Change

Up Close and Personal with What Kills Your New Year Goals

/ Susan Hanshaw / Leave a comment

I didn’t expect the 4-mile hill run I took the other day to be anything more than a standard workout. But as I got about 10 minutes into the run and started to climb with the hilly grade, I receive another life lesson reminder. I became aware of  how much my beliefs and habits play a role in what I am able to accomplish. As I tuned into what was going on in my mind, I was able to get beyond what I had let become obstacles and achieve a higher performance.

Here  are the obstacles I got in touch with and lessons learned:

Obstacle: I realized that I had established certain points in this routine run where I told myself that the grade was too steep and I allowed my pace to transition from run to walk.

Lesson: I had come to let the points in the road dictate my pace without even considering what may be possible. Over the course of time, I had developed the habit to stop at certain points without pushing myself. I let myself believe it was too hard without even trying.

Obstacle: When I became aware of how I was holding myself back, I made an effort to get in tune with what thoughts were attached. I realized that I had a slight fear about driving my heart and breathing rate.

Lesson: I made the assumption that if I was huffing and puffing deeply at the lower part of the hill, that it would be too much for my lungs to handle as I made my way towards the top. It wasn’t until I pushed myself that I was able to discover that I could manage my breathing as I focused on it. The assumption that I had let hold me back had turned out to be totally false.

The fresh New Year is just around the corner. Maybe you, like me, are thinking about goals. As you take a look at what you’d like to create in your life, what obstacles might be holding you back? Might you discover like I did some thoughts that are pure false?

Making Time to Live Your Dream

/ Susan Hanshaw / 2 Comments

I got a Facebook message today from a woman who was a close friend in my early high school years. She asked about what I have been doing in the 30 plus years since we last communicated. Once I got beyond the challenge of summing up my life in one paragraph, my mind stayed focused on the question–What am I doing with my life?

When I turned 50 a few months ago, I told myself that I would be more proactive in creating the second half of my life. So far, I’ve not done a good job with that. While I am doing pretty well with carrying out some short term business goals, I continue to let some long-held dreams go by the wayside. Are you guilty of this, too?

Make Your Dream a Priority

A couple of decades ago I made fitness a priority and began to schedule my life with workouts in mind. When a potential commitment makes itself available, the first thing I think about is how I might need to schedule my workout around it. Sick, maybe, but at least it works in enabling me to maintain my fitness goals. Why has it not occurred to me to treat my dreams in the same way? I know the necessary steps I need to take; I just haven’t forced myself to do the work because I simply don’t make the time for it.

In the scheme of life, seeing my dreams become my reality is far more important than my mission to keep away a few unwanted pounds. What’s up with my priorities? Add this one to my list of “What was I thinking??”

Jack Canfield: Merging Business and Spiritual Principles for Success

/ Susan Hanshaw / 4 Comments

jack-canfield-success-principles

Last weekend I went out in search of a book that could set me into the new year with an inspired focus on the unlimited possibilities that I know are true for all of our lives. I came home with Jack Canfield‘s The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. The title perfectly expressed what I was looking for.

Fifty seven pages into the read, the book has surpassed what I set out to receive. It’s not that the principles that Jack Canfield writes about are new, it’s that his ideas are a rare mix of spirituality and business. They’re grounded in practicality and yet they speak to the soul. He reminds me that it’s possible to achieve your dreams, but first you need to get in touch with those dreams, break them down into goals, and above anything else, believe in your ability to bring your dreams to life.

I sat down to do a couple of different exercises, and it blew me away to discover just how vague I am about what I really want from my life.  How can I focus on building the life of my dreams if I haven’t focused on what my dreams clearly look like?

Jack Canfield has left me with a number of gems so far:

  1. Believing in yourself is essential to success. If you can’t believe in your ability to succeed with something, ask yourself why not? Identify what you need to do to feel confident about your ability to succeed and do it.
  2. Get clear on your vision and create very specific goals. The more definition you place on what you want to achieve, the better equipped your mind is to support the building.
  3. Make a habit of focusing on what you want to create through visualization and mental review of your goals. Keep your visions and the energy that supports them engaged and fully alive. Review your goals several times a day.
  4. Carry a written description of your most important goal with you. Make it a part of your life by reviewing it constantly.

If you haven’t already, take the time to create a vision of your ideal life, and break that vision into specific goals. You can never be too clear on what you want to create.

Where are You Placing Your Trust?

/ Susan Hanshaw / 2 Comments

I was reminded today in a business meeting how much what we believe in impacts what we expect, and ultimately, what we manifest in our lives. This understanding is especially critical during times when we are easily tempted to believe in what we don’t want to manifest. Right now that temptation is financial crisis.

Can you see, though, that if you believe that you are in the midst of a financial crisis, that you are setting the intention to crash financially? Who wants that??? Sure, the stock market is behaving wildly, credit is hard to come by, and many of us are losing money in our investments. Yet markets turn and movement goes in a different direction.

In times like this we tend to forget that we are guided by Mother Nature and not Wall Street. Put your trust in the good of Mother Nature and give yourself permission to reject messages about financial lack. Instead set your intention to prosper. It won’t happen unless you open your mind to the possibility and follow through with the actions that will produce that flow.

An Exercise for Breaking through Obstacles

/ Susan Hanshaw / Leave a comment

I had one of my most fulfilling experiences on Friday when I was invited to speak at a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help those who are most in need to succeed. Sixty women who are enrolled in various vocational job training programs attended my workshop, “The Secret to Success”. Why was it so fulfilling? Because for at least our 90 minutes together, my ideas made a difference.

The breakthrough lesson was how our beliefs are all that holds us back from taking the steps to succeed. We did an exercise that first asked them to write answers to the following:

  • What fears do you have about your job future?
  • What ideas are limiting what you think you can achieve or become in your life?
  • What is holding you back from believing you can stay dedicated to doing the necessary work?

In the second part of the exercise, I asked them to go back and write down what new ideas they could replace the ones above with that would support them in taking action. After a few minutes, several shared how writing their thoughts down enabled them to get clarity they’d never had before.

We can help ourselves break through all our obstacles if only we look closely enough to see what they are.

Try the exercise yourself and see what you might learn.

7 Steps to Create Change

/ Susan Hanshaw / 4 Comments

I was overweight throughout grammar school and up until my second year of college. I grew up seeing myself as an overweight person. After numerous failed diets throughout the years, it became a stretch for me to consider that I would ever be anything but overweight. One morning when I was 19, I got out of bed anticipating a party that I was going to that night. I realized that I was sick of being overweight. I decided that I was willing to do what it took to change my weight. I took one day at a time, making healthy choices and changing the way I ate. Within a few months I dropped 40 pounds and changed my lifestyle forever. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was following the key to success in creating any change.

7 Steps to Successfully Create Change:

  1. Declare that you are no longer willing to tolerate a particular habit or way of being.
  2. Identify the specific things you need to do differently to change.
  3. Acknowledge that you are in complete control of your actions.
  4. Recognize the process of change as being day by day.
  5. Commit to making the desired actions for that particular day.
  6. If you fall down, forgive yourself and start fresh.
  7. At the end of each day, honor your ability to make the choice you want and create the change you desire.

www.innerarchitect.com

12 Steps to Make Your Dream Your Life

/ Susan Hanshaw / 12 Comments

I delivered the pdf file for my upcoming book, Inner Architect: How to Build the Life You Were Designed to Live, to the printer this past Thursday. On Friday afternoon something incredible hit me. I am in the process of bringing life to my dream! Holy cow. Why did it take me so long to see clearly what is right in front of me? What was I thinking to expect that one single event would bring my dream to life? It really is all about baby steps.

Three years ago this month, I walked away from a successful 20-year career in the corporate world to follow a dream. It hasn’t been an easy journey, that’s for sure, and I’ve got a ways to go. But I can see now that I am on my way.

Your way to your dream can be found in these steps:

  1. Recognize that you have the choice to create a different life.
  2. Believe that it is possible to successfully build your dream.
  3. Define the obstacles that are holding you back.
  4. Replace your obstacles with ideas that support you.
  5. Give credibility to the desires of your heart and learn to trust it.
  6. Outline your training and development needs.
  7. Crystallize your vision.
  8. Identify your major goals.
  9. Define the steps necessary to achieve your goals.
  10. Stay committed to doing the necessary work.
  11. Support your external work with thoughts that help to build it.
  12. See yourself now in the beginning stages of your new life.

Money: Are Your Erroneous Views Getting in Your Way?

/ Susan Hanshaw / 2 Comments

Money is such a driving force in our lives. It makes us do things we hate and holds us back from doing what we love. Have you ever thought that it’s not the money that holds the power? It’s what you allow your mind to believe about money.

Ask yourself…which of the following do you believe is the truth about money:

  1. Your ability to generate money is tied to your job. Lose your job, lose your ability.
  2. Opportunities to generate money are everywhere. You just need to open your mind to the possibilities.

Stay tuned for more.

http://www.innerarchitect.com

Change Your Life: Change Your View of Money

/ Susan Hanshaw / 2 Comments

“The only lack is the fear of lack in the mind of man.”
—Charles Fillmore, Co-Founder of Unity

I am grateful for having been introduced to the spiritual laws of prosperity for they have shown me a very different way to view money. These views helped me to release my fears that kept me clinging to a job that no longer fit.

It is possible to let go of the security of a paycheck and not live in a constant state of fear. Stay tuned to my continuing video series, Becoming an Inner Architect, and you’ll be shown how.

View Part 1 of the video series

View Part 2 of the video series

http://www.innerarchitect.com