Jobs and CareersHow Your Left Arm Can Be the Key to Winning
By Laurel Vespi
A few years ago I was running in the Venice Italy Marathon. My husband, who is a far better runner than I'll ever be, was light years ahead of me and I was focused on being able to complete the race on my own. I had done the training. This wasn't my first marathon and I was looking forward to celebrating another fine race at the finish line. It all was great until I came to the almost inevitable point in a marathon when everything gets really hard.
Everyone seemed to be passing me. I was tired. My legs felt dead. I couldn't quite find my rhythm. And I was getting a little cranky. And then seemingly out of nowhere a runner fell into step beside me.
"How's it going??" he asked. So I told him. I began listing off my litany of complaints. He listened and when I paused to take a breath he asked,
"How's your left arm??"
My left arm? I looked at him like he was crazy. Apparently he hadn't been listening all that well. My left arm is fine I said. It's my legs and my back and my feet.
"Well then," he said, "Focus on your left arm." He smiled and picked up the pace and left me with that piece of advice.
As I continued along watching him disappear into the crowd, I was distracted from my complaints by his suggestion. Just the simple shift in thinking about things differently made the next few miles easier.
Focus on what's working
How often are you so focused on what's not working that you lose sight of what is working? When it seems like you are running straight uphill, it's easy to become overwhelmed by all the things that aren't going right. The problem is what you focus on increases. So minor problems become major ones. And the little strength that you are ignoring all but disappears.
Getting to the finish line
If you are in any way stretching yourself in life, you are going to periodically hit the wall. Things seem hard and you feel stuck. The finish line seems like it's a long way off. When that happens what you need is a shift in thinking.
· It's common advice that when the going gets tough you should put your head down and just put one foot in front of the other. Try a different strategy. Look up and see the big picture. When you lose sight of where you are headed, every step can be a chore.
· Ask yourself what IS working. Then put your energy into that until you find your rhythm again.
· Hills are flat. They are only hills in your mind. So says running expert John Stanton. The same is true for any obstacle. It's only as big as you want it to be.
· Get back to the basics. When things feel hard, shift your focus to the fundamentals - before taking the next step, what's the one thing you need to remember?
Yes I made it to the finish line. No I never saw that runner again. But he often falls into step beside me when it feels like its all uphill and I remember his advice. And yes my left arm is fine.
Laurel Vespi, certified life coach, keynote speaker and chief executive guru of stone circle coaching, ignites businesses & individuals to new levels of CHANGE. Laurel works with clients internationally, providing unconventional yet practical tips that make the seemingly impossible... possible!
Sign up for Laurel's free ezine, inside the circle, and receive the bonus article "Blissful Living." Personal Life Coach
==========================================
Life Balance - 5 Ways to Avoid Smorgasbord Syndrome
By Laurel Vespi
Life is just one big smorgasbord with all kinds of wonderful temptations to fill your time. Just like the "all you can eat buffet", if you don't pick and choose which commitments you make, you'll find your plate overloaded and yourself feeling unwell. Life balance comes from not only setting boundaries around the things you don't want to do, but also saying no to some of the fabulous things too. It's not that you can't have it all. You just can't have it all at once.
Try these five ways to avoid overloading your plate:
1.Check your happiness factor.
Sometimes you don't realize how far out of balance you are, until you wake up one day and realize you are exhausted and dissatisfied. To catch yourself sooner, create a little time to check in with yourself at the end of the day.
Ask yourself:
On a scale of 1 - 10, how happy am I today?
What choices do you need to make tomorrow to raise your happiness factor?
2.Monitor your time.
When people say they don't have time for the most important things, it simply means that they are using their time on other stuff. Write down your key priorities in life - perhaps this includes your health, your spiritual practice, your relationships. Then monitor whether you spend your time first on these things rather than on other commitments. You can create a simple checklist for the week and keep track to see whether you honor these key priorities. If you are super busy but haven't taken the time for the things that are most important to you, it's time to do something different with your time.
3.Leave some white space in your schedule.
Life is wildly unpredictable. Unexpected things will most definitely pop up during the week. If you have not left some white space in your schedule to accommodate them, you will find yourself feeling overwhelmed. Henry Kissinger once said, "There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full." Choosing to not schedule every available moment allows you some flexibility. And if the crisis doesn't appear, you have more time available for your key priorities.
4.Pause before saying yes.
It's usually the unconscious choices that get us into trouble. You open your mouth and "Yes!" pops out before you have really taken the time to evaluate how this fits with your schedule and priorities. Before you say yes to a commitment or opportunity, stop and consider it carefully. Do you have currently have time available in your schedule for this? Are you willing to remove something from your plate to add this in? If the answer is no to these questions, then the answer is no to the commitment.
5.Assess the opportunity.
There are so many amazing opportunities that life brings us, we sometimes load up our plate because we don't want to miss any of them. Before saying yes, do a little assessment. Is this is once in a lifetime opportunity. If it is, then it might be a good choice to take advantage of it even if your schedule is full. The key then is to remove something else from your schedule so that you can have the time and energy to fully participate and enjoy yourself. Many opportunities will still be there for the taking in the future if there is no room right now in your schedule.
Laurel Vespi, certified life coach and chief executive guru of stone circle coaching, ignites businesses & individuals to new levels of CHANGE. Laurel works with clients internationally, providing unconventional yet practical tips that make the seemingly impossible... possible!
Sign up for Laurel's free ezine, inside the circle, and receive the bonus article "Blissful Living." Personal Life Coach
===========================================
Five Ways to Trade Mediocre For Personal Best
By Laurel Vespi
With schedules and to-do lists jammed with a thousand things, it's easy to begin lowering the bar for yourself. You convince yourself that just getting it done is more important than how well you are actually doing it. You start to trade performance or quality for completion. Sometimes you are so stuck in your comfort zone that you don't realize that life has become pretty mediocre.
Try these five ways to give up mediocre:
1. Pick and choose.
You can't do everything, or at least you can't do everything well. Often in a busy life with multiple commitments you sacrifice your personal best on all of them. Take inventory of how you spend your time and decide which things require your best and which ones can get by with mediocre. Here's a hint - the things that are most important to you such as relationships, health and wellness deserve more energy than things like household chores or other people's to-do lists. Make a conscious decision about what gets your best and what can be mediocre.
2. Focus on excellence rather than perfection.
Having to get it right is often the reason you choose to give little or no attention to something. If you can't figure out how to do it perfectly, then you won't do it at all. This kind of black and white thinking always ends up leading to a mediocre effort. Shifting into a personal best mindset rather than an all or nothing one lets you excel on your terms. Have an honest conversation with yourself about what personal best looks like for you.
3. Do 2% more.
Raising the bar doesn't have to mean an enormous change in effort. Simply requiring 2% more of your self, in time or energy, can begin to create forward momentum. Since a small increase often feels relatively easy, you're able to stick with it. You'll also get a sense of how much more you might be able to do without over stretching yourself. You just might find out that you're capable of so much more than you have been asking of yourself in some areas.
4. Give up something.
Step back and look at how many commitments you have. Chances are there are things on your list that take your time and energy away from those things that are most important. Get rid of the things that drain you with little or no return. Then you will have more time and energy to commit to your personal best in other areas. And yes you can say no to things! Frame it this way: I'm making a personal commitment to spending more time and energy on __________, so I'll have to say no to your request.
5. Listen to your internal chatter.
Those little voices in your head can give you clues to what's going on in your life. If you find yourself repeatedly saying "I'm too tired or busy." or "I can't be bothered." then likely you are settling for less than your best in some important areas. Pay attention to how often you negotiate with yourself or rationalize. Begin replacing the mediocre chatter with more empowering statements such as "My _____ is a priority for me. I choose to focus my energy there."
Laurel Vespi, certified life coach and chief executive guru of stone circle coaching, ignites businesses & individuals to new levels of CHANGE. Laurel works with clients internationally, providing unconventional yet practical tips that make the seemingly impossible... possible!
Sign up for Laurel's free ezine, inside the circle, and receive the bonus article "Blissful Living." Personal Life Coach
=====================================
Trading Mediocre For Your Personal Best
By Laurel Vespi
I'm just like the rest of you. Sometimes I find myself doing things that I don't usually do for no other reason than I want a little mental and physical break. That happened the other night when I found myself channel surfing and came upon the reality TV show called The Biggest Loser. It's a program that follows the journey of a group of significantly overweight people as they compete to lose weight and win some prize.
As I watched these people working out, many of whom weighed more than 300 pounds, I started to get a little uncomfortable. These people were really committed to their workout - they were giving it everything they had. I started thinking, "Wow. If these people can work this hard, I bet I could raise the bar for myself in my next workout."
Crank things up
So in the morning as I hit the treadmill, I decided to start cranking it up. It was surprising how much room there was before I felt like that's enough. It was one of the best workouts I've had in a long time. I guess I had let myself settle into a mediocre zone and hadn't even realized it.
Mediocre feels comfortable. It lets you get by and gives you a false sense of accomplishment. Sure you're doing it, but you're not doing it nearly as well as you could. Sometimes the problem with being mediocre is that you aren't even aware that's where you are.
* What part of your life has slipped into a mediocre zone?
*
* Where are you just phoning it in or going through the motions?
* How often are you using the "I'm too busy or tired" excuse to let yourself off the hook?
Being average is highly over-rated
It's better to do fewer things well than a bunch of things half heartedly. If you're going to live your ideal life, sometimes you have to get off the treadmill, take inventory and then crank things up.
I don't usually find reality TV a good trade for my time and energy. But this time reality TV gave me a great reality check.
Laurel Vespi, certified life coach and chief executive guru of stone circle coaching, ignites businesses & individuals to new levels of CHANGE. Laurel works with clients internationally, providing unconventional yet practical tips that make the seemingly impossible... possible!
Sign up for Laurel's free ezine, inside the circle, and receive the bonus article "Blissful Living." Personal Life Coach.
By Laurel Vespi
A few years ago I was running in the Venice Italy Marathon. My husband, who is a far better runner than I'll ever be, was light years ahead of me and I was focused on being able to complete the race on my own. I had done the training. This wasn't my first marathon and I was looking forward to celebrating another fine race at the finish line. It all was great until I came to the almost inevitable point in a marathon when everything gets really hard.
Everyone seemed to be passing me. I was tired. My legs felt dead. I couldn't quite find my rhythm. And I was getting a little cranky. And then seemingly out of nowhere a runner fell into step beside me.
"How's it going??" he asked. So I told him. I began listing off my litany of complaints. He listened and when I paused to take a breath he asked,
"How's your left arm??"
My left arm? I looked at him like he was crazy. Apparently he hadn't been listening all that well. My left arm is fine I said. It's my legs and my back and my feet.
"Well then," he said, "Focus on your left arm." He smiled and picked up the pace and left me with that piece of advice.
As I continued along watching him disappear into the crowd, I was distracted from my complaints by his suggestion. Just the simple shift in thinking about things differently made the next few miles easier.
Focus on what's working
How often are you so focused on what's not working that you lose sight of what is working? When it seems like you are running straight uphill, it's easy to become overwhelmed by all the things that aren't going right. The problem is what you focus on increases. So minor problems become major ones. And the little strength that you are ignoring all but disappears.
Getting to the finish line
If you are in any way stretching yourself in life, you are going to periodically hit the wall. Things seem hard and you feel stuck. The finish line seems like it's a long way off. When that happens what you need is a shift in thinking.
· It's common advice that when the going gets tough you should put your head down and just put one foot in front of the other. Try a different strategy. Look up and see the big picture. When you lose sight of where you are headed, every step can be a chore.
· Ask yourself what IS working. Then put your energy into that until you find your rhythm again.
· Hills are flat. They are only hills in your mind. So says running expert John Stanton. The same is true for any obstacle. It's only as big as you want it to be.
· Get back to the basics. When things feel hard, shift your focus to the fundamentals - before taking the next step, what's the one thing you need to remember?
Yes I made it to the finish line. No I never saw that runner again. But he often falls into step beside me when it feels like its all uphill and I remember his advice. And yes my left arm is fine.
Laurel Vespi, certified life coach, keynote speaker and chief executive guru of stone circle coaching, ignites businesses & individuals to new levels of CHANGE. Laurel works with clients internationally, providing unconventional yet practical tips that make the seemingly impossible... possible!
Sign up for Laurel's free ezine, inside the circle, and receive the bonus article "Blissful Living." Personal Life Coach
==========================================
Life Balance - 5 Ways to Avoid Smorgasbord Syndrome
By Laurel Vespi
Life is just one big smorgasbord with all kinds of wonderful temptations to fill your time. Just like the "all you can eat buffet", if you don't pick and choose which commitments you make, you'll find your plate overloaded and yourself feeling unwell. Life balance comes from not only setting boundaries around the things you don't want to do, but also saying no to some of the fabulous things too. It's not that you can't have it all. You just can't have it all at once.
Try these five ways to avoid overloading your plate:
1.Check your happiness factor.
Sometimes you don't realize how far out of balance you are, until you wake up one day and realize you are exhausted and dissatisfied. To catch yourself sooner, create a little time to check in with yourself at the end of the day.
Ask yourself:
On a scale of 1 - 10, how happy am I today?
What choices do you need to make tomorrow to raise your happiness factor?
2.Monitor your time.
When people say they don't have time for the most important things, it simply means that they are using their time on other stuff. Write down your key priorities in life - perhaps this includes your health, your spiritual practice, your relationships. Then monitor whether you spend your time first on these things rather than on other commitments. You can create a simple checklist for the week and keep track to see whether you honor these key priorities. If you are super busy but haven't taken the time for the things that are most important to you, it's time to do something different with your time.
3.Leave some white space in your schedule.
Life is wildly unpredictable. Unexpected things will most definitely pop up during the week. If you have not left some white space in your schedule to accommodate them, you will find yourself feeling overwhelmed. Henry Kissinger once said, "There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full." Choosing to not schedule every available moment allows you some flexibility. And if the crisis doesn't appear, you have more time available for your key priorities.
4.Pause before saying yes.
It's usually the unconscious choices that get us into trouble. You open your mouth and "Yes!" pops out before you have really taken the time to evaluate how this fits with your schedule and priorities. Before you say yes to a commitment or opportunity, stop and consider it carefully. Do you have currently have time available in your schedule for this? Are you willing to remove something from your plate to add this in? If the answer is no to these questions, then the answer is no to the commitment.
5.Assess the opportunity.
There are so many amazing opportunities that life brings us, we sometimes load up our plate because we don't want to miss any of them. Before saying yes, do a little assessment. Is this is once in a lifetime opportunity. If it is, then it might be a good choice to take advantage of it even if your schedule is full. The key then is to remove something else from your schedule so that you can have the time and energy to fully participate and enjoy yourself. Many opportunities will still be there for the taking in the future if there is no room right now in your schedule.
Laurel Vespi, certified life coach and chief executive guru of stone circle coaching, ignites businesses & individuals to new levels of CHANGE. Laurel works with clients internationally, providing unconventional yet practical tips that make the seemingly impossible... possible!
Sign up for Laurel's free ezine, inside the circle, and receive the bonus article "Blissful Living." Personal Life Coach
===========================================
Five Ways to Trade Mediocre For Personal Best
By Laurel Vespi
With schedules and to-do lists jammed with a thousand things, it's easy to begin lowering the bar for yourself. You convince yourself that just getting it done is more important than how well you are actually doing it. You start to trade performance or quality for completion. Sometimes you are so stuck in your comfort zone that you don't realize that life has become pretty mediocre.
Try these five ways to give up mediocre:
1. Pick and choose.
You can't do everything, or at least you can't do everything well. Often in a busy life with multiple commitments you sacrifice your personal best on all of them. Take inventory of how you spend your time and decide which things require your best and which ones can get by with mediocre. Here's a hint - the things that are most important to you such as relationships, health and wellness deserve more energy than things like household chores or other people's to-do lists. Make a conscious decision about what gets your best and what can be mediocre.
2. Focus on excellence rather than perfection.
Having to get it right is often the reason you choose to give little or no attention to something. If you can't figure out how to do it perfectly, then you won't do it at all. This kind of black and white thinking always ends up leading to a mediocre effort. Shifting into a personal best mindset rather than an all or nothing one lets you excel on your terms. Have an honest conversation with yourself about what personal best looks like for you.
3. Do 2% more.
Raising the bar doesn't have to mean an enormous change in effort. Simply requiring 2% more of your self, in time or energy, can begin to create forward momentum. Since a small increase often feels relatively easy, you're able to stick with it. You'll also get a sense of how much more you might be able to do without over stretching yourself. You just might find out that you're capable of so much more than you have been asking of yourself in some areas.
4. Give up something.
Step back and look at how many commitments you have. Chances are there are things on your list that take your time and energy away from those things that are most important. Get rid of the things that drain you with little or no return. Then you will have more time and energy to commit to your personal best in other areas. And yes you can say no to things! Frame it this way: I'm making a personal commitment to spending more time and energy on __________, so I'll have to say no to your request.
5. Listen to your internal chatter.
Those little voices in your head can give you clues to what's going on in your life. If you find yourself repeatedly saying "I'm too tired or busy." or "I can't be bothered." then likely you are settling for less than your best in some important areas. Pay attention to how often you negotiate with yourself or rationalize. Begin replacing the mediocre chatter with more empowering statements such as "My _____ is a priority for me. I choose to focus my energy there."
Laurel Vespi, certified life coach and chief executive guru of stone circle coaching, ignites businesses & individuals to new levels of CHANGE. Laurel works with clients internationally, providing unconventional yet practical tips that make the seemingly impossible... possible!
Sign up for Laurel's free ezine, inside the circle, and receive the bonus article "Blissful Living." Personal Life Coach
=====================================
Trading Mediocre For Your Personal Best
By Laurel Vespi
I'm just like the rest of you. Sometimes I find myself doing things that I don't usually do for no other reason than I want a little mental and physical break. That happened the other night when I found myself channel surfing and came upon the reality TV show called The Biggest Loser. It's a program that follows the journey of a group of significantly overweight people as they compete to lose weight and win some prize.
As I watched these people working out, many of whom weighed more than 300 pounds, I started to get a little uncomfortable. These people were really committed to their workout - they were giving it everything they had. I started thinking, "Wow. If these people can work this hard, I bet I could raise the bar for myself in my next workout."
Crank things up
So in the morning as I hit the treadmill, I decided to start cranking it up. It was surprising how much room there was before I felt like that's enough. It was one of the best workouts I've had in a long time. I guess I had let myself settle into a mediocre zone and hadn't even realized it.
Mediocre feels comfortable. It lets you get by and gives you a false sense of accomplishment. Sure you're doing it, but you're not doing it nearly as well as you could. Sometimes the problem with being mediocre is that you aren't even aware that's where you are.
* What part of your life has slipped into a mediocre zone?
*
* Where are you just phoning it in or going through the motions?
* How often are you using the "I'm too busy or tired" excuse to let yourself off the hook?
Being average is highly over-rated
It's better to do fewer things well than a bunch of things half heartedly. If you're going to live your ideal life, sometimes you have to get off the treadmill, take inventory and then crank things up.
I don't usually find reality TV a good trade for my time and energy. But this time reality TV gave me a great reality check.
Laurel Vespi, certified life coach and chief executive guru of stone circle coaching, ignites businesses & individuals to new levels of CHANGE. Laurel works with clients internationally, providing unconventional yet practical tips that make the seemingly impossible... possible!
Sign up for Laurel's free ezine, inside the circle, and receive the bonus article "Blissful Living." Personal Life Coach.
Jangan Lupa Share Artikel Ini Ya...?
Bagikan artikel ini ke temanmu melalui "SosMed" kamu di bawah ini:
Bagikan artikel ini ke temanmu melalui "SosMed" kamu di bawah ini:
Posts
