Last week I was coaching a client and we were discussing her business. She was feeling a tremendous amount of financial stress. So off we went to work on her thoughts about what was going on. We got to a better thought of “There are opportunities for my business.” At first she was a bit hesitant, because how could thinking that thought really create more opportunities. Then we discussed what she was feeling when she thought “there are opportunities for my business” versus “where are my customers?” With her new thought, she felt less panicked and tight then at the beginning of our call. The tears had stopped flowing, and she began to relax. So it was not a turn around (direct 180) from her original thought of “where are my customers?” She did question the passivity about the new thought. But what happened is that instead of focusing on the lack she began to look and work on her business. Two days later, a deal with a few zeros at the end of it was signed. A small step forward on her thoughts regarding money and her business.
Around the same time, my seven year old daughter had just gone to the Girl Scout “Sock Hop Father-Daughter Dance.” For the first time in her life she found out what a poodle skirt was and wore one to the dance. A few days later she was home sick and watched A Cinderella Story, a movie she has seen many times. She was soooo excited and came bounding into my office to tell me: “Mommy, mommy they are wearing poodle skirts in the movie!” Then off to the computer to one of her favorite websites and soon enough, “mommy, mommy there are poodle skirts on the website. How come everywhere I look there are now poodle skirts?”
Lesson learned
That reinforced to me that when are eyes are open we finally see the possibilities that have been in our lives. Opportunities are in front of us everyday. When we can only focus on the negative thoughts or our fears we may miss the opportunities that are right there in front of us.