“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.