7 Little Rules

1. Ask for what you want.

2. Do what you love and love what you do.

3. Have the courage to “do it scared”.

4. If you don’t like it, fix it.

5. You’re not perfect, get used to it.

6. Dare to be yourself.

7.  Measure your success by your joy.

Quotables – Weekly Twitter Highlights

Get ready! Time to cross over. It’s the season to SHIFT from your current position to your destined position.

Your employees are your most trusted brand ambassadors by potential clients. ~Hinge  Marketing

3 things your prospects ask: Can this person solve my problem? Do they make my life easier? Do I LIKE them?

Be inspired and remember… Nothing is impossible!

Hear ye, hear ye: You are kind. You are smart. You are important! Repeat out loud as necessary.

If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of me. ~Dwight L. Moody

Live as if everything you do will eventually be known. Mostly because it will be…..

If at first you DO succeed, try not to look so astonished.

Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny,inner sparks of possibility into flames. ~Golda Meir

Becoming more generous is not an income issue, it is an attitude of the heart. ~Steve Gutzler

An average tool in the best hands will always produce better results than the best tool in average hands. ― Don Groves

Genius may be a thing of awe, but the better part of brilliance is common sense.

What would your life look like if you made $100,000 this year? $200,000?… What would change? Put it in writing.

“The more things change, the more you must depend upon those things that never change” ~ Rabbi Lapin

Anything worth doing is worth doing well.~ My dad

The forecast calls for miracles. I’m expectant.

I feel the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more ~ Jonas Salk

“You don’t need more time, you just need to decide” – Seth Godin

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

The best investment is in people. Diversify your people portfolio.”Jason Hoover

Epiphany is More Than Just a Season

Epiphany is more than a season. I want to live in such a way that Epiphanies are a way of life. Here’s how it’s defined:

e·piph·a·ny
noun, plural -nies.

a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something…

I share my weekly Twitter digest as 142 character digests of the “Aha moments”.
Cheers.

Wisdom collects interest; the earlier you start collecting it, the more it compounds.

The wicked flee when no one pursues,But the righteous are bold as a lion. Prov 28:1

If someone’s let the air out of your tires, no worries. I have a pump.

People might not believe everything you say, but they will believe everything you do.

I have a minstrel’s school on the mountain of business success. The view is awesome.

If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

“Stop trying to be someone else and define your expertise based on who you are and how you’re wired.”

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.~Cherokee Saying

Win from Within: A spirit of excellence is a beautiful thing. Give your best to all that you do and watch how it comes back to you.

If only we knew what was happening when we pray we would never cease to pray.

Everyone wants to do well on the stage, but how do you lead in your own living room!

Every dollar you earn is a certificate of appreciation from your clients.- Rabbi Lapin

You’re going to ruffle some feathers if you want to fly.

Learn to do common things uncommonly well.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.” ~Helen Keller

“There isn’t a ruler, yard stick or measuring tape in the entire world long enough to compute the strength and capabilities inside you.”

True Confessions

Is anyone out there happy and healthy? I think I’m really abnormal.
Because I am. Happy and healthy that is.

It seems some people are so surprised by this that I’m accused of not being authentic.
What’s a happy person to do? Take up cutting?

I’m not making this up… I was told today by a friend of many years that I’m not  really a friend because I’m not authentic.

Hello, my name is Beverly. I’m a recovering pleaser who has learned to say no  to having it your way. (Most of the time, unless it’s things that don’t matter  so much to me – then I’m rather flexible.)  I’ve learned to set boundaries and  pick my battles and articulate my feelings without stuffing them. If I don’t  reveal terrible secrets from my past, it’s because I don’t really have any.

You  might think it’s boring and unauthentic but I belong to a threatened species; the “normal” ones. (Shocking, I know.)

I have a confession but it’s no secret. I like to be right. And I’m considered outspoken. And stubborn. But I’m an insufferable optimist and walk around in a cloud of hope.

So what exactly about my happiness bothers you?

The Wild Ride Of Change

Are you one of those people that runs to grab the front seat on the roller coaster so you can maximize the thrill of the dips and climbs, the wind in your hair and the screams at your back? Me either. In fact, when I was a kid, I thought Mr. Toad had a wild ride.  I had no clue.

The level of change in most of our lives in the past decade has felt  like a roller coaster when I would have opted to go higher via a smooth and steady ride in a climate-controlled gondola.   Even if you have segments of time when you’re not experiencing dramatic peaks and valleys, don’t be lulled into thinking that’s the norm. The ride is far from over, so let’s consider how to make the most of it.

I cringe when I hear the term “embrace change” since change is more like a wild ride than something warm and comforting. The very nature of change is that it ushers in the unfamiliar and thrusts us out of our comfort zone.

It’s said that everything we ever wanted is just outside of our comfort zone. If that’s true, and I think it is, then it serves us well to harness the momentum instead of trying to wrestle things into their old places to maintain the status quo. I don’t think most leaders really want the status quo, which ultimately spells mediocrity, but shifting paradigms and long-held beliefs is an ongoing process. We can make the decision to shift, but walking it out takes daily course corrections. That’s where a compass comes in.

Mastering the art of navigating change successfully could very well become one of the most sought – after skills in the marketplace in the days ahead.

Our youngest daughter, who is in college, was planning a road trip recently and her dad asked if she had a map in her car. She looked at him in puzzlement and said, “dad, no one uses a map anymore. Maps are old-school!”.   A GPS recalculates if you miss a turn and shows where you are in relation to where you need to be. But a compass will work when the satellite can’t get a reading and can be counted on to keep you headed in the right direction, even if you’re not certain of exactly what road you’re on.

Besides having a navigational tool, cultivating an attitude of expectancy is key to a successful journey. Our attitude toward change has much to do with our personality type. I run full force into change with sword drawn, ready for action. One of my partners gets out the calculator, gathers information and ponders long and hard before taking action. Neither one of us have the correct approach. In fact, the ideal is to travel with a team that have all different perspectives that come with different personalities. The one with gutsy boldness and daring has to have someone to catch their tail and haul them back up when they step off the edge of a cliff in the fog.

Change is inevitable, survival is essential, but improvement is optional. Sometimes the whole process is exhausting. It comes in handy that we are more adaptable than we think. Agility is maintained by stretching and change is the way we stretch. You can resist it and it will come anyway. Might as well fasten your seat belt and learn to enjoy the ride.

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt.

Inspiration Digest

Spring is officially here and the world is Tweeting…. here’s last week’s highlights from @BeverlySpeaks. If you don’t “get” Twitter yet, send me an email and I’ll send you a white paper with free tips on how to Tweet for fun and profit (because the 2 should go together!)

Being the boss doesn’t mean you have to do all the talking or have all the answers. Your job is to surround yourself with people who do.

”Some people have greatness thrust upon them. Very few have excellence thrust upon them.” –John W. Gardner

You might think “get over yourself, it’s not about you.” I say, “Get on with yourself – you’re a world changer.”

Your gifts & talents are your treasure > pointing to your destiny.

If you think you have someone eating out of your hands, it is a good idea to count your fingers. -Nigerian Proverb

Be effective first, then strive to be efficient. ~Lawrence Serven

Make your life a masterpiece; join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk.” Tony Robbins

Entrepreneurs Mind Their Own Business.

If the wind is not blowing – row!

Give Yourself a Promotion

I’m spring cleaning my business – I bet yours needs it too. It’s more fun to do with someone else so let’s get to it.

P.S. I’ve been studying the pros and cons this week of using “real” clips on You Tube vs. going to a studio and having videos professionally shot.  The consensus seems to be that if you’re making a TV commercial, you really need to choose a studio. But the web crowd likes to “keep it real” and You Tube is definitely authentic.

So I chuckled when I realized the mistake I  made in this video AFTER I uploaded it to You Tube. See if you can find it.

A Bird’s View

I heard Spring’s first whippoorwill yesterday- a lovely sound. It makes me wonder if Twitter would have enjoyed the same success if it had been called Chatter.

May this week’s Twitter digest be Tweets to your soul:

Be careful of your thoughts, they may become words at any moment.

Eternity is too brief to probe the depths of God’s riches.

You will never forget what you will not forgive.

What you value you can access.

Always trust your dreams. They’ve chosen you, as much as you’ve chosen them.

Make adversity your ally.

“To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.  This is to have succeeded.” ~Emerson

“Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person we become.” ~Jim Rohn

For intention to bear fruit it needs to be clear, specific, and powerfully focused. ~ J Borysenko

Go where others are afraid to go, do what others are afraid to do, and you’ll have what others only wish for.

He sets my life to song, and gives my heart dancing shoes.

The highest gifting of all is to draw the gifts out of others and release them into a brilliance unimagined.

Life has no remote. You have to get up & change it yourself.

You are destined to be a part of a new breed of Great Awakeners!

Be a thermostat, not a thermometer. Either you control your attitude or it controls you.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.” Martin Luther King, Jr

A bunch of littles can make a BIG difference.

“To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” – Elbert Hubbard

The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every morning.

Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune. ~ Jim Rohn

Cherish your visions & your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.~Napoleon Hill

Don’t sweat the small stuff. It can ruin your makeup.

“Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action”.  ~ Walter Anderson

“If you wish to find, you must search. Rarely does a good idea interrupt you. – Jim Rohn

Everyday Epiphanies

Digest of my week in Tweets…

If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished!

Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention.~Jim Rohn

Hope is a waking dream. ~Aristotle

A man begins to die when he ceases to expect anything from Tomorrow.~ A. Miller

Pefectionism is fear in camo.~ Becky Harmon

Don’t believe everything you think. The brain can conjure up fear & drama. Some thoughts need to be evicted.

What statement do you want to make with your life today?

“Hope is alive. I have a compass so let’s chart some new territory today. The best is yet to come!” BL

“Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.”~Napoleon Hill

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common. ~Emerson

“Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t!” Margaret Thatcher

Each of my days are miracles. I won’t waste my day; I won’t throw away a miracle. ~Kelley Vicstrom

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see. C.S. Lewis

Am I Going in Circles, or What?

You can’t buy a ticket to success since it’s not a destination. If you could, it wouldn’t  be a one- way ticket and it wouldn’t be a direct flight. Have you ever had an itinerary that included multiple stops – even some that required you to deplane? And you complained! Well, forget the plane, we’re talking  bicycle today.

A cycle is something that rotates or moves in sequence and can be either a circular or spiral arrangement. Sometimes the motion is repetitive but there is a destination.  That defines the cycle of success and  it often leaves me frustrated.  There have been times when I’ve worked long and hard and have agonized over my lack of measurable progress.  I’ve chastised myself and wondered what lesson I had failed to master to allow me to proceed to the next level.

Webster’s Dictionary gives several definitions of cycle including this one: “a series of narratives dealing typically with the exploits of a legendary hero.”  

In the story of your life, you are the hero. And you know that no heroic story is complete without obstacles, setbacks and harrowing times when you wonder if you’re even going to make it.

The progress toward our goals and the fulfillment of our dreams is never a smooth, easy journey. It’s a cycle of ups and downs . Days of great victories are punctuated by heart-breaking disappointments sandwiched between days that can seem monotonous. You not only wonder if you’re ever going to arrive, you question whether you’re even on the right road.

All of us are trailblazers when it comes to our dreams. And the trail up the mountain is not straight up. (Unless you’re an extreme sport kind of rock climber. And they have an unacceptably high mortality rate.) The ascent up the mountain of your dreams is most often  accomplished by traveling in a gradually ascending spiral or on switch-backs.

Both paths will cause you to feel like you aren’t making progress if you look at just one course of the journey. Success is a cycle.  Embrace the process and savor the journey. You will pass never pass this way again.