February 25th, 2010 by Jim Donovan
It has been said that a person will not reach their full potential unless coached. While this may or may not be entirely true, it does hit on a key benefit to coaching, especially for small and solo business owners.
Typically, a small business owner, particularly a solo practitioner, works in a vacuum. They rarely have someone to share ideas with, much less talk about their fears or concerns. Aside from the few who belong to a mastermind group, most have no objective help to expand their ideas or as a way to gain a different perceptive on their business.
Small business people who are not working with someone in the capacity of a coach are missing out on one of their greatest opportunities for growth. Those savvy people who do engage the services of a coach who specializes in working with small businesses have a distinctive advantage over their competition.
Choosing Your Coach
With some many people entering the field choosing your ideal coach can be a daunting task. The single most important characteristic, in my opinion, is that you and the coach have rapport first as people, then as client and coach. I don’t care how many certifications someone has, if you don’t feel good about working with them, it will never work.
Next, I would suggest that if it’s your business that you want help with you choose a coach who specializes in working with small businesses.
I was once hired to coach a high-level sales executive and when I asked why he chose me out of the several people he interviewed; his reply was “because you’re the only one who actually has had sales experience.”
Personally, I feel that a coach who has business experience will bring more value to the relationship then one who has not.
Conversely, I would not choose a business coach to help me with a fitness or a relationship challenge.
The field of personal coaching has evolved over the years from the “life” coaches who worked with a variety of clients, to more specialized ones who choose to work in a specific niche, typically chosen because of the coaches experience in that niche.
Over the years, coach training schools have focused their programs on niches and offer additional training, beyond the basics, in business, health, and relationship coaching.
A really top coach, however, will get involved in several areas of your business and life. If for example, all your time is spent at work and you’re neglecting your health and family relationships, your coach, hopefully, will work with you to bring that back into balance. There is little point in having a successful business if the rest of your life is falling apart.
It is my heart felt suggestion, based on a decade of coaching small business owners and two decades of being in my own business, that if you really want to reach your full potential, you need a coach who can help you step out of your comfort zone and grow your business or professional practice.
How coaching works
Typically, a coach works one-on-one with clients or in a small group setting. For the most part, coaching is conducted by telephone although some of us like in-person meetings when the situation lends itself and, with the advent of video conferencing services like Skype, it’s possible to combine the two.
Coaching relationships last an average of six months although many continue much longer. If the reason for the relationship is a specific task, like publishing a book for example, the relationship may only last until the project is completed.
What does it cost?
While coaching fees vary widely most coaches are open to creating a program that will fit the needs and budget of the client. If finances are what’s preventing someone from hiring a coach, exploring group programs may be the answer, however, the experience of group coaching, while valuable, is not the same as having your own coach. It’s less personal, your time is shared with others, and it lacks the confidentiality of individual sessions.
Group coaching programs are well suited if everyone in the group is working on a similar task or project. A group geared toward people starting their own business, for example, would be quite valuable since group members can share ideas and knowledge.
Whatever method best suits your present circumstances, hiring your own coach is one of the best investments you can make in the future success of your business and will go a long way toward your realizing your full potential.
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February 4th, 2010 by Jim Donovan
Last night, I had the pleasure of sharing my “Best Life Seminar” with the Huntingdon Valley Rotary group. As always, I had a great time, met some terrific people, had a nice meal (always a good thing) and got to share ideas with the group. Here’s what the group had to say:
“Tonight our guest speaker was Jim Donovan who lives in Upper Bucks County and is a best-selling author and inspiring motivational speaker.
Jim spoke about his recent book titled, “Don’t let an Old Person move into Your Body” which shares the recipe for living a long purpose filled life. Jim shared numerous real life people who started new careers while in their 80’s, 90’s and even at 106 years young.
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February 4th, 2010 by Jim Donovan
With the current economic challenges we’re all facing, too many small business owners are finding their business moving in the wrong direction.
In many cases, what were once growing, thriving businesses are now heading into a downward spiral of cutbacks, layoffs, and, in too many cases, bankruptcies. Owners are watching as their customers dwindle and revenues drop.
So, what can a small business owner who is trying to prosper in today’s climate do to turn things around?
While you may not be able to do much about the nation’s economy as a whole, there are proactive steps you can take, regardless of outside circumstances.
Following are three steps you can use to get started turning your business around and moving, once again, in the direction of growth and prosperity:
1. Change Your Focus
Beginning immediately, stop talking about anything that is not working. Stop defending and justifying why you’re not doing better. Stop blaming the economy or whatever else you deem to be the cause of your troubles. If something is not working, continuing to talk about it will cause you to start seeing more things going wrong and continue the downward spiral.
Ask only, “What’s working?” and continue asking every day. Make a list of what is working and have your team do the same, individually and as a group. Change the tone of your meetings. If you understand that you get more of whatever you focus upon, it’s obvious why you’ll want to do this.
2. Mine the Gold That’s Already in Your Business
Every business has “hidden” opportunities which can be mined, usually by either developing new markets for your products, creating new products, leveraging the relationships you’ve built, and joint venturing with colleagues, suppliers, customers and, yes, even competitors.
Ask yourself what new opportunities you could tap into if you expanded your e-commerce offerings and maximized the technology that’s available today. Does your Web site give visitors a compelling reason to subscribe to your mailing list? Are you utilizing email marketing and auto responders to their fullest? What about social media, social bookmarking, video, podcasting, blogging, and other “Web 2.0″ tools?
Your greatest opportunity for business growth, regardless of the economy, are the assets you already have in your business. From personnel, customers – past and present – relationships with colleagues and suppliers, and other “people” assets, to your investment in equipment and technology, the assets you’ve already built represent your greatest opportunity.
And the really good news is they will require the least in either time or money.
Of these “hidden” assets, your customers are the easiest and most obvious place to begin. Do you know who they are and why they do business with you?
This may seem like an obvious question, however, many businesses do not know who is buying from them or why. Once you’ve ascertained this, you’re in a position to explore how else you might serve them.
One of my favorite questions has always been, “is there anything else I can help you with?” This simple question can increase your business tenfold.
A friend of mine is a graphic designer and print broker. One day she asked her client this question to which the client replied, “Yes there is. Can you help us get some of those imprinted jackets with our logo on them?” She happily replied that she could and took the order. (hint: if you own a small business, the answer, within reason, is always, “Yes.” You can figure out later how to deliver.)
Don’t fall into the trap if thinking just because you’ve been around a while that people know everything you do. Often we “ass-u-me” that our customers know what we do.
Leverage
You can grow your business by leveraging your relationships with colleagues, suppliers, distributors and yes, even your competitors.
Several years ago I attended a demonstration at a local copier supplier. It was a huge success as a herd of people roamed throughout the building seeing live demos of the latest in office copiers.
While the local business hosted the event, their supplier provided the factory trained experts on hand to answer people’s questions.
Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Saks have regular “trunk shows” and make-up events to attract customers, again with the expertise provided by the manufacturers.
Faith Popcorn pointed out in her landmark book “The Popcorn Report” that people like entertainment while they shop.
What about your colleagues? Could a carpet or home cleaning company team up with a caterer and offer a holiday special?
Might a lawyer, accountant and banker put together a free event for their business customers? What could you do to leverage your business?
Do you have underused equipment sitting around? Many local newspapers whose presses are only used for a few hours a day, will take on outside printing jobs. Your typical weekly paper is most likely being printed on a daily newspaper’s presses.
Opportunities on the internet.
I’ve saved the best for last. If there is one area that is underutilized by small businesses, it’s your website. Ninety percent or more of local business websites that I’ve visited are nothing more than online brochures. I call them “Tombstones in Cyberspace.”
Contrast this against the sites used by internet marketers. Internet marketers, people whose business profits entirely or in part online, engage the customer with an array of techniques designed to keep them coming back, refer them to friends and leave them wanting more.
The typical offline business gets little if any internet traffic, mainly because their sites have not been setup properly or not even optimized for search engines.
What is even sadder is that if someone does manage to stubble upon their site, they have no way to connect with the visitor and develop an ongoing relationship.
Other than SEO, the easiest thing that you can do is set up some sort of “capture mechanism.” A simple subscription box connected to an auto responder will enable you to begin building a database of your customers and potential customers.
As my friend Vic Johnson, a highly successful Internet marketer who sells personal development information, said, “He who has the biggest list, wins! Or, as every online marketer knows, “the money is in the list.”
The really good part
Once you have put in place your strategy for developing your customer database, you can communicate with them at virtually no cost.
Compare this to the costs of direct mail, display advertising, radio, or TV and the advantages to email and other types of online communication are obvious.
A heating oil company, with a database of 600 prior customers, can blast an offer for a spring special to jump-start sales during their slow season, at practically no cost.
The restaurant owner who’s experiencing a slow Wednesday lunch business, can test offers for specials early that morning by sending to their database. Chances are, they’ll see an increase in business almost immediately. All at little or out of pocket expense.
If you can’t go into your business tomorrow morning at 7:30, create a special offer to jump start sales, and have it out to a list of several hundred or thousand customers by 9:00, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. Go here if you want to learn how you can grow your offline business with online strategies.
3. Develop Systems and Follow Through
Hire a business coach or appoint someone in your organization to be your team’s “accountability partner” to ensure your renewed vision is being carried out and that you are steadily moving in the right direction.
A business coach provides a fresh viewpoint and can often help by not being bogged down in the day-to-day running of the business. They are objective and not invested in the politics if your company. The best business coaches contribute knowledge acquired from a variety of situations in any number of industries and employs specific strategies to help you make quantum leaps beyond what you may have thought possible.
Regardless of the specific actions you take, it is important that you do something proactive. Don’t just sit there complaining about the economy with the rest of the crowd. Above all, don’t wait for it to turn around by itself or, worse yet, expect the government to fix it. You have within you the power to change your life and your business, so go and do it.
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January 12th, 2010 by Jim Donovan
Study your prospective target carefully
Sometimes, I’ll sit and watch one of our cats tracking its prey. Since they’re indoor cats, it’s 
usually a bug that found its way into the house. The cat will sit and watch, tracking the bug’s every move, studying it carefully; waiting. We can do the same thing and learn everything we can about our prospect before making a move. This has become a fairly simple task using the Internet and social media. Look at the person’s Web site, read and follow their blog and connect with them on Facebook or Linkedin. Follow them on Twitter.
Wait for the perfect moment
The cat will wait until all the conditions are just right then, and only then, it will make its move. Too often, we go in shooting from the hip and blow our only opportunity. Before you make the first contact, make sure you have everything you need and are armed with the necessary facts about your prospects business.
Make your first shot count
Cats rarely get a second chance at their target and neither do we. A cat stalking a bird or mouse either gets it on the first try or goes hungry that day. We usually get only one chance to make the right impression. Make it count. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of asking the person if now is a good time to talk. If the telephone people who call during dinner learned this, they’d make a lot more sales.
Learn to relax
You never see a cat frantically running around looking for something to eat. Why then do you fuss and worry about where your next client or customer is coming from? Set your goals, plan your work and take consistent, inspired action. The rest will fall into place.
Expect the best
In ancient Egypt, cats were considered royalty. Cats have not forgotten this. They expect to be treated like kings and queens. They expect the best. We should expect the best too and expect things will work out favorably for us.
Stretch yourself daily
Stretching keeps a cat limber and quick. We can stretch ourselves too. Make a habit of doing something each day that causes you to stretch out of your comfort zone. Maybe it’s making a cold call. Perhaps it’s going up to a stranger and getting to know them. Whatever makes you stretch, go and do it. Everything you desire is out of your comfort zone. If it was not, you’d already have it.
Ignore rejection
Have you ever told a cat no? If you have, you know it’s a waste of time and energy. Cats have mastered the art of ignoring people. When you hear a no from a prospect, just say, “Next” and move on to the next person. Pay no attention to it. It’s part of the game. If you can overcome the fear of rejection, you’ll be on your way to success in business.
Stay alert to new opportunities
Cats are always hunting, looking out for whatever might be around the next turn. You can do the same. Pay attention to what’s going on around you. Learn to listen to what people are telling you. You never know where an opportunity is going to come from.
Remember, sometimes you need to just sit in the sun and rest.
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December 28th, 2009 by Jim Donovan
Several years ago, I began the practice of writing my accomplishments at the end of the year. I borrowed the idea from the corporate world. In most companies, managers are required to submit a list of their accomplishments and objectives annually. This information is used as the basis for performance reviews, raises, and promotions.
I thought, “If it works for them, maybe it will help me.” The sense of personal satisfaction and encouragement I received after doing this once was so great that it has become a regular practice and something I look forward to doing at the start of each new year.
We take so much of what we do for granted, or just shrug it off, saying, “It’s no big deal.” We point to the successes, contributions, and accomplishments of others while overlooking all that we, ourselves, have done.
Only after taking the time to list our own accomplishments and activities do we see that we, too, are making a difference. We realize how much we have actually done in our lives, and this serves to encourage and motivate us to even greater heights.
In your journal, make a list of what you have done in the past year. Include everything you can think of. Where have you vacationed? What plays, movies, or concerts have you seen or attended? What books have you read? What have you done for and with your family? What have you accomplished in your business? What about personal goals? What have you done for yourself? What about your health? Have you lost weight, began exercising, or played a sport? Did you start a business, write a book, or give a speech?
Write down everything you can think of. The more you list, the better. Be sure to list even the seemingly small things.
Seeing all you have done will raise your self-esteem and increase the likelihood that you will accomplish even more in the future. You have probably done much more than you realize, and writing it down will enable you to see just how much you have accomplished.
(Excerpt, 52 Ways to a Happier Life, by Jim Donovan, early 2010 release)
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December 14th, 2009 by Jim Donovan
I want to ask you a serious question.
Did you reach the goals you set for yourself this past year? Remember back to the beginning of 2009. You were excited about the year ahead.
You had dreams and, hopefully, took the time to write your goals in your journal and maybe even developed an action plan to achieve them.
If you did this and are fully satisfied with your results, congratulations.
If not, ask yourself why. You had the best of intentions. You were motivated but, yet, for some reason, life got in the way.
I understand. It’s happened to all of us at one time or another.
One reason so many people are living what seems like the same year, over and over again, is simply because they don’t have a coach.
That’s it. The secret is out!
I’ll tell you one thing I know as sure as I know my own name. If you had worked with me as your coach over this past year, you’d be closer to your goals than you are now.
How do I know this? Simple, I’ve been coaching people for over a decade and have the results to back it up.
Just ask the aspiring authors I worked with who are now successfully published and living their dream. One recently hit #7 on the New York Times bestseller list.
Or you could ask the realtor I coached who wrote that in his 16 years in the business, he had his best year when we were working together.
You could ask the small business owners who I helped launch products, develop additional revenue streams, create joint ventures, and open new markets, they had not even considered before. You could ask the small publisher who added $9,000 to her monthly income.
How am I able to do this? What makes me so different from other coaches?
Simple, in addition to my more than 10 years as a coach and my certification in a Law of Attraction coaching program specifically for businesses, I have more than 30 years servicing small to mid-sized business clients. This means I have worked with companies in dozens of different industries and bring this experience to my work with each of my clients.
Let me ask you this: What will you do to make sure 2010 is the year you go for your dreams?
Here are a couple of things you can do to insure your success:
For starters, get a coach. If not me, get someone else or, at the very least, have an “accountability” partner to work with to keep you on track.
Next, make a habit of reading and listening to personal development information daily. In addition to books and audio’s, I’d suggest you subscribe to Success Magazine. It’s a great way to keep your attitude positive and continue learning throughout the year.
If you do want to consider working with me as your coach, send me an email and tell me a little about yourself and what you’d like to achieve this year.
Do it now because, you deserve to have the life you desire and, besides, in 2010 I am only working with a small number of people.
You deserve to live the life of your dreams but no one does it alone. Get a coach, work with a team, ask for help.
Create your vision, take inspired action, have faith, and enjoy the journey.
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November 20th, 2009 by Jim Donovan
It saddens and frustrates me when I see people in their fifties or sixties moping around talking about how “it’s not easy getting old.” On the other hand, I am inspired when I see an older person, someone in their eighties or nineties, living a vibrant and productive life. It gives me hope and further proves my theory that there is a huge difference between aging and getting old.
So what’s the difference between these two groups of people? Why are some, still in mid-life, seeming to be on their last legs while others, old enough to be the parents of the first group, still going strong?
While the answer is complex and involves several facets most of which are covered in my new book, it really boils down to a couple of key differences.
It Takes Passion
The first of these and perhaps the most important is passion. Older people who are living vibrantly are passionate about their life. Their outlook is positive and they are motivated by something outside themselves. They have a purpose. They are engaged in life and are pursuing something that matters to them.
Whether it’s a career, a hobby, a cause, or something in between, they have dreams and goals and are living life to it fullest.
In Don’t Let an Old Person move Into Your Body I wrote about Isagenix distributor Jimmy Smith who, past the age of eighty, is on a mission to carry a message of physical health and financial wealth to people all across the globe.
It Takes Power
Beyond attitude, passion, and purpose, living a full and productive life requires power; spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical power.
You can’t “go for the gusto” if you’re too weak to get out of bed.
Spiritual Power
A regular practice of prayer and meditation, the former, talking to God and the latter listening, will help you develop and maintain a strong connection with our Creator. It has been proven that people who have a relationship with a Higher Power are happier, more at peace and tend to live longer then those who do not. Spend time each day in quiet reflection and contemplation. This simple act will do more for your well-being than anything else you might do.
Emotional Power
You can develop and strengthen your emotional power by devoting some time each day visualizing your ideal life. Sit quietly, close your eyes (assuming you’re not driving), and create a “mind movie” of you living your ideal life. See the sights, hear the sounds, smell the smells, and taste the tastes you’d be enjoying if this were happening for real. Your subconscious mind does not know the difference between what is real and what is vividly imagined. Your subconscious will accept your visualization as real and, by virtue of the Law of Attraction, will begin bringing it toward you and inspiring you to take action toward it.
Mental Power
You can develop your mental powers by paying attention to your self-talk and replacing any disempowering thoughts with positive affirmations. Read positive and uplifting information daily to maintain a more productive state of mind. Commit to personal development and learning as a life long endeavor.
Physical Power
Of course, without physical power and energy you’re not going very far. It is essential, as we age, to take an active part in maintaining our health, whatever it maybe. I wrote in Don’t Let an Old Person Move into your Body to accept what you cannot change and change what you can. However you can probably improve more of your health then you think.
There’s a lot of scientifically based information about health and nutrition available today. People are becoming better informed and seeking, and finding, solutions to what were once thought to be “incurable” aliments.
Of course, exercise is important too. As a society, we do not move enough. Our high-tech lifestyles have enabled most of us to expend the minimal amount of physical energy in our day-to-day life. One of the best actions a person can engage in, especially as we age, is yoga. The gentle stretching helps us maintain not only fitness but flexibility as well and the deep breathing goes a long way to helping us relax and reduce the stress in our lives.
How you age is up to you. You can live your life vibrantly and productively, or you can just get old. Decide now to take decisive action to make the rest of your life, the best of your life.
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October 22nd, 2009 by Jim Donovan
Excerpt, Don’t Let an Old Person Move Into Your Body
A butcher for most of his adult life, Jimmy Smith was content with living a modest, middle class lifestyle. He was a happy man blessed with a loving wife and six children, until at sixty-two years of age he had the rug pulled out from under him. Due to his failing health and being unable to stand all day cutting meat, he was forced to leave the job he had held for most of his life.
While this is surely something that would be a challenge to anyone, in his situation it could have been devastating. Fortunately, for Jimmy, a friend introduced him to the network marketing industry, providing him an opportunity for self-employment and a chance to build a business of his own.
After being in the business for a time, Jimmy Smith found his passion in both the leading edge products and the business opportunity offered by Isagenix International, a company whose vision is to make a positive impact on world health and free people from physical and financial pain, and in the process create the largest health-and-wellness company in the world.
I have personally experienced the Isagenix products and found them to be one of the highest quality nutritional products available as have two of my colleagues John Gray and Jack Canfield.
Jimmy had found his calling. With the the health benefits he realized from taking the Isagenix products and the business opportunity it provided, he was on fire and ready to tell the world about his new business.
When I met Jimmy Smith, a few years ago, he was turning eighty and had the energy and stamina of a man half his age. Not only does he look and feel great, he went on to become the top earner in his company, making himself and his family very wealthy, while building a lasting legacy for his children and grand-children.
Perhaps what best describes Jimmy’s energy and passion for what he is doing is the experience that I had while attending an all day event with him. I was leaving the event after being in the hotel for over 12 hours. Riding the elevator down to the lobby with Jimmy’s daughter Grace, talking about what a long day it had been, I asked where her dad was. “Oh, he has a few more meetings,” she replied. We both laughed at the fact that while we, decades younger, were both ready to call it a day, Jimmy the Butcher was still going strong.
Jimmy Smith is the perfect example of what can happen when a person’s passion is ignited by something larger than himself. If you ever have the opportunity to meet Jimmy Smith, by all means, do so. It’s a life changing experience.
Excerpt, Don’t Let an Old Person Move Into Your Body
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September 16th, 2009 by Jim Donovan
At a Business Card Exchange several years ago a well-dress woman walked up to me, business card in hand and, in perfect form held it in both hands in front of me, gesturing for me to take it. I took the card from her and smiled. She looked up and in a polite voice, said “Thank you,” and walked away. How sad. Here was this obviously well-intentioned woman, who most likely owned an interesting business but never learned what to do at a card exchange. Somewhere she bought into the idea that you were suppose to hand out as many business cards in as little time as possible. Clearly, this does nothing but waste business cards. Great for card businesses, not so great for yours.
The other extreme is the person who spends the entire time at a card exchange talking to the same individual, sometimes even people from their own company. Again, this is quite unproductive. The purpose of a business card exchange is to get to meet new people in a pleasant atmosphere.
While there are many good books to help you hone your networking skills including, Sue Roane’s How to Work a Room, the essence of networking is quite simple. Businesses run on relationships. I’ve always felt that everything that we do is about personal relationships and a business just gives us a playing field on which to do it.
Following that theme, growing your business is about developing and nurturing relationships and card exchanges and similar networking events are really the starting point to begin what will hopefully become a mutually rewarding relationship. Since your time is limited, it is a good idea to spend only a short time speaking with people, especially those you already know. If you feel a resonance with someone you’re talking with, make arrangements to follow-up your connection at a later date and move on to meet someone else. I’m sure the shy looking person in the corner, who is probably there for the very first time, has something interesting to say. Why not go over and extend your hand.
The other big faux paus I see over and over again, are the people who approach the networking meeting with a “me, me, me” attitude. A better approach is to learn about the other person first. You then have the option of explaining how what you do might be of interest to them. This establishes a stronger platform for communications, for as speaking legend Zig Ziglar says, “You get what you want by helping other people get what they want.”
Care about the other person
There are better ways to network and meet prospective business contacts. For openers, (no pun intended) people are more responsive if you first show some interest in them and what they do. There is an old cliché that says we have one mouth and two ears for a reason. If you listen more than you talk, you will automatically find people more interested in talking with you and being around you.
Marketing guru, Jay Abraham, once said that “Discovery is the fuel of competitive advantage.” Get curious. Become interested in other people and what makes them tick. Really care about the other person. If you take the time to investigate, you will find that even those people who appear quite ordinary have a story to tell. If you show an interest in them and their lives, you will not only increase your chances of doing business with them but you may gain a friend as well.
How do you do that?
When you do introduce yourself, do so in a way that states the benefit of doing business with you. Saying “Hi, my name is Mary and I sell insurance” is not very exciting. However, if you were to say, “My name is Mary and I help people prepare for the uncertainty that may be in their future.” This causes the other person, if they are at all curious, to ask, “How do you do that?” At this point, you have opened the door for a further explanation or “commercial” for your business. You can go on to explain the benefits of your products and services.
As an exercise, devise three or four ways to introduce your business. Let each one focus on a different benefit of your product or service. Test each of them at your next networking event.
Remember: people do not buy products or services, they buy benefits and solutions.
The more you focus on communicating the benefits gained from using your products or services, the more you will benefit from the increase in business. With prospecting new business becoming more and more difficult, a personal relationship is even more important than ever.
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September 11th, 2009 by Jim Donovan
I realize that, for many people affirming this can be a real challenge, however, it’s really important if you want to improve your situation. The key to having more of what you want, whether it’s more prosperity, health, time, fun, love, or anything else, is to first acknowledge that which you already have and then, to share it.
By appreciating and acknowledging what you have you evoke the power of the Law of Attraction, which as you probably already know, teaches us that “like attracts like.”
Put another way, we attract more of what we focus upon or hold in our hearts. By “hold in our heart,” I’m referring to the feelings we have for they, even more than what we say, are what attracts our experience. Remember, “As a man (or woman) thinks in his heart, so he is.”
By appreciating and acknowledging for example, the health you already have, you are putting your attention on health, which is the only way to attract it. You cannot focus, as so many people do, on illness and attract health. It violates the laws of our universe.
So you first exercise, should you choose to play, is to choose those areas in your life you’d like to improve. Health, of course, is a great place to begin for without it everything else suffers.
You may also want to include love, career, and, yes, money for they too are important. Ideally we want to achieve a balanced life that is prosperous in all areas.
Take each heading and make a list of everything you appreciate about it as it stands now. This activity will align you with attracting more of the same.
After doing this, in health for example, you may notice you are making better food choices, exercising or any number of other activities that will have a positive impact on your health.
When you begin to appreciate the wealth in your life, don’t be surprised if you begin receiving more, sometimes from totally unexpected channels. I’ve stopped trying to understand just why this occurs. I just let it in and give thanks.
The second part of the process is to share, with others, whatever it is you’d like more of in your own life. This evokes the Law of Reciprocity, another universal law, which teaches us that it is impossible to give without receiving.
If you want more love and affection, be more loving and affectionate to the people you encounter. I’m not suggesting you start hugging total strangers . . . maybe.
My friend, the late Charlie Tremendous Jones, made a habit of hugging everyone he met and it served him well throughout his life. Everyone I know loved Charlie.
It goes without saying that if you want more money, giving some away will help you attract more. I realize how difficult this may seem, especially if you’re struggling to make ends meet, but give it a try anyway. You may be pleasantly amazed at what happens.
Even if you can only afford to give a little it will leave you feeling better about yourself and more prosperous. And, for sure, there are many, many charities and organizations who always need your help.
Making a daily practice of writing what you appreciate in your life is a powerful activity that will produce astounding results and it’s something you can start right away.
Tonight, before you go to sleep, write 5 things you appreciate from the previous day. Do this for 30 days and then decide for yourself if it’s something you want to continue. My guess is, once you start seeing the powerful changes taking place in your life, you’ll want to make it a regular habit.
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