Christine Kloser

By Christine Kloser

For most of my life I’ve been conditioned to march to the beat of a familiar drum… the drum that says, “fall into line, don’t break the mold, do what everyone else is doing, follow the pack, don’t make waves, fit in with the crowd, etc.” The beat of this drum had become so familiar to me that I didn’t even notice it was beating in the background of my life.

In all honesty, that familiar beat had been running my life. Yes, I stepped out of the usual nine-to-five corporate mold that society teaches us is what success looks like. But, I stepped into an entrepreneurial mold that had a similar beat… “Do what everyone else is doing.” And, so I did – for several years – until I realized that I didn’t want to be marching to the beat of that drum anymore.

And, so the quest began to march to the beat of my own drum… to do the deep inner work to discover what is true and right for me. I have made much progress on my quest. I’ve discovered so much more certainty within myself, while also feeling less certainty on the external level. The beauty is that I’m finding comfort in the “I don’t know.” Because what I DO know, is that I’m beginning to march to the beat of my own drum. And, with certainty like that, it makes any external uncertainty a non-issue.

So, what does it take to march to the beat of your own drum?

Opening Your Eyes
First, you’ve got to open your eyes to the truth of what is happening within you and around you. You must raise your level of consciousness and become keenly aware of your own thoughts, feelings, motivations, etc. It’s only when you begin to open your eyes to the truth (and allow yourself to see it and feel it) that you can begin to shift what isn’t working. For many years I had an inner inkling that something wasn’t quite right with a part of my business. And, it wasn’t until I looked into those dark corners that I could see for the first time what I wanted to shift, how I wanted to shift and what had been holding me back from a life of total freedom. And, it had nothing to do with my business, but everything to do with ME!

So, step one is to take a look and see if there’s anything you’ve been staying blind to that it’s time for you to see.

Compassion
Please, please, please… have compassion for yourself on this journey. I used to think that every time I saw something unpleasant about myself, my life or my business that I was “supposed” to use it to beat myself up. Nothing could be further from the truth. When you open your eyes and begin to see things… you must learn to have compassion for yourself as you become more conscious and free yourself at a deeper level. Marching to the beat of your own drum requires that you LOVE yourself forward (that’s a fabulous phrase I got from my spiritual teacher), not that you beat yourself up. So, as you do the work to find YOUR unique rhythm, have compassion for yourself and who you have been up until now. You have always only done the best you could with what you knew at the time.

So, step two is to allow yourself to see something that isn’t working for you and have compassion for yourself as you see it.

Commitment
I love the word commitment! I learned many years ago, at the very first personal development program I attended in 1995, that commitment equals freedom! At first, I thought the trainer was crazy, but the more I thought about it the more I saw the truth in this. When you are totally committed to something (in this case, your authentic expression in the world) you don’t have any other options. Your choices of being “less than your best authentic self” get taken away. And, that’s a good thing! Why would you want to be committed to anything less than pursuing your authentic expression in the world 100%?! It makes no sense. So, if you’re going to walk on this journey of marching to the beat of your own drum… COMMIT to it! And, let it take you where you’re meant to go.

So, step three is to make a commitment to yourself right now that you will do whatever it takes to release the “should’s” from your life and learn to march to the beat of your own drum!

© 2010 Christine Kloser

Would you like to use this article? You may as long as you include the following information along with the article: Christine Kloser, author of The Freedom Formula, helps entrepreneurs put soul in their business and money in the bank. If you want to thrive in your purpose-driven, profitable business (while enjoying a soul-satisfying life), send for my special report, How to Avoid the 3 Massive Mistakes Made by Most Conscious Entrepreneurs and my audio, 7 Strategies Entrepreneurial Authors Need to Know… Before Writing a Word, both of which you get (at no charge) when you request my Conscious Business Success Kit at www.LoveYourLife.com.

By Christine Kloser

There’s a silent epidemic happening for entrepreneurs world-wide. It’s not a pretty epidemic, nor is it fun… but it’s an epidemic that can be eradicated by each and every entrepreneur who has been affected by it.

I was personally impacted by this epidemic for many, many years in my business without having any conscious awareness that it was happening, that it had its hold on me. And, I’m hearing more and more about this epidemic as entrepreneurs are waking up and beginning to realize what’s really happening in their businesses.

And, the epidemic is this…. I call it the “Unconscious, Conscious Entrepreneur” syndrome. I can hear you already saying, “What?” “What does it mean to be an “unconscious, conscious entrepreneur?” Right? If you’re reading this ezine and believe in a conscious approach to business, how could you be unconsciousness?

The answer is this. There are ways of being, old habits, default patterns that you aren’t even aware of that are running your business, and your life. While you are likely working very hard (like I did) not to let these old beliefs and behaviors take over… they are so insidious, they can’t help but creep in.

Here are a two of the most common ways this epidemic shows up, and my personal experience with each:

I’m Not Good Enough
If somewhere in your psyche, you have a belief that you are not “good enough” (which is very common for us overachieving entrepreneurs), no matter how much you take action and do things in your business to feel good enough, there will always be an empty space inside of you that can never be filled no matter how much you achieve. Feeling like “enough” has to come from inside of you… it can never come from anything outside of yourself.

How this core belief showed up in me was in my ambitious drive to excel, achieve, and accomplish. While I was connected to really wanting to help people, there had been this underlying “frenetic” feeling that I always had to be doing more. At the time I wasn’t aware that my ambition and my drive to excel was being fueled by a feeling of not being “good enough.” Once I shifted away from being an “unconscious, conscious entrepreneur” and opened my eyes to what was really happening inside of myself, everything changed.

So, I invite you to simply notice if you have an underlying feeling of “not being good enough.” If you do, allow yourself to see how this belief (which is not really the truth of who you are) plays out in your life and your business. With this new awareness, now stay “awake” to it and you’ll see you can begin to make some new choices.

I’m Worried About What Others Think
This is another biggy! Be honest with yourself, and ask yourself if you’re ever done something (or not done something) because of what someone else might think? Did you launch a program you really didn’t want to do, just because your coach or a colleague told you to do it? Have you ever said “yes” to something you wanted to say “no” to because you didn’t want to let down the other person? Chances are you’ve done these things because you allow what others think about you to have an influence on you.

This was another big learning area for me. I used to worry about what others thought about me and what I did or didn’t do (in fact, to be honest, every now and then I still feel this old thought pattern creeping in). But, once I realized how much I had been sacrificing my own joy trying to fit into someone else’s idea of me – someone else’s “box” – I have been working hard within myself to not worry so much about what other people think about me. It’s a tough lesson to learn, especially when you care about others and don’t want to make waves or cause anyone to be upset. However, the most important person to not upset or make waves with is yourself!

So, beginning today, let yourself see if you have been worried about what other people think of you. And, begin to imagine what would be possible if you thought most about what you thought of you. As one of my friends likes to say, “What you think of me is none of my business.”

© 2010 Christine Kloser

Would you like to use this article? You may as long as you include the following information along with the article: Christine Kloser, author of The Freedom Formula, helps entrepreneurs put soul in their business and money in the bank. If you want to thrive in your purpose-driven, profitable business (while enjoying a soul-satisfying life), send for my special report, How to Avoid the 3 Massive Mistakes Made by Most Conscious Entrepreneurs and my audio, 7 Strategies Entrepreneurial Authors Need to Know… Before Writing a Word, both of which you get (at no charge) when you request my Conscious Business Success Kit at www.LoveYourLife.com.

There’s a silent epidemic happening for entrepreneurs world-wide. It’s not a pretty epidemic, nor is it fun… but it’s an epidemic that can be eradicated by each and every entrepreneur who has been affected by it.

I was personally impacted by this epidemic for many, many years in my business without having any conscious awareness that it was happening, that it had its hold on me. And, I’m hearing more and more about this epidemic as entrepreneurs are waking up and beginning to realize what’s really happening in their businesses.

And, the epidemic is this…. I call it the “Unconscious, Conscious Entrepreneur” syndrome. I can hear you already saying, “What?” “What does it mean to be an “unconscious, conscious entrepreneur?” Right? If you’re reading this ezine and believe in a conscious approach to business, how could you be unconsciousness?

The answer is this. There are ways of being, old habits, default patterns that you aren’t even aware of that are running your business, and your life. While you are likely working very hard (like I did) not to let these old beliefs and behaviors take over… they are so insidious, they can’t help but creep in.

Here are a two of the most common ways this epidemic shows up, and my personal experience with each:

I’m Not Good Enough
If somewhere in your psyche, you have a belief that you are not “good enough” (which is very common for us overachieving entrepreneurs), no matter how much you take action and do things in your business to feel good enough, there will always be an empty space inside of you that can never be filled no matter how much you achieve. Feeling like “enough” has to come from inside of you… it can never come from anything outside of yourself.

How this core belief showed up in me was in my ambitious drive to excel, achieve, and accomplish. While I was connected to really wanting to help people, there had been this underlying “frenetic” feeling that I always had to be doing more. At the time I wasn’t aware that my ambition and my drive to excel was being fueled by a feeling of not being “good enough.” Once I shifted away from being an “unconscious, conscious entrepreneur” and opened my eyes to what was really happening inside of myself, everything changed.

So, I invite you to simply notice if you have an underlying feeling of “not being good enough.” If you do, allow yourself to see how this belief (which is not really the truth of who you are) plays out in your life and your business. With this new awareness, now stay “awake” to it and you’ll see you can begin to make some new choices.

I’m Worried About What Others Think
This is another biggy! Be honest with yourself, and ask yourself if you’re ever done something (or not done something) because of what someone else might think? Did you launch a program you really didn’t want to do, just because your coach or a colleague told you to do it? Have you ever said “yes” to something you wanted to say “no” to because you didn’t want to let down the other person? Chances are you’ve done these things because you allow what others think about you to have an influence on you.

This was another big learning area for me. I used to worry about what others thought about me and what I did or didn’t do (in fact, to be honest, every now and then I still feel this old thought pattern creeping in). But, once I realized how much I had been sacrificing my own joy trying to fit into someone else’s idea of me – someone else’s “box” – I have been working hard within myself to not worry so much about what other people think about me. It’s a tough lesson to learn, especially when you care about others and don’t want to make waves or cause anyone to be upset. However, the most important person to not upset or make waves with is yourself!

So, beginning today, let yourself see if you have been worried about what other people think of you. And, begin to imagine what would be possible if you thought most about what you thought of you. As one of my friends likes to say, “What you think of me is none of my business.”

© 2010 Christine Kloser

Would you like to use this article? You may as long as you include the following information along with the article: Christine Kloser, author of The Freedom Formula, helps entrepreneurs put soul in their business and money in the bank. If you want to thrive in your purpose-driven, profitable business (while enjoying a soul-satisfying life), send for my special report, How to Avoid the 3 Massive Mistakes Made by Most Conscious Entrepreneurs and my audio, 7 Strategies Entrepreneurial Authors Need to Know… Before Writing a Word, both of which you get (at no charge) when you request my Conscious Business Success Kit at www.LoveYourLife.com.

By Christine Kloser

Do what you can.
Want what you have.
Be who you are.

These three simple lines were the message of the sermon I heard at church last weekend. As I heard these words, each one of them landed firmly in my heart and in my body as TRUTH.

Think for a moment about how much you try to “do, do, do.” Perhaps you often end your days feeling as if you didn’t get enough done. It’s a debilitating cycle to continually feel like you are not doing enough. And, of course this triggers a deeper rooted feeling of simply not believing YOU are enough.

It’s safe to say this is a cycle you are not interested in engaging in. So, let’s look at the first of these simple, yet profound, statements. “Do what you can.” Imagine living your life from the place of only doing what you can do. Not trying to do more than is humanly possible, not trying to overcompensate for your weakness by striving to do more and more, but instead believing you are valuable and enough for WHO YOU ARE. Right now, take a deep breath and give yourself permission to do what you can today and to feel GOOD about it. And, embrace this philosophy every day.

The next of these statements is another profound teaching… “Want what you have.” Imagine living your life from the place of wanting what you have rather than feeling the scarcity and lack that comes from wanting those things you don’t have. If you could release your desire for the things you don’t yet have, and truly embrace the feeling of wanting what you DO have… your world would shift from scarcity to abundance in a split second. You’re BEING would shift from contracted to expanded in a heartbeat.

The wanting of what you don’t have is likely tied into the same thread that’s present in doing more than you can… and this is the feeling of “not enough.” The feeling of not enough (and always wanting more) will be ever present until you stop searching outside of yourself for anything. If you’ve been on any sort of spiritual journey you are likely nodding in agreement with what you’re reading here. But, for those of you who are new to the concept of not seeking anything outside of yourSELF, I invite you simply to begin contemplating what that would look like for you. Who would you be and how would you feel if YOU were the only one you wanted anything from?

And, this leads me to the third profound statement I received at church and that is “Be who you are.” It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? But, when you bring in expectations, approval seeking, not feeling like enough, trying to “fit in,” wanting to be liked, society pressure, family pressure, peer pressure, and a critical inner voice making you think you “should” be something other than who you are… you’ll soon see that the simple act of “being who you are” is not so simple.

One of the most valuable and insightful questions you can ever ask yourself is, “Who am I?” Because in answering a question of this depth and importance, you’ll begin to see that who you are has nothing to do with your career, your business or what you do. It has nothing to do with being a mother, wife, sister, son, friend or colleague. It has nothing to do with the size of your home, the make of your car or your wardrobe. Who you are is much more than any of that.

So, I ask you now to contemplate this question…. “Who are you?” Allow yourself to go beyond any material identification to get to the depths of your heart and soul where the answer to that question is always there waiting for you to remember.

© 2010 Christine Kloser

Would you like to use this article? You may as long as you include the following information along with the article: Christine Kloser, author of The Freedom Formula, helps entrepreneurs put soul in their business and money in the bank. If you want to thrive in your purpose-driven, profitable business (while enjoying a soul-satisfying life), send for my special report, How to Avoid the 3 Massive Mistakes Made by Most Conscious Entrepreneurs and my audio, 7 Strategies Entrepreneurial Authors Need to Know… Before Writing a Word, both of which you get (at no charge) when you request my Conscious Business Success Kit at www.LoveYourLife.com.

By Christine Kloser

Have you ever felt like you’ve been WILLING your way forward in your business, or your life? Like you’ve been pushing a boulder up hill thinking that if you just push harder, just “did” more, just handled one more thing that suddenly the boulder would move?

If you’re nodding your head up and down right now, you’re not alone. I have spent years of my career “working hard”, sacrificing myself, thinking I had to keep “doing” more… worrying if I was moving fast enough, or falling behind. I was trying to move forward with ease and grace while simultaneously having both of my hands firmly placed on a boulder that I thought I had to push up hill.

Pushing a boulder up hill doesn’t work. In the short run, you might feel like you’re making progress because you moved an inch… but why would you keep pushing for an inch and thinking that was some great progress? You deserve much more than that!

It’s time to surrender the boulder, to completely and totally let it go… so you can breathe, relax, open, trust and allow the flow of grace to guide you. So, perhaps you’re asking yourself how you can let go of the boulder without getting crushed?

The answer is simple, but not necessarily easy. First, you must get clear on what the boulder really is that you’re truly pushing up the hill. Often times what you THINK you’re working on isn’t REALLY what you’re working on at a deeper level.

For instance, the entrepreneur who thinks the boulder is about a particular project they’re wanting to launch, may discover if they look deep enough that the boulder isn’t about the project, rather it’s about them thinking they “have to do more” in order to feel worthy.

Or, the entrepreneur who works to model other successful businesses they see out there, may discover that the boulder they’re pushing is really that they don’t feel like who they are is enough, so they try to mold themselves around what other people are doing.

This approach to business can never work. Many entrepreneurs I talk to feel like there is some boulder they are trying to push uphill… but sadly there’s not a lot of help being offered to help them look at what the boulder really is. Rather, much of the help they get is trying to help them move the boulder in a new or different way. But, hello! The boulder is still there… and just because it can move another inch because of some new technique or strategy doesn’t mean the boulder is gone.

What I encourage you to do is to look at the boulders in your business. Where are you working hard and not getting the results you want? What do you keep trying to do that just isn’t coming to fruition? What things keep happening in your business (or your life) over and over again that you do not like? These are all boulders.

Allow yourself to surrender your hold on the boulder and begin to ask yourself what the boulder is really about… and not at a surface level, but deep inside of yourself. What are you really trying to do? Prove yourself, gain attention, feel like enough, feel worthy/deserving, keep up with the “Jones’.” What is it that you are really trying to do when you push against that boulder? This is the only question that matters, and if what you’re doing isn’t serving you at the highest level, then surrender the boulder, and allow yourself to see everything that’s underneath it.

Taking this courageous step will help you discover what you need to learn about yourself so you can free yourself from ever feeling the need to push a boulder uphill again.

This is what I’ve been doing, and continue to do in my own business. And, I can tell you from experience that surrendering the boulders and going deep within myself to see what the boulders are really about has been the most freeing thing I’ve ever done for my business, and more importantly… my SELF! I encourage you to do the same!