Chasing the Moon
“Your problems aren’t there to defeat you they are there to increase you.” – Joel Olsten
Happy Monday,
This Monday brings with it much needed rain after weeks of sunshine and far warmer days than normal. Now I could be gloom and doom with the rain but you know what – we really need it so I will leave it at that. Time to cozy indoors today and get work done listening to the patter of rain on the roof.
This time yesterday, Sunday, morning I found myself letting Izzy out to do her business about 5:30 am and seeing the gorgeous “Super Moon” asuper moon 1s it was dubbed (also known as the Scorpion Moon). The moon was heading towards a most gorgeous moon set behind the scenic backdrop of our Rocky Mountains. Wanting to snap a pic of it I threw on some sweats and my tennis shoes and headed on foot (or feet) down our road to get a good shot.
That is where the chasing of the moon element of today’s letter begins to come in. Because I am not sure whether it was the fact I was still half asleep or that the moon was setting quickly farther to south than usual causing me to chase it down to get the pic. The result is that I didn’t get a pic I really liked before the gorgeous moon made it’s way behind the mountains. However, finding myself up and enjoying the outdoor beauty and extreme quiet of the Sunday morning proved another whole gift in itself. A gift that I hadn’t quite expected as I made my way back home.
Life can be like that for sure…when we think we are going after one thing we find ourselves chasing something that just isn’t to be. In the meantime something else comes along and gives us a whole new something we hadn’t expected. We can complain about what we didn’t get or a much better option is to open our mind to what we have been given instead.
Last week with some personal heartache in my life that I needed to endure, the quiet of the Sunday morning walk helped to soothe me in ways I had not expected. How about you? Can you remember recently a time when you found yourself chasing your own moon experience – only to find something else graciously waiting for you?
This week on the Victory Circles Radio Hour we are moving towards how we can take our leadership skills and fully influence the lives of others for the good of all concerned. My special guest is a woman I have had the pleasure of meeting over the last year who heads up a Canadian based organization that I have become involved with called the Evolutionary Business Council. You will love what Teresa de Grosbois has to share with us. More info on the show here.
While I of course invite you to come to the show on Wednesday morning I also invite you this morning to think about the lives of others that you touch, those people that you influence. Think of the people that you may influence face-to-face every day and those that you may not have even met. I think that kind of leadership is an innate quality in each of us – just waiting for refinement – and for us to stop and acknowledge what it offers without always having to be “chasing” something else.
Last night we watched on the Oprah Winfrey Network a program she has dubbed, Master Class. It was basically successful and famous people from Bon Jovi to Goldie Hawn sharing their life lessons through the good times and the not so good times. A line Oprah shared which I think is a great way to step out into the week ahead is, “Looking at your life as a class, what would you like to teach?” I think each of us has our own profound lessons to teach along our way – as we are simultaneously learning.
At the end of this week we head to the east coast so that Ed can give the keynote speech for his college in Scranton, Pennsylvania on Saturday. In listening to glimpses of his talk a lot has transpired for him in getting from here to there – as it has for each and every one of us.
There will be a lot of graduation’s coming up in the weeks ahead with talk of making this life all it can be. One such graduate includes my amazing assistant Melaina Daniel who will be graduating from CU’s Leeds Business School. Tomorrow is sadly her last day working with me (for now anyway!). She has some super moons of her own to catch as she fully steps out into the world. I wish her the best and will miss her day-to-day contributions very, very much.
We each have the opportunity to come full circle finding what we want, super moon 2need and desire most in our lives. Funny thing as I checked my emails late yesterday there were some beautiful moon pics from my moon friend Sheila Finkelstein in my inbox. The pictures I was unable to capture she did wonderfully from a Florida perspective. These are the pics I have shared them with you here in today’s letter. (www.sheilafinkelstein.com)
Morale of the story is perhaps that when we surround ourselves with those who appreciate the things we do in this life – we can find ourselves spending a whole heck of alot less time chasing after things and more time seeing what truly needs to be seen.
Here’s to a week chock full of waking up curious and in turn having fruitful pursuits!
To Your Successes and Victories,
Cheri
Cheri L. Ruskus
Author, Speaker, Small Business Expert and Entrepreneurial Advocate
303-652-1718
Crazy Leadership Concepts
A dream fulfilled
“Making an enduring company was both far harder and more important than making a great product.” – Steve Jobs
Happy Monday,
This Monday morning finds me a bit worn out from the frenzy of activities that occurred this past week with the launch of my new book. I think the highlight of everything that went on was when my sister, Susi, sent to me a text yesterday afternoon, as we were getting ready to head to Boulder for my book signing. She sent me the picture you see here – a picture of my book in the front window of the Boulder Bookstore.
If you are a writer or aspire to be a writer you know exactly what a dream come true that was for me. The aspect of having your book showcased in the front window of a bookstore . . . all I can say is WOW!
Now, comes the really hard work of fully getting Victory One Moment at a Time – Unlocking the Power of the Master Mind out into the world – one book at a time. It is a bit daunting as I look forward this morning, however, I know it holds strong merit in the words that it shares and onward I go! The time has come for the rubber to fully meet the road!
Somehow it feels quite appropriate as I pull up my bootstraps to get this done that along comes the arrival of May tomorrow and we are delving into the critical Master Mind Principle of Leadership here in the Victory Circles. It really is leadership probably more than any other of the Master Mind Principles that we work with that fully encompasses the key components it takes to move past your perceived limitations and make the world a better place. Today’s letter is a bit longer than usual and I so hope you find it worth the extra read.
A colleague recently sent me the link to an article in the Harvard Business Revue entitled, The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs. As many of you know Jobs was, and still is perhaps even more so 6 months after his passing, one of my entrepreneurial heroes. The article, written by Walter Isaacson, author of the Steve Jobs biography that was released right after his death. I have been enjoying the book and the article enhanced it even further. I have been reading it slowly savoring each bit and not wanting it to end!
Now I get it that Jobs definitely had his flaws – heck, don’t we all! What I find fascinating about the man is that through even through his brash ways he managed to create one of the most profitable and sustaining companies in our country today. A company that stood at the brink of bankruptcy upon Jobs returned to lead it after a 12-year absence.
Isaacson shared a response Steve made once from a question he had asked him on what was his greatest creation. He was thinking he would respond with saying the iPad or the Mac. Steve’s response was that it was indeed Apple the company then Jobs proceeded to share the words of today’s quote at the beginning of this letter.
It is my pleasure to share with you in today’s letter my top ten of the list of fourteen attributes Isaacson shared were the keys to Steve Jobs success. Skill sets that I believe serve us all in our roles as leaders of our lives and of our businesses. With each of these I have included a question of my own, to have you think through how this skill set is working for you right now today.
1. Focus – How well do you focus both on the task at hand as well as staying in tune with what will need to be done coming up tomorrow, next week, next month and next year?
2. Simplify – In a world where complexity can get the best of us what tools do you use to keep things organized and simple so that you can stay on task?
3. Take Responsibility End to End – How well do you plan when it comes to innovation in your business – thinking through how one product or service will lead to another for the ease and overall excellence of what your customers receive from your company?
4. When Behind Leap Frog – Instead of thinking you are behind . . .When behind play leap frog!
# 4 Leaders play leap frog
what if you took the leap frog approach to jump past perceived mistakes to create something new and even more successful than your competitors?
5. Put Products before Profits – Again, when it comes to creating innovation within your own organization can you allow for the vision of truly great products come before always thinking about the bottom line?
6. Bend Reality – Is your vision strong enough to inspire others to perceive what you deem possible real enough to make it happen?
7. Push for Perfection – Do you pay attention to even the smallest of details to make what your organization creates be the best?
8. Engage Face-to-Face – How much of your interaction with others has become digital – through email or online? What is you changed that by even 50%?
9. Know Both the Big Picture and the Details – This is where the vision and the plan come together. How big are your visions and their subsequent plans that will bring them to life?
10. Stay hungry, Stay Foolish – Has complacency got the best of you?
As we move into leadership this month we have some amazing speakers headed your way on the Victory Circles Radio Hour. I hear from people all the time – “I have been meaning to listen in but I don’t have the time.” My request is to have you make the time over the course of the next 30 days for at least one of the amazing shows we are putting together on leadership.
This week I am excited to have a local Colorado guest with Jessica Hartung of Integrated Work who will be sharing, Resilient Leadership: Respond Better and Faster to Whatever Comes Your Way. Get information on this show and all our shows this month at the Victory Circles Radio Hour page on our website.
One more quote from Jobs before I leave you this morning that was shared in this article, which I believe it a wonderful way to wrap up the thoughts on this great leader!
“While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
Let’s get crazy shall we?
To Your Successes and Victories,
Cheri
p.s. To read the mentioned article in it’s entirety go to the this Harvard Business Review link.
Cheri L. Ruskus
Author, Speaker, Small Business Expert and Entrepreneurial Advocate
Phone: 303-652-1718
Email: cheri(at)businessvictories.com
Now Moments
“Turn that period into a comma.” – T.D. Jakes
Happy Monday,
It's launch week!
Well the wheels are already spinning in fast motion here this morning as we dawn on “launch” week for my new book! Yes, it’s true – you have been hearing me mention this second book of mine for a while now and between a change in publishers and getting the wheels of progress in motion the book officially goes on sale this week!
With that I hope and encourage you to buy your copy of Victory One Moment at a Time – Unlocking the Power of the Master Mind on Wednesday for yourself and anyone who you think of that might need an extra light of Victory in their life. I will keep this shameless plug brief (you know not the purpose of this letter but I am so excited!) and with our efforts in creating a buzz about the book buying a copy or copies on Wednesday would be so greatly appreciated. We have a free download of chapter one on our website and more information on the free bonus you get for ordering on Wednesday through next Monday the 30th.
www.Victory Circles.com
Also, as I mentioned last week, I will be having a live book signing at the Boulder Book Store this Sunday the 29th at 2pm and would love to have you there!
For fellow Coloradoans – and anyone else who experienced summer weather – how about the amazing Earth Day weather we were given yesterday (and continuing on through today)? I spent the majority of the day with my hands in the dirt enjoying the abundance of this spring and the juicy morsels of my garden that Mother Nature has given me.
While we were in the garden working we watched spellbound (nature fascinates me!), as a hawk was busy working the field next to us – hunting for his/her baby in a nearby nest. We watched as over the course of an hour this hawk got not one but two snakes for lunch. Now I have to tell that I was incredibly relieved to see the snakes being taken away – however it alhawways freaks me out to know they were there in the first place! Earth day or not I am not much of a snake lover.
A hawks "now moment"
What that beautiful hawk did was a great reminder of the power of focus in getting those things done we really need to in our lives. It sat there tirelessly (never once checking it’s phone) taking care of the task at hand. After it got our attention with the first snake we watched it return and sit on the pole watching for more food in the high grass. And then boom with one fell swoop the second snake was lunch (again hallelujah!).
So as we move into this last week of April with tax day and all it’s glory behind us – how is your focus? I like to think of focus as “now moments”, a key attribute for the Master Mind Principle of Self Control we have been talking about this month. On our radio show this Wednesday morning myself and teammate, Dr. Gloria Miele, of Optimal Development Coaching will bring you a thought provoking show on this topic, which we are calling – Priming Your Pump. Please go here for more details.
As an entrepreneur, and with the advancement of technology, I have found focus to be harder and harder to maintain. With the tweets, texts and plethora of other people and devices wanting our attention I think it has put a little ADD into all of us. Perhaps that is why I love to garden so much as it brings great focus to me – never really being “finished” until the fall season returns.
What is it that gets your focus and undivided attention?
The goal I believe is to find tips along our way on how to get better focused to enjoy the right now straight into tomorrow. This mornings quote and the thought of adding more comma’s to our days and lives can be enhanced as we focus on the present, not on always on the past or the future. A few exclamation points in between are all the better.
Happy punctuating in the week ahead! And ready set launch!
To Your Successes and Victories,
Cheri
p.s. Don’t forget Wednesday is the book launch and radio show. Check it out now at www.victorycircles.com.
Cheri L. Ruskus
Author, Speaker, Small Business Expert and Entrepreneurial Advocate
303-652-1718
Kind Growth
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
- Dalai Lama
Happy Monday,
You can almost smell them!
With spring coming on in full force so quickly this year it has amazed me the beauty that is all around us here in only mid-April. The beauty of spring brings to mind compassion, whether we are giving or receiving it, as the Dalai Lama shares in this week’s quote, the act of it can bring us great happiness and joy.
Spring is a time for new growth, new beginnings and letting the cobwebs of winter go. The gardener in me is coming to life as I also plan for some other areas of growth including finally launching my book – which, after a year of unplanned delays (is a delay ever planned?) it is ready to rock!
I am delighted to extend an invitation to two events coming up next week (letting you know now so you can get them on your calendar!). The first is my virtual book launch on Wednesday, April 25th during our radio show (8am pt, 11am et) with some goodies that will be added to any book purchases made on that day. The second event is for those here in Colorado (or who would love to come visit) and that is for my first official book signing with this book on Sunday April 29th at 2pm, at the Boulder Bookstore on Pearl Street. So would love to have you at either one or both of these events!
Ed purchased a poster this past week that I really love with the Dalai Lama’s Instructions for Life. I am including the Dalai Lama’s list in this mornings letter with the encouragement to have you pick three (of course more for you over achievers) of these 20 items to take with you and focus on in the week ahead. See if it gives you a different perspective in how you look at the world around you. And here is a hint . . . items 19 and 20 may sound familiar.
The Dalai Lama’s Instructions for Life
1.Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great
risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s:
- Respect for self,
- Respect for others and
- Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful
stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to
correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back,
you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones deal only with the current situation.
Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
(A good one to pay extra homage to next Sunday – Earth Day!)
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for
each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
20. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
more blossoms...
Hope you can join us this week on the Victory Circles Radio Hour this week as we carry on our discussions on the Master Mind Principle of self-control with money. Our guest on the show is Author Carrie Green who will be sharing Chaos To Cash: Overcoming Procrastination and Overwhelm to Create Ultimate Profit. More Details Here.
So here is to a week of smelling the fragrances in the air, being gentle to the earth and kind to each other!
Happy playing this week!
To Your Successes and Victories,
Cheri
Cheri L. Ruskus
Author, Speaker, Small Business Expert and Entrepreneurial Advocate
303-652-1718
Diverse Blue Yonder
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world”
- Anne Frank
Happy Monday,
My Kids in the City
Today’s letter is coming to you a bit later than normal as I am out of my “norm” having traveled to San Francisco to spend some time with Travis and Bailey. I have to laugh at the sharp contrast between last weeks picture I shared with you of my kids and this week’s. They are a perfect contrast of the kids they used to be and the adults they have become. Both of them adjusting quite nicely to the city life and both having personalities all their own . . .
With all the diversity I find here in the city, I continue to feel like a bit of a country bumpkin when I come here. Staring with my eyes wide open as I see things that I would never see back in Boulder. Yesterday for Easter I loved watching the wide variety of “Easter Bonnets” that were worn by quite an eclectic group of people. You couldn’t help but fall into the celebration of the day.
As I observe the world my kids now live in, I observe how it is changing the adults they are to become. While I would of course love to have them back home in Colorado, I know that they are where they are destined to find who they are going to be – right here (for now anyway).
What I love about today’s quote from Anne Frank as I write about this topic of self control this month is thinking about the whole idea of each of us having the capacity to change the world. Watching Travis and Bailey bloom into the adults of the next generation – makes me really proud. I love the fact that also that they are hanging here together yet making their own individual marks on the world. Really it is something that a mother can only pray that her children will be there for each other during the big and small steps of their journey.
How will you calculate your direction along your journey this week? How will you start or perhaps continue on improving the world around you for the better? Who will the people be that assist you with the improvements you want to see happen by this time next week? How will you take what has become your “norm” and interject the diversity required to take you to new heights?
Diversity around every corner . . .
What amazes me in the city of San Francisco for sure is that around every corner there is something that surprises you – whether it is a beautiful building or a beautiful plant. Again the diversity all by itself is enough to bring your imagination to new heights. It’s one of the reasons that I think traveling is so important to get our minds encapsulating new ways of simply being.
Tomorrow I return to back to the world I know but of course a part of me will forever be changed, shifted and awakened in a new way. How about you, what is shifting for you?
This week on The Victory Circles Radio Hour on Wednesday morning we are bringing on as our guest Laurie Taylor of FlashPoint! If you have heard Laurie speak before – you know that you want to listen in to the show. Laurie always engages us in ways that we can keep our business growing. This week the topic of discussion is a Profit Plan for the Growth Of Your Business.
Learn More Here
Here we go into the wild blue yonder of another week – the possibilities are limitless, the diversity – well that’s up to you to choose!
Happy Flying!
To Your Successes and Victories,
Cheri
Cheri L. Ruskus
Author, Speaker, Small Business Expert and Entrepreneurial Advocate
303-652-1718
Showers to Flowers
“To decide, to be at the level of choice, is to take responsibility for your life and to be in control of your life.” – Abbie M. Dale
Happy Monday,
April Showers
As we slide right past April Fools day into the 2nd day of April I don’t know about you but I am trying to get my arms around the fact that 2012 is totally, fully engaged. Seems like a couple of days ago we were saying happy New Year and now we are heading into the fourth month of the year already!
This morning the word “control” comes up and I am thinking about the role it plays in my life. Why control? Well – in looking towards Master Mind principles we acknowledge in the Victory Circles – April is all about self-control. Control, especially as it comes to the five-letter word that seems to rule our world – money. The ultimate control around money is believed to come from the art of actually saving it! What a novel idea!
We have probably heard a time or two along our way that April showers brings May flowers. First I couldn’t resist but to share with you one of my favorite shower pics – one of Travis and Bailey from back in the day, when Bailey loved walking down to get her brother from the bus stop.
Well now these two sweet little cherubs have all grown up and last week finished up the schooling for their culinary careers – 12 weeks of externship and they will both be Chefs! We are proud parents and I am even more delighted to be heading to San Francisco this week to see them, as they chart the next course of their journey.
So control what is it really? For sure it is going from start and getting to completion in something you have set your mind to do. I think some times it can be staying calm and cool when everything around you seems to the contrary and can tend to seem very out of control. Most especially when you are trying to stay focused and moving forward towards a lofty goal.
How about you this morning what are the things that are imperative for you to be mindful of having some kind of control around this week? Where will you get assistance when your “humanness” comes shining through? Who are the people that give you grounding when you start to go running after every single bright shiny object that comes across your path?
For those of us in the entrepreneurial world one of the biggest challenges we take on is the ability to master this whole thing of control. And yes especially when it comes to that pivotal player in the game – money. Last week we held a Webinar, Game On! which – I mentioned a few times in emails 
. We talked about the control of the game we play in our businesses. You can hear more in the recording link we have from the event on the home page of our web site. We have a special offer there that is good through the end of this week. Get Access Here.
new beds in the garden!
Another matter of control happened for me this weekend in the form of a new beds wonderful present from my husband. As you may know I am an avid gardener. Many years ago I discovered that gardening can be so much more enjoyable when you have raised beds.
Why? Because yes, I think you might get this – everything is so much easier to control. When I planted straight into the ground I spent more time weeding then enjoying the fruits of my labors.
So control became about my beds. Well my wonderful husband replaced the wood beds I had which were decaying after many years of service. He replaced them with concrete beds that are simply amazing and are going to give me even more control! He made them complete with a watering system that will be amazing!
With our crazy 80 plus degree weather this weekend we got them all in order and ready when the real planting season comes. Another controlling issue because even though some plants are popping up now – we know we have most likely not seen the last of snow fall this season. Control, control, control…
This week on the radio show we are bringing on as our guest Sandra Crowe author of I Didn’t Sign Up for This. Sandra will share her 7 strategies for dealing with difficulty in difficult times. And let’s face the reality that it’s darn near impossible to get control on other things if we don’t have control on the person mastering our own buttons…ourselves. Get more info for the Victory Circles Radio Hour here.
With some April showers in the forecast today cooling us down a bit (phew!) here’s to having a ways to the means that moves each of us forward – from showers to flowers! While some things may not happen as we wish and always be in our control – here’s to wishing that they happen!
Happy watering!
To Your Successes and Victories!
Cheri
Deep Conversations
 |
|
an unfolding momen
|
I don’t know about you but I feel sometimes like I have gotten into a pretty fast moving time warp. Seems like about five minutes ago that I was writing last week’s Victory Letter and here in a blink of an eye it’s time to write to you again. My, oh my!
 |
|
Izzy stops to enjoy the mom
|
) More Radio Show Info Here.Cheri
Author, Speaker, Small Business Expert and Entrepreneurial Advocate
Recent Comments