Tina Lifford

On Fridays here at Keys to Waking Up Fabulous we step away from the weekly format of insights and options for developing a more empowering perspective and focus on whatever is my Fabulous Friday fancy.

Today it is all about American Idol, which is surprising because I never watch television. I had never seen the show until two weeks ago April 17th. I happened to stop by my nephew’s home. He and his wife were totally transfixed before their television. Yet, they happily interrupted one another in an effort to quickly explain the show and bring me up to date. They were having fun talking over one another sharing the history and highlights of the show. I enjoyed seeing that. They explained the whole Sanjaya Malakar thing and introduced me to the other contestants and spoke in depth about Simon Cowell and the banter that goes on between him and Ryan Seacrest. I enjoyed my visit. I even got into the Idol performances but I did not expect to walk away from there and ever watch the show again.

But the following week I happened upon the show again completely by accident. I was attempting to tune my TV to the satellite feed for Audio Vision. I was looking for gentle soothing background music to write by. I hit the TV button as opposed to the “Audio On”. I was caught by a story about this dirt poor mother in Africa who had adopted a number of orphaned children whose parents had died of AIDS and who themselves had HIV. I was standing at the time, poised to move on to my office to write. Instead I sat down, watched and became totally engaged. My eyes did not leave the television screen. When the phone number for donations flashed across the screen I grabbed my phone. The lines were busy so I went on-line. I wanted to be apart of the good this show was doing. I was both stunned and excited by the whole event. I work in the Entertainment Industry and Disney, the parent company of ABC, is notoriously known for underpaying and creating deals where they win and everyone else just gets the opportunity to work for them. Seriously, I have heard Disney referred to as the “plantation” on a number of occasions. So imagine my surreal experience of sitting slack jarred in front of my television singing ABC’s praises. THEY FOUND IT. Hallelujah a Corporate America leader has found a way for big business to make a LOT of money and at the same time GIVE HUGE sums of money to contribute to the well being of society. This was a high consciousness equation. It almost felt like some sort of quantum physics equation. Make huge profits and at the same time give away a huge sum of money without touching your profit and having everyone involved WIN. ABC was brilliantly demonstrating win/win/win to the world. The advertisers were winning—television is all about the advertising sponsors. American Idol and particularly American Idol Gives Back were winning big time: They had captured the attention and hearts of over 135 million viewers. ABC was winning—Idol is already one of the most watched shows on television but on the 24th of April viewers who normally would not have tuned in came to watch the endless parade of stars like Bono, Celine Dion, and the wonderful delightful I’ll-tune-in-to-see-her-anytime-Ellen DeGeneres. Each star that graced that stage also won. Their talent and generosity forced their way into the hearts of millions of viewers. I was introduced to talent I did not know. I was impressed by my assumption that most of the talent was donating all or a portion of their time for this worthy cause…how exciting. The people in those stories were winning. They were being seen and heard by millions of Americans and others around the world. I prayed for the people of Africa that night. I prayed for the world. The contestants were WINNING… all of them. No matter who walks away with the title of 2007 American Idol the contestants from this season were part of a package that enriched their both their lives and their pockets. We viewers were WINNING. This show inspires. It stirs hope in the hearts of many a want-to-be. Sanjaya proves we all come with something special. The judges were WINNING. I can only imagine what it feels like to Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, Simon and Ryan to be a part of the incredible contribution that American Idol proves itself to be with this one fundraising event. History is being made and all these players get to claim profound participation.

I am not sure who should get the most credit for this brilliant win/win/win. My intuition tells me that the producers of this show, encouraged maybe by the stars, were the swelling ground for this idea. Bottom-line someone wanted the show to do more, be more, and contribute in ways others would copy for years to come. Whoever it is, I want to thank to that person. I would love to meet and have a conversation with. This person can teach the art of combining business, heart and social conscience to the rest of Corporate America…to all of us. This person is on the cutting edge of change that can truly benefit the world.

With this event ABC gave me an inspiring option. From this day forward I could use the success of this fundraiser to envision big Business all over the world discovering win/win/win ways to increase their bottom-line AND extend abundance into areas of need. I clearly saw the potential of human beings to actively and easily give to one another in little ways that make a huge difference.

I feel that something very good is happening. We have seen the recent philanthropic moves of Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Bono and Oprah, to name a few. These are individuals who have begun to think from the paradigm of community. Is it possible big business has found a way to follow suit?

Ok, it is your turn to talk. Please email me your feelings or call me toll free at 1-888-890-3044 and let me know your feelings. It is so fabulous to be on this journey together. Stay connected visit our website at www.totallyfabulouswoman.com send us your ideas and suggestions.

Fabulous me to Fabulous you,
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