Success Happens - The Magic of Alignment

As we look out across the landscape of success and see the many who have reached the heights of what we might imagine is success, we so often think that success just happens. We sometimes get caught in the illusion that people get famous, successful or rich over night. Now there is no such thing as overnight success, unless you get on Australia's Got Talent or win at the lottery, and even then most people have been working all there lives to achieve the success that they finally receive.  However in some small way over night success can happen. In some respects there is a truth to this seemingly immediate success, there is some magic that can and does happen when the planets align.

In most cases those that reach success have been working at it for a very long time. They have fought through rejection after rejection trying to get someone of influence to recognise their talent. Be it a book they have written, a song they have sung or a program they champion, most of those that have reached success have worked hard at it. However there is a faster way to reach success, or at least to assist the process of the climb to fame and fortune.

There are a lot of things that need to come together for success to manifest, right product, right place, right time, right meeting, right connection, right attitude, right mindset, it can seem endless. In most cases there are a lot of things that need to line up for the magic of manifestation to deliver the success that you desire. In some respects when all the things that need to happen align, then often dreams do come true. Often when alignment happens dreams come true very quickly. This is the touch point that we are so very often exposed to since the advent of the internet and reality TV. 

So can we influence alignment or is it just right place and right time?

What if we could influence the planets aligning, train the ducks to get in a row and hit a bulls eye each time we through the dart? In my experience alignment comes down to four things.

Mindset

Is our ability to get clear and focussed, to be able to control those negative thoughts, emotions and feelings so that we can push through belief and self doubt. It demands that we have belief in our selves our product and the dream that we are aspiring towards.

Action

Is our ability to get off our back side and get moving and do what we need to do to get the job done. In most cases things don't manifest because people are waiting for it to happen... We make it happen by getting out there and facing the fear but doing it anyway.

Energy

Harnessing our energy and engaging in who we are and what we do at the deepest level allows us to attract all manner of good fortune towards us. Aligning our energy to the thing we are being called to do, that book, that song, that program, you know the one that sits there under the surface dying to get out. How we are being effects everything we are, or are not receiving. How we engage with the world will inevitably determine what we get from the world.

Potential

Unleash your true potential and believe in yourself, hell no one else is going to. Make things happen from that deeper part of who you are and live up to yourself, you only have now!

As we align it's like a rainbow appears, all the conditions are just right for all of the colours of the palette to shine, and when they do there is always a pot of gold at the end...

Have a great week and may all the instant success be yours, after all the work is done...

Cheers Marcus

A Tribute to Steve Jobs

Love him or hate him Steve Jobs built some of the most admired, well known and most successful organisations in the world. From Apple to Pixar, Steve developed businesses that have touched the lives of billions of people world wide. From Toy Story to the Ipod his dedication to developing innovative yet 'sexy' products was endless. This week however his journey came to an end as I am sure we are all aware.

For me Steve and his organisations have been a great inspiration and a lesson in the success of congruence. The 'sexy' nature of the products that these organisations delivered have lead to a passionate following of customers. To the degree that many of these customers fall in love with the products. Regardless of price these products have stood out in a very full market place and have commanded loyalty and a dedicated following. More on this next time...

Apart from his corporate life which some may see as ruthless and hard nosed, Steve had a tough fight with Liver disease and then Pancreatic cancer, which eventually led to his dimise. Along this journey he connected with the deep wisdom that lies inside all of us. At many of my workshops, and also with my clients I often ask them to write there message to the world. What would you tell the world if you knew you were going to die tomorrow? What wisdom, life lessons would you impart to the rest of us before you left this life? Well Steve got his opportunity when he presented his version of Message to the World at Stanford University. If you have not seen this very different key note speech it is worth watching.


So here is Steve's Message to the World.

I hope you enjoy, until next time live like it is your last day because one day it will be!

Cheer 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

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

Your Story is Worth it!

I spent the weekend at the National Speakers Association of Australia convention and had some very eye opening moments. There was so much good stuff I heard, so much I learnt and a whole lot of amazing speakers that not only inspired but also gave me lots of great ideas to spice up my performances. I also got to hear from and speak to some very successful authors who shared some great wisdom. Now I could write a whole swag load of blog’s from the convention, which I might just well do, however today or tonight as the case maybe I have to pick just one.

So what topic shall I pick, so much good fodder, so many memorable moments, mmmm! So I just choose to go with whatever inspires the heart and in this case it came up with the title ‘Your story is worth it’

It is amazing at how many people love to hear my story and how reluctant I often am to share it. But it is our stories that help people to feel closer to us and inspires them to connect to us. This connection is the most important thing that we can focus on, as it is connection that more than often has people buying our product or service. It does not mater if we run our own business or work for someone else, connection is the most important thing you can foster. We all prefer to deal with people we like or have things in common with. The more intimate we feel with someone the better we think we know them. It helps us to feel the authenticity of that person and this authenticity allows us to connect deeply.

The more we connect the more we want to do business with that person and as that connection grows, the more we are likely we are to refer them to others. Now it is one thing to get business from the people we know it is another to get them to refer us to the people that they know. This is how we build a successful business or career, by getting others to refer us. We would all rather do business with someone that has been referred to us. So connection is imperative if we are to be successful and receive referrals.

So what is your story? Do you feel comfortable sharing it? A lot of the people I speak to, including myself, are hesitant to share their story. Maybe it was all the times we were told as kids not to big note, brag or stand out. Maybe it’s just part of the Australian collective conscious which commands that you don’t stick your head up too high as tall poppies get cut down. But then again maybe it’s not about this at all but rather just finding the courage to share honestly and openly your amazing story.

We all have one, a story that is heart felt, touching and real. As humans we all have experiences that are happy, sad, distressing, uplifting, depressing, devastating, painful and joyful. All these emotions have value to each other as sharing helps us to feel normal and builds a kinship with others. These stories also have great lessons and teachings weaved throughout them. These lessons have value for others and are likely to positively touch and intern change another’s life. We may not see its effect or the results of that wisdom but it’s there and its important.

Finding the courage to share your story is often half the battle. Moving past the ‘who would care about my story’, ‘its just not that interesting’ and ‘I’m scared what people will think’ may just help another more than you will ever know. Maybe it’s time to stop all this rot and start to share more of yourselves, through your story.

So your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to write out your unique story. To then share it with one person that may not know it.

‘Share more of who you really are through the experiences that you have really had’.

Remember your story is worth it. Own it, believe in it, share it with passion!

If you feel moved to share it with me I would love to receive them.

Thanks for reading until next week, share your story with passion!

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

More Lessons from Planet Earth

Even as I write this the lessons from last week, and it was a big week, are drifting off into the depths of my psyche. I remember it had something to do with the father wounding and the constant battle over the years to heal this wounding but last week a new insight appeared.

I had some confronting meetings last week that lead me to a realisation of the importance of emotional intelligence in business and in life. I had always known that my father was emotionally void and distant but I did not realise the depth to which that disease had afflicted me, until last week. Confronted with a situation where I had not lived up to expectations with tasks I had agreed to do, in a new business partnership. This greatly effected both of my partners as they where waiting on me to do what I needed to do in order for all of us to move things to the next level. Now I had real honest reasons why these had not been done. Business and making a living got in the way, but this was not the issue. My partners are both coaches and have a deep understanding of the human psyche and helped me to realise just how far I am from being able to connect my extrinsic world and my intrinsic world. 

The extrinsic world is the face we all put on when we go out into the world, and the intrinsic world is that deeper knowing self that would seem to be very fragile and hence why we don’t lead with this part of the self. When they expressed there disappointment and frustration at the situation I found myself getting angry and upset. Angry that they did not understand how difficult it had been for me and disappointed that i had let people down. This led to the realisation that the centre world of the entrinsic, as I have now termed it, is the most important part of self to understand. Now this maybe easy for a lot of people, however as I looked out into the world in pain, anger and frustration, I realised that it is void in much of our community.

This confronting meeting led me to the understanding that what people really want is to connect with the true self of others. In that I mean is that part of you that is the expression of whom you really are, vulnerable, scared, seemingly delicate and fragile. It takes a great deal of internal honesty with yourself to be able to express this fully to others. You see I have been trained to be a pleaser, anyone else with that affliction? My pleasing gene is so strong that it will over ride my true self, my real desires and place the feelings of everyone and everything above mine. It also leads me to be less honest with myself about what I can and cant do and what my true desires are. If I did connect to that honesty it may not be possible to live out the genetic desire to please. On the extrinsic side, the outer world, I am very honest however on the intrinsic side I sacrifice my honesty to myself so that I can fulfil the pleasing gene. 

So now what? It is one thing to have the realisation and another to integrate it so you can live it out in the world.

How do we break free from seemingly genetic patterns and subconscious subscripts handed down to us from generations past? The secret may lie in the entrinsic part of ourselves. There is a physiological side of the human body that is always trying to place the body in a state of homeostasis. That is our bodies attempt to balance our internal processes of things like hot and cold. This entrinsic side of ourselves is our homeostatic self trying to balance the inner emotional world with the expectations of the external world. So the secret may lie in our connection to our entrinsic or emotional, feeling self. In that sharing our true feelings about what is going on for us may actually help us to break free from these habitual patterns regardless of whether we found them ourselves or whether our parents and their parents handed them down the line.

Feelings in business, now there is a novel idea! 

So what am I feeling at this moment and what are the fears and hesitations that appear as I attempt to connect with them. As always the key is engagement, so if connection is the intrinsic identification of our feelings then engagement is the action to which feelings are expressed extrinsically. Sharing the fear, the hesitation that we may upset another or not please versus the desire to show the world that we are strong is not easy. It takes courage to live from the heart, but isn't this what makes life worth while?

I think writing a blog is a good way to over come some of this, as long as there is honesty and to the most part I am attempting to do just that. It’s not easy, it is not free from fear but it is cathartic. How will everyone take it, I don’t know, all I can do is be as honest as possible. Now this is not always going to please others. In fact it may often disappoint, but it is much better to disappoint upfront that to let down later on.

So how will connecting to and engaging with your true self, that inner world of emotions and feelings help you and your business? I believe we as a human race have a desperate desire to connect and engage with the true self of others, to know people at a deeper more real level. Let’s face it we all have fears, phobias, habitual patterns we are not proud of and those dark things hiding in the closet. I think when we engage with others at the real level of the entrinsic self we open up the ability for others to 'get us' and therefore employ us. I often talk about engagement as the most important thing in business and maybe in life. As the more we engage with anything the more successful we are likely to be. So what would happen if we engaged in the entrinsic self and opened up and shared the truth of our lives?

I have an amazing job that I am so grateful for as I get to connect with people like this on a daily basis. However it also gives me the ability to hide from myself as it is always about the other person, so in essence I have set this up beautifully so that I can continue the patterns of the genetic self. Well I wonder what would happen if this changed?

What would happen if you changed?

So with the all the fear and phobia that this blog may disappoint some of you planted firmly on my sleeve I post it for all to read....

Here's to honesty with the self...cheers.

Play from the front foot!

So here I am sitting on top of Mt Buller, the wind howling, the rain bucketing down and the temperature at near winter ranges and you ask why? As a volunteer of the Mt Buller Ski Patrol every now and then we are asked to assist at the National Mountain Bike Championships, and this is the weekend. These bike riders are some of the most committed, courageous and fearless individuals I have met. There is pretty much nothing that will stop them except for the loss of a limb or a comma in the case of the last event in Hobart.

These unique individuals spend most of their life on a bike, some 300km plus a week riding, $8,000 plus for a bike and that's just the start. Here is a great example of engagement in what you are doing, without this level of commitment and engagement in what they are doing there is no chance of success.

When I started Intrinsic Success I was enthusiastic, excited and passionate, then life happened. A few stormy days, a bit of heavy rain and a cold winter chill, which lead to a few knock backs, not reaching the success I had hoped for as soon as I had hoped, and then there were the family issues that are all a part of being a Dad. At some point during the middle of last year I had became complacent, lost and a little disheartened resigning myself to be comfortable but not abundant. The business had been flying but now it was doing just ok by all outside measures it was returning what most might call a good living. However complacency had set in which lasted until the realisation that I could not grow a truly abundant lifestyle spurred on by the fact that we had to move our son into private school so I now had the responsibility for his wellbeing.

It was actually here at Mt Buller where I turned things back around. I was riding a ski lift with a vey good friend of mine who is the owner of companies such as Car Sales .com and I was discussing my troubles and how hard it was finding work and getting myself going again. He gave me some wise advice, "it sounds like you need to stop bitching and start pitching". Interesting, stop bitching and start pitching, I thought to myself I don't bitch or complain I've been working hard, putting in the hours what did he mean? After taking a good hard look at myself I realised that I was doing a lot of peddling but not going anywhere. I realised that I had disengaged from my business no longer doing those things that needed to be done to get the work and do the stuff I love to do, coaching people and business to be, do and have more success. I realised that I needed to find the courage to put myself back on the line, to make the calls, spread the word and get out of my comfort zone and make it happen.

That was eight months ago and since then I have tripled my clients plus, had two amazing individuals sign on board to become Intrinsic Success coaches and help me to build the business and now for the first time I can see the true potential of my business. One might say that I have now opened up to the horizon of possibilities and wow what possibilities.

So have you become complacent, are you peddling but not going anywhere fast, are you not putting it on the line, putting you on the line? Where are you hesitating to make the calls, go to the meetings, take up the speaking opportunities? As I put it with one client last week, where are you not dancing on the tips of your toes, playing from the front foot?

As a tennis player and having played pennant competition tennis for Kooyong Tennis Club, I was taught that you need to play from the front foot on the tips of your toes. If you watched the Australian Open you may have seen players dancing on the tips of their toes waiting to receive a serve. Flat-footed players are slower, not as prepared and not ready for whatever opportunity may come to win the point. In a business it is no different, playing on the front foot on the tips of your toes allows you to be ready to take advantage of the opportunities. There are an abundance of opportunities out there if you are willing to put it on the line and truly see them. Playing on the front foot allows you to make it happen and be prepared to take advantage of those golden opportunities that will come your way. Be fully engaged in your business and in your life. Be prepared to do whatever it takes to make it a success, and most importantly keep peddling even when it seems all up hill as this is all part of running your own business, all part of life.

So the message here is to play from the front foot, be dynamic, ready and excited to hit the next ball. Get into action and be prepared at the start of each week to go out and create the opportunities and be ready to take advantage of them. Reconnect with the reason that you started the business in the first place; realize the importance of your work for you, your family and the planet. Dig deep and find the courage to put yourself on the line and do those things that need to be done and most of all keep peddling. I am always amazed at how fast things can turn around when you get your heart, heart and soul aligned and in action to manifest abundance.

So are you ready to make it happen?

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!

The Power Of Energy

I am constantly reminded of the power of one’s energy when trying to manifest or create anything. Just this morning a relatively new client of mine shared the story of her amazing success over the weekend. After three sessions where we identified underlying blocks to her success, empowered a new paradigm and unleashed a new possibility she had the best sales ever in one event. This was all put down to her energy being in the right place.

So what is the energy that you go out into the world with? I see business owners spending thousands of dollars on advertising, hours of effort cold calling, or time sitting waiting for people to walk into their store all to no avail, and why? More often than not it comes down to the energy that we put out into the world. Whether we know it or not we are energy beings having a physical experience, just ask Quantum Physicist if you don’t believe me. We are constantly sending subtle messages out into the world, which is then picked up by others. This is then translated into the first point of approval to engage. If the energy is one of fear then it is less likely that another will engage, who wants’ to engage with fear? If the energy is one of being excited to meet others then we are more likely to want to accept. Now this energy goes deeper than just having a good feeling about others. It is one of those things that we can’t fake and we all have the ability to pick out a fake. So at a deep level it is about aligning with your true energy that gives you the best chance of success.

The most difficult part of getting your energy right is that because it is so subtle in its nature we often don’t see the energy we are portraying. Even if we feel positive, inviting and welcoming there maybe an underlying energy of ‘no not now!’ Now there are three ways we can monitor our energy: 1. Look at what is coming back to us from the outside world. Are we receiving the abundance that we know we deserve or world like? If not you have an energetic mismatch; 2. Have someone else guide us, preferably someone who can read energy and who can guide us back to our true energetic nature; 3. Have the intuitive ability to pick up on our own energy. This is much easier said than done as our own fears, beliefs and blocks often get in the road.

I have been called an energetic intuitive and have spent many years growing my intuitive abilities but I too sometimes need an outside person to connect me back to my core energy and to give me the courage to go live it in the world. I’m luckier than most as I live with another energetic bunny, my life partner Stephanie who helps guide me back. I know that when I am aligned and congruent with whom I truly am, things manifest easily and quickly. It is amazing that even if you have no idea where the next thing is going to come from, becoming aligned will have it emerge from the most unlikely sources.

A few months ago I was attempting to fill up one of my courses and was beginning to get frustrated that all the avenues and cold calls I was doing was leading to nothing. I realized that at some level my energy was blocking people from coming. I did some quick realignment processes and not long after a lady rang who had been given my brochure from a past participant and wanted to book 7 people into the course. Coincidence or the power of energetic alignment?

There are many, many examples just like this one and I am sure you would have your own if you think about it. An exercise that I often get clients to do is to imagine the last time things manifested easily or out of the blue. Try to remember how you were feeling, what was the attitude that you were sending out into the universe. What was the energy you were displaying? Now close your eyes and imagine creating that same energy, the same feeling right now. Now imagine focusing it towards that which you are trying to manifest, more clients, more money, no termites as in my case….but that’s another story for next time.

Remember for the most profound results align your energy with who you are and go live that in the world….It works and is more powerful than any advertising campaign!

If you want help with the identification and alignment of your energy call now 0419 538 320 or email me at marcus@intrinsicsuccess.com.

Intuitive Intelligence Part 2

Often when I speak to people about intuition and Intuitive intelligence I get the feeling that the common belief is that it is some mystical ability granted only to the gifted few. Well this could not be further from the truth. It is a fact that we all have an equal ability to connect with our intuitive intelligence, it is a birth right and an important soft skill that we have. It is a primal sense that we attained so as to survive and not be eaten by wild animals. As we began to gain more and more control over our world our safety and security increased and therefore the need for intuition decreased. Until now! As I discussed in my previous blog, our ever demanding world requires greater skill sets and abilities to stay ahead and be successful, intuition is one of these...

So how does intuition work and how is it that we all have the ability but only few choose to actively utilise this skill?

It might help to give you some background information on brain function and the role this plays in the intuitive process. If you take a look at a human brain you will notice that there a two distinct hemispheres, a right and a left. These two hemispheres are connect via a part of the brain called the corpus colosseum, a collection of millions or neural fibbers that sits low down in the centre of these two hemispheres. The two hemispheres of the brain have very distinctly different functions and working together, help us to do all the things that the human being can do.

There is an amazing video on the website www.ted.com, and if you haven't been on this site I highly recommend it, by a lady called Jill Bolte Taylor. I recommend you have a look at it here: 

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

Ms Taylor is a Neuroscientist who experienced a stroke and in the video she excitedly shares her insights and deeper understanding of brain function. This experience gave her, not just a theoretical understanding of brain function, which she obviously had, but also an experiential understanding of it's function during the stroke. In her video she gives us a view into the complex world of left and right brain function and inadvertently uncovers the brain - intuition connection. 

As an overview the left and right brains function like so...

The left hemisphere of the brain sees the world through organised, systematic steps, process orientated and determined to make sense of the world around us. It is analytical, structured and logic focussed. It tends to use language and words to describe it's relationship to the external world and in our modern day society is valued highly.  The left hemisphere sees us as separate from each other and is the part of the brain that knows me as 'I' and you as 'you'. It has separated and differentiated us from all other things and knows me as an individual alone in the world. It tends to concern itself with the past and the future.

The right hemisphere of the brain on the other hand has its focus in the abstract world preferring to make sense of the world through our sensory perceptions. It tends to use feelings and images to describe its relationship to the external world. It learns kinaesthetically taking in all of the energetic information through the senses so that it can experience its world. It knows us as one with everything, that we are all connected right here right now. It lives in the present moment understanding that there is only now. In this state it is the part of the brain that connects to our intuitive abilities accessing all of our senses both physical and subtle.

It is therefore possible that anyone with a right brain can access and utilise intuition. The issue we face is that we have grown up in a left brain focussed world where IQ is valued higher than all other forms of intelligence. It is a fact that the most academic and educated tend to get the best jobs and make more money. When we are born we tend to rely more heavily on our right brain as our ability to access speech and have ourselves understood by the external world is gained. This ability is then literally beaten out of us as we enter the external conventional world. This I have seen first hand with my children as they enter school and slowly but surely begin to rely less on their own intuitive nature preferring to analyse and quantify their decisions. However if we are to survive and move forward in the world we must reignite the use of our intuitive abilities.

Stay tuned for part 3 - How to consistently access intuitive intelligence... www.intrinsicsuccess.com

Sometimes letting go helps…

Sometimes it is just about letting go… The problem with our modern busy world, if there is a problem at all, is that we spend so much time in our heads. Constantly thinking, over analyzing, and trying to work out the next thing to do or to write. As has been the case this morning, yesterday I thought of so many things to write about yet when I got up at 5:30am on this Monday morning do you think I could reach in and located any of those great thoughts from yesterday. Then it hit me maybe I should stop thinking and just start writing so here we are…

Through my experience of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I came to realize just how full the mind can get and the consequence of that fullness. In my case it lead to a foggy mind, an inability to think clearly, irritability and anxiety and often dizzy spells. To this day if I fill my mind up enough these symptoms come back. The mind is an interesting instrument constantly analyzing, assessing and contemplating the for’s and against’s for any particular situation, decision or thought. It rarely gives you a definitive answer on any matter but rather the thought or decision with the least likely hood of failure. It then spends its time often over analyzing the decision that it has just made. Now in and of itself it is a great instrument and has helped to get us this far. However it is “the emptiness of the vase that is the most valuable part”, in that without the space in-between the ceramic vessel there would be no vase. In some respects it is the same with the brain with out the ability to empty the mind from time to time we reduce our ability to utilize it’s power of thought.

I often see business owners and executives who have become anxious, stressed and confused finding it difficult to make a decision or think straight and immediately I know that the mind has become full. It is amazing what insights, clarity and freedom comes from emptying the mind from time to time. It is a bit like freeing up some space on your hard drive. I know when my computer runs out of space I get a warning that the computer is about to have a nervous breakdown and loose data or worse totally break. (As you can tell I am such a computer expert…not!) I am sure it wont break if I run out of space but I know its not good because it tells me. Now the brain is a bit like this if you don’t clear it out every now and then it does get overloaded and when this happens there is a fear that it will break down. When I guide these executives to clear the mind and free up some disk space it is amazing to watch the clarity come back, the anxiety go and a wave of relaxation appears.

So if you begin to feel anxious, confused, unclear or full take a moment to let go. Go for a walk, change the scenery, stop thinking about the issue or any issue for that matter and clear your mind. Think of nothing if you can, meditation is a great way to do this or failing that think of a time when you where in nature, on holidays where you were away from work. Think of how that place made you feel, what were the noises that you herd, the smells that you smelt and the sights that you saw. Immerse yourself it that experience for just a moment. If you have an abstract painting in your home or office, focus on that for a while or look at the plant in the corner of your office (if you don’t have a plant in your office get one, natural objects like plants can assist you to feel more relaxed and provide fresh oxygen). Then go back to what you were doing, a moment out of time can help you to become clear again, less anxious and more relaxed. 

Please note that short term anxiety or stress can be relieved through the clearing of the mind however long term anxiety related disorders may need greater help and support. If you are suffering from anxiety please see a health care professional.

Intuitive Intelligence (SQ)

Intuitive Intelligence is the ability for one to consciously connect with and translate gut feel into practical and effective actions. Intuition is something that most of us have used at one point or another throughout our lives. It is often so subtle that we connect with it on an unconscious basis. It is a guiding and ruling emotional connection that can direct us away from danger when there is no conscious reasoning to be alarmed.

Having recently had a beautiful baby girl, Lucy now 2, I saw first hand the instinctive intuitive response that we are all born with. A child instinctively knows whom they feel comfortable approaching in a room full of strangers. This instinctive connection is the gateway to a deeper intuitive response that is constantly active in small children and in all of us. Some may say it is just a survival mechanism however, when nurtured and encouraged, becomes an essential life skill.

This instinctive response is often mystified throughout our early years to the point that as we grow older we believe that its access is reserved for the gifted few. This could not be further from the truth however, it does take some amount of retraining to reconnect and understand its truth.

So what has intuition got to do with business? In an article from Harvard Review that I read a few years ago a group of graduates went to find out how the US top CEO’s made decisions. What they found lead to a paper called ‘When to trust your gut’ published in 2001. This paper goes on to explain that although these top CEO’s, from the top fortune 500 companies, assessed all the analytical information at the end of the day there most difficult decisions where made using ‘gut feel’ or intuitive intelligence.

So how could accessing Intuitive Intelligence help you and your business, well I’m glad you asked. Let me share how I use it in my business and in my work…

I utilise Intuitive Intelligence in a number of way. Just this morning I utilised this soft skill to organise my day and allow me to stay calm relaxed and focussed. Running late for a meeting I sensed that my appointment was also running late so I let go and relaxed. One minute later my appointment rang to say he was running late.

In maximising my time in calls to potential clients I utilise this skill to make the most appropriate calls first.

In business decisions I utilise Intuitive intelligence to sense what the right course of action maybe. This comes at times when the analysis of a situation is not clear-cut. SQ helps me to know what the most appropriate course of action is.

In all my years of using SQ it has rarely let me down. As we continue to experience ever more competitive environments, finding an effective point of difference and a ‘market edge’ is imperative if we are to continue to grow and prosper. Having our leaders gifted in their ability to access state of the art soft skills will allow them to be able to guide employees and the business in the most appropriate way, is essential. It is often the fine edge that makes the difference between success and extraordinary success as the Harvard report documented.

‘The higher up the corporate ladder people climb, the more they need well-honed business instincts. In other words, intuition is one of the X factors separating the men from the boys’. Harvard Business Review ‘When To Trust Your Gut’ Feb 2001 p.3

These soft skills, of emotional and intuitive intelligence, should not be ignored as your competition might well be accessing their immense benefit right now. If you want to learn more about Intuitive Intelligence call me to discuss how of and your team can take advantage of SQ.


marcus@intrinsicsuccess.com

Doing what you LOVE!

I used to work for a company, actually I was a partner in the company, called Love Your Business which was started by an amazing guy called Peter Cook (check them out www.loveyourbusiness.com.au). His blogs are well worth reading and put mine to shame, love what you do Pete.

Now what I really leant from my time with Peter was that if you do what you love you have more energy. Having had Chronic Fatigue I know all about energy, what gives me more and what takes it away. When you have energy, and not just the physical type, you come alive. This aliveness leads to the expression of passion, enthusiasm, inspiration and a sense of excitement. These emotions are contagious and infectious and lead others to feel more energised.

Now the result of having more energy or being more energised is that you have more success...how you ask? Well people love to be around people who are inspiring, passionate and enthusiastic...don't we???? Well I know I do! These people seem to be magnetic, attracting all sorts of good fortune to themselves. So what does it take to be this type of leader...Loving what you do!

So how can you do more of the things you love? We all know that the accounts need to be paid, the reports need to be written, the trash needs to be taken out and the office needs to be cleaned. Now unless these are the things you love to do...STOP! The sooner you move into the things that you are passionate about, which are often the things you are good at, the sooner you will have more energy, become magnetic and attract all manor of good fortune to yourself. I see too many business owners who are tired, disillusioned and trapped in the thoughts of how do I get out of this mess. When we start our own businesses there is usually only us so we end up doing everything, marketing, accounts, sales, reception, PA, product development etc... But at some point if our business is to grow we need to make changes. These changes need to happen slowly and gently so begin with one small step. Where can you delegate something you don't love to do to someone who does. The bookkeeping is the first and obvious area that comes up. Bookkeeper don't cost much but you doing the books does. So begin to delegate to external providers first then eventually when the cash flow is right bring them back in-house.

I think the moral to this story is the faster you can do the things you love the faster you will have intrinsic success.

What is Intrinsic Success

If you look at the definition of intrinsic you will find the following: 'relating to the essential nature of a thing, inherent' (world english dictionary online). Intrinsic success is therefore the essential nature of success, a form of 'true' success in every aspect of life. I have meet some very financially successful people in my life only to find that their family is breaking down, to hear from their children the truth of there lives. What is the point of life if we are only successful in one aspect of our lives only to be Hippocratical in all others? Therefore intrinsic success is the ability to manifest success in all aspects of life, career, family, friendships, intimate relationships etc... It is a holistic view of our lives that leads us to living and expressing a full and complete life. This expressing inevitably leads to a deeper happiness and feeling of contentment that we are being the best version of ourselves that we can be, and why wouldn't you want to live this way?
There is a movement of inner connection and reflections that is happening on the planet that cannot be ignored. The more people I talk to the more I see this truth manifesting. In fact you may have started to explore this reality and experienced it's mutterings from deep within. The questioning of: what is it really all about? and; am I fulfilled in my life right now? Maybe these questions are spontaneously appearing, unanswered, opening up the preverbal can of worms.
My journey has been one of asking and answering just such questions. The finding of same opens up a new way of being that does lead to a life of happiness and fulfilment.