Maximise your success with effective goal setting

Are you bored with your current life and feel like you are just accepting the mediocrity of life? Do you know that you can achieve more but just don't know where to start?

Goal setting is key. It comes to this time of year and people start thinking that they will wait until the new year before they start to make any changes in life. In truth, by the time we have all recovered from Christmas and New Year, the reality is that we don't start making any changes until February, by which time you may feel like you have "failed" in some way and don't bother! Not too mention you have missed out on a QUARTER of a year to potentially make steps to achieve your goals NOW!!!

So my challenge for you, is get in early. Evaluate what you have achieved so far this year and what you want to achieve over the next 12 months. Read our newest article on effective goal setting and put it into action. You'll be amazed at how much you achieve in the next 3 months, leaving you SUPER motivated heading into 2010.

http://www.incitecoaching.com.au/articles/Maximise%20your%20success%20with%20effective%20goal%20setting.pdf

Increase your job opportunities with successful networking

So there aren't as many jobs being advertised on the Internet or in the papers, yet we all know of people moving jobs and finding new opportunities at the minute. How are they doing it??

Many of my clients are telling me that our focus on networking has been key to their success. How can you network successfully? What are the do's and don'ts and how do you get results?

Read on for more information

http://www.incitecoaching.com.au/articles/Successful%20Networking%20Preparation.pdf

Work life balance: What is it and how do you get it?

Work life balance has been a buzz word for the last 5 years, every body wants it and job adverts are increasingly focusing on it? However, what does it REALLY mean and how do you get it?

Read our newest article to find out more

http://www.incitecoaching.com.au/articles/work%20life%20balance.pdf

Navigating the job market: Alternatives to using agencies and online job boards

Are you looking for a new job and getting frustrated that your efforts to seek work in the "usual" ways are not working? Are you spending hours trauling through online job boards with little or no success? Does the thought of sitting in yet another recruitment agency interview make you want to bang your head against the wall?

Read this article to find out some alternatives to navigating the market place and making it work for you!

Enjoy

http://www.incitecoaching.com.au/articles/Navigating%20the%20job%20market%20Alternatives%20to%20recruitment%20agencies%20and%20online%20job%20boards.pdf

What's in a name?

When looking for a new job, what are the key factors that you look for? Is it the company? Is it the pay? Maybe the culture?

For too many people, the position title takes a huge importance in their decision making. But what does a position title actually mean?

Check out http://www.incitecoaching.com.au/articles/Job%20Titles%20What's%20in%20a%20Name.pdf

Are you courageous or merely conforming?

Have you ever wondered what drives successful people? It's the courage to take calculated risks and learn from ALL their experiences.

“The opposite of courage in these days is not cowardice, it is conformity”
Anthony Robbins (May 2009)

How courageous are you? What can you do to increase your success in the current economic climate?

Find out here:

http://www.incitecoaching.com.au/articles/Courage%20Vs%20Conformity.pdf

Masterful Communication

Do you communicate what you actually want to? Do you get the responses that you desire when communicating with others?

Have you ever been in a situation where you've been so worried about getting the content of your communication just right, that you forget to look at the person that you are speaking to, wait for responses or even listen to what they are saying?

Quite often we get so caught up in what we are going to say to our boss, colleague or friend, that we put more focus on that than how we say it.

Scarily only 7% of our communication comes from the actual words we use....learn how to make the most of the other 93% and become a master communicator.

Read more......

Define your Direction

I can't emphasize enough the importance of goal setting. Do you know where you are headed?

It has been found that 90% of those people who have achieved great success had a vision or a goal. What is yours?

To maximise the effectiveness of your goal, ensure that is is concise and that you clearly know what the outcome will look like, sound like and how it will make you feel.

Write your goal in positive tense, so that it is as if it has already happened, and put a date on it so that you know when you will achieve it. If you always write "next month I will make enough for an overseas holiday," then guess what? It will always happen next month!

Invest time in creating compelling goals and go about making them happen. Enjoy the process.

The case for work life balance

Over recent years, numerous surveys have found that employees are wanting better work life balance, and it has consistently been in the top 4 requirements of employees looking for a new job.

We have seen some businesses embrace this requirement and offer more flexible working hours and others offering better maternity or paternity leave. How does this actually impact employees? Do they actually see the benefit of these new policies?

Some of my clients have told me that although their company releases new policies and says that they are working hard to offer improved work life balance, it can often be frowned upon when employees actually TRY to make the most of these benefits.

Other companies see work life balance as fluffy and not relevant to running the business. These companies are severely missing out on potentially making increased profits. Improved retention, motivation and performance as a result of better work life balance arrangements has been shown to increase organisational profits.

Freek Vermeulen has written an article in the Harvard Business Publishing to address such issues. It is a most interesting read and is a must for all Business owners and executives.
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/vermeulen/2009/04/the-case-for-worklife-programs.html

For more information on how you can manage your work life balance visit our website or email Jennifer.

How can you manage redundancy and the current job market?

Smart Company cite today that job advertisements in Australia fell by 8.5% in March as unemployment rises to a four and a half year high of 5.5%

With these statistics being published daily, more and more employees are feeling increasingly uneasy about their job security.

So if you have been made redundant what can you do? How can you ensure that your job applications will be selected or even read? Recruiters and employers are now receiving a high number of applications for each position they advertise (in some cases over 100). In order to get through such volume, very tough "culling" activities are common.

With this in mind it is now more essential than ever to ensure that your resume and job applications are appealing to the recruiter. You will have approximately 3-5 seconds to grab the recruiters attention. What are you doing to grab their attention? How are you demonstrating that you are the BEST person for the job?

Read through Overcoming Resume Roadblocks to increase your job application to interview conversion rate.

For further advice on ensuring your career transition is as smooth as it can be visit Incite Coaching's Career Coaching Page.

Are you taking your chances?

I was playing solitaire today, waiting patiently for the aces to come out, moving over the remaining cards to eventually get out. I got out once out of, I don't know how many times, I lost count. I suddenly realised that the reason I was only winning 1 game every now and then was because I was just waiting for my opportunities to come to me. In the next game I started looking for my opportunities and sure enough I found them and I got out.

Economists are telling us that we are currently in the midst of one of the greatest financial downturns in history. We have seem a significant increase in job losses, people are becoming more conservative with their spending and some of the world's best know organisations are no longer. There are always people who prosper in times of financial difficulty, by seeing the opportunities which are available to them. John D. Rockefeller was able to make millions during the great depression to eventually become America's first billionaire.

Seeing and creating opportunities is critical at this time. What opportunities have passed you by? Can you create new opportunities to get you closer to your goals?

Focus on what you want, take advantage of everything you can and you'll soon see your cards coming out.

To find out how you can realise opportunities before waiting for them to appear, email info@incitecoaching.com.au to get your free report

Crack the Easter Egg Calories

Easter is a great time, you get to relax, catch up with friends and family, it is generally less pressure than at Christmas and you get to indulge in Easter eggs! Excellent!

Have you ever thought how much you are consuming? Are you feeling the pangs of Easter indulgence guilt? Do you feel sluggish?

Here's a bit of an after Easter reality check and some tips to cracking those unwanted calories.

Indulgence:
1 Cadbury's Creme egg
Calories: 170
Crack the Calories:
2.74km walk (approximately 33 minutes at a steady pace)
18 minutes jogging
20 minute playing singles tennis

Indulgence:
1 medium hollow chocolate bunny
Calories: 260
Crack the Calories:
4.19km walk (approximately 50 minutes at a steady pace)
29 minutes jogging
31 minute playing singles tennis

Indulgence:
1 large chocolate bunny
Calories: 1050
Crack the Calories:
16.93km walk (just under 4 hours at a steady pace)
1 hour 56 minutes jogging
2 hours 3 minutes playing singles tennis

How will you crack your calories? Can you get off the bus a stop early? Go to the gym before or after work? Go for a run in your lunch break? Organise some friends to go for a walk after work? Join a local sports team?

Exercise is a great way to release tensions or frustrations from work. The increase in endorphins in your body will leave you feeling great, motivates and will help both physical and mental wellbeing! Tell a friend or colleague of your plans to increase your accountability

Take action now, call a friend, make a decision or get up and go for a walk.

Back to work blues to Maximum Motivation

Well it’s back to work for some of us, after a great and well deserved long weekend, how do you feel? Are you excited about getting back or are you wishing you were still lying in and eating Easter eggs?

A lot of my clients tell me that getting back into the swing of work after a holiday or long weekend is really hard. Finding your focus and motivation (and sometimes brain) after a few days off can seem so foreign.

How can you get yourself motivated to get back to work? Follow these 3 simple steps to get you on your way....

1. Know where you are heading - set an intention

When you analyse some of the key success strategies of leaders and influential people, more times than not you will find that they know exactly where they are headed and why.

Do you know what you are going to achieve today? Or are you returning to work, hoping that checking your emails and talking to colleagues and clients will give you some direction? Define what you are going to achieve at the beginning of the day to give you direction. Combine this with a short daily intention and you will find that your focus is significantly increased.

Intentions are 1-6 words that will quickly remind you of what you are to achieve today. Write it somewhere you will see it all day or share it with a friend, boss or colleague to increase accountability. I have an intention daily and it really helps, today my intention is to 'Be Creative.'

2.Success breeds success

Once you have defined what you are going to achieve today, think about what steps you need to take to get you there? What is the one thing that will make you the most profit? Get you closer to your goal? or save time? Do this one thing first and gain momentum as you tick off the most relevant tasks first. You will quickly see that success does actually breed success.

3. Reward yourself

It is hard to get back on track, so be sure to reward your successes. At the beginning of the day set milestone rewards for completing tasks (e.g. going out to get a coffee, or meeting a friend for lunch). Ensure that the rewards are something that you actually want to ensure that you are motivated to get them.

N.B. Spending hours organising your day and setting goals and intentions as this will totally defeat the object. Invest 10-15 minutes at the beginning of the day whilst having your coffee or breakfast.

What can you learn?

I started reading Richard Branson's 'Business Stripped Bare' last night and already I am hooked. It is an easy read, hilarious at times (that guy knows how to live and what his priorities are in life) and is packed with invaluable information, not only for business people, for everybody.

One point that has really stuck with me, is his idea of 'there is no reverse on this thing.' Richard uses it in the context of business. Once you have started to invest in a new business or venture, you can't put it into reverse and change what has happened. What you can do is use what you have learned from the experience, to ensure that that situation doesn't repeat itself.

I think we can all learn something from this, we will never step in the same part of the river twice. So what positive learnings can you take from your experiences? How can they empower you to make decisions or changes moving forward?

No doubt there will be more insightful learnings coming whilst I read 'Business Striped Bare' so stay tuned.

Relax and enjoy the process

Have you ever felt like you really 'must' do something or you 'need' to get a certain outcome?

You are not alone. I don't know about you, I recently found I was putting more and more pressure and deadlines on myself. Think of the tasks that you do on a weekly basis, work tasks, home commitments, social engagements, sporting commitments, child care responsibilities as well as trying to find time to look after yourself.

I soon realised that with all this running around and trying to get to my goal, I was no longer enjoying the process of actually working towards my goal. I was stressing myself out!

You are more likely to reach your goals if you enjoy what you do. This doesn't just apply to your work, it applies to all areas of life. For example, if you enjoy a certain sport, such as hockey, making time to play that sport will go higher up your list of priorities. You are more likely to play and receive the health, well being and cathartic benefits associated with playing the game.

If you enjoy your work, you will be increasingly motivated and focused whilst in the office and therefore achieve more, or reach your goals sooner.

If you are putting undue stress on yourself you are less likely to enjoy the process of completing the actual tasks that will help you reach your goal and this can lead to procrastination, panic, indifference as well as other states.

"Relax" I told myself "Enjoy the process and the results will surely follow" and they did. Within a week of relaxing and enjoying what I was doing, I realised that I had already moved closer to my goal, had met some amazing people to help me along the way and most importantly, had FUN!

Do you need to relax a little?

Articulate your message

What is the difference between a computer technician who does a re-install on your system and charges $50/hr and one who does exactly the same work and charges $200/hr?

You may think experience is the key, or how quickly they can do the job. Really it is the technicians ability to articulate their value and worth to you. If you perceive that you are getting good value for money then you will be more likely to pay the $200. However if you perceive the service to be expensive (even if it is the cheaper quote) then you will not pay.

We are all in some form of sales. Whether it is selling yourself at an interview, selling an idea for a night out to friends or selling that it is time to go to bed to your children. We are salesmen/women all day without even realising it!

Learn how to articulate your message well to start getting what you really want!

Is your glass overflowing or in need of a top up?

Life is busy, we run around trying to manage career, our family, seeing friends, keeping fit, the list goes on. Sometimes we run around so much that we forget to stop and think about ourselves, where am I going? How do I feel? What do I want?

Think of your life as a glass and your energy levels as the water (or wine, whichever you prefer). If you are continuously giving all your energy to others and forgetting to top it up, it will eventually run out. This is typically when you burn out, or just have that burning desire to hibernate and not see anyone or do anything for a few hours or days, so that you can recharge.

If you are constantly filling your glass up, so that it is always overflowing you will never run out, and you will always have some to share with others. If you want to give to others and be the best friend, parent or family member you can be, you need to invest in yourself first.

Set aside time for you! It may be doing some exercise taking a bath or even reading a book. Whatever it is that makes you feel revived and energised again.

How will you fill you glass up?

Conversations are under-rated

The electronic era has taken us by storm. There is email, Internet as well as land line phones, mobiles, answer machines (for each one), blackberries, i-phones, i-pods and electronic every things all designed to make our life easier and faster.

Do they? Do they save us time? With the emergence of all these tools, not to mention all the social networking (twitter, blogs, Facebook etc) its easy to find yourself constantly checking all these different modes of communication and not actually get any work done. This is where those who don't procrastinate differ to procrastinators and time wasters. They set aside a certain amount of time to spend on all their favourite electronic gadgets and GET THINGS DONE the rest of the time. Set time aside to complete tasks and see how you'll fly through your to do list.

There is however a far more sinister side to all this electronic-gadgetry. They stop us from doing the one thing that most people want...TALK. We send emails and notes too confirm things and organise events/meetings that we could have done by picking up the phone or walking around to the other person's office. People like to talk. Especially about themselves. So if you are in business and want to build relationships and grow business in this slightly tougher period.....TALK to your clients. You'll be amazed.

Are you ready?

I was reading an article this morning that I wanted to share with you all. We seem to be hearing a lot of doom and gloom stories at the minute, jobs being lost and yo-yoing economies. However rather than focus on this negative, what re we doing to prepare for an upturn?

John Baldoni, Leadership Consultant and Coach, writes in the Harvard Business Publishing that now is exactly the time we should be focusing on development of our staff (and ourselves) and focusing on preparing for the upturn.

John suggests, mastering your operations (knowing your strengths and areas for improvement); using the downturn wisely (by planning and preparing) and investing in your people (providing extra training required t0 turn the areas for improvement into strengths).

If you aren't preparing now you'll be left behind. What action are you taking.

Read John's full article here:
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/baldoni/2009/02/prepare_your_people_for_the_up.html

Is your lack of motivation causing you stress?

Motivation is key if we are to succeed and achieve our goals. Without motivation, we will not take action, and no action = no outcome. So learning how to sustain motivation is key if you want to succeed.

We all have those days when we just don't feel as motivated to do the tasks that we should be doing. If this happens sparingly, it may not be such an issue. It may be your body's way of telling you to take some time out. However, if your lack of motivation is cutting into your day and weeks go by without you feeling like you have really achieved anything, then you do have an issue on your hands and this can lead to stress, as a result.

So how do you control your motivation rather than it control you?

There are 2 major types of motivation:

1. Motivation that is towards your goal (e.g. I am going to achieve this goal so that I can get my promotion at work)


2. Motivation that is away from your goal (e.g. I had better get this goal so that I don't get sacked).

Away from motivation is associated with a negative feeling and although it can give you the initial motivation to take action, generally produces inconsistent results. With away from motivation, you are only propelled to take action when things get bad and stress increases. This causes a lot more stress than if you were to use toward motivation which would elicit more consistent action and therefore results.

Think about your goals, are the towards or away from your goal. If they are away from motivation, write them down and ask yourself, how can I make this into a more positive goal? What positive reasons are there for me to achieve this goal? Associate the goal with something you love/enjoy to get even more motivation to take action.

Get Creative

Every week there is more and more talk about the economy turning south and increased publicity about how hard it is to make a profit. Clients are constantly telling me that they are struggling to sell their business, products or themselves.

I was on the bus coming out of the city last night, after attending an event and was amazed to see that EVERY single pub on George St was packed. It was 8pm on a Monday night, I couldn't believe it! It got me thinking, people do have money to spend and still want to enjoy themselves and maintain the lifestyle they are accustomed to (I mean why wouldn't you?). The main difference now is, people are a little more selective as to where they spend their money.

Now is the time when you need to get creative to sell your products (and that includes yourself at interview). I've used this quote time and time again...Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Get creative, if you always sold your product over the phone, maybe now you need to arrange face to face meetings to increase rapport and the likelihood of a sell. If you have always relied on referral, maybe you need to get creative with a referral bonus. Whatever it is, get creative, allow your mind to run wild. What you get you to buy your product if you had 3 other things you could spend that money on?

I would love to hear how this works for you, or if you have any comments.

Back to the Ancient World: A quick strategy to reduce stress

For years the Yogis have known the importance of the breath. The Pranayama (or breath) is translated to mean 'life force energy.' Many of us due, to the stress of everyday life, tend to take small shallow breaths using a fraction of our lungs. Heart diseases, sleep disorders and fatigue are known effects of Oxygen deprivation.

The yogi's teach us that learning to take a 'Full Breath' can not only help combating stress, it can also be beneficial in reducing toxins in the body, aids digestion, helps develop concentration which in turn reduces stress.

The full breath utilises every part of your lungs and ensures that your body is getting the Oxygen it requires to keep you healthy and alert.

To take a full yogi breath, inhale for the count of 4, until every part of your lungs are used. Your stomach should rise and your ribs should expand upwards and outwards. Then hold the breath for a count of 4, and finally slowly exhale for the count of 4, allowing your lung, rise and diaphragm to empty fully.

With practice you will be able to increase the count to 5 and then 6 to really maximise your lungs. Don't try to do this until you are ready.

SO, if you are having a stressful day or are struggling to sleep as you have a million things that you should have or need to do going around your head, practice this simple technique. It will help you relax or if you are already relaxed, take you to a deeper level of relaxation.

Enjoy the energy and how fabulous you feel!

Do you find yourself procrastinating over tasks?

Have you ever found yourself writing to do list after to do list of all the things you should be doing that day, in work? Or put off your sales calls for the next day as you "really must" get this report out by next week and if you don't do it today you never will? Or put off a difficult conversation with somebody, and gone to get a coffee instead?

You are procrastinating. Procrastination is defined as the 'deferment of actions to a later time'. Twenty percent of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators (Hara Estroff Marano, 2008). It is also one of the biggest time wasters there are. Procrastinators are actually putting obstacles in their way. Life has enough obstacles for you to navigate around, without adding your own.

So why do we do it and is it all bad?

Dr Ferarri believes that people procrastinate for different reasons.

(i) Thrill seekers - they leave things until the last minute for the euphoric rush

(ii) Avoiders - those people who avoid a task because of fear of failure or even fear of success. Either way these people care what other people think. They would rather been seen as not putting the energy into a task than filing at it.

(iii) Decisional procrastinators -the procrastinate about making a decision, if they don't make a decision, they wont have to take responsibility for it's outcome.

Procrastination isn't all bad. If you are procrastinating and doing nothing (i.e. sitting staring at a blank screen) or a doing something less important (such as checking emails for the 10th time that hour), then yes, it is a problem and can hold you back from success. With an increasingly competitive employment market, my advice would be to acknowledge your procrastination and do something about it. However if you are procrastinating and doing something more important (think of the "absent-minded professor" who forgets to eat and shave because he is so keen to get to work on his research) then that is not so much of a problem.

How do you get over procrastination?

Procrastination is a learned behaviour, so if it can be learned, it can be unlearned.

(i) Firstly decide whether it is a negative form of procrastination. Ask yourself 'is this the best thing I can be working on?' If not, change your focus

(ii) Work out how and why you procrastinate. Is it every time you need to make a sales call, or is it when you are stressed? Once you have identified when you procrastinate, then you can overcome it.

(iii) Create a productive environment. Turn off your emails, or move somewhere where you don't have internet access. WARNING: chronic procrastinators, may take this too far and tidy your desk for the whole day......that is not creating a productive environment.

(iv) Challenge your believes. Do you have the belief that you work better under pressure? There are plenty of ways to work under pressure without leaving your work until the night before it is due to be completed.

(v) Ask for help. Hold yourself accountable and make it so that you cannot fail, talk to friends, family or colleagues and ask for their help. If you don't want to talk to them, get a coach. They will hold you accountable.

Control your procrastination today and watch your success increase!

How to get your dream job

Thank you to all who took part in last night's tele-seminar, how to get your dream job.

We had an action filled 50 minutes, with plenty of exercises to help you find out what type of job and company you would be best suited to. I truly believe that we all owe it to ourselves to invest time into planning our careers. John Lees suggests that we spend 80% of our waking energy at work, travelling to or from work and worrying about work related tasks!

If you missed the seminar, and want help planning your career transitions, fear not , there will be a full edited version available to download soon!

If anyone has any comments or questions about the seminar, I would love to hear them.

Also, keep an eye out for the Career Momentum Workbooks, jammed full of exercises to help you through your career transition. They will be hitting stored soon.

Tennis or Mind Game?

For those of you who watched the Nadal vs Federer men's final at the Australian Open last night......what a game. There were ups and downs for both players from the start of the match, with 2 broken serves. We saw some amazing tennis, and both players proved to all who were watching that they really are the best 2 players in the world at the minute.

When it got to the tie break in the third set, the score stood at 1 set all, 6 games all 3 tie-break points all. I asked myself who would win this ferocious battle? Who had the better shots, who was fitter....who could handle the pressure.

That's the real key. Who believed in themselves and would not give up, no matter what their opposition threw at them? Our mind has an amazing ability to absolutely support us in our pursuit for our goals, and also hold us back if we let self doubt start to take its hold. This "defense mechanism" was critical in the evolution of humans so that we didn't injure ourselves by over believing in our abilities (such as our ability to fly!) Being aware of this, whilst striving for your goals is critical. You are the only one who has control over your thoughts and therefore you can determine whether you are going to dig in and overcome ANY obstacles, or simply give up if it gets too hard.

In the end Nadal proved to be the man. Despite his exhaustion following a 5 hour 14 minute semi final less than 48hours earlier, Nadal flung himself around the court and to Federer's frustration refused to give up. Nadal has an enviable ability to focus and do what was required, especially during pressure points. He overcame ALL the obstacles that got in his way, so that he could reach his goal of being the first Spaniard to take the Australian Open title.

Unfortunately for Federer the break of serve in the 5th set was too much, he lost his believe in himself and it was game over from there. Double faults and unforced errors followed. This is a perfect example of the internal sabotage that can happen if we allow self doubt to take control.

Will you allow self doubt to control you or will you overcome your obstacles so that you can be the champion of your game?

I think it will be the latter......

Create momentum & achieve your goals

'Success is often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction.' Al Bernstein

Have you ever stayed in your comfort zone and thought that eventually something exciting would happen to you and life would get more interesting and you would eventually start living your goals? How much are you sacrificing by waiting around for that special something or someone to whip you off your feet?

Well, I hate to break it to you, 9 times out of 10 this doesn't happen. You need to create it and make your dreams come true! People often worry about making mistakes. Yet, mistakes are merely learning opportunity and teach us which things work. The higher your number of mistakes, the higher your chances of success.

Do you think Edison gave up after his first failed attempt to make the light bulb? Do you think he gave up after his second attempt? No! It took thousands of failed attempts. Edison didn't see these attempts as failures, but rather thousands of ways how NOT to create the light bulb!

Create momentum and achieve your goals, by taking action.

The secret to getting what you want - focus!

How many times have you woken up, stubbed your toe, and the day has gone down hill from there? You miss the bus, are late for work, miss out on sales opportunities and then get "plopped" on by a bird?

Other days, you are walking on sunshine. Everything you touch turns to gold, you convert every sales call you make, you open the post to find a cheque you'd forgotten about. Life's Great.

Well how can you always be like the second example? The answer is simple, focus on what you want. As we've talked about before, our brain sorts all the stimulus that is coming to our nervous system. So choose what you want to focus on.

If you want to be happy, start acting happy. If you want to convert sales calls, be professional and act like nothing is going to knock you down.

"That's great Jen, but it's not that easy" I hear you saying. If you need a helping hand, put you favourite song on, do some exercise or just start laughing. The endorphins in your body, will make it impossible for you to be anything but happy. Do all three, and you'll have a spring in your step in seconds!

Try it and see.

Accepting mediocrity - Why 70% of people are unfufilled at work

We spend 80% of our waking hours at work, or worrying about work related issues according to UK author, John Lees. Yet, research shows that only 30% of us have the job of our dreams or really love our work. In an age where there is more choice and more new types of positions being created each year, why is this so? Why is it that more of us are getting burnt out and that stress levels are going through the roof?

"It's a bad time in the market!" "I'm lucky to have a job," "I'm too old," "I haven't got the education"...the list goes on, do these comments sound familiar at all?

Most of us are allowing these beliefs to hold us back from finding the role we really want and are instead, accepting mediocrity. Yes, the market is more competitive than it was 9 months ago, however, we must remember that at that time we were experiencing the highest growth in business activity and the lowest unemployment rates for decades.

To get the job you really want, you will have to be realistic and understand that there may be more competition in the market right now. With the right commitment, motivation and preparation you can overcome this. Two of my clients have secured their ideal jobs in the last week AND got pay rises.

Want to know HOW you can do this too? Keep logging on to find out more about my upcoming tele-seminar 'How to get your dream job.'

Oztag - A metaphor for life

I was playing Oztag last night (mixed, touch rugby league for all you non-Aussies) and it dawned on me, that it was a great metaphor for life.

The tactics are pretty simple. You create momentum in attack, take the first 2 tackles and then try something new and you stay strong in defense and don't let anyone through the gaps.

Creating momentum is just like taking action. If we stand still in life nothing will change and things tend to happen to us. If we take action, we can experience new things and then change our course if it didn't provide the outcome we expected. Create momentum and attack your defenders!

This also leads nicely into taking the first couple of tackles. The reason for this in any rugby game is to gain metres. In life, if you hit a road block or obstacle take it and instead of beating yourself up for taking a "wrong turn" ask yourself, "what can I learn from this?" Remember there is no such thing as a bad decision, just one you can learn from. If it doesn't work, try something new. If we try as many options available to us, we are more likely to get to where we want to be....it's the law of averages. As Einstein said 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different results'

In defense, be strong and don't let anyone through the gaps. This relates to our commitment in life to achieve our goals. Once you have decided on where you want to go, do everything you can to get there. Spend time with the people who will help you and support you in your pursuit, give yourself a support network and make it so that you simple can't not achieve your goal. Allowing people through the gaps who zap your energy or are extremely negative will break your defensive line if you listen to and take onboard their negative talk. I hear you saying, 'but I thought you said we need to try different things?' Yes, we do need to demonstrate behavioural flexibility when it comes to trying different ways of getting to our goal, we also need to keep our eye on the goal and our commitment high.

Enjoy your game of life, after all it is a game!

Eat Your Frog!

Do you procrastinate over things you know you really ought to do?

After days of "meaning" to do your task, do you ever say, "today is definitely the day" only to check the clock later that evening and realise you haven't done your task, again?

Eat your frog!

I found out about this concept about a month ago, and now I can't believe I hadn't thought of this sooner. Mark Twain said that suppose tomorrow morning, the first that you do, is catch a live frog, stuff it into your mouth, munch it down and swallow it all up. That is pretty much as bad as the day can get, isn't it? Therefore every morning, find the ugliest most repulsive task that you have on your to-do list (i.e. your frog) and knock that off before getting on to doing anything else. Once you’ve got that done, the rest of the day seems so easy.

Eat your frog before you do anything. If it's exercise, do it in the morning before work. If it's a work task, do it before you even check emails!

For a more in depth read on this, I would highly recommend Brian Tracy's - Eat That Frog.

Survive Redundancy

With redundancies on the rise due to the global financial crisis, we have already seen mass redundancies across many Australian industries. The Reserve Bank of Australia is predicting that as a result of the economic slowdown, 100,000 people will lose their jobs in the next 12 months – pushing the unemployment rate to five per cent. As of November 2008, unemployment sits at 4.4%. Now is a crucial time to start practising techniques that will increase your chances of keeping your job.

Firstly, as with any goal it is important to know your outcome so that you can work towards it. Make sure that both you and your bosses expectations of your work align.

Be productive! How many hours a week do you waste going for a coffee? Talking to colleagues? Busying yourself with admin? A study conducted in 2005 by Microsoft found that Australian employees are unproductive for 2 out of 5 days a week. Other studies have found that workers are unproductive for 90 days a year due to lack of planning or poor management.
Continue with this behaviour and you are in the firing line for redundancy! Be productive and work for 8 hours a day. Leave 5 minutes earlier and get your coffee on the way to work. Write a to do list for the following day before you leave the night before to stop time wasting in the morning.

Give up the email addiction. When the email alarm goes off, do you quickly jump onto your email screen? You are not alone, the eRoi Email Addiction Survey found that 66% of people read email seven days a week and expect to receive a response the same day. If you are addicted to email you are severely wasting your time. Every time you are distracted, it takes approximately 20 minutes to get back to where you were prior to the distraction. In 2005, a psychiatrist at King’s College in London administered IQ tests to three groups: the first did nothing but perform the IQ test, the second was distracted by e-mail and ringing phones, and the third were stoned on marijuana. Not surprisingly, the first group did better than the other two by an average of 10 points. The e-mailers, on the other hands, did worse than those on marijuana by an average of 6 points!

I challenge you to try these three simple steps over the coming 2 weeks and see how much more praise you get from your manager. If you have any comments, questions or would like more techniques, I'd love to hear from you.

Look Daddy, I can fly!

As a young child we believe we can do and be anything we want, we literally believe we can fly. We live in the moment and struggle to differentiate between reality and make believe. This beautiful period is called the Imprint Period and lasts until the age of about 7-8. Throughout this period we are absorbing information around us like a sponge and storing it at an unconscious level where it later influences our beliefs and values. We also develop what is termed a critical faculty. The critical faculty separates the conscious and unconscious minds and acts as a reality checker based on the information we have absorbed during the Imprint Period (explaining why children tend to stop having imaginary friends around age 7 or 8).

Our senses are constantly bombarded with approximately 2 million bits of information, such as sights, noise, tastes and background noise. If we took notice of all this information, we would go insane. Our brain therefore sorts through this information based on our experiences, values, beliefs etc to provide us with our own perception of the world. Have you ever bought a new car and then suddenly seen the same make or colour of car on EVERY street corner after that? Your unconscious is sorting for it!

As the Imprint Period influences our values and beliefs and then our critical faculty uses these as a point of reference for future decisions and beliefs, as adults we can be held back be our beliefs and decisions made as a young child.

For example, a mother tells a young child "you will never be a Doctor as we can't afford the University fees" the child may store this information unconsciously, as "you will never be a doctor." Over time this could develop to be "you will never have what you want in life." and influence future decisions and behaviours. The mother in this example was not meaning to be malicious and made the remark quite flippantly.

Are you making decisions based on long standing beliefs from childhood? Just think of what you can achieve if you blast through these limiting beliefs and decisions, change your focus and open yourself up to new possibilities and opportunities.

Unlock your true potential.

Spring Clean your life – Unlock your true potential!


I made a decision today to spring clean my flat and as it became tidier, it dawned on me that it had really been bothering me. We'd had family here all over Christmas and everything was out of place, untidy and dusty. Once it was cleaned, I began to look at everything in a new light. Instead of feeling anxious about my home environment, I was able to focus that energy on how we could spend our day in a more positive frame of mind and focus on more important things to do.

This really got me thinking, how often do we get held back by things that we do not even realise are doing it? The vast majority of us are carrying around excess baggage which is stopping us achieve our goals. It could be limiting decisions and beliefs, friends and family which zap our energy, stressful jobs and over commitment.

If you want to achieve your goals and really unlock your true potential then there's no better time to clear out this excess baggage than now. Just see what happens