The highest purpose of intellectual cultivation is to give a man a perfect knowledge and mastery of his own inner self; to render our consciousness its own light and its own mirror.
– Friederich Leopold von Hardenberg
The highest purpose of intellectual cultivation does not look like money and success. The highest purpose looks like inner introspection. Hey, if it’s good enough for Frieddy, it’s good enough for me!
I love this stuff. It validates all that I believe. We, as human beings, owe it to ourselves that we OWN the fact that WE have a purpose to our existence. Unfortunately I have found that the masses of humanity does not know that they have a choice in the matter. So, the first 
step is to WAKE UP!!!
Check out the following article for another perspective from Astro Awani
Wealth is Becoming Better then Yesterday
I have a dream! Not, I have a plan. Martin started with the “Why” before he told the “how” or “what”.
I stood next to this monument in Washington DC last week. A bit in awe of the brilliance and courage this man had to share his thoughts. More importantly, his vision of the future, my gosh what would our world be like without his pioneering “love-based” vision of equality?
What if he had worried about the mistakes along the way?
Being a poker player maybe this example will make more sense to you”¦
Love Yourself the 1st Step in Self Improvement
Ashley Bells journey to self love as reported by Nooga.com
A love for literature, writing and music””all things that have helped her during tough times. Ashley had a head full of doubt and a road full of promise. We are all born with blessings and this story starts
Suicide Prevention Walks and the Start of a Purpose Driven Life
Winners run with Winners
Time Magazine reports the people you run with help determine who you are! The strongest and most direct path to health, wealth and positive change is running with healthy, wealthy and positive people. 
Pressure from peers to succeed is a very compelling reason to rise to the next level. If you have a peer that is healthy they know what to eat and effective workouts. Wealthy peers have investment knowledge and successful work habits that could lead you to a healthier bank account.
Healthy, Wealthy and Wise Information from Time Magazine
Writing Can Help Heal Worry from Your Staff
When a staff member, friend or family is going thru a painful event it can be overwhelming to their performance. Divorce, death, financial trouble, addictions and low sales all can bring an employee to their knees. 
Research has proven that writing out your problems helps people deal with dramatic events. The drama of some events really never goes away but it does get better with time. Sometimes an employee is simply crippled with grief. I recommend counseling and writing down their feelings daily. Let them write a book if they have too. Writing can help them release the pain.
Writing Exercises To Help Deal with Hard Times and Grief
Yoga and Exercise Just What the Doctor Ordered for Happy Employees
Keep yourself moving and keep your helps heart rate up as well. Drag them fighting and screaming to activity if you have to! Why because you’re a business and you need stuff done!
What’s the best way to get people to get stuff done? I can tell you this it isn’t overfeeding them! Working out 3-4 times a week will boost productivity at the office. Sales will rise, assignments will get completed and goals will be reached. In 2015 cut out the corperate lunches and use the money to incent gym memberships.
Read more on how yoga is changing lives in this great article from The Raw Food World
COACHING THRU DISAGREEMENT
Arguments, positioning of power, underhanded manipulations, political posturing, and backroom collaborating. When coaching for businesses I see this. Of those which do you prefer to work with? I like the arguments. At least you can see those coming. The others are more stealth, and out of the peripheral. Here is a simple way to deal with disagreements”¦
1) Identify the disagreement
2) Disagree
3) Understand both ways
4) Conversation for alignment
5) Align
6) Agree to disagree
Sometimes it is that easy. Just need to get it out in the open and make sure that each party hears the others side.
Another way is to “name” the friction and ask that they “choose” to alignment versus agreement. Alignment does not necessarily mean agreeing with each other. It is a “willingness” to listen to each other’s point of view.
Usually we agree-understand-accept. THAT is the wrong order!
ACCEPT-UNDERSTAND-ALIGN is the right order.
When coaching for businesses I have found that you can then “agree to disagree” if you take that order.
Ways to help people align is in the language they use. Try these on”¦
· “What I like about that idea””¦
· Yes/And (The accepting part is the YES)
· Blend and Lead (You have to give a little)
· Two over lapping circles
Meet the friction head on. Growth is there waiting for you.
COACHING FIRING
Sometimes it is just best to fire them. When coaching for businesses I find coaching someone up is the preferred approach when it comes to helping an employee. Coach them up”¦or out.
But sometimes, it is just best to eliminate them and save the time and effort. Do you follow your intuition when it comes to some people or do you try and save them?
Who do you go to when you need to bounce that off of someone and need input in case you’re missing something? Really successful Leaders have someone to go to. It’s a hard fact of life for Leaders. Letting people go is a hard part of the job. There will be casualties when growing a business. Are you strong enough?
Building a really strong TEAM is what you do. It is made up of really strong individuals. And those individual can be flawed, and do not have to be perfect. They just need to be willing to work together. Work together in complete transparency. Willing to be vulnerable and intimate. Intimacy is the key to really effective TEAMS.
When coaching for businesses it is a “must” to eliminate some players of the game. That’s what good coaches do. Successful businesses cannot keep people who are not a fit with the culture and direction of the company. Business is a professional game with crippling effects when the wrong players are in place. We all know where our weaknesses and strengths are and keeping a person on staff that’s not a producer whether in production, office, management or sales is not good for everyone involved including the person whose talents are a better fit in different circumstances.
COACHING THRU DRAMATIC EVENTS
The man died 3 times! And was resuscitated 3 times due to a series of heart attacks! To hear his story is amazing.
We have all heard stories like Tom. In my case, I met him 3 years ago through a referral. Consequently did a workshop for him on TEAM building. Afterwards he liked me so much he hired me to “coach” him with his Leadership. We’ve been together ever since.
Things were cruising along just fine. He was discovering how we all have Saboteur voices in our heads. You know the voices”¦the ones that tell you to work harder, you aren’t enough, or judge your every move. He was learning to push them aside and be more conscious of them. So he could make more room for his Captain, the Positive voice that helps navigate him through life. He found himself not reacting to situations like he had in the past and was able to take his leadership to a whole new level. He was even noticing how it was transferring to his home life, giving him more balance and fulfillment.
When suddenly, without warning, he had a heart attack. And another, and another. Stories like Tom do not always have a happy ending. But in his case he has survived, and is living a different life. Since this time he has discovered a whole new way of “being”. Because of the heart attack Tom has found there is only one way to live”¦in the present. In his words the heart attack has been a gift. I have had a front row seat to this amazing journey. The transformation has been nothing short of a miraculous story that is being documented and will someday be in a book.
When coaching for business’s I have found some kind of dramatic event like this has the capacity to bring a company together on a new whole level. A level that was not ever dreamt of, realized, or even conscious of. It can bring a company to a collective conscious level that is full of opportunities and hope. A place of abundance. It can also do the opposite, tear one apart. Leaving the company paralyzed and stuck in the status quo. A place draped in the hopeless place of scarcity.
Please do not wait for a dramatic event to “wake up” your company to a new way of being. You can create a new culture of being today. Wake up your company by putting down the negative beliefs, and picking up the positive.
My wish for you and your company is to create a new way of being by coming from a place of abundance, not scarcity.