In the coaching courses I followed, I learned to always focus on what someone can. Which talent anyone can more effectively use and which of his patterns are in the way. It is almost forbidden to indicate that someone is not able to do something. This is not motivating, rather paralyzing. It is strange to me that it is the other way!

At my first job as an auditor I worked with a team leader. He told me he did not think I was able for a large group of people a compelling story to tell. Five years later I gave my first training to some 30 new employees. At my second job as a financial advisor I applied to the post of financial manager. The board of directors indicated that I was too young and was not able to lead such an important department. And five months later I was in that job as financial manager. Apparently the words “You Are Not Able to” motivates me with such positive energy that I get to what I really want to achieve.

In my new career as a trainer / (NLP-) coach in the areas of communication, personal development and team development, I am busy building a network. An important target for me are financial professionals. As this is my background and because I think these professionals can get more from their careers as they understand their customers and their customers as well understand them. Thanks to a former colleague I came in contact with the head of learning and development center of a large accountancy firm. After a difficult conversation she indicated that she thought I was not able to coach managers and directors from their company. Not able to …. So, how long will this take?

If I have a goal and someone else tells me to think that I am not able, my perception change from: ‘Am I able?’ into ‘Oh yes, I can do this!!’

Last week I suggested for you to ask yourself the following question at moments during your day where you feel challenged by what is happening:

“Why could this be a good thing? What positive may come out of this?”

I hope you took this on, and that it made a difference in your perception of what occurred. My last suggestion for creating truly magical days is as follows. At the END of your day, just before you go to sleep, take a minute and reflect on your day. Ask yourself the following:

What positive things happened today?
What things can I be grateful for, proud of or inspired by?

You see, so often all kinds of wonderful things happen in our lives that we take for granted and that get overshadowed by the challenges we experience. This makes our perception of our day less positive and grateful than it could be. So take a moment each night to get present to the magic of the day you had. I am sure you will go to sleep much more happy and fulfilled!

So there you go:)! Including my first suggestion of starting your day with the question “Why will this be a TOP day?”, you now have three possible actions to take for you to create the most fulfilling days. I thoroughly recommend to try and incorporate them into your daily life. Even if you practice them half of the time, your days will still be more powerful and positive than ever before!

I would love to hear your experiences with these actions. Feel free to reply with a comment. Thanks for those who have done so already, I am always grateful to hear from you!

Have a great week!

Linda Boertjens

Last week I recommended you to start your day with the statement “Today is going to be my best day ever, because…..“and come up with as many reasons as to why it will be a TOP day for you.

So how did it go? What did you notice when you came up with the reasons for making it your best day ever? I pondered about the statement myself as well in
the morning as I woke up. What I noticed was really amazing. The moment I started to come up with reasons, it seemed like my head became totally light
and almost lifted! All the “stuff” that made my head feel heavy (“all the “have-to’s”, “should’s”, “must remember’s” etc….) disappeared and the only thing I felt was inspiration and a growing and focused excitement for the day to come! Cool, right? I hope you felt similarly inspired.

I promised another suggestion this week for you to create really powerful days. Here it is. At moments where you feel challenged by what is happening,
try and answer this question:

“Why could this be a good thing? What positive may come out of this?”

You see, so often things that you perceive as being negative turn out to be blessings in disguise upon reflection. I have noticed a number of times that I
was disappointed that things didn’t go the way I thought they would go, only to notice that things turned out even better than I had imagined it myself! The
Universe knows what it is doing and will always take the best possible route to your end goal . We just need to trust it and let go of the outcome!
I challenge you to do this during your day for the week to come, in order to make it a habit. Next week I will be sharing my final suggestion which you can
then add to the first two actions to empower you even more and create magical, truly inspired days!

I would love to hear your experiences with these actions.

Have a great week!

Linda Boertjens

In 2001 I gave my first training and knew immediately that this was what wanted to do. Creating a group of individuals into a cohesive group. A group that respects each other in an environment of creativity, fun and knowledge. For five years I was able to give about three weeks a year training to young employees of KPMG. Then I decided to work closer to home, so I could help in the care of our kids (who have not attended school). As a manager I got the opportunity to further my skills in (NLP) coaching.

Meanwhile I missed the environment I felt giving a training. In 2008 I decided to work 4 days and 1 days to devote to training and coaching. That did good! The ‘old’ and pleasant feeling came back! In September 2009 I decided to work as manager 3 days and 2 days as an independent trainer / coach. Be-gain was born!

By March 2 this year (my thirty-sixth birthday) I quit my management job and I can work full time on my dream: to create an environment of creativity, respect, knowledge and fun! (translated from Dutch to English by google)

The difference between I-llness and WE-llness

I have times that I notice that I am very close to spiralling into a negative feeling state just by little things happening. This could be my kids fighting over toys, or simply by hitting my little toe really hard .

So I thought about simple yet effective things I can do to create a really powerful day, and came up with a few suggestions that I will share with you over the next few weeks. I hope they will help you too to make each day count!

The first suggestion is as follows: at the start of each day, even before you get out of bed, consciously CHOOSE to create a fantastic, magical day. Then finish the following statement for yourself:

“Today is going to be my best day ever, because……”

Come up with as many reasons why this will be a TOP day. For instance: Today is going to be my best day ever, because I am going to take extra care of my appearance, I finally will be finishing that report, I am going to spend some wonderful time with my family, and I will be going to the gym and will have the best workout I can! By starting your day like this, you will be very present to the actions YOU can take to make your day special. This will get you excited about your day, you will be consciously working on making it extraordinary and therefore chances are… you WILL have a fantastic day!

I challenge you to do this every day in order to make it a habit. Next week I will be sharing another suggestion which you can then add to this action to empower you even more! I will also share my own experiences with starting each day with this exercise.

Have a great week!

Linda Boertjens

A few weeks ago, I received a wonderful email from C.J. Wilhelmi, I thought I’d share it with you (with her permission) as I think it will be of inspiration to you. Thank you C.J. for sharing it with us!

Dear Linda,

I have found that when I manifest something, and I have two options for the outcome I desire, I say, “I now have … and / or …” I always get both! They may come
separately or combined! For example, I was desiring a full-time college teaching position. I also knew that I would enjoy a public relations job. So I said, “I now have a full-time college teaching position and / or a wonderful public relations job!” What manifested was my full-time college teaching position, and part of that job was teaching public relations!

Several weeks ago someone stole my beloved tennis racket. I searched with the help of many people. Eventually through a number of events, it was returned
to me. After my racket was stolen, I began manifesting its return, by saying, “My stolen tennis racket is now returned to me, and /or I now receive a brand-new tennis racket, of equal or greater value, at zero dollars cost to me.” At our next tennis club meeting, I won a new racket, that was, indeed, of slightly greater value than
the one that was stolen, and in colors that I had silently adored (black, yellow-green and white). It’s now mine, the grip size is a perfect fit, and I like it even better than the one that had been stolen – but I’m keeping them both!

Keep dreaming big, then dream even bigger!