Who are among the most confident people you know? What do you think accounts for their high level of confidence? How do you see yourself in terms of confidence?

Confidence – and especially supreme confidence – is a magical topic. Confidence has a huge influence on all personal and professional results. An unknown author said, “The best way to gain self-confidence is to do what you are afraid to do.”

What if that’s the secret of having supreme confidence? Clearly, we’re not talking about jumping off of cliffs. But we are talking about what Joseph Campbell called “following our bliss,” and being willing to take risks for what and who we love.

How have you increased or decreased your level of self-confidence in your own life? What factors work for you? What have worked against you?

Goal setting is widely taught and discussed with varying degrees of effectiveness. No matter your stage of life or profession, you are a goal setter. This week, we’ll discuss the core distinctions of goal setting as a means of maximizing your results.

We’ve all heard it before, yet most have ignored it: WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS! Statistics vary, but it’s clear that writing down your goals increases the likelihood of their happening by somewhere between 50 and 90 percent – just by writing them down.

That list of goals is obviously much more specific than free floating ideas in your head. You increase your focus and intention by putting goals in writing.

Check this against your own experience: has it been true for you that you’re more likely to accomplish goals if you write them down? Where do you write them? How many are there? What is the level of detail in your goals?

Consider setting aside time today to write down your goals for use as this week’s program continues. You will have an opportunity to build on your written goals throughout the week.

Increasingly, we live in an environment where everyone is a de facto entrepreneur – even if one has a salary. Our economy is trending toward ever more individual responsibility for career choices; and people are changing jobs and careers more than ever – and, obviously, often not because they want to do so.

One of the most basic ways to increase your income as either an employee or a principal is to identify a proven activity that, with consistent application, builds momentum over time and causes an increase in business. The classic example is to make one new business call per day. That’s 20 calls per month talking to someone new – 20 unique conversations. Depending on your business, results could range from good to off-the-charts spectacular.

What are some of your favorite ways to grow income in this economy? How has your business or employer addressed the issue of business development in the last 6 -12 months?

There is a store near my home that has in its display windows in letters six-feet high: “HOPE IS A VERB.” Those words caused me to look up “hope” as a verb – and it appears to me to be the intersection of expecting, wishing and being optimistic. Clearly, “hope as a verb” implies action.

I wondered: Can hope ever be passive and be a verb? What does “hoping as a verb” look like or feel like? What are they trying to say with that message in the window?

Someone mentioned in Study Hall on Monday that Christopher Reeve said, “Once you choose hope, anything is possible.” Hope, in that context is an active choice in favor of particular results . . . . and in favor of limitless possibility.

How often are your hopes backed by action? What needs to happen to make “hope a verb” that we can all use in service of having lives that work brilliantly on all levels? Is there any truth to, “I hope; therefore, I am”?

Copyright 2009. E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.

Getting insight about how to expand personal productivity needn’t be complicated. Each of us is surrounded by people who can give us valuable feedback.

Asking “How can I be more productive” may feel risky because you may fear that you’re opening yourself up to criticism . . . . . and that you may be hurt.

Conversely, depending on YOUR attitude, you may find that receiving frank, constructive feedback feels useful and, well, “productive.” Be in a mindset that you won’t take anything that is said to you personally, that you’ll only hear the positive intent, and you’ll refrain from judging or shaming yourself or others.

Everyone can improve, and our business colleagues, friends, family members, customers – almost everyone who knows us – can provide intelligence for us that we may have been unable or unwilling to see.

Be particularly curious as you solicit the opinions of those whom you perceive have less power than you – children, students, employees, vendors and the like. Assure them that their feedback can be frank as long as it’s constructive.

And then listen without interrupting. Ask for clarification if desired. Don’t defend. This is a learning exercise. Take the information and assess its value. Experiment with it and utilize it to grow.

Most of all, have fun! The payoff promises to be significantly enhanced productivity and results.

Copyright 2009. E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.

What is personal productivity? Getting more done . . . . . in less and less time? Partially correct. Productivity is directly tied to the purpose of what you’re doing. The more what you’re doing is vital to your ultimate success, the more you’re being productive.

The best definition for “productive” in this context is: “Yielding favorable or useful results.” The ultimate measure of productivity is STRATEGIC YIELD.

By definition, “busy work” is not productive. High-yield action tends to be related to significant, long-term goals . . . meaning results that actually change your business and personal life.

How many high-yield hours, on average, do you have in an average day? What would it take to experience a significant improvement – or even a dramatic improvement – in the number of high-yield hours? What can you delegate or eliminate to make yourself more productive?

Copyright 2009. E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.

In law, events beyond our control are called “acts of God” or “force majeure.” Working with our topic of starting over, we considered the topic generally . . . then how we can start over ourselves . . . and how we can allow others to start over.

So, today: what about those pesky circumstances beyond our control? And their “first cousins,” the decisions we made long ago that may have continued to “haunt” us to the present. Decisions made by others that have impacted our lives, as we perceive it, negatively. All of these are fuel for lingering regret and remorse if not fully processed.

Starting over means releasing those events, decisions and dynamics. They have already occurred. We can’t un-do the past, but we can start over and assess where we are as regarding these issues.

Today would be an excellent day to put to rest all concern for things that already happened . . . especially long ago . . . so that the day is open to joy. They’re already gone. Start over today!

We want to be able to have a long list at the end of day when we ask, “What brought me joy today?”

Releasing old events, patterns and decisions increases joy . . . AND . . . remember, starting over is a strategic advantage in manifesting the results that you want today!

Copyright 2009. E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.

This week: STARTING OVER.

When I ran my first marathon it wasn’t planned: I was inspired by the signs for the race when I arrived at the Honolulu Airport for a three-week business trip. I immediately wanted to do the race. I had been running about 25 miles a week . . . good, but considered insufficient for a race of 26 miles. So I made a decision that, no matter how slowly I went, I would run every single step.

One of the devices that I used on the course was to say to myself – sometimes aloud, but mostly internally – “This step is now the first step of the race.” That was my mantra, and I’m sure I said it thousands of times . . . and it allowed me to achieve my goal of both finishing and running every step – no matter how slow.

The ability to start over is a strategic advantage in achieving results. We humans have often been burdened by our individual or collective history. In the case of the race, I wanted to avoid thinking that because I had already run 8, 12, 18, 22, 25 miles, etc., that I should be tired. By recognizing that that history was over each moment . . . and by not carrying it around like baggage . . . I was free to create a different reality.

How can a deliberate decision to start over to assist you in getting what you want? Are there places where you have been allowing history to hold you back? Choose a place to practice starting over today!