New Year, New Beginnings

The New Year is often the time when we decide to make changes to our lives. We may decide to lose weight, get fitter, find a new job, start our own businesses, end a relationship, move home or take a year out and travel, or to change any number of other things in our lives.

Some of us even take the trouble to write our desires for change down and give thought to how we can manifest these changes. And for some of us that’s where it all ends – nothing happens and this time next year we’re back at the same place.

And that’s the problem – nothing happens! Wishing and hoping, intending, and desiring are useful ingredients in the recipe for change, but until you act to begin the change, nothing will change.

Everything hangs on you taking that first step to bring about change. It’s not enough to know that you want to change, you have to begin.

The New Year reminds us that the time for discussion and deliberation are over. We must take action now to begin the journey towards the changes we desire if we are to manifest them in our lives.

Let 2007 be the year you act on the truth you have known for a long time but were not ready to call by its name until this time. Take the first small step towards the person you long to be and watch as a generous universe conspires with you to bring your hopes, wishes and desires into being.

Happy New Year, Happy New Beginnings!

Putting Your Dreams Into Play

I bet you have some dreams for your business, career, or life. I wonder though, do you have goals to help you turn those dreams into reality? Have you consciously chosen to take action in line with those goals? Do you notice what happens after you’ve taken action, appreciate your progress, adapt to a turn of events, and keep going no matter what?

In her book God Is No Laughing Matter, Julia Cameron writes, "Life is not linear. We are faced less with lessons than with opportunities, choice points, tiny and large.”

Barbara Winter says that our challenge is to choose consciously, to be responsive as well as responsible, to be innovative and intrepid, to listen to the still, small voice that whispers, 'Go this way. This might work.' Sometimes that voice eggs us on into unknown territory. We abandon the known and set sail in the direction of our dreams.

Andre Gide says, 'One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.'"

Right now I bet you have some goals and dreams of what you’d like to have happen in your business, career, or life. Instead of thinking about all the hard work to “make” your dreams happen, I encourage you to shift your mindset and decide to put them into play. Everyday fill your mind with your goals and everyday take steps in that direction. Notice what happens, appreciate progress, adapt to any unexpected turn of events, and keep going.

When you take the time to set goals, you put your dreams into play and attract an abundance of opportunities. You are also able to choose consciously and confidently those you will grasp and to step away from the shore bravely and with eager anticipation. Eventually, you achieve your dreams and they’re often even better than you imagined.

8 Rules for Professional Business Communication

Technology has expanded and enhanced our ability to communicate with one another. However, while the range of communication options has expanded at a rapid rate, many people seem to be unaware of how best to use the devices they now have. It is essential to develop an awareness of how to use technology to avoid negative outcomes for employees, clients and the workplace in general.

Take Email for example; stories frequently appear in the news about how the misuse of this medium has led to the demise of many an employee’s career, from the highest executives to the lowliest of clerks. They didn’t seem to realise that electronic communications are frequently permanent. Even text messages can be stored and retrieved.

These people were intelligent and knew that potentially career ruining information should not be sent indiscriminately, it’s just that they don’t know how to use electronic communication in a polite and professional way.

Technology does not give us permission to be rude and ill-mannered. Nor does it mean that we can be less professional or give less consideration to how we communicate with others.

Here are 8 guidelines for communicating in an effective, professional and respectful manner:

1. Don’t use your mobile phone at inappropriate times, in inappropriate places, or in an inappropriate way. This invades others’ privacy and peace, and disrupts their ability to concentrate.

2. Don’t invade other people’s personal space when using your laptop. There are times/places when it’s okay to connect and use your laptop and there are times when it’s not.

3. Turn off your pager and/or mobile phone in situations where it could be distracting.

4. Always call the person or business before sending a lengthy fax, to ensure that it’s a good time.

5. Before using a speaker phone always make sure the person you are talking to does not mind.

6. Never send e-mail that contains inappropriate or sensitive material (as some business people have learned the hard way).

7. Don’t allow the ease of email to erode relationships. From time to time call the people who you communicate with by e-mail to maintain the personal touch. Even in this modern age, we like to do business with people we know and like. Email only relationships are sterile and do not build any sense of connection with the other person.

8. Avoid calling, paging, or faxing people at home, after hours, or when they’re on leave unless it is vital that you do so. This is the ultimate invasion of privacy and demonstrates little regard for the other person’s need to relax and unwind.

Technology has greatly enhanced our ability to communicate and increased our options of how, where and when to communicate. However, even in this modern age it is essential to follow the old-fashioned tried and tested rules of communication etiquette and good manners. Respect and consideration for others are essential components of good relationships both on- and off-line.

Learning Is Life

I have always loved learning, and have been fortunate to live in a time when opportunities for learning abound. I am constantly scanning for lessons from what I see, hear and experience.

I have found that even mundane activities provide lessons. Sometimes they remind me of something I already know and at other times new insights and understandings are delivered. The important thing to remember is that knowing or understanding something is not enough; I must use and apply what I learn to other situations. When I don’t apply new learning life will keep on sending the same lesson to me over and over again until I take notice and act.

Do you face the same problems or difficulties over and over again? Do you respond to them in the same old way time and time again? Take a step back and ask yourself: “What is the lesson I have to learn from this? What am I ignoring? What do I need to do differently? What do I need to stop doing? ”

In his book, Hug An Angry Man, Sean Casey Leclaire recounts the story of a long-standing AA member called Rick who used meetings to bemoan his dreadful childhood and constantly used it as an excuse for his unwillingness to curb the drinking habits that he knew would change his life. After many months a wise mentor, called Jim, shares his equally awful life history with Rick and reached across the table and said very softly to him, “Shame on your father for making you the way you are, son. And shame on you for staying that way.”

You’re intelligent; you know it’s the height of stupidity to keep on doing the same old things over and over again and hoping for a different outcome, don’t you? Hoping and wishing won’t change anything. You must act.

The good news is that life does not send us any challenge or hurdle we are not capable of overcoming. Sometimes we have to dig deep into ourselves to find the right answers. And sometimes those answers require that we take actions that are painful or that we make difficult choices.

This is similar to visiting your doctor when you are in pain and finding that the cure will cause you even more discomfort in the short term. The decision to go ahead with the treatment is a no-brainer. The period of discomfort leads to healing.

Many years ago I decided to leave an alcoholic husband who I loved dearly. I had struggled with this decision for years before finally acting on it. It broke my heart to leave, but the fracture in my heart allowed light to shine into my life again.

Life’s lessons can be painful, but once learned and acted upon, will cleanse you of toxic relationships, behaviours and situations that have been harmful to your well being.

Are you willing to face the challenges life’s lessons offer and take the actions required no matter how fierce the pain or difficult the choice? Will you take action and allow your healing and transformation to follow?