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

What do you believe in?

I came across this amazing video the other day on ted.com and during my week off I thought I would leave this one with you. Belief, connection, vulnerability as a key to success in work and life. A truly inspirational and insightful video which everyone should see.

I hope you enjoy....

Cheer Marcus

Redefining Possibility

I often talk to my clients about possibility and how with just one question you can get the brain to open up to things that you might feel is impossible. So is it possible to increase your income ten fold in the next three months? Is it possible to have the life of your dreams complete with new house, shinny new car, maybe a new girlfriend or wife or maybe just freedom.

The most powerful question you can ask in the opening up to what might be possible is this:

What if it were possible?

What if it were possible to have the job of your dreams and still get paid what you do in your current corporate gig? What if it were possible to have it all with less effort? This question allows the left brain to relax and get into 'solve mode' which it loves.

A few months ago, even though I talk about possibility, my dreams seemed like they were going to elude me for the rest of time. In fact I almost gave up! However remembering my own words I decided to knuckle down, bunk in and hold the fort determined to succeed. Sometimes it takes some real determination, courage and a swift kick of reality up the backside to change the impossible into the possible and then into reality.

I have always been a positive person, always believing that success might be just around the corner but when you have had 44 years of believing success maybe just around the corner sometimes you loose sight of this positive perspective. Well I am finally here to tell you not to! That every time your brain tells you that success and your dreams or desires are not possible, knuckle down and change this reality. Turn the question upside down and ask but what if it was possible? What then?

I am please to report that in 75 days I reached the possibility. I have gone from white belt to black belt in just under three months. What is white belt to black belt all about? Well those of you that are interested you can look up the following address www.thoughtleadersglobal.com. It’s just me practicing what I preach and with the help of my mentor, success and a new reality is now upon me.

I realised through the process that sometimes success takes a lot of hard work, determination, courage and some good old fashion stubbornness. To aim high, follow a dream and make it a reality. This reality would not have been possible without help. Help of my mentor Peter Cook, help from my family, thanks Steph and help from all those that believe in me.

Now the journey is not over, quite the opposite, it is just beginning. We are all on this planet together to primarily help each other. Help each other to feel better, have a better life, reach our dreams, love, laugh and experience joy. So I want to help you realise the possibility that you can have your dreams come true.

If you are sitting their wondering how you are going to make your dreams a reality, stop wondering and call me that’s why I am here, to help you! Ask the question ‘what if it were possible’ and then go make that happen…it is possible!

Have a great week, dream big, never give up and go make it happen NOW!

Cheer Marcus

The Ever Changing world

Good morning and welcome to my blog this week we are being blessed with a blog from one of my new team members Jenny. Jenny is an amazing coach in the making and is coming near to the end of her year long training. She has been a business expert for many years and decided to refine her wonderful skills for assisting people to transform into formal coaching and mentoring. I hope you enjoy her blog and I look forward to introducing the whole team to you over the coming months, there is six of us now...

Physicists will tell you the the universe is forever changing, it isn't something we can stop, change or control. We live in an ever changing environment, yet, change is something that can often be seen as a threat to many people.

Why am I harping on about change? My life is in a constant state of change, which generally I embrace. I have lived in four countries, spent a great deal of my working live travelling around the world, and changed careers. I believe without change, we do not grow, will not be presented with new and exciting opportunities, and have the chance challenge ourselves and jump out of the comfort zone.

However, every now and then, change can be stressful.  We can let it weigh us down - like the weight of the world is on our shoulders, yet for no real reason.  I am feeling a little of this now.  

The changes I am facing right now are:

• changing employment - retrenched from full time PAYG,
• changing careers - business development to business coaching,
• moving cities - Sydney to Melbourne,
• selling one home in Sydney
• buying a home in Melbourne

How do we cope in a period in our lives when we are confronted with what seem like an insurmountable amount of change? How do we cope when it is in a work situation, when it is personal change, or when it feels like change all around? How do you manage the change, keep the stress levels down, and not feel like you are not managing (or feeling out of control)?

I have found that the following helps me with managing change:

1. Identify the change

• I know it sound silly to write this down, but when you actually list what the changes are, it seems to simplify the situation

2. Embrace Change

• Whether you wish to embrace change, or simple just accept that change is going to happen, you can harness all your energy into managing this, make sure you have positive energy around you. It is pretty surprising how much negative energy we can put into fighting change, or allowing it to stress us out. The retrenchment was a surprise for me, however after the initial shock, I realised it was a blessing in disguise. I could now finally pursue my dream of my own business without the dilemma of giving up a well paid job (I was going to say secure, but that wasn't that case!!)
• Accept that some level of change is inevitable, and when it presents itself ( as it is doing with me now), try and divert your energy into ensuring that the change is presenting a new adventure for you, where you will grow, learn and see new opportunities.

3. Work out what you can manage, what is creating stress and what to delegate.

• Once I jotted down the changes I was facing, I thought that all of this is manageable, however, when detailing my "to do" list, I realised it was the little tasks that were creating my stress. For example, the actual packing my house up seemed to be causing me all sorts of angst, so I investigated the cost to have someone come and pack it for me - it was money well spent.
• The price my house will fetch is also causing some level of stress, however I listed down what I can do to help such as fixing up my garden, ensuring the house is looking neat and inviting.  Then I put my trust in my Agent (the professional) that he will do his job.

4. Fight the fights that are worth fighting

• This is something a very wise boss once told me. In a work situation in the corporate world, I have seen people expend a huge amount of energy and emotion in trying to take on every issue/change or challenge that they are confronted with. I have finally learnt to let some issues/decisions that I disagree with go, and focus my attention on the issues that mean the most to me (and I have some chance of influencing the outcome).
• In a personal situation, I change the meaning slightly to "identify what you can manage, and let go of the unmanageable issues". I looked at what I can manage in the move and what I can not. I started to stress that initially I was not going to have somewhere to live (that was my own) as finding, buying and moving into a house in 6 weeks was a long shot. I worked out where I could live for a few months and accepted that this was the situation (got to love your friends!).  One less issue to worry about.

5. Create short term goals and reward yourself

• Once I identified the manageable issues, I set some tasks and goals (again, writing this stuff down seems to help clear my head)
• Set some easy short term goals - and when you reach them, congratulate yourself. It will help you see progress, and a bit of "self congratulations" can really help in motivating you for the harder tasks. I fixed up my garden (with the help of my family - see point 6) and now my garden looks neat and homely - one less task to worry about.

6. Espouse the change (share it) and draw on your support group

• Once I started to share the changes I was facing (including my fears and issues) with my friends and family, I realised I have an amazing support group. They were all there as a shoulder for support, a sanity check and to help out with some of those tasks that just seemed overwhelming. Dont ever underestimate the value of friends in times of need - they are there for the good times and the not-so-good times!

Change is inevitable. Some we create for ourselves, some change is thrust upon us by others and some change just happens (the change in seasons). Fighting it all the time is energy consuming (and negative energy at that), some change will happen regardless of what we desire, other changes we can manage, delay or divert, however, there will always be change in our lives.  How boring would life be without some little change!!

Strangely after writing this, the changes I am facing seem a little smaller, more manageable and definitely more exciting. Thank you!!

Embrace the change that you are presented with, and have the courage to instigate change that your desire. Just remember.......

"life is a journey, not a destination". Randolf Waldo Emerson

Cheers Marcus and Jenny

Under the pump...creating massive action!

There is nothing like putting yourself under pressure to get the job done. Keeping one eye firmly focussed on the end goal and the task at hand is a great way to get into massive action.

However sometimes I take massive action to a WHOLE new level as my team have experienced today and anyone who has tried to talk to me about anything other than the workshop tonight has found out.

Although I am stressed, short tempered and crazy focussed I am being super productive. Now I would not suggest this as a long term strategy however if you want to get some things done give yourself a dead line where others are effected by the outcome, like running the workshop tonight, and things get done. Get others to hold you accountable, if I don't get everything done there are going to be a whole lot of disappointed people showing up...

I'm not a good one for delegating, maybe I'm a control freak, not that I have ever thought of myself as one...and maybe that's the problem. But today I have had to let go and rely on others to help me to reach this dead line and wow how wonderful everyone has worked.

So are you a procrastinator? Do you put things off? If so follow me...

1.  Set a dead line;
2. Tell someone and get them to hold you accountable;
3. Leverage the resources around you;

and I bet you have a better success rate.

Sorry if this is a short one today but I have some massive actions to achieve so that my workshop is a great success.

Have a great week...get into massive action I dare you!

Marcus

The Onsen and the importance of living your passion…

Two years ago I went skiing in Japan, Niseko to be exact, and experienced an Onsen for the first time. Now, those of you not familiar with the concept, an Onsen is a term for hot springs in Japanese though the term is often used to describe bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs.  


Apart from the amazing skiing in Japan and the awesome food and the wonderfully friendly people the Onsen is a real treat, especially after a hard days skiing the powder, as these monkey's will attest to.

Unfortunately I was not skiing in Japan over the weekend but I did spend it in Sorrento for some well-deserved R & R. 

So Friday night we headed off to Sorrento primarily to rest and rejuvenate but also so that Stephanie could introduce me to the soothing treat she had found a few weeks earlier. Believe it or not right here in Victoria on the peninsula are some of our very own hot springs. These hot springs are amazing with pools ranging from 37 degrees up 43 degrees and the water is amazingly good for the health.

Ok so maybe you don’t want to hear about my wonderful weekend bathing in the hot springs, I feel fantastic by the way and my skin, smooooooth. What was impressive is what the owners have built there. As an excerpt from their web site describes how it all happened…

‘Peninsula Hot Springs was founded by brothers Charles & Richard Davidson and Norm Cleland’.

‘The inspiration for the project began when Charles visited several hot springs while living in Japan in 1992. This sparked off several years of touring and studying hot springs around the world’.

‘In 1996 Charles heard a rumor that hot geothermal water had been discovered on the Mornington Peninsula in 1979, and a search of Department of Minerals and Energy records substantiated it’.

‘In 1997 the two brothers formed a partnership and they bought the 42 acre site on which the hot springs now stand. It took several more years of hard work to design the facility, secure the water license, obtain a planning permit, and drill a bore some 637 meter deep to a plentiful aquifer of 54 degree C natural hot minerals waters. The Davidson brothers then found an investor, in the form of Norm Cleland and his family, and together proceeded to build the Stage one Spa Dreaming Centre facility, which opened in June 2005. In December 2009 the second stage Bath House centre penned vastly increasing the number of bathing experiences and providing a area for children and families. Future plans include an increase in bathing experiences, accommodation, a restaurant and more wellness focused facilities’.

For me, both as a business mentor and personal development coach, it is amazing to see what they have built. The passion that has gone into the project is obvious and truly inspirational. No expense has been spared and the experience for the patrons is top notch. It is fascinating to see that it has taken them since 1997 to build what we see today. In a world of fast food and instant gratification it is important to remember that sometimes dreams take time, especially big dreams. To see the persistence, dedication and commitment that must have gone into the making of the bathes is worth writing about and also worth the drive to experience.

Noting that it took several years just to secure licenses to design and build the premises and drill the bore. I know for me I sometimes expect that things will be perfect right now and that success should happen yesterday. But in truth it takes persistence, determination and a real commitment to see the project through. This is where passion comes in, for without it, chances are you will quit before it has even got off the ground.

Passion is the driving force behind many of the world’s great projects, companies and individuals. Many things have gone by the wayside just because the passion was not there. The world would be a colder place without the passion that has driven these amazing things. Therefore it is important that we follow are passion. When we do we are twice as likely to have the success that we have dreamt of, experience twice the fun and realize twice the joy. At the end of the day that’s what life is about…Joy!

So what are you passionate about? What is it going to take for you to go and make it happen? When do you get the courage to seek help, to find mentors in those that have been there and are now living their passion fully?

If you can’t connect with your passion or the fear is too deep, just for a moment entertain the possibility that your passion could be made known to you. What if it was possible to know your passion? What if it was possible to live that passion fully?

Passion is the hot spring of life, it gives meaning, it gives energy and it heals the lost soul. So go out into your world and be passionate about what ever you do, even if for the moment it is not your true passion. Living passionately will bring you more joy, success and the possibility that you too can live an abundant and full life.

Have a great week and may the passion be with you…Oh and don’t forget to visit the hot springs next time you are on the peninsula it is well worth it. Check out the web site: 

http://www.peninsulahotsprings.com

Regards Marcus

The reality of time and the myth of multi-tasking uncovered...

As a coach one of the things I hear a lot is 'I wish I had more time' as there always seems to be more to do than the time available. Time is an interesting phenomenon, some might say that it is a manifestation of our conscious reality rather than a reality itself. If time is a manifestation and not real then surly we can manipulate time. Actually it is something that I often teach sports people, the art of manipulating time. I also use this skill to slow time down when I am running late for a meeting. Yes I slow time down... I know I hear you, this time he's gone mad, 'you can't manipulate time', maybe maybe not!

Let me show you the skill and then you give it a try and let me know if it works... In some ways it works a little like manifesting anything. Have you ever manifested a car space? You know you imagine that the car space is going to be free as you arrive and if you believe hard enough nine times out of ten it will be there, well it is for me, so back to manifesting time.

The art of manifesting more time starts with the process of slowing everything down. One of the practices I get clients to do is to physically slow down. Walk slower, talk slower and move slower. This process alone will help you to manifest more time. I know the left brain is having kittens, as it does. But when you physically slow down you send a message to the universe that commands that time slows down. Now does it really slow down, no not really however, if we look at it from a quantum physics point of view maybe it does. You see time is part of Albert Einstein's relativity theory in that, time is relative. 

If you imagine two people at a party, person A is having a great time and person B wishes he was somewhere else. Which of these two people experience time going faster and which experiences time going slower? If you picked A going faster and B going slower you would be right.

So in this example who is right? Both of them, they are both experiencing time differently, did time go faster or slower well it all depends whether you are person A or person B. So if you can have time go faster or slower, depending on the enjoyment you are experiencing, without being conscious about it then surely you can manipulate time if you are conscious about it?

Now back to manifesting more time, here are the steps;

Step 1: Physically slow down

Step 2: Imagine time slowing down

Step 3: Command time to slow down

Step 4: Do one thing at a time

Believe it or not multi-tasking does not help you to get more done...if you don't believe me check this video out...

Dave Crenshaw, author of the Myth of Multitasking, walks you through the original multitasking exercise example.

Think you're a good multi-tasker? take this test. Download the exercise file here.

So go forth and manifest more time, get more done and stop the endless cycle of stressing about time, there is plenty more things to stress about...

Have a great week, check you next Monday and remember 'there is no time like the present, as the past is history, the future a mystery and now is a gift that's why we call it the present'.

Cheers Marcus

Letting Go! What's that got to do with communication?

So it’s the end of one busy week and the start of another. Sometimes the weeks just seem to blend into each other in a never-ending blur of meetings, phone calls, training and coaching. Now its great being busy and I love what I do so it’s easy to keep going. However sometimes the internal dialogue gets the better of me and I begin to second-guess myself. In the world of communication the inner dialogue can be our best friend and our worst enemy.

Today the internal dialogue is having a field day about expectations of what I should be doing. After having a restless night and waking feeling less than well I just want to have a moment off. Just a few moments to give back to myself and allow sometime to recover and rejuvenate, but alas the inner dialogue is pushing me to do more…

This is were our inner communication can be a killer, the stern master that wants to take control by forcing you to fulfil an expectation that has been set by the unknown. It is very tricky and will use any means to have you go against the more intuitive side that tells you to stop! The fear of not keeping up with expectations, of not doing what you should or have to do. So what has letting go got to do with communication? Everything!

Sometimes we need to let go of the inner dialogue that desperately wants to control us and force us to do more, to live up to more expectations and to not let the world down. Often we don’t let go of this inner dialogue until we are too sick to keep going or we face a life changing experience. These experiences can be paradigm shifting for the brain and resets the expectation level of the inner dialogue, but can hurt.

With this in mind it is also interesting to look at the outer dialogue and how hooked we get on trying to share our opinion about anything. I am often amused when I get the opportunity to listen to a group of people talking to each other as more often than not each member of the communication desperately wants to share there opinion and ends up not listening to the other preferring to communicate at each other not to each other. Our inner dialogue is a little like this and will tend to talk at us not to us.

So letting go is one of the most important things we can do when we are communicating. Letting go of our need to speak at the other in a desperate effort to prove that we are worth it. The more we can let go the more chance we have of hearing the other and participating in the conversation not trying to hijack the conversation because we need our opinion validated.

Letting go of the inner dialogue and listening to what we truly need will help us to remain balanced, healthy and on track to manifest the things that we truly want or desire.

So letting go is easier said than done. It is a process that takes some practice and as I write this I am battling the letting go to allow me to recover, rest and respect myself. So maybe the first step is being kind to yourself, respecting the beautiful fragile self so that you can honour what you really do need, above and beyond the expectations.  In my case I follow a process that helps me to let go;

Step 1: Be kind to yourself and ask the question what is the kindest thing I can do right now?

Step 2: If you hear yourself saying ‘I should’ or ‘I have to’ or ‘I must’ beware as this is the inner dialogue trying to take control. Do what you truly want to do and if you must do something, as we all do from time to time, rephrase the inner dialogue to choose to do it.

Step 3: Listen, turn your ears and awareness on and listen to what your inner dialogue or the other person is saying. When you have heard what is being said ask a question about that communication that you just heard. This helps you to confirm what you have heard and it shows respect and interest in the conversation. Consciousness gives us the opportunity to participate and from an inner dialogue point of view, change our reaction to what is being said.

Step 4: Let go of what you don’t agree on both internally and externally, try and keep your opinion to a minimum and frame it around constructive communication rather than aggressive opinionated communication.

Step 5: Communicate with people not at people, this goes for the inner dialogue as much as the outer communication.

Communication is probably the most important thing we can do in business and in life. The more effectively we communicate the better chance we have of getting what we want. We learnt from a very early age that if we wanted anything we needed to communicate in one fashion or another.  Often the louder we communicated the faster we grabbed the attention of our parents and the faster we received what we were after.

Now as we grew we realised that there were better ways of getting things than just yelling and so our communication style grew. We refined things to the point that we generally got a lot of what we asked for. Then we were set free out into the big world were we had to restructure our communication style to once again get what we wanted.

Now even though we have all been on a process of learning how to communicate, to the most part it has been unconscious and situational, directed by the people we associate with. Because of this most people don’t really know how to communicate effectively. So this is the start, learn to let go and start to communicate more softly with yourself. Learn to let go of desperately trying to talk at people and start to communicate with people.

Have a great week and be kind to yourself and the world and watch the rewards come back to you.

More on communication next week until then have fun talking with yourself and others.

Regards Marcus

Sure you want to be a leader?

So you think you want to be a leader? The following video on leadership and how a movement starts is not only inspirational but prophetic.

As the leader of Intrinsic Success I am proud to announce that two brave souls will be joining the company at the end of the month. Welcome the loverly Jenny and courageous Greg to my now growing company. As you have seen from the video these are the two most important people at Intrinsic Success. I will have a more formal announcement and introduction on our new web site in the next few weeks but for now I am so honoured, excited and grateful for their courage and enthusiasm for what Intrinsic Success is.

Until next week, dance like nobody is watching and may your movement bring an abundance of followers.

Regards Marcus

Finding the truth at an airport!

I am sitting at Hobart airport, here's the photo to prove it, waiting for my flight back to Melbourne after a great morning coaching. Nice suite and tie Marcus!

If I had a dollar for every hour that I have spent in airports I would be writing this blog from some exotic ski resort. Well maybe not writing this blog but skiing and sharing all the tales from the snow.

Apart from being with my family theres an image of what I would be doing!

But alas I am in another airport just waiting, oh well it give’s you time to think if nothing else.

So a blog... what to write about this week? Well I have just spent the morning discussing the truth. The truth about our own individual lives and how we are very good at clouding the truth and in turn having us convince ourselves of what is real and what is not. This then leads us into what we think we want and often has us diving into things that are not really what we do want. We unfortunately often don’t find this out until years later only to create the same decision time and time again.

You see reality is not all it is cracked up to be! Our reality is shaped from our left-brain point of view as this is what we have all be trained to trust, how so you ask. Thanks for asking! As some of you may know we have two hemispheres of our brain the right and the left, anyone know what they do? That’s right the left is all about analytical, strategy, systematic and linier function. In learns in words, process and structure. It lives in the past and the future and is concerned with keeping us safe. The right brain on the other hand is all about abstract, feelings and takes in its data through the senses of our being. It lives in the eternal moment of now. The issue with reality is that in our left-brain dominant world, which we have all been trained to trust more than anything else, we create a feedback loop system that creates false reality.

How it does this is that the further we move from an event in our lives the less truthful it becomes. Take a memory from your early childhood; remember what happened and the feelings that it gave you. Now I bet if you asked a sibling or a parent their memory of this shared experience they would tell you a different story. Now what is real and who is right? The answer is no one and everyone as all these realities are only past perceived realities.  The further we move from the event the more it becomes a perceived reality rather than a true reality of what actually happened. Now if we come back to today all these past-perceived realities are projected into the immediate future creating a future perceived reality, which then creates a now perceived reality. None of which are necessarily the truth. Confused yet?

It’s ok because half of the confusion comes from thinking of reality from the left-brain which can’t actually understand reality on it’s own. In steps the right brain that only lives in the moment of now. You see reality only lives in the moment of now. From a left-brain point of view the past might have us believe that we are not worthy, not good enough and what we should or should not do. This reality then leads us into doing things that are not truly aligned with our truth. Now we believe that we are doing our truth based on the left-brain view of the world and past-perceived reality creating future perceived reality creating a now perceived reality none of which is the truth. When we take the same image and overlay the right brain we find that all the drama associated with an event or situation is allowed to disperse. The right brain helps us to step out of the perceived reality space and actually connect with the truth. Once we have this truth we can use the left-brain to create actions that move us forward into the new reality, the truth.

So that’s all well and good but how do you know the truth. Well that my friend is a journey of delving into the depth of who you are. The first step is to become conscious of the truth and how your past and future are creating your now. The secret to this is to look at the dramas in your life. It is the perceived reality that often creates drama. To then look at the truth of this reality, this drama and decide which is true and which is not. Once you know this authentic truth it is time to become congruent and to take this congruence out into the world a bit like taking your new puppy for its first walk. It’s a little scary, a little unsure, a little unstable and a lot of faith that this is the right thing to do.

Accessing the right brain will help you to connect with what is really going on. Some may call it intuition others a knowing and for some it is gut feel. In a lot of cases it helps to get someone external to help you to connect with the truth for once you connect it is easier to keep the connection. If you can connect to your knowing, check in and try and identify your drama. What is the perceived reality that you have created for yourself? Is it your ultimate truth?

So go out into the world and find your truth, see where you are deceiving yourself with a perceived reality and make the truth, your truth, real!

Thanks for reading until next week, Nanoo Nanoo, for all those eighties kids. For those who don’t know what this is check out channel 11 and the old re-runs of Mork and Mindy.

P.S: if you want some help to find your truth drop me a line marcus@intrinsicsuccess.com

P.P.S: if you want to know more about the brain check out this video from the TED website it is well worth it! http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

The $1,000,000 dollar challenge! One great love, an enlightening dinner party, and two clarity defining breakfast meetings.

So I’m sitting here in a café somewhere in Melbourne contemplating the week that was and the weekend that still is. I know it’s Monday morning and I’m running behind with my blog and my Monday morning inspiration to my clients and its all for a good reason.

So I’m letting go of the anxiety that is building inside me that I have to meet expectations. Expectations of others, of what I think needs to happen and of the expectations that I have set up for myself. All playing into the great wounding, the great baggage game that we all carry from our childhood, past lives into our future hopes and dreams. In fact it is often the future that activates the past wounding and creates urgency, pain and unfulfilled dreams in the now.

Over the last twenty-four hours I have had an enlightening journey with my partner Stephanie, and enlightening dinner party with friends and finally this morning two enlightening business meetings with friends. Through all this I discover that I have allowed the dark to cover me yet again! It is funny how sometimes the dark comes disguised as the light only to appear as the dark right when you are in the middle of it. Now let me clarify the ‘dark’ as it is not some kind of spooky Hollywood Nightmare on Elm Street blockbuster but rather those things that we let get in the way of our success.

Maybe all this is not making any sense but right now I am just going with what is coming. The dark comes to show you everything that you are not! I have seen many hundreds of clients over my time as a kinesiologist, counsellor and coach and when I ask clients what they want they inevitably start by telling me all the things that they don’t want. In a funny way this is the purpose of the dark, to show you what you don’t want or in this case what you are not. In this way the dark actually appears to help you to see the light that you are. The dark is just energy like everything in the universe. All of which is aimed at growing the light of having us move into the biggest most beautiful and radiant version of ourselves.

Which brings me to today’s blog, how to turn a fake million dollar note into a real million dollars. It’s a challenge that was set for me last night by my beautiful friends Duncan and Fiona. I set Duncan a challenge for his blog a few weeks ago, which was to complete the title ‘greed is good’. Being a spiritual warrior it was potentially a challenge as sometimes we see greed as bad and certainly the popular media would have us believe so. Anyway Duncan did an amazing job, you can check it out at http://www.kidneycoach.com , so now to my challenge to blog about how to turn a fake million dollar note into a real million dollars! Well not actually just a blog but rather a real life challenged based on the guy who swapped a paperclip for a house.

Do I know how I am going to do it, no way, so where to from here? This is where I step into my power and become radiant and manifest the reality that this is possible. Money, like everything in the universe, is just energy and certainly not real. Money is just paper, or plastic and in most cases is just thin air travelling from one account to another never really seeing the light of day. So what is the reality of money? If money is not real and our society is just built on make believe, so to speak, then why not manifest a real million dollars out of a fake million dollars. The funny thing is that this fake million dollar note cost $7.00 to buy so someone is actually making money from that fake million dollar note. One of the reasons this challenge has come about is that part of my father wounding revolves around money and my limiting belief about not being good enough to have it, keep it and love it. So if money is not real then my wounding starts to disintegrate. This challenge was also manifested because of the gentleman who swapped a red paperclip for a house in 16 trades. He went onto ebay asking someone to swap a paperclip for something and a person swapped a pen. He then swapped the pen for something else and it got bigger and bigger until one day he had a house. If you have not heard of this guy, Kyle MacDonald, check it out at http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/ as he now has a web site, a book, he’s a speaker and the list goes on all because of one crazy idea. He broke through the mindset that his goal was crazy, not real or achievable.

So how to swap a fake million dollar note for a real million dollars, this is my challenge and I take it with both hands and move forward towards that reality. So anyone want to swap a fake million-dollar note, in pristine condition for something else? I have set up a blog site dedicated to this journey at http://themilliondollarnote.blogspot.com/ so you can follow me and I’ll also set up a web site so when it is up I’ll send you the link and lets see what happens.

At the end of the day the dinner conversation revolved around mindset and it’s power to influence how we succeed or don’t succeed in life. My recent mindset has lead me to fall back into the darkness, in an effort to help everyone else learn from the experience I am sure, so that I can now wake up again and move back into the light. So where is your mindset and how is it hindering or helping you to manifest what you want, deserve and need? Where is your baggage or the darkness hindering you manifesting the brightest future for yourself and your family?

This challenge is similar to the premise of manifesting a car space. I’m famous for manifesting rock star car spaces. I do it EVERY time without fail so why should a million dollars be any different? The short answer is IT’S NOT so here we go, want to come for the ride and see what happens?

Thanks for reading, have a great week and don’t forget to be radiant in everything you do….you might just manifest a million dollars!

Regards Marcus

P.S Thanks Stephanie, Duncan, Fiona, Karen and Chris for your wise words, deep questioning and loving challenge. 

Engagement - A Life Changing Experience

Well another week has gone by and this week I have been playing Mr Mum and Mr Dad as Stephanie has been away in northern NSW working as an assistant on the Shamanic Midwifery course. Thankfully I have had lots of help from my Mum, yea for mums, and what a great help she has been thanks Mum. Now trying to juggle family and the extra responsibilities with an already busy work schedule has not been easy and as I sit here on Sunday night I am a little tired.

I was watching Undercover Boss last night, one of my favorite reality shows, and I could not help but to be dragged into the emotion of it all. It was a particularly emotional show with a boss who connected deeply to his staff and had some very big awakenings. I can’t help but be moved by the deep connection that was felt by all and the life changing results that this connection achieved. It made me think about the whole connection and engagement theories that we talk about but often give lip services to. As I have said before, and no doubt will again, engagement is the key to success or more importantly how we engage. It makes sense that the more we engage and the deeper that engagement we have with anything the more success we are likely to receive. So how are you engaging with your business and your world?

If you are a sole trader or small business owner you might want to look at how you are engaging with each of the domains, or in our language, the pillars of your business. How are you engaging with the finances, the marketing, the sales or in the structure of your files and records? I can bet that the areas that you dislike engaging in are the things that need the most attention. Unfortunately when you are a sole trader you have to be the HR manager, the finance manager, the marketing manager, the sales manager, pretty much everything. Now if you just can’t engage with any of these areas because you just dislike them, like me with my finances, then get someone in who loves engaging in that particular area to help. If you can’t afford it then learn to engage by listing the benefits of engaging in that area and then apply that to your passion. So how is engaging with your finances going to help you to build a successful coaching practice, as in my case. Sometimes we need to segway our engagement so that we can engage in those things that at first thought we can’t stand.

Now if you are in a larger organization where you have employees who report to you or you happen to own a business that has employees then engagement becomes critical to the bottom line. Employee and staffing costs are often the most expense outgoings in any business, so making sure that they are performing is essential if you want to make a profit. It goes without saying, so I’ll say it anyway, that the more engaged employees are the better they will perform. Engaged employees also cost less from a sick leave and turnover point of view. A recent statistic that I read said that over 80% of employees do not like what they do. A scary statistic to think that 80% of staff are disengaged with what they are doing.

I have a theory called motion theory, which states that everything in the universe is constantly in motion. Employees are no different in that employees are either moving towards or away from your business. Those that are moving towards the business are engaged and therefore perform better, have fewer sick days, greater loyalty and have a happier and more enthusiastic demeanor. Now this has to be good for business as an engaged employee is more likely to engage with customers in a positive way. On the other hand those that are moving away from the business and disengaging are more likely to have higher sick leave, less company loyalty and will be less enthusiastic or happy. Now I don’t need to tell you how this comes across to customers just take the supermarket check out person, ‘Hi, how are you’ in a drool monotone voice reading from the employee training manual. Just for fun, change it up a gear next time you meet one of these employees, there not just in supermarkets, and give them a response that is not in the manual.

In all seriousness we have three categories that we place employees into, they are either - Advocates, Fence Sitters or Detractors. Advocates are those that are moving towards the business and engage. These are the employees that enjoy coming to work, are passionate about what they do and the company they work for and the group that we are likely to get the most out of. The second type of employee is the Fence Sitter, these are the employees who are there to do there job and rarely put in over and above but seem to like where they work. These employees are however easily swayed. The third group is the Detractors, these are employees that are in the process of or have disengaged from the business. These employees, depending on the distance of disengagement, don’t like where they work and at the extreme can become toxic to the organisation. These employees hate to be alone and will try to recruit other employees to join their cause. This is where the Fence Sitters can be influenced to join them, which can turn into a mutiny if not taken care of quickly. I am sure we have all been a part of one or all of these groups at some time I know I have. Now both the Fence Sitters and the Detractors, as long as they have not moved too far, can be turned around and encouraged to become Advocates. In fact it is possible to have a company full of advocates. If you don’t believe me check this site out http://www.zapposinsights.com/main/ Zappos is an online business, which started out selling shoes and has now moved into a wide range of merchandise. Their employees are primarily all call centre staff, but a call centre with a very big difference, all their employees are Advocates and moving towards the business. Some of the most engaged employees I have ever seen. They are so successful at employee engagement that they now take tours and run workshops for other organizations that want to learn their secrets.

Engagement is crucial if we want to have a more successful business and successful life. So this week I challenge you to take a look at how you are engaging with your world, identify where you could engage deeper and make an engagement plan. Learn how to love what you do and if you can’t go find and then live your passion, the world will be a better place for it…

Thanks for reading…

P.S: As the Gallup organization have found:

The world's top-performing organizations understand that employee engagement is a force that drives performance outcomes. In the best organizations, engagement is more than a human resources initiative -- it is a strategic foundation for the way they do business.

Research by Gallup and others shows that engaged employees are more productive. They are more profitable, more customer-focused, safer, and more likely to withstand temptations to leave. The best-performing companies know that an employee engagement improvement strategy linked to the achievement of corporate goals will help them win in the marketplace.

P.P.S: Now you don’t have to go to the USA to get extreme employee engagement you just need to call us. If you want to engage more with your small business or have your employees engage more with your organisation the benefits are far and beyond increased profit. Why not give us a call to see how our Engagement Success Technologies can help you to have greater success. It does not cost anything to get an evaluation…

The 10% of the 10% - overcoming fear!

Monday morning and it’s blog time…mmm I’m sure that’s a song, oh no that’s hammer time for all those eighties retro born individuals like me. I’m sorry for my eighties reflection, I spent a lot of yesterday with my band, playing eighties music (not Hammer Time I’m pleased to say), getting ready for another round of Weekend Warriors.  This is a program run by Allans Music for old farts that desperately want to be rock stars. It is made up of ammeters that can’t play very well but are willing the embarrassment and give it a go. The program runs for four weeks ending in a full on gig at a pub with a live audience. I’ve done it once before, not that I told anyone, which was a huge buzz and scary as hell.  This brings me to today’s blog.

Face the fear and do it anyway…

Now when you decided to go into business, whatever you are doing, I am sure there was fear present. Some of you transitioned from a big firm to your own thing. Some of you followed your destiny and fell into your own business. Others may have had a life changing experience that drove you to changing paths and into your own business. This was my experience when I came down with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. What ever your journey has been there was an element of fear that you had to push past to do what you are doing.

I often find that once you have pushed passed that initial fear, which is often overcome because of necessity and a need to make an income, we forget about consciously and consistently pushing through fears. Fear is a constant especially when you are running your own business. Whether it is a fear of making it work, a fear of putting yourself on the line or fear of pushing into areas that make you feel uncomfortable, it is imperative that we do it. Maybe business success all comes down to how comfortable we are at being uncomfortable. How willing we are to face the fear and do it anyway.

I used to snow ski for Australia, something I don’t tell many people, representing our country in international competition throughout Europe. During some of the most exhilarating experiences of my life I learnt how to face the fear and do it anyway. Imagine if you will placing two bits of wood a meter and a half long to your feet, then crouching down and be pushed down a mountain at 120 kilometers an hour. Imagine the wind in your face, the ground only centimeters from your nose and the chance of crashing and causing serious injury to yourself, or death, a constant reality. At the speeds that you obtain as a downhill skier the planks of wood attached to your feet are not actually touching the ground. As you look at them they rock from side to side as the ground rushes underneath them. What on earth would drive anyone to risk his or her life for such a sport? The rush of it, the adrenalin of it and thrill of it?

In some respects running your own business is like a downhill ski race. Once you leave the start line you are committed down the track. Sometimes it is going to be thrilling, sometimes scary and sometimes you will be racked with fear. At the end of the race you will be left with exhilaration unlike anything else. Now a downhill ski race only lasts a minute and a half and a business sometimes a lifetime. Regardless a lot of your success will come down to how you face the fear and do it anyway. Pushing through fear, overcoming those things that scare you most may ultimately be why you succeed or fail. In a ski race only the most fearless win as any amount of fear slows you down and when races are won by hundredth of a second there is no place for fear.

There is a statistic I herd somewhere which goes like this. 90% of all businesses that start today will not see their fifth birthday. Of those 10% that remain a further 90% wont make it to their tenth birthday. Not a very positive or encouraging statistic is it? So how do you become and remain in the 10% of the 10%?

There are lots of aspects to business that assist in its ultimate success, marketing, networking, having a needed product, identifying and reaching your ideal customers, finance, internet, management, the list goes on. There are also hundreds of guru’s on the Internet showing you many systematic ways to make a million and have a successful business. Even I have a systematic program to increase your business success. However maybe, just maybe it all comes down to one thing…your ability to overcome fear!

So what is your greatest fear? Public speaking, presenting, speaking with customers, dealing with finance, getting yourself out there, networking, managing, organizing the list goes on. The first step in overcoming a fear is to identify the fear. Then, and here’s the key, RUN TOWARDS IT! Summon all the courage that you have and run towards those things that scare you most. Public speaking, which is the number one fear in the world even above death, is an obvious one that most of us have (If you are going to have a successful business then this is one you definitely need to get over and quick). When we run towards our fear we always find it disappears. It is a bit like a fog, it looks thick and scary when you are on the outside however if you run into it you find that it is just a thin layer of mist.

I remember when I realised that for me to be successful I had to learn and be comfortable with public speaking. I had herd of a public speaking course offered by the Dale Carnegie group, Dale is the author of the famous best seller ‘How to Win Friend and Influence People’ a great book. It took me five years to summon the courage to do this course but I did it. Every week of the course, which runs for 12 weeks, you have to make two presentations in front of 100 people. Every week I sat in my car and said “I’m not going in, there is no way I’m going in” and every week I faced my fear and did it anyway. At the end of the course I was invited to become a leader and then a trainer and the feeling of success I felt as I overcame the fear was incredible. It helped me to have the confidence to do my MBA amongst other things. Now it did not cure my fear of public speaking but rather gave me the tools to do it. Every time I am asked to speak I feel the fear and do it anyway.

One of the tricks I learnt was to say yes before the fear kicks in, you see fear is all in the mind. It takes a few moments for the brain to realize and activate the feeling of fear so if you say yes quick enough the fear does not have time to stop you. I am sure you have all herd of the acronym for fear, False Evidence Appearing Real. It is just the brain reflecting on the past and projecting it into the future and leaving us with a feeling akin to fear in the now. Most of us have had negative experiences of public speaking, whether it was in front of family friends as a kid where people laughed at us, never in malice just how it was.  Even at school a lot of us where ridiculed every time we stood up and spoke. There is no such thing as a naturally gifted speaker just those who have learnt to overcome the fear and do it anyway.

So what is your greatest fear in business? Go run toward it and do what ever you need to, to face it head on. This one action may just change your business success forever. Get out and present to as many people as possible. Take every opportunity to speak in front of an audience. Face the fear of finance by getting someone who is not afraid or fearful of it to help you. What ever your fears get help to overcome them or face the fear and do it anyway.

If you need help call me and I will assist you to identify your fears and provide you with strategies to overcome them powerfully. For when you overcome your fears you take back your power and you move forward into greater and greater success…try it I dare you!

So run toward your fears, face them head on and I bet you will find them not so scary.

Oh and if anyone wants to come to the gig I’ll try and get over the fear and let you know in my upcoming blog’s.

Make Passion a Priority

Well it’s been a long two weeks since I posted a blog, I had planned to post every week however this last fortnight has been a little tough. Over the past few months I have done a great job of posting a regular blog every week. However last week I was recovering from my weekend workshop, Double Your Clients, which as usual challenged me as much as it challenged my participants.

After the weekend I did not have the energy or motivation to write the blog. I was drained and perplexed at the lessons the weekend threw me.  Now I am not going to go into all of them today I’ll save that for another post, suffice to say that on the Monday I wanted to give up. I wanted to throw the preverbal towel in and go back to my old corporate world, you know the one that is safe, secure and you get a regular income for a regular commitment week in week out. So what turned me around?

Well I started to read a book called The Passion Test by authors Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood, it’s a New York best seller. I was reluctantly driven to read the book and I have to say I am glad I did as it has put me back on track. I had been getting more and more frustrated that things were not going the way I wanted them too. I began to push against the natural flow of my own intuitive nature and the universe itself. (There is a natural flow to the universe…) I was becoming a grumpy old man…not that I’m that old, not now anyway. It’s funny how books just appear when you need them. A friend and client of mine passed on an email that had appeared in her in box and she thought it might be of interest to me, and it was.

In the book they take you through a great process for identifying your passion and a systematic way of having those passions become a reality. Now some of the stuff that they talk about is stuff that I often ask clients to do, identify an inspiring vision or in this case passion, put together a vision board etc. However there are some very unique processes that Janet and Chris have developed that I found to be of great help. Identifying your top five passions and the way they question you to identify your real passions. Finding your markers so that you know it is happening, developing a vision board based on the five passions then writing a page on how life will be like when you are living your passions. Then they ask you to write out your 100^th birthday speech, which I found was a positive spin on the message to the world speech I often get clients to do, same objective just a little more positive. Then getting into action and trusting in the passion plus a lot more wonderful insights, quotes and stories. As they say:

'When you are clear, what you want will show up in your life, and only to the extent that you are clear'

Now this is just a small snap shot of some of the exercises in the book. The most inspiring part of the book for me is the stories of both Janet and some of the most famous authors on the planet, all talking about living your passion and the overwhelming benefits that come from living a life with passion.

For me the greatest benefit has been getting back to basics, the realigning of my self, getting back into a discipline and routine that I had left behind some years ago. I used to meditate every day and reconnect with my centre, to recharge and realign myself to myself. The book inspired me to go back to basics to first start with the most important thing ME! To reconnect and stay connected even in the middle of fear, anxiety, panic, anger and all the other things that go on in our day-to-day world. To not be dragged into the drama. Their saying of Intention - Attention - No-tension has led me to taking out the tension part. I have had the intention and have given plenty of attention but it was all with an enormous amount of tension. To the point that my family was ready to disown me… A grumpy, distant unhappy person was the general gist of their feelings. However and I am so excited to say that within a week I had the most wonderful comment from Stephanie. She said to me, that was one of the best weekends, speaking of the one just gone, I feel you are so much more present with the family, you did so much and did not mention being tired or complaining. It was music to my ears and I even went out socializing on Saturday night after spending a lot of the day gardening. This may not sound epic to most of you but for me who has lived the ‘I’m suffering from chronic fatigue’ story it was big. The big part was the fear that I moved through to actually go out. As I say in my workshop ‘choose’ to make it happen and as the fear appears keep choosing, and I did.

This process has helped me to find my centre again, to be able to sit in the fear but to do it anyway, to once again live the teachings I pass on to participants of my workshops and my clients. I feel whole again, connect and listening to the wisdom that is within me and within all of us. I actually feel a sense of happiness, which I have not felt for a while, even in the face of fear, maybe that is one way to conquer fear laugh at it....

There are many quotes in the book this one is one of my favourites:

‘Your life is created first in your mind, then in the world’

So when do you choose to live a passionate life…fully. I know there are a lot of people half living their passion in the middle of transition. I know that there has to be a practical pragmatic side to life of making sure the bills are paid and that there is food on the table. However when you get on track and begin to commit to living a life of passion all manner of things will show up to make it possible. So if you are not currently living you passion full time or at all, or you want to realign and get clear on what it is then I highly recommend The Passion Test. Oh and we are going to run some of the Passion Test workshops which run for four hours and are a great way to get started, aligned and in action to make it happen. I have been in contact with one of the amazing Passion Test facilitators in Australia, Ruth Donald and she has agreed to come to Melbourne and run a few of the workshops.

If you are interested please drop me a line.

Thanks for reading see you next Monday…

P.S. If you want to find out more or get a copy of the book just click here http://www.thepassiontest.com/?af=86141