There is No Competition. Period
April 22, 2010 by Karen Fagan · 2 Comments
Tough one, eh? It’s a hard concept to grasp and many coaches and helping professionals struggle with shifting their mindset to believe it. The thing is, the only time you are in competition with others is when you allow yourself to get caught up in what everyone else is doing. That’s because when you spend your time minding other people’s business, you stop minding your own.
When you’re constantly watching what others are doing and judging their actions against your own, your belief in yourself, your products and your services diminish to the point where you forget your unique brilliance. You then begin to wonder if you really have what it takes.
From this diminished place you start to think:
- It’s all been done.
- Who am I to do this?
- Insert your own here: ___________________
When you have these thoughts you have landed in the state of entrepreneurial envy. And what are the results? Your business stagnates and you get caught in a trap of comparing yourself to others, losing focus on yourself and your unique talents.
Here is what I mean . . .
Some of you know I was a competitive runner. One of the very first things I learned was to never look at the competition. So, why did my running coach tell me this? Because the minute you look at your competition, you slow down.
This advice worked for running and it works for business. The truth of the matter is that you don’t need to look at others because the results you’re after are for YOU. They’re based on what YOU decide, what you strive for. There are a lot of people who are overwhelmed, not deciding and under-implementing their brilliant ideas because they feel they don’t measure up to their “competition.” They are not doing what they need to do to grow their business because they are so caught up in what everyone else is doing that their self-value diminishes and they get stuck.
What about you? When you get an email or see a Facebook page offering services similar to yours, what is your reaction? For many people, their entrepreneur envy mind starts thinking, “Why should I bother? Everyone else is already doing what I want to do.” If that applies to you, pay special attention to what I am about to tell you.
Stop shutting down your brilliant ideas. Stop judging your value and your success by what’s coming into your inbox and focus on your own race.
Turn off your entrepreneur envy and build your business. When you compare yourself to others, or look outside of yourself for validation, your progress slows way down because you’ve lost focus of your goals. Stay true to your unique brilliance. Know and believe that you have something wonderful to offer the world and success will follow.
“When,” you ask? Well, that’s up to you. Success isn’t intangible or uncontrollable. Success is the result you get when you align your energy with your intentions. When I was a runner there were always runners ahead of me and runners behind me. The secret to winning my race lay in my ability to focus on MY run, on putting my one foot ahead of the other in the fastest, most deliberate way possible. The same applies to business.
There will always be people with more experience than you, and those with less. Don’t get caught up in paying attention to any of them. Stay focused on your own game. One thing is for sure, there is only one YOU. No one else is able to deliver your unique brilliance to your business and your life except for you. Bring it on!
Weekly Empowerment Tips:
- Turn off the entrepreneur envy and stop judging yourself based on what others are doing.
- Decide to own your success, step into your greatness and commit to ROCKING IT every single day.
- Commit to accomplishing three action items by the end of the week to move you closer to your success and DO THEM.
This is your business and nobody can do it like YOU!
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?
Please do! Just be sure to include this complete blurb with it:
Empowerment Expert , and Master Certified Coach Karen Fagan publishes her “Live in Your Brilliance” weekly ezine. If you want special tips to live bold, brilliant and rich in your life and business, you can sign up for a FREE subscription to Live in Your Brilliance at www.karenfagan.com. Want to see more secret tips? see Karen’s blog at Karen http://www.karenfagan.com/blog/
Perfectly Imperfect Self – The Process of Self Acceptance
February 18, 2010 by Karen Fagan · 2 Comments
Many people think they need to be different before their lives and business can shift. I believe we have to upgrade our internal operating system and decide to change our mindset and then our life will change.
I ask clients to take their perfectly imperfect self and show up. Be willing to do life imperfectly. Why? You create self-acceptance and confidence by showing up in your life and business just as you are right now. This is the direct route to self-acceptance. The benefits you will receive for showing up will be many. A true connection to you and your true purpose, increase in confidence and you build a deeper belief you can do it. You don’t have to be totally confident, fearless, or clear to show up in your life. You don’t have to be different to show up now and move towards your goals. You already have everything you need to show up now. Life can be unclear and you can still take action just by showing up in your own life.
This means you can show up:
| tired | with no clients | unprepared |
| afraid | not knowing | with love |
| preoccupied | with opinions | with wrinkles on your face |
| with resistance | confused | in the outfit that’s not your favorite |
| curious | without your lipstick on | with your hair pulled back |
| frustrated | with your workout clothes on |
Showing up for yourself just the way you are helps you relax into your own skin and get comfortable. Showing up for yourself brings you joy even if it’s uncomfortable at first. Are you going to wait to until everything perfect? If so, you may be waiting a long time. The act of showing up just as you are leads you to where you want to go. Self acceptance of the perfectly imperfect self is expansive and provides synergy towards your goals. Self acceptance is embracing yourself just as you are now.
Take your perfectly imperfect self and take action towards your goals, show up fully in your life, in the conversation, in class, in your business, in your relationships, in your bank account, tell someone you goofed up or that you did something brilliant. Many people don’t talk about themselves because they don’t feel worthy or they feel ashamed. Take whatever you’re hiding and let it be known. You will be surprised how well people will receive your gifts. When you reveal yourself you create a flow inside your being, you free yourself of your own shackles and you start naturally start to accept yourself in the present moment at a deeper level. If you are resisting making your offers known, be willing to show up imperfectly and let it be known. In the midst of showing up you create change. What you get in return is movement forward. Showing up blows hiding-out away!
We’re here to live, explore, learn, expand and feel joy. Why deny yourself and keep hiding-out? The only result you get from not showing up in your life, is denying the self of what it truly desires. Showing up can feel awkward and kind of frightening, but it sure is a heck of a lot better than showing up with a false mask on or isolating yourself from what you want because you are not different yet.
When are you going to show up just as you are?
Post a comment I’d love to know.
Morning Empowerment: Aligning Yourself with Your Destiny
January 28, 2010 by Karen Fagan · 2 Comments
You can stand in the way of your destiny, but you cannot escape it. Your purpose is inside you; you were born with it! Your destiny is uniquely yours — isn’t that cool? The best way to greet your destiny is through the practice of morning empowerment and aligning yourself to be 100% full-on with your destiny.
Creating morning empowerment connects your mind, energy and actions to live your destiny bigger than you have ever imagined. When you make time to be intentional, deliberate and focused, your self-confidence skyrockets and you develop unshakable faith in your abilities. Not only will you get clear on your destination path, you will also get much better results in your life.
If you’ve read my free eBook, “Your 5-Step Guide to Kick Start Your Success: A New Empowered You,” you’ll know exactly what I mean by giving yourself time for empowerment through implementing an Hour of Power in your daily routine. If you haven’t read my eBook, please sign up at www.karenfagan.com/yourempowermentexpert to receive your free copy. It will instantly make a huge difference in your life. Immediately you will start to feel really good about YOU and the direction you’re going in.
The best thing about giving yourself an Hour of Power it that it gets YOU connected to YOU through getting your creative energy flowing and your manifestation energy rocking. Sweet results follow!
To get you moving in your success, I highly recommend you create morning empowerment through the practice of the Hour of Power. It doesn’t always have to be an hour; it can be fifteen minutes if that’s all you have. The point is to make time in your daily routine for YOU. What I will guarantee is that if you commit to this practice daily, you will desire (and eventually create) the time for an Hour of Power. Why? Within the first day, you’ll begin to notice significantly better outcomes in your life.
To help you get into your morning empowerment, I highly recommend you avoid the computer, your cell phone, the TV, the newspaper … anything that isn’t all about you.
Set the Scene:
Awake early before anyone else. (I love, love this time of day!!!) Drink water and light a candle as your coffee is brewing. When I light my candle, I give gratitude for the present moment.
Set Your Intentions:
Write your intentions out in your manifestation or gratitude journal. Make note of any creative ideas that arise during this time.
Visualize Your Dream:
Visualize and fully feel being exactly where you want to be in your life and business: breathe it in and fully feel your greatness. Where are you and what are you doing? What are people saying to you? (“You rock!” “We’re so happy we found you!”) Where do you live? Who is with you? How do you feel in your body?
Plan Deliberately:
Take time to create a deliberate plan for your day, hour-by-hour, and release resistance to having a schedule. This is a huge step in setting yourself up for success, on course with your destiny. Think of planning your day in terms of getting on your direct path to live out your destiny. The added benefit of planning your valuable time is that you acquire more time and more money to do the things you love. In essence, you acquire more YOU. Planning your daily schedule is one of the best ways to invest in yourself.
When you plan out your day include:
Exercise: Along with amazing health benefits, exercise is the number one way to get motivated and move out of a slump. Plus it offers a bunch of feel good energy! Move your body and you will move your life. Whether it’s restorative movement or intensive exercise, just decide to move.
Working Hours: Plan your working hours. If you’re an entrepreneur, decide your specific schedule; do you work from 9 to 3 Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or from 8 to 12 on Tuesday and Thursday? The beauty is that you decide how to use your valuable time through creating a plan.
People & Fun: Do you have time for the people you love? What about time for fun? They’re just as valuable for your overall wellbeing as accomplishing work and exercise – maybe even more.
Fuel: Check in with yourself to make sure you have nutritious food available to you. Clean fuel food energizes you and empowers you because it makes you feel good. Therefore, your confidence increases and you’ll be more productive. Low quality food creates low quality results.
YOUR EMPOWERMENT ASSIGNMENT:
Take five minutes right now and decide to allow yourself an Hour of Power on a daily basis. Choose two things you will start doing tomorrow morning and then do them. Don’t sabotage yourself by skipping it. If you think an hour is too much, try starting with 15-20 minutes, then increase it as you continue in your practice. If we all just took an hour every day to focus our lives and set our intentions, our world would be a much better place.
It time to stop standing in your own way. Reconnect to your personal power and get on with living your destiny full out!
