What Drives Behavior…

Last night I watched a 20 minute “talk” on TED.com shared with
me by a business associate that succinctly and articulately
identifies fundamental keys to what drives behavior…and
“how great leaders inspire action.”

The talk was by former student of anthropology Simon Sinek,
and I’ve posted it below, with a few intriguing quotes from
Simon here:

     People don’t buy what you do; people buy why you do it.

     And what you do proves what you believe.

     The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what
     you have; the goal is to do business with people who believe
     what you believe.

     When we communicate from the inside out, we’re talking directly
     to the part of the brain that controls behavior, and then we
     allow people to rationalize it with tangible things we say and
     do.

     If you talk about what you believe, you will attract people who
     believe what you believe.

Take a few moments to watch the video here, and then here’s a key:

Note for yourself how Simon’s perspective can impact your own
thinking and actions in something that matters to you.

Would love to here your comments below…Enjoy!

Dr. Ben

3 Quick Practices to Build Intention & Clarity

As a followup to the power of 10 min’s a day, I wanted to share
three ideas you can use right away to increase your clarity,
intention, and progress in life, health, & business on a daily
basis:

1)  Take 10 min’s to create “mental space” free of the activities
of the day – ideally before your day begins. You can use this
time as “quiet time”, prayer, meditation…simply give yourself…

…and your mind in particular…

some “space” before you “descend” into your day.

You may be surprised at the ideas, energy, and clarity that come
to you when you give yourself this “space.”

2)  Throughout the day, “check in” with yourself to ask,

“What’s most important to me about this next segment of my day?”

If you’re already engaged on a project without distractions or
“forks in the road”, you may find yourself doing this less often.

But if you’ve got lots of people and/or matters calling for your
attention throughout the day, taking a moment to “check in” and
be sure you’re on track and intentional about what’s getting your
time and attention will be a powerful practice.

3)  Get a spiral bound notebook/pad that you can easily jot ideas
in that come to you…and in particular, take a few moments –
perhaps at the end of the day – to write what’s most important to
you.

It may be something you learned or appreciate from the day, a
“highlight” of your day…an intention for the next day, something
you intend to change, or an overall realization of what you love,
what’s important to you, and where you’re going to focus more of
your time and energy going forward.

There you go – 3 simple but powerful exercises you can implement
right away.

Already doing one or more?  Would love to hear your experiences.

Ready to put one or all three into practice now? State your
intentions in the comments below, then come back in a week and
share your experience.

Here’s to living intentionally and experiencing the clarity, focus,
and fulfillment that can be yours!

Dr. Ben

Lewis Carroll, Purpose, & Time…

Just saw two blog posts this week that were so impactful to
me and so broadly applicable that I felt compelled to share
them both with you here.

The first began with the quote from Lewis Carroll –

“Cheshire Puss,” asked Alice. “Would you tell me, please, which
way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to go,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where,” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
                               ~Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

This quote alone makes a powerful point.  I found it on
wonderful blog post from Jane Perdue which further delivers, in
just a few moments, key quotes & questions for designing your
life, and you can visit the post here.

Next, how many of you cringe or at least feel a bit bored when
the phrase “time management” comes up? 

And yet how many of you often experience “never enough time” or
at times feeling your energy and focus scattered and less effective
than you’d like it to be?

Well, Craig L. Sanders from right here in Michigan just sent me his
awesome and insightful post on this very subject, and he delivers
such refreshing clarity and insight that I’ve been percolating on
and practicing the ideas he gives already to powerful effect in
the last 24 hrs.  You can view his post here.

Would love to hear your own “take-aways” from the posts above. 

What impacted you the most?

What do you intend to take action on right away?

Look forward to hearing from you!

Dr. Ben

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Shifting Paradigms…

While walking my daughter to sleep just before lunch, I was
pondering the Bob Proctor video I watched late last night on
shifting our paradigms – the “unseen” programs that run much
of our lives beyond our conscious awareness.

Ever wonder why, despite the best of intentions to change
something, you often find yourself falling back into the same
patterns over and over?

Well, as Bob explains so clearly (and many others before him
have indicated), much of our lives are run by subconscious
programming that we’ve accumulated over years.

The good news is, we can change that programming…and the
habits and patterns that arise from them.

But it takes both a desire and an intention to change, and
then a “recipe” of specific steps.

My question for you today is, what’s one area that you want to
change now?

Something in your health, your energy, your weight, your family
or relationships or how you spend your time, or perhaps your
finances or business results?

Next, what’s one step you can take, or new habit you can implement,
during the next 21 days to start shifting in this one area?

How about posting your decision, thoughts, or comments below –
I look forward to hearing from you.

Here’s to shifting our paradigms and creating more and more
consciously in our lives!

Dr. Ben

P.S. If you’d like to see the video from Bob Proctor and some of
his examples on how to shift your paradigms, you can do so here
(takes you to a registration screen that’s a bit “hypey” but the
content is really good).  Enjoy!

Food for thought…

In discussion with a business colleague and fellow coach
yesterday, some key thoughts came to me that created a great
“Aha!” for her and are still percolating in me this morning,
so I wanted to share them with you.

Namely, in the midst of all your plans and activities for 2010…

…all the things calling for your attention…

…and all the “doing”…

are you creating space “to be”?

Whether it’s a few moments of sitting quietly, enjoying a warm
bath or shower, or walking or biking without your cell phone or
radio on, have you set aside 3-5 min’s…or even 10…per day to
just “be”…to connect to that sense of who you are that extends
beyond the doing…

That “being” that has value and is “there” regardless of what
you do…and regardless of what others think of what you do,
or whether what you’re doing is currently “successful” or not…

Allow yourself to connect to that sense of being…

…give yourself space to be…

Then as you return to your “doing”, you will come from a much more
powerful and centered place, and can approach your doing with a
sense of anticipation, excitement, and even joy…without feeling
that success or failure threatens who you are…

And now, as you return to the doing, here’s a couple questions
to ask yourself as we enter the second month of 2010:

Setting aside the “how to” for a moment, what would you most like
to be doing, if anything were possible?

Take a moment with this…

Perhaps even jot down what comes to you…

Next, with what you’re currently doing, what do you actually love?

What is it you love about it?

Perhaps there’s a way to carry forward aspects of what you love
in other forms or other arenas…while at the same time letting go
of other aspects that no longer serve you and the purposes you’re
choosing for yourself now.

Food for thought…and I look forward to hearing your own comments
below!

Dr. Ben