Being our best is always the best option

Although there are many ways of moving through life, being our best is always the best option if we want to live our potential fully.

How we actually put that into practice is very much an individual issue. In any case, there might be elements of the following points in the process.

1) Focusing on only one thing at a time. The more concentrated effort we apply to an endeavour, the better the chances of completing it to the best of our abilities.

2) Give attention to aspects of a task which are under our control, rather than worry over factors outside our sphere of influence.

3) Work to our strengths even while we are attempting to resolve any weaknesses. In showcasing our strengths, we are demonstrating what it is to be our best.

To share your input on this ‘Being our best is always the best option’ post, please leave a comment below.

Kindest regards.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM MCIM Chartered Marketer, Coach, Trainer and Author, supplies professional and personal development to a portfolio of corporate and individual clients.

As an Adjunct Professor at the Università Cattolica, Milan, Italy, Brian teaches an International graduate course, using four characters taken from dramatic texts as coaching clients, to examine various work-related leadership and performance matters.

Brian’s goal is to support through coaching, training and writing motivated people who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

Curious? You can contact Brian via e-mail (brian@bgdtcoaching.com), by clicking on the icons or leaving a comment below.

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Listening intently

That we all listen to others throughout the day is a certainty, yet to what extent are we listening intently when we pay attention to others?

Listening intently is that form of connecting with the speaker for the sake of actually hearing the message being transmitted. We could call this active listening, as the opposite is certainly passive from the perspective of participants in the communication process.

All number of benefits can arrive when we engage in listening intently.

1) We show respect to the speaker and acknowledge we are interested in what is being said.

2) We transmit empathy by listening intently, and this could be reciprocated when it is ‘our time’ to speak.

3) By listening intently we have the possibility to learn something new. As the saying goes, “It is difficult to learn from others when we are talking”.

Listening intently is, of course, a central part of the coaching conversation. Being heard and, if necessary, having words and ideas repeated back can spark input and lead to clarity on the part of the client. Curious? Please get in contact and we can schedule a session.

Thanks for reading this ‘Listening intently’ post today.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM MCIM Chartered Marketer, Coach, Trainer and Author, supplies professional and personal development to a portfolio of corporate and individual clients.

As an Adjunct Professor at the Università Cattolica, Milan, Italy, Brian teaches an International graduate course, using four characters taken from dramatic texts as coaching clients, to examine various work-related leadership and performance matters.

Brian’s goal is to support through coaching, training and writing motivated people who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

Curious? You can contact Brian via e-mail (brian@bgdtcoaching.com), by clicking on the icons or leaving a comment below.

Empathy and integrity

Out of empathy and integrity, as soft skills which one is more important? Alphabetically speaking, empathy comes before integrity. But that is obviously not the only method of evaluating the importance of empathy and integrity.

This question was raised in a recent training session and the subsequent discussion brought up interesting viewpoints. Looking at empathy and integrity together, it is fair to say both are crucial to us operating in an interpersonal, highly connected, world.

Empathy for others, as well as for ourselves, is essential to the task of ‘getting along with others’. Integrity, keeping our word and living aligned with our values, acts as a point of reference for our behaviour on a daily basis.

If pushed, I’d stick with the alphabetical order. Being able to ‘be with people’ even if we don’t particularly understand or actually like the people before us, goes a long way to building a peaceful existence for all. Integrity is, of course, also an element of this, but broadly speaking seems to be a close second to empathy.

How we rank empathy and integrity does not especially matter, however, when both are part of our ‘way of being’ so perhaps the question is best set aside now.

In any case, thanks for reading this ‘Empathy and integrity’ post.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM MCIM Chartered Marketer, Coach, Trainer and Author, supplies professional and personal development to a portfolio of corporate and individual clients.

As an Adjunct Professor at the Università Cattolica, Milan, Italy, Brian teaches an International graduate course, using four characters taken from dramatic texts as coaching clients, to examine various work-related leadership and performance matters.

Brian’s goal is to support through coaching, training and writing motivated people who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

Curious? You can contact Brian via e-mail (brian@bgdtcoaching.com), by clicking on the icons or leaving a comment below.

Recharging ourselves

With a smartphone, the recharging process is relatively easy: plug in and wait. Yet for recharging ourselves, we need to work through a few more steps.

Step 1 in recharging ourselves.

Acknowledge, at least to ourselves, that we are mentally and/or physically tired.

Step 2 in recharging ourselves.

Give ourselves permission to take whatever time is required to go about recharging ourselves. This helps to deal with any sense of guilt we might have as we step away from a busy schedule.

Step 3 in recharging ourselves.

Do whatever works best for us in terms of releasing stress, tiredness and overall fatigue.

Step 4 in recharging ourselves.

Before rushing back into the fray after a period of recharging ourselves, explore how we can better manage our timetable and commitments in future to avoid repeating the situation which initially caused us to engage in recharging ourselves.

Other ideas on the issue of recharging ourselves are also surely valid, so please feel free to share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM MCIM Chartered Marketer, Coach, Trainer and Author, supplies professional and personal development to a portfolio of corporate and individual clients.

As an Adjunct Professor at the Università Cattolica, Milan, Italy, Brian teaches an International graduate course, using four characters taken from dramatic texts as coaching clients, to examine various work-related leadership and performance matters.

Brian’s goal is to support through coaching, training and writing motivated people who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

Curious? You can contact Brian via e-mail (brian@bgdtcoaching.com), by clicking on the icons or leaving a comment below.

Setback, step back, bounce back

A setback can occur at any time but inevitably it prefers the most inopportune moment to arrive. And once a setback is with us, all plans and scheduled actions need to be set aside for us to deal with whatever has cropped up unexpectedly.

Reflecting on the appearances of setbacks with a client recently, we spoke about how they force us to take a step back to examine various aspects of life and/or work depending on the situation. This exploration may uncover information concerning the source of the said upset plus input useful for resolving the issue to bounce back afterwards.

Taking time to manage our initial response to the setback, step back and then bounce back to manage the challenge to the best of our ability aligned with our values and goals is a valid approach. To discuss this and other options as part of a coaching conversation don’t hesitate to contact me.

For now, thanks for connecting and reading this ‘Setback, step back, bounce back’ post today.

Kindest regards.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM MCIM Chartered Marketer, Coach, Trainer and Author, supplies professional and personal development to a portfolio of corporate and individual clients.

As an Adjunct Professor at the Università Cattolica, Milan, Italy, Brian teaches an International graduate course, using four characters taken from dramatic texts as coaching clients, to examine various work-related leadership and performance matters.

Brian’s goal is to support through coaching, training and writing motivated people who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

Curious? You can contact Brian via e-mail (brian@bgdtcoaching.com), by clicking on the icons or leaving a comment below.

Vaguely speaking adds to the confusion

Vaguely speaking adds to the confusion that can be found all around us. Tuning into any news report these days is likely to leave us scratching our heads in wonder. Details are often nonexistent or so limited it is difficult to understand the purpose of the report itself.

Because vaguely speaking adds to the confusion of the moment, it is fair to say our replicating this behaviour does little to resolve or indeed relieve the sense of bewilderment associated with it.

Of course, as much as vaguely speaking adds to the confusion, it is possibly justified to suggest certain people use this strategy deliberately to either a) avoid being held to an exact position or b) fill silence even if they have nothing particular to say.

Cutting through the confusion by focusing on clearly defined goals is another option. To explore choices as part of a coaching conversation, don’t hesitate to get in contact and we can arrange a session. In any case, though vaguely speaking adds to the confusion, it remains an option to take up or set aside.

Kindest regards.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM MCIM Chartered Marketer, Coach, Trainer and Author, supplies professional and personal development to a portfolio of corporate and individual clients.

As an Adjunct Professor at the Università Cattolica, Milan, Italy, Brian teaches an International graduate course, using four characters taken from dramatic texts as coaching clients, to examine various work-related leadership and performance matters.

Brian’s goal is to support through coaching, training and writing motivated people who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

Curious? You can contact Brian via e-mail (brian@bgdtcoaching.com), by clicking on the icons or leaving a comment below.

Imagination is there to be used

Like all our abilities, imagination is there to be used. Whether we decide to tap into our personal, or even collective imagination, for the sake of reaching desired objectives is another matter.

At times it is easy to forget we have the capacity to explore situations beyond the immediate by using our imagination. When we are stressed, worried or tired, challenges take on an ‘all or nothing’ look. We see no room for anything other than what is before us. However, imagination is there to be used and it is up to us to use it.

Visualizing desired outcomes ahead of our intervention, using intuition to investigate alternative solutions plus meditating on how we are experiencing this present moment, are all methods of taking control of our attitude and approach to daily life. As imagination is there to be used too, it would be a shame not to include it in the list of tools and resources at our disposal.

To join the conversation regarding the ideas raised here, please leave a comment below. In the meantime, thanks for reading this ‘Imagination is there to be used’ post.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM MCIM Chartered Marketer, Coach, Trainer and Author, supplies professional and personal development to a portfolio of corporate and individual clients.

As an Adjunct Professor at the Università Cattolica, Milan, Italy, Brian teaches an International graduate course, using four characters taken from dramatic texts as coaching clients, to examine various work-related leadership and performance matters.

Brian’s goal is to support through coaching, training and writing motivated people who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

Curious? You can contact Brian via e-mail (brian@bgdtcoaching.com), by clicking on the icons or leaving a comment below.