How valuable are you?

The 7 Habits of Highly Impactful People - Habit Number 1: Values

You want to have impact in your business and life, right? 

Here’s the thing: you already do! But it’s not necessarily the impact you want to have. 

Having a positive influence in your business, community, and even the larger world takes disciplined effort. When you make those efforts habits, you’re on your way to big impact. 

In this series of 7 articles, I’ll share what I’ve learned from years of coaching people who want to have impact, and from my own work and research. You’ll learn the 7 habits of highly impactful people. 

These habits pay off hugely, not only in how much impact you have, but financially in your business too. Consciously impactful businesses mightily outperform those whose focus is just profit. 

Before we get started with the first habit, let’s spend a little time to be clear what we’re talking about here. 

What does it mean to be impactful?

1. Impact starts with you: While most of us want to create a positive impact through our business, in order to have impact, you have to start with you. How do you show up in the world? How do you want to be with people? What do you want to offer them? That has impact.

2. Impact is much more than your get-to-do list: To be impactful, you must first understand your larger mission or purpose in your business. I used to call it your Big Why. I now call it your Impact Purpose. That’s because the impact you want to have guides every aspect of your business. 

3. Your intentions will determine your impact: Author Gary Zukav wrote, "It is wise for us to become aware of our intentions and choose them according to what we want to produce." Whatever your intention is about your impact, whether it's conscious to you or unconscious, that's what'll play out. 

This series of articles is about making intentional choices related to the impact you want to create in your business and personal life.

Habit #1: Get Clear About Your Own Values 

A universal habit among some of the most impactful people in the world is that they became clear about their own values. 

Whether you’re aware of it or not, your behavior arises out of what you hold as most important, what you value. When you are clear about what values are the most important to you, you can use that awareness to have impact from that deeply rooted and grounded foundation. 

Here’s a practical exercise that will help you start to get clarity about your own values. 

Set aside some quiet time for yourself and start writing down value words that are deeply important to you. To start, write down whatever comes to your mind. You can always edit this list later. 

Think of situations in your life or business that were really powerful experiences. What values did you demonstrate in those situations? 

Here are some value words that may help you in creating your own list: 

• Honesty

• Integrity

• Professionalism

• Doing quality work

• Humility

• Kindness

• Fun

• Joy

• Compassion

• Treating people with respect

• Adaptability

• Dependability

• Creativity

• Warmth

• Balance

• Curiosity

• Freedom

• Persistence

• Resilience

If some of these values resonate with you deeply, you can certainly add them to your list. You may have others: spend some time and create your own unique list of values. 

Your list of values are not simple words but something much more. I call them ‘Pull Priorities’ because they draw you. They pull you forward toward the impact that you want to have. 

They come from inside of you and they don't push you like an outside force imposed on you. Like someone else’s ideas about what they think should be important to you. 

They give you a grounded center to work from and they help define you and the impact you want to have. 

To achieve mastery in the first habit of highly impactful people, revisit this list of your Pull Priorities regularly so that you are always clear about what you value. You can even post your Pull Priorities on a wall so that they're front of mind. 

Measure what you’re doing against the values you decided were important to you. Are they aligned? 

Keep the habit of clarity around your values and they'll help you with every other habit of highly impactful people that we're going to talk about in the upcoming articles. 

It’s an ongoing process to become impactful, both personally and with your business. Following the 7 habits of highly impactful people will increase the positive influence you have on the people in your work and life.

original article source

Financial Freedom explained

Some people use the words Financial Security, Financial Independence and Financial Freedom, interchangeably but here is what I have learnt from Tony Robbins.

Financial freedom is simply having all our current lifestyle costs and significant luxury items paid without having to work a day.  At this point we have accumulated enough savings and investments to work for us.  The annual income from these savings and investments will cover all costs.

In today's world, the amount of investment you will need to produce the annual income you require would average at about 20 times according to some experts.  So say for example you worked out your financial security figure (see details below) to be $24,000 then the amount of investment you will need to produce the annual income to keep you financially secure would therefore be $480,000.

The best way to start is to work out your security amount, write it down and work upwards, step by step.  Often we want it all right now but we can't jump before we can walk.   If we do not take the time to at least calculate the costs and know our figure, how will we know what we are working towards?

The stages to financial freedom as I have learnt it from Tony Robbins

	Stage 4	Financial Freedom	=	Every cost you have today+ 2 or 3 significant luxuries without having to work for it
	Stage 3	Financial Independence	=	All your current lifestyle costs paid for without having to work ever
				What is your monthly figure		xxxx
				Annual Income required to cover these		xxxx multiplied by 12
	Stage 2	Financial Vitality	=	Financial Security figure + 1/2 of (current clothing, entertainment, little luxury costs) paid for without having to work ever
				1. Financial Security		xx
				2. 1/2 of clothing costs		x
				3. 1/2 of cable tv, dining out, etc		x
				4. 1/2 luxury (gym, manicure, etc		x
				Total monthly		xxx
				Annual income required to cover these		xxx multiplied by 12
	Stage 1	Financial Security	=	Your basic needs paid for without having to work forever
				1. Your mortgage/rent		x
				2. Utilities for your home		x
				3. Food for your family		x
				4. Transportation costs		x
				5. Insurance costs		x
				Total monthly		xx
				Annual income to cover these		xx multiplied by 12

10 rules to success

Prepare yourself for success, do not give away your power.!

Check out a selection of Oprah's 10 rules to success, leave a comment.  Let me know what you think!

Tools to Help You Focus and Concentrate on Your Goals and Objectives

Original Article source

For some people, meeting objectives and goals can be difficult. If you are one of the millions of people who have trouble with focus and concentration, dont give up; by following simple guidelines; there is hope for you to reach the goals that you have set for yourself.

The place in which you work has its own atmosphere. The office or cubicle in which you work should reflect your personality. It should be quiet, and you should have an adequate, clean workspace, however, if you are going to spend your time there, you should want to be there. When you have this type of environment, you are more likely to accomplish a lot more work.

It has been proven that music has ability to help you focus on the task at hand. The genre of the music is up to the person listening to it. Music can make the everyday distractions that cause you to loose focus, disappear. It is recommended however that you use earphones, as other people may not share the same taste in music.

There are a lot of ways to improve your focus and concentration. If you are unable to do it on your own, workshops and seminars are available in many cities and towns across the country. They are designed to assist you in developing your focus and concentration skills.

If at the end of a long day, you find that you do not have the time or energy to attend a workshop or seminar, you can visit your local bookstore to find thousands of books lining the shelves on the subject improving focus and concentration.

When you feel your focus is slipping, a good way to get it back is to take a bath instead of a shower before work. A shower is usually short, while you can lounge and soak in a bath. You will emerge feeling refreshed and you may find that the stress you had went down the drain with the bath water.

It is a proven fact that when you are hungry, you focus and concentration suffer. While dieting can help you loose weight, it can also decrease your concentration levels. It is important that you eat breakfast, healthy or not, it will assist you to focus better.

The power of positive thinking is very much underestimated in todays society. Self-affirmation can stimulate your brain and give you the boost that you need to focus better. It has been proven to work.

Saying positive phrases to yourself over and over again will unconsciously help you to convince yourself that it is true. 

There is no greater power than believing in yourself.

Believe it or not, breathing can actually help reduce the stress that you feel. When you are less stressed you are able to focus better. There are certain breathing exercises that you can learn to assist you in developing better focus and concentration.

It is important to have the right tools to improve your concentration. It is more important that you use them. Having the right attitude will also assist you in making sure that your focus and concentration is on track. This in turn will have favorable results with your boss.

Article source: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/tools-to-help-you-focus-and-concentrate-on-your-goals-and-objectives

Personal Growth

Live, Love, Grow:

One of the most heartbreaking things about the current world is that there is a growing number of people who have harvested a lot of negativity in their lives. This negativity comes in all forms- anxiety, low self esteem and depression being the most common. 

These negative qualities prevent people from attaining their true potential. Personal growth is the most powerful tool that one can use to overcome these obstacles.

How is personal growth different from normal growth?

Let us consider two cases. Both persons A and B face the same type of stressful work environment. They are equally vulnerable to unavoidable health problems as well.

Person A denies having these problems. He believes that they can’t be solved. He faces the stress without any emotional preparation and as a result his overall wellbeing turns out to be a little shaken up. By not identifying the need to do something about his stress, he has subjected himself to physical and mental strain.

On the other hand, person B acknowledges these problems. He has faith that there is something that can be done to overcome his stress- he believes that the power to change resides within him. He seeks out a good mentor, practices positive techniques, and turns out a changed man. He feels like a different person, because he has allowed himself to grow.

Personal growth is a choice. Once a person has decided that he wants to grow physically, emotionally and spiritually, nothing really can affect him.

Personal Growth and Positivity:

The first step to personal growth is acknowledging your own problems and flaws. The subsequent step can be summarized in one mantra: Believe is seeing.

In order to develop crucial all round life skills, you need to identify your own potential. Every person is a living container having a lot of positive energy. The power to change lies within you, and you need to believe in that.

There are many ways to allow this positive energy to flow out. The key is to alter the way you think. With a little coaching, a person can learn to shed all negative thoughts, vibrate his wishes to the universe and focus his positive energy towards pure thoughts and a calm mindset. It’s all a matter of perspective.

Personal growth starts with a positive thinking. Thoughts of a certain frequency will beget consequences of a similar frequency. Only in a comfortable, happy environment can a person truly grow in all directions. And the power to create that environment lies within you.

Growing through Actions:

Along with altering one’s thoughts, it is equally important to alter the way they influence their physical surroundings. One of the most pleasant ironies about personal growth is that you can’t do it without other people!

Look at it this way. Teachers learn more about themselves and their subjects through teaching. If you can be a positive mentor for someone else, you will earn a double prize- your own personal growth as well as their. 

Personal growth is also reflected in acts of kindness. If you can selflessly perform random acts of kindness on a daily basis, you will be nurturing yourself. 

Personal Growth through a Mentor:

Ancient wisdom has taught us that having a spiritual teacher can dramatically affect personal growth in a positive way. Approaching experienced mentors who can help you create a positive mindset and relaxed environment that you need for personal growth is a great measure to take.

What does science say about growth? It can never be negative. We all face issues that can stun the growth, but once we make a move to deal with them, the only way we can grow is up. All we have to do is believe.

Article Source : http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/personal-growth-2

Control your thoughts

Your mind is greater than you think, steer your thoughts to want you really want!  you can get it, you will get.

Check out this video, let me know what you think?

RIGHT THINKING = RIGHT ACTIONS=RIGHT RESULTS

Are you obtaining maximum results on a daily basis?

If not a good place to start might be with your mindset. You need to prepare yourself for success and it starts with your mindset. To be the best that you can be on a daily basis, you begin by believing that you can be the best at whatever you are attempting to obtain. Once you have that mindset in place you develop what I call a “Right Thinking Mentality”. Once you have clearly defined your thought process, the next step is to determine the right actions to take to make your thinking a reality. Your thoughts become real through your Actions. Consider this: You will get better results if you are able to turn your right thinking into right actions. You cannot accomplish one without the other. When you have these two things in place, you are unstoppable. Right results will happen for you over and over.

Now I don’t know about you, but I do know about people. Most people fail in life because they try to make things too complicated. Instead, learn to begin your thought process with the end in mind. Picture your results and stop letting others determine your results. Winners picture themselves winning. They never consider losing. Their focus is on the end result. 

With that in mind their actions are focused on winning not losing. The picture they see helps to determine the action they take. They don’t start out the day, doing whatever. That is a big waste of time and talent. As I said, they begin with the end in mind and each action they take is toward a measureable result that will get them there. Watch what people do, you can tell who is successful and who is not, and even why they are successful or not.

Results are predictable when you are taking the right actions. It is almost like clockwork when you watch people perform. Successful people have a plan. Unsuccessful people usually don’t know where to start which wastes a valuable time, as they spin their wheels at the start line. Successful people never have to wait for results to take the next step.

Unsuccessful people still do not know what the next step is. They are still attempting to measure their results from the previous step before taking the next step. But wait! They may not even know what the next step is and have to stop progress, if any, to determine what to do next.

Make a choice to be prepared rather than hopelessly floundering around attempting to figure out what to do next. As I said, it begins with your mindset. I start out each day visualizing my success. I see it happening at the end of the day. Once I get the picture I have created in mind (RIGHT THINKING) I start to put the steps in place that I need to take to have the picture become a reality. This is the RIGHT ACTIONS step of the formula. I mentally list those steps and visualize, again, the actions needed to accomplish what I am visualizing. After much practice, I find that this whole process does not take that much of my time and has become an invaluable asset to my successful results.
Once I have the right thinking in place and add to it the right actions through visualization, I then focus my attention on the law of attraction. What I think about and visualize doing, I can attract into my life. Your measureable results or right results are not far behind.
You see, life is as simple as you make it. Begin your day each day practicing your mindset and start your right thinking moving toward your visualization of right actions which will lead you to the right results.

Writing By
Tim Tupper
CEO Business Increase Solutions

Article source: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/right-thinking-right-actionsright-results