Mon 5 May 2008

Imagine Life as a Game

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Bouncing Balls

I’m going to contradict myself in a moment.  As a Coach we look at life and all it encompasses from every angle.  On one hand, I understand when Anthony Smith says “To achieve a high level of competency, work/life balance doesn’t happen.  Something’s gotta give.”

Take my son’s surgeon for example.  This woman worked up to 40 hours at a time on one surgery.  Is it possible to have any kind of life when this is the norm for her?  Absolutely not.  Is it imperative we have people like her in the world who can do such amazing work?  Definitely!  Is it up to me as a Coach to lecture her about work life balance?  No.  It’s up to her to make that choice and for me to support her in her choices.

On the other hand, to quote the past CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises (1959-1994) Brian Dyson, “Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends, and spirit - and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends, and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.” 

What balls are you dropping?  There’s the contradiction.  Why the contradiction?  Because it’s all about paying attention.  Only by paying attention to what you’re living and what you want in your life and seeing if they’re in alignment, can you make the choices that work for you.  Our lives are filled with contradictions!

Is it all about hours you put in?

No.  You can be working an 8 hour day, and even though you go home at the end of the day, if you take your stressors and problems home with you, well, you might not be working but you might as well be as you’re not ‘present’; your mind is miles away.

What can you do about it?

If nothing else, make a list for yourself to get to first thing in the morning.  Like that rubber ball, those problems will still be there waiting for you tomorrow.  It’s not to say procrastinate, avoid and shove everything in the closet.  It’s saying “I can’t do anything about it right now, so I’m going to park it until tomorrow, go home and do my thing for now, knowing it’ll be waiting for me in the morning and maybe…just maybe not seem so overwhelming when I’ve had a chance to sleep on it.  Maybe you’ll have more clarity of thought when you do get back to it or realize it wasn’t as earth shattering as you first thought.  Regardless…that ball will bounce back.  Or you can call someone whose insights you trust, set up a conversation for the following day and wait until you have an added perspective and support so you’re not going it alone.  You’ll figure it out, don’t you think?

Last but not least…

As always this newsletter will be posted here http://www.perspectivesinbrief.com/.  If you like it, please forward the web link to others though, pricing specials are only available to subscribers.

Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com/   If you want deeper insight into human behavior, yours and others, then sign up for It’s All About You…and Others, at: http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm

I’ll leave you with this:

“The real questions are the ones that obtrude upon your consciousness whether you like it or not, the ones that make your mind start vibrating like a jackhammer, the ones that you “come to terms with” only to discover that they are still there. The real questions refuse to be placated. They barge into your life at the times when it seems most important for them to stay away. They are the questions asked most frequently and answered most inadequately, the ones that reveal their true natures slowly, reluctantly, most often against your will.” - Ingrid Bengis 

Make sure those questions are answered.
With deepest respect,

Donna Karlin
Founder and Principal
A Better Perspective
http://www.abetterperspective.com/

ISSN 1913-6307

 

Tue 8 Apr 2008

What do you want?

Posted by DK under Perspectives in Brief
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So tell me…what do you want?

People think they know what they want until they’re asked.  Once they’re asked they can’t answer.  When someone asks you what it is you want, can you answer them or do you jump into what you don’t want?

And if you answer you don’t know what you want, is that really true or are you just afraid of articulating it because you fear the consequences (good or bad)?

Reality check

Are you fighting for what you personally believe in or for what others think you should fight for?

How many are in positions where they feel their personal values and ethics are being compromised and yet they stay silent because those around them tell them not to rock the boat?

That seems to be commonplace in many organizations these days.  Who does it serve?  Are you validating inappropriate behavior by not speaking up?  And bottom line is, will you beat yourself up later because you stayed silent and feel that inner tug of war every day you walk into work?

One of my mottos is “I will not give my personal power away to someone I least respect at that moment in time.”  If I did, I would be diminishing myself and my self worth and I will not give that up lightly or without a fight.

Is this you?

If the answer is yes, what are you going to do about it?

“How you choose to respond each moment to the movie of life determines how you see the next frame, and the next, and eventually how you feel when the movie ends.” - Doc Childre

How do you want to feel when the movie ends?

Last but not least…

As always this newsletter will be posted on http://www.PerspectivesInBrief.com, though pricing specials and program launches will only be available through this newsletter subscription.  Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for future a future newsletter or blog post.  Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com  

If you want deeper insight into human behavior, yours and others, then sign up for It’s All About You…and Others, at: http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm

So, I’ll leave you with this to reflect on:

“A reporter interviewing A.J. Muste, who during the Vietnam War stood in front of the White House night after night with a candle, one rainy night asked,”Mr. Muste, do you really think you are going to change the policies of this country by standing out here alone at night with a candle?” Muste replied, “Oh, I don’t do it to change the country, I do it so the country won’t change me.” - Andrea Ayvazian

Are you going to stand outside with a candle or, by your inactions, let the world you live in change you? 

With deepest respect,

Donna Karlin
Founder and Principal
A Better Perspective
http://www.abetterperspective.com

ISSN 1913-6307

 

Wed 26 Mar 2008

What’s Our Biggest Minkhole?

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Bad habits are the ‘Minkholes’ of our lives

Minkholes Defined

Years ago I worked with some of my colleagues on the concept of ‘Minkholes’.  To define Minkholes, they are fur lined rat holes. They feel really good while you’re sinking into them but you know they’re really bad for you.

When they’re no longer working and continue to not work, you have to replace them. What am I talking about? Old habits. Why in the world would you want to hang onto something that doesn’t work for you when you have a choice?  Ahh the ultimate of Minkholes… holding onto habits that not only don’t serve you but pull you back.

For most it’s a comfort zone issue. Once we replace the habits that are no longer self-serving with those that fit a future of our own design, we will no longer live our lives from a position of history or status quo.

Old habits are hard to change (I don’t much like the ‘break’ term).  The Minkhole here is there’s something very enticing about holding onto history.  Human nature is as such we tend to forget about all the bad stuff and only hold onto the good parts.  It’s called selective memory.  As my friend and colleague John Satta asks “Of all the ideas here, consider this: How much good could you accomplish just by stopping doing something bad?”

So How Can We Dig Ourselves Out?

Awareness.  Mindfulness.  It’s about being aware of the consequences of habits and if they serve you or not.  It’s being aware not only of your conscious thoughts but of your biases and how you label things in your life.  If the label is good or bad, you are filtering out all the possible good through one bad experience.  Let go of the label and you’ll be open to whatever comes your way, choosing to use it, set I aside or learn from it in some way.

We often operate from a position of automatic pilot.  As past experiences color our present, we place what’s unfolding into one category or another ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘like’, dislike’ etc rather than something new in its own right and own time to experience and grow from.

Years ago when I was doing a workshop for Health Canada, at our lunch break I asked the group to find something in the cafeteria they had either never had before, and didn’t ever buy because they thought they wouldn’t like it or, something they had had in the past that they seem to remember they didn’t like but can’t remember why.  I wanted them to experience it again for the first time and share what that experience felt like.  Most came back absolutely surprised that what they had thought they hated they really enjoyed.  Their taste buds had matured over time or something was prepared differently and they actually liked what they had thought they hated!  All in all it challenged their paradigms.

What if we did this with other things in our lives?

It’s time to dig out of some of our Minkholes.

Last but not least…

As always this newsletter will be posted on http://www.PerspectivesInBrief.com, though pricing specials and program launches will only be available through this newsletter subscription.  Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for future a future newsletter or blog post.  Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com

If you want deeper insight into human behavior, yours and others, then sign up for It’s All About You…and Others, at: http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm

So I’ll leave you with these questions to reflect on:

Are you so focused on what worked in the past that you’re not paying attention to what’s happening right now?  How many opportunities might you have missed along the way because of that? And how many times will you make the wrong decisions before you stop and take stock of and change how you make those decisions in the first place?

I’d love to hear your answers on that. 

With deepest respect,

Donna Karlin
Founder and Principal
A Better Perspective
http://www.abetterperspective.com

ISSN 1913-6307

 

Tue 18 Mar 2008

Assumptions and Expectations

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“Expectations are resentment under construction” - Unknown

Assumptions and Expectations

I love that quote.  Sam Horn sent me that quote (a great one Sam) and although I don’t know where it originally came from, I thought I’d share it with you as it’s very true.  Assumptions and expectations; they both get people into trouble when they act on them.  One of the things I teach in my School of Shadow Coaching™ training is the question “Assumption or fact?”  Even when training masterful coaches, if I catch them making assumptions and call them on it, it changes the course of the conversation.  Coaches dialogue about everything.  We always look at various perspectives and perceptions and talk about all of them.  The ‘real world’ doesn’t necessarily follow suit.

The piece I love to look at, and I ask you to do the same, is when we see someone form an opinion based on an assumption and then they get stuck there.  Can dialogue remedy that?  Can two people discuss a decision or opinion that was based on assumption in a constructive, open way?  People often don’t like being challenged on their assumptions, however if they’re open to examining them, they can find themselves in a better ‘place’.  When they remain stubborn and dig themselves in deeper, often the only recourse is for the other person to walk away and leave it be. 

It’s All About Languaging and Meaning 

How many times have you asked a question to a group of people who walk away with totally different perspectives of what that question meant?  It’s amazing how many times that happens.  Assumptions are often made and without taking the time to clarify, the answer that comes back often blows you away as it had nothing whatsoever to do with your original question (or comment).  Clarification is key.  From a Coaching perspective, it’s wonderful to hear all sides of the coin, i.e. answers from all perspectives, but in the real world that’s often not what you need or want.  How can you work with that?

People assume you want something specific from them, even when there is no basis for those assumptions.  It’s all in their beliefs.  However because of that they often communicate from that basis unless you make it a safe environment for them to speak their piece, share their perspectives and not be judged by them and for them.

Truth or Consequences? 

Go back to the facts.  There is always the truth of the matter that’s based on factual data.  If you come back to that, then the discussion is no longer about one person or another; it’s about the information or fact.  It’s much easier to discuss something rather than someone, as it’s no longer personal.  When working with clients, staff, peers and colleagues, asking open ended questions is a perfect way to begin, such as “How did you view this?”  “What would it mean to you if—-?”  “What would it mean to the organization if—-?“  The dialogue that results from this can be amazing and illuminate any assumptions made as it becomes very clear where the other person is coming from.

Last but not least…  

As always this newsletter will be posted on http://www.PerspectivesInBrief.com, though pricing specials and program launches will only be available through this newsletter subscription.  Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for future a future newsletter or blog post.  Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com  

To sign up for our Self-Coaching program It’s All About You…and Others, visit here:

http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm

One More Thing

Our Enlightened Businesspreneur Bootcamp Program will launch late Spring / early Summer.  For more information go to http://www.enlightenedbusinesspreneur.com/ 

Something to think about…“Every issue, belief, attitude or assumption is precisely the issue that stands between you and your relationship to another human being” – Unknown 

With deepest respect,

Donna Karlin

Founder and Principal

A Better Perspective

http://www.abetterperspective.com

ISSN 1913-6307

 

 

Sat 1 Mar 2008

Setting Priorities and Direction

Posted by DK under Perspectives in Brief
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I recently held a half day workshop for the Conference Board, and one thing became crystal clear; that was people were struggling and dealing with overwhelm.  

They needed to learn how to set priorities, choose the work they MUST do and the work they must NOT do.  

I’ve been inundated with calls and requests from people wanting lightning round sessions to help them figure things out, so we’ve decided to hold an event to help you get moving and succeeding.  

I was going to wait for my biweekly newsletter but figured, why wait?  

For those of you who are struggling with your businesses or feel as if they’re stagnating, my colleague Donna Steinhorn and I (yes there are two Donnas, double the impact) will be launching The Enlightened Businesspreneur Boot Camp Program.   

This program is designed to help you find new sources of inspiration, break through creative blocks, take pleasure in your imagination and unique talents, give yourself the permission, time and encouragement to create a dynamite business unique to you and develop a daily practice to accomplish these goals.   

For more information click here   

Stay tuned for our regular newsletter in little over a week.  It’ll be chalk full of insights from the Conference Board Conference and some ideas to move you forward.   

Best!

Donna Karlin

ISSN 1913-6307
 

 

Wed 27 Feb 2008

Slowing Down to the Speed of Thought

Posted by DK under Perspectives in Brief
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“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not the only the scenery you miss by going to fast-you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” -Eddie Cantor

Slowing Down to the Speed of Thought
I recently had a short session with a client where he said “My fundamental weakness is I’m not the type of person to make split second decisions.  I need processing time to figure out how I’ll respond to things and what’s happening as a result is I’m getting killed by those wanting an answer and now!”

I turned to him and asked “Why in the world do you look at that aspect of your personality as a weakness?  In this context, what you’re doing is helping the other slow down to the speed of conscious thought, therefore making informed decisions rather than jumping into the deep end without a life preserver”.  He had never thought of it that way.

So, when you hear the term “buying time”, what is the first thing you think of?  Is it more time to do things, see things, to play and shelve work for the time being?  Is it “I wish I could clone myself so I could do more” and “I wish I had more time to…”? Truthfully it had nothing whatsoever to do with having more time, saving time or finding time (did you lose it somewhere?) so something else could be slotted into that chunk of time. It’s having extra time….unplanned time, space….nothingness, quiet time, time to just be, to let the thoughts fly in any direction, to think, imagine and explore possibility.When do you have creative time, time to conceptualize, to strategize, to play, learn, and get to know others? Or time to just unwind and relax?

It’s All About Choices
“You can’t do everything you’d like to do.  You must hold on to some things and let go of others.  Learning to make that choice will be the best lesson you’ll ever learn” – Donna. 

What do you have to let go of?  What are you holding on to, figuring you yourself have to do it or you have to finish it, even though it no longer serves you?  For most it’s not as hard saying ‘no’ to others as it is giving yourself permission to use that word.  How much more could you give others if you freed up time to do what you should be doing?  These are hard questions, but important ones to answer.

Last But Not Least:
As always this newsletter will be posted on http://www.PerspectivesInBrief.com, though pricing specials and program launches will only be available through this newsletter subscription.  Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for future a future newsletter or blog post.  Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com  

To sign up for our Self-Coaching program It’s All About You…and Others, visit here:

http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm

My colleague Donna and I will be launching The Enlightened Businesspreneur Bootcamp Program for Coaches, Businesspreneurs and Solopreneurs.  Stay tuned for that as well!  It is going to be absolutely amazing!

For experienced coaches, The School of Shadow Coaching™ is holding the next training in Toronto, Ontario March 3 – 4, 2008.  The next one will be in Washington D.C., May 14th and 15th, 2008.

Click http://www.schoolofshadowcoaching.com/the_school_of_shadow_coaching_003.htm to register

Remember, the gap between where you are and where you want to be is filled by what you choose to do in the time available to you…every conversation, thought, choice and decision, so choose all wisely.

With deepest respect,

Donna Karlin

Founder and Principal

A Better Perspective

http://www.abetterperspective.com

ISSN 1913-6307

 

 

 

Fri 15 Feb 2008

How Do You Know You’re Successful?

Posted by DK under Perspectives in Brief
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“Productivity is the deliberate strategic investment of your time, intelligence, energy, resources and opportunities in a manner calculated to move you measurably closer to meaningful goals.”  - Dan Kennedy

How do you know you’re successful?
 

Success isn’t a mystery….it’s a reflection of what you are doing with your time.  Highly successful people are massive action takers.  They don’t just try one solution to a problem, they implement 20 and they use action lists to track them. High achievers continuously plan, rethink, hone and tweak in real time.  It’s a way of life for them and they do it so smoothly as to never disrupt the flow and momentum.  They make choices. The difference between average people and those who are very effective isn’t only that they manage their time better; it’s that they work with others better. 

What’s troubling is I’m working in organizations where the managers don’t know what work they’re supposed to be doing.  Leadership is throwing lists of conflicting priorities at their managers with no clear direction.  Staff is running around like chickens without heads trying to figure out the reasons behind why they’re doing some of the work in the first place.  Does that sound like you? 

What can you do about it?
 

Know your work!  Sounds simple hmm?  It isn’t always but if you don’t know what you should be doing, then you’re not going to be doing the right things.  So know you’re work.  This is one of the key points of my Time Mastery Program.  Know the work you absolutely MUST do and know the work you absolutely must NOT do.  It is so easy to get sidetracked.  How many times have you found yourself doing something where you turn around and ask yourself “Why in the world am I doing this?”  If that ever happens to you then know your work and everything outside of that is answered with a “No”.  A polite “No” but “No” all the same.  Tiny word.  Powerful word.

Boundaries
 

Another powerful word.  It means figuring out what is acceptable and what isn’t.  What boggles my mind is when staff tell me they can’t say no and can’t understand why management keeps heaping it on.  Well as long as you keep taking what’s being thrown at you without setting those boundaries, you’re going to be responsible to deliver.  If you can’t say “Sure I’ll take this on as long as you tell me what I can drop”, then you have to figure out what work you must do in the time available to you.

“Do you love life?  Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff that life is made of” – Benjamin Franklin.

Last But Not Least:
 

Pricing specials and program launches will only be available through this newsletter subscription.  Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for future a future newsletter or blog post.  Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com  

To sign up for our Self-Coaching program It’s All About You…and Others, visit here:

http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm

Remember, time can’t be saved, found, put in a bucket for later, compacted, stopped, added to or managed.  Time is time and as quickly as it comes it goes.  Choose what you do with it wisely.

With deepest respect,

 

Donna Karlin

Founder and Principal

A Better Perspective

http://www.abetterperspective.com

 

ISSN 1913-6307

 

Thu 31 Jan 2008

Dare to Imagine You Could Have a Different Life

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Be the inventor

 

We look at inventors as those of us who come out with a brilliant idea out of thin air and act on it.  What if we applied that very principle to our lives?  What if we applied that principle to our present lives?  I tell people to invent their future.  Inventing your future is also looking at how you think and react right now.  It’s your personal paradigm.  Rabindranath Tagore says “Do not say,”it is morning,” and dismiss it with a name of yesterday. See it for the first time as a newborn child that has no name.”

What would you name it?  Dare to imagine.  What’s possible?

 

So what can you do?

 

The first thing to do in being the architect of your life is to start looking at what is working right now through new eyes.  What’s amazing that you’re not paying attention to?  If you’re coloring all the great parts with a brush of what isn’t working, aren’t you minimizing what’s already great?  OK so take what’s great and build on it.  You know the concept, if at first you don’t succeed do something you’ve already been successful at?  What if your life was already successful in so many realms?  How extraordinary would it be and what would it look like?  Start writing.  It’s time to define it to the nth degree.

 

Define what you want

 

Take all the reasons you might list as to why something won’t work and trash them.  Park all your preconceived ideas of failure and replace them with possibility.  If you set your mind to everything that won’t work then all your energy and focus will remain on that negativity.  If you focus on what you can do, what you have a passion for, what you really want to create in your life and figure out the first step you need to do to get there, then it’ll happen.  Articulate it until you see it, feel it, and taste it and you’ll be half way there.

 

When’s the best time to start?  I know what I think.  What do you think?

 

Last But Not Least:

 

As always this newsletter will be posted on http://www.PerspectivesInBrief.com, though pricing specials and program launches will only be available through this newsletter subscription.  Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for future a future newsletter or blog post.  Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com   

 

To sign up for our Self-Coaching program It’s All About You…and Others, visit here:

http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm

 

Our Time Mastery Program is almost ready to launch, so stay tuned.  And later this year my colleague Donna and I will be holding a Boot Camp for Coaches, Businesspreneurs and Solopreneurs.  Stay tuned for that as well!

 

Time to invent your future or it’ll just happen all by itself.

 

With deepest respect,

 

Donna Karlin

Founder and Principal

A Better Perspective

http://www.abetterperspective.com

 

ISSN 1913-6307

 

Wed 16 Jan 2008

Overwhelm

Posted by DK under Perspectives in Brief
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def: to cover or bury beneath a mass of something;  to be overcome completely in mind or feeling 

Reality Check 

Are you feeling overwhelmed?  I have never seen so many people overwhelmed, especially this time of year.  Most have recently come back from holidays, not that they actually took a lot of time off, but it was a break in schedule at the very least.  Yesterday it struck me that most of us are in positions of overwhelm and it’s something we have to look at and carefully.  If this is what’s happened just after holidays then what’s ahead? 

Just yesterday my son told me he had emails coming in from work all weekend.  Another friend / colleague told me that everyone seems to be working weekends, including us…coaches who are supposed to “know better”.  Weekends have become catch-up time.  Many of my clients go into the office to wade through old emails and paperwork that they just couldn’t get to during the week.  

We seem to dive into way too many projects and commitments this time of year as it’s a new start, right?  Nothing like taking on the world!  However for many it feels as if they’re wearing the weight of the world on their shoulders.  It’s time to redefine so we don’t reach the point of overwhelm. 

So what can you do? 

Well it all depends on your level of responsibility and extent of engagement.  For me, I do a great deal of my reading and writing over the weekend as it’s quiet and I can retain what I read.  I also have to check my emails otherwise when Monday morning comes along I’d have to take half the day just to catch up and that won’t serve me.  I do not answer my client emails over the weekend, but I will know how to hit the floor running on Monday morning.  If you feel you have to check your emails or BlackBerry, go for it,  but don’t answer them!  Same goes for late at night or in the middle of the night when you have insomnia.  Read them if you must but if you write back you will be expected to always answer at everyone else’s whim and 24/7.  Is that what you want?  Didn’t think so!  There’s way too much to cover for one newsletter, but let’s at least take a stab at it for now. 

Define and redefine: 

Redefine your work plan.  Figure out how you want to grow in your work, what you want to learn and how you want your business or career to evolve.  Don’t write it in stone. Use it as a guide, more for number of commitments than anything else as you will end up dropping something and replacing it with something that works better as your world morphs.  Just don’t jump in with both feet without analyzing time commitment and level of responsibility.  That’s where positive delay is invaluable, and setting personal boundaries. 

You’ll know if it’s an amazing opportunity that you can’t pass up, however ask yourself what you can drop or delegate to someone else (staff, virtual assistant, colleague etc) if you do take it on.  Also ask yourself what are the ramifications of taking something on?  I was asked to do a 10 minute professionally produced piece for American Airlines on coaching.  It would potentially reach 28,000 travelers.  Now if even 1% of those contacted me to hire me to coach there would be no way I could take them on.  A great honor to be asked but to what end?  If you can’t be your own reality-checker, then ask someone you trust implicitly to be one for you. 

Same goes for amount of work you take on in the office.  If it’s getting beyond do-able, then it’s time to have a conversation with the powers-that-be to see what can be parked for now.  You can only do what you can do.  If you burn out then you won’t be doing anything about anything.  Remember that. 

Last But Not Least: 

As always this newsletter will be posted on http://www.PerspectivesInBrief.com, though pricing specials and program launches will only be available through this newsletter subscription.  Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for future a future newsletter or blog post.  Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com  

To sign up for our Self-Coaching program It’s All About You…and Others, visit here:
http://www.itsallaboutyouandothers.com/intro.htm 

Our Time Mastery Program is almost ready to launch, so stay tuned.  And later this year my colleague Donna and I will be holding a Boot Camp for Coaches, Businesspreneurs and Solopreneurs.  Stay tuned for that as well! 

Time to run with life, not be run over by it. 

With deepest respect, 

Donna Karlin
Founder and Principal
A Better Perspective
http://www.abetterperspective.com 

ISSN 1913-6307
 

 

Fri 4 Jan 2008

Diving Back into Routines

Posted by DK under Perspectives in Brief
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As the New Year unfolds, people dust off their New Year’s resolutions and try them out for size yet again. For those of you who know me, you know my opinion of those pesky resolutions. You mean well at the time but do you remember them a week or so later? I was sitting here thinking of many of the things I work on with clients and suggest to friends and family alike. And the only reason they listen is because they’ve seen me live it, each and every point as I make changes in my life. I want to create a life I love, not just exist through its days. Life is much too precious for that. I want to learn more, be open to experience and surprise…not to have control over life or exist through it but truly live it. The promise I made to myself is to be my authentic self, not what someone else wants me to be…and, from that basis, to give of myself by choice, not demand or expectation.

 

So want some pointers?:

  • It’s the start of the new year so nothing like jumping in with both feet. Ready?

  • What are your environments? Is your foundation strong? i.e. taking care of health, people in your life who nourish you in all ways, physical space, mental space. Time to clean it up and choose what you want within every environment.

  • Reach for the moon but be happy with what you have, regardless of circumstance. Whether or not you feel it is so, your life is perfect the way it is even if it’s to teach you what you’re made of.

  • Do you want to expend energy on reacting to things in your life or choose how you use that energy? It isn’t limitless. And if you’re going to spend time, which is a precious commodity these days and energy which, if anything, decreases as the years increase, it better be worthwhile and of your choosing. Take at least 10% of your time to make the other 90% easier. Eliminate delay. If you do that, you avoid a lot of wasted time catching up.

  • Never stop learning…knowledge feeds you in every way. And while you’re learning about others and life’s lessons, take time to learn more about yourself as well.

  • Ask yourself what it is you can give in life, not get. What gifts do you have that you can share with others?

  • Your values come first. If you live from that basis, everything else falls into place. Live your life according to your vision.

  • Get out of your own way. Let yourself succeed and celebrate those successes. You’re allowed.

  • Get rid of the baggage of the past. If it’s still hurting you then it’s your memories that are doing it, not the person or event. Let go of the future and live in the present. If you perfect what is right now, the future falls into place all on its own.

  • Make sure any goals you set for yourself are those you want with a passion. If they’re what you feel you “should do” you won’t do them. It’ll be a tug of war.

  • Start planning for financial independence. Now…. not next week. That ten dollars a week adds up really fast and disappears even quicker.

  • Don’t change your behaviour. Grow into who you are. See what works for you and what doesn’t and evolve into the person you want to be.

  • Life is more than making money. You need to take time to nurture your spirit. There’s intellectual and emotional banks to consider as well. Do you have reserves in all?

  • Hang around people who will help you grow, not pull you down. Energise don’t deplete. The fastest way to suck your energy dry is by hanging around with takers and users and those in perpetual bitching mode. Surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you.

  • What are you waiting for? Act! Call, do, move, create, initiate, challenge the status quo.

  • Have a problem? Even if it was handed to you? Solve it. Get rid of it! Saying “It’s not my problem” or “I didn’t start this!” lets it fester. Get rid of it before it becomes costly baggage.

  • Enjoy change. Have fun with it. Embrace it!

A Great Quote to leave you with:

 

“Integrate what you believe in every single area of your life.

Take your heart to work and ask the most and best of everybody else, too.

Don’t let your special character and values, the secret that you know and no one else does, the truth —

Don’t let that get swallowed up by the great chewing complacency.” - Meryl Streep

 

Web Stuff

 

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As Always:

 

These newsletters will be parked at http://www.perspectivesinbrief.com/ Please feel free to share your comments, insights and perhaps a subject or two you’d like to open for discussion and we’ll look at it for a future newsletter or blog post. Our blog can be found at http://betterperspective.blogspot.com/.

 

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Wishing you all a very happy new year!

 

All the best…

 

Donna Karlin

Founder and Principal

A Better Perspective

http://www.abetterperspective.com/

ISSN 1913-6307

 

 

 

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