Clarity, Community, and Coaching – Plus Recommended Reading – To Help You Flourish!

Christi Hegstad November 12th, 2020

Imagine the ease and delight in knowing you have an entire year of personal and professional development lined up!

The 2021 ASPIRE Success Club is now enrolling – for a limited time! If you love the idea of connecting with a positive, inspiring group of achievers each month to set and reach your most meaningful goals, build extraordinary relationships, discuss exceptional personal and professional development concepts, learn new techniques and proven best practices, and have a built-in cheerleading squad, this is the group for you! Click here to learn more and join!

In addition to all of the above features, we recommend four books throughout the year to support our discussions and personal / professional growth. As we now enter our 11th year of the ASPIRE Success Club, we’ve established quite a collection of excellent books! Below you’ll find the four we’ve selected for 2021:

The 12-Week Year by Brian Moran + Michael Lennington

Every year, ASPIRE members receive the training and support to set and reach a Bold Goal – one that typically takes the better part of the year to achieve. In 2021, however, we are adding a quarterly Bold Goal focus, which Moran + Lennington’s book will complement well.

If you tend to be most productive as you near a deadline, or if 4th quarter tends to outshine the rest of the year in terms of sales or production (as it does for many), this book challenges us to adopt that “home stretch” experience much more effectively. I’ll be weaving in some principles from The 4 Disciplines of Execution by McChesney, et al in our ASPIRE Success Club meetings here, too.

Chasing The Bright Side by Jess Ekstrom

What role does optimism play in business and leadership? For Ekstrom, founder and CEO of Headbands of Hope, a significant one – and she shares her story and so much more in this delightful and insightful book. Her actions and principles support much of what positive psychology has taught us over the past couple of decades, and she writes about them in such an engaging way that you feel like you’re reading a novel – or a letter from a friend.

I can’t wait to share with ASPIRE the strategies I learned while earning my Positive Psychology + Wellbeing Coaching certification, and align them with concepts from this enlightening book!

The Energy Clock by Molly Fletcher

I have read approximately a million time management books (give or take 🙂 ), but Fletcher’s takes the concept ten steps further. I love her three suggestions for categorizing activities based on how they impact our energy, and then her sound solutions for implementing change to increase our wellbeing, effectiveness, and joy.

This is a quick read that packs a powerful punch, and I am excited to supplement it in ASPIRE with the time, energy, and purposeful productivity tools and resources that I often use in my coaching practice.

The Power of Moments by Chip Heath + Dan Heath

We typically pay special tribute to big life events: graduations, weddings, and the like. But as we grow, we tend to learn that the most meaningful experiences in our lives aren’t necessarily the big, grand to-do’s but rather the small, poignant moments.

The Heath brothers share so many examples of powerful moments that I never would have even thought to celebrate or mark somehow – but now I definitely do! ASPIRE members will love the experiential activities we’ll introduce to truly make moments count in work, leadership, and life!

We only open enrollment to the ASPIRE Success Club once per year, and now is that time (and for just a little while longer!). Join today and rest easy in knowing you have an entire year of personal and professional development lined up in 2021!

Questions? Email us here – we’re happy to help!

Here’s to the clarity, community, and coaching of ASPIRE to support our FLOURISHING 2021!

Join us for big dreams, bold goals, and abundant meaning and purpose in the ASPIRE Success Club! Our once-a-year enrollment is NOW OPEN for a limited time – get the details and join us here!

Non-Random Acts of Kindness

Christi Hegstad November 11th, 2020

When I opened my email today, the first message I read was from someone I haven’t heard from in years.

We had collaborated on some projects way back when, but work and life took us in different directions. Unfortunately our paths haven’t crossed since.

Until today, when I received this thoughtful email, thanking me for some of the ways I impacted her life.

There’s no way she could have known that it was exactly the type of email I needed, at exactly the right time.

In addition to the immense gratitude I felt for her in that moment, it also got me thinking about my own behavior:

How many times have I thought about sending a note recently, but then let time get away from me?

How many times have I cheered from afar for an article someone wrote, but didn’t take the time to let them know?

How many times do I have good intentions, but don’t follow through with intentional action?

I love a good random act of kindness, and I’ll keep doing those. But what I’m committing to at the moment are intentional acts of kindness. Those actions that require a combination of forethought and follow-through. For example:

* Anonymously leaving a pre-paid grocery card on the front door of an acquaintance who recently lost his job.

* Sending a handwritten thank-you card to a business mentor from years ago, indicating that her lessons still impact me to this day.

* Emailing a service provider who recently went above and beyond to thank him for his exceptional work, and cc’ing his supervisor.

In her outstanding book, Wonder, R. J. Palacio writes:

“If every single person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than necessary, the world really would be a better place.”

I agree 100%: An act of kindness can change someone’s day, someone’s life, and ultimately the world.

What are your favorite intentional acts of kindness?

Surround yourself with kind, positive, purposeful achievers who make a difference! The 2021 ASPIRE Success Club is now open for enrollment – click here to join!

What Would Your Book Of Life Lessons Include?

Christi Hegstad November 10th, 2020

In the ASPIRE Success Club this week, we are discussing life lessons:

Those things we’ve learned along the way, the ones we wish we had known when we were younger, the advice we’d share with others.

The lessons vary greatly, each one framed by our own life experiences.

“Trust your intuition.”

“Do what you love.”

“Laugh more, worry less.”

“Believe in yourself.”

“Everything will be o.k.”

And many more.

If you wrote a book of the most important lessons you’ve learned so far, what would top your list?

What if you wrote that book at age 100 – do you think your lessons would change?

Share your thoughts below or on LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook. I’d love to know what you’ve learned over the years!

Want to participate in smart, meaningful discussions for an entire year? Join the ASPIRE Success Club – enrollment is NOW OPEN for a limited time. Join here!

5 Steps To A Fresh Start

Christi Hegstad November 9th, 2020

We’re approaching mid-November, a time when many people will decide that whatever changes they want to make in work or life might as well just wait for the new year.

Whether it’s implementing a healthy new habit, taking charge of your finances, moving your business idea forward, decluttering your office… What if you decided today is the day for your fresh start?

What if you started off the new year ahead of the game?

Below are 5 steps to help you do just that. I am guessing that, as an achiever, you may find #4 the most challenging, but let me know!

1. DECIDE to make the fresh start.

Endless pondering, considering, waffling, thinking about, or wondering can be exhausting. You can find great power in making – and committing to – a decision to begin.

2. ENVISION what you’re moving toward.

That’s right: Dream. Imagine the ideal. Create a clear picture in your mind of what you are moving toward, not what you’re stopping or letting go. This distinction is subtle but so important!

3. BRAINSTORM possible steps.

My favorite method for this involves creating a breakthrough map, which you can see an example of pictured below and read more about here.

4. CHOOSE ONE from step #3.

Yes, just one. The achiever in you will likely want to conduct a complete overhaul, which might feel exciting for a few days or weeks and then get abandoned completely. Choose just one to practice consistently for a week or two; you can then add another, and then another. Enjoy sustainable, rather than fleeting, success.

5. Take an ACTION.

Anyone else really good at planning but not so much with the follow-through? (It’s one of the reasons I believe everyone – including me – needs a coach!) So take an action in the direction of what you envisioned in step #2: Maybe that action is securing a coach, or printing out your last 3 months’ of spending, or registering the domain name for your business idea, or taking a 5-minute walk, or joining an action-oriented group for support.

I am embarking on a fresh start myself today, and I can’t wait to see how improved that aspect of my life feels when January 1 rolls around! How about you? Ready to start?

Get support for sustaining your fresh start all year with the ASPIRE Success Club! Our once-a-year enrollment is NOW OPEN for a limited time – get the details and join today!

Creating Your Legacy On Purpose

Christi Hegstad November 8th, 2020

We’re kidding ourselves if we think we’re not leaving a legacy. Everything we do touches the lives of other people. – Leider + Shapiro

Whether you run a solo business or lead a team of 10,000.

Whether you have a million Facebook followers or no Facebook account at all.

Whether you routinely receive feedback on your work or never hear a word.

Regardless, you are touching lives, making a difference, leaving a legacy.

This week, decide your legacy.

Our legacy isn’t just how we’re remembered 100 years from now, and it isn’t simply determined by chance.

It’s also how we’re remembered when we leave a meeting, an interaction, a check-out line, a workday.

So, how do we decide our legacy?

By deciding, on purpose and with intention, who and how we will be in the world.

Then living that out, each and every day.

Thank you for making a positive, purposeful difference!

Surround yourself with meaning, purpose, and intention – plus an incredible group of uplifting people – all year long in the ASPIRE Success Club! Our once-a-year enrollment is NOW OPEN for a limited time – get the details and join us here!

When Your Motivation Dips

Christi Hegstad November 7th, 2020

This article was written by Dr. Christi Hegstad and originally published by the Des Moines Business Record.

If you’re reading this, I’ll bet you are an achiever: You enjoy the sense of accomplishment, you want to make a difference in the world, you adore those blissful 30 seconds when all the laundry is complete or you get your inbox to zero.

You probably also become a bit baffled when you have a meaningful goal or important project, perhaps with a due date right around the corner, but you just don’t feel like taking any action to move it forward.

What to do?

As a professional coach, an important part of my work involves helping clients uncover their true motivators. Those might include internal motivators, like the integrity that accompanies doing what we said we would do, or external ones, like receiving public recognition. And while each of us may be motivated by different factors, a few considerations ring true for many:

Connect with ‘future you.’

There’s a saying, attributed to multiple authors, about how we don’t like to write but we love having written. We could easily transfer that to exercise, decluttering or any number of projects. Instead of focusing on the start or the steps or how difficult it might be, imagine yourself once you’ve completed it. How will you feel? What will you see? Engage as many of your senses as possible, and let that rich vision prompt your action.

Seek ease.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever made something more difficult than necessary. (If your hand isn’t raised, teach us your ways!) A few years ago, I declared “light” as my annual theme, and when things felt heavy or hard, I got into the habit of asking, “What would make this feel light?” Often a smoother, cleaner, more efficient answer would appear ? prompting an uptick in my motivation.

Revisit your why.

One client sought coaching after setting a revenue goal three years in a row and missing it every time. She had successfully achieved many goals in her life, so repeatedly not reaching this one befuddled her. I asked her why she wanted to bring in that amount: What would be different? What could she do then that she couldn’t do now? What would earning that revenue signify? We quickly realized her “why” wasn’t about the money – it was about the number of people she would help. When she began focusing on that instead, her income followed suit.

Truth be told, I chose to write about this topic today because I needed a motivation boost myself. We all do from time to time! Like Zig Ziglar famously said, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”

If you feel a dip in your motivation these days, give yourself some grace. Release the pressure a bit. Then try one of the above tips and see what you discover!

First, we define what SUCCESS means to you. Then, we make it happen! Contact me to learn more about coaching!

Lessons From Humanity

Christi Hegstad November 6th, 2020

I had a cancellation today and decided to use my unexpected free time to go for a walk. Here’s a bit of what I saw:

A grandma, with endless patience, teaching her young grandson, with endless curiosity, how to fish.

A young man, college-age I would guess, walking his dog and praising her so gently and genuinely that I’m sure she grew a few inches taller in that very moment.

A little girl and two little boys running toward the playground, as fast as their little legs would carry them, with their mom not far behind, pushing a stroller filled with parent-of-young-children necessities. (My heart filled with nostalgia at this one. <3)

I don’t know any of these people.

I don’t know who they voted for.

I don’t know the joys they have celebrated, the heartbreaks they have pulled themselves through, the challenges they currently face.

All I really know is that they looked like people doing their best to take care of themselves, and to take care of others.

Maybe that’s what it really comes down to:

Taking care of ourselves and taking care of each other.

And maybe that’s enough? Or at least a good place to start.

Join us for big dreams, bold goals, and abundant meaning and purpose in the ASPIRE Success Club! Our once-a-year enrollment is NOW OPEN for a limited time – get the details and join us here!

Ever Forward

Christi Hegstad November 5th, 2020

Every morning, much like a favorite children’s TV show or an online dictionary, I choose a word for the day.

Or rather, it seems a word chooses me.

Either way, this simple 20-second practice of setting a daily intention has proven especially helpful in recent weeks.

Today, for example, my intention is ‘Ever Forward.’

As I look at my schedule, priorities, and goals for the day, I want to intentionally conduct them with my vision for the future in mind. I want to take actions today that align with my ideal tomorrow. Ever forward.

When I think about the hike I plan to take this afternoon, I want to push myself to go a bit further than I have in a while. Ever forward.

Even as I consider my evening at home, I intend to do activities – like reading, writing, and chatting with family – that I can enjoy in the present and that also plant seeds for future growth and delight. Ever forward.

So although I don’t really ‘do’ anything with my intention once it’s set, it definitely makes an appearance throughout the day – automatically infusing my actions with greater meaning and purpose.

What would serve as a powerful intention for you today?

If you have an overflowing schedule, maybe your intention today is ENERGY.

If you feel a bit stressed or anxious, maybe your intention is PEACE.

If you’re considering a career change or a move, maybe your intention is CLARITY.

Consider your values and your vision for the future. Look at your agenda for today. Then choose a purposeful word or phrase that you want to represent the day – your daily intention.

May you have an intentional, purposeful day!

Surround yourself with meaning, purpose, and intention – plus an incredible group of uplifting people – all year long in the ASPIRE Success Club! Our once-a-year enrollment is NOW OPEN for a limited time – get the details and join us here!

What’s Actually In Your Control, Anyway?

Christi Hegstad November 4th, 2020

For the past few months, I’ve been keeping track of the daily weather in my journal. I had begun to feel like the days where I had boundless energy and ambition were typically sunny ones, whereas my energy seemed to wane after too many gray days in a row. I wanted to see if there was any basis behind these thoughts.

I have done similar self-studies with moon cycles, workload levels, and more. I know, I know! But sometimes the PhD in me just needs the data. 🙂

As I’ve pondered this a bit, I’ve come to some interesting realizations:

If my energy feels lower on gray days, is that due to the gray day – or could it be that I didn’t get out for my walk that day?

Or is it because drizzle expands my hair to 8 times its normal size, so perhaps it’s the continuous bad hair days impacting my energy and mood?

Or maybe it’s actually a bright and sunny day outside, and my windows just need cleaning?

I could continue speculating, but ultimately it comes back to this: Regardless of what I discover, I cannot control the weather.

Sunshine or derecho (a new experience for me this year), warmth or snow squall (another new one), it’s not in my control.

So, do I throw up my hands and say there’s nothing I can do about it?

Absolutely not.

I may not get to choose the weather, but I do get to choose my mindset.

I do get to choose my actions.

I do get to choose who and how I will be in the world today, regardless of the weather or anything else.

And so do you.

Where do you feel like things are out of your hands? Maybe it’s the pandemic. The election. Changing work policies. The countless other things that appear on the daily.

Rather than feeling exasperated, focus on what you can do.

You can choose your thoughts, your mindset, your response.

You can reach out for help.

You can do your research, share your feelings, take a deep breath, offer a helping hand to someone else, and myriad other actions.

Who and how will you choose to be in the world today – regardless of the weather or anything else?

Join us for the 11th year of the ASPIRE Success Club! Our once-a-year enrollment is NOW OPEN for a limited time – get the details and enroll here!

5 Ways To Make Your Voice Heard

Christi Hegstad November 3rd, 2020

Your voice matters! Looking for ways to make it heard? Here are 5 quick but powerful ideas:

Vote. If you live in the U.S. and haven’t voted yet, today is the day!

Donate. Choose a cause that matters to you and offer your time, talent, or treasure.

Endorse. Write a testimonial for a small business you appreciate.

Volunteer. Share your strengths in a meaningful way.

Write. A letter of support or gratitude, a blog post, a newspaper opinion piece – endless options.

What other quick ways can you make your voice heard? Share your ideas below!

Our once-a-year enrollment is NOW OPEN to the ASPIRE Success Club – but only for a limited time! Join here!

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