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Zig Zigler said, “The real opportunity for success lies within the person and not in the job.” He also said, “If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner.”

The challenge is to overcome your limiting self-image to find the opportunity that is already within you. Your uniqueness provides opportunities especially for you, but you need to see them.

Coaching is an amazing profession because I get to see this transformation in people on a constant basis. I don’t change people, but I get to raise their awareness. It allows them to change their thoughts and daily actions. They begin to discover the success that has been within them all along.

Have you discovered your dream? Are you stuck in that dream, or are you on your way to achieving it?

We don’t always do what is best for us. We all know that eating healthy and exercise should be part of our normal routine. Coaching is similar in that I believe everyone can benefit from working with a coach and unlocking their dreams and potential. But like exercising, only some people are willing to invest the time, money, and effort required to be better.

Success is a personal standard. It is defined differently for each of us. But it still requires reaching for the highest that is in us, and becoming all that we can be. The opportunity is within you.

Recently a mastermind group was discussing The Law of Solid Ground and The Law of Respect from John Maxwell’s book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. The discussion evolved to strategies on building your character. Danny, one of the group participants, simply said, “You have to look at yourself in the mirror.”

It is a very simple, but direct action that we can take: reflection, self-evaluation, and contemplation. This is what allows us to change and build our character.

We have all been in a situation when we said the wrong thing. And we knew it. But it was too late.

If we ignore these situations and go on with life, we may never grow from that particular incident. If we take time to look in the mirror and question our actions, we will learn and grow.

It seems so simple, but yet this practice is very elusive for most people.

Today is April 2nd. Yesterday would have been a great day to sit down and reflect on the month of March. Where was your success? What can you celebrate? What adjustments do you have to make going forward? What have you learned?

I am willing to guess at least 80% of the people reading this did not reflect on their results for March. Why? Most people would respond they don’t have time. Yet, taking the time makes you more effective, builds your character, increases your success, and improves your life. If you think you do not have the time, maybe you should reconsider.

We cannot manage time, but we can manage how we spend the time available to us. It seems the older I get, the more I want to do, and the less time I have to do it.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures how Americans spend their time. On average, over 50% of our leisure time is spent watching television. We spend less than half the amount of time on household activities than we do on leisure.

That information is based on averages. If you are reading this, than you are probably also striving to be more proficient with your time than the average person. So what can we do to help us better manage our use of time? Here are three basic steps that we should consider.

1) Know Your Priorities. It would be difficult to measure our productivity if we did not know what we are trying to accomplish. We have priorities based on our work, priorities based on our personal goals, and priorities based on our friends and family. We can fail to step back, look at the bigger picture, and plan to fit these priorities together. Instead we keep them separated and it can lead to frustration and dissatisfaction.

2) Increase Your Focus. Once we know our priorities, it becomes easier to focus our activities. Writing a list of actions, or developing a plan for success becomes straightforward. Once defined, we can focus our time on accomplishment.

3) Increase Your Efficiency. There are many tools that can help us become more efficient. Depending what type of activities that are on our list, we may be able to delegate, put together a team, utilize technology, or simplify our approach. Search for productivity tools, and we will find many, such as, 7 Essential Productivity Tips.

These three steps will help us influence the why, the what, and the how of our own day. If we try to control 100% of our day, we will quickly become discouraged. There will always be distractions and surprises. However, being prepared for our day will make us better prepared for those interruptions.

I am amazed at the people that will drive a block out of their way to buy gasoline for their car which is $0.02 per gallon cheaper than a more convenient gas station. They probably save $0.40 or less. But these same people will walk into a grocery store and pick up a name brand item spending $2.40 more than the generic without even checking the price.

We all have a different perception of value. In this example we may see all gasoline being equal, so we are wanting to pay the lower price. But we don’t see the name brand as equal to the generic brand so we are willing to spend $2.40 more.

This is also true of how people see the value you bring as a person to whatever activity in which you engage. How do they perceive your value, and how do you perceive your value?

Seeing value in yourself is the first step of increasing your value in the eyes of others. They will not see value that you do not see in yourself.

You can also continue to increase your value both to yourself and to others, by investing in yourself. Do you spend more money on your big screen high-definition television and the 200 channel cable package than you spent on developing yourself last year?

I admit there was a time in my life when I would have answered that question, “yes”. Not anymore. Spending money on my personal development seems more like an investment than my television.

Maybe the question we should answer this week is, “Am I aspiring to be a generic brand,  or am I developing my name brand?”