Raise Your Bars

This week we continue our journey to fulfillment while taking control of your destiny with a discussion on Finding Your Why. John Maxwell says that "You have to know yourself before you can grow yourself" and he is spot on!

If you don't know where you want to go, and you don't understand why this is important to you, I can almost guarantee with 100% certainty that you will not get there! 

Ask yourself these 3 questions:

• What fulfills me?
• What gives me the most satisfaction?
• What motivates me?

To help you with this task let me define these words:

Fulfill – This is defined as: Bring to completion or reality. Synonyms that you may be familiar with for this include: achieve, attain, realize, actualize

Satisfaction – is the fulfillment of one’s wishes, expectations, or needs. Synonyms include: contentment, pleasure, gratification, enjoyment.

Motivate – is to stimulate interest or enthusiasm for doing something. Synonyms include: Inspire, stimulate, encourage, excite.

If you like what  you hear please follow Al and Myself on social media plus share this podcast with other people who you think would benefit from hearing our messages. I encourage you to have these conversations with your high school and college age children as it is unlikely that they have been taught this way of thinking during their education.

Bye for now!

Our aim is to help individuals and organizations to raise their bars and be on a journey of continuous improvement. Therefore it is important that you know your own values and align yourself with a company that shares those and has a culture that you can get behind.

Are you ready to Raise Your BARS and be the person you want to become?

Download your ultimate guide to getting promoted in the next 12 months here!

We want you to become the best version of yourself and to do that you have to break away from the limiting beliefs that other people impose on you and step into your greater self. If you are an aspiring leader or a leader who wants to continue growing to be the best you can be we encourage you to visit and subscribe to the Stand Up Leaders YouTube channel.

We invite you to join our Facebook group, Raise Your  Bars  - Personal Growth Solutions, and if you are ready to reprogram your current belief systems,  visit our website by clicking here. 

Last week we started this conversation and left you with 2 tasks, did you complete those?

Here they are again, ask yourself:

• What do I want to be known for?
• What am I known for?

When there are gaps between the 2 answers it means you have work to do. Most, if not all, people have some degree of gap. The good news is that when you answer these questions, you will be aware of your gap and therefore be able to work on closing it.

This week we dive a little deeper into your community. Are you FOR your community? Do you know what is going on in your community? Are you involved in your community?

This topic came to mind as a result of the terrible shooting in Texas recently. While we don't want to get into politics or discussions on gun control in any way, we feel that there is a deeper underlying issue at hand so we wanted to start by talking about how you can be FOR your community.

Please share your thoughts, feedback, and questions and follow us on social media so that we can interact with you.

Our aim is to help individuals and organizations to raise their bars and be on a journey of continuous improvement. Therefore it is important that you know your own values and align yourself with a company that shares those and has a culture that you can get behind.

Are you ready to Raise Your BARS and be the person you want to become?

Download your ultimate guide to getting promoted in the next 12 months here!

We want you to become the best version of yourself and to do that you have to break away from the limiting beliefs that other people impose on you and step into your greater self. If you are an aspiring leader or a leader who wants to continue growing to be the best you can be we encourage you to visit and subscribe to the Stand Up Leaders YouTube channel.

We invite you to join our Facebook group, Raise Your  Bars  - Personal Growth Solutions, and if you are ready to reprogram your current belief systems,  visit our website by clicking here. 

Join us this week as we help to dice into the question: What are you for?

We have used Jeff Henderson's book, Know what you are FOR, as a foundation for this discussion and we encourage you to answer this for yourself. This applies to corporations, families, and individuals so take time to think about your answer and then look at whether you are in total alliance or are there gaps to between these two questions:

What do you want to be known for?

What are you known for?

Follow us on social media and share your answers, questions, and thoughts.

Our aim is to help individuals and organizations to raise their bars and be on a journey of continuous improvement. Therefore it is important that you know your own values and align yourself with a company that shares those and has a culture that you can get behind.

Are you ready to Raise Your BARS and be the person you want to become?

Download your ultimate guide to getting promoted in the next 12 months here!

We want you to become the best version of yourself and to do that you have to break away from the limiting beliefs that other people impose on you and step into your greater self. If you are an aspiring leader or a leader who wants to continue growing to be the best you can be we encourage you to visit and subscribe to the Stand Up Leaders YouTube channel.

We invite you to join our Facebook group, Raise Your  Bars  - Personal Growth Solutions, and if you are ready to reprogram your current belief systems,  visit our website by clicking here. 

Al and Chris studied the book "Think and Grow Rich" for over a year and one of their fondest memories was reading the chapter on persistence every day for 14 days before they  could even start the study. Why was this important? It is about creating habits intentionally rather than drifting into habits that form naturally which are not usually beneficial to your progress.

What habit can you create over the next 21 days? Think of something small, maybe even insignificant like the way you get ready in the morning as Chris describes. Now set out to make this a habit that you do every day then apply that same method to other, more significant tasks to truly make a difference.

If you find value in what we talk about, follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and share this podcast with other people so that together we can change the world.

Our aim is to help individuals and organizations to raise their bars and be on a journey of continuous improvement. Therefore it is important that you know your own values and align yourself with a company that shares those and has a culture that you can get behind.

Are you ready to Raise Your BARS and be the person you want to become?

Download your ultimate guide to getting promoted in the next 12 months here!

We want you to become the best version of yourself and to do that you have to break away from the limiting beliefs that other people impose on you and step into your greater self. If you are an aspiring leader or a leader who wants to continue growing to be the best you can be we encourage you to visit and subscribe to the Stand Up Leaders YouTube channel.

We invite you to join our Facebook group, Raise Your  Bars  - Personal Growth Solutions, and if you are ready to reprogram your current belief systems,  visit our website by clicking here. 

We started this series by asking the question: What is leadership? If you haven't already done so we suggest that you go back and listen to episode #56 from last week and then continue with this one.

Whether we realize it or not, we all have lids placed on our potential. Often these are placed on us by our leadership but the truth is, we also place lids on our own belief of what is possible.

Listen in as Al and I open up about our own experiences and how you can lift your own lid plus avoid placing lids on your own team as you develop your leadership career.

If you find value in this podcast please share it with others so that we can help to improve leadership skills everywhere. You can also follow Al Ruttan and myself, Chris Baker, on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Our aim is to help individuals and organizations to raise their bars and be on a journey of continuous improvement. Therefore it is important that you know your own values and align yourself with a company that shares those and has a culture that you can get behind.

Are you ready to Raise Your BARS and be the person you want to become?

Download your ultimate guide to getting promoted in the next 12 months here!

We want you to become the best version of yourself and to do that you have to break away from the limiting beliefs that other people impose on you and step into your greater self. If you are an aspiring leader or a leader who wants to continue growing to be the best you can be we encourage you to visit and subscribe to the Stand Up Leaders YouTube channel.

We invite you to join our Facebook group, Raise Your  Bars  - Personal Growth Solutions, and if you are ready to reprogram your current belief systems,  visit our website by clicking here. 

Listen in as Al Ruttan joins me to discuss the age old question: What is leadership?

This is the first in this new series of podcast where Al and I discuss leadership and how we can all become word class leaders - with the right direction!!

Al is a leadership expert and a fellow Maxwell Leadership Certified coach. Between us we have over 60 years of leadership experience which we are excited to share with you in addition to the best leadership development content from  John Maxwell.

You can follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram where you can also share you thoughts and ask questions that you would like us to discuss in future episodes.

Our aim is to help individuals and organizations to raise their bars and be on a journey of continuous improvement. Therefore it is important that you know your own values and align yourself with a company that shares those and has a culture that you can get behind.

Are you ready to Raise Your BARS and be the person you want to become?

Download your ultimate guide to getting promoted in the next 12 months here!

We want you to become the best version of yourself and to do that you have to break away from the limiting beliefs that other people impose on you and step into your greater self. If you are an aspiring leader or a leader who wants to continue growing to be the best you can be we encourage you to visit and subscribe to the Stand Up Leaders YouTube channel.

We invite you to join our Facebook group, Raise Your  Bars  - Personal Growth Solutions, and if you are ready to reprogram your current belief systems,  visit our website by clicking here. 

Simone has thoroughly enjoyed the trips down memory lane that have helped her source stories and bits of wisdom for her work. Though her kids may find her stories about their lives embarrassing, Simone thinks it all comes with the territory of honestly exploring motherhood, life, and a constantly-evolving career.

Simone’s work with the Jewish Federation helped her realize that she had the ability to inspire others to dedicate time and resources to projects, both personal and charitable, that can make a difference in people’s lives.

Though Simone Knego has had a varied career, she began her professional life as a Certified Public Accountant in 1995 working in Tyler, Texas. Simone holds both a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Master of Accounting from the University of Florida. After she moved to Sarasota, Florida in 2000, Simone went back to school to become a teacher. Raising six kids, she was already managing her own classroom— she decided why not get paid for work that aligned with her own daily life? She worked as an Elementary and Exceptional Student Education teacher for three years, where she strove to create a safe and productive learning environment for all students. The job opened her eyes even further to the role schools can play in providing children with stability, especially those who may not experience the comfort of constancy at home.

You can contact Simone and follow her journey on her website: www.SimoneKnego.com

Final message from Chris: Your current circumstance does not define who you are. You are special, you are loved, you are a unique being with unlimited potential and now is the time to rise up to maximize your potential every day.

You can connect with me at:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Facebook Group: Developing Tomorrow's Leaders

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: Chris J Baker

To purchase my book 10 Steps 2 Freedom from Amazon click here.

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership

Our aim is to help individuals and organizations to raise their bars and be on a journey of continuous improvement. Therefore it is important that you know your own values and align yourself with a company that shares those and has a culture that you can get behind.

Are you ready to Raise Your BARS and be the person you want to become?

Download your ultimate guide to getting promoted in the next 12 months here!

We want you to become the best version of yourself and to do that you have to break away from the limiting beliefs that other people impose on you and step into your greater self. If you are an aspiring leader or a leader who wants to continue growing to be the best you can be we encourage you to visit and subscribe to the Stand Up Leaders YouTube channel.

We invite you to join our Facebook group, Raise Your  Bars  - Personal Growth Solutions, and if you are ready to reprogram your current belief systems,  visit our website by clicking here. 

Krishna has a Master’s Degree in Marketing Management, an MBA-International Business and an MS in Finance. Over the last 23 years he has helped 3 Fortune 500 companies and several start-up organizations focusing on Sales, Business Development and Finance. His management style has been described as decisive and motivational, where success comes from a focused commitment to developing new business, cultivating relationships, training salespeople and creating growth strategies. He is involved in several acquisitions and mergers.

You can learn more about becoming a Genius Visionary on Krishna's website.

Final message from Chris: Your current circumstance does not define who you are. You are special, you are loved, you are a unique being with unlimited potential and now is the time to rise up to maximize your potential every day.

You can connect with me at:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Learn more about joining The Book Club here.

Facebook Group: Developing Tomorrow's Leaders

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: Chris J Baker

To purchase my book 10 Steps 2 Freedom from Amazon click here.

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership

Our aim is to help individuals and organizations to raise their bars and be on a journey of continuous improvement. Therefore it is important that you know your own values and align yourself with a company that shares those and has a culture that you can get behind.

Are you ready to Raise Your BARS and be the person you want to become?

Download your ultimate guide to getting promoted in the next 12 months here!

We want you to become the best version of yourself and to do that you have to break away from the limiting beliefs that other people impose on you and step into your greater self. If you are an aspiring leader or a leader who wants to continue growing to be the best you can be we encourage you to visit and subscribe to the Stand Up Leaders YouTube channel.

We invite you to join our Facebook group, Raise Your  Bars  - Personal Growth Solutions, and if you are ready to reprogram your current belief systems,  visit our website by clicking here. 

Jacqueline describes how learning to communicate with other people more effectively and building your confidence levels will help you become the best version of yourself.

She asks: "Who do you want to be?"

Understanding who she is has helped Jacqueline develop a system that helps others and her commitment to life long learning is a great example to us all. Teenagers are taught what to think, not how to think and sadly the educational system undermines the fact that we should all be thinking for ourselves and stretching our comfort levels.

Be curious and look for what is hiding in plain sight. You can create whatever world you want to create IF you believe that it is possible. Our future is not defined by who we are now and how/where we have grown up.

"We are all leaders of our own lives" - Jacqueline Wales

Are you prepared to live your life effectively and be a role model for other people - especially your children? Adopt a growth mindset so that you can start to tap into your potential and increase your self-confidence level.

How do I get more confident?

Jacqueline's answer is: Fake it until you believe it! Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. We need to dig deep if we want to become effective at self reflection and increase our awareness. When we learn how to think we will see things that we now believe in. Take a little step every day, no matter how small it is.

Be the person that you want to become and you will condition your brain to believe that you are already that person. In other words, forget the standard saying "I will believe it when I see it" and flip it to say "I will see it when I believe it."

What is the thinking and behavior that keeps you locked into the limiting beliefs that convince you that you are not good enough, or not ready? These are the thoughts and behaviors that we need to challenge in your own head so that you are ready to move forward. The subconscious mind is based on what has happened to us in the past or what we have been told. Changing the content of your subconscious mind will make these things come true. 

Chris asks Jacqueline what steps she used to get to where she is now?

1. Great coaching
2. Support of the right people around you
3. Take ownership of your skills and talents
4. Know where you are giving your power away and learn to stop that
5. Accepting that the only person that can knock you down is you!

When you are asked to say yes to something ask yourself: Does this serve my best and highest needs? If the answer is anything other than an emphatic "yes" you should hesitate and dig deeper before saying yes. 

It doesn't come naturally to most of us but the power of saying "no" is huge and absolutely necessary for us to be able to live our best life.

Jacqueline's "Golden Nugget": If you are a fearful individual, ask yourself: Is it true? If there is no evidence that it is true you have probably made it up in your mind. Be willing to test your limits so that you can maximize your potential. 

You can follow Jacqueline on her website where you can also subscribe to her mailing list and on LinkedIn under Jacqueline Wales. 

Final message from Chris: Your current circumstance does not define who you are. You are special, you are loved, you are a unique being with unlimited potential and now is the time to rise up to maximize your potential every day.

You can connect with me at:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Learn more about joining The Book Club here.

Facebook Group: Developing Tomorrow's Leaders

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: Chris J Baker

To purchase my book 10 Steps 2 Freedom from Amazon click here.

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership

Our aim is to help individuals and organizations to raise their bars and be on a journey of continuous improvement. Therefore it is important that you know your own values and align yourself with a company that shares those and has a culture that you can get behind.

Are you ready to Raise Your BARS and be the person you want to become?

Download your ultimate guide to getting promoted in the next 12 months here!

We want you to become the best version of yourself and to do that you have to break away from the limiting beliefs that other people impose on you and step into your greater self. If you are an aspiring leader or a leader who wants to continue growing to be the best you can be we encourage you to visit and subscribe to the Stand Up Leaders YouTube channel.

We invite you to join our Facebook group, Raise Your  Bars  - Personal Growth Solutions, and if you are ready to reprogram your current belief systems,  visit our website by clicking here. 

Robert did not start his career with a traditional 9-5 job. He was born into a poverty situation with a father who liked alcohol and a mother who was angry. The led him to develop a purpose of "Not wanting to be poor."

By the time he was 17 years old he had a successful radio show and was making more money than his father had his entire life. He went to college and by the time he was 23 he had suffered 2 heart attacks! By the time he was 27 he was divorced, broke and was told he would not live past 35!

A friend directed him to a personal growth training and it turned Bob's life around. He started to refer everyone he knew to the training because he knew that his life was getting better as he surrounded himself with people who were on the same track. (We have talked about this before on the podcast by saying that we become the average of the 5 people we associate with the most)

Eventually Robert went to work for this company and developed training courses all over the world, including Japan which he had originally declined. When he sold his first training company, Lifespring, he accepted the invitation to go to Japan where he started Arc International before retiring at age 45 to set up home in Colorado.

On the surface bob had an incredible 12 years living life rich in Aspen but he actually lost everything and had to go back to work. He started speaking and training finding a home in working with people who are, in Robert's own words, "Up to something."

"If we are not learning and growing, we are not meeting the need to change" - Robert White.

We are facing unprecedented change in our recent history and therefore we have to be able to adapt in order to keep up, otherwise we are actually going backwards. The key to this is knowing your "why" and then creating forward momentum, one step at a time.

What is your purpose?

What is your motivation?

These are two key questions to answer and if you need help identifying these please reach out to me at [email protected] or set up a free strategy call on my website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Bob built a 15,000 square foot home in Aspen, he owned a jet plus all the trappings but he wasn't happy. He realized that he was trapped by his purpose. The subtitle to his book, Living and Extraordinary Life, is joy and purpose which is what he believes we all should pursue.

His 4 step understanding of purpose is (in no particular order):

1. Survival
2. Maintenance
3. Leisure
4. Contribution

We all have a unique gift and reason for being on this planet so the question to answer is: how are we using this gift? 

Robert started waking up each morning thinking: "I have been preparing to get ready for something all of my life, I wonder what it is?"

Robert commits to participating in one new training program every year so that he can continue to learn and grow. He doesn't need to do this but he chooses to because he understands that we all have unlimited potential. 

Walt Disney would gather new recruits on a monthly basis and point out that he was wearing a Mickey Mouse watch. He then presented one to each new recruit and asked that they wear it each day. We look at our watches multiple times every day. Walt asked every cast member each time they look at their watch to ask themselves, Am I having fun? 

Robert describes how the chapter "I am not enough" in his book, Living an extraordinary life, is about our greatest limiting belief and this is based on his own life. We all have a tendency to think these thoughts and it is one that we need to overcome in order to maximize our potential. You are enough!

You can connect with Robert and subscribe to his inspirational email at www.extraordinarypeople.com

Final message from Chris: Your current circumstance does not define who you are. You are special, you are loved, you are a unique being with unlimited potential and now is the time to rise up to maximize your potential every day.

You can connect with me at:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Learn more about joining The Book Club here.

Facebook Group: Developing Tomorrow's Leaders

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: Chris J Baker

To purchase my book 10 Steps 2 Freedom from Amazon click here.

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership

Our aim is to help individuals and organizations to raise their bars and be on a journey of continuous improvement. Therefore it is important that you know your own values and align yourself with a company that shares those and has a culture that you can get behind.

Are you ready to Raise Your BARS and be the person you want to become?

Download your ultimate guide to getting promoted in the next 12 months here!

We want you to become the best version of yourself and to do that you have to break away from the limiting beliefs that other people impose on you and step into your greater self. If you are an aspiring leader or a leader who wants to continue growing to be the best you can be we encourage you to visit and subscribe to the Stand Up Leaders YouTube channel.

We invite you to join our Facebook group, Raise Your  Bars  - Personal Growth Solutions, and if you are ready to reprogram your current belief systems,  visit our website by clicking here.