“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” Marianne Williamson

“To change the printout of the body, you must learn to rewrite the software of the mind.” Deepak Chopra

“Ever try to change your mind, only to find out that your mind has a mind of its own?” Robert Williams

Thinking it Through…

Self sabotage. Are you familiar with it? I sure am! I’ve often heard that if you want to grow as a person start your own business or go further in your career then you ever thought you could. Taking a leap like that has the nasty side effect of bringing out more mental blocks and limiting beliefs then you can shake a stick at. I’ll just choose one of my personal favorites to talk about today. This is a belief that has blocked my way so many times that it feels like an old friend (or enemy.) It is the belief that “It is not safe to stand out.” It also ties very neatly with the belief that “It is not right to stand out.” Does this sound familiar to you? In our society we honor those that stand out, at least for good things, and hold them on a pedestal until they fall. Then it’s not pretty. Many of us remember experiences in school where we stood out as special and were quickly put in our place by teachers or peers. Most of us have been exposed to criticisms when we were in positions where we were noticed. Perhaps you heard from your parents or relatives that “The tall blade gets cut first” or ” Don’t get too big for your britches.” No wonder so many of us find ways to disappear and sabotage when our career or business requires us to stand out, speak out and be noticed.

If you can relate to these beliefs you are probably wondering what you can do about it. The first step is to realize that you have the beliefs and take a good look at them. Do they make sense for you now? If you stand out you probably WILL get criticized once in a while. Can you keep yourself safe? Do you have strategies in place so you can handle it? A tool I most often use to remove the power from my limiting beliefs is EFT. It is very simple to learn and extremely effective. Whatever you choose to do, take a good look at your beliefs and make sure they are working for you not against you. It is time to live large, contribute lavishly and enjoy life to its fullest.

Challenge:

1. Are you afraid to stand out? What do you think will happen?

2. How has that belief held you back?

3. When have you sabotaged your success?

4. What is the downside of changing your limiting belief?

5. What new belief will you choose to have?

Dance with Joy,

Leanna Fredrich
Life Coach
Leanna@AmazingMondays.com

PS: If you would like to learn how to use EFT please email me for more information. If you would like to work on beliefs that are sabotaging your ability to have work you love go to http://www.amazingmondays.com/products/tia-work.html.

This client is not alone. The old saying, “The devil you know is often better then the devil you don’t.” is an old saying for a reason. We are willing to put up with the job we know because we are afraid of change and how hard it might be. But what is hard? I think hard is getting up every morning and dragging out the door to a job I hate. Hard is having this hopeless feeling that I’ll be going to this job, spending precious hours of my life, at a place I dread being at. It is hard work showing up at a job that drains my energy and leaves me unable to really enjoy life even after I leave the workplace in the evening. Now THAT is what I consider hard!!

Pursuing a new career, one that interests and excites you can be a great adventure with loads of fun. Will it take some time and energy? Absolutely! Energy and work spent on something you love is a completely different feeling then spending energy on something you dislike. Think back to a time when you learned something new…something you wanted to learn. Maybe when you first learned to ride a bike. You got on the bike and everything felt wobbly and scary. There probably were a lot of falls that first day. But you kept practicing because you wanted to ride that bike! Pretty soon you could ride a little ways with out falling. What a feeling! Before long you were zipping around the neighborhood with the wind in your hair.

When you first begin to change your career or start that new business it is often overwhelming. Just like when you learned to ride a bike everything feels new and unsteady. There is so much to learn and accomplish. Take it easy on yourself and break your tasks into small steps. Take one step at a time and allow mistakes and learning to take place. All of this… mistakes, overwhelm, fear, comes with change and you will be alright.

Take those small steps, keeping your eyes on the goal and before you know it you will have the career or business you have always dreamed of. Oh, and guess what? You will look back and say, “Yes, it took some work but it was absolutely worth it!”

Leanna Fredrich helps people discover their passion and build a business or career around it. To contact her send an email to coach@leannafredrich.com

I hate to be the one to say it but the path to a passion-filled career is not always straight and full of sunshine. Many times it is crooked and full of pot-holes ie.. mistakes. In fact finding a career that is fulfilling and exciting requires a ton of mistakes so it is a good idea to get started!

Many people feel that they cannot trust themselves to make the right decision when it comes to their next career. The fact is that YOU are the only one you can trust to find a career that you are passionate about. Yes, you can work with a Coach and it will speed up the process but the Coach will be spending that time helping you find the answers inside. It is time to get back in touch with that wise person inside of you. The one who’s voice is all covered up with the stress and chaos of life. You can do this simply by taking quiet time each day, not to choose your career but to be quiet and listen to your breathing. Slow down your mind so that your wisdom and creativity will shine through. Then follow any ideas you might have. Take a step forward to explore a career or business you are interested in. Allow yourself to explore it as a young child explores things. Keep asking yourself… “Does this interest me?” If the first path you explore comes to a dead end don’t berate yourself just turn around and get the scent of a new trail. Have fun! Be curious! Let go of the idea that you have to have a clear plan right now.

When you are following your passion and listening to your heart you can be sure that you are heading the right way even if your career doesn’t end up looking like you expected. For example, Kathy thought she wanted to be an artist and sell her paintings around the world. She took steps to begin that career but along the way Kathy discovered that she loved helping people choose and place artwork in their home. Kathy is absolutely crazy about her new career even though it wasn’t what she set out to do. Remain open and curious.

If you find yourself holding to the belief that “I don’t trust myself to choose the right career or business consider a change. How would your life change if you truly believed that , “I will follow my heart and I know it will lead me to my passions and the career of my dreams?” And don’t forget to add this to your beliefs. “It is ok to make mistakes!” So as your Life Coach for the moment here is your fieldwork. Listen to your heart, begin exploring and along the way make a lot of mistakes!

Leanna Fredrich guides people to find their passions and then build a career or business around it. She helps them quickly and easily get over their fears and limiting beliefs so they can pursue the career of their dreams. Contact her at coach@leannafredrich.com

Where did these limiting beliefs come from? From just about everywhere- our society, friends, parents, teachers, TV. We, for whatever reason chose to believe these statements and make them true for us. When we choose a belief then we began looking around for support. The beliefs are in our subconscious and the job of our subconscious is to make us right. When we choose a belief like, “I could never make enough money in a career I loved” we quickly look around and see examples of others who have careers they love but very little cash. Over the years we gather more support for our belief until we firmly believe it is the TRUTH! The fact is if we had chosen the opposite belief, “I can make wonderful amounts of money in a career I love.” then we would have gathered support and examples to make that belief true for us and guess what? If we hold that belief then nothing would stop us from having a lucrative career we loved. You see we don’t get what we want we get what we believe we deserve. When we change our beliefs we absolutely change our life!

I can hear you saying, “Alright let’s get rid of these nasty beliefs! How do I do it?” The first step is to bring them into the light. Most of us go through life without looking at what is going on in our brains that is making life a struggle. So just getting those beliefs out of your head and onto a piece of paper is powerful. What are the beliefs that are stopping you? Take a minute to write down all the beliefs that may be stopping you from making an exciting career change. Write them down no matter how outrageous they are.

Take a look at your limiting beliefs. How have they cost you? Not just financially but emotionally, physically? Our limiting beliefs are there to supposedly keep us safe but instead they hurt us. They keep us from even trying for what we want most. They keep us from believing in our abilities to reach our dreams..

The next step is to read your beliefs over and ask yourself, “What beliefs do I need to have to support me in finding work I love?” Take a minute to write those beliefs down. Many times they are just the opposite of the limiting beliefs we have. For example, your limiting belief may be “I am too old to make a career change.” Your new supporting belief could be, “I have all the experience and energy I need to make a wonderful career change.”

Now that you have written down your new beliefs, read them over 2-3 times per day. At first when you read them they will feel like lies but stick with it. Soon you will begin to believe them. Also spend time daily looking for support for your new beliefs. You have years of examples to support your limiting beliefs so we need to build a foundation of support for your new ones. Look around for people that are doing what you wish to do. Find people either in person or in books and the media that have jobs and lives they love. Give the new beliefs as much support as you can every day!

You may have some beliefs that are so ingrained that they are quite difficult to get rid of. There are a couple tools I use in my Life Coaching which quickly remove limiting beliefs. One tool is called the “Emotional Freedom Technique” (EFT) and the other is Psych K. If you are interested, email me at coach@leannafredrich.com

Getting rid of limiting beliefs is the single most important step you can take for your career and your life. When you have beliefs that support you then nothing can stop you from finding the career of your dreams. You will move forward with ease and joy for it is those nasty beliefs that keep you struggling. Start today to replace them and then move forward towards your amazing career!

Leanna Fredrich helps people discover their passion and build a business or career around it. She specializes in helping people easily and quickly get over their fears and limiting beliefs so they can create their dreams.

“It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis.” Margaret Bonanno

Have you ever felt stuck? It is probably one of the worst feelings we can experience. I specialize in Coaching people to find passion-filled careers and so that is the area I see people stuck in most. Often they have done absolutely nothing for years and years to change a career they are unhappy with. They wonder around and around in their same deep rut . The fact is that we are never really stuck we just keep doing the same things over and over and so we FEEL stuck!

So how do you move out of that “stuck” place. Well, it is not glamorous, but the best way to start moving out of your nasty rut is to do the next indicated action. What I mean by that is to ask yourself, “What is one step I can take today to do something different about this problem?” It may be a small action step and most likely should be. Then do it! Don’t fall into the black hole of worrying that your action step is not the “right” one. It is more important that you are taking action NOT that it is the “right” action. Often that first action step is the most difficult to take but as you ask the question everyday and keep moving forward it will get easier and easier. Soon you will look back and realize that you are out of your awful rut and on to someplace wonderful and new.

Coaching Questions:

1. In what area of your life do you feel stuck?

2. What are you gaining by being stuck in this area? (We never stay anywhere for long if it isn’t serving us in some way.)

3. What is one step you can take today to do something (anything!) different about this stuck area?

4. Are you stopping yourself from taking action because you are afraid it will be the “wrong” action?

Make July the month for new beginnings and an end to an old rut!

Dance with Joy,

Leanna Fredrich
Success Coach
“When you are ready to go from burned out to fired up!”
http://www.passionfilledwork.com

If you are feeling numb and burned-out, your passion-filled work could hit you in the face and you wouldn’t notice it! In fact you would probably be unable to muster up enough interest to pursue it. Is this the place you find yourself? If it is, don’t give up! There is a simple way to get fired up and interested in life again.

The first step to finding your passion-filled life’s work is to stop thinking so much and reconnect with your heart. Most of us live in our heads–think, think, thinking. The problem is that passion is a feeling. Feeling comes from our heart not our heads. When you try to find your passion through just thinking about it, you’ll end up feeling stuck and frustrated.

So how do you reconnect with your heart and find your passion? The answer is to take extremely good care of yourself. Give yourself as much love, care and nurturing as you give others. Take a good look at how you treat yourself. My guess is that you would never treat your children, friends or even your coworkers as poorly as you treat yourself. Most of us work much harder and take far less time for fun then we encourage others to do. It is time to take extremely good care of yourself. You deserve it!

I have found the best way to do this is by making self-care a daily habit. What are some activities you love to do that feel nurturing? These can be simple things like having coffee in a beautiful mug that makes you happy every time you look at it, or turning on your favorite music as you get ready in the morning. These daily habits can be activities you already do but are not mindful of. For example you already take a shower, so why not turn that activity into a delicious, nurturing habit by using wonderful-smelling bath gel or lighting candles. You get the idea! So now, take out a piece of paper and list 6-10 “Daily Delicious Habits” that will make you feel pampered.

Are you done? If you are, take a minute to read them over. This is NOT a place to put your “shoulds”. You know those “shoulds” in your life… “I should eat better.” “I should exercise.” Anything you know you should do but you don’t want to do. The “Daily Delicious Habits” list is not a place for those. If you see any “shoulds” on your list take them off and add them to a different list. Each of these habits should be things you WANT to do.

After you have done your “Daily Delicious Habits” for a week, notice if there are any habits that you skip regularly. Are they “shoulds”? If they are then take them off the list and replace them with something you want to do. Another common reason for not completing an item on the list is that it is not convenient. I love to listen to music in the morning but if I did not have my favorite CDs upstairs in my room it would not get done. Make your habits convenient and easy to do.

As you make self-care a part of your life you will soon find that you are interested in more things and are more in tune with your desires. Keep asking yourself the question, “What do I like?” “What do I want?” It’ s not about being selfish. Instead it is about reconnecting to what is important to you, what you love and the unique gifts that you have to offer the world. Remember, by nurturing yourself you can’t help but give back to others. So give yourself a big hug and get started with those “Daily Delicious Habits!”

by Leanna Fredrich
Success Coach for Professional and Executive Women
Take the first step towards finding passion-filled work! Go to www.passionfilledwork.com and take the FREE “How to Discover Your Passion-filled Work” e class.

The first and most important step to finding your passion-filled life’s work is to take outrageously good care of yourself! When you feel numb and the only thing that gets you excited is a good long nap, your passion could plop in your lap and you wouldn’t even notice it! So start taking excellent care of yourself now. What are some nurturing activities you could do everyday? Enjoy!

2. Listen to Your Body

Do you know how your body says “No?” Many of us have been in jobs and had the unpleasant experience of our body saying “No!” We get sick often, have headaches, stomachaches, neck aches. All kinds of aches and pains! It is hard for our body to lie. That is why lie detectors work so well. So if you want the truth about what your passion listen to your body! Listen for it to say “Yes!” Watch for increased energy (fear is ok too!), excitement and joy.

3. Explore Your Passions

Passion is a feeling so notice them. What subjects, activities, magazines or topics interest you? Have fun with this! Make a list of what you are passionate about and watch for themes. Now, begin exploring your strongest passions.

4. Allow Yourself to Dream

As adults we often stop dreaming in favor of being “realistic.” The problem with this is that we loose track of what we REALLY desire. So start dreaming wildly and with abandon. Look at each area of your life and write down an ideal vision of what you truly want that area to be like.

5. Look for Dreams that Have been Following You

Do you have a dream that has been following you? Have you been saying things like, “I would love to start my own business.” “Someday I will turn this hobby into a career.” Pay close attention to those “clingy” dreams. Often finding your passion-filled work is as simple as looking behind you to see the dreams that are chasing you!

6. Expand Your Vision

Most of us have a small, safe vision for our lives. We are terrified to reach for something greater. Are we worth it? Can we do it? Absolutely! It is time to grow and expand that vision! Find out what gifts you give others. Decide what is really important for you to accomplish. Design the life you desire and take action. A vision comes alive only when we take action towards it!

7. Find Your Genius

All of us have strengths and talents. These are gifts we have had our whole life. We often overlook them because they come so easily to us. When we use and develop these strengths we are working on the “Genius Level.” Work on your weaknesses and you will be competent. But develop your unique gifts and you will be a genius!

8. Start Clearing Out Your Choking Beliefs

Often we are stopped from creating our desired life by “Choking Beliefs.” They literally choke the life out of our dreams! These beliefs come from past experiences, our parents, teachers or friends telling us we can’t or shouldn’t do something. It’s time to take a look at them and the price we pay for believing that way. Lose the Choking Beliefs! Choose supporting beliefs that breathe new life into your dreams!

9. Make a Plan

All the dreaming in the world will not change your life unless you take action. When you have an idea about what your passionate work would be, start taking the first steps. Make a plan that will help you explore that idea. It is amazing how many doors will start opening for you when you make a plan and take action!

10. Celebrate Your Successes

This is my favorite part–celebrating! Right from the beginning celebrate each small step on your journey to passion-filled work. Why? Well, first, because it is fun! Second, celebrating every success helps you stay focused on your successes and keeps you motivated to move forward.

Dance with Joy,

Leanna Fredrich
Success Coach for Professional and Executive Women
Take the first step to finding your passion-filled work by taking the FREE e class at http://www.passionfilledwork.com.