Category Archives: Sheryl Eldene

by | May 26, 2011 · 7:00 am

How do you spell Success – Creativity or Innovation?

Sheryl Eldene, MA, MBA

It is said that creativity consists of thinking new things, while innovation consists of doing new things. How do you spell success?

When we talk about success, it depends on the goal or the end one has in mind, whether creativity, innovation, or same-old-same-old might pave the road to success. If my goal is to increase marketing share, innovation may be necessary, depending on the maturity of that market. If feeling alive as a CEO and creating a long term sustainable business is the goal, then innovation is core.  However, when I’m working with different groups of people, how I might think about women, or men, or hispanics, or gen Y’s will color my success so here, creativity and thoughtful intention will be needed. If having dinner prepared in time, then same-old-same-old works better. Like Covey says, “Begin with the end in mind” and the process, tools, and resources present themselves.

What paves your road to success as you move toward your intended goals?

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Filed under Balance, Business Planning, Intentions, Sheryl Eldene

by | May 19, 2011 · 7:30 am

Making a Living, or Making a Life?

Sheryl Eldene, MA, MBA

There’s a bumper sticker that I see around that says “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go”. It just breaks my heart, and I find myself wanting to pull over the driver and, in my fantasy, be that altruistic millionaire from the TV show, and invite them off that hook with a big fat check. I shortly snap myself back to reality, though, and realize that it’s really all about intention, and a million dollars won’t help someone whose intention is to just go to work and drudge through the day.

If the intention is to make a living, create enough cash flow to stay out of debt and to put a roof over your head, then the way you get out of bed and the creative energy you use is specific to that intention. In this mode, you may get out of bed with an alarm clock to help you punch in at work on time. You get out of bed grumbly and drag yourself to work. Your creativity and joy are buried under a heap of that gumbling and you have very few areas of your life that are energizing or fun.

If your intention is to make a life, you may very well go to exactly the same job in the previous scenario. You still get up with the alarm clock, but, since this is the life your are creating, you might enjoy a morning walk with your tunes, your dog, or even a friend. On the way to work, if finding joy at work is the life you intend, then you may be thinking about the day’s projects and the day’s contacts and how you can enjoy them. If not, you may be thinking about your lunch plans, and crafting in your mind how to teach your young-in to catch better or memorize history lessons.

You can make a life while making a living, and some people make a life out of making a living (those career focused people – of whom I am one).  If, however, you find those times when you’re just making a living and not loving it – that might be a good time to revisit your intentions.

  1. When you were 16 or 18, before you began your adult life, what did you dream it might be? 
  2. What part of that dream might you incorporate into this day? 
  3. Is it time to step back and ask what it is you really want in your life? 
  4. What values do you live by that need to be expressed in your life?
  5. What brings you joy, and how can that be incorporated into your day?

As we focus this month on intentions, we’re inviting you to examine your deepest intentions, and explore how they might  be expressed.

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Filed under Balance, Intentions, Motivation, Sheryl Eldene, Uncategorized

by | May 5, 2011 · 8:00 am

Amnesia, anyone?

By Sheryl Eldene, MA, MBA

I’ve been fascinated with movies about people who wake up, usually in the hospital and don’t know their name, and don’t remember their roles (wife, husband, employee) or their habits (happy guy, quiet person, music lover).  While on the one hand, that seems like a nightmare that you’d want to wake up from, my fantasy is that it would be the most freeing day of the year.  As we talk about being your own coach this month, what if you could start tomorrow on an absolutely clean slate – what would you create for your life?

An important part of Big Dreams is the ability to dream them.  So often yesterday’s definitions about who you are, what you can do, and how you act keep yanking you out of your dream.  If tomorrow were actually the first day of your life, and you’re starting with the advantage of you can already walk, talk your language, and you know some social mores like shaking hands, smiling when spoken to, remaining clothed in public – you can go forward into this brand new day anyway you like.

We’re suggesting this month that you exercise your inner-coach-muscle.  How about beginning with as blank a slate as you can and moving forward into your day with new Big Dreams.  If you catch yourself making the month’s plans by rote, just because it’s how you’ve always done it, see if that inner-coach-muscle might flex in a different way.

I’m doing a big break-out from the mold this week.  I’m taking a vacation by myself to a health spa, just because.  I’m sure that if I woke up some day in a hospital and couldn’t remember my name, as soon as I remembered how to travel, and discovered that I had enough money in my accounts to cover a few days at a spa – I would jump on the chance.  So I’m doing it – and I even remember my name and my husband and children’s names (although maybe for just a few days out there on the ranch I won’t even care what my name is).

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Filed under Dreams, Motivation, Passion & Potential, Sheryl Eldene

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by | April 28, 2011 · 8:00 am

WHAT matters, check HOW at the door….

By Sheryl Eldene, MA, MBA

I ran across a quote of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this week which really caught my eye –

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

This is especially appropriate as we finish this month’s focus on setting intention. So many times, our choice of a goal gets dumbed-down because we can’t figure out how it’s going to happen, or, as Dr. King said, we can’t see all the steps between here and there. Part of the art of setting intention is just setting it and having trust in your own inner courage and power to move in that direction, knowing that there is a way, and your feet will find it – maybe even in spite of your mind which is wildly trying to think up HOW.

Years ago I used to write down everything I wanted in my life as a New Year’s day activity.  Since I was flying private airplanes at the time, one of those things was to have a home that backed onto a private airstrip so I could just pull my plane out of the hanger next to my house and take off.  Of course I couldn’t see the end of that staircase, but it went on my list anyway.  Same with the swimming pool I thought would be lovely in my backyard, and the business I wanted to start.  None of those dreams came with a how, they were just MY DREAM.  Truth be told, a year or two later, I wasn’t interested in the pool (too much to clean, and too risky for my children’s safety) or in the home on an airstrip (too noisy and isolated from the city) and I’ve run my business successfully now for 18 years even though I put that on my “Dream” list 30 years ago.

WHAT intentions would you set if you didn’t have to come up with the HOW first?

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Filed under Dreams, Inspiration, Intentions, Sheryl Eldene, Uncategorized

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by | April 21, 2011 · 8:30 am

This is MY Dream….

I fell in love (for the first time) with “Alice in Wonderland” this week. When I enjoyed the Disney film decades ago, it was fanciful and faguely interestiing. Today I’m very interested in the role of intention to the outcomes of our lives, and I’m a new groupy to the ALICE “cult”.

OK, just kidding, sort of. In the course of the film, Alice says “Ever since I fell down the rabbit hole, I’ve been told what I must do and who I must be. This is my dream and I will decide where it goes from here”.

In the sequel to the movie “What the Bleep Do We Know”, titled “Down the Rabbit Hole” the producers continue their discussion of how much the role of intention plays in the outcome of each person’s individually lived movie.

I never understood why they would call the sequel that. Now I do. Ever since I was born, I, too have been told what I must do (keep your knees together and if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all) and who I must be (wife, mother, successful, hard worker, femme fatale – but not too fatale).

This really is my dream, and I am deciding where it goes from here. I love working, and I love being feminine, and I love being successful – that’s my dream. What’s yours?

Written by Sheryl Eldene, MA, MBA

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Filed under Dreams, Intentions, Sheryl Eldene

by | April 7, 2011 · 4:39 pm

Reality Check, Please

By Sheryl Eldene, MBA, MA

As we begin the second quarter of the year – it is finally Spring, after all – I’m inviting us to do a reality check on where we are compared to our original intentions. Whatever you are doing now with the majority of your day, is that what you wanted to be doing when you started this endeavor? For most of us, what we do with the majority of our day is a job or a business – what we do with our energy and our time in exchange for assets/money. Of these four types of intentions, where did you start, and where have you ended up:

  1. IT’S A JOB. When I started this job/business, my intention was to make money to support the lifestyle of my dreams. I wanted this job to be lucrative and to provide security. I wanted those two results as a result of using my skills and talents and possibly learning new skills along the way.
  2. IT’S A CAREER. When I started on this track, I intended to create a path that I could follow over many years. I hoped that it would create wealth (“Do what you love and the money will follow”), but my main intention was to engage in a field that would bring me passion and joy just in the doing of it.
  3. IT’S A CALLING. When I started this endeavor, I felt called by the Spirit that helps direct my life. I felt that my engaging in life in this way would fulfill a greater mission and would serve my family, my community, my world, my contribution to heaven-on-earth for all of us.
  4. IT’S DEEP SATISFACTION. When I started this work, I imagined that it would complete my heart. Although I do not have a sense of a ‘Calling’, this work felt like something that I have always longed to do, and succeeding at this endeavor would be the high point in my life.

This month is all about setting intentions. What intentions did you set, and how has that progressed for you, or did you unconsciously shift your focus from, say ‘satisfaction’ to ‘a job’, or from ‘a job’ to ‘a calling’?

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Filed under Business Planning, Coaching, Dreams, Intentions, Passion & Potential, Sheryl Eldene

by | March 24, 2011 · 4:06 pm

Building trust through C’s

By Sheryl Eldene, MA, MBA

As we all prepare our plans for second quarter, I thought this might be a good time to think about the essence of personal marketing.  Since marketing is about relationship, here are eight key areas to think about as you build trust into those relationships:
What are the top three character traits you look for to build trust in business relationships?

  • Clarity (People trust the clear and mistrust the ambiguous)
  • Compassion (People put faith in those who care beyond themselves)
  • Character (People notice those who do what is right over what is easy)
  • Competency (People have confidence in those who stay fresh, relevant and capable)
  • Commitment (People believe in those who stand through adversity)
  • Connection (People want to follow, buy from, and be around friends)
  • Contribution (People immediately respond to results)
  • Consistency (People love to see the little things done consistently)

Happy Spring to you all as you set those intentions for Spring.  Let us know what characteristics are important to you….

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Filed under Image & Identity, Intentions, Marketing, Sheryl Eldene

by | March 17, 2011 · 3:50 pm

“WHY is so yesterday, but What?” said the Cheshire cat

By Sheryl Eldene, MA, MBA, PCC

Recently, I heard someone ask the question, “What would you attempt to do if you knew that you couldn’t fail?”

I LOVE questions because when you ask a question, you MUST give yourself an answer. It’s not negotiable. As that question kicks around in your head – you inevitably decide on the answer.

The problems come when you ask yourself the wrong question. What’s the wrong question? WHY IS THE WRONG QUESTION.

WHY will inevitably take you to a place of self judgement – so let go of that one. It doesn’t matter WHY. It is probably way too late to fix WHY anyway.

  • Why should I care?
  • Why haven’t I done this already?
  • Why is this taking so long?
  • Why can others accomplish this goal, and I’m have such a hard time?
  • Why doesn’t anyone help me?
  • Why doesn’t my partner support me?………

So let’s get back to WHAT would you attempt if you knew you couldn’t fail?

Do you remember your dreams when you were little? One of my dreams was to be a surgeon! Later, I decided I wanted to be Homecoming Queen! When I was little, everything seemed possible. As children, we are natural masters at the Law of Attraction. Remember allowing your dreams to expand and fill your days with wonder? I lived in a neighborhood where there was a lot of home construction going on. My friends and I spent hours in those open building pretending that we were queens, presidents, big wig bosses and we’d act out all those dreams. I even had the lingo, the walk, the imagined wardrobe – enormous clarity around my dream.

My dreams of surgeon and Queen went away not due to lack of crystal clarity, but the failure to marry those dreams to action plans. Of course, I forgive my eight year old self for not creating an action plan toward medical school and my ten year old self for not having a clue how to become a queen.

Today I’m older and wiser. My dream of connecting my newest published book to those thousands of people who are looking for that wisdom is very clear, as is my action plan toward that vision. Here’s some questions that might help you turn your wonderful dreams into reality:

  1. What is my goal?
  2. What is my plan?
  3. What will I do today to get inspired?
  4. What specific steps will I take today toward that goal?
  5. What am I willing to do today, assuming I will be successful?
  6. How will I reward myself today for staying with my plan?

Add your voice the the conversation, what will you do today to get inspired?

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Filed under Business Planning, Intentions, Sheryl Eldene

by | March 10, 2011 · 4:15 pm

Following your Bliss or your Blisters?

By Sheryl Eldene, MA, MBA,

As you prepare your second quarter action plans, now might be a good time to observe if those plans represent a desire to follow your bliss or your blisters. Here are four tips to consider:

  1. Is that action step a reaction to a first quarter problem? If so, excellent, the business can continue to improve by evaluating what isn’t working and changing a policy, a practice, or an attitude that is detracting from your goals.
  2. Is that action step aligned with your annual goal? If so, excellent, your job as the Chief Operating Officer of your business is to keep your eye on the big annual goal and to make sure that those weekly, monthly, and quarterly action steps will take you to that objective.
  3. Is that action step aligned with you Big Dream? If so, excellent, your job as Chief Executive Officer is to set the mission and vision of your company and be sure that your company continues to be a picture your original vision.
  4. As you think about your second quarter, are you mostly a step one, a step two, or a step three. It is very easy, as an owner of a small business, to live in the put-out-fire zone(stage one), visit the COO zone(stage two), and forget the CEO zone(stage three).
    • Try setting the tone for each quarter with a week-end retreat to get back in touch with your mission and your own deeply held values and WHY for doing what you do.
    • Plan a week annual retreat to set the tone, mission, and vision for each year
    • Use your coach as a means to regularly check in on all three levels and keep yourself on track.

May you always follow your bliss, and treat those blisters – and let us know how are those second quarter plans coming.

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by | March 3, 2011 · 6:12 pm

Timid or Careful?

by Sheryl Eldene, MA, MBA, PCC

A forty five year old software engineer finally found employment after being laid off for 18 months. Her boss asks her to alter the financial reporting programs in a way that feels unethical to her. She’s been on the job for only two months, and doesn’t know the hierarchy in her new company and if what she is being asked to do is consistent with company policy, or is being done on the Q-T. She decides to work slower than usual on the project while she does some canvassing to find out what the legitimacy of this request really is. Is she being timid or careful?

A seventy year old woman with osteoporosis is walking across the street in the rain. She feels unsure of her footing, and is walking slowly, and more stiffly than usual in an attempt to protect herself from falling. Unfortunately, walking with this kind of tenseness increases her chances of losing her footing. Would you say she’s being timid and/or careful?

An entrepreneur whose business has flat lined over the last 24 months is both pleased that she is weathering the recession and nervous that neither her profits nor her market share are growing. She is contemplating a new social media marketing campaign the includes a new blog site, a new branding and new messaging to reach a more specific target market. The cost of creating this move represents about 25% of her current profits. She has had the proposal on her desk for three months now. Is she being timid or careful?

A two year old intently leaves the security of her hold on the end table and teeters toward her mother, slowly and carefully. Falls down, and tries again, holding onto that table for a little longer this time. Is she timid or careful? And clearly determined and focused!

Interestingly,TIMID, CAREFUL, and STUCK can all look the same. How are you doing in your business this quarter? Timid, Careful, Stuck or determined and moving slowly?

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