We know that: “Every ending is really just a new beginning” From experience we also know that: “New beginnings are often described as painful endings” - Lao Tze We probably also know this too: “Endings are our beginnings, and beginnings are ours to turn into something good” – Elizabeth Chandler We could try and do this: “Celebrate endings as they precede new beginnings” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie A reminder our lives are different to stories: “Every story has an end, but in life every end is a new beginning” At this time of year it’s always a time of reflection on the good, and the not so good that’s happened to us over the last year. It’s also a time we may look to the New Year with new hope and inspiration as well as a time for making positive changes, developing new habits, introducing positive changes – a time
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The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again expecting a different outcome. Isn’t that what we often do? We end up stuck in a pattern of habit, particularly bad habits where we just follow the same route, routine or pattern we have always done. We are often just too busy to consider how or what we might do differently – no time – no energy – no inclination – so what happens? We just keep doing the same old. Today might be the day you draw a line in the sand and take ownership of what you are doing and why. Decide that today is the day for change and change for the better. Today might be the day that works on those weaknesses, or obstacles, certainly those things you wish you had done better. It’s often not as hard as we think it is.
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If I asked you when was the best time to create a life plan, what would you say? 20s, 30s or older? When you were younger did you make a life plan? Did you map out your career or your life even just an outline? Or did things just happen? Doors opened and you went through them to where you are now. Did you end up where you wanted to be if you did plan? I often hear clients saying that they are no good at planning. They can’t create a plan, see a plan and find it hard to plan. One of the best ways of developing a business or personal plan is to create a vision board. Whether we are a creative person or not, seeing something visually is powerful and deep. There are stories of people who have developed a vision board and packed it away only
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What Superhero powers do you wish you had? I’m sure you remember reading comics as a child and enjoying the superheros at their best? Saving others, flying in and making everything perfect in the world. Using their superpowers to everyone’s advantage. Then we grow up and realise there aren’t such things as superheros or superpowers, but don’t we all wish we had some at times? This got me to thinking about looking at the areas in our lives that aren’t working as well as they might. Things we know we could be doing better, or more of, or less of. It might be those things we could magically stop or start doing. Whichever of the above we might choose, perhaps we could choose up to three of the superpowers below and then look at how we might use these to help ourselves, our businesses, our family, or our work. If
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Have you ever thought that you have different roles or hats in any given day? We might have one ‘hat’ we wear in work or in our business, and another ‘hat’ when we are at home with our families. The ‘hat’ we wear with our peers or children would be very different, wouldn’t it? How different are the ‘hats’ you wear and are you aware how often you might change ‘hats’ and why? You may or may not have heard of Edward de Bono’s Thinking Hats? He explains that each coloured hat has a different purpose. For example, the green hat is a creative hat; the feelings or intuitions hat is red, the blue hat is a leader, the black hat is cautious, and the yellow hat focuses on benefits, the white hat relies on data and the black hat on process. At a meeting or at work with different
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It’s interesting isn’t it how our feelings and emotions can peak and trough and sometimes it can all happen in one day! When we have a positive experience we feel happy, motivated which gives us the encouragement and confidence to do more good things. However, when we have a negative experience, this can make us feel sad, deflated and negative. When this happens we can lose our focus and direction and become less productive. It’s a pity that we can’t keep the happy feeling on the back of a good experience as long as hold onto the sad feeling we have following a bad or negative experience. The bad experience seems to stick with us like glue, feeling unable to shake the negativity and doubt that seeps into our thoughts and emotions. We often don’t have the time to take out of a busy day to reset and consider putting
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Most people realise that we all need someone to help us with things we don’t know, understand, or can’t do. Those things we lack experience, knowledge, skills or the ability to carry out effectively. It’s not about not growing ourselves by seeking help and advice but learning along the way from someone else with the knowledge in that area. When I set up my business I had specialist ‘mentors’ which were a group of people who advised me in specific areas. I also used a business coach to help me get started and to support me. This is not a sign of weakness, but more of a sign of strength, common sense and acceptance that we need to focus on what we are good at but seek help and support in those areas we know less about. This way everyone helps each other. From my own experience as a business
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Have you ever considered why when you meet someone for the first time you feel like you’ve known them for ages and yet for others whom you’ve known for ages, there’s just something about them you either dislike or find frustrating? We are all different and whilst that’s a good thing, it can be a hindrance when we are trying to communicate with someone who is ‘different’ to us. We might often wonder why they can’t understand us and the way we think and of course they are likely feeling the same degree of frustration. This means that our communication isn’t as effective as what it could be resulting in us not reaching the successful outcome we want, which can add to the frustration. If you knew you could find a better way to communicate better with others, reduce conflict or frustration with others, wouldn’t you want to investigate this
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The road to Hell is paved with good intentions – I think we’ve all heard of this saying and relate to it, can’t we? Are you someone who is generally undecided unable to make decisions, often sitting on the fence, or are you a typical procrastinator, always putting things off and avoiding those things you should be doing? Or perhaps you are someone who is determined, never tires, always willing to give things a try and never giving up, but often never following through and completing the job? We all know we should set goals that are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound), and aligned with our personal values. Our goals should always be written down and kept visible otherwise aren’t they just a ‘wish’ and never likely to be achieved? However, regardless of whether we write our goals down or not, despite our intentions we mainly don’t achieve
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What gives you joy?Do you take time out to do what gives you joy?What makes you feel overwhelmed?Do you spend too much time feeling overwhelmed? Do you spend enough time doing something that gives you joy, and do you spend more time feeling overwhelmed? As a business owner often we enter into this with rose-tinted glasses so we can work for ourselves, earn our own money, be our own boss, work our own hours, however the reality is often this is far from the truth, which is where initial joy can turn to a feeling of being overwhelmed and feeling totally helpless. Here are some tips to work on reducing or minimising being or feeling overwhelmed. Why not take one or two of these from this week’s blog to work on and see how you go, working through the list introducing more each time, remembering to increasing things to do
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