C’mon is 30 days really a long time?

      There are things we can do in our lives which affect us and those around us for the better. They may affect us emotional or physically. They can be large things or small things. They may be something which changes our outlook on our lives or they may be small tiny things which just make our lives easier.

     Many people look at their lives and want to change it. They are dissatisfied and think if they can change things they will be a better person they will have a different outlook. Change is a hard thing and not as easy as it can look.

     They say any change will take 30 days to become a habit. Once you do something for 30 days on a regular basis it becomes part of you. Take exercise for example. If you work out once that is a change. Is it a change which will affect your totally outlook? Not unless you stick with it and make it a part of your life and your outlook.

     There are many large changes a person can make in their lives. Changes will affect the bigger picture. Changes will affect how they look at life. Exercise has already been mentioned. This is a big change in many people’s lives. Not only does it help you get into shape, lose weight and look better, it can also change your attitude. Working out on a regular basis has been shown in studies to have a positive effect on person work habits and personal lives. It changes their attitudes and outlooks.

     Nutrition is also a change for improvement which is a big adjustment for many. Giving up fast food for healthier alternatives is a struggle for many, but the rewards are great. A healthier person also has a new lease on life. They can handle stress better. They have more stamina and resilience. Nutrition is a key factor to many of lives best rewards.

     There are also changes which one may not think about in this perspective. It could be something as small as getting eight hours of sleep a night, writing thank you notes for the shower gifts, spending time volunteering at the senior center or spending more time with your children and spouse. These are little changes in our lives which bring immeasurable changes. They bring us joy and satisfaction. They may change the way we view things forever.

     Change doesn’t have to be a scary thing. It doesn’t have to be life altering either. It can be something simple and small that may only affect the way we see things in the future. Change affords us the opportunity to make our lives better in some way. It also gives us the opportunity to find ways to bless others lives as well. What kind of change will you make today?

 

 

5 Ways Women Can be Successful in a Man’s World

 

Women have been fighting long and hard for the recognition and the success in what is known as a man’s world. What women fight the hardest is usually themselves. Women have a different mindset. They think different than men. It is not a sexiest comment, it is pure DNA. Women’s minds were not made to work the same as a man’s. This is by no means saying women cannot succeed in this man’s world. It is saying a woman has to go about it in a different manner.

    #1 – Attitude is everything. A woman has to approach the goal with a can do attitude. Women have always been perceived as the weaker sex. Part of this perception comes to the forefront because the attitude. Don’t act like a man, but act with the attitude and confidence of a man. Know your mind is just as good as a man’s. A woman can get the job done just as well as a man. Show a strong confident attitude.

     #2 – Admit when you can’t do a task. There are some task out there people can’t do, man or woman. Knowing your limitations and admitting them goes a long way to becoming a success. This does not mean you don’t do the task. Admitting you can’t do it and learning to get it done are two different things.

     #3 – Put yourself out there. Women typically do not put themselves out in the man’s world. This goes back to attitude. Women are traditionally caretakers, not the risk takers. Learning to take risk and put yourself out there is a very effective method to making it in a man’s world. 

     #4 – Learn to know when to change your path. Life is unpredictable. If you find yourself in a situation which is going to be totally unworkable, learn when to give it up and move on. This also goes back to the female mindset. Women want to make things better. Make everyone get along. Knowing each situation is not going to work is one key to making it in a man’s world. They call it cutting your losses. 

     #5 – Find yourself a male mentor. There is nothing as useful as a mentor in your life. Finding someone to pattern your life after is an exceptional way to become successful. If you want to make it in a man’s world, finding a successful male mentor may be your ticket. Remember the male mind works differently. You can learn a lot from observing how they get things done. 

     With all of these things you still remember you are woman. Even after you have gained your ticket to the boys club you still want to remember you are a woman and bring uniqueness to the task at hand. Let them know your distinctive ideas and talents. Bringing a woman’s way of thinking to the market is an asset as well.

Are YOU a Risk Taker?

We all have people we admire and I am guessing you are no different. For me, people such as Lance Armstrong, Barack Obama and Angelina Jolie are just a few people I admire, do you? These are people who many others admire to.

What do these people, and others like them, have in common? They are all risk takers to some extent.

They have taken what life has handed them and run with it. They have all decided to say to themselves, I am going to reinvent myself and they did.

While you may not consider riding the Tour de France as a risk, it really is when you look closer at it. Riding for many days one end, on a bicycle through the French countryside sounds pretty risky and the crashes each year, confirm it is.

Barack Obama could have taken the less risky route and stayed in a job in Chicago, but he stepped outside his comfort zone and ran for congress and then president. Think of the risks he took. 

Angelina Jolie took the risk and went to Hollywood. It is a town where a high percentage of people don’t make it, but she did and is at the top of her peer class, setting a great example to others due to her extensive volunteer work.

As for me, I was a ‘girly girl’ who first put herself out there to run for Miss Illinois even though I had never ever walked  a cat walk before yet I placed 25th out of 205 women. That was a risk, as well as joining the military, not to mention the years spent as a police officer in Chicago, doing undercover roles and as a memeber of the SWAT team.

Whatever you consider a risk, remember nothing is really worth it, if it is just handed to you. Being motivated enough to work for it, and take the risk to achieve it, is all part of the accomplishment at the end of the road to help you reinvent yourself.

While these risks may appear extreme to you, there are other aspects which you may discover which allow you to take much smaller risks, many are already waiting for you in your own suburban back yard. Learning to take risk, even small ones, may make your life more rewarding along your stepping stone to success.

Many people get petrified at the though of public speaking. Getting up in front of people to speak is a huge fear for many people. However, did you know that many people who do this everyday for a living, were once just as scared as you about public speaking and many still get so nervous each and every time they take the stage.

They take that risk every time they approach the podium to deliver a speech, but they discovered how to overcome their fears.

What risks do you consider taking?

What  dreams do you have which are holding you back because you deem them to be too risky for you to even consider?  Maybe you would like to write your life story or write a book on a topic you have considerable knowledge in. Have you considered skydiving, but consider it too risky? Maybe you would like to run in the New York Marathon.

Any dreams you have which are holding you back from achieving them due to the risk factor or your fears . . . have you ever stopped to consider these may all be risks which are worth your whiel.

You may know of the reality TV show, Fear Factor, this is a perfect example of people whose dreams and fears were stifled, yet they overcome such fears by taking the risk and finally saying ‘YES’ before their brain automatically kicks in and says ‘NO’ it’s all too risky.

Reach outside your comfort zone and see what you can achieve and discover how to reinvent yourself.

Only you can be the one to push yourself beyond your self limitations, the ones your mind has set for yourself. Expand your horizons and reinvent yourself. Reach for the stars because you can do it..

Warmly

Lisa Lockwood
PS. My whole life, I have kept challenging my own mind and asked, "how can I continually reinvent myself" and if you can just ask yourself the same question, you will easily reinvent yourself, overcome fears and obstacles, the same ones which have been holding you back.

 

 

 

How To Prepare Yourself For The Unexpected

In your life, you need to prepare for the unexpected.

Why?

Because it’s going to happen.

Let’s face it, you may of had the best of plans worked out for you and your loved ones - then life stepped in, slapped you across the face, mucked it up and you were left bewildered.

When this happens, at this point, you have several options available to you.

The question is, which option you choice is up to you. When you discover how to deal with the unexpected events in your life, and begin to think on your feet, your life will change - you will have started the process of how to reinvent yourself. 

This is a life skill you need to cultivate.

Reflecting on certain aspects of my own life where I was a  Police Officer, an Undercover Hooter’s Girl and in the military for example, this provided me with plenty of opportunities to discover this one skill and then fine tune it. These aren’t the only places you can discover these how to prepare for the unexpected. 

Take advantage of your own life opportunities. From a line worker, to an executive to the newspaper delivery boy, we all have opportunities which  teach us, including you. You are NEVER too old to reinvent yourself.

Being prepared for the unexpected may include planning ahead for the goals you want to reach in your life and making detailed plans on how to get there is crucial. It may include what to say and do when you go in to a situation you have never been in before, such as a social event. or like in my case, when I was infiltrating the Chicago Mafia where I went undercover as the eye candy, exotic dancer girlfriend of a mafia member .

Regardless of your situation, it’s always good to go with a plan and know ahead of time what you can expect.

Even though you plan, something may happen which will catch you off guard and you need to think on your feet.  What you do at this point can go in several directions. Many of you will choose to take the safe route. Sometimes it is the very best choice to make.

Others will choose to think on their feet, moving swiftly with the change of plans and turn a potential bad situation, on it’s ear and back in their favor.

Now this isn’t always the wisest decision. You have to learn to weigh the pros and cons of each course of action you take. In other words to think, not just react. Often just reacting will just make a bad situation worse.

What would you do?

Preparing for the unexpected is more than just planning.

It can be a mental attitude as well. Going into a situation which you can handle, regardless of what happens is an attitude, not just planning. Tell yourself  - ‘you are a strong individual’.

In life, in many situations, you would not even be there if fate, or your supervisor, boss etc.  did not think you were fully capable of handling the situation - regardless of what crops up.

Remember this: Those around you in your life, have the faith in you to complete your job or mission. Do you?

Only you know your circumstances.

As an example, your  mission could be completing the paper route on a cold snowy day when you tire goes flat or like in my real life case,  convincing a mafia member that you really are arm-candy and not a police officer or going undercover as a Hooter’s Girl for a drug bust.

I look forward to hearing how you reinvent yourself.

Warmly

Lisa ‘Phoenix’ Lockwood
PS. Just like the mystical Phoenix bird which live for 500-600 years, then ignites itself and arises from the ashes to reinvent itself - you to can reinvent yourself. You can get started right now by subscribing to my 24 Success tips and Newsletter or take my blog RSS feed. 

 

 

 

I Have a Dream to Reinvent Myself - Do You?

Martin Luther King’s famous speech - "I Have a Dream" has been changing people’s lives across America and the world ever since he uttered those 4 powerful words. In reality, people chose to reinvent themselves.

Your Dreams can be fickle things.

They sit in the back of your mind pretty inactive, until you do something about them. Some people never will do anything. All their lives the dreams of achievement just sit there doing nothing.

Dormant, when the truth is, you have no excuses. Results count, reasons do not.

Others take on lives of their own.

Sitting down and putting your dreams for your entire year on paper is a great exercise.

Write out what you want to achieve.

Go ahead dream big. Write down the very details of your dreams.

Do you want to be the next contestant for the beauty pageant in your state? Write it down and list the details.

New Years is a great time to do this, but don’t let that hold you back. If it’s June make it a June’s Resolution list.

Writing down your list of dreams isn’t enough. Set goals. Make a plan. You have a list there right in front of you. Start making it happen. Take that list and start dividing it down into bite sized pieces so it doesn’t seems to daunting. 

Set your manageable goals with a timeline. You want to make that goal of promotion to a certain rank, break it down into the steps leading to that promotion. Give each one of those steps a date. Remember though these need to be realistic dates. You aren’t going to go from private to sergeant in 6 months.

You may have to do your homework to see what is a realistic time.

Then start working on your dreams.

Seize the opportunities that will make those dreams a reality. Achieving your dreams will not just come to you. You have to go out and make it happen. Sure, there are those that seem to get lucky, however, there really is not such thing as luck and the majority of people who have dreams come true are those that work at them.

Your dream/goal list is your framework.

Work within it.

Cross off the steps as they are achieved and celebrate! If you don’t achieve a step, know it isn’t the end. It is only a stumble in the road, and these do happen.

Remember it is your dreams, your goals, you can change and make that dream come true, regardless of setbacks. Readjust your time line and keep going.

Dreams do come true. You can reinvent yourself, reinvent your life and make all those things you have dreamed about a reality. All it takes is you and your ability to work at your goals.

Never give up on yourself. Never give up on the dreams that you hold.

Warmly

Lisa Lockwood
Author - Undercover Angel
PS. Go ahead, make today the day you choose to reinvent yourself. Start dreaming and put your dreams, thoughts and desire down on paper.

Undercover Angel - The Next Erin Brockovich?

Hollywood’s interest in making a movie based on the true story of real life Charlie’s Angel, Lisa Lockwood is heating up and the question is, could this Pretty woman with handcuffs story be as successful as Erin Brockovich?

Lisa Lockwood, endured welfare beginnings and an abusive marriage to become a decorated soldier in Desert Storm, a police officer, undercover narcotics detective and the first female SWAT team member on her department’s team. She documents her tale in Undercover Angel: From Beauty Queen to SWAT Team, her memoir, which is gaining national recognition at an amazing rate. 

As an undercover agent, she went deep undercover as an exotic dancer and ‘eye candy’ for the mafia and also as a Hooter’s girl and much more risking her life to bring down the bad guys.

Lisa is now gearing up to try her hand and reinvent herself again, this time as . . . an Associate Producer for the movie based on her real life.

She is now meeting with interested parties who want to claim their financial or expert stake in Undercover Angel-the movie.
Lisa said she knows one thing for sure, there’s a very good chance the title will change, ala Erin Brockovich, Antowne Fisher: Finding Fish and Chris Gardner’s The Pursuit of Happyness, which she has no objection to.

Lisa said, Just like when she wrote her memoir, she realized the easy part was putting the story idea together, the tricky and most challenging part will be the marketing, raising capital, getting accomplished stars to commit to the project and having a great studio want to produce it.

When asked who she would like to play her in the lead role, Lisa said it’s her desire to have Scarlett Johannson as the lead and Philip Seymour Hoffman opposite her. She also said she isn’t too picky and would be overjoyed to have any of the A-list production companies in Hollywood produce it.

Any interested parties can contact Lisa directly at: Lisa@lisalockwood.com

PS. Watch Lisa’s video to give you an insight into why her life story could be a huge hollywood blockbuster.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io9_dSZegB8

Lisa with Donny Deutsch

 

"From SWAT team, life coach to author of
Undercover Angel, if she doesn’t get you to
go all in, I don’t know who’s going to do it!"

Donny Deutsch-CNBC Host: The Big Idea

Movie Trailer for My Book

Go behind the scenes with Lisa as she shows you how she reinvented herself. She will show you the gritty details starting from her humble beginning in the south side of Chicago to her stellar law enforcement career including being an undercover narcotics agent, officer of the year, and  being accepted into the SWAT team. Lisa’s hard charging hard hitting, door storming charm will bring you tears of joy and happiness. Because she will prove that you can do it too.

 

 

 

 

 

Excerpts From Undercover Angel . . .

GI Jane Training In The Air Force A drill instructor approached, “hang up the phone, your time is up!”

“I have to go Mom, they are hollering at me to hang up.” I surrendered the phone to the next crying victim in my squad. I was a mess, sobbing uncontrollably as the angry drill instructor ordered me to move into another line. I desperately wanted my mommy. Trembling and on the verge of hyperventilating, I marched into the next formation and stood alone among hordes of strangers where I experienced my first encounter with inner courage. It was then I decided that I was doing this thing until the bitter end. I could not return home a quitter. All we needed to do to survive the six weeks was to be compliant, subservient, offer no excuses, take responsibility for every act, and do exactly as ordered.

Dictator Dad’s Welfare Home

Dad was quite the disciplinarian, which meant weekly Saturday beatings for all seven of us. The neighbors often heard our screams penetrating the closed basement window of Dad’s House of Justice.  There was always a struggle after each strike, as we would squirm and yelp in pain, making involuntary attempts to block the next impeding blow with our hands. This would make him angrier; if we moved we knew to expect an additional strikewhat was most perplexing was that, every week, no matter what, in Dad’s eyes, we all managed to do something that required a beating.

Competing In The Miss Illinois USA Pageant

A whole new world was opening up for this dark blonde, 110 lb., 5’5, brown-eyed, eighteen-year-old girl. The one striking physical quality that I was often recognized for was my prominently high cheekbones. I received these from Dad’s gene pool. His parents were a mixture of Swedish, English and Native American Indian (Cherokee).

Mid-fall, Mom and Dad dropped me off at the venue to prepare for the three-day pageant event. I was awestruck as I was shuttled between various registration points with the other 204 contestants from across Illinois. Many of the women exuded refinement and wealth, as indicated by their Louis Vuitton luggage and “to-die-for” business ensembles. This made me question my acceptance into the pageant.

Beauty, poise and personality were the only requirements for the competition. I thought I possessed all of them, but suddenly I was feeling less than adequate. Who was I, anyway? I was eighteen, living at home, attending a community college while working as a waitress. Was this the making of a Miss Illinois winner?

First Marriage Fails

Over the years, Tony had threatened to kill himself if I ever left him and swore he’d never let me go. I was fearful of his temper. But while he became destructive during his drunken episodes, he’d never harmed me physically. Sadly I looked at that as a plus. After some eight or so months of my intentional frigidity, I was hoping to push Tony to file for a divorce

The second I heard Tony enter the shower I raced from the bedroom and left for work. I knew it ironic that part of my job entailed sending help to victims of domestic batteries, and here I was, ‘a victim’ who decided to keep my battery a secret as I continued helping strangers that very evening. Unfortunately despite my show of power against Tony, I still feared his threats. I couldn’t bring myself to share this atrocity with my family. Or move in with my mom, even if it was only temporary. My image of independence was too important; asking for help was out of the question. So instead, I threatened Tony with a divorce if he didn’t join me for relationship counseling. Sound pathetically familiar?

… My new goal was to get hired as a Chicago Police officer so that I could finance my own home and leave Tony forever.

Patrol Officer’s Delicate Touch

Through trial and error, I learned how to quell many volatile police calls with the use of minimum force. For example, when handling drunk drivers, domestic altercations, warrant arrests or even bar fights, I built rapport with the offenders and the victims by treating everyone with respect, even after I determined who would be going to jail. I found that most of the offenders I dealt with were men and being a petite blonde woman certainly gave me an advantage over my male counterparts. If I had a quarter for every time a male criminal or victim said, “Officer, aren’t you going to pat me down?” I would have retired after two years.

Promoted To SWAT

I expected some slack from the men, but still felt hurt and betrayed. I’d been helping them train, socialized at lunch with them and even took off into the woods to relieve myself, trying to fit in. I was OK as their role player, but that was it. All they knew was an all-male team and that’s exactly how they wanted to keep it. I knew the team leaders were looking for a levelheaded team player who had proven him or herself effective through proactive police activity and dedication to the department. It was the team members that wanted to keep it a boys’ club. As much as I wanted to believe the guys would perceive me as an equal, the reality was that it wasn’t going to happen. If I was selected, it would be like starting all over again. Yet another time for me to prove myself in a man’s world.