I am the master of my fate,

  I am the captain of my soul.

        (Invictus)

What an amazing experience to be in the same room with Oprah in Sydney, to see her in the flesh and hear her voice live was a dream come true. I took notes on my phone and can now share them with you. They are things that spoke to me and I hope they mean something to you too.

1. Turn up the volume on who you are.

2. What do you really want? What does that look like for you? People have a lot of difficulty answering these questions for themselves. Learn to be a great manifester of what you want for yourself.

3. Live in a place of surrender. That which is greater than you can see what is beyond you. Connect to the spirit you are.

4. Honor your calling. Pay attention because life is speaking to us all the time – instinct, gut, higher consciousness, spiritual GPS.

5. Your purpose is every small moment that connects your life together. Every life that you touch and every person that has been touched by you – that is your legacy. Use your personality to serve

6. When things go wrong it is your life force pushing you in a different direction.

7. What is your thread, where is it leading you? Let no one keep you from your journey. Let nothing dissuade you from where you want to go. You are your only explorer your heart the unreadable compass.

8. Pay attention to what makes you curious and happy. Notice when you’re most alive.

9. Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service – Martin Luther King.

10. Life speaks to you in whispers. Learn to listen attentively. Whispers are always trying to move you in a different direction.

11. Every argument is about needing validated. Did you hear me and did what I say mean anything to you. I see you, I hear you and what you say matters to me – if you understand this you get success.

12. What you give out comes back. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Do unto others what you want done to you.

13. You cover your life with the intention you bring. The intention drives the outcome. You’re sitting in your intention. You are where you are because if the intention that created your action and thoughts.

14. “No” is a complete sentence.

15. You become what you believe.

16. Be responsible for the energy you bring into a space. Keep yourself positively strung and your vibration high.

17. Your greatest power is love – show it, give it, live it.

18. Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism – Rev. Jesse Jackson.

19. Failure means to keep trying with a higher understanding, or push in a different direction.

20. To find your compass you must surrender – that is, let go of your narrative and your attachment to the outcome.

21. Ask, how can I be used.

22. Practice gratitude, for others and for yourself. This is the quickest way to move out of feeling down.

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An absolutely awesome night!!!

In Bill Phillips’ book Body for Life, he explains why keeping promises to ourselves is much more important than it appears on the surface.

Bill writes, “When you set an important goal you must promise yourself that you will finish what you start, no matter what. That vow, although it might be very easy to break, is by far one of the most important ones to honor. You see, the very essence of confidence is self-trust. Would you trust anyone who repeatedly lied to you? Someone who broke the rules of the game again and again? Of course you wouldn’t. So if you’ve developed a pattern of not honoring self-promises, this is a great time to make a change. If you can’t honor, trust, and depend on your own word, well… that may be the root of a lot of challenges in your life – a lot more than you realize.

The thing about lying to ourselves is that we never, ever get away with it. On the surface we may fool our minds into ignoring and not admitting what we’re doing, but deep down, in the place where all truth resides for each of us, in the place where we know and see ourselves as we really are – in that place, we are causing pain and damage every time we’re not totally honest with ourselves…

…It doesn’t have to be like that though. No matter how long it has been like that, it doesn’t have to stay that way. Contrary to what many people think, it’s a lot easier to keep the promises we make to ourselves than it is to break them.

Keeping these promises unleashes enormous energy and potential. That potential emptiness created by self-deception will become filled with strength, certainty – and yes, confidence – if you honor self-promises. (We’ve all heard the phrase “The truth shall set you free”. Well, nowhere is that more true than when we apply it to our relationship with ourselves.)”

So how can you take this knowledge and apply it to your business, career, health, finances and relationships? Are there promises that you are making and not keeping? How does that affect your energy, motivation and progress? How does it make you feel about yourself?

So what can you do to make this shift? How about starting small? How about setting daily goals and sticking with them? How about making the commitment to establish a business plan with activity goals and financial goals so you know where you are headed?   How about giving yourself permission to fail? How about agreeing to measure and adjust along the way so you know you are not “stuck” with a plan that is not ideal? What else can you do?

The significance of keeping promises to ourselves is profound. Examine your own habits to see if in fact you break the promises you make to yourself. And if so, make the shift to putting your promises at the top of your commitment list.

As you navigate life’s ups and downs there can come a time when you find that you have lost touch with yourself. Questions about who you are, what your purpose in life is or what your passion is can start to dominate your thinking.

This can go on for a long time without resolving. So to shortcut that long winded process, you need a guided model to help you unravel your thoughts so you can quickly discover the answers that exist inside you. To help you do this, below is an exercise to get you started.

Instructions:

1. Find a quiet spot where you will not be disturbed for 45 minutes to an hour (or longer)

2. Arm yourself with paper and pen or your favourite journal

(Tip: It is best to write on paper rather than type on your computer because the physical act of writing allows you to process what exits in your subconscious)

3. Take 3 deep breaths to slow your thoughts down

4. Start completing the statements that follow

(Tip: Write whatever comes to mind without censoring your thinking)

5. Once you have completed the exercise, read over your answers and notice any patterns and insights that emerge – you should get some interesting self-understanding

Note: some people prefer to be guided through this process. If you are one of those, or would like to go deeper through this process contact me at nancy@thirveatwork.com.au for a personalized self-discovery session. As an output of this session you will receive a detailed report that you can refer back to and digest at your leisure.

Ready to start? Here are the self discover statements for you to complete:

1. I am…
2. I am at my best when…
3. The best thing that could happen to me is…
4. People notice that…
5. When I am proud of myself, I…
6. I am very happy that…
7. I get lost in time when…
8. I look forward to…
9. I am passionate about…
10. I am good at…
11. I wish others knew…
12. I am happiest when…
13. I am proud that…
14. I would like to…
15. Five adjectives that describe me are…
16. The three things I have enjoyed about this exercise are

Writing a winning resume is a daunting task for most people. Making it even harder is the fact that we tend to update our resumes when we’re feeling the pressure of needing to make a career change or are embarking on the job search journey. These moments tend to be full of pressure and quite stressful for most of us. The result can often be less than impressive.        

In these circumstances, there are 3 mistakes you are wired to make:

1. You blurt out everything

You know your career progression and accomplishments intimately and include as much as you can in the profile section. When you blurt everything out your profile sounds generic – a jack-of-all trades with nothing to focus attention on. You fail to sift out the crucial aspects that will get the reader’s head nodding. Because you fail to stand out you wonder why you don’t get any interviews.

What to do instead: Follow the “less is more” principle. Decide on the 2-3 aspects of your expertise and accomplishments that you want to focus on and write about those succinctly.

2. You hesitate to sell yourself

For most of us, talking about people we admire is easy, yet talking about our own accomplishments can be challenging. This is because we don’t want to brag or appear boastful or arrogant. However, mastering the art of the “subtle brag” could be the key to writing a great profile section.

What to do instead: Pretend that your greatest advocate is introducing you to someone they respect. Write the 2-3 top things they would say to showcase your expertise and accomplishments. Be very complimentary.

3. You write “filler”

This is a common mistake, where you get drawn to include things like “excellent communicator, team player, great at time management”. Whereas these are recognized requirements, they don’t deliver a differentiated profile because they don’t really say much about what makes you special. They are claims that everyone can make.

What to do instead: Use key words that your industry understands and that show that you have the depth of experience the reader is looking for. This will ensure that your resume gets to the “Yes” pile.

Try these tips the next time you’re updating your profile section or pass them onto someone who needs to know them.

As always, if you need help, you can reach me at nancy@thriveatwork.com.au