Tina Lifford

Happy New Year!

I have MISSED YOU!

We have been out of contact for the last six weeks. What happened, you asked? Well computer issues, time demands, travel and lack of focus have had me distracted. This is another way of saying 2008 requires that I get more help!

But I am back and raring to go. I woke up this morning feeling like my whole life is ahead of me. Don’t you love that feeling? It always conjures images of wind blowing through my hair, driving along PCH (Pacific Coast Highway)—the ocean glistening off to the side, good music playing as a background to a wonderful conversation that is full of laughter. Yes! This is how I feel today: Alive, awake, aware and ready for life…feeling invincible. It feels so good! The question is how do we stay plugged in and keep it going? Ahhhh! This is the question that has been asked for centuries. It is a great question to ask as you face the New Year.

This is the very topic of the upcoming workshop titled Personal Success: Getting What You Want Now and Forever that I will be facilitating on January 10th for employees at the Disney Corporation. I thought I might share with you a few valuable points from that workshop:

Read almost any book or article about success and you will begin to see the same advice—stated in various ways—being shared over and over again. Why is that? It’s because there are basic components to the manifestation process. As you begin to see and understand these components as real and effective building blocks for success you can employ them more deliberately in building your own lasting success.

Here are three basics for reaching any goal: www.wakingupfabulous.com

1. Know Your Target.
We human beings are “goal striving” machines. This means there is a “natural” inborn tendency and apparatus that moves us towards our goals.

Here’s the tricky part, our natural operating system takes its orders from our thoughts and feelings, NOT from what we say. If you say you desire such and such, yet you are full of thoughts and feelings of doubt and disbelief, your subconscious follows the lead of your thoughts and feelings not your words. The subconscious see its target as the pictures that float around in your head and as the feelings you most often feel. It will move heaven and earth to create an outer reality that matches your inner reality.

2. Take Action Towards the Target.

Remember the old saying “Every journey starts with just one step!” This is a sound and accurate statement...but FORGET IT for now! That one step idea has stalled many a journey. We humans tend to be lazy. We tend to take ONE step then look around pissed-off because we have not yet ACHIEVED the thing we want. Looking for one-step achievement is the fatal illness of a micro-wave-instant-gratification society that can completely derail accomplishing your goals.

Successful people KNOW their goals are going to require long term effort. Therefore place in your head that your goal requires you to take 99-steps…JUST 99 STEPS. Plot your 99-steps. Use your imagination. Brainstorm. Literally imagine, dream and contemplate what seems necessary for your success to manifest. Start a list. Mark it with numbers from 1 to 99. Fill in as many immediate steps as come to mind. Use your imagination to determine what kinds of things you might have to do to reach your goal. You may only come up with an initial 10 things to do towards meeting your goal, great! Start your 99-Steps List with those 10 “to do” steps. As you begin to accomplish those ten things, other necessary steps in completing your goals and objectives will present themselves and you can add them to your list of 99-Steps. Use your list to move you into action everyday. Your goals need the “food” of your attention and effort in order to take root and manifest.

3. Analyze and then Course Correct.

When you become distracted (and if you are like most people you will be distracted by all kinds of things), worry not and by all means there is no need to judge yourself harshly; just pull out your list of 99-steps and reconnect with your last step and CONTINUE your journey to success. Frustration and distractions of any kind are no reason to STOP. They are merely cause for re-focus and COURSE CORRECTION. When you stall or run into adversity don’t call it failure. It can only turn into a failure if you allow it to convince you to stop all further action. Instead, analyze the blocks and make a COURSE CORRECTION. Appreciate the information the block lends to the ACCOMPLISHMENT of your goal. The fact that you can see the block and see how it has gotten in your way in the past is GOOD NEWS, because you can clearly see what you must navigate around. If your block is laziness, instead of deciding your laziness will be the cause of your failure, have a conversation with yourself that goes something like this:

Ok! Tina, we have come to this stall point before. Instead of claiming it as a stopping point today you can claim it as your powerful point of encouragement. You can turn not wanting to do anything into doing just one more thing. You can also call your Waking Up Fabulous coach and work with her. (Contact us at 323-395-5793 for information on working with your very own coach.) Meet this challenge with a different “pattern breaking” response. Remember: Any response that is different from the pattern is a pattern breaking response. When you challenge an old pattern with different behavior the new response will release the HOLD of the pattern. The entire Universe has conspired to bring you this opportunity to say YES to yourself, Tina. Say yes by doing something that keeps you going. Right beyond this stopping point is the finish line, Tina, and you belong on the other side of that line.

Apply these three strategies to any goal small or large and you will find yourself completing goals more successfully. Most of the smaller goals will be accomplished long before you actually take 99 steps. With the larger dreams, you will find that every 99 steps will deliver success sufficient enough for you to create a new brainstorming-imagination list to continue on with and to manifest your greatest dreams and desires beyond your wildest imagination.

Don’t succumb to the trap of wanting things fast and easy. There is no way to have a fast and easy baby. There are necessary processes that nature needs time to take care of in order to create a healthy baby. The same is true in creating any success. There are things you cannot see or know yet that are being positioned to support your greatest success.. Don’t be in such a rush that you shortchange your greater good. Focus on healthy long lasting and fulfilling success instead of fast and easy. This way you are sure to get the success you desire.

May JOY storm your life and bowl you over with Goodness in the New Year!

Fabulous me to Fabulous you,
Tina

A Mind Movie is your very own design of your future. It is the pictures, expectations and related good feelings that you choose to imagine regarding any goal or desire; then, consciously, you let those pictures and feelings run in the background of your mind, like a movie! It is a great starting point for getting what you want.

This is my starting place with every goal—small or large. I convert my goals into pictures and feelings that resonate in me; then, I “play” in those images and feelings and allow them to wash over me and engage my attention as often as possible—while remaining relaxed without any stress, desperation or straining of any kind. I pretend I am in my plush home theatre, surrounded by Grace, ease and beauty, sitting in a comfortable chair, with the lighting just the way I like it. I allow myself to run my Mind Movie and I ENJOY it, just like I would enjoy my favorite feature film. I allow it to engage me emotionally. I might smile. Sometimes I talk back to the screen, or laugh out loud. Once my Movie Mind is made, I leave it “on”—running all the time so that at any point throughout the day I can just shift my attention to it and enjoy a portion of it or watch the whole thing. I consciously turn to my encouraging and invigorating Mind Movie when I catch myself dwelling in worry, doubt or fear, or when I am feeling I need more inspiration or focus with regards to a goal or desire.

I started my successful Hollywood acting career with a vivid Mind Movie. I saw myself pulling up to 20th Century Fox and having the guards greet me by name. A number of years later this was my exact experience at 20th Century Fox studios as we filmed 13 episodes of the series South Central on which actor Larenz Tate and I were the leads.

Most recently, I sat down and captured on paper my desires for my business, Waking Up Fabulous (WUF), the parent entity of Totally Fabulous Woman (TFW). To begin this process, I first tapped into my desires for WUF and allowed myself to become filled with sweet yearning. From this emotional place, I wrote out my goals. I wrote them like an unfolding story. I used words and descriptions to create pictures in my mind and evoke good feelings throughout my body.

In December I received a call from a Division of a Fortune 500 Company (The Company). We talked about what WUF might offer to their co-ed general employee population. We agreed upon an experimental alliance and set the date of January 10th for our workshop debut.

Of course, I sat down and created a detailed Mind Movie for success with The Company. I always start with a Mind Movie. Every opportunity that presents itself from the outside is an opportunity for me to go within and create a Mind Movie that seizes the opportunity vividly with imagined details of excellence, Grace and ease.

At any rate, to wrap up this story regarding facilitating a workshop for The Company, at the beginning of my talks with them they expected 20-25 employees to respond. The course filled within 24 hours of being announced in their newsletter and expanded to 46 enrolled and 48 on their wait list.

The day went just as I had detailed in my Mind Movie.

The Company sent out a survey to the attendees to assess our course. The results: outstanding numbers. Most of the feedback was in the 95% range.

The Company has invited WUF back on Feb. 5th to facilitate the same course for the other 48 people left on our wait list. I am in the process of creating a new Mind Movie for this new opportunity.

There is much that goes into creating the life you most desire to live. The Mind Movie is just one technique. Most importantly, putting yourself in supportive, growing and learning situations is the best strategy for developing and practicing the art of SAYING YES TO YOU!

Remember: Living the life you want is not about magical thinking, it’s about MANAGING your thinking. We each can learn to manage both our past and our future by managing our habitual negative or toxic thinking today.

Next blog: I will share some tips about the power and freedom awaiting you in the simple art of becoming more aware of how you respond to your circumstances.

May JOY storm your life and bowl you over with GOODNESS.

Fabulous Me to Fabulous You,
Tina