FIVE Signs That Say you are NOT Business Savvy

Do you own or lead a business? If so, you will need to do a lot of background work before you can be successful in your professional venture. The very first diagnostic activity is whether you have good leadership skills. Here are five signs that say you should NOT be a business owner – do you recognize any of these as describing you?

1.    Non-existent communication skills – when you run a business you need to know how to communicate effectively. This is the first and the last of not just good but great leadership skills. You need to be a people’s person. If you are a grouch by nature, an introvert, it is very doubtful that you would be able to develop a successful network or a worthy customer base.

2.    You cannot decide – a good businessperson can and is often required to take split-second decisions; hard decisions. Are you good with taking decisions? This is a very important trait among leadership skills without which your business will definitely flounder and fail. If you are an indecisive person, forget about being a business owner.

3.    You are an ‘I, me, myself’ type of person – leadership skills are a must if you want to run a business successfully; and not into the ground. For this you need to have a basic humility about yourself so your employees would feel motivated to work; which in turn, would attract more business. If you are an egotistic maniac, you will not last too long in this field.

4.    You cannot face unpleasantness – possessing good leadership skills does not mean that the path to success is all milk and roses. As the head of your business, your employees and customers would often create unpleasant situations that require confrontations and arguments. Are you afraid of unpleasantness or confrontations? If yes, business is not your cup of tea.

5.    You are not ready to work hard – leadership skills do not come by wishing for it; neither does success. It takes hard work, great efforts and a lot of time. Do not, for one single moment, think that because you are the owner and head of your business you can cut yourself slack. On the contrary, as the head and leader you would often be required to put in double the efforts of others. You need to be disciplined about your business, which in turn will motivate your employees to give their best. If the leader is lazy, the employees will follow suit. The result would be a disaster for your business.

No one is born with any of these leadership skills. The good news is that anyone can acquire these skills. It is never too late to seek help and set yourself up for success.

Decisions and Motivation

Everyone makes decisions differently and is motivated or driven by different things. Being aware of and understanding these differences are really important when managing employees or creating relationships.

Over fifty years of scientific research has revealed that there are three distinct styles of decision-making. Each of us can make decisions in all three ways, but we tend to develop a preference for one more than the other two. This preference becomes a subconscious force, affecting the decisions we make on a daily basis and shaping how we perceive the world around us and ourselves. The three decisional styles are personal, practical, and analytical.

To some extent everyone is capable of making all three kinds of decisions, but we ultimately have a preference. Here is a simple example of the three in contrast with each other. A person with each style is sitting around a table working on a project together. While the Personal style is focused on the needs of the team members involved and how to best use their talents, the Practical style doesn’t really care as much about the team or if it is done right, he just wants to get it done. Finally the Analytical sees no reason to worry about the people involved or even getting it done if it isn’t going to be done correctly.

We all have different balances of these three styles. That is what makes our decisions and actions different from others. These ways of making decisions and how we use them are at the core of whom we are.

In addition to there being three distinct styles of decision making, people are also motivated to make decisions based on different drivers. Based on the research of Dr. Eduard Spranger and later by Dr. Gordon Allport, there are seven key motivational drivers and they include the following:

§ The motivation to achieve balance, harmony, and find form or beauty

§ The motivation for security from economic gain and to achieve practical returns

§ The motivation to be seen as unique, independent, and stand apart from the crowd

§ The motivation to have influence and control over one’s environment or success

§ The motivation to benefit others in a humanitarian sense

§ The motivation to establish order, routine, and structure

§ The motivation to gain knowledge or discover truth

Imagine how beneficial it would be to know how your team members make decisions and why they are motivated to do what they do. Imagine being able to share that knowledge with the actual team members. Communication, teamwork, and your ability to manage would instantly improve. Results and outcomes would measurably improve. Uncovering how people make decisions and what drives them to do what they do can be uncovered through a simple assessment process. However, the assessment process is only the beginning. A commitment by management to create an action plan on how to effectively use the knowledge to improve team building is a critical second step. Information for information’s sake is—you got it—just information. An action plan to manage with the new information will provide long-term and sustainable results for your team.

Paralysis by Action

We've all heard it or seen it. The analyzer that needs to run just one more test, develop one more contingency plan before doing anything.  They get so mired in the details that they hesitate to take action.

What about Paralysis through Action? Seems impossible, right? If I'm doing, how can I be paralyzed?

I was talking to an entrepreneur about his decision-making style and it was clear that he was highly practical. The highly extrinsic, or practical, is always concerned with doing. They might just ship a bunch of material to a jobsite and begin working on a house without even a set of blueprints. This entrepreneur owns four businesses - one of them in India - and is constantly involved in his teams' projects and tasks. He's doing a lot, so he should be highly successful. But is he?

Yes, he makes money. Yes, he has four businesses that are productive. Through our discussion, he realized that while he knew he was moving fast down the highway, he really didn't have a clear picture of where he wanted to go. He likened it to going to Rockford from Chicago and taking side trips to Schaumburg, Naperville, De Kalb, etc. He might NEVER get to Rockford!

This is what I mean by "Paralysis by Action."

What do you think? Do you think it can really happen? Any examples?  I'd love to hear them.

Is Analysis Paralysis Stopping You From Taking Action?

Analysis Paralysis is where you can’t make any forward progress because you bog yourself down in details, tweaking, brainstorming, research, and… anything but just getting on with it. Sound familiar?

It’s something I struggled with. Partly out of fear of failure, partly because I love the idea-generation phase of projects, mostly because I am an analysis geek on occasion.

There is hope though, even for chronic cases.

It’s not actually about setting your sights low, or dropping your personal standards. What you have to do is identify those things you have to get right from the get-go, those items that do need analysis, and what can be fixed later.

While it is perfectly natural to want to spend time thinking about a project, especially one with an element of risk, there comes a point where any more thinking is counter-productive and you need to start making some progress.

1.     What do you absolutely have to do for the project to be a success?

2.     What tasks can absolutely not be put off while later?

3.     What are the most painful items to change post launch?

4.     What could realistically go wrong?

With procrastination it always comes down to just doing it but discovering the reasons why you aren’t (other than being a lazy geek making excuses!) can be very helpful in getting your sorry behind working. Analysis Paralysis often comes from learned behavior over several years. Either it has proven beneficial, so you do a little more thinking and planning each time, or not enough planning has caused problems so each occasion you get a little more cautious.

It never fails to surprise me how different the world seems when my analysis faces reality. We all get some things right while other things seem to come from outer-space and no amount of thinking would have predicted it. Thinking on your feet is often as important as any amount of analysis.

7 Tips to Help Overcome Analysis Paralysis

1.     Plan

You still need a plan no matter what, but this time round, over planning is not allowed. Think of what are the things that you need to know before you start and get a grasp of it. Brain storm for what would be the most painful thing to change and get more information and make a wiser decision. Be sure to know, what are the things that could possibly go wrong and try to prevent them. Be proactive rather than reactive.

2.     Set a Deadline for Your Planning Session

Allocate a deadline for your planning session and be strict with yourself and only spend that certain amount of time for planning. When we have a specific time slot for planning, we will have a lesser tendency to over plan.

3.     Just Start

When you finished your planning session, stop asking yourself “what if” questions. Just start doing it and learn everything that you do not know along the way.

4.     Forgo Perfection

I know there is a Mr (or Ms) Perfection inside you and you want to get everything perfect on the get go but it is highly not possible that everything will turn out the way you want to be in the first place. Just forget about perfection and start taking action.

5.     Momentum

Once you start your project, do not stop and think too much again. Just have a list of to-do items, regardless whether it is big or small and keep on completing the task.

6.     Learn To Make Decision

This is an important skill that can help to overcome analysis paralysis. By knowing how to make a faster and wiser decision, we can take action faster and get more things done. Practice your decision making skills by setting a 5 seconds rule to make your daily decision. (Ex: What beverage am I going to have? Coke or lemon tea.)

7.     Find an Action Taker

Find someone who is able to take action easily. Whenever you are stuck with analysis paralysis, find them and talk to them about your problem. Most likely you will get a positive reply and get the momentum you need to get going.

 

Parting Words

These tips worked fine for me in helping me to take action and also to achieve results. Analysis without action does not help you to have any kind of positive results. Now, you have the tips to help you overcome analysis paralysis, why don’t you go start something that will help to enhance your life today?

Finally, Stop thinking about it and start doing something.

Dangers in using Fear to Motivate People

When you present a “burning platform” story to spur your people into action, there are inherent risks. People may jump into action, but will it be the right action? Will it be purposeful?

Most of the big problems we encounter in businesses and/or society are ambiguous and evolving. They don’t look like burning-platform situations. Yet, we still want people to buckle down and execute a hard, well-defined game plan.

Yoda was right. Fear creates anxiety and anger. And this leads to frenetic activity that is more distracting than useful.

When people are driven to act by fear rather than desire – the action isn’t motivated by any personal determination to move in a direction to win. It’s not action designed to create real results for long term success. It’s simply action, frenetic action, designed to diminish the fear and anxiety.

There is no question that negative emotions are motivating. But they are also constricting. They narrow our focus. Fear will get us to take fast specific action designed to reduce the feelings of fear and anxiety.

Negative emotions will help us avoid risks and confront problems. But the quest to take your business to the next level, that is, to execute a brilliant strategy, design quality customer experiences, and to improve team performance and the bottom line… well, that requires more than avoiding risks and problem solving.

These situations require creativity and flexibility and ingenuity. A burning platform won’t get you there. Negative emotions have a narrowing effect on our thoughts. We become focused on getting the stone out of our shoe, so to speak.

Positive feelings, on the other hand, broaden and build our repertoire of responses to a situation. Joy, for example, makes us want to play with new ideas and possibilities. We want to explore new ways of doing things, experiment and explore. In this way, we require positive emotions to fuel our creativity and curiosity.

What are you doing in your life/business to use positive emotions to inspire change?

The next time someone suggests lighting a fire under your people’s feet, consider these differences. Fear and negativity will, indeed, spark people into action. But only for specific action, and not necessarily purposefully directed.

An atmosphere of positivity, on the other hand, will give people the enthusiasm to create new solutions to broaden and build resources for innovation.

To solve bigger more ambiguous problems, those we are currently facing every day, we need to encourage open minds, creativity and hope.

Effective Executive and the Listening Skills

Peter Drucker is a highly regarded consultant and prolific writer in the sphere of management and leadership. His classic 1966 work, The Effective Executive, emphasizes the importance of focusing the executive's work load to avoid "wasting time" on non-essential matters.

Drucker's basic model for an effective executive can be summarized as follows:

• one, executives must carefully choose how to spend, and not to spend, their time;
• two, executives must consciously choose what they want to contribute to the organization and ask their subordinates to make such a choice also;
• three, executives must choose people to perform tasks based on their individual strengths and the fit between strengths and tasks - people should not be chosen for whether or not they lack weaknesses; 
• four, executives must deliberately choose long-term business priorities; and 
• five, executives must choose from among all of the alternative opinions offered within their organization.

Drucker's five-part effectiveness model depends heavily on listening ability, particularly steps one, two, and five.


Drucker's step one, choosing how to spend and not to spend time, requires aggressive delegation in order to avoid spending time on peripheral matters. Although he doesn't say it in as many words, it's implicit that his vision of delegation relies on a coaching management style - essentially, periodic listening as subordinates describe their planning and progress - because a direct-control style of management would negate the executive's decision not to spend time on delegated projects.

In step two of Drucker's model, executives ask both themselves and their subordinates what they contribute now to the organization and what they could contribute in the future. According to him, regardless of whether an individual's view of what they now contribute, or could contribute, matches their manager's view, bringing out and stressing the importance of everyone's role as a contributor is essential to the organization's overall effectiveness. (The same general principle is embodied by Covey's and Goleman’s emphasis on self-awareness, as in listening to one's self, and being aware of others, as in listening to subordinates.)

In step five, Drucker emphasizes the importance to the executive of actively seeking competing opinions and inquiring about the basis for those opinions before choosing a course of action, rather than acting on the basis of pre-arranged or tacit consensus. Of necessity, this requires consistently listening with genuine curiosity in order to encourage development of diverse opinions and supporting rationales, rather than simply setting forth proposals and working to build consensus around them.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you follow Drucker’s model in your business?

Grateful for what you already have

Gratefulness is the lifeblood of soul consciousness and the only antidote for the self-inflicted poison of self pity, resentment and unworthiness. Life is meant to be celebrated ~ and it is when we become grateful for what we already do have versus resentful for what we don't have.

These are difficult times in the world and it's impossible at times to see the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of the worldwide economic depression, the gulf oil disaster and the violent shootings in Arizona and elsewhere. It's easy to get out of the moment and into the future in terms of impending personal financial doom or worldwide doom for that matter.

Fear can obliterate all hope and reason ~ and love and gratitude can be easily smothered in the process under a blanket of unworthiness, resentment and self pity.

That's why Gratitude is so important, as it brings us back to what is essentially important ~ ourselves, our loved ones and our unique worthiness as human beings ~ because the people we are most grateful to are usually people who have loved us.

When we start celebrating these gifts from a place of true gratitude ~ we begin to transcend fear and, as such, open the door to new possibilities and direction. We are then no longer paralyzed by self pity, resentment and unworthiness and are open to the guiding light at the end of the tunnel ~ love, joy.

Please join me on Monday Jan 31, 2011 for a Roundtable discussion on the power of gratitude with other like minded individuals.

Now enjoy this short video clip on The Power of Gratitude

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jF6u4GJQ-U

Happy New You in 2011

Life is a blackboard upon which we consciously or unconsciously write those messages which govern us. We hold the chalk and the eraser in our hand but are ignorant of this fact. What we now experience we need not continue to experience but the hand which holds the erasure must do its neutralizing work. ~ Ernest Holmes

 

As you enter into the New Year, I invite you to ask yourself this question: What’s new about me in 2011? If you are like many people you may look in the mirror and say… “There is nothing new that I can see; same old face… same old hands…same old body...same old aches and pains…same old relationships…same old job. Essentially, I see the same old me.”

I propose it doesn’t have to be that way because change is always constant - we just aren’t aware of it. Even down to the molecular level, change is continually happening. However, if the belief system that creates the template into which life’s energy flows is the “same old” mold as it was last year, life has no alternative but to give us a replay of last year. This is true at the level of the physical body as well as the body of our emotions and relationships. Life is energy seeking a place to happen. You are the conduit through which it happens. Energy is not choosing “how” it manifests in your life - you make that choice. I believe that’s what Holmes was saying - we hold the power to change our future by understanding that while we can’t change the past; we can choose not to recreate it by dragging it into the future. Recently, I heard someone saying aloud, “The future isn’t what it used to be.” The reality is the future will exactly be how it used to be until we learn to consciously pick up the eraser and the chalk.

We have the ability to inscribe something new on the blackboard of life in 2011. Metaphorically, we hold the chalk and the eraser because we have freewill and the ability to choose again. Sadly, however, most people are unaware of the amazing creative power they wield when they couple their intentional thoughts and deepest beliefs with a universal law that says, “It’s done unto you as you believe.” This is why I don’t play the New Year resolution game because it’s dealing in willpower, which is working at the level of effect (from the outside-in) rather than cause (from the inside-out). Essentially, willpower won’t sustain us for the long haul because it’s being held in place only by the conscious mind and that part of the mind tends to get distracted, bored, tired and restless, and then it’s off in some other direction which is generally counterproductive to our deepest desires. We have to go beyond the conscious mind and work at the level of our most deeply held beliefs about the way things “are” and the way they can be.

So, where do we start? How do we embrace what it means to be able to redesign 2011 by inscribing something new and improved on the blackboard of life? We have to be willing to go where we have not gone before, to move beyond the old mindset. What better time than right now? While this exercise could be done on a computer, I recommend doing it with paper and pencil to provide a more visceral/tactile experience. Using a pencil with an eraser, draw a vertical line down the middle of a piece of paper. On the left side of the paper write down the experiences you have had in the past year that you would like not to recreate again in 2011. On the right side of the paper, adjacent to each of those statements, write down what you would like to see as your reality in the next twelve months. Each time you write down a new awareness in the right column, erase one in the left column you wish to release. With each erasure feel the “lightness of being” that comes with the knowing you don’t have to recreate the same experience next year. Spend as much time as possible lightly holding the new view of your life and try to embody the feelings you will have when you arrive at that vision. For now don’t concern yourself with how this will happen. Once you are clear on the what, the universe will guide you in the actions required to manifest the how. Realize that in this process you have just taken hold of the chalk and the eraser. You hold the power.

Happy New You!

Why is Self Awareness important?

Knowing yourself is essential if you want to change your life for the better. Know what you are good at, and where you need to improve on. With Self Awareness, it will be easy for you to seek a career in which you can excel in; you can enrich your life because you know in which direction you should go to; you will know what you want, and because of this awareness, you will be a happier person, living the life you want for yourself and living your values and realizing your dreams.

If you want to change your life in any way, you need to know yourself before you can act. You need to know what you need to do to head in the right direction and you can't do that until you know yourself.


Becoming self aware does not mean being selfish though. There is a huge difference between being self aware and being selfish. Selfishness is all about thinking only of yourself and being greedy, while Self-awareness is positive because by developing and knowing yourself, you can give more of yourself to other people, which will result in establishing stronger relationships, and at the same time, building your confidence and self esteem.


Self-awareness is important because when we have a better understanding of ourselves, we are empowered to make changes and to build on our areas of strength as well as identify areas where we would like to make improvements. Self-awareness is often a first step to goal setting.

Why is Increasing Your Self-awareness & Living Authentically Difficult?

 

Increasing your Self-awareness is about living authentically and overcoming your fears. As a child, you may have been encouraged to conform or face the consequences! Most people conform... and lose themselves in the process.

Increasing your Self-awareness is a journey full of failures and successes. Finding your identity is a process with no real end point. That is, you'll never be "done" because you're always growing and changing - and so are the people around you.

Authentic living and Self-awareness is about expressing honest thoughts, feelings, and opinions without condemning or judging others - and it's difficult! Overcoming fear is key.

You may have been hurt. You may have been betrayed, terrified, and even abused. Assaults are difficult to survive when they are committed by strangers - but when people who are supposed to love you, hurt you, it's even harder to bounce back. Living authentically and finding your identity involves dealing with your past and forgiving others.

You may have hurt others. You may have betrayed friends, partners, and family; maybe you have even terrified and abused them. Everyone has hurt other people, to different degrees. These cycles of pain and destruction make it difficult to open up and trust again. Increasing your Self-awareness is about facing your mistakes.

You watch the media and see images of perfection, which doesn't encourage you to live authentically, with all your imperfections! The gorgeous models, rock singers and movie stars look flawless. Increasing your Self-awareness means knowing these images of perfection are impossible to live up to. Finding your identity means letting the quest for perfection go. Authentic living isn't about being perfect.

Have you let go of expectations of your parents, family, supervisors, professors, or mentors? Most likely, you haven’t. As a child, you were encouraged to color between the lines, fit in, and be "a big boy/girl" - but you are not always encouraged to overcome your fears and live authentically. Now, as you become an adult you are expected to be politically correct, mature, and responsible. Finding your identity means letting go of others' expectations.

Increasing your Self-awareness and living authentically is a lifelong journey of self-discovery.

Questions to Ponder When You are Increasing Your Self-Awareness:

·        What makes your heart leap or your soul resonate?

·        When do you feel most happy and relaxed? Finding your identity is knowing what makes you, "YOU."

·        What is the first thought or feeling that pops into your head when you encounter a song, person, memory, or experience? Finding your identity involves being Self-aware.

Living Authentically Involves Negative Feelings

·        When – and with whom – do you feel depressed, sad, or drained? Finding your identity involves avoiding those situations.

·        When do you feel physically ill or unhealthy? Authentic living means figuring that out, and avoiding those situations.

·        What meetings, visits, or events do you find yourself dragging yourself to? Increasing your Self-awareness is about limiting or eliminating those circumstances.

Increasing your Self-awareness and living authentically takes time, practice, and patience - but the rewards are well worth it!

How do I become more Self Aware? 

In order to develop Self-awareness, you have to look deep inside yourself and ask some critical questions... 

"What do I believe in?" 

"What is important to me?" 

"What do I love and/or enjoy?" 

"What are my strengths/weaknesses?" 

"What do I want to achieve in my life?" 

The answers to these questions will not come easy. To develop Self-awareness, you must reflect on and digest the real meaning behind each question. Don't just look at the surface. When you are sincerely involved with each question, and tune into how the answers can truly shape the course of your life - as basic as they may seem - you will tap into what makes you who you really are and learn what you are capable of growing into. But these questions are just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more we can all learn and appreciate about ourselves. 

Why is Self-Awareness the 1st Step in Having a Meaningful Life? 

Self-awareness is critical in how you view the world and its opportunities. The quality of the life you lead is determined almost entirely by your perspective. We consciously and unconsciously judge every experience we have against our perception of what is right, what is wrong, what is good, what is bad, etc. Even though this isn't a bad thing, sometimes it can make us all too critical of ourselves and our lives. 

Perspective is everything. It is how you analyze and judge every part of your life - past, present, and future. Your perspective helps you make sound decisions based on how you see and compare different things. For example: Some of us will never know the thrill of skydiving, because from one perspective, it is far too dangerous. For others, though, it is no more dangerous than, say, driving a vehicle. And so, the thrill makes the experience more than worth the risk for these individuals. Granted, this example is a mere difference in personal preference, but you can see my point - perspective dictates our choices! 

Your perspective can also cause you to judge conditions of your life and experiences too harshly. For example: Let's say you only define success in terms of money, houses, and cars. As such, if you don't currently make $100,000 a year, live in a mansion, and drive a Mercedes, you will consider yourself to be unsuccessful. 

"I'm just not good enough!" 

"Why can't I be like... ” 

"I can't do anything right!" 

"I'm just worthless." 

"You can't get anywhere in this world!" 

Perspectives such as these cause us to be overly critical of ourselves. As a result we begin to live our lives in comparison to everyone and everything else. With this frame of mind, we often tell ourselves, "I should have done this... I could have done that... If only I had this... If only I did that... " This is where life loses its meaning- we live each day of our lives trying to "catch up" to where we think we should be. And consequently, we are never happy with where we are. 

So how do we correct this? The answer is to look at our lives from the perspective of progress and potential. Recognize the progress you have already made in your life, and recognize the potential you have to be and do even more.

Are you a good mother?

Congratulations! Now, excel at it and teach others.

Are you a good writer?

Wonderful! Excel at it and enlighten others.

Are you a good mechanic?

Awesome! Excel at it and help others.

These are the things we need to recognize in ourselves and use to enhance our lives and the lives of others. This comes with Self-awareness.

How do I change my perspective? 

To change your perspective, you have to know and understand where your perspective comes from. How did you develop the opinions you have about yourself and about the world? What makes you feel the way you do about this and that? Who or what do you often compare yourself to? Is there another way you can look at your situation? What could you be missing? Are you keeping an open mind? Are you looking for the positive or just focusing on the negative? What are the pros and cons of the life you lead, right now? 

Realize you can't be happy with life if you're not happy with yourself. How can you know where you truly need to be, when you don't even know who you really are? Know who YOU are, and know what YOU are capable of, and dedicate your life to doing THAT. Don't put yourself down because you're not like someone else. You were never meant to be someone else - ONLY YOU! An incredible, confident, unique and powerful YOU! 

Just think about it... 

What skills have you learned? 

What talents/abilities do you have? 

What do you enjoy? 

What could you teach others? 

What would you enjoy doing for others? 

We can no longer live our lives by comparison. We must be willing to look at ourselves individually, to develop the best of who WE are. That is the secret. It's okay to look around you and be motivated to do and achieve greater things. That's part of how we learn what we, as humans, are capable of and subsequently gain the courage to expect more of ourselves. 

At some point, however, you have to stop working to be like everyone else you admire and begin to admire YOURSELF. That is GROWTH. That is PROGRESS. That is the root of happiness. That is what we call Self Actualization. 

This "knowledge of self" gives you the POWER TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE! With it, you can choose to harness the traits you value most in yourself, and gain a greater sense of self-acceptance, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction in what you do. You can also choose to recognize those traits within yourself that are contrary to what you value, and make a conscious choice to improve on them. 

The goal of Self-awareness is to help you recognize the person you are, so you can lead yourself in the direction of positive change. Help yourself become the best you can be, and find joy in each and every step you take in that direction. Your perception of yourself will begin to change, as will your perception of your life and life as a whole. This is the beginning of finding true meaning in life.

Now, I know how this may sound initially, but once you begin to understand why it is that the majority experience continual stress, anxiety, fears, and limited outcomes in their lives, perhaps it will give you the initiative to try something different than what you have been.

It's not difficult but it will transform your entire life IF you'll allow it to. Developing Self-awareness will enable and empower you to become a conscious and purposeful creator of the events, conditions and circumstances that make up your life unlike the majority who believe themselves to be victims or creatures of circumstance.

Whether or not you realize it at this point, the results that you experience in your life every minute of each and every day are based totally on your predominant thought processes, the pre-established beliefs you hold, as well as the emotions experienced as a result of them and what you have come to understand and "perceive" as truth. It is absolute that your life can only become as fulfilled or produce effects consciously and purposefully based on the level of Self-awareness or the lack of, that you possess.

While in many cases this can prove to be a very positive and rewarding truth, it can also, depending on what you have been previously taught to be true with regard to who and what you are, severely limit your abilities to enjoy and experience all of the limitless blessings, an "Infinite Supply" in fact, that life has to offer.

The depth of Self-awareness that we are discussing goes far beyond what most perceive themselves to be which is a physical body existing in a physical world. We are digging deeper than just the physical you and discovering the "true" essence of you that is the ultimate cause for what shows up in the way of events, conditions and circumstances in your life.

While the physical aspects of you are obviously an important and necessary part of the "Real You" that is only a very small part. Whether you currently realize it or not there is another aspect of you that will enable the physical you to experience far greater outcomes in the physical world once you acquire the Self-awareness that will enable you to recognize and utilize it.

You'll soon discover that the you that you "perceive", which is strictly physical in nature is very limited and subject to external events, conditions and circumstances in life limited by physical capability without recognizing and becoming aware of your "True" essence. A "True" sense and understanding of Self-awareness will reveal that you are in reality an "Infinite Being" with Infinite Potential existing in an Infinite Universe.

Self-awareness isn't always easy to achieve--it takes some real commitment to look at parts of yourself that you may not want to see--but the effort is well worth it in terms of opportunities for personal growth and happiness. 

These capabilities are difficult to develop and even more difficult to optimize.  We all know of people who have difficulty recognizing their emotions, the triggers that cause them to respond emotionally, or who are handicapped by their emotions.  Likewise, we know people who are misinformed or even “oblivious” about their abilities and limitations.  They seem to avoid or ignore feedback and have little interest in improving.  We also know people who are delusional in regard to a lack or over abundance of confidence.

Having understood the meaning and the importance of Self-awareness, we will start discussing in the next few weeks, how we can utilize these concepts in balancing our Life Wheel.

In the meantime, I welcome you to share your Self-awareness story on this blog and I promise to read your story.