What No Money in the World?

A World with NO MONEY??? (aka "the United States near banking failure")

By

Steven L. Keough a.k.a. Coach Steve (MC², MBA)

In a world with no money, what would people strive for, what would be their goal?

Purity: Pure Joy and Happiness!

Assume for a moment that barter or trading is out too in addition to no money exchange. In fact the whole transaction or exchanging of goods or services is removed for just a moment to investigate what's at the bottom of people's motives if pursuit of the almighty dollar isn't life?

Then what would people's search for be? My guess would be the search for happiness. Or the search for tranquility. Or the search for peace, joy and harmony, however you would use the term "Happiness." Wouldn't you agree that the search for "true meaning" would be the search for personal satisfaction, personal joy, personal love and personal pleasure or Happiness!

But isn't that what life should be even with money, "The Pursuit of Happiness"? Yes the pursuit of happiness WITHOUT the agony of defeat as ABC Sports declared on EVERY sporting event it televised for about a decade, so it got burned into our memories. Or maybe being "Healthy, Wealthy and Wise." Notice that Healthy is first, not stressed out as so many people are over money and many other things too. Next is wealthy. but not necessarily money wealthy, but overall wealthy, as in "A Wealth of Knowledge." and after you have those two, then you are wise? Interesting Healthy is first. It's pretty hard to be happy without being healthy isn't it? And what makes us healthy? A perfect balance of many, many things in life.

In any case, call it what you will but it seems most people want a "Balanced Life." I say it for branding purposes as Happy, Healthy and Financially Free at Straight Forward Coaching, we truly believe we can advance our clients on all three fronts on every single coaching session. It could be personal coaching, life coaching, business coaching or free coaching!

But without money, how would people get rich? Well that is a subjective word too. Rich in money or a "rich life"? A Rich Life could include money and wealth and financial freedom, but doesn't require it. Without money to chase, what would you commit to, promise or set as goals? Exactly, to be happy. With money out of the way it becomes painfully obvious that happiness is what is NORMAL. A Life Coach, a Business Coach, a Career Coach or an Executive Coach all face this topic with clients at one stage or another. And the seminar companies like Peak Potentials Training nicely blend elements of life such as happiness, confidence, joy, peacefulness, etc. into their programs too.

Les Brown speaks about being happy all the time when he tells his stories as a motivational speaker through the coaching world. We have many a business coach alliance with these kind of joint ventures and we hardly, if ever, talk about money, we talk about changing the world. Being in service to others, making a difference, and the money happens as a result of the efforts. It's our vision because it makes us happy, or makes me happy.

If coaching would improve the chances of your being more happy, you should look into it. Very often our clients complete their coaching happier than when they started, and many also end up healthier and wiser too. Some even end up with more money, but we're not supposed to be talking about that just yet, remember money doesn't exist for this article! But the fact is that coaching produces results, amazing results, that you may not have attained otherwise. That' the job of the coach, delivering on your desires, the things that you want now.

I often as my clients "If you had all the time and money in the world, what would you do?"So for this exchange, I'll ask "If you had all the time in the world what would you do?", remembering money doesn't exist. I can hear you all saying "I'd do whatever makes me happy." Good, what is that? Aren't you asking yourself that anyway? What makes you happy? Make your list NOW!

What makes you happy?

Others in your life may not be happy, so ask them, "What makes you happy Tim?" What makes you happy Linda? What makes you happy kids? What makes you happy Dad? Spread the love, ask the tough question. Start with you though. If you can't answer the fundamental question about what makes you happy, you may never be happy, or you'll be happy less because you are not focused on you and your happiness, perhaps you are focused on someone else and what will make them happy? Maybe they are hardly ever happy, then how could you possibly be happy?

Take 30 minutes for yourself, look inside, make your lists or get the help of a great coach!

To Your Greater Success!

Thanx…SLK

A Unique Opportunity

How can we help with this? As you may know, I have set up a worldwide organization of coaches to assist people with the most persistent of challenges. These coaches have been hand picked by me, personally trained by myself as well and are held to the highest possible standards of delivery. You don’t have to go it alone and you don’t need to be ashamed or embarrassed about these challenges. We all face challenges! The question is “What will you do about it?” And we are here to help make sure you are Happier, Healthier and Financially FREE!

A Special Offer

Don’t tolerate this in your life! Our certified and extremely experienced coaches are masters at helping folks just like you. They deliver our coaching system consistently and with ease. You won’t even recognize yourself after being coached with us. We expect you will be happier, healthier and on your way to becoming financially free once you start your journey with us. And the only thing holding you back right now is you!

So, here is an offer that we think even you would say “I’d have to be absolutely crazy not to take you up on this offer and solve this challenge in my life once and for all.

So what’s the lesson here? The lesson is you don’t have to tolerate this any longer! Please, learn from other people’s failures by leveraging their painful lessons to your advantage so you don’t have to endure this hardship for another second. You can avoid many of the common mistakes almost every single person makes by having a coach nearby to help you navigate life.
You are at a crossroad if you have read down this far. Don’t bail on yourself now. Take Action!

About Coach Steve

Steven L. Keough or Coach Steve as he prefers is the Founder & CEO of his coaching company Straight Forward Coaching, an Internationally recognized coaching enterprise. Coach Steve operates four very busy companies: of course Straight Forward Coaching, CoachingProducts.org (North America), CoachingProductsInternational.org (Overseas Operations and Non-English Speaking Products), and finally Business Coach Alliance for the training of coaches to be better certified coaches. Yes, we actually train many of the coaches that most organizations will hire.

Steve is also a multiple book Author (5 at this time), Handbook Author (24 at this time), Home Learning Course Creator (4 at this time), Speaker, Trainer and Master Certified Coach himself, a product of the product, and most proud to be a Coaching Curriculum Developer, changing thousands, if not millions, of lives for the better with his materials. He has coaches people for nearly two decades and has amassed over 20,000 hours of coaching individuals and businesses!

Certified in 12 different coaching distinctions, Coach Steve’s books are best-sellers and his materials have been translated into multiple languages and are available in over 100 countries! He'll take your questions at coachsteve@stevekeough.com and answer every one.

Visit Coach Steve at www.stevekeough.com or call 1-888-341-Coach (2622).

Recession Proofing or Recession Free?

Recession Proofing or Recession Free?

By

Steven L. Keough a.k.a. Coach Steve (MC², MBA)

With the United States Economy in turmoil, affecting the world economy, should you be recession proofing or recession free? What do I mean by that? Well, in my lifetime (now I know I'm getting old by saying that) there have been three sets of economic upticks and downturns.

What have I learned about the three sets? First, they come in sets of "ups" and "downs". So the good news there is every time there has been bad times they have been followed by good times, so no need to worry. Second, all three have centered around major election years so it a coincidence or a conspiracy. Well I think it is a coinkydink, but all the while the politicians are so full of crap, talking about what "they" will do. What they'll do when elected is ride it out, then claim they made a HUGE difference, what a load of horseh**. Then what can you do, what is the only true solution?

Ultimately it is to be recession free. How do you accomplish that? Well to be financially free, meaning to have enough money that the skyrocketing costs of gas, food and utilities catch your attention (on the news or in the papers) but they don't make a dramatic impact on you or your life. It's like when you go to a very fancy restaurant, there are no prices, just the entrees. If you price looked to decide what to eat, you'd eat chicken every day, the same with gas and utilities. If you are focused on the three and there prices you are not focused on something else and besides, that is living the life of scarcity. Rather, there is gas, there is food and there are utilities I can purchase, so to make my life more comfortable or opulent, I'm buying them regardless of cost.

Forget recession proofing, that's a sales tactic, it's already here upon you (if you believe in that). Rather, make your life recession free. In other words, you create your own economy that won't be affected by a world power's recession, threat thereof, or impact from it. There's only one thing that solves a recession anyway and that's consumer confidence and spending.

Plain and simple, when consumer confidence is high, we buy more junk. When we buy more the economy benefits from the added buying in taxes, jobs, and more confidence, so people buy even more and bigger ticket items or junk. Plain and simple we the people are the economy!

You are a "people", yes? So if the people create the economy, create your own economics. Be a leader, and don't follow what the Hippocratic politicians would like you to believe it so they can secure your vote with fear, if you are American. Don't be worrying about things that are not going to happen. Stay focused on creating your own life, your own passive income, your own multiple income streams which all ends up being your own economic security.

The first place to start is by getting your finances under control, then creating your financial security or stability plan, then the march toward financial freedom. The problem is that most people never take step one: getting your finances under control and that's where a coach comes in to help. Perhaps even a Financial Coach may be needed if the debt load is big ($10K to 40K) or even a credit counselor if you are $50K or worse in the hole with short term debts like many credit cards. What's your personal economy like if you have 9 credit cards (the average these day) with and average balance of $8,546 on each card or -$76,914 (ouch).

If you are living on your cards you are killing your economy and may never dig out. The interest alone on that balance at even as low as 6% (which nobody can get these days) is $4,614, a killer number for many. Can you see that this will NEVER work? Good, then stop being a victim and start thinking about how to change this mess and move forward and if you are tunnel-visioned now on only the eminent doom ahead, especially now that filing for bankruptcy is so much harder, then you'll need assistance from a personal coach, business coach or financial coach. Someone you can trust to help you create the disciplines necessary to stop the bleeding.

The pressures that get created when an individual sabotages their own finances affects EVERY area of your life in a negative way. It affects your happiness, your relationships, your fun, your attitude, your confidence, your children, your friends, EVERYONE and EVERY THING! So get help from a coach who can get you corrected and back on track. It's possible and has been done before but you will need to reach down deep and alter the bad habits that somehow got created.

There's no time for delays or research. Every day is you have debt it gets deeper, harder to climb out underneath from and the interest rates are killing you. And the worst part is your bank and or credit card vendors want you right there - that's their sweet spot. Have you noticed the profits these guys pull down? It's in the Billions with a "B"! So they know EXACTLY what they are doing, how to get you in that spot, and worse KEEP YOU THERE!

Enough isn't it? You must now take the first bold step in creating your won economics! That starts with Phase I: Getting your spending under control, only investing in things that you can't do yourself or get yourself and those things should appreciate in value or money, creating more money for you in the end. You have a choice in the matter of investing in yourself and your future or not. So:

Invest wisely!

To Your Greater Success!

Thanx… Coach Steve

A Unique Opportunity

How can we help with this? As you may know, I have set up a worldwide organization of coaches to assist people with the most persistent of challenges. These coaches have been hand picked by me, personally trained by myself as well and are held to the highest possible standards of delivery. You don’t have to go it alone any more and you don’t need to be ashamed or embarrassed about these challenges. We all face challenges! The question is “What will you do about it?” And we are here to help make sure you are Happier, Healthier and Financially FREE!

A Special Offer

Don’t tolerate this in your life! Our certified and extremely experienced coaches are masters at helping folks just like you. They deliver our coaching system consistently and with ease. You won’t even recognize yourself after being coached with us. We expect you will be happier, healthier and on your way to becoming financially free once you start your journey with us. And the only thing holding you back right now is you!

So, here is an offer that we think even you would say “I’d have to be absolutely crazy not to take you up on this offer and solve this challenge in my life once and for all.

So what’s the lesson here? The lesson is you don’t have to tolerate this any longer! Please, learn from other people’s failures by leveraging their painful lessons to your advantage so you don’t have to endure this hardship for another second. You can avoid many of the common mistakes almost every single person makes by having a coach nearby to help you navigate life. You are at a crossroad if you have read down this far. Don’t bail on yourself now. Take Action!

About Coach Steve

Steven L. Keough or Coach Steve as he prefers is the Founder & CEO of his coaching company Straight Forward Coaching, an Internationally recognized coaching enterprise. Coach Steve operates four very busy companies: of course Straight Forward Coaching, CoachingProducts.org (North America), CoachingProductsInternational.org (Overseas Operations and Non-English Speaking Products), and finally Business Coach Alliance for the training of coaches to be better certified coaches. Yes, we actually train many of the coaches that most organizations will hire.

Steve is also a multiple book Author (5 at this time), Handbook Author (24 at this time), Home Learning Course Creator (4 at this time), Speaker, Trainer and Master Certified Coach himself, a product of the product, and most proud to be a Coaching Curriculum Developer, changing thousands, if not millions, of lives for the better with his materials. He has coaches people for nearly two decades and has amassed over 20,000 hours of coaching individuals and businesses!
Certified in 12 different coaching distinctions, Coach Steve’s books are best-sellers and his materials have been translated into multiple languages and are available in over 100 countries!

Visit Coach Steve at www.stevekeough.com or call 1-888-341-Coach (2622).

Decisions - Decisions!

Decisions - Decisions!

By

Steven L. Keough a.k.a. Coach Steve (MC², MBA)

What's the power of "a" decision and does it matter?

I would venture to say that if you made really smart decisions in your life, that your life would go from good to great, would you agree? If you answered "yes", lets get started. If you answered less than yes, perhaps "maybe" or "no", you made need the assistance of a coach in your life. This is no time to procrastinate about what life has in store for you, time is wasting!

Recently I wrote about questions and how questions are critical to the success of our lives. For coaches, the questions are the path to understanding. We drill down on almost everything our clients say searching for meaning, hidden meaning and false meaning (cover ups). I cautioned those who might not be asking the right questions (playing too small) who come up with the right answers to those "wrong" (limiting) questions. On the other hand, playing bigger and asking really tough questions, and answering those, has you in the driver seat of a fun life! Our goal of course is for you to be happier, healthier and financially free too!

When you read about questions, it may have seemed like we were dealing in the world of the micro (small picture), however, we were actually dealing in the world of the macro (big picture) as it relates to decisions or choices. Decisions now assuming the world of the macro (could have many choices inside of the decision) vs. the micro, looking at choices in our lives. Let's look!

Here's where a get a bit philosophical. Life is nothing more than thousands and thousands of choices. That's all it is. I said thousands and thousands but it could be millions and millions or zillions and zillions, there's really no end to it. But those choices, added together to form a life, could have and likely have had some major impact on your life, where you are TODAY and most importantly where YOU are headed TOMORROW. Wouldn't you agree? (that's a choice)

Let's look at that statement. If you CHOSE yes and agreed there would be one outcome. And, oppositely, if you disagreed there would be another outcome wouldn't there? And that is the power of choice. Choice is huge in our lives, even though most of them are macro. Two examples I observed from just yesterday of other people (I love to watch other people make choices). To me it is fascinating how unconscious people are with their own lives and what goes on around them. Read these two and be sure that you are not unconscious walking through life!

Most of you know, I reside outside Vancouver, and yesterday I went to Ambleside Park in the affluent community of West Vancouver to be part of the annual SPCA walk to raise money to prevent the cruelty to animals. Just so happened I watched a woman and her family do the walk, regular people I guess, husband, wife, two kids, two dogs, pretty typical. While some were walking I took the beach route and noticed hundreds of big, beautiful purple starfish on the beach and others noticed too because that's not that common of an occurrence. You see them here and there, but not hundreds all clustered together. See the picture in your head please.

Well after the walk, the very same woman who was walking to prevent cruelty came into the adjacent coffee shop and in her husband's ball cap she had two of the purple starfish from the shore. Now I love the oceans and I have over 350 scuba dives under my belt, so I couldn't conceive of the same person walking to save one animal and unconsciously killing another at the very same time. Unconscious or selfish choice?

It's West Van, go buy your own starfish! Anyway, I have a sneaking suspicion that the underlying cause of her selfishness was caused by abundance, perhaps what she saw as over abundance, and further thought well "taking" one or two of a thousand starfish who cares? Well the starfish for one (our two)? Had that been the only purple starfish on the beach and everyone looked at it in marvel, would she have taken it? Then what "entitled" her to be so selfish?

The true answer will never be known, but that was a choice she made. She also taught her kids that ending life and robbing the ocean is okay, and that was her choice too. She lived with a man who allowed it too, it's like that was her choice too if you know what I mean. And she had no remorse obviously for her selfishness, which of course too was a choice. I understand this is very judgmental of me, and that is my choice in all of this. I chose my choice to relate to you, and my filters could be all wrong too. She could have a monster fish tank at home and they might be better off there? I just struggled with the duality of raises money for one and killing the other.

That choice could be life (to the monster tank) or death (dry them out for decorations). But whatever the end result, do you see the power of her choice good or bad? I'm most certain you do. Now another short example. This one's a factoid or a "Did you know" kind of example.

Did you know that if there were a fire in a building and people yelled "Help!" that almost nobody would help them. And in a fire if someone yells "Fire!" almost everyone runs to the rescue? Why is that? It's because we, as people, don't want to get "involved." If you need help, there could be drama, and as a former associate of mine would say "You don't want to get any of that on you."

So what's the bottom line here, that if you are in a fire yell "Fire!" Well............ Ya, but there's obviously more to this blog than that. So what is choice? Many of you that know me know I am a dictionary freak and often look meanings up. In a world full of mutual mystification, I want to be certain that I am clear and understood. So without further ado, Webster's says its: 1. a selection, 2. the power to choose, 3. a person or thing chosen, 4. the best part, 5. a variety from which to choose and 6. an alternative. Well you pick what works best for you, I choose #2 for this blog.

Imagine that, even the choice of what choice means is a choice, huh. You may be asking yourself "So where are you going with this Coach Steve?" Well I wanted to point out that some choices are little like Ketchup or Mustard on your hot dog, and some are really, really important and far reaching. Like Scarcity or Abundance in YOUR Life? I'm not so concerned about your hot dog, so let's look at some tough dualities such as Happy or Not, Rich or Not, Healthy or Not, Committed or Not, Respected or Not, Integrity or Not, Career or Not, Relationship or Not, Children or Not, Passion or Not, Big Dreams or Not, Meaningful Work or Not, Travel or Not, you get the point.

Now I could have said Happy or Sad, Rich or Broke, Healthy or Fat, Committed or Lazy, Respected or Hated, Integrity or Lies, Career or Unsuccessful, Relationship or Alone, Children or Lonely, Passion or Passivity, Big Dreams or No Dreams, Meaningful work or lousy job, Travel or Stay Home. Why didn't I? Because everything is available to you in life as it is to me too!

You don't go for it! You play it safe. You may be in comfort zone. You don't dream. You think you aren't worthy. You play smaller than you know you can. You know you can, but you choose NOT. In the first example, such as Happy or Not, YOU keep choosing "Not" which makes you sad, but you are doing it to yourself, because you keep choosing "Not", or scarcity vs abundance.

That is the POWER of choice and the dramatic impact one wrong choice can have!

If you feel stuck or stooped in these basic choice groups, you MUST get yourself a coach to move you off that position, which you must already know does not server you or your family well at all.

Let's turn to positive. Imagine the choices some people have; Harvard or Stanford? Beachfront or High rise Condo? Mercedes or BMW? Cruise or Vacation? Greece or Spain? What are their choices like? What have they done different than you to "get to" make these choices (other than marry up)? Do you think they are lazy, unmotivated, stuck, angry, depressed, stopped, blaming, or that they even here or listen to the word "no" in their lives? Maybe, but I seriously doubt it.

What can you do inside your choices that would guarantee your success? Do you believe that whatever you put your mind to will occur? If yes, then what are you putting your mind too? If no, another vote for a coach. Because as Henry Ford whether you believe you will be a success or not, the answer is true, because we live into our belief system. That's why it is so important to examine our beliefs. If you belief was "Yes I can" vs "Not sure, or no I can't" then your choices would be a whole lot different now wouldn't they? Let me give you an example.

I most ALWAYS make my clients start with "declaring their Vision." Why? Because a huge percentage of us don't have one, and without one, then any direction will do. Do you think Warren Buffet would be where he was today with a vision of what he wanted to get from the Stock Market (the most volatile choices on the planet)? How about Bill Gates without direction, or Colin Powell without plans, or Oprah? Be serious will you, these are example of street smart people, not scholars who charted a course, albeit an uncharted course in the beginning, and now they look like heroes and some are, and it all started from their choices, pivotal choices.

They all had great reasons to quit, but they didn't. And you have great reasons to quit too. How do I know? Because we all have great reasons to quit, but your choices will either make you a fighter or a flighter, a dreamer or a doer, a winner or a loser, successful or mediocre, financially free or worried about the price of gas, food and utilities. This is your choice as it was theres'.

Are you looking at your choices (not your options), are you paying attention to whether your choices get you closer to or further from what you want? If they aren't good choices, make different choices, that's the beauty of choice, you can choose again, and again and again until you get it right, if you know how to get it right. If you don't again, you may need assistance. In coaching we realize that you are the expert of your life, but we are the expert of the process and when we marry the two you get the benefit of both, which adds up to an amazing life and all of that comes from a choice. A choice to be coached or a choice to avoid being coached.

It's your call now. It's up to you! You've read about choice and choices, and your time to act is now and the moment is here to make the best choice. Ready, set...

To Your Greater Success!

Thanx…SLK

A Unique Opportunity

How can we help with this? As you may know, I have set up a worldwide organization of coaches to assist people with the most persistent of challenges. These coaches have been hand picked by me, personally trained by myself as well and are held to the highest possible standards of delivery. You don’t have to go it alone and you don’t need to be ashamed or embarrassed about these challenges. We all face challenges! The question is “What will you do about it?” And we are here to help make sure you are Happier, Healthier and Financially FREE!

A Special Offer

Don’t tolerate this in your life! Our certified and extremely experienced coaches are masters at helping folks just like you. They deliver our coaching system consistently and with ease. You won’t even recognize yourself after being coached with us. We expect you will be happier, healthier and on your way to becoming financially free once you start your journey with us. And the only thing holding you back right now is you!

So, here is an offer that we think even you would say “I’d have to be absolutely crazy not to take you up on this offer and solve this challenge in my life once and for all.

So what’s the lesson here? The lesson is you don’t have to tolerate this any longer! Please, learn from other people’s failures by leveraging their painful lessons to your advantage so you don’t have to endure this hardship for another second. You can avoid many of the common mistakes almost every single person makes by having a coach nearby to help you navigate life.
You are at a crossroad if you have read down this far. Don’t bail on yourself now. Take Action!

About Coach Steve

Steven L. Keough or Coach Steve as he prefers is the Founder & CEO of his coaching company Straight Forward Coaching, an Internationally recognized coaching enterprise. Coach Steve operates four very busy companies: of course Straight Forward Coaching, CoachingProducts.org (North America), CoachingProductsInternational.org (Overseas Operations and Non-English Speaking Products), and finally Business Coach Alliance for the training of coaches to be better certified coaches. Yes, we actually train many of the coaches that most organizations will hire.

Steve is also a multiple book Author (5 at this time), Handbook Author (24 at this time), Home Learning Course Creator (4 at this time), Speaker, Trainer and Master Certified Coach himself, a product of the product, and most proud to be a Coaching Curriculum Developer, changing thousands, if not millions, of lives for the better with his materials. He has coaches people for nearly two decades and has amassed over 20,000 hours of coaching individuals and businesses! Certified in 12 different coaching distinctions, Coach Steve’s books are best-sellers and his materials have been translated into multiple languages and are available in over 100 countries!

Visit Coach Steve at www.stevekeough.com or call 1-888-341-Coach (2622).

The Right Questions

The Right Questions

By

Steven L. Keough a.k.a. Coach Steve (MC², MBA)


Who is challenging you with the "right" questions?

With a Life Coach (Personal Coaching) or Business Coach (Executive Coaching) on your side, I guarantee that you would be challenged by the "RIGHT" questions that a personal coach would be asking you. If I, Steve Keough, were your coach, as in my Top Gun Program, you would be extremely challenged! Top Guns are the top 1% of the people in our coach program.

The "right" questions concern me when it comes to people achieving "ALL" that they want from life. The reason for that is because most people, a full 90%, under-achieve. It's not intentional for most of us, it's just a proven fact (by the scientific community) that we only produce about 10% of what we are capable of producing, but why is that? It's because of the questions we ask. They demand answers that don't really stretch us to be all we can be.

Most of us are "playing to small", meaning there are both bigger and better things we could be achieving, but because we self govern in our freedom based society we play it safe and shoot for comfortable little accomplishments. And the worst part is that your very own brain plays a part in this. Your brain is hard-wired to protect you and keep you right where you are - in your comfort zone. So the brain panics when it thinks about stretching, especially really big stretches.

It's easy to play is safe and let your centurion (your brain) talk you out of certain things. For instance bungee jumping. That's a huge stretch for most, but you may first think either a. that is exciting or b. that's friggin nuts! In either case, you are willing to entertain the possibility of doing the jump. This is very significant too. Because how you do anything is how you do everything, so if you are completely shut off to doing it, that tells me you are limiting yourself in other areas too. And the part of your brain that rationalizes, right now is saying "He is nuts."

Perhaps I am, but I am very happy, very healthy and financially free, how about you? Now I'm not being sarcastic or braggadocios, because I wasn't always H,H&FF. There were many stretches over my eight year working on self span that I said "No way I'm doing that" then did every one. I wasn't crazy about all of them either, but I grew immensely from them all.

So what's this really about this questions trickery? It's about YOU being all you can be and YOU getting EVERYTHING you want from life, realizing nobody is going to hand it to you, YOU are going to have to do the work. And that work starts with the RIGHT questions. Now these questions are different for everyone, because each person is their own individual, so we put people through a series of steps (curriculum) of training-coaching, that opens them up to something different, something bigger, something bolder, something that will stretch YOU!

A "Stretch" as they are called is meaningless if it is too small. A stretch is designed to get you out of your comfort zone (or death zone as I call it) and have you play at a different level. You see once you stretch yourself, however you stretch, you can't go back to the old you because know YOU KNOW you are capable of more, so the trick is to find the next stretch.

We should always be stretching, but that's a challenge too, because again your centurion wants you to stay on the coach in comfort (and watch the world go by). So you may have to "Trick Yourself into Success." My good friend and fellow coach Peter Kraus (he coached me for a while too) explained why this brain trickery was so necessary. In short, because we are hard-wired to stay small and protected, we have to fake our brain out in order to move past most mediocrity. We have to conciously beat the system, by taking bold and courageous steps.

Because the brain cannot tell the different between the truth or a lie, you can lie to it as a measure of getting what you want, or trickery. But it will mess with you - that protective brain.

For instance, you think well I don't really want to Bungee Jump, but I've played it safe my whole life, so damn it, I'm gonna jump. The night before the jump you might not sleep because your brain is working overtime to stop (limit) you. The morning of, the brain involves the body and you shake nervously a little bit, then when you pull in to the Bungee site your stomach sinks and you think I must be nuts to do this. And trust me, when you look down from that platform your brain will want you to crap a coconut! But your at a critical point in your life then, jump or don't?

Will you back down like you always have, the centurion wins, and you are jailed to a life of 10% and mediocrity or jump, scare the shat out of your brain and grow like never before? Your choice! Use it wisely. I use an extreme example like a bungee jump to get you to understand and see what I mean, but the brain does not know the difference between the stretch of jumping or the stretch of leaving a boring, uninspiring job (but the centurion still wants no changes for you).

Because we "Self-Govern" in this free world (other than breaking laws) we have "choices" so the only thing that can hold us back in this world is us. We are too smart for ourselves sometimes. The brain always sees everything as a risk and tolerates low level risks like crossing the street and messes with your head on supposed high level risks such as airplane travel. But the brain doesn't have all the facts in its irrational limiting of your life. For instance, on a typical long (3-day) weekend 50 people are killed in motor vehicle accidents, EVERY long weekend. In that same long weekend, airplanes have crashed only ONCE ever. But your brain worries more about a flight, or worse, creates FEAR (false evidence appearing real) where some wont even get on the plane at all. Yes I've had to go on a flight with some of my clients as life skills coaching!

You brain thinks it's better to keep going to your lousy job and paying the existing bills (which data shows 60% of people are over their heads in debt). Is that a trap or what? To me that is jail! But it is jail with bars only right in front of you, there is nothing to either side or the back, yet you sit imprisoned by your brain (doubts, worries & fears). As my good friend Cliff Yaguchi would say "Step Left." Yes, step around it and continue your life, or sit in prison indefinitely.

What are the best questions? Well too many for a blog for sure, but I can tell you this, we know that anyone and everyone who goes though our system has to navigate what I can the "21 Building Blocks of Success" and if you would like a copy of the handout for this, simply email me for a complimentary copy. When you have navigated all 21 building blocks, you will have asked yourselves hundreds of questions, the right questions, and some many times over. But at the end of the day, you are a step closer to the life of your dreams rather than behind the self-imposed bars or brain imposed bars. It's tough to do without help and support.

It is not easy to trick yourself into success because it takes a whole new level of discipline and many people who come into our coaching programs don't have any level of discipline, never mind a whole new, stronger level of conviction, designed to trick their brains into shattering the limits.

You may need an action coach, or a career coach or a life skills coach for this. Perhaps a free coaching session could help you? Or maybe a few coaching products or self help books to get that straight forward coaching you desire. I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you that Grants are available for businesses and Rebates are available for individuals and families. It's not likely you get rich quick, an executive business coaching program may be needed or life coaching may be needed to help you break through to the next level and leave the jail bars behind. Choose!

Imagine all the ways that you could benefit if you were able to control your brain in such a way that you could shut it off on demand as needed, not permanently, because there are times when you need it to protect you and you don't want to lose that safety. But at certain times, such as when you are making promises to yourself, making commitments to others and setting stretch goals for your life, those would be the ideal to put the brain machinery into neutral.

So I ask you again. "Who will ask you the RIGHT questions?" You see the way you are going now, you may answer all the wrong questions correctly rather than asking all the right (more difficult) questions of yourself. It's not likely you'll do that by yourself at all, and even if you did, you likely wont get it right as this is a practice that requires guidance and familiarity to get it right. So who will help you? Who will stretch you to the NEXT level? Who knows the right questions to ask? Who will hold you to the answers after you are questioned, especially when your brain gets involved and starts making everything safe and secure, limiting the heck out of everything you want from life. Are you capable of more? I'd venture to say yes. Do you care? Who will hold you 100% Accountable and not tolreate excuses or BS?

That only you can answer, However, if you answered YES, then you realize there is more to life than you have experienced and there is more to life that you desire. How will you get all that? You may benefit from coaching, but if you answered yes, you must try something different. The last thing you want to be haunted with is a life of regrets. That is a jail sentence.

We all have "life-long intentions", things we have always wanted to do and if you have done ALL of them great, but if you haven't you may regret that later. If you are living a life of happiness, health and financial freedom and that is your result CONSISTENTLY, you may have unlocked these lessons and are applying them to you life. Congratulations! If you haven't yet and your result is a mediocre existence, a little bit of money and infrequent moments of happiness, or worse a memory of happiness, not such great health and you are still pretty far away from financial freedom you absolutely must take action, then I would encourage you to now "step left!"

To Your Greater Success!

All the Best to YOU and your families…Coach SLK

ps.... Visit my website at www.stevekeough.com to request your copy of the 21 Building Blocks of Success.

Mind, Body & Spirit

Mind, Body and Spirit
By
Steven L. Keough a.k.a. Coach Steve (MC², MBA)

Did You Rest, Relax and Rejuvenate over the Long Weekend?

Once you understand how important that is for your mind, body and spirit, and after some coaching perhaps, you'd learn to take a three day weekend EVERY weekend.

What would life be like if you were to work just Tuesday, Wednesday and half of Thursday, that's what I do! Why? The connection of the mind, body and spirit are so critically important to being happy that you have to do all that you can to feed your brain positive messages to STAY happier, healthier and financially free!

The connection between mind, body and spirit and rest, relax and rejuvenate is very interesting. The mind needs to rest, especially to continue to be creative. The body needs to relax for greater health and the spirit needs to rejuvenate, perhaps with a walk near a beach or in the woods, but you have to have time for that and not just work-work-work.

Let's first look at the mind and the rest. If you are in a business or work, such as mine, where the mind is used constantly thinking and creating, you must create environments of peace and tranquility to rest the mind. This is why so many writers head off to cabins to do their writings. I personally prefer the beach, but it is the lapping of the waves for me that gets me creating. Whether it is a cabin or the beach, the point here is that the restful environment is the space to create. Given you may not be a writer, your mind still needs rest for whatever you exercise it from in the course of a week, month and quarter to avoid burnout.

The burnout "feeling" comes from doing unfulfilling work, or non stop work, which both create pressure and the lack of fulfillment has you constantly asking why, taxing you brain and putting your mind into overwhelm, and then it screams for a break or rest.

The body acts similarly when you don't relax it properly. You get body aches for no reason, your joints aren't as limber and in some cases stiffen up, or you get mild cramping. This is your body calling out to you for a break. In extreme cases anxiety attacks and mild heart attacks can occur and in the worst case scenario a stroke could occur, which could be devastating. Bottom line; your body needs a break. This is why we are advised to only workout 4 or 5 days a week, to add some RECOVERY time into the mix. That is in essence what I mean when I say relax.

Some people go straight from working long and hard at work, to working on the yard, or working with the kids, or working a second job, or even third job??? I hope you have a plan for the cash from job two and or job three, otherwise that cash will be gone and you are killing yourself too!

Why do this? Why put your mind and your body through the turmoil? Wouldn't it make more sense to figure out a better or different way? Eventually your body will show you the signs of stopping this madness before your mind will. Your mind is just a machine that supports you along the way, it just runs with what you tell it to do, it doesn't know yes from no, do it don't do it, right from wrong. It just processes the info you give it and stores certain things away for later usage into your protective memory so it can be your guardian or centurion later.

The body however will "break down." It will work for you for so long and then rather than all out quit on you, it signals you to "slow down" as some people call it. Really it is saying relax, take a break, I need a break. And if you listen and in fact relax, you get to use it again, usually even stronger than before the relaxation, but if you don't relax, well that is another story isn't it.

And now spirit. Spirit or spirituality for me is co-creating. I believe in God (you could believe in Buddha or The Big Bang Theory or whatever you believe) so their is a higher power, the creator of my world. But I get to co-create! Why? Not in a Godlike way, but in a "this is my life" kind of way. I get to create my future but I am unable to do that with the best judgment and discernment unless I frequently rejuvenate my spirit. I have a happy go lucky spirit and when I don't take the time to rejuvenate, that happy go lucky spirit gets tired and sees negative things it otherwise doesn't see. Instead of seeing the forest and the trees, I might see the pine beetle devastation. Instead of seeing crystal clear streams, I see the trash on the banks, instead of looking out over the beach's horizon line, I see the smoke pollution from a boat's gas engine. I star to see the wrong things, the wrong orientation, which throws my spirit completely off.

Over this long FORCED weekend, I was conscious of all three things: resting, relaxing and rejuvenating. So what did I do? It doesn't have to be some doctor approved plan, just a variance in the work routines. For the rest portion I slept til 9 or 10am all three days instead of getting up at 530am as I usually do. The extra sleep does wonders for everything: body, mind, cells, skin, bones, organs, everything. That little adjustment was enough to get the added rest that I need. And how do I know? I woke up feeling stronger and stronger each day and today, Tuesday, I feel like Hercules, ready for any challenge; mental or physical, I am 100% ready to go!

How about relaxation? Well after about 20 hours on PS3 games, I also watched a few movies, had a bottle of wine with my sweetheart both Saturday and Sunday, went in the hot-tub each day and played with the dogs (three English Setters) and raked the dog run. All very much fun!

And for rejuvenation? When you are in the intellectual property business and you are the creator of the "property" the best thing you can do for your creativity is to walk away. So other than two emails I sent (because I don't even look at email during the 4.5 day weekends) which took maybe four minutes, I didn't work or think at all. And again I feel good about my first work task after the holiday, writing this blog post.

Many years of transformational work on myself (about eight actually) finally taught me what works for me and what doesn't. All of this is possible for you to as well. So either you learn this stuff on your own (which takes forever), or a coach leads you to it (thank God) or you suffer for a lifetime of work-work-work, no rest - no relaxation - no rejuvenation, and what suffers is your mind (not happy), your body (not healthy) and your spirit (you are not free in ANY way). This is far what we teach, having a life of abundance and opulent life. Get the coach you need to help you! Don't forget grants and rebates are available for individuals and businesses to pay for it.

How can you benefits from this lesson? Are you resting properly and frequently enough? Are you relaxing your body so both your body and your mind get strong again? Are you ready for the next challenge because you are rejuvenated and ready to begin a new and exciting endeavor?

Are you on the path to freedom? That path being to start the journey to be happier, healthier and financially free in your life? Is abundance possible? Is opulent comfort with reach? The answer to all of these is yes if you choose them, but they won't come easy and they won't show up on their own either. A long weekend is an opportunity to reflect. Did you? Particularly on Labor Day! The idea is to recognize and acknowledge labor, but not to work!

There are four months left to your 2008, have you created your plan to start living the life you dreamed of or are you saying "Holy crap it is September already, where did this year go?" If you said that and are not on the path to freedom, you could be wasting you life away. I'd like to create URGENCY in you and your life RIGHT NOW!!! Accidents happen, people die, and if you are just puttering through life as though you will be here forever, you are DEAD wrong!!!

You mind, body and spirit call out to you for rest, relation and rejuvenation, this is one time that you want to listen to that little voice in your head. It';s a warning sign that you need to TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF and everything else will just have to wait. And it will. Trust me, it will be there waiting for your return. But you will return stronger to face it, and in the face of that, with your new found strength, the things that seemed to large and insurmountable are reduced to tiny tasks with little or know thought because you are rested, relaxed and rejuvenated - How Cool!!!

To Your Greater Success!

Thanx…SLK

A Unique Opportunity

How can we help with this? As you may know, I have set up a worldwide organization of coaches to assist people with the most persistent of challenges. These coaches have been hand picked by me, personally trained by myself as well and are held to the highest possible standards of delivery. You don’t have to go it alone and you don’t need to be ashamed or embarrassed about these challenges. We all face challenges! The question is “What will you do about it?” And we are here to help make sure you are Happier, Healthier and Financially FREE!

A Special Offer

Don’t tolerate this in your life! Our certified and extremely experienced coaches are masters at helping folks just like you. They deliver our coaching system consistently and with ease. You won’t even recognize yourself after being coached with us. We expect you will be happier, healthier and on your way to becoming financially free once you start your journey with us. And the only thing holding you back right now is you!

So, here is an offer that we think even you would say “I’d have to be absolutely crazy not to take you up on this offer and solve this challenge in my life once and for all.

So what’s the lesson here? The lesson is you don’t have to tolerate this any longer! Please, learn from other people’s failures by leveraging their painful lessons to your advantage so you don’t have to endure this hardship for another second. You can avoid many of the common mistakes almost every single person makes by having a coach nearby to help you navigate life.
You are at a crossroad if you have read down this far. Don’t bail on yourself now. Take Action!

About Coach Steve

Steven L. Keough or Coach Steve as he prefers is the Founder & CEO of his coaching company Straight Forward Coaching, an Internationally recognized coaching enterprise. Coach Steve operates four very busy companies: of course Straight Forward Coaching, CoachingProducts.org (North America), CoachingProductsInternational.org (Overseas Operations and Non-English Speaking Products), and finally Business Coach Alliance for the training of coaches to be better certified coaches. Yes, we actually train many of the coaches that most organizations will hire.

Steve is also a multiple book Author (5 at this time), Handbook Author (24 at this time), Home Learning Course Creator (4 at this time), Speaker, Trainer and Master Certified Coach himself, a product of the product, and most proud to be a Coaching Curriculum Developer, changing thousands, if not millions, of lives for the better with his materials. He has coaches people for nearly two decades and has amassed over 20,000 hours of coaching individuals and businesses!
Certified in 12 different coaching distinctions, Coach Steve’s books are best-sellers and his materials have been translated into multiple languages and are available in over 100 countries!

Visit Coach Steve at www.stevekeough.com or call 1-888-341-Coach (2622).