What’s your Purpose?

There are so many ways to pigeonhole yourself these days. Psychometric tests to work out your personality type, online quizzes that will liken you to a car or an animal, different networks that give you an identity. However, finding your purpose in my experience is not quite so easy to achieve!

Why are you here?

I know that’s a big question – but having a sense of purpose really does help you feel more fulfilled whatever you are doing in life. An excellent book that helped me find my own answer to the question was suggested to me by a good friend of mine. It is What’s Your Purpose? by Richard Jacobs.

Richard gives you seven questions to answer. Each one allows your brain to be creative and unlocks information that you are not expecting it to! The end result is a short phrase that neatly sums up your own sense of purpose.

Let me know how you get on

kind regards
Christine

Maintaining motivation levels and achieving goals

Someone recently contacted me as they were struggling to stay motivated to achieve their goals. When they had originally come up with their goals they were sure they were feeling supremely positive, felt they were all achievable and had started off, fired up with enthusiasm. However, as the days had passed they were finding that with so many things they wanted to achieve they were just feeling overwhelmed and were struggling to find the motivation to move forward with any of them!

Here are six suggestions that I have found really helpful for staying motivated and achieving goals.

1. Being grateful is the real key to achieving all that you wish for and more. Think of all the things you can be grateful for right now, that you already have in your life. Writing these things down so that you can regularly remind yourself helps you maintain that state of gratitude.

2. Know WHY you want to achieve your goal, if you have a compelling reason why then it becomes so much easier to do what needs to be done and to stay focussed on achieving that goal. Apply the ‘so what?’ test to your reason why, so that you get to the real essence of why it is important for you to achieve this goal.

3. You will get what you focus on – so focus on what you want and all the things that are going really well in your life.

4. See yourself in the future, having achieved your goal. Feel that sense of satisfaction that you will feel when you achieve it. What will you be doing? Seeing? Hearing? Saying? Enjoy that moment.

5. Concentrate on achieving one thing at a time – even if it seems like a little tiny step. Each step will move you closer to achieving your goals.

6. Remember to celebrate every time you take a step towards achieving that one thing – and celebrate even more when you finally achieve it
That way you will enjoy the journey towards achieving your goals – not just the arrival at your final destination.

How about you? What goals have you achieved and what helped you stay motivated and on track?

A cautionary tale …

A couple of years ago, I found myself stuck in a rut. Literally. My satnav and I had had a falling out – and it left me stranded down a bridleway in a waterlogged tractor rut.

Now – if I had had my sensible pragmatic head on I would have noticed far earlier than I did, that I was getting into trouble. However, at the time I was too busy thinking to concentrate that hard on the road ahead. My satnav was in control.

To cut a long story short, I ended up sat there waiting for a knight in shining armour (from the RAC) to come and rescue me. Plenty of time to reflect on my dilemma. Plenty of time to also come to the realisation that it was not only my car that was stuck. There were plenty of similarities with my life at that time too!

What was missing was the ability to look into the future and see the way ahead, the bigger picture. Sat there waiting to be rescued, I had the opportunity to do just that. It helped me see that ‘rut’ in context, and was a great lesson for me.

Last week, whilst visiting a very good friend of mine and once again whilst I was in deep thought whilst driving, my satnav tried to pull the same trick again and send me down the very same bridle path. Only this time, I recognised it just in time! I took the opportunity to have a quick sanity-check on my life too. Am I spinning my wheels but getting nowhere in any area? Do I know where I am heading? Am I keeping my eye focussed on the road ahead?

How about you? Who’s leading in your life – you? or your satnav?

Motivation and Leadership

Leaders, by definition, go first. How do you motivate yourself to do that? If you find yourself asking that question, it could be that you are forcing your leadership style. Perhaps you are trying to do something that you feel you ‘ought’ to – rather than something that comes naturally to you.

Follow your instincts. Listen to your gut. What do you want to do right now? What feels a good natural fit for you? It may not be the way others have done this in the past, however they have their own natural style. It’s not yours. Get in touch with what feels naturally right for you. You will find your motivation levels are no longer an issue when you are fully in line with your own natural instincts.

what’s all this about passion?

In my experience, the best leaders are passionate. They care about their mission. They have a vision for the future which they enthuse about at every opportunity. Their passion is clear for everyone to see – and it inspires followers. There is something about sensing that level of emotion that stirs you up. It is infectious – people want to share in that enthusiasm, to experience some of that strength of feeling.

So what? I hear you ask!

Think about your style. What are you passionate about? What do you care about? When did you last express any emotion in front of those you are trying to lead? Was it a successful experience or an embarrassment? Is it something you would repeat?

If expressing emotion is not something that comes naturally to you, then try to remember times that you did feel that stirring of emotion inside. Maybe it doesn’t happen for you in business, but you are a real fan of some sport. Or maybe you care deeply about your family. Whatever it might be for you, try to remember how it felt. Remember what you were doing, seeing, hearing and feeling at the time. Tap back into that feeling and think about how you can best bring that strength of emotion to bear when being a leader.

When inspiring others, passion in a leader can make all the difference between a team who will give you 200% and a collection of individuals not really motivated to all move in the same direction.

What are your experiences of tapping into passion? What has worked? What would you do differently next time?

Leadership and values

We tend to think of leadership as something we do to others. We see leaders as those that naturally command the respect of a team. What is it that the team really admire? Often it is the values that the leader embodies. They see someone who walks their talk, who is consistent and congruent with their principles. Someone who is transparent – they do what it says on the tin.

How about you? What are your values? What is important to you – and do you live by those principles? Perhaps there are one or two that are really key for you and you are clearly honouring, but others may be a bit hit and miss. Take some time to think about your top five values. The ones that you feel are most important to you and the way you choose to live your life.

Are you following those values today? What would you have to do differently to follow them? What changes would you have to make to your life? How different will your life be?

Why not change one thing and notice what happens? Pay attention to what is different – and particularly to how it makes you feel. Think of it as another step forward on your path to natural leadership

I watched a film today that really made me think. It is only 9 minutes long – but it struck a chord with me. Neil Croft, from Authentic Business, was talking about the drive behind most businesses today being money – about the redistribution of wealth. I know I have found myself in the past staying in a role because of the financial security – no longer feeling passion for the role itself, afraid of being ‘found out’, yet unable to really break free and stand by my values. Fear of the failure and fear of the unknown, the lack of security, kept me in a trap of my own making.

I think Neil has hit the nail on the head when he talks about doing what you love – and the huge difference it makes not just to the way you feel, but also to the experience for your customers too. Are you being authentic in your worklife today? If not – what is it costing you? When do you see yourself REALLY flying in a role that really allows you to express the best of who you are?

Watch the film here, thanks to Nic Askew and www.monday9am.tv.

how do you define a leader?

Who do you admire as a leader? What qualities do they have that particularly inspire you? The term ‘leader’ is an overused term these days. Corporate executives expect all their managers to be ‘leaders’ – but in practice often feel that those skills are lacking in their management community.

The managers themselves feel misunderstood and have a lack of understanding of how to develop this miracle skillset. Standard training courses are designed with ‘one size fits all’ thinking. The manager returns to their workplace unenlightened and still unable to adapt themselves to fit this superhero model.

It all seems like hard work, doesn’t it? What is the answer?

If you do find yourself admiring leaders in any context, it’s worth taking the time to think about exactly what they have that appeals to you. They may be useful clues to your own natural leadership style.

welcome to lead … naturally

Welcome to the lead … naturally blog. If you are interested in leadership and what it means to you, in discovering your own natural leadership style, in really understanding your own talents and playing to them, then you are in the right place.

We will be exploring what it means to have a clear sense of purpose, to understand and play to your natural talents and to really live life to the full.

You are probably thinking “it’s all very well to have an idealistic view of how life should be but you should try living in the real world!!”. We all know that real life often gets in the way of our aspirations. In fact, if it didn’t, there would be no need for this blog!

We will be sharing practical tools and strategies to help you succeed whatever is thrown into your path.