Stop Thinking so much and JUST DO IT

Good Morning,

Happy Monday…yes, it’s Monday, yet again.  Like so many others, I really didn’t want Monday, but perhaps another Sunday? Another day to relax and recharge, to slow down and contemplate, to rest and reassure myself that I am on the right path.  Have you ever felt like that?  Ever feel like you just need a little more time to stop the madness of day to day activity, to relish the calm, slower pace and regroup?  Yet, the calendar flips over and there stands Monday staring you in the face.  I sincerely struggled with Monday,today.  As I rolled into this day, full of deadlines and commitments, I began to realize how powerful Mondays are though.  Without even realizing it, we have the potential to begin a fresh week and orchestrate it the direction we want it to go.  Instead of moaning and complaining, dragging myself by my ears, I could actually turn this whole train of thought around.  I chose to make this week meaningful, chock-full of joyfully tending to each thing on my “to do” list.  I chose to stop “thinking” so much and actually DO the things I desire to do. Seriously, this is liberating.  When I allow myself to wallow in the feelings of “overwhelmedness ” or become “duty” minded, it really takes the joy and the freedom from me.  Whereas, when I begin to tweak my thoughts and make them align to my purpose and desire, immediately there is a shift deep inside of me!  Instead of dreading the day, I begin to work tirelessly on my tasks at hand.  Creativity is freed and my mind opens to the immense possibilities of what I can accomplish in this day, this week.

I have a very active mind.  I have gazillions of ideas and thoughts swimming through my head on a daily basis.  Sometimes, it becomes overwhelming because I just have so much I want to do.  Time and resources may limit my actions. Yet I find that if I sort through the list of ideas and begin to focus on a direction, I am able to set a plan of action and fulfill the desired outcome.  The problem lies in the focus and direction.  Often times, it is helpful to list out all the ideas and tasks you wish to accomplish, and begin to group them into action plans.  Time management can be your best friend.  If you just “think and think” and never apply an action plan, you end up in a state of becoming overwrought.  Make your lists, set your action plan and focus until you complete the task.  There is so much to gain by doing this.  You begin to have a list of some of your most creative ideas and you also begin to actually complete them, giving you a sense of accomplishment rather than defeat.  You will be able to stroke things off your list as you finish the task, filling you with a greater sense of pride on how much you have produced.

I don’t know why we sometimes “fight” the systems that are effective. I guess it’s human nature to sometimes drag your feet in the process. Today, although the weather is getting cold here in Ontario, strengthen yourself and make an action plan. Begin to work toward finishing a task and move forward creating the lifestyle you deserve to have.  I encourage you, today, to turn your day around. Grant yourself permission to rise above the negativity that floats through your mind.  Become intentional with your time and your life. This life is your expression; don’t waste anymore precious time floundering around.Stop thinking so much and just DO IT!

The Battle of the Sheets

Happy Monday,

Yes, Monday..that day of the week that can be so difficult. This morning particularly I did NOT want to get up.  The beginning of Fall I find difficult because it’s still dark out in the early hours of the morning and it gets dark earlier in the evening.  I really miss the sunlight.  I have to be honest, it’s so much easier getting up when it’s bright and sunny.  Today on the other hand, is dark, overcast and rainy. A mixture of the worse combination of weather, for a Monday morning. So i had a what I call “the battle of the sheets.”  You know how that is, when you want so desperately to stay in bed and sleep “just a bit longer.”  It was a struggle, a massive struggle this morning!  I am here to tell you, I won!  I forced myself out of the comfort cocoon of warmth and set my feet on the floor.  Once I took charge of myself and set my feet on the floor, something transpired inside of me.  I felt the victory; I realized I had won.  My mind began to fill up with words, things to say, and messages to write.

I began to understand how this small triumph really is part of a much bigger picture.  Okay, so I sleep in a little bit, no harm done…but what about the time I would rather surf the net than write an article, or the time I would rather stay at home instead of going to businesses to promote my business, or the time I would rather get “take out” because I am too lazy to cook a well balanced meal?  Can you understand the concept here?  All of our little actions begin to be part of our larger actions.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying we can never sleep in  or grab “take out” occasionally, what I am expressing is that we need to practice habits that build good qualities inside of us.  When we begin to let our desires overpower us and control our actions, we are practicing poor management skills. What you don’t master begins to master you! Small, seemingly benign, actions grow into large monsters if we aren’t careful.

Today, was a powerful example to me.  If I had just turned over and said, oh well, I don’t feel like getting up; I would have missed this revelation of the importance of controlling myself and enforcing healthy behavior patterns.  My mind is alert, pregnant with possibility this morning.  I feel as though a river of inspiration is running through my brain.  This doesn’t happen everyday (unfortunately) and to think I would have missed the opportunity to experience this if I let my desire to stay in my cozy bed overtake me.

We all have missed opportunities.  We all slack at times.  Personally, I am going to begin to use the term “battle of the sheets” as a guideline to monitor those times I allow myself to become complacent.  I will acknowledge, this is a “battle of the sheets”  who is going to win?  I know that I will begin to be even more productive by seeing that I have a choice.  I can allow the “sheets” to keep me wrapped up, OR I can put my feet on the floor and carry on in strength and victory. I want to be the winner!

Today, let’s be motivated to be the very best we can be!  Let’s master our desires and impulses. As we do, we will be in such a better place to receive the rewards of our harvest.

Have a tremendous Monday!

Charlene

Super Charged Monday…yes I know it’s raining!

Good Monday Morning to you all!

The weather is dismal, however we DO need the rain.  My husband and I went canoeing  the Grand River yesterday *20 kilometers!!  I say that, to say, we NEED rain.  There were parts of the river that are flowing quite shallow.  So it’s evident that we need the rain!

I have this really amazing bush in my front yard that whenever it rains, it holds the raindrops so perfectly on its leaves.  This always cheers me up on a rainy day because I can look at it.  Every time I see fresh raindrops on the leaves, I am grateful for the rain!

Question of the morning … are you beginning your week super-charged?  Many of you will read this and think, “yeah, right!” Trust me, I know that feeling as well.  For my Monday Motivation today I want to challenge you to re-train your thinking!  It’s true, how we begin our day affects our whole day.  Taking that into consideration, it follows to say that how we begin our WEEK can affect our whole week.  First of all, life is too short to go messing up a whole week! Secondly, it does wonders for you to start your week on a positive footing.  This is the reason that I have committed to always writing on Mondays!  I believe strongly  in starting off on the right foot.  Instead of dreading Monday’s you can actually begin to look forward to the prospects of a bright new week ahead.

Sometimes you never know what a week has in store for you. Several weeks ago, I was going about my business, writing, blogging, researching things and spending time using Social Networks to promote my new business.  Out of the blue, I was invited to attend a webinar, hosted by Jack Canfield, on becoming “unstoppable.”  This fit into my schedule and I was happy for the opportunity to listen to the co-author of “Chicken Soup For the Soul” series, and extremely famous, Jack Canfield. This man is number one in the Coaching World. He is highly influential and very knowledgeable.  I also was interested in seeing the “how’s” of webinars, as I plan to incorporate this into my own business. All in all, I felt this was a win-win situation for me. I could be encouraged and motivated by watching this event and I could glean some insight of webinars.  I spent an hour and a half listening to him speak on the subject of Becoming Unstoppable. He was amazing!  I was so encouraged and empowered after hearing him.  My motivation level was lifted and I was soaring.  After the webinar, I went back to writing an article that I was working on.  About a hourish later, my phone rang.  When I answered they asked to speak to me. The woman then said, “I am Jack Canfield’s assistant and he asked that I call everyone from today’s webinar.” (yes, my head was swimming, trying to take in the fact that Jack Canfield asked her to call me..) She asked me how I enjoyed the session and then she went on to say that Jack was scouting for some people for a program that he could mentor and teach.  She felt that I would be a good candidate. She scheduled an interview for the next evening for both my husband and I to attend via phone conference.  I hung up the phone and felt like I was dreaming!  How could all of this be taking place in my life?  I know that I have been pursuing different arenas to assist in my business building. But seriously, I never dreamed of an opportunity to be trained and mentored by someone of this caliber.  Well you can imagine that my husband and I did our homework to prepare for the next nights interview session!  We were excited and nervous. The next night we interviewed for over an hour. Before the phone call ended, I was accepted to be in Jack Canfield’s Mastermind Coaching Program!  This was unbelievable news  What a turn of events in my life!  This will empower me to be an incredible coach and open doors in so many areas. I am humbled and extremely grateful.

I share this news with you for the reason that first of all, I am extremely happy, excited, amazed, honored, thrilled, out of my mind with joy over this opportunity. Secondly, I share this news with  you for the reason that you never know what is coming up next on your path. As you begin to write out your goals and focus on what you really want in life, it is amazing what doors open up in front of you. If you had told me a month ago that I would be mentored by Jack Canfield, I most likely would have chuckled at the prospect of that. Yet, in two hours from now I will be sitting in my second session! Already the principles that he has instilled into my thinking has propelled me to a deeper level.  I can only imagine who I will become after an entire year under his tutelage!

(Me, while canoeing the Grand River)

Begin this week by being super charged! Don’t drag through week after week without a vision for you life. Live your purpose! If you don’t know what your life purpose is, discover it! I would love to hear from some of you on what’s going on in your life. Feel free to send me comments! I love the interaction. Always, remember if there is any way I can assist you, feel free to email me at:  charlene@topsspot.ca

Love and empowerment ,

Charlene

It’s all in the Plan

Happy Monday Motivational!  All weekend I was contemplating what to share for motivation today.  I was asked last week what the vision for my life is.  Hey…that’s a BIG question.  Fortunately, I am in a place that I do have a vision for my life.  Sadly to say, I haven’t always had a vision .  I guess I was somewhat assuming that “things” just kinda happen while you live.”  While it is true, things do just happen while you are living ; the truth is, unless you have a vision or plan for your life so much time and effort is wasted and you set yourself up for failure.  If you don’t have a PLAN,  you are planning to fail.  I started going over this concept again and again in my mind this weekend.  I thought how many,really great people,are just aimlessly living their lives?

The other day I was walking through my neighborhood and came to an area where a bunch of carpenters were.  They all had their tools and were conversing about building a complex.  Quite interesting.  So there they were with tools and just decided to put up random pieces of boards and doors and a window or two…obviously this is a bizarre story.  We all know that this is not what really happens.  The carpenters at this site all have a blueprint for the project they are building.  Every single detail is listed and thought out before the ground is even broken.  They have a “plan” and they will succeed at building the complex as long as they follow the blueprint.

Have you ever watched a chef as he prepares a gourmet meal?  It isn’t some arbitrary throwing together of ingredients.  Each step along the way is built into the recipe.  The chef knows that when he has finished, he can expect a certain end result.  If he were to just throw in” a bit of this and some more of that ” there would be no guarantee of the finished product.

When you get on a train in NYC and have the destination of Disney in Florida, obviously the conductor of that train has a route to follow.  You don’t purchase your ticket in hopes to arrive at the destination.  The conductor has a path to follow.  You can rest assured that the train you are on will arrive exactly where you desire to go.  There isn’t any guessing work because he has the route already mapped out.

So it is with our most precious commodity, our lives.  Unless we have a vision for our lives, then we will not get the desired effect that we are hoping for.  The time we have to live is limited.  It is really important for us to examine what it is that we want to accomplish in this life .  Make it happen!  Set up some goals, make some action plans, and become accountable for what you desire to happen in your own life.  This may sound like a lot of extra work but honestly in the long run it actually causes you to have a better quality of life.

Have a great Monday!

Monday’s Motivational is being presented as a Tuesday Tidbit!

Hello Everyone!

Monday’s can be the toughest day of the week!  Agreed??  Well this past Monday (yesterday) was a holiday here in Ontario, so I decided to post Monday’s Motivation today, as many are just going back to work today.  That is even rougher than an ordinary Monday.  You have had 3 wonderful days of “whatever you wanted.”  So it’s kinda rough going back into to the office…and for me, well I am just finishing a week-long vacation at the ocean with my entire family.  All 5 daughters and son-in-law and grandchildren and a host of friends which we consider extended family.  So getting back into the swing of the work week has been a bit brutal!  That being said….Tomorrow is my birthday!  I don’t say that to attract any attention to my birthday ,  However, over the past few years, I have come to cherish the celebration of my birthday.  It gives me a special time and place to see how far I have come and to calculate all the amazing things that have happened over the past year in my life.  This year has been quite an eventful one in my life.  First of all, I turned 50 last year…which is a big deal all the way around!  In the course of 7 months, I lost my job, due to economic pressures in the company and was laid off, I lost 2 close relatives to cancer and a brother due to a heart attack.  Despite,or more precisely due to, these great losses I have been able to reach a place in my life where I have left my comfort zone to pursue my life dreams.  I am thrilled beyond words to be pursuing this.  There are times that I get stuck between the fear of failure and the hope of success, yet in those times I believe that I will succeed.  I believe I am exactly where I should be in my life It is past time to put aside the fears and doubts that have kept me stagnant.  What an adventure!  I am sure as the days unfold I will have so much to share with you on my journey.

My words of encouragement to you today are…Do you have dreams that have been tossed?  Are you so busy rushing through this life and waiting for a perfect time to pause and to begin something that your heart has been begging you to do?  Not all of us feel the need to start a new career or move to some exotic place, but yet deep inside there is that yearning for the one thing you always wanted to do?  Perhaps it’s a hobby, or visiting another country, or planting a garden for the first time, or you can fill in the blank with whatever it is.  I suggest to you that life is way too short NOT to be following your dreams!  There is so much more fulfillment that can be had in this life if we slow down a bit and take time to really enjoy our lives.  It was a huge eye opener for me having so many losses this past year.  I decided that I couldn’t afford to wait any longer.  I needed to get in touch with my mission for this life and finish my days being fulfilled and happy.

 

Let today be the day of new beginnings for you!

hugs to all!

Charlene

Monday’s Motivational Moment

Happy Monday!  I know…it’s MONDAY! Weekends are so wonderful. They are full of fun, family and relaxation. Then along rolls Monday…the dreaded day to start another week.  (and it’s worse when it’s raining, like it is here today.)  You remember the song, Rainy Days and Mondays, always get me down?  That is exactly  why I have decided to try something new, beginning today.  Each Monday I will post “Monday’s Motivational Moment.”  This will give us something to start our week off on a positive note.

To begin with, the definition of Motivation is as follows:

mo·ti·va·tion

noun

1.the act or an instance of motivating, or providing with a reason to act in a certain way: I don’t understand what her motivation was for quitting her job. Synonyms: motive, inspiration, inducement, cause, impetus.

2.the state or condition of being motivated: We know that these students have strong motivation to learn.

3.something that motivates; inducement; incentive: Clearly, the company’s long-term motivation is profit.

So my new challenge to myself is, to motivate all my friends and followers each Monday! Trust me, I am as human as the rest of you and when I woke up this morning to rain and dullness and realizing  it was a Monday morning, everything inside me wanted to pull the covers over my head and go back to sleep.  But as I was laying there I thought of my family, friends, and followers and immediately filled with an excitement to connect….to say something that may somehow help us all reach higher ground today.  So I felt compelled to get up and get going.  I could hardly fix my coffee fast enough because I wanted to be with all of you.  Maybe that sounds silly but it isn’t.  We are all part of the circle of people that we influence.  I want to make a difference.  I want to share the insights and tips that have helped me grow.  I want to develop more each day and see others around me grow as well.  I guess being motivated involves being passionate about something!  So today, my question to you is, “what are you passionate about?”  What makes every nerve ending in your body tingle when you think about it?  What causes you to truly feel ALIVE?  These are the things that will motivate you and inspire you.  When you are passionate about something, you want to give your all.  I encourage you to start your week thinking about your passions and where you can make a difference in this world that we share. Remember it doesn’t have to be some “big thing” either.  Often times, we may be the one to motivate, inspire, or just bring a smile to one other person.  In the grocery store, learn to smile at the cashier, rather than complain.  Hold the door open for someone who has packages in their hands.  Practice random acts of kindness.  By doing these small things, your heart begins to become passionate about caring for others in this world.  If we would begin on a small-scale to practice this, our world would begin to feel the effects of love and acceptance rather than the violence and hate that is so prevalent .

Hope you feel a bit of motivation on this Monday!

Have an amazing day,

Charlene