Remember the last time you got negative feedback? Even with lots of positive feedback to counter it, it was likely those one or two negative comments seemed to cement themselves in your brain.

We tend to give negative comments much more weight than they deserve.

You probably have people in your life who claim to support you (and they truly believe that they do)…but they really don’t. Listen closely to how they respond to you when you tell them your biggest goal.

Do their responses sound like any of these?

• That’s a pretty big goal. Are you sure you have the time to do that?
• No one in our family has ever made that much money before.
• Isn’t that going to be hard?
• How are you going to do that and still take care of your family?
• How do you expect to find that many people or sell that much?
• Don’t come crying to me if it doesn’t work out.
• When are you going back to your real job?
• That’s nice.

If so, then these people, some of whom are family members and friends who love you very much, are part of the 99% percent crowd. The people that support you 99%…but still hold on to a little bit of doubt.

And that doubt can be deadly.

When you sense that someone doubts your abilities, your intentions, your desires, even your dreams, it will cause you to doubt yourself too. And that’s the last think you need on your way to the top!

When you share your goals and dreams, this is what you should hear:

• Well of course you’re going to do that; I have no doubt about it.
• I know you can do it.
• You’re perfect for that!
• You’ll be wonderful!
• How can I help?

These are the people to talk to about your business.

They will ignite a fire in you and keep your vision alive and in focus. They will claim your victory for you…sometimes before you even realize it’s possible. They are your power partners.

Do you have to stop talking to the 99% crowd? Of course not. Just stop talking to them about your goals! When they ask about your business say, “It’s awesome. How are things going for you?”

The 99% crowd means well but they have forfeited their right to have an opinion about your success. Don’t let anyone (who isn’t in a position to show you how to win) tell you that you’re going to lose.

Your potential is only what you think it is!

Choose your best life!
- Ann

What do you suppose will happen when you finally achieve all you’ve dreamed of? Aside from the expected upticks in your income and the ability to buy more things, travel more, invest more, and do more of what you really enjoy, what else could happen?

If you’re like a lot of people, you haven’t really looked at the downside to achieving all that success. You may have some vague notion that things will change, and they most certainly will, but you may also have assumed that all those changes will be good ones.

At least that’s what your conscience thinks. If you have a fear of success, your subconscious has been actively engaged in ensuring that none of those things happen by working diligently to keep you comfortably at status quo.

Fear of success is a hidden, subconscious belief that if you actually become successful, dire consequences will ensue. It means that no matter how badly you want to achieve success, no matter how hard you work for it, and no matter how strong your will is to achieve it, your subconscious will do everything in its power to prevent it. And trust me, the subconscious is far more powerful than you might expect.

If you have a fear of success, you may experience one of five anxieties when you think about your goal. Simply anticipating your success can trigger these subconscious anxieties and lead to the complete opposite of your intended outcome. I’ll talk about two of those anxieties here.

The first is a fear that if you become successful other people, those most important to you in particular, will love you less. That you will lose their affection and they will think less of you. If as a child you were criticized or belittled – if your parents held little hope that you would ever achieve anything significant – validating that opinion by complying with it ensures that you do not defy or disagree with their judgment. It keeps you in their good graces. Remaining average confirms for them what they suspected all along. You don’t make them angry by defying their opinion and they reward you by continuing to approve of your current potential.

You can work for their approval or work for results, but you can’t do both.

The second anxiety is a fear that you will not be able to handle an increase in status. It is a fear of increased responsibility. Naturally as you become more successful you will gain more responsibility. The benefits of achieving success might be appealing, but the change to who you will become and the responsibility that goes along with it, might feel unnerving. Perhaps we’re just not up to taking on that type of significance – we’ll feel like a fraud or we’ll feel embarrassed. Maybe we’ll be expected to say and do and be things that just don’t feel comfortable. Maybe we’ll humiliate ourselves by trying to do more than we think we are capable. Seeing who we could be and actually stepping into that role require different sets of skills.

There is good news. These subconscious anxieties aren’t real, they are phantom thoughts that take up residence in our underlying beliefs to keep us from stepping up and stepping out so we don’t hurt ourselves. They’re just beliefs. And beliefs can be changed.

I explain all five of the underlying anxieties, along with the practical steps for overcoming them, in an audio training called “No Fear of Success!“  If you’re interested you can find out more at
http://annvertel.com/shop/no-fear-of-success/

Be bold!
- Ann

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…

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…

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

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

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

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

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