Month: September 2019

“The only real valuable thing is intuition.” Albert Einstein.

This coming Wednesday marks the 18th anniversary of the awful 9/11 attacks on the United States. It was a devastating day for the world. The four co-ordinated attacks using passenger aircraft killed 2996 people and injured 6000. The attacks led to the collapse of the North and South towers of the World Trade Centre and cost $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage.

I remember that day vividly and can recall the immense shock and sadness that I felt. It was hard to comprehend and take in what had happened. The day had added significance for me. Having just completed my Executive Coach training and gained a qualification, I undertook my first official client coaching session at 2pm that day (UK time). This was 9am in New York. The first attack happened 14 minutes before this and the second 3 minutes later.

I was taught a very profound and valuable lesson about the importance of listening to my instincts/intuition from a story about 9/11 that I was told by a man I met at a conference many years ago:

He told me that he used to work in one of the twin towers. A few months before the attacks, he woke up one morning and a voice inside him told him to quit his job as it wasn’t making him happy. He was scared of the risk of quitting a well-paid job without a new job to go to.

However, something inside him convinced him that he had to trust the message and take action to prioritise his happiness and mental well-being over a salary cheque. He was told that everything would be ok if he made the change and moved on.

Thankfully he honoured his inner voice and intuition and resigned from his position. He left the job a few weeks before the attack. He wasn’t in New York at the time of the attacks because he had taken a break to go traveling and think about what to do next.

If he hadn’t have done so, I wouldn’t be able to tell you this story, as sadly all the people who worked on the floor where he worked were killed. He was extremely grateful that he trusted his instincts but understandably very sad that many ex-colleagues lost their lives.

Sometimes our minds can be busy that we can’t hear the subtle messages of our inner voice. This can also happen when we over-analyse situations.

Using our minds to think through issues logically and to formulate plans and strategies to meet goals and challenges is a great skill to have. However, as with all things, if we over use this trait and over think situations, it can be counterproductive.

It can mean that we procrastinate, tie ourselves in knots and lose focus and efficiency. Having a busy mind, full of information and mental chatter prevents us from being able to hear the quiet, subtle and powerful messages provided by our inner guidance system or intuition.

Clothing designer Donna Karan said “One of our greatest gifts is our intuition. It’s a sixth sense we all have and we just need to learn to tap into and trust it.” Richard Branson, the entrepreneurial founder of the Virgin Group once said “I rely far more on gut instinct than researching huge amounts of statistics.”

There are plenty of situations when it’s important to listen to your intuition, for example, when there’s insufficient data, too much information, conflicting data or when you need to make a quick decision. It also helps when your vision has become foggy or when you feel stuck.

Intuition is a resource if nurtured that can create a calmer, focused and productive way of being. In order that you can hear more messages from your instincts, it’s important that you quieten your mind.

Reducing the amount of mental chatter and activity will help you to hear the subtle and quiet intuitive messages. Taking time to meditate regularly to practice yoga or use mindfulness techniques will help you to achieve this.

Have there been times were you have listened to the wisdom from your inner voice and been thankful that you have done so? Alternatively, have there been times when you have ignored what your instincts were telling you and have regretted it?

This week why not take a few moments and reflect on how busy your mind is. What action can you take to quieten your mind?

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

“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.” Aristotle

I was painting our garden fence recently. I enjoy this task, as I find the process meditative and restorative. It provides me with some quality thinking time and I can listen to the radio or my iPod if I wish to. It also gets me out in the fresh air.

Whilst I was painting the fence the story of Steve Jobs came to mind. He learned a valuable lesson when he was a child from his adoptive father and a garden fence.

Steve Jobs was an American information technology entrepreneur and inventor who prior to his death in October 2011was the co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. He helped to build Apple into the world’s most valuable company.

Shortly after his death, Job’s official biographer, Walter Issacson, described him as the “creative entrepreneur” whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing and digital publishing.

Apple is known for the quality of it’s products and this is an ethos that is deeply entrenched in the company’s culture. For instance, their current CEO, Tim Cook, when outlining the company’s business philosophy said “We don’t settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company.”

Steve Jobs was said to be obsessed with the way things were crafted and the quality of the unseen parts. He wasn’t just content to meet specifications; he frequently went above and beyond to ensure that the products he had a hand in were made in the best way possible. Much has been written about Jobs perfectionism, attention to detail and the way he drove his people.

Jobs and Apple produced a string of very successful quality products over the years greater than any other modern day innovation company. These included: iMac, iPod, iPod Nano, iTunes Store, Apple Stores, MacBook, iPhone, iPad, App Stores, OS X Lion – not to mention every Pixar film.

Walter Isaacson suggests in the Steve Jobs biography that the likely source of this focus on craftsmanship was Jobs adoptive father, Paul Jobs. He was a mechanic, good with his hands and his work focused mainly on cars.

“I thought my dad’s sense of design was pretty good,” Jobs told Isaacson, “Because he knew how to build anything. If we needed a cabinet, he would build it. When he built our fence, he gave me a hammer so I could work with him.” His uncompromising attitude towards quality originates from a very specific moment in his childhood about painting a garden fence.

Fifty years after the fence was constructed, Jobs showed it to Isaacson, still standing and recalled the lesson his father taught him he would never forget. Touching the boards of the inside of the fence, he said that “He loved doing things right. He even cared about the look of the unseen parts.”

As a curious child Steve wondered why his father would paint the parts of the fence that you couldn’t see as you would use less paint if you skipped those parts and also get the job done quicker. His father told him that a great craftsman cares about doing a great job and if you compromise with the quality in any part of a quality product, even in a hidden place, then you don’t have a quality product.

Paul Jobs said that it was important for him to know he had done the best that he could. Whilst others wouldn’t be able to see the hidden parts of the fence, he would know that the fence hadn’t been painted inside and therefore couldn’t consider it to be a quality job.

He said that his father refused to use poor wood for the back of cabinets, or to build a fence that wasn’t constructed as well on the back side as it was the front. Jobs likened it to using a piece of plywood on the back of a beautiful chest of drawers. “For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.”

This is a good rule of thumb to remember. If you want to know whether you are looking at the work of a merely good craftsman or that of a great craftsman, simply look at the hidden parts and see if those are done properly as well. Jobs would recall the lessons taught by his father about the attention worth paying, even to the things unseen, throughout his career and life and users of Apple products often reaped the rewards.

Quality doesn’t just apply to the work we do, our goals or projects. It’s important that we have quality relationships and time with our family and friends. Good health is the real wealth in life so we must ensure we have quality exercise, fitness and nutrition habits. It’s vital that we have quality down time, sleep, rest and relaxation and self-care regimes.

This week why not pause for a few moments to reflect. Ask yourself if there is an area of your life where you aren’t placing a high enough priority on quality and attention to detail. Decide what changes you will make to address this.

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