What to do when fear stops you

You know what fear does? It stops you. It keeps you safe. Too safe. It’s not anyone’s fault, it’s the way your brain is hard-wired.

You know what helps get you into action without getting paralysed by fear? Breaking it down into tiny, laughable, ridiculously small steps. So small you laugh out loud at the thought. Like stand on a treadmill as a first step in creating an exercise regime. Or throw away the first bite of a bar of chocolate to eat less of it. Or do one minute preparation of the most difficult thing on your to-do list. It’s even got a name: Kaizen. Originally a Japanese business philosophy it’s now recognised as hugely helpful way of getting through fear in career change, health and vitality, sports, business – in fact wherever fear shows it’s face, Kaizen applies!

Laughing at your first step? Great, go do it!!!

Sure, you won’t always need to break it down so small because you’ll stretch what feels comfortable so it takes greater steps to kick in your fear centre in your brain. But anytime you find yourself getting totally stuck, make your first step TINY.

There is HUGE power in TINY!!“Don’t look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. “ – John Wooden, basketball coach

Each tiny step creates momentum. It’s a lot easier to stay on the bike than stop and have to start again, so keep up the tiny actions so you don’t have to stop.

If what you want feels impossibly big, try out the Kaizen technique and start to move.

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Ready for 2022 to be your Best Year where you say NO to fear and YES to changing up the gears to make your life more incredible than it already is, come and join me at this online two-part event! There is NO charge. I know…. 😂

Registration is open. We’ll kick off on 25th January. We’ll create the kind of space you need to reflect on what you’ve learned from 2021, create clarity on the areas you want to grow, transform or level up your life, business and career in 2022.

Your best year for best you is coming. Do you want to play?

What’s your timescale for success?

Recently I experienced two moments that made me stop and congratulate clients and my own growth in who I am now as a leader.

One of my clients told me 20 minutes into our planned call of one hour that in that time they’d already uncovered the insights they really needed that day. We wrapped up ten minutes later after digging deeper into those insights and the actions that would support their even greater learning.

One client told me half way through our planned six week engagement that she already had everything she had hoped for – clarity on her career direction. It didn’t take as long as either of us expected and now we’re using the time to create what she wants to support her leadership in the next step.

Transformation never happens on the timescales we expect or desire. Sometimes it’s quick, sometimes it’s slow. It’s a dance of beautiful uncertainty. It’s brilliant to never know what will come and what new ideas or inspiration will suddenly pop up from a challenging question in a new direction.It’s always surprising, fascinating and exciting! And I love being a witness and leader in the process of change!! 😀

Change IS possible. When you are ready to make it happen.

2022…?

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If you are ready to make real change to your career and life, we should talk.

What will set you up for success in 2022?

It’s been a brilliant morning completing the final call of the career change programme I’ve been co-leading for the last 8 weeks. I’m sitting at my desk bathing in the gloriously unexpected sunshine, and basking in the fabulousness of hearing how amazingly far each participant has come in such a short time. I’ve got so much love in my heart for each one of them. 😍

I felt myself welling up with happiness and grinning from ear-to-ear (yes, I do both at the same time 🤣) as they described what they have available now to support them in their career changes that they didn’t have at the start. Things like: tools to take action even when they don’t have all the answers, people in their career change corner supporting and encouraging them, confidence to talk to people and carry out experiments knowing they have what they need to design and evaluate each action they take. It’s so incredibly inspiring to see them moving from feeling fearful, hopeless, stuck, scared, full of dread and burnt out to courageous, hopeful, taking action and creating momentum, excited and energised. And I leave feeling exactly the same!!

Being around people who are transforming their lives ALWAYS has a knock on effect. Always.

Courageous.

Hopeful.

In action.

Excited.

Energised.

Pretty good words to finish off 2021… and we are not even there yet! So I’ve chosen to make a conscious decision to stay in those right up to 31 December. I want to finish this year strong and boldly.

What words are you embracing for the rest of your 2021 to finish strong and set yourself up for 2022?

What would you do if you could do anything?

Have you ever asked yourself the question ‘what would you do if you could do anything?’

Imagine all your expenses are paid and all your responsibilities are taken care of. All of them. Woweee!!! 🤣 It’s like the ultimate ‘what would you do if you won the lottery?’ question. Sure, almost everyone goes and buys nice houses, cars and travels the world. But what then…? How would you spend your time when you’ve done all that?

I love asking this question of anyone partnering with me to review their next career steps. I don’t ask it to help my clients make an immediate decision of where they go next in their careers. I ask it because it allows space for ideas and possibilities to emerge that there’s no space for if you’re focusing only on ‘what’s realistic’.

It doesn’t necessarily mean what you answer is literally what you need to do next either. You might want to to dig deeper into the essence of what’s in those ideas because there is something important to you about it, like building houses in a developing country – could be about making a difference in deprived communities or immersing yourself in culture, both of which could be part of a very different career in smaller parts.

There may be options out there you don’t even know about yet because you never give yourself space to ask what you REALLY want. Give yourself the gift of exploring without limiting for what you perceive to be ‘realistic’!

What would you love to do if you knew money was sorted? What would you spend your time doing? Who would you be spending time with? How would you really enjoy spending your life?

You might surprise yourself.

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If you’re ready to get real clarity on where you want to take your career next, we should talk. I have two private client spaces available beginning late January, with a bonus of a one-to-one workshop to make 2022 your best ever year if you’re a YES before 11pm Sunday 19th December.

Why what matters to you, matters in your career

You are sitting in a meeting listening to the same cyclical conversations you have this month every year since you started your job five years ago. It’s the same old drill every time. It’s seasonal work, the same conversations, the same tasks for the same people. You’re barely able to keep your eyes awake. You wonder if you’re coming down with something.

You stare out the window watching the birds soaring through the sky, free to fly where they choose. You sigh inwardly. That would be pure joy.

You’re so disinterested in the next project because you’re not learning anything anymore. You’ve done it to death. You can do it in your sleep, which is lucky, because that’s how you feel most days at your desk; asleep.

Does this sound familiar?

Before you jump to the conclusion you’re in the wrong job, or you need to get more high energy drinks or visit the gym more, take a moment. You might just need to make a few tweaks. You see if any of that sounds familiar you might not be experiencing all your top values in your current work.

Your values are what’s most important to you. Without them you can feel ‘off’ or bored or unfulfilled in your work, like the feeling you get that you have more to give and you’re not able to.

Getting clear on what’s important to you is a huge first step in obtaining clarity on what and where you want to take your career whether that’s further up the ladder of an existing one or through a shift into a totally different line of work you find fulfilling (and dare I say it, fun… yes that’s actually a real thing, fun work!!)

Start by asking yourself what really matters to you, and either jot those things down, or you can start by scanning a list of values like the one below and highlighting the ones that jump out at you. Don’t try and get it right, trust your first sense before you try and analyse it.

If you get more than five on your first pass, that’s great and you can then play a ‘trade off’ game where you ask whether you’d be happy to trade one off for the other. For example if you had ‘achievement’ and ‘beauty’ on your list, ask yourself which matters more ‘achievement’ or ‘beauty’. Take the winning value to play the trade off with the same question for the next value on your list, eg ‘achievement’ and ‘creativity’. When you’ve done that for all the values you’ll be able to see your top five values.

You can use these as the core of your future career decisions. If achievement matters most to you and a role will not offer you that, you know it’s a no go role for you if you want to feel fulfilled in your work.

Here’s a helpful list of values to get you started.

  • Authenticity
  • Achievement
  • Adventure
  • Authority
  • Autonomy
  • Balance
  • Beauty
  • Boldness
  • Compassion
  • Challenge
  • Citizenship
  • Community
  • Competency
  • Contribution
  • Creativity
  • Curiosity
  • Determination
  • Fairness
  • Faith
  • Fame
  • Freedom
  • Friendships
  • Fun
  • Growth
  • Happiness
  • Honesty
  • Humor
  • Influence
  • Inner Harmony
  • Integrity
  • Joy
  • Justice
  • Kindness
  • Knowledge
  • Leadership
  • Learning
  • Love
  • Loyalty
  • Meaningful Work
  • Money (can also be wealth)
  • Openness
  • Optimism
  • Peace
  • Play/playfulness
  • Pleasure
  • Poise
  • Popularity
  • Recognition
  • Religion
  • Reputation
  • Respect
  • Responsibility
  • Security
  • Self-Respect
  • Service
  • Spirituality
  • Stability
  • Success
  • Status
  • Trustworthiness
  • Wealth
  • Wisdom

If you want to start strong in 2022, start by getting clear on what matters to you. I have two spaces opening up to work with me in finding greater clarity on your career direction and your big audacious goals for the future. If you’re interested, let’s talk.