe to send you more of what you desire.

In other words, the Law of Attraction starts to work in your favour too!

Change the lens -alter your Mindset

This is an important behaviour and one where I often spend time with my coaching clients – mindset.

Often the reason people don’t accomplish their dreams and aspirations is because their subconscious mind holding them back. Your mind can be your best friend or your greatest enemy, but luckily that is in your control.

Instead of thinking about your possibilities and taking risks, people who aren’t attracting abundance are most likely afraid of failure and hold themselves back due to protection and safety.

When you can build up a positive mentality and are willing to step out of your comfort zone, you will realize that the possibilities are endless.

I’d go as far as to state that when we change the lens with which we see the world, then we attract more of what we want.

Dump your Excuses

It can be very easy to make excuses for why you are unable to accomplish your goals and dreams, but letting go of these excuses will determine the success of your future.

By constantly making excuses, you are leading yourself through a trail of bad habits that will prevent you from achieving abundance in any aspect of your life.

These excuses are a sign of a victim mentality and you’re distancing yourself from the responsibility of achieving those goals and targets that will get you closer to your desired state of prosperity and abundance.

By training your mind to be strong and building up a strong sense of willpower to make yourself unstoppable, you will feel more productive and inclined to accomplish your goals.

The more you strengthen your mind, the more you will attract the desired abundance.

Feel Empowered

You create your reality based on your thoughts, opinions, and reactions to situations. It may not seem like it, but the way you feel about yourself reflects directly on those around you and their feelings towards you.

When you are confident and feel empowered, the people who you talk to will feel like they can trust you and will make decisions that will most likely benefit you.

For example, when I started Karmic Ally Coaching, I was making a complete change in career from finance to professional and executive coaching. My first few clients came from referrals from former colleagues and friends.

Why? Because while they wanted to help me, the prospective client could tell I was passionate about my work and confident to deliver results (which I did of course!). They signed up without negotiating my price.

Whether you realize it or not, the confidence you have within reflects on your situations nearly every day. By feeling courageous and empowered, you will attract abundance from a personal, professional, and financial perspective.

Be Supportive of Others

By adding value to the quality of others’ lives, you will attract abundance at the most important times.

When you realize and accept that there is an unlimited amount of knowledge, money, and recognition to go around, you will no longer be afraid of lifting others.

Supporting others has plenty of benefits that will impact your own life. For example, if you teach someone or help them out when they need something, they will feel more inclined to trust you and help you out.

People whom I had supported wanted to support me get Karmic Ally Coaching off to a good start. I didn’t have any expectations of reciprocity but there was an abundance of goodwill to help me.

Create Goals and Commit to Them

Specific Goals, whether short-term or long-term are the most important way to achieve your dreams and aspirations.

These specific goals help you to understand your values in life and make you feel productive. Goals help you to align your “why” with your surroundings and ways you can improve your life.

You stop making excuses because the goals become strong and you are motivated to achieve them.

3 Steps to make these behaviours help you manifest what you want

In the continuing chaos caused by second waves of COVID-19, lockdowns, unlocks, work from home, return to office, go back to work from home, have you taken time out to reflect on what you want out of 2021? Will it still be possible?

That’s the question that was on my mind this last weekend as I realized we’re entering the last month of Q2 2021. I took stock of where I was and what I wanted to achieve.

Are we on the same wavelength?

I believe we need to go with the flow and stay resilient in the face of challenge.

I also believe that we can have whatever we want from our life and our careers if we’re willing to see problems and challenges as opportunities for growth and transformation.

In other words, we can live an abundant life provided we embrace the right mindset.

Everything we desire and need is available to us but we need to take action to manifest it.

Today I want to encourage you to use your latent powers of manifestation to create your best year yet. I’ve already outlined the 5 behavior changes you need to make. Now it’s time to take more action.

Here are 3 steps that I always apply and so do my successful clients.

By applying these steps, you will increase your ability to access the abundance that surrounds you and also allow you to manifest what you desire in your life.

I used it to manifest 2 Covishield vaccine shots, one for my Mom and the other for myself at a time when the COWIN app was crashing. There was also a massive shortage of the vaccine in New Delhi.

Step 1: Define What You Want Clearly

Knowing what you want is important to the manifestation process. It is practically impossible for the universe to give you what you want if you don’t know what you want!

People who know exactly what they want can manifest their desires. It’s sometimes easier to identify what we want by focusing on a feeling.

For example, you know you don’t want to be tied financially because you need to feel financial freedom. That feeling is important. The more that feeling is present in your life, the more you will work towards your desired state.

To define what you want, simply start with the following statement: “I want…” That will stop you from describing what you don’t want.

Step 2: Identify Actions You Can Take

Once you’ve identified what you want more in your life, start brainstorming a list of small actions. Abundance doesn’t happen overnight.

Most people who live an abundant life will tell you that they work at it every day. On a daily basis, they are accomplishing small actions that aligns them with what they want in life.

These small actions will get you closer to your desire. For example, when we know we desire financial freedom, we can ask ourselves questions like:

What can bring me financial freedom?

Maybe the answer could be to pay off any credit card debt to feel a sense of financial freedom.

The next question would be

What action can I take right now to pay my credit card debt?

Then make a list of actions like the following:

• Pay the full monthly bill instead of just the minimum monthly payment to avoid incurring high rates of interest on the outstanding balance
• Cut my card so that I never use it again (Dame Maggie Thatcher did it and so can you!)
• Sell items that are no longer used by me, are causing clutter and use the money to pay my credit card.

Step 3: Act Now

Pick an action that is the most realistic for you and apply it today. Let’s be honest, only actions will lead you to what you desire.

And if you want a systematic plan as well as a mindset upgrade, then check out

The Abundance Mindset: The Ultimate Guide to Living an Abundant, Unlimited, Successful and Content Life by clicking here or on the image below

A good leader knows their true success in that role requires finding the balance between team members achieving their individual goals while working on important team goals that flow into achieving organization goals.

Targets and goals flow top down through the management chain of command to operational level. As a team leader, it’s important you support your team to reach its targets and goals.

You will be put in charge of a group by your managers. The reason being so you can help them to get the business to where they think it needs to be.

This will most likely translate into earning a certain amount of profit, taking on a certain number of new clients, or perhaps turning over more work.

It could also include creating more effective and efficient processes that raise productivity and margins.

Your ability to deliver results will advance your career and open the doors to a leadership track.

Whatever the case, you need to decide how to help your team to get there.

So how do you do that?

Break the Big Goal into Smaller Achievable Goals

As with all big goals, your 1^st step is to break those overarching targets down into smaller and more achievable goals. This will help you to see whether or not you are on track to meet the targets at any given point.

Set up milestones to mark each step towards the big goal within an expected time frame.

Always leave a time margin while setting up the milestones. Tight milestones leave little space for error and leeway.

And as we all know, even the best plans can get derailed when we’re working on them. We are required to take into account new information and events that might occur.

It’s not a good idea to try and race toward a deadline as it creates a stressed atmosphere. It will likely lead to you getting behind schedule which can be very difficult to recover from.

Instead, set SMART Goals and then break into milestones that mark progress towards that big goal.

Sometimes a project requires a multi-talent team with members joining from different departments with different skill sets and expertise.

As a good team leader, it’s your job to get every individual in the team to work together as a unit. I go into more detail in my post 5 ways a good group leader improves individual goal achievement.

Assign roles to members of the team and placing them correctly to do their best work. That means further dividing the work you need to do into small and precise chunks.

Think about who is best to tackle each of those chunks, and how best to motivate them to tackle them.

Apply Process Kaizen

The next thing to think about is efficiency.

This is sometimes referred as “process kaizen,” which essentially means honing in on small changes you can make to daily processes, which can save large amounts of time and energy in the long run.

According to LeanProduction, Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) is a strategy where employees at all levels of a company work together proactively to achieve regular, incremental improvements to the manufacturing process. In a sense, it combines the collective talents within a company to create a powerful engine for improvement.

As a leader, you can build a cohesive efficient team by encouraging them to think outside the box . Offer suggestions and implement improvements that enable tasks to be completed in time and achievement of milestones for the project.

Sometimes we don’t even realize we are applying the Kaizen philosophy or implementing the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, and Act) approach to achieve team targets and goals.

For example, at the start of an audit, the Team Leader holds a planning meeting where the audit team including specialists from other departments like Tax and IT. Their skills will be required to plan the strategy and approach for a successful audit in order to issue the Auditor Report for the client.

The team can make suggestions on how to achieve this goal within time limits and budget. The Tax and IT experts might give suggestions to reduce their charge to the audit. They’ll ask for specific documents or information to be collected by the audit team who would be onsite before they commence their work.

A good leader will encourage the team to use their creativity and also follow up on the progress with regular checks and change in work plan if required.

Process Kaizen would also be seen at the end of the audit during the debriefing meeting where the team would assess what went right and where they can improve the process for the next audit.

Be the human equivalent of a Force Multiplier

I’m sure you’d remember this phrase from your Physics class back in school!

A force multiplier is anything that you can use in order to get more work done more quickly, without putting in more energy.

An example is a forklift – this multiplies the amount of palettes that a single person or a team can move exponentially!

Computers are also force multipliers, and making sure that everyone’s works to the best of their ability is a huge way to make sure they’re able to work as quickly as possible.

I’d venture to say your television remote control device is a force multiplier too!

When it comes to work and leadership, according to Liz Wiseman, Author, Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter there are 2 types of leaders – Intelligence Multipliers and Diminishers.

Leaders who use their intelligence to amplify the capabilities of people around them are Multipliers of intelligence.

because they inspire employees to stretch themselves to deliver results that surpass expectations. They assume that their team members are intelligent people and will figure out solutions on their own.

This core assumption is at the root of the five leadership practices that distinguish Multipliers.

As a result, Multipliers get better results from their people. They give opportunities to their team members to improve their skills and learn more.

On the other hand, Diminishers see a limited number of smart people. They assume that no one else will figure things out without them. It’s not their fault, really.

These leaders are promoted based on their skills, but management often forgets that the skills that helped them get the promotion is not sufficient in a leadership role where soft and people skills like Emotional Intelligence become key to their success.

Even if you as a team leader find yourself playing the role of a Diminisher, it’s never too late to change provided you’re ready to shift your mindset and do what it takes to become a Multiplier.

The choice rests with you.

How to Get the Most Out of Team Members

Being a leader is truly about taking a step back, and about allowing your team to really perform their best work.

Rather than “taking the bull by the horns” or attempting to micromanage your staff, allow individual creativity and talent of each person to shine. That’s why they were hired in the first place, after all!

So how do you do this? How do you go about getting the most out of each individual team member?

Here are some useful points to keep in mind.

Make them Feel Safe

One of the most important roles of any leader is to make the team feel safe. In a work place environment, this will often mean that you are taking on responsibility, such that they don’t take the blame when things turn sour.

This requires some practice and knowing where to draw the line.

If your team know you will blame them for every mistake that they make, then they won’t be able to take creative risks.

Likewise, if they are terrified of layoffs and higher management, then they’re not going to work well either!

Know their Skills

Consider is how each of your members operates as an individual and how best they can be integrated into a team.

Different people have different skill sets and work better in different capacities. This means that different people will work better in certain groups and in certain positions within those groups.

If you have someone who is a born leader, then of course that person is an asset to any group. That is, unless that group already has a born leader in place in which case you are going to cause friction.

I remember a project where I had a team with not one but 3 born leaders!

It was a challenge in the beginning figuring out how to give each of these talented individuals a chance to shine in their work while keeping everyone in a team format.

It required thinking about how each new member fitted into the dynamic of the core team and then choosing how I assembled the mini teams based on this.

Being sensitive to the entire team and presenting the mini team break down was important. Everyone had to understand how we were dividing the work in order to save time while allowing each person to play on their strengths.

It made life easier because doing this allowed me to know who to assign to each task when they were required to work independently and help them discover their blue ocean for career progression.

Give them Ownership over their work

One of THE most important tips for any leader, is to give members of the team a sense of ownership over what they are doing.

While it’s your job to take responsibility when things go wrong, you should also make sure that they have something to show for their hard work, and that they have control over. If it goes well… they get all the credit!

When someone isn’t working their best, it normally isn’t because they are “bad workers”. Instead, it’s because they don’t feel intrinsically motivated by the work they’re doing.

Give them a project that they can do on their own with their existing skills that can be further developed in the project along with some creative control that they can add to their CV.

You’d be amazed at how well the person will perform. An intelligent professional will know they are being given an opportunity to shine and advance their career.

In my younger professional years, I was lucky to work with team leaders who took their team along with them. We were given opportunities for further development. They doubled up as mentors too.

Those were the role models I emulated in my later years and achieved a lot more than successful project completions.

Bonds of mentorship and long-lasting relationships are developed that continue even after the project or change in job.

That’s what true leadership is all about. Being remembered with high regards by a team member long after they’ve ceased to be a team member and become a leader in their own right!

Additional Resources for Leaders who want to create great Teams

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Good leaders actually know the effect of Do as I say Not Do as I do

Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, Liz Wiseman

The Force Multiplier: How to Lead Teams Where Everyone Wins, Tony Chatman

Karmic Ally Coaching’s Complete Leadership Toolkit

It’s a fact the world we knew has changed in 2020 and if you’re feeling there isn’t any point in setting career or any kind of goal in an upside down world, I understand.

Many companies have had to lay off staff to survive lockdown conditions or to stay in business while others have deferred promotions, pay increments and bonuses.

If you, dear reader have been affected by these business decisions, I feel your pain.

I’ve experienced redundancies during economic downswings and jobs that were secure vanished overnight and so have many of my colleagues and friends.

But that doesn’t mean that all is lost.

The job market is starting to pick up albeit slowly and if you have what the hiring manager is looking for, then enjoy the interviews and signing your new job contract!

Companies may introduce new criterion for promotions and salaries and that is natural in a new business environment.

You can still make this a good year for your career if you apply strategic thinking.

You need to figure out how to showcase yourself to rise above the noise and become visible enough to achieve your career or business goals.

Before your eyes glaze over and you think strategic thinking is a vague buzzword CEOs or bosses toss around to sound important, please read on because I’m going to show you how Madonna did it and how you can too for career success!

Actually, Strategic Thinking is a skill we can all learn. It is how we plan, think, and ask questions to grow and learn while we work toward a goal.

It’s embracing what you were like when you were a young child and asking questions, most importantly, “why?”

Thinking strategically is based on a combination of knowledge, experiences, and your hunches. It’s about taking calculated and un-calculated risks that we hope will pay off in the future.

It’s about shifting your focus from just doing things to thinking and planning what should be getting done and if there is another way to achieve the results we want.

Strategic thinkers are creative individuals who think outside the box, not limiting themselves to the tried and true or best practice way of doing things.

On the other hand, non-strategic thinkers approach every task the same way, no matter if changing their strategy would yield better results. They are reactive and wait for guidance, rarely presenting new ideas.

For example, if you’re focusing on the same skill sets that others are in a job application you are just part of the crowd.

Why not look for something that makes you so special (provided it is true) to put in your CV and covering letter that compels the hiring manager to want to interview you?

It’s this approach that I share in Job Search Success and the same strategy applies even within an organization when you are vying for that promotion and trying to raise your Executive Presence.

It’s all about discovering your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and knowing how to use it to your advantage.

The Career and Success Story of Madonna Ciccone

Believe it or not but I’ve seen Madonna’s career actually being used as a case study to analyse the role of strategy in career success within a fast-paced business environment!

In fact strategy exists for both individuals and organizations and this is a prime example.

If you were a teenager or young adult in the 1980s, you’d remember how Madonna seemed to have arrived out of nowhere and then made an impact with her first album in 1983.

It was a normal sight to see young girls wearing half finger lace gloves and bangle type earrings. Such was her impact on young teenagers.

More importantly, that first album was the successful result of a superb strategy.

In fact, long before Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, Madonna prove she was an astute strategist in the world of entertainment where the competition to survive is tough.

Madonna articulated her core mission, established her objectives, adopted a relentless strategic intent, and recognized that she could carve out uncontested market space by developing a USP and personal brand unlike anyone else’s.

As career professionals, freelancers, consultants and solopreneurs, the key lesson is to develop a competitive advantage that differentiates us from others in our field and stand out above the noise.

Normally when we think of competitive advantage, we assume that we’re doing the same thing as everyone else but better and become slaves to benchmarks, best practices and end up mimicking our competitors.

That’s not what Madonna did to achieve success.

She continues to reinvent herself and stay relevant. Many of her fans, including me, have followed her from where she started and continue to purchase her music.

She discovered her USP that helped her stand out from the crowd and created brand Madonna.

Now as professionals, we have 2 ways to decide on our USP.

You can either choose a generic strategy or build on it by deciding how you will do things differently or you can find your really unique quality and create a USP that leaves your competitors behind.

Madonna chose the latter and discovered what is called her Blue Ocean.

Blue Ocean strategy means thinking unconventionally, and most times, we have to force ourselves to change our thinking habits.

It’s helpful to train ourselves to look at situations not with our habitual perspective but with a keen eye for the hidden opportunities in the situation.

“Blue Ocean” is a strategic term that first appeared in a book called Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne and refers to uncontested market space carved out by shrewd competitors.

Kim and Mauborgne showed that most companies are driven to compete in what they call “Red Oceans.”

That’s where every industry is today. There is a defined market, defined competitor and a typical way to run a business in any specific industry.

The analogy used was one of a shark infested ocean where the sharks are fighting each other for the same prey.

That means operating at lower margins, reducing head count, tight budgets, lots of stress and companies going belly up when a recession or pandemic hits them.

The alternative is to carve out uncontested market space, differentiate yourself, your product, or your firm in some way meaningful to your target market.

That is, to find your Blue Ocean.

While the book talks about organizations, we can use the concept even at an individual professional level.

How to create your own blue ocean for career progression

In the book, Kim and Mauborgne talk about the Four Actions Framework as a method to get you thinking in fresh ways about what you do each day.

Instead of the conventional competitive model where we compete across a full range of factors, they suggest the blue ocean approach where we ask basic questions with the intention of creating new competitive factors that would appeal to unexplored market segments.

The Four Actions Framework consists of 4 questions designed to challenge an industry’s established structure and business logic:

(1) Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated?

(2) Which factors should be reduced well below the industry’s standard?

(3) Which factors should be raised well above the industry’s standard?

(4) Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered?

Another simpler way of looking at these questions is to think of them as 4 steps – Eliminate, Reduce, Raise and Create with the related activities enabling you to create a new value.

Let’s translate this to your career goals and intentions to stand out.

Eliminate: We identify the key factors you are competing on but which are not really adding value to where you want to be in your career.

Here we are not saying to abandon those factors but to remove them from the equation while we work out our blue ocean.

So skills and experiences are still valuable but we are looking for THAT secret sauce that makes you valuable.

Reduce: Next consider which factors you should focus less energy on so you have time for the factors that really make an impact.

Raise: Now that we have removed the factors that are common to your competition and which are not adding value to your professional profile, focus on what factors, skills, or added value you can work on to be the very best and stand apart.

This won’t be the same for every professional but in your case it might just be networking skills, executive presence, high emotional intelligence, people skills or something you do even better than your peers which has value in the next step of the career rung for you.

Now comes the really strategic thinking part.

Create: What can you bring to the table that is different? What do you possess that your peers don’t?

Speaking from experience, in one of my jobs, I received the offer over other competing candidates because of my multi-cultural experience which fitted in to an organization where the parent company and regional headquarters were located in 2 different countries with different methods of working to the local company and the need to adjust when dealing with colleagues in both without conflict.

My predecessor had quit because he found the others in those countries difficult to deal with. Actually the feeling had been mutual.

In other words, how are you going to find your USP that will enable you to break away from your competition?

PS. Once you’ve discovered your Blue Ocean, follow the tips in this blog post to let the world know how unique you really are!

Goals. You just can’t escape them, can you?

I mean, even deciding not to have a goal for 2020 results in a goal!

If you take me seriously and decide you won’t set goals this year, then that itself will become a goal and your successfully achieving it will depend on all the factors that go to making goal achievement possible – motivation, SMART Goals, progression milestones and the works.

The truth is, we set goals because otherwise we wouldn’t be able to plan a route to achieving what would make a big difference for us or achieve what we want.

You need to set up goals to achieve your cherished desires and dreams.

The problem that usually arises is having too many goals and that results in running after your tail the way a dog does.

The difference between the dog and us is the dog is doing it for amusement or some agenda known only to itself while the human ends up achieving nothing but frustration.

Why not select the best goal as a starting point?

If you find yourself being indecisive about goals, here are 3 keys to mobilize you into action.

In the days when I was doing free coaching sessions for my certification practice, I found the person availing this precious session had more than 1 goal.

It was a challenge to get them to focus on the 1 thing that would make the biggest difference to them or provide the biggest transformation.

I’m grateful for the experience as it has trained me to ask specific questions and help my clients boil down their goals to The Goal.

Of course we work on the others too but The Goal is the one that creates the momentum for all the others too.

Does your head hurt from having too many goals?

As you can see, we all have lots of goals – some big and some small. Some that are essential to achieve our desires while others that fulfill a personal need.

It’s like one student client of mine whose father had hired me to get her to go back to University and complete her Masters in Information Technology.

Somewhere along the way, his daughter had lost her drive and it was important to get her to complete the remaining 6 months and get her degree.

At our first meeting, her most important goal was to become a Size Zero like her favorite Bollywood heroine (who has since gone back to a normal healthy size following the rage of young girls going anorexic).

The second best goal was to work in media. I didn’t see any signs of a goal for completion of her education.

Honestly, I didn’t know how to handle this. The challenge was not only to bring the horse to water BUT make it drink that water!

I had to find what would motivate her and tie it into her big picture goal.

Fortune favored me as I found a loophole that required her to go back to the University and mark her attendance. This place had a Radio Station and she could participate as a Radio Jockey.

I pointed out that it would help her build her resume for a RJ position later. Our focus shifted to her exploring the media and mass communication areas for a career but in the meantime she was back at University and she completed her education.

3 actions you can take if you’re overwhelmed with goals to find the best one

Look for overlaps in your goals

Sometimes there is a natural and logical relationship between goals.

Just like my student client, there was an overlap in goals – even if one of them was that of her father’s. In your case, it could be you want to have more leisure time and learn a new hobby.

You could take up candle making or art classes to pursue a new hobby while making the most of your leisure time and accomplish both goals.

Sometimes two goals seem to be in direct opposition to each other, like wanting to travel and having more time at home.

In this case, write out both goals and next to each of them write out why you want to do each of them. You might find that what you want is to be away from work.

Maybe your real goal might be to change careers. Or, you might discover that you can satisfy your desire for travel with a short vacation or a long drive with the family.

Get to the essence of the goal, and they’ll work themselves out.

Need more help? This worksheet will provide clarity.

Make the time for your goal

Your time belongs to you and you control how you spend this precious resource.

It’s easy to hide behind excuses like there are “only so many hours in a day,” and that we’re “too busy” to take on anything else right now. Wouldn’t a positive reframe throw a new light on your time?

Instead of saying “I don’t have time to learn a language,” try saying, “I’m not making time to learn a new language.” We find the time for the things that matter.

Be flexible in your goal achievement approach

It’s a good thing to put a timeline together and have definite dates and time-sensitive goals. But remember that life happens, and often it even gets in the way.

There is an ancient Greek saying that goes: “If you want to make the gods laugh, tell them your plans.” Having milestones and plotting points along the timeline is good, but don’t hold yourself to it so rigidly that you cannot adapt to the occasional curve ball.

Focusing on what’s really important will help you find the best goal.

This presentation provides guidance to determine and implement the one goal that can benefit you most if you achieve it.

Parting thoughts on having a multitude of goals

If it feels to you like you have too many goals or if the ones you do have are fighting each other, then find the essence of each one.

That will help you determine what’s most important to you right now. Then work on one goal at a time. By concentrating on which one means the most to you right now, you’ll put those goals into perspective, until they don’t seem like so much anymore.

How do you find and implement your breakthrough goal?

Isn’t it amazing how an otherwise minor event in one’s life can lead to many learning experiences?

That’s been the case with Mission Sofa Shopping from my post ‘How to Influence People with Authentic Persuasion’ that led to reflections on staying motivated to complete the bigger goals that we set for ourselves.

I’d love to say there was a happy ending with the shop fulfilling its promise to deliver in 10 days of placing the order but it took us over 3 weeks to get the new sofa set.

Suddenly a simple purchase acquired the status of a goal to get the sofa set as soon as possible because I had a buyer for the old one (which happened very quickly, I must say).

I needed to make sure all the moving parts were in sync because 1 slip up would have upset the entire apple cart. A SMART Goal was established and I got to work.

Mission Sofa Shopping now transformed into Project Sofa Delivery got me thinking about Goal Achievement and the role of rest to maintain and motivation to achieve the goal.

Here’s what happened.

Last week Wednesday I cornered the shop where we had placed the order for the new sofa set and reminded them they were 2 weeks overdue. To my surprise, they said we could come to inspect it the next day and lo behold the set was ready.

They were ready to send it that evening itself but I had to first go to the bank and get the balance of money out because they wanted a cash payment and also arrange with the buyer of the old sofa set to take it before the new one came home.

All went according to plan – money withdrawn on Thursday afternoon and old sofa set given a wistful and sentimental adieu on Friday and then the wait for the new one to arrive at 6 pm.

Thank God my Mom decided to check with the sofa maker at 4 pm if they had loaded the new set only to be told they would send it the next day because they forgot the delivery was due that day!

To cut a long story short, my Mom talked to them the way only a Mom can talk and the time was rescheduled for 9 pm that evening because of traffic rules about trucks being off the road during rush hour.

Then the poor delivery man got lost! The furniture arrived by 9.30 pm and by 10 pm, we had a new sofa set and a very upset dog in the house.

Miss Coco is almost 11 years old and the activity of strange people coming into the house and removing sofa sets and then even stranger people coming late at night during her walk time to replace it with something new was not fun.

By Saturday morning, the only thing I wanted to do was drink coffee and generally rest.

I listed my weekend To Do List Tasks and plugged them into my Ken Blanchard’s Quadrant. That approach is similar to the Covey Quadrant which many people are more familiar with. Let’s say nothing there fell in the Covey style Urgent and Important or Not Urgent and Important slots.

I decided I needed a break.

I mean, if I made it a point not to work on weekends during my corporate world years unless there was a deadline that required all hands on deck, then why couldn’t I, the boss of Karmic Ally Coaching do the same?

After all, our employers did give us compensatory time off to rest and rejuvenate.

Especially since I had achieved a major goal? Did I dare to take the same advice that I give my stressed out clients?

Couldn’t I defer all the other goals I had? Especially if my life didn’t depend on them?

In fact, taking a short break between goal completions is important.

The Motivation Factor in the Realm of Goals

Keeping yourself motivated when you have a list of goals can certainly be a challenge. Imagine having a to-do list of pressures that you’ve put on yourself – that’s basically what a list of goals is.

If you’re not motivated to get them done, you can soon find yourself giving up and never making any goals again.

Focus on what is important to you, and let everything else go. Scan all areas of your life and clear out the internal and external clutter, and you’ll experience remarkable transformation.

Rest and rejuvenate. Do what matters and release the rest.

Simple as it might sound, these principles apply even when we’re dealing with long term big picture goals.

Here are 5 quick ways to make sure you stay on track and motivated to meet your goals.

Give yourself incentives

You should be thinking about this when you’re making the goals. How will you benefit once the goal is completed? Will you get more than just a sense of achievement?

Goals focused on qualifications and exams, for example, are beneficial to you since you will have a qualification for the rest of your life if you pass.

For goals which are less incentivized and require an extra push, promise yourself a new wardrobe or a new pair of shoes or even a premium perfume if you complete it within your desired time frame.

These rewards will also remind you of previous achievements when you start to feel stuck in new goal completions.

Bonus Tip: Learn to celebrate your small Successes.

Talk to others

Discuss your goals with other people if you feel comfortable doing so. Thousands of people make goals every year, so you’re bound to know somebody you could talk to about them.

It could give you inspiration, and you could get some useful tips off them on how they manage to complete their goals or how they maintain motivation.

If people in your circle haven’t faced your particular challenge, look around in your social media groups and raise a discussion.

You’d be surprised at the amount of knowledge and experience is available within the community.

I’ve seen discussions ranging from selling a house and purchasing a new one, cataract surgeries and lately even one on root canal treatments!

Don’t see your goals in isolation

Those who view their goals in isolation are often less likely to meet them. Rather than viewing your goal as just a number or another goal, think about other goals you have and ways it ties into them.

For example, you may have your sights set on a particular role at work or on a promotion that you will be eligible for in 2 years’ time.

Achieving the Key Performance Indices set by your boss in a systematic manner by remembering that each of the goals in your annual performance plan will help you meet your targets and even motivate you to raise your game and do more to demonstrate you have what it takes.

Adopt a favorite stress management technique to help you keep your mind calm and focused

My all-time favorite is Transcendental Meditation (TM) that I have been practicing since my internship days in London.

I found it helped me cope with the pressures of a full day’s work at my employers and still have the energy and required focus to study for my Chartered Accountant exams in the evening- my big picture goal at the time as I knew the qualification would open doors for my desired career.

TM is a simple technique practiced 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed.

Unlike other forms of meditation, this practice involves no concentration, no control of the mind, no contemplation, no monitoring of thoughts. It automatically allows the active thinking mind to settle down to a state of inner calm.

In addition to calming the mind and improving focus, a new study by investigators from The Center for Wellness and Achievement in Education (CWAE) discovered school district staff in California who practiced TM for four months had significant improvements in emotional intelligence and perceived stress.

Another good tool is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Tapping. This technique involves tapping on meridian points while articulating the problem and then reframing it to shift the mindset to one of solution orientation.

And my favourite!

Give yourself a break

Life shouldn’t be all about targets and meeting your goals, whether they are personal or work-related. Take some time to give yourself a break every now and then.

When you go on vacation, for example, try not to think about your goals as much and use the time to reflect.

Many people take one day a week to relax from fitness goals, or an entire weekend to stop thinking about work.

After Project Sofa Delivery, I took the entire weekend off with no social media, no client work and nothing that required exertion in order to recoup my energy and start the next week on a fresh note and focus on other important goals that had been deferred.

Final thoughts on big picture goals

It’s easy to think of and set big picture goals and we might believe that Goal setting is an intuitive process that results in achievement.

But there are a few specific rules to goal setting that make the process much more efficient, and effective!

Set Yourself Up for Success from the Beginning

Huge, lofty goals are the best goals – and everyone should have big goals! The end goal, the big one, can be as big as you’d like, but make sure that’s not the only goal you set.

Smaller interim goals are necessary to ensure your road to success is a smooth one. It becomes too overwhelming to set one goal even if it is a great end goal.

For example in my book Money Success Secret: Alchemy of Mindset and Management, I approach Finance Goals and Money Management from the perspective of having big goals and byte size goals that lead up to our ultimate end goal.

Set Realistic Goals

Be realistic with your goals. For example, if purchasing a new car in the next year just isn’t going to happen, don’t set yourself a goal that big, or you’ll only be setting yourself up for failure from the very get-go. Instead, set more realistic goals that you actually have the chance to achieve.

There are usually many smaller goals that make up large goals, and there’s nothing wrong with setting a pace for yourself so that you stay on track. This is definitely preferable to getting overwhelmed and ending up endlessly negatively analyzing your every move.

If it is a transformation goal, be kind to yourself and accept it might take longer to manifest.

Setting realistic goals will make sure that you achieve them!

Visualize and Believe

The goals you set become so much more concrete in your mind when you can also visualize them and believe that you’ll reach them.

The first step in effective visualization is to pull all your senses into the process. If your goal is a new sedan, imagine how it feels to drive in that car, the amount of leg space, the new features compared to your current car. Visualize taking your family for a long drive in it and how happy everyone is.

Utilizing the senses in this way when you visualize will help secure this goal within your subconscious mind, and effectively make it easier to take the actions you need to take to work towards your goals. Your actions will follow your thoughts, so make visualization a part of your daily routine.

I’ve described the process in my post on creative visualization if you want to learn the exact method. It helped me manifest a new laptop in record time!

How will you stay motivated to achieve your long term goals?

When women professionals reach out to me for help, it’s usually along the lines of wanting to stand out and get recognized for their contribution to the workplace.

More importantly they want to know how to position themselves in the messy middle management tier where the route to promotions up the ladder seem hazy. HR or their boss isn’t able to articulate why another colleague who is not as competent got the plum job, assignment or promotion.

My simple answer? They need to hone their Executive Presence in order to raise their visibility and attract the right attention if they really want to rise up the corporate ladder.

They have to be seen as strong confident professionals possessing mental toughness or fortitude because the rules of the game change as we go up the ladder.

I know this from experience.

Mental toughness helped me get the upper hand during negotiations of a Golden Handshake severance package when my employer was downsizing and handed me the notice.

They insisted I continue to work at a seconded client location as long as they needed me!

This put me in a state of limbo as far as my employment was concerned as well as my residence status as I was on a work permit.

I also got this unfair employment condition removed with the help of a lawyer who pointed out the violation of labor laws. The client where I was seconded offered me a permanent position.

In my view, mental toughness is an inner strength that we can cultivate and learn. It means we have confidence and resilience to face challenges and adversities coming out winners by focusing on our end goal.

In my case, it was to leave with dignity and get a good reference which happened once the Managing Partner found out what my boss had done.

No firm or company worth its salt wants bad publicity and certainly not with a woman employee whose performance has been good. Definitely not one who was under notice while bringing in 7 times her daily cost to company from an important client.

Sadly, I still see more counselling than coaching at junior and middle management level. Even when there is coaching, it’s the employer’s agenda. It’s not that of the woman professional whose assertiveness might be seen as aggression thus commencing a spiral of self-confidence and esteem issues.

And it’s the same for any woman (or male) professional who wants to get ahead especially considering the trend towards a new business need for mental toughness, an area of strength identified by psychologists who believes that it is no longer enough for business leaders to be merely resilient.

People tend to think of mental toughness as being displays of aggression, bullying and general bad behavior. Perhaps if we were to refer to it as mental fortitude or mindset, mental toughness would get its dues as a critical developmental skill.

Mental toughness helps individuals focus on making things happen, without being distracted by their own or other peoples’ emotions.

These individuals are generally more engaged, more positive and exhibit a “can do” attitude. Mental toughness can be measured using the MTQ48, a reliable psychometric tool which is quick and easy to complete and provides a profile of overall mental toughness, as well as providing scores for a number of other characteristics.

When you have mental toughness, you don’t allow obstacles or excuses to block your way. Instead, you battle through regardless of any circumstance.

Derek Redmond’s Inspirational Story

One example that immediately came to mind when I started to write is the story of Derek Redmond and the semi-finals of the 400-meter race at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Derek was a hot favorite for the gold medal and was already a champion having broken the British record in 1985 for the 400-meter race and the 4×400 meters relay gold medal at both the European Championships and Commonwealth Games in 1986.

The importance of his wins takes on a completely different meaning when one considers how many times his career was interrupted by injury and surgeries.

And yet, perseverance and mental strength brought him back each time.

Derek’s goal at Barcelona was to get that Gold Medal but fate had something else in store for him.

He tore his hamstring mid-track and fell to the ground in agony and THEN got up hopping to at least complete the race. The tears still well up in my eyes when I remember how his father ran to the tracks and helped his son finish the race.

That dear reader is what mental toughness and determination is all about. Derek is now a motivational speaker who encourages others to achieve their potential.

I was fortunate to find a clipping of that race courtesy the International Olympics Committee. I dare you to watch it without feeling a lump in your throat.

Your Habits affect Your Mental Toughness

Do you know that the level of your mental toughness is directly related to your habits?

A habit is a routine that you follow each day, almost without thinking. No one has to tell you to brush your teeth each morning, it is a habit.

How high would you say your mental toughness is? Answer the following:

• Do you give up on exercise when it gets tough?
• Do you find excuses for everything?
• Are you are stuck losing weight regardless of what you do?

If you answered yes to any of these then your mental toughness needs working on. When you allow excuses to stop you, you are only hurting yourself. It is not really your lack of motivation or willpower it is your lack of mental toughness.

The easiest way to improve your mental toughness is by developing your habits. Pick one thing that you want to become a habit and work on it. It only takes about three weeks for a habit to become ingrained in your mind. That really isn’t that long now is it?

If your doctor tells you your cholesterol levels are too high, opting for tablets to regulate it might sound like an easy solution but guess what? You’ll be on those tablets for the rest of your life.

Get tough mentally and stop eating junk food at your office desk. Instead get into the habit of walking for 5 minutes on the hour and eat a healthy salad or fruit. It’ll take longer to lower the cholesterol level but you have a better and more permanent solution.

It comes down to how determined you are. To succeed all you need is the perseverance to keep on going. In this example it means scheduling breaks and planning the quality of food intake. Then put tools into place which can include an accountability partner so that you succeed.

To become a mentally tough person you need to be willing to stay true to yourself. This entails not going off track and be willing to find a way to get things done without finding excuses for changing the habit.

Mental Toughness Trait can be developed

Here’s the good news. Mental toughness is not an inherited trait. Anyone can improve their mental toughness if they are prepared to take action. I share some tips on it in my post on handling life’s curve balls.

An example close to home is that of the Accountancy qualification that I studied towards back in London.

At the very beginning of our training, we were told that the firm hired 200 trainees each year but given the toughness of the exams, by the time the trainees complete the 3-year article period, there are usually only 20 left. In other words, 10% of the original intake.

It was even more daunting to know that the annual success rate for qualifying in the Institute was barely 2%.

Of course as youngsters out of college each one of us was confident we’d be the last 20 and part of the 2% who would qualify. That didn’t happen.

There were drop outs and those examinations where we competed at a national level made a root canal procedure feel easier. The prophecy was fulfilled.

As I reflect back on the original group and those of us who qualified, I realize the reason we succeeded while other more intelligent colleagues failed and had to say goodbye to their dreams had a lot to do with our mental toughness.

We were the ones who for one reason or another, had the right attitude and level of passion towards our goal – to be able to put the initials of ACA after our name.

If you are truly passionate about something then your mindset automatically changes. You have the drive and motivation to make it to all of your practices.

You are the one who stay up late at night studying for the exams after a full day’s work at the office or get up early in the morning when the mind is fresh to learn new knowledge.

Those exams involved testing us for our ability to handle pressure and our tutor had warned us to time our answers based on the marks which were visible in the answer sheet and as soon as time was up, we had to drop the answer and move to the next.

If we still had time left over then return to the question and complete the answer. No question was to be left unanswered in the 4 papers we were sitting. It was the difference between achieving our goal and being defeated by another candidate who had his exam strategy planned out.

In those 3 hours, our being brilliant didn’t matter as much as our ability to show we knew our stuff.

Our tutor even told us about diet and self-care regimes and I think I ate the most jacket potatoes with cheese and chamomile tea in my entire life during those exams. I was also at my healthiest and energetic self.

Those of us who cleared the exams in the first attempt had demonstrated the traits that are normally displayed by people with mental toughness.

These include:

• Motivation
• Positive mindset
• Self-control
• Good at handling pressure
• Being energetic

These are the type of people who can turn on a dime and change direction. If things don’t go their way they don’t get disappointed. They simply go with the flow and change course and adapt.

So if you have a goal or a dream that you want to reach you need to start making plans and taking action so you can achieve it. Map out a plan of attack and don’t let anything stand in your way.

Be flexible and ready to take action at any time. If something comes up and you miss your training time, don’t let it pass. Just reschedule it so that you get your session in.

When you can do these things, you are well on your way to showing that you do have what it takes to achieve your goals and dreams.

Do you have Mental Toughness?

People who are mentally tough are usually surrounded by successful people. They show traits such as being consistent, adhering to schedules and always approach things with a positive and professional mindset.

In other words, they know what their responsibilities are, and they carry them out.

If you currently don’t feel that tough, fret not because you can work on developing this trait and increasing your mental toughness.

Your first step is to define what the words “mental toughness” mean for you the way I did at the beginning of this post.

There is no one definition that suits everyone. So write down things that you could do that would imply you had mental toughness.

Here are a few examples:

• Not missing your workouts for the next 2 weeks
• Finishing your next project ahead of schedule
• Quit smoking
• Doing that extra rep before quitting
• Not missing family night with your kids

The only way to demonstrate that you have mental toughness is by taking action and by proving it to yourself!

Changing your mindset is one of the first steps to increasing your toughness. You need to have a positive mindset and be committed to following through with things.

Say you have decided to commit to a new exercise regimen for a month. You have to always think about this in a positive way and not allow yourself any excuses for missing your workouts.

It can help to view your mental toughness as one large muscle group. Just like any of your other muscles, it needs to be exercised and developed to keep working effectively.

When you are confident that you can now tackle things head on, your mental toughness muscle is growing nicely. Always keep that positive mindset about you and your mental toughness will not shrink or shirk when it comes to time to face any circumstance.

Click the above image and take the quiz!