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Coaching Secret To a Positive Change in Your Business

Learn how creating one simple sentence can put you, and your organisation, on a more positive path!

As the new year approached, you are ready for change in your life, and business, and not exactly sure where to start. Affirmations are a simple, yet powerful, technique the best coaches use to help clients transform their lives.

An affirmation is a statement focusing on a quality or behavior that you want to experience in your life or business.

Where your attention goes energy flows. Focusing on the affirmation multiple times a day teaches you a new way of being. It also supports you in breaking through any limiting beliefs that are holding you back from living your most fulfilling life.

Less than two years ago I was working on finding my inner voice. The affirmation I focused on was, “I am listening to, loving, and trusting my inner voice.” As of that point I was able to develop my emotional intelligence to a very high level and very often I can read people’s energetic field through their subconscious mind.

There is no formula of how long it will take and what may come of your affirmation. Be patient and gentle with yourself through the change. Over time you will start to see a shift in yourself and ultimately, the world around you. As Napoleon Hill says: “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve, regardless how many times you have to fail.”

Your mind is a magnet and attracts whatever corresponds to its ruling state. Whatever you imagine in your mind, whatever you expect and think about, will tend to bring into your live the things and conditions that are in harmony with. Here is how to create your own affirmation:

1.Pick a quality or behavior you wish to experience in your life.

If you are getting results that you don’t want, then recognize what kind of behavior is producing this unwanted result and describe the polar opposite of this behavior and result you want in details.

2.Create a specific statement using the present tense, positive verbiage, and exciting language.

PRESENT TENSE: Acting as if it is already happening creates the energy you need to make it a reality.

  • Useful: I am trusting my intuition to guide me as a leader.
  • Not so useful: I will trust my intuition to guide me as a leader.

POSITIVE VERBIAGE: This ensures you are focusing on what you really want to manifest instead of what you want to avoid. Adding gratitude in the sentence puts your body in a positive vibration and in the harmony of what you want.

  • Very helpful: I am grateful that I am confidently expressing my views to the world.
  • Not as helpful: I am not nervous when speaking publicly.

EXCITING LANGUAGE: This builds the energy behind it and encourages you to stick with it.

  • Wonderful: I am feeling an abundance of joy with every action I take in my life.
  • Partially wonderful: I am happy.

Other affirmation examples for leadership include:

  • I am so grateful that I am confident in my mission, vision and my path as a leader.
  • I am so grateful that I am feeling inner peace making decisions based on my values and priorities.
  • I am so grateful now that I am turning my goals into actions and my actions into results.
  • I am so grateful now that I take responsibility for my results and commit to be a positive force to those around me.
  • I am so grateful I am accepting the responsibilities gifted to me in this lifetime with confidence and gratitude.
  • I am so grateful that I am a strong, authentic and respected leader, confidently going after my dreams.
  • I am so grateful I am generously sharing my gifts with the world and encouraging others to do the same.
  • I am so grateful I have courage to follow my heart, I am aligned with my passion and allowing the universe to guide me.
  • I am so grateful I am creatively turning perceived problems into opportunities.

3. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Review your affirmation multiple times a day. Add a daily reminder to your phone. Put a sticky note in your car or at your desk. Bring out your creative side and make artwork you can hang in your house. Do you have doubts? Think big and do it! It is a test of self-discipline as well as an effective exercise for creating a positive mindset. At the end you are worthy of experiencing the life you want to live!

4. Bring affirmations to your organisation.

As a leader I encourage you to share your affirmation with your organisation and teams. Some may think this is showing weakness admitting there is even something to change. I see it as demonstrating strength by showing your organization you are continually working on being the best leader, and ultimately person, possible. It will inspire them to do the same.

You can even encourage your organization to focus on their personal growth by asking everyone to create affirmations. Make affirmations part of your culture by asking people to post it at their desk, add it to their e-mail signature, or start meetings with sharing affirmations to create an environment that supports everyone’s growth. At the end of the day that is why we are all here. To grow into the best we possibly can be and make this world an even better place!

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Intuition – Your Advisory Board

Intuition is the ability to know something without having to reason. This knowing comes from a deep feeling within us that things, situations and ideas trigger in us. It is our feeling of knowing without any proof or reasoning.

Successful leaders make smart decisions, even in difficult circumstances. From Albert Einstein to Oprah Winfrey, or many senior leaders I  personally met whether in business or politics ascribe their success to having followed their intuition because they trusted it more than anything or anybody else. In other words they trusted themselves.

Becoming strongly intuitive has many benefits, it:

1. supports in critical decision making

2. boosts imagination and creativity

3. allows to be open to innovative ideas, which lead to higher success

4. improves our relationships with others

5. boosts confidence in our own judgment and wisdom

6. helps us to get clear on our true purpose in life

7. leads us to become more an integrated and authentic person.

Based on Malcolm Gladwell and his book “The power of thinking without thinking”, our subconscious mind uses a whole lot more data than our conscious mind, so things that we aren’t consciously aware of can be used to make decisions, and our brain is constantly doing this. The whole point is to become aware of not only ourselves but also of our environment and move away from our “autopilot”.

Once we become more present and mindful we start to observe and notice various – sounds, air currents, vibrations felt by the body, variations in light, emotions in our body- these things contribute to intuition, and when we are more aware of them, we can trust our intuition more.

To be intuitive, we must practice using it, just like a muscle, the more we use it, the stronger it becomes.

Sadly, our intuitive guidance can be interrupted through various blocks we might be holding on to e.g. fears, doubts, negative beliefs or our conscious mind – negative thoughts due to our negative environment, family beliefs, negative experience we collected. These can be fortunately removed with various coaching techniques to act on our intuition easier.

Some leaders admitted that they tend to lose their touch with their inner selves due to their demanding work schedule and busy life. It is important to remember that many answers, insights and solutions come only when we are in a more calm and centered state of mind. That is why it is critical to pay attention to any ideas or AHA moments during meditation, walking in nature, running, warm shower, coaching sessions or creative actions e.g. writing, drawing, painting where we get in a state of “flow”.

Acting on our intuition creates results and new evidence it works for us. Another way to build our self-trust is with a repeating powerful positive self-talk daily e.g. I trust myself, I trust my gut, I trust my instinct, I trust my intuition, I know I am moving the right way forward. Even if I am a bit uncomfortable about my decision I made, I know something amazing is available here for me because my intuition lead me here.

You are what you expect. When you trust yourself, you tend to prove yourself right. And when you believe in the availability of your own answers, they tend to show up at the right time. That’s how expectation works. It’s not magic, it’s a psychological primer for future performance. And it’s been scientifically proven that there’s a positive correlation between expectation and performance.

Zuzana Schwalb (ZS) 10.04.2018

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As a Leader, You Are a Mirror of Your Organization

Being part of great corporation’s life for many years, I have become a big observer of what a successful organization is being built upon. Successful organizations have the knowledge, compassion and foresight to build a sustainable future for humanity and create conditions where all stakeholders win (these are investors, employees, customers, suppliers, society and the environment). How do they make sure that everyone wins? The leaders of these organisations are aware of their own and stakeholder’s wants and needs and constantly look for new ways of getting them met.

It is very well known to any successful leader that in order to keep the organization’s numbers on balance sheets green, he or she needs to encourage new ideas and new ways of implementing them to meet the expectations not only of the clients and customers but other stakeholders too. Creating and sustaining an innovative organisational culture requires many efforts from the leadership team. Here are some ideas I have observed as best practices of promoting an innovative culture:

  1. Give thanks for every idea which has been brought to you, even if you cannot use it.  Every idea counts so recognize it, for instance at a team meeting or a regular 1:1.. Remember you want to create an organisational culture where everyone is being encouraged and motivated to share his or her ideas.
  2. Welcome new ideas and be mindful of your responses. Look to respond rather than react by choosing your words wisely. Avoid using the phrase “Yes, but..” when ideas are being presented to you. If you really cannot use the idea, try using the word ‘And’ instead of ‘But’ within your response to the employee. “E.g. Yes and the current budget restrictions are quite tight at the moment to move this idea forward. Let us review in the next quarter…” Subconsciously this will not be regarded by the employee as a negative response or a rejection and your employees will still feel encouraged to bring more ideas forward to you.
  3. Sincerely listen to the idea being presented to you – ask follow up questions, be 100% present, in other words absolutely NO looking at emails, phone messages or thinking about something else while you’re with your employees. You will demonstrate respect and appreciation by being genuinely interested and present. Remember every energy you give out is being noticed not only by your employees but also by the universe. If you fake it, it will somehow come back to you. This is the universal law of Cause and Effect.
  4. Promote courage and overcoming fears–start with facing your own fears as a leader. If you show your employees you can be vulnerable and able to face your fears, they will feel empowered to do so too. According to Richard Barrett (The New Leadership Paradigm) “one of the key strengths of authentic leaders is to face his/her fears as only then he/she knows how to lead him/herself before he/she can lead others”. Think of your employees as your reflection or a mirror. Often the struggle of creating an innovative culture lies in the employee’s motivation and fear of making a mistake due to the possibility of being punished, humiliated or mocked for his or her mistakes. If they are afraid to face their fear, they are somehow mirroring your fears and you need to resolve your fears before helping them to resolve theirs.
  5. Stimulate trust – trust feeds innovation, collaboration, empowerment, loyalty which results in a better human interaction, deal making, project success and quality. If mistakes are being made, make sure your employees learn lessons from their mistakes and they move on. The universal Law of Forgiveness states that by forgiving and letting go of any negative thoughts and feelings, we encourage a better and positive future. Whatever you focus on, you manifest. If you constantly focus on mistakes, more mistakes will be created.
  6. Spot innovators in your team – these are generalists rather than specialists, they know a little about many things and like to move around to experience new things, don’t fancy tight deadlines, but need some kind of boundaries. Get to know their motivational force in order to keep it running so they constantly work on their creativity. Make sure ideas are implemented.
  7. Encourage the employee’s exposure to other environments and jobs by implementing the model of job shadowing or job rotation as a part of their individual development. This opens up their creativity and moves them out of their comfort zone. Encourage them to spend a few hours a month in a different department following somebody on his/her job or working in another location and you will see extraordinary things happen. Apart from feeding their creativity, this approach dilutes internal communication silos, inspires positive working practices to take place, and increases an employee’s engagement and development opportunities.
  8. Unique and relevant strategy – If your strategy is vague or fails to differentiate your organisation from the competition, you should change this situation as quickly as possible. Make sure your innovators understand your strategy and strategic goals. There is nothing worse than when innovators come up with new ideas, no matter how creative and indeed innovative they may be, that do not align to corporate strategy.

Remember the culture you create as a leader is a reflection of your values, beliefs and behaviors you hold and use. Your beliefs, thinking and behavioral patterns have been collected by you throughout your life from your family, friends, teachers, bosses etc. and are stored in your subconscious mind. Whatever your subconscious mind is being filled with creates your reality around you. You cannot cheat the universe. The good news is that you can consciously reprogram these in order to create the positive changes you would like to make and see within the organisation or even your private life. Stay tuned for my next article where I’ll share practical tips for reprogramming your subconscious mind to create your ideal reality.LIFE PURPOSE is the unique impact you are called to make for the benefit of others. Only then you come alive.

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Our Self-Image Determines our Success

 “Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.” -Henry Ford

All the thoughts we think and the words we speak, as well as beliefs we believe, shape our reality. If we continue to think and believe that we are not good at communicating, we will never move to a role, which requires e.g. selling and marketing skills. Our self-image and the belief we hold about ourselves will always block any opportunities that come our way for us to become experts in marketing.

Why is that?

Our self-image that is stored in your subconscious mind controls our performance. We will never be able to outperform our self-image. This is a fact! Our self-image sets the boundaries for our performance in  our life and in the lives of other people.

Three Steps How To Change Your Self Image     

  1. Be honest with yourself and be clear on what you want to have, do or become in your life. There is a reason why corporations use a vision in their strategies. The vision determines the company’s direction. When you know where you’re going, you instinctively start looking for and finding the multipliers that will get you there.

Your imagination is limitless so visualize yourself as you truly wish to be. Don’t be shy, don’t be humble and definitely do not think thoughts like: …Oh, I know what I want but can’t do it; or I am not smart enough to become this kind of person.. or.. I am not good enough to get there… Nobody is perfect and we all learn and constantly acquire new skills, knowledge and competencies through our experiences – which also includes our mistakes!

Dream big; imagine whatever you want in your mind! Nobody can control your mind, unless your allow it so why not go over the top?

2. Find a pen and paper and write down a detailed description of what you want in life including the kind of person you want to be. Next, believe that you can be happy, wealthy and healthy at the same time, imagine yourself like that, and write everything you see down.

3. Continue to build this picture in your mind and get comfortable with it. Picture yourself joyful, healthy, and prosperous and notice the feeling you feel while you are imaging it. Repeat this visualization as often as you can, ideally when you are feeling relaxed. From a scientific point of view, when you put a good feeling to your new self-image you will activate new brain cells which will trigger you to consider new actions and ideas that you can carry out in your life and these will ultimately start to bring you closer to your Brand New You.

How is it going to happen? Through your desire!

Many people who use the word DESIRE tend to get it mixed up with the word ‘expecting’. The word desire comes from the Latin word DESIDERO which means to long for, to feel a very strong want for something to happen or to have something. To truly desire something you must be ready to give up something else in your life in order to get it. Let us be honest, it would not be called desire, if it was so easy to get what our heart wants.

Be patient and have faith. With your new self-image, you are on the right track. If you need help to build your new self image and get it stored in your subconscious mind, just drop me a note and I will be happy to provide more tips on mental training.

Sunny regards from beautiful Vienna, Austria.

Zuzana SchwalbW.Bennis)