What is it you do on a daily basis that keeps you tethered to your goals? If you had the opportunity to speak with people who are highly successful you would realize that they all have daily rituals that keep them “on track” with whatever they want to accomplish in their lives. Whether these goals are financial, emotional, health related or spiritual, these successful individuals all adhere strictly to their chosen routines for they know that, without them, the risk of finding themselves heading in the opposite direction of their goals grows exponentially with every day they choose to ignore them.

Jim Rohn once stated that “Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.” I believe that it is because routines ground you, create self-awareness as well as accountability. They direct your brain to stay focussed on what you have chosen to accomplish, not only during the day, but also in your life. They are like a GPS for your brain, providing it with the energy and direction you need to keep you moving forward.

Daily routines are powerful tools that enhance an individual’s focus on his/her goals, no matter how small or large they may be. There are numerous types of rituals that can be used to render a person more effective in their lives. Success routines are very personal and it can take a little time to find what works for you but the investment is truly worth it.

Success routines can include activities such as:

• Journaling;
• Reading;
• Exercise:
• Visualisation;
• Meditation;
• Reciting affirmations or a personal mission statement;
• Listening to self-development audio books or podcasts; and
• Creating lists of tasks on what you want to accomplish during your day.

The universe despises a vacuum so if you don’t schedule your chosen routines as a priority in your day someone or something else with find a way to pencil in their priorities in your calendar. Therefore, it is critical that your routine is the first item scheduled in your planner. Many will also schedule time in the evening to take stock of what worked well and what didn’t during their day, which is an excellent practice.

Finding a routine that works for you will require that you try different activities and determine what works best for you. Introverts may be more comfortable with reading, journaling and meditating while high energy extroverts might prefer listening to podcasts while doing their morning walk or run. The most important thing is to have a routine and to stick to it, your success depends on it. - wayne (www.waynewatsoncoach.com)

Be Happy. Be kind. Be Inspired. Be Inspiring.

Rabbi Harold Kushner once wrote, “Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth or power…Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter, so that the world will be at least be a little bit different for our having passed through it.” Great leaders seem to comprehend this at a different level than most people. These leaders are aware, not only of their own significance, but, most importantly, of the significance of those they are leading. True leaders not only believe this with all their heart, but they communicate it without any effort or personal agenda.

Leadership has been defined as the ability to influence. Have you ever tried to influence someone who feels insignificant or someone with whom you have no rapport? How we react to others is based in a very large part on how they make us feel…about ourselves. The people we have the most rapport with are those who make us feel the most significant. Significance is a funny thing in that the more significant we make ourselves to others, the more significant we become to ourselves. If you have ever walked away from a manager feeling that you are so much more than you were before meeting with them, you have been exposed to leadership.

The ability to introduce people to their own significance starts with the leaders’ own conviction that they themselves are significant to the organization. It is difficult to communicate an emotion that one doesn’t feel, right? If the leader is a secure individual there is no danger that this significance will be accompanied by self-importance or arrogance. We all know that when self-importance or arrogance is present, leadership is absent. The next requirement is the leader’s true belief that their employees do matter to them and to their organization. The final and most important piece of this approach is clearly communicating this belief to people with sincerity and humility.

Alchemy is a science that was used in the middle ages to try and change ordinary objects into gold; it can also be the source of a major shift in consciousness in a person or in an organization. True leaders are alchemists every time they succeed in initiating a shift in their employees from seeing themselves as being ordinary to seeing themselves as being “golden”. When this shift occurs, everybody shines. -wayne (www.waynewatsoncoach.com)

Be Happy. Be Kind. Be Inspired. Be Inspiring.

A “Horse Whisperer” is often described as someone who is able to communicate with these beautiful animals at a level that is borderline spiritual. These special people “get” the animal and it somehow knows this, resulting in the equine reaching a level of its potential that few would have thought possible. The horse somehow senses that this strange two-legged animal that is “whispering” to it deserves its trust. This melding of the minds creates a symbiotic relationship that propels both parties to heightened levels of performance.
Who is your whisperer? When you were a child your parents “whispered” you through so many of your first attempts at many of the skills you needed to start your new life on this planet. You took your first steps on your own trusting that they would be there to catch you if you stumbled. Their belief in you that you could do it and the constant encouragement you received from them rendered your success in walking upright inevitable. When you stop and think of it taking those first steps was probably the first really big goal you ever reached. This success venture spurred you on to numerous other goals throughout your childhood.
Do you have a whisperer in your life? The odds of you reaching your goals increase exponentially if you have that special someone who “gets” you and recognizes your ability to become more. These special souls are out there for you. You don’t find them as much as you attract them. The challenge for you is to recognize them when they cross your path and to trusting your instincts. Trusting can be scary, but scary places are usually where our growth lies, isn’t it? Whether it be a spouse, parent, friend, a mentor or a coach your “horse sense” will tell you that this is will be the person who will introduce you to your true potential. You will also recognize the whisperers on your path as they will be the ones carrying a fresh supply of your favourite oats and… maybe a carrot or two! –wayne
Be Happy. Be Kind. Be Inspired. Be Inspiring.
www.waynewatsoncoach.com

PS: A special thanks to my friend,Sandy, who let me “borrow” her photograph.

This quote by Emerson hits home, doesn’t it? Human beings are all looking for something and someone. Most often they don’t know what they are looking for but they keep on looking in the hope that, when they trip over it, they will recognize it. That “something” that we are all looking for is… our true potential. The person we know that is hiding behind our fears and negative beliefs, the person we want to discover and introduce to the world before we leave it.
Recognizing our true potential is an inside job, but this can oftentimes be a long and elusive task without help. Life has a way of putting the right people on our path at the right time to introduce us to our true selves; however, we don’t always recognize these encounters for what they truly are. I believe that this is what Emerson meant when he wrote, “The days come and go like muffled and veiled figures sent from a distant, friendly party, but they say nothing and if we do not use the gifts they bring they carry them silently away.”
My wish to you for the New Year is that, when those figures appear in your life to introduce you to your true potential, you recognize them and welcome them with an open heart and an open mind. Your potential is your crown. Wear it, for you have earned it. -wayne
Be Happy. Be kind. Be Inspired. Be Inspiring.
www.waynewatsoncoach.com

How much of your life do you own? I suggest you give this question some serious thought. You are the Chief Executive Officer of YOU Inc. and, like all companies, it is those with the majority of the shares who control the company. How many of the shares in your company have you given away over the years. Do you sometimes feel that your life is not your own? Who are the people in your life that get to, consistently, pull your strings? When did you relinquish those shares? What are your present time returns?
The shares we give away by choice are usually those that provide You Inc. with high returns and continuous growth, but the shares that we gave away, either consciously or unconsciously, are the ones that leave us feeling bankrupt as human beings. Giving away those shares was a choice, taking them back is also a choice. Being aware of who owns your shares is the first step in reclaiming your life. The second step is determining if the dividends you are getting for having sold those shares are nourishing or depleting You Inc. The final step, as the CEO of your life, is to decide which decisions need to be taken to save the company from bankruptcy. The ROI (return on investment) should be a happier and more fulfilled CEO. –wayne www.waynewatsoncoach.com.
Be Happy. Be kind. Be Inspired. Be Inspiring.

Gratitude begets happiness. Think of it. Whenever we have a true moment of gratitude it is always accompanied by a warm feeling of joy. It is a fact that you can’t feel happiness without feeling grateful. One does not exist without the other. I recently read an article about a study that showed that patients who kept gratitude journals for 21 days saw significant improvements in their blood work compared with patients in this study who didn’t.

Taking the time to stop and be mindful of the good things that we have in our lives is a CHOICE that we can make. Not doing it is also a choice. Take the time today to be mindful of the good things in your life and brace yourself for a moment of happiness. On this Thanksgiving weekend why not give it a try. Sit down with a favourite beverage and write down 5 to 10 things that you are grateful for. Be specific. Write down what is it about that person or event that brings you joy. It takes but a few seconds to do. Give yourself this little gift. You deserve it. Happy Thanksgiving! -wayne www.waynewatsoncoach.com

Be Happy. Be Kind. Be inspired. Be Inspiring.

No matter what it is we are dealing with, we ALWAYS have a choice on how to view the situations we find ourselves facing. How we perceive our circumstances determines how much energy, pain and time it is going to take to deal with whatever obstacles are thrown our way. The attitude you choose to adopt in difficult times will determine what inner resources will be made available to you to get through those inevitable storms that show up at the most inopportune times. It is not your circumstances that define you; it is your management of them that will. Your legacy will be your choice of attitude. -wayne
Be Happy. Be Kind. Be Inspired. Be Inspiring.

Attitude determines altitude. When you chose to take on a positive attitude toward a situation you are usually rewarded with a wider view of all the possibilities available to you. In other words, altitude. The more choices you have, the better are your chances at success. -wayne

Success is never ever accidental. There is nothing haphazard about achieving one’s goal. Success in every realm is the result of an accumulation of focused activities and beliefs that drive a person, a team or an organization in the direction of their goal. These activities completed in a consistent manner produce a compound effect which, over time, will create a powerful vortex that will propel a person or an organization toward the desired goal. Every high achiever knows this to be true.
The secret to creating this vortex is to identify the required activities and then to commit to performing them on a daily basis. The best way to identify the activities that you need to commit to is to model someone who has reached the goal you are seeking. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Speak to someone who has been successful and, most of them I believe will be more than happy to share with you their daily routines in relation to their achievements. If you take the time to read the autobiographies of people you would like to emulate you will certainly discover, not only what their success oriented activities were, but, most importantly, what beliefs they possessed that drove their behaviours. The beliefs they chose to adopt in their quest toward success is their most powerful tool. Your actions are driven by your beliefs. If you choose to adopt the appropriate mindset you will find yourself taking the appropriate actions with little effort on your part. If your beliefs are in line with your values and with what you want to accomplish, it won’t be difficult to commit to these required activities.
Many a naysayer has attributed another person’s success to luck, but, believe me, luck has nothing to do with it. Sam Goldwyn said it best when he stated, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” Speaking about those who love to criticize, just remember that, for most of these people, the only time they get a taste of success is… when they take a bite out of you. –wayne (waynewatsoncoach.com)

It always amazes me the price people are willing to pay to protect their egos. I have seen so many individuals accept to give up their precious time, energy, peace of mind, security and dreams in the name of protecting the image they want to portray to the world. The fear that others may think less of them imprisons them, it keeps them small. How many of you have considered pursuing a dream but gave it up out of concern of what other people will say? Being true to oneself and to others requires that you free yourself from the shackles of your ego. Someone once said that what others think of you is really none of your business.
One of the qualities of a great leader is the ability to take decisions for the good of an organization and its people without being concerned about how they will be perceived in the eyes of their critics. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to control and manipulate someone who doesn’t have a hidden agenda? Behind every large ego lies insecurity and a fear of insignificance. How can someone be a true leader if their leadership is rooted in insecurity? Would you want to follow someone whose number one priority is to protect their persona?
We can escape from this prison we have created for ourselves. The key is to truly believe that who we really are is more than enough and that we already possess all the resources we need to handle whatever life throws our way. True leadership lies in this belief. –wayne (www.waynerwatsoncoach.com)
Be Happy. Be Kind. Be Inspired. Be Inspired.

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