Since 1978 Money & You® has been at the forefront of business and transformation.

The Four Agreements at Work

agreements for a workplace

The Four Agreements at Work
As a personal, professional, and organizational guide, can you imagine how much better businesses would function and the workplace would feel if we used the Four Agreements from the best selling The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz? The Agreements are so simple, yet so powerful.

THE  FOUR  AGREEMENTS are:

  1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
  2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
  3. Don’t Make Assumptions
  4. Always Do Your Best

Now let’s take a brief look at how the Four Agreements might apply in the workplace (from my book The New Agreements in the Workplace).

1. Impeccability of the Word:

Impeccability of the word addresses the power of speaking with integrity. Possibly even more important, it means remembering to think before we speak and choosing words that come from love rather than fear. Remember, every word starts with a thought. To be impeccable with the word starts with being impeccable with our thoughts. In some cases, being impeccable with our word means choosing not to speak if that is most appropriate to the situation. Can you see what this one agreement might do to reduce miscommunication, politics, and gossip in the workplace?

2. Personal Affronts:

We must realize that what others say and think about us is not important. Their words, politics, and gossip have nothing to do with who we really are in the workplace. When we become unattached to what others say, think, and do, we need be concerned with only ourselves and the meaning and quality of our work. This frees us to be more alive and energetic both in the workplace and at home.

3. The Trap of Assumptions:

Making assumptions is one of the fastest ways to create miscommunication and drama in our work lives. In most workplaces, we waste a great deal of time and energy dealing with politics, gossip, and solving problems that were created because we made assumptions that weren’t true. We should take actions based upon good data whenever possible and avoid making assumptions, especially those that are fear-based.

4. Doing Your Best Work:

Most of us do the best we can under the circumstances. Our best will vary from time to time, but if we know we’ve done our best, we can be kind to ourselves regardless of the results we create. We must remember that we can be only as kind to others as we are to ourselves. In a “Four Agreements” workplace, kindness to self and others will become a way of operating.

Can you picture everyone in your workplace being impeccable with their thinking and words? Not taking things personally? Not making assumptions? Doing their best all the time? Imagine what it would be like if everyone in all workplaces behaved that way. Incorporating the Four Agreements into the workplace is a great idea, but they must become more than an idea or concept to bring value to the workplace. We must begin by practicing what we desire to become: We must become living role models and conduct our lives according to the Four Agreements. We must become the Four Agreements.

David Dibble
New Agreements Healthcare
PO Box 2674
Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067
Tel: 760-431-7893
email: David@TheNewAgreements.com
Web: http://www.TheNewAgreements.com

Creative Commons License photo credit: jordigraells

Money & You® – Sufficiency is Heavenly

Money heavenly

Money & You® — Sufficiency is Heavenly

Recently, I read Lynne Twist’s book, The Soul of Money. She had kindly sent me the book about a year ago – and I put it in my stack of books to read, thinking that I would read it along with so many other wonderful publications that are sent to me as the head of the Excellerated Business Schools®/Money & You® Program.

I had an opportunity recently to see and hear her speak at our Transformational Leaders’ Council meeting. And while listening to her I had an epiphany – a realization that was so exciting for me because of the way it touched me, opened my heart, validated my life-time work, and took me immediately to another level of “beingness.”

I knew that my Life Purpose and the programs we teach are right on track. And at the same time, I was touched to the core and transformed… one more time.

I came home, got right into the book, and was transported one more time to being with Lynne. She is truly an inspiration – someone who communicates with so much essence this “idea whose time has come.” I love the way she is able to not only distinguish, but to remind us all how to actualize a feeling of “Sufficiency” in a world that is so often based in Scarcity.

While I do not intend this article to be only on Lynne and her fantastic book, my purpose is to share this same type of experience with you. Choosing to come from sufficiency instead of scarcity has been close to my heart ever since I was very young. It was taught to me first by my loving mother who naturally understands sharing and the power of feeling that one has enough, regardless of our circumstance. And every time I forgot it this powerful force in my life, I found myself faced with challenges.

Our transformational business education and programs have not always been easy to get accepted out in the world, perhaps because, at its core, it is based on the works and distinctions taught to us by R. Buckminster (Bucky) Fuller and several other masters who taught us that we humans are technologically billionaires and it is only our belief in Scarcity that perpetuates the notion that we live in a “YOU or ME” world rather than a”“YOU and ME” world.

It has been a supreme privilege to share these principles since 1979 with so many amazing business people and entrepreneurs throughout the world. It’s interesting that this information is so eagerly received in the Asia Pacific Region because it is so fresh and new to them. And, happily, it is now being re-energized and received wholeheartedly in North America too.

I loved Lynn ‘s book and one of the reasons is because she too was inspired by Bucky. In her work with The Hunger Project and other organizations, she was able to experience first hand the impact that coming from Sufficiency as opposed to Scarcity can have on a village, on society, on the world… It felt like she wrote a book that completely explained what has been my experience, and what Bucky taught us about abundance –that there truly is enough for EVERYONE in this world and that all can have a life with their basic needs (and more) met when we collaborate together.

She reminds us that it is our responsibility for those of us who have more than enough to not only share our knowledge, experience, skills and–“secrets” but also our hearts with those who are “resource poor” and with those that are”“knowledge poor” as many of the rich in this world are.

As some of you may have read some of the other articles that I have written inviting many of you to share your wonderful work world-wide – for you to become a Global Entrepreneur–– now I am inviting you to look a little deeper and take yourself through a self-test of where you stand in relationship to having enough in your life – to being that mega-wealthy human being that not only goes out and makes a difference in the world, but also lives from a place of so much abundance, that those fears of not having enough money, prosperity, that place in your consciousness that can be filled with fear, trepidation and can hold you back from going for your dreams, will disappear because you know deep in your heart that you are an abundant human being that can create anything in his/her life!

I have found in my work as a “Mentor of Nurturing” that many of the mega-wealthy that I meet sometimes have less love and trust even though their “basic personal needs” are met. It’s not about the money – it’s about the experience of abundance, sufficiency and enoughness in their world that really matters.

I remember meeting a friend of mine who had long dreamed of becoming a millionaire. He always had had the habit of spending more than he made – and thus, now that he was making millions, he would still spend more than he had, so he actually had the experience of still being in debt – not having enough! As the money got bigger, so did his worries. He was living completely from scarcity.

What is enough for you? What will make you feel that you have reached success? Do you have a goal, a milestone that will give you the signal that you now have enough? Our society is immersed in the thought of Scarcity – it’s everywhere. Once you begin to see it, it’s like taking a blindfold off and you begin to see clearly.

I have created “firewalls” within my consciousness to remind me of what enough is…

I notice that when I go to that conditioning of scarcity, I feel competitive, I feel that I have to have a better car than others, have a bigger and better home, business, and status… it’s almost a competition with self… it encompasses every area of my life. I seem to want more food, be more beautiful, be more powerful, be more successful – and that I am not enough.–It’s like a bad dream – I almost start “dream walking.” Then out of the grace of the Great Spirit something always brings me back and I am back into my heart again. I start feeling and knowing that I do have more than enough”– and my sharing my wealth, knowledge, resources, tools and wisdom then opens a whole new world of possibilities. I totally resonate with the stories that Lynn shares in her precious book.

What is sufficiency? To quote Lynn: –“When you let go of trying to get more of what you don’t really need, it frees up oceans of energy to make a difference with what you have. When you make a difference with what you have, it expands.”

I am totally inspired by her and feel blessed to have such awesome Masters in my life – Masters who have given me some of the greatest gifts – the gift of their insights and their experiences.

I hope that I inspire you to not only read The Soul of Money, but also read the works of our dear Bucky. His book, Critical Path , is worth the read. It will speak to parts of you that are ready to hear his beautiful information that is just now coming into “vogue.” Bucky would have loved Al Gore with his environmental work – and he would have loved YOU for living a life that includes his greatest message: There is enough for you and me…

May 2009 be your greatest year ever – and that your sharing heart will show up in every area of your life!

By: DC Cordova
DC Cordova is the CEO of the Excellerated Business Schools®/Money & You® Program.

For more information: www.excellerated.com or 619-224-8880.

Creative Commons License photo credit: Lighthelper. Intermittent just now. 🙂

Visualize and Affirm Your Desired Outcomes

Visualize and Affirm

Visualize and Affirm Your Desired Outcomes

By Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach

You have within you an awesome power that most of us have never been taught to use. Elite athletes use it. The super rich use it. And peak performers in all fields are now starting to use it. That power is called visualization. The daily practice of visualizing your dreams as already complete can rapidly accelerate your achievement of those dreams. Visualization of your goals and desires accomplishes four very important things.

1. It activates your creative subconscious which will start generating creative ideas to achieve your goal.

2. It programs your brain to more readily perceive and recognize the resources you will need to achieve your dreams.

3. It activates the law of attraction, thereby drawing into your life the people, resources, and circumstances you will need to achieve your goals.

4. It builds your internal motivation to take the necessary actions to achieve your dreams.

Visualization is really quite simple. You sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes and imagine — in as vivid detail as you can — what you would be looking at if the dream you have were already realized. Imagine being inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes at the ideal result.

Mental Rehearsal
Athletes call this visualization process “mental rehearsal,” and they have been using it since the 1960s when we learned about it from the Russians. All you have to do is set aside a few minutes a day. The best times are when you first wake up, after meditation or prayer, and right before you go to bed. These are the times you are most relaxed. Go through the following three steps:

1. Imagine sitting in a movie theater, the lights dim, and then the movie starts. It is a movie of you doing perfectly whatever it is that you want to do better. See as much detail as you can create, including your clothing, the expression on your face, small body movements, the environment and any other people that might be around. Add in any sounds you would be hearing — traffic, music, other people talking, cheering. And finally, recreate in your body any feelings you think you would be experiencing as you engage in this activity.

2. Get out of your chair, walk up to the screen, open a door in the screen and enter into the movie. Now experience the whole thing again from inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes. This is called an “embodied image” rather than a “distant image.” It will deepen the impact of the experience. Again, see everything in vivid detail, hear the sounds you would hear, and feel the feelings you would feel.

3. Finally, walk back out of the screen that is still showing the picture of you performing perfectly, return to your seat in the theater, reach out and grab the screen and shrink it down to the size of a cracker. Then, bring this miniature screen up to your mouth, chew it up and swallow it. Imagine that each tiny piece — just like a hologram — contains the full picture of you performing well. Imagine all these little screens traveling down into your stomach and out through the bloodstream into every cell of your body. Then imagine that every cell of your body is lit up with a movie of you performing perfectly. It’s like one of those appliance store windows where 50 televisions are all tuned to the same channel.

When you have finished this process — it should take less than five minutes — you can open your eyes and go about your business. If you make this part of your daily routine, you will be amazed at how much improvement you will see in your life.

Create Goal Pictures
Another powerful technique is to create a photograph or picture of yourself with your goal, as if it were already completed. If one of your goals is to own a new car, take your camera down to your local auto dealer and have a picture taken of yourself sitting behind the wheel of your dream car. If your goal is to visit Paris, find a picture or poster of the Eiffel Tower and cut out a picture of yourself and place it into the picture. With today’s technology, you could probably make an even more convincing image using your computer.

Create a Visual Picture and an Affirmation for Each Goal
We recommend that you find or create a picture of every aspect of your dream life. Create a picture or a visual representation for every goal you have — financial, career, recreation, new skills and abilities, things you want to purchase, and so on. When we were writing the very first Chicken Soup for the Soul® book, we took a copy of the New York Times best seller list, scanned it into our computer, and using the same font as the newspaper, typed Chicken Soup for the Soul into the number one position in the “Paperback Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous” category. We printed several copies and hung them up around the office. Less than two years later, our book was the number one book in that category and stayed there for over a year!

Index Cards
We practice a similar discipline every day. We each have a list of about 30-40 goals we are currently working on. We write each goal on a 3×5 index card and keep those cards near our bed and take them with us when we travel. Each morning and each night we go through the stack of cards, one at a time, read the card, close our eyes, see the completion of that goal in its perfect desired state for about 15 seconds, open our eyes and repeat the process with the next card.

Use Affirmations to Support Your Visualization
An affirmation is a statement that evokes not only a picture, but the experience of already having what you want. Here’s an example of an affirmation:
I am happily vacationing 2 months out of the year in a tropical paradise,
and working just four days a week owning my own business.
Repeating an affirmation several times a day keeps you focused on your goal, strengthens your motivation, and programs your subconscious by sending an order to your crew to do whatever it takes to make that goal happen.

Expect Results
Through writing down your goals, using the power of visualization and repeating your affirmations, you can achieve amazing results. Visualization and affirmations allow you to change your beliefs, assumptions, and opinions about the most important person in your life — YOU! They allow you to harness the 18 billion brain cells in your brain and get them all working in a singular and purposeful direction.

Your subconscious will become engaged in a process that transforms you forever. The process is invisible and doesn’t take a long time. It just happens over time, as long as you put in the time to visualize and affirm, surround yourself with positive people, read uplifting books and listen to audio programs that flood your mind with positive, life-affirming messages.
Repeat your affirmations every morning and night for a month and they will become an automatic part of your thinking — they will become woven into the very fabric of your being.

© 2006 Jack Canfield
________________________________________
Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and the nation’s leading authority on Peak Performance. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at www.JackCanfield.com

Photo: by tapping curiouslee

The Ultimate Entrepreneur’s Desk Reference

Money Making Systems Book

Money-Making Systems: For People Who Work With People
By D.C. Cordova with Carol Dysart

“Work on Your Business – Not in it!”… Michael Gerber, author “The E-Myth”

Want money-making systems to bring you more peace of mind, prosperity, efficiency and control? They are all outlined in this book!

Money-Making Systems is an organizational manual with all the systems that any business owner, entrepreneur, manager, free agent, business student, office manager or professional might need for their office. This guide will help you improve your productivity and performance, reduce the chances of team member turnover, and leverage all the human resources in your organization and network. Once you customized and apply each system, you will get more done in less time, enjoy greater peace of mind, have more time, and make more money!

WHY do you call it Money-Making Systems? It is THE ultimate “Entrepreneur’s Desk Reference” for people who need to get their work done work with and through people. It contains the fundamental (and many advanced) principles for building a successful business, organization, profession, or practice and, once implemented and fine tuned, would allow the “boss” to set out of the business and work “on” their business, not “in” it..

The principles shared in this book have been proven by D.C. Cordova and thousands of her students who learned them from her in the course of running a global entrepreneurial education business since 1979, Excellerated Business Schools® for Entrepreneurs. She first learned many of the organizing principles during her early career as a top Court Reporter, Interpreter, and Assistant Legal Secretary in the Court and Legal Systems of several major cities. They were the best-kept secrets and she learned them from the world’s most organized and successful people; what she called “the little ole ladies in the back room.” They could put their hands on any scrap of paper in a huge building, filled with files on every floor.

The promise of this book is that any reader who actively applies these fundamental “best practices’ will find they have the systems and skills they need to create any business into a turn-key, predictable system for achieving wealth, success, freedom. It will give the ultimate confidence and peace of mind to the owner who will know that their business will run – with or without their constant presence and direction.

WHO is Money-Making Systems for? Unless anyone can go into your work space and start operating your business from what they find there, you will get incredible value from this book. Any professional and entrepreneur: including lawyers, doctors, chiropractors, accountants, and students preparing who sees change and improvement in their professional or entrepreneurial future. Anyone who wants a successful business and wants to discover and develop their own “success habits and systems” will find Money-Making Systems invaluable.

WHY read Money-Making Systems? So you do not have to re-invent the wheel. Learn without having to take time or make the mistakes it took to develop such systems. Learn what it takes to establish a business based exclusively upon systems. If you live outside the USA, this “manual” is written to respond to your needs for practical business education, regardless of what country you live in. It is simple to understand and apply – and it just makes sense. It teaches you how to create a win/win environment everywhere you go. It teaches you how to build a business around your own personal areas of interest and reproduce what is already in place behind the scenes of most successful businesses.

HOW can the systems be applied? The book is filled with the instructions, sample charts, worksheets and forms you can to pull out, copy, then customize to fit your own business. Each chapter contains a different, but important principle. It then guides you, step-by-step, through instructions on how to implement it in your business. You have the power to put these successful principles into practice in your business-starting today.

Testimonials

“I was fortunate to be personally trained by D.C. Cordova in the art of getting teams of volunteers to work together and get fast powerful results with low effort in short time periods. Since employees are easier to organize and work with than volunteers, and because world competition is forcing all businesses to become better at quickly serving customers well, D.C.’s experienced, honed, practical methods may well improve your business or organization (and its cash flow).” Rolf Parta, Investor

“I learned a new method for cleaning my desk, reinforced skills in time management, and got me interested in personality types and learning procedures — all important steps to power. Very intense and worth-while. The attention to detail, through organization, exercises and commitment made for a good learning experience.” G. O’Flynn, Accountant

“My desk looks like it belongs to someone else since I applied the technology in this book. The flow of information, in and out, and what needs to be handled now, is so clear that the familiar clutter of my desktop has gone. My secretary loves working with the new organized me.” A.W. Wayland, Director

To order your personal copy of Money-Making Systems click here.