It is argued that our reality, our outer world is in fact a reflection of our inner world, made up of our thoughts and beliefs. In other words, what we believe about ourselves internally, translates externally in the way we live our lives.
Think about our new Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. What do you think she believes about herself? I read somewhere that she told Prince William that he was lucky to have her. I bet she fully believes that she is worthy of being a future queen of England. And, so she will some day.
On the reverse, if we believe that we are stupid or unattractive we create a reality around that. “I can’t be in business because I’m not smart enough”, I can’t meet a partner because I’m unattractive”. And guess what happens? You aren’t in business and you don’t meet a partner.
]]>1. Bust your myths
We often make up rules about how we like to work. For example, a while ago I had a great revelation that, as a people person, I can’t really work from home. I made up a rule that I have to be near people, particularly people who serve fresh coffee in cafes. After indulging myself in this myth a few times, the reality hit – I was really just wasting a lot of time that could have been spent working. What I liked about the cafe was purpose. I had to be clear about what I was going to work on while I was there. Bringing this same purpose to my home office (along with a coffee) means I work perfectly well at home and my myth is no longer standing between me and my work.
Needing people, needing silence, needing tidiness, needing variety. When these preferences become rules we stop being resourceful and ultimately get stuck in inaction.
What myths are stopping you from working?
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It also helps to show an understanding of how the elements of complex structures are connected whether it is starting a business, planning an occasion of looking at your life with the aim of improving elements of it.
Mind mapping is so effective because the brain works in many different ways and also different people think in different ways. Your thinking and reasoning follow a structure that is personal to you, however you still use a number of techniques that apply to most people.
There are certain "programs" loaded in your consciousness. These programs are your "natural thinking software". You get them included with your mind when you enter this world.
There are several fundamental principles that this is based on, but a few of the most critical are;
Pictures
What you see, you will remember! You have an enormous capacity to remember
pictures and images. The brain constantly takes "photos" of your life and stores these in a gigantic photo album inside your head, and you can actually retrieve them at any given moment. This is very critical for mind mapping, since it is much easier to remember a picture than it is to remember long lines of pure text.
Headlines
It is far easier to remember single words, short phrases and striking headlines, than to remember pure text. This is quite self-explanatory - you could try to quote this entire article through hundreds of hours of studying and repetition - and surely fail. Or you could simply write down a headline for each important point, and still remember 95% of the important information… it's up to you.
Association
Your consciousness always analyses how things are connected to each other. And when that is done, the mind creates an image to symbolise the structure. A lot of the brain's work is based on association and it automatically links different subjects together to create a system. It is important to let your brain work the way it wants to, instead of forcing it to take a certain direction. Your brain will be much happier, and when it appreciates your help it rewards you with knowledge and the power to remember.
If you are interested in exploring mind maps more, Striding Out has a team of coaches that will be able to take you through the process and guide you into creating your own system for tackling a task or situation.
This article was written by accredited coach Chris Davies-Anipole.
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We listen in so much of our lives and we listen in different ways. We listen to the sales assistant who is telling us terms and conditions. We listen to our mother who is giving us unwanted advice. We listen to our partner telling us they love us. We listen to our boss telling us what to do.
There are three levels of listening. Understanding a bit more about listening can help us form relationships and connect. This is useful with business clients, with managers, with interviewers, interviewees and in our personal lives.
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How do you feel about change? For many people change can be a scary deal.
Even when experiencing a change which we have initiated our self, we can go through a change curve which takes us well out of our comfort zone.
This experience can be magnified when we experience a change which is being ‘done to’ us.
There is a well known model which can be used to help people make sense of how they’re experiencing change – called SARA(H).
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Before you read any further grab yourself a pen and a piece of paper and maybe a nice cup of coffee and just take 5 minutes to answer this question.
What would you do if you had no fear?
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Striding Out is currently delivering two short courses at City University - Coaching Skills for Business and Advanced Coaching Skills.
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Commenting on whether employers were turning to coaching as an alternative to class room based training, the CIPD’S John McGurk says:
“There are lots of good reasons to question the value of classroom-based training because there is the issue that its high profile and expensive in difficult economic times. Coaching can be costly, but once you have got coaching resources in place, it is relatively cheap to keep it going”.
Download the CIPD report Taking the Temperature of Coaching [pdf document]
What can coaches do for your team?
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Increase employees’ awareness of career paths and enhance fit to achieve “right person/right job”
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Improve the capability of both employees and the client orgnaisation to manage constant change and transition
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Provide and model communication styles that enhance internal problem solving skills, appreciate differences and lead to long-term progress, rather than create dependency on the coach
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Promote a win-win balance of work/life priorities, using the desired states of both employees and organisation as benchmarks
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Guide organisational systems to evolve their culture by increasingly valuing their employees, implementing career development as a priority and optimising human capital
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Blend training, organisational development, career/employee development and coaching at every level in the organisation.
Could you benefit from having a coaching development programme in your organisation?
Striding Out specialises in coaching entrepreneurs and their teams to help them achieve business success. Funding is also available to businesses with 5 or more employees to help cover the costs. Email us to find out more [email protected]
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