Balance is a state of being. That is why it seems to be in conflict with the way we live our lives - constantly doing. Too often we forget we are human beings - not human doings.

Take a moment to remember... In this short video 3 life balance secrets help you reclaim your love of life and work. Each secret reveals a simple strategy to get and keep you in balance. Discover how in just a minute you can BE more focused, effective, and with ease get done what is most important.

...for Smart Women Leaders

If you want to be more effective as a leader, take a close look at your inner leadership game. 

"To be effective leaders, we must first understand the field, or inner space, from which we are operating." ~Otto Scharmer, Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges 

Be candid with yourself and identify what really gets in your way. For smart business women it is often one of these hidden culprits.

1. The feeling that while you deserve what you want, it would be unfair to others if you had it.
2. The need to deliver on your expectation that only perfection is enough.
3. A sinking feeling that you do not have what it takes to lead your team or business to the success you envision.
4. The belief that to be smart, engaged, energetic, happy, and enlightened you have to be 'superwoman'.

5. Deep-seated reluctance to ask for and accept the help you need to achieve your ambitious goals.

Leadership Limitations

Unexamined beliefs, feelings and frustrations only have power if you give it to them. So take back your inner leadership power with this simple exercise.

• What belief, feeling or frustration gets in your leadership way?
• If you were free of that belief, feeling or frustration, what would be better for you as a leader?
• What do you gain - if anything - by not letting go of it?
• Who would you be as a leader without it?
• What 3 small steps could you take - starting now - to release your leadership limitation?

Decide to take immediate action. With each step consciously let go of the limitations lurking in your leadership blind spot. Your awareness of new possibilities will increase. This creates more space for you to play a bigger inner leadership game.

"Successful leadership depends on the quality of attention and intention that the leader brings to any situation." ~Otto Scharmer, MIT - Action Researcher in Innovative Learning & Leadership

Several weeks ago I shared with you that I was using my blog to write an ebook. The irony is when I searched my 1 year worth of blog posts, I already had a surprising amount of content. Naturally, this inspired to complete what I thought would be a short ebook. 36 pages later, my ebook is now ready for prime time.

I was able to write Reclaim Your Love for Life & Work: 10 1-Minute Life Balance Practices in just two weeks. The writing was painless and effortless because the ebook I felt compelled to write already existed within me. Given that this is my first ebook, clearly it wanted to be written.

That is why this is only the third blog post about my ebook. It is also why you can read a preview of the introduction and first two chapters at: 1 Minute Life Balance.

Be sure to let me know what you think. And remember, the success you seek is also seeking you.

When it comes to sustainable success, business owners who have built and run thriving enterprises share these 10 entrepreneurial characteristics.

1. Set and play by their own rules
2. Easily and seemingly effortlessly overcome obstacles
3. Turn negatives into positives
4. Persistence, focus, and unstoppable drive
5. Strong values of integrity and ethics
6. Belief and commitment
7. Risk taking
8. Fearlessness
9. Listen to their intuition
10. Seek mastery

Benchmark your entrepreneurial spirit using a scale of 1 to 5 - with 5 being the highest - and see where you net out as a savvy business owner.

Is This You?

 If you feel out of control, you are not just out of balance – you are out of harmony...with yourself, your loved ones, your work and the rest of your life. What to do? Well, start by taking a fresh look at where you are. Ask yourself: "Where in my body, mind and spirit do I feel out of balance?" Then notice what your body, mind, and spirit have to say. Listen and learn.

This “I am here” perspective makes it easier to see what small steps can lead you back to balance. Playful 1-minute practices can make a real difference in how balanced you feel. Ultra-busy highly effective leaders know this.

My clients – high powered and high potential women entrepreneurs, executives, and nonprofit leaders – routinely engage in simple balance practices that led them to sustainable success with greater ease at work, home and play. In this e-book I share with you 10 one-minute life balance practices my clients find to be the most useful, effective and easiest to practice, practice, practice.

If you are ready for more satisfying life balance, you are not alone. And…you are in excellent and exceptional company.

Is This You?

Your Body, Mind & Spirit Are Out of Harmony When...

• You go to bed tired and wake up tired.
• Worry keeps you up at night and anxious all day.
• You feel physically tired, mentally exhausted, and emotionally weary.
• You try to manage time, but not your energy.
• You expect to get everything on your "to do" list done.
• What is important at work gets less of your attention than what is urgent but not important.
• Thoughts about work keep you from being fully present with your children, family, and friends.
• Exposure to a daily diet of negative news feeds your negative thinking and conversations - keeping you from noticing how much time you spend with people who drain your energy.
• Fear drives your decisions - you react instead of choosing to be more proactive.
• You worry more than 10 minutes a day.
• You have no quiet alone time - free of your cell phone, computer, and other 24/7 technology.
• Working day and night has become so “normal” you think it is a lifestyle.
• Personal priorities aren’t even on your "to do" list.
• You believe you can actually get everything done.
• Your work is great, yet you don’t feel confident about it or yourself.
• You don’t enjoy life outside your business or work.
• Your business goals are out of sync with your personal values.
• You provide for everyone around you, maintain your motivation to accomplish goals and objectives, and wonder how you can care for yourself and have others reciprocate.

My e-book continues to emerge...(slightly out of sequence)

Get Back to Balance with Ten 1-Minute Practices

This is a scary experiment. I've decided to write an e-book with a series of blog posts. It's a very public way to pull me toward my end goal.

I certainly appreciate you taking this journey with me and welcome your support. Feel free to provide your input, feedback, suggestions, and life balance challenges or solutions in the comment section.

Thanks in advance for walking this path of least resistance with me. The Ten 1-Minute Life Balance Practices I will share in this little (meaning not very long) e-book have survived the rigorous schedules and ultra-busy lives of women entrepreneurs, executives and nonprofit leaders whom I've coached in the last nine years.

Like my beyond-busy clients, you do not need anything else on your "to do" list. That's why these simple practices are fun and easy ways to find your path of least resistance for achieving ambitious business and leadership goals with ease, grace and life balance. If you haven't noticed, little shifts can make a big difference in business, leadership and the rest of your life.

So fasten your seat belts and prepare for take-off. Our blog-to-e-book trip together - no longer a flight of fantasy - has left the terminal and is taxi-ing onto the runway.

Introduction - Balance is Our Natural State

Body Balance...Every second our bodies balance complex changes with what remains constant in our biological functions and automatic feedback systems. Scientists tell us that every 7 days all our cells fully regenerate. Yet we feel out of balance more often then we like to admit. Most of these imbalances are self-induced.

Not enough...

• Sleep
• Exercise
• Healthy Food
• Energy to Do What We Enjoy

Amazingly, with a little consistent effort from us our body shifts back into its naturally dynamic state of balance.

• Drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day cleanses our internal organs and blood stream.
• Eating nutritious food in moderation fuels, renews and gives us more energy.
• Exercising regularly keeps our physical structure and systems in good shape and working order.
• Sleeping at least 7-8 hours a night rests, restores and rejuvenates our entire body - even slowing down the aging process.

Mind Balance...A quietly focused mind is a balanced mind. Paying attention to what is important - instead of what is urgent but not important - engages our mind in highly productive activity. Children absorbed in creating - whether with finger paints, coloring books and crayons, or paper, scissors and glue - show us how our balanced minds work. When we mentally tap into what genuinely interests us, our brains balance mental quickness with slow deliberation to reach clarity and decisiveness.

Spirit Balance...When we feel calm, connected and centered our spirit is balanced. This happens to us in the presence of beauty, stillness and movement in nature. There we feel vibrant - more alive. Next to a rushing waterfuall or giant redwood tree we effortlessly shift back into balance. The ease and grace we feel in those moments are our soul's response to harmony in the natural environment.

Life Balance...Our human experience is dynamic and multi-dimensional. So is the balance we seek. If you want to be a more effective entrepreneur, executive, or leader without sacrificing your needs and values as a human being, balance is essential. Although it may seem counterintuitive, life balance leads us to sustainable success. Life balance is the unique path we travel to get there - not the end goal itself.

In this short e-book - Ten 1-Minute Life Balance Practices - I invite you to find and follow your path of least resistance to life balance. Start by playfully engaging in 2-3 practices that strongly appeal to you. Pay attention to what works best for you.

Practice, practice, practice...Discover how easy it is to begin with balance and end up enjoying all of your precious life.

Stay tuned for the next chapter of this e-book as it emerges.

The Great Shift Is No Secret

Looking back many will view this as the age of The Great Turning. For we are experiencing world-altering shifts in leadership, business and the rest of our lives. Take a moment and ask yourself: What is really going on here? So much seems to be falling apart. Yet what if this is, as Michael Beckwith calls it, a "birth-quake?" You know, an opportunity to co-create what works better for us as a community of individuals collaborating together for the best interests of all concerned. That would mean this is an in-our-face chance to be our best selves - discovering how personally and professionally rewarding and life-enriching that is along the way.

The Great Turning is a shift from ME to WE. As the Hopi Elders shared with us in 2001, "...the time of the lone wolf is over. Come together and celebrate who is there. We are the ones we have been waiting for." Just look around you. You'll see signs of this shift everywhere. I see it with Women Leading Change - the Divine Feminine Re-Emerging.

• Conscious Female Business Owners - Triple Bottom Line: People, Planet & Profits
• Female Entrepreneurs - Money & Meaning from Their Passion & Purpose
• Spiritual Women Marketers -  Alignment with the Heart & Soul of Their Business
• Wise Women Executives - Making a Difference as Leaders & Mentors
• Nonprofit Female Innovators - Shared Global Leadership and Transformational Collaborations via Technology

These are incredible times. And...the great news is that the Re-emergence of the Divine Feminine - Women Leading Change - is inclusive. The Great Turning invites women and men to BE more in sync with their female energy and enjoy the balance that brings - personally, professionally, and in greater  community. As part of the Great Shift, the ripple effect will be global. We are being called to lead from the future as it emerges.

Shifting From Leopard to Panther as a Leader

A businessman from Kenya described the Leopard as the most polite and most dangerous animal in East Africa. When I asked him how that was so, he said that the leopard was the only animal that came into the circle of villagers gathering around the fire at night and quietly took what it wanted - a dog or other small animal - without disturbing anyone else in the circle or village. The silent and deadly swiftness of the leopard's power rippled through villagers only after they noticed one of their animals was missing from the fire circle.

In many ways the leopard has been a power animal for me in my Leverage Your Leadership Coaching.I politely enter my clients' circle as they gather around the fire of leadership challenges and critical changing concerns. When I leave their fire, whatever was limiting their leadership - often ineffective practices and mindsets - slip away too.

Recently, my leadership power animal shifted from leopard to panther. While panther is a particular species of leopard, ancient wisdom associates panther with its own unique symbolism. I was delighted to find that so many spiritual interpretations of panther reflect the transformational impact of my work with women leading change.

As my leadership power animal, the panther symbolizes...

• Divine Feminine Re-Emerging - women being more fully and powerfully expressed as entrepreneurs, executives and leaders in nonprofits to make a big difference in the world
  
• Embracing the Unknown - fearlessly facing new challenges and trusting the natural cycle of change to bring plenty of ripe opportunities
  
• Presence of Spirit - constant connection to Source guiding instinctive intuitive action with natural grace and balance

These are the gifts of panther. As in ancient traditions and cultures, panther animal spirit walks with me to coach smart business women in leading from the future as it emerges.

Sanur Beach -Bali, Indonesia

Do Less, BE More...Effective Leader

For those of you who know me, it's no secret that Bali is one of my favorite places to visit. Even after 24 hours of long flights and several plane changes, my travel weary bones relax as soon as I arrive on this island 7 degrees below the equator.

There, returning to harmony is a daily spiritual practice. Balinese silent morning rituals and the island's quiet natural beauty invite you to relax your mind, reconnect with your body, and spend time with your soul.

I certainly understand that escaping to paradise may not be optional at the moment. Yet this travel metaphor is a perfect example of what it looks like to do less and BE more...energized, focused, alive.

You've probably experienced how doing less and BEING more awakens your knowing - what you know for sure. So allow me to share with you a 1-Minute "Do Less, BE More" Practice you can enjoy in only 10 seconds, 6 times a day. Playfully practice this for 90 days and notice how much calmer, confident, and in control you feel. That's the soul of your success!

Spend Time With Your Soul

It's so simple and easy...

• For 10 seconds stop whatever you're doing, saying, or thinking. Just pause and stop all activity for 10 blessed seconds.
• BE still...BE silent...BE inactive (in body, mind and spirit).
• Stop all activity for 10 seconds, 6 times a day.

This gives you 1-minute a day with your soul. Playfully practice these 10 second pauses, 6 times a day, for 90 days. Allow them to become a natural part of your day. Pay attention to any differences in how you feel - subtle or obvious shifts. Notice how routinely pausing to BE instead of nonstop doing elevates your effectiveness as a leader.

Naturally, I would love to hear how this works for you. Please let me know (email). I learned this 1-Minute Practice from Neale Donald Walsch in an interview about his latest book "When Everything Changes, Change Everything."

Many thanks to guest blogger Dan McCarthy for graciously sharing this Great Leadership blog post with Practice What's Possible readers. I know you'll find these 10 leadership practices effective ways to achieve breakthrough results and thrive as a leader.

1. Practice “what’s possible” thinking. Don’t limit to yourself based on previous failures. Practice using the phrase “up until now…”
2. Avoid the temptation to jump to the quick fix when solving a problem. In many cases, speed and simplicity can serve you well, but if overused, can limit your strategic alternatives.
3. Learn and practice the characteristics of strategic thinkers:
   - Curiosity: You’re genuinely interested in what’s going on in your unit, company, industry, and wider business environment.
   - Flexibility: You’re able to adapt approaches and shift ideas when new information suggests the need to do so.
   - Future Focus: You constantly consider how the conditions in which your group and company operate may change in the coming months and years. And you keep an eye out for opportunities that may prove valuable in the future—as well as threats that may be looming.
   - Positive Outlook: You view challenges as opportunities, and you believe that success is possible. - Openness: You welcome new ideas from supervisors, peers, employees, and outside stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, and business partners. You also take criticism well by not reacting in a defensive manner.
   - Breadth: You continually work to broaden your knowledge and experience, so you can see connections and patterns across seemingly unrelated fields of knowledge.
4. Start using strategic language. If you want to be seen as strategic, you have to learn how to talk strategically. Read the latest books, magazines, or blogs on strategy and learn the jargon of strategy and big picture thinking.
5. Broaden your perspective. Being strategic requires that you know a little about a lot of things, not just having deep expertise in your narrow specialty. Learn not only about all aspects of your business and industry, but stay abreast of the world around you.
6. Be willing to take risks and fail. Strategy is one of the most uncertain things leaders do. It involves speculation, ambiguity, and creatively. Strategies will always be second-guessed, and can often be wrong. Develop a thick skin, or otherwise accept a role as a tactical leader.
7. Learn to think more creatively. See “10 Tips for Creative Thinking”.
8. Volunteer to serve on a strategic planning committee of a community organization or non profit board.
9. Understand your company’s and department’s strategy. Do whatever it takes to understand the corporate strategy and how it affects your department’s strategy. Talk with your boss and peer managers, examine annual reports and other company publications, and listen to your CEO’s speeches.
10. Learn to appreciate and respect strategy and those who are good at it. Some people just aren't comfortable with the future, big picture, creative thinking, and possibility thinking. They see it as B.S. and a waste of time. While it’s true many strategies don’t work out as planned, the ones that do often lead to breakthrough results.

"Laughter is an instant vacation." - Milton Berle

Philosopher-comedian Emily Levine is an utterly delightful and clever trickster. She talks hilariously about science, math, society and the way everything connects. Her skillful pokes at our fixed ideas bring hidden truths to light. Refreshingly, she shows us that instead of taking life too seriously, it's possible to enjoy the wild ride. Her riffs on the human condition are fun and quite profound.

"Sometimes in the winds of change, we find our true direction." -Anonymous

 

Inspiring the Leader in You

This blog post is for the leader in you. I invite you to take a moment and reconnect with what is precious to you. For who you are as a person is who you are as a leader. And our world needs inspired leaders now. So here's an easy heart-centered way to calm, inspire, and balance yourself. Practice it as often as you like. Enjoy your renewed sense of confidence, poise and grace.

Quick Coherence Practice - HeartMath Technique

3 Simple Steps:

1. Focus your attention in the center of your chest in the area of your heart.
2. Breathe naturally and normally, just a little deeper than you normally do. Feel your breath as if it's coming in and out of the center of your heart.
3. Maintain your heart focus and heart breathing and feel a positive emotion. Focus on something you appreciate in your life. Feel the love you have for someone who is dear to you. Continue your heart focus and heart breathing as you feel...the love or care you have for someone else, or your feelings of appreciation for the good things in your life, or your feelings when you feel satisfied.

Notice how your heart-centered feelings bring you effortlessly into the present moment. As you practice this technique, add an extra step that shares your positive emotions - your inspiration - with the world.

It's easy! After step 3, maintain the positive emotion you feel. Radiate that feeling outwards. Radiate it to the people in Italy whose lives have been turned upside down and who are feeling a deep sense of loss. Radiate your positive feelings to them for about a minute. This heart caring and focus can help ease their emotional trauma because in the field of consciousness we are all one - connected.

Find out more about how this works and the scientific research in which HeartMath has been engaged for 18 years. HeartMath's most ambitious and phenomenal global project yet is the Global Coherence Initiative.

"Where we connect with ourselves and something larger, we gain the heart intelligence to navigate these times with poise and grace." - Howard Martin

Stop scarcity thinking! It's contagious. That's why it's essential to focus on the abundance already present in our lives. Look around your life. Notice what's there that you take for granted. What abundance is waiting for you to appreciate and enjoy it? For me, it was my sunny deck. I see it from my living room, dining room, and kitchen. Yet I wasn't sitting on it, even though 15-20 minutes of sunshine effortlessly re-energizes me.

This made me realize that I wasn't enjoying a lot of the abundance already present in my life. It also made me wonder what else I wasn't seeing that is in plain view - readily available to me. Now, in addition to sitting in the warmth of the sun on my deck, I'm paying more attention to blessings all around me. The fun and ease of re-discovering what's in my 'abundance basket' fills me with a renewed appreciation for what I already have in my life and work. As my feeling of gratitude expands, I focus on thriving. This readies me to receive what I want to add to my abundance basket.

What's waiting for you in your abundance basket?

INVEST - DON'T SPEND - YOUR TIME & ENERGY

Do you spend a lot of time prioritizing and re-prioritizing what's important? If so, why not have a little fun? Quickly jot down 10 activities that give you energy. You know what they are. So don't spend a lot of time creating your list. Just write down the first 10 activities that come to mind.

Now based on your own criteria, rate each of the 10 activities. Karen, one of my clients, set up a simple 3-tier rating system:

• AAA - Activities that energized and enlivened her
• AA - Activities that restored and rejuvenated her
• A - Activities that calmed and relaxed her

When Karen applied her rating sytem to work, home and other activities, she saw how certain activities contribute to her sustainable success. This gave Karen a clear sense of where she wisely could invest her time and energy to enjoy a AAA life.

What activities contribute to your sustainable success?

Biochemist turned Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard is an author and photographer. Sometimes called "the happiest man in the world," Matthieu says we can train our minds in habits of well being. When we change our minds, we change our brains. Instead of feeling anxious and uncertain, we experience a real sense of serenity and fulfillment.