Five weeks passed and I checked in with my client to ask her how her public speaking was going. She paused for a moment and responded thoughtfully, "Huh, it's funny, I don't call what I do 'public speaking' anymore. The experience has changed, and continues to get easier and more fun. It doesn’t feel like work at all. Oh, and another thing, I am not afraid anymore. Not one bit".

The re-defining statement did more than change my clients focus, it changed her core 'self'. "I am a sharer" she had stated plainly yet confidently. Sharing has always come natural to me, and when I am sharing, I always feel a sense of warmth, grace and ease within myself. She continued to share that fear of failing no longer stops her from doing anything, because she really gets that there is no such thing. My client shows up to her speaking engagements, as well as many other challenges in her life, with an confident curiosity of what new thing or things she will learn and discover in activity she is engaged in.

So when you decide to spell failure as: L-E-A-R-N-I-N-G, you too can look forward to a new kind of confidence and fearless-ness swelling inside you. Go ahead and give it a try RIGHT NOW. Think about something you have been afraid to do (approach your boss about an idea, write an article, or speak before a group) and instead of worry about what you don’t want to happen, turn up your curiosity! Turn it way up and know that when you do - you are on road, and moving in direction, to your success. How can you be sure this is so? Because you are doing and you are learning - and isn't that how YOU learned how to walk?

Begin it now and enjoy courage you have been longing for to pursue and live all dreams you have for yourself and your life.

7. Consolidate. Consolidate means to “merge, combine, unite, join”. Look for something in your life that is scattered and consolidate -- group of small bills, hand lotions, hobby supplies. I’m using consolidate in this case to mean either to literally combine as all into one container, but also in collecting like items together. Instead of spreading your collectibles all over house, combine them into one beautiful cabinet for impact. Consolidate toys or reading material/bills/papers by type. You’ll be able to see duplicates easily and free up some time and space.

8. Do opposite. If you find that you’re constantly having to run to next room to retrieve a pair of (for example) scissors, that’s a clue that you need to *add* a pair where you need them. This is opposite of consolidate. Just be careful with this one, and make sure that you really use item enough to make it worthy of taking up valuable real-estate in your home or office or closet.

9. Predictability We can’t know future. No one can. But about everyday things, it’s usually pretty easy to make a fairly accurate prediction of what consequences of your actions will be. A first ‘mistake’ is simply a learning experience, finding out information that you didn’t have originally. A second ‘mistake’ is not exercising your skill of predicting. Practice predicting, and make informed choices to go in a direction you want to.

10. Assign Value. A big mistake I see in my coaching clients is not assigning a true value to your time, to your energy, to your money, and to “real estate” (space) of your home or office. Realize that for each thing you say Yes to -- from a pair of shoes to watching a movie -- you have said No to something else. Always ask yourself - is this *valuable* enough to me to bump something else from my closet, my schedule, my money?

Make Summer 2005 your best yet! ====================