by admin | Apr 12, 2015 | 52 Week Accountability Challenge
In the pursuit of our goals we often focus on our actions, or the things that we need to do to move us closer the attainment of our ideals.
While action is an absolutely essential ingredient in our success formula, it is important to remember to appreciate all of the challenges as well as victories that we experience along the way.
One of the most useful, rewarding and uplifting activities that we can engage in is the daily habit of BEING GRATEFUL. The best part of this process is that is simple-and we can participate in the act of being grateful wherever and whenever we are.
There are days, and even weeks where we feel a sense of struggle. Unchecked, these feelings can stop us in our tracks, and will hold us back from making progress on our goals. In fact if we allow these feelings to continue they may even permanently derail and cause us to give up on our goals. I know this is true because I have experienced it first-hand myself.
This week I am offering you one simple but highly effective antidote which is guaranteed to completely shift your energy and emotion from a negative place to a much more positive and productive one, right here, right now.
Accountability Challenge Week 15: The Power of Gratitude:
Take 5 minutes right now to write out a list of at least 5 things that you are grateful for today. It could be as simple as noticing and being thankful for a ray of sunshine that breaks through an otherwise cloudy day. It could be being grateful for the opportunity to practice patience and restraint when you held your tongue and your temper at the breakfast table despite the chaos of bickering young children. It could be a smile that you passed along to a stranger as you stopped for your morning coffee. When we consciously choose to be appreciative and grateful in this moment, we can’t help but change our sense of direction from that of struggle, frustration and even resentment to one of harmony, peace, and power.
If you don’t believe me give it a try. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself wanting to complete your list again tomorrow, and then the next day….
I am Grateful For:
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Expect Success,
Coach Mark
Thought for the week: “I am deeply thankful for all that I’ve received, and I enjoy giving to others in the spirit of love and service.” Wayne Dwyer
Mark Hudon, CFP™, CCS™
Financial Fitness Coach, Certified Cash Flow Specialist™
Creator of The Core Conditioning Program™
Check out our exciting new Website, Radio Show, & Cash Flow Planning tools:
https://financiallyfitforlife.ca/
http://webtalkradio.net/internet-talk-radio/financially-fit-for-life/
http://cashflow-specialist.com/
by admin | Apr 12, 2015 | Advisor Stream
For this week’s featured article, I thought I would give financial topics a rest, and instead touch on a subject that I know many people are very passionate about-the love of wine.
I am by no means a wine connoisseur, but one thing I do enjoy when it comes to wine is exploring new and interesting wines that are off the beaten path.
For the wine lover in your family, here is a great article called 5 Tips For Travelling in Lesser-Known Wine Regions.
Have a fabulous day.
Cheers,
Coach Mark
Off The Beaten Wine Path: 5 Tips For Traveling In Lesser-Known Wine Regions
Visit a Winery Near You! If there was a slogan for the entire North American wine industry, that may be it. That’s because few experiences enhance the pleasure of wine like visiting the place it’s produced, whether you walk through the vineyards, or peer into the barrel room, or wander through the production area itself. With the travel season just around the corner, here are five tips for visiting those lesser-known wine areas that are available to us all.
Read more here
by admin | Apr 6, 2015 | 52 Week Accountability Challenge
Accountability Week 14: 13 Reasons Why Goals Fail?
I thought we would spend our time this week addressing the major reasons why the majority of people fail to achieve the important goals and dreams in their lives.
The source for this week’s lesson comes directly from one of the many encouraging and instructive audio programs that I frequently listen to while driving, exercising or just sitting in silence.
If you haven’t already created your own “University on Wheels”, or in my case on my MP3 player-I highly recommend it.
One of my favourite teachers is Bob Proctor who you may know from the movie The Secret. Bob has been an icon in the field of personal development for over 50 years now. He has many wonderful programs-which I encourage you to check out.
In this particular lesson Bob identifies the 13 reasons why goals fail. Go through the list and identify for yourself which of the 13 reasons may be standing in the way of your own goal achievement.
Thanks Bob.
13 Reasons Why Goals Fail:
1. Failure to set goals.
2. Your personal values don’t support your goals.
3. The goal is not your own-it is been set by someone else for you.
4. Not being absolutely passionate about your goal.
5. Your Goal is not important enough to you to take the risk to achieve it-you play it safe.
6. Not prioritizing your goals.
7. Focusing on too many goals at one time.
8. Lack of clarity and focus-no crystal clear picture in your mind.
9. Attached to Limiting beliefs.
10. Poor attitude.
11. Failure to Implement-having great ideas but not doing anything on your goal.
12. Giving up too soon.
13. Failing to measure your progress and make necessary adjustments.
Now let’s reverse the wording so instead of having 13 reasons why goals fail and we now have 13 rules to follow that lead to an abundant life.
13 Rules to an abundant Life:
1 Keep setting goals.
2. Make sure your personal values support your goal.
3. Make sure the goal is your own not someone else’s.
4. Go after goals that you are truly passionate about.
5. Goals that require risk on your part create magical endings.
6. Prioritize your goals until you fix on your A Number One goal.
7. Focus on achieving just one goal at one time.
8. Paint a crystal clear, brilliant picture of the goal’s result in your mind.
9. Consciously choose the thoughts that support your goal.
10. Control your attitude. Choose to make it a good one every single day.
11 Plot your initial plan and Implement.
12 Keep going no matter what. Never give up on your goal.
13. Take measurements of your progress and adjust accordingly.
I would like to leave you with some simple final words…”trust yourself and believe in yourself”.
Keep your core strong
Coach Mark,
Thought for the week: “You can do it and you know you can”.
Mark Hudon, CFP™, CCS™
Financial Fitness Coach, Certified Cash Flow Specialist™
Creator of The Core Conditioning Program™
Check out our exciting new Website, Radio Show, & Cash Flow Planning tools:
https://financiallyfitforlife.ca/
http://webtalkradio.net/internet-talk-radio/financially-fit-for-life/
http://cashflow-specialist.com/
by admin | Apr 6, 2015 | Advisor Stream
First off, I want to wish a very Happy Easter weekend to you and your family.
The arrival of Easter, also coincides with the arrival of spring and warmer temperatures on the horizon. I know that we could all use some sunshine and warmth after a cold winter.
One of the biggest challenges that many families face (mine included) is how to balance the inherent benefits of putting our kids in sports or other activities against the high cost that these activities entail.
In our house, we have two boys who are actively involved in a number of sports including hockey, rep baseball, swimming, basketball & soccer.
Each of these sports requires a serious commitment of both time & money.
My wife and I both see the benefits of raising healthy & active children, but at times we struggle with where to draw the line.
Here is a great article that sheds some very much needed insight on how to keep from spending a fortune kids’ sports.
Be sure to pass it along to someone you know who shares this same dilemma.
Happy Easter.
Cheers,
Coach Mark
How to keep from spending a fortune on kids’ sports
After much thought and consideration, my husband and I decided that it is finally time to get our kids started in a few sports and activities this year. Although I enrolled my children in their first sport willingly, I didn’t take this decision lightly. As we all know, getting children involved in sports and activities can be expensive in both time and money, and it can be a slippery slope that can escalate over time and last for years. Since my kids are still young, I want to take a thoughtful approach now — before things get out of hand. I want my kids to learn and grow. I want them to get involved and stay active. What I don’t want is to go broke doing it. Here are some tips on how to keep from spending a fortune:
Read more here
by admin | Apr 1, 2015 | Advisor Stream
There are copious numbers of articles and information written on how to invest your money-and specifically how to invest for retirement.
I come across them everyday and I know that my clients and contacts do as well.
While some are useful, many provide contradictory advice that just leads to confusion for many investors.
I do my best to seek out and find articles that will provide you with a core approach that when implemented will help you to achieve your long term goals, and dreams, and help you to build funds for retirement that will stand the test of time.
Here is an excellent article, that is in line with my own core philosophy.
Expect Success,
Coach Mark
The Best Way To Invest For Retirement
Turn on CNBC for two minutes and it’s easy to believe you need to stop everything and invest in the hot stocks the “experts” are recommending and get out — NOW! — of the ones they’re bearish about. Chris Minnucci, author of the ironically titled The Death of Buy and Hold: How Not to Outlive Your Money — Investing for, and in, Retirement, says do so at your own peril. Minnucci, an early retiree and self-taught investor, says you’ll be far likelier to make your retirement money last if you take a more cautious, deliberate approach to investing, using diversification using what he calls “the principle of correlation combined with the complementary principle of compromise.”
Read more here
by admin | Apr 1, 2015 | 52 Week Accountability Challenge
The Power of NOW
Welcome to lucky week 13 of our Accountability Challenge. I know it’s going to be a fabulous week with tremendous breakthroughs for a lot of people. I can feel it.
We’re getting terrific feedback from people who have committed to participating “full on” in our 52 Week Power of Persistence Accountability Challenge.
Congratulations to you and keep up the great work!
If however you are not as fully engaged in the challenge as you would like to be, I have some simple words of advice for you. START NOW.
The Power of NOW!
Do you ever find yourself mentally dwelling in the past, or in anticipation (or dread) of the future?
Do you replay past failures, or challenges, over and over again in your mind?
Do you indulge in memories of “the good old days”. Harking back to simple times, when life was somehow better or less complicated?
If you do engage in these activities, you are not alone, however it’s important for you to recognize that the only time that is relevant to us in the pursuit of our goals and dreams is NOW.
When is the best time to create a plan, and take action toward our goals? The answer is of course right NOW.
Let’s say that you are in the habit of putting off exercise or healthy eating till the beginning of the week, the month, or the New Year. When you do get around to taking the appropriate actions, when are doing them? The answer is always NOW. Now is the only time that exists in our world.
Our EGO likes to dwell on the past, or in anticipation of the future. The ego does that for its own self-preservation. Remember that the ego’s (Resistance) main job is to stop us from doing our work, and it does this by tricking us into dwelling on the past or the future .
Accountability Challenge Week 13: The Power of Now:
List 3 things that will do today (not tomorrow or any other day) that will move you closer to achieving your definite purpose:
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Expect Success,
Coach Mark,
Thought for the week: P.S. “The only time that truly exists is NOW”
Coach Mark,
Mark Hudon, CFP™, CCS™
Financial Fitness Coach, Certified Cash Flow Specialist™
Creator of The Core Conditioning Program™
Check out our exciting new Website, Radio Show, & Cash Flow Planning tools:
https://financiallyfitforlife.ca/
http://webtalkradio.net/internet-talk-radio/financially-fit-for-life/
http://cashflow-specialist.com/
by admin | Mar 25, 2015 | Advisor Stream
One of the cardinal rules of being a successful long term investor is diversification.
This is a principle that virtually every investor is familiar with and one that every financial advisor holds out to be gospel.
Then why is it that we often look back upon our investment portfolios with frustration and disappointment when one particular area is under performing while another is shooting the lights out?
If this is what proper diversification is designed to do, than why does it create so much consternation?
Here’s a great article to help provide some perspective on the subject.
Cheers,
Coach Mark
Diversification Is the Sane Alternative to Betting Big on One Investment
You made a huge mistake last year with your money. You know this now, right? The only investments in your portfolio that did very well were probably United States stocks. Bonds may have held their own, but everything else was just pitiful. International stocks performed horribly and emerging markets weren’t much better. What were you thinking? Clearly you missed a big opportunity in 2014. You should have skipped diversifying and gone all in on United States stocks. But seriously, with no proven model for picking the next winner, can you really afford to bet big on any one investment? If you had to, could you even pick one, and only one, investment for the rest of this year? The answer can’t be no! Don’t you know by now who the winner will be in 2015?
Read more here
by admin | Mar 25, 2015 | 52 Week Accountability Challenge
THE POWER OF FOCUS:
Do you ever find that you have great intentions of taking action and making progress towards your goals, but you seem to get distracted and pulled off course?
Please tell me that I’m not the only one this happens to….Phew, I was getting worried there for a moment.
Why do we allow distractions to get in the way, and what can we do about them, right NOW?
I consider distractions in whatever form they may take (constant flow of email, voice mail,, telephone calls, paper work, last minute projects, sitting down in front of the television instead of exercising, or preparing for that speech you keep putting off; etc, etc ), to be just another manifestation of what I call THE INNER ENEMY. Also referred to in Stephen Pressfield’s outstanding book, The War of Art, as Resistance.
If you recall, Resistance has one job, one singular purpose, which is to stop us from doing the work that our goals are demanding of us to achieve them. Resistance is a sly and sneaky character. Often these “distractions” appear as urgent tasks or events that we must immediately devote our full attention to.
Accountability Challenge Week 12: Do it, Defer It, Delegate it or Delete it….just Don’t Dwell on it.
When it comes to distractions or any type of demand on our time, we can choose to respond in four ways; We can choose do it immediately, when can defer the action to another time, if we have the resources we may also be able to delegate it, and finally we can merely delete it.
What I suggest you do is to prioritize each of the actions, or distractions that routinely appear in your life, and in your day. Prioritize them from highest payoff activity to lowest payoff activity. Ask yourself which of these activities are moving me closest to my goals. If your goal is to lose 40 pounds over the next 12 months-then your high priority activities are regular exercise, and healthy eating. If you find that distractions are pulling you away from completing your High Payoff Activities then you need to make some immediate changes in your life.
I have a great solution for you which I have recently been implementing into my own life. I wish I could take full credit for it, but again most of the great ideas that I come across are not originally mine. Occasionally I’m just smart enough to implement them. The three step idea that I’m about to share with you I heard from someone I consider to be my own Accountability Coach, Anne Bachrach. Anne works with many financial advisors like me and she has been smart enough to trademark the brand name “The Accountability Coach™.
Three Steps to Higher Productivity:
Step One: Write down every single activity that can come up in a typical day. Assign a level of priority to each activity ranging from the Highest Payoff Activities (HPA’s) down to your Lowest Payoff Activities (LPA’s).
Step Two: Put each of these activities into your calendar as you would with any important appointment that you make with yourself. Treat these appointments (also known as “blocks of time” as sacred. Clearly you are best served by focusing on HPA’s. LPA’s are also on the list-but should be scheduled in off peak time, or delegated where ever possible.
Step Three: The third and most important and most challenging step once an activity has been booked into your calendar is to HONOUR YOUR CALENDAR. Putting an activity into your calendar and then ignoring it, or continually hitting the “snooze alarm” will not move you closer to your goals.
So there you have it a simple (I didn’t say it was going to be easy-at least not off the get go) and highly effective three step solution to magnifying your own productivity by tapping into the power of focus.
Expect Success,
Coach Mark, Thought for the week: “There is no try, only do”. Yoda–The Empire Strikes Back
Mark Hudon, CFP™, CCS™
Financial Fitness Coach, Certified Cash Flow Specialist™
Creator of The Core Conditioning Program™
by admin | Mar 16, 2015 | 52 Week Accountability Challenge
UNLEASH THE POWER OF YOUR PASSION:
The first step in the Process of achieving any goal, desire or dream that we have is to first CLARIFY OUR VISION.
If you went through our goal setting exercises you have already spent more time identifying your most important goals and dreams than the majority of the population of the entire planet. However, I recognize that goal achievement is not always an easy or smooth process.
One of the main reasons is that most people fail to attach powerful, positive emotions that serve as beacons of light that will drive them toward their goals. We are all experts in dredging up negative emotions (fear, doubt, worry, anxiety) that create an automatic Resistance in the pursuit of our ideal lives.
Please take five minutes and explore the following questions.
Accountability Challenge Week 11: Clarify Your CORE Desires: What are you passionate about in your life?
Write down as many different answers as you can. Do not sensor yourself-Really let yourself go & have fun with this exercise. The more at ease & relaxed you are the more meaningful & powerful will be the outcome.
What are you passionate about in your life? What excites you? What brings you the greatest joy in your life, or what could bring you the greatest joy if you were open to it? What would you do for a living if money wasn’t an issue?
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Keep Your Core Strong!
Mark Hudon, CFP™, CCS™
Financial Fitness Coach, Certified Cash Flow Specialist™
Creator of The Core Conditioning Program™
Check out our exciting new Website, Radio Show, & Cash Flow Planning tools:
https://financiallyfitforlife.ca/
http://webtalkradio.net/internet-talk-radio/financially-fit-for-life/
http://cashflow-specialist.com/
Thought for the week: ”There are no limitations to the mind except those that we acknowledge”. Napoleon Hill
by admin | Mar 16, 2015 | Advisor Stream
For many people crunching the numbers to determine whether you will have enough to enjoy a comfortable retirement can be very intimidating & stressful.
In fact, coming to grips with your own “retirement reality” is something many people, like the author of this attached article tend to procrastinate on.
However, like the author discovered, when you take the time to go through some retirement planning questions and gain clarity around what a comfortable retirement means to you, you find that your reality is not so scary after all.
I encourage you to read the enclosed article to gain more clarity around your own retirement reality.
If you would like a helpful guide to take you through simple exercises, I know someone who can help you out….wink wink, nudge, nudge.
Cheers,
Coach Mark
Retirement Reality Is Catching Up With Me
New York times columnist John Schwartz writes about approaching retirement with trepidation. He says: I am an idiot. That, at least, is the impression I get from personal finance websites and magazines and books. They all seem to say I’m doing pretty much everything wrong when it comes to my financial life, basically because I don’t pay that much attention to my finances. But with some consultation and some strategizing, he makes the point that retirement reality is nothing to be afraid of.
Read more here
