Tag Archives: linda yates coaching

Goal Setting

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Goal Setting Impossible

What do you really want? What passions drive your actions? Where do you want to be in 5 years? In 10 years? What steps have you taken to get there?

There is a lot of information out there about goal setting. If you haven’t read a book on goal setting I would encourage you to do so. Some individuals in the world have never set a goal in their life. The magic of goal setting is that it gives you a purpose. By having that purpose, you are able to craft the life and business you desire.

The following are five practices I have implemented in my life to accomplish my own goals. I would encourage you to read them and begin applying them to your own aspirations.

1. Write goals down
2. Look at them every day
3. Write the goal in a positive, personal, and present tense.
4. Assign a date to have the goal completed
5. Have an accountability partner

Having goals that inspire you will create a passion and fire to accomplish them. Sometimes it can be easy to fall into the trap of achieving others’ goals instead of your own. Being clear about what you really want to accomplish will open the doorway to achieving more than you ever thought possible.

This has happened to me on numerous occasions. One of the most inspirational goals for me to achieve was to cross every state’s border in the United States and complete a run. Why this was such an amazing goal for me to achieve was it utilized deep strategic planning skills. Being creative financially in order to make that goal happen was challenging and fun at the same time. Pushing myself further and harder than I thought I could was also a great blessing. Lastly the feeling of accomplishment after running in my 50th state. It was exhilarating knowing that I did something hard and achieved a milestone in my life.

One of the ways I kept myself motivated was by tracking my progress on a map. After I ran in each state I would put a pin on the map to mark it off. I ran 40 of those states in 2 ½ years. It was an amazing experience.

What do you really want? Setting goals for what you desire is the next step to achieving success and realizing the potential you hold in your hand.

Mastering Body Language

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Body Language is a fascinating topic. Have you ever noticed that it is fun to watch others, imitate and may I dare say make fun of them? However, when it comes to our own individual body language, we have blinders on what our non-verbals are saying to others. By mastering our own individual body language we are able to uncover our potential.

Little things such as fidgeting, playing with your hair, or slouching are all indicators of how we view our self and what we are communicating to the outside world. The more confident you are the more your body will communicate that feeling to yourself and others. By changing how we hold our bodies we can change how productive and successful we are.

Take the next 15 minutes and observe the following:

1. What are you doing with your legs?
2. Are you slumping in a chair or sitting with your back straight?
3. Look at others around you – notice their posture
4. Notice those whose hands are clasped or touching their neck
5. What about your facial expressions? Do you look pleasant or stern a majority of the time?

Being aware of our body and how we are holding it as we work throughout the day, network at events, or present in a boardroom, will provide a framework on how we can improve our ability to communicate more effectively. Oftentimes our non-verbal language is killing our ability to persuade and influence. Influence is not just for the outside world. Scientists have found that what you do with your body influences your inside mental and emotional world.

By being clear about what your body language is saying to others you will be more equipped to make the changes you need to increase your confidence, obtain higher productivity and achieve a more positive mental framework. Your body language is key to reaching your goals!

74% Fear Public Speaking

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Glossophobia is the fear of public speaking. The National Institute of Mental Health found that 74% of the population fear public speaking. That statistic is huge! I would love to hear if you share this fear. If you do, what techniques do you use to manage that fear?

A few months ago, I was hired to consult with a client who suffers from extreme stage fright. I told them that the secret to managing this fear is to work with it rather than fight it.

Here are some tips that I have found useful as I speak:

1. Take the anxiety and turn it into energy. This has been referred to as taking the butterflies and making them fly in formation. They are still there but directing their energy gives you power.

2. Deliver your speech as if it were a gift that you are giving. Visualizing your performance as if it were a present that you have been excited to share turns the focus from your nerves to being excited to share.

3. Practice. Being prepared is critical to managing your fear. The more you practice the more comfortable and conversational your speech will become. Practice giving your speech to your dog or kids.

4. Exercising. Getting your blood flowing is a great way to manage the fear.

5. Visualization. See yourself receiving applause. See your audience smiling at you. See yourself smiling back. Great performances start off in the mind.

It doesn’t matter if this is your first speech or your 50th. These tips will empower you to deliver an engaging presentation. I know that you are more powerful than you can imagine.

If I can assist you in tapping into that power please contact me via our contact form. Glossophobia doesn’t have to hold you back in achieving your dreams!

Image: Big Heart on Fire

Kicking Email Time Management Blues

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email-overload101

Do you feel overwhelmed with your email inbox? Perhaps you have experienced email time management blues. I have! Kicking these blues seems to be a journey rather than a one-time event.

Comments from friends such “Linda, only touch things once.” I know this deep down but putting it into practice is a little difficult from me. My inbox can get up to a 1,000 emails pretty quickly.

One of the practices that I am trying to implement is to NOT look at my email every few minutes. Putting my iphone aside and turning off Outlook when I’m working on other projects helps me cut the distraction of email.

I am a big believer in responding to all email. One of the values I employ is to be responsive to my clients. That is one of the ways I energize my image. Balancing being responsive and productive seems to be the catalyst to effective email time management.

Another trick is setting aside times in the day to deal with email. That one takes discipline. One of my latest practices has been to group emails that are non-essential and delete. Having email folders is a great way to keep organized. Filtering email is also a huge help. Now, if I could only figure out how to do that on my Macbook with Outlook…

I would love to hear your best practices to email time management.

The Image Energizer

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A few months ago I was meeting with a colleague of mine while at Starbucks and discussing my quest for clarity with regard to my brand. Pretty comical that I coach and consult on branding and yet would struggle to determine my focused message.

She told me at the meeting that it would come to me. I have to admit I am extremely impatient, just ask my kids! I am the type of person that likes to check off my to-do list and get it done. Thinking and wrestling about what my brand should be was a big undertaking and had tears of frustration that accompanied the process.

Then one morning after tossing idea after idea with my husband, children, advisory team and even siblings, the message crystalized to The Image Energizer. This has been such a big AHA for me. Once it came, it felt right and at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if anyone else approves.

I realize that this journey of clarification is a process and embodies my life’s work, passion and opportunity. I will be sharing more about what this means and how you can benefit in the next few months.

Today, I am really grateful for answers to prayers, the path of challenge and an incredible team that supports. The journey creates the fabric of success and opportunity. What is it that you need clarity on? Reach out and let’s explore together.

Opportunity To Serve

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Priorities sometimes shift. That would be why I haven’t had the opportunity to write a blog post for a couple of months. I did however have the opportunity to serve members of my faith and community for a 3-month period. This was totally voluntary and sacrifices were made.

In this experience and opportunity to serve I learned several things that I would like to share:

1. How you greet others on your team impacts your day. Each day that I was training tour guides for the LDS Fort Lauderdale Temple Open House new tour guides would come on each shift. I found that my attitude set the tone for the entire shift. It was critical to greet each guide with love and warmth. It may be a little thing to greet someone with a smile – but that may be the only smile they get the entire day.

2. Keeping a sense of humor. Throughout the weeks of serving I was outside in the mid afternoon sunshine. There were a couple of days that weather came in. One in particular we started experiencing thunder and lightning and was told by security to move out of the structures we were using as they weren’t grounded. This inconvenience of having to run to my car in the downpour of rain ruined a pair of shoes and freaked some of our team out. Rather than letting the emotion or fear take over keeping a sense of humor is critical to keep everyone in a positive mindset.

3. Enjoying the moment. Taking time away from my business was a sacrifice. It was also however an incredible life changing and more than likely once in a life experience. These tour guides that I trained provided tours to over 55,000 individuals in South Florida. It was an amazing experience. And now as I fondly look back I’m grateful for each amazing moment and the incredible people that I had the pleasure of working with.

4. Finding something bigger than myself. When we invest ourselves in causes for good we trigger a greatness that we can only imagine. Often times we may be hesitant to push our shoulder to the wheel in worthwhile efforts. Through this experience I gave really a drop of time in the far-reaching impact that the events created. Lessons learned will be guiding principles throughout my journey.

5. Body language of 12-18 year olds never lie. Having the opportunity to work with 1200 youth was a great study in furthering my research of what body language communicates. Their bodies speak louder than words could ever speak. It was evident when they were bored, uncomfortable or having a great time.

These lessons learned can be applied to business and personal activities. When given the opportunity to serve I may go in the experience thinking that I will be giving such great value but the amazing result is how much more I gain.

Serving is one of the best kept secrets to having a happy and prosperous life!

Linda’s Tips: How Color Influences Us

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Color has more power than we realize. Color influences the way we feel and how others see us and how we see ourselves. There is an energy that is emitted from the various colors all around us.

Have you ever noticed that when you walk into a room that is painted in a light baby blue tone that it feels cooler than walking into a room that is painted yellow. The energy the color puts off is tangible and used in all the marketing around us.

What are the colors you wearing saying about you? What do you want spoken about you? Color has great power and influence. It can recharge your mind, give you clarity or make your heart beat faster.

Take time to visit your closet and your marketing materials today to gage what the colors that are in your wheelhouse saying to the world.

Thanks for watching Linda’s tips. These tips will assist you in uncovering, realizing and accomplishing your potential. Sign up today for our FREE Newsletter! www.LHYatesconsulting.com

Getting your hands dirty

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In order to be an effective leader, you need to be willing to get your hands dirty. Jordan Zimmerman in his book Leading Fearlessly states “… I don’t have to master every skill; I just need to understand them.”

In leading your team, they need to know your expectations. They need to see that you are not above “getting your hands dirty” if needed to accomplish what is expected. Whatever it takes is the attitude of the top leaders. The top leader isn’t always top management.

Years ago, I worked for a CEO in a small business with 4 employees. This CEO was going through a business transition. While going through this stressful time, he hurt his back. Because I saw his vision for the company and believed in it – I sacrificed my will and put aside the attitude of “that’s not in my job description” and went to work in creating as much value as I possibly could. Still to this day, he credits me with the praise that I was the one who kept his business going.

I knew a job had to be done – the company needed my energy, devotion and loyalty. It was rewarding to put aside my pride and add deep lasting value. A true leader will recognize your sacrifice. A true leader is willing to sacrifice all to reach a goal.

You can lead today in whatever situation you are in. Put aside pride and go to work. You will be respected and more opportunities will come your way. An effective leader understands that when things are going great – it took teamwork to drive success and the leader credits the team. You have the power within you to achieve more than you every thought possible.

Lead out and on!

Head Trash

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Head Trash - You can eliminate it!

Head Trash – You can eliminate it!

This past week I was networking with a gentleman that admitted he was nervous to get on stage and present to a group of donors and CEOs of major companies in the area. He mentioned that he wasn’t usually nervous to speak in front of groups that were half the size. As he was speaking I was able to change his state by telling him this was head trash.

What are you allowing in your head? You have more power than you realize in controlling your thoughts and reactions to those thoughts. Here are some keys to make certain you are eliminating head trash:

1. Not buying into negative thinking – when you start thinking that you can’t; turn that thought around to “what if” – what if is a possibility statement. Success could be on the other side of that question. My brother shared a great quote he saw “You Can If You will.”

2. Reflect on a past success – when you begin to doubt, go back into your memory bank to a success you experienced. Think about what was going on in your head and copy those feelings and emotions.

3. Take the anxiety and turn it into excitement – rather than stamping out the fear use it to power through the head trash.

We are capable of more than we realize. Just as an athlete trains to make a touchdown or win a race, it all starts in our head. Don’t let head trash stop you from achieving your goals and experiencing opportunities that could move you to the next level. Your winning edge is just a thought away.

Quashing Self Doubt

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Have you ever had a dream or a goal but self doubt held you back? I have been thinking a lot about this lately. One of my coaching clients delivered a speech on “Starve the Doubts” recently. As we working on this speech, he was struggling with self doubts about competing in an upcoming speech competition. The very topic was starting to trip him up.

I have found that when I start doubting myself that is the time to push past my comfort zone. Magic happens when you push the zone. If we let self doubt dictate how we run our business or live our life we are short changing our opportunity for success. It is in the journey that success is realize. Quash self doubt and you will be tapping into your winning edge.

The next time you start to doubt yourself – push on, push through and success will be yours.