What I learned today…. In conversation with Kirsty Spraggon

I have received some wonderful feedback over the last week about my new radio show Real Women/Real Success. If you didn’t catch this week's show you can listen to it or download it to iTunes here... or visit Blog Talk Radio

My guest today was Kirsty Spraggon, author of Work As If You Own It and an expert on building relationships for life and business success. I just loved chatting with Kirsty!

Here are some of the insights that from our conversation that particularly resonated with me:

• Success is like climbing up a mountain. If you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you will eventually get to the top.
• Successful people still feel overwhelmed, intimidated or downright scared about the path they are pursing, they just don’t let that get in their way.
• Stop trying to find work life balance and instead focus on FURK – combining FUn with woRK.
• Think about the relationships you are building as a long term investment in your success. They might not lead to new business today or tomorrow, but if you nurture them the will be valuable to you in the long term.
• Be yourself at work, give people a chance to see the real you. Authenticity is about people wanting something real from something genuine.

And, a great comment Kirsty shared after our show… ‘Success is like building Ikea furniture. It might cause you all sorts of frustration as you build it but will feel incredibly satisfying when you look back and made that myself!’

A former real estate agent who achieved global Top 1% status with RE/MAX Kirsty now works as a coach, consultant and speaker, assisting people to increase sales, networks and connections for life and business success.

To find out more about Kirsty visit www.kirstyspraggon.com.au

Little sacrifices, big results...

I was reading an article in the Sunday papers about Shakira who, in case you haven’t heard, is a Latin American pop sensation and the fourth richest woman in music


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During the interview, she was talking about a strict diet she was currently on, all fish and vegetables, and explained “You want to be skinny and have a good body? You have to workout every day and say no to certain foods.” When her interviewer commiserates, Shakira shrugs and says “You can’t achieve anything in life without a small amount of sacrifice.”

In this instance Shakira was talking about her body, but it is a sentiment she repeats throughout the interview, and one that I wholeheartedly agree with.

“You can’t achieve anything in life

without a small amount of sacrifice.”

So often people expect achieving their goals and dreams to be easy, requiring the bear minimum of effort on their behalf. But that’s rarely the way it works. Most success, whatever the goal, is the result of constant and continuous effort and a willingness to make these make compromises and small sacrifices along the way.*

Think about the goals you want to achieve and ask your self what small sacrifice or compromise can I make that will take me closer to my dreams. Commit yourself fully and watch your future unfold.

Remember, achieving what you want in life won’t always be easy but it will be worth it!

* If you want to be a pop star with a hot bod, saying no to chocolate will probably seem like a small sacrifice. I am of course much relieved that this is not my goal as saying no to chocolate would be more than I can bear!

Read the full article about Shakira here

What I learned today…. In conversation with Karen Miles

This morning was the first episode of my new radio show Real Women/Real Success.

You can listen to the show or download it to iTunes at Blog Talk Radio

My guest today was Karen Miles, the author of The Real Baby Book You Need at 3am and an expert on motherhood and it’s impact on women’s identity and career. Karen and I had a great chat.

Here are some of the insights that I took away from our conversation:

• Women are setting themselves up for failure as mothers, right at the start, with the concept of the ‘birth plan’. The baby has the plan, not you!
• It’s important as a working mother to reinsert yourself into the equation, considering yourself and your needs doesn’t make you selfish
• Juggling is something that clowns do really well, and not something that people do particularly well
• Focus on work life mix – what’s in your day that fulfils you professionally personally, as a mother and so on
• Invest in yourself and your key relationships
• Create clear delineation between working time and family time
• Get back to You First Thinking; back your instincts, back your needs and back yourself as a person.

Karen is also the founder of Miss Scarlett, an online stationery boutique that creates gorgeous cards for time-savvy mums who want the option to email their cards.

www.karenmiles.com.au

www.missscarlett.com.au

Are you taking a 'Coach Approach'?

A good friend was telling me about a recent course she had attended - an advanced therapeutic Pilates course.

As a physiotherapist, she had expected the course to about bio-mechanics and treatment strategies, but instead the instructor had focused on the somewhat 'alternative' diagnostic skills of incisive questioning and active listening.

My friend explained that this was the exact opposite of her undergraduate training which had recommended the asking of closed questions with the intention of eliciting quick yes / no answers and moving quickly on to treatment.

The powerful combination of incisive questioning and active listening is what I call taking a 'Coach Approach' At Success Strategies, we teach courses in the 'Coach Approach' for managers, consultants and recruiters, but the 'Coach Approach' can be applied so many other interactions, from health care and education, to relationships and parenting.

To start taking a 'Coach Approach' ask yourself these two key questions:

"Am I asking good quality, open ended questions?" and "Do I spend more time listening than talking?"

What Are You Wishing For?

We've all heard the expression, 'be careful what you wish for', but how aware are you of your wishes?

I had an experience this week that served as a great reminder of the power of our thoughts.

As you may already know I have appeared on Channel 7 Sunrise on a number of occasions. Yesterday as I was walking past the Sunrise studio on my way home from work, I was thinking about the last time I had been a guest on the program.

My internal dialogue went something like this:

"When was the last time I was on Sunrise? It must be about six months ago... I must give them a call tomorrow and have a chat with the producer.... I'd really like to be on Sunrise again sometime soon..."

This morning, before I had the chance to follow up on my intention, I received received a call from Sunrise, inviting me to be guest on the program tomorrow!

What a great example of the POWER OF INTENTION.

So what internal conversations are you having?

If you are engaged in negative self talk, then these are the intentions you are communicating, to both to your subconscious and to the universe...

Remember, your intentions have the power to work both for you and against, so be careful what you wish for!

Make Your Dreams a Reality!

I received the most wonderful update from a client today.

About six months months ago, my client began to define the most audacious goals of his life and career so far.

During our weekly personal coaching sessions we began to develop a clear plan for achieving these goals. We also identified several limiting beliefs, and behaviours that were currently getting in the way of his success, and developed powerful affirmations and new habits to support him in his quest.

As he talked me through his list of wonderful recent achievements, I could see that his future was unfolding just the way that he had planned. Of course the last six months hadn't been without their hiccups and lessons that had needed to be learned, but overall he was really making amazing progress towards his goals.

You too can make amazing progress in your life if you follow the same basic principles:

1. Take the time to clearly define your goal - be as bold as you dare to be,
2. Identify and overcome any limiting beliefs or behaviours that may hold you back or get in your way,
3. Develop the commitment and staying power needed to achieve your goals

Remember it may not happen over night, but if really believe in your goals and you combine that belief with effort and enthusiasm, your dreams will become your reality!

Get in the Driver's Seat

Do you ever set a goal, break it down into all the actions needed to achieve it and then still make no progress towards the goal?

Today, one of my clients was showing me a very impressive action list she had created for one of her goals. The problem was, it was a list both she and I had seen before. In fact one of the reasons she had come to coaching was to finally beginning moving through these actions towards the achievement of her goal.

Now I need to add, that this particular client is a highly motivated, highly successful business woman, so it wasn't as if the achievement of goals was new to her - not at all! It was just that she just couldn't seem to 'make herself' move forward on this one particular goal.

I got my client to stop thinking about how to achieve her goal, and instead to think about how she would think and feel about achieving her goal. By probing in this way, we were able to uncover her true motivators for achieving her goals, as opposed to the coulds, woulds and shoulds, which are never very inspiring at all.

If you find yourself stuck and unable to make progress on one of your goals, ask yourself the following three questions and uncover your real drivers:

How will I feel when I achieve my goal
What will I think when I achieve my goal
What would I say about someone else, if I knew they had achieved this goal

Use your answers to these three questions to create exciting, inspiring and motivating goals that you can't wait to achieve!