A story from an amazing coach, Brian Tracy, is the inspiration for today’s blog, which runs along these lines:

An American couple in their early 30’s, with a young family and a large mortgage had a Great Aunt called Martha. Now, G.Auntie was fond of receiving mail from their kids, joining the family for family dinners and generally being grateful for this couple’s hospitality whenever she was in town. As she was with all her extended family. But this family in particular really must have hit a chord, as whenever they were particularly generous she would always state that they were of course her fav’s and would receive a large portion of her estate upon her depature from this world.

After a couple more years of feeling like they were not really getting anywhere financially, the couple had a life changing conversation about finances, the likelihood of G.Auntie living another decade, and took action that would create a very different result for them in their financial future. They took responsibility for their own situation, rather than waiting for the inheritance when good ‘ole Great Aunt Martha popped off.

The letters to Great Aunt Martha from the kids at Easter, Birthday’s and Christmas continued, as did the couple’s actions to create an elevated income structure and investment portfolio. Slowly but surely it made a difference. The husband studied part-time in the evenings and was able to secure a decent promotion. The wife opened a small business, they spent and earnt consciously, invested wisely, and after 13 years when Great Aunt Martha finally passed away their actions were really put into perspective. You see Aunt Martha had never had any estate, had nothing to pass on to her relatives, had always told all of them that they were her particular favourites, but for 3 other members of her family this came as quite a shock. It was what what they had counted on to elevate them financially.

My questions to you to ponder this week are:

• Who or what is your ‘Great Aunt Martha’ in your career? Perhaps you are just biding time, waiting for someone else to offer you a new opportunity, give you some recognition, a promotion or a payrise.
• Where specifically is it in your career that you need to step up and take responsibility for what it is you truly want, what greater value you can offer and where you want to be in 5 years time? Because you know what – YOU GET TO DECIDE!

What different language and possibilites could you employ? Here are 3 to action this week:

– What does an amazing day at work look / feel / sound like?

– What do my peers need me to be doing in this role today / this week?

– What behaviours must I exhibit NOW to have the results that I want in my career?

As always, if you are ready to bust a belief, feel / look / sound / be different, and are keen to tap into a support team then you know where to find me…………HH

On a personal note this week ~

More boxes of musty papers from the garage being delved through and mostly turfed. Which is when I had a ‘Great Aunt Martha’ moment of my own. I found a very old official looking document with State Treasury, lots of red stamps, my name and a sum invested on it. A few milliseconds & mental arithmatic moments later I thought I’d found the answer to miraculously paying a mega dentist bill (think 3 root canals and 20hrs in a dentist’s chair and you start to come close!!) – hah, there was a secret fund set-up to help me in my future. I knew it!! Fifteen minutes later after a quick Google, 12mins on hold on the Treasury phonelines and a quick chat with Mum and Dad I was suddenly asking myself what else is possible as good ‘ole Aunt Martha is about due to move on in my world. The funds were a Christmas gift and had been transferred days later into my very first bank account waaaay back in 1984.

New clarity gained this week on Great Aunt Martha beliefs I was holding onto that no longer serve me. Flying forwards…….

Who else do you know that likes thinking, questioning and who wants to be the CEO of their own career? Well forward this on and invite them into the community 🙂