Inspiring Your Authentic Week

Can we start now please! Posted: 30 Mar 2009 12:00 AM PDT OK - enough protests, enough negatives, enough rubbish strategies. Let's be clear about what we want: We want - a safe, sustainable, peaceful and loving world. We want - a reasonable amount of resources to live a comfortable life. We are - OK working for this, we just want to be involved in the decision making and get reasonable reward for our contribution. We want - opportunities and safety for our kids. So let's create it and let's stop doing things that prevent it. Let us understand that "war" does not take us to where we want to go. Whether it is a "war on drugs" or a "war on terror" it will not get us to where we want to be. Let us understand that conflict, fear and insecurity will not help us create the world that we want to live in. The revolution we need is not on the streets, in the board rooms or even in the governments. It is in our own heads. We need to pursue our own positive strategies now. We need to take responsibility. As soon as enough of us are doing it - it will already have happened. You want peace in the world - make peace in your own life and engage with the peoples of warring nations. You want an end to drug related crime - help people stop taking or getting involved with drugs by offering them hope and more positive alternatives. You want an end to the abuses of the banking system - get involved in an alternative currency scheme like LETS or Time bank. You want an end to climate change, inspire investment in alternatives - like electric cars, solar energy and water conservation technologies. Whatever platform you have or can have do what you can to use it to resolve the challenges you care about. Your platform might be your blog, your neighbourhood or your employers business - whatever it is - use it. My purpose? To heal the world through authenticity. I believe that the moment that enough of us are fully confident in who we are, the world changes - overnight. I do this by working with businesses and organisations to help them be more successful by being more authentic. I do this by working with individuals to help them to be more confident and have the courage to follow their purpose. I am now starting "A Mentor For Every Child" to help to ensure that people are able to start out in life knowing their authentic direction and having the confidence to pursue it. Want help with your own confidence - join me for a Complete Confidence session. The next phone session is 5pm CET, 4PM UK on the 1st of April. The next physical session is at 9.45 this Wednesday the 1st of April in Mallorca. This is a Complete Confidence sessions, focussing on personal confidence. There is also a Life Purpose session in Palma on the 3rd of April at 11am. Book your Complete Confidence phone session now: Or come along on Wednesday to: Onda Vital C/Martin Boneo 31, bjos 07013 Palma de Mallorca (Son Dameto) +34 606 204 994 For more details and to book your place for the phone sessions please go to www.neilcrofts.com  If you believe that school leavers should know what they are great at, you may want to support www.amentorforeverychild.com - please join us and help change the world in a generation. 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

You are fabulous Posted: 23 Mar 2009 01:13 AM PDT It is difficult for most of us to admit just how wonderful and fabulous we are. I have done my "Life Purpose" session, in which I ask people to say what they are great at, with over 3000 people. Out of those 3000, about 3 have felt truly comfortable expressing their talents! Most of us are infected by the Victorian disease of modesty. A form of dishonesty that helps no one. Being able to be honest about our talent is important, not just for us but for those around us, our colleagues and our friends. On the whole younger people find it even harder than older people to know what they are great at. If we know what we are great at and can tell our boss or our colleagues, we can save so much time. The next problem is that most personal development plans focus on improving "weaknesses" rather than developing strengths. This can only lead to mediocrity when applied at this stage. Working with weaknesses is helpful only when it comes to fine tuning an already great talent. If you are a Tour de France cyclist and you are already a brilliant climber and time trialist, then it will pay to work on descending skills, if that is a weakness and as long as it is not at the expense of your existing assets. The essence of your fabulousness is what you are great at. And what makes a great team is when everyone plays to their strengths, with each members strengths supporting the weaknesses of others. By focussing on what we are great at and getting better at it we become more confident. As we become more confident, we become more motivated and passionate. And as we become more motivated and passionate we have more to contribute and are more valuable and successful. How do you tell what you are great at? First; notice the things that come easily to you, things where you notice others might struggle and you find easy. Write a list. Second; poll your friends, send an e-mail to your closest friends and family asking them to tell you what you are great at. You now have several lists of things you are great at. Firstly notice anything that crops up consistently. Secondly look for the themes that runs through all of the lists. The themes are likely to be related to the types of intelligence you work best with. The specific talents that crop up most often are the things you are best at. If you are responsible for the effectiveness of a team, get all team members to articulate their talents. Then get all of the team members to be explicit with each other about what they are great at and what they struggle with. Using this information leadership can begin to flow dynamically to where it is most relevant. The "out there creative who is slack with delivery" can be supported by your' eats shoots and leaves, detail junkie" and so on. If you want more help with this either for yourself or your team - get in touch or join the Complete Confidence sessions: The next phone session is 5pm CET, 4PM UK on the 25th of March - This is a LIFE PURPOSE session. The next physical session is at 9.45 this Wednesday the 25th of March in Mallorca. This is a Complete Confidence sessions, focussing on personal confidence. Book your Complete Confidence phone session now: Or come along on Wednesday to: Onda Vital C/Martin Boneo 31, bjos 07013 Palma de Mallorca (Son Dameto) +34 606 204 994 For more details and to book your place for the phone sessions please go to www.neilcrofts.com  If you believe that school leavers should know what they are great at, you may want to support www.amentorforeverychild.com - please join us and help change the world in a generation. 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

It’s not a recession Posted: 12 Mar 2009 08:21 AM PDT It's a transition. It's a transition from the industrial economy to the networked economy. This transition started 10 years ago with the dotcom boom. Over the last 10 years we have seen many industries collapse under scrutiny of the digital spotlight. Now it is the turn of the banks, car makers and other monolithic industrial structures to transcend to the new level or succumb. The network paradigm is - flexible, transparent, insanely creative, cellular, distributed, diverse, inspiring and permeable. Where the industrial paradigm is - structured, opaque, incremental, hierarchical, monolithic, homogenous, predictable and bounded. The next generation of hyper successful business will be networked. Businesses like Plenty of Fish where one man who works around one hour per day brings in $10 million per year. Would you like help developing your personal or organisational strategy, email me. Or join the Complete Confidence sessions: The next phone session is 5pm CET, 4PM UK on the 11th of March. The next physical session is at 9.45 this Wednesday the 11th of March in Mallorca. These are both Complete Confidence sessions - so it is best if you have already completed the Life Purpose session. Book your Complete Confidence phone session now: Or come along on Wednesday to: Onda Vital C/Martin Boneo 31, bjos 07013 Palma de Mallorca (Son Dameto) +34 606 204 994 For more details and to book your place for the phone sessions please go to www.neilcrofts.com  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 get strategic Posted: 09 Mar 2009 12:57 AM PDT Strategy is about working out how to get from where you are to where you want to be. Whatever you want to do: get richer, get thinner, get fitter, get greener, get wiser, strategy will help to get you there. It is a vital skill for anyone who wants to change anything and yet there appears a great deal of misunderstanding about strategy and, often, a complete absence. Many are reluctant to commit to a strategy because they don't know if it will work. More damagingly many people avoid strategy altogether and just react with whatever emotion is at hand. When people are aggressive and violent at any level, it is not usually because their strategy has failed. It is because they don't have a strategy. The first step to creating a strategy is to identify where you want to be. It does not have to be hugely detailed, but it does have to be motivating for those involved. The level of detail will depend on how significant the objective is. The first thing we need to do is to identify the real objective and without being distracted by reaction. When small children want a toy that another child has, they simply grab it and then endure the consequences. The other child fights back or screams blue murder, they get told to give it back by parents and so on. What the child wanted was to play with the toy - not all out war (one imagines). A more strategic, objective focussed, approach, might have yielded more favourable results. We see this with workers striking to protect jobs in already fragile industries, with war and terrorism, and with the multitude of ways we aggress and abuse one another and ourselves. We need to look carefully at the objectives; is it to get thin, or is it to be happy and healthy? Is it to revenge a slight or to be safe? Is it to stop the abuse of the planet or to create a sustainable society? Is it to beat the competition or to have a successful business? The next thing we need is to know where we are starting from. What are our assets in terms of skills, tools and motivation and what are the obstacles that stand between us and the objective (as far as we can see). Once we have identified the obstacles we need to break them down into doable jobs and put those jobs into sequence. We need to do this process regularly, like once a month. Not waiting to finish the first plan, but checking in with the objective, assets and obstacles, before updating the jobs that need doing. The lovely thing about strategy is that it is a constant process of evaluation and adjustment Would you like help developing your personal or organisational strategy, email me. Or join the Complete Confidence sessions: The next phone session is 5pm CET, 4PM UK on the 11th of March. The next physical session is at 9.45 this Wednesday the 11th of March in Mallorca. These are both Complete Confidence sessions - so it is best if you have already completed the Life Purpose session. Book your Complete Confidence phone session now: Or come along on Wednesday to: Onda Vital C/Martin Boneo 31, bjos 07013 Palma de Mallorca (Son Dameto) +34 606 204 994 For more details and to book your place for the phone sessions please go to www.neilcrofts.com  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

A mentor for every child Posted: 02 Mar 2009 12:30 AM PST I have been working on and researching this authentic thing now for 8 years. One of the most intriguing observations over this time is that there are three types of people (in this specific dimension). There are those who went on a long detour before finding their authenticity, there are those who are still on their detour and there are those who never went on a detour. What I mean by detour is a period of time spent doing what you thought was expected of you, in terms of work, location and even relationships, rather than what was true and authentic for you. The ones who never went on the detour are rare and they are brilliant. When I meet a twentysomething who is truly on their path it is an uplifting experience. They glow with confidence and energy. Their confidence is not the simple arrogance of youth, but a more mature certainty about themselves and their direction mixed with humility about their knowledge and a thirst for learning. I am inspired by the idea of a society where all twentysomethings are like this. Where those in their thirties and above never went on a detour and where all live with authenticity, confidence and humility. Where everyone values each other and no one is exploited or feared. So, how do we get there? A few years ago I wrote an article on authentic education and had more response than any other article. Since then I have been exploring what would be the best possible way to prepare children for adulthood. Not only the best possible way for each individual child, but the best possible way for every child. My explorations have lead to a simple idea - to provide a mentor for every child. One of the things that is consistent among those who never went on a detour is that they had at least one mentor. Their mentors may have been a parent, a relative or a friend. What they had was a relationship with an adult who could give them support, the benefit of their own experience (without the limitations of their fears) and wise counsel. In the last few weeks this idea has resurfaced again and again until last week I had a conversation with Kay Newton and Inma Fita. We discovered that we are all passionate about this project and agreed that now is the time and that we will collaborate to create it. Our strategy is to run a pilot this summer to learn about how it works, who make good mentors, what prospective students want and so on. Once we have learned enough we will start to expand the project. Right now we are looking for a benefactor or sponsor who can help us to fund the pilot project if you can help with this please get in touch. You can find out more about this project at www.amentorforeverychild.com If you feel that you are still on a detour and would like to get off it - join one of my Life Purpose or Complete Confidence sessions. The next phone session is 5pm CET, 4PM UK on the 11th of March. The next physical session is at 9.45 this Wednesday the 4th of March in Mallorca. These are both Complete Confidence sessions - so it is best if you have already completed the Life Purpose session. Book your Complete Confidence phone session now: Or come along on Wednesday to: Onda Vital C/Martin Boneo 31, bjos 07013 Palma de Mallorca (Son Dameto) +34 606 204 994 For more details and to book your place for the phone sessions please go to www.neilcrofts.com  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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