(… and other vital life lessons)

By Baeth Davis, Your Prosperity Purpose Mentor

When I said “Sign me!” to Bruins Head Coach, Claude Julien, he did!

Michael McLean recently hosted his “Ultimate Millionaire Agent” master mind in Boston, Massachusetts where I spoke on the topic of “Passion and Purpose.” McLean’s master mind members are primarily in the insurance business with a few side interests in real estate and other business ventures. They are not my usual suspects but were open, receptive and curious about the idea that scientific hand analysis could bear fruit in their businesses. Four of the members actually stepped up and booked individual readings with me, which pleased me to no end considering they’d never even heard of this self-discovery tool before. (I liken it to a personality profile such as the Myers-Briggs assessment, only much more in-depth as it is customized by your unique hand blueprint.) I suspect once word spreads about the accuracy of this experience, most of the other members will submit their paws for inspection.

One of the surprise highlights of the meeting was a guest appearance of Claude Julien, head coach for the Boston Bruins. The Bruins won the Stanley Cup last season and are now taking a beating in game losses as they try to find their groove again. It’s usually a challenge to come back from such a triumph as the pressure on everyone is enormous to pull it off ‘again.’ Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, speaks eloquently to the fact that if massive popular success happens at all, it’s a blessing. To expect it twice is probably unrealistic at best – but stay open to it. Eat, Pray, Love crushed it, with months on the best seller list and a popular movie starring Julia Roberts. Her follow up, Committed, is selling well, but not at the same ferocity of Eat, Pray, Love.

McLean interviewed Julien on how a coach handles 22 young players with multi-million dollar salaries so they stay focused and out of trouble. Here are some powerful take-aways from Julien’s interview.

Passion

You must have passion for what you do. Otherwise, don’t do it. You are wasting your time – and your life.

Panic vs. Urgency

Learn the difference. Panic leads to injuries, mistakes and bad decisions. Urgency is bringing focused intention to your day, your goals and your life. As one of my friends often texts me on my mobile phone, “Baeth, what would a little urgency do for your day? Bring it!”

Positive Modus Operandi (M.O.)

Is your M.O. positive or negative? Keeping your thoughts, speech and actions pure and clean is something Julien strives for with his team. Do they swear? Sure. Do fights break out on the ice? Nearly every game. Positive isn’t about being perfect. It’s about dealing with what is happening in the moment and then getting back on the ice.

Too much negativity? You end up in the penalty box. (If you have a ‘gift marker’ in your hands, it grants you a special ability and also a penalty. If you don’t use the gift, you end up in the penalty box. Choice is yours. E.g. You have “Lines of Genius” = the gifted author and speaker with a special message for a large audience. But instead of writing your book and giving your speeches, you chase your tail as you wade through piles of papers and to-do lists, going nowhere fast. You may even be experiencing issues in your throat area – laryngitis, thyroid issues, sore throat, etc. Remedy? “Just do it” – write the book, give the talk, spread the message.)

Opportunity for Redemption

After every failure, setback and disappointment, you have an opportunity to try again. In fact, sometimes being the defeated, overlooked player gives you an advantage. While others are cruising ahead with their goals, you can be quietly working on improving your abilities without any one paying you any mind. When you show up to the next game, speech, workshop, test, you are in top form and everyone wondered where you came from and how you did it. Being underestimated has wonderful advantages – don’t squander the power of your solitude, quiet, practice, rest and contemplation as you move toward your big goals.

Listen

Listen… to your spouse, partner, kids, team mates, associates, vendors, employees, relatives, friends. How about making 2012 the year you become a good listener? (Your business will improve immeasurably – you don’t have to ‘sell,’ just listen for what your client wants and see if you can actually provide it.) I have worked on this quality for years, coming from a family of competitive, extroverted over-talking upstagers. Recently, two clients and a close friend said, “You are a good listener.” I said, “Really? Thank you. Why?” They said, “You just listen. You take it in and later, you remember what I’ve said.” Hmmm… progress can happen.

Listening isn’t about thinking about what you are going to say next. Listening is just relaxing into someone else’s words and holding space for their story. You hear it, you feel it, maybe you acknowledge it with an ‘uh-huh’ or ‘hmmm.’ You don’t try to change their feelings, reactions or point of view. You just listen and learn.

Save It for a Better Time

Julien recounted a time he inspired the team before a big game and nearly all the players had tears in their eyes. He thought, “Hmmm… my timing was off on that one. Now they have to go out there and face their opponent and they are not in the best mental state for the game.” At other times, he found his players responded positively to a swift psychological kick in the butt or a physical break from the game to recharge. He said, “Save your pep talks and ‘talking to’s’ for the right moment, or your players will start to tune you out.”

Solutions Become Suggestions

Julien said that the Bruins top management ‘solutions’ arrive for him as ‘suggestions.’ No one’s ego is bruised nor does anyone feel judged or controlled.

When you think you have the ‘solution’ or ‘answer’ for someone’s love life, business strategy or game playing style, how about making it a suggestion instead? Suggestions are gold because we can take them on for a while, decide if they suit us or not and be at choice, rather than feeling we are being told that our way is wrong and that someone else has the ‘solution.’

I understand everyone wants to put their two cents in – and they usually do. What cracks me up – and I sometimes find baffling – are the long emails we receive telling us exactly how we did or didn’t do something and exactly how we can fix it, when the individual writing has never done the thing they are telling us to fix. My point? When someone offers you an opinion, consider the source. Do they have any credibility in offering their ‘solution’ or are you better simply seeing it as a suggestion? (To wit, I don’t get automotive advice from my general physician, unless he is a car specialist/hobbyist as well.)

I now choose to regard anything anyone tells me as a ‘suggestion’ rather than a ‘solution’ for a number of reasons:

• Suggestions give me the freedom to play with an idea and decide whether or not to go further with it
• Suggestions respect my own reality and intelligence rather than implying my way is wrong and someone else’s is right
• Suggestions open up possibilities which can lead to cooperative group brain storming; solutions imply an ‘end-game’ answer that can close off further exploration

Mentor’s Challenge: Pick one of the strategies Julien shared above and try it on for one week. Let us know if you noticed any changes. Shifting one behavior can shift a lot of other things. And the lesson in that? “The power of one” – one offer, one deadline, one suggestion, one action. Keep it simple and reap the rewards.

By Baeth Davis, Your Prosperity  Purpose Mentor

You take your hands with you everywhere you go. Who you ARE is inseparable from what is in your hands.

In the above picture, Steve Jobs, who passed on October 5, 2011, has his hands up, showing them openly to his audience. This gesture indicates personal vulnerability, trustworthiness, courage and self-confidence. It is considered the gesture of a great spiritual leader.

His hand shape is rectangular, the giveaway of the “air” type who is a thinker, a strategist, a lover of order and systems, as well as a romantic idealist, a dreamer, a visionary.

Jobs’s thumbs are “high-set,” meaning they do not emerge off the palm close to the wrist but rather close up toward the index finger. This indicates that results did not come easily for Jobs. Rather, hard work paid off and he experienced many setbacks before his massive success. This should be heartening news for you if you have short, weakened or high-set thumbs – hard work DOES pay off, provided you are doing work you love with focus and determination. (I have high set thumbs. If you think my success was ‘easy,’ ask anyone on my team or my family how many hours I put in to make things happen! I also tend to make things more complicated than they need to be – another high-set thumb tendency.)

The tip of Jobs’s right middle finger is leaning away from his thumb, indicating financial concerns for his future. My intuitive guess is that he may have worried about his employees and family as he was the ‘romantic idealist’ and wanted to make sure everyone around him was taken care of before he thought of his own needs and desires. (This worry may have been acute as he knew his days were numbered by cancer.) He also sought first to understand before being understood.

The tips of Jobs’s fingers are bulbous and full, indicating he was always reaching for the next big idea, for ever greater inspiration. He also has a curving head line on his right hand, indicating he was a creative, subjective thinker – a right-brain designer versus left-brain mechanical engineer. The moon on his right hand – the fleshy area beneath the little finger down toward the wrist – is also full like his finger tips. This part of the hand represents mystery, magic, illusion, invention, innovation, and intuition. The i-Pod, the i-Phone, the i-Pad and more… pretty magical, right?!

If you combine the full finger tips with the full moon, Steve Jobs was intuitively inspired. His life records that he acted upon his intuitive inspirations, with mixed outcomes. Ultimately, everything Jobs did led him to the day he died, and on that day, he left a legacy surpassing that of most humans in recorded history. I’d say that’s an impressive payoff for following the beat of one’s inner spirit.

Mentor’s Challenge: Set Your 90-Day Goals! Write down 3 important goals you know INTUIVITELY you must complete by January 11, 2012 and get busy! If Steve and I can do it with our high-set thumbs, what’s your excuse? Ha ha. Okay, now go get busy!

Please note: Lynne is sending out energy to you in this video and is in a somewhat hypnotic trance state. Give yourself a moment to really settle in and watch. (It’s only a few minutes long and you’ll feel the difference if you focus solely on the video.)

Branson listening intently (I’m sitting in the background, talking!). Photo credit: Nicola Duguid

It’s interesting hanging out with a billionaire and his wealthy friends, associates and staff. I’ve done okay in the money department but nothing like a $500 million a year company – yet.

I knew this in my soul, but experienced it in my time with these folks on Branson’s private Necker Island: true wealth is a combination of smarts, ambition, value-delivery and giving back. It’s not about winner-take-all or even winning for that matter. It’s about doing and being your best, no matter what, in EVERY situation, from telling a joke at the dinner table, to a water skiing outing, to a deep talk on the delivery of drugs to those in the world who most need them.

Success is truly a state of mind. Success is not elusive, arbitrary or a mystery. It is actually simple, straightforward and accessible. What it is is patient. It’s waiting – waiting for you.

What success is NOT is EASY. Easy women, easy winnings, easy jobs… not much respect there. We want what is difficult to achieve: the top of Everest, marketplace innovation, the brilliant and hotly desired romantic partner. We know that anything worth having requires us to be our best. And to be our best, we have to learn important, if painful, lessons on our journey. Success asks of you what you want to avoid, run from and deny. Success asks for nothing more than the total, laid-flat baring of your soul. Nothing more, nothing less.

In my observations this past week, I took these three lesson from Richard Branson and company:

#1 Delegate

Branson said, “As CEO, there should be nothing on your desk. You delegate the details so you can meet, negotiate and create.” Period.

Not sure how to get there? Start with a bookkeeper and a personal assistant. You can find great people on Craigslist.com and elance.com. Start with 5 to 10 hours per month and work your way up.

#2 Have Faith and Think Big

If you want to be successful, you must have total faith in your ability to succeed, even though you will fail spectacularly from time to time. You must have a big vision and work towards that vision, even if it feels impossible.

My vision is to see the end of poverty and illiteracy in my lifetime. I know it can be done. So did EVERY SINGLE person on Necker Island. As far as we’re concerned, it is done. Now it’s just a matter of seeing it through. Do you have this much faith? Or do you doubt yourself and others? If you are not for you, who will be?

#3 Be Willing To Risk It All

When Branson has an idea, his team researches it. If it proves profitable and/or beneficial on paper, he hires a CEO and helps coordinate the team. Then he cuts them loose to perform on their own. That’s a gross oversimplification, but you get the idea.

And if he needs the money, he gets the money. Yes, he could lose his shirt. That’s always the risk… and he’s come close more than once. Question is – are you willing to risk it all to win yourself? Risk your authentic feelings, risk your ideas, risk your money – to succeed?

If you need extra money, sell your jewelry, the stuff in your attic and garage and of course, your services. Get a part time job, get a loan, ask for money. Do whatever it takes but don’t ever say you can’t. Richard Branson only says he won’t – very different from “I can’t.”

There is so much more I can share with you from this trip that I’m considering putting together a tele-class entitled, “Lessons from Necker Island.” If this interests you, let us know at support@yourpurpose.com.

Being extraordinary is not for the weak. Being extraordinary requires doing what others are unwilling to do. Are you willing to do what others are not in order to reach your goals?

by Cindy Gallo, “Gifted” Executive Business Manager, YourPurpose.com

I get asked all the time: “How did you get so lucky to have the job you have?” I ask myself that, too! I jokingly reply and tell them ‘Craigslist.’ Which is actually true, believe it or not!

It was my first time looking on Craigslist.com for a job. For the previous eight years of my life, I had a successful career in the real estate industry. But I would ALWAYS sit at my desk and think to myself ‘this can’t be it, there HAS to be something more out there for me.’

The job description I found on Craigslist was FAR beyond my current skill set at the time, at least as far as having software and online marketing experience was concerned. After scrolling down the LONG list of requirements, I discovered ‘customer service’ was one of them! Well, I had that nailed down! It was my specialty. So I applied. Not too long after, I interviewed at YourPurpose.com. I hit it off with the team immediately and my history with YourPurpose.com began.

Today, I want to share from my own experience “3 Tips For A Happy Work Team.”

Tip #1: Loyalty is more important than skill

They totally took a leap of faith hiring someone who didn’t have the qualifications they were looking for. But the connection between us obviously prevailed over skill set!

My loyalty and willingness to learn whatever was required has enabled me to move from handling email to weighing in on the major financial and production decisions of YourPurpose.com. This came about as a result of my determination and the hands-off trust of Baeth and the rest of the team to let me grow, make mistakes and step up bit by bit.

Tip #2: Be a Purpose-Driven Business

Before working for Baeth I had NEVER heard the term ‘Life Purpose.’ Seriously! I never had! That is just not a term I was use to hearing. Career, job, work, etcetera were the more familiar terms.

I started listening to Baeth’s calls and little by little I just became more and more fascinated. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to get my hands read. When she finally did, it just confirmed what I always knew… there IS more to life!

You can have whatever you want if you are truly LIVING full out, doing what you LOVE! I am a VERY passionate person and I love connecting with people! Working for Baeth gives me the opportunity to do that EVERY DAY.

If I had to tell you the #1 thing I like most about my job, it would be seeing people’s lives change when they find their Life Purpose. NOTHING beats that. I get the pleasure of reading the emails that come in after someone has just had their hands read, or from someone who coached with Baeth and had their business take off, or just simply staying in touch with the clients I have built friendships with.

Tip #3: Give your team opportunities and support

I will say that Baeth has given me so many opportunities that I never dreamed I would ever have. From having a dream job, to traveling to amazing places, to being a part of her amazing events, to meeting amazing people, to eating amazing food, the list seriously goes on!

I feel supported by Baeth. She is always there for me. It’s not just a boss employee/relationship, it’s on a soul/friend level. I respect her very much. I see her vision and I believe in it. Other than my own mother and grandmother, I really haven’t met another woman who has so much unconditional love inside her.

I can’t even put into words how generous, loving, supportive, understanding, of a person Baeth Davis is. She truly is one of a kind (and she has superlative dance moves).

Her business is as successful as it is because she works hard. She is the complete opposite of lazy; she has the drive of a 20-year-old Olympic athlete.

With that being said, have you heard about Baeth’s “Gifted” Event? I wouldn’t believe you if you said no! It is her annual event that she hosts every year and this year it is focusing on the Gift Markings in your hands and making a MONEY MAP to use them full out!

If you attended last year’s Life Purpose Summit, you remember that dreamy resort it was hosted at! Well, guess what? That is where it is hosted again!

You really don’t want to miss this event! It’s happening this fall, September 7th-9th in Phoenix, AZ and it is 3 days full of fun!

I mean who doesn’t want to learn about their Gifts in their hands and be able to identify them in your family or friends’ hands?!

I think I’ve taken up enough space, so if you want to find out more, email me directly at Cindy@YourPurpose.com. (Tickets go on sale to general public Monday, May 16th!)

As always, I am more than happy to help answer any questions you may have! The site for the Gifted Event will be up soon, but if you can’t wait until then be sure to email me!

Here’s to Your Purpose!

I’m living proof that I’m living mine – and you can, too.

Working from my suite at Miraval Resort & Spa, Tucson, Arizona, April 2011

I have been called a “creative machine” by more than one person – clients, mentors, friends, family. They say it with a bit of awe, envy and sometimes admonishment – like “take a break already, Davis!”

One drawback is that I don’t understand (or have much patience with!) how some people actually seem to get so little done in terms of what matters. (Vacuuming is LESS important than shipping out your products, for example.)

My mentor, MaryEllen Tribby, was told by her mentor, Michael Masterson, “MaryEllen, the reason you are so successful is that I’ve never met anyone better at getting the TASKS THAT MATTER DONE.”

You are actually only truly ‘work productive’ 6 to 7 hours a day. Grab those 7 hours, make the most of them and then go chill out. I work to live and I live to work, because it’s all part of this joyful journey.