5 Tools For #Success In Tough Times

May 30, 2019May 30, 2019Leave a comment

How Do You Start Moving Towards Success? Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

Wow, it is almost the start of June and there are 215 days left until the new year.

There is no way I can predict what will happen between now and then, any more than I could have anticipated what I have had to deal with so far in 2019 (the list includes bereavement, bureaucracy and building new relationships).

Having said that I have found the following 5 points to be important in achieving success with my goals even in tough times (I hope you find them useful too):

Openness – being prepared to ask for help before being overcome by feelings of overwhelm.

Sharing – letting others know what is happening and what it is teaching you.

Listening – I have found paying close attention to what people are saying, beyond the words they are using, has been very helpful.

Humour – this can be difficult, but finding the lighter side of a dark situation can help with keeping things in perspective.

Forgiveness – we all make mistakes and no one is perfect. Getting hung up on the harm others have caused us reduces the time we can spend making a positive contribution to the world.

What are your top 5 success tools? Which one do you go to most often? Feel free to Like or Share if this post has struck a chord.

Remember These 5 Truths When The Going Gets Tough

April 30, 2019April 30, 2019Leave a comment

5 Ways To Put Problems Into Perspective (Photo from Rawpixel.com on Pexels.com)

Phew! We’ve made it through the first third of the year.

Hopefully there are more good days in those four months than there are bad ones. In case the next eight months don’t all go well here are 5 upbeat thoughts to remember when the going gets tough and goals seem out of reach.

Our friends can give us great support, if we are not too proud to ask them for it.
We can find new people who will understand what we are going through by using social media.
We might have forgotten about today’s crisis in 6 month’s time.
We have overcome hard times before, so we can definitely do so again.
Once we have got past this problem we will be able to help others who are struggling.

Are there any other points that should go on the list? Feel free to comment, like and share if this post is helpful.

How to #Communicate Effectively By Telling Vivid Stories

February 18, 2019February 17, 2019Leave a comment

Use vivid stories to connect to your audience Photo by Abel Tan Jun Yang from Pexels

It can be difficult to sum up the direction a life has taken without resorting to a list: when someone was born; where they went to school; which skills did they acquire; how they used those skills to make their living.

When I recently wrote and delivered a, well received, eulogy I took a different approach. Rather than a dull list I told vivid stories which brought an entire history to life. The audience received a rounded picture of the person they knew as a relative, friend, neighbour or ex-colleague.

Follow the link to YouTube if you would like to learn more about using stories to communicate the details of someone else’s life (or maybe your own). Remember to Like, Share and comment too if this post has helped you.

3 Actions To Take To Make Our #Goals More Effective

December 24, 2018December 24, 2018Leave a comment

Goal Setting Ideas For The Year Ahead – Picture From Pexels.com

Christmas is nearly here. So a big Thank You is due to all those who work through the busy holiday period, making it less stressful for those of us coordinating parties, presents and people.

Everyone has ideas about how to be productive during busy times. I think there are 3 key principles we should hold on to, especially when we are surrounded by people wanting our attention, our commitment, or our energy. We should:

Aim to take care of our own needs first, so we can be better at helping others.
Be patient with people who resist change, or who are only thinking about themselves.
Choose our battles, so that when we say ‘No’ that answer is heard and respected.

I think these ABC actions help, whether our goal is to thrive during the festive season or make change happen in the year ahead.

Feel free to Like and feedback if you try these principles out and they work for you (or share this post with someone who needs it).

Have a Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

World Mental Health Day Means We Can Do More Than #Asktwice

October 10, 2018October 10, 2018Leave a comment

We Can Count On Our Friends To Help Us Feel Better – Picture by Nappy at Pexels dot com

Today is World Mental Health Day.

The goal for #WMHD is raising awareness that 1 in 4 of us will personally experience mental health challenges during our life.

Yes, that is even true for us guys. Although getting us talking about our feelings can be hard work (that’s why it is worth asking us twice ‘how are you’ just to check what is really going on).

Having poor mental health sucks, believe me: It might be back in the early 2000s but I remember that feeling alone; being unable to get out of bed; seeing the world in black and white made no sense at all.

Today is is also time to remember we can overcome the rubbish feelings caused by stress, anxiety and depression with the help of family, friends and maybe professionals.

How do we start to change our situation?

By talking about our feelings with our family, colleagues and mates today.

And keeping the conversation going tomorrow.

And the next day.

And the next.

What Are Your Next Steps?

This isn’t an easy conversation to have. If this post rings bells here are some questions we can ask ourselves to get started.

Who can we talk to about what is really going on inside?
What isn’t working in our life?
What is the smallest step that might help us feel just a bit better?
Do we need professional help?

Thanks for reading this post. How will you use the information to make your life, or someone else’s better? Follow the link to Time For Change if you want to know more https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/asktwice

Finally, remember to Like, Comment and Share so others can learn how to help themselves too.

What Professor Stephen Hawking’s Life Shows Us About Achieving Our #Goals

June 8, 2018June 8, 2018Leave a comment

Who Inspires You To Take Action?

Professor Stephen Hawking’s life is being celebrated in Westminster Abbey today. He faced more than his share of challenges. His goals seemed unrealistic at times, People doubted him.

His philosophy was simple though.

However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at

What’s The Value Of Paying Attention?

It can be hard in difficult times to find the one thing to which we should pay attention if we want to develop and achieve success. Is the most important thing earning a qualification? Finding a job? Finding a better job? How about starting a side business or writing a book?

Finding one thing and paying attention to getting it completed is hard. It does make it easier to progress to the next thing on our To Do list though.

There’s a bonus too. Along the way we connect to others doing their best to tackle their goals. We can help them and ask them for help if necessary. That’s the value of paying attention to our main goal and taking action to fulfil it. That’s the lesson I take away from Stephen Hawking’s life.

What’s Next?

I hope this post has set you thinking about what you want to achieve in 2018. If so feel free to offer a comment, leave a Like, or even Share the post with someone else who could benefit from reading it.

Have a great day.

How To Give Valuable #Feedback

May 9, 2018May 9, 2018Leave a comment

collaboration-cooperation-friendship-872955

Effective Feedback Matters (picture credit Pexels dot com)

Any time I’ve visited people in hospital I’ve been impressed by the attention medics pay to people in their care.

Teams of doctors, nurses, paramedics, physios, dietitians, care assistants, cleaners and the rest all working together to deliver their part of a bigger goal – to help their patients.

How Do You Show Your Appreciation?

It seems to me a lot of people do great work without expecting thanks for their efforts (pro tip, a box of chocolates and a timely thank you note for the specific type of result goes down well). But I think everyone likes to feel their efforts are appreciated when they are above and beyond the call of duty. Which leads me to ask two questions:

How do you say ‘thank you’ to your team / colleagues / clients when praise is well earned? What are the consequences on morale and productivity of leaving gratitude unsaid?

If you have a successful strategy for putting smiles on face feel free to share it here, it is bound to be useful to others. Also, if this post has inspired you to show your appreciation in a professional or personal context feel free to Like and Share it.

Thank you for reading this post and have a great day.

The Value of Emotionally Inspiring #Goals

April 9, 2018April 8, 2018Leave a comment

Are Your Goals Emotionally Inspiring ? Picture Credit Pexels.Com

I like working on goals with other people as I did at a recent workshop. There is something powerful about taking an opportunity to share information and experiences; help people connect to one another; solve a longstanding problem. This work and the changes it triggers can get emotional.

I know some people prefer standing alone. They believe the status quo is necessary. They have a Me-versus-The-World mentality. Their emotions are negative. Their life is more of a struggle than it need be. Their well being suffers.

That isn’t necessary. When they are emotionally ready even isolated people can choose to change.

With Work Dreams Can Become Reality

Speaking of emotions, this week marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. It is inspiring to realise he helped build lasting change in the United States by saying the civil rights status quo of the 1960s was not acceptable.

He brought change-ready people together, so they could reflect, share experiences and identify solutions to the longstanding problems they and the country faced.

Speaking in front of the Lincoln Memorial on 28 August 1963 Doctor King set out a goal which he would not live to see realised. The goal changed the course of history in the United States. The goal he outlined was simple. He dreamed of a day when diverse American children would:

Not be judged by the colour of their skin…but the content of their character

(President Kennedy was more specific with his emotionally inspiring September 1962 goal – to be delivered before the end of that decade. Choosing to land a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth also changed the course of American history).

What’s the valuable lesson? That adding emotion to a goal makes it a more powerful target to work toward.

How Are Your Goals Progressing?

Most of us are working on smaller, more personal goals then those Doctor King or President Kennedy planned. We still need to pay attention to what we want to achieve at each step; fix the boundaries within which we are working so we don’t go off course; care passionately about the progress we make along the way. How much emotion do your goals contain and how much progress are you making on them?

Thank you for reading to the end. I hope this post has inspired you. Feel free to comment, like, share and see what else the site has to offer. There will be more to say in May. Meanwhile enjoy the rest of April.

Roger

3 Reasons To Make #TimeToTalk About #Wellbeing

February 5, 2018February 5, 2018Leave a comment

Time To Talk About Health And Wellbeing (Picture Credit Pexels dot com)

A new year means we can take stock and make time to change our lives. We can make time to pursue goals that improve our work performance and our life outside the 9 to 5. So, this is a great time to talk about improving our (mental and physical) health and well-being.

With life being a hectic mix of commitments and claims on our time, it is important we practice self-care. Doing that helps us care for customers, colleagues and community too. Here are 3 good reasons that show how time devoted to self-care helps us reduce the pressure that contributes to mental health difficulties:

Connection

No one achieves all their goals alone. We are social beings and when we help others we are keeping the door open to ask for help for ourselves. By being part of a healthy community or team, we are investing in our own well-being.

Protection

When we respect our own boundaries, we make self-care a priority. When we make time for ourselves we can be calmer than when we are overwhelmed by others’ requests for our time.

Reflection

The time we earmark for ourselves is the resource we can devote to reviewing our goals, forming support networks and sharing the benefits of our personal growth with loved ones and friends.

How Will You Use This Knowledge?

Thanks for reading this post. I hope it makes a difference to your performance this week. What is your secret for safeguarding your mental well-being during a busy time at work? Add your comment and deepen this conversation.

Feel free to add a Like too if this has been a useful discussion and please share this post with someone who could benefit from reading it.

Thanks Roger

How To Start Building #Rapport After #InternationalMensDay

November 19, 2017November 19, 2017Leave a comment

There’s No Conflict In Meeting Your Goals & Building Rapport – Picture From Pexels.Com

Freshly minted World Heavyweight Champion Anthony Joshua said it best in a recent Tweet

You Can’t Buy Loyalty. It Comes From The Heart

He knows it takes time to build the kind of rapport which comes from the heart and means people warm towards you. For guys that can be a challenge. We don’t always open up emotional conversations; tell our authentic story;or ask for support when we need it.

It shouldn’t like a fight to achieve a goal if we are being authentic. Barriers like age, class, disability, ethnicity, faith, gender, politics and sexuality fall away.

When people truly ‘get’ where we are coming from, it feels great. We can help them and draw on their support.

How Can We Start To Build Rapport?

Once we develop the skills and confidence to apply for our next role, or offer our services to the world, the challenge is to let others know we are ready to grow into bigger roles.

First, identify the way you want to introduce yourself to the group of people you would like to join. What parts of your life story chime with theirs? How will sharing your true self help to build rapport and what are the benefits, to them, of your world feeding into theirs?

How will you know they like what they see?

Once you know who you are engaging with you can regularly use the social media channel they rely on. Show up, Comment, Like and Share too.

Where possible you can also take the plunge and meet your community in real life. Yes, there is the potential for falling flat on your backside. There is also the (greater) possibility that you will meet really interesting people, with whom you can share your wisdom. They become part of your world and you can be a loyal part of theirs.

Remember, when you finally ‘click’ with people it becomes a lot easier to offer support, ask for help and reach your goals.

What’s Your Next Step?

There are people who need what you have to offer in the year ahead. There are also people who can support you, if and when you need it. Let them get to know you. Once they like and trust you their world and yours will become a much more progressive place.

Why not add your comment here and share your strategy for connecting to people on social media, or in real life. You can always Like and Share too.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week.