Here’s another concrete example: In the circus world, baby elephants are secured to a stake via a rope around their leg. This keeps them “under control” and makes it easier for the trainier to train them.

It works – the baby elephant is too small to pull the stake out of the ground. Make no mistake about it, that baby elephant will pull on that stake relentlessly for days, but to no avail – they’re stuck there. Eventually, that baby elephant realizes it futile to keep trying, they’ll never be able to pull that stake out of the ground – they give up and quit trying.

Nothing against elephants, but what that baby elephant doesn’t know is as they grow/mature – had it only kept trying to pull out that stake it could EASILY pull that stake out of the ground and be free.

But, because that elephant stopped trying long long ago, it is oblivious to what IT COULD HAVE DONE.

Now, the good news is that we are not elephants, we’re humans. You may overcome your obstacles on your own. Or a coach, a mentor, boss or spouse – someone who cares about you realizing your full potential and wants more for you – will ask you to pull the stake out of the ground. To tear down the self imposed prison walls, to put on a blindfold so you can’t measure yourself against external limitations and simply live up to your internal UNLIMITED capabilities.

What will you become when you conquer self-limiting beliefs and step into your true potential? Don’t be an elephant!

I urge you to watch this video excerpt of the ‘death crawl’ from the movie Facing The Giants and then get moving to move past your own “50-yard line” and into YOUR “endzone”.

It’s easy to go through life and do the ‘easy’ stuff. When you “put yourself out there” and strive for something beyond yourself, that’s a challenge. You may fall short, but you’ll be surprised at how alive you will feel in trying!

Instead of having the perspective that you’ve failed, when you fall short, how about turning this thinking around? Adopt the thought that “I didn’t fail, this was one isolated situation that was just a non-success” – a hiccup in the road, if you will, to achieving your ultimate goal and meeting the challenge.

In fact, I think even writing this just made me change my mindset about non-success.  Rather than call it failure, it’s just a non-success.  A non event that was a stepping stone onto the end goal.  Like riding a bike – you probably didn’t stay upright on the first try after the training wheels were removed.

Did you put the training wheels back on?

Quit trying altogether, or keep trying?

One of the worst things to do is listen to those who tell you:

• “you’re not cut out for this”,
• “try something else” or
• “why don’t you just give up?”.

Worse yet is if YOU are telling yourself these things. You see, we have a tendency to manifest our own thoughts and become what we think.  We gravitate towards our most dominant thoughts.

In the spirit of a challenge, I challenge you to redefine failure as a non-success, and realize that everything is an opportunity.  Don’t worry, you’ll fall down sometimes – just get back up.   Can you imagine what history would be like if these people accepted “Failure”?  They would have never developed into their greatness.  Non-success can fuel your greatness, but ‘failure’ can cripple you! Which will it be for you?

This year, I’m gathering energy from the projects that I’m working on. Things are falling into place, and the launch of these products is becoming more real.

Plus, I remind myself that although it’s gray outside, the sun is still shining above the clouds and this cold weather helps me really appreciate the balmy temps of Spring/Summer!

I have also spent a lot of time on “developing” the infrastructure and re-tooling the foundation of “the business”. Three things that have been consuming my energy, in a positive way…

1). exploring tools that I can incorporate into my coaching practice so I can spend more time coaching and less time on working ‘on’ the business.

2). Creating a software tool that I will be launching into the coaching world…soooo excited

and

3). Authoring programs and content so I can serve more clients by coaching online.

Catch you soon…Happy 1st of December!

Nick

If you’re reading this, you already have an interest in self-improvement and success.  Much has been written about the power of goal-setting.  Furthermore, it has been shown that writing down your goals increases the likelihood that you will be successful in your pursuit of your goals.

Okay, so we’ve all heard of the S.M.A.R.T. goal format.  Here’s an easy exercise for writing down effective goals that fit into the S.M.A.R.T. format.

There are four basic steps in the process:

1. The first part starts off with an action-verb…”increase, develop, obtain, complete, etc.”
2. Follow this up with a statement of nouns – what it is you will impact.
3. Next, include a time-bounded statement of accountability
4. Finally, add a statement about what the outcome will achieve for you.

I have found it helpful to use the following format to make it easier to structure a goal statement:

• TO:________________ (Action Verb)
• WHAT: _________________ (Quantifiable & Measurable Statement)
• BY: ________________ (Time-Bounded “Deadline”)
• SO THAT: ________________ (What The Outcome Will Do For You)

Here is an example:

• To increase
• Profit Margins from 8% to 11%
• By the end of the 3rd fiscal quarter
• So that I may re-invest that money into the business and purchase the XYZ software package, which will lead to improved customer satisfaction.

The obvious follow-on to the goal statement is answering the question “How?”  Answer this question by crafting specific strategies and tactics to insure the achievement of the goal.  Be creative and consider different perspectives.  You have written a powerful goal statement and you know exactly what it is that you want.  That should fuel your success and provide the motivation for overcoming obstacles that will come up along the way.  Revisit your goal statement periodically if you get stuck and don’t lose sight of the outcome you’ve committed to.

It’s been 10 years since I originally wrote this poem for my mom.

3 things of which to be mindful when reading…

1. my mom’s name is Margaret
2. the meaning of the name Margaret is pearl
3. her first grandchild is named Miles

Margaret you are a pearl indeed,
Over the years you’ve always been
The comforter when I’m in need -
Healing hands for your next of kin.
Each moment I was feeling blue
Right was I to turn towards you.

Magical moments, thinking of
Our bond that’s evolved over time.
Totally unrequited love
Has helped me grow and to refine.
Every word you spoke so long ago
Resonates through me as I grow.

Mom do you sense your saintliness?
Outperforming most moms by Miles.
Today I cherish your caress;
Heartfelt, compassionate smiles.
Everything you did now makes sense…
Realize you made all the difference.

Nick Liberati © 2001

Notice that for each question, there are two choices?  There may be more that weren’t listed. The point is, you have a choice.  The motivation for writing this particular blog post is an all too familiar situation we’ve all likely encountered in some way or another. Yesterday I was flying home from Phoenix.  Long story short, my flight was delayed for 2.5 hours due to the weather in Chicago.

Like many, my initial feeling was that of frustration…until I reminded myself that I have a choice in how I respond.  First, I re-framed the situation – choosing not to label it as good or bad, but rather to accept it for what it was.  The fact is, the flight was delayed, and there’s nothing I could do about that – “It is what it is”. What I could do something about was my attitude towards the situation.

What a shift!  I now felt empowered, not like a victim.  I recognized that I can create an opportunity with this ‘gift of time’.  Hey, Sky Harbor Airport has free Wi-Fi, so I logged-on to my Mac and caught up on a bunch of the emails that I’ve had lingering longer than I’d care to admit – like the ones to my good friends – Ivan at Nutrolution and Vern at ThaiPulse to congratulate him on the impending launch of his new Thailand travel website.  Then there were some reports that I needed to complete for the end of the week – knocked them out too.

“Hey Nick, it’s been a while since you’ve spoken to …”  So, I called my buddy Pete in St. Louis and then Jack at Govig BioPharma. Finally, there are some great blogs where I’ve fallen behind on my reading, so I got caught up on reading/learning from Nate Riggs and downloading articles from Inc. Answers.

Holy crap!  I’ve gotten a lot done and my glass is beyond half-full.  I felt energized by the fact that I felt in control of a situation where I initially felt frustrated and victimized.  All because I reminded myself that I have a choice in how I respond – my attitude!

By the time I boarded the plane, I was thankful for the opportunity that the airlines presented to me.  On the flight home I was able to set-aside any work and reward myself, becoming immersed in leisure-reading of the book I just started.

Suffice it to say that I’m sure I felt much different than the fella that was sitting next to me in the airport.  He kept calling his wife to complain about the delay, looking at his watch, and lamenting how yet again the airlines foiled his plans.  Guess he made a different choice .

Now, I’m not saying that a good attitude guarantees success or happiness.  But, a bad attitude will surely guarantee otherwise.

What choices will you make?  How will you recognize that everything is an opportunity?  Willing to share a story of your own in this regard?  If so, leave a comment below, I’d love to hear about it and be inspired by you!

Thanks to Jon @ Chicago Flyfishing Outfitters for connecting us up with Sean

My neighbor Phil and I made the 5 hour drive from Chicago to Baldwin, MI on Tuesday night.  We pulled into Baldwin about 12:30am local time and got settled.  Sean, our guide, met us promptly at 6:30 in the morning to drive us to the Big Manistee River.  It was a brisk 30 degrees in the morning.  Sean has an 18ft. jet sled for on the river that was very stable and amply powered by an 88hp Mercury.

We put in at the public boat launch called High Bridge.  From there we headed upstream, stopping a few hundred yards down from Tippy Dam.  There were a handful of other boats on the river, and many fisherman wading the banks of the river the closer we got to the dam.  Even with polarized sunglasses, it was very difficult spotting any fish in the morning due to the glare on the water.

We fished hard and Phil hooked the first chromer of our trip just before noon. Water temperature by this point of the day was nearly 54 degrees and sight-fishing to steelhead became the name of the game.  We’d anchor the boat and cast the 30 or so feet to spawning fish laid up on gravel bars.

That fish succumbed to a #14 black stonefly nymph.  A beautiful hen, and Phil’s first steelhead on a flyrod.  As you can see, it was a crystal clear day with bluebird skies.  Soon after, I hooked into a my first fish of the trip, on a #12 hares ear.

Phil and I both landed one more fish each that afternoon, both on #12 hares ear nymphs.  That’s Sean in the pic with Phil.  I also had a real nice chrome hen that I battled for a few minutes before she dove down and wrapped around a submerged tree.  Phil also lost a real nice buck at the end of the day too.  We did see some spawning Sturgeon that were in the 200+ lb range.

We had a great meal that night at Na Tah Ka – neat little bar where we had walleye and perch.

Met up with Sean again at 6:30 and we followed him South towards the Muskegon River.  It’s a good hour’s drive, but it put us a bit closer to home too.  The morning started out at 28 degrees, but it remained calm most of the day and warmed into the upper 50’s.  Water temp held around 53 degrees, mighty warm for this stage of the game.  Similar to yesterday, the river was running low and gin-clear.  The Muskegon is primarily a gravel-bottom river with ‘bumps’ of gravel bars throughout – perfect spawning grounds for steelhead.  We launched the jet boat above Newaygo, MI and headed up river.  We found a nice pod of 5-6 fish holding in some skinny water near shore, laid up on gravel just downstream from a submerged tree.  We casted long and hard to these fish with various flies, but in the end, they won the battle of will…so we headed downstream to eat a shore lunch of sandwiches and regroup.

I ended up hooking into this bright chrome hen in some skinny fast water using a size 10 hex nymph.

and then landed this beautiful big buck all colored up in spawning colors.  This fish was part of a group of about six fish that were holding together back down near where we launched the boat.  We did hook a few of them, but never brought any to hand.  Phil had a beauty that got off right next to the boat.

note how crystal clear the water is in the background of this 2nd pic!

We did see another monster Sturgeon swim by the boat on this river as well.  There was also a pretty prolific hatch of size 12-14 tan stonefilies popping off in the afternoon.  There were a few trout rising to insects, but they seemed to be taking the midges rather than the stoneflies.  Then, there’s this little guy who was content gorging himself on steelhead eggs.  Hefty little guy that was pretty plump.

That same orange colored egg fly is what fooled the big buck in the above pics too.  That big buck was the only steelhead to fall to an egg pattern.

Phil and I had a great time, and can’t recommend Sean McDonald enough as a guide.  Great guy who knows the rivers, and the fish.  Phil and I are on the books for another steelhead trip the 1st week in November with Sean.

All fish were CPR’d – Catch, Photo, Release

Tight Lines,

Nick