Last week my friend Michael Robinson talked about success despite adversity on his Saturday’s radio show on microbin radio. Being intrigued by these words, I checked the online Cambridge Dictionary to find out the exact definition of both. So, according to it, success is the achievement of the results of something wanted or hoped for, or something that achieves positive results. Adversity is defined as a difficulty or an unlucky situation or event.
Every new situation involves a challenge. Much as appealing as might seem to be, it requires us to step out of our comfort zone and let go of an old way of doing things. Now, in the era of uncertaintly, the era of destressed economy, many of us have envisioned a greater career, a more profitable job with the prospect of career development, yet we are afraid of leaving what we have and make the change. This fear prevents us from making decisions. This fear makes us create comfort zones. It cannot be denied that nowadays there are not many options for carreer opportunities, especially in my country, Greece, yet facing any kind of fear always entails a gift.
Except with a challenge, every new situation involves an opportunity. I invite you, therefore, to see what opportunities you are loosing because of your fear. What is the worst thing that can happen and how are you going to handle this, if it happens? What can you do to prevent the worst case scenario? What skills and strengths of yours will help you to muddle through and get what you aspire?
What change needs to happen so that you will not leave in the fear of moving forward?
I am more than sure that you’ve got all the answers within you. This fear has happened in my life and I always remember what Tom Robbins used to say: ‘We make a change when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change’
Good luck!
The year of 2015 is coming to an and. Christmas period is an opportunity for many of us to reflect on the year that is passing by, celebrate with our beloved ones, redefine issues, outline decisions we feel like making, set new goals and form new year’s resolution (s).
I was recently asked by a founder of a company if decision coaching constitutes a form of solution focused coaching. All I had to do was to explain the differences among them.
Attending meetings is an inevitable part of our professional lives. I bet that most of us have left meetings feeling drained, confused and uncertain of what to do.
David Wethey in his book, ‘Decide. Better ways of making better decisions’, argues that meetings have a purpose: to decide things, and thus, he puts forward a few suggested hygiene factors.
If you are a CEO or someone in charge of holding meetings you may consider the following hygiene questions.
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Having recently worked with my coach on my brand personas, I realized that I’ve spent too much time and energy trying to manage my weaknesses, while I’ve been taking most of my merits, or strengths, for granted. Consequently, there was a feeling of inadequacy acting as a challenge for me in order to meet my objectives.
My coach challenged me to take the strength finder assessment 2.0 and a 360 degree feedback in order to develop a greater awareness of my strengths, and then we worked on ways of capitalizing on my strengths instead of struggling with my weaknesses. As soon as I started owing my strengths and applying them more frequently to the things that I do everyday many changes occurred for good. Needless to say that I’ve developed a more positive mindset that motivated to be more creative and execute my tasks with greater ease and efficiency.
Most of my week days are usually loaded with work related tasks and personal activities but still try to squeeze in having fun and enjoy my leisure time. I like being busy doing many and different things. Apart from my coaching practice I have a full time teaching job in the secondary special education. I love both of my jobs as they serve my mission to support people in reaching their full potential. However, in order to be consistent, present and accountable in everything I do, I always follow a time management plan that enables me to maintain a work- life balance, and this is what I support most of my clients in. I help busy professionals who want to execute their tasks with greater ease and efficiency and communicate their messages in a way that serves them and the people around them. So they usually come out with powerful action steps and they get the peace of mind they want by knowing that their goals will be within reach soon.
Even in these straightened times, our work should interest us, energise us and give us a buzz. I bet that most of us want and often strive to be creative in the things that we do everyday.
Having read today that creativity is the use, the application, and combination of our imagination with skills in order to produce something new, I would be curious to find out first what skills would enable you to be creative and innovative, how could you overlap these skills with your imagination afterwards, and then, how being more creative will affect your working life as well as your everyday life as a whole.
To your creativity,
Dimos
For many of us September signifies a new beginning. Summer is moving on and the weather starts changing affecting often our mood. Having returned back to our everyday lives from our summer vacation feeling relaxed and brand new somehow, we set new goals to achieve within the autumn and/ or winter season. That can be exciting and daunting at the same time..
William Bridge in his book ‘Managing transitions, making the most of change’ argues that every transitions involves a three phase process. It starts which an Ending that entails dealing with losses as well as letting go of the old ways of doing things. Then, the Neutral Zone begins. The phase when the old is gone and the new isn’t fully operational, and finally, there’s the New Beginning which involves developing a new identity, experience and discovering a new sense of purpose.
