Using fear as a motivator...

Most people see fear as a barrier; they run away and hide from their fear. They do not use their fear as a lever, a motivator to make things happen. We all know people who use their fear to stop them from going forward.

Have you thought to use your fear as a lever and a motivator; a way of stepping outside your comfort zone rather than being inhibited by it?

One way to deal with fear is to do something outside your comfort zone; break it down into small sizable chunks and push yourself toward achieving something you have always wanted to do, something you did not think possible. Embrace the fear; use it as the lever to make your dreams, goals come true.

There are many different fears that hold us back. You might be afraid of heights, you may fear giving all of yourself in a relationship, you may fear speaking up in front of your colleagues.

Whatever your fear, use it as the lever, the motivator to overcome the obstacles and challenge yourself to achieve your goal, reach your full potential.

Find something you are a little scared about and put together some strategies to overcome that fear little by little stretching yourself outside your comfort zone until eventually it becomes easy. The fear is pushed aside and you can move on to the next goal.

It does not matter how many steps you take as long as you keep taking steps to alleviate your fear.

When the going gets tough - do you perform as a winner or a loser? How easy do you give up, throw in the towel, call it quits?

If you watched the Australian Rugby League grand final on Sunday October 04, between Melbourne Storm and Parramatta Eels you would have enjoyed a game between two exciting teams, what you may not have noticed was a young man who had stared adversity in the face and turned it into opportunity.

Melbourne 5/8^th Brett Finch had been shown the door by Parramatta after just 4 rounds of the competition. Essentially sacked or made redundant.

Just sit back for a second and imagine you had just been sacked from your highly paid job with your company, told your skills were not wanted, that you did not fit the culture. How would you react, what would your mood be?

Now imagine there are only 11 other companies in Australia that could possibly employ you and most of those have just been through an aggressive recruiting campaign.

I imagine you would feel pretty despondent, feeling as if you had been kicked in the guts and the world had turned against you.

Then Melbourne Storm threw young Brett Finch a lifeline and he applied himself as if he was getting paid top dollar. He trained as hard as everyone else, he played as hard as everyone else, and he used every skill he had to help make the team better.

THE RESULT was he got to stand on the dais later on that Sunday, triumphant as a winner, as a victor over the dream stealers, as a champion of believing in yourself and sticking at it, when most of us would have given up, thrown in the towel, called it quits.

Brett Finch is a shining example to others; that they are capable of far more than they imagine.

What is courage to you?

Courage.......is more than just a word.

Courage is something that lies in each of us. In some of us though it lies dormant, untouched and unknown. While in others it rises to the surface and becomes the driver for turning an average existence into a wonderful adventure. Which one are you? And how do you find courage?

By pushing the boundaries; by stepping up a little; by getting out of your comfort zone.

Remember to take little steps - create small wins - achieve small tasks. You will be enlightened and emblazoned to keep moving forward; to keep challenging yourself and showing courage.

Raise the Bar

A couple of weeks ago I sat down with my daughters to watch the semi-finals of Australia's version of Dancing with the Stars. Gerard Goosen who we know to be vision impaired was eliminated in Sunday's show, he made it to the final four but what I was really interested in was his speech at the end of the show and the parallels with what I teach in my GET REAL seminar.

In his words he highlights 3 key things I believe are the difference between average and awesome.

1. I talk about people capable of far more than they imagine - Gerrard mentioned one of the key motivators for him in participating in the show and making the finals was to show people they can achieve great things if they put their mind to it.

2. One of the key sessions in the GET REAL seminar is 'Raising the Bar' as high jumpers do, a little at a time until you habitually clear it with ease. Gerrard consistently raises the bar in his life so he achieves awesome things despite the fact he is blind; things most of us would be blown away by. He has a significant disadvantage and he has made them habitual so they are now done with the same ease as the high jumper clearing the bar.

3. It is my belief that courage comes before confidence. Gerrard clearly shows that stepping out of your comfort zone slowly, step by step, little by little, builds confidence. It is the courage to string together a series of little wins that creates awesome outcomes and ultimately confidence. Food for thought? Have a great day!

I have worked with numerous leadership groups at events across Australia and in Europe in the last few months and discovered an interesting trait.

In exploring the effectiveness of different leaders in different organisations and cultures, I found one consistent barrier to effectiveness in every scenario - EGO.

It appears that in climbing the corporate ladder, those people driven by the power and prestige of the leader's role are actually least effective in that role.

The EGOmaniacs tend to surround themselves with 'yes' people and useless support staff that give them the feeling of confidence and effectiveness. Yet, their staff and subordinates can see through the false persona and the results is lower productivity, lower morale, higher staff turnover.

How can you detect an egomaniac leader? Look for these signs...

1. Egomaniacs have a personal assistant that does mundane tasks that they could do themselves i.e. return phone calls, return emails etc. This is often justified by the phrase 'I am too busy to return calls and emails'. RUBBISH. I spoke with John Tolmie the CEO of Darrell Lea last year and was impressed to hear he operated thousands of stores and factories across the globe without a personal assistant, he writes all his own memos, operates his own diary, no ego, just results!

2. Egomaniacs make random half baked decisions based on the moment rather than exploring the options and making strategic, sustainable decisions. They are also quick to reverse decisions sometimes in minutes; they flip-flop their way to outcomes.

3. Egomaniacs don't accept advice. In fact in the face of good advice they often take the reverse option because they believe that if they accept direction from someone else it undermines their position.

4. Egomaniacs delegate the hard stuff, like terminating employment, giving a harsh performance review, getting rid of a supplier or contractor. They want to win in the popularity stakes and don't want to ruffle any feathers.

So, my advice to you is look out for the ones climbing the ladder in your organisation and either pull them into line, teach them how to lead properly or get them off the bus. Also just take a few minutes to look in the mirror because you may be an egomaniac, the trouble is egomaniacs cant see themselves in the mirror so you may just have to ask for some good honest feedback!

Cheers and GET REAL!

How Alison is making a difference...

My passion in life is making a difference and inspiring people to make a difference. I am also inspired by people that make a difference. I met Alison by accident on the beachfront at Terrigal on the weekend.

I was sitting in a beachfront cafe having a coffee when I spotted a woman picking up all the discarded cigarette butts along the beachfront path, she was just wandering along picking them up, putting them in a bucket and occasionally stopping to say 'hello' to people passing by.

I thought, "what a terrible job, she must be working for the council as surely no-one would do this voluntarily". I watched her for a while and for some reason got the impression that maybe she wasn't being paid to do it, so I just had to ask, and you guessed it she wasn't.

I told her I couldn't believe she would be wasting a beautiful sunny Sunday picking up other peoples cigarette butts and asked if I could buy her a cup of coffee. So Alison sat down with me and told me the story. She is retired, from the UK and lives in the local area. On her morning strolls she noticed how ordinary the area looked and one Australia Day decided to do something about it.

She made up her own 'Bin your Butts' bins and put them out, expecting them to be destroyed by the following day.

Much to her surprise they were not only there the next day but they were full of butts. She then decided to take it a step further and pick up the ones that don't make it to a bin and she has now been doing this for years.

Not only does she do it but she has raised the bar, she now also calls the council if she discovers graffiti, vandalism or damage along the beachfront.

Alison says that it keeps her young and alive by giving her something purposeful to do, she gets great exercise, it makes sure she sees her elderly dad who lives at the other end of the beach each day, she gets to have conversations with heaps of people and she is doing something that makes a REAL difference to the community.

You might think that she would not have much time for smokers but she is quite the opposite, she feels sorry for them "they just want to relax and have a few puffs" she says and when she asks them to be more careful with their butts she says, "they are more than helpful". Not only does Alison do this herself but she also now has a website www.wastewarriorsworld.com dedicated to helping others do the same sort of thing all over the world.

I like the quote on the home page...

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has" Margaret Mead

If you see Alison in your travels, buy her a cup of coffee and take the time to have a chat with a remarkable lady who has chosen to get off her backside and make a REAL difference.

TOO OLD or TOO YOUNG

People often use the "I am too old" excuse to rationalise why they just won’t get real about their goals or dreams and it is such a poor excuse. It happens at the other end of the scale as well, with people saying “I am too young”, “it’s too soon”, “not now” and “I have plenty of time for that”. For these people it just never happens, because one day they wake up and it is now “too late”, “I’m too old” or “have no time”.

Are you guilty of this?

And if so, what is holding you back?

What excuses do you regularly hide behind? How do you justify not committing, not taking action, having no desire or putting in little effort?

Australia's ‘Biggest Loser’ was won recently by the oldest ever contestant on Australia’s version of the show Bob Herdsman. Bob lost a massive 87.6kgs or 52.21% of his weight to win the show.

When you think about it what is REALLY stopping you? Nothing!!! It is never too late, just ask Bob. It is never too early either to start to create your future; in fact it is better to make the changes early because it takes less time and effort to get to where you want to be. If you let bad habits form and grow it takes longer to change them and bring them under control, the journey back is far greater.

So throw the excuses out, let Bob’s shining example inspire you to make a REAL difference, the time to start is now, do something today that will make a difference tomorrow

Still not convinced...

Mozart wrote his first symphony at age 7

10-year-old Tatum O'Neal won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Paper Moon in 1973

At age 14 Nadia Comaneci got a perfect 10

Shane Gould was 16 years old when she won 3 Olympic Golds

71 year Katsusuke Yanagisawa is the oldest person to have climbed Mt Everest

Ruth Rothfarb, who started running at the age of 72 because she was “tired of all the talk about boring funerals”, ran her first marathon at age 81

Pablo Picasso continued to paint prolifically until his death at age 93

The United States oldest Mayor, Dorothy Geeben is 100.

You are never too old or too young…