Welcome to "SIMPLY SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS" - September 1, 2009:
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Helping You Create What Matters MOST in Life and Work --
With Whatever Life Throws At You!
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"Personal leadership is the process
of keeping your vision and values before you
and aligning your life to be congruent with them."
-- Stephen Covey
Wow! September 1st.
Easing into fall up here in the north; the promise of summer in the south. Kids going back to school. "Summer for parents" one client called this transition, as schedules ease off and many have more time to think and reflect.
A Time to Take Stock
For many, seasonal tranistions are good times to take stock. They're times to compare your espoused values (the values you say you believe in) to your values-in-action (the values you act on in daily life).
Some find that there is a good fit -- congruence -- between the two. Others find that there is a discrepancy. They are not doing what they say they want to do.
If you're one of the latter, facing a discrepancy between what you want to do and create and what you actually spend your days and minutes on, don't beat yourself up. You're way better off than those who are in the same boat and don't realize it. Ignorance is not bliss!
If you don't see the discrepancy -- the gap -- between your espoused values and your daily actions, you can't change anything. You can't close that gap in the direction you desire. You continue to stumble around, reacting and responding to what happens -- a victim of circumstances.
If you DO see it, you can embrace it. You can accept the discrepancy, and begin to take actions that are more congruent with how you'd like to act.
So, during these seasonal transitions, I recommend that you set a little time aside to reflect on what you want to create, and how you want to be. Then compare that to what you are currently doing, and how you currently behave.
Almost everyone will notice some kind of discrepancy. That's normal. Our reach often exceeds our grasp. But that should not stop us from clarifying what matters, and taking action to make our actions congruent with our values.
Becoming Congruent
"Congruent" means "consistent with. So, try and make your daily and minute to minute actions congruent with your vision and values.
Obviously the first step would be to get clear about your vision and values.
But you don't have to be perfectly clear, just clear enough to get you into actions. Vision and values become clearer as you take action to create what matters to you.
And your vision doesn't have to be all-encompassing and life-changing.
You can have a vision of just about anything that you want to create: a new, tidy workspace, an article or short story, a piece of art, a patio out your back door, a new website or blog for your home-based business … whatever!
One of the best ways to get congruent is by creating small things that matter to you. As you create a number of these small things, the bigger things you're not sure about will begin to become clearer.
Many folks I talk to obsess about big things such as "my vision for my life". But I think that's where you get to, not where you start.
And, I believe that it is very difficult to think your way into the kind of clarity most people long for. But you can ACT your way to that clarity, and into congruence.
In writing (and other arts) there is a saying that "quality emerges from quantity." That is, the more you write (quantity) the clearer and more engaging you're writing will become (quality).
It's the same with creating. The more you create, the clearer you become about what you want to create. Out of quantity, emerges quality. Your life becomes clearer, simpler, more focused, and it is easier to act congruently with what truly matters to you.
So don't worry about creating the big things right off the top. Create a bunch of little things, and gradually scale up to the larger, more complex visions. You'll find it easier, more fun, and more rewarding.
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ARTICLES AND RESOURCES
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Visit http://www.BruceElkin.com and http://hubpages.com/profile/Bruce+Elkin
Feel free to download anything you like. There are articles, booklets, and excerpts from Simplicity and Success: Creating the Life You Long For. There’s even some fiction and creative non-fiction.
Help yourself!
Two articles that relate to vision and values are:
"Vision As A Creative Force"
http://hubpages.com/hub/VISION-AS-A-CREATIVE-FORCE
and
"Authentic Success: Your Ordinary Self Is Good Enough"
http://hubpages.com/hub/Your-Ordinary-Self-Is-Good-Enough
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IS COACHING FOR YOU?
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Would you like to simplify your life and create what truly matters to you?
Would you like to feel up, focused, energized, and resilient—
free and excited about your life, work, and future?
Coaching can help you clarify results—and create them—in a simple, step-by-step way. The capacity to consciously create desired results generates freedom, confidence, competence, and the resilience to handle whatever life throws at you!
"I've had other coaches, but your structured approach to creating beats them all hands down. I made real progress during our sessions, and I continue to make progress applying your framework to creating what matters to me. Every day, I get a little better at it. Thanks!"
- Kent Whitfield, Home-Based Business Owner, Alberta, Canada
> My 7-page Coaching Info Package has details, and can help you see if this is for you. Email me with "coaching info" in the subject line.
> I am just about full for Sept/Oct. So, if interested, contact me soon.
Also, I'm booking for October/November now, and planning a vacation in December. So, if you were thinking about starting the fall with a new focus and increased effort, don't miss out. Contact me soon!
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QUOTABLE QUOTES
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"The good life seems to be a life lived out of our values, consistent with our talents and reflecting our aspirations. Success is about integrity, commitment and service. Often, money and other nice things arrive, too, but success is seldom found in anything as obvious as a bank account or fancy house."
- Dr. Phil Humbert
"When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid."
-- Audre Lorde
"When the person we are and the person we “appear“ to be are inconsistent, we“re at cross purposes to ourselves; “we“re out of integrity. And as Bucky Fuller said, “integrity is the essence of everything successful.“
"Fanny Brice said it quite eloquently, “Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be“because sooner or later, if you“re posing, you will forget the pose and then where are you?“ It takes far too much energy to be someone other than who you are“so just be yourself. Besides, there“s nobody better qualified."
--Michael Angier
Vision withou action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.
-- Joel A. Barker
Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication.
-- Gail Devers
"(I)f one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. . . . In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."
-- Henry David Thoreau
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What truly matters to you? Are your actions congruent with your vision and values? Do you have a framework for embracing both and taking action?
Need some help figuring this out, and/or getting started? Email me!
I hope you have a great week!
Bruce
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> BRUCE ELKIN:
Personal, Professional Life/Work Design & Transition Coach
>Call: 250.388.7210 http://www.BruceElkin.com Or Skype Me!
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