Your Courage is what's needed in your life and your business right now.

God knows, you need a medal some mornings just for getting out of bed!

The more you consciously and rigorously exercise this muscle of courage, the more it becomes your natural response in your life.

Don't allow this muscle to get flabby.

Fear makes a terrible and ruthless prison warden in your business and in your life.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Jim Clifton's Meaning of Life

 Jennifer Robison was conducting a Q&A with Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup and author of The Coming Jobs War.

The topic was: "The Next Generation of Leadership"

At the end of the intense and very interesting interview Jim asked Jennifer:
 
"Do you have any other questions?"

JR: Well, yes. What's the meaning of life?

Clifton: The meaning of life is to build as much as you can, then die.

JR: I was kidding.

Clifton: I wasn't.


This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Being a Victim: Lesson 1:

When you are being a victim, it's a funny game you are unconsciously choosing that gives you the experience of being powerless, helpless and possibly victimised.

It's really useful to have a read of some Transactional Analysis that explains the role of victim, in relation to two other little games we can find ourselves playing: the Persecutor and the Rescuer.

In other words, you don't have to be stuck in the role of being a victim.  You can totally transform your circumstances by firstly becoming aware of what being a victim is, what the payoffs for playing the victim role and what the costs in your life of being a victim.

A recent post talked about Nelson Mandela, incarcerated in Robben Island for 22 years.

Instead of choosing to see himself as a victim, without possibilities or power, he chose to be a master of his own destiny, and in fact, the destiny of his country and people.

It can be done.  That's the good news.

You can understand the workings of this role.  That's the other good news.

The best news that Lesson Number one holds is that that you, by raising your awareness and  your understanding of "Victimhood", that you can indeed, transform everything around you and be freer and more powerful than you could have ever believed.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Having to Be In Control, is not the same as Being Strong

In fact, it's most often a weakness, especially if it's a habitual behavior that operates below the level of awareness.

Any pattern, any habit, any recurring pattern that you operate in your life, without being aware that you are actually doing it, is a weakness, even if the person who is running their life on these patterns, appear to be in a position of power and strength.

Last night I watched The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela.  It showed how he went within himself in Robin Island Prison to build his character, so that he forced his warders to respect him.

He was in a perceived position of weakness and yet he flipped the roles by focusing on his inner power.

A great example of how easily perceived power can crumble. Especially if those in control are operating from an unexamined and unaware basis.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Coming out of the Dark Forest

The first signs that you are coming out of the Dark Forest is Clarity.

Clarity about who you are.

Clarity about what's important to you.

Clarity about what needs to happen.

Clarity about what you have learned.

Clarity about what you need to say or do to who or what.

You might not even notice that you are out of the forest,

It takes sometimes a while to adjust.

But other times its obvious and you stride out of the forest with determination, clear vision and a song in your heart.



This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

The Goal-less Life Vs The Goal Driven Life Debate.

 Here is your chance to view two great bloggers lock horns on the debate between having a life without any goals Vs having a goal driven life.  Leo Babauta Vs Tim Ferris!

Leo Babauta is a productivity blogger who is experimenting with a life free of goals. His blog is called Zen Habits.

Tim Ferris is an insanely productive goal setter who has just written a book called the  Four Hour Chef. His blog and first book is called the Four Hour Week.

Okay - now you have these valuable resources, sit back and view their amazing debate.  I'd love to hear what you get out of this and what you will put into place.



This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

I know some things about you....

...if you are a Small to Medium Business Enterprise owner, and you don't have a good coach.

You are probably overworked, you haven't had a holiday for a long, long time.

You are not planning and if you are, you are not following up on your planning.

You are not accountable for putting into action, what you say you are going to do and you are making it up as you go along.

If you have staff, you know you can't talk to them about your business and your spouse only has so much time and patience to listen to you.  It's lonely running a SME.

You are probably worrying about the changes that are happening and how you can deal with them - you might even be losing sleep over it.

You probably have some great ideas, but they are buried below the overwhelming daily tasks and details you choose to immerse yourself in each day.

Hey - give yourself a break....or if you don't have an SME business and you know someone who fits this description - give them a break!


Call me and take advantage of a Complimentary Clarity Session.  That's where you find your own clarity and a way out off the treadmill.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Zen in Your Processes

 There's an old Zen saying that goes like this:

"First there is a mountain. Then there is no mountain. Then there is"

This saying has always hinted at and described to me a process, an adventure that you take yourself on.  A journey of self discovery that opens your eyes, frees you from your constraints and dramatically improves the quality of your life.

Here's how I see it working in the coaching process:

 

First you see yourself without making any distinctions. 

You are unexamined, undistinguished and simply being you 

and your current level of constraints and freedom.    

Mountains are just mountains.

Then you make the distinctions and you start working with them.  

You start seeing things that were un-see-able before.  

You start having conversations with your disowned selves that

 result in understanding, forgiveness, love and completion. 

Mountains are not mountains.

Then suddenly, your distinctions collapse, your disowned selves 

integrate with your whole. New freedoms, powers and possibilities 

are now present and accessible. You are whole and complete again.....but with a difference only you can know.   

Mountains are mountains again.

  Illustration by Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D

 This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity at addsvalue.blogspot.com.au  Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Giving yourself Credit

You know, it's okay to give yourself credit,

to measure your progress,

to celebrate your achievements....

even though you are so tough on yourself and

tough on what qualifies to be given credit to.

Go on!

Give yourself the credit!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Creative Goals are Rocket Fuel!

It never ceases to amaze me what effect a creative goal has on the life of any person.

It lights up and turns the ante up for any business goal.

It fires up any social contribution goal.

It powers career goals, clears away obstacles for all manner of goals.

Never underestimate the power of including a creative goal.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

No matter how tough or easy things get, Clarity helps you win the day.

It doesn't matter if you are winning accolades for your successes or sitting in the gutter with your tough times, Clarity is the one thing that engages you with the task at hand and gives you the best chance of success at whatever you are doing.

So if you find yourself at the bottom of a pit with slippery walls....time to reflect and seek out your clarity.

And if you find yourself at the top of whatever mountain you have been climbing.  Once again, it's time to reflect and seek out your clarity.

Kipling was right.

Success and Failure are both imposters.

It's so easy to both lose and find yourself in both success and failure. 

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

So Australia and New Zealand are pretty good places to be born right now.

In a recent survey run by the Economist, Australia ranked the second best place in the world to be born in and New Zealand ranked number seven.  Right up there in great company, both countries.

So what are you waiting for?

Is this really going to be "Just another day in Paradise" or are we going to make hay while the sun shines upon us?

In Jim Collin's latest book: "Great by Choice" he's the first to scientifically study the impact of luck - good and bad - on companies.  He's coined a term ROL: Return on Luck.  The key is not to squander the good luck that comes your way; and to turn bad luck into an advantage.

Well if we are living in "The Lucky Country" and "Godzone" then lets put our luck to good use and turn any bad luck into our advantage!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Escaping The Red Queen's Race - a bad habit for business owners.

The Red Queen's race is an incident that appears in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass and involves the Red Queen, a representation of a Queen in chess, and Alice constantly running but remaining in the same spot.

"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else — if you run very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."

"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

The Red Queen's Race is a draining and unproductive strategy many business owners adopt in order to deal with business change.

To simply work harder to achieve the same result is sometimes a necessary temporary measure, but to get used to it and have it be the new “status quo” is a mistake that will drag you to exhaustion and poor, unclear thinking.

Unfortunately that’s exactly what’s happened to many business owners.

This is what leads them to states of overwhelm, stress and overwork.

It firstly takes the courage to admit that the Red Queen is running your show, then you have to muster up more courage and commitment to take some time out to plan a new, more resourceful and sustainable strategy. 

Then it’s time to plan your implementation of that strategy, humbling yourself and making you accountable to someone that you will indeed, take the measures to make your changes.

Then it’s into action, action and more action, building new habits and ways of thinking.

Alice never got to change the Red Queen.  She only visited her, to enable you to see what you are doing to yourself.

You are the only one who can take control back off the Red Queen.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

How can you think resourcefully?

Well, that's the question.

Especially when you find yourself:

• Being overwhelmed by your work at the coal face of your business
• By being overworked and having no left over time or energy to think clearly
• Getting left behind by your customer behaviors and values
• Not staying ahead of, keeping up with or generating change in your industry
• Not having a team of people to support you in implementing your business
• Worrying about all of this and losing sleep

 This is what I suggest.

• Take a regular time out to plan and reflect
• Set quarterly goals
• Clarify your vision, values and what you do best in your business
• Force yourself to take regular holidays and breaks during your year
• Have someone with ruthless compassion and the courage to tell you the truth to keep you accountable
• Regularly celebrate your achievements
• Regularly exercise
• Eat and supplement well
• Spend more quality time with the people you love and care about.

 ..........Over to you.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Coversations You Don't Want to Have with Yourself.

Every internal pain and disturbance comes from a conversation we aren't willing to have with ourselves.

When you take the time to listen to your jostling, contradictory, feisty, and competing selves,

When you realise that each one of you is part of your whole,

Your pains release, your behavior aligns, your love and tolerance of others get's unleashed,

You start to Be | Do | Have what you have come here for. 

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

It’s About Looking for What’s Already There

"What you can conceive of, you can achieve."

......is the basis of the coaching conversation.

The coach just keeps looking 

......just like a fisherman who knows there's fish there

.......under the rippling sunlit water,

......who has to look and adjust their eyes to see the fish

.......that don't even look like fish.

A coach is always looking for what's already there, straining to see the unseen,

seeking to hear the unsaid, the undefined and the indistinguished.

The trick being, when you see it;

- you immediately capture it by defining and acknowledging your client for it

- you triumphantly hold up a wonderous, shaking, vigorous rainbow colored fish in your hands

Then your client then knows new possibilities, new qualities, new stregnths.

That in itself, doesn't just feed them for a day - it feeds them for a lifetime.


This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Noticing your Internal Dialogue is better than fighting it.

Your internal dialogue is better any day out in the open.

If you fight it, it will simply go underground, below your radar, it will go and lurk in dark places in you that you don't even know about and will play you like a puppet.

You can't fight it and win.  Simple as that.

You only win with your internal dialogue if you keep it out in the open, keep pulling the curtain aside and revealing it's shady manipulations and it's unchallenged assumptions.

Invite your internal dialogue to show itself and be part of your planning process.

The Kiwis have a saying: "Better out than in".

In this case, it's very, very true!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Noticing your Obstacles is better than fighting them.

It's the nature of obstacles.

They want your attention, they maneuver you see them as "The Problem" and beguile you to throw your full attention and resources at them.

However, I learnt from mountain biking and kyacking that if you want to get past obstacles, you don't put your focus upon the obstacle, because that is exactly where you will go if you do that. 

Cyclists and kyakers  focus on the gap or the pathway that gets you past the obstacle.

A kyaker once told me: "The water doesn't crash into the rock, it flows around it."

It's the same old coaching story - "Focus on your pleasurable end result" not the obstacles standing in your way!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Three Lessons for Your Business

 It's no accident that SME business owners go down the track of stress, overwork and overwhelm.

There are three simple lessons to be learnt from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon to help you focus on the important rather than the "Busy-ness"

1. Throw Away the Rule Book - don't listen to people's well meaning  advice if you have a gut feeling - sometimes being stubborn is exactly the right thing to be.
2. Hire Quality Employees - the concept of:"hire slowly, fire quickly" feels like a challenge, but these are the people who can either help you grow your business....or destroy your business - your choice.
3. Think Long Term. Having the long term in mind, helps you recognise opportunities and quickly make decisions that will enable you to fast track your business toward the destination of your choice.

Have a look at this video  for the full story:

So what can you do in the next week, to put these three lessons into place?

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Creating a goal and allowing it to happen

You may have noticed this already.

You have set some goals - maybe even written them down,

Then you have forgotten all about them.

Then when reflecting about your achievements, you discover you have already achieved your goals...
 ......without you putting any attention to make it happen.

Sometimes, it happens.

Sometimes you simply have thrown out a possibility and allowed it to happen.

Could this work in your other goals?

 - to allow it to happen - to let it unfold naturally?

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...