Summer Knight | Success and Impact

15 May 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in 5 human equities, confidence, flow, stress With No Comments Permalink

The Antidote

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On May 15, 2014 With No Comments

I’m one of those people who exudes confidence even when taking on new experiences. Examples: playing basketball for the 1st time on a league at 40; starting a completely new business in a completely new industry in a completely new country.

How? Because, I try not to take myself too seriously while seeing the humor in situations. This tendency is why I’ve had such a diverse career and set of life experiences.

However this month, I ran against a wall. Why? Multi-factorial number of stressors with the end result led me trudging through my “To Do” list seeing barrier after barrier to accomplishing my goals. Along the way, I lost the fun, forgot the laughter, and felt isolated. I got STUCK.

The Antidote?
Practice what I preach… I looked at my 5 Human Equities:

My Brain
My Body
My Connections
My Purpose
My Success Ratio

They were out of FLOW. Moving forward with the YOUniqueRx, I was nailing my “Purpose”, framing my “Success Ratio”, and definitely leveraging the neuroscience of my “Brain”. However, for too long I had been ignoring my “Connections” and my “Body”. This built up enough anxiety to really FREAK ME OUT!

So, took a break and pushed back from my passion, YOUniqueRx, for a couple days – played basketball, went on walks with the dog, watched my children play sports and attended recitals, had a party, called friends and reached out to people with whom I’ve been wanting to network. Smiled, laughed, danced and sang! This morning I awoke, my ribs hurting from laughing all day; laugh lines adorning my face.

And to my surprise having stepped away and addressing all for my 5 Human Equities – I was back in flow; had renewed excitement with greater focus and clarity. Amazing what happens when I remember to take a dose of my own medicine!

Image by unicoletti (CC BY 2.0) via flickr

04 May 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in doctor is in, life goals, life plan, Life Purpose, q&a, vision With No Comments Permalink

The Doctor Is In – What is a Strategic Life Plan?

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On May 4, 2014 With No Comments

At its most basic level, your Strategic Life Plan™ contains the following Strategic Elements:

Your Vision Statement
Your YOUnique Personal Impact Statement
YOUnique Excellence Pillars (YEPs)
Your Core Values Statement
Your Long-Term Objectives

But what does this really mean?

A Strategic Life Plan is developed to clearly state the impact you want to create with your life, how you want to effectuate that impact, personal values that drive your decisions and the unique set of passions, qualities, interests, priorities, behaviors, skills, talents, and even quirks that are your assets to leverage, and the goals you want to accomplish on your journey to creating that life impact. Essentially, it is a life plan strategy you leverage to set the direction of your life.

Creating and executing on a Strategic Life Plan is your formula for success. It creates a life plan that gets you up and going every single day and assures you are satisfied with the imprint you have left in the world when you reach the twilight of your life.

Leveraging YOUniqueRx transitions you from setting goals to reaching goals.

In the next few YOUniqueRx newsletters, we will focus on each of these elements. In the meantime – to summarize each Element of your Strategic Life Plan:

VISION STATEMENT
This is the Future Vision of You. This Vision Statement frames how YOU want the world to look and how you envision you will partake in creating that Vision in the ensuing years. It is a destination.

YOUNIQUE PERSONAL IMPACT STATEMENT
A shorter timeframe than a Vision statement of 1 – 3 years, Your YOUnique Personal Impact Statement can be considered an “interim” destination to your Vision such as a major milestone on your Success Journey. Your YOUnique Personal Impact Statement defines the present purpose of your Life.

VALUE STATEMENTS
Sometimes also called “Core Values”, the Value Statements define and document how you operate in the World. You values direct your decisions. They are also part of our Belief System and thus tightly intertwined with your emotions.

YOUNIQUE EXCELLENCE PILLARS
These are unique characteristics that are special about You. In business strategy planning, they are called Strategic Excellence Positions (SEPs). At YOUniqueRx, we use the term YOUnique Excellence Pillars because these are the unique set of passions, qualities, interests, priorities, behaviors, skills, talents, and even quirks that are your assets to leverage to build your Vision.

LONG-TERM OBJECTIVES
The Long-Term Objectives are the goals you want to reach that usually require more than one year to complete. They frame and quantify YOUR vision creating a springboard for action.

02 May 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in confidence, Life Purpose, success, value, Women With No Comments Permalink

Guttural Confidence

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On May 2, 2014 With No Comments

There are over 550 women in my immediate network who have raised money taking their businesses to the next level. Of course, we meet and speak on many topics, the most interesting to me is the topic of SUCCESS.

This week I attended the We Own It Summit surrounded by 200 of some of my most prized friends – women who had developed high scale businesses. Again the topic of success came up. But more importantly, the CONFIDENCE to garner that Success.

Don’t you have to pause when a group of people who have raised over $5B in capital, hired thousands of employees, and covered the globe with their products transition a conversation to confidence. The authors of “The Confidence Gap”, Claire Shipman and Katty Kay after interviewing some of the most influential women in the nation were also surprised to discover the extent to which even these women suffered from self-doubt.

A study in 2011 by the Institute of Leadership and Management in the United Kingdom, surveyed British managers about how confident they feel in their professions. Half the female respondents reported self-doubt about their job performance and careers, compared with fewer than a third of male respondents.

Even Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said a year before her book, Lean In, was published: “There are still days I wake up feeling like a fraud, not sure I should be where I am.”

Here is THE KEY TO SUCCESS:

Confidence is more significant than competence in reaching your success.

The more self-assured you are, the more you will uplevel your success. How can you do that? By developing a Strategic Life Plan and gaining clarity on your 5 Human Equities. This process removes tendencies that crush self-doubt such as second guessing yourself, ruminating, perfectionism, and difficulty with decision-making. It gives you Guttural Confidence.

Image by SweetOnVeg (CC BY 2.0) via flickr

01 May 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in Life Purpose, success, value With 2 Comments Permalink

Albert Einstein is wrong!

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On May 1, 2014 With 2 Comments

How many people would argue with Albert Einstein? Here is a quote a YOUniqueRx client sent recently:

“Try not to be a person of success, but a person of value.” Albert Einstein

Yes, this quote is attributed to Albert Einstein – smart guy – but if he said this, he is wrong – well, at least 50% wrong.

It is imperative for YOU to be both – be a person of value and be a person of successful. When you are a person of value; you are successful. And when you align professional and personal life with your life purpose, your success and your value become intertwined. So, the quote altered:

“Strive to be a person of success and a person of value.”
Albert Einstein and Summer Knight (BFFs)

Another way to think about this is when you are focused on your life purpose, you become recognized and easily identified. In addition, when “on purpose,” your value increases because you are more passionate, considered more an expert, and attract more of the right opportunities. So, here’s another quote:

“A person of purpose-focused success is a person of value.” Summer Knight

And I think Albert would agree!

Live YOUnique! Summer

BTW, please share some of words and phrases that inspire you. Let me know who its attributed to; especially those you developed from your own experience!

18 Apr 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in doctor is in, life goals, Life Purpose, q&a With No Comments Permalink

The Doctor Is In – 3 Points to Achieve your Life Goals

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On April 18, 2014 With No Comments

Everyone has a different and personal “something” they feel compelled to do with their lives.

Oftentimes, that “something” can be a bit fuzzy or pie-in-the-sky or needs clarification.

Here’s part of the secret prescription for your successful life journey. In order to achieve your Life Success Goal, you must:

Clarify exactly what the goal (or your dream) is
Business term: Visioning Success
Determine how to “make it happen”
Business term: Strategic Planning
Springboard past barriers and limiters
Reasoning: This is why we combine neuroscience with the 5 Human Equities to increase your Success Quotient.

The YOUniqueRx is a formula that facilitates the crystallization of your goals and strategy, then catalyzes you into implementation whether your success looks like building a business, creating a charity, starting a social movement, leaving a legacy for your family or your community, changing someone’s life predicament, making a career change, up-leveling a hobby, making a major life change, having enough money to be comfortable and do what you want, getting your health back together, and the list goes on…

16 Apr 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in charity, giving back, volunteering With 2 Comments Permalink

Giving Back

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On April 16, 2014 With 2 Comments

“I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.”

– Oprah Winfrey

I believe volunteering needs to be a big part of our lives. When we volunteer, our own issues and problems start to look minor and our ability to solve those issues can improve. In addition, giving back a certain percentage of income has been important for our family. I won’t kid anyone, there have been years when that mantra has been scary for me. It can be hard, especially in today’s economic times because personal margins are slimmer than they’ve been before. But when you give, you get so much more in return.

I’ll give you an example. Before we moved across the country, we had a huge garage sale. I gave the children a choice. They could either keep the money they made from selling their own individual items, or they could have all the proceeds (from the entire sale) split equally to given to their favorite cause (charities). Miraculously, they chose the latter.

When people attempted to haggle, they would say, “But this is for charity!” Many people were so intrigued; they ended up giving the children multiple of what they were asking!

Weeks later, each child received a letter from their charity thanking them and a newspaper reporter called to hear their story. Now, that is getting back more than they expected in a way that they didn’t expect!

Image by Sammis Reachers (CC BY 2.0) via flickr

14 Apr 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in life goals, life plan, Life Purpose With No Comments Permalink

Chainsaws and Meetings

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On April 14, 2014 With No Comments

People notice something different about me.
I’m making more money doing what I love.
I know where to focus my time.
I’m more powerful and purposeful.

Chainsaws and meetings… What do they both have in common? No, I didn’t cut a conference table in half due to a berserk meeting boredom spree. But I did engage both this week. I had amazing meetings – not many people can say that – and got to play with – I mean safely operate – a chainsaw.

With Success Strategy core to what we do at YOUniqueRx, I met with individuals who have used the YOUniqueRx to uplevel their success asking, what is the MOST IMPORTANT thing you got out of the solution? Here’s a response that moved me:

“Redefining Power for me means that my Professional and Personal lives are now aligned on a focused Life Purpose.”

Wow! I further inquired, how has that helped you? Here are some answers:

I know where to focus my time.
I’m more powerful and purposeful.
People notice something different about me.
I’m making more money doing what I love.

As I’ve shared that my Life Purpose is to catalyze success for people who want to make their unique impact in the world. With responses like that, I’m fulfilled… but not done.

Live YOUnique! Summer

PS: the tree I’m cutting for firewood with the chainsaw fell during those crazy ice storms when so many trees broke under this year’s winter onslaught.

Image by Andrew_Writer (CC BY 2.0) via flickr

06 Apr 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in doctor is in, q&a With No Comments Permalink

The Doctor Is In – Why is the YOUnique Prescription a combination of neuroscience and strategic business planning?

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On April 6, 2014 With No Comments

Question: Why is the YOUnique Prescription a combination of neuroscience and strategic business planning?

Answer: We consider the YOUniqueRx (Rx is doctor speak for prescription) to be your personal Life Prescription to catalyze your success; live your greatest life; and to achieve your YOUnique impact in the world. We build a Strategic Life Plan with you just like a company has a business plan that is based on research-based business planning, strategy, and execution methodologies.

Now, if it were that easy, everyone would do it and be a hero! Build your plan, execute on it, voila! You’re a hero (or whatever outcome you want, but you get the picture). The tricky part is understanding and then managing what’s going on in your brain particularly in your UnderConscious. Remember, barriers are internal and external. It’s the internal ones – the ones deep-seated in your brain – that are the biggest barriers that get in your way of success. Thus a very important part of the YOUniqueRx and why people usually work with us during the yearlong YOUnique Success program is that we make neuroscience not only easy; we make it so that you can use Brain Tools to leverage a greater % of your brain to get what you want in life.

I encourage you to try a sample of the YOUniqueRx through our FREE webinar gift of “Success and Impact on Purpose”. During the talk we emphasize the difference between inspiration and transformation. Sign up here.

04 Apr 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in life goals, life plan With No Comments Permalink

Is Your House More Important Than Your Life?

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On April 4, 2014 With No Comments

Would you build your dream house… would you lay even one brick for the foundation without a plan? Of course you wouldn’t! Building a house is important and planning for that home takes an investment in time, money and other resources.

Ponder this question:

Isn’t your life more important than a house?

Of course! However, even though people agree their “dream life” is more important than their “dream house”, few people take the time to really focus on the plans for their life. Sure, we plan a vacation, plan a birthday party, and plan for kids (well sometimes). However, most people rarely plan for their “dream life”!

This lack of planning affects: your family, your income, your happiness, your sense of fulfillment, and numerous other facets of your life.

Your thoughts? Share your thoughts on the value of creating a Life Plan.

Image by Will Scullin (CC BY 2.0) via flickr

02 Apr 2014

Sticky Post By Summer Knight Posted in 5 human equities, life goals, life plan With No Comments Permalink

As I Strive to be the Full Me

Sticky Post By Summer Knight On April 2, 2014 With No Comments

This past week I’ve had the honor to engage on Strategy Sessions with amazing people just like you intent on creating success in alignment with your values, your purpose, and what is uniquely important to you.

The beauty of the Strategy Sessions is that we commit to being fully present in the conversation – multitasking is out; phones muted; email off. In order to make the most of our time, I share that the more transparent you can be, the better my ability to serve you becomes as a physician and an executive strategist – this is precious time between us.

During a call with an amazing entrepreneur, he said, “As I strive to be the full me.”

Now, everything stopped at that very moment in the conversation because I have to admit I’ve been grappling with the right words to describe the transformation of the YOUniqueRx process. You’ve seen glimpses of what we are offering. Words and phrases to describe the transformation of combining neuroscience with research-based strategic planning, YOUnique personal branding, Action Implementation with the flow of the 5 Human Equities. I’ve used phrases such as: Life Plan; Life Purpose; Meaning of Life; Life Goals; Success; Impact; Shining Bright.

Then he nailed it. He said can leverage the YOUniqueRx, “As I strive to be the full me.”

Wow! It’s just that simple.

I’d like to hear from you. Share the phrases that sum “this” up for you! Is it one of these words: Life Plan; Life Purpose; Meaning of Life; Life Goals; Success; Impact; Shining Bright; As I strive to be the full me. Or, do you have another phrase or word? Type them in so we can begin to increase or affirm our language around creating our unique impact in the world.

I love when we teach each other and grow together.

As I continuously strive to be the full me!

Live YOUnique, Summer

Image by mjtmail (CC BY 2.0) via flickr