Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Add Value for the Joy of It

This Week with Sara Fitts focuses on principle # 5 from Thomas Leonard's 28 Principles of Attraction: Add value for the joy of it.

Too often we fail to find joy in what we do - much less add joy in our lives intentionally. So this principle seems to make a point to me personally that we can add joy to our lives and to our work simply by adding value for the joy of it.

How can we add value? There are many ways. Among them, both personally and professionally, can be found in this short list:
  • Kind words
  • A smile
  • "Please" and "thank you"
  • 2 for the price of 1
  • Buy 1, get one 50% off
  • Free gift with purchase
  • An extra coaching session
  • More time
  • More service
  • "Extra" services
  • Lunch or dinner
  • Face time
  • Phone time
  • Gift cards
  • Personal notes
  • An unexpected voicemail message

Anything of real value is appreciated by just about everyone. And the pay off we get is exponential. The secret is that the value must be given authentically. When we give value for the sheer joy of it, we get so much more out of life in every aspect.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Build a Super-Reserve in Every Area of Your Life

This Week with Sara Fitts looks at Thomas Leonard's fourth of his 28 Principles of Attraction: Build a super-reserve in every area of your life. Each of these principles works to attract more of everything you want in your life and in your work. By utilizing any one of these principles, you will attract more to you. When you combine any two or more of these principles, you will have even greater success in attracting more of everything you want in your life and in your work. So over the next 24 weeks or so, you will have your own personal arsenal of attraction principles that will open more doors for you than you can ever imagine. The real secret here is to be open to the possibilities and make the most of the opportunities that appear right before your eyes.

Build a super-reserve in every area. What this means to me is simply this: Stop limiting yourself and extend your boundaries in all areas of your life. Build more time into your schedule so that you can have more energy. Build more space into your life so you can accomplish more. Build a larger network of support so you can experience sustainable achievement. Build greater friendships with everyone - so you can have a fuller and more fulfilled life. The list is infinite when you stop and really think about it.

Build a super-reserve in every area. Some people think this only applies to money. Of course, some money is necessary in order to live day-to-day; however, money is really not the main focus of this principle of attraction. But it certainly doesn't hurt to build a super-reserve of it, either! In this regard, saving as much money as you can would not be a bad thing.

Build a super-reserve in every area. Time is definitely a huge struggle for a lot of us. There are several ways to build a super-reserve of time - even in the most harried of lives. Some simple ways to build a super-reserve of time is to know what is most important to you - and to live in that authenticity. If your family is most important to you, find ways to visit with them and make each visit worthwhile. If your spouse is most important to you, find ways to express that even when you are running from one task to another. Whatever is most important to you should drive your goals and actions. [Of course we all must earn a living, but we must find ways in which to live in congruence with our values.]

Build a super-reserve in every area. Health, wellness and fitness cannot be taken for granted. We must build a super-reserve especially in this area, I think. Everything we do is a reflection of our health, wellness and fitness. We need exercise, the right foods, rest and recreation - for creativity, for simple movement, for the ability to work and live, as well as for sustainable strength to keep us going for all our (hopefully) long lives.

Build a super-reserve in every area. This is something that we all need to seriously think about - as it relates to attracting more of what we want in our lives and in our work. What do you plan to build super-reserves in? What do you need more of in your life? What do you need less of in your life? Really think about this - and then do something about it. Delay is increasingly expensive - and time is getting away from us. Start building super-reserves today - and see how the principle of attraction works in your life and in your work.


Monday, May 12, 2008

Over-Respond to Every Event - and Attract More of Everything

This Week with Sara Fitts continues with the third of Thomas Leonard's 28 Principles of Attraction. Over-respond to every event. When we over-respond to every event, we leave nothing undone; therefore increasing the probability of success in our endeavors - both personal and professional.

What does it mean to "over-respond" to an event? Basically, it means doing everything possible to ensure successful accomplishment of the intended goal or objective. Some ways include:
  • Following up and following through on all correspondence and calls
  • Confirming all appointments
  • Assuming nothing - and asking specific questions
  • Assuming nothing - and repeating back what you think you heard
  • Dropping in on new customers or clients
  • Dropping in on former customers or clients
  • Implementing a 3-pronged approach for follow-up: email, call, card or note
  • Implementing a 3-pronged approach for marketing
  • Going the extra mile - whether it's a dinner party or a business meeting - making it special and making the person on the receiving end feel important

There are many ways to over-respond to every event. And when we do, it shows that we care about our business life and our personal life - and the lives of those we touch.

So to re-cap the first three components of my Simple Little Formula for attracting more of everything we want in life and in business,

  1. Become incredibly selfish.
  2. Unhook yourself from the future.
  3. Over-respond to every event.

Put these three principles in play in your life this week, and see what happens. My prediction is that you will experience more in your life and in your work.

Stay tuned for more to come!


Monday, May 05, 2008

Unhook Yourself from the Future in Order to Have More of Everything

This Week with Sara Fitts continues with the 28 Principles of Attraction from Thomas Leonard. This week we discuss the second of his principles: Unhook yourself from the future.

I firmly believe that too often we focus on tomorrow and next year and 5 years from now - at the expense of today. If we can simply unhook ourselves from the future and focus on today and the immediate needs of our lives and our work, we will attract much more in our lives and in our work.

The benefits of unhooking from the future are many - but the ones that readily come to mind are:
  1. Living more in the moment - experiencing more of the immediate.
  2. We actually get more done - because our focus is actually more narrowed in the present.
  3. We can "zoom in" on today - and avoid the trappings of being too focused on the future.
  4. We can actually assess and evaluate our efforts and results today - and make the necessary changes that will affect the future.
  5. We can break down our big goals into bite-sized chunks and can get ahead much more easily.
  6. We can see results faster when unhook ourselves from the future.

While I believe in setting long-term goals (both personally and in business), it is often too easy to get so wrapped up in the future that we can forget the joy of each day. Days can become a blur when we focus too much on the future. When we unhook ourselves from the future, we can actually enjoy the journey so much more.

So try this exercise in your personal life and in your business life. For 1 week unhook yourself from the future. Concentrate your efforts on the day-to-day routine and the daily tasks that must get done. At the end of each day, assess and candidly evaluate where you are. Begin each day with a clear plan of what must be done today - and keep yourself unhooked from the future. The old adage "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today" is a form of this philosophy, I guess.

Unhook yourself from the future - and have more of everything in your life.

More to come.....