Blog
Perception Vs Intention (WT730)
Here’s a little story to help us see the difference between perception and intention. Ross and I go to the gym of a morning. Ross is generally ready before I am so he backs the car out of the garage and sits there with it idling. I put my shoes on and close the garage door and get in the car. For a while now, this behaviour has annoyed me. Ignoring all my communication skills for effective confrontation, this week I got in the car and said, “It gives me the s…s when you sit there with the car idling. I feel pressured to hurry up and get going and I don’t like it.” To which Ross replied,...
It’s Hard To Visualise (WT729)
We know how powerful visualisation can be. Remember the Harvard study of the piano players where researchers tested 3 groups: Piano players physically playing the piano over 5 days Piano players not playing but visualising playing the piano over 5 days Control group who had nothing to do with piano playing. The brain scans for the piano players were very similar, despite the second group not playing. This supports the idea that our brains don’t know the difference between what we might call reality (in the physical) and imagination. If we want to create a different outcome, we can use our...
14 Years – You Have The Answers (WT728)
Today we celebrate 14 years of writing a weekly thought and we haven’t missed one single week in all that time. I am very proud of this achievement. I am very proud of my commitment. As I reflect back over the years, having started my business in October 2006, both the business and the Weekly Thoughts have evolved. When I first started my business and attended networking events, people would ask me who I worked for. I didn’t know what to say, so I said, “myself”. That wasn’t a great answer. They asked what I did. I told them, “I help business owners streamline their systems and processes”....
I Don’t Want To Throw You Under The Bus (WT727)
Do you know what word usually follows this statement? “I don’t want to throw you under the bus, BUT” and then comes a negative comment. It’s as if you know what you’re about to say won’t be well received or appreciated. It’s a form of inoculation, letting the person know that something bad is following and yet saying it seems to justify the criticism we’re about to give. And it’s usually in a public setting, otherwise there is no need to say it. In my book, there is no reason to say it full-stop. Let’s take a look at two examples and you tell me which one you would prefer to receive. Imagine...
You Have To Dress For The Job You Want (WT726)
This week’s inspiration comes from one of my favourite clients and his Operations Coordinator. As I sat wondering what this week’s thought would be, Ray called to give me a business progress update. He started the conversation with, “I changed my life today”. “What did you do? Sell the business?” I asked. “No”, he replied. “I was vulnerable with my team and shared my vision for the business. I wanted them to see things from my perspective.” “Amazing!” Knowing Ray as I do, I asked him what the turning point was. “I have to give credit to Kim” he said. “When I shared my vision, she responded...
I Don’t Always Want A Hamburger (WT725)
Are there things you want to do that you talk yourself out of? This was the case for David last week. As we talked he shared that he wanted to become a business coach. He had experience, results and big achievements in Sales, Systems and Strategy. He’d worked in the real estate industry and manufacturing. “What’s stopping you?” I asked. “Well, I can’t really go into the real estate industry”, he replied. “How come?” “There are so many other coaches in that industry already” he said, as he began to list half a dozen names. I knew the people he was referring to and even added a few more names....
I’m A Persecutor (WT724)
In our leadership experiences we look at what Jennifer Elliot called “The Eternal Triangle of Hate”. You might know this as “The Drama Triangle” or “Triangle of Drama”. It gets referred to a lot in personal development circles. The triangle includes three roles: The Victim The Rescuer, and The Persecutor. The victim’s belief is “I’m not ok. You’re ok. I need someone to come and save me. I’m broken.” The Rescuer believes “I’m ok. You’re ok, as long as you do what I say.” The Persecutor believes “I’m ok. You’re not ok. You can’t do it right.” At a surface level, persecutors are often seen as...
Hold The Space (WT723)
The past few months I have been retraining and refreshing with the Gordon Training International for Leader Effectiveness Training. One of the trainers, Judith Richardson, from the Effectiveness Training Institute Australia (ETIA) made a point that I think is worth sharing. We were discussing Values Collisions. Judith said, “It is such a profound leadership skill to be able to hold the space for a team member or other person when you have a different set of values to that person”. This resonated with me completely. If you think back for a minute, when was the last time you had a different...
It’s Not Hard To Live In Peace (WT722)
With everything that’s going on in the world at the moment, we could copy The Animals’ Playbook. Ross and I just spent a few weeks in South Africa. We were fortunate to be able to resit The Silva Mind Control Course at Cradle Moon. Cradle Moon is a game park. There are no predatory animals, however the animals that are there are wild and roam free. In fact, one young boy was reminded, in no uncertain terms, that animals come first, when he tried to shoe away the zebras who came to drink from the pool. As we sat in the conference room we could see the zebras marching around, stopping to graze...
Keep Your Records Up-To-Date (WT721)
If you’ve ever done any advertising on Facebook, you might have heard the term “look alike audience”. A look alike audience is an audience that Facebook creates for you based on an audience you already have. I’ve been learning how to do Facebook advertising. It sounds easy and I so appreciate the work Kellie Obrien used to do for me because I’ve found it challenging. One of my biggest challenges though wasn’t writing the copy or selecting audience interests. My biggest challenge was my lack of organised record keeping. For someone who is a systems consultant and trainer, it’s embarrassing to...