Your Dreams and Goals

We all have dreams and goals don’t we? How do we move toward achieving them?

dreams-and-goalsThere you stand right at the foot of a stair case. You want to get up to the next floor. You need to get up to the next floor. You intend to go up to the next floor. This should not be a shock to you or anyone else, you must actually take the first step up the stairs before you get yourself any closer to the next floor. Then you must take the next step and the next step. This example is a physical example and most people would be able to accomplish this goal of getting to the next level.

Another physical example is going to workout on a regular basis. There is a study which shows even among people who have been told they must exercise for their health there is a high percentage who do not regularly go to exercise. A number of people do find that working with a personal trainer, where they have an appointment and have already invested in the trainer working with them, provides the accountability necessary to get them to workout. There is still a dramatic falloff after the first 60 to 90 days.

Therefore it is no wonder when we are speaking about following through on our dreams or even our goals the majority of people take no action steps toward either.

At the most basic level, if you have a thought or a dream, how are you capturing this thought, this dream, before it goes away from your current awareness and you say things like, “I cannot remember it.” A few solutions would be to speak the thought or dream into your mobile device and record it, have a pen and a pad to write on by your bedside or near you at all times. Many people practice the skill of journaling. At a specific time each day for a specific period of time they write in a journal.

Once the thoughts or dreams are captured, albeit by a small population, the review of these must take place to determine priority, reality and interest. This process is the first time certain influences may trap you. Fear, your predisposed assumptions and other influences may take you in a direction not true to your heart. You might be thinking, “Oh no way, I must play it safe. I am not doing that, ever.” Unless there is a trained professional to challenge you and your self talk, this is going to be how you respond to the majority of your thoughts and dreams.

Tell me, how do you overcome your self talk when a part of you wants to move toward a big dream?

Mitch Tublin is an advanced, certified executive and personal coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

State Of The Union Should Remind Us To Check The State Of Our Business

President ObamaThis week in the world of government, politics and the media – the State of The Union delivered by President Obama is a big deal. The current environment dictates the strategy for the State of the Union to be filled with words of hope, promises and lots of selling. Selling the dreams, wants and needs of the audience-the big huge audience. Typically the State of the Union lacks substance, lacks details, and lacks the ‘how’ we do all these things type of facts.

It is a great reminder how critical it is for any business owner or entrepreneur to check the state of their business. This would be an in depth look at how you are doing? Are you heading toward your big goals and strategies? Are you getting off track on your projects or are you staying right on your timeline?

How are the funds? Are you being paid by your clients/customers in a timely manner? Do you have the amount of financing in place to carry out the plans you have for the year? All of these questions require you to take a reality check. There is no hiding. It is all substance. It is all about the details.

This process must take place at least one time a month. Do not skip around an area. Look deep and look hard.  Then adjust your course as necessary. This is why you conduct this activity. There are often slight adjustments which need to be taken. Remember the route to the goal is often not an exact straight line. Part of the way toward business success is creating these course corrections as you go along.

Do you find you require the assistance of an expert business strategy consultant to bring you through this process and create accountability to keep you on track?  Contact Mitch Tublin at www.thementorguy.com and book your initial session today.

Anyone shopping for a new pair of shoes? What does this have to do with finding the right coach?

Are you a Shoe-aholic? Seriously, does shopping for shoes really help your mindset and change how you feel about yourself?

  • What do you think about when you go shopping for a new pair of shoes?
  • What matters most, is it the name, the brand or comfort?
  • Is it the price, meaning you must spend at least “X” amount of dollars for a pair of shoes or, well, they can’t be any good!
  • Are you a trend setter? Do you just have to have the latest fashion?
  • Do you feel you will break them in and they will be comfortable and you just buy the look and the brand and then you wear the shoes and your feet are killing you?
  • How many pairs of shoes do you try on before you find just the right pair?
  • Last question, do you have a salesperson put your shoes on and off for you or do you do it yourself?

[Read more…]

Entrepreneurs Find Inspiration From Sports

Many of my followers are not really sports fans per se.  Some proudly state “I don’t watch sports!”  Hey, that’s cool with me!  I am not here to change you.

What I would like to discuss with your permission is share a few recent stories you may enjoy reading about from the sports arena.  The main reason is there are lessons to be learned by entrepreneurs from the wide world of sports.  It just so happens a few of these stories are taking place right now.

This is the time of year called “March Madness”.  The best college basketball teams from the men’s and women’s college programs compete in bracketed tournaments all across the country to determine which teams are the best in the country from the women and from the men in the NCAA.

Geno Auriemma is the head coach for the University of Connecticut, UCONN – Huskies, NCAA Division One Women’s Basketball Team.  He has been their head coach since 1985.  His coaching record is amazing. UConn has won 6 National Championships under Auriemma (1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2009) and made the Final Four 11 times[ (1991, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2010). Auriemma has also guided UConn to 15 Big East regular season titles and 14 Big East Tournament titles. The current team has been undefeated since a game in the season before last season ( 2008-2009 ). In a recent interview, Geno was asked what keeps him going.  Here is what the six time Coach of the Year said: “The fear of Failure.  I always think, if we don’t do this or we don’t do that, I will be found out and I will be considered a failure.”  This statement as his UCONN Huskies prepare to play for the NCAA Women’s Championship on Tuesday, April 6, 2010 in San Antonio, Texas.

As an entrepreneur, do you ever think about failure?  Here is one of the games best coaches ever, saying he is driven by his fear of failure! How do you motivate yourself and not get caught up in the fear of failure?

Coach Krzyzewski is the head coach for the Duke University – Blue Devils NCAA Division One Men’s Basketball team.  He has been their head coach since 1980.  He is another coach with a phenomenal record.

Nicknamed “Coach K“, Krzyzewski has led the Blue Devils to 3 NCAA Championships, 11 Final Fours (tied for second most in history), 12 ACC Regular Season Titles, and 12 ACC championships over 30 seasons at Duke. Krzyzewski has amassed an NCAA-record 76 NCAA tournament victories, while averaging more than 25 wins per season. On March 1, 2008, Krzyzewski became the sixth men’s basketball coach in NCAA history to reach the 800-win plateau. He was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame following the 2001 season.

In a recent interview by ESPN, Coach K was asked about the Butler Team he was about to face in the NCAA Championship Game at Indianapolis on Monday, April 5, 2010 on CBS Sports.   Coach K said what was special about Butler, a school with a total enrollment of less than 4, 000 compared to Duke with almost 4 times that number, was the fact that every single player believes that they are going to win.  The media and everyone else thinks they, Butler, are underdogs, except no one told the Butler players or coaches that.  They just believe, in fact, know in their hearts, that they are going to win every single time they step on that court.

Do you believe, as an entrepreneur, that you will be a success?  Do you know you are going to fulfill your dreams and goals no matter what anyone else has to say?  How do you turn off the noise from the naysayers and follow your dreams?

Brad Stevens has been the head men’s basketball coach at Butler University – Butler Bulldogs – NCAA Division One since 2007.  His record places him near the top of the list in the history of NCAA men’s basketball coaches in terms of his record in his first three years as a head coach.  The real inspirational story about Coach Stevens is how he became the head coach at Butler.  He held a well paying position as a marketing associate at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis.  Stevens felt that something was missing.  This job just was not what he was meant to do.  In June of 2000 he left Eli Lilly to pursue a career in basketball coaching, joined the Bulldogs’ staff in 2000-01 as coordinator of basketball operations under head coach Thad Matta.  He was offered a full-time assistant coaching position by Lickliter one year later.  He did not become the head coach until April 2007.

Are you following your calling as an entrepreneur?  Do you know this is what you are meant to do?  How have you ‘cut the cord’ so you would be able to really commit and focus on your entrepreneurial dream?

I hope these stories provide inspiration to you.  They do for me.