Raise Your Bars

The answer is no, it was of my own doing and my awareness started to change when I cam across the books "Find Your Why" and "Start With Why" by Simon Sinek and his Ted talk, The Golden Circle. 

It was like a light bulb going off in my mind and I came to the realization that I had more to give, but what exactly? You see, I had lived my life feeling that I wasn't worthy, I had low self-confidence even though I had spent 20+ years in the retail sales environment. I worked through the process of finding my own why and developed my why statement: To add value to others so that they can become the best version of themselves.

I realized that I loved to help people and had been searching for ways to do that my whole life, sometimes at the expense of my own happiness. I knew there had to be a way that I could live out this new awareness to maximize the impact that I could have on the world so I set about working out how.

I started to look back at the route of why there is a lack of engagement in the workforce and discovered that it comes from the teenage years when our ambition and dreams disappear. The time when we are discouraged from thinking for ourselves, or even thinking at all. The time when we are taught to become consumers of information so that we can pass tests and get exams instead of developing our strengths and passions. 

I want to change that way of thinking and by doing so I know I will provide the corporate world with a higher quality of leaders who will perform at a superior level, producing exceptional results and changing the world.

This is how we make the world great again, by encouraging and maximizing our most valuable asset - the people.

If you would like to know more about how I can help you and your children live a life of happiness and fulfillment contact me via any of the links below. Understand this though, to make a difference in your life and Maximize Your Potential requires dedication and hard work so make sure you are prepared to pay that price in order to get what you desire.

You can connect with me at:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Release Your Unconscious Page

Facebook: Leadership Excellence with Chris Baker

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: chris _j_baker_ryu

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

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership click here

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. 

I love the vision and mission statements from Charity's website which inspired me to bring her on the podcast so that I could introduce her to you:

Our Vision is to guide and inspire 7 Billion+ people to “live a life of Positive Impact” through the realization of their passion (unique gift/s), and the pursuit of their purpose (ways to share those gift/s) in service of themselves and their community.

Our Mission is to shine the light on the people, products, and places that are having a positive impact on the world. We do this through our multimedia platforms where we create and share and amplify these stories so that each person is inspired to take the actions and realize a life with an abundance of joy, great health, and prosperity!

Charity's background is in photography and she developed this love in her childhood. She fell in love with taking pictures of everything and became the school photographer before joining the news market. This lead Charity to work for some major publications including Sports Illustrated breaking the stereotype of photographers being men.

Charity is very aware of energy and therefore finds it hard when the news is constantly focused on negativity which prompted her to open her own magazine focused on the amazing things that are going on in the world. The response was incredible and requests were coming in from all over the world. A kick starter campaign raised $30,000 to complete the first print.

Everything  happens for a reason and we need to learn from what has happened and change our mindset plus energy to make a difference in the world. 

The latest project involves multiple resources including blogs, podcasts and magazines which will help spread positivity throughout the world.

We need to remember to use intentions with everything that we do. Even in meeting a friend, ask yourself "What is the intention of this meeting?", in other words what do you want to take away from it. When you do so you will lead your life intentionally and therefore receive everything that you want.

Parents need to be aware of this as children will do what they see rather than what they are told. As children learn these skills they will use them to benefit their growth.

The Four Agreements: Don Miguel Ruiz

1. Be impeccable with your word
2. Don't take anything personally
3. Don't make assumptions
4. Always do your best

There is also a fifth agreement that has been added: To always challenge your beliefs.

Everyone is doing the best they can based on their level of awareness. People are influenced by the environment that they were brought up in and where they associate. 

Charity's dream is for world peace and her vision statement is based on that dream. She hopes that this current crisis will continue to bring people together and create a ripple effect that will lead to world peace.

Charity's tip: Be in the now.

Tap into your senses and understand what you see, hear, feel, see , and smell as that will keep you in  the now and live in the present.

You can follow Charity on her website: positiveimpactempire.com, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

You can connect with me at:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Release Your Unconscious Page

Facebook: Leadership Excellence with Chris Baker

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: chris _j_baker_ryu

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

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership click here

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. 

Ed is committed to adding value to organization who add value to others. His coaching and leadership training focus on empowering and equipping people to effectively connect with others, stretching beyond their comfort zone, and applying sound wisdom to build their foundation for long-term success. His passion is visible when he is developing leaders of all ages to become creative innovators.

Ed is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council and often serves as a guest speaker to graduate students at multiple universities. He is a mentor and coach to professionals working in various organizations, he has served on several advisory boards for nonprofit organizations, hosted a television show, and has won awards for his leadership impact.

This makes Ed an excellent guest to help show you how to Maximize Your Potential every day!

Ed describes how he has been fortunate to learn from the adversities he has experienced. As a kid Ed describes himself as a "knuckle head" where he didn't really feel like he fitted in at school. One day his teacher in elementary school called all the class in and named three children, including Ed, that were being moved to the "smaller class" - the one that the kids referred to as the class for dummies!

Ed's childhood was hard because he felt like he never fitted in and was bullied. He asks the question: What would it have been like if someone had stopped and asked, "How are you doing?". He goes on to explain how he thought life wasn't worth living and actually attempted to take his own life at an early age. (This is a bigger problem in society than we care to admit!)

Ed was a disconnected kid until a school counselor took time to ask him if he thought he would be okay moving up to the bigger class and of course he said yes. It wasn't easy but his grades did start to improve. His aim was just to graduate school because he knew his family had their own business and therefore he wasn't worried about getting a career.

Ed eventually got to college and was taken under the wing of a professor who invested in his potential, the potential that Ed didn't see himself! He held up an apple seed and asked the students what they saw. Most laughed and thought he was crazy but one student explained how he saw an orchard that would feed many people. This opened Ed's eyes and his attitude changed. He knew he had more to give and he passion to change the world started to grow.

Listen as Ed talks about his leadership style and ethics. How does this relate to experiences that you have had? This is a classic example of many companies looking at the immediate results but Ed was focused on developing the long term vision and future.

Ed found his way into working with kids even though he never thought that was a direction he would ever take. This changed when he encountered a homeless couple who touched his heart. The story shows how people often judge others without knowing the back story. This man described how he lost his job and house after a medical center gave him untested blood which resulted in him getting HIV. This was passed onto his wife and their life went downhill from there. The man was trying to "make peace" with himself before he died. 

Ed's grades in school were a reflection of his EQ, his emotions regarding family and school life, not his potential.

Adults impose limitations on kids and this is where their creativity stops. My aim through Acorns 2 Oaks Leadership Academy and this podcast is to help every level understand that we should be elevating the creativity to maximize potential.

Ed tells the story about his daughter who wanted to create something special for her school's valentines day celebration. She knew the resources available to her and went onto YouTube to find out how to make a box that would be special. Her creativity flowed and she made a list of everything she needed to make her box. Being a good father who wants to stimulate her creativity Ed took her to the store and bought the items. Even thought this cost more than buying a finished article Ed knew that this was an investment in her creativity and would pay dividends to her in the future.

There is more than one way to learn and in traditional schools we only each one way. We cannot be a hindrance to their creativity by forcing them to live in a world that we used to live in rather than preparing them to live in a world that doesn't exist yet.

Question: Were the top 25 products that you use available 25 years ago?

The uniformity and conformity in schools today takes the creativity and smashes it, which is what Ed refers to as the sausage factory. This is another challenge that I am on a mission to change with A2OLA.

Suicide is the second highest cause of death for our youth!

"Love is not an emotion, it is an action." - Ed Reed

When kids find their purpose and we provide them with an environment to thrive we will provide them the power to change the world. We also need to challenge the corporations to exercise social responsibility to create an environment where kids have a place to thrive in their community.

You can connect with Ed on Facebook, on Twitter or via email at [email protected].

You can connect with me at:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Release Your Unconscious Page

Facebook: Leadership Excellence with Chris Baker

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: chris _j_baker_ryu

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

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership click here

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. 

Ashley continues to pour out her heart and shares her story....

As she realized that she was feeling obligated to heal people Ashley decided that she would only talk to people about their problems if they are already seeking help themselves. 

Brad Pitt: The more love you have, the more love lost  you will have.

This brings back a saying that I heard many years ago: It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.

Ashley explains how she learned that she needed to love herself more. She also realized that she was never able to speak to her parents about the emotions she was feeling and this is something that eventually she would need to do in order to grow herself and help her parents.

When she did bring this to her Dad he didn't speak to her for 8 months afterwards. While this wasn't good, it was out in the open at last. Since that time they have had swings between talking and not talking and Ashley says that she is more like her Dad and her emotions had been harbored to a point where she was a ticking time bomb. Other people's opinions upset her so much that it would control her life for days. Her therapy sessions helped Ashley come to terms with this fact and now she has a great relationship with her Father.

Question: How do your decisions affect other people?

Last Summer was the last blow up that Ashley and her Father had as he was still being abusive to her Mother. This came to a head with Ashley letting her Father know that unless he changed she was not going to let her kids be around him when she has them. In addition she said he couldn't walk her down the aisle whenever she gets married. Yes, this is harsh but it had to hit home so that he understood the seriousness of the situation and his actions.

Ashley's words are getting through to her Father as her Mother says he is now helping around the house and being more attentive. She wants the best for Family and will always love him, even if this is from afar. 

A few months after this conversation Ashley's Grand Father passed away and death brings reflection to family. When Ashley went home she saw her Father for the first time in months and he did apologize for the things he had said and how he had acted, which is progress.

The lesson here is to share your emotions and face what is happening so that you can clear away the clutter and learn to love yourself. Being confident in who you are and being able to try something new without fear of what other people will say will help you to achieve your dreams.

You own your decisions and they should be based on what you want, not what other people want for you. Yes, you will fail as you grow but when you learn from these temporary setbacks it is a good lesson. 

After a relationship break up Ashley went into a depression and it took a lot to get out of that. She leaned on her friends a lot, which shows the value of having to tight inner circle. The was about 4 years ago and looking back now Ashley cringes as she realizes her self worth was so low. She now understands that the only limitations we have exist in our own minds. Therapy helps you find the real you and identify your inner challenges so that you can overcome them and move forward.

Summary:

• Understanding your self worth
• Developing confidence in yourself
• Get rid of internal baggage
• Learn to love yourself
• Get a support group
• Therapy is goo d to help you understand why you are who you are
• Failure is good - fail early and fail often!
• As parents you influence your kids future - be happy so that they can be happy

You can connect with Ashley on Instagram.

You can connect with me at:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Release Your Unconscious Page

Facebook: Leadership Excellence with Chris Baker

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: chris _j_baker_ryu

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

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership click here

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. 

In this episode I just let Ashley talk, and I encourage you to listen as she pours out her heart in telling her story. It is a great lesson in how we need to listen to the Millennial and Gen Z population so that we can truly understand what they are thinking and who they are. 

Ashley explains how her story started by experiencing an abusive relationship between her parents and how this affected her, even though she didn't realize it at the time. Ashley's parents had her at a young age and this brought them challenges that young adults really should not have to go through. At 19 years old you don't really know your self and adding a baby into the equation adds extra stress.

As a child Ashley absorbed that energy, even while in the womb, and she believes that her sensitivity to other people's energy comes from this. While she didn't understand what was happening with her parents relationship and behavior it became the norm for her. Animosity resulted and Ashley became confused about what love actually was. She wanted to make her mother feel good and this resulted in her becoming compassionate towards others and wanting to serve them.

At age 12 Ashley begged her family to go to counseling and felt that her parents were pushing a lot of their fears onto her. (My research has shown that this is a widespread  challenge that I address in my Acorns 2 oaks Leadership Academy). By doing this it creates a generational cycle of fear by putting your own limitations onto your offspring. We all have a different definition of success and it is important to explore what you want and who you are before making decisions that will dictate the path of your life.

Ashley wanted to explore all avenues as to what she could do and get good at that, especially as it meant she could focus on that instead of going home to the toxic environment. Once Ashley realized that she wanted to serve people she went to college for Athletic development before switching to Chiropractic school. 

"If you don't love what you do to your core, you will not be successful" - Dr. Ashley Robel.

After graduating Ashley stayed in St. Louis rather than moving back to Wisconsin where she was raised. Her parents were not happy about this but as Ashley explains, it is important to be in an environment that is going to stimulate your growth. 

Even after graduating Ashley was struggling wit a lack of self-worth and confidence which she explains came from how she saw her Mom view herself. Note: This is something parents need to be aware of because children observe a lot and this tends to stick more than what you say. 

This lack of self confidence lead to bad decisions with dating as Ashley would pick men who she thought needed fixing and all she wanted was to be made happy. She came to realize that she was carrying a lot if unwanted baggage and this needed to be cleared before she could move forward towards happiness.

She wanted to make her parents proud because she felt like she had taken their dreams away when they made the decision to have her. Therefore her decisions were made in order to make her parents happy. Ashley explains that whatever you go through in life is your responsibility and you cannot point fingers at anyone else or blame them because if you do you will not go anywhere significant.

Ashley went to therapy and it was this experience that helped her to learn about herself and the fact that her decisions around relationships were based on what she saw with her parents growing up. Therapy does require a degree of vulnerability but it is essential to release the pain and heal from it so that you can grow. 

You cannot be responsible for healing other people but you can inspire them to want to help themselves. You need to find boundaries when doing this because it is easy to absorb their bad energy which in turn will bring you down. 

More to come in episode #18.

You can connect with Ashley on Instagram.

You can connect with me at:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Release Your Unconscious Page

Facebook: Leadership Excellence with Chris Baker

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: chris _j_baker_ryu

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

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership click here

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. 

I wrote my book, 10 Steps 2 Freedom, as a guide that will lead you to a life of freedom where you can do more of what you love to do - every day!

During the next few episodes it will be my pleasure to guide you through the process of identifying your purpose, designing a vision of the future your desire, and then implementing a strategy that will take you on a journey of transformation from where you are now to where you want to be.

In the introduction I share how I developed my own purpose statement, To add value to others so that they can become the best version of themselves, and also how I created my vision, That every child should have the chance of a college education, regardless of their finances. 

In Part two of the introduction I introduce you to the 4 common things that stop people identifying and pursuing their dream.

• Other people saying that you cannot do it
• Giving in to past experiences
• Accepting Average
• Lack of confidence

This is a journey, my friend, and if you are prepared to put in the work I will be happy to be your guide. As I leave you I want to ask you this question:

"Are you happy living under the average limitations imposed on you by other people, or are you ready to rise to the greater expectations of your inner self?"

Contact me:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Release Your Unconscious Page

Facebook: Leadership Excellence with Chris Baker

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: chris _j_baker_ryu

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

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership click here

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. 

I wanted to introduce you to Wendy because her story is one that is all too familiar to many people. One where people are discouraged from pursuing their dreams by other people even though they know it is what they want to do. 

Wendy describes how people told her she couldn't and at age 43 she is trying everything to keep her girls dreams alive and encourage them. She then realized that it was not too late for her and it was time for her to start living her life. She knew that is she lived just to watch her kids live their life she would have nothing once they left.

She used her memories as the fuel to make a change in her life. Leadership is influence and by Wendy making the change in her life it demonstrated to her children that she is being a good example to them and therefore influencing them to follow their dreams.

Wendy's kids support her new career even though it means that she cannot eat the same as them, however she is intentional about being there for meal times. In fact her kids are proud that she is not a "normal" mum as no one else has a body building, model for a mum.

Negative influences had held Wendy back. People telling her that she wasn't pretty or skinny lead her to starving herself which is a challenge for many youngsters and it is a behavior that needs to change.

Wendy wants her voice to tell women, and especially teenagers, to know that being strong is sexy. The runway models were traditionally seen as "pretty" but they are not real. Wendy was never going to be a six foot runway model so it made her feel bad. She now knows that having muscles is sexy and real. 

The inside beauty is also important but that story is not told. Movies show models that look amazing but Wendy describes a documentary that showed how it took 8 hours to get one actress ready for a scene - this is not normal life so we need to help teenagers realize this.

Making your body strong also helps to strengthen your mind. It takes dedication and will power to develop your fitness and sculpt your body. This is also required to advance in the corporate world in order to be better every day. 

Wendy makes sure that none of her photos are filtered as she wants to show her natural self and help people understand that you should be proud of yourself. She has a belief in herself now that helps her to realize she can follow her dreams. The trigger was removing abusive family members who were having a negative impact on her health. This step reduced her stress levels and the doctors were amazed at the difference.

Wendy has her personal training license and is also working on her nutritional license. She went to modelling classes to help her with stage presence for her body building events and this lead to her becoming a fitness model, which she never thought would be her thing.

Her biggest dream is to own a gym, Phoenix Rising. This would be focused on women and how they can feel strong and sexy in their own way. She wants to dismiss the typical stereotypes that exist to include all forms of female fitness where women embrace each other's strengths. 

You can connect with Wendy on Instagram. 

Contact me:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Release Your Unconscious Page

Facebook: Leadership Excellence with Chris Baker

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: chris _j_baker_ryu

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

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership click here

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. 

Brian’s corporate experience includes management and executive positions with UPS, PepsiCo, and Northern Automotive. As an entrepreneur he has personally launched and led successful businesses and been instrumental in the success of many others. In addition, he has consulted for dozens of world-class companies including Coldwell Banker, Mass Mutual, Medtronic, New York Life, and Tiffany & Co.

Brian is a recognized expert in the field of leadership and execution. His realization that most people don’t lack ideas but struggle with effective implementation led him to the development of The 12 Week Year. In addition to his books, Brian has been published in many of the leading business journals and magazines. He is a sought after speaker, educating and inspiring thousands each year.

He is a visionary with a passion for helping others go beyond what they think they are capable of and achieve more than they ever thought possible. His greatest strength might be his ability to take success principles and strategies and help others apply them in a way that is powerful and effective, and gets results.

Brian started his journey in corporate America with UPS and left there to work for PepsiCo before joining a consulting group that studied the effect of culture on performance. He eventually went out on his own with a Health services company but his love is around helping people to improve. 

He is fascinated by helping his clients get more of what they want faster which lead him to write his book The 12-Week Year with his business partner Michael Lennington. The key is not in the lack of ideas but in the execution. With the traditional annual plan December looks a long way off in January however one bad quarter can result in the year being abandoned.

Brian's clients work on the context of 12 weeks being a year. This creates a clear line of sight because the finish line is a lot closer which creates a focus. The effect of focus and consistency produces results.

You still need a long term aspirational vision about what you want your life to look like and then bring that down to near term before aligning the 12 week years to that. In order to take your performance to a greater level you will have to do things that you are not doing now which brings a degree of discomfort. The long term vision is what keeps you on track and drives your forward.

In an annual environment there is so much unpredictability but when you bring the horizon to 12 weeks the degree of predictability increases and allows for you to adapt more quickly. The current environment is a perfect example of why the 12 week years works so much better than an annual objective.

Focusing on what you can control keeps you are track and will  bring those organizations out of the current pandemic in a stronger position where many will have thrown in the towel.

Chris: Why do you think many people struggle to understand that they are capable of more than they are doing?

Brian: People around us often discourage us from trying new things. It is easy to let the past dictate the future and when we do this we believe we are not capable of more. Confidence comes from competence and you cannot think your way into competence, you have to do it.

Success is not a straight line up, in fact it is a jagged line that requires commitment and persistence to stick with it. Failure is a learning experience and is therefore good, not bad. The quickest way to get where you want to be is to fail faster, in fact it is the only way. How you think about failure really matters. If you think about it as part of the process it is highly productive.

"If we didn't learn to walk as kids, we would never learn as adults" - Brian P. Moran.

Brian's tips to maximize your potential:

Start with a vision so that you know what you want. It needs to be compelling with an emotional connection. 

Next, what is in your control. Don't take on too much, pick one thing and for the next 12 weeks really focus on it. Focus makes you great! Give yourself some grace as you are going to stumble along the way. 

Goals are the outcomes and we desire these but we control our actions. The actions you take today are the predictors of your future.

You can contact Brian on his website at 12weekyear.com or on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram.

Contact me:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Release Your Unconscious Page

Facebook: Leadership Excellence with Chris Baker

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: chris _j_baker_ryu

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

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership click here

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. 

The sisters used their marketing strategies to architect marketing systems for clients accounting for over 90 million dollars in sales. Kay and Shila now seek to share their journey and expertise with other entrepreneurs through their appointment as Marketing Faculty for the John Maxwell Team, podcasts hosts of The Mentorship Quest and as small business and personal growth speakers. Kay & Shila live in their hometown of Reno Nevada with their husbands, children and dogs.

Kay and Shi come as a pair and so this is truly a two-for-one deal!

Kay & Shi's parents purchased a failing business 17 years ago and bet everything on what other people told them was a huge risk. Despite this they wanted to follow the American dream and become business owners so that they could escape a life of living on food stamps.

Because every penny had been invested in the business they couldn't afford to hire staff so Kay and Shi started working there at 10 and 17 years old. It took 5 years to get to know the lay of the land and then the family opened a new site in 2008, yes during the financial crisis!

From that time they started working on marketing strategies so that they could build "raving fans" before they were featured on the Food Network. They built the empire to 5 locations but then realized that this was not a great indication of success as it brought a different level of pressure.

Kay & Shi will shortly be opening their 12th location.

After Mom joined the John Maxwell Team in 2013 it changed their lives. At this time they were able to bring in the values of people and culture to the business and their journey continues as the learn and apply more.

Don't compare your "Front end" with successful people's "Front end", instead compare your "back end", in other words what you do every day.

Maximizing Your Potential is about learning the behaviors that you need to implement every day in order to develop. Understand what your potential is right now and then shifting he volume up on little dials every day. 

We do have unlimited potential and that can be exciting, yet also overwhelming at the same time. Ask yourself: What are you passionate about, what do you love to do?

When you do what you love to do it doesn't feel like you are working so that is what we should be aiming for in order to maximize our potential.

Your potential at this time will be different to other people's so understand what you can do to grow instead of comparing yourself with others. You should be working towards a grand vision and you do this by taking small steps every day. Your aim is not to be the "Best", it is to be better every day. 

Shift your focus onto "How can I win each day?" This will give you instant gratification that society has been conditioned to expect and want. What are the 5 things that you can do each day that will stack up towards your big goal.

Behaviors lead to actions, actions become habits, and habits produce results. Create good behaviors and this will eventually lead to good results!

Chris: What 3 pieces of advice would you give a teenager or a parent?

Kay & Shi:

1. Find a mentor and seek mentorship. Pick someone who has been where you want to go or is further along the path so that they can help you develop grit.
2. Everything is figure-out-able. There is always something that you can do. Think about the options and then take the action that you know is right.
3. Develop your grit. Be able to persevere and weather the storms that will inevitably come along. 

Connect with Kay & Shi on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or on their website, Kayandshi.com

Contact me:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Release Your Unconscious Page

Facebook: Leadership Excellence with Chris Baker

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: chris _j_baker_ryu

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

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership click here

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. 

Lee is the "Magical Creativity Dude" who helps people think differently with a view to Maximize Your Potential. Lee was a part of the Creative Inc. team at Disney during his last 10 years. The idea was to create a common language for creativity and he did this with an innovative program called "Toy Box" which I was blessed to participate in myself.

We all have creativity within us and when we release this potential it creates amazing results. People are overwhelmed by the fact that they didn't realize they had this level of creativity within them.

The training is simple, it is based on what we learn in life but the way it is built makes it powerful. It focuses on building on ideas that traditionally would be thought of as ridiculous. Using a divergent and convergent mindset helps expand thinking.

"Behaviors eat the process for breakfast" - teaching behaviors produces results. 

The concept of "What if" helps people think about what is possible rather than what is not likely. Lee calls this the "Rule breaker" and encourages you to think about what could happen if that rule didn't exist. Disney used this concept when they created the Magic Bands by asking "What if there were no turnstiles?"

Put all judgements aside when you are creating ideas. Use the phrase "Yes, and" and but the no because response away. Another phrase that can be used is "Yes, or" which encourages collaboration of ideas that can be green-housed.

An important step in the thought process is to invite 80% experts and 20% UN-biased observers who have no preconceived ideas and therefore bring a fresh approach. 

Some people do not have permission to create ideas in their workplace so giving that permission is a fresh perspective that opens up a new world of ideas. Lee explains how he did this with a group of accountants who are not normally associated with being creative.

There are a lot of amazing things happening in the world during the current situation which is really refreshing. Lee describes how creative it is that Italians are on their balconies playing music together, how he has "dance parties" online, the Easter Bunny parades, and also how families are spending more quality time together. All of each would not have happened previously.

All of Lee's business was live so his jobs were cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19. This meant that Lee had to be creative and so he decided to practice facilitating via zoom, which he wasn't comfortable in doing previously. He did this every other day for a couple of weeks to fail and learn in order to become comfortable with this new way of communicating his programs.

Another great tip for virtual meetings is to "stand people up" every 40 minutes so that they stay energized and focused.

You can follow Lee on LinkedIn or Twitter

Contact me:

Website: www.Chris-J-Baker.com

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Release Your Unconscious Page

Facebook: Leadership Excellence with Chris Baker

LinkedIn: Chris Baker

Instagram: chris _j_baker_ryu

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

To purchase my book Organizational Culture and Leadership click here

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.