DEVELOPING PERSONAL POWER by Charli Lamont Williams, Personal Success Coach Developing and enhancing your personal power begins with a clear awareness of where you are today, and how you got there. You are an entrepreneur. You live in America. You have freedom of choice. You have chosen everything and everyone you have in your life right now. Wow! How powerful you are: You have what you choose to have. Ponder this for a moment. Think about specifics for a moment. Your job is your choice. The clients you work with receive your services because you choose to serve these people, rather than not serve them. Your staff are the people you hired and continue to keep on the payroll. Think about the other people you have relationships with. Think about the material items you have in your life. The very clothes you are wearing today are clothes you chose to purchase, then chose to wear. I ask you to take a moment to acknowledge yourself for what you have accomplished, through the power of your choices. There is a tremendous amount of freedom in recognizing one's own power to choose. There is also great personal power in giving thanks for what you have, thanks that you have been able to receive it. With clients I call this a prayer of gratitude. Being specific in giving thanks empowers you in very profound ways. You can begin with your good health; that is, whatever about you is actually healthy:I am grateful I can breathe easily and without mechanical assistance; I am grateful can walk on my own; I am grateful I need so little sleep; and so on. You can be grateful for the people in your lives; the opportunities; the home and every item which makes your life easy and fun. Giving thanks feels good! From the place of feeling good, it is easier to look and see what else you would like to create for yourself. What would you like to have more of, or less of? What would you like to have different? The idea that you can, indeed, create what you want for yourself should be fun, not a test (which you feel you will fail). THE IMPORTANCE OF INTENTION An intention gives direction to action. For example, when you "intend" to have a certain prospect become a client, you do certain things - take certain steps - designed to create that result. What people generally do not realize, however, is that when you establish the intention to have a certain result, you also create the intention not to have it. We live in a world of polar opposites, and these results are opposites. FOCUS OF ATTENTION IS THE KEY The result you actually end up with will tell you where you were truly focusing the power of your attention. If you fail to create your desired outcome, and you "did everything right," the problem is coming from something I call the Under-thought. This is a habit of the mind which is hidden from your consciousness. If you are in the habit of winning only 20 percent of the time, you will not be allowed to win ninety percent of the time. Your habit of thought will keep you stuck. If you have a lot of evidence that this is true for you and you believe the evidence,you will not go out today and begin winning ninety percent of your cases, from this day forward. It just won't happen. You must first find, and then address, the Underthought. DISCOVERING THE UNDERTHOUGHT Choose a result you would like to have. Make it something simple and fun. For example:My office is in a large complex with many office buildings of different shapes and sizes. I know that a friend of mine, someone I haven't seen for several months, has an office just across the parking lot from my building. I decide I want to meet him one day in the parking lot. This is my desired result. I assume it will happen, and I put my thoughts on how nice it will be to see him and to chat for a few minutes. I remember how we have always enjoyed our time together. My thoughts are pleasant, and I let them go. I think about other things. The next day, I see my old friend in the office parking lot, we wave, say hello and have a few minutes to catch up before going on with the day's work. This is a simple exercise, and it's fun to do. Try it. You can also think about having a friend call you, and see what happens. If this is something you are already doing in your life, step up the pace. Use "assuming the desired outcome" in your business development. Be specific. A client of mine, Bob, once decided he wanted a particular group of associates to become users of his software service. To have them as active clients became his intention. The intention gave direction to his actions. He wrote a proposal, called the office manager and made an appointment to make his presentation at their next administrative meeting. They liked what they saw and enrolled in his service. This happened because Bob intended it to happen. He could also have had it not happen. Once he decided what he wanted - the new client - he could have decided that he wasn't good enough, big enough, well-capitalized enough, etc., to attract this client. He could still have written the presentation, but delivered it in such a way that the group declined his proposal. If he had "failed" in his attempt, he could still win in his life by using the situation as an opportunity to examine his true thinking. Try this yourself. You will be able to find some sort of non-supportive thoughts, something that tells you that you "knew" you would fail. That is the thought you are looking for. Once you become aware of the non-supportive thought, you can begin to shift your focus to thinking which is supportive. Just by becoming aware, you have begun to heal. OLD PATH/NEW PATH Make two lists of thoughts you have about yourself and your situations. One is a list of thoughts which do not support you in having your desired outcome. Some thoughts on that list may include:I can't; business is tough; no one my age has ever accomplished that. Call this list "Old Path," because it is an old way of thinking we are now changing. The other list is New Path, and might include such thoughts as:These people want to work with me; my business grows easily, one client at a time; I enjoy working with people. Any thought you can come up with to support your desired outcome goes on the New Path list. By actually, physically writing these lists, you become more vitally aware of your thinking, and that is the goal here. Keep focused on the New Path. When you find yourself on the Old Path, use the Stepping Stones of Gratitude - being grateful for specific things in your life - and that will get you back to the New Path. You cannot possibly fail, unless you quit. Visit my website to start creating your own success!! Charli Williams, founder of Lamont Williams in Orange County California, has been a Personal Success Coach for more than a decade. She is an author, lecturer, columnist and radio talk show personality. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Orange County Association of Health Underwriters. She develops custom tailored programs for entrepreneurs, designed to move each person along their path to success. Lamont Williams operates under the philosophy that just as Olympic athletes have private coaches to help them fine-tune their abilities, so too should business people have a coach to help them reach their goals more easily. Lamont Williams clients are varied. Current participates include engineers, financial and estate planners, physicians, top insurance producers, educators, loan consultants, real estate agents and sales representatives. The Coaching Program enables individuals to develop clear, detailed plans resulting in success on a consistent basis, and more time in their lives for relationships, fun and relaxation. Charli helps her clients formulate and achieve their Ideal Lifestyle. This Ideal Lifestyle is not only limited to business; it carries over into personal life as well. Charli, through her unique visualization techniques, has achieved her own Ideal Lifestyle. The tools and techniques used produce success more easily, eliminating the old fashion concept of the need for "hard work." The Coaching Programs are very "person specific." That is, they are tailored to fulfill the needs of each individual, rather than the individual needing to fit the program. The programs enable people to develop clear, detailed plans resulting in more income on a consistent basis. Living a balanced, successful life is the ultimate goal. The Coaching Programs from Lamont Williams include: Private Coaching, on an individual basis; Coaching for Team Synergy, for groups; and other custom designed training's. Her workbook, Creating Your Own Success,is a step-by-step guide to achievement. For more information, please call our offices at 800-500-1551 E-mail Lamontwm@pacbell.net or Fax (714) 389-3038.