Archive for April, 2009

We tend to be experts in our problems. Most of us have many, if not all, of the tools to solve our problems or to reach our goals and we still fall short. We know what to do, but we don’t do it and then we beat ourselves up about it.

What we don’t alway realize is that there are good reasons that we don’t follow through with our plans. Our choices always serve us in some way. To really understand what is going on, it is helpful to start by looking at your values. To discover your values, consider the following questions: What is most important to you? What is life really about? What do you love? What is something that your friends would say you’ve totally got “handled”? What drives you crazy? What books/movies/TV shows do you love/hate and why? The answers to these questions will help uncover your values, what’s most important to you.

Often, we find ourselves cheating on our diets, skipping our exercise programs, procrastinating, avoiding relationship issues, wasting time on our computers instead of working, etc. When we find that we’re selling ourselves short, it is likely that we have a values conflict. We may value health and fitness, organization, or being on time and we may value something else like freedom, choice, free-time, variety or adventure even more.

Knowing what your values are and identifying your top five to ten values will help you understand a lot about yourself. For ultimate success, set goals and make plans according to what you value. When you find yourself in a values conflict, get curious, try to notice what’s most important to you and proceed with awareness and compassion.

Carrie Kish is a life coach and leadership trainer who specializes in helping people discover their values and live a more fulfilling life.

The money game is a fun way to practice financial abundance in your life. It helps to overcome the mindset of not having enough and creates a mindset of having abundance. It is a game played with “virtual” money; no real money is involved. It is useful to have this feel as real as possible. Playing with old checks, deposit slips and a check register is very helpful. You can also create your own system with your computer or in a notebook or ledger.

1. Day 1: Deposit $1000 virtual dollars into your Abundance Account. Write a deposit slip and write your deposit into your register.
2. Spend some or ALL of your money. Write checks out for up to $1000 worth of goods, services and bills. You can write one check for $1000 or several smaller checks. Be as specific as you can about what you are buying and how much it costs.
3. Day 2: Deposit $2000 virtual dollars into your Abundance Account and spend some or all of what is in your account.
4. Day 3 and forward: Deposit $1000 for every day you have been playing the game and spend it. For example: On day 9, deposit and spend $9,000 and on day 20, deposit and spend $20,000.

There are no rules about how you play and what you spend your money on. You can play every day or every so often. If you were to play the Money Game for an entire year, you will have deposited and spent $66 million. The idea is to free up your imagination and get your mind into an abundant state of allowing and receiving. It is a fun way to focus on abundance.

Carrie Kish is a life coach and leadership trainer who specializes in coaching women entrepreneurs, especially coaches, and leadership training for corporations and teens. For more information, visit www.CarrieKish.com or call 661.255.2100.