Well-being Q&A: Peggy McColl

Peggy McColl is a speaker, consultant and an internationally recognized expert in the area of goal achievement. She is the author of the New York Times best-seller, Your Destiny Switch and has also written On Being… The Creator of Your Destiny; The 8 Proven Secrets to SMART Success; and 21 Distinctions of Wealth: Attract the Abundance You Deserve. Her most recent book, Be a Dog with a Bone (Always Go for Your Dreams) offers canine-inspired analogies for some essential life lessons. (Hay House, Jan. 2009)

She is the President and Founder of Dynamic Destinies, Inc., an organization that trains individuals, authors, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders and employees in compelling and strategic goal-setting technologies. Her work has been endorsed by some of the most renowned experts in the personal development field, including Neale Donald Walsch, Bob Proctor, Jack Canfield, Jim Rohn, Mark Victor Hansen, Caroline Myss, Gregg Braden, Debbie Ford and many others.

CL: You have been writing about and teaching people how to set and achieve goals, become successful and attract great wealth for many years. In your experience, how can striving to be financially prosperous be a part of one’s transformational journey?

PM: “Striving to be” anything (to be financially prosperous, be successful, in a loving relationship, at your ideal weight) is a process of “acting as if.” When one “acts as if” they are experiencing the joy and gratitude (and other positive emotions) of already achieving their goals. This is why they say “success is a journey.” It’s true, but it is equally true to enjoy the journey. When you are enjoying the journey and acting as if you already have all that you desire, you are truly living the experience in the moment. And, when you do, success will be drawn to you faster than you can imagine. It will seem that you are a gigantic magnet drawing to you all that you desire.

CL: In your latest book you use the behaviors and dispositions of dogs as a way to communicate some important ways people can achieve any goal. Why did you decide to use canine wisdom?

PM: I use dog metaphors because these animals represent beautiful, admirable, and desirable goal-achieving qualities such as persistence, playfulness, loyalty, and unconditional love. So to be a dog with a bone means that you’re someone who wants to achieve a specific outcome and remain steadfast in the pursuit of that goal, overcoming roadblocks, refusing to give up, and maintaining unwavering faith. 

CL: How can people who are stuck in self-limiting beliefs begin to shave away the fear and doubt that has prevented from living their most authentic life?

PM: Read my book Your Destiny Switch (smile). In all seriousness, there is a danger in answering this question with a short answer because there is so much to this. The best way to serve you and your readers is with this short excerpt from my book Your Destiny Switch to shed some light on this answer: [Every moment that you’re alive is one in which you can make a choice about what you want to feel. You can start creating new habits by mastering the art of switching your emotions, a skill that involves a three step process. When you’re ready to actually make the shift into a better, more positive emotion, there are several strategies you can use – alone or together – that are wonderfully effective at helping you make the switch. First, however, let’s look at the three steps in this process.

Step 1: Observe
The first step in making an emotional switch is rejecting a disempowering feeling, and you can’t do that unless you observe it. You have to be aware that you’re in a negative (or indifferent) state.

Step 2: Decide
In any given moment, you have a choice: Do you want to continue feeling the way you do, or do you want to switch?

Step 3: Switch
You can switch your emotions immediately if you choose to do so. No matter how strong the negative feeling you’re experiencing, the more you practice observing, deciding, and switching, the more quickly you’ll be able to make the transition to a positive emotion, because you’ve created this healthy habit.]

CL: In this latest book, you speak a lot about “dogged determination” in approaching your dreams, and what an essential attitude it is in being someone who can “make things happen.” Yet you also discuss the need to be flexible or “faithful” in trusting that you will achieve that goal without the need to constantly control what and how things actually happen. How do these two important principles work together?

PM: These two important principles go hand in hand (they BOTH are essential parts of the success recipe). Being dogged determined is setting a clear intention (state or claim that which you desire). At that point, you must detach yourself from the outcome and switch into the emotion of faith. This is sometimes referred to as “Let Go and Let God.” But letting go and letting God doesn’t mean that you can sit back and wish for things to happen without doing anything about it. On the contrary; you have a responsibility for what’s going to show up for you in your life. To create success, you need to align all of the factors for it in a fashion that will produce your desired results (which includes practicing and growing the emotion of faith).

CL: What are a few techniques or actions that someone can use when beginning to manifest their dreams?

PM: The first step is to decide to do something! And, then take the first step. Sit down and decide what you want and find the tools that will help you get there. My website has many resources and tools available and some of them are are available for free. No tool, no matter how powerful, can help you change your life if you don’t use it. Many people read self-help books, become excited about the promise of improving their quality of life and creating happiness for themselves, and start to practice the program they’ve just learned but soon wander off the path to their goals. They have the resources they need, but they’re locked away in a toolbox that’s covered with dust and cobwebs. If you want to build your dream life, you’ve got to implement effective goal-achieving tools (follow the guidelines in my books), and start working!

CL: For many people, simply identifying what it is they want in life is the hardest part of the success equation. What are some good ways for people to discover their true passions or life purpose?

PM: Here is a great excerpt from Be a Dog with a Bone that will answer this question perfectly:
[A deep desire comes from the soul, and you’ll recognize it simply by the way you feel about it in your heart. When you uncover this dream (bone), you’ll have deep determination, because determination is fueled by desire. Short lived wants don’t run deep, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s vitally important to connect with the deepest dream of your heart, for when you do, you’ll access your dogged determination. Think about the following questions: Do you know what you want? Do you have a dream that you wish would come true or a goal you want to achieve, one that you’re truly passionate about? Connect to your deepest desire, your biggest dream. What is it? If you could have anything, and I mean anything, what would it be?]

CL: What are you reading now? Are there any books or authors currently on your radar that you would recommend for those inspired to move in the direction of their dreams?

PM: Believe it or not, I read my own books. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not bragging, but my books contain three decades of my own discoveries and I’ve learned from many of the greatest masters on this planet. Their wisdom has helped me to create an extraordinary life, and therefore, not only did I write about it, I live it! Your Destiny Switch / 21 Distinctions of Wealth / Be a Dog with a Bone (all published by Hay House) and available everywhere.