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Work

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

As outlined in my previous post, having a grand vision is critical to creating and sustaining positive change in your professional and personal life.

When you have determined what your vision is, then it’s work – consistent work, hard work, and focused work that is required to realise your vision.

Sustainable change is a step by step process. Each step towards change requires a different type of work. A new skill may be required or you may need to re-energise  the skills you already have, it may be research or planning that is the next step, delegation of work may be the best way to go or asking for the help and the support of others. You may require inner work to build up your confidence, bravery, patience, resilience and motivation, all necessary elements for change.

One of my favourite quotes by Brendon Burchard comes to mind when thinking about the amount of work required for change,

‘When you knock on the door of opportunity, do not be surprised that it is work who answers.’ Brendon Burchard

What work do you have to do to implement the change you desire?

What new skills do you need?

What personal development will support you?

Want to read more?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below. 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Vision

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

In order to bring Positive Change into your personal life, professional life or business you will need a VISION.

As defined by the Oxford Dictionary, a vision is the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom, a mental image of what the future will or could be like, a vivid mental image, especially a fanciful one of the future.

A favourite quote of mine from is

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Norman Vincent Peale

Shooting for the moon is indeed a grand vision but why would you shoot for anything less?

The above quote is so true and something to keep in mind when you are creating your own grand vision.

A grand vision will stretch you personally and professionally to work towards it.

A grand vision will ensure you either reach the moon or do indeed fall among the stars.

A grand vision will keep you on track, keep you centered, keep you focused on your goals and will bring clarity and comfort when times get tough.

In the world of Lean we use the term True North to describe where we are aspire to be and what we are working towards.

True North like a vision becomes the compass that continuously shows you where you are going and if you are on or off track.

When you are clear what your vision is you can take the action required to bring your vision to life.

What is your personal vision?

What is your professional vision/vision for your company?

Are you working towards this vision every day?

‘Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others’ Jonathan Swift

Want to read more?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below. 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Unknown

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

All change requires taking a leap of faith into the unknown.

We know we want to change, we know we need to change, we know what we have to do to change, yet the path to change is unknown and mostly the destination of change is also unknown.  

Leaping into the unknown may create feelings of stress and anxiety but those feelings will soon pass as the journey to change commences. With every step we take along the path of change, we become more comfortable with change, more comfortable with the unknown that lies ahead and sometimes we learn to enjoy the journey into the unknown.

The unknown is more common than we realise.

Every day we wake up we are faced with the unknown, nobody knows what the day ahead holds. We may know where we are going every day (work, school, college, holidays) but nobody knows what will happen or what the day holds in store for us.

When we become familiar and comfortable with the unknown, it becomes less of a scary concept.

Instead of stressful and anxious feelings we start to feel excited and inspired by the unknown which allows us to take even bigger strides towards positive change.

‘The challenge of the unknown future is so much more exciting than the stories of the accomplished past’  Simon Sinek

Want to read more? Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below. 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Time

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

As mentioned in previous posts, sustainable change takes time, lots of time.

If you want to make change you will need to protect your time like a lioness protects her new-born cub! Your time belongs to you, it is solely yours and only you can decide where your time goes.

Sometimes we give so freely of our time that it becomes someone else’s and we are left wondering where it went!!

Would you give your money away as freely as you give your time? I didn’t think so!!

One of my all time favourite quotes is by Jim Rohn, 

‘Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time’ Jim Rohn

This quote is so true and is especially pertinent when you are going through personal or professional change.

Take time to think, time to plan, time to ensure your decisions are the right ones for you, ensure your time remains your own and is spent wisely on bringing the change you are working towards into being.

Who uses your time?

is it the same person who uses your money?

Something to think about!

Want to read more?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below. 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Support

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

No matter who we are or what our roles are in life we all need support.

Personal and professional change is a certainty and no matter how big or small the changes we go through are, change is made so much easier with support from those close to us.

Support doesn’t have to be a big grand gesture, more often than not it is the small gestures, the small acts and words of support that can make the biggest difference.

Are you giving support to those close to you personally and professionally?

Are you receiving the support you need?

Surround yourself with those who care about you and who will be by your side through thick and thin. Having sincere and active support will help you, guide you, motivate you and inspire you. 

‘ Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you’ Misty Copeland

Want to read more?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below. 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Respect

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

Respect for yourself and others is a critical ingredient for lasting business and personal relationships. Without respect in relationships you will always be on shaky ground and making sustainable positive changes will continuously be an uphill struggle.

Respect and the importance of respect can mean something different for everyone and so you need to figure out what respect means and how important it is to you.

What does it mean to have self-respect in your personal and professional relationships?

What respect do you give and want from others in your personal and professional relationships?

What are your boundaries in terms of this respect?

To have respect for others you first must have respect for yourself. Just like Pinky in the image above, he must first have his respect t-shirt on before he can give respect t-shirts to his friends.

Respect for yourself will ensure that situations you find yourself in are healthy for you and healthy for others and that decisions you make are based on a very solid foundation. If a situation is not healthy for you or you find your boundaries are being compromised, your internal self-respect compass will give you the strength and courage to face these situations and determine next steps.

Giving respect to others shows you value them which makes personal and professional relationships strong and enduring. in times of change relationships built on mutual respect will stand the test of time.  

Give respect to those close to you and there is no surer thing but it will be reciprocated!

‘One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say’ 

Bryant H. McGill

Want to read more and join my weekly newsletter on Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Originality

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Quit

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

Sometimes the best thing you can do is quit.

Yes you read correctly, sometimes quitting can be and is the best thing to do. During change there are many decisions to be made, many paths that can be chosen and sometimes the best path to take is to quit.

Maybe you need to quit in order to enable change, quit to clear the path to change, quit in order to make the change easier or quit the change itself.

When you find yourself at a crossroads, faced with hard and tough decisions weigh up all the benefits and challenges and don’t be afraid to cut your losses and quit.

All the popular sayings and mantras tell us not to quit, to keep going, to persevere, to never give up. It is not wise, helpful or healthy to keep going if it is not the right path for you, if it doesn’t feel right, if it is making you unhappy, if it is not working.

If you find yourself in a situation like this, take a deep breath, put a smile on your face and quit.

“When quitting is done correctly, it isn’t giving up – it’s making room for something better.”

 Adam Kirk Smith

Want to read more and join my weekly newsletter on Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Patience

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Image credit: The brilliant Andy Kefford

We live in a digital age where everything is at our fingertips and the speed at which we work and live seems to increase on a daily basis. Even with this increased speed of working and living, sustainable change whether personal or professional takes time. 

To enjoy the journey and accept the time it takes to implement change, immense patience is required.

When it comes to sustainable change, just like the story of the hare and the tortoise, or in the above case, Pinky and the hare,  it’s not always the fastest that wins the race. 

In the world of change it’s the patient, the planned, the careful, the focused and the persistent that really win the race. 

Be patient with yourself, be patient with others and enjoy the exciting, unpredictable and educational process of change. 

‘Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.’ Joyce Meyer

Want to read more and join my weekly newsletter on Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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5 Reasons to Prioritise Your 12 Week Review

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Image Credit: Madhuri Gupta

When you start doing 12 week reviews you start to realise just how fast 3 months go by.

The end of each quarter is a super time to look back and reflect on how things went in the past quarter and plan for the quarter ahead.

Having a personal strategy is all about creating an amazing, fulfilled, purposeful and meaningful life. Your personal strategy is only as good as the reviews you do and the changes you make as a result of these reviews.

When personal strategy and the goals you have set, the quarterly review can be the most important. It certainly is my favourite review because it’s a deep dive into progress of goals and there is way more progress quarterly than can be seen daily, weekly and monthly which is always motivating.

As humans we are wired to perform better when we are making progress which is why reflection & reviews are so important. You may not think you are making progress in your life & work but you are probably making way more progress than you think! 

On reflection, this will become very clear!

BUT FIRST – WHY! 

WHY should you carry out a 12 Week Review?

Simon Sinek is famous for his brilliant TED Talk ‘How great leaders inspire action’ with over 13 million views on YouTube. In this video, Simon talks about the importance of knowing your ‘WHY’ in terms of everything you do.

When it comes to everything in your life, your WHY is the first step to success! 

Here are 5 reasons WHY I think your 12 Week Review deserves to be your priority, 

1. It slows you down and gives you time & space to think

We live in an extremely fast paced world and we seem to be so busy all the time. 

Reflection of any kind allows us to stop moving forward, to be still in the present moment and to give the necessary time and space required to learn from the past. 

Not to dwell on or judge the past, but to take the learnings from it to move forward with more knowledge, focus, intention, purpose, motivation & understanding of what our priorities are.

When was the last time you took a few hours to look back and reflect on your life & work?

Do you give yourself the gift of sufficient time & space to reflect regularly and learn from reflection?

 

2. It allows you to acknowledge, appreciate and celebrate your successes

Do you celebrate all your wins & successes or do you move through life at the speed of light, not acknowledging, appreciating and celebrating your success?

 We make progress in our lives & work all day EVERY SINGLE DAY yet we are sometimes so busy & focused on getting things done that we don’t see all of these wins and successes.

 Carrying out your 12 Week Review gives you the time and space to acknowledge, appreciate and celebrate the progress you have made in the past 12 weeks. 

This in turn will get you thinking about all of the amazing wins and successes you have EVERY SINGLE DAY of which we all have so many.

 

3. It allows you to understand what contributes to your success and take action to create more

There are many reasons why we are successful at some things and not so successful at others. 

Have you ever sat down and reflected on your successes and really thought about how they happened. 

  • Was it something you did? 
  • Was it something you got support with?  
  • Was it something that happened quickly or something that took a long time? 
  • Was it a bit of pot luck or did you plan meticulously for it?  

When we understand what contributes to our success, we can replicate & build on this to bring us more success. 

Success has a different meaning for everyone as we all live different lives, are at different stages and have different priorities. 

Reflecting on success supports you to learn more about exactly what success means to you so you can create an action plan that will build on the success you already enjoy! 

 

4. It allows you to acknowledge challenges that got in the way of your success

Things don’t always work out how we plan or how we want them to. 

Even the best plans don’t work out, this is a normal part of life and work. 

Acknowledging your challenges/obstacles is the first step to learning about them and overcoming them. 

This in turn ensures you don’t come up against them again and if you do, you are better prepared. 

Sometimes we don’t want to face our challenges/obstacles let alone reflect on and review them, however it is from our challenges/obstacles that we can learn so much and grow and evolve as human beings!

 

5. It allows you to understand what contributed to these challenges and turn these into successes

Challenges and obstacles are a normal part of life and work, it is how we deal with them that determines our ability to overcome them. 

Understanding what caused the challenges and obstacles goes a long way to dealing with and overcoming them in a healthy way.

Challenges/obstacles are a constant companion on the road to your goals and are your stepping stones to success. Llearning from them makes stepping over those stones that bit easier! 

Taking action from what you learn will turn challenges/obstacles into opportunities!

What can you learn from the challenges you experienced over the past 12 weeks? 

What action can you take to turn your challenges into successes? 

That’s it, the 5 Reasons to Prioritise Your 12 Week Review. 

I wish you success, health and happiness as you look back at the past 12 weeks and even more success, health and happiness as you look forward to the next 12 weeks 😊

Do you want to bring more positive & effective change into your life?

Linked below are 26 ways you can start creating (and embracing) positive & effective change in your life and business today 😊

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Originality

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Image credit: The brilliant Andy Kefford

Originality. Change means doing something that has never been done before.

Being original allows us to have original thoughts which in turn allows us to behave in an original way. Lucky for us, each and every one of us is original! In the history of the world, there has never been and never will be another one of you! You are unique, different and original. Don’t be afraid of being original, of going against the grain, of moving in a different direction to the herd, of bringing the real, authentic you to all situations of life. 

The path least travelled is usually the path paved with gold! One of favourite thought leaders, Marie Forleo, is a big advocate of the importance of originality. Marie’s tagline supports that and rings true,

‘The world needs that very special gift that only you have’ 

Do you celebrate being original?

Do you utilise your originality to create your own path?

‘It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation’  Herman Melville

Want to read more and join my weekly newsletter on Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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