Tag Archives: Effective Change

Imagination

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

Imagination. Walt Disney and the hugely successful brand he built is synonymous with the word imagination. It is in the imagination of Walt and those who followed in his footsteps that our favourite animated characters were dreamed of before they became a reality on our screens. Who ever would have thought a small mouse with a squeaky voice would be one of the most famous and most loved characters around the world for decades? It truly is amazing what the imagination can bring to life when we focus on possibilities and not obstacles!

All change means doing something that hasn’t been done before and in order to bring about change we must first engage our most precious creativity tool – our imaginations. Our imaginations are limitless, there is no end to what we can dream of, just as there are no limits to what can be achieved in the real world where dreams become reality.

We can use our imaginations to dream of the change we wish to see, use our imaginations to feel how we want to feel when the change is a reality and use our imaginations to ponder on the thought of how we are going to achieve the change. 

One of my favourite books, ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho, is one of the most widely read and successful books of all time. A parable about a young Andalusian shepherd, this remarkable book offers a wealth of wise lessons to us all about life, the possibilities that lie within each of us and the importance of using our imaginations and following our dreams. My favourite quote from this book and one I truly believe in is, 

‘’And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” 

Can you imagine that when we decide we want something –  an entire universe will conspire to help us achieve it? We may find this hard to believe, however it is this belief that determines the success or failure of what it is we want to achieve. 

We must first believe that what is in our imagination is capable of becoming a reality. As suggested by the above quote, the universe will then look after the finer details. 

Do you believe an entire universe is conspiring to help you achieve what you want?

In the image above, Pinky dreams of being with his loved ones, on a sunny day. Our dreams don’t have to be grand visions but they do need to resonate totally with ourselves. 

Is your imagination being used to its full potential?

Are you allowing your imagination to run wild?

Do you dream big about the changes you want to see in your life and business?

Are you dreaming bigger than you ever thought possible?

[tweetthis]‘Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age and dreams are forever.’ Walt Disney [/tweetthis]

If you want to learn more about creating effective change in your life and/or business, download my free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below. 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Honesty

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

Honesty. If we want to implement and sustain change of any kind in our lives, we need to be honest with the world, our place in it and ourselves. This honesty requires us to look deep into ourselves to figure out who we are, what our values are, what we want from our lives, what type of lives we want to live, what direction we are going in and where we want our lives to go.

Along the journey of effective change, there are decisions to be made. In order to make the right decisions we need to be honest about why we are changing and exactly where we want  from the change. This level of self-honesty takes continuous bravery and this bravery is a lifelong work in progress. 

When we become completely honest with ourselves, we can become completely honest with the world. The path to effective change then becomes enjoyable and peaceful and will open doors for us to infinite possibilities. 

Are you being honest with yourself with what you want from life?

[tweetthis]“Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.”  Spencer Johnson[/tweetthis]

If you want to learn more about creating effective change in your life and/or business, download my free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Gratitude

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

Gratitude. One of my favourite quotes is by Jim Rohn,  ‘Enjoy all you have while pursuing all you want’. 

While pursuing all we want it is really important to be aware of and immensely grateful for all we have in this present moment. It is crucial to take stock of and be grateful for the blessings we have in our lives, everything we are, those who share our lives, where we are and where we are going. In all aspects of life being grateful for where we are will bring peace to any situation and will ensure our eye stays on the future goal but that we remain present and content in our current situation.

Tony Robbins, in his book ‘Master The Game’ suggests that real wealth comes from gratitude, how can we be happy with more if we are not happy with what we already have? In her hugely successful book ‘The Secret’, Rhonda Byrne tells us that ‘feeling gratitude is the fastest way to change every single thing in your life.’ The more grateful we are the more peaceful a situation becomes and the smoother the path of change. 

[tweetthis]‘As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.’ John F. Kennedy[/tweetthis]

If you want to learn more about creating effective change in your life and/or business, download my free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Faith

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

Faith can have many different meanings. It can mean an inner faith, an unwavering belief in yourself, in your talents, in your ability to change, in your gifts, attributes and all round goodness. To some people faith can mean a belief in something bigger than themselves, a purpose, a grand vision, a religion. No matter what faith means to you, it will be challenged along the path of change. Your faith will be tested by external factors, by life itself and your faith will even be tested and challenged by yourself.

 Is this the right change for me? 

Am I doing the right thing?

What if I don’t change? 

All the doubting questions we ask ourselves will test even the strongest of faiths. It’s easy to keep faith through good times however it is through the difficult and rough times that your faith will really be tested and it is then that you must believe and have faith in yourself. Know that you are capable of change, have faith in your capabilities, your resilience, your reasons for change and the results you want to achieve.

Keeping your faith alive and strong will ensure you stay true to yourself and the change you envision.

[tweetthis]‘Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.’  Bruce Lee[/tweetthis]

If you want to learn more about creating effective change in your life and/or business, download my free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Energy

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

Energy. Keeping your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual energy levels at an optimum will ensure you have the energy and vitality required for change. However you keep your energy levels high, scheduling time in your day to build your energy levels will go a long way to assist you on your journey of change. It could be 60 minutes at the gym, 30 minutes reading, 10 minutes of meditation  or 5 minutes of solitude.

In this fast paced digital world we may think that we need to have high energy all the time to keep up with the many demands of our busy lives. Having high energy is important, however having low energy is just as important and both energy levels are required to create balance. As humans our energy levels are cyclical just like the seasons of nature that evolve into each other, just like night follows day, and just like the tides flow and ebb, each phase allows the other to co-exist. 

When you are in a low energy phase allow yourself to take the foot off the pedal, be kind to yourself, relax, recuperate and enjoy the deep feeling of contentment that this can bring. This will serve you well when the time for high energy reappears. 

[tweetthis]‘I surround myself with good people who make me feel great and give me positive energy.’  Ali Krieger[/tweetthis]

If you want to learn more about creating effective change in your life and/or business, download my free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below. 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Dedication

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Thanks to the brilliant Andy Kefford for the above image

Dedication. Effective and sustainable change is a never ending journey which is why dedication is so important.To ensure change is implemented you must be dedicated to it. Even more dedication is required to ensure the implemented change is sustained. 

Ask yourself the following questions, why do I want to change, why is this change so important, what will the benefits be, what will the consequences be if I don’t change, how much do I want this change?

Keep the answers to the above questions to the front of your mind as they will give you the determination you need to move ahead and succeed when times get tough as they inevitably will.

In order to succeed we need consistent, daily discipline and determination to stay on track. 

[tweetthis]‘We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.’  Jesse Owens[/tweetthis]

If you want to learn more about creating effective change in your life and/or business, download my free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below. 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Confidence

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Image Credit – the brilliant Andy Kefford

Confidence. When you have decided to create change in your life you will need high levels of  self confidence in yourself and in your ability to change. 

Change often brings feelings of uncertainty, fear and anxiety. 

Every time we make bring something new into our lives or learn something new, it requires a new and higher level of confidence to deal with those feelings of uncertainty, fear and anxiety. Continuously building your inner confidence will diminish and alleviate these feelings of uncertainty, fear and anxiety. 

These are normal feelings towards change, however if we do not deal with and alleviate these feelings they will hold us back. We can procrastinate and in some instances we can convince ourselves that we no longer need or want to change. 

The best way to deal with feelings of uncertainty, fear & anxiety and the obstacles they create is to develop confidence – inner, unshakable self confidence. 

As you build your inner confidence, you will inspire others to have confidence in themselves as they navigate the ever evolving path of change.  As humans, we are capable of anything we put our minds to. The first step of achieving our dreams is having the inner confidence to believe we can. 

[tweetthis]‘Through my education, I didn’t just develop skills, I didn’t just develop the ability to learn, but I developed confidence.’  Michelle Obama [/tweetthis]

Pinky’s image below is inspired by 80s band Journey’s hugely successful song ‘Don’t Stop Believing’. Playing, singing and dancing to this excellent song at high volume will do wonders for your self-confidence! 

If you want to learn more about creating effective change in your life and/or business, download my free e-book ‘The A-Z of Effective Change’ below. 

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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Bravery

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Image Credit – the brilliant Andy Kefford 

Bravery. Change of all kinds can be challenging as it means stepping into the unknown. 

Change means stepping out of your comfort zone which is difficult and uncomfortable. What if we didn’t change? Yes, we would continue to feel happy enough in our comfort zones, but that’s not where anything or anyone grows!

Comfort zones are meant to be stepped outside of every now and then to see what it is we must learn to grow and develop. Even stepping out of our comfort zone by one or two steps requires bravery. Some people welcome change with open arms, some are filled with fear at the thoughts of even the smallest change and some are in between the two extremes.

Whether the change you are making is personal or professional, whether it is big or small, whether it is something you wished for or didn’t wish for, all change requires bravery on some level.

Bravery is deciding to change. 

Bravery is taking action to change. 

Bravery is stepping outside of your comfort zone.

Bravery is becoming comfortable with the results of change. 

Bravery is doing what is needed to sustain change for the long term. 

When it comes to change in your professional and personal life, take a deep breath, be brave, be very brave and take that next step forward.

What could you achieve with more bravery?

[tweetthis]‘I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.’ Nelson Mandela[/tweetthis]

This post is dedicated to my Dad, Con Danaher, who is the bravest person I know and through his humble braveness he has taught me to be brave and more happy than ever to venture into the unknown!

You can get a copy of my free e-book ‘The A-Z Of Effective Change’ of which this post is a part of by popping your e-mail into the form below,

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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PDCA – Dr Deming’s Gift To The World

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Image Credit:  Madhuri Gupta

William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an American engineer, statistician, professor, author, lecturer, and management consultant.

Dr Deming’s philosophy below (thanks Wikipedia) will give you an insight into his profound wisdom and deep understanding of systems and operations and how they work efficiently, effectively and optimally.

‘Dr. W. Edwards Deming taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organisations can increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs (by reducing waste, rework, staff attrition and litigation while increasing customer loyalty). The key is to practice continual improvement and think of manufacturing as a system, not as bits and pieces.”

The above sentence sums up why all businesses would benefit from Lean and how Lean requires to be implemented through a series of systems that support the work and not as a stand alone philosophy.

See ‘Wikipedia’ for more information on Dr Deming and his great work.

The Plan, Do, Check, Act Cycle, or PDCA cycle, is a technique designed to facilitate continuous improvement in the workplace. It is also referred to as the Deming Cycle, as it was popularized under the instruction of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Deming was introduced to the concept by Walter Shewart, a statistical quality control expert. PDCA has also been referred to as PDSA (Plan, Do Study, Act), PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Adjust) and numerous variations in between.

Whichever version you decide to you the principles are the same.

Dr Deming’s PDCA cycle has completely changed how I work and how I live. Everything I do in relation to projects & work (personal and professional) now goes through this cycle or some variation of it. Let me give you an insight into how it works and the benefits it brings.

PLAN

(Develop a detailed plan )

This is the first step in the Deming cycle, and it is here you determine exactly what the opportunity for change is.  In this first step, it is important to determine what problem you are solving, what is the goal, what will the measurements of success be and how will you implement this change.

It is here that you determine exactly what you need to achieve success and how you will know you are successful. The only way to know if something has improved is by measuring it and so it is critical to determine what metrics will give you this information and how you will collect these metrics.

When you are happy you have a detailed plan, know what metrics you will monitor (and how you will gather and monitor these), it’s time to move into the ‘Do’ phase.

The above sounds very simple but it’s not uncommon for people, departments and organisations to plough ahead with change without a detailed well thought out plan.

Spending most of your time in the Plan phase will set you up for success on the next stages of the PDCA cycle.

DO

(Implement the changes according to the plan)

Here it is time for action and time to use the plan developed above to put that action in place. The plan will serve as an excellent guide and reminder of exactly what it is you want to achieve. The metrics you will gather during the ‘Do’ phase will ensure you are continuously moving in the right direction towards success.

If you are leading a team, department or an organisation through change it should be very clear at all stages in the ‘Do’ phase where you are with the change and what the next steps are.

CHECK

(Reflect on and evaluate results)

This phase reduces rework and provides clarity.

 This step is sometimes referred to as the study phase. Here we are reviewing and analysing the results of the improvements implemented in the Do phase.

In this phase you ‘Check’ if your initial goal from the ‘Plan’ phase has been reached and ‘Check’ if the metrics gathered support this goal achievement.

Did you reach your goal?

Do the metrics support this?

Are you happy that this initiative has been a success?

ACT

(What are the next steps?)

This step is our last in the where we ask 2 questions and act accordingly on the answers.

Did we reach our goal?

If the answer is Yes, we standardise, document and roll out the new process, training those who need to be trained. This is the new Standard Work on which we continuously improve.

If the answer is No, we may need to alter our methods of implementation, develop a new plan, or test our improvements on a larger scale.

As this is a cycle, the PDCA process never really ends.

It repeats itself providing the path to continuous improvement.

Do you use the PDCA cycle?

Could the PDCA cycle help you transform how you live and work?

Want to read more about change?

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

Thanks for reading,

Siobhain

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The ‘Not To Do List’

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Do you have a ‘Not To Do List’ ?

Lately, the Not To Do List has become my favourite time management tool!

My recent post on the time management tool ‘The Priority Matrix’ highlights that there are many tasks that could be moved from your ‘to do list’ to your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’.

As our lives get busier and busier – creating, updating and getting through our ‘to do lists’ can sometimes feel a little overwhelming. The ‘so much to do, so little time’ syndrome has become widespread as we move through the digital age trying to juggle all that is part of our day to day lives.

The constant and exhausting need to take everything on and get everything done will eventually lead to burnout.

So how do we deal with our ever increasing ‘to do lists’ and the constant and consistent requests for our precious time?

First, prioritise what is on your ‘to do list’ by using ‘The Priority Matrix’.

Then place everything that does not need to be done on your  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’.

If you update your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ every day you will feel you are getting through tasks by the simple movement of tasks from one list to another. 

Time is so precious and a ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ can make us think deeply about where we spend our precious time.

 To say my  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ has totally transformed how I get things done is an understatement.  For me, my ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ is just as important and gets as much attention as my ‘to do list’.

As a big fan of lists but also as someone who is susceptible to overwhelm, I use a  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ every single day. As I review my daily plan of what needs to get done I also review what doesn’t need to get done that day. 

I am always astounded at the amount of tasks that end up on my  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ freeing up precious time!

Even physically moving something from your ‘to do list’  to your ‘NOT TO DO LIST’ will give you a sense of achievement! 

Do you have a  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’? 

Could this help you free up time to focus on more important things in your life/business?

What would go on your  ‘NOT TO DO LIST’?

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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