Interesting discussion on motivation and engagement

Interesting video on you tube...  all about motivation.  Basically, once we have enough money where money is not a a major issue, we are motivated by three things.  These things also therefore drive up engagement...

1. Autonomy (self direction)
2. Mastery (becoming better at something)
3. Purpose (working toward some huge ideal - not only profit).

Dan Pink's speech on Motivation

Hmmm....  what might this mean for us individuall, as a team, as a company, as a society?

Interesting food for thought.

New Year's Resolutions...

It might be a bit late for this... but if you are like most people, probably... the new year's resolutions you made are not quite working out the way you intended...

Here is some advice from http://www.tut.com/ that I thought was relevant.

(1) Give thanks and feel real gratitude for what you have, where you have been, the journey up until now...
(2) Decide what you want (the end result), how it will feel to have it, what it will look like.
(3) Follow your instinct and get working on it... it does not have to be in a organised plan, you dont have to complete big steps... just get going!

Enjoy and I would love to hear if anybody tries this and what happens!

Deeper thoughts about changing behaviour

It is interesting how growth and change happen...

Deepak Chopra has just summerised and clarified for me - two concepts I have been seeing and feeling through my coaching and especially in my time choices workshops, in his book "Reinventing the body, Resurrecting the soul". At the same time - I have been reading about neuroscience and how the latest research in that area can enlighten my coaching skills also... and it is all coming together! Neat!

Making change happen
He says there are 3 steps or options one can take to make change happen.
1. Reflection - Reflecting on what is working, what is not working, what should be different. Recognising the problem.
2. Contemplation - thinking about the issue bothering you, letting your mind wander over the issue, never getting too focused on any one detail.
3. Meditation - helping the change happen at a deeper level by getting back in connection with yourself.

My workshops and coaching approach is full of self reflection and contemplation and I think this is partly why they work ... so my challenge now is to do more of those things purposefully and to include meditation (also for myself).

Importance of getting rid of Procrastination
When I started doing the Time Choices workshop, it was a time management workshop with a coach approach and I have continued to make it more and more a coaching experience. One of the subjects we talk about is Procrastination and its negative effects, and how to change... Deepak Chopra takes this concept further and deeply connects procrastination to ill health. I can see from the discussions we have in the workshops about procrastination that it trully hurts people and the results they want from life, and this, combined with what Deepak Chopra's book proposes, suggests perhaps I need to re-order my workshop and give more "time" to reflection, contemplation and meditation on this subject.

Tips on going independant - the Money Eaters.

The money eaters...

1. Telephone/mobile costs - wow - as an international travel/business person, any tips and tools on how to keep my connectivity costs down when traveling would be greatfully appreciated. It is soooo important to stay connected (unless you are on vacation or with a client directly) but, it can be quite expensive! Hotels charge huge rates for WIFI, international rates for using a sim card in the PC or doing email/internet stuff on the iphone are outrageous. So... think this out carefully. Doing business just in Switzerland would be a lot cheaper.
2. Clothing! I have found that all my previous office clothes just dont feel right anymore. I feel "not me" when I wear them... so I am giving them away as I replenish my wardrobe. I had not counted this cost in to my business planning! Shoes also included here!
3. Purchasing resources - I do a lot of research for my work... and I spend a lot of money on purchasing articles, books, etc. that I think will help me. I love doing this as I learn so much, but it is a significant cost in my business plan (and has an impact on costs for the PC and Office interms of storage availability!).
4. The Right PC and related stuff - oh... so important! My first PC was great but burned up after 2 years. Now have another model (hopefully a little bit more robust) ... It is really worth spending the money on a good product that has great after sales service and really meets your needs (what ever they might be.. I need "light", "fast" and "reliable"). Security and back up systems all cost money on an annual basis - dont scrimp here either! Same with the phone!
5. Self Development - My development as an independant business person / coach / facilitator is up to me, 100%. Some of that comes in the assignments I accept (stretching me) and much of it comes in the form of self learning (see above) and quite a bit comes from taking new courses, having a coach myself. This cost for me was particularly heavy in the first year or two as I developed my coaching skills.
6. The office - what worked as a home office when I was working 150% in the corporate world, was not good enough when I started to run my business from that same space! Am on my third update - and soon need to make a fourth one... Luckily so far, I have not had to shell out big bucks on this...yet...
7. Inappropriate Marketing - Perhaps others are smarter about this... but I certainly spent too much initially on things like white pages /yellow pages subscriptions, being first in searches in the on-line telephone books. All that money has not generated one client! All my clients come from my relationships/networks/happy clients - trust that has happened between me and other people.
8. Belief that a website is mandatory, right now - I am sure this depends on the business and especially on the clients for that business , but I have found that websites are part of an overall business progression plan and dont have to be created right away. Websites created right away can be quickly outgrown, and... if you dont have the time to maintain it and manage it well... it can just be a waste of money.
9. Being a sucker for sales people that show up at your home - As an independant company - your phone number seems suddenly attract all sorts of sales people. NOTHING I have purchased when a sales person has called me on the phone, or has visited me at their request, has ever really worked out - with the exception of one company where I buy my office supplies. So the new rule is - anybody that calls me to sell me something, is politely told I am not interested. I buy things / services ONLY when I have decided I need them - not when somebody else decides I need them.
10. Be really careful of WHEN you buy things / make important decisions related to money. In the corporate world - there are always approval processes and other people's buy-ins to get when you make big, important, risky decisions so there is time to distance yourself from the decision and look at it again. As an independant person, you dont have that hinderance (or luxury) any more. Your emotional state at the time of when you make decisions related to money can be very important. If you are sad, depressed, a little down, tired, disappointed because you just lost a great potential deal - you can be sure that you will not be evaluating the decision as well as if you were happier, energetic, and more sure of yourself. We all have emotional waves of some magnitude. Pay attention to them and find a process that helps you at these times. Two minds are better than one!

Hmmmm... looking at this list, I feel a little silly. After all - I have a good business head on my shoulders yet, I have made some mistakes in the spending of my hard earned income since becoming independant. On the positive side - the cost of the mistakes has not been significant enough to make my business suffer and I have learned a huge amount from all this!

The big learning is that there are hidden costs out there that can derail you, especially if they incurr in times where cashflow is an issue. So, Plan, Plan and Plan, and have a back up plan. Talk to people that have successful independant businesses and learn from them!

Would love to hear about other money eaters or time eaters...

Tips on going independant - the Time Eaters.

People seem to think I have the perfect life ... And... I must admit, I think it is pretty good (but certainly not perfect). So.. since one of my goals of being a coach is to help others achieve more happiness and success, here are some rough thoughts on what I found (the good, and the less good) in changing from being 150% in the corporate world to being 150% in Susan's world.

Will start with some of the less good stuff... and see where we go from there!

The less good stuff

Time that disappears: I never thought about how much time I WOULD NOT HAVE when I changed to becoming independant. Some big time eaters I have found are:

1. Cleaning house. You are in the house more often, so not only do you see the dirt you did not see when you were working but you create more dirt! So... there is more cleaning to do (or more acceptance of not cleaning.. or both)
2. Making meals. I never calculated how much time it would take to think about what to eat, shop and then make the meals. I am constantly surprised how much time this takes and am always looking for ways to increase quality while reducing time allocated to this! Cleaning up after meals is also a biggy...
3. Interuptions. The cat wants a hug, the cat wants fed, the post man rings the bell, the sales calls that come by telephone, the laundry needs brought in as it is raining, it is sooooo nice outside I want to go for a bike ride and not sit next to my PC... so, learning is that managing interuppions in the new life are just as important as doing it in the corporate world.
4. Frittering... it is so easy to just do nothing... to relax in the sun chair, have a herbal tea or glass of wine and aperatif with hubbie, watch some tv show... and there goes the next few hours. That is great and one of the positives of this life style, but it is sometimes very tempting to over do (and do the wrong type of frittering). Afterall, isnt this a desired part of this new lifestyle I have created?
5. Computer / telephone stuff! Oh - do I take back all the nasty things I said about our computer support in the corporate world, when my little computer problems were not fixed within 5 minutes. Now... I am on my own and have to find what is the right computer for me, what is the best way to back up, how to learn about new tricks and tools that save me time and effort, how to resolve problems, how to synch so my office is everywhere I am, what security system is best, and it all takes time and it is all time spent that is not the most enjoyable for me!
6. Admin - creating invoices, paying bills, tracking costs/income, preparing taxes, doing proposals, filing, sending faxes (yes - it still has to happen for certain things), following up on outstanding invoices, changing credit card info when credit card expires on all the internet services one uses, doing travel arrangements, creating the processes to manage the most important of all this, etc. etc. et. etc. . In the corporate world, a lot of things are done for us, or how we do them is dictated to us... in the independant world, finding the ways that works best (in line with our values, time efficient, done once (no errors) etc..) is time consuming. No wonder many independant coaches /start up businesses go for virtual assistants.

Next post will be on the money eaters! And boy... have I found a lot of them!

What is happening at the Football World Cup?

For lots of reasons, we did not go on vacation as planned the last 2 weeks so have been watching the World Cup first round matches. What is happening?

Looks like (obviously, from a rather long distance), that ...

• Individual talent is not enough to have a great team.
• Team spirit, discipline, responsibility, accountability, trust, seems to be winning out over big name, big bucks, individual talent, or at the very least, giving it a really good run for the money!

How might this relate back to the work place? See anything similar?

What do we look for when we hire people? Talent or team player?

Could we be using talent as an excuse/abdication as our role as a manager (coach?).

And... perhaps I just watched too many matches!

Goal: 40 days on skis this season - Updated

We have a goal this winter: 40 days on skis and we have met the 40 days already!

• On Feb 1 we had already achieved 30 days (75%) of our goal. So, increased the goal to 65 days overall!
• On Mar 7, Juerg achieved 78% of new goal, Susan achieved 63% of new goal (and has surpassed old goal by 1 day :-))

Mar 7 Status
Downhill skiing: 2
Cross Country skiing: 22 NEW GOAL - 25
Ski Mountaineering: 27 NEW GOAL - 40
Total: 51. NEW GOAL 65

P.S. Susan has 10 less days than Juerg

December 09 Cairn Notes

I have been thinking about how to build on this ideas of cairns being a reflection of our current life balance, as journey markers for our life (looking back and guiding the future) and as a guide to others on their journeys. The idea that popped up was to create a monthly blog post - journey marker.

So, here goes:

The key stones in any cairn are:

• Achievement




• Attitude




• Appreciation




• Accountability




• Alignment




• Action

Achievement: This month, I am trying a new technique to help me improve my goal setting so thought I would share it with you. The idea is simple: You write down a goal you want to achieve in a specific period of time on a card, that you carry with you all the time and read at least 3 times each day. (This is step 1 in Bob Proctor's SixMinutestoSuccess program). I am also writing down the benefit of the goal, reminding myself daily of why I want to achieve this goal!

Attitude: If you are like me, when you wrote down your goal, a little voice said "it cant be done, there is this obstacle and that obstacle". So... get your attitude aligned with success by writing down the obstacles and defining a realistic plan to get over or around them.

Appreciation: How will you celebrate when you achieve this goal? What do you have to be grateful for, right now, that is helping you achieve the goal?

Accountability: On a scale of 1-5 (1 is little to no accountability and 5 is you are 100% accountabile to yourself and others), how accountable are you for your actions and their results? What would it take to improve that?

As an aside, I have been doing pretty well at not writing to do lists and using the calender instead. I still have some work to do on getting more discplined about putting things in the calender, merging with the family calender each week, synching with my telephone.

Alignment: What are your key values in life? How aligned is your goal/actions with your values, work strategy?

Action: What actions do you commit to take to move towards your goal?

This works for both personal goals and work goals!