Month: April 2018 Page 1 of 2

“Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify.” Henry David Thoreau.

Life can get chaotic and busy sometimes. As a result we can bite off more than we can chew and spread ourselves too thin. It’s important that we occasionally take the time out to reflect, evaluate and consider how we can simplify our life

It can be a real challenge to maintain a healthy balance between our personal and professional lives. A demanding work schedule and priorities can very easily eat into precious personal and family time. It can make keeping in touch with friends challenging and leave limited time for physical exercise, relaxation and fun.

Pursuing work goals may bring great material reward, recognition and satisfaction. However, having to make great personal sacrifices to achieve work goals combined with poor life balance can lead to feelings of unhappiness and a lack of personal fulfilment.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of saying yes to every request for help and assistance. This can mean we feel over-burdened, stressed and anxious. It can also leave us to wonder how we will complete all the tasks we have. Our brains can get foggy, unable to see clearly and focus on what is truly important to us.

When we simplify our life and aim to keep things simple, it helps us to feel more in control. To get to simplicity, we have to sharpen our focus. Excellent focus brings greater clarity and helps us to truly understand what is most important to us.

When we are focused on our most vital key priorities, we are clearer about our choices, make better decisions and become more efficient.

Here are a few thoughts on how to simplify your life:-

• Review the amount of time you spend at work. Consider if you can streamline your tasks and procedures to increase efficiency and free up some valuable personal time.
• Don’t put things off. If you can complete something in two minutes or less, seize the moment and do it immediately.
• Simplify your mind by going for a daily walk. A walk in the evening helps to process the day’s events and draws out useful insights.
• Review your relationships. Be honest about which relationships energise you and which drain you. Think about where you are spending your time and reduce the amount of time you spend with negative influences.
• Regular meditation or mindfulness sessions help to calm the mind and keep it uncluttered. You will notice a difference even if you only spend ten minutes a day doing this. If you have time afterwards, write any insights you gain in a journal.

You may also wish to consider decluttering your work space and home environment. As part of this you might want to let go of items that you no longer need, want or love.

An approach many people use to determine whether to keep possessions is to hold something and ask “Does this bring me joy?” Alternatively ask yourself “Do I really need this?” If the answer is no, then they let it go.

Clutter can affect us on a physical level and have a negative impact on our energy levels. It can make us feel stressed and overwhelmed. We can waste valuable time searching for things e.g. looking for a document in a pile of papers.

It can weigh us down and make us put things off and stay stuck in the past. It can mean that “we can’t see the wood for the trees.” When our life is full of clutter there’s no room for anything new to come into our lives. Disposing of clutter is an important part of the change process and leads to positive fresh outcomes.

When decluttering, after filing or boxing up things that are to be kept and stored, you may find it useful to put the clutter into various piles or boxes. These can be categorized as follows:

• Things to be thrown away or sent for recycling
• Paperwork to be shredded
• Items to give to others/charity
• Possessions to be sold
• Items/articles that need to be repaired

The process of clearing clutter isn’t just about letting go of the belongings but the feelings and fear that keep us holding onto an excess of stuff.

Life is constantly changing, so when something comes into your life, enjoy it, use it well and when it is time, let it go so that you can experience new things.

This week, why not take some time out to reflect and consider what steps you can take to simplify your life.

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

“It’s a simple idea; we all do better when we work together and invest in our future.”  – Elizabeth Warren.

As well as working with individuals, I enjoy working with teams to help them improve team working and as a result develop their performance. Sometimes during assignments I’m surprised at the level of conflict and bad feeling that exists in some teams.

Recently I was wondering what impact the lack of effective team work has on an organisation’s profitability, customer satisfaction levels, staff motivation levels, efficiency and results.

The Office for National Statistics published some research in October 2017 which suggested that the output per hour worked in the UK was 15.1% below the average for the rest of the G7 advanced economies in 2016. I wonder what part a lack of team working has in creating those statistics?.

There has also been research linking employee engagement directly to productivity. A 2009 study by the University of Iowa and Gallup revealed an 18% drop in productivity among most and least engaged employees. The same survey also noted a connection between absenteeism and engagement: it’s 37% higher among employees with engagement scores in the lowest quartile.

Conflict produces very unpleasant and negative energy and this creates a very challenging environment for people to operate in. This kind of environment doesn’t allow people to be at ease and relaxed. It’s a major obstacle to the development of teams and doesn’t assist people to be totally focused on producing their best results. It also has a detrimental impact on morale and motivation.

Leaders have a major responsibility to set the right tone and example for their people to follow. After setting clear goals and a sense of direction, I believe that at the top of every leader’s priorities should be to encourage greater team working and collaboration within teams.

A leader has a vital role in ensuring that they play to people’s strengths and to look to get the best out of every employee. It’s imperative they create environments and atmospheres that facilitate this.

Creating a climate of trust is essential and is the foundation of high performing teams. It’s important that you’re able to be able to count on your colleagues and team mates to be there for you if you require help.

All employees need to be encouraged to trust and appreciate the qualities and contributions of their colleagues. It’s also important that everyone has a clear understanding of their role, the main purpose of their job and how it contributes to team goals.

In addition to the above, I believe the following components make a positive contribution to building effective, productive and harmonious teams:-

• Each member is willing to contribute to the successful results of the team
• A relaxed climate exists which encourages honest and open communication within the team
• Mistakes and challenges are discussed openly and team members do so without the fear of personal attack. This helps personal learning lessons to be gleaned
• People are clear about where they are empowered to take decisions
• New ideas and innovation are encouraged to help develop results and productivity

This week, why not pause for a few moments and think about the teams that you lead or are involved with personally and professionally. What action steps could you and your fellow team members take to increase the effectiveness and value of the team?

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

“There are only two options: Make progress or make excuses.” Tony Robbins.

If you feel that you aren’t getting the results in life you’re capable of or if you feel you’re not fulfilling your potential, you have to be honest with yourself about what is getting in the way.

A key part of my personal coaching work is helping clients to get clarity on what they want. This isn’t always easy to achieve as people can easily tell you what they don’t want but can’t always articulate what they want.

A vital component of this process is identifying the potential obstacles to goal achievement. Once we’ve completed this exercise and also got clarity on their desires we can start to devise a clear focused plan with action steps and milestones to help achieve the goals.

There are a variety of obstacles that people talk about such as self-doubt, procrastination, overwhelm, fear, lack of money and time etc. Obstacles do present us with an opportunity to learn and grow. We discover new depths of resources and skills as we search for solutions to overcome them.

When you conquer obstacles, it builds confidence and a sense of accomplishment. As the author Jim Rohn said “If you really want to do something, you will find a way, if you don’t you will find an excuse.”

Excuses prevent people being the best they can be and fulfilling their potential. They also stop people attaining the high levels of happiness they’re capable of. Excuses are a symptom of something else, they aren’t the root cause of what stops people achieving their goals.

Some of the common excuses that I hear are:-

• It will be difficult so I’m not going to try
• It’s too much of a risk
• I’m too old
• I’m too busy already, I can’t take any more on
• I don’t deserve this opportunity
• I don’t have the money

Once clients get honest about what stops them we can get to figure out some strategies to address the excuses. We’re also able to get to the bottom of what is driving the excuses. Quite often this can be things like a fear of failure or the unknown or not having sufficient courage to take a risk and step out of their comfort zone.

Remember that the results you have today are because of your past focus. If you aren’t happy with your results commit to changing your approach.

With this in mind, here are some tips on ways to get into action and overcome excuses:

• Get clear on what you want and what excuses may be stopping you getting the results you desire
• Take full responsibility for how you feel and for letting go of excuses
• Commit 100% to achieving the goal. If you can’t do this then let go of the goal
• Ask for any help that you may need
• Believe that the goal will be achieved
• Take consistent action steps until the goal is attained.

This week, why not take a few moments out to reflect and consider if you are coming up with excuses that stop you achieving some of your goals or being the best you can be. If this is the case, what steps will you take to banish these excuses for good?

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