Sometimes, our lives are moving at such a fast pace, we can become disconnected from what’s truly meaningful in both our personal and professional lives.  We are so busy “doing” everything for everyone around us that we lose touch with that part of us that knows what we should be making time for.  Your authentic self is like an old friend.  She is secure in knowing exactly who you are and what you are passionate about.  She knows every gift you possess and can help you access them.  The challenge, of course, is staying connected to this old friend.  Life, with its many twists and turns, brings about such “busyness” that we often find ourselves too tired at the end of the day to stay connected to our authentic self.

If you are a woman in business, the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey is about realizing a Big Idea with passion and purpose.  You begin to navigate a course to accomplish your goals.  There is a lot of excitement and anticipation.  Somewhere along the way, you can get off course in your business by working “in” your business rather than working “on” your business.  If you are always working the day to day tasks and never giving yourself the creative space to vision the future of your business, the chances of optimal growth are minimal.  In my Women’s Success Circles, the space for possibility thinking and a plan to support women in their vision is created so that they can realize their Big Idea.

In your personal life – as a woman, mom, wife, partner, entrepreneur, community volunteer –it’s easy to see how you can lose touch with this old friend… your authentic self.  She is the most important friend that you have.  She loves and cares for you, she will be completely honest with you, and she makes no judgment about you—she sounds perfect, doesn’t she?  The key is to create the space and time to reconnect.  Your authentic self holds the answers to all of your burning life questions. 

This is where coaching can be helpful.  It offers a scheduled time with someone who can support you.  It’s having someone there to ask the right questions so that you can get the right answers from your old friend about what’s truly meaningful to you and what might be next for you in your journey.

I invite you to spend some time reconnecting with your old friend.  It may feel like the very first time the two of you have met.  It’s a busy life you have been leading up to now.  It takes courage to create the space for you to sit with your authentic self and “hear” what might be next for you.  Take some quiet time to reconnect or possibly meet for the very first time.  It’s a friendship that you don’t want to miss out on.

It was a gorgeous, warm day at Disneyland.  We had a terrific time.  Everyone there was happy, helpful, and waiting patiently to make sure our day was special—just like an old, authentic friend.

© 2008 Joy Chudacoff

Last week I shared with you some thoughts on why creating the “right” external environment is essential to leading a meaningful life.  Having a home, office, and relationships that provide harmony will help you create more of what you want in life. 

Today, I want to share some ideas with you about your internal environment.  What’s an internal environment?  It’s your internal voice, your authentic self—your core.  As in our home, office, and relationships, we need to clear away the clutter in our own self-talk to allow abundant thoughts to flow into our lives.  We become what we focus on.  If we find ourselves focusing on negative thoughts and judgmental self-talk, we tend to project this into our world and the world around us. 

I often take time to listen to my own internal voice.  I’m curious to learn what I might be thinking but not actually saying outloud.  I ask myself a couple of questions to gauge where I am:  Are my thoughts positive?  Negative?  Judgmental?  Am I in a place of possibility thinking or is it “doom and gloom?”  In my work with women, I encourage them to stay in possibility thinking.

How about you?  Do you have an inner critic?  Does she carry on a positive conversation with creative thoughts and calming words or is she judging you in every situation you encounter?  Does she have empathy for other people that you come into contact with or does she say something like, “You think you have it bad, wait until I tell you my story!” 

I invite you to take an inventory of your internal environment.  Your internal voice needs to be “right” if you want to manifest a new way of being.  If you are ready to step into a new journey and want to create something different in your life, your internal voice needs to speak the same language.  Practice creating a regular habit of gratitude.  One immediately comes to mind.  In Los Angeles, parking is a premium.  When all of a sudden a space opens up, I take a moment to give gratitude and if there is time left on the meter–wow, double-gratitude!   It’s about finding the silver lining, even in simple things.  Dwell on your accomplishments more often.  Review what’s working rather than criticizing what’s not working in your life.  Focus on finding simple solutions in your life to improve a situation and make it better.

If you have a BIG idea, dream or goal that you want to realize, it’s essential that you create the “right” environment in your home, office, relationships, and with yourself in order to make it happen.  I will leave you with a familiar quote that I’ve been thinking about this morning that seems ideal:  “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” — Gandhi 

Anything is possible. Everything is waiting for you. 

© 2008 Joy Chudacoff

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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Joy Chudacoff is the founder of Smart Women Smart Solutions and a Certified Professional Coach. To read more articles by Joy and learn more about her Success Circle workshops and teleseminars, please visit her website, www.SmartWomenSolutions.com or contact Joy at Joy@SmartWomenSolutions.com.

I have been fortunate to have a lot of coaches and mentors in my life.  It’s been a key to my moving ahead with my big ideas, dreams, and goals.  You know the old phrase, “Ready, Aim, Fire?”  Years ago, one of my mentors shared with me, that in order to make something happen, it should really be, “Ready, Fire, Aim!”  Sometimes we want to make sure that everything is “perfect” before we “fire” our new idea into the world.  We want to take that last class or read that last book written by the expert. 

Actually, it’s better to get ready, fire and then see what happens.  This does not mean that you should not get organized or prepare for your new idea or goal.  It means there are times when you are at a point where you just need to fire off that new idea or make the first step to realizing that dream or goal.  Another way of looking at this is “Mindset First; Details Later.”  If you set a mindset to make something happen, you will almost always achieve it.  This is a staple in my entrepreneurial toolkit.  I decide what I want to accomplish, make a plan, and then I launch that idea into the world.  Does it always work?  No, but action increases my chances of success versus just waiting for the perfect moment.

As Lowell and I reflected on people we both knew who had made their big ideas and dreams into a reality, we both agreed that this action, this “mindset” is what sets them apart from others.

How about you?  Do you have a big idea, dream or goal that you are thinking about but, to paraphrase others, “just can’t seem to pull the trigger?”  Is it something that you really want to happen?  Do you have a strong desire?  It does not have to be a business idea.  It could be a fitness or health goal, a community outreach effort.  What’s holding you back?  Are you trying to make it “perfect” before you “pull the trigger?”  “Perfect” rarely exists.  But “good enough” moves you forward.  And it can give you the opportunity to see where you might need to tweak your idea or make changes along the way.

So, what will you do today to develop your “mindset” so you too can “pull the trigger?”

Anything is possible. Everything is waiting for you.

What do I mean? Many women keep their inner door closed tight with a double-bolt lock on it and have misplaced the key to open it. What inner door am I referring to? The one that leads to our inner thoughts…our inner life. Yes, you do have an inner life. It’s that voice of intuition and deeper knowing that we all experience. It speaks almost in a whisper so that we can barley hear it. Why? Because the outer door…our outer life, is wide open. It lets everything in; the noise, traffic, emails, cell phones, iPods, co-workers, never-ending meetings, grocery shopping, homework, community volunteer work. Have I covered it all? How could you possibly have the time to locate the key and then get the door open on your inner life when the outer life demands so much?

In my work with women, this is something that is supported from beginning to end. You see, the answers about what you want in your life are all within you. In fact, I would bet they are locked behind that inner door. It’s essential to have support in helping you to create the time and space to locate the key, unlock the door and step inside to take an inventory of what’s there.

How do I know this? Well, I have some experience with this. There was a time in my life that if I had read this article, I would not have had any idea what this meant. I had no idea that I had any other life other than the one that I was living. It was busy, hurried, passionless, and one long to-do list of things that did not really provide much meaning in my daily life, let alone my future. While working with my own coach and creating the time and space to explore what was missing for me, I began to understand exactly who I am and better yet, where I wanted to go next.

Isn’t it amazing that all the answers are within us and yet we question so many things every day? It’s about getting in touch with your inner voice that’s behind the inner door. Allowing the inner voice to be heard, and not drowned out by the outer “noise”.

How about you? Do you have any idea where the key is to your inner door? Do you visit your inner life on a regular basis? If you do, bravo! It means that you are in touch with where you are going in your life, dreams and goals. I shudder to think what might have happened if I had not taken the time and allowed myself to hear my inner voice. I can tell you that it has made all the difference in my life. I am living a life full of passion and energy for myself, my family and work that I love.

Anything is possible. Everything is waiting for you.

© 2008 Joy Chudacoff

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Joy Chudacoff is the founder of Smart Women Smart Solutions and a Certified Professional Coach. To read more articles by Joy and learn more about her Success Circle workshops and teleseminars, please visit her website, www.SmartWomenSolutions.com or contact Joy at Joy@SmartWomenSolutions.com.

How many times a day do you see a new product or concept and say, “I thought of that idea a long time ago.” Or, how often do you have a new idea or a better way of doing something and you say, “As soon as I can find a pen and paper, I’m going to write that down.” And then what happens? You get stuck at the grocery store, kids baseball, meeting with a client, and forget about it. Or you remember after a long day of being a wife, mom, business woman, and community volunteer and you say, “Oh, it wasn’t such a great idea, forget it.”

How do I know this happens? Ladies, I’ve lived it many times! I became so frustrated over the years of having this happen to me that I created the Big Idea book concept. This has helped me to act on my vision and execute at a faster pace. The Women in my Success Circles use this regularly to make sure that they never lose a creative thought or idea on their journey to their own passion and purpose.

Once you’ve created your vision, execution comes next. Execution is your strategy. It’s taking those big ideas and creating inspired action. This is where many of us get stuck. We know what we want to do, but we don’t know what to do first. Or maybe we know what to do but there are critical parts to the plan that we are not sure how to do. This is where your strategy (or support system) can help. I’ll give you an example.

Technology is a huge part of any successful business. It’s also a part of my business that I find quite challenging. So guess what? I have created a great support system (thanks Lynne and Maria!) to assist me in my journey. This is a huge topic in my Women’s Success Circles. Why? Because women are nurturers by nature. We are not good at asking for support. It’s crucial to execution to ask for the support that you need. We like everyone to believe that we can do it all. When we support the vision of others (family, friends, clients, co-workers) we become too exhausted to execute our own vision. Here’s a secret that I want to share with you: Every time you meet a woman who’s getting it all done with grace, you can bet that she has created an incredible support system behind her.

If you have a vision, dream, or big idea brewing right now, think about what resources and support you might need in order to execute or realize this dream. Typically the question we ask when we have a great idea is, “How am I going to get all of this done?” I invite you to reframe your question differently next time. When you have a brilliant idea, ask yourself this question instead: “Who can help me accomplish my vision?” When you answer this one simple question and begin to execute, you are now on your way to creating a life full of passion, purpose and meaning.

Enjoy the journey. Anything is possible. Everything is waiting for you.

Copyright 2008 Joy Chudacoff

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Joy Chudacoff is the founder of Smart Women Smart Solutions and a Certified Professional Coach. To read more articles by Joy and learn more about her Success Circle workshops and teleseminars, please visit her website, www.SmartWomenSolutions.com or contact Joy at Joy@SmartWomenSolutions.com.