“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Barack Obama

We are living in unprecedented times of turmoil and strife. From the continued violence in DR Congo to the collapse of our financial systems, stability we once took for granted no longer exists. Alongside these seismic shifts we are skating around trying to hold our lives together as best we can.

A few weeks ago a gentleman called me to enquire about coaching. He was involved in the construction business and was suffering because of the downturn in the housing market. When people phone me to ask about my services I usually give them a mini coaching session there and then, so I asked him where he would like to be a year from now. He replied that he wanted to return to having a materially well-off life with all the trappings of success such as a new car every year. As the coach I asked him what would need to happen for him to achieve these objectives and he responded that the property market would have to come back up again. This seemed to me to be a very external answer as he had no direct control over the housing market yet all his desires and sense of wellbeing were resting on it. I then asked him what action could he personally take that would help his situation which did not depend on the market. He was very surprised that I had asked him such a question. Although he answered with a couple of suggestions he was clearly uncomfortable that I was pressing him for action and the conversation was soon over.

I felt quite disturbed by this phone call and was concerned for the gentleman. I was struck by how dependent he was on external factors and how, with that factor not performing the way he wanted it to, he was completely lost.

We have to take responsibility for our own situation and be flexible and open minded in the approach we take in order to cope with what life hurls at us. We may need to drastically cut our lifestyle or be prepared to accept a job or pay packet that is less than we are used to. How many ways can we see value in our lives that is not linked to our financial worth? What action can we take to increase this alternative value? What can we prepare ourselves to let go of if our status quo is threatened?

Having mostly lived a freelance life I have always survived without job security but I cannot imagine the pain I feel if I were to lose my home. But I do know that I have a very nimble mind that would quickly think of alternative solutions and would make the best of wherever I found myself.

There is opportunity in change and very often a downturn in circumstances can lead us to buried treasure that we would not have otherwise discovered. More than once in my career I have had to accept a pay rate that was beneath my desired level. This always motivated me to find ways for alternative income which eventually resulted in me earning far more than I had originally planned.

Only we can find happiness and fulfilment for ourselves and we have to make regular efforts to build this sense of inner security. As we do that let’s determine to not only survive through current adversities but to find ways to thrive as well. As the man whose quotation appears at the top of this blog entry says – “Yes We Can!”

Read about my preparations to speak and exhibit at the Mind Body Soul show at Olympia on the 15th/16th November.

A week to go and I’m ready to go. I’m very excited about next weekend.

Logistically everything is done. My exhibition banners arrived from the printers this week and they look just fab. I can’t wait to see them in place at Olympia. The only thing I am awaiting from the printers this week is 1000 promotional pens.

Preparing for this exhibition has been many months of focussed work for me and I am pleased to say that everything is now done. It was my aim to avoid last minute panics and I am very relieved to have all the major components taken care of.

This week I will re-visit my talk and rehearse it again. I’m very excited about giving it to an audience of up to 150 people. On Thursday I will print out all the material that I need to collect leads and new sign-ups for my newsletter list. Then on Friday I plan to take it fairly easy in the morning and will go to Olympia later in the day to set up.

Then it is show time. You can come to my talk which will be at 3.45pm in workshop room two. The show is being held at Olympia Two. For more information click here.

The talk is called Six Steps To Lead The Life You Want To Lead and will provide you with a game plan and procrastination busting strategies to take you from where you are to where you would like to be.

See you at the weekend and thanks for following my journey.

Read about my preparations to speak and exhibit at the Mind Body Soul show at Olympia on the 15th/16th November.

Getting closer! This time a week ago I was having a minor panic about getting the graphics off to the printer. I am pleased to say that all that is now complete and the said banners are due to be dispatched to me on Wednesday. This achievement was not without its minor panics during the week: my designer discovered that the printer needed the files in an unusual format which caused his computer some grief and then it took two days for the printing company to confirm that they had received everything they needed. Fingers crossed for the rest of the work!

Postcards were also dispatched to the printer this week and I have received them already. On the front side is a picture of people made from plasticine playing a plastincine piano and cello. Given that I’m all about encouraging my clients to get creative I love this picture. However, on the finished product the placing of the picture is a touch low on the card leaving a little bit too much white space at the top. This is my fault because I did not check the proof properly; I was so concerned with getting the layout and wording right on the other side that I overlooked this detail. Still – it’s close enough. I’ve had 5000 printed and 8000 people go through the doors of the Mind Body Soul show so I’m hoping to offload as many as possible and for the next print run I’ll get everything better positioned. Never let perfection get in the way of success!

My task this week was to source promotional pens and magnetic Lead The Life badges for my helpers to wear. This proved very interesting. It is surprising how many companies you can come across that just don’t want your business. In order to find some recommended companies that other people had used I searched the Ecademy Blackstar forum to see if anyone else had asked for similar recommendations. The first one I found was from a company called Kufflink. Their website gave no product details but just had a form in which you could enter your enquiry and they would get back to you. Have I heard from them? No.

The second recommendation was Recognition Express. They have an excellent website and a lot of pens at various prices. I searched through, picked out the one I was interested in and performed an online quote where they promise to get back to you with a price. I also found a website called The Printed Pensite. That was also very good and I again requested a quote on-line.

The only problem with online quotes is that you don’t get an instant response. Now I’m a busy lady and I needed the information there and then. So I rang up Recognition Express, spoke to a very helpful man called Chris, emailed him my logo and he said he would get a quote back to me. Have I heard from him? No.

I also called up The Printed Pensite. I spoke to a lovely man called Phil who had received my online request and was just about to call me. We talked more about my requirement he sent me a couple of quotes and also reduced a couple of the charges when I told him I was waiting on another quote. I waited until the next day. I had got nothing back from Recognition Express so I phoned the lovely Phil, placed my order and the pens will be with me in a few days time. The lesson – if you don’t respond quickly then your competitor gets the order.

For some reason the graphics side of the exhibition prep had been the most difficult and a bit out of comfort zone for me to deal with. It is with great relief that I finished the week with it all completed and now awaiting delivery from various printers. On next week’s blog I hope to be enthusing about just how fabulous the banners are.

Read about my preparations to speak and exhibit at the Mind Body Soul show at Olympia on the 15th/16th November.

Yikes – only three weeks. This week has been a tough one. I don’t know why – there must have been something in the air because everyone I know has had a sh*t time in the last few days.

Because I had spent the last couple of weeks actually giving talks I had got behind on a tonne of admin – yes, even life coaches suffer death by email from time to time! I was swamped by correspondence and needing to get a tax return and VAT return completed. I am pleased now to say that after many hours sat at my computer (which decided to be on go-slow mode throughout this) I have cleared my back log, got the paperwork done and have also attended to other housekeeping activities in my business.

So now I can turn my attention back to Olympia focussed activity. On the graphics side I am starting to twitch a bit because I am still waiting on final designs for the exhibition stand designs. I really need to get them to the printer this week so that there is enough time for the printer to turn them around and still have a margin left for f**k-up time. As I type this my designer is hopefully slaving away to finalise our work.

The other thing I need to nail this afternoon is another two volunteers to help me on the exhibition stand. My purpose for the stand is to collect as many names and email addresses for my mailing list as possible. My lovely friends are helping me by providing three hours of their time to me in return for free entry to the show. So now I need to stop typing and get on the phone and get my last couple of slots covered. On next weeks blog I hope to report that all the important logistical tasks are done. Wish me luck!

Four weeks – gosh – time is ticking by. This week has been triumphant but tiring. Last weekend I spoke at the Gloucestershire Mind Body Soul Weekend in Cheltenham and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

My boyfriend, Graham, and I set off for Cheltenham last Friday afternoon, escaping from London before the Friday rush and took our time admiring the wonderful Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire countryside. A cream tea at a garden centre in Burford refreshed us for the last leg of our journey. We both loved Cheltenham; street after street of wonderfully large Georgian houses, most of them very well maintained.

The Mind Body Soul weekend was fantastic. Toyah Wilcox opened the show with a talk about how she had improved her health and wellbeing by being aware of the natural cycles created by the moon. It sounds a bit woo-woo but was actually very interesting. I too have noticed some of her observations apparent in my own life and it was good to learn a bit more about this.

My talk was at 2pm. Graham and I were unsure how many people would actually attend. He was worried for me that it might not be very many. I couldn’t worry about that – I just needed to focus on giving a good talk. We lunched outside the venue in a nearby park soaking up the glorious summer-like sunshine. Then it was show time. Thankfully 23 people trooped into the room, one of the higher attendances of the festival. Apart from a tiny brief moment near the beginning when my mind blanked out, the talk went very well. Some people were taking notes and I could see from their faces that people were relating to what I had to say, and were grateful for the hints and tips that I gave them.

Following the talk I could relax. I had a cup of tea with one of my coaching clients who now lives in Cheltenham while Graham sampled Japanese massage. Then it was back on the A40 for the drive back to London, enjoying yet more glorious sunshine.

It was the first time Graham had heard the talk and he said that the only thing that I needed to improve on is making the ending more crisp and giving people an opportunity to applaud me, rather than flap about handing them flyers and information. Feedback taken on board and will be better at this at Olympia.

This week I have been focussing on the graphics side of my Olympia presentation. One of my clients from a couple of years ago, David, is a great designer and he is helping me produced roller banner style exhibition graphics. I’m going to have two banners: one with the caption “Would You Like To Be Creative” and the other with “Stop Procrastinating, Start Doing”. We have a brilliant graphic for the “creative” banner but have really struggled to find a suitable image for the “procrastinating” one. I spent hours on Friday night trawling through online photo galleries and I think I may have found something. I’m going to email it to David later, so watch this space to see if he thinks it is OK.

As well as coaching I also do some consulting and this week was a busy week for me. I’m absolutely shattered today despite having a super long lay-in reading the Sunday Times. I’ve got a tonne of emails, admin and a looming VAT and tax return to get done – but to hell with it – for once this life coach is going to do it tomorrow!

Well – what a productive day it has been. Back in May when I first signed up for the show I wrote a list of all the necessary tasks on a spreadsheet. About half of the tasks are done and today I knocked off a few more: ordered the electricals for the stand, booked my parking at Olympia, filled out the necessary risk assessments, figured out how many helpers I would need and ordered extra exhibitor badges accordingly.

This afternoon I was interviewed by BBC London and talked about what coaching is about and what my clients gain from it.

Tomorrow I’m off to Cheltenham for the Gloucestershire Mind Body Soul weekend (at Pittville Pump Rooms if you are in the area) where I give my Six Steps To Lead The Life You Want To Lead talk on Saturday afternoon. Last weeks rehearsal was very useful and I have spent some time slightly tweaking the talk to improve it. Tomorrow morning I will have a quick run through at home and then it’s into the car and off to the gig. I plan on having a leisurely afternoon in Cheltenham before being busy at the show on Saturday.

I have decided to write a blog about an up and coming event which I like to refer to as “the biggest gig of my life.” In six weeks time, on Saturday 15th November 2008, I will be a speaker at the Mind Body Soul show at London Olympia. Not only that, I will also be manning my own exhibition stand for the duration of the show.

This represents the culmination of years of attending other people’s personal development talks and having the thought that “one day I want to do that” as well as three years of building my Lead The Life You Want To Lead coaching practice.

The journey to Olympia actually began nearly a year ago in November 2007. I had had a difficult year getting people along to my own workshops and decided that it might be easy to speak at events where someone else gets the bums on seats. I figured that there must be hundreds of Mind Body Spirit/Soul events up and down the country who would love to promote one of my talks or workshops and thus began scouring the internet to find them. I came across two event companies that looked promising. The first was Natural Health Shows that have shows in Birmingham and Cheltenham, the second was Prime Impact Events that ran Mind Body Soul shows in various locations including London Olympia. Most of the events had already happened for 2007 so it was a perfect time to look ahead to 2008. I filled out the applications for both companies and waited to see what would happen.

The waiting took several months. It was in Spring of this year when Prime Impact called me to encourage me to invest in an exhibition stand at one of their events as they give priority to speakers who are also exhibiting. Initially I wasn’t keen to spend money doing this, I really just wanted to be a speaker. However, when they told me that they liked my proposal and that I could have a slot on the programme at Olympia I began to reconsider. 8000 people go through the doors of the Olympia show and the audience for a Mind Body Soul show is my exact target market. I realised that I could use the stand to collect email addresses for my mailing list which would then, in the future, make it easier to fill up my own events. I decided to take the plunge.

Just a couple of weeks later Natural Health Shows called me and said that they would love to have my talk on their programme too. Now there would be two Six Steps To Lead The Life You Want To Lead talks happening this Autumn. How exciting!

I’ve never had my own exhibition so there has been a lot to prepare. I’ve written a couple of ebooks that I can give away to lure people onto my list. I’m also working with a graphic designer to ensure that the stand will look as enticing as possible. This is very exciting as once I have gone through the work for this year’s Olympia show, I’ll have graphics and an exhibition kit that I can use at any time in the future. This will be well worth the investment.

In the last few weeks I have also upped my PR output. I’ve hired a lovely PR lady called Sue Welham who has already got me feature in City AM and we also have an interview lined up this week with BBC London.

And then of course there is the talk itself. I realised a few weeks ago that whilst I was very comfortable with giving workshops and public speaking, Olympia was definitely a step up the professional scale and I needed to make sure that I was fully prepared. I was determined that preparation for the talk wouldn’t take second place to the fun of getting all the logistics in place for the exhibition stand so I cleared time in my diary in the beginning of September to start work on the talk.

On the advice of my own coach I also decided to have a rehearsal for the talk and this happened last Thursday. I rented the upstairs room of a nearby pub where five years ago I had given my very first Lead The Life talk. In front of a small audience of friends I tried out my current material and had a very useful feedback session with them afterwards. Now I am ready to go off to Cheltenham next weekend and do the talk for real.

The one thing that I have learned from this whole experience is that it is important to keep taking action towards your goals and exercise patience as you wait for the result from that action. At the time I applied for these shows I was busy trying to fill my own events and it looked to some as though I was ‘scatter-gunning’ my efforts in my attempt to market myself and drum up business. Now I am glad that I took the time and plucked up the courage to make the applications and I am excited to see where these opportunities will lead.

Today has been an unprecedented day in the financial markets. My commiserations go to the 5000 staff in the London office of Lehman Brothers who have lost their jobs.

Some of those people will be straight back out in the market with their CVs, others may take a breather to consider their options. Whether you decide that you might as well bail out of the city and become a rock star or whether you decide to stick with the banking industry, do consider whether coaching will help you evaluate your alternatives.

I am currently offering a one-off 2 hour coaching session for £195 for those currently facing redundancy or for those nervous that they may be next.

Even if you need to hang on to the day job to pay the bills, I can help you find a way to satisfy your personal and creative ambitions at the same time. As an ex investment banker, I know your world.

Phone me now on 020 7401 2633 for more details.

I mentioned in my last newsletter that I had recently invested in the services of a cleaner and yesterday I outsourced PR work for Lead The Life. Time is at a premium for most people these days and sometimes it is impossible for us to carry out all the tasks required of us.

What can you outsource, whether personal or business tasks, that you hate doing and can be better done by someone else? What would you do with the extra time this would create? What benefits would you reap by having these tasks performed by a suitable professional?

My house has never been so clean. Now I can invite guests around without having to first schedule in a big tidy-up and I no longer have to spend time doing domestics before my boyfriend arrives for the weekend on a Friday night. On the PR side I have never been consistent in contacting journalists and getting my message out to the media. Working with another person is not only going to improve PR output but will also hone my business strategy and focus in all of my Lead The Life activities.

For more ideas on outsourcing read The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss.

In these days of economic uncertainty when people are clinging to their jobs and trying to figure out ways to pay the ever spiralling fuel and food bills, it may seem like too much of a luxury to find time for creative pursuits. It is tempting to think of creativity as ‘not being in the real world’ and let work, family and financial responsibilities rule our lives.

Earlier on in the summer I had become very busy with my business commitments and had not done any writing for a few weeks. At first this didn’t worry me but then I really started to miss my morning writing and the act of honouring my creativity. An aspect of my life started to feel empty and I noticed a touch of envy seeping into my psyche as I enjoyed the fruits of other artists.

Around that time I spent a fabulous Saturday evening at a friend’s barbeque and we ended up sitting in their garden until quite late listening to classic music tracks – everything from the Sgt Pepper album to Amy Winehouse to Bridge Over Troubled Water. As I sat enjoying those tracks it struck me that the composers and performers of such wonderful music were probably told at some point by those around them “to go out and get a proper job” or “you’ll never make money doing that” or “you should be taking better care of your family”.

But what if they had taken that advice? Generations of music fans would have been denied these songs. We all attach our own special memories and emotions to a particular piece of music but how would we feel if that music had never existed? It was then that I realised that honouring one’s creativity was a serious responsibility and if one didn’t fulfil that responsibility then a huge loss would occur.

So how do we find time in our busy lives to be creative? It is too easy to focus on what we can’t do. We say, “I don’t have time. By the time I get the train home it is 8pm and then it’s dinner and bed.” OK, that may be the reality but what about what we can do? At the moment I can only manage ten or fifteen minutes of writing at a time – but boy does it feel good to do that.

In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron talks about “laying track”. By this she means the little and often creative activity that eventually adds up to a piece of art. It doesn’t matter, for example, how long it takes to write a book – it just matters that you keep on writing. Laying track might mean writing four bars of music or writing a single paragraph of a novel or doing a quick sketch. Every time you lay down a piece of track, you can move closer to your destination. Laying track doesn’t have to take up huge amounts of time. Some days you may be able to lay several metres of track, other days you might only be able to put in a couple of screws. Both the metres of track and the screws are just as important; both deserve a pat on the back for progress made and both will make you feel that you have fulfilled your creative responsibility for the day.

How can you carve out little pockets of time for your creativity? I have recently acquired a dishwasher and the services of a cleaner as I calculated that freeing myself from these domestic chores would save me two to three hours of time a week that I can use for my own pursuits. Set out what you can do, even if it is only a few minutes, and then with sheer minded determination make sure that you do it. How can you protect that precious creative time? Do you need to go to bed earlier, mark it out on a calendar or get buy-in from your spouse and family?

The world is a tough place at the moment and the forecasts are that it will get worse before it gets better. We can lay track and make art even as we batten down the hatches. Our creativity can flourish even if the economy doesn’t!