A few years ago, all round good guy, Fresh Prince & Hollywood A-Lister Will Smith did a little film called ‘Hitch’, in which he played a date doctor -a sort of a cross between a lifecoach, shrink & match-maker, who assisted Everyday Joes in getting the girl of their dreams. Amongst the various amusing scenarios, Smith utters various pearls of wisdom in the form of quotes; probably the most famous one from the film is as follows -

” Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away “

Normally, in my Wonder Words series I like to attribute quotes to a particular author, but in this case it’s a little tricky. It certainly wasn’t the smart Mr Smith who came up with this little gem. In my research, this quote often gets attributed to George Carlin, or Hilary Cooper, but the most likely source is from way back in the 1970′s when it was printed by Canadian company Carleton Cards, & because of this, the author was anonymous.

Whoever the original scribe is, they have left us with such a beautiful piece of language that I often call upon when I want to remind myself of the things I’m grateful for. Now, for you this doesn’t have to be material or expensive things - often times, just a memory or experience that really has an impact of every fibre of your body & makes you catch your breath with a sense of pleasant alarm or surprise. I guess for everyone it’s a bit different, but the common thread is that we all love the experience of having our breath taken away by something unexpected or unplanned.

So, if I put my Success Coach head on, a little piece of homework for you to play with is to recall something that took your breath away – really imagine it in your minds’ eye – see what you saw, hear what you heard & feel what you felt. Turn up the dial on all of those great feelings & experience them all over again. Then, in the coming weeks see if you can find a way to create a moment for someone special that just might take their breath away. These moments may be a little like diamonds in the dark, but it doesn’t mean we should stop looking for them, or indeed creating opportunities for them to arise for others. You never know – if the Law of Attraction goes to work for you there might even by a pleasant increase in the number of times you find yourself in a pleasant state of ‘ experiential breathlessness’.

Incidentally, a little share for you – one of my favourite ‘breathless’ moments is when my 4-year old daughter presented me with the picture you see at the top of this post. ( In case you don’t know, I’m the one drawn a bit like Simon Cowell!) This one knocked me for six when she gave it to me, & now has pride of place in a frame where I can see it often.

Let me know about your favourite moment that took your breath away – I’d love to hear your stories!

May I wish all of my friends & followers a very Happy New Year – much success & happiness to you all, & I look forward to another year of providing you with inspiring, motivating, thought-provoking & otherwise awesome content. Stay tuned for lots of surprises coming your way in 2012.

Professor Richard Wiseman is a smart guy whose work I follow with great interest & his great book 59 Seconds is on my favourite list. A little while back Richard conducted a study to discover the outcomes of the use of willpower alone, against other techniques. With the end of the year almost upon us, I guess the thought of making a New Year Resolution or two may have crossed your mind, so we can do no better than take a professors’ advice  for ways in which we can best achieve them with ten simple tips – over to Richard:

Have you heard yet about the 12 Days of Experts? Really?

If you have, then you know what I’m talking about – if not, well, read on! However, I will say that this will only benefit those who really want to up-level their life & business in 2012, so if this festive food for thought appeals you may want to take a closer look at the free video training series from my friend & colleague Dr Shannon Reece,  very aptly named  The 12 Days of Experts. 

Now, you’ll have to be quick as it’s only running for a limited period; last week we were treated to great content from Dr Daisy Sutherland on Day One, followed by stellar advice on Day Two by expert Michelle Salater. To see which great business professional is revealing all on Day Three on December 5th, sign up & register for free HERE.

When you follow this 12 Day Project, you will even get the chance to catch special video training with Dr Shannon Reece herself, where she discusses secret insider tips for playing BIG in business, so when you sign up you will get free access to ALL of the videos from Dec 1st right up to Dec 18th. However, don’t delay – after this period this great, no-cost content will be taken down, so take the time to to register for free access now, with this link:

Take me to the 12 Days of Experts right NOW!

If you need any more incentive, each day you will get the chance to WIN a special giveaway, kindly donated by the expert du jour. With all of this takeaway value & opportunity for great additional bonuses, signing up is a no-brainer – what are you waiting for?!

PS – I never promote anything, but I had to make an exception with this – register NOW for this fabulous Give & Get Promotion for December, & make 2012 a year to remember with The 12 Days of Experts!

OK – I admit it – I’m an enthusiastic person. There, I said it. And I’m proud of it.                    I’ll tell you why, so listen up. I’ve discovered in my learnings as a success coach that things just seem a whole lot easier if you can approach them with some fire in your belly….now, this may be a willingness to take on new learning, or maybe a child-like curiosity – whatever, but that latent excited energy we call enthusiasm is a catalyst for personal success. So, for me, it’s a useful state of being – not only for myself, but for my clients because enthusiasm is infectious & makes change, as well as learning, much more fun and when we’re having fun, success seems a lot more ‘streamlined’.

In regards to enthusiasm, perhaps my favourite quote is from the great American auto-mobile founder Walter P Chrysler, who succinctly said:

” The real secret to success is enthusiasm”        Walter P Chrysler 1875-1940

Chrysler’s story itself testifies to the power of enthusiasm in action, and bears revealing. Following an earlier career as an engineer in the rail industry, auto-enthusiast  Walter Chrysler went to work for Buick in 1911, aged 36; he left there 8 years later as one of the richest men in  America. With a few more years experience under his belt, he took a failing car manufacturer & transformed it into the Chrysler Corporation in 1925, going on to be named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year four years later. He retired  successfully in 1936.

If someone of Walter Chrysler’s ilk doesn’t inspire you about the power of enthusiasm, I can do no better than leave you with the words of the ‘founder of Personal Development Industry’ Paul J Meyer -

” Enthusiasm glows, radiates, permeates and immediately captures everyone’s interests ”                                                                             Paul J Meyer  1928 – 2009

So, the next time you approach your next task, goal, opportunity or even just a business event, adding a dose of enthusiasm will undoubtedly help propel you down your road to success. If you have none, call me for a coaching strategy session – I’ll share some with you!

It’s Halloween; I managed to withstand the early evening rush of ghouls, ghosts & witches who came pounding on my door after ‘treats’, else a trick may be played upon me. Whew! I seemed to have survived long enough to contemplate going for a run.

The night air is cool; the sky is a mixture of inky black, edged by a grey cloudy blanket creeping across the sky. It feels refreshing, so I make my way out into the night towards the park where I run. Surprising, it’s not too dark – a row of houses of the far side are all lit up in a row like pumpkins, and the scattered street light neons glow like embers in a fireplace of night. Maybe I should feel spooked, but I don’t…I’m just focussed on my run. After stretching, I commence & enjoy the peacefulness as I run on the slightly soft grass, with just the night breeze for company. It’s quiet, but my senses are heightened; I hear echoes of trains rattling along the nearby tracks – church bells clanging – the distant growl of motorway traffic , as well as the rushing wind through the trees, but it’s good – I feel in the moment.

Being in the moment – Wow- there’s a thing! What’s that all about? Well for me, it about me being with just me; no laptop, pc, mobile to demand attention. I’m not replaying any mind-video’s about today or yesterday – not even trying to fast-forward into planning tomorrow – it’s all about NOW. I’d almost forgotten how good NOW feels, and boy it feels really good. The best thing about NOW is that it allows me just to be me & recharge that aspect of my personality, which I know as a success coach is vital as it colours all the work that I do. I talked about this in my last blog post ‘The Energy Within‘, but this is a particular detail which pays great dividends.

I return home with a cleared & refreshed mind, with a pleasant warm muscular ache from having exercised. It feels good, really good. Now, running may not be your thing, but if you can find you own way to be ‘in the moment’ – with just you, you’ll notice just how good it feels. Who knows – you may even get to like spending time with you. Besides, there are enough things demanding of our attention, especially on a night like Halloween, so may the trick is to treat ourselves to being in the moment. It’s a great feeling..especially on a full moon! Happy Halloween!

After a particularly busy week at work, I was taking some time to re-charge & ponder the weeks events in reflection; it had been quite gruelling & I felt quite ‘expired’. Fortunately as a coach I like to take my own ‘medicine’, and took the time to get myself back in balance and feeling restored. During this time, a favourite quotation came to mind which I’ll share with you -

” The difference between one man and another is not mere ability – it is energy ”                                                                                                      - Thomas Arnold  1795 – 1842

This quotation reminded me of the importance of being able to do things with energy, as well as the necessity to restore the balance to personal energy levels. In an interview with SUCCESS magazine, top performance expert Tony Schwartz stated “Energy really is the fuel in your tank – it makes it possible to bring your skill and talent to life”. He also advocates renewing yourself based around the four facets of your being – physical, emotional, spiritual & emotional self; this is much in line with the thinking of Stephen Covey in his classic ‘ 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, with his ‘Sharpening the Saw’ Habit, which is highly recommended reading for anyone who is yet to be affected by it’s brilliance.

So, with the quotation in mind & wisdom from the likes of Tony Schwartz & Stephen Covey, actively doing things with energy, as well as maintaining personal energy does make a huge impact on our lives. I know that as a Success Coach I have to bring a lot of energy to the table to help empower the people I work with, and to try & do otherwise is senseless, as I cannot perform at my peak to best serve my clients.

One last thing I will share with you comes from the wise words of my own favourite Supercoach Michael Neill – Michael quotes another source which I can’t recall, but he says to do things with the ‘EE LIM’ prescription….with Energy, Enthusiasm and Like It Matters. It works for me, so perhaps you can give it a try.?

To achieve our aims in life – our goals, or aspirations even, a process has to occur – even though we may not be aware of it. What makes up this process is three key steps – wisdom, skill & virtue; now, you may call them something else, but the impact of them is the same.

Probably the best way I have seen to capture the ‘juice’ of this powerful process is in the words of American educator & peace activist David Starr Jordan, which state:

” Wisdom is knowing what to do next – skill is knowing how to do it – virtue is doing it ” - David Starr Jordan

In essence, once we have the ‘what’ & the ‘how’, all that remains is for us to act with integrity & virtuosity & simply doing what we need to do. Indeed, in the modern works of Positive Psychology, Martin Seligman & Chris Peterson identified six key cross-cultural virtues after a three year study, and a the particular one that caught my attention was courage; dragon-slaying aside, courage in it’s simplest form can just be taking action – especially when the outcome is unsure & comes without guarantee.

Now, as a Success Coach, I am aware that this may seem elementary for you & perhaps too simple to be of consideration, but I will leave you wish a question – When you think back to the times when you achieved great things, can you not recall which virtue ‘happened’ to show up around the same time…?  Hmmm….I’d wager that courage is in there somewhere.

After all, success leaves us clues….so why not pay attention for them, & when the time comes again when you have the ‘what’ & the ‘how’, take a deep breath & go do what you need to do, then realise that after all you have an untapped resource within you – virtue.

During my coaching sessions, the subject of personal change often arises, especially in terms of goal setting; after all, for things to be different we have to try some different things, right? This has appeared in much personal development literature over the years, with one of the the popular versions being based on Albert Einstein’s words:

” Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results “

I do love this old favourite from Einstein, & catch myself using it on occasion during goal-setting sessions, or other times when action steps are required. However, I have another gem that I will share with you that illustrates a similar sentiment, but on a personal level:

” We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are ”                                                                                                                                               – Max DePree

Although similar to the previous quote, these words hit home to us powerfully and very succinctly because it shows where the responsibility for the change needs to be & thus stirs us into taking action.

Max Depree is an American Writer, and former CEO at The Herman Miller Office Furniture Company –  a family-based business, which he ran successfully with his brother from the early 1960′s after taking over from their father &  company founder DJ DePree. Max Depree wrote four bestselling books based on leadership, with his title ” Leadership is an Art” selling in excess of 800,000 copies; he also received a lifetime achievement award in 1997 from the Business Enterprise Trust to add to his existing 6 honorary degrees.

With this kind of pedigree, his writing is well worth investigating, especially if leadership is your calling, or even if you want to learn more about becoming more. Not a bad thing.

Whilst browsing through an old Franklin Covey diary of mine I found this next little gem of a quotation which really made me smile as it really encapsulates my thoughts about taking the time to do special things in your life. Here are the words…

” Always leave enough room in you life to do something that makes you happy, satisfied or even joyous ” – Paul Hawken

For those of you who, like me, are unaware of this gentleman, my research has discovered a man who was labelled ‘the original hippie entrepreneur’ by Fortune Magazine in 2002. In addition to this dubious title, Hawken is an author of 6 best selling books, as well as probably being more well known as an environmentalist,entrepreneur & journalist to boot. He certainly is an interesting character; aged 20, he dedicated his life to sustainability & changing the relationship between businesses & the environment, & was even enlisted by Ben & Jerry’s to examine their ecological impact on the world. To this, I say ‘cool’…not just because of the amazing ice cream, but to a guy with such a great vision in life.

Such great wisdom lies in his words to remind us of that little action step we have to take to make the room to let happiness flood in; after all, there aren’t many better tonics in life. For me,  happiness is right up there with oxygen…and B & J’s Phish Food Ice Cream. Heaven.