Debra Kasowski

EPISODE 2: Taking Inspired Action and Celebrate Success

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“I have found that there is a difference in the type of action you take and the results that you receive. My definition of action that gets the results you desire – is relaxed inspired action- not desperate action or desperate reaction.”
― Sheri Kaye Hoff, Relax Into Inspired Action: Connect the Pieces and Live Fulfilled

Desperate action versus desperate reaction. How profound…

Some people talk about action being different than inspired action. We can do a lot of little task and little actions but are we doing them intentionally. Think about the actions you have been taking, are you doing them with intention?

Focus your intention and attention on what you want. If you are distracted or just doing things without thinking about the results that you want, you are going to miss out on a lot of different things.

Visualize achieving your end goal. Imagine how it will feel and what rewards you will reap from taking actions that you have.

Set goals and break them down into smaller manageable pieces. Set goals that help you stretch – in our next podcast.

Spend 20 minutes a day researching, reading, listening to a podcast, and increasing your knowledge about your “want”. People make lists of their dreams and when they are thinking about all the things that they want to do – maybe it is their bucket list. They think it is so far-fetched. It’s so far away from what is possible for me. What I want to do is to help you to shift your thinking from thinking of “impossible” to “I am possible”. I can make anything happen. Do a little bit of research and increase your knowledge. It might break down the some of the barriers of your thinking about why something might not be achievable for you. A lot of people do not investigate the things they truly want. They automatically think things are too expensive or they think something is not achievable.

Several years ago I was doing a vision board workshop and I was talking with different people about their vision boards. There was one lady who had cut out a picture of a bride and she said, ‘I do not know why I am even bothering putting this there.” I told her she did not believe she deserved it. She looked at me and said, “Yes you are right!” After a bit of laser coaching, she ended up putting it on her visions board and to have that on there and start believing in something for her was HUGE! You need to start believing in yourself for these things to happen.

TMW_PDFclickhere.fwWhen you take the time to investigate what the cost might be or the things you want, like the promotion or you want more clients, there are phenomenal books and podcasts that you can have these strategies on your fingertips.

We have the internet. People do not have excuses about how to improve their business, how to get more clients – that pipeline and how to improve our lives with living more healthy.  There are books, articles, and podcasts. There is so much information. There are seminars and conferences you name it – things are available to you. You just need to start asking the right questions and spending the time doing it. The world is not going to just hand it to you and say, “Oh, here it is!” It is the positive thinking that a lot of people that people were talking about from “The Secret”; The Secret does have a lot of truth to it. What you need to do is, to take the action and the positive thinking together to take inspired action. The inspired action is the gentle nudge or voice that is telling you what your true calling is that purpose that you need to do something.

The same goes for growing in your industry – do some research and learn more about it so you can ask more thoughtful questions and help where you are to get better results. Success leaves clues. Leave your track record, create those footprints and take the time to mentor others. It is all the little things that are going to help you excel.

ASK questions and learn as much as you can about what you want. Once you find some information as more questions. Find ways to achieve what you want to. There is always more than one way to get what you want.

Find a mentor who is willing to share their knowledge with you and who has done what you want to achieve. They have great wisdom and are not asked for their expertise a lot of the time. They will find it flattering but don’t just go up to them and ask if you can pick their brain. Find a way to create a win-win situation; it might be you who shares what the latest and greatest is in the industry.

Make a list of pros and cons. Simply, put a piece of paper in front you with a line down the middle with pros on one side and cons on the other. Take a look at the list and eliminate any risks so your actions can be deliberate. What can you do so the consequence does not outweigh the positive result? If there is a risk, how can you mitigate the risk so that you can ensure some smooth sailing? This way you are being proactive versus reactive in getting what you want.

Trust yourself to make the best decisions with the information you have. No one is stopping you from asking additional questions. You can adjust your course as you go. If you are going to wait for the perfect moment, you will either procrastinate or it is never going to be good enough to move forward. Take a chance and adjust as you go and you will be better every single time.

Celebrate your small wins and successes along the way. I often encourage the individuals I work with to keep track of the small wins and successes. Show gratitude. When you have a bad day, go back to those small wins and successes and read them over to shift your mindset but also to help you realize you have been through barriers and obstacles before and you have been able to hit a breakthrough to get you to where you are now. Don’t let it stop you from achieving success. Celebrating your small wins and successes will help increase your motivation and momentum to keep going toward your end goal.

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 10:37 min

7 Things Will Happen When You Start Tracking Your Progress

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Setting goals has always been seen as one of the most important pieces attributing to a person’s success. You can’t achieve success if you are not measuring the achievement of your goals. If you want to perform at your top level of potential, you need to start tracking your progress. By tracking your progress, you will accelerate your success faster than if you did not track it.

Write out your goals and track your progress. There are many app based tracking tools for your smartphone like LifeTick, BackPack, 43 Things, Stickk, and Achievr to help you keep on track. You can track the progress of any goal you set has long as it is S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely). You can track the cups of coffee you are drinking, the amount of money you are spending, how many kilometers you are driving, and the number of referrals you have followed up with after a networking event. If you are not tracking you are not making progress. Ink it so you can think it!

“Progress is the activity of today and the assurance of tomorrow” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once you start tracking, you will start noticing a shift in how you approach your goals:

  1. You will be excited to keep track of a visual of your progress. Colour code it. Set milestones that you can celebrate along the journey to achievement. Tracking a goal makes the goal itself more tangible. You can already feel closer to your goal.
  1. You will be more intentional with how you use your time. You will start to notice where you are spending your time, money, and resources and whether or not you are getting a greatest return on your investment.
  1. You will make a plan in alignment with where you want to be. Are the actions that you are taking getting you closer to achieving your goal or farther away?
  1. You will start self-reflecting and adjust your course of action toward the achievement of your goals. What is working? What is not working? What can you stop doing?
  1. You will make better decisions based on the facts that you have at hand. You will be able to evaluate your resources and ask better questions about information you need to make an informed decision.
  1. You will be able to say “no” or set boundaries with greater ease. You have made a commitment to yourself. By tracking your progress, you will feel less guilt because you can see how close you are getting to achieving your goals. Whether you or saving for the new car, starting a new business, or saving up for your dream vacation, you will start to track spending patterns and areas where you need to cut back on your spending. It may be easier to eat a meal or make a coffee at home instead of going out.
  1. You will be more solution focused on getting your desired results. You will come up with new ideas on how to approach things. What you did not know “how” to do, you will start figuring out or you will start asking for assistance.

You will begin to notice how vital it is to track your progress. You will be more committed to your goals than ever before. Each action you take gets you closer to your goals so go and be a goal getter!

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 work has been published in 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

What Are You Waiting For?

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My role as a speaker, author, and business, executive and entrepreneurial coach is to help people really get clear on the direction that they want to go. Often, they are faced with a challenge in their immediate time frame. They are trying to figure out ways to move forward to and move through to breakthrough. So many times I find people are waiting. Waiting for opportunities to be brought to them on a silver platter!

Well, sometimes you need to go out there and create your opportunities. You need to start sharing what it is you want to go after.  There are people along the way who are willing to help you but if you are not willing to share what it is you are after – how do these people know how to help you?

The other thing is being very focused on what it is you want to achieve. What are things you need to do and be- to get there? How do you need to show up? Think about those things – waiting does not get you anywhere.

By taking persistent action and moving forward toward your goal, you create something to look forward to. The thrill of anticipation will be your motivator. Think about how things could work for you to move forward. Whether it is something in your life that you know there is one thing – that if you did this one thing it would change everything. It would create a shift whether it be in your family life, your personal life or in your business. How do you need to be to make things happen?

The question is “Why Wait?”. Create your opportunities and make the shift inside yourself. Become more aware of the opportunities already around you. There are probably many around you right now and the door is open.

But if you wait too long the door is going to close.

So take the opportunities and grab your silver platter. Make your day happen by creating those opportunities for yourself.

Why wait?

What opportunities are you creating for yourself?

 

 

7 Secrets to Staying Motivated to Reach Your Goals

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Staying motivated can be tough. For some, the idea of setting goals can be simply overwhelming. The extra demand that would put them over the edge. Achieving your goals does not have to be a daunting task and it should not be.

Courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net
Courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net

There are challenges that arise. The challenges should not stop you as the sweetness of success alone should propel you. Think about what is really stopping you: not getting enough sleep, the belief that you need to look and talk a certain way, or even the money in your bank account. Look around you – there are people sleeping more or less hours than you and achieving goals. There are people of all shapes and sizes creating the life of their dreams. There are people with more or even less money than you but they are unstoppable. What is your excuse for not rising to the challenge?

The secrets are out! The solution is a lot easier than you think.

Here is what you can to to stay motivated:

1.  Make IT a game- FUN! Bust out of the routines. Break patterns of boredom. Create strategies or even make a game board so you can have a visual representation of your goal or journey. Make it real! Consider blogging about your journey or sharing it on social media platforms.

2.  Create a compelling reward. What would make the challenge worth your while. Is a day at the spa or a day of golfing and dinner at the clubhouse? What would it be for you?

3.  Celebrate the”small” successes. As you acknowledge all the small tasks or steps you are taking you create a momentum to fuel you through any challenges.

4.  Take at least one action step every day. When you know you are taking action every day you know that in one month you have taken 30 action steps toward your goals. You may have even gotten excited and accomplished more. Do you think you could take one action every day? They do not have to be monumental steps or huge leaps of faith (they can but do not have to) to make an impact. Imagine what could be accomplished in the here and now!

5.  Ink your goals. Write them down on a 3 x 5 business card and keep them in your sight to remind you of what you want to accomplish. This action will help you keep focused and can be used as a tool to make decisions based on your priorities.

6. Find an accountability partner. Achieving your goals can even be more fun when you are helping someone reach their goals at the same time you are striving to meet yours. They can call you on your excuses and challenge you to step up to the plate and push through your fears. They can be there when you need someone just to listen to you as your mindset plays tricks on you (and we know it will).

7. Be aware of your emotions. Do not let how you feel hold you back from the action you know you must take. Sometimes you need to do the things you need to do even when you do not want to. Think about the trash in your home. You may not want to take out the trash but if you did not…what would happen over several weeks? I do not recommend you experiment with this. The point being – you need to do what must be done even when you so not necessarily feel like it.

Motivation is the key to pushing through to success. It helps you  challenge assumptions and dispel any myths you may have been telling yourself. The journey itself is where the greatest excitement occurs. When focusing on accomplishing your goals, reaching the destination just seals the deal! Whatever you do – do not quit!

What do you do to stay motivated when trying to reach your goals? I would love to hear what you do! Share this post with others.