Category Archives: Thoughts On Change

My 2023 Annual Goals

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Annual reflection is much easier than annual goal setting.

Annual reflection is a one time event that is carried out by reflecting on the previous 12 months.

Annual goal setting is a different story – annual goal setting isn’t a one time event.

Annual goal setting is a continuous process of learning, sharing, reflection & change that is worked on EVERY DAY FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR.

This is what makes annual goal setting COMPLEX AND TIME CONSUMING, it is also what makes it INTERESTING AND WORTHWHILE.

Before we set goals, it’s good to highlight how important Annual Goal Setting is.

Annual goal setting gives us DIRECTION for the year ahead.

Where we end up as a result of goal setting is UNKNOWN but wouldn’t you rather be going in the DIRECTION YOU SET instead of anywhere else?

Annual goal setting gives us PURPOSE & MEANING and the more we work on our goals, the more PURPOSE & MEANING we bring into our lives.

Who wouldn’t like more DIRECTION, PURPOSE & MEANING?

I’ve been sharing my Annual Review online for 10 years yet this is the first time I have shared my Annual Goals. I divide my Annual Goal Setting process into 3 parts, detailed below

A. Categorise my life using The Wheel of Life

B. Create a framework for Annual Goal Setting

C. Document my Annual Goals

A. Categorise my life using The Wheel of Life

The change tool I use to categorise my life is the Wheel of Life. The Wheel of Life has been widely used since the 1960s and so it has been around a very long time. The tool itself has not changed but how we use it evolves as our lives evolve. My Wheel of Life consists of the following categories,

1.Sense of Self

This is a category that I created recently as much of my time is spent here at the moment.

This category combines my personal development, personal strategy and my relationship with myself.

This category is all about who I am, who I want to be, who I need to be to achieve my dreams and how I feel about myself and the world around me.

This is also where I work on the concepts of Self Love, Self Worth, Self Esteem, Self Belief, Self Trust, Self Confidence, Self Assurance, Self Understanding, Self Regard/Self Respect, Self Awareness and Self Observation

The success of this category determines the success in all other categories of my life and so it is the most important category in my Wheel of Life.

It is well known in the world of personal development and business that if we don’t work towards our potential as a person we’ll never reach our potential in any of the other areas of our life.

2. Relationships – This category is about my relationship with others in my life

3. Health is Wealth – This category is about my mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health

4. Work – This category is about the work I do

5. Finance – This category is about personal finance

6. Social Life/Fun – This category is about my social life, having fun and recreation

7. Environment – This category is about our home on a personal level and our planet on a global level

8. Contribution – This category is about how I give back to a world that gives me so much

That’s it, my Wheel of Life.

What are the categories of your life?

Would you use some of the above categories?

B. Create a framework for Annual Goal Setting

My annual goal setting format is short, simple and pretty high level yet it is detailed enough to give me enough direction to create plans. I use the below format for each area of my Wheel of Life, asking the questions

I. What are my DREAM DRIVEN GOALS?

II. WHY are my DREAM DRIVEN GOALS important to me?

III. HOW will I achieve my DREAM DRIVEN GOALS?

IV. What METRICS will measure progress towards my DREAM DRIVEN GOALS?

Below is an outline of these questions in detail,

I. What are my DREAM DRIVEN GOALS?

This is not an annual goal but more of a LIFETIME DREAM that annual goals work towards!

Remembering Brendon Burchard’s DUMB goals

What are your DREAMS for every area of your life?

What would be a DREAM come true?

This is where we DREAM BIG about what we want for our lives.

There are no limits or obstacles in DREAM DRIVEN GOALS – just DREAMS!

HOW BIG WILL YOU DREAM?

II. WHY are my DREAM DRIVEN GOALS important to me?

Simon Sinek in his highly viewed Ted Talk and bestselling book says to START WITH WHY and that is where I start with goal setting.

I outline WHY DREAM DRIVEN GOALS are important to me.

Understanding my WHY not only supports the goal setting process but it also keeps me going when times get tough, which they inevitably will.

What is your WHY?

WHY do you want to FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS in each area of your life?

WHY are your DREAM DRIVEN GOALS important to you?

III. HOW will I achieve my DREAM DRIVEN GOALS?

The HOW is the actions taken to move closer to DREAM DRIVEN GOALS.

What ACTION do you need to take to get closer to your DREAM DRIVEN GOALS.

What do you need to START OR STOP DOING to move you closer to your DREAM DRIVEN GOALs?

What do you need to LEARN to move you closer to your DREAM DRIVEN GOALS?

IV. What METRICS will measure progress towards my DREAM DRIVEN GOALS?

Metrics are incredibly important as without them we don’t know how much progress we are making and whether we are moving towards or away from our DREAM DRIVEN GOALS.

What metrics will you use to measure your progress?

‘WHAT GETS MEASURED GETS IMPROVED’ is a quote by Peter Drucker that is as true today as when he said it 40+ years ago.

That’s it, that’s my simple, short and high level format for Annual Goal Setting.

Could you use this format for your own goal setting?

You’ll notice I don’t include timelines in my Annual Goal Setting format – this is on purpose.

How could I possible know when I will get to a year’s worth of goals?

I create TIMELINES when I create my PLANS and these change on a DAILY BASIS.

C. Document my Annual Goals

I document my Annual Goals in Google Docs & Google Sheets and for the first time I have shared them online here in this blog post.

Below are my 2023 Annual Goals for each area of my Wheel of Life:

1. SENSE OF SELF:

What are my Dream Driven Goals?

To prioritise, work on, know, understand, accept grow, learn about and love myself to bring the best version of my truest, most authentic self to my life, my relationships & the world.

To utilise, learn more about and improve my personal strategy.

Reminder:

This category combines my personal development, my personal strategy and my relationship with myself.

This category is all about who I am, who I want to be, who I need to be to achieve my dreams and how I feel about myself and the world around me.

The success of this category determines the success in all other categories of my life and so it is the most important category in the Wheel of Life.

If we don’t work towards our potential as a person we’ll never reach our potential in any of the other areas of our life.

WHY are my Dream Driven Goals important to me?

Our only source of real happiness and joy is within ourselves and so however we feel about ourselves is what we will bring to the world. In order to get the best out of and bring the best to the world I want to be the best version of myself.

As mentioned above, if I don’t work towards my potential as a person I’ll never reach my potential in any of the other areas of my life and reaching my full potential is really important to me.

My personal strategy keeps me on top of everything & ensures I get everything done with no stress, strain or pressure! The more visibility & understanding I have in my life, the more I can see what areas I want to improve and change.

When I don’t utilise my personal strategy I feel disorganised, overwhelmed, under pressure, less grounded, less happy & less fulfilled.

HOW will I achieve my Dream Driven Goals? What actionable steps will I take in 2023?

Create my Personal Strategy for 2023
Carry out daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly & annual plans and reviews
Journal daily and weekly (daily journaling is a game changer in terms of self awareness)
Spend sufficient time in solitude – I’m an introvert and so solitude is as important to me as oxygen is!
Read physical books and give away books I no longer need
Learn more about sprituality, psychology and concepts of self (basically learn more about myself!)

What METRICS will measure progress towards my Dream Driven goals?

Progress in terms of ‘Sense of Self’ is difficult to measure, it’s almost intangible. It is however closely linked to my happiness, contentment and fulfillment of which all of the above add to immensely

*Process confirmation that all elements of personal strategy is being carried out (plans, reviews, journaling etc)

*Process confirmation is a tool we use in the Lean world which tells us whether a task has been carried out or not

Progress on all Sense of Self concepts & learning
Number of books read & given away

2. MY RELATIONSHIPS

What are my Dream Driven Goals?

To continuously nurture my relationships & spend quality time with Mike, my family & friends ❤️ This part of my life is really just about enjoying the company of those I love and who love me ❤️

There is no greater gift! ❤️

WHY are my Dream Driven Goals important to me?

My relationships with those I love are my greatest source of happiness and I want to ensure my relationships are given the time and space they deserve ❤️

I am at my happiest when in the company of those I love and who love me ❤️

The work I do in the ‘Sense of Self’ category will also support this category to ensure I bring the best version of truest, most authentic self to my relationships ❤️

HOW will I achieve my Dream Driven Goals? What actionable steps will I take in 2023?

Spend precious time with Mike, my family and friends – a simple goal yet one that brings the most joy in my entire life! ❤️

What METRICS will measure progress towards my Dream Driven goals?

There are no metrics in this category although I do ensure I capture the precious time I spend with those I love in photos and journalled memories ❤️

3. HEALTH IS WEALTH:

What are my Dream Driven Goals?

These Dream Driven Goals are short and simple yet much work is required to work towards them.

Mental & Emotional Health: To continuously protect & nurture my mental & emotional health

Physical Health: To continuously work towards being the healthiest, fittest and strongest I can be

Spiritual Health: To grow and stay grounded spiritually

WHY are my Dream Driven Goals important to me?

My health is the foundation on which everything else is built. Without health, nothing else can thrive.

In 2022, my entire perspective on health changed. It is no longer about being healthy because I enjoy eating well, exercising and fitting into my clothes.

Health is now about longevity and having health, fitness, strength & mobility to enjoy that longevity.

Dr Lisa Misconi says ‘Your health in mid life is the biggest determining factor of your health in later life’. This is why it is so important to become the healthiest, fittest and strongest than I have ever been!

I feel more grounded, happy, less anxious, less overwhelmed and more at peace with myself, life & everything when I feel fit and healthy.

HOW will I achieve my Dream Driven Goals? What actionable steps will I take in 2023?

I make the same health goals every year and have learned that progress is not linear.

Some years I am at my healthiest, fittest and strongest and some years I am not. What matters here is not so much progress, but what I learn about my health and the continuous work I put in to improving it.

1.Mental & Emotional Health:

To allow, accept, understand and prioritise what supports my mental health. For me, mental health is the most important element of overall health as without optimum mental health, nothing else will function optimally.

To allow, accept, understand and prioritise what supports my emotional life. I’m an Enneagram 4 and so pretty much live on my emotions! Managing my emotions needs to be a daily practise to stay sane!

2. Physical Health:

Continuously work on my physical health to be the healthiest, fittest and strongest I can be. I do this through embedding healthy habits for nutrition, exercise, sleep, relaxing etc. Here I schedule and monitor results of health check ups – optician, dentist, bloods etc.

3. Spiritual Health:

To learn, grow and stay grounded spiritually. This category is very much tied to the work I do in the ‘Sense of Self’ category and will ensure I bring the best version of my truest, most authentic self to my health and all aspects of my life ❤️

What METRICS will measure progress towards my Dream Driven goals?

Where I am on the Stress Performance Curve & the Emotional Scale
Health metrics of BMI, Weight, Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep, Bloods,
Health checks completed and progress on same

4. FINANCE:

What are my Dream Driven Goals?

To achieve and enjoy Financial Freedom.

Financial freedom is defined as ‘having sufficient income, savings or investments to live comfortably for life and meet all one’s obligations without relying on a salary/paycheck’.

I have learned a huge amount about Financial Freedom from Tony Robbin’s excellent book ‘Money – Master the Game’. Tony says Financial Freedom is ‘a long-term plan to build the life of your dreams. Success is doing what you want to do, when you want, where you want, with whom you want, as much as you want, that’s also financial freedom’.

Both of these definitions sit well with me and sum up my Dream Driven Goals for Financial Freedom!

WHY are my Dream Driven Goals important to me?

I want the freedom to do whatever I want with my precious time.

I want the freedom to work for joy and not for the necessity of money.

I want the freedom to give as much time as I want to other areas of my life

For me, financial freedom isn’t about having a certain amount of money, it’s more about using my financial situation to have the freedcom to enjoy all other areas of life as much as possible.

HOW will I achieve my Dream Driven Goals? What actionable steps will I take in 2023?

I use the word ‘abundantly’ throughout my 2023 financial goals as I believe that reaching financial goals has as much to do with mindset as it has to do with money.

If you haven’t read Carol Dwecke’s book ‘Mindset’ I highly recommend that you do. This book teaches the difference between having a Growth Mindset and a Fixed Mindset and the consequences of both.

I truly believe that having a Growth Mindset in terms of finances is the first step to reaching financial goals.

To abundantly spend and enjoy spending

To enjoy spending money and monitor my spending.

To abundantly increase my financial value

To increase my financial value through savings and investments.

My financial value is my total savings, investments and pensions. Financial value is a better metric than salary as while you could be staying on the same salary, your financial value could be increasing depending on your savings, investments and pensions.

In stark contrast your salary could be increasing but if you’re not saving and investing, your financial value will decrease.

I have 2 very large projects planned in this category this year which involves selling/buying property. I also have many smaller projects that will all move me a few steps closer to financial freedom.

To abundantly earn more

I am currently on a break from earning money even though everything I do is geared towards becoming financially free! I have thoughts of returning to earning money but I don’t have a timeline yet! 😊

To abundantly stay out of consumer debt

This is no longer a goal but something that needs to be sustained. I keep this documented as a reminder that consumer debt is something I never want to go back to. Whilst all my reasons/excuses for getting into consumer debt were justified (living my best life, building an investment portfolio, becoming a travel photographer), it took me years to dig my way out of it and it’s a place I never want to visit again.

To abundantly learn more about finance

To learn more about personal finance and continue to embed a Growth Mindset in terms of finance.

I haven’t read many books on finance as it’s not my favourite subject but the books I have read made a huge impact on me. Below are books I highly recommend to learn more about personal finance.

Money – Master the Game by Tony Robbins – I highly recommend this excellent book’. It’s a huge book and I didn’t understand much of it but it’s worth reading for chapter 8 which is all about Financial Freedom and how it’s not as difficult to achieve as you may think.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill – this bestselling book was on my bookshelf for years before I finally read it last year and I look forward to reading it again this year. It’s the type of book that you can read over and over again as you go deeper and deeper into it’s wisdom. A must read for anyone serious about financial freedom! 😊

Mindset by Carol Dwecke – this book teaches the difference between having a Growth Mindset and a Fixed Mindset and the consequences of both. I believe having a Growth Mindset is the first step to improving personal finance.

What METRICS will measure progress towards my Dream Driven goals?

Progress in large and mini projects
Monitor & document total spend which is Detailed spend, Capital spend, Business spend
Monitor & document total financial value which is Profit, Property & Pensions
Monitor & document total Earnings & Debt
Document financial learnings

5. WORK:

I currently spend the least time in this category which is ironic as for 25 years it is where I spent the most time! Even though I now spend the least time here, it is the life category that is changing the most.

Having left my day job in October 2021, I am currently in between working for others and working for myself.

My focus at the moment is on my writing and building the foundation of my business through my Lean Business Strategy.

What are my Dream Driven Goals?

To be a writer.

To build my own business.

To practice and teach Lean philosophy.

To continuously learn and improve my skills.

To enjoy every minute of this process.

WHY are my Dream Driven Goals important to me?

My favourite thing to do is write

My second favourite thing to do is read which helps me be a better writer.

I have always wanted to work for myself and my business is my channel to achieving financial freedom.

I want to have total freedom over my work, my time, my finances and my creativity.

I want to learn more about myself, other people, Lean and business.

HOW will I achieve my Dream Driven Goals? What actionable steps will I take in 2023?

Lean Business Strategy

Create more time to write, read and create content
Start building my Lean Business Strategy

Writing

Send weekly mail to my community – you can sign up for my weekly email here
Carry out a Digital 5S Project – I’m so excited to get back to practicingLean after a break of almost 18 months! 😊

Income

Return to Travel Photography work in some capacity. I have missed Travel Photography immensely as I haven’t dedicated much time to it in the past few years.

Learning

I have bought loads of courses that I want to finish but these are on hold for the moment.

What METRICS will measure progress towards my Dream Driven goals?

Progress in creating more time to write, read and create content
Progress in my Lean Business Strategy
Mailing list metrics & engagement
Progress in Digital 5S Project
Progress in Travel Photography work
Learnings and improvement in my skills

6. SOCIAL LIFE/FUN/RECREATION:

What are my Dream Driven Goals?

To have fun, smile, laugh out loud more & don’t take life too seriously!

WHY are my Dream Driven Goals important to me?

Because it makes me feel good! 😊

HOW will I achieve my Dream Driven Goals? What actionable steps will I take in 2023?

Spend time with loved ones who make me smile & laugh and bring me so much joy
Be more aware of everyday activities that bring me joy and do more of them
Be more aware of everyday activities that don’t bring me joy and do less of them

What METRICS will measure progress towards my Dream Driven goals?

There are no metrics in this category although I do ensure I capture fun times in photos and journalled memories ❤️

7. PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT:

What are my Dream Driven Goals?

To improve and enjoy my environment which is our home on a personal level and our planet on a global scale. Remove everything that doesn’t serve me and only keep what brings me joy.

WHY are my Dream Driven Goals important to me?

Because it makes me feel good and I enjoy looking after & improving our living space – both on a personal and global level 😊

HOW will I achieve my Dream Driven Goals? What actionable steps will I take in 2023?

Carry out Marie Kondo’s decluttering in our home.

Marie Kondo’s overarching teaching is to remove anything from our homes that doesn’t SPARK JOY! Marie’s book ‘The Magic Art of Tidying Up’ is a must for anyone who wants more space in their home and life!

2. Decorate our home with the support of an interior designer

3. Reduce my plastic usage and find ways to support the longevity of our planet

What METRICS will measure progress towards my Dream Driven goals?

Progress in Marie Kondo’s decluttering on our home.
Progress in decorating our home with the support of an interior designer
Progress in supporting the longevity of our beautiful planet

8. CONTRIBUTION

What are my Dream Driven Goals?

To have sufficient financial stability to give to those in need.

To contribute to the world with my time & skills.

WHY are my Dream Driven Goals important to me?

I want to give back and support those less fortunate because the world has given and continues to give me so much 😊

HOW will I achieve my Dream Driven Goals? What actionable steps will I take in 2023?

I have been supporting 4 main charities that mean a lot to me for many years. All of these charity direct debits are currently on hold as I’m not working but I contribute financially to charities with once off payments.
Contribute to the world with my time & my skills – this means different things at different times.

What METRICS will measure progress towards my Dream Driven goals?

Monitor what I give and the impact on others and on me

That’s it, my 2023 ANNUAL GOALS that support my long term DREAM DRIVEN GOALS ❤️

Remember goal setting is just an activity and reaching goals is just a destination.

What is really important is that you enjoy the journey between these 2 points in time.

How you live, love through and enjoy each and every day is really what matters.

To be content, happy and full of joy & vitality every day, that’s the real goal – everything else is just decoration!

Whatever your goals are for 2023, I wish you love, laughter, success, happiness and enjoyment every single day as you work towards them.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

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Full or Fulfilled?

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Recently I had a conversation with a friend of mine around how fulfilled I am.

I left work last year (without another job) and so I have more time and thanks to this, my life is less full but more fulfilled.

I am less focused on the things that fill my life and more focused on the things that fulfill my life.

There is a huge difference between what fills our lives and what fulfills our lives.

The definition of full is ‘Full (of something) containing or holding as much or as many as possible; having no empty space’ while the definition of fulfilled is ‘Fulfilled – feeling happy and satisfied that you are doing something useful with your life, satisfied or happy because of fully developing one’s abilities or character.

What definition do you prefer ‘full or fulfilled’?

Let’s go deeper into fulfillment,

Fulfilling is defined as ‘causing somebody to feel satisfied and useful, making someone satisfied or happy through allowing their character or abilities to develop fully.

Unfulfilled is defined as ‘(of a need, wish, etc.) that has not been satisfied or achieved. if a person feels unfulfilled, they feel that they could achieve more in their life or work, not causing somebody to feel satisfied and useful’

What definition do you prefer ‘fullfilling or unfulfilled’?

As a writer, I’m obsessed with words and there’s no better way to understand words than through synonyms. Synonyms are a word, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word. Sometimes we may not relate to a word but when we read the synonyms we can relate more easily to the meaning behind them.

How do the below synonyms for full/unfulfilled/unfulfilling make you feel?

Would you like this to be a description of your life?

Full: adequate, big, chock-full, complete, crowded, entire, intact, packed, stocked, sufficient, burdened, bursting, crammed, gorged, imbued, jammed, laden, lavish, loaded, overflowing, padded, replete, sated, satiated, satisfied, saturated, stuffed, choc a block, jam packed, plentiful, running over.

Unfulfilled: Discontented, annoyed, begrudging, bothered, complaining, disaffected, disappointed, disgruntled, displeased, fretting, frustrated, grudging, grumbling, oended, unhappy, vexed, critical, envious, faultfinding, fed up, grumpy, insatiable, jealous, not happy, not satisfied,

Unfulfilling: Depressing, disconcerting, discouraging, disheartening, distasteful, frustrating, mediocre, unpleasant, unsatisfying, bitter, displeasing, failing, lame, disagreeable, falling short, inadequate, ineffective, inferior, insufficient, unhappy

How do the below synonyms for fulfilling/fulfilled make you feel?

Would you like this to be a description of your life?

Fulfilling: Effective, accomplishing, achieving, adequate, binding, capable, conclusive, decisive, determinate, effecting, efficient, lawful, powerful, productive, qualified, sound, strong, successful, telling , useful

Fulfilled: Realised, satisfied, accomplished, achieved, actualised, attained, compassed, concluded, delighted, finished, gratified, matured, obtained, perfected, performed, pleased, reached, brought about.

How full is your life?

How full do you want your life to be?

How fulfilled is your life?

How fulfilled do you want your life to be?

Do you want to read more about Positive Change?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Your Greatest Mentor is YOU!

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Following on from my blog post ‘The Magic of Mentors’, there are things that we need to learn from others but there is much more to be learned from ourselves.

People can give us advice and tell us their opinion but no-one knows more about us than we do ourselves.

When people give us advice, it is mostly well meaning, however it is advice based on their knowledge, based on their experience, based on their perspective and mostly based on what they would do themselves.

This advice is not based on our knowledge, based on our experiences, based on our perspective and based on what we would do. The only person who can give us this advice is ourselves!

This is why coaching is so powerful because it has nothing to do with the coach’s knowledge, experience, or perspective, coaching is focused solely on YOU!

So how do you become your own greatest mentor?

Here are a few ideas,

Believe in yourself
Trust yourself
Understand yourself
Grow yourself
Know what you want
Know what you don’t want
Put yourself first
Listen to yourself especially your gut instinct

Our gut instinct is so important in terms of guiding us in the right direction. I love Karren Brady’s description of what gut instinct is in her interview with Steven Bartlett,

‘it’s made up of all of the experiences you have had through your career and when you are faced with a problem, you’ve been in that movie before, you’ve had that movie before, different problem in a different moment about a different thing but very similar and you know the outcome. So your gut instinct goes, hang on a moment, I’ve somehow been here before and I know how this plays out’ Karren Brady

Karren goes on to say ‘I find that if I follow my gut instinct I tend to make the right decisions and if I ignore it (gut instinct), it tends to go bad’

I also feel the same in that when I make decisions aligned with my gut instinct I tend to make the right decisions and when I don’t listen to my gut instinct, these decisions usually turn out unhelpful to me.

Are you your own greatest mentor?

Do you believe in yourself and trust yourself?

Do you listen to your gut instinct?

Do you want to read more about Positive Change?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

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The Magic of Mentors

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I believe that if you want to grow in any area of your life & business, you need a mentor.

First let’s define what a mentor is. Wikipedia says it is ‘A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. A mentor influences the personal and professional growth of a mentee. Most traditional mentorships involve having senior employees mentor more junior employees, but mentors do not necessarily have to be more senior than the people they mentor. What matters is that mentors have experience that others can learn from’.

For me, a mentor is someone who has been there, done that. Someone who is doing what I want to do and is gracious & generous in sharing their gifts and their journey.

My life has been a journey of ever changing mentors, as my life has evolved, so too have my mentors.

Since leaving my job (without another) last year I have had lots of time to focus on my passions in life which are Writing, Lean, Business, Psychology, Marketing and Travel Photography. This has led me to find brand new mentors to follow & learn from which has deepened my respect for and knowledge in these areas of interest.

There is a popular saying that people come into our lives for a reason, season and lifetime, I believe the same applies to mentors.

Mentors that come into our lives for a reason help us through a specific time or until we have figured out something specific. When these mentors have guided and supported us through what we need to move through, we go our separate ways. The mentors that came into my life for a reason will always have a special place in my heart.

Mentors that come into our lives for a season tend to be our mentors for a longer length of time. These seasons can span days or decades!

I have many mentors who I have been following & learning from for many years and some for decades. These are people who continue to inspire me with all they do and whom I continue to learn a huge amount from.

Some of these mentors I no longer follow closely. I’m still familiar with the great work they do but our paths no longer closely align as they once did. This is normal as mentors are meant to change, just as the seasons do.

Mentors who come into our lives for a lifetime are those whose values and behaviours we deeply align with and who we have so much to learn from. For me, there are mentors whose wisdom is so deep that there is no end to it and no end to what I can learn from them.

So where do you find a mentor?

Thanks to the internet, it has never been easier to find people to learn from and to learn from them.

Mentors we know through the online world can be found through their books, podcasts, videos, social media channels, newsletters (mailing lists) – basically everywhere!

Mentors in the real world can be official mentors in that you have signed up to be their mentee or to be coached by them. Mentors in the real world can also be anyone you come into contact with. I learn from everyone, if our paths have crossed in the real world, then I have learned from you.

Learning is everywhere if you want it to be!

Do you have a mentor?

Who do you learn from?

Who would you like to learn from?

Do you want to read more about Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ and sign up to my Weekly Newsletter below.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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My Journey Through the Stress Performance Curve

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The Stress Performance Curve is pretty self-explanatory, the more stressed we get the further along the curve we move. Here is an explanation of the different zones on the curve.

1. Boredom Zone

In the first zone there is very low stress and we are bored. Stay here too long and you will feel the effects of boreout which are just as dangerous as burnout. If you are in this zone in your life or work your mental, emotional, physical & spiritual health is at risk.

Performance in this zone is next to nothing.

2. Comfort Zone

As our stress levels increase we move into our comfort zone, this is manageable stress and is on the way to peak performance. It is comfortable here but there is no growth and if you stay here too long, you will slip back into the boredom zone.

Performance in this zone is higher than in the boredom zone but not at it’s best.

3. Stretch Zone

As pressure & stress increases, we move into the stretch zone. This is where our minds & bodies are being stretched. You know that feeling when you’ve got a lot on your plate but you’re totally in control, you are busy but you are really enjoying it.

This is the zone where your level of stress and your level of performance are at their optimal. This is where everyone wants to be – not stressed, not overloaded, not under pressure but challenged, stretched & at absolute peak performance.

This is where we do our best work.

This is where we live our best lives.

This is where our mind, body and soul are at optimum health.

This is where we excel.

In a Lean Culture, this is where employees are the happiest, most productive and where we should aim to stay. When employees are working in this zone they are healthy, happy, engaged, committed, learning, problem solving and enjoying their roles.

Businesses that support their employees to stay in this zone thrive.

4. Strain Zone

As pressure and stress levels increase we now move into the strain zone. We no longer feel in control and we start to feel under pressure, overloaded, too much on our plate and it’s hard to see the wood from the trees. In this zone we are no longer operating an optimum level – our performance, interest, happiness, health and energy levels decrease and everything starts to go downhill.

Performance in this zone is diminished and reduces every day you stay here.

In this zone we have two choices. One – to continue with the workload, continue taking on pressure and stress and hope it somehow alleviates. This is not a wise choice and we just continue on the slippery slope towards burnout.

The other choice is to STOP.

Stop taking on work, stop taking on activities, stop taking on pressure & stress. Remove as much as we can from our workload. This is a very wise choice and as you start to remove items from your to-do list you will start to move backwards through the Stress Performance Curve.

5. Burnout Zone

When you are in the strain zone and you continue you to take on activities/work and continue to add to your to-do list you will eventually end up in the the burnout zone.

You may think you are getting loads done, that you are ploughing through stuff and you are on your A-game but you are not. You are now back to the level of performance that you were when you were in the boredom zone.

Performance in this zone is next to nothing.

You may be getting things done but there is no time for thinking, no time for creativity, no time for imagination, no time for innovation, no time for rest, relaxation and recuperation, no time for anything only the to-do list. Whilst you are getting to your to-do list, the pace and quality of work is immensely diminished.

In this zone it’s fight or flight and that’s about it.

Not only is this not sustainable but it is also dangerous to your mental, emotional, physical & spiritual health. There is no enjoyment in what you are doing and you wondering is the to-do list ever going to end! You probably become irritable, unfulfilled, unhappy, unproductive and apathetic.

This is a very real and dangerous place to find yourself in.

If you are here, do everything you can to get out of this zone, your health is more at risk than you would imagine.

The Stress Performance Curve is fascinating and the amount of time we spend in each of the zones and how long it takes us to go from one zone to another different for us all.

Here is an insight into my journey through the Stress Performance Curve which I hope I never repeat:

In hindsight I probably started 2021 in the stretch zone. In 2020 I had taken on a serious amount of work outside of my day job and even through I absolutely loved every minute of it, I knew I was stretched.

In early 2021 I started doing webinars and launched my first online course ‘Kickstart Your Personal Strategy’ which is something I am very passionate about and was excited to teach it. I was spending lots of time writing/editing blog posts and on social media. Add this to a very busy day job on top of lockdown and it wasn’t long before I started to move into the strain zone.

Of course all of this is in hindsight and in hindsight we have 20:20 vision!

For most of early 2021, I just felt under pressure all day everyday. There was too much my plate, I had committed to too much and I was working way too many hours.

Looking back at my journalling around that time, all of my healthy habits that I had spend years building to sustain balance in my life were gone. By the time April came around that was it I was in the burnout zone.

If you’ve been burned out or are currently functioning in the burnout zone it is not a pretty place to be.

it’s not enjoyable, it’s not happy, it’s not fulfilling, it’s not productive, it’s not anything that you would actually want for your life. In this zone everything becomes a challenge, the normal day-to-day activities like exercising, socialising, thinking straight – it’s all so overwhelming.

When I finally realised I was burned out I made the decision to STOP. I stopped everything except my day job, I stopped writing blog posts, I stopped creating content, I stopped doing webinars, I stopped social media.

I STOPPED.

When you stop everything and remove workload from your plate, it doesn’t mean that you automatically go back to the optimal performance stretch zone. It takes time for your mind, body and soul to re-adjust, to get out of that fight or flight mode and to come back into some level of normality.

As I started to move through the strain & stretch phase I finally found myself in the comfort phase. I had successfully removed enough from my plate that I felt comfortable with my workload again.

Naively, I thought that was the end of my journey through the Stress Performance Curve but it wasn’t. I was now working on my day job only and not all of passions outside of work. This presented me with 2 problems.

One, I missed writing & creating content etc but I knew I couldn’t take it all on again without going back to the burnout zone.

Two, I was no longer enjoying my role at work and was operating in the boredom zone there. Operating here is just as detrimental to health as the strain & burnout zones. Even though I was busy, I was no longer doing work that challenged, excited or motivated me.

And so, I made the decision to leave my day job to focus solely on and build a business around my passions in life which are Lean Culture/Strategy, Writing & Travel Photography.

Knowing about and understanding the symptoms of each of the zones of the Stress Performance Curve goes a long way to ensuring you stay in the stretch zone or at least not too far away from it!

Human beings are not machines, we all have limits and going past those limits damages our most valuable asset, our health!

Where are you on the Stress Performance Curve?

How long have you been there?

Are you aware when you are heading into the Strain and Burnout Zones?

Are you aware when you are heading into the Comfort and Boredom Zones?

How do you keep yourself at peak performance in the Stretch Zone?

How do you keep your team and business at peak performance in the Stretch Zone?

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

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The Stress Performance Curve

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The Stress Performance Curve is pretty self-explanatory, the more stressed we get the further along the curve we move. Here is an explanation of the different zones on the curve.

1. Boredom Zone

In the first zone there is very low stress and we are bored. Stay here too long and you will feel the effects of boreout which are just as dangerous as burnout. If you are in this zone in your life or work, your mental, emotional, physical & spiritual health is at risk.

Performance in this zone is next to nothing.

2. Comfort Zone

Performance in this zone is higher than in the boredom zone but not at it’s best.

3. Stretch Zone

This is the zone where your level of stress and your level of performance are at their optimal. Everyone wants to be here – not stressed, not overloaded, not under pressure but challenged, stretched & at absolute peak performance.

This is where we do our best work.

This is where we live our best lives.

This is where our mind, body and soul are at optimum health.

This is where we excel.

Businesses that support their employees to stay in this zone thrive.

4. Strain Zone

Performance in this zone is diminished and reduces every day you stay here.

The other choice is to STOP.

5. Burnout Zone

When you are in the strain zone and you continue you to take on activities/work and continue to add to your to-do list you will eventually end up in the the burnout zone.

Performance in this zone is next to nothing.

In this zone it’s fight or flight and that’s about it.

This is a very real and dangerous place to find yourself in.

If you are here, do everything you can to get out of this zone, your health is more at risk than you would imagine.

The Stress Performance Curve is fascinating and the amount of time we spend in each of the zones and how long it takes us to go from one zone to another different for us all.

Knowing about and understanding the symptoms of each of the zones of the Stress Performance Curve goes a long way to ensuring you stay in the stretch zone or at least not too far away from it!

Human beings are not machines, we all have limits and going past those limits damages our most valuable asset, our health!

In my next blog post I give you an insight into ‘My Journey through the Stress Performance’.

Where are you on the Stress Performance Curve?

How long have your been there?

Are you aware when you are heading into the Strain and Burnout Zones?

Are you aware when you are heading into the Comfort and Boredom Zones?

How do you keep yourself at peak performance in the Stretch Zone?

How do you keep your team and your business at peak performance in the Stretch Zone?

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

x x

Want to read more about Positive Change?

Download your free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ and sign up to my Weekly Newsletter below.

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The Importance of Time Off

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Image Credit: Stefan Sagmeister’s Time Off timeline

In October 2021 I left my job without another which for many reasons was the right decision for me albeit a difficult one to make. I had planned to take a break to the end of 2021 and then set up my own business in early 2022.

Then I watched Stefan Sagmeister’s Ted Talk and the direction of my life changed completely.

That was over 3 years ago now and Stefan’s video still has the huge impact on my life.

Stefan Sagmeister runs a design studio in New York and every 7 years he closes it for a year to pursue some little experiments, things that are always difficult to accomplish during the regular working year. In this year Stefan and his team are not available to any of their clients as they are totally closed.’

Stefan refers to this time as a ‘A LOVELY AND VERY ENERGETIC TIME’.

That’s it, 30 seconds into this Ted Talk I was hooked. All plans of setting up and running my own business faded from my mind.

I wanted this time, I wanted ‘A LOVELY AND VERY ENERGETIC TIME’ just as Stefan had described.

Stefan is very lucky to work on his passions of music & design but outlines that after a while even this can get boring and everything starts to look the same. This is true for any work we do, even if it is something we are deeply passionate about. We need variety and we need to be learning to nurture & fuel our creativity & innovation, keeping our work fresh & exciting.

Below is Stefan’s genius idea in a timeline.

Stefan explains we spend roughly the first 25 years of our lives learning in some form of education, we spend roughly the next 40 years working and if we are lucky enough, we spend roughly the next 15 years in retirement.

Stefan takes 5 of these retirement years and disperses them throughout his working life – GENIUS!

Stefan explains that this is clearly enjoyable for him but also the work that comes out of this year flows back into his company and society at large and so is beneficial to everyone.

Stefan outlines some of the creative ideas & success that he and other companies such as 3M and Google have had by giving their employees time to creatively pursue whatever they want. It is this creativity that keeps people FRESH, CREATIVE & INNOVATIVE.

It is this FRESHNESS, CREATIVITY & INNOVATION that differentiates companies that grow & succeed from companies that regress & fail.

Thankfully this creative time allowed Art Fry to develop the Post-It while working with 3M! Anyone who knows me well knows my obsession with Post-Its!

After 30 seconds of his Ted Talk, Stefan had inspired me to take TIME OFF.

Time to spend with loved ones, time to learn, time to focus on all the things I wasn’t getting to while I was working
Time to enjoy this ‘LOVELY AND ENERGETIC TIME’, time to fuel and nurture my creativity & innovation
Time to do whatever it is that I want to do

I’m currently almost 3 years into my TIME OFF and even though I didn’t plan it to be so long, this TIME OFF has been an amazing gift.

Is there something you want to take TIME OFF FROM?

Do you take time to nurture & fuel your CREATIVITY & INNOVATION?

How much time do you spend pursuing what you want to pursue?

Want to join my weekly newsletter on all things positive change? Download your free ebook The A-Z of Effective Change below and I’ll see you there

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Do You Have Decision Fatigue?

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Do you have Decision Fatigue?

Seemingly, adults make about 35,000 DECISIONS A DAY!

Can you imagine how taxing that is on your brain? The more we do, the more decisions we have to make, the more decisions we make the more pressure is placed on our brains, minds and bodies.

The more pressure that is on us, the less we are able to make quality decisions.

According to Wikipedia, decision fatigue is ‘the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making. It is now understood as one of the causes of irrational trade-offs in decision making. Decision fatigue may also lead to consumers making poor choices with their purchases’.

Here’s the visual explanation of that,

To a certain point, which is different for all of us, we make good quality decisions, promptly and with confidence.

These decisions yield the results we want and we move forward with our lives & work.

Past a certain point, which again is different for all of us, we make poor quality decisions, are slow to make these decisions and make them with less confidence.

These decisions do not yield the results we want and we don’t move forward with our lives & work.

As you can see from the graph, when you move past this point, it’s a slippery slope!!

I know this from personal experience. Early in 2021, I was making good quality decisions, promptly and with confidence.

These decisions yielded the results I wanted and I was moving forward with my life and work.

As the year progressed and I took more & more on and became busier & busier, my decision making reduced in quality, became slower and I made decisions with a lot less confidence.

These decisions yielded the results I did not want and I wasn’t moving forward with my life & work.

The lesson here is if you want to make good quality decisions, TAKE ON LESS.

DO LESS BUT DO IT BETTER!

How is your decision making?

Are your decisions giving you the results you want or the results you don’t want?

Do you have decision fatigue?

If so, what can you remove from your work/life to reduce or eliminate this fatigue?

Want to read more about Positive Change?

Download your FREE EBOOK ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Is Your Life & Work In Flow?

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Image Credit: The Internet

Have you heard of the concept of flow?

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was a Hungarian-American psychologist who passed away on 20th October 2021. I’ve been aware of his work for ages and have become fascinated by the concept of flow.

‘In his best selling book ‘Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience’ Csíkszentmihályi outlined his theory that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow—a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. Flow is a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. The idea of flow is identical to the feeling of being in the zone or in the groove. The flow state is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what they are doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterised by a feeling of great absorption, engagement, fulfillment, and skill and during which temporal concerns (time, food, ego-self, etc.) are typically ignored.’ Wikipedia

Doesn’t flow sound great?

You know that feeling when you are doing something or working on something and absolutely nothing else matters. You are in a world of your own and you could keep doing the activity or work forever and it would never get boring or dull?

This is FLOW.

It would make sense that we would want to spend as much time as possible in our personal & professional lives in a state of flow which Mihaly explains is a necessity for our happiness and well being.

Below is Mihaly’s model of flow in relation to challenge and ability.

‘To achieve a flow state, a balance must be struck between the challenge of the task and the skill of the performer. If the task is too easy or too difficult, flow cannot occur as both skill level and challenge level must be matched and high; if skill and challenge are low and matched, then apathy results.’ Wikipedia

How important is this model in terms of our personal and professional lives?

It is a quick and simple explanation of what we feel when we are either challenged too much or too little and what we feel when we possess or do not possess skills & abilities required to meet these challenges.

How helpful would this be in terms of happiness in our personal and professional lives?

What it does show is that to be happy, confident, contented & focused you need to be continuously challenged and continuously growing your skillset to match those challenges.

Fascinating eh?

Here are two amazing Ted Talks from the late, great Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

As well as explaining flow, in the video below, Mihaly also talks about the relationship between happiness & money and how it’s not a linear relationship meaning that gaining more and more money past a certain point will not bring you happiness!

TED Talk – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – Flow – 2004

In this Ted Talk, Mihaly goes deeper into the relationship between happiness and flow.

Living in flow – the secret of happiness with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi at Happiness & Its Causes 2014

Lean philosophy is all about growth of people in the workplace to ensure growth of business. There wouldn’t be much growth of people or business if everyone were anxious, worried, apathetic or bored!

Hence the necessity to prioritise people’s skill development and challenge to match.

This ensures your workforce are alert, focused, happy, confident and contented. All necessities for people & business growth.

I’m in flow when I spend time with family & friends or when I am writing, reading, creating content, teaching, learning/researching, exercising, traveling, taking/editing photos. Not surprising then that these are my passions in life.

When are you in flow?

Is your work/business in flow?

How can you bring more flow into your life?

Here’s to more flow in all of our lives!

Want to read more about Positive Change?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Is Your Focus In or Out of Control?

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Where is your FOCUS?

Is it on what YOU CONTROL?

Is it on what YOU DON’T CONTROL?

Positive change is my passion and, when I had one, it was my day job!

Change fascinates me and the more I learn, the more I love it.

I have learned through time & experience that there is only one thing you control in this life and that is YOURSELF.

Everything else is OUT OF YOUR CONTROL.

Every person, every event, every situation, every single thing outside of yourself is OUT OF YOUR CONTROL.

Because of this, wouldn’t it make sense to only give our time and energy to what WE CAN CONTROL?

In an ideal world the answer would be YES.

But we don’t live in an ideal world – we live in a messy, unpredictable, busy world where most of what we encounter during our daily lives is outside of us.

So if we don’t control what is outside of us, how do we change it?

The answer is WE DON’T, all we can control is our REACTION TO IT!

We absolutely, 100% can control our REACTION to EVERY SINGLE THING THAT HAPPENS.

Read that again.

Easier said than done for sure.

The next time something happens that you want to change, think about the following,

1. How can I accept this?

Eckhart Tolle in his profound and my favourite book ever ‘The Power of Now’ suggests to accept everything as if you had chosen it. Following this acceptance, Eckhart then suggests to ask what the situation is trying to teach us. This is a concept that takes a bit of getting used to but absolutely brings much peace of mind.

Acceptance of any situation is totally IN OUR CONTROL.

2. Can I change this?

YES, then change it.

NO, how can I change how I view it?

Wayne Dyer in his masterpiece book ‘Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life’ introduces the concept of changing how we view things which doesn’t change what they are but changes our perception of them. Wayne’s beautiful quote sums up this thinking ‘If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Again, a concept that takes a bit of getting usd to but also brings much peace of mind.

How we view and think about any situation is totally IN OUR CONTROL.

3. Do I need to make a plan for this long term?

If you can’t accept something and can’t change it then the only other option is to remove yourself from the situation.

This is not always straight forward or easy and might take some planning on your part. While you plan to remove yourself from the situation, acceptance and changing how you view the situation will go a long way to protecting you and your mental health.

The situations we allow ourselves to be in is totally IN OUR CONTROL.

4. Reflect on your reaction

The more I reflect, the more I learn about how I react in situations that I want to change and how I make decisions, big and small.

Reflection is one of the most powerful things you can do to learn more about yourself. Do you reflect on decisions you make and how you react to situations you want to change?

Reflection on and learning from every situation is totally IN OUR CONTROL.

The next time you are faced with a situation you want to change whether it is a small situation or life changing situation, I hope the above will support you with acceptance, changing how you view the situation, planning to remove yourself from it and reflection on all of the above.

As mentioned above, here are 2 life changing books that I love and that you might love also..

‘The Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle

By far my favourite book of all time, if you only ever read one book in your lifetime, let it be this one! Eckhart’s follow on book ‘A New Earth’ is equally as good.

‘Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life’ by Dr Wayne Dyer

An incredible book on how to change situations by changing how we think about them which is turn totally transforms our lives. Anything by Dr. Wayne Dyer is a transformational read.