Blog
Try Something New (WT584)
Last week we had a bit of fun talking about bathroom etiquette. This week I want to follow on with another bathroom story, although there is a bigger message within. Although we have bathroom facilities in our motorhome, Ross and I choose to use the park amenities in most of the places we stay. This particular week, “my” shower cubicle was taken when I went to have a shower. “What to do?” I could choose one that had little pressure or try out the one with the big shower head. The rain heads which I don’t particularly like. I wanted the pressure of the hot water on my back so I went for the...
Do You Know the Rules? (WT583)
With Covid hanging around I thought I’d make this week’s thought a bit lighter. You know we’ve been travelling and living in the motorhome for the past two and a half years. What you may not know is that Ross and I have rules or rather etiquette for the shared bathrooms we’ve used in our travels. The problem is, I don’t think anyone else knows the rules or the etiquette. In fact, I’m keen to hear if you know the rules. In most amenities blocks in the caravan parks there are a number of showers and toilets. According to Ross and I, if you need to go to the toilet and one of the toilets is...
You Find What You Look For (WT582)
Years ago I read a book by Wayne Dyer called “You’ll See It When You Believe It”. This fascinated me because it was totally opposite to what most people say and that is “I’ll believe it when I see it”. Dyer was talking about our beliefs and how they colour what we look for. They are the lens through which we see the world. Over the past few weeks so many of my clients have shown up with stories that demonstrate this concept. David Bayer explains our brains are a goal achieving machine. If you ask your brain something, it simply must find you an answer. Indeed, one of my very great mentors...
Put a Letterbox Near the Exit (WT581)
For many years I was employed by various government departments before I joined the team at Kip McGrath Education Centres. This was my first full-time role with a private company. I’d had plenty of casual and part-time roles which didn’t afford me the opportunity to understand the difference between public and private companies. Because my job was to look after the franchisees, who worked according to the school terms, I understood that my holidays could only be taken at the same time as the education centres (school holidays) and that I would not be able to take more than a couple of weeks...
The Lucky Country (WT580)
When I was starting to go out on my own with girlfriends we went to a pub in Newcastle called The Lucky Country. At the time I didn’t think anything of it. It was just a name. That’s all changed now, especially with Covid19. As we’ve travelled around Australia for the past two and a half years we’ve experienced many places; some hot and humid, some freezing cold, wet and windy, others dry and desolate. Some places were tiny, like where we are tonight at Venus Bay in the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia; full time population about 30. Other places have been bustling with lots to do and...
Careful What You Focus On (WT579)
I was chatting with our neighbours in the caravan park at Yulara, Northern Territory (near Uluru), when a lady came up and told us that she had been robbed the night before. Thieves had stolen her husband’s beer from their $2,000 fridge plus a 6 pack that had been left outside. The thieves left the fridge. When I shared this story with Ross, he said he had heard that same lady asking some other neighbours about security the day before. Be careful what you focus on because you get whatever it is you focus on, especially what you fear. Fear is such a powerful vibration and our vibrations...
Recruit for the Role (WT578)
Last week in our online training I provided a formula for finding, hiring and keeping the right people. What I’ve found as I’ve worked with hundreds, if not thousands of companies over the years is that many are still making the mistake of hiring the person instead of hiring for the role. What do I mean by this? Many are still hiring people that they know and then do their best to create a role to suit the person. I have to be clear about this. This is the wrong way to hire. The first thing you want to do is to map your processes to work out the tasks and standards that are required of the...
Are You Open to Receiving? (WT577)
Wow! What a couple of weeks we’ve had. We’d been at the van park in Darwin for a few days when we found out at midday on a Sunday that we were going into lockdown at 1pm that day. That was an hour later. Ross and I were in a panic. We’d also been told that the supermarkets were going to close and we had little fresh food in the motorhome. As we were frantically packing up the motorhome to drive to the shops one of the neighbours came over and offered for us to go with them. “Yes please!” we smiled. We were so grateful. When we got to the shops there was a line up to get into Woolworths...
Everything is Draft – Until it is Final (WT576)
You know that I do a lot of systems and procedures work for clients. One of my mantras is “Everything is draft – until it’s Final”. I often say this to my clients because they can be reluctant to provide feedback if we haven’t quite gotten the procedure down pat. I don’t take offence. I prefer to get the procedures correct rather than having unhappy clients because they don’t speak up. What I’ve found is that often we need to encourage people to speak up. Many won’t speak up because they are afraid of hurting our feelings. Once I give people permission and even encouragement to speak up, I...
Nobody is Helping (WT575)
We were stopped at the traffic lights on a hot and humid Friday afternoon in Darwin. “OMG! Ross”, I yelled, “Nobody is helping” as I pointed to a young guy who was laying underneath his motorbike at the traffic lights on the side street to us. As we were waiting for the lights to turn green I watched in horror as I saw the guy and the bike fall over. I was stunned that nobody rushed to help. There was a car in front of him and a car behind him and a long line of traffic. Our lights turned green and we crossed the intersection and pulled up. Without thinking, I jumped out of the van and ran...