Opportunity and fear…

Time to Go Big…

Fear was on my mind on my walk today, I was thinking about a coaching client of mine.

She is faced with an opportunity right now and when it was brought to her she was immediately hit with fear.

On our call today, she told me all of the wild thoughts that threw themselves at her at warp speed when she first got the call with this opportunity.

Before I share her thoughts with you (and yes, she gave me approval to do so) I feel it’s important to know that there is NO MONEY at stake, there are NO CONTRACTS being signed, DEATH could not be a result, hell INJURY isn’t even a possibility.

Back to her attacking thoughts…these are the primary thoughts that hurled themselves at her…

• ‘What if it only seems like an opportunity but it’s not?’
• ‘What if it’s too much work and doesn’t fit into my life how I want it to?”
• “What if I hate it?”
• “What if it fails?”
• “What if I waste my time?’

…You get the idea.

Fear is such a huge factor in our lives…it becomes a great reason NOT to do things, get involved, connect, try…live.

The funny thing to me is how we phrase our fears…here are some examples of what we tell ourselves…

• ‘I’m scared to fly’
  (No you’re not…you’re scared to die)
• ‘I’m scared to love’
  (No you’re not…you’re scared that you won’t be loved back)
• ‘I’m scared to try a new sport, language, hobby, business.’
  (No you’re not your scared you’ll look stupid)
• ‘I’m scared to start my own business.’
  (No you’re not…you’re scared you’ll fail)
• ‘I’m scared to reach out to that casting director’
  (No you’re not…you’re scared they’ll tell you you’re not talented)
• ‘I’m scared to tell them how much I love them’
  (No you’re not…you’re scared they won’t care)
• ‘I’m scared to commit to __________.’
  (No you’re not, you’re scared if you commit you lose the power to choose)

And the list goes on…

We attach fear to the wrong thing…we attach it to the action when really what we are scared of is some potential negative feeling/emotion/result.

If we took EVERYTHING that anyone claims they are scared of I guarantee it boils down to a few basic fears:

• Fear of death or injury (to you or someone you love).
• Fear of rejection
• Fear of looking stupid
• Fear of failure

Boiled down even further…what we are scared of in one word is PAIN.

And the thing about people is, for the most part, we will most likely take action to avoid PAIN than we will to achieve pleasure.

BUT BUT BUT

Isn’t living life in a LESS THAN way PAINFUL?

It is for me…it sucks…I hate it…I wish I got zapped with electricity every time I chose the pain of safety over the possibility of pain with something new or out of the box that could bring me great joy.

That’s what I mean by ‘Go Big’…to me ‘Going Big’ means choosing to go toward what has a chance to bring me great joy even though it may not…because if I don’t ‘Go Big’ I am guaranteed 1 thing and 1 thing only, and that is the pain of living a life that is ‘less than’.

So my questions for you today are:

What does ‘Go Big’ mean to you?

Remember the Go Big End of Year Challenge: In what small way (maybe in less than 15 minutes) can you push your comfort zone and choose to ‘Go Big’ today?

Go Big!

Kristen

P.S. My Go Big VIP Program is filling up and I am doing something special.  The next 50 people that join and commit to ‘Go Big Now’ and not wait until after the holidays will get a special 1-on-1 strategy session with me in January to give you that extra advantage you need to make 2010 the best it can be. Get on board as one of the next 50 here: http://www.gobigcoach.com/gobignow

Which are you?

At this time of year there tend to be 2 types of people…

(I’ve talked about this briefly before, but now that we are full swing into the holiday season, I want to really get into it!)

Most people have some changes and growth they want to experience in their lives…

And as I said, there are 2 types of people…

1. The type that sees the holiday season as a time to enjoy AND a time to get a jump start on moving themselves forward toward the changes they want to see in the new year so that when January 1st comes they already have a running start.

2. The type that sees the holiday season as a time to enjoy AND put on hold until January 2nd when they plan to immediately jump in and start working toward the changes they want to see in their lives.

So, which are you?

Please be honest…

Tell yourself the truth…

Are you ready to get a jump start on the New Year or have you already pressed the hold button on your life until 2010?

If you are ready to get a jump start, that doesn’t mean you have to go crazy and stop enjoying the holidays etc.

In fact I actually recommend taking small steps — we just want a running start not complete changes by January 2.

That’s why I gave you the 15 minute a day challenge between now and Dec 31.

Imagine how great it will feel to see some progress by the New Year instead of feeling like you are just starting as of January…

How great will that feel?

If you have the pause button on, you can un-pause it…

If you want to that is…

So…

Which are you?

Remember even the smallest running start is momentum…

I’m excited to help you gain that momentum…

Today we begin!

You are extraordinary!

Go Big!

Kristen

P.S. If you are really serious about getting a running start and taking yourself off pause but need a little help to stick with it and have a plan, my new Go Big Now program is competely guaranteed and is just the thing to give you that extra accountability, plan and attention you need…

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to take a second to let you know how grateful I am for you!

Go Big!

Kristen

Success in 15 minutes a day — will you commit to yourself?

Experiment time!

There are 39 days left in 2009…

I thought an experiment to see how far you can move forward while still enjoying the holiday season was appropriate!

First let me ask you this question…

If I told you that you could significantly move your life forward between now and January 1, 2010 and it would only take 15 minutes a day…

Would you commit to dedicating 15 minutes a day EVERY DAY for the next 39 days?

I’m going to assume you answered ‘Yes’!

So this is what we are going to do…

Starting today and going through Dec. 31, 2009 I want you to do 1 thing each day to move yourself forward…

Here are the rules:

• You MUST do 1 thing each day
• The ‘Thing’ you do MUST take 15 minutes or less to do…
• The ‘Thing’ you do MUST push your comfort zone
• The ‘Thing’ you do MUST make you feel like you have somehow moved yourself forward toward one of your goals

Got it?

It is up to you if you are going to focus on one area of your life to move forward for the next 39 days or if you are going to focus in several directions…

Either way, you WILL see a huge difference IF you absolutely commit to do this AND you follow through.

To help you out, I want you to leave a comment now stating that you are taking part in the challenge and what your focus is.  I also want you to tell me what it is you will do today.

This is another case of you are either in or you aren’t…

I know it’s tough love…but if you are just going to try to commit 15 minutes a day, you aren’t going to get where you want to go…

15 minutes…to move toward the life of your dreams…

• I KNOW you can do this…
• Commit to it now…
• Leave a comment…
• Tell me you’re in…
• Tell me your focus…
• Tell me what you will do today!

Have fun with this!!

YOU ARE EXTRAORDINARY!

Go Big!

Kristen

P.S. Accountability is the key to success…get into my group program and I’ll hold you accountable and get on the phone with you every month to make sure you are on the right path.  Let’s shift your success from a maybe to a definite!  The monthly call is coming up so get in now…

http://www.gobigcoach.com/gobignow

Scared to be too pushy or salesy?

I know there are many of you trying to get something out there into the world…

For some of you it’s a new business for others it’s a  form of creative expression or way of impacting the world…

It doesn’t matter what it is, what matters is that you get it out there and I know that for most of you there is probably fear that goes along with that.  You don’t want to be pushy or salesy or annoy the people you know and love…

But let me tell you something important about this…

And I’ll actually use this blog to illustrate my point…

Here’s the truth…

The more I blog, the more responsive people are…the more people ask for my help, hire me as a coach, bring me on to speak etc.

What does this mean to me about life and more specifically living the life we want to design, achieving our aspirations, being the people we desire to be?

I’ll tell you (you knew I would)!

It means that when we want to get something out there or make something known or get people on board with something we have to take the other people into account.

Now this is where I flip what we normally do on it’s ear!

How we normally ‘Take other people into account’ is by ASSUMING we will annoy them or bother them…we think they will grow weary of us…so we mention something in passing and then let it go…assuming that if it is important to them or resonates with them they will pick up the ball and run with it, gleefully letting us know how what we have is exactly what they’ve been waiting for.

Let’s be honest,  if we REALLY ‘Take other people into account’ we will realize that there are so many distractions and so much stimuli flying around all at all times, that if we just mention something in passing, chances are great that our thing or message or whatever will automatically shift to the back of their brains, not because they are being mean or don’t care, but just because that is how it is.

BEFORE I GO ON LET ME CLARIFY…You should also NEVER ASSUME that they are all ears and sitting around all day every day just waiting for your message or thing or whatever…I’m NOT saying be annoying…I’m not saying harass people…in fact you should always give people the chance to respectfully decline…

Here’s the thing…you only want to be talking to people who want to hear what you have to say AND I guarantee you that there are a lot more people that actually do want to hear what you have to say than you think.

To boil it down, I’m saying is this…

‘If you don’t toot your own horn, someone else will pick it up and hit you over the head with it.’

• Toot it with respect for the people listening…
• Toot it with confidence but not OVER confidence or false bravado…
• Toot it and know that NOT everyone will like the sound of your particular horn…

Keep in mind…tooting your own horn doesn’t mean talking about yourself or bragging…it means putting what you want out there and letting it be known…you never know who has the key to a door for you!

And remember…listen for when you might have the key to a door for someone else…because that’s a powerful thing!

Leave me a comment right now and answer this question…

What have you  quietly kept to yourself or mentioned only in passing, that it’s time to claim loudly now?

(This could be a dream as big as wanting to run for President or it could be as simple as speaking up and saying that you have always wanted to have the Vintage Cameras that used to be in your Grandmother’s house.)

Go Big!

Kristen

P.S. My new monthly membership program is filling up and I’m very excited to be able to hold my VIP members accountable and talk with them every month. If you are ready to live an extraordinary life NOW then go check it out and see if it’s the program for you:

http://www.gobigcoach.com/gobignow