Tag: essex life coach

Why achieving a work/life balance is hugely under rated

why finding a balance is a requirement not a luxury!

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In a world where communication is possible (and sometimes unavoidable) twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, the blurring of lines between working hours and personal time is becoming a regular feature of our lives. Yet, however successful or driven you are, never under-estimate the power of a bit of down time. Even the most successful business owners and entrepreneurs on the planet, recognise the importance of switching off to see results in their careers.

It’s time to start claiming back your down time for yourself and setting some boundaries between your work and your life!

Flexible working and being ‘switched-on’ can really take its toll. More and more employees are finding that being part of a world of constant communication and global business, means they are required to be constantly available to their employers. Yet keeping up to speed with your team at all times, can actually zap your energy and ultimately lead to a decrease in productivity. The same goes for the self- employed. If you find yourself switched on at all hours, every day, you find yourself working at 60-70%, when in reality it would be far more beneficial for you to be working at 100% efficiency for dedicated blocks of time.

So, is it a simple case of time-managements? Well on the surface, yes. Setting out blocks of time to focus on specific tasks and respond to certain emails can honestly work wonders. But we accept that’s not always easy, research by Cedar found that the average worker checks their phone for e-mails a whopping once every six and a half minutes. If we don’t nip this habit in the bud, our precious free time could be seriously under pressure.

With time management in mind, learn to know your limits. Don’t have eyes which are too big for your workload plate! One of the biggest reasons that the work/life balance is compromised, comes down to the work loads of individuals. Missing deadlines is horrible and it’s one of the biggest timewasting elements of your personal time. Be honest about what you can achieve in your available time- looking swamped with work could even have negative implications on your career. Dedication can easily be confused for inefficiency.

Finally, it’ll make you and those around you far happier. We all know that success can sometimes mean making small compromises in our personal life, but that’s what they should be. Small. Compromises. Got that? Not a regular thing. You’ll feel lighter, jollier and you’ll get back a bit of enjoyment in both your personal time and believe it or not- in your working day. Rather than rushing through projects or knowing you’ll have to stay late to get things done, take your time and relish your work projects. After all, you’ve probably worked hard to be there!

 

Bid farewell to your comfort zone

How moving outside of your comfort zone can take your life to the next level!

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Ahh the comfort zone, so named because it’s the mental equivalent of being wrapped on the sofa smothered by a duvet. Well ok, Lifehacker actually defines it as “the behavioural space where your activities and behaviours fit a routine and pattern that minimises stress and risk.” But either way, it’s all about the cosy sense of familiarity, security and certainty. There’s nothing scary in the comfort zone!

Sure, the comfort zone does indeed have its benefits. Us humans are creatures of comfort, it’s our natural neutral state. There’s little stress in the comfort zone, there’s consistency and you’ve probably reached a consistency in your performance, or maybe even in your emotions? But be honest with yourself, isn’t also a little bit boring? When did you do something exciting in your comfort zone? When did you last do something that makes you proud?

Melinda Beck for The Wall Street Journal has successfully argued that a little anxiety, can actually be the magic ingredient in our growth. Stepping outside of our comfort zones is our way of challenging ourselves and reaching new heights. Without risk, how can we prove that we can rise to the occasion of attempting something we might not be any good at!

Think back to when you were a child (the time in your life when you did nearly all of your growing), think about how many risks you took. No stream was too wide to leap, no colour-combo was too wacky! It’s only as we grow older that we learn to fear failure.

Beyond growth, leaving the comfort zone can also help our creativity flourish. Trying something new gives you a blank canvas of exploration and experimentation, that would simply be impossible in the confines of the comfort zone! By its very nature, creativity is inherently risky. When we show our creativity, we feel vulnerable and terrified of possible rejection. But the rewards that can be reaped from creative achievement will more than make up for it. Plus, the more you do It, the easier it becomes, until one day, taking risks, well…becomes part of your comfort zone!

By taking calculated risks and continually challenging ourselves, we’re effectively self-improving, it’s easy to cultivate openness, imagination and a higher intellectual curiosity! It allows you to become more astute and will also help with making spot-on decisions. All of a sudden, a situation which would have once made you extremely uncomfortable, becomes the perfect arena to allow you to look around, observe, absorb and interpret everything you see. Your decision making abilities will improve tenfold!

When you escape your comfort zone, you are effectively vanquishing your mental barriers, it’s a huge personal achievement. Whilst we can’t always promise the results will be equally fantastic, the sense of pride you will feel will make taking away that cosy duvet, indescribably delightful!

Text Coaching

A more relaxed but still super effective kind of coaching

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In the age of the iPhone a lot of people now prefer to communicate by text that over the telephone or sometimes even face to face.

Ofcom found that we sent 102 billion text messages in the UK alone in 2011 and a further 48 billion WhatsApp messages and those figure are only increasing.

Recently I have trialled text coaching with a few clients and we have developed great action plans that have them working towards their goals. The goals have been varied from finding a purpose, to weight loss to relationship problems.

The medium of text allows the coach the time to think of the perfect question, and the coachee the opportunity to ‘say’ things they might struggle to out loud.  It also means the coachee is in their own environment and does not need to travel or talk to anyone about where they’re going. It also means the coach can support anyone around the world. The other evening I was supporting a client all the way in Dubai from my cosy sofa in Essex, England!

Of course it is vital that as a coach you explain that you will be asking tricky questions and that as a coachee they should be as honest as they can even if their answer is I don’t know or can you rephrase that.

A great benefit to clients is also that text coaching is a cost effective option. As there is no room rental or travel for the coach, I am able to pass that saving back.

If you’d like to give text coaching a go, pop me an email at Georgina@essexlifecoach.com and let’s see how we can work together.

Find your focus with a Life Chart

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Filling in the life chart (link at the bottom) will help you to see the areas where you could have a great impact  on your happiness as well as how to make your life more balanced!

This worksheet will only take you about 1o minutes to complete, but will show you where to focus for the next couple of months.

I would love to hear how you get on!

If you need help completing it or would like to have a chat about your results, or to work on setting some great goals, please just pop me an email to Georgina@essexlifecoach.com

 

 

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What is Life Coaching?

cuddling bunnies and dancing in the rain?

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Hear the term life coaching and often people conjure up thoughts of someone spouting motivational quotes and high fiving you for breathing…. it’s not that

The simplest definition I’ve come up with is supporting someone to reach their goals by exploring the reality and options available to establish a clear, achievable plan.

A coach will ask you thought provoking questions to help you identify how you can achieve your goals in small steps. They will also make you accountable and will follow up with you.
Overall your coach is the translator for your tangled inner thoughts as well as the person who will help you keep on track. A good coach will give you a safe space and the time to spend on yourself, which is invaluable.

As a coach I’m excited to help people achieve their happy!

Christmas Wishes

‘Tis the season to reconnect

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I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

The festive period is a great excuse to reconnect with people you may have lost touch with, or to spend more time with those that you can’t normally due to other commitments.

Using time off effectively is a key focus for me. Making sure I plan to see those people more regularly instead of just coming in and getting into the latest boxset. In making plans and setting reminders you’ll get more done.

People aren’t around forever and relationships won’t strengthen themselves, so perhaps now is the time to re-focus and find time for that coffee or phone call.

Moving forwards whilst looking back

The past is part of your future, keep it alive

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Throughout our lives we lose people, move on from places and relationships will end. Some things you may be able to re-visit, however the finality of death is difficult to move on from.

They say that time heals all wounds, however there will still be days where it feels as though no time has passed at all, and it’s raw.

A positive way to carry on is to undertake small positive acts of remembrance to keep their spirit alive. Pictured is a portrait of my late uncle, who passed thirty long years ago. The piece for my nan is an embodiment a memory and refreshes a photograph that has stood on her wall for the last three decades.

By creating something new of the person, be it art or donating to a cause they felt passionately about, an element of them remains in the present. A beautiful example of this is the lovely rose bush planted to commemorate Neil, it grows and gives life to the world around it.

Moving forwards will always be hard, but bringing  your past with you, will give you great strength.

As one year closes another one opens

What will you do to be fulfilled this year?

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As we are all shockingly aware, time waits for no man and we get older every day. There is no time when we notice this more than at the end of a year, looking forward to the next.

This January I will be studying to become a life coach, to help me support my family, friends, colleagues and other people better. As with most things the more you put in, the more you get out, and I would like happiness for others to be my legacy.

The concept of legacy is something that drives me forwards. Imagining what people will remember you for in 2, 5, or even 20 years is a powerful motivator to make a change and do and be all the things that will make you feel happy and fulfilled.

Focus on one thing you’d like to be remembered for and take small steps toward it. Within a few years this desire will have become a part of your day to day life.