1. Take the time to build and fortify your personal foundation.

Your personal foundation is the structural basis that supports you in living an exceptional life. Just as a house must be built on a strong foundation to avoid collapsing under stress, so must your life. A houses foundation is made up of earth, cement and steel. Your personal foundation is also made up of three primary elements: Body, Mind and Spirit or What, Who and How. (Personal Foundation; CoachU)

In order to begin moving toward a life you really love you need to truly assess and nurture each of these three areas.

What- What are you manifesting (financial restriction or abundance, stagnation or flowing creativity, frustration or centered now-based living, etc.)? What are the results of your life up to now? Are these manifestations and results congruent with your core values, your deepest intentions, and what you want for yourself?

Who- Who are you at your core? Do you know for sure and are you living a life that reflects the Whoare you living in integrity with who you are?

How: How do you do what you do? What drives you toward your behaviors and determines your actions?

In short, Who you are + How you live (your intentions and your actions) = What results you currently experience in your life.

Understanding and balancing these three elements is foundational in building a life of empowerment, self-actualization and living a life you love.

2. Orient your life around your gifts.

Gifts are those talents and abilities that flow almost effortlessly from us. Gifts are sometimes confused with skills. While skills can be developed, gifts are something we are born withthey are what we discover as we try new things and find that some things are as natural to us as breathing. When we intentionally make a decision to create our life and work based on our gifts, we are not only more likely to succeed, but can also more thoroughly enjoy the journey to creating and realizing our full potential.

Take inventory of your life to determine where you are utilizing learned and developed skills as opposed to expressing and honoring your innate gifts. Are you operating based on what you think you ought to be doing or are you living an authentic life that is rich and fulfilling.

Even if you are not in a place to pursue a new career based on your gifts, look for ways to make your gifts known to others and demonstrate them in as many areas of your life as possible. The more you and those around you are aware of your gifts, the more those gifts will be called upon. The more your gifts are called upon, the more naturally you will fully accept and promote those gifts. The more you express your life through your innate gifts, the more you will excel. Its a self-perpetuating process once you make the decision to begin.

Your gifts are your signature, your unique paintbrushes--use them to express your greatness and make your mark on the world!

3. Invest 10% of your time to maximize the other 90%.

Many people invest 90% of their time running full steam ahead. They take little or no time for planning intentional actions. They live on adrenalin and often see themselves as a victim, rather than the creator, of their life experiences. With this mindset they will spend 90% of their time putting out fires and only 10% of their time for planning or doing what they truly want to be doing.

However, if you want to be successful and happy, the key is to invest 10% of your time establishing effective operating structures so that you can spend 90% of your time being productive, living, and doing what you love.

This principle can manifest differently for different people depending on their personality, their line of work, their family structure, and a host of other factors. However, the concept is the same. Take a small portion of your time to identify what you want to do (your goals), map out the action steps needed to accomplish those milestones, and identify the benefits of completing or reaching them (outcomes/results). By doing this you not only have a clear map to guide you, but the motivation that it takes to get you there.

Whether its work, play relationships, or any other aspect of your life, being intentional about living a Goal, Action and Result based life will allow you to spend 10% (or less) of your time strategically determining where you want to go and what you want to do. This will allow you to invest the bulk of your time on this planet living proactively!

You are the master of your lifeevery day is one more gift, one more chance to excel in maximizing every moment, leveraging every opportunity and living your life fully!

4. Build a community of supportUpgrade your network if necessary.

One of the most important things you can do to begin living a life you love is to make sure you are conscious about surrounding yourself with people who are supportive of you and who are operating at a similar or higher level. In short, create your optimal community. This means surrounding yourself with people who inspire you toward your greatest potential. People who have the capacity to assist you in getting where you want to go and who truly support you in achieving your utmost dreams.

This may mean you need to upgrade your environment. You, like all organisms, thrive in environments that are best suited to your make-up. The beauty in being a human organism is that you have the will and ability to choose your environment. Its just a matter of recognizing that you have that power and then taking the actions necessary to create a new, healthier environment where you and those around you can really thrive. The wonderful thing about being an adult is that you may not have been able to choose your childhood experiences or your family, but you do, now, get the chance to choose your community, your environment. If you find you are in your optimum community, its time to celebrate and tell them how much you appreciate them! If you self-assess and find you are not in your optimum communityits time to make changesits time to upgrade! You may choose to graciously, or assertively, let some people drop out of your life. This will allow you to engage and attract new people into your life in order to create your best community.

This is not, by any means, a purely self-serving act. Being surrounded by individuals who align with our values and who have compatible interests to our own creates a unique community. This community allows each individual to whole-heartedly support and encourage each other to realize their full potential. Thats why its called a communitywe all benefit by actively engaging with those who share and demonstrate similar values and energy. "If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading." Lao Tzu

5. Get a coach.

Most people who are viewed by the world around them as being successful often credit their success to people in their life that they consider to be a coach or mentor. In fact, the most successful people on the planet have their own personal (hired) coach. The reason for this is simple. While, friends, family and colleagues can be wonderful cheerleaders, supporters, and confidants, they often provide guidance to you based on their own agenda. Their agenda is often a well meaning one (they want you to exceed in your current job, they want you to get married and thus be happy, they want you to join them in a business venture that will hopefully benefit both of you, etc.) but the bottom line is: its their agenda. While their wants for you may sometimes align with your own life desires and goals; it is difficult, if not impossible, for them to be unbiased in their role with you. None of us can be truly "unbiased" in the ways we interact with those closest to us because our lives are so directly intertwined with one another. It is easy to lose objectivity and be detached from the outcomes.

That is where a personal coach comes in. The purpose of a personal coach is to provide you a professional who is skilled at unbiased listening. A professional coach hones in on you, and holds your agenda. Your coach expertly assists you in creating a strong personal foundation that allows you to dream big and achieve those dreams with no predetermined expectations about what you can or cannot accomplish. All truly effective coaches hold that there is nothing you cannot achieve if it aligns with your core values and you are willing to do what it takes to make it happen.

A coach is your personal trainer in life. A coach helps you discover your untapped potential and works with you to develop every aspect of your personal greatness. With the right coach you cant help but succeed and dazzle yourself and those around you. In fact, many people are motivated and inspired to hire their own coach when they see the incredible results coaching brings to friends and colleagues in their network!

Almost all recognized leaders have a personal coach. Of course, all professional athletes do, but so do Fortune 500 CEOs, cutting edge business leaders and recognized role models. Did you know that Oprah Winfrey has a coach?

It doesnt matter where you are in your journey toward self-actualization, if you want to excel and live a life you truly love living, you should seriously consider hiring a personal coach.

"Who exactly seeks out a coach? Winners who want even more out of life." -- Chicago Tribune

In summary, lets review those 5 stepping stones toward creating a life you love

1 Take the time to build and fortify your personal foundation.
2 Orient your life around your gifts.
3 Invest 10% of your time to maximize the other 90%.
4 Build a community of supportUpgrade your network if necessary.
5 Get a coach.

These are tried and true strategies that work. So apply them at your own riskyou will, I repeat, you WILL experience incredible results that promise to alter your life for the better!

Heres to you accessing your greatest potential and creating a life you LOVE!

Copywrite 2005 Angel C. Hale