life coaching

January 16, 2021 by solopreneurcoach

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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July 22, 2020 by solopreneurcoach

Is this the missing piece to your wellbeing?

Recently I’ve had the urge to try some new things. Not big things, just small ones. Lots of small ones. New recipes for dinner, new cafes to be in, new blogs to read. I acquired (or renewed?) an interest in Ancient History and became very dedicated to making every curry in my beloved vegan Indian cookbook.

I started to wonder at this new inclination for something different, but as it started about the same time as we’d been in lockdown for weeks… the answer was clear.

I’m needing a change. I’m seeking something different.

And this makes sense right? We’re living and working in the same place, seeing the same people and as a result we’re experiencing less variety.
There is no novelty, so we start to create novel things to do or incorporate into our routine. This explains the sudden interest in baking by many people during lockdown.

So, being curious, I did a bit of reading and discovered that we all actually need novelty for our wellbeing.

Research has found that experiencing something new (in a safe way- where our brain does not detect a threat) activates the pleasure centres of the brain. We actually get a dopamine hit. And this need for novelty is not just important for now, during these challenging times, but is in fact a fundamental part of our general wellbeing.

I must say that this made sense to me instantly and I’m sure you’ll relate too. It’s when we stop experiencing new things and seeking out new learnings, trying anything new, that we get a bit stale and sometimes stuck. Don’t get me wrong, we certainly need routine and structure but what we also need is a sprinkle of novelty.

So how much novelty are you creating for yourself?

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February 12, 2020 by solopreneurcoach

How to quieten your mind chatter

With access to all the information we could want at our very fingertips, its no wonder we have busy brains, right? The convenient and instant access to information has created amazing benefits for us all but with it also comes a few new challenges.

The constant consuming of information and entertainment make for very full minds. In many cases we are over consuming. It doesn’t help that alerts and pop-ups tap into that biological response part of us all which is highly addictive!

So, what can we do to create a little quiet in our minds?

Be present and focus
The more we are simply focused in what we are doing and where we are right now – ie. being present – the more quiet and peace we can create for ourselves. Initially this focus will need to be with you focusing your whole attention into a specific activity that you’re currently undertaking. With practice over time, you can also create this quiet without doing any activity at all. How does it work? Simply do one thing at a time and focus all of your attention on what you’re doing. Call it getting into flow, into the zone… it is about getting into a space of full attention and very little, if any, mind chatter.

Create boundaries
Start small with this. It can be really as simple as turning your phone off during one meal per day, or for one hour. This is to totally disconnect from information. You can also create boundaries by reducing the flow of information to just one source. We are often receiving multiple sources of information at one time and this exacerbates the busy brain problem. For example, don’t have email open while you’re working on other projects, put your phone on silent etc.

Schedule tasks or delete them
Throw away your to-do list! Yes, I said it. I am a lover of lists of all kinds, but a to-do list rarely gets actioned. This is mainly because the to-do’s don’t have a hard deadline and aren’t actually allocated time. You need to actually allocate time to do the things on your list. Put them straight into your calendar. Then, you simply honour your calendar and do it when it is scheduled. If you don’t want to put it in your calendar, your really don’t want to do it, so completely delete it from your list and mind.

Make your decisions in advance & final
There is a crazy amount of cognitive effort that is wasted on unmade or half-made decisions. Even for simple things like “what I think I might cook for dinner”, we spend a lot of time and energy going back and forth over the options. It’s such a waste our valuable cognitive space! The best option is to decide in advance as much as possible. If you can plan all your meals for example in advance for a few days or a week, it means you won’t be using your brain space to wrangle with that. Sounds simple and small but try it! Start small and move on to bigger things. You may have heard the story that Steve Jobs only wore the same outfit every day. Why? To avoid the mind chatter and cognitive effort being spent.

Become more present in your body
When we are more present in our physical bodies, we are less occupied with our minds. Think about activities that get you in touch with your body and your senses… exercise, being in nature, cooking, dancing, sex… Any activity that helps you become more in touch with your senses and/or breathing will bring you into your body and away from the thought chatter. Some people get this from running, meditation or a creative hobby. Look for activities that help you to be present in your body to help you quieten your mind.

September 22, 2019 by solopreneurcoach

Creating peace of mind on the road to success

Do you crave a sense of peace, a sense of calm?

I know that for many years all I wanted was peace of mind. I just wanted to be able to experience enjoyment in what I was doing and be at peace with where I was. But I couldn’t reconcile that with my drive to reach my goals, the drive to become more. Surely, I thought to myself, if I rested too long in this space of peace, I would simply become complacent. Then I would not have peace of mind or achieve my goals at all!

But, what I was doing wasn’t really working that well. I was super focused on my goals, a bit too attached shall we say. I always felt that I couldn’t get comfortable or relax too much. I was constantly pushing myself and yes, there were some results, but nothing extraordinary. And, I just didn’t feel like I was able to just do me.

Can you relate?

It was as if there were two opposing forces at work. At least, that’s what it felt like to me. I would power on with my disciplined actions and goals, but this other part of me just really wanted a rest. It just wanted time to be, to relax, to allow things as they are.

I think this is a challenge that many of us face, particularly those of us inclined to take our own work out into the world and create a business. We experience that need to do more, create more but become aware at some point(perhaps acutely) of the need to not drive so hard.

It’s taken me many years and much study from various thought leaders, to get to a place of real understanding of this common situation that many of us find ourselves in. And contrary to my first initial thoughts, it is not actually two opposing forces at work!We do not need to choose peace or achievement.

We just need to choose how we travel towards our goals and truly accept that how we travel is the only fulfillment we will get.

Much of the pushing to achieve goals can come from the expected result delivering unto us a sense of achievement. We expect that we will feel satisfied and allow ourselves then to relax, to believe that we are truly enough and therefore are allowed to enjoy the moment.

But, guess what happens when you achieve your goals?

You get excited for a bit and then you jump onto the next thing. Does that seem like long term fulfillment or peace of mind to you? No, because it’s not. The small fleeting moment you experience does not bring the peace of mind that you crave. So, the achievement of our goals does not ultimately bring long term peace of mind.

How we travel as we move towards fulfilling our goals is the only space where peace of mind can be created.

You can’t arrive at the peace of mind after years of pushing.You must create the peace of mind as you take one step at a time on your big journey.

How can you enjoy the step you are on right now?
How can you enjoy what you’re working on today?
What could make this process more enjoyable?

These are the questions to start with in order to shift your thinking towards peace of mind. It’s not about resting, avoiding your goals, deleting your goals or anything your mind conjures up as being the opposite to your path of success. It is the path of success. It is being present with the step you are walking right now, learning to fully embody it and enjoy it.

After all, you either will get to the achievement of your goal or you won’t. Most of your time is taken up in the journey to get there and the result will not actually make you feel much better for very long. So even from a logical perspective, cultivating the enjoyment of the journey makes sense.

Why not start today?

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September 1, 2019 by solopreneurcoach

Are you creating your mind clutter?

Feeling a bit stressed or finding it hard to switch off? Then it’s time to for you to consider what you are feeding your mind on a regular basis.

Living in this modern society with information and entertainment at our fingertips, many of us are consuming a steady stream of input all day and night long. News, social media, blogs, youtube, emails… it seems to never end. There is always a new news item, a social media update or email to respond to. This makes for a lot of content that is going into our minds!

I mean, what happens with all that stuff you put into your mind?
It stays there.
It shapes what you think and what you do.
It takes up space!

With so much information and stimulation, it’s no wonder that many of us are feeling like our minds are a bit cluttered!

Having a cluttered mind can cause stress, an inability to think clearly, long-term anxiety and can impact your decision-making ability. Of course having a cluttered mind also means that you really limit your ability to create peace of mind for yourself. There’s simply too much going on in there! We all have a cluttered mind from time to time, but if you regularly experience these symptoms, you should consider doing an input audit.

An input audit will give you the hard facts about how you are contributing to your mind clutter.

Here’s how to do it:

Designate a period of time you want to assess ( a week, a few days)
Schedule time twice a day to write down what information or entertainment you have consumed and note the duration. eg. youtube videos 15 mins, email 20 mins etc
At the end of the assessment period, add up all your consumption categories. You should have a total number of minutes/hours spent on emails, on reading/watching news, of time spent watching Netflix/tv.
Ask yourself these questions:
What am I consuming the most?(this becomes your top 3)
What is the benefit of consuming these top 3?
What is the disadvantage of consuming these top 3?
What changes to my consumption habits would I like to make?

This simple 4-step process can create awareness of how you are contributing to your mind clutter. As always, it’s about the volume of what you consume as well as the quality of what you consume.
Becoming aware of how your actions are impacting your mind clutter is the first and very important step in decluttering your mind.

If you want to learn more about Decluttering Your Mind, join my FREE Workshop next Tuesday in the Sydney CBD. For further info and to register click here:

life coaching

LUNCH & LEARN: DECLUTTER YOUR MIND

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