In an earlier post, I mentioned that every year, in addition to looking back on my accomplishments and looking forward to my intentions, I pick a theme.

Why pick a theme?

I've found that having a theme connects the dots between your personal standards and your yearly intentions, or goals. A theme captures who you intend to be in the world and how you want to show up. It's fun, it's a bit lighter. Most importantly, it captures YOU.

In 2005, my theme was to "Step Up and Stand Out." Last year, it was to "Explore My Vulnerability." Each of the year's that I've had a theme, I've found myself being more focused, more intentional.

This year, my theme is "Lightness of Being."

You see, in the past, I've had a habit of taking myself a bit too seriously, working very intensely, almost forgetting the harmony between being and doing.

In 2007, I'm all about putting more fun, freedom and flexibility into my life. Making choices about my happiness -- choosing happiness over success. Because, after all, I'm the one that wrote a book that states "Success is a byproduct of being who you are."

How am I planning to do this?

Well, for starters, I'm consciously making music a bigger part of my life again. An hour or so into 2007, I kicked off the New Year by meeting one of the greatest guitar players ever - Derek Trucks - and giving him a copy of my book. It's an intention I set after first hearing him play in October with Eric Clapton. And it came together effortlessly, easily. (I'm not kidding!)

All because I put my happiness first, approached the intention with a sense of playfulness and wonder, and just had fun with it. I didn't get caught up in the how. I didn't allow the Illusion of Not Enough to keep me from doing what I can do.

I allowed myself to be vulnerable.

To really be seen.

And it was great.

What is your theme for the year?

How will you allow yourself to be seen?

Posted by Kim George at 05:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The 5th and final step in our series on moving from Goals to Abundant Declarations is the conscious pattern of Personal Responsibility.  In my book, Coaching Into Greatness, I define Personal Responsibility as releasing blame and vicitmization to become fully responsible for your life.

It's no mistake that this conscious pattern is one of three that makes up the Abundance Aptitude of Surrender.  Taking Personal Responsibility is as much about what you let go of as it is about what you hold onto and claim as your own. 

Goals are a source of scarcity when you find yourself playing the Contingency Game.  For example, one of my clients had a big dream of moving his business out of the basement of his home and into an office park.  He told himself for over a year that he couldn't accomplish this until he had x number of clients, and he couldn't reach that number of clients because he was a solo-preneur and was working as hard as he could.  He needed office support, but he told himself he couldn't hire anyone until he got office space because it wasn't professional to have staff working out of his basement. 

Kinda' like a dog chasing after it's tail.

Of course my client was wise not to jump into space he couldn't afford.  I'm not saying he should have gotten in over his head.  But his inability to see how he was stuck in the contingency of "If . . . then" kept him from taking Personal Responsibility for what he could control, moving forward and reaching his goals. He was blaming his present circumstances for his future failures, all the while forgetting that he was in control of his business, he made the decisions.

Eventually, through our coaching, the solo-preneur hired part time help which freed him up to work more on the business than in it.  He was able to spend more time selling and Abundance Intelligence® uiring new clients, which increased his revenues and enabled him to move into an office space.

Is Contingency causing you to avoid taking Personal Responsibility?

Posted by Kim George at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The 4th step in moving from Goals to Abundant Declarations is Engagement.  Engagement, as I discuss in my book, Coaching Into Greatness, is hope manifested into action.  I want that to sink in.  Hope manifested into action.

When hope doesn't work, it becomes an illusion.  The Illusion of Hope is all about waiting for other people or events to change our circumstances so we don't have to.  We don't want to make the difficult decisions, do the work, or show up.  Showing up is scary business.  This is another powerful reason so many goals never get met and get recycled or dropped all together. We often pick goals that are all too familiar--too comfortable, too safe.  We even pick goals that are unrealistic, knowing full well, deep down inside, that we're not going to give 100% to reaching them, so it ensures that we keep doing what we've always been doing.

And we keep holding onto those "unattainable" goals.  They sound good.  They might even be impressive.  But they aren't real.

Abundant Declarations are real because they are intimately connected to who you are, where you're at, and the big picture of your life.  Engagement plays a huge role in this big picture of life.  When we're engaged, we have a visualization of where we're going, what the end result is, and the final destination.

But we don't let the destination cause us to miss out on the journey to getting there.

People who are engaged understand that the journey is more important than the destination, that the twists and turns on the road of life are actually the landmarks, the guideposts, the beautiful wildflowers and scenic views that matter most.

Engagement is about loving life and living it every day, not just at the end of the road.  The road is life.  If we pay attention, we might just love it as much as what we think is coming at the end.

Are you engaged or are you putting in time?

Posted by Kim George at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All this month I've been blogging about how goals can actually be a source of scarcity thinking.  I offer 5 steps to turning this around by creating Abundant Declarations.  I've already discussed the first 2 steps - Capacity and Internal Drivers.  Step 3 is Stepping Back.

In my book, Coaching Into Greatness, I define Stepping Back as the ability to see what is and respond accordingly, instead of reacting based on judgments and presumptions.  Stepping Back feels like insanity to most business people.  There's already too much to do and not enough time to do it and you want me stop?!

Actually, no.  Stepping Back is not stopping.  Stepping Back is more about downshifting, slowing down long enough to take a breather and look around -- to actually pay attention and observe situations.  Becoming the observer is a powerful concept. Many of you who meditate know what I'm talking about.  When we become the observer, we gain the ability to take notice, to capture the nuances of a situation as well as the big picture.  We see ourselves and how we're being in a situation.  Observing, or Stepping Back, allows us to gain perspective and respond, rather than have a knee-jerk reaction to our business in our life.

When people don't utilize this conscious pattern, they tend to hold onto goals year after year.  They have a love affair with their goals, but this isn't like Officer and a Gentleman, it's more like Fatal Attraction!  When we don't step back from time to time and gain perspective on where we are and what we're doing (or not doing) we risk becoming attached to goals that don't serve us, that no longer hold value for us, and that we're no longer inspired to implement.

Abundant Declarations are all about continually evaluating and adjusting your course.  This is related to the 4th step I'll blog about next -- that the path or the journey is more important than the destination.  You know you have a powerful Declaration when you allow life to unfold through you, and you can take the time to step back, look around, and open yourself to possibilities.  There are opportunities coming to us every day -- most of the time we're just too busy, distracted, or tired to see them.

One of my favorite quotes is from Lily Tomlin, who said, "The problem with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat."

Are you running a race at break-neck speed?  How could you benefit from Stepping Back?

Posted by Kim George at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The second step to moving from Goals to Abundant Declarations is to embrace the concept of Internal Drivers.  In my book, Coaching Into Greatness, I define Internal Drivers as beliefs, thoughts, and attitudes that are of your design and making.

Notice the second half of the definition--of your design and making.  This is key.  Goals that fail tend to be created as a result of External Drivers, which are sources outside yourself like people, circumstances and events that you believe you are dependent on.

Another way to identify goals that are based on External Drivers is to look for the word "should".  I should go to that event because everyone will be there.  I should lose 10 more pounds because Jane is thinner than I am.  I should invest in x company because everyone else is.

Now remember, I'm not saying as a business owner not to pay attention to what your competition is doing.  I'm not saying as a networker not to pay attention to the best attended events.  What I am saying is this - External Drivers become a source of scarcity in your life when they cause you to be untrue to yourself, when you do things you don't want to do or are against your values, when you act like anybody but yourself.

Declarations focus on Internal Drivers to connect with your vision, your passion, your values and standards.  Internal Drivers are like a "lite brite" for your soul.  They connect the dots to make the beautiful picture of who you are.  Now it's your turn to light things up by living into your greatness.

What does your "lite brite" look like?

Posted by Kim George at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you find yourself recycling the same old goals year after year and feeling stuck, try Declarations on for size.  The first step to moving from a goal to an abundant declaration is Capacity.

In my book, Coaching Into Greatness, I define Capacity as the belief that you already have within you all that you want, need, and choose.  People with a high Abundance Intelligence (Abundance Intelligence® ) embrace this concept.  Capacity is a conscious pattern found in the Abundance Aptitude of Self-Worth. Instead of looking at yourself as less than perfect, flawed, or needing to be fixed, you see your capacity for greatness.  When you were born, you were born with a DNA of Greatness.  Your life is a process of living into that greatness.

When goal's fail, it is because of the focus on becoming something.  Capacity says you already are that person.  You may not be actualized yet, but that capacity for who you think you should become is already there.  People spend their entire lives in a pursuit to become someone, when what they really are is more than enough if they would recognize and live into it.

Declarations declare to the world that you already are your goal.  I can hear you come back with the classic objection to this idea of Capacity.  "But how can I be great?  I don't have the job I want, the degree, the relationship, the house . . ." and on and on and on.

Capacity is not just the recognition that you are standing on top of a treasure chest of gold.  It is owning that you are the treasure chest. The gold is inside you, waiting to be invested.

Carole Zimmerman, one of the Abundance Intelligence® Pioneers, likened the idea of Capacity to the capacity of our brain.  It is said that we only utilize at most 10% of our brain's capacity.  Does that mean that the other 90% doesn't exist because we fail to use it? This is exactly the same concept with our greatness.

What % of your Greatness Capacity are you utilizing?

Posted by Kim George at 09:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this week's call, From Illusion to Doing What You Can Do, we explored the Top 5 Secrets to Setting and Keeping Abundant Goals.  In the upcoming weeks, I will blog about each of the 5 Secrets.

Earlier this month, I blogged about how goals are often feeders to our illusions--especially when they are vague, comfortable, unrealistic, and inherited.  In this way, your goals are like having a pile of unlit matches lying around, with no catalyst to set them afire. 

Dormant greatness. 

Missed opportunity. 

If you find your goals have one or more of the elements I just mentioned, I suggest reframing your approach and making a shift to Declarations.

Declarations are public promises put into action.  In my book Coaching Into Greatness, I provide a 3 step formula for designing the ultimate declaration.  Declarations differ from affirmations in that there is an equal balance between declaring your greatness (I am a bestselling author . . .) owning your greatness, living your greatness by doing what you can do, and then letting go to allow life to unfold through you.

Here's the key to understanding the difference between Goals and Declarations:  goals are things to strive for, to become, to achieve.  Declarations embrace what you already have, to live into who you already are.  I will explore this in depth in my next post in this mini-series.

What do you want to declare today?

Posted by Kim George at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Realistic:  Of or relating to the representation of objects, actions, or social conditions as they actually are.  (American Heritage Dictionary, 2000)

Truly abundant goals are realistic goals.  What does that mean?  To implement goals and get the results we want, we have to first carefully consider what we want.  A realistic goal is based who we are -- not who our boss, parents, spouse or any other external driver thinks we are.  The most successful goals are based on intentions that are in alignment with our values, our vision, and our capacity. I may have a big audacious goal to be a millionaire by the end of 2006.  However, if I am not even making $20,000 and I'm not taking specific, actionable steps to change my reality, this is an unrealistic goal.

I've seen a lot of unrealistic goal setting in business people.  It's great to dream big and everyone can benefit by creating a big vision, but if that vision is not grounded in practical, tangible ways, it is unrealistic.

So why do so many people recycle unrealistic goals year after year?  I believe it's related to the Illusion of Struggle and the Illusion of Control.  A lot of us have a love affair with struggle, don't we?  We identify with struggle.  We think it shows us the boundaries of who we are.  When things are hard, they may be more familiar.  By always striving, we negate who we are by buying into the idea that we're incomplete, less than, not enough.  When we create goals that are ungrounded and always out of our reach, it's a way to keep things safe, predictable. We can stay in control of our lives, because we can predict how it's going to turn out.

Unrealistic goals are like the tug of war you played at those family picnics as a kid.  There's a lot of effort back and forth, struggling to win, but in the end, there's only one winner.  When a person creates unrealistic goals, they're not the winner - complacency is.  Unrealistic goals set us up for failure and more struggle.  They're mighty convenient that way.  They keep us playing small.  They keep us from living into our greatness and being abundant.

Could you benefit from a little reality in your goal setting?

Posted by Kim George at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All this week, I'm blogging about ways that goals can be feeders of illusion and keep us from actually doing what we CAN do.  I've seen the Illusion of Certainty show up in my goals and in many of my clients goals frequently. 

Certainty is a funny thing.  It's an illusion most of the time, because there are very few things in life we can actually be certain of.  (Yup, I know, death and taxes.)  If we strip away our conditioned patterns, we can also be certain of one other unchanging reality: who we are -- our greatness. 

Certainty impacts our goals when our need to know the outcome of something keeps us from doing what we CAN do.  Take Josie, for example.  Her goal was to start her own floral shop, but she kept procrastinating and adding to her to do list--never actually taking any of the steps to make her floral business a reality.  She couldn't sleep at night, her mind reeling with fears about the risks involved. The Illusion of Certainty is at play here.  Josie loved the familiarity of her boring, unfulfilling job.  She loved the "security" of a weekly paycheck. 

And yet, slowly, surely, that satin lined coffin of Certainty was suffocating her.

Josie couldn't get past the need to know absolutely, to have proof, that her floral business would succeed.  And nobody could give that to her.  As a result, her goal slowly died on the vine.

Take a look at your own goals.  Are you comfortable?  Have you furnished a satin lined coffin?

Posted by Kim George at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Year's Resolutions.  Goals.

Tis the season to make 'em and break 'em.

As I was working on my intentions for 2006, it got me to thinking about the dark side of goal setting.  At this week's BNI meeting, I stood up and made a confession. I don't believe in Goals.

There's nothing wrong with goals, per se.  I just don't believe in taking goals at face value. Through my experience coaching 100's of business people, there is a Tipping Point when goals become a source of scarcity.  This week, I'm going to share some insights I've had on just how goals can be the feeder of Illusions.

How many of you have at least one goal you've not met for at least 2 years? (It's ok, you can raise your hand - this is a blog and no one can see you.)  Having an ongoing goal is not necessarily a bad thing - it's when we keep recycling the same old goals year after year, with no focused, intentional action to go along with it, that we run into problems.

When Goal Recycling happens, it can quickly become a sign that the Illusion of Hope is at play.  One of the sources of Scarcity thinking, the Illusion of Hope is what causes us to put our Greatness on hold by waiting for someone or something else to solve our uneasiness of who we are.

The Illusion of Hope is characterized by expectation, powerlessness, and assumption.  How do these conditioned patterns keep us from reaching our goals?  When we expect life (and people) to be a certain way, we make assumptions about what will happen.  If I assume that I will train 100 people this year because I believe I have such a great program, I may expect that I will make over 6 figures as my goal.  However, if underneath this goal, I have a deep rooted fear that I'm really not that great of a trainer, or my program has a lot of kinks in it, or I hate flying (and my training success requires a lot of travel) any one of these fears can be a sign of powerlessness.  And if that keeps me from doing what I can do - marketing my program, networking with prospects, etc. I'm stuck in the Illusion of Hope and recycling my goals.

What goals have you been recycling?

Posted by Kim George at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)