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Creating easy solutions

One of the main things I work on with my clients is finding solutions. In fact, you could argue that the whole coaching process is about finding and creating solutions that enable my clients to move forward or create positive change.

So essentially I spend a lot of time helping people find and/or create solutions. Whether it’s for a business, your work role, home life, for a habit, your mindset… the process is the same. And contrary to our (limiting) beliefs, it does not need to be difficult!

Finding or creating easy solutions requires just two things of you:

  1. Asking yourself quality questions, and
  2. Being willing to try a solution

That’s it.

Yet many of us get stuck and stagnate. Firstly, we assume that the answer is out there somewhere (mistake no. 1) and then we assume that the solution has to be the“forever solution” (mistake no. 2).

Let’s look at mistake no. 1, the answer is out there. The answer to you getting unstuck is actually within you! Yes, sounds cliched but it’s true. A good coach will know how to draw this out of you so-to-speak, so that you become aware of your strengths and the things that have worked for you in the past. This will be done through posing quality questions.

What’s a quality question you can use? Try… 
Was there a time when I did not have this issue, or a time when it was less troubling?
(What was I doing then?)
What would an ideal situation look like?
(How can I create that in small steps?)

Often we assume that a problem is all-consuming, but if you look hard enough, you will find “gaps” in your experience where the problem does not exist at all. 

Let’s look at mistake no. 2, the “forever” solution.
We’ve all been guilty of this, I’m sure. When we look for a solution, we search for the perfect solution that will apply in all contexts and be a long-term solution. While this approach can be useful in establishing what the long-term goal is, often we really need a “will make it work now” type of solution, rather than the forever type of solution.

How many solutions can you come up with? Make a list. Which one will you try first? Schedule a review after a period of time if the solution needs upgrading or not. A solution that makes something work now will create momentum (where there has been inertia) and can be a stepping stone to a more sophisticated long-term “forever” solution down the track.

So, remember:
Ask yourself quality questions.
Look for a short-term solution first and take action.

If you need help with this solution-finding process, reach out! I offer a complimentary Coaching Introduction Session, sign up here.

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What I’m discussing with my clients right now

Have you ever wondered what goes on within a Coaching session?

Well, this week, I am peeling back the curtain and sharing with you the most common topics that my clients and I are currently talking about!

It’s interesting because across an array of businesses and professional situations, there is an alignment of talking topics. To be clear, I am of course not going to share any specific information about individual situations (client confidentiality is highly respected!), but rather, the common focal points and areas that we’re working on at the moment.

Many people are actually working on the same thing, but just in a different context!

And this means that there’s a good chance that you will relate to these challenges too!

So here are the consistent talking points within my coaching sessions at the moment:

Workload
Balancing large workloads and the ebb and flow of business projects is a regular topic we talk about. Some months are just flat out busy! When you’re building and growing a business, you want to create more work and inevitably the work can come all at once! These busy periods can be particularly challenging on a number of levels: staffing, impact on personal lives and health. It’s important to have a“game plan” for these busy periods! And that’s what I help my clients create and maintain.

Can you use the three D’s? Delete, delegate, delay. You need to be flexible and to do things differently for the busy period in order to manage the new workload. You may even need to take a step back and adjust your own expectations about what is realistically achievable.

Staffing & relationships
Relationships are key to any business operation, regardless of industry. Having the right staff, enough staff and managing staff is a talking point for many of my coaching sessions. We also touch on creating ways to maintain the important relationships within the business and professional networks of my clients. This can be traditional networking, informal catch-ups or reaching out to others through mutual connections or on LinkedIn. Having the right relationships working well is important.

Habits
One of my roles as a coach is to help my clients create and maintain(or break) habits. This is common to all of my coaching sessions. Whatever the business or professional situation, it usually requires growth. My clients need to change as the business grows or change in order to make the business grow! This means acquiring new habits!
As a coach I provide the support that my clients need throughout the habit acquiring process. And as it’s a bumpy ride most of the time, this is of great value. There is much information about acquiring habits in short amounts of time but little information about what is required to stay the course. It’s not about willpower! It’s about having a system and understanding that the process involves getting of track for some of the time.

Marketing
Most of the professionals and business owners I work with operate within a small to medium-size enterprise. This means that marketing is in-house. So many conversations lead to marketing and lead generation. While not everyone is enthusiastic about marketing, all clients realise the importance and inevitability of it. We often discuss implementing marketing plans and how to maintain these as part of a business system. While some clients prefer to outsource the marketing tasks, the strategy and outcomes are always designed by each client themselves for their own unique situation.

Self care and boundaries
I have kept this topic on the agenda for all of my clients, particularly after the challenges we’ve all experienced within the last year. Change and disruption has impacted business and ways of working in a big way! This has meant more stress and the changing of-or complete erasing- of boundaries. It’s important at these points of disruption to our routines that we become mindful of where our boundaries are between work and leisure, professional and personal, being busy and relaxing to restore energy. I consistently ask my clients about their workload and their self care activities. Regardless of how busy you are, you must have self care practices that you do on a regular basis. This helps to restore your energy and, most importantly, prevent burnout.

Are these topics your current challenges too?
If so, do consider registering for my FREE Coaching Introduction Session. It’s an opportunity for you to discuss your current situation & challenges and ask all your questions about Coaching.

Would love to chat with you. Register here.

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Your checklist for a successful start to 2021

Setting yourself up for a successful year ahead does not have to be complicated or time-consuming. I have created a simple 5-step process that enables you the best start to the year. This process ensures that you build on your success and learnings from the previous year, align your activities with your values and create a system that keeps you on-track for the year.

Step 1 – Review your review
Did you complete a review as I recommended in December last year? If so, get it out and read through it again. If you haven’t done a review of your 2020 year, there is still time. Click here to get started on one now. It takes just a few quality questions to provide you with key learnings and an overview of your outcomes for the year. 2020 was a challenging year on many fronts and for this reason, you will likely have learnt quite a lot. The review will capture this important information and provide a springboard for the next actions you will take to move ahead into 2021.

Step 2 – Highlight your key learnings & required actions
A review is not a process to be completed and then set aside. Your answers to the review questions are incredibly valuable and you should absolutely utilise them in your early planning for 2021. Start by looking at your review answers and make a note of the key learnings. These learnings could be what you learnt about yourself, your work or the way in which you work. Certainly note what did and didn’t work for the year. Next you want to note the actions that need to take place to move you forward. This is where you tap into the power of the review, it can act as the springboard to move you forward. What do you need more of in 2021? What 1 thing do you need to change in 2021? The answers to these two questions will create some basic actions that you can build on.

Step 3 – Check in with your values
Do you have a list of your personal values? Are you even aware of what your values are? Your personal values are the intrinsic foundation to your experience of wellbeing and fulfillment. In other words, if you want to experience wellbeing and fulfillment, you simply must live in alignment with your values. Values by their very nature will shift and evolve as you do, most particularly when you have experienced changes in your life. As 2020 was the year of change, make sure you check-in with your values to assess if they have changed.

Step 4 – Set your SMART goals
What outcomes do you want in your personal and professional life this year? What changes would you like to make? Express these outcomes as a Specific, Measured, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound goals.

Step 5 – Set your tracking system
Did you know that the main reason for goal non-achievement is simply just “getting off track”? Most goals require you to engage in new habits, new ways of doing things and new ways of thinking. Acquiring a new habit takes practice until our brains have created a well-worn neural pathway and the task feels more natural. The key to habit formation is staying on track long enough to establish this familiarity with the new habit. Your habit building solution is therefore to set up a tracking system. If you track your habit you ensure that you maintain it more consistently for a longer period of time until it becomes easier. It’s natural to “get off track” when starting a new habit, so this system is the key to your success. Check out my tracking system here.

Follow these 5 steps and you will be ensuring that you give yourself and your goals the best opportunity for success in 2021.

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7 simple ways to create certainty

As challenging as these times may be, most of us still have ultimate control over our lives.The problem is that right now, it doesn’t feel like it.

You may feel tired and completely thrown off course by the events of this year.

Maybe you’re even confused about your purpose, your business, your life.
Or perhaps you’re just sick of feeling stuck and unable to plan for the future.

That’s okay. These feelings are a normal human reaction to all of the upheaval we’ve experienced. You are definitely not alone in these feelings!

However, if you’re sick of feeling so uncertain, then keep reading because I’d like to share with you 7 simple ways that will help you feel more certain.

Because the truth is, you can create certainty for yourself on a daily basis. 

You may not be able to change what’s going on out there in the world but you can most certainly rule your own world!

You can use these strategies to easily increase the feeling of certainty in your life.

Many of them are small things that you can start right now, today. The great things is that you don’t have to do all 7, but of course, the more you can incorporate into your routine, the better.

Strategy 1: Have a plan
When we don’t have a plan, we drift with the wind and more significantly we don’t feel in control of our destiny. You can make a plan in uncertain times. Yes, you can. You may need to review it in a few month’s time to see if it’s still relevant, but you still should make the plan now.

Strategy 2: Make decisions
Again, one quick way to start to feel more in control of your world is to make decisions. Allowing yourself to stay in indecision because you’re “not sure what will happen” or “don’t have enough information” does not serve you. It will create more uncertainty. Even if you don’t want to decide something now, you can still decide to get further information and review it in a month with a view to making the decision then. Do you get where I’m going here? It prevents you from going back and forth over the “will I or won’t I” that makes us all feel so powerless. You can instead decide to forget about it for a month, get more info and then decide. Or, decide now.

Strategy 3: Take action- small things count
The idea is to think small here. Can you clean out one drawer in your home or office? Can you do one task on your to-do list? Taking small actions in a positive direction make a big difference. In particular de-cluttering will give you a sense of control over your environment. Just remember to do small bits at a time to avoid overwhelm.

Strategy 4: Strengths and gratitude
Gratitude helps you to look for what you already have and to acknowledge it. This helps you to see that you do actually have what you need. Focusing on this at least once a day and seeking out your personal strengths will assist in keeping the uncertainty at bay.

Strategy 5: Daily practices to anchor you
What habits or rituals have an anchoring effect for you? These are the practices that rejuvinate you or keep you focused and feeling in control or confident and secure. Is it keeping up an exercise routine? Chanting, prayers, meditation? Patting your cat? Whatever restores you and gives you a sense of being in-control and secure can become an anchor for you on a daily basis.

Strategy 6: Boundaries – fear mongering and media
Use your boundaries. Don’t allow in too much uncertainty from other people(family included) and the news/social media. Stay informed but don’t let them tell you how uncertain or worried you must feel. Limit your daily intake of news to avoid feelings of overwhelm and anxiety driven by what is mostly bad news.

Strategy 7: Re-frame the situationYes it’s been a challenging year and even at times quite a confronting one. Things seem to be shifting and life is not what it was 6 months ago. Sure, but try asking yourself these questions to re-frame this current situation:
What are some good things that have come out of this?
If there was an opportunity right now for me, what might it be?
What have I learnt about my real values in the last few months?

These strategies work and they will make a difference right away, so do start as soon as you can. It’s best to try implementing one or two for a week and maintain consistency with those first. Then you can add more as you like.

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