Four years ago over the 4th of July holiday I sent out my very first newsletter which in many ways was the launch of my life as a coach. I’d just gotten back from a 5-day intensive at Coach U, was committed to getting certified as a coach, and I wanted to share my excitement and coaching style with the people who were my first fans and proselytizers.

A whole heck of a lot has happened in the last 1460 days or so. Book tours, TV interviews, and several thousand amazing people coached between one-on-one, group and company and conference programs. I’ve been equally fired up and flat out exhausted!

To support my more consistent playing in the space between these two poles, some fierce and fiery change is on the horizon. I’ll be focusing my individual coaching on two platforms-Awaken Your CAREERpreneur (for those looking to play a bigger game in their careers, create the professional success that is their birthright and leave a legacy of positive social impact) and Step Into Your Moxie (for women looking to dive deeply into developing authentic and attractive communication with themselves and their tribe).

I will be working with just a handful of one-on-one clients for longer periods of time to enable us to go deep, dirty and delicious into the work and so that I can offer more personalized attention and targeted support. For those looking to dip their toes into my way of working and grow from the support and insight of a nutritious community, I’ll be offering a series of groups and more virtual events.

In an attempt to share even more practical holistic success strategies, I’ll be launching my own weekly TV show in August on the Soreal Network called Shatter Your Glass Ceiling. And I’ll be focusing my writing on book projects (the next, 90 Days 90 Ways: Effectively Onboard Young Professionals Into the 21st Century Workplace will be released by ASTD Press in Spring 2012) as well as a weekly Opportunities Into Obstacles column that will live on AlexiaVernon.com.

What I’m asking of you

1. If you subscribe to AlexiaVernon.com (and if you don’t, you can sign up on the homepage), be on the lookout for an email announcing that you need to reconfirm your subscription when it relaunches with a new design and more interactivity in late-August. (Note: If you don’t respond, you will no longer receive my holistic success strategy tips, updates or special pricing.) I want to make sure that I’m dishing to people who are interested in what I’m serving. As a thank you for resubscribing, and coming along with me on the next phase of my journey, you will receive my 7 Biggest Obstacles to Success and the Sinfully Simple Formula to Shift Them Into Opportunities.

2. If you are interested in being considered for 1 of 5 One-Month UNLIMITED One-on-One Coaching Spots with me email Alexia@AlexiaVernon.com and I will get back to you with more information. This is a special offer only for the month of August and once the spots are gone, they’re gone. I want to make sure that they go to my raving fans who are ready for some Lexilicious booty kicking and success manifesting! (And don’t sweat the price. Truly, I’m making it more accessible than any other coaching program I’ve ever run for those who know they are ready for it!)

Over the weekend I had the privilege of coordinating and participating in The Pachamama Alliance’s international symposium, Awakening the Dreamer (ATD). For those unfamiliar with the program, it gives communities an opportunity to come together to address the social, economic, and environmental crises of our time, explore where we are and how we have gotten here, and most important identify the opportunities for us to lead a change of course moving forward.

I am the Millennial cliche of a perpetual learner. I can’t imagine ever getting to a place where based on age, degree, or narrowing mindset I don’t still love being in a classroom or audience having my mind stretched. Much of my thrill of learning comes not only from what a teacher, trainer, or facilitator shares. Rather, I love how these folks’ ideas start a chain reaction of my own ideas. While in an adult learning environment I’ve gotten many an idea for a blog post, chapter, new service, and even a theatre piece. This weekend while at ATD, the quotes, videos, facts, and testimony that our leader, Ningay Sing, shared prompted me to start thinking about what I have thought I have known at various points in my life. As a coach, I often frame what I believe–and what I’m seeking to explain to my clients–in alliterative distinctions. i.e., forgiveness and not forgetting. I discovered that I can really chart my evolution of ideas by these less than 140-character, Tweet-like phrases. They tell the story of my life  in a way I rather like. Continue Reading »

Make sure to check out Dr. Jim Loehr’s book, The Power of Story: Change Your Story, Change Your Destiny in Business and in Life.

It’s that time of year when there are more parties per evening than there are minutes to  attend them.  You spend time scheduling the ones you want to attend (is it the work or the  friends event?), wrapping gifts,  buying holiday outfits – and measuring the time you’ll have to rest and recover from the celebrations.

This year I recommend that you use the opportunity of reconnecting with friends and family at Holiday gatherings from both a personal and professional aspect.  It is a great time to reconnect with your warm, slightly warm and lukewarm network. Continue Reading »

In Part I of ‘Tis the Season for Asking Powerful Questions, I shared a series of questions I use to assess my learning and growth from the previous year. After getting clear on these discoveries, I put them aside–for I know that what I’m meant to hold onto has been incorporated intellectually, physically, and spiritually—and then I go outline the year ahead. And when I say “outline,” I really mean that I go sit by some body of water, spray a lot of lavender, eat a cupcake (or 2 or 3), close my eyes, and ask the heavens: What’s going to be in the year ahead? How can I get out of my own way so that I can allow the plan for me to unfold? I let whatever comes up, come up…. and then I jot down my musings in a journal. Here is some of what spilled forth during last year’s “outlining” day:

-Laugh more often

-Proudly say I live in Las Vegas

-Publish a book

-Forgive faster

-Get interviewed on TV

-Buy a house

-Make a Greek dessert

Now, clearly not all of these items are of equal importance, nor have they all happened (I still have yet to make that Greek dessert), but 86% of the items on the list have happened and all 5 of my core goals (see below) will be achieved!!!

For the next part of this process, I reflect on my core values list–p. 50-52 in Awaken Your CAREEpreneur–ask the universe, and again listen, for which 5 of the 20ish things that previously came up move me towards better alignment with my core values. These become my goals or priorities for the next year.

I then pull out my planner and identify how on December 31st of the next year I’ll know if I succeeded in having achieved each of my priorities. For many of them are not items to check off a list. Last year, one of my top 5 included: live with more love and courage. (One of my grounds for assessment has been–walk away from conversations feeling I’ve communicated honestly and from a heart-centered place.) This area has been my greatest achievement (as far as I’m concerned this year), and being able to ask myself in situations calling for brave communication–Am I being honest and heart-centered?–has definitely empowered me to be the best version of myself.

Now, after getting clarity on my 5 priorities–which can be focused on any of the life spheres– I work backwards from the next December to January of the coming year listing any targets I feel are necessary to set for myself each month. (For a target to be set, I MUST have quite a bit of control over the outcome. For example, I can say I plan to call ____ people or attend ____ types of events. I’m not going to say I will have landed 3 national commercials or found my dream mate by a particular date. These kinds of goals are manipulative and set us up to fail.) I also plan in time each month to reflect on my progress, do some mini-celebration, and make any necessary tweaks to my priorities or design for living them.

Next, I grab a nice combo of business, home, lifestyle, and travel mags. I spend some time cutting out pictures, quotes, and articles that best represent my top 5 priorities and put them up on a big board that I hang in my office. And finally, I write a letter to myself congratulating Lex for who she’s become over the last year. I find writing this letter to be one of the most powerful visioning practices I engage in. It really creates a bridge from who I’ve been to who I’m aspiring to be…. and also illuminates necessary action steps that when I think in a linear way, I often overlook.

Whether you follow the exact outline proposed in this post, take a few of the exercises/practices that work for you, or follow your own or someone else’s practice, my hope is that you create the time necessary to intentionally close-out one year and make room for the next. And, just as importantly, prioritize goals in your development as a person (and in your roles as a child, parent, professional, leader, community member, etc.) over “stuff.” One of my favorite Marianne Williamson quotes, which I’ll wrap up with, is: “God laughs hardest when you tell Him your plans.”

While those who know me are aware that I am about as self-reflective as a human comes, I concede to even more self-analysis during the holiday season as I try to make sense of what has unfolded over the last year before having an eye towards the year ahead. I take stock of the good, the bad, and the confusing. I assess how many of my goals I got to. But most importantly, I take account of my learning and growth. And if I’m able to walk away saying I have been enough of an observer of my life to have created new beliefs, new habits, and new levels of gratitude as a result of my year’s living…. than by golly, I have had a successful year!

I like to create little lists of lessons I’ve learned…. and never need to learn again…to ensure that whatever gunk I had to wade through in a given year gets archived as useful accoutrement of character building. And in 2010, these top 5 lessons include: Continue Reading »

Over the last few months, I’ve heard a lot of local and national political candidates talk about their version of America and how their opponent’s America looked very different. And I agree. There have been some significant ideological differences between candidates, particularly here in Nevada. With that said, however, I’m always more interested in the areas where people agree…. even if their approaches for getting to or sustaining a particular vision or result don’t neatly align.

I’ve had the privilege of doing a variety of different work around onboarding recent college graduates into their first full-time, post-collegiate jobs. A lot of this work has been looking for mutually-beneficial solutions for meeting young professionals where they are to take them where employers need them to be. Which of course has had me thinking…… what are the specific gaps between what colleges provide students and what employers expect them to know? Certainly this differs across fields. But if we could come together and agree on some particular  skills, we could save employers (and young professionals) a lot of time, energy, and heartache down the line. Continue Reading »