Friday 22 January 2010

Bits and Pieces for Friday Afternoon

Here's a Fantastic quote I saw on Twitter (join me!) this morning


Being realistic
is the most commonly traveled road
to mediocrity


Know who said that? Will Smith! I LOVE THAT!

So entrenched is our sense of "my place in the world", and of "how the world is/works", that we see it as CERTAIN REALITY, and we see any attempt to dispute it or change it at naivety, stupidity or worse. "No", we say, "you have to be realistic". I work in here every day with my clients.

The reason the belief is so strong is simple, and I touched on it two announcements ago, but it's worth repeating again and again and again, because it's so difficult to shift. We are the living evidence that our place in this world is RIGHT HERE. How can anyone possibly tell you different and expect you to believe it? Well, the answer to that one is, as you'll know by now (let's all join in!):
If you keep
doing, what you've always done,
You'll keep getting what you've always had


So doing different things is the answer, but in a way, knowing that doesn't help, because our behaviour is driven by our beliefs, and we believe more strongly than anything that - our place is right here. It's a circle.
"There's no point in writing to become an author
because people like me don't get to be authors, we get to stack shelves.
So I'll keep on watching telly in the evening, and shacking shelves in the day,
and I won't try writing to become an author
- there you go -
I'm still stacking shelves
- I told you people like me never become authors"


You need to find some core of strength with which you can RAM yourself through your own scepticism, through the inevitable setbacks, through your notions of modesty, and selflessness and your fear of conflict, and your shyness, and out there into the land of change. Difficult, difficult, difficult!

One of my online surveys invites you to talk about your life, your dreams  and how you relate those to coaching. Quite a few give their reason for not forging forward with coaching as that their husbands would laugh at them. That's a sad thing, but it's common. Your family, your friends, your colleagues - they'll almost all not support you in your atempts to live a better life. They'll try to persuade you to "be realistic". Some will do it because they fear you'll leave them behind. Others will do it because they hate to see you fail, and they think failure is inevitable. Others will feel compelled to be "honest" and tell you how the world really works. Others will feel bitter at their own lives and not want you to show them they could have climbed out long ago. Very few will be supportive and wish you well.

So how about this. How about, I provide you with a brand spanking new set of chums. They'll be real human beings - warts and all - but they'll all have shiny new goals which are just a bit scary. They'll be walking the same path as you. They'll have similar doubts, but they're walking forwards anyway, until the momentum of success takes over. You'll see their dreams, you'll see their plans, you'll see them stumble, get up and carry on. You'll share sorrows and joys. When you're up, you can support those who are down. When you're down, they can support you. I'll let you meet them once a week, for about an hour and I'll put these people in your home - no travelling needed. How will that be?

Won't that make your life rather different and more interesting for a while? Won't that bathe you in a sea of new positivity? Won't that outside/inside perspective give you wonderful
new insights?

Errr.... won't that be horribly expensive?? Nope. I'll do all of that for you for about £12 a pop.



Want some? That's what my coaching circles are all about. You attend your circle weekly, by phone or online using your PC. Read more and register here.

Single and Fabulous


I have a new audio program in MP3 format on sale in the online shop, brought to you by Georgia Foster. I love the cover blurb:
Like wallowing in a great big, frothy bath of self esteem and loveliness! This [MP3] is a brilliant, practical tool for all single girls, everywhere.

Georgia Foster is an internationally renowned hypnotherapist and best-selling author. She trained in California then qualified with Distinction as a Clinical Hypnotherapist with the London College of Clinical Hypnosis and went on to lecture and train hypnotherapy students in the UK. Georgia's featured in The Times Body & Soul, Daily Mail, Guardian, Independent, Metro and Psychologies and she has been a frequent guest on the radio. So - she knows her stuff then! Click here to read about the program.

Please forgive this Personal Plug - but I don't really think you'll mind. It's a one-off.
Amanda is my friend and my assistant. Today Amandapublished her own book, which she describes as:
"A collection of my poems, spanning 30 years. They range from juvenilia through to the present day. Also included are three recently-written short stories.".
I've read it. It's a very personal book -written across a lifetime and never with the intention to publish.It's a heady cocktail of precious ingredients: innocence, sophistication,  charm, darkness, exuberance. A distillation of emotions, crystallized onto paper. I love it.
You can preview the book online. Click the book cover:



Monday 18 January 2010

Second Prize Draw Winners



Well folks, I just completed the second draw, and the five luck y winners, each of who gets a half-price coaching session were:

  • Christina K
  • Kim T
  • Jane S
  • Ros K
  • Alison G
Congratulations to all of you. I have sent you direct email. Please claim your prize before the end of this Wednesday 20th January.


For those who are interested in the process, here's how I do it.

Firstly, I gather all the valid entries. They're all emails, generally, and this was no exception, so I put all entries in a special folder, then removed those which were not valid. One was invalidated because the survey was not properly completed, and no others were invalidated on this occasion.

Next I use an online random number generator to select the winning entries. Each winning entry is moved to a winners folder, so it cannot be selected twice.

In this draw, of the more than 4,000 newsletter subscribers I have, only 17 people actually entered, so the chances of winning were about 30% That's rather better than most draws, and I Hope that will encourage more of you to enter next time.



So there it is. I'm looking forward to working with my new friends.

Monday 11 January 2010

Prize Draw Winners Announced!


Prize Draw Winners Announced!

 



Following last weeks competition, I am pleased to announce the winners as follows:

Congratulations to all of you. I have sent the winners Facebook mail asking them to contact me with their email addresses so I can send them instructions to access the courses.

Best Wishes,
Chris