The Path to Personal Effectiveness

I've just finished reading Fredmund Malik's book on effective management: "Managing, Performing, Living. Effective Management for a New Era." He has a lot of wise things to say. Towards the end, he focuses on what he calls "Systematic Abandonment" - basically, the art of letting go, clearing out and getting rid of deadwood. What I quote here, he writes in italics so to emphasize his point:

"What should I stop doing - because it has outlived its use, because I have outgrown it, because I want to develop in another direction, because there are other and better methods, because there is something more important to do, because I am older and must set other priorities, and so on?"


This resonated particularly last Saturday, because one participant on the Springboard programme talked about how she wanted to stop doing something. She was nervous about it, she would have to step out of her comfort zone. On the other hand, she recognised how the particular activity was costing her too much energy. Following the SB philosophy, by setting a deadline, she can achieve this goal and give up the activity which has outlived its use, which she has outgrown now that she wants to develop in another direction because she is older and has other priorities.

See. There are signs and messages out there for us, if we're open to them!

Wishing you great success with your new found freedom once you've off-loaded that which is holding you back, Lisa!

Workshop 4 - SB programme summer 2011

Here's a wonderful reminder of our last day together - enjoy!

Springboard workshop 4, July 2011

Taking Time Out

You know how we're always talking about life-work balance, finding more "Me-Time", stopping and taking time out from time-to-time? Well, I've been doing just that the last couple of weeks.

Due to a downturn in my business (ie: no classes between academic semesters!) I've found myself with oodles of spare time. What I discovered is this...

Initially, I kept waking early despite having no appointments. That was OK, I got up and pottered in my office. Gradually, the amount of time at my desk lessened and I found other things to do. Like catch up on the gardening I've been meaning to do for ages, sort out my wardrobe, implement an idea I've had for a while.

Occasionally, I caught myself thinking "I should be getting on with some work. All this spare time and all the business I ought to be working on." Then dismissed such thoughts and decided "This is OK. I need to do this and at exactly this lovely, slow pace." I made a conscious decision to walk the talk and experience some actual re-balancing of life-work activities.

Luckily, this downturn coincided with the school holidays here (2 whole weeks, only 4 weeks prior to the main summer holiday - fabulous!) So there was a certain amount of justification - vacation time is when many people are off work too.

Anyway, my living/dining room looks great since I re-arranged things (the idea I've had since Christmas worked out really well!) and I'm relaxed and just a bit sun-tanned. The garden is cleared of lots of weeds, the tomato plants look like they'll make it as far as a harvest. AND I have a good deal of new work coming my way.

How have you been during these lovely, early summer days? Rushing around doing work-related stuff or stopping and taking some time out to enjoy the sun dappling through the trees, listen to birdsong, getting a good sniff of your favourite in-bloom flower, sipping a cold glass of your favourite tipple in the evening on your balcony, terrace, garden with friends, with a good book, or your favourite magazine? Even if you're not in a position to do any of this for 2 weeks, one afternoon is possible, isn't it? And guess what; the world won't stop turning and customers won't stop calling - life carries on and you'll be in a better frame of mind to carry on with it.

Go on. You know I'm right. Take some time out for you now! You're worth it :-)

Breaking Habits & re-writing Limiting Beliefs

Last Saturday was workshop 2 of the current SB programme. As per the plan, we reached the Limiting Beliefs part of the day. Somewhat surprisingly - pleasantly for the group, a little tricky for me as trainer - most people struggled to find any limiting beliefs!! In the spirit of completing the task in hand, both groups came up with enough material for us to have a discussion.




Later in the day, we took a look at habits & fixed behaviours and how they effect our beliefs. We may find some of our old habits don't always match beliefs that we hold now. Our habits may be holding us back when it comes to what we want to achieve today. We looked at some typical behaviours we all have and agreed to try doing them differently, e.g. brushing our hair with the opposite hand, folding our arms the other way round - just to prove how difficult it is to change ingrained habits!



One of the habits which I've wanted to change for a while, is drinking coffee every morning. I publicly - in front of the whole group - gave myself the challenge of breaking this habit. I committed to reporting back at the next workshop (July 2).

Doing this made me consider what lay behind my coffee-drinking habit. I feel that I won't be able to wake up without first drinking a coffee in the morning. Hum! This looks awfully like a limiting belief!

"I won't be able to ..... if I don't ...."

So what? one might think. Drinking coffee's not so bad. But you see, for me, it can be. I often react strongly to caffeine, sometimes I can barely speak and my hands shake. On bad days, I feel really sick and have pains in my stomach. Coffee is not good for me. But because I've convinced myself that I can't function in the morning without it, I keep drinking.



Thus my personal challenge. Test my belief - my limiting belief - and break a habit: avoid coffee first thing in the morning. The first 4 days after the workshop, I did it! No coffee - only herbal tea in the morning. Now I'm trying with only one cup later in the day (ultimately, I like coffee).

Now my belief is:

"I drink energy-giving tea in the morning and coffee just for pleasure later in the day."

Thinking about other habits I have which I'd like to change... well, that's a fairly long list. I'll keep it to myself for now and take what I've learned from breaking the "coffee habit" and use it to motivate me with the others.

What about your habits which aren't doing you any good or holding you back from living the way you want to live, achieving the goals you've set yourself. Look behind those habits, there might just be an unacknowledged limiting belief lurking....

Aspirational Quests

I keep coming back to Samantha Collins and her Aspire companies. She is a role model for me personally. One of her current projects is called

The Heroine's Quest.

You can read about it online and watch this video which, by the way, is an amazing piece of marketing!

Workshop 1 of Pilot with German Women

Saturday 30 April in Stuttgart. It was a lovely, sunny day filled with wonderful women. For me personally, it was the best opening to a Springboard so far - I felt more at home with the material and more confident generally.

Here are some photos which give a flavour of the day. Enjoy!

Shall I stay or shall I go now?

Jenna Goudreau, blogger for Forbes online, has posted on a recent survey. Admittedly, it focuses on the situation in America, but we can use it as an indication of a trend. Apparently, more than a third of employees are dissatisfied at work and are looking for new jobs. Jenna asked 10 coaches about the classic signs of burn out, stress, de-motivation and general reasons why it’s time to move on from your current job.

Top 10 signs it's time to leave your job

It all made me think of how useful Springboard would be in such situations. You might end up deciding to stay and try an internal approach; you might decide to jump ship and find something new – in an assertive way so that no bridges get burned. There are any number of ways the techniques and approaches used in Springboard would support any career-related decision.

Upcoming Springboard Programme

We now have half the desired number of participants registered for the next SB programme! My aim is to have at least 20 women. So thanks to all of you who've agreed to be part of the next group so far. You've made an excellent decision. Pass on the word to anyone else you feel could also benefit from this life-changing programme.

Remember, you can expect to:

• learn how to deal better with change
• become more positive and confident
• find more life-work balance
• discover a higher motivation for tasks, either at work, home - or both!
• (if you're a native German-speaker) practise your English skills in a safe, friendly environment

And of course you have the added advantage of paying only a third of the normal price: €130 instead of €450 (plus MwSt). In return, I ask for constructive criticism - feedback to help with the process of converting the whole progamme into German, specifically for the German market.

When anyone has questions or simply wants to book their place on the programme, call me! Or e-mail me: 0174 97 22 555 / springboard@keeptraining.de

Put the dates in your diary now:

Workshop 1 - Sat. 30 April
Workshop 2 - Sat. 28 May
Workshop 3 - Sat. 02 July
Workshop 4 - Sat. 30 July

Location: coworking0711, Heilbronnerstr. 7, 70174 Stuttgart (opposite the Main Station)

It'll probably be the best decision you make for yourself in 2011.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours,
Michelle

Latest material

As you may know, I'm currently accepting registrations for the next Springboard programme. It is set to start with Workshop 1 on Saturday 30 April. This is as much about me getting feedback from participants as it is about more women having access to this powerful programme.

The ultimate goal is to make Springboard accessible to German-speaking women. At the moment, I can only offer it in English. Thus the next programme is a "pilot" and as such, I'm testing the content on German women (with a good level of English).

All the details are available on the website: http://ow.ly/40zhG Here you can download the general information flyer and the flyer specifically for this upcoming programme.

What I actually wanted to share here is the artwork which I'm using for the marketing of this programme! I'm so happy with the work produced by Sinem Ertürk (http://www.greenbee-design.de), I want everyone to see it. This is original Fotolia picture I chose:

The final design for the postcard you can see on the Springboard Consultancy website: http://ow.ly/40A5a (It was too large a file to upload into the blog).

Hope you like it too! Let me know.

If you want to sign up for the next Springboard programme starting in April, just contact me directly: springboard@keeptraining.de

I shall look forward to hearing from you!

Yours,
Michelle

Something to make you smile - and remember the power & poise you had when you were little...

More Quotes!

I carried on searching the Quotations Page. Here are some from Oprah Winfrey. Very applicable to what we're working on in Sprongboard!

"If you want your life to be more rewarding, you have to change the way you
think."

"The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your
dreams."

"As you become more clear about who you really are, you'll be better able
to decide what is best for you - the first time around."

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right."

Quotations to motivate

These quotes struck me as applicable to anyone who's trying to make decisions, particularly between different possible choices. See what you think!

"It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

J.K.Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 1999

"The first step to getting the things you want out of life is
this: Decide what you want."

Ben Stein

"The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice."

George Eliot, (1819-1880)

"The self is not something ready-made, but something in
continuous formation through choice of action."

John Dewey, (1859-1952)

"If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or
reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is
left is compromise."

Robert Fitz

These quotes cam from The Quotations Page, online.

Current SB Programme with DHBW-Stuttgart

Welcome to this blog site!

You can find additional information to compliment the course, links to interesting sites, photos from the workshops (please let me know if you don't want to see yourself online!)

On Saturday, I mentioned to some of you about Tom Peters and one of his youtube videos. Here is the link to it!

http://youtu.be/UyVMS5q7zkg

And while I'm at it, here are a couple more links to save you browsing too long online.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders.html

If any of you have additional links to share, please add in a comment below.

For now, I wish you continued success with all your current endeavours and I look forward to see you all in February.

Yours,
Michelle