How can you tell if instead of Stepping It Up™ into a fulfilling, enriching life you have taken on too much and hit the common ailment of feeling overwhelmed? Symptoms of being overwhelmed can be physical (nail biting, clumsiness, neck ache); psychological (forgetfulness, rudeness, defensiveness); social (poor hygiene, inadequate boundaries); or spiritual (loss of sense of purpose, unsure of what’s important).

Issues that trigger overwhelm are just as individual: a deadline, a certain tone of voice, change, change in circumstances.

Noticing these symptoms and triggers is like setting off the two-minute warning buzzer—giving you time to implement your proven intervention techniques.

The Strategies
Write down all the nurturing things you can think of to do when overwhelm begins to visit. They’ll help you reconnect with yourself, to re-collect and re-focus your energy inside. Keep a copy with you and one at home. When you begin to notice your particular symptoms and/or triggers, use the list to remind yourself of things that have worked in the past. Here are just a few suggestions. Be as creative as you want.

Breathe. Remember the breath’s metaphor: Let in; let go.

Wrap up in a blanket. Cuddle.

Dance alone, with or without music. Let your body lead the way.

Listen to violin, cello or piano music. Let the music elicit tears.

Light a candle. Maybe it’s one small candle at your work desk or lots of candles around your house.

Watch a funny video. Laughter has a positive effect on brain chemistry.

Ask for help. It’s a gift that allows others the opportunity to give.

Go for a walk. Exercise increases adrenaline and endorphins, the body’s natural antidepressants.

Lie on the grass outside. Connect with the earth’s regenerating powers.

Go to your room—or your car—and sing to yourself. Or hum quietly as you work.

Practices
A practice of any kind can keep you tethered to yourself in those times when overwhelm wants to scatter your energy to the wind. Regularly repeated, these practices are best cultivated in times when things are going well so that they are there to sustain you when you get overwhelmed. Some examples:

Say a small prayer, read a meditation book or holy book or recite a poem each morning to greet the day.

Walk the dog while whispering all the things for which you forgive yourself.

Write in a journal as fast as you can for 15 minutes first thing in the morning without editing or judging. Pour it all out on paper.

Do the “Salute to the Sun” yoga postures every morning after arising.

Things to do today:
1.Inhale
2.Exhale
3.Inhale
4.Exhale
5.Inhale
6.Exhale

Life can put a lot of demands on you and it is up to you to Step It Up™ and make sure that you claim more out of life than stress and an ever growing “to do” list. If you are finding it difficult to implement a regular practice of self-care or that overwhelm has become too much feel free to write Lisa@StepItUpQueen.com for additional support.

Posted in: Self Improvement, Step It Up Living at 6:42 pm | Comments (0)

It is not always easy to take the steps to happiness, but that is what it takes to live a life of no regrets.

There is always a chance to make a difference.

Get prepared for next year.

Posted in: Family, Step It Up Living at 6:25 pm | Comments (0)

Entrepreneurship: How do I go from being an idea/vision guy to an idea and execution guy?

The best way to go from an idea guy to execution is to implement some system where you are holding yourself accountable in getting things done. Make it so that you will do things because you don’t like the consequence if you don’t.

Entrepreneurship: Is being a ”people person” a prerequisite for entrepreneurship?

The important thing to be successful in any field is to be determined. Steve Job was extremely successful in the tech field and he certainly wasn’t a people person at all but he was a driven person. The simple truth is we all have strengths and weakness and those aren’t excuses to not get what you want. If you can’t do something one way look for a solution or a way around it. There are always answers if you are determined enough.

Entrepreneurship: Why do people NOT take action to start a business, even though they consciously want to?

Most often the reason don’t take the steps they want is they are too focus on the fear of the steps they are about to take. Many people are slow to start a business because they think about all the things that they will need to do, all the things they want to figure out before jumping in action then they get overwhelmed and freeze. What needs to be done is to take the first smallest step– do it. Then figure out what the next step is and take that one. The truth is you will never come up with what will actually happen and you will never find the answers either without taking the first smallest step first then the next.

Posted in: Business Mastery, Coaching Success, Competitive Advantages, Peak Performance, Step It Up Living at 7:40 am | Comments (0)

Most small business owners I coach want to earn more and work less. This is not a fairy tale wish, or a desire because they are lazy, but a real desire; an aspiration to reach their potential in both their personal and professional lives.

For the business owners to start getting those results—fewer hours and more money—they must implement principles of success to an even a higher level than they currently are.
One of the most important principles is mapping out what is possible. A great story from the winter of 2009 illustrates this point. At the time, I was busily working at my home computer, buried under mountains of projects, a small heater blew in an effort to keep me warm.

An instant message clicked on, so I hastily focused on my IM manager. I was totally unprepared to see an unexpected bump into the past as I glanced at the chatter and did a double take.
Red. It was my redheaded girlfriend from church and school. How long had it been since I’d had contact with her? It’s been almost twenty years. Wow.
We quickly began chatting, and then she got to her reason for IM-ing me. “I read your Facebook postings. How can you be so happy all the time?”
Bam. I had to roll back in my office chair. I’d never seen myself that way. But from my training to be a coach, I knew her question wasn’t about me, but about her. She must be suffering to go to the effort to look me up and establish contact.
Curious about what could be bothering her, I scheduled a phone appointment. A few days later, we talked, and I found a friendly person completely overwhelmed by her husband’s brutal dismissal from a successful business and the backstabbing he suffered.
The ugliness of the situation weighed on her, causing her to have a bleak outlook for her family’s future. It was clear her husband’s lay-off weighed her down, preventing her from remembering what was possible.
“What do you want?” I asked.
After some reflection, she said, “I want him to have a job where he is valued.”
“Is that possible?” I asked.
“I don’t know. With the economy being what it is, and so many people losing their jobs—”
I interrupted her. “I think it is possible your husband can not only get another job quickly, but a higher paying one where he is valued.”
“You do?”
“Don’t you? You just told me how he was the key person in the last business, right?”
“Oh, yes. He made them so much money. They still need him. They keep calling, asking questions on how to do things.”
“So why can’t he get a better job?”
“We live in a small town.”
“So?”
“I guess he could get a better job. No, you’re right. He can.”
Using an effective coaching question, I asked, “What’s next?”
“For me to believe in the power of the possible.”
Don’t you just love that phrase—the power of the possible?
If you believed in the power of the possible, what would you believe in? What would you dare consider that could happen? With my redheaded friend, I wasn’t sure what would happen, but I did know she would be happier if she held onto the power of the possible.
Two weeks later, I heard from her again.
“I wanted to thank you,” she started off, and then got to the juicy part. “My husband got a job last week. You won’t believe this—he loves his job. They treat him well, and the best part is that he’s making more than he did in his last job.”
As soon as she shifted to how she was showing up in her own life, her whole family’s circumstances changed. What amazed me was the impact a spouse’s belief can have All she had to do was plug back in to her natural optimistic self. That was enough to energize the whole situation. Her belief in her husband was enough for him to do what he needed to in order to get to his next professional level.

Stop right now and write down what situation in your life currently needs some energizing. Look at it and ask, “What’s possible?” Now believe in the power of the possible and get the results you want out of your life and your business.

Posted in: Coaching Success, Family, Peak Performance, Self Improvement, Step It Up Living at 7:00 pm | Comments (0)

When was the last time you felt completely drained, like you did not belong in your job? Ever ask what you were doing at the job in the first place? What if I told you it was possible to do the work you choose, and you don’t have to have that awful, overwhelming feeling again?

One of my clients in 2009 was a cute Asian girl with short, trendy hair, a black business suit, and large, sad, brown eyes. As we began to work together, I discovered a beautiful, radiant artist’s soul. She arrived in Utah from a cosmopolitan area with a history of miserable jobs in sales and a passion for the big city. Not long after moving to the middle of the Rockies, she wondered why she suffered from so many headaches, bouts of the flu and colds, and felt absolutely drained most of the time.

She quickly discovered that the job she found in Utah was not giving her enough money to meet her bills. She’d found work in what she thought was perfect for her—a young, progressive company with lots of opportunities. But it did not take long before she felt completely disconnected. The stress of being miserable at the job began to affect her health. On came the headaches and the flu. She called in sick more and more. Since her jobs were based on performance, her ability to financially put her student husband through school was seriously compromised. Eventually, after months of this high stress, her long-suffering and patient husband gave a “we can’t continue like this” talk.

Desperate, and knowing she had her living, health, and marriage on the line, she tearfully asked me what the problem was. Why was she so miserable with a job she thought she would be good at? How could she get herself into a better place? I immediately prescribed a value assessment to determine her top three to five values.

Upon taking the test, it became clear that what she was missing was not honoring one or more of her values in each of her duties. After looking at her list of values, she said, “Now I understand why I’m so miserable.” She started asking herself questions like: “If I value aesthetics so much, why am I not pursuing a career that includes them?” and, “How can I bring more of my values into my current job until I am at the right spot to change jobs?”
Over the next couple of weeks, she thought about her top values and whether her work honored them. She came to a deep understanding what that really meant to her. As a result, major shifts followed in her job, housing situation, and health.

Those few critical questions set her on a completely different path. Since then she has chosen the industry she wants to be in, has gotten training to prepare her for that path, and has made huge shifts in what she looks for in jobs that help her get by until she qualifies for the one she wants to land eventually. She’s not sick as often, and her husband has time to focus on his studies. Best of all, when she thinks about her career, she is on fire with the passion that makes her ready to take on the future.

What are your top three values? Are you honoring them in every area of your life? If not, Step It Up and Be on Fire completely, by living within your values.

Posted in: Coaching Success, Competitive Advantages, Mindset, Peak Performance, Self Improvement, Step It Up Living at 7:31 pm | Comments (0)

Business coaching helps employees in two ways – one, when the coaching helps the leader to be a better leader so someone that is much easier to support and two when the employees are getting coached and able to work on their own stuff.

Coaching should include everything that in service of the client and will best serve the client.  A lot of times that requires much more then asking questions and validating someone.

A great life coach can definitely help a low-functioning person if that low-functioning person wants to change enough.  A good life coach will not allow the low-functioning person to make excuses.  The life coach will be determine to call the person on their excuses over and over again.  I don’t even believe there is such thing as low-functioning.  Just a person who is not motivated in certain areas of their life.  I am sure there is other areas that they are higher functioning.  If they care about something you’d be amazed at how functioning they are.  The job of the life coach would be to help explore with the person what the supposed low-functioning person really cares about and how to set up their environment to support them to move forward in the area of the life they really want.

Coaching does deal with goals, getting clear on your objects, and moving forward in your life.

Posted in: Business Mastery, Coaching Success, Peak Performance, Self Improvement, Step It Up Living at 8:33 pm | Comments (0)

Today we will talk about how to step it up and know your value in business.
From my research, one of the greatest problems small businesses and entrepreneurs have is that they didn’t realize their true value and what they could bring to the marketplace early in their business. When I talk to seasoned, successful business owners, quite a few of them admit that they wished they would have fully embraced their value and the knowledge that they had to offer to the business community sooner. It would have saved them a lot of time and effort.

Here are three ways that you can own your value in the marketplace.

1-Understand what you bring to the table. Each business-person has something a little different that they offer to the world than anyone else. If you don’t know what value you have, assume you have it and start digging around for it. Coaches can also help you to start seeing what gifts you have.

2- Apply structure and success principles while at the same time being you.
Sometimes small business owners and entrepreneurs care so much about their business and want desperately for it to grow, that they think they need to copy somebody else’s path to success.
Now, learning the structure and principles of success is critical, but the other part of the formula that is not talked about as much is that once you know the structure, you get to show up and play in business using your unique style and gifts, and not other people’s.

3-Make sure your branding, marketing, and advertising communicates your unique value. What happens with many business owners and entrepreneurs is that they do a lot of work on themselves and their company, but sometimes amid all the hustle and bustle, they forget to check if their current brand, that they are advertising to the world, and their current marketing, reflect all the changes that they have made. It is not uncommon to check the text on your website and be shocked by the messages you find there.

To truly own your value in the current marketplace, it is important to understand what you bring to the table. Strive to consistently “be you” as you implement those success tools into your business. And don’t forget to update your current marketing and branding to be reflective of who you now are in the marketplace.

Until next time on Biz on Your Own Terms!

Having trouble viewing this video? Try the Quicktime Version. You may also download an MP3 of the show with audio-only by clicking here.

Posted in: Coaching Success, Peak Performance, Self Improvement, Step It Up Living, Video at 10:41 am | Comments (0)

Welcome to Biz on Your Own Terms! Today we will talk about the things you have to consider before you step into the entrepreneurial world.

There are simply too many entrepreneurs. Too many people trying to create their own jobs, be their own boss. Too many people are trying to live life on their own terms. Why are they doing this? Don’t they know that being your own boss, being able to work when you choose, and pursuing your dreams comes with a terrible cost?

Once you are an entrepreneur, this requires a huge amount of efforts, money, time and investments. So if you started your own business so that you will have more time to play or go on vacation or be with your family, then you might want to think again. Building a business at the beginning, and I don’t care what kind of business, will take work and lots of it if the business is a legal one. It could also mean time being spent away away from playing, family, and anything else that you can think of that you would rather be doing.

Furthermore, if you think you still want to be an entrepreneur because you love to deliver services, don’t fool yourself. If you think that having your business means that all you have to do is set up a website and customers will come, and that you will spend all day doing the work that you love, think again. Most find when running their business they spend most of their time doing everything except what they want to do.

Think about these things and then, decide. It is all up to you! Until next time on Biz on Your Own Terms TV!

Having trouble viewing this video? Try the Quicktime Version. You may also download an MP3 of the show with audio-only by clicking here.

Posted in: Coaching Success, Competitive Advantages, Mindset, Peak Performance, Self Improvement, Step It Up Living, Video at 8:06 pm | Comments (0)

Before I joined the forces of being a person in business, I hated business. I thought it was boring, and driven by the pursuit of money, numbers, and sales. I believed it was for the technical guys and gals who could crunch numbers, make sense of the stock market, and wear uncomfortable black suits.

I was an artist. Well, at least trying to be one, and my brain was not built to understand the world of business. I happily dove into the world of writing. After three years of incredibly hard work, I landed my first book contract. I stumbled on my way until, by book three, my publishers were talking to me about the importance of promotion, marketing, and selling more if I wanted to continue publishing with them.

The realization that I would not be around as an author if I did not “step it up” and sell more was a nasty pill to swallow. But I swallowed and banged around into the world of sales, marketing, and business.

That world became tricky, and the more I learned, the more I danced in it, the more I forgot about writing. (What a sneaky environment!) The money I could make doing business far overshadowed the royalty checks off book sales.

I all but forgot the harsh world of books that caused so many struggles, and focused passionately on building my business and counted on that paying well. I’d probably still be on that path if I had not been stricken with a host of health problems that landed me in the hospital and rendered me unable to stay conscious.

As I struggled to get back on my feet, I searched for something to help heal me, something that I loved, something that calmed me. I dove back into reading literature. As I read, I rediscovered my true love. I realized that I have always loved reading a good book that transported me to another world. When I read, I feel authentically me.

I wondered why I had so neglected my love? Why was I doing so much business that my health was crumbling under the burden of stress? As I read, a message from one of the books :cleared things up: Literature never disappointed me. I thought about all the disappointments that came from the book world—the rejections, lack of sales, small payments, and frustrating plots. All the disappointments came from trying to publish—not from literature itself.

Perhaps in some ways you are like me—you had something you enjoyed doing in your life –golf, basketball, painting, woodwork, etc., and you abandoned it or did less of it because … well, lots of reasons.

When I looked at my life head on, I realized that literature did not abandon me, but I put myself into the business part of the literature out of fear. I cut off the part that I’d loved so much and did the business part until it swallowed me up. I did this even though the business gave me headaches. I valiantly plowed through, feeling like that was what needed to be done. I had become swept up in the race and did not know it because my ego was at play.

It was my ego that wanted the gold sticker that said I was successful. It was ego that listened to the publishers and pushed so hard for the sales. It was ego that took something so beautiful and made it about image, which in truth does not matter so much. My being consumed with “business” had betrayed me from keeping my real love alive.

Posted in: Business Mastery, Coaching Success, Competitive Advantages, Mindset, Step It Up Living at 7:42 am | Comments (0)

Before I joined the forces of being a person in business, I hated business.  I thought it was boring, and driven by the pursuit of money, numbers, and sales.  I believed it was for the technical guys and gals who could crunch numbers, make sense of the stock market, and wear uncomfortable black suits.

I was an artist.  Well, at least trying to be one, and my brain wasn’t built to understand the world of business.  I happily dove into the world of writing.  After three years of incredibly hard work, I landed my first book contract.  I stumbled on my way until, by book three, my publishers were talking to me about the importance of promotion, marketing, and selling more if I wanted to continue publishing with them.

The realization that I wouldn’t be around as an author if I didn’t “step it up” and sell more was a nasty pill to swallow.  But I swallowed and banged around into the world of sales, marketing, and business.

That world became tricky, and the more I learned, the more I danced in it, the more I forgot about writing.  (What a sneaky environment!)  The money I could make doing business far overshadowed the royalty checks off book sales.

I all but forgot the harsh world of books that caused so many struggles, and focused passionately on building my business and counted on that paying well.  I’d probably still be on that path if I hadn’t been stricken with a host of health problems that landed me in the hospital and rendered me unable to stay conscious.

As I struggled to get back on my feet, I searched for something to help heal me, something that I loved, something that calmed me.  I dove back into reading literature.  As I read, I rediscovered my true love. I realized that I’ve always loved reading a good book that transported me to another world.  When I read, I feel authentically me.

I wondered why I had so neglected my love?  Why was I doing so much business that my health was crumbling under the burden of stress?  As I read, a message from one of the books :cleared things up: Literature never disappointed me.  I thought about all the disappointments that came from the book world—the rejections, lack of sales, small payments, and frustrating plots.  All the disappointments came from trying to publish—not from literature itself.

Perhaps in some ways you are like me—you had something you enjoyed doing in your life –golf, basketball, painting, woodwork, etc., and you abandoned it or did less of it because … well, lots of reasons.

When I looked at my life head on, I realized that literature didn’t abandon me, but I put myself into the business part of the literature out of fear.  I cut off the part that I’d loved so much and did the business part until it swallowed me up.  I did this even though the business gave me headaches.  I valiantly plowed through, feeling like that was what needed to be done.  I had become swept up in the race and didn’t know it because my ego was at play.

It was my ego that wanted the gold sticker that said I was successful. It was ego that listened to the publishers and pushed so hard for the sales.  It was ego that took something so beautiful and made it about image, which in truth doesn’t matter so much.  My being consumed with “business” had betrayed me from keeping my real love alive.

Posted in: Mindset, Peak Performance, Self Improvement, Step It Up Living at 3:59 am | Comments (0)