Imagine standing on one leg in high heels tossing all of those things you see on your left trying to balance yourself. You might be able to do it for a half a second, but you probably couldn’t keep it up for long,right? I know I couldn’t! LOL! I think that is how most of us feel about life. We’re tossing so many things up in the air hoping we will catch a few of them and land in perfect balance.

Many women think of balance as spending exactly the ‘right’ amount of time between work, family, relationship and friends. Unfortunately, that kind of balance is fleeting, unrealistic and not even accurate. Real balance isn’t about time at all. It’s more about about aligning your vision with your thoughts and your actions.

While you might strive for balance, until you clarify your vision and purpose, this will be an ongoing frustrating process. As previously mentioned, you’ll have it for a  moment, but then shortly after you won’t. Most will try again and again to achieve it wondering if they just have too much on their plate of life. And in some cases beat themselves up for not being able to achieve it.

Juggling too much is not the issue, but rather aligning all things with vision is

For example, if your vision involves you starting your own business or being a more attentive and involved mother or making time for travel and your actions don’t reflect that vision, you will feel out of balance.

Without a clarified vision, you may feel off-kilter or as if something is missing.

I have a friend who loves to sing. However, the busy-ness of life made her put singing on the back burner. In fact, the burner wasn’t even on! She thought she didn’t have time for a ‘hobby’. Yet, when she started to clarify her vision, she realized that singing was a part of it. She realized singing was a priority she needed to make time for. So she joined her church choir and it made all the difference. Work was part of her vision. Family was part of her vision. Singing was part of that vision too, a part that she had initially ignored. Once her vision, her thoughts and her actions were in alignment, she immediately felt more in balance.

If you are looking for more balance in your life, follow these steps:

1. Clarify your vision. Ask yourself:
•    What is most important to me?
•    What do love doing so much I lose track of time
•    If I were to create my life from scratch, what would I be doing?
•    Is there any role I’m playing that might not be in alignment with what I want for myself?
•    If there anything missing that I need to include?

2. Align your thinking with your vision. Ask yourself:
•    What thoughts run counter to the vision I’ve created?
•    What thoughts would be more in alignment with my vision?
•    Does my self-talk promote my vision?
•    How does my self-talk have to change to promote my vision?

3. Take action to create your vision. Ask yourself:
•    What actions should I start doing to create my vision?
•    What actions should I continue doing to make my vision a reality?
•    What actions should I stop doing to create my vision?

Balance is different for everybody because everyone is different. Your work, your family, your passions make you uniquely you and that will create a vision of balance that is personalized just for you.

Now, having shared all of that with you, I’d like to offer a slight paradigm shift in thinking. So consider this: Balance is an illusion. Balance is an experience you have when all things aligned. If you are curious to learn more about the illusion of balance, call me and I’ll explain this a bit deeper in a complimentary session.

In addition, if you struggle with finding  your way in life or business and you know something’s just not quite right with how you want things to be, call me for a complimentary coaching session. I’ll show you the right mix of actions to produce your most desired outcome.

I can be reached at staff@theP3Group.com or 910 221 9294

Lisa Thomas
Expert Success and Leadership Coach

http://www.TheP3Group.com

910 221 9294
704 909 7663
_______________________________________________________________________
Catch Lisa Thomas and other extraordinary women at the Fayetteville Ladies Power Lunch on March 8th. And at the P3 Business Boost on Thursday, April 12th.
Register for each of this ASAP!

Lisa  is the President and CEO of The P3 Group, Inc, Expert Success and Leadership Support Coach and Visionary for Women. Featured on NBC’s My Carolina Today, Charlotte Today, World Puja Network, Dr. Pat Show and Conscious Talk Radio. For more information about this segment or a 60 min Power Session, contact Lisa at 910 221 9294 or 704 909 7663. Visit the website at http://www.TheP3Group.com

I hope this year brings you a year of healthy, spiritual, emotional and financial prosperity!!!

_______________________________________________________________

The new year has come back around and we are back in the mode of creating new year’s resolutions.

Have you made all of yours yet?

Funny about New Year’s resolution, we’ve heard people talk about them and even begin to take action but in less than three months and some cases one month, the resolutions are a distant thing of the past.

So how do you stay the course of a new year’s resolution?  First let’s just be clear about what one is. According to Wikipedia, A New Year‘s resolution is a commitment that a person makes to one or more lasting personal goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit.

It mentions a commitment that one makes.  Are we committed when we make the resolutions? I’d say when we set the resolution, we have good intentions but are we committed? Some people would say, yes with conviction, while others might say, not really, it sounded like a good idea at the time when the new year came around. For those who are committed, why do they sometimes fail?

If we don’t hold ourselves accountable, or have a solid foundation for “why” we created the resolution in the first place, we might set ourselves up to fail. For example, you might say you want to lose weight but you only set that as a new year’s resolution because you can’t fit into your jeans. So you start going to the gym daily, seemingly excited about it. Then, it’s gets harder and harder to go, so you tell yourself you’ll go weekly and cut down on your food intake. You do that for a couple of days, but then you have to prepare the right kind of food, so you say you’ll eat smaller portions instead and go monthly. Then you find that  you really don’t have anyone aiding in your quest to eat smaller portions or hold you accountable to once a month. Now, it’s three months later, you haven’t lost a pound and you’re back to the way things were before…

Now this may not be your story exactly but we’ve all have some version of seemingly justified reasons why we don’t keep our word to ourselves.

It’s so easy to get off track with a goal that hasn’t been given in depth thought and planning. Another major component that steers one off track is not doing the work to bring closure to the previous year so a new resolution or beginning, as I like to call it, can begin

See segment and article here about how to bring closure to your year: How to bring closure to the year end with Power, Passion and Purpose!

So I advocate a new beginning – and from the closure exercise the fresh start began when you took on acknowledging your accomplishments and what you didn’t accomplish along with obstacles and challenges that prevented you from achieving them in the previous year.

When I think of the new year, I think of reading the last chapter of a really good book, closing it and starting a new one. The new book is a fresh story, a new plot and with new characters.

Your life is to be the same when finishing out the previous year. You create a new story of life; a new beginning for your success.

So how do you start the new beginning?

The question alone is enough to give you pause. You must ask yourself some pretty simple questions however simple as they are, the key is authentic truth when you answer.

Let’s take a look at these critical questions:

What do I really want? This question is to be thought of with some depth. When you answer, think purely from “your” prospective. And don’t just say, I wanna lose weight, but rather include why you want that and what will it provide for you and your lifestyle if you lose weight.

 What are my happiest moments in life? This too is yet another question that should give you pause. You probably know what makes you happiest; however what are the moments in life that have you feel that happiness.  Those moments will reveal information critical to your new beginning.

Where is my heart pulling me? This question will bring you to know more about your passion for living. When you think of that which calls to you, what is that? What are you drawn to most? You must answer without reservation.

In what direction do I know within my soul am I being led or pulled? The answer that lies within this question will propel you forward to be driven to succeed. Typically when you set a new year’s resolution, you might not give this any thought. You just want to lose weight because your jeans are too tight. If you know you’re being led to live a healthier lifestyle because of your passion for healthy living, and your desire to be an example for your kids, family and/or others , you might keep your commitment to do what it takes to live a healthier lifestyle.

So what is the bigger picture here: What sums up the answers to the questions? You’re going to discover a deeper meaning to life within the answers of these questions. The bigger picture or vision is the new beginning you’ll need to succeed.

If you’ve done the work properly, you’ll have a foundation to create  “goals” for the year. As  was mentioned earlier,  you may see that you’re being pulled to live a healthier lifestyle as an example for your kids, family and friends(answer in question 4). If that is the case, one goal might be to lose 151lbs and how you want to do it is through active dance classes because that’s when you are happiest(answer in question 2).

So, you’ll need to post the vision or new beginning  “to live a healthier lifestyle” on your desk, computer, bathroom mirror etc. And create a goals schedule to help you stay on track.

 So as you see when you create a vision, you create a foundation from which to operate throughout the year. Creating a vision or a new beginning is a lot more powerful than a resolution because vision is bigger than you are and used properly will hold you accountable to your goals and commitments.

An example here is when you don’t want to go dancing, you’ll revisit the vision “to live a healthier lifestyle” as a reminder to take actions accordingly. It’ll also serve as a reminder that you’re happiest when you dance and to do more of it..

These simple steps makes new BEGINNINGS  a whole lot more fun and easier to keep because you have a bigger cause from which to act and create your commitments….

So, yes, create a new beginning for 2012 not just a resolution and have fun with it. It’s your year, let’s have it be the best year yet, shall we?

Lisa  is the President and CEO of The P3 Group, Inc, Expert Success and Leadership Support Coach and Visionary for Women. Featured on NBC’s My Carolina Today, Charlotte Today, World Puja Network, Dr. Pat Show and Conscious Talk Radio. For more information about this segment or a 60 min Power Session, contact Lisa at 910 221 9294 or 704 909 7663. Visit the website at http://www.TheP3Group.com.

Upcoming Events!

Lisa will be speaking at the Fayetteville Ladies Power Lunch on January 12, 2012 at the Highland Country Club in Fayetteville NC. Come join me as Lisa as she empowers women to “Discover a Better You in 2012″. This is one event you do not want to miss with the elite women of Fayetteville and surrounding cities.

To Register Click Here!

January 19, 2012, Lisa will be facilitating a Power Packed 90 Min. P3 Business Boost that will leave each business owner focused and energized to take their business to the next level in 2012. Find Out More and Register Here

January 28, 2011, Lisa will facilitate the No More Selling, Attract Clients Like a Magnet full day workshop. Business owners will walk away with 7 key marketing strategies that will open the door to an endless pool of clients for 2012.

FIND OUT MORE AND REGISTER HERE 

Appearances: 

Lisa will be at the A New Year- A New You event hosted by A Picture of Health Thermograms. Come out, be educated and support a healthier lifestyle in 2012…

To Find Out More and To Register…..

Lisa will also appear on a local cable network TV Show, Break The Cycle. Recording will take place on January 18th. Actual aid date to be announced. Break the cycle is a dialogue about the challenges of families and relationships. It’s commitment is to break the cycle of broken homes, divorce and separation of families! Lisa will offer her point of view on relationships and how they can bring more joy and success to life, business and the community!….More details to follow…

As 2011 comes to a close, many people have started thinking about the New Year. And with the New Year comes new resolutions and new goals. “But wait a minute,” before you can focus on the new, you need closure on the old.

There is a simple four step process for gaining closure. It might be simple, but it does take some time. I typically start in October with this process but because we’re in December here are some easy steps to take to begin the closure process. Be sure to take the last few weeks of December seriously and take on these steps.”

First take out a sheet of paper and follow these four steps.

1. Write down your accomplishments. These are the things you recognize as accomplishments, things you have received accolades for and that others have acknowledged about you. Don’t censor or down play your accomplishments. It’s important to write them all down, the big and the small things. If you’ve had a major accomplishment and you blew right past it trying to achieve something else, STOP and write that accomplishment down. There are many accomplishments that go unnoticed each year and rather than shine a light on the accomplishment we focus on how we failed. Write down all accomplishments

2. Write down what you planned to accomplish but didn’t. This is simple so don’t make it hard. Only write down what you didn’t accomplish, period. This is not the time to reflect or look for a deeper meaning. There is a step for that but not in this step!

3.  Now, go back to Step 1 and celebrate “all” of your accomplishments. Share your success! I mean have a big celebration. Tell your friends, post it on Facebook, tweet it or go out to dinner. Until the end of the year, indulge in your successes. Perhaps have your News Year’s Eve party be about accomplishments and achievements of the year.  Give yourself a big pat on the back and allow others to do so with you.

4. Do not proceed to this step until you have celebrated your success with at least five people and on a couple of different occasions. Go back to Step 2 and ask yourself what got in the way of achieving the goal. Go deep and really investigate the whys. If you need help, consider having a coach or other confidante help you with this step.  One thing to consider here is, if your answer to what got in the way is the same thing that always gets in your way, investigate it even more. The power to bring closure lies in your ability to find what truly hinders your success. This is not to be a pity party but rather an eye opening experience that will help you create an amazing 2012!

Once you know how you have gotten to where you are right now, you are in a position to make real and lasting change. You have to take a serious look at the good and the bad that has led you to this present moment before you can create a personal and powerful vision of your future.

If you struggle with the completion process and want to start an amazing year, don’t hesitate to call me for a complimentary coaching session.
Lisa  is the President and CEO of The P3 Group, Inc, Expert Success and Leadership Support Coach and Visionary for Women. Featured on NBC’s My Carolina Today, Charlotte Today, World Pudja Network, Dr. Pat Show and Conscious Talk Radio. For more information about this segment or a 60 min Power Session, contact Lisa at 910 221 9294 or 704 909 7663. Visit the website at http://www.TheP3Group.com.

These can be mind boggling questions to answer particularly if you find yourself doing everything you know to do yet you’re bumping up against the same thing over and over again. Frustration kicks in and you probably kick yourself in the rear and want to give up.

The most important thing in succeeding is knowing what you want and how to go about getting it.

One of the ways to identify what you want is to know your vision and purpose and then “focus” on the right things to get you there.

Let me repeat that, you must “focus” on the right things to get you there.

Let’s chat about focus for a bit.

Focus by definition means: a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity. So we must find a central point of attention to what we want in order to attract the result we want. Lack of focus creates a lack of results.

Lately, focus for most people has been about trying to figure out how to do what they love or  like doing while haphazardly doing the important and necessary things, and getting overwhelmed by anything else. I call that living in “hope”. They hope that if they just do what they love or like and do some of the other things when they can, life will turn out.

The wake up call is this: Doing what you like to do may be a good thing and feel good temporarily, however  in the absence of taking actions that will surely realize your vision, you are doomed to fail.

You must have a central point of attention on the right things. There are four things you must focus on to be successful in life, business and relationships.

Vision Is Always A Must – What is your vision for your life, business and relationship? You must answer that question so that a foundation is laid for the future of your life, business or relationship. For example the vision for my marriage was and is a forever lasting partnership with friendship, love and passion as the order of the day! You too, must have vision be your foundation for your life. You must have extreme clarity of what you want and a clear picture of it. Place your attention and focus on your vision.

Goals Within Your Vision – You must have goals and milestones set within your vision. What goals are you to achieve and by when will you achieve them? Short and long term goals and milestones set the stage for what you must do and when you must do it.  Focus your attention on your goals and milestones to achieve success.

A Plan of Action To Achieve The Goal – A well thought out strategic plan will get you where you want to be.

For example: If you are a service provider business owner with services costing $2500 and you have a goal to increase your revenue by 50k within 30 days, a sample plan would be:  I’ll see 25 prospects per week to achieve 5 clients per week. I’ll spend 8 hours per week converting potentials into clients.  I will spend 10 hours per week delivering the service and fulfilling the needs of clients.

The plan must be clean, clear and concise. If you aren’t sure about what to do, you most likely won’t achieve the goals.

Focus on clear, clean and concise actions.

Execution: Consistent, persistent, unwavering, unmovable action. You must execute your plan with resilience. You must dedicate scheduled time to execute the plan. No successful person became that way without executing their well thought out plan.

My marriage is what it is because we planned it to be and we work at it! What are your next actions to achieve success?

These are all proven steps however there are always areas of caution, so I’ve identified a few pitfalls that most people fall into. Take note and be on the lookout for these as well.

Distraction – Something happens and you forget about your vision and what you want or it get’s put on the back burner. I call these life seductions. Everything is moving right along and something unexpected happens, then all of a sudden your vision, your goal and your plan are a distant memory. You must have resilience in executing your vision, plan and achieving your goal.

Don’t let life seduce you! Call on me to help you before the distractions come. You must be armed for life’s surprises. You will have to face them head on and I can help you deal with them in advance.

Lisa, help me with those life seductions that plague and hinder my success!

Lack of Clarity – You may have an idea of what you want, but it’s not really clear nor are the actions necessary to get you what you want.
If you’re not clear, neither will your results! Let me help you with clarity.

Lisa, I need clarity in what I want and specific actions to take to get there.

No Road Map– You haven’t taken the time to design the layout of what it takes to achieve what you want. Think about it, if you don’t have directions to a new city, how will you get there?  If there’s no road map, you surely will not get to where you want to go.

Let me help you design a blueprint and road map for success.

Click here to schedule an appointment to aid in your blueprint for success..

Remember the single most important thing in winning the game of life, business and relationships is “focus”.

The question is: Where are you putting your attention?

Lisa Thomas is a Expert Success and Leadership Coach and Visionary For Women Featured on NBC’s My Carolina Today, NBC’s Charlotte Today, NPR Affiliates, Dr. Pat Show, Conscious Talk Radio, World Pudja Network and Fox 8 News. Visit the website at http://www.TheP3Group.com and take full advantage of her complimentary P3 Power Assessment Session!

Follow me on Twitter: Http://www.twitter.com/lisahthomas

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/p3group

For me summer brings such a laid back kind of experience as it relates to goals. I mean there are so many other opportunities to engage in.  You’re attending the family barbecue, vacations, the kid’s summer activities and the summer parties that everyone is throwing. Who has time to focus on goals, right?

Because of what I do, my goals are never too far from thought, however I’m just not actively focused on them with all of the other enticing activities pulling my attention.

So, I find myself reaching in my past trying to get back in gear to make some things happen. I’ve discovered a few steps that put me back in the driver’s seat of life and on to accomplishing greater things.

The First Step is Ownership:

A.    Take Responsibility for taking yourself off track. There’s nothing like owning that you were the one to take yourself out of the goal game. Ownership of it will begin the cycle of putting you back in the driver’s seat.

B.    A critical step in ownership is acknowledging what you didn’t accomplish and what you did. This process gives you an eye opening experience of what you have done without even realizing it. You may find that you are on track in some regards. It also reflects back to you what you need to put in your plan going forward.

C.    Celebrate your lessons learned. Have a party celebrating that you’ve learned some unexpected lessons and document them.    In most cases, you’ve learned a lot and those lessons will come in handy in the future.

The key is being able to identify the lessons. Most of the time those are in our blind spot and we miss the lesson. If you are uncertain of the lessons you should’ve learned and/or you’re totally off track struggling to get back on track with your goals..Click Here

The Second Step is Reset Your Clock; your mind, body and spirit clock.

If you’ve created a big vision, goal or resolution and you find it difficult to get back on track then reset your mind body spirit so that you have a new fresh start to operate inside of.

A.    Stop the noise and re-center. In today’s times, we have twitter, linked in, facebook, the news, and the internet as a whole, movies and games to keep us from being still long enough to focus on what’s important. Take time away from these enticing mediums for a couple of days to cleanse your mind and spirit. This helps to re-center yourself on your goals.

B.    Send a notice to your brain and Cancel all self imposing thoughts. This means you will literally and deliberately stop all negative, limited thinking. Issue a cancellation to your brain by saying STOP or CANCEL to any negative thoughts that might creep up during the day.  This notice forces you to acknowledge the self imposing thoughts as they are – “self imposing thoughts rather than truth.

C.    Cleanse even your body.  After enjoying the summer of hot dogs, hamburgers, barbecues and vacation bliss, eliminate all foods that do not foster energy, good health and vibrant living to cleanse your physical body. This begins to reset your body to operate at an optimum level of success.

D.    Purge the waste-. Many of clients say, but Lisa I did all of those other things now, what? I say Purge and release, purge and release some more. Find a confidant that will not judge you, ridicule your or analyze you, but rather honor and lift you up.

Share your disappointments, regrets and failures to accomplish your goals with this confidant. Allowing yourself to purge will free your mind of all of the clutter and begin to offer a open canvas in which to paint your goals.

E.     Revisit your vision – Take a look at your vision, goals and resolutions again for a reminder of what you wanted in the first place. Re read them and repeat, “I am worth of these goals fulfilled.”

Vision is critical. In fact, it is the most critical! If vision is missing or non-existent, you will spend time haphazardly hoping for achievement of some level of success and happiness.  I’ll guide you to a solid vision and plan for accomplishment. Simply click here

The Third Step is Get Back on Track and Keep it Moving!

A.     Refine your plan. Take a look at your plan and refine it, tweak and change if need be. Sometimes a slight tweak makes your plan easier to execute and implement.

B.    Redefine goals. Some things to think about in redefining your goals are: Will these goals fulfill your vision. Have you already accomplished some of the goals? What other goals will expedite and or influence the fulfillment of your vision.

C.    Keep it Moving. Action causes results. Implement the plan, get going and keep it moving.

A defined plan of action is necessary for success. No great achiever can achieve without vision, strategy and a plan. If you’ve struggled with creating a winning plan, CLICK HERE.

These three steps will get you back on track in any situation. Give them a try and remember “the power lives within you and it’s always been there” to have what you want, desire and need.

Let me help you get back on track and make the best of the last quarter of 2011.

Contact me directly for a complimentary p3 Leadership, Business or Personal Development Assessment Session!

Lisa Thomas is a Expert Success and Leadership Coach, Visionary for Women and Inspirational Speaker. Featured on NBC’s My Carolina Today, NBC’s Charlotte Today, NPR Affiliates, Dr. Pat Show, Conscious Talk Radio, World Pudja Network and Fox 8 News. Visit the website at http://www.TheP3Group.com.

Feel free to contact her directly for your P3 Power Session where you will begin the journey of discovery. It will be the best 30 minutes of your life. Remember, power, purpose and vision begins within the spirit of who you are.

Recently I shared with a good friend the wave of peace, freedom and excitement I’ve been experiencing lately.  I was so excited to share the peaceful feeling and the opportunities coming our way.

And before I could share it all she responds with  “are you setting, I mean if you are, it’s okay”…

Uh? The question took me by surprise!!! But unmoved by her statement,  I responded, “yes, I’m settling into who I am, loving who I am and accepting who I’m not – life is like a new breath of fresh air”…..And as Jennifer Hudson says, “and I’m feeeellllinn gooooood”

I later discovered she has been having an experience of settling.  She’s been frustrated and disappointed in how life has been unfolding for her lately. I suspected that when she asked since I was sharing a wondering experience.…

How often do people subtly project their experiencing on you?….How quickly do you “respond” in defense to justify your position? Responding in defense is one way to communicate, but why expend that energy on someone who is projecting something on you that is not yours to carry? The only thing that’s important is your vision/ your purpose and intention.

After all what they are dealing with is none of your business – Only “your” experience is your business!

Let’s all settling into our greatness, fall in love the journey of life and let others carry their own bags, shall we?

Lisa Thomas
Success and Leadership Coach
www.TheP3Group.com

What Ray Charles spoke is very true. When you’re blind to your barriers, limitations and self imposed inflictions, you are simply reduced to getting whatever life dishes.  Those who do not seek to see never reach their highest potential.

I also say that for some of us blindness is a “state of being”.

When you’re blind to the magnificence of who you are, you ain’t got that many choices in how well you succeed but when your eyes can see your greatness, the world opens up and sings to YOUR song!!”

Ray Charles had no limits or barriers. He could see lyrics in his mind, hear music in his heart and could produce extraordinary sounds that penetrated many around the world. And although he could not see through his natural eyes,  he could see his greatness that lied within.
He fostered that gift and greatness and inspired every ear who heard his music.

What limits are you blind to. What greatness within have you not yet seen to let go free?

Let me help you break the barriers and limits you may be blind to, and allow me to escort you into your greatness where success will be at your fingertips!!!

Call me…

Lisa Thomas, Success and Leadership Coach

Http://www.TheP3Group.com

Call us if you’re blind to your own greatness!

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