What's my intentions?

Welcome to 2012 at last we are here? I always find that it is amazing to notice that when you are at the other end of time, how fast time seems to have gone. It was over ten years ago that I started to look into 2012 and learn about all the amazing things that ancient civilizations and indigenous tribes have talked about for centuries. Now all of a sudden we are here and it only seems like yesterday.

At the start of any year it’s important to get clear about what you want to achieve for that year. In business terms this might come in the form of a business plan, blue print or a mind map. In life terms this might come as a vision board, manifestation list or New Year eve resolutions. Either way setting your intentions for the year is all about setting the tone and direction for your business and life. The more clarity we have around our intentions the more likely they are to manifest.

When I finished my downhill ski-racing career I turned my attention to aerial and freestyle skiing. Back in those days, and now I sound old, it was a very new sport, unheard of and yet to be an Olympic event. One of the things I was taught was that when you are going to do a summersault your body will inevitably follow your head. In other words wherever you look and intend to land your body will end up following. In some respects what they were talking about was that wherever you place your focus, that’s where your body will end up. Now I never did attempt any grand aerials just a little bit of trampoline training, but the memory of that tip is still with me today.

So what about the relationship to business and my intentions, well if the theory that my body follows my head is true then maybe my body will follow the intentions that my mind focuses on. If that is the case, and it is, my intentions then become my reality. Now this ties beautifully in with research now being done in Quantum Physics on the nature of reality and our involvement in its creation. Some say that our reality is just a manifestation of our consciousness and that without consciousness there would be no universe. A sort of modern day Japanese kone, you know the one, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it does it make a noise? Well from a Quantum Physics point of view, no it does not. Anyway back to the point of the story and that is whatever we chose to focus on or draw our consciousness to, is what inevitably manifests in our life.

If we venture back to my ancient civilisation reference at the start of this blog one of the things that is believed to be happening this year is that our intentions will manifest faster. In the past there has been a great deal of lag between a thought and the manifested effect of that thought, thank god. Can you imagine if our thoughts manifested instantly, now there is some major trouble if my thoughts are anything to go by… This year that lag time is meant to greatly decrease. Now I am not sure if that is going to be the reality but I’m not waiting behind to find out.

So maybe 2012 is the year of faster manifested reality and if so then our intentions are everything. Our focus and what we think about, give consciousness to, will be the most critical thing we can do in growing our businesses and our lives. So what are my intentions this year? To take a leaf out of the Thought Leaders book of wisdom (www.thoughtleadersglobal.com) my first intention is to:

Do what I love, with people I like, the way I want.

Now I have a list of specific intentions, a game plan if you will, together with a mind map and blueprint of all the things I want to have happen in my business this year however at the core of it all is the above intention. If my more defined and specific intentions do not meet that brief then they don’t make the list for this year.

So what are your intentions? What is your main mantra for the year? It’s going to be a great year so get clear about what you want to manifest, write it down and tell someone about it. The four golden rules of manifestation, think it, write it, speak it and action it…and if you need to tell anyone send me an email I’d be happy to hear.

If you want to take your intentions to the next level I have setup a group at the Intrinsic Success Hub (wwwintrinsicsuccesshub.com) it’s free to join and to get involved. Once you are there and have signed up go to groups and join the ‘My intentions for 2012’ group and let us know your intentions for the year. I’ll be putting mine up later today so why not join me and let’s all make 2012 the most prosperous and successful year yet.

Have a great week…

Marcus

One Sick Child - Leads to a clear plan for success?

Happy New Year to all of you and I hope you had a great Christmas break, if you got a break that is?

I want to start the year off with a more personal blog and to set a tone of letting you into my life and also into my business life. I want to lead more by example rather than just through knowledge and a façade that we all put on sometimes. I want to be a little more ‘naked’ with my blog. So I hope the following mutterings help.

There were two reasons that I became a business coach, the first is because it is the one thing that allows me to express all of my skills, from business to counseling through to healing. The second was because of lifestyle and a desire to be there for my family…

So here is a story of our New Years holiday that thankfully has a happy ending…

We had a fairly quiet Christmas break together with the traditional family get togethers; lots of wonderful food, great company and many laughs. Once the Christmas craziness was over, and the dishes had all been done and the house once again back to a more ‘normal’ mess as apposed to a ‘crazy’ Christmas mess we decided to get away for the New Year. Having a house up at Mt Buller and a number of friends choosing to spend their New Years eve celebrations at one of the highest points in Victoria we decided to get away.

So on the Thursday we decided to pack up the car and the kid, just Lucy as the other two were with their dad, and off we went.  Now those of you that don’t know me that well I have three children, two beautiful step children Claudia 10 and Brendan 7 and one of our own little Lucy 2. So with Lucy in the car we headed off with a scheduled stop at Lake Eildon to visit some friends who have a houseboat there. I was hoping to water ski for the first time in over ten years, unfortunately the water was too rough much to my disappointment. Anyway after a nice day on the water jet skiing and general splashing about, Lucy loves the water, we headed on up to Buller.

On the way up the mountain Lucy began to become sick and half way up the mountain she threw up. Now this is not the best of stories to start the year but it is what happened and the moral of the story makes all this worth while. By the time we got to the top of the mountain Lucy was quiet unwell. Now our history of going to Mt Buller over the last year has not been a good one. I think we have had at least one sick child on nearly ever trip, so you can imagine our delight at the prospects of another sick one.

After two days of no sleep, Lucy being very unwell and a less than enjoyable New Years Eve for all concerned we decided to head back home early on the Saturday. When we go home Lucy had some concerning symptoms that seemed to be getting worse not better. The poor little thing lay on the couch not talking looking so sad and sultry with a high fever and not wanting to drink or eat. Lucy is normally such an animated kid and loves to talk and play and talk and play… So once again we head off to the Royal Children’s Hospital. I say once again as we had Lucy at the hospital a couple of times during September for an unrelated illness. Now I am not good with my children being sick, which, is quiet different from my normal way of being around sick people. I have spent most of my life helping sick and injured people; be it with a physical or mental illness, get better. Especially in acute situations where I am the person you want around. However when it comes to my little girl I am a bit of a mess. I just hate seeing her suffering and my heart just cried that day. Anyway we sat in the hospital for five hours while they did tests, rehydrated and observed her. After some water a cool lemonade icepole, and don’t icepoles just cure anything, she thankfully seemed to pick up and we were allowed to go home. It was a little worrying for the next 24 hours but I am pleased to say that she has now made a full recovery and back to her normal happy, laughing, dancing and talkative self.

I believe that there are lessons in all of life’s challenges and I think this one highlighted a few. When things are going well we can sometimes forget the ‘specialness’ of life and of the lives of those around us. In some respect it is why I decided to start my own business, so that I could be nearer those that I love most. To be there to see all the little changes, the new words, the new expressions, but mostly to be present when I am truly needed. Now I know we often make the excuse of starting our own businesses to get out of the 9 to 5 rut, working for the ‘boss’ but at the end of the day isn’t it about being closer to the ones we love? Isn’t it about having the freedom to choose when and where we operate our business?

At the end of last year I was stressed, over working and driving myself too hard. I find that it is easy to get caught up in my business, giving it far to much emphasis and energy. I also understand that this is sometimes a difficult balancing act especially for a male as we have the primal hunter-gatherer gene driving us to provide for our families. Now this is not to undervalue the feminine contribution it is just a primal programming that males have, it’s not real in our modern world but unfortunately still affects some of us.

At the end of the day life is all about balance. The business aspect of that balance is driven by the ability to build something, to be the master of our own destiny but most importantly giving us the time and freedom to be with the people we love most. Now January is a great time to get organized and to plan the year ahead. To take stock of the past year, learn from the mistakes, to celebrate the wins and to take the learning’s of all that has been. To then set clear intentions for a wonderful, connected and successful year ahead.

So what I want us all to do is to list all the most important things in your life and to schedule them into your business plans and business calendar. To not forget the real reason you decided to get into your own business, whether that was because of wanting to be closer to your children, animals or friends. To be able to spend more time with your significant other. To be able to spend more time on yourself or just because you had a burning desire to prove your tenth grade teacher that he was wrong! So apart from the business essentials, marketing, networking, finance, sales, product development and admin, place some emphasis on all those other much more important things in your life. Make the most out of them through the ability to organize your business around your life. Remember that if you don’t design your business then your business will design you. It is the same with your life, if you don’t design your life then life will design you.

So take charge of what you truly want to have happen this year. Make a plan to make time for the most important things in your life, in my case my family. And build a solid business plan to have the most successful year of your life, in all areas and in all ways! Oh and if your business is not allowing you the opportunity to have more time, more money and a greater quality of life then maybe you need a business coach…..if I can help you or anyone else you know give me a call marcus@intrinsicsuccess.com.

Here’s to a great year…. CHEERS!

Planning for Success!

Having consulted to and coached hundreds of business leaders over the past 18 years I am constantly amazed at how many businesses don’t have a business plan or any plan for that matter. If they do have a plan it is held in the vault of the brain of the business owner. There is some loose map that the business owner is following, but in most cases businesses just bump along with the turbulence of the environment hoping to reach a destination that is desirable. If we are not clear about our destination then surely it will be hard to meet that destination.

We would not build a house without a plan? We go to the building site, meet the builder and suggest that we build a wall here, have a bathroom there and maybe we can put the kitchen over there. Can you imagine how the building would come out let alone the extra cost to build it, and this is the crux of the matter. When we don’t know where we are going it often costs us twice as much to find out. This is where a business plan comes in!

A business plan allows you to identify where it is that you want to end up and how you are going to end up there. Starting with your vision and mission and ending with a clear picture of the market, how to find them and encourage them to buy your product or service. There are many steps along this journey but all of them are aimed at providing you with more clarity and sense of purpose the most cost effective way possible. It is amazing to watch clients get into action once they have found a clear purpose for doing what they are doing.

So do you have a clear purpose? Are you excited to execute it every day? A business plan will allow you to identify a clear purpose, help you to ignite your passion for what you started to do and provide you with hope. These things will inevitably lead to a desire to take positive action to have your plan come true.

So start with a clear vision, set an inspiring mission, be clear about who your customers are, what they buy and off whom, why they buy and how you are going to differentiate yourself. Identify how you are going to position yourself in your market. Look at how you are going to inform these people of your product or service, what will inspire them to come and see you and how you are going to deliver it to them. Then make clear plans on direction, marketing, your finances, and inevitably your exit strategy. Yes, your exit strategy!

Most business owners don’t have a clear exit strategy. There is one thing we can be sure of in life and that is that everything is going to end. At some point in the future you are going to finish your business, whether that is selling it, closing it down or gifting it away to the next generation. How you design your business today can be influenced by the exit strategy that you have.

A business plan, regardless of how big it is and some of the best plans are the shortest most concise ones, will help you to find your way allowing you to make cost effective decisions. Clarity of purpose and identification of direction leads to a saving in time, money and nervous energy.

So create your dream, have a clear vision and give your business the best chance of success by developing a clear and concise business plan. Oh and if you need help give me a call!

Marcus is the winner of the Australian Moot Corp Business Planning awards and runner up in the international Moot Corp Business Planning Awards. He is the developer of the One Page Business Plan a dynamic and easy business planning tool kit for small businesses.