Recent research by Franklin Covey uncovered of those who make the goals, just over one third of them are still actively working the goals come December 31st. If goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your future and for living a full and productive life why don’t more people undertake the task?

Perhaps, more people have set goals in the past and they haven’t had success so they’ve dropped the practice. Or maybe they think it’s something you just do at work. It’s something only corporations do, or just a boss does. They’ve heard people never keep goals so it’s a waste of time making them.

I think the answer lies in the latter.

People frequently ask me, “Why can’t I keep my goals?” or some variation of that question perhaps with more specificity in a particular area. I’ve had people suggest they don’t have enough will power, stick-to-it-ness, or won’t power, or decide they are just a plain failure at making and keeping goals of any kind . Since they didn’t achieve a goal in one area they have decided to quit making goals in other areas of their life.

There’s been a lot of erroneous thinking about goal setting since the underground movie sensation, The Secret. Many people now think the way to get what you want is by just focusing on it. They fail to understand without ACTION the Law of Attraction is less powerful. The Law is always available, just like you know electricity is available when you turn on the light switch, but you have to turn the switch on (the action) to get the result (light).

Author and businessman John Assaraf, one of the entrepreneurs featured in The Secret probably most remembered for his practice of vision boarding is a staunch proponent of goal setting. What most people remember about John from The Secret is his practice of vision boarding helped him to manifest his dream home. He captured the actual home on his vision board years ahead of the time he purchased it. He will be the first one to tell you the vision board and the Law of Attraction, while very powerful components in his success, will produce nothing without goal setting and  mindfully working the goals you set  taking action on specific strategies and tactics which support those goals. He didn’t just cut out a picture of his house and wish for it.He worked for it.

MindTools.com is a great site for learning more about setting goals using the explicit part of your mind. This is a great video that summarizes the sound strategies which can be found on their site: How To Make Goals .

Standard goal setting techniques, however effective, leave 98% of the power for achieving goals on the table because these techniques only rely on the explicit mind. To make a quantum leap in goal setting you must use both your explicit and implicit mind.

I saw it.

And so did everyone watching any of the television nightly tabloids.  If you missed it there, Matt Lauer took the opportunity a week later to make sure the 5 million plus viewers of the Today Show knew it happened, too.

Zac Efron had the unthinkable happen on the red carpet.

He dropped a condom. Right there in front of Mom, who no doubt was watching, and America.

The video of the incident on You Tube has received nearly 5 million hits.

Is there something about an all-American heart-throb having an “OMG” moment in front of God and everybody we find comforting?

Of course, when a condom makes a guest appearance on the red carpet at the debut of a children’s film  you can be assured the media will not let it lie. You bet it is going to become tabloid fodder.

Zac’s come back to Lauer exemplified his great mental recovery after the incident. When asked about the unannounced and accidental appearance of the condom on the carpet, what could have sent anyone hiding, gave our teen heart-throb an opportunity to master the reframe.

With a slight smirk, he admitted it was indeed a condom (Rule #1: Take personal responsibility.) and he took charge of the awkward conversation turning it into a teachable moment to all the youth (and those old enough to be his mom) who look up to him. He even called Matt on his bumbling of the word “condom” and said there was nothing to be embarrassed about, citing promoting safe sex was just another great message to add to the many messages within the film.  What a great reframe for what could have been a mental setback.

We all have those moments we wished would have never happened. The rebound happens on the reframe and in the meaning we gave to the incident.

Is there something  that happened in your life, an incident to which you attached a meaning that is not moving you forward? Is there a way you can remessage the meaning you’ve given yourself that will be more empowering and help move you forward?

Wrong.

We are each unique and we are here to do what only we can provide. Countless people have proven when you are in the groove, when you have found your rhythm, things begin to come together for you.

The world is reminded of the importance of believing in yourself and your vision this week as one of the greatest inventors of our time, Steve Jobs was called Home. In the wake of Mr. Job’s death, many of us are pondering how we can step more fully into our life. How can we find that one thing that we and only we are here to do that is going to make a difference in our world?

I promise you, Steve Jobs was not an exception in humanity. He exemplifies what we are all here to do, each of us in our own unique way. Mr. Jobs not only leaves a legacy through his world-changing inventions, but he leaves us the keys and the encouragement to discover for ourselves what our passions and gifts to the world are and the advice to live them .http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

When I work with my VIP clients, I help them uncover exactly what they are here to do and then we devise an action plan to unfold it, and ways of addressing the patterns and beliefs that held them back in the past. For many people, these patterns and beliefs have been running in the background for many years, and this is the first time they are able to actually uncover them, unravel them, and harness the energy they have been taking up in the subconscious mind.

These patterns and beliefs are running constantly, much like you might have several sub programs running in the background of Windows while you are using Word. You don’t know they are there and how much energy they are using until you open the Task Manager and reveal them. Often, we find beliefs and patterns that are no longer useful, in fact, they are actually sabotaging your success, and we are able to release them, freeing you to pursue your dreams and passions.

“A lot of times people don’t know what they want until you show it to them,” Steve Jobs is quoted as saying. I find that consciously people don’t know what they want, but their purpose, passion, and the way in which they are here to live there life is all within and available to come forth. My work with people is to show them what is already inside them waiting to be revealed, like a diamond emerging from coal.

There is no greater tribute to pay to a person, but to live your life differently having been moved by the way in which they lived theirs. Steve Jobs has shown us who you are can change the world. Isn’t it time you uncovered it?

Meanwhile, “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish”. Steve Jobs, February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011

I’ve noticed I’m getting more inquires from people who are stressed, depressed, afraid of losing their jobs, or fearing what is going to happen when their unemployment runs out.  Most of these people are spending a great deal of time glued to the nightly news or scanning the newspapers to see the state of the world.

It isn’t changing very much. We’re still on a downward trajectory heading into Doomsday.

Here’s a disturbing fact: the media is lying to you. I saw a classic example of this the other night which I cover in another blog. I’m not even going to mention the show here because I don’t want to move them up in the ratings in any way. I know how human nature works. You’ll read about it here and then you will go search for more information about what I am talking about on their website, perhaps you will want to view a replay of the show to see what I’m talking about. You’re probably wondering right now, “Why doesn’t she just spill the beans and unveil the rest of the story?”

Do you see what just happened?

I had you following the mind bait – and you were no doubt going after it hook, line and sinker. That is what the media wants you to do. They feed you a steady diet of fear and then your neurons want more.

It’s all drama. We’re attracted to the stimulation it provides to our nervous system. It gets the adrenaline going.

So does exercise.

In college, I embraced a fleeting thought of being a journalist. I imagined myself traveling internationally to cover the news. I’d be going to exciting places to find the truth and expose it to the masses.

I landed a coveted internship at the local town paper. After two weeks I quit. Why? Because they weren’t interested in the truth. They were interested in putting a fear spin on everything. If there was ONE burglary, I was in charge of researching for the reporter to find if there were more, similar ones, if they had escalated, if the police saw a trend, and could that be a trend that was “alarming”. If it couldn’t be cast in a more negative light, while remaining truthful, the story was dropped.

There’s something about our innate desire for survival and safety that news reporters are trained to tap. When they can suggest that either your survival or your safety is threatened they have your attention. When they have your attention you tune in. You buy more papers, you tune into their news programming (note the word here) and you make their advertisers happy. The advertisers feel they are getting great exposure for their money and at a time when your subconscious mind is highly susceptible – a state of heightened emotionality,  a time when you are more suggestible…

Do you get what is going on here?

Yes, the people coming into my office do have some legitimate reasons for despair in life. But remember – what you focus on in life is what expands. It is a natural law. When you focus on the fear and the gloom and what you don’t have you attract more of the same into your life.

What would happen right now if everyone began to look at how to create opportunity in this economy? What if people looking for a job decided instead to look at their talents and skills and step forward to create business based on that unique service they are here to provide? What if they met with others in like situations to mastermind possibility during the hours they would be working – and made that a focus?

Imagine the world today if people where living towards their dreams instead of cowering in uncertainty and apprehension about what the future holds according to the forecasters.

The forecasters are only telling us what trends we are creating.

We can create something different.

When your heart is filled with fear, there is no room for opportunity. The mind is designed to look for evidence to support your thoughts.  The way to change your reality is to change your thoughts….and I know just the person to help you!

Blessings and abundance,

Karen

Many coaching clients come to me defeated and defined by their failures. Carefully, like a seamstress sewing together a beloved rag doll, I carefully stitch them back up again.

We need to reframe failure.

Failure is nothing more than learning; its feedback the Universe is giving you about what is NOT working as you go forward on the road to success. Too many people pitch a tent and camp out in failure way longer than necessary. When it’s time to continue, beaten down and in a less than resourceful state of mind their journey is easily derailed.

Maybe it’s the economy, but lately I’ve encountered more than my share of defeated people. They tend to be tire-kickers, calling for a coaching strategy session, but not wanting to commit to the work change suggests. They want easy and instant. The very thing that brings them in the door is what is keeping them down – their mindset.

I agree, it isn’t fun to be one of 102 people who met the application qualifications for a position, only to be turned down for the interview, again. I understand you didn’t decide to open your business because you had visions of struggle. It’s a bummer when one door after another seems to close.

Successful people view a NO as “next opportunity”. Have the faith that this is not the opportunity that would have brought you success. Is this Pollyannaish?

No. Don’t let your failures define you.

As I watched my granddaughter learn to walk I recognized somewhere between kindergarten and graduation we teach people to believe what happens to them is a direct measure of their competence and worth. I watched as she stepped forward, tired and feel. Undaunted, she stood back up again and the chubby little foot thrust forward again for a few steps, followed by another fall. At 16 months she didn’t have the capacity to think of falling as failure. She knew one thing. She had her eyes on the dog, the doll, or the toy that was in front of her and she was going to have it, no matter how many times it moved, or she fell in the process. If she got tired, she resorted to crawling and kept going forward after her desired object. She didn’t give up and sit there, calling herself a loser. She used the resources with which she was familiar, in this case, her hands and knees, and scooted toward her treasured object.

The ability to persevere, to keep your eyes on the prize, perhaps even stretching beyond your comfort zone in the face of a perceived challenge is the hallmark of those who succeed verses those who fall short of success. People who are successful at anything have refined their ability to convert life’s setbacks into stepping stones to future success.

Somewhere along the way many people lose the success mindset that is seemingly inherent in infants. That big fat “F” boldly centered in red ink on our paper means “feedback needed” not failure. We’ve done our kids a disservice in allowing “F’s”. If there was a no “F” policy, that you had to work until you brought it up, we would be giving students a different message about failure. If you get an “F” it is feedback you don’t own the knowledge yet, so you need to try again.

The way we handle it now, failure has been distorted from an action (Oops- that didn’t work; that’s not it.) to an identity (I am a failure; I am a loser.) Of course, with this mindset you are going to attract and or create more experiences to prove you are right.  Defeat builds upon defeat until the defeated are too exhausted to try.

Don’t let your failures define you. Allow them in. Befriend them, learn from them. There are many paths to success and you have eliminated one that didn’t work for you.

In a bit of cosmic synchronicity George Noory, hosted Lynne McTaggart on the Coast-to-Coast show the first night of Passover to discuss her new book The Bond. Building upon her previous research McTaggart shows how Western thought and practices of individualism must now give way to understanding we are all one – connected at the subatomic level. According to McTaggart living as our authentic self “has been sabotaged by modern science”.

Befitting a night when we all gather together around the Seder table to tell a story of liberation of the Jewish people, McTaggart points out that we have been held hostage by false beliefs propagated by and from the scientific community. It’s time we free ourselves from this old paradigm. We are wired to work together, to be in the collective and to be fair to one another. When we go against this natural way of being, we go against the natural order of the Universe; one song singing the notes of a cooperative whole.

You have to be living in a cave to not notice we are at a turning point in our consciousness and evolution. To survive, individualism must give way to the collective cooperative. It is in this cultural unification we find the modern-day Exodus. The latest discoveries of the new sciences show that we can only succeed through cooperation.

We must leave old ways of being and thinking behind.

Table Set for a Seder

As I partake of a ritualistic sip of wine, I ponder the current state of the world. We remain enslaved by our own thoughts, our own mind, and our own practices. Even though the world as we know it is unraveling, is this undertaking, getting a world plagued by war, political conflict, and marginalized people together to change into a cooperative mass for the sake of survival, the modern day equivalent of parting the Red Sea?

I became a big fan of McTaggart after reading her first book, The Field, a collection of research findings substantiating the universal energy connecting all that is at the quantum level. In her book The Intention Experiment she gathered scientific evidence showing how our thought influences solid matter through the energy web of this field. We are of one mind whether we choose to accept this fact or not.

Passover is about story telling.  In The Bond McTaggart asks us to consider the ultimate question: what is the new story we need to live by? She asserts we can no longer afford to live in ignorance of our interconnectedness. To continue to live as competitors will leave destruction in our wake.

We can, instead, use this time of global crises in the economy… the unemployment lines… escalating incidents of natural disasters heaving devastation on our environment… of the skyrocketing price of gas and food to serve as a wake up call, a turning point in our cultural and conscious development. We have reached a point where we can no longer enslave ourselves by a false story of who we really are.

Passover encourages Jewish people to invite strangers to the home during this celebratory period so they can remember that they were once strangers in their own land. Participants are invited to open the door and include the strange and the unfamiliar in the Passover ceremony.  In The Bond, McTaggart warns that failure to embrace new ways of thinking and being in the world, and failure to bridge our differences, will keep us on a path of self destruction.  She offers detailed recommendations to foster more holistic thinking, more cooperative thinking, more unified social groups, and ways of uniting with others for the sake of progressing into this new consciousness.

Lynne posts on her blog:

“My aim in writing The Bond is to offer nothing less than a vision to live in harmony with our true nature, and a new way to heal our relationships, our neighborhoods, our world.”

As we conclude a Seder we are reminded that the story is incomplete.

“In every generation one must regard themselves as though they had gone out of Egypt” and in every generation we must continue the work of the Exodus and to create freedom and fairness in the world.

McTaggart’s work certainly provides a roadmap for what must be undertaken by this generation if we are to experience ultimate liberation.

It’s funny how things come full circle, but the part of the circle that you come back to isn’t ever exactly the same as the one you left. Change is constant and inevitable.

When I started my own business in 2003, it seemed the easy answer to an exceedingly demanding life as the executive of a public benefit corporation overshadowed by the public attention diverted to 9-11.

Wrong.

It hasn’t been the “easy” I have envisioned, but it has been rewarding. I’ve learned so much. Over the past seven or so years. I have created   websites, products, services and had the opportunity to really get to know more about what makes people tick. During that time I have had some entrancing  successes and some big belly flops. (It’s the Law…of Polarity).

I’ve had the opportunity to meet with and learn from some amazing people, including Jack Canfield, David Neagle, Tim Kelley, Marcia Wieder, Susan Falter-Barnes, Jefferey Van Dyke, Michael Charest and others  who have joined together to hear their call.  Every one of them has played an important role in helping me to locate that Golden Thread of Purpose that runs through the divine blueprint of my  life.

And when I started Transformation by Design I thought I had that Golden Thread completely uncovered and was going to follow it into retirement…that is until I was facilitating  some Soul Purpose Work with a client and she told me in trance,  that she and every client  was a messenger for me. That caught my attention.

That was the first subtle tap from the Universe. Since then, I’ve received what correlates to a whack on the side of the head with a cosmic two-by-four. I know now, I’ve needed these past seven years to meet the people who have crossed my path, all of them messengers, learn the things I’ve been learning, much of which my little corporate-minded brain couldn’t have embraced without getting down into the trenches and working the muck with my wonderful clients, who taught me just what I needed to remember so I can be prepared to step fully into my purpose. I recognize I even needed the executive experience to prepare me for where I will be going in the future…Oh, the places I’ve been, and the things I’ve learned…

Now, as I noted in my last post, change is in the air. It is stronger and closer than ever. So close I can smell it. It smells of sweat, tears, and fear. Yet, at the same time, the anticipation, the pull from my soul propels me forward.

Many businesses offer several product or services, by splitting their company into divisions. That’s exactly what I am preparing to do.

The bottom line is that my new focus is going to be BIG and encompass ALL of the skills and talents I have amassed during my professional life, including those I stuffed into my shadow.  In order to give this growth the attention it deserves, there won’t be room for any distractions.

I’ve prepared my appointment calendar to make way for my next move. You can now check my calendar and schedule a meeting with me on-line at: meetwith.me/karenrothstein .  I’ll be seeing private clients on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and only taking new clients most committed to change.  Because of the time crunch, I will no longer be giving free consultations.  Either you are serious and committed or you are not.

I’ll be announcing more about my new service line within the next couple weeks as I begin incorporating some of the visual elements into my brand.  As former clients and loyal readers I wanted to prepare you now as I know there are some people who every spring, just like the bears emerging from winter hibernation, come alive and decide to give themselves a little mental tune-up either through a coaching package or a hypnosis session.  Space and time is now a little more limited.

I would love to hear your comments. Feel free to post your thoughts below.

I’m looking forward to telling you more about my new initiative….It addresses what Rumi calls an “Open Secret” and it is plaguing America. Stay tuned.

While on vacation last May, I had every intention of writing my next newsletter, even the perfect place to create – Kauai, but nothing came. I had more than a case of writer’s block. I had severe constipation……

Looking back now, I see why nothing came. It was a nine year. For those of you unfamiliar with numerology a nine personal year is the time of endings and completions. Something needs to finish to make way for a new cycle. This last year has been a year of tremendous changes in my business. Those of you who have had recent appointments know that I moved (I now have my office in my former home, and I love it.).

With this move, other things shifted as well. Each year I mentor under various people. Jack Canfield, Marcia Weider, Loral Langemier, Michael Charest…depending upon what my focus is. This year I’m mentoring under world renowned family therapist Cloe Madanes. Last year I joined Suzanne Falter-Barnes and Jefferey Van Dyke which allowed me to examine my business from the perspective of my soul. What an auspicious time – a nine year – to ask my soul what was on the horizon for the next cycle. It was even more auspicious than I had recognized. Those of you who read my occassional blog musings know that my friend, Lissa Bowles, also known as the Soul Mapper, had done my astrolgocial chart and my twelth house of spirit and surrender was hosting a planetary party!

It is fair to state that I was in the personal equivalent of the Perfect Storm. As with any storm, there is no place water does not reach. Through the gentle support and guidance of Suzanne and Jefferey I looked at my business and my life, because they are so intertwined, through the eyes of my soul. I saw the parts of life I had cast to my shadow; I looked at how those parts of my self that I put into the shadow were here to help me deliver my blessing to the world – if only I let them. By stuffing them into my shadow, not only was I not able to harness their talents, I was losing a tremendous amount of enegy to keeping them there.

Mind you, this all happens whether you like it or not when you are hosting a cosmic party in the twelth house. It is divine providence that I was working with Suzanne and Jeffrey, under whose guidance I examined all of this through the lens of a spiritual quest. And for those of you who want to take a similar journey, I did create the pathway as I was experiencing it: Your Divine Blueprint. I’ve created a dynamic coaching and hypnosis package designed to give you the insight to live into your bigger life.

This has been a rather lengthly explanation of the long haitus for the newsletter. I know the question many of you are asking is “So what changed”. I will answer that in my next few posts. I’m still figuring out if I am going to pay someone to continue to send the newsletters or if I’m going to keep in touch in other ways.

I’m entering into a new cycle – a one year – with lots of groundwork to be laid. It’s a time for leadership, advancement and to pursue new goals. Right now, the cosmic party is in my sun house, promoting lots of opportunity for sewing seeds of new possibility, and with that I’ve lots of projects going – new branding, new websites on the horizon, new program offerings in both hypnosis and coaching. Really, the only thing of which I am certain right now is CHANGE.

OK, I have to admit… at first I was shakin’ in my boots, but now…I’m just trembling with a mix of excitement and anticipation. Actually, it isn’t a new revelation, this thing that is on the horizon. Last year my coaches pulled it out of me, and then urged me to step up to playing a bigger game.

It’s interesting. When you are ready to move fully into your purpose you can look back and see how everything you have done until now has been perfect training for the unique way in which you are to deliver your service. Even though I know that I couldn’t see it for myself. Working with a coach really challenged me to explore both the light and the dark places to see how everything, even those turbulent times in my life, was the Divine preparing me for this next unfolding of my soul expression through my work in the world.

Now, I’m busy doing the marketing preparation, working with a branding specialist whose job it is to create a graphic representation of this next iteration of me, and help me pull all the parts together as I make the transition.

In the meantime, I’ve been working with a colleague of mine, Kim Boyden, who lives in Bellevue, WA to memorialize this experience into a program we can present to others. We are excited to be unveiling “Your Divine Purpose Blue Print Process”.

Since this is my birthday month, I am offering a special 45 minute Unveiling Your Divine Path for 2011 hypnosis session. Consider it an appetizer to introduce you to the power of this process. 

What is special about it?

It’s my PRESENT to YOU! To schedule yours go to meetwith.me/karenrothstein and schedule a session today.

People who have already received this gift left with teary-eyes, jubilantly looking forward to a year in which they spend their time engaging in activities that are an expression of their soul infused with passion.

Doesn’t that sound like something you would like to experience this year?

I begin to think about the past year. It’s been a year of closure, and new beginnings. Of letting go and moving on. I’ve become very aware of the various trances I place myself in, without thinking, I slip into the fog.  That’s why I like doing a “Big Push”. If you are going all out – like the title implies, there is no time to slip into the fog. On the contrary, you are highly focused – creating an intentional trance around creativity and productivity.

Coming off a “Big Push” is for me a huge relief because doing a “Big Push” is like sprinting in your business. You really go all out to build revenue for 90 days, and then you slow to the finish. Slowing into the holiday season after exerting all this energy towards my business reminds me to really savor each moment of this time of year.  I was thinking as I put out the Thanksgiving decor that the “Big Push” is like the harvest. A lot of preparation, combined with hard work, then you reap what you have sown and while the fields lie fallow you celebrate.

This was the second “Big Push” I completed this year and while I fell short of my monetary goal, I gained a huge perspective about who I am, what is important to me at this time in my life,  how I want to define myself as business person, and most uniquely….what my business wants of me. That was a very interesting conversation. It was interesting to listen to the energy of my business. As a result there are huge, exciting changes coming in 2011. 

Stay tuned. More to follow.

Meanwhile, know that I am ever so grateful to each one of you who helped me fulfill my purpose this year. I know, you came into my office seeking help from me, but really, you were a gift to me, allowing me to exercise my blessing. Through each of you I have been blessed to be of service, and for this I give thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving!