Tag: Happiness

Goals 2014: How Will You Inspire Change After International Women’s Day?

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Logo For International Women's Day

Logo For International Women’s Day – More information from http://www.internationalwomensday.com

Do you know that next Saturday, 8 March, is International Women’s Day (IWD)?  You can get a range of IWD information here  and learn how this themed day has been influencing the lives of women and men since 1911.

It’s amazing to think – at the time I write these words – that there are several hundred IWD events scheduled to take place in the UK.  There are 1000s more in the United States, Canada, Australia and countries right round the world.

These events will all be highlighting this year’s theme of Inspiring Change.  Which of the events near you will you be following, or drawing to the attention of a woman you care about?

Stay tuned.  I’ll be blogging this week about ideas which you may want to consider when you work on your goals after IWD.

Goals 2014: How Does Coffee Psychology Reflect Your Personality?

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Did you know there may be a relationship between your personality type and your favourite style of posh coffee?  There’s a flow chart at the foot of this post which illustrates the idea.

I came across this intriguing bit of knowledge two days ago, courtesy of Filter(ed) magazine, London’s latest urban lifestyle publication.  You can find the magazine online here or follow them on Twitter @filtered_mag.

Are you someone who has more than one flavour preference in coffee?  Does what you order from your friendly barista depend on the time you have available to savour your purchase?  Perhaps the deciding factor is your need to perk up, do a bit of work away from your desk, or chill out before catching your train? 

Although I missed hearing him speak at the Work & Family Show, I know Chris Ward has an interesting take on coffee shop culture and the wider context of flexible working.  His book ‘Out of Office’ makes the case for modern, Wi-Fi equipped, coffee shops as venues for productivity, creativity, entrepreneurship, as well as fun.  Could your local coffee shop become your informal office?  Chris’s website may give you more insight into his philosophy.

As the weekend is here why not sit down with a hot drink of your choice and try the ‘coffee psychology’ flow chart yourself.  The results may give you a fresh perspective on yourself and your goals for spring 2014 (in a different way to your Myers-Briggs profile). 

Feel free to share your results too, I’d be interested to see how closely the categories reflect your reality.  I usually order a Cappuccino or a Latte, in case you are wondering!

Check out the Archive section for more thoughts relating to your work and life goals.  There are further ideas on Facebook and Google+ too

Coffee Psychology Graphic

What Does Your Coffee Choice Say About You?

Goals 2014: Do You Need More Heartfelt Satisfaction In Your Life?

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Cup Of Tea

How Are You Planning To Develop This Spring?

How has your week been so far?  In fact, how would you score your job-satisfaction in 2014 on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 10 is ‘Outstanding’)?  Are your heartfelt goals around personal fulfilment also being met?

If you score your year at 5, or lower, remember there is good news.  The weekend is close by and you can use it – in part – to help plan the improvements you want to make in your life.

If you need to put a smile on your face now perhaps you are ready for a mid-week laugh.  Here then is a short BBC film about comic Jack Stretten concerning his life on the comedy circuit.  He is clear about the relationship between his comic skills and the values he relies on in his work.  He is also clear about his goal focus.  He says “When I’m making someone laugh…that’s the best!”.  How does that clear, heartfelt, vision compare to the relationship between your skills, your values and your understanding of your goals?

It may not be appropriate for you to take an alternative career path right now.  Even so, over a cup of tea this weekend it is worth planning changes which will improve the rest of your year.  Can you invest time on Saturday or Sunday to planning your brighter future?

Why not spend 30 minutes: taking stock of your skills; listing your core values; and using that information to determine the mixture of skills and values you want to use as the spring board to improve your life.

Having that information written down will definitely help establish the blueprint you rely on as you move forward.  If improved job, or personal satisfaction, is the overarching goal you want to tackle in 2014 how will you begin to break that goal down into manageable pieces starting in March?  Coaching support can boost your success in that process, so do use the Contact form to get in touch with me.  I look forward to discussing how I can help you during your journey.

There is also plenty of helpful content here on the site, especially in the Archives.  So check out the Archive section for more inspiration and remember there are further ideas On Facebook and Google+ too.  Enjoy the rest of your week.

Goals 2014: 5 Personal Questions To Improve Your Work & Family Life

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This is the second of two posts about last week’s very first Work & Family Show at Excel, London.

Work & Family Show 2014 - Panel Discussion on the Language of Success

Work & Family Show 2014 – Panel Discussion on the Language of Success

Here’s a question.  Which one of your improvement goals has taken priority this year?  Is it improving some aspect of your work?  How about getting more from your personal or family life?

Whatever your priority you could have gained knowledge in any of these areas had you been at the Show.  The sponsor My Family Care and their partners put on practical, personal, and plenary sessions looking at the advice, inspirations and solutions that contribute to peoples’ ideal life balance.

From what I saw the audience of women on Maternity Leave, or taking a Career Break; people searching for their next job after redundancy and those looking to work flexibly, really engaged with the sessions on offer.

More details of the Work and Family event are set out here .  You can follow the feedback from the show on Twitter using the hashtag #wfshow

Personal Questions For Your Goal Setting Sessions

Meanwhile, here are the five personal insights I noted from the range of ideas offered by speakers last week.  I have added some bullet point questions for you, which you can use with your coach as you set your own goals:

On average Men are likely to apply for a promotion if they meet 60% of the recruitment criteria:

  • What more could you do to add to your skills, so you comfortably reach 70% of the recruitment criteria?

Women are likely to hold off applying for a promotion until they feel they meet 90% of the recruitment criteria:

  • What could you do to add to your skills, so you are confident you have 70% of the recruitment criteria?

You help yourself perform better by making time each day to check out your state of mind and take action, where necessary, to change limiting beliefs:

  • What is your strategy for taking stock of your inner state?

Making time to manage your personal / professional relationships in a considerate way makes your life easier:

  • How empathic are you when you manage your key relationships?

When you need to give feedback make time to pause, and comment on the behaviour rather than the individual’s personality:

  • Thinking about your previous bosses, whose feedback technique would you wish to emulate and why?

Feel free to check out my Archive section for more inspiration.  There are further ideas On Facebook and Google+ too.  Do feedback about your progress, via the Contact page here, or on Twitter @RogerD_said

Goal 2014: 3 Questions to help increase your well-being in the Year of the Male

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Plug In To Access Support

Plug In To Access Support

Have you heard the one about the man who asks his best mate for emotional support during a difficult period, and receives consistent, empathic care from his friend?  Chances are you haven’t.  Women may follow Sheryl Sandberg’s example at Facebook and ‘Lean In’ supporting each other, men don’t traditionally plug into their networks like that.

In fact British men may be spending nearly £1800 on making themselves look good outwardly according to 2012 research , but they aren’t making similar efforts to connect with their inner feelings and improve their emotional well-being.

Luckily there are new options men can adopt to tackle their well-being goals.  Those options are being explored by CALM , the mental health charity.

The charity is focusing on suicide prevention this year.  Here’s a sobering number CALM comments on , taken from a recent Office for National Statistics bulletin: suicide is the leading cause of death for British men under 50.  Such men are 3 times more likely to kill themselves than women.  That rate is comparable to the United States, where men are nearly 4 times more likely to take their own lives than women, according to the World Health Organisation .

Under the Year of the Male banner – that’s @yearofthemale on Twitter, or online at www.yearofthemale.com – the UK organisation is looking to challenge the range of influences which contribute to men’s less positive life experiences.  Perhaps we can all recognise that modern life has the potential to lead to high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression.

If you are a man and the experiences above ring bells, ask yourself how do your age, class, disability or employment status, ethnicity, family situation, religion, sexual orientation and upbringing affect your well-being?  What are you prepared to do change your well-being status this year?  Here are three more questions for you to reflect on.

  • What can you include in your health and well-being goal to make it more achievable?
  • In what ways will your goal help you live life with a greater degree of authenticity?
  • How will your goal add value to your dealings with the important people in your life?

Good luck with your actions.  Remember to check out the Archive section for more inspiration.  There are further ideas On Facebook and Google+ too

Goals 2014: 3 key questions to help you get more from your networks

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How is your job treating you at the moment?

Do you ever feel like your job skills are not being fully engaged?  Perhaps you are stuck in a dead-end post which does not help you meet your career development goals?  Or maybe your manager is not sufficiently interested in allowing your career to flourish?  Stressful isn’t it?

You probably want to do more to have your needs met.  The good news is that there are actions you can take, if the situations I described ring bells with you.

It doesn’t matter if you are in the US, the UK, the EU or further afield.  Your situation will improve if you are able to network effectively with peers, mentors, friends who can support your growth and whose growth you can also nurture.

Your three key questions

My experience suggests the basis of your action plan will flow from the following questions:

  • What precise outcome do you want from the professional people who will help you achieve your career goals?
  • In what way do you want your social network to provide you with more support?
  • As you take action on your own behalf what contribution will you make to the development of the people around you?

Your next step is to write down your responses, refine them, and fix a time to start your programme of action on the most important area on your list.

If you would like to see these principles at work, take a look at the link contained in the tweet below.  It sets out advice to an underemployed jobholder who wants their job satisfaction goal to be fulfilled.   Remember, taking action increases the likelihood your goals will be achieved; coaching support makes that outcome even more likely.

What’s your self-development goal this spring?  Check out the Archive at www.experienceyourlife.me for some inspiration.  There are more ideas On Facebook and Google+ too

Goals 2014: 3 Questions To Help Your Personal Growth

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Cup Of Tea

How Are You Planning To Develop This Spring?

Friday was Valentine’s Day, one of the few days in the year where your goal is simple to define: happiness.  How did it feel to take action to improve the quality of your personal relationship?

Congratulations on starting the ball rolling.  This weekend is the opportunity to take a 30 minute tea / coffee break and do some wider work on your goals.  When will you take further action to make your personal and professional life even better?

When you are doing this work – to help yourself develop in the direction you want to this spring – why not use the three questions below to kick start your thoughts.  Write down the answers and identify the action you are going to take.  Include the exact time in the coming week when you will take the action (and reward yourself when you do).

  • How will you seek more support from the people who will help you achieve your career and personal goals?
  • When will you influence your social network to provide you with more support?
  • As you take action on your own behalf what contribution will you make to the development of the people around you?

Good luck with your actions.  Feel free to feedback on your progress via the Contact page or on Twitter @RogerD_said (you can use On Facebook and Google+ too)

Goals 2014: Three Questions About The Health Of Your Relationship

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Chocolates Show You Care

Happy Valentine’s Day: It’s the one day you have a good reason to show you value your main relationship.  Have you opted for chocolates, flowers, or wine?

Speaking of your relationship, what’s your goal beyond today?  What else are you doing to keep improving the quality of that relationship, tomorrow and the next day?  In particular how will you:

  • Demonstrate your long-term commitment to the relationship?
  • Share your authentic self within it?
  • Deepen the element of trust the relationship depends upon?

It is worth having a action plan to maintain the health of this key part of your life.  In that way you remind yourself that you value the well-being of your every part of your life: from your main relationship, to your well-being at work, to the health of your finances.

Goals 2014: What Kind Of Management Do You Want To Receive?

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Here’s a question to ponder as the end of the reporting and financial year draws near:  How much does your progress at work depend on the effectiveness of your manager, or supervisor?

Some people want a line manager who is closely involved in the day to day aspects of their career.  This can reassure the job holder that their performance and development needs are at the front of their manager’s mind.  That could be crucial if progression, development or bonuses depend on the supervisor’s feedback.

Other job holders are content with a different approach.  They prefer being set realistic tasks, whose delivery is discussed at quarterly reviews.  This approach gives them breathing room.  They get on with delivering tasks that are within their capability.

The Guardian’s Work blog has just highlighted a worst case scenario.  In this situation a line manager is so ineffective that their job holder is becoming ill through over work.  The customers needs are not being effectively met and team morale is suffering.  The manager is an obstacle to the job holder achieving their goal, of being productive and happy at work.

See what you think of the feedback offered in the Tweet (then have a go at the bullet point questions)

  • How do you influence your manager to give you the support you deserve?
  • What do you say when their input isn’t quite right?
  • When do you know it is time to take action to change your situation?