It occurs to me that I have never fit in to any established organization, not completely anyway. Girl Scouts was a disaster since I just didn’t get the whole badge thing and I’m pretty sure my college sorority sisters only tolerated me.

Elementary school felt foreign – desks lined up in perfectly spaced rows, uniforms at one school and a dress code at another, and having to ask for a hall pass just to go to the bathroom. Seriously?! And they insisted on calling it a lavatory.

My first job was working at a McDonalds where my process improvement ideas were met with disdain from my coworkers whose main objective was to do their time and call in “sick” on sunny, summer days.

So it seems odd that I would choose to join NJROTC in High School. The truth is, I wanted to be on the trick drill team. Of course, being a member made me a complete and total outcast from the cool kids, who felt it part of their ordained obligation to throw snowballs when I was in uniform. In the bigger picture, our little group was fraught with rebels who defied the all-consuming teenage need to be liked and aimed at being part of something bigger than ourselves.

This led to a four-year ROTC scholarship to college and then a twenty-year career as  a Naval Officer.

I loved being in the Navy. It felt like a family and was filled with excitement, energy, adventure, travel, and the opportunity to handle more responsibility than most people see in a lifetime. Most importantly, I loved working with some of the finest, most ethical, honest, and heart-centered people I have ever know.

But despite my love for the people and my respect for the organization itself, I always felt like I was trying to fit into a coat that was a little too tight. I even remember a boss once telling me…literally…to get back in my box. I followed the rules when they made sense, and railed against them when they didn’t. And I always felt a little like a failure because I did not completely comply.

Before retiring, I took a course that helps senior officers transition from the military into the private sector. I was the only one who intended to strike out on my own and start my own business. It felt absolutely natural to me and seemed so foreign to the other officers attending. I was excited to create and launch something new and just couldn’t trade in one uniform for another.

I’ve had my own business for seven years now and have never looked back. It has been more difficult than I ever imagined. And it has been so much more rewarding and fulfilling than I ever thought possible.

Being an entrepreneur means you are a rebel. You see things in ways that other people do not or will  not. Your mind is always spinning with ideas and your need to create is a driving force that cannot be squelched, no matter how hard other people try to stomp on it. Regular people do not understand how or why you do what you do.

By nature, entrepreneurs tend to be abundant, optimistic, risk takers who thrive on creativity and are comfortable with ambiguity. They tend to flock with other entrepreneurs because that is where they are understood, embraced, and encouraged.

If you have always felt a little like an outcast, you might just be an entrepreneur in corporate clothing. Maybe it’s time to trade in your company conformity for an entrepreneurial mindset. It means you will have to embrace your inner rebel and swim against the tide.

Then again, why would you want to fit in when you know you were born to stand out?

Be bold!
Ann Vertel
P.S. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this…please leave me a comment below!

P.P.S. Want a daily dose of motivation? Check out The Confidence Club at
http://AnnVertel.com/shop/confidence-club/

Connect with Ann…

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Wouldn’t it be nice if becoming a success was easy? Unfortunately, it’s not. It takes consistent, daily action, calculated risks and, well…work. Work that involves doing things that don’t come easy.

Working like that just doesn’t sit well with most people, and that’s why most people never reach their ultimate potential and spend their whole life wishing and hoping for things to be different. Wishing and wanting and hoping are not strategies…or actions.

You already know what it would take for you to become an uncanny success..
The question is, are you willing to do what it takes?

Most people aren’t.

They don’t want to give up doing what comes easy or what they’re used to or what comes along to fill up their time. Doing the things they would need to do to change their situation just isn’t convenient – they’d have to give up things they’re used to.

Successful people behave differently. They don’t base their pursuit of excellence on the actions that are easy for them. They base their actions on what will make them a success.

Stop trying to get ahead by doing the things that feel safe, comfortable, and easy – that will just get you more of the same. Determine what actions will make you proud of your accomplishments and then do them, however inconvenient and difficult they may be. Only then will you lead the life you desire.

Be bold!
Ann Vertel
P.S. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this…please leave me a comment below!

P.P.S. Want a daily dose of motivation? Check out The Confidence Club at
http://AnnVertel.com/shop/confidence-club/

Connect with Ann…

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• Playing to Win!

When you have a failure or a set-back in your business – let’s say all your appointments for the week cancel on you – how you choose to explain the cause for that could mean the world of difference in what happens next.

Dr. Martin Seligman, the Psychologist most noted for his work in learned optimism, describes a mental state more potent than self-esteem. It is called “explanatory style” and it means the way we think about causes.

Feeling bad about the situation, blaming either yourself or others, will affect your self-esteem.

Determining how permanent and pervasive the cause is, will affect the actions you take in response.

Feeling bad is not the cause of failure. But if you believe that the situation is permanent, or that this is the beginning of a new trend, then you may stop trying and that leads directly to failure.

For example, instead of saying,

“Everyone cancels on me”

which describes a belief that the cause is permanent, what if you said,

“There will always be cancellations and I accept that as part of my work”

which describes a belief that the cause is temporary.

If you believe that a cause is permanent, you are likely to give up.

If you believe a cause is temporary, you are likely to take action to change the situation – like picking up the phone and making new appointments.

Your belief in the permanence of any set-back will determine your response, and it is your response – your deliberate action – that determines your success or failure.

Choose excellence!
Ann Vertel

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Have you ever felt just totally overwhelmed with…well…everything? When I come to the point where all my work and personal “stuff” is all swimming in my head like a giant goulash, I know it’s time to do an “up and out.”

Much like the phrase, “a place for everything and everything in its place,” we all need a way to organize our “mental office.” Instead of carting around a giant miscellaneous basket of thoughts all day, get them up and out!

I use a notebook for this drill but you can use several pieces of paper as well. Find a quiet spot.

Sometimes I sit at the kitchen counter and layout several sheets of paper that I can see all at one time. If you use this method, place a label at the top of each sheet – you can choose your own labels but here are a few to get started:

To Do – Work
To Do – Personal
To Buy
To Call

The next step should take between ten and thirty minutes. I like to start with a warm mug of coffee and complete silence. You’ll only have to wait a minute or less and the thoughts will start swamping you.

As they come up, place them on the appropriate list – don’t worry about the order or the importance of each. Place every single “I need to…” on a list, no matter how trivial. Just get it all “up and out.”

Now take a quick break – walk around the block, refill your mug, or fold a load of laundry.

Come back to the list and read over it. You may have a few more things to add to it. Now pick out the top 5 most critical items and place numbers 1 thru 5 next to those items. If you wrote out multiple lists, place the top 5 in order on each list.

Those are the items you must do next, before any others. Come back to this list over the next few days and continue to cross things out and reorder the list until it’s a big mess. Some items will never get done (so how “important” are they?!?) and some will disappear off your list pretty quickly. In about a week, do another “up and out.”

If you make a habit of this practice – doing it at least once every two weeks – you’ll find your mind can “rest” because you’ve created a place to “put” all those thoughts so they don’t clog up your creative thinking.

Take charge!
Ann Vertel

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Are you playing to win or playing to not lose.

Aren’t they the same thing? No way. Most people play not to lose, in order to avoid fear or pain.

I’ll play, as long as I don’t get hurt.

They will go all the way out to the edge of their comfort zone…and stop. When you play to not lose, you let fear stop you dead in your tracks. Fear of rejection, failure, successs, disapproval, not measuring up, being uncomfortable, making a mistake, getting hurt, or looking foolish.

Anytime you hear yourself say, “I can’t,” what you really mean is, “I’m afraid.”

Wildly successful people play to win.
They love winning far more than they hate losing.
They focus on winning.
They do not focus on “not losing.”

And here’s a secret lots of people don’t know.

Wildly successful people are scared all the time. Why? Because they are always doing things outside their comfort zones. They are always taking risks. Fear never goes away, they just get used to feeling it.

Everything you are going after is outside your comfort zone.
Turn toward the fear and play to win.

Take charge!
Ann Vertel

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I saw my friend Keith recently in the weight room at the gym. I had recommended the book, “The One Minute Millionaire” to him and he was in the middle of reading it. I asked him if it was helping him to think bigger.

His response was very short, but oh so profound. He said, “not bigger, but bolder.”

I have been mulling on his comment for days.

The word “bold” has always held excitement for me. It seems daring, aggressive – something reserved for true power players. It hints at mountain climbing, African safaris, and high-stakes stock trades. Bold people are larger than life.

“Bold” is defined in the dictionary as: “fearless and daring; courageous.”

When you think “bigger” it could mean you will see the same future, only more of it. In other words, you could be lulled into just expanding the vision you currently have, limiting it to an already defined box.

But when you think “bolder” you are asking your mind to be more fearless, more daring in what you imagine for yourself.

Being bold would mean you would have to release your right to be scared.
You would have to act in ways that will shake up the comfort zone of other people in your life.
You would have to step out in faith (the epitome of fearless) knowing that you are never called to fail, only to succeed on a massive scale.

Where is God calling you to think not bigger, but bolder in your life and in your business?
How do you intend to answer that call today?

Take charge!
Ann Vertel

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You were not created to just survive or endure or get through or simply manage your life. You are meant for something much greater.

You already have everything you need to be enormously successful. The only thing that holds you back is…you. Not your husband or your friends or your location or your kids or your job.

Just you.

A year from now, you could be driving the same car, working the same job, making the same money, living in the same house and nothing has changed.

Or you can take action…right now.
Pick up the phone, book an appointment, call your customers, talk to strangers. Which is truly more frightening – today’s action or next year’s vision of “more of the same?”

So you get to choose.
Will you choose what you want now?
Or what you want most?

But…
the kids’ have soccer practice
company is coming
I just had a baby, got married, moved
the baby is fussy
the tires need to be rotated
I need a better computer
I have a dental appointment
my back hurts
the kids need me
my husband doesn’t approve
the library books are overdue
my office needs to be organized
I have to plan my son’s birthday party
swim lessons start next week
I don’t have enough time, money, energy

There will always be a reason not to work your business.

Work it anyway.

You can choose to give power to your circumstances or you can choose to be successful in spite of them. The choice is truly yours.
Choose well.

Now go have a POWERFUL day!
- Ann Vertel

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If you are waiting for fear to subside before you act, you will never act. The fear doesn’t subside until you act. Only action trumps fear.

Remember a time when you woke up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare or a strange noise you heard, and you were absolutely paralyzed? You literally couldn’t move a muscle. You couldn’t even speak, let alone reach over and turn on the lamp. If you laid there waiting until the fear passed, it may have gone on indefinitely. But once you pushed through the fear and turned on the light, the fear seemed to vanish almost instantly.

This is the same fear that strangles you when you want to move ahead in your life or your business. Take action first – only then will the fear subside.

If you are waiting for permission to be successful from someone else, forget it. It’s not coming.

No, really, it’s not coming. Your father, or mother, or husband, or teacher, or whomever is not going to call you up today or tomorrow or next week and say,

O.K. you are finally a grown up. I now give you permission to go be enormously successful, confident, and wealthy – don’t let me down!

Permission to define yourself as a success and real live grown up can only come from you. Don’t be stingy; give it to yourself with both barrels.

If you are waiting to move into a new house, change jobs, have a baby, find the right planner, hire the right assistant, save some more money, lose weight, organize your office, or for your kids to grow up, your marriage to get better, your job to let up, or for life to simply stop happening….you are living in some sort of misguided fantasy that your success can’t happen in the middle of all of that.

Why? Because success happens ONLY in the middle of all of that because “all of that” never goes away.

There will never be the perfect time to start, run, or grow your business. As a matter of fact, the most perfect time to do that is right now! It is exponentially better than anytime after right now.

Do it now because whatever it is you’re waiting for doesn’t really exist.

Take charge!
Ann Vertel

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