Which is exactly what I want to talk about in today’s blog.

Where are YOU planning to GROW this year?

I would welcome any responses to that question as either a rhetorical response (meaning you just want to put the answer out there) or a dialog response (which would invite a further conversation about the details and plans for such).

Your choice on what and how you want to answer.

But you should at least answer, if not to me or anyone, but at least to yourself.

And then do something about it.

Recently I got a great line from a friend who works in the personal development field and I really related to it and love its power. That was “Decisions are followed by Actions (which are followed by Results [my addition]) and Intentions are followed by intentions (which are followed by more intentions! [again my additional perspective])

So I wondered how many of us actually make a resolution that is nothing more than an Intention, and we get no real lasting results, versus making a hard and fast Decision that we follow with hard and fast Actions?

What do you want to add to your life process and what do you want to get rid of?

Can you actually “see” yourself in the new model with or without those things?

What 3 actions are you willing to take this week (no matter how small they are) to begin your journey to your new existence experience if you will?

I welcome your responses and would love to talk to you about them if you are willing.

Please post a comment today;
and put *R* for “Rhetorical Growing” OR *D* “Dialog Growing” at the beginning of the post so I’ll know whether or not to touch bases with you later about it.

Thanks ahead of time for reading, and doing something about what you just read.

I wish you all a most prosperous, peaceful, love filled year you (we) could ever have.

Coach Garry

The point of this discussion was to identify the need for us all to work, interact and help others during our journey. In doing so, the fulfillment of others’ destinies would allow us to find the pieces of our puzzle along the path. However, we could not just find these pieces laying about randomly along the path – We first had to be willing to let go of some of the odd pieces we owned that did not fit our puzzle. It was a compelling argument for doing exactly what I do in my coaching practice – Help people find the pieces they are looking for, regardless of whether or not I have their pieces or not.

So as we get ready to embrace another new year and all of the hope and promise it holds for us, I was wondering who out there in cyberland is looking for pieces to their puzzle?

Does this story make any sense to you? So much so that you may have already experienced someone giving you a piece of your puzzle through this process?

I am compelled ask if any of you would like to just connect for 10-15 minutes and discuss what we do, and what we are looking for this year? There may well be some mutual interest learning more about our pieces of the puzzles that we have, and how we are working to finish them.

Tell you what – drop me an email (garry@garrycarlson.com) and we’ll find some time to discuss what we do right now and what we want to do in the future. There may a common path for us to walk for awhile and build some of our puzzles together. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

All the Best,

Coach Garry

That is a place I call scarcity and it is not a good place to be at all.

The opposite place of scarcity is what I consider to be abundance, you know, the place where Bambi plays and frolics, and can do nothing wrong and hunters with gun don’t even exist.

Sounds great but what’s the point right?

Well what would be the best way to get out of the scarcity mode and into the abundance
mode of thinking? Wouldn’t it be great if you had a little tool that helped you move from one place to another like a Star Trek transporter?

I’ve got just that tool and I want you to have it and most importantly, to actually use it the next time you find yourself in ‘scarcity’ mode. As a side note, isn’t it interesting that scarcity is really a fear based place, where you are full of anxiety/fear/in trepidation about
something happening in the future. Isn’t it interesting that the phonetic sound of the word seems like a combination of the words SCARE and CITY. Hmmmm, and ironically it truly is a place none of us want to visit let alone live there!

So here is the tool, and it works because we understand that abundance mode is not a fear based thing (that’s good) and it also relates to the present, sort of keep it in the day. It is a very warm and nice feeling to be engaged with the feelings of abundance

So here is the tool and how to use it. (Warning: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO THIS WHILE DRIVING ANY VEHICLE!!) When you are full of scarcity, and you recognize this fact, stop your train of thought and train your attention to your feet.

Just look at your feet for a few seconds, and then think about where your feet are.
Are your feet in a safe, warm and dry place? Most likely they are.

Are they in a place of danger? No, probably not.

Then make yourself fully aware of ALL that you have to be accountable for, or grateful for, right at this moment.

If you are like me this will take awhile because there is a great deal that I AM grateful for everyday. I have found that by using this process, which takes less than 5 minutes, allows me to be in a much better (way better) place than sitting around in the glom and doom of the place we call scarcity. I’m pretty sure you’ll find the same when you
do this too. I trust that it does, based on both my experience with this technique personally and with the success my clients have had using it as well.

Let me know if it does or if I can be of any further help to you in getting moved out of a place you don’t want to be and headed to the place you want to be.

It’ll be my pleasure to do so. Thanks for stopping by today.

For example, want to screw up my golf game and watch me have a serious melt down right there in the splendid beauty of some of the worlds best landscaping? Just mess with my head a little and get my concentration off my game and on to all the stupid stuff some people define as “all in good fun”, gamesmanship.

Well leave it to me, Coach Garry, to find a very productive and enlightening way to redefine the term and to find a new method to utilize the practice in order to empower ourselves. The great part about this is that it really works, when of course you actually WORK AT IT. And did I mention that it’s not hard either?

So here’s the deal. Let me ask you just one question? (leave it to the coach to ask just “one” question; I know can’t be done, sort of like eating one potato chip, right?)

All right then here it is – What are you putting up with?

You know all of those stupid little things that annoy you in a small or not so small way that you really don’t want to have to ‘put up’ with if you had a choice. You see, the thing is, that you really do have a choice about putting up or not putting up with just about all of those things on your list. Really!
(*Hint – Make a list if you haven’t already)

Then (of course) I have another potato chip, I mean question.

What would it be called if you actually did something to reverse, remove, eradicate, minimize, destroy, or eliminate those things you just listed?

It would in fact be called a “Put Down”, am I right?

So how would it be if you actually did some ‘put downs’ on a regular basis? Would it be beneficial for you if you did that? If you said ‘Yes’ continue reading, because I will help you do exactly that, but in a much bigger way. You’ll love how this will turn out. You will be amazed at how this process will empower you.

The late Thomas Leonard, who is considered to be the grandfather of modern day coaching, created this little device called ‘Integrity Day’. This is a day or a block of time, that is put aside by you to serve but one purpose – To support YOU in whatever YOU feel is important to get addressed in that time. In other words, you are expressing the personal integrity to work on the world’s most important person’s (YOUR) priorities. No phone calls, no email, no FB, or web browsing. Just work on that ONE thing or things that you can get accomplished if you held your integrity to YOU during this process for say 4 hours or more. You should try this process, because you will be surprised what will be accomplished.

Integrity or Put Down Days are scheduled events that are FREE at my coaching practice and they allow us to get to know each other in a supportive environment where your priorities are essential. They are done with groups of participants where the group dynamics and synergy play well together, like a team.

To learn more about Integrity / Put Down Days go to my website

www.garrycarlson.com/Integrity-days

and check out the schedule for the next few sessions and sign up for one. They’re FREE and the only thing you have to loose is perhaps that voice in your head saying ‘you should’ve, would’ve could’ve. Believe me once you go through this process, you’ll be glad that you did. Come to think of it, I’ll be glad that you did as well.

Well first I know that I am not alone in my plight with Bob Vila. He is a constant source of irritation and extreme frustration and the root cause of much marital discord around my house. I’m sure there are hundreds of thousands of husbands, dads, significant others in relationships, that get all kinds of grief because of Bob Vila.

Let me tell you what the tipping point was for me. I live in Vermont, and we don’t really get hurricanes here much, if ever so it seemed. But then Irene changed all of that in a hurry just a few weeks ago. In preparation for that event, I had bought some roof cement for my barn roof, which it seems always has a leak or two – Always.

Knowing that 60 MPH wind gusts can push water into any crack or crevice, I was determined to spend a few hours up on the roof patching what I could. As I was getting prepared, can opened, ladder propped up against the barn, putty knife at the ready, my wife walked by and asked what I was up to. I explained the task at hand and she was delighted that I was indeed addressing an old on-going issue with the multiple drips that always seem to occur.

Upwards I go to the roof, implements in hand and I begin to survey the situation. I place
the materials at the peak of the roof and start pacing along looking for some of the most
obvious points of leakage I could find. Then my bladder starts calling me that the 3 cups
of coffee I rented (you never really own coffee or beer) earlier were ready to depart. So
down the ladder I go to take care of that business and I go into the house to handle that.

That’s when IT happened. As I walk through the downstairs door, heading for the bathroom, my wife sees and me and smiles big while saying, “You’re done already?”

ARGHHHHHHHHHHH Darn You Bob Vila, I’ll get you for this!! And so here I am contemplating not IF but when I shall strike my legal saber at Bob Vila for not only myself but for tens, nay hundreds of thousands of other frustrated husbands.

You see Bob Vila created this monster that I call FEAR – Fanatical Expectations About Reality having to do with home repair/improvements. I don’t need any more FEAR in my life, let alone one that lives right here in my home!! Bob Vila is the Dr FEARenstein here, and he did it through that damn TV show of his.

You see my wife, and countless other people I am certain, have this unrealistic expectation of how long ( or short ) it takes to complete home improvement tasks around the house and property. This misconception is the sole responsibility of Bob Vila.

Bob Vila it seems could do anything, from updating and entire bathroom, to completely remodeling a 28 room Victorian home in just under 60 minutes! That fact is the premise of my class action suit as it has personally caused me terrible pain and suffering from the nagging and questioning. I have suffered quite enough trauma to my already fragile male ego, relative to questioning my basic manhood, to wit, “if Bob Vila can do this in 20 minutes but you can’t, then what the hell is wrong with you?

So off I went last week, yellow pages in hand to find an attorney who would be interested in make 5-10 million dollars on out Class Action Suit. I found one too and he had drawn up a preliminary agreement that would be sent out to millions of known viewers. GREAT – now we’re taking some action and not just talking anymore. Let see here, it says that indeed the Class Action Suit would be anticipated to be awarded 10 – 20 million dollars in awards ( Oh I am so psyched – Bob you are going to pay for this finally!) So the breakdown is expected to be 5-10 million to the legal team and the rest of us would get, hmmmm lets review the fine print here………… WHAT????????????

Wait a damn minute!! This is not what I want at all!!

It says that we would all get our choice of any TWO VHS taped seasons of Bob’s show between 1979 and 1989!!! You have got to be kidding me!!

Forget that then. I’ll just keep doing what I have done for the past 20+ years –

Ignore my wife!!

I am offering one month of free coaching to to the first 25 people in Vermont who were hurt by hurricane Irene. Email me at irene@garrycarlson.com with your story and I will get in touch with you as soon as possible!

The fact alone that he did this in his Rookie Year on the PGA Tour is somewhat of a MAJOR accomplishment, but it was how he did it that I would like to discuss briefly here. It is indeed a case study in motivational thinking and execution at its best.

Keegan had been playing very well during the tournament and led going into the 3rd round on Saturday. By the days end he was one shot behind and in a fine position to go after it on the final round on Sunday. He was in control of his own destiny, if I can use an over used sports saying. Keegan, it seemed, had arrived.

Starting out Sunday on his first hole, he birdied it and immediately took 1st position – Tied with two others in the field. I was especially excited for Keegan, because I live in the town where he grew up and played most of his golf, here in Woodstock VT. I know Keegan’s father Mark personally, and I have kept up with Keegan’s progress through facebook and watching the leader board every week at PGA.com. There are a bunch of us here in town that root for Keegan. You could I imagine hear us all yelling in unison yesterday throughout the town.

So as Keegan progressed through the match, his play seemed to be quite capable of being in the match right though to the end, and then, well who knows right? I had this overwhelmingly optimistic feeling of excitement, as I started watching him yesterday, much like how I felt at the beginning of Game 4 in 2004 when the Red Sox were down 3-0 with the Yankees – I just felt they could do this.

So as it happened, Keegan had a faltering on the 15th hole and fell off the lead by 4 strokes with just 3 holes to play. Some would have just played to be a strong second, but not Keegan Bradley. Yesterday, Keegan earned his “Champion” title, because he so aptly stepped up to be “The Champion”.

Michael Jordan has a great quote I like so much. “Talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence wins Championships”. That’s what Keegan Bradley showed yesterday, in a sport that, as Yogi Berra would say it, “50% of this game is 90% mental”. That is exactly what the game of golf is, 90% mental!!

It would have been easy for Keegan to just play for that 2nd place and be happy with that. Who would have blamed him for being happy with a solid 2nd place. Yes, that is true, but Champions play to the end, every second, every inning, quarter, down, out, hole – every game.

There was no fat lady singing out on the course, and so Keegan stayed calm and collected. He knew it could be done, it was not impossible. He remembered the intelligence he had learned from his father Mark, a seasoned Teaching PGA Professional and his Aunt Pat Bradley, a LPGA Hall of Fame golfer, and what a lot of others had given him along the way.

Standing alone on the 16th tee, Keegan had all of the experience from all of his teammates and teachers, coaches, and colleagues in his corner. He simply needed to execute, which we all know is not easy at all. I have noticed that most ‘Simple’ things are not ‘Easy’ and this was the case yesterday. Slowly and methodically Keegan advanced and lowered the deficit by 2 strokes over the next 3 holes. He simply put himself in a position to win by doing what he did best – Playing Golf to the best of his ability.

Consequently, his opponent in this duel, Jason Dufner, accommodated Keegan’s date with destiny, by decreasing his own lead by 2 strokes over the next 3 holes and well what do you know – We have a tie and a 3 hole playoff ahead of us. This is the stuff fairy tales are made of.

Keegan continued his Championship play over the first two playoff holes and entered the third and final hole, ahead of Dufner by 2 strokes. It was Keegan’s turn to seize the day and on the last hole of the playoff, he did exactly that and won the playoff and the PGA Championship by one stroke.

So let me conclude my writing today by offering my congratulations to Keegan Bradley and his entire family, who as it seems, all have what it takes to be Champions. Well done Keegan! You have given me and countless others a gi-normous lesson on what we can all do to be our own Champions when it comes down to the final match. Stay in the game, every second, every play. Thanks for the memories and the lessons Keegan. I’ll never forget them.

I try my absolute best not to ‘give my advice because I’m not using it’ with my clients. I prefer to do the work or show what work I have done. I am offering a method for us all to learn and DO something about what we learned. I am willing to work with you to discover the right avenues for you to take. I am a coach – that’s what I do!

I am announcing/providing a series of unique book study groups that will combine elements of Group Coaching, Book Study and Mastermind components. It will meet weekly and you can participate in one or several if you are so inclined. The cost is just $79 per month, per group and I guarantee that getting a massive return on your investment is very ‘DO-able’ if you are willing to DO the work. Let me put state that in a more familiar and understandable way – MONEY BACK GUARANTEE reads like this: If you are not totally impressed with the significant amount of success that you have achieved after attending and completing four weeks AND doing exactly what you said you would do during that time, then I will offer you a full refund of your first month’s tuition. PERIOD

Most book studies I have experienced, work through the text and have some interactive discussions. This will have that element for sure but much, much more. As the group facilitator, I will assert an expectation for each member to put into ACTION one or two good ideas they gleaned from the reading for that week. In addition, I will also follow up to provide accountability for those commitments, through email during the week.

As we have a brief check in period for the group in the following week, you will get some valuable feedback. There will be a max limit per group of 10 participants ( minimum of 6 to start ), which allows everyone to give a brief perspective, weekly commitments and feedback in a 60-90 minute format.

I am starting with several powerful and well know books (standards in the personal success and business arena) and would be open to suggestion from you about a book you would like to explore in the future. For now I’ll offer these to you and your growth.

Below is a list of the various books and authors for these groups. Also, feel free to add a title or two that you would like to see, and email them to me – I look forward to your participation and feedback.

What is the value of a really great idea that does get put into motion or acted upon immediately?

A whole lot more than nothing, that’s for sure!! In fact the format for this study/action group encourages new HABITS to be formed from those ideas, which could very well be life altering for some. For YOU Maybe??

So what are you waiting for? Take a look at the list below of the great books we will be working on and send me an email to let me know which one(s) you’re interested in working on. I’ll contact you and together we’ll be more way more successful by working together – I GUARANTEE IT
Your Partner in Success,

Coach Garry

If you are ready to get started, email me at garry@garrycarlson.com

The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale

Getting Stuff Done by David Allen

Get Clients Now by C.J. Hayden

The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz

The Success Principles by Jack Canfield

The Art of Possibility by Rosamund & Benjamin
Zander

Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris

——————————————

I.I.A. Groups have started already and more will be added as the interests grow. These groups are having some great success in creating momentum for everyone involved. You can have some of this level of success as well. Fill out the form below, ask a question, inquire about a book study you might want to join, email me a note of your interest in a particular book I didn’t list, and we’ll find a way to get something going.

The bottom line is this – The time for thinking about doing something is behind you – its time to take SOME KIND of ACTION. There is a wise saying that says “You can’t think your way into right acting, but you can act your way into right thinking.” I invite you to take some action right now and contact me via email @ garry@garrycarlson.com

All the Best – Coach Garry

One of my very favorite quotes I have ever heard is one by Henry Ford –

“Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are probably right”

The reason that it is one of my favorites is because it resonates with me so well and so often. I say “often” because I find myself needing to revisit that frame of thinking on a regular basis. It helps me to get back on track, face forward and take some action toward achieving the solution.

Have you ever been there? Or perhaps needing to be there? I bet you have.

And there it is my friends the Power of YOU. You have an incredible power within you to determine what’s going to happen with you, maybe not TO you necessarily, but even then you have some distinct power to set your course from there.

You know the old adages are all around, like “Your attitude determines your altitude” – I remember hearing that 10+ years ago from Zig Ziglar.

So if we all have this great power inside of us, why aren’t we using it ALL THE TIME?
That’s a good question and one I can’t answer for anyone else but myself. I’d love to find that common link that would work for everyone, but I don’t have it. Yet.

One of the big things that work at getting me off the positive perspective is what I call the train wreck. It doesn’t have to be a monumental tragedy, like someone getting sick, or totaling my car in an accident. It can be a simple bump in the smooth running road that throws me into chaos. Then it could take hours or even days to get the train righted on the track again. UGH!

If I don’t think about my choices and RESPOND to the scene, I will end up REACTING and when I do that all sorts of not good stuff happens. I loose, momentum, perspective, and clarity of purpose. I get caught up in emotional hodge-podge that pulls me away like a black hole.

However if I temper my response, and are very careful to think about what my response will be (before I even open my mouth) rather that just react in a knee jerk manner, than something wonderful happen – The train stays on the track!

It may have to slow down considerably or even stop for a red light, but it STAYS ON THE TRACKS, which means I don’t loose hours or days getting back to where I originally was.

In his book the Success Principles, Jack Canfield describes this positive relationship of desired outcome as a formula;

E + R = O
(Event + Response = Outcome)

I discovered it long ago, but forgot the power of this relationship over time. Reading his book again, in my Ideas Into Action Book Study, has put this principle front and center in my focus. I am committed to utilizing it on a daily basis, until I have created a habit of using it effectively.

So for today and the foreseeable future, I plan on actively tapping into the Power of You (Me) and staying on track for the focused, positive outcomes I deserve. What about you?

In the overall scheme of life there are two things that are the primary factors that motivate humans, and it is probably no surprise to you what they are; Pain and Pleasure

There are so many variations of Pain and Pleasure as to boggle ones head I’m sure, but lump them all together and they would have to go into either one bucket or the other.

So I was wondering though what, and just as importantly, when, does either of those impact your motivational engine?

I say when, because in my motivational model, both pain and pleasure can and do motivate me at different times in the process of getting (and staying) motivated.

Briefly stated my model is generally this;

At initialization of my motivation to get into action, Pain is the primary element in many cases. Pain can look like physical or emotional pain; most likely from the fact that I have sat too long ‘looking’ or ‘thinking’ or ‘forgetting’ about the situation which needed to be addressed. I had been aware of the pain of not doing it now, but would rather sit and enjoy the pleasure of not doing it.

For those of you that missed that point there, pleasure actually served as a de-motivator for me to get something started let alone getting it done! Imagine that?!

However once I do get into action, and get some momentum, pain is increasingly less of a key motivator, the further I move away from the initialization point (start) of the process. And if pain wanes in its force apparent, then what comes in to fill its space?

You got it, Pleasure. Now pleasure is, as I’m sure all of you know, a much easier partner to work with than is pain – Much Easier. I enjoy working with Pleasure as my primary motivator, but I will admit right here and now, it’s a bit of a de-motivator for me in the longer run. Then I am leaning on the pain to get me going again.

So you see my primal motivators are really a hodge-podge or stew of sorts with both carrots and some sticks thrown in for good fiber content. It looks like this really;

PainPleasurePainPleasureetc

So I was wondering, what does you motivational model look like? Would you mind sharing it with me, either in a quick diagram format as a comment to this blog, or perhaps a more detailed description in a private email?

I really would appreciate it, and look forward to hearing from some of you soon.

Until next time I remain,

Your Partner in Success,

Coach Garry