On the Move

Regular readers will know I've been on a long journey and actually feel a little bit like I'm getting somewhere. Life has become a little busy hence I have had trouble finding time to post as often.

I'm at the point where I am getting to where I want to be. I have a new motivational blog out there, that puts me in the public domain. There are specific reasons that I do not want this blog to go public, so I can not link my new log here. Anyone that has been following me, I will drop by and let you know my new location.

I know I have a few loyal followers out there who are anonymous or follow by automated feeds. I'm afraid if you want to find me you'll need to send me your details through and I'll contact you individually. I will switch moderation on so your contact details won't be published.

I'd like to thank you all for your support, its been quite a journey so far and your comments have been invaluable. I hope you're able to join me for the rest of the journey.

Snowdrop

Event Organising

Well its all systems go. My new associate and I have been working hard to get our ladies fashion event off the ground. We hoped for a minimum of 30 people. Its exceeded all our expectations as we have sold all the tickets and have filled the venue.

We're both very excited - its all going to happen next week, but most importantly - its shows there's life after working for a big institution.

Still not moving

Some weeks, well months ago, I was told my job was moving to a location with an hour and a half commute each way. You may recall I wasn't exactly happy about it at the time. More hours travelling would leave less time for Green shoots. A project I'd started to build my own part time life coaching business, - I hit the change curve full on.

We're four months on and I've still not changed location. In some respects it puts me a little bit in limbo. Not quite knowing where I'm going to be makes it a little difficult to putting any coaching roots down.

But I'm pressing on. I'm starting to get business cards into other businesses and today I'm going to design some fliers.

I've been approached by someone to get involved in some event organisation. We're putting together a fashion gig so I'm hoping to meet lots of new ladies and it might even bring in a little cash.



Fingers crossed.

SELF DOUBT

We all face challenges in life and in order to succeed and live a fulfilling and happy life, self doubt is one of the biggest challenges we have to overcome.  It comes up frequently when I am coaching.

We have both good and bad experiences, however it is common for us to connect those experiences which can support our beliefs about ourselves.

Somehow, our minds tend to engage in self-analysis. (Not bad coming from an analyst by trade) this can lead to all sorts of problems as we travel through life, setting us up not to succeed.

It occurs in all sorts of circumstances, we could be making our way in a career, engaging in relationships with others, and many other scenarios.

Of course, each new transaction with someone else presents exciting new opportunities.  Each one unique and unconnected.  Yet we still expect to fail.  Because we failed previously.   Yet still these events are unconnected.

So remember next time an opportunity presents itself that this is the first time.  You do not have a history of failure and there are no reasons why you shouldn't succeed.

Remember the expression:

"Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift which is why it is called the present" - unknown

and get stuck in - thousands of people are succeeding everyday, why shouldn't you?

What's your tonic?

If you're reading my blog - there is a good chance that you know I've trained in coaching and have an interest in Health.

I'm bringing these 2 elements together as part of my plan. I want to help people who currently struggle to get their heads around this whole diet/exercise merry-go-round on which so many of us spend so much time.

I truly believe that what is good for the body only help the mind and visa-versa and having come back from a week's walking in  I can only once again re-reinforce that feeling of a real high that I get from walking, particularly in the Lakes, walking 45 miles in a week and getting above 800m in height 3 days out of 7. That might seem a bit extreme for some, although we can all find our own ways to get these little tonics in life.

How do you get yours?

Over the Moon

My last two posts have seemed to be a little bit of a moan. So I'd like to focus on what's going well at the moment.

Firstly Hubby has been putting some effort in on the groundwork to his photographic business. He's had some really good publicity lately and sold 4-5 prints yesterday.

My coaching website is up and running and looks great. The feedback has been brilliant. I'm sorry I can't share this with you due to the anonymous nature of my blog.

Despite my boss telling me my job was moving in April, I'm still here - at least for the time being.

I've started a new sideline. The coaching business will take a while to establish and if I take redundancy I will need a quicker source of income and quite frankly I don't want to go straight back into employment. I've decided to cater for our furry friends and make home made dog biscuits. Its a sideline that I can manage a day a week and it won't interfere in building up my coaching business. I've already sold some on Ebay AND had an enquiry from a pet shop so it seems I'm in business.

I joined a local coaching circle, so i can have a good catch up with some fellow coaches on a regular basis.

I've joined a local therapists group. They meet by monthly and have charity events which will be a great way for me to network.

I've sorted my action plans. To be frank my office was a bit of a mess and I've tackled it and all outstanding items are firmly embedded in Excel.

I feel fab!

Envy in Coaching Part 2

Envy is a symptom of lack of appreciation of our own uniqueness and self worth. Each of us has something to give that no one else has.





So back in December I lost a friend because she can't handle some business competition. Its a sad loss and I also lost my coach. Its May now and I've started to accept it. I see her at the gym and we exchange the normal pleasantries, and then when I was least expecting it, during an appointment with my beautician, she tells me that my business cards have gone missing and being replaced my another coaches' business cards. When I looked they were the cards of my coach. We're not sure whether they were swapped by my coach or her beautician as a favour and I can't prove anything, but I have my suspicions and I am learning to trust my instincts.

It has made me angry and I am feeling emotions that I don't want to feel.

I've not removed her cards. I wouldn't stoop to that level. I want to confront her, but not only do I have no proof, I am concerned this will just escalate the situation.

It has of course made me all the more determined to succeed.

Envy in Coaching

Envy is the art of counting the other fellow's blessings

instead of your own

Some time ago, I mentioned my own Coach. Most coaches have their own coach. Mine was a catalyst in me making the decision to set up a coaching practice. I couldn't have praised her high enough at the time.

Yet, she very suddenly lost interest in me when I undertook my coaching training. She started cancelling lunch dates and paranoia kicked in. Hubby tried to convince me there was nothing in it.

After a string of broken lunch meetings, I took what I would consider the cowards approach. I wanted the conversation to be face to face but this was proving impossible. SO I sent her a very nicely worded email. Her reply confirmed my worst fears. We live in a small town and she didn't like the idea of a coach setting up along side her.

I found this a bit hard to swallow. I've found that every other coach that I have come across has wanted to help/support and share. I'd got visions of joint projects and specialism referrals particularly as she is NLP trained and I am not.

It is of course her choice to do so and I have accepted it. I believe she is very insecure.  Strangely I envy her position in that she is ahead of me in setting up her business, and has not had to pay for her own coach training.  Perhaps I value my training more because I have funded it. 

This all took place in December and I accepted it until now.....

Achievement in a Year

Realising that my blog is now well over 12 months old has made me think back about what I've been up to in the last year.

Here goes:

• I turned 40.
• I made the decision to become a life coach
• I found a great coaching course
• I passed a live assessment
• I made a great new friend
• I've launched a holding page for my email
• I've registered my business with the tax man
• I've dealt with 3 challenging individuals
• I've blogged on average twice a week for a year
• I've chosen a business name
• I've read books!

And I'm about to launch my Coaching website - wow - what a 12 months its been.

• 
  

New Website

Once again I find myself having to apologise for being a bit neglectful of my blog. Its not that I'm bored of it, its just that I'm having to do so much else.

The good news is that I know have web pages written and ready to go to support my new coaching practice. I just need to pass them onto my talented husband who will turn them into a website.

D Day

If you've read my recent posts you'll know that I'm working towards a date by which my 3 month trial of a 3 hour daily commute will end. That date is the 5th July. I'm going to call it D-day.


The date when I start my 3 month trial has not been agreed. For those mathematics or analysts amongst you, the sums don't add up, as my trial gets shorter and shorter.


Latest news is that the trial is likely to start towards the end of May, leaving me about 7 weeks to commute. Woohoo!

Time Flies By - 12 weeks and counting.

Aside from the fact that the phrase "Time Flies By" makes me want to continue with the lyrics "when you're the driver of a train and you sit on the footplate their and back again....."

Those from a certain age will recall the watch with mother TV program called Chigley - if not please google it - it's children's entertainment in its prime.   The Train Song


Chigley is just a distraction.

I'm posting to update you that having being told about my job moving location about 3 weeks ago, when i was told it would be from the beginning of April I'm still waiting to find out when exactly it will go.

This is good news for me. I have the option to go on a 3 month trial. I'm doing the trial because I don't want to leave work (if I leave) until October. Today marks the earliest date by which I need to start the trial. Everyday that passes means one less day that I have to work in the alternate location.

WooHoo!

Tough Day at the Office

Phew. There are tough days and there are TOUGH days. And today was TOUGH. TOUGH TOUGH TOUGH!!!

The analysis that I am doing and the report that I am creating has caused enough problems in itself. But I find it hard to believe that in itself it was enough to drive me to the utter frustration that I was feeling and to open up the emotions that were opened.


The only conclusion I am left with is that when the news was broken to me about my job moving location and I dealt with it so well. So well, that many colleagues and managers have commented on how I have dealt with it. And I seemed to leap through the change curve from shock to acceptance - I think I am now revisiting the bits I have missed and right now am suffering from the depression stage.

So there is really nothing left to do but dust myself off and go back tomorrow and tackle it head on. Safe in the knowledge that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Making Sense of Things

Two weeks have flown by since I was told my job is moving 32 miles away. I guess for many people 32 miles will seem like nothing. For me it means losing 3 hours a day so I can travel to work. Only a third of that journey is by train.

Each way the journey is 30 mins in the car, 30 on the train (not really enough time to snooze) and 1 20 minute walk.



So the positives are - more exercise, some reading time.
The downsides, less time at home, in bed, at the gym, walking my dog.

In fact my whole work life balance will be out of kilter.

I have taken stock though. The alternative looks OK. There is an offer to work a three month trial - which I'm going to do. It has longer term financial benefits for me which I'm not going into here.

I then, can go back to my original office in my home town and look for other jobs. There is a chance I will find something suitable, right grade, money, skills and hours and if so great.

If not, then I get paid severance

, leave after 22 years and start my new career. Really get into my business and go for it.

Its very scary and exciting all in one.

Its all a matter of timing

Sometimes you think you have all the answers. For the last ten years I've said to myself (and publicly to others that if my company made redundancies I'd be the first in the queue waiting fro my cheque.

It wasn't that I didn't enjoy working for my company or my job, just simply that with a number of years service behind me, experience in two very different roles, a cheque in my back pocket and a strong chance of walking into another role it seemed to be an easy decision.

More recently that's become more likely. My company has merged and departments are seeing changes and restructuring. I'm also looking at setting up a coaching business.

Trouble is yesterday I was told that my job is moving 32 miles away, a 1 1/2 hour commute and I may have the opportunity to take redundancy. Now in the cold light of day that's a scary thought.

Hubby has recently taken redundancy to start his own business. I am the only wage earner. The thought of not having a regular income into the household is well, frankly terrifying. The job market has worsened with tales of 200 applicant applying for one job and I'm not quite ready to get my business off the ground, with all the doubts that go with it.

Heck, do I follow my heart or my head?

Happy Birthday Blog

I can't believe it - this blog is one year old today.

I've not blogged everyday, I'm not the greatest of bloggers but I've still made it through the 12 month mark and I think that's an achievement.

As a birthday treat, it would be great if you are reading this, that you leave a comment anonymous or otherwise. I'd love to know if you read this regularly, have just dropped by, or dip in from time to time.

Many thanks and I hope you continue to stay with me.

Snowdrop!
xx

Self development Workshop

How come its so easy for other people to mess up your plans?

When I was on my coaching course, I met another girl who had similar ideas to me, she was fab and we got on really well. We have ideas for the future and although we want to have separate businesses being in different parts of the country we can see opportunities to work on joint projects.

One of those projects was a workshop. Without going into too much detail, I found a venue for the workshop that allowed us to show case the workshop, and through charging a very modest fee we would be able to cover our costs.

Everything was agreed, we'd settled on a date with the organiser and I'd submitted an advert to attract the delegates to the organisor. And her boss has pulled the plug on the basis that she things its too expensive with just 4 weeks to go.

The amount we were charging per delegate was about a sixth of the starting prices for other similar self development workshops and wouldn't cover the cost of an hours coaching. I thinks its great value for money. Sometimes I just want to scream.

Now, we can still run the workshops but funding the venue and finding delegates will be more difficult.

Motivational Blocks

I am having to give myself a real kick up the bum. I have so much to do in terms of setting up and promoting a business, producing material for a website, writing material for a women's development workshop, writing essays and getting some paying clients.

Heck!

I was going to really get going after Christmas, but then it was only 3 weeks till we went on holiday, we got back and got Puppy. He's been here 3 weeks. We had friends here all weekend - I really need to knuckle down and get started.

Have revised my action plan for the next 3 months, but prioritising is a real big issue - it ALL needs doing during March.

Oh well, best just knuckle down.

Motivational Quote - determination

"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination." - Tommy Lasorda

A New Hope

We lost his royal doggyness just after Christmas. I had been expecting it for a couple of years. We'd had a little bit of a health problem and he'd never properly recovered from it. It didn't make the change any easier. I described it as there being something missing from just behind me and to my right which is where he always seemed to be.

So everytime I turned around he simply was no longer there. Its been strange.

A month later and enough has been enough and we've settled on Puppy. I've never known anything so small fill such a big gap.

Motivational quote - sit up and take notice

"It is easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action." - Al Batt

Motivational Quote - Do one thing

"Don't sit back and just think about your desires. Make today the first day you do one thing to make them happen."

Wasted Time

I've just finally opened a Twitter account and is therefore something I'm only just getting to grips with. How to tweet or retweet......and what appears to everyone....and what is seen only by those its intended for.

So I'm still being really careful at the moment.

This appeared as a Tweet - on my Twitter page:

"How many wasted minutes are in your day? What if you put them all together and took another step towards you goal?"

I'm sharing it with you because I think its very apt. Time is so short and there is so much to do. Something I often complain about in my Blog. I try not to waste time and to live every minute of my life even if that's doing the boring mundane stuff like the washing. When I'm at my best I can juggle two or three housey tasks between catching up on my favourite TV and sorting out the evening meal. Its tiring though but I really see the benefits of doing it.

Its such a shame that I often loose all the time I've gained by procrastinating. Updating and viewing facebook when I should be writing web pages.

Oh well!

Motivational Quote - Mind and Body

"Wholesome exercise in the free air, under the wide sky, is the best medicine for body and spirit."

Sarah Louise Arnold

I chose this quote having been to the gym at lunchtime. I get a real buzz and energy kick from my exercise classes and believe that exercise is just as good for the mind as the body. And I believe that's its good to take an hour or so of gym classes 2-3 times a week.

But what I know more than anything is there is nothing quite like a week's walking in the fells of the lake district.

I can't wait.

Motivational Quote - Being Great

You don't have to be Great to get started,

but you have to get started to be Great

Les Brown.

Ode to His Royal Doggyness

Sadly, I had to say goodbye to a very special friend over the Christmas period. His Royal Doggyness grew very tired after 14 years of shedding grey hair on my black clothes, going for walks and splattering me with mud, leaving muddy paw prints over freshly cleaned floors.

He will be very missed.


"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.
You are his life, his love, and his leader. He will be yours,
faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.
You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."

-- Unknown