coaching

You do have a choice

c/o BBC

c/o BBC

New technologies will always encourage different types of thinking, the symbiosis between humans, machines and nature has enabledI us to move forward in new ways. Some things never change, for example, relationships. You get what you pay for and this especially true in relationships, so if you truly want them to be great, then you are going to have to invest in them. I’m a believer in therapy and anything that makes you look at yourself in a constructive way. There are so many levels to life, I think it’s always beneficial to sit in front of someone who is not going to give you the answers you want. It’s also really important to maintain a student mindset and learn from relationships.


The mental vs. The physical

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I can highly recommend the renowned sports psychologist and culture coach Dr. Pippa Grange’s book, “Fear Less: How to Win at Life Without Losing Yourself”. For over 20 years, Pippa has helped leaders and athletes (including the English football team) reach their true potential. Pippa has found that even the most successful people experience fears of inadequacy, what sets them apart is their ability to pinpoint their fears and “turn down the volume.”

I think that your results are just an outcome, they are not your worth. Contact me via e-mail for real world strategies, sales training and workshops opportunities.


Business as usual

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Today marks the end of Copenhagen Fashion Week and I think that part of being an artist is about bringing more personality into the work we do. Let’s be clear here, I don’t need to know anything about your sexuality or where you live, all I need to know is how you open yourself up and put an emotion on the table. A good example is Apple, they don’t make cheap and replaceable products - Apple comes out with products that welcome personal criticism and when I say personal, I mean I made this and for someone else to say I hate that. Nowadays, we are too focussed on how to avoid criticism and not focussed enough on how I make a difference.

 

After visiting the trade fairs on Wednesday, I came home out with the feeling that safety was paramount this season. There were many beautiful collections, polished with no edge, it almost felt as though they had been designed by a committee. And the designers were saying, “It’s not my fault”, there’s no vulnerability there, I really missed the collections which said metaphorically, I can stand up against the system and I show vulnerability. This made me think about Brené Brown’s wonderful Ted Talk, “The Power of Vulnerability” which has now been viewed almost 55 million times. I also think that vulnerability means putting something into the world and being willing to let the world respond or react. Do you dare to be different? Contact me via e-mail for a deeper dive into how you can make a difference, but only if you dare.


If not for you, then who?

A few weeks ago my father said to me that I am much smarter than my bank balance indicates. My first question was why isn’t it bigger?
And he said, “You don’t have enough reasons, you have enough intelligence but you don’t have enough reasons.”
This made me stand up and go for a walk, and during my walk I realised that reasons can change your life - reasons come first and answers come second. You don’t get the answers to do well until you get the reasons. My father explained that reasons altered his whole life and sometimes it’s those little reasons that will alter your life.


Life has a mysterious way of hanging onto all the reasons and only gives them up to the people who are inspired by reasons. So, in other words reasons makes a difference as to how your life works out. What are some of the reasons for doing well? Personal, recognition, family, respect and the way it makes you feel. I love the feeling of being a winner and now I understand is all you need is a reason! Would you like to get yourself a list of reasons so that you never lack inspiration? You may not get all the answers straight away, but you will get the answers if you can get the reasons. I have some mentoring openings available from September, contact me via e-mail for an appointment.


The science of possibility

If you can’t explain it, it’s not wired in your brain but if you can build the model and explain it, you will be installing the neurological hardware into your brain in preparation for the experience. Therefore, the more you understand what you are doing and why - the how will get easier because you can assign meaning to it.


The people who get their intentions to match their behaviours, their actions equal to their thoughts and then get the mind and body to work together - are going to have a new experience. The experience is not only going to enrich the philosophical circuits in the brain, because experience does that, it will produce an emotion. So then they will begin to feel unlimited, they will  begin to feel free, they will start teaching their body chemically what the mind has always understood. Happy days! Contact me via e-mail for mentoring or coaching.


The past is a good predictor of the future

Deep thinkers always listen to what you have to say because it’s another opportunity to learn. I think everything we experience is the result of something we feel. Yet much of what we feel goes unnoticed, sometimes it is suppressed and at other times it is actively denied. When we are at constant war with ourselves we cannot make much headway in a world that is not really made for us. Contact me via e-mail and let me know what you think.

Don’t seek the truth; just drop your opinions. Drop your theories; don’t seek the truth.
— Anthony de Mello

The big five

Image via Inc. Magazine

Image via Inc. Magazine

COACH = Curiosity, Openness, Associations, Conscientiousness and Healthy practices. According to Tony Robbins, the definition of a life coach is someone professionally trained to help you maximise your full potential and reach your desired results. They hold you accountable and provide encouragement throughout your journey to become a better version of yourself. According to Thorbjörg, the definition of a health coach is a supportive mentor and wellness authority who helps others feel their best through individualised food and lifestyle changes that meet their unique needs and health goals.

What do they all these coaches have in common? I think that they all identifying needs, plan and implementing suitable programmes. Whether the coaching involves developing the individuals’ physical or psychological fitness, the coach will encourage them to maximise their performance. Contact me via e-mail in confidentiality and let’s arrange a coaching session.


Life is good here

c/o Getty Images

c/o Getty Images

There is an unstoppable movement towards greater consciousness about what our actions are doing in the world around us. And the younger generations are continuously searching for higher meaning and more sustainable behaviours. I think working together in flat, loosely connected networks, in a peer-to-peer fashion, is behind the most significant changes in human society over past 100 years.

Do you work in an organisation where decision making was clearly expressed and democratically distributed? I wonder what it would be like to work in an organisation where communicating your dreams and ambitions is encouraged. Where the decision making is led by a leader who collaborative and is interested in having feedback from outside of the C suite. Once the decisions have been agreed, no one in the group will have any remains objections and consent to implementation.

What does it cost us to make a decision that no one believes in or is willing to commit to? Are you trying to do too much with everyone involved? Contact me via e-mail for a meeting where we could take a deeper dive into your situation.


Every generation is limited by what it knows

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"Actions speak louder than words." We've all heard it a thousand times, but the fact remains: Leading by influencing and inspiring others through your actions is far more effective than leading by pure authority. My parents and our Christian upbringing taught us to marry passion with reason. We do not get overly excited when life is going well, and to not get too down when it goes badly. I’ve trained myself to take the long term view, about how to stay focused on your goals rather than getting hung up on the daily ups and downs. My ability to maintain composure in the middle of a crisis is a superpower. Contact me via e-mail when you would like to tap into your superpowers.

To have long term success . . . you have to be obsessed in some way.
— Pat Riley

Overcoming objections with your story

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I was recently asked about my unique selling point, I flipped the script and began speaking about my simple recipe for how I get results for my customers. What is the definition of a proprietary process (or trade secret? A proprietary process is a distinct problem-solving methodology for your professional or technology-based service organisation. I think a proprietary process is essential because it creates a framework for how and when you tell your story. The simple elements about my personality and beliefs are powerful differentiators.

I can help you create a story that overcomes objections before you invite your customers to join your sales presentation. Contact me via e-mail when you are ready to accelerate your connection with your customers. Instead of sharing everything, just point at a couple of key aspects of why you are different, for example:
a) What problem is your customer currently facing? 
b) What solution do you offer? 
c) What benefits and transformation will your customer experience by choosing your solution?


It's OK to take off your cloak

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I watched Glennon Doyle Menton’s “Lessons from a Mental Hospital” TED Talk last week, where she described her journey through anorexia, alcoholism and drugs to not being afraid of her feelings anymore. The talk ended with Glennon telling audience about an e-mail she received…”it's braver to be Clark Kent than it is to be Superman”. Powerful! I guess all superhero stories are a form of escapism and they allow us to imagine what we might do with the ability to fly and the courage that comes from being bulletproof. I think the best superhero stories also explore what it is to be human and our relationship with power.

The majority of humans don’t really want to be liars and withholders, they are just afraid to be real. I wonder why so few people tell the hard truth about themselves, their lives and their struggles? Is it because we are taught from an early age that it’s not safe to share the realness of our challenges? Is it because we are scared of being judged or is it because previous experience has taught us that honesty allows us to be scarred, alienated or rejected when we open up?

One of my close friends likes to speak about being authentic, I prefer to use the word, consistent. We may differ on the words but neither of us are afraid of the uncensored truth. We don’t have to walk in another man’s shoes to feel his pain! Due to my upbringing, training and conditioning I have the ability to sit in oneness with another who is in the deepest pain and find love and connection.


We all have issues

Image c/o Afro-Punk

Image c/o Afro-Punk

Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in the month of May since 1949 in the United States. I am in Europe and still thought it relevant to write a little about the topic. Those of you who are regular readers know that throughout my life I have continuously observed human behaviour and consider myself to be mentally strong. I have been exposed to trauma, stigma and systemic discrimination on a daily basis, so I wanted to highlight that we all make mistakes and no one is perfect. Rather than beat myself up for my mistakes, I focus on learning from them and accept full responsibility for my behaviour and then I choose to move forward in a productive manner. How do you feel about making mistakes?

Disclaimer: The content below is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
10 things mentally strong people won't do:

  1. They don’t dwell on mistakes.

  2. They don’t hang around negative people.

  3. They don’t stop believing in themselves.

  4. They don’t wait for an apology to forgive.

  5. They don’t feel sorry for themselves.

  6. They don’t hold grudges.

  7. They don’t allow anyone to limit their joy.

  8. They don’t limit the joy of others.

  9. They don’t get lazy.

  10. They don’t get negative or bitter.

Don’t let the world make you hard, don’t let the pain make you hate and don’t let the bitterness steal your sweetness.


Juggling many plates

via The Guardian

via The Guardian

A few years ago, one of my good friends in Brooklyn switched me onto Dr. Joe Dispenza’s book, “Supernatural”. Being supernatural means overcoming challenges and conditions in your outdoor environment that most people would not be able to accomplish. Supernatural also clarifies the state of being in which you are able to change your body by thought alone to say it another way it means being greater than your body. Many people want to think positively but they are feeling negative, they want to live their dreams and have an exciting future but they feel unworthy. And this means that their body and mind are in opposition. We have to recondition the body in order to create a new mind. How many people do you know who have memorised suffering? I think what they are really saying is no matter what happens, no person, no thing or experience can move them from that state.

The combination of how you are thinking and how you are feeling is called the state of being. We have three brains that allows us to go from thinking to doing, to being. The first brain is called neocortex and allows us to decide on the action to focus our concentration to invent to speculate to have intention or attention. The second brain called the limbic brain which makes a chemical that is called a feeling or an emotion. The third brain is called the cerebellum and it’s responsible for you beginning to develop what’s called implicit memories or non-declarative memories where you have done something so many times that you no longer have to consciously think about it.

Most people wait for crisis, or trauma, or disease, or loss, or diagnosis to really want to change. They wait to the point where ego is brought to such a low level that they cannot go on 'business as usual’ any longer. That’s when we begin to look at how we’re thinking, or what emotions we are living by. My message is: Why wait? We can learn to change in a state of pain and suffering, which tends to be the human model, or we can learn to change in a state of joy and inspiration. Contact me via e-mail if you are interested in change as every time you learn something new, your brain physically changes.


Will you be the passenger or the driver in your life journey?

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Do you believe that the way you think has an effect on your life? According to neuroscience, your brain is organised to reflect everything you’ve known in your life, your brain is a record of your personal environment and an artefact of your past. The big question: Does your environment control your thinking or does your thinking control your environment?


We could say that you were thinking the same thoughts, performing the same actions that create the same experiences and emotions, but secretly you expect something to change in your life. Now as the environment turns on different circuits in your brain you will begin to think equal to your personal environment. As you see the same people and go to the same places at the same time, it’s the external environment that’s turning on the different circuits in your brain, causing you to think equal to everything you know. And as long as you think equal to everything that is familiar or known to you, you will keep creating more of the same.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. - Albert Einstein

To change is to think greater than your environment and every great person in history know this. They all had a vision, they all had an idea - they couldn’t see it, they couldn’t smell, taste or feel it but it was alive in their minds. It was so alive in their mind that they began to live as if that reality was actually happening now. So can you believe in a future that you can’t see or experience with your senses yet? But you have thought about it enough times in your mind that your brain is literally changed to look like the event has already happened? Neuroscience says it’s possible. Contact me via e-mail to arrange a personal meeting.


Such is the nature of human experience

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When you have that big important WHY, that thing that gives you the reason to wake up with enthusiasm. The reason why you want to succeed, why you want to win. The why that tells your subconscious mind the direction you should take if you want to evolve and grow. I have found out what my responsibility is in this world. It’s my responsibility to take what I’ve been given and turn it into something that is was not when it was originally handed to me.


This process is not hard if you are creative, innovative and persistent. In order to master something use these skills and the results will be miraculous. It requires an investment and commitment, especially nowadays when we are in the digital age where everything is controlled by a button. The best things in life requires process and if you run away from the process you will alienate the promise. What I mean is that in order to get to the promise, you have to go through the process. And in the process of going through all that the person who get the most is the person who has shaped the process.


The golden circle

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My favourite phase of a consultancy project is the discovery phase, I love it as it's a privilege to really dig into how a company does what it does and how it makes decisions. Sometimes it feels daunting at the beginning with a lot of stuff coming at you but it’s always fascinating. People will always do what is in their own self interest first, and do you know why we can’t see it? It’s because we do it too.


Discovering that big important WHY. The “why” is that thing that gives you the reason to wake up every morning with enthusiasm. It’s the reason why you want to succeed and why you want to win. It’s the “why” that tells your subconscious mind which direction you should take when you want to evolve and grow.


Hiring the right people is probably the most important thing that you can do. Contact me via e-mail when you are ready to look into your golden circle.


Accelerating the process

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This morning I read an article about unlocking human potential. This led me to think about how few organisations understand the value of installing a sense of meaning for their employees, leaders and customers. We all know that sales is the critical interface between supplier and customer, we also know that the role of the sales person is to gain trust and progress guide the customer towards your solution.


I think that if the senior management were to install a deep sense of meaning into the work that they are doing, then the organisation would be significantly more productive, effective and innovative, and more likely to win the customer’s mind. Both employees and leaders would feel a higher degree of engagement and life quality. Would you like to take your organisation to the next level of performance by increasing the sense of purpose and belonging? Contact me via e-mail for workshops, mentorship and coaching.


Without action your dreams will remain dreams

You may have heard the below quotation before, have you ever thought about what Thoreau was trying to tell us? I think that the modern implications of Thoreau's quote is rooted in the idea that individuals must listen to their own sense of voice.  

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” - Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau is passionate about the idea that individuals break free from conformist notions of the good. I think that if you have evaluated your career choices from the perspective of “meaning” and have identified something worth pursuing, then evaluated the potential risk and reward which led you to seriously consider pursuing your dreams, and then developed sufficient belief in yourself to take serious action, then all that is left is for you to set goals for yourself and take consistent action toward achieving your dreams.

Illustration c/o iStock

Illustration c/o iStock

If you are not happy with you current career situation send me an e-mail (confidentiality is assured).