Let me paint the picture so that you get a feel for what one of my clients shared with me the other day.  You see he was suffering a challenge that many small businesses face very early on in their growth.  It is a catch 22 situation and depending on what he did next would either make or break his business.  It is a situation that we have faced in our business and I would imagine you have faced this as well.

What I am alluding to is…….  the situations where you have run out of manpower, time and or money.

In most cases they all occur simultaneously and although you can usually stretch one out longer than the others eventually something has to give.  In too many cases it is the health of the business owner.

For those of you who have been in this position you know exactly what I am talking about and for some this period of time may have gone on for years.  If you are the sole proprietor of your business, and in most cases that is how small businesses start, then this situation usually arises early in the growth period.

So what am I talking about?  I am talking about the periods in your business when you reach the boundary point where:

·         The ‘thing’ that you do well and to the best of your ability is taking up too much of your time, to the extent that there are not enough hours in a day.  Generally speaking this ‘thing’ is usually what makes your business ‘tick’.

·         Because there is only ‘you’ this brings about the challenge of ‘who’ can share your workload?

·         As your business grows so does your expenses and in the first few years of any business, unfortunately in most cases, the expenses far outweigh any profit.  

So herein lies the dilemma, as my client stated “I feel like I’m caught between do or die, I know I can’t continue to work the long hours that I am doing now, my business is very specialised and even if I could find someone I felt comfortable working with, I work from home and there is no room for anyone else in my small office space, and to top it all off I couldn’t afford to pay them award rates as I just don’t generate enough income”.

Wow, does that sound familiar?  I can certainly relate to it as I am sure you can to.  Even if you are not in business for yourself I am sure you know of someone who is and I can almost guarantee that they were in this situation at some point.

As I sat there looking into the eyes of this broken man, feeling his pain and knowing that this is the point when he is going to give up or find the strength to grow and prosper.  His eyes weren’t giving anything away so it was hard to say where his future would lie, and that of his business.

We all know that there are two sides to any coin and as scary as this period is for any business the great news is that this is a wonderful opportunity to take your business to another level of growth.

So what is the answer?  That depends on the circumstances surrounding every business and so each answer would be different.  What I spent the next few hours brainstorming with this client was a range of scenarios of which he would then work through to find his own solution. 

Possible solutions:

·         Read ‘The E-Myth’ series by Michael Gerber.  Michael explains in great depth why most small businesses don’t work and what to do about it.  He talks about the many ‘hats’ small businesses owners wear everyday and how to find the ‘right’ person to wear that hat.  He talks about the Turn-Key Revolution and how to systemise that into your business.  He explains how to work on your business, not in your business.

·         Outsource.  There too many ways to outsource for me to mention all of them here (if you would like to know more about outsourcing please ask me), we talked about the possibility of using a virtual assistant to attend to his ever growing administrative needs; with the possibility this virtual assistant could systemise him more effectively.  He most definitely needed a good bookkeeper; he was quick to admit this was his weakest area in the business.  We looked at ‘who he needed on his team’ to balance the workload more effectively.

·         Networking.   He agreed that he would allocate five hours a month to network, this in turn would generate more customers and we also looked at ways he could form  a referral system through affiliates or strategic alliances, meaning that others’ were selling his product and services, that they became his sales team.

·         Income.  What could he do to enable him to spread the workload?  He needed to increase his income.  There is more than one way to renumerate someone for their time, which is something he hadn’t thought about.  (I am not going to go into all of them in this article, if you want more on this please ask me). 

·         Sales.  Increase sales and make more money, a pretty standard answer, but how could he increase his sales?  We looked at his product and service and thought of other ways of packaging them to make them stand out from the completion.  Value adding.

·         Marketing.  We looked at how he was getting his message out to the public.  Could his website be updated with newer technology?  Could his branding be improved or updated?

·         Service.  Nothing beats good old fashioned service and it is becoming more evident that good service is lacking in too many businesses these days.  The proof is in the pudding as they say.  Think back to the last time you experienced good service, how did that make you feel?  Has that business now captured your attention enough to go back again?  Would you tell your friends about them?

That feeling of excellent/exceptional service that you just experienced is the same service you MUST provide to your customers if you want repeat and referred business. 

Step aside from everyone else and BE a business that PROVIDES good old fashioned service where you treat your customer with the courtesy and respect that you expect from other businesses.  Make your excellent/exceptional customer service your POINT OF DIFFERENCE and leave the competition dead in their tracks.

Sometimes excellent customer service is all it takes to turn your business around, just the way you treat not only your customers, but everyone you deal with everyday, could be the turning point that reinvents you as a thriving and successful business.

As I sat there looking into the eyes of a man who just a few hours before was near breaking point. Those eyes now shone with a rekindled passion.  The depressed smile on his face had slowly grown into laughter and the broken man was no more.  Remember the excitement and passion you experienced with your first love, your first car, your wedding day, that is the extent of the passion and excitement he was now feeling.  He had renewed hope for his business, he now realised that all was not lost and that he could save what he had spent so long creating and building.

With just a few improvements his business would prosper and grow to the next level allowing his destiny to unfold.  I’ve gotta say I just love what I do.

Your Destiny Unfolds with

Vicki & Rodney Williams

www.yourdestinyunfolds.com

We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve
to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work We
had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to
cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash
and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie
awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.

She always insisted on us telling the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time
we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had
eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough!

Mother wouldn’t let our friends just honk the horn
when they drove up. They had to come up to the door
so she could meet them. While everyone else could
date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16.

Because of our mother we missed out on lots of
things other kids experienced. None of us have ever
been caught shoplifting, vandalising other’s
property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault.

Now that we have left home, we are all educated,
honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean
parents just like Mum was.

We all like to be appreciated, so why is it that some people have trouble accepting acts of kindness?

I recently witnessed a situation where a client had spent quite some time bitching about being taken for granted, she felt like she was the household slave to her husband and children, with a similar belief in her working environment.  I was fortunate enough to witness one of her children say to her “Mum, you’re the best, I love you so much.”  To which she immediately responded “What do you want?” sound familiar…….?

What is it that makes people so cynical? 

·                     Is it the way you are bought up? 

·                     Is it a reflection of your values and belief system? 

·                     Is it that you are so busy that you don’t have the time to get to know people on a personal level before they are perceived and then judged? 

·                     Or is it that you just don’t care about anyone but yourself?

If truth be known it is probably a combination of all the above.  Should it be like that NO WAY?  What can you do about it?  There are lots of things you can do to change the way you react, but first you have to understand why you do what you do.

It is all in the way that you accept yourself.  If you do not believe in yourself or believe that you are not worthy of thanks, then of course when someone gives you a compliment you would fob it off or be suspicious of their motives. 

Grab a pen, paper and a cuppa and take a moment to write down the answers to these questions, be brutally honest with yourself:

·                     Am I aware that I react with suspicion when someone pays me a compliment?

·                     What makes me react this way?

·                     How long has this been happening?

·                     When did I first decide I was going to react in this way?

·                     What is this choice costing me?

·                     How would I like to react instead?

·                     What can I do to make the change?

·                     What would my life look like when I sincerely accepted acts of kindness?

When you have a sense of certainty about who you are and what you stand for, the decisions you make as a result of the choices presented to you take on an entirely different perspective.  This is where your values come into consideration.  I will discuss values in another article.

Awareness is the first step to change, being aware that you are ‘doing that old thing’.  Once you acknowledge that you are doing a particular process the easier it becomes in determining why you do it, because your uncertainty about what is important to you will lead you to have feelings of doubt about your self-worth.  Until you change this belief you will not be able to experience a profound level of fulfilment in your life.

Your Destiny Unfolds with

Rodney & Vicki Williams

www.yourdestinyunfolds.com

Do you even like what it is that you do that pay the bills? I’ve asked a lot of people over the last few months if they like what they do and I can count on one hand how many of them like, not love mind you, but like the jobs they are currently employed to do.

This led me to ask them “Why do you spend your precious time working a job you don’t like?” This is some of their responses:

• Better the devil you know
• I’ve done this all my life
• No idea if I could do anything else
• I don’t have far to travel
• I could walk to work if I wanted to
• It pays good money
• I can’t afford a drop in wage
• I don’t have any other skills
• I’m too old to learn new things
• I’m due for retirement soon
• l’m too close to long service
• I don’t want to start at the bottom
• It’s taken me a long time to get to where I am

Do these excuses sound familiar….? I must admit I stayed in a previous job because of one of these excuses, but it didn’t take long before I realised that by doing so was detrimental to my health and happiness. 

Let’s look for a moment at the negative side of staying stuck in a dead end job that you don’t like.  Over time you may start to notice the following:

• bullying
• depression
• lack of self esteem
• lack of work ethics
• lack of co-operation
• lack of self confidence
• lack of pride in your work
• Increased alcohol and/or drug use
• Increased arguments with partner and peers

There are lots more but do you see that by being unhappy in where you work or what you do, that over time it will have a detrimental effect on your health.

By spending a few hours a week you could invest in learning new skills that would then give you the opportunity to choose another line of work or lifestyle.  At the very least you will become aware that there is another option. 

I appreciate that there are generally two types of people:

The people that do. These positive people want to improve themselves and their lifestyle they will have an open mind and will see the possibilities of learning new skills. Most of these people will follow through once they have learned these new skills.

The people that don’t. These people are generally negative and have a limited view of life.  They are the people who will set about to prove you right, you know who I mean, the people who say things like:

• You can’t do that
• That won’t work
• You will never amount to anything

These people are happy to experience life as they know it and that is ok, but don’t let them bring you down.

If you get nothing else out of this, please just accept that there is always a choice, another option, another way of doing things.  Life is never meant to be simple, but it doesn’t have to be hard.

Vicki Williams

Your Destiny Unfolds

 
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they just walk away.
Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.
…

When people come into your life for a SEASON,
it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn.
They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.
And like Spring turns to Summer and Summer to Fall,
the season eventually ends.
 …

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person/people (anyway);
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas in your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.
Thank you for being part of my life.

Author - Unknown 

I was in Canberra yesterday without a coat, or jumper.  I wore what I would normally be wearing in Melbourne.  As I was only in Canberra overnight I really didn’t think too much about their weather and boy did I pay for it.  I was chilled to the bones and for the first time this year I used our sauna in an effort to warm up my bones.  No I am not bagging Canberra, it is a very beautiful city, what I am saying is that I was complacent about the weather and as you read this I challenge you to think about what you get complacent about?

I know previously I have been very business orientated and some of my readers who are not in business have asked for a lighter more social read every now and then, so when I asked Teanna what I should focus on she was watching ‘Friends’ on TV, and said “What about talking about relationships.” 

My first thought was a poem called Reasons, Seasons or Lifetime I like which signifies why friends come into your life, whether it is for a reason, a season or a lifetime , friends have a purpose and this poem is the best one I have found that sums it all up.  Please read it and tell me what you think.

Social networking is fantastic, during my time on Facebook, Myspace & Twitter I have been reunited with lots of friends that I have misplaced over the years.  It is an honour to be reconnected with them and in this day when we all claim that we are busy and focus on what is happening ‘in the moment’ it is no wonder why friends get lost as a result. 

Has this happened to you?  Are you one of many who all of a sudden realise that they haven’t heard from ‘so in so’ in such a long time, that when you get around to it their email address bounces back or their letter comes back address unknown.  Whatever the reasons what do you do next?  That is the question I want you to think about.

 What do you do when the door to a relationship closes? 

Do you analyse why this has happened? 

Do you question the depth or strength of the relationship?

Do you secretly know why the relationship ended?

Do you try to find out why or do you just accept it as a lost cause?

Do you really care?

Over the years I have lost a couple of what I thought were close friends.  I have to admit that it probably took me awhile to realise that they were ‘lost’.  I had been emailing them and not getting a response, which is not really that unusual as they were not that committed to emails or letter writing in the first place and they had always told me that, so I didn’t think about it when I didn’t get responses from them.  Every year I sent Christmas cards and I suppose it took me a few years to realise that they weren’t responding to them either.  When I rang them to have a catch up call I was surprised that the number had been disconnected, which then led me to checking the white pages in their city only to find they were no longer listed. 

Now I could beat myself up wondering why this happened, but what I have chosen to do is to let it go and know that at some point somewhere down the track someone that I know will know them and if they then choose to reconnect then that is their choice.

What I am more interested in is your story.  Have you been dropped, or lost contact with any of your friends?

How strong was this relationship? 

Did you see it coming or was it a total surprise?

How has it affected you as a result? 

What is this breakdown of relationship costing you on a physical, emotional and spiritual level? 

What is a compelling reason why you would want to change where this relationship is going?

For this to occur, what changes would need to take place within you?

Would you need resources, information or assistance for this change to take place.

What obstacles are in your way?

If you had a ‘clean slate’ and were able to start over from a time before this was an issue, what would you do differently?

What I find is that so many people blame the other person for a breakdown in relationship, I firmly believe that it takes two people to make a relationship and as I have yet to meet someone who is truly perfect then I have to believe that we all have ‘issues’ that can make or break a relationship. 

You may not agree with me, but I stand by the fact that a lack of communication or a breakdown in communication is what causes relationships to fail. 

What I have learned in coaching is that the reason most marriages fail is one of three key ingredients finances, sex or poor communication skills.  Usually it is the combination of all three.   Think about it, because this is what I am told time and time again

He/she doesn’t listen…….

We just didn’t connect….

If only she/he had told me…….

I don’t know, they didn’t say…….

He/she doesn’t understand me…..

When I didn’t hear anything from them I……

I felt that things were not right, but didn’t know how to approach them….

I know that I have previously talked about getting ‘clarity in your communication’ process, I wonder how that is working out for you, are you practicing digging deeper by asking better questions to fully understand what is being asked and whether your perception of the conversation is the same as the person you are communicating with.  Don’t forget to ask those open questions.  Check out my article on Miscommunication is Hazardous to your Health to find out more about how to improve your communication skills.

So if you were to be brutally honest with yourself, do you think that you or something that you do may have resulted in losing contact with some of your friends?  If so, NOW would be a great time to start working on making the changes necessary to ensure this doesn’t happen again. 

All the best and let us know how you get on re-connecting with those you have ‘lost’.

It takes a very brave person to admit they were wrong; wouldn’t you want to be that person?

Your destiny unfolds with

Rodney & Vicki Williams

www.yourdestinyunfolds.com

www.coachingbyrovick.com.au

The first thing that comes into most managers minds when they hear the words “creativity” and “workplace” combined is either a) someone is cooking the books (as in creative accountancy) or people are just goofing off.
The reality is something far different
It has been shown that workplaces where creativity is not just tolerated, but encouraged, have not just a more profitable bottom line, but their staff are happier, lower staff turnover, increased business flexibility, reduced leave of absence – in essence those things that a truly motivated and forward thinking business wants and needs to thrive. These are places where discussion is encouraged, boundaries are challenged and everyone is constantly striving to improve those things that impact not just their sphere of influence but the company as a whole.  It is a place where these practices are not just given lip service, but they are truly a part of the company’s overall business plan, its ethics and its moral code.

So how do we encourage creativity in the workplace?

A good place to start is to consciously open the lines of communication in all directions, between individual staff, between managers and their staff, and most importantly between the various departments.  More money is lost from “misunderstandings” between departments than most companies would like to admit.  This communication does not have to be formal. It could be something as simple as encouraging conversation over a coffee, at the water cooler, around someone’s desk or in some other less structured atmosphere. Remember creativity cannot be forced, it has to bubble up out of the unconscious for most people, and often a chin wag over the new widget we are making can turn out to be a major coat saver in the long run.
We are not advocating a completely laissez-faire workplace, but that keeping people in their place, tied to a desk or kept in a box generally does not encourage the flights of fancy from which great ideas come.
During my 20 years of employment in a range of companies, I have seen evidence of these cost savings many times in workplace situations, let me explain……..

A few years back a company I heard of was going to bring out a new product line which contained nuts.  Marketing had started its workups, R&D had the trial recipe ready to go, but it wasn’t until someone mentioned the ingredients to the QA department at lunch that they went “Hang on – have you guys thought about Nut Allergens?” “Huh??” was the reply. The person from QA went on to explain that nuts had just been listed as an allergen in the Food Standards Code and if they were to make that product, they would have to change all of the packaging for all of the lines they made unless they could prove that there was absolutely no traces of nut protein present in ANY of their other products – a very costly process requiring a lot of downtime after each production run, long, expensive cleaning regimes, extra (costly) testing etc.  This would definitely close some of their markets and impact the bottom line. 

So the QA guy and the R&D girl grabbed a bloke from marketing who happened to be passing through and while continuing to eat their lunch, they pulled apart the whole idea and brainstormed ways around it.  As the conversation continued, people flowed in and out of it, dropping off their pearls of wisdom as needed then continuing with their lunch.  After about 2 hours, they had worked out several ideas for how the product could be made without impacting on any other product lines at a minimal cost. The ideas were sent forward to senior management who then looked deeper into the issue and made a more informed decision. (There were also questions asked about how a project could get so far without such an important constraint being picked up earlier!)

However, the most important, creative thinking had been done in the lunchroom. And by a group of which none of the people were managers! They were a mix of middle and line staff who knew the guts of the business but felt comfortable talking in the lunch room about the situation however many of these people would have felt too intimidated to speak up if the conversation had happened in the board room.
This was an example of spontaneous creativity at work.

But how do we think creatively?

Dr Kobus Neethling, the world renowned expert on creativity and developer of the ‘Neethling Brain Instruments’ divides the thinking brain into 4 areas, R1, R2, L1 and L2.  These correspond with particular types of thought patterns.  Each of us use each of these thought pattern types over the day, but we tend to “live” in one of them. So a CEO of a bank you would hope to be an L1 type as these are highly dollar driven, meticulous, looks to the nitty gritty…. Whereas someone who is in childcare you would hope to be more R2 – caring of the person – the who not the what or how.

Below are the 4 main areas and examples of their thinking types:
L1
Likes working with facts
Precise and exact
Logical and rational
Mathematical/Financial
Rational
Technical
Performance driven
Analytical 

R1
See whole picture – not detail
Likes change – trying new things
Does several things at one time
Imaginative
Always looking for alternatives
Enjoys challenges and risks
Intuitive about new ideas
Future oriented

L2
Prefers traditional thinking
Likes detail
Procedural
Likes security and safekeeping
Sequential and chronological
Punctual/ time conscious
Reliable
Organised and orderly 

R2
People focus
Empathetic
Intuitive towards others
Expressive when communicating
Caring and supportive
Experiences strong emotions
Likes personal interaction
Enthusiastic
(Courtesy of the Thinking Network)

What Neethling found was that those who are predominantly R1/R2 are more easily able to think like their L1/L2 compatriots, but the reverse is not so true.  Also R sided folk tend to be more forgiving of the L sided people – someone who is a bit messy will accept someone who tidies up around them whereas someone who is obsessively tidy will be driven completely insane by a R sided persons messy desk.

The other interesting thing Neethling found was that the more successful companies tended to have L sided folk in senior management and the R sided folks a little further down the food chain. But the other factor was that “most of the innovations and improvements that truly worked and improved the bottom line came from the R sided people – the dreamers who had been given the opportunity to be allowed to think and act creatively”!

“Creative people can perform miracles but they are always in danger of crucifixion” – Paul Torrance
His example was where a company increased its passionate (creative) people by 10%, there was a 200% increase in productivity. Now I don’t know of a business that wouldn’t want that sort of improvement!
Passion (I love to do this) leads to Energy (No-one will stop me) leads to Productivity (more $$, stable employment, happy shareholders)

The creative process however requires “tinkering”. These could be doodles on the back of a napkin, someone spending 10 minutes staring off into space while their brain takes a product apart, a maintenance working having the freedom to “play” with a new setup and thus workout where possible hang-ups might happen further down the line.  Tinkering has been almost banished in many workplaces as it is seen as “time wasting” or “goofing off”. 

But wouldn’t you agree that if an employee felt that secure in their job to tinker with a new product or piece of equipment, that they may just know what they are doing? How many times has downtime been avoided because one of the maintenance staff had a “play” with a new piece of equipment before it was installed and then when it failed – he knew just where to fix it? What could the cost have been if he hadn’t? Isn’t this an example of creativity at work?

by taking an extra look he has made himself familiar with the item,
 he has possibly found other ways the same item can be utilised,
 he may find ways where other parts could be substituted if something failed,
 he has been able to substitute a different part to create a band aid fix because of his knowledge, rather than the equipment being offline for hours/days while replacement parts arrive,
 he has saved the company $$$ - lost time, lost productivity, costly call outs for repair staff, wages for staff standing around plus other knock on effects,
 he feels increased worth in himself and his job by exercising his ability to “think outside the box”,
 he was listened to and trusted!

Creativity is needed all around, in all industries and businesses and it isn’t as costly as you may fear. Think of the improvements that can be gained and the increased profitability that is waiting to be accessed. Remember – anyone can be creative, but if you don’t have the courage to make the changes needed to give it opportunity – it won’t happen.
 
Have the freedom and the courage to be different!
“Who dares, wins” – Winston Churchill

This article was supplied
By Wendy Dunstan, Rise Coaching

I happened to catch an interesting conversation on Sunrise  about the best places to work which got me thinking about all the places I have previously worked and it’s funny, when you think of your workplace in that context, what thoughts do you conjure?  It took me back in time and I was flooded with some wonderful memories, mainly people that I haven’t thought about in ages.  On a personal note I have loved every place that I have ever worked (what I can remember), although there were times or things I did that I didn’t particularly like, but overall I have no complaints.

I firmly believe that you choose and create your own working environment.  Most businesses today are doing what they can to provide their employees with an environment that is safe, bright, happy, friendly and fun.  You only have to look at Google to see how this can work.  If you want to view a working environment that provides everything an employee could ever imagine check this out  and see how the other half works.

But seriously, what is it that makes YOU want to go to work?  Find out more…….

Grab a piece of paper, a pen and a cuppa, take a moment to think about the job you are doing at the moment, your working environment, your management team, your boss, your team members, your work mates, how you get to work, the hours you work, what you get paid, and any other contributing factor that makes up your working day. 
Make a list of all the pros and cons.  Be brutally honest with yourself.

Once you have this long list in front of you, I want you to ask yourself again “What is it that makes YOU want to go to work?”  What is your answer?  There may be one or many answers to that question.  Is it or are they positive or negative answers?

If you have truly and honestly answered positively, then FANTASTIC, keep doing what you are doing and perhaps acknowledge the people who are responsible for you wanting to go to work.

For the rest, thank you for being honest with yourself and acknowledging that you may not be entirely happy in your working environment for whatever reason.  How much of your decision do you have control over? 

I’ll let you into a secret……. YOU do have control of how you CHOOSE to work.  If you choose to be miserable and blame everyone for why you are having a crappy day, then guess what? You will keep getting more of the same; until YOU choose to change the way you think, feel, act and behave.  For those of you who don’t know, you ARE attracted to what you project, so if you are a negative person, then you will keep attracting more negativity.  So break the cycle right here right now, change the way you think, feel, act and behave.  You will be amazed at the rewards that will become the new you with a shift in mindset.

As an employee, how do you respond to what is asked of you on a daily basis?  Do you welcome openly new or improved suggestions?  Do you welcome suggestion/change with a head-on approach that results in getting everyone offside?  Do you go with the flow and accept everything at face value?
Whatever it is that you do, what is it that management said or does that makes you react the way you do?  Maybe this is where change could occur.

Does management provide you with a happy, flexible, supportive environment?  Do they praise you unconditionally on a regular basis?  Do they provide a recognition system that allows them to show how much they appreciate your input into the company?  How do you receive this recognition, enthusiastically or with trepidation? 

When I asked some of my clients this question I was surprised by the answer, they said that when it comes to the crunch what they want most is trust from management to have genuine honest open communication with them.  Especially in this unstable economic climate where jobs are not as secure as they once were.  Most of my clients said that if their job was on the line they would consider a pay cut, but it was stressed that they would only consider it if management followed suit.  You can’t blame them for that because we have seen where staff has had to endure a pay cut so that management can be given a golden handshake or even worse where they take from the bottom to give to the top.
Not a good move to instigate loyalty in the workplace I would have thought. 

One of my clients recalled some of her best times were when she was asked to meet strict deadlines; her manager would help out to make sure the deadline was met.  Another client recalled one of her jobs allowed her to bring her baby to work (breastfed baby, not into a crèche situation but to be in her office with her all day).  She said this opportunity allowed her to go back to work earlier than she had wanted but her boss needed her and was prepared to do whatever it took to allow it to happen, great ah.

So whatever it is for you, if you are miserable and can’t stand where you work, or only turn up to get your pay cheque then maybe it is time to really think about why you work there.  It may be a good time to look for more suitable employment or gain more skills or cut back your hours.  You know that the sign of insanity is doing the same thing day in and day out and expecting a different result.

Thanks so very much for allowing us to share our lives with you, if you get nothing else from my newsletters please know that all I want from you is to take a good look at your life and if there is something that you are not happy about, do something about it.  We never know when our number is up so make the effort to enjoy every single day, live each day as if it were your last.

On a personal note, Rodney and I work for ourselves and as such we are responsible for our own outcome, if we choose to have a bad day then we know that we will pay for it in one way or another, which is why we choose to be open, flexible and happy in our daily life.  We have some amazing clients who choose to praise and reward us for what we do for them, this generosity and recognition is what makes our day even better.

Your Destiny Unfolds with
Rodney & Vicki Williams
www.yourdestinyunfolds.com
www.coachingbyrovick.com.au

Merimbula, NSW, Australia

I have just gotten back from a wonderful holiday in Merimbula NSW, what a beautiful part of Australia. 
I am not sure about you but when I go on holiday it takes a few days to ‘get in the holiday mode’, if you know what I mean.  It can take Rodney about a week to fully unwind, that’s pretty bad ah!! (Maybe he should get coached on it!!).

I think we are all guilty of overdoing certain aspects of our life, I know that as a coach I will ask my clients to take a reality check test to ascertain what areas of their life needs more attention.  I appreciate that change is easier said than done sometimes.  It then comes down to a choice of how you choose to live your life and what you will put up with as a result of your choices.

The expression work life balance was first used in the 1980’s to help explain the unhealthy life choices that many people were making, they were choosing to neglect other important areas in their lives such as family, friends and hobbies in favour of work related chores and goals. 

Many people these days experience burnouts due to overwork and increased stress, this condition is seen in nearly all occupations from blue collar to upper management.  Over the past decade a rise in workplace violence and increased absenteeism and compensation claims are all evidence of an unhealthy work life balance.

Many people report stress is related to the conflict between work and family.  Persistent stress can result in cardiovascular disease, sexual health problems, a weaker immune system, frequent headaches, stiff muscles or backache.  It can also result in pour coping skills, irritability, jumpiness, insecurity, exhaustion and difficulty concentrating.  Stress may also lead to binge eating, smoking and alcohol consumption.
I’m not sure if any of those symptoms ring a bell with yourself, your partner or even your work colleagues, but it is certainly something to watch out for, don’t you agree?

Many people know within themselves if they are suffering from an imbalance.  Others are too busy to notice the symptoms and until something more drastic happens will often continue to ignore warnings from their own body and loved ones who are always happy to inform them.

Firstly can I say that in today’s global society, with high demands placed on our business, job, determination to succeed and provide for our families I can fully appreciate that our lives appear to be lop sided, so that one or more of our priorities has less importance.

At the end of the day it comes to choice, it is a choice if we work a 40 or a 60 hour week, it is a choice if we spend weekends with family or friends, it is a choice if we live in a modest or designer home, it is a choice how many children we have, and where they attend school.

To have work life balance you need to be giving equal attention to the following eight areas of your life:

• your health/body
• your family
• your own personal growth
• your relationships
• finances
• work/career
• relaxation

If you could imagine all these areas of your life as a wheel on your car, how smooth a ride would you be having?

Some possibilities you could implement to make an immediate change would be to:

1. Slow down – distance yourself from what is causing you the most stress.  If it is people, then spend less time with them.  If it is work, then look at ways to spend less time there or reduce time spent at work or possibly streamlining your work load.

2. Share the load – get help. Find someone to help you achieve the same result with less stress.

3. Let things go – don’t sweat the small stuff, so what if the house doesn’t get cleaned every week.  Learn to recognise the things that don’t really have much impact in your life, allow yourself to let them go, and don’t beat yourself up about it.  Maybe just maybe a cleaner could be the perfect gift for yourself or your partner, so that you free yourself up to do something more important.  I have some wonderful advice about letting things go from a family of 5 children now, you can imagine that with 5 children you could always be in reaction for one thing or another, well their advice is simply this:  the least amount of Rules you have the least amount of time you are in reaction.  Great advice ah!!!

4. Take charge and set priorities – what is your focus for the rest of the year and next year?  Set realistic goals; develop a list, schedule it into your diary if need be.  Don’t forget to celebrate your goals as you accomplish them, so often our accomplishments go unrewarded.  But if you have gone to the trouble of setting a goal and then following through why not celebrate it, you certainly deserve to acknowledge yourself for a job well done, wouldn’t you agree?

5. Simplify – too often we take on far too many new tasks and responsibilities.  Learn to say NO.  I appreciate that it isn’t always appropriate to rock the boat so to speak especially at work, but maybe this is the change that is needed to fulfil the balance in your life.

6. Manage time – stop procrastinating, one of the biggest stresses comes from being disorganised.  What if I was to tell you that stress is just a fear?  It is a fear of not achieving, not succeeding.  Do you think you’d look at stress differently?  If you knew what your fear is then you can put a different priority on it couldn’t you? 

Denis Waitley, a motivational speaker once said, “Losers try to escape from their fears and drudgery with activities that are tension relieving.  Winners are motivated by their desires toward activities that are goal-achieving.”

Learn to enjoy life, take things slowly, sit down and listen to the birds chirping or the sounds of your children playing, in fact play with them.  Watch the sun rise or set whichever is your favourite.  Turn your phone off and curl up with a good book or your partner and learn to live life for what it is.

I do know that the reward to having a well balanced life is total harmony within oneself.  Be warned, until you achieve total harmony, these are simply words. When you have achieved it you will know you are there.
Your Destiny Unfolds with
Rodney & Vicki Williams
www.yourdestinyunfolds.com
www.coachingbyrovick.com.au

The point I want to make is that I firmly believe that all fears and phobias can be overcome very easily.  Rodney is living proof of just how easy it is to rid fears and phobias from your life once and for all.

For as long as he can remember Rodney has always had a fear of needles.  We have been married for 23 years and the first time I witnessed his obsession with needles was when he had a motorbike accident back in 1994.  I remember arriving at the hospital and trying to comfort him, he was literally shaking uncontrollably and I put that down to the accident.  What I didn’t realise at the time was that this is how his body dealt with his fear of needles.   As a result of this accident I started to notice what happened to him whenever he was to have a blood test or have an injection and trust me the picture was not pretty.

The next time I was privy to this uncontrollably shaking was when he was hospitalised for kidney stones.  After that incident I decided that I would do whatever I could to get him over what I believed at the time to be a debilitating illness.

I knew I had to take it slowly so we started by walking past a Red Cross Blood Bank, eventually he was ready to walk inside.  After many months of walking inside and just watching what was happening he was ready to sit in the chair.  The only problem with this was that you had to book an appointment to donate blood, and that was something that we could never predict, some days Rodney would walk in the door and some days he wouldn’t. 

Thankfully, it was about this time when we started our coaching journey.  When we studied Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), and we were practicing with fears and phobias, I assumed that Rodney would have taken the opportunity to rid himself of this phobia. 

About a year later Rodney was hospitalised and I just happened to have overheard a conversation about how bad his fear of needles was and how long it took to get his uncontrollable shaking under control.  It was then that I realised just how badly people held onto their fears because it is safer to have the fear rather than face them. 

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I told him I was going to do a phobia bust on him, so it took me about 15 minutes to do the process and of course I couldn’t measure the result until he had to either give blood or have an injection.  It was about three months later that he had to have a blood test and as he extended his arm the nurse whom had been privy to his past behaviours was dumbfounded by his eagerness, she was waiting for another nurse to join her so they could hold him down to get the blood.  But he sat in the chair with arm extended and watched them take the blood without a second thought.  He didn’t shake; he didn’t even get into a hot and cold sweat.

That joyous moment was a moment of truth and realisation that for a matter of a 15 minute procedure a new positive behavioural pattern was born.  One that has a far better impact on his life.

I have said this before, fears and phobias are easily eliminated you just have to be willing to let go of the negative belief that is holding you back.  The results are well worth it.

Your Destiny Unfolds with
Rodney & Vicki Williams
www.yourdestinyunfolds.com
www.coachingbyrovick.com.au