Hi all. It has been a couple of weeks since I blogged so here is my latest update. I have now written a completely new chapter one to Tales of the Countess and am now working on Chapter 2. I think by the end of this chapter I should be able then to make the link to my existing draft. From that point onwards I’ll be editing rather than writing afresh. So I’m about half way through the hardest part! I have quite a bit of time to write this week so am hoping to make good progress.

Last week I heard the most wonderful tip. It is called a Gratitude Book and it works like this: at the end of each day you write down three things that happened in your day that you feel gratitude for. I heard about this on Tuesday evening at the end of what had been a very s**t and frustrating day. I decided to try out the technique and it was fantastic to overlook my irritation and to find and pick out three positives from the day. I’ve been doing it since and it is really good fun.

So often when we are working in our own businesses or in creative pursuits (and I’m doing both at the moment!) we can get very bogged down if we don’t see immediate results from our labours. This can lead to a plummeting self esteem which can then create a disastrous negative cycle. I think that spending a couple of minutes at the end of the day to pull out three positives (or three small achievements) and feel gratitude for them will boost self esteem and result in a new upwards and positive cycle.

As per usual there have been ups and downs since I last posted to the blog. Last time I was ecstatic to have made a start on the redraft of Tales of the Countess. However a week ago I hit a low moment with it when, last Friday, I had the horrible feeling that all my recent research and new opening was not going to fit onto my existing draft of the novel. Not a great way to finish up the week!

Anyway, persistence is the name of the game so I cleared some time from my schedule this week to figure out a solution. I am pleased to say that yesterday I came up with a plan that will hopefully knit the old and the new together. I also came up with a list of scenes, some new and some re-crafted from the old draft, that I can now methodically work through over the next few days and weeks. I love it when I have a formula in place.

This was one of those weeks when I had to face my fears. Yes – contrary to popular belief – life coaches are not perfect people and do have their own fears and foibles. I’ve always been a bit nervous about approaching and dealing with the press even though it really is necessary to grow my business. With my Autumn workshops approaching it is time to seek publicity, face that fear and take action. Whilst I did crash and burn with a couple of the newspapers that I contacted I am pleased to say that I did learn from those mistakes and had good conversations with the Ham and High in North London as well as the London Lite. It is funny how synchronicity works – because at the same time I have also come across the perfect training course on handling the media. It is exactly what I need at the right time. The course is on 17th October, so watch this space for news of it (and results from it!).

How would I summarise this week? It has been a week of intense lows and a couple of highs. I started off the week not feeling at all optimistic about the various things on my plate. I am pleased, and relieved, to say that the week has ended much better, break-throughs have been made and the right people that I need to help me have miraculously materialised. Phew!

Hello everyone. I am proud to announce that today I have started on the re-draft of my novel Tales of the Countess. I was very nervous about writing a new opening scene and could easily have spent this week not doing it. So I decided on my fail-safe back to basics routine – morning writing.

I’m trained as a writer by the Julia Cameron’s Artist Way philosophy which is, first thing in the morning, to write morning pages and then go straight into a page of your writing project. I have been a regular on morning pages for the last eight years. I don’t do them everyday and I don’t always do a full three pages but I have consistently done them at least two or three times a week and find them to be the lynchpin of my creative activity. Today, at 7.20am I did a page and then thought “what the hell – let’s get straight into the Countess” and then wrote about 300 words of my new draft. Unfortunately I was interrupted by having to look out the back door at the hurricane like wind and rain that was blowing across London at that time, as well as the sudden realisation that I had left my car parked illegally and I had until 8am to move it! So then I had to pull on my rainwear and brave the squally shower that was raging outside. Thankfully the car did not have a ticket and the writing did at least get started. Now that I have started I no longer feel nervous about continuing with the opening scene.

Finally – I have a bonus benefit from getting started today and writing this blog. I did a Google search on ‘morning pages’ so I could include a reference for you to look up what morning pages are and I found the most useful website for chick lit authors. Certainly worth me checking it out, and in the meantime – here is the explanation of morning pages that I found. http://www.chicklit.co.uk/articles/the_magic_of_morning_pages.asp

Consider the following quotation by Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art:

Have you ever brought home a treadmill and let it gather dust in the attic? Ever quit a diet, a course of yoga, a meditation practice? Have you ever bailed out on a call to embark upon a spiritual practice, dedicate yourself to a humanitarian calling, commit your life to the service of others? Have you ever wanted to be a mother, a doctor, an advocate for the weak and helpless; to run for office, crusade for the planet, campaign for world peace, or to preserve the environment? Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.

I’m sure that most of us relate to some aspect of this description. It is all very well having plans and clearly defined goals, but if that were all we needed then I would be out of a job and all of you would be doing exactly what you wanted with your lives. Fear, or resistance, is a major factor in whether or not we achieve our dreams and carry out our intentions.

I classify fear as having two types – tangible and intangible. Tangible fear is the obvious stuff. For example, we may be afraid if we are in danger, we may be scared of someone if we are in trouble with them or we may fear someone who we perceive as being stronger or better than ourselves.

Intangible fear, however, is not as clear cut. Intangible fear stops us being the person we really want to be; intangible fear tells us that we can never do the things we have always dreamed of; intangible fear stops us even dreaming of the things we would like to be or do; intangible fear keeps us in our comfort zone; intangible fear can stop us loving and being loved. Intangible fear can definitely stop us from leading the life we want to lead!

Intangible fear is the carbon monoxide of fear. You can’t touch it, feel it or smell it – but if you have too much of it in your life it can have a very nasty effect. More than half the battle with intangible fear is seeing that it actually exists and admitting to ourselves that we are suffering from it. Then we can concentrate on overcoming it.

The resistance caused by intangible fear can be a very useful compass. It usually occurs with a project or desire that is very close to our hearts. The resistance arises because our small ego wants to continue ruling our lives and does not want us to connect with the desires of our soul. It does everything it can to throw obstacles in our way. Therefore, when we are feeling fearful about our project or are getting knocked about by numerous obstacles, we can be sure that we are absolutely on exactly the right course for our lives – otherwise the resistance would not be happening.

These obstacles can manifest in different ways. For example, when I first started to write seriously I developed RSI so using a computer keyboard or holding a pen became a challenge. I could have been defeated by this but I was determined that I would continue to produce creative material. I had to seek treatment and learn the art of patience but I still managed, one page at a time, to write my novel.

Sometimes the resistance comes from other people. You may have a friend or a family member who is always trying to dissuade you from listening to your heart –or they might be the one who gets sick or has an accident every time you are about to make progress. Finally, resistance can come purely from within – as our fear paralyses us from taking the action we know we could take. Incidentally, procrastination is a manifestation of fear and resistance.

How can we overcome such fear and resistance? Firstly, by knowing and acknowledging that it exists. Secondly, it is necessary to look the resistance squarely in the eye, see it for what it is and determine to win over it no matter what. Finally we need to take action. The action needs to be in bite-sized pieces that we can handle. It is a case of breaking down the task in hand to small enough steps so that the first one is very easy to take. Then we can feel good about having made a start on our project and momentum kicks in to help us take the next step.

You can do whatever you wish with your life. There is always a way. Once you get to grips with how fear and resistance manifests in your life, you are on your way to winning the battle to overcome it.

If you need a helping hand with breaking through your resistance then come to my Stop Procrastinating, Start Doing workshop

Mission is the one unique thing that you can contribute to the world that no one else would be able to do as well as you. It will be different for everyone and operate at different levels for each person. For some it may appear loftier than others. For one person it may be their whole life and vocation, for others it will be a part of their life – perhaps a hobby which they simply must carry out. For everyone it is a contribution to the world and a role that cannot be fulfilled by anyone else but you. What’s your mission and are you living it?

Mission isn’t necessarily about giving up your job and doing something completely different. Your mission may be to be a fantastic account manager without whom there would be no smooth communication between clients and your company. If you weren’t the one taking extra trouble to iron out problems for your clients then who else would be taking so much care? Mission may also be about being the most wonderful mother or father. Mission is essentially about living your life to the fullest and having honest heart to heart communications with all people in your world.

But what if, deep down, you know that your mission isn’t about what you are doing now and that it will involve a major change in direction? What is the best way to achieve this?

My advice is – do it gradually. I’ll share my story with you. For many years I had been inspired by personal development speakers. It was 1999 and I had attended many seminars and always had the feeling that I too should be this kind of speaker. I also started writing around this time and enjoyed the creative process. This left me with two activities that I wanted to do but no real understanding as to how to make them happen and earn a living at the same time. After about eighteen months I decided not to give up my job as an IT consultant, but to do it part-time. This gave me the best of both worlds – money still coming in and time to write. I had yet to fulfil my dream of being a speaker but eventually, whilst still working part-time in my computer job, I started to develop some ideas. In October 2003 I gave a prototype Lead The Life You Want To Lead talk. Four years into this process it seemed the right moment to finally take the plunge and now I fully devote myself to my Lead The Life business and to writing.

Slow and steady progress towards your dream, or mission, will give it a strong foundation. It can also be more achievable than a sudden drastic change.

Moving towards your mission isn’t always easy. Lots of problems will try and block you including your own fear and procrastination. Inner resistance can show up in many forms – illness, other “things” getting in the way, family opposition or a promotion in your day job that you feel you ‘should’ take, etc etc. I’m sure you have many more examples of your own that you could add to this list! It is easy to find excuses not to achieve your mission but the truth is, you will never be deeply happy unless you do start working towards it.

Why do so many things get in the way of your mission? Ultimately it is the work of the small ego. It doesn’t want you to be happy. It doesn’t want you to start operating from your heart. It doesn’t want you to connect with your soul and carry out your life purpose. The small ego wants your life to stay as it is where it retains control. It wants to keep you in your comfort zone and it wants you always to be its servant. It prefers that it rules you, not vice versa. It is the small ego which says “You can’t do that” or “Who do you think you are to even think of doing that?”.

Fear not – the small ego can be beaten. All you need is persistence and a huge amount of passion for what you want to do. Then you just proceed one small step at a time, in a way that is manageable for you. You can then show your small ego who is boss and start to live from your higher self. You can move forwards despite your small ego’s best efforts to thwart you. And if it does win the occasional victory – don’t worry, just get back on your feet and keep fighting it. Eventually the pain of not following your mission will be greater than the pain of doing it and then you will have all the resource, motivation and impetus that you need.

I really believe that living in accordance with your mission is important and it is my mission to encourage you to achieve this.

If you would like help discovering your mission and making it happen then check out my Start The Future Now and Stop, Procrastinating, Start Doing workshops.