Taking Action NOW: 9 Key Strategies...Part I

Awareness, understanding what impacts you!

Awareness makes it possible for you to begin to understand what is happening in your life, what is missing in your life, or even what you did or didn't do to be happier than you are now.

Without awareness your understanding can be incomplete. Therefore, the choices you make, may be influenced, by a flawed or limited understanding.

Your level of awareness will directly impact your ability to be successful. It will even impact your ability to be happy.

With that in mind, how often do you find yourself asking;

"how did this happen?"

"what am I missing?"

"what am I doing wrong?"

"why am I not as successful as I feel I should be?"

"why do I feel lousy instead of happy?"

Even if your questions are different, without awareness you will keep asking yourself those same questions over and over again.

So, what is it you ask yourself most often?

Why am I asking this question? Because, until you are fully aware, your chances for having what you want are no better than flipping a coin. Heads you win, tails you lose.

With awareness what you want becomes a real possibility.

This is important, because, awareness leads to understanding and when you can understand the things that influence your actions, it becomes possible for you to make the choices that will lead you to what you want; like success, happiness, or even that perfect relationship.

For example:

How often do you find yourself, like a car, stuck in the mud, spinning your tires and spending the bulk of your time trying to break free?

How often do you break free from the mud, only to get stuck once again?

Awareness is important for you to understand the who, what, and where of getting stuck in the mud. As you develop your awareness of the mud and how you get stuck, your ability to avoid the mud will improve.

Ultimately you will find yourself spending less and less time in the mud and more and more time on the road to your success and happiness.

Here is a simple exercise to help you to start growing your awareness today.

Things you will need:

A quite place, free of distraction

15 to 30 minutes

A working pen or pencil

A notepad or some paper to write on

Purpose of the exercise:

This exercise will give you the opportunity to become aware of how your interactions with people, places, and things impact you.

Exercise overview:

1. Quiet or center yourself

2. Make three lists

3. Rate your experience

4. Rank the importance

5. Review the results

Let's begin.

Step 1, Quiet or center yourself:

It can be helpful to your focus to take a moment to quiet, calm, or center yourself. One of the most effective and easiest ways to quiet yourself is through breathing.

Take three slow and deliberate breaths. Breathing in slowly through your nose and breathing out slowly through your mouth. With each breath allow your body and mind to relax.

Step 2, Make three lists:

Have you ever heard the saying "garbage in, garbage out?"

Well, today I want you start looking at "what gets in?"

By looking at how you interact with your external world you will be able to see "what gets in."

The first thing you will do is break down your everyday experience into three categories:

The people

The places

The things

Divide a piece of paper into three vertical sections and title each of them; People, Places, and Things.

Example:

People

Places

Things

Once you have divided you paper you are ready to make your lists.

Now, take a moment and consider your typical week; the things you do, the people your around, who you interact with and the places you visit.

When your ready list 10 of each; 10 people, 10 places, and 10 things.

It is ok if you are not able to come up with 10 of any one category. In that case, simply list as many as you can.

Step 3, Rate your experience:

With each list I want you to rate your experience of the people, places, and things.

Make a column to the right for the ratings.

Example:

People Rating

Name1 1

Name2 5

Name3 7

...

Places

Place1 3

Place2 4

Place3 5

...

Things

Thing1 5

Thing2 6

Thing3 4

...

Give each object a rating from 1 to 10.

A rating of 1 will mean that you very much dislike interacting with the person, place or thing. The interaction might leave you feeling very upset, miserable, or even very tired.

A rating of 10 will mean you very much like interacting with the person, place, or thing. The interaction might leave you feeling very cheerful, wonderful, or even very energized.

Go ahead and rate each of the objects you have listed in each category.

Step 4, Rank their importance:

In this step you will rank each object within each category.

Make a column to the right for the rankings.

Example:

People Rating Ranking

Name1 1 2

Name2 5 5

Name3 7 3

...

Places

Place1 3 1

Place2 4 4

Place3 5 3

...

Things

Thing1 5 7

Thing2 6 3

Thing3 4 1

...

Each of the people you listed will be given a ranking. The person who is most important, to you, will be ranked number one. The person who is the next most important, to you, will be ranked number two. This process will continue until each person has a ranking.

You will rank both the places and things in the same way that you ranked the people you listed.

Step 5, Review results:

With the ratings and rankings completed it is time to look at the results.

This is where your awareness will begin to grow. It is through the questions and your observation of the process and the results that you will gain a new awareness, and understanding.

Before you continue, I first want you to become the observer. What do I mean? I want you look at the results like someone else had completed the exercise. Like someone else made the lists, and then rated, and ranked them.

As you look at the results, what do the answers tell you about the person who completed the exercise? What questions would you like to ask that person? What comments would you like to share with that person?

Take notes, make comments and highlight the things you notice. Be the observer, what is it you see, and what is it you feel as you review the completed exercise.

Do you see any patterns?

Did any of the listed objects that ranked high in importance, between 1 and 3, also rate low on experience, between 1 and 3?

Did any of the listed objects that ranked low in importance, between 8 and 10, also rate high on experience, between 8 and 10?

Did any of the lists have less than 10 listings?

What else do you notice?

As you consider the following questions, continue to take notes.

What are the things you noticed as you completed the exercise?

Was there a category that was more difficult than the others?

What was more difficult, rating your experience or ranking by importance?

Did you hurry through the exercise or did you give yourself time?

Were you skeptical or eager to see what you might learn?

There is no right or wrong answer with this exercise, only what you observed.

For some this exercise may be the first step to a new perspective, a greater understanding, or even a new life.

What was this exercise for you?

As your awareness grows, so will your ability to understand what keeps you moving in the direction you want to go. Making it easier for you to stay focused on your purpose.

Your purpose is what will determine your direction.

Does having a choice really matter if you don't have a purpose?

Join me next week as I discuss "Purpose," one of the 9 key strategies for "Taking Action NOW."

Copyright © James Smith, All Rights Reserved

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James works with people who have gotten so caught up in working and doing what everyone says their suppose to do, that they forgot what it means to think, what is important, and how to live for themselves.

These are people who have realized that they are living a lie. Their life is someone else's idea of what their life should be.

Feeling frustrated, trapped, and exhausted by the lie, these people work with James to change their life. Energized by the discovery of what they really want they suddenly find that they do have the courage to take action, and live the life they deserve.

It is through James' 9 Key Strategies that you to can learn how to stop living a lie and begin to live with passion and courage.

Start enjoying your life again by requesting your copy of the "9 Key Strategies, Taking Action NOW!" and start taking your first step to living the life you really want.

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