Decision Making

Apr 11 2017

Why does time always run out on me?

We can often get to the day’s end wondering where the time disappeared to and that certain planned tasks have, for another day, been missed.

It must be time-bandits, that’s the only sensible and logical result. Sherlock Holmes would say ‘If you’ve eliminated all other possibilities whatever remains must be the truth.’ … or is it?

It is amazing how busy we ‘think’ we are when in fact we allow other aspects that are not relevant to what we need to do take control. With this in mind, here are some areas that Coaching to Success use to recapture time and accomplish your objectives:

Using a notebook, online diary or memo pad etc, write your thoughts, actions and conversations along with when you carried them out. Do this for 7 days and on the 8^th, assess to see how much time has been wasted on unproductive activities.
Manage procrastination: The easiest way is to turn off Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest or other forms of social media and updates of every new email landing in your inbox. Be honest with yourself, how vital is it that these tools are needed instantaneously or can scheduled visits suffice?
Before anything else, plan your day’s activities. Spend 30 minutes at the beginning of your day. Do not do anything until this has been accomplished.
Remember to incorporate slots of time for those un-expected interruptions such as returning a call or working on some prices needed quickly etc.
Do you leave your phone on when attending important meetings? Or do you give your undivided attention to the person your holding discussions with? If so, schedule appointments with yourself for carrying out important tasks and treat yourself as you would a most valued client.
Practice not answering the phone just because it is ringing and emails just because they show up. Schedule a time to answer email and return those calls.
At the beginning and end of each new task, decide what results you want to achieve. Check (a) whether it was and (b) within the time you allocated for it. Learn from this for future.
Put up a ‘Do not disturb’ sign when you must get the work done. This is for yourself as much as others who want to impose on your time.

There are many ways in which Coaching to Success can help you and your business improve productivity. Managing what you have to do in the time allocated is just one area but we have many other tools to help you out too.

Should you be interested in discussing how we can help you increase productivity or improve your work/life balance, then contact Neil, neil.nutburn@coachingtosuccess.co.uk or 07761 187238 to arrange a free consultation on how Coaching to Success can help you. Also, to get a feel for the person, check out our short ‘interview’ video at https://youtu.be/RvCwOL4hPco

Feb 27 2017

Finding that internal Motivator

I was recently asked to do a presentation for a group of business professionals based on the subject of improving the level of determination, or as we would refer to it ‘Motivation’.

Those who know me often comment on how motivated I am. Those who know me well will know this hasn’t always been the case. Pressures of work, those who influence moods, lack of direction are all contributing factors to how I was affected. In today’s climate, so many people, possibly including yourself or those you work with, also feel pressurised through work or personal issues.

How do we address this? Self-motivation is complex, but there are four main factors acting as the driving force behind the drop in motivation.

Confidence
Positive thinking
Focused and Tangible goal setting
Motivating environment

It is vital to consider all four to drive self-motivation forward.

CONFIDENCE

Exercises to help boost this:

BREATHE: When you are nervous, you should not talk, but breathe until you calm down.
GET A NOTEBOOK: Record all the positive items that you manage to do.
BODY LANGUAGE: Eyes forward, back straight, keeping your head high.
SET GOALS: If you do not have goals then how can you know where you are going. Set goals in every area of your life. Every area! Work, personal & social life, health and fitness, and every area that is important to you.
EXPAND: One of the simplest confidence building exercises is to expand one’s knowledge area. Find the essential areas for work or home and improve your skillset at those.
COMPLIMENT YOURSELF: Have you ever complimented yourself on a daily basis? If not, set about changing that.
EXERCISE AT WORK: What skills do you have over others and with no effort? Find them. Admit to yourself that you have them, then commit to furthering these skills.
SELF-HYPNOSIS: At night, as you feel sleepy, lie in your bed and repeat simple affirmations along the lines “I can do anything. Anything. Anything that I set my mind to do. There is no one and nothing that can stop me”

POSITIVE THINKING

All too often when feeling challenged, our minds slip into what we are fearful of and these negative thoughts feed themselves. Look to aspire towards positive objectives as opposed to the negative of having to ‘Give up’ something.

GOAL SETTING

Realise your goal/objective, write it down. Check through all the areas that may interfere, timescales, people etc. Consider ALL options, even the most ludicrous (they may eventually have a place)! Write down actions for selected options that will be most beneficial to act on now. Set a time to START each and a completion time. Be accountable to someone for each.

MOTIVATING ENVIRONMENT

Surround yourself with people and resources that will remind you of your goal. Which will, in turn, help with ‘internal’ motivation. Be careful not to rely on them. To begin, you probably will. As you get more comfortable, competent & confident, your self-motivation will mean you’ll rely on them less frequently.

That’s the skill of your business coach, to hold you accountable and create that belief in yourself that you can do something but this is backed by actions and plans, not simply the arm around your shoulder.

So if you are prepared to move forward and need help in the early days, then contact Neil, neil.nutburn@coachingtosuccess.co.uk or 07761 187238 to arrange a free consultation on how Coaching to Success can help you. Also, to get a feel for the person, check out our short ‘interview’ video at https://youtu.be/RvCwOL4hPco

Feb 13 2017

Explore the options before making that decision!

Whether it be personal or business, we make decisions each and every day.

Sometimes seemingly relatively insignificant decisions, such as which desert to opt for from the menu? Actually, I will retract my statement of being insignificant as this is quite an important decision to make! Through to those large ones of whether to move house/business or even the path we are currently on.

What brought about this week’s feature was working with a client who had tough decisions over the direction of his business. Potentially meaning a reduction in overheads, or in businesses terms, cutting staff numbers!

Due to situations that were beyond his control, he was now left with this dichotomy with no clear options for him to take. Fortunately I was able to assist by giving clear direction of thinking as I was without the emotional baggage that attaches to the way we think when being personally affected.

All too often we start thinking a certain way and quickly establishing all the contributing factors to support and make this the right and only route to take! However, unless we actually put up a competing debate, this argument becomes more of a statement without depth.

To help view the given subject matter from different perspectives, the Cartesian Quadrant (a geometric mathematical equation) was adapted to ask a given question in four different ways with regards the outcome of change as such:

What WOULD happen if you DID make that change? (Visualise goal fulfilment – increasing motivation)
What WOULD happen if you DIDN’T make that change? (Identify the pain of staying unchanged – which can be a powerful motivator)
What WOULDN’T happen if you DID make that change? (Understand what will be lost the goal is achieved – this could be a useful loss, or a painful one!)
What WOULDN’T happen if you DIDN’T make that change? (Identify hidden perspectives and feelings. This question befuddles our left or conscious mind and can provide fresh perspectives through intuitive leaps)

Once we can look from different approaches with an open mind, we are able to start addressing the potential options available to us. As a coach, one system I use is G.R.O.W. which looks at the Goal or objective, the Reality of the situation to give clarity and remove incorrect thoughts created by unsubstantiated beliefs. Onto the Options which cover, through incisive questioning, all possible ideas and then select a few that are relevant at that moment in time to create the Way forward.

Looking at various subject areas, we worked through the above combination for each and arrived at a plan that not only insured the safety of his most valuable assets, ergo the staff, but a means to diversify the business direction with a clear plan to make it work.

Decision making is not about doing the first thing to come into our heads but to look with open eyes at the possibilities around us. At Coaching to Success, we endeavour to help our clients to look beyond their initial boundaries for making decisions and welcome your contact (Neil by email neil@coachingtosuccess.co.uk or call 07761 187238) should you find yourself or business constrained by what appears to be a lack of options available. Also, have a look at Neil’s interview video https://youtu.be/RvCwOL4hPco. You’ll always be assured a warm welcome to discuss how we can help.

Jan 16 2017

An alternative ‘Coach’ to ‘driving’ your career forward…

Everyone experiences a moment in their career path that raises questions about whether they are suited to the role they are in, whether they wish to continue in the organisation they are currently working for or the fact that we sometimes simply feel stuck, not progressing as others appear to move forward.

There are two types of coach … one has wheels and transports you to your destination, the other has belief in you reaching your destination by your own actions. In case you were wondering, I’m the latter!

So how can I help you drive yourself forward? Read on for some useful guidelines that will start this journey.

Firstly, look at your situation from an outsider’s perspective and then ask yourself:

How do you see this person in relationship to their job/role
What could they do to better themselves
Where do they need to go to carry out this improvement
Who can they call upon, use, hire to help this improvement happen

Look at things objectively and attempt to move your emotional self away from the equation.

Consider these areas:

How has my career progressed
Where is my career path heading
How is my relationship with my line manager
What is my fit within the company
What opportunities for career development are there within the organisation (Think objectively and realistically, which can be hard if you dislike your current role)
What do I anticipate my place to be within 5 years’ time

From here, list what you believe to be your Strengths. What areas in your life are you proud of and what are your good qualities.

Ascertain what Weaknesses you may have. What areas need to be worked on or improved?

Establish what Opportunities are there for you or that appear interesting. What openings are there within your own business? What associations or network groups that you could explore?

Consider what Threats there are outside of your control but be truthful about whether you can change that outcome? How strong is the likelihood that this will affect your objective and what can you do about it?

It would help to ask others to contribute to your SWOT analysis. Ask friends, Family and work colleagues. State you are looking to improve and understand that this could be a useful tool to help you along the way. If you are looking to develop within the organisation, let the relevant parties who can help you along this path know and ask them.

Now look to set goals relating to your future journey:

What is your Goal – be specific
Steps needed to take move your career forward
What do you need to learn/develop to reach your goal
What is your drive and motivation
What is the timescale
What are the true barriers in the way and how can you overcome them
What sacrifices are you prepared to make to obtain your goal
Your CV … how current is it and how specific is it towards the career path you wish to take

Answering these questions and truly looking at yourself is just the start of your career journey. Once you start travelling this path, you can really focus on where you want to be.

As a coach, I help numerous people from a variety of walks of life to move forward in their chosen career path both internally and also outside of their organisations.

If are looking for help in moving your career forward, then take the first step and contact Neil at neil.nutburn@coachingtosuccess.co.uk or 07761 187238 to arrange a free consultation on how Coaching to Success can help you. Also, to get a feel for the person, check out our short ‘interview’ video at https://youtu.be/RvCwOL4hPco

Jan 02 2017

Once you’ve decided what needs to be changed, here’s how to make it stick…

So how many of us have made those promises to change something we do or behaviour we have? How difficult is it? We start with an idea that sounds simple enough but once we put it into practice, damn it’s hard!

Often though, it is more about how we approach it rather than just getting on and doing it then letting it slip because thought hadn’t gone into it at the offset … Oh, and I’ve been as guilty as the next person in years gone by for not achieving what I initially set out to do!

So here are 7 ‘Nutburn’ tips on how to achieve those resolutions.

Set ‘Realistic’ targets – All too often we aim too high and as we move along, we realise this and rather than change, we simply let it slip by the way or we set too broad a goal! To make it work, set simple goals with small steps that can be increased as each becomes achieved.
Outline what you wish to achieve – To change, you have to take yourself outside of your comfort zone, otherwise you would have done it some time ago, wouldn’t you? Do a Pros and cons list so you can see the benefits and also check what hurdles may crop up? Set out a plan to check on progress/targets.
Is it something YOU wish to do? – Insure this is something that you want to achieve and not something to conform to someone else’s wish or expectation.
Accurate and Specific! – Rather than stating that you wish to lose weight, for example, be specific, ie lose a stone by year end. This may seem daunting but break it down into further specific and achievable slots such as 2lb each month by the end of March then 1lb Apr etc thereafter. Now it’s realistic whilst being specific.
Become accountable to others – Make it public. Tell family, friends, those on your social media contact lists what it is you’re aiming to achieve and give them updates on your success. As a coach, it’s amazing how my clients achieve what they set as a result of making promises to me.
Reward achievements – No matter how small or large, set rewards along your path. When you hit a target, reward yourself.
Handle Failings – Remember, you are creating new habits, it’s reported that it takes 21 days to create new habits and 6 months for it to become part of your psyche, so there is a likelihood that you may slip up along the way. It is imperative not to berate yourself over this, get up, dust yourself down and get back on with it.

This is but a start and Coaching to Success can help you keep on track by supporting you and making you accountable for the outcome. We can help you turn the tables and insure you stay on track. Simply start the journey by contacting Neil at neil.nutburn@coachingtosuccess.co.uk or 07761 187238 to arrange a free consultation on how Coaching to Success can help you. Also, to get a feel for the person, check out our short ‘interview’ video at https://youtu.be/RvCwOL4hPco