Maintaining Balance Is an Inside and Outside Job

Maintaining Balance Is an Inside and Outside Job

by | Oct 31, 2012

“You are responsible for your life. And what is your life? What is all life?
What is every flower, every rock, every tree, every human being? Energy!  Oprah

If trying to maintain balance in your life makes you sometimes feel like Terrifico, the Terrified Tightrope Walker in the Circus of Life, working without a net while the crowd below holds their breath in anticipation of a slip, you’re not alone. Over the last few months I have so been in this place.  These days almost all of us have so many demands placed on our time and energy, life can feel like a three-ring circus. And if you’re not up there on the tightrope, you’re down on the ground in the midst of tigers and lions, in charge of keeping a couple of dozen plates spinning in air.

Maintaining balance isn’t easy. It requires holding steady with the many responsibilities that are a normal and everyday part of life: home, family, friends, horses and work, while at the same time recognizing and fulfilling personal needs and wants. Finding and maintaining balance when life can be so complicated and demanding is both an inside and outside job.

Inside—Only you can take care of yourself.

Consider how well you take care of yourself, both physically and emotionally. Do you eat healthfully and exercise regularly? Do you get check-ups and take preventative precautions? Do you set aside personal, quiet time for yourself? Do you make time to enjoy nature and art, filling yourself up again and again?  I know I have been doing really badly on this front this year.

Outside—Reaching outside yourself gives meaning.

Think about how you reach outside yourself for sharing and giving meaning to your life. Do you spend quality time with family and friends? Do you give back to life through your time, energy and experience? Contributing to the larger world provides connection and purpose.

Balance—The key to a rich and fulfilling life.

To discover how well balanced your life is, keep a log of how you spend your time. In a little notebook you can carry with you, write down the hours you spend under the broad headings: “for me” and “for others.” Also make notes of requests for your time (from family members, from co-workers or professional obligations). Include “requests” from your physical and emotional self: “I wish I could take time to take a walk today.” Or “Gee, I’d love to take a nap.”

Also jot down your feelings about the time you’re putting in. Do you resent the responsibilities at home? Do you feel like you never get to do what you want to do? Do you rearrange your time, taking away from what you’d planned to do for yourself in order to do something for others? How does that feel? Honestly?

After a week or two, you can expect to have some pretty clear messages on where there is balance in your life and where there is not. You might also come to see what’s important to you and how you can make changes in your life that will create a life of health, well-being and joy—a balanced life.

If after doing this exercise you realise that you need to put some balance in your life why not sign up for one of the limited number of complimentary strategy sessions I offer every month to help you get clarity in your life and business.  You can sign up here.

Grow Your Business with the Seasons

Grow Your Business with the Seasons

by | Oct 9, 2012

As we move into autumn I am reminded that Mother Nature certainly likes her routine. Global warming aside, she cycles through the same processes, in the same order, doing things the same way they always have worked. Within that cycle, of course, variations exist—a dry winter or a mild fall—but we always can rely on the rhythm. One season follows the other. It’s a comfortable predictability in a world that often seems to be wildly unpredictable.

Luckily, it is possible to tap into that natural cycle, to bring into our professional lives a greater sense of flow and order.

As you read the suggestions below, keep in mind that we all have our own rhythms as well. What works for one person or business might not work for another. Take the ideas as ways to get you thinking. If a particular suggestion won’t work for you, is there another seasonally inspired activity that might?

Winter

Winter brings frigid air, frosted glass and, in some areas, a white blanket of snow. Many plants and some animals slip into hibernation and get ready for their springtime rebirth. Wintertime sports and holidays distract us from the sometimes uncomfortable temperatures and drastic blasts of weather.

Here are a few business activities that align with winter:

  • While you’re hunkered down indoors, take some time to analyze your year-end numbers—what do they tell you about the choices you made this year? What could you have done better? What did you do well?
  • You won’t be hibernating forever, so set your goals for the following year—what would you like your numbers to look like next winter, and how will you make that happen?
  • Consider what is “hibernating” in your work or personal life. Is it almost time for a dormant phase to end?

Spring

In spring, everything is glistening, green and new. There is a feeling of expansion, birth or rebirth. There’s a sense of renewal and reawakening. Seeds start to grow. In springtime, people start to get outside more, becoming reacquainted with their gardens. We take on spring-cleaning projects and clear out clutter.

A few business activities that align with spring:

  • Plant your own seeds by designing one or two new products or services for your business. Give yourself lots of time for brainstorming and collaboration before honing your ideas.
  • When you’re ready, create a detailed launch plan with action steps and a timeline.
  • Ask yourself what other seeds you would like to sow—and what others already are starting to sprout.

Summer

In summer, the landscape is lush and colorful with fruits and flowers. The air is warm and growth is everywhere. Summertime lends opportunities for family adventures and exploring. Long days lend a feeling of abundance.

A few business activities for summer:

  • Use the longer days to tweak your systems and work out any bumps or bugs in your implementation process.
  • If the timing is right for your business, launch your new services or products.
  • Complete other projects so that you can reap their rewards. Put finishing touches on work you’ve been doing.
  • Think about what you’re about to harvest. Are you ready for it? What else can you do to support your own abundance?

Fall

The fall offers us golden rich colors and crisp, cool air. There’s a feeling of transition and that “back to school” energy we never outgrow. A new school year keeps whole families busy. The harvest of fruit and vegetables is in full swing.

A few business activities for fall:

  • Harvest the bounty of your good work, by fulfilling orders for your new products and services and collecting feedback from your customers and clients.
  • Prepare for the winter and the end of the year by compiling your records.
  • Consider your own harvest. Are you satisfied with its size and quality? What might you do to improve it for next year?

By tailoring some of what you do to the natural rhythms that allow, sustain and renew all life on earth, you might just find that your business is likewise supported, as it grows and prospers.

To find out how Talent Dynamics can help you identify the best activities and best team members to work in each season just contact us.

How Olympian Are You?

How Olympian Are You?

by | Jul 30, 2012

What does the Olympics have to do with you and your life? Few people relate psychologist Carl Jung with the Olympic symbol, yet he is the original designer – and the five rings symbolise the five strengths to live an Olympian Life.

When the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, was looking for a symbol for the games, he turned to his friend Carl Jung. Jung knew the circle was the symbol of potential and life in ancient cultures, and introduced the idea of the five interlocking circles as a reflection of five energies – the same five found in Chinese philosophy (Jung was the first to publish the I Ching in the West, and at the 2008 Beijing Olympics the Chinese returned to the initial concept with their five mascots representing water, wood, fire, earth and metal).

This year the symbol is 100 years old, and in 1912 when Coubertin introduced it he also introduced what he saw as the keystone Olympic event, the Modern Pentathalon. This had five disciplines that to him summed up the five key attributes every ‘Olympian’ individual should have. How do you square up in these five areas in your life and business?

1. SWIMMING (Element = Water / Spirit / Blue): This discipline is about rhythm. Rhythm keeps us breathing, above water, and moving forward at pace. What is the level of rhythm you have set in your life and business, and where is there stress and disharmony where rhythm has been lost and where you’re out of synch?

2. SHOW JUMPING (Element = Wood / Spring / Green): This discipline is about power. Not the power of the rider, but your ability to harness the power of the horse. How well are you harnessing the power of your business, your market, your industry? A clue: If you’re the one doing all the work, you’re not the rider. You’re the horse.

3. FENCING (Element = Fire / Summer / Red): This discipline is about flair. Your success is dependant on having an opponent to spar with and how well you dance with them. Who are you fencing with in a way that you both are upping your game? Who should you be fencing with? And are you doing it with honour?

4. CROSS COUNTRY RUN (Element = Earth / Autumn / Yellow): This discipline is about perseverance. Cross country is about running through the elements and adjusting with the terrain, slowing when you need to and speeding up where you can. Where should you be slowing down and speeding up to win your race?

5. SHOOTING (Element = Metal / Winter / Black): This discipline is about precision. As distinctly different to the other four as they are to each other, this is not about physical exertion, but the ability to quiet the mind, let the body disappear, and hit the target. How well are you hitting your targets by doing the opposite of working hard?

Today, winning an Olympic medal isn’t on many people’s to-do list. Mainly because – without the right skills and sacrifice an Olympic medal is simply out of reach. De Coubertin’s vision was not this. It was to make sport accessible to everyone, and to use the Olympics as a way to demonstrate how sport can highlight the skillsets we need to excel at an ‘Olympian’ level in life.

So to make the most of this year’s Olympics – Be inspired by the athletes competing in the London Olympics, but also bring these five disciplines into your own performance in life, and claim your own gold.

Want to learn more about the Secret Energy of Business and how to apply it, then contact me for a free, no obligation consultation.

Where in the Business Cycle are You?

Where in the Business Cycle are You?

by | Jun 4, 2012

In the Talent Dynamics square we look at the four different energies and how they affect different profile types, but did you also know that business also goes through these four same energy cycles and knowing where you are in the cycle allows you and your business to always benefit from the rising waves.

SEASON ONE: SPRING

The first season in every cycle is the ‘Spring’ phase. On the Talent Dynamics Square, it is always the Creators and Stars who profit during this phase. When the PC industry began in the 1980s, it was the early creators like Apple and Microsoft that took the lead. At the beginning of the Internet, in the 1990s, it was creators like Mark Andreeson who launched Mosaic, one of the first web browsers, that hit the news. At the beginning of Web 2.0, after 2000, it was the platforms with a purpose, like eBay for auctions or MySpace for music that were the first to take off.

SEASON TWO: SUMMER

The second season in every cycle is the ‘Summer’ phase. This is always where the mass market follow the early adopters and communities built around a common platform. In the 1980s, PC manufacturers like Compaq and Dell grew rapidly and Apple fell by the way side as scale beat innovation. This is the season to ‘magnify’, on the right side of the Talent Dynamics Square.

In the 1990s, the early start-ups on the Internet got swallowed up by the big networks like Compuserve and AOL. These were ‘walled gardens’ that didn’t share their data with the rest of the Internet. In Web 2.0, Facebook and Linkedin are the equivalent of Compuserve and AOL.

SEASON THREE: AUTUMN

The third season in every cycle is the ‘Autumn’ phase. This is always where there is a critical mass in the market who no longer want to be restricted by the walls, and begin to self-organise their own communities out of the chaos of conversation. In this third stage of the PC industry, it was the regional computer superstores and computer magazines that saw the biggest growth. In the early Internet it was when companies like Webvan, boo.com and pets.com, gave the market the way to find the products they wanted organised by their interests.

What about the ‘autumn’ season of Web 2.0? This ‘reorganise and recommend’ phase has hit the headlines last month. Pinterest has been billed as the fastest site to reach 10 million users. It gives users the chance to pin their favourite images and products onto pinboards. It is part of the shift from ‘conversation’ to ‘curation’.

At this early stage, Pinterest already drives more referral traffic to company websites than Google+, LinkedIn and Youtube combined. Pinterest copy-cat sites have already launched that allow users to not just look at products based on what their friends recommend, but to buy them then and there.

SEASON FOUR: WINTER?

The fourth phase, the ‘Winter’ season, is when we move to consolidation. This is the storm, form, norm, perform cycle – create, connect, curate, collate. The PC industry shifted from product to service, when service providers like Salesforce and Google begin taking over from the software and hardware providers, disrupting both. In the early Internet, it was when Paypal, Amazon and Apple made it easy for transactions and micro-payments, changing the pricing of everything.

The fourth phase in Web 2.0 will be when each of us can be our own bank, accepting micro-payments and transacting in multiple currencies (including the ones we create ourselves) anytime, anywhere. We will find ourselves with multiple earning (and spending) opportunities every day.

In the meantime, Internet TV is about to begin in Spring. The Mobile Internet is already in Spring, moving to Summer. All these waves simultaneously add up to a perfect storm.

So what season is your industry and business in and how best can you cash in on the action and surf the wave before it is too late.

Learning Boundaries to Empower Women

Learning Boundaries to Empower Women

by | May 25, 2011

The way I see it, women approach leadership and horses a lot differently than men do. As children in our imaginary games riding Pegasus, Pegasus reads our minds and takes us to enchanted places. Girls are attracted to Pegasus from their desire to experience a magical connection through a magical ride; while boys grab their broomstick, and ride to a destination that they tell their imaginary horse to go.

My method address horses more like a woman of course because I am wanting a relationship with a horse more than any service I might get from the horse. The service I do receive from the horse is a way to enjoy our connection from a co creative process. It turned out that in competition, my method could hold up to any other method that was not interested in developing a friendship from the training process.

I have seen methods that are driven by a dominant approach through a masculine energy develop friendship with a horse, but the horse had to give up the ability to say “no,” or the power to change the subject, or have any say in the matter of his training at all. The masculine intent was not to abuse the horse in the best of circumstances, but never considered the relationship with a horse as a love interest that women do.

This caused a lot of woman to become unsatisfied with how horse training methods were applied to horses. The fact was that there was no choice in the matter if you were the horse.

It did not satisfy me. I see the treatment of horses to be abusive even in the nicest approach. The reason is that the method is brought to the horse whether the horse wanted it or not.

Masculine energy uses directive leadership and feminine energy uses supportive leadership. Women prefer not to get involved with leadership if they can help it, which is too bad because women are very good in the leadership role if they give their self half a chance.

Women understand something that men still need to consider- and that is leading a horse is part of a co creative process. They also believe that this co creative process is capable of producing the best performance. And that for leadership to really work out- you will need to follow your horse more than you will be leading him in the beginning to create a bond and a willing partner. Once you get this done, a horse will do just about anything for you without a lot of manipulation to get him to do it.

Where women fail to connect with a horse is created from their not understanding how to set up clear boundaries. It is a puzzle piece that is the missing ingredient in feminine energy. A woman has a tendency not to know when to allow, when not to allow, what to allow, what not to allow -and that to gain leadership and respect, boundaries must be flexible to be able to train the horse to have a desire to follow your lead over his own. How I do this through my Waterhole Rituals is by empowering a woman through many activities surrounding intimate interactions with a horse because that is when women are most comfortable. We are all about the bond and the heart felt connection. After we have made this connection, we can do just about anything -just from our natural instincts as supportive partners which comes very naturally to us.

When a woman learns how to gain leadership from using flexible boundaries she finds that leadership isn’t something she needs to demand from a horse. Once the boundaries are understood, horses have a strong desire to naturally follow your lead. This is very simple really. This is achieved from the horse working around your wants and needs that take place in regards to you personal space, and how you are feeling in the moment. Horses and women know how to work around each others needs in a partnership.

I have seen that when a woman learns that she is solely responsible for her own personal control of her personal space that all of a sudden, she sees how to use this way of being into her relationships in her life, and in affairs of the heart. She begins to turn the table on her life, and receive more respect and better treatment in all relationships. It is just a small puzzle piece we need to gain.

Masculine and Feminine and Vice Versa

In human beings there is both male and female energy. To really have the optimum dance with a horse requires that those energies are in balance, and used in a positive way. Both energies need to work at the appropriate times supporting each other in leadership. A horse needs a much higher percentage of female energy than male energy. However, as the relationship grows to a fine art of dancing, male energy creates the ultimate dance when the desire to be led, and to dance is the complete focus of the horse.

In Closing

We are all puzzle pieces and we need each other to be fulfilled. I believe what I have to offer is strengthening feminine empowerment through feminine leadership by giving women the ability to know what to allow and what not to allow, when to allow and when not to allow. Women by their nature are missing this puzzle piece to be truly empowered in the world of business and affairs of the heart. A woman’s power lies in their innate knowledge that leaders must follow the follower more than the follower ever needs to follow the leader in order to reach harmony in a working partnership.

There is a formula to a working partnership where both male and female energy create the perfect world. My understanding is that the map that you follow is the formula to achieving your goals. There are patterns to be followed that lead to goals. These patterns are thrown out because of people wanting short cuts. Our journey needs to always be a study and lessons of our personal growth as we are reaching for our goals. This way, the journey stays sacred, and our ethics and morals and our heart are not destroyed by the goals that we set for ourselves. We are now out of balance. We now are aware that we are. Horses show us where fairness lies and guide us to our strengths and our missing parts and show us how to obtain our goals for the ultimate connection we are longing to achieve when we give them freedom to be who they are to lead us there.

Posted by my equine mentor Carolyn Resnick on www.carolynresnickblog.com

Energy is the currency of success, positive attitudes pay off

Energy is the currency of success, positive attitudes pay off

by | Jan 24, 2011

If you want to know the importance of energy to America’s work force, look no further than the lines at Starbucks. Clearly people are searching for more energy to fuel their busy, demanding work schedules and lives. After all, if you don’t have energy, you can’t lead, sell, inspire, serve or advance in your career.

Unfortunately, however, double lattes are not the kind of energy that will enhance our performance and success. Real, sustained energy cannot be found in a can or bottle, but rather in the currency of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual energy that recharges, renews, refocuses and repurposes us daily.

In today’s energy-strapped, time-constrained business climate, those who want to take their career to the next level must be physically energized, mentally positive, emotionally contagious and purpose-driven.

Life is no longer a sprint. It’s not a marathon, either. Rather it’s a sprint and a boxing match combined where you are not only running as hard as you can, but you are getting hit along the way. Exercising, eating high-energy foods with protein and fiber as part of five small meals throughout the day will help you sustain your physical and mental energy and manage your stress.

Just as athletes must train for enhanced success, you must train to build your energy and strength. But training doesn’t stop at the physical level. To be at the top of your game, you’ll want to cultivate the positive energy necessary to overcome adversity, challenges and obstacles that often derail and sabotage so many careers. What most people don’t realize is that the latest research in neuroscience shows we can cultivate more positive energy, build mental muscle and mold our brains to be more positive and resilient to stress.

One proven way to do this is meditation, which research shows is like gasoline for the mind and body. It’s not just for Buddhist monks, but for athletes and business people who want to enhance their focus, energy, creativity and performance. Anyone who has ever worked for a very positive and uplifting boss or a negative energy vampire also knows the importance of the emotional energy we share with others.

Walt Whitman said we convince by our presence, and emotional energy is what does the convincing. Research from the Institute of HeartMath demonstrates that when we have a feeling it starts in our heart, goes to every cell in the body and outward, and can be detected up to five to 10 feet away. We are broadcasting our emotional heartfelt energy to our co-workers, employees and company every moment of every day.

Positive emotions enhance personal energy, team interactions and career success while negative emotions decrease energy and sabotage productivity and performance. That’s why Jack Welch said that great leaders have tons and tons of positive energy and they are contagious. It’s also why Pete Carroll, the two-time national champion coach of University of South Carolina football, has built a culture around positive energy. Those who want to succeed today must learn to manage their emotions under pressure, to stay positive and focused and develop a currency of positive emotional energy.

Cultivating a state of gratitude especially during challenging times is one way to enhance your energy currency and become more contagious. Gratitude floods your brain and body with positive thoughts and emotions that improve the way you think and feel. This brings us to the final and most powerful energy currency we can tap into: purpose. The fact is, we can eat all the avocado, drink all the water and do all the push-ups we want, but if we don’t have purpose, passion and enthusiasm for what we do each day, we’ll never feel as energized as we could.

Purpose is the ultimate fuel for our life and careers and it is essential for lasting success. When you are purpose-driven, you tap into an unlimited amount of energy currency. So instead of just going to work, find something within your work that contributes to a bigger purpose — something bigger than you, something that makes a difference — and let this purpose energize your success.

Source: Jacksonville Business Journal by Jon Gordon

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