Have you ever “gone on a diet”?

Have you ever taken action to change a habit?

This week I started back on “The Fast 800”. Eight hundred refers to the number of calories you can eat in a day.

I followed it a year or two ago and released about 8 kilos. (I can’t say lost, or I might find it again, which I did.)

I found it challenging and I know what I am in for again.

I’m having to use my mindset training not to allow my limiting beliefs to dominate and create the exact experience I don’t want, e.g. “It’s going to be hard”.   Well, that may not be true. It could be easy.

I’m also having to be even more aware of my thoughts, feelings and actions.

The other night Ross made a beautiful dinner based on beans (legumes) with some lettuce and pickled cucumbers etc.

As I took my plate back into the kitchen I saw two servings of beans still in the frypan.

I put my plate down and walked over and started to pick at the beans with my fingers.

I ate two mouthfuls and a voice in my head said, “You’re only cheating yourself”.

It was true. It didn’t matter to Ross if I ate more beans or not. It wasn’t like I was trying to hide from him and no-one else would know if I tucked in and ate more of the beans.

It’s times like these that give us the opportunity to understand ourselves.

It’s times like these that challenge us to stay true to our goals and take the action necessary to achieve them.

It’s times like these that require us to flex our discipline muscles.

If we set a goal and don’t do the work to achieve it, we’re only cheating ourselves.

How about you?

Have you set a goal recently? Is there something you want?

Have you started taking action or are you still thinking about it?

If you’ve started taking action, are you being persistent and disciplined or are you letting yourself off the hook and cheating yourself?

 And one last point, there are two schools of thought on this one; if you have a goal, vision or dream you want:

1. Don’t tell anyone, in order to avoid the negative energy of the naysayers, or
2. Tell everyone to keep yourself accountable.

Guess which one I’m following.

Now that I have “spilled the beans” and shared, I have to keep going otherwise I’ll experience the pain of embarrassment.  Out of two forms of motivation, move away from pain or toward pleasure, I’m definitely a “move away from pain” gal.

How about you?   Away from pain or toward pleasure?

Knowing yourself helps you lead and manage yourself.

Remember, if you cheat, you’re only cheating yourself.

P.S. Our next Loyal Lieutenant masterclass series is starting in September.  Running for 9 weeks over zoom, I will personally guide you through my 5 Steps to Business Freedom so you can streamline your operations, discover how to write procedures the right way and develop Key Performance Indicators and Key Behaviour Indicators for you and your team. It’s practical. You’ll be completing assignments each week so at the end you will have already started improving your productivity, plus you have the opportunity to be coached in real time by me. Starts Tuesday 5^th September 9:30am – 11:00am Sydney time.  Reply to this email if you’re interested.

P.P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

This week’s thought is for those who may get disheartened thinking that you only have one option and if you get a “No” that it’s the end of your desire.

Not true. There are always more options.

I’m in the midst of writing my next book, “Leaders are Listeners”. I wanted to make sure that I don’t infringe copyright and that I acknowledge my mentors and coaches and other great resources.

The book includes some concepts and activities from the Leading Yourself and Leading Others experience.

You might be thinking, “Why would you include activities from your Leadership experience in your book? Shouldn’t that be reserved for participants only?”

The answer is “No”. Think about it this way. If you like a musician or a band, you buy the album or listen to Spotify etc. however most of us still want to go to the concerts and see them live.

This happened for me with Jack Canfield’s book, “The Success Principles – How to Get From Where You Are Now To Where You Want To Be”. Ross bought it for my birthday and I was so excited by all the activities he shared in his book, that the very next year, we headed to Scottsdale, Arizona to join his week-long course, “Breakthrough to Success”.

As I reviewed the content that I wanted to include, there were some concepts that were part of a program that I had been trained and accredited to teach but I didn’t want to include them all.

Without asking, I assumed that I would have to leave them out.

Here’s the thing, there are always more options. Sometimes it takes someone else to see them and show you.

In my case, I was offered two options, one of which suited me perfectly.

If you’re currently telling yourself “No” and giving up on something you want, please take another look.  Talk to others who may see things from a completely different perspective.

Remember, there are always more options and if you’re committed, truly committed, the answers will appear.

P.S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

You may have heard the term “overnight success story” in the media from time to time.

The interesting thing is that most “overnight” successes have taken 10-20 years.

Now, that’s not to dishearten you, rather I want to encourage you to keep going.

If you’ve started something, don’t give up if it’s not an overnight success.

I’ve been running the leadership experiences for over 10 years and there were times when I could have called it quits and now we receive so many referrals from past students, we would be doing our clients a disservice if we stopped. Same with the Weekly Thoughts.

You gotta keep at it, whatever “it” is for you.

Here’s what inspired this story:

A friend of mine, who is a very very successful businessperson, was telling me about a recent class she attended and the decision the teacher had to make about going forward.

The teacher had recently started the classes, even though she was not from Newcastle and had little to no network to draw upon for support.

It was taking the teacher a while to recruit students and of course she had to pay for the hire of the venue, so initially she was not even covering her costs.

Add to this her offer to provide two free lessons for each student, it was not stacking up to be a good business investment.

She was at the crossroads. She had invested some money into letterbox drops and had an outdoor sign made that advertised her classes. The venue wanted her to keep going.

In his song, Willie Nelson advises us that we have to “know when to hold them and know when to fold them”.

Sometimes it feels like a hard decision to make. Sometimes the logical facts say “Quit. Give Up. It’s not worth going on.”

And yet, for the successful businesses, many are successful because the owners committed and persevered. 

If it’s what you want to do, you’ve gotta keep at it.

Have faith and keep going.

P.S. If you’ve been thinking about joining the next Leading Yourself and Leading Others Experience in August. Contact me urgently to Save $1,000. Early bird discount ends 30^th June. Find out more here https://shirleydalton.com/leading-yourself-leading-others-may2020/.

P.P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.

When it comes to goal achievement, I’ve been taught a couple of different philosophies.

Some say tell everyone, others say tell no-one.  The reason, they say, for not telling anyone is that you don’t want the naysayers dampening your enthusiasm or sabotaging your efforts, or worse, talking you out of what you want.

My mum used to say, “Opinions are like bums, everyone’s got one”, reinforcing the idea that we shouldn’t share our hopes, dreams and goals for fear that others will have an opinion about it.

For me, it depends on the goal. Some goals are worthy of letting others know, so they can help you. Others, that may be a little out of the ordinary may be best kept to yourself until they show signs of being achieved.

Here’s an example of wanting something and letting people know.

When we bought the house last year it had a dilapidated old pergola area out the back on top of pavers. It was ugly, rotting and a safety issue.

Ross started to pull it down.

As he removed the shingles from the roof and the rotting deck, we could see that the frame of the  pergola was structurally sound.

“Rather than pull it all down, what if we turned it into a fernery?” I suggested.

Ross thought about it and decided that could work. It would be Ross’ fernery because he has been loving growing his vegetables and flowers recently.

“How about we have a game with the fernery?” I continued.

“What sort of game?” he asked.

“Well, what if we made a rule that all the plants that grow in the fernery are from cuttings or seeds or gifts from others and that we don’t purchase any plants for it.”

He thought about it and agreed and yesterday he was given some cuttings and seeds that had been sprouted by Peta. He was over the moon. “Our first plants for the fernery, thank you Peta.”

The fernery is going to be a very special space because it will contain plants that were given with love and that have a story behind them. We imagine ourselves sharing it and telling others where each of the plants came from.

Whenever it’s appropriate, we share about the vision for the fernery and we’ve been amazed at the support and encouragement we’ve received. It’s also amazing to see how many others are into gardening and very happy to share what they know.

So, back to you. What’s something you want that you are happy to share with others? What’s something that you would like support with? What’s that something special that you want to create?

If you want it, let people know.

P.S. Our next Leading Yourself and Leading Others Experience starts Thursday 3^rd August. Save $1,000. Early bird discount ends 30^th June. Thursdays, 3^rd, 17^th, 24^th and 31^st August. Find out more here https://shirleydalton.com/leading-yourself-leading-others-may2020/.

P.P. S. Invite your friends to get the Weekly Thoughts delivered directly to their inbox. Go to https://shirleydalton.com/weekly-thoughts.