Say YES to Personal Choice!

yes.jpgby David Bohl

Are you aware that you are at choice in every area of your life?

When I ask that question of my personal coaching clients they sometimes get very quiet, then say, “No. I don’t feel like I make all my own choices.” That’s a very common response. Many people feel like other people make choices for them, dictate what they “should” do, how they should do it, when they should do it, what they should eat, what they should wear, etc.

It begins, of course, with our parents. Until we’re at an age where they can trust us to make our own, correct decisions, they make our choices for us. If they were controlling, over-protective parents, they may not have instilled in us the opportunity to develop our ability to make our own wise decisions. Thus, we may have grown into adults still looking to others to choose our life situations. Or they may have taught us how to choose and take responsibility for our choices and we became confident, self-assured adults.

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Goal Setting Checkpoint: How Are You Doing With Those Plans You Made?

coaching1-300.jpgby David Bohl

Setting your goals on January 1 is a great way to start your new year with direction and motivation. Of course, you can set goals any time of year. However, after you set goals, your next step is to take action. And, then you need a goal setting checkpoint to monitor your results.

As you take action on your goals, you will most likely encounter obstacles, resistance, and detours, as well as small and large successes. The challenges will force you to make adjustments, and maybe even change the goal or take new actions. The successes need to be celebrated and new goals established to replace the ones achieved.

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Listen to Your Gut: Tips for Developing Your Inner Voice and Intuition

beach.jpgby David Bohl, Life Coach and Lifestyle Designer

Have you ever gotten an idea to do something, or go somewhere, and the idea seemed to appear out of the blue? Maybe it was a strong impulse that went against your typical style, but you felt it so deeply that you went ahead. Sometimes these gut urges just feel right, so although we have no idea where they come from, we trust and go ahead. Listening to your gut, or your instincts, can actually be honed to a skill. Intuition comes from an inner voice, one that lives inside all of us but one which few of us pay much attention to.

If you treat intuition as a part of you, it won’t seem so foreign or scary. If you see it as a part of you that is an invaluable assistant to help guide you through life, you’ll take the time to learn its language and understand its messages. For its messages can be quite useful. If you’re stumped on an answer to a challenge, if you’re brainstorming a problem, if you’re stuck making a decision–your intuition can be the perfect partner to help you out.

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How to Change “Why” into “Why Not?”

sky.jpg“With positive internal dialogue, we can create self-power.”

~ Deepak Chopra, The Spontaneous Fulfillment Of Desire

Unfortunately one of the most common phrases in our language is “I can’t.” People say, “I can’t be that,” “I can’t do that,” and “I can’t have that” more often than they realize. And more often than they would if they knew how it kept them from being open to the possibility for more in their lives.

The more you look for reasons WHY you “can’t” be, do, or have what you want, the more you limit your chances for WHY NOT? Why not be the way you want to be? Why not do what you want to do? Why not have what you want to have?

Do you really know the answer to those questions? The answer is: because YOU say so! Only you limit what you can be, do, and have. Only you and your limited thinking, your limited attitude, your limits on what you think is possible are holding you back.

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Do You Need Help? Read This!

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“I finally learned that you cannot help people unless they really need help, are willing to be helped, want you to help them and ask you to help them. Even then, you can only help them to help themselves.” ~ Vincent Collins

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Anything is Possible With the Internet!

by David Bohl – Personal Coach and Lifestyle Designer

I don’t even know where to begin to explore the kind of impact the Internet has had on life as we know it in the last several years. You might find some people who feel the impact has been negative, that it has posed threats to our privacy, corrupted youth, and hurt traditional business by competing with price and speed.

Yet, I feel, overall the Internet has offered so many more positive opportunities than negative ones, and has impacted more people than any other technological innovation this century. And you know with me, everything is perception. You can choose to see the detriments or you can see the benefits. I choose to use the Internet for the powerful medium that it is.

Because I believe just about anything is possible with the Internet, I make the most of it. I use it to improve all areas of my life and those of my coaching clients.

Below, I’ve summarized 6 Ways the Internet can help you live smarter, happier, and better!

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Slow Down FAST Hits Top 5 of Personal Effectiveness Blogs

WHAKATE – Life Design Matters blog has picked Slow Down FAST as its #3 Personal Effectiveness blog.  Thank you!

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6 Goals for Singles to Strive For

horse.jpgby David Bohl

Do single people really have goals that are different from married couples?

Certainly they do when it comes to relationships. Yet, their career goals may be similar, as are their personal and health goals.

However, because of their single status, unmarried folks have more time to focus on building a future that might indeed include not being single. Or on building a fulfilling lifestyle as a single person, whether or not they remain that way or change their status.

When I coach singles, I encourage them not to put any part of their life on hold, waiting for the day they are not single any more–if indeed that day ever comes. Since none of us is really in control of whether or not we get married, if you are single, set goals for what you want now and in the near future, being realistic about the unknown status of your relationship future.

Here are some realistic goals that make sense for happy, successful, single people to strive for……..

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Warning Signs: How to Know if it’s Time to Escape Your Life

exit.jpgLife is often a whirlwind of activity. Your work obligations, social life, and family activities often pile up, leaving you feeling buried beneath a never-ending list of to-do’s.

Left unchecked, this sense of being overwhelmed can run rampant and cause mental, emotional, and physical damage. Take a look at the following clues to determine whether it’s time to take a break from your busyness and escape your life while you still can.

Daily stressors usually take their first toll on your mental well-being. The reprimand at work, the parents’ meeting at school, and the leaky faucet whose “drip, drip, drip” is a constant reminder of the honey-do list you shoved in the bottom of your desk drawer may seem like small potatoes at first, but these simple nuisances can build up to become a monster.

When the pressures of mundane tasks affect you mentally, you may find yourself consumed by negative thoughts, worries, and anxieties. If you spend more time dwelling on the glass being half empty rather than half full, it may be time to plan your escape route.

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Does Market Collapse Mean the End of the World?

fearful.jpgNo WAY!

Though you might believe otherwise from the news coverage and mass hysteria, the world is not coming to an end. The Financial “Crisis” will make it more difficult for those with not so perfect credit to get loans, but it really shouldn’t affect your day to day life.

What it should do is make you realize that this will impact only a tiny fraction of your existence…and there are so many other areas of your life that you have complete control over. Why not work on them, and secure your future?

What’s the worst that could happen?

Ask any economist, and the only response you will get is their opinion or theory. The markets are responding to the hysteria and the uncertainty of our past mistakes and future fears. Do not be swayed! Stay strong! Eventually when the government allows our markets to stabilize (by stabilizing THEMSELVES) we will return to our bullish times. Until then, realize that this period will be over at some point. Just make sure that YOUR house is in order.

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