Dress for Success

Well, I lied in the video. The mp3 is next module. They were all running together in my head.

In the challenge, you documented what is hopefully a very big vision for not only your business but your life. In order to get there, there are probably some attitudes you need to drop and some that you need to put on.

In dream language, clothes can sometimes represent our attitudes and preparation for what we're about to go do. We dress for our jobs, and we dress as an expression of our personality. Our clothes project a representation of who we are and what we're about. Have you ever put on an outfit that you wouldn't usually wear and noticed a shift in how you conducted yourself? We need to pick out your ideal business outfit.

Most people start with the technical aspect of starting a business, but I believe the biggie towards success is psychological. You can do everything else right, but if you have an attitude that sabotages, you might as well not bother going any further. Conversely, having the right attitudes will cover you through many mistakes. Having your beliefs, attitudes and approaches right is like a magnet for opportunities.

Someone who is resourceful, determined, energetic, flexible, confident, creative and committed could start a new business in just about any industry and be successful in no time. These factors can even compensate for a lack of expertise. On the other hand, someone who is pessimistic, blames the economy, lacks confidence and is inconsistent is going to struggle, and no amount of talent or knowledge can make up for that.

Change your attitude and you'll change:

◦ Your perspective

◦ The way you interpret things

◦ The decisions you make

◦ The actions you take

◦ The results you get

I like Jim Richards because he talks a lot of frequency and about heart issues which is right up my street for my essence business. One of his main messages is "put off/put on." The bible says to put off anything related to the old man. That's not just sin nature, it's our sense of identity, any aspect of believing about ourselves that is not based on who we are in Jesus. You can't put on what you have in Jesus if you are holding onto your past stuff.

There are two things that will dictate what it is you put on every day. One is vision, the other is illusion. One will encourage you and the other will be a stumbling block. The vision is aligned with who you are as a new creation. The illusion is who you think you are.

We all have an illusion of ourselves that we have created over a lifetime of pain and suffering. We have spent a lot of time gathering evidence that supports this illusion. It limits us in every area of our life, yet we work to keep it alive and strong. I think we hold on to those pieces and memories because we are afraid we will lose our identity if we let go. That is valid. However, it's only the identity that limits our lives with God that we stand to lose.

Another thing that we will stand to lose is our excuses. We will no longer be able to use our past experiences to justify our present choices and actions, because to do so is to deny the finished work of Jesus, to magnify a vain imagination, and empower an illusion that takes control of your life.

What if you let go of being passive, a work-a-holic, victim, frustrated, pessimistic, etc. What if you gave up justifying and making excuses?

What attitudes, ways of being, ways of seeing yourself do you need to change out of? What ways and attitudes do you have that are good? Make 2 lists. Go ahead, take your time.

Alice here: Most often, the illusion that we believe is born out of trauma that's happened to us in the past. And by trauma I mean anything that our system coded as traumatic, even if we think it was fairly insignificant looking back, or if we can even remember it. Often, little traumas do a lot more damage than we think because we don't deal with them, and they fester, developing a swirl of negative emotions that clog up our systems and keep us weighed down and locked into that illusion.

This gets back to the "As a man thinks in his heart so is he." Not his head, his heart. So much of the advice that's out there is all about changing your thoughts, without addressing the heart issues involved. So, they don't tend to stick for long if at all.

Our subconscious is often trying to make things okay - but it generally operates "under the sun" as Solomon put it in Ecclesiastes. So, it over compensates or grabs other negative emotions and beliefs, and comes into agreement with the enemy. Adding layers of illusion to illusion. Depending on more factors than I can name, you may have many layers to work through or just a few.

Fortunately, the process doesn't have to take forever. Releasing negative emotions is very easy to do. In the video, we've shown you the basic technique for releasing negative emotions. Remember, that you always want to replace that negativity with the positive and good things from God. Nature and the spirit world abhor a vacuum, so let's not give it one!

In the PDF below, I'll have a list of the general emotions and points that you can use. You probably won't need to do them all, in fact, it would be best if you worked on 1-2 at a time or per day. You're dealing with real energy work here, and that takes, well, energy! It's better to start slowly and see how you do, than to do too much and need a nap! Remember, that you have all the time you need to be healed and whole.

Some things you need to be putting on:

Commitment.
I heard Yoda this morning when I was puttering in my garden. "Try? There is no try! There is only do and not do." Didn't really make sense until I got here on the page. If you're "trying" then the possibility of failure is still with you. At the end you can say "oh well, I tried." Being committed looks like saying the big yes to your vision, even though you don't yet know how. Being committed is trusting that the "how" will unfold as you keep showing up and taking each next step. Committed is a decision to "do" not "try." Being committed means that set backs are not equatable with failure. Committed people see them as learning experiences, and take a new approach. It becomes an exercise in being creative, resourceful, innovative and determined.

Discomfort
It's funny that business clothes are generally not the most comfortable. However, I'm not sentencing you to perpetual discomfort because by doing things that are outside of your comfort zone, you become comfortable with those things. If you aren't willing to be continually pushing the edges of your comfort zone, you're going to have a tough time being really successful.

Confidence
Confidence is what helps you to be really decisive, optimistic, effective, charismatic, relaxed, responsible, intuitive and resourceful. It is incredibly important. People treat confident people better. Confidence leads to success in all areas of life.

Confidence can in some cases come from competence. If there is an external action you can take such as gaining some know-how in an area, great. However, I frequently see people who are perpetual students, never willing to take action until they first go to school and get all ducks in a row, which is an incredible time and energy suck. And are we ever truly ready? This dovetails with comfort, because to step out unsure is uncomfortable.

If you take a class to gain confidence in an area, it's only good for that area. If you teach yourself on the job, that initial triumph will empower you each and every time you need to do something you've never done before. This is especially valuable in the tech world where everything changes daily. A book, a class or even a YouTube video has the shelf life of a banana. Just get in there and go for it. What's the worst that can happen?

I am a fan of learning, I am always learning, but I'm balancing it with doing. You can gain lasting confidence by just getting in there and learning as you go. If you hit a wall, get some outside info or help, just enough to get you unstuck. Don't let it take your time, take you off course. Don't get bogged down taking some web design class when all you want to know is how to change your sidebar. Take the advice of so many men all over the planet. "When all else fails, read the directions."

Confidence is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Every little win builds it. Focus on your wins. Make a big deal out of it, don't let it go by without some acknowledgment. Focus on the areas where you are great. There might be areas of your business you need to outsource when you can. I'm wanting to teach you bootstrapping, I think you should know how to cover it all and I have many reasons for that, but I also believe in outsourcing areas that are not your forte. In the beginning, your business may not have the finances or the amount of work to justify hiring, so for now we work on expanding your comfort zone and building your confidence by taking on new stuff.

I don't like, and am not real good at SEO. (Search Engine Optimization.) I have however, learned a bit and have done some of my own SEO work and when I talk to an SEO "expert," I have a pretty good idea whether they are full of crap or worth hiring. This is one reason why I will encourage you to learn and not just farm everything that seems daunting out. Again, you'll gain confidence.

If you really want to gain confidence though, you need a direct revelation of how God sees you. You can get some personal prophesy via a "Creator loves you" word, and that's nice but that's not what I'm talking about. I don't know about you, but I can't accept stuff like that. I can't hear it second hand. Sorry if you've given me one of those words, but I can't have a middle man for that. I need it it to be my own personal intimate thing, that nobody else knows unless I choose to tell. This comes via encounters through dreams, visions and the exercising of a sanctified imagination.

To summarize, don't let learning be a substitute for doing because you feel intimidated. Pay more attention to your greatness than your flaws. Celebrate big and small wins. Hang around people who build you up, and not tear you down. And those people who are kinda skeptical and think you can do it but it will be hard and they're praying for ya? You know, those people? You need to limit exposure there too.

Consistency
Keep showing up, keep taking small steps forward. Our nature is to be inconsistent. Moods, circumstances, all kinds of things can derail us, but being committed to a few must do actions that are realistic to be consistent on, should be a part of your daily goals. Here's a great tip on how to be consistent.

Responsibility
You cannot change what you are not responsible for. As long as it's someone's fault - your parents, the economy, your past, you're gonna have a problem.

If you have car dreams, who is driving? Yes, ideally it's Jesus, but you in the driver's seat is also good. Being anywhere but the driver's seat in an out of control car might be an indicator that you have some areas where you need to take responsibility.

If you are not responsible, then your circumstances get to dictate your life. That's never a pleasant thing. As soon as you own responsibility for where you are, your subconscious mind says "We have some things to fix."

This means you need to adopt an excuse free lifestyle.

This means you need to admit that you are powerful.

That your life is what it is because of choices you've made.

Wisdom
Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, intuition or insight. Handed out freely to all who ask.

Integrity
Be someone who follows through on what they say. Keep your promises, be on time to appointments, follow through even on little things. Keeping your word means you'll be consistent in your actions, focused, less distracted, and creates trust in your relationships.

Many people do really well with this except when it comes to themselves. They can maintain high levels of integrity unless it's an agreement they made with themselves. This means either that you are not as important as everybody else, or that you accept excuses. (Revisit responsibility and living an excuse-free lifestyle above.)

For one thing, don't make a promise you are unlikely to keep. Aim to keep your promises 100% of the time. If it starts looking bad, renegotiate. Ask for more time, explain situation etc. Don't put this step off, update the other person early so they can adjust. If you break your word, acknowledge it, acknowledge the impact, apologize and create a new agreement. This goes, even if you only broke your word to yourself. And yes, you need to give yourself grace, but you also need to not act like it was nothing because it was just you.

Adaptability and flexibility.
The world is constantly changing and as long as you are in business, there will never be a time when you don't need to be learning new skills. In the marketplace, on the internet, what worked yesterday is not working today. Sure, there are timeless things that will always be true, but as a business person you will need to be forever evolving. The degree in which you can realize, cut through the resistance and act is going to determine success. How well you roll with setbacks, disappointments and things not lining up with your projected outcomes is a big factor. Don't get set in your ways, keep moving. Adaptability is much easier practiced as a lifestyle than to have to pull it out when you really need it.

Courage
You've probably heard it said that courage is not the absence of fear, but rather feeling the fear and doing it anyway. You're always going to get hit with fear in areas where you're called. Power through.

Essential Homework

◦ Wardrobe Inventory - make two lists as described above, of attitudes and qualities you have that serve you, and those that don't. This doesn't need to be posted. On the attitudes to let go of, see if you can find a match on Alices worksheet.

◦ The "You" Vision: Write in first person, present tense, describing yourself with the type of character you want to have and would need to have to support your business and lifestyle visions. What would this look like in daily life? What specific actions are you taking? How do you feel? Post below. Feel free to cheat off each other and edit to your hearts content. Spend some time daily this week engaging with this vision as you were supposed to with your business and lifestyle visions. Stir it up, rehash it, expand it. The identity that you magnify in your thoughts, the "you" that you focus on becomes your reality. You can either focus on one that empowers, or you can memorialize the old and dead.

Optional Homework

Make a to-do (pun intended, put it on your to-do list to make a big to-do) about your wins on a daily basis. Maybe you journal it, maybe you write it in Alices or other planner even if it wasn't planned, maybe you just celebrate with a family member. Facebook is also great for this, you'll get a bunch of likes and people will celebrate with you.

What one small thing, if done consistently, would make a huge difference? Employ the Seinfeld method and get started.

Questions for Papa:

What is the truth about my identity?

What lies am I believing about myself?