Characteristics common to most clients I work with are; passionate, hardworking, ambitious, caring, accomplished, expert, experienced, successful. What’s also true often is because they’re always striving for better for the business, organisations, and people they lead, they don’t spend much time acknowledging their achievements or considering their own personal desires, requirements, and wellbeing.
Read MoreMy business owning, family man, coaching client is undeniably successful by current measures. Yesterday, he told me how his friendship is back on track and he is meeting up with his mate for a private appointment at a place in Beverley Hills where they sell Rolex. My client and his friend are both collectors. That’s how he rolls. And he told me with some glee, through more related to his navigating the repaired friendship than to watches.
Read More“OLD WAY – do the stuff to get the thing that promises happiness.
NEW WAY – do the stuff that brings happiness”
My newly completed raised beds, now filled with 10-year rotted manure soil, are thrilling me. Walking barefoot around them over grass muddy from recent construction and wet from a night of heavy rain, I am taking them in and what they mean. What they represent.
They are sort of an exclamation mark, an underlining. Another piece of tangible irrefutable evidence that the journey to peace, joy, and satisfaction is internal first.
Read MoreMainly I avoid news and politics to protect the time, energy and spirit that enables me to contribute and enjoy life in the way I choose to. Important current affairs find their way to me of course.
Today, inspired by a moment of delicious perfection and deep meaning in my life, I sat down to write. Since I started putting self-care at the top of my to-do list 10 years ago, such moments happen with increasing intensity and frequency. At these times writing helps me revel in it and maintain it.
Read MoreThis simple phrase at once cunning and compelling is a perversion of our ancient lizard brains’ risk management system.
Is it familiar to you? Or any of its variations?
“Must learn more, try harder, be quicker, smarter, better, more on the case”
It seems so plausible, so true, especially when we have practised it for decades. It goes unnoticed.
Read MoreDuring the 15 years when I ran my first business – Juicy Glass Ltd – I also spent many happy weekends hill walking and talking with a friend who was a GP.
Climbing mountains we chewed the fat about life, work, relationships, and parenting. The whole juicy shebang.
When things were stressful in my architectural glass business, I found perspective talking to her, and coined the phrase “It’s only glass” as shorthand for, unlike her work, it isn’t life or death.
Read MoreWhen I began my online Transformational Coaching business in 2017, I didn’t know if my vision was possible, but I was excited to find out.
I began as Stephen Covey said, “with the end in mind”. My challenge - to create a profitable (in my terms which includes Social Return on Investment) coaching business AND enjoy every day AND do it in a sustainable way.
Read MoreI feel sick with fear, literally. I have a heavy weight in the pit of my stomach. When I listen the voice in my head says “this must be good, you’ve got to get it right, you’ve got to say everything, you’ve got to be clear and eloquent, on point, it’s got to be a successful piece of writing or else…(when I really listen) you’ll be annihilated.”
Read MoreFor the last decade working as an executive coach and business mentor across many sectors I’ve seen more and more amazing women and men struggling to keep up with demands of life and work. Now the tide is turning. Amazing women and men like you and me are saying “No. No more, not now, not any longer. I require a different experience. Life is too precious to squander by bending myself out of shape keeping up with inhuman demands and delivering empty results. I refuse to keep denying my own experience”
Read MoreWe live in a fast paced and complex world with much uncertainty. Technology, politics, environmental and social issues provide a backdrop to daily life that can feel extremely stressful. How can you look after yourself in a way that enables you to enjoy your life and feel able to make a positive contribution to the future prospects of your family, neighbourhood, country, and beyond?
Read MoreWe have different seasons in life – what was best at one time can’t remain the same always. If you’re aware that you can’t or don’t want to do what you’ve been doing for another 10 – 20 years, this story of transitioning from corporate life to a path of purpose and passion is an inspiring and interesting read.
Read MoreSo, you’re feeling frustrated with where you’re at or ambitious for new / different / better. You know life and work can be more satisfying and you have more potential than you’re using. You may be conscious of years passing and it’s dawning on you that “someday” is in danger of passing you by. It’s time for a new chapter.
Read MoreI have recently been in a period of major transition, moving to a new house and location. This new chapter was prompted as they sometimes are, by an unwelcome life event, the unexpected end of my relationship. Although that happened 18 months ago, it took me a year to be ready to start visioning a different future and start creating my new chapter. My confidence had been knocked, and for a good while I didn’t know what I wanted.
Read MoreIt’s the time of year when even though we should be slowing down and snuggling up (think hibernation) Christmas brings added demands and expectations on us and our time. On top of everyday pressure to be successful that we normally live, a lot of people are in the overload zone.
Read MoreOften, you reach a point in your career where you begin to feel confused or stuck. You know that you want to make changes but it’s difficult seeing the way ahead. Sometimes, the difficulty is not seeing any other options or possibilities. Sometimes the difficulty is seeing too many, so many that you don’t know which way to turn.
Read MoreExpectations often get in the way of us doing what we want to be doing and living the lives that are most delightful to us. But we can do something about expectations – invariably they are thoughts and beliefs rather than actual cast in stone conditions.
Read MoreIn my time coaching professionals, I’ve identified several factors that commonly keep people stuck in work roles, and even careers, that no longer suit them. Although for the individual this trap feels real and limiting, there are always options, but it can be difficult for them to see the possibilities themselves.
Read MoreFor many hard-working, caring professionals, mid-life (40’s – 50’s) is a common time for questioning the status quo. Energy levels change and domestic, and work situations do too.
The prospect of one or two decades more in the same work environment or having the same day-to-day experience, may not seem desirable or even practical.
Read MoreOver a year into my own coaching practise, one word is coming to me over again and that is intuition. I’m beginning to see that helping my clients reconnect with their intuition is the vital ingredient.
Read MoreFEAR. It’s almost the only thing that I help my clients with. Of course, I help them get clear about their values, what makes them tick. I help them create an inspiring vision for their career and life stage. I help them widen horizons, explore possibilities, test options and develop action plans that deliver the results they dreamed of. BUT, what I really do is enable them to bust through their own fears. Once they’ve done that, the other stuff is easy.
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© Sarah McNicol 2024
