Does Your Morning Routine Set You Up For Success?

Does Your Morning Routine Set You Up For Success?

by | Feb 15, 2017

From my extensive research I have found that successful people all have one thing in common. They get up early in the morning and have a very specific routine that they follow, no matter what. It is this routine and consistency each and every morning that sets them up for success.

Starting and maintaining a positive morning routine is an investment of a life time. It provides structure, builds life-changing habits, and creates momentum for the rest of your day. According to research, when you create and follow a morning routine, your stress and anxiety levels will begin to plummet and your life satisfaction levels will begin to soar.

In the words of Hal Elrod, author of The Miracle Morning:

“How you wake up each day and your morning routine (or lack thereof) dramatically affects your levels of success in every single area of your life. Focused, productive, successful mornings generate focused, productive, successful days — which inevitably create a successful life — in the same way that unfocused, unproductive, and mediocre mornings generate unfocused, unproductive, and mediocre days, and ultimately a mediocre quality of life. By simply changing the way you wake up in the morning, you can transform any area of your life, faster than you ever thought possible.”

If you want to make your morning routine stick, focus on making it a habit. A healthy morning routine instills a sense of purpose, peace and productive ritual to your day.

Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, says maintaining a good morning routine is no different than having a positive outlook.

“Over my 50 years in business I have learned that if I rise early I can achieve so much more in a day, and therefore in life. No matter where I am in the world, I try to routinely wake up at around 5am. By rising early, I’m able to do some exercise and spend time with my family, which puts me in a great mind frame before getting down to business.”

One of my goals for this year is to instill a better routine into my mornings. One that I stick to no matter what. There is no best formula for how your morning should look but some of the activities that successful people do every day include meditation, exercise, stretching and drinking green smoothies. Then prioritising their top three income producing activities of the day, which they then execute.  What they don’t do is get out of bed, react to emails, jump on social media and then find its lunchtime and half the day has already disappeared.

Each and every day there will always be important and urgent tasks that you have to get done, such as client work and sales conversations but there are also a raft of tasks that are important and non-urgent.  These important and non-urgent tasks include eating well and making sure you are taking care of yourself.  Let’s face it you can serve no-one if you are exhausted and not up to the job.  And yet time and time again I come across business owners that have not prioritised their personal well-being in their daily schedule.  They keep saying they don’t have time for exercise and yet studies [keep showing] SHOW that exercise helps make us more productive.  This is the conundrum.  We keep thinking we don’t have time when actually if we don’t take the time to do these things we won’t be able to sustain running a successful business.

Like everything, when you start to implement your morning routine, start with small steps. If you currently get up at 7am then trying to get up at 5am will be a stretch.  Why not just get up 15 mins earlier for a week and then the next week another 15 mins earlier. Soon you will reach your goal.  Likewise, don’t try and meditate for an hour, 15 mins is a great start.  It’s the same with exercise too. If 30 mins seems to long start with just 15 mins. Like everything it is the intention and commitment to take action that is JUST as important as the duration of the activity.

So, what are you going to do today to start putting better morning routines in place?  I’m going to take some of my own medicine now and go for a run!

Wishing you a great flow filled week.

The Power of No

The Power of No

by | Feb 8, 2017

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying “no” to 1,000 things”  Steve Jobs

Over the past few weeks we have talked a lot about taking action and staying focused, and the quote above from Steve Jobs sums this up so well. Staying focused doesn’t mean saying yes to everything, in fact learning to say No is probably the most powerful action you can take. One of the challenges that I come across time and time again with entrepreneurs is that they want to do everything. Maybe you can relate to this?. Entrepreneurial Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is the curse of the entrepreneur because when it kicks in they jump from one project or shiny object to the next. And why is this? It’s because great entrepreneurs can see the opportunity and possibility in everything. And so they just want to pursue all possible options. The challenge is to remain focused when their energy and focus becomes distracted.

So how do you know what to focus on? Firstly, it is so much easier to say No when you are crystal clear what you want to say Yes to. When you have clarity on the reason why you are doing what you are doing, then it is easier to see what a distraction is. This is why, with every business owner I work with, we start by getting clarity on the purpose for the business. The purpose provides the GPS and sets the business owner in the right direction. After all, if for example, you were travelling to Singapore from London, you would instantly know that going to New York was not a sensible idea, as it is in exactly the opposite direction. So having a clear purpose helps you filter out distractions and items that might take you off course.

Having clear values also helps you know what to say No to because your values inform your thinking and actions. If you are asked to undertake a task that is in violation of your values then most likely you would not do it. Our values become our DNA, the basis of what we stand for. Without values we can become like a rudderless ship bobbing around on the ocean, getting swept one way and then the next, never making any progress.

As creative entrepreneurs we often come up with many different types of products and service lines. The reality is that you cannot be an expert at everything. When Mark Parker, become Nike CEO, in 2006, he asked Steve Jobs for his best advice and this is what Jobs said:

“Nike makes some of the best products in the world. Products that you lust after. But you also make a lot of crap. Just get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff.”

Jobs calls the process of just focusing on the good stuff editing. It involves reviewing all your products, services and activities and then streamlining them. Whether it’s design or business strategy less is more. Nobody produces all masterpieces. You’ve got to edit it down and throw away the crappy stuff. Take away unnecessary hardware parts from your computer, unnecessary code and features from your app, unnecessary products from your offering, extra words from your presentation. This is not easy. It takes guts to take away a physical keyboard from a smartphone but the results can be astounding. Throw away the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff.

So, how are you going to use the Power of No in your business? What crappy stuff are you going to release so that you can focus on the really good stuff? Think about this over the coming week and let me know in the Facebook group what you have said No to.

 

The Power of Opposites

The Power of Opposites

by | Feb 5, 2017

Given the choice, would you work with someone who’s similar to you and shares your views? Or would you prefer to work with someone who’s quite dissimilar, and has a different perspective?

Research suggests that we make better decisions in diverse groups than in homogeneous ones, but that we feel less confident in those decisions.  Why? Maybe because making decisions with people similar to us feels easy; if we’re all on the same page from the start it must be the right page, mustn’t it? The overconfidence that we’re prone to individually, gets multiplied in homogeneous groups.

On the other hand, making a decision with a bunch of people who have different perspectives can be a struggle. In a diverse group people often voice divergent views. They disagree with one another. Someone likely needs to compromise. And the whole thing can just feel a bit rocky. The decision may be better, but it doesn’t always feel better.

So teams need to ask themselves what they would rather have, an inferior decision that you feel really good about? Or a superior one, that doesn’t sit quite as well? Most of us would say we want the superior decision of course, but our actions typically don’t always back this up. A study has shown that despite the improved performance teams gain from the presence of a having someone who challenges the norms and provides a different perspective, when given the option to remove this team member most groups will will.  Why, because inherently we are seeking harmony and want to avoid any situation that rocks the boat.

Further, there’s working with someone different from you, and then there’s working with someone really different from you. In Talent Dynamics team member profiles are comprise of four different energies.  And although many people typically have a mix of all the energies, it is notable that the energies that are in direct opposition to each other are likely to find their counterpart more challenging. For example, the more Dynamo energy you have in your profile, typically the less Tempo energy you have (and vice-versa). Dynamo people are concerned with the big picture and are fast thinkers whereas tempo driven people are generally more grounded and act in slower, more methodical fashion. Likewise, the more Blaze energy you have, which means the more outgoing and people-focused you are, the less likely you are to connect with Steel energy people who value the task over relationships (and vice-versa again). Working with your “opposite type” can be most challenging of all, but it also may have the greatest opportunity for some real complementary value.

I often work with teams who’re grappling with this challenge. They know diversity can make them stronger, but when the going gets tough they need a bit of a reminder why it’s worth the effort. In these times I like to do an exercise called Power of Opposites. I ask groups of like-type individuals to brainstorm the value brought to the team by their opposite-type colleagues. And then we ask them to share their appreciation out-loud. In the best cases it can become a real love-fest. And it helps build goodwill among colleagues who may have a hard time working together.

Here are some of the highlights of what our teams have had to say:

Dynamo people love Tempo team members because they…

  • are grounded and practical
  • great at getting tasks completed
  • are full of new and interesting ideas

Tempo team members love Dynamo energy people because they…

  • see the big picture
  • great at getting things started
  • keep us moving forward at a swift pace

Steel team members love blaze team members because they…

  • bring a collaborative spirit to the team
  • keep an eye on team morale
  • encourage us to include diverse views

Blaze team members love steel team members because they…

  • help us keep track of the details
  • keep us focused
  • keep us out of trouble as very cautious

Does your team need a little extra incentive to embrace the challenge of working across types? You might want to try out this exercise yourself. And if you’re personally struggling to appreciate an opposite type colleague, you can even do this on your own. Why not start by sharing your thoughts here. What are your favorite things about your opposite type?

And if you are not sure which energy type you are then find out more and take the Talent Dynamics assessment here. I guarantee this will be the best investment you make, as it will help you get into flow and raise your awareness of how you interact with others.

There Are No Secrets To Success

There Are No Secrets To Success

by | Feb 1, 2017

Happy February 1st. It seems amazing that the first month of the year has already flown by. I hope that you are staying focused on your goals and are making progress. Success happens one step at a time so if you are feeling disillusioned in any way just remember that one step every day will eventually help you reach your goal. This is the power of the compound effect – little and often is the key. There are no secrets to success except taking consistent action, planning and course correction.

Now if you are like me you might be wanting it all now. I know I can be super impatient, but the reality is that nothing in nature happens immediately. Seeds take time to germinate before they bloom into flower. There is a flow to everything and as any farmer or gardener will tell you, if you try to rush a plant or vegetable to grow it never works.

That is definitely the case with my horses. Every time I go to the yard in a rush, they slow me down. It is as if they just know I need to do something now, so they mess with me and make everything take time. And yet when I am detached from the time perspective, and act as if I have all the time in the world, they respond and complete the tasks effortlessly.

This was certainly the case this morning when I had to move the ponies to another field. Since there is limited haylage in this new field (as its their lose weight field!) they typically resist going in here but this morning they followed me into the field with no problem at all. It took just minutes as they were so accommodating versus the 5-10 mins it usually takes to catch them and then lead them, usually very reluctantly, to this field.

The end of the month is a great time to reflect on what has happened. Remember you get paid on what you get done so take some time to list all the activities you did in January and the impact they had. Were all the activities moving you and your business towards your goals or on reflection were some of the activities a distraction.

If you found yourself spending your time doing lots of £10 an hour tasks rather than £250 tasks then recognize this. Learn that maybe doing these small tasks that could be delegated to others might be your avoidance or procrastination mode and resolve to make changes in February. One of the great things about being in business and having flexibility over your schedule is that you can learn from your mistakes and make immediate changes. The only mistake is not learning from what has not worked and continuing to do the same thing over and over a again.

I’d love to hear what you have learnt from reviewing your January performance and what news strategies and tactics you are putting in place for February. As always let me know in the Facebook group.

5 Ways To Simplify Your Life So You Make Fewer Decisions

5 Ways To Simplify Your Life So You Make Fewer Decisions

by | Jan 25, 2017

Did you know that a 2011 study by K. Douglas reported in the New Scientist revealed that we make up to 10,000 trivial decisions every day. Wow, that takes a lot of brain power, so it is hardly surprising that we become fatigued and overwhelmed. So what can we do to simplify our lives so that we need to make fewer decisions.

During a programme that I am following called the 90 Day Year I have recently come across the concept of the The Prada Protocol. This is a concept and way of thinking that has the power to free you from a lot of the distraction and overwhelm in our days, weeks and life.

If you’ve ever struggled with feeling overwhelmed with all of the decisions you’re confronted with daily, even if they’re the small ones like, ‘what to wear’, ‘what to eat’ or ‘where to find something’. Then embracing the concept and thinking inside of the Prada Protocol will be a difference maker for you.

There are literally hundreds of ways to think about applying the principles to your life and business. There are areas of my own life I’ve even forgotten that I’ve applied this principle, because I’ve deliberately applied it for so long. (Which is an example of the power of it. No longer do I worry, think, stress over the trivial parts of life. I’m free to focus my attention and energy on things that truly matter.)

Below is a list of curated ideas I’ve captured to turn the light bulb on in your head for how to apply this principle across multiple areas of your life.

  1. What To Wear: How many hours a week do you waste time deciding what to wear?. I bet if you’re a woman it’s a lot, and then often you feel you made the wrong choice. I know I have often experienced this. Trying on loads of different clothes combinations and then finally make the wrong choice. When I was working in London it was easy. I had a handful of suits that I wore everyday. Not too many decisions to make each morning. And when I’m leading workshops with the horses I pretty much have a standard uniform that I wear – jeans, boots, fleece and usually a gillet. Having a “uniform” makes deciding what to wear easy and saves you time, energy and money.Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, summed up the value in wearing the same “uniform” every day when he said “I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community,”
  2. Knowing What Clothes to Buy: In the past I used to waste loads of money buying clothes I never wore. However, a few years ago I had my colours professionally done. I now know the palette of colours that suit me so I stop wasting time looking at clothes that don’t fall in this spectrum.   Best of all it means that I know that every item of clothing I buy will co-ordinate with the other pieces I already have. Plus it also means I’m buying clothes that suit my style.
  3. What To Eat: now I must confess to being a real amateur in this area of automating my life. My friend Zoe is meticulous at planning and preparing all her meals for the following week the weekend prior. The result is that she always knows what her and her husband are eating and she doesn’t waste money on buying food that then is not used and goes off. I’m not sure I could be that disciplined but I do know that in the past I have had organic veg delivered weekly, and have also experimented with having meals delivered. Both of which ensured I always ate healthy, nutritious food. Maybe that is something I should start again.
  4. Managing Your Finances: Setting up simple systems to help manage your finances can be a God send. Each month I have a number of transfers set up that direct money from my business account to both my personal bank account but also my savings and business expenses account. For my business expenses I track all the activity in Xero and Crunch Boards, whereas for my personal money I use Money Dashboard. It means I can quickly and easily see where I am spending my money. Plus because all the payments are automated it means that I don’t overlook paying something. Just one more thing I don’t have to think about.
  5. Outsourcing Various Aspects of Your Life and Business: I have talked in many other posts about the importance of team and focusing on your strengths. Outsourcing allows you to get additional support in your business and life, enabling you to focus on your brilliance. It also avoids the stress of you wasting time trying to complete a task that simply you don’t have the optimal skill set to do. The great thing is that technology enables lots of activities in your business to be automated – such as customer follow up – but also you can outsource low value activities in your business and life such as email and cleaning your house. Just imagine how much simplier and easier your life would be if you knew the house got cleaned weekly; or you knew your email was being handled daily.

So my thought for this week is how can you simplify your life. What activities can you automate, delegate or ditch, so that you no longer need to make decisions about them, and so create the space for you to focus on the really important things that matter to you.

If you’d like to start living a more simple life and start acting like real high performers do, then please share with me in the facebook group what insights you had from this post. And importantly start implementing them into your life.

 

You Get Paid On What You Get Done

You Get Paid On What You Get Done

by | Jan 18, 2017

Today I’d like to share with you this poem I found whilst clearing my office the other week. It was given to me by my mentor Loral Langemeier a few years ago and it is all about commitment. I think it’s so applicable to this time of year because once we have set goals we need to stay committed to them. And two weeks into 2017, is the time a lot of people fall “off the wagon”, yet without follow through your goals are just useless pieces of paper. After all you get paid on what you get done and achieve, not what you think about.

Action is the language of business because unless we take action and make our ideas a reality, then nothing will change. And yet incredibly typically less than 1% of ideas get followed through on. Just imagine what opportunity therefore lays hidden in your business, just waiting for you to take action on it and make it a reality.

Until One Is Committed

Until one is committed
There is hesitancy, the chance to draw back
Always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation),
There is  one elementary truth,
The ignorance of which countless ideas
And splendid plans;
That the moment one definitely commits to oneself,
Then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one
That would never otherwise have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision
Raising in one’s favour all manner
Of unforeseen incidents and meetings
And material assistance,
Which no man could have dreamt
Would have come his way.

W.H. Murray (1951)
The Scottish Himalayan Expedition

I’d love to know what you are committed to this year. Please share it in the Facebook group.

Clear The Clutter And Create Space For Possibilities

Clear The Clutter And Create Space For Possibilities

by | Jan 11, 2017

I’ve been spending some time this week clearing the clutter in my office to create space for all the new possibilities I want to attract in 2017. When you create space everything can flow. Just think about a river, when its blocked with clutter it can’t flow and it’s the same with your business, your finances and your mind.

Having created my strategic plan for 2017 I realized that my office was not reflecting the way I want my business to be, which is simple and elegant. In contrast, my office was messy and chaotic. And I know that when that happens I can feel confused and lack direction.

So armed with some sturdy old boxes, some hanging files and markers I’ve gone and re-organised my office. I’ve thrown away bags of paper, articles and magazines that I know I will never read. I’ve had some shelves put up to store my files on and created a load of new hanging files to store my papers in. I’ve reinstated my policy of only touching paper one and you know what, it feels amazing not being surrounded by clutter. I never fully realised how debilitating and draining all those unread magazines and articles could make me feel

And this is the amazing thing, once I’d finished tidying my office, I suddenly became super productive and focused. A project that I had been meaning to do for over a month suddenly became easy to do and in fact even quite a lot of fun. Now there is some learning in that, so my pledge for this year is to ensure that my office stays super tidy and uncluttered.

And it’s not only physical clutter that I have been clearing, I’ve also been clearing some emotional clutter. Emotional clutter can exist in terms of relationships that don’t serve you; beliefs that don’t align with where you want to go; remaining attached to feelings about past events and even poor money habits that don’t encourage abundance. That’s financial clutter.

In fact financial clutter is one of the biggest blocks to stop you achieving your goals, so to help you get a flying start in 2017 I’m gifting you a copy of my Free Training on 7 Steps To Remove Money Clutter From Your Life Forever. I hope you enjoy it.  Simply email me and I’ll send it right through.

It hasn’t always been pretty busting through all this clutter but I am already more than delighted with the results. I feel lighter and more energized since I’m no longer literally dragging around all that clutter. How liberating that is.

Now, of course, my horses already model being uncluttered. By being grounded and staying in the present moment they generally don’t suffer all the emotional clutter that we humans do. They simply experience an encounter with another horse and move on. They don’t hold on to the emotional charge that their friend bit them. They accept it and move on. Living by being present is a great way to minimize the emotional clutter by getting you out of your head and into your heart.

What can you do today to clear the clutter in your life. If you’d like some assistance why not book in for a call with me and let’s explore how I can help you. And please let me know in the Facebook group your biggest AHA from listening to my free training on 7 Steps To Remove Money Clutter From Your Life Forever.

Happy Clutter Clearing

Vision is The Focus Button

Vision is The Focus Button

by | Jan 4, 2017

Happy Hew Year to you. I wish you a very prosperous 2017 and trust you had a joyful holiday season. I was fortunate enough to have some well deserved time off and managed to spend some quality time with my horses. This meant I’ve been fortunate to witness some amazing sunrises and sunsets, as well as the frosty mornings and a good dose of fog thrown in to.

Up here in Yorkshire the foggy mornings are surreal. On one particular morning the fog was so enveloping I could barely see past the front of my car. It was a strange experience because there was a comfort in that space, even though I had no idea where I was going and felt really disconnected from everything around me. However, of course the downside was I had no clarity. It was really difficult to get to the yard and find the horses, and everything took forever. I simply couldn’t get any momentum and speed as I had to be super cautious in everything I was doing. And this got me to thinking about business, and how often we experience our own fog.

Fog in business comes from having no focus and clarity. It comes form not being certain what we are doing and having no clear direction. Often I find the fog is worst with business owners who are have become disconnected from their purpose. They have forgotten why they went into business and the impact they wanted to make. They get easily distracted and suffer from what I call Entrepreneurial Attention Deficit Disorder. Everything new is exciting and they don’t stay committed to one thing. As a result they go round and round in circles as they can’t find their way out of the fog filled vacuum they are in.

When this occurs, when you are stuck in the fog haze, the only solution is get clarity. Get connected to your purpose and create an inspiring vision. Vision then becomes the focus button that propels you forward. Commit and then start taking small steps towards that vision. It won’t take long but soon the fog will begin to lift and then you are easily able to gather speed and go faster.

On that foggy morning the horses simply couldn’t see me. It meant we both stumbled around in the dark trying to find each other. Contrast that to yesterday morning which was bright and clear and so when the horses saw me they came galloping towards me. And isn’t that the same in business. When potential clients can’t see you they don’t know you are there, and so you stumble around in the dark looking for them. Contract that to a situation where you are embody clarity, everyone can see you and knows what you offer. It’s so much easier then for the clients to find you, just like my horses did.

If you feel you are lacking any focus in your business right now, stop and re-calibrate. Take some time to re-connect with the vision for your business and its purpose. Once you have done that then everything flows effortlessly from here. This is the reason that purpose and vision are at the heart of the business strategies that I help my clients create. We work together to create a living, actionable document on just one page that provides you with a road map of where you are going. This lifts the fog from your business and ensures you have focus and clarity, which means that each and every day you know exactly what to do, and so in the process it eliminates Entrepreneurial ADD.

So, if you’d like to explore how I can help you create your strategy on a page for 2017, please connect with me for a chat and let’s help you get focused so you can create the vision button for your business.

Know Where You Are To Plan For 2017

Know Where You Are To Plan For 2017

by | Dec 29, 2016

Wow, was that just Christmas. I don’t know about you but it seems to have just flown by. I hope you had a lovely and relaxing time with your family and friends.

Now I hate to be the bearer of bad news but if you haven’t started your planning for 2017 the next three days are critical. This is a great time of year to reflect on what happened during 2016 – both the successes and the failures. I encourage you to really spend some time on this.

Here are some questions to get you going:

  • What were your biz accomplishments from the past year?
  • What were some of the lessons you learned from the past year?
  • What were your weak points? What do you think needs to improve?
  • Were there any missed opportunities in the past year?
  • Were there any ways to improve customer service in the past year?
  • Were there any areas that felt out of alignment?
  • What marketing worked the past year? What created wins?
  • If there was one word that described your past year, what would that be?

Only by reflecting on these answers can you get some real insight into where your business is and what is working and what is not working. Then based on your findings you can then set some goals for 2017 based on solid facts.

I’ve been doing this exact process over the last few days and it has been so helpful. Usually I set goals with no reference to where I am and what has happened and when you set goals without this data you are ineffectively stabbing in the dark.

Measuring your business and tracking your performance is paramount if you are to succeed. Just think about it. An athlete measures and keeps track of their performance on every run and then uses this information to motivate themselves to do better the next time. Footballers review their matches to see how to improve their performance. They then focus on the small nuances and improve these. And incredibly a small improvement in just one area makes a massive impact on overall performance.

And it’s the same in your business too. Knowing where you have been and what worked and what didn’t means that you can more effectively plan for next year. I suggest you dream about what you would like 2017 to look like, what you would like to accomplish and then create a roadmap of the key milestones that you need to achieve in order to get you from point A to point B. These milestones will become your 2017 goals.

Next prioritize the order you need to complete the goals in and then create a detailed plan for the next 90 days of what you need to accomplish to in order to move forward. Break the plan down into bite sized projects and then commit to working on one of these projects every day until it is complete. Focus is the key here. It is amazing what happens when you stay focused on one project until it is completed. The level of satisfaction and accomplishment then motivates you to complete the next project. And then before you know it you have achieved that first milestone. Celebrate and then move on. Before you know it all the milestones will have been achieved and you will be witnessing the business success that you so deserve.

Now I have just three spaces available to work with me privately next year to really get your business strategy planned out and then to ensure you take massive action to achieve all your goals. As I know from personal experience running a business is not for the faint hearted and having a coach on your team can really help you see the blind-spots in your business and so avoid wasting valuable time, energy and resources on activities that are not going to help you really reach your goals.

So if you’d like me on your team to ensure your success in 2017 then let’s schedule a call to explore what’s possible. And rest assured that if I don’t think I’m the right coach for you I’ll let you know, and whatever you decide I promise you will walk away from the call with a clear plan of the next steps to take. Simply complete this short application form so I know a bit about you before the call and we’ll take it from there.

Happy planning for 2017.

How The Connection – Trust Dance Works

How The Connection – Trust Dance Works

by | Dec 21, 2016

As Christmas fast approaches I got to thinking about my family and how good (or not as the case maybe) we are at connecting and communicating. Connecting and communicating with others is a vital piece of business and life. It allows you to find the common ground with each other and so share experiences at a deeper level.   The better you understand how someone else thinks and why they act in the way that they do, the easier it is get along with them and have meaningful conversations that can grow your business and you life

Of course, there is a paradox here because as your connection grows so does your trust, and yet trust is often needed before the connection can start. This is the dance of the connection – trust equation which was illustrated so brilliantly by the horses last week.

My VIP clients had flown in from Amsterdam for their annual business planning session with the horses. Every year they come to grow as leaders and get insights into their business goals for the following year. This year was no exception, except being their third visit they said that the learning’s and insights were even more profound than last year. It has been a privilege to watch them develop over the years.

Next year, they are proposing a new business model, one where they will be focusing on very high end packages which deliver deep transformation for their clients. However, in order to deliver these packages they need to step up their leadership skills. Specifically they needed to learn how to stay deeply connected to their clients, whilst also being “unavailable”, yet highly trustworthy.

Coach Toby demonstrated so amazing this conundrum because when my client went to connect with him, he walked away. He simply did not trust her enough to feel confident to connect with him. My client had to spend a lot of time building his trust by showing up as a consistent leader, who had clarity and certainty whilst also respecting his boundaries and the space he needed.

And so started the dance, with my client approaching and retreating. Giving Toby the space he needed so that he could feel comfortable with her and connect on his terms. It took some time but the results were incredible. Once he felt he trusted her, and she respected him, he was open to connect and the more he connected the deeper the trust grew between them. It was magical to watch. The end result was that she led him effortlessly through a complex obstacle course in a harmonious manner easily achieving her business goals for 2017.

And her takeaway was that as she launches her new programmes she must not rush her clients into them. Rather she needs to spend time building trust with her clients so that their relationship deepens and a lasting connection forms. From this space her clients will want to go on the journey with her just as Toby wanted to go through the obstacle course with her.

So over the Holiday Season please spend some time focusing on how you can build trust and connection with your family and friends. The results will amaze you.

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.

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