My Money Supports the Web of Life (WT412)

My Money Supports the Web of Life (WT412)

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by Shirley Dalton | 18 May, 2018 | Blog, Mindset

WT 412 My money supports the web of life

Tomorrow I am heading to the Grand Bahama – one of 700 islands in the Bahamas. 

“Cool. Sweet. Awesome”, you might say. 

And yes it is all those things and more and I’m only going because I was fortunate enough to win a magical consultation with 2 world class marketing consultants. 

How did I do that? 

Simple – I played the game. 

I submitted a video. I did my homework and I put my hand up and showed up. 

And what has this got to do with this week’s thought on money? 

Before the competition, a trip to the Bahamas had not been added to my budget, so whilst I won the consultation, I still have to fund my airfare and accommodation, etc. 

Looking for inspiration this morning for the Weekly Thought, I picked out a card from Deepak Chopras’ Success Cards, “My Money Supports the Web of Life”.  The picture on the card was of 7 fish in a circle, facing inward. 

The back of the card read, “When I use my money to nourish the web of life, I create true happiness and fulfilment. I am successful.” 

This was one message I needed to hear as I juggled the accounts to make this happen.

Life is a series of priorities and choices.  

I remember a talk by Dr. John DeMartini, in Sydney years ago, where he explained how much our values determine what we do with our time and money. He gave the example of inviting his girlfriend to a science lecture on a particular day. She agreed to go, then her girlfriend invited her to go shopping on the same day. She changed plans, then DeMartini told her it was a decoy because he was actually flying her to Venice where they could enjoy a romantic weekend. Of course she changed plans again. 

One of my highest values is personal and professional development. Winning this trip is a gift from the universe and so I will take on board Chopra’s advice and use my money to nourish the web of life, knowing that this will create true happiness, fulfilment and success. 

What will you do this week? 

How will you nourish the web of life?

Live By Your Values (WT411)

Live By Your Values (WT411)

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by Shirley Dalton | 11 May, 2018 | Blog, Business

WT 411 Live by your values

You’ve most likely heard the term “Vision and Values” in reference to business. For years this term remained a mystery to me. I just didn’t get it. 

I couldn’t see what the big deal was about having a list of words on a wall that we could point to and say, “These are our values”. 

That was until I read or heard, (I can’t remember the source) of the question, “Would you rather read it on the walls or see it in the halls?” 

Seeing it in the halls means we behave in line with what we say is important to us, i.e. our values – what we value. 

This week I was having a conversation with my hair stylist who mentioned that whilst she was away recently, her team did an excellent job of looking after clients, however, they forgot to look after each other. 

This sparked a great conversation about what she values in behaviour and attitude for her business, team and customers. One of the things she values is authenticity. It’s important to her that people are genuine; that includes staff and customers. Playing around with words and phrases, draft one included “Authenticity of People and Service.” 

As we were talking, I shared with her another of my colleague’s values for his bakeries. Each and every day he and his team live by these values. They determine the behaviour and the attitude of the baking teams in his business. 

Thanks to Tony Kaye for allowing me to share his core values with you: 

  1. Pay It Forward 
  1. Quality over Quantity 
  1. Forever and Constant Improvement 
  1. Help Everyone Learn New Skills 

“Pay it Forward” means that when you’ve finished your work, you help the next shift. This could include weighing ingredients and having them ready for the next shift to bake.  

“Quality over Quantity” means we bake well. We don’t strive for a huge production run, rather we bake products of good quality. 

Tony finds that having these values and referring to them on a daily basis helps him to ensure his team know what is expected and as a result they can come to work and succeed in their roles.  

Your values guide your behaviour. 

Having your values also makes it easy for you to hold people accountable and have “those conversations” because you have a reference point. 

Your task this week is to think about your values. What’s important to you? Do you have these written down? Are your team aware of them? If not, I encourage you to work with your team to determine the values that will guide the behaviours and attitudes of your workplace. 

And let’s not stop there. How do you want to live at home?

When You’re Feeling Down (WT410)

When You’re Feeling Down (WT410)

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by Shirley Dalton | 4 May, 2018 | Blog, Mindset

WT 410 When you're feeling down

I don’t know about you; for the past few months many of my clients and friends have been experiencing many obstacles, set-backs and challenges and as a result have been feeling very low, depressed, frustrated and/or angry. I include myself in this list so this week I thought I would talk about it because it’s normal to feel like this from time to time.

At times we can feel like there is no hope; no way out; no way through or no solution. At times like this it can be tempting to want to end our pain. I know first-hand how this feels and I’ve had it confirmed lately from many in my network.

Spiritual teachers tell us that the world/planet is shifting and changing so it’s natural that we would feel out of sync. It’s to be expected that we will experience challenges and feel like we are out of flow.

It’s one thing to know that we are normal but what do we do to help ourselves navigate through this choppy uncomfortable time?

For me, it was keeping a promise. Ross and I promised each other 50 years of happy marriage. We’re just over half way and no matter how bad I thought things were or how anxious I felt about the future, I committed to my promise.

What’s your reason? What’s your why that will pull you through? What have you committed to? What could you commit to if you haven’t yet done so?

Another thing that gets in our way is our insistence on knowing and controlling the “How”. This always intrigues me because we know from neuroscience and spirituality that our job is to focus on the “what” and the “why” and leave the “how” to the universe or God or spirit or a higher consciousness (whatever term you use). Too often we get stuck in having to know the details. This only serves to frustrate us and prolong the pain.

I understand that at times it can be challenging to have faith and belief and yet that’s exactly what we must have if we are to move forward. Dr. Wayne Dyer wrote a book about it titled “You’ll See it When You Believe It”. Recently I read another of his books, “Wishes Fulfilled; Mastering the Art of Manifesting”.

One of the most important points I took from the book was the fact that our subconscious mind handles about 96% of all that we undertake in life and that the last 5 minutes before you go to sleep are the most important 5 minutes of our day. Dyer writes, “In this brief portion of your day, you are going to tell your subconscious mind how you feel and what wishes God is to fulfill upon awakening from your deep slumber. This five-minute segment of time in your bed, about to enter into your subconscious and marinate for the next eight hours or so, is the most crucial segment of your entire 24 hour day”.

He continues by instructing us that there is one question we must ask ourselves as we get closer and closer to dropping off into the unconsciousness of sleep – “If my wishes were realized, how would it feel right here right now in my body? Stay with that thought until you begin to feel your body shift into what that feels like. This is not an empty exercise – it is a programming tool for reteaching your subconscious mind to act on what you intend to manifest, rather than on what you are worried, angry, or fearful about.”

If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed or lost or without hope, do your best to implement the two strategies above: reconnecting to your why and asking yourself how it would feel when you have manifested whatever it is that you want.

Let go of the “how” and know that feeling less than positive from time to time is both natural and normal.

Stop Distracting Yourself (WT409)

Stop Distracting Yourself (WT409)

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by Shirley Dalton | 27 Apr, 2018 | Blog, Mindset

WT 409 Stop Distracting Yourself

Speaking with a colleague this week, I was impressed with her clarity about what she is going to focus on for the remainder of the year.

“Two things, Shirley,” she said. “I’m focussing on just two things,” and then proceeded to outline what those two things are.

In order to focus on the two things, she realised she needed to give up a number of other things that had been what she called “distractions”.

Listening to her, I could totally relate to what she was saying.

As I thought about what she shared, I thought about all the things that I had been doing lately that were not “moving the needle” as my colleague says.

I started to count up the lost hours working on things that were not moving me forward and I made a decision there and then to analyse all my current commitments and sort them into needle movers or expenses (in terms of time or money or enjoyment or lost opportunities).

Once I completed my analysis and made decisions to let things go, I felt an enormous sense of relief as well as anticipation. For example, my radio contract with Voice America expired this month, and as much as I enjoyed meeting new guests and learning so many interesting things, not renewing the contract has added at least an extra 3 hours of time back into my week, which I can now allocate to needle movers.

How about you? What distractions are you currently allowing? How much are they costing you? Have you measured the cost in terms of time, money, enjoyment or lost opportunities because you have to say “No” to other things?

Your challenge this week is to take inventory of your commitments. Assess whether they are needle movers – moving you forward towards your goal or something you absolutely love doing. If not, ask yourself how you can relieve yourself of your commitment and take action to do so.

Your distractions are costing you. It’s time to stop distracting yourself.

Give Up the Drama (WT408)

Give Up the Drama (WT408)

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by Shirley Dalton | 20 Apr, 2018 | Blog, Mindset

WT 408 Give up the drama

This week has been a doozy for interpersonal dramas; mine, my clients, my colleagues and friends and family. 

It’s fascinating to me, how we interpret what people say according to our values, beliefs and expectations or what’s going on in our head at any given time. 

My point this week is not to share gossip; quite the opposite. My point is that we get what we focus on, so let’s focus on what we want, rather than what we don’t want. 

Let’s say you have a disagreement with your co-worker. Most people’s tendency is to seek support with other co-workers to sure up their position as being right or the victim. When this happens your co-workers become what we call “co-conspirators”.  Time and energy is now directed to talking about the other person, sharing anecdotes of past wrongs and generally enlisting others into the cause. 

This is drama. 

It takes you away from the focus of your work. It reduces productivity and it’s toxic to those around. 

Even worse than that, it stops you from achieving what you really want. 

And you don’t even have to be engaging in gossip to be adding fuel to the fire. You could be going over and over the conversation in your head; analysing what he or she said over and over and thinking about your responses or potential responses. 

Stop It. 

Give up the drama. 

As soon as you become aware that you are thinking about the situation and/or enlisting others or gossiping – just stop it. 

This is draining your energy and only serving to bring you more of the same, just with different people. 

The best thing you can do for yourself is to assert yourself and then either resolve it with the person or let it go. Do not give it any more attention. Rather focus on the outcomes you want – the income you want, the customers you want, the job you want, the partner you want, the travel you want to do.   

Imagining the positive and feeling how you’ll feel when you’ve achieved it, is the quickest way to get what you want. 

Go ahead and give up the drama.

It’s Not About What You Look Like (WT407)

It’s Not About What You Look Like (WT407)

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by Shirley Dalton | 13 Apr, 2018 | Blog, Mindset

WT 407 It's not what you look like

A few years ago I did some training on self-concept and self-esteem for one of my clients and their team.

I started one of the sessions by showing them a mock up of me on the cover of a magazine (it was part of my vision board). 

“What’s wrong with this picture?” I asked.

They all studied the picture intently and none came up with what I thought was wrong with the picture.

It wasn’t the headline. It wasn’t the font. It wasn’t the colours.

“Can’t you see?” I demanded.

“Look at my teeth in the photo, they’re crooked.”

“Look at the wrinkles around my eyes” and on I went about all the things that were wrong with the picture.

Of course the picture was of me. I was pointing out all the things I don’t like I about myself. I was pointing out all the things that were not perfect.

They didn’t see it because to them there was no difference between the person standing in front of them and the picture they had in their hands, (well maybe a little less makeup than in the picture).

It’s not about what you look like.

Unless you are a hermit; people are looking at you every day.

It’s fascinating to me observing how hung up we get on our appearance.

This came up recently when we filmed for Day 2 of our Powerful Marketing Video Event.

As the participants sat in the make-up artist’s chair, they proceeded to tell her about all the things they didn’t like about how they looked. 

When they got in front of the camera with me, they started to tell me about all the things they didn’t like about themselves. 

When we present them with the edited final version, what do you think they mention first?

“I really don’t like myself on camera.” 

“I hate the sound of my voice.”

“I’m too animated.” 

It’s not about what you look like. 

People are interacting with you every day. They see you. They hear you. They know you. 

My message today – Get over it. It’s not about what you look like.  

It’s our lack of self-esteem and confidence. 

These are the things to work on. What you look like is what you look like. 

Do your best to be comfortable with your appearance and save yourself and everyone else the pain of hearing about how much you don’t like yourself.  

You can’t do anything about your appearance, unless you engage a specialist plastic surgeon. 

It’s not about what you look like. People are drawn to you or repelled by your energy and vibration. 

If you want to change something, work on improving your energy. This will also help you increase your self-esteem and confidence. 

It’s not about what you look like.

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