3 ways to make the most of good news

I am writing this blog post with a smile on my face, because I just received the news that I have been accredited by the Association for Coaching at the highest level, Master Executive Coach. This required 1500 hours of logged coaching practice, recording my coaching for evaluation, and a 1.5 year process of preparing my portfolio (which ran to 100 pages).

Click image to view my Coach Directory listing

This marks the end of an even longer journey for me. In 2003 when I started my own coaching practice, I considered pursuing an accreditation, but never followed through. Clients weren’t demanding it, and I hadn’t yet realised the centrality of supervision and a reflective approach to great coaching. It took Oxford University’s Said Business School, where I am a member of the coaching community, to prompt me to apply for accreditation. I’m so glad they did, because – as I tell my supervisor Jean Dowson – the process of reflection and supervision has improved my coaching practice significantly.

I’m sure you are happy for me, but why am I telling you this?

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8 ways to stop being an email responder and resume being human

You don’t understand the pressure I’m under to respond to people right away. It never stops. I have to answer 150 e-mails every day. I feel like my job title should be something like ‘email responder’ rather than vice president for strategy. I just have to react and work my way through the list; I don’t have time to think. In fact, all the e-mails are an excuse not to think
– (The Empathic Enterprise, Mark Brown, p78)

Merchant Trask Press (June 2016)

I found this quotation hugely inspirational when I read it in Mark Brown’s book, reviewed here. I sometimes find myself in ’email responder’ mode and I have recently booked onto a training programme called “Time To Think”, that relates to the quotation. The book “Time To Think” by Nancy Kline, is an excellent book I have read in the last year, and has transformed the way I coach others.

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Where I failed

4 steps to high performance even when you fear failing

Image credit: shutterstock.com | jesadaphorn

 

Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose

– Bill Gates

Some time ago I spent a week coaching business executives in an idyllic hotel in the mountains of Austria. It sounds restful, but to be fully present for their clients, coaches ideally need a clear head and a clear diary. However, I had a problem. At the same time, I was preparing to launch Coachify™ and my diary was out of control. My task list was endless and I had a series of urgent and important deadlines to meet.

In The Red Zone

My solution? To work harder. Each day I got up at 4.30am to work for 3 hours before the start of the coaching day. I was fielding emails and calls, and my mind was full of small tasks to complete and strategic challenges to solve. All this meant that I didn’t get enough exercise and I didn’t eat well either. My sleep app told me that I averaged 4.5 hours of sleep per night that week, off the back of an already exhausting schedule. I was in the red zone.
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Redefining productivity, the wearable way

Image credit: shutterstock.com | elwynn

In a world driven by results, maximising productivity is an important way to establish how to meet and exceed your goals. No more is it a question of just letting someone “get on with it”. Now is the time to embrace technological advances in measuring efficiency, and see your business grow as you redefine the way you measure efficiency across all areas. Coachify™ are specialists in providing wearable solutions to gauge productivity across all sectors.

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Productivity re-imagined

how wearables transformed my performance

Image credit: shutterstock.com | macgyverhh

Yesterday I arrived home by 5pm, having finished work for the day. The sun was shining while I chased my 2-year old Anna round the garden for a while, then settling down to dinner with Tan, the girls and a friend. Business is busy, and I was feeling well-rested having slept soundly the previous night. Later I would go for a run. It was a productive day.

But this wasn’t a one-off. I’m in a place where I’m getting a lot done, feeling fresh, and working fewer hours in the day. How did I get here?

For the last nine months I’ve been working on and using a new service called Coachify. We have launched it recently and are seeing extremely encouraging early interest. So if you like this blog, I think you’ll be interested in finding out more.

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Align what you do with what you value

Image credit: shutterstock.com | Billion Photos

It is so easy for what we do to become disconnected from what we value. Whether for financial, family, or other reasons, we can often make decisions that take us away from the things that are most fundamental to who we are – our purpose and values.

Here’s an exercise I use with my clients to help them examine their values and look at what they’re currently doing against them. Perhaps you might find it useful too.

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4 tips to sleep soundly

Image source: shutterstock.com | www.BillionPhotos.com

There’s a lot of advice out there about sleep. So much, in fact, that it would be easy to be kept awake at night worrying about whether we’re doing all of the right things!

Seeing as you’re busy and you don’t have time to compile all of this different advice, I’ve done the hard work for you. Here are my four tips to help you get a great night’s sleep.

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What’s my purpose?

Image credit: shutterstock.com | David Carillet

Do you ever wonder what your purpose in life is? Countless people don’t, and may well consider it something unimportant (what difference does it make?) or unattainable (can I really ever know?). I want to tell you it is important, and it is attainable! Here’s an exercise I use with my clients to help them discover what their purpose in life is.

Go for a walk for an hour, preferably somewhere beautiful like a park. Reflect on the following three questions in order:

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My 1+2 plan for time mastery

become a master of time management

Image credit: shutterstock.com | Max Griboedov

Recently, I launched my 10 Commandments of Time Mastery. Since then I have had a lot of great feedback on it, in particular the 1+2 Plan, a simple way of planning and prioritising that allows you to focus. This builds on Chet Holmes’s approach, and I’ve built on it and worked it into my routine.

Here’s how it works: list the six most important things you need to get done the next day.

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3 eating excellence tips for busy mums and dads

Image credit: shutterstock.com | Purino

As a dad of 3 young girls, I can confidently say that being a parent is one of the greatest joys in life. It’s also one of the greatest challenges! There’s plenty of advice in print and online about how to deal with those challenges well – looking at behaviour, education, play and everything else imaginable.

But perhaps you’ve never thought of getting advice about eating well? I’ve found it to be a hugely significant part of parenting. If you’re thinking about this for the first time then I’ve pulled together some tips to help (more…)