moving on

Hi people,

Just letting you know that my new projects are about to take over my blogging time, so I am not likely to be posting here for awhile.

What are these new projects? Websites for the people I like to work with the most.

Take a look at effectivewomen.com.au – resources, information and inspiration for women on a mission, and unconventionalist.com –  independent business thinking.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Shhhhh. Be very quiet. Listen.

I have been reading a lot about listening lately.

Not that I have been deliberately seeking out information about listening, but it features consistently in the books and articles I read about communication, marketing, sales,management, leadership, coaching, relationships and people. (Yes, I read a lot.)

Listening well is important.

Ever had a bad listening experience? Think about this for a minute – you have a problem, or a question, or something really exciting to share. The person you’re talking to is not giving you their full attention, they interrupt, they are clearly just waiting for you to stop talking so they can tell you what you should do, or how the same thing happened to them only much worse/better.

These bad listening behaviours happen daily, all over the place – in conversations with people at work, with family, in shops and restaurants – basically anywhere there is human interaction.  Bad listeners leave us feeling annoyed, misunderstood, confused and wondering why we even bother trying to talk to them.

Now.

Think about a time when someone really listened. Gave you their time, attention, focus. Didn’t assume that they had all the answers. Didn’t try to fix things. Didn’t tell you what to do.
Instead, they simply listened.
Stopped what they were doing and gave you their full attention.
Gave you silence instead of jumping in to tell you their story whenever you took a breath.
Encouraged.
Asked the right questions. Tried to understand your perspective.
Maybe asked you if you would like them to help. Didn’t give you the answers unless that was what you wanted.
How did you feel? The simple act of having someone really listen makes us feel better. On many levels.

How often are you really listening?

Listening well is a simple way to be a better friend, parent, child, manager, team member, leader.  Basically, a better human. Unfortunately, it is far less common than bad listening.

Fortunately, getting better at listening is simple. Here’s how to do it:

Write a list of bad listening habits – the things that annoy you, that drive you crazy, that make you feel as though people aren’t really listening to you. Never do them.

Write a list of the best listening habits – the things that make you feel as though what you say is important and that you are really being heard and understood.  Do them every day.

Simple. Not necessarily easy – developing new habits takes time. Choose one new listening habit and make a point of doing it in every conversation every day for a week – see what a difference it makes.

leading business

I have just launched Leading Business – a new resource that provides information, ideas and practical steps for business improvement.

To mark the launch of this monthly bulletin for business owners, I have written a downloadable report:

10 tips for thriving in business – great ideas from business books you probably haven’t had time to read!

Click here to go to Leading Business, sign up for the monthly bulletin and get  your copy of the report!

hot topics for cold weather

I launched  new workshops and coaching programs today – details on my website.

one of my current workshops!

Message delivered

I love Garr Reynold’s blog, Presentation Zen. His views on design and the visual elements of presentation have had a huge impact on the way I present. He also finds great things like this: Lost generation. This short video takes less than two minutes to watch. It delivers a powerful message creatively and effectively.  Highly recommended.

niche found.

What defines that segment of the community that you can best serve?
Who are the people you love working with?
The ones you understand the most?
The ones who are going through the things that you have gone through?
The ones that make you say, ‘Yes, I get to go and work today!

I am delighted to announce that I have found mine.

I coach women on a mission.

A mission can be anything that is important to you. It is positive. It is forward focused. It helps to change the world. There are so many great missions:  personal transformation, community leadership, a vocation, working in a role that makes a difference, being a great parent, living more sustainably, starting a business.

I can help women who are not yet sure what their mission is, those who are starting out, those who are struggling to balance their mission with the rest of their life, and are facing burnout.

I am looking forward to sharing ideas and information – expect to read more of this in the future!

TED 2009 – you didn’t have to be there

Maybe next year I will get to the TED conference. Maybe the year after. It is expensive. You have to apply to attend – there are essay questions. Only a limited number of people are accepted. And, well, it is in America.

In the meantime, there is plenty of fantastic, inspiring, amazing stuff from this year’s TED conference available now on the TED blog. Previous TED talks can be found on the TED website.

I recommend you give up watching television and watch TED. And get to work on answering those essay questions.

the awareness test

So you think your powers of observation are good?  Above average?  Exceptional even?   Try this.

Do the original test – the one with the basketballers – first.

How do you rate your observation skills now?

countdown calendar

Hey blog, long time no see………. happy new year!

This time last year I was counting down the days until I left paid employment and started my own business.  January 24th 2008 was my last working day, but by the middle of December 2007, I had just about completed everything I needed to do – tied up the loose ends, said most of my goodbyes, celebrated the end of a successful year with colleagues and friends.  After 10 years working in the same organisation, I was more than ready for a change, and was looking forward running my own home-based business. (That’s a bit of an understatement. I was ecstatic.)  Time really started dragging midway through December.

My coach, Belinda Merry, suggested I create my own advent-style calendar to count down to my final working day, scheduling in celebrations and any other fun things that would make that time enjoyable and memorable. This worked brilliantly. I planned out those last six weeks, making sure I didn’t go more than a few days without something fun to do.  As well as the usual pre-Christmas get togethers, I added a few not-so-well-known feast days.  In December, I celebrated Our Lady of Guadalupe Day and St Lucia’s Day. In January, I held an Epiphany dinner.  Courtesy of my Sark calendar, I had a Bed Picnic Day, Nap Day and Day of Reading.  The Summer Solstice was observed.  (I also scheduled in work–related things, but I have forgotten the details – selective memory!)

Of course, the time passed.  Creating a countdown calendar changed my focus during those final weeks at work. Rather than wishing the days away, I had a memorable time of fun and celebration – a fitting end to a significant phase of my life.

priorities and posts

In my last post, I wrote about making the countdown to the end of the year more enjoyable by having realistic expectations. Many of us load up our ‘to do’ lists with twice as many tasks as is humanly possible to achieve. What can you get done and what can you put on hold for now?

Having done this myself, I decided regular blog posts can be put on hold for the present! However, I have written a guest post for my fabulous friend Zoe, the working mum’s coach…………it is here.