Fortune Favors The Bold.

"Audentes Fortuna Juvat" (in Latin). There are many articles dissecting this simple phrase - some good and some way off base.

Here’s my take — to get where you want to go in life, you have to take chances, step out of your comfort zone, and sometimes do things that scare you. When you do these things, you create opportunities and options that were previously unattainable or unknown to you.

That’s my definition of bold — taking calculated and decisive action when most people do the same old thing and wonder why their circumstances stay the same…

• It’s asking for that promotion and raise after you show your boss clear evidence of your outstanding performance.

• It’s raising your fees in your business when you know you’re delivering top-tier service to your clients.

• It’s interviewing at another company because you want a change and/or increase your salary/benefits.

When you are bold, fortune (opportunity and options) reveal themselves.

It’s Monday - I want you to do one bold action today — even if it’s small — let’s bring Fortune into your life.

What's Holding You Back? You Are.

I start all workshops and coaching relationships with the discussion of Limiting Beliefs. Why? In life, we run into so many external obstacles. People, institutions, rules, regulations, and hierarchies all play major roles in our life. They get in our way, they make us stumble, we get frustrated, and we give up. They win.

The more insidious of life's obstacles are your internal obstacles. I've broken them down into manageable chunks to allow you to understand them and to hopefully assess and ameliorate each one. When I think of limiting beliefs in my life, I call them life's 'Little Stinkers'. Here they are:

What We've Learned

These are the 'hard-wired' internal obstacles that are drilled into us from an early age. 'Don't do this' and 'you can't do that' play a major part in our learning process. We might have parents, siblings, teachers, and other adults in our life telling us what is right and wrong. Not that it's a bad thing — it's important to do — but sometimes they say certain things that are seared in our personality.

Examples: "They're out of your league" "No one can get an A in that class" "You're not artistic" "You can't sing"

What We've Experienced

These are the myriad of personal experiences when we've tried to step out of our bubble and try new things. And they don't go well. We try something new once or take a big step out of our comfort zone and fail. We revert back to a safe spot and constantly repeat to ourselves that we shouldn't go there — it's a waste of time.

Examples: "We shouldn't go there" "We can't do it" "It's not in our DNA" "I'd be happier staying the same"

What We Think/Fear

This is the third level of limiting beliefs. Take what we've learned and what we've experienced, mix them together, and you end up here. These are all the limiting beliefs we have in our head and we project them all into the future. We mentally scare and hold ourselves back from learning new things, experiencing new practices, and meeting new people.

Examples: "If I do it, I will fail" "This will be a futile exercise" "They won't like me" "They will laugh at me" "I will lose a lot of money"

What We Dodge

This is the lazy limiting belief. We get stuck or complacent in our limiting belief world and feel this is all I need to do. We take the other three limiting beliefs and let our procrastination, laziness, and distractions kick in to hold us back.

Examples: "This has worked all my life" "It's good enough" "My job is fine" (I hate the word fine) "I don't have the time"

Conclusion

If you let these limiting beliefs win, you will NEVER get the opportunity to change your life, your situation, your work, your abilities, your friendships, and possibly increase your happiness. I find if you just stay static in your life and career, you won't be happy for long. So start looking in the mirror and start eliminating those internal obstacles!

Great Business Lessons From The Movies – Working Girl.

Let's zip back to 1988 and watch one of my favorite Harrison Ford movies . . . Working Girl! Yes, I know, Working Girl. I love this movie — it's a romantic comedy directed by Mike Nichols. It tells the inspiring story of Tess, a secretary, played by Melanie Griffith, who works in the mergers and acquisitions department of a Wall Street investment bank.

When her boss, Sigourney Weaver, breaks her leg skiing, Tess uses her absence and connections, including Weaver's boyfriend, Harrison Ford, to put forward her idea for a merger deal.

I can't believe it's 26 years old. So let's go to the business lessons:

Image Gets Your Foot In The Door.

Tess is a secretary — and back in 1988, there was a distinctive separation how secretaries and executives dressed. So she changes her whole wardrobe to fit in with the big guns.

What do you wear every day? First (and subsequent) impressions play a huge part with everyone you meet and interact with. Where do you dress with your peers? Do you wear t-shirts and shorts? Jeans?

If you want to play with the big boys and girls, you need to dress like them. Pay attention to what they wear — compliment their shirt, jacket, blouse and find out where they shop. Imitation is the sincerest form of getting ahead.

If you don't know what to wear, go here — Boys click here — Girls click here.

Who You Know Is As Important As What You Know.

Tess instantly realizes and proceeds to introduce herself to higher ranking people to get ahead.

Who do you hang around with? Who do you talk to? How's it working for you so far?

If you want to get ahead, move up and play with the adults, you need to begin to connect with other groups of influential people. Read this.

Getting Ahead Involves Taking Risks.

Throughout the movie, Tess takes calculated chances to get ahead, She absconds with her boss' wardrobe, crashes weddings, and barges into meetings.

I'm not saying for you to do that (it's a movie) — but you should step out on the ledge every so often to not only see the view, but to also move your career ahead — turbo style.

Get invited to that meeting, reach out to the dream client you always wanted to work with, ask for the business instead of shutting up. Take a chance every day.

You'll Never Know Where A Great Idea Might Come From.

Tess gets her brainstorm from reading her daily newspaper's gossip column and puts two-and-two together. It ultimately brings together two media titans and gives her a new job.

How do you get your ideas? When was the last time you pitched a new idea to your boss or client? A new product, offering or service?

You need to take a chance sometimes and tell other people — important people — influential people — your ideas. Read this.

Be Ready, In Case Opportunity Knocks.

As the scouts always say - Be Prepared. 

Get your ideas in order. Get your style in order. Get your connections in order. Start taking risks. Because in the near future, someone will be knocking at your door.

Are you ready to answer it? To let them into your business? To sell them on an idea?

You only have one chance — time to make sure you can make it happen. Like this.

Do you like Working Girl? What other lessons did you get from it?

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. Which rule resonated clearly with your career? Which one made you think twice? Let's talk. I've worked with a number of clients — and we developed a successful strategy to grow your career exponentially. If you’re not a client . . . pick up the phone and call me — I offer only one complimentary session each week.