From Broken to Breathtaking by Lisa Nichols

Lisa Nichols is one of the world’s most-requested motivational speakers, as well as media personality and corporate CEO whose global platform has reached and served nearly 30 million people. She is the Founder and CEO of Motivating the Masses, Inc. — one of the country’s only publicly traded personal and business development training companies. She is also a best-selling author of six books, including her 7th book Abundance Now!

Rock-Bottom Story:

At 27, Lisa Nichols was a single mother on government assistance with less than $12 in her bank account. When she could no longer afford to buy Pampers for her son, it became the turning point in her life. She made a promise to never be that broke and broken again.

Here are Lisa Nichols’ Tips to Awesomeness:

1. I’m Too Brilliant For This

The first thing to know is when you’re out of congruence with who you’re designed to be.

When you were built, when you were on the assembly line, when you were being created, you were built to last. You were built with resiliency, perseverance, you were built with everything you need.— Lisa Nichols

You are designed in the image and likeness of God. In other words, you were born to be AWESOME! So whenever you find yourself in a rock-bottomish situation, remember your Awesomeness! Know that you were built with everything you need. From that knowing, you can create from nothing to everything.

2. Yes! YES!

Lisa says YES twice for two reasons: 1st yes is to you.

“I felt rock bottom, and I realized, I have to do something. I have to be my own rescue. No one’s going to rescue me.” — Lisa Nichols

2nd YES is to God’s assignment to your life, and it has to be louder because it’s going to cost you more and test your level of conviction.

I had my own Yes YES when I made a vow to myself (1st Yes) after the passing of my father in November 2012. I committed Yes to do everything I can so that no other child would bear the same pain of losing his father to cancer. And I realized I cannot do it on my own, so I turned to God for help. That’s my 2nd YES — my covenant, my lifelong mission.

God’s assignment to you is your mission in life. It is written in your soul. If you so desire to live a mission-driven life, the first step is to look within you. That’s your first Yes. You search for your soul. After having done so, the 2nd YES will surely follow.

Saying Yes YES may require some sacrifice. It will require you to say No NO to a lot of things; things you have been accustomed to. No to negativity, no to excuses, no to distractions and no to even the people closest to you. But please don’t take them as a No sign. Because the no’s are what will steer you further in the right direction. So just keep saying Yes YES, until the sacrifice transforms into a sacrament.

3. Don’t Ask For Permission

Give notice instead. A notice of leaving your tribe, the norm. Because you can’t help the poor by being poor yourself. You can’t give anything if you have nothing to offer. You can’t rise up if you stay down with them. You rise, so when you come back you can lift them up with you.

4. Share Your Story

Use it as your fuel. Your story is what will motivate you and inspire the people around you. Every single thing you touch is impacted by your story. It will be relevant to everything you do. If you’re in business, she suggests using the attorney analogy: whoever tells the most compelling story will most likely win the case. So your success depends on the level in which you’re willing to tell and share your story.

5. Create Micro Wins to Get to MACRO Wins

So you can celebrate more often, and you can know that you’re on the right track. When you fail, fail forward. We fail but we ask ourselves what lesson did I learn and what will I do differently the next time. — Lisa Nichols

Micro Wins build your “Optimism muscle”. They get you into a positive momentum. The micro wins are your building blocks toward your Macro wins.

Have you noticed in many kung-fu movies how a master trains his young apprentice? He makes him mop a floor, do the dishes and all those little household chores, before the student can move forward to the actual martial arts training. It’s because how you do with the small things is how you do with the big things.

A couple of years when I had no idea yet of my BIG mission in life, I thought to myself, if I can accomplish a small goal then I can also accomplish whatever BIG goal is waiting there for me. And at the time, I’ve always wanted to learn how to play guitar. So I took that as my small challenge.

After a few months, not only did I learn to play the guitar, but I was also able to write songs. Then I took another small challenge with learning to play the drums too. Next thing I know, I was already jamming and enjoying myself along with my friends in the band studio.

Although playing musical instrument is completely irrelevant to my BIG goal, my micro wins were more about teaching myself the importance of patience, dedication, practice, consistency, persistence, doing what I love, loving what I do and most especially learning to love myself in the process.

With the BIG goal I’m facing right now, I know and I believe that I can do it because my micro wins gave me that confidence.

The small wins are what make you a BIGGER person than your BIG goals. Go for them!

Start a blog if you want to write a book someday, get a coloring book if you dream of becoming a master painter, bake and sell cookies to your office mates if you plan of having your own pastry shop soon. Dream BIG, start small. And do it NOW!

6. Stay in Cognitive Dissonance

Think in such a way that doesn’t match your current behavior. Unlearn what you have been taught. Disrupt your soil, Lisa says, so you can plant a new seed to grow a new fruit. Unlearn, then re-learn.

Instill into your mind new set of beliefs that will serve you. She strongly recommends using affirmations.

  • “I am proud that I…”
  • “I forgive you for…”
  • “I commit to you that…”

7. Be Willing No Matter What

Who are you willing to become at the risk of being seen? What are you willing to do at the risk of being wildly successful? What are you willing to say at the risk of being heard by everybody? What are you willing to model at the risk that people will follow you? What are you willing to let go at the risk of getting something greater? If you’re willing, whose lives will you change? When you get that your journey has less to do with you than it has to do with everyone who will be blessed enough to cross your path, then you will be willing… — Lisa Nichols

It’s the message that Lisa keeps pointing out in most of her video clips: be willing, which comes from the root word will. According to dictionary, “will” means the capability of conscious choice and decision and intention. Another definition says: a fixed and persistent intent or purpose.

To be willing means to make a choice, not only once (fixed), but also to make that choice over and over again (persistent).

“Yes! YES!”


BONUS:

Creative Visualization Exercise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WchT4Q4cjNs


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