SELF IMPROVEMENT AND MOTIVATION

Time has flown so fast and it is that time of year when we once again welcome a new year i.e. 2017. And as always it comes with lots of New Year resolutions that we usually never keep! The New Year is in a sense a reset button. It’s an opportunity for us to do all those things that we promised but never got down to really doing it. This year, I want to help you by giving you what I think are three great resolutions.  1. Work on your Health Getting healthy means indulging in exercise and making healthier eating choices. Make one small change at a time. For exercise, start with something easy like walking and then making the transition to running etc. For eating choices, start to avoid those foods which ‘you know’ are unhealthy, and then go on to eating those that are healthy. The evidence is clear and that is regular exercise with good eating habits has been associated with more health benefits than anything else known to man. 2. Enjoy Life More Life in today’s world is stressf...

If you are a really good parent, you might want to think again about how to make your child really happy. Most parents nowadays regard parenting as providing them with love, the latest toys and protecting them from unpleasant experiences. That will make them feel happy and they should  always be happy , right? Wrong! Real life has a fair share of nasty shocks, failures and unhappiness for most of us. If we are taught how to deal with these from an early age, it really is the best way to grow up as confident, happy and well balanced adults. If parents rush in to provide protection, advice and the latest toys, then discomfort, disappointment and setbacks will never be talked about. Here are 4 reasons why you shouldn’t tell your kids to be always happy and why you shouldn’t rush in to fix things and minimize suffering. 1. Buying them a new toy will not teach them about disappointment Children will have to come to terms early on with disappointment when their favorite toy gets broken. ...

It’s not fair. Gender discrimination is hard-baked into everyone despite their protestations. Subtle gender bias occurs in every meeting, in every work-based interaction –  filo pastry-like layers of discrimination that are so insidious you barely notice them creeping up on your psyche.  But they’re there.   For years we’ve been working with talented, accomplished corporate women who consistently undervalue their abilities, and therefore are not overtly communicating their competence for career progression. It is a pattern. Women in the workforce have a tendency to shy away from beating their own drum, while their male counterparts have no such limitation.   Meanwhile, we see male counterparts going for senior roles with less fear or introspection about their abilities.  This is exactly what happened to our client, Rebecca. Well-established in her career at 32, Rebecca found herself questioning her own abilities to go for a Director role, despite strong experien...

Every once in a while, I run across someone who doesn’t want to change.  How do I motivate them to change when they don’t want to?  What do I do to convince them that the change is good for them?  Nothing! Have you ever tried to change the behavior of an adult who had absolutely no interest in changing? How much luck did you have with your attempts at this “religious conversion”? Have you ever tried to change the behavior of a spouse, partner or parent who had no interest in changing? How did that work out for you? My guess is that if you have ever tried to change someone else’s behavior, and that person did not want to change, you have been consistently unsuccessful in changing their behavior. You may have even alienated the person you were trying to enlighten. If they don’t care, don’t waste your time. Research on coaching is clear and consistent. Coaching is most successful when applied to people with potential who want to improve — not when applied to people who have ...

BALLROOM DANCING, ARE YOU INTO THIS, BELIEVE ME IT CAN HELP YOU AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE. What can ballroom dancing teach us about leadership? I danced competitively for 10 years in 10 different dances and I learned lots about leading. It requires discipline of hours of painful practice, not giving up when your body is screaming 'It's enough', unrelenting determination to do better.  Like leadership, dancing also requires generosity, empathy, lead and follow in equal dosage. But my most profound lesson was we only get to perform for 3 minutes on the floor, but we prepared for 300 hours before - dancing like leadership is not a destination, it is a journey it's the exposure and the learning curve with trying continuously in a variety of moves and decision. It also can allow you to distress and relax in which you gain better composure and handling of your emotions and pressure. You would be the best presenter in the boardroom as your kills would carry you further.

As we wind down to the end of the year, new projects and programmes for 2017 are being defined.  I have been involved in so much change this year but it is not all neatly finishing in time for new initiatives to begin. Clearing the decks This relentless cycle of change is best addressed by revisiting those that are 'nearly finished' to see what we can do to 'push them over the line' and create enough space for all the new changes coming up. Many of these tasks address small details which are disproportionately time consuming to fix but which have a negative impact on productivity. For example, dealing with those customers whose exceptional circumstances don't fit with the new streamlined processes and which are being handled by individual team members. Or the manual workarounds needed for some expenses not automatically processed by the new finance system. Find your 'completer/finishers' and get them to help I know my working style is creating big ideas and ...