Leveraging Intention

In January are you like most people, thinking about your New Year’s resolutions? And are you like most people … by December has even the memory of what your January resolutions were faded?

I make no judgments here. Anytime you take a moment to look at your life and consider what to do in the future, it’s a major win.

It’s too easy to keep moving through life, doing the same thing day after day, using well-worn strategies to avoid the pain of familiar things not working, and letting the years pass as we all grow older. Life is hard enough without stirring things up and making changes. Or so it seems.

We do grow older. Kids learn from what we do more than what we say, so if we’re meeting our problems with angry outbursts, drugs or alcohol, or distancing ourselves from the world, so will they. If we have given up on our dreams, they will not know how to find their own. If we settle for an uninspired life within the confines of what our early conditioning allowed us to explore, the world will never benefit from our true inner gifts, and we will always know we missed the part of life that could have been the most satisfying.

But it’s hard to shake things up. Our schedules are already overflowing. We are already behind in so many important projects. Why add one more thing to the list?

First of all, there are ways to create new habits that don’t take a lot of time, and that can have tremendous payoffs.

Second, it’s worth it to trade in a well-honed habit that takes you somewhere unsatisfying for a new habit that takes you somewhere more fun.

So if I have the intention of making some improvement in my life, how do I get from January’s resolutions to December’s results?

Incorporate Marshall Goldsmith’s advice into your thinking:

“What am I willing to change now? Not in a few months. Not when I get caught up. Now. Then get started on the activity within two weeks, or take it off the list. And quit tormenting yourself!”

Leverage those intentions by creating some simple accountability that will help you stay focused on your goal. The purpose … to help you remember to make a different choice when your old habit is ready to pull you into old results, and to give you a measurement in December so you can see your new results!

Best wishes,

Marilyn McLeod

http://www.CoachMarilyn.com

Leveraging Intention

In January are you like most people, thinking about your New Year’s resolutions? And are you like most people … by December has even the memory of what your January resolutions were faded?

I make no judgments here. Anytime you take a moment to look at your life and consider what to do in the future, it’s a major win.

It’s too easy to keep moving through life, doing the same thing day after day, using well-worn strategies to avoid the pain of familiar things not working, and letting the years pass as we all grow older. Life is hard enough without stirring things up and making changes. Or so it seems.

We do grow older. Kids learn from what we do more than what we say, so if we’re meeting our problems with angry outbursts, drugs or alcohol, or distancing ourselves from the world, so will they. If we have given up on our dreams, they will not know how to find their own. If we settle for an uninspired life within the confines of what our early conditioning allowed us to explore, the world will never benefit from our true inner gifts, and we will always know we missed the part of life that could have been the most satisfying.

But it’s hard to shake things up. Our schedules are already overflowing. We are already behind in so many important projects. Why add one more thing to the list?

First of all, there are ways to create new habits that don’t take a lot of time, and that can have tremendous payoffs.

Second, it’s worth it to trade in a well-honed habit that takes you somewhere unsatisfying for a new habit that takes you somewhere more fun.

So if I have the intention of making some improvement in my life, how do I get from January’s resolutions to December’s results?

Incorporate Marshall Goldsmith’s advice into your thinking:

“What am I willing to change now? Not in a few months. Not when I get caught up. Now. Then get started on the activity within two weeks, or take it off the list. And quit tormenting yourself!”

Leverage those intentions by creating some simple accountability that will help you stay focused on your goal. The purpose … to help you remember to make a different choice when your old habit is ready to pull you into old results, and to give you a measurement in December so you can see your new results!

Best wishes,

Marilyn McLeod

http://www.CoachMarilyn.com

Leveraging Intention

In January are you like most people, thinking about your New Year’s resolutions? And are you like most people … by December has even the memory of what your January resolutions were faded?

I make no judgments here. Anytime you take a moment to look at your life and consider what to do in the future, it’s a major win.

It’s too easy to keep moving through life, doing the same thing day after day, using well-worn strategies to avoid the pain of familiar things not working, and letting the years pass as we all grow older. Life is hard enough without stirring things up and making changes. Or so it seems.

We do grow older. Kids learn from what we do more than what we say, so if we’re meeting our problems with angry outbursts, drugs or alcohol, or distancing ourselves from the world, so will they. If we have given up on our dreams, they will not know how to find their own. If we settle for an uninspired life within the confines of what our early conditioning allowed us to explore, the world will never benefit from our true inner gifts, and we will always know we missed the part of life that could have been the most satisfying.

But it’s hard to shake things up. Our schedules are already overflowing. We are already behind in so many important projects. Why add one more thing to the list?

First of all, there are ways to create new habits that don’t take a lot of time, and that can have tremendous payoffs.

Second, it’s worth it to trade in a well-honed habit that takes you somewhere unsatisfying for a new habit that takes you somewhere more fun.

So if I have the intention of making some improvement in my life, how do I get from January’s resolutions to December’s results?

Incorporate Marshall Goldsmith’s advice into your thinking:

“What am I willing to change now? Not in a few months. Not when I get caught up. Now. Then get started on the activity within two weeks, or take it off the list. And quit tormenting yourself!”

Leverage those intentions by creating some simple accountability that will help you stay focused on your goal. The purpose … to help you remember to make a different choice when your old habit is ready to pull you into old results, and to give you a measurement in December so you can see your new results!

Best wishes,

Marilyn McLeod

http://www.CoachMarilyn.com

Nutrigenomics: Choosing the Best Diet and Exercise Program Based on Your Personal Genetics

Dr. Oz had a great program today about nutrigenomics and weight loss.  Nutrigenomics is a long word that's actually short for nutritional genomics. It's the study of interactions between genes, the environment, and nutrition. We've been taught in the past that the genes were born with determine our future. Nutrigenomics has been proving that we can influence our future health by making smart choices when we decide what we eat, our daily exercise activities, and create our environment. It's actually changing the field of nutrition in terms of understanding how to preserve our health.
You may have noticed some people who can eat what are considered unhealthy foods, smoke for years, drink, and remain healthy without much exercise. Other people are more sensitive and suffer almost immediate results if they don't pay attention to their food and exercise choices. Science suggests the difference may have something to do with a persons genotype.
Nutrigenomics seeks to help people understand their genetic predisposition for disease and other factors, and provide a personalized diet and exercise program designed to help the person minimize genetic expression of the problem genes, and maximize a body's ability to stay ahead of the natural progression of genetic-related diseases.
A Duke University study in 2000 found that the right diet can even have a genetic effect on offspring. When they changed the mothers diet just before conception using a particular diet to address her genetic predisposition to disease, they could turn off the problem gene so that her children did not inherit their mothers genetic problem. To me this is an amazing link between diet and genetic modification, giving us as consumers the potential to make real changes in what we may have thought was our inevitable destiny.
Our children are especially at risk. In February 2007 the Stanford Prevention Research Center studied the effects of our children's lack of physical activity in our current culture. Among their findings, Obese children and adolescents carry significant health risks such as hypertension, high cholesterol, glucose intolerance/insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, menstrual abnormalities, impaired balance, and orthopedic problems. Obese children and adolescents are also more likely to suffer from depression or low self-esteem and to feel discriminated against. Obese children and adolescents often become overweight adults, and thus are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, asthma, and even cancer. Childhood obesity is predictive of increased medical expenses, decreased quality of life, lost work time, physical and mental disabilities, premature death, and loss of productivity.
Though they say much more research is needed, they also state ... there is an urgent need for action. We cannot afford, nor can our children afford, to wait until all of our questions are answered before taking action. Lack of physical activity among children certainly plays a significant role in the childhood obesity epidemic.

To discover the best diet and exercise program for your genetics:  http://www.amway.com/healthcoach (search for "genetic test")

For more information:

Nutrigenomic Diet for Weight and Fat Loss:  One Consumers Journey by Marilyn McLeod

Paperback:  http://bit.ly/a6AW2Q
Kindle:  http://bit.ly/9bs8HF
Other ebooks:  http://bit.ly/bn3bA8
Apple iPad

Marilyn McLeod, Author
http://www.CoachMarilyn.com

3 Stages for Designing an Effective Flyer

Sheryl Roush, an experienced graphic designer and speaker, asked me to share the following with you:

Marketing Your Services in Print:
3 Stages for Designing an Effective Flyer

You are talented, have great expertise, and offer a valuable service to others. How do you get their attention and generate a response?

When creating any promotion, begin by placing yourself in your potential BUYER’S shoes, think like THEY think. Become your buyer. A big mistake in most promotional pieces is that they are designed from the SELLER’S point-of-view. What is their “pain” and how is your service the “solution?”

There are three stages of rapport required in any promotion: 1) Relevance; 2) Confirmation; and 3) Action. These stages must be done in order for your promotion to be effective.

Stage 1. In the first 1-7 seconds the buyer is looking for the relevance of your service, the benefits, or “WIIFM?” Placed in the top one-third of your layout, the reader browses short body copy, graphics, images, and color. Name their pain in the form of a question to compel them to read further. Since 70-80% of readers are “skimmers” and quick decision makers, use subheads and bullets for this group.

Stage 2 is up to 90 seconds, where your reader is still trying to decide whether this is a “match” for them, or not. Avid readers continue reading the piece and require longer body text plus all the facts and details to make a well-informed decision. Consider adding testimonials from satisfied buyers. This stage utilizes the middle portion of the layout and toward the bottom of the layout.

Stage 3 is vital in your promotion. Based on how engaged your buyer is and how well you have addressed their needs in the first two stages, the reader will naturally “flow” into this bottom one-third of the layout. This is the Call to Action stage, where you instruct the reader how to respond affirmatively to what they have read. This is the best place for your logo, email, toll free phone number, website. Create a “sense of urgency” using bold italics (i.e., Call today for your free 15-minute consultation!).

After you finish your draft, show it to others, ideally in your target market. How easily do they follow it? Is it compelling enough for them to take action? What is missing? What can be removed? Is it buyer-centered? Minimize the use of “we” and “our” and maximize “your” and “you” in the copy and headlines.

To generate higher response, use all three stages in any promotion you create!

Sheryl Roush, International Trainer on Marketing Design
Author of Solid Gold Newsletter Design
www.SparklePresentations.com

 

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Best wishes,

Marilyn McLeod

http://www.CoachMarilyn.com

 

Importance of Connection

I’d been dating David for several months, when suddenly I had a feeling something had changed between us. Whenever I asked him about this, he told me it was my problem. But things just didn't feel right. I felt a painful gap in our connection. I was frustrated with conflicting messages and there did not seem to be anything I could do to get to the truth.

I happened to know the woman he was involved with before me, and I had respect for her, so I bravely gave Annette a call with an open heart. She was wonderful. She told me the two of them had gotten back together. Then she asked me how I was. She was sincerely interested in my wellbeing, and kept asking and being attentive to my feelings and needs until I felt supported and connected again.

I ended up feeling betrayed by the man who professed to care so much about me, and totally supported by the ‘other woman’. Who would I choose to be my friend in the future? The one who told me the truth and then was there to help me heal.

I’m not saying that approaching the ‘other woman’ with an open heart will always end up being a positive experience. I am saying that I learned not to assume someone was my enemy.

I learned that hearing the truth honestly allowed me to stay connected, and that being treated with respect and being included in the conversation were more important to me than getting my way. The truth allowed me to honestly understand the landscape I was in, so I had more power to chart a meaningful future course of my own.

Best wishes,

Marilyn McLeod

http://www.CoachMarilyn.com

Your Most Valuable Resource

If you are like most ambitious people who start their own business, you are driven and resourceful and you will keep going until you get the job done. You probably focus more on the task at hand than on the person doing the task at hand. You just want this task to be complete so you can put on another hat and take care of the next task.

I want you to look around your office and think about the machines your business depends on. Would your business run if you didn't have a computer or a telephone? What happens when something goes wrong with them? Everything stops until you get them fixed so you can get back in business!

Now, think about the ‘machine’ that runs those machines … your body! How well would the computer and telephone work if you were not there to use them, to make decisions about how to use them, to prioritize the work and get new clients and – and – and … ?

As leader of your business, especially as a sole proprietor, your good health becomes vital. When you don’t work, your clients don’t receive what you've promised them, and you don’t get paid.

How can you take better care of your most precious resource and still keep up with the schedule required to keep it all going? How do you take good care of your health?

You've heard it before … exercise, get plenty of rest, drink water, take food supplements, avoid junk food, be happy. Just do it!

Maybe you're like me and you think you're cheating nature because you can stay up all night and drive yourself better than the people around you - maybe you can, and maybe it won't catch up with you. Personally, I found there was a limit to how hard I could push myself without replenishing my resources. I still keep pushing for more achievement, but I’ve included in my list of tasks several items that keep my body healthy and strong, and activities that feed my spirit.

Best wishes,

Marilyn McLeod

http://www.CoachMarilyn.com