Releasing the brake to live life to the full

Sometimes releasing the brake to live life to the full might involve a simple action. It could be:

a) Saying ‘Yes’ to our objectives, even if it means upsetting folk who are used to us running around for them;

b) Saying ‘No’ to an endless flow of requests we know in our heart has nothing to do with our goals;

c) Focusing on the benefits of a life lived to the full achieved by us ‘giving our all’;

d) Taking to heart the idea that even if we fail in our efforts, we can learn something and therefore ‘move forward’ to our heartfelt destination;

e) Appreciating that action is the starting key to accomplishing anything.

Releasing the brake to live life to the full could include additional actions. To share your thoughts on the issue and offer your input, leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading this ‘Releasing the brake to live life to the full’ post, and please like and share it.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM FCIM Chartered Marketer, Coach, Trainer and Author, supplies professional and personal development to a portfolio of corporate clients and individuals, mainly motivated young and mid-life professionals who wish to live their potential, in education, work or life in general.

As an Adjunct Professor at the Università Cattolica, Milan, Italy, Brian teaches the International graduate course Personal marketing: performance skills at work.

In past semesters, he additionally taught the International graduate course Leadership coaching: bringing potential to the stage of work and the Interfaculty postgraduate course Training through drama and coaching for work.

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

Doing our job instead of attempting to learn everyone else’s

Trying to please everyone is a risky strategy. Usually, it involves us giving too much time and energy to tasks beyond our remit. Doing our job instead of attempting to learn everyone else’s, on the contrary, puts the focus of our efforts squarely on the schedule we have decided is important to us.

It might be helping people is a central aspect of our job description. Yet even in such cases, we need to be clear about how we structure our day to achieve the maximum return possible.

By doing our job instead of attempting to learn everyone else’s, we are ensuring our tasks are completed when they should be and to the best of our ability. Expanding our knowledge is all well and good. But when it happens to the detriment of our core activities, maybe we ought to step back and review our priorities.

Thanks for reading this ‘Doing our job instead of attempting to learn everyone else’s’ post and please feel free to like and share it.

Kindest regards.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM FCIM 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 the International graduate course Personal marketing: performance skills at work.

In past semesters, he additionally taught the International graduate course Leadership coaching: bringing potential to the stage of work and the Interfaculty postgraduate course Training through drama and coaching for work.

Through coaching, training and writing, Brian works mainly with motivated young and mid-life professionals 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.

Who would you love to work with?

Asking ourselves the question ‘Who would you love to work with?’ may seem a strange thing to do. After all, many people never get the chance to pick and choice colleagues, clients or employers.

Even so, by pondering ‘Who would you love to work with?’ – and the keyword is ‘love’ – we might discover a ‘type’ of person springs to mind.

Possibly we are already happy with those around us and that’s not a bad thing. On the other hand, our response to ‘Who would you love to work with?’ could move us to make different choices going forward. Knowing our preferences gives us a benchmark to measure options against, no?

And although assembling a ‘circle of desired folk’ is not always instantaneous, there is no reason to put off beginning the process.

So, who would you love to work with? Which people bring out the best in you? With whom are you the most creative, alive, authentic, and productive? Again, who would you love to work with?

Me, I love working with people who want to live their potential.

Kindest regards.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM FCIM 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 the International graduate course Personal marketing: performance skills at work.

In past semesters, he additionally taught the International graduate course Leadership coaching: bringing potential to the stage of work and the Interfaculty postgraduate course Training through drama and coaching for work.

Through coaching, training and writing, Brian works mainly with motivated young and mid-life professionals 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.

Trusting ourselves despite our doubts

On the face of it, trusting ourselves despite our doubts could be a risky venture. Are we right? Are we merely telling ourselves we are right although we are wrong?

The reality may be found somewhere in the middle, even if from time to time we will be both right and wrong.

Nevertheless, trusting ourselves despite our doubts indicates a certain level of self-confidence. Possibly it was born from knowing ourselves and how our intuition usually is an excellent guide for our actions.

Doubts come and go. Listening to each one of them would most likely impede us from ever doing anything. Knowing this adds weight to the argument for trusting ourselves despite our doubts.

A rational assessment of the chances of our doubts turning out to be well-founded is also an option.

But again, it is ‘normal’ to feel a certain level of hesitation or doubt before moving forward with an undertaking. Trusting ourselves despite our doubts puts such feelings into perspective, in addition to showing faith in our preparation and abilities.

And as we ponder the idea of trusting ourselves despite our doubts, let’s not forget our ingrained desire to give our best no matter what, no?

Kindest regards.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM FCIM 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 the International graduate course Personal marketing: performance skills at work.

In past semesters, he additionally taught the International graduate course Leadership coaching: bringing potential to the stage of work and the Interfaculty postgraduate course Training through drama and coaching for work.

Through coaching, training and writing, Brian works mainly with motivated young and mid-life professionals 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.

 

Reaching out to reconnect

There are many reasons for making contact with people but today let’s explore the idea of reaching out to reconnect.

Of course, it is wise to evaluate and be clear about why we want to get in contact with folk who have, for whatever reason, moved out of our immediate circle of acquaintances. And if the conversation restarts, what will be different this time around?

With these initial points examined and provided all the boxes have been ticked, we can begin the process of reaching out to reconnect.

Reaching out to reconnect suggests it feels right to re-establish an old working relationship or at least break the silence to say hello. If the rapport was more one of friendship, reaching out to reconnect might be a case of catching up with events and news concerning family and mutual friends.

One important aspect of reaching out to reconnect is that of ‘making the effort’. Action in this instance – should that be ‘every’ instance? – cannot be substituted by good intentions.

To join the conversation here on the issue of reaching out to reconnect, please leave a comment below.

Kindest regards.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM FCIM 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 the International graduate course Personal marketing: performance skills at work.

In past semesters, he additionally taught the International graduate course Leadership coaching: bringing potential to the stage of work and the Interfaculty postgraduate course Training through drama and coaching for work.

Through coaching, training and writing, Brian works mainly with motivated young and mid-life professionals 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.

 

Let’s not confuse noise with impact

In the past, it may have been difficult, and costly, to get a message heard by many people at the same time. Today, thanks to various social media platforms, the size of our potential audience is gigantic.

All the same, just because we can ‘shout from the local rooftop’ and be heard ‘globally’, let’s not confuse noise with impact.

Along with the capacity to engage with a worldwide network, we have, in many cases, developed the ability to block or filter out many of the messages attempting to reach us. And others could well be doing the same with our communications. So again, let’s not confuse noise with impact.

‘Impact’ might refer to a follow-up conversation, or an exchange of ideas beneficial to all parties. Additionally, ‘impact’ could lead to a change of thinking or a confirmation of an existing habit or opinion.

To explore the notion of impact as part of a discovery coaching conversation, get in contact.

For now, thanks for reading this ‘Let’s not confuse noise with impact’ post, and please like and share it.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM FCIM 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 the International graduate course Personal marketing: performance skills at work.

In past semesters, he additionally taught the International graduate course Leadership coaching: bringing potential to the stage of work and the Interfaculty postgraduate course Training through drama and coaching for work.

Through coaching, training and writing, Brian works mainly with motivated young and mid-life professionals 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.

Can general intentions lead to specific goals?

Wanting to achieve an objective, perhaps even taking the time to set out a timeline for it, is something we are able to connect with. But then, for a million different reasons the enthusiasm we initially felt for it drains away.

This could lead us to ask the key question ‘Can general intentions lead to specific goals?’ Without taking those general intentions and breaking them down into doable action steps, our effort quickly gets lost, redirected, or consumed in other activities.

Possibly on occasions, we get lucky and achieve a particular goal without really spending time on reaching it. These instances, however, are usually the exceptions, not the norm. So, can general intentions lead to specific goals?

What do you think? To share your answer to ‘Can general intentions lead to specific goals?’ feel free to leave a comment below.

Right now, thanks for taking the time to read this ‘Can general intentions lead to specific goals?’ post today.

Kindest regards.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM FCIM 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 the International graduate course Personal marketing: performance skills at work.

In past semesters, he additionally taught the International graduate course Leadership coaching: bringing potential to the stage of work and the Interfaculty postgraduate course Training through drama and coaching for work.

Through coaching, training and writing, Brian works mainly with motivated young and mid-life professionals 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.

Listening to learn, listening to engage

There are many reasons why we might choose to indulge in the very human practice of listening, including:

a) Listening to learn.

We cannot learn from others while we are talking. As such, listening to learn puts the focus on gaining information, knowledge, insights, and so forth from those speaking to us.

b) Listening to engage.

Actively showing our interest in the speaker, with gestures, comments, and questions can be part of listening to engage. By listening carefully, we are demonstrating respect for the other person, and that goes a long way towards building engagement.

So, why do you listen? Is it to learn, to engage, or for other reasons? To share your input, leave a comment below.

In the meantime, thanks for reading this ‘Listening to learn, listening to engage’ post, and please like and share it.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM FCIM 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 the International graduate courses Leadership coaching: bringing potential to the stage of work and Personal marketing: performance skills at work.

Through coaching, training and writing, Brian works mainly with motivated young and mid-life professionals 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.

How often do you play the blame game?

Is it daily, weekly, or monthly? How often do you play the blame game? To what extent do you shift responsibility for X, Y, or Z from your shoulders to those of another person?

Of course, you might be screaming at the screen right now, attempting to justify why ‘whatever’ is ‘his’ or ‘her’ fault. And by doing so, your answer to the question ‘How often do you play the blame game?’ is perhaps ‘I never stop’.

Taking responsibilities, at least for our responses and attitudes towards things upsetting us or being less than we would like, is a powerful action.

Nobody cares about our rants and raves concerning who does this or that. Think about it, how often do you play the blame game then become more frustrated when people fail to take your side or give you the comfort you feel you deserve as the victim?

On the contrary, when folk see us stepping forward to take charge of situations, even or especially those not of our making, we are modelling a proactive behaviour.

Thanks for being here today, and please feel free to like and share this ‘How often do you play the blame game?’ post.

Kindest regards.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM FCIM 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 the International graduate courses Leadership coaching: bringing potential to the stage of work and Personal marketing: performance skills at work.

Through coaching, training and writing, Brian works mainly with motivated young and mid-life professionals 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.

Ask yourself, ask us, and ask the marketplace

There are many reasons we might hold back from asking for this or that.

Some of the typical motives for failing to ask include:

a) Not knowing that we can ask;
b) Being afraid to be rejected;
c) Unsure who we should ask;
d) Being unclear about what we want;
e) Believing we are not worthy of receiving anything;
f) A misplaced sense of independence.

Understanding the answer is always ‘No’ when we fail to ask, it could be a good moment to get into the habit of asking to eventually receive the desired ‘Yes’.

So ask yourself, ask us, and ask the marketplace. Possibly the practice will feel strange at first, but in time you may discover life is more accommodating than you believed beforehand.

To share your input on the ideas raised here in this ‘Ask yourself, ask us, and ask the marketplace’ post, leave a comment below.

Kindest regards.

Brian.

About Brian

Brian Groves DipM FCIM 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 the International graduate courses Leadership coaching: bringing potential to the stage of work and Personal marketing: performance skills at work.

Through coaching, training and writing, Brian works mainly with motivated young and mid-life professionals 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.