Clarity

Time to become aware of acellerating change:

2012-01-21T00:19:00.000-08:00

Yes we all know how change is acellerating - here's a short clip to wake you up to how much this is happening:

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Chance favours the connected mind...great innovation tip!

2012-01-21T00:05:00.000-08:00

Many of us are concerned at how to be more innovative and creative in our businesses, our lives and our organisations.

There is a process in innovation called the slow hunch.

It postulates that most of have ideas, but it's only when we are exposed to other ideas, that a new solution, a new object of creativity or a new possibility can emerge and become realised.

What does that mean for you?

It means that exposing yourself to a wide range of ideas, culture, art, intellectual disciplines - creates a positive environment for your creativity and innovation.

Stephen Johnson has written a book about it - here's a http://youtu.be/NugRZGDbPFU

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Once you've said it - you can't take it back!

2012-01-20T22:20:00.002-08:00

So many times we say things we regret....and you always know you can't take it back - it's out there!

It might just be "out there" with a relationship with an individual you value.

Or it might be "out there", being broadcast to large groups of people whose respect and trust you value.

The only solution to this is planning.

Planning comes from firstly defining the outcome of the communication: "What do I really want to happen as a result of my communication?"

Then you craft the communication, with your audience in mind, so that they will understand your communication in the way you intended.

And this doesn't always mean that you speak literally, that you simply say what you mean. It sometimes means using images, stories, analogies, slang or jargon language that your target group relates to.

I always love the way a master communicator like Bill Clinton approaches his communication. He never says what he means. He paints pictures. He musically creates emotions. He plays his audience and we love him for it - the message is anchored in us through layering a variety of mediums.

This video is a master class in the technique of using innuendo to communicate your meaning in a way, that once your have delivered your message, your intent is not obvious, but your message is understood by everyone.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Speaking of inspiring people - I give you: DANIEL PINK!

2012-01-18T04:45:00.001-08:00

Here's another amazing dude!

He's a career planner with an gigantic aesthetic muscle, who loves Japanese culture and cartoons and now he's talking about what motivates people.

The thing I love about his latest book is that motivation is all about your what feeds your integrity - that purpose is what lures us out of our self-centred lives.

When it comes to working with our minds, we all just want to be inspired by our work.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Seth Godin does it again....and again!

2012-01-18T04:20:00.000-08:00

Amazing how he does it.

He writes his thoughts and observations about change, marketing, character, courage, self sabotage, the Lizard brain....

And he just keeps inspiring me!

He just keeps me thinking!

He gives me something every time.

I don't know how he does it - he just does.

Do I have the courage to tell it like it is? Do you?

Do I have the courage to ship?

Do I like hearing it from him that it takes courage and guts to do that?

People like him feed my soul, encourage my freedom and push me to the edge of my comfort zone.

Thanks to all those people - you know who you are!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Affirmation for a friend.

2012-01-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

A friend recently shared with me, sleepless nights, churning their thoughts about whether they were good enough for their next step forward.

I found this wonderful affirmation from the amazing Louise Hay and made some adjustments:

Here it is my mate - read this instead of churning the rubbish of fear and self doubt. And for all the nocturnal worrying providers reading this, this one is for you.

I don't have to work hard in order to deserve a good income and incredible results.

I employ positive thoughts.

As I employ my Being, my Being employs me.

What a wonderful, brilliant, delicate, strong, beautiful energy my Being is. It blesses me with fulfilling work. Each day is new and different.

As I let go of the struggle to survive, I find that I am fed, clothed, housed and loved in ways that are deeply fulfilling to me.

I make it okay for me and others to have money without working hard at a job. I am worthy of bringing in a good income and creating amazing results with my work, without working hard at a job.

I am worthy of bringing in good money without struggling in the rat race or fighting traffic. I follow my higher instincts and listen to my heart in all that I do.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Chop Wood, Carry Water.

2012-01-16T12:47:00.000-08:00

The other day we were racing in the car through the city.

You know, busy, busy, busy on an errand.

In the midst of our hurry, I saw a Buddhist monk standing at a bus stop.

Suddenly time stopped, Matrix like, everything else became a blur and my focus was on this monk who was merely standing at the bus stop.

But the difference was, that he was consciously standing at the bus stop.

It was extraordinary. It was a rare moment where I suddenly woke up from my thoughts to what I was actually doing. Driving a car.

Being conscious delivers the extraordinary to our lives.

Mundane, daily tasks are elevated to lofty heights when we show up, present and accounted for in what we are doing.

Being present, chop wood, carry water.

Most of the time we are chopping wood and carrying water and thinking about something else.

No power there. No possibility there. No focus or clarity when our mind is running wild.

Bring your consciousness back to what you are doing.

Simply be in the moment.

When chopping wood, chop wood. When carrying water, carry water.

Above all, don't let your mind steal your valuable moments away.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Is it just me or is this merry-go-round picking up speed?

2012-01-16T07:33:00.000-08:00

2012 has begun.

All the coaching I've been doing has surprised me with the speed and fluidity of the insights and understanding.

All the reports from the stars and the soothsayers are telling us that this year will be a slippery dip.

And after seeing this YouTube piece I now know why.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

How Stress kills your thinking!

2012-01-12T01:50:00.000-08:00

I’ve just been coaching people who are facing uncertainty in their income, their shelter and their food.

Everyone I've been seeing shows me that our human thinking is severely restricted whenever we are stressed.

When we are stressed, we lose our ability to separate ourselves from our situation – we lose our ability to think strategically.

And what I mean by strategic thinking is how people can separate themselves from being “In” their situation. They take themelves “out” of their situation and think about how to get the best outcome.

They separate themselves from their emotions, their pain and their fear so they can think calmly and resourcefully.

Hey – this is significant stuff for a coach to see – I’m always amazed at how well people respond to a coaching session – this is precisely because a coaching session creates an artificial barrier to the client’s everyday life and enables the client to think clearly….sometimes for the first time – no wonder the epiphanies flow thick and fast!

So, if you want to think clearly – separate yourself from your stressors, find a quiet spot and a friendly coach and start a thinkin’!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Clarity – it’s what we all want and need to succeed in our lives.

2012-01-09T02:16:00.000-08:00

It’s like air to breathe when we exhaust the known and are reaching out into the unknown.

It’s that flashing blinding moment where you see things clearly, that “Aha!” moment where you are seeing everything so crystal clear and your next step is very, very simple.

Clarity is at the end of a footpath that you have never noticed before. It’s not paved and it’s also not obvious and when you stumble upon clarity and look back the way you have come, you will see the pathway in terms of leaves, grass and bracken squashed down by your own two feet.

Clarity is very personal. One man’s clarity is another man’s mystery. The east has traditions of mysterious inscrutable figures who wait for you to find your own answers as you try to wrest their answers from them with your mind. These masters know that once the mind lays down exhausted, then the learning begins. So they patiently sit, quote bizarre pieces of poetry, tell stories and sometimes even whack you across the head with a stick.

Clarity sets you free. As soon as you hit your point of clarity, the release is palpable – a weight lifts from your shoulders, your spirits rise and everything appears possible as you soar and duck, operating on a completely different level from before clarity (BC).

Clarity leads you to Power. The power to act, the power to act appropriately and economically, the power to move forward with confidence and vigor, the power to know the situation intimately and intuitively, the power to act with self-reliance and sureness, the power to know your subject, not through your mind and logic, but through your engagement and relationship with the subject.

Clarity dissolves problems. Sometimes in the moment of clarity, the problems either completely and magically disappear or transform themselves into opportunities. The clear thinker has a completely different relationship with problems than does the normal thinker. The context of clarity is looking from a completely different point of view than the norm. Oftentimes normal thinking is caught and stuck within the thick undergrowth of how things are done and is trapped, unable to look at things from a different point of view. Clarity almost always comes from looking at things from another point of view.

Clarity taps you into your intuition, your inner wisdom and your unconscious brilliance. Clarity unlocks your being part of your human being-ness. Clarity calls you to operate from your integrity, aligned with your values and calling forth your best to perform. Clarity talks to your giant rather than your midget.

Clarity is visible, palpable, noticeable and transforms and inspires everyone it touches. You see it with great design. All great design has clarity as it’s root, it’s base and it’s reason for being. Think Apple, Porsche, or any piece of design that is astoundingly practical and simple, and you will find clarity embodied.

Clarity is valuable. It’s a scarce commodity. It solves problems quickly, elegantly and economically. When people see a product or service with clarity, they instantly understand it and see that they need it. When people are around products and services of clarity, they become devotees, enthusiastic advocates and passionate users of those products and services.

You need clarity to run everything in your life: your business, your career, your social life, your love life, your family life, your life of contribution. In fact, without clarity, your life can only operate on narrow, selfish and unfulfilling levels, you being unable to see anything beyond being a means to satisfying your own needs.

Your business needs clarity: to understand what your customers need, to find economical ways of producing what they need and to express to your customers that you understand their need and that you have a solution that suits them perfectly.

Your business needs clarity to guide and inspire everyone in the business to work towards common goals. Clarity about what your business is about, what your business stands for and where it’s going, focuses team effort to common ends, is noticeable and attractive to clients and prospective clients and helps your business stay on track.

Clarity has a cost. The first cost is the time and effort to achieve clarity. The second cost is the commitment to performing actions consistent with that clarity. The third cost is maintaining and refreshing your clarity.

Clarity takes courage. Because no one can understand the process you have taken to achieve your clarity, then you are generally operating either in a different way to everyone else or in a different part of the commercial lake to everyone else.

Clarity often sets you apart from the rest, sometimes doing exactly what they are not doing. While everyone else is pushing and shoving to move forward in the same direction, the person who has clarity is often moving with determination in the opposite direction.

Clarity is like air for anyone living outside of their comfort zone. It can mean survival, success or a completely new way of achieving great results.

Clarity – keep your mind and eyes open for it – your quality of life depends upon it!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Why New Year's Resolutions Fade Away......

2012-01-08T14:24:00.000-08:00

New years Resolutions are made…sometimes not even written down,

….you might even share it with a sceptical friend who says something like: “Nobody ever keeps their new years resolutions!”

And you set off, without any structure or support…relying only on your single mindedness, which quickly merges into the complexity of your everyday life reality and you are left with another broken resolution…and your cynicism grown that much more stronger.

It doesn’t have to be like this if you only……TURN YOUR RESOLUTION INTO A GOAL.

Resolutions are things that you want to happen.

Goals are things you are going to make happen.

A goal is different because you put much more structure around it.

(Click on point for more detail)

A resolution by itself is a beginning – by itself it doesn’t have a chance of being achieved.

Turning a resolution into a goal is still no guarantee of success, but it multiplies your chances of success with the layering of the different structures that keep you focused and clear about what is really important to you.

Focus and clarity maintained over a period multiplies your effectiveness, deepens your wisdom and unleashes your intuition.

Putting some or all of these structures for success will help you on your way to achieve your goals.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

You Plan More with a Goal

2012-01-08T14:13:00.000-08:00

A well written goal describes exactly what you want to achieve and when you want to have it achieved by. It takes you to a future time and tells you what you have achieved.

This makes it possible to break your goal down into the steps needed to make it happen.

Some people like to plan forward, from where they stand to where they will be standing when they have achieved their goal. We like to work backwards from you having vividly visualised you having achieved the goal. We work through all the steps you had taken right back to where you have just set the goal. You will find doing it this way puts you in the state of mind of achievement so that your planning takes on a bold positive context.

Then you break your steps into actions which form the basis of your plan.

We help you manage your plan by holding you to account for your actions. Simply having someone who knows what you need to do each week really makes a difference.

Having a plan really helps you move forward. However there are often times when you need to adapt your plans and create innovation and strategy to take advantage of your circumstances.

The plan is a structure for you to work toward achieving your goal. In an effective plan, your actions are clearly articulated and you are accountable for making them happen.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

You arrange support from others who come out and help you.

2012-01-08T13:56:00.000-08:00

When you set your goal it helps if you identify a couple of people who can support you:

· The Mentor

· The Cheerleader

· The Person who tells you that you can’t do this.

If you want to climb a mountain, the person who walks up and down the mountain every day is the person who is the best person to help you with advice, with advance warning, with feedback to help you improve your techniques and who can sometimes introduce you to people who can help you on your way. This person is called a mentor. They are successful in whatever field you are entering and we have some proven strategies to help you meet and enrol them onto your team.

As you move forward toward achieving your goal, it’s always helpful to have a Cheerleader to keep encouraging you no matter what happens. You have to be careful when you arrange a cheerleader. Telling them what you need from them really helps them support you. They have to be special people who are willing to encourage you no matter what. Enrolling sceptical or cynical friends in this position is a recipe for frustration, negativity and possible failure.

I don’t know about you, but having somebody who tells me I can’t do something is a real motivator to me. I always look for this character to give me me a fire in my belly – I get fired up and say: “I’m going to show you!” You keep this person at a distance, their role can help you raise your ire and fire – you don’t need to share what’s going on – your time to crow is when you prove them wrong.

Get these three roles filled and right and it’s another piece of structure to help you achieve your goal.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

You regularly review your progress and learning on the way to achieving your goal.

2012-01-08T13:52:00.000-08:00

This piece of the success structure has a number of benefits for you:

Firstly, a weekly review keeps what’s important to you in focus. You review what you are trying to achieve, what inspires you about it and where you stand with it. It’s like coming back to step one – you are back at the start – you have made progress with your goal and whatever steps you take now will build on the shoulders of your previous efforts. It’s always easy to make new steps after you acknowledge where you are currently at.

Secondly, you focus on what’s next. You figure out what to do, how you want to do it and you fit it into your busy schedule.

Thirdly, you check your integrity. Did you keep your word? If you didn’t, what do you need to do to clean up any mess you created? Maintaining your integrity is key to growing your personal power.

Fourthly, you see where you are at with your plan – you acknowledge your progress and you see what’s left to achieve. You are up to date with your goal. You know what needs to be done. You have choice.

They say if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Regular planning is a key factor to your success.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

You learn about yourself and how things work on the way to achieving your goal.

2012-01-08T13:47:00.000-08:00

Setting off in hot pursuit of a meaningful and inspiring goal is a learning experience.

You learn about you – your limitations, your strengths and your weaknesses.

You also learn about the skills needed for your success, the realities of the challenges you need to face and overcome and you also learn tricks and shortcuts that help you achieve your goal.

And everything you learn, builds more capability within yourself, both consciously and unconsciously.

Let’s face it, you are never the same after being on the journey to achieve a worthy goal.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

You practice achieving your goal with creative visualisation.

2012-01-08T13:39:00.000-08:00

Creative visualisation is used by sports coaches in all elite sports.

The idea is to cultivate the mental state of success – this has direct and positive effect on the quality of your actions, your focus and your thinking.

Regular practice of visualising your achievement and the emotions that accompany success creates a strong subconscious magnet for your success.

Only a few practice this creative visualisation. Studies have shown that more than 85% of successful goal setters practice some form of creative visualisation

If you start visualising daily your pleasurable end result of achieving your goal, you are putting in another piece of structure to help you achieve what you are setting out for.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

You create rewards for achieving your goals.

2012-01-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

Most of us are lousy at celebrating our successes.

Successful people always plan their celebrations before they set of to achieve their goals.

They do this to build anticipation – these people don’t wait for the light at the end of the tunnel – they create it right up front and every step of their journey is spent thinking about how great it is going to be celebrating their successful achievement.

When these people meet with challenges and discomfort, they are thinking only of their pleasurable end result and how they will overcome the obstacles.

How would it be if you created a celebration for achieving your goal and you kept that in your mind as you travelled toward achieving your goal?

What kind of difference would you think that this would make for you?

Having a celebration to look forward to nourishes your spirit, uplifts your feelings and reinforces your resolve to achieve your goals.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

The Answer to Business Owner's Biggest Problem

2011-12-07T16:23:00.000-08:00

Overwhelm.

Detail, Problems, Compliance, Competition, Staff, Marketing, Cash flow.......

Sometimes business owners are so busy attending to the daily grind,

Putting out fires and out there in the trenches,

They discover the law of diminishing returns,

They get to the overwhelming stage of mental and physical exhaustion where the more effort they put in, the less results they produce.

One person simply can't run their business.

The answer to overwhelm is Clarity.

Not just one hit of clarity, but spaced repetition of it.

Regular meetings, where you build new visions, new strategies and new behaviours & habits.

In these meetings, you recover your reasons for being in business in the first place, where you want to take your business to and what you need to take it there.

You rediscover your ability to achieve things by building your muscles of commitment, accountaglity and action.

You know what overwhelm is.

Now you know theres a way out of it.
Ask our customers - they'll tell you!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Unleash Your Business Clarity with a simple process!

2011-12-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

The Promise of coaching

Is that you will be heard

You will be listened to,

Not judged, not given wise advice,

Not given pity….

Simply, you will be carefully listened to

…and in the process of that,

You will hear yourself.

You will hear what’s important to you,

Your values, your dreams, your brilliant ideas.

All of these things that get lost in the overwhelming daily details

Of running your own business, having a life and survival.

All of who you really are will become obvious in the clarity

…that comes from being listened properly to.

It leads you to insights, clarity and that wonderful state

Where everything, moving forward, is clear and obvious

With clarity, everything is full of ease and anything is possible.

That's the gift a coach has for you.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

The MFA is the new MBA!

2011-12-05T04:39:00.000-08:00

I heard Professor Colin Rhodes, Dean of Sydney College of the Arts, speaking to Dulwich High School of Visual Arts, encouraging them to see their lessons learn about the art of creativity as preparing them for doing anything in the vocational world.

He told them that the Masters of Fine arts is now the new Master of Business Administration.

That is true in that you can slide your MFA skills to apply to a plethora of roles and positions in the vocational and business world. You still need to learn the business skills as you go, or at least listen to the advice from people expert in their field.

However these are some of the skills that are really useful for the new creative economy, That open you up to your whole brain, that you can bring to it as an artist...and as a business owner - remember - you have an inner artist:

Listen to constructive criticism. Every art student has to discipline themselves to listen to critiquing. They have to shut up, let go of trying to defend their work and listen for ways of improving their work. Actors have to take direction, authors and poets have to be edited, musicians take their dose of feedback. These are skills you have honed year after year - they are particularly useful in the business environment.

Engaging yourself in engaging your audience. This is what artists learn to do. It's not a science - it's an art! It's about knowing yourself and knowing your audience. It's about asking questions about what motivates and interests your audience, that often business owners forget. Listen and learn from performers, how to engage an audience. Your audience. That's all you need to do, day in and day out.

Letting go of the good, for the better, of the better for the best, Letting go of the best for the greatest. All artists have to learn to let go of their great ideas. Sometimes being attached to an idea will stop you creating something absolutely brilliant. Sometimes clinging to an idea is what creates problems. Pulling your sword to hack through good ideas to find a fantastic solution is what great artists do.

Knowing when to stop and start to ship. All artists have to let their works of art out into the world finished. They know that they can work a lifetime on one piece, constantly reworking a single theme. They know that their work needs to be placed like orphans out in the world. Even if they don't feel like they are finished.

So, business owners - search out your inner artist to make you a better business builder.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Creativity - the essential business tool!

2011-12-05T04:19:00.000-08:00

Dan Pink has been talking about this for some time.

The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) course is now the new MBA.

Our crazy connected world doesn't need the bean counters and technicians like it used to.

They can't solve the problems any more by fixing things up.

The old models can't cope with being fixed up anymore to deal with a new paradigm every day.

We need new models to be created, new solutions that relate to tomorrow, that can be taken up like the old tools of our forefathers and mothers, to build and create with.

Business is another skill set to be learnt.

Creativity is a giant waiting to be unleashed.

All my clients are creative, I always ask them to create something that will save the day, build a new tomorrow and solve mountainous problems. I never tell them how. They just find it in themselves.

I heard about a little girl who asked her art professor father what he did. "I teach people how to draw" he said. She said: "How come they forgot?"

Listen to the artists - they are talking about solutions for the problems we face every day. They are leaving clues for us in business. You might find a marketing solution by reading a book about Picasso, a business growth strategy by looking at art by Klimt or a HR solution by seeing a play written by Brecht.

Listen to the artists so you can hear your artist within.

Who knows, it might be the same voice you heard when you first were inspired to start your own business.

A business trainer once told me that business owners want so little from their businesses - she surmised that it was because after the first couple of years, after mountains of compliance and detail that most business owners she met, had forgotten the reasons they started their business in the first place. They were overwhelmed, exhausted and caught up in the detail.

Your artist is a person who you should start to get to know again.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Find the love in what you do....

2011-12-04T02:35:00.000-08:00

Our minds avoids, 24/7 every minute of the day and night being here and now and experiencing the joy and love of doing.

It reduces the fulfilling meaningfulness of doing into drudgery and obligations.

I love the Maori word for work: MAHI.

It actually means work with love.

What does it take to seize the moment and embrace the joy of doing?

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

The Four Areas of You.

2011-11-23T03:39:00.000-08:00

You have four areas that you operate on.

Your Spiritual Life
Your Mental Life
Your Emotional Life
Your Physical Life

These four areas need to be included in your goal setting, so that you can unleash and focus the full power of your life to help you achieve your goals.

Do you have a plan for expressing your goals in these four areas?

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Blastting away your self limiting thoughts & attitudes!

2011-11-21T06:45:00.000-08:00

his weekend I spend with my wife Rose in a workshop called Millionaire Mind Intensive - where we worked on our Millionaire Mindsets.

Absolutely amazing workshop where we identified our self & wealth limiting thoughts attitudes and emotions.

After we unwrapped all of that garbage, we were guided to process and reintegrate new attitudes.

Great to see trainers and a workshop that have both been honed and improved over the many years the company has been in business.

Their motto was "Over Promise and Over Deliver!"

.......and they did!

Check out their website to see a great example of a honed and articulated marketing machine

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Find the inspiration to tell your story and articulate your values and purpose.

2011-11-21T06:02:00.000-08:00

Today I came across an unexpected treasure of a business that had excelled in the area of articulating the values, purpose and story of a well-run and marketed business.

I took a backstreet shortcut to get to the Royal Prince Alfred hospital while looking for a street park.

I went past a great icon of a factory, the “Chesty Bond” underwear building, synonymous with “Manly” underwear for generations – it’s been converted into a creative inner city space.

After finally finding a park, walking to the hospital, I found this beautifully renovated shop/home in one of the residential backstreets.

It was funky, socially and environmentally conscious and these elements pervaded the business in every level of transaction and engagement.

I made a point of coming back there bringing my wife and son with me.

It’s called “BUTCH”, it’s got great coffee, good wholesome food, fantastic attitude and service from the owner, Luciana. She is feisty, ever ready to engage wherever you come from to her and she has a great way to tell the story of her establishment.

It is such a gem this place. I started to ask questions about her business and discovered that it had a clearly articulated set of values, there was a purpose to the business and they had even had a story about their reason for being attached to their menu.

One thing not on their story was how she called the place “BUTCH” – she told me she wanted to honour the “Blue Collar” history of the area – that they had food for men – simple, wholesome, easy to see and order food, that was quickly delivered to their table.

It was not lost on me that only a block away was the Iconic “Chesty Bonds” factory site - another place that always had a story to tell.

It was also obvious to me that every man who came to the shop, was given respect, cheek and the time of the day. Luciana really walks her talk. She told me she treats men and women with equal respect, but I only saw men, one after another, come into her café. Refreshing to see a place where men are welcomed and honoured.

So, if you want to be inspired to articulate your business values, purpose and story, or even if you want a good coffee and some great organic and wholesome food, a trip to BUTCH at 103 Church Street, Campertown in Sydney would be a good use of your time to see someone do those things really well. You might even want to check out their facebook page .

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Why it’s hard for professional teachers, trainers, coaches, counsellors and psychologists to find a coach that fits.

2011-11-09T12:13:00.000-08:00

All these people work with people and techniques. They are the toughest type of person to coach for two main reasons.

The first one is about professional curiosity.

They want to see through the smoke and mirrors of a coaching session. Their attention is not on themselves, but upon the process itself. Their minds are grappling with understanding, identifying and analysing.

They have no attention on themselves, what they really, really want and what it’s going to take to get what they want.

Their intellect is searching to pull the curtains aside so they can see the levers and the processes of the coaching session. They are not interested in anything to do with improving their situation.

They get what I call the “Booby Prize” – that is, they get to be detatched, analytical and theoretical about the process.

The second reason these people are hard to coach is that they are arrogant.

Why should they allow a coach to coach them, when they are so good at coaching, training, counselling, teaching, psychotherapying their own clients, day in, day out.

For a professional to submit themselves to be coached or mentored by another professional, it’s a loss of power, a loss of control and an act of humility that most of us professionals are wary of surrendering to.

I know I’m a tough person to coach. If I recognise I’m in a process, my mind races ahead to figure it all out, instantly decimating my focus and quality of attention on what is at hand for me to deal with.

If I’m around other professionals, I have to maintain my hubris, my sense of control and expertise. That’s the price I have to pay to be coached – to let go all of thatl

So, if you are in the game, if you work with people every day, if you are great at what you do and are the catalyst for others to transform their life – be careful of the obstacles you put in the way of you being coached to have things work exceptionally well for you.

I’ve coached a lot of professionals.

Once they get past these two obstacles, they are the most satisfying of all to coach. After all, you always know that for every people professional you coach, you are improving the lives of thousands of people indirectly.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Unequivocally, definitely and without question: Yes!

2011-11-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

That’s what it takes to recognise your coach.

It’s also like that with a spiritual master.

But it’s not about the master, the teacher or the coach.

It’s the cry from within the student, the pupil or the client.

It’s not a reflection of the level of mastery of the coach,

Rather it’s an indicator of the readiness of the client to engage in the process.

It’s a recognition that they can’t do what they want to do alone.

It’s a recognition that they can’t see the different ways they are stuffing things up in their lives.

It’s a recognition that the pain they are going through won’t go away on its own, that they need someone to help them get through it.

It’s a recognition that what they really, really want, is beyond their personal reach.

It’s a place of humility, a place of receptivity and a willingness and openness to try something new.

If you ain’t there, no-one is ever going to be able to be your coach.

If you are there, the humble tea lady pushing her trolley around the temple will be the greatest master for you that you could imagine, unlocking all manner of miracles within you.

“When the student is ready, the teacher will come”

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

When I see your courage and wisdom…..

2011-11-09T12:08:00.000-08:00

It resonates deep within me.

It calls forth the best of me,

And from within, an answer resounds.

In observing your victory, I am infected to the core.

Inspired.

Improved.

Uplifted.

I’m a better person after seeing your courage and wisdom.

Thank you.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Your Mastery - when you become an Artist!

2011-11-06T19:23:00.001-08:00

In all of your years of practice,

in all that you have learned and shared,

There comes a moment in time when you

Cease to be a technician,

And your mastery appears.

It's in those time, where if you are calling yourself a technician,

It's time to change your card to you being an "Artist".

Time to stop seeing yourself as a technician and time to

stretch out and create.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Dance your grief away!

2011-11-06T19:12:00.000-08:00

You know you tried to run away,

thinking distance would mean something to your heart.

You moved to the city and got yourself a job, negotiated yourself a busy, busy,

place to hide,

You took yourself on a holiday, to the most beautiful place you knew of,

and every day, you only felt your heartbreak, at every stop of the bus.

It doesn't matter where you go.

It doesn't matter how busy you are.

There's a price to pay for leaving her, you deserve to pay it in full.

It honors who you are, It honors who you really are. It honors you for who you really are.

So surrender now, to this labour of pain,

Let the discomfort begin.

Allow yourself the dignity of being yourself,

Instead of running away.

Set up your life, so that it works for you.

Do what you have to do, to express all of your pain.

Buy crayons, put pen to paper, allow your heart to express,

Play music, sing your songs, dance your dance,

Catharsis is a work of art in your own lifetime.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

On Grief

2011-11-06T18:34:00.000-08:00

Doctors sometimes think that grief is a sickness,

So they try and cure it,

They see it like it has to end as quickly as possible,

To minimise the damage done.

But I know its not like that at all,

Even though at times you feel like you are really crook,

Even though your head goes into a downward spiral,

Not unlike a heavy flu......

It just is.

It's with you every day.

It comes upon you when you least expect it,

And it always takes you to places where you don't want to go.

But it's your grief and that is really all you have, because it's what's happening to you now.

You try and run away, you ruin holidays and stick your head into your work,

But it is still there, waiting for you to pick up the tab,

To pay the bill for the risk of loving that you took,

For the highs and lows of being intimate with another,

For daring to care, for allowing it in....

That's all you are paying for....

....the price of being a loving human being.

So when the waiter dressed in black comes to your table with the bill,

Don't be afraid, you don't have to run away....

You know you had a great time of it, you know you tasted love,

Just get up and dance with him, the grief that's yours to own.

And when the music stops, and you return to your seat,

Know that you have paid your price, and that will return to you a thousand fold,

and allow you to be free - living and dancing in the moment with who you really are.

...but also know, if you refuse to pay, then pay you will,

for years and years and years....every day with you struggling to

hold down the lid of your painful, disowned grief.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

On Friendship

2011-11-01T05:40:00.000-07:00

In the cut and thrust of life itself,

When nothing makes sense and the odds seem to great,

I hear your voice and I realise you are my friend.

You help me maintain my stand, stay true to my dreams,

You help me draw my sword, yet one more time again.

"And a youth said:

- Speak to us of Friendship!

And he answered, saying:
Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love
and reap with thanksgiving.

And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger,
and you seek him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind you fear
not the "nay" in your own mind,
nor do you withhold the "ay".

And when he is silent your heart ceases
not to listen to his heart;

For without words, in friendship, all thoughts,
all desires, all expectations are born and shared,
with joy that is unacclaimed.

When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most
in him may be clearer in his absence,
as the mountain to the climber
is clearer from the plain.

And let there be no purpose in friendship
save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure
of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth:
and only the unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend
that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live
.
For it is his to fill your need,
but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship
let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things
the heart finds its morning and is refreshed."

Thanks to Kahil Gibran for his fantastic poem.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Share your boundless Enthusiasm!

2011-10-26T18:53:00.000-07:00

Imagine your highest state of clarity, with you totally present to your purpose and your vision for your business.

Feel your boundless enthusiasm and excitement coursing through your body, feel how much you love what you do and do what you love.

Imagine what it feels like to doing exactly what you know you need to be doing.

And with this feeling, imagine yourself back in the business, with your staff, your colleagues, your business partners, your suppliers and your customers.

Notice how you just want to share your energy and focus with them, notice how you are lifting them with your energy.

Notice their resistance, their resentment and their inertia, how they are unwilling to do whatever it takes to make things work.

It's like you are a slave rower on an old Greek warship - you come back refreshed and inspired, they lock you into your seat and you start paddling with passion, enthusiasm and drive and everyone else cries out to you - "Hey - slow down new guy- you are making us all look bad!"

Winston Churchill said: "Success is going from failure to failure, without losing enthusiasm."

If that's what it takes, imagine failing publicly and coming back cheerfully for more - imagine how that will affect the people around you - they won't know how to take you - but they will know you are unstoppable and on the road to somewhere!

Winston also said:
"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never - in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."

Oh good reader, brave business owner - may this give you the strength to be true to your vision and purpose. May this inspire you to be the inspirational leader that you are.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Learn to cook your purpose!

2011-10-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

Take a list of your highest business values.

Add it to your favourite skills,

Start talking about the things that really excite you - you know - the important things!

Mix carefully.

Bake in a warm supportive environment, with someone listening carefully for the things you cannot hear....

Clarify it in writing, test it on your closest colleagues, friends, fans and mentors....

Then write a vision of your purpose fulfilled - set it within a due date and make it compelling, detailed and concise.

Then review everything in your business and your life with this context in mind - place it in front of everything you do - Build systems with this ghost in your machine.

Then set off in hot pursuit of your purpose, living a life of passion, integrity and focus!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

The Perils of having the attention on yourself!

2011-10-26T17:39:00.000-07:00

"I'd rather be used by a purpose greater than myself that be a bag of complaints, pains and misery"

That's my paraphrasing of several quotes from philosophical giants about the futility and waste of a self centered life - especially in running your own business.

Winston Churchill said: "Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm"

How can you do that, if you are only thinking of your own comfort, concerns and complaints? How can you be extraordinary if you are busy covering your own back side?

If you are thinking only of yourself, your comfort and your avoidance of any pain in your business - you are in for a lesson of stagnation and possible ruin.

I know for me, when I need to put my full attention on my business, my clients or on any activity - if I have my attention on me or if I am "self conscious" in any way, I am distracted, vague and ineffective.

For businesses to survive and grow, pain is the cost you need to pay to create something that no-one else is willing to do. When your business (or your life) is all about you, you simply will avoid the painful steps forward.

If your focus is upon a purpose or concept larger than yourself, you won't even feel the pain as you surge forward.

Thinking about your own selfish needs takes your focus off reality - things become mired in neurotic complications and nothing is clear - only muddy vague perceptions exist.

However, if you manage to create a greater purpose for your business, if you can be inspired by that purpose and guided by the fulfilment of it, then things rapidly become very clear.

So, beloved business owners, give up making your business about you. Embrace your vision and purpose passionately and charge on forward, knowing that your purpose and your values are all all worth it in the end!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Kick Start Your 2012!

2011-10-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

With the recent good news and good prospects for business in the coming months, business confidence is on the rise.

Put yourself in the best possible position to take advantage of the business opportunities in 2012 by kick starting your new year.

What is Kick Start?

It’s a one-on-one hour and half of focus and goal setting that will have you well prepared for your 2012 before you take your holidays.

It will give you peace of mind over your holidays, knowing what you have to do on your return. Starting 2012 will be all planned out and clear for you.

Kick Start helps you review 2011 in such a way that the lessons learnt are banked and taken into your new year, helping you be aware of your unique value that you add to the market place.

Not only that, the psychological environment of Kick Start helps you focus on writing down the important things you need to focus on in the new year

Why do Kick Start planning?

You won't waste your valuable holiday time thinking about your business. You'll be using your battery recharging time wisely.

Time spent on kick starting your new year will have you way ahead of where you are currently heading in your business...and in your life.

You will have generated life changing insights, clear goals, amazing possibilities and a plan to make 2012 a year you can be proud of.

How do you get to kick start your year?
Simply email or phone
({Aus} 0439 979 577) Mike to arrange your face to face, on skype or on the phone session. You'll be booked in, you'll do your session and Mike will email you your Kick Start document after the session with well structured and clear goals and intentions.

Why not plan for an outstanding 2012?

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Steve's Contribution

2011-10-09T18:32:00.000-07:00

It's Monday.

Steve Jobs was buried on the weekend. Every email I've written today has had me mentioning Steve's contribution and legacy.

In memorium to him and in order to get it off my chest, here is the transcript of Steve's amazing famous Stanford speech:

On June 12, 2005, Steve Jobs gave a commencement speech at Stanford University that summed up his life lessons:

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Running out of time to plan?

2011-10-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

It's October 2011 - the perfect time to do your business planning for 2012.

Why?

November is a time for relentless action and focus, December is just too crazy and if you think you are going to do your planning over your holidays, you are planning to waste your valuable battery charging time with more work stuff.

Don't stuff up your holidays.

You see, if you get your business planning over and done with in October, you are more acutely aware of what you need to complete in order to win in 2011.

You can put your full focus on your Novermber/December sprint and you know you can take your holidays without worrying about what you are going to do when you come back - it's all planned out for you!

We've made it easy for you.

The process is over and done within 90 minutes and you'll receive a copy of your plan by email. You will have set goals in 7 areas of your business life in 2012.

This year you won't even have to pay me anything to have it done.

In fact, if you have a business owner friend who could use this, get them to call me and we'll fit them in too.

You know how Lady Luck favours the prepared and a focused mind will help you perform at your best.

There's only a limited number of sessions available, so send me an email and book yourself in quickly.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Sell Fried Chicken, not yourself

2011-10-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

Kevin Lohan told me this one:

Consultants and business owners sometimes are too close to their product. This causes lots of problems such as; being unable to delegate tasks, finding it too difficult to sell yourself, taking business issues too personally and maybe even not being able to let go.

"Think of your product like it's Fried Chicken" he said.

"People don't buy Cornel Sanders, they buy Fried Chicken."

Amazing thought that.

Think of my business as a commodity and it's easier for me to promote it.

Whatever you are selling, sell fried chicken.

What do people get out of fried chicken - sell them that. What does the end user get/experience/benefit from your product or service.

Simple!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Create Openness by Forgiveing

2011-10-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

I recently completed with an old friend.

'Completed' to me means to go back and sort out whatever differences you may have had in a past incident.

And it always amazes me when I take on completing with someone, how much I had been carrying around with me - how much emotional baggage I had been carrying around....and yet I never noticed it.

The steps I went through to do this was like this:

A mutual friend contacted me and said: "Don't you think it's time to end this Kaka?"

I thought about it and agreed with him.

I then thought about what I would have to forgive this person for. As soon as I figured that out, I realised there was a lot I needed to forgive myself for. So I forgave my friend and myself.

Then I realised I needed to let him know that I'd forgiven him and myself. So I did.

I emailed him and then I phoned him. We had a fantastic conversation. Both said some amazing things that opened up the space for both of us. Both of us got to take responsibility for our part in the dispute.

Then, after that phone call, after facing up to that person, I started going through an amazing process of realising who I am and what I can do. It was like being set free after being tied up in chains. Wonderful stuff.

Forgiveness really does set you free.

There was business involved in that relationship. How are you stopping yourself by carrying around old business grudges? Old relationship grudges? Old hurts and pains?

How much longer do you want to carry that stuff around?

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Why October is a good time to plan for 2012

2011-10-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

December is the crazy season, November needs your focus on executing your plan and October is the calm before the storm.

So take some time out to review 2011, what you have achieved, what's left to achieve.

What you have learnt, what you have gained.

Who you have met and who you still need to get around.

What you have read, who has inspired you.

Then look forward to 2012 - what you aspire to achieve, who you want to be, what you want to happen and where you want to go.

This is what we do. We help you think through this in an hour and a half just for you.

So take some time out for planning for your business in 2012 - call us to arrange a time to meet.

It won't cost you anything and you'll have my attention to help you create the 2012 you never thought possible. Take some time out from the coal face and do some planning for you.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Surfing the Market Waves

2011-10-05T12:48:00.000-07:00

If you are a business owner or a consultant, you need to become a skilled business surfer.

Respecting the shifting sands and intimate with the tides and the ebbs and flows of your clients and prospective clients, you are out there on your board, looking for the waves that are about to start.

Even when you have caught a wave, you know that every wave has a beginning, a middle and an end. So you keep your eyes on the waves on the rise, ready to make your move to catch them at just the right time.

You might be working with a government agency and the funding is soon ending, you look out past the break and you see the mining industry starting to stir. Time to paddle out to meet your market.

You might be working with transport, but your work is nearly done. A good surfer always has the big picture of the market in their attention. They will spot the stirring in the building industry and be already positioning themselves to catch that wave.

Knowing that your clients have a cycle and an ebb and flow requires the skills, flexibility and attention of a business surfer.

A good surfer is generally seeing what no one else can see. It's what they are looking for that sets them apart from the rest.

There's lots of competition for those waves and the good surfers always get there first.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Your business marriages

2011-10-05T12:36:00.000-07:00

In response to Bill Baron, these are my three business marriages:

Your three Business Marriages

Without these marriages, the success you have achieved so far would not be possible.

Without these relationships, your reach and your impact would be a fraction of what you've been able to create.

Without these relationships, your level of fulfilment and satisfaction would pale in comparison to what you experience every day in your business.

It’s time to be aware and grateful every day for what you have been able to create through your three marriages in your business.

Your marriage to your business vision.

This is your passion and commitment to achieving your business vision. If you don't have a vision, then you will fall for distractions, fads, manipulation and other people's agendas.

This requires for you, every day to find the strength to stand up and fight to sustain and grow the elements of your business that will deliver on your vision. This requires consistently living on the edge of your comfort zone, sometimes doing things that you don’t really do, simply because they are what need to be done.

Your marriage to your Team

This is the messy human marriage. This is where you need to manage the needs and aspirations of your staff so that they feel valued, taken care of and are able to do their job effectively. This is where every day, you need to take responsibility for their well-being, to be their leader and their support….and their protector.

Your marriage to your marketing

This is also a messy human issue

Someone has to take charge of identifying your key clients and then going out and beating the drum..

Someone has to identify which markets are fading, which ones are on the move and which ones are ready for you to juimp on and ride like a surfer.

Your job is to nurture these three relationships and bring as much of your loving self to them as you can.

And with all 3 of these marriages, you set your intentions high and at the same time try to be willing to look at where you are messing up.

Send me an email to describe any more business marriages you can identify.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

What your inner child wants you to know:

2011-06-07T18:11:00.004-07:00

Hey - I really like you!

You are the coolest person I know and I just want to hang out with you.

You are so cool.

I wish you wouldn't push me away, deny that I exist and shut me down.

We could have such fun together.

We could do so many things that you would really love to do, if you'd only get out of your own way.

I know you think I'm bad news, that people might think you are uncool if they knew you were with me and that something could go wrong or get broken if you spent some time with me.

But that's only because I get so frustrated with you - the way you treat me and the way you ignore me. I can only take so much...and then I lash out.

I know you know I exist - otherwise why would you even read something about me? You have already opened the door to me - things will be so good when you get over your fears about me.

All I really want to do is to hang out with you....and for you to get to know me.

- C'mon, let's play!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Writing an absolutely Inspiring Vision

2011-05-29T03:50:00.000-07:00

Writing a vision is the first step toward emotionally grounding yourself in experiencing and maintaining the excitement and inspiration of you achieving your goal.

In fact, if you have a history of setting goals and not achieving them, this process can make the difference for you.

You will need the 'How to Write an Inspiring Vision' worksheet to help you do this and have a listen to Mike as he explains the process.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Who my clients are......

2011-05-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

This vlog talks about the results of a client survey and has shown me the sort of people I make the big difference to.

Have a listen and see if you relate to it.

is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Are you a Kid Alone and Frozen in the Lollyshop?

2011-05-26T20:30:00.001-07:00

This happens.

If it's never happened to you, it may happen sometime soon.

I've seen it so many times - resourceful and intelligent and great people, in hot pursuit of their inspiring goals, getting to the point where they can just reach out and take the prize of their goal, the object of their desire.......and they freeze.

Listen to Mike explain this phenomenon and how you can unfreeze yourself and claim your prize:

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Are you Possum Frozen in the Headlights?

2011-05-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, for one reason or another, we freeze, unable to respond, create or react in our lives, our business or our career.

We call this "Possum Frozen in the Headlights"

Listen to Mike explain this phenomenon and how to move yourself on from it.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

The Human and the Being

2011-05-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

Most of us think of ourselves as human beings.

But are the human and being parts of the whole?

And what exactly are these parts anyway?

Listen to Mike explain the Human and Being conversation:

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Hungry for Clarity!

2011-05-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how clarity cuts through the confusion and complication of a situation.

You reach the point of clarity and everything is so simple and clear - you feel silly for not seeing what's patently obvious.

Clarity does lead you to power - the power to act decisively, deliberately and with great precision - Clarity is the ultimate in ecology - it doesn't waste energy, it's a lazer, not a shot gun!

So what situation are you dealing with that requires some clarity?

You probably would do well to book some time to think it through and work yourself toward some clarity in that area!

Go on - I dare you!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

How a Sabbatical can refresh your life and work!

2011-05-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

Sabbatical.

Wikipaedia says that it's a time of rest and regeneration from work - the Hebrew word Shmita talks about taking a year off work every seven years. This is an important word for us to know about in our busy and hectic lives.

It's so easy to get stale, fall into ruts of thinking, get stuck in points of view.

Rachael Thornton came by last night and was talking about a project that had taken over her life - a project that was more like a journey thanher usual work. There was much more at stake, the process was much more internal than normal work required. She has been spending time this year working on her inspirational project and saying no to mainstream work - We discussed the concept of Sabbatical last night to describe that process of taking time out to follow our passion, not our career.

Last night I woke in the early hours and I realised that I have been on a form of sabbatical myself.

Late July last year I came to visit my mum in Australia - she'd been diagnosed with cancer. I was so caught up with my work in New Zealand, that I thought I'd come over for a week, say my goodbyes and come back again for the funeral - I never thought there'd be any other option.

When I got to Sydney and saw what was happening with mum, I knew I couldn't leave.

Two nights before I left, I sat down and wrote down all my financial responsibilities for my family and home in New Zealand and the money I'd need to live in Australia and came up with a figure. I knew that's what I'd have to earn if I was to stay.

The next day I contacted all of my old friends in the training business in Sydney. I had meetings with two of them - one mate gave me the opportunity to sit in on one of his workshops and get up to speed with where he was at with the possibility of future work. The other mate said: "Mike, we have to get you some work." and in one day after taking me to all his meetings with his clients and having me work with them - he got me contracted work that lasted me for 7 months.

And during that period, while I was in the presence of being with my mum every day while she was dying, an earthquake struck Christchurch, the city where all of my clients lived and worked. I lost half my business in the first earthquake, and the second big quake knocked out the second half of my business. It was providence for me that I was in Sydney, working with a contract.

Coaching was over for me and I was full on into the technical and analytical mindset that my training brief required. After a while I realised I didn't have the headspace to coach anyone anyhow. Mum took 8 months to die and the grief of it all hit me harder than I expected, so all up, I've been on a period of my life that has been a work of love, passion and growth. Not connected at all with the work that I had defined myself within. But amazing and fulfilling work, related to my life's purpose.

So I now acknowledge I've been on a sabbatical - not in the pure sense of the word, but sabbatical is the closest I have got at this time - if you know a better word, please let me know.

The word Shmita is all about the discipline of taking a year off your everyday work, every seven.

I'm seeing it in myself, that I'm refreshed and regenerated in my work, that the quality of my intuition and creativity has been transformed and that my work is heading in a new direction and with a deeper sense of purpose and fulfilment.

So my question today for you is: When was the last time you took a refreshing rest from your work?

Has there been a time in your career that you have let your fields go fallow and your mind, body and soul be refreshed and renewed?

Which leads me to my next question: Do you have a plan to give yourself that break in the near future?

It doesn't have to be epic like mine, but if you have left it for a number of years, Life just might take matters in her own hands and slap you around.

Don't wait for that - please.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Another way of thinking that will set you free!

2011-05-24T04:19:00.000-07:00

How often do we get stuck in seeing and thinking about things in the same old, same old way.

So easy for us to get stale, complacent and tunnel visioned about the world and life itself.

Many times in the past, I've explored the Aboriginal Dreamtime legends and stories through my white, Anglo Saxon, logical and linear thinking....and have never really understood what they were going on about. I have always been frustrated that I just "don't get it!" Don't you just hate that?

That's just changed tonight as I got a glimpse of insight from watching a Youtube posting.

Filmmaker Rachael Thornton of Thorny Vision has produced a short film about an Aboriginal artist and healer who comes to town.

Have a look at this - surrender yourself to seeing another way of thinking - see if you can get what this guy's paintings are about - set yourself free from the norm and the status quo!

You need to step out of the norm in order to redefine yourself, your work and your relationships to family, friends and the earth.

Stepping into someone else's reality is a catalyst to help you do this.

Thank you Rachael!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Turning bland Features into Compelling Benefits!

2011-05-10T01:27:00.000-07:00

In interview situations, the interviewers have to endure interview after interview with interviewees rolling off the same old, same old recital of their degrees, their skills, their experience, their qualities and sometimes even their values.

You need to get these things out, but somehow you need to link it to the needs of your potential employer. Most, and I mean around 97% of interviewees don't do this. Link your goods with the needs of your interviewer and you will stand out from the crowd.

This is one of the times when you need to be doing something completely different to what everyone else is doing.

I mean, how much does a horse need to be ahead to win a race?

A nose!

- Not-a-much-a!

And how do you do this?

We recommend you use a magic phrase each time you recite one of your "features" (Think: qualification, skill, experience, value or personal quality).

For example: "I can drive a fork lift truck", this is how most people express their skill, and you are now going to take it to the next level of Benefit, by saying:

"...and what that means for you is:"

And if you have done your homework on what the company needs or is looking for you can quickly remember to say something like:

"..that you won't have to invest in training me or another person to do this job."

Notice how that makes your skill that much more meaningful for the employer?

I think this technique puts you ahead much more than a nose from the rest of the pack.

So, do your homework, practice your responses and build up a list of questions of things you are not quite sure that the company needs from the successful applicant.

Preparation makes all the difference so right now write a list of five of your skills and turn them into benefits for the job you really, really want.

Go for it!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

How to take the Power back in Job Interviews!

2011-05-09T23:55:00.000-07:00

I've just spoken with a new friend who has an important job interview tomorrow.

...and he told me he HATES job interviews!

He was really worried and talked about how he can't SELL himself.

So I shared with him a little trick I've shared with hundreds of my students, that when used, helps them stand out as solutions for the problems the interviewing company has.

But before I share this with you, please know that this only works if you actually do it in an interview. You have to really want the job to find the Chutzpah to put this trick into action.

The context of this strategy lies in the old saying: "He who asks the Question, has the Power" and it comes from the fact that every mother, especially yours, brought their kids up saying: "Answer the question! Just answer the question!!"

This little "mother's trick" has traumatised virtually everyone! Anyone who wants to be interviewed by the mass media, needs to be coached and trained through the terrible habit of answering every question that is asked of them. If they don't the results can be disastrous!

The reason most people feel powerless in job interviews is that they are structured so that all the questioning is done by the people interviewing you.

It's time to take that power back.

And here's how you do it:

As with every interview, you introduce yourself by shaking peoples hands - hopefully everyone will be standing at that point. They will show you your chair and everyone will prepare to sit down. This is the point where you time your next move.

Just before everyone's bottom hits their seats - just before; you ask your question - while their derrieres are in mid air.

You say clearly and confidently: "Before we start, may I ask you a question?"

Timed right, this will take everyone by surprise and because their mum told them to answer the question, they will say:

"Yes."

Just what you wanted to hear.

Now you are set up to ask the next question:

"What qualities are you looking for in your successful candidate and what exactly do you want them to achieve?"

Taken off guard with your question, probably bored with yet another same old same old interviewee going through the same recitation of their qualities and qualifications, possibly inspired by someone who is actually interested in helping them solve their problem, the interviewers will usually give you some spontaneous and off the record information that you tuck away to build your case for why you are the "Best person for the job."

It will take chutzpah and guts to try this one out, but I can only report great successes from all the people I have shared this with - it has worked really, really well!

Look out for my post on "Turning bland Features into Compelling Benefits!", to help you take the interview to the next level.

This is only the beginning. Get to know your clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Turn your Problems into Blessings and Opportunites!

2011-05-09T23:35:00.000-07:00

Hullo again,

As I'm writing this, it's about three weeks since we buried my mum.

I'd just devoted the last nine months of my life to be with and take care of my mum, who lives in Sydney.

This involved living away from my wife and my son and my mother in law for eight months.

It was a big deal. For everyone concerned.

Anyhow, after we buried her it has been like being on a bender.

It's been hard to hold the space to listen to anyone without suddenly crying and feeling just terrible.

But time heals all wounds and last week I started pounding the pavement to get some work in the door.

After a week of trying to hold it together, meeting and talking with people, feeling like I've been living in a cave for the last five years, hairy and a bit smelly, I started to feel better.

In fact, I started to even get playful.

We just got my son a new bike and Rose and I took him out on the streets and parks for a ride. At a pedestrian crossing, waiting for the lights to change, I got on the bike and started doing some tricks and swerves - showing off to Rose.

I pushed it a bit far and fell off, thinking "I don't remember the concrete being this hard..." Rose said I hit the ground hard and then got up straight away. I knew that was because I was soooo embarrassed.

Later that night, I felt it. Deep pain in my lower back - pain that I couldn't get away from, a sleepless night of trying to find relief.

Showing off is a mugs game at the best of times, but anyone over 40 really feels the consequences of a crash much more than what a youth easily shrugs off.

The pain stayed with me until today.

Funny thing was that with my pain grounding me, I got to face and put to rest lots of my fears about my feelings popping out all over the place, I started to email people I've been out of contact with, I started communicating better with Rosie and I made some phone calls I've been putting off.

It ended up being a good thing for me.

The lesson?

"Mostly problems are opportunities and blessings in disguise."

I'll leave it up to you to keep looking for the opportunities and blessings when things go pear shaped for you!

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

The Six easy steps of Acknowledgement

2011-02-17T02:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, so you are ready to give an acknowledgement.

I'm assuming you are just getting started in this courageous and generous activity. Let's break it down into six easy steps:

First Step: Make sure your intention is pure. Keep an eye out for any hint of manipulation or wanting to gain favour from that person. If you are feeling needy, you probably won't deliver your acknowledgment without a little hook there to collect on your behalf. An acknowledgement is a gift from a powerful and centred person, who is not looking for any gain or favour. They are just sharing their experience of you, as you are showing up to them. Oftentimes you may want to deliver an acknowledgement, but it ends up coming out as a compliment - a much lower level of contribution and one that has an expectation 0f something to be returned. Think: "unconditional love"

Second Step: Put your total attention on the person you are about to acknowledge. Tune into them. Really look at who they are and how they show up in your life, the contribution that they are for you, Check out their current state of mind, how they look and act.

Third Step: Ask them if you can acknowledge them. If they say no, respect that and just hang out with them. If they say yes, then.........

Fourth Step: Deliver the acknowledgment. Look them in the eye and say "I acknowledge you for:" and just give it to them from your heart. Tell them the truth about how you see them. Take a risk and deliver your truth. Watch their reaction - keep your attention on them, not you.

Fifth Step: Stay present with them. Don't run away - don't be a hit and run acknowledger - stay there with them open and ready to dance with whatever happens. Accept any acknowledgement or conversation they initiate with you. Take responsibility for the new level the relationship grows into. Keep contributing. Keep opening yourself up to who you are and who they are.

Sixth Step: Celebrate.

Acknowledgement is a contribution to another human, given freely and without any thought of gain. It is something, if done regularly and often that will definitely change your life for the better. It will allow you to open up to the ones you love, the ones you work and play with and the many, many strangers you interact with.

It's a worthwhile thing to do.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Why isn't Acknowledgement EASY for you?

2011-02-16T02:55:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's because you just haven't considered five home truths about acknowledgement:

It's not part of our culture - and a lot of people are fearful that if they acknowledge you for something good, that you will get a big head!
You haven't been acknowledged very much in your life - it only happens every now and then, and when it hits you like a gust of fresh wind, you usually intellectualise it away and treat it with little respect - it's how you have been taught to do it!
There's only one day in our lives where all the people we love and who love us, all gather around and say all the things they thought about us, but never got to say it. They talk about what you are up to in life, what your qualities are and how you impacted on their lives. They acknowledge you and you don't even get to hear it - because you are dead!
When you give freely an acknowledgement to someone, without trying to manipulate them or gain favor from them, you give a gift to them that helps them be who they really are. A powerful acknowledgement sets us free!
.....and when you give, you get. Whatever you see in someone else, grows within yourself. If you see strength, you feel stronger. If you acknowledge intelligence, you feel smarter. And conversely, if you see only weakness and negativity - guess what you will feel like!

I suggest you read this all again.

When these home truths about acknowledgement become self evident to you, that is when you will have the courage to step out and tell people what you see about them.

I asked a friend to give me feedback (acknowledgement) about how I was showing up to him.

He had just told me that he found giving acknowledgments difficult, that he was okay picking out things that were wrong and needed fixing, but he had difficulty telling the full story about what he saw.

When he started to acknowledge how he saw me, I was moved at how much of me he could see. He was generous, courageous and as he went on, I started wondering if I could handle hearing such truth - cause it was his truth, his personal truth that he was sharing with me.

He did a great job.

I was enriched, empowered and even felt a bit taller after his acknowledgement.

.......I must ask him what he felt giving me that.

Acknowledgement.

It sets you free.

It sets the acknowledger free.

It sets the person receiving the acknowledgement free.

.......let me know if you want to know more.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Forgiving Failure, the Foundation for Success

2011-02-13T11:39:00.001-08:00

You have probably heard of if not experienced the process of Self Sabotage.

You are in hot pursuit of an objective.....and at a critical moment, you lose focus, or you drop the ball or you might even do something blatant that stuffs up any chance of you achieving your objective.

Self Sabotage steals your fire and your passion, fogs your focus, undermines your plans and stops you from achieving your dreams and aspirations.

I've just had a wake up call with being asked: "What's happened to your fire Mike?"

Great question.

And it lead to the whole subject of self sabotage.

And so now I have written a list of my failures, disappointments and things that just didn't work out the way I thought they should.

The list came to 21 business situations.

Now that I have this clarity, it's time to forgive, let go of and pray for help in letting it all go.

Yes, I need some divine intervention with this one.

I've noticed that with processing these self sabotaging thoughts, it takes a long time - kind of like trying to get rid of cockroaches hitting them one at a time. There are always more and more to kill.

Asking for Divine help and giving it over to God is something that's worked for me in the past.

I'll keep you posted with the results.

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...

Thinking the Pathway of your life

2010-07-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

I've been offline for a period of time - been busy with a personal initiation that's been feeling like peeling layers off the onion and letting go of things unnecessary to my life's purpose - which has sometimes felt like peeling layers of my skin off!

Writing blog posts at this time has been challenging, if not impossible.

But I'd like you to know I'm still here, still kicking, still doing great work and if anything....better than ever!

Aside from that, I'd like to leave you with the profound thoughts from our mate Henry:

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.

To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."

Henry David Thoreau

This is only the beginning. Get to know clarity. Email me, Mike Kennedy...