In Kevin Sheedy’s book Stand Your Ground his old coach, Tom Hafey wrote the Forward. He explained that Kevin realised that sport could offer him so many opportunities but they would only be realised if he worked not just as hard as anyone else but harder. This need to work harder was because Kevin did not have the same natural skills as most of his team mates and opponents. Thanks to my parents’ hard work me and many like me in Australia and other wealthy countries have been given a opportunity to live a wonderful, happy comfortable life. The downside of this great gift is not experiencing the hard work that went into creating it and therefore potentially not valuing it as much as it should be valued.

In earlier articles I discussed surveys that found we are not happier today than in previous times despite having increased wealth and material goods. Perhaps one of the reasons is that many of us have not experienced the happiness that hard work can bring. This does seem weird but when I look back on the moments that have given me most satisfaction, they are the moments that were the results of hard work. They are events like getting through university, sealing work deals, running good times and winning races.

There is evidence that hard work can lead to a happier life. The next question is how to get motivated to do hard work. The following is a six step guide to get motivated to start the hard work and to keep it going during the tough times.

1. Set a Goal: This stems from the Stephen Covey principle of starting with the end in mind. To test the benefit of this principle start with something simple. When you are having breakfast tomorrow morning think of one goal that you want to achieve during the day. As with all goals make this one a SMERT goal. Be Specific about what you want to achieve. Make sure that the goal can be Measured. Check that the goal excites your Emotions (when you think about does it raise the hairs on your neck). Ensure that the goal is Reachable and Realistic but challenging. Finally put a Time limit on the goal. In this case it will be tomorrow.

2. Plan: The benefit of a plan is that it will increase the chances of the hard work resulting in achieving the goal. It can be very easy to be caught in the trap of working hard (I have a real problem of focusing on emails at the expense of other work) on stuff that will not help you achieve your goals. Planning and monitoring the plan will help you invest your time in activities that will help achieve goals. Remember to allow for bush fires in your plan. Bush fires are events that cannot be planned for. The best way to deal with “bush fires” in a plan is to allow more time than expected to achieve the goal. The art is to allow enough but not too much extra time. The plan should also highlight the resources required to get the job done. This could be money and equipment but also remember to plan your support team. This team is people that will give you physical and emotional support.

3. Get the Balance Right: Life is not one dimensional and a life plan with a sole focus on one specific goal is missing out on all life has to offer. It also increases the likelihood of burn out as, in general, humans need some variety in their life to maintain their well being. For example if your goal is a career or study goal make sure that you allow some room in your life for the other things that are important for you. These may be your

o health and fitness,

o key relationships,

o community work,

o hobbies,

o entertainment

4. Develop Self Awareness: This is the ability to know yourself and to respond when things are not going well. For example over the last week my training times have blown out by over a minute per kilometre. It has taken me 31 years but I now recognise that this is my body telling me that it needs to take a break to recharge the batteries. So instead of running I am doing more yoga and core strength exercises this week as well as a bit of cross training such as pool jogging. My hard work has been interrupted but I will be back on the roads again next week with the goal still firmly in mind and the body recharged and ready to face the challenges. Recognise your own signs that suggest that you need to rest and recharge. These signs may include fatigue, a reduction in productivity (not getting as much done in a day that you normally do), lack of sleep or minor illnesses.

5. Keep on Track: Most of us fall off the rails at some stage on the path to achieving something special. The challenge is to recognise that it is OK to fall off and then to get back on the rails the next day and continue with the hard work to achieve the goal. This is where the support team identified in point 2 above comes into play. These people can encourage you to keep focussed on your goal. One thing that some clients have found is that falling off the rails reinforces old self beliefs that they are not good or strong enough to achieve important goals. Dealing with this requires self awareness as outlined above. It is important to recognise the self belief as just that, a belief. It is not true unless you let it be true.

6. Celebrate: We all need bit of celebrations in our life. This time of year is full of them. During the year it can really help to keep these celebrations going. I recommend celebrating the achievement of a goal in an audacious way. Also, it is important to celebrate the achievements along the way to realising the goal. Hard work can become a grind and to keep going week in, week out, it can help to celebrate what has been achieved that day, that week or that month.

Hard work is given a bad rap. It is looked at as a thing to be avoided. However the benefits are perhaps what life is about. Dean Karnazes summaries it well when he says.

“I suppose the enjoyment of hard work is more of an acquired taste than the taste for pleasure and fun, but once you’ve acquired it, you’re blessed with more ways to feel good, and life is better. Harder and better.”

I read an interesting article recently by Brian Traecy that suggested that every decision in life is impacted by the people that are or have been in our life. In a way that is easy to accept and agree with in that the decisions we make will be a result of the information that we have and our perception of the world. Both this information and this perception will be due to the people that have been a part of our lives. However, a lot of us like to consider ourselves as independent beings that make our own decisions. I do not see these two trains of thoughts as being mutually exclusive. By that I mean we do have the power to make independent decisions but that decision will be the outcome of the impact that other people have had on our life.

This concept again has parallels between success in business and success in personal lives. The people that we surround ourselves with will impact the decisions that we make therefore it makes sense to surround ourselves with people that will help us make good decisions. Three examples of when we can make that decision is as a parent, in our own lives and in business

1. As a dad with fairly young children I have the ability not only to make those decisions for myself but also for my kids (or a least I like to think I do). Liz, my wife, and I encourage friendships with other children who we deem will have a positive impact on the lives of our own kids. Liz and my definition of “positive impact” will be different to yours but for us we are looking for other children that are confident, treat others with respect and show a bit of “fire in the belly”. They are things that we value and we hope that our three kids will value.
2. The people who I enjoy spending time with fall into two categories. There are those that share values with me and there are those who I admire for what they have done with their life. My best mates are the ones who both inspire and share the same values. These are the people that motivate me. The ones that help me make the decisions that are consistent with my values and the ones that inspire me to make the most of what I have to offer.
3. In business the people we choose as partners or employers or employees or as board members is the decision that will have a huge impact on the financial success of the business. It is important to have the right product of right service supported by great marketing initiatives servicing a sustainable customer base. However, all this may not be enough to develop an enduring profitable business without the right people.

The rest of this article will focus on four attributes to look for when identifying board members, business partners or coaches. The four are:

1. No fixed point of view

People who do have a fixed point of view may miss opportunities that are not consistent with the way that they view the world. They will look for information that supports that particular point of view and reject information that contradicts the point of view. These are not good attributes for a person that you want to help guide and grow your business.

2. Willing to question

The person who questions the basis of your ideas will be more valuable than the person who has blind faith in your skills and abilities. Look for people who will broaden your view of the world. They may help identify opportunities or risks that otherwise would be missed.

3. Willing to both analyse and listen to intuition

This is the area where science meets art. Analytical skills are always valuable. This is the science. A board member, partner or coach who listens to, and communicates their own intuition can be equally as valuable. This is the art. A good friend of mine talks about checking in with the feeling in a certain body part before making major decisions. A more universal tool to assess your own intuition is to ask does it feel “light” or “heavy”. “Light” and “heavy” can be interchanged with “right” and “wrong” respectively. Discussing and exploring that feeling or intuition may help make even better decision than relying on scientific analysis alone.

4. A prosperity prospective rather than a scarcity prospective

This is talking about choosing board members, partners and coaches that will look for ways to make things happen rather than those that reinforce how hard it is and suggest it could never happen. If you hear anyone say something like “that is just the ways things are” avoid them from a business point of view.

The overall message is to surround yourself with people who will help provide you with the information, motivation and the support to achieve your goals.

Happiness has become a hot scientific topic over the last two decades. Recently the BBC presented a six part series called The Happiness Formula. This series covered topics such as:

• Think yourself happy

• The politics of happiness

• The power of happiness

• The happiness recipe

The scientific tests supporting the series suffered, to some extent, because happiness relies upon the subjective self assessment by an individual of their own happiness rather than an objective measure. However, that suggests that happiness is something that can be objectively measured and that may not be so. Perhaps each of us have our own definition of happiness that are all equally valid.

The instigator for this article was not the BBC series but a lecture that I heard while waiting to pick up my wife and son from the airport after they had competed in the Gold Coast Marathon Running Festival. The lecture was delivered by a guy called Daniel Gilbert. He is a professor in psychology at Harvard University. He has an entertaining delivery style and uses humour to communicate his messages about what makes us happy. Examples of this included:

• Stating that heroin is not a misery drug but a happy drug. He claimed that the moment of taking the drug was the happiest time for the addict. However it was the rest of the addict’s life that was a misery.

• We can sit through hours of a baseball or cricket match where nothing much happens but we can go home happy because we witnessed one or two minutes of magic. Similar to this I remember telling my dad in the 1980s that I could still enjoy seeing my football team lose each week as long as “Roachy” took a specky.

• We can convince ourselves that we are happier with a $85 pair of socks than a $5 pair of socks that perform the same function.

He questioned the belief that it is children that make us truly happy. My two youngest did not like this part of the lecture. He stated that similar to the sporting matches it is the relatively short magic moments that children provide that help us believe our lives our happier overall. Those moments include such times as when they look in our eyes and tell us they love us or give us the unexpected hug.

His overall point is that happiness can be synthesised or manufactured rather than externally found or bought. The science that he uses to justify this includes:

• There was no difference in happiness six months after the event between a person who was made a paraplegic and a person who won the lottery.

• People were asked to rank six Monet prints from their most preferred to their least preferred. They were then told they could choose their 3^rd or 4^th favourite to keep. Most people chose their 3^rd favourite. Some months later they were asked to rank the six Monet prints again. The average results were that the original 3^rd favourite print was now the 2^nd and the original 4^th favourite print was now the 5^th favourite.

Another point made both in the BBC series and by Gilbert is that despite being wealthier than prior generations we are not happier. The assertion here was that it is comparative wealth that makes us happier. That is if everybody is as comparatively as wealthy as us we are not likely to be any happier.

Gilbert is saying that we have the brain power to make us happy no matter what our circumstances. It may be easier to be happy while eating chocolate than it would be when eating brussel sprouts but our brain gives us the power to be happy no matter what our taste buds are experiencing. It is therefore, the tortoise who will win the race to happiness as it take it’s time to make the most of what it is experiencing now as it heads towards its goal.

Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to attend a workshop that was presented by Wendy Swift. Wendy is a sports psychologist and works with many sporting organisations including the Queensland swim team at the Queensland Academy of Sport. The Queensland trained swimmers will make up at least half of the Australian swim team at the Olympics and the Australian team is the second strongest (behind the USA) in the world. At the recent Australian championships Queensland swimmers broke 5 world records. This suggests that the input from Wendy and the other coaching and support staff is working.

At the workshop Wendy outlined some tools and techniques that she uses. One was called a visual debrief. It involved the athlete having a structured process to review their performance after an event. The athletes are asked to measure their performance in 7 areas by giving a point score between 1 and 10. The 7 areas are:

• Switch off: This is the amount of time in the 4 hours before the race that the athlete was completely switched off from swimming related thoughts. A score of 10 would mean that the athlete was “switched off” all of the time.

• Thought Volume: In the 4 hours prior to racing how mush time was spent on thoughts related to the particular race.

• Activity: In the 4 hours prior to the race how busy or active was the athlete. 10 would mean very busy

• Arousal: How “pumped” was the athlete immediately prior to the race.

• Confidence: Immediately before the race how confident was the athlete that they could do the job that they were meant to do.

As a side issue note the terminology “do the job”. This confidence is not how confident the athlete is about winning the race but how confident they are that they will be able to do their job. The reason for this is to keep the athlete focussed on what they have control over. They don’t have control over the outcome of the race but they do have control over what they do during that race.

• Nerves: How nervous the athlete was before the race.

• Control: During the race what was the level of control that the athlete felt.

There is an eighth measure and it is the evaluation of the race performance on a scale of 1 to 10.

This tool is used each time the athlete performs. They record how they were in regards to each of the seven areas and record what was the performance outcome. They then identify what are the consistent factors when they do their best performances and then plan to do the same things before future performances. Thus they are moving forward by looking back.

The exciting thing is to use this tool to improve the outcomes in our everyday life. The seven categories may have to change but the principle is a simple and effective one. It is to identify what we did and how we felt before the times that we did really well so that we can repeat that in the future. Possibilities for using the tool in our own life includes:

• Sports: I could see this helping with golf, running, squash, triathlons in fact probably all sports.

• Job Interviews:

• Exams:

• Presentations:

• Sales: This tool could identify the actions and feelings that result in the highest percentage of conversion of potential clients

• Dating:

• Public Speaking:

• One on one talks: e.g. Parent child, teacher student, supervisor employee

Doing these reviews is a time investment in you. It is an investment that will generate a healthy return.

A friend last week was telling me how much she had enjoyed living in London in the early part of this decade. She had enjoyed the vibrancy and the culture but a strange image made her question whether this was the long term lifestyle for her. Each day while going to work she noticed more and more people with white pieces of wire hanging from their ears. It was the time of I Pods and each day it seemed that more and more people were joining the revolution. This innocuous observation triggered something in my friend’s mind that made her question this lifestyle, the pace of life and her priorities.

This again made me think about finding time to be alone and how difficult this can be living in a large city. Running has been my time alone for over 30 years and it has helped me make some sense of what is happening around me from the hormone driven teenage years to the mutli vitamin driven middle age years.

But what is the value of spending this alone?

Neither the Dalai Lama nor the massage therapist let me know their thoughts, so I did a bit of research. One of the articles that I discovered was by Keith Renninson. He is a Vietnam vet turned motivational speaker and author. He talked about using the time alone to develop a personal life philosophy and then to check in with ourselves on a regular basis to confirm what is working and what isn’t working. This seems like a good idea but I was never taught how to check in with myself to develop my own personal philosophy. I was taught how to get high marks so that I could do whatever I wanted to do.

In hind sight it seems a bit strange that there was not more emphasis on how to develop my self knowledge. This would have helped determine what it was that I wanted to do.

So in the absence of self knowledge I did the next best thing and that is did what my family, friends, media, politicians or teachers told me is the right thing to do.

As a dad I see this is a challenge to help my kids work out their own philosophies, to determine what they want to do with there life.

One of the things that I will encourage is for them to spend time alone. I will probably have to get over being called a freak but I will actively make opportunities for them to have those deep and meaningful solo conversations.

The following are some specific thought starters that I intend to share with my kids to initiate this solo discussion:

• Reflect on your past present and future. What makes you happy? What makes you angry?, How can you get more of the former and less of the later
• Discover how you really feel about issues without anyone else’s input.
• Listen to your thoughts.
• Compare your ideas and options.
• Appreciate that you can make good choices.

How to create this time alone in our life? A real commitment needs to be made. There is no need to become a monk or a nun or sail solo around the world. Renninson asks himself each morning if he is happy with the direction of his health and fitness, his professional life and his social life. I use my time running or doing yoga to have that inner conversation about the status of my life. For some it is really tough to find that time that can be spent alone. This is usually because of family and work commitments and when any time is available being deep and meaningful is not at the top of the “to do list”.

However just like an advertising campaign “take the challenge”, you may find that the time you give yourself helps create time in your life overall. Set 15 minutes in your diary or in outlook or your PDA or whatever time management tool you use 4 times per week over the next 4 weeks. You may find it helpful to have a pen and paper handy to write any insights or decisions that you make.

You will then have your own answer to the topic of this article “Why create time to be alone”.

The basic key to motivation is to enjoy what you are doing. Sounds simple doesn’t it? One of the major issues, however, is that we have so many options with how to spend our time that it is easy to find something that we will enjoy doing. The challenge is that it is very tempting to go for the instant enjoyment at the expense of the task that will lead to long term enjoyment and happiness. For example it is easy to watch that great show on TV rather than do that home budget. Or it is easy to play on the play station for another half hour rather than read that book that will help complete the assignment that is due at the end of the month.

These decisions to go for short term enjoyment are easier if there is uncertainty about what we want to do in the long term. Further to the above examples there is not much motivation to do a budget if there is not a plan on how to use the cash that is saved. Also the motivation to do an assignment will be missing if the assignment is not viewed as a tool to help get what is really wanted.

So the first step 1 in the motivation check list is:

ü Step 1: Have a purpose, vision, goal of what you want to achieve. Once your purpose, vision or goal has been defined move to step 2, otherwise go to step 1.5

As Les Brown says above there is a need to have a real hunger for the vision, not just simply want it. Young kids show this hunger so well. The two year old throwing a tantrum in the shopping aisle of the grocery store is showing a real hunger to get what they want. (I received feedback from one reader last month that I should have more shopping analogies and less sporting analogies. I appreciate that this is probably not the kind of shopping analogy you were after, but I tried). Imagine if we could capture that hunger and passion of the two year old and channel it in more productive ways to achieve our own goals.

What you might find is that the tasks that you originally viewed as mundane suddenly become fun if they are viewed as an important part of the journey to achieving your vision. For example, you are likely to feel more motivated to do the family budget if it is not seen as the end in itself but as a stepping stone in the journey to going on the dream holiday. The motivation for the assignment is likely to be higher if it is seen as a tool to get that mark which will keep the options open as to what you will do next year.

Note, in this assignment example there was no defined vision but the motivation was to keep options open until a vision is defined. This is a useful tool for people who are struggling with working out what they want to do. In this case the motivation is to keep all options open or to explore the options until the vision is defined.

ü Step 1.5: Remember that you are keeping all options open until you define your purpose, vision or goal.

Steps 2 and 3 are moving into action and establishing a team and structure to support you during the time it takes to achieve your vision.

ü Step 2: Design and implement your action plan and enjoy it!

Step 2 says “enjoy it”. You are now on the path to achieving your vision life, enjoy the ride. The key here is not to get too distressed about achieving the vision but enjoy the journey you have chosen to get you there. Move into vision focussed action as soon as you can and celebrate your achievements along the way.

ü Step 3: Establish and use your support team and support structure

It will be your inner drive that you achieves your vision but you can help your self by establishing a support team and support structure. The support team will be anyone or a combination of a:

ü Friend

ü Coach

ü Loved One

ü Accountant

ü Lawyer

That is anyone who can emotionally or technically help you achieve your vision.

The structure will depend on what works best for you but could include such things as:

ü Writing a journal

ü Making a collage of your vision

ü Having dinner with a friend to talk about your progress once a month

ü Spending five minutes when you wake up confirming what you are going to day today to achieve your vision.

Enjoy the journey and stop and smell the roses along the way.

I find the concept of truth fascinating. Just like one person’s act of terror is another person’s freedom fight, one person’s truth is another person’s fantasy. Rumours are sometimes said with such conviction or spread so far that they become a “truth” no matter what the reality is. Without getting too political, the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is a classic example of a truth that was fantasy.

One of the things that this article will explore is to take this concept of truth back to the individual level and investigate if what we believe is true impacts the way that we behave. As an example, I believed that it was safe to strap myself to a guy with a nick name of Animal and an odour of Bundaberg rum and jump out of a plane. Many wouldn’t believe that this was the safe thing to do and so they would not jump out of a plane with Animal. My version of the truth resulted in many behaving in a way that a lot of other people wouldn’t as they had a different version of truth.

Another example of this happened last month at the Australian Women’s golf open. I heard a radio journalist report that Karrie Webb stated at the end of the third round that she would win the open because she was the only one in the competition with so much experience in winning major events. Is this statement true? Part of the statement could be proven as fact or not by comparing Karrie’s record in winning major events to the other players. I have no doubt that she would have won more major events than any other player in the competition but it does not make her statement that she would win this tournament true.

The important thing about Karrie’s statement was whether she and her opponents believed it was true. She went on to win the event in a play off. Her playing partner fell dramatically down the leader board. The other player in the play off was the only other player in the field in the top 10 women golfers in the world. Did Karrie believe it was true and give her the confidence and poise to play a fantastic last round of golf? Did it help her cope with the pressure of a play off? Did most of her opponents believe Karrie’s statement was true and so in their mind resigned themselves to not winning and begin to play like non winners?

How can we use this version of truth in our own life? Try the following.

When you hear these thoughts going on in your mind:

ü I’m not good enough to do that

ü That person would do a better job than me

ü I have not got time for that

ü I have not got the skills to do that

Change the version of your truth to:

ü I can do that

ü I will make time for the important things in my life

ü I have the skills or I can develop them to do anything that I am passionate about

See if it changes your behaviour.

Also try another couple of experiments.

When you find yourself saying “I can’t do that” add the word “yet” to the end of your statement. (thanks to Sharon Hannan the coach of the premier female sprinter and hurdler in Australia, Sally McLellan).

The final experiment can be done when you about to embark on something that is going to be stressful or difficult like a meeting, a job interview, a sales pitch, a presentation or an exam. Control what your mind accepts as the truth. Tell your mind that this is going to be a sensational experience or a fantastic opportunity and see if this changes the way that you behave in the stressful or difficult situation.

In January I had the opportunity to present to a group of business people. The purpose of the presentation was to outline what Inspiration Coaching does. However, when doing presentations like these, a major component is talking about what coaching is and what benefits it’s provides. I also used the opportunity to launch a new program. The new program is called “Inspired Living”. There will be more about this program later.

In the presentation I talked about my fascination with sports stars and how that was one of the factors that drove me to coaching. I admire people who are successful in their chosen sport and I want to discover what role their mind plays in aiding that success. For example, why were Ian Baker Finch and David Duval capable of competing for majors one year and not be able to make the cut the next while Tiger Woods can dominate golf for a decade? What drove Sebastian Coe to win the gold medal for the 1500m at the Moscow Olympics after losing in the event that he was favoured to win, the 800m (I know I am showing my age with this one)?

I believe that there is something to learn from these people that exceed in their chosen field and the challenge is to use that to help me and my variety of clients achieve our own personal objectives and goals.

That is one factor that has driven me to coaching but it doesn’t help explain what is coaching all about. My definition of coaching is:

“a partnership between coach and client, focused on the client, to help the client move towards the achievement of their life objectives.”

The benefits of coaching include:

ü Identifying your objectives

ü Identification of actions to reach your objectives

ü Having someone to keep you focused on achievement of those objectives

ü Having someone to support you to overcome day to day life issues that get in the way of achieving your objectives

ü A greater self awareness and an appreciation of what you can achieve

ü Appreciating the journey just as much as enjoying achieving the objectives, and the big one

ü Helping you “live a life of no regrets”

The Inspired Living program has these benefits. In addition it provides a structured approach to coaching. It is a 12 session program. The frequency of each session will depend on the needs of the client but will vary from 2 to 3 a week to once every 6 weeks with the average being one session every two weeks.

The process that is used in the Inspired Living program is a little like the process I go through when entering a shopping mall. I need to go to the mall map to discover where I am. If the map doesn’t have one of those “You are here” stickers I am in real trouble. I then look at all the different options to work out where I want to go. Finally I work out a plan to get to from where I am to where I want to be. Usually I need to consult another map on the way to make sure I am heading in the right direction.

The other great benefit of the program is that you will discover tools and techniques that you can share with people that are important to you.

Maria Robinson says in the opening quote that it is never too late to make a new ending. Coaching can support you to make a new ending.

Now for the Special offer! Anyone who starts the Inspired Living program in February and who mentions The Coach newsletter will receive a $100 discount off the cost of the program.

“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” – Golda Meir

Is there a “right” way to live and how do we know when we are successful? Is it based on our personal definition of success or our perception of our local society’s definition? In society there is a definition of success that, in the past, I have grasped to supplement my own limited ideas about what I wanted to do. The main components of this definition for me were:

ü Doing well at school (i.e. Staying to year 12 and getting high marks)

ü Going to university

ü Getting a stable job (preferably high paying)

ü Moving up the corporate ladder at a rapid pace

How much better would it have been if I was taught as a kid what I individually had to offer the world and given some guidelines on how to make that happen?

There are also plenty of sources to help us determine the “right” way to live. The major ones are advertising, the general media and our peer group. This advice can tell us the right:

ü Clothes to wear

ü School to send the kids

ü Location to live

ü Holiday locations

The major issues with accepting these definitions of “success” and “right” is they are not necessarily our own. It gets really strange when we start to get distressed and depressed about not achieving this “success” or being able to afford to live the “right” way. The depression and distress are strange because they are driven by things that we may not really want anyway.

The World Health Organisation figures on suicide rates show that this is not only sad but also tragic. Australian men suicide rates are the 26^th highest in a ranking of 100 countries. This is despite Australia being the 25^th richest nation of 206 as measured by the World Bank.

Another potential factor driving self doubt is our conditioning. Susan Jeffers in her book “Feel the Fear…& Do it Anyway” states that we are more likely to ask our kids to “Be Careful” rather than “Take some risks today”. She suggest that the “Be careful” carries a double message. The messages are that the world is dangerous and that you will not be able to cope with it.

This combination of not being taught what we individually have to offer the world (and not being able to define what success means personally) and believing that we will not be able to handle it even if we did know is lethal.

I propose two steps to start believing in you and trusting yourself.

1. Look for the opportunities in “failures” and “wrongs” and use them as a catalyst to change. I was once accused of being overly optimistic (it helps as a Richmond Tigers supporter). For example a failed exam is a catalyst to discovering a new study method or possibly a new course and

2. Recognise that your current life is a sum of your past actions and experiences. If this is accepted the natural is that the future is also going to be a result of your actions and experiences and you have the power to define what those future actions and experiences will be.

Follow the advice of Golda Meir in the opening quote and fan the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.

“You must do the thing that you think you cannot do!” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Articles in earlier editions of the coach outlined how to develop a one page business action plan. This month the focus is on the development of your career action plan. However, the process can also be easily adapted to other areas of your life.  

The first and most important step is to make a decision. The decision is whether or not you need a career action plan. Many may not require any action in their career at this stage of their life. For some there are more important areas in their life to which they want to devote their time. The challenge is to make a conscious decision and either accept the current job or put into place actions to achieve your goal job.  

Like a business, the foundation of a strong action plan for a career is a vision, mission and identification of values. This article will not go into detail about the development of this foundation (see the inspiration coaching blog for articles that contain more detailed information) but in summary the following is suggested

ü       Vision: Choose a time in the future and document in detail what you will be doing from a career point of view. I suggest somewhere 3 to 5 years in the future. What you should identify includes:

o        where you are located,

o        what you are doing,

o        how you travel to your work place,

o        how many hours a day you spend there,

o        what sort of colleagues you have,

o        what clothes you wear,  

ü       Mission: Identify what you want to achieve in your working life. As a tool to help you complete this, think of what ideally you would like to tell people when they ask you “What do you do?”

ü       Values: Identify what is important to you in your working life. Make them behavioural statements and not just one word statements. For example if you value “excellence” (I suggest choosing the 5 or 6 most important values for you, please contact me if you would like a tool to assist with this) document a statement that will show how you will behave to show how you value excellence. For example it could be “I will value excellence by continuing to develop my knowledge in _______________ (your area of expertise).

The next steps involve identifying actions to help achieve your mission. The first of these steps is to document the key areas that need to be nurtured to achieve your career mission. For example these could be relationships, customers, my knowledge, my growth. As an example I will look at “customers” and the steps to follow to identify actions. The steps are strategy, targets and actions.

ü       Strategy: In simple terms a strategy is a method to win. Be it war, sport, business or your own personal career having a strategy increases the likelihood of success. In regards to customers, “exceed customer expectations” is a statement not a strategy. However, “I will exceed my customer expectations by knowing their needs before they do” is a potentially very powerful strategy.

ü       Targets: The targets that support this strategy could be:

o        80% Retention / renewal rate

o        New product or service provided every six months

ü       Actions: Actions that would help achieve this target are:

o        Attend two industry conferences annually

o        Call each customer once per month

o        Subscribe to two industry magazines and research industry trends

Repeat this process for your other key areas and you will complete your career action plan.