Becoming Unstuck

8/6/2019 Becoming Unstuck

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BecomingUnstuck

WithCascading Change

The Secret Pathway to Reaching YOUR True

Potential and Helping Others Break ThroughTHEIR Personal Barriers


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As a single footstep will not make a pathon the earth, so a single thought will notmake a pathway in the mind. To make adeep physical path, we walk again andagain. 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


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Table of Contents

An Introduction To Cascading Change and Why This

Report Is So Important to YOU.................................. 5Face It - You Are Stuck.. ......................................... 6

These Are The Invisible Barriers Blocking Your Road To

Success, Fulfillment, Happiness and Everything Else You

Wish For................................................................. 7

Why The Art of Optimism Exists.............................. 8

Problems, Pain and Frustration Are Everywhere........... 9

The Solution........................................................... 11

Our Goal................................................................ 12

So How Do You Know If Youre Stuck? ...................... 13

A Theory of Constraints Story................................... 14

You Will Only Progress In Life At The Speed Your

Invisible Barrier Lets You Move.................................. 15

Blast Through The Barriers Achieve Your Dreams!..... 18

You Will Feel And Act Like You Are Invincible............... 19

Everyday Examples of Invisible Barriers...................... 20

So Are You Ready to Blast Away YOUR Invisible Barrier? 21

Goals Exercise........................................................ 22Barrier 1: A Lack of Clear Thinking............................. 24

Barrier 2: Not Taking Action...................................... 26

A Simple Example Of Just Getting Started................. 27

Barrier 3: Low Self-Esteem....................................... 28

Move Up The Confidence Scale.................................. 29

Barrier 4: A Warped Sense of Value........................... 30

Understand Return On Investment............................. 31

Start To Objectively Understand Your Value and Demand

Value From Others Too............................................. 32

Barrier 5: Loneliness or Isolation............................... 34

Find a Distance Mentor To Help You Succeed and

Grow..................................................................... 35

Be Inspired............................................................ 36

Barrier 6: Feeling Overwhelmed and Exhausted 37


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Overcome The Guilt Of Looking After Yourself Properly 38

Barrier 7: Belief and Self-Belief................................. 38

Barrier 8: Worrying About What Other People Think Of

You........................................................................ 40

Externalize Your Focus and Take The Pressure OffYourself................................................................... 41

Barrier 9: Perfectionism............................................. 42

Barrier 10: Problems With Business and Business

Identity................................................................... 43

Build YOUR Business YOUR Way................................. 44

These Are Just a Handful of the Possible Root Problems

That Could Be Blocking Your Progress Right

Now.......................................................................... 45

So How Do You Know What's Keeping YOU Stuck?.......... 45

How to Identify Your Invisible Barrier............................ 46

The Floodlights Of Change........................................... 49

In Summary.............................................................. 50

Who Is Ed Lester?...................................................... 52


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An Introduction To Cascading Change andWhy This Report Is So Important to YOU...

When people ask me what Cascading Change is, I try to keepthe answer as simple as possible:

It's an extremely effective life coaching model.

Admittedly it's not as well known or as 'sexy' as NLP or some ofthose models. However I can tell you categorically that,understood and used properly, it can be 50 times as effective

and 50 times as powerful.

A Pretty Audacious Claim...

OK, I'll justify why I make that claim.

The Cascading Change Pathway (CCP) is a personaldevelopment and success coaching model which I primarily

designed to help the helpers to get better results forthemselves and for their clients too. A method for becoming'unstuck' and releasing the floodgates of personal andprofessional success.

It's partly based on the teachings of business and self-growthexperts like Rich Schefren and Jay Abraham, and on systemsmodels such as Cybernetics and The Theory of Constraints. Italso has its foundations and principles based on the many

great writers, therapists, coaches, personal mentors andinfluential friends who are just too numerous to mentionindividually.


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Face It - You Are Stuck...

Being stuck is a position few of us like. We want somethingnew but cannot let go of the old - old ideas, beliefs, habits,even thoughts. We are out of contact with our own genius.

Sometimes we know we are stuck; sometimes we don't. In bothcases we have to do something.

Inga Teekens

We are all stuck.

I don't care if you are the richest, most successful person inthe world.

There is an invisible barrier standing in the way of your futureprogress. Barriers are just a fact - welcome to the human race!

The concept of a pathway existed in the human mind a longtime before we ever got round to building any actual pathways.

A pathway is a universal concept and we all think of ourlives as a journey along a pathway. We talk about our livesin terms of 'getting somewhere', 'going on a journey' 'movingforwards' etc.

So Picture This:

Imagine the pathway of your life, stretching out into your

future.

Imagine all of your goals and dreams in the distance. If ithelps, imagine yourself looking happy and smiling, glowingwith personal and professional satisfaction and joy.


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Everything In Your Future Is Amazing

But in the way, there are all kinds of barriers. Maybe you

imagine them as fences, brick walls, or sheets of glass.

However you imagine them is fine. But they are there, just ascertainly as there are stars in the sky and you have dreams atnight.

These Are The Invisible Barriers Blocking

Your Road To Success, Fulfillment,Happiness and Everything Else You Wish

For

And here's your first big 'Aha!' moment for the day...

You're almost certainly focusing on the wrong barriers. Youare focusing on the ones you can see and feel the most

easily.

You only need to focus on the first barrier along the pathway -the most immediate block or obstacle in your road.

Think about it none of the other obstacles are important.

You can get rid of 10 future obstacles but it won't make ajot of difference if you don't remove the one in front of you

right now.


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Learn how to identify and remove the one obstacle in yourimmediate path and you have the keys to the kingdom.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to deal with the most

immediate, fundamental barrier in your life (one that is almostcertainly invisible to you but the effects of which are impactingeverything you try to do and the outcomes you are strivingfor)?

When you achieve this, the changes you experience will belike an unbelievable cascade of positive effects andchanged results. Like the single domino that is the catalystfor starting the thousands of others tumbling.

This is the essence of Cascading Change, and if thepossibilities that this model offers for you and your clientsaren't immediately obvious, don't worry - by the time youfinish this report, they will be.

Although Ive begun this report talking about barriers andbeing stuck, the truth is this report is purely abouttransformation, unlimited potential and possibilities.The unlimited potential and possibilities for you and all the

other people you go on to help, support, coach, train, nurtureor heal.

Everything is about to change for you! Bear with me whilst Iexplain...

Why The Art of Optimism Exists

Most people in the world are stuck in some way.

Maybe theyre a little stuck or maybe theyre a lot stuck butthey are definitely stuck.

People generally are either:


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Suffering and hurting Chasing goals and dreams but facing significant hurdles

along the way, or

Confused and frustrated

The truth is that we all have things we need help with butultimately everyone is asking the same question:

Where do I get the help I need?

Where do I get the [support, advice, nurturing, training,mentoring, healing, motivation, positive changes] that I

need?

Problems, Pain and Frustration AreEverywhere

Many millions of people are frustrated and dont know whereto turn

Take a few moments to understand the massive significance ofthis.

Imagine your hometown or city.

Pretend you could isolate a random sector of the population -lets say 1,000 people - and place them in a large roomtogether.

A Question

How many of those 1,000 individuals need help? (Whethertheyre aware of it or not).


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Think about it:

How many of those 1,000 people:

Are stuck in a destructive personal relationship or adepressing work environment?

Are suffering from stress or anxiety, pain or even feeldepressed about their lives?

Are struggling to sleep at night because of problems orworries?

Have problems with energy and motivation? Would love to change a bad habit such as smoking or

heavy drinking etc they know they can do it but arefrustrated that they dont know how to do it?

Have incredible goals such as running a business,getting promotion or changing careers or earning moremoney?

Wish they could escape and let go of the pain of thepast still reeling from events or grief from long ago?

Would love to become healthier and fitter to weigh lessor to exercise more, basically to feel more alive?

Are fed up with and tired of fears or bad habits that areholding them back from the success and happiness they

crave? Are wondering if its possible to have more confidence

or self-esteem? Are Wishing they loved or valued themselves more

highly, perhaps desperately wishing someone else wouldlove and cherish them?

Are searching for more meaning or purpose or fulfilmentin their lives?

And I could go on forever, but so as not to keep you insuspense, heres the answer to the question of how many ofthose 1,000 people need help:

1000


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In other words, all of them.

So, heres another question for you:

If literally everybody is suffering or stuck in some way, with agoal they cant quite achieve or a problem they cantovercome, then what is the solution?

The Solution

The solution, of course, is YOU.

If youre reading this report right now, then I will assume thatyou are either:

1.Working in a profession where you help people achievegoals, overcome problems, heal, help, train, mentor,coach or support, or

2.Thinking of entering such a professionHave a look at the question list above. Is there anyone in thatlist that you would be able to help?

Do you know how to teach or inspire someone to be fitter,healthier, more confident, happier, or overcome any of thoseother challenges?

In which case you are the solution! You are priceless andoffer unbelievable value to those individuals.

Almost certainly, there are people in that room whose lives youcould help to improve unrecognizably. You are the mostimportant person in their lives if they ever become luckyenough to meet you or to hear about what you do.

But, if Im right, the chances are that they havent heard of you.


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So what is the deeper problem?

Why arent these 1000 people finding the help, support and

expertise they so desperately need?

Why are so many people stuck and struggling in one way oranother?

The Deeper Problem is that the solution (i.e. YOU) is stucktoo! Albeit in a different way

Our GoalSo our goal at The Art of Optimism is very simple.

To get you unstuck!

Anybody who knows me personally knows that Im dedicatedto helping wellness experts from all different professions tobecome successful.

We want you to succeed! We want to provide you with all thebusiness and professional skills and personal confidence youneed.

By doing so, we help to bridge the gap between the massiveand unlimited demand for help from the public and thedifficulty they have in finding that help.

And in case you think that Im just trying to sell you somethinghere, rest assured this report is not only free, it is designed tohelp you become unstuck in a very practical way.

Use this information so that it works for you and allows you togo on and be hugely successful. Help hundreds, maybethousands of people to live happier, more fulfilling lives. And if


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you get a spare moment, come back and tell us about yoursuccess story thats all the thanks we want

So How Do You Know If Youre Stuck?I am a very big fan of systems thinking.

My particular favorite is a business theory called The Theory ofConstraints explained and taught to me by the famousbusiness coach Rich Schefren.

This systems thinking has affected everything I do and if you

really commit to absorbing the information Im going to sharewith you in the rest of this report, then I think things are goingto change dramatically for you too - in your business and alsoin many other areas of your life.

In short, the theory of constraints says that a system is likea chain its only as strong as its weakest link.

In other words, the point in the system that is the weakest will

always constrain the rest of the system.

Oh, and something else for you to consider: the weakest pointin the system is not generally where the problems occur. Justlike one of your clients the problem or pain that theydescribe to you is generally a symptom of a deeper problem.

An Example of Overcoming The Wrong

Barriers

As a really powerful example of how this theory and way ofseeing the world translates into human systems, consider thework of Maxwell Maltz (the author of Psycho-Cybernetics).


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time. His wife leaves him, he develops an unhealthy lifestyle,and all kinds of other things start to go wrong.

At first it feels as if he has about a million unrelated problems,

but he comes to realize that there is only ever one problemat the heart of everything. And this is pervasive for all of us we all have one thing that stops us from getting to our nextgoal.

When you're stuck in a spiral, to change all aspects of the spinyou need only to change one thing.

Christina Baldwin

You Will Only Progress In Life At TheSpeed Your Invisible Barrier Lets You

Move

Invisible Barriers Are Like WalkingThrough Quicksand

A very interesting story is told in The Goal, whichdemonstrates how this works in real life. Alex, on his weekendaway from work, takes his young son on a scouting trip withsome other boys, hiking through the forest.

At one point during the walk, Alex becomes worried that theyare not going to make it to their destination by the time it getsdark, and he's going to be stuck in the forest with a bunch of

kids in the dark a serious problem!

So he takes a step backwards and looks at the situation, andtries to work out what's going on and why they are taking solong. He notices that the group of boys has become veryspread out. Some of the boys are a long way ahead, whileright at the back is one boy Herbie - who is overweight, not


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Your professional workYour business successYour marketing

Your personal lifeYour goals

and seriously examine all the different challenges, problems orlimitations that you are currently experiencing.

You will be looking to uncover the root cause or causes of allof those symptoms. Things that you used to think of asproblems, will suddenly be put into perspective as symptomsof deeper problems.

Believe me, your life is going to change in dramatic andsurprising ways.

You will be looking for YOUR Herbie, YOUR invisible barrier.And once youve identified what and where it is, then there aremany different ways that you can do something about it.

The most effective way in my experience is to work out what

you're great at; where your strengths, passions, talents, andinstincts lie, and use those to blast through the barrier.

You can also enlist other people and external resources to helpyou.

You can use your personal ingenuity so that you no longerneed to rely on that thing that is keeping you stuck.

In other words you can make it irrelevant.

Ive Tested This To The Nth Degree

I've worked with many hundreds of wellness professionals just


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You'll always have a system for blasting through barriersin the future, and this will have profound effects in all

areas of your life and business.

By making this process into a habit and repeating it again andagain, your life and business will become much morestraightforward and your success virtually guaranteed.

You Will Feel And Act Like You AreInvincible

Always remember that the profession you are in, the work thatyou do, makes for very viable business potential.

The stark reality is that most small businesses fail, but thisshould never be the case with what YOU do because yourbusiness offers so much value to people's lives.

As I demonstrated earlier, there's such an unlimited andpassionate demand for the things that you can provide, that

once you get this whole barrier thing sorted out you will beunstoppable.

And, you will also be in a position to do the same thing foryour clients and their barriers.

Imagine working with your clients and being able toquickly identify the ONE thing currently holding them back

then proceed to help them get past it.

How incredible will that be?


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Everyday Examples of Invisible Barriers

Before I carry on I want to give you two more examples of how

barriers restrict the success that a 'system' can enjoy.

1. In Business

The goal for a business (as opposed to a non-profitorganization) is to sell products and generate revenues.

Think about a company that makes products. Imagine if thoseproducts are not what the general public actually wants. Infact, the products are useless - a completely inappropriatemismatch to the needs of the marketplace.

The business can carry out all of its other processes to a reallyhigh standard - fantastic customer service system, wonderfuladvertising, marketing, and PR department, brilliantmanagement but, that business is always going tostruggle and have its success restricted because it's got

the wrong product.

You can double the budget for your customer service,marketing and advertising and employ the best managers andsalesforce in the world, but there's always going to be abarrier in the system. So until you produce a much betterproduct or find a new marketplace, that business is alwaysgoing to be limited in its success.

2. In Professional Sports

The goal of any professional sports team is to win as manygames or events as possible.


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Think about any team sport, and imagine what happens whenjust one player in that team is of a low performance standard.Let's imagine it's a game where you have a goalkeeper, somedefense and some attacking players.

If your goalkeeper is absolutely useless, then that is alwaysgoing to be a barrier to the teams success. You could havethe best attacking players in the world and spend millions ofdollars buying, coaching and developing the best talent. At theend of the day, you might score a few extra points but youwon't achieve your goal of winning games because you've got aweak link in the structure - your goalkeeper.

So you have to do one of two things - you either need to find abetter goalkeeper or strengthen your defense to the extentthat it shores up the overall team performance, and is so goodthat the other team doesn't get an opportunity to score points,therefore making the weakness of the goalkeeper irrelevant.

So Are You Ready to Blast Away YOURInvisible Barrier?

I hope these two examples make sense to you. Now aspromised we move on to some of the most common barriersthat are probably affecting YOU right now.

But first, one more thing that really needs to be covered:

THE GOAL

Your problems are you dont know what your goal isEli Goldratt

Every system must have a goal. A system without a goal is aweak and ineffective structure like a building without


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foundations, or a treasure map that's been torn in half and isincomplete.

Or, when trying to understand the principles of Cascading

Change, its like a pathway to nowhere.

Your life and your business are both complex systems and soeach must have a goal. You must have a goal for yourperfect life and a goal for your perfect business.

Both goals must be achievable, but that doesn't mean theyshouldn't be ambitious. They should be very ambitious; you

just need to believe that it's possible, and that you could getthere.

Goals Exercise

So take some time before you carry on with the report, to graba pen and paper and think about your overall life goals, forboth your professional life and your personal life. Ask yourselfsome of the following questions:

In the future, how do you want to be spending yourtime every day?

What do you want to be doing? How many people do you want to be working with

professionally? What kind of revenues do you want to be making for

your business? What kind of holidays and vacations do you want to be

taking? What do you want to be doing with your leisure time? What would you like to do more ofthat you aren't doing

at the moment? What do you want to be doing less of? What would you like to get rid offrom your life? What did you used to do more ofthat you haven't done

for a long time and you'd like to get back into?


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Are there people that you haven't been keeping in touchwith that you'd like to?

Who would you like to reconnect with? What kinds of people would you like to spend more time

with?

And so on. Just paint out the picture of how you'd like yourpersonal and professional life to be. The answers are like acollection of building blocks that combine to produce yourperfect life goal, and now you really will be holding thecomplete treasure map in your hands.

This is where we move onto the barriers that are keeping youstuck. Because now we know what they are holding you backfrom, things will become clearer.

Knowing what you ultimately want is a great way of gettingsome context on where you are stuck right now.

All systems (including human systems) work this way.


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INVISIBLE BARRIERS

Barrier 1A Lack of Clear Thinking

Symptoms include:

Wasting timeRepeating mistakesGetting frustratedNot being able to explain yourself clearly to people

Clarity is absolutely everything. The exercise that you havejust carried out will move you forwards instantly just bylighting up your personal pathway.

Children are remarkable for their intelligence and ardor, fortheir curiosity, their intolerance of shams, the clarity and

ruthlessness of their vision.

Aldous Huxley

If you skipped the exercise, or did it in a half-hearted way,then this could be a definite symptom of unclear thinking.

I don't mean to be harsh here or to pick on you in any way, butI do need to be honest. If you don't take action, you are notgoing to get the clear thinking that you need.

If you didn't sit down and look at your goals and how youwant your life to be, then you're never going to have thatclarity.

When I work with my professional clients, the hardest part ofthe process for them is the exercise in gaining clarity.


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It can be a terrifying process to look not just at where you arestrong, and have potential, skills and talent, but to also look atweaknesses, failures and disappointments. It's difficult to lookat yourself in the mirror in that way, to be really honest with

yourself and take stock of the good, the bad and theuncomfortable.

It's scary. But ultimately, for each of those clients I've workedwith it's the point in their life when everything starts tochange.

When we're faced with something that's confusing, frighteningor difficult, our minds experience what's known as 'cognitivedissonance'. This means that the mind is confused and youdon't know what to do next; it's like a new belief that justdoesn't fit yet and doesnt make sense.

"Every problem has a gift for you in its hands."Richard Bach

You've got to push forwards, get clarity and formulate a planaccording to your strengths, because once you've got thatclarity and that plan, life becomes easier and success becomes

almost assured.

All the time you're not looking in the mirror, this will always bean area in which you feel stuck.

But it's easy to get yourself unstuck - just push yourself and ifyou didn't complete the earlier goals exercise, then I stronglysuggest you go back and give it more effort, commitment andenergy than you've ever given anything else.

Anytime in your life when you feel you're not seeing thingsclearly and you're not explaining or understanding things in acrystal clear, organized manner, then take the time to work outwhy and what you can do about it. Strive for clarity ineverything because it will set you free and put you on apath to success.


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When Im talking to professional therapists, coaches and allkinds of other helping professionals, I am amazed at howclearly Ican see what's going on with them. Ican see clearly

what's holding them back from the potential they have forsix figure incomes, wonderful lifestyles and opportunitiesto help masses of people have better lives, but theycan'tsee it themselves.

Often they're lucky if they are seeing a couple of clients a weekand their business is in trouble, and they're living a life offrustrations and difficulties. But to me its obvious that what isconstraining them is the lack of clear thinking that we'retalking about here.

So if this is you - commit to doing something about it, andprioritize it as your number 1 personal developmentbreakthrough.

Barrier 2Not Taking Action

Symptoms include:

Not getting startedNot finishing

This is a hugely common. It's closely linked to perfectionism,procrastination and fear. Fear both of success and of failure,but more commonly of success.

I am amazed at how many people, whatever profession theyare in, complete numerous training courses, exams andcertificates and then they don't DO anything. They don't getstarted, they don't go chasing after clients and opportunities -they sit around telling themselves that they just need to do onemorecourse, or get one morequalification.


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And while there is an element of confidence related to this, atthe end of the day it's all about taking action.

A Simple Example Of Just Getting Started

Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.Peter Marshall

Let me illustrate the point for you with something thathappened in my own home. My wife Ruth is an avid bookreader, and holds a monthly book club with a few of her

friends. Recently, my wife invited our 3-year-old daughterJoni to join in with the book club. Joni came along, brought acouple of her books, thoroughly enjoyed herself and feltdelighted to be included.

The next morning, I find Joni sitting in the living room, with apile of Ruths novels, reading out loud. Now, clearly at 3 yearsold, she is not reading the actual words on the page, as she'sgot no idea what they mean, but it doesn't matter. She is

going through the processof 'reading' - opening the book,turning the pages, talking out loud. As far as she's concerned,she's just read 'Pride and Prejudice' even though she has neverheard of Jane Austen!

Now, Im hoping the lesson for you here is very clear.Sometimes you just need to get started on somethingbefore you are completely ready or have all the informationbecause that's the only way you're going to get good at it.

Take an expert in any specialism or profession. When theyfirst went into that profession, they did not have all theanswers or all the information, and they probably stumbled afew times along the way.

As a guitar teacher once told me, even Jimi Hendrix once had


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to pick up a musical instrument for the first time and learnhow to play a chord. If you're good at something, or meantto do something, you can learn it really quickly, but itdoesn't mean you know it all to start with.

I expect you know the famous saying 'You've got to fake itbefore you can make it'. Well, I don't like the words in thatstatement because I don't like the idea of anyone thinking theyhave to be fake; however, underlying it there's a lot of truth.

A better way to look at it is this: sometimes you've just got toget out there and do it confidently a few times. Thecompetence will soon follow.

"You know what? Certain people think they will feel good ifcertain things happen... The trick is: you have to feel good for

no reason."Richard Bandler

Barrier 3Low Self-Esteem

If this is you and you're finding it hard to admit this is you,please don't worry. Low self-esteem is an internationalepidemic.

It seems to me that most people in the world could do withbeing more confident. A large majority of people could dowith being MUCH more confident.

We are all born with heaps of confidence. Look at youngchildren exploring and discovering the world around them;they are filled with enthusiasm, confidence, and a boundlessenergy.

Over time, life sometimes knocks that out of us - we havedisappointments, things that don't go as planned, and before


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we know it we can start to doubt ourselves.

And if you are unfortunate enough to grow up around negativeinfluences such as teachers, school peers or work colleagues,

this can have a negative effect too.

Move Up The Confidence Scale

Everybody can be confident in some situations, andunconfident in other situations. I consider myself to be areasonably confident person, but in social situations wherethere's lots of new people, my confidence is not at its highest

level - I take a while to get into the swing of things.

In my coaching and training work, I often work with peoplewho although they are very successful and extremely confidentin business, are sometimes not very confident in other areas oftheir life such as their relationships.

The truth is you can build your confidence up.

It's very easy for us to label ourselves or be labeled by others.If you're stuck because of low self-esteem I would suggestmoving away from labels such as 'unconfident person' or'person with low self-esteem' and think in terms ofa scale ofconfidence. You can move up the scale and increase yourlevel of confidence.

Think about the Confidence Scale as going from 0 to 10.Wherever you are on that scale right now, constantly find waysto tweak it and bring it up.

Focus on telling yourself that you're going to become moreconfident each day. Build gentle yet powerful affirmations suchas 'Every day I'm getting a little bit more confident. Findevidence of your skills and success. Build a positive,reinforcing cycle and before you know it you actually will


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become and remain more confident.

If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then byall means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

Vincent Van Gogh

Sometimes building more confidence and a higher level ofself-esteem starts as a role-playing exercise and you gathermore and more evidence to support your new role until itbecomes second nature.

Barrier 4

A Warped Sense Of Value

Symptoms include:

Feeling uncomfortable taking moneyNot investing in your own personal developmentFeeling that someone else has got all the answersFeeling that you're not capable of standing on your own

two feet

Now this one is very common, especially in businesses wherepeople help others. These kinds of professionals oftencompletely undervalue their own contribution and feel veryinsecure about what they have to offer and how much theyare worth.

In my experience there is a direct correlation. The more value aperson adds to others lives, the more they tend to

underestimate the impact of that value.

Nowadays people know the price of everything and the valueof nothing.Oscar Wilde


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Understand Return On Investment

If you remotely feel that you have a problem with valuingyourself or understanding value in business, then there's a

very simple concept I want you to understand, and it's calledReturn on Investment or ROI.

Im not going to get too technical here but just want to giveyou a basic idea of what it means - and if you are in businessyou need to know your ROI as well as you know yourbirthday or how to spell your name. You need to understandit on that level - you absolutely do whatever business you'rein.

ROI measures the return on investment of your time, yourfinancial resources and any other tangible or intangibleinputs into your business.

An Example To Help You Understand

Lets say you bought a book for $50, and it was going to help

you in some way to build your business. It might be aboutmanagement, or dressing for professional success thesubject doesnt matter.

So you buy the book for $50, plus there's the time it takes youto read it. Unless its the kind of book you would also read forleisure, then your time is also an investment.

When valuing your time, you've got to look at the highest and

best use of your time. What do you charge when you seeclients, because ultimately that's what your time is worth.

If you charge $100 per hour to see a client, and it takes youtwo hours to read the book you've just purchased, that's $200of your time, plus the $50 you purchased it for.


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So basically, you are investing $250 in that book. And you'vegot to be damn sure that you are going to get more than$250 of success from that.

Let me use myself as an example. I think you can tell by thetone of my reports that I'm not interested in training peoplejust for fun or enjoyment, or so that they learn something newand interesting. New and interesting be damned, I wantthem to be successful and to be all that they can be!

So in terms of return on investment, when I work with a client Iam always thinking How can I can make sure that thisperson gets their investment back as soon as possible?

What do I need to provide them with so that if they'reprepared to run with it they will quickly make a positiveROI?

Start To Objectively Understand YourValue and Demand Value From Others Too

And that's how I want you to think about yourselves. Thewarped sense of value mentioned in this chapter heading,shows itself most obviously when you don't understand yourvalue to clients. This is when you start:

Worrying about what you're chargingPricing yourself lower than your competitorsOffering discountsOffering free first consultations just to feel comfortable

And I don't think you should be thinking that way at all. I thinkyou've got to look at return on investment.

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.Warren Buffett


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Take that list that we did earlier on, the room with 1,000people. Lets take one of those people, and say theyresuffering from chronic stress. This person is stressed all the

time - at work and at home, their whole existence is just onegreat big stress it's impacting their life at every level.

For this person, every day of their life is being lived in adisappointing way, and it's costing them. Its costing themand their family emotionally and psychologically, and if theyend up being ill and off work as a result of stress - whichinvariably happens its costing them physically andfinancially.

So if you offer a service that can reduce their stress, help thembecome more relaxed, bring down their blood pressure andimprove their quality of life, the return on investment for them assuming they spent somewhere between $500 and $1000 -is astronomical, it's thousands of percent.

And I want you to really think about that and start seeingwhat you do not in terms of price or cost, but in terms ofthe VALUE that you offer to your clients.

Because if you do offer that value, then you are an incredible,positive force in their live. And your warped sense of valuethat's stopping you from doing what you need to do to becomea part of their lives, is doing a disservice to your potentialclients.


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right one for you. Many so called 'business mentors' may havebusiness qualifications or have worked for big companies, butthey haven't been in business for themselves, and haven'tknown the struggle, the difficulties or the unique challenges

that you face.

Look for someone who's ideal for where you are now -someone whos done what youre trying to do, and has gotthrough to the other side. And make sure that you like theirpersonality and get on with them.

Most people who have reached a point in their business wherethey are successful and can afford to kick back a bit are happyto take someone under their wing and help bring them along.

If you want to end your isolation, you must be honest aboutwhat you want at a core level and decide to go after it.

Martha Beck

Identify what it is you need in terms of answers, help andsupport. Is it just someone to talk to, or do you have specifictechnical questions? Whatever, finding a mentor is the easiest,

quickest answer.

Find a Distance Mentor To Help YouSucceed and Grow

What if you can't find someone to work with on a one-to-one

level? That's no problem; look for a different solution, such assomeone who's offering training or coaching programs, orbooks, CDs or DVDs. Something where you can getinvolved, really learn where that person's coming from andget all the information you need in some format or other.

And yes, there may be some financial outlay involved here, and


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you need to decide about the value of what you are gettingusing the principles outlined in the previous chapter.

One of the most inspirational characters in my training and

development, whom I would consider to be a mentor, is JayAbraham, who is something of a legend in marketing.

But heres the thing although I would consider Jay Abrahamto be one of my mentors, Ive never met him or worked withhim one-on-one. All of my learnings from Jay have beenthrough CDs, DVDs, online trainings, books, reports andinterviews. But I have still managed to get all of theinformation I need and wring every last drop of advice,knowledge and expertise, in that way.

So I guess what Im saying is that the medium is not important what matters is that it's the right person for you.

Be Inspired

I'll give you another example - autobiographies and

biographies. Think about who really inspires you, in businessor in life. Who has achieved success and is an inspirationalcharacter for you?

Go to the library and fill your bookshelves with biographiesand autobiographies, stories of people who have been thereand come out the other side. They dont have to be in exactlythe same business or situation as you; the fact that they'vecome through a struggle and gone on a journey andsucceeded will inspire you and educate you.

Powerful life stories like these can set off ideas in your mindlike fireworks. They can create metaphors of connectionbetween someone's unique struggles and successes and howthat applies to your journey.


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Barrier 6

Feeling Overwhelmed and ExhaustedSymptoms include:

Having no time Feeling low on energy Not having the resources to the things done that you

need to do

Basically when you're feeling like this, you need a break -whether it's a day or a week, it doesn't matter. The point isthat your brain and body work better when rested. Anyexpert in the field of personal and fitness training will tell theirclients that the time spent resting is just as important a part ofthe process as the time spent in physical training.

I still need more healthy rest in order to work at my best. Myhealth is the main capital I have and I want to administer it

intelligently.

Ernest Hemingway

There's evidence to suggest that if you spend just one daycompletely away from work and the hassles of life - timespent somewhere interesting, new, and relaxing where you canfocus on creativity or healing - then you will have a week ortwo of optimum energy afterwards.

Pushing yourself too hard and keeping yourself in a difficult,

stressful or challenging environment all the time, will run downyour energy. You will ultimately get very little done andwill be constantly performing at a low level.


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Overcome The Guilt Of Looking After

Yourself ProperlyIt often feels difficult to people to take a day completely awayfrom work and all its situational stresses. It can feel like yourebeing lazy and make you feel guilty, but the truth is you'redoing yourself no favors by operating in this way.

By taking that day off or having a weekend away to really rest,recover and recharge, then you'll find that you can perform at amuch higher level. You will have a highly most productive andenergetic week as a result. Others will benefit from yourenergy.

Also on a day-to-day basis think about all the things thatyou're doing and list what you really enjoy about what youdo and what you really don't enjoy. Start making a planabout how you can get rid of all the items on the dont enjoylist while doing more of the things on the enjoy list.

This is a much easier thing to do than it probably sounds, andpretty much every successful person I have ever known hasfollowed this plan.

Barrier 7Belief and Self-Belief

Symptoms include:

Not being able to develop powerful goals for the future Spending more time on training courses and learning

information than time spent on doing what it actually isthat you should be doing


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Looking for other people's advice and trying to findanswers externally rather than internally

Overthinking at the expense of doingConsider Elton John when he is playing his piano to an adoringaudience of fans. Does Elton John need piano certificates onthe wall behind him, or to continually tell people how good heis at what he does? Does he spend hours every day havinglessons from concert pianists so that he can become betterand better at what he does?

No, the truth is he has confidence in what he does and getson and does it.

Looking back, you realize that a very special person passedbriefly through your life, and that person was you. It is not too

late to become that person again.Robert Brault

And although I suspect he wouldn't be considered the bestpianist in the world, that's not the point. He sets out toentertain as many people as possible and to give his fans veryspecial performances and listening experiences.

When you truly believe and understand the value of whatyou do and the profound effect you can have on people'slives, belief in yourself becomes much more simple andstraightforward.

You have the Answer. Just get quiet enough to hear it.Pat Obuchowski


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Barrier 8Worrying About What Other People Think

Of YouBe who you are and say what you feel because those who

mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.Dr Seuss

I've saved this one until last but don't let that trick you. Thisbarrier is ubiquitous. I know that I have certainly been guiltyof this in the past but not for a long time.

It occurred to me many years ago that worrying about whatother people think of you is a distraction that can result in ahuge disservice to your clients.

I have been known to say to my clients in certain situations,'Look, I don't care what you think of me', and I mean it too!

I don't care what my clients think about me its a

distraction from our mutual goals. I want to be liked andrespected as much as the next person, but if you spend allyour time thinking about what the other person thinks of you,you will find yourself unable to focus on their goal and gettingthem there.

The secret, as I discovered, is to stop worrying about what youdo, putting pressure on yourself, and thinking that you have tobe seen to operate in a certain way its just not the case.

I'm going to introduce you to a philosophy which wascrystallized by Jay Abraham - the business coach and trainer Imentioned earlier, who has incredible insight and skill inunderstanding human beings and human systems.

What Jay articulated was the biggest mistake made by nearly all


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information and advice. Thats ultimately what counts.

Barrier 9Perfectionism

Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection isdemoralizing.Harriet Braiker

Nothing is ever perfect by definition. Even the strongestscientific theories can never be 100%. There is always anelement of doubt, and learning to live with that doubt, toembrace it and move forwards anyway, improving things allthe time, is a very powerful thing to do.

If you wait until something is perfect, it will never happenand you will be continually frustrated.

No one is perfect... that's why pencils have erasers.Anonymous

Every great success in history involves starting out believingthat something is possible and then falling over a few times onthe way to achieving it. No one ever went from A to Bwithout a few slips or detours.

So many people believe they need to have the perfect plan, allthe resources in place, and flawless execution but life justdoesnt happen that way

Just because you don't have something 100% perfected, itdoesn't mean you shouldn't get started on it.

So learning to create something, to do something, to takeaction and then to improve it in a 'live' sense rather than


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waiting until it's ready, is a much more certain route tosuccess.

Barrier 10Problems With Business and Business

Identity

Some people hate the idea of being in business and feel thatbusiness is somehow by definition evil or negative. Thesenegative views of business are often based on notoriousexamples of big businesses gone bad think of the Enrons of

this world.

But look, if you work for yourself or you run a company(however small), you are in business.

This is a conflict that has to be resolved or it will eat awayat you and stifle your progress in all areas. Business is notinherently evil; there are a lot of businesses out there that domake incredibly positive and wonderful contributions to the

world. Some of them are small, one-person operations, someof them are much larger.

Many business leaders today view their jobs as entailingresponsibility for the welfare of the wider community. These

individuals do not define themselves as profit-makingmachines whose only reason for existing is to satisfy

escalating expectation for immediate gain.Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

You need to resolve in your own mind that a business in itselfis a neutral concept, it is neither evil or good. It is how YOUcreate the goals and rules for the business that dictateswhat kind of a business it is. And if you want a goodbusiness that does great things for people, all you need to do


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is to design in that way. Big businesses like Enron have highprofiles but while they attract a lot of attention, this does notmean that their way of doing business is the one right way todo things or that you have to follow their set of rules.

Build YOUR Business YOUR Way

The truth is if you set your business up with strong values andethics, a crystal clear vision for you and your clients'futures, and a rock solid certainty of what you are andarent prepared to do to get there, then you can build abusiness that you can be absolutely proud ofthat impacts,

changes and even saves lives.

Think about the ethics, values and beliefs that are non-negotiable to you and build them into the heart and soul ofyour business.

For instance, at The Art of Optimism, our Number 1 businessvalue is honesty and integrity. We also believe in and valuepersonal strength and potential, being client centered and

goal directed at all times, and we live by these values, we dontjust pay lip service to them.

This is what I recommend you do. Make your businesssomething which at its heart (purpose, vision and values) issimply an extension of you. Then you will be proud of it andclearly see the value a great business (no matter how small)can offer the public.

Your business can be a shining beacon of value to your clientsand will inspire people and create incredible stories for yearsto come.


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These Are Just a Handful of the PossibleRoot Problems That Could Be Blocking

Your Progress Right Now

So there you are, some of the most common barriers tosuccess in my professional experience.

There are many others, including (but by no means limited to):

Never finishing things The influence of another person Lack of assertiveness Technical blocks The habit of procrastination The past Negativity and pessimism Jealousy or insecurity Financial Self-criticism

So How Do You Know What's KeepingYOU Stuck?

It's a very good question. As I said earlier, you may have anintuitive feeling that it's one of the barriers above, and youmay be right. And I recommend that when you do know what'skeeping you stuck, you spend at least 80% or more of yourtime working uniquely on that, as the sooner youre throughthat barrier, the sooner all aspects of your life willimprove.


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How to Identify Your Invisible Barrier

So here's the quick and simple step-by-step process that youcan follow to identify what's really going on and the root of

your problems today.

1. Think about where you're trying to get to personally.

It might not be a specific goal, just imagine a future placewhere you're happy and your life has come together personallyand professionally. Make a list of some of your dreams, goals,ambitions and wishes for the future. (You did this in the earlierexercise in this report)

2. Think about whats currently hurting, confusing,frustrating or blocking your progress.

It could be financial, spiritual or emotional blocks, it could be alack of information, it could be some technical setbacks, itcould be insecurities and worries, it could be relationshipissues, it could be a million things. Just make an exhaustive listof current problems and challenges.

3. Pick some of those problems and challenges

Take the things that you used to think of as problems inand of themselves. Now reframe them as symptoms of adeeper problem. For each one, really dig down into what isthe underlying root cause of that symptom.

Then make THAT a symptom and continue to ask: What'scausing this symptom?

And keep digging down until you cant go any further back andyou get to something that feels like it might be the real heartof the problem.

Do that for all of your negative symptoms so that you have


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lists of root causes and what you mind find is that some ofthose root causes are the same or are related in some way by aconnecting factor. For an idea of how this might look, see thesimplified example on the next page:

As you can see in this example, the root problem is not beingcomfortable with business identity. If this is you, then itshould be becoming abundantly clear that the only way to

overcome the problem and create positive Cascading Changeis to spend time working on your business identity and createa compelling, unbelievably personal and positive vision for

Why you are doing it What your plan is, and How you are going to make it work

WeakAdvertising

Feelconfused

daily

ProcrastinationSymptoms

Not fullycommitted to

success

Lack ofbusiness

skills

Lack ofgoals and

clarity

No formalbusiness

plan

Notcomfortablewith selling

Notcommittedto learningbusiness

Not comfortablewith business

identity

Root problem(Your invisible

barrier)

Causes

Causes


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However most people in this example scenario, I can tell youfrom experience, would spend time working on the painpoints, instead of the deeper causes of the pain. In other

words they would do the following three things:

Waste a heap of money on expensive but ineffectiveadvertising materials

Read a book about procrastination and do nothing aboutit

Write a lengthy, daily to do list in an attempt to feel lessconfused, but end up getting nowhere.

This concept and process will take practice and persistence butonce you get it, I know youll find it will be an invaluable toolfor life.

The step-by-step process I've highlighted above will helpyou to get to those underlying barriers that are currentlyblocking you and from there your pathway forward shouldstart to become very clear.

And if you hadnt already worked it out understand this:

You can follow exactly the same process to get yourclients, or those that you work with, unstuck and thriving.

Once again, be sure that the barrier youre working ondefinitely is the lowest common denominator and that youcant go any deeper.

Lots of people think that procrastination or lack of money is

the primary barrier but it generally isnt. If you can answer thequestions:

What is preventing me from increasing my revenues? or What is causing me to procrastinate?

Then you will be much closer to finding the real barrier.


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The Floodlights Of Change

I hope this report has helped you and started to turn on many

lights for you. The way I explain the process to my clients whoare looking for personal change and growth is as follows:

When you change something in your life profoundly anddramatically it's not like one light going on or off, it's more likeone thousand lights in a sports stadium going on; this is howdramatic it can be.

But also it doesn't happen instantly - it may feel instant, but

that really is just the tipping point, what's been happening isthat the lights have been going on one by one, gradually, everyday.

This is great news if you think about it. If having a happysuccessful life is like one light going on, that's a problembecause it's very fragile. If that one lightbulb explodes thenyou're back in the darkness.

Personal change is like one thousand lights going on. Thinkabout it. If youre in a sports stadium lit by one thousanddifferent lightbulbs, what happens when one or even ten ofthose lightbulbs explode? That's right, nothing - you don'tnotice any difference at all because the critical mass is sopowerful and illuminating that it can sustain itself in theface of a small setback.

And that's what I want for you and that's how I want you tothink about this process. Every time you make a change youare turning on another light until the energy eventuallybecomes unstoppable.

Heres the really wonderful news for you and all of the otherpeople you are going to work with and support. Just identifyingwhere the real sticking point is in your life at any given time


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and committing to focus maximum energy on overcoming it,will in itself create energy and change and often it is the singlebiggest turning point.

In Summary

My aims in this report were twofold.

Number 1

That you understand that you are currently being blocked bysomething and you commit to doing something about it.

Number 2

My second goal is that the information here allows you toapply the same process for your clients and for others andto thereby help as many people as possible to getunstuck.


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As I said earlier, I believe that the work we are doing at The Artof Optimism is very valuable and has the potential to make areal difference in this world in which we all live and operate so

please do me one favor. If this report has impacted on youand helped you as much as I know that it can, then please tellother people about what we do, because there's a lot of peopleout there who need our help.

No matter what specific wellness service it is that you and Ioffer, we all stand together in adding value to people's lives.

Don't forget to make a post in the blog giving me somefeedback - good, bad or ugly it doesn't matter. I'd love toknow what you think of what we're doing and what we can doto improve our services and our message.

Have a fantastic dayEd


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Who Is Ed Lester?

Ed Lester is a seasoned and respected life coach, hypnosis

practitioner and trainer, with years of experience of helpingclients to reach their goals and lead happier lives.

He is based in New Zealand and runs asuccessful full time practice and trainingschool.

As well as being a true innovator in thecoaching and personal development field,

Ed is himself a confirmed optimist. Hebelieves with a passion, and based on anabundance of personal experience and research, that everyoneis capable of significant and profound change. And, in hisexperience, the one thing that accelerates that change morethan anything else is optimism.

Ed Lester and The Art Of Optimism were the missing link in a

chain that seems to have held me back for years.Ed has put together an amazing business mentoring andcoaching program that takes all the guess work out of taking

the next step in your business.Ed's unique, optimistic and inspiring methods instill a sense of

self-belief, which propel you to taking action.A truly inspirational man.

Iain AndersonClinical Hypnotherapist

I have been utilising Ed Lester's Accelerated BusinessCoaching Course ... It has been a great support in the maze of

areas one finds themself having to face when starting abusiness... Ed has helped me to recognise, clarify and quantify

all that this entails both on a personal level and a businesslevel. I am enjoying the subject and application of internet


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marketing and I have been able to continually stay on trackwhilst multi tasking with concise guidelines from Ed and histeam I have no doubt that I will be running a successful

practice without a hitch once I have completed the course.

Susan, Western Australia

Doing Eds course has been one of the best decisions for mybusiness that I have madeEd puts everything in a way that Ican understand at my pace. However, more that that Ed has

helped me polish my own standards. The coaching has helpedme structure my sessions and I feel this gives me professional

confidence which is definitely coming across to my clients.

Before I took Eds course I was stumbling with marketing andmy low rate of new clients reflected that.. I now have many newclients regularly and my business is growing at a rate that Im

delighted with

I am feeling very happy with the results I am getting withclients. They are also very happy and this is reflected in their

glowing feedback and referrals.

Ed is honest and professional. He works hard to provide uswith the very highest quality and results.

Brenda Cheyne, Wellington NZ

Becoming Unstuck

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