Category: Intentional - ZARI BANKS

To-Do Lists Are Great Things

2/15/2017

The brain is amazing. When a to-do list is created, as we're writing, the brain sends signals to relevant parts that state, "These things need to get done." This happens because you have visual and kinetic focus on the listed tasks. If you're like me, you have visual, auditory AND kinetic focus because I say the tasks aloud as I write them. The more parts of you that are involved in something, the more memory you'll have of that thing.

ACTION STEPS FOR SUCCESS:

Keep a daily calendar even if you're an employee and not self-employed.
Write it out before going to bed each night.
Assess your productivity at the end of each week. Determine if you're working toward what you really want in life.
Make adjustments as necessary.
If you're not experiencing more successes than failures, schedule a call.

Read more in the Supernatural Success Portal article titled Evidence. If you need help perfecting your to-do list for maximum effectiveness, give me a call.

Convenient Political Correctness

2/2/2017

Are Americans still concerned with being pc? It's a valid question to ask in 2017.

Riots aren't pc. Peaceful protests are ... riots are not. Ever. It's not politically correct to destroy someone else's property. Nor is it pc to murder or to admit you have murderous tendencies - in most cases, that is.

From my observations, I've discerned we're only politically correct until the moment we feel we can't get what we want. Then ... all bets are off. I've never been a fan of pc nonsense and I seriously doubt I'd ever be accused of trying to be politically correct.

I subscribe to a policy of honor, integrity and speaking the truth in love. My messages aren't always popular because the truth sometimes hurts. But on the flip side, it also sets us free. Therein lies the reality of political correctness - when the truth hurts so badly that we don't want to receive it, be pc instead or risk public shunning.

We are a society of ever-decreasing morals which is the truth. But because that truth is uncomfortable, anyone who states that openly is called intolerant and worse. Political correctness is a lie. It's a facade. It's manipulation. Sugarcoating and denying the truth for popularity or bribery to gain something always leaves one party in a deficit.

I say if what we're doing and speaking isn't improving and adding to the lives that'll be affected, we have a responsibility to choose differently. I desire for the people I mentor and impact to be free to live their authentic selves and truly be who they are in every situation. I want them to be confident enough to speak their hearts without fear of rejection or retaliation. I'm working on that one client at a time.

I say political correctness is trash and I'm throwing it out with a bunch of other junk this year. Care to join me?

Progress

3/10/2016

My 2016 running season is progressing wonderfully. I completed my longest run - distance and duration - of the year 3 weeks ahead of schedule. I'm a warm-weather runner, and spring came early in the Northwest so I'm taking full advantage of it.

I did my first run February 17; two full months before I began last year. Here it is three weeks later and I completed my first five-miler of the year. I'm excited about that because I usually take 6-8 weeks to get up to hour runs of 5 or more miles. I did it in three weeks because I joined a running a group and a challenge to run at least 1000 KM (621.371192 miles) this year.

It's amazing how little electronic badges on an app and 10,000 others who love running can motivate you to push yourself to achieve your goals. I even ran five days straight last week. Which is a quite a bit of running for recently coming off of a four-month break. I'd planned to rest Thursday but the weather was gorge so I had to get in a 5K. Then I planned to rest Friday but someone proposed #FiveMileFriday so I went for it. I ran slow and talked myself through it. The strategies I used to get through this milestone have been included in my talk on supernatural strategies for success I'm giving at The 3rd Annual Grow Your Dreams Conference in April.

By pushing myself in running this year I've seen many success strategies with fresh eyes. They include:

the power of agreement - being of one mind about a goal with another or a group
celebrating every milestone - visually tracking and rewarding progress is a huge motivator
identifying inspiration - finding the combination of people, internal and external things that propel you forward with increasing momentum is priceless

I'm a finisher. I get things done. In addition to running hundreds of miles I've written more than 40 books in the last five years. I set goals and I achieve them. I don't quit. If you need supernatural strategies, someone to agree with you, celebrate with you and help you identify areas of inspiration schedule a call or book a package with me today. I accomplish everything I want to do and you can, too. Call me today.

Breaking Negative Cycles 2: Identifying Patterns

1/7/2016

This is the second installment in the Breaking Negative Cycles series posted in the Supernatural Success Mentee portal.

Networking to Increase Sales

11/2/2015

One thing I've learned about networking to increase sales is that people want to see you. Yes, I've known this and I have allowed myself to be seen much more than when I started as an author four years ago, but I'm still not as comfortable as I need to be. I'm working on it, as you can tell. I'm getting out there and being seen and the definitive result is:
YES, it increases book sales.

Tri-Cities Link 1st Anniversary
October 23, 2015

15th Annual Women Helping Women Tri-Cities
Fundraiser Luncheon
October 26, 2015

Putting Systems in Place at Home and in Relationships

10/8/2015

Last week I wrote about putting systems in place for small business so this week I'm tackling systems for home and relationships.

We all fall into one of the following categories:

those who have systems in place for business/at work but not at home
those who have systems in place at home but not in business/at work those who have systems in place - even if not for every single detail - at home and for business/at work OR
those who are in a full-on mess and don't have anything consistent in their lives except ups and downs.

I have systems for business and home. To give you an idea, one of the many things I do at home is wash dishes once a day as one of the last things I do before going to bed. I'm not willing to wash dishes more than once a day - holidays and special occasions are different, of course - because I have other things to do with my time. But what I need for the day is ready when I get up each morning, in addition to waking to a clean and empty sink to fill throughout. Included in this process is that if someone wants a dish that's in the sink after breakfast or lunch, it's their individual responsibility to clean it for use.

This system works in my household and everyone's privy to it. It may not work in yours, but it's now a framework you've been exposed to that will help you adopt a system for your life if you need one.

When I worked outside of the home and didn't homeschool, when we came in the door each afternoon, you put your shoes in the cubby under the washer, washed hands, backpacks were emptied and papers were sorted into two baskets - what I needed to review and homework. Snack was served and homework was completed at the kitchen table as I made dinner.

You also need systems for relationships. Whether work or personal you need to know each party's expectations, needs and desires and determine which are appropriate for you to fulfill and which you're willing to meet. For example, it's not proper for you to return to work each week after your days off and share your personal experiences with your manager. However, it's very appropriate to share your daily happenings with your spouse and family.

Just as business owners train employees, we have to train our loved ones how to treat us. Right now I'm learning my sweetheart and he's learning me. We're teaching each other how we need and want to be treated by the other and aligning our behaviors. We're communicating our expectations so that systems can be developed as we move forward. These systems won't always be the same because people change, but it's easier to adapt something that already exists than it is in these beginning stages where we're creating one process from two different entities. I'm teaching on this in greater detail in a live web event Tuesday, October 13, 2015.

I encourage you to look over your business/work, home and relationship systems this week and note any areas needing improvement. If you've already received enough information to implement change, get it done. if you need an outside pair of eyes to target a success strategy schedule a call or book a package today. I'd love to help make your life easier.

Putting Systems in Place for Your Small Business

10/1/2015

I'm a planner. Even before I was a teacher I wrote daily lists of what I needed to get done. Still do, of course, even more so now because I have more tasks to complete as an entrepreneur.

I recently spoke with a client and soon after listening to them share their concerns I was able to pinpoint what they needed to do to break through in their business - and life if they'd put the same processes I shared in place at home. Very simply, they need systems put in place.

This client is high-achieving, brilliant and skilled at money-making but they were struggling and only experiencing a portion of potential success in each of their business streams because, until we spoke, they didn't plan processes all the way through from start to finish, they didn't document them and obviously they couldn't put those non-existent plans in place and follow through to see if they worked.

One complaint the business owner had was that the employee at one location "didn't know how to do anything." I dissected that belief with the following questions:

How many hours did you invest training the employee?
Did you give the employee a written copy of the expectations, duties, requirements and time schedule?

There were even more questions I could ask, but the answers to both of these told me the owner had made assumptions about the employee's basic know-how and didn't have a plan in place for training workers.

If you desire to be successful in life, you must have systems in place to facilitate success. People grow up in households and are trained to thrive in that specific environment. Students have new teachers every year, semester and sometimes quarterly, and each teacher trains them on that teacher's specific expectations. As a professional mentor, I train my mentees on my processes for both of our optimal success.

When a new employee comes to work for you or a new student comes into your classroom, they have basic understandings of how things will operate but they must be trained to prosper in your specific environment.

McDonald's has what's called McDonald's University to train their employees on their systems and processes. As a customer of McDonald's I know how some things are supposed to be done, but I don't know the inner workings because I'm not required to provide service for them. They have documented systems in place for ease, uniformity, expectation and success. Their system has been implemented, tested and proven and every one of their employees knows what's required for their respective position.

It doesn't matter if your businesses are small and that you have one employee at each location. You still need to have a written plan in place because employees are actually representing YOU, and they have to learn how to do that. Next week I'll share how this same process is effective at home and in relationships.

You have the right to be successful in business. But if you're struggling or not quite thriving yet, schedule a call or book a package. As in the example above, you may be missing that one thing that will put you over the top in sales and productivity and I can identify the perfect strategy for you.

They Get on My Nerves

8/27/2015

Image Copyright Geralt 2015

You know those people that get on your nerves? The ones that rub you the wrong way? We all have them. It's kind of a part of life. But it's also a learning opportunity.

There's no way in the world that we'll get along with everyone. I don't expect or believe that's possible. What I do know is possible is that we can grow and improve inwardly and outwardly in situations where friction exists during interactions with others.

I recently witnessed and was able to provide counsel for an interpersonal interaction where frustration was mounting and about to explode. There are several variables that determine how to behave when someone's getting on our nerves but I'll only cover a few for us here.

First, we want to check our attitudes. This includes our thoughts, feelings and motives for receiving another's actions as irritations. In the situation I witnessed, the person who resembled the photo above was frustrated because of unmet expectations.

Second, we need to check for understanding. We need to know if the other party has the necessary knowledge, tools and skills to meet the communicated objectives.

Third, we must check our words. It's easy when someone's getting our nerves to be sarcastic, snotty, bratty and the like. Negative words and a condescending tone never correct a deteriorating interpersonal interaction. Use every opportunity possible to speak life into every situation. And if you mess up, when you realize it, apologize sincerely.

If you employ these three strategies the next time someone's pushing your buttons, you'll reap the benefits of being a peacemaker. And if you're skilled at bringing peace into heated situations, that makes you a problem solver!

For those of you who are need of a problem solver to release peace into your situation shedule a call or book a mentoring package today.

Breakthrough

8/17/2015

My favorite form of exercise is running. Running is great for quick weight loss and maintenance and it just feels good. At the beginning of July I set a goal to be at 10-minute miles by month's end. I'm a warm-weather runner only (and when I say warm I mean hot) so I didn't begin until some time in June, and yes, 10-minute miles in four weeks is a lofty goal for someone who only exercises four months a year. It wasn't always this way. When I lived in Arizona I ran 10 months a year because the weather permitted it.

I didn't make it. I seemed to have plateaued at about 11.5 minutes per mile. Well, that's not ok with me so I began doing a little reading on running and marathon training. I found several strategies that potentially could offer me improvement, implemented a few and I'm pleased to announce that on my run Sunday, August 16, 2015 I broke 10 minutes per mile!

Look at the picture on the right. I broke 10 minutes and shaved almost 60 seconds off each mile in 2 days. If you know anything about running you know that's pretty significant.

In order to get off the plateau and begin improving as a runner I did three things:

I stopped running five miles four to six times a week with no break in between.
I started running three miles one to three times straight with no break and then taking one or two days off before running again.
I added squats on the days I don't run.

I always get life lessons and flashbacks of teaching strategies out of re-conditioning my body to run each summer and this situation is no exception. Here are the things that stood out to me that apply to any area we want to break through in:

Setting goals is crucial. If I didn't know what I wanted to accomplish as a runner, I wouldn't get as much satisfaction out of it, and more importantly, I might quit altogether because I wouldn't have an end result (purpose) in mind. Research proves that if we have a known objective our likelihood of success dramatically increases.
Monitoring progress is crucial. I was only able to see that I wasn't improving and moving toward my goal because I was tracking each step of the process. This is a basic focus principle. In order for any seed to produce the desired harvest, it has to be watched over and attended to.
Making adjustments is crucial. I didn't want to remain on a plateau, I wanted to reach my goal so I researched and implemented the necessary changes to get where I wanted to be.

As a mentor, I want to you see you succeeding at the things that matter most to you. If you're a self-starter, you're probably able to take the strategies above and apply them to your life independently. If that's you, the Supernatural Success Mentee Portal is perfect for you. You get access to breakthrough strategies that'll help you achieve extraordinary promotion.

If you need a detailed plan of attack to break through in a specific area of life schedule a call or book a package right now. There's a $25 Financial Breakthrough special available for a limited time. Don't put off success any longer. Decide and then act today.

Experts

8/6/2015

My favorite principal (boss) was Ms. McElroy. She saw potential in me, encouraged me and mentored me to successive promotions for four years. There were sometimes scenarios when she'd ask other teachers, "What would Zari do?" I was a classroom management, resource and Reading instruction expert.

There are experts in every field. Find one who's achieved the level of success you desire and learn everything you can from them. Watch this short video and share your thoughts.