It’s the first Monday of the month!  Happy April everyone!

For those of you who are new to the blog, we commit the first Monday of the month to enriching the business side of you creative self with a SOAR! Scholarship Business Coaching Exercise from the wonderful women/business coaches at Wisdom Connection. These exercises are posted monthly so you can not only follow along with the SOAR! Scholarship, but also do the exercises yourself and share them with your sisters on the SOARORITY forum!

Dive in ladies!  And Happy Monday!! (To see past Business Coaching Exercises, CLICK HERE!)

xoxo,

m

Dreaming Big: What is Your most Audacious Goal?

from Karen Buckley, Wisdom Connection and SOAR! Business Coach

Do you dream big? Set audacious goals? Yes? No? Either way…Let’s go for it together this month’s Business Coaching Exercise.

It’s so obvious when someone discovers a goal they are passionate about in our coaching sessions! They look happier and tell me that they feel smarter, more capable, and even wiser.

Today I’ll share 3 powerful steps to accomplishing the kind of goal that ends up with a great big huge smile on your face. Think big this year.  Wouldn’t it be fun to see an audacious goal come true?

It’s helpful to see others set and make their goals. I watch my two children. Even when they are young, when they desire something they speak up, ask repeatedly, imagine it, feel it, put themselves into situations where it gets even more possible for it to happen.

My daughter (now 23) inspires me big time, confidently setting one audacious goal after another. At 14 she spent months begging me for another dog. A puppy! I declined in true mom style “We’ll see.” (I work from a home office…who would care for the pup while she went off to school, sports, and a busy social life? You get the picture…..)

Never to be deterred, she escalated. She taped a photo of a dog on the kitchen cupboard with a post-it arrow that said “this dog.” Every night she told me all about cuddling her new dog. I smiled patronizingly, and stupidly added, “The only chance would be if the dog is 1 year old, perfectly trained, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg”.

A couple months later I’d almost forgotten the photo as the edges curled from the steam from the sink. She volunteered for the summer at Pets Unlimited where they rescue dogs from the “kill pounds”. One day I got the call. “Mom, our dog just arrived! I saw him come in! He’ll be ready for me to meet after he gets all his shots.”  As soon as she got home she pulled out the second dog bed and found the smaller collar. (Where does she find this confidence??)

Friday she met him up close. Super scared from abuse, months on the streets, and weeks in a huge scary dog pound he loved her sweetness. Her job? Take him on short walks, sit and love him. Uh. Oh.

Finally, after futile resistance I went to meet him. He walked into the room and I saw his fear. I also saw his hope. The intelligence in his eyes won me over. (plus he looked just like her cut out picture! What could I do?? A week later he came home and she named him Rico.

My daughter still loves audacious goals. She graduates from UC Davis this spring and reserved her own ticket to Bali and Thailand! She is a go for it girl.

How about you? What is your secret wish? Your biggest, bravest goal? Something you’ve hardly told anyone it seems so brash? Is it something to accomplish? Do you aspire to a new way of being in the world?  Write it down and share it with someone supportive (Let’s do it on the SOAR! Forum! We’ve got each other’s backs.)

Step One: Feel what you really want to Accomplish or what you Desire (too often we turn away from the really juicy thoughts – this time – invite them in to play!) Feel your passion, desire, or longing. Take some time. Do this several days before moving on to Step two.

If you get scared, off track, or the voice of “who do you think you are” sneaks in – gently return to feeling this possibility. It’s up to you to make your desire right, good, and filled with love.

Step Two: Imagine it fulfilled – how would your heart sing? Close your eyes and visualize all the details you can – the colors, sounds, smells, sights, others involved until you get a full 360 vision of this goal completed and in place.

Forming a full image in your mind increases your inner acceptance. It helps you stretch to match the goal (and discover if it is in fact what you most want).

Step Three: Expect it to be so. Repeat this imagining every day until you begin to confidently believe that it will be.

Anticipate. Look forward to this being true. Label a new empty file folder or cut your own picture from a magazine and post it on the kitchen cupboard. Make it real.

These are the Stages of Manifestation that we teach in our courses. They work! They clear the path from the inside out. As you repeat these three stages over and over again you’ll find that the concrete steps to make your goal a reality become obvious.

When I shared my biggest wish (to complete my book on Feminine Wisdom in Leadership. 9 chapters out of 12 are done but the last 3 are the toughest and I’m so busy its hard to get to it!) with Jennifer Lansink, my most fun, outrageously positive accountability partner, (check out her What Would You Attempt? Seminars) she chanted something that made me smile big time.

“Don’t just unfurl those wings…flap them baby flap them!”

Setting audacious goals is a good thing – they usually end up being good for every one. Rico’s been the best dog ever. Smart as a whip, sensitive and caring, and well behaved wherever we take him.

What are your BIG BOLD Audacious Goals! What do you Most want to accomplish this year? See you on the SOAR! Forum – I can’t wait to hear your goals.  And follow the SOAR! blog this week as your SOAR! Scholarship Recipients, Rachel, Charisse and Ali, lead the way by sharing their Audacious Goals!

A strong vision can bring you forward into a whole world that you didn’t think could ever exist!

Warmly,

Karen

Three goodies for you from The Wisdom Connection:

Business Boost 101 Q & A April 13, Wednesday, 10:00PDT/1:00EDT. This is a free call especially designed for SOAR! Fay, Genie, and I get your questions ahead of time and we’ll go through and answer as many as we can on the call. Wow. An hour of business coaching on your biggest question! Let’s ignite your business wisdom. Sign up and send your questions to events@thewisdomconnection.com.

Katie Hendricks Telecall, Thursday, April 14^th, 4:00PDT/7:00EDT. Katie is a Love! Author, smart businesswoman, and we’ll get to hear about how she lives her passion and purpose. Maybe I’ll even ask her about her most audacious goal! These calls are recorded so sign up and we’ll send you the link to listen later if the time doesn’t work for you. CLICK HERE for more and to sign up.

Business Boost 101 Coaching Series begins May 3! From Start up to Momentum ~ 5 group coaching sessions, 1 personal session, powerful handouts and homework to focus and grow your business.  CLICK HERE for more!

p.s. from Me Ra–

1. There is another rich event happening in June!  It’s an out-of-the box event!  If your creative self is stuck inside the shrinking four walls of your own box, check this out!  My dear friend, Leif Hansen, is running a workshop called The Lila Retreat: An Invitation to Divine Play.   Leif is amazing at working with people to get out of the box and challenge their limitations, but all the while you are laughing, being refreshed, having an unforgettable experience that enriches your creative soul…I can’t say enough about how great Leif and his retreats are.  Check it out HERE if you are interested!  Or see info on Facebook!

They have an Early Bird going that I think ends today.

2. Send me what you’ve been cooking up from Your Baby in Pictures!  I’m working on a blog post that is going to highlight your results!  So send me your photos today!  info@fioria.us

xoxo,

m