Visions for Personal Success (VPS)

What is your vision for your own personal success? Have you taken the time to even think about it? We spend so much time working and aligning ourselves with our business visions, we rarely take the time to really look at our own lives and come up with a vision for ourselves. Why is that? Do we believe that visions and goals only work for businesses? Do we believe that we do not actually have control over our lives?

Take accountability for yourself in 2009 and make it your best year ever!!

This is my personal challenge to you.

Let's start a grass roots effort to share with the world how powerful focused attention can be for each of us. I'd like to start here by collecting comments to this blog in the form of your VPS (Visions for Personal Success) statements.

Now some of you may be uncomfortable putting your VPS in writing out in cyberspace. That's OK. Just post what you are comfortable with. For example, if you are uncomfortable stating that "In 2015, I am recognized as an author of a national best seller (though I think this is an excellent part of a VPS), then write something more like, "I am a published author and have written one book which is commercially available."....whatever you are comfortable with. Write it in the present tense as if you have already achieved it. Doesn't that feel great!? I've taken a bit of a risk myself and posted mine below.

Sometimes we don't really commit to something until we actually verbalize it. Use this space to verbalize your wildest dreams! It's the first step to putting your focus on it. Where you focus you create!

Be as specific as you want to be and cover as many aspects of your life as you want.


Here's mine:

Lynn Zettler's Vision for Personal Success 2015

1. I am a successful coach and businesswoman, having authored several books, articles and e-zine articles.
2. I am speaker and teacher in the areas of communication, building relationships, connecting and personal development.
3. I earn a six figure income from multiple streams including writing, speaking, workshops, recordings, one-on-one coaching and classes.
4. I have a beautiful place where I write every day with a view of the ocean which I love.
5. I am constantly surrounded by wonderful people who inspire and feed me exactly what I need to grow.
6. I use my coaching and other expertise to give back to my global community in order to continue making the world a better place.
7. I spend time each morning connecting with my Creator and setting my space for the day, being open to the purpose of my actions for that day.
8. I am peaceful. I am loved. I love. I am.

Please comment and add yours!

New Christmas Tradition for 2008

We had a unique Christmas this year with several 'firsts'. For one, Mark did most of the Christmas shopping. This was really great! What freedom it was for me. And he did a great job of it!

I also did not bake like I usually do. I typically make about 8 kinds of cookies, buckeyes, etc. and give away tins as gifts. I didn't hear anyone crying because they didn't receive my high calorie gift this year. I made the buckeyes so Aaron would not be disappointed and called it good.

I did not wrap gifts this year. Instead, I invested in inexpensive gift bags that can be re-used next year. Most of our gifts were rather small in size, so this was not a problem. Saved a lot on trash.

For the first time, I asked the kids to give me a list of three things they really wanted, three things that would be nice to have, and three things that they would 'dream' of having. It was interesting to see where their dreams were. I'm sure Santa has put it on his long term list.

For the first time, we had our new son-in-law Jamie join us for Christmas. It was very special and we are crazy about him.

We bought everyone one special gift and gave cash in a unique way for the rest of their gift. I bought several Christmas ornaments that had some kind of opening or slot that would hold cash. We put the cash in the ornament and taped a tag on it directing the recipient to share a memory of some kind. We covered memories like your favorite childhood Christmas memory, your favorite sports memory, your favorite story about your best friend, a story about your sibling......it was great fun and we got to reminisce and learn more about eachother. Aaahhhh---it went too fast. I'm sad it's over already.

www.lynnzettler.com

ChristmasvacaNewYears

I always look forward to this time of year, but it always goes so darn fast. I typically take off work between Christmas and New Years---starting with Christmas eve and think that I'm going to get so much done. I still have high hopes.

Here's the rundown: Aaron was home from Purdue on Saturday. Lauren came home on Monday with Jamie flying in on Tuesday. We spent Christmas eve doing our last minute shopping and watched movies together. We made our traditional trip to Ohio to visit family in a whirlwind manner with Mom and Dad Rammel on Christmas day from about 2-5 pm, then over to Sue and Jeff's (Mark's sister) for the Blauvelt gathering at 6, followed by the Zettler family gift exchange which goes well into the night. This is always followed with games into the wee hours of the morning by the younger generation (and some older), but I am always the party pooper who loves her sleep more :) I brought ear plugs this year, which really helped a lot and I got a great nights sleep! December 26th is always spent with Mark's dad and stepmother for breakfast and visiting, but again a quick few hours.

Now Jamie left already this morning and Lauren will leave Monday. I'm trying to just enjoy each and every moment because it will all disappear so quickly. I still have high hopes.

Yes--you can still have abundance now and next year

I am making a commitment to start my days in a peaceful and meaningful way and one helpful resource I have found is Science of the Mind magazine. They have a daily guide that tends to set the tone and keep me focused on the most important things. I cannot help but post today's writing on Abundance. Here it is---taken from Steven Van Meter:

Do you want to be truly rich? You already are if you are happy and good.
1 Timothy 6:6

Know that the greater abundance of every good thing which you are bringing out in your life, the more perfectly you are satisfying the Divine Urge within you. 'The Science of the Mind, page 288'

ABUNDANCE is having the necessary resources to live life as we choose. Experiencing abundance is not confined to the accumulation of money. Most of us would also enjoy an abundance of such things as time, confidence, patience, and self-discipline. Poverty and lack are realities in the individual mind, not in the Universal Mind. Lack occurs when we do not understand the spiritual truth of our being. We are Spirit in expression, and Spirit can never be depleted. Our abundance, which comes from divine supply, is not dependent upon industry, economics, government, or a "slow down." Spirit is never slowed down!

Divine principle established prosperity and abundance as the normal level of expression for all. However, each individual through choice, determines how that principle will manifest. As we clear our minds of anything that might be a barrier to this goodness, we allow God to be glorified in a variety of abundant ways. Barriers to abundance are removed by thinking, living, and accepting the awareness of opulent prosperity.

Accepting the awareness means knowing God as our ONLY SOURCE. We satisfy the prefect expression of the Divine by trusting that our needs are met.

affirmation
The power of God within me expresses abundance in wonderful and magnificent ways. My every need is already met. I accept perfect divine action in all of my affairs with gratitude and gladness.

Ignore the Dow!

How many of us check to see what the Dow has done at the end of the day? Did you notice that the news made you feel either one way or another? Remember the multi day rally a week or two ago--didn't that feel good? Yet everytime there is a steep drop, boy do we feel bad. The steeper the drop--the worse we feel. Some of us may not even have any money in the market!

A recent article in New York Magazine discusses the connection of our sense of well being to the panicky twitches of a market indicator we can do nothing about. http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/52601/

This is an excellent read. Let's stop focusing on the doom and gloom. You get more of what you focus on. Let's focus on building prosperity and making the world better in the ways that we have control.

Check this out too---great quote--http://nymag.com/fashion/lookbook/52560/

Exactly What Does a Professional Coach Do?

Life and Personal Coaching is becoming more and more popular, but many people are still unclear about what a Life or Personal Coach does. When people ask me what I do as a Professional Personal Coach, it is sometimes difficult to articulate exactly what I do. I think all coaches struggle with this. Coaching is best explained by experiencing it. I don't have a product to hand to you so that you can examine, feel, try on or determine its quality. However, recently, I came across this resource which will give you an idea of what you might use a personal coach for in your life.

101 Things to Work on with a Professional Coach
From: Thomas Leonard - Creator & True Balance Life Coaching, LLC December 04, 2008

This is an eye opening tool that will inspire you to explore the areas in your personal or professional life needing a coaching sprucer! Share this tool anywhere you like. All I ask is that you also share the source of information. Enjoy! Read more at Thomas Leonard - Creator & True Balance Life Coaching, LLC »

This article was submitted on December 04, 2008 at 10:49 AM PST
By Shann Vander Leek, Founder & Certified Professional Coach - True Balance Life Coaching, LLC on Linked In

What are you grateful for?

It's that time of year. That time when we all pause, gather with friends and family, overeat and try to keep drama to a minimum! I would like to be the first to direct us to examining all that we are grateful for this year.

I have so much to be grateful for. I have a wonderful, loving and supportive husband; two great kids who will be coming home this week; a wonderful new son-in-law who joined the family this year (hey Jamie!--he's holding up his ring finger in case you can't tell :-)), my son's awesome girlfriend Courtney; a wonderful extended family; great friends and great health (though I need to pick up the workout frequency!)

How about you? What are you grateful for? I'd love to hear.



Remember to spend some quality time on you today.

What would you wish for?

Fifty People, One Question: New York from Crush & Lovely on Vimeo.

ARE YOU FEARFUL OF YOUR FUTURE BECAUSE OF THE ECONOMY?

The media blitz is on and everywhere we look, we hear about the latest development with job loss, consumer loss of confidence, stock market drops and bad news. Does this add to your anxiety level? What do you do about it? I had several conversations this week that really helped me to put this in perspective. The first was with my financial planner, Bill Hancock at Merrill Lynch (love him by the way), who shared that while he was getting hammered this week; he noted that we have seen tough times, actually worse times before and we have gotten through them successfully. Additionally, what is obvious, but maybe not in the forefront of our minds, is that there are lots of people ‘buying’ in the stock market, not just selling. For every sale---there is also a buyer. I think there will be a lot of wealth created in this downturn, by people who look at the opportunity instead of a panicked situation.

We also discussed this at several networking meetings I had this week. I think Lola McIntyre, an Indy area REALTOR, said it best when she said-----“I’m just focusing on what I can do today. How can I best serve my clients today? How can I serve my family best today?” I thought this was excellent. Being scared and anxious about the future does nothing for us today. I too believe that you do your best when you are ‘present’ in the present moment. Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth---is a beautiful piece which dives into this subject. He says that worrying about the future is just wasted thought and wasted energy. Peace comes to those who live in the now. (I’m paraphrasing). It’s an excellent read and you can get it through http://www.lynnzettler.com/books.html.

I’m not saying that we should just ignore all bad news, but what I’m saying is that I’m not going to be anxiety ridden over it and let it paralyze me or drive me to make reactive decisions. What I am saying is that I am going to focus on things that I have control over. What can I do to make this world a better place? What can I do to help others?

One more thought—I think crisis and necessity can be the mother of innovation. I’m wondering and excited about what wonderful innovations will spring from this challenging time!

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ALL POWERFUL?

What do you think? Do you dare think that you are all powerful? Do you reserve that solely for God? If so, regardless of your religious belief system, do you believe that God is within each one of us? And if he/she is---and we believe God to be all powerful, then are we not all powerful as well? Below is something that Nelson Mandela read at his Inaugural Speech in 1994. I’m interested in what you think.

Our Deepest Fear
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.Your playing small does not serve the world.There is nothing enlightened about shrinkingso that other people won't feel insecure around you.We are all meant to shine, as children do.We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.And as we let our own light shine,we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
- by Marianne Williamson
(from "A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles")

Extra effort goes a long way

Do you think that people that make just a little more effort or push a little harder, really get significantly different results than others? I'm always amazed by my observations of when this happens. I don't know if you caught the Colt's game yesterday, but there was one touch down run by Marvin that really took just a leeettttle more effort to get over the goal line. If he had given up on the the first tackle, he wouldn't have made it. I love when that happens. Checkout this video at http://www.212movie.com/ and see more examples. Would you agree that the smallest of extra effort can make a huge difference?

DON’T GO THERE—COACHES PLAY OF THE DAY

I recently met with a client who wanted to set and map out some long term goals. I showed him a tool I have used in the past which is pretty easy to design for yourself. Others have found it very useful, so I thought I would share. You might find it useful with New Years and resolutions right around the corner.

Use a simple table like the one below and set aside some time to really focus and contemplate the different elements in your life (You can choose what these are, or just choose one if you like, I've just offered suggestions).




Start by filling in your current state (yellow) under each element. How are you living your life currently in this particular element? Be really honest with yourself. For example, under Spiritual you might write: Good prayer life, peaceful and content; or… occasional meditation, good spiritual network, or perhaps…searching for spiritual connection or new church, is more the flavor. Fill in each column with your current situation and take as much space as you need.

Next, address each element and where you would like to be (green). Don’t judge how you would get there or whether you think it is possible. Just fill in the desired state that you would like to have in your life.

Lastly, fill in what the worst case scenario (beige) would be for each of those elements. Again, no judgment---just how bad do you think it could possibly be? For example, for me, under Worst Case State in Relationships it would read something like, “Divorced or separated from my husband, estranged from my children or other family members”. That would be the worst case scenario for me.

Now that you have your desired state and worst case set before you, look at each element and map out the steps that would lead from your current state to the desired state. What kinds of things would you need to do or believe, in order to get you to the desired state? Make a list. They may not be sequential or directly related, but you will have some ideas of what to do in order to move in that direction. For example, back to the Spiritual piece, if you were in need of a church or spiritual network you may write things such as, visit a new church every week, research area denominations, ask coworkers for recommendations, research bible study groups or meditation/prayer groups, etc.

Do the same for steps that would take you from your current state to your worst case. This is not meant to be a depressing exercise, but to simply define the steps that would take you in the wrong direction. For example, back to my Relationship example, I might write that constant belittling of my husband, picking fights, being uncommunicative, unforgiving, unloving, etc. might lead me to my worst case scenario.

Once you’ve done this for all the elements, you can see where you want to direct most of your focus and attention. Where are the biggest gaps? What elements can you achieve easily? Which ones do you want to do first? Maybe pick one element and work on several of the steps you’ve identified, before moving onto another. It’s your choice, but now you have the plan before you and you’ll be reminded when you happen to choose one of the steps that takes you in the wrong direction toward the worst case scenario! Jump back up into the area of the plan towards what you desire. Hope this is helpful.

The absolute JOY of a child

I took a day of vaca today and decided I was truly going to do whatever I really wanted to do. That started with sleeping in, followed by a long walk on a beautiful morning, just listening to the sounds of nature and life around me. Soon after turning the corner from my street, I noticed a noise which was very out of place---kind of like a rhythmic loud squeaking/pounding sound, yet very metallic. As I kept walking, and the volume grew, I finally noticed a young boy on a trampoline in his backyard, bouncing up and down with a huge pile of leaves in the middle. He was oblivious to my attention, but he bounced and bounced with what appeared to be just the absolute joy of doing it. So simple. Such simple pleasure was obvious. I found myself wishing that I could join him. Better yet, that I had my own trampoline and could just bounce up and down for the sheer joy of it. I started thinking about the simplicity of life for a child---yet it never seems so when you are the one living it. And yet, also, I thought about how sad it is that we have given up these simple pleasures. Why is it that I wouldn't even consider doing such a thing such as bouncing on a trampoline? When did something like that become 'improper' for me to do? Does it ever become 'improper' really or is it only in my mind?


I often say that internally I really don't feel older than I was at the age of 17. Somehow I chose that age as the one of self-awareness that I wanted to hold on to. Yet there are lots of things I don't do now that I did at 17 (some for obvious reasons). When did I give up the fun stuff? Today I am challenging myself to do something just for the fun of it! Enjoy your life today!

Music Lovers Unite---Vote early Vote often

For those of you who don't know me well, my daughter Lauren is a singer/songwriter in Manhatten. She has just recently entered a contest and came in the top ten! Now the winner will be determined by voting. You can vote once a day per e-mail address. So vote early, vote often and listen to some great music!

http://playitlive.cayamo.com/entry.php?id=1337

I am Peace

I read something today that just stopped me in my tracks. Ever heard the quote by Gandhi "Be the change you want to see in the world"? This is what it reminded me of, yet I constantly need to be reminded to incorporate this into my life on a daily basis. The following is in November's Science of the Mind magazine:

I am Peace
The peace I wish to see in others is the peace that I am.
Every thought, word, and action comes from knowing that I am peace.
I let there be peace in all of my affairs.
I let peace begin with me.
I am the peace I want to see.

Welcome to my new website and my blog. I have been putting this off for so long and my 23 year old daughter has convinced me to include a blog on my website. I’ve been meaning to be more disciplined about writing anyway, so hopefully this will get me in gear. I hope to write at least three times a week and share with you some coaching tips, situations, and experiences from my life that might help you in yours. In the meantime, you might check out my taped coaching conversations to get an idea of what coaching is really like. As always, I am available for a free complimentary coaching session to give you the personal experience as well. Just let me know…and stay tuned.

"The worst thing in your life may contain seeds of the best. When you see crisis as an opportunity, your life becomes not easier, but more satisfying" Joe Kogel