Discovering Your Inner Samurai Blog

Thich Nhat Hahn About Being Peace

Today . . . I am thinking of the Thich Nhat Hahn teaching I listened to this morning as I was out walking. Often, when I am walking I listen to some of my favorite podcasts, and this morning I was most eager to listen to Zencast. Each week, Zencast has an inspiring Buddhist Dharma talk and today I was listening to Thich Nhat Hahn talk about Being Peace.

Speaking from Plum Village, his meditation community in the south of France, on the fourth day of a week-long retreat, I felt as if I, too, was there, sitting on the floor in front of him taking in his words and experiencing his mindfulness.

At the heart of his talk was this four-line gata:

Breathing in I calm my body and mind
Breathing out I smile
Dwelling in the present moment
I know this is the only moment

He had us practice this gata while gently reminding us that the present moment is the only moment, and that smiling “makes you a master of your life.” Then after explaining that smiling releases hundreds of muscles in our faces and relaxes our central nervous system, he added with a smile in his own voice “that is why the Buddha and Bodhisattvas are always smiling.” This brought an appreciative chuckle from his audience.

I finished my walk conscious of my breath calming my body and mind and bringing a smile to my face.

Anyone else walking around thinking that smiling makes you a master of your life?

The original Accidental Pren-her™

Fire and the Inner Samurai

Are you familiar with the four elements?

You know, Fire, Earth, Air, and Water?

Starting today, and for the next three Tuesdays I will be discussing each of the four elements and their transformational power and importance to the Accidental Pren-her™.

First up--Fire!

The alchemical process associated with fire is called calcination. It is the first step in the transformational process, and is often the most painful.

According to The Emerald Tablet: Alchemy of Personal Transformation by Dennis William Hauck: "Calcination is the reduction of a substance to ashes, and it requires an intense flame to succeed.” Psychologically, calcination is the burning off of the Ego and its material attachments in order to reveal one’s true, inner, authentic self.

It is the first step that we all take along the path from Accidental Pren-her™ to entrepreneurial woman and forms the foundation of our inner Samurai.

Often called an activating or a life-changing event, calcination is a natural process that is brought on by a major life event such as a death of a loved one, major health crisis, a significant relationship shift, natural disaster, change of work situation, an accident, or spiritual awakening. It happens to all of us and most often when we least expect it. I was reading Extreme Makeover's blog a couple of days ago about the serious injury that happened to Ed Sander's hand (when he least expected it) and the changes he has made.

The reason reason why a life-changing event is so important is that it generally ends up being the catalyst for starting up our small business.

How many of you have had a life-changing event?

An event so strong and all consuming that felt as if you were the proverbial Phoenix going up in flames only to be reduced to ashes?

If you’ve had an event, or are currently having one--please share it with our blog community for by doing so, we are all validated.

The original Accidental Pren-her™

How To Set Goals That Stick

What do you think about when the word goal comes up in conversation?

Do you cringe and snort thinking to yourself “right, goals . . . whatever. What’s the point of making them if I won’t keep them?” Or, do your eyes light up as you tick off a long list of goals that you have for your small business that you hope you will complete?

The thing about goals is that unless you know how to set goals properly, you will fail to complete them.

So let’s start by defining exactly what a goal is: A goal is something that is meaningful, powerful, and transformative. A goal is something that will change your life, your business, your career, or your family in some meaningful way.

A goal is fierce!
• A goal is clearly defined
• A goal is very specific
• A goal has an action plan and time line for completion

To be an accomplished goal setter, you must become a fearsome time manager by:
• Setting priorities
• Completing tasks on time
• Eliminating distractions

In other words, those who manage their time, manage their world.

Three Parts To Setting Goals That Stick

1. Activate Intentions

The key to getting your business goals to stick it to activate your intentions. That means to put down on a piece of paper what your goals are, and then to take one action on each goal immediately.

Seven Steps For Successful Activation

• Identify your goal, very clearly and specifically. Identify no more than 3-5 business goals to focus on, and be concrete.
• Think critically about whether or not this is actually a business goal that you want to accomplish, and make sure you know why this goal is meaningful.
• Thinking creatively about how to accomplish your goals.  Engage others to brainstorm and ‘creategize’ with you.
• Next, identify your plan of action and create strategic action steps that will lead to goal completion.
• Then, and this is all so energetically important: schedule and take your first action step either now, or within the next five days. This one step will set the activation energy in motion.
• Evaluate your activity and measure success every step along the way.
• Reward success.

2. Eliminate Distractions

Distractions are the worst enemy of time management, and are the number one reason why goals fail. When we allow distractions to take our time and attention away from our goals, the result is frustration, leading to feelings of being overwhelmed, to thoughts of not being able to do something, to failure. Be fierce about your goals and guard them with your time.

3. Fearsome Focus

Dave Lakhani, speaker, trainer, and author of The Power of an Hour has come up with a fearsome focus strategy that works. In his book, he suggests focusing for an hour at a time on a specific action step of one of your business goals, no more, no less. He recommends that you block out time each day for this fearsome focus hour, and that you divide that focus time into 45 minutes fearsome focus, and 15 minutes doing something else.

So, how’s everyone coming with their 2007 business goals?

The original Accidental Pren-her™

Creating True Prosperity

Most people equate prosperity with money, and they think that if they have a lot of money than that means they are prosperous and that if they have very little, they are not. Creating True Prosperity by Shakti Gawain, bestselling author of Creative Visualization is a perfect book for the inner Samurai bookshelf. Like the Samurai who knows that strength is an inside job, so too does Gawain who says that “the key point to understand is that prosperity is an internal experience, not an external state, and it is an experience that is not tied to having a certain amount of money.”

Through prosperity stories and self-exploration exercises Gawain reveals the inner relationship between power and money. “The more comfortable we are with being powerful, the more money we are likely to create in our lives.” The power that she is talking about is the true, authentic power that resides within the inner Samurai of each one of us. 

When working with clients who are starting up a small business, the topic of money frequently comes up. Not just from the standpoint of money needed to start up a business, but also from the point of hidden beliefs about money that are getting in the way of their success. Often at the root is the belief that they really don’t have much power to affect the world, and this is the belief that is getting in the way of their success. When that is the case, I often recommend this book from the inner Samurai bookshelf.

The original Accidental Pren-her™

Know How To Make 2007 Your Best Year Yet?

Today, I am contemplating the February 13th A Note from the Universe email I have taped to the edge of my printer. It says:

Not events but outcomes. Visualize outcomes.
Not the cracking of the bat, but gliding over home plate.
Not the inking of the deals, but the kind of life you'll lead.
Not the scale, the diet or food, but the admiration you have earned.
And not the whens, the wheres, and hows, but the laughter, high-fives, and wows.
Not events but outcomes. Visualize outcomes.
Events are my specialty, trust me.
~The Universe

This came out just three days before Oprah aired The Secret on her show and the internet came alive with interest in and about the law or attraction. The start of 2007 seems to have brought to the forefront the intense desire that many of us have for this year to be our best year yet. That this year we want to live the life we have always wanted to live, no holding back, no showing up small. Though how do we do it?

Author James Arthur Ray, in his interview with Larry King, calls it “going three for three.” Meaning that what we think and how we feel and the actions we take must all be aligned.  Spiritual leader Michael Beckwith, in his interview with Larry King says that we must begin to have an inner agreement with ourselves “that it can be better” and that every single day we must practice that agreement “until it becomes a way of life.” A Note from the Universe calls it “visualize outcomes.”

What do you call it?

The original Accidental Pren-her™

Anyone Else Out There A TUT Fan?

I came across Mike Dooley and his Truly Unique Thoughts (TUT) web site a couple of years ago and thought it was weird. Weird enough for me to look around. Launched in 1989 by two brothers (Mike and Andy) and their mom (Sheelagh Mawe), TUT sends forth daily emails called Notes From The Universe with the underpinning belief system that “everyone's special, that every life is meaningful, and that we're all here to learn that dreams really do come true.”

An accidental preneur himself, Mike moved to Orlando after quitting his job at Price Waterhouse and sat, in a state of confusion, wondering what he was going to do with his life. Then he, Andy and Sheelagh went into the TUT (Truly Unique T-shirts) T-shirt business and made a lot of money. Mike admits that what he and his partners thought they were doing--making lots of money--and what they ended up doing--becoming happy and measuring success by how much joy they felt--was an accident by design.

That’s how it is when we become inner Samurais--we realize that all accidents are by design. We understand that each step that we take along our path has a greater, more inward meaning. We also realize that each thought that we think holds great power, and each move that we make is but the beginning of a series of actions, yet to be seen. As inner Samurais, we are aware that the outward is but a reflection of the inward, and that there are many paths to the same destination, all right in their own way. Life is an accident by design, so why not enjoy the thoughts you think and the actions you take along the way?

The original Accidental Pren-her™

Becoming A Pren-her

In June of 2004 I finally did it. I handed in my resignation as an associate professor, and began packing-up the formidable accumulation of books, music, and files from four degrees and 24 years of academic life. Distilled onto one little piece of paper that began with the words “kindly accept my resignation” and ended with “sincerely,” my life as an Accidental Pren-her™ began. Accidental because I didn’t anticipate it happening, and pren-her because I always knew I had it in me.

Becoming a pren-her seems, in retrospect, the most natural thing for me to have done. Though, the trek from resigning from a prestigious academic post to starting up my own successful small business had a lot more start up woes than start up goes. At first, I felt euphoric with the feeling of being liberated from corporate academia. Then, I was slammed by the twin emotions of panic and fear.

Jean Simon shares my perspective and feelings about leaving academia and has written a three-part article about her experience in the Chronicle for Higher Education entitled Goodbye Ivory Tower. Click here to check it out.

Since I had always been a full-time, traditionally employed woman, finding myself out of a job with no idea what I would do next was bloody overwhelming. From one day to the next, I couldn’t tell whether I was feeling exhilarated at being free to do, be, have whatever I wanted, or shocked by the aftermath of disbelief as the reality of what I had done began to sink in.

Most of the time I felt 98 % excitement and 2% scared, or was it 2% excitement and 98% scared?  I just didn’t know! This is what I think makes the whole becoming a pren-her experience so intense for us all.

One of the best things I did for myself soon after I got a grip on myself was do a life-review. For in doing so, one of the things I noticed was that at the inner core of my being there beat the Samurai heart of an entrepreneur. In so many big and small ways, from the lemonade stand outside my childhood home on Clemson Drive in Mt. Lebanon, PA., to organizing a university choir trip to Israel, I was, through-n-through, an entrepreneur.

Just recently, I wrote an article about the top 10 characteristics of highly successful entrepreneurs. Do You Have What It Takes To Become A Preneur? lists these characteristics. I have been flattered and amazed that this article bas been picked up by so many business sites like CEO Consultant and featured on the business advice area at Build Your Own Business.

Top 10 Characteristics of Preneurs

1. You have a strong desire to live life on your own terms
2. You are an independent self-starter
3. You have a powerful drive to make money
4. You are a calculated risk-taker
5. You like to be in control 
6. You are highly self-motivated
7. You had childhood experiences as a budding entrepreneur
8. You have a high level of sustainable energy
9. You are creative and innovative
10. You are a big-picture thinker

If you are an Accidental Pren-her™ and are in the midst of your own life review, click here to read more.  If you have your own becoming a pren-her story to share, click ‘post,’ now and let us read all about it.

The original Accidental Pren-her™ 

Purple Cow

One of the first marketing books I read when starting up my small business was Seth Godin's Purple Cow.  What I found absolutely intriguing was his concept of "putting a purple cow into everything that you build and everything you do, to create something truly noticeable."

What he means by purple cow, is to create something that is truly remarkable--a product or service that will be remarked on, remarked about, remarked to.  Something that is phenomenally amazing, never thought about it that way before, over the top fantastic!  Cows, after all, are not remarkable.  After you've seen the black ones, the brown ones, the white ones, and every combination of cows with black, brow, and white spots, you've just about seen them all.  Unless you are on a long road-trip from the east to the west coast playing some 'I spot a . . . .' car game in the middle of the mid-west, cows are not remarkable.  In fact, they are boring. 

Though, imagine if you are traveling along I 81 and your spied a purple cow standing in the middle of a corn field chewing on grass.  Wouldn't that catch your eye?  Wouldn't that make you stop your car, wake up the kids snoozing in the back seat, and get out and oooo-n-ahhhh?  Maybe even take a family pic or two with the cow?  Maybe even call the National Enquirer--can't you just see the headlines:  "Purple Cow Spotted Along I 81 in Rural Virginia"

Well, that's exactly the concept that marketing guru Seth Godin puts across in his Purple Cow book.  In fact, he does it so well that each time one of my clients gets ready to work on niche marketing, I send them a copy of his book as a gift.  One read of this book and my clients are convinced that this is the marketing strategy for them.

The original Accidental Pren-her™

Blogging Is Liberating

Blogging is one of the most liberating things I have done for my inner Samurai and ranks up there with one of the most powerfully expressive things I’ve ever done for myself. Besides being wildly easy and fun, blogging creates a wonderful sense of community.

I first became a blogger seven months ago when I signed-up for Andy Wibbel's (author of Blogwild!) Write Your Book in 45 Days teleseminar. It was one of those marathon writing seminars where a bunch of crazed writers all got together for a weekly call, then went off on their own to write in isolation. Some of us rented cabins in the mountains for weeks at a time, others of us took a month off from work, and still others of us hammered it out between 3-5a each morning before going off to our day job. The one thing, though, that all of us had in common was our sacred writer’s blog space, created specifically for our class.

Here, from an absolutely impoverished place of writer’s isolation, too many days spent staring glassy-eyed at the computer screen, and a week’s worth of half-eaten take out in my ‘fridge, I began my blogging career. Driven from the need to connect, and with absolutely no prior instruction and a great amount of intrepidation, I wrote “Alkamae” in the ‘post a comment’ name box. “So far so good,” I thought as I typed something scholarly in the body of the post like, “help, anyone out there?” Then, I warily clicked ‘post’ and . . . eureka, our community of book writers was born!

Energized and confident, I soon moved on to other blogs, commenting on other topics of interest to me. Next, I became a junior author on the Career Clarity Program member’s only blog site and encountered a new kind of blog--an information dissemination blog. Here, members of the career clarity community were invited to share “how-to” information in well-written and organized prose. Different from the free-for-all blogging I had previously done, this new blogging format helped me hone my ideas and order my thoughts.

Seven months later, I have my very own blog site and blog created for the Accidental Pren-her™ and other like-minded entreprenurial women who are ready to transform their lives and make a difference in the world by embracing their inner Samurai.

If you have a story to tell about how you became an pren-her, this is the place to share it. Write you name in the ‘post a comment’ name box and click ‘post,’ now to connect to a blogging community recognizing that even Samurai need teddy bears. Welcome!

The original Accidental Pren-her™

Alkamae Blog Launch

Announcing the launch of Alkamae Blog

We'll be going live on February 14, 2007!

The original Accidental Pren-her™