I’m Fabulous Thank You!

Fabulous!When I worked for Weight Watchers I was asked to compile and deliver a presentation on one of the company values, ‘Positive Energy’. As part of the training I got them to play a game around how to improve the energy of the group sessions we ran, they basically just had to ask each other how they were and each reply with, “I’m fabulous, thank you”!

Now this all started when I had been running a meeting and my helpers had not had a great week.  They were a bit disgruntled so I said, ‘Right, let everything out that’s bothering you for the next minute. After that I’m going to ask you how you are and you’re going to say, “I’m fabulous, thank you”. The vibe in the room was electric, the energy lifted and you could literally feel people’s moods changing. From that moment on every time someone asked how they were they replied, “I’m fabulous, thank you” and we all had great fun with it! It became such a thing that even now I get pictures of cards sent to me with the word ‘fabulous’ on them, photos of biscuit packets with the word ‘fabulous’ on and they even started using #fabulous over on Twitter!!  It’s well.. fabulous!!  I love the buzz!

Why am I telling you this? For two reasons;

1. As a Coach it can be hard to be upbeat if something has happened to you just before a session or if life is throwing you a curve ball, but you have to hold that space for your client. Their session is about them, not you, so you have to do what you can to feel fabulous before your session starts.

You’ll be working with your clients to make sure they get a good balance in their lives and you need to do the same.  You can’t serve others if you’re not in a great place yourself.  So whether it’s a 5 minute meditation, a walk with the dog, a scream from the top of the stairs.. it doesn’t matter. Do whatever it takes to be ready to coach your client in the best way that you can. Saying, “I’m fabulous” can also work if you’re having a bit of a confidence crisis!  What do you do to get yourself in the zone for clients?

2. If you’re working with clients who are being quite negative help them to reframe how they see things. I’m not suggesting being all Pollyanna about it, but sometimes it just takes a small tweak in perspective for us to feel better. Remember “It’s not the events of our lives that shape us but the meaning we attach to those events” – Tony Robbins.   Help your client to change their perspective and if it involves something fun they are more likely to feel more positive much quicker.

So now when someone says to you, “How are you?”  I want you to reply …. “I’m fabulous thank you”.  I dare you to try it.  It will surprise you and others how it can make you feel!

————————————————————————————————————————–

Speaking of fabulous.. Do you want to spend some time with other fabulous Coaches and learn how to build your business through group coaching at the same time?  Join my Cappuccino Coaching Club.  Already some of the Coaches have started sourcing venues, booking in dates and started taking action on bringing in an additional iCCS Badge FINAL Leannencome stream to their coaching businesses.

Here’s what Corinne Wilhelm, of Byte Sized English, has to say about it … “You know that “Ooh, I could make that work!” moment? There are lots of those in Ruby’s Cappuccino Coaching Club!”

ps – if you haven’t signed up to my newsletter yet then you can do so below.  Each week I share bitesize coaching hints and tips for boosting your coaching confidence, skills and business. Know other Coaches?  Send them my way 🙂

Until Next Time Blog Image No Logo

 

What To Do When You Get It Wrong

I got it wrong!  For those of you that have known me for a while you will know that I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out my niche.   Now I really am passionate about Coaching which is a good thing seeing as I’ve chosen it as my profession!  If you’ve been coached then you will know that Coaching is all about finding your own answers and making decisions based on those answers.. and yet I fell into that age old trap of listening to what others think I should do (in my business). It’s great to get lots of input around what you could do but ultimately it is your life, it has to resonate with you and light you up.  Any time I listened to others it just wasn’t quite right somehow.  It wasn’t that they weren’t all great ideas, they were, they just weren’t great ideas for me.  I needed to spend time figuring it all out and ended up going down the wrong path for a while.

My initial niche was always going to be about working with Coaches; training, mentoring and coaching Coaches.  I love seeing people grow and know how scary and overwhelming it all is when you first start out as a Coach.  I also know that burning desire of wanting to know everything about Coaching and how to help your client.  I’m now back where I started in the first place, I’m coaching Coaches and that’s ok.  It’s completely ok.  Yes it took me a long time to get here but I got here in the end and now I know it’s the right time to set my niche.  You may well have heard me talking about the Pure Coaching Academy that I’m part of, an exciting new way to learn how to be a Life Coach, so it’s all coming together to one place; working with Coaches.

One thing that was really nagging away at me though (and making my decision harder) was that I also really enjoy just general Coaching; helping people to create the life/business they want. I love running my group Cappuccino Coaching Sessions so I’m still going to do that and I’m finalising my online Life Coaching programme which will launch soon, as well as working with a handful of clients.  People told me I can’t do both so I was stressing out about setting my niche and then not being able to do that, so what to do? I am choosing to let go, to honour that small aspect of what I really enjoy, despite it not being the perfect fit, and keeping it as part of my business, albeit just a small aspect.   

So what will change? My blog posts will now be related to Coaching; hints/tips/interviews/questions etc. for Coaches.  If you’re not interested in those then you can access my life coaching posts that I have written over the past year.  I still have a couple of future Be My guest interviews that won’t fit my Coaching niche but they are great interviews so I will still share, it would be a shame not to.

So back to my blog title… ‘What To Do When You Get It Wrong’? Put your hands up, tell whoever you need to tell and move on.  

Thank you to you all for being part of my first year in business. I would love you to stay with me but understand if I’m no longer the right fit for you.  I wish you the very best in your future if you do decide not to hang around and encourage you to be you, not someone else’s version of you! 

With love, Ruby x

Edited with BlogPad Pro

Be My Guest … Emma-Louise Elsey (Interview Series)

Today I have a very special guest for my Be My Guest … Emma-Louise Elsey.

BMG Badge 4

Emma-Louise is a very successful Life Coach and she always makes me feel more positive whenever I am on her website/facebook pages, she oozes happiness and fun!  If you’re a Coach then she is going to share some thoughts around that, but don’t worry if you’re not she is also sharing some other pearls of wisdom too.   (You need to read about the Trolls!)  So without further ado I hand you over to the lovely Emma-Louise…

Emma-Louise Elsey Web 682 (3)

Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences
  • I love to help and connect people.
  • My 5 favourite qualities about myself (from a fabulous coaching exercise called “Troll Travels – Who am I?” I love that I am curious, passionate, courageous, creative and cheeky!
  • I am always having ideas, getting excited about stuff – I have ADD and Anxiety – but I don’t let it define me, even if it sometimes takes over.
What motivated you to pursue the field of Coaching?
  • It started with approaching 30 years old, being a successful project manager in the IT world. I spent Sunday nights wallowing in “There must be more to life than this!” I had success and everything I wanted – a great house, boyfriend, 2 cats, a classic car I loved (a 1973 Ford Capri!) and the separates stereo system I had always dreamt of. But I wasn’t happy. I started looking for alternative careers and after about 18 months discovered coaching through a work colleague. Once I started the journey into coaching – a whole new world opened up for me. It was irresistible – literally. I LOVED that I could change the way I looked at things – I had no idea!!! You mean I don’t HAVE to think like that? I was hooked and have not looked back since.
Who has been your biggest inspiration?
  • Do I have to pick one? My hubbie, my therapist, my business coach. I could list tens of authors whose books I love, but for real-life inspiration, this is it!
What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?
  • On feeling stressed and anxious at 3.30pm on a Thursday afternoon, my business coach asks, “Is anything you’re going to do in the next hour and a half going to materially change your business?” Me, “No” “Then go and enjoy yourself!” I have a habit of keeping on keeping on. But really, pushing ourselves when we’re stressed, tired, anxious – achieves nothing other than making us feel worse.  So, I phoned up a friend, went round and hung out. Came back feeling fab. Next day I was raring to go again.
What three tips would you give to new Coaches?
  • (This one is controversial) Charge what you consider to be a BARGAIN for your coaching. I’m not saying charge a pittance – but charge a rate that YOU think is a bargain for whoever is interested in signing up with you. Have a good reason up your sleeve – it’s a new program and I’d like feedback for example. This way, you feel TOTALLY confident selling. If they’re not interested, it really is their loss. Then put your rates up as you feel more confident.
  • If you can, keep your old job until you feel confident you have a solid basis for a coaching practice! This takes the stress off you financially – AND – you can use the network where you currently work to actively find clients and spread the word about your coaching business. Bulletin boards at work, brown bag lunches or seminars.
  • LEARN EVERYTHING YOU CAN ABOUT MARKETING and SELLING! And then keep learning. You cannot run a coaching business successfully without understanding – and CRITICALLY EMBRACING the marketing and sales. Learn to LOVE it, or your coaching business is going to feel like awfully hard work…
What are the three biggest mistakes that new Coaches make?
  • Charging too much when starting out (again – controversial). You can always charge more later…
  • Not having a way to introduce themselves that is clear and engaging (ie. being embarrassed or unclear when the meet people and are asked to say what they do).
  • Not spending enough time marketing. That includes reading, learning about the marketing and sales process AND learning about yourself. Who are you? What do you offer? Why should anyone want to work with you? Get really clear on who you are and what you offer. And learn HOW to offer that effectively!
  • Oh – and makes sure the kind of clients you are targeting can afford to pay you. Think about whether the people you want to coach can afford your rates. If not, you may not have the best target market…
What strategies do you know work when it comes to finding new clients?
  • Run seminars – basically when you run a workshop or seminar you put yourself in a position as the expert. Run the seminars where your target market hangs out – free if necessary – and then MAKE SURE to ask for their email address for your newsletter. AND their phone number for a free or consultation session with you. Do this with a feedback form – that you tell them about at the beginning – and hand out at the end.  This is how I built my contact list – AND got clients!
  • Team up with people who have a similar target market. I networked and teamed up with massage therapists, hairdressers and personal trainers for example! Sometimes we did events togethers, sometimes it was just a referral network.
  • Create a program with steps and a fixed cost/time period for people to sign up for.
What’s your favourite Coaching tool/strategy?!
  • OK, so I run The Coaching Tools Company.com! I’m not sure I can PICK a favourite!!! I would say The Wheel of Life is endlessly useful in so many ways – the most versatile. I love “Troll Travels – Who Am I?” – which is where I discovered what MY favourite 5 qualities were. So great for confidence and really knowing myself! I also adore “What Makes My Heart Sing?” – I love seeing the light go on for people when they realise that what gives them joy is so easy to do…
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
  • Coaching is so NEEDED in the world right now. You are awesome. Go for it! Believe in yourself – because no-one can do this FOR you. And once you believe in yourself, no-one can take that away from you either! Own your power!
  • AND Learn to LOVE and ACCEPT yourself the way you are right NOW. Practice it. Love and accept your dark side – and the things you feel ashamed about. Because once you OWN that, no-one can make you feel bad about yourself, ever again.
  • The reason the world needs coaching is because we’re not taught in schools to look to ourselves for answers. Instead we’re taught that the answers are outside of ourselves (books, knowledge, the adults around us). And we’re taught that to succeed we must learn stuff and be able to regurgitate it. But to be HAPPY in life, we need to know ourselves – and how to look inside and find our own answers. And THAT’s where coaching comes into its own: We help people get to know themselves, look inside and learn to trust that THEY have the answers! Awesome!
If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you..
  • Check out The Coaching Tools Company.com if you’re a coach. There are tons of articles and tools – and free tools too, to help you on your coaching journey. Sign up for the newsletter for tips, tools and our 549 Powerful Coaching Questions Ebook!
  • And if you’re interested in personal growth, please visit Life Coach on the Go! We have a great weekly bite-sized article – wisdom that takes around 1 minute to read!

Thank you Emma-Louise, I love your Coaching Tools and your blog posts, they are fab!  As you all know I also love quotes so the little freebie that Emma-Louise is giving away to readers is perfect for me – Click here to download your free copy of 107 Quintessential Quotes for Coaches.  Not a Coach, don’t worry, you’ll still love them too!

Overwhelm

Overwhelm is a horrible feeling.  I experience it from time to time and to be honest it’s mostly self-inflicted!  I over schedule myself and often underestimate the time it takes to do things (or get easily distracted by shiny things!)

Sometimes a great place to start with overwhelm is to do nothing.  When we stop just for a moment and look at that overwhelming list of things to do, places to go, people to see, we realise that actually there aren’t that many things that are going to be serious if we delay them or remove them from our list altogether.

It’s very easy, particularly in this digital age, to be on the go 24/7.  We neglect the important things in life.  A friend of mine challenged me last Saturday to an ‘unplugged’ day.  I found it really stressful!  I kept thinking I would be letting people down, missing out on important messages etc.  I couldn’t manage one whole day?  Seriously?!!!  I’m an iPaddict!

Most things we do in life come down to making choices.  We ‘choose’ to book ten meetings over two days, we ‘choose’ to take on too much work, we ‘choose’ to keep adding to our never-ending to-do list and to try and be all things to all people.  It’s uncomfortable to hear but often it’s our very own choices that bring on the overwhelm.

recite-2519-1115106715-1vjhops (2)

Here are six simple strategies that I’m working on right now to make life a lot easier..

  1. Be realistic about how long things take – When booking appointments allow in some time between them, so you’re not running from one place to the next.  If you think a project will take 1 hour write down 2 hours to cover unexpected eventualities
  2. Prioritise & Keep It Simple – this is about identifying what your most important tasks are that day – I set 3 a day.  You can find out more about that & the KISS principle here.
  3. Say ‘no’ – don’t immediately commit yourself to something, tell the other person that you will check your diary and get back to them.  That way you can check it properly to see if it is realistic to schedule in that time.  You then won’t be letting either them or yourself down when you’ve overcommitted
  4. Get rid of the ‘I don’t want to do that’ tasks – you know… those tasks that you know you really need to do but you keep moving them to the next day in your diary.  Just do it!  Even if you only spend 15 minutes a day on it you will have made progress.  If procrastination is your issue read this article here.
  5. Let go of perfectionism – sometimes good enough is.. well, good enough!  (I may have to get your help with this one – it’s easy to say, not so easy to do!)
  6. Chunks of time – by allocating chunks of time you can group tasks together and be completely focused on what you need to get done

Remember most of this is about being disciplined and making the right choices.  Make sure you put some time in that diary for you too!

Liked this post then please feel free to share using the buttons below.  Want to get your life in order?  Then have some 121 Coaching sessions with me.

Free 20 min

Sign up to my newsletter for more hints/tips/inspiration and grab yourself a ‘FUNKY‘ Goal Planner.

 

It’s All About Values

Do you know what you’re really all about?

If you had to sum up the essence of you, what key words would you use?

Exploring values for me is the most exciting part of Coaching and it brings the biggest breakthroughs.  In Coaching we do an exercise called Values Elicitation where we find out what’s really important to you in life.  This isn’t just a fun tool, it provides so much valuable information to live your life by,  it acts as a compass to guide and direct your life.  Values define who we are, they help us work out what our purpose is.  When you’re out of sync with your values life doesn’t feel quite right somehow.  The core is at the heart of an apple, in the same way our values are at the heart of us.

Take my top 3 values for instance, Love, Connection & Peace.  (When I mentioned this on my Facebook business page this week I said I sound like a hippie!)  For me to be a happy, contented version of me I have to have these things in my life.  By understanding that I can then start to see areas of my life in the past where I wasn’t congruent with my values, which then brought conflict.  Take ‘Connection’ as an example, I’m an only child so am quite content in my own company, but I have to connect with people on a daily basis or I feel all out of sorts.  Whether I’m connecting by phone, online or in person doesn’t matter, it’s about connecting.  Let’s look at ‘Connection’  in turn to see how it all fits together…

  • Work – I need to work in a role that involves contact with people in order to stay connected
  • Relationships – I need to be in a relationship and have a strong connection with my partner (My ‘Love’ value also applies here).  I need a handful of really close friends that I can connect with
  • Communication – I need to feel connected, to have a ‘connection’ with people that I interact with.  I need to hear and be heard

Can you see how it really knocks on across all of the areas?

Another big value of mine is authenticity – we’ll leave that topic for another day though!

Companies write about their core business values, so why don’t we?  Why aren’t we using values as our driving force?  They help us with our decision making, by knowing them we can make decisions based on whether they are in alignment with our core values. Steve Jobs talks about values here.

If you want to read more about my thoughts on core values in business then read my ICN Article here (pg 73)

I know back in my HR days I was very stressed around the time I was making lots of redundancies.  Now anyone that has had to do this knows it is not an easy process to go through and stress is probably a given in a lot of cases (I’ve also been on the receiving end so know some of the emotions/feelings that come up with it)  I now see how going through that process was in complete conflict with some of my core values, no wonder I felt extra uncomfortable.  How was that process helping me with my top 3, love, connection and peace?

So what about now?  Well I’m out there spreading the love, connecting with loads of people and I’m more and more at peace (that’s an ongoing project for me!)  I think I’ve finally found my true purpose in life (and it even matches my values!)

Do you know your core values?  Want to learn more about them and how they can guide you?  Book a session with me and we can piece everything together so that you live your life on purpose, in line with what you need to be you.

Whole apple image

 

Lovely Memory

What’s your memory like?  Do you often say to yourself, ‘I never remember anything’? or ‘I have a really poor memory’?

I’ve always been interested in how the mind works and memory in particular fascinates me.  Why is it that you can remember the tiniest of details sometimes, yet other times it’s as if you’ve had a memory wipe like they have in a sci-fi movie?

There are many facets to memory and I’m absolutely no expert in this field but I’d like to share a few things that have worked for me over the past…

  1. Exercise your brain – We exercise our bodies but forget our brains, it’s important to do both
  2. Pay attention – When you’re doing something, learning, speaking with someone give it your full attention.  If you aren’t fully focused then you may not store the information correctly
  3. Routine – Do you forget to brush your teeth?  Probably not because you’ve set a routine.   Try setting routines for things you need to remember.  Use reminders, alarms and planners to help you
  4. Use visualisation and association – This one is fun!  By visualising a crazy story line and associating it with certain location points you can remember heaps of information.  I’ve read some books on it over the past, but more recently I had a book recommendation, called ‘The Memory Palace‘.  In this book you can learn all 37 Shakespeare plays in chronological order both forwards and backwards within a few minutes.  Well that sounded like a challenge so I thought I’d give it a go.  It took 30 minutes but I can now recall all 37 plays.  Now, interestingly going back to my point about about paying attention, when recalling the information where I was distracted when I was reading I get it a bit muddled so focus, focus, focus!
  5. Learn it right first time – That way each time you do it right you will be making more progress
  6. Sort out your stress    – when you’re stressful or tired memory can be impacted
  7. Test yourself – Remember the Krypton Factor? (sorry if you’re too young to remember this one!) – Put your ‘K’ t-shirt on and practice your observation skills.  Watch the news and read articles/magazines.  When you’re finished test yourself on some of the smaller detail that you remembered.  Give your brain a workout
  8. Language – this one for me is a biggie.  If I forget just ONE thing I will then tell myself ‘I have a bad memory’ or ‘I never remember anything’ and that just makes me worse.  Now I replace it with ‘I have a great memory’ or ‘My memory is improving’.  This stops the berating and enables me to use my brain for more interesting facts and information that I am learning!
  9. Mind Mapping – A FABULOUS tool for helping you to store information.  In fact I absolutely know that it’s how I passed my HR qualifications many years ago.  When I work on any project, including my blog posts (see my one for this post below) I draw/create a mind map.  It helps you organise your thoughts and remember information.  Often I use this app to create one.  You can learn more about Mind Mapping here.

2013-04-12 08.44.15

Memory improvement takes time, but it’s really worth the effort.  Use a combination of methods, one method may work better in some scenarios for you than others.

Like this post?  Feel free to share using the buttons below.  I’d love to hear all about your hints and tips for improving memory.  What good books have you read about it?  Let’s get a conversation started in the comments section below.

 

Letting Go

What is it about letting go of things that is SO challenging?  At this time of year our thoughts turn to the Summer that might be awaiting us (!) and we sometimes get a little burst of energy where we want to sort things out but it can be really tricky.  You pick up an item and say to yourself, ‘Yes I know it’s really old but it reminds me of….’, or ‘I might need that one day’.

il_570xN.395364824_celu

Click on image for source

 

De-cluttering our homes can be one part of letting go but it’s also about de-cluttering our lives.  What do we have in our lives that really drains our energy, steals our time and creates unnecessary tension?

Thinking about different areas of your home/life/business what do you need to de-clutter?

There are also mental and emotional effects to clutter, it’s not just the physical side.  Each time we walk into that office with the pile of paperwork, or see it sitting on top of the kitchen worktop, it can make us feel that we have failed, even in the smallest of tasks, by not dealing with it.  That’s not really the case, but why allow yourself these energy drainers if you don’t need them in your life? Having a good old clear out to wash away the literal and metaphorical cobwebs can be a great way to recharge us.  Letting things go gives us space to focus on those things that are important to us.

There are so many reasons for us not wanting to let things go, particularly if there has been a traumatic event in our lives and the item holds some sentimental value for us.

So what to do..

Think about each room in your house or area in your life and/or business that might need decluttering and create a list of every job that needs doing, whether it’s finishing that tax return, cleaning out your wardrobes, sorting out your bills, other paperwork, or kitchen cupboards. Pop it all down on the list.

Set aside a few minutes each day to do one or two jobs on that list.  Ideally do the jobs that you really despise first because that will give you an enormous sense of achievement and might even give you an added sprinkle of enthusiasm for carrying on with the job too.  Failing that do as many of the smaller tasks that you can to start creating some momentum.

Often we don’t achieve what we want to because we see an overwhelming project that’s just too big to even start, so break it down into smaller chunks.  If you know you need to do your tax return paperwork but find yourself sitting in the middle of a pile of receipts with your head in your hands then start with one small task.  Step one – Set aside an envelope labelled with each month on it and start to sort your receipts into month order.  Step two might be to sort the receipts into date order, step three to log them etc.  As you start to take small steps you will realise that holding onto these tasks just creates a lack of concentration, uses up mental energy and wastes your time.

Letting go can feel really good.  Remember that by releasing the old you’re allowing in the new, whether that’s new shoes, new clothes or new business.

Want to learn more?  I like the decluttering questions they ask here.  More inspiration?  Pop on over to my Pinterest board here for some ideas.

I have a lovely guest next week as part of my ‘Be My Guest interview’ series and not only is she going to share some business ideas with you she is also going to give you some cleaning tips!  Watch this space.  (Not sure what I mean?  Click on this post here and here to find out more)

Liked this post then please feel free to share using the buttons below.  Want to get your life in order?  Then have some 121 Coaching sessions with me.

Free 20 min

My latest newsletter will coming out soon, so if you haven’t signed up now is the time.

Nothing Compares To You

‘Nothing Compares To You’ – that famous song by Sinead O’Connor.  Are you singing yet?!!  Nothing does compare to you, you are unique and fabulous.  Don’t try and be someone else, be you!

Why do we spend our lives comparing ourselves to others?  What good does it do us?  Whether it’s comparing yourself to your friends/family members/work colleagues/celebrities/people in the business world doesn’t matter.  Comparison can do us some good if we use it in the right way, but it can also be incredibly destructive.

The problem when we compare is that we judge ourselves against the other person.  Often we’re not even comparing like for like.  It’s this judgement that then can set us off on a path of negative thought patterns which is unhelpful.

76853_445171228854726_751477556_n

Who knows what circumstances that other person has been through to get where they are.   If you look at an athlete you think, ‘Wow, they’re amazing’.   I can’t run like that.  You don’t see all of the hard work, perserverance, tears and  sacrifices they’ve made to pursue their dream.  You don’t see that it’s taken them 10 years of training, day in day out in the pouring rain, heat of summer or dead of night to get to that point, so it’s not even a valid comparison.

I regularly work with people trying to lose weight and one of the things I always say is not to compare your weight loss journey to others, this is your journey.  This applies as much to life as it does to weight loss.  Do it your way and enjoy the journey.

Here’s a 4 step process that is really useful when comparing yourself to others..

  1. Stop – ask yourself whether this comparing is helpful and constructive.  It may be that it is useful, it might be a good motivator for you, it’s not always a negative behaviour
  2. Remind yourself it’s a snapshot – you are only seeing a snapshot of this other person’s life, it is quite likely they will have their own insecurities too.  Despite what we think nobody is perfect and 9/10 people don’t have the perfect life we perceive them to have
  3. Be kind to yourself – everybody is different, comparing is natural.  Don’t use it as yet another tool to berate yourself with.
  4. Use it to inspire you into action and make changes – Often when we compare ourselves to someone else it can be a great tool to help us know what it is we desire/strive for.  i.e. it could be that person runs a successful business, it could be they have the husband/wife, the car, the lifestyle, the look.  Use this to recognise what it is you really want in life

cindyEverybody has their own set of strengths, YOU have your own set of strengths.

This week spend some time listing all of the things you have accomplished in your life, perhaps even through difficult circumstances.  Aim for one strength for each year of your life, i.e. you’re 34, list 34 strengths as a minimum.  Keep adding to the list as the weeks go on and use it to remind you how amazing you are.

Remember you don’t need to compare yourself to others, just keep striving to develop and grow.  You may even start to find that others will be aspiring to be more like you!

Liked this article?  Try out this post on Negative Language.  If you like this blog post then please feel free to share using the buttons below.  If you want to improve the way you talk to yourself or work on things that are holding you back and don’t know where to start then get some Coaching with me.

ps – If you haven’t seen my first ‘Be My Guest’ blog post with my lovely Coach, Author & Columnist make sure to check it out for some fun insights.  There’s a giveaway there for you.  There’s also a free funky goal planner available – see my ‘freebies’ page.

 

Be My Guest .. Carole Ann Rice

Welcome to another ‘Be My Guest’ Interview.  This week I am speaking with my lovely Life Coach, Carole Ann Rice.  If it wasn’t for Carole Ann helping me figure out what I wanted to do in life my Coaching business probably still wouldn’t exist!  So thank you Carole Ann for helping me figure it all out and for setting me off on an exciting new path!

BMG Badge 4

Part of my work involves working with new Coaches so I thought it would be useful to speak with other Coaches that have been there and done it both as Coaches and in business too.

An inspiring and motivational Business and Life Coach Carole Ann uses wit and wisdom to teleport her clients into their full potential for over 10 years.  She is the only Life Coach in the UK to have her own column – Happy Monday in the Daily Express – featured in a national daily newspaper.  Her corporate clients have included Visa, London School of Economics and the National Children’s Bureau and as a Coach has been featured in The Times, Metro News, Harpers Bazaar, Zest, New Woman and Glamour magazines.

In a previous incarnation she was an award-winning Journalist and as Fashion and Lifestyle Editor of the Birmingham Post (7 years) she had lunch with the Duchess of York, had tea at Fortnums with Terence Stamp, treated Lord Patrick Litchfield to a Balti and had toast in a broom cupboard with Stephen Fry.

Carole Ann is Co-Author of ‘Find Your Dream Job’ (which has 5 stars on Amazon and is in its second print run) and her new book ‘Find Your Dream Business’ is out in April 2013.  An amusing and memorable public speaker Carole Ann has also devised and presented a variety of network television and radio programmes.  She launches her first online business www.cleveracorn.com – a business start-up development site this year.

Describe yourself in 3 short, fab and fun sentences
  • “not just another coach”
  • “the meaning of life (coach)”
  • “the coach with the most”
What motivated you to pursue the field of Coaching?

A sincere desire to find deeper meaning in life and to help others get over bad stuff and reach their potential.

Who has been your biggest inspiration?

Suzy Greaves and Martha Beck.

What’s the best business advice you’ve ever been given?

Say “yes” and think after, failure isn’t fatal, ask for help and unreasonably ask for more, have HUGE dreams, never give up and don’t put a red sock in with your whites.

What three tips would you give to new Coaches?
  1. It takes longer than you think to build a practice
  2. Network well and often
  3. Be yourself but be different
What are the three biggest mistakes that new Coaches make?
  1. Expecting overnight success
  2. Charging too little
  3. Not being commercial enough

As I said before you have to give it time and market yourself continuously and vigorously – the phone doesn’t just ring.  Set out your rate card and don’t drop prices – hold your nerve.  Get that you are an entrepreneur now so act in a commercial, business like manner.  We are healers and change makers but we are also in business so step up to the challenge.  We are not charities or hobbyists.

What strategies do you know work when it comes to finding new clients?

Networking and getting in front of people.

What’s your favourite Coaching tool/strategy?

Getting people to imagine the lives they really want.  It changes their energy and gives them hope – and direction.

 What’s your favourite Coaching question?

“What would life be like if you chose to give up on your dreams and decided to stay in the comfort zone?”

 Is there anything else you’d like to share?

A coach must walk their talk – be brave, jump through their own rings of fire and fear and step up in order to be an inspiration to others. Be in integrity.

If I wanted to connect and/or work with you where would I find you?

www.realcoachingco.com

Thank you Carole Ann for sharing some useful insights with us.  Click here to get your copy of 7 Questions That Got Me The Life I Want and here to get your copy of a World of Boundaries.

Over to you… We’d love to know who inspires you in business or the best business advice you’ve ever been given, so let’s get a conversation going in the comments section below.

Enjoyed this interview?  Check out the first one in the series here.  Would you like to be my guest?  Just drop me an email and tell me what gems you’d like to share with my readers.

Health & Wellbeing

Health & Wellbeing – What does that mean to you?  It can mean so many things to so many people.  Last night I was shutting down my computer and I realised I hadn’t done my blog post.  My normal thing to do would be to fire it up again and get on with the job before I go to bed.  This time though I stopped for a moment and asked myself how this is helping me in terms of health and wellbeing.  Rest and relaxation is vital for our health.  I guess if I hadn’t been writing this topic I wouldn’t have given it a second thought and I’d have been up until 2am writing this out, but I made the decision to go to bed and said to myself it can wait until the morning.  Nothing bad will happen if I don’t write out my blog post!

il_570xN.374907915_6bo2

Physical, Mental & Emotional well being... It’s all important.  WellBeing – we all want to be ‘Well Beings’, don’t we?  So why do we put off looking after ourselves?  I guess it depends on the priority we place on it.   When we’re younger we never think health will be an issue.  As we get older we start to consider our bodies more and make better choices.  It’s not just about physical health though, being well can help us to manage stress and the pressures of daily life.  We’re nicer people to be around if we’ve learnt to manage our emotions.

If you signed up to my newsletter you would have received a copy of my ‘Wheel of Life’ last month.  It’s a tool coaches use where you group your life into various categories (generally 8) and then rate them from 0-10 according to how happy you are.  You can then identify an area to work on in your life.  If we were using it for this topic there are so many areas we could pick;

Sleep, Nutrition, Exercise, Rest & Relaxation, Worry & Anxiety, Emotions; anger, sadness.  That’s just the start of it.

What’s incredible is once you start to look after your health and wellbeing you start to realise how many other areas of your life it impacts.  Feeling tired impacts your emotions which can then impact your relationships.  Eating unhealthily can make you unwell creating worry and anxiety.  By making some simple changes you can start to feel more energised and ready to take on life and all it has to offer.

The first step to making change in this area is to identify how you take your body for granted.  Are you a sleep deprived caffeine junkie?  Do you shout at everyone that dares to cut you up on the road?  What do these things tell you about your health?

What needs to happen for you to put your health and wellbeing first?  We often put it at the bottom of the list, but actually it needs to be at the top.

httpcn-richardson.tumblr.com

Your homework for this week is to have a really good belly laugh, whether it’s watching a movie that always sets you off, a quick video on YouTube or going to see a comedy.  Do one thing this week that really makes you laugh and then start to take yourself more seriously when it comes to looking after your health and wellbeing.

Liked this article?  Try out my Self-Care Quiz.  If you like this blog post then please feel free to share using the buttons below.  If you want to improve your health and wellbeing and don’t know where to start then get some Coaching with me.

ps – If you haven’t seen my first ‘Be My Guest’blog post with my lovely Social Media expert guest, Rebekah Harriman make sure to check it out for some fun social media tips.  There’s a giveaway there for you.  There’s also a free funky goal planner on my ‘freebies’page.  Next week we have another great guest interview, watch this space!

Password Reset
Please enter your e-mail address. You will receive a new password via e-mail.