Strong Intention and Clarity beats Force and Struggle any old day.

It's been a busy month, so I've been remiss at posting any insights.

It's coming up to the end of the first quarter of 2012 financial year and I've been helping a number of clients sprint for a strong finish.

In a review the other night, I was astounded in my client's  reflection, how little; hard work, struggle and long hours contributed to an amazing outcome.

The breakthroughs, time and time again, were the result of intention and clarity.

In fact once the intention was strong and the clarity obvious, the actions performed to produce the results were absolutely effortless.

(At the end of the session, both client and coach were quietly scheduling regular reflective practice in their diaries.)

Last night I watched an interview with a Para Olympic Athalete Jessie Gallagher  who was describing her training in throwing Javelin. She said: "When I do a good throw, it feels absolutely effortless."

Ease comes from focus - having a clear & strong intention and being clear about your outcome is a form of mental rehearsal.

What is your regular reflective practice?

When do you relax and do your best thinking?

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

Chet Holmes - a tall tree in the forest has fallen.

Chet Holmes, a great contributor to business owners wanting to grow their businesses has passed on and was buried on the 16th August 2012.

This quote from him moves me:

“Three months ago I Was diagnosed with Leukemia.

I have gone through an intensive period of detox, holistic health, massive prayer and sound therapies that are designed to stabilize the body to it’s most healthy self.

I  am surrendered to God’ wisdom on this journey, which is the most powerful place to come from. Nothing can hurt you if you are surrendered to God’s wisdom.

The 3-months-ago- me would’ve never surrendered to anything.”

-  Chet Holmes Unknown Date

It appears to me that Chet has surrendered to his greatness, not his smallness in all aspects of his life.

His son, Jordon, wrote this amazing poem below. If this doesn't inspire you to lead an amazing life, be an amazing parent and produce amazing works, I don't know what will.

One of the Strongest Men in the World

When I was younger my father had a Batman costume and he wore it for Halloween. Once he told me he was actually Batman and I believed him—after all he’s a fifth-degree black belt and he taught me martial arts. He taught me how to kick from the hip, he taught me how to punch because speed is power, he taught me how to break boards with my bare hands because it’s all in your mind. And sometimes during the middle of the night he would borrow my B.B. gun and go to battle with the raccoons that were constantly trying to get into the house. I used to think my dad was one of the strongest men in the world.

When I was younger we lived in a house with a pool. My father used to throw all the neighborhood kids from the shallow end all the way to the deep end. Kids would line up to be thrown—it was like being launched from a cannon. Sometimes my sister and I would grab onto his shoulders when he swam and he would just drag us all across the water in the pool. We have an old photo of him in the pool with six kids climbing up on him—three on each arm. I used to think my dad was the strongest man in the world.

Then when I went to college my dad got sick. I’m pretty sure we visited every wing on the hospital since that time. Today he was too weak to even stand up without help. I had to put his arm over my shoulder so I could pull him up to his feet. Later I sat by his hospital bed and thought back over his massive battle of the last ten months and I thought of something—my dad has to be one of the strongest men in the world.

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

How can you make money out of nothing

On the weekend, I met an amazing man who is a  business developer working with a company with green values that has started mining salt in the centre of Australia.

Talk about thinking outside of the box.

After they dig the salt up, they create these big cavernous spaces which they hire out to people who want to store art works, computers, gold - anything that needs a dry, safe environment.

It seems that salt caves keep things really dry.

They are making money out of the void that they have created - what a business concept - the hidden product!

This makes me think of you - what about your product and service creates a void that no-one else has seen yet?.


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

The answers are all around us....

 It's so simple.

The answers to all of your problems are right under your nose.

There's nothing new to explore, no big costly solution to purchase...

all you have to do is unlock your brilliant solution,

..that's right in front of you, part of who you are, part of your everyday experience...

That's why things like iphones are so familiar when we first see them and we wonder how we survived without them.

They were right under our noses all the time.

It just took someone to look at the ordinary and common and see them in an uncommon way.

What solution are you looking for right now that's probably right under your nose?

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

We all need analogies and heroic stories.....

 Life is lived best in epic style.

When the pressure is on, look to the classics of literature, legend and art.

Mahler, Shakespeare, the Greek Pantheon, the Mahabharata, the Bible, the Koran.

Epic, epic Epic!

(In fact, epic even looks strange spelt without a capitol "E" or an expllanation mark somewhere close.

We need this input, we need to elevate ourselves, we need to find comfort and inspiration in the giganticean acts and qualities of the Gods and Goddesses, the Heros and Heroines.

Now, if you don't need this stiff medicine, you might want to reconsider how, and in which arena, you are playing your life.

As Helen Keller said: "Life is a daring adventure....or nothing at all!"

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

The sword of Damocles

Shakespeare talked about it in Henry IV.

John F. Kennedy used in in his speeches.

So many of my clients are living with this mythical sword suspended magically above their head, ready to drop at any moment. It's probablly because their goals are so big, so important, so much at stake. 

You only get one of these swords if you are playing a big game for big stakes.


Wikipedia says: "The sword of Damocles is frequently used in allusion to this tale, epitomizing the imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power. More generally, it is used to denote the sense of foreboding engendered by a precarious situation"

Ever since I've been exploring producing a tool to help people sleep, I've been hearing from clients, friends, and people I simply meet, about this sword.

They may not have read Shakespeare, but you can see the sword gleaming between their words.

The wonderful irony of it all is that the sword rarely falls, and if it does, the person below it is so well prepared for whatever consequences or scenarios that occur, that the outcome is never as bad as what was keeping them up at night, staring at their ceiling.

I guess worry does have it's function.

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

You know you can do it

That's stuck in your mind,

that's why your dream keeps being dreamt, bubbling up in your mind.

Because you know you could do it - you really could pull it off!

All you have to do is put your focus upon it,

let go of all your distractions,

keep acting on it every day,

keep on  measuring away,

keep being the person who would do something like this,

keep being passionate and true.

Thats all you need to do.

You can really, really do it.

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

You've got to want it bad, bad BAD - if you want to get it.

How bad do you want your goals?

How willing are you to put yourself on the line to achieve your success?

What's your comittment to your word, to your desire, to what's really important to you?

Are you going to abdicate it...or are you going to fight for it?

Are you going to end up giving everything you've got to get it and walk tall whichever way it turns out?....or are you going to hang your head in shame, knowing you never really tried?

Are you going to back yourself?

Watch this video and let me know what you have in you.



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

Inspiration is Best Served Hot!

You have to jump on it.

Inspiration is a gift, a sign of what's important for you in your work, your life and your relationships.

Some people are inspired more than others, have you noticed?

These are the people who realise that not only is inspiration best served hot....

....but also that one inspiration can lead to another!

Inspiration seems to congregate in packs.

So what are you waiting for?

Jump on it and see where it leads you!

....you might not only find a pack of inspiration, but a group of like minded people you can work with.

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

You are so Vast

 I only can see a small corner of who you are.

Most people see even less - some of these people know you really, really well.

You probably only see a small corner of who you are.

.....and are living your life as if that corner is who you really are.

You are not a corner.  That's just part of who you are - who you really are.

If you could only get a glimpse of how vast you are,

I wonder what kind of life you would choose to live?

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

Happy Mother's day thoughts......

One of the best things that happened to me this weekend was to meet Vivian Andrews from the Healing Shed who had been a teacher of my mum in the last year of her life.

Mum had taken on learning about Reiki - a healing method.

Not bad for someone at the end of her life.

Vivienne told me she admired my mum greatly for her playfulness, wisdom and openess.

She told me that she aspired to be like my mum if she ever got to her age.

So here's a video for you to share with all the mothers who inspire you.

Here's for the vivacious, fun-loving, playful and adventurous mothers out there who teach their kids how to pick themselves up and try again....and again.!

The poem she is saying is the point - after the poem, if you want more, keep watching.



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

Why Careing is important for you

 Seth Godin wrote an amazing post on caring more this morning.

Since returning to Australia, we have been in situations where we needed to care for others and where we needed others to care for us.

The doing | being | and results of this have been incredible.

The depth of trust, fellowship, communication and automatic, unconditional, reciprocal support has been outstanding.

One of my earlier email signatures stated: "You don't care how much we know until you know how much we care" 


And when I asked 85 year old man how they coped with putting food on the table and shelter over their family's heads during a war and a depression - I was told: ".....we all took care of each other"

Now, friendship, loyalty and trust, has opened up to a new level of experience and importance for me and my business. My practice of acceptance, forgiveness and care has broken me to a new level of personal accountability.  I invite you to test me and see.

And the present times, more than ever, demand it of us.

Christchurch Child's drawing

Watching my friends in Christchurch from afar face their shared reality of constant, uprooting earthquakes showed me how strong the bonds of shared challenges can be.

Acts of heroism, loyalty and help from strangers set a new level and expectation of behavior for everyone who lived there. 

I have benefited from being around that.

Coming to a big city like Sydney, being warned by my country friends and family that it's "full of bastards!", I find that it's full of compassionate, helpful and inspiring people who help me at every turn of the way.

Whether it's me emanating some sort of attractive energy for that....or whether that's how it really is - I don't know.

But I do know that the more I care, the more that I show my care by extending beyond my own comfort and convenience, my life is enhanced, remarkable and extraordinary.

......and the more supported and  blown away am I, by the people around me.

 Thank you to all my extraordinary clients, friends and family.

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

The Top Players don't make the Best Coaches

Would you want one of these to be your coach?

That's what Rose told me today.

She's a sports coach (Netball) who is avidly following the brilliant show - The Voice  (Australia).

The four 'coaches' have been chosen for their fame and success on the stage, not for their coaching skills.

But in this reality game show, they are competing with each other with their abilities to coach and mentor the best out of their teams.  We shall see how they go with this. 

They are all giving lip service to how inspiring their teams are.  Let's see how true that is. Undoubtedly great performers on stage are mostly faking it.  Our beings can smell authenticity in our coaches and like a horse, won't drink the water you lead it to..

There are three international artists with big pulling power - it has been recently publicized that one judge, Delta was getting paid way less than the three big boys.

However, Rose informed me that it was Delta's team who gave the best performances.

We don't get to see the authentic process of the coaching on the screen.  We do however, get to see some excellent feedback from all of the coaches.

But how true is it, that if you are a star and you are in a position to coach someone to their best form, the first big obstacle is your own clinging to be the center of attention. 

Your own "Star" persona and sense of importance is the first thing for you to overcome.  You only become a "great coach" when you stop trying to be a great coach and start focusing on your "great client", seeing and being inspired by their greatness - becoming their greatest fan!.

Delta is the underdog and is simply working harder with the people she has been given. Her focus is on her team's greatness.

Watch closely as the stars learn how to be coaches!

What are you learning from this amazing show?

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

Seth Godin does it again....and again!

Amazing how he does it.

He writes his thoughts and observations about change, marketing, character, courage, self sabotage, the Lizard brain....

And he just keeps inspiring me!

He just keeps me thinking!

He gives me something every time.

I don't know how he does it - he just does.

Do I have the courage to tell it like it is? Do you?

Do I have the courage to ship?

Do I like hearing it from him that it takes courage and guts to do that?

People like him feed my soul, encourage my freedom and push me to the edge of my comfort zone.

Thanks to all those people - you know who you are!

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

My Sister Colleen.

She's always believed in me, all her life, she's always engaged and challenged me mentally and spiritually and we have shared our amazing passage of our lives together, even though we now are in separate countries.

She is a master coach trainer, who specialises in intuitive coaching - she is amazing!

She is currently running an amazing tea house in Balmain, Sydney called "Beyond the Ordinary!"

I have her to thank for me getting into coaching. She was a coach trainer for a coaching training company about five years ago - she called me up and told me that I'd be a great coach and that she had enrolled me in the course and had paid for it too - she's amazingly generous too!

And that was the start. I had to un-learn everything I did and knew as a trainer and learn to listen rather than tell or inspire. She was my younger sister and yet she could do amazing things while I was struggling with the basics!

And she coached me too. And then she mentored my first coaching with clients and gave me straight and valuable feedback and encouragement.

I am so grateful for her.

The other day I called her up, feeling morose after having been through three funerals.

She answered brightly and said: "How are you Mike - you sound a bit heavy!"

I said how I was feeling a bit down with all the funerals and she said straight back to me: "You always do this around funerals Mike - you always think about our brother's funeral and you just wallow around in it!"

I asked her: "Do you think I'm being Morose?"

"Damn right you are Mike - this is just what you do! - Okay - right now, I'm going off to have some fun - See ya!"

- "Click!"

She hung up.

But I had admitted that I was being Morose. She had sown a seed!

As soon as she got off the phone - I started to have fun!

She's a great coach - she got me to acknowledge where I was at and immediatly I got off it!

What a great technique!

She's an amazing coach!

I love my sis!

Email Mike...

Saying Goodbye to Morris.

He found himself in the theatre of war on an Island called Crete. He was there with my father facing an enemy outnumbered out fired and with no hope of winning

He was captured there, the same as my Dad and taken to a prisoner of war camp in Germany. For many years, his life was at risk every day from being shot, disease and starvation. ...and worst still - boredom!

Go figure - life is amazing - I came to this tiny town off the main road and found someone like Morris, someone who had so much in common with my Dad, who somehow stayed alive through that terrible time, came back to family and a community who had no idea of what he had gone through and started a totally new life.

He told me a story about a mate of his, who could spend a whole day shovelling dirt into one wheelbarrow. You could get shot if they caught you doing nothing. This guy had it down to an art form where he spent the whole day looking like he was doing something, but nothing actually got done.... in the face of his life being at risk if they caught him! Morris reckoned it was harder work for him to do that than to actually do the work!

I knew him instantly. I had grown up with a man who had survived a POW camp. I knew about funny little ways and things that couldn't be questioned and emotions that flared unexpectedly. I knew about obsessive compulsive routines, spit polished shoes and endless stories about the war and the depression. I could even tell the kids at school who had ex servicemen as their father - there was much we kids all had in common that the others would never know about.

I had taken on caring and helping heal my Dad. I knew from an early age that listening was a healing force. That giving my complete attention to my Dad was therapy for him. This quest of healing my Dad led me to read and explore psychology at an early age. I was fascinated by dreams and Dad would always share his dreams from the night before. This was the early stages of what I now call my Calling or my Career.

So I absolutely recognised Morris when I met him - and we clicked!

Morris was funny. He was always looking at the quirky side of things, having people on.

Morris was also courageous with his emotions. He met his soul mate late in life and Francis became his love. I always admired the way both of them lustily enjoyed each other and sought out fun together! They were growing old disgracefully and loving it! ...and they were loving fearlessly in the face of it being able to be taken away any day! What courage!

He also loved cars. He knew them all and had private fantasies that he would share when you got him started. And all his cars all had stories too. I often saw him at Mohan's Garage or the local service station.

His last stroke really affected him. He moved to the hospital accommodation in our local retirement village.

I went round this year to see if he wanted to go to Anzac Day. He just wasn't up to it. I dropped in to Francis's place after the Dawn Parade and there they were, happily having brunch, doing their thing. That was the last time I saw you Morris - and it was a real nice time with you and Francis.

I have heard Maori say that you can bury your problems and negativity with someone who has passed on.

Today I am burying my cowardice that stops me being who I really am. I am burying my disappointments and my failures, so they won't ever stop me again. I am burying my despair and my fears, so that I might live.

Take them with you to God for me Morris - you have been a friend to me and I will miss you.

Email Mike

Yogi Martin - Slowing Down Your Perception of Time!

I seem to be attracting amazing people to me lately!

Out of the blue, Yogi and Suzie dropped by and over coffee, shared about their latest adventures.

Yogi is a master accordionist who pulled out the amazing Roland digital piano accordion and gave us an incredible demonstration of his and his instrument's range and ability.

Not only that, he shared his techniques to show people how to slow down time. We explored this amazing ability in our post on chess master, Josh Waitzkin, writer of the book "The Art of Learning".

In my discussions and reflections since posting that article, we do this in the coaching process. In the coaching session, we slow down our perceptions by focusing for clarity in different areas of our clients situations.

Yogi has some amazing one minute techniques up his sleeve to help you do this.

If you want to know more about this amazing technique, go to his blog.

You also might want to hear Josh Waitzkin talk about this again as well. Listen carefully to his description of his martial arts competition fight where he slows down time.

More on Bronwyn Hayward, an extraordinary person!

Bronwyn Hayward's film "Beauty" has the following review:

"The Royal New Zealand Ballet is featured as a parallel universe to Bronwyn’s perceptions of her dance world. Juxtaposed with the iconic classical are other dance worlds, including dance as a ‘street’ event and improvisational postmodern pastiche. The worlds of dance spin around and, as their ellipses overlap, a challenge is laid to those who present the dance as a world of perfection, youth and ‘beauty’"

Bronwyn also does workshops like:

Dare to Dream
Remember when you were little
and someone asked what you
wanted to be when you grew up?
And anything and everything was
possible? This workshop is for
anyone who wants to dream again, to believe their dreams are possible
and to learn the steps necessary to
actually make them come true.

Bronwyn has been a social worker, advocate, academic, researcher and dancer for over a decade. She likes to
challenge the way we view, perceive, value and experience impairment and disability. She conducts a series of workshops: Fresh Flowers in the Bathroom; Dare to Dream; and The Beautiful Dance.

Copies on DVD and video are available by contacting Bronwyn Hayward at bronwyn.hayward@clear.net.nz

"Beauty"

She's intense, she's feisty, she expresses herself with every pore in her body - we met Bronwyn Hayward - Dancer, working towards her PhD, Disability Advocate, who was speaking at a Matariki event.

She shared with us her dream of being a little girl who wanted to become a ballerina.....and because she couldn't walk, everyone told her she couldn't do it.

Now, I've heard countless women who've told me this story before, ,maybe you have too...."how they wanted to be a ballerina ....but...."

And there was always some reason, some obstacle that had stopped them.

But Bronwyn is different.

She challenged her obstacles. She never took no for an answer.

She went into action, chased her dream and well, ....she's a dancer - no doubt about that!

And it was amazing to watch her dance - great dancers transcend physical boundaries and she is no different - all her dancing was on the floor, but she transported the whole room into an emotional journey, somewhere else, somewhere different!

Yes, she has a disability, but that's not what you see or hear. What you do see and hear is another human expressing her passion and her love of life - all life! In fact, in my research of her, no-one even mentions what her disability is!

She is working towards achieving her PhD, she speaks out at every chance, at every forum she can stand up and be heard at....and she is absolutely delightful to talk with.

Her film, "Beauty" in which she works with the Royal NZ Ballet, is about a teenager's dream of becoming a dancer.

In it, she dances with "Mainstream" ballerinas - two worlds of dance, dancing with each other.

Copies on DVD and video are available by contacting Bronwyn Hayward at bronwyn.hayward@clear.net.nz

Asking the Right Question, allowing People their Dignity - some really neat insights here!

Jacqueline Novogratz talks about her projects in Africa and reveals some really great thoughts about listening, facilitating Human Dignity and running a really inspiring goal! Worth a look - takes around 20 mins.