Most people say they want to live a more fulfilled life, but few are willing to do what it takes to live that life.

People will acknowledge that they have unique gifts and talents, but few are using or sharing them with the world.

People are sitting on their greatness; keeping their greatness held captive by fear, self-doubt, procrastination, comparing their gifts and talents to others and a host of other excuses.

Are you one of those people? If so, isn’t it about time you rocked your greatness potential?

In order to rock your greatness potential, you must take more inspired action. You must do something daily that will move you closer to the outcomes you want. 

In order to rock your greatness potential, you must simply BREATHE more! 

To help you learn how to BREATHE more, I created this acrostic from the word BREATHE. Use this process to help you move from stuck to unstuck and from fear-ful to fear-LESS:

B – Believe in yourself. Believe that all things are possible. Rocking your greatness potential really does start with your belief system. What do you believe? Do you have any limiting beliefs?

R – Recall your past victories. There have been times when you have achieved something you were pursuing, right? Well, remind yourself of those times often. When things get challenging or go wrong (and we know they will), recalling times of success or achievement will keep you moving; keep up your momentum.

E – Ease your load. Sometimes people have too much on their plates. They are saying yes to all the wrong things and no to the right things. Look at all the roles and responsibilities you carry. Do you need to let go of anything? Letting go will free you to receive what you do need.

A – Align your life with your purpose and priorities. Don’t fill your life with busy work. Is what you fill your days with aligned with your purpose and priorities? If not, you need to shift your life so it supports your purpose. Determine what your priorities are.

T – Think and talk greatness. There is tremendous power in your words. What are you saying to yourself? What are you saying out loud? Change your mental tapes. Speak life into your circumstances.

H – Heal the wounds of your past and present. Holding on to the pains of the past and present keep you stuck. Process the wounds you keep open and begin to work through them so you can heal. Are you holding on to unforgiveness, blaming others (or even self-blame), past mistakes and so on? 

E – Eliminate the junk. Are you spending too much time around negative people, nay-sayers and dream snatchers? Are your days consumed with drama and insignificant things that do not benefit you? Protect your dreams. Protect your time. Eliminate the things in your life that suck the life out of your dreams. Don’t allow things or people to weigh your dreams down.

If you are ready to rock your greatness potential, join me for my next tele-seminar!

Photo Credit: Shawn Rossi

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Gwen Thibeaux

How to Rock Your Greatness Potential: B.R.E.A.T.H.E. is a post from: Gwen Thibeaux's Speaking of Greatness blog.

Pursuing your goals is hard work (even though you wish it were easy). Everything you accomplish needs to be rewarded. It doesn’t matter if the goal you’ve achieved is big or small. You still need to reward yourself. You need to celebrate every step taken towards your intended goals!

When was the last time you rewarded yourself; celebrated all that you have accomplished?

Rewarding yourself is one of the greatest ways to support motivation and focus on achieving personal success; to reinforce your confidence; and to keep you moving forward even when things get difficult. However, the tendency for most is to wait until they have achieved the ultimate goal. Meanwhile, with every actionable item they complete, there is no celebration, and sooner or later, they run out of steam.

If you want to keep the momentum of moving towards your goals, you must celebrate every victory–big or small. If you are moving forward, that is a success! So don’t take those steps for granted. They are significant.

Find ways to include some type of reward system with your goals. It will fuel your determination to not only meet that goal but reap the benefit of your rewards. And think outside the box when it comes to establishing your rewards. Your rewards do not have to be tied to money or any material item.

Conversely, if you do not meet your action items according to the action plan you have hopefully developed, there needs to be a consequence as well. (Ouch, right?) Both rewards and consequences are an excellent way to motivate you. If you know that you will have to do something you won’t enjoy as a result of not meeting your goals, you will more inclined to work harder at achieving the goal or action item.

Take a look at your goals and action items. Then, create a reward (and, perhaps, consequence) system so you will become more accountable and responsible for reaching your goals.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Gwen Thibeaux

Why Rewarding Yourself is So Important is a post from: Gwen Thibeaux's Speaking of Greatness blog.

“Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way.” – Les Brown

If you are feeling stuck or complacent in your life right now, it is a good chance that you have met some roadblocks or limiting beliefs along your path. Many people find it easier to buckle under the pressure of those obstacles or challenges and not work their way through them. But in order to achieve success, you must overcome all inconveniences or obstacles.

Here are some ways to help you overcome the roadblocks that you will undoubtedly face:

• Do a gut check. How hungry are you? Remind yourself of how bad you want what it is that you’re striving to do or get. When you meet a roadblock, check your determination level. Determination fuels and motivates people to keep moving. If you want something bad enough, you will not let the occasional roadblocks stop you. You will figure a way around them and keep moving. 

• Examine your environment. Who are you surrounding yourself with? If you keep company with negative people and people who just don’t get your drive or determination, it will make it very difficult for you to overcome those challenges. Change your environment so you can stay focused and driven. 

• Believe in yourself. Never stop believing in who you are. Have faith. There is something greater inside you that has equipped you to overcome all obstacles. Tap into that strength!

• See beyond your limitations or circumstances. Circumstances will come and go. They are temporary. Don’t waste your time focusing on your external circumstances. Keep your vision in sight and press past those limitations and circumstances. Don’t allow your situations to control your destination. 

• Be willing to change directions.  Sometimes we create our own roadblocks when we become unwilling to change courses. When things are not working, be willing to make an assessment to find where change might be necessary and then take action. Don’t continue on a path that is fruitless.

Once you can identify your roadblocks and limiting beliefs, you can create a plan of action on how to overcome them and keep moving.

Remember: If you want to achieve your goals, you must learn how to overcome obstacles and end any limiting beliefs. This is not optional!

Ready to move from just WANTING to DOING? Join me for my next teleseminar!

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Gwen Thibeaux

Wanting Something is Not Enough is a post from: Gwen Thibeaux's Speaking of Greatness blog.

My daughter recently participated in a jump rope event at her school to raise money for the American Heart Association. As I watched her practice, with sheer delight and with little effort, it occurred to me that I didn’t know how to jump rope!

Shortly afterwards, I decided I would learn how to jump rope. (Of course, when I discovered that 10 minutes of jump roping is equal to 30 minutes of jogging, there was an extra incentive for me! ) So I have a jump rope, and I have added learning this new skill to my bucket list. 

*If you need a little inspiration to learn something new, check out this Pick the Brain article by Clint Cora that inspired me: It’s Never Too Late to Learn Anything.* 

While learning this new skill may seem trivial to most, especially to those who know how to jump rope without thinking (like my husband who laughs at the fact I don’t know how to jump rope and my eager 9-year old who is anxious to teach me), it really is never too late to learn or start anything. (In my defense, however, I must add that I do know some of the basics of jump roping. I just never mastered those basics enough to not look like an idiot while jumping. LOL So my goal is to become more coordinated with those basics. )

I can do this, right? I believe I can. I may look silly in the beginning, and I may even feel a little foolish at times. And at times, I may even feel like I’ve waited too long to begin. But with a little determination, practice and discipline, I will be soon on my way to joining the ranks of people who learned this skill as a child. More importantly, I will get over worrying about how silly I think I look and really enjoy learning something new. Soon, I will be able to post a video (maybe) of me jump roping as if I known how all my life. I can’t wait!

So what new thing do you want to learn or discover? What’s holding you back from getting started?

Just like in life, you must abandon your fears and doubts, and do whatever it is that you want to do–even if you look silly doing it at first; even if it feels uncomfortable; and even if others laugh at you. Keep working at it, and you will eventually master that new skill or endeavor.

Feeling a little stuck? Ready to start mastering your greatness? Join me for my next FREE teleseminar!

Photo Credit: Andrew Malone

Learning Something New is a Life Lesson is a post from: Gwen Thibeaux's Speaking of Greatness blog.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” -Melody Beattie

Finding ways to express gratitude daily can have profound effects on your success potential. Rather than focus on all the things you don’t have, if you express the things you are grateful for, you will discover that you have much more than you ever imagined or realized.

Gratitude will end the scarcity mentality. 

When you express and practice gratitude daily, you will not allow yourself to have a sense of lack. You will feel blessed and prosperous because you recognize all that you already have.

Being grateful will open yourself up to receive greater blessings and opportunities into your life because you will attract that. You will attract that which you focus on.

Expressing gratitude will also put you in a state of contentment where you are not worrying about your circumstances. Gratitude breeds peace. So when things seem in disarray in your life, find gratitude in the things that are going well.

Here are some ways to help you develop an expression of gratitude:

• Examine the way you view your life. If your focus is on what you lack, you need to adjust your perception. Start finding ways to practice gratitude daily. The practice of gratitude has to start on the inside and extend outwardly.
• Don’t block or reject the gratitude expressed to you. When someone else expresses appreciation or gratitude towards you, acknowledge and receive it. Give others permission to express gratitude.
• Find the lessons in a difficult situation or relationship. Have you ever wondered why a difficult person was in your life? There might be some lesson you need to learn. Be willing to ask yourself “what is the lesson here?” It might help you find gratitude in the lesson and not focus on how difficult the person is.
• Start and end your day with thoughts of gratitude. When you awake, express gratitude for life. And when you go to bed, let your last thoughts be of things you are grateful for.

Need a mood booster? Practice gratitude.

Photo Credit: Lim Evelyn

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Gwen Thibeaux

Developing Expressions of Gratitude is a post from: Gwen Thibeaux's Speaking of Greatness blog.

“Plant your seeds in the ground, water it and believe.” - Tyler Perry

Ever look at a highly successful person in any given field and wonder what their secret is? How did they become successful? It seems so effortless in the forefront, right? But what we often don’t realize is the story behind the success.

We don’t see the day-to-day challenges successful people have had to endure and overcome. We don’t how many seeds they had to plant. We see the outcome; the fruits of their labor.

Two people in my life shared with me a video by Tyler Perry (actor, director, playwright), entitled “How to be Successful.”I was inspired enough to share that video with you in my blog (length: 4 mins):

My take-aways from Perry’s video:

• Don’t stop believing! BELIEVE that anything is possible.
• Focus on one thing–no matter what, and make that one thing work first. It will give birth to other things.
• “When something is for you, there is a feeling that is deep down inside that will not allow you to let it go. It will keep you going when you can’t even keep yourself going.”
• Let your dream take on the belief for you.

What were you able to take away from the video that will inspire you to keep moving with your dreams? 

Go plants your seeds, start watering and watch them grow into the dream you have envisioned.

Plant Your Seeds is a post from: Gwen Thibeaux's Speaking of Greatness blog.

I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy. – Og Mandino

What is purpose? Maybe a better approach would be to decide what purpose is not. Purpose is not your career or job. Nor is it the many hats you wear as a mother, husband, wife, daughter, etc.

One definition suggests that purpose is an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions.

While it can certainly be said that a job or one of the many roles you have is an important part of your life, it is important to not confuse that with living in your purpose. (And this is not to say that making a living doesn’t have its purpose. Of course, it does.) 

Purpose is at the core of why you exist, what gives your life its meaning. Again, that is not to say that your role is not meaningful or purposeful. Of course, it is. But it is not at the center of your purpose. 

When you discover what your purpose is, you are motivated to achieve certain things–goals and desires. With purpose, you create passion. You can live a passionate life when you know what it is you were created to do. You grow into the mountain you are meant to be!

What is passion? Simply put, think of passion as the fuel to your passion. Passion ignites you to express your purpose. Passion is the engine for your purpose. It is what moves you into action.

• Look at what things you value. Think of value in terms of personal attributes or characteristics. What personal attributes are important to you, such as honesty, character, etc.?
• Find some specific interests you have. What do you enjoy doing, even if you are not doing those things? From just these two steps, see if you can find which values can become your core or main values (say, your top 2 or 3).
• Decide what your core interests are. What really speaks to you; inspires or brings you joy?
• Create your purpose or mission statement by partnering your core values with your top list of passions. Use this statement as your guiding principle.

Your purpose is to express or show your values by way of your chosen passions. Try that on for size. Does it speak to you?  Certainly, there is a great deal of soul-searching needed to fully find your purpose, but this exercise will jumpstart the process for you. It will help you discover the possibilities.

When defining your purpose, stay in the present by connecting with what really matters in your life.

Photo Credit: Nature’s Images

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Gwen Thibeaux

How to Grow into a Mountain is a post from: Gwen Thibeaux's Speaking of Greatness blog.