FUCK IT

I received some tickets to an event in London this past weekend.  It was called The Fuck It Weekend and it’s ran by a lovely couple called John and Gaia. It was great, we sat on the floor all weekend whilst chatting, dancing and doing both mind and physical exercise.

I wanted to share one exercise with you that we did that I really liked.  It’s really simple and you can get really fast results from it.

The Exercise:

• Make a list of what you love to do
• Make a list of what you don’t like doing
• Make a list of what you used to love doing
• Make a list of what you think you’d love to do

Now:

• Start doing more of what you love
• Start doing less of what you don’t like
• Think about why you’re not doing what you use to love doing
• Start finding out more about what you’d think you’d love to do

Fuck it and do more of what you love!

http://www.thefuckitlife.com/

New Year, let’s be realistic.

It’s the New Year so lets put loads of pressure on ourselves to commit to some New Year resolutions.  Erm, what about no.

It’s a bit mad really isn’t it, nice relaxing Christmas and then Bam, loads of pressure.  New year means new company, new job, new body, new house, new me.

I believe in starting as you mean to go on, so whatever it is you want to achieve be realistic.

It’s like eating a Terrys chocolate orange, you’re not going to shove it all in your mouth at once.  If you did, you’d probably choke, be sick and never touch another.  So instead you look at it, bang it in to segments and eat them one at a time.

When you’ve had enough, you wrap it up and put it away until the next day.  Then you go back and have another piece, before you know it, it’s all done.  Goal accomplished, the difference is, you broke it down, digested it and enjoyed it.

If you have a goal you want to achieve, set realistic daily and weekly tasks towards it.  By doing so it makes your overall goal more manageable, enjoyable and realistic to achieve.

You’ll be on to your next goal before you know it.

Here’s to your best year yet

Jane x

What will you do for you in 2012?

What did you have on your personal to do list in 2011 that was going to make you happier, more balanced, that bit more relaxed.  Do you remember?

Now, if you’re doing it, brilliant, keep it up.  If you didn’t get round to doing it, what were the reasons.

Were you too busy running after business, too busy doing that other project that just had to be done (when realistically someone else could have done it), too busy running the family home after work.  Generally too busy giving to everybody & everything else, aside from you?

Whatever the reason, the year is nearly done so we can’t change that, however what we can do is focus on 2012.  So let’s do just that.

Firstly, are you committed to making a change, if yes read on, if no still read on!

What are you going to do to give yourself a more balanced life, make yourself happier, ensure you have more you time in 2012.

Will you delegate to your team, leave work on time or focus on getting into shape, what’s your goal?

The brilliant news is, you just need to make one change and it will have a positive effect on other areas of your life.

Let’s take the examples I just mentioned, when you do delegate, you can leave work on time, which makes time for exercise.  Simple!

Write down what you want to achieve.  Go on.

Now, what do you need to do to ensure you can set about achieving your goals successfully.  For e.g. do you need to plan what to delegate the day before or even better (if it works for you) plan the whole week ahead, the delegation plan!

Whatever is going to make it easier for you to achieve your you time, write it down.  Now.

We need to be realistic about your goals, things will come up from time to time, that’s life, life does not run in a straight line. So, what are the possible obstacles or distractions that may arise.  Write them down and next to them write how you will overcome them.  For e.g. make sure you leave work an hour early the next day.

Now make a note in your diary when you will take your first action.  Tell somebody who will hold you accountable, that way they can keep an eye on you and ensure your doing what you set out to do.  If you want to mail me your start date, I’m more than happy to check that your keeping on track.

Congrats, you’re on your way to making more you time and having a healthier Work/Life balance!

If you have any questions on the above, drop me a line, I’d love to hear from you jane@janedringcoachingcreatives.com

Thanks for reading

Jane

Are you doing what you really want to do?

If you are doing what you really want to do, congratulations keep going.  If not, what is it that is stopping you from taking that first step, is it a limiting belief?

What is a limiting belief?

A limiting belief is a belief that is stopping you from moving forward and achieving your goals.  It can be anything that is stopping you, from “What if my designs don’t sell”,  “I don’t have enough time” to “I’m rubbish at presenting, I can’t pitch”, you get the idea.  Therefore limiting you from moving forward and achieving your goal, your dream.

How do they come about?

As we grow up we’re exposed to peoples opinions.  *Parents, friends, teachers, colleagues, relations they all have an opinion, they love a bit of input don’t they.

“What? You want to make clothes or sing for a living, you must be mad.  You need to find a proper job” or maybe “It’s tough out there now, you shouldn’t be starting your own company” I mean how annoying is that when you’re doing something you love and you’re good at it.

The sad thing is if you hear that regularly over a period of time, insecurity can set in and you can start to doubt yourself.  “Well actually, can I make money, will it work, and maybe I should get a safe, proper job” (whatever one of them is)

Right, let’s turn this around

What limiting beliefs do you have that are holding you back from doing what you really want to do?  Write them down.

Now next to it/them write a list of reasons that makes this belief real for you, why do you believe it, what makes this true for you.

So it might look like this:

Limiting belief = I can’t start my own company

What makes it real for you = Clients might not buy my work

Now let’s turn this around, write down the opposite of what is making it real for you. E.g.

What makes it real for you = Clients might not buy my work

Replace with = Clients are buying my work.  (Make it personal to you “my work is selling out” “Clients are loving and buying my work”)

Repeat this over and over until you feel it make a shift.  Remember you may have had this limiting belief for years, so you might need to repeat this exercise again and again.  Say it slow and give it some oomph; reading it in a flat monotone voice isn’t really going to help you, you need to believe it, feel it.

Feel positive and run with it

I’m not even a designer and saying that ten times in a row gives me a feeling of confidence.  This is because it’s positive, positivity feeds positivity.

Notice how you feel when you read the opposite to what you originally said.  You get that calm air of confidence, you start to think in a much more positive, I can do manner.  You’re putting yourself into a positive mindset.  Remember to focus on what you do want and not, what you don’t want.  This is key.

Now is the time to take that first step towards your dream goal.  Go on!

If you’re nervous or not sure where to start I would love to work with you to bring your goals and dream alive, this is just the tip of the iceberg.  You can mail me at Jane@janedringcoachingcreatives.com or call me for a chat to find out more on +44 (0) 7906 258 633

*I’m aware that not all Parents, friends, teachers, colleagues, relations etc love a bit of input, just some of them!

Delegate and reap the benefits

Your business is your baby you want to nurture it and be there for it and take control of it because you don’t feel comfortable leaving it by itself.  If you don’t feed it, it won’t grow and it will just, well die really.  So that feeling of “I must control my business” (I’d like to think you read that bit in a robotic voice) can be pretty intense and I get that, albeit in good measure.

As your business starts to grow you get to the stage where you want/need to employ some fantastic creative’s to work alongside you.  This way you can grow your business successfully with the demand that it has created.

Now that you’ve employed one, two maybe five people to work with you and grow your business, where are you at?

Are you delegating work so you have a healthy relationship with your business and your team; which has a knock on affect of having a good Work/Life balance, because you don’t have to be doing everything yourself.  If so congratulations, it feels good doesn’t it.

Or are you paying one, two maybe five people to work with you and grow your business and your not actually delegating enough to them.

So not only are you working yourself into the ground, you’re not getting the most out of your money because you’re not using your team to their full potential.  Sounds a bit of a mad way to run a business doesn’t it.

When babies are learning to walk, you let them go on their own.  You’ve been walking for years so you guide them.  Once they can walk it frees you up from carrying them everywhere.  You’ll still keep an eye on them from a distance, however there is no need to carry them all the time.  By carrying them all the time you’re just going to wear yourself out unnecessarily and also stop them from building confidence and improving.

Think to years ago when you were just starting out, you were chomping at the bit to get involved.

Remember the excitement/nervousness of being able to do your first window, first sales pitch, first collection, first presentation, first staff meeting.  That feeling of I’ve got so much adrenalin I don’t know if I’m going to be sick or be amazing (yep we’ve all been there). Then the feeling of being proud, a real sense of achievement or even relieved that it was done.

And remember the more you were given, the better you got and the more you grew (which meant your boss could leave work at 17.30).

I bet one of the contributing factors that you are where you are today is aside from your amazing creative talent, years of working your ass off, charm and wit; someone back in the day gave you the opportunity to shine and grow.  They believed in you.

By delegating you will have more time to helicopter your business, what do I mean by helicopter your business?  Well simply looking at it from a bird’s eye view, look at all areas.  Where you can improve and how you can grow, what and who is working and what can be done better.  Plan your business moving forward, where do you want to be in one, three, five years time.  If not you’ll be working day to day and chasing your tail.

As well as having more quality you time and planning your business you’ll also be creating a stage for the next generation of creative’s to perform on.

Plan today what you will delegate tomorrow and make it easier for yourself.  Guide your team, delegate and reap the benefits.

Have a great week and remember to do something for you.

Jane

Three days in, how is your Life/Work Balance this week?

Thank you Jack Bishop for the drawing, check him out http://bloodybishop.blogspot.com/

It’s only wednesday, you can still plan quality you time tonight, tomorrow and friday.  Go on, you know you want to!

Life/Work balance or lack of?

Your current situation

So over the years you’ve gained more responsibility at work or maybe you’ve even started your own company (congratulations).  If so does the following sound familiar, work, work, work, a bit more work and then a few more hours work.  Weekend, knackered, mind still in the office, might as well check a few work emails before Monday just so I’m on top of it.

Oh look it’s Monday already and I’m back in the office and I didn’t do anything for myself any evening last week or all weekend because I was too tired from working.  Anyway I can’t think about that as I’ve got a meeting to run to.  And the cycle continues.

Just writing that paragraph, freaked me out.

Ready for the good news?

You can have that full on job or run your own company, and have quality you time.  If at this point your thinking yeah whatever, she hasn’t got a clue how busy I am you’re totally right; I have no idea how busy you are.  What I do know is no matter how busy you are you can still have quality you time.

How do I do it?

The key to life/work balance is all about commitment & holding yourself accountable.

What do I mean by that.  Well you have to commit 100% to making this change, remember it’s a change for the better. I don’t want to hear the words “I’ll try”.  Never try it only sets you up for failure.  You either do it or you don’t.  Commit to it. Yes, I want more productive me time and I will make it happen, then it is clear in your mind, you can move on to the next step.

The next step is planning what you will do and when you will do it.  It doesn’t have to be something huge, start small and be realistic.  Maybe the gym twice a week or seeing an old friend after work, taking your other half out for dinner instead of slumping in front of the TV.  Once you have decided on your plan, be specific with the day and time you will do it.

Hold yourself accountable, tell someone that cares about you your plans, because they are the ones that will take it seriously.  The people that care about you want to see you living a happy balanced life rather than the one you may have now where you work yourself to exhaustion and are five weeks overdue for a haircut because “you haven’t got time”.  That way, they will keep you in check, when you do your activity you can share the experience with them or if you don’t do it you have to tell them why you didn’t.  I’m thinking there will be none of the latter.

Nobody is going to do this for you, can you visualise your boss saying “it’s six o’clock, go home you’ve been working really hard, for the last five years”.  Take control of your own life, now.

If you care that much about your job, then give yourself a break. You will be more focused and you will deliver better results.  As well as delivering better results you will have a happier more fulfilling, balanced life outside of work too.  It’s a win-win.

So what is the first move you are going to make to have a balanced week, what are you going to do for you this week?

The first person to email, me with their new Life/Work balance plan for this week, will receive a one-hour complimentary coaching session. jane@janedringcoachingcreatives.com