Got Coaching?

Some of you have asked me if I knew of any good coaches or trainers to whom you could look for practical business and personal growth strategies. There are a lot of such "life trainers" around, but I only found a couple who really captured my attention.

One of them is Max Bolka, whose no-nonsense, no fluff approach to coaching I found to be a refreshing alternative to a lot of the hot air and hype often encountered in the training sector.

Talk to Max today and ask him about training specials just for readers of the Financial Advisors Netzone. In the meantime, enjoy this article graciously provided by Max.



By Max Bolka www.maxbolka.com

The Psychology of Success:

Examining Core Beliefs

MAIN POINT:

Emerson once said, "Who you are shouts so loudly in my ears,
I cannot hear what you say."

Your success as a Financial Advisor depends primarily upon who you are,\
and only second, upon your talent (financial expertise),
business skills and ambition.

We can all think of examples where someone is full of talent, skill
and ambition,and yet they never quite seem to succeed.

Similarly, we can all thinkof people who are really not all that talented
but are hugely successful.

So who are you? In the psychological sense, who we are is called
our personality, and is made up of the culmination of our beliefs
about ourselves and our relationship to the world.

In short, our personality is defined by our core beliefs about who
we think we are.

MAXIMS:

Is it possible for you to double your income?
How about triple?...Quadruple?

How hard do you think one has to work to earn
that kind of money?

If you feel you don't have enough time now,
how can you possibly triple your income?

Would you have to give up your family? Your health?
Your vacation time? Your fun?

More than just positive thinking, your answers to these types of
questions start to reveal your core beliefs, your personality and
subsequent behavior. Let's keep going...

Do you deserve to double, triple or quadruple what
you currently earn?

Do you really deliver that much value to the marketplace?

Conversely, do you charge according to the value you
provide to clients?

The Law of Attraction

The immensely popular book and movie called The Secret talks
about The Law of Attraction,

based on the principle of like attracts like, and that
our thoughts create our reality.

And while many people intuitively feel this is true, very few understand
how the process actually works, or the tremendous implications it
holds. This lack of understanding has lead people to throw

the phrase around to the point where it has almost become a meaningless
cliché.
It is relevant here because, contrary to some opinions,
most financial advisors are, in fact, people.

Do you have a fear of over committing, of not being able to
deliver what you promise?

Are you a perfectionist? A procrastinator? A control freak?
(Or perhaps all three?)

Do you fear the increased responsibility that goes along with
increased rewards?

Why You Earn What You Do

You earn what you do because that is how much you have allowed yourself to earn right now.

(My job as your coach is to first help you create a vision of what you really want to achieve,

and then give you the tools, techniques, templates and business skills to
help you accomplish it.)

Our self limiting, core beliefs hold us back from earning higher income,
far more than anything “out there” such as education, experience,
sales/marketing abilities, etc. What is the nature of these self limiting thoughts,
and how can we expand them as well as expand our income?

Most of our negative thoughts or self limiting beliefs usually fall into one of three categories:

Fear - Examine any negative belief you hold and ask yourself what are you really afraid of?

The answer may astound you.

For example, we may have a fear of failure, but most people

have a greater fear of success. Why? Your answer is key to revealing your true motivations.

Getting real about the fears beneath your beliefs is a good place to start. Admittedly, it takes

courage just to get honest about your fears.

Lack - Another root cause of many self limiting beliefs is the concept of Lack. You either believe

the universe is unlimited in energy and resources, or you don’t. There’s no in-between.

For most people, their world consists of Lack; Lack of time, lack of energy, lack of money,

lack of health, etc. Is there enough to go around for everyone, or isn’t there? You tell me.

Either way, you are right, and your world will reflect your beliefs. Think Oprah, Donald Trump,

Sir John Templeton, Bill Gates, you and me. We are all given only 24 hours a day.

So how are you investing yours? Ultimately, all time management is self management.

Do you need to change the way you think about time, money and work? As a business

owner and entrepreneur, you will never have more opportunity to control your own destiny,

as well as influence that of your clients.

Struggle - A third area that trips up most people is the underlying belief that life is a struggle.

We have to be serious, especially in our business, right? After all, the harder you work,

the more you deserve a higher income. Says who? Where did this belief come from, and is

it really true? Look around you. Most people love to prove how hard they work and how

they’'ve overcome obstacles. So much so, they even create the obstacles to overcome!

Many movies consist of laying out the problem, struggling, and finally overcoming in the end.

89 minutes of struggle, with one minute of happy ending....We love the drama, don't we?

The Secret Behind The Secret

Are you attracting the wrong clients, despite having an Ideal Client Profile?

How hard do you work for your money, despite having a written Business Plan?

How easily do you obtain new business, despite having a Marketing Plan?

What about when you do all the right things, and you're still not seeing the
results you want?

You know, you're writing down what you want, being very clear and
specific about your goals.

You really, really want to accomplish this goal, and even visualize
and do affirmations.

And finally, you take the action steps necessary to move things
forward, and yet...nothing.

The biggest secret that the movie The Secret left out is that
most of our beliefs are unconscious.

Our core beliefs drive our current thoughts, which in turn trigger our behavior
and thus, results.

How do you react to the following statements?:

I have all the time I need to accomplish what's important to me.

I have all the money I need to accomplish what's important to me.

I deserve to be happy. I deserve to be rich. I deserve to be loved.

Once again, your initial reactions in these areas start to reveal your core beliefs.

If you are certain you're doing all the right things according to the "success experts"

and yet still not getting the results you want, chances are you have an underlying,

unconscious, conflicting core belief that is self sabotaging your stated intentions.

How do you replace old, unconscious belief systems based on fear, lack and struggle,

and transform them into ones of love, abundance and ease?

This will be the topic of future e-tips as well as a series of teleclasses on

Spirituality & Business for all entrepreneurs.

But for now, the short answer is: One step at a time, with the first

step being Awareness.

It's is a process of unfolding. Once you get the idea, you can

apply it to every area of life.

Start from where you are. As you take each step,

the positive results you see will reinforce

your new beliefs as well as the process, enabling you to think

bigger and take bigger steps.

Awareness is the first step to change, but there'’s

one more critical component.

MAX'S MANTRA:

Got Change?

What kind of person do you need to become in order to

accept more abundance in your business and life?

What do you need to develop?

We'’re not talking about outer skills here, such as marketing or another designation.

But rather, do you need to become more patient?More generous?

Eliminate anger? Become more organized? Learn to set healthy boundaries?

Your income can only grow to the extent that you do, and

to the degree you can believe it.

If there’'s any limit to your income, look within first, and see what

you need to work on.

Look at your self limiting beliefs and why you hold such beliefs.

Then figure out what you need to change about yourself in order to

allow more business to flow through you, attract the right kind of
clients, work less, accomplish more, and even have some fun along the way.