Live at KNDS Radio!

This week we're talking about THINKING and about whether or not the thoughts we have are actually true. It's going to be a great show!

Here's the lineup:

1) It's A Beautiful Morning - The Rascals
2) Patterns - Simon and Garfunkel
3) What Do You Want? - Groovy Judy
4) Fear of Change - Huffamoose
5) Slow Down - John Tracy
6) Silence the Thunder - John Smith
7) A Mile in My Shoes - mpact
8) Walk A Mile in My Shoes - The Sunset Travelers
9) Let It Be - Beatles
10) For Good - Stephen Schwartz
11) Here's to the Winners - Rita Mezrahi Shami
12) My Wish - Rascal Flatts
13) Oh How the Years Go By - Amy Grant

Remember, you can tune in every Sunday at 11 a.m. central at www.kndsradio.com. If you have requests, I'll do my best to play them for you - and let me know if you have ideas for themes, too. I'm always looking for new thoughts!

I'm NOT a Motivational Speaker!

I was at the dentist a couple of weeks ago getting some work done and the dentist asked me what I'd been up to since I last saw him. I told him that I'd been doing quite a bit of speaking and training and had been traveling a lot.

He knows that I do some keynote speeches for various organizations, and he asked me what topics I spoke about. I gave him some examples, and he said it reminded him of Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker.

As I was now in a position of not talking (not that easy for me!) my dentist went on to explain how he had rented the SNL Best of Chris Farley DVD and proceeded to laugh at Chris' antics as the stereotypical "Motivational Speaker" who lived "in a van down by the river."

That got me thinking about what it is I do with my speaking, coaching and training. I have always been very clear, every time I give a keynote, that I see a huge difference between motivation and inspiration.

All Chris Farley joking aside, I really think motivation is more about external motive and is oftentimes based on fear. We become afraid not to do or be something based on external sources. Or we are coerced to do something we don't really want to do because someone else thinks we should. Motivation can get us results, but they're often short-term. Instead of motivation, I am called to inspire, which is to connect with the spirit that is already inside of the audience members. It's the distinction between a push (motivation) and a pull (inspiration).

Do you see a distinction in your own life? Is motivation working? What are the long-term results? There is a way to change the results in each of our lives - and it's fool-proof. If you don't like the results in your life, you need only change your mind about the thoughts that are creating those results. Inspiration is the key - NOT motivation.

It sounds simple - and it is. It's just a matter of determining how badly you want new results and what you're willing to do to get them. The biggest challenge is to overcome old thought patterns and stick to the new ones to get bigger and better results.

What are your ideas for sticking to new thought patterns and getting out of the old? What's worked and what hasn't? Let's share ideas here!

It's All Made Up

It occurred to me last night while attending a Core Passion workshop that my friend Jodie conducted that everything in the world was at some point made up by someone. Everything we see around us - outside of nature - existed first in the imagination of someone. The Core Passion workshop, the traffic signal, the metric system, the television, XM Radio - they all existed only in the mind of someone somewhere at some point.

We've all agreed - for the most part - that these "standards" are what we will go by. Money is an interesting concept. We've all agreed that a green piece of paper with a 1 on it is less valuable than a green piece of paper with a 10 on it. But how many of us actually use those green pieces of paper anymore? Paypal is amazing to me. That is a system someone made up that is basically a huge set of agreements. I've never seen any of the "money" that my Paypal account supposedly contains. When I get paid by a client, it's not in those green pieces of paper, it might be in a different colored paper with someone's signature on it. I take that piece of paper to my bank and they take it from me and then I might be able to get some of that green paper if I want. But most of the time I just use a piece of plastic to get stuff. It's very bizarre when you think about it.

But if we really get down and dirty in this topic, how many of those thoughts and agreements are really true? Our thoughts and judgments and stories have a tendency to become our truth because we really do believe them. Yet many of us don't ever really dig deep and question them for present-day situations.

I'm listening to the newest Wayne Dyer and Byron Katie lecture/CD called "Making Your Thoughts Work For You" and I'm fascinated by Katie's "Work" (it's called "The Work"). On this CD, which is a recording of a live lecture, she is demonstrating "The Work," with audience members. She asks everyone to fill out what she calls a "Judge Your Neighbor" form which asks questions like "Who angers, irritates, saddens, or frustrates, you and why?" "How do you want them to change? What do you want them to do?" "What is it that they should or shouldn't do, be, think or feel?" "What do they need to do in order for you to be happy?" "What do you think of them? Make a list." "What is it that you don't want to experience with that person again?"

She tells the audience not to be spiritual or wise - but to be honest. When they've got the worksheets filled out, she asks for a volunteer to do "The Work." The Work consists of four questions and the turnaround. The four questions are:

1) Is that thought true?
2) Can you absolutely know it is true?
3) How do you react when you think that thought?
4) Who would you be without that thought?

And then you turn the thought around.

It's fascinating to listen to this "technique" and how effective it is in helping people turn their judgmental thoughts around to show how they are really the ones with the "problem." It is our own belief in the truth of our thoughts that keeps us stuck. We believe things like "He always yells at me" and "She never puts the peanut butter away" even when those things aren't happening in the present. We become much more tied to our need to be right than to be happy. Katie helps the audience members get rid of the tie to those thoughts so they can be free.

I love her line: "Who needs God when we've got our thoughts?"

Byron Katie made up "The Work." Walt Disney made up Disneyland. Henry Ford made up the Model T. Bill Gates made up Microsoft.

What can each of us make up that will move us to higher ground? I think a great place to start is to determine, once and for all, what it is we really, truly want.

I'll let you know when I have determined my goal. As I'm studying my Bob Proctor materials, I realize that although I've had good results in my career without specific goals, I could be much more focused if I had an articulated goal stated in the present beginning with "I'm so happy and grateful now that I ..."

Stay tuned ... I'll let you know what it is I'm making up. And look out ... I am the only Jodee Bock on the planet (and you're the only (fill in your name here) on the planet). What power and magic will there be when we all get clear with our personal missions!

What is your burning desire? What is your overall goal? If everything's only made up anyway, let's make up something HUGE!!

This Week's Radio Lineup

Remember you can tune in each Sunday at 11 a.m. central (www.kndsradio.com) and hear "You Already Know This Stuff" live!

Today we talked about being who we are, setting goals but giving up expectation and the "hows" to the universe, going with the flow and questioning everything we believe so we can find whatever it is we ARE.

Here's the lineup:

1) Daily Grind - Terry Starbucker!
2) Why Walk When You Can Fly - Mary Chapin Carpenter
3) Song of the Heart - Prince
4) Come As You Are - String Cheese Incident
5) Dare to be Different - Cheryl Hill
6) Anything's Possible - Jonny Lang
7) The Trick is to Learn to Enjoy the Ride - Jana Stanfield
8) The Dance - Garth Brooks
9) The River - Victoria Shaw
10) It's My Life - Bon Jovi
11) Welcome to Wherever You Are - Bon Jovi
12) If I Were Brave - Jana Stanfield

Take the Leap (et. al.)

As I reflect again on last week's post called "No Back Door," I'm reminded of a conversation from last night's master mind group. In business maybe it's a responsible thing to remember the big goal - keep your eye on the prize, etc. but in order to do that, you need to have some contingency plans in case unforeseen things come up. Is this the same as having a back door or is there some sense of accountability to make sure all the bases are covered?

So that got me thinking about all the cliches and sayings we have to "go for it." Here are some ... can you think of others?

"You'll never steal second base with one foot on first."

"Lead off ... steal the base and don't look back."

"Seal up that back door once and for all."

"Take the leap - the net will appear."

"Do or not do - there is no try."

"Put your money where your mouth is."

"Walk your talk."

"Straighten up and fly right."

"Just Do It."

No Back Door

I'm thinking today about commitment, as I come off of my first session last night with my brand new master mind group studying the book Think and Grow Rich (see my book list on this blog for the version we're reading).

The term "master mind" came directly from Napoleon Hill's interviews with 500 of the most successful people during the early 20th century. In this book, he described the 13 principles to success he discovered during this research: desire, faith, auto-suggestion, specialized knowledge, imagination, decision, persistence, enthusiastic support, organized planning, the power of the master mind, the subconscious mind, the power of the brain, and the sixth sense.

Principle 11 is the master mind. There are many amazing things about master minds, not the least of which is that it costs you nothing but your commitment to it (which, for many people today is more valuable than money).

Which leads me to the title for this post. As I think more about commitment, I'm reminded of Yoda's sage advice: "Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try." For many of us there is only try. We seem to leave ourselves a back door - an out - when we step into a new realm of possibility. But what does that say about our level of commitment to our word - our future - our selves?

I think it was my friend Pam Thomas who told me about inhaling - breathing - in order to rise higher - to get beyond the current stress, pressure and worry that often includes that back door. If we inhale, we rise higher. We rise above the current. We can inhale awareness to float rather than sink, which is probably our more familiar place.

If we always do what we've always done, we'll always get what we've always gotten. If that's what we want, great. Keep doing it. But if we'd like new results, it's going to require new thought. And new thought leads to new action.

I'm going to be conducting master mind groups to study the book Think and Grow Rich here in the Fargo area. But I'm curious whether anyone might be interested in creating a virtual master mind group. It's a 10-week commitment, one hour per week. The only investment, besides our time, is the book (we study the version in the link on this blog).

How about it ... want to take the leap to bigger and better results in your business and personal life?

Another Sunday at the Radio Station

Here we are, another Sunday, at KNDS radio in beautiful Fargo, North Dakota!

Today we're talking about breakthroughs, personal responsibility, and lots of other "things we already know!"

Here's today's projected lineup (which could be shortened, depending upon how much I talk!):

1) If I Had $1,000,000 - Barenaked Ladies
2) Breakthrough - Agents of Change
3) It's In Every One of Us - Dennis DeYoung
4) Go Inside - DeeJazz
5) Strength, Courage, Wisdom - India.arie
6) Silence the Thunder - John Smith
7) Peaceful - Helen Reddy
8) Come As You Are - String Cheese Incident
9) Simple Miracles - Emerson Drive
10) Life is Eternal - Carly Simon
11) No Regrets - Dead Left
12) Patterns - Simon and Garfunkel
13) Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing - John Legend

As always, you can tune in live each Sunday at 11 a.m. central at www.kndsradio.com. If you have requests, please leave them here and I'll do my best to play them next week!

Who Are You ... and other profound questions

I spent last weekend at a friend's lake home and there were many more kids there than I'm used to - so I found myself holing up in a spare bedroom to regroup and two songs made their way into my brain as I tried to find a minute of silent time.

The two songs were: "Who Are You?" by the Who and "Do You Know Where You're Going To?" by Diana Ross.

Wow - those are pretty profound questions, and ones I'm guessing many of us don't even consider in our lives.

If we don't know who we really are, or where we're headed, it makes life a lot more difficult as we become like tiny boats on a huge ocean, waiting for the wind to decide where we end up.

Really, it matters little who we say we are anyway. Who we really are - regardless of whether or not we even know - is what really counts.

So if we can answer the questions "Who are you?" and "Do you know where you're going to?" that's great. But even if we can't, the answers are still there. We really already do know the answer - we've just got to wade through the other stuff first.

Our Small Talk WAS Bigger (and Deeper)!

I'm still on Cloud Nine following the first annual Summit for Bigger Small Talk last week here in Fargo. I can say "first annual" now because we're going to be making plans for next year's event very soon!

My brand new, very good friend Pam Thomas has written a wonderful post about her experience in Fargo in her post called "Leap And the Net Will Appear." Pam is a huge reason for the success of this event. I must admit, my faith wavered a bit when so many people cancelled or ended up not being able to come to Fargo for our event. But Pam's faith didn't. She helped me see that truly anything is possible if you believe in it strongly enough.

Dick and Melanie Richards were so gracious and amazing with their participation on Day One (the Open Space day) and in facilitating Day Two when we named our geniuses through several activities and a guided meditation. I know we made an impact on the people who attended, and I'm confident we have created a great team of ambassadors for next year's event.

So really consider coming to Fargo next year for our event June 18-19. If you are looking for networking opportunities and a chance to build some bigger - and deeper - conversations you can use in all areas of your life, you won't want to miss our event!

As Pam tells us - Leap and the Net Will Appear! When you take bigger chances, you undoubtedly get bigger results! How FAR will you GO to yield BIGGER results in your own life? Come to FARGO next June!!

Live at the Radio Show!

I'm here at the radio studio talking about our fabulous city and the Bigger Small Talk Summit. You can tune in Sundays at 11 a.m. central at www.kndsradio.com to listen anywhere in the world!

Here is today's lineup:

1) Happiness Runs - Donovan
2) Stars & Stripes - Acoustix
3) Do You Know Where You're Going To? - Diana Ross
4) You Can Do Anything - Stephen Bishop
5) Big Time - Linda Eder
6) A Little Less Conversation - Elvis
7) Believe - Lenny Kravitz
8) Follow Your Dream - Sheryn Regis
9) The Good Life - Tony Bennett & Billy Joel
10) Your Life is Now - John Cougar Mellencamp
11) God Bless the USA - Acoustix

If you have a request, please leave it here and I'll do my best to play it on the show!