Miley Cyrus and changing habits...

Now before you laugh at me no I’m not a Miley Cyrus fan but my kids are and for those old enough I can still remember her father Billy Ray Cyrus. Remember Achy Breaky Heart…oh the memories!

So Claudia (11) and Brendan (8) went to their first concert the other night and yes it was Miley Cyrus. Not sure if you remember your first concert, for me it was Mi-Sex at the Springvale town hall, as embarrassed as I am I think the next one was a little better, Madness at festival hall. 

In my day the parents waited out the front however not these days so Stephanie escorted Claudia and one of her friends. Can you remember how you felt? I could see the excitement and the fear in both of their eyes before they went. Excited because they were going to do something that seemed very adult and scared because they were not sure what to expect. Now they had a great time, overwhelmed, tired, excited, thrilled and very happy with themselves that they made it. I remember that excitement and fear as I walked into the Springvale town hall only to find myself and a friend of mine and 50 girls all screaming for the band. Not quite the Miley Cyrus experience with at least 20,000 plus screaming girls. So for them it must have been very overwhelming and some of the looks on there faces from the photos I saw confirmed that.

So what has Miley Cyrus got to do with changing habits well changing habits are a bit like going to your first concert. It takes courage to know what you want but it takes more courage when what you want is something that you have never experienced before. Changing habits can feel a little like this, especially those habitual patterns that have been with us for as long as we can remember. So how do we change something when faced with the fear of the unknown?

Well first things first, we have to identify those things that are no longer serving us. The fear of cold calling if you are in an industry where this is the way sales are made, speaking face to face with people you don’t know and putting yourself out there. Or it could be personal habits like putting yourself down or being judgmental, I am sure there are some you can think of.

Once you have identified that which is no longer serving you the next step is to know what the new habit is that you are going to replace the old habit with. When you create a habit void it is important that you fill it with something else, so choose a new more positive habit to replace it with. 

Now, looking at where you are and where you want to go, list all of your fears. Also answer the question; how do you know when it is time to do the old habit? It is in this moment when the old habit begins that we want to bring consciousness enough to halt the old behavior and replace it with the new behavior. Over time, as you practice, firstly noticing when the time is to do the old habit and then replacing it with a new habit, habits slowly change.

If you have any hesitation just go to the concert, walk in take your seat and hang on tight because apart from having ringing ears you’ll walk out with a great experience and a new outlook on life. The world never quite looks the same after your first concert.

So identify what you want to change. Know when it is time to engage the old habit and replace it with the new. Reaffirm the new behavior whenever you can and remember practice makes perfect but persistence makes permanent.

Have a great week…

Marcus

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

Finding your 'Inner Guru', it might just change your life…

I have spent the last few days, apart from trying to have a long weekend, downloading the video from my last Extraordinary Practice workshop that helps practitioners to Double their Clients and their Income in 90 Days. One of the main themes of this amazing, if I do say so myself, workshop program is the concept of inner guru. A lot of people screw up their face when I talk about the inner guru but if you can get yourself past the word ‘guru’ which, I use on purpose because it does cause many to rile up, then you might get to understand where I am coming from.

It might seem that most people move through life never looking for or finding their inner guru. Living lives that are not fully expressed or where full potential is not realized for without engaging with the inner guru it is not possible to reach or live your full potential.

Often we are told time and time again that it is not possible to find let alone connect and engage with the inner guru. The education system, our parents, our society all of which is not designed to help us to enter into this pilgrimage to find the inner guru. Some are lucky enough to fall into or over the inner guru. I remember a sister of an ex girlfriend of mine who when I knew her was only 10 years of age. Ever since the family could remember she said she wanted to be a Vet. She continually talked about it, dreamt about it and embedded this desire. In some respects she had already found her inner guru. I am pleased to say that now in her late twenties she is a qualified Vet living her inner guru. Unfortunately most of us are not as lucky.

For me I think I found my inner guru in my early twenties, however due to what i thought others expected of me I did not truly connect with it. it wasn't until I came down with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that I began to search, connect with and own my inner guru.

There are examples scattered all over the world that most can only envy. Every young singer who has been discovered on YouTube, just for living their inner guru. Every young adult who decided to build an Internet program to stay connect with their university friends, or every young entrepreneur who started a record label just because they had a passion. We look on with awe to these successful, seemingly enigmas of our society. But they are not different to us for they are just like all of us with one little difference, they had the good fortune, courage and luck to find and engage with their inner guru.

I have noticed, during my time as a coach and healer, that when people connect with and live this inner guru-ness magic happens. All manner of manifestation appears that helps them to become successful, abundant and often famous. I have also noticed that people want to be associated with those that are living their inner guru. They become magnetic, or gravitational for those that have been to my workshops, and attract all manner of good fortune.

So what is your inner guru asking you to do? Do you have the courage to go looking and engage with this inner guru? Some might call this destiny or passion or what you are meant to be doing, either way it is not only important for you but also for our society as a whole. If we were all living this inner guru we would all be fulfilled and in doing so be content with our lives. This would lead to greater health, wealth and prosperity, less depression, anger and anguish.

So this topic is important…no imperative!

It is time to entertain this idea so please don’t waste another moment…Age, colour, race any excuse is no barrier.

A client of mine sent me this video of a speech given by Sir Ken Robinson who echo’s this sentiment better they I can. His focus is around education and how this kills 'The Element' as he calls it. It is a very entertaining and funny talk, take a look...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJAL21IE9fY

So I hope you enjoy it and I hope you will think about what it might mean to find your inner guru…

Have a great week…May the inner guru be with you!

Regards Marcus

Belief and the art of seduction

Another Monday and can you believe that we are in the middle of the year already. Not sure where May went, I must have slept through it, how was it?

So I just finished my amazing Double Your Clients in 90 Days workshop yesterday and I always enjoy seeing the positive effect it has on participants. One of the things we spoke about yesterday was belief. In particular the importance of believing in the self so that you can have the confidence to go out and do what it is that you want to do. 

Now sometimes belief is not enough as one participant shared with me. He had a strong belief that he was good enough and that he was worthy yet at the same time there was a deeper knowing that was blocking him from living the consciousness that he had. How is it possible that at the conscious level we can believe in something yet at another deeper sub consciousness level we can be seduced into not believing it and how does the sub consciousness win?

Belief and the art of seduction is one tool that advertisers, slick sales people and charlatans have used forever. They constantly take advantage of the seducing inner mind, the sub consciousness and the wounded inner child that tells us that we are not worthy. Although our conscious mind wants to believe that we are good, confident and worthy it is seduced by the sub conscious mind whose wounding sometimes runs deep. 

One of the things that we as human beings all have in common are issues around worth. The lack of worth is the seducer of belief and will do anything to sabotage our success.

So how do you know that you are worthy to have all the things that you want and desire?

When my daughter Lucy was born, some two and a half years ago, I realized that we are all born with an abundance of self worth so what happens? Maybe it is beaten out of us, maybe we are taught not to listen to it, maybe we just forget, either way there are moments in our life when we are seduced into believing we are not worthy even when our conscious mind knows that we are. 

So what is the antidote? 

Sometimes it helps to compile a list of all the ways that you know your worth, from both the outside world and also the inner world. There is a wellspring of worth that we all have within us, our job is to reconnect with it, know that we are intrinsically worthy and go live the grandest version of ourselves.

Sometimes however will power, positive affirmations and the anger and frustration of being sick and tired of being seduced is not enough. Sometimes we have to dig deep and to uncover the cause of the seduction. What are the insights that we can uncover to help our conscious selves deal with the cause or root of the seducer? Sometimes we can find this alone other times we need help to find the breakthrough.

In the absence of assistance we need to connect with our wellspring of worth that resides within. So go out and compile your list of ways that you know you are worthy. List all those external successes in your life, get testimonials from friends and family and others you associated with but more importantly go within and discover the worth that resides within. When we search outside of ourselves for worth we are at the whim of situation and the seducer. Depending on the time of day, the way the wind is blowing we may feel worthy or not. 

The most important form of worth comes from within, from the deep knowing that you were born with. This you will find in those quiet moments of peace, walking along a country road, on a beech or in the snow. Looking out over the beauty of the world or listening to the laughter of children. In all these little moments you will find the wellspring of worth that you were born with. So list where it is that you connect to this wellspring and when the seducer comes calling go to these places.

Remember it is not what happens to us but how we choose to interpret the story of what happened that matters most. Choose to know that in every given moment you are just doing the best job you can, making the best decisions based on the information and knowledge at hand. Don’t allow yourself to be seduced by the hindsight monster that will try to convince you that you are not worthy because you ‘should’ have done it better, differently or not at all. Begin to see the seducers in your life and choose to listen not to their incessant banter that would have you feel less than. It is not possible for you to be less than as we are all amazing beings, just for being born. If you take a close look at the amazingness of conception, birth and life you will agree with me. Focus on the small, amazing things in life and you will be bought back to the amazingness of who your truly are and the intrinsic worth that we all have deep within.

This week choose not to play with the seducer, don't allow it to haunt you and affect your life and don't listen to it when it try's to tell you that you are not worth it. YOU are WORTHY just for being!

Have a great week, 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

Biting your tongue, showing interest and the coming of snow…

Good morning and thanks for reading my blog on this cold winter morning, well cold anyway and nice to see some sun. If you had not noticed winter is finally here, so exciting. 


'There is snow on dem dare hills!' 


I know most of you are probably saying, ‘what a crazy man excited about cold miserable mornings’, crazy I’m not but excited I am you see it’s my favorite time of year. In the immortal words of British adventurer Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes;

‘There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing’.

It is a bit the same with communication, there is no such thing as bad communication, just inappropriate words. Likewise ‘you can say anything to anyone as long as you say it in the right way’. I have a wonderful friend of mine who has an amazing way of using the right words at the right time. He could be telling you that you smell but he does it in such a way that you walk away thinking it was a compliment.

So what does it take to make sure that the words we are using are the most appropriate as possible? There are two parts to making sure that we use the most appropriate words as possible. The first is awareness, awareness of what is happening in and around the conversation and awareness of what words are landing well and what words are giving us negative feedback. Our awareness needs to include a consciousness of what words we are using and what words we choose to use in the next moment. The second part will help us in the first part and that is our ability to truly listen to the conversation and in particular the person who is speaking. When we listen to a conversation with both ears we become attentive to how the communication is landing. Most of the time however we are so concerned with what we are going to say next that we don’t actually listen to what the other person is saying.

Listening is therefore one of the most important things in the communication process. If there is no listening it is very hard to have true awareness of the communication process. So how do we listen to a conversation as we are having the conversation? Well I’m glad you asked, one of the techniques that I use is a thing called active listening, I know you have probably herd of or learnt about active listening. For those who have not and those that are not using it here is a refresher.

Active listening comprises of three parts:

Part one: Listen to what someone is communicating to you.

Part two: Paraphrase back to them what you have heard.

Part three: Listen to the response.

In action it might sound something like this;

Person 1: I am really concerned about spending that sort of money on the project because it seems irresponsible.

Person 2: So spending that amount seems irresponsible?

Person 1: Yes in my experience we could achieve the same result spending far less using company X.

Person 2: Yes if we use company X you believe we could save and get the same result?

Person 1: Yes I do.

I know it is a silly example but as you can see the effect is two fold, one the person feels heard and that you understand them and two you begin to have a greater awareness of the conversation because you actually heard what was being said. When you have to paraphrase a conversation back to the other person you make sure that you have heard what they are saying and therefore listen more attentively. It is very embarrassing paraphrasing back when you have not actually heard what is being said.

So go out into your week bite your tongue and let the other person finish what they are saying, show interest by using active listening and build a greater awareness of communication happening around you, I dare you.

Oh and back to the great weather we are having, snow is on the way (the picture at the top of this blog is an image of Mt Buller as of this morning so snow is actually here, oh and to the right is me out for a gentle morning of skiing, well maybe me a few years ago.) and if you have not guessed by now I LOVE SKIING. In the next few months if you don’t hear from me I’ve gone skiing, see you on the slopes...

Have a great week Regards Marcus