Debra Kasowski

EPISODE 15: Imagine the Possibilities

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DKI Episode 15 – Imagine the Possibilities

Logic will get you from A to B; imagination will take you everywhere.” Albert Einstein

41442682 - homemade kettle corn popcorn in a bagWhat I want to focus on today is helping you stretch out of your comfort zone and thinking about shifting from any impossible thinking that you might have to into the world of possibility. You want to be in that dream state to be able to explore what is possible. This is when your mind is like a popcorn machine – all those kernels popping around like all the ideas coming out of your head. I love to brainstorm. It is one of my most favorite things to do next to mind mapping. Your dreams are only limited by your mind. I am not talking about fluff dreams. I am talking about concrete dreams that you turn into goals and take steps to actually get to where you want to go. You tap into your full potential.

There is a quote that says you would completely astound yourself if you truly knew what you are capable of. We don’t use everything that we’re capable of doing because there’s so many things that we can do and tap into we have so many hidden talents and so little time. I don’t have the time or when even find the time. If not now, when? If not you, who else is going to be doing it? Sometimes people say, “I’ve made mistakes or failed. It would be impossible for me to resurrect myself to be seen in the same light or achieve the same things that I have. You heard stories of people who have become millionaires, maybe have gone bankrupt, and they were able to build an empire. You know not everyone is in that the state of being the millionaire. Often people say things about The Millionaire Woman Show, it isn’t about one million bucks; it’s about living rich from the inside out – feeling like a million bucks and growing into the person you are meant to be through leadership, business, and developing human potential. You must put out the intention to grow into it.

“Your mistake does not define who you are, you are your possibilities.”

Oprah Winfrey

I want you to give yourself permission to dream. Who would’ve thought about websites like Pinterest, Etsy, and all these different websites of people getting creative and innovative all these possibilities around us? Think about what is possible. This is where all these great inventions have come from. This is how entrepreneurs are born because they are always looking for a better way of how to improve something or create a solution to something. Think of the creator of Spanx, Sara Blakely, she was trying to create a solution by the cutting off the legs of nylons so she could wear nylons under her pants. This creativity led to a whole new line of body shapewear. Many women are grateful for this! It was innovative and creative. It turned into a business solution for women around the world. What could be possible if you allow yourself to dream?

“Some people see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not?” George Bernard Shaw

Consider the things that you want to do in your life” What are the possibilities? Ask yourself: If not you, who? If not now, when? Why not?  Think about those things. Stretch out of your comfort zone. Start dreaming! You are only limited by your mind. Imagine the possibilities. I want you to take the time to really dream about what is possible for you. If you could be, do, or have anything that would that look like?

58742224 - create design strategy vision conceptCreate a vision board. A vision board is just not a collage pretty pictures; it is something that allows your mind to expand. It is a collage and not a piece of art. I do not want you to frame it and thinking this is beautiful. I want you to use it as a tool and then set goals based on what is on your board. Break your goals down into smaller pieces. Check out of goalsetting and make plans to start taking action toward what it is you truly want to happen to those possibilities actually making them become reality.

TMW_PDFclickhere.fwWe would love to hear from you and let us know how this podcast is serving you. Give us ideas of some of the topics you’d like to hear and even people you want us to interview because our phase 2 of the show is that we will start interviewing people later on in a couple weeks here. We would love to hear from you. Together we can help serve the world on the global stage of this podcast The Millionaire Woman Show helping you live rich from the inside out so give a five-star rating on iTunes or Google Play. Subscribe to us on iTunes or Google Play. You can e-mail us at Debra@DebraKasowski.com. I was so glad to spend this time with you. Go out and be the change in the world and just as Gandhi said. You can make the difference. Don’t forget those possibilities are standing right in front of you!

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com

Time 7:37 min

Keywords: possibilities, imagine the possibilities, creative, innovative, stretch out of your comfort zone, risk taking, podcast, iTunes

EPISODE 14: Appreciative Living

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DKI EPISODE 14: APPRECIATIVE LIVING

Appreciative living …I like to refer to is appreciative living as living the sweet life. No matter where you are whether you’re driving right now or just kicking back at the end of your day or you’re kicking off your morning, I am so glad that you’re here to join us today. I want to share appreciative living with you.  I am certified as the appreciative inquiry facilitator. I want to tell you a little bit more about the process and what it means to me and how it can apply to your life, in your business, and to your organization.

Appreciate is a verb; it means “to recognize the quality significance or magnitude of – appreciating their freedom. The second definition I found on dictionary.com is “to be fully aware of or sensitive to; realize –I appreciate your problems.” The third definition is to be thankful or show gratitude for – I appreciate your help.”
According to David Cooperrider (the Father of Appreciative Inquiry) and Diane Whitney, and The Change Handbook, “Appreciative Inquiry is the cooperative search for the best in people and their organizations, and the world around them. It involves systematic discovery of what gives the system “life” and when it’s most effective and capable of economic, ecological, and human terms. Appreciative Inquiry (also known as AI) involves the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen the system’s capacity to heightened positive potential. It mobilizes inquiry through crafting “unconditional positive questions” often involving hundreds and sometimes thousands of people.” It is a very powerful approach to shifting the way people think about things the questions they ask.

During my practicum, one of my greatest learnings was that when people complain about a situation. This is an opportunity to take a step back. What I learned – you know these people are still complaining about this process and you try to explain it to them. It was not the process that was the issue it was how they felt about their environment and how the organization was approaching things. I went back to my trainers, I learned that when people are complaining about something we take a step back and re-frame the question so that they understand it’s a positive question. Allow them to vent for the moment and then say, “I can see that you have a vision of what the ideal would look like; I would love for you to tell me more.” You can you lose their complaint and re-frame it into an unconditional positive question so they can share with you what they see what is the vision that they see as possible.  You might have some extra fruit some labor.

Appreciative Inquiry is not a traditional approach.

“The traditional approach to change is to look for a problem, do a diagnosis, and find a solution. The primary focus is not on what is wrong or broken; since we look for problems; we find them. By paying attention to problems, we emphasize and amplify them.”– Sue Hammond, The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry

Whatever you focus on expands; your primary focus should be what is working. What I love about Appreciating Inquiry, it allows you to really think about the possibilities. Our next podcast is actually talking about imagining the possibilities. What you focus on you get more of, so it really important to think about what it is that you want.

What are the best experiences you have had in your life so far? With Appreciative Living, the belief is that we do not just experience reality that we create that reality through our conversations with people, the way we think, and how we interact with others. Think about your interactions, you helped create those experiences. If you’re experiencing tension, you can also create a way to have greater peace in your life by approaching it and finding out some of those assumptions that you’re making. It easier to ask someone if your perception is correct than letting something gnaw at you for a couple days. Your thoughts influence how you act around those people.

APPRECIATING THE BEST IN THE PRESENT

Appreciative Living is appreciating your life. It is about appreciating the BEST in the present moment. What are 2 to 3 of your best experiences that you’ve experienced recently? Think about who was involved. What made it so great? Today’s podcast is more about asking questions. It is about getting you to reflect so grab a journal or piece of paper. I want you to take some time to think about this. Of course, I don’t want to do this while you’re driving but I would like you to re-listen to this podcast will make sure that we will not make it go too long today. I want you to take another listen to some of the questions, I will repeat a few things here as I really want you to pay attention.

What are 2 to 3 of your best experiences that you had recently?

Who was involved?

What made it great?

What are three things you are grateful for today? (even if something has tragically happened) What can you appreciate about the people or the situation? With all situations, there is a good and there is a bad. Without being humble, I want to share with us or just in your own notes:

What are your strengths?

What are your three core values?

What do you stand by?

The next question is:

How do you add value to those around you?

I also want you to think about – What is one of your greatest accomplishments?

I would love to hear what your best experience is and what is your greatest accomplishment so please e-mail me at Debra@debrakasowski.com and I would love for you to share them with us.

What is the value that you bring – your core values, and your strengths?

What are the 2 to 3 of your best experiences?

We can all learn from this.

What do you value in your life the most right now?

Thinking about – What are you bringing to the world?

IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES

When you think of appreciating your life and think about an image or symbol that comes to your mind.

What image or symbol comes to mind for you?

What affirmative or powerful statement reflects that image or symbol for you?

polarexpressOne of the most powerful words for me in my life is the word, “BELIEVE” and I’m not exactly sure what it is but when I see that word anywhere I gravitate to it. I’ve had people send me Christmas cards with BELIEVE on it (and I frame it).  One of my favorite movies is The Polar Express where only those who hear the sound of the bell, the Christmas Bell, believe in Santa and that he was real. When you have no belief, this demonstrates that something can be possible when people think things are impossible.

Think of your theme. What is your word? For some people, it’s resilient. For other people, it’s courage. For me, the word is “believe”.

If you could have three wishes right now, let’s say you have Aladdin with the genie lamp, you can give it a rub, and you can have three wishes what would those be?

Take a moment to close your eyes. Make sure you are NOT driving a car, of course, do this when you have an opportunity to actually do this.

Visualize your future.

What do you want to create?

What would your perfect day be like?

Would you want to be: more resilient? More open-minded? More creative and innovative? Delve into personal growth? Be willing to take a risk? Have more resources available to you? Give your life a whole new energy?

What I want to encourage you to do is to take the time to dream. This is why is very important to have some downtime to connect with family, go for a walk in nature, get out of the busyness of the world. You need to reconnect with who you are.

ACT IN ALIGNMENT

How do you need to show up to make what you want happen?

What conditions need to exist?

What three things must you start doing today to get to that perfect day?

What must you stop doing?

TMW_PDFclickhere.fwTake out a piece of paper (or the download) and it is usually just use one page but if you need to you can do it longer. I want you to sit down and write out everything from the moment you wake up to the end of the day. What would be your ultimate perfect day? Who would be there? What would you be doing? What are the things that need to be in place for these things to happen? I often hear people say many different comments about this exercise, but most of all, the biggest ah-ha that has is that they have never given themselves permission to dream. Some people do not realize that they’ve already been living some of those things already and doing some of the things that they truly love. If you’re not in that space, this exercise is even more important for you for you to really dig down.

Think about what it is it you truly want and if you can have a perfect day what would that look like? Who would you be with? What would you be doing? Where would you be going? How would you do some of those things?

By engaging in Appreciative Living and creating the Perfect Day, you will be living as the Italians say, “Dolce Vita”. Dolce Vita means living the sweet life. Why not – live it here and now. It’s a matter of making a choice and thinking about making a change with one action in your thinking or behavior that you are you willing to take so you can create that upward spiral to your best future.

“Appreciation can make a day even change a life; your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.” Margaret Cousin [Quote Block]

There are just a few things that you could think of doing to make your life richer from the inside out: trying new things, learn a new language, play an instrument, join a team, check out of meetup group in your area, create a portfolio or a WINS file where you keep track of your successes, and gather collection of things that make you feel good whether their pictures symbols – whatever we might be.

Share your powerful story with others. As you create the story (that you share with others), you want to create that most positive future that you appreciate and live in every moment. It begins with how you share your story with other people. Are you speaking about possibilities and Do you want to live the story you are living right now? If you’re questioning it or you wanted to be richer, you can do that, it all begins with a choice.

First, you must be really clear on what that looks like and what is it that you truly want. Are you willing to put in the effort that it takes to get there? There may be sacrifices. Are you okay with them? There can be consequences with every choice. Something that we get and sometimes something that we have to give – in the end, it was all worth it! Dolce Vita!

I hope that this pumps you up and gets you really thinking about how you can appreciate the present, imagine all the possibilities, and act in alignment with your truth, your values and live that perfect day.

I would love to hear about your perfect day so e-mail us at Debra@DebraKasowski.com Give us a five-star rating. Listen and subscribe to us out here on iTunes. Remember to be the change you wish to the world!

Sign up for our Newsletter www.debrakasowski.com

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com

Time 17.08 min

Falling on Tough Times Means You Need to Adjust Your Focus

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We don’t have to go too far to get drawn in to negativity. You can go to any social media page and see someone ranting about the political climate or their frustrations with the economy and the impact on their lives.

Tough times don’t last forever. They don’t impact everyone at the same time. There are industries that are growing and thriving by choice. They have learned to think creatively and to be innovative with what they have. They recognize that they are the creator of their own outcomes and experiences. Personal accountability and determination are what make the best rise to the top.

Change means different things to different people but for the most part change means progress and moving forward. Change may provoke feelings of anxiety, fear, and nervousness. It is the uncertainty and the feeling of loss of control that can get a person worked up. When you are driven by your fears, you become caged in your belief that things cannot get better and your actions and behavior with match that belief. You may even start settling for less than you deserve because you’ve adopted a small picture thinking or “victim mentality”. You view the world as things happening “to you” rather than “for you” and because of this small minded thinking you could be missing out on a grand opportunity.

“Whether you think you can or you can’t – you’re right.” – Henry Ford

Small picture thinkers are reactive rather than responsive. They focus on the small things versus the impact on the bigger picture. They fail to see that all circumstances are temporary and anything that is temporary can change. They do not ask questions about how thinks can be different. Small picture thinkers focus on counting their losses versus the gains that they have. They focus on the negativity of a situation and get lost in the blur activities that take up their day and exhaust them.

Worrying and complaining changes nothing. If we want greatness and abundance, we must be looking at what already is going well and celebrate those successes and build upon them. In my training in Appreciative Inquiry, a positive approach to creating meaningful and sustainable change, we guide people through a process of discovery by asking questions and focusing on existing strengths.

“The world as we have created is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. – Albert Einstein

Appreciative Inquiry is not about getting short-term results although many people would like immediate change (perhaps you they think it will hurt less or be more satisfied due to immediate gratification). People and organizations are living things that learn, grow, and evolve over time. Change takes time and commitment by each individual. You can start with focusing on what’s working and ask ourselves, “What do we/I need to be doing to be our best?”

What lens are you looking through? Are you looking at the upside or the downside? What strengths do you have that you can contribute to make a difference? It will be the big picture thinkers will who will keep the economy going. They know that now is not the time to stop learning, building relationships, or marketing because when the market changes (and it eventually will), they will be top of mind.

Think a little bit differently about the world around you. Ask yourself the following appreciative questions:

  1. Let’s capture your best experience. Recall a time when you felt on top of your game and most alive in your business, organization, or life. Who was involved? What made it such an exciting experience? Write down details.
  2. What do you bring to the table? Without being humble, what do you value about yourself as a person and what you contribute to your business or organization?
  3. The Magic Lamp. What three wishes would you make that would make the biggest difference in your business or organization right now?

Can you feel the shift in focus and energy? When you focus on the best of what is, you can think of ways to enjoy more of the best. Use your best experience, your strengths, and your three wishes to build and grow your business or organization to where you want to be. The same practices can be used in your personal life. Focus on what’s working right now. Celebrate and rave about it – shift the venting and gossip on social media to a positive and meaningful experience. Change starts with YOU!

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”Dr. Wayne Dyer

What is the one thing you are willing to commit to in moving toward making a positive change?

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. She is a contributing writer for Diversity Magazine and Fabulous at 50 Magazine. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. www.debrakasowski.com

3 Reasons to Challenge the Resistors of Change

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Change is a constant; it represents progress and forward momentum. Change keeps ideas fresh, innovative and creative. Change brings life.

One of the most challenging things I’ve faced as a positive change agent is people who are resistant to change. There are individuals who challenge any new idea or concept. In my work with Appreciative Inquiry, I have noticed that people with positive mindset will look forward to positive change, whereas those with a negative mindset or doubtful mindset will look for all the reasons why something won’t work. The latter group of individuals can’t seem to try something new or accept an approach unless they test it themselves. A common statement from these individuals is, “It is all great in theory.” This statement used to bother me; however, I have learned that this is one person’s perspective. It is important for me to understand the merits of their perspective and seeing how I may challenge their assumptions that may be preventing them from moving forward with positive change.

Here are three reasons why it’s important to challenge those resisters:

  1. People often get attached to the old way of doing things. Some people are threatened by new approaches and are concerned about how this change may affect them.   As the facilitator of positive change, it is important for you to help these individuals acknowledge the old ways of doing things and also demonstrate how they can implement new ways which can improve their current reality.

 

  1. Some people need to see proof. Kendra Cherry, a psychology expert, wrote a fantastic article on about.com entitled “What is a Theory?” that challenges the statement “It is all great in theory.” She states, “A theory is a based upon a hypothesis and backed by evidence. A theory presents a concept or idea that is testable. In science, a theory is not merely a guess. A theory is a fact-based framework for describing a phenomenon. In psychology, theories are used to provide a model for understanding human thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.” Imagine if Thomas Edison stopped testing his theory of the light bulb; where would we be today? Theories need to be repeatedly tested in order to be considered principles to help explain the results or outcomes achieved.

Perhaps, it is the microwave mentality; people don’t believe in the concept unless they see immediate proof. However, some outcomes may be quick wins, whereas other outcomes need to develop over time. Actions need to be taken to implement the ideas brought forward.

Appreciative Inquiry is a road map of an ongoing process supporting positive change. This concept or approach has been tested and proven for over 30 years and has helped improve the businesses and organizations globally.

  1. Some people think they have tried something similar before and it will not work. It is important to emphasize that just because you have tried something similar before does not mean it will not work. You are not the same person you were when the last attempt was. Chances are the ideas were shelved from the last attempt. Let’s say the attempt was a year ago. The people of the organization and where the organization is, is not the same as a year ago. It is my hope that the people were developing themselves both personally and professionally. They have more confidence and competence because they have faced conflict, gained new knowledge, and lived through new experiences. The people or the culture of the organization may have changed too. The ideas presented way back when may have been before there time, therefore, it is definitely worth trying again. Who knows – it might be you who facilitates a major breakthrough.

What one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned that it is sometimes we just need to trust the process and let the theories unfold into results. There is an element of uncertainty and it is okay. Not everyone is okay with uncertainty, therefore, results are key. Positive change does not occur without positive action steps toward what you really want to see. Even though, you may have to adjust your actions along the way the results that you get may be better than you ever imagined. When you feel yourself resisting, step out of your comfort zone and challenge your resistance to change. It may be your greatest breakthrough.