Inspiring Conversations, LLC

Fear is big news these days and not just with the reality shows. A recent survey by Jericho Communications of over 20% of Fortune 1000 CEO’s revealed that 43% cited fear as the number one motivating factor while money motivated only 7%.

Their collective response indicates a potential disconnect from what many people hear from today’s coaches and motivational speakers. In today’s self-help abounding society, we hear more about embracing the rewards and visualizing your achievements than we hear about using fear to achieve your goals. Yet according to these successful individuals, fear is what motivated them.

How can we explain this “Fear Factor”? Possibly using the life Wheel may shed some light. The life wheel is comprised of six key areas: Mental, Physical, Family, Career/Financial, Social and Ethics/Beliefs, each represented by a sector in a circle, with each sector divided into smaller pieces.

Using this circle, begin at the center and shade each area working from the center to the outer rim. The shaded area represents your potential, your satisfaction, or your happiness in that area of your life. You define the terms.

The unshaded area is what I call the “Sea of Fear.” Within this sea is all of your untapped potential, those unfulfilled dreams, those areas of discontent or your unhappiness. The Sea of Fear separates you from the land of Abundance (the outer rim of the wheel) where you can be everything that you can be or achieve everything that you desire. Successful individuals have an abundant life because they have faced their fears and achieved their dreams.

How does one cross the Sea of Fear and find the Land of Abundance? The answer is simple: using goals. Goals are the life preservers that allow individuals to stay afloat during both the stormy and calm times. Without goals, the life preservers, the sea of fear overcomes even the strongest and most determined swimmer.

Each life preserver is also comprised of compartments to ensure the safety of the swimmer in case one compartment fails; the others keep the swimmer afloat. Establishing goals in each area of the life wheel will help you stay balanced as you swim across the Sea of Fear. As you begin to fill each compartment within your Life Preserver full of goals, you may wish to consider these questions:

• Mental: What do I fear about expanding my mental abilities?
• Physical: Why do I fear living a healthy life?
• Family: Whom do I fear in establishing a better relationship?
• Financial/Career: What in this area do I fear that prevents me from financial or career security?
• Social: Where is fear that prevents me from developing an active social life?
• Ethics/Beliefs: What fear is keeping me from being actively committed to expressing my ethics or beliefs?

Over 2,000 years ago before the advent of modern motivational speakers, Aristotle penned these words: “Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.”

Without goals providing the means to cross the Sea of Fear, we fail to see the meaning in our lives because we drown in our fears and allow the Fear Factor to control the destiny of our lives.

– Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S., president of ADVANCED SYSTEMS

By Susan Nielsen

Throughout life, we talk openly of all the things we'd like to do. However, instead of planning and organizing our efforts, we often leave them to chance.

Daydreams can provide needed relief from the realities of the moment, but they don't necessarily prompt you to take any action. Setting specific, measurable, attainable, realistically high and time-bound goals takes our ideas from dreams to reality.

Crystallizing your goals is the first step toward a commitment to action. The ideas of goal setting is not new; in fact, we are goal seekers by nature, and we are happiest when engaged in activities that have meaning to us.

The more clearly you define your goals, the more likely it is that you will do what it takes to achieve them on a day-to-day basis. That said, we are also human in other ways that can interrupt us on our path to achieving our goals. Obstacles are a necessary part of the process. They are actually what make our goals worthwhile. The challenges posed by obstacles are the keys to unlocking inner potential. Some obstacles you can see and plan ahead for; others pop up along the way. Your attitude, knowledge, creativity, and self-discipline all play a role in your ability to recover, refocus and get moving again. Success starts with you: your choice to make a dream reality by setting goals and making them happen.

– Adapted with permission from Leadership. Copyright © Resource Associates Corporation. All rights reserved. Susan Nielsen. (888) 850-2206 Ext 701

By Arno Ilic

Quite a bit has been made of the economy recently. A great scare happened last summer that saw the collapse of our economy and millions out of work. That was a wake-up call for many. Now you hear the optimists claiming the “recession” is over while others are still preaching doom and gloom. Both sides are right to a degree. While the economy has started turning around, it also is nowhere near the levels of 2007 (Dow Jones @ 12919.40 on April 23rd). Politicians want to impress you with the good job they are doing thus portraying a very optimistic point of view. They want you to spend money. The reality is, those who have money are still looking for deals.

Try buying a car. You will not get the impression that we are well on the way to economic recovery. I looked at a Toyota Prius recently. The sign claimed I could save $6,000.00 from the suggested retail price. On the other hand, try buying a condo in downtown Toronto, and you would think there never was an economic crisis. In a recent article in one of Canada’s national newspapers (The Globe and Mail), an article claimed that the average housing price in Canada has increased by 11.3 percent from the previous year. In Vancouver, sales increased by 117 percent year over year.

Why am I pointing this out to you? Because running your business based on what is going on in the economy can cause you to take inappropriate actions or no actions at all. By artificially creating an environment that is meant to stimulate the economy, are we not really selling ourselves against the future? The car you buy today will stimulate the economy for today, but what happens in 2011 or 2012 when you do not need a new car? Who will stimulate the economy then? According to a United Nation’s Executive Summary (World Population Ageing 1950–2050), “Population ageing is unprecedented, without parallel in the history of humanity.” And, “In the economic area, population ageing will have an impact on economic growth, savings, investment and consumption, labor markets, pensions, taxation and intergenerational transfers.”

Who will be around to keep the economy engines stoked? What happens in a few years when interest rates start climbing again? What happens to those who cannot afford the house they are in? Who will be able to afford a new house? Will the cycle start all over again?

There is a great opportunity at the moment to fine-tune your companies. Have your long-range plans been altered to reflect the demographic changes? Have you considered what it is that you need to do to make your company leaner? What about all that old equipment you continue to use even though it has been written off several years ago? If you fail to upgrade or streamline, you will be at the mercy of the economic times of the day. Companies need to insulate themselves against such inevitabilities.

We at Inspiring Conversations can assist you with that. Find out how we can steer you through these uncertain times.

– Copyright protected worldwide. Arno Ilic. (888) 850-2206 Ext 705

Gentle Reminders

Even the most dedicated employees can occasionally be heard muttering, "Why am I doing this?" One way to give them a constant sense of purpose is by taking photos of the people they've helped—our customers—and posting them on a bulletin board where workers can see them every day. Decorate the board with thank-you notes, photographs of smiling patrons, and other memorabilia to remind workers that the people they serve appreciate them.

– Adapted from "25 low cost, creative ideas to improve morale, enhance productivity, and make your workplace more fun," by Barbara A. Glanz
Contact Jeff Johnston.  (888) 850-2206 Ext 704

The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.
— Joseph Priestley

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.
— Abraham Lincoln

Success tends to go not to the person who is error-free, because he also tends to be risk-averse. Rather it goes to the person who recognizes that life is pretty much a percentage business. It isn't making mistakes that's critical, it's correcting them and getting on with the principal task.
— Donald Rumsfeld