The Donna Krech Blog

Stay Focused On The Big Picture BY Harvey Mackay

Donna Krech — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:04:02 +0000

A reader sent me an email recently, thanking me for a column I had written on getting outside the box. She then told me how she had lost focus for a while, but had turned things around. She encouraged me to write a column on staying focused.

I immediately thought of my varsity golfing days at the University of Minnesota many years ago. Back then The Saint Paul Open was one of the top tournaments on the men’s professional golf circuit. Prior to the tournament, I had a chance to meet Gary Player when he was taking a lesson from our team coach, Les Bolstad. Later that evening I went to dinner with the world’s future #1 player when he was still an unknown.

The following day at The Saint Paul Open, I saw Gary after he teed off the first hole and ran up to him to say hi. I wanted to tell him what a great time I had the night before. His steely eyes remained focused on the fairway ahead and he never broke stride. “Harvey, please don’t talk to me. I must concentrate. I will see you when I’m finished.”

I remember how devastated I felt, but I learned a valuable lesson on focus. Many years later when he was world famous, my wife, Carol Ann, and I ran into Gary and his wife in South Africa. I reintroduced myself and reminded him of what happened on the golf course. Gary’s wife told me, “Don’t feel bad. He doesn’t even talk to me on the golf course.”

That’s the focus that it takes to do your best. If you have the ability to focus fully on the task at hand, and shut out everything else, you can accomplish amazing things.

Arnold Palmer, another golfing legend, recalled a tough lesson he learned about focus in Carol Mann’s book “The 19th Hole”:

“It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said, “Congratulations.” I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus. On my next two shots, I hit the ball into a sand trap, then put it over the edge of the green. I missed a putt and lost the Masters. You don’t forget a mistake like that; you just learn from it and become determined that you will never do that again.” Trust me, your friends will understand!

A response Babe Ruth once gave to a reporter sticks in my mind.

“How is it,” the Babe was asked, “that you always come through in the clutch? How is it you can come up to bat in the bottom of the 9th, in a key game with the score tied, with thousands of fans screaming in the stadium, with millions listening on the radio, the entire game on the line and deliver the game winning hit?” His answer, “I don’t know. I just keep my eye on the ball.”

In other words… Focus. How many times have you heard an athlete talk about focus? It’s a topic I also hear about frequently in business. The most common complaints?

Too many irons in the fire. Too many projects spinning at one time. Too many interruptions. Too many phone calls. Too many emails. Too many things to do. Too little time.

The late Peter Drucker, management consultant and author, observed, “When you have 186 objectives nothing gets done. I always ask, ‘What’s the one thing you want to do?’ In Mexico they call me Senor Una Cosa.” (translation: one thing)

Decide what’s most important. Make a list every day or every week and prioritize your activities. Scale back the amount of time you spend on meetings; they can be the biggest time-wasters of all. Learn to delegate, and make sure all members of your team follow through on assigned tasks.

Set aside a specific time of day to return phone calls and emails, and keep distractions to a minimum. In other words, set rules about how others use your time. And if you’re not the boss, work with your supervisor to make sure you agree on priorities.

Stay focused as best you can, and don’t let things happen to you - not when you can make things happen. Mackay’s Moral: The person who is everywhere is nowhere.

Harvey Mackay is part of the TSTN (The Success Training Network).

17 Words That Changed My Life Forever BY Jerry Clark

Donna Krech — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:26:34 +0000

I remember several years back I heard something that changed my life forever. Up until that point I had been struggling through life - doing everything the hard way. I couldn’t figure out why my life wasn’t going the way I felt it should be. I saw some people going through life effortlessly and seemingly with less tension and frustration while I was wondering if I could ever straighten out the mess my life had turned out to be. I was behind on my dreams, my promises, and my bills. Then one day I was listening to a tape and the lady was talking about the power of having dreams and goals and all of the other stuff that those motivational speakers talk about. By that point I had listened to hundreds of such tapes, but it seemed as if nothing worked for me. Probably the only reason I was listening to that one was because I had developed a habit of listening to cassette tapes while driving my car. The statement the lady said was simple and I think I had even heard it somewhere before but this time a light bulb went on in my head. I remember stopping the tape and rewinding it over and over again to hear the 17 words she said. I couldn’t believe it was so basic and simple. I was looking for something sophisticated and complicated. I thought I had to attend a $10,000 seminar. I didn’t know I could find it on a $10 tape program. I’m taking the time to tell you all of this preliminary information because when I tell you the 17 words, I really want you to get it and get it NOW! Because if you get it NOW, your life will never be the same. You will be using the same principle that all who have became wealthy before you have used.

Even those who became wealthy and can’t tell you how they did use this same principle without even being aware of what they are doing. Well, are you ready for the 17 words that made a powerful and positive impact on my life and on the life of tens of thousands of individuals who have achieved unimaginable success? Of course you are…Well, here they are…

For things to change, you must get a picture of what you want them to change to.

Yes, it’s as simple as it sounds and as easy as it seems… Don’t try to make it any complicated than this because it will only frustrate you. You must know exactly what you want and the more specific and clear you can get, the better. This is important because Human Beings are Teleological in nature… In other words, we move towards the pictures we constantly hold in our minds. Let me give you an example… Suppose you went to the store and bought a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle but it didn’t have a picture on the box of what the end result should look like. Would you have a much harder time putting the picture together? Of course. You may eventually figure it out; however, the person who has a clear picture of what the end result should look like will be more than 100 times ahead of you. The question is are they 100 times ahead of you because their IQ is 100 times greater? Is it because they are 100 times better looking than you? Maybe it’s because they live 100 times closer to the person who created the puzzle? Ohh, I know - they were one of the first students to take the Evelyn Woods mind-expanding speed-reading and comprehension course right? If none of this is true then what it?

Yes, the person who had the clear and specific picture of what the outcome was supposed to be was simply operating in accordance to how our brain works. It moves towards the pictures we hold in our mind. It’s interesting because once you know exactly what it is you are moving towards, you seem to automatically know the steps to take or the necessary steps will soon become noticeable. Your brain, operating similar to a magnet, will start to attract in your direction the conditions, people, and circumstances that will help you move closer to the mental picture you maintain in your mind and it will repel all of those things that do not correlate to the picture you have in your mind. Therefore, the people who are clear and specific about what they want are using the powers of the Universe to assist them. This is, indeed, an awesome power. A person who knows how and uses this awesome power of the Universe to his or her advantage is a person who is working smart. A person who struggles every day trying to move closer to the success that they have no idea how it’s supposed to look is a person who is working hard.

Based on your observations over the years, do you think that most people are working hard or working smart? People who just work hard day in and day out without a clear picture of what they are moving towards are about as exciting as a tulip. Even though they may seem to be willing to work hard and put in the hours, they don’t seem to have much life in them. And people want to follow people who seem to have some life in them. If they want to find people who don’t seem to have much life in them, all they have to do is go to their job. People will follow people who look like they know where they are going and looks like they are excited about the journey.

You must understand that your strength comes from knowing what you want. This will ignite the fire inside of you and enable you to borrow from the promise of the future so you can engage in the activities today that will move you closer and closer to what you want. It will enable you to go through the trials and tribulations that may be necessary so you can arrive at your destination. But remember the journey will be more important than the destination because in the journey you will become the person you require to become to finally arrive at your destination. So when you reach your destination, look at the person you have become and set a new destination so you can continue to grow and develop.

Whatever you do, just always remember that for things to change, you must get a picture of what you want them to change to. These are the 17 Words that Changed My Life Forever…Why not allow them to change yours too…

Jerry Clark is part of the TSTN Network.

Any Dream Will Do

Donna Krech — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:37:02 +0000

I wore my coat with golden lining
Bright colors shining, wonderful and new.
And in the east, the dawn was breaking
And the world was waking
Any dream will do

“Any Dream Will Do” Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dream Coat

Picture an 8-year-old little girl playing on
the playground, off by herself because she’s
quite different from the other children. She
has a full head of short, bushy, unmanageable
curly hair, which stinks to high heaven when she
sweats. This mop sits atop a face covered with
deep chicken pox scars, wearing crooked glasses
(many times held together with tape because
they’ve been broken) which are necessary to
correct her lazy-crossed eye.

Go ahead, you can laugh out loud. The picture in
your mind really is what I looked like years ago.
Kids wielded their hard-hearted mocking and my
dreams were of happiness, acceptance, and love. I
longed for the opportunity to have and be a friend.

That image has stayed with me over the years. The
dream of having a pleasing appearance is one that
spurred me onward. As the years passed, each time
someone would compliment me, I’d revisit that
lonely playground once again, and that little girl
inside this woman would smile a timid smile and
with tear-filled eyes, reply with a heart-felt,
lump in my throat, “Thank you so much.”

I wanted to give that same joy to other women -
women who had never really been complimented,
like me. I wanted them to know the thrill of
feeling great about their physical appearance.
Hmmm, then it’s no secret why I’ve been in health,
fitness and weight management since 1982.
This dream is not only why I got into business
for myself, it’s also been a key to building that
business; inspiring and equipping others to have
the look they haven’t had before. I’ve come to
learn, any dream will do.

A few years later, I was an adolescent traveling
in an old station wagon across the country with my
family. As we pulled into a restaurant parking
lot, I remember looking into the reflection of
myself in the mirror and realizing how dirty I was
from riding in the back (affectionately known by
many families as the back-back) with the window
open all day. We all sat in the car for a bit,
listening to my mom and sister determine how much
we could afford to spend. We had walked into many
a restaurant only to sit down, look at the menu
(menus weren’t posted outside the door back then)
and have my mom tell us we couldn’t afford to eat
there and we’d have to stand up and leave.

As I sat looking at how dirty I was, listening to
the money conversation I’d heard many times, a four-
door sedan pulled up next to us. I watched as the
mother and father got out of the front seat and
the brother and sister got out of the back. It
was obvious they were on vacation, yet they were
clean, their clothes were new and it was evident
their car had air conditioning. I was certain
they would not have to leave the restaurant after
looking at the menu. As I watched them step from
the fancy family-mobile, I remember thinking, “I’m
going to do that someday. I’m going to be able to
take my children on vacations in a car like that,
and not have to worry about money, and be clean
and have nice things.”

Oh, is it ever true, that any dream will do. I
can see that scene in my mind like it just
happened this afternoon. And each time I book a
trip for my family to Europe, or China, or the
Caribbean, or wherever, I remember that scene.
I’ve felt a sense of joy and completeness in my
heart that I cant explain as I’ve watched the awe
in my children’s eyes when Mickey Mouse held their
hands in Disney World, or as I heard my son
laughing as he raced my husband down the steps of
the Eiffel Tower, or in witnessing the empathetic
pain my daughter felt as she walked through the
very tunnel into Tiananmen Square where students
her age had been slaughtered for what they
believed.

There have been many years of excursions, and
with each traveling memory experienced, my desire
to help others travel the world grows. I want to
give that same joy to others who’ve never been
able to travel. I want them to know the thrill of
financial success and feel great about their
career accomplishments. It’s no mystery then as
to why I went on to build an organization where
dream building, travel and money-making
opportunities are core components.

This dream is not only why I got into business for
myself. It, too, has been a key to building that
business, inspiring and equipping others to have
the finances to fund the experiences they haven’t
had before. I’ve come to learn, any dream will
do.

In 1 John 2:20 & 27 I read how God promised that
there is a thing each of us knows how to do that
no man has had to teach us. It would then be
precise to realize that any dream is what God
planted in us anyway. It’s our calling; it’s what
we were created for. We’ve all been given this
promise. It is the thing which will take us to
the revelation of seeing the desires of our heart
come to pass.

Relative to the song lyrics, we’ve all been given
a coat; the promise that everything we go through
is for a purpose, and the passion that burns within
us due to what we’ve learned is what we’re to do.
The secret to your dream being fulfilled is right
there in your heart!

So wear your coat, with golden lining, bright
colors shining, wonderful and new. The dawn will
break, the world will wake to your dream. Any
dream will do. It’s so simple. I am no one. I
have no special gifts, no unique talents, and I’m
living the American Dream. If I can, you can.
Any dream will do.

WHO ARE YOU GOING TO LISTEN TO?

Donna Krech — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:18:03 +0000

Here’s the question of the hour: Who says you can’t make money
in the middle of a so-called recession?

Answer: The people who aren’t making any.

My friend Vic Johnson has posted an eye opening new video and
a free CD of “How to Stay Up in a Down Market and Win in the
End.” These are some mind blowing strategies on how to make
the most of current economic conditions. You can claim your
free CD here:

http://www.claimyourpowernow.com/cmd.asp?af=793934

In a constant state of VICTORY,

Donna Krech

P.S. Want proof that the state of the economy has nothing at
all to do with making money? Check out the video and Free CD
now:

http://www.claimyourpowernow.com/cmd.asp?af=793934

What’s Your Life Balance Quotient?

Donna Krech — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:33:26 +0000

Greetings!! Motivation, money, metabolism retraining, marketing, management, meaning and life balance. My expertise has spanned these areas since 1982. Today I’m writing about life balance. This affects all the others directly.

Perhaps you’re like me. Perhaps you too have found yourself in a situation far more stressful than one you’ve been in for a very long time. Or maybe you’ve never been in such a stressful situation ever before. Do you find yourself consumed with one thought or challenge on an ongoing basis? Are you spending virtually every waking minute working on this problem in one form or another? Maybe you’re concerned, like I’ve been, because you’re aware that while positive stress is very good for the body, soul and spirit, negative stress not only brings about illness, it actually kills people.

The last two to three years have been unlike any I’ve ever lived through. I’m thankful I have the wisdom to be grateful that the problems I’ve faced are business- related and not concerns of family illness (like cancer returned), a child in harm’s way or something else in life that truly matters, but the pressure still got to me.

About 3 months ago, and then again a couple of weeks ago, I was asked a question that stopped me dead in my tracks. I was having dinner with some internet marketing friends and one of them asked, “What do you do for fun Donna?”

My brain sprinted through all the things I used to do to maintain balance in my life. “Say something, you big goof!” My mind raced, realizing that the very elements of my life that had always given me balance - something to focus on so my mind could come up with the solution to a problem - were missing! Has this happened to you? The grey matter between my ears urged my lips to produce the answers that had always been true, but I knew I wasn’t doing them at all. My joy had officially been stolen.

After answering his question, I instantly realized I needed to do something about this. I had way too much going on that produced stress to not be involved heavily in the stuff I loved that reduces it! “We can’t find the solution when we’re focused on the problem.” That’s the number one reason for balance and having fun in our lives.

I began to work to put these things back into place. I got involved in dance again. Oh, how I’ve missed that!!! I read more and wrote a lot in my journal.

Then, just two weeks ago, I was sitting at a marketing event and someone asked me the exact same question again. Again, my mind knew the answers and again I had to admit I wasn’t doing these balance activities nearly as often as I should be.

I also realized something else. These two guys were making a very clear observation that it appeared all I did was work! Yuck!! Yikes!! This is everything I’ve ever taught against! How did this happen to me?!?!

I had an “ah-ha” moment and knew it would help you and me both. Stress in any form can cause emotional reaction, and emotional reaction causes us to bite at people we normally adore, sit on the couch vegging rather than exercise, eat comfort foods, slump into states of depression, make rash decisions, be paralyzed with fear, feel very ill, have high blood pressure, bleeding ulcers, abnormal gastric or bowel functions, or any of a myriad of other manifestations. The bottom line is that without balance in our lives, the likelihood skyrockets for us becoming overweight, unfit, or our relationships and/or businesses suffering. No matter what you’re living through (and especially if you’re living through something really tough) you MUST have a strong balance quotient and have fun if you’re to survive.

So, what’s you’re balance quotient? Your balance quotient is the relativity of daily negative stress to activities that bring you fun, joy and peace, and provide you with a healthy distraction from the day-to-day. First we need to look at stress scores. Divide a piece of notebook paper into two columns. Write “Stress Score” at the top of one column and “Balance Score” on the other. This test will only take two business days.

Starting the moment you get up, stop each ½ hour and write down what you did for the last ½ hour. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being most, write what the negative stress score was for each activity/half hour. If there was no particular stress, give no score and if the stress was positive, give a score on the balance side with 10 being the highest. As you move on with your day, give yourself a balance score every ½ hour as well, with 10 being the highest. Quit when you go to bed rather than when the workday ends.

At the end of two days, add your Stress column, add your Balance column, then divide Stress by Balance to get your balance quotient (Stress / Balance = Balance Quotient). At the very least, you want them to be even. When the stress score is much higher than the balance score, trouble could be looming. Ideally, you want the balance score higher. Begin to change the way you do things so the stress score goes down.

This exercise will accomplish two things very quickly. You’ll see whether or not your life is packed full of stress rather than balanced with fun and you’ll want to add balance right away!

Balance comes in many forms. Just to make a few suggestions, I personally love to dance: all kinds and every kind. I love exercising and doing absolutely anything at all with my family. I love playing with my dogs! I like sitting by the ocean, laying on the grass or on the beach, hiking, climbing and bike riding, pretty much anything outdoors. I adore watching movies and like to journal. I LOVE to travel! I thrive on laughing out loud. I’m taking up cooking and baking again. I like decorating my home on a dime. For those of you who don’t know what that means, I like to decorate with the least amount of money possible. I enjoy learning and am crazy about uncovering more and more of how crazy God is about me!! I compose poetry to honor people I love and I offer unexpected gestures of love to those people too. Of course there are many, many others forms of balance. The goal is to find the ones that provide you with healthy distraction and engage in them regularly!

Whether you want to lose weight, build a successful business or have a great relationship with someone, the balance quotient can bring all three to fruition. So, what do YOU do for fun?

Are You Torn Between Your Work and Your Passion?

Donna Krech — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:08:44 +0000

Here is the question of the week:

How do I achieve work and life balance and my passion?

Sometimes we don’t feel balance because we want to be doing something other than what we’re doing. Find the tie-in between what you “need” to do and what you “want” to do. When I discovered that my passion for helping people achieve their goals in life perfectly blended with my weight-loss company, I suddenly felt a lot happier. Here are some of the steps I took to help me on my quest for balance.

In the past, any time I could, I got my kids involved in helping with the business, doing anything I could have them do in order to be with them, teach them business and keep them included.

Go into the day doing a time study. Look at your list of things to do and determine how long (honestly) it will take to do these tasks. The first time I did this, I discovered I had about 36 hours of work planned for one 10-hour day. YIKES!

Find a great priority setting system. You need to know what’s truly important so you can focus your energy in that direction. Think on the things you want rather than the things you don’t want. We become what we think about, including being people with balanced lives.

Be “healthy selfish.” Take time to recharge your battery. Doing the things you love is crucial to your health! Remember, balance looks different for different people. To one person it means being off work at night to attend to family needs. To another it means being able to randomly leave for 4-7 days whenever you want. To yet another, it means working hours besides the normal 9-5, so you can do what needs to be done personally throughout the day.

Remember - Quality at work and quantity at home. This mean that professionally, 90% of your time should be spent on activities that make money. Delegate the other things out. You need to be producing when you’re at your business. Personally, don’t miss the moments that matter; be there for the special events. The work will wait, life won’t. Make memories! Walk around the block backwards, eat lunch sitting in the trunk of the car, have an “ice skating” party on the kitchen floor using shaving cream. Rituals create tradition. Have bedtime stories and annual holiday celebrations. My kids awoke to toilet-papered bedrooms each year on their birthdays.

Family traditions keep families close. Children learn what they live, so be in front of them who you hope they will become. And remember, families that pray together, and play together, stay together.

To learn more about balance, check out the Life Success Event.

The 2008 Life Success Event Officially Kicks Off

Donna Krech — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:06:41 +0000

To see and watch more of what you’re missing each day, check out this link!

www.LifeSuccessEvent.com

How To Stay Focused On Your Goal Pt 2

Donna Krech — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:45:13 +0000

Today we’ll cover how knowing the reason for your goal, or your ‘why’ is absolutely CRUCIAL to you staying focused. We have an awesome exercise to help you embrace this reality as your own. I’ll also share a few precious tid bits on how to overcome obstacles that can tend to distract you from what you need to do in order to hit your goal.

For years perhaps you’ve set goals you believed you were excited about. You determined you were going to do it this time. You left a seminar, finished a book or program and said, “That’s it!!! I’m ready!! This time I WILL achieve my goal! I really want it!! I’m going to do it!” Sure enough, though, the Motivation Assassinator of Lack of Focus struck and you looked up one day only to discover you weren’t achieving the goal—actually you weren’t even working on it any longer! I can tell you- this has certainly happened to me. Once I acknowledged my powerful ‘why’ things began to happen and haven’t stopped happening! I’m seeing my goal become reality! What if I told you that it is possible to have such a burning, powerful ‘why’ that your goal not only stays in the front of your mind at all times, but is also buried in your heart constantly too!

Imagine a 20 ft. 2×4. You know, the piece of wood used in constructing a home. If you lay that 2×4 on the floor directly in front of you, do you believe you could walk across it? It’s 4 inches wide, so I’m sure you might walk heel to toe, but most people say, “Of course I could do that!” Ok, so you believe you could do that. Now, what if we place a cement block under each end so it’s sitting approximately 12 inches off the ground. Do you believe you could still do it? Again, most say, “Yes, I did it already. I could do it again.” Great!! Sure you could! Ok, so what if we suspend the board between 2, 30 story buildings. Do you believe you could walk across it now? Most times people just look at me with a blank stare, fearful even. This is different. I don’t know if I believe it or not, actually I probably don’t. Fair enough. Now imagine this. Your standing on top of one of the thirty story buildings and the other building is on fire. And standing on the roof of the other building is the person you love most in this world. It may be your baby (even if your baby is 30 years old). It might be a parent, spouse, sibling, best friend, whomever. But whoever it is, the flames are going to consume them. Can you get across the board now? The answer always comes back a resounding, “You better believe it!’ I’ll crawl, hang or dangle, but I’ll get there!”

Well, gang, you just came up with one seriously powerful ‘why’. I call this the Burning Baby question. You got across the board to the other building because the one you loved most, the biggest why you could imagine was about to burn! So, with regard to your goal— what’s your ‘burning baby’? You need one if the goal is to be continually focused on. To weigh a certain weight or look a certain way is but a vanity goal. There is nothing wrong with a vanity goal; it’s just going to provide a temporary result. Burning baby goals produce permanent results because they matter so much to you. What’s your burning baby with regard to the goal you have? This will be the key factor in you staying focused on your goal and thereby achieving it.

Let’s talk every day distractions like email, voice mail, interruptions and TV. Set a specific time, two or three a day if necessary, to check your email and voice mail. Do NOT check it all the time or have it sitting on your task bar open. These things are seductive and their goal is to attack our focus. And they always achieve their goal! Schedule meetings and/or appointments with yourself and don’t permit interruptions. Trust me, if the building is crashing down around you, someone will let you know. Otherwise, remember your ‘burning baby’ and don’t let interruptions occur. Set an hour or so for a program you like to watch, and then call it quits for the night. Be sure the program is sending a positive message to your brain, not a negative one. Your focus gets foggy and time gets robbed (a serious focus stealer) when you spend too much time putting negative stuff into your mind. Remember, we become what we think about. And the more you put negative into your mind, the tougher it is to focus on your goal naturally. And there’s the secret. To allow focus to become a natural thing for you here is one last tip. Figure out through journaling what distracts you. It might be music, turn it off. It might be phones ringing elsewhere in the building, close the door. It might be talking too long in a meeting, set an agenda and stick to it, save the other information for another time.

Want to see your motivation maintained this time and the goal achieved? Be healthy selfish with your focus. It’s the vital factor to you finally hitting that goal permanently.

Think Yourself Thin Article in Woman’s World Issue May 2008

Donna Krech — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:21:32 +0000

Think dieting is too hard? Not anymore! Some simple mind tricks were all it took for Adah Ellerbrock to lose 54 pounds. And they can work for you, too!

Why put off ’til tomorrow what you can do today? We’ve all heard that before. Maybe even thought it when we’ve had clutter to conquer, or a habit to change or a diet to start.
Yet as anyone with extra pounds knows, it’s east to procrastinate–because losing weight takes effort!
But it doesn’t have to, Glandorf, Ohio, mom Adah Ellerbrock discovered.
Big as a little girl, Adah knew early on the heartbreak of being heavy. “Tell us before you fall so we’ll know when the earthquake’s gonna hit!” kids taunted.
So by junior high, she was counting calories–and sometimes not eating at all–to get slim. Then, thankfully, she got into sports. Now she had a healthy way to keep her weight down. And a boyfriend–one she didn’t have to be skinny for. “Just be healthy,” he said.
Keith was a dream come true. And after a job with a weight-management company post-college, she made another dream come true: opening a weight-loss center.
After her own struggles, she was a natural at helping others. There was jsut one problem: her own weight!After putting on 70 pounds with her first baby, 50 wouldn’t budge. She knew she needed to eat better and move more. But nine months after welcoming baby Emma, she wasn’t doing it.
Every Monday, she’d tell herself, “I’ll start this week!” But by Tuesday, it was, “Maybe next week.”
So she cringed at work. It was embarrassing, helping people lose weight when she was so big herself! She felt so low, she wound up on antidepressants.
And she still weighed 204 pounds.Pills aren’t the answer, she sighed. But what is?

Melting pounds the easy way!

Then she heard some buzz about fitness expert Donna Krech’s Never Ending Motivation CD’s.
Donna’s claim: You can think yourself thin.
So how could Adah resist?
And Donna’s tips were easy to put into practice. Tips like writing down her goal–to get happy and healthy–to lock it in. Hanging a size 8 where she could see it–and repeating “That’s me!” whenever she passed by–to stay focused.
Hang around with positive people, Donna urged; their positivity rubs off! And make a “victory board”–a collage that “shows” your goal coming true. To help yourself believe.
Gazing at it, Adah felt hopeful. And within weeks, she found herself eating healthier meals and finding time to exercise!
“It’s working!” she thought.
In less than five months, she lost 54 pounds–and fit into that size 8 skirt!
“Now I’m unstoppable!” says Adah, who slimmed right back down after baby number two, Haley, and became a life coach, too! “With a simple change of mindset, the impossible can be possible. Just look at me!”

article from Woman’s World magazine May 5th, 2008 issue.

For more information, visit www.neverendingmotivation.com or www.donnakrech.com

How To Stay Focused On Your Goal

Donna Krech — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:18:15 +0000

Focus gets assassinated when you find yourself being distracted. If you find yourself disoriented, scattered, or if you have no plan, your focus is going to get nailed in the process. If your focus is gone, you will not be able to do what you need to do in order to see the goal attained. Remember, we must ‘be’ before we can ‘do’ and we must ‘do’ before we can ‘have’. If we want to have a certain benefit from a certain goal, we must do what we need to do in order to see that take place. When we become the kind of person that sets goals, stays focused, believes the goal can be hit, manages time well, organizes details, maintains a positive outlook and thinks with a solution mindset (all examples of ‘being’) we end up exactly where we want to end up.

We’ve all learned that what we believe is what we become. It’s really that simple. When we believe life will go our way, it does. When we believe it won’t, it doesn’t. BELIEVE IT AND YOU’LL BE BLESSED; DON’T AND YOU WON’T. I have learned in my years in the weight loss and fitness businesses that what you focus on can totally change what you believe. Focus controls everything. It’s amazing. What’s even more amazing is that it takes only three steps to stay focused.

Today we’ll talk about:

1) knowing what the goal is and

2) the value of revisiting it at least weekly.

Next week I’ll share step 3.

Is your goal in your conscious mind all the time? You see, when your goal is in your conscious mind all the time, you’ll stay focused on it. The way to put it in your conscious mind all the time is to sit down and write out five-year goals. Why? Because your goal isn’t a one or two month thing. It’s probably something you want forever, right? I want to live for a long time, and I want to pass on to my babies and my grandbabies a legacy of health, positive attitude, happiness abundance and energy. That’s a lifetime thing.

Sit down and do a five-year goal sheet, and from there a three-year, a one-year, a six-month, a three-month, a two-week, and a one-week goal sheet. Then, every single week, go back and look at those goals. It doesn’t take any time to look them over once a week and the effort is well worth it. That will keep them in your mind and keep you focused.

If you are focused on your goals in your conscious mind, you are much less likely to become distracted. Even without knowing it, you’ll begin to do, say and think things that will get you to that goal AND you’ll stop doing things that will prevent the goal from becoming reality (distractions). Motivation lives inside you. Writing out your goals and rereading them will help you keep tapping into that motivation. Here’s an exercise to prove this.

After reading these words, practice this exercise. Look around you and find a point on the wall or a point anywhere in the room, and focus on it. Find a point and really stare at that point. Stare at it hard. Don’t look away. Are you focused on a certain point in the room? Now focus on the center of that point. Don’t look away; stay focused on the center of that point. Don’t look at anything else. Really stare at that point. Now focus on the center of the center of the point. Do you see it? Do you see the center of the center of the point? I want you to keep your focus on the center of the center, and raise your hands to shoulder level, and shake them, but keep your focus on the center of the center. Okay, focus back on this article.

Could you tell that what was moving was a set of hands? Not if you were focused on the center you couldn’t. You saw a little movement, but if you were focused on the center of the center of that point, you probably didn’t see much. When you’re focused you don’t see the distractions.

When you focus on your goals, the distractions of life are less likely to take you down and keep you from reaching your goals. When we’re focused, many times we don’t even see the distractions. If we do see the distractions, we don’t give them so much attention that they take from us the ability to keep focusing on the goal. It’s our goal we see the most when we’re focused. The five-year plan, the three-year plan, or even just a one-year plan will help you maintain your focus.

For more tools to achieve success visit http://www.lifesuccessevent.com. If you haven’t already reserved your seat for our May 2^nd and 3^rd event in Chicago, you better hurry. It’s only 10 days away!