Happy New Year.

I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas break. In the ‘twixt’ days between Christmas and New Year I used this time for a major sort out – particularly of the stuff I keep in files on shelves, in filing cabinets and piles around the house.
There is so much stuff I thought would be useful … but it weighs me down, all this stuff that I feel I need to deal with. Enough, I filled the big recycling bin.
Getting rid of clutter is a great feeling!
If part of your clutter clearing is to unsubscribe from newsletters (and I’ve had a major cull of what comes into my in-box) please wait – next weeks’ includes a link to a wonderful complimentary eProgramme – Loving My Life where we take a look at our wider lives, not just our career.  

New Year Resolutions

We’re setting ourselves up to fail, particularly with massive goals that aren’t broken down into steps.
I found an interesting, but long article in the Huffington Post, by Dr Raj Persaud – Psychologists Find the Best Way to Achieve New Year’s Resolutions – Is to Not Make Any and you can access it here
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-raj-persaud/new-years-resolutions-psychology_b_4522926.html
A key message from the article is: keep resolutions affirmative and positive. Don’t resolve to give up smoking – resolve instead to become more fit. For example, taking up running is likely to help you give up smoking as pursuing one goal becomes incompatible with the other. Pick goals that are irreconcilable with bad habits. Positive resolutions (do’s) might be easier to control than negative ones (don’ts). Don’ts require constant effort and battling with distractions.
So rather than resolving not to do something this New Year, instead determine to be more positive and do something.

Looking back – review of the year

I like to review what I’ve done over the past year and in my tidy up I found my review of 2012. It’s interesting to see how I took these 4 areas and did something about them – all are now achieved.

  1. I work too hard. I try to do the work of two or more people; I’m going to outsource more.
  2. I set unrealistic deadlines. This means that I end up working double shifts. It would be better to allow myself more time and not to beat myself up when I fail. With my first book I set myself a deadline of 12 weeks to go from idea to print, I got very stressed! I didn’t need to. A delay of 2-3 months would have been fine.
  3. I’m too helpful. Even when I’m very busy if I’m asked to help a journalist write an article or write a CV at short notice I reprioritise to put their request first. I should say no more.
  4. I buy too many books. I read about a book and want to read it. I order it from Amazon and add it to the pile of books to read one day. It would be far better to keep it on my Amazon wish list till I have the time.
  5. I forget to chill. I’m a human doing. I want to be a human being. I should set my weekends aside for personal stuff, not to catch up on work. This has to change.

It really is good practice to take some time to review your year and use this to identify 2 or 4 actions.
As we review, this isn’t a time to berate ourselves for what we didn’t do but to be kind to ourselves and praise ourselves for what we have learnt and how we have grown.
It can help to make a note of our achievements, and learning points, throughout the year, but we can also review our diary.

  1. What are you most proud of?
  2. When were you most excited – what were you doing and who were you with?
  3. What would you have done differently?
  4. What new people did you meet? How are you building the relationship?
  5. How have you looked after your own mental health?

I’ve almost completed the ‘Loving My Life …’ eProgramme and it will be ready to share next week, so look out for my next message with the link. I wanted it ready for today, but with some technology challenges and my web designer on holiday, another week is fine – see, I’m not overly pressurising myself

It’s not always what it seems …

On social media, everyone is happy and has wonderful family lives. But it’s not always what it seems. People select the images to show them happy when it might just be a snap for the camera. Not everyone has a successful life.
I’d rather be authentic, and share with you a wider view of my life. If you have been a subscriber for a while you will know that I’m estranged from my children, and nothing has changed. I’m also in one of my low periods – there is a link – and it is hard to keep up a smiley face when I want to cry. But does that help? No, so I’m keeping busy but also recognising this and knowing that this too will pass. I know I have much to be thankful for, but there is a missing piece that gets deeper not easier as the years go by.

And finally …

One of the assessments I use with my clients is called the Fascination Advantage – How The World See’s You. I’ve been given 100 free codes so I thought you might like to find out a little bit more about you.
Most personality assessments measure how you see the world. Only one measures how the world sees YOU. Here’s the link – https://portal.howtofascinate.com/you and the code you need to enter is JOY-Xmasgift39
You will get a free copy of the Rapid Report, you probably will be asked if you want to pay for an upgrade report, but no need.
I’ll be writing a more detailed article on this over the next few weeks. If the link doesn’t work it’s because all of my codes have gone, let me know as they will allocate me an extra batch.
This link expires on 13th January so do sign up soon if you haven’t already taken it.
 
With all good wishes for the year ahead, and if you want to review your career path, learn more about who you are or get help in getting a new job please get in touch.

Published On: January 8th, 2016 / Categories: Uncategorized /

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