By Monique MacKinnon, Creativity Expert & Hand Analyst, Energetic Evolution 

Are you neglecting this key success factor? Noticing and reflecting on the significance of your “soul siblings”? You know, the soul sisters and brothers that cross your path?

In fact, you may be familiar with the popular expression: “People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you figure out which one it is, you will know what to do for each person.” When taken from a literal perspective, this statement is only partly accurate. Why? - Because “figuring out” often keeps you stuck in the mental realm. And since “knowing” why people come into your life is a spiritual function, you need to align yourself to that “space”. How? - By “being” your whole spiritual self: your light and shadow (undesirable, unwanted and rejected parts of your) self and all.

To illustrate this point, here’s a practical example taken from The Millionaire Matchmaker TV show. A female client who was heavily masculine in her behaviors learned through the show the importance of reconnecting to her feminine self. As such, not only did her date on the Millionaire Matchmaker go very well. Meeting the Master Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Stanger served as the catalyst that reignited her relationship with her “ex”. In this case, the show taught her to own and embrace her repressed feminine qualities. Specifically, she learned that the need to “always be in control” wasn’t going to attract her soul mate. So, she allowed herself to enjoy having her date organize and treat her on the date. In this simple but powerful example, Patti served as this Millionaire Matchmaker client soul sister “for a reason”.

WalkYourSoul Nudge: Take a look at the people you have met in the past three months, who had a powerful effect on you… good or bad. Write their names down on a piece of paper. Then ask yourself this: “Why did I meet them? What was their purpose?” To teach you to become a better communicator, friend, lover, parent or coach (insert your profession here)? To show you it’s finally time for you to think about and take care of yourself? To tell you to have more fun in life? To befriend you? As soul siblings, how are they helping you to further grow your soul, so that life takes on more meaning for, and becomes that much richer to you?

To schedule your Complimentary Create Prosperity Session (value: $100 US; limited time offer), where you will learn how to clear on the spot what’s currently blocking your financial prosperity, contact monique@energeticevolution.com and put “CCPS” in the subject line.

By Richard Francis, Right People, Right Businesses, Right Reasons, Owner at Boardroom Breakthrough

“Do one thing every day that scares you” (Eleanor Roosevelt). Or if that’s too unpalatable – just ‘tweak for value’. Take the elements of what you already know and are already doing and change them about a bit. Bolt-on something related and add-in more flavor.

Recently – for the Smart Boardroom service – I saw a program on British TV about a go-kart track struggling in the economic downturn. Their corporate business (which was most of their income) was in the tank. No-one wants to be seen to party in corporations in the UK right now – they’re all under far too much scrutiny – both externally in the media and internally with their senior management. I saw this program and was driving past it one day. (Of all the go-kart tracks in Great Britain, this one is under 5 miles from my front door.) I met the owner who’d been on TV and suggested that we investigate combining my Smart Boardroom service, where people have to run around a failing ‘virtual company’ with a series of team building challenges on the go-karts. Presto – exit the ‘corporate jolly’ and enter ‘the team building challenge that develops leadership and management skilling’. Of course, the winners get to do some go-karting, but no-one can hurl rocks at them anymore right?

One thing to remember about ‘tweaking’ is combine it with ‘timing’. At a recent convention, I met a man who had in 1999 invented and marketed a fabulous online and offline picture sharing package on a PC. It was brilliant and reasonably priced. People could share (and find) photos on the internet with it. Sadly – in the UK in 1999 – not many people had PC’s connected to the internet, and still more of them were reluctant to give up film cameras. Digital was nowhere as cheap, as good quality, or available as it is now. The product bombed. A few years later, a free service called ‘Flickr’ did exactly the same job with a slightly different model. It was sold not so long ago for millions of dollars.

Tweaking, Timing, Testing and Refining

Also, use the tools that can make you look bigger than you are. A lot of fluff has been made of social media tools. But whilst I abhor most of these ‘destiny changing programs’ – some of which are re-packaged common sense with a large price ticket on them – there are some things you really can do to ‘punch above your weight’. Top of the heap is 1) Learn the tools – without doing that you are not going to get anywhere. Twitter, Facebook, Blogging on Wordpress are not excessively complicated and they are free. 2) Use them, and put out a LONG TAIL of user-generated content. U.G.C will be your differentiator in the years to come.

It doesn’t matter if your website blog is targeted by loonies and spammers – keep blogging! Use meta-tags so that the search engines can find it, again and again. Remember the web is BARELY out of NAPPIES – it’s hardly more than 5000 days old. If you REALLY want to know why this is so phenomenally important, search for ‘Kevin Kelly’ on Google and go listen to his talks on TED.com. In brief, by 2040, the web will have more collective ‘artificial intelligence and computing power’ than the WHOLE OF HUMANITY. Information will be ubiquitous – so I’d suggest you let go of hoarding your knowledge and rationing it out – and GET SEEN. Trust me, you’ll receive more than you give. IQ + EQ + SQ = Business prosperity.

So in summary, lay on a spread. Try some new ingredients – or at least fiddle about with those you have – and then be prepared to change your recipes. If we didn’t do that – we’d still be eating raw meat off the end of a spear!

Richard Francis has spent over two decades selling, marketing, building channels and relationships with people to forge significant and sustainable results. He uses this knowledge to help others find their breakthrough formulas to success. Richard is a lifelong devotee of crafting and refining knowledge and is always looking for useful connections that allow better application of learning into action. He has worked for and with many companies, including Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Sony. He has also managed a small but complex overseas property business. So, he has empathy with entrepreneurs at all levels of business – and not just in boardrooms but also at all levels right down to the shop floor. Richard likes to see the right people in the right businesses for the right reasons. This generally tends to make for better results and happier people driving them. To receive a free copy of You don’t need three years in catering college to cook good food! Learn about IQ, EQ, SQ and Other Key Ingredients for Business Success (in e-book format), visit http://boardroombreakthrough.com/lets-talk/come-on-board/ (Available for free until Friday, November 5th, 2010.)

By Snowden McFall, author of Stress Express! 15 Instant Stress Relievers

The number of stressed Canadians increased 30% in 2009, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association. Large numbers of Canadian workers feel they have no control of their lives with the economic recession, unemployment and lack of financial security. The study by Desjardins Financial Security found that 1/3 of people surveyed have headaches and anxiety as well as physical tension and sleepless nights.1

Careerbuilder.com says that 78% of American workers feel burned out. One third of Americans say they’re living with extreme stress.2 The American Psychological Association says stress costs industry $300 billion a year in absences, medical costs, lost productivity and turnover. Worldwide data is equally staggering: UK, 4 billion pounds, Australia, $14.81 billion, Canada, $12 billion, annually. That’s billions of dollars each year in each economy and millions of people who are under stress!

As an entrepreneur, you are especially prone to burnout. From worry about cash flow and payroll to new business and rising costs, entrepreneurs are especially challenged at this time and getting even less sleep. Thirteen percent of those polled by Fortune Small Business reported having trouble getting to sleep every night.

What Can You Do To Combat Stress?

1. Take Vacations. Strategic Coach Dan Sullivan discovered that when his clients doubled their vacation days, they doubled their income.3 Boston College determined that for women aged 45 to 64, two weeks of vacation cut their incidence of heart attack in half.3 Expedia found most people feel rejuvenated after vacation, and are more productive and more satisfied with their marriages.

2. Get More Sleep. The World Health Organization is considering labeling less than 7 hours a night a carcinogen: a cancer-causing agent. Less than 7 hours means you are three times more susceptible to colds and flu. You are functioning at a cognitive disadvantage. The solution: plan for a good night’s sleep. Go to bed earlier, do not check email before bed, do not watch TV in bed. Make your bedroom a sanctuary for sleeping, making love and resting: no phones, computers, or beepers.

3. Complete what you start. Incompletions drain large amounts of energy and create stress. Each incompletion is a broken agreement, and it saps a little bit of energy. With enough incompletes, you feel like a failure. One solution is to record your successes daily. Whether your action was to close a million dollar account or make the bed, if you set out to do it and finished it, to your brain, those are equal successes. Every time you complete a project, new energy is released to start new projects and you create a pattern of successful accomplishment.

4. Cultivate Optimism. Optimists live 7 years longer than pessimists, have better lung function and are far less likely to die young or from cancer, according to the US NIH and Yale University. It also helps your success as an entrepreneur. Dr. Martin Sullivan of the University of Pennsylvania interviewed 350,000 executives and learned that the top 10% performers are all optimists! So if you want greater success, achievement, and profit in your business, become a more positive thinker. As an entrepreneur, you have the chance to impact lives, add value to your customers, and create a good livelihood for you and your employees. But only if you take care of yourself and manage your stress.

1. Stress levels up in Canada, mental health association warns, CBC news, http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2009/05/04/mb-mental-health.html
2.“Stress in US Rises, Causes Health Problems,” The Scoop, The Meeting Professional, March 2008, p.442.
3. Brown, Sarah, “Clean Break,” Vogue, June 2003