Being in contact

Being in contact could be summed up by the idea that we are all connected 24/7, attached to our phones or similar devices, glued to the screen displaying this and that.

As much as this definition might be true for some people, I imagine for the majority of us the reality in terms of ‘being in contact’ is somewhat different. In a similar fashion to any aspect of our life, we have the opportunity to choose our level of availability towards those who wish to reach out to us.

Being in contact does not automatically infer being in contact at any hour. If we decide to offer such accessibility, the chances are it is probably to an exclusive group of people, perhaps consisting of loved ones rather than clients or mere online acquaintances.

The benefits of being in contact on our terms are numerous, including in no particular order: a sense of balance, freedom to engage deeply as opposed to superficially, opportunities to operate aligned with priorities plus a feeling of empowerment concerning the management of technology.

To share your input on the issue of being in contact, please leave a comment, whenever you want, 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 Catholic University of 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 all who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

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

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Focused learning

In theory, we all study what we need to know but, in many instances, efforts are far from what we could describe as focused learning.

So often, our attention is captured by interesting yet ‘off topic’ items. Five minutes of pleasant distraction can quickly turn into an hour lost. Focused learning, on the contrary, comes into being when we are able to block ourselves from external factors and drill deep into the material we have before us.

Positive results from focused learning cannot be guaranteed even at such times. That said, we are at least putting ourselves in an ideal position to maximize the chances of them arriving. Of course, learning can occur at any moment, even in those times we aren’t actually engaged in structured studying.

Being open to capturing input at any moment is as much a way of living as a development strategy. And tapping into this approach complements focused learning. Other considerations on the issue of focused learning are surely valid, however, for now, I’ll stop here.

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 Catholic University of 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 all who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

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

Control actions, let go of outcomes

Wanting to micromanage everything is a trait many of us can recognise, either in ourselves or in those with whom we interact with on a regular basis. And the stress brought about by such behaviour is, in all probability, likewise familiar.

A while back someone suggested a different approach, summed up by the words ‘Control actions, let go of outcomes’. Knowing we are, in any case, unable to always control the outcomes of our actions, it is fair we focus on controlling actions as we let go of outcomes.

Yet what will happen if we do embrace the idea ‘control actions, let go of outcomes’? Personally, I guess I’d become fairly unsettled at first then, hopefully, pleasantly surprised with the resulting saving of time and energy.

What would happen to you? I have no idea but being curious, if you ‘control actions, let go of outcomes’ please share the result.

In the meantime, thanks for reading this ‘Control actions, let go of outcomes’, 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 Catholic University of 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 all who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

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

Happiness starts with us

As much as we might wish to think it is the job of others to make us happy, happiness starts with us and our outlook on life.

Climatic disasters happen, political decisions are made in smoky corridors and additional external factors all bombard us day in, day out. If we choose to wait for ‘everything to be sorted’ before engaging with life, we risk losing much time. For this reason alone, suggesting happiness starts with us seems justified.

The word ‘happiness’ here should not be confused with the idea that all is hunky-dory with our life and the world at large. It relates more to a mindset, an inner compass directing us towards heartfelt goals as we strive to live our life purpose whilst being our best.

Difficulties will crop up requiring our attention. That said, we can face them not as personal affronts but rather as opportunities to apply good sense to find the most acceptable solution for all concerned. Happiness starts with us as we move through life aligned with our values.

Some may say such thinking is too idealistic. Yet honestly, is seeing only the negative in each instance more realistic?

To join the conversation here on this ‘Happiness starts with us’ issue, please leave a comment below. If you’d like to use this post as input for a coaching conversation, don’t hesitate to get in contact.

For now, thanks for reading this ‘Happiness starts with us’ reflection 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 Catholic University of 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 all who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

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

Living or going through the motions

It’s not fair to suggest the world can be divided into only two groups, those with people either living or going through the motions. In many instances, we switch happily from one category to another, possibly within the same hour at times.

Even so, there is an important difference between living or going through the motions. By living we could say we are being present and fully engaged with whatever task we are dealing with at this moment. Upsets from yesterday and concerns about tomorrow are not interfering with us as we go about living our potential.

Going through the motions implies a half-hearted performance, doing without being as it were. On occasions, this level of involvement might be satisfactory to those around us. Maybe our ‘going through the motions’ justifies similar behaviour from them.

No matter how common this ‘indifferent’ approach is, it does not change the fact we are invariably missing out on life when we are indulging in merely going through the motions.

To explore the issue of living or going through the motions as part of a coaching conversation, feel free to get in contact.

In the meantime, thanks for reading this ‘Living or going through the motions’ 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 Catholic University of 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 all who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

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

Do one thing

When we choose to do one thing only it can feel as if we are cheating the world. Multitasking seems to be almost a compulsory way of behaving nowadays. That said, we all know the possible dangers of attempting to do everything at once: increased stress, missed deadlines, insufficient attention to details and so forth.

So why don’t we just do one thing at a time, to its completion or natural end then move onto the next item? There will be many reasons for not doing this, some even valid. But perhaps we should ask ourselves to what extent we are happy being busy, especially when busy doesn’t equate to being productive.

Operating with a ‘Do one thing’ mindset could, in the first instance, create hostility in those people who are used to offloading everything to us. Stating and defending our priorities with a polite refusal when necessary won’t win us many friends in the short-term. But then, unless that is our goal, we shouldn’t worry.

To soften the perceived slight, we may offer a convenient moment to deal with their request or, better still, suggest a more suitable person who is in a position to help. Either way, if we let go of feeling guilty and focus on providing alternative solutions things probably won’t be so bad for all concerned.

Rather than getting bogged down with words, I’ll bring this ‘Do one thing’ post to an end. To share your thoughts on the ideas raised here, 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 Catholic University of 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 all who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

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

Offering value in addition to a saving

Whenever the ads appear for the Sales linked to various times of the year, it is likely some people wonder whether retailers are offering value in addition to a saving.

Obtaining more of this or that merely because it is cheaper today than yesterday is not always a wise action. Each person will, quite rightly, have his or her outlook on this matter of offering value in addition to a saving, but let’s just mention two generic points here.

1) Sometimes more doesn’t equate to greater satisfaction. With certain foods, the pleasure derives from ‘enjoying a treat’ rather than being able to ‘binge’ whenever the desire hits us. In the Northern Hemisphere, strawberries are for June rather than Christmas, no?

2) Cheap is not always the same as useful. If we buy something only because it is on sale yet we have no use for the item concerned, the manufacturer is hardly offering value in addition to a saving.

Regardless how we look at it, when nobody is offering value in addition to a saying, things are reduced to a question of price and the path to the bottom is, poetically speaking, littered with trash.

Thanks for connecting here today and taking the time to read this ‘Offering value in addition to a saving’ 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 Catholic University of 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 all who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

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