Welcome to the FREE introductory training: “REDESIGN YOUR FUTURE” -
I’m Andrew Lord, Lifestyle Designer at Blueprint Life Coaching and I am so glad that you have made the step to download this training and are taking the time to listen. This shows me 2 things – 2 reasons why YOU are going to succeed while others around you are likely to flounder and stall:
1) FIRSTLY; You believe that there is MORE for you! No one downloads an audio training called REDESIGN YOUR FUTURE, unless there is a genuine belief that what you are currently experiencing is not yet enough – and I don’t mean in an ungrateful way, I’m sure that you can recognise all the blessings that you have and all the good things that are already going on for you right now – but despite all that, there is still that nagging sense that you are called to DO and BE something greater than you are right now.
One of my favourite quotes is by Eric Thomas – and he says: “In order to be successful, you must be ready, at any moment, to sacrifice what you ARE for what you will BECOME! – And I believe, my friend, - that is YOU
2) And the other reason I know you are going to find success is that you are an action-taker. Downloading the audio is great. As I said, it shows a desire for more, but there are plenty of people who WANT more but who don’t go onto achieve their dreams because they simply fail to take action. I will talk later about how the design process is all about bringing a concept, a dream or an idea into reality – it really is an amazing thing that sets us apart from every other creature on this planet, but for now I just want to recognise that in YOU. YOU took the action step of plugging in your ear phones, hitting play, and here we are – starting a journey together that CAN change your life!
And so, for those 2, very big reasons, I want to say THANK YOU.
Thank you for having the vision, the hope and the courage to want more for your life AND thank you for already taking some action on your dreams by investing your time wisely and joining me on this audio training program – I KNOW the principles I will share is going to make a difference for you in the same way it has made a difference in MY life and the life of my clients.
OK – before we go too much further, I’ll just want give you a little bit of background on where I have come from, so you have a bit of an idea where I’ve come from, how I operate and why I do what I do;
I trained as an Industrial Designer back in the mid-90s and took on projects whenever I could that I felt were going to make a difference in the world – I had (and still have) a strong faith that shapes everything I do and so I wanted to make the world a better place – the problem I found as a Designer, was that often projects were being driven by big business and numbers rather than people. So whilst I believed design was all about helping people live better, richer, more sustainable, more rewarding lives – I often found myself being directed by profit margins and other people’s selfish interests – which is not what I am all about.
I’ve got no problem with people making money – in fact that is often what I help people do, but it has to be sustainable, it has to be for the right reasons and it has to be win/win for everyone involved.
I have a gift for helping people get a deeper connection with their core passions and designing products and systems around this so that they can share their passion with others – to put it simply; I love to help people who help people! And I love to help those people get MORE of whatever matters most to them!
So early 2000 I made the switch and began teaching ethical design and technology in high schools. Whilst I was working in education, my passion for creating change for the better never left me – in act it began to multiply and grow! I got SO excited by this work – young people are incredible! They have so much untapped potential bouncing around inside them and I found it a priviledge to work with that each day!
I began implementing new initiatives to bring out the best in evry single one of them and to cut a long story short, I started to have a big impact in the education space, especially in the area of Aboriginal Education. I won a number of awards and I was promoted to executive level quite quickly.
Like I said, I LOVE helping people and so while I was working to redesign high school learning experience, I also started a number of businesses aimed at supporting people follow their passions and live richer and more rewarding lifestyles – one of these was through health and organic produce and the other was a gifts business where I would market heartfelt and handmade products online.
That was all great but whilst I was making a big impact on students and their love of learning, and my clients and their passion for creating, I was also regularly upsetting the power-brokers in the school. Other Head Teachers and anyone else who felt strongly that education should remain teacher-centred and teacher-controlled felt very uncomfortable with what I was introducing.
At the same time my family was growing fairly quickly. I think by this time we’d had all of our 5 children (which was an awesome learning experience which I can talk about another time) but it all was becoming a big ‘heavy’ I felt that I was losing my edge and even though I knew I was helping LOTS of people; I also knew that I wasn’t being the best of me in the process.
When I was on a holiday with my family, I read a book called The Magic of Thinking Big – by David Schwartz. And it just spoke directly to where I was at. I knew that my impact was going to be limited whilst ever I remained a pawn in the education system and so I took on a student mentoring position (which essentially was a demotion but it felt absolutely AWESOME!) and I retrained myself as a Life & Business Coach.
I have been Life & Business Coaching officially now since 2015, but I recognise that this is what I’ve always been doing! – It doesn’t matter whether I am redesign education models or supporting people to design and create their own products, or mentoring students to become the best version of themselves, - I have been helping people discover their heart-passion and DESIGN THEIR LIFE around whatever matters most to THEM!
That is what I am good at and it’s what I LOVE to do. And that is what we are going to do together today!
So enough about me – let’s get to YOU!
Now, when you visited my website to download this training, hopefully you also came across the Lifestyle Design Quiz – that quiz will generate for you a free, customised report which outlines:
- Your signature strength – which is 1 of 5 different strength types I’ll go through in a minute
- AND it would have determined your focus for growth. 1 of 5 different areas of life that matter most to you right now – an area where you would like to see change.
- And when you got this report, there was a few extra questions to help you refine exactly what you want to get out of the – and so, the reason I am bringing this up now is that the SENTENCE or the STATEMENT that you came up with at the end of this report – THAT is the starting point for this training.
So if you HAVEN’T yet done the quiz and got your report and done the questions – I urge you to stop the audio and to go and do that now.
You can find the quiz at www.blueprintlifecoaching (all one word) .com.au (forward slash) QUIZ
(repeat)
Or there is a link to it on my home page – just google Blueprint Life Coaching and hit GET STARTED at the top of the page.
So… if you need to stop the training, please go and do that now…
Video explosion sound
Hi – welcome back!
So now you have a focus for growth and if you have done the questions on the report, you have a clearly articulated sentence that states: WHAT YOU WANT – and WHY this is important to you.
In this training, it really doesn’t matter what it is you are after – it might be more romantic connection with your spouse because work has become too overwhelming, it could be that you want to have more fun and adventure in your life or spend more time with your kids. It could be that you feel your work is not really you and it is draining you rather than building you up – or it could just be that you want to see more reward for effort – you are tired of always being limited by finances and you are ready to break through to the next level of prosperity WHATEVER! Whatever it is that you are after, I can help you get closer to it.
But before we do that, let’s first talk about the Strength Signatures. Because the strength signatures are not only your edge to get ahead in the area that matters most to you – but knitted together, they also form the REDESIGN PROCESS that we are going to follow to unlock your dreams.
OK – so there are 5 strength signatures.
They are: Compassion – Innovation – Optimism – Vision - & Action (if you are visual like me you may like to link the associated colour to the strength to help you remember the flow?)
Compassion is red – for love
Innovation is orange – for creativity and new beginnings
Optimism – is yellow – like a sunrise or a daisy – the colour of joy and hope
Vision is green – for growth and seeing everything laid out in front of you – like a field
Action is blue – for hard-work – like blue jeans or work wear. No fuss. Humble. Obedient.
So, maybe the spectrum helps, maybe it doesn’t – you might be going Whaat!! This guy is weird, - that’s OK, the colours help me and I know they will help some people out there to…
Alright let’s talk about each one and how they link together.
Compassion – Compassion is the starting point. As human beings we are built for relationship and the key to meaningful relationship is empathy – being able to understand life from someone else’s point of view. Social Researcher and TEDx sensation, Brene Brown says: “Connection is why we’re here. It’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives.” Actor Will Smith says very bluntly: “If you are not making someone else’s life better – you are wasting your time”
So how we connect with other people around us is a key indicator of how happy you are going to be in life, but compassion comes easier for some. Is that you? Are you a natural Compassionate? I know that for me, there are other strengths that come much easier to me than compassion BUT I also know that when I look at my WHY – when I look at the reasons I do what I do -it comes back to my wife, my family and is my work helping other people? Whilst I don’t naturally operate in the strength of Compassion I know it is at the cornerstone of what I do.
Let’s look at you - Look at your report page again and look at the WHY it matters part of your sentence. I think what you will find is that there is care of others or a need for deeper care of self that is at the heart of your focus for growth – the area that matters most to you.
I’ll just add a comment here on Compassion for Self because it is a very, VERY valid motivation for wanting change and a very important part of being an effective and successful human being. You MUST look after yourself in order to serve others well.
Sometimes (and I see this with Mums a lot) those who have a natural compassionate strength don’t always s apply this to themselves in an appropriate measure. Just something to watch as we go through the training and if your strength is Compassion – do a little check every now and then – Am I looking after myself? Am I sharing my compassion equally with myself as well as others?
OK – So if Compassion is the WHY – then Innovation is the HOW. Innovators are usually not content to just DO things in the same way that they have always been done. If we want to REDESIGN our life then we are not looking to just repeat the same mistakes and the same patterns we have developed in the past are we? NO! We are looking for a new thing!
Albert Einstein said: “The definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over again and expecting a different result”
I saw this a LOT when I worked in the education setting. There is a belief that the process is perfect and the people are flawed and so they continue to repeat the same processes over and over again trying to get it right and blaming the people, the students when it doesn’t turn out well! Doesn’t make sense!
And so the Innovation strength is that ability to think outside the box and develop new solutions. This is MY personal strength. I LOVE to think of new ways to do things. When I am business or life coaching I bring my strength of innovation to the table but I also help develop creativity in my clients as well.
The NEXT strength is OPTIMISM – also known as hope!
Optimism is sometimes seen as the non-serious strength, just bounces around not taking anything too seriously – but actually Optimism is a POWERFUL strength! Optimism or Hope is that buoyant quality.
It is your best defence against the adversities of life. Optimism allows innovation to take root – if there was no optimism, new ideas would be shot down before they even had a chance to be considered! Optimism is what gives longevity to compassion. Compassion can tip very easily into despair because it cares so deeply – but combined with Optimism it can persevere and weather the storms of defeat! (Have to admit – Optimism is one of my personal favourites – because I’m married to one and it is such a valuable strength)
As great as Optimism is – it needs to evolve into something more if we are to realise our dreams - And so, out of hope, comes FAITH or VISION. There is an ancient text that says; “Faith (or Vision) is the substance of things hoped for – the evidence of what was unseen” The design process is all about bringing what is unseen – that which only exists, in our heart or imagination into reality.
VISION is when we SEE IT. I remember when Sofia and I were pregnant with our first little girl – Bella-Rose, and at about 20 weeks we elected to get an ultrasound scan of the baby. I remember sitting with Sofia in that little room and watching the doctor move his scanner over her gel-covered covered tummy. Up until this point we knew that “something” was going on in there because, obviously it was getting bigger, but we didn’t really have a clear idea. (Like I said – she was our first. We didn’t know what to expect) We definitely had hope – we had optimism - but then up on that screen in front of us, came a squishy black and grey form that moved around for little bit and then all of a sudden we could see it! There she was! She wasn’t ready to be born just yet but there was NO DOUBT – that was a baby. It was at that moment that hope turned into vision – that was the “evidence of things hoped for”
In the REDESIGN YOUR LIFE process – we recognise VISION as an embryonic form of the reality we are pursuing. AND a CLEAR VISION – is an action-plan, with all the little details resolved and ready to be brought into this world.
As humans, we have an ability that no other animal on this planet does, and that is we can use the frontal lobe of our brain to simulate reality before it actually happens. Scientists are still not even sure how this happens but from when we are very young we beginning to use this amazing tool called our imagination to map out possible realities that we can choose to take action on. What we can create within our imagination is genuinely incredible. It is a miraculous part of our mind.
Another 2 of my favourite quotes – again by Albert Einstein are: “Imagination is more important than knowledge” “Logic can take you from A to B – imagination will take you anywhere you want to go”
As you can tell – I’m also a big fan of the Visionaries amongst us.
The next step and the last but definitely not least of the 5 strengths, is ACTION.
Action is following through. Action is aligning our BODIES with all the compassion, innovation, optimism and vision that has taken place in our hearts and minds. Action is where the rubber hits the road and we either are, or are not what we dream that we could be.
Now I KNOW that you, at least to some degree, are an ACTION TAKER – because you are listening to this audio but I also believe that by the end of this session we are going to identify a totally new action – something linked directly to what matters most for you and a genuinely powerful next step in making positive and meaningful change in your life. Very exciting time.
And so that is the 5 strengths – Each of us have 1 in particular that we will naturally shine in and that should have been identified by the quiz and the report that came through to you in your email.
Also, I should add that NO ONE is a pure type – what that means is NO ONE is a pure Visionary or Innovator or Compassionate or whatever – we all have different degrees of all the different strengths and hopefully from that last little part of the training you can see why – they all need to work together and flow and complement one another as you move through the REDESIGN YOUR LIFE PROCESS.
OK - now we are going to look at YOUR focus for growth and develop your Lifestyle Design Blueprint which will include powerful next steps that you can take right away and begin to see results.
I’ll give you a minute to grab your report again and a pen and paper would be good too.
I know, because this is an audio, you might be at the gym or on the bus or train or somewhere inconvenient BUT if you can, I encourage you to grab a pen and paper to take some notes as we go through this process.
Cool. You’re back. All-right! Let’s do this!!
Read the positive statement that YOU wrote at the end of your report (either to yourself or if you’re somewhere you feel comfortable, read it out loud!).
Now I want you to do a little exercise I do with all my clients, and it shouldn’t matter where you are because no one will know that you’re doing it.
So, we’ll do this in a minute, I’ll explain it first, then we can do it together,
I want you to take a deep breath IN and as you do, think about your focus for growth, (Could be romantic spark back in your marriage, could be more money, could be starting a business, could be deeper connection with your kids, whatever it is – think of it as you breath in…)
And on the OUT Breath - I want you to say to yourself; “I am worth it” – because you ARE - YOU ARE WORTHY OF SOMETHING DIFFERENT!! YOU ARE WORTHY OF CHANGE!
OK, that’s the first one, the second one is very similar: On the IN breath, you think about your focus for growth again, and on the OUT breath, say to yourself – “I am enough”
The third one, very similar again, on the IN breath think about your focus for growth, and on the OUT breath I want you to declare your strength to yourself: “I am compassionate” “I am innovative” “I am a positive optimist” “I am a visionary” or “I am an action taker” – whatever the quiz report identified you as – I want you to declare it to yourself that this is your strength.
And finally, 4th breath – on the IN, once again, focus on the area that matters most to you, your focus for growth – and on the OUT breath say, very simply, “I CAN” – and say it proudly and without doubt, breath in confidence and self-believe and breath out every bit of doubt as you blow out that last breath.
OK? Simple enough?
4 steps – IN & OUT, “I am worth it – “I am enough” – “I am … (whatever your strength is)” – and “I CAN!”
OK – let’s do it…
Breath in – (what are you focused on?) (pause) and OUT “I am worth it”
Breath in – (pause) and OUT “I am enough”
Breath in – (pause) and OUT ………………
Breath in – (pause) and OUT “I can!” Yes you can! Well done! You are awesome! You are going to smash this!
Alright! It’s time to use that frontal lobe. Time to use our imagination (Let’s bring out the Visionary in you!)
I want you to go ahead in your mind’s eye when your statement is as you want it to be.
(If you are taking notes – it’s a good idea to jot down your responses to these enquiries)
· Who can you see around you? What are they saying to you that lets you know you have achieved your goal?
· What else is happening around you that lets you know you have found success?
· When would you like to be in this position? – How realistic is that?
Let’s draw on your different strengths now:
As you are seeing this new reality in the future: Tell me, how is what you are doing or what you have achieved benefiting other people?
How does it FEEL to be in this state?
Tell me, How are you being kind to yourself?
Describe it.
If you are an action-taker you may notice more about the actual steps that are being taken. You are great at seeing the NEXT step so just do that a few times over in your mind until you find yourself in the future!
How does it feel knowing you are achieving exactly what you wanted and making such good progress?
Innovators – what NEW things can you notice?
Optimists – tell me how great it feels to have achieved your goal.
Now, if we were to contrast this image of the future with where you are RIGHT NOW – what’s missing?
Can you nail it down in just a few words? - (perfect!)
What have you already done to try and improve things?
- Could be a long list here – could be nothing at all (I’ll give you a minute to think) What have you already done to try and improve this?
How’s that working out for you? (this is where I really wish I was right there with you; I can almost feel your NEED to talk this through in more depth through the audio – that might happen in the future – but for NOW just write it down – journaling is a great tool for self-reflection)
OK, let’s flip it a bit. What is going on for you now that is GOOD? Tell me at least 5 things that you are grateful for – particularly things that relate to your focus for growth
Ask you again: What do you REALLY WANT – we got to this a little bit on your strength report – is it freedom? Is it a sense of value or love? Is it you just want to get more time with your family
WRITE THAT DOWN:
“I want…..”
Now if I gave you $10,000 and ALL of next week with no other commitments – how would you go about getting that?
(Don’t limit yourself here – let the optimist in you rise up and counter any negative thoughts here)
List at least 5 things…
If was with you now: remembering I’ve been helping people achieve their dreams for over 15 years, I’ve got 5 kids and a happy family, and I’ve run several businesses in that time too – If I was there with you right now – what would I tell you to do?
Write it down…
NOW – I want you to choose just 1 thing – one thing that you could achieve in less than a week, one thing that is simple, and easy and is going get you just one step closer to getting what matters most to you.
One thing, that you secretly know has been waiting for you to get to it for a little while now.
Write it down…
How do you feel about it?
Excited? Challenged – but committed? Awesome.
YOU ARE WORTH IT
YOU ARE ENOUGH
YOU ARE STRONG IN MANY WAYS
YOU CAN DO THIS.
YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR FUTURE!!!
Thank you so much for joining me on the Redesign your future audio training. Please share it with your friends – it’s a great way to initiate a supportive community around you and it also creates accountability too.
It is MY absolute pleasure to be helping people just like you and so if you have got some value out of this audio – I’d LOVE to hear about it. Please email me at andrew@blueprintlifecoaching.com.au or find me @blueprintjourney on Facebook or Andrew.blueprint on Instagram. I’d love to hear about your experiences, your commitments and successes OR even if you have some questions or challenges you need some more help with.
Keep designing your amazing future with passion and purpose – and I’ll talk with you very soon.
Bye for now.
