The holidays always seem to be a time of reflection.

Why? It seems like the elephant that they had been able to successfully ignore year after year has finally gotten so big that they simply can no longer ignore it anymore. In fact, the elephant has grown so big, it is forcing some major changes in short order.

So this holiday season they are dealing with it up close and personal. Ugh, right?

What do I mean when I say, “THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM?” The elephant in the room is something so big that when you finally do address it, the world feels like the tectonic plates beneath your feet literally are shifting in real time. Nothing feels the same afterward.

Examples of elephants I’ve heard of lately include, but are not limited to:

• “This last year I decided to let go of a part of my business model that really worked for me in the previous years. I’ve been feeling the financial pain of that decision all year. Now I’m getting ready to re-introduce that component of my business in 2011 in a much larger way than I ever have before. It means big changes and the biggest risk and commitment I’ve ever made to my business in all my years of business!”

• “For the last couple of years as I have been pursuing my entrepreneurial career. My wife has been unhappy, because she doesn’t feel safe with the uncertainty. So we’re getting divorced and I’m moving out by Christmas Eve!”

• “There was something financial in my business that I ignored for a really long time, because I kept thinking that once I got these other things in place, it would naturally work itself out. Unfortunately, things got more and more skewed with time and it got really painful to the point where I had to do something to address the issue. Finally, I had to deal with it, but now that I have, I feel a million times better than before!”

The elephant in the room is life changing. It requires big changes financially, emotionally, physically and/or spiritually. It is usually something so overwhelming to deal with that we ignore it until it forces us to make those big changes whether we want to or not.

HINT: The degree of difficulty in making those changes mounts with time ignoring the elephant. So, you can either address it a little bit at a time or wait until it engulfs the room you are in and literally forces you to move into another space. The choice is yours to either go along willingly or be forced to make the shift at some point.

Some telltale signs that you’ve got an elephant in the room:

1. It is the thing that you bristle at when someone you love brings it up, like business success and finances, excessive or unhealthy food or alcohol use, or a serious imbalance that is compromising other areas of your life, like your relationships with friends and family.
2. It is that thing that nobody wants to talk about and so the subject is changed almost as soon as it is brought up.
3. There is almost always evidence related to it in your immediate environment. You don’t have to look too far to find it, but you may have grown so accustomed to seeing it, that you need a fresh set of eyes on the situation at hand.
4. The elephant is usually costing you something in terms of your significant relationships with family and friends in your personal life and clients and business associates in your professional life.

How do you recognize the elephant in the room?

Exercise: Take a sneak peak at the elephant(s) in your own life you are ignoring.

1. “Name that elephant!” ~ as soon as you identify it, you begin disempowering it.
2. Name the telltale signs the elephant is in the room ~ make a list of the obvious clues surrounding you and be brutally honest with yourself in that moment. You can always send it through the shredder, but for a moment, allow yourself to “see” it.
3. Play it forward ~ what do you expect to have happen if it continues unaddressed?
4. Your immediate payoff for ignoring it ~ what do you get out of turning a blind eye?
5. Your cost or payout for ignoring it ~ what is the price of your ticket to admission to this experience in your life?
6. Action steps you can take to correct course ~ I recommend writing down easy, moderate, and difficult action steps so that you can see ALL of your options for remedying this situation.

If you can’t figure it out on your own (which is completely normal because you are subjective in your own experiences), look for trusted guidance in your life through friends, family or more of an objective source like a counselor or coach. Often times, a fresh set of eyes on a situation that is keeping you scratching your head is welcome reprieve. The good news is that once you go through the shift, it is no longer anywhere near as scary and you learn a lot about yourself along the way.

The person you become on the other side is one to celebrate and love for all the years to come!

What does it mean to truly deliver your gifts to the world? How can it happen? How does it happen?

Watch this incredible movie and see how the thought leaders of our time have discovered the process of living into their life’s purpose…

I am sharing it with you to inspire you to become the you that is in the process of becoming.

Enjoy… With Love & Light… CC

Christine N. Cibula, M.S.

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Ever feel like you’ve got so much on your plate that you aren’t sure where to begin? That is the plight of the Enlightened Entrepreneur. Tons of ideas you want to implement and a mile long list of things to do. But here’s the clincher. If you don’t reel it in and get things done, then your business is going to suffer. So let’s take a look at CC’s Top 5 Business Strategies For Entrepreneurs To Get It Done Now…

1. Eat That Frog! Besides being a wonderful book by Brian Tracy, the guidance within those pages helped me to personally gain momentum in my business. Here’s how it works. Before you shut down your office for the day, plan your list of action items for the next day. Take a look at your list and put a star next to the one action item that seems like it is the hardest one or the biggest hurdle for the coming day. When you arrive at your desk the next morning, tackle it right away. It is a little intense at first, kind of like ripping off a band-aid quickly. It stings for a minute and then there is this tremendous rush of RELIEF that sets in and this push of adrenaline because you’re so thankful it is over! That gives you momentum to tackle the rest of the items on your list (hardest to easiest) and you’ll lose emotional weight as the day progresses. By the end of the day you’ll be flying high. Your performance will skyrocket!

2. Get Your Feet Wet & Then Your Ankles… If you are stuck, and I mean, really stuck and the idea of starting with your hardest things to do makes you want to go back to bed and pull the covers over your head, I recommend a different strategy. This is a gentle approach. Start with least intimidating item on your list to get going. This is a little trick I do with myself for housework. This is a great strategy for cleaning up your office or organizing. Decide to do one small thing like clear off your immediate workspace. Then later tackle that small pile of papers. Maybe hit the shredder for a 10-minute break. Getting rid of clutter and letting go of things that no longer serve you open up the energy to let more good things flow to you.

3. BRAIN DUMP! If nothing is getting done, I love this technique. Sit down with a huge yellow legal pad and do a complete “BRAIN DUMP” where you write out everything that is nagging at you. It looks like this… Submit Proposal. Replace Light in Closet. Finish Client Project. Dog Bath. Write Blog Entry. Wash Linens. Respond to Client Queries. Get Out Ezine. Meet with VA Team. Pick Up Birthday Card and Gift. Check Web Stats. Call Grandma. Finish Info Product. Pick Up Dry Cleaning. Handwritten Note to JV Partner. Keep your master list.  Then group items of a similar nature BUSINESS, FAMILY & FRIENDS, HOUSEWORK and put into your day planner. When you complete items remember to give yourself the gratification of checking it off your list.

4. Just Do It! Do you find some high priority things are getting passed over consistently, because you are waiting to have the right moment to do them? These are typically high personal priority items that you’ll find yourself exclaiming, “I forgot AGAIN!” For me it is usually something I want to set aside time to do so that I can relax and enjoy the activity, like calling Grandma. If so, then next time you think about it, just do it. I mean, literally in the moment without trying to pick the perfect time when she’ll be by the phone. Rather than postponing, do a messy imperfect job of it, but get that need met. Put her on speed dial in your cell phone and call her from the road. Speaking of, I just picked up the phone and called Grandma. Now time to get back to work!

5. Stop Spinning In Inertia – Meaning – Do ONE THING To Completion. How boring right? Stay focused on ONE thing? That feels like a bit of a straight jacket, doesn’t it? But it works! Most entrepreneurs have at least three high priority items and work on them simultaneously. If each item individually should take about a week to complete, but you are working on them at the same time you could easily take, “ABC…ABC…A!” which translates into 7 weeks before you finish one item. And honestly, how many entrepreneurs do you know who only have 3 high priority projects at one time?  Conversely, if you do one thing AAA (week one) BBB (week two) CCC (week three) you will have 3 items completed in 3 weeks. It makes a case for why multitasking can often lead to inertia in business and why doing less means achieving more. Choose ONE high priority item and do it until it is finished!