Know Your Personal Strengths

 As I was playing chess today it dawned on me that when I was analyzing my strategy and possible moves for my chess pieces I  focused on how to best use each piece according to it’s power or strengths. In other words, I planned each moves according to what each game piece could do – not couldn’t do.

  If you have ever played chess you understand there are limitations to each one of the pieces on the board and the key is to utilizes the power of each piece effectively to overcome and beat your opponent. If you limited your vision to what each piece could not do when planning your strategy, you would not get very far. In fact I can safely bet that you would lose the game.

  What are you focusing on in your life? Your strengths or limitations?  Are you caught in the trap of focusing on what you cannot do instead of what you can do? So many people get stuck in life because they dwell on their limitations to the point of putting themselves in a state of fear and panic. It doesn’t surprise me at all they cannot figure out their next move.

Make Your Move From Your Personal Strengths

 Lets face it, we all have limitations. We each have our strong points and our weak points. Pay attention to the things that come natural to you, the things that empower and energize you and place your focus there. When setting goals and planning the steps to achieve these goals focus on your power and the moves you can make.

  What about your weaknesses and limitations?  This is where you look for outside help and team up with people who have strength where you are weak and your strengths compliment their weaknesses. Just like the pieces on a chess board when used together can overcome the opponent, you will conquer your goals and objectives by combining your strengths with others.

Slawek Polinski

  January 1st brings in a new year and new hope and opportunity for many people. It has become the day to wipe off the old slate clean and start fresh and new. The sad fact is most “New Year’s Resolutions” are forgotten about within a few months after they were started. If you want proof of this, go into any health club during the second week of January and you will see the facility overcrowded with enthusiastic customers vowing to make this the year they make serious changes in their life as they exercise with determination of a healthier and brighter future. If you happen to visit the same health club every month afterwards, what you will notice (without fail) is that there will be significantly less customers within it’s walls as each month passes.

  Though these people have their hearts in the right place when they set their resolutions, they were never shown the proper way to set and achieve goals so it is no surprise that many goals or resolutions never get fulfilled. I have listed 7 key steps to help you put together your own system for making this upcoming year your best year yet…the year you see through and accomplish your goals.

Here Are The 7 Keys to Having Your Best Year Yet

1. Start planning for success today. Don’t put this step off for a later date. It is time to stop the excuses and begin planning now. As I write this article it is already December and by now you have a pretty good idea of what has worked for you so far this year this year and what adjustments are needed to make your goals successful. December is a perfect time to honestly review what you have accomplished this past year and where you see yourself at this time next year.
2. Make your goals clear and precise. Be very clear and detailed about your desired outcome. The more detailed you are about your goals the greater the possibility exists in achieving them. Remember, a vague vision will produce vague direction and weak action and poor results. Knowing exactly what you want will create a vivid picture in your mind of what you strive to accomplish which will increase your focus and desire. Also, always keep your goals positive in nature and choose goals which will stretch your abilities so in the process of achieving them you will grow as an individual.
3. Create goals for a balanced life. Set goals for all aspects of your life; in relationships, nutrition, finance, physical fitness, business or career..etc. You will find as you work towards improving every aspect of your life, the quality of your life will improve along with it. A balanced life reduces stress and increases joy and attracts success.
4. Write down your goals along with the action steps you will take to achieve them. Just as I stated in step 2, be very detailed in this step in both your goals and the action steps. Break each one of your goals down into workable detailed steps and this will become your blueprint for success. Chunking your goals down into detailed steps will reduce uncertainty and fear which will increase your self-confidence and help spring you into immediate action.
5. Review your goals daily. To maintain a strong focus and sense of direction, review your goals daily; in the morning, mid-day, and in the evening before going to bed. Read them out loud if you can! Also, make it point to post your goals in various locations so you can see and review them regularly such as on your bathroom mirror, on your office wall, on your car’s dashboard…etc.
6. Take immediate action – Strike while the fire is hot! Take action while your goals, desires and passions are fresh and hot in your mind and soul. If you put off implementing your plan into immediate action, the desire for achievement starts to cool down and you have a greater chance on never getting started at all. Remember this: “Your goals without action are nothing more than wishes.” Everyday and many times each day, say to yourself, “I will take action now.”
7. Keep track of your progress. When you write your goals and action steps down in step 4, set up mini goals or milestones along the way so you can keep track of your progress. Each level you complete will give you the encouragement and self-confidence you need to move forward towards your ultimate goal. Without keeping track of where you started and your levels of accomplishments it is easy to get discouraged when challenges and adversity arise. Children will play video games for hours and hours (sometimes for days) because their previous score or level is posted for them to see…this gives them something to shoot for. Shooting for your goals is no different.

 I believe people can achieve almost anything when they combine the right mindset along with the right tools or system and the right action. Make this coming year your most successful year yet by taking immediate action on your goals today.

Slawek Polinski

Overcoming The Fear Of Moving Forward

 
  When moving forward into the unknown many people panic because they let their imagination create the worst case scenarios. Can you relate to this feeling? Why is that? If you look back on your life you can clearly see that you have handled every new situation that came your way. It might not have been easy and yet you handled it. So why is it that now that you have a new opportunity and a new challenge, you discount all the right you have done in the past and expect the worst?

  I believe much of this mindset has to do with people’s fear of failure. We have been conditioned from an early age that failure is bad. You get punished and ridiculed for failing and all this feedback came from outside sources…people we looked up to like parents, teachers and friends. We looked to the outside for acceptance and over time we learned that it was less painful not to try something new than to risk failure and the disapproval that came with it.
  It takes time and effort to break out of old patterns and limiting beliefs and the effort required is well worth the results you will receive.

Here are 3 steps that will help you develop stronger self-confidence and more powerful mindset:

1) Journal every day and be sure to list your positive accomplishments for the day. Writing down your accomplishments – no matter how small – will reinforce into your subconscious that you are capable of handling the tasks you are pursuing.
2) If something did not go as planned, instead of being hard on yourself, write down what you learned from the experience. This will reinforce into your subconscious that failure is not negative and much can be learned from it to guide you to success.
3) Review your accomplishments – don’t hide them away -. Reviewing and focusing on your accomplishments will increase your self-confidence when beginning new projects and challenges in your life.

You were created for success and greatness. Many times the difference between the people who receive success and those who do not is what they choose to focus on.

“Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden

Slawek Polinski

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You Get What You Focus On

  Human beings are very interesting creatures in that  many people are rarely satisfied with what they have and usually want what they don’t have. You may have heard the saying: The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” but is it really? Once you get on the other side of the fence to get a closer look, you realize that it is full of weeds and not as you expected. In the mean time, the lawn you left behind is not being tended to and is suffering as a result.

  Is it wrong to want more? Is it wrong to want what you don’t have? Not if it is part of your goal or vision towards success and you have a plan to achieve it. These types of desires are healthy and are the driving force behind many entrepreneurs of today. It becomes unhealthy when you consistently put your focus on what you don’t have or what you haven’t accomplished instead of acknowledging the positive things in your life.

 If you put the average person in a room of 100 people and 99 of them love him or her and 1 person despises and avoids this person, the typical thing that happens is this person will obsess over why the 1 person doesn’t like them. They will ignore the 99 in order to win over the 1 who does not like them. Instead of being happy and grateful for the wonderful people who adore them,instead they feel terrible because someone doesn’t like them. Does this sound silly? Well it happens every day.

  A good student who normally gets As and Bs and their tests and papers, gets a D and what happens? All their good grades are forgotten about and they focus on the one lousy grade they received. An entrepreneur or employee who has a whole list of successes to account for, might one day have a setback and all of a sudden they lose their self-confidence.

  I’m not quite sure how or when we got programmed to focusing on our setbacks or failures but I do know what becomes of it. FEAR! Putting the focus on the negative and lack in  life produces fear and paralyzes people in their tracks. They are afraid to move because all they are thinking about is failure and that obsessive thought of failing blocks out all the accomplishments that have been achieved.

How Can You Change Your Focus and Get Rid Of Fear?

 Journaling is a great way to bring the focus back onto the positive. Journaling is meant to be a positive assessment of the day and if you take the time to write down all the good things that are happening in your life, you are more likely to commit them to memory. Putting your focus on your accomplishments will increase your self-confidence and eliminate your fears and that is why it is vitally important to keep reminding yourself of them. For more information on journalling, read my article “5 Key Steps To Effective Journaling.”  Sure, we all have setbacks and obstacles to overcome so instead of getting down on yourself, write down what lesson you have learned from the experience and how can you improve. This type of approach towards obstacles and challenges will produce a plan so you can move forward. This is far better than getting stuck in your mind like it is the end of all time.

  Another way of changing your focus to the positive is by making a daily gratitude list. Every day write down all the events, people and things you are grateful for. There is so much to be thankful in your life that simply doesn’t get noticed or is easily forgotten. Making a gratitude list will put focus on all the good in your life and it won’t take you long to see that it far out weighs the bad.

Putting focus on the positive and on your accomplishments will re-affirm in your mind that you are more than capable of accomplishing what lies ahead.

Slawek Polinski

 Emotional Control Means Keeping Your Personal Power

  Last week I received a phone call from someone posing as a police officer and telling me that they had a warrant out on one of my family members. They were looking for them and they could arrest him on the spot. I can assure you that was very nerve racking for a father to hear. My thoughts and emotions began to race.

  A few months ago my son was involved in a car accident where he rear ended another vehicle. Thankfully no one was hurt.  While filling out the police report, my son could not locate the insurance card for that vehicle and was given a ticket as a result. The police officer said he would be mailed the information that would provide him with the instructions on when and where his court date was. The court information was sent to a wrong address and so there was a warrant out on his arrest for failure to appear at court. My son actually did follow up, had a new court date set up and took care of the situation.

  Back to the phone call.The caller said he needed to get in touch with my son to set up a new court date to avoid being arrested. I gave him my son’s phone number so this person could contact him because I was not aware the situation was fully resolved. When my son contacted him, he addressed himself as Sergeant _______ and my son gave him all his contact information and afterwards told him he should contact his village police because there was nothing he could really do. When contacting our local police department my son found his record to be clean and there was not any warrants out on him. We were all confused.

Thank You Google Search

  I did a Google search on the phone number and found that this individual was lying about who he was. He was a personal injury attorney posing as a police officer to get my son’s contact information. We are not sure why he wanted this information (possibly an ambulance chaser), all we know is he was dishonest and unethical in his practise. I was furious!

Without realizing it, for the next two hours I gave my power to this dishonest individual. I allowed him to infuriate me to the point of plotting revenge against him. I am not sure how it happened but all of a sudden I was able to see what I was becoming through my thoughts and emotions. I was heading down to this attorneys level of existence. I was allowing my emotions to control my thinking which were not clear and rational by any standard. I have decided to pass this attorney’s information to people who can properly handle it rather than to take the matters into my own hands. I am letting go.

  Hold On To Your Personal Power

  This was a strong lesson for me on the importance of keeping my power by controlling my emotions. Things will always happen in life to test us, whether it be through people or situations and whether we respond or react to the situation will determine our quality of  life. At first I reacted to this person’s dishonesty and I let his actions control my life for the next two hours. What if I continued to obsess over the situation for a whole day or two? What a waste – I would have given up my power and my life to this individual and situation for two days.

  It is important to remind ourselves that what other people do has nothing to do with us. This person’s actions were wrong and dishonest and that has nothing to do with who I am. If he continues to live his life in that manner, eventually it will come back to him. By controlling my emotions and response, I don’t let his life affect my life.
Slawek Polinski

Don’t Stop Until Your Last At Bat

  I remember this very clearly and I can’t believe it was 11 years ago. I was sitting in the bleachers watching my son’s (Christopher) Little League baseball game. He came up to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning with bases loaded and two outs. With the pitch and the crack of the bat, it was clear what was about to happen. The baseball shot off  of Chris’s bat  bat like a rocket and sailed over the fence for a Grand Slam – Home Run!  As Chris rounded the bases, every one stood up to give him a standing ovation and and I was so happy for him that I just couldn’t swallow the lump in my throat or dry my watery eyes. The thing that made this moment special was that Chris began playing baseball when he was 5 years old and like all young baseball players – they dream of hitting that long one out of the park. In this particular game it was not only Chris’s last at bat for that game, it was also his last at bat for his Little League career. Chris was in 8th grade and this was his last at bat and last game. It was also his very first Home Run and Grand Slam.

See Your Goals Through

  This story came to mind as I was thinking about how many people throw in the towel of defeat before they have chance to realize their goals and visions. There are too many people who easily get discouraged and never make it to their last at bat. They don’t see their goals through to the end.  Now there is no guarantee that you will hit your Home Run but I do know that if you do see your goals through to completion and don’t stop half way, you will not suffer from hearing these two words…“What If.”

The only time you  fail is when you decide to quit.

Slawek Polinski

Without Stimulation – Your Brain Will Die

   I know this sounds extreme and scary and it is true all the same. Your brain is in many ways, just like the other muscles in your body; the more you exercise it the stronger it will get. The more you stimulate your mind with challenges and knowledge, the sharper your thinking will become. Obstacles in your life are easily overcome with solutions because your brain has become accustomed to problem solving.

   People who get stuck in life and are unable to find their way out are typically the same people who let their brains go inactive or run away from any challenges that come up for them. The more you avoid engaging your brain in problem solving, analytical thinking or knowledge gathering the weaker it will become and the more dependent you will become on others to lead you and to do your thinking for you.

 It’s Never Too Late To Start Exercising Your Brain

As long as you are still breathing it is never too late to awaken and strengthen your thinking process. A few years ago I suffered a neck injury which pinched off the nerve to my right arm. Since the nerves were unable to fire and stimulate the muscles in my arm, in a matter of months I witnessed the detereoration in the muscles of my arm to the point where I had lost about 75% of my strength. My tricep muscle literally disappeared in that short period of time.

Luckily I had surgery before there was any permanent nerve or muscle damage and today with the help of a set exercise routine, my muscles and their strength are returning.

   Not stimulating the muscles of your brain will have the same effect…your brain will become weaker and it will lose its strength. Just like beginning an exercise program for your physical body, it is never too late to wake up your brain and get it working again to rebuild its strength. Our bodies are remarkable because they have the ability to repair and strengthen themselves as long as we are willing to take the proper action. Begin reading thought provoking personal development and motivational books, listening to instructional CDs, join mastermind and networking groups and you’ll begin to see the powerful thinking that was always yours to have, come back to you.

Slawek Polinski

Learn To Face Your Challenges

  Every Day people are faced with challenges in their lives and with each challenge comes an important decision to make. Should you face it or avoid it? Hit it head on or run like hell from it? You can answer these questions by asking yourself one more.

Do you want to grow and evolve as a person or do you want to be stuck right where you are?

What Is The Key To Your Personal Development?

 By facing and working through the challenges that show up in your life, you will gain strength, courage and confidence which will prepare you for what lies ahead. By running from challenge and adversity you become a victim in life. You won’t grow as an individual and you will always blame outside circumstances for your problems. Like an exercise program where you build up strength only after doing  consistent work on your physical body, each challenge we come to in our life is there to build our inner strength and to prepare us for bigger and better things down the road.

 Let Go Of Your Fear

  Yes, it is that four letter word that holds many people back from being able to achieve all that they were put on this earth to do. The fear of failure is by far the biggest crippling mindset a person could have. A person gets so caught up with the thought of not accomplishing a goal and what happens as a result is, they end up not even giving it a shot which leads to regret and that is even more painful than the fear itself.

 What Is The Big Deal Over Failing?

  Really, what is the big deal if things don’t work out on the first, second or third try? It’s not really failure until you give up trying because up until that point what you are doing is adjusting your strategy towards success. Why would you even think that you know everything there is to know to accomplish a goal before you set out to do it? Outside circumstances are constantly changing so strategies that might have worked a year ago are no longer valid and that is why trial and adjustment (not error) is necessary.

  Are you worried that everyone is watching and waiting to see if you fail? Get over yourself, you’re not that important! What I mean by that is all people are the same and all people are concerned with their own lives and their own families first and don’t have time to be watching what you and I do.

Give Yourself Permission To Fail

 Yes, the bottom line is after you have exhausted every option and you still cannot make it work, just let go and move onto something else. Somewhere along the way we have been conditioned to believe failing is bad and that is just a shame because that mindset paralyzes people and gets them stuck in their life. Just think how different life would be if we were congratulated and rewarded on our failed attempts and punished and ridiculed for not making the attempts.

People Do Not Disappoint Me

  Yes I know I am an optimist and I am OK with that. I have for a while now, made it a habit to look for the good in people…to trust in them and since then I have been pleasantly surprised. I find myself surrounded by many happy, positive people who generally want to do good for others and for themselves. I believe most people are good at the core and want to be honest, happy and of service to the people in their lives. Yes, sometimes they make mistakes or exercise poor judgement and so what, we all do at times. One mistake should not erase all the great acts in a persons life and yet when we expect the worst in people that is exactly what happens.

What You Focus On, Expands

  What you should ask yourself is how would you rather live your life? Would you rather live in fear and distrust the people you come in contact with, waiting for the next disappointment or would you like to live your life in peace knowing that everyone usually does the best they can at any given moment. Constantly judging others and waiting for them to fail is very stressful because you have to look very hard and for a very long time for them to prove you right. What a waste of time!

  Expect good things from people and they will come through for you time and time again. I was blessed today by the generosity of my mentor – James Malinchak - who after hearing of a challenge I am currently going through, called to wish me well and to let me know he will work with me around this challenge.


Yes I am blessed because the people in my life do not disappoint me.

Slawek Polinski