Month: August 2023 Page 1 of 2

“You can do anything as long as you have the passion, the drive, the focus, and the support.” Sabrina Bryan.

This week’s blog is a very special one for me as it’s the 500^th one that I have written since the first one was written over 9 years ago on January 21 2014. I have posted a blog to the Be First Class website every Monday since then and haven’t missed a week.

My first blog was titled “Small and incremental steps do make a difference” and here is an extract from it:

Life is all about margins – there is often a small difference between winning and losing, success and failure, hitting or missing a target, winning or losing an election.

I am sure that you can think of countless examples from your own life experiences. It can be the tiniest of margins that determine the outcome of a situation. We all sometimes mistakenly think that we have to keep taking massive action to get a result. The fact is that small incremental steps towards a goal accumulate into massive progress when applied consistently. One action per day applied every working day of the year, towards a specific goal amounts to 260 separate actions. Somehow it seems bigger when you look at it like that!

As I am writing this, I am reminded of that famous African Proverb, often attributed to Anita Roddick, Founder of Body Shop “if you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.”

I believe that it’s very important to walk your talk in this world and that action speaks louder than words. I actually followed my own advice about small incremental steps being consistently applied. I am glad that I did as it has yielded some very positive results.

As well as developing my writing ability and confidence, putting the blog together every week enabled me produce enough material to write and publish two books. The first “Be First Class” was published in May 2016 and a follow up book “Just Be” was published a few years later. Doing this helped me to fulfil a long-held ambition to publish a book. I have to be honest and say that for many years I believed this was an unobtainable goal. I was very happy to prove myself wrong!

I was asked recently about my process for writing blogs and the secret to me publishing them consistently every week for over 9 years. Here are a few thoughts and insights on what I’ve learned along the way: –

Have a clear purpose and intention.

When I started writing the blog, I had a very clear purpose. Firstly, I wanted to share knowledge to help others. It was my small contribution to seek to make the world a better place. I had no idea if anybody would read the blog and I wasn’t too attached to an outcome. However, I had an image in my mind that one day, someone would do a web search and as a result would come across my blog. In doing so they would gain an insight and it would generate a new idea, inspire change or solve a challenge that they had. it gave me the motivation to write each week.

Secondly, I wanted to develop my writing ability and confidence and generate enough material for a book.

Be committed

In my view, you have to be 100% committed to something in order to make it happen. I leave no room for excuses; I determined that I would produce a blog each week come rain or shine.  If I ever felt in the future that commitment was no longer there, I would stop writing the blogs and use my energy elsewhere.

Be self-disciplined.

The importance of self-discipline can’t be overstated. I have a specific time in my diary where I write the blog. It has become a habit, part of my routine and just something I do every week. I plan what I am going to write about beforehand but I don’t know what the content will be until I sit down to write. The subject is inspired by current world events or something that has happened in my life. I plan for holidays/absences by writing two or three blogs in a week if I have to.

Shut out distractions.

In order to ensure I have sufficient time for writing, I have eradicated things that eroded and drained my energy. Some practical examples of this are turning off email and social media notifications. I reduced the amount of time that I watched television or browsed the web. I unsubscribed from some mailing lists and cut down the time I spent dealing with e mails.

Be prepared for unexpected outcomes.

In December 2021 I was contacted by a teacher who taught English in Ukraine. She wanted to use some of the material in one of my blogs in her lessons and sought my permission to do so. It was titled “what would you do if you were fearless?” I was glad that I said yes to her request and never envisaged when I did that Ukraine would be at war just two months later. I remember reflecting at the time about how the teacher’s life and that of her students had changed forever in a short space of time.

We do best what we enjoy doing.

Life is very precious and we have limited time and energy. Therefore, it is imperative that we focus some of our time on things that we enjoy and are passionate about. I enjoy writing and helping people develop and grow. This has helped to sustain my commitment to writing the blogs each week.

This week why not take a few moments to reflect and think if there is a goal that you would really like to achieve. You may have one that you haven’t taken action on recently. What one step could you take to ignite and energise this goal?

Remember that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!

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

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

The title of this week’s blog comes from one of my favourite quotations by Leonardo da Vinci. It also inspired the content.

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 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 significant 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 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, 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 or run. Exercise 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. Review how you spend your time and reduce the amount spent with negative influences.
• Regular meditation or mindfulness sessions help to calm the mind and keep it uncluttered. Just ten minutes a day will make a difference. Write any insights you gain in a journal.

You may also wish to consider decluttering your work space and home environment and 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?” if the answer is no, they release it from their life. Alternatively you can ask yourself “Do I really need this?” If the answer is no then let it go.

Clutter can affect us on a physical level, make us feel overwhelmed and have a negative impact on our energy levels. We can waste valuable time searching for things.

It can weigh us down, make us procrastinate and keep us stuck in the past. When our life is full of clutter “We can’t see the wood for the trees.” There’s no room for anything new. Disposal of clutter leads to fresh outcomes.

When doing a decluttering exercise (and after you’ve decided what needs to be kept/stored), I suggest you put your stuff in various piles:

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

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 our life, we must enjoy it, use it well and when it’s time, let it go so that we can experience new things.

This week, why not pause for a few moments to reflect and consider what you can do 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

“When you take care of yourself, you’re a better person for others. When you feel good about yourself, you treat others better.”
Solange Knowles.

Modern life is busy and has many demands. We live in an information rich, time poor world. As a result, it’s very easy for people to take too much on, spread them themselves too thin and put other people’s needs before their own.

Over the years, I have seen numerous examples of talented people juggling many different priorities whilst seeking to sustain high levels of performance and lead balanced and happy lives.

A common issue that affects many people I coach is that they put the needs of others before their own. I therefore spend some of the coaching time discussing the importance of self-care to help my clients to avoid burn out.

Lots of clients seek my help to address feelings of overwhelm, to get clarity on their key priorities and develop strategies to put their needs first more often. This also helps them to sustain great results and lead a balanced life.

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of putting other people’s needs before our own. Many of us were brought up to be of service to others. As a result, focusing on our needs can feel selfish and self-indulgent.

A desire to please people can also mean that we prioritise other people’s demands and needs before our own. Therefore, it can lead to feelings of guilt when we put ourselves first. Many people also admit to feeling weak if they show some vulnerability and admit that they need some help.

I often suggest to people that we can all learn about the importance of self-care from the Mother Theresa quote “If you want to keep a lamp burning you have to keep putting oil in it.”

Self-care is not a fluffy; it’s about taking responsibility for our physical, psychological, emotional and social needs.

When I discuss the importance of self-care with clients, I refer to the metaphor that I learned from boarding a plane. Have you noticed that when they make the safety announcement the crew always give a specific instruction?

The plane’s crew tell you that in the event of an emergency (when the oxygen mask appears) to apply your mask first. They say that you must do this before you attempt to help others with their mask. The reason for this is that if you don’t have oxygen/energy you won’t be in a position to help others!

It’s imperative, if we wish to avoid burn out and keep delivering first class results that we balance the amount that we care for others with our own needs. Being well rested and looking after our health means that we will have the requisite energy to help those around us.

Sometimes we simply have to put ourselves first so that we can be the best we can be and have the energy to help others.

The phrase self-care has gained in popularity over recent years and reminds us of the importance of taking care of our needs, so we can be the best version of ourselves. It prompts us to take care of our:

• Physical needs (getting enough sleep, right diet, regular exercise etc.)
• Emotional needs (asking for help when needed)
• Mental needs (stimulating job, interests, personal development etc.)
• Spiritual needs (time for prayer, meditation etc.).

If you’re regularly tired because you have irregular sleep patterns, skip meals or fail to get exercise, then start making self-care a priority. In order to maintain good health, it’s vital that you put some time aside and adopt some habits to take care of yourself.

Having good self-care also helps us to maintain good health and this should be a good incentive to look after ourselves. Good health is the real wealth in life!

This week, why not pause for a few moments to reflect and consider if you need to take any action to put your needs first more often. Also think about what personal steps you need to take to create more energy and balance in 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