Alissa Finerman

Los Angeles Executive Coach and Gallup Certified StrengthsFinder Coach, Speaker and Author

Success Magazine Interview with Alissa Finerman

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Success Magazine interviews Alissa Finerman about her book, Living in YOUR Top 1%, and aligning goals with your values for greater success. Enjoy and feel free to share!

Success Magazine interview

http://www.success.com/podcast/alissa-finerman-on-how-to-align-your-choices-with-your-goals

About Alissa

Alissa Finerman is an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker and author of Living in YOUR Top 1%. She works with managers, C-suite executives and teams to leverage strengths, shift beliefs and achieve meaningful goals. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked with Ross Stores, Petco, BNP Paribas, Neutrogena, Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Milken Institute, LA Business Journal, Prostate Cancer Foundation, and NBC Universal. To learn more about coaching with Alissa, please visit her website and follow her on Facebook

5 Steps to Shift A Limiting Belief

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* This post was featured on The Daily Love

Many people think one little tiny thought really doesn’t make that much of a difference. Guess what?? It does!

You decide how you think and what becomes a can or can’t. According to research, our brains can produce upwards of 50,000 thoughts a day. Ninety-nine percent of these thoughts are repeated daily. Your thoughts become your beliefs, which, in turn, become your mindset. Depending on what you believe is possible, you will or won’t take certain actions, which then lead to specific results (e.g., if you think you have no future as a writer, good chance you won’t enroll in a writing class, start a blog or write a book).

Here’s how a belief impacts your results:

Thoughts -> Beliefs -> Mindset -> Actions -> Results

SO for those of you who want different results, you’ll have to start to be more aware of how your thoughts and beliefs impact your choices and actions.

When you have a positive belief, a belief that helps you move toward your potential, versus a limiting belief, a belief that moves you away from your potential, you alter the direction of your life. Sometimes it’s a small curve and other times it’s a major rerouting. Please know that we all have limiting beliefs. You are not alone on this one. The only difference is some people are better at identifying them and re-wording them.

Your individual beliefs are similar to chapters in a book. When you put them all together, you have the belief system that becomes your story. The more you repeat your story, the more you believe it. The more you believe it, the more you become it (e.g., I’m not the type to start a business). Therefore, one seemingly insignificant belief repeated over and over can be the catalyst for all you create in your life or don’t.

Here are a few examples of limiting beliefs:

Relationships

– The only way I can be happy is if I’m in a relationship

– Relationships are not my thing

– I’m not worthy of having a partner

– I don’t like being vulnerable

– It makes me uncomfortable to ask for something

Healthy Living/Well-being

– I can’t workout in the morning

– I’m not that good at staying on track

– Working out is too hard for me

– I’ll never be able to get in shape given all of my commitments

Business/Career

– I will be successful if I make over a certain amount of money or fill in the blank _______

–  I will be happy when I change jobs

– I’m not good at marketing (I’ve said this one)

– It’s hard to find a job with a boss who is a good manager

– I’m not the creative one

– Being a manager is not for me

The list goes on and on for all of us. What’s interesting is we have different beliefs in different areas of our life, meaning we can have a positive belief in our career (e.g., give me any problem and I can figure out a solution) and then a completely limiting belief about our relationships (e.g., I’m not good with relationships. But you just said in your career that you can figure out solutions).

5 Steps to Shift a Limiting Belief:

1. Take five minutes and write down at least three limiting beliefs you may have in any area of you life (career, relationships, finance and health).

2. Does the belief add or detract from achieving your goals, exploring your potential and enhancing the quality of your life? Please be honest.

3. Does the belief support/align with your core values? (So if health and family are core values, does your belief that working out is too hard for you honor your values?)

4. Fast forward three years and ask if you keep honoring this belief what will it cost you? For example, how will your belief that you’re not good at marketing impact your business longer term?

5. Then rewrite the belief as one that brings you toward your potential.

For example: Marketing is a key component to growing my business and I will find the right people to help me be successful in this area. I’ve overcome other challenges and I can do this as well. *

* Now, of course, you need to take small steps each week to make this happen and keep yourself accountable

Based on our beliefs, we take certain actions. If you don’t think you’re a good public speaker you probably will not apply for your dream job if it involves any speaking requirements – and that would be a shame because we can all improve. You can definitely learn to be a better speaker with effort and practice. Limiting beliefs actually help us get better when we have the courage to face them and change our perspective.

We’d love to hear your success stories of re-wording your beliefs so they empower you, help you believe in yourself and fuel positive actions.

Believe in yourself,

Alissa

About Alissa

Alissa Finerman is an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker and author of Living in Your Top 1%. She coaches entrepreneurs, executives, aspiring leaders, athletes, career changers, and moms getting back in the workforce. Alissa works one-on-one with clients and gives corporate workshops and classes via the phone throughout the year. To learn more and connect with Alissa, please visit her website and Facebook page.

Is An Instant Gratification Mindset Serving You?

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I want it and I want it now. That’s basically how our society is growing up. What happened to working for things and waiting for the Heinz ketchup to slowly ooooze from the bottle and smother onto your French fries? As a consumer nation, we are conditioned for instant gratification and that unrealistic mindset carries over to other areas of our life. Just because we can get the latest iPhone today doesn’t mean we can build a business this second or become a better tennis player right now. Buying something is much different than working for something.

Our society is fast becoming the land of “Instant Gratification,” where five minutes is too long. We need to get in touch with people this second. Every company is trying to figure out: how can we do something faster? It’s great when my computer is fast, I like that, but an instant gratification mindset shifts our focus away from effort and resilience to right now (and I’m not talking about being in the present moment). I have yet to meet someone who built a business or lost weight overnight. There’s something empowering when you invest the time, overcome challenges and reach an outcome that makes you feel good. We grow in that process and increase our belief in ourself.

Here are a few “instant gratification” expectation examples:

– Start a new job and get promoted right away.

– Become an entrepreneur and sell the company for a profit in less than a year.

– Master a new skill such as tennis or golf in one summer – good luck! (I’ve played for 40 years and competed in college and on the professional tour and I’m still learning).

– Exercise and see massive results in a week.

– Start a Facebook /Twitter page or new blog and a have a huge following in a month.

– Decide to eat “healthy” for a few days and see the number on the scale be lower by five pounds (or else we think might as well eat the cookies if it makes no difference).

I completely understand that it can be discouraging when you write consistently for a month and you only have three pages written for your first book, workout like a crazy person for a week and don’t see any change on the scale or visit twenty clients and only make one sale. If Thomas Edison had quit after 9,999 attempts we might not have electricity. I’m just saying it takes time and there is no specific answer for exactly how much time it takes. When you are focused on progress and getting better rather than instant gratification or reaching perfection it’s easier to stay the course.

Is it too late to teach people to work for something?

You don’t learn to walk overnight…

You don’t learn to read overnight…

You don’t learn to spell overnight…

You don’t learn to ride a bike overnight…

….but we expect to build a business or become a master quickly!

If we gave up after one week of trying to walk or spell, the results would not be encouraging. Our natural state is to want to improve and get better. Society and the media often shift our perspective regarding the time frame and effort it takes for a meaningful accomplishment.

So just for the record:

– It takes time to get to know someone and build a beautiful relationship

– It takes time to lose weight and keep it off (ie, months and years)

– It takes time to build a business

– It takes time to write a book (took me about 12 months)

– It takes time to become a master and gain experience in any area of your life

When you understand that any process takes time, you’re not discouraged and tempted to quit at the first glimpse of a challenge. An instant gratification mindset, or the mentality that success is an overnight process and putting in time and effort is not an essential part of the process, is prominent in our society. Our work is to re-shift our mindset to have a more realistic perspective.

How can you shift your perspective to pursue what’s most important to you and stay with it?

Believe in yourself,

Alissa

 

Alissa’s Bio

Alissa Finerman is an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker and author of Living in Your Top 1%. She coaches teams and entrepreneurs, executives, managers, aspiring leaders, athletes, career changers, and moms getting back in the workforce. Alissa works one-on-one with clients and gives corporate workshops throughout the year. To learn more and connect with Alissa, please visit her website and Facebook page.

In Defense Of The Impossible

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Alissa’s blog was featured on the Wharton Magazine Blog.

Possible and impossible are two different ways to think. Some people see everything as possible. Others train themselves to see only the impossible. It’s a simple choice. Entrepreneurs have crazy ideas that help them open the world of what is possible. There will be various bumps, also known as challenges, on the path that will test just how committed you are to your idea.

Here are a few examples of crazy ideas:

Facebook: Why do we need a way to communicate and connect on a global basis? Today, more than a billion people use Facebook. Now it’s hard to imagine a day without social media.

Electric Cars: Producing an electric car seemed like a crazy idea years ago. Today, I see a Tesla electric car at least several times a day in my hometown of Santa Monica, CA. Sales of these vehicles will reach 3.8 million by 2020, Forbes claims.

Polio Vaccine: Finding a vaccine for polio seemed like an impossible idea. The health community at the time estimated that treating polio would cost as much as $100 billion. Researchers believed differently and in 1954 won a Nobel Prize for their efforts. Today, there are only 200 cases left, and the cost to contain it was closer to $100 million.

Early Detection Test for Cancer: Jack Andraka, a 15-year-old high school student, invented an inexpensive and sensitive dipstick-like sensor for the rapid and early detection of pancreatic, ovarian and lung cancers. He won the 2012 Gordon E. Moore top prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. It took him 4,000 tries and 200 letters to professors to get access to a lab. He received 199 rejections and one maybe.

From Homeless to Valedictorian: Chelesa Fearce spent much of her childhood moving around homeless shelters and sleeping in the car, but that didn’t stop her from graduating high school as the valedictorian of her class. She persevered and will be studying pre-med at Spelman College.

Crazy ideas range from small to huge, and what seems small to one person is substantial to another. Your crazy idea may be to open a second office, hire another employee, donate a portion of your profits to charity, launch your product globally, start a family or buy another business. There is no need to compare what you can accomplish to your peers’ accomplishments.

You know you have a crazy idea when the idea seems crazy to others but exciting to you. People will doubt you because they don’t share your vision. Any idea that is removed from the status quo will always seem like a crazy idea to others. Don’t let a lukewarm response dissuade you from going after your dream.

I’ll share a few crazy ideas of my own:

• Leaving a successful finance career to start over and build a coaching business.

• Moving from New York City to Santa Monica at the age of 39.

• Publishing my first book without any specific writing experience.

All of these seemed like crazy or impossible ideas to others. It only takes one person to see the possible in an idea and that’s you. What are some of your recent crazy ideas? Please share them below in the comments section.

About Alissa

Alissa is an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach. She works with teams, managers and leaders to help them think bigger, redefine what’s possible and get results. She has appeared has worked with the Milken Institute, Prostate Cancer Foundation, LA Business Journal, NBC Universal and Dress for Success. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a bachelor’s of arts from the University of California, Berkeley. She wrote the book Living in Your Top 1%: Nine Essential Rituals to Achieve Your Ultimate Life Goals. Please connect with Alissa at www.AlissaFinerman.com and www.facebook.com/alissafinermantop1.

Dive In

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This post was featured on Positively Positive

Dive in
Jump in
Take a big step
Take a small step
Say hello to fear
Say hello to uncertainty
Say hello to your uncomfortable zone
Say goodbye to thinking too much
Say goodbye to talking without doing
Say goodbye to wishing you could
Because you can!

Perhaps you don’t have enough knowledge, money, time, support, creativity, or belief in yourself. These are all good excuses, but none of these are show stoppers to get started on a great idea, project, or living your truth.

Newsflash: there will always be people who doubt your idea and think it’s silly or even crazy. People thought the Marathon Goddess was crazy to run fifty-two marathons in fifty-two weeks to raise money and awareness for Pancreatic Cancer. They said it was impossible. Well, she’s looking pretty fabulous right now raising close to $200,000 completing her “impossible goal” and being featured on the Today Show and CNN. Congrats for achieving this amazing accomplishment and for reminding all of us that it’s ok to have dreams and go after them, especially the crazy ones!

It doesn’t matter what other people think. It matters what you believe for yourself. This is critical and not to be overlooked, especially in times of uncertainty (which comes up any time you create or make a change). It’s worthwhile noting that the words “diving in” may have a different meaning for each of us. For some, they may mean changing jobs to a new industry, and for others, the words may simply mean putting together your resume. For some, diving in will mean walking one mile, and for others, it will mean running a marathon or fifty-two! The most important part is to get started with a step that resonates with your heart and your truth NOW rather than later.

One truthful and heartfelt small step is better than ten big steps that don’t fulfill you.

What can you “dive into” today to start sharing your authentic self with the world? There’s no reason to wait!

About Alissa

Alissa Finerman is an Executive Coach and Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, speaker and author of Living in YOUR Top 1%. She works with managers, C-suite executives and teams to leverage strengths, shift beliefs and achieve meaningful goals. Alissa has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked with Ross Stores, Petco, BNP Paribas, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Brookfield Property Partners, Neutrogena, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Dress for Success. To learn more about coaching with Alissa, please visit her website and follow her on Facebook