‘A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step’ Lao Tzu I want to write a novel – it’s a daunting task. I need about a hundred thousand words. If I sit down and work out how long it will take me if I write 500 words, 5 days a week, I will be totally fazed and consider it impossible. So, what do I do? I write the first word and then the next. Well – that’s the theory! Don’t get me wrong, there’s a plan. I more or less know where I am going but I…

Do your emotions control you or do you control your emotions?  Do you know that we do things in order to change the way we feel?  Think of eating that bar of chocolate or drinking that G&T – why are we doing it?  Are we doing it to change the way we are feeling?  Maybe to calm us down, to cheer us up or to make us feel better?   Sometimes we go shopping to reward ourselves or to cheer ourselves up.  All the time that we self-medicate with our chosen ‘drug’ we are letting our emotions control us.  But actually…

‘Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow ‘ – Melody Beattie Melody Beattie has had a number of big challenges in her life and has gone on to write many inspirational books.  One of her main points is the benefit that we could all gain from identifying things in our life that we are grateful for.  This can be tricky.  Some of us get ill, lose our jobs, lose close friends and relatives.  Sometimes it’s really hard to find something to feel positive and upbeat about and certainly nothing to feel grateful about.  Our…

‘Our beliefs strongly influence our behaviour’ (‘Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming’ Connor & Seymour)  – a really strong statement.  A quick example – if you believe that you can’t sing then you are most unlikely to consider joining a choir.    So why do we have beliefs?  Our belief system is how we make sense of our world.  We believe in the laws of nature, we know that we can’t step off tall buildings and survive, we know that fire burns and that night follows day.  We learn these things as we grow up but we also learn beliefs that shape our lives.  Our parents…

When you think of caring, who do you think of?  Probably not yourself.  We have a huge tendency to look after everyone else and then what happens?  We forget self care.  Imagine if you went to see a doctor and he was dripping blood from an open wound – I guess you would suggest that he sorted himself out before he came near you.  And that’s what we all need to do.  We can’t help others from a place of pain and hurt, from a place of emptiness.  The skill lies in finding ways to make ourselves whole and robust…

It is all too easy to push investing in yourself and personal development programmes/coaching and the things that will help you to grow your business/career to the bottom of your to do list. However, by developing a relationship with a coach/trainer you will begin to implement changes.You’ll not only benefit from on-going support and advice, you’ll also greatly reduce the chances of setbacks inhibiting progress. What’s more, you’ll be much more likely to take the positive steps necessary to achieve your goals, as you will have someone holding you accountable if you don’t! Let’s look at an example of how…