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......