If you are going to go for gold and really give it 100% effort to achieve the changes you want then you are going to have to devote some time to your best project YOU.

To be honest what I am saying is that you may need to be a bit selfish and devote more quality time working on your actions.

So I hear you asking “where can I get more time out of our day?”             

Perhaps you are the one who is always saying yes when someone asks you to do something, you always volunteer a helping hand, which don’t get me wrong is all very commendable but it means that you often neglect valuable “ME TIME”.

It’s all about making an investment in yourself; whether that time is spent reading/ studying, going to the gym/exercising or even sleeping if you have been burning the candle at both ends. It’s all about being good to yourself.

So what have you done for you lately?

I’m not sure what takes over when we are faced with so much choice and given permission to eat yourself silly! For some this means eating exactly what they eat at home only 3 times as much! What’s the point of that when there is there’s so much choice and new things to try and discover.

(Although deep fried broccoli and cauliflower – Why?)

For some the allure of pizza and chips at every meal is all too tempting. I made pact with myself that not one chip would pass my lips, I also went out walking in the morning, nice and early to see what the world was doing before everyone got up to disturb it!

Now, I know you are wondering where this is going; well it strikes me if only we could apply this no limits approach of gorging at the “buffet of life”. To take advantage of all the opportunities that are on offer to us, to try new things, take on new challenges, travel to far off places. Sometimes this takes a leap of faith into the unknown, which is probably why some people shy away from taking that step; this means that we often miss out on chances to learn new things, meet new people, change job or career direction, develop new skills and have adventures.

“If you limit your choices to only what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.”                                                 

Robert Fritz composer, filmmaker consultant

Unfortunately, this may also mean that we do not have a chance to develop our full potential; never really discovering what we are truly capable of, perhaps only using a quarter of our capacity throughout our life.

We often have our own limiting beliefs about what we feel we are capable of and use these to rule out opportunities. We often put the blame on someone else; may be someone told you couldn’t or you were not allowed; but you are your own person so the sky’s the limit!

Human potential is limitless; but you need to find ways to stretch and challenge yourself.

So ask yourself these questions:

Are you living a no limits life?

Are taking everything you can from the “buffet of life”?

Are you reaching your full potential in all areas of your life?

What have you done for you lately?

What is your next challenge?

Say “YES” to life!

Come on hands up how many of you actually take a lunch hour? A full hour, away from your desk? Yeah, I thought so not many of you at all.

So what has happened to our lunch hour? You may well ask!

It’s obvious that this traditional timeout in the middle of the day to refuel and recharge your batteries has gone AWOL; instead of us returning refreshed to our work for the afternoon shift of meetings, emails or battling our way across town to our next appointment it seems we just keep going till we leave for the evening!

There’s so many excuses we can use as to why we don’t stop for lunch: too much work, don’t eat lunch, making up time to leave early or take time off in lieu, need to prove yourself in a new job or worried about losing your job and need to put in plenty of face time! Nowhere to go nothing to do – that’s exactly the point!

It’s time to reclaim your lunch hour!

I recently worked for an organisation where you had to take your full lunch hour every day; at first I found this quite hard for all the reasons that we’ve already stated, but I soon got used to the idea and was surprised at the difference that it made to the rest of the working day.

So what can you do in your lunch hour?

• Well the obvious thing is have lunch you need to keep your energy up especially if you are heading off to the gym or working late.
• Read a good book – escape into another world
• Get outside for some fresh air (can also be a good opportunity to get away from your colleagues or the boss!)
• Do you have a rest/staff room – it’s really important to take a break from your work area
• Lunchtime exercise class or swim – believe it or not this can be really invigorating and great stress relief
• What about a lunch time lecture or talk? Google it and find lots of options

Just found this website http://www.bbblh.co.uk/  bring back Britain’s lunch hour!

So no excuses it’s your lunch hour use it wisely!

Hurray!  It’s the weekend and time is precious, 2 whole days off!

So what’s on your agenda?  For most of us it’s the same old round of household chores, getting up late or slumping in front of the telly to catch up on all those things you haven’t had time to watch all week on your sky plus box.

Well, what about doing something different to make the most of your weekend, so that you actually feel like you’ve had a weekend?

What about finding some green space? It seems like the weather is going to get better over the weekend so make the most of being outside. Living in London I forget just how much green space we have; why not try Kew Gardens, Syon Park, Regents Park or Richmond Park?

What about if you need to chill out after a stressful week at the coal face; why not try a yoga class, full body massage or Indian head massage or floatation session?

Perhaps you fancy a bit of culture? So what about the theatre, Museum or a gallery?

Street markets in London have changed and the more trendy Farmers Markets are very much in vogue like Borough market check out this link for some more options

London street markets link http://www.streetsensation.co.uk/markets.htm

Whatever you do have a great weekend!

Me? Some well deserved retail therapy after a very hard week both mentally and physically.

Monday, a day of dread, fear and loathing for so many all because they’re in the wrong job; that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, it always used to remind me of being in school and going back after the long summer holiday that feeling you get that is a mix of fear of the unknown, dread and apprehension.

Instead of being a day you enjoy, Sunday becomes a day that you try to prolong for as long as possible; getting up late and staying up as late as possible as if it was possible to suspend time, turn the clock back or stop it in its tracks! But sure as day follows night Monday morning will come around and you will have to confront all that you have been dreading head on.

How do I know so much about this?

Well the simple answer is this was me in my first job for 6 and half years of hell, knowing from day one I hated the job and I should have run and never looked back. Why did I stay so long? Because I had no idea how to escape, find another job or what else I was capable of doing.

So if you hate Mondays you don’t have to suffer any longer, help is at hand, you know what to do get in touch and let’s make all your Monday’s Happy ones!

Try this exercise:

What is missing from your work now, and has been in previous jobs?

Write down all that is missing and turn these points around into a sentence that starts: “What I want to create ad experience in my work is……..”

Quite often my days off are sabotaged by a hideously long to-do-list, of stuff that I don’t get time to do when I’m working! In fact often my so called days off are busier than when I am officially working. There’s often a whole list of chores to do, catching up on the emails, paying bills, DIY.  Speaking form bitter experience it’s almost a relief to get back to work to have a break! The other thing that happens is sometimes I am so excited about the mere prospect of having a couple of “days off” that I cannot sleep and feel completely wired! Why are we constantly trying to cram so much into every week, day, hour and minute of our lives?

In my head I can hear a voice that gets louder and louder that is screaming “STOP!”

You may well be asking “Why do we need a day off?”

Well taking a day off should be all about recharging our batteries so that we return to work refreshed and raring to go; even though that feeling may not last long when we see the 100+ emails in our inbox.

The idea of simply taking time out, relaxing or just not thinking about work for a whole day is something that most cannot imagine, chances are we have forgotten how to. Sometimes even if it’s not possible to take a whole day what about a couple of hours? What would you do with a day off? Read a good book? Sleeping; having a lie in and breakfast in bed? Pampering yourself? Getting out of the city?

So give it a try and see if you feel different or notice that you return to the daily grind refreshed and improved.

Life is a big adventure, it is constantly shifting and transforming, you have the power to shape your life and change your destiny by taking action and making your life what YOU want.

Once you start to make the smallest of changes you will often find that it has a domino effect on the other areas of your life; you get a new job, your financial situation improves, you meet new people and improve social life, just from making one change.

What are you waiting for? May be you haven’t realized yet that time is something that you cannot bank, saving it all up for the time that you are ready to take action or reach another milestone birthday at 30, 40 or 50 then decide to cash it all in at once to catch up on all those missed experiences, adventures or opportunities.

Now I’m not suggesting that you take up a dangerous sport or new expensive hobby, (well not unless you want to!), or make any drastic overnight changes – you might not get the reaction you expect and may live to regret it the day after. Just that you experiment with something to change your routine and widen your horizons.

Well, time to wake up and shake up your world! Why not try something new, something different, fresh?

You will recall that the last newsletter urged you to all go out and try something different. I am curious to know what everyone has been up to.


Write me a comment in the area below this post, letting us all know what you’ve been doing that’s different, out of the ordinary…