I have been doing quite a bit of networking and guest speaking lately and have noticed a fascinating trend. 

Many people seem to have a 'Work Life' facade and a 'Rest of life' facade.

That seems exhausting to me...

There is only one you, one life - of which 'work' is just one slice.

• If you want to get the most satisfaction from what you do for a living, wouldn't you want to be able to bring your true character to work and not just go through the motions?
• You spend such a large portion of your time in a work environment/mode doesn't it make sense to align your personal values and who you really are with an organisation that has common values?
• What are you missing out on, and what is your workplace missing out on when you hold back some of the things that make you unique?

It's the little things about you that make you more interesting and memorable to those who come into contact with you - like a CEO that I know who likes to play the guitar and sing at staff meetings... the fact he is prepared to share this personal hobby and interest means he is seen as a very real and approachable leader.

Whilst we're not all up for singing in the workplace, there are things about you and passions you have that could add a new dimension to your reputation.

• So what personal characteristic or interest could you share that would build your personal brand at work?
• What are you passionate about that could create some common ground and build connections in your professional life?
• Is there anything, or a characteristic you either hold back, or 'put on' in work situations that could add value to your profile?

 

Would love to hear your thoughts on this and any examples of where you have seen this in action...

He shared that he really loves the process of doing a weekly food shop and that one of the most satisfying things for him is to look at a fridge full of yummy fresh food.

He even went so far as to say that looking at a full fridge makes him feel successful.

A full fridge.

It's a fascinating reality that we all have a set of hidden criteria that must be met in order for us to feel a certain way.

The more aware we become of what those things are, the easier it is to identify the criteria that is resourceful and any that is holding us back from experiencing things we really want and deserve.

For example, many people have such a long list of hidden 'rules' around success that they make it near on impossible to ever achieve. 

This is ultimately a form of procrastination as by setting the bar so high they let themselves off the hook of ever really going for it.

• What are your 'rules' around feeling successful?
• What has to happen, or be in place in order  for you to feel successful?
• How will you know when you have it?
• Are those rule helping you, or hindering you?
• What are some resourceful benchmarks that would challenge and inspire you and assist you to feel successful more often? 

For me I noticed an immense sense of satisfaction after cleaning out and folding everything in our linen cupboard. Weird...

I also get that feeling when getting feedback from a client who has achieved great results from working with me.

Success means different things to different people, so it's really worth considering what it means to you and how that's working for you.

Let me know what you think and what makes you feel successful... in the meantime I might go and look at my neat linen cupboard...

I have, and I don't like it.

Some might say I have a 'pollyannaish' [not sure if that is a word!] view of the world, and perhaps a larger than necessary obsession with authenticity, however it gets to me when people are not who they present to be.

I'm not talking about having a few minor things that you do in your private life that have nothing to do with your work [so many examples I could allude to here...], what i am talking about is where there are great, big, massive contradictions between who you say you are and what you do.

Like people in the natural health industry who smoke, or do drugs, or  anything else that is not inline with the ethos they project in their work life.

Yo don't have nine lives, you have one. There is one you. You have one whole life, of which work is just one part, it's a vehicle to express who you are - and hopefully to earn more than enough money to sustain the rest of your life and lifestyle.

In the words of Gary Vaynerchuk - there is no excuse for anyone to not do what they love and bring who they really are to what they do.

Yes, we all have quirky things that maybe we do when only our closest loved ones are around, but these ideally are just funny little things that would be mildly embarrassing [or maybe more than mildly for some], not things that would put our careers or business in jepardy...

If there are things that come to mind for you, where you know they are in conflict with your professional image, maybe it's time to consider which one of them needs to change?

Does your secret life reflect the real you and therefore it's time to embrace that and change your work to be an authentic expression of that?

Or is it some sort of self sabotage that is designed to create a bit of variety and drama in your life? if that's the case, it might be time to think about how you can meet that need a little more resourcefully...

Or maybe it's time for me to just let people do what they want to do, and vote with my feet by not supporting or engaging people who aren't the real deal...

If you are like a lot of people I talked to over the weekend you cannot believe how fast this month has gone.

Yes, January is always a bit of an odd 'still on holiday mode, warming back up to the idea of work' kind of time, however one whole month has gone!

Was it everything you hoped for?

They say you are best to 'start as you mean to go on' - that being said, how does the way your year started imply the rest of your year will go on?

If you are on fire and everything is rocking, then fantastic, good for you, you are set for an amazing year, so keep it up!

If you, like me, have a few things that are going well and a few things that have just not progressed as quickly, or productively as you might have liked, then never fear - the solution is here!

The belief and approach that I am adopting [and it seems so are many others!] is that December and January are 'time out months', where there are so many things going on that are out of the ordinary that it's better to plan around them, rather than with them.

So if you wipe out January and December, you are left with ten months to rock this year...

That means your year, your first 90 days of action starts tomorrow!

Here's three simple steps so you can get started and make the most of it:

• Get clear on what you want to achieve this year and brainstorm the tasks you'll need to do to achieve them
• Prioritise and group the tasks into three 90 day blocks - what's mission critical to get started, or done in your first 90 days?
• Take one action everyday that progresses you to achieve your outcome 

If you like the idea of that and know you need some support and accountability to actually do it, then check out my 90 Day Online Goal Setting Program, it's an easy step by step program that assists you to get clarity on your priorities and then to stay on track so you can follow through and achieve them.

Whatever you do, just know that the time is going to go, no matter what, so make the most of it!

I'd love to hear from you, so let me know what you think about the ten month year calendar! 

Cheers,

Shandra

At this time of year many people are in clean up mode - tidying their office, cleaning out their wardrobe, or bathroom cabinets. [There is something I find so satisfying about this process that it's a little scary!]

It's also a time when people make declarations about how exciting and how much better the year ahead is going to be. And it can be, if you take the steps necessary to make it better.

I work with a lot of my clients on getting clear on their goals and many of them have trouble with the word 'goals'.

To some it might seem a bit naff, or a bit airy fairy, so I like to go through the following three definitions to find one which does connect with them.

Resolutions are what do you want to be, do or have differently this year.

• What changes do you want to make?
• What do you want to start?
• What do you want to maintain and what do you want to finish?  

For many people resolutions are the 'softest' option as they don't tend to carry a lot of weight, and stats suggest that as many as 90% of resolutions are broken in the first week or month of the new year. I think that very much depends on the type of person you are and the level of importance that you give to your resolution. 

Goals are the outcomes you are looking to achieve.

• What is it that are working towards?
• How will you know when you get there?
• What will it look, sound and feel like and in what way is it important to you?

Goals can be big picture, long term goals, and/or short and medium specific goals. [When in Perth over the holiday break my 4 year old niece - who had been asked about her goals for the year - announced that her goal was to finish drinking her milkshake... which she very happily achieved!]  

 What both short and long term goals have in common is that they are measurable outcomes and intentions that require action and are generally a stretch to achieve. Participants of the online 90 day goal setting program have shared that simply spending time thinking about and writing their goals down makes a huge difference to the outcomes they get.

Promises are commitments you make to yourself, and or others about what you will actually do [or not do!] as you move forward through the year.

• What means so much to you that you are prepared to commit to it?
• If you do promise what will happen if you break it?
• To whom are you promising and for what purpose?

Promises are very specific and personal and because of that, they tend to be made around things we regard highly and to the people, aspects and areas that mean the most to you.

So no matter which one of these hits home the most for you, use this time of gearing back up into the year to think about what is going to be most important to you this year.

How would you like things to be different this year and what is it that you are prepared to do differently in order to get a different outcome?

We didn't really know what the list was exactly, however it was very clear that you wanted to be on the list!

From a professional development perspective, being on the list is taken to a whole new level... 

Right now, possibly at the very moment you are reading this, someone, somewhere is contemplating, and probably discussing, needing exactly what it is that you have to offer.

• They have a problem that you can solve...
• They have a job vacancy for the exact job you want...or
• They want to buy what it is that you sell...

Whatever it is, the question is - are you on their list?

• When it comes to a promotion at work, are you on the radar of the key decision makers?
• When a prospect asks for a referral, does anyone recommend you?
• When it comes to a new client campaign, or joint venture opportunity - does your name come up?

If you're not on the list, you're not even in the running - so how do you get on the list?

The first step is to work out which lists you want to be on.

As a starting point consider these questions:

• What are you aiming to achieve?
• Who already knows you who can help you achieve it?
• Who needs to know you in order for you to achieve it?

As with most things in life, there's also a flip side - there are lists you don't want to be on, such as

• who to let go
• who not to work with, and
• who not to trust... 

Your most important job, throughout your whole life - no matter if you are an aspiring employee, the big boss, or self employed - is to get on the lists you want and need to be on, and stay off the lists you don't want to be on...

So, are you on the list?

At one of the trainings they were speaking on the importance of 'fit' for your target market and wanted us to take part in an exercise to get feedback on how we 'looked'.

Each person took turns in moving to a new table with people they didn't really know.

Then everyone at the table gave feedback on what they thought you did and what sort of person they thought you were, based purely on first impressions.

You didn't get to speak, other than to say hello when you sat down.

The feedback included comments about your clothes, hair, makeup, body language and extended into 'perceived' characteristics.

A lot of people found this exercise very confronting.

Whilst I get the importance of 'You never get a second chance to make a first impression', in my opinion, this style of feedback has limited usefulness.  

• Firstly you are at a training event, and therefore generally dressed more casually than you would be at work.
• Dressing well is no guarantee that someone has got the goods - we've all met people who dress the part and have no follow through, or are just all talk
• Feedback from people who have had little or zero interaction with you, may have no relevance if they are not your 'target market'

I'm not suggesting that first impression feedback is not valuable - it can be, however it needs to be put into the relevant context and not be taken as instruction to change who you are.

Presentation is one of the six elements that make up your Personal Brand and so is important to consider - look out for an upcoming post about this.

However, just like a logo isn't the whole brand of any business, how you look isn't all of who you are either.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on this exercise... have your say in the comments below:

He has a very successful TV show on the Bio channel, and an even more successful Dog training facility in LA.  

He is someone who found his own unique strengths and passion and tuned it into a lucrative, sustainable, ecological career and business that he loves.

Other than that, what I really like about him is that he makes working with dogs seem so easy. He has a few very simple philosophies for helping your dog be as happy and well adjusted as possible.

When I watched the show the other day he recapped his basic guidelines and priorities for having a happy, fulfilled dog:

• Exercise
• Discipline
• Affection

in that order.

I love the simplicity in this. 

So, lets consider this in human Self Management terms: 

Exercise - physical activity, energy and effort designed to stimulate your mind and body.

Consider this not just in terms of actual physical exercise, also in terms of mental stimulation, learning, curiosity, growing and expanding your comfort zones.

If you were to regard this as your number one priority, what difference would that make to your life and your results?

Discipline - creating structure and process to prioritise and do the things that need to be done, in order to achieve the result you want.

If you could consistently do the important things, despite how you 'feel', or the many other options of what you could do with your time, how much more progress do you think you would see at the end of a week, or a month, or a year?  

Affection - how you show self care and love for yourself.

If you were to have an inbuilt reward for effort system for yourself, allocating regular rewards and treats as acknowledgement of progress made, do you think that would make a difference to the effort you put in and the sense of satisfaction and true enjoyment you would have, knowing you truly earned that reward?

It's something worth considering, don't you think?

The media reaction to Stephanie Rice's Twitter-saga has been huge. 

No matter what side of the argument you sit on, the one truth that cuts through it all is the importance of having some kind of strategy when you use Social Media.

• For what purpose are you using it?
• Is it a social connection, for purely personal purposes, or part of your Brand Plan?

The reality is that - celebrity, or not - if you are using your real name, then all social media activity forms part of your Personal Brand, so you need to use it with that in mind...

It's not enough to say, "That's just my personal FaceBook page", or "I only Tweet my friends".

The internet is not a goldfish - it's an elephant that never forgets.

People believe about you, what they find out about you online.

So what show's up if someone Google's your name, or goes to your Facebook, or finds you on Twitter?

If you don't already, create some sort of guideline for yourself about how you want to use Social Media.

It doesn't have to be a manifesto, a simple statement, or philosophy such as:

• "If I wouldn't be happy to see it on the front page of the Newspaper, then I don't write it.

or,

• "If my boss, or a potential future boss, or recruiter read this back to me, I would be happy to stand by it."

You are the biggest celebrity in your own life, so protect your brand as if it was worth a free Jaguar...

It has been a hard and fast insight to the world of motherhood and my hat goes off to all mothers, especially those with three kids under the age of 6!

One thing that has intrigued, amazed and inspired me is the clarity and honestly of kids. They seem to naturally embrace the Zero Filter concept very well! More on that later...

In one of our longer taxi rides the girls were fascinated by all the scooters buzzing around like a constant swarm of mosquitoes.

Whilst the rest of us were just generally gazing out the window Sasha - the very switched on, savvy eldest child - was very good at spotting interesting, entertaining, or surprising sights along the way. 

She pointed out scooters that had four people on, a massive "Sydney Swans" flag [it was actually the Balinese independence day flag - but the colours were definitely Sydney Swans!] and a beautiful kite in the shape of a bird that was high up in the sky.

Whilst we were generally gazing, she was specifically looking for interesting things...

It wasn't that there was anything wrong with generally gazing, I guess Sasha's journey was just richer, more full and engaging than the rest of ours.

I told her I was very impressed with her ability to spot such fun things when we didn't see them.

She promptly told me, "Well that's because I'm looking for them..."

Roger that...