Month: November 2016 Page 1 of 2

I went to see the film “A street cat named Bob” recently.

It’s based on the international best selling book by the same name. It’s a true feel good story of how James Bowen, who was homeless, busking and a recovering drug addict, had his life transformed when he met a stray ginger cat.

The film was really good and a great reminder of the adversity that some people face in their life and have big challenges to overcome. It got me thinking about how awful it must be for people to have to live and sleep outside in all-weather with limited food and little or no money.

For those of us that aren’t living life on the streets, it’s still easy for us to fall into the trap of focusing our mind on what we lack, what’s not working and what’s wrong with life. Falling into this habit doesn’t help our energy levels, mood or help us to maintain a positive outlook. In today’s fast paced world with countless demands and distractions, we can all easily forget and take for granted things to be grateful for.

There’s much to be grateful for if we have a roof over our head, food in our cupboards and fridge and money going into our bank accounts. We can take for granted how fortunate we are when we’re able to get out of a nice comfortable warm bed, step onto a carpet and into a room warmed by central heating. We flick a switch and a light comes up, we turn a tap and get running water. Within minutes a kettle has boiled water so we can enjoy a nice cup of tea or coffee. Then we can step into a lovely hot shower and prepare for the day ahead. We can also forget to be grateful for the gift of life and good health.

When we’re more deliberate about practising gratitude and acknowledging all that there is to be grateful for in life it helps increase our energy levels, keeps us happy, positive and better equipped to deal with challenges and hassles that inevitably we all face from time to time.

When I first started to be more deliberately grateful a few years ago I wrote a list of 50 things to be grateful for which I added to over the course of a month. I still refer to this list from time to time when things don’t go as planned, if I am facing an obstacle or if my energy level drops. It always lifts my mood and spirits and puts things into balance and perspective.

Robert A. Emmons & Michael McCullough are two of the leading scholars on the topic of gratitude and they have researched and written about its power to boost happiness. In one of their studies, they carried out research with 3 experimental groups over a 10 week period. They found that the people who were in the gratitude condition felt fully 25% happier. They were more optimistic about the future, they felt better about their lives and they even did almost 1.5 hours more exercise a week than those in the hassles or events condition.

Martin Seligman is a leading expert on positive psychology and a very successful author. He has looked extensively at the effect and benefits of practising gratitude in his work. He has found that writing down what you are grateful for has the ability to shape your mood positively in lasting ways.

A practice that I have found helpful is to maintain a gratitude jar. This allows you to acknowledge positive events when they happen.

The way I do this is to make a note of such events on post it notes which I put in a jar. I note down acts of kindness, positive feedback, receipt of income, gifts, unexpected windfalls and great customer service. I also make note of nice experiences such as days out, time by the sea, fantastic meals, attending concerts and sporting events etc.

At the end of each year, I take out the notes and read them all. I’ve found this to be an excellent way to acknowledge and appreciate all the things that I’ve been fortunate to experience during the year. This creates a good feeling and is a great way to prepare and look forward to the New Year with positive expectation.

Also before I go to sleep each night, I take the time to mentally acknowledge at least 3 things from the day that I can be grateful for. As a variation of this you could establish a gratitude journal and take a few minutes each day to write down your 3 things.

This week why not take some time out to pause and reflect and consider what you can be grateful for. You may like to devise a list of 50 things for which you can be grateful. You can add to it over the coming month.

Also you might like to establish a gratitude jar or journal that you can maintain daily over the coming year.

This week’s quotation:

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” William Arthur Ward.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk

This year has delivered some unexpected and shock election results. In June, a referendum in the UK saw the British people vote to leave the European Union. On November 8^th Donald Trump defied all the odds and the pollsters to win the US presidential election.

There has been plenty of media coverage so I’m not going to add to the political analysis here. However, a few things have occurred to me whilst watching the coverage and political debate programmes this year.

Both elections had very close results in percentage terms (almost split 50/50) and this clearly demonstrates how divided the nations are on these important issues. I’ve been shocked at some of the anger and nastiness that has been on show in the various campaigns.

It hasn’t been confined to the politicians seeking victory. The public on either side of the debate have been very passionate in expressing their views and displeasure with the opposing arguments. I’ve seen instances of frustration being expressed in an extremely aggressive manner by audience members, moderators and interviewers in various debate programmes.

A lesson that I drew from the US presidential election coverage is that we all have to find a way to insulate ourselves from the fear, hatred and negativity that seems to be created by some of the media coverage.

To do this, we may choose to minimise the amount of news coverage that we watch, read or listen to each day as a way to protect ourselves. Instead we can make the choice to focus on the present moment and the things we can control to make our own environments as good as they can be.

We can all play a part in making the world a better place, regardless of who is president of the USA or whether Britain is a member of the European Union. Whilst they may have some influence on our lives, these factors don’t have to have a major impact on our daily reality. We are in control of creating our own reality.

Every day we have the power and choice about where we place our focus and energy. It’s within our gift about how and where we make a positive difference in the world. Interestingly, Michael Jackson’s song “Heal the World” came on my IPOD last week. Some of the lyrics that I’ve detailed below seem like a great antidote for the mood and energy that has been on display:-

“Heal the world make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race. There are people dying if you care enough for the living, make it a better place, for you and for me.”

With this in mind, I’ve given some thought to how we can all play a part in making the world a better a place. We can:-

• All take small actions and collectively create a positive ripple to counter the negativity, fear and nastiness that’s prevalent.
• Choose to count our blessings and be grateful for what we have in life.
• Look at ways we make our environments and part of the world pleasant.
• Get clarity on what’s working and is right in our life and consider ways that we can build on this.
• Be compassionate to our fellow human beings. More compassion creates better relationships and inspires others to follow this approach.
• Carefully consider the impact on others of our actions and decisions before we speak or act.
• Ensure our language and words are always temperate.
• Have greater empathy for people suffering challenges and hardship.
• Be present and give people our full attention.
• Spend less time on technology in the virtual world and more time in the real world.
• Decide to listen more than we talk and help people we interact with feel heard, valued and important.
• Be nice to people.
• Be kind to ourselves. Ensure our self-talk is empowering.
• Look for what’s positive about people and situations.
• Be encouraging and supportive of other’s endeavours and happy for their success and achievements.
• Give credit where credit is due.
• Recognise people’s value and contributions and express gratitude for the positive impact they have on our life.

One final important suggestion. We can regularly perform small random acts of kindness. This can be simple things like letting someone go in front of us in a queue, holding a door open, offering a compliment, giving an unexpected gift or even making someone a cup of tea!

This week, why not take a few moments to pause and reflect and consider what actions you can take to help make your part of the world a better place. Are there are other people you can encourage to do the same?

This week’s quotation:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk

Life is all about small margins. Quite often there is a small difference between winning and losing, success and failure, hitting or missing a target, securing an election victory or defeat or achieving a goal.

There was an example at this summer’s Rio Olympics which illustrated this fact perfectly. Great Britain’s Lutalo Muhammad suffered an agonising last-second defeat in the men’s +80kg taekwondo final – losing 8-6 to Cheick Sallah Cisse of the Ivory Coast.

Muhammad led 6-4 but was hit by a reverse turning kick to his neck with the last action of the final. So with one second of his contest to go he was set to be Olympic champion and get a gold medal. However, he lost the bout and had to settle for a silver medal. It must have been heart-breaking for him to come so close and miss out on achieving his gold medal dream.

It can be the tiniest of margins that determine the outcome of situations. I am sure you can recall examples from your own life experiences where you missed out on something and it was determined by a small difference.

It maybe the extra half an hour that you spent revising for a test or exam rather than watching TV that got you the extra marks to help you to pass or get a better grade. You may have put in extra time when learning to drive to revise your highway code which helped you answer a question you just read about and led to you passing the test.

If you play sport, for example golf, the extra practice time on your putting may have clinched you a victory in your local club’s championship event. An extra hour preparing for an important customer meeting may have enabled you to be prepared for a question you were asked and helped to clinch the deal. One final phone call or e mail to a prospective customer may have secured a meeting which led to a large project being sold and in the process securing a valuable long term customer relationship.

There is a great African proverb often credited to Anita Roddick, founder of Body Shop, which summarises the power of small:-

“If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.”

This is a great quote to use in team meetings and personal development reviews.

Remind your team about the importance and significance of small actions and the huge impact they can have. The extra 1% of effort may be the difference between achieving a target or not. It may be the edge that’s needed in order to be successful.

Small incremental steps applied consistently everyday lead to outstanding results. It is always worth remembering that one action applied every working day of the year amounts to 260 actions! This is a great way of breaking down a large project or goal that seems overwhelming into manageable chunks.

For instance, if you have an ambition to write a book, if you write one page every weekday (giving yourself a break at the weekend) after one year you would have written a 260 page book!

This week, why not take a few moments to reflect and consider the following:

Where could you or your team apply an extra degree of effort and focus to increase results or customer service?

What small actions could you take daily or weekly to help you to achieve a goal or dream that you have?

This week’s quotation:

“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.” John Wooden.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk