On March 31st after battling a cold for a few weeks, I woke up in the morning drenched with sweat.  I new something wasn’t right. I drove myself to the hospital.  I had contracted a serious pneumonia.  I spent the next 2 days in the hospital and a month at home recovering.

The bright side was the pneumonia diet.  25lbs in two weeks.  Though highly effective, I don’t recommend this diet.  As well as a lot of time to reflect on my life, which has resulted in some amazing refocusing of my life and my coaching.

One of the downsides was the muscle loss and lack of exercise for almost a month.  When I got back on the squash court after being away for 5 weeks my game was atrocious.  I could barely get a point of my opponent. I got winded quickly and I wasn’t even moving fast on the court.

This past Thursday after playing horribly for two week, I was getting ready to play the 4th of five games.  I was feeling really dejected. A part of me was thinking maybe this is a sign that I should just give up the game.    My opponent was commenting to me how in the past three games I had barely gotten 3 points off him, attributing it to his great skill.

Then something amazing happened.

First, I got frustrated at my self for letting him irritate me. Second, I challenged myself.  I had lost 25lbs, so I should be a bit faster. I had been doing Yoga and workouts at home for the past three weeks so I should have some significant strength and endurance.  I had gotten pneumonia not amnesia, I still knew how to play powerfully.

At that moment I made a conscious decision to BRING IT ALL ON.

I knew that I had it in me and that if I really wanted it, I could bring in to the surface.

The next game was a workout, I didn’t win but it was a close game.  The game after that I won.   Today when I played though my opponent won the games, they were all pretty close and a great workout.  Before the week is out I expect to be winning a majority of the games.

What’s the lesson?

Success and Mastery begin with a powerful decision.  When every fiber of your being is committed to fulfilling your desire.  The gifts that are sleeping inside of you wake up and practically carry you in the direction of your dreams.

When you are fully commited to your desire you will break through all the barriers that were previously holding you back. The sacrifices required for your success will no longer feel like sacrifices, they will just be WHAT HAS TO BE DONE.

Whatever your desire is answer these 3 questions.

1. On a scale of 1-10 how much do I really desire it?
2. If I am not a 10 what do I need to get it there?
3. What is the action I need to take now to begin the realization of my desire?

If you feel you are having a hard time getting your self to that strong desire, sign up for a free coaching session and I will help you ignite your fire.

Whats the meaning here?

Last night was a busy night. I had to leave by 7:30 and my wife was having a group of moms come over to prepare loot bags for a school program. The kids that bed time was the time to fight over everything and through endless tantrums. By 7:15 our patience was really starting to wear thin. By 7:20 we were starting (lets say more in the middle) to lose our cool.

Now the fighters and tantrum throwers are 7 and 5 years old. And even though we sometimes expect them to act like adults, the reality is they are normal healthy kids and fighting and tantrums are part of what they do.

So why do two adults loose their cool over this?

One of the thoughts that came to my mind was that we were getting frustrated because we were concerned about what others were going to think.

You see for us the best response would have been to ignore the kids while they were having a cow. There is no communicating with them when they are in this state. They would eventually calm down and then we could get them to bed.  But because guests were coming we needed to stop this right away, because we can’t have our kids acting this way when they arrive. What would they think??

So we got frustrated, we raised our voices they raised their voices, they tantrumed more we got frustrated more and by the time we finally got them into bed we were all drained and irritable.

Why?  Because We cared about what other would think.

If we didn’t care we would have taken the better approach. The tantruming might have been shorter and the interactions healthier, by the time the kids got to sleep we would have been more relaxed and less exhausted. The learning experience would have been much better for the kids as well.

Sometimes we will break our standards, step out of alignment with our values and goals because we are worried about What others will think? We are so concerned with their interpretation of what they see that we are willing to sacrifice the best paths in our life’s journey.  Not only do we prevent our own growth, but the frustration of being out of alignment causes us to not function at peak performance in other areas of our life as well. When our mind is in a negative state it is hard to accomplish much positive.

So though it is important to care and respect our fellow man. When it comes to making the right choices in life, sometimes you cant give a Damn what they think.

Let me share the power of Professional Coaching with you. Sign up for a free session at www.ProBonoCoaching.com

For as long as people have been celebrating new years, they have been following this same pattern. They make large goals for the year ahead, and then as the exhaustion and hangover dissipate on the morning of January 2nd, the frenetic pace of life returns and, the resolutions of the week before are long forgotten.

If your journey is to the east and you travel south, you will never arrive at your destination.

We talk about goals of eating better, exercise, deep relationships, and overall discipline, and then we start are year with excessive eating and inebriation, meaningless kisses, and excessive sleeping and time wasting. Then as a result of our less than stellar choices, we reinforce the negative and make the possibility of achieving our goals all the more challenging.

As you live your moments, so you live your days, week, months, years and LIFE.

Making massive changes in you year and life can be overwhelming, intimidating and debilitating. To change a moment is manageable almost easy. Taking control of those moments will lead to massive life change.

Setting the stage for tomorrows performance.

You have some goals for this year. What is the goal that you want to work on? What is the process, the steps involved to reach that goal. When the stage crew sets the stage for a performance they put one piece, work on one detail at a time. Each piece/detail is not the set, the set is a result and combination of all the pieces.
A goal is not some thing we do, it is something we achieve, and we achieve it through taking the proper steps (one at a time) and the combination of those steps will result in the achievement of your goals.

A new way to enter 2010

Don’t repeat the same process that you have been doing all these years and expect different results.  For tonight just enjoy yourself (responsibly).

Tomorrow can be the beginning of your finest year. To achieve that you must begin with thinking.  Nothing heavy mind you. Partying all night and deep thought don’t really go hand in hand.

For starters just take some time on January 1st to ask your self some thoughtful questions.

What was great about me in 2009?

What strengths did I see in my self?

How did these great moments enhance my life?

What could I do different in 2010 to make my life even better? (answer in the positive)

How would it improve my life?

You’ll know that all these questions focus on the positive.  Positive Focus. Positive State of Mind. Positive Outcomes.

Sun Set. Sun Rise

A year will end and a new year will arrive, you have no controll over this. How you step into the year is in the sphere of your control.
Step forward, step with purpose, step with strength. Be Great.

Enjoy Your Success In 2010

Rob