Tag Archives: personal development

Be Sure to Grab Your Seat: SistaSense Power Circle TeleSummit for Web Women Entrepreneurs

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SistaSense Power Circle Telesummit

Regular readers of this blog know that I am a big fan of LaShanda Henry, founder of Black Business Women Online. LaShanda is hosting another SistaSense Power Circle TeleSummit for Web Women Entrepreneurs, and I wanted to tell all of my readers about it. If you are a women entrepreneur with a business on the web you can’t afford to miss this fabulous event.

Are you ready to take your online business to the next level of greatness? The SistaSense Power Circle TeleSummit for Web Women Entrepreneurs is BACK by popular demand and its happening on March 1, 2012. LaShanda posted the registration page a few days ago and the virtual seats are going fast (BTW, there are only 50 seats available).

There will be a power house of speakers including some of your favorite business women from last year’s circle and 5 new women you need to have in your circle today! Speakers include: Pam Perry, Jai Stone, Richelle Shaw, Deborah Owens, Katrina Harrell, Beverly Mahone, Ananda Leeke, Tara Jefferson Pringle, and Artiatesia Deal.

The mission of this TeleSummit is to help women entrepreneurs take their online businesses to the next level with solid PR, branding, blogging, wealth-building, marketing, working with media skills and more. The Success of Your Business Depends on the Company You Keep! Get in Good Company by joining us for the next Power Circle – 12 Live Sessions + Access to all Replays –->> Use Early Bird discount code EAR10.

You don’t want to wish you were there and you don’t want to keep wishing things will just get better. Join us for the next all day Power Circle. To register today and get session details visit: http://bit.ly/ACOhQ8 and use discount code AFF10 if the early bird discount code has expired.

 

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Book Review: Conscious Language: The Logos of Now –The Discovery, Code, and Upgrade to Our New Conscious Human Operating System

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Book Review: Conscious Language: The Logos of Now –The Discovery, Code, and Upgrade to Our New Conscious Human Operating System

By Robert Tennyson Stevens

Mastery Systems, LLC, 2007

Each of us uses words to communicate with each other to describe how we think and how we feel. We use words to make sense of our world and our place in it. In Conscious Language, Robert Tennyson Stevens explores how becoming aware of how our language—the words we choose and use in every interaction and those we speak to ourselves—shapes our thoughts, which in turn shapes our life situations. By bringing awareness to the ineffective ways that we have been using language, and learning subtle “upgrades,” we can transform our lives from living the mundane status quo to living up to our dreams, goals and desires.

Using the metaphor of a computer operating system, (our Human Operating System) Stevens teaches readers how upgrading to utilizing a more conscious language can eliminate those limiting belief systems that we have concocted with our thinking.

While the subject matter of Conscious Language is nothing less than mind blowing, it is written in a clear, easily understood style. At times I found myself laughing out loud and other times my world was rocked by the profound nature of what Stevens shares in this book.

Based on 37 years of research, study, teaching workshops and coaching groups and individuals, Conscious Language is a guide for those who understand the power of language to transform experience.

On page 71, Stevens writes:

“Language is the medium of thought. Thought is the medium of our reality. Changing our language medium “can” change our thought which, “potentially” changes our reality.”

I enjoy how Stevens bases his work on the language code of Biblical scripture without preaching or making his work unappealing to non-religious readers. While he was writing this book he was guided to this particular scripture in the book of Job 22:28,

“Thou shalt decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.”

Conscious Language is one of several books and home study courses on conscious language that is offered by Stevens’ company called, Mastery Systems, including Sacred Body Language Translations.

I recommend this book for those on a spiritual path who are looking for clarity in the what they communicate with themselves and with others. This book will expand your awareness of how, “. . . our language will expand with our consciousness and how our consciousness will expand with our language.”

 

Stretching Yourself

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No, I have not switched this to a fitness blog. What I mean by stretching yourself is reaching beyond your comfort zone just a bit to step up to your next level of greatness. We are entering a new month and nearing the end of the third quarter of the year. It’s time once again to consult your goals and see where you can take your achievement to a higher level.

On my personal blog, evelynbourne.com, I wrote a post today about doing 30 day challenges as a way to kick your goal achievement into a higher gear. I want to invite you to read that post and then visit my Facebook page and leave a comment if you are ready to take on your own personal 30 day challenge, or if you just want to put in a supportive word for those of us who are doing our own personal challenges.

Stretching yourself is about letting go of your old routines and trying something new. If fear is rearing its head and keeping you in your place, remember that everything you want is on the other side of what you fear. One of the pre-eminent philosophers of the 19th century, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Do the thing and you will have the power.” You can’t sit back and wait until you feel more confident. It’s in the doing of what makes you quiver a bit that gives you the confidence you need.

You want me to go first? OK. This summer I slayed a personal demon by walking over a bridge. No big deal, you might say, but I have had a phobia about even driving over bridges. But this summer I was forced to just get over it, and with the help of two supportive friends I eliminated that fear from my life.

Tonight I am preparing to give my fifth speech at my Toastmasters club. I have set the goal to achieve my Competent Communicator designation this year, and this presentation marks the halfway point to that goal. Public speaking is one of those things that some people fear more than death. I am determined to hone my skills so that I can eventually add public speaking to my list of skills. I hope to speak at events and lead workshops. Each time I do a speech I can feel my confidence growing and my skills improving.

So, as this year whizzes by us all, I invite you to stretch yourself. Try something small at first to build your confidence and then start going for your big goals.  The time will pass regardless. Do you want to get to the end of another year full of regrets, or feeling flush with excitement about how much progress you have been able to make because you simply refused to quite moving forward?

Please feel free to share how you have been stretching yourself lately in the comments.

Growing Yourself Growing Your Business

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On this blog I write a lot about personal development as it relates to business development because as you grow and develop and hone your skills so will your business continue to grow and move forward. Today I want to take a look at some of the tangible ways that you can work towards developing yourself that will also have a positive impact on your business.

Regular readers know that I am a fan of Napoleon Hill, author of several personal development titles such as, Think and Grow Rich, and The Law of Success. Hill was a great proponent of the concept of the Mastermind, another topic that I am fascinated by and love to write about. In a nutshell, the Mastermind Group is a group of like-minded people who agree to come together
and meet on a regular basis to work together for either a common goal, or to support each member as they pursue their individual goals. The idea is that when the group comes together combining their energy and ideas, there comes into existence a force called the Mastermind that is greater than the sum of all of the members of the group. Thier combined energy, focus,
attention and intention somehow gets magnified and each one is able to accomplish more than they would have been able to on their own.

I have been a member of several Mastermind groups in the past. Some met on the phone, some included email or social network groups, and some were in person. One thing that all of these groups had in common is that they did not last very long. There is a certain process that groups need to move through before they become solidified. If the members of the group are not 100%
committed to the success of the group, they will fall away and the group will dissolve.

Almost a year ago I was invited to participate in a local Mastermind group among spiritually-minded, small business people. I was excited about the idea until I discovered that they were going to meet in Columbia, MD, which is about a 35-40 minute drive from where I live in D.C. I went to the first meeting to test the waters and see if these people seemed serious. I got a good feeling from the group right away and we’ve been meeting every other week since.

This Mastermind group has helped support me in more ways than I can describe. I have a spiritual focus to my life and my business, but I didn’t really have anyone else in my life that shared these beliefs. I didn’t have anyone to bounce my ideas off of, or get advice from when facing a sticky situation. My business has grown as have the businesses of the other members
of the group since we first began meeting. We hit snags along the way, but our core commitment to the success of the group has helped keep us together.

Another excellent way to really grow yourself is to work with a mentor or a coach. Working with someone who has achieved the goals that you have set for yourself is a great way to leap-from over some of the challenges in life and get to your goals more quickly.  I have several mentors, but one that I rely on when it comes to the online aspect of my business is LaShanda Henry. She is a successful mompreneur who is running her business at a level that I aspire to, so I work with her and listen to her advice and guidance. If you want to see some of the resources that she has to offer, I recommend that you visit her social network that has over 10,000 members, http://mybbwo.com, and then check out her fabulous membership program at http://www.sistasense.tv.

So between the horizontal relationships within a Mastermind group to the more vertical relationship between you and your coach or mentor you will have the opportunity to learn and grow and get feedback that will help you develop as a person, which will in turn foster the growth of your business.

Do y0u have any experiences working with a successful Mastermind group, or with a coach or mentor that you’d like to share? Please feel free to leave a comment.

Why Aren’t You Writing? Unlocking Your Potential to Write Books by Carol S. Batey, Ph.D. : A Review

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I became aware of author, model  and writing coach, Carol S. Batey while in the process of writing my first book. I was feeling a bit blocked, and while I felt inspired to write my book, I was experiencing some resistance to actually sitting down and writing the book.

When I opened Dr. Batey’s book and read the line, “A handbook created and designed with you in mind,” it felt like she was speaking directly to me and my needs.  I knew that this message is what I needed to help me push forward in writing my book.  Why Aren’t You Writing? Is a workbook designed to facilitate a self-coaching process for writers who have a book that is unwritten in their souls. In each chapter Dr. Batey shares a bit about her own life and experiences having written and published five books. At the end of each chapter there is space to write your thoughts and prayers.

What sets this book apart from the others within the genre of, ‘how to write your first book,’ books is that Dr. Batey talks about using the writing process to facilitate personal and spiritual transformation. In chapter two she shares her plan of action, which includes prayer, setting intentions, visualizing your intended audience and remaining focused on the work. She talks about practical ways to set aside time for writing, the importance of being committed to your writing and most importantly how we must look to God for inspiration for writing.

We all have limiting beliefs of one kind or another that keep us from realizing our dreams. Dr. Batey talks about overcoming our self-imposed limitations by providing the example of St. Teresa of Avila, who was a 16th century Catholic nun, Christian mystic and the author of, The Inner Castle, and The Book of My Life, among others who overcame significant obstacles both internal and external in order to complete their books.

If you’re an atheist or not interested in finding a way to incorporate spiritual guidance into your writing practice, then this book may not be for you.

But if you feel like you have been called to write a book, but you are feeling intimidated by the idea, or if you just want some inspiration and practical advice for your journey, then Why Aren’t You Writing? Is a great book to have by your side. You will learn how to let go of your personal limitations and write the book that God has placed within you because it is not just for you. He placed it within you so that you could share it with a world waiting to hear it and be transformed by it.

The Importance of Coaching–Learn from and Model Successful People

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coaching

Life as a professional blogger/freelance content producer moves very fast these days. Last week I was up to my eyeballs in client projects, but I made the time to participate in a coaching group that would help me to improve and grow my business, while also helping me to refine my mindset. Being in that group and participating with the other participants who were business women at various stages of our businesses from those who were working on brining a business idea to fruition to those of us who already had successful businesses was inspiring.

In this blog post I want to share a bit about the importance of being coachable, and how working with a coach can help you to leap-frog over obstacles and reach your goals quicker than you otherwise would.

How coaching can help you grow
For a long time I ascribed to the “Lone Wolf” theory of entrepreneurship. I was going to tough it out alone, learn what I
could through trial and error and bootstrap my way to success. After floundering around for awhile trying different things and not getting the results I was after, I realized that it probably made sense to accept the guidance and advice of someone who has achieved the goals that I was seeking to achieve in my business.

The Christian Bible is full of verses about seeking counsel, but this is one of my favorites, “The way of a fool is right in
his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.” –Proverbs 12:15. This verse reminds us to take the time to listen to others who have learned valuable lessons and be grateful that they are willing to share them to make your path a bit easier than theirs was.

Heeding these wise words, I began to seek out the advice and guidance of coaches. I will tell you from the vantage point of having tried to go it alone, and now working with a coach, it is so much better to have someone in your corner to advise, support and encourage you as you go along.

Another benefit of working with a coach is that you save time. Trial and error takes time–and it requires that you make mistakes, learn from them and then course correct. But having a coach can help you to avoid many of those costly mistakes in the first place. When you are working with a coach who has already achieved the goals that you are aspiring to, they can show you exactly how to avoid many of the pitfalls that can side-track you, and which steps you should take to achieve success.

Commit to investing in your growth and development
Of course, working with a coach is not free. They need to be compensated for their time and expertise, but if you choose the right coach this is considered an investment that will bring an exponential return. You can never get back time that you have lost heading down the wrong path or climbing a ladder that is leaning up against the wrong wall.

You’ve got to be willing to commit to investing in your growth and development. You have got to be willing to invest in
yourself before others will invest in you.

Choosing the right coach
When you are looking for a coach who will support you in moving your business to the next level take the time to vet several candidates. Get recommendations from trusted friends and colleagues for coaches that they have worked with or who they have heard positive reports about. Visit their websites, watch their videos, and read about their accomplishments and their approach to coaching. If they offer a complimentary introductory session, take them up on it and have a lst of questions ready when you speak to them. Listen with an open mind and decide if you think that you have been able to establish a rapport with this person and if you think you will be able to learn from them.

I have worked with spiritual coaches, business coaches and most recently a blogging coach. I have found that the time and money spent was well worth it because in return I received increased focus, a ton of knowledge and the support and encouragement that you can’t get working alone. I highly recommend working with a coach if you want to move forward quickly while feeling supported and guided.

Finally, I would advise you to check out their cancellation policies in advance in case things go south and you decide to no longer work with them.

Working with a coach can be just what you need in order to catapult you to the next level of growth personally and for your business.

What have your experiences been with coaches? Have you found good results from working with a coach for personal or business goals? You are welcome to share your story in the comments.

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How to Beat the Summer Doldrums–Take on a New Challenge

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It’s the middle of the summer, it’s blazing hot outside, the kids are out of school and the long, hot days of summer tend to lull us into vacation mode.

Now, if you’re on vacation, by all means chill out, relax and enjoy your down time. But if you are still working towards completing your goals for this quarter or this year, then don’t get sucked down and lose your focus. Snap out of it! (Do I have your attention now?)

A great way to snap out of an unmotivated rut is to start a challenge. Take one of your goals and turn it into a challenge to make it fun to complete it. Recruit some partners or supporters to either join you in taking up the challenge, or to cheer you on and encourage you and hold you accountable to your goals.

Post your goal up on a bulletin board in your workspace where you can see it, and depending on how you are counting progress, make a chart where you can tick off  ‘to-do’ items and see your progress.

One of my goals for this year is to improve this blog’s performance. In my business I have been doing quite a few blog setups lately, so  lot of my energy has been going towards setting up new blogs for my clients.

I decided it was time to kick this goal into high gear, so I’ve joined the “Secret to Success is Support” womens blogging community as they are taking on Darren Rowse’s ’31 Days to Build a Better Blog’ challenge. Of course I’ll be blogging about my progress here, but if you’d like to join me and the rest of these power blogging women, feel free to do so.

My challenge to you is to create a challenge for yourself.  Make it a realistic goal so that you are more likely to accomplish it, but not so easy that it doesn’t get your juices flowing. Where attention goes energy flows, so give your project your consistent attention each day and you will get there.

Keep on coming back here for motivation and encouragement, and feel free to contact me if you’re feeling stuck and need some inspiration or advice.

One of my favorite personal development authors, Anthony Robbins, says that you should never leave the scene of having set a goal without taking an initial step in making it become a reality. Yes writing the goal down is a first step, but what can you do to kick your goal-achievement into high gear despite the ‘lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer?’

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How to Remain Committed to Your Goals When it’s Not Fun Anymore

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Committed

When you have set a goal or stated an intention for something that you plan to manifest or accomplish, there is always a bit of lag time in between the moment that you make your intention or desire known to the Universe, and the moment that your intention is manifested in your experience in the form of matter or a particular circumstance in your life.

You may have heard the old adage, “God helps those who help themselves,” and this is true. You can state your desires but then you must show up and take the necessary action required to manifest it. Now, this is not to say that this must be ‘nose-to-the-grindstone, break out in a sweat kind of action. But you must take whatever step is necessary to manifest your desires–inspired action.

Simply writing down your goals and intentions begins the process of moving something from thought to existence. Taking that inspired action and not giving up is what transforms your visions into reality.

Sometimes when we are already vibrating at a high level and we are in perfect alignment with what we desire it can come very quickly and from quite unexpected sources. However, there will be those occasions when we experience resistance and we are not vibrating at the level of our desires making the lag time a bit longer.

The questions I am posing here are, “How do you hang in there and remain committed to your goals when it’s just not fun anymore? How do you get through the meantime and see your project or your vision through to its completion?”

Well, to begin with, you’ll have to learn to embrace the concept of delayed gratification. The idea that you do what you must do in order to be able to do what you want to do. It’s also the idea that the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. Staying with it and putting in the work not only builds character, but allows you to appreciate what you receive that much more.

One of my favorite spiritual business success coaches, Khama Anku, says, “You don’t have to love every minute of it,” and this is so true. You must be willing to put in the work required that will transform you from who you are today and what you have right now into the person you will become that will be ready to receive what it is that you desire.

You’ve got to keep your eyes on the prize and stay positive. As you create your daily ‘to-do’ lists and mark off your accomplishments no matter how small, understand that this is sacred work that you are doing. You are growing your spirit, and raising your vibration and by doing so expanding the Universe of what is possible.

Nelson Mandela went into prison a hot-blooded, angry, militant young man. The 27 years he spent in prison, many of those years on Robben Island, refined him and prepared and transformed him into the statesman, diplomat and peacemaker that emerged and changed his country and the world.

Exercise discipline and commitment as you work towards your goals. Work your faith. The Book of Romans 4:17 reminds us that we should, “Call those things that be not as though they were.” Speak positively about your life and your circumstances. Believe that you have everything that you need within you already to accomplish everything that you desire. You would not have received the inspiration if you were not also given the means with which to bring it to fruition.

The Universe, in her infinite wisdom, does not give us a magic wand that we can wave to get what we want instantly. Sometimes it’s the process– the in-between time–that refines us and prepares us to walk in the life that we dream of. The only way to get there is to never, never, never give up.

The Power of Attention

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If you have ever had any interest in personal development than you already understand that you are an infinite being with infinite potential and that you create your own reality every day. But there is one thing that directs all of your co-creation and manifestation. This one thing is the seat of your power to achieve and that one thing is your attention.

Your attention is you directing your mind to focus on a particular thing. Your attention is a powerful force because where attention goes energy flows. Part of your evolution as a spiritual being having a human experience is to choose carefully where you focus your attention because whatever you focus your attention on expands.

Attention is a form of currency. When you ‘pay’ attention to something you take it in and it begins to shape your thinking. Advertisers pay dearly to grab just the smallest amount of your attention to try to persuade you to purchase their products. What you have been paying attention to lately will be evident in what has been showing up in your experience.

So, in order to move from where you are to where you would like to be in life, you must be diligent about where you place your attention. Learn to pay attention to what you want and ignore what you don’t want. What do you want more of? Focus your attention on that and feel good about it. As an infinite being it is within your power to do and be and have whatever you desire. But, so many of us get caught in the trap of giving all of our attention to the status quo rather than focusing on making our dreams and intentions a reality.

Here’s how to use your attention to your advantage:

•Your attention directs your powerful, creative energy and life force so use it to your best advantage. Take out that list of goals and dust it off.

•Pick just one thing that if you devoted your attention to it and accomplished it, your life would be closer to what you want it to be.

•Choose an end-date when that goal will be accomplished.

•Open your calendar and schedule in the tasks along with how much time it will take to complete each task on your calendar. If your calendar syncs with your cell phone, program in audible, daily reminders to give your attention to your goal.

•Celebrate when you achieve milestones whether they are major or minor as long as they are moving you forward.

Focus, discipline and diligence are the best weapons against overwhelm and analysis paralysis. Imperfect action is far better than perfect inaction, and failing early on teaches you valuable lessons that you can incorporate as you pick yourself up and keep moving forward. A helpful mnemonic is: FOCUS: Follow One Course Until Successful.

Your consistent, unrelenting attention and action will ensure that you successfully achieve any goal you set for yourself.

The benefits of developing the discipline to focus your attention will begin to show up in all areas of your life. Whether you want to get a better job, start your own business, go back to school and finish your degree or finish a big project around the house, your attention and your action is what will transform your vision and idea into its physical manifestation. So, pay attention!

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The Ultimate Dream Project: A Personal Review

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I can quite easily be described as a personal development ‘junkie.’ I discovered self-help books when I was in my late teens. Already a complete perfectionist, I think that my initial motivation for reading all of those books, listening to countless hours of tapes, and watching videos of motivational speakers talk about how great your life can be, was to learn how to be the best person I could be.

But at the heart of it–my basic belief was that I flawed and I was looking to these programs and to religiousness, to somehow ‘fix’ me where I was broken and show me how to be a powerhouse of success and achievement. Somehow, despite having read all of those hundreds of books and following teacher after teacher, my life was not improving, I was still working at a dead-end job that I hated and my relationships were a classic, dysfunctional mess.

Then I met Angela Bear on Facebook. I had been meeting several spiritual teachers and life coaches on Facebook and other places on the Internet. They all had a similar message related to the Law of Attraction and focusing on being positive–wonderful messages, but I was looking for something deeper.

I joined one of Angela’s free calls where she was introducing a private, three session class where a small group could work with her personally to get support for our business or personal issues and questions. What I learned by working with Angela during that class and in the private session I had with her transformed my life in a deeper, more profound way than any other book or course I had participated in.

Angela is an intuitive who reads energy, so she can cut through all of the crap, and tell you exactly what is going on. She does not want to hear your ‘story,’ she simply reads your energy and gives you some powerful questions to work with that help to get to the heart of whatever you perceive to be holding you back. By giving you the tools to eliminate those limiting beliefs that create the proverbial ‘glass ceiling’ on your growth, it gives you a new perspective on the contextual reality that we happen to find ourselves in at this time.

Angela helps you to remember that you are an infinite being with absolutely infinite potential to realize your dreams and goals.

The Ultimate Dream Project is a membership program that Angela has created to provide a place where she can meet and interact with her clients and members can interact with each other to learn and grow and express their infinite potential. As you know, life is not all sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes when you are on a path of growth you will meet periods of resistance when you feel blocked and you wonder why you even waste your time trying to grow yourself. When I get into those funky places of resistance, Angela always has a way of snapping me out of it by asking me, “What creation of this energy am I using to validate other people’s realities?”

I cherish working with Angela because she reminds me that there is nothing about me that needs to be ‘fixed.’ I am confident now that I am an infinite being with infinite potential. Now that I have let go of closely examining the wrongness of me, I can put more energy on expanding the Universe, and modeling what she is teaching me and what I am learning for my children.

My business is now thriving, my relationships have been transformed and I feel so much more personal freedom now that I have stopped trying to ‘fix’ myself. I now have the confidence to pursue my dreams and desires because I know that everything I want is on the other side of my fears and limiting beliefs.

So, if you are ready to step away from the need for another ‘hit’ from motivational, self-help gurus who pump you up and get you excited about going for your dreams, but subconsciously, your limiting beliefs are holding up a ‘Stop’ sign on your progress, visit Angela Bear’s website, http://www.ultimatedreamproject.com, and sign up for her email list. You’ll receive a ‘taster packet,’ or what I call little mini-appetizers that will give you a feel for what it’s like to work with Angela.

You are an infinite being and when you are ready embrace the fabulousness of who you are, Angela is eager to support you in your discovery process.

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