Inspiring Your Authentic Week

What does 2009 have in store? Posted: 29 Dec 2008 02:25 AM CST It is that New Year time again, many of us make promises to ourselves at this time of year. We resolve to make changes, we commit to take up good stuff and to quit the bad stuff. There is a mini boom in the sale of self help books, diet books, gym memberships, running shoes and so on. Over the holiday we have had an unusual amount of time for ourselves and time with our loved ones to reflect on what is truly important. We make our resolutions during this time of reflection and connection. Most of us find that a couple of weeks later the stresses and pressures of the daily grind have diluted our resolve and we are back to life as usual. Many people refer to this as going back to "reality", but who said reality had to be a grind? Why should we not all lead lives that are inspiring, rewarding, uplifting, energising and fulfilling? Let's change this pattern, let's turn our resolutions into habits and our lives into positive, energising experiences. In our house every New Years Eve, we equip ourselves and our guests with paper and crayons and we each draw our vision for the coming year. We draw the way we want things to be. It is important not to be limited by what we might believe to be realistic. It is important just to be clear about how we want things to be, at least in our minds. The drawing is there to remind us of the thought and the feeling. We draw the way we want our relationships, home, work, health and whatever else to develop over the year. We then post our drawings somewhere, on the fridge or by the desk, so that they are in front of us on a daily basis. Having our resolutions and aspirations in front of us constantly helps to remind us what we are working towards. I want more of us to achieve our aspirations and dreams. I believe that if more of us followed our hearts, found confidence and fulfilment the world would be a better place for all of us. So - here is my New Year offer to you. If you do your drawing, photograph it and e-mail me the photo I will give you three coaching sessions for the price of two. During the sessions we will focus on the aspirations and resolutions in your drawing and how you can achieve them. For more information on how my coaching sessions work please see www.neilcrofts.com With love nx Neil Crofts Inspirer authenticis inspiration innovation motivation +44 (0)7775 658534 neil@authenticis.com www.authenticis.com This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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Inspiring Your Authentic Week

2008 and all that... Posted: 22 Dec 2008 07:15 AM CST 2008 turned out to be quite a year. What I find striking is what we learn about the different ways we choose to deal with crises. On the one hand we have the climate and environmental crisis. Awareness has grown over decades, but it was in 2007/8 that it really became a mainstream issue. On the other hand we have the economic crisis. The warning signs were definitely there in summer 2007, but it did not really hit until last September. For those who have been aware of the environmental crisis for some time, mainstream response has been achingly slow and politically charged. In fact is is taking a generational change of political leadership in the UK and the US for any really significant response, and even that is not really dramatic yet. The response to the economic crisis has, by contrast been dramatically swift, largely apolitical and substantial, with trillions of dollars being pumped into the system. Some of it propping up businesses and business models that are beyond their prime. The irony of this difference is that while both crises threaten our lifestyle, political stability and will cause suffering; the financial crisis only exists in the entirely artificial world of economics, where the environmental crisis threatens the ability of our only planet to sustain life. It is tempting to wonder if the economic crisis would have happened at all if governments had pumped some of those trillions into innovation in green technologies (and maintained stricter regulatory vigilance over financial systems) over the last five years. Last week in Mallorca we had 48 hours of solid rain. Between 3 and 4pm on Monday the rain turned to hail in Biblical quantities. Over the course of 48 hours around 240 litres rain fell per square meter. Three years of average rainfall in two days! The climate has changed. You can see the video of what this did to the road to our house on my web site. Crises are inevitable it is our response to them that defines our lives and our future. The first phase involves becoming aware that something is going on and that it could be a problem. The second phase is denial. On the whole if it is a crisis, the longer we deny that it is, the worse it will get, until we figure out what is going on. The third phase is acceptance - that it is a crisis. The fourth phase is confusion, panic or fear - with practice this can be quite short. The fifth phase is deciding to act and seeing the opportunity. The sixth is is planning. The seventh is action, change and innovation. If we make the right choices we transcend the crisis and move on to the next level. If not, in most cases we get another try or in the worst cases we don't. This process happens every day at different scales throughout our lives. The really clever way to live is preemptively. If we can be sufficiently in tune with what is going on, we can read the signs and take the decisions before the crisis. The reason that we don't is that we get into a comfort zone where we feel that change might inhibit our ability to enjoy the comfort. We can also choose to be grumpy or gracious about the changes that occur. The lesson of the crisis is to stay focussed. Learn to listen to the subtle signs and trust what you hear - even if it might involve some challenge or change, and keep learning, moving and stretching. Let us take a little time over these Christmas holidays to really think proactively about how we want our year to be next year. How we want our work to be, how we want our relationships to be and how we want our businesses to be. Then in 2009, let's set about making it so. Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and looking forward to a proactive, innovative and rewarding New Year. If you want help with creating a culture of innovation for yourself or your business Authenticis can offer low carbon and low cost training programs for teams using phone conference based sessions without the need for everyone to travel and stay in hotels lets have a chat. I am now doing more frequent and much shorter bursts of inspiration on Twitter - you can join in here www.neilcrofts.com With love nx Neil Crofts Inspirer authenticis inspiration innovation motivation +44 (0)7775 658534 neil@authenticis.com www.authenticis.com This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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Inspiring Your Authentic Week

Let's do it Posted: 15 Dec 2008 01:56 AM CST Today's message is for anyone who is not completely happy with their work. For anyone who feels a sense of tension between who they are and what they do. Whatever it is you are doing, why ever you feel uncomfortable with it and whatever has held you back from doing something about it; now is the time to change. There is a huge mixer swirling up the world of work and we can all take advantage of it to make the changes that we need to make. Whether all you need to do is to make some adjustments in the relationship you have with your boss or whether you need a different job or to start your own business now is the time to act. I am not talking about taking risks or increasing the level of uncertainty. I am talking about strategic thinking and careful planning. Step 1 - articulate your life's purpose, if you want help with this download my free life purpose e-book or give me a call. The route to doing work that is both fulfilling and valuable (to you, your employer and our society) is to make your work the platform for achieving your life's purpose. Please note - However counter cultural it may seem - it is absolutely in your employers interests for you to use their organisation as a platform for achieving your life's purpose - this is explained in more detail below. Step 2 - Examine your work carefully and see what the most effective way will be to deliver your life's purpose. Bear in mind that, tempting as it may seem, it is seldom easier to leave you job and set up your own thing than it is to adjust what you have. At the same time take an inventory of your assets - do you have savings or things you could sell? What skills do you have? What relationships do you have? Is there a redundancy option? Most of us are well aware of our liabilities, but it is also worth checking in with those and seeing if they can be cancelled out by assets, deferred or just looked at in a different way. Step 3 - Articulate your strategy for getting from where you are to where you want to be. Write it down. I like to use sticky notes for this. Break the whole project down into small jobs, write all of the jobs on sticky notes - one job per note - then arrange the notes in chronological order. Make use of any assets that are relevant. One of the jobs might be to have an honest conversation with your boss, partner or someone else. If this is the case and you find that intimidating - make sure you practice the conversation in advance with someone who can help you. Step 4 - Do the jobs on the sticky notes one at a time. Remember to stay flexible and change the plan if you need to, without letting go of the objective. If you want help with this process for you personally or for your business give me a call. I can help with all aspects of it including writing an authentic business plan and internet marketing once you get going. If you are a business manager and the idea of having your team using your business as a platform for achieving their life's purpose sounds intimidating - think on this: The newly released Global Productivity Report for 2008 finds that: Companies will leave 30% of potential productivity gains untapped over the next two years Managers spend 34% of their time on administrative tasks and only 10% of their time on training and active supervision of their workers 34.3% of the average worker's time is spent on unproductive activities, up from 32.1% the prior year The top two barriers to improved productivity are a shortage of skilled workers and internal communication issues When your team are pursuing their life's purpose they will be super motivated, creative and responsible. If their life purpose can be aligned with your business aims your business will enjoy the benefits of massively increased engagement and productivity. If their life purpose cannot be aligned with the aims of the business, why are they working there? Please take advantage of these changing times to make the changes that you want and not just to be changed by them. If you want help with any aspect give me a call. Authenticis can now offer low carbon and low cost training programs for teams using phone conference based sessions without the need for everyone to travel and stay in hotels lets have a chat. If you find these e-mails valuable and energising, you may like to contribute some energy to help me continue to write them. £5 per year seems like good value. I am now doing more frequent and much shorter bursts of inspiration on Twitter - you can join in here www.neilcrofts.com With love nx Neil Crofts Inspirer authenticis inspiration innovation motivation +44 (0)7775 658534 neil@authenticis.com www.authenticis.com This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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Inspiring Your Authentic Week

The Upside of Recession Posted: 08 Dec 2008 02:13 AM CST There is not much positive in the mainstream media at the best of times. And credit crunch, recession and social upheaval give them the opportunity to really go for it. Uncomfortable as it undoubtedly is this recession is also packed full of upside. There are some obvious ones like prices and carbon emissions falling as we fly, buy and travel less. There are less obvious upsides too. We all knew that our behaviour over the last years was unsustainable. We all knew it. And yet somehow while it continued, it was very difficult to stop. As Charles Prince the former President of Citibank said "As long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance. We're still dancing." Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention, and while things seem to be going well, few of us are prepared to make the changes we know we need to. When things appear to be going well, most of us are reluctant to tamper with the system. However - when things start to wobble, the risks and uncertainties of deliberate change start to look much less daunting in comparison to the change that is happening anyway. Crisis creates the opportunity to improve. One way to improve things is to create crisis. Another is to embrace crisis when it happens. A further is to deliberately bypass the crisis and go directly to the improvement. What we are seeing in this recession is a massive clear out of old and out of date business models and business thinking. Of course there are exceptions, but in general the businesses that appear to be the most affected are the ones that are most deeply rooted in the unsustainable past. Success belongs to the most relevant. As businesses become established they generally have to build up strength in process. They have to get to be good at doing something. This tends to be at the expense of being good at innovation or change. Unless they specifically prioritise innovation and creativity, businesses that enjoy a long run of success are the ones that find it hardest to adapt when circumstances change. When something needs replacing, we always have the choice to upgrade. Upgrading to a new economic system is the opportunity created by this recession. Upgrading to system where people and planet are enhanced, not exploited. A system where profit comes from responsibility, respect and care. A system where more of us end up taking greater responsibility for ourselves and the outcomes created by our choices. I can see an evolution to a distributed model of employment where fewer people have conventional full time jobs. A model where we get to choose when and for whom we work. And how much we work for. Where we have a portfolio of jobs that play to our strengths. I can see businesses which rely on hierarchy and control struggling to recruit people, at any level. And this is already happening; the internet is facilitating the spread of mass self-employment, through web services like odesk, elance and guru.com. And the success of drop in "offices" like The Hub - where we can enjoy the community benefits of an office environment - while working independently. I am looking for partners to help this change to happen and to ensure that it goes in the right direction. I would like to find partners within organisations who want help adapting to change and I want to find consultants, coaches and facilitators who are ready to learn how to help businesses to create a culture of innovation. If you are interested in partnering - lets have a chat. or have a look at our partners page. With love nx Neil Crofts Inspirer authenticis inspiration innovation motivation +44 (0)7775 658534 neil@authenticis.com www.authenticis.com This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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