A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

                                                          - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Welcome to part two of our three-part series entitled, “The 3 C’s of Creating Breakthroughs.”

In our first installment, I discussed “C number one” which is to Clarify Your Vision.  This was comprised of asking yourself and answering the following three questions…

• What do you REALLY want?
• What is your BIG WHY? And…..
• Who do you need to BE to create your breakthrough?

If you would like to take a deeper dive into these and other principles to achieving breakthroughs, download my free report…

The Top Ten Big Ideas to Creating Breakthroughs

In part two of this series, we will explore the “second C”, Creating a Plan.

As the opening quote so deftly states, “a goal without a plan is just a wish.”

While this may seem like a cute play on words, there is much wisdom in this statement in guiding us in our quest to breakthroughs in...

“Breaking through your self-imposed barriers (and they are self-imposed) is the greatest challenge you will ever face.  Face them you must.”

                                                                                      - Mary-Frances Winters

In my over four decades as a martial arts instructor, and now in my work as a speaker, life-coach and workshop facilitator, I have been honored to guide a multitude of students, clients and audience members through the journey of breaking through obstacles in their life.

These areas of breakthrough can appear in many forms, such as; the desire to release body weight, improving one’s physical health, healing relationships, overcoming financial difficulties or creating the business or career of their dreams.

In our minds, these challenges can seem to exist completely outside of us in the difficult circumstances we encounter.  We believe that if we just “fix” the outside, we will feel better on the inside.

However, I have come...

"People don’t buy because what you do is awesome. People buy because it makes them feel awesome."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        – Tara Gentile 

In 1995, I left my position as a corporate sales manager of a Fortune 100 company to follow my dream of owning a professional martial arts studio.  It was both the most exhilarating and terrifying time of my life. 

When I left, I took my decade of experience and success in a large corporate environment with me.  However, I soon learned that the world of entrepreneurship and small business was much different from my corporate experience in one key area - guarantee of compensation.  

In the corporate world, although my compensation was ultimately predicated on my performance, if I occasionally had a bad sales call or mish...

"I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened."

                                                                                                - Mark Twain

In his landmark book, The Worry Cure, Dr. Robert Leahy, after studying scores of subjects, determined 97% of the things we worry about either never happen or when they do, they are not as bad as we anticipated. 

Imagine how you would live your life if you knew this to be true.

Despite this fact, many of us still can be consumed by worry, preventing us from being in our most optimum state and/or taking the action necessary to live the empowered and prosperous lives we desire and deserve.  When we truly understand that worry is actually “imagination wasted”, our lives will transform.

Here are six strategies that can assist you in overcoming worry and transform you from being a worrier in your problems to a true warrior in life.

1. Slow down and breathe – One of the first phy
...

"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity" 

                                                                          - Seneca

It is the fall of 1980; my high school football team is preparing to take on one of our arch-rivals.  Both teams are 6-0 and whoever wins the game is in the driver's seat for the conference championship - and we've got them at our home stadium.  

It's minutes before kickoff and my teammates and I are high up above the playing field in an area of the stadium called the team room. 

It is a small, dark and cramped room where all 45 of my teammates and I are quietly making our final mental preparations for the big game. 

It is so quiet you can hear a pin drop as players are either silently sitting or pensively pacing back and forth to insure, they have the mental edge - you can cut the tension with a knife.

Suddenly, our head coach enters the room and gives the most amazing pre-game speech ever delivered.  The room explodes in enthusias...

"Gritty people train at the edge of their comfort zone. They zero in on one narrow aspect of their performance and set a stretch goal to improve it." 

                                                                                      - Angela Duckworth

Comfort Zones.  How many times have you heard you need to get out of your comfort zone(s) to achieve the results you desire? 

Authors, coaches and teachers have told us for decades that in order to really realize our dreams, we need to go beyond our comfort zones.

I totally agree. 

In fact, when I think of my own life and when I experienced my greatest results and feelings of satisfaction, it was always preceded with moving out of one of my comfort zones in some way, shape or form.

I also think that comfort zones get a bad rap. 

When I want to relax after a hard day's work and maybe curl up with a good book, flip on ESPN's Sports Center, or connect with a friend/family member, I am in my comfort zone. 

The...

“Master the basics.  Then practice them everyday without fail.  Small disciplines repeated with consistency everyday lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.”

                                                                                                         - John C. Maxwell

Last week I shared the concept of how in martial arts, a Black Belt is nothing more than a “Master of the Basics”. 

When we bring the principle of “practicing the basics” into our everyday lives, we can find that it serves us greatly in creating mastery and success in everything we do.

I discussed in detail how the practice of my first three of six basic life-leadership skills can lead not to only a positive impact on our lives, but also on the lives of those we serve and lead. 

Specifically, these skills are……………

• Giving our bodies adequate rest
• Eating foods of high nutritional value
• Physically moving or bodies each day

You can read that blog by clicking here: Are You...

Success is neither magical nor mysterious.  Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.”

                                                                                          - Jim Rohn

I believe consistently and diligently practicing the basics is the key to success and mastery in any endeavor. 

In the Martial Arts, instructors consistently share with their students the following......

Black Belt is nothing more than being a master of the basics.

 From early in my martial arts career, I have a vivid memory of my first martial arts instructor talking about the importance of practicing the basics.  He equated the basics as the foundation for all other advanced skills. 

“Build a house on sand (poor basics),” he would say, “and it will crumble at the first sign of harsh weather.  However, build it on cement (strong foundational basics) and it can withstand almost anything.”

In his book, Raise Your Game, author and ...

“Perfectionism is focused on ‘doing the thing right’, how things APPEAR, and if OTHERS think it’s done right.  Excellence is about ‘doing the right thing’. It is focused on the REASON for a task, and the RESULTS for it to be a success.”

                                                                                                          - Marc Winn

Question:  "What's our goal?"

Answer:  "Black Belt Excellence, sir!"

For the past two decades, I have ended every martial arts class I have taught; whether it was with a group of White Belt kids or a class of seasoned adult Black Belt instructors with the question and subsequent response above. 

"What's our goal?......"Black Belt Excellence, sir!"   

On numerous occasions, I have explained to students the meaning and importance of this question and refrain. 

Although we may seek perfection in our professions, our relationships, our school studies and our martial arts training, it is really the quest for excellenc...

The biggest lesson I've learned is that hurt people hurt people, and kindness is just as contagious.  So, if you can focus your efforts on engineering kindness, it will prevail."

                                                                                  - Whitney Wolfe Herd

During our current times, each of us has a heightened awareness of being contagious and possibly passing on or receiving a virus from someone else.

However, it came into my awareness that “being contagious” is not always a bad thing.

Let me explain.

One of the things I am most proud of in my martial arts career is the process by which each of the students in our organization must undergo to earn their Black Belts.

In addition to 3 to 3.5 five years of dedicated training, in the final four (4) months leading up to their Black Belt Test, students must move through some very intense training. 

For instance, each student must perform a myriad of physical requirements, which includes loggi...