Author Archive: Stephen Wells

Understanding yourself will make you more productive

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Understanding yourself and how you respond best can be a great advantage to you in both personal and business situations. It can help you be more productive in many different ways.

There are a multitude of personality test out their Myers Briggs, Insight and various NLP communication model tests. These all have their place for detailed analysis and team dynamics, but at the most basic level you don’t need them. All these tests look in depth at the way you respond your communication style and prioritise the methods that you are comfortable with.

But you already know this, maybe only unconsciously but you know it, you are the one answering the questions you are the one having the responses. Therefore, at the most basic level, if you simply look at:

  • the things that you do naturally,
  • that you enjoy doing,
  • that you are comfortable with,

you will instantly have a better understanding of what makes you work efficiently.

To give you an example.

I have always felt that I was bad writing. I struggled with GCSEs and A-levels. I was doing science courses, which required me write essays and reports. I knew I had the knowledge but I couldn’t get it down on paper. This came to fruition when I failed my A-levels and seriously needed to do something about.

So I went to one of my lecturers:

I knew I knew it, he know I knew it and we needed to work out how to make sure that the examiners knew I knew it.

I had all the fears and anxieties of failing and not knowing how to communicate effectively. My lecturer took these away by simply talking to me by getting me to talk through the answers rather than writing them down. Being able to verbally express my thoughts  helped me create the structure and then fill in the detail of what I want to talk about, i.e. the essay question.
By applying this technique of having the conversation rather than writing an essay I was able to go back to my A-level biology exam and get a B grade. Since that day I will known that my best style for communicating these verbal. I’m far more comfortable discussing a topic than writing about. Even to this day I prefer picking up the phone to writing an email.

At this point, I’ll mention that my handwriting has always been very poor. Therefore, I didn’t enjoy writing. So my first solution was to type. By having my laptop available to me. I would make notes by typing them up. This enabled me to get details down. I learnt to touch type, although I’m no personal assistant or secretary, I could get by.
But it was still not comfortable. It was still not easy for me to produce documents. My internal dialogue is always far faster than I could type and I would lose my thread as my fingers were catching up with my brain.

Those of you that follow the AIM to Succeed page on Facebook would have seen my comment about Dragon NaturallySpeaking and how enjoying using it. In the last few days. This has freed my creativity, being able to talk naturally and think on my feet (I’m literally wandering around as I write this) has given me new impetus and a new mode of expressing the things I want to say.

I have given you this is at this as an example, so that you can look at yourself and those around you to see if you can spot something that you consistently struggle with. Once you’ve identified this look at how you would like to do it, changing the style in which you work could dramatically increase your productivity, effectiveness and happiness.

Many of you will look inward and you will find your own answers, whereas others will see nothing but problems.

If you would like to find out more about how we could work together please look at the ‘Ideal Clients‘ and ‘How I work as a Business Coach‘ sections

Remember you need to let go sometimes…

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Focus on what you can directly impact and learn to let go when it is out of your control.

This may be a bit off track from the things that I normally talk about but I feel that it is worth sharing. Therefore I am sharing the information I received from Rachel Elnaugh (Ex Dragons Den) They say that holding on to anger/blame/hatred is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die…  By forgiving yourself and others you free yourself up to attract more happiness, more love, more peace and more joy into your life – and at the end of the day isn’t that what we all want? Today’s Blue Moon in Pisces is a rare and special event, symbolising an opportunity for you to completely heal your life.

Healing is not just about physical symptoms it’s about emotional pain too – whether that is anger, blame and resentment over being treated badly by others (or even being abused in childhood), or guilt and shame over things you did (or didn’t do). Unless resolved, these negative energies lower your vibration – making you much more susceptible to ‘dis-ease’ (i.e. illness) as well as far less able to attract prosperity and happiness into your life.

One great way to release yourself from the grip of this emotional baggage is forgiveness.  Forgiving others for what they have done to you.  Asking for forgiveness from others who you have hurt along the way.  And the big one: forgiving YOURSELF for all the mistakes you perceive you’ve made in your life.  (I say ‘perceive’ as there is not really any such thing as a ‘mistake’ when you realise life is one long learning opportunity!)

Here’s a great technique which I learned through listening to a telesummit with happiness guru Marci Shimoff recently.  It is based on the traditional Hawaiian forgiveness ritual Ho?oponopono (ho-o-pono-pono) and it’s very simple… Bring to mind a person or situation or negative feeling which you would like to have healed and say these 4 statements (tailored to the situation):

  • I’m sorry [I hurt you]
  • Please forgive me [for letting you down]
  • Thank you [for all the good times we shared]
  • I love you [and always will] Even if you are asking for forgiveness from another you can do this ritual completely alone – or you can express it to another person either in person or via a phone call/letter/email. Or if you are angry at yourself you can do it in the mirror! And if the source of your anger/resentment is what someone else has done to you, you can use the ritual to forgive them:
  • ‘I’m sorry [I got angry with you]’
  • “I forgive you for [the way you treated me]’
  • ‘Thank you for [the lesson I learned from this]’
  • ‘I love you [and wish you well in life]’

Again, it works even without the other person present, though you may eventually wish to express it to the other person. — I know that receiving this email today has made me think about tensions that I have been holding onto in my own life. So I will be running through the exercise above over the next few days, doing my best to change my perception of some situations in my world. Please try the exercise yourself and share with anyone you know who may get some benefit from it.

7 Ways to Motivate Employees

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We all know how important it is to keep ourselves motivated, but how do we ensure those in our businesses are as motivated as we are? I have written an article explaining the following 7 ways to motivate employees
1. Understand your own values.

2. Respect everyone.

3. Understand employee values.

4. Gain employee respect and trust.

5. Value your employees opinions.

6. Simply work out how to say “thank you”

7. Help employees plan their own future.

 

I felt it was so fundamental that I have made it an integral part of the site rather than just a blog post so follow this link  7 Ways to Motivate Employees to read the full article..

Graduates and Career Changers ‘Next Steps’ Event

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Graduates and Career Changers ‘Next Steps’ Event – 6th July 2012 Hosted by : Joe Dilger from  JD Global Advantage Limited. Venue: International Students, House Great Portland Street, London The Next Steps Event will:

  • Provide a high quality, inspirational, practical and fun event for Students, Graduates, Career Changers and people wanting to be ‘in charge’ of their own careers – so you can ‘chart your own course’ and see the practical ‘next steps’ to take – including the opportunity to start your own business.

Who should attend:

  • Graduates looking for first / next job.
  • Individuals looking to change careers.
  • Those keen to manage own careers better.
  • Those interested in starting own businesses / social enterprises.
  • Those who want to clarify their next steps

Confirmed Speakers include:

  • Wayne Clarke – International Partner, Best Companies Partnership LLP.
  • Ruth Markman – Managing Director, The Fireside Hospitality Group.
  • Tim Mungeam – Chief Executive, Springboard for Children.
  • Todd Murray – Manager, REGENT’S Gym, International Students House.
  • Steve Wells – Founder, AIM to Succeed Ltd.
  • Sarah Graham – Senior Human Resources Manager, The Oasis Group ; and
  • Kings College (London) students – ‘Lighthouse IJN’ – the first steps of the journey.

Simply follow the link to book your place at the Graduates and Career Changers ‘Next Steps’ Event at the earlybird rate as soon as possible.   AIM to Succeed will be running several of our Finding Focus – Resource Identification and Goal Achievement  workshops following the event and are offering discounts to anyone who attends Next Steps (details of how to claim your discount will be issues at Next Steps).

What final thoughts are you taking into 2012?

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As I prepare for an evening out, the last of 2011, I hear the phrase

always account for variable change.

In  the context it was said, it was quite literally, ‘know the game you are playing, play the hand you are dealt and look forward to the things that ARE going to change’

As you reflect on 2011 and look towards 2012 always remember that things will change, everything does, if it did not you would get bored.

Ensure is that you account for these changes when formulating your dreams and know where they fit into your future. When you don’t see the change coming it is a surprise and then you are on the back foot. When you have considered the variables and how they impact your desired outcome you will have a better strategy to help you achieve your goal.

Enjoy 2012 and everything that it brings you

Reflecting on 2011 – How are you going to remember it?

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This year has been tough for a lot of people (me included at times) – things happened, situations changed, unexpected events tripped you up, shook you around and dumped you back down.

With the year coming to an end we are about to get a deluge of facebook ‘my year of status updates’ images, and twitter ‘my best tweets’

BUT how will you choose to remember your achievements?

Remember the choice is yours.

Those of you around me will recognise some of the situations and I believe you will appreciate how I chose to remember them.

  • I have identified my own (and others) Ambitions.
  • I have loved someone with all my heart
    (thank you for letting me)
  • I have built a team that have passion and commitment that truly want to make a difference as we move into 2012. We have plans, goals, objectives, the finances in place to ensure we are able to do the things we want to do. And make the difference we want to make.
    (I look forward to working with you all)
  • I have Inspired those around me when they needed it.
    (I am glad I could help)
  • I have stepped out of my comfort zone, and kept walking, only looking back to see how far I have come.
    (Time for the next step)
  • I have stayed in contact with people that are important to me, from all over the world.
    (I will catch up with the more of you soon, as I admit I have missed a few)
  • I put myself in situations that created opportunities.
    (and I spotted them…)
  • I have helped others find their Motivation and in the process I have re-found my own.
  • I have laughed and I have cried with some of the best friends anyone can have.
    (I look forward to more next year)
  • I have met and started working with some amazing people.
    (Who else is out there?)
  • I have taken opportunities that presented themselves to me.
  • I have always shown and shared my passion.
    (And will continue to do so)

These are just a few of my memories and achievement from 2011, if I had planned to have achieved all of this in a single year I would consider the year a Success.

So there we are; a Successful 2011 for me.

How was yours?

No matter what you have been through this year, you have the choice how you remember it. Make the choice now, identify what things meant to you, why they were a struggle or hurt so much and recognise the achievement you have made within what others may see as ‘hard times’

By taking these achievements into 2012 you will be able to build on them, knowing that you can and do succeed, enabling you to take a slightly easier route next year to your next success.

Above all, be true to yourself, take responsibility for your own memories…

Un-damming a generation – Open the floodgates, release the potential of young people.

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Putting a little bit of a spin on the ‘Damned Generation’ we keep hearing about, rather than condemning the youth of today by labeling them, putting them in a box, sealing the lid and writing ‘Forget this lot’ on the box, what can we actually do to get them (and therefore ourselves and the economy) out of the big pile of **** that we find ourselves in at the moment.

When I see the ‘Damned’ I consistently read it as ‘Dammed’ so rather than the ‘Lost Generation’ I am reading ‘The held back Generation’ ie we are letting them down and preventing them from being the success we need them to be. So what are we going to do about it?

I read this blog ‘Frankie Cocozza + Media = Damned Generation’ this morning by Jamie Dunn from ‘Made by Young People’ and found that there were lots of parallels in his comments around the image we portray with several others that have also commented on the use of positivity recently.

Clare Boyles of ‘Success Matters’, one of the most positive and focused people I am lucky enough to know, has recently written about positive attitude and the need for positive action around it.  http://bit.ly/qFnPEN

Martina Blazkova from ‘MoveNowCoaching’ recently ran an excellent webinar, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDMWSSGHKvA&feature=youtu.be, about all doom and gloom in the news these days and how we can protect ourselves from it and promote the positivity that we see and experience.

And Melody Hossaini from ‘InspirEngage International’, who I have recently started to follow on Twitter after she started to follow me. Melody works with children and young people, helping them to develop as leaders, make positive change and be successful in enterprise. (After typing that last sentence I have realised I really should talk to Melody about Junior Chamber International!). What I see in Melody is energy and passion about something she believes in, we can all learn a lot from this kind of attitude.

To me it all combines into ‘Resource Recognition’, identifying Strengths, finding the things we are actually good at then making sure we know how to apply them, being passionate and focussed.  We all constantly label ourselves and others with preconceived ideas that limit us and those around us.  By first breaking this habit of self limitation we can all acknowledge our own true potential and therefore help to empower those around us.

This is a big step, one well worth taking, letting go of our own constraints and positively helping those around us to achieve what they want to achieve.

So my question to you; Are you a big enough person to cut the crap and positively help yourself and those around you?

Personally I believe you are, otherwise you would never have started reading this.

Rest assured you will be in good company, there are plenty of us already walking the walk (see above) we just need more people to take action and in doing so help themselves and others.

This combined action will make the difference to young people, it will make a difference to you, it will give us all a more secure future that we can be proud of and enjoy together.

Are you ready to Open the floodgates, by Un-damming a generation?

What is more powerful than Why, yes it is.

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‘What is more powerful than Why’ is a statement not a question.

I saw this tweet by Jamie Dunn @ JDEntrepreneur this morning

‘The “Why” should always be bigger than the “How“… Focus on the reasons why you’re doing something, instead of how you’re going to do it.’

Which is perfectly correct in that when you focus on ‘How’ you are going do something you lose the spark of energy, the passion for the initial reasons are you doing it. These reasons are the real insight into ‘What’ you want to achieve.

 

If you look at the recent disturbances, they were termed Riots but once they got past the initial activity were just opportunist looting in the main, and ask two questions with the same intent yet different structure, you will elicit different responses.

Qu: Why are you kicking that window in?

Answer: Cos I want that pair of trainers

Qu: What will you (do you hope to) achieve by kicking that window in?

Answer (if they actually had an agenda):
I hope to make a political statement about the unjustified shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham
or
I hope to make a political statement about the lack of opportunities for young people in the job market
or maybe even
I want to get that pair of trainers so i can sell them to get £20 so that I can put some dinner on the table for my family tomorrow night.

Unfortunately the more likely answer from the looters is:

I want to look cool in a nice new pair of trainers.

 

When you ask ‘What’ you as the questioner are prompted to add the ‘do you want to achieve’ or ‘are you hoping to get out of’ etc therefore making your initial question more explicit and focus around what you want to achieve.

Why did I write this blog?

Because I enjoy playing with the language we use day to day.

What do I hope to achieve by writing this blog?

I want other people to question the language they use and challenge themselves to get better outcomes.

So I will leave you with 2 questions that you can ponder.

Why does that person annoy/frustrate/upset you?
What do you get out of letting that person annoy/frustrate/upset you?

I am not expecting you to be able to fully answer the second question (or understand the answer you come up with), that is where coaching comes in all I want you to see is that you get two totally different answers.

If you would like to find out more about how restructuring the language you use day to day can help you change your perspective and therefore the results you achieve, please call me on 0118 324 1010.

Be more than a statistic – Identify your value in the job market

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With unemployment hitting at 17 year high (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15271800) what can you do to ensure you keep your job or give yourself the best possible opportunity to get yourself one?

1- If you need a Job.

Firstly let me state that if you have recently left a job, this is a reflection on the current economic climate, the business you were working for and the resources they needed. You still have bundles of value to add to the right employer (even if you may not feel it at the moment).

You simply need to identify what you have to offer, which is likely to be things you consider ‘simply normal’ and make sure you present those to employers that need those skill and resources.

 

2- If you want to keep your job.

Have you got your head down, ducking the metaphorical bullets that you think are flying around? Making sure you look busy with a workload that 18months ago you would have done in a day rather than a week (and actually enjoyed it!)?
Yes there are likely to be less people in your department, yes you have more things being thrown at you, but are you honestly busier?

Is it that you are doing new things that are out of your comfort zone, doing things that you are not confident about and therefore they take you longer than even you feel they should?

 

Thankfully both of these situations have the same solution:

Work out what you are good at, what you enjoy, how you add real value to the work you do, what it is about the company or the job that you ‘buy into’.

Finding your passion and your value is easy with the right help it can be done face to face or via skype/telephone. Being asked the right questions will open your eyes to your untapped potential, engaging you in your job (or hunt for), freeing you from stress, allowing you to once again enjoy the work you do.

To find out more feel free to schedule a FREE call to discuss your situation.

Lead Yourself – Personal Responsibility be your own volunteer

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When you volunteer to do something there is usually an overriding desire to achieve, to get something done for a better purpose. A passion that drives you on.

There are a number of influences that have driven me to write this post:

  • Talking to Jamie Dunn about the difference between formal and self education
  • Personal reflection on the topic of Lead Yourself, part of the new Leaders Workshop I am working on with Kai Roer
  • And starting to listen to ‘Leadership Great Leaders Great Teams Great Results’ by Stephen R Covey, where he talks about the concept of employees being volunteers and therefore needing to be lead rather than managed to get the best out of them.

All of these got me writing…. It all starts with Personal Responsibility.

Being part of a voluntary organisation in my spare time, I often hear ‘they are volunteers, you can’t expect x,y,z they are not getting paid for it’

Personally I think I can have expectations as it’s nothing to do with money it is about giving your word. As a volunteer myself I do expect those around me to do what they commit to, if they don’t it impacts my volunteered time and energy, but it goes further than that, let me explain.

In a company you are contractually bound to do your work, if you don’t the long and short of it is you get fired. (After a fair and documented process obviously!)

If you volunteer to do something in a voluntary organisation you are personally bound to do it. You are responsible for your own word and for ensuring the task is done.

The only carrot or stick influence involved in a voluntary organisation, is to you and your reputation, you either do (and improve/maintain your reputation) or you don’t (and damage it)

If your situation changes, protect your reputation and let people know, communicate, share, re-attribute the work. (They only need to know about the tasks, your personal details are your business, a simple ‘I can no longer complete the task’ is sufficient)

This is your personal responsibility when you take on the task.

This lead me to the thought that this in essence is all you really ever need to do.

Lead yourself, be personally responsible for your word and your actions in everything you do, your relationships, your studies, your work, your play. When you do this you will set yourself up to succeed at everything you put your mind to, there is no one else to blame, to make excuses for, to hide behind.

So be your own volunteer, decide what better purpose you want for yourself and do something about it. Once you have committed to doing it respect yourself and put your best efforts into it. If your circumstances change admit it, realise the impact of those changes and re-attribute your tasks (personally or externally)

It is your life so live it and be responsible for it, live it to the fullest.