There are some exciting things going on behind the scenes here. I mentioned the upcoming changes to my website in last week’s 100% Jodi. There are other changes I’m planning for this podcast, The Accomplished Membership Community and in the coaching services I provide. Some of the changes are subtle, some not so subtle and I will let you all know when the changes are real and you can actually look at them or experience them.

Suffice to say for now, the experience I’m having working with a digital strategist, the feedback I’m getting from all of you, and the experience I’m having doing A Course in Miracles, and the complimentary books I’m reading, are leading me in some exciting new directions.

I want to read to you an excerpt from one of those complimentary books I’m reading, The Law of Divine Compensation by Marianne Williamson.

“Your energy, your attitude, your positivity, your words, your ability to listen to others and truly dwell in the present; all those things make you a person others want to be with, want to work with, want to share ideas with. That energy is the spiritual basis for wealth creation.”What Marianne is talking about is self-leadership and this is the core of the business and leadership coaching I do. In fact, the starting point in working with me is taking the Energy Leadership Assessment.

The Energy Leadership Assessment captures your energy, your attitude, your positivity, your ability to listen to others and truly dwell in the present. It’s not a critique; it’s a snap shot to give you an idea of where you are starting from and where you can go.

And you’re not left there. In the debriefing of your results I am giving you practices and perspectives that will help you to increase your energy, positivity and abilities so you can be without a doubt the person others want to follow, want to work with, want to collaborate with, etc.

If you are interested in taking the Energy Leadership Assessment go to womentakingthelead.com/assessment to find out more and purchase your assessment so you can start getting the results you want to see.

The Four Agreements for a Better Life

In last week's 100% Jodi episode I introduced doing a series of episodes based on one of the most impactful books I have ever read, The Four Agreements.

Last May I published a 100% Jodi episode titled, 9 Places I Found What I (Didn't Realize) I Needed. In that episode I shared 9 books that came into my life and changed it for the better.

When people ask what book I would recommend to others The Four Agreements is the book I recommend most. The reason for this is I believe the biggest thing holding us back in our lives and in our businesses is our stress reactions. Our stress reactions are created by our perception of self, others and the world at large.

Quite simply, the teachings in The Four Agreements enable you to change your perception so you don’t get stressed out by what’s happening. Because you don’t get stressed out and thus shut down, overreact or pretend things are okay when they are not, you can bring forth your highest self in any situation.

The Four Agreements are powerful because they are simple. I recently had the pleasure of attending an event in Portland, Maine titled The Four Agreements for a Better Life. The speakers were don Miguel Ruiz, who is the author of The Four Agreements, and his sons don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. and don Jose Ruiz.

In this series I’m sharing with you the notes I took that evening and some of my thoughts around the material.

This is part two in this series. Last week I covered the opening of the evening in which don Miguel Ruiz, Sr. declared the most important agreement is Be Impeccable with Your Word.

I’ve been hearing from some of you that this talk provided a spin on this agreement that you had not considered before so if you personally did not catch that episode be sure to go back and give it a listen.

Always Do Your Best

Next to the stage that evening was don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. and he covered the agreement, Always Do Your Best. Here are my notes as I wrote them.

Always do your best is the expression of unconditional love. It is living your life fully. Love yourself, love your body, and love your mind. Take care of yourself for your fullest expression of love.

Conditional love is the enemy of freedom. In fact, as don Miguel Jr. explained it, conditional love is the weapon used for domestication, or controlling the will of another human being.

Control of another is a form of disrespect that begins with creating self-doubt in another. Self-doubt then allows the perpetrator to exert their will and subjugate the other.

There are rewards and punishments in the process of domestication. The rewards feel like acceptance, feel like love and the punishment feels like rejection, a lack of love.

Looking at yourself in the mirror and judging yourself is the ultimate form of Domestication.

Couples also try to domesticate each other to fit their own image of love.

Bring Awareness to Your Automatic Ways of Being

Taking the four agreements and making each one a means by which to judge yourself and others is domestication. Judgment takes a pure teaching or wisdom and corrupts it.

In a moment of clarity when we see what we have done we can make a choice to change for ourselves.

To unlearn our domestication we need bring awareness to our automatic ways of being, our automatic “yeses” and “nos.”

Being skeptical introduces reason and prevents the automatic “yes’ or “no.”

Putting your beliefs up for scrutiny (skepticism) will allow you to make a new choice.

What has someone else said that has stuck with you?

Chances are they said it once or a few time but you have been repeating it to yourself ever since, thus being complicit in your own domestication.

As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Forgive yourself for being complicit in your own domestication.

Be skeptical of negativity. Be skeptical of your own negativity.

To Sum it Up…

That’s the end of my notes and I have to share when don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. introduced skepticism…let’s just say I was a little surprised. I was skeptical of being skeptical which is making me laugh a little bit now.

However, what I’ve come to realize is doses of skepticism allow you to bring more awareness to the forefront. Rather than knee-jerk reacting into a verbal response or a behavior we can take a step back and consider the options.

I’ve come to realize there are very few things that need to be rushed. Yet, we often rush to try to fit more into our lives only to realize most of the things we’re rushing to fit in are things we don’t want or need in the first place.

In fact, rushing will cause us to overlook important details that we will have to take the time to fix or make amends for later.

Always do your best is the expression of unconditional love. It is living your life fully. Love yourself, love your body, and love your mind. Take care of yourself for your fullest expression of love.

Energy Leadership Assessment

I’m bringing this back around to the Energy Leadership Assessment because it goes hand-in-hand with don Miguel Jr.’s coverage of “always do your best”. His coverage had at its core bringing awareness to your automatic ways of being. That is exactly what the Energy Leadership Assessment does. It allows you to see what your knee-jerk reactions to stress are so you choose a different response if you want to and get a different result.

It’s a quick and dirty way to get at the heart of what has been keeping you from accomplishing the goals you long for.

If you are interested in taking the Energy Leadership Assessment go to womentakingthelead.com/assessment to find out more and purchase your assessment so you can start getting the results you want to see.

As always, I hope this was of value to you and here’s to your success!

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

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Resources

Private Facebook Community: Chat, share and collaborate with other women listening to the podcast!

Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing: A simple, step by step system that gives you the foundation and structure to take your goals and make them happen.

The Accomplished Community: A community of entrepreneurial Type A women uniting to achieve their biggest goals with confidence, integrity and a sense of humor.