The Blue Zebra: Success Your Way                      Issue No. 2 Welcome to those of you who are new to this mailing list.  I guess that means pr etty much everyone since this newsletter thing is very new. I am grateful that all of you have chosen to sign up for my newsletter, and I appreciate all of the wonderful feedback that I have received.  Which illustrates a point: This newsletter was a long time coming.  I kept putting it off, putting my focus on other parts of my business, primarily because I find writing challenging and I thought that I didn't have anything original to say.  If I was going to do a newsletter, I wanted it to be great, and I didn't think that I had it in me.  Your responses have helped me see how wrong I was.  One of my mentors, Mike Litman, has a favorite saying:  "You don't have to get it right, you just have to get it going." Think of how much suffering we go through because we need to get it right.  And think of how much that costs us by delaying our moving forward towards our goal.  Once again, I've learned that Mike is right.  So, I'll say it again:                 "You don't have to get it right; you just have to get it going." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Article: Compelling Vision: Out of Your Comfort Zone What are your dreams for you life?   What do you really want each area of your life to look like?  Your work?  Your love life?  Your health?  Your finances?  What do you want in the worst way but think that there is no way you can have it? Last month, I wrote about the first step in creating "uncommon success" in your life: getting really clear about what is most important to you, what your top values are, making sure that these are your values, not someone else's.  The second step in creating "uncommon success" is developing a compelling vision for your life based on those values. You know what a vision is, right?  It's a mental picture (really, a mental movie) of something that you want.  In this case, it shows what your uncommonly successful life will look like.  A compelling vision is one that is so strong, so exciting, so inspiring that it will pull you out of your comfort zone and get you into action to actually create this life.  It is a vision that you can fall in love with.  It is a vision that is worthy of you.  (And, you must feel worthy of it, but that is a topic for another time.) A compelling vision serves several purposes:  It tells you and the universe where you want to get to.  When you set goals and act without a compelling vision, you may be in motion but you can't be sure where you are going to end up.  Your vision defines your destination and allows you to continually check to see if you are going in the direction you want. It gives you the energy and inspiration to move past whatever blocks arise in the process.  When you get stuck, tuning into your vision brings your focus back to why you are doing what you are doing and gets you moving again. The Law of Attraction says that "like attracts like."  When you regularly take the time to sit and experience your vision, you bring your energy into alignment with what you want.  And this attracts the energy to you that will support you in attaining your vision. What are the key elements of a compelling vision?  See your vision in the present so that it contains what you will actually see, hear, think and feel after your ideal outcome is realized. Your vision should include how you will feel when the outcome is realized.  Actually feel the emotions in your body.  Including an emotional payoff in your vision infuses it with passion and will make it even more compelling, inspiring, and energizing. The more sensory details you can provide, the more powerful your vision becomes.  Describe to yourself the scenes, colors, sounds, and shapes. See who is there and what everyone is doing. How does it smell?  What do you hear?  What do things feel like to the touch?  These sensory details will help you build a more complete and powerful mental image of your ideal outcome. Does it work?  Since about 2000, I have had a compelling vision of the relationship that I wanted in my life.  Any of you who are single or have been single and are of a certain age know how challenging the dating situation is for us older folks.  There were times that I just wanted to quit.  I mean, how many times can you hear, "I really like you, but I just want to be friends" from someone you really like?  But my vision kept me focused on what I really wanted in my life and getting me out there and meeting women.  Then, in February, 2006, I met her, and we have now been in a relationship for 18 months.  And I still hold that vision, and it keeps me focused on doing everything I can to make this relationship a success. Click here for a couple of processes to create your compelling vision. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Teleclass:  Uncommon Success: Do you want more? In these first two newsletters, you have been reading about the first steps in creating an "uncommonly successful" life.  Now, please join me and my colleague, Monique Morimoto Flaherty, in a teleconference conversation about what "uncommon success" means to you and how you can have more of it in your life.  We will discuss what the components are of your personal definition of success, look at how well you are achieving those in the important areas of your life and how you can increase your feeling of success on those areas.  Our intention is that you will leave the call with more options and ideas than you came with.  There will be no charge for this call. When:  Wednesday, October 1, 8:30 pm Eastern Where:  Our Conference Line  Send me an email (Coachted@Uncommonsuccessco.com), and I will email the # once you confirm your attendance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My services As The Uncommon Success Coach, I help people design and create successful lives based on their own definitions of success.  I help people who feel stuck in their jobs get unstuck, and find work that fits. I help people who have been searching for the right career for some time find their perfect fit. I work with people who are at their wits end in trying to bring their life into some semblance of balance.  If you fit into one of these categories, contact me to talk about how coaching can help you achieve your goals more quickly and more easily.  You can call me at 617-522-6099 or email me at Coachted@Uncommonsuccessco.com. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I hope you enjoyed this second issue.  If you this newsletter was forwarded to you by a friend, you can subscribe. Go to my Web site www.uncommonsuccessco.com and fill out the form on the Home page.  As a bonus, you will receive my article, "How to Live a Balanced Life: Learning to Say NO."  I invite you to look around while you're there. Click here is you would like to read Issue #1. Got Friends? ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Have any friends who want to be more successful? Please forward this newsletter to them. Reprint Permission ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reprint permission granted in part or whole when the following credit appears in full: Reprinted with permission from The Uncommon Success Co. 617-522-6099 www.uncommonsuccessco.com Coachted@uncommonsuccessco.com                          (C) The Uncommon Success Co.