Wende Sanders, MS, CC

Are You Using Your Strengths to Excel and Succeed?

Life is what we make it. Always has been, always will be.

• Grandma Moses

I recently read the book Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton.  The primary premise of this book is that the “Rock Stars” in any Industry or Position do not waste their time or efforts trying to perfect their weaknesses.  Instead, they know that the greatest opportunity for growth and excellence is in building upon their existing strengths, and then managing around their weaknesses.  This way of thinking is definitely against the grain and the opposite of how most of us were indoctrinated.  That’s why I was initially doubtful.  Never the less, I am now a pom-pom carrying “Strengths-based Cheerleader.”  I’ve seen the light and will stop trying to become perfect in every area. (Well, I’ll try to stop.  After all “My name is Wende, and I’m a recovering Perfectionist.”  Admitting it IS the first step!)  

The book was recommended to me last year by someone I respect, so I added it to my list of books to read and didn’t think much more about it.  Then, it was mentioned recently by my mentor.  So, I decided to buy it and dug in.  Along with the book comes a code to take an online assessment to determine your top 5 talent profiles (the areas that can most easily become your strengths).  The authors refer to these as your signature themes.  Before you fall asleep on me, keep reading!

How can I explain the experience of receiving my 5 signature themes and reading about them in this book?  It was like having someone you just met describe you to a tee and tell you about your interests, behaviors and tendencies.  The experience was amazing!  The theme descriptions also helped to affirm for me that the very purpose that I believe I was created to fulfill is also the one that God gave me the natural talents to achieve.  Have you have ever experienced a momentary period of wondering if you are crazy for attempting what you are working toward?  If so, then you know how wonderful it is when you get a divine confirmation that you are indeed on the right track!

So, obviously I wholeheartedly recommend this book.  But, even more, I urge you to take action and use your knowledge, skills and natural talents to move you ahead in the ways that are most important to you.  I’ve heard the statement that the richest place on earth is the graveyard, because so many people pass away with all of their wealth still in them.  They were too fearful, lazy, etc to mine the gold that was placed within them by their Creator.  I don’t intend on living or dying with my wealth of talent going untapped and underutilized.  I hope you can say the same thing.

My challenge to you is to identify your natural talents.  Then, decide how you will grow them into amazing strengths that will catapult you to the success (in your personal and professional life ) that you desire and deserve.  Doing this will not only help you, but it will also ensure that you are giving back to society from the place of unlimited wealth that is within you.  That’s what I call a “win-win!”

Leave a Comment September 30, 2009

What Are You Attracting?

The past few weeks have been full of busyness and excitement.  As my business grows and expands I so enjoy creating new and more effective ways to serve my clients.  I’ve been keeping this a bit of a secret, and up until now I have not mentioned it in this newsletter.  But, I can’t hold it any longer!  I’m about to burst with anticipation!  So, what’s the secret you ask?  What is it that has you so excited?  Ok, ok, I’ll tell you.  I am working on my first book!  (I already have the ideas ready for my next two books as well.)  I’m projecting that the book will be published by the end of 2009.  This is like my second baby, and I can’t wait for you to get your hands on it and see what all the excitement is about.  Stay tuned, you know that I’ll keep you posted.

“The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.”

• Frank Lloyd Wright

What are you attracting?  It seems like an odd question at first, but it’s certainly one that begs to be asked and answered.  In our younger years, we were frequently admonished to be careful about who we picked as friends, the type of music to which we listened and what we watched on TV.  These pearls of wisdom may have sounded like this: “Birds of a feather flock together.  Like attracts like.  As a man thinkith, so shall he be.”  Those warnings were usually made by well intentioned adults who wanted to make sure that we surrounded ourselves with primarily positive and uplifting influences. 

These time-worn maxims are equally relevant to both the young and the young at heart.  However, for many of us, once we become adults we start to think that we are above being influenced.  We think that we can associate with unsavory people, listen to belittling music or watch violence and other disturbing images on TV, and that they no longer have any impact on us.  But, the reality is that we are always attracting something, either positive or negative into our lives.  The primary factor that determines whether what we attract is positive or negative is our thoughts, which lead to our beliefs.  There is so much information available about The Law of Attraction and I encourage you to research it. 

One of the aspects of this Law is that what we focus on expands.  That means that if we continue to surround ourselves with people, things and concepts that represent everything we don’t want to be, do or have, then we will continue to attract those undesirable experiences into our lives.  Another pattern that I see frequently is people talking constantly about what they don’t want or don’t have.  For example, men talking about how much “loving” they no longer get from their wives, women talking about how little help and romance they get from their husbands, and employees talking about how little appreciation and acknowledgment they get from their employers. 

So what’s a person to do?  After all we do have needs, and we deserve to have them met.  The fact is that from time to time we will face undesirable circumstances in our lives, but how we handle them will determine the frequency and duration of these events.  Sometimes a negative experience is a test.  And, in God’s infinite mercy He allows us to continue to retake our tests until we pass them.  When the lamenting husband, wife or employee stops focusing on what they don’t have and starts appreciating what they do have in their situation, their own thoughts, beliefs, and subsequently their behavior can begin to change.  These changes can then start to attract exactly the thing they long for.

You certainly don’t have to take my word on this matter.  You can test it out for yourself.  Think about a very negative person you know; the type of person that can find the negative in everything.  If it was a clear sunny day she would complain about needing to wear sunglasses, if she won $20 Million she would complain about the taxes.  Now, think about the type of events that seem to always take place in her life.  Does she always seem to have some new tragedy or unfortunate occurrence happening, that she can’t wait to tell you all about?  Well, this is not a surprise to anyone that understands the Law of Attraction.  This type of person continues to attract drama into his or her life because s/he focuses and meditates on drama.  With that said, I ask you again: “What are you attracting?”

I challenge you to incorporate a positive practice into your life that will help you to counter the negativity that may surround you.  Your positive practice may involve increasing the frequency or quality of your prayers, writing positive affirmations and reading them each day or merely turning off the news and “talking heads” TV shows.  You can easily adopt a variety of proactive patterns that will help you ensure that what you are attracting is indeed what you want for yourself.

Leave a Comment September 30, 2009

Why I Quit My Job

During November 2008, I received a death threat from a former employee that had been laid off from the company.  Since I was the Human Resources Manager, he viewed me as the cause of his problems.  Receiving such a threat surely prompted me to reflect on where I was I my life, what I was doing and what I was not doing.  As a result of that turning point in my life, I chose to resign from a job I enjoyed and start my own personal and professional development company.

Don’t get me wrong, this decision was accelerated due to the traumatic event, but that event was not the cause of my decision.  For years I have wanted to own my own business and achieve success on my own terms.  But, alas, the comfort and perceived security of employment kept me in a holding pattern.  Can you relate?  So I saved up my money, knowing that one day I would “step out on my own.”  The only thing I didn’t know is when and how it would happen.  For some reason, it seems like I thought there would be some huge obvious sign to let me know that “Now is the time!”  But that never happened.  What I did get was a quiet and peaceful voice that said, “Wende, it’s time now.  You’re ready!”

Well, that was a total shock to me because I certainly didn’t believe that I was ready.  Although I had completed the training I needed, created a financial reserve and had an idea of how I wanted my business to run, I still felt unprepared to actually act on it.  But that is where my faith came into the picture.  I knew for a fact that I could not succeed in business (or in life for that matter) without God’s help and guidance.  So I took a massive leap of faith and trusted that where God provides a vision he also provides provision.

After several years of working with the people that I had grown to know as my “work family” I submitted my resignation in January 2009.  My choice was not based on running away from something unpleasant, but rather on running toward something new and exciting.  In the time since I’ve started Universal Possibilities LLC, a personal and professional development company for women, I’ve had the opportunity to reach and help new people!  The road of entrepreneurship gets bumpy at times, but whenever I start to wonder if I made the “right” choice.  I reflect on the women that I coach and know that I would not want to be doing anything else with my life but what I am doing right now.  How many people do you know that can say that about their job or business?  Can you say it about yours? 

If you would like some guidance and a step-by-step process to achieving the career success that you desire, then consider registering for my upcoming Phenomenal Woman, Phenomenal Career Coaching Program.  My experience and insight as a Human Resources Manager, Certified Career & Life Coach, and working Mom can help you to clarify your career goals and create a personalized strategy to achieve them.  The program is conducted over the telephone, so your geographic location is never a factor.

1 Comment September 30, 2009

What does Failure Mean to You?

Over the past two weeks I have spoken to several people at various events and seminars.  I continue to hear people talk about how their fear of failure is holding them back from pursuing a long held dream or ambition.  It’s stopping them from ”playing a larger game” or taking calculated risks and pursuing a better life.  When I hear people talk about their concerns over “failing” it’s usually not a concern that the result will be as serious as ending up homeless or bankrupt.  They tend to be concerned that they’ll suffer some level of embarrassment with either family, friends, peers or themselves.  This desire to avoid such a fate is often so strong that it’s paralyzing.

I’d like to offer an alternate view of the word failure.  Dictionary.com defines failure as “a person or thing that proves unsuccessful.”  Most people subscribe to a similar definition.  I’d like to challenge you to change your definition of the word failure and to view it as merely an outcome.

When a baby is first learning how to walk she stumbles, teeters and falls most of the time.  Despite this fact I doubt they see themselves as failures.  And you’d be hard pressed to find a good parent that calls his child a “failure” because the original outcome is imperfect.  In fact most parents continue to encourage and praise their baby for her continued efforts and persistence in mastering a new skill.  But, somehow when it comes to us attempting new and challenging things, we inhibit ourselves if we think it may entail a period of stumbling, teetering or falling.  It’s like we expect ourselves to run perfectly before we can walk or crawl.

My challenge to you is that you banish the word and the concept of ”failure” from your vocabulary and your thoughts.  I’d like you to replace it with the word “outcome.”  When we look at an experience from the perspective of what can I learn from this outcome, we empower ourselves to go above and beyond our fears of perceived failure.

2 Comments September 30, 2009