Purging Personal Paralysis

by Eileen Nonemaker

Eileen’s long, successful career in sales and sales management makes her an easy choice for those leaders and managers who are responsible for generating revenue and achieving corporate goals and have no time to waste getting there. Clients appreciate her ability to help them quickly select, assess, train and develop their sales teams whether they are selling products or services. New teams get brought up to speed quickly and experienced teams develop what is necessary to perform at the next level. Through goal setting, skill refinement and the development of accurate forecasting skills, she has helped both individuals and teams develop strong success strategies. Utilizing her formal training as a business coach and consultant to supplement her natural ability to connect with people, Eileen gains the trust and respect needed to interact with both leadership and team members. When coaching individual clients, Eileen becomes a 'lady on a mission' to help them succeed. Eileen is able to help them stay focused on their objectives and establish goals that take them to that next level in their personal and/or business lives. Her coaching typically involves teaching people how to set measurable goals, how to look at goals objectively and how to re-evaluate them periodically to stay on track. Eileen’s goal as a coach is to help her clients find the right balance between career and family so they have the best of both worlds.

Right now many of us are paralyzed. The down markets, especially money and real estate have some of us sitting along the road waiting for the RIGHT time to buy or sell.

Some of us watch the stock quotes in the papers daily or go online and check our balances. We say we invested for the long haul, but many of us get wrapped up in the daily or weekly ups and downs. We become unsure about planning a vacation or buying a new TV. In other words, we do nothing. We are paralyzed.

For those of us who remember high school English, the title is an example of alliteration. But what does it mean?

To purge, according to Encarta is to get rid of opponents or remove something undesirable.

Personal is self explanatory and paralysis is defined as loss of movement or inactivity…failure to take action or make progress.

Putting it altogether--it describes getting rid of our own failure to take action or make progress.

My father, who retired at age 65, spent his next seven years sitting at the kitchen table looking at the balance in his savings account. This was in the mid nineties, so he had the old-fashioned pass book. Because he was so worried about that balance, he was afraid to do anything. My parents did not travel, go to the movies or out to dinner. Ultimately his stress affected his health, and he never did live the life he had planned after retirement. He was paralyzed with fear. I am not suggesting that he should have spent unwisely, but saving all those years to look at numbers in a booklet was ultimately not the best choice of how to spend his time.

I am not suggesting that of us should be indiscriminate about our spending, but I am suggesting that with some forethought, many of us are capable of "getting off the dime" and making some things happen. Where do you want to be in five years, in one year? What do you want to have? What do you need to do to make it happen? Who can assist you? Is it your accountant, your financial advisor, a business consultant? If you believe that doing something is costly, what is the cost of doing nothing?

My friends at Kadey Krogen Yachts (www.kadeykrogen.com), a builder of fine yachts based in Stuart, Florida and Annapolis MD, have recently begun a new marketing campaign. The tagline is, "The things you regret are the things you didn't do." Were you planning to retire and buy a boat or new house? What were your business goals? Can you re-adjust and take small steps to make the changes you need to make? Have you put that plan on hold or are you re-evaluating, re-prioritizing? What will it take to make you do something? What will it take for you to determine your passion and put the plan together to move forward?

Here are some things to consider that have helped others make some significant, positive, forward steps. For whatever reason, many people never "get around" to doing these steps for themselves. By choosing inaction, they are in essence, choosing to fail. Remember the wisdom from one of the richest men who ever lived, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, "The notion that knowledge is power is only a half-truth, it is applied knowledge that is power."

• Write down what's most important to you. Determine what you may have been holding back on. The simple act of committing these goals to paper makes them more real.
• Prioritize them; know which ones are most important to you - right now.
• Determine a deadline or a target date. You may have to adjust this from your original thoughts based on today's climate, but so what. Life is a work in progress.
• Visualize the rewards of achieving these goals. Put a picture up on the refrigerator. What are the consequences of not getting there, of doing nothing?
• Create action steps and determine who is responsible or accountable. In both our personal and business lives we interact with others who can help us make things happen. Tap into those resources.

Most importantly, the simple act of reviewing this process should renew your original excitement and help you understand why you wanted this in the first place.

Imagine how successful you could be (in all aspects of your life) if you consciously chose to be successful every day. How is this possible? By simply doing these things every day, that would almost guarantee your success. Your version of success doesn't have to be just a theory for you if you simply choose to implement do-able steps more often. Let's choose to make '09 the year we get out of own way... sound good?