An Interview with Renee Canali
Renée, you are a Mindset Coach cultivating change in the Landofpossibility. Would you give us a brief description of how you arrived at this point in your career?
I grew up with a curiosity about how people think. I wondered –and still wonder ? how some people could see anything good in a situation and others found good things in tough situations. My first job was telephone sales at 15. Then, I spent 20 years in retail, most in credit management. I certainly found out that if you are curious about people, retail is a playground for your mind!
Just as I was approaching my 20 year anniversary, my employer went bankrupt. I was free to explore something new; I took a temporary job which became permanent. During that time I collected articles about interesting careers. When I went through that file, almost all of the articles were about coaching. As I read each of them, I realized I had been coaching my whole life. I decided to pursue training and I graduated from Coach University, starting my business in 2004.
I have heard you say that our attitudes about money can hold us back or move us forward on the road to success. Would you elaborate on this concept?
I’d like to start by saying that each of us has our own definition of success. I define success as accomplishing steps toward an ultimate aim. The road to success is constructed from the decisions you make which separate you from your aim or unite you with it. Having an attitude disregarding money as a tool by which we accomplish success results from beliefs that money is in some way a necessary evil.
Our attitude is our custom floor plan, drawn from the collection of beliefs we hold. Very early in my life I intuitively knew that there was a difference not only in people’s attitudes, but in the results those attitudes brought them.
Those who embrace money as a means to help attain their goals get results that move them toward their target. Everyone encounters upset and disappointment; yet those that focus on the attitude that there is still something better for them and move through the hard times with clarity and focus, experience something better.
You’ve talked a lot about choices in terms of allowing ourselves to make choices and also that the choices we make today will affect our futures. How can we incorporate these ideas without becoming paralyzed by trying to determine the “right” choice?
Some people do not realize that they have choices within their grasp. They behave as though they are a victim of circumstance. There is always a choice to be made. The choice can be what to do; it can be how to get what you want; or, it can be how to view the current situation. Often, the only choice that is recognized is the choice to accept things as they seem to be.
For example, a single mother raising 7 kids and grieving the death of her husband can choose to succumb to sorrow, guilt, or loneliness: She can essentially “give up”.
She can give herself time to grieve, she can choose to look forward to easier times and she can choose to enjoy her children. Every day, she can choose to feel the same as yesterday or slightly better.
There are always tough days, days that it takes everything we have-every ounce of willpower- to keep moving. Those days challenge us to be grateful for what we have. The right choice is the choice that helps keep us from sliding backwards; one that feels better in that moment
. This moment is all we have to work with until the next moment happens.
What do you see as the biggest hindrance to moving toward success?
Earlier I defined success as forward movement toward achieving a goal, desire or purpose. So, the biggest hindrance to success is often losing sight of where you are going or what it is you truly want to achieve. The second hindrance would be the beliefs we need to either embrace or challenge to allow us to grow strong enough to see things as they really are and then to see them in a new light. That new light is critical: It is the process of forming a new perspective from which you can see new possibilities.
What else would you like us to know as we try to Cultivate Change in our Landofpossibility?
Realize that change is ALWAYS occurring. Science has proven that every day we have new cells and every 7 years all of our cells from the previous 7 years have been completely replaced! Every moment brings us a new experience.
We can choose to use our energy to fight against the inevitable change which is happening around us. However, the more energy we use to keep change from happening, the less energy we have for dealing with change. The costs of fighting change include frustration, anger, depression, low self-esteem and often illness or other debilitating circumstances.
It is far more effective to embrace change instead of fighting against it. Steering our energy toward making a change allows us to make change the best it can be. Reaching for what you want or what will get you a step closer to something better is leveraging change to your advantage. The benefits to cultivating change include increased feelings of self-worth, sense of accomplishment, happiness, contribution, and Joy!